IRELAND.

The inaugural banquet of the first and unanimously-chosen Lord Mayor of Dublin under the new regime, Mr. Arthur Guinness, was given on Tuesday, in a style of splendour which the Viceregal guest himself de- clared he had seldom seen equalled and never surpassed. The banquet- hall was the same room that was erected in the Mansionhonse on the oc- casion of the visit of George the Fourth to Ireland, nearly thirty years ago, and has since borne the name of the King's Room : nearly five hundred guests were assembled. The Lord-Lieutenant's presence was a double compliment—equally paid to Mr. Guinness, the Lord Mayor, and to the regenerated Corporation, which gracefully commenced a new mra by placing the most respected citizen of Dublin at its head. Both Lord Cla- rendon and the Archbishop of Dublin were among the distinguished guests who made speeches.

Lord Clarendon made his speech the vehicle of good counsel as well as compliment- " In meeting here, we meet not alone to inaugurate the first magistrate of this great city; we have met not alone to celebrate the advent to office of an eminent and justly-esteemed citizen, but our meeting records a principle more universally extolled than practised, the benefits of which are perhaps more firmly established by theory than deduced from experience. I consider, gentlemen, that this night we record—we celebrate—the principle of purity of election. Never was it better illustrated, nor upon a larger scale, than at the recent municipal elections." "Without intending or presuming to make the slightest comparison between this and preceding corporations, it will, I think, be of incalculable benefit to a great community like that of Dublin, that its affairs should be administered by men who have laid aside all personal and political differences, and who will devote themselves to the business for which they were elected. Nor do I think that this advantage will be circumscribed within the limits of the metropolis. I think the example which Dublin has set will have its effect upon other corporations and other constituencies. I think both will reflect, perhaps more than they have hitherto done, upon the gravity of the duties which they have to per- form. They will bear in mind that confidence should not lightly be placed on the one hand ; that neither, on the other, should solemn obligations be lightly undertaken by men upon whom devolves the guardianship of the health, the peace, the security, and the fiscal interests of their fellow-towns- men ; and that it is alike the interest of all to impart to one of the most ancient and most valuable of institutions all the capability, all the purity, which circumstances permit." He added some words of good hope on the general revival of industry and trade in Ireland. "I hope it is not an exaggeration to say, with reference to the times that we lately passed, that the commercial and industrial pros- pects of Dublin are improving ; that many of our artisans are better em- ployed; that the necessaries of life are more within the reach of the poorer classes ; and that business, although perhaps not so extensive as formerly, yet is now conducted on a system far more cautiousrind secure. Generally, too, throughout the country, I trust that the tide has turned, and that the

termination of the disasters which for five years have fallen so heavily upon Ireland has been hailed by increased energy and exertion on the part of all classes of the community. And if such be the case, and if the present gene. ral state of tranquillity be maintained, which I see no reason to doubt—if the diminution of crime continues to give the most satisfactory evidence of diminished destitution, as it has done in the year 1850—I trust that this state of things will beneficially react on the metropolis, and that your Lord- ship's year of office will be one of progressive amelioration ; and this would repay you for the personal sacrifices you have made and for the responsibility you have undertaken."

The Archbishop of Dublin distinguished himself by an overflowing Irish nationality—

Since he came to the country he had great reason to be thankful for the great success which had blessed his exertions in their service ; and he might mention one circumstance respecting himself—that though he differed from most of his clergy in being an Englishman, he challenged all Ireland to pro- duce any person who had the interests of the country more sincerely at heart than liimself. He had never allowed himself to feel as an English- man distinguished from Irishmen; on the contrary, he always felt as a mem- ber of the United Kingdom, and as a person who was convinced that the truest interests of all men on both sides of the Channel were promoted by a complete union and close harmonious relationship between both branches of the empire. With so good a spirit pervading all the proceedings, the banquet pro- mises to be an auspicious corporate inauguration.

Subjoined is a copy of the address presented to the Queen by the whole of the Irish Prelates, in reference partly to the Papal aggression movement, but in a greater degree to the question recently mooted in the correspondence between them and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

4' TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

" The humble address of the undersigned Archbishops and Bishops of the United Church of England and Ireland. "We, the Archbishops and Bishops of the Irish Provinces and Bishoprics of the United Church of England and Ireland, approach your Majesty at thia time with the humble tender of our duty, and the expression of our heart- felt participation in those sentiments of devoted loyalty to the Crown, and of unshaken attachment to the principles of the Reformation, which the recent proceedings of the Bishop of Rome have drawn forth so generally from your Majesty's subjects in England. " The same laws of the realm which have made one United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland have no less established one United Church of England and Ireland ; and the Irish branch of that United Church, as it has always been faithful in the maintenance of the union of the kingdom, so has it ever been, and now is, no less earnest than the English branch in denying the pretensions of any foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate, to any rightful jurisdiction, power, superiority, preeminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm.' "The recent exercise of such a pretended right by the Bishop of Rome, in constituting a territorial hierarchy in England, subject to his supreme jurisdiction, is happily in that form as yet a novelty in that portion of the kingdom; but, unhappily, it is not the first exercise of such pretensions within the bounds of the kingdom.

"For in Ireland, where the prerogative of the Crown is by law one and the same as in England, the Bishops of Rome have long ago pursued a course not dissimilar to that now attempted in England.

"At the period of the Reformation, nearly all the Irish Bishops renounced the Papal authority ; and of these the Prelates of the Established Church are indisputably the regular successors. It was not until after the lapse of several years that a new and rival Episcopate was gradually introduced by the Popes, which has become politically formidable to the stability of the United Church in this country, besides obstructing its efforts to make known the Word of God, and promote peace, unity, and concord among your Ma- jesty's subjects.

"We have thought it necessary to advert to these well-known facts re- lating. to Ireland, because they seem to have been almost, if not altogether, lost sight of in the indignation which has been excited by the recent at- tempt of the Pope to exert the like power in England. Uneasy apprehen- sions have been awakened within us by observing that in the addresses and resolutions and speeches which that bold procedure has called forth in Eng- land, all the concern manifested has been for the distinct and special defence of what has been called, by a title unknown to the law, the Church of England.'

"We are convinced, indeed, that the silence which has been maintained in reference to the ease of the Irish branch of the Church is in meet in- stances to be regarded as merely the result of the peculiar solicitude which men naturally feel for the part immediately assailed, and which, for the time, banishes from their minds all interest in, or recollection of, every other part; and we are persuaded that it would be wrong to understand it as conveying any wish to divide the United Church, or any opinion that, being united as it is, the interests of its component parts may be so die- severed, that while both are exposed to the same hostile power, each may be content to defend itself, and, still less, that the stronger may provide for its own safety by sacrificing its weaker associate. "We trust that a great majority of those who have allowed themselves for a time to forget our case in their anxiety about their own, must be aware that any permanent disregard of it would be a grievous error in point of prudence as well as of principle. But, knowing that different views with reference to the ecclesiastical establishment in the two countries are enter- tained by not a few in England, and that some such ill-considered compro- mise as we have glanced at is actually: contemplated by them, we cannot but feel alarm at whatever may tend to give effect to so short-sighted and fatal a scheme.

"We are deeply impressed with the conviction that if the excitement now existing in England were to lead to the adoption of any measure calculated to impair the integrity of the United Church, or the completeness of the union between the two portions of it, such a proceeding would involve more real injury to the whole Church and to the country than any acts of the Bi- shop of Rome or any encroachments from without could possibly effect. The Irish branch might, and probably would, be the first to suffer from such false policy, but the English branch would ultimately be no less surely its victim. And, how deadly a wound its fall would indict upon all that con- stitutes the happiness and greatness of that favoured country, we trust it may not be doomed to know by unhappy experience. "We confide, under God's Providence, in your Majesty's wisdom, guided and supported by both Houses of Parliament, to avert all such evils, by maintainin,,e the union which happily, exists between the two countries, and between the branches of the Church in both.

"How the aggressive proceedings of the Bishop of Rome ought to be guarded against and counteracted, we do not presume to suggest. But we are anxious distinctly to state, that we have no desire that they should be met by any restraints affecting the just rights of conscience of any of your Majesty's subjects.

"It is our humble prayer that, whatever may be the defensive measures determined on for securing the National Church against injury, i the two por- tions of it may not be regarded or treated as having separate interests, but that one and the same legislative protection may be extended to both branches of the Church in common."

The lead-mine recently discovered near the town of Galway has now a number of hands employed on it at full work, and the results promise to be of a most profitable nature.

A few nights since, says the Westmeath Guardian, as Mr. James Haggerty was returning from Killucan to his residence at Knockshebawn' a party of eight men armed with bludgeons set upon him. He drew out alarge clasp- knife, and cut and hacked away at his opponents so vigorously that they were compelled to escape from him, and it is believed that the majority were severely wounded. Mr. Haggerty had 2001. on his person.