Surely the great want in Ireland, after all, is a
regard for truth. No "national" party seems to possess it, least of all the soi-disant national party. The prevailing want has been dis- played in a variety of ways this week. Mr. O'Connell is again afield, and he has had a huge " monster-meeting" at Thurles in Tipperary : it was held in open day, yet is it impossible to obtain anything like trustworthy Irish evidence as to its numerical amount: the estimate of the Repealers takes a range as wide as from 300,000 to 1,000,000, or a number " countless "; while the reporter for an English paper reckons the gathering at less than a third of the lowest of the Milesian figures. Whatever their number, the multitude met, listened to some platitudes such as have grown stale at Repeal meetings, and went away : and of those proceedings the Dublin Nation speaks as follows- " This was a telling and a tremendous thin,,—the coming together of the men of Tipperary. It was a steady and a wise dung, too. It is described as a count- less multitude—quiet, orderly, without fault. They came, these men of Tipperary, and they met, and they resolved, and they separated—that multitude of men, such as never met before—and the roads were narrow, and the journey long, and there were no sore, and no soil was upon the greatness of that day, so sunny for Ireland."
This is a very paraphrase, in fustian, of that tale of a king and all his men who marched up a hill and then marched down again : but the turgid rhodomontade furnishes a clue to the value of Repeal arithmetic. ' The Repeal agitation has received a new adherent in the person of Mr. Thomas Lloyd, of Beechmount ; whom Mr. O'Connell calls a person of " rank," of great and varied talents, and of strong Protestant feelings ; and a London paper, catching a spice of the Conciliation Hall inspiration, says—" We may re- gard the accedsion of Mr. Lloyd to the Repeal movement as the commencement of a defection, which naturally follows from the Ministerial policy." Now, what are the facts patent ? Mr. O'Connell has been striving for a year or two to catch Protes- tants,—a term which, in. Ireland, designates a political party, to which Mr. Smith O'Brien, an old Protestant Repealer, scarcely belongs ; the Agitator had a " glorious nibble " from Mr.
Porter, another person of " rank "; and now much ado is i-liriraele about the adhesion of Mr. Lloyd—whose "rank " consists in having a fortune and being son to a quondam Member of Par- Bement. All the evidence of his great and varied talat is a short note, in which he says that he encloses a subscription of 51., and that he sees no hope for Ireland except in Repeal. To Mr. O'Connell, perhaps, hat note speaks volumes ; but if r. Lloyd's talents are in proportion to his "rank," they are net thueh out of the common ; and anything important in the way of defection cannot be augured from the catching of a single Protestant—the less as so much fuss is made about that success. It might be con- venient if Mr. Lloyd, like Mr. Porter, would write a book. Mean- while, we take leave to guess that the giant is ,nothing but a simple country gentleman, magnified by the media-Ea of vapour- in g through which he is displayed. The same set that are busy in worshiping Mr. Lloyd are en- gaged in traducing a worthy Prelate, whose good name has been pledged to the Irish people through many long years of service. Dr. Crolly happens to disagree with Mr. O'Connell on the merits of the Colleges Bill ; and-every means is sought to diminish his well-earned influence. One plan is too gross for even the Irish press : the Dublin Pilot, a favoured organ of Mr. O'Connell's party, hints, in terms meant to appear respectfully serious, that Dr. Crolly is deranged in his mind ; and then, with matchless imputedfront, the journalist adduces as proof of the imputed madness Dr. Crony's conduct in regard to the Colleges. Factious indecency could go no further. Either the tale is true, and then what a way of alluding to such a calamity ; or, as is all but evident, it is baseless, and then what an outrageous disregard of truth! Among the many trivialities, the " Commissioner " of the Times has furnished a theme for the Leader of the Irish People. The Commissioner had remarked, that in some R * i Women
were plain: on which Mr. O'Connell declares %ever saw
an ugly woman in Ireland—or some rubbish tit : ' d, and tuaL then -retorts that the Commissioner himielf is " Ugly." TN Commissioner,mentioned his impression with a specific and not unkind purpose ; the " Liberator " retorts with a mere person- ality, and thinks that it is the same thing I Mr. John O'Connell having before assailed the Commissioner, a letter" signed " John Foster," is sent to Mr. John, calling him " a har and a black- guard" : Mr. John is lost in amazement at the attack on his innocence ; but as the letter came from England, there is a pre- tence of believing that the Times Commissioner writes all his letters from England. Now, the journal for which he writes not only proves an alibi, but states that his name is not " John Foster ": the letter is written by somebody else—possibly by some exasperated relative. But there was an opportunity for making up a pretence of believing that the letters in the Times are written in England; and the O'Connells did not miss that opportunity, however contrary to truth. These, and some fresh movings of the straw among the Orange- men, are the great events of the week : the general trifling- makes them of importance ; and the general disregard for truth makes the figments pass for as much as facts in that unimppy country, preyed upon by its own sons.
