IRELAND.
The weekly meeting of the Repeal Association, on Monday, was crowded, in consequence of Mr. O'Connell's return. The Secretary read a letter from Mr. Thomas Steele, in which the "Head Pacificator" gave a flourishing account of the success of his mission to the North, and stated that "a mighty and sanctified change has come over the spirit of the stern but noble-hearted people of Ulster." Mr. Davis moved the adoption of a petition to be extensively distributed for signature in Ulster, praying the House of Commons not topass any bill touching the tenantry of Ireland without enacting therein a clause recognizing and saving whole the custom commonly called "the tenant-right of Ulster." Mr. O'Con- nell seconded the motion; denounced any attempt to interfere with the existing tenant-right as a scheme of robbery by the landlords; and pledged himself to make every exertion in his power not only to preserve the present tenant-right for the people of Ulster, but to extend it to every other part of Ireland. The motion passed of course.
Mr. O'Connell gave an account of his recent mission to England; first cor- recting some misrepresentations. He never said that he should totally absent himself from his Parliamentary duties: what he said was, that he should not go over unless for the purpose of endeavouring to effect some good or to avert some evil. He was also reported to have declared himself favourable to mixed educa- tion: he admitted, that at one time he was favourable to it; but he had since changed his opinion, and since the introduction of the new Colleges Bill he had invariably declared himself adverse to it. He made some passing attack on "little Roebuck "—whose abuse he minded "no more than the barking of a cur. dog "; and then proceeded to recount the opposition which Mr. Smith O'Brien and he had made to the Colleges and Banking Bills; especially denouncing the former, and reiterating his objections to it as penal, restrictive, and tending to corrupt the youth of Ireland. Notwithstanding the assistance which Lord John Russell had given them, they were left in a miserable minority. He therefore flung the bill to Ministers at their own risk, and came over to rouse the people of Ireland to struggle againstit. Thence Mr. O'Connell passed to the standing subjects—Repeal, Ribbomsm, and Molly-Maguireihin, with allusions to the murder of Mr. Bell Booth, and to the affray at Cork, in which thirteen "innocent" people lost their lives. He particularly condemned the practice of aiming the Police when sent to fairs with any thing more deadly than truncheons. He concluded by calling on the Repeal Wardens to rally with him for tranquillity, Old Ireland, and the Repeal.
A resolution was adopted, to the effect that the Reverend Thomas Maguire's Vcech at the Cavan meeting of Magistrates should be printed and circulated in Cavan and the adjoining counties. The Colleges Bill was attacked in speeches by Mr. Henry Grattan and Mr. &lin O'Connell. The rent for the week was declared to be 4071.
The 1st of July passed off without any attempt on the part of the Orangemento celebrate it by processions, and there was no breach of the peace. Improving glietecesitec the Earl of Roden published a letter in which he endeavoured to per-
suede the Orangernen that they should abstain also from party processions; on the 12th. In Monaghan, the question' was discussed in a meeting of the Grand Lodge. After a long deliberation the meeting was polled; when 62 voted for and 16 against a procession: , Those who voted in the minority then atated their readiness to abide by the decision of the majority; and many said that they were themselves in favour of a processioii, but were induced to vote against it in consequence of Lord Roden's advice. Mr. Henry G. Johnson, the Grand him, ter, issued an address, exhorting his brother Orangemen to behave peaceably, and quoting O'Connell's maxim, " He who commits a crime strengthens the enemy."
The Pilot says, it was a mistake to report that peace was restored in Ballinagli by the military at the time of Mr. Bell Booth's funeral; and relates the facts thus. "It was a trying moment when about four hundred armedemen, breath- ing blood, entered into the town of 13allinagh ; and sad would have the scene, but that they were closely preseed upon by about eight hundred Catholics rudely armed, but determined not tamely to submit to see their habitations clesolat The Orangemen, upon seeing this party, marched through the town, and turned into a field just outsideit and bivonackeL i The eight hundred Catholics followed; and drew up in a field at the opposite side. Here was a portentous interval ! The two belligerent parties were close—within view—the-mad between them, and the town on their flanks. Would the Orangemen execute their threat on the town? No; then which would attack the other? The Catholics had no desire M attack; the Orangemen did not think it prudent. A negotiation for peace is opened. The first stepwas taken by the Orangemen; who sent to two respectable shopkeepers in the town to say that if they would influence the Catholic party to remove they would then go off peaceably. The Catholic shopkeepers were too wise to remove their protectors. A more direct com i
munication s opened. Who should quit the field first? You, insisted the Catholics; this /9 our home' we stay here. Agreed, said at last the Orangemen- but we shall march back through the town. No, said the Catholics, we shall not permit that. Retire through the fields; and the Orangemen did retire."
A very different version from that first published has now appeared of the fatal affray at Ballinhassig. The Cork Constitution gives-the following account of its origin and progress. At the conclusion of the fair, a faction-fight between two bodies of men, numbering two hundred and three hundred respectively, was im- minent; and to prevent it,. two of the Police arrested a leader of one of the parties, named Sullivan, commonly called the "Ranter" and took him to the Dispensary. The mob collected round the building, and demanded the release of Sullivan; this, of course, was refused, and the people began throwing-stones. An attempt was also made to remove the door of the cottage so as to expose the inmates to the attacks of the mob; but this was prevented' for a time. A number of persons now went to the rear of the building, and by means of tent-poles stripped off the roof. The Constabulary were in great danger; the crowd throwing stones though the open roof, and in front through the windows and doorway. After much entreaty, Sub-Inspector Kelly allowed his men to fire on their assailants. They did so; and many of the peasantry fell. Still the attack continued; and the Police considered that their only mode of escaping • alive was to break . through the crowd and retreat to their barracks. This they did; and though opposed by great numbers, who assailed them with stones, they only fired two shots after leaving the Dispensary. In the confusion, however, Sullivan, their prisoner, made off. The first Policeman who left the cottage bad a very narrow escape with his life, having been cut off from his comrades, beaten, thrown in a ditch, and hunted from house to house: eventually he escaped by crawling from a pigstye where he had been concealed, into a meadow, whence he gained a place of safety. A Coroner's inquest on seven persons was commenced on Thursday. Thisbodies were lying in different hovels about the country; and the Jury were occu-
pied for seven hours in travelling some sixteen or eighteen miles to view them; The cavalcade consisted of the Coroner, twenty-three Jurymen, and a number of surgeons, lawyers, and clergymen. The task was a horrible one the mangled
bodies, rapidly decomposing, the wretched hovels in which they lay, and the wail- ing of the relatives of the deceased,. forming sad spectacles. On Friday, the
examination of witnesses was begun. Two medical men gave testimony as to the cause of death—gunshot wounds. The deceased had been struck generally on the side or on the back of the body; but it was admitted that if a person had been throwing stones when wounded, he would have presented his side to the Police. Dr. Tresilian was present at the fair, and witnessed the affray. He -de- scribed the preparations for a fight, the seizure of Sullivan, and the attack on the Police in the Dispensary. Many of the people were armed with sticks. They were very riotous at the time when the firing commenced; but the witness did not seem to be aware whether stones had actually been thrown or not. During the firing there was a crash as of windows being broken. After the first volley, the people did not ran away, but increased in numbers. A hole was made in the roof of the house from the rear, and large stones were thrown in; the Police must have been in imminent danger; be wondered how they managed to save their lives. He described the escape of Policeman Dawson, whom he rescued. from the mob while lying insensible in the road, by raising a false alarm that the Constabulary were about to charge. Several other wit. nesses were examined. Their evidence was not of the clearest. One ma; Duggan, who lives on the opposite side of the road to the Dispensary, said, when Sullivan was taken into the house the country people made a rush at the door; on which "the Police began stabbing them off with their bayonets, and moving them out from them. The Police then got inside the door of the Dispensary; they were not two or three seconds within when they fired a volley; I put out my head and saw a man stretched on the cross; I heard more shots fired, and I put out my head again, and saw another man stretched opposite Tandy MCarthy's house. I saw the Police coming out and present the guns, and fire off the shots. They moved in, and another flank came out; the crowd ran away; and I saw some of them come back, and a few went to the back of the Dispensary and threw a fest stones." This witness declared that no stones were thrown before the firing, and then admitted that the throwing commenced after the Policemen began to stab the people. He said there were three or four volleys fired before an attack was made on the rear of the Dispensary. He did not know whether any one had been cut with the bayonets. The Policemen were produced before the Jury on Saturday. Two witnesses were examined; whose testimony was similar to that previously given. On Monday, the first witness who was examined, William Regan, declared that no stones were thrown before the firing commenced. Three Policemen came out of the Dispensary on one occasion, and deliberately fired at people who were some distance off. No attack was made on the roof of the Dispensary before the firing. At two o'clock, the inquest was adjourned till Wednesday; one of the Jurors having been taken ill.
Two Policemen have been held to ball by the Magistrates of Granard, for firing upon some people who were returning after midnight from a bonfire. . Witnesses declared that the persons fired upon, many of whom were boys, were peaceably pursuing their road homewards. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. An account has been published, however, giving the affair a very different aspect. It declares that the officers were returning from lodging a. culprit in prison, vrhert their progress was stopped by a large body of men who filled the road, and who refused to disperse when called upon.
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