The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-26 00:00:00

rHE csu-NI 'LONDON, THURSDAY EVE NI fIG, !DEC OMB E R 26, 1861.

river, and to acknowledge our inability to devise any
means of paying for it, would surely be unbecoming
to the financial capacity of a body of practical men ;
and probably, after passing in review the several
elements of the question, they will consider that,
inasmuch as this work is mainly required to facili-
tate the trade of the metropolis, that that trade
ought to defray its cost, and that a small tonnage
due on the goods entered inwards and oatwards in
the port of London, excepting coal as already taxed,
would be a burden but lightly felt by the commu-
nity, readily collected by the existing machinery,
and a convenient application to metropolitan
finances of that combination of direct with indirect
taxation which has been the most equitable mode of
replenishing the national exchequer." Whatever
may be thought about this proposition at the first
blush, it is at any rate one worthy of being taken at
once into serious consideration.

THE O'DONOG.HUE, M.P., AND TEE COM-
MISSION OF THE PEACE.

The following correspondence has been sent to
us for publication :

" Lord Chancellor's Secretary's Office,
Four Courts, Dublin, Dec. 9, 1861.

" SIR,—I am directed by the Lord Chancellor to
write to you, and state that his lordship has read
the report, as given in the _Freeman's Journal news-
paper of the 6th inst., of the proceedings at what is
called a mass meeting of Irish Nationalists, holden
at the Rotunda on the evening of Thursday, the sth
inst., and over which you are stated to have pre-
sided as chairman. The whole tenor of the speeches
reported to have been made at this meeting, and
the resolutions adopted, plainly indicate the deter-
mination of those who took part in it that if, in con-
sequence of recent occurrences, a war should arise
between her Majesty and the Federal States of
Northern America, they would, as far as might be
in their power, not only withhold all assistance
from their lawful Sovereign, but would manifest
their sympathy and friendship for those 'who, in
that calamitous event, would be arrayed in open
hostility against her, The meeting appears to
have concluded with the appointment of a com-
mittee of which you are named es chairman,
whose object is declared to be to take into con-
sideration the advisability of carrying out an orga-
nisation in the present state of affairs at home
and abroad, and, looking to the principles avowed
by those who addressed the meeting, it is to be
presumed that the organisation thus projected is
designed to advance those principles and to dissemi-
nate the treasonable ‘riews so publicly announced.
The whole of these proceedings appear to the Lord
Cbancellor to be altogether at variance with the
true allegiance to which every subject of the empire
is bound, and his lordship has directed this com-
munication to be made to you, as a magistrate of
the county of Kerry, and holding her Majesty's
commission, in order that you may make such ob-
servations thereon as you shall think proper.—l
have the honour to be, sir, your obedient servant,
" The O'Donoghue, M.P." " MARK PERRIN.

" Derriquln Castle, Kenmare, Dec. 14, 1861.

" Sir,—l have received your letter of the 9th of
December, conveying to me the view the Lord
Chancellor has been pleased to take of the proceed-
ings at the recent meeting of Irish Nationalists, over
which I had the honour of presiding. And, in
compliance with your request, I be; to state,
for his lordship's information, that it is my
conviction that an overwhelming majority of
the Irish people feel they have much more reason
to be grateful to the American nation than to the
British Government; and that, therefore, in the
event of a war between America and England they
would be very unwilling to supply men and money
for the purpose, as I stated at the meeting, of de-
stroying American commerce, bombarding American
cities, and humiliating the American flag. I can-
didly avow that those are my sentiments. Farther,
I have to state that I have already acquainted seve-
ral with my intention of withdrawing from the com-
mittee nominated at the Rotunda meeting, be-
cause upon reflection I see clearly that, in the ab-
sence of a great number of names, the committee
cannot command the confidence of the country.
At the same time I think it absolutely necessary
that a committee, manifestly entitled to public con-
fidence, should be appointed to consider how the
interests of Ireland may be affected by a war be-
tween America and England. Perhaps I may be-
come a member of such a committee, the formation
of which must necessarily lead to a moat useful
national organisation. An apprehension of tres-
passing too much upon your valuable time forbids
me to enter at greater length into details; for inas-
much as I deny the necessity or prudence of a secret
system of action, I see no reason why the Lord
Chancellor should not be made acquainted with our
plans, and his opinion taken upon the feasibility of
our proposed organisation. I believe the meeting
at the Rotunda truly indicated the general feeling
of the people of Ireland upon the question of war
between America and England, and I am prepared
to maintain at all risks, that it is the duty and the
undoubted right of my countrymen, unreservedly,
to discuss all questions affecting the interests of
Ireland. I cannot be persuaded that his lordship
contemplates visiting me with what be, no doubt,
regards as punishment, for venturing to discharge
this duty and :to assert this right. lam puzzled
to understand why you have been directed to ad-
dress me ' as a magistrate,' and not as an Irishman.
Are the two characters incompatible ? Must a ma-
gistrate forego freedom of thought and expression ?
Must he allow others to think and speak for him ?
Must he take an English view of every question,
and at once stifle the natural predilections of the
Irish heart ? Future events shall decide the answer
to these queries.

"I have the honour to be your obedient servant,
" O'DONOGILUE.
" To the Secretary of the Lord Chancellor."

"Lord Chancellor's Secretary's Office, Four
Courts, Dublin, Dec. 17, 1861.
" Sir,—l am directed by the Lord Chancellor to
inform you that, having read your letter of the 14th
inst., his lordship has directed writs of supersedeas
to issue, removing you from the Commission of the
Peace of the counties of Cork and Kerry.—l have
the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
" MARK PERRIN.
"The O'Donoghue, M.P."

MASON AND SLIDELL.—In case of the American
Government yielding the point in dispute, we shall have
to be magnanimous under a far stronger temptation. There
are things to be remembered which Englishmen generally
are not yet sufficiently aware of. Not only must we re-
member that the Confederates are fighting for slavery, but
that Mr. Mason, to whom we are compelled to act as pro-
tectors, if not champions, is the author of the Fugitive
Slave Law. From end to end of the kingdom this ought
to be told and remembered, that we may be able to allow
for the Federalists if they refuse to liberate him, and to
sympathise with their feelings if they submit to the neces-
sity. Under the Fugitive Slave Law many a prosperous
farmer has been ruined for his compassion in aiding the
deliverance of the captive; many a citizen has laid down
his life to defend the personal liberty law of his own state ;
many a Quaker, who could not fight, has borne the
loss of his property, and undergone imprisonment,
sooner than return to bondage the fugitive who cast
himself upon his compassion. Under that law, the proud
city of Boston has seen chains locked round its court- house,
and cannon posted in its streets, while a negro, long free and
supposed safe under the protection of the city, was carried
down to the harbour, amidst thousands of mourning citizens,
and black flags, and balconies filled with women in black,
heartwrung that the South had thus got the liberties of the
republic under her heel. The author of that law is now in
prison in that harbour, within sight of that court-house and
the wharf whence Burns was shipped ; and we must remem-
ber how keen must be the pang of restoring that man to
liberty on the requisition of anti• slavery England. Anti-
slavery England must beware of making a hero of the man
she is obliged to protect; and of condemning too severely
the premature rejoicings of the people of the Free States who
have been betrayed into a false position by the ignorant
audacity of a naval officer in whose years and professional
reputation they have naturally placed their coufirlence.—
Once a Week.

SAWNEY AND HIS LAWYER.—In a Scotch town
lately, a man from the country applied to a respectable law-
yer for legal advice. After detailing the circumstances of
the case, 'ae was asked if be had stated the facts exactly as
they occurred. " Ou, ay, sir," rejoined the applicant, " I
thocht it best to tell you the plain truth you can it the
lees (lies) lain yersa "p.