tution, still we will respect that cobweb, and shall not attempt to break through it. (Hear.) The honest and the manly mind of the Englishman is displayed in this passage of Lord Anglesey's letter: it was such a spirit that first gave birth to the constitution—and it is such a spirit that has preserved England free and independent, when the other nations of Europe were sunk in slavery. But even though we are conscious that our exertions may be constitutional, we will not persevere in them unless we are certain that they are also strictly legal. (Hear.) There is not a peasant in the land who will not hear of that letter. There is not a Catholic Churchwarden in the country who will not, upon receiving that letter, be surrounded by an anxious auditory, and when he has concluded reading it, prayers will be offered to the Almighty God, for the health and the continued happiness of the Marquis of Anglesey. (Cheers.) And there is, I hope, many and many a man, who joined the Brunswick clubs, who, when he reads that letter, will see the mischief of the course he has been pursuing, and will again return to the path which it becomes a Christian to pursue, and join heartily and cordially in sentiment and opinion with his fellow countrymen. (Hear, hear.) This letter will be as oil poured upon the strong waves, and it will, I trust, charm into quietude the moral tempest which at present rages around us. (Hear) The sentiments contained in this letter will be our watchwords, and our endeavours shall be to submit to the advice that is given in it. (Hear.) The stay of the Marquis of Anglesey will, I trust, be long; but when the dismal day of his departure arrives, every heart will throb with sorrow and with grief. (Hear.) He went without guards amongst the people-he was found in his curricle alone and unattended, even in what were considered the most disturbed parts of the disturbed county of Tipperary-he relied upon the affections of the peasantry, and thousands would have died before any harm could have reached him. (Hear, and cheers.) When the day of his departure does arrive. (and may it be long distant!) he will find himself surrounded by hundreds of thousands of every class of persons. (Cheers.) The neighbouring counties will send in their people-the bills will pour down their peasantry-the city will send forth its multitudinous population, and but one sentiment will be impressed upon every countenance-that of respect, affection, and eternal gratitude to the Marquis of Anglesey." (Lvng, continued cheers.)

Mr. O'CONNELL then moved the following resolutions :

1. That the Marquis of Anglesey, by his distinct and unequivocal declaration, in the letter addressed by him to the Roman Catholic Primate of Ireland, that the settlement of the Catholic question can alone give peace and prosperity to all classes of his Majesty's subjects in this kingdom, has manifested equal manliness of character, true political sagacity, and disinterested integrity of purpose.

2. That this country owes to the Marquis of Anglesey a most important obligation, for standing foward in this peculiar crisis, as the avowed and unhesitating champion of her rights, and co tributing the weight of his official authority and experience to the testimonies which so many wise men have given, of the necessity of tranquillizing Ireland, by doing justice to her.

3. That the Duke of Wellington has reaped the advantage of the bravery and skill of the Marquis of Anglesey, in the bloodiest and the best fought field, to which he is indebted for his present power, we have a right to expect, that in discharging the high trust which is vested in him, for the benefit of the empire, he will avail himself of the political wisdom of his military auxiliary, in the achievement of that noble victory, by which prejudice will be effectually conquered, and faction will be permanently subdued. 4. That the best practical encomium which we can bestow upon the man, who, beyond any other Lord Lieutenant, is entitled to our lasting confidence and gratitude, is, to regulate our proceedings by the adoption of his advice.

Mr. SHEIL said-I second the four resolutions which are founded upon the letter of the Lord Lieutenant to the head of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. The document is not only remarkable from its contents, and from the high official, and therefore authoritative station which is occupied by its celebrated writer, but for an incident which is common to it and to the ministerial lucubration of the Duke of Wellington. Both letters are addressed to the Catholic Primate, who bears a mitre without a gem, upon a head covered with the grey locks of ninety. The Duke of Wellington's opinions were lost in doubtful conjecture. He takes his first opportunity of disclosing them, in a communication to the ex-Professor of Theology in Salamanca. [Cheers.] The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland obtains a clue into the mind of his Premier through this episcopal medium, and following the example of the Duke, he intimates his opinions to the head of the cabinet through the intervention of a Catholic ecclesiast c. Thus a Popish priest is selected to be a conductor between two great minds and the empire. The priesthood of Ireland [that intellectual and powerful corporation] see in their chief pontiff,

the repository of the highest diplomatic confidence. It is impossible to consider the letters apart from each other, for the one is the offspring of the other-the Duke of Wellington's letter has produced the Lord Lieutenant's; although it must be owned that the latter bears few features of resemblance with its epistolary progenitor. Having considered the points of affinity between these two documents, which are both written by two members of the government to their pontifical correspondent-[laughter,] let us consider the points of contrast which they exhibit, and the difference of traits which mark the characters of their noble inditors. I shall begin with the Duke's letter. I beg to be understood to mean nothing disrespectful to him-on the contrary, I desire that the pride which every Irishman should derive from his renown, were unalloyed with the recollection that he has as yet made an indifferent requital to the country to which he owes not only his birth, but his renown. [Cheers.]. I do not mean either to flatter him, or to condemn him. Let us look at him and at his manifesto with impartiality, and even, if it be possible, with favour. The Duke of Wellington [for Sir Arthur Wellesley, the quondam secretary for Ireland, is now the Premier of the Imperial Councils] was once a page in the Castle. Wherefore do I mention this? Not as a circumstance degrading to him, for, into what a gigantic altitude has the pigmy who sustained the gown of a Lady Lieutenant, ascended! I state the fact, because his early life, and the way in which a portion of his manhood have passed, have formed the impressions upon which, it is probable, that he is at this moment acting. He was born among Irish Protestants, and he has lived among Irish Protestants, and he takes the view which an Irish Protestant will be apt to take, of the power of the party to which he originally belonged. He thinks, he scarcely feels as yet, that Catholic emancipation should be passed; and while he admits that the question should be settled, he stands dismayed by the Brunswick phalanx, and the array of orangeism, which his hesitation has contributed, if not to create, at least to strengthen and to consolidate. [Cheers.] He talks of the spirit of party having been mixed up with the question. What does he mean. He does not distinctly tell us, but we ca readily guess. He refers to the Brunswick organization. The Irish Protestant, or rather the Castle page, for a complete absorption of his early predilection has not yet taken place, pursues the great statesman, and the dwarf of the Phoenix park encumbers the giant of Waterloo. (Hear and loud cheers.) He talks of difficulties. The Duke of Wellington should remember that he was the man who seconded the address to the crown, in the Irish parliment, in 1793, recommending a partial Catholic emancipation. He then called himself the Hon. Mr. Arthur Wesley, adopting the name of the celebrated fanatic; and I would to God that he had something of that enthusiasm in politics, which distinguished his relative in religion. His speech is remarkably like that which he lately delivered. He expresses a hope that all passion and prejudice will be laid aside. The Duke should recollect that there was just as much passion and prejudice at work at that moment, as there are now in operation. In the preceding session, the Catholic bill was lost in the Irish Parliament by a vast majority, [upwards of 200], but the instant the Government seriously took the question up, the measure was carried without an effort. Mr. Hobart went down to the House and intimated that war had been declared, and the information produced an immediate effect upon the legislature. [Cheers.] How does it happen that the Duke now sees nothing but difficulties, when before he advanced without impediment? Are the Government deterred upon other occasions by such apprehensions? When measures of vigour are requisite, and the spirit of popular insubordination is to be suppressed, does the minister stand aghast? look at the six acts-when upwards of six hundred persons lay maimed and wounded by the savage yeomanry of Peterloo, and the public inind was in a state of violent exasperation, were the government appalled by the outcries of the people? [Cheers.] No - they carried measures of extreme coercion, without the least difficulty, and trod upon some of the best franchises of the subject. The right of petition and the liberty of the press were both shovelled into an Act of Parlia ment, were they remained "buried in oblivion" indeed. Wherefore, then, is it that when rights are to be substracted, the minister should be all courage, and when rights are to be conceded, the minister should become imbecile in his apprehensions and impotent in his dismay? [Cheers.] What does he dread? Let him declare that the question must be carried, and at once the spirit of party, which owes its origin in a great degree to strange vacillations, will be at once subdued. Where is his substiute in the Premiership, to be found? If he shall tell the King, "I owe it to my own honor to settle the Catholic question;" and if he should throw down his ministerial baton-[Loud cheers.] where is the hand strong enough to lift such a weight![Cheers.] How can this hero in the field be such a dastard in the cabinet; how can the victor of Napoleon tremble before Mr. Peel? His letter, full as it is of solecisms in expression, of inconsistencies in sentiment, and infirmities in purpose, calls fourth this strong, but not vituperative,

.

comment. When will he be truly alive to his own glory, and awaken to the consciousness of the magnificent opportunities which a peculiar fortune has placed in his way. He is a great man; it were idle to deny it. He never could have reached the glittering pinnacle on which he is placed, without a rare combination of abilities and of accident. But what I complain of is, that from such a lofty place, with such an immense horizon, he should take such a contracted view. It is as if such a man were placed on the summit of the Wellington testimonial, and see nothing but the Phoenix Park, when an immense landscape is opened on his sight. And a superb monument has been raised to the fame of this extraordinary Irishman, on the verge of our city, and the names of many a battle-Vimiera, and Salamanca, and St. Sebastian, Toulouse, and Waterloo, (names which will leave a long track of splendour through time,) are engraven upon it. How noble a addition is yet left for the sculptor's chissel, and how much higher in the moral vision will that lofty column tower, if there shall yet be reason to commemorate a greater victory than any which he has yet won, in those glorious words "Catholic Emancipation." Sir, I cannot help exclaming, in the language of the great orator of antiquity, addressed to the great captain" of his time, when he adjured him to tranquillize the republic-" Hic igitur reliqua pars est-hic restact actus-in hoc laborandum est, ut rempublicam constitues." I turn from the letter of the Duke, to that of the Lord Lieutenant. Who is he? an Englishman and a soldier, and, accordingly, before he knew Ireland-Ireland now knows him well-[cheers]-he spoke of us with the haughtiness of his country, and the demeanor of his profession. He was exceedingly unpopular here, an account of a strong strategic phrase. The King selected him as his representative-we watched the hilt of his sabre as he entered our city; he saw Ireland he had the occular proof of our sufferings, and then, after a brief experience, the magnanimity of his nature, and the generosity of his character, overcame his prejudices, and he has rushed forward as the devoted champion of that country, which has nothing to give but her grateful and enthusiastic heart. Mr. O'Connell has spoken of raising a monument to him. No; he does not want one of marble or of brass; that which is already built to him (he is himself its splendid architect) in the affections of the Irish people, will suffice. It is, indeed, "ære perennius," and will last as long as gratitude shall endure in Ireland. The annals of our country will hereafter say, that while the prime minister hesitated upon the pacification of Ireland, and his mind fluttered like an aspen leaf, the co-partner of his victories, however his inferior in military renown, outran him in the race of generosity and of wisdom, and boldly stood forward to proclaim "that Catholic emancipation was necessary for the tranquillization of Ireland." I do not wonder at the difference of character which is impressed upon their respective declarations. The one is the work of an Irish Protestant, conscious that the question must be ultimately settled, and yet vibrating with a pendulous uncertainty between his wishes and his convenience, his early predilection and his immediate urgencies. The other is the effusion of a gallant Englishman, who sees that Ireland is maltreated, and is genously indignant at her sufferings, and chivalrously devoted to her cause. [Cheers.] It may be said that it was rash of the Marquis of Anglesey to have written such a letter. When he shall appear before his Sovereign, should he be questioned respecting his epistolary addictions. let him produce the "parting injunction and admonition of the King," and Majesty will be struck dumb. (Loud cheers.) The King writes a letter, the Duke writes a letter, and the Lord Lieutenant writes a letter—of this triumvirate of correspondence, I greatly prefer the last. Some of the admonitions which are given us are unpalatable, but they shall be followed. The best encomium which we can bestow upon him is, indeed, the adoption of his advice. He reprehends our violence. I am sure that he is disposed to make some allowance for it. He condemns our vituperative tendencies. Are we not ourselves the object of contumely, and when we are bespattered with opprobrium, is it wonderful that we should occasionally stoop down to pick up some of the miry missiles with which we are ourselves assailed Lord Plunket put it well-" Are the Catholics," he said, "only to parry, and never to thrust?" (Loud Cheers.) But I bear with every admonition of Lord, Anglesey, for the sake of his reproof of that strange recommendation, "that the Catholic Question should be buried in oblivion." Buried in oblivion! My Lord Duke, there i no sepulchre sufficiently deep and capacious to contain what you desire to see thus "quietly inurned." [Loud cheers.] The injuries of a great people have in them a resurrectionary quality-they will not lie at rest, not repose in peace. [Loud cheers.] Buried in oblivion! What, the rights of seven millions of people are to go through a process of political interment, that ministers may read, in the pacific condition of Ireland, this consolatary epitaph" Here lies the Catholic question," and a huge tombstone is to be laid over it, in the shape of an act of parliament, with the words "Wellington fecit" inscribed upon it. Buried in oblivion! No. The sense of our wrongs shall be as immortal as our injuries, and shal!

be endowed with a vitality that shall endure for ever! delusion!-an Irishman may forget his country—a soldier may, [Loud cheers,] wretched and most miserable, be dead to his honor-a minister may be blind to his interest; but a nation cannot be insensible to her rights. What! does he imagine that we, who have raised the mind of Ireland up, who have organized her Priesthood, her aristocracy, and her people, and brought our question in all its dreadful urgency, with seven millions to uphold it, before him-does he think that we will play the part of political undertakers, and bury our country and her great demands, in order to accommodate ourselves to his aspirations? Stop the Catholic question! Arrest the tide of public emotion! Bid seven millions hold! Cry "halt" to a nation! Tell the torrent not to rush; and bid the cataract to stand frozen in its fall! [Loud and continued cheers.] Away with the wretched expectation! Wellington, there are three consellors whom it behoves you to consult, and they are better advisers than any in your cabinet-The first is justice, and Justice will tell you, "you are bound to grant Catholic emancipation." The second is expediency, and Expediency will tell you, " you ought to grant Catholic emancipation." The last and chief is necessity, and Necessity will tell you," you MUST emancipate the Catholics of Ireland." [Loud and continued cheers.]

Mr. STEELE.-After the display of eloquence you have heard, it would be presumptuous in me to address you at any length; but, I trust you will, notwithstanding, listen to a Protestant. (Hear.) Mr. Steele proceeded to read Lord Anglesey's letter, and commented on its passages, in very forcible and nervous language. On what occasion, he asked, has violence been shown? The Catholics have uniformly adopted a system of forbearance, which is absolutely miraculous. I speak from experience. My Catholic brother, O'Gorman Mahon, and myself, have more experience of the praiseworthy conduct of the people than any other two men in Ireland. I dissent from the Marquis of Anglesey's views, when he accuses the Catholics of violence; but I cordially assent to the eulogy that has been so eloquently bestowed on his Excellency. I was on the Rhine, when the battle of Waterloo was fought. Three days afterwards, however, I trod the field of Waterloo. The chivalrous gallantry of the Marquis of Anglesey was the universal theme of panegyric. Ney has been called "the bravest of the brave;" he might have been so in the army of the conquered, but Anglesey was "the bravest of the brave" amongst the conquerors. (Hear, hear.) The violence complained of, or alluded to, in the letter, should not be charged to the Catholics; it was evinced by their implacable foes, the Brunswickers; any extraordinary effort or energy shown by the Catholics, was for the purpose of protection, and not of aggression. (Cheers.)

men.

Mr. JOHN DAVID LATOUCHE rose amid the most enthusiastic cheers, and said, that although he had never before attended at the debates of the Catholic Association, there could not exist a more sincere friend to its objects than himself. He always regarded the Catholic question as one referring less to the interests of any sect or party than to those of Ireland generally. (Cheers.) The happiness, the interests of every individual in the country, were affected by it. He was struck, very particularly, with a passage in a speech which he had lately read, in which it was declared, that the Irish Roman Catholics could not be content with an existence under the penal laws. He [Mr. Latouche] would add, that he should not, and would not be content. (Cheers.) He would go even farther the Protestants of Ireland should not, cannot, ought not, will not, (tremendous cheering,) be content, until the question shall be settled. This question was not, as Mr. Sheil had stated, a question that concerned seven millions of IrishThere were millions to be added to the sufferers and victims of the penal laws, and these were the Protestant population of the country. (Cheers.) He should desire that every Protestant would come forward and co-operate with his Catholic fellowcountrymen for the pacification of the country, and the restoration of mutual good will amongst all classes of his Majesty's fellow-subjects. They ought not, and they will not be satisfied with the present system. This was language perfectly compatible, in his mind, with the admirable and invaluable advice communicated in the letter of Lord Anglesey. The illustrious Viceroy recommended the continuation of agitation-of agitation free from personality or violence, and such constitutional agitation, it was the interest of every Protestant in Ireland to encourage and promote to the best of his power. (Cheers.) Those especially, who called themselves liberal Protestants, should come forward and join the Catholic Association. (Great applause.) Mr. Latouche concluded with expressing his bigh sense of the importance of Lord Anglesey's letter, and his hope that the liberties of Ireland would soon be established upon a firm basis,

Mr. BARRETT said, as an old Protestant member of the Association, he rose to congratulate the meeting on the appearance amongst them of the respectable Protestant VOL. I.-9

gentleman who had just sat down. I have [said Mr. B.] conversed with many Protestants, who pretend to great liberality. They say, 'We like emancipation, and think it should be granted; but we dislike the Association.' At the period of the deputation to London, when the Catholics were too ready to concede their rights, they were treated with contempt, and insulted by a blasphemous oath, which was not registered in Heaven, but I fear, in another place. When I saw all this, and that they were treated in this ignominious manner, I then became a member of the Association. The time will come when the proudest epitaph that can be engraved on an honest man's tomb will be-"He was a Member of the Association." (Cheers.)

THE FRIENDS OF IRELAND IN AMERICA.

The following is the eloquent Address prepared by Mr. H. G. CURRAN, at the request of the Catholic Association :

To the Friends of Civil and Religious Liberty, in the City of Charleston, South Carolina: The Roman Catholic people, and the Catholic Association of Ireland-Greeting,

To men who strive for freedom, the sympathy and admonitions of those who have been familiar with adversity, who have felt the burning sense of wrong till it became a hope, who have appealed from man and found the Almighty just, carry with them deep claims to gratitude and respect; with the fulness of both we have received the expression of the interest which you feel in our behalf. But, sensible that the language of confidence is reproach to the faithless, and the words of praise are censure to the undeservingwith that valued testimony of your approval before us, we have instituted a jealous scrutiny into the means by which we have laboured to advance a cause, whose justice not even our enemies deny, and we proudly assert that our assiduous search does not furnish a single reminiscence to disturb our fruition of those feelings, crowding and intense, which it calls up-that many features of that retrospect must individually enhance, that none can impair, our claim to your esteem. We say esteem, because of that sympathy which is an instinct of generous minds-no error, properly chargeable, not upon our nature, but our lot-no precipitation into which we might have been betrayed by rigour and exaction, could ever have bereft us. We have searched all the past, and while, with feelings kindred to your own, we dwell upon the description of ties that ought to have endured with ingenuous confidence, we proclaim ourselves free from aught which might blend with their remembrance a shame or a regret, might impeach the tear you shed above their loss, or cloud the cherished hope of their revival. Well might you-satisfied of the justice of our claims-well might you admire the infatuation of our rulers; well might you-enjoying all that belongs to the condition of beings whom the Great Disposer made free, that he might render them accountable, and exhibiting the consonance of that enjoyment with the stability of protective establishments-well might you admire the speculations of those who, by unmerited degradation, would break the spirit they should soothe-who, by the lash, the gibbet, and the inquisitorial vigilance of police, would work those ends which the restitution of our natural equality-the substitution of the protection for the penalties of the law-in a word, which the blindness of justice alone can or shall ever accomplish.

Citizens of a free state, which your own virtues have rendered free, with you we do not argue on our claims; you have no darkening instinct to supplant, no clinging of self-interest to subdue-your hearts confess them just. To you we need not enumerate the proofs of faith that we have given to you we need not recount the laurels we have reaped, and the poisons we have wrung from them-to you we need not paint the indignant sorrow that we feel, beholding him whom our energies have exalted, claiming acceptance at the shrine of bigotry, by breaking the hearts that bled for him, in double parricide against his country and the authors of his fame. To you we need not tell why this measure is dealt to us; why an allegation, which falsehood only could devise, which nothing short of fatuity could believe, is assumed as a sanction to oppress us. Because approaching the middle of the nineteenth century, we are not content to spurn the advantages which time has conferred upon our kind-because in the maturity of the human race, we are not content to be as a stunted limb exhibiting the crippled incompetence of infancy amid the vigour and expansion of its prime-because we are not content to discard the guidance of experience and the light of knowledge, to shamble darkly and ignominiously under laws of police and not of justice-because too proud for succumbency, too cautious for betrayal, and too powerful for defeat, we demand to be