Richmond Enquirer

From the Liverpool Courier of Feb. 2d.

MR. O'CONNELL.

On Monday, 24th ult. Mr. O'Connell and the other persons who had been held in bail on the same charge with the learned gentleman constituted a meeting, prohibited by the Lord Lieutenant Proclamation and also having conspired by shift and device, to evade his Proclamation, came before the Court of King's Bench in discharge of their recognizances. Mr O'Connell appeared in his gown and wig. Mr. Steele was soon after visible in the passage set apart for the King's Counsel, when Mr O'Connell roared out 'make way for the King's Counsel.' The announcement was received with hisses and hooting, which lasted some minutes after the ex-agitator had taken his seat. The Attorney General did not avail himself of his privilege of proceeding by ex-officio informations, but resorted to the more constitutional mode of preferring indictments before a Grand Jury At three o'clock in the afternoon, after all the preliminary arrangements had been made, the Judges came into Court, and having taken their seats on the bench the Grand Jury were sworn. Judge Jebb then delivered his charge. After the charge had been delivered, the attorney General said, 'My Lord, it is so late in the day, that I could not, without great inconvenience to the Jury and the witnesses, send up the bills; but at the assembling of the Jury in the morning, the bills will be ready to be laid before them.' The Grand Jury then retired, and found true bills against the Agitators.

Speech of Mr. O'Connell about his arrest.

DUBLIN, Jan. 29th.—Mr. O'Connell ascended table placed in front of the chair, and was received with loud acclamations. He said—I have one claim more upon the kindness of my country—the enemies of Ireland have dared to make a prisoner of me—a householder in your city—a member of the House of Commons—they have done me the high honor to send a common thief-taker into my house, to arrest me in the sanctuary of my home—in the presence of the mother of my children. (Hisses, and cries of oh, oh!) They have offered me place, and honorable office—the highest gifts the Crown can make have been tendered to me, who have been thus insultingly treated by them; but I spurned them, as I spurned all that might wean me from my country. (Cheers.) This was a test of my affection for my country, and the sincerity of my desire for the welfare of the people of Ireland. [Hear! and cheers.] I said of the people of Ireland, but may add, of the people of England too, for the proceedings now adopted are a conspiracy to prevent reform. (Hear, hear, hear!) It is a Whig conspiracy to baffle the people. (Hear, hear!) Why are these Proclamations issued but to prevent the people of Ireland from seeking for a repeal of the Union? It is the act of men, some of whom have put thirteen or fourteen relatives, sons and nephews, and the husbands of sisters and their children into office, and now they wish to delay the progress of reform in England. (Hear, hear!) They would like to apply their Proclamations, that they might urge as a motive of delay that Ireland was in insurrection, and demanded all their attention. (Hear, hear, hear!) Oh! it is a vile purpose, but they shall not disturb Ireland (Cheers.) I tell Lord Anglesey that his advisers shall not disturb Ireland. (Loud cheers) And yet it is difficult to prevent the effects of the measures which have been resorted to. (Hear, hear!) I noticed the existence of illegal secret societies, and yet no person in authority came to me to learn the authority on which I made the assertion. (Hear!) No; but perhaps it was no secret to some of them—perhaps they know more about it than I did. (Hear, hear! and a laugh.) Let them tell me now who it was that sent two well-dressed men, with plenty of money in their pockets, to disseminate dangerous doctrines among the people of the County of Louth, with placards to post on the entrances to places of public worship, and secret plans of operation to entrap the unwary; who was it that sent those men, who endeavored to induce the people to turn out on the 24th of this month? To fix the day. forsooth, on which their measures should be effected. (Hear, hear, hear!) I hope the people will obey their friends, and preserve the peace. (Hear, hear!) My wish is, that the people will abstain from all violence, which can only defeat the freedom they desire. (Hear, and cheers!) And now our enemies resort to law. They got the Court of King's Bench once to decide that two words of different signification meant the same thing; that pretence and purpose were the same in meaning. (Hear! and laughter.) It is no jest; I did not find it in Joe Miller, I assure you. [Laughter.] It did actually occur. [Hear!] To prevent Catholic Emancipation, they got the Court of King's Bench to decide this. [Hear.] But then people were speculating for certain objects. I hope no person is speculating now in the same manner as when Justice Downes and his three venerable big-wigged brethren of the Bench made that decision. [Hear! and laughter.] What was this done for? To stop Catholic Emancipation. Did it do so? I believe I may assure you that it did not. [Cheers.] But their proceedings shall go before Parliament. [Hear, hear, hear!] I'll tell this day's doings to the House of Commons; for I will be there in spite of police magistrates and petty German Barons, [cheers,] who come in to listen and peep at men from closets. [Hisses.] The people of England are kept in ignorance of the condition of this country, because their rulers know that they would treat their conduct to us with indignation. [Hear, and cheers!] But I hope that fifty or sixty gentlemen will accompany me to Liverpool in the steam-packet on Sunday week, and on Monday; we will hold a meeting attended by the people of England, when, please God, they shall learn how their Irish fellow-subjects are treated. [Hear! and cheers.] I suppose they think they have frightened me by their silly conduct. [Hear, hear!] No my countrymen! The bayonet and the dungeon have no terrors for me. [Cheers!] I care not for suffering and death if it be in the service of my country. [Loud cheers!] Whether I die upon the scaffold or in the tranquillity of my own home, the last throb of my bosom shall be for the happiness of Ireland. [Long continued cheers.] Let the people be peaceable now, and we will repeal the Union, and there is not a man, woman, or child, around me, who will not see the Parliament again sitting in College-green. [Cheers.] Oh! what a day that will be, when I shall preach a charity sermon to my countrymen, hailing them as freemen, and telling them that this has been the work of peace and good feeling, and Christian love among Irishmen. What a day will it be for the tradesmen of Dublin when I tell them that 120 noblemen, with more than 300 of the most wealthy gentry, must come and reside in Dublin (cheers.) And I tell the Marquis of Anglesey he cannot prevent that day from coming (Cheers and groans.) Oh, don't groan at him he is not worth it (laughter.) But as he likes popularity, let him bespeak play some day next week and I'll bespeak another. and we'll see who will draw the fullest house (cheer and laughter.) My friends, my object is to speak o the act of Parliament which allows the Lord Lieutenant to prevent your meetings, and which is the most despotic act ever passed by a British Parliament (hear.) Mr Stanley, our Chief Secretary, opposed the very reading of it; Lord Brougham, the present Lord Chancellor of England, called it the costly price of emancipation; and the Marquis of Anglesey alone, and beyond all, refused the slightest assent to it, and yet these are the men who are carrying it into effect (hisses and hear!) But what is the result of all this? Why, here are two gentlemen who were among the most anxious to receive him with honor, and I condemned them for it (hear!) They now express their abhorrence of his conduct, and opposition to his measures (hear! and cheers.) My friends, Mr. Mullen and Mr. Byrne have both addressed this meeting on the subject (hear! and cheers.) I read yesterday in a London paper, that Mr. O'Connell continued to advise the preser vation of the peace. but that they did not believe him eincere (hisses.) They lie, the rascals; I am determin- ed to prevent any violation of the law or outrage upon individuals (cheers.) But it goes on to say that they are tired of it, at all events (hear!) I am not, nor ever will be; but I will not relax my exertions till I see my country independent (cheers.) How was the Union carried? By fostering a rebellion, till, as John Claudius Beresford said, 'it exploded.' (hear, hear!) Oh, they desire to prevent its repeal by the same inj. qJitous means (a voice called out, 'They shall not!' which was responded to by the meeting.) I thank you for the assertion; they shall not; I will rely on your prudence and firmness [cheers.] Mr. O'Connell stat- ed the construction of the act of Parliament, as he had done on other occasions, and continued:—But they talk of evading the law. No one but a man pampered in the gorgeous hot-bed of a wealthy church establish- ment, could thus speak of men shunning the penalties of a despotic aggression on their liberty [hear, hear! and cheers.] They think an unconstitutional Lord Chancellor will put an equitable construction on a pe- nal act of Parliament, and perhaps that sheriffs will pick juries for that purpose. Who are the sheriffs of this city now (some person named the High Sheriff?) Mal- lett and Hallaban, Are they Scotchmen [no?] Are they Englishmen [no?] Then, at least, we have Irishmen to select our juries (hear! hear.) 'The cause of liberty is not to be crushed by such violence. No terror can suppress it: [cheers.] Men who have strug- gled for liberty, have lost their best blood in the con- flict Men have been starved to death for liberty; and others have perished in captivity; but their cause ha- ver triumphed (cheers.) The Star-Chamber ordered a shop-keeper to be imprisoned for calling the swan on the Livery of some nobleman a goose ; and Prynne lived to see the day when the monarch who sanctioned such a violation of his subjects' rights perish on a scaffold expiation of his crimes (cheers)—I do not shrink from my share of the responsibility incurred in the effort of Irishmen for national independence (cheers:) We'll persevere through persecution, and continue our struggle for liberty in despite of their attempts to pre- vent us [long cheering.] Their proceedings but add to the number of Anti-Unionists. Men crowded round me to-day who have stood aloof from our struggle. One man came forward and he would bail me in £10,000, or if twice the amount were required that he would qualify for the sum, and would do it willingly (cheers.) Why should I not name him [name!]? It was my friend, Andrew Ennis; may God bless him for it (loud cheers.) They talk of bringing capital into the country: it is all delusion (hear, hear.) Would not Andrew Ennis employ some of his immense capital in speculation in Ireland if the condition of the country and the empire permitted him to expect fair remunera- tion [hear, hear, hear?] No, he could not. The U. nion has destroyed the resources of the country; it has withdrawn from her the nobles and gentry, who would have encouraged and employed native industry, and left her desolate and wretched (hear, hear, hear!) I have often said they had discovered a new mode of killing the mice, who dispute the possession of our Custom House with the Englishmen in it; they starved them (laughter?) The Union is starving the people of Ireland: it is withering up her resources, and reducing her daily to decay (hear, hear, hear!) Let my wishes go abroad to the people of Ireland, and if they submit to my advice, we must raise our country from its wretchedness (hear!) But why should we con- tinue our intercourse with those that thwart our of- fort for national redress and national independence? (hear!)—Why should we deal with those who op. pose a repeal of the Union, or buy from them or sell to them? (hear, hear, hear!) It was a decided enemy in the Catholic Association to exclusive dealing (hear, hear!) It had taken too much a sectarian character, and I was anxious to combine Catholics and Protestants alike as Irishmen, for the benefit of Ireland (cheers) I was then against that; but I'll tell you what I am for now—I am for exclusive dealing for a Repeal of the Union (cheers.) I know there are men -servile, time-serving Catholics—and one of them, high as he is and wealthy, was made a Bank Direc- tor through my means; and men of his description should not be dealt with (hear! and cheers) What I want is, to form an Association for giving up the use of articles paying Excise Duties (hear, hear!) Let it go round. Let there be no whiskey drunk, and there will be no riots (hear, hear, hear!) I tell you several men came round to me to-day who have not hitherto co-operated with me, and expressed their disapprobation of the measures of the Government (hear, hear!) One of these is an Orangeman, or if not a sworn one, has the principles of Orangeism (cheers.) I wish such men to come round me, and merge, in the name of Irishmen, all feeling but for Ireland (cheers.) I tell you that every attempt like this of to-day, by our ene- mies, will but increase my anxiety for the service of Ireland (cheers.) But the people must obey my ad- vice, and abstain from every act that can injure our country (hear, hear, hear!) Good Heaven! do they not know that I am only actuated by my desire to improve the condition of the people of Ireland, (loud and continued cheers?) But I can only effect the objects I have in view by peace and good order; by the assis- tance of good men, who are good sons, good brothers, good husbands, and good fathers (hear, hear, hear!) Let such men be my friends, and I will make Ireland too strong for her enemies (cheers.) Yes, I'll live to see her tradesmen employed, industrious and prosperous (cheers)—Take my advice then (we will)—let every man circulate it, and act on it (hear hear!) Let there be no illegal societies (hear, hear, hear!) Let there be peace among all men (cheers.) Fellow Catholics, when you meet your Protestant neighbour, tell him the cause of quarrel is over, and tender him your friendship (hear, hear, hear!) Tell him he will derive equal benefits from a resident Legislature as yourself—tell him, if he be a shopkeeper or a trades- man, that the crowds of gentry brought to Dublin by a repeal of the Union would fill his shop, and employ him as well as you (hear, hear!) Let this be the terms of your intercourse with him, and you will win him as your friend, and make him love his country (cheers.) I hope it is not impiety in me to pray to the Great God to let me see such days in Ireland, before I descend into my grave! Mr. O'Connell concluded amid enthusiastic applause.

Mr. Lawless was about to speak, when Mr. O'Con- nell said—I did not wish to trespass much at length in noticing the occurrence of to-day, as I was concerned in it myself; but I now give my friends the benefit of my legal skill, and I tell them that this is the most foolish attempt ever practised to annoy public men [cheers] No inconvenience can arise from it, except, indeed, some trifling expense, and Ireland will not suf- fer them to lose by their suffering in her service [hear, and cheers.] Two or three other resolutions, and a Petition to be presented to Parliament, by Earl Radnor, in the House of Lords, and Mr O'Connell in the House of Commons, were adopted. Mr. Thomas Reynolds addressed the meeting in a powerful speech, and the meeting afterwards separated, Thousands waited in the streets to hail Mr. O'Con- nell, and they crowded round him as he proceeded homewards accompanied by his friends.