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IRELAND. [From the Times' Correspondent.] THE REVIVED " NATION."

I |Emboldened, or cheered, it may be, by the favoura* ble reception given to the first number of the revived Nation, Mr. Gavan Duffy gaini courage, »ees more clearly the way before him, and this day more fully developes the line of policy which he conceives to be the most practicable towards recovering the ground lost by the two systems of agitation which, after a series of blunders and convulsions, have left Ireland in the same position in the year 1819 which she occupied just twenty years previously. Mr. Duffy commences by reiterating his repudiation of the war policy. Fight they cannot ; to fly the country would be cowardice j and as to the middle course, the formation of an Irish League, "it is already a vague and distant tradition of betler times." It is, then, on the effects of the famine that Mr. Duffy grounds the hopes of working out of the task he has assigned to himself. The famine, he says, has done part of the work that revolution might have accomplished at a smaller waste of life and property. "It has shattered the stronghold of the people's chief enemy," the depopulating landlords, to wit. He insists, too, that no experiment has yet bad fair play, and he proceeds :— " Not war} for the fight commenced in '48, while the converging lines of foreign and domestic circumstances, instead of meeting in that focus that promises an explosion, were still wide apart with frigid spaces gaping between them. Strusk at the right moment the blow made at Ballingarry wouM have been no parish brawl, but a Bastile or a Bunker's hill— the first blood of a rerolution, " Not organization ; for the men with whom OBrien was ultimately obliged to take the field were chiefly peasantry, who had never seen a Confederate card, and who knew him only as the quondam associate of O'Connell. " Not education ; for the systematic training of the people, which ought to have occupied the 40 yesr9 between the political birth and death of O'Connell, only commenced with Davis, and was blown away by the revolutionary storm of 1848. Nobody was taught to help himself, but taught to await in sluggish expectancy some political miracle that would make a man of him without effort. '• Not a Parliamentaiy party ; for we have bad none, Mr. O'Connell sent his lackeys and dogboys into the Home of Commons, and they fetched and carried as he bads them. But the moment the terror of his eye was removed, they followed their servile, instincts, and hired with a new master for better wages and larger douceurs. National independence is still the shadoivy prize for which he means to contend :— " I aim for no lower prize than this island to be enjoyed absolutely and exclusively by its own people. I sought it at the peril of my head— l preached till the Englith Government snatched the pen and the press from my hands— and it was not nearer my heart or dearer to my imagination at that hour than at this. But I can strive for it only by paths that will reach it. All falie and empty swaggering on a subject so solemn seems to me base and horrible. A mountain liei in our path, and I cannot pretend we will leap over it. Our road lies round the base, and no other way. This is ths road Grattan travelled, who, " made • covenant with bis conscience to seize the first moment" to rescue his country— -the first moment it could be attempted " with any chance of success and without aggravation or oppression." The destruction of the oligarchy io *• ith countries, as the batis for liberty Ibid in the f" on of a small proprietary, Mr. Duffy thin 1 '- isily accompliihed by • junetior - >r» irith the " advanced party" in k.igta:' _.• to hit description of ihose Eame " R*>"" — " I know that the p . , in Ireland have used their political franchise* ana social influence in a way to degrade and dishonour the country; and I desire to see the best men of the party set deliberately to work to reverse the system. The Repeal members, the Re« peal corporations, the Repeal agitators, are a visible and standing reproach to Ireland, more discouraging to our hopes than twenty Ballißgarry failures. Passing from this subject, he proceeds to develope his project for a systematic organization of a new species of agitation*. These are the leading features :— " I do not desire to see a revival of O'ConnelFs associations, with an exchequer levied in pence and a weekly appeal to whatever idle crowd happens to be gathered in the great room on Burgh-quay. But, con« federacy is the secret of work done on a wide scale,— and to bring the practical genius of the countrr into union, to combine the tenants of Munster and Ulster, to strengthen the popular arm, that it may shield the oppressed, and strike the oppressor, to sca'ter wide the seeds of knowledge among the people by carrying it where it is most n;eded, there must be an organized association. It seeim to me that its work would be best done by committees, lectures, conferences, deputations, reports — not by meetings and harangues. Bat the form is a secondary question — the main point is, that there shall be un embodied public opinion, empowered to think and act on the part of tbe people. I bold this to be essential. I set no hope of sy«tematic progress without it. It is the machinery of moral action against its mere manual labour. Before, however, this nor crusade h entered upon, the Land question must be settled by the Imperial Legislature :— "It cmnot Wait for an Irish Parliament. If it do, there will be no Irish people, The poetry and heroics of Irish politics will not serve us here ; something sterner and more substantial is demanded. Our people are melting away hour by hour. Their lives, and what is nobler than their lives, the purity and generosity that survived in this isolated island after they bad become traditions in Europe, are fading fast. When the fiinine swallowed its 30,000,009 sterling, it swallowed other things far more precious— the temperance reformation, the political training of the peopb, the labours of years, and the pride of generations, were lost in the same bottomless morass. And day by day this ruin spreads like a conflagration, slow and devouring. In two years, lam convinced, there will be fewer sound men in all Ireland than in Canada or Scotland, if we cannot stop i f . I dare not presume to palter with a calamity like this —it is plainly the question to be dealt with at this hour, if the Irish people are not to disappear from the face of the e^rth A vivid description follows of tbe present condition of the Province of Conn»ught, reeling under the combined effects of famine and extermination ; and the first duty of the •• National Association" is to assault this system with every weapon at its commaad. In the meantime, while the Irish Parliament is in process of incubation, Mr. Duffy conceives that tbe Corporation of Dublin (I)— [tell it not at the Cup) of Good Hope] might worthily fill the place of a Celtic senate :— " I can conceive the Corporation of Dublin, for example, filling, not altogstber unworthily, tbe vacant place of an Irish senate— men of solid worth and solid sense gravely deliberating on national interests, and uttering dicta that would carry the moral weight of law on both sidei of the Channel. I can couoeive it, nni

lim ambitious to lee it accomplished. If it if not, our higher hopes are a dream. Dublin howling for repeal or whining under its ragged and squallid ruin, | while it abuses the rights it possesses, while it svreepi the moral sinks and gutters of the corrupt city to find I some of the most utterly worthless idols that imagination can conceive, to set up in high places and hang gold chains upon, is a spectacle to make men and angeli weep. Till we make wise use of the power we possess, we have no title to greater power, and crying for it it crying for the moon. We must begin with what we have. The Irish memberi of Parliament next come in for a taste of Mr. Duffy'* quality :— "While Ireland sends to Parliament fellows lika dunghills, so foul that honest men hold their noses when they approach them, and hurry past with all reasonable despatch — what, indeed, could come of Parliamentary operations ? But if we cannot reverse all this, utterly, we labour in vain. In conclusion, Mr. Duffy lays down a map of duties for the National Association, which smack marvellously of the old Conciliation -hall fraud. Who is there that does not recolle> t the eleven proposition! propounded by the late Mr. O'Connell for the redemption of Ireland* and the disappointment of the Repeal party, who, even then, regarded them at but a shabby subterfuge to shelve the once " darling project" of tha Liberator's iife ? The Duffy nostrum! are, if possible, more astounding specimens of humbug. Here they are : 1* Whether we cannot raise capital to found an Irish plantation, with Irish money and for Irishmen ? 2. How far ii it possible to form ajricultural colonies in Ireland, on estates purchased under the new Act, or to form parishes into such colonies ? 3. What handicrafts and msnufactutes, not requiring coal or expensive machinery, can be firmly rooted in the country, by encouragement and superintendence ? 4. What rude fabrics for home u?e can still be made in rustic districts ? 5. In what respect America can encourage Irish, manufactures ? 6. How far the Irish in America who have amas3ed capital, could be Induced to return and purchase small properties in fee ? 7. Whether Irish fishermen could not catch Irish fish, instead of the very coasts of Dublin, within m stone's throw of the shore, being fished by Manx and English boats. 8. How far the vast multitude of children in ths work-houses — nearly 30,000— could be taught by industrial schools new trades and pursuits, embracing the manufacture of foreign articles imported into Ireland ? 9. How far an awakened public spirit in the country can be systematically put forth, to help ounelvet ? — Tint power has not only won battles, but felled forests and drained swamps, and planted trades and founded cities— and did these things while contending hand to hand with tyranny ? I believe we havenevec taken possession of our country, and that this feat remains to be achieved. 10. Whether the generous, sensitive, Celtic organization is not fit for some finer task than sweating under the negro work of Europe snd America— toiling in the giey jacket of a "navvy" or marching in the red jacket of a mercenary soldier ?

Th« Cholera.— The last accounts from Sligo mention tbat the cool weather bad done much toward* staying the progress of the malady which, however, was fill mging to an thrming extent Within 21 houri there had been 17 new caie« in the poor-house, while in the town the numbers ihowed a considerable diminution. Among the earlieit tictims was Dr. Thomu Little, an eminent medical practitioner, whosa death appear* to bare created great sorrow among all daises of the inhabitants. The disease still lingers itt Dublin and Belfast; but its virulence has materially abated, although eVen within the present week several respectable residents of both cities have been swept away after a rery short illness. Mr, George Suffern, ex-mayor of Belfast, and a candidate for the representation of the borough at the last general election, was seized with the malady while waiting as one of a deputation in the ante-chamber of the Throne-room at Dublin Caste ; he at once hastened borne, and lingered until Tuesday, when the attack termina'ed fatally. Mus Suffern, He only sister of the ex-mayor, who never left his bedside during her brother's illness, was attacked with cholera the day after his decease, and died on Thursday, in her 59th year, after 9 houri 1 suffering. The Battlr of Dolu's Brae— Death of onb or the OitANOE Party. — The Newfy Telegraph contains the followsngs— "Though not a single Pro« testant was killed in the battle which took place at Magheramayo, on the 12tU July, four were wounded —one of whom, Thotnai Tingten, who belonged to one of the Rathfriland Lodges, died on Tuesday; he was wounded in the breast by a ball during the engagement. For some times hopes were eutertained of his recovery, but they were, eventually, disappointed. On the evening of the conflict he was conveyed to Ballyroney, where he remained (ill his decease. His brother Orangemen of the district ossem* bled on Thursday to pay their last respects to his remains— the funeral was very large. The Orangemen, besides being dressed in the insignia of the order, had hat-scarfs on, and the official shoulder-scarfs. — There was not a gun among the whole proceision, and the conduct of all was highly praiseworthy. The body of the deceased was interred in the churchyard. A company of the 9th regiment and a large number of constabulary, under their proper officers, went out to Ballyroney in the morning, for the purpose of preserving the peace, in case their gervices should bo required ; but we are happy to state that the entire proceedings of the day passed off without a single reach of the peace. The conduct of all was such as ecattie the m ournful occasion." Projected Pier at Queenstown, Cjrk Harbour. — The inhabitants of Queenstown, late Cove, are most anxious for the expected visit of the Lords of the Admiralty at their port. It is supposed that arrangements will now be 3peedi!y made for at once commencing the long talked of pier at Queenstown, to the erection of which their lordships are known to be favourable. The miserable landing place where the general water traffic of the town has been for years conducted would be a disgrace to the meanest fishing village ; hosr much more so the shores of a town which looks over at the strongly-built handsome storehouses and quays of Haulbowline islands, only a few hundred yards distant ! Tnese works were raised with massiva stone from the ancient Carrigacrump quarries, which have been, from time to time, employed i i all the large pub ie and private woiks in the neighbourhood of Cork, and are far from being exhausted. Situated about two miles (Irish) from Rosteilan quay, in the bay, and only three miles water-carriage from Queenstown, a free and continuous supply of this admirable limestone might be depended on, and a pier speedily raised. Tht government will, we are sure, be anxious to carry on the work with the greatest celerity consis . tent with strength and security. In this they will be readily met by the inhabitants of the town and landed proprietor! tround. To |the Lords of the Admiralty QueenilQwn especially loolc* for support in this matter.

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Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZ18500112.2.7

Bibliographic details
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New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 391, 12 January 1850, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
2,503

IRELAND. [From the Times' Correspondent.] THE REVIVED "NATION." New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 391, 12 January 1850, Page 3

IRELAND. [From the Times' Correspondent.] THE REVIVED "NATION." New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 391, 12 January 1850, Page 3

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