IRELAND.
Election rumours multiply in the provincial papers, but they are mostly too vague and unauthentic to be worth repeating. The Dublin Evening Post, a Whig journal, speculates upon the probable result of the Irish elections; and though the passage is an ex pane statement, it may at least be taken to show the state of utter division between parties in Ireland- " Here the probability is that the Liberals will not eventually be the gainers by the result. The Conservatives are active, we are told, everywhere; and the Repealers—sensible and honest fellows—have been working heaven sod earth to turn the scale in their favour. The political roguery of both factions has been long notorious to us, and, we should suppose, to the rest of the world; but in the sordid game which has already commenced—thanks to the mixture of stolidity, conceit, self-seeking, and ignorance on the part of the Repealers—the Orangemen are sure to win. The patriots, as well as their press, are playing booty. The thing is notorious, and not to be denied. There was a time, and not a very re- mote one either, at which the representation of Ireland was a very important item in Parliament. That time has passed; that it will return, we hope and believe. But, at present, the Irish representatives are not of such material con- sequence as they used to be. They will have little, if any effect on the pro- ceedings of the House of Commons. During this session they have been weighed in the scales and found wanting. The business of the Legislature may procced without them. Indeed, some of the Repealers tell us they will make it a point not to go. They need not make it a point: they need do no more than they are doing now aithout having made a point at all."
The Honourable William Browne, brother to Lord Kenmare, retires from the representation of Kerry. The Repeal Association met on Monday, in Conciliation Hall. Mr. John O'Connell took the chair, and submitted a series of resolutions, setting forth the continued necessity for Repeal, and calling upon Irishmen to support the Loyal National Repeal Association of Ireland. Letters of condo- lence on the recent bereavement were read; and the Secretary announced that the Irish people would go into general mourning.
The Old Repealers show intense bitterness towards the Young Ireland party. The Pilot, for instance, hints that the party actually killed O'Connell—.
"The Nation of Saturday appears in mourning, probably in imitation of the executioner who masks his face m crape."
In another article, the Pilot says-
" Mentes, mattes, toujours rnentez—lie, lie, always lie—was the exhortation of Voltaire to Diderot, who was preparing the way for the Infidel Revolution in France. Little did he think that he would have in this country such apt scho- lars. Since the beginning of the feud, lying was the Young Ireland stock in trade. • • • Respect for the deceased is incompatible with a compromise with his destroyers. There can be no compact between the murderers and the adorers of O'Connell."
The almost forgotten Reproductive Employment Committee has reap- peared under the title of the "Irish Council." The first meeting was held on Tuesday.
Great reductions have taken place in the prices cf wheat and Indian meal. The growing crops still promise early abundance.
There seems to be little doubt as to the reappearance of the potato disease. The fact is first distinctly announced in a -letter from Messrs. Joseph Higgins and Sons, nurserymen, of College Green, in a letter pub- lished by the Dublin Evening Post: they describe the result of experiments made by them on potatoes planted in different modes. In Tipperary and Carlow, the disease is ascertained to have thoroughly manifested itself.
Specific as the foregoing statement is, there are those who deny that there is any real foundation for the fear. There has been some slight dis- coloration of the leaves, they say, and hence the rumour.
Several failures in the leather trade, and among general shopkeepers in Dublin, are reported by the correspondent of the Morning Chronicle. Very few dockets, however, have been struck; the creditors, with commendable forbearance, preferring to make the best private arrangement possible.