The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-07-28 00:00:00

MEETING Vase CATHOLICS of WEXFORD.

The Dublin Dlc•ninti Register of Monday contains a
report of the proceedings at a Meeting of the Catholics of
the county of Wexford, Sir 'l'. lismonde, Bart. in the chair.
The new Catholic. Association was approved of—two silver
tureen's were voted to Mr. O'Connell, and it was recom-
mended to the Catholics of Ireland to meet in every parish
on the first Monday of the next Session.
We give the following characteristic speech of Mr.

Shell :
Mf. Slittt rose amidst the most deafening and enthusiastic ap-
plause, and said, 1 thank vou, and turn at Once to a better theme
.than my own gratitude, of which it is unnecessary that you should
be enured. 't here stands near the wells of your city a massive
hold, which retains the name of the practical chieftain by whom it
witscrectial, and la still called Fita•Stephen's tower. It was the
first riot raised by the English invaders upon their original descent
upon our Aores. Situate at the store of the mountain, and coo.
mantling the passage of the stream, whose waters are datkened
with its shadow. it is invested with many melancholy associations,
and imparts to the solemnity of the scene, what I may call a politi•
cal picturesque. (Hear.) From the loss of that tower. memory
may take a long and diatual retrospect. 11'ho can behold it With.
out recalling the period ofahante and of sorrow, when that monument
of the disasters and the degradation of Ireland was first erected
upon its precipitouS and gloomy height ? Since the warder first
paced its summit, and the beacon of invasion was first lighted on
its hattlenienta, coattiriea have passed away. Years have flowed
by like the waters which it overshadow., and vet it is not changed.
I It stands as tine as if it were of the work of ye;terday ; and as it was
the first product of English domination, so it is its type. The
policy of Eto:lanti is as unaltered as that barbarous hold, and the
Norman Baron who raised it on that rock did not lift a more op.
massive arm than the monster who sway% chi') ill fated land with as
Iron rule. The spirit of Strongbnw lives in the heart of Liverpool ;
and the gauntlet of Fite-Stephen was not more heavy than the hand
.of Peel. (Cheers.) The system by which England obtained her
conquest is undecayed. Discoid is still the great canon of empire.
(Applause.) The distinction of country has been succeeded by the
distinction of creed. Religion is made a substitute for nationality.
anti the Statt sown of St. Stephen's Chapel act up to the principlea
of .i'itz.Stephen's Tower. (Cheers.) If there be those who have
had a peculiarly fatal experience of the truth of these reflections,
they are to be found among the inhabitants of this unfortunate
district. Wexford is surrounded by the memorials of events
'which cost the blood of ninny and the tears of all. The battles I
of a brier but formidable insurrection were waged upon the hills
that overhang your city. (Cheers.) But ft is not necessary to pass I
its gates in order to impress upon you the Jesson which should be
I derived front these appalling recollections. Who can behold your
streets—who can look upon the waters of your river—who can look
upon the bridge to which so many dreadful associations are at.
I 'ached, without a feeling of dismay ? I would to heaven that the
fabric on which such misdeeds were done were swept into the ocean,
and that not a single memorial cf that terrible and guilty day should
be permitted to remain ! Strange that it should continue sa long !
Thearchitect did not calculate upon the possibility of its permanence.
It is now thirty years since the shriek of warfare was drowned in the
dashing of the water, that beat against it; it seems as if every tide I
would wash it away, yet there its mouldering beams remain, anti it
stands the monument of a terrific and admonitory incident. Al.
mighty God ! what a day must that have been when, in the insanity
of ret enge, mad with accumulated wrongs, and in the ferocity of
political reaaliation, the infuriated peasantry precipitated themselves '
upon the unarmed and defenceless wretches who screamed in vain
for' limey, and dyed the waters with their blood. Ido not dwell
upon these appalling eVents with a sanguinary predilection. It is
nut in the wantonness of declamation that I revert to these:painful
recollections; neither is it for the purpose of visiting these crimes
upon the heads of those men who goaded the people into savageness.
and made them ferocious, desperate. aril mad. Tails!! not tell you
that it was proved before the Committee of the House of Commons
ttnit these barbarous excesses were produced by the tortures which
preceded them. It is not necessary to strike a balance of atrocity ;
and it I have reverted to these events, it is for no other purpose then
to impress upon you the imperative anti awful need of straining
every effort for the pacification of your country, and for the accorn.
plialiment of that measure, without which Ireland cannot be paci-
fied, and which will afford the best security that these scenes' of
disaster never may return. These are not Comm for sophistication
and equienque. Sooner or later, the popular passions will again
boil up, and the volcanic matter will once more find a vent. You.
over whern the lay.t that is yet scarcely cool, rolled down, watch
the smoke of the crater, and remember that another eruption may
take place. This is not the ebullition of a mind fermenting with
bad and foul emotions—none but the utterly desperate can desire a
convulsion, which would be in all likelihood as unavailing as it
wouki he bloody. But how deeply would it steep Ireland in tears.'
It should, however, be remembered, that that which we may de.
precate, se may not be able to avert. (Applause.) The office of
prevention lies with the Ministry, whose leaders in the House of
Cominons have lately told them, that the enemies of England had
fixed their hopes upon this discontented country. (Loud cheers.)
That intimation, to which I have done no more than given a distinct
expressions contains a warning in which every subject of this land
is equally etoacerned. Protestants of Ireland—the cause is yours'
as much as it is our own. (Loud cheers.) Do rot console your-
selves with the rum and sellish hope that these events cannot hap.
pen before you have deseerided into the earth. The interest of
your eitibiren is at stake. and the time may come (God grant that
it may never arrive !) when your sons shall be slaughtered on your
thresholds, and yew daughters may scream fur help upon their
fathers' grave. tLoud and continued cheers.) 111 r. Shell pursued
this train of reflexion with much erbphasis, and concluded by'
calling upon Mr. Cesar Colclough, in the moat energetic terms.
to present hiniself as a candidate for the county. lie trusted that
his appeal would not be in vain; but if there existed any reason to
prevent Mr. Colclough from obeying the call of his country, let
Arthur Chichester conic forward; and the indepentlant people of
Wexford would support him to a men. The cheers were renewed
with unabated fervour at the close of Mr. Shell's speech.
Mr. Cotetoucii. however, declined standing 36 a candidate
for the county, as lie had formerly done. Ile said he had neither
taste, health, nor talents, for politics. Ile had, besides, been re-
siding 27 years abroad.
Air. CHICHESTER subsequently offered himself.
Mr. CadEw, one of the county members, was 1: resent, but took
no part in the proceedings.
Mr. O'CoNNE tr. was compelled to quit the Meeting without
addressing it, being called out to attend in Court.