The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1848-08-22 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

THE' 11EISH STATE PRISONERS.  At the present-moment the following notice of the early life and career of the faction who have:brought about the -present state of things in Ireland may not perhaps be -an.. interesting. A brief biography of Mr. Smith O'Brien's life-has already. been made public. Mr. C. Gavan Duffy is the son of a- farmer in the county-of Monaghan. In his carly career-he moved in a very subordinate position indeed. The 'first prominent position he occupied was that of a writer on the Dublin Morninlitegister, a repeal or-,radical publication, now extinct. :He subsequently proceeded to: Belfast, where he was employed by the priests of the district to edite and otherwise manage a journal known -as the Belfast Vindicator. Mr. Duffy, while in this position, supported the • Whigs. On the latter party beendriven from office in 1641, the Vindicator grew more violent, but, nevertheless, its circulation gradually decreased, and it was almost defunct when Mr. Daffy, by publishing a violent article against government, in-reference to the execution of a man-named Woods, for murder, whom hadescribed as having been illegally convicted by- a Protestant jury, brought down on him the vengeance of Mr. Blaekburne, the Attorney-General of the period. Duffy was duly tried and convicted, and would have been brought up for judgment bad he not expressed contrition, and Mr. T. B. Smith, who had succeeded to the office of AttOrney-General, forgave him. 1n1842, Mr. Duffy, whose name had claimed some degree of notoriety, established the Nation newspaper, by which he was supposed to -have made a large fortune, that paper having enjoyed for several years a large circulation in Ireland. It is now certain that he has not done so, and that in truth the sedition of the Nation was very;unprofitable, for its owners affairs are in the most extreme -state of derangement. His assets will hardly pay his liabilities. It is.understood that ,he has out on mortgage a sum of £1,500; besides book debts, which in his peculiar case will probably be difficult to realise, his liabilities amount to upwards of the sum above-named. Of these, £7OO are owing to his paper manufacturer, and £4ooto the engineer who -recently supplied him with a patent printing machine. Mr. Duffy is a Roman Catholic. He is not more than thirty-two years of age. Mr. Meagher is the son of Mr. Thomas Meagher, M.P. for Waterford City, a merchant and an alderman of that place, who has amassed considerable wealth by trading with America. The young gentleman, now abouttwentysix years of age, possesses some property independent of his father, with whom, as well as with his brother, he has always been at variance so far as politics are concerned. He also is a Roman Catholic. According to his own statement, he was induced to embark in the cause of repeal by O'Connell's many warlike appeals to the youth of Ireland. Mr. Dobeny, who, in point of years, is something more than a Young Irelander, is, according to his own account, of humble origin. He cannot be less than forty-five years of age. He is a barrister, and has been many things. For several years he followed the occupation of schoolmaster. He subsequently occupied himself by acting as whipper-in to whig attorneys-general and solicitors-general in the boroughs of -Clonmel. Cashel, and Dungarvan. For nine years he was understood to be employed in the Tithe Million-office, Dublin Castle. He is a Roman Catholic,  Mr. Dillon is a barrister, and took a gold medal and other honours in Trinity College, Dublin. He was formerly a writer in the ,Dublin Morning Register. Mr. Dillon. who is also a very young man, is son to an extensive corn merchant in the county of Mayo. He is a Roman Catholic.  Mr. O'Gorman, jun.. is son to an extensive woollendraper in Dublin, and is a Roman Catholic. Mr. Martin is understood to be a gentleman of independence, but whether small or large is not generally known. He was the first northern Protestant who joined the confederates, and has latterly rendered himself conspicuous by being editor of the Felon newspaper. Mr. O'Doherty, of the Tribune, lately tried, is a medical student. He is a native of the south of Ireland, and a Roman Catholic.