The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-22 00:00:00

HOLYCHOS3.

In pursuance of a requisition signed by a large nun. ocr of
the tenant-farmers of the county Tipperary, the meeting
which has attracted so much public attention was held at
liolycrou on Sunday, at two o'clock. The object of the
meeting, as set forth in the requisition, was " to establish a
tenant-league, or an association of tenant-farmers, for the
purpose of asserting and securing the rights and improving
the condition of the occupying tenantry of the soil." There
were about 4,000 pereons present, considerable numbers of
them apparently comfortable farmers, the remainder chiefly
composed of small occupiers and labourers. The meeting
was held on the fair green, where a small, rudely-constructed
platform was erected. There was an evident absence of all
the usual preparations fur a public meeting. The congreps.
tion of the chapel at Itolycroes formed a considerable portion
of those who attended.

The chair was taken by Mr. WILLIAM LOVOIINANE, of
Iloytoorath, a tenant-farmer.
Mr. JAMES F. LAMM was appointed secretary to the
muting, and briefly explained the objects for which it was
called. Ile said the principal object was to establish in Tip-
perary the tenant-right of Ulster—a right which declared
that any man who obtained possession of land as occupying
tenant should be understood u having the perpetual pos-
session of it so long as he paid the rent ; that the rent was
not to be fixed by competition for the land by the landlord or
agent, or be regulated by the highest bidding, but by the
general standard of the country, or by common consent, or
by arbitration, or some equally fair and equitable mode.
Mr. Lalor read in conclusion the following resolutions:

.. -
That of natural right, on the grant of God, the soil of Ireland be-
longs to the people of Ireland, who hare, therefore, a clear vested
right of property in that soil to the extent of full, comfortable, in-
dependent, and secure subsistenee therefrom, which never could or
can be parted with, paro, or perish ; and which no power on earth,
or any length of adverse possession, can take away, annul, bar or di-
minish.—That the people of Ireland have been for ages deprived of
the benefit of their natural right of property in their own roil ; that
their right has been, in practical effect, utterly defeated and divested;
and that it now requires to be asserted, enforced, and established.—
That the claim of the occupying tenants of the soil to a hill and Rah.
viral subsistence out of the crops they have raised, and to a sufficiency
of seed for next year's crop. is g.rior and superior to every other claim
whatsoever. —That the subsistence of the people of Ireland is in dan-
ger, and requires to be defended, protected, and secured.—That In de-
fence of our rights of life, property, and security for subsistence, we
do hereby resolve and constitute crawly, into a public league or asso-
ciation under the name of the Tipperary Tenant League.

Mr. JOHN Cokrelca, a tenant-farmer, having proposed the
resolutions,
Mr. DOH ENT came forward to second the motion, and was
received with loud cheers. He said—Mr. Chairman, I ap-
pear here as a tenant-farmer of Tipperary. I appear here
because I have a personal interest, independent of the in-
terest I feel for the country at this most momentous crisis.
I appear here because • dark hour of danger has come upon
Ireland, and because I believe if the people be not true
to themselves they will have no protectors—no safety.
I know it has been said by the English press that this
would be an illegal meeting; and I am here to say in reply
that we do not assemble to violate any law, but to see
justice done the people. (Cheers.) It has been also said
by the English press that this meeting is the beginning of
a crusade against rents. To that I answer, and say no; such
is not the object. (Cries of" No, no.") Every man here is dis-
posed and determined to pay his rent to his landlord. I for
one believe the landlord is entitled to obtain a fair rent for
his land: but, on the other hand, I believe he has no right
to an unfair rent. We did not come here to-day to resolve
that the landlord shall not increase his rent, hut to ask his
usiatance to settle this question for ever. (Cheers.) I
know that this county has obtained an unfortunate notoriety
throughout the world. I know it has been said that Tip
perary is notorious for its mid-day and midnight murders.
I also know that the direst cruelties have in most instances
led to those murders ; and I ask the landlord as well as the
farmer to redeem the county from this stigma by now
coming forward and entering into an amicable agreement
with one another. What do we ask? What do the
tenant-farmers seek for ? We hear this and other parts of
Ireland blamed, and the north praised; we are often
told that the farmers in the north are industrious and
comfortable, and that we are wretched and idle. We ask
to-day from the landlords that we, the tenant-farmers in
Tipperary, shall have the same security that is enjoyed by
tenants in the north of Ireland. We demand no more; and
I say firmly that we shall be satisfied with no less. (Cheers.)
We demand that the bargain for land shall be the same as
for a horse sr a cow, and that if the price of the land be
given—a fair rational price, not settled by the landlord
alone, but by common consent between landlord and tenant,
when that lair and reasonable price is given, we demand that
the landlord shall have no more right to take the land, as
well as the price of it, than any other man in the community.
In the north of Ireland when a man gets a farm he knows
that he is secure in the possession of it so long as he pays the
rent. He does not get a lease, but he has • title as good as
the landlord's title to the estate. The landlord cannot re-
move him while he fulfils his engagement. If the landlord
wishes for the farm he must purchase the tenant's interest
like any other man, provided the tenant be willing to part
with it, for when the landlord parts with the possession, he
parts with all right except his right to the rent agreed on,
and the right to purchase back his own land from the
tenant if he can. And this custom is founded on the idea,
the just idea, that if the landlord hes a property in the
soil, the tenant has a more sacred property in the sweat
and blood he has expended on the farm, (Cheers.) A new
process is going on now. We hear • good deal from Hog-
land about the landlords of this country. Whigs, tones,
radicals in that country have talked a great deal about
the Irish landlords, about what they have done and what
they have not done. Those English parties say, " Oh,
we will confiscate the property of the landlords.
We will impose • rate to support the poor which
will confiscate the property of the landlords of Ireland."
Now what is the fact ? Who pays the rate in the first in-
stance? Is it not the struggling tenant? He is, to be sure,
to be allowed his proportion of the rate when he pays his
rent, but not till then. I think it may be safely said that,
as times go now, the day is rather remote when he will be
able to pay his rent and meet the other demands made on
him. I believe that another year like the past—nay,
another half-year like the past—would reduce the landlords
to the same state of poverty as the tenants are now reduced
to. A notion has lately become very popular among
the landlords, and has been very much promulgated
among them, and it is this : that the small tenants
should be got rid of in some way or other. They are
a nuisance on the earth—an eyesore on the estate ; and
the man who would not cut up a tree that grows in his
demesne is ready to root out the people whom God
has created, and to whom he gave the world as an
inheritance. (Cheers.) He is ready to root them
out, and too often does he do so. But he is sometimes so
compassionate, merciful, and generous, that he gives them
assistance to struggle into the emigrant ships to escape from
the fever at home, where at least they would have some one
to attend them in their illness, to encounter the more fatal
fever on the bosom of the ocean, where they can get no
attendance at all ; and the end of this is, that those who en-
deavour to escape from sickness and death here, meet certain
sickness and death in far off lands, where there is no one to
offer up a prayer fir the repose of their souls, or at the last
moment to compose the members of the dying. Thus do
many of the people die—thus are they tut off and buried in a
foreign land, all through the kindness, compassion, and gene-
rosity of some of the landlords. Now will the people of Ire-
land quietly, tamely, and silently submit to the destruction
or deportation of the small farmers ? (No.) Far be it from me
to recommend that any violent means should be used to pre-
I vent the extermination or deportation of the small farmers.
On the contrary, I believe that violent means would recoil
on the heads of those who would employ them. But I
depend on the voice of the country—l rely [or the protec-
tion of the small farmers on the steady, legal, powerful,
and overwhelming public will of the people. (Cheers.)
Come you together, and come often. Resolve firmly, in the
face of Heaven, that these things shall not continue. Your
landlords will get their rents—if they can ; the government
will get back their advances—if they can; and the condition
of the farmers will become worse and worse until they
find their last resting place in the poor-house. (Hear.)
It is in your power to avert this. The famine which swept
away the people by thousands in Cork, Galway, and Mayo,
never reached the counties in Ulster, where there are =-
manse numbers of small farmers, but where they are pro-
' tected by the salutary, wise, and beneficent carom of tenant-
, right, which we ask you here to adopt. Will you, in every
locality in your county, adopt that custom, as far as you can
do so without violating the law ? (Cries of " We will.")
Will you take counsel together how you can quietly and
• peaceably insist on the enforcement of that right ? Believe
me, that coming here to-day from a distance to hear speeches
and cheer whatever sentiments maybe agreeable to you, is
not the way to secure your ends. Your object can only be
effected by each of you endeavouring, in his own locality, to
carry out the resolutions of this meeting. Let each man
• teach those principles to his neighbour ; show him the true
[ way to independence and comfort, and say to him, " Here is
your home; improve it, raise yourself, and do not quit it."
For my part, I most warmly respond to the hers enter.
• tamed by sanguine men for the redemption of this
beautiful land ; and I say it without any attempt at dab

eery, you, the tenant farmers of Ireland, are the people of
this country. Ireland has no other resources but her agri-
culture ; and you are the men out of whose blood and sweat
is formed the only capital that Ireland has. You are the
men out of whose energies the strength of this land is de-
rived both in capital and in physical power. I call on you
to exercise that strength now for the purpose of averting the
last fatal calamity that ever betel a nation— namely, that her
children should be banished to another clime, or snit into
the poor-house in order to increase the domains of the landlord.
(Hear.) It is not my purpose to make you an exciting speech.
I stated before that I expected no good from violence; but I
do expect every good from a determined people becoming
banded together for a good and noble purpose—not hur-
ried on cy the impulse of the moment—not wafted before
the breath of the popular feeling of to-day, but solemnly
resolving in the depths of their hearts, to insi,t on the ful-
filment of that covenant which God made between the
holders and the tillers of the land. (Greet applause.) They
sly " Oh, surely you can't mean to do this ; for parliament
has no power to deal with the rights of proprty." Who I
gave them a right of property? Under which covenant of
law does a landlord acquire a natural right of property ?
Was there ever such • doctrine broached as this—that
because • man is born in a particular sphere be may claim,
a right unalterable and indefeasible to the soil of the nation ?
The sole title that a landlord has to his property is the title
that the law gives him. If that be hies only title surely the
law can abridge or nullify that title ? Surely the law can
say—" This property is to be yours, subject to the condition
that the tiller of the soil shall have a perpetuity as enduring
as your own." I wonder much at the landlords who say
that the law cannot interfere with the rights of property.
The law has already interfered with • higher right of
property than that of the landowner ; and I believe the
landlords are equally anxious with the tenantry that the law
should so interfere to take away from the clergy one-fourth
se the tithe—(hear)—and transfer it to their own pockets.
Assuredly that same law, passed by the parliament in its
omnipotence, can interfere with the title of the landlord;
item say to him, " You shall take this land, subject to the
condition of giving the tenant a perpetuity in his farm as
long as he continues to pay the rent fixed upon it." (Hear,
hear.) How is the rent to be fixed upon ? At present,
there being no other resource but land in this country,
there are at least 5,000 persons looking for each farm that
is to be let. The rent is regulated, not by what the land is
molly worth—not by compact between landlord arid tenant
(for I deny that any arrangement having necessity for the
basis of it is • compact at all)--but it is regulated by the
great competition which unfortunately exists. The land-
lord, of course, takes advantage of this, and lets his lands
at the highest penny which a man can offer—l do not say
which a man can pay ; for, in many instances, the unfor-
tunate tenants are unable to discharge half the amount of
their extravagant rents. (Hear, hear.) What de I propose?
I ask parliament to interfere and pass a law immediately.
or their law will come too late ; for it is idle to suppose,
that this nation can endure much longer, tortured and
oppressed as she is on all sides. I will not speak of her
political condition, for I came here only to consult about
the safest way of transferring the tenant-right of
Ulster to Tipperary. (Hear, hear, and loud cheering.)
I ask parliament to interfere, and provide some means
whereby the land can be set at a fair rent. I think that
a system of valuation would be the best plan that could
porAbly be adopted. Let unbiassed persons be selected,
and sworn on oath to discharge the duties confided to them
with impartiality. L-t them set a fair value on the land,
and let the legislature say, " So much, and not one half-
penny more, you (the landlord) shall take for the land ; and
further, the moment you admit • tenant into possession he
can have that land as long as you, provided he continues to
pay the rent." I do not deny that a landlord may some.
times have a necessity fora certain farm occupied by a tenant.
If he does, let him pay for it like another man. In Ulster the
landlord can sell the tenant-right for arrears of rent ; but, if
he wishes to obtain possession of the holding of a man who
pays his rent, he must purchase him out. (Hear.) I know
there are many landlords listening to me now ; I know that
many landlords acted most kindly towards their tenants
during the past year—not only indulging their tenantry, but
contributing largely to the support of others. I say boldly
that I look upon the landlords as a class of my countrymen,
and that I would not sacrifice any clam. (Cheers.) I seek to do
them no injury, but the contrary. I ask fee the tillers of
the soil a perpetuity of title in the land they cultivate.
Si far from injuring the landlords thereby, I give them the
happiness which arises from the knowledge of having done
well. I give them the comfort of sitting down in their
homes, and not only seeing themselves surrounded by every
luxury and splendour, but of knowing that in no cabin on
their estate was there a single person without a meal. For
I deny that any man can ever be content, kneeing that
around him death is busy at his work—remembering that
though he enjoys every luxury that wealth can procure, the
men, women, and children around him are the victims of
an accidental famine. (Hear.) There is another subject
of considerable importance, which may be alluded to
here. Last year the entire potato crop was lost The
government had authentic information of that calamity early
in July. At that time the corn laws were in existence, the
effect of which was to prevent any foreign corn coming to
England, in order that they might glean from this country
every particle of her produce. Oats, barley, and wheat
were all taken away from us to the last grain; and why ? Be-
cause the government said, the merchants of England must
be consulted. A fatality followed that export of our pro-
visions. The people died in myriads—so fast did they perish
that in Cork a single coffin sufficed for one parish.
A Votes: Was that the coffin with the false bottom?
(Laughter.)
Mr. DoliavY : Yes, that was the coffin with the false
bottom. These whigs are very fond or eiteisomy , they car-
ried their practice to the grave, and made a profit even out
of the grim produce of death, for the coffin that was used to
carry the father of a family to his grave one day, was used
to convey his wife and children the next. (Oh, oh). Is that
to occur again ? (Loud cries of " No, no.") We had as
much wheat and oats as would have provided for our people.
What became of it ? It was brought away to feed the Eng-
lish people. Lord John Russell, in effect said, " There are
a certain number of people who live on potatoes, and a
certain number who live on bread." Now the potato crop is
lost ; yet still those who have lived on bread must continue
to have it, and those who have hitherto lived on the potato
must die—there is no help for it. (Hear, hear.) But the
English merchants have their turn now. Dire adversity has
some upon a great many of that class, for whose benefit the
lives of the Irish people were sacrificed. Rich houses have
been smutted and overwhelmed in ruin—creditors have gone
to their doors which they found closed against them. During
the time the distress was at its height in Ireland the English
men of war were lying idle in the docks, and the govern-
ment peremptorily refused to allow them to be used in car-
rying food to save the Irish people from starvation. But the
American nation, against whom some of us have eyeu fought,
perceived our miseries from afar, and determined to alle-
viate them, and their charity supplied to the starving sub-
jects of the mistress of the sea, in vessels conquered from
her power, the food which she refused to give us. (Loud
cheering.) The government would not interfere to save
the lives of the Irish people, lest the trade of the
British merchants should suffer, but they were not able
to restrain the hand of charity which was extended to tin
from beyond the wave, by that glorious nation whose star-
spangled banner is the emblem of freedom. (Loud cheers.)
Well, the merchants, to favour whom the people were left
to starve, have suffered as well as the people, and another
year has come—another year has come, and what is to be
done ? This may be a delicate subject to speak upon, but
I for one will not shrink from the free and honest expree-
'ion of my opinion as to what course ought to be pursued.
I say. come what may, the people shall not be left to starve
again. (Cheers.) I have no lean, but to prevent this we
will have the concurrence of landlord as well as farmer, of
tradesman as well as mechanic, and of labourer as well as
soy. I suppose no man will say that the people ought to
be exposed to starvation, or that they should die of want for
want of the food raised on their own land, Do I recommend
you to keep that food by force ? Far from it. But let all
combine for the one object—the salvation of the people—
let the landlords and tenants themselves buy up the food with
their own money for one-sixth of the price they will have
le pay if they let it leave their shores. Let England pro-
4:k • market for herself. Let her go to the Baltic—let her
reseeek Poland and scour America for food ; but let her
leave us our own. (A voice : " Let her buy yellow meal—
we'll have no more soup kitchens.") Now, what should be
done to effect our object ? We have only to combine among
ourselves—to unite all classes in an effort to save the
It will be in vain to rely on the British minister. Art
been false before in the hour of our need, and het:mad be
true now ; nor can we rely on the parliament, for It is the
parliament of England, not of the empire. It wilil be idle
and useless to call upon it for assistance, for it would not
heed us—it has but little concern for us. The few
Irish members who go .there and speak the truth, are
scoffed at,: and even if all the Irish members attended
there daily, and made out the beat and most conclusive
ease for their country, they are too few in number, and
would be out-voted by the British political economists who
would again sentence the people to starvation. Well, have
we the means of protecting ourselves at home ? I say that
we can protect ourselves if we please. Not only should
there be found enough left in each parish to feed the people,
but to provide seed for next year. Some of the landlords
boasted last year what they would de on this point. I ow
not see that there would be any difficulty in forming a com-
mittee in each parish to see how much oats, not to talk of
wheat, there was for food and seed. The people have not
the means now they had before, and this is a question for
the consideration of landlord as well as peasant, for no
matter what the landlord's power may be—let him be able
to wield the full force of the iniquitous laws made by
landlords for their own use and interest, and against
the tenant—let him have the unconquered army of
England, with her ships of war aid all her power and
might to assist and back him, he cannot make a starving
man pay rent. (Hear, hear.) The people will pay the rent
whenever they are able, but it is impossible for them to pay
what they have not. I call upon you to meet your engage-
ments where you can—l ask you to pay the landlord his rent
as far as you can. Pay to the last farthing where you are
able; but I only repeat the counsel of Almighty God, which
tells us that we are not to starve for the sake of meeting any
demand. (Cheers.) And now this may be sneered at in
certain quarters. It may be sneered at in England, and
we may be called a reckless, violent, lawless people. But no
matter. This great principle is beginning to be felt, and it
shall be acted on. The tenantry of Tipperary at least
understand their position—l trust they understand their
siren ph also ; for all constitutional law in England is sup-
to be the emanation of the popular will. I
ask you to assert your rights in the only way that
they ought to be averted—;peaceably, legally, but
with perseverance and determination. Humble though
we are, we have come here to-day to give the first
impulse to this great movement. Not many, perhaps, of
those who read our will be indoctrinated with
our principles, bat e seed s sown in the mind of the
county ; it will grow to maturity ; and I do not fear that by
this day twelve months you will In Tipperary be pomassad of

the legal right called in Ulster, the tenaat-right of the
North. (Cheers.) And give the people of Tipperary but the
hold on existence—protect them from that ruthless extermi-

nation which has desolated so many homes—enable them to
maintain themselves and their families in comfort, and out-
rage and violence will disappear. ((sear.) I was travelling
this week through n certain part of Tipperary, the name of
which I shall not now mention, and I saw there the work of
the bailiffs and the police. I saw three cabin, which had bout
the dwellings of some wretched families levelled to the around,
I saw in one place several half-naked, hungry, wretched,
and helpleu women and children endeavouring to obtain
some warmth be nestling in the soot of one of thew cabins.
(Sensation.) I raid to myself, black crimes are committed
in Tipperary—murder is an awful thing—it brings calamities
upon the countries where it is perpetrated, and the red
era of God's vengeance is continually over the murderer
of his fellow-man. But here is a crime equally detestable
in the eyes of God, and equally to be reprobated by mankind
at large ; and it is to prevent the continuance of that
crime—to put a stop to those dreadful murders consequent
thereupon—that I ask, for the sake of the landlord, of the
tenant, and of the labourer—for the sake of the wealthy
.

merchant, the struggling shopkeeper, and the induatrimis
artisan--that the tillers of the soil should have a right of
possession is their holdings as indefensible as that of the
landlords themselves. (Loud cheers,) I now beg leave to
second the adoption of the resolutions which you have heard
read. All that are in favour of forming a tenant-league on
the principles which we have advocated will now hold up
their hands.

(The entire assembly here held up their hands, and there-
upon the resolutions were declared to be carried.)
Mr. LALOR then pr.poeed the sixth resolution, which was
put and adopted.
That the sole and only title that can be Vended to any right of pri-
vate property in the mibstance of the soil is merely and altogether con-
ventional, and in ardor to be valid must be founded on common con-
sent aid agreement--be created by compact, and conferred or
confirmed by the will and grant of the people, as defined and declared
in the form of positive and precise laws ; and as it is CI., created
by the law, the law, therefore, may regulate, retain, limit, or
qualify it
Mr. Don EN Y moved the adoption et the following resolu-
tion
. . .

That the custom of tenant-right now prevailing in Ulster, and hero-
/natter defined, is founded on justice, and ought to be the law and
custom of Tipperary; and it is hereby solemnly resolved, covenanted,
and agreed. that the drat great duty of the leaguo now formed shall
be to establish and enhoree it thy every constitutional and legal means,
and we hereby pledge °omelet:* to use every exertion consistent with
the law to effic to.

The motion was seconded and p►ssed. Tke eighth resolu-
tion wan proposed by Mr. LaLott, end wan to tue following
effect
That the tenant-right above referred to is as follows—that is to my,
that any person or plates, now having and holding the actual posses-
sion and occupation of any parti in of the soil of this country, shall be
deemed and taken to have a permanent and perpetual posesaioa of
the same, for and during so long aa he shall eintinne to pay such
rent as shall be fined and determined by the adjudication and award
of sworn arbitrators, or other fairly constituted and impartial tribu-
nal, such adjudication and award to be made and given on such prin-
ciples and in such mode no may hereafter be determined by conven-
t'on and agreement between the landlord and occupier.
The resolution having been seconded was adopted, and
Mr. ',mot/proposed the following resolutions :
That the landlords of this county are hereby requested and called
on to subscribe to and recognise the tenant right, as slated in the
terms of the prcvioou resolution., and that all lawful means be used
to induce them to do a.—That tenant•farmen and people throughout
the several counties of Ireland are hereby called on to adopt the de-
claration of tenaataigh. contained in the foregoing revolution., and
to join in covenant and agreement wah us in :Inserting and eata-
bliallieg by force of public opinion the right and custom therein
stated as the standing law of tenure in Ireland—That pros pion be
made for organising the league now established into divisional or
parochial committees.
The resolutions wero carried unanimously amidst loud
chum.
•-.-.. - - • -•

Mr. WM. Covet OR here claimed permission to address the
meeting. But for a ruinous competition which gives the
landlord the power to exact what rent he liked from the
tenant there would not be a word of complaint on the sub-
ject, for otherwise the bargain between landlord and tenant
could be fairly settled. He would illustrate the effect of
competition and the landlord's power in this way : when a
man wants a hat he goes to a hatter, who, perhaps. has 500
hats to fit him, which he would give at a fair value. The
hatter is glad to see him enter his shop, and will do all he
can to deal with him, because he knows the man can go else-
where and provide himself. But reverse the case, and con-
sider the case of landlord and tenant; and, instead of one
man going to where the 500 hats are, you have 500 heads
going to the one hat. (Laughter.) This competition for
land enabled the landlord to take not only the value of the
land, but also the value of nearly the whole crop. The com-
petition was the landlord's vice. He gets the tenant by the
nose with it, and squeezes the last farthing out of h,m.—
After some further observations, Mr. Connor was inter-
rupted by Mr. Lalor, who reminded him that the resolutions
of the meeting had been already carried. But Mr. Connor
persisted; Mr. Lalor again objected; the chairman inter-
fered, and the discussion went off into a personal squabble
between those gentlemen. When it had in some degree
subsided,
Mr. LALOR moved the following petition to parliament,
which was adopted
•

The humble petition of the undersigned tenant.farrners of the
county Tipperary, humbly ehoweth, that the statutes, miscalled law,
which relate to the relation between landlord and tenant in this
county, are partial, oppressive, and noised, amt have been productive
of enmity, insecurity, aretebednewi, and blonlabed. That there never
eon be peace, happiness, or permanent safety Is Ireland, until this
code is totally abrogated. That any law regulating the relation of
landlord and tenant in Ireland, to be just, satisfactory, and enduring,
should be based on the principle. of tenant.right, as established and
prevailing in the province of 1." inter, and ghoul I rewagnise the tenant's
interest in the soil sea perpetuity, provided he paid • fair and reason-
able rent to the landlord. That your petitioners respectfully call for
speedy adjustment of that question on those principles, and they
shall, as in duty bound, ever pi ay.
• • • .•

. ,
Mr. CONNOR again endeavoured to address the meeting,
but was unable to obtain a hearing. A scene of much con-
fusion ensued, in the midst of which the chairman retired
from the platform, and the meeting broke up. Mr. Con-
nor, however, continued to address the people for some
time after.

REPEAL AssOClATlON.—Alderman O'Brien, M.P., pre-
sided at Conciliation-hall to-day, where a letter was read
from Lord Claud Hamilton, M.P., refusing to sign the re-
quisition for a meeting of Irish members, but stating that if
he approved of what was agreed on at the assemblage, he
would support it. Sir Andrew Armstrong, M.P., has signed
it : Sir Andrew is a whig. A letter was read from Arch-
bishop Hale, giving his adhesion to Conciliation-hall—
the first communication which reached that place from him
since Mr. O'Connell's death. Mr. John O'Connell, in his
speech of the day, strongly censured the meeting at Holy-
cross, as extravagant in its objects, and likely to be dangerous
to peace, as it left the people open to the instigations of the
I designing. An abstract of the receipts and disbursements of
the repeal rent for ten months was read, and left the asso-
ciation is debt over 1,2001., which, however, they have
nearly 5001., consisting of two bequests, to meet. It is un-
derstood one of them is from the late Mr. O'Connell, and is
nearly 7001.—The repeal rent was 40/.
STATE OF TOE Cot NTRT.—Of a rate of 14,0001. struck
in the Union of Tralee, the collector could bring in ne
more than 4161. in a fortnight. A very brutal murder was
perpetrated on a soldier at Tralee a few dare since. The
name of deccased was Casey, and be was attacked while pro-
ceeding to his barrack in company with two of his comrades,
one of whom is dangerously ill of the violence committed on
him on that occasion. The attack on the soldiers was led by
two men, named Sandy M'Alestrum and Patrick Riordan,
the farmer of whom had a quarrel with a soldier of the 77th
(Casey's) Regiment a few nights previously.