The Sun.
London, England, 1838-02-05 00:00:00

IRELAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
DUBLIN, SATURDAY.
COMBINATION —CI rizEsis' PETITION.—The petition of the
citizens of Dublin, calling for a Parliamentary inquiry into the
system of combination existing among the trades in this
country, will be despatched to London by this night's post, for
presentation, before Mr. Wakley's motion with respect to the
Glasgow cotton spinners comes on. It bears the signatures of
more than 2,000 of the most respectable of the bankers, mer-
chants, manufacturers, and householders of the city.
O'CONNELL'S DEPARTURE.—NIr. O'Connell sailed for
Holyhead yesterday evening, by the steamer Britannia. He
was accompanied to the North Wall, where he embarked, by
the Committee and leading members of the National Trades'
Political Union in twenty coaches. The abuse which was
heaped upon him by some of the tradesmen at the meeting in
the Royal Exchange suggested to these gentlemen the neces-
sity of demonstrating how far they were from participating in
the feeling evinced against him. It was accordingly agreed,
Mr. O'Connell's consent having been reluctantly yielded, that
they should wait upon him at his residence in Merrion-square,
and accompany him to the packet.
LEGAL APPOINTMENTS. —Mr. Hudson, whose name was
brought so prominently before Parliament some time ago by
the Tories in connection with the Dublin election, has been
appointed to the situation of Taxing 'Offieer to the Courts,
which fell to the gift of the Government by the death of the
officer. It is worth more than one thousand pounds a-year.
Mr. Anthony Wells, an old gentleman, who is only known as
a " moderate Whig," will get the assistant promotership, va-
cant by the promotion of Mr. Hudson.
REPRESENTATION OF GALWAY.—Andrew Harry Lynch,
Esq., will be returned for Galway again, as his situation is
not incompattible with his Parliamentary duties. It is said a
Tory will be put in nomination, but lie will not have the re-
motest chance of succeeding.
FORGERIES OF TILE ORANGE PRESS.—The people of Eng-
land are not yet, I fear, perfectly aware of the character of the
calumnies upon Ireland which are daily paraded in the Tory
Journals. They know not that three-fourths of them are en-
tire forgeries, and the other fourth grossly exaggerated. For
the last fortnight the Papers upon both sides of the channel
have been engaged in trumpeting a tale of horror about a
murder committed upon an innocent child by a mob, headed
by a Priest, who instigated them to the horrid act, because the
child's father had become a Protestant. The story originally
appeared in the (,'rok Constitution, in a letter, purporting to
be from the father of the murdered girl (John Mulcauley),
giving a circumstantial and detailed account of the affair,
stating the Priest's name, the name of the parish and exact
locality, and concluding by ascertaining that one of the mur-
derers was in custody. Not the least appalling cir-
cumstance in the statement was, that the Priest should
constantly " murder the heretic Protestant boys, and
I'll give you absolution." This story was circulated
through the empire, and read with astonishment and horror
by thousands of conscientious and upright Englishmen, who
doubtless would feel degraded by association with a people
guilty of such inhuman brutality. Well, after having pro-
duced this effect, it appears, by the affidavits of four respect-
able Protestants, that there was not the minutest shadow of
truth in the whole statement. No such person as John Mul-
cauley ever lived in the,parish in which it was alleged the out-
rage took place—no such murder ever was committed; and
the affidavit goes on to say, that the Protestant and Catholic
inhabitants live together upon the most friendly terms. Such
is the food with which the hatred of Ireland, and the honour
of Popery, is daily fed by truth-loving Tory scribes. Such
audacious forgeries are become so common, as to scarcely ex-
cite the slightest attention here, though they do the work for
which they aro intended upon your side of the Channel.
COUNTY KERRY.—The Liberals of the county Kerry are
taking the proper means to rid themselves of their Tory mis-
representative. At the late registering they added ninety to
their strength in the county, and sixty in the borough of
Tralee.

Pooa LAWS.—MERTING AT CORK.—A meeting of the citi-
zens of Cork, convened to take the question of a Poor-law for
Ireland into consideration, took place upon Wednesday last.
A resolution in favour of out-door relief was adopted, and a
petition, praying for several amendments in the Bill, was
agreed to. On Thursday a meeting for the same purpose was
held at Naas, where Mr. Purcell proposed a measure for the
relief of the poor, for the adoption of which he wished the
meeting to petition. The meeting adjourned till the 15th ;
and, in the mean time, the Bill is to be printed, and exten-
sively circulated through the country.
TORY EQUITY.—Lord Lorton has issued an address to
his tenantry, stating that some murder occurred in the locality
of one his estates, and adding that if the murderer or mur-
derers are not discovered, he has given orders that every
tenant upon the estate shall be ejected as soon as his lease
drops, and as a present punishment lie has directed his agent
to call in every farthing of rent due to him. It would be
almost incredible that any man would be capable of such a
bare-faced system of punishing the innocent for the guilty, it
it was not published to the world under his own hand. Lord
Lorton is one of the saints, and was a leader of the new Re-
formation party in its day.

MR. O'CONNELL.-TRADES' UNIONS

In the prosecution of the patriotic and sensible endeavours to arouse
the artizans to a knowledge of the consequences of trade combinations,
Mr. O'Connell has provoked a controversy with the trades of Glasgow,
part of which appears in the Morning Advertiser today; and in
which Mr. O'Connell appears on one point to have the advantage.
The Glasgow trades say—when any class or profession unite for their
mutual benefit, they and they alone have the right to regulate the mode
of admission to that profession or craft. This is founded on the imme-
morial usage, of which the law profession furnishes a striking and ap-
propriate example, not to mention the clerical and medical unions. But
Mr. O'Connell declares that this is unfounded in theory and mis-
chievous in practice, and quotes the exclusion of Mr. Harvey from the
bar, and refers to cases of exclusion from medical practice to prove
that the monopoly exercised by these self-constituted bodies as against
the public is a public nuisance. He further says—" Let us take the
carpenters' trade. Now, according to you, if the profession or craft of
carpenters unite for their mutual benefit, then they, and they alone,
upon your principle, would have a right to regulate the mode of ad.
mission to such profession or craft. Now, see how monstrous the
consequences would be. The carpenters could, by their regulations, ex-
clude any and as many persons as they pleased from the carpenters'
craft ; they would by their regulations snake their monopoly as close as
they pleased, by preventing any more persons being admitted into the
craft ; such would be the effect of your principle in each profession and
trade. I must say this is a monopoly to which the people of Great
Britain would not, and will never submit. They have ere now decapi.
tated a monarch for having attempted to establish such and similar
monopolies. In fact, the artisans, while they profess an attachment to
the principles of freedom, only justify their practice by following the
reprobated conduct of the legal and medical professions." On another
point, Mr. O'Connell's recommendation, "that an officer of the Crown,
or constable, ought to be present at every meeting of Trades' Unions,"
which the Glasgow trades say would be an act of the most despotic
tyranny. Mr. O'Connell is wisely silent. Such a proposition, if he
ever made it, must have been thrown out in the heat of the moment, and
he must wish that he had not injured his otherwise most creditable exer-
tions on the subject by such a crude suggestion. The date of his latest
letter is Jan. 15, and it replies to some further observations of the trades
on capital and labour, and states, that it is only at a personal interview
with them, which he cannot now have, that lie could enter into a full
discussion with them.