The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-14 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Sept. 13.
An address was presented to the Lord-Lieutenant
yesterday by the following deputation from the
Royal Irish Academy :—Thomas E. Beatty, M.D.;
J. T. Gilbert, W. H. Hardinge, G. Hatchell, M.D.;
Judge Kelly, J. J. Lalor, F. L'Estrange, M.D.; R.
R. Madden, Thomas M. Madden, Lord Talbot de
Malahide, David Moore, Colonel M. Taylor, J. F.
Waller, LL.D.; Henry Wilson, M.D.; and E. P.
Wright, M.D.

The President, Lord Talbot de Malahide, read
the address in which the members warmly congra-
tulated Lord Abercorn on his appointment, and
laid before him a statement of the nature, objects,
and claims of the learned body to which they be-
long.

His Excellency read the following reply
My Lord President and Council of the Royal Irish
Academy, I have great pleasure in responding to the address
with which you have just presented mo. Congratulations
emanating from your learned society cannot fail to be most
acceptable to me on my assumption of the office which her
Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to confer
upon me. My intimate connection with Ireland causes me
to take a more especial interest in the learned body which
you so worthily, represent, and, as you kindly remark, your
efforts in the cause of science and literature, and the success
which has attended those efforts, are fully known to me.
The labours of the many eminent men who, since the foun-
dation of your society, have continually promoted the ob-
jects for which it was instituted, have been of lasting bene-
fit to this country, while their researches in Irish literature
and antiquities have contributed most important additions
to the archa3ological history of Europe. It is gratifying to
find an institution in Ireland whose objects are such as to
create a common interest among men of all parties and all
pursuits in the promotion of tho national literature and
science of the present clay, as well as in the investigation
of the evidences which exist of a remote, yet remarkable,
civilisation in the primitive history of this country. I have
great pleasure in accepting the office of visitor to your so-
ciety, and I shall always endeavour to do anything which
may be in my power to promote its interest."
A sensation was produced in Dublin yesterday by
the appearance in The Freeman of the following
letter, copied from the New York. Tribune of Sep-
tember 1, with the professed object of bringing
" the charges against Mr. Stephens's
patriotism to
the ground :"
" JAMES STEPHENS,

"Respected Sir,— Before leaving Ireland I heard with
pain and horror that the rumour was started and kept afloat
very industriously in this country that you were set at large
by the connivance of the British Government. Now, Sir,
1 was a warder in Richmond Bridewell at the time of your
escape, aided in it to the fullest of my power and ability,
and denounce all such statements as wilful and malicious
falsehoods. I was arrested, as you know, on the morning of
your escape, tried at the sitting of the Special Commission,
where the jury, packed as it was, were unable to find evi-
dence to convict me. I was remanded. Finally, nothing
turning up either here or in Ireland to give the least proof
of my complicity, to the credit be it spoken of those en-
gaged in it, I was allowed out on bail last April. This state-
ment, as far as it goes to exonerate you, can, no doubt, be
fully corroborated by your respected deputy, Colonel Kelly,
who it was for more than a week met me every day or night
under the shadow of the prison walls, and perfected the
plans which worked so admirably. It will always be a
sourco of delight to me to think over that long, dreary,
howling, wet night, when so many hearts beat expectant in
the manly bosoms outside the walls for the preconcerted
signal to welcome you to the outer world, where you have
done so much to establish your right to the liberty you
wined en that haer.a9rablQ ;light. It 145 91tou raised my