The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-29 00:00:00

IRELAND.

REPEAL ASSOCIATION.
Dunutt, Nov. 26.—The weekly meeting of the Repeal
Association took place this day, at the Conciliation-hall;
and as it was the first meeting which Mr. O'Connell was
to attend after his return from Derrynane, there was the
utmost anxiety evinced to be present. Every part of the
building was densely crowded for a considerable period
before the hour fixed for the commencement of the pro-
ceedings, and the enthusiasm throughout the day was
extreme. Mr. O'Connell arrived at a few minutes before
one o'clock, accompanied by Lord Ffrench, Capt. Lever,
ex• J.P., and several prominent members of the Commit-
tee. He was received with loud and continued cheering.
On the motion of Lord FFRENCH, seconded by accla-
mation, Mr. Maurice O'Connell, M.P., was called to
the chair.
Mr. O'CONNELL here put on a new crown-shaped cap,
of velvet and gold, amidst loud cheering. He then pro-
ceeded—Befere entering into the immediate business of
the day, he wished to offer his most hearty congratula-
tions to the repealers of Dublin, on the triumphant result
of the municipal elections en the preceding day. The
repealers had behaved in the noblest manner on the day
before, and the effect would be most salutary in the cause
of Ireland. Having made these observations, he would
bag to hand in some money—(Cheers)--but, in the first
place, he wished the secretary would read a letter {that
had been received from the Right Rev. Dr. Blake, the
bishop of Dromore.

" Violet-hill, Newry, Nov. 25, 1844.
My dear Sir—Sincerely and affectionately I congra-
tulate you on your liberation from unjust confinement—
on the glorious manner in which you have been ac-
quitted—on the public sympathy with which you have
been honoured—on your recovered health, and the re-
sumption of your public labours, and on the auspicious
prospects which, as the effect of more united national
feeling, and a more generally just appreciation of Ire-
land's rights and wants, seem now to open before us.
The time, I hope, will soon arrive when the resources
of our fine country shall be made subservient to the hap-
piness of our people. A domestic Legislature, judi-
ciously constituted, would accomplish that, and would
make Ireland the happiest, instead of being, as it has
been for centuries, and still is, the most unhappy of all
nations s but in no other way, by no other contrivance,
can we arrive at that object. Reason, experience,
human nature proclaim it. *Until we have a domestic
Legislature, the poor will never be relieved as they
should be ; until then, industry will never receive here
its due measure of encouragement ; until then, the rich
proprietors will never find their own happiness inter-
woven with that of the other classes of Irishmen ; until
then, Ireland will always be the sorest, the most dis-
contented, and the most dangerous part of the British
empire. We should all, therefore, struggle with Ire-
land's illustrious Liberator, and exert with him our ut-
most energies, in a constitutional and legal manner, for
the attainment of that one great paramount object. For
my part, I am so convinced of this that for the sake of
the poor, and for the sake of all Irishmen, and of our
common humanity, although it is far from being conve-
nient to me to increase my annual contribution to the
Repeal Association fund, yet I feel myself constrained
to do so, that I may do whatever is in my power to put
an end to the innumerable and intolerable evils which
afflict our fine people. My original annual subscription
was 1/. I now send 3/. for the year 1845 ; and as I have
contributed every week since the period of the monster
trial a shilling to the weekly rent which is collected in
Newry for the same purpose, so I will continue to do as
long as it may seem necessary.
" I have the honour to be,
" With great esteem and respect, my
" Your faithful humble servant,
" X MICHAEL BLAKE.
" To M. Rae, Esq., Secretary to the Loyal National Re-
peal Association."
After the letter had been read.
Mr. O'ConetELL again rose, and said there did not live
a purer or more single-minded man, or one more at-
tached to Ireland or to religion, than that revered pre-
late. He was one of the foremost of the apostles of the
church of God, and, though in extreme old age, his heart
beats still as warmly as the youngest amongst them in
the cause of their country.—(Cheers.) He moved the
insertion of the letter on the minutes, and the marked
thanks of the Association to the right. rev, writer.
Captain lerves seconded the motion, which was car-
ried unanimously.
Mr. O'Comexu, again rose, and said he had to hand
in IL, the suhscription of the Rev. Mr. Moriarty, of Phi-
ladelphia, whom ho regretted to see in this country.
Personally, he rejoiced to see him, but he regretted ex-
ceedingly the cause that had brought him there—it was
to raise money to rebuild the Catholic churches that had
been burned during the late riots.—(Hear.) The public
were aware that atrocity unparalleled in civilised times,
horrors that made men ashamed to belong to human na-
ture, had been perpetrated by the inhabitants of Phila-
delphia, under the name of " natives," against the Ca-
tholics and the Irish. Ho read the other day in an
American newspaper a leading article, stating that peace
could never be established in America until those mis-
guided and unfortunate people, the Mormonites, were an-
nihilated ; and it then added, that after the Mormonitea
were exterminated they should exterminate the Catho-
lics. He would leave the meeting to consider what a
state of society it was in which such a newspaper was
supported.
The Rev. Mr. MORIARTY, on rising to address the
meeting, was received with loud cheering, and proceeded
to speak at some length. During the recent outrages in
the United States it was not only the extermination of
Catholicity, but the suppression of the spirit of nation-
ality, and of the movement in favour of Ireland, which
was sought for.—(Cheers.) Her cause had been advo-
cated by the educated, enlightened, and civilised men of
America, but he was sorry to say that the number of
such men there was few. Their houses had been laid
waste—their churches burned—his own life had been
three times attempted in the public streets of Phila-
delphia.—(Loud cries of " Oh, oh.") He trusted that
these words would be heard across the Atlantic. The
design of parties was to exterminate, or to frighten them.
—(Cheers.) He trusted no Irishman would leave Ame-
rica. It was intended to frighten clergy and laity out of
that country, but they were not to be frightened.
The SECRETARY announced the receipt of the fol-
lowing remittances:-111. from Flushing, Long Island ;
251. from Peterson, New Jersey ; and 501. from Troy,
United States.
Mr. O'Costicem. then rose, and was received with
loud cheers.—He said, as soon as the noise had sub-
sided, Hurrah for repeal.—(Loud cheers.) This is the
first day of a new campaign.—(Cheers.) We begin
again to act more distinctly and more decidedly, and,
I trust, more cautiously, and with greater exertion,
than ever.—(Cheers.) The period of silence, in expec-
tation of aid and assistance from others, is gone by,
and once again we put up our high motto,
" Hereditary bondsmen, know ye not,
Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow !"
—(Loud cheers.) That motto (continued Mr. O'Con-
nell) had been the rallying maxim of his life for many
a long day. Year after year had matters of the highest
importance to Ireland been pressed upon the attention
of England, and brought forward with the greatest force.
Tney had been treated with contempt. The press had
treated them with contempt ; and suddenly the English
people find out that the Irish are determined to be free,
and they wake up with astonishment, and ask, " How
can they have arrived at that conclusion without going
through any intermediate stages ?" They had passed
through them without their knowing it. The proceed-
ings of last year—the monster meetings—the monster
trials—had drawn ;their attention to Ireland, and had
made an impression, not only upon England, but upon
all the members of the human family.—(Cheers.) If
he were asked how he intended to proceed, in order to
obtain repeal, he would answer, at once.—(Cheers.)
He had seen an Irish Parliament once sitting in College-
green, and he had reoistered a vow in his political sanc-
tuary that he would. never rest until he saw it there
again.—(Loud cheers and laughter.) At the commence-
ment of his struggles he had been met by proclamations.
As an Act existed to give proclamations the force of law,
ho obeyed them. When they ceased to have that effect,
he set them at defiance.—(Cheers.) But there had been
no repetition of them, until that at Clontarf, which
Lord Cloncurry had so well denounced as a " projected
massacre."—(Cheers.) After a protracted effort, he had
been forced to bring forward the repeal question rather
prematurely in the House, and, after a debate of eleven
nights, there appeared a majority of 456 against them,
and 45 for them ; but at that time the House of Com-
mons pledged themselves, and the House of Lords joined
them in an address to the King, praying that the griev-
ances of the nation should be redressed. To that his
Majesty had readily given his acquiescence, and they
had, consequently, made a solemn declaration to that
effect.—(Laud cheers.) How had they performed
that promise ? Not one of those grievances had been
redressed since. The declaration was nothing but a con-
gregation of falsehood. In fact, to use short language,
it was a lie—a practical lie. It had had much of autho-
rity about it ; it was the pledge and declaration of King,
Lords, and Commons. It bad everything in point of
form, which could have given power to an Act of Par-
liament, and therefore he had paused in the agitation
of repeal when it came out. He did so, because he
knew had he not done so, it would have been said," Why
do you not give time to the King, Lords, and Com-
mons to give effect to their pledged declaration ?" He
saw that, and he tried an experiment, and gave them
time. It had produced nothing.—(Hear.) They left
thetr pledge—as every other pledge made by England
to Ireland had been left—broken and unperformed.—
(Cheers.) Well, he began the agitation again.—(Hear,
and cheers.) Had he begun it hastily? No; he formed
the Precursor Society, to let the Englisk ear be informed
of his objects, and to let them see how far he was from act-
ing peremptorily.—(Cheers.) They had given her the
alternative, and for twelve months they had told
her of Irish grievances—first among them the state
of the suffrage.—(Cheers.) They were disregarded, and
they were laughed at—laughed to scorn.—(Cheers.) He
tried the House of Commons. He moved for a Bill for
the increase of the franchise, and the motion was se-
conded. Who opposed it ? Not Peel, nor one of his
party, but an excellent man, who was obliged to take
that position—Lord Morpeth. Neither Whigs nor Tories
were with them. What had been his answer ?;Hurrah for
repeal.—(Cheers.) Ho then formed the Repeal Associa-
tion—(Cheers)—with a solemn pledge that nothing short
of repeal should satisfy them.—(Cheers.) Ho ha thus
given England every opportunity of doing them justice,
but she had not availed herself of one. Now, they had
gone for ever, and the Irish insisted upon repeal.—
(Cheers.) The history of the last two years was im-
portant in any account of the struggle for repeal. But,
when their enemies found out that the monster meetings,
commencing with 15,000 at Newcastle, increased to
1,000,000 at Tara, they set Brewster at them. He
had plenty of clerks—they killed a whole flock
of sheep to make parchment for the monster indict-
ment—(Laughter)--which literally was thirty-six
yards long (Cheers and laughter) and which
had been well characterised by the Lord Chief Justice.
The trial took up the public time from Norember to the