342 The Newspaper Press of Ireland. [OcT, 



ing from Belfast at this period the focus of republicanism his political 

 opinions were above suspicion, He was, however, a martyr to his fidelity ; 

 for he underwent many prosecutions, instituted by the government ; and, 

 what was still worse, he had to meet the devil in his own court ; for 

 John Scott, Lord Clonmel, was at this period Chief Justice of the King's 

 Bench. Many " keen encounters of the tongue" took place between Lord 

 Clonmel and Magee on these occasions, in which the latter was usually 

 the victor. In addressing the court in his own defence, Magee had occa- 

 sion to allude to some public character, who was belter known by a 

 familiar designation. The official gravity of Clonmel was all agog ; and 

 he, with bilious asperity, reproved the printer, by saying, ** Mr. Magee, 

 we allow no nicknames in this court." " Very well, John Scott !" was 

 the reply. 



After the death of John Magee the elder, the Evening Post became the 

 property of John Magee, his son, whose fidelity to his principles and his 

 party were but ill -requited. To the memory of this interesting and 

 amiable young man, who perished prematurely from an illness contracted 

 during a long imprisonment for a libel on the Duke of Richmond, a deep 

 debt of gratitude is due by the Catholics of Ireland. During the sittings 

 of the old Catholic Board pending the trials of the delegates, when a 

 journalist had nothing to hope from an ill-compacted party, and every thing 

 to fear from a vindictive and incapable government the Evening Post 

 spoke to the sense and passions of the people with an energy and eloquence 

 worthy more durable record than the unpermanent and fleeting columns 

 01 the most popular print. But it was not alone by eloquence or passion 

 that its articles were distinguished. There ran through them a strong cur- 

 rent of common sense a depth of thought and profundity of acquirement, 

 relieved by a rich vein of wit and satire, of which latter weapon the author 

 proved himself to have the entire mastery. 



I am happy to have it in my power to state, that those talents which, at 

 the period I allude to, secured to the Evening Post the greatest circula- 

 tion of any paper in Ireland, still continue to guide it, without the compro- 

 mise of any principle, or the forfeiture of a single friend. Even while I 

 write, the editor labours as Mr. Conway in the Catholic Association, and 

 as " Monsieur le Redacteur" at No. 11, Trinity-street. In both capacities, 

 he has rendered the most eminent services to the Catholic cause; and were 

 I asked to point out a man who knows best the temper of the Irish mind, 

 the resources of the soil, the capability of the population, the grievances of 

 the country, and the remedies to be applied for its salvation, I would 

 unhesitatingly point to Mr. Conway. Let me not be understood, however, 

 as meaning to convey that the knowledge of Mr. Conway is merely local ; 

 I am aware it is very various, and not less profound ; and he is perhaps the 

 only editor in Ireland who can discuss, with a ready pen and with easy 

 freedom, the complex questions of the currency, the corn laws, and all the 

 details embraced under the head of political economy. 



The evening paper the next in circulation to the Evening Post is the 

 Evening Mail. This journal has only been established about four years ; 

 yet has it, from a strange concurrence of circumstances, risen to maturity 

 in a time incredibly short. When Lord Wellesley came to Ireland, and 

 Mr. Plunkett was appointed attorney-general, the Ascendancy-men and 

 the Orange-faction began to take the alarm, and to withdraw their support 

 from the Patriot, heretofore the Protestant paper, and now the supporter 

 of Lord Wellesley's government In order the more successfully to accom- 

 plish these designs, the editor of the Patriot was spirited away ; and, 



