The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-22 00:00:00

1_

GREAT REPEAL ENTER-
TAINMENT AT CORK.

CORK, JULY 20.;.-- ThCS entertainment took place at the
Chamber of Oatilinerce last evening ; and whether we regard
it in ryietith to the proud event out of which it arese, or the
ptqceedings to which it gave rise, it was perhaps the most in-
teresting and important political meeting, considering the
eventful crisis at which we have arrived, that has taken place
in this city for many years. The chair was well and efficiently
filled by Daniel Callaghan, Esq., M.P. ; the Vioc-P. esidents
were Francis Barnard Beamish, Req. ; Francis Stack Murphy,
Esq., M.P. ; W. S. Perrott, Esq., of Fermoy ; Daniel
Clanchy, William Fagan, Charles Sugrue, and Francis Lyon,
Esqrs. About three hundred sat down, and amongst them
were present Vie leading Liberal characters of city and county.
The cloth being removed,
The CHAIRMAN rose and said that the first toast of the
evening, he had no doubt, was anticipated—it was their good
and gracious Queen.— ( Cheers.) With great pleasure he pro-
posed" the Queen— the star of Ireland's hope—may the clouds
now gathering fail to obscure its glory, or shut out its radiance
from a faithful people.
The toast was received with boundless enthusiasm.
The CHAIRMAN—The second toast on his list was that of
"the People." They had just toasted the source of honour ;
they would now drink the source of power.--(Cheers.) " The
People—the Irish people—the day is come for them to spurn
provincial degradation, and to assert the honour and indepen-
dence of their religion and their country."—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN—The next toast was that of " the Princess
Royal, Prince Albert, and the rest of the- Royal Family re-
sident in England."—(Cheers.) It needed not that he should
explain the 'exception indicated by the terms of the toast.
Everybody present was well aware of .the cause. Irishmen
loved and respected that portion of the Royal Family by whom
they in turn were loved and respected. He need say no more—
the exception was single, and it was necessary to be more ex-
plicit.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN—Her Majesty's Government deserved well
of the people. They may not—he thought they would not—
be long in power ; but it was due to the Melbourne Adminis-
tration to say that but far the difficulties they had to encounter
—now proved to be insurmountable—they would have passed
measures of general local policy, which, if administered in a
kindred spirit with that by which they had been conceived,
would have placed the country in a position of political lade-
prudence and national prosperity hitherto unknown.—(Cheers.
The Hon. Chairman concluded by proposing " Her Majesty's
present Ministers. Under every disappointment let us never
forget that their principle of Government was justice to Ire-
land." _ _

The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the next toast, said that
by the sanction and advice of their honoured guest, he had
reversed, in the order of proposal, the two next toasts on
the list.—( Hear, hear.) The occasion of assembling together
Was to do honour to Mr. O'Connell—to test those principles
of legislation now relied upon by him as the only means by
which Ireland could be saved. Yes, they had assembled to
uphold, in his person, the great struggle now being made for
Irish independence.—( Tremendous cheering.) He had the
undivided support of the independent interests of the county
and city of Cork—(Cheers.) There was but one great and
grand measure by which the liberties of Ireland would be
secured, and her prosperity promoted. 1 know, continued the
Honourable Chairman, you anticipate what I mean. Gentle-
men, eitizens of Cork, country gentlemen !—it is the Repeal of
the Union.—(The company rose, and one irrepressible shout of
exultation burst from them. The cheering, which was deaf-
ening, continued for several minutes.) Atter the many ages
of darkness—after the long misrule of England—at that period
when Ireland was beginning to taste a meagre portion of
liberty in what Grattan designated free trade, and when the
Catholics were in part enfranchised—at the period the' Tory
aristocracy, lured by bribe 3, lent themselves to the Minister
of the day in his atrocious designs of depriving Ireland of her
Parliament.—( Cheers. ) Well, they succeeded, and ever since
the passing of the blighting Union, the people of Ireland had
to send their representatives to a foreign country.—(Vehe-
ment cheering.) Had Ireland improved since that period?
Hadn't England, by bad laws and bad feelings, kept down
and depressed the energies of the country? Circumstances
had rendered his residence in Englatid for a considerable
portion of his life necessary; and whether in or
Parliament, he had ever been of opinion
of England felt no sympathy for tr
cheering.) Domination, re-
marked the acts of Err.'
arrived when Irel-

out at
aiat the people
et Iteland,--(Lond
and oppression had
to Ireland ha the ptried had
.ad wetild rd longer 'bra( the tyranny
t.rraure the orstotAslon.—( Great cheeritn:. )
no u-as that nothing short of domestic government
~atd satisfy Ireland. We had tied England long and fre-
quently, but she hid done nothing but ill treat us, and that
inceUirtvertibly, the case, he would, with a degree of
satisfacitith scarcely to be expressed, propose "The Itepealz-T--
England has pronounced against Ireland 1 Thu petal rode or
legislative independence is the alternative. Ireland must be a
nation or nothing." And) uotttinued the Chairman, " O'Con-
nell—lreland's Liberator from religious bondage—may it be
his destiny, as her regenerator, to sound the trumpet of her
social and political resurrection, and proclaim to the world that,
as a nation, she is not dead, but sleepeth."
The toasts, thus associated, were drunk amidst tritirepbaht
enthusiasm, the whole company on their ifts, cheering for at

—would no'
Certai-

least ten minutes. - -
Mr. O'CoNKELt. rose, and WA s hailed with repeated rounds
of applause, the most prolonged and deafening. When he
could at length obtain a. hearing he said—l never in the whole
course of my life felt so anxious to make a long speech as Ido
at this moment.—(Cheers and laughter.) Like old Doglyerq,
I would say, " and though it. were three the es told I would
have the heart to bestow it all upon you." I do not believe
that there is that man amongst those whom I now behold sur-
rounding me who would calmly submit to bear the yoke of
British tyranny. (Loud cries of " No, no.") No ; you have
come, I have come, we all have come here for other purposes.
We have assembled on this occasion to speak, to think aloudi,
. .

. -
upon the present aspect of political affair's--upon the Aliti
aspect of the solemn crisis at which Ireland has arriVad. Wt

have now something in our minds that is of vast Importance, and
the firstthing we have to dais to ask this question, has any coun-
try in the world, since the history of man was first told, suffered
so much from the injustice of any. other as Ireland has s‘kfL
fered by the cruelty and injustice inflicted on has by Eng-
land ?—( Cries of " Never,") Never has any country suf-
fered so much, and though I have ofttn said this befete,

will repeat it over and over again, and reiterate it Until it
becomes infixed on the mind of every hatnett being.—(Hear,
hear, and cheers.) Now, then, let that with be the basis
of the future action of every Irishman. Here are two
countries closely connected to each other by mutual inter>
est and benefits; the one ever ready to join in acts of the
most devoted affection And allegiance ; the other in return
for that trying to inflict upon her every cruelty and in-
justice that the most diabolical imagination can conceive.—
(Hear' hear, hear.) That has been the course adopted
towards Ireland by England ever since the connection be-
tween the two countries was formed.—(Hear.) Robbery, con-
fiscation, murder, every infliction that the imagination of a de-
mon could conjure up has been inflicted upon Ireland by Eng-
land.—(Hear, hear.) I ask it of the English themselves; I
ask it of the men of France, I ask it of the Germans, I ask it

of the Spaniardsaveho are now coming into life—of America—.
let every nation of the earth hear it—has there ever been auth a
history of crime committed by one country upon another, as
that indicted by England upon this country ?—( Hear, hear,
and cheers ) This is no exaggeration.—(" No, no.") There
are too many facts before us of the horrible reality, and let every
man of yen carry it home with him and repeat it over and
ever again until it makes a deep and lasting impression,-,--,
(Hear, hear.) Let it be repeated every where and often, ttit-
tit the children shall join in the cry, until the youth who is
bursting into manhood shall boil and burn with indignation at
the cruelties inflicted on his native land, and until the man,
as he advances into old age, shall direct the coarse to be pur-
sued for the amelioration of those wrongs, by moderate ()Ileac--
ment, but also by fixed determination.—(Long centieeeed
cheering.) I may be told that if England continues ea tarry
on this reckless career of violence, she cannot continue to de ee
without incurring consequences that aro fearful VI contem-
plate, or that England will see that she is wr'„ug
in her trest
went of Ireland, and that she will hold.,,ut the pleasing pion
s
pect of doing something better fob us in future. rpu tbel
reply by asking what are
", present prospeets-what Wave
we now to expect?—(..
Cruelty.") Yet, 1 heee 'been well
answered, nothing b.et cruelty,—( Hear, hear). Here then is
There are 137 irembers returned to the
no exagqrateu.'
new Pr...dement, and how do they feel towards unfortunate
Ire'.and? There are just 22 out of the 137, who are favowri•
. able to Ireland, and 1 will not answer for it that these 22 are
over anxious about our welfare.—(Hear, and laughter. )
What have we to expect from this formidable array of our
enemies against our friends that stand in a proportion of
137 to '22? It is no ordinary threat that this majority hold
out. The organs of that party who compose that majority
have ever—oh, but you are so familiar already with their
language that it has now become trite and common to your'
ears—but do they not call you, the people of Ireland, a "felo-
nious rabble ?" have they not stigmatised your priests as " sur-
'diced ruffians?" have they not applied to your holy religion
the name of "a vile idolatry ?"—( Hear, hear, and loud cries
of " They have, they have.") And recollect, that the party
who sustain those moans, who practise this language towards
us, are the men who have been sent into the new Paella.
ment.—(Hear, hear, hear.) Were we committing any
crime to deserve this ? No ; Ireland was never so tranquil.
(Loud cheering.) No; there never was so much acqiii-
escence and readiness expressed to forget bygone injuries,
and respect for the administration of the laws as for the few
years that have passed.—( Cheers.) There never was so notch
affection evinced by a people for their rulers as during that
period in Ireland, because that affection was sanctified by a
reverence for the Sovereign.—( Cheers ) At such a period,
if a foreign enemy serried its ranks and dared to threaten Eng-
land, Ireland, with the bound of a lion, would rush to arms and
assert the independence of the British Throne.—(Hear and
cheers.) But at this very time, when Ireland trusted most,
confided most, in England, she was met by acts of the greatest
cruelty—yes, that is the word, and I thank the gentleman for
it. She has ever been met by continued and repeated tets of
cruelty from England.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") I peotest
that whistling jigs to mile-stones would be an act charac-
terised by good sense and intelligence, compared to the Lin
who goes into the present Parliament expecting justte from it
by any other means than repeal.—(Loud ch7..,eas.) Of what
use are those expectations ?—( Hear, he-mac.) Look at the ac-
cumulation of injury and injust; „e have emtetedt they
form a sort of olio of mephife
vapour, a tongtegateu pesti-
lencen.CHtefer.to,Vear,lalnndd cheers.)c Am I wrong
in what we have
when ontrasted with
what Ireland wantel—,
Look at the stingy measures
in stating tl',,s?—(Ne) 'no.)
of coreel:.ate tefetia they have given us ; is that not One of
the V.ving etitices of England towards 'lreland ?—( Hear, hear,
hear.) I3y the English Corporate Reform Bill every
non in England can be a burgess who is assessed to the pour-
rate, while in Cork no man can be a burgess Who it tint assessed
to the amount of 101. rent as a householder. How there can
be any, the most distant, hope Uf obtaining from England
equality in that measure ?-,-(Cries of " None. ") Look at the
Reform Bill passed for Ebgland, and the part we toik to give
that Act to the Engliali people.—( Hear.) In fact it was we,
the Irish Members, who carried that measure. There was a
majority of English Members against it; there was a mejerity
of Scotch Members against it—lreland cut-numbered both,
and it was the majority of Irish Members that left the
balance in favour of that measure for the English people.
( Loud cheers.) And what did Ireland receive for that?
Why, I need only refbr to your present position, to your mise •
rably limited franchise. Cork has 700,000 inhabitants—she
has but 3,000 voters—that is to say, about one person in ever y
200 of the whole population of this great county has a vote.—
(Hear.) Is that justice or reform?—(Loud cries of " No,
no.") Look at the Church Establishment in England and in
Scotland, and then think of that in lreland.—(Hear, and
cheers.) In England the ecclesiastical revenues go to support
the Church of the majority of the people.—( Hear, hear.) The
ecclesiastical revenues of Scotland go to support the Church of
the majority in that country.—( Hear, hear.) How is it in Ire-
land? Who are the majority?. 0, I need not ask you,
( Hear.) Many of my excellent and most valued Protestant
friends join ire in this, for they know it is opposed to conscience
and integrity that we should be compelled to pay for the main-
tenance of a religion we believe to be false.—( Hear and cheers. )
When I recollect how the clergy of that Church which we are
compelled to support, though we believe its doctrines to be
false, have abused and vilified, and calumniated -our religion,
and low they still-continue to vilify and calumniate it while
they rob us of our money, am I not warranted in accusing
England of gross injustice and ingratitude to us ?—(Loud cries
of " Hear" and cheers.) And, let me ask, what hope have we
that the present Parliament will remedy that giant, evil ?
(Hear, and cries of
None.") We have, instead of 175 Irish