IRELAND.

New Zealander, Volume XIX, Issue 1791, 11 February 1863, Page 5

IRELAND.

[From the “ Evening Mail ’’ Correspondent.] Dublin, Nov. 12. The good work of raising funds for the relief ot distress in Lancashire proceeds iu the most satisfactory manner. The Central Com nlttec held its meeting at the Mansion-house yesterday, the Right Hon. J. Napier in the chair. Mr. Moylan, Hon. Secretary, announced that the contributions received for the first half of the week amounted to £ < ,603 9s. 10$u. Numbers of letters containing subscriptions were road, the most gratifying of which ivcre from the Ironworks of Messrs. Courtney, Stephens, and Co., of this city, containing a remittance of ”20 6s. 4d. from the employes and workmen in that establishment, and from Mr. Elliot G. Armstrong, County' of Roscommon enclosing £2, from his labourers. It was proposed by Sir Robert Peel, and seconded by r Colonel La louche, that “ in publishing these letters the committee would express their special pleasure in observing that our working men exhibit their lively sympathy with their English brethren.”

The Archbishop of Dublin was the first to take steps for raising funds to relieve the distress. Indeed, he may be said to have inaugurated the movement iu issuing a circular to his clergy, and suggesting that a Central Committee should bo formed in Dublin. That committee announced yesterday the receipt of £I,OOO. from the Archdeacon of Dublin, as the first instalment of the contributors from the Churches ot the dioce-e. The Lord Mayor proposed the warmest thanks of the committee to the Archdeacon for his labours and cooperation with them in this movement. The motion was seconded by Alderman Roc, and passed unanimously'. The Rev. Mr. Dickinson, rector of St. Ann’s, in this city, mentioned that his congregation responded to the appeal made to them on Sunday' last with a collection of £76 10s., and one of his parishioners promised £3 a month so long as the distress lasted. The Court of Directors of the Provincial Bank of Ireland have subscribed £2OO to the relief fund. Mr. A. Parker, the treasurer, laid before the meeting a receipt for the fifth £I,OOO, which he had remitted to Manchester.

It is a fact that the Roman Catholics in this country have been rather holding back with regard to the Lancashire distress. lam not aware that any of their bishops have yet moved in the matter. Perhaps they are onlv waiting till other demands are met concerning the interests of their Church at home. It is not to be supposed that they will continue quiescent in presence of so great a calamity, which has overwhelmed thousands of their own countryrn. n. There is a requisition in coarse of signature, calling upon the Mayor of Cork to convene a meeting for the purpose of relieving the Lancashire distress. The Cork Examiner says : “ We are glad of such a step being taken, for it would be au eternal reproach, and a just reproach to us, if we, who were assisted in our distress by the people of England, forgot them in the hour of need. But the fact is, there are in all the manufacturing towns of England, those of Lancashire in particular, large numbers of Irish. In some of those towns the number of Irish workpeople is as great as that of the English. And thus, not only are we bound to exhibit gratitude to the English people who generously came to the relief of Ireland in the hour of her appalling misery, but we should think of our own—those of our race and country —who have been compelled by the pressure of poverty at home to seek a dwelling place in another land. This, happily, is purely a question of charity and humanity, in which all can meet on common ground ; and we anticipate, from the names which are being attached to the requisition, that the meeting, when it will assemble, will represent the city thoroughly.” This shows a good spirit, which it is to be hoped will pervade the Roman Catholic population generally. The Rev, George G. Gubbin, Rector of Ballingarry, has published an address on this subject “to the Roman Catholics of Ireland.” He reminds them that there are probably 50, 000 Irish Roman Catholics in dire misery in Lancashire alone, and exhorts them not to hide themselves from their own flesh. He also calls to their recollections all that was done lor the Irish Roman Catholics by English Protestants in 1847 and 1843, giving as an instance the case of his own parish, where 100 Roman Catholic families, consisting ol nearly 500 persons, were kept alive for months by a parish in Suffolk, the inhabitants of which, high and low, denied themselves food that they might assist Irish Roman Catholics, strangers to them. This, he remarks, was a settled plan of action, “ so that throughout England a parish would adopt an Irish parish of charity to meet such trying cases as the misery during the famine, and kept a continual supply and stream described.” Mr. Gubbin states that not a single Roman Catholic returned at that time through him had changed his religion in consequence. He, therefore, earnestly exhorts the generous and grateful Irish people “ to seize the opportunity of showing to England and the world at large the dignity of Irishmen in the exhibition ot the purest and noblest virtues.”

fFrom the “Times’” Correspondent.”) Dublin, Nov, 24,

A decision of considerable importance to the mercantile and banking interests was pronounced in the Bankruptcy Court on Saturday, by Judge Lynch. Two brothers, named Read, who carried on business as brewers in Ardee-strcet, in this city, were declared bankrupts in November last, but previously to that event certain fictitious bills, which had been passed to the Hibernian Bank as genuine documents, were taken up, through fear, for cash, by one of the bankrupts, and, as alleged, before such bills had arrived at maturity. The judge held that the payment for these, jgill ss. 7d., was made after the bankrupts were insolvent, and declared the bank indebted to the estate for the amount, with costs accordingly. A meeting was held at Armagh on Saturday, for the purpose of presenting the congratulations of the inhabitants to the Lord Primate on his elevation to the Primacy. The chair was taken by Mr. J. G. Winder, J.P , chairman of the Town Commissioners. The following address was adopted, and a committee appointed to present it:—

“ To the Most Rev. the Lord Primate. “We, the inhabitants of Armagh, beg leave respectfully to offer to your Grace our congratulations on your coming to reside at the Palace, and cordially to bid you welcome to our ancient city. Descended from the same noble ancestors as the late venerated Primate, whose charity and munificence men of every creed and party unite in eulogizing, your Grace, we fbel confident, will be disposed to help forward by your patronage and encouragement every well-devised effort for improving the social condition of the population, for raising the standard of morals, and for promoting peace and good-will throughout the neighbourhood. Your Grace may be assured that you are received among us with feelings of unfeigned respect. It is our earnest wish that you may continue to enjoy health and happiness, and we trust that, as years pass on, your interest will deepen in all that concerns the prosperity and progress of the place which you have now made your home. “ Signed on behalf of the inhabitants, “ J. G. Winder, Chairman.” His Grace has contributed £IOO to the Lancashire Relief Fund.

About 8 o’clock on Saturday evening, a fire broke out in the grain stores attached to the distillery of Messrs. Malcolm Brown and Co., Dundalk, and in a few hours reduced the building, which contained several thousand barrels of grain, to a heap of ruins. As soon as the alarm was given, 500 men of the 15th Hussars, with the barrack engines, and a body of constabulary, hurried to the spot, and by almost superhuman efforts prevented the flames from spreading to the distilling premises and bonded stores, which latter contained about 400,000 gallons of whiskey. The engines continued to play upon the burning premises all day yesterday, but at 9 p.m. the fire was completely subdued. The loss is estimated at £IO,OOO, and 100 persons will be thrown out of employment, Melancholy to relate, one of the 15th Hussars has lost his life, anil three others are in great danger, from having, in the excitement of their labours, drunk some fusil oil in mistake for whiskey.

November 25.

They had an excellent meeting in Corn: yesterday for the relief of Lancashire distress. It was convened by the Mayor, Mr. Maguire, M.P., in compliance with a requisition signed by nearly every man of position and intinence in the city, without distinction of creed or party. The chief speakers were the Mayor, Sir John Aruott, M.P., Lord Fermoy, M.P„ and the Bishop of Cork. The contributions at the meeting amounted to £1,120, including £IOO from Lord Fermoy, the Lieutenant of the county. He made a suggestion which will be worth hundreds to the suffix

ers, if it be acted upon, as it is to be hoped it will namely, that potato depots should be formed in different parts of the country, and that the farmers be invited to contribute according to their means, which the railways would probably carry tree of charge to the port, so that thev might be shipped to Liverpool for the relief of the sufferers. The potatoes are remarkably good this rear, and a cargo of these wholesome esculents would be of great value. Lord Fermoy reminded the meeting of the joy which the Jamestoicn was hailed during the Irish famine, when she came into Cork harbour freighted with food from America. Two resolutions were passed unanimously—one to the effect that the meeting sympathized with the distress, and expressed their sincere desire to co-operate with other districts in the United Kingdom in a unanimous movement for its relief; and the other “that the city of Cork, from its commercial position and connexions with the manufacturing districts of England, is more peculiarly called on to manifest its sympathy in a practical manner; that a subscription list be opened, and that lists be placed in the several public rooms.” The Dublin Corporation, weary of its dissensions, seems now bent on conducting its proceedings in an orderly manner and in a pacific spirit. Yesterday, when the report of the Waterworks’Committee was read at a meeting of the Council, the chairman, Dr. Gray, moved that it should lie on the table. The motion was seconded by the lion. Mr. "Verekcr, Lord Mayor elect, who formerly opposed the scheme, but he now gave it his support, and he said that the members at his side of the House (the Conservatives) agreed with him in returning thanks to Dr. Gray for the labour he devoted during so many years in carrying out the measure. It was a work of the greatest importance, and one of the most useful, and therefore entitled Dr. Gray to the lasting gratitude of the citizens. Councillor Martin, another of the former opponents, concurred, and said they had all a common interest in carrying the work to a successful issue.

[From the “ Home News,” November 26,]

The Dublin ‘ Nation’ announces the arrvial in Richmond, Virginia, of the rebel exile John Mitchell. Sir Redmond Barry, Judge of the Supreme Court of the colony of Victoria and Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, lately arrived in Dublin on a visit. The ‘ Dublin Evening Mail,’ in announcing the resolution ot the Board of Trinity College to confer on him an honorary degree, observed ; “ Sir Redmond Barry is not only one of the most distinguished colonial judges, but he can claim the rare merit of having, through many long years, been the leading and often and often the solitary patron of learning and the fine arts in our chief Australian co'oii}’. He is at present combining with the pleasures of travel the important duties ot representative of the Australian colonies at the Great Exhibition, and superintendent of a valuable collection of books and scientific specimens, which are being sent abroad. No man can be more deserving of the honours of a University than he who, in rude and far distant lands, devotes time and energy to advancing education and refinement, and holding aloft the fair lamp of science amid the gloom of a wild but imperfectly civilised society. We think that our University will do well to follow the good example set by Oxford and Cambridge. It may be added that Sir Redmond Barry has been for eight successive years elected Chancellor of the Melbourne University—an honour not undeserved, since it was by his exertions that the institution was originally founded. A singular story formed a topic of conversation last week in Dublin. It is stated that a young lady of high respectability, daughter of a well-known merchant in Dublin, left her father’s residence on the afternoon of November 18 for a walk. Not returning home at the hour at which she was expected, her friends became uneasy for her safety, and their anxiety increased when hour after hour passed by without any tidings of her being received. Search was, of course made, and persons sent in various directions to endeavour to discover some intelligence as to what had become of her, but it was not until late in the evening that she was discovered by one of the servants, who found the young lady tied hand and foot to a tree in her father’s shrubbery, her mouth being so completely gagged that she was totally unable to cry for help, or utter a sound. She was, of course, immediately released, and conveyed to the house, hut it was sometime before she was restored from the condition of exhaustion to which she had been reduced. On recovering, she stated that while walking through the grounds she suddenly met two men engaged in talking to each other; that the moment these parties observed her, one of them followed her, and asked her had she heard any of their conversation. She replied in the negative, but this they evidently disbelieved, as they proceeded to drag her to a tree, to the trunk of which they hound her securely, and. having gagged her, so as to prevent her crying for help, i hey decamped, first cautioning her that if she valued her life she would not disclose to any person what had occurred. (Beyond tying her to the tree and gagging her they did not offer .her any molestation. The stale of terror in which the lady remained until discovered by the servant may be readily imagined. It is stated that her father subsequently received an anonymous letter warning him to take no proceedings to pursue the matter further, as, if he took any steps towards discovering the parties, his daughter would be shot. It is surmised that the parties were connected with the murder of Mr. Braddell, and that one of them was Hayes, and that they feared that the Indy had overneard sufficient of their conversation to point out who they were.