The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-26 00:00:00

ANTI-CORN-LAW MEETINGS.

A deputation from the League, consisting of Mr. Prentice
mid Mr. Hint, have been visiting Thirsk, Richmond, Knares-
borough, and Pontefract, at all of which they were well re-
ceived and were successful.

IRELAND.

LORD DE GREY AND THE DUBLIN ORANGEMEN.
DUBLIN, FEB. 24.—There has been another correspondence
between Lord De Grey and the Orange Operative Association,
which has terminated very differently from that respecting
the Clontarf proclamation, referred to by Mr. Sheil in the
House of Commons on Thursday night. The operatives for-
warded a memorial to the Castle, complaining of the treat-
ment they experienced at a recent meeting of the citizens,
held in the Royal Exchange, for the purpose of offering to
Alderman Roe, the late Lord Mayor, some suitable testimonial
of their high appreciation of his impartial conduct as chief
magistrate. Although Liberals, such as Lord Charlemont
and many of the most respectable Conservatives, joined in
paying the compliment to Alderman Roe, the Orangemen
attended hi considerable numbers, with the view of breaking
up the meeting by violence and clamour. Owing to the
judicious firmness of the present Lord Mayor, the Orange
party were completely foiled in their disgraceful project.
They then appealed to Lord De Grey, but in this they were
disappointed, as the following reply will show :
" Castle, Feb. 14, 1844.
" Sir,-1 am directed by the Lord Lieutenant to acknow-
ledge the receipt of the memorial signed by you, on behalf of
the Protestant Operative Association, complaining of the in-
terruption which they met with at the meeting in the Royal
Exchange, convened and presided over by the Lord Mayor
on the 10th of January, and requesting that his Excellency
would cause a special inquiry into the circumstances of the
case, in order that there may be retribution for the past, &c.
" His Excellency directs me to inform you in reply, that
he does not consider himself authorised by law to inquire
into, or to interfere with, the proceedings of the meeting in
question, which was duly convened and presided over by the
chief municipal officer of the city of Dublin.
'• I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
" ARTHUR C. MAGENNIS.

" 11. B. Stringer, Es q."
RISII PRESBYTERIAN MARRIAGE QUESTION.

A special meeting of the General Assembly of the Irish
Presbyterian Church, convened by the Moderator, was held
in Dr. Cooke's church, May-street, Belfast, on Wednesday, to
consider the present state of the marriage question.
The Clerk read the following resolutions, which had been
prepared in interloguilur :
" That should the decision of the House of Lords, in the
appeal case, the Queen v. Millis, now pending, establish the
validity of Presbyterian marriages at common law, this As-
sembly deprecate, and resolve to resist, any legislation on
the subject.

" That should the decision be unfavourable, and the Pres-
byterian Church be deprived of privileges enjoyed by her in
this country for more than 200 years, and legislation thus be-
come necessary, this assembly will consider it an act of in-
justice to be subjected to any restrictions in the celebration
of their marriages which are not also imposed upon the
ministers of the Established Church.

" That this assembly have cause to complain that the
Committee of the House of Lords did not afford them an
opportunity of presenting evidence on the marriage question ;
and would respectfully suggest that, for the purpose of esta-
blishing the complete regularity of Presbyterian marriages,
the following persons be now examined, viz., Rev. Doctor
Reid, Glasgow College; Rev. Doctor Browne, Aughadoney,
Garvagli ; Rev. John Johnston, Tullylish, Banbridge ; Rev.
William 111‘Clure, Londonderry ; James Gibson, Esq., Belfast,
the law adviser; and A. J. Macrory, Esq., Belfast, the soli-
citor of the assembly.
" That should the decision be adverse, this assembly will
use every means in their power to bring their grievances be-
fore their friends in England, Scotland, Wales, and the colo-
nies, and to arouse them to aid us in recovering and securing
our just rights.
"That the Moderator be instructed to forward these reso-
lutions to her Majesty's Government."
After some conversation the resolutions were carried una-
nimously, and the assembly adjourned. .

.ANI ENDMENT OF THE PATENT FOR INVENTIONS
LAw.—Lord Brougham's important Bill on the Patent Law
is of such interest to large classes of the community, that the
following summary of that measure may be valuable ;—The
Bill is "for further amending the law touching Patents for
Inventions." Its preamble sets sorth—" It is expedient
for the further encouragement of inventions in the useful
arts to enable the time of monopoly in patents to be ex-
tended in cases in which it can be satisfactorily shown that the
expense of the invention has been greater than the time now
limited by law will suffice to reimburse." There are two
clauses in the Bill; they provide that any patentee shall,
befiwe the expiration of such patent, present a petition to
either House of Parliament, setting forth that he has been
unable to obtain a due remuneration for his expense and
trouble in perfecting such invention. If the matter of such
petition be then proved before a Committee of such House,
or at the bar thereof, or otherwise, her Majesty is to be ad-
dressed on the subject, and shall, if she see fit, refer it to the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. If such Com-
mittee, after investigation into the matter, report that a
period greater than the seven years' extension into the said
patent (given by the Act sth and 6th of William IV., c. 83)
ought to be granted, her Majesty is empowered to grant such
extension for any period not exceeding fourteen years. But
it is also provided that her Majesty may, if she deem it fit,
grant a lesser extension of the period than that prayed by
the patentee.

A SINGULAR DILEMMA..—A paragraph appeared in
our paper of Wednesday (derived from the morning papers)
under the above heading, in which it is stated that the
Solicitor of the Post-office had written to the Solicitor
of Legacy Duties at Somerset House, relative to certain
letters sent from the latter, on which Postage stamps
formerly used had been placed, and that upon in-
quiry into the matter it appeared that this attempt
at fraud had been committed by one of the messengers,
who received only a reprimand on the occasion. We
arc authorised to state that there is not one word of truth in

this paragraph from the beginning to—the and further
that no circumstance has occurred that could by any Mistake
or perversion have given the. smallest ground or colour for
such a statement. . -

The first salmon taken in the Lune this season w•as
sold in Lancaater market the other day at U. per lb.