IRELAND.
The Wicklow county cattle-show was also held last week ; and after it there was a dinner ; the Earl of Wicklow taking the chair, and Colonel Acton, M.P., and Mr. C. B. Baldwin, M.P., being present. The Chairman positively congratulated the assembled landowners and their tenantry on the Tariff- " I cannot conceal from myself or from you that farming in this county is now placed in a new position : hitherto it has had the monopoly of the market of Great Britain—now it will have to compete with foreign countries ; and this will call for a few remarks from me, as I am told your show this year has fallen much below former years, and although the cattle that were there were in themselves very good the competition was but small. May we not, in some degree, refer this result to the distemper which for the last twelve months has so much prevailed among cattle ; also to the disturbed state of the manufac- turing districts in England, preventing the demand, as usual, for Irish pro- duce ? The effects of the Tariff will not be permanent. The importation of foreign corn on a reduced duty, and foreign cattle, which heretofore were pro- hibited, on a small duty, has no doubt had the effect of alarming the minds of graziers and farmers without sufficient cause. Do we not see the effects of monopoly in every-day occurrences ? The shopkeeper, in a town where there is only one, is often negligent, inattentive, and idle. Remove the monopoly, let others come in to compete with him, and he becomes regular, attentive, and active. Have we not here a superiority in soil over most other countries ? If, then, by renewed exertions we may compete with all the world—if a judicious management of the land is made, and encouragement given to societies similar to the present—we shall not then see a falling-off at the exhibition or in the meeting, but a determination to overcome every apparent obstacle, and by judgment and intelligent activity replace the society in its proper position."
At the usual weekly meeting of the Repeal Association, on Monday, Mr. O'Connell moved a petition to Parliament to remove the present Poor-law Commissioners, and "appoint men in their place free from the taint of bigotry ;" the Commissioners having compelled the Guardians of the North Dublin Workhouse to dismiss Martha M•Keon, an assistant schoolmistress who had been converted to Romanism ; although her character was without reproach. On the motion of Mr. O'Connell, the matter was referred to a committee instructed to prepare a plan for the removal of the Commissioners ! The proceedings of the day closed with a speech on England's growing embarrassments and the necessity of conciliating Ireland ; Mr. O'Connell chuckling because "Lord Ash- burton had truckled to America, and Lord Aberdeen had truckled to France"; and "one of the Canadian rebels, for whose head 500/. were offered, had just been appointed to the office of Attorney-General."
The annual show of the Tullamore Union Agricultural Society was held on Thursday week. The prize for the best mileh-cow was gained by John Fox, a poor man holding one acre of ground. After the show there was a dinner ; about a hundred and fifty persons surrounding the table, at the head of which sat the Earl of Charleville. The Earl read extracts from a work by Mr. W. W. Simpson of London ; who was pre- sent. Mr. Simpson avowed himself a Liberal, and lectured the agri- culturists of Tullamore against giving way to the Tariff panic— He had watched under several Governments the growing prosperity of Ire- land ; and he was happy to say that her star was in the ascendant with a pro- jectile force which nothing could stop. He would just say a few words on the subject of the Corn-laws and the Tariff; and from his own opinion, as well as the opinion of much better judges than himself, he considered that there was nothing to fear of interference in the agriculture of the country. In the years 1821 and 1822, there was a great depression of agricultural produce; rents fell enormously, and have not since revived. His standard of valuation VMS on the principle of "live and let live," and in letting lands in his own country be 'valued them according to wheat at an average of 56s. per quarter. It was folly to allow the country to give way to the panic; for all the stocks of all the dif- ferent countries imported since the Tariff do not amount to One week's exporta- tion from Ireland. There WRS a great fuss about Spanish stock being brought in : this was all Spanish humbug—mere stockjobbing. We have fools enough in England to do any thing; and some of them went over to buy cattle to glut the market, in order that they might get a reduction of rent in consequence of the stock imported. But he did not attribute the depreciation in cattle to this : there were other causes—light crops previously, the murrain, unsound stock, the distemper, &c. all tended to produce low prices. Then the Man- chester Joint-Stock Bank having failed, to the amount of 900,000/. in had debts, and an over issue of bad paper, tended to damp the market ; besides the late strike for wages, by which 20,000/. or 30,000/. weekly did not come into the pockets of the people ; and consequently there could not be the same con- sumption: add to these the panics, and you will then see the causes of the low state of the markets.
The Dublin Town-touncil election took place on Tuesday. The Liberal party boast a favourable result, the greater number of their candidates having been returned without opposition.
The borough of Cork is agitated by a very curious contest. The -Corporation is in debt to the amount of 3,0001.; and the Town-Council have effected divers retrenchments, cutting down the salary of the Mayor from 1,5001. to 500/, and abolishing the Mansionhonse as an official residence. The office was lately offered to Mr. Beamish ; who declined it, because, it is supposed, of the reduced means for supporting the civic dignity. A party in the borough are very angry ; and last week a meeting was held to review the conduct of the Town-Council. A reso- lution was moved to the effect that Mr. Beamish be requested to accept the Mayoralty of Cork for the ensuing year ; and it was further moved that the Town-Council should increase the Mayor's salary, and reesta- blish the Mansionhouse as an official residence. An amendment was proposed, approving of the course taken by the Council. The Chair- man pat both resolution and amendment, amid a scene of the greatest tumult ; and, declaring that he could not tell which had the majority, dissolved the meeting without coming to any decision. The Cork Southern Reporter of Saturday mentions that a requisition is getting up desiring the new Town-Council to reverse the decree of their prede- cessors.
Robert Lindsay Crawford, a claimant of the Earldom of Crawford and Lindsay, who has been transported from Enniskillen Gaol, and who was seized in London lately for returning from transportation, was examined at Dublin College Street Police-office on Friday, and com- Mitted for trial.
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