The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-04-18 00:00:00

PROGRESS OF SEDITION.

The Dublin Nation of Saturday is rank with sedition—
its poetry is set in the same tune. The most remarkable
feature, however, in the number is a letter addressed to
Mr. Meagher "of the sword," by the parish priest o
Borrisokane (the Rev. M... Bermingham), setting forth
the " doctrine of Catholic resistance," a passage of which
is, perhaps, the most instructive that has yet issued from
the pen of any man professing to be a minister of the
Christian religion. It opens as follows
My good people, the times are eventful and porten-
tons ;no man knows to-day what to-morrow may' bring
forth. Prepare, then, for the worst ;be not taken by
surprise, and be not found defenceless. By the word
' prepare' I mean simply two things :—First, tru.ke your
peace with God ; ' put your houses,' as the Seripturs has
it, in order;' dispose yourselves to die. Secondly,—
arm quietly, and without tumult, for your defence, when-
ever the day for such shall arrive. Having made these
preparations, keep steady ; let nothing tempt you to a
premature or partial outbreak.
* *

When the day of your struggle shall come, when your
liberties as well as your lives shalt be invaded, then let it
not be a turning out of two or three counties, but let Ire-
land rise to the contest as one man; and let every man, as
he is about taking his position to perform this most glo-
rious act of his life, make a vow to the following effect %
I vow, before God and my country, to lessen, if I can.
by one man at least, the enemies of my native land, and
to die.' When being thus prepared, and having -made
the foregoing vow, you are fairly committed to the corn-
bat, don't show yourself to the enemy on the hill-side or
on the plane; but take him from the dike, the fence, the
hedgerow, from the broken bridge, or the obstructed rail-
way. Be sure you do all the mischief in your power—or
all the good I should say, for the mischief is the good in
this case—by all the means within your reach, and think
not for one moment of living—' To do or die,' or -4 to do
and die,' be this your motto."
Mr. John Mitchell's paper abounds, as usual, wits
glowing panegyrics on the pike, the rifle, and the cold
vitriol cure for her Majesty's troops. In
.reply to a Kil-
kenny Repealer, recoiling information as to what he is to
do now that sedition is made felony, Mr. Mitchell -re-
sponds,—
" Why, get arms. If any one doubted or delayed
before, let him about it quick now. Whoso intended to
get a pike, let him get two or three, that he may have
to lend to his poorer neighbours. Let those arm now
who never armed before, and those who always armed
now aria the more. We entreat Irishmen to call meet-
ings, to make a fire therein, to burn publicly their regis-
try certificates, and to sign a written pledge to procure.
without delay, certain arms, to be therein specified, and
ammunition befitting."
Mr. Mitchell has ceased his correspondence with the
" Butcher-General," and has now taken the Prime
Minister to task for the part Lord John has taken to re-
press treason by the Bill for the Security of the Crown.
Open defiance is, of course, hurled -at the measure, as a
means of stifling public opinion. Alluding to the un-
precedented success of his own journal, he asks,—
" And why has it grown so popular? Why do poor
men club their pence to buy it, and- get it read to eager
crowds every Saturday evening and Sunday morning ?
Why?—Because it utters for them the deep and inex-
tinguishable hatred they all bear:in their inmost souls
against the ' Crown and Government' of Britain : because
it translates this holy hatred, never yet uttered, save is
stifled curses and gnashing of teeth, into loud defiance,
and hurls it weekly in the face of all your Viceroys, and
Premiers, and Commanders-in-chief; and especially be-
cause it points out the way, and, the only true way, i 4
which brave men ever win freedom or bridle tyrants, and
exhorts them continually to rise out of the miserable
slough of moral force wherein O'Connell plunged them,
and stand erect with the words of freemen on their lips,
and the arms of freemen in their bands, defying law,
trampling on cant, and waging open war upon humbug."
That Mr. Mitchell's aspirations for a general armament
are likely.to be realized is abundantly evident by the in-
creased demand for pikes in the metropolis, as well :As
throughout the counties • of Cork, Limerick, and • the
Queen's County, the following startling announcement
appears in the Cork Examiner : •
"A Youghal, correspondent says, that the spirit of in-,
surrection is rapidly spreading in the south-east—from
Youghal to Mallow, from Cappoquin to Clonmel, and that
nothing is spoken of but rifles, and rifle clubs, pikes, bar-
ricades, &c. He mentions the meeting of a rifle club at
Clay Castle, last Sunday, at which over 2000 persons were
assembled. This state of things is becoming a mattes of
general notoriety. The most formidable rebellion that
ever shook Ireland from sea to sea is, unfortunately, at
this moment, threatening the community. And the voices
that could arrest it are not raised, and the words of recon-
ciliation and union that would brighten all the future of
Ireland are not spoken. If the upper and intelligent
classes will not guide and control this inevitable move-
ment, the masses will settle the destinies of Ireland -as
they best can. Lord Falkland never sighed for peace'
more earnestly than we do for 7 union.' Union of all her
children would be the salvation of Ireland."

The Nation mentions as a-runoliiTfl;t: Lord Shrews-
bury has given in his adhesion to repeal, and that Ips
lordship had a long interview with Lori John Russell on
the subject in the course of the week. A Dr. O'Hanlon,
in a letter addressed to the Limerick li`epw-tcr, backs
both reports, stating that there is no doubt of their
accuracy.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND ITS
CONSEQUENCES.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Sitt,—ln the present stata of uncertainty as to future
events in France. I think the following quotation from
Alison's History of Europe, chap. v, page 416—A. D.
1792, the period he was then writing about—impresses Rs
with a truth that I think we may as well b., p7pared for
in unhappy Franee:—

" It is: not at the commencement of revolutionary dis-
turbances that the danger to social happiness is to be ap-
prehended ; but after the burst of popular fury is over,
and when the successful party begin to suffer from the
passions to which they owed their elevation. The 10th
August did ;tot come till three years after the 14th July.
The reason is evident :--In the first tumult of passion,
and in the exultation of successful resistance, the people
are in good humour both with themselves and their lead-
ers, and the new government is installed it its duties
amidst the applause and hopes of their fellow citizens.
But after this ebullition of triumphant feeling is over,
come the sad and inevitable consequences of public con-
vulsion—disappointed hopes, exaggerated expectations,
industry without employment, capital withaut invest-
meat. The public -suffering which immediately folloWn
the triumph of the populace is invariably greater than that
which stimulated their resistance. The ablest republican
writers confess that one half of the misery which desolated
France during the revolution would have overwhelmed the
monarchy. The suffering is inevitable : it is the necessaiy
consequence of shaken credit, invaded property, and un-
controlled licentiousness; but coming, as it does, in the
train of splendid hopes and excited imaginations, it occa-
sions a discontent and acrimnny in the lower orders,
which can hardly fail of producing fresh convulsions.
The people are serer so rife Jbr a second revolution as
shortly after they have suecessAlly achieved the first."
This is an extract from one of the ablest and acutest
writers of the present or any other perl•A.--Your's, &c.
R. G.

A FERN' TIGNITY.r. Thenreo Deere-, ',TE.---At Wednes-
day's meeting of the Chartist Convention, a Mr. Cuffey,
one of the delegates for London, in proposing the adop-
tion of exclusive dealing, justified such a step by the fol-
lowing. little revelation of .the domestic arrangements of
the Cuffey family Haviee," he said, "been out of
work lately. he had allowed Mrs. Coffey to go out wash-
ing (much laughter) ; and at one of the houses where she
had been in the habit of cleaning, she was asked whether
she was the wife of Ctiffev of the convention. She said
she was ; and the was then inforeted that her services
would not be required again." Of course the honourable
members cried loudly " shame!" at this cruel treatment
of the lady of the metropolitan rcpresents'ive. The ate
rangement was altogether so comfortable for " Cuffey of
the Convention "—for his wife to wash and :dear starch
ehilst he indulged his fondness for spouting seditione—
that his fellow-labourers in the sacred cause of disorder no
doubt sympathized with the deprivation which he must
suffer from its being broken up. Was " Coffey of the
Convention " to be thus driven to work for his living
Iffy other common fellows ? " Whilst in the land of li-
berty over the water, every man is free to " wallop his 0704
nigger," Was " Cuffey of the Convention " to be pre-
vented consigning his ou'n'xile to the Wash-tub and the
scouring-brush ? "in the name of the Clarter, No ! "
would doubtless he the answer of the majority of the ill-
used patriot's fellow delegates. Mrs. Cuff 'y herself, how-
ever,—and there are doubtless amongst the wives of these
fellows many of the Mrs. Cuffey sort, who are condemned
to toil at home wl;ilst their husbands idle and brawl abroad
—would, we are inclined to think, say " Yes." to the
que.stion.
ClirrPX, THE METROPOLITAN CHARTIST MEMBER,
AGAIN !—Poor " Cuffq of tine Convention" is, we find, a
victim in every respect. Besides the fact of his wife being
driven from the wash-tub fn Cuffay's Clertiee, it seems
that Currey himself is an ugly little dog, and is eerseeuted
as most ugly dogs are. We quote from the Times report
of Thursday's eonvent
"Mr. Coffey (London) said that becse•se he was an ugly little
old man he w;:s despised by sf-t:ye of Lis fric‘r.ds'of the middle
classes, whom he met every evening at " Old Horse.'
Sense of them said when they iaw him, " Hurrah, here's
Coffey 1" (a laugh) and told hint they won:d• Me to have the
shoot him. (La nahter.) But hecouvinced th em before he 'cad
done that he kncw score about political matters then they dills
and he had two friends among the middle elas.;:q+ who had been
for years pre; :.red to become bill fur him. (A laugh.) His
popularity. too, was rising, for he had been requested by some
artists to sit for his portrait. (Much lanzhterJ"
Poor Corey ! lint, as we trust that the artists will be
duty 1 ermined to immortalise /eitneeff; the "little ugly
old man" ought to have a companion picture of Mrs.
Cuiey and the washing tub. pepularity ought hence-
fotth to be rising ; for how (enact Cuffey live without
her ?
MRS. BI7TLER'S Ruemees.—ln aeother page of the
paper will he found a detail of Mrs. readings
from eltakspeare at the Collegiate luetitution. The
not only (hr the intellectual
directors deserve retell credit,
enjoyment they offer in these reelings, nut for the low
price at which they are acceesible, Leudon, as we
have several times not iced, the has given i+er readings to full,
nay, to orerfiewine heuees, acid the charge. foe admission
there was ten shillings and the shillings to a single read-
ing. There is another feature in the management to
whielt we refer eith pltesure. The direetors have come
to a resolution to hone tickets for the leceuree not only
for the year but for limited periods. Thee, a gentleman
for six AillineA, a lady for three shlllings, may have
the privi!ree of hcariett the superior teetarte at this in-
stitution, end. if they please, treeeVee tlieir ticket amonget
the members of their T'llere is this additional
liberality, that the etterter is to date tiffs the time of
payment.