St. PATRICK'S DAY IN MELBOURNE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIV, Issue 1030, 12 May 1857, Page 4

St. PATRICK'S DAY IN MELBOURNE.

The annual convivial gathering of Irishmen in celebration of the mem uy of their patron Saint, took place nt Mr. Clarks New Assembly Rooms in Ehmoetnstreet. Although the weather was very unfavourable, about a hundred and ten persons displayed their patriotic attachment to this long established custom. Ahe arrangement* for the banquet were very liberal, and obtained, as they deserved, the approbation of the company. The decorations of the room consisted of the usual banners, that above the Chairman showing a harp enclosed in shamrock with "Cead mille failte," and opposite a harp with "My own, my Native Land !" There were, however, none of the garlands or festoons which used to grace the scene on former festivals; their absence, would however, be more than compensated by the presence of a number of ladies who occupied the gallery on entering, and appeared to take much interest in the parrioric appcils In the opposite gallery was a brass band whose m ii-.it' wes In oh and appropnate, but far to powerfrtl, and at times almost deafening. Mr John Davis presided ami was supported on the right by Mr. Doniehy, M.P., and Mr Robertson, M.P. Mr. W. M'Curtayne occupied the \ice chair. After the more substantial portion of the repast had been done just ice to, The Chairman rose nmulst loud cheeung. He said ho felt his incompetency for the important position they had assigned him, but as that festival had been got up under the auspices of the Australian Celtic Association, of which he was proud 'to be a member (loud cheers), he would do the best in his power to carry out the views of his fellow-members. He consideied that one of the most important meetings of Irishmen at which he had ever attended (cheers). His countrymen did not | seek for patronage, for place, or for power ; what they desired was simply to forward the interests of their native country in this foreign lund (cheers) ; and they could not find anything' so calculated to advance the i interests of Irishmen and their children here, than the I Association under which that dinner had been got up j (cheers). It was only by such societies that men could > get to know one another,— to find out their minds and sentiments, and to be able to defend their mutual rights. whenever a stand should be made against them. He would propose a toast which was drunk with enthusiasm in e\ery.Hritish community — "The Queen." The toast was received with the usual loyal demonstrations. „ The chairman, in proposing the next toast, said, there was not an Irishman present who would not heartily respond to it. The condition of idolatry and ignorance in which their forefathers were when their patron saint first visited them, and the happy results of his anival, in the establishment of chinches, schools, colleges, monastenes, hospitals, entitled the memory of that great man to be held in lasting respect. He would therefore gi\e— "The memory of St. Patrick." The toast was drunk in silence. The Chairman then, after a short speech, proposed— "Father Land." - , The toast was drunk amidst -warm manifestations or i patriotic feeling Mr. Jeremiah Moore responded. The toast of "Father Land," he said, came home to the heart of everyone, no matter what his clime, his country, or his crped Every good man, at all events, loved the land that gave him birth. (Cherts.) If we looked at that splendid nation, France, we should find that Fienchmen loved their native land ; they would incur any privation, and forego their hopes of aggrandizement, for the sake ot la belle France. With (iermans, too, the word "fatherland" had a magic spell, and had often driven them to deeds of desperation and bravery. On looking to our own island, where was the Englishman that did not love England '—particularly if he recollected that she was called "Meirie England" ; and though unfortunately, in later money -losing days, a large portion of the working classes had decried that name, she still retains it and long may she be proud of it. (Cheers.) And though it might seem strange to use the expression, , he would say, that were he an Englishman he would be proud of England ; for though the Government of that country had inflicted many wrongs on her own children, and on his unfortunate country,— still he admired and loved the frank, manly character of the Englishman. ; (Cheers.) Looking to 'Scotland, where was the Scotch- ' I man who did not love Scotland ? The patriotism of iScotchmen was proverbial, and the leniaik of Mr. ' Fi*her Murray, though intended for a reproach, was a fine tribute to their love of country, that -'they loved truth less than they loved Scotland." And Irishmen, - too, had reason to be proud of their country. (Cheers.) It was well known that atone time she sent out uh&sionaiies to convert other countries ; an evil day it was I true had fallen upon her, but it was no evidence of her [ inferiority that she was under bondage to another country. Still'she was a noble country. Crimes were com- j milted in other countries that were not known in Ire- | land; she enjoyed largely of the higher virtues, and , history had not' produced finer examples of fidelity to • one another than were displayed by Irishmen. He | would point in proof of this to the large sums of money , sent by Irish emigrants in America to their starting relathes at home. What sight could be more beautiful than thu of one member of a family going out to f America and hoarding his hard -earned savings, knowing that his first five or ten pounds would go home to bring out a sister or a brother r (Cheers.) The Government | iof England would one day repent of the laws that had | driven these people away. He would now speak of a | far more important question— the position of his countrymen here. He hoped they would conduct themsches as became Irishmen, and that by the example they set to their fellow colonist*, they would remove in their own person the stigma wi.ich was endeavoured to be cast upon them (Cheers.) IL« would say, he had never been insulted about h.o co'inliy or his creed in Australia ; he had always met with the greatest respect from his fellow colonists', ami he- »ias veiy glad to express his belief, that nowhere i.i the world had liishmen so much fair 'lay as in this country. (Cheers.) Why should they not set an example to the world, to show that they deserved theii liberty ? If they were labouring under any political disability it was their own fault ; the power of removing it was in their own hands. (Cheers.) There were equal laws and equal justice for all men ; and for God's sake, let them above all things determine to keep down the p&eudo - aristocracy. (Cheers.) There was a great privilege and a great j work before them. He had great pleasure in responding to the toast. (Cheers.) The Chairman, in introducing the next toast, said, the subject affected every man and woman in the country. The love of the land of our adoption did not make us love our native country less, but there was a new generation springing up, the bone and sinew and strength of this country, and he hoped to see many of them occupy as honourable a position as the gentleman on his right hand. (Cheers.) He would now propose , — <r Austra]ia, the Land of our Adoption." The toast was heartily reeehed. Mr. James Hart was called on to respond, and referred in the course of some brief observations to the unequalled climate and natural advantages of this continent, and to the rapid strides which it had made j within the memory of man. Rome was not founded in j a day, but they might say Australia was founded in a day. They were the Pilgrim Fathers and had to perform their duties ; let them be but true to themselves, and their names might be hereafter pointed to. as the founders of — "A new Britannia in another world. (Cheers.) . The Chairman proposed, " The memory of Daniel O'Connell," remarking, he was sure the toast would be received with the respect and veneration which it deserved. (Cheers.) The toast was drunk in silence. The Chairman then proposed -'The Patriots of Ireland." When he remembered he was speaking before a community of Irishmen who had read the history of their native country, he was sure they would respond to this toast with true feeling. (Chters.) The toast was drunk amidst loud acclamation. Mr. Deniehy, on rising to respond, was very enthusiastically cheered. He said — Mr. Chauman and gentlemen — What terms of impassioned pathos shall I borrow to respond to your toast, "The Patriots of Ireland?" How shall I find adequate expression for every loved mournful image,— for the melancholy memories, — for noble and touching vindications of principle, even when the Right went down in the storm of battle — for the wrecks and the struggles upon which wait "the tears and praises of all time," that those words bring before me ! But there is in the fact of your calling upon a native-born Australian to respond to this toast of "The Patriots of Ireland"— to the memory of those that are no more, and the health of those that survive,— blending with all that is so unspeakably affecting in the subject itself, something to cheer. There is a shaft of light, piercing and warmingjthe mournful cloud, that to speak of those who died and those who live and suffer tor Ireland, brings about us. This commemoration, in this our newest world, Mr. Chairman and gpntlemen, and this .testimony of mine, in terms too feeble to convey the sotrowing love — the impassioned admiration with which I fain would freight them— from one who has but a right derived from descent, to speak of Ireland at all, does at least show this— that those sacred spirits of freedom and human right, at whose behest your illustrious countrymen rose, and in whose august presences they fell, even walk to this extreme end of the earth - walk with Irishmen wherever they go,— abide not only where Irishmen, but where the descendants of IrishxnpJi are met. (Great cheeiing.) It shows rpcognition of heroes who never knew the world's triumph— to whose glory, success and the victor's palm were wanting — these are everything doubtless in th> world of fact, but in no phape* deteuorate— in no form take away

from the moral and spiritual greatness, — the will to have done, of the great spirits we drink to, to-night. I* shows the sympathy of the men of England now sitting with us for deep patriotic devotion, — no matter how erroneous in its object, they may choose to think it. (Prolonged cheers.) Were this testification of love and honour tor Ireland's patriots, purely an Irish matter,— even then the face of my buried Irish father, with the old household light, the glow of paternal affection upon it, would rise before me— the mournful notes of old Irish song I heard ciooned in my childhood, would come with sad sweet remembrances about me, and even then, methinks, I should be here to-night, helping to do honour to those who fought and thought and worked for Ireland. (Great cheers.) , But I rejoice to think that honour to your patriots is far more than a purely national matter, and that I am here on far higher grounds. Your patriots are the world's property — (loud applause) —their virtues, their loyalty to principle — their lo\e tor their fellow-men, their sufferings foi them— their faith in right and justice, are the heritage of th»> whole human race. (Cheers.) They are yours, hut b) - sound spiritual laws, they are mine also. (Cheers.) They belong to my distinguished English and Scottish friends who do us the honour of being present to-night, — aye, as fully as. the stand for principle of Htimpden and the long struggle for the independence of home of the Biuce of Bannockburn belong to us. (Hear, hear, and cheering ) There is in the deeds of tnose men something to heaiten us in our struggle for r ri:tl — something that challenges us beyond the narrow boundaries <>t sell— something to raise, to consolidate, to ju-tity our fdith that this human nature of owe, when iiiDst Vorcl v tned, is not always found n anting. — that some principle of the giandinn which looks calmly in the face the mightiest saciifires for fellow men, lies under this so hail nature. (Great cheers.) Ireland, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, you all know, has been no niggardly contributor to the roll of the world's great men In the higher political philosophy and in the "subtle mysteries of the world of metaphysics, she has gnnn two of the greatest thinkers of any age, — hei Beikely and her Burke (Cheers.) To letters she gave two of the finest h mounsts in our own or any literature—Goldsmith and Sterne. The region of oratory is her own ; in the ddikest season of her miseries, when her material prosperity was most broken, the genius of the people vindicated itself:— m Ireland's eloquence and her music, stood two monuments of the power and grace of the national intellect — two living things for which time had no furrow, and tyrants no brand. (Loud cheers.) But though, admiring intellect, and ail the strength and loveliness around it, as much as any man, ( I chose to look from the spiritual side of our natures for the greatest men of a nation. On that principle, gentlemen, I look on the men whom you commemorate to-night,— those apostles of freedom, those martyrs for justice to men— these confessors for the sake of rights upon which the whole dignity of manhood is built as upon a basis— on those I say, I look as the greatest men j ot Ireland. (Immense cheers.) The name of Irish patriot is synonymous with that of Irish exile. (Cheers.) Did I wish to entei fully on this phase of the subject — were not the hour lav«, most remains of what is appro- j priate to the toast you have done me the honour — these are no idle words, gentlemen, I feel deeply what I say — the honour of responding to. (Hear, hear.) Ah! what images ot ruined affections anrl broken domestic peace— what images oi darkness and desolation in all the sweet sacred places of human lo\c, these woids the patriots of hcland suggest to me ! What engines of suffeiing more exquisite than the implements of a toituiechamber, their memories on foreign shores, of the land they risked all and lost, to serve. The old church-yard with its ruins— the wizard trees shadowed in autumnal waters— tl c gloom and the glory of the mountain gorges ot Connemara— the multitudinous voices of waters in Ireland ever sounding -the foith. which siher-headed I old age and golden-headed childhood alike agreed to people with fairies —"the good people"— how all these must have come back to toiture the exile of Erin. But while we acknowledge and do reverence to their services to their country and their kind-their personal memories, the memories of tlu men themselves it is we honour to-night. (Loud cheers.) The gibbetted Emmett and the broken-hearted Wolfe Tone enrich with dust that should be Piomethean tire for Irishmen (im. mense cheers) the graves ot obscure churchyards for many a dreary year. Doherty is a wanderer ; Meagher, alas ! what is he doing— he lectures at New York ; and Duffy, my illustrious friend -I think I have a right to call Charles Gavan Duffy mj friend (prolonged cheers), has left his own dear land,- his "rich and rare land," to touch to great and beneficent issues the national destinies of Australia. But may our right hands — the ri^ht hands of freemen, forget their cunning when we forget them. (Tremendous i-heeis.) In the hour when distrust is darkest, and scepticism in political truth steals most coldly on us, we shall think of the men of "ninety -eight" and the men of "forty-tight," and trust and be" comforted. (Cheers.) But most and fittest, we shall remember them in hours like this— in the houi 'of jubilation and universal mirth. Upon our festive enjoyment their memories shall come up in relief, not only more splendid but ineffably more pathetic, because of the sm rounding pleasure. (Cheers.) To their memories for e\er an Irish wine cup shall fill and flash. (Cheers ) They shall beiemembered wherever, under circumstances of festal gaiety, the strong hearts of men feel e\eiy chord within them of the gentleness of bravery— of sorrow — of forgiveness for long hereditary wrongs, touched, till unbidden tears wet manly cheeks ; and wheie\er ftie eyes of woman yearn with lustrous pepths of «jmpathy and tenderness which words have no powei to tell, and for which music in her almost boundless domain affoids no expiest-ion. (Cheers.) I thank jou m the name of every hceman— of e\eiy man who lo"\es his countiy, it matteis not where it mnv be, for the honour you ha\e done "The Patriots of Ireland " — " Near all arc gone, but still lives on The faith of those who died,— All true men, like you, men, Remember them" with pride." Mr. Deniehy lesumrd his seat amidst loud applause. The Chairman next proposed "The Social and Political Regeneration of Ireland.' 1 The toast was warmly received, and was responded to in an animated speech by Mi. W. McCurtayne. The following toast— "The Bench, Bar, and other branches oi the Legal Profession" was then given, and on being drunk, was acknowledged by Mr. W. G. Pennington in a few appropriate temarks on the high character ami ability which the several branches of the legal profession in this country displayed, and on the promises which the native-born members of that profession gave of future excellence. " The Commercial, Agricultural, Mineral and Pastoral interest's of Australia," was next proposed and drunk, ant/ suitably responded toby Mr. P. Hogan. The following toasts were successively drunk :— "The Press," acknowledged by Mr. R. Flanagan ; " the Ladies," responded to by Mr. O D. Maloney ; and -theStewaids," acknowledged by Mr. Thomas O'Neill The healths of Mr. Clark, the proprietor of the room, and of the Chairman, having been drunk and acknowledged, the convivial party broke up, it being then about one o'clock.