IRELAND. (From the London Times, May 4.)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 242, 23 September 1848, Page 3

IRELAND. (From the London Times, May 4.)

Ireland is in want of an epic poet, not to sing Achilles' wraih, but the battle of the Frogs and Mice. The labt cJtito, where the poet came to describe the attack upun the " store" might indeed disappoint expectation, but there would be something iudehcri bably "ratifying in the unexpectedntss of the soluiion. We had looked for all the pomp, piide, and circumstance of war, gatherings of pike-bearers innumerable, hills blazing with beacons, volleys of musketry, tuid charges of Dragoons ; when lo ! the affdT enas like a town anil gowa row at either of the Universities. —

The harp that once in Tara's halls, and so forth, is certainly, for the time, in the most cracked condition. If there be such a thing as a sense of the ludicrous left in Ireland, agitation must be at a discount in that country. Tbe Repeal party and the rebel party, After all their vapouring, have just come to the end of the Kilkenny cats, of famous memory. Two Aaron's rods have met together in single contest, and their respective backers are left to draw itakes over an empty arena. It would require the p?n of Fielding, in his grand' iloquent vein, when he describes a buttle at a pot house, to do justice to tbe valour of the Limerick combatants. Messrs. Smith OBrien, Mitchell, and Meagher, had built great hopes on this demonstration. The Limerick meeting was to be the counfrmme to the prosecutions pending in the Qucen'i Bench. A large room was garnished for the occasion. " Tay-tay, and eof fee t»y," with suitable Gates and condiments, for 400 male patriots were p epared, and, of coune, a gallery for tbe ladies. On Saturday evening, at 7 o'clock tbe triumvirate were there and prepared for action. — The " base, bloody, and brutal Whigs" were tied up to the triangles and Fairier Mitchell ready to strike home. The sublime spectacle of eight millions of people ready to rise as a man for the assertion of their rights was to be insisted upon — barricades were to be hinted at, and bottles of vitrol introduced by way of inuendo — nothing, in fact, was wanting tliHt could add occasion to the orator's points, or emphasis to his periods. Alas ! for human hopes, a storm was brewing outside. Moral Force was uncoiling itself for a spring, while Physical Force was evapoiating in words. Sir Lucius O'Trigger, the Moral Force champion, was calmly getting ready in the street for a little peaceful sublimity, while Bob Acres within, the Physical Force man, for all his "odds, pike", and bayonets," was roubleJ with an oozing palm. The streets in the neighbourhood of the store became filled with people. In the midst of them was seen an image stuffed, u«lv, and erect. In coat and cravat it wore tbe similitude of John Milchell, the United Irishman, the rebel chieftain, the contingent president of the future Celtic republic ; the effigy of the hero was not, however, reared aloft with triumphal views. The notion of honoris causa by no means attached to the exhibition , the object of the crowd was typically to commit John Mutchellto the flimes. The fi» tire was stuffed with combustible materials , it was placed against the window, and set on fire. This was the signal for a general attack. The Moral Force men applied a battering-ram to the door. In spite of the entreaties of the Physical Force party to desist from violence, the door was forced in. Shots were fired, luckily without occasioning loss of life — it would have been a pity to have mixed >up trasredy with the broad farce. Volleys of stones were hurled at the orators, — the smell of gunpowder pervaded the apartments,— the Physical Force party were scattered, — the ladies sci earned, and that scream was the climax of the Irish rebellion. We must not omit to mention how it fared with the mighty men of war — the leaders of the physical force demonstration that Wai to lead to a dismemberment of the empire. Nothing more inglorious than their end. Smith OBrien, the truculent and the brave, instead of fighting, took to making a speech. How would Brian Boru have wept < ver his degenerate descendant !-~ Stones were hurled at the descendant of ten thousand Kingi. His face and head weie cut, be vmh punched on the side with a piece of timber, and finally he got a black eye. Mr. Smith O'Biien is certainly no longer in a condition to jest at scars from deficient knowledge of bruises and contusions ; Mitchell, sans peur, and Meagher " of the sword," Biieaked out of the row and made the best of their way to Cruise's Hotel, protected by the police force of « George Clarendon, Englishman. 1 ' From their caravanserai they subsequently effected their escape by aruse dn guerre, which was so dexterously contrived as to convince u« of their capacity for cairying into effect the Fabian policy of judicious retreat when the Great War shall break out. Nothing remains to be told but that the Moral Foice party inflicted upon the Physical Force party a very sound drubbing. We congratulate the leaders on their escape. Mr. Smith OBrien made his appearance in the Queen's Bench on Monday, ciiscomfi ed, disfigured, and dejected. The Repealers muit make up their minds then to do without a row. Ireland must make up her mind, like Lydia Languish in the play, to do without an elopement. Captain Absolute, and a very common-place matter of fact sort of Union with an indulgent partner, were all the young lady in the old comedy, or the sister country in the new farce, have to expect. We do not anticipate, however, that even the row at Limerick will induce the Repealmongers to shut up their sedition stores. There is but one remedy. Ireland is not worth keeping, unless the law can be enfoiced there as freely as in Kent or Middlesex. The law officers of the Crown in the discharge of their duty, and by the provisions of the new act, will, no doubt, be able to "gag" the mouths of those who would light up the flame of civil .var. The worst of it is that inextricable blunders of the law officers of the Crown in Ireland always appear to intervene between the Legislature anditi object. Irish state prosecutions have become a synonym with Irish blundeis; and, as far as we may judge of those recently instituted, they appear to furnish us with no departure from the rule.