IRELAND.
The Dublin Evening Mail announces that the Irish Poor-law Com- mission is to be abolished, and the administration of the law in Ireland to be transferred to the Board at Somerset House ; the alleged reason being, to get rid of the effects of the past party patronage in the disposal of the offices under the law.
Ten of the Stipendiary Magistrates in Ireland have received notice that their office will cease on the 31st instant ; when they will be al- lowed 331. for removal, and Is. per mile for travelling to the place at which they last resided in Ireland. The World says, that after the 3d of April next there is to be only one Stipendiary Magistrate left in each county. It is also said that a " searching revision ' of the Local Ma- gistracy is to take place.
On Thursday week, a meeting of the nobility, gentry, clergy, and freeholders of the county of Down, called by the High Sheriff, in com- pliance with a very influential requisition, was held in the County Court- house, for the purpose of presenting a congratulatory address to the Queen, Prince Albert, and the Eltitchess of Rent, on the birth of an heir- apparent to the Throne of the United Kingdom. The meeting, though not very large, was highly rapectable. The High Sheriff was called to the chair. The Marquis of Londonderry, in seconding the motion, launched into an eulogy of the Queen. First he celebrated her sacrifice of Whig friendships— In the time of William the Fourth, she was thrown among persons who held principles at variance with those of her present Ministers. In these persons she placed confidence, and formed for them early attachments. It was understood —indeed they had the authority of the Duke of Wellington for knowing— that Lord Melbourne bad instructed her in those duties which bad since de- volved upon her under the constitution. It was no slight sacrifice—those who considered the feelings of her sex would know that it was no small sacrifice— to give up her private feelings, and permit herself to be influenced only by her sense as a constitutional monarch.
Then her "acute discriminating judgment" in allying herself with Prince Albert ; and finally the merits of the late birth— An old soldier, Lord Hill, had said that the young Prince was a remarkably fine boy. That he was so, could not appear wonderful to those who, like Lord Londonderry, had enjoyed opportunities of seeing his illustrious parents. They appeared to him to approach nearer to the description which Milton had given of our First Parents than any other pair he had ever seen- " For contemplation he and valour form'd,
For softness she and sweet attractive grace;
He for God only, she for God in him. He did not think that any description of the Royal pair could be more appro- priate. A committee was appointed to draw up an address. The address
was afterwards moved by the Marquis of Downehire, seconded by Lord Londonderry, and agreed to unanimously.
The Marquis of Londonderry then took occasion to declare, that his keeping back from the former meeting to address the Lord-Lieutenant was not owing to any difference between himself and the Government ; but he stood on his right, as Castes of the County, to be communicated with before the meeting was held— It bad been said that he was disposed to take an Ultra course. That was quite absurd. He, like his revered brother, had ever been an advocate of civil and religious liberty ; and how this was compatible with Ultra-Toryism it was not easy to imagine. The notion was quite absurd. As to his own personal views, he had been in a situation where he might have consulted them if he had wished. He bad no hesitation whatever in stating, that Sir Robert Peel bad offered him a high position under his Government : he had sent to him as a diplomatic person to consult him among the first. He felt grateful for this: but when he considered how he had been mixed up with politics—how he had been mixed up with Irish politics—when he considered how he had been mixed up with these matters, he felt bound to decline accepting office ; and he bad preferred credit to office. It had been said that be had declined office be- cause he had not confidence in the Government. Because he declined accept- ing a high office, did that imply want of confidence in the Government ? Un- doubtedly not.
The High Sheriff explained, that he had thought it desirable that the meeting should be held as soon as possible ; and being absent, he had given instructions to that effect to his Deputy : his instructions had been too strictly complied with. The Marquis of Londonderry expressed himself quite satisfied with the explanation.
A meeting of persons interested in the Irish linen manufacture was held at Belfast, on Monday, to consider the state of the trade. A me- morial to the Board of Trade was adopted, which described the embar- rassing situation in which the linen-trade of Ireland was placed by the restrictive measures adopted by various foreign countries during the past years, and prayed that the attention of the Legislature might be directed to the subject. A committee was appointed to correspond with other manufacturing towns on the subject.
The Carlow Sentinel gives the following story. Such charges as it conveys have been before made against Mr. O'Connell, and been up- turned by some explanation withheld in the first instance ; so that they are to be met with suspicion- " We have been informed, upon what we consider good authority, that Mr. Ashton Yates deposited 1,4001. at the late election in the hands of Mr. O'Con- nell, towards. defraying the expenses attendant thereon ; and it is alleged that, from that hour to the present, Mr. O'Connell has forgotten to refund one shil- ling of the money to pay up the debts, or to reply to the numerous communi- cations that are being daily made to him upon this subject. The Radicals are outrageous at his conduct, and assert that the money was deposited in his hands by mistake in the absence of the committee ; and some of the party go so far as to assert that, if not accounted for, they will expose the whole transaction. We feel it is due to Mr. O'Connell that he should notice this rumour which his friends have put in circulation. If the rumour be unfounded, he will of course deny the accuracy of the statement ; but if it be the fact that he pocketed the 1,4001. and has not yet accounted for this sum, it is no wonder that Mr. Peter Purcell should accuse him of being a bad accountant and a worse treasurer. We do not, of course, vouch for the truth of the statement ; but we hope that Mr. O'Connell will not omit to contradict it if untrue."
Attention has been excited in Dublin by a great mortality among the children in the North Dublin Union Workhouse. A meeting of the Board of Guardians was held on Tuesday, in order to investigate the matter, and see whether the mortality arose from any neglect or want of arrangement, or whether the system directed by the Poor-law was in fault. Out of one hundred infants admitted within the last year, fifty have been discharged at different periods. Forty-five have died. Only six of the children appear to have been in bad health on entering the place ; the remaining five are at present alive in the house. In November and December last, seventy-six children were attacked with measles, of which, although of a very mild description, twenty- four died. All the children admitted into the house become scro- fulous. There are now twenty who are so highly scrofulous that there is no chance of their living but by sending them into the country. The tendency to scrofula is attributed to their sleeping in crowded dormitories, and after that being brought into a room the floor of which was damp from being freshly scoured, and their then being taken out into the open air. No decision has been come to.
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