The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-19 00:00:00

N, LONLON, FRIDAY. EVENING, OCTOBER 19, 1866.

was taken up in coming to a good settlement, if,
with the blessing of the Almighty, we arrived at the
desired end. It was better to go too slow than too
fast, for steps of this kind could never be retraced.
That, he believed, was a point on which they were
all agreed. and he thought they would also agree on
this, that the great prosperity of this country, and
the great blessings we enjoyed, had arisen in the
main from the careful handling of such questions,
and from our always endeavouring to hold fast to
what we believed to be the old lines of the Consti-
tution. (Cheers.)
Col. NORTH and Col. FANE also acknowledged
the toast ; and the healths of the members for Ban-
bury and Woodstock, the Vice-Chancellor, and
other gentlemen, were given and responded to, that
of the mayor being proposed by Mr. Cardwell.

sion of the soil by a few great proprietors ; that he
would oppose every Government who would not
break up this system, enfranchise the land, and
sweep away the entails which protected this selfish
oligarchy. And when, in accordance with the esta-
blished custom, the Whigs covered the flaming de-
magogue with the ermine of a judge, it was a strange
sight to see this eminent person selected as the in-
strument of justice in sentencing men accused of
uttering language not very unlike his own. For
years upon years the Irish Catholics gave themselves
up almost body and soul to the Whigs for patronage.
What good has it done them? I heard it said the
other day that Lord Derby, to use the common
phrase, was going to do justice to the Catholics by
giving them places, and a good deal was made of
the fact that he has a Catholic Attorney-General,
Mr. Morris, in place of the Whig Protestant At-
torney-General, Mr. Lawson. I shall not insult
your honesty and your understanding by occupying
much time in exposing this wretched idea of " jus-
tice to the Catholics." Justice, forsooth, because
one man, or 20, or 100 men get such appointments.
No, that it is not the kind of justice we haves right
to expect from the Government. As between deno-
minations, perfect fairness and impartiality is all we
should demand. (Cheers.) Let judges and law
officers and every other class of officials be chosen
for their merit and fitness, and let us hear no more
of the old system of sectarian appointments. (Loud
cheers.) What we want is something for the coun-
try ; above all—for I am sure you feel as I do that
is the vital question—something that will check this
rush of emigration that is draining the life blood
from Ireland. (Continued cheering.) The late Go-
vernment deliberately refused to consider this all-
important question. The present Government have
wisely expressed their judgment upon it, and have
not shrunk from entertaining a remedy. There-
fore I say it is, so far, easy to choose between them.
(Cheers.) Having thus contrasted the Whigs and
their opponents, may I venture to perform that
most disagreeable of all tasks—to speak a few
words of myself. (Loud cheers.) It is the duty
—the painful duty—of a candidate to do this. For
six years I sat in the House of Commons, not ne-
glectful (I hope I am pardoned for saying it) of the
interests of my country—(cheers)—nor forgetful
either of what was due to the Church to which I be-
long. (Loud cheers.) And though it has been my
fortune as a Catholic to sometimes take a leading

part in questions involving the interests of my faith,
though I never shrunk from any public duty where
the smallest claims of my co-religionists were un-
justly endangered, and though I have obtained the
credit of being one of the foremost in defence when
my Church has been attacked, I have never, I am
rejoiced to think, given the slightest offence, by a
single word or act of mine, to those who differ with
me in religion. (Loud cheering-) I have always be-
lieved that one of the great misfortunes of our coun-
try has been sectarian dissension. (Hear.) As an
Irishman, I have remembered that Edmund Burke,
Grattan, Flood, Curran, and a host of others, down
to Thomas Davis—(loud cheers)—who have becu
our statesmen, patriots, and orators, were sound Pro-
testants, and that they not only never offdnded their
Catholic fellow-countrymen, but actually laboured
hard in their behalf. (Loud cheers.) This policy
of conciliation, and of justice to ourselves, from
which I never deviated, may perhaps account for a
fact not often unhappily noticed at Irish elections—
namely, that in my recent contest in the King's
County I had voting for me a majority of the Catho-
lic priests—that, of course, was to be expected—but
also, I am equally proud to say, a majority of the
Protestant clergy. (Cheers.) You will expect me to
state what I have done in Parliament, though per-
haps you knowsomething about it already. (Cheers.)
You remember the bishops'famous pastoral in 1859,
and the various points it urged upon Irish mem-
bers to endeavour to carry. Of all these points
only two—the amendments in the Irish poor law,
about the treatment of little children in workhouses,
and the conditions of the Irish Catholic poor in
workhouses and prisons in England—have been
accomplished, and those two points have been
accomplished by me. (Loud cheering.) As
I see in this densely crowded ball to-night, and
I am very glad to do so, a large number of
young men, I may also refer to my labours, partly
successful, in throwing open the appointments
in the civil service to free public competition.
(Cheers.) On this subject I defeated Lord Palmer-

ston, who was a staunch supporter of the old system
of patronage, a corrupt system, by which the Go-
vernment bribe members of Parliament with petty
places, to be distributed in another kind of bribery
by the members amongst their constituents. That
system I attacked. (Cheers.) I carried against the
Government a motion for an inquiry into it, and
the result has been, on the one hand, to give addi-
tional
men in rising in life, and
o nthe facilities
other,
rtot o young
strike
t rike at the scandalous system of
parliamentary patronage. (Cheers.) If you send me
to the House of Commons again--(loud cries of
"We will," " You're safe")—l shall, next to the
essential interests of Ireland herself, devote myself
to completing my labours on this subject ; and, by
flinging open, I trust, the whole of these appoint-
ments to open competition, thus give a chance of
obtaining a good position to young men destitute of
rank or fortune or great friends, but possessing in-
dustry, ability, and an honourable ambition.
foreign(C h eer s
policy. )
of
[Having
the
late Government, the hon. referred at some length to the
gen-
tleman resumed.] And now, in looking back at my
Parliament, I will
a thleVmhig partyonute in
nt Lord Russell and the
opposition
s you
what to
is the
Whigs have left ? They are gone, as a Government
—what is their monument? The pyramids of the
Nile are supposed to be the tombs of Egyptian sove-
reigns, and a Frenchman has ingeniously calculated
that it would take 2,000 ordinary graves to make
one pyramid of Egypt. Lord Russell and the Whigs
have far exceeded this, for their monument consists
of two millions of Irish graves—a thousand pyra-
As another can-
gis.)due to him and to
dmididasteofhEasgyhpootu.
m(Lonotuidoncehde,eriitn
you that I should state that I preceded him in the
field by no less than four months, for it was in June
last that I received, in Cork, the invitation from a
very powerful section of electors of this county. I
have not a word to say against him. But after what
has happened, and the almost unanimous welcome
I have received, I need hardly say that I am firmly
resolved, under all circumstances, to persevere in
this contest, and go to the poll. (The hon. gentle-
man then sat down amidst cheers.)
The following resolution was then unanimously
Passed :

" Resolved, that having now heard Mr. Pope Hennessy's
statement of his political views, and bearing in mind his
public career and his labours in Parliament on behalf of
Ireland, we cordially adopt •him as our candidate for this
county, and pledge ourselves to support him by every
means in our power at the ensuing election."

A telegram from New Ross says that at a
large meeting of electors there Mr. Pope Hennessy
was unanimously adopted as their candidate.

DESTRUCTIVE AND FATAL FIRE AT MATLOCK.-
Yesterday morning, at daybreak, Messrs. Hackett's tape
mills, near Matlock, were discovered to be on fire. An
alarm was raised, and with as much expedition as possible
several private engines were brought to the spot, but the
utmost exertions of the villagers were insufficient to stop
the progress of the flames, which in less than two hours
totally destroyed the mill and its contents, leaving nothing
standing but four bare and tottering walls. A poor fellow
named Hallam, who was employed as bellringer, perished
in the flames, Immediately after the discovery of the fire
he was seen at one of the windows of the topmost story of
the building crying for help. He was then enveloped in
smoke, and as the staircase by which he had ascended was
on fire, and no ladder sufficiently tall to reach him could
be procured, be foil a victim, and must have boon burnt to
ashes. The building, which was the property of Mr.
Unwin Heathcote, of Shepalbury, Hertfordshire, was in-
sured in the Norwich Union,
and Messrs. Hackett's ma-
chinery and stock, which latter was increased on Tuesday,
by the addition -of a large quantity of cotton, were also in
sured. The damage done is roughly estimated at £lO,OOO,
and about 200 persons will be thrown out of employment
by the fire, the cause of which is believed to have been a
flue from the blacksmith's shop attached to the mill.

The American Government is considering and
will probably adopt a new system of small coinage. The
one, two, and three cent pieces will have respectively one,
two, and three raised and perforated stars. Thus, by hold-
ing the coin to the light, or feeling it, its value will be
known. The half dimes and dimes are to bo larger and of
better metal, and will be distinguished by one and two per-
forated stars.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The following petty officers and men belonging
to the screw frigate Leander, 39, 400 horse power,
Capt. W. M. Powell, C. 8., were awarded medals
and gratuities by the Admiralty for long service and
meritorious conduct, on that vessel being paid off
into the Chatham Steam Reserve on Wednesday—.
viz., F. Tapsell, boatswain's mate, long service pen-
sion, medal, and gratuity ; E. Alford, ship's cook,
long service pension, medal, and gratuity; J. Gut-
tridge, leading stoker, long service pension, medal,
and gratuity; T. Fordo, carpenter's crew, long service
pension ; and J. Hawkins, acting-sergt., Royal Ma-
rine Artillery, longservice medal. In consideration of
the good conduct of the officers and men of the Royal
Marines serving on board the Leander during the time
she was in commission an order has been received
at Chatham from the Admiralty granting an extra
month's leave of absence.

The screw sloop corvette Reindeer, 7, 200-horse
power (nominal), in the fourth dock at Chatham,
has undergone the necessary alterations to her main
hatchways to allow of additional space being ob-
tained for the large midship guns she is intended to
carry. She will be out of hand and ready for un-
docking in the course of next week. The injury to
her false keel from her getting on the ground is also
being made good. On being floated out of dock
the Sepoy gun-boat will be placed in the same
dock for repairs.

In accordance with orders to that effect from the
Admiralty the sailing frigate Africaine, 44, at
Chatham, is to be handed over to the Elder Bre-
thren of Trinity-house to be converted into a coal-
hulk.

An Admiralty order received at Chatham directs
that principal naval officers appointed to naval civil
establishments for limited periods are in future to be
allowed to draw furniture, exclusive of articles of
glass, plate, &c., from the dockyard stores to the
extent of £330.