IRELAND.
A preparatory meeting of Reformers was held at the Royal Hotel, Dublin. on Thursday the 19th, tur the purpose of taking measures for oreattiziug a Hew Association, Red am ranging the prtweedings of a great public metering on the following moriday ; when petitions to the House of Commons fur settling the Tithe question and rejecting the Lynd- hurst Corporation Bill, were to be ',reposed. Mr. Henry Grattan, M r. Fi r 7.st mon, Mr. Lawless, 31r. Marcus Costello, Mr. Sergeant Woulle, and Mr. Shell, were the chief speakers. Mr. Shell dwelt espawially on the subject of Tithes- " The hatred to the existing eeelesia-tical impost is not confined to the meta
of the people. I am firmly convinced that a hat we annoilr,red as the result of Lord Smoky's nwa.tire, bast-tone to east.. Wendt' him in ISM. that he would hut transfer the detestation of tithes Ilion the tenants to the landlords, and that he would plare the aristocracy in the same nefortunate position in which the clergy were slum Inst. Accordingly, the Protestant gentry of this country are hegi ttt ting tu feel the blister. I looked over the list of defendants to tithe hills to tl.ty, and I foetal that one of the defendants was Henry St. John Earl O'Neill, another was Atelier Hill, another Lore' Dungannon, another Mr. 1.1.111r, of In■ gaol C ntivy of Tipperary, a first-rate Conservative, as I am in- formed, but who, with great attachment to the Piotestant religion, has a most inveterate detestation to tithes. They are all, believe me, writhitig under the 1n wile Ace. Nut a firthing f• their tenants can they hope to get and, with all their passion fur Whit they call the blessings of pure religion,' they weer against tithes curses that will SINII1 become loud, although as yet they be but decp. The Irish House of Gtunmos took an effectual mode of putting down the tithe of agistittetit. They did not wait for the assent of the House of Lords. They alioltshed the tithe Id' agistment with a single re:elution, and with one touch of the legislative sponge effaced and wiped it out tiw ever. The de- scendants of th it P. °testa nt as istocraey. who Live far less strong motives for the sostnionwitt of the ChM ell than their forefathers could have, affect, indeed, at this juncture, to p,otse the vast popular combination against the :anises of the estantisliment: but wait a little, and alter they shall have been mulcted with exemplary costs. you will see these lovers of older metamorphosed into fierce and turbulent rooperatois it, the agitati tttt , which expet ience has unfortunately taught us supplies the only remedy for the redress of the gt ievances of Ireland. But whohre they shall cooperate or not; I care little ; we CIO 110 WillhOUC them. With us are the millions, who return the maj rarity of Irish Members— aye, there's Ow rub—and we cannot but pleeinl The Tithe question laterites
every man's pecuniary interests; the Corpora question awakens every man's
national pride. What ! take from its our Legislature—take from us our Rouse of Commons—make us but a province of Engle:el ; and then tell us, that for all these losses we shall seeeive no c I,n,aui,mnug and that we shall, after the sur- tender of our y, be deprived of the rights and pr ivileges of British sub-
jects, and that British institutions shall be denied to those who. for the sake of lists • instiosti have made fresh sacrifices ! The people of Indeed are not yet so fallen and penetrate as to brook an igitominy like that. but what del ...y? Of tall ;ma of prostration why should I speak ? Have we not in every rocolintol disc on fi ed the enemies odour country, and put them to mute? To time Obi tactics, by which so many victories have been woo, let us again resort. The masses t be raised in legal and constitutional manifebtatiou of the resolve." It was agreed that the new Association should be called the " Peti- tion Committee for Corporate Reform and the Settlement of the Tithe Question ;" and arrangements were made for the great meeting on Monday.
Another meeting was held, at the Corn Exchange, on Saturday ; when the resolutions to be proposed on Monday were agreed upon, and many new members admitted into the " Committee," on the pay- ment of 11. each.
The Trades Union also had a meeting, and measures were taken to put that Association into a state of activity.
On Monday, the great meeting was held in the Coburg Gardens. The numbers present are variously stated at from 15,000 to 20,000
the correspondent of the Times estimates them at from 15,000 to :20,000. All admit that it was, numerically, a most formidable display.
The platform was crowded with noblemen, Members of the House of Comtnons, barristers, bankers, and merchants ; many of whom had never before taken part publicly in politics. We give a few of the principal names—the Earl of Miltown, Lord Killeen, Lord Dalzell; Mr. Sergeant Woulfe, Mr. Sheil, Mr. Henry Grattan, Mr. C. Fitz- simon, Mr. Ball, Mr. James Power, Mr. }Inn, Members of Parlia- ment; Colonel Allen, Mr. John Power, Mr. Redmond, Mr. Pigott, and Mr. Callaghan. Lord Miltown took the chair ; and opened the business of the day, in a very energetic speech. He thus described the working of the Lyndhurst Bill- " What are the effects of the bill which the house would force down our unwilling throats? How will it affect my Catholic fellow countrymen, by
whom I am now, I believe, for the chief part surrounded ? Why, it will work thus—You, my Catholic fellow countrymen, are allowed to vote for the return of Members of Parliament, but not at the election of a Common Councilman. You may have seats at the board of Privy Council, but not at the board of Aldermen. You may have seats in the senate of our great nation, but not at a civic feast. In fact, to a Catholic senator may be intrusted safely the construc- tion of laws on which the lives, liberties, and happiness of his fellow country. men depend ; but absolute and palpable ruin would ensue, and dire confusion overtake the laud, if a Catholic Lord Mayor were intrusted with the delicate task of carving a haunch of venison. Such is the precious legislation which is attempted to be forced upon us. They did not dare to assert, keeping perhaps in mind the eloquence of a Grattan and a Curran, that you were unable to legislate for yourselves; there was no concealment of the cloven foot of bigotry, but the assertion was openly made, that as you did not profess the same creed with the ruling bigots of the day, you were unworthy to be intrusted with the privileges enjoyed by your English and Scotch fellow countrymen."
Bad as the present system was, be infinitely preferred it to the un- blushing spoliation with which they were threatened by the Peers.
Mr. Henry Grattan described the bill as the most mischievous piece of legislation ever sought to be imposed on the country—
The Lords and the Tories appeared to care no more for the inhabitant:111re- land, than if they were denizens of Otaheite or Japan : and the People should work day and night to keep out of power those who had so shamefully abused the trust reposed in them. If they wished to avoid the reestablishment of Orange Lodges, the continuance of Writs of Rebellion, and such tender mercies of the law, they should keep out the Tories, and to use Lord Stanley's phrase, have war to the knife with them. He trusted that, like their gallant country. men in Spain, who carried the fortress of St. Sebastian the other day, sword in hand, they would with one vigorous assault on the Tories, dislodge them for ever from their strong-holds.
Lord Killeen indignantly repudiated the opinion that Irishmen were incapable of governing themselves-
" Are we to be told that we are not to have the benefit of the same laws which are extended to England and Scotland ? But the schoolmaster is abroad, and my Lord Lyndhurst and other noblemen of his way of thinking will find that he has not been so in vain. There has been lately much said about normal schools—that there are a good many of such now open; and if I am to judge from what I see here before me this day, we can easily anticipate that there will not be a lack of scholars. ( Cheers and laughter.) There was a respite from agitation for some time back, because we had the fullest confidence in the intentions of his Majesty's Government and Ministry, and saw them inclined to do justice to Ireland; but when we behold the House of Lards rejecting such a measure for the amelioration of the people, and the correction of long standing abuses, as that which has recently been submitted to them, we are unavoidably forced into that declaration of our independence, and determina- tion to uphold our lights, which we have this day met to assert. The People of Ireland are stronger and more united now than they have been on former occasions when agitation was had recourse to. The same feelings which actuated us during the struggle for Catholic Emancipation are still alive. But we have this now, that we are no longer Catholics and Protestants, but Irish- men ; and we feel that, as such, a most glaring wrong has been attempted towards us. We have accomplished much ere this by peaceable agitation; an by the same means we will, 1 trust, effect more yet.' (Cheers.)
Mr. Sheil spoke as follows-
" There are twenty thousand men around me. ( Cries of " There's fifty thousand!") Twenty thousand will do : they will furnish some of the it aterials for doing justice to Ireland; and it is the more delightful to look on them, because, if there are twenty thousand Irishmen, determined on the asser- tion of the rights of their country, that spectacle is accompanied by the reflec- tion that there are seven millions beyond the precincts of this spot who coincide with you, and feel as keenly and resentfully the wrongs of Ireland as you. Sevta millions ! I like the words. I would that I could become schoolmaster to a raven, and having taught him to speak ' seven millions,' I could offer him es a testimony of my regard to my Lord Lyndhurst, in order that, perched' be- side him, when in the dead of night his Lordship should start from a distem- Tered vision of the Premiership, the ill. omened bird might croak ' seven mil- lions' in his ear. Insciibe the words on every wall; let them be written down in every chamber where you assemble ; he them be emblazoned on every flag of your political associations ; and above all, let them, at the next hustings, on standards of green be displayed—' seven millions It sounds well : let our an- tagonists rail at us as they will; let theca indulge in their hatred and their deri- sion as they please—their genuine hatred and their affected derision ; let them givo vent to all the rancour of faction, and of theology ; my only answer shall be' seven millions.' And yet I must needs, since 1 am on this platform, of these millions say something more. The Conservatives are wont to call us a mere gregarian multitude—a brute mass of disorganized and therefore incapable numbers, without intelligence, energy, or combination. Let them pause a little ; let them look back, look round, and look forward ; and by considering our position, they will be better enabled to determine their own. In 1793, when we were but three millions, we forced England to give that which, when once given, led inevitably to that triumph we since obtained. There passed, indeed, many years before the great achievement was accomplished; but the aline millions grew up to seven ; and having organized themselves in 1821; they overthrew the Tory party at election after election ; and at length, in 18.29, wrenched their liberties from the Conqueror of Waterloo. Again, on the Re. foi in question, Ireland made a manifestation of her might, and a cu red fi r Eng- land what England could not single-handed have obtained for herself: the seven millions poured into the House of Commons a body of men, who, acting by one fixed principle—the advancement of the cause of liberty—became irre- sistible in their consolidated strength. Lord Stanley undertook the hopeless task of putting the seven millions down ; and in the election which took place in 1835, was taught a better lesson than that which he undertook to give to Ireland—the millions soon walked over him, and left him mangled and broken beneath their feet. Sir Robert Peel engaged in the enterprise of sustaining the abuses of a Church which the seven millions determined to reform ; and Sir Robert Peel fell before them at the first shock. These same seven millions, then, are not so utterly despicable, and to he used as of little account; and, to say the ' e least of it, the Lords have been indiscreet in courting them to an ens counter. • • • • Ireland is aroused ; in every district in the country the same indignant sentiment will be made manifest ; and independently of the effect of simultaneous petitions, what if a general election takes place, wid be the result of this great and unparalleled movement? This is the time fur dis- solution, when Ireland is maddened by the insult which she has received, and writhes beneath the new machinery for the exaction of tithes." Mr. Sergeant Woulfe protested against the insult offered to the Mgr nation by the Peers- " I do not come here for the purpose of rousing your feelings ; for you are less than men, and worse than brute beasts, if you do not resent the insult that has been put upon you with becoming spirit and indignation. Those feelings, gentlemen, are general throughout the country ; and I. have no doubt that the powerful manifestation of public opinion that has taken place upon this occasion will have the salutary effect of stopping the Lords on the brink of the precipice into which they were madly about to plunge, and of making them shudder with horror at the frightful danger from which they have escaped. ( Continued cheering.) Let them reflect upon the consequences of committing themselves in a struggle with the People. The People cannot be vanquished : the Lords are but an artificial institution, and perhaps may ; and they should remember, that in every such struggle they have been always worsted."
The other speakers were Mr. Finn, Mr. James Power, Mr. Cross. thwaite, Mr. Callaghan, Mr. Dickson, Mr. Bull, Mr. Fitzsimon, and Mr. Pigott, King's counsel. The last-named gentlemen said— It was clear as light that the bill of the Lords was framed with the covert but cherished design of the Tories, to try again, by a coup d'etat, to seize upon the Government, and to employ the influence delisted from this measure to per- petuate their power. That is the peril against which we have this day to lift up our voices ; and he had the satisfaction to think, that before many days, the y would bust forth from every part of Ireland, exhorting the People's Repre- sentatives to reject this bill. Mark further the consequence to the Whig Administration of submitting to this project. The design of the framers of the measure in the Lords was manifestly to commit the Government with the People. They hope that the Ministry, or some of their unthinking fi lends, may suggest the acceptance, with some attempt at modification, of the Irish Municipal Bill, as if copying the precedent adopted with reference to the mea- sure of English Municipal Reform, without considering its reasons. The acceptance of the English Municipal Bill was a disappointment to the Tories. It put the Lords in the wrong. The acceptance of this bill would not be putting the Lords in thewrong ; it would he putting them in the right. The projectors of the present bill desire that result. They hope for it, because they know that by such a course the Ministry would disappoint and must divide their friends. The Tories hope for it, because they desire to damage the character of the Gu- vernment—to rob it of that moral power which it derives from its elm acter- to undermine the public confidence which is the basis of that power—to bring them down to that level at which sympathy is lost in contempt. " This is the policy of the Tories towards the Ministry ; therefore it is that I say, reject efi bill—reject it, because you cannot change it without a sacrifice of principle; reject it, because surrender would be a confession of weakness, and a precursor to ruin."
A series of resolutions embodying the sentiments expressed in the foregoing speeches, and calling upon every town, county, arid parish in Ireland, to assemble in public and send petitions to Parliament, for a full measure of Municipal Reform, and against the Tithe system, were carried by acclamation. A petition was adopted; to be presented to the House of Commons by Mr. O'Connell. The meeting then dispersed, in perfect order. Not a single accident or disturbance of any kind occurred among the well-disciplined multi- tude. The Tories did their utmost to excite a riot; as the following extract from the Dublin Evening Mail will show- " The city is in an unusual state of ferment all the morning. The bludgeon. men and the ruffians, true to the summons issued yesterday, arc thronging to the Coburg Gardens—there instigated by the Government, and cheered by its press, first to insult Protestants, afterwards, perhaps, to butcher them. Affida- vits have, we understand, been made to the effect that the public peace is likely to be endangered by the meeting ; but of course there will be no attempt wade to stop it. Those assembled will be but obeying the behests and answering to the call of those in power. The greatest state of alarm prevails amongst the Protestant inhabitants, many of whom are armed, and prepared to sell their lives dearly in defence of their homes and families, should either be assailed in the course of the night. " One of our reporters has just returned from the meeting, and describes ta scene presented in the Gardens as terrific. Many thousands are assemble.!, ..d a spirit of fierce and savage animosity to every thing Protestant appeals to .- vade the whole." This is false : there was no alarm, or cause for it. Not a soldier or *) policeman was to be seen on the ground.