The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-19 00:00:00

GENERAL ASSOCIATION.-POOR LAWS.

The Rev. W. O'MALLEY, on Friday last, having spoken
at great length in reply, to sustain his motion about poor
laws, during which he was several times interrupted by Mr.
O'Connell, proceeded to say, I have broached it appears, a
very unpopular error in saying that the tithes ought not to
be diminished, no matter to what purpose they may be
applied. What, are we to make it appear that this hot
war upon tithes was not a righteous war of principle after
all, but a wretched paltry scramble for pounds and pence ?
Mr. O'CONNELL—Have not I a right to complain of
being treated in this way ? My language and sentiments
misrepresented, and I tied to a stake whilst the Rev. Gen-
tleman is venting his sarcasms on me as he goes along.—
(At this period there was very considerable interruption.)
Give me that newspaper. Let me read a passage in this
letter to Mr. Sheil, and ask him what it means.

Mr. STAUNTON—I must really call upon the Chairman
o say whether this is in order?

The CHAIRMAN—As many as agree that Mr. O'Connell
should go on, say aye.—(Cries of " Go on, Mr. O'Connell.")
Mr. O'CONNELL—A pretty pass I'm brought to in this
place, when it must be put as a question from the chair
whether I shall have liberty to speak. Mr. O'Connell then
took a newspaper and read—" Oh, how long are we to
witness the sickening spectacle."—(The confusion here in-
creased, and cries of "Go away, Mr. O'Malley." The Rev.
Gentleman then sat down.) I will read one sentence more.
lam not to be bullied. He then read—" The spectacle of
men of strong ambition and 'loose principles stepping into
Parliament upon the shoulders of those poor brave fellows,
and kicking them off as they get in." Has this been applied
to Sheil ? I will ask, is it language that ought to be ap-
plied to him ?
Mr. O'MALLEY—ShaII I go on, Gentlemen ?—(Cries of
" Explain the word deception' in your speech.") The Rev.
Gentleman said—What fair play have we when we are at-
tacked in this way ? Does Mr. O'Connell himself spare his
opponents ? Is he ever measured or guarded in his lan-
guage ? And it would be only fair if he tolerated in others
what he is not entirely free from.
A Gentleman (who was near Mr. O'Connell) said, That
is true, he spares nobody.
Mr. O'CONNELL—There may be some excuse for a
man in the heat of debate ; but when he sits down de-
liberately and writes a letter, he can have little apology.
I ask, what does he mean by " men of loose principles and
strong ambition stepping into Parliament and kicking the
brave fellows out ?"

Mr. UNIALLEY-I used the phrase generally ; it was
a reflection naturally growing out:of the context —(Cries of
That won't do,"—" Name," great uproar.) Mr. Chair-
man, I place myself under your protection, and if you are

not able to protect me I must retire. The Rev. Gentle-
man then proceeded with his argument.
After a good deal of discussion between Mr. O'Connell
and Mr. O'Malley, the Meeting adjourned to Thursday
next.

LONGFORD ELECTION.—The conduct of Colonel Hay
at the late Longford election has attracted the marked at-
tention of the Lord Lieutenant, who directed Lord Mor-
peth to forward an extract of a report from the High
Sheriff of the county, in.wbich the conduct of the military
and Col. Hay is described as being beyond all praise.
THE REGISTRIES.—Never was success more generally
signal. In Carlow, Queen's County, Sligo, and Longford,
tike Reformers have obtained a decided majority; and even
in Cavan, the stronghold of the Orangeists, there is a ma-

jority for Reformers on the last two registries of no less
than cighty-eight. There is achieved a victory as glori-
ous to Reformers, as unexpected by the Tories. But a
few brief hours only have elapsed since the Standard was

glorifying in the strength of its Conservatives friends at
Cavan. Where is now their boasted Tory majority ?
TILE LONG-LOST HEIR FOUND.—The following strange

narrative is published this morning by a Contemporary :
Intelligence from Ennis announces the arrival of a gentle-
man in that town on Friday last, whose return from Ja-
maica cannot have proved very agreeable to two families of
distinction in the county of Clare—Sir Edward O'Brien
and Mr. Arthur. The romance of the history which fol-
lows is no less singular than, as I am led to believe it, true.
Twenty-four years since, as the statement of the family of
this stranger runs, he, then a boy of eleven years, was at a
school in England, where he had been placed by his father,
Mr. Smith, of Clare, (the father of Lady O'Brien, Mrs.
Bran, and Mrs. Arthur also). He was there told that all
his relatives were no more, and that he was left destitute, and
was urged to seek his fortune in the West Indies under the

assumed name of Crosby. There he struggled on in com-
parative poverty until an advertisement from Mrs. Bran,
long continued in the journals of Europe and the Colonies,
attracted his observation. It is understood that his death
' was stated to have taken place at the English school al-
luded to, and to have been followed by a mock-funeral. Mrs.
Bran, heard that the stranger in Jamaica, on reading her
advertisement, remembered enough of his earlier days to
enable him most unequivocally to declare that he was the
individual sought for, as Tom Smith, whose father, so far
from leaving him destitute, had bequeathed to him property
worth about 35,0001., which, on his disappearance, fell to
the families of Arthur and O'Brien. The present Member
for the county of Limerick, Mr. Smith O'Brien, whom the
Radicals contemplate removing from his seat for his chi-
valrous disregard of Mr. O'Connell's domination, was to
have enjoyed a great part of the property left to Tom Smith
on the demise of his mother Lady O'Brien, in whose posses-
sion it now is. Mr. Arthur, a gentleman who lives also in
the world of fashion, has possession of another portion. Mrs.
Bran, having satisfied herself that her alleged brother was
indeed alive, furnished him with money, and he arrived in
Limerick on Thursdaylast. Ashe drove into Ennis, he pointed
out localities on the road, which he named accurately. Con-
ducted to the woman who had nursed the lost heir, she,
having examined his features, declared that he was no im-
postor. Subsequent examinations by the family and con-
nections of Mrs. Bran, so clearly convinced them that he
was the long-lost Tom Smith, that doubt after doubt va-
nished, and every reliance was placed on the calm connected
detail of the interesting stranger. Mr. Bran, long sceptical
on the subject of the strongly-conceived belief of his wife in
the existence and possible return of her brother, at length
satisfied, warmly welcomed him to his house, where lie is
now residing, previously to the commencement of those
proceedings, which are at once either to thwart all his
hopes or fully restore him to a distinguished place in society
and an elegant independence. It will be naturally asked,
who could have carried into effect the horrid act of banish-

inn the son of a respectable gentleman, and depriving him
of family- and fortune ? but that will appear on the trial,
should he be driven to that extremity. The high character
of Mr. Arthur forbids all doubt in that quarter. Sir Ed-
ward and Lady O'Brien are also far above suspicion ; so
that the matter remains at present as much enveloped in
mystery as the past years of him were who toiled up to
the age of 35 years in a tropical climate for a precarious
existence. The manners and personal appearance of Mr.
Smith are in his favour. He is intelligent, if not well edu-
cated ; simple and unpretending in conversation ; he ap-
pears to regard truth in every respect, never having once
varied from the unostentatious simplicity of the original
statement, the clearness and well-linked nature of which
induced Mrs. Bran to welcome to Ireland, as her long-lost
relative, the Tom Crosby of the island of Jamaica.
FIRE.—The extensive corn and flour mills at Beer's-
bridge, near Belfast, belonging to W. Radcliffe, Esq., were
destroyed by fire on the morning of the 13th inst. The
concern was insured to the amount of 10,0001.

Miss Zouctr.—A donation of 30/. was anonymously
conveyed to this person on New Year's Day.

The Spanish correspondent of the Post (Mr. Stephens),
whose letter was lately intercepted by General Evans, is an
',Tishman.

The Glasgow Peel-banquet was a failure. No
other term can so aptly designate it. We say so not in
violent exultation, but very calmly and decidedly. On a
review of the whole matter—beginning from the very be-
ginning—surveying this Trojan history even from the initial
egg of the rectorship down to the final cheer which closed
the games of this modern amphitheatre—we seriously
doubt whether in the innumerable demonstrations, as they
are called, with which the internal political history of Britain
has been associated, and by which it has been illustrated,
there is any one recorded instance where so mighty a
mountain being in travail there crept from its womb so in-
significant a mouse. Scotland never heard sounded a louder
preparation—that the Tories told us. Scotland never saw
a feebler performance—that we tell the Tories.—Caledonian
Mercury.
DESTITUTION.-Yesterday morning, a poor old
man, named William Griffiths, who is 71 years of age, was
found lying in Playhouse-yard, Whitecross-street, apparently
in a dyinc, state. Brannen, a police constable, 206 G,
who, while passing on duty, discovered him there, conveyed
him as soon as possible to St. Luke's workhouse, where he
was readily received and attended to ; but he was so terri-
bly reduced that his speedy dissolution was expected. It
was ascertained that he had passed several nights in the
Asylum, which had been open during the severity of the
winter, for the purpose of affording nightly shelter to the
houseless poor, and he had there received the usual allow-
ance of half a pound of bread on admission at night, and a
similar portion on quitting the place, in accordance with the
rules, at eight o'clock in the morning. Yesterday morning,
however, he had proceeded but a little way from the door of
the Asylum when nature gave way, and he sank in a state of
exhaustion. The account which he gave of himself was, that
he had been a rope-maker, at Deptford, when able to work,
and he said that he had applied for relief to the parish of.
St. Sepulchre-without, but in vain. The Asylum in which
he had passed his nights is intended for such as are ut-
terly destitute and houseless. Straw is plentifully strewed
in the large and well-warmed rooms for them to lie down
on (males and females in separate parts of the building),
and to each is given half a pound of bread at night, and
the same quantity on leaving the place at eight in the
in the morning. On Sundays, however, they are permitted
to remain durinr, the day, and a clergyman of the Esta-
blished Church° attends to read prayers, and to each of
them is given an additional portion of bread, with a '
piece
of cheese. The number of unfortunate and houseless per-
sons sheltered there on Tuesday night, was 314, of whom
the greater part had lodged there on many successive nights,
and since the opening of the Asylum on the day after
Christmas-day, 1,433 individuals have been admitted.

PUBLIC LANDS.—The United States now own
about 132,000,000 acres of surveyed land. In the State
of Missouri, 17,443,429 acres ; Ohio, 4,100,993 ; Indiana,
11,459,156 ; Illinois, 17,234,010 ; Alabama, 22,386,058 ;
Mississippi, 12,924,301 ; Louisiana, 9,686,526 ; Arkansas,
14,223,195 ; Michigan, 14,523,827 ; Territory of Florida,
6,729,909. Of the above, 122,000,000 can now be en-
tered at one dollar twenty-five cents. per acre. Ten mil-
lions more of new land will soon be thrown into the market.
There are about one hundred millions of acres of unsur-
veyed land in the above States to which the Indian title has
been extinguished, and about eighty millions which the In-
dians still claim.—Natchez Free Trader.

Letters of a recent date from Naples mention the
prevalence of severe weather. The anticipated eruption of
Mount Vesuvius seemed to approach its term, as volumes
of smoke were daily pouring from the crater.

On Friday an elderly --female, servant with an old
gentleman in Potterrow, was burnt to death. The poor
woman, who had for some time been labouring under
cold or influenza, had, it is conjectured, while asleep, fallen
into the fire. Although dreadfully burnt, it appears that
she had contrived to struggle from the fire=place, as she
was found lying on the floor in the middle of the room.—
Caledonian Mercury.
We copy the following from the Bayonne corres-
pondence of the French papers :—" The correspondent of
the Morning Chronicle was invested with a decoration on
the 24th, on board the Saracen. He was an eye-witness
of the whole of the military operations, in the progress of
whic'.l he received a wound in the ear. He was honourably
mentioned in the official report of Espartero."
It is now positive that Meunier has made important
disclosures. He belonged to several secret societies, and
his name appears on the lists found at the residences of
Blanqui and Lainenssens. We are even assured that in
those lists four persons named Meunier appear to have been
inscribed, one of them with the Christian names of Fr.
Pierre. The last of these names is not, however, legible—
the initial P. alone is distinctly written. We aie now war-
ranted in believing that the object of these secret societies
was regicide,-I,a Pair.