The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-24 00:00:00

IRELAND.

On Saturday week, the corn store of Mr. Francis Egan
at Limerick, was burned. It contained 1400 barrels of
oats, and 210 of wheat, which were all destroyed.
On the 10th inst. a man named Dunn, living at Shan-
rahan, Tipperary, had some angry words with his wife,
during which he struck her with a hatchet in his hand
and killed her. He has confessed his guilt.
SUICIDE AT SEA.—On Thursday week, the master of
the brig, Countess of Airlie, bound from Cork to Sligo,
jumped overboard and was drowned. He had pi evi-
ously eiven way to inebriation.
PUSF.YISM IN KILMORE.—NO reconciliation has vet
taken place between ministers and people in this parish.
The fiev. Mr. Mussen perseveres with his offensive mode
of conducting divine service. There were but four
members of the congregation present at church last
Sunday.—Downpatrick Recorder.
THREATENING NOTICE.—A threatening notice was
found posted on Tuesday morning on some of the timbers
at the place where the pier is building for the Chetwynd
viaduct, on the Cork and Bandon Railway. The notice
was headed with a drawing of a coffin, and cautioned the
labourers not to work for less than 10s. a week, otherwise
they would be visited when they least expected it, and get
a most horrible death. It farther stated that if the con-
contractor (Mr. Hen right) refused to pay them 10s. a week
per man, be had better at once prepare his coffin, for
death would be near at hand.—Cork Constitution.

POVERTY IN IRELAND.—At a meeting of the Cork
Fever Hospital, last week, a conversation took place as to
furnishing new straw for the poor patients to he on and
burning the old, when one of the subscribers asked,
" Are the bed ticks to be burned or wetted ?" The fol-
lowing touching reply was made by one of the physicians
present:—" Ab, my dear sir, you are speaking of luxu-
ries which the poor do not enjoy. They only lie on straw
and few know how they are off." [From such a poverty-
stricken people as this are the exactions for repeal and
other nonsense forced. Last week £3OO was the amount
of rent acknowledged at the repeal weekly meeting, which
has been contributed by these wretched creatures, not
merely suffering from their accustomed destitution, but
from the accumulated weight of a season of alleged "fa-
mine and pestilence."]
REPEAL ASSOCIATION.— The weekly meeting was held
on Monday. A letter was read from Mr. O'Connell, de
scribing the English parliament and government as most
ready to coerce Ireland. but determined not to give to the
Irish nation equal franchises, equal representation, equal
rights, equal religious freedom—in short, equal laws with
those enjoyed by the people of England. The following is
an extract :—" I respectfully submit to the association that
it ought immediately to call on all the Irish repeal mem-
bers, to attend in their places to meet the coercion bill as
it comes from the Lords, and to meet it with the most de-
cided and unequivocal hostility. There must be no com-
promise, no bartering of present rights either for the pro-
mises or for the reality of future political liberties. Let
us, if we can drive the minister to try the only certain or
rational preventative of crime, namely, the concession of
conciliation to be limited only by an equalisation with
England or Scotland. Let us see the practical effect of
such a plan before we give the slightest assent to any co-
ercive measures. Ours is the only effective plan,—try
justice before you enact despotism; above all, I repeat, let
there be nothing in the shape of compromise."
THE POTATO CROP IN IRELAND.—Mr. F. Shaw,
member for Dublin University, stated in the House of
Commons last week, in reference to the statement of the
Government Commissioners, that one half of the potato
crop had been already lost, that " those gentlemen must
have been imposed upon. There might be truth in the
report of the commission at Dublin, that there was no
county and no district in Ireland in which, more or less,
the potato crops had not been affected by the prevailing
disease; for, more or less, such was indeed the case.
(Hear.) He knew, from his own observation, that the
disease in the autumn had been wide-spread in the coun-
ties of Cork, Tipperary. Kilkenny. Carlow, and Wicklow,
but he also knew, by proper precautions, a great part of
the crop had been saved and the extending of the cala-
mity prevented ; and it was, further, his conviction that
in most parts of Ireland there would still be found an
average crop of potatoes. (Hear.) He had not been
surprised by the announcements in the letters read by the
right hon. baronet at the head of the government, for he
was well aware that those documents emanated from dis-
tricts which had been the most heavily visited with scar-
city ; especially Mayo and Donegalin the north, and
Kerry, Clare, Waterford, and Queen'a County in the
south.
FUNERAL Op BRYAN SEERY.—Under the imposing
head of the " Mullingar Tragedy," the reporter of the
Freeman furnishes that journal with a long and highly-
coloured account of the interment of Bryan Seery. The
melancholy spectacle took place on Sunday in the pre-
sence of a vast number of country people, whose numbers
were estimated by the writer to amount to 50,000 or
60,000 souls. The greatest decorum was observed
throughout the day, there not being the slightest disposi-
tion evinced by the peasantry to commit a breach of the
peace ; and this will appear more remarkable, and re-
dound more to the credit of the people, when it is learned
that the clergymen in attendance, with doubtful taste,
spared no pains to impress upon the immense body of
spectators the idea of Seery's perfect innocence. The
Dublin Mail states, that " there is evidence to show that
the alibi, in all its minute details, was got up before the
crime was committed, and that the Attorney-General is
in possession of all the partizulars." Our contemporary
adds :—" A conspiracy is raging in Ireland possessing all
the characteristics of a civil war—a war of population
against property—of creed against religion. But this is
not all. It possesses this terrible ingredient—that it is
religious in its essence, its nature, and its operation. It
is a war of Papists against Protestants—the confederates,
or conspirators, being exclusively Roman Catholics, and
bound by a terrible oath to exterminate, even by death,
the professors of the creed opposed to them. This is the
Ribbon obligation described and denounced by Lord
Plunket ; and we can imagine a Saurin or a Joy, in their
capacity of Attorney-General, having the sturdy manli-
ness to *litre, in the face of the court and the country,
when thersaw twenty Protestant gentlemen, the first in
rank, station, character, and respectability in Westmeath
—Deputy Lieutenants and Magistrates—peremptorily
challenged by the prisoner—BECAUSE THEY WERE PRO-
TESTANTS—and for no other reason—we can, we repeat,
. understand such men as we have named resolutely de-
claring, and honestly acting upon such a resolution, that
no Roman Catholic should sit on the jury. Are the pp-
posite party to have all and everything their own way,
and in cases in which either party possesses an equal right ?
They challenge twenty Protestants, without reason given
or cause assigned, and no one dares to question or impugn
such a course of proceeding ; while, if three Roman Ca-
tholics are set aside, an outcry is raised that a dishonest
verdict is procured, and innocent blood shed. No Roman
Catholic was, however, set aside on Seery's second trial,
and none on the first except those who on several occa-
sions had expressed a strong opinion as to the innocence
of the accused."

OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH.—On Sunday morn-
ing last, several hundred persons assembled in the North
Cattle Market, the property of the corporation, and
fought some " mains " of cocks, on which money to
some amount changed hands. In the afternoon, a nu-
merous meeting was held in the market to hear Father
Mathew, at which trumpets were blown, drums beat, and
flags fluttered in the breeze.—Cork Constitution.
SHAMEFUL OUTRAGE.—The Hon. James Hewitt, of
Meenglass, near Stranorler, in the county of Donegal,
had recently erected two new houses on a stock farm, but
when ready fitted out for his tenants, some miscreants
came by night and levelled them to the ground. Again
they were erected ; but immediately after, the timber of
the roofs was cut away, and the work of demolition once
more completed. The perpetrators of this malicious act
had not even in palliation of their conduct, the usual
apology put forth by the Repeal press for such doings—
namely, the ejectment of the former tenants, as this was
a farm which had not before been in the possession of any
tenan ts.—Londonderry Paper.
MARKETHILL AGRICULTURAL DINNER.—The Newry
Commercial Telegraph, of the sth instant, published a
long and interesting report of the Markethill Agricultural
Meeting, at which the speeches were highly creditable to
the parties, as indicating sound views on farming subjects,
and a growing desire amongst the landlords and tenants to
introduce an improved and more profitable system. Lord
Gosford presided, and the attendance was numerous and
respectable. The competition for the challenge clock and
silver cup, given by his lordship to be striven for by the
owners of the best cultivated farms, seems to go on with
undiminished spirit. As yet, no one has been able to hold
either prize for the three years required to make it his
own ; and success will become annually more difficult as
the improvement of agriculture proceeds. The encour-
agement, also, so judiciously given by his lordship to the
levelling of useless fences, has had a good effect, and the
removal of the crooked small enclosures has greatly im-
proved the appearance of the country. Amongst the
speakers was Mr. William Blacker, who eloquently des-
canted upon the subject of levelling unseemly ditches, by
which much ground had already been gained, and much
more remained to be redeemed. lie also strongly advo-
cated the feeding of cattle in the house or farm-yard as a
great saving to the land, adding, that quarrelling amongst
tenants took place about a foot or two of land, without
their reflecting that they were losing fifty times as much
by these useless ditches. In the list he had read, there
were nearly ten acres of land saved in that locality, and
perhaps ten times as much had been gained of which he
had no account ; but still so much remained, that almost
nothing, comparatively speaking, had been accomplished
in this way.
PRIESTLY INFLUENCE.—A lady named Caldbeck, pos-
sessed of property amounting to £2,400, died on the Ist
of November, 1841, and by her will bequeathed her whole
property to the Rev. Doctor Meyler, of Westland-row
Chapel, and to the popish Archbishop of Dublin, in trust
for the benefit of certain Roman Catholic charities. Miss
Caldbeck, we may here remark, had been on the most
affectionate terms with her brother, in whose house she
lived for thirty years. She had executed another will pre-
pared by her own solicitor, and in it had made provision
for her brother; but of this will no trace was forthcoming
at the time of trial. The second—or what we may term
the priest's wilt—was prepared under the directions of
Dr. Meyler, the confessor of the testatrix, and by his
attorney—by his confidential adviser—but a man totally
unknown to Miss Caldbeck. This professional gentle-
man drew up a will from verbal instructions, and allowed
several months to elapse between the preparation and the
execution of the deed. The latter took place—not in the
house of Miss Caldbeek's brother, but at the chapel in
Westland-row, in the presence of the confessor, his coad-
jutor, and confidential attorney. Moreover, the custody
of the document was not permitted to remain with the
testatrix, so that she could have the power of destroying
or obliterating it whenever she pleased ; hut it was kept
in the possession of Dr. Meyler, who took good care to
preserve the most profound silence on the subject. The
judge of the Prerogative Court decided—first, that the
testatrix was of sound mind at the time of making her
will ; secondly, that there was no evidence of improper
influence sufficient to set the will aside. He refused,
however, to grant the defendants' costs, on the grounds
that the next of kin was fully justified in coming forward,
as he had done, in the suit, and that the defendants had
not conducted the suit in a fair manner.—Dublin States-
man. [The judge remark, d that clergymen had quite
enough to do in attending to the spiritual wants of their
flock, and that the less they had to do with the pecuniary
affairs of their congregations the better.]
INTELLIGENCE OF POPERY.—A letter dated " Priests'
Asylum, Achill, 22d January, and signed William J.
Burke, and formerly P.P. of Liscannor, county Clare,
and Vicar-General pro. tem. of Kilfenora," and addressed
to the editor ef the Achill Herald, states two astounding
facts, which the writer considers ought to induce those
journalists who contemplate a state provision for the Irish
Roman Catholic priesthood, and have been feeling the
public pulse as to the expediency of such a measure, to
pause before they proceed further in that object. The
writer states that after he had been assisting a neighbour-
ing parish priest at a station of confession, shortly after
the murder of Mr. Blood, near Corofin, county Clare,
(and which took place in 1832,) a priest, two others,
and the writer, walked out together, when the first told
them that one of the murderers had just confessed to him
the double crime of the murder and robbery, and admit-
ted that he had given him absolution. On the way home
the writer of the letter met one of his parishioners, who
regretted that he had not confessed to him, as his own
parish priest, Father , refused giving him absolu-
tion, and would not hear his confession, on account of his
being present at the baptism of a Protestant child in his
father's house, the priest telling him he must go to the
bishop to obtain forgiveness for the grievous sin, as he
alone had the power. Thus the Romish priest could ab-
solve a murderer and robber, but had no power to grant
absolution to one of his own parishioners for being pre-
sent at the baptism of the child of his Protestant friend
and connexion, and this Romanist had to travel some
miles to the Titular Bishop of
seeing the baptism of an infant, the child of a true be-
liever ! The writer thus concludes :—" Gentlemen of
England, these are the men to support whom your income-
tax is to be increased, and who are as willing this instant
to drive their poor, confiding, credulous, but good-natured
dupes to deeds of slaughter as ever they were."