Mr. O'Connell, in a third letter to the " People
of Great Britain,' has completely demolished the Reverend Mounteford Longfield, who had the impudence to deny some of Mr. O'Connell's statements re- specting his services to the people of Kilcrohane, Mr. O'Connell's parish in Kerry. Mr. Longfield did not deny that he was a non-resi- dent ; but said that he lived not at Bath or Cheltenham, but on another living, which he is fortunate enough to hold ; thus acknowledging the main fact of non-residence, with the additional offence of pluralism. He also denied that he received .500/. a year from Mr. O'Connell's parish : the sum, he declared, was only 2.581. This was literally true, but virtually false. His benefice comprises two parishes, one of them Mr. O'Connell's, and from both he receives .503/. Is. 4d. As regards Mr. O'Connell, who complained of having to pay him .50/., the fact is undisturbed ; it only appears that, instead of one tenth, the Agitator defrays a fifth of the cost of supporting an absentee parson for the 77 Protestants of Kilcrohane.
Mr. O'Connell is not content with merely defending himself from Mr. Longfield's attack—he carries the war into the parson's quarters. He states that the living in which Mr. Longfield constantly resides- Desertserges, on Cork county—contains 432 Protestants and 6098 Ca- tholics: in 18:32 there were 474 Protestants; so their numbers are de- creasing under Mr. Longfield's pastoral superintendence. He receives in glebe and tithes from this parish an income of about 9601. per an- num ; but be does not contribute a penny to the support of either of the two Protestant schools in the parish. The whole of his church- attending congregation is 80 persons out of the 4:32! He had held this living eleven years, when, in 1809, he had the living of Kilero. bane, sixty miles off in Kerry, bestowed upon him ; and he has since held them both, never having been ten days on the Kerry living. His curate does all the duty, and receives for it 691. 4s. 7if1. per annum ; the absentee rector pocketing the remainder of the 5031. Is. 4d. These facts are corroborated by the Report of the Educa- tion Commissioners ; and afford a specimen of the system which the Tories are resolved at all hazards to maintain. As for the Reverend Mounteford Longfield, he will not be again in a hurry to measure wea- pons with Daniel O'Connell.
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