The Dublin Conference.

Auckland Star, Volume XVI, Issue 3825, 13 November 1882, Page 3

The Dublin Conference.

'Ihe National Conference opened in Dublin on tlie 17ih October.. There were about 700 or 800 delegates in the hall. Farnell and Davitt were received with tremendous cheers. Nearly all the extreme Irish members of Parliament were present, and seated on the platform were Lord Mayor I>awson, Messrs Healey, 1\ P. O'Connor, C»rbitt, Gill, Sexton, O'Sulliran, and Brcnnan. Brennan and Sexton wera appointed secretaries. They read Jotters lrom seveial Catholic bishops, regretting their atwenoa, aad expressing confidence in the leadeis of the movement. The proceedings were ntt altogether harmonious. A delegate named Li>nden, who attempted to speak, was nhouted down' as a "land grabb-r," and "a renegade," | and denounced by ex-tusprct B*rrington os a "coward who had run away from coercion." Cassidy, a delegate from. Manchester, was expe'led wilh insults aud threats for moving an obooxious amendmfnt, Farnril, who presided, -submitted a programme for the conference,and reviewed its proposals. He said, in effect, that no solution of tbe land question was possible till the Irish peop'e obtained permission to make their own laws; that the Irish party required 85 to 90 members in Parliament, a number only to ba hoped for'when the elective franchise was placed on the basin of household suffrage; that tbe alleged differences on the Irish question did not exist among Irishmen in America; aad tbat, decpite the most tyrannical coercion the wqrld had ever seen, they would attain the measures on which the; had set the r lieart'. Davitt was more pronounced than I Parnell. He declared that until the land, ! ■which was stolen from the Deople, was restored to the whole people as national property there could be no final aad sat's* factory settlement of tho land question. At tho pame timo ho wished it distinctly understood he was not separated from Pamell on ■ this land matter. Farther on, he said that while ho was unable to wholly join with. Parnell in his scheme of law reform, he. would co-operate with him for (he aboliiion of landlordism. A breczs came,up when Davitt moved, as an amendmeut to the proposed constitution of the Central Conn, cil of thn new league, that the Council consist of thirty-two members, one for each county, the Pa-liamen ary party to have no Dominations, but its members to be eligible for election. Mr T. P. O Connor said this amendment amounted to a vote of want of co&fidenc3 in the Parliamentary party, and accused Davitt of trying to injure Parnell's prestige; be reiterated the charge, despite Davitt's repeated denials; at last Davitt became greitly excited, and raid that a gentleman would not have made such, an accusatioD, and, to prove it groundless, withdrew, his amendment. It was finally decided that the Council should consist of 48 members, 32 for the connties, and Parliamentary pirty. A letter was read from Bgan, now ia Paric ; tendering his resignation as treasurer of the Land League, and at tho same time submitting a balance-sheet, sbowirjg that a total of £244,820 in subscriptions had passed through his hands, of which he had expended £213,000 in the service of the League, leaving a balance of nearly £32,000. A vote of thanks to E»an was passed-Davitt proposing and Justin McCarthy seconding. After a resolution thanking Pamell for pres'dtng, the Conference closed. -" ~ , The London " Times J Dublin despatch of the!7tb, says : Not only has the Irish Conference excited no enthusiasm, but the assemblage was composed of an element as heterogeneous as 4he programme .was multifarious. It was only the skilful hand of the chairman that sometimes prevented an open rupture.' Dissension was shown ;

o'eirly enough in Darnell's opening statement and in Davitt's prompt rejoinder, and the tono of bitter emphasis wherein tbo latter spoke, betrayed the feeling of a man labouring under disappointment, which he struggled to repress.