The Sun.
London, England, 1838-09-19 00:00:00

LETTER II

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
DUBLIN, SEPT. 17.. —Slowly perhaps, Out surely never
theless, the new agitation is proT:..-esing, six hundred members
have been enrolled at rte Corn Exchange alone, and several
of the metre;;;;iitan parishes have branch societies. The
Sr:";atar may sneer and discolour facts, and the Courier may
doubt and drivel, but all who know anything of Ireland are
convinced that the warmest campaign of agitation in which
she was ever engaged was less popular than the one now be-
fore her will finally be.
Mr. O'Conn••11, out of his limited fortune, has presented a
thousand pounds towards the erection of a convent-school in
Cahcravern, in his own neighbourhood. This is a full twelfth
of what he has been so heartily abused for receiving, given to
promote education and morality.
THOMAS MOORE.—The Theatre Royal was opened for one
night, on Saturday, under the patronage of our national poet.
To the disgrace of the Tory party, they carefully absented
themselves; but the house was nevertheless fully and most fa-
shionably attended. The applause with which Mr. Moore
was received was so enthusiastic that he was forced to acknow-
ledge it in a speech.
• Last night, about eight o'clock, a fire was discovered in the
Kildare-street Club-house. It originated in the library of
that building by some accident which has not been accounted
for. Considerable damage was done before the arrival of the
engines, but shortly after they came into operation the fire was
completely extinguiahed. The premises were insured.
COMBINATION._The parties indicted for combination at
Drogheda have made concessions to their emphayera, and been
received back into their factory, with the exception of one or
two of the leaders, against whom the law will be enforced.
The town of Kingsoourt, in the county Cavan, was a few
days ttgo greatly injured, several houses being completely
washed away by a water-spout from the neighbouring moue.
tain. Such an accident was unprecedented in the ecata%ry•
BIRMINGHAM RiaLWAY.—By a lettLr from the Messrs.
Johnstone, the news agents, which appears in the Eccning
Mail of this day, the I. ish public will learn with so ne esti)
nishment that the Birmingham Railway, instead of facili-
tating the intercourse between the two countries, will posi-
tively render it slower. The morning mail, which left late-
don for Holyhead at nine o'clock, taking the Merning Papeas.,
will not now leave till eleven ; and (which is the 07:ingest
part of the business) daarinj %he additional two '..ours the Post-
office will tlp,t talo a letter or Paper mere tban if the mail had
ktwied at the usual hour. Such is the ArrAngemont at pre-
sent, but it cannot surely be irmitlfil lo wantinue•
POOR LAWS. —Mr. 4-keley, cif. the starnp-office, has been
apointc4 Secr•etarl 44 the' Commissioners of Poor-lar.
INir. (I'Llotkogue of the jrish bar, Mr. Handcorse, of r-s
wa(4ll sand MP. elements, (a brother of Lord Clements) have
been appointed Assistant Commissioners. The Rev • M •
O'Malley is named as the fourth Comminioace4 but the ap-
rointment hp not let been ttwltit

Darrynane Abbey, I Ith Sept. 1838.
" Hereditary bondsmen, know ye not
Who would be free, themselves must stril e the blow?"
FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN !—How often bay.t I wished to-.see
such a day as this, when Ireland might say to her s .ns—" Po-
litical freedom is in your power—you may be fr._e and yr u may
lay down the basis of the permanent prosperity of your coun-
try of you have the virtue to insist upon it. If you deserve
liberty it is within your reach."
In the name of my country lad Tress the e words to yeu. I
address them in no respondency ncr in any de-pair. I kno.v
my countrymen well ; and although there be some traito's and
some useless brethren amongst us, yet the people—the urn.
versal, the honest, the persecuted--the ever faithful people a-e
true to the heart's core, and now that they have the fu'l and im-
mediate alternative of either an equal participation of British
rights, privileg,es, and constitutional liberty, or the ntreal of
the odious Union, I feel a confidence founded on the profound
knowledge I have of the head and heart of Ireland, that the
great Irish nation will now show itself worthy of its high des-
tiny, and either obtain from others, or work out for itself,
justice and freedom.
The time is arrived for decision. We have done all that
could be necessary to conciliate public opinion. Were we any
longer to trust our rights and liberties to any others, however
generous and high-minded, instead of asserting them for our-
selves, we should be laughed at as the most absurd and cola-
temptible of mankind.
But this contemptible absurdity would become, in supreme
folly, beyond the powers of any language to depict, if we were
to abandon our cause to those who, however well-intentioned,
do to themselves acknowledge that they have not the power to
do us justice.
Such is the case with the present Ministry. They have the
inclination, the strong wish, the unaffected desire to do justice
to Ireland ; but their enemies and ours are too strong for
them ; and they can no more procure for us the legislative
measte es absolutely necessary for the protection of our Hoer-
ties than they can stop the course of nature, or do any other
Should you be asked to abandon your cause do the paternal
protection of her Majesty's Ministers, and to continue your
passive acquiescence in their efforts to serve you, ask in return
why nothing has been done for Ireland in the last Session. We
were confiding,—we were unagitating—we were supporting
that very Ministry. Why have they done nothing practical
for us ? It was not from wart of inclination or animated de-
sire. No; simply from want of ability.—from the superior
strength of the adverse fraction, especially in the lieuse of
Lords, and the absence of the means to 3efeat that faction.
If a counsel at the bar were to say to a client, I am well
disposed to serve geu, but I Irn totally unable. Therefore
employ me. The client wolrid, of course, be laughed at as an
idiot if he confided his cause to such a counsel.
Men of Ireland, the time is come for you to cast off all that
apathy or timidity could suggest, and to exert yourselves in
your own cause. Seven millions of men never took their own
cause into their own hands without being successful.
Do I blame her Majesty's Ministers ? Do I reproach them?
Do I mean to oppose them ? Certainly not. I feet gratitude
and respect for them for their good intentions and their honest
efforts to serve Ireland. I cannot attribute to them as a crime
that our enemies are too powerful. Teat Ministry shall have
my steady support—but, hereditary bondsmen ! we mnst work
for ourselves.
In my first letter I stated the principal and most prominent
grievances under which Ireland suffers. I placed them under
nine heads, containing three distinct classes.
The first class in general, includes the partisan spirit of
faction which still animates the old ascendancy, kept alive, as
it is, by the revolting policy of the English Tories, and by oc-
casional encouragement even during the pre sent Adminis-
tration.

The veond class relates to the administration of the law, and
of what is called justice, and consists of four heads the judges
—the sheriirs—the jurors—the magistrates.
The third clt.si involves and includes the rights withheld
fr,Au Onrier four kinds also—that is, by the continuance of
OPruipt and exclusive corporations—by the continued exist-
ence of a state provision for a church not of the people—by the
contemptuous res!rietedness of the electoral franchise, and by
the gigantic) iniquity of refusing to give us out just and fair
proportion of representati% es.
I intend in this letter to take up the.
".
Theutter /,7b topics undisposed of
in my first letter, a id to sho
grievances w"'
....ma Ige most strenuous exertions of the Irish
of obtaining the redress of these
n,--
efleniStiVeS•
SL'e3ndlY The mode in which such exertions can be rendered
most effectual for the abolition of the grievances of which we
complain. .

Of the nine distinct grievances which I have specified in
my first letter, there are are five which belong to the executive
department, and four to the legislative.
From the five first the continuance in office of a Ministry
disposed to do justice to Ireland naturally tends to relieve us.
The restoration to power of the Tories would aggravate all
these mischiefs, and either perpetuate them, or sender a con-
clusive movement necessary in order to their termination. These
are irresistible reasons for our giving all the support we can to
the present Ministry, to the exclusion of their opponents.
This will appear more clearly by considering what arc the
two first of the three classes of grievances of which we com-
plain. The first is extensive, but consists only of one head
—namely, the encouragement generally of the ascendancy
party ; the second, under four heads, resolves itself, however,
into one point—namely, the mal-administration of jeAstiee.
As to the first—the Irish Government of Lora Normanby
has done something, perhaps I may say much., to put down the
ascendancy faction—but much still remains behind; and as on
the one hand Lord Normanby found all ;aces, judicial as well
as ministerial, crowded with that pat:ty—so, on the other, his
g ivernment has, on more than tr.,e occasion, augmented the
number of those enemies of Ir:tand, by promoting them to, or
directly countenancing there in, official situations.
It would, indeed, be inconsiderate to blame too muds the
present government for the mistakes—they were few—of this
description, which they have made. Besides it is very pro-
bable that the far greater part of the wrong appointments wero
dictated from London. But in any and in every case the re-
medy is to be found only in increased vigilance, coupled with
energetic exertions, of a combined and continued nature on the
part of the people. Unless the Irish people proclaim loudly
their dissatisfaction at the continuance of any encouragement
to the Orange faction, and call distinctly for a more manly and
consistent course, there can be little prospect of any augmented
zeal on the part of our governors. In short, there must be a
pressure from without to enable Lord Normanby to cleanse the
Augean stable of ascendancy.
As to the second—mal-administration of justice—the most
;filleting evil any people can endure. What is there in Eng-
land to inspire us with hope ? Nothing. Nor is there, after
all, enough in Ireland to inspire confidence. THE MAGIS•
TRACY—AIas I alas! they have been but half revised; and
every day a restoration or two makes that half what the Irish
ehilaren call the smallest half. THE JUDGES—Oh !it is quite
true that in this Lord Normanby has done well, and Richards
and O'Loghlen, and take him for all in all, Perrin; and last,
but not inferior to any in the British dominions, Chief Baron
Woulfe, These, lat once admit, are pledges of what Lord
Normanby and Lord Morpeth would do if they had the power.
Yet, they do want the aid of public opinion, signified by po-
pular organization, to assist them in procuring the over-aged
to retire, and the unhealthy to resign.
But there are inferior judges—the assistant-barristers, who
arc invested with political powers of the utmost importance.
Upon their integrity and intelligence the elective franchise
depends. The appointments to this office made by Lord
Normanby bave, with few exceptions, been excellent. It
was the habit of the Tories to appoint none but men of
strong political bias. The consequence is, that such men
rule the elective destiny in several counties. Take Sligo—
for example—and without, in any degree imputing improper
motives to the barrister, it happens that his judgment makes
him require yet y strong evidence of qualification. He has
accordingly rejected a multitude of claimants for registry.
The appeal is to the assizes ; but the assizes—more than one
assize—have been too short—mark that—to have the appeals
heard, What is the consequence ? Why, this—that at pre-
sent a ccunty which ought to return two Liberals would to-
morrow return two Tories. This is a case in which, if public
opinion in Ireland were strong enough to support Lord Nor-
manby, he would easily find a remcdy—and that strength can.
be obtained only by means of popular organization.
Then in this class are the sheriffs. In the appointment of
sheriffs by Lord Normanby there is much to pi aise—yet, Low
much is still wanting !—and, above all, has he not actually
been persecuted by the House of Lords for daring to act with
mpartiality in setting aside the improper nominations of the
ludges?
I will say little more of juries for the present than this, that
ever there was a subject requiring the vigilant eye of pub.
c opinion to be coneentred in order to controul enormities,

it is this,
Let me pause here in mournful meditation of the deplor-
able state of Ireland touching the administration of justice;
and, on the heartless neglect, nay. even ridicule, with which
the Radicals of England treat this all-important subject. If
they had any geauine sympathy foi us they would show some
respect for an administration which is daily diminishing this
giant oppression.
I now come to the third class of our grievances. Those
grievances which can be reme.:iied only by legislative enact-
ments. They are, in fact, the great reason why I deem it
absolutely necessary that agitation should re-commence and
be more active and extensive than ever it was. These griev-
ances range themselves under four heads.
First—The wamt of corporate reform.
Second—The restricted nature of the elective franchise in
Ireland, sad the consequent difficulties of a registration, and
of sustaining the votes before a Tory Committee of the House
of Commons.
Third—The continuance of a state provision for a church
which is not the church of the -dcople.
Fourth—The dcurivatir n of the I ish people of their fair
number of represeot9f,res in proportion with either England
or Seetland.
The rcii..ress of these four grievances is the distinct object of
the idue
of my political life. If they shall be redressed by
t then, for the first time, will the Union
the unit, d Par iamen ,
be placed upon a just basis, and I am quite content to be
bound by that statute.
If they, or any of them, remain unredressed, then I devote
the entire residue of my life to the Repeal of the Act of
Union, and the restoration of a domestic legislature for Ire-
land. This restoration is in England, by the literary organs
of the Whigs as well as of the Tories, called; separation"
but it is no such thing—and they know it is not. Let them,
therefore, call it " separation" as long as they please—l cagier
not.

Now, upon the nueisity of struggling for the redrus of all
peso your grievances, many, and the most numerow, das,es