The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-30 00:00:00

TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND.

" Hereditary bondsmen, know ye not,
Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow?"
Derrinane Abbey, 25th August, 1834.
Fellow Countrymen,—lt is quite true that agitation has re-
- commenced—it has recommenced with our enemies. Never
yet was there so wantonly outrageous a proceeding as that of
the recent meeting in Dublin.
It was, indeed, a melancholy exhibition. It is afffieting to
think that so many persons could be got together belonging to
the class which should have some education, and yet that there
should not be one amongst them to cherish one single spark of
the spirit of Christian charity—that it should be a pandemo-
nium of demonism and diablerie—a crusade avowed against
the people of Ireland—against the poorer classes especially of
the people of Ireland. Blood, blood in every sentiment, and
every aspiration for a renewed reign of bigotry and cru-
elty ; the religion of the sword and the propagandism of the
bayonet ; and this they call Protestantism ! How amiable it
must appear in the eyes of all real Christians !
But I am weary of comment on the knaves and fools who
figured at the Dublin meeting.
It is the duty of every man to prepare to resist the fell spirit
of Orangeism. The only question is—how is that spirit to be
most effectually resisted ?
The means of such resistance are, in my judgment, twofold,
negative and affirmative.
The negative means consist in the absence of agrarian dis-
turbances and crimes. I wish to God I possessed any influ-
ence over the persons who perpetrate the Whiteboy crimes. In
the name of our suffering country—in the name of the living
and all-avenging God—l conjure my countrymen to desist
from agrarian crimes of every description.

Again, expressing my most fervent wish to suppress all
agrarian disturbances, I come to the more active means of re-
sisting the Orangeists—of protecting the people from the
murderous designs of that execrable party, and of procuring
solid and substantial advantages for Ireland.
I at first thought that it would be usefel to organise lodges
of " Friends of Ireland," to be called " Irish Lodges," to
counteract and oppose the Orange Lodges ; but I have aban-
doned the idea almost as soon as formed, although, I confess,
I was for one moment fascinated with the idea of having twenty
" Irish Lodges" for every " Orange Lodge" which is or
should be in existence. But I gave up the plan after a short
consideration. First—because any secret or private society, in
its nature, tends to crime, and is liable to every calumnious
and false charge, and puts all the individuals composing it in
the power of the worst man in the society, who may with
safety and success accuse his companion of any political crime
he pleases, although of his own invention. And secondly, be-
cause the " Orange Lodges" are clearly illegal bodies ; every
member of an Orange Lodge is liable to be indicted, con-
victed, and punished for a misdemeanour. I, therefore, gave
up my idea of " Irish Lodges," because I would not advise any
of my countrymen to imitate theillegal conduct of the Orange-
men, which, on the contrary, ought, and I trust will, be put
down by law.
The " Irish Lodges" being thus impracticable, the next re-
source will be found in the county clubs. I wish to see a
" Liberal Club" established in each county upon the plan now
existilag in the counties of Monaghan and Meath, and about
to be established, I hope immediately, in the King's County.
The very superior state of public spirit and energy in the
counties of Monaghan and Meath is to be attributed almost
exclusively to the organisation of the " Liberal Club" in each
of them. My plan, therefore, is to procure the institution of
a Liberal Club in every county in Ireland. A subscription of
Is. a month, and the being proposed by one member, and se-
conded by another, to be, as in the Catholic Association, the
only requisite to constitute a member.
I intend actively to exert myself to reduce this plan into
practice. When a few counties are organised, it will be my
duty to form a Liberal Club for the City of Dublin, to guide
and direct all the others; and I hope to be in Dublin quite in
time to have the arrangement of the Dublin Liberal Club com-
plete before November.
Before I proceed to detail the duties of the Liberal Club in
each county, allow me to confess myself, candidly and dis-
tinctly, to be a Ministerialist. lam at present a supporter of
the existing Ministry. I wish to act myself, and to procure
the people of Ireland to act, in the manner least calculated to
embarrass, and most calculated to give strength to the present
Administration, subject, however, to the paramount duty of
attending, above all things, and before all things, to the inte-
rests of Ireland.
It is exclusively because I am convinced that the interests
of Ireland arc identified with those of the present Ministry,
that I support them. It may, indeed, be said that most of the
present Ministers belonged to the Administration of Stanley
and Grey, which has inflicted such insults and injuries on the
people of Ireland. ( Here follows an assailment of Mr. Stan-
ley, Lord Grey, the Marquis of Lansdowne, and Sir James
Graham.)
For a long time I cherished a faint hope that the Orange
faction might be conciliated to Ireland, and I have, for some
years—indeed since emancipation—acted on the plan of con-
ciliation. I have exerted all my energies and devoted all the
resources of my mind to the endeavour to reconcile the Orange-
men with Irishmen—l acted with as much zeal as if I believed
success attainable. I, however, scarcely deceived myself by
my hopes, and I am now—and for ever—convinced that
Orangeism must be put down, or that it will keep Ireland
down, without hope and without redemption.
The success of my plan—embracing, as it does, a Liberal
Club for each county, and a " Grand Liberal Club" for all
Ireland, to be assembled in Dublin—will depend upon the
utility of the measures to be promoted by these clubs—upon
the perfect legality of their proceedings—upon the co-opera-
tion they can afford to the King's Government against the dis-
loyal machinations of the murderous Orange Lodges—and
upon their holding out peaceable and legal redress to the
poorer classes of the Irish for the inflictions of Orange op-
pression and atrocity ; and, above all, upon their sympa-
thising with the wants and wishes of the Irish people, and, in
return, enjoying the perfect confidence of that brave and
faithful people.
~To attain these ends, the following definite objects should
form the constitution of the " Liberal Clubs ;"—First, to pre-
vent, if possible—and to punish where they exist—all " agra-
rian crimes." This should be considered as the primary and
vital principle of the " Liberal Clubs." Without the sup-
pression of agrarian crimes, we can neither resist the threatened
Orange combination to perpetuate oppression, nor obtain for
the people of Ireland those measures of legislative relief which
the present Ministry are, I believe, disposed to grant. In
short, no evils can be avoided, nor any good procured for Ire-
land, until " agrarian crimes and miscreancy" are totally ex-
tinguished.
The Second object of " the Liberal Clubs" will be to put the
law rigidly and actively in force against the members of the
Orange Lodges, and to punish by due course of law all the
crimes and misdemeanors of the Orangemen. Every insulting
proceeding on their part, provocative of a breach of the peace,
is in itself a misdemeanor, and should be indicted and punished
as such. Of course, every riotous assembly of Orangemen
should be equally proceeded against, and punished in a similar
manner. So should their riots, and, above all, their murders.
In punishing these crimes, "the Liberals," for that is our de-
nomination, will give all the assistance they can to the Govern-
ment and to the constituted authorities, and we shall be
entitled to the assistance, in return, of the constituted autho-
rit'es. =
The third object of the" Liberal Clubs" will be one of vital
importance—to procure peaceably, legally, and constitution-
ally, the total extinction of tithes. It is our fault if we do
not succeed. We will have none to blame but ourselves if
tithes are ever again demanded or paid in Ireland. The tithes
are, at present, in fact, if not in law, payable only once a year
—that is, at November ; and shortly after that month the Par-
liament will meet again ; and if the voice of the people of
Ireland be loud enough in demanding the abolition of tithes,
the Legislature will extinguish them for ever. The House of
Commons, we all know, at a blow knocked off two-fifths of the
tithes, and this reduction would now be law but for the folly of
the Upper House, and the wickedness of Irish parsons and
their advisers. The tithes are, therefore, staggering, and it
requires nothing but a peaceable and legal determination on
the part of the people to seek constitutionally for their extinc-
tion, in order to have them abolished for ever.
To this point the attention of the " Liberal Club" in each
county must be directed. They must procure a meeting in
every parish to state its local grievances, and to petition against
the continuance of the blood stained impost of tithes. It will
be right to begin the meetings to petition as soon as possible,
in order that petitions with from one to two millions of signa-
tures may be ready before the first day of the next Session of
Parliament.
The law of tithes has undergone a considerable alteration by
means of Mr. Stanley's Act, which is in operation at present,
so far as to prevent the Clergy from levying tithes with the
flippancy they formerly did—and it takes away the power to
distrain in nine cases out of ten. This point is of the utmost
value. It will protect almost all the poor occupiers of lands
from being distrained, or indeed sued in any way. It will, to
use a familiar Irish phrase, bother the most truculent of the
parsons pretty considerably.
On this point, too, I will address another letter to " the
Liberals," so soon as my books arrive. I will state to them
bow far the claws of the Orange parsons are tied up. The
" Liberal Clubs" will then be able to afford legal protection to
the occupiers of the land against all species of illegal harpies.
In seeking hitherto for the abolition of-tithes, we have
spared the existing interests of the present race of incumbents.
I doubt much the justice of making such a concession, and I
am convinced of its impolicy. We cannot conciliate these men,
and yet we leave them at liberty to continue the contest, with-
out any risk to their individual interests I believe the time
is come to insist upon the immediate cashiering of every sine-
cure ecclesiastical benefice, and, at the utmost, to put upon
a species of half-pay every sinecure parson. Indeed Ido be-
lieve that it is a bad reason to give any man money who has
hitherto received a great deal, without gi:ing any kind •of value
for it. •
The fifth and greatest object of each " Liberal Club" should
be to procure "the repeal of the Union." This is an object
which should never be lost sight of. It is not possible to do
full and effectual justice to Ireland in any other than a domes-
tic Legislature. None but an Irish Parliament will ever consent
to extinguish that greatest of all existing evils—absenteeism.
We must, however, agitate "repeal" with as much caution
and prudence, as determination and perseverance. Above all
things, and before all things, we must take care that it is not
made a sectarian or religious question. The Orange Lodges
arc endeavouring as much as they can to convert it into a
Catholic question. They are giving it a religious hue, and
denouncing it as such. This, then, is a critical moment.
It is one in which " repeal" may be flung back ten—nay,
twenty years. We are, it is true, agitating to oppose the
Orange faction—let us keep the repeal question quite se-
parate from that opposition. Let us get rid, if we can, of
the " tithe question " first ; or, if that be tedious, let us at

LONDON,
SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 30, 1834.

An express from Madrid, bearing date the 23d inst.,
has just been received. The finance project of Count
TORENO has been rejected by the majority of the com-
mittee, who have come to the determination of paying
off the whole of the Cortes Bonds with the full amount
of the interest due upon them. Of the nine members
composing the Committee, three only were for recog-
nizing the debt contracted in France since the year
1823 ; but the question is not yet decided. The fol-
lowing is a copy of the resolutions which are to be
submitted to the decision of the Committee :

" That the royal loan negotiated in 1823 (meaning that of
Guebbard) be forthwith annulled, seeing that the loan in
question was contracted by the Regency established in
Madrid, and afterwards at Ceus d'Urgel, without the con-
sent of the Government then established in Cadiz, and that
although it was afterwards ratified by the King, it ought not
now to be recognized, inasmuch as Ferdinand would have
ratified anything.
" Resolved, therefore, that the committee take none of the
royal loans into consideration, except such as were negotiated
since 1824."

We have received the whole of the Paris Papers of
Thursday, and refer to our extracts from them for the
only information they bring us. The extreme hazi-
ness of the weather in France for some days previous
prevented the arrival in Paris of all telegraphic intel-
ligence from Bayonne ; but that this is no great mat-
ter of regret, will appear sufficiently evident from a
letter which we have given from that city, addressed
to a Morning Contemporary. There is, in truth, no
news in any of the foreign papers received this morning,
except repetitions of stale intelligence respecting Don

CARLOS, slightly varied so as to supply our Parisian
neighbours with some topics on which to employ their
conversational powers. Arrivals from Madrid are
hourly expected, though we are in no hopes that they
will be more satisfactory than those which we last re-
ceived. The Gazette de France, the regular organ of
the French and Spanish Carlists, contiins what it is
pleased to designate an " official despatch" from
ZUMALACARREGUY to the " MiniSter of 'War," in
which a slight account is given of a victory obtained
by the Insurgent Chief over General CARONDELET
and a body of the QUEEN'S troops. We need scarcely
add that we believe this document a piece of genuine
Carlist manufacture, of which every sentence is a
falsehood.

Those of our readers who feel inclined for a hearty
laugh will do well to peruse Mr. O'CoNNELL's
Letter to the People of Ireland." Anything
more droll—anything more grotesque—anything
more irresistible—than this production, has not ap-
peared in print since its author last put pen to
paper in the solitudes of Derrinane. 'Talk of the
farces of FOOTE What is there in all FooTE equal
to this one farce of O'CONNELL ? We quite envy
the Hon. and Learned Gentleman the high, rollicking
animal spirits under the influence of which he must
have penned it. He commences, as a matter of course,
—and this is the only serious part of his epistle,—with
a fierce attack on the late Orange exhibition at Dub-
lin, which he calls a " Pandemonium of diablerie."
Let the word " Pandemonium" pass ; it is correct, and
will stick ; but as regards "diablerie," surely the phrase
is incorrect, for it implies the presence of conjurors ;
and can Mr. O'CoNNELL look in the faces—innocent
of sense as a young calf's—of Lord WINCHILSEA
the Head, or Lord RODEN, the Rump, of the Dublin
Pandemonium, and imagine for one instant that he
can detect ought of the conjuror about them ? The
accusation is as false as it is calumnious. But to pass
to more diverting matters.
Having exhausted all his stock of seriousness on the
Orangemen, Mr. O'CONNELL proceeds in a more
playful vein to propose his plans of amelioration for the
"gem." First, he tells us that he thought of instituting
" Irish Lodges," by way of counteracting the influence
of the " Orange Lodges ;" but while he was yet travail-
ing with this bright idea, his moral sense took the alarm
on recollecting that all such " Lodges" were " illegal."
He therefore abandoned the project, for he would not for
the world—not he !—do ought that might militate
against the settled institutions of his country. And
this from the friend of BARRETT—from the advo-
cate of Repeal—from the uncompromising Radical
who enlarged on the virtues of " short-sticks"—from
the ultra Democrat who reminded his countrymen that
their " every hill was a fortress, their every ditch a
redoubt,"—from the red-hot Revolutionist who pointed
to the " three days" of France, and the " six
weeks" of Brussels as a useful example to Ireland, at
that time convulsed to her heart's core ! Is not this
the very perfection of irony !
But though Mr. O'CONNELL is far too moral a
citizen to recommend the establishment of " Irish
Lodges," he by no means entertains the same virtuous
dislike to " Liberal Clubs." He therefore proposes to
substitute the word " Liberal Club" for "Irish Lodge,"
seeing that the former, having as yet no existence,
cannot by any possibility be illegal, whereas the latter,
having long been a public nuisance, occupies a conspi-
cuous station in the black books of the ATTORNEY-
GENERAL. So reasoned the Ordinary in Jonathan
Wild, when eschewing wine, as a sinful beverage, he
yet professed a perfect readiness to get drunk with
punch, " because it was nowhere spoken against in the
Scriptures !" _ _

Mr. O'CONNELL'S reasons for substituting " Clubs"
for " Lodges"—in addition to that we have already
hinted at—is because he hopes by their means to give
an impetus to Repeal. And this impetus he is.more
especially anxious to give, because he is " a supporter
of the Ministry !" In fact, so enamoured has he now
become of Whiggery, and all its ways, that he thinks
he cannot- possibly render it a greater service,
than by doing his best to cut its throat. The con-
ception is a humorous one, but it is not original. VOL-
TAIRE'S Shah of Persia used to act in something of the
same manner. Whenever this great monarch felt disposed
to show more than ordinary affection towards his cour-
tiers, he always began by kicking them about like a
foot-ball, and he who was most kicked was looked on
as most honoured. Now, though Mr. O'_CoNNELL
may desire to enact the Shah, yet Ministers will be in
no hurry to play the courtiers, and if be persist
in thwarting all their best measures by his
repeal agitation, he will find, Ministerial as he is,
that it will be absolutely necessary for him to look
about for another BARRETT as his proxy in jail.
Then inark the cunning of the man ! He proposes
to establish his clubs as a means of still further as-
sisting the Ministerial tithe plans, knowing well that
the only effect such clubs can possibly have—
and he means them to have no other, for they
are all to be subordinate to one grand one in Dublin,
of which he is to be invested with the supreme
control—will be to throw the whole weight
of Irish Government into his own hands, and,
so far from assisting_ Ministers, to keep them,
chained and prostrate, at his feet. Thus he actu-
ally makes use of the name and influence of Government
for the purpose of thwarting, at his pleasure, all its best
plans !

We have given but an imperfect idea of Mr.
O'CoNNEL Cs amusing epistle ; for, to thoroughly
appreciate it, our readers must peruse it themselves.
Its chief characteristic (mixed, however, with some
small cunning) is rich absurdity—absurdity of
logic—absurdity of plan—absurdity of everything in
which absurdity can show itself. Possibly, however,
Mr. O'CONNELL meant it in earnest, and if so—if
we should really be mistaken in our conjectures—then
we can look on it in no other light than as
an expedient to " raise the wind " for another
year. DANIEL'S agitation always sets in with the
Rent season. He reaches his most inflammable point
of combustion at the autumnal equinox—just when
the begging box is setting out on its travels through
Ireland. That auspicious period is close at hand.
Hence the present epistle, from which, in justice to
the " Liberator," we select the only extracts that bear
the slightest appearance of sagacity ; and in which
it will be observed that poor Repeal is somewhat un-
handsomely treated, being compelled to play a subor-
dinate part to Tithes, in the new scheme of Irish
agitation. This portends badly for the Rent.
I propose, then, that there shall be formed in each county,
city, and large town in Ireland, " a Liberal Club," principally
for the following purposes :-
Ist—To suppress agrarian crimes and outrages.
2d—To suppress, by legal means, and to punish by due
course of law, the members of Orange Lodges, and all other
Orange criminals.
3d—To procure, by legal and constitutional means, the
total extinction of tithes, in nature as well as name.
4th—To attend to the elective franchise thrcughout Ireland,
so as to secure the return to Parliament tf" frina is to Ireland."
sth—To advance and secure the restoration of a domestic
Legislature to Ireland.