The Sun.
London, England, 1810-05-16 00:00:00

* * * *

" In the beginning of January the French fleLt
disappeared, but ihe alarm of invasion by no means
subsided"; the reports of their return wdre circulat,
ed by people in the confidence of Gwernmit.nt,and
believed by the people at large, I had now applica,
tions.trom more remote quarters than merely about
my own neighbourhood, to allow the peasants to
associate, which I not only acquiesced in but en-
couraged ; and for this reason, that I had received
intimation •of several people in the country having
been prevailed on to take an oath, which was called
the Defender's Oath,.-a- copy of which having re-.
teived-and read, I thought no time was to be lost
nor pains ,spared to prevent• the propag.,tion ofsuch
damnable principles as it contained ;
.and I have the
happiness to think, that by the diligence I used, I
totally obliterated any ill impression made on' the
minds of those who tad taken -that oath, and pre-
vented the farther circulation of it anigngSt the
people."

• _ .
Were,he.to go no farther it might be thought that
this was• all a sedulous display of his owu,
con-
sequence and authority .amongst the lowers order of
the people : but the remainder of the paragraph
cleaily proves the use he made of that consequence
and' that authority ; he says— •
" And at that period I acknowledge to your Ex
cellency that I winked at the peoples' engagement
by another oath, known in my neighbourhood by
the name of• the Union,',.the contents of which I
saw perfe6lly hartnle&s, and what was better, not at
all understood."

Good God, Sir ! continued the Attorney-Gene-
ral, Gene-
.are we to call this an exculpation of Roger
O'Connor; or rather are we not to trace in this very
account exadly; the same praaices- adopted by other
traitors to goad
,the wretched l easantry into rebel-
lion, by inducing them to enter- into engagements
whose objets were to be unintelligible, 'and only
known to the desperate traitors who affected to lead
them ?--in the remaining part of this paragraph,. we
have a strong refutation of those charges agiinst
Parliament, which have so often been used to ex-
cite rebellion :

" But it was no more than to love each other; to
put all religious differences aside; and as for. Par-
liamentary Reform, there are not four men in any
one parish, or one hundred parishes, who know any
more of such matters than does an horse."

Yet we have been gravely add repeatedly told that
their disappointment in not Obtaining Parliamentary
ReforM was the chief cause of the popular excesses.
Mr. Connor proceeds •

" I should mention to your Excellency that on the
forming of the association in my neighbourhood, I
gave the members of it a,sign by ,which to know
each other, and a word which was titst 4 Brother,'
then afterwards Old Ireland;' this word
at length differed in many parishes, and Was Ire-
land alone,' on which words, I am informed, that
much stress has been laid ; and I declare upon my
honour to your Excellency, that the only meaning I
ever knew to be applied to them was, that we would
consider ourselves only as Irishmen ; that we would
stand together against any armies, but particularly
against plunderers and banditti in any shape ; and as
fo the constrdelion put upon these words by some
critics, I protest to God that neither I nor any person
in the county ever held such a thing in contempla-
tion as a separation of Ireland from the Empire."*

Good God 1 Let this d.,,claration upon honour,be com-
pared with the confession of his brother Arthur, in which he
distinctly, stated that the separation of Ireland from England
was the'prime principle of the. Rebel Union.

[To be concluded To-onoProlc•]

i'ublisheo by WILLI4M ARMIGER SCRIPPS, Souih Molton.street, C;rapvenor Equ'ate.
r the Paper, Letters toy the Editor, &c. (post-paid), must be addressed.