The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-16 00:00:00

IRELAND.

'..- 11...

DUBLIN, TUESDAY MORNING.
SECRET SOCIETIES.
It was currently rumoured yesterday that a
special commission would be issued for the imme-
diate trial of the persons arrested in the South and
North on the charge of being members of an illegal
society. Nothing, however, positive on this head
is likely to be known for some days, or until the
preliminary investigation before the police magi-
strates is completed. Late yesterday evening it
was reported that several arrests were about to be
made in the city of Cork, but no confirmation of
the intelligence has yet reached Dublin. Of the
nine persons captured in Kenmare, three are assist-
ants in the employment of Mr. Garrett Riordan,
draper ; Denis Shea, assistant, in the employment
of Mr. Daniel O'Brien Corkery, also a draper ;
Thomas Downing, son to former confidential stew-
are,. in the employment of Mr. Hickson, late agent
of the Marquis of Lansdowne, and ur others.
They are all young men. If guilty, a turn of the
-treadmill might sufficiently cure them of their Fili-

bustering propensities. The Belfast Mercury says
it is a gross error to confound the organisation of
the Phoenix Club and its ramifications with the old

Riband Society :
" There is little doubt that the new organization
is entirely seditious, and made up out of the dregs of
Young Irelandism. It is perfectly ridiculous to
sttaeh any importance to the secret and criminal
.4-1,-sociation of such elements. To endeavour to mag-
nify the incoherent schemes of a few madmen into
a formidable conspiracy is a rank absurdity."
Respecting the•objects of this Phoenix Club the
Belfast paper gives the following information :
" The club was preparing to receive with open
arms the regiment of American militia which we
lately heard SD much about as coming to Ireland
to see once more their native land. This was the
ostensible object for such an unprecedented visit
from the American militia, but, coupling their
avowed intention- to come with the fact of an illegal

society being established in Ireland to receive them,
it is evident to us that they only wished to feel
their way. Colonel Ryan' was to command them,
and their stay in Ireland was to be something about
six weeks. During that time they were to encamp
(that was the military word employed) in the south
and in the north. Great things, no doubt, were
expected from these Yankee invaders, who would
have endeavoured to spread as much dissatisfaction
and disloyalty as possible in the breasts of the
ignorant people who would have flocked round
them. In fact there cannot be a doubt of the ob-
ject of their intended visit, and the result now
proves it. The British Government has very pro-
perly put a stop to their coming, and since they
have been stopped the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
has issued. a proclamation against illegal societies,
and recent arrests of the members of the Pheenix
Club have closely followed the proclamation."
The Northern Whig of yesterday give the fol-
lowing full particulars of the arrests of Sunday
night :
" Yesterday evening, about 5 o'clock, the utmost
excitement was created in the neighbourhood of
Cromac-street and the adjoining districts by the
sudden arrest of a number of persons believed by the
authorities to belong to an illegal society. We have
learnt that on Friday last information was given
to Mr. Tracy, R.M., that an illegal body met
every Sunday night in the house of a Mrs. M‘Kay,
in Great Edward-street, and the informer, who we
have reason to believe was himself a member of the
body, went into such particulars of the nature of
the business carried on as left no doubt as to the
veracity of his statement. Mr. Tracy took imme-
diate -steps to sift the matter. Head-constable
Madders had only recently arrived in town. He
was comparatively unknown in his personal ap-
pearance to the public of Belfast • and Mr. Tracy,
therefore, wisely selected that officer, and a sub-
constable of equal sagacity and prudence, to watch
the premises of Mrs. M'Kay throughout the whole
of yesterday. In the garb of ordinary citizens
these two officers hovered about the premises during
the day. As darkness set in they observed men of
a suspicious character enter the shop, and their sus-
picion was further aroused by the fact that these
persons did not leave the premises after they had
been supplied at the counter with what they re-
quired, but passed upstairs. Head-constable Mad-
ders, at once, when some dozen of this class of per-
sons had entered in this way, and had not made
their departure, found himself on a reliable track.
He then despatched information to the Queen-street
station, where the constabulary were held in readi-
ness for immediate action. Some 60 members of
the force, with side-arms, were turned out, and,
under Sub-inspector Bindon and Head-constable
Delany, were marched to Great Edward-street.
The constabulary surrounded the premises of Mrs.
Maay ; an entrance was effected, and in an upper
room of the house 15 persons were arrested. The
police, as we have said, had then only side-arms,
and, perhaps, fearing that a rescue might take
place, the majority of the constabulary were
ordered back to barracks for their fire-arms.
When they returned the prisoners were brought
out. There was then an immense crowd of the
residents of this usually quiet neighbourhood
assembled, every one of whom was asking his
neighbour the occasion of this unusual proceed-
ing. In the midst of two files of police, with fixed
bayonets, the 15 prisoners were taken to the police
office. Some time elapsed before the arrival of Mr.
Tracy. All ingress was prohibited to the court,
and an immense, but a very peaceable, crowd had
collected in the adjoining locality. In the mean-
time the informer had given information against a
sixteenth person, named John Kelly, a lawyer's
clerk, and he was arrested while he was in bed, and
taken also to the police office. The appearance of
the prisoners, as they stoodbefore the railing of the
police office was that of respectable artisans. All of
them were decently attired, and few of them had
the slightest tinge of intoxication. In the midst of
any public assemblage they would have passed off
as respectable, intelligent-looking mechanics. But
not one word escaped their lips from the moment
they entered into the hands of the police until they
passed into the county gaol. We may as well here
mention that when the police captured the pri-
soners they found two bottles of whisky on the table
before them, and the party appeared to be enjoying
themselves with great conviviality. On the arrival
of Mr. Tracy the informations against the prisoners
were privately perfected by that gentleman in the
presence of Mr. Williams, county inspector. This
part of the proceedings was carried on in an inner
apartment of the police office, and there was the
utmost secrecy attached to it. The warrant for their
committal to the county gaol was made out and
handed to Head-Constable Madders. The following
are the names and occupations of the persons:—
James Kelly, law clerk; Patrick Kelly, law clerk ;
John Kelly, law clerk ; Hugh Carleton, law clerk ;
Henry Smith, Waterman; James Donaghy, huck-
ster ; Daniel M'Kenna, operative ; David M•Veigh,
greengrocer ; Bernard Smith, waterman ; John
Finley, labourer in provision store ; Hugh Finlav,
labourer in provision store ; William J. M'Auley,
factory worker ; Wm Laverty, baker ; Wm. Fin-
nigan, quay porter ; Daniel Barr, labourer ; Francis
M'Goran, labourer. The warrant of committal hav-
ing been placed in charge of Head-Constable Mad-
ders Head-Constable Delany ordered the police to
fix bayonets, and shortly before seven the prisoners
were marched, handcuffed, to the county gaol.
At this time large numbers of persons were on their
way to their respective places of worship, and the
appearance of this considerable police force, with a
body of prisoners in their midst, created some ex-
citement in the neighbourhood of High-street,
Bridge-street, and Donegal-street. There was,other-
wise, however, not the least manifestation of public
feeling, and the prisoners entered the gaol without
it single evidence of disapprobation or applause
from the assembled crowd. We have heard a great
many statements in connection with these arrest!,
to which it is hardly necessary to give currency.
Among the prisoners it is stated the master and
secretary of the society will be found ; and it is also
said that the premises in which they were disco-
vered has been weekly occupied by the body for
several years. This, at least, we have a good autho-
rity for saying, that Mrs. MtKay had no knowledge
of the character of the persons who met in her
house, although at the same time it appears strange
that the only available room in the premises—the
next being sublet to another party—should have
been occupied by the prisoners. Last night the con -
stabulary were most active in their endeavours to
make further arrests, and at a late hour a person
named James Hughes, of Smith-street, fowl dealer,
was captured on information sworn against him.
While we write the most active members of the
force are sifting. every quarter of the town in the
hope of discovering other members of illegal socie-
ties, their information on the subject, we have offi-
cial reason for believing, being very extensive and
minute. It should be recollected that the induce-
ments for information in these cases are somewhat
considerable. In the recent proclamation of the
Lord Lieutenant, with respect to illegal societies
it is stated:—' For the better carrying into effect
these our intentions and purposes aforesaid (the
suppression of illegal societies) we do hereby offer
a reward of £lOO for such information as will lead
to the conviction of any of the persons who shall
have administered any such oath, and a reward of
£5O for such information as will lead to the convic-
tion of any of the persons who shall be found to be
members of, or in anywise connected with, any of
the aforesaid societies.' We believe that the pri-
soners will to-day undergo a private examination
in the gaol ; and some time May elapse before any
important details of this extraordinary case may be
publicly brought forward."
A despatch, dated from Belfast last night, sup-

plies later particulars. The writer says :—" The
number of persons now in prison charged with
being members of an illegal society is 17, one hav-
ing been arrested late on Sunday night in his own
!louse. I understand that the information which

applied to the lodge meeting in Widow M‘K ay's
public-house included the names of two other per-
sons who have not yet been taken into custody, and
the police are supposed not to be unaware of mem-
bers of other lodges meeting in the neighbourhood
of Smithfield and the Pound. The greatest excite-
ment prevailed in these districts when it became
known that arrests had been made, and the more
so, as the precision with which the police acted in
making the arrest leads almost irresistibly to the
conclusion that the informer must have been an
active member, when he could take not only the
names of those who would be present, but also
their residences. The prisoners all lived within a
few minutes' walk of the public-house in which they
held their Sunday evenings' assembly, and it is
therefore presumed that the lodge, whose dqlibera-
tions were so unceremoniously interrupted, is but
one of several with which we are favoured in the
' Northern Athens'. The most absurd rumours are
in circulation regarding the affair, but most of them
are utterly unworthy of notice. It is a remarkable
fact, however, that both here and in Skibbereen
lawyers' clerks were found to be most deeply impli-
cated. I am informed that one of the Roman
Catholic priests warned the people in St. Malachi's
Chapel on Sunday evening, after the arrests were
made, against having anything to do with such
illegal societies. It is almost impossible to believe
that a society with ramifications so extensive as
the Phcenix could exist unknown to the priests,
but, in this town at least, they never hinted at it
until it was no longer a mystery. If they be in
earnest such combinations cannot exist contrary
to their permission. At the police court this
morning Mr. Tracy, resident magistrate, who
made out the committals, mentioned that a great
deal of the crime of Belfast was to be attributed to
drink, and that this was the cause of the trouble
into which so many people had got on the previous
night, and out of which they were not likely to get
in haste. No further examination has yet taken
place that I am aware of."
The Whiy has some sensible reflections upon the
proceedings of the week just closed, and which
have thus rudely interrupted the long immunity the
country has enjoyed from the evils which had for a
long and dreary period retarded its material pro-
sperity :
" While we in the peaceful and prosperous North
were remarking, with a not ungratified commisera-
tion, on the state of society in the South of Ireland
indicated by the arrests at Skibbereen, a body of
constabulary march quietly down to a publichouse
in Cromac-street, arrest a conclave of 15 men there
assembled, and, with the most dexterous celerity,
lodge them securely in the county gaol. This pro-
ceeding awakens us to the fact that Belfast is really
part of Ireland. On Saturday we were critics of
strange performances done in Skibbereen and Ban-
try; to-day we are actors in the drama. We find
that the proclamation has come home to our next
door; we perceive that we, too, are of the disaf-
fected parts of Ireland.' This personal contact ma 7
make us think more deeply of this matter, but it
cannot alter our general opinion. Our opinion as
regards the arrests in Belfast is the same as of the
arrests in the South. If there be illegal societies
among us of any kind, and if the Government
have got reliable information and justifiable cause
for action, let the blow fall, and the harder the
better. If the Government can and will root out
all secret and illegal societies, in the name of Ilea-
ven and justice let it be done; and the deed will be
one of the best that Ireland has ever seen. But,
just in proportion to the good which the Govern-
ment will accomplish, if it acts wisely and impar-
tially, will be the amount of deplorable mischief
that will have been wrought if the Executive have
proceeded rashly or on insufficient or unreliable
information. Our candid opinion of last night's
work is that, if it prove to have been justly done, it
is one of the best things that could have happened;
if wrongly done, it will be more disastrous to the
future political peace and religious amity of our
town than anything that could have occurred. The
persons arrested are all Roman Catholics—the Pro-
testant corollary inevitably being that they are all
Ribandmen. We confess that our private view of
the conspirators in the police court last night was
not very terrifying, and that the aspect of the secret
band was decidedly foolish rather than formidable.
It is not easy to conceive the existence of a treason-
able or seditious confederacy in the town of Belfast
with any tangible object other than that of playing
at conspirators, as children play at soldiers. The
perfect hopelessness of any such mad vision as
planning a French invasion, or projecting a filibus-
tering irruption into the North of Ireland, is ludi-
crously apparent ; but, if people will be fools, they
must suffer for their folly ; and, if they will be
wicked, they must be punished for their crimes."
TRANSATLANTIC POSTAL SERVICE.

A memorial, of which the following is a copy,
was yesterday signed by every gentleman present
at the meeting of the corporation. A similar me-
morial lies for signature at the various public
buildings of the city :
" To the Right Hon. the Lords Commissioners of
Her Majesty's Treasury.

" The memorial of the undersigned merchants,
bankers, and others, members of the Corporation
of the City of Dublin,
" Sheweth,—That it is of paramount importance
to the commercial community of this country that
additional and more rapid means be afforded for
postal, telegraphic, and other communication be-
tween this country and the continent of America.
That the undersigned view with much satisfaction
the establishment of the Atlantic Royal Mail
Steam Navigation Company, by which increased
postal and other facilities are afforded to
the commercial community with the British
American colonies and the United States, and
the encouragement hitherto given by her
Majesty's Government to that company. Your
memorialists submit that the port of Galway, from
the natural and other advantages which it possesses
offers unrivalled opportunities for extending such
means of communication. Your memorialists there-
fore most humbly pray that her Majesty's Govern-
ment will be pleased to extend to the above-named
company such aid as will secure to the public the
advantages contemplated by the company. And
your memorialists will ever pray."

DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY MORNING.
SECRET SOCIETIES. •

There are some curious revelations in yesterday's
Cork Constitution respecting the arrests of the Club-
bists in the southern districts. According to the
Cork paper, " the treason was carried much further
than any one not engaged in it suspected." And
further—

"There have been nightly and daily drillings,
pikes have been manufactured, arms have been im-
ported, and the use of them has been taught. All
this was not for nothing, and Government was not
a minute too early in interfering; but it did wisely
in waiting until satisfactory evidence was obtained.
The day after the arrests, however, a party of about
60 men were observed in a field near Durrus. As a
person approached in his gig they laid down, but
when he had passed, and was supposed not to be
observing them, they resumed the attitude out of
which they had been frightened, and went on with
their manoeuvres. If rumour be correct, shopmen
in Bantry and Skibbereen are not the only shot-
men who were aware of what was going on, and
who until Thursday last supposed themselves safe
feel very uncomfortable in the prospect of disclo-
sures that may affect them. A hundred militia left
yesterday for Bantry, and a body of militia will for
the present be distributed through the west of the
county. But why should this arrangement be
temporary ? Would it not be well for the
magistrates to memorialise for the permanent
location of a military force ? Except at Kin-
sale there is not a soldier in that vast tract
of country. The police are few, and the Coast-
guard fewer. And see the consequences! Arms have,
we understand, been secretly landed from America,
and a few weeks ago a vessel, it is stated, ran into
Dunmanway Bay and landed a cargo of tobacco,
which was carried off, and the ultimate destination
of it has not, -we believe, been ascertained. We
cannot blame either Coastguard or police for this ;
for they are too few in number and too far apart for
the duty to be done, Now, however, that preparz-
tions for an insurrection have shown Government
how little appearances are to be relied on in Ireland,
and that they find a portion of the population in
treasonous correspondedh with brother disaffec-
tionists in America, the country ought not to be left
depend:nt, on so feeble a protection."
The Cork Reporter of yesterday contains the fol-
lowing intelligence. The visit of Sir Mathew Bar-
rington is behoved to be significant as confirmation
of the rumoured intention of Government to issue a
special commission for the immediate trial of the
suspected parties :---
" Sir Mathew Barrington, Crown Solicitor, arrived
from Dublin yesterday by the first p.m. train, and
proceeded at once, accompanied by the mayor, to
the
Tuckey-street police station, where they re-
mained for a considerable time in consultation with
Mr. Brownrizg, the new sub-inspector, and Mr.
sessions
Humphreys, petty clerk. Rumour, of
course, is busy with its thousand tongues, and we
hear of intended arrests in Cork—nothing more
perhaps than an inference from the movements we
have just chronicled. We understand that it is in
contemplation to hold a magisterial inquiry this
day into the conduct of the alleged members of the
Phcenix Club, who have been lately imprisonea,and
arrested. As yet we have been unable to ascertain