The Express.
London, England, 1848-11-04 00:00:00

IRELAND.

Demur, Nov. 3.
We had a strange and indecorous indication here
yesterday, of how mu'h oar politics and our sup-
posed religious persuasions are related to, and bear
upon, each other. For several days it had been an-
nounced that the jubilee of the Church Missionary
Society would be celebrated on Thursday at the Ro-
tunda. At the appointed time, a large concourse as-
sembled, and the Archbishop of Dublin was called
upon to preside. No sooner, however, did his grace
appear, than he had evidence from the body of the
house that he would not have a comfortable position,
and one of the speakers having designated him as
" Venerated Prelate," a storm of groans and hisses
arose, which proved most conclusively that some
parties had come to the meeting moved by other
influences than piety. Subsequently Dr. Whately's
position became so disagreeable that he was
compelled to leave the meeting at two o'clock,
which he did, amid a shameful demonstra-
tion of groans and cries of " Maynooth, May-
nooth," assailing him until he had passed out of the
room. The business of the jubilee was then allowed
to
t is said Mr. Napier, whose views of law in the
case of the late Samuel Oray were confirmed by the
House of Lords after he had unsuccessfully contended
for them in all our Irish courts, has given his opinion
in favour of the success of the writ of error in tLe ass
of the Clonmel prisoners.
The term opened yesterday, with the usual formalities,
and considerable interest was felt to know what the
crown was prepared to do in the case of Messrs.
O'Brien and Meagher, against whom prosecutions
for sedition are pending in the Queen's Bench, as also
whether the habeas corpus would be moved for, in
order to bring the parties now in Clonmel gaol, under
sentence, into court to assign error.

The trial of Mr. Williams, the 00-proprietor of Mr.
O'Doherty, was proceeded with yesterday. The At-
torney-General, haring stated the came, called

evidence of proprietorship alone, offering no
testimAy as to handwriting, which was done in
the ease of Mr. O'lloherty. What effec• this may
have—whether the jury will hesitate in conse-
quence of the omission—is difficult to conjecture.
Most probably, however, they will not.
An investigation of an entirely. private nature has
been prooseding for some days in the office of the
Board of Public Works, into charges affecting one of
the officers, filling, it is understood, one of the most
confidential situations under the commissioners. This
gentleman was ordinarily, it is understood, appealed
to as to the character, ability, and diligence of the
clerks and other subordinate employes, more particu-
larly in regard to the recent large ;eduction in the
establishment, consequent upon the cessation of
the relief works. The charge against this
person is said to be that he was in the
habit of accepting sums of money from the young
men engaged under the board, and his recommenda-
tions were measured, not by the fitness of the parties,
bat in consequence of the amount of these gratuities.
The discovery of these practices u is always the case
where they exist, was, it is said, owing to the dis-
appointed expectations of one of the parties who
having paid his money, subequently lost his place:
The inquiry proceeds with the utmost secresy.
A clergyman of one of the most extensive Roman
catholic unions of this metropolis assured me yester-
day of a fact not less gratifying to the philanthropist
than providential under the circumstances through
which we have plumed and are passing in this country.
It is that the health of the poorer classes is this year
more than ordinarily good. Not only is there, he
says, less sickness than at the corresponding period of
the last three years, but he never, daring a considerable
experience on this mission, remembers less. Above
all, there seems an absence of those symptons which
are said to precede cholera among the poor. This
is most consoling; for certainly, should that disease
approach in any but the most mitigated form, in a po-
pulation which has suffered so much from destitution u
ours the mortality would be terrible.
There were scores of prisoners discharged from oar
gaols throughout the country on the fleet of Novem-
ber, who had been confined for sums under 101. From
the county of Cork gaol alone not fewer than 63 were
released.