The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-31 00:00:00

CLOSING PRICES.

GOVERNMENT FUNDS.—Three per Cent. Consols, 991
; Three-and-a-Quarter per Cent. Stock, 102- mo. ;
Three-and-a-Half per Cent. Debentures, 94i ; Bank
Stock, 2111.
RAILWAYS.—Great Soaliern and Western, 161 a ;
Ditto, Scrip, 151 ; Ditto, Extension, 101 11 111 ;
Dublin and Bel- ast Junction, Gi a ; Irish Great
Western, Dublin to Mullingar and Athlone, 2 21 ; Bel-
fast and Ballymena, 4 ; Irish Great Western, Dublin to
Galway, 2g ; Dundalk and Enniskillen, 2 3 ; Water •
ford and Limerick, 4a ; Wexford and Carlow, 21 3 ;
Kingstown and_Bray,..9 ; Cork and Bandon, 4 ; Lon-

lomierry and Enniskillen,
DINNER. TO MR. O'CONNELL AT KILKENNY.
KILKENNY, AI ARCH 25.

The Hon. Gentleman left Dublin yesterday, accom-
panied by Messrs. John O'Connell, M.P., W. S. O'Brien,
R. D. Browne, 1.P., Richard Barrett, Rev.
T. Tierney, T. Ray, E. Clemet ta, 8-4, and
arrived at Castlecomer at an early hour last
evening, m here he and his friends remained for the
night, at the house of the Rev. Mr. Butler, parish priest.
Mr. T. Steele joined the party in the course of the
evening, having posted across the country from Tippe-
rary, in order to be present at the proceedings of to-
day. At ten o'clock this morning a vast number of
persons start( d from Kilkenny for Castlecomer, preceded
by the members of the town-council in open carriages,
dressed in their robes, and attended by several tempe-
rance bands. Upon their arrival in Castlecomer the mem-
bers of the Corporation immediately waited on Mr.
O'Connell, and proceeded with him and his friends to hear
mass. From en early hour of the morning the town
was crowded to excess with the country people, who
loudly cheered the party in its progress to and from the
place of worship. Upon their return from hearing
mass, the precession to Kilkenny was formed, and soon
after one o'clock it began to move towards its destina-
ton, headed by the trades of that town, and many of
the members of the corporation.
The proceedings of the day were conducted in a similar
manner with those of most-of the .‘ monster" meetings of
the year before last, but were or. a smaller scale. Instead of
a muster of some hundreds of thousands, as at those meet-
ings, there were probably some 30,000 of the peasantry
present on this occasion, mingled with large bodies of
tradesmen, preceded by banners and bands of mu:
and all attempting a military regularity in their march
and bearing. Then came a large cavalcade of equestrians
and finally some hundreds of overloaded vehicles of
every kind, from the smart jaunting car of the shop-
keeper to le rough cart of the cottier. The sides of the
road along which-this multitude passed were lined with
the aged and feeble of either sex, and with child' en, all
loudly invoking blessings on their " beloved leaders," as
they came within view.

proces:iOn reached Kilkenny about five o'clock,
and occupied something more than half an hour in
passing through the town. Mr. O'Connell immediately
proceeded to the residence of Mr. Smithwick, an exten-
sive merchant, whose guest he is to be during his stay
here.

The entertainment to which Mr. O'Connell and his
friends were invited, took place in the new Roman Ca-
tholic Chapel of Kilkenny, the shell of which is just
completed. Tables, to accommodate 600 personq, were
laid in the interior, which was fitted up with a canvass
awning, and lighted with gas. The walls were hung
around with banners, bearing inscriptions either compli-
mentary to Mr. O'Connell and the other " Repeal mar-
tyrs," or having reference to incidents connected with the
Repeal movement.
Soon after six o'clock Mr. O'Connell, accompanied by
Mr. J. O'Consel, Mr. O'Brien, and the other gentle men
who came with him from Dublin, entered the dinner-

hull, and were received with hurl cheering. They all
wore the costume of the newly-fledged 'B2 club—a mil►-
tary uniform of green and gold, resembling that ased by
the French commissaries of police.
Dr. Cane, the Mayor, who acted as Chairman, was at-
tired in a similar manner.

The cloth having been drawn,
The Secretary read a number of' letters from Roman
Catholic Bishop and others, expressing regret at not
being able to attend the dinner.
The CHAIRMAN having given the customary loyal
toasts, proposed, amid loud cheering, " O'Connell, lc,ng
life and repeal."
Mr. O'CONNELL said, that he had enjoyed many a
delightful hour in breaking the chains twined round his
countrymen, but he had never spent a d,y so happily as
the present. He assured the men of Kilkenny that his
spirit walked abroad disenthralled and free.—(Cheers.)
lie had seen and heard them that day, and their
enemies should hear them too, for the shout they had
raised that day, would echo from one end of the Bri-
tish dominions to the other. Kilkenny had begun the
repeal agitation in 1842, she had taken the lead in
1843 also, and she had commenced tl e agitation of
1845 by the magnificent procession of that day, ani the
splendid banquet of that night. And yet he eras told
that the agitation for repeal was subsiding.--(Cries of
" Na.") How dare they say "No ?" Had not the
present Ministry told them, through the Queen, into
whose mouth they had put the words, that the repeal
agitation was on the decline ? (A voice, " They were
dreaming.") No l they were not dreaming. They were
wide awake, Lut they welt!, lying.—(Loud cheers and
laughter.) He told them that 50,000 voices had pro-
ciaimed that day that the agitation for rep( al was only
beginning. They had done nothing yet; all their work
lay before them—and they were there ready to do it.—
(" Hear," and cheers.) He was delighted to have had
an opportunity of coming there, in order to show the
Ministry how untrue was the assertion they had put into
the mouth of the Queen—to show that they had physical
force as well as mental energy; and that if they did not
hold monster meetings, they refrained, because it was
unnecessary to do so.—(Hear, hear.) After stating
several reasons fur being dissatisfied with the manner is
which England governed Ireland, the Hon. Gentleman
bent on to say that he had come amongst them to begin
a new campaign with the same face as ever, but in a
new dress.—(Laughter, and cheers for '82.) He came
there to talk, amongst other things, of the club of 'B2.
When a man of his age ventured to wear such a dress,
it was not unlikely that younger men would soon be
generally clothed in it. For his part, he wanted to see
500 of the young blood of Ireland attired in the same
costume, and he would leave it to the jury of ladies pre.
sent to say whether it would become them or not.—
(Laughter.) And out of that club of 500 he expected to
be able to select a Conservative senate of 300 gentlemen
to act as mediators between the Repealers and their op-
ponents. Having praised Mr. W. Smith O'Brien for the
zeal exhibited by him in the cause of Repeal, he vented
some hearty abuse on the Whigs, whom he denounced as
the most worthless party that ever existed. He promised
them from that spot that henceforth no pseudo Liberal
should get a seat in Parliament for any Irish county
unless he declared for Repeal. They were beginning a
new era ; they were determined to make Repeal members
active an sincere, and quasi Liberals—Repeaters. He
warned every Irish representative that the sound of Li-
beralism would no longer suffice, and that for the future the
only Liberalism in Ireland should be Irish nationality.
They would have none but genuine Repealers, and those
who were not so, should " cut " or turn their coats.—
(Cheers and laughter.) Having detailed some of the
incidents of the state trial, which he denounced as a
crime of the greatest magnitude, equalled only by the
alleged massacre of certain Wexford women by the sol-
diery of Cromwell, he complained that the prosecution
had been suffered to pass by without any manifestation
of sympathy from England tor the wrong inflicted by the
mockery of a trial to which they had been subjected ;
and concluded with a glowing description of the natural
advantages of the country, and an earnest appeal to all
to join him in his struggle to obtain for them their un-
questionable right—the privilege of legislating for them-
selves in a domestic Parliament.
The CHAIRMAN proposed the " Health of Mr. John
O'Connell, M.P., and the other Repeal Martyrs."—
Loud cheers.)
Mr. J. O'CONNELL returned thanks, and said that if

he had pleased the men of Kilkenny as their representa-
tive, he had been enabled to do so only by following in
the footsteps of his father.—(Cheers.)
Mr. T. Steele and Mr. Barrett severally returned
thanks.
The Rev. Mr. TIERNEY, parish priest, next spoke to
the toast, and said, that the imprisonment of O'Connell
had created a deep feeling of hatred in the Irish mind—
an undying thirst of vengeance. It was an insult offered
to a whole people in the person of their chieftain and
liberator—an insult never to be effaced.—(Hear, hear.)
Although his enemies did not redden the scaffold with
his blood, yet they thought that a twelvemonth's impri-
sonment would prove his martyrdom.—(llear, hear.)
But the hand of Providence had protected him from
their fell design.—(Cheers.) Let them recollect that
Jezabel decorated herself with her choicest jewels when
she showed herself at the windows of her palace, but
that next morning she was thrown into the street, and
her flesh became as filth upon the earth. Ile trusted
that the fate of that wretched being might prove a salu-
tary warning to her followers in blood and infamy.—
(Loud cheers, and cries of " Amen.")
The next toast was the " Repeal hierarchy and
clergy," which was spoken to by the Rev. Mr. O'KEEFE.
The CHAIRMAN next proposed the "'B2 Club and
Smith O'Brien, M.P."
Mr. S. O'BarEN, in returning thanks, said that the
'B2 Club was established in order to give to a number of
gentlemen who were anxious to serve Ireland an oppor-
tunity of meeting in social intercourse and making
efforts to nationalise the country.—(Hear, bear.) Eng-
land was doing her best to provincialise Ireland, and
they whited to counteract the design. It had been sug-
gested that the dress of the club was somewhat military
in its character, and, for his part, he was not sorry that
the Government regarded the dress as requiring nothing
but the sword to enable its wearers to act as the officers
of the Irish people. He by no means held out the likeli-
hood that the Irish people would go to the extremity of
physical force, for they could not be justified in using
it, unless deprived of all hope of redress by constitutional
means.
Several other toasts were given, and the company did
not separate until a late hour.

THE CURRENCY.--We have been informed in the
highest quarters, that the Government have determined
upon abandoning their interference with the system of
Scotch banking, as far as that interference meditated
the extinction of the on!--pound notes. Our one-pound
notes are not to be meddled with. Some restriction will
be proposed upon tha amount of notes which the various
banks shall be entitkd to issue; but no further mischief
will be dole.—Berwick Warder,