The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-01-16 00:00:00

IRELAND.
_._

When Sir Robert Peel said that "Ireland was his great
difficulty," he went very far towards realizing his own dic-
tum, not simply by rendering it such to himself, but by
projecting the dark shadow of his mal-administration upon
the efforts of each succeeding government. Our weekly
extracts from the Irish journals give evidence of the very
sad and almost hopeless state of society in that ill-fated
country. No class or grade is exempt ; the working of
the poor-law has provoked the most unanimous reclama-
tion of all classes, except the well-paid officials. It makes
paupers of the higher classes, without relieving the dis-
tress of those for whom it was intended. The Church is
the especial victim of this legal spoliation. We heard,
while writing this, of a rector in the west of Ireland, who,
on making application last week for a rent charge of more
than £26, received the sum of 18s., all that remained to
him after the deduction of the poor-rate by the landlord.
The landlords themselves are not in a much better plight
than the clergy. And in the face of all this, we hear of
endowing the Romish priesthood, and extending the
franchise of the Romish people !

. An unfortunate pauper lately fell head foremost into
the large boiler of Skibbereen workhouse, in which stira-
bout was preparing, and was scalded to death.

THE NORTH AND THE WEST.—Tn Omagh Poor-law
Union one person is a claimant for out-door relief, while
in Ballina the number exceeds sixteen thousand.

Mr. Smith O'Brien and the other Irish state prisoners
have written to Mr. John O'Connell, " deprecating Rn y
intervention on his part, in regard to the penalties they
may have to suffer."

IRISH SAVINGS BANKS.—There was a meeting of the
depositors in the Cuffe-street Savings Bank ( Dublin) on
Wednesday, Of the £50,000 lodged in it by the indus-
trious classes, the remaining assets are only £B7.

. -
The Ceylon, from the Clyde to New York, was wrecked
on Sunday week in Ross Bay, south of Ireland. The ship
soon became a total wreck, and twenty passengers and two
of the crew were drowned. The rest, twenty-six in num-
ber, saved themselves in the boats.

GOING THE WHOLE HOG.—According to the authority
of the Galway Vindicator, the Connaught A'Beckett
(Dr. M`Hale, to wit) has summoned a provincial synod
to meet on the 20th or 22nd for the purpose of excluding
Roman Catholic students from the Queen's colleges,
under the most stringent obligations.
A few days since, a woman, living at Newtown, near
Waterford, left her infant asleep in an adjoining room,
and on going back found the clothes saturated with blood,
and the child dead. It was discovered that a rat had cut
the leading artery behind the ear, and the poor child, in
consequence, bled to death.
WRIT OF ERROR.—In the Court of Queen's Bench,
Dublin, on Thursday, the Lord Chief Justice stated again
at the sitting of their lordships that judgment would not
be pronounced in the case of the Queen versus O'Brien,
Meagher, &c., until Tuesday, in consequence of the in-
disposition of Mr. Justice Moore.
INCREASE OF TAXATION.—The county cess levied on
the county of Cork in 1785 amounted to £8,263 4s. 12d. ;
in 1795. to £20,26855: 22d. ; in 1805, to £48,108 15s. 11d. ;
in 1815, to £65,825 ; in 1825, to £82,116 , in 1835, to
£62,655, 15s. Btd. ; in 1845, to £BB,BBB 2s. ld. ; and in
1848, to £108,690 10s. 9d., being an increase in the year
within the last three years of £19,802 Bs. Bd.
WONDERS OF THE POOR LAW.—Died, at the West-
port Workhouse, on Tuesday, the 2d instant, Owen
Keregan, aged 106. He was the first individual who en-
tered the poor-house, and we have heard was paid for
going in. What a change a few years have wrought ?
How many thousands are now seeking admission in vain ?
—Mayo Constitution.

THE CONVICT MITCHEL.—rhe total amount (on paper)
of subscriptions raised for the wife and family of Mr.
John Mitchel amounted to something under £2,000, no
wonderful stretch of munificence, considering that the
man did make sacrifices, although in a bad cause and for
a worse object. But of this sum the total actually received
by Mr. Richard O'Gorman, sen., the treasurer of the
fund, and transmitted by him to Mrs. Mitchel, very little
exceeded £9OO.

AN IRISH CALIFORNIA.—RaiIways being somewhat
out at the elbows, and iron consequently at a discount,
the pensive Irish public is about to be tickled with another
high-sounding speculation, which seems to be admirably
adapted to divert men's minds from the pursuit of such
common-place objects as improvements in the art of hus-
bandry, &c. The golden project is thus alluded to by the
Railway Gazette :—" We perceive that an association has
been formed to work the gold mines of Wicklow and
Wexford, as the discoveries in California have turned at-
tention towards gold seeking. It is announced that
more than twenty trials, during three months' labour,
have proved that the auriferous deposit in Ireland occu•
pies an area of upwards of 100 square miles in the coun-
ties of Wicklow and Wexford. The gold is found in
quartz and black iron sand, as on the western coast of
America ; and it is said that by an improved method of
working sixteen men and women can wash 100 tons of
sand a day, at an outlay of 12s.' "

PRIESTLY RUFFIANISM IN IRELAND.—A leading arti-
cle in the Times of Friday has drawn our attention to the
particulars of a most brutal outrage perpetrated on two
unoffending gentlemen in the streets of Sligo, by a Roman
Catholic priest, one O'Neil, and his companion, a Mr.
M'Loughlin. The particulars are substantially those
thrown into the following compendious form in the article
of the Times;—" It would appear that the gentlemen in
question had been dining in company with some friends
on Christmas Eve (Sunday), and were returning home-
wards at night through the streets of Sligo, when they
met the priest O'Neil, accompanied by M'Lnughlin.
Screams had just before been heard to issue from a house
of ill-fame, and Alderman Cordukes and his friend not
unnaturally inquired of the priest and his friend what
there was amiss. The reply to the question was given by
M'Loughlin, who informed the party that he and the
priest had been in the house in question 'whipping the
girls.' Upon this, Mr. Delany, being himself of the
Roman Catholic persuasion, endeavoured to take out of
M'Loughlin's hand the instrument of flagellation. While
they were struggling, Priest O'Neil came up, and with an
instrument called a skulleracker' knocked him down
several times. This instrument is stated by a spectator
to have been formed of whalebone with a lump of iron,'
and resembled, probably, that formidable weapon which
is to be seen in our shop-windows under the name of a
life-preserver. When Mr. Delany was thus disposed of,
the priest turned his attention to Alderman Cordukes,
who appears to have given not a shadow of offence to his
ruffianly assailant. He states himself, that when he
heard the first word of contention, 'he got a trembling,
and said Come away home, boys' ; whereupon the priest
came up with a deadly weapon and knocked him down.'
For three days the unfortunate gentleman kept his bed ;
and during a portion of the time his medical attendant was
unable to pronounce him out of danger. Such are the
facts of this revolting case. A minister of religion enters
a brothel to inflict flagellation on the wretched inmates,
and on coming out makes a ruffianly attack upon a party
of gentlemen in the street, who rppear to have offered
him no provocation." We trust that this atrocious
occurrence will not be suffered to rest until this ruffianly
priest and his accomplice are brought to justice. We
shall watch too, with some curiosity, to see what steps
the authorities of the Romish Church will take to vindi-
cate the character of their priesthood—hut, we suppose,
that these matters, for politic reasons, are disposed of in
secret.

POLITICAL

MISCELLANY.

The Globe denies that the Government has any inten-
tiori of proposing a ss. duty on wheat. _ _ _

A soli of the rate Colonel Conolly is a candidate for the
representation of Donegal.

It appears from a parliamentary return, that during the
last three years, 1500 new places have been created, the
salaries of which exceed a quarter of a million.

The Truro election has ended in the return of Mr. Wil-
liams, by a majority of 16, the numbers being—for Mr.
Williams, 240, Mr. Smith 224.
The Cambridgeshire agriculturists are about to hold a
meeting to consider the propriety of agitating for a repeal
of the malt tax.

Mr. John S. Harford and the Hon. George Lawrence
Vaughan have come forward as candidates for the repre-
.v..t.ti.,, of 41.3,c C...aig.u.hire Boroughs in parliament.

The Observer says," We believe that there is no longer
any doubt that a committee will be appointed early in the
session to inquire into the working of the Poor-law in
Ireland.

Sir Francis Baring has accepted the office of Chief
Lord of the Admiralty. Lord John Russell offered the
appointment to Sir James Graham, but the right hon.
hart., whilst acknowledging the public motives which
had suggested the proposal, declined to accept it.
The Tinges tells of the public funds :—" The brief hour
of credit which was obtained on the 27th July for the
predicted ascendancy of riot and revolution in Ireland
produced, even in its sudden and abrupt operation, less
effect than followed upon an overcast atmosphere in the
harvest month."
MR. YOUNG AND GEN. NAPIER.—It is stated that the
subject of Mr. Young's letter to Gen. Napier, relating to
the alleged revolutionary movement in support of the
Reform Bill, will be brought under the notice of Parlia-
ment, in the Lords by Lord Lyndhurst, and in the Com-
mons by Mr. Gladstone.
When the Tories were in office a gleam of gladness pe-
riodically illumined the face of the financier as he read of
the appropriation of the overplus of the revenue to the
reduction of the debt but now, regularly as the year or
the quarter returns, his anxious eye can discover nothing
more cheering to relieve the gloom of the Gazette than a
contrary announcement.
MR. BUCKINGHAM ON THE "NATIONAL BUDGET."
—Mr. J. S. Buckingham has addressed a lengthy letter to
Mr. Cobden on his proposed national budget, which Mr.
Buckingham pronounces a " bit by bit reform," not going
to the root of the evil, and therefore leaving " ulcerous
sore that will break out again before long." He prefers
the course taken by the Liverpool Association in recom-
mending the entire abolition of all duties of Customs and
Excise, and the substitution of direct taxation. The con-
templated reduction of ten millions in our armaments he
thinks too little ; and he urges upon the people the wisdom
of giving effect to the principles of peace, and substituting
an International Congress for the present warlike tribunals.
He demands the emancipation of all our colonies ; main-
taining that they will be more valuable to us as free na-
tions than as weak dependencies. Lastly, he calls upon
the people everywhere. to " advocate and practise the
greatest of all reforms, whether considered nationally or
individually—the abolition of the use of all intoxicating
drinks."