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38

EPITOME OF INTELLIGENCE.

AT'a Meeting of the General Board of permitted to observe that no Bill, or principle

the Catholics of Ireland, held at the Shakespeare Gallery, on Saturday, the 8th of Jan. 1814, it was resolved, That the Chairman be requested respectfully to convey to the Earl of Donoughmore the Resolutions of the Aggregate Meeting of the 15th June last, relative to the formation of the Board, and, at the same time, to assure him that the individuals composing the Catholic Board never have assumed or claimed any representative capacity, being determined not to violate the Law, even under its most unfavourable con

struction.

That a Committee be appointed to carry into cfect the Laws in favour of the Catholics, with respect to Corporation Rights.

That the Thanks of the Board be given to Mr. Pemberton and Mr. Ring, for their exertions in procuring the Freedom of the Corporation for the Catholics.

At a meeting of the Board, on the 22d, Mr. O'Gorman was requested to report to the Board the occurrences which had taken place on the occasion of certain trials at Derry,

where he had acted as defendants' counsel.

Mr. O'Gorman, after some observations from Mr. Mahon and Mr. O'Connell, entered

into a very interesting detail, which shall appear, if possible, in the next number.

Mr. O'Connell gave notice of a motion concerning the suggestions to the Parliamentary advocates of Emancipation.

MR. GRATTAN'S LETTER. The following is a copy of Mr. Grattan's second Letter to the General Board of Irish Catholics:

Tinnehinch, Dec. 16th, 1813.

SIR,--I was honoured with your letter written by order of the Catholic Board, and I beg to return you my thanks for the politeness of your communication. I beg also to remind the Catholic Board, that the first Resolution transmitted to me, was a proposal for a communication from the Board, in the form of a Bill, to be presented to Parliament for their Relief and that I declined that communication, conceiving that the forming a Bill was the exclusive province of Parliament. I have been honored with a second let

ter, in which the Board is pleased to mention the benefits by them expected to have arisen from such their communication; and, among other benefits, they observe, that it would have made known to their enemies the real extent of the Relief sought by the Catholics. Without doubting, in any degree, the propriety of such an object, may I be

of a Bill, formed by the Board, could authenticate what is the real extent of the relief sought by the Catholics. I do perfectly believe, that the Catholics are entirely competent to set forth their grievances and their relief; but they have done so already by repeated Petitions, in which they speak with authenticity to their Representatives in the House of Commons. I do acknowledge, and applaud the wisdom of the idea which the Board is pleased to express on the subject of healing measures, and do second most cordially the wish they declare to remove injurious jealousies and groundless alarms; but I must be permitted to add that those jealousies and alarms can only be removed by a spirit of accommodation, and by such steps as may unite the Irish and English Catholics, and may harmonize the Irish Catholics with one another; and I do not hesitate to say, that liation the Catholics will never succeed. without a spirit of accommodation and conci

The Board is pleased to say that it has attempted to do its duty to the Catholic cause, to their Protestant Brethren, and the Legislature: permit me to add, that when the Board shall have adopted the spirit of accomthen, can the Board proclaim that it has enmodation and conciliation, then, and not till deavoured to do its duty. I lament extremely the disappointment which attended the proceedings of the last Sessions, but that disappointment, I must observe, did not arise from the want of a bill formed by the Catholic Board. The Board is pleased to say that it has made a candid and respectful avowal of their views---I acknowledge the avowat to be both candid and respectful. They will permit me to make a candid and respectful avowal of mine: They are, the complete Emancipation of my Roman Catholic fellow subjects, without injury to their Church, or their Religion: and the perpetuation of the Protestant Succession to the Crown, and the preservation of the Protestant Church. These are the sentiments in which I support the Catholic petition, and in these I am sure I have the concurrence of the Catholics. Sorry should I be to obstruct, for a moment, the happy results which the Board, or any other Body, may conceive they can produce, for the promotion of any of these great objects; and I therefore take this opportu nity to declare, that I am ready to receive any suggestions on this subject from the Catholic Board, or any other description of my Fellow-Citizens,-concurring with my Noble Friend, Lord Donoughmore, in objecting to any communication from the Board

in the form of a Bill, or with the authority of instructions, I have the houour to be, With respect and sincerity, Your very faithful humble servant, HENRY GRATTAN.

Nicholas Mahon, Esq. Chairman of the Catholic Board for the 4th of December.

On Thursday, Jan. 13, a Deputation from the Manufacturers of the Liberties of Dublin waited upon DANIEL O'CONNELL, Esq. at his house in Merion-square, to present him with an Address and a splendid Piece of Plate, in testimony and commemoration of his general services to his Country, and more particularly to the Trade and Manufactures in Ireland. The Cup is an elegant piece of workmanship. On one side is the following inscription:"Presented by the Manufacturers of the Li"berty of the City of Dublin, to DANIEL "O'CONNELL, Esq. as a Token of their Es"teem for his Public and Private Virtues, "and transcendant Abilities, displayed on "all occasions for the welfare of our Com"mon Country."-On the reverse, a Shield, leaning on an aged tree, bears the Arms of O'Connell-a Harp unstrung-Chains broken by the abilities of the Writer, and the cloquence of the Orator, of which a Book, Pen, Scroll, Lamp of Study, Caduceus, and Scale of Justice, are emblematic.

RIBBON MEN.-Nothing can display more strongly the ill effects of Orangemen than the wonderful and rapid diffusion of the Ribbon Association in the North. It commenced in the local disturbance at Fannet, a district in the county of Donegall. A violent conflict occurred in this district between the Orangemen and Catholics-lives were lost on both sides-seven Catholics were capitally

be impressed with an opinion, that the Catholics were not sufficiently protected by the law against the outrages of the Ulster Orangemen-they were sworn to defend each other, if attacked--they were sworn to give no provocation; and, for that purpose, notwithstanding the cheapness of liquors in this part of the country, they were mutually pledged by their association to strict sobriety-no man to drink more than two tumblers of punch in the twenty-four hours.

They had their chairmen and secretaries, and regular nights of meeting, and books, resolutions, &c. &c. In a few weeks more, all the Catholics of Ulster would have been associated. About seven months ago, the Catholic Board issued their public admonitory address, that the people should avoid all such associations. The people obeyed instantly-they dissolved their lodges.

The society owed its origin to Orangemen. Its decay was the work of the Board. But the Orangemen are again on the alert. In the North, they indulge in excesses almost as ridiculous as they are illegal. A festival of three days; an Orange Boven of half a week has been lately celebrated in Derry. Under the ludicrous pretence that it was necessary to bless, with the Orange flag, the first stone of a new court-honse, a three day's festival was celebrated, sufficient to remind the poor Catholics of Derry of the Spartan solemnities, during which it was permitted to inflict every cruelty on the wretched Helots. The consequences of this most absurd carnival, at which baronets and bishops, sheriffs and clergymen, magistrates and mob, joined in the revelry, is the probability of a revival of the Ribbon Lodges. But in order to counteract the evil tendenc of these ille

gal associations, the General Board, on the motion of Mr. O'Connell, have resolved to prepare another Address to the People, cautioning them against the danger of engaging in these unlawful societies.-It is the intention of the Board also to prosecute any outrage that may be committed by the Orangebut to give no assistance whatever to those men on a Catholic who is not a Ribbon-man, who enter into any unlawful combinations.

indicted at Lifford, the assizes town of the county. The barristers employed on the part of the Catholics were Messrs. Smyly, Rolleston, and Macklin. The Judge was the present Sir Michael Smyth; he charged the Jury strongly and favourably for the Catholics no Catholic, of course, was on the jury every one of the seven was found guilty. A point of law was made in favour of the prisoners by Mr. Macklin. The Judge felt it to be his duty to make a strong representa--and it is to be hoped the people will be

tion to government in favour of the prisoners -he saved the lives of seven Catholics. The associations of Ribbon Men commenced instantly after-it commenced in the city of Derry-its avowed object was defensive-it spread rapidly, in a few weeks, through the counties of Donegall and Derry-in a few months, it had extended from Derry to Belfast on the one side, and Monaghan on the other-ninety-nine lodges were associated. it was spreading rapidly through Ulster three meetings of the delegates from lodges had been held in the city of Derry, they consisted of Catholics exclusively-they appeared by their conduct and association to

The Board in this respect have acted right

wise. They must not imitate the conduct of the Orangemen. There must be no illegal associations in Ireland. The conduct of the Catholics in the pursuit of Emancipation, or measures of self defence, must be all open, else it will be mischievous--and themselves and their friends will be the first victims. Every thing should be done FOR THE PEOPLE, BUT NOTHING BY THE PEOPLE.

Derry seems to have had a Jubilee of another description from the above, in conse quence of some prosecutions entered into against the Catholics resperting their late aggregate meeting, in which Counsellors O'Gorman and Macklin excited the utmost

OBITUARY.

enthusiasm in the people by the able exertion of their legal abilities.-The following article on this subject is copied from a Protestant paper, and will give the reader some idea of the state of Parties in the sister island :"The Trial of the Rev. Mr. O'Mullan lasted nearly a week. The conduct of Mr. O'Gorman has excited the greatest enthusiasm of gratitude in Derry. Party will always produce its own re-action. Orangemen have produced Ribbon-Men, and the cry of Orange Boven, which lately, in Derry, de-military man, within forty miles of his resilighted the ear of Sir George Hill, for nearly a week, has been answered by the cry of Erin Boven, which, for another week, greeted the patriotic exertions of Macklin and O'Gorman. O'Gorman, a Catholic, was drawn by many thousand Catholics around the Protestant walls of Derry! Oh! shade of pious and immortal memory, shall the vulgar uproar of a Papist multitude thus insult the loyalty of the maiden city! It is not more than fifty years since no Papist dare enter within its gates! It is not more than thirty years since no Papist, but a barber and a baker, dared to reside within its walls! Since the days when the Maiden Queen signed the Charter for erecting the Maiden City, no Popish Priest ever yet presumed to reside within the fortress of Protestantism. Even the present Popish Bishop holds his humble habitation far in the suburbs, far distant from the walls of the Maiden City; but now, alas! the times are changed, and for the first time since the building of the City, the unholy voice of a Popish Lawyer has echoed in the office of Derry's Mayor-even in the presence of Derry's Recorder. A Popish multitutude have paraded, in unresisted triumph, a Popish Demagogue round its Protestant walls. And are the honours paid to William of Nassau to be answered by like honour paid to O'Gorman of Clare? O, Derry-down! and. is Derry down? Where is the Serjeants of Mace? Where are the Bishop and the Beadles, and the Bang-the-Beggars, to resist this torrent of unholy Huns, who pour from the suburbs as a flood, and shout through the city in Popish joy? O, Maiden City, art thou thus to be defiled by their presence, and insulted by their uproar? Where are the Orange, and Purple, and Blue? Where is the Legion-the Derry Legion--that swore on their knees, in their corps-in the presence of the Grandees of the Corporation and the Church-with a tumbler in one hand and a bayonet in the other-never to abandon the Worship of William, and the Creed of Ascendancy? Where are the Apprentice Boys of Derry? O, perhaps" they speak "but by the Recorder.'

DIED. On his passage from Bristol, where he had been for the recovery of his health, DANIEL O'SULLIVAN, of Cameatringane, in Beerhaven, county of Cork, Esq. | Captain of the Beerhaven Loyal Infantry; and the first Roman Catholic appointed to the Commissiou of the Peace in the county of Cork, since the reign of Queen Anne. O'Sullivan it was, who, in 1796, when the French fleet were in Bantry Bay, and not a

A Catholic girl, in the city of Derry, ventured to sympathise in the confinement of Mr. O'Mullan. An Orangeman levhlled a

dence, assembled upwards of 2000 of the peasantry, principally his own tenants, and watched the line of coast for eleven nights; drove off into the interior all the cattle; secreted, or conveyed away, the provisions, and took every other precaution to harass the enemy, and deprive him of subsistence, should he land. O'Sullivan it was, who, with a band of his faithful peasantry, made a French lieutenant and his boat's crew, on their landing, prisoners; and with no other escort, conveyed them to Bantry, where General Dalrymple had then arrived with a very small force, half a regiment. The general refused to believe that the vessels in the bay were French, until O'Sullivan introduced his prisoner, Lieutenant Proseau, who soon cured the general of his incredulity, and he immediately ordered his carriage, and made good his retreat to Cork. O'Sullivan, upon that occasion, lost his pleasure-boat, which cost him 500 guineas; he sent her out to reconnoitre, the French fleet, but she was cut off on her return by a French frigate, and sunk; her crew were made prisoners, and carried to France. For these services, O'Sullivan, although a Catholic, was presented with the freedom of the Corporation of Cork. The associated merchants of that city, too, presented him with a flattering address, and a handsome sword, and government gave him the command of a yeomanry corps. They, however, forgot to pay for his boat, although she was destroyed by the enemy, and in the public service. O'Sullivan died in his 57th year, unmarried. No man was ever more regretted, or deserved more regret. He was idolized by his tenantry-he was affectionately beloved by all his friends---he was universally respected and esteemed by all his acquaintances. This is no exaggeration. He was descended from one of the branches of the princely house of O'Sullivan Beare, ancient lords of Beare and Bantry; and he possessed, in an eminent degree, the Milesian virtues--he was generous, good-humoured, brave, and hospitable. In him was exhibited the living model of the ancient chieftains; and his afflicted followers now mourn the hand that was never closed, and the heart that was never before cold.

musket at her head, and fired! The girl is Printed by W. E. ANDREWS, Fenwick-court, dangerously wounded! The punishment of this poor girl was greater than her offence.

Holborn, London.

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MR. BLAIR.

HIS Gentleman, who signed him

This then will account for the acrimo

ny contained this gentleman's present the absurdities which are to be found in it. In one place Mr. B. says, "in "due time, Sir, if you allow me a suffi"cient proportion of your pages, I 66 may be able to expose many of the ' "fallacies and misrepresentations by

ling correspondent, now seems very unwilling to relinquish the combat.Nay he even talks of his "bold ad"vances into the camp of an enemy;" and he cautions me not "to presume "at once that I had gained a decided "victory, on perceiving that his first" which you and Bishop Milner HAVE "address included but a small num"ber of the topics which I thought 66 most deserving of notice." For my part I had no such presumption; but really, from the jargon of his last document, I am inclined to believe that I gave my antagonist a stuning blow, from the effects of which he has not yet been able to recover himself. This will appear evident, on a perusal of his present letter, which, from the confusion of his ideas, sufficiently proves the state of mind under which the author laboured; and although he takes the field again, he does not seem inclined to repel the

"imposed on your readers." Now, it appears very strange to me that this gentleman, whom I have detected in imposing upon his readers, should net embrace the opportunity of doing the same by me if it was in his power; but my logical opponent contents himself with asserting that I HAVE Done so, and that in due time, if I allow him a sufficient space (I wonder how many pages it will require to convict a Popish editor of vending faleshoods) he may be able to expose me. If what Mr. B. asserts, is really founded in fact, why does he not come to the proof at once? What necessity is my arguments, but renews his there for further time to explain what attack with a discharge of abuse, and has been already done? The truth is, a volley of assertions. Indeed the that Mr. Blair CANNOT PROVE WHAT Wound I have inflicted appears to be HE ASSERTS, or I am persuaded he deeper than I intended, to which I would have readily availed himself of have added another, in my exposure the opportunity. For what purpose of the falsehoods and inconsistencies the name of that learned scholar and contained in the Fifth-of-November pious divine, the Right Rev. Dr. Milpamphlet, which I noticed in my num- ner, has been introduced by Mr. B. ber for December, since the editor of I am at a loss to conjecture. The Rev. it appears to be no other person than Prelate has never interfered in our conMr. B.; at least so it has been assert- troversy, nor made any attack upon ed in a public print, in which he was Mr. B. Why theu has he thus wantonly Congratulated for his laudable exer- accused this exalted personage of mistions in the cause of Protestantism.- | representation and falsehood, without ORTHOD. JOUR. VOL. II.

force of

G

a shadow of proof? Has he the vanity | tares, I shall insert that gentleman's

to imagine that the Bishop's character can be weakened by his empty assertions? The ablest writers of the day have been labouring to establish this charge against the Rev. Doctor, but they have all sunk beneath the attempt; and does my antagonist think that his exertions will be crowned with success? How vain and simple the conceit! Mr. Blair further observes, that perhaps I mistake abusive reproaches for arguments, or that I may expect Protestants to stoop so low as to notice the effusions of ignorance and malice which abound in the controversial writings of my forefathers. In fact, I had no such thoughts: I certainly did expect that Mr. Blair, who had stooped so low as to address me, the Editor of the Popish Journal, as he elegantly terms my publication in his Fifth-of-November effusions, would also have condescended to answer the observations which I made on his first letter; and I shall just observe, that if he claims my promise to insert his remarks, I shall expect that Mr. B. will confine himself to facts, and not content himself with sophistical assertions. As to the ignorance and malice contained in the writings of my forefathers, I am really sorry for them, and Mr. B. is very unfortunate in his allusion, since the old gentlemen were, as far as I know, Protestants, my own parents being such till they became enveloped in the darkness of Popery. That their controversial writings abound in ignorance and calumny, I cannot deny-of malice I will not accuse them, if they have been guilty of it, they have answered for the deed at the proper tribunal; but I have not met with any Catholic works which deserve the appellation, unless, indeed, it is malicious to defend Truth, and that to adduce unanswerable arguments is the effect of ignorance. I shall now conclude these preliminary observations, and before I proceed to answer Mr. Blair's Defence, if such it can be called, of the English Protestant Translators of the Holy Scrip

letter. By this he will have the candour and fair dealing which he requires, and he may be assured that I have no desire to handle him uncharitably.

MR. BLAIR'S SECOND LETTER ON CATHOLIC FREEDOM, TOLERATION AND CHARITY.

When I began to address you, Mr. Editor, on the subjects which are named in the title of my present and former letter, it was to be expected that any single letter in the series (especially the first) would touch only upon a few of the points intended to be discussed. You had, therefore, no reason to become petulant and impertinent; or to presume at once that you had gained a decided victory, on perceiving that my first address included but a small number of the topics which you thought most deserving of notice! In due time, Sir, if you allow me a sufficient proportion of your pages, I may be able to expose many of the fallacies and misrepresentations by which you and Bishop Milner have imposed on your readers; but, in the mean time, "let not him "that girdeth on his harness boast as "he that putteth it off:" and I take the liberty, Sir, of advising you not to write with so much flippancy, assurance, and personally rudeness, as you have already indulged in, throughout most of your controversial papers; since it is possible that some of your correspondents and other individuals, whom you treat thus contemptuously, may have a moderate portion of sense and learning as well as yourself,though not gifted with so large a share of effrontery. I certainly do not intend to evade 66 real any ARGUMENT" of Dr. Milner or yourself, which falls within the scope of my present plan; and I rely upon your promise 66 to in"sert any remarks I may wish to "make on what is contained in the "Orthodox Journal." Fairness and candid dealing is all I shall claim from

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