The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-19 00:00:00

Connemara. '1 here will be present 160,000u:tent but my pre-
sent object is to tell you my plans. There are "two, distinct
plans—the first is to arrange the constituency against the time
when the Irish Parliament shall be called. This plan is
totally distinct from the Preservative Society." Mr. O'Con-
nell happened to recollect that there was such a thing in
force as the Convention Act, which makes any kind of an
obligation inconvenient. The Preservative Society were to
meet by accident, to separate by accident, and to dine alto-
gether by accident. This was the mode by which this con-
spiracy, if not checked by these prosecutions, was to be carried
out. Gentlemen, I now wish to call your attention to certain
letters which were published in the Pilot of the 26th Sep-
tember last, and a review of these letters from the editor.
These letters were signed by a Mr. O'Callaghan, and were
entitled, " The Irish in the British Army." The Editor's
observations on these letters were as follow:—" No subject
in the present state of the public mind in Ireland can be more
intevesting than the state of the army. If the press did not,
at length interfere, we really believe there would have been
no bounds set to the persecutions of the private soldier.
And for what,_ we ask, has he been visited with all this an-
noyance? is not the soldier an improving member of so-
ciety ? So much is this the case, that, during the late Go-
vernment, libraries were ordered to be established for every
regiment in the serv.ce. And, yet, we published, no later_than
list Monday, a letter forbidding the soldiers of the Forty-
third Light Infantry, stationed at Montreal, from reading the
Weekly Register, although the poor fellows had subscribed in
advance for that paper. But if the soldier can read, he can
easily find somethinVo read, and we have heard that the men
when they go out to retresh themselves always call for the
prohibited papers. lithe newspapers are not palatable to military
drill murderers, what will they say to the writings of
martinets
sd opr a
the author of the' Green-book'being rendered accessible to the
soldiery ? This gentleman, the Irish public are aware,was the first
who revealed the secret of the composition of the army, in reply
to that unprincipled publication, the English Standard. That
paper, forsooth, would threaten the Irish nation with the
army if they merely discussed the subject of the Repeal of the
Union I However, we soon found a champion in the person
of Mr. O'Callaghan: He silenced the Standard by ana-
lysing the army, and showing that abuse forty-one thousand
Paddies served in that force t Those facts appeared in the
shape of letters directed to Mr. Staunton, of the Register,
and Mr. Ray. They were also printed in the Pilot, whose
columns are always open to the complaints of the poor soldier.
Nothing at the time, so far as we recollect, created so much
excitement and interest as those letters. They are now much
augmented and improved, and published tinder the characteristic
title of The Irish in the English Army and Nary. In the
annals of cheap publication we have never seen anything to
equal them—twenty-four pages of close letter-press for one
penny ! As for what they contain we need only say,
that they are one mass of authorities and
.quotations.
Those letters put the question in a nut shell. They
e alike suited for the pocket of the citizen and the
knapsack of the soloiee: The author may well observe in
his-preface ;—' Indeed, -since the Spanish army have ventured
to pronounce, that orders to fire upon one's fellow-subjects
are not in every case to be obeyed, inasmuch as those orders
may not always be founded on justice ; and when not so
founded, can, if obeyed, be only complied with in vio-
lation of the solemn commandment, thou shalt do no murder—

since the patriotic Spanish army, like that of Prance at the
Revolution, have so presumed to think, and to prove
that soldiers are not alwaa s to be counted upon, as mere un-
reasoning or conscienceless herds of wholesale and uncondi-
tional man-butchers, whenever the aristocratic oppressors of
the community, under the designation of Government, may
command the people to be massacred for not submitting to in-
justice, since the fresh moral lesson has been pronounced for
all whom it may concern, it is difficult to perceive, even inde-
pendent of the circumstance of so many of the military being
known Repealers, how the great mass of our army can be
reckoned on to uphold, at the expense of their own as well as
the people's cause, the supremacy of an oligarchy whose ge-
nerosity, gratitude, and tenderness to the soldiery for so
doing, consist of promotions to commissions only for the
rich, the mangling lash to the bleeding back, and such mer-
ciless drillings as have caused poor Private M'Manus to drop
down dead, and Private George Jubee, a soldier of acknow-
ledged good character, to send in desperation a bullet through
Adjutant Robertson Mackay's body 1 Aye, there's the
rub, as Mr. O'Callaghan so forcibly observes, and his able and
universally accessible publication, from. which the above extract
is taken, is one of the best hand-grenades that could be directed
against the abuse of such a 53 stein. It should be circulated in
every direction."
Gentlemen, there was another of those multitudinous meet-
ings took place at Loughrea, and Messrs. O'Connell, Barrett,
Steele, and Dr. Gray were present. The rain curtailed the
proceedings of the morning, but Mr. O'Connell said, " We
know that the rain falls equally on the just and the un-
just. I will not, therefore, detain you, but bid God bless
you, my temperate and faithful friends. You shall have re-
peal." At the dinner which took place in the evening, Mr.
Barrett said—" I am, from long, close, and attentive observa-
tion of the Irish people, convinced that were their virtuous
tranquillity set .at nought—were they by aggression involved
in a conflict which conscience would approve and necessity
justify, there is in the organisat:on, the numbers, the nature of
the country, and the spirit of the people, at this moment, it,
their sense of wrong and love of right, in their deep conviction
of all that would be lost by defeat and won by victory, a mighty
power which would defeat the calculations and the manceuvring
of military tactics ; and that great, admired, and prominent as
we are now are in the arts of peace, if driven to it, this people
would be found still more astonishing in military valour, and
that prowess which would render their outbreak irresistible
and their country free." On the same occasion, Mr. O'Con-
nell said, " that the Government had but one cards and they
brought out the Queen. That every one had been astonished
by the Royal Speech. It was a trick—it was worse than the
scolding of fishwomen ; for then there was the right of reply,
but the Government had it all to themselves. That was the
advantage Judy had taken of them. They (the Government)
hoped that the Irish, being a sagacious and transitory
people, the agitation would pass away; but as well
might they expect that the Shannon would exhaust
itself." Mr. O'Connell then alluded to proposed meetings
at Connemara and Clontarf, and promised teat the
Irish should obtain the liberty of their country. On the same
occasion Dr. John Gray responded to the toast of " The Re-
peal Press," and said that " he could not but congratulate the
men of Loughrea on the glorious demonstration he had that day
witnessed. As a Connaughtman he felt proud of the bold at-
titude assumed by his countrymen ; and having had many op-
portunities during the present glorious struggle of seeing Repeal
demonstrations, he was bound in justice to the men of Luughrea
and its vicinity to tell them his opinion of the meeting of that
day. He had been present at demonstrations in the east, in
the west, in the south, and in the north, but never did he
behold a scene which inspired him with more of hope in the
ultimate destiny of his country, and that gave him more of con-
fidence in the power and vitality of the mighty spirit of nation-
ality that was now vivifying the land, than that whieh they had
just beheld. If, however, he felt pride in witnessing such a
scene, how much greater should be the gratification he would
experience at being enabled to do his duty to them and to the
country, by sending to the four corners of the globe a faithful
portrait of that magnificent display. There were numbers,
there was order, there was precision, but, above all, determina-
tion • was stamped on every brow, and was uttered by every
voice, and was he to be told that such a people were
to be driven from their purpose by either the se-
ductions or the frowns of a Minister, whether uttered
by himself or put forth as a royal speech? They
threatened before, but, when the indignant people hurled
and
dt o
beauteous threaten,
lady have the meanness to
thrust a
n A
innocent f
defiance at them, they sneaked like cowed rats before their
frown.
they
ly (meaning the Queen)
as a shield between themselves and the just wrath of an in-
dignant nation, and they have forced her to proclaim slavery for
the people of this land, as if they fancied that such a iaid amain
de-
vice could affect the great national movement. What did the
men of Ireland care for the ministerial manifesto? What
did the bold peasantry of Connaught care for ? It would
be by. them treated with utter disregard. It was not the
speech of the sovereign ; was it not the speech of a Mi-
nister, who, fearing again to insult, the Irish nation, had the
cowardice to do it through a woman ? But, even were that
speech in unison with the sentiments of the Queen, would
the nation fear because of the oppositien she might be advised
to give to their just demands ? No they ,would not halt or he-
sitate even because of the personal ,opposition of the Sove•
reign. When her idiot grandfather .opposed himself with ail
the virulence of his vicious nature 'to the emancipation
of the Catholics did the people fear to go on? His hos-
tility was evinced in accordance with the wish of the
Minister as well as against the Ministerial advice.
He opposed the Catholic Emancipation because he
hated the Irish and their religion
with a bigoted hatred;
yet the people, nothing daunted by his impotent opposition,
pursued their course regardless of his whims, and forced even
from him large concessions. The movement bad now assumed
a form that bid defiance to any and every opposition, and
though those who know not the hearts of the people might
hope to damp their ardour by such silly courses, there was that
day given to the Minister a substantial proof that the men of
Connaught at least would never lower the standard of Repeal,
but that they would continue to rally round the Liberator till he
had consummated the legislative independence of the country."
On the 12th of September there was a meeting of the Association,
at which Mr. O'Connell and Dr. Gray were present. Dr. Gray, on
that occasion, said he had to report from the Committee appointed
to consider the question respecting the formation of Arbitration
Courts, and begged to lay before the Association the result of their
labours. " Upon the Report being read, Mr. O'Connell said he was
glad that the time had arrived when the Arbitration Courts
could be brought into operation. Their great object was
to obviate the necessity of the people having recourse to
the magistrates of the country." These were time observs-
lions of Mr. O'Connell. He admitted that the object of
these Arbitration Courts was to supersede the duties of the ma-
gistrates, to usurp the prerogatives of the Crown, and to get rid of
those institutions which were establiseed for the administration of
the law. I will now refer to a meeting of the Association which
was held on the 13th of September, at which Mr. O'Connell, Mr.
.1. O'Connell, Dr. Gray, and Mr. Steele were present. I have
already referred to the arrival of thee Queen's speech
in Dublin, on the 28th of August. At the meeting
of the 13th' of September, Mr. O'Connell brought up a
counter-manifesto to the • Queen's speech, which was
addressed to the subjects of the British Crown all over
the world, and which alluded to what were designated the griev-
ances of the people of Ireland. This is not a place to enter into a
discussion as to what are the grievances to which the people of Ire-
land are subjected. It is not for you to consider, nor for the Court
to pronounce, upon those grievances. "It is for you to say, was the
-mode adopted by the traverscrs in reference to those grievances a
legal and a proper one. The manifesto said there was no hope for
a redress of the grievances of the people of Ireland front an English
Parliament. The redress of those grievances must spring from
themselves. The mode pointed out for this purpose could not be
mistaken, as will appear from that part of the manifesto which I
shall read for you. It is as follows :
" FelloW-subjects, our case is before You and before the world.
Grievances such as the Irish people cndure no other country
has ever suffered. Insults such as are offered to, us were
never inflicted on any other country. There is one consuls..
tiun : it is admitted by all, and is as clear as lime noon day sun,
that unless we redress ourselves, we can have nu succour froin any
other quarter; but we suffice for ourselves and our country—we
suffice fur the Repeal. We expect nothing from England or
Englishmen—from Scotland or Scotchmen. In each of these
countries the benevolent few are overpowered by the anti-
national apathy to Ireland, and the virulent bigotry against
the Catholic religion of the overwhelming majority of both
England and Scotland. The present Parllainent has been packed
with the aid of the most flagitious bribery, to ciush the Irish
nation. Frcm them is neither redress nor even hope. But, Irish-
men, we suffice for ourselves. Stand together— continue together
in peaceful conduct, in loyal attachment to the Throne, in com
stitutional exertion, and in none other. Stand together .nd per-
severe, and Ireland shall have her Parliament ::gain. Such ate the
words we address to our fellow.subjects all over the globe."
Ey that manifesto Mr. O'Connell declared, and the Association
adopted that declaration, that tl.ere was no hope of redress from a
British Parliament—that the Irish people must redress those griev_
ances themselves—and that, unless they did so, all hope on that
subject must vanish. Now, I ask you if you have any difficulty in
understanding what was meant by "constitutional exertion".—
whether it did not mean the exhibition of physical force on the part
of the people, who were called upon to look to themselves for the re-
dress of their grievances instead of appealing to the sympathy of
Parliament 2 And this iuflamraatoryaddress was circulated through
the empire upon a broad sheet, for the information of all who
might be induced to read it, The mode in which the people were
to redress their grievances was very significantly pointed out at one
of those monster meetings, which was held at Clifden, in the
,county Galway, on the 17th of September, just four days after the
'Association had adopted the manifesto which he had already re.