The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-31 00:00:00

TH

IRELAND.

DISTRESS IN IRELAND—SIR ROBERT PEEL.
DUBLIN, JULY 29.—After the city of Cork grand jury bad
been sworn in on Saturday,
Mr. BEAMISH, one of the jury, rose to submit for their con-
sider.aion some resolutions which he had drawn up on a
question upon which, he believed, there would be little
difference of opinion—viz., the judicious measures taken by
the late Government, and the strong apprehensions now en-
tertained of a similar aid being required from the present
Government during the ensuing year. The present salutary
state of things was mainly attributable to the large supplies
of wholesome and nutritious food distributed amongst the
people by the late Government ; and he, therefore, anticipated
no opposition to his resolutions. Whatever some people
might have said as to the exaggeration of the potato disease,
and who consequently stigmatised the measures of the late
Government, no persons would deny that if those supplies of
food had not been introduced into the country, the price of
the ordinary food of the people would have risen to an alarm-
ing height.—(Hear, hear.) This he conceived to be a con-
clusive reply to the sneers of those who, for interested pur-
poses, would make light of the potato disease; and he also
trusted it would be considered a conclusive argument for the
gentlemen of the grand jury adopting the resolutions which
he was about to propose.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.)
" Resolved unanimously, That the sincere and grateful
acknowledgments of the Grand Jury of the city of Cork be
respectfully presented to the Right Honourable Sir Robert
Peel and the members of her Majesty's late Government,
for the timely aid afforded to the distressed population of
Ireland during the period when a deficiency of their ordi-
nary food threatened them with serious privations; but
which the wise arrangements of the Government, aided by
the generous exertions of our benevolent citizens -and other
charitable individuals, have, under a benificent Providence,
happily averted, and the beneficial effects of which may
be traced in the diminution of disease, the lightness of
the criminal calendar, and the peaceful demeanour of the
people.
" That having too much reason to apprehend a similar
cause for the active agency of the Government during the
ensuing year, we would respectfully direct the attention of
her Majesty's present Government to the impending cala•
mity, and respectfully suggest that extensive employment
for the labouring classes by the construction of useful public
works is the best means adapted to alleviate the privations
and distress which must otherwise invariably follow a defi-
ciency in their ordinary food.
" That copies of the foregoing resolutions be forwarded by
the Chairman to the tight Honourable Sir Robert Peel, as
also to Lord John Russell."

Mr. SPEARING seconded the resolutions, which were car-
ried unanimously.
Mr. SEWARD said, that if it were not for the aid of the
Government there would have been nothing but starvation
throughout the country.
Mr. BEAMISH remarked, that though nearly 200,000 sacks
of meal had been taken from the Cork depot alone, the price
of potatoes in the market that day was exactly 100 per cent.
higher than last year.
COUNTY OF KILKENNY ELECTION.
KILKENNY, WEDNESDAY.—Mr. Richard Smithwick re-
pealer, was this day elected for the county of Kilkenny, in
the room of the late Colonel Butler.
ADDRESS TO THE LORD-LIEUTENANT.
The requisition calling a meeting of the nobility and gentry
of Kilkenny county, to address the Lord-Lieutenant, of all
parties, in that county, includes the name of Mr. John
O'Connell, M.P. for the city of Kilkenny.
An abstract of the following report appeared in The Sun
of yesterday
REPEAL ASSOCIATION ADJOURNED MEETING,

YESTERDAY.
WITHDRAWAL OF MP.. SMITH O'BRIEN AND THE YOUNG

IRELAND PARTY.
Mr. JOHN O'CONNELL (in continuation) proceeded to de-
monstrate the dangerous tendency of certain articles in the
Nation, and which, if passed over by the Association, might
possibly compromise its very existence. His father had
pointed out these articles in committee, and it was therefore
needless for him to produce them then. What was the au-
thority quoted by the Nation as stimulating them to go on in
advance of O'Connell? No one less than the blood-stained
miscreant of the French Revolution, Danton. But they
would nct adopt his principles ; and those who wrote for the
Nation should instruct themselves in the school of peace,
before they undertook to instruct others. Mr. O'Connell
would accomplish his objects by moral force alone—
A Voice—Hurrah for Dan ! _ .

A tremendous cheer was here given, the audience rising,
and cheering Mr. O'Connell's name with great enthusiasm.
The Lord Mayor called for " one cheer more," and another
was given, louder than any which had preceded it.
Mr. J. O'CONNELL then concluded his address, which oc-
cupied more than two hours in the delivery, by asserting
what he had already stated, that he should protest against
the Nation, and that in his opinion and judgment it would
be unsafe for the Association to be any longer connected
with a newspaper which promulgated such pernicious doc-
trines.
Mr. Mrrcneer. (of the Nation) then proceeded to answer
the " indictment' preferred against that journal by Mr.
John O'Connell, and concluded his observations (which were
frequently interrupted) by asking whether every member of
the Association was not entitled to the free exercise of his
own opinion, save and except on the question of repeal. No
one could ever dream of opposing 'Va.. O'Connell in what he
(Mr. Mitchell) might call his own association; but if he
were compelled to withdraw himself from it he would
struggle in any field that might be left open to him for the
redemption of his country.
Mr. STEELE said it was impossible to expect that tran-
quillity could be restored in the disturbed districts of Ire-
land if such pernicious doctrines as those contained in the
Nation were allowed to be disseminated. Mr. Mitchell had
said " that no one thought they wanted to excite war;"
but as he (Mr. Steele) knew what was lurking in the abyss
of his mind, and in young Mr. O'Gorman's mind—it had
been avowed by Mr. Meagher—he would put to them a
test; he would ask them would they make a solemn ad-
juration that in no case, or under no contingency, except
that of being attacked, did they meditate a recourse to
physical violence.—(Cheers.) He would call for that test,
and if they shrunk from it, he would tell them, with all
manner of private respect, the sooner they retire the better,
for they were not with them.—(Loud cheers.) Mr. Steele
then proceeded to show that good effects would prevail from
moral force alone, and called on the meeting to place reli-
ance in Mr. O'Connell, who would be able, when England
was in difficulty and needed their assistance, to make his
own terms for Ireland.—(Loud cheers.)
Mr. MEAGIIER then rose, and said he cordially con-
curred in the sentiments of Mr. Mitchell, that the most
comprehensive measures that a Whig Administration could
bestow upon the country would fail to elevate it to that
position which it had a right to occupy and the power to
maintain. The Whig Ministry could improve the province,
but could not restore the nation; franchises, liberal ap-
pointments, tenant compensation Bills, and equal justice,
as it was called, might ameliorate, but would not exalt.
They might meet the necessities, but would not call forth
the abilities of the country. They might repair the evils
of the past, but could not realise the anticipations of the
future. With a vote in one pocket, a lease in the other, and
full justice before him in the shape of a restored magis-
trate, the humblest peasant might be regarded as a freeman,
but he would not have the characteristics of a freeman, or
the spirit to dare, and the energy to act.—(Cheers.) These
were not the crude sentiments of youth, although mere com-
mercial patriotism might satirise them; for age had uttered
them, and the experience of eighty years had preached
them to the people.—(Cheers.) A few weeks since stood in
the Queen's Bench an old and venerable man, to teach the
country the lessons he had learned beneath the portico of
the Irish Senate-house, and which he treasured up in his
heart as the costliest legacy which any citizen could be-
queath to the land that gave him birth.—(Cheers. A voice
—He voted against O'Connell.) He cared net if Mr. Holmes
had given a Conservative vote; he had national sentiments
and aspirations.—(Cheers.) The speaker then quoted pas-
sages from the speech of Mr. Holmes to which he referred,
and continued—A new Government might redress griev-
ances, but it was a strong people alone that could raise up a
great nation.—(Cheers.)
A slight interruption here took place.
Mr. MEAcnasu then proceeded. He was glad of the in-
terruption, because it had given him an opportunity of say-
ing that anything he had to say he would say there that
day, and because he conceived that the issue which the Hon.
Member for Kilkenny so pointedly insisted upon would soon
come to hand, and he perhaps would not have again the
honour of meeting them in that hall. He then went on to
say, that modern politicians seemed to think that when the
pacification of the country took place, there would be an end
to repeal.—(Cries of" Name.")
Captain BRODERICK called upon Mr. Meagher to name to
whom he referred, and added, that he ought to keep to the
point, and not come there to make displays of oratory.
Mr. O'Baius here rose, amidst loud cheers. He should
say one word with great xeluctance. Mr. John O'Connell
had addressed the assembly for upwards of two hours without
any interruption. It would, therefore, be much better
that every gentleman should be allowed to proceed with his
line of argument in the manner that presented itself to his
mind, and that those who differed in opinion with him should
reply to him.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. MEAGIIER then proceeded. He drew attention to the
vagueness of Lord John Russell's promise to ameliorate the
condition of the people, in which he said that the Ministry
considered the social grievances of Ireland to be the most
prominent, and they would afford some remedy, some kind
of improvement, some kind of hope that in ten or twelve
years hence this country would be in a better state than at
present. After that consolatory declaration let those who
had the patience of Job and the poverty of Lazarus wait
upon Providence and the Whigs—(Cheers)—but let those
whose hearts and minds had not been =penalised continue
to undo that work which forty-eight years ago knocked
down the independence of the country, dishonoured the
ancient peerage of Ireland, and reduced the country
to servitude.—(Cheers.) Let him not be told that he was
ungrateful for the services of that great man, O'Connell, to
whom they were so much indebted. He never before
thought it necessary to say so much. He hated unneces-
sary praise, and he scorned to receive or bestow it
(Cheers.) It was he who struck the fetters from his hands
when he was a child, and by his influence his father was
the first Catholic who for 200 years sat in the civic chair of
an ancient city--(Cheers)—but the same God that gave
that great man the power to annihilate an old and odious
ascendancy, gave to him a mind of his own to make use of,
but not to surrender.—(Cheers.) It was in the exercise of
that right and privilege that he appeared there that day,
and stood up in defence of his friend, Charles Gavan Duffy,
who suffered for them and with their leader in Richmond
prison,—(Cheers.) He begged to say that he had no more
connexion with the Nation newspaper then be had with the
hear.) He believed that the character of
the Nation was above suspicion, as he knew that • the
ability with which it was conducted had won European
fame ; nay, more, he believed that the people would not
ratify the censure which had been pronounced upon it that
day in that hall.—(Great cheering.) He confessed that,
in the present circumstances of the country, an appeal
to arms would be not only senseless but wicked ; to talk
of repealing the union by force was to poetize. He was for
the peaceful policy of that Association ; it was the only
policy they should adopt, and he did firmly believe that
If it were worked out with truth and earnestness it
would ultimately end in the attainment of their glorious
object : but he dissented from the resolutions. He did
not concur in the opinion that no political amelioration was
worth a drop of blood. He did conceive that there were.
ameliorations which were worth more than many drops of
blood.—(No, no.) He was not stating their opinions ; he
was merely stating his own.—( Hear, hear.) He did conceive
that there were occasions when the weaponed arm of the
patriot should
,prevail against battalioned despotisui.—
(Cheers.) From the day in which the Almighty nerved
the arm of the Jewish girl to smite the drunken tyrant in his
tent, to the rtsur in which ha blessed the insurgent chivalry-
of the Belgian priesthood, his protecting arm was stretched
forth to consecrate the flag of freedom, and 'to ble'r,S the
patriot's sword. Be it in the defence or assertion of a na-
tion's liberty, he looked upon the sword as a sacred weapon
—(Dissent)—and if it had reddened the shroud of the op-
pressor, it had at other times blossomed into flowers to deck
the freeman's brow.—(Cheers.) Abhor and stigmatise the
sword ! No. Remember that it cut in pieces the banners of
Bavaria in the passes of the Tyrol, and that a nation, a
great nation, sprung up by its magical influence from the
waters of the Atlantic, wad colonies became a daring free