The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 484, 4 December 1850, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Be just and fear not : Let all the ends thou aims'i at, bo thy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth's.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 18 50-

Ireland does not much attract the attention of our American contemporaries ; they very habitually give its affairs the go by ; and we aie therefore all the more thrown upon our old files (received directly ! from home) for news from that quarter — so interesting to many of our readers, We regret to state that the latest accounts in the papers now before us teem with details of a most horrible murder — that of a magistrate of the county Armagh, Robert J. MAULBVERhR, Esq., who, under circumstances of revolting atrocity, was killed in open day near the village of Crossmaglen. The case, however, merits special attention, as furnishing information, as instructive as it is melancholy, on the social state of Ireland. We copy from the Times a powerful article on the subject ; its power consisting in its stern and unsparing truthfulness. It exhibits in a striking point of view the real character of many of the murders by which the annals of Ireland have been stained. They are not deliberate and cold-blooded assassinations arising out of private revenge ; most frequently they are, as in this deplorable case, outbursts of wild and reckless desperation, provoked by agrarian aggressions on the part of absentee landlords and their heartless agents, which, while, of course, they cannot justify, yet go far to account for, the dreadful deeds perpetrated by excitable men, who, after having toiled in a labour more severe than was perhaps ever inflicted on a slave, find themselves, with their wives and children, cast out upon the road, to wail and droop, and starve — aye, and to die of hunger, unless cholera, or typhus fever should kindly anticipate the more dreadful death by famine. Some of our leadeis know Ireland well enough to know that this is no exaggerated representation. We have ourselves but too often seen actual evidences of its fidelity. The provocation in this case was extreme : — the deed of blood which followed was frightful. Far be it from us to extenuate the murder ; but men are, after all, only men, and Mr. Mauleverer had taxed human nature beyond its ordinary powers of endurance. The article transferred to our columns from the Times, gives, however, a distressingly faithful view of the whole case, and to it we refer our readers. It is cheering to observe, at the same time, that mere political agitation was at an unusually low ebb. The Repeal Association had for many months been maintaining only a feeble struggle for life. The " sinews of war" had failed, the " Rent," having, notwithstanding many convulsive efforts to revive it, dwindled down to some five or six pounds a week. A poor sum towards the accomplishment of such an object as the disseverance of the British Isles ! Mr. John O'Connell, at one of the farcical meetings of the Association lugubriously bemoaned this. "It's all stuff and nonsense," said he, " to think that I can keep open Conciliation Hall, and repeal the Union, and elevate Ireland to the rank of a nation. It can't be done for the money." No doubt it could not ; and accordingly a later report speaks of the Association as actually defunct. R. I. P. Still, party demonstrations were not given up. The first of July had indeed been permitted to pass over without any violation of the peace, or any exhibition on the part of the Orangemen which was likely to provoke one. The Ribbonmen, however, had raised a riot at Raphoe, in the county of Deny, which the scanty force of police present on the occasion had some difficulty in repressing. But, generally speaking, the Orange and Green seemed, for the time at least, to be " uniting their tints in one arch of peace." The sales under the Encumbered Estates' Commission were going forward on the whole prosperously. The prices obtained in some instances were certainly very low — valuable and well-secured properties having more than once been sold for about thirteen years' purchase. But the demand was increasing, and there could be little doubt that the working of the measure would eventually tend much to the advantage of the countiy, however stringently it may seem at first to press upon individual oivneis. We have had later and very favourable accounts of the crops in Ireland. Those now

before m arc, with scarcely an exception, hopeful and encouraging. Taking all tilings into account, we are inclined to anticipate that when we shall have the full recoids of Irish all airs for 1850, we shall be enabled to congratulate the lovers of that interesting country on her social and material progress.

We have some news from the Sandwich Islands, a brief summary of which will, we have no doubt, be acceptable to many of our readeis. The most impoitant feature in the intelligence is an Act which abolishes the restrictions that previously prevented the holding of lands in fee simple by foreigners on those Islands. The limitation of lights in this case Avas obviously injurious to the welfare of the kingdom by dcbaning foreigners possessed of capital and enlerpiise fiom settling there; and it was •unwotthy of the liberal policy by which the Government of King Kamliiamisii/i has usually been guided. The entire removal of the difficulty, however, may be best understood from a peiusal of the Act on the subject, which, as it is shoit, we copy in extenso :—: — AN ACT lo abolish the liabilities of Aliens to acquire and convey lands in fee iimplr. "Whereas, The development of the resources of thces Islands depends essentially upon their agiicultme : and wlicicas that agi icultuic 1 uquiies the iiid of foreign capital, skill and labor : and whcioas, the King dusnes lo cncoui.i(>c the mlioduction of foieign capital and labor to the utmost extent that his lights ofsovcieign jurisdiction and domain will allow, Theiefoio Ik- it enacted l>y the House of Nobles and Repic- , senlalivcs of Lhc Hawaiian Islands, in Legislative Council assembled : Section 1. That any alien, resident in the Hawaiian Islands, may acquire and hold lo himself, his heiis and assignb, a fee fiimple estate ol any land in this kingdom, and m-iy also convey the same by sale, gift, exchange, will 01 otheiwise to any Hawaiian subject or any alien, as afoiesaid; piovidcd always tli.it such alien, Ins- hens, executois or administrators shall, in .'ill cases ol dispute in lclationito his lights, title, or inteiest in any land he may acquire in fee simple, or any part or paiccl of said land, submit, the same to the judicial tiibunals of this kingdom, and abide by the final decision of those tnbunals, without seeking the intcivention of any (oieign nation or leprcsuiitativo ; and in case he shall icluse so to do, his estate and all his right, title, and interest thcicin shall cease and determine, and the same sh.ill be immediately foifcilcd and escheat lo the Hawaiian government : and further, provided that no deed or oilier conveyance of laud in fee simple lo an alien shall be of any validity or cfl'cct, unless it contains a clause providing for such submission, foifeiture and escheat. Section 2. This Act shall take cfl'oct and become a law of the land Ironi and after the day of its passage : ;iikl all acts or pails of acts, icsolvcs or paits ol resolves, as contravene the piovisions of this acL, shall be, and arc hereby lepealed. Done and passed at the Council House in Honolulu, this 10th day of July, A.D. 1850. (Signed) KAMKIIAMEIIA. (Signed) Kr.oNi Ana. The value of this new anangement to settlers in the Islands is too obvious to need that we should point it out. They will now be able to acquire an actual and peimanenl, light of pioperty in the land, and to have an animating stimulus to expend labour and money in its cultivation. Employment will thus also be provided for the natives, numbers of whom, it is staled, cannot at piesent obtain anything lo do. At San Francisco this liberal procedure on the part of the Hawaiian Government was received with warm approbation. The Alia California says,—" This we regard, and every true fiiend of llawiian interests will legaid, a measure of the deepest importance. It has at once placed Hawaiian stock at a premium in the California market." The Hawaiian Legislature, which had been in session since the 20th of April, adjourned on the 20th of August. The Kino, who had recently been so severely indisposed as to awaken fears for his life, had so far recovered as to be present and lo manifest a lively interest in the closing session. There is an amusing account of an interview •which the Lodge of Odd Fellows had with the Kino, for the purpose of presenting to His Majesty " a German gold-mounted, pipe." The presentation was availed of to assuie the King of the loyalty of the Lodge, in such terms as these ; they requested his acceptance of the pipe " the emblem of peace and good will among men, as a slight though voluntary token of the sincere respect and regard which they entertain towards you, and as a sure pledge that so long as they may reside in your dominions, you will at all times iind them ready and willing not only to promote your personal weal, but to sustain you in the administiation of your Government under every trial." It is scarcely necessary to add that the King received the present and the address with all graciousness and cordiality.