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Northern Star (1837-1852), 10th November 1849, Edition 3 of 3, Page 7

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      1 Novembe* 10, 1849. Thf Northern Star.

      Novembe * 10 , 1849 . THF _NORTHERN STAR .

      ¦ F1sascial Aud Parlia31estari Reffjbm. ...

      ¦ F 1 _SASCIAL AUD PARLIA 31 ESTARI REFfJBM . : [ SPEECH OF _MrTbRIGHT _, AT MANCHESTER . ! Mr . J . Bright , M . P _., was then introduced to the meeting , and was received witb enthusiastic cheertog . He said : It is impossible for me to look upon this large assembly without feeling cheered by the conviction that it may be taken as a manifestation of the existence of a sonnd and healthy political feeling in this great town and district . For we have met nere to inquire and to discuss . We are met , to spread so much as lies in our power , sound opinions on questions most important for us to understand * , and for the purpose of advancing principles and a Knowledge which we believe to be essential for the

      eontentmentand permanent prosperity of thU country . And I donbt whether there has ever . been a time when it was more , necessary that we should meet than the present ; for , looking over a very considerable _, portion ofthe earth ' s surface , liberty does not seem to be in high feather . A great portion of thecontinent of Europe is now groanin _; under a military despotism ; and we have found that those who arrogate to themselves the title of powerful organs for the expression of the public opinion of this country have been most enthusiastic to support most griertus and appalling wrongs inflicted on certain continental countries . And I know not why we shonld suppose that these same _parties would not be

      equally ready _toehold and to _jostivj acts oi alike infamous and wicked nature , were it safe to practice them , within the limits of this kingdom . I am , therefore—whilst I sympathise to the utmost possible degree with all those persons who in any part of tiie world , are straggling for freedom — disposed to look at home , and to recommend to my fellow countrymen not to lose sight of that which remains to be done with regard to the institutions and the government of our own country . "We are here a meeting forthe purpose of advocating Financial and Parliamentary Reform , and _nur worthy chairman has said that the question of Financial Reform was a very "wide question , inviting ns to investigate and inquire

      into nearly all departments ofthe public service . He pointed ont the colonies , and reference has been made to our military establishments . Now , I am disposed to confine myself very much , en this occasion , to a very partial discussion—for it can only be partial—of that question which I believe at this moment is of mo- e pressing importance to the welfare ofthe United Kingdom than any other question to which your attention could possibly be called—1 mean to the c ndition of an island which we forget to be in existence , but which is equal in extent of population to one-third of this great United _Kingi _' om —the island of Ireland . ( Hear , hear ; and cheers . ) It needs no ingenuity to _show that the topic to which

      I ask your attention is intimately connected with the objects of this meeting . If 40 , 000 soldiers are maintained in Ireland , chiefly ont of the taxes paid by the people of Great Britain the people of Great Britain have a right to know why they are there , and if it be necessary that they should be there . And bear in mind that yonr men who are afraid of a Russian fleet or a French , fleet , or of Russian of French armies , bave nothing to say in behalf of those 40 . 000 men in Ireland . For they are not thereto keep off a foreign foe—no man pretends it . They are there because the people of Ireland either are , or are supposed to be , net indifferent only , but hostile to the institutions of this United Kingdom , and hostile to

      the power and the government ofthe Imperial Legislature . I will suppose for a moment that this audience never heard of Ireland— -and in truth , for what a very large portion cf ns know of it , I believe we might as well have never heard ofit ; for , notwithstanding all that has been written in the newspapers of its miseries and its-wrongs . I believe those __ o : ns best acquainted with lis condition have most inadequate notions ofthe sorrows and oppression which the people of that unhappy country bave endured . ( Cheers . ) I will suppose that you never heard of Ireland , and that you are told for the first rime that

      within four bonis' steamirg of Holyhead there is an island comprising 20 , 000 , 000 or more of acres of land —an island of vast antiquity as regards the existence of a _population upon it , and as regards its historyan island whose soil is represented by all writers and all persons acquainted witb it to be the most favourable for tbe production of _evervthing necessary for the sustenance of man whose climate ' s as favourable as its sell—an is ' and whose harbours are certainly of an unsnrpassed _, if tbey are not of an unequalled , character for the prosecution of an extensive foreign commerce : whose rivers , I believe , when we take

      into consideration the surface of the island , are not equalled by the rivers of any country in the world in their adaptation for an extensive _internal emmerce —an island which has large _cities , as large as tbe larger class of cities in this country ; which has a _population-, or at least had not long ago , of not less than 8 , 000 , 000 cf sonls—and more than all thi ? . an island which fur many centuries past ha 3 been influenced by the British Crown , __ and for 1 G 0 years at least has enjoyed tbe mysterious benefits of our glorious constitution . ( Cheers and laughter . ) _~ Sow , If you had never heard of Ireland till to-night , and I bad given you this description of its natural advantages , what would von expect ? Whv , certainly ,

      that it was a model country—that industry was visible in it on erery band , wealth accumulating-, the _pedj-le orderly and contended ; and , in point of fact , tbat it might be pointed to hy other nations as a country that offered an esansple Writ worth following . But now what are tbe ' acts , if v _* e come to examine them ? And let we observe , that I am now going to speak of Ireland as it exists at this moment ; because I know what answer would be made by persons who want always to shift their responsibility on to somebody else . They say the famine is not the effectof laws or « . overnment , but is a calamity sent from heaven for some mysterious purpose that we are not _acouainted with , and that we must bear it as

      an evil that we can t escape . -Bnt I ask yon to consider what Irelard _^ as before the famine . We will not have the criniewbicb attaches to the condition of that country laid to the door of a beneficent Omnipotence _, we will bring-it home to the Legislature the Parliament , the constitution of this United Kingdom , and there and there only ; and if you look to our _inatten-ion to this state of things in past vears , there ar . d there only will yon hy the blame f . _fthis state of things . At the la- 'ter end of May of 1 S 43 the government of Sir R . Peel very properly appointed a commission to investigate the condition of Ireland . Its attention was particularlv directed to the tenure of land in that country . There have

      been a great many other commissions , bnt they have been ef little or no use , as I shall show yon before I bave done . I hope , however , that some good may come out of this c ommission at last . I will give you one or two facts which that commission stated in its report , to show what was tbe condition of IreUnd then Intne J " _^^ » * 5 ®** remarkable _P" _" " perity for Great Britain , they state , with respect to the dwellings and houses in which a population of S 000 . 000 lived , tbat in the cocnty of Down—a county the best circumstanced in this respect—vet in county Do wn there were twenty-four families out of every 100 living in housrs unfit for human habitation ; tbatin the county of Keny , and thence

      to the extreme south-west , sixty-six families out of every hundred were living in houses unfit for human tabtation ; and tbatif you take the whole population of Ireland , exclusive ofthe towns , the average is thatf rtv- lhrec families out of every hundred were _livin-in _bousesmint for human habitation . Well , now " that is one fact which leads to a great many other facts , or at test you may inftr a great dea from it . Men do not live in hovels in which you would not put ronr dog-, or your pigs , because they like them—they do not live in hovels because , _although thev arc able to pay a £ 10 rent they are _wnrStins to do it . And these miserable hovels may be taken as a standard of their condition , not only

      as _regards their bouses , but as regards _everytbiM else-thev may betaken as indication of their social condition But this same commission , over which Lord Devon presided , declares , in the broadest manner , that with respect to industry it was almost Sown in Ireland ; that a vast proportion of the _S nulation-to be calculated not by thousands , Bt millions- are _foraconsideraWe _propoation ofihevear without emp loyment , and consequently _SSt _^^ lar ineansVli vin g ; tbat there was _™ g such a thing in Ireland as a rate of wages S 33 ! : . 6 d ., 8 d ., a day ; and lOd . is an _extra-S t _mid _magnificent rate of wages ; and at these _S _aTery small portion of tbe peop le are able _robS _^ egular _W _™ _ftA « E the land andso it does

      ™ u Derism _^ overspread , ; imS _rha _'Sdylomnnts outrage sin Ireland S & ' _^ _T 7 J & _JvUeltikelbt licve it may _l-cfound , fromt _^ evmene county m Ireland in _wmcuwou 3 entirely _peasantry _; « d _" _^ J _^ L _^ t of landed * _5 S _£ _^ _dlTrSnV And tt comni _^ on

      _SETl-fry not on * » _" _£ _££ _?& people , hut t « tL _^ , _X ?/ ttat isnot the tennmanfuUy-uo , not ma . fob ; J « J « tbe ffiiseriC 3 sssffl _$ _sHE _3 w _? a evidence _«/ , mo f _*^ _Ke ! _aId continued to the _«««» _toyfg 3 _i and hardships . That snSev the _greatest pnvaum _^ 0 _„ le continued to _W _ffig _^ b adlv fed , badly _chxd , emp loyment _^ X _^ dfor his _lnbom - " ] The hJ _hof ed , and _^ y p ai _^^ _^ } _Iwnourablc _fX" _^^ during my stay in that _«^ 5 rirf _?^ _wy contatlon of tlus

      ¦ F1sascial Aud Parlia31estari Reffjbm. ...

      statement ; and I cannot forbear _expressing mv strong sense of the patient enduranee wbich the labouring classes there have generally exhibited under _sufferagB greater , I believe , than any other country in Europe has had to sustain . I don ' t hope to be able to say anything more conclusive on tffis ' subject than -what is stated in tbe report of this eminent commission . Sow that was the condition of Ireland before tbe famine ? "What is its condition now f Why , of course , every one of these particulars is aggravated to a frightful extent except one So jarge a proportion of human beings may not be living in these houses unfit for human habitation for a large proportion of those thus living in that year are not now on the face of the earth at . alt '

      And those hovels which they inhabited have heen levelled to the ground , or now stand in ruins to attest the poverty and the suffering of the people , and , in many cases , it must be admitted , tbe erueftv and injustice of the proprietary classes . ( Loud «) 3 _* ' * e have hear < J of the famiue in Ireland ; but living here , we have known nothing ofit The word "famine" does not convey at all to our mmds what famine in Ireland is . Famine there has struck down thousands of men . women , and children ; and pestilence bas come afterwards to glean what famine had left unreaped . ( Cheering . ) Still there are districts in Ireland where respectable persons will affirm that one-third of the population , and often more , have fallen victims during the last

      three or four years' famine . Well , then , we have had an extensive emigration going on from tbat country . I do not at this moment recollect the figures , but hundreds of thousands of Irishmen have escaped to foreign countries ; and I have heard it stated , by men well entitled to give an opinion on this subject , that were it possible now to offer to all Irishmen the means—the bare means—of going to another hemisphere , one half the population of that devoted Island would flee from the country of their birth ., and settle in another land—there to cherish hostility towards every one ofthe institutions of the country which denied * them the means of subsistence where they were born . ( Hear and cheers . ) You have heard of tbe union workhouses in

      Ireland ? _Ihaveseenandvisitedalargenumherofthcm . They are the largest houses almost that you meet with in passing through the country . They are crowded , and have been so for three or four " years past , with vast multitudes of these miserable wretches . Here I have it stated that on thc oth of June , 1 S 49 , there were two hundred and thirtyseven thousand of the population of Ireland in the union workhouses . ( Here , here . ) Six thousand five hundred of these were boys ; and sixty-six thousand three hundred girls , under eigeteen years of age ; and , at the same time , there were seren hundred and fifty-eight thousand of the people _receiving , not . casually , but almost permanently during manv months , the most inadequato

      substance in the shape of out-door relief . Sow , as we bave spoken of these cottages or hovels , whose inmates are no longer there , jn passing through some half-dozen ofthe countries , especially in the western portion of Ireland , such as Kerry , Limerick , Clare , Galway , Mayo , you see hundreds—nay , I am within the mark if I say thousands of ruined cottages and dwellings of thc labourers , peasantry , and small holders of Ireland . You see on the road , perhaps , twenty houses without a roof on them . I came to a village not far from Castlebar where the system of eviction had been carried out only a few days before . Five women came about us as our car stopped ; and on making inquiry , they told ns tbeir sorrowful story . They

      were not badly clad . They were cleanly m appearance . They were intelligent . They used no violent language , but in the most moderate language told us that on the Monday week previous then-five houses had been levelled . They told ns how many children they had in their femilies . I recollect one said she hadshe had eight , and another that she had six ; that the husbands of three of them were in this country for the harvest ; that they had written to their husbands telling them of the desolation of their homes . I asked what did their husbands say in reply ? They said , " Wc hare not been able to eat any breakfast . '" ( Sensation . ) It is buta simple observation , but it marks the sickness and the sorrow that came over the hearts of the men while

      here toiling for their three or four pounds , denying themselves almost rest at night , that they might have a good reaping at this harvest , and go back and enjoy it in the home they had left . But that is hut a faint outline of what has taken place in tbat unhappy country . I verily believe that there are thousands of human beings who have died—and died speedily—within the last two or three years as a _consequeuce ofthe evictions which have occurred —evictions , too , wbich I altogether deny to have been necessary for the salvation of the proprietors , for they are as likely to ruin the property as any course which they themselves , or their forefathers , may have taken with regard to it . ( Cheers . ) And there are outrages yet in Ireland . In the papers ,

      within the last fortnight , you find that a respectable gentleman was shot in open day , on Sunday morning , on his way to church—shot , too , while two men were within two yards of him , and one , in fact , with his shoulder against his saddle . The man who fired was seen stooping in going through the garden to make his escape , while two other men were seen walking and passing rapidly over a bog , who were supposed to he the assassins . Why were the assassins not apprehended ? Because of the rottenness there is in the whole of society in these districts ; because ofthe sympathy which exists on tbe part of tbe great bulk of the population , with those who by dreadful-acts of vengeance are supposed to be ihe conservators of the rights of the

      tenant , and who give him that protection which the Imperial Legislature has denied bim . ( Cheers . ) The first thing that ever called my attention to thc condition of Ireland , was reading an account of one of these outrages . I thought of it for a few moments . The truth struck me at once , and all that I hare seen since lias confirmed my previous impression . When law refuses its duty —( hear , hear ) —when government denies their ri ghts to a people —when the competition is so fierce for a little land from the monopolists of the soil , in order that it may be cultivated—when there is such a keen scramble even for a potatoe—when the people are driven back from law , and the usages of civilisation to what bas been termed the law of nature and

      revenge —{ hear , hear)—and to my certain knowledge the people of Ireland believe that it is only to these acts of vengeance , periodically committed , that they can hold in suspense the arm ofthe proprietor and * of the agent , who , in too many cases , if they dared , would exterminate them . At this moment there is a state of war in Ireland . Don't let us disguise it—war between landlord and tenant as fierce , as relentless as if it were carried on boldly , in open day , by force of arms . There is a suspicion between landlord and tenant there not known to any class in this country ; and there is a hatred , too , which I belire , under the present- and past system pursued in Ireland , can never be healed or eradicated . Of course , under such a state of things , where

      industry is destroyed , the rights of property are destroyed too ; nnd tbe consequence is , that even the landlords ofthe most just and honest intentions , cannot but feel the effects of this . That tbey shonld be resident on the property is necessary even for the advantage of the tenants themselves ; but in many instances because of ihe terrorism which prevails " in the counties , landlords of the better class have been obliged to absent themselves . If I , or or any other roan , could point out how this is to be remedied—if he could place his finger on the cause of it , and tell tbe country and the Parliament , " there is tbe cause , and there is tbe remedy , " even though he and I were mistaken in the view we took , I should not be doing my duty to you and the

      countrv , as a member of Parliament , if I didn't take an opportunity of pointing out what I believe to be that cause , and what I believe to be a sufficient remedy . Sow , I shall be . met—we have all been met—in discussing those questions with two propositions ; first of all , there is " something" so radically wrong with the Irish race that you can make nothing of them —( a laugh )—and secondly , that there is " something" in the Roman Catholic relig ion which renders it impossible for its professing people to be prosperous . Well , I deny both of these propositions . ( Cheers . 1 I want to know how it is that thousands , nay hundreds of thousands of Irishmen , who can make no progress in their own country succeed so admirably in the United States ?

      ( Hear , hear . ) I want to know how it is that men who leave Ireland witb no more than is necessary to transport them across the Atlantic , in a few months , or within a year or two , send back a sufficient sum of money to bring over then- families and their relations ? I want to know bow it is tbat very large sums are invested in the Irish saving banks I And how it is that men go to stockbrokers , and sharebrokers , to invest their five hundred pounds , or their two , or their three thousand pounds occasionally , in stocks or funds , and declare that there is nothing where they live , or about tbem , in which they dare invest the money which they have accumulated . If Irishmen can get on in America why ain ' t they in Ireland ? I believe a change of _legislation for Ireland would , within the next ten years , bring back Irishmen from America to their native

      country . ( Cheers . ) And as to their religion , are not tbe people of Belg ium of tbe same religion as Irishm en ? Arc the people of Louibardy not of the same faith ? Do Irishmen , when thev go to the United States repudiate the faith which they held in their natrre country ? \ 0 * and yet the belief of Christianity , as professed by Roman Catholics , is not known in those countries to be injurious to tbe cultivation ofthe land or to the diffusion of property , or to the nromotion of prosperity . ( Cheers . ) But there is a chss in Ireland which is not Roman Catholic , and tint is the landed proprietors . Tl . ey are Protestants chiefly . Sow I ask you , if they of all the _persons in * Ireland have alone performed their duties to the population and their country . ( A Voice " So , no * ' ?) -Are they not as deeply embarrassed as it is possible for men in their _circums tances to be ? And are they not held up to the

      ¦ F1sascial Aud Parlia31estari Reffjbm. ...

      eye , not of this country only , but to that of all people in the world , as the class of all others which has been most grossly negligent of the . duties which it ought to have performed . Well , then , we will dismiss this slander on a faith which is , I believe , professed at this moment b y very much the largest proportion of those who profess Christianity throughout the world . Sow , the true cause of the present condition of Ireland is to be found in the blunders and in the crimes of legislation . ( Cheers . ) I don't intend to go in detail into thc politics of this question further than , to some extent , with regard to the economical branch of it . There is , in Ireland , that worst of all monopolies , a monopoly of land ; and in addition to all the ordinary evils of

      monopolies , Irish land monopolists are bankrupt , reckless , powerless for anything like good . You bave heard probably over and over again , that property in Ireland bas been confiscated repeatedly . I have extracted two or three facts with respect to this confiscation which it may be worth your while to hear . In the reign of Queen Elizabeth , about 6000 , 000 Irish acres were confiscated ; and on tbat occasion what was called the " plantation" of Munster took place . ( Hear , hear . ) An Irish acre is about the same as a Lancashire acre . The parties placed on this land were to pay twopence or threepence per acre . Every 1 , 200 acres were to have located upon them eighty-six families ; and no native Irish —( hear , ' hear)— -were to be admitted

      among the tenantry . In the time of James I . tlie "' plantation " oi Ulster took place , when more than five hundred thousand acres wero seized , chiefly from the Earls of Connel and Tyrone , and planted to a large extent by London companies and other parties . Special instructions were given not to suffer any labourer who had taken the oath of supremacy to dwell on the land—shutting out , of course , every one professing the Roman Catholic religion . Eleven years later , in the same reign , 385 , 000 acrcB ) wereseized in Leinster , and " settled " chiefly by English people . To the followers of Cromwell more than 000 , 000 Irish acres were apportioned . After the revolution of 1 GSS , and during the reign of King "William HI ., not less than one

      million and sixty thousand Irish acres wero confiscated and apportioned among his partisans and favourites . Lord Clare , on " The Union , " states that , taking altogether the reign of James I ., and the land set out ( as though it were guilty of crime ) at the time of the restoration , and thc confiscation after the revolution of 168 S , not less than cloven millions of acres in Ireland have at one time or other been confiscated—those in possession being ejected , and others " settled " on the land instead . Well now , observe that all that was for the purpose of putting down the Boman Catholic religion , and extirpating Irishman j and yet Irishmen have Ireland still , and the Roman Catholic religion has crown up from its lowest state , and overspread

      every county . At the present moment I do not believe that there is a single county in Ireland where it has not a considerable majority . Well , from all this came vast estates to the proprietors , which were handed down from that flay to this ; and from that time succeeded penal laws—laws of cruelty and ferocity—of which I believe barbarous nations the most uncivilised can have no knowledge . If it would not take up too much time , I could read to yon a few pages from the History of Ireland . ( A Voice : " Go on . " ) I was not aware of the cruelties that had been perpetrated . Here is one case , where no Roman Catholic was allowed to have in his own possession , or in that ot any other man for his use , anyhorse of the value of £ 5 . And

      any Protestant disclosing such a fact to a magistrate might , with the assistance of a constable , break open any door , seize such horse , bring the case before thc justice , and , on paving five shillings , might have the horse as if it had been bought by bun in open market . This was only as far back as 1706 —the reign of Queen Anne—the time , in fact , of the grandfathers of some of the audience now present . Sot so long ago , if a Roman Catholic lent money to a Protestant , if he lent £ 10 , 000 on a mortgage of an estate , by a certain facile process of law , the Protestant could shuffle oh ! the debt and appropriate thc £ 10 , 000 to himself , and thus defraud the man of his due . The Roman Catholics

      were not allowed to buy land or hold it on lease except for a certain number of years . It was regarded as a privilege if he were allowed to hold ton acres of bog for sixty years . In point of fact , there is not an atrocity which you can imagine or describe that has not , by one party or another , been practised on that country , since the time when it came directly and entitely under the government of what wc call the British " constitution . " ( Cheers . ) You can imagine , perhaps , thc effects on thc tenure of land , and on the character of the people , which must arise from such a state of things ; and we are guilty of having continued to some extent some of those unfavourable influences .

      lie have maintained—the united parliament have maintained— -laws tbat have bolstered up the tenure of land , and the possession of land is now very much as left after these great confiscations . To this I am disposed to attribute to a very large extent the unfortunate circumstances whieh now prevail in Ireland . I shall give a few facts to show the state of things as to the land now . Such a thing as you call tho purchase of a " piece " or land is unknown in Ireland . ( Hear , hear , hear . ) You may hear of the purchase of large estates of thirty or forty thousand acres ; but of the purchase of a field , 01 ' of five , ten , or twenty acres—why , a man who has lived long in Ireland has never heard of it taking place in

      his neighbourhood ; the property is all in the hands of large proprietors . "Wherever you stand and ask , " Whose land is this ? " you are told that it is Lord A . ' s , or Lord B . ' s , or Mr . Cs , and tbat it is one or other of such a gentleman ' s—8 S far ' as you can seefive , eight , ten , or twenty miles across the country , as the case may be . And these gentlemen for the most part appear to know nothing either of the duties which attach to them as proprietors , or of then- own true interests as regards the management of their estates . What is the result ? That in Ireland there is virtually a monoply of the soil in the hands of a very few large proprietors . And by reason of a succession of incumbrances , mortgages , and judgments , these large proprietors are quite helpless , even to sell

      any portion ofthe land ; for if a man have an estate in each of ten counties of Ireland , and every estate is worth £ 5 , 000 that is a total of £ 50 , 000 a year , and he have "judgment debts" on the property , he could not sell a single yard of any of his estates in any one of the counties , because the whole of the judgment debts attach to every pnrticu ' ar acre which he _possessed at the time they were contracted , and extend to all which he may in future buy or become possessed of . This man , therefore , is bound hand and foot ; and the whole island is under a net work of restrictions with regard to die land , and with regard to the peop ' e and their industry . The consequence is , the people , though they live on the land , have no interest in it j they are not the possessors of

      their country , but merely sojourners there and pilgrims . Ami it would seem that neither tbe Irish proprietors , nor the Imperial Legislature , care a single straw ( or have not till lately , ) what becomes of this vast and suffering people . Well , it is not to be wondered at . I confess I do not wonder at ittint there are disturbances " n Ireland . I believe the reason why there ate more disturbances in Tipperary than in Mayo or in Galway , " 3 , that tlie population of Tippe _.-ary are of a more sturdy and hardy character , and have made greater resistance to the pressure of those evils than has been made by the less hardy and less determined population ofthe more western counties . Now this is ihe " old" system that bas been carried on ; and I ask you what are

      ihe results—results which you cannot look upon without sorrow and humiliation ? It has been kept up to maintain and support the whole families ~ tile great bouses , and large estates , and what they call the ' old blood . " Why , what has become of this " old blood ? " It don ' t flow now . It is stagnant , and , in fact , no ruin has been greater than what has befallen the old families which belong to tbat country . Well now , we come to the new sjs _' em , for I think it is high time forthe reversal of this polity . My proposition is this—tbat so far as regards the land itself—the soil—every law of every kind that has for its object the bolstering up of the holding of large properties iu any families in particular— every law which has for its object not the economical advantage

      of the people , but the sustension of feudalism and aristociacy—that all those laws should be withdrawn and npcaled , and the soil should become and remain as free as a " cbattle "—as free to buy and sell ' as the horse in the stable , or the furniture in the house . ( Loud cheers ) I would have applied to landed proprietors the laws of bankruptcy that are applied to traders ; and if a man did not pay bis debts , or give sufficient security that tbey should be paid by a certain time , I would have his estates ( if his creditors wished it ) handed over to the official assignee , and have whatever he was in possession « f equally , fairly , and honestly devided among those to whom he owed money . ( Cheers . ) And what would be the result ? Why , that precisely as regards all < ther descriptions of property free _11 be purchased and sold , land would become the property of those who could give value fur it—who cou d bold it independently—who could hold it for their own and the nation ' s advantage ; and

      instead of these vast estates being , as you find them now . almost deserted as to cultivation , you would have every degree of estate , from lha ; of tiie man who holds his single freehold acre , to him who holds twenty thousand , and men wonld hold land in prop ortion to their industry , their prudence , and their virtues , and those qualities which render them of advantage as members of a civilised community . ( Cheers ) But there is one other thing most necessary . I wish it were possible for me to go into some details with regard to the insecurity which tenants feel in the soil . The larded proprietors of Ireland , by a sort of tacit agreement , do ir ; t pive leases to Roman _Catholic tenants . Roman Catholic tenants frequently vote against Protestant landlords ; and sometimes against thc others : and as the land is mtended by the "constitution" to grow both rvnts and votes —( cheers and laughter)—tbey don ' t like one without being at the same _timelsure of the other .

      ¦ F1sascial Aud Parlia31estari Reffjbm. ...

      ( Renewed laughter . ) Now , there is , at the present moment , throughout Ireland , an insecurity of tenure impossible lor words to describe . But it maybe said to be almost the universal practice -I know it will be denied in the House of Commoi > s _, but it is nevertheless true—as true as there are Catholics in Irelandit is almost the universal practice for the landlord to avail himself of all the advantage of all the investments and improvements made by tbe tenant ; and in Ireland the l andlord does not do like the landlord in England . IIe gives the tenant the bare land , with no more on it nf capital invested than there is in this paper which I hold in my hand . Not a building , not a drain probably , hardly a fence stands upon it . Everything is in a state of nature ; and whatever the

      tenant does—whether he phases to build a fence , dig a drain , or di _g a bog , the canon law and the statute law says that it all becomes the property of the proprietor . There are men who hive been tenants many years in Ireland , and done as little as was possible in the way of improvement , naturally feeling that their property would thereby immediately become the proprietor s ; and bear in mind Irish are not like English proprietors . _Thoush we have said harsh things sometim es of English proprietors on this platform , there is a very great difference between them , as they don't interfere in the smallest _decree with the _management of their property . It would be unsafe to do it , so tbey live abroad , or in Englandor in Dublin . The

      , man abroad has a man in Dublin , and the man in Dublin has an agent , and the agent has a sub-agent , The man abroad writes home for money once a quarter , or every six months , and " must have it" if he can have it ; and thus from proprietors , agents , sub agents ,, and bailiffs , a screw of the most powerful characteris ready to seize on every investment the tenant makes on the land . I saw c * _ses myselfthey were pointed out to me by parties of whom I did not _a-lt a question—where the land was cultivated nnd entirely reclaimed , and made a fruitful garden of . They were some small plots , and directly improvements were made , somebody came and offered five shillings an acre more rent , and the man who had enriched the land was turned adrift , I was told

      in Wexford , by tenants , that they had very long leases which had expired , and then the rent was doubled—and doubled , too , from the impovements made in their previous tenure . The Devon Commission says , one such instance is enough to discourage all the tenants of a district . My honest opinion is this , the very first net which _Parliaintntoughttopass for Ireland , is an act I ogive security for compensation to the tenants of Ireland for the visible , _tangible , measurable improvements they may make onthe property ( Cheers . ) I believeif that were done , so many hundreds of thousands of these men wou'd not be living in the miserable hovels they do now . They would build better houses , if they knew that th _« . y would not immediately become the property of the landlord

      without compensation . 1 b ? lit ve too their families would feel that every 6 tone they gathered from the land , every particle of manure they carted or wheeled , every drain they laid , every weed they rooted up , was doing something towards a future investment , and that the agent and the landlord would not take and enjoy the fruits of their industry ( Cheers . ) I believe there are no great difficulties in Ireland , in the way of . her pacification , but that the difficulties which exist , exist entirely under the _constitution of Parliament , and in the indisposition of an aristocratic legislature to interfere with a system which had its origin , and was maintained , not for the good ofthe people , but for the sustentation of an _heredita-y aristocracy ( Loud cheers . ) You would be amazed

      to see how much Parliament knows about Ireland , and how little it does ( Laughter . ) It has " had inquiries and committees since 1810 : in 1811 , 1819 , 1823 , 1826 , 1827 , 1830 , 1832 . 1835 ; another in 1835 , and one in 1840 . Then in 1844 came this very Devon Commission that I have , quoted . In all these years there have been commissions or committees that h « ve , madc inquiries on topics either intimately or remotely connected with Ireland . A vast deal of information bas been offered to Parliament ; and what as it done ? Very little , and that little would not have been done hut for the pressure of famine . Parliaments never moves—at least I have never seen it move—on any question that eff « cts favourable the liberties and rights of tho people—except when _u dreads a convulsion , It will _movn only wbeu the people _tlieniselvts move first , ns in 1832 , and as they did again in 1816 ' an the _Corn-law , when we had famine on our threshold ( Cheers . )

      Now , too , under the like pressure , it as _donn _snmelhing to promote the sale of __ encumbered _estates ; and yesterday the cimm ' ssion for the purpose . commencf / d its sittings in Dublin ; and though in certain quarters I have seen suspicions raised with regard to the men who form that commission , yet I say , from _tfc knowledge I have of them—and I think I have a ri ght to say it—that the government never acted with greater integrity and fairness than it did in nominating that commission . Probably it is not possible to appoint three better men to carry out honestly the act of parliament under which they have opened tlieir proceedings _. But I must hasten on , as it is getting late . There aro only one or two other things I wish to mention which have come under my observation in Ireland . You have heard of that ill-fated town Skibbereen . Since my return I have been asked if all that has been said of it bo true ? I fear that more than we have hoard is true . To show tho condition

      of things there now , I may state that I was in tho market-place of that town with a gentleman who was travelling with me , and saw the people who came in from the country to sell their turf , it being the season when tbe towns-people take in their supplies . There was a stout young woman of some twenty years , with a " creel , " or basket of turf , offering it for sale . Wo asked the price . Sho said , "three-halfpence . " A woman standing by said she would be glad to take a penny . We had it weighed in the market scales , that were close at hand , and found the weight sixty-two pounds . We learned that tlie poor creature had carried that load on her back over a distance of between eight and nine English miles . ( Sensation . ) It had been cut—it had been dried—it had been carried all tbat

      distance , and the . girl only asked three-halfpence , whilst a bystander remarked sho would be glad to take a penny . Don ' t suppose that an exaggerated case . We made special inquiry of parties who knew her , and about whose character there could be no mistake , even if she were disposed to overstate the fact ; and I have not the slightest doubt that what she said was true . And you may understand from that what the rate of wages is in Ireland , and how it is that hundreds and thousands of your fellow countrymen , within a few miles of your own shores , are enjoying the blessings of the " British _constitution . " ( A . laugh . ) But Skibbercen had other sights than this . I went _towarls the union workhouse , with the cbairman of the guardians , and

      when we got to the corner of a field which was fenced in , and had oats growing in it , on tho quarter of an acre of ground lay thc remains of six hundred people—men , women , and children—who had not , as you may think , been buried in coffins , but in the rags they died in—buried in trenches , as men are buried after a sanguinary battle ; and at some future day it may be , when a more prosperous time has come for Ireland , some antiquarian , perhaps , may be called on to account for tho number of human bones there interred . Why , ho may tell of wars and he may tell of battles , but there is no war in which this country was ever engaged , and no series of battles in any campai gn of war known _amons men , tbat have left behind them

      such sorrowful and many victims as have fallen beneath " the fierce war for life" which lias continued in Ireland for the last few years . ( Loud cheers . ) There is no over-population in Ireland . In travelling from Dublin to the south , and up again to the west , and again to Mayo and _6-dway _, there is not a sign oi over population . I was against a forced emigration , under the conduct of either the poor-law guardians , or of the government , before going to Ireland . I am infinitely more against it now . The fact is , vast tracts of country are almost a wilderness of desolation ; and I tell you that I believe vermin were never hunted from their holes with more ferocity and relentless determination than have been used , and used for the last two or

      three years , against vast multitudes in that country . You are told that the Irish proprietors are being ruined by the poor-rates . Ay ! bnt if it hadn't been for that tax , they would have been " clean gone" from the face of the earth many years since . No doubt it is beggaring many who aro scarcely able to pay it . But it affords the only means of supporting the 237 , 000 persons who were in Irish workhouses in June lasfj , and tho other 800 , 000 who were receiving out-door relief . The poor-law is a law of mercy to that poor and afflicted population , and I entertain the hope that , while its pressure is on the landlord and onthe tenant , and on all who may be able to pay , it may direct tlie intelligence of all to perceive , and the hearts of all to feel

      , why it is that , with all these blessings of nature , there should he in that land of suffering persons whose woes-arc not to bo equalled _Uv those which wc sometimes sec fall on the brute creation . ' I wis ! _, it were possible to convey something ofthe _feelinjis which afflicted my own mind as I passed through some districts , and witnessed the scenes to be ? ecu there ; and yet everybody told me if I had come two months before , I should have seen things , infinitely worse . A friend of mine who has . _"eitlmi in the west Of Ireland , said lie was three months there before he ever _sciw a smile on the face of st child ; that such was the mjsw , such the starvation

      throughout the whole of the district , that they were visible on every countenance ; and yet we arc told this is a "visitation of heaven , " that Parliament can ' t do much for it , and powerful writers in daily and weekly newspapers tell us nothing can be done for Ireland , whilst her population is m a state ol anarchy and outrage ! Why , anarchv and outrage are the inevitable results of the system under which tbey live . ( Loud cheering . ) Anarchy and outrage are the bca _« ons which guide us to a safer and a better path . What should we have known of ihe condition of Ireland if it had not been for these outrages ? The proprietors never would have told

      ¦ F1sascial Aud Parlia31estari Reffjbm. ...

      us . The great institutions of the country were silent about it . Tbeir own Catholic priests told us something about it , it is true ; andthoy were about the only parties intimately connected with the people to let us known what was going on . I spoke to a Roman Catholic priest , in the interior of the country , and said , "do you know how you are blamed , but I think calumniated , by thoso who say you have so much power over the people , that they are worried to death between you and the landlords ? " He said , — " Sir , there ' s too much truth in it , but who is it tbat gave it to us V He admitted it was an undesirable and unhealthy influence which his order exerted over _tllf people ; but he pointed to the - workhouse of tbe district and said ,

      "the peoplo there have nobod y but us to sympathise with them . Wo irive thorn counsel , advice , and at times pecuniary relief . It is not our fault that wo have this power , and it is in human nature perhaps that it sometimes should be abused . " But he said , "Give this population tho means of living by steady employment , and you will havo a steady and honest industry , an independent class who will soon emerge from their miserable and reckless condition , aud then you will have that regenerated morality and religion which is all that wo wish . " This is the truth . It is not they who grasp for power , they bave it thrust upon them , and it is not for us to rail at tliem to do away with their influence ; but it is by

      another process—by giving tlie people power to release themselves from the influence of the priest and the landlord , and to walk erect as free men living on the fruits of their own industry . ( Cheers . ) Now I have not touched on two questions which are most important . I shall not touch on tliem tonight farther than just to mention them . The one is the utter abolition , as it were—the melting away of everything like representation in Ireland . The other is the existence of an established church with which the people have no sympathy . These questions are intimately connected with the social condition of Ireland . But I intended to-night to confine myself , and shall entirel y , to thc question of the tenure and proprietorship of land . Now , in

      conclusion , I ask you to look back to the history of ! this country ' s connexion with Ireland . You will find that our efforts have constantly been made for what is called protestantising Ireland , and suppressing what is called " Catholicism . " Yet Catholicism has been triumphant . In that respect all our measures have been complete failures . We have endeavoured to sustain the " old blood , '' and keep up the " old families , " and the '' large houses , " by laws restraining the purchase and possession of land . Yet we find them almost wholly ruined , and as much beggared and in as helpless a condition as thc multitude whom their system has pauperised . We endeavoured to govern Ireland through a Protestant minority , and found ourselves unablo to

      govern her . Ireland is not governed now . She is one vastcamp of armed men . Go and see the constabulary stations . I must admit the . constabulary to be an able and useful class of men under the present state of things . You find them trained and armed , and in reality soldiers—only thoy have not the dress , that is , the ordinary garb of a soldier . Ireland , I repeat , is one vast camp . Our system has failed . Wo have more soldiers and armed men than there are electors . ( Cheers . ) A constitutional country—a constitutional government—nnd yet in one third of the United Kingdom there is sustained by English taxes a larger number of armed men than there are holders and exercisers of the franchise . ' Is not this sufficient to account for the

      insecurity of life and property ? And , if they are insecure , how hy any possibility can industry thrive , property accumulate , or contentment and prosperity spread among the people ? Oh ! I do feel that this state of Ireland is a disgrace and a dishonour to the people and the government of this country ; and I call upon you who are here assembled , whenever you can , to givo your influence in favour of such a change in thoso laws as shall place the people of Ireland in a fair field , so that the industrious man shall bo possessed of a security for the fruits of his industry . Then I am perfectly satisfied that outrage will give way to contentment and harmony , such as prevail , I trust , so extensively in this country . There are no other means of getting out of

      this difficulty than W doing simple justice to Ireland—justice in her political instiutioiis—justice in regard to her ecclesiastical condition—justice in respect to tho land and to the investments and improvements of the tenant . Freedom , in this respect , is the remedy ; the one , thc sole remedy for a disease that has hitherto baffled or scorned to baffle , all the attempts of the statesmen of England in ihis and the last generation . Holy on it , had a parliament of landed proprietors , with their feudal and aristocratic dominancy , been _disposing of thc property of cotton spinners or manufacturers , thoy would have seen these economical truths much earlier , and would have practised them in their legislation ; and because of the enormous expenses wc are subjected

      to on account of the state of things in Ireland , and by reason of thc difficulty of remedying it , from thc constitution ofthe country , I say l am bound to givo in my adherence to the principles which this association intends to carry out . You cannot have economy in expenditure if one-third of the "United Kingdom is to have 40 , 000 soldiers , and we cannot have that honest and efficient government for Ireland which is calculated to raise her from her prostrate condition , unless the mass of the people are recognised as they ought to be by the " theory" of the constitution in your representative system . Thc honourable gentleman sat down amid loud and continued cheering .

      Altmyal Op Sib John Ross From The Arctic...

      AltMYAL OP SIB JOHN ROSS FROM THE ARCTIC REGIONS . Tho Enterprise , Captain Sir James Clarke _Eoss , and the Investigator , Captain Bird , arrived off Scarborough on Saturday last , and Sir James arrived express by rail at the Admiralty on Monday morning with the disheartening information that he bad not seen or heard of Sir John Franklin or his party . The arrival of Sir James in London , and the intelligence communicated by him , was immediately transmitted by the Admiralty to tho several port admirals on thc home station . The following extracts from private letters addressed to personal friends , will be found highly interesting : — " Her Majesty ' s ship Enterprise , at sea , becalmed about forty miles to eastward of Scarborough , Nov . 4 th , I 84 » .

      " We have been boxing about the North Sea these last seven days , having made the Orkney Islands on the 2 Sth of October . We got clear of thc ice on the 2 oth of September . I have nothing interesting to communicate to you , beyond the fa _' ct that we bave neither heard nor seen anything of Sir J . Franklin . We wintered in Port Leopold ( entrance of Prince Regent ' s Inlet . ) Sir James C . Ross and a party of seamen set out on a journey to the westward , along the coast of North Somerset , and was absent from

      tho ship forty days , during which time they must have travelled somewhere about 200 miles , ii journey unparalleled in the artic regions . Saw nothing to lead to a belief that Sir John Franklin had touched on that shore . We are all well and hearty at this present time , but we lost four men during our stay in Port Leopold , which place wc entered on thc 11 th September , 1 S 48 _, and got out into open water , Barrow ' s Strait , on the 29 th August , 1819 , having been shut up in our winter harbour 342 days . *

      "At sea , lat . 5 G 12 N „ long . 29 E . Oct . 31 st , 1849 . "We are off the coast of Great Britain so far safe and well , having taken our last look of the forlorn and ice-bound shores of Davis ' s Straits on tho 10 th of October . Wo are all well , and making allowance for the toils and privations unavoidably attendant on similar expeditions , the voyage has been exceedingly comfortable , the greatest harmony having existed between the officers and crew during its progress . " Wc have certainly had to grapple with difficulties of no ordinary nature , but thanks to the energy and dauntless courage of our experienced commander we have triumphantly overcome tbem all . " The voyage has been replete with incidents

      varied and interesting , which you will see described at some future period by more learned heads than mine ; suffice it to say , that wo have had a sufficiency of labour during the two summers we have been gone , and spent rather a cold winter in Port Leopold ( entrance to Prince Regent ' s Inlet , Barrow ' s Strait , lat . 73 50 N ., long . 90 12 W . ); and I hope thc most ri g id political economists ( Cobden not excepted ) wdl not begrud g e U 3 our double pay . " Whatever opinions may be hereafter expressed with regard to the success , or conducting of the expedition , I am ready to maintain that all that man could do bas been done by Sir James Ross ; and 1 bolievo thdre are few but will admit that he is an

      officer of no { ordinary character , whether as regards nautical skill , or scientific abilities . Sir James seems to have heen formed by nature for the arduous service to which through life he has so zealously devoted himself . To great physical powers , and a _constitution equal to erery priration and fatigue , he unites every mental qualification necessary to constitute the man destined to conduct a _gi-cat ' ar . c ! hazardous _enterprise . " We have lost four men through sicknessassistant-surgeon and three A . B . ' s—men whoso constitutions wero thoroughly broken prior to leaving England , and in my opinion they could not have lived twelve months longer in any _ojimate , however genial .

      "While I write this I am ignorant of the fate of Sir John Franklin ' s expedition . " i may remark that our consort , the Investigator , is in company -with us ; wc have never lost sight of each other during tho voyage . "

      " Her Majesty ' s ship _Enterprise , off Scarborough , I _* tov . 4 th . " Hero wc are again . We did not get out of thc

      Altmyal Op Sib John Ross From The Arctic...

      ice m Barrow's Strait until the last week m _September , which is very late indeed , so that we had a narrow squeak for another winter in the ice , and goodness knows how many would have lived toreturn . We found no traces of Sir 3 . FvanUin , although the captain travelled in May and June upwards of 20 _& miles on the W . and N . W . coasts of North Somerset , but could find no traces of them . We wintered at Port Leopold , in lat . about 74 N . and long . 90 W . We were without the sun for about eighty days , and bad the temperature ei g htydegree ' s below freezing , by Fahrenheit . I am in a great _hun-y , and will give you _morcnews in the next . "

      Captain Sir James Ross arrived at thc Admiralty on Monday , and had interviews with the board . The gallant officer appeared rather the worse for his perilous voyage , but was animated with his characteristic energy . Wc understand that it is hi 3 confident opinion that neither Sir John Franklin nor any of his bravo companions are eastward of any navigable point in the Arctic regions , and if there bo any chance of their existence , it is in tha supposition that he proceeded in a westerly direction , and in such case wc can only expect to hear from tho missing adventurers by thc Mackenzie detachment , or by her Majesty ' s ' ship Plover , Commander Moore , by way of Russia , Sir James traversed at least 230 miles on tho ice , the bergs of which were frightful , much more so than any ofthe

      experienced Arctic voyagers had seen before . Sir James and bis party penetrated as far as the wreck of tho Fury , where he found the old tent standing , and everything about it in a state of tho host preservation , At this point Sir Jamos deposited a large quantity of provisions , and also the screwlaunch of the Enterprise . The march of Sir James across the boundless regions of ice is truly stated as a most unparalleled feat in exploration . We are sorry to find , however , that it was in no way successful . In the whole course of his researches it is said Sir Jamos Ross never met with a single Esquimaux . The Admiralty have ordered a couple of steamers from Woolwich to fhe North Sea , to tow up the Enterprise and Investigator to Woolwich to be paid off ; and their lordships have also ordered up from Kirkcaldy the master ofthe whaler Advice , about whieh so much has been said .

      The Bermondsey Murder. On Friday, The 2n...

      THE BERMONDSEY MURDER . On Friday , the 2 nd instant , at ten o ' clock , Manning had an interview with his brother Edmund , in the presence of the Rev . Mr . Roe , the chaplain of the gaol ; Mr . Keene , the governor ; Mr . Binns , the solicitor ; and the officers of tho gaol appointed to be constantly with him . Manning was seated in tha condemned cell , at a small table , and so altered and mentally prostrated that his brother scarcely knew Mm . Ho shook him fervently by the band , and held his hand in his grasp for some moments , during which time neither was able to utter a word . At length the brother said , " Surely , Frederick , you are not guilty of this horrible charge ? " Manning replied , " No , I am innocent . I have told 3 fr .

      Roe everything . I have confessed all to him . Have I not , Mr- Roe ? ( Mr . Roc nodded assent . ) Edmund , she murdered him . I was upstairs dressing myself at the time she shot him . 1 did not know she was going to do so . 1 had no hand in the murder . Mr . Roe knows I am innocent . " He continued to assert his innocence with much vehemence , and added , in consequence of his brother having asked him if he had not written to his wife urging her to make a full confession , " Yes , and I have authorised you , Mr . Roe , have I not ? over and over again , to get her to see _ine , because I could put such questions to her that she could not evade . " Mr . Roe replied that he had done as he said , but that she had declined to see him .

      Manning then banded to his brother a copy oi the letter he had written to his wife , urging her to confess , so that the world n ight know the great disparity between their guilt , for upon thc truth of her statement depended the issue of life and death to him ; and as sue know he was innocent he implored her to save him from an ignominious death upon th © scaffold . The l 6 ttcr concluded b y imploring his wife to grant him an interview . Mrs . Manning ' s reply , which was also shown to tho brother , began thus— " I address you as my husband , " and contained more than once tho expression " my dear . " Sho said , in effect , tbat she was innocent ofthe diabolical charge of which she had been shamefully convicted , and that he alone could save her . Then upbraiding bim with the course he had

      pursued towards ber from tho period of his arrest up to the trial , she went on to say that he alone could save her ; that she could not think of granting him an interview until bo had stated in writing-that she was innocent of Mr . O' Connor ' s murder . Then followed this remarkable statement - . — " Yon know that the young man from Jersey who was _smoliing with you in tho back parlour committed the murder , and that I was from homo when it was committed . " She then stated that she wont to fetch O'Connor on the nieht of the murder , that he , in the meantime , called at Minver-place ; thatthe foul deed was committed , and everything cleared away before she returned , and that she knew nothing of the murder until the Saturday following . Sho added , that if he would make this statement in writing she would grant his request , and see him . Manning ' s brother , after he had perused tho letters , exclaimed , "Frederick , she exculpates

      herself from the clrarge and accuses a third party ; who does she mean ? " lie replied , "Her statement is altogether false ; no one accompanied me to Jersey . I know , Edmund , you will believe mc when I assert that I am innocent , for you have always been my best friend , and I should never have married that woman if 1 had listened to your advice , " After a long pause the brother urged his unhappy relative to make his peace with God , who would receive bis soul if lie was , as he said , innocent of the awful crime . He immediately exclaimed again , " My dear Edmund , I am innocent , as Mr . lloo knows perfectly well . I hope God Almighty will commit my soul to hell flame ' s if I am guilty of this murder . Mr . Roe is in possession of the whole of my statement . I have told him all . I declare most solemnly that I shall die innocent of Mr . O'Connor ' s murder . I never hurt a hair of his head . "

      These letters , and some disclosures which it is said Manning offers to make with roference to some robberies in which he has been concerned , will , it is said , be made the ground of an a pplication to the Home Secretary to grant him a respite . The miserable man pevseveves in his assertion that his wife committed thc murder , and threatened to take his life also unless he became her accomplice . Mrs . Manning still clings to the hope that Lady Blantyrs or tho Duchess of Sutherland will intercede for her and save her life . She continues to dress with great care , eats heartily , and sleeps soundly . She attends chapel every morning , and gives very little trouble to those who watch her .

      The Sheriffs have appointed Tuesday , the 13 th instant , as the day of execution . The convict Manning was on Tuesday permitted to have another interview with his brother , Edmund Manning , who arrived at the gaol about one o ' clock accompanied by a married sister , who had come to town for the purpose of seeing her wretched relative . The Rev . Mr . Rowe , and Mr . Koine , the governor of the gaol , were present at the interview , which , as a matter of course , was of an extremel y painful nature . After the first outburst of feeling had subsided , the convict was addressed by bis brother at some length , and urged to communicate all he knew on the subject of thc murder . Manning expressed his readiness to do so , and commenced by reiteratincr his former statement , to the effect that

      his wife shot O'Connor as the latter was proceeding down stairs to wash his hands , lie further stated , that O'Connor had noticed the hole dug in tho backkitchen on the occasion of former visits paid to Minver-place , and that be bad been told by Mrs . Manning that it was a drain they were making . On the day ofthe murder , when the unhappy man went down stairs , Manning states that on reaching the back-kitchen , he heard him address his wife , and say , "What , haven't you finished the drain yet ?" These , he says , were the last words O ' Connor uttered , for immediately afterwards he heard the report of a pistol , and then a heavy fall on the floor . The wretched man , in answer to other questions put to him by his brother , has confessed that he pledged a pair of pistols , with one of which tho deceased was shot , on the evening of the day his wife left town , _beinct at the time almost penniless .

      lie has also confessed where tho watches belonging to the late Patrick O'Connor , and the _crow-bar with which the murder was completed , may be found . The brother , Edmund Manning , on taking leave promised to sec tbe convict again on Saturday ( this day ) but the sister took a last farewell . Manning is more resigned to his fate than he was for two or three days after conviction . At first be would neither eat nor drink for some hours together but he now takes his meals regularly , and expresses himself prepared for the awful change he has to undergo . He is not lesu anxious than heretofore to have an interview with bis wife , but she _positively refuses to see him . Edmund Maiming , wlun at the prison on Tuesday , sought to obtain " an interview with her , but she declined to _s-eo either him or his sister , There has _bera m > application to see the female convict on the part of her own friends since her conviction . COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL , EXCHEQUER CHAMBER . THE QUEEN V . MARIA MASKING . _Wednesday . —This being __ the day appointed for the hearing of the appeal in the above case , the following judges assembled in thc Exchequer Chamber at ten o'clock : Lord Chief Justice Wilde , the Lord Chief Baron , Mr . Justice Coleridge , Mr . Justice Cresswell , Mr . Baron Rolfe , and Mr . Baron Piatt . The merits of the case having been stated by Mr . Ballantine , on behalf of the female prisoner , and replied to by the Attorney-General , the learned judges retired from the court for the purpose o

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 10, 1849, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns3_10111849/page/7/