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

nour—but,- oh, English honour will never again betray our land,
fsr the oval, would deserve to be betrayed who would again con-
fide in England. I would as soon think of confiding inthe cousin-.
german of a certain personage having two horns and a hoof—
at that last battle the Irish soldiers, after three days' fighting,
being attacked by fresh troops, faltered and gave way, and one
thousand fire hundred of the British array entered the breach.
The Irish soldiers were fainting and retiring, when the women
of Limerick thre* themselves between the contending forces,
and actually stayed the progress of the advancing enemy."
The traverser (Mr.. O'Connell) then rent on to say, " Sec
how we have accumulated the people of Ireland for this Repeal
year. When on the 2d of. January I ventured to call it the
Repeal year, every person laughed at me. Are they laughing '
now It is our turn to laugh at present. Before twelve
months more the Parliament will be in College Green. I
said the Union did not take away from the people their legal
rights. 7 told you that the Union did not deprive the people
of that right, or take away the authority to have self-legisla-
t ion. It, has not lessened the prerogatives of -the Crown, or
taken aw 4 the rights of the Sovereign, and amongst them is
the right to call her Parliament whenever the people are en-
titled to have it in Ireland.
And the Queen has only to-morrow to issue her writs and
get the Chancellor to seal them, and if Sir Edward Sugden
(Ines not sign them she will soon get an Irishman that will to
revive the, Irish Parliament. The towns which sold their birth-
riehte have no right to be reckoned amongst the towns send-
iog Members to Parliament. King James the First in one day
created forty boroughs in Ireland, and the Queen has the same
right as her predecessor to do so. We have a list of the towns
to return Members; the counties, as a matter of course, will
retnrn them according to their copulation ; and the Queen has
only to order writs to issue and to have honest Ministers to advise
her to issue those writs, and the Irish Parliament is revived
by its own energy and the force of the Sovereign's prero-
gative. I will only require the Queen to exercise her prero-
gative, and the Irish people will obtain their nationality again.
If at the present moment the Irish Parliament was in
existence, even as it was in 1800—is there a coward amongst
you—is there a wretch amongst you so despicable, that would
not die rather than allow the Union to pass ? Let every man
who, if we had an Irish Parliament, would rather die than allow
the Union to pass lift up his hands, Yes, the Queen will call
that Parliament. You may say, it is the act of her Minis-
try, if you please. To be sure, it would be the act of her
Ministry, and the people of Ireland are entitled to have
their friends appointed to the Ministry. The Irish Parlia-
ment sail then assemble, and I defy all the generals, old and
.young, and all the old women in pantaloons—nay, I defy all
the chivalry of the earth to take away that Parliament from
us again.' " Give me three millions of Repealers, and I
will soon have them ; the next step is being taken ; and I an-
nounce to you from this spot, that all the magistrates that
have been deprived of the commission of the peace, shall be
appointed by the Association to settle all the disputes and dif-
ferences in their neighbourhood. Keep out of the Petty
Sessions Court, and go to them. On Monday next we will
submit a plan to choose persons to be Arbitrators to settle
the differences of the people without expense; and I call upon
every man who wishes to be thought the friend of Ireland to
have his disputes settled by the Arbitrators, and not again go
to the petty sessions. We shall shortly have the Preservative
Society, to arrange the means of procuring from her Majesty
the exercise of her prerogative ; and I believe lam able to
announce to you that twelve months cannot possibly elapse
without having an hurra for our Parliament in College-green.
Remember, I pronounce the' Union to be null—to be obeyed
as an injustice must be obeyed, when it is supported by law,
until we have the Royal authority to set the matter right and
substitute our own Parliament."
Observe the statement of Mr. O'Connell, that the magis-
trates deprived of their commission by the Crown, in the exer-
cise of its prerogative, should be appointed by the Association
as Judges of the Arbitration Courts. But he stated with con-
fidence—and be was confirmed in his opinion by the dictum
pronounced by. the Judge who addressed the grand jury, and
said, " That, under whatever pretence these Arbitration Courts
were appointed, it was an illegal attempt to deprive the Crown
of its power to appoint magistrates for the people"—these
courts usurped the privilege of the Crown ; they issued sum-
monses for the parties, and got them to sign a consent to abide
by their award. But that subtle device does not remove the
illegality, or prevent their conduct from being plainly stamped
as an usurpation of the Crown's prerogative. The gentlemen
of the jury should remark the time when these arbitrators were
appointed, and the class of men as magistrates dismissed by the
Crown by virtue of its prerogative. At the dinner, at Tara,
Dr. Gray addressed the assembly, and said—
In one thing only was he compelled to differ from the
observations which had fallen from their respected chairman.
In giving the toast he stated that the press was of no politics,
and he wished to correct the error by declaring on the be-
half of the national press of Ireland, that the members of it
were politicians in. the strongest sense of the word. He had
himself the honour pf being among them that evening as v.,
guest ; but he felt that wherever he was, he was an Irish-
man, and as an Irishman he was ready to strike out boldly for
the political liberty of his country. 'fhe Repeal press was a
political press, but its politics were the politics of Ireland ; and
steadily adhering to the coarse it had adopted, it would never
deviate to the right hand-or to the left until the people of that
country were,relieved from Saxon tyranny and oligarchic domi-
nation. He believed he would best evince the high sense he
en-
tertained of the comPlinient he paid the press gang by being
brief, and allowing them to gang home, that they. might send
their broad sheets through the length and breadth of the land,
avid not of this land only, but to the alien isle hard by that so
jealously watched the proceedings of that day. Every eye was
fixed upon the Council that day at,. Tara, and eagerly
I,oked. to its resolves. Was it not a national Council in the
paost extended meaning of the phrase ? Had they not at their
head. t4e monarch of the Irish heart—had they not at their
head the spiritual peers of the realni—did not the lay peers aid
try their counsel? They had there, too, the clergy of the land,
and the constitutional representatives of the people, aye, and
the people themselves in their multitudinous thousands had
that day ,assembled; within the precincts of the ancient
Council-hall of Tara, taken counsel . together and issued
their proclamation, and that proclamation was no compre-
inise. As he that day strayed over the ruins of past glory, he
chanced to walk over the graves of the patriots of what he
might call their own day. He could not find words to give
expression to the emotions he felt as he contemplated their
sad tate. A mournful chill came upon him, when he looked
upon his resting-place and saw in their end the dark history
of the past ; but that chill passed away and hope revived, when
he saw that upon their graves the stone of destiny steod erect.
For centuries had that mysterious relic lain prostrate as the
land whose destiny its• fall symbolised ; but now he saw it erect
Tall-rne 1510oelf tfle7a3Crtiai tyc AdZi oe'eri tined, and that Ire
land herself world soon assume the upright position, and ex-
hibit the dignity of a nation. But he is no statesman who
does not recollect the might that slumbers in a peasant's arm,
and whets you multiply that might by vulgar arithmetic to the
extent of six or seven hundred thousand, is the man a states-
man or driveller who expects that might will always slumber
are.idst grievances and continued oppression?" the Right
Hots. Gentleman then read an extract from a speech of Mr.
O'Connell, in which the following passage occurs, in reference
to the gentry of Ireland ;—" Why, then, do they not join us?
Is it not their interest to join us ? What are they afraid of ?
It cannot be of the people, for they are under the strictest dis-
cipline. lam even one of them myself, and no general ever
had an army more submissive to his command than the people
of frelantrare to the wi. hes of a single individual." He
thought . that submission of considerable importance under the
circumstances, because if that submission arose from the in-
fluence of any indiyidual, if it was in the power of any indivi-
'ltai to direct the-e congregated thousands not to violate the
`Peace, and separate without disturbance, at the will of that
' iridisidual, he thought it was important, because that
' i ndividual had the power of giving different orders, which would
•be equally implicitly obeyed. " When I want you 1 kr,ow I
can get you." And the comment on this is, the sooner the
better. However, to keep the peace was the present advice of
Mr. O'Connell, and the meetings terminated peacefully ; but
it evinced his power to use large bodies of people at will, and
although no violence took place, this was a power most formid-
able. Ihe Atterney-General next -referred to the meeting at
Aoscommon, held en the 20th August—that meeting was at-
tended by Messrs. o'Connell, Steele, and Barrett—they went
together to the meeting. Mr. O'Connell addressed the meet-
• log at Roscommon. He said, amongst other things, the Irish
people are too great to remain slaves any longer ; he com-
mented on the advance of the Irish in temperance ; thai the
Irish would not expend their' strength in riot ; that temper-
ance was the foundation stone of Ireland's tranquillity. Mr.
O'Connell called ohthe people of Ireland to keep their pledge.
At the dinner whioh ensued, Mr. O'Connell said that of all the
meetings which had taken place, the meeting of that das was
• the one most calculated to stimulate the elections, to strike their
enemies with the greatest terror, and give their friends the
greatest Confidence. He • ( Attorney- General) contended these
meetngs were, in truth deeply calculated to strike) terror into
the mid& Of ill who in thii country were the friends of Britislicon-
• reition.' There was a meeting of the Association on the 22d of
August, at Which Messrs. O'Connell, John O'Connell, Steele,
Dr: Gray, arid Mr. Barrett attended. The object of this
• • meeting was, that Mr.' O'Connell might submit a. plan for the
• restoration of the Irish Parliament. He (Mr. O'Connell) telt
' it his duty to protest, in the face of 'heaven, and the congre-
gated multitude, that there was no Union. He read the third
• resolution—the people of Ireland do firmly insist u,,on the re-
sturatien of the Irish House of Commons, consisting of 300

representatives of the Irish people, and claiin, in the'pr. eience
• of their Creator, the rikbt of the people of Ireland to seek re-
' storation. Mr. O'Connell Submitted the Act of Union was
binding as a law, but having been obtained by fraud; was not
obligatory in conscience. If it was binding in law, he did not
understand how it was not binding in.conscience ; but we
• are told that resistance to that measure was a duty in the
• ahstract,•and the exhibition of that' resistance •was merely a
rjuestion of time. Then the plan with regard to the representa-
tion of the counties and towns was detailed, and after providing
'that there should be household suffrage and vote by ballot, it
was stated that the king or regent de, facto in England should
be king or regent de jure in Ireland. After having provided
that the connexion between Great Britain and Ireland should
be perpetuated by the Crown, it concluded by stating that it
' phould be carried into effect accordiri, to law and recognised
Constitutional principle—that was, by the Crown dispensing
' with the provisions of an Aetof Parliament, and directing the
issuing of writs for the assenibling of an Irish Parliament: But
it' was not by saying that a thing was to be done according to
law that it was soi and he-'routended, under the correction of
' the Court, that the Crown' did not posFess the power of die-
• peasing with an Act of Parliament, and could not issue writs
' t.r sikiimon an Irish Parliament. •On the 23d* day of August a
• meeting cook place at the, Association, 'at which Mr. O'Con-
• Aril; Mgr Birrett, Mr: Rar, Mr. John O'Connell, Mr. Steele,
a id Dr. Getty attended. The jury would recollect the language
he road froth the Nation of the l•)th of August, that Ireland
was again about to be • a nation, that she had obtained all the
' machinery of public'-order, taxation, justice, and legislation.
't his was in reference tolhe Arbitration Courts; and he would
• now state what Dr. Gray said at that meeting of the 23d of
''August, in detailing'the: plan of the Arbitration Courts which
• • were established, because the Crown exercised its. prerogative
b
deprivino• certain magistrates of the commission of the peace
-• who thought fit to attend those multitustalindous meetings.
After alluding to a reference, which he was made to
eap y_
He r
him by Mr. O'Connell, and to the confidence bestowed
• tbe. is,-;ople on their leaders, he said that those who w
• -• tiointed "had the sanction of the Association." then
•- attacked to the labours of the Committee in' thawing up the ,
,;,.port, which at this state of the_ proceedings he would not
s.-;• trouble theM by reading. It will be a part of theevidence in
the course of the trial ;- but it was clear from Dr. Gray's ob-
i *.a.rvations, that the Association sanctioned the appointment of
• • th_use arbitrators. He would now call the attention of the
• 'to é publication in the .Nation of the 26th of August. a
.14r/ion of the repeal press, to which he had:more than once al-
- Jaded, and which was widely circulated by the Association. The
- • Ar! joie he alluded to was called, " The Crisis is upon Us,'! and
!ler alluding to a declaration made by Mr. Sanrin, "that
• iesistance was a question of time and prudence, and
• would become a duty whenever strength and opportunity
nw'ht concur in justifying
the effort for its abrogation," it
•
• vr.nt on to say, "a greater than •Saurin had at length given
• forth. the • irrevocable voice—resistance to
,the Union has
b,.,,rati a duty." Bd. le reading the entire article. he
%veil(' remark, that. the observation made by Mr. Sanrin was
" .'Atittfie before the- Union became • law, which was a very
= 4ifferent thing• when spoken after •it became law. There was
• parallel whatever bet Ween an observation made with a view
of orposing a measure before it hecame taw, and an observation
' • •made.w hen that Aatbeeame the law of the.land. A man.was-
Lu,titied in stating the grounds of his objection to a measure
which be believed would prove injurious to the best interests of
his country, in language stronger than would be permitted
when that measure recessed the sanction of the Legislature,