The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-02-25 00:00:00

IRELAND,

LIBEL.—An action, brought by Mr. W. J. O'Connell,
the London " Head Repeal Warden," against the pro-
prietors of the Dublin Warder newspaper, was tried at
Dublin list week. The plaintiff sought to recover £lOOO
damages for the publication, by the defendants, of a cer-
tain paragraph, copied from a London morning paper, re-
flecting, it was alleged, upon the private character of Mr.
O'Connell. The jury found a verdict for the defendants.
The plaintiff had formerly instituted similar proceedings
against the Evening Packet, but, through the mediation
of Mr. Daniel O'Connell, M.P., alto is related to the
plaintiff, the action was withdrawn on the proprietor pub-
lishing an apology.
MURDEROUS DOINGS.—Sir W. M. Lynar, resident
magistrate, was on Monday week pelted with stones and
knocked down, in the streets of Ballinamore ; and on
Thursday last, A. R. Sleek, Esq., of Springfield, Bawn-
boy, was, on his return home between mounted police-
men, fired at by a scoundrel whom they met on the way.
The villain made a rest of his left arm for the pistol, and
took deliberate aim at the venerable gentleman. The
policemen wheeled, when he snapped his pistol, which
happily missed fire. They both fired in turn, but did not
hit him, and he took refuge in the thick underwood at
Garsdice, near where Captain M`Leod was shot. Night
coming on prevented pursuit.—Fermanagh Reporter.
JUSTICE TO IRELAND.—When the income-tax was im-
posed in 1842, a slight addition was made in lieu of it in
Ireland upon the stamp duties payable in that country,
and an additional duty of one shilling a gallon was put
upon Irish whisky. But the latter was remitted in the
following session, so that, while England, Scotland, and
Wales pay £5,100,000 annually as a tax upon property
and income, Ireland pays nothing, but by way of equiva-
lent, contributes about £90,000 upon the stamp duties.
Even those who receive official salaries in Ireland are ex-
empted from the income-tax. Here, the petty trades-
man, the clerk, the industrious man, whose income
amounts to £l5O, has to pay sevenpence per pound upon
that income—there, even the Lord Lieutenant pay 3 no-
thing upon his salary of £20,000 per annum. The
amount of taxation actually paid by Ireland is marvel-
lously small, for at the financial year ending January 5,
1544, the taxation paid by Great Britain was £51,300,000,
while the taxation paid by Ireland was no more than
£4,097,000 ; that is, in the ratio of about one to thirteen.

REPEAL ASSOCIATION.—At the meeting of this body
on Monday, Mr. McNevin, barrister, having been called
to the chair, addressed the meeting at considerable length
in reference to the remedial measures promised to this
country, and stated his opinion to be, that the object
which the Prime Minister had in view was the creation
of a Catholic ascendency in Ireland. In the name of his
fellow Roman Catholics, he declared that they would not
accept of any elevation above their Protestant brethren.
They would not repay the wrongs so mistakenly inflicted
on them, by consenting to be masters, when they ought
to be only free citizens.—Mr. O'Connell, M.P., made
some observations respecting Sir Robert Peel's financial
scheme, which he admitted would be productive of vast
benefit to the poorer classes ; but he complained of the
continuance of gross in ustice, and of various omissions
towards Ireland.--Mr. O'Connell, in handing in several
repeal subscriptions from the county Louth, took occa-
sion to give vent to some hearty abuse of Mr. Mon-
tesquieu Bellew, M.P. He stated that his uncle had re-
ceived three pensions from government for selling his re-
ligion and country. The first was given to him upon
being calltd to the bar—the second for supporting the
Union—and the third for speaking in favour of the veto.
This man, probably, had a squint back at this old uncle
of his, but he (Mr. O'Connell) ventured to say, that if
he showed his face in Louth at another election, ugly as
it was, it would be handsomer going there than coming
away, particularly if there were any rotten eggs to be
found in the neighbourhood. Several Liverpool repeal-
wardens were struck out of the list. Much dissension
appears to prevail in this quarter. Upwards of £3OO
were handed in from Washington, Baltimore, &c., and
the weekly rent amounted to £731.
A REAL litisn GRIEVANCE.—The Dublin Mail of
last week contains the following particulars of some scan-
dalous acts, committed by the agents or contractors of
the Dublin and Cashel Railroad. As our contemporary
says, " the curse of jobbing is on Ireland." In the first
place, it is stated that the contracts for labour have been
sold three deep—that is, that A, the immediate contractor
with the board, has disposed of his bargain to B, and, in
like manner, B to C—each reserving, of course, to him-
self a profit on the transaction—the unfortunate day la-
bourer being actually the sufferer, while the company are
really not the gainers. The consequence of this state of
things is, that the poor working man is not able to earn
more than sevenpence a day by enormously hard labour.
The works are now proceeding on the lands of Dennis-
town. At this point, a fence for the line of rail is now
in progress. It consists of a ditch seven feet wide at top,
five feet deep, and two feet wide at bottom ; sodded up

five feet, and a quickset, one foot wide at top, and barrel-
led off. The contractor No. 3 bargains with the wretched
men to accomplish and complete this work at the sum of
fourteen shillings and threepence for every hundred feet
—thus rendering it impossible for each unfortunate indi-
vidual—many of them standing above their ancles in
water—to earn more than sevenpence per diem 1 This is
a shocking state of things; but we regret to say that the
evil, great as it is, does not end here. The " truck system"
—that vampire that sucks the very life-blood of the poor
—is said to be carried on to a most frightfnl and ruinous
extent. A temporary hut is erected in the neighbourhood
of the works, in which oatmeal, bacon, potatoes, and
other necessaries of humble life, are sold—and here are
the wretched labourers compelled to purchase—here they
are paid, or pretended to be paid, by a trick so nefarious
as almost to surpass belief. A shilling, or half-a-crown
in money, is placed, as the sum due to each individual as
he approaches. This he is permitted to take up, to evade
the law and its consequences—but is obliged instantly to
replace, and take a proportion of the goods the shop affords,
at an exorbitant and ruinous price.