Dec. 21,] 



THE NEWSPAPER. 



Lancaster and Preston Junction. The Lancaster anu 

 Carlisle are to pay the Lancaster and Preston 5 per cent 

 on their paid-up capital of 400,000/., from the let Sept., 

 1846, with an allowance of one-third surplus profit, or 

 the option, within three years of the opening, of convert- 

 ing their shares into Lancaster and Carlisle stock at par. 

 The Lancaster and Carlisle purchase about 12,000/. 

 worth of property held by the Preston Company, which 

 sum, it is understood, is qirre sufficient to provide for 

 the existing debt of the latter c .rnpany.— It having been 

 announced that the West London Railway, which ha* 

 proved such an unfortunate speculation, was to be sold 

 by auction on Tuesday, piecemeal, several capitalists 

 and contractors attended at the station at Knightsbridge. 

 No sale, however, took place, as it was announced that, 

 since the advertisement announcing the sale, proposals 

 had been received from the London and Birmingham 

 Company for the purchase of the line, which, it wa B 

 hoped, would meet with the approbation of the share- 

 holders. The sale was therefore indefinitely postponed. 



_ 



IRELAND. 



Dublin. — An official announcement appears in a su 

 plement to the Dublni Gazelle of Fridav, dated Dublin 

 Castle, Dec. 18, stating that the Queen 'in Council ha^ 

 been pleased, by warrant under the sign manual, bearing 

 date at Her Majesty's Court of St. James's, the 14th 

 Dec, to appoint the following persons to be Commis- 

 sioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ire- 

 land, agreeably to the provision of the Act 7th and 8th 

 of Her Majesty, cap. 97, viz. :— The most Rev. John 

 George, Lord Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of all 

 Ireland. The Most Rev. Richard, Lord Archbishop of 

 Dublin; the Most Rev. Archbishop Crolly ; the Most 

 Rev. Archbishop Murray; Right Hon. Earl of Donough- 

 more ; Right Rev. Bishop Denvir ; Very Rev. H. IV 

 kenham, Dean of St. Patrick's; Right Hon. Sir Patrick 

 Bellew, Bart. ; Right Hon. A. R. Blake ; Rev. P. S. 

 Henry, D.D. In the preceding list there are five Ro- 

 man Catholics, four members of the Established Choral 

 and one Presbyterian, namely, Dr. Henry, whose ap- 

 pointment we mentioned last week. The total number 

 appointed is ten Commissioners; but there are, besides, 

 the ex officio commissioners named in the Act, who are 

 members of the Established Church. This is the first 

 time, since the enactment of the Penal Laws, that Ro- 

 man Catholic prelates have been recognised by their 

 titles in an official document, emanating from the Queen 

 in Council, and published by authority. It will be ob- 

 served that Dr. Denvir, Roman Catholic Bishop of 

 Down, and resident in Belfast, has been named in the 



inhabitants of the disaffected districts. The thanks 

 the Association, on the motion of Mr. O'Conneli, were 

 given to Mr. Steele for his exertions. Mr. O'Conneli 

 said he believed that everyone would admit that a purer 

 spirit, a more high-minded gentleman, or a soul of more 

 chivalrous honour, never existed than in his esteemed 

 friend. An address was read which Mr. S. O'Brien 

 had drawn up for circulation among the inhabitants of 

 Leitrim and Cavan, calling upon them to withdraw from 

 all Ribbon Societies j and the thanks of the Association 

 were voted to Mr. O'Brien for preparing it. Mr. 

 O'Conneli. then adverted to his quarrel with the Ex- 

 aminer newspaper, and commented with some severity 

 on another attack made upon him by that paper last 

 week. Some contributions having been handed in, 



Mr. O'Covn-kll again rose, and said he had to apologise for 

 riot being prepared with the report from the committee on the 

 ten propositions he had referred to on the last meeting. H 

 would on the present occasion refer to but one of those pro- 

 positions. The English press omitted all mention of them, 

 with the exception of some notice of them that had appeared in 

 the Morning Chronicle. The only one of them to which he 

 would the., allude was the financial injustice done to Ireland by 

 the Union. That was a subject that had sunk deeply into the 

 minds of the Irish people, but which had been most ncglecte 

 by the English press. He then repeated the statement he has 

 frequently made concerning the injustice done to Ireland in 

 respect to the national debt. These facts, he contended, had 

 sunk deep in the Irish mind, though they were totally unat- 

 tended to in England. They had produced the monster meet- 

 logs of 1843, the perseverance of 1 144, and they would have 

 their effect on the next great Repeal year of 1 845. The approach- 

 ing year ought to be one of high advantage to Ireland. It 

 was the only country in the world where hundreds of thousands 

 —ay, where millions of people could assemble without even 

 an accident taking place among them. There could not be 

 a better proof of the superiority of Irishmen. Professor 

 Forbes, the Scotch philosopher, and Professor Quintelet, in 

 Belgium, had, by a series of experiments, conducted for 

 J 2 years, proved that the Irishman was the first among the 

 nations of Europe for every physical capacity. Professor Kane, 

 an Irishman, made similar experiments in London, and h« 

 proved that when the power of raising burdens in an Irish- 

 man was 27, the highest number among any other people 

 was but 25. He put these facts forward to show that the people 

 of Ireland, to use a common phrase, were not a people to he 

 sneezed at. The Tory press, ever anxious to degrade their 

 own country, and to exalt above them the people of any other 

 country, quoted some observations that he had made when ad- 

 dressing a procession of fio.000 or 80,000 of the men of Tippe- 

 rary that had met him lately on coming into Nenagh. They said 

 that he admitted the crimes that exist in Ireland, but he ne?er 

 attempted to deny them. He said nothing at Nenagh that he 

 had not said before for the Hundredth time, but they left out his 

 admission of the wholesale murders of the landlords. He said 

 that he was not there to deny the oppressions of which the 

 peasantry complained, but he was thereto show them that their 

 crimes could afford them no redress, and even if they did that 

 they were so horrible and detestable before God and man that 

 they onght 



[1844. 



u»u 



never again to be repeated. He did not care 



Pftmm; Cfl i'n« ; *u cn 'rr " ," — ^ JT v " w whether death was produced by the pistol Bhct, or by the more 



commission in the room of Dr. Kennedy, Roman Catho- tedious, but rot less certain mode of starvation in a ditch 



lie Bishop of Killaloe, who resigned soon after his ap- He fre ? l Y admitted those detestable crimes, but they took 



place in only a small and excepted portion of the coun- 

 try ; and as there was found among the Apostles one traitor, 

 so there was one criminal part of Ireland— that, however, did 

 not constitute by any means a twelfth portion of the country. 

 Would to Heaven that he had as much influence with the land- 

 lords as he had with the people, and those crimes would soon 

 cease over the entire kingdom. He knew that the forthcoming 

 report of the landlord and tenant commission would refer to 

 the greater leniency of the landlords in the north of Ireland to 

 their tenants. At the expiration of a lease in Ulster, the land- 

 lord came to an amicable arrangement with the existing tenant, 

 instead of, a* in other parts of the country, going about to try 

 if tbey could get any other person to offer them more rent. 

 That was the reason that no agrarian crimes were heard of in 

 the north, and he would remind those who attributed the tran- 

 quillity there to the prevalence of the Protestant persuasion, 

 that there was a majority of 500,000 Catholics in Ulster over 

 the other sects, and that they, as well as the Protestants and 

 Presbyterians, remained free from those crimes. The Govern- 

 ment had, by the Clontarf proclamation, challenged the people 

 of Ireland to war, but finding that they would not fight, they 

 went to law with them. From October to May the litigation 

 had been going on f and now he would turn back on those who 

 caused that litigation, and he defied them to state any one 

 crime of which he had been guilty. They might as well have 

 indicted them for dining together, or for going to the same 

 place of worship ; but they could not do that, as they were of 

 different persuasions. There were crimes committed, but not 

 by the Repealers. They had, to be sure, the satisfaction of keep- 

 ing him in jail for 100 days, when they had no right to detain 

 him there for the hundredth part of a minute. Alter some fur- 

 ther comments on the conduct of Government during the 

 prosecution, he proceeded to say that they would hold but two 

 meetings more of the Association in that year, but they should 

 commence 1845 as if they were then only really beginning to 

 agitate for Repeal, and as if all they had hitherto done were as 

 nothing. 1843 was the Repeal year for monster meetings, 1844 

 for patience and for legal triumph, hut 1845 should be marked 

 by the weekly collection of the Repeal rent. If it were to be 

 but l.v. or \d. in any locality, still it should be collected weekly. 

 They solicited from no man more than u. a year, or one far- 

 thing a week, with four weeks for nothing; but if every man 

 subscribed that sum they would have 50,000/., and he would 

 expect even 100,000/. at the end of the year. Lord Cloncurry 

 stated eight years ago, and it had never since been contradicted, 

 that in 1830 the Duke of Wellington and his Ministry had 

 agreed to propose a modification of the Union ; and what he 

 did theu he could be compelled to do again, and when they had 

 50,000/. in one year, where was the man who would tell them 

 tJiat they were not in earnest, or that Repeal could be any 

 longer delayed? Mr. O'Conneli concluded by moving that the 

 Repealers throughout Ireland be called upon to demonstrate 

 their perseverance in the Repeal cause by sending in weekly 

 contributions on and after the 1st January, 1845, — After the 

 disposal of some routine business, Mr. O'Conneli announced 

 the rent for the week to be 1/9/. 12*. Id. 



IVaterforiL — The Repeal demonstration in this town, 



pointment. It will also be observed, that not only do 

 the Roman Catholic Bishops get their titles, but they 

 also get precedence according to rank. Thus Archbishop 

 Murray takes rank before the Earl of Donoughmore, 

 and Bishop Denvir before the Dean of St. Patrick's. 

 — The agitation, however, against the Act fs still 

 carried on with the greatest vigour in all parts of 

 the country. Dr. Keating, Roman Catholic Bishop of 

 Ferns, presided at a meeting in Wexford on Sunday 

 last, when he spoke at considerable length, vehemently 

 protesting against the Charitable Bequests Act, as cal- 

 culated to produce the most ruinous consequences as re- 

 gards the Roman Catholic Church in this country. Dr. 

 Keating thus concluded :— « There seems intended in 

 this Act the commencement of a connection in ecclesias- 

 tical matters between the Catholic Church in Ireland and 

 the State; and being convinced that such connection 

 would be ruinous to the Church, and damage her useful- 

 ness to the people and the country, I feel it my duty to 

 protest against it, and to inform you, my beloved people, 

 of the evils which would flow from such an alliance." The 

 Roman Catholic clergy of Meath, headed by Dr. Cant- 

 well, the Bishop, have resolved that "any Roman Ca- 

 tholic, lay or clerical, taking a place on the commission 

 to carry into operation the odious Charitable Bequests 

 Act deserves the heavy censures of the Church, and the 

 indignant reprobation of the people of Ireland." A meet- 

 ing has also been held at Waterford, the Mayor in the 

 chair, in compliance with a requisition numerously signed. 

 A series of resolutions, condemnatory of the provisions of 

 the Act having been moved and seconded by the 

 Rev. Dr. Burke, of Clonmel, the Rev. Dr. O'Brien, 

 president of the Roman Catholic College, and other 

 clergymen, in energetic speeches. Mr. O'Conneli ad- 

 dressed the meeting for upwards of an hour, urging the 

 al topics of objection to the Bill which have been so 



often reiterated at the parochial meetings in Dublin. He 



declared that the Bill was utterly uncalled for, and that 



it went to destroy a most useful body of the clergy— the 



regulars ; that it could serve no single good purpose, rod 



that in its end it was intended to excite division among a 



hierarchy and clergy hitherto distinguished by their una- 

 nimity and concord. He called upon the clergy to 



denounce it, and to remonstrate with those of their body .. „ , 



wno could give it sanction ; and, above all, he declaimed for which great preparations have been making for some 



against any surrender of ecclesiastical privilegss for an 

 entree to the Castle or for Couit favour.— The deanery 

 w Killaloe has been conferred upon the Rev. Dr. Higgin, 



vicar-General of Killaloe and Rector of Roscrea.— The 

 weekly meeting of the Repeal Association was held on 

 Monday, Mr. Nicholas Markey, of Walshetown, in the 

 chair. The Secretary read a communication from Mr. 

 Steele, head Pacificator, who had gone to Leitrim and Cavan 

 jor the purpose of putting down the system of Ribbonism, 

 Jately established in those counties under the name 



' Molly Maguires." It was accompanied by an address 

 from Mr. Steele which he had promulgated among the 



time, took place on Thursday. Mr. O'Conneli, on his 

 entry into the city, was received by a procession of 

 about 4000 persons. On reaching his hotel, he appeared 

 at the window, and addressed the people, announcing a 

 new organisation of the Repeal rent, to commence on the 

 1st January, when every one would be expected to con- 

 tribute weekly. By this means, he said, before 12 months 

 the result would be seen in the progress of Repeal. 

 Having expatiated on the injustice of his 100 dajs' 

 imprisonment, ou the necessity of attendance on the re- 

 gistry, repeal organisation, perseverance, and on the 

 physical, moral, and religious superiority of the Irish 



people to all other nations of the globe, he concluded by 

 saying, that it was impossible that Ireland could con- 

 tinue a province.— At the banquet in the evening, the 

 Mayor of Waterford presided, supported by Mr. O'Con- 

 neli, Mr. Roche, M.P. ; the Mayors of Cork, Clonmel, 

 Limerick, and Kilkenny; Dr. Foran, Titular Bishop of 

 Waterford, &c. Mr. O'Conneli, in his speech, said— 



There were two questions to be solved by thinking men— 

 by ever}- friend of Ireland. The first was, What would be the 

 next step to take for Repeal? Aud the second was, When 

 would they get Repeal ' The result of the first was certain - 

 the answer was sure. He positively did not think that they 

 could by any possibility sufficiently mismanage the cause, even 

 though they did so on purpose, so that they shouid not get 

 Repeal. He had no more doubt of it than he had of his own 

 existence. The Union was to be repealed, and the oldest 

 amongst them, and few were more so than himself, had a right 

 to see the Irish Parliament restored and in operation for many 

 years. Let the question of time be disposed of first. It might 

 be more remote than he anticipated— it might be nearer than 

 the most sanguine could conjecture. Let there be but one vio- 

 lent concussion of the British Ministry. Let war break out in 

 any country of Europe. Let Spain become weary i beyinr 

 the revolutionat isanity of France, or France become impa- 

 tient of conquering Spain— England must be a part o the 

 quarrel, and if any two royal dogs of rope had a wrangle, as 

 England would take part with one or the other, they would ret 

 Repeal more readily than they could utter the word. Then she 

 would want the people of Ireland, and ib< % ild have them 

 but the price would be— Repeal. At all even' i not be 



fax remote, for the ac nutating strength of th ,u nation 



waa enormous, considering that on the best authority the had 

 no less than 000,000 able-b d grown up men. < lout kon- 

 ing boys. The next question was, What was the next step to be 

 taken? They must first look back to the past, to ascertain the 

 prudent and wise course for the future. To use a Spanish 

 phrase, Ireland had " pronounced " for the Repeal. The learned 

 rentleman then spoke of the 41 roon meetings his 



usual tone of eulogy, of their peace and order, and of the supe- 

 riority in physical activity, energy, and | >wer, to an\ other 

 nation, which had been attributed to the Ii sople ig n 



philosophers. They possessed every great moral quality as 

 well. No nation in the world could or ever would be able to 

 boast of such a year as their year, '43. To be sure they had 

 kept him 100 days in gaol, where they had no right to keep him 

 for the one-hundredtu , ait of a minute. Ilutdid no go «1 fol- 

 low from it f Did they not hear the whisperings of another 

 voice? Did they not hear the murmurings of an wave 



that would ere long assist them In bearing the ark Ireland's' 

 liberties into the haven of peace? Did they not mark how Ca- 

 tholic and Protestant were beginning to amalgamate into the 

 Irishman « Were there no symptoms abroad that the Irish 

 mind was in the throes of anew birth, and that the babe should 

 be called " Liberty ?" Mr. O'Conneli then proceeded to show 

 that a Protestant movement had taken place in favour of Re- 

 peal; and, as proofs of its existence and progression, instanced 

 the adhesion of Mr. W. S. O'Brien, Mr. E. B. Roche, the Hon. 

 Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Grey Porter's pamphlet, on all of 

 which he bestowed the most exalted epithets of praise. He 

 continued — The next question was, What was to I ie with 



England .» He had thought of making a pilgrimage to England 

 to look for justice and demand inquiry. At one time he had 

 thought such a plan wise, prudent— he might say, cunning-- 

 but he nowdiffered totally from himself, ami th ughtit savoured 

 rather of degradation than cunning or wi»d>m. There was no 

 possibility of making any impression on England whilst the ada- 

 mantine wall of the press stood between him and the people 

 Three times since he left Derrynane had he brought forward 

 Irish grievances in the shape of 10 propositions, that they 

 might find their way into the London papers, and there was 

 only an abstract of them given, without the slightest remark. 

 No answer whatever had been given to his assertions; no 

 attempt to show that he was wrong. He showed that Ireland 

 was entitled to 1/5 members. England did not care whether 

 she was entitled to 1 or 500. They had them fettered and hand- 

 cuffed, as they thought, in the chains of the Union, and 

 imagined that they were too weak to break them. They never 

 were more mistaken in their lives. They were both able and 

 willing, and, with the blessing of Heaven, would break them 

 into fragments. They should no longer continue in chains, 

 and the hour of their thraldom was gone by. His propositions as 

 to the injustice of the franchise and the national debt, had 

 appeared indeed in the London papers, but had fallen still-born 

 to the ground without remark or comment. Oh, but the time 

 was fast coming when John Bull would be obliged to listen to 

 them, and to hear them in a voice not to be misunderstood. Mr. 

 O'Conneli went on to argue that a change in the social 

 elements of Ireland was inevitable, and admitted on ad hands 

 to be desirable. That day must not be then a mere idle pageant, 

 but a precursor of hard work. It was not sufficient now for 

 men or members of Parliament to be Liberals; he hated the 

 nickname, and had translated the word " Liberal " into •■ Re- 

 pealer," and by that he mutt stand. He continued t<> insist 

 upon the necessity of returning Repealers only, and declare i, 

 that even if the Liberals appeared to have majorities at the 

 registrations, candidates should be found to contest the counties 

 and towns with them. There must be no laggards. A new 

 ytar was approaching, and the Irish nation had only to will ft, 

 and there would be a Parliament once more in College-green! 

 Would the British Ministry ever understand the Irish people? 

 That had been a glorious day for him. He had been delighted 

 to behold another monster meeting. Had they beheld the hun- 

 dreds of thousands who listened to him that day, re-echoing 

 every sentiment of nationality? That voice would reach 

 Bristol, pass on to Whitehall, and startle the British Ministry. 

 It would cross the Atlantic. It would be heard by the serfs of 

 the crafty uiurper of France. Ireland was a subject for the 

 thoughts of the world. A little while ago, and it might have 

 been asked, where in England stood Ireland? Now they might 

 inquire, where in Irelaud stood England? His answer was, 

 nowhere. Let the Irsh people stand together. They were 

 entitled to the Parliament out of which they haa been swindled, 

 and let them protest so in the presence of their God, with all 

 the sanctity of an oath, without its profanity, and Ireland 

 would be a nation again. 



The Provinces. — Another murder has been added to 

 the terrible list of Tipperary during the present winter. 

 The parties were a farmer called Brit, who was murdered 

 by his two nephews in open day, in consequence of soma 

 long-standing dispute about the right of passage through 

 a green lane in which the murder was commit . An- 

 other murder has been committed in Clare, where the 

 msgistracy had assembled last week to devise measures 

 for bringing to justice the persons concerned in the as- 

 sassination of Mr. Arthur Gloater, the magistrate. It 

 appears that on Friday afternoon Mr. Thomas Heffernaa, 

 a farmer, residing near Ennis, the assize town of the 

 county, was fired at by some miscreants who lay in wait, 

 and died instantly. The murder was committed about 

 3 o'clock, and it is stated that some of the neighbours of 

 the victim were quite near at the time. This murder, 

 like almost all the crimes perpetrated in the south, was 

 connected with disputes about land. It appears that 

 Heffernan was proceeding by ejectment against his 



