CORRESPONDENCE EXTRAORDINARY—O'CONNELL AND THE SPECTATOR.

WE present our readers with a letter from an extraordinary correspondent,—Mr. O'CoNNELL; who takes this mode of' replying to the strictures which we and others lately offered on his conduct as a public man, upon the revival of the report that he was about to join the Ministry. It will be recollected, that the tendency of our remarks was to show, that there was nothing in Mr. 0% ONNEnn's past conduct or present position to render such a junction impossible, or even unlikely. Of course our supposition implied no very high opinion of Mr. O'CONNELCS consistency; and we moreover roundly declared our belief that be was " in the marker—that his services might be secured to the Government, by the offer of a lucrative and influential post. To defend his political consistency and independ: nee, is the ostensible objtet of the following amusing letter. •

TO Tint SPECTATOR.

Dal rvitane Abbey, 30th October 1833.

Sims—This rimuntain hut, which I dignify by the name of Darrynane Abbey, is the residence of a Member of Parliament most remote-from London of any in the British Europeau dominions—the next to America. The wave comes in here unbroken since its departure from the coast of Labrador. But even here the Spectator penetrates; and I can very safely say, affords much information and rational amusement. In truth, I like your Paper better than I choose to tell you ; because I am looking for a mere tact of justice at your hands and I do slot wish to oweny a part of that justice to your gratified self-complacency. My claim upon you is this—You have devoted a column in each of your Papers of the 19th and 211th of October to a dissertation upon me. I, of course, have no right to complain of being dragged, in your ,Itshion, before the public. As a public man, I am public property; and that the talented and well-intentioned should deem me of sufficient importanc-e to form a prominent subject of discussion, is in its nature calculated to gratify my vanity. All I require is some attention to justice in my behalf. I am not fastidious ; I can easily bear a reasonable share of direct abuse and of unjust imputation. Indeed, the more unjust it is, the more easily do I bear it ; for between you and me be it spoken, I never get angry at any newspaper attack, but at ot:e founded in fact and truth ; and really, the more of' fact and truth in any assault ever made on may reputation the more

e angry have I bun. This is a secret worth the notice of ;hose Me; may delight to assail me.

You are not one of those, as I potently believe, who feel any pleasure in abusing Me or any Other public man : you seem to do it with an air of candour, and with that fair discount of mingled praise which induces me to think that you act therein purely in thedischarge of your duty as a -public journalist.

To enable you to discharge that duty more to your own satisfaction, and with more utility, I desire to correct some erroneous notions you entertain respecting me. I repeat, that I seek only for justice at your hands.

Pray, then, correct these opinions. In your Paper of the 19th, you say, "Every one knows that O'Connell is not blessed or plagued with that especial regard to consistency in politics which would induce him to abide by proji-ssions formerly made, when it becomes his present cue to renounce or forget theta." I assert that this is a total mistake. I assert that every one does not know any such thing; and that nobody can know that which does not exist ! The proof lies upon you : you will readily avow that you ought not to make this charge against me without proof. Where is that proof? what is it ? It must consist of some fact 'or facts, to be easily, and what is better for you, shortly stated: the statement of your proofs cannot consume much of your time or of your space. The moment I-put you to the proofs, that instant I think you will detect yourself in the error of having adopted some unproved calumny. I have now been thirty-three years a public man—be the same more or less public—by my resistance tot he Union, in my earliest manhood—by my struggles tor religious equality—for Reform—for Repeal. I say it now with the most complete as well as tranquil conviction of its truth, that • during that long period I never abandoned one political principle. I never acted inconsistently with the principles I professed. I was a Radical in principle, I was of the Movement party in principle, before either the one name or the other was invented. I am still as thorough a Radical, and as thoroughly of the Movement party, as ever I was; and I do, in the spirit of unaffected' good-hinnour, defy you or any other person to show any one instance ill which I have deserted my principles, or to point out any one personal or improper motive which could have swayed me to alter any professed opinion of mine.

As to my being called a "factious demagogue," and names of that class, they come quite of course. I really am a "factious demagogue" in the sense which, not you, but the supporters of the abuses of power, use the words : I certainly am a .demagogue in its literal sense; and a factious demagogue when I have only a portion of the people to sustain Me as their leader.

How yOtt wrong the people of Ireland, too, when you attribute to me personal influence ! I mean influence attached to me personally, and not attached to the principles which I avow and which I have ever maintained.

Believe me, Sir, I would lose that influence to-morrow if I were to desert the cause of a suffering, a calumniated, and an insulted people! Nay, mere neutrality would deprive me of all popular power. I have, it is true, preserved my popularity more continuously and extensively than, perhaps any other man. I attribute that duration, solely to the consistency with which I have maintained, and the energy with which I have advocated, the principles of civil and religious liberty. Here are my proofs : an unequalled continuance of popular influence amongst a people not exceeded by any other in shrewdness and powers of perception. You say, and you repeat, that I am "in the market." I am not, Sur, altll s, in the market. I never, for one moment, since the House rose, or indeed uring its .session, entertained the least notion of seeking for or accepting any office. I freely ackitowledge, nay, I boase that there is no ramive ,sufficiently powerful to induce me to take office .under • Larl Gam It may be exceedum had taste in me, but it existe, good or bad. I easily discovered, so love ono as 1825, that one of the materiels of his tided was a haughty :eel eentemptuous hostility to Ireland. He thouel t us " troublesome ! ! ! " This judgment of nene I prononneed ie that year, and repeatedly afterwards ; and every mon ent which has elepsed since the formation of the present .Adinii&trit den has convinced tee f its accuracy.

I will not dispute mitt, yeti wletther this judgment be right or not ; but, beittg founded tea my deep et:tn.:et:On, it would he utterly impossible

for me to accept office under Earl • Why should I trespass longer an your patience? Let me only add, that I am persuaded I could net be so usefitl to Ireland in office AS I thiuk I may be in my state of entii.e independence. Besides, there is this conclusive reason sgainet my being in oiliee,—tlatt I am daily more and luore convineed flea the British Parliament never wid—never can —do justice to the people of Ireland. They are road:: onough insolently and causelessly to trample oil our liberzies. Tli,*y have a direct interest to refuse us our finatenel rights. We are c*gr,giously cheated with respect to the Goverrinie,,: dyld. The result mint he either total separation, or a new et-fin-miens of the connexien by the Repeal of the Union. I intieitely prefer the latter ; and I eatt never abandon its pursuit. There is not, therefore—there cannot be-any Paiute for me. Besides, it is impossible I should ever.foreet or thrive." the Coercion Bill." Do you recollect the shape in avilich that bill ;attic oat of the House of Leads? that is, from the hands of Lord GREY and Lord BROUGHAM ? I do not complain of the sneerieg toue with which you and many °tinewriters for the English press are pleased to treat me. I um the best-abused man in the world. I have been so for many years. Why should I eow repine at trill 'a Enough and more than eneugh of this. You conclude with a per.sifia ye which throws an air of ridicule on all that you say. You •propoot to create nie " Pacificator" of /rebind, with-a salary of six dents:led pentels a year Str, I AM ready and anxious to do the duty grattsitoedy. Allow me To THROW OFF THE SHOULDERS OE THE FE01'1.E OF ta.::;.AND A SINECURE AND MOST INIMICAL CHURCH ESTAELIsnmENT,—to destroy the internal taxa; am by Greed Juries, taxation altog,ther seian ate,: from representation, actual or virtual,—allow me to ditann a party ITcomattry and a partisan Police,—to annihilate all that is insolent, bigoted, cruel, and ignorant, in the Magictracy,--to fill the bench of Jiasrice NVith men of known impartiality and competent knowledge,--to make the Law so cheap, expeditious, and simple, that the poor man may find in it it protection and not a curse,— to root out the multifarious aliases, peculations, and•oppressions, of the combined religious and civil monopolies of our Corporations,—in fine, to destroy. the hundred other giant grievances which operate to render the situation of the Irish people almost beyond endurance: let me he permitted to take this course, and save your 6,000L per annum in the pacification of Irelend. To conclude with more practical seriousness—You justly say the Government ought not to make me a Judge ; you .italitene I would make a bad Judge. In this I am inclined to concur with you. I should be subject to two temptations—the one, of favouritism towards the partisans of my own opinions ; the second, the equally vicious and inure paltry affectation of impartiality in kaning in favour of "the enemy," and thereby doing injustice to my friends. This is, .after all, the common practice of patriot lawyers. I never knew a prerogative lawyer who, when promoted to the Bench, did not adhere to his former party : I never knew a popular partisan at .tbe bar who, upon the Bench, did not continue to favour the party heretofore opposed to him. Even if I escaped either vice—the partiality of party, or the pat tiality of affected candour—yet in such a country as Ireland now is, I could nor, as a Judge, get credit for virtues which I would flan flatter myself I possess; and justice would be tarnished by suspicions of my integrity, if she escaped pollution from my crimes.

It follows, upon the whole, that there is nothing for me but to continue my practice of agitation ; voting for, and promoting to the extent of my feeble powers, every measure conducive to lessen the burdens or increase the franchises of the British people ; but always recollecting, .that my first and last thought, act, and exertion, belong to haland. I have the honour to be, your obedient servant,

DANIEL O'CONNELL.

Mr. O'CONNELL challenges us to prove his inconsistency. To most of our readers the task would appear superfluous in no small degree; and we suspect that the learned Agitator himself must have been laughing in his sleeve when he invited us to the proof. Besides apostacy or desertion of principle, there is inconsistency in conduct. We believe that Mr. O'CONNELL has always been, as he avers, of the Movement or Radical party in principle; but it by no means follows, that he has not acted with mut h inconsistency as regards particular measures. The Repeal of the Union and the introduction of Poor-laws into Ireland are measures upon which it is very possible for a man to be guilty of inconsistency, although he may not have swerved from the political principles which he originally professed. If it can be shown that Mu-. O'CONNELL has at one time advocated the Repeal of the Union as a measure of first-rate and immediate necessity; and at another has represented it as secondary. to some other—the abolitit n of Tithes for instance; if he has recommended and opposed the establishment of a system of Pour-laws in Ireland, with almost equal vehemence; then he is quite as liable to the charge tf inconsistency as a public man and alegislator, as if he had abandoned his Liberal for Orange-Tory politics. We have not had lsisure since

• the receipt of his letter, to search our own files or those of other journalists for the record of his inconsistencies : we will endeavour to make the requisite inquiry very soon ; and, if it thall appear that we have, as MreO'Coistueea intimates, incautiously "adopted some unproved calumny," we shall be prompt and pleased tuac

knowkdge our mistake, ana.nlake linsthe•atnentte ozonits o Our correspondent iisdignantly deities that he is "its the market ;" be never fOr one mond?. nt, since Me House rose, or indeed during its -session, entertained the least notion of seeking for or aceeptinn" any office." Weare bound in 'courtesy to take his word for this, having assuredly no proof of equal strength to eYeedin support of our opinion. We believe, indeed, that thdopinion expressed of Mr. OteneNaae's willingness to take office, provided he could get his priee (to continue the metaphor, which, linwever, was not intended to le used in a sense personally offensive to hini), is the one almost universally received in this country. And if We understand a phrase in the above letter, it would seem that a seat on the Treasury Bench is not altogether banished front the range of the Agitator's ambit het,: or patriotic aspire tio:ee Ho brasts " that there is no motive sellitiently powerful to induce him to take office under Earl Geeev."* Undcr Earl GRIN-4)h, then, the murder is out! the PW4F,tkiePship was not. effesed to Mr. O'CONNELL !—he wished to transfer poor, sunenertetenea Earl GREY, to the dignified retirement of the Privy Seal, or the Chancellorship of the Dwells et Lancaster; and his Majesty, we presume, took time to co:did:at. of the proposal, and thus drove the impatient Liberator iete a renewal of his agitation project. Fatal mistake!

Mr. O'Coderaet. es a Itemlist of the-grievances which render the situatiou of :Ile idt pe the almost beyond endurance : all

these he prepeses to ro,11.L.,s, ti•al " to do the duty graltatously.' -We believe that this has not been his practice lately; and, freen the preparations now making threughout the Emerald Isle, we should suppose that it is net his intention to work Ind nothing in future. Indeed, why should he ? •• The labourer is •nenaltv of his hire," iti whatever field his inilustry may be exerted. :But truly, whether he labours with or without a hat, he is likely to have enough upon his hands in porliirming the task laa hos imposed upon " To ei/ !bat is bigoted. insolent, cruel, and ignOrtali in Me ,-Wagistr;;;7,i— to root ,utit.:eil the • multifarions abeees, oppressions, &e. of oorporatians—to destroy the hundred .oulter giant grievances, which render the situation of the Iri*-11 people beyond endurance --is the work of a century ; and unless his bones are preserved to be rattled in Imyoreni against the future oppressors of his calantry, we conceive no way in whitth it can be accomplished under his auspices. One word as to Repeal. It is certain that it. es a never ha carried except won't the conceal of' Great Britain. As we are told that the great mass of the Irish nat•ion is eager ler Repeal, its advocates should address themselves to the task of convincing the judgment—mark f the judgment—of the peeple of this country, that it is for their (Wet-ft/ also that it should take place. The work would then be done. At present, indeed, nothing appears more improbable than the success of such an effort ; but the changes in public opinion on political subjects, 'during the last twenty years, have been so prodigious, that it is extremely hazardous to assert that no change will moue on this snbject of Repeal. What, therefore, are we to think of a -stateeman and lensidator who declares that he will reeist the Repeal of the Union " to the death?" Such a speech appears to us to be the very nxtrethe of presumption, and proof of the toter unfitness of the mats who made it, and of the Cabinet which sanctioned it, to rule a great nation in such times as the present.

• dhe iedies are Mr. O'CONNELL'S, not 011reL