Star.
London, England, 1821-12-05 00:00:00

Pit ICE SEVEN-PENCE.

of vigilance and attention to the Government or the
Magistracy. He could bear the most unequivocal
testimony to the anxious zeal and desire which every
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, for the last twenty years,
had shewn to promote the welfare and security of
the country. He had most particular satisfaction in
bearing testimony to the merits of the present Lord
Lieutenant, who had in many instances, to his own
knowledge, evinced the most laudable and honour-
able zeal in interposing to prevent the defective ad-
ministration of the laws, and to mitigate the passions
and prejudices which inflamed the different classes of
Irishmen against each other. As to the charge that
the distresses of Ireland arose from the exactions of
landlords, he had no hesitation in declaring, that al-
though, from the particular circumstances in which
the tenantry of Ireland stood, the nominal rental of
that country was beyond the means of the tenantry
to pay, yet the sum actually drawn from the tenantry
of Ireland fell very far short of the fair proportion of
rent drawn from the tenantry of this country. Land-
lords were naturally cautious how far they renounced
their legal claims; but as far as his experience in two
great counties of Ireland went, he had no hesitation
in affirming that the landlords did not take from
the tenantry of Ireland more than the tenantry had
to pay. So far were they from committing an exac-
tion of this nature, that they took only what they
could pay ; and he was persuaded that the proportion
of rental left in the hands of the tenantry of Ireland
greatly exceeded the proportion left in the hands of
the tenantry in this country. Among other imputa-
tions prejudicial to the peace and security of the coun-
try, the tithe system of Ireland was charged as a
matter of heavy grievance. It was,• no doubt, the
opinion of many persons conversant with the subject,
that another method of remunerating the Eaablished
Clergy might he adopted, better suited to the meri-
dian of Ireland, and to the local circumstances of the
country. He would take upon himself, however, to
affirm, that the moderation If the Clergy in the levy-
ing of tithes was indisputable and undoubted ; and
those who paid tithes in both countries were best able
to appreciate that moderation. As to the imputations
on the Magistracy, he begged to say, that the Magis-
trates of Ireland were not supine; and if they were
not as effective as the Magistrates of this country, it
was because the practice of acting together in Petty
Sessions had not been introduced. Having stated what
were not the cau -es to which the distresses of Ireland
were to be atu ibuted, it might, perhaps, be expected
that he should state what those causes really were;
but it would be the height of presumption and arro-
gance in him to attempt to impose his own opinions
upon that Assembly : it was sufficient for them to
knew the present state of Ireland—a state pregnant
with danger to the Empire at large—and to refer
the investigation of all the circumstances connected
with it to the.wisdom of the Legislature. He con-
cluded by moving that the following Petit:sm be pre-
sented to his Majesty :
" We, your Majesty's faithful and loyal subjects, humbly pre:
some thus to approach your Majesty, to express the sentiments
of grief, horror, and alarm, excited in our minds by the state of
that part of your Majesty's dominions with which we are more
particularly connected, by birth, property, or commercial rela-
tions. We are encouraged to do so by a grateful recollection of
the truly paternal and beneficent spirit that occasioned and cha-
racterized your Majesty's late visit to Ireland.
" We venture humbly to represent to your Majesty, that a
system of outrage and insubordination, among large portions of
the labouring classes of that country, has for some years been
manifestly advancing to its present dreadful state of maturity,
when the ordinary powers of Civil Government-can afford no
protection to the peaceable inhabitants, no restraint to the dis-
turbers of the public pea:'. Crimes and distresses, at which the •
soul sickens are daily presented to public view, whilst the causes
and the remedies, except the single, and we fear unavailing re-
medy of military force, appear to be beyond the knowledge or
the powers of your Majesty's Government in Ireland.
" We feel it, then, Sire, to be a duty to ourselves, to our
country, and to our Sovereign, as faithful and attached subjects,
to express our convktion, that to the collective wisdom and
labours of Parliament, Ireland can alone look for the restora-
tion of tranquillity and good order upon a sound and permanent
balls; combining the most efficient means of enforcing the law{
with a wise and humane attention to remove or alleviate the
causes and distresses which may appear to have occasioned or
exasperated the evil. And viewing with deep anxiety the pto-
tracted and uncertain period of its meeting. we most humbly
petition your Majesty, that you may be graciously pleased to
direct such measures to be taken, as to your Majesty's wisdom
may appear most expedient to bring under the consideration of
your Parliament, with the least possible delay, the present state
of Ireland. To this measure we shall look with hope for a ces-
sation of those outrages and calamities which afflict and disgrace
a country noire dear to us, and more valued by us, from the re-
flection that, in the midst of its crimes and distresses, .it has
escaped even a suspicion of disloyalty er disaffection to your Ma-
jesty's Royal Person and Government."
Colonel Mousos; seconded the motion,
Mr. DANIEL DONO'.*AN (of Cot k) addressed the
Meeting from a written paper. Ile said that the pre-
sent situation of-Ireland, which he presumed they
had then met to consider, though frightful, was not
new—the same outrages had often appeared within
his own time, which comprehended the last half cen-
tury. The bayonet had always been applied to re-
press them—a temporary calm had followed, but in-
tolerable misery had again driven the wretched pea-
sant to madness; And, as he had never seen the Go-
vernment apply any remedy but the bayonet, he in
his turn resorted to the same weapon with frightful
retaliation. A nation of the just pride of England
could not, perhaps, bear to be told that her Govern-
ment had for centuries been not only odious in Ire-
land, but such as was too well cidealated to unhinge
the whole frame of civil society in that country. It was
factious, and exclusive, and penal. It unsettled pro-
perty, and, by a mean jealousy, repressed manufac-
turing industry. lie proceeded to state, that much
had often been said at the absentee property. It was
true that it was great ; and that the mole in which
it was taken was a greater evil than the loss of the
capital itself. A profligate class of agents and middle
men had sprung up, who plundered the tenant while
they cheated the landlord. All sympathy was thereby
lost between landlord and tenant. He excluded from
the list of useless absentees, such men as the Duke
of Devonshire and Earl Fitz William, and holiest
Englishmen of their stamp, who dealt fairly towards
their tenantry. They were exonerated from any share