IRELAND.
Mr. Roebuck and Mr. Lever were entertained publicly at Galway on Monday. With his usual courage, after describing O'Connell with warm admiration, Mr. Roebuck set about giving his hearers advice.
"It has not been my fate usually to address an Irish audience. Once or twice in my life I have done so, and I have begun by stating that I am a thorough-going John Bull. (Laughter and cheers.) I don't wish to im- pose upon you in any way ; I am an Englishman, and I believe that Eng- land, united with Ireland, will be to the world as a shining light and a great guide ; that if with her right arm, Ireland, she be strong, with her right arm, Ireland, separated from her she will be weak ; and my object has been through life not only to foster, but to render complete the union of the two peoples. (Cheers.) I wish you all to believe that the people of England deserve well of, because they wish well to, the people of Ireland. No man more than myself is toady to admit that the Government of England for centuries has done injustice to Ireland ; but England now governs herself, and I believe from nip heart what I am now about to tell you,—that if there be anythinn.' disagreeable in Ireland, von have only to state it in the English House of Commons to be attended to. Send there men who can really interpret your wishes, and you can command the attention of a fair and liberal assembly, and you will get all you deserve or desire. (Cheers.) You don't want more than that, I hope. (Cries of "Ho! ") One of your fathers here ' has been kind enough to express his opinion respecting myself, for which I beg to express my most hearty thanks, and in return he will permit time to take the very presumptuous part of giving him a small word of advice. It is this. He and his clergy have great power over the people of Ireland—deservedly so—and it would be beat for him to em- ploy that power for the union of the two countries to make Irishmen men of the United Kingdom. (Cheers.) Now, don't misunderstand me ; I don't want you to be men of the United Kingdom, if perfect justice is not done you. (" Hear, hear," and dicers.) But I must say to him and his brethren, and to hinA speak as representing his brethren on this occasion,. that there can be no hope for good to England or to Ireland, but through entire justice to both countries. And if we hope for justice send us your representatives who can tell what you desire—send such men as we can listen to, who can command respect and attention, and every word they utter in your name will find a response in the English House of Commons. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I am but an humble Member of that House, but I am a. thorough Englishman ; and I believe from my knowledge of that House— and it has been acquired, I am sorry to say, by nearly thirty years' ex- perience—that I can tell you that the people of Ireland have no greater friends than the English House of Commons ; that anybody who tells you that England is opposed to Ireland tells you what is false, and that if there should step upon the shores of Ireland some foreign despot with his lesions at his back for the purpose of maintaining his dominion, you could gain no good by subjecting yourselves to his domination. You can send to the Eng- lish Parliament your representatives—to the English House of Lords your representatives—and these, speaking in your name, will always command attention from the English Parliament."
Mr. Smith O'Brien has published an extremely long letter, advocating- the enrolment of Volunteers in Ireland. The following extracts give a fair specimen of his views. They are curious-
" When I was in America last year it gave me great satisfaction to find myself surrounded, not only in New York and in other cities of the United States, but even Canada, by Irishmen who were formed into military com- panies corresponding to the Volunteer force which we desire to establish in this country. How much more intense would be my satisfaction if I could see 10,000 men under arms in the city of Limerick, arrayed in regiments representing the manhood of the counties of Limerick, of Clare, and of other districts, of which Limerick is the natural capital. How proud would be our exultation if we could witness a review of 50,000 Irish Volunteers in the Phoenix Park of Dublin !
"To me it seems that it is not necessary or desirable that hostility to any other country in the world should be connected with the motives which in- duce us to desire the formation of a Volunteer force in Ireland. In England the movement appears to be founded upon an apprehension of France. Now, while I respect much the national ardour which has been exhibited, both in England and Scotland, in reference to the formation of a Volunteer force, I do not think it necessary to imitate our neighbours in the disposition which they have evinced to cherish, in connexion with this movement, a spirit of hostility towards France. The Emperor of the French disavows the inten- t:on imputed to him of invading England. The French press disavows it. I have recently travelled through a considerable section of France, and have conversed with a very large number of Frenchmen. All of those with whom I so conversed disavowed the desire of quarrelling with England which is imputed to them. We have, therefore, no right to assume that the French
or any other nation intend to invade England or Ireland. But we have a right, and it is our duty, to take care that we shall be prepared for any
eventuality that may arise, and that the safety of our domestic hearths shall not be left to the mercy, nor shall be dependent upon the protection of any people under the sun except the Irish nation.
"If an invasion of what is called the United Kingdom,' were really im- pending, it would be for the interest of the people of England that the in-
vader should be attracted to our shores rather than to the shores of England; it would be for their advantage that the Irish nation should be divided into two hostile camps, rather than that we should be united, and by such union should become arbiters of the destiny of the empire. It is not surprising to
me, therefore, that our shores should be left defenceless, and that our people should be prevented from taking steps which would discourage, if they would not prevent, an invasion by the formation of a Volunteer force composed of the united strength of the Catholic and Protestant population of Ireland. "For myself, I can truly say that there is not in Ireland a single person who would more earnestly than I deprecate an invasion. It would produce results exactly opposite to those which I desire to attain. It would intro- duce massacre, and plunder, and conflagration, and proscription, and con- fiscation, and civil war into the heart of our country, whereas it is my desire that the Irish should enjoy peace, and order, and unity, under a national Government, and that, in regard of external polity, they should pre- serve friendly relations, not only with England, but with all the rest of man- kind.
"I feel assured that nothing would tend so much to produce these results as an indiscriminate arming of the Irish nation."
On Tuesday last, at a quarter to ten o'clock, John Holden was executed in front of Omagh Gaol, for the murder of Constable ld'Clelland, at Dun- gannon, in December last.
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