The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-30 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DISTURBANCES IN THE COUNTIES OF CORK
A.ND WATER-FORD,

DUBLIN, SEPT. 27.—The Cork Constitution, received
in town this morning, col.itains accounts of food riots at
Kil worth, the residence of Lord Mountcashell; at
Castlemartyr, t'ne seat of Lord Shannon ; at Ferinoy ;
and further particulars of the desperate riot at Youghal,
reported yesterday.
At Loughrea, in the county Galway, on Wednesday
last, a large body of wretched men marched through the
streets, in procession ; at the head of which was carried
a loaf of bread mounted on a pole. Their cry was for
" work," or food. The harvest is now in, and the potatoes
rotten in the ground ; there is not, in consequence, either
farm labour at which to engage the peasant, or food to
give him in exchange for any trifle of money he may
have had the singular good fortune to save.
A correspondent, writing from Clifden, county Gal-
way, states that at a baronial sessions, held in that town
on Wednesday, " the Court House was crowded to ex-
cess, and outside there could not be less than 15,000
persons. Very great confusion prevailed during the
proceedings, as the people were under the impression
that nothing was about to be done for their relief, and it
was only ater three Roman Crtholic clergymen ad-
dressed the people in Irish that order could be obtained.
Grants to the amount of 40,0001. were passed. A sum
of 100/. was voted in aid of the erection of a chapel at
Ballinafad upon the application of the Rev. Mr.
O'Malley."
_ _ _ _

From-the county Limerick we learn that a large party
of men attacked six car loads of oats which were being
conveyed from Croom to the Limerick market. They
ripped the sacks open—swearing no corn should be
taken out of the country. Three firkins of butter were
also destroyed near that city. From the excitement
among the people serious apprehensions are felt. All
classes are calling upon the Board of Works to fiat the
presenments without further delay, or the consequences
may be fatal to the peace of that part of the country.
It is rumoured that riots have also occurred at Castle-
martyr, and that Lord Shannon had sent to Youghal for
troops. Cloyne is also said to be disturbed. In
Youghal the greatest apprehension is felt that the
county of Waterford men will be in in great numbers on
the morrow.
MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

DUBLIN, SEPT. 28.—1 t is confidently announced to-
day that Parliament will not meet in November, as was
almost universally supposed it would, at the close of last
week, aud, indeed, up to this afternoon. The following
statement upon the subject appears in the Mail of this
evening:—

"Lo-id John Russell agreed with Lord Besboreugh as
to the necessity of assembling Parliament forthwith, but
the majority of the Cabinet overruled his Lordship's
decision. Lord Grey and his party voted with the ma-
jority. Mr. Rediugton, Under-Secretary for Ireland,
has left town for London. Mr. Redington's visit, no
doubt, is connected with the state of this country. He
can, of course, give Lord John Russell and his colleagues
more general and useful information by being on the
spot than he could possibly afford by means of epistolary
communications, trammelled, as they naturally must
be, by official forms and absurb punctilio. This is not
a time for indulging in the quirks of lawyers or the
humbug of diplomacy."

NCREASE OF gTIPENDIARY MAGISTRACY.

The Irish Government have determined upon ap-
pointing six additional stipendiary magistrates, whcse
services will, no doubt, be fully required throughout the
ensuing season. The names of the fortunate gentle-
men are, Mr. Miller (son of Lieutenant-Colonel Miller,
one of the Inspectors-General of the Constabulary),
Mr. O'Brien, Mr. Arabin, Mr. Ffrench, Mr. Plunket (of
the Constabulary), and Mr. Birmingham.
MR. O'CONNELL ON THE FAMINE.

At the usual weekly meeting of the repealers to-day,
the following letter from Mr. O'Connell was read :
" Derrynane Abbey, Cahirciveen, Sept. 25.
_ _

" My Dear Rai,—The state of the country is fright-
ful ; famine hourly approaching, and the enormity of
the evil so great as to require for its alleviation sums of
money so apparently extravagant in amount as to fill the
minds of men of the most hopeful temperament with
dismay and affright.
" You have seen in the newspapers a report of the
proceedings of our presentment sessions at Cahirciveen,
for the barony of Iveragh. The report includes only
part of what occurred on the first day of meeting. There
are, necessarily, many inaccuracies in that report ; but it
shows that we had at once agreed to charge the barony
with public works to the extent of two-thirds of the
poor-law valuation, namely, 14,0001. ; but, when we
came to discuss the particulars, it struck me forcibly that
14,000/. would not be sufficient, and we therefore in-
creased the presentments to the amount of 21,0001., being
the entire amount of one year's poor-law valuation of
the entire barony. It will therefore not be our fault if
there be not work and wages for the people during a
considerable portion of the ensuing winter and spring,
especially as the Knight of Kerry has applied fer a large
sum (I don't know the exact amount) under the Drainage
Act, and I myself an; preparing an application, in con -
junction, I hope, with the Marquis of Lansdowne, if not,
upon my own account, for the drainage of a tract, upon
which above 4,0001. can be expended in the wages of
labour. I only mgntion these things to instigate othelrs
to do more than we have done, and above all to pre-
vent the people from starving, or being driven into
madness.

" That amiable and excellent gentleman, Mr. Monsell,
of Tervoe, in his very able letter of the 18th of Septem-
ber, to Mr. Labouchere, speaking of the Labour-rate
Act, has these words—' I wish distinctly to state, that
be the existing law good or bad, wise or unwise, as it is
at present the only way by which the poor can be re-
lieved, it is our manifest duty to make use of it.'
" lle continues, It is our clear duty in the eyes of
God and man.'

" How melancholy it is to think that Lord Glengall
and a number of other noblemen and gentlemen as-
sembled at Cashel appear (if we are to credit the news-
paper reports) to have totally neglected this, their duty
to God and man!

" In my last letter I threw out a suggestion respect-
ing the necessity of a combined effort of the Irish gentry.
I beg again to repeat that suggestion.
" It is, that there should be some combined meeting
in Dublin of a number of the landed proprietors of Ire-
land, of every district in the island, to make arrange-
ments, in conjunction with the Government, for mitigat-
ing as much as possible the terrible emergency that
awaits us.

" Let it be remembered that there is great reason to
fear—and not only to fear, but to believe—that the evils
that now press upon us will nut have spent their force in
a single year, or between this and next harvest. What
will be the condition of the country, if there shall be
another year of blighted crop, without adequate prepara-
tions being made to meet the calamity? and what suffi-
cient preparations should and can be made, it is not
likely that individual sagacity could for etel.
"If ever there was a case requiring consultation, con-
sideration, and deliberate and dispassionate discussion,
it is that now in hand. It requires the concentrated in-
telligence of the entire country to afford a chance of
devising plans suited to the magnitude of the peril, and
the enormous calamities that menace us.

"My suggestion, I repeat, is, that the landed pro'-
prietors, instead of continuing their scattered and
isolated attempts to meet the coming mischief, should
immediately form a national committee to meet in
Dublin, and assist at this disastrous moment in the
management of such Irish affairs as relate to the ap-
proaching famine. This committee might be composed
of as many of the high sheriffs as may choose to attend;
also, as many deputy-lieutenants and justices of the peace
as should choose to assist, together with such other
landed proprietors as may be requested by their own
lccal districts to give their aid and attendance.
"Such a body as this, even upon a smaller scale than
may be naturally expected, would command the atten-
tion of the Government, both in Ireland and in Eng-
land; thoroughly acquainted as they would be with all
the details of Irish affairs, they would instruct as well
as direct the counsels of the Executive. They would be
listened to by Parliament as well as by the English
people; and, having the combined advantages of perfect
information, of pressing personal interest, and a high
sense of duty, they would form the instrument best cal-
culated to rescue Ireland from otherwise inevitable
destruction. _
_ _

" In ordinary times these suggestions of mine would
be laughed at by many who may, perhaps, at the present
moment deem them worthy of consideration. At all
events, I hope I do my duty in endeavouring to rouse
the universal Irish people to a sense of their danger and
their moral responsibility.
" In the meantime let the Repeal Association do all
they can to extricate Ireland from the perplexed state
of misery in which she is at present involved. There is
no fact more distinctly recognized than that the greater
part of the Irish population are every year on the verge
of starvation. It has pleased Providence in the present
year to engulf them in misery. We do not confound the
adventitious misfortune of the present year with the
steady progression of the accumulating distress and
misery which has marked the domestic history of Ireland
since the date of the union. Parliamentary documents
have placed beyond doubt that the wretchedness of the
Irish peasantry has been, and is, annually increasing.
The effects of the union have left the country unable to
endure the loss of a single crop. How sacred, then, is
the duty of those who appreciate these facts to use all
lawful and peaceable means to procure the restoration of
the Irish Legislature!
"Perhaps there never was anything in the history of
nations so fantastically atrocious as the conduct of the
English press at such an awful moment as the present.
Let any one only listen to the description given by the
Times of the peasantry of Connaught. Oh! how false
—how insulting—how almost maddening 1 Again—but
this is endurable—they attribute all the misfortunes of
Ireland to the Irish national character. England, by a
combination of the vilest fraud, with a force casually
irresistible, deprived us of our nationality—and then,
because we suffer the evils necessarily resulting from
that loss, their writers taunt us with the natural and
necessary consequences of that deprivation, and accuse
us of being the authors of our own misery, choosing to
forget that we have had no control over our own affairs,
and have been nothing more than the sad serfs of an un-
grateful mistress.
"For our parts, we have one solemn duty, however it
may be forgotton by the enemies of the Repeal Associa-
tion; it is, never to relax our efforts, never to sink our
hopes or diminish our expectation for the restoration of
our domestic Parliament.
" Come what will, happe❑ what may, we at least an
devoted to Irish nationality—that is, to the repeal of the
union.—Believe me to be very faithfully yours.
"DANIEL O'CONNELL.

"T. IL Ray, Esq."
The (isount of the rent for the week was 981.35. 7d.

DEATH of THOMAS CLARKSON.
(From vile Ipswich Expresso.)
This illustrious philanthropist died at 4 o'clock on Satur-
dfo; 'morning last, at his residence, Playford Hall, near this
town. He had attained the age of eighty-six ; but his
spirit burned bright to the last, and while he ceased not
to direct his thoughts to the great question of the eman-
cipation of the human race, he calmly looked forward
to " the crown of life " laid up in Heaven for the faith-
ful followers of the cross. He was born at Wisbeach, in
Cambridgeshire, March 28,1760. In the life of this great
and good man was truly exemplified the saying of the
sacred writer—" The path of the just is as the shining
light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
What a glorious career was that of Thomas Clarkson !
Who can estimate the amount of good which he was
instrumental in achieving ! How much sorrow and woe
were not diminished by his undaunted and heroic self-
devotion ! When Clarkson began his labours, England
was deeply engaged in the slave trade;— kidnapping,
burning, plundering, and ravishing from their homes
the unhappy Africans. That traffic which is now piracy
by our laws, which Christian Englishman regard as an
atrocious crime, and which the head of the Roman
Catholic Church has placed under ban, as a deadly sin,
was then accounted lawful. Manstealers were not
frowned upon by society; and the slavemonger hesitated
not to make a boast of his unrighteous gains. Thomas
Clarkson was the main instrument employed by God in
the suppression of the British slave trade and in the
emancipation of the slaves in the West India Colonies,
which was its legitimate consequence.
In the year 1772, a negro named Somerset was arrested
in London by a man who claimed him as a runaway
slave. Mr. Granville Sharpe brought the case before the
Lord Mayor; and by the Lord Mayor's orders Somerset
was discharged from the Poultry Compter, where he had
been imprisoned. The master, however, in defiance of
the Lord Mayor, seized the slave and tore him away
from Mr. Sharpe. An action was brought against the
master for assault ; and the case being tried, it was
finally referred to the twelve judges ; who, after solemn
argument decided, that as soon as a slave sets foot on
English territory, he becomes free:—

" Slaves cannot breathe in England: if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free.
They touch our country and their fetters fall."

This circumstance, it may be presumed, powerfully ex-
cited the youthful mind of Clarkson. In the year 1785
Dr. Peckhard, the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, pro-
posed the following question to the senior Bachelors of
Arts, as the subject of a Latin prize dissertation—" Is it
right to make slaves of others against their will ?" At
this time Clarkson was a senior bachelor in the Univer-
sity ; and, having gained a prize the previeus year, he
resolved to enter the lists again as a competitor. While
studying the general question of slavery for the purpose
of the prize essay, the whole iniquity of the negro slave
trade burst upon his view. "It is impossible," he re-
marked, iu his History of Slavery, " to imagine the
severe anguish which the composition of this essay cost
me. All the pleasure I had promised myself from the
literary contest was exchanged for pain, by the astound-
ing facts than were now continually before me. It was
one gloomy subject from morning till night. In the day
I was agitnted and uneasy ; in the night I had little or
no rest. I was so overwhelmed with grief, that I some-
times never closed my eyes during the whole night, and
I no longer regarded my essay as a mere trial for
literary distinction. My great desire was now to pro-
duce a work that should call a vigorous public effort to
redress the wrongs of injured Africa." He came to
London to make inquiries, and to collect materials. Ile
shortly produced his celebrated essay " Or the Slavery
and Commerce of the Human Species." de obtained
the prize ; but the inferior motives of the collegian
were annihilated by the nobler purposes of philan-
thropy. His aim now became the deliverance of the
African race. He made a vow of eternal enmity to the
slave trade, and to slavery in every form. He resolved
to consecrate himself to this gigantic and then appa-
rently hopeless task.

" Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws, of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with baser matter."

" Here," remarks a writer, in reviewing this period of
our national history, " here was a spectacle which men,
according to their feelings, would have called sublime or
absurd—a young student of twenty-four, of narrow for-
tune, and almost unknown, devoting himself to a work
from which kings and senators would have turned with
dismay." But it was the cause of God, and it triumphed.
From this time Thomas Clarkson entered on his work
with renewed zeal; and he found that the further he in.
quired into the evil of slavery and its traffic, the more
diabolical and revolting did the system appear. That
eminent statesman, William Wilberforce, who was one of
the principal leaders in this great work, and who devoted
all the energies of his powerful mind to the subject, did
not, however, enter the field in the cause of the negro,
until two years after Thomas Clarkson had taken a lively
interest in the abolition cause. Between them no rival-
ship existed. The question was not, "Who should have
the most honour?" but " Who should do the most good?"
On the 22d of May, 1787, a committee was formed,
consisting of twelve gentlemen, of which the deceased
was a member. Their desire was that the subject of
slavery should be brought before Parliament ; and in
order to do that, the fullest information of the evils con-
nected with slavery was sought to be obtained in addi-
tion to the mass of evidence already in their possession.
To obtain this, Mr. Clarkson proceeded to the ports of
Bristol and Liverpool, where he met with many friends
who were favourable to the cause in which he had em-
barked, and obtained much valuable information ; but
his labours there were so indefatigable and incessant as
to endanger his health. Mr. Clarkson successively
visited Bridgewater, Monmouth, Gloucester, Liverpool,
Worcester, and Chester, at which place he found many
friends, but the planters and African traders exerted
themselves in every possible way to accomplish their
ends ; they even calumniated his character, impugned
his motives, and threatened to dismiss from their service
any who dared to furnish him with information. When
the object of his visit had become known at Liverpool,
attempts wore made upon his valuable life, which was on
more than one occasion exposed to imminent danger, for
he very narrowly escaped being pushed from the pier-
head by some persons who seemed determined to effect
his destruction. He had gone thither to collect evidence
to show that the traffic in human flesh was both cruel
and wicked, and the goodness of his cause inspired
him with undaunted courage, and in spite of all
opposition, he did not leave Liverpool until he had col-
lected much information, besides inducing the friends
there to combine in the cause of abolition, and to act in
concert with the London committee. On the 9th of
May, 1788, the abolition of the slave trade was first
made the subject of Parliamentary discussion. It was
eloquently defended by Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, Sir W.
Dolben, Mr. Whitbread, and by several others. The
discussion resulted in a motion that the subject should
be investigated in the ensuing session. When on a
visit to Manchester, at the earnest entreaty of several
friends, who knew he had been educated for the Church,
he preached a sermon on the subject, in one of the
churches there, selecting for his text Exodus xxiii., 9,
" Thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye were
strangers in the land of Egypt," from which words he
proved that slavery was at variance with the Scriptures.
In 1789 Clarkson was called upon to go to France to
promote the cause of abolition. Although that country
was in a state of political anarchy, and he was advised to
travel in another name, he cast himself upon the protec-
tion of Providence, and prosecuted his labours fearlessly.
On his arrival in Paris he was introduced to the Mar-
quis de la Fayette, who was a stanch friend to aboli-
tion. Clarkson had also free access to M. Necker, who
was then at the head of the Government; he was also fa-
vourable to the sacred cause. Clarkson every each day
wrote a letter of from 16 to 20 pages to Mirabeau, to
place all the facts in his possession, to enable him to
bring them before theassembly. The Abbe Siezes, upon
his departure, accompanied him to his hotel, and said,
after presenting him with a copy of his works—" I am
highly pleased to have been acquainted with the friend
of man." After a residence of six months in France,
Mr. Clarkson returned to England, and after travelling
many thousand miles in quest of persons who could give
evidence bfore a committee, found that no evidence could
be given as to how the slaves were obtained in Africa in
such large numbers. The planters said they were pur-
chased at fairs—the abolitionists, that they were kid-
napped. It was difficult to get evidence, as but feiv
Europeans were permitted to sail up the rivers. Clark-
son was informed by a friend, that he saw a man twelve
months before, who was a sailor, who had been engaged
in the trade ; he described his person, but knew neither
his name nor his residence—he appeard to belong to the
navy. On this information, Clarkson started, and visited
successively all the ships belonging to the navy at Dept-
ford, Woolwich, Chatham, and Sheerness, without suc-
cess. From Chatham he proceeded to Portsmouth, and
examined all the vessels there, with a similar result.
There was but one port left, which was Plymouth, up-
wards of 200 miles off. On the first day he boarded 40
ships, but did not find a single person who had been to
Africa. After passing a restless night, with drooping
spirits, he entered the boat the next morning agitated
alternately by hope and fear ; and in pursuing his task
on the fifty-seventh vessel, he found the man who had
been described.

Delighted with his success, Clarkson returned to Lon-
don with his witness, who had, on several occasions,
been present when natives had been forcibly torn from
their homes. In 1793, Mr. Clarkson's physical and
mental powers gave way ; the excitement had been in-
tense ; for seven years he maintained a correspondence
with four hundred persons, and wrote a work annually
for the cause. He travelled upwards of thirty-five thou-
sand miles in search of evidence, performing a great part
of these journeys in the night. Not until 1807, after
twenty years' incessant toil, was the abolition of the
slave trade carried. It was the last act of the Grenville
and Fox Administration. The seals of office and the
royal assent were given simultaneously.
Mr. Clarkson now turned his attention to literature,
and his first work, the " History of the Abolition of the
Slave Trade," 2 vols. Bvo., was published in a few months.
He after wards published, " Thoughts on the necessity
of Abolishing Slavery ;" "A Portraiture of Quakerism,"
3 vols. 8vo.; "Life of William Penn," 2 vols. Bvo., &c.,
&c. These pursuits never diverted his attention from
the great cause to which he had devoted his life. In
1818 the Emperor of Russia (the celebrated
Alexander) and other distinguished individuals
met in Paris. Mr. Clarkson drew up an ad-
dress to the Sovereigns, and requested an interview
with the Emperor, which was readily granted. Soon
after, a meeting of the European Sovereigns took
place at Aix-la-Chapelle. The Emperor, after recog-
I,E.ii,,g Mr. Clarkson, I,d him into his room, and placed
cliar tor him to Qlt upon. The Etuperor approved of
Mr. Cla&on's address to the Sovereigns, and under-
took to deitrer,.with his own hands, the addresses to the
Emperor of Austria and the King of Prassia ; inspected
the productions of the Africans in cotton and iron,
which Mr. Clarkson laid before him and observed that