The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-16 00:00:00

REPEAL OF THE UNION.

(From the Dublin Morning Register of Monday.)
Yesterday a meeting of the persons engaged in Dublin in the
occupation of wine porters, was held in Swan's Rooms, Bache-
lor's-walk, to petition Parliament for a repeal of the Union.
Several speeches were made, when it was proposed that the
petition to Parliament for a repeal of the Union should be con-
fided to Mr. Hunt, and that Mr. O'Ctnnell should give it his
support.
Mr. O'CONNELL was here loudly called upon. Soon as
silence could be obtained, he said, 1 hope within the next eight-
and-forty hours to have my foot on the English soil.—'Cheers.)—
I do not now mean to address you on the subject of the repeal of
the Union, it is not necessary for me to do so—the very exhibi-
tion of talent which has been made here to.day proves that it is
unnecessary, and while that display of genius is not only honour-
able to you as Irishmen, it also demonstrates this, that it is and
must be an idle and vain attempt to resist the torrent of public
opinion in this country; it shows, too, that the voice of Ireland
must be respectfully heard and attended to within the walls of St.
Stephen's Chapel. Before I proceed further, let me say one word
of myself, and one word of that most unworthy journal the
Dublin Evening Post. In last night's Dublin Evening Post it is
stated that I pleaded guilty to eight or fourteen counts of the in-
dictment. A greater falsehood was never stated even in that
Paper.—(Hear, hear.) I would rather that the arm was cut off
from this body than plead guilty to one count.—(Loud cheers.)
The Dublin Evening Post, too, I understand, for I only have
read what appeared in the placard, calumniated the Goverment
by the assertion that they had entered into a compromise with
me : that I, in fact, had compromised my political opinions on
the subject of the repeal of the Union with somebody called the
Government. There never was a greater falsehood published :
it is totally and entirely false.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) I
have made no compromise—l never will compromise my opi-
nions : I have not, and never did, and never shall, compromise
my political opinions.—(Cheers.) I may be convinced by greater
powers of reasoning : if they show me that I am wrong, I
will at once give up; but long as I think I am right, I shall
unflinchingly persevere in that course.—(Hear, hear.) It has
been said that I have agreed to give up the agitation of the
question of the repeal of the Union. I utterly deny it, and
here I am asserting it, who can contradict that assertion ?
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) They may crush me, but they can-
not daunt me—they can neither bribe me, nor frighten me, and
here I am as uncompromising an advocate for the repeal of the
Union as I ever was.—(Continued cheers).—l came here to show
you, that though I have allowed judgment to go by default on
fourteen counts, it is because I dispute the construction of law
by the Attorney-General, and that I have the liberty of carrying,
through the Twelve Judges, to the House of Lords the question
of law, which I shall not discuss till then. But as to the question
of the entirety of my opinions their firmness, and their consis-
tency, that is one which, I. as have always upheld, I shall not
now allow to be compromised. My opinions and my principles
are now, as they ever have been, unchanged, and I now look,
as I have ever done, to the interests of Ireland—to our obtaining
a separate and domestic legislature, having the one King of
England, and a firm and a lasting connexion with that country.
—(Hear, and cheers.)—l wish to see the two Houses of Podia-
ment.—(A person in the crowd here cried out, « and you upon
the woolsack.") —No • God forbid that I should look to my-
self when theinterests of Ireland are at stake.—(Loud cheers.)
I am told, for it was by accident I heard it in the hall of the Four
Courts, that I am accused of taking up the question of the repeal
of the Union because I had failed in the English House of Com-
mons. To be sure, I made no great way there for Ireland ; but
if I did not do so, that was not my fault.—(Hear.) I proposed
there three or four measures which would have been beneficial to
Ireland ; I had but fifteen or sixteen to support me, and two or
three hundred against me, and that I think would be odds even
at foot-ball.—(Hear, and laughter.) But what is the present
Administration doing now ?—an Administration which I am
told is going to bid against me in popularity—to propose those
very measures which they combined to refuse me.—(Hear,
hear.) The first question I shall ask them on going to
Parliament shall be, what do you intend to do for Ireland ?
I will say to them, I am popular in Ireland; you do not like
me to be popular there, and small blame to you for not liking it.
—(Hear, and laughter.)—l will tell you then what you should do
if you intend to go into the market and bid against me for
popularity with the Irish—you*have the power to do good if you
please, I have only the wish, and regret I have not the power to
do them service—you wish to take the people out of my hands;
will you then Reform the Parliament ? Will you do away with
rotten boroughs ? Will you give protection to the votes of
the people, by ballot? Will you do that for me?—(Hear hear,
and cheers.)—Will you open the corporations,. and identify
them with the towns, and will you have the guilds composed
not of nominal
but real traders ? Will you do that for me ?
—(Hear.)—Will you do away with the vestry assessments for
me ?—Hear, hear.)—My friend suggested that they are going
to do away with the Vestry Act; they are I believe going to do
away with one Act, and to bring in another.—(Hear, hear.)—.
Perhaps I am mistaken in this, but I shall ask them the question.
I shall next ask them what are they going to do with the tithes ?
—(Hear.) Will they take a slice off them ? But I will ask them,
will they do another thing for me ? Will they put even so slight
a tax as 25 per cent, on the property of absentees, in order that it
may be devoted to the employment of the labouring poor ?
(Hear, and cheers.) Will they interfere with the grinding tolls
and customs, which compel a may to pay for that for which he
receives no value ? lam going
to the House, where I intend to
ask these questions, and half a dozen more puzzlers.— (Laughter.)
I now go to Parliament to raise my voice for lreland—there _ may
be a combination of English reporters against me, but the re-
porterssay, and even in England my voice must be heard. 1 will be
able also to convince the English people that the repeal of the
Union would be as advantageous to the English as to the Irish
for the Irish papers will tell to the people what 1 may
people.—(Hear.)