The Sun.
London, England, 1838-01-15 00:00:00

IRELAND

( Abridged from the Dnblin Morning Register of Friday.)
TILE GRAND REFORM BANQUET.
This great demonstration of attachment to four of Ireland'!
worthiest and best tried friends, and of adherence to the great
principles of Reform and civil liberty, for the perfection o'
which they have been so long struggling, has passed over, anti
passed over triumphantly.
The pit and stage of our Royal Theatre were thrown int

an extensive hall reaching from the roar of the stage, which
opened up to its fullest extent, to the front of the boats
About the middle of the stage, which, by the way, was fitted
up as a gigantic tent, and brilliantly lighted, a circular table
of considerable extent was placed for the principal guests.
Upwards of seven hundred gentlemen sat down to dinner.
At the head of the principal table sat " Ireland's llere-
ditary Patriot,"
The Right Hon. the Earl of CIIARLEMONT.
On his right were seated Lord Brabazon, M. P. ; Rober.
Hutton, Esq., M. P. ; Lord Fingal', Lord Lismore, Lord
Crcmorne, Sir John Kennedy, Bart. ; .John O'Connell, Esq.
M. P. ; Henry Grattan, Esq., M.P., and James Power, Esq.,
M. P. ; and on the left were seated Daniel O'Connell, Esq.,
M.P. ; George Evans, Esq., M. P. ; Lard Cloncurry,
Richard Sheil, EN., M. P. ; Lord Roscommon, Morgan
O'Connell, Esq., M. P. ; Sir Percy Nugent, Bart. ; Nicho-
las Ball, Esq., M. P. ; John Maher, Esq., M. P., and Pierce
Mahony, Esq., M. P.
The Vice-Presidents who presided at the four principal
tables were George Roe, John Power, Peter Purcell, and
Ignatius Callaghan, Esqrs.
After the cloth was removed, about half-past eight o'clock,
The NOBLE CnAtituss rose, and was received with loud
cheers. He said—Gentlemen, when I look upon such an
assembly of true Irish hearts, I know not in what fitting lan-
guage to address you.—( Loud cheers.) I must call upon you
to bear with me, for my feelings are too big for words. The
scene I look upon fills me with the conviction that justice must
be done to our country.--( Hear, hear.) You have assembled
here, gentlemen, to entertain four individuals, chosen by the
free, unbiassed, and determined votes of their constituents ;
four gentlemen deserving of the confidence you have placed in
them ; four gentlemen whose conduct always merited the
honour you have bestowed upon them. Two of them have
never been assailed; and the other two, I am convinced, defy
the most atrocious conspiracy which can be hatched to defeat
the wishes of the public.—( Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, I have
stated that the immediate
,object of our meeting was to do
honour to those four gentlemen ; but we have another object,
and that is to show that the Reform Bill must not be a dead
letter.—(Cheers.) Our meeting is an indication that we win
never cease the zealous and virtuous exertions in which we are

engaged till full and ample justice be done to our country. I
should like to know why a distinction is made between Ireland
_ . __ . . .

and other portions of the British empire. It is a distinction I
spurn, for, Gentlemen, we are equal to any of them. I hare a
toast to propose to you ; it is the health of our young, gra-
cious, and constitutional Queen.---(Tremendous cheering,
during which the company rose )
" The Queen." (Three times three, and one cheer more.)

Air—" God sere the Queen."
The CitAtitssAN then rose again and gave " The People."
(Three times three, and loud cheers.) Air—" St. Patrick's

Day."
" The Duchess of Kent." (Nine times nine, and un.
bounded applause.) Air—" Here's a health to all good lasses."
" The health of the Duke of Sussex and the Royal Family
resident in England."—(Great cheering.) Air—Hail, Star
of Brunswick."

The Noble CHAIRMAN again rose and said—ls there a heart

that beats within the bosom of any individual that hears me
that does not swell at the mention of Mulgrave ?—( Here the
whole company rose, and a simultaneous cheer issued from all
parts of the assembly.) Gentlemen, I will not say—for God
forbid that should be the case—we ne'er shall look upon his
like again; but this I will say, we ne'er have looked upon his
like before.—( Hear, hear.) Lord Mulgrave has a truly phi-
lanthropic heart—a true desire for the happiness and liberty of
the whole of the human race.—( Cheers.) The friend of
liberty and of man in the West Indies—( Hear, hear)—the
friend of liberty and of man here.—(Loud cheers.)
" Lord Mulgrave and Justice to Ireland."—(Tremendous
applause.) Air, " Patrick's Day."
The CHAIRMAN then rose and said—Gentlernea, I am abet'. t
to propose the health of two gentlemen who hays been fairly,
freely, honestly, and truly chosen by the citizens of Dublin as
their representatives.—( Cheers.) Gentlemen, one of them
is possibly the most extraordinary man of his day—possibly the
most extraordinary that any age has ever produced. It is in)
opinion that the illustrious individual of whom I speak was
chosen by Providence for the part which he has taken. —( Hear,
hear.) With eloquence unrivalled, with talents unequalled,
with a determination which has never allowed him to abandon
the ranks of the phalanx which he first joined, no individual
who is capable of appreciating his merit can refuse him the
tribute of his praise and admiration.—(Loud cheers.) He
persevered in the same uniform and admirable c ,urse, to Ca)
risk, aye, and the loss of his personal property, his leisure, and
in some degree his happiness. Such is and has been my opi-
nion of this great man ; but if anything were wanted to fully
convince me of the vaue of his character and exertions it
would be supplied by what he has been doing within those fen
days.—(Loud cheers.) Why, what has he done? For man)
days, contrary to his own popularity, in despite of all opposi-
tion, he has declared himself against & system too prevalent
and too popular in this city. —( Hear, and loud cheers.) Yes,
he has been, and is still being, tried in the crucible, and he
will come out more pure and more valuable from the trial.—
( Cheers.) I now give you, Gentlemen,
" The Members for the City of Dublin"—( Three times three.)
Mr. O'CONNELL then rose, and was received with loud and
continued cheers. He said—Nothing can be ms:e idle tha's
to tell -me that this is a reality. —( Cheers.) Oh no, I have '
been ill for the last week, and a dream has come over me, and
I hare wakened in Fairy-land.--( Continued cheering.) What
beings are those before me (pointing to the ladies in the
boxes.) Had Fairy-land ever any thing like that ? Oh no.
If it be reality, we have never before seen such forms as these ;
they are fairer than those that youthful poets fancy when the)
lose.—( Loud cheers.) They tell me Ireland is a degraded
and an inferior land Oh, men of Ireland lis there one indi-
vidual among you could look upon those who have co:ne to
witness our proceedings to-night and acknowledge inferiorit)
in the country of their birth ?—( Hear, and cheers.) If there
he one • uch he has eeirage equal ti the braving of the most
brave : but oh, at the same time, he has depravity equal to the
most depraved.—( Cheers.) Oh, my Lord, it is impossi
We but justice must be done to Ireland.—(Tremendous
cheering.) Oh, if I be indeed awake this is a glorious
waking.—( Great cheering.) But what, after all, has ms
life bees but a wonderful day-dream ? Ungifted by talents,
rank, or riches—for I was but the son of a private gentlemen
with just enough means to meet my expenses.-_a briefless
barrister—but that was not long—( Cheers and laughter)-1
have been raised to the situation I now enjoy by my country-
men. And how have I attained that elevation? By the pos
session of one quality alone—that I never:for one moment for-
got the wrongs of my country.—( Cheers.) I had a per-
petual fever of Irish agitation about me. When I commenced
my career, one of those boxes, if it were emptied of its fair
tenants, would contain all who co-operated with me ; but what
room is now to be found large enough to hold them ? This is
a proud day for Ireland.—( Cheers.) Our assembling here is.
with other things, a proof of our devotion to our Queen (God
bless her)--(Cheers)—and to the Queen's Ministry.—( Hea-,
hear, and continued cheering.) There is no fault to he found
with them in regard to Ireland, however we may differ from
them in other matters.—( Hear, hear.) They have given
us an excellent Lord Lieutenant, whose name is his best
praise.—( Cheers.) Mulgrave l Oh it is a name to conjure
with.—( Cheers. ) He is the just governor, who knoas
no distinction of sect or party—who inquires into no
man's religion, but only his conduct. He asks not hoe.
any man prays, but how only he acts.—(Continual
cheers.) Creed, caste, and colour are to him alike; he
recognises in all the image of divinity, and the universal and
inalienable claim of liberty. It was said of me, by my ene-
mies, that when all our grievances were redressed, I wouh:
look out for fresh ones, to keep up agitation. What is tin
calumny now ? Why that lam too easily satisfied with small
concessions, while I ought to hold out even against our friends.
careless of the kindnesses they have done us. Oh, that was
never my way.—(Cheers.) When I was Called to the bar I
had the privilege of wearing a stuff gown if I paid for it ;
the sanctum of the inner bar was closed against me. Oh,
many and many a day I pitied myself for having to yield tt,
the silken superiority where nature had given none. I did not
shed the woman's tear; but when 1 entered my dwelling I
stamped and vowed that my sons should not hare to suffer this
indignity.—(Cheers.) I made another vow, that these sinews
shall loose their elasticity, and this form be covered by the
earth, before I should consent to admit an inferiority in m)
country to England or Scotland ; and your presence here to
night, my Lord, proves that you feel so too.—( Loud cheers.
during which Lord Charlemont bowed acquiescence to the last
observations of Mr. O'Connell.) Yes, my Lord, for m)
country is yours, and the land that gave you birth is inferior to-
none on the face of the earth.—( Loud cheers.) Ido believe
no political change should be purchased by one drop of human
blood; for blood, instead of cement to the social edifice, act'
like sea sand in the foundation of a building, which gradually
loosens the firmness of the walls till it falls to pieces —( Hear
hear, and cheers.) My Lord, it is acting upon this principl.
I have been enabled to achieve what I have done for my coup
try.—( Cheers.) There are three things you demand; I deft
them to refuse to you after this night. To be sure my silly oh,
friend, Burdett, thinks otherwise ; but—(the remainder of tin
sentence was lost in an uproar of laughter and hisses.) Oh
poor old gentleman, don't hiss him.—( Laughter.) lam ex-
ceedingly obliged to him, for he makes me the stalking-horse ut
his political warfare. He mistook a brood mare for a man-or-
war ; who knows but he takes me for a frigate?—( Laughter. )
How badly off the Tories arc when they take up gladly with the
squeezed orange of Radicalism—the advocate for out-and-
outerism, universal suffrage, Parliaments once a year, or oftene,
if inecessary.—( Laughter.) The Tories never had a greats"
compliment to liberal opinions than when they elevated ou'
east-off adherent into a leader.—( Cheers.) They have another
hero among them cast out from our camp—Sir J. Graham.
_( Hisses and laughter.) There is an anecdote of him that is
admirably illustrative of his character. I care not how I an'
reproached for it-1 will never meet a man ill single combat.
Even the influence of this assembly upon me could not induce
me to do so. Sir J. Graham knew that when he insulted several
of the Irish Members, but principally myself and Mr. O'Gor-
man Mahon. Well, how further did he act ? Why, he refuse,l
to make any concession to me, and to Mr. O'Gorman Maho
he made a base and truckling apology.—( Cheers. ) Aye, lc'
the Press take it down; he insulted the man he knew he wa`
safe from, and truckled to the one he feared.—( Hear, hear. )
Burdett, the renegade, and that paltry truckling. coward, S 1
James Graham. I like to call timings by their right names.—
(Hi ar, hear.) Ido not like to speak of anything what I do
not think. The English Tories, to be sure, do possess ye,