IRELAND.

Wellington Independent, Volume XV, Issue 1341, 24 June 1859, Page 5

IRELAND.

[FROM OUB OWN OOBIIESPONDENT ] ' Parliamentary Reform is the great cry of the day, and Ireland, indignant at having ibecn altogether omitted in the bill when introduced, rises to the roar of" the ballot, the ballot, and nothing short of the ballot." It is impossible to conjecture whether the Government t will resign, or dissolve Parliament; their tenure of office, however,, is of that dicky character!'that denotes decay. Lord John Russell, who made himself so obnoxious to the Roman Catholics of this country, cannot expect much sympathy here, or support, in the event ofhis seeking power. -The defeat of the Ministry on the Roman Catholic Oaths Bill was their first reverse,; und one would say deservedly ;• for when Jews are allowed to legislate for Christians it is high time that oaths of a particularly distasteful character to certain members'of a .Christian persuasion should be abolished—-One defeat brought pn a second on the subject of paying voters' expenses, and indeed it would have been infinitely better to have brought forward no Keforin Bill than endearour to pawn off a. miserable measure

which even now is so patched and remodelled as to bear but little resemblance to the original, upon a people, too, who are daily becoming more enlightened and less blarneyable.—l am happy: to say that (he calendars at the various Spring Assiees have been unprecedentedly light. A signal contradiction this to the address presented to the Lord-Lieutenant, and numerously signed, bemoaning the disturbed state of the country! The fact of the matter is,; essential as it is to nip budding conspiracies, there was too much made of this " Phoenix Society," from the time of its discovery. As yet, one unfortunate fellow only has been made an example of, he foolishly after a long residence of some yeats in America came home, and being at Mullingar, that spot notorious for the understanding of its females let the Phoenixy cat out .of the bag, and got seven years' penal servitude for his oratorical display, and unreqiiested information. The Kerry conspirators are at present under trial at Tralee, a whole volume of rubbish in the shape of evidence, is being elicited, and, though it is possible the result may be a conviction, the whole affair is a case of " parturiunt monies." Five more Phusnix arrests were made at Ennis in Clare, a few J days ajjo. The clergy are setting their faces strongly against such societies; and I need not mention the result if they are in earnest. On Friday, 4th March, Henry Martley, Esq., Chief Judge of the Landed Estates (late encumbered ditto) Court, died ; he was called to the bar in 1828.—The Galway Lever line of steamers are sailing under winter arrangements every fortnight chock full of passengers and cargo, and Governraenthas very properly given them a subsidy of £3000 per trip for the carriage of mails. This is as it should be; the boats are doing much to benefit Ireland, aiid "when the new ships are running this summer, which will be the largest afloat except the Great Eastern, we shall have the majority of the passenger traffic passing through Ireland ; and New York will be brought within five days of London with the aid of telegraphs. The Cork men have got a German company to touch at that port on their passage to and from New York—the Weser pioneering that notion last week; and the Limerick lads speak of inducing an English company to run boats this summer across from Fowness. So true is it, that, like the Kilkenny cats, you never can get Irishmen, in, Ireland, to agree on any subject, be it even, as in the pre sent instance of Galway, for the general weal. The Commissioners appointed to report on the harbours of Great Britain, as to which are most desirable to be made " ports of refuge," have decided on Waterford to the south-east, and Carlingford to the north-east of Ireland, and recommend an expenditureof £50,000 on each, for removing bar obstacles. The former is a magnificent and much neglected harbour, and it is to be hope'l this new.notoriety may give it a start. Fortifications, one would suppose, will be erected fo> thwith at both places. I mentioned in my last that trade was excessively dull, and markets very lew, owing to the unsettled state of Continental affairs and said there was every probability of a collision between Austria, and France and Sardinia. Since then a temporary return of confidence was effected; by a dodging letter of Louis Napoleon's, who, while he sings peace, means ; but that peace can last much longer seems out of the question, for Sardinia is determined, if not to open the ball, at all events to bully Austria into leading off. We can hardly expect to find England neutral very long and there is every likelihood of this being an eventful year in Europe. The grain market here is very depressed; indeed, exceepting only fat stock, everything is at a stand still. Fat sheep are worth three guineas a'bead. A great breadth of land will be under potatoes this year; they are going in fast, and ' there is a marked improvement in the tillage manuring, &c, as compared with ten years ago.—There was a large and influential meeting held in Cork, this mouth, of Eoinan Catholics, on the subject of education, when the mixed system was duly denounced. Australian emigration seems to be very trifling from Ireland at present. My experience in moving about amongst the poor people is, that vast numbers of able bodied young men and women would be delighted to go out if they had the means. I reallylhink if the Colonial Government appointed agents in each of the four provinces of Ireland, at a fair salary say £500 per aunuirm—to be men of colonial expe-ience—it would get its require-, ments met in the shape of suitable .emigrants, instead of the tagrag and bobtail refuse of the parishes and workhouses, as is too much the ease at present,—preference to be given to newly married couples; in fact married ship loads could easily be obtained; and such/arrangements made with the single people as would prevent the reccurrence of the Stebonlieatk scenes. I find the Government' Emigration agents at most Irish ports are to be abolished, and their duties will devolve upon the Collector of Customs. If the Colonial Government guaranteed to employ all emigrants (say) for twelve months certain, or made their employers pay down their passage money on hiring them, yon could, through your agents here, ensure a regular supply of the oest class of people. As a kind of "sauce piquante" to an unusually mild letter from Irelaud, I must tell you that while an Englishman named Foreman was sitting with his family at ten, at his residence near Galway, some teu days ago, a ruifiau as yet unknown, walked up to the window and let fly a charge of slugs and other leaden " fixins" at the unsuspecting man's " cobra," which, owing to some faulty elevation of the tube, he missed by an inch ; the aggravation was, Mr. Foreman's presuming to prevent trespass through his own turf bog. Since serenading scares Sa°x en settlers.—An old man named Dourneen was shot by a ruffian, who has escaped (of course) near Gorey, in the county of Wexford, last week.—This goes by the new P. and O. contract boat j they have made Melbourne their terminus.—A telegram just' arrived states that as the jury could not agree about the Kerry Phoenix conspirators, they (the jury) have been dismissed, and the assizes is put off till the 30th instant. Baron Poeri and the rest of the Neapolitan exiles have arrived, in, Cork. Somo fifteen of them leave for London, where, Mr. Gladstone has got up subscriptions, &c, for them. HIBERNICUS. St. Patrick's eve, 61th March.