The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-10 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

DECIDED STEP OF GOVERNMENT AGAINST
THE REPEAL AGITATION.

At length we have to notice an effort made,—and made,
too, with all that deliberate preparation of the means
of success which will ever distinguish the proceedings of
a ministry, of which the Fabius Cunctator of the present
age, the illustrious Duke of Wellington, is the master
spirit—to put down the rebellious proceedings of O'Con-
nell and his confederates in Ireland. For weeks and
months past this port has reminded us more of the ap-
pearance of one of our southern ports during the war,
than of mighty and peaceful Liverpool. Regiment after
regiment have been shipped from our piers to various
parts of the sister isle. No later than on Saturday last a
fine regiment of infantry, the 34th, were despatched in
hot haste for Dublin by a mail steamer, the Medusa;
and, whilst all this concentration of military has been
going on, to an extent which has rendered Ireland one
vast camp, we have heard of the most active efforts being
made by the ordnance department to put into a state of
efficiency every fortification and place of strength capable
of being defended, and 1 kely to be required in the worst
emergency that could arrive. At the last hour we have
the clue to all this apparently incongruous mixture of
activity and lethargy. During the past week, rumours of
important coming events have been passing from lip to
lip. Cabinet meetings have been holding in the metropo-
lis, the purpose of which have puzzled even those ingeni-
ous gentlemen whose scent is so proverbially keen, and
whose game is a profit upon their speculations at the
Stock Eichange. Couriers have gone here and there, and
the neighbourhood of Downing-street has reminded the
lively people of the metropolis of past years of excitement,
when events were occurring big with the fate of empires,
and of the whole human race. The cause of all this bustle
may now be briefly stated, in the fact that government
have felt themselves in a condition to repress the repeal
sedition in Ireland, and that the first step in advance has
at last been taken.

We will proceed to narrate, in a more orderly fashion,
the course of events thus far. After a cabinet meeting
held in London on Monday last, which was remarkable
only for the circumstance of Lord De Grey attending it,
instead of proceeding, as was expected, to his seat in
Yorkshire, that nobleman started off forthwith to the seat
of his government in Ireland. On his arrival, a meeting
of his privy council and the law officers was summoned,
and for some hours on Friday were in earnest deliberation.
As the result, on Saturday afternoon was issued the fol-
lowing proclamation, announcing the intention of the
government of Ireland to put down the meeting of re-
pealers which was to have been held on Sunday at Clon-
tarf. We give the document entire, reserving to our-
selves the opportunity to comment upon it bye and bye :
" BY THE LORD LIEUTENANT AND COUNCIL Or
IRELAND.
" A PROCLAMATION.

" DE GREY,

" Whereas, it has been publicly announced, that a
meeting is to take place at or near Clontarf, on Sunday,
the Bth October instant, for the alleged purpose of pe-
titioning Parliament for a Repeal of the Legislative
Union between Great Britain and Ireland ;
" And, whereas, advertisements and placards have been
printed and extensively circulated, calling on those per-
sons who propose to attend the said meeting on horseback
to meet and form in procession, and to march to the said
meeting in military order and array ;
" And, whereas, meetings of large numbers of persons
have been already held in different parts of Ireland under
the like pretence, at several of which meetings language
of a seditious and inflammatory nature has been addressed
to the persons there assembled, calculated and intended
to excite discontent and disaffection in the minds of her
Majesty's subjects, and to bring into hatred and contempt
the government and constitution of the country as by law
established ;

" Ando whereas, at some of the said meetings such
seditious and inflammatory language has been used
by persons who have signified their intention of being
present at, and taking part in the said meeting, so an-
nounced to be held at or near Clontarf;
" And, whereas, the said intended meeting is calcu-
lated to excite reasonable and well-grounded apprehension,
that the motives and objects of the persons to be assem-
bled thereat are not the fair, legal exercise of constitu-
tional rights and privileges, but to bring into hatred and
contempt the government and constitution of the United
Kingdom as by law established, and to accomplish alter-
ations in the laws and constitution of the realm by inti-
midation and demonstration of physical force;
" Now, we, the Lord Lieutenant, by and with the ad-
vice of her Majesty's Privy Council, being satisfied that
the said intended meeting, so proposed to be held at or
near Clontarf, as, aforesaid, can only tend to serve the
ends of factious.and seditious persons, and to the viola-
tion of public peace, do hereby strictly caution and fore-
warn all persons whatsoever, that they do abstain from
attendance at the meeting : and we do hereby give notice,
that if, in defiance of this our proclamation, the said
meeting shall take place, all persons attending the same
seall be proceeded against according to law. And we do
hereby or der and enjoin magistrates and officers entrusted
with the preservation of the public peace, and others
whom it may concern, to be aiding and assisting in the
execution of the law in preventing the said meeting, and
in the effectual dispersion and suppression of the same,
and in detection and prosecution of those who, after this
notice, shall offend in the respect aforesaid.
" Given at the Council Chamber, this 7th day of Oc-
tober, 1F43.

" Edw. B. Sugden, C. Donoughmore. Eliot.
"F. Blackburne. E. Blakeney. F. Shaw.
" T. B. C. Smith.
" God save the Queen!"

After all the swaggering bravado of the arch agitator,
O'Connell, the natural exclamation of most men, on the
appearance of this document, would doubtless be that the
long threatened collision between the repealers and the
government must now take place. They would remem-
ber the magnificent attitude in which he announces his
intention to die for Ireland—which attitude by the way
is to be immortalized in congenial bronze, if it is not
thought more fitting to erect, instead of the statue origi-
nally designed, the brazen image of a cur sneaking from
crying danger, with his tail comfortably sheltered between
his hind legs; and remembering this, and a tLousand
other pieces of Bobadilism, they would expect that the
meeting at Clontarf would take place in despite of the
proclamation of the Lord Lieutenant. But they miscal-
culated. They knew not the depth of Daniel O'Connell's
infamy and cowardice. They knew not how perfect a
representative is this braggart to Bob Acres, and Ancient
Pistol—how composedly he could eat his leek and feel his
valour "ooze out of his finger ends." On the appear-
ance of the manifesto, the committee of the repeal asso-
ciation was immediately summoned, and in a whine, like
that of a beaten hound, this very Daniel begged, entreated,
prayed to be saved from the consequences of his own vil-
lany. The meeting, to be held per fas et nefas was not
to take place. The squireens and farmers were not to
ride in military order. The riff raff of Dublin were not to
howl in sweet concord their hatred to the Saxon. A pro-
clamation was to be issued, and was at once issued, post-
poning the gathering sine die; a posse of priests were
dispatched to every outlet from Dublin to stop the people.
Tom Steele started off to stop the men of Meath, and
Daniel O'Connell, we presume, went home to Merrion
Square to calculate at how early a period it would be
necessary to decamp, to avoid the scorn of his duped—a
hundred times duped—fellow countrymen, and the pos-
sible further steps of the British government. Hear the
mixture of attempted sublimity and insolence in which the
fallen bully communicated his august desires.

" NOTICE

" Whereas, there has appeared, under the signature of
E• B. Sugden, &c., a paper being, or purporting to be, a
proclamation, drawn up in very loose and inaccurate
terms, and manifestly misrepresenting known facts, the
object of which appears to be, to prevent the public meet-
ing intended to be held to-moorow, the Sth instant, at
Clontarf, to petition parliament for the repeal of the bale-
ful and destructive measure of the Legislative Union.
"And, whereas, such proclamation has not appeared
until late in the afternoon of this day, Saturday, the 7th
instant, so that it is utterly impossible that the knowledge
of its existence could be communicated in the usual of-
ficial channels, or by the post, in time to have its contents
known to the persons intending to meet at Clontarf, for
the purpose of petitioning as aforesaid, whereby ill-dis-
posed persons may have an opportunity, under colour of
the said proclamation, to provoke breaches of the peace,
or commit violence on persons intending to proceed
peaceably and legally to the said meeting.
" We' therefore, the committee of the Loyal National
Repeal Association, do most earnestly request and en-
treat, that all well-disposed-persons will, immediately on
receiving this intimation, repair to their own dwellings,
and not place themselves in peril of any collision or of
receiving any ill-treatment whatsoever.
And we do hereby inform all such persons that, with.
out yielding in anything to the unfounded allegations in
said alleged proclamation, we deem it prudent, and wise,
and, above all things humane, to declare, that the said
meeting is abandoned and is not to be held.
" Signed, by order,
DANIEL O'CONNELL, Chairman.
" Saturday, October 7th, 31-, p.m."

As from the little time which would intervene, between
the adoption of this determination on Saturday night and
the intended hour of meeting on Sunday, there was little
probability. of its circulation in the ordinary way being
effectual in keeping back the people, it was, in addition to
the despatch of Tom Steele, and their Reverences who
were present at 'the Corn Exchange, for the purpose of
making personal efforts to prevent the assembly.
" Resolved,—That the above cautionary notice be im-
mediately transmitted, by express, to the very reve-
rend gentlemen who signed the requisition for the
Clontarf Repeal Meeting, and to all adjacent districts, so
as to prevent the influx of persons coming to the intended
meeting."

The precise amount of success which attended these
efforts, at the hour of writing this, we do not know. The
mission of the " head pacificator" to Tara to inform the
assembled peasantry of Meath that they were not to be
indulged with a march to Clog tarf,,yrould, we imagine, be an
unpleasant one. Paddy, in his hot blood, would be slow
in discovering why, when he was prepared for a rebellion,
he was not to have one; and Master Tom would look
rather small in his eyes. Their reverences, the priests,
would searcely be very well received in their perambula-
tions; and the levy of bludgeoneers who went over from
this town and Manchester last week will, we dare say, be
asking by this time. what they went for, if not to fight
" the hated Saxon." The newly-adopted pacific tone of
the great agitator will be a little incomprehensible beyond
the ranks of his immediate confidants and sharers of his
plunder; and we should scarcely be surprised if the feel-
ings of disappointment which It must have created should

have some effect upon the rent itself, and prompt the very
natural inquiry, " for what has it been collected, and into
whose pockets is it to go ?"
To the excellent arrangements of the authorities in
Dublin, we feel assu ed, may he attributed the fact. that
up to half-past five o'clock on Sunday afternoon, th.
supremacy of the law had been vindicated in Ireland
The poltroonery of O'Connell and his coadjutors wa-
well enough calculated to excite-in the minds of repeaters
that disgust and contempt which- prompts men to with-
draw from undertakings, of which they distrust the
leaders, and thus only can we thank him or his; but tht
well prepared attitude of government was the most power-
ful instrument in preserving the public peace. During
the whole of Sunday the city of Dublin is represented as
resembling a place in a state of siege. The Rhadaman-
thus war steamer, had arrived on- the preceding evening.
with a portion of the 87th Royal Irish Fusileers, On
Sunday, at ten in the forenoon, the 31th arrived, and
were marched from Kingstown harbour where they had
disembarked. On crossing Carlisle-bridge to proceed to
the Royal Barracks the assembled crowd gave them three
cheers, which the officer in command mistaking for a hos-
tile movement, ordered the regiment " to halt," which
was followed by " fix bayonets," upon which the crowd
gave three additional cheers ! The regiment then marched
quietly to barrack. A company of infantry occupied Ald-
borough House, situated on the North Strand, and com-
manding the road leading to Clontarf. The guards at all
the military posts were doubled, regular patrols esta-
blished; the police on the alert at all the stations, with
extra men in readiness to act, whilst additional mounted
police patrolled all the roads leading to Dublin.
Such was the state of things in Dublin on Sunday
morning—such the preparation for any contingency which
might occur. And now turn we to the scene of the in-
tended meeting. At an early hour a large body of troops
had been marched to Clontarf, each man provided with
sixty rounds of ammunition. The scene which presented
itself there during the day must hare been highly impos-
ing. As you approached the spot where a platform bad
been erected, and was being taken down by order of the
repeal committee, the first object which struck the eye
was a piquet of the sth Dragoon Guards, stationed on the
Clontarf side of the Dublin and Drogheda railway. Near
to Clontarf the main body of the guards were stationed,
the men all dismounted as on parade, and ready to vault
into their saddles at the word of command. They were ac-
coutred for active duty, each man and horse being pro-
visioned for 24 hours. At Clontarf Green were the 60th
Rifles standing at ease, in divisions, each man with his
service cap and 60 rounds of cartridge. Further on was
a brigade of horse artillery, with two six.pounders, ready
for instant action. Nearer to the sheds of Clontarf were
the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's), and beyond the sheds
the 54th (foot), drawn up in line. The immediate spot
where the meeting was to have taken place was entirely
deserted, no troops being there, nor any of the people to
be seen in its vicinity. Along the entire line thus occu-
pied by the troops (a distance of four miles) multitudes,
impelled mostly by curiosity, were passing and re-passing
during the whole of the day ; and when, to the effect of
the whole, be added that of the several staff-officers and
orderlies patrolling up and down, we have before us a
scene sufficiently imposing in its display of power to
blanch the cheek of rebellion and palsy the hand that
would have raised its banner in the heart of a peaceful
people. Up to the hour of our latest information, no
disposition to riot, and scarcely a display of public feel-
ing, had been evinced. In the city itself, although filled
with strange and rough-looking people, perfect quietness,
we are happy to say, had been preserved.

SCOTCH CHURCH, RODNEY-STREET.---The Rev. John
Macfarlane, minister of Collossie, Fifeshire, is, we un-
stand, one of the candidates for the above church, vacant
by the resignation of the Rev. John Park. The rev.
gentleman is author of "The Jubilee of the World," one
of the prize essays on missions, an advertisement of
which will be found in another column.
EXCHANGE RESTAURANT AND HOTEL.--We are
glad to find by an advertisement in another column, that,
in consequence of the increase of custom, Mr. Harris, of
the Exchange Dining-rooms, has been making great ad-
ditions to his premises, for the purpose of establishing an
hotel—which will, however, be carried on quite distinct
from the restaurant. The alterations are extensive : on
each floor are five spacious rooms, (in addition to the
kitchens,) all of which are fitted up in a most costly a tyle—
nv ac
et private
tdhianti nmi
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the-r dining-rooms, the,
whole
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adopted, he will give general satisfaction.
manner Mr. Ilarris has hitherto

A PRETENDED PILOT.—On Wednesday last, an in-
formation was laid before Mr. Rushton, against the master
of the ship Abbotsford, for entering the Salthouse Dock,
on the Monday previous, when the ball and flag were
hoisted on the staff at the entrance. It appeared that a
man named George Stansfield (but better known by the
unenviable cognomen of " The Widow's Curse !") bad
gone on board the vessel while she was in the river, and
having represented himself as an authorised pilot of 21
years' standing (which he is not), told the captain that
there was plenty of water, and took the vessel in. The
master was fined ss. and costs; and orders were given to
report the conduct of the pretended pilot to the Pilots'
Committee, so that an information might be laid against
him.

SMUGGLING TOBACCO.—This offence appears to be
very much on the increase ; or, if it be not, the revenue
officers are more on the alert than formerly. We had last
week to record five cases in one day ; and on Wednesday
last there were several others. A sesman of the ship
Siddons was brought before Mr. Rushton charged with
smuggling 51b. weight of foreign tobacco. It appeared
that his chest was guaged outside, and in at the depot. (a
new system), and was found to have a false bottom in
which the article was concealed. He was fined 60s. and
costs, or in default to be imprisoned. Another sailor,
Hugh M`Bride, was charged with smuggling 16 lb. of the
same article from the ship Ashburton, which was under
seizure at the time. He was proceeded against by Mr.
Brook, solicitor for the customs. He was put back until
Saturday,. that the authorities in London might signify
what punishment should be inflicted.
ASSAULT AT THE WORKHOUSE.—A coloured man
named Johnson was yesterday brought up at the police-
court, on a charge of having bitten and assaulted Mr.
Galloway, one of the officers, and of being otherwise in-
subordinate. The prisoner and others had, it appeared,
been put upon " disorderly diet," which gave rise to the
disturbance. The prisoner said he had previously been
struck by the complainant with his hands, and also with
handcuffs over the head, on which he showed some marks.
Mr. Galloway said he was obliged to do so, after the vio-
lence of the prisoner. The prisoner said that if another
officer in the house was brought up as a witness, the case
would appear different. This was not, however, acceded
to, and he was required to pay a fine of 50s. for the
assault or to be imprisoned for two months. (We cannot
help considering it remarkable that there should be so
many assaults on the officers of our workhouse.)

A THIEF OF LAST YEAR CAUGHT.—On Wednesday,
a man named John Saul was placed at the bar of the po-
lice-court, on a charge of stealing some joiners' tools. It
appeared that on the 20th Sept. 1842, a window in Mr.
Macknall's joiners' shop was broken open, and there were
missed by several of the workmen, a ripping saw, a sash
filister, a tenant saw, and a toothing. Bills were printed
at the time, and distributed to pawnbrokers and others;
but the prisoner, who was suspected, got out of the way,
and was not seen by any of the parties until Tuesday,
when he was given in charge to a police-officer by one of
them. Mr. Howard, pawnbroker, Christian-street, had
at the time given information that one of the saws had
been pledged with him for 25., and that article was now
produced and identified by one of the workmen. The pri-
soner was also identified by Mr. Howard's assistant, Jas.
Poison, as the person who pledged it.
CHARGE OF FELONY.—On Saturday, two persons
named John Whitley and Ann Little were charged at the
Birkenhead Town Hall, before John D. Case, Esq., with
stealing a quantity of wearing apparel from the house of
the husband of the female prisoner Adam Little, residing
in Bay Horse-lane, London-road, Liverpool. It appeared
that the female prisoner absconded from her husband
about three weeks ago, and on 'Pt ursday last was found
living with Whitley at a house in Birkenhead. Part of
the articles were identified by the husband as his property,
and it was also found that the male prisoner brought
them to his lodgings. The male prisoner having obtained
a remand until yesterday, produced his sister, who proved
that part of the property identified by Little belonged to
her brother. In consequence of this descrepency, Mr.
Case discharged the prisoners after a very severe repri-
mand on their disgracefully immoral conduct.
DISTURBING PARTIES AT A FUNERAL.—TWO youths,
Wm. Devereux and John Poulson, were brought before
Mr. Rushton on Wednesday, on a charge of this uncom-
mon kind. Mr. Samuel Holme said the prisoners were
in his service, (as apprentices, we believe,) and had been
employed at the assize courts. On Wednesday last, (he
added,) they got upon the wall while the clergyman and
clerk of St. John's Church were proceeding with the fu-
neral service, and shouted at them in a disgraceful man-
ner, to their great annoyance, and the wounding of the
feelings of those who were in attendance. Several wit-
nesses were called, who saw them on the wall, and heard
them shouting, in an indecent manner, so as to insult the
funeral party, but none of them could speak to the precise
words they used, or say whether they were addressed to
the clergyman or the clerk. Mr. Rushton said their con-
duct was most disgraceful, and he regretted that he could
not, as the evidence stood, punish them, as they richly de-
served, and which he would have done had the language
they used been shown to have a tendency to a breach of
the peace. Mr. Holme said they were otherwise ill-be-
haved; did not attend to their hours; and he wished
to get rid of them. Mr. Rushton said that must be done
in another way, and they were discharged.
SERIOUS ROBBERY AT THE BRANCH BANK OF ENG-
LAND, HANOVER-STREET.—On Saturday forenoon, be-
tween eleven and twelve o'clock, a serious robbery was
committed upon a young man, who is a clerk in the house
of Messrs Findlay and Co., Exchange-buildings, It ap-
pears that the young man had been sent to draw a large
sum of money at the bank for his employers. He re-
ceived two hundred pounds in notes, and the remainder
was in gold. The notes consisted of a £lOO note, and
ten of £lO each. These he folded up, and placed in the
assurance doubly sure, he passed his left hand round his
right hand pocket of his coat; and, in order to makeh
person into the pocket where the notes werete edoepoes deposited,
gold
upon the counter. Whilst occupiedthei
floor. He
r. stooped
one of the sovereigns slipped upon
withdrew his hand from
to pick it up, and momentarily
and kept them safely enough while h%ceoouunntileg
had been placed, and dur-
ing• which the notes
the pocket in
robbery was committed. On
that brief period the
d loss, but could not
he immediate'? discovered
rising
as there were at that time about thirty
them gold,
identify the thief,
persons in front of the counter. Information was given
to the police, and a reward of £lO has been offered for
the discovery of the thief, but as yet without success.
The following is a list of the stolen property.