It is understood that the affairs of Ireland occupy a
large space in the Councils of the Ministry. The great object of all welhvishers to that country must be, to abate those feelings of hostility to the law which possess the lower orders in Ireland; and to effect this, little
more seems necessary than to provide that the law shall be honestly interpreted and equally administered. For the furtherance of these great purposes, many deem it probable that stipendiary magistrates from England and Scotland—men untainted with the spirit and un- biassed by the interests of partizanship, may be invested with those powers which the gentry of Ireland have abused so long.
Mr. O'CONNELL proceeds with the agitation of the Union question, and the Morning Chronicle has given an exposition of his views on that subject. It is not his object to disunite, in the common accepta- tion of the term, Ireland from England ; but to procure for Ireland a legislature for local measures—for the discussion of enactments which are not properly weighed nor understood in England, while they ab- sorb much of that time which ought to be devoted to the consideration of business purely English. In aid of Mr. O'ComvELL's scheme, it has been determined in Dublin to give a public dinner in honour of the Irish Volunteers of 1782.
A leiter of invitation was among others addressed 'to the Earl of KILKENNY, and answered in the following terms by his brother, the Honourable Colonel PIERSE BUTLER.
"Ballyconre, Nov. 15, 1829.
" Gentlemen,—The melancholy task of answering all communications addressed to my brother, Lord Kilkenny, having devolvtal on me for ninny years past, I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt, this day, of your intimation to him. As it is of a public na- ture, on which any one may give an opinion, I ant free to confess that, after is lapse of nearly half a century, I cannot comprehend the object of holding la public dinner to ce- lebrate the virtues of the Irish Volunteers of 1752. Should, however, a crisis arrive any thing similar to what occasioned the embodying of the Volunteers of 1782, and should we be called upon to defend our common country from the common foe, even at my advanced period of life, I should be one of the first on parr de. Alas ! the Act of Union, and the disfranchisement of her nobility and her people, have left Ireland only one integral part of the constitution to defend,—namely, the throne of our gracious and beloved Sovereign to uphold which, in common with all true Irishmen, I shall ever be ready to shed the last drop of my heart's blood. I have the honour to he, gentlemen, your very obedient servant, "PIERS'S BUTLER." " To Daniel O'Connell, Esq. M.P. and Richard Barrett, Esq. Secretaries."
