MEMORIAL.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 750, 9 October 1852, Page 4

MEMORIAL.

"To his Excellency the Earl'of Eglinton and "Winton, Lord-Lieutenant- General and General' Governor of Ireland. " May it please your Excellency, — Weundersigned, respectfully approach your Excellency, as

the representative of Her Majesty the Queen in Ireland, to enireat the Royal clemency on behalf of William Smith and his companions in penal exile. 41 We beg respectfully to represent to your Excellency that the state of the country at this time would justify the exercise of the Royal clemency towards them. " We, therefore, humbly pray your Excellency to present our prayer to Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, recommend it to her Governmerit, and sustain it with your Excellency's powerful support. " And your memorialists will ever pray." His Lordship observed that to the memorial were attachedthe signatures of 9 peers,2s baronets, 40 members of Parliament, 15 Roman Catholic bishops, 75 Roman Catholic clergymen, and 300 justices of the peace ; and he believed, if it were necessary, signatures to an unlimited amount could have been obtained. Men of all creeds and parties in Ireland entertained the opinion that those unhappy and misguided men had already suffered sufficient punishment for the crimes which they bad committed to satisfy the demands of justice and afford warning to otbeis, and that the present condition of the country justify Her Majesty's present advisers in recommending an extension of ibe Royal clemency in their favour. Such an exercise of the Royal prerogative would be a 'most gracious-act, and most grateful to the feelings of the people of Ireland ; and as every act of his Excellency since he came among them had been such as to win their respect and affection, they were anxious that he should have the merit of making a recommendation which wofuld give him an additional claim upon their gratitude and esteem. His Lordship then handed the memorial to his Excellency, who returned" the followinganswer: — " My Lord and Gentlemen, — I am ready to make full allowance for tbe deep interest taken in the subject of the memorial which you presented to me by many to whose wishes and opinions I am anxious to pay attention, and for tbe sympathy felt for men whose criminal conduct may, in some degrees have been influenced by vanity or enthusiasm ; but I have a duty to perform towards my Sovereign and my country, to which all considerations must give way. 11 The total failure of the designs to -excite a general insurrection in Ireland has probably veiled the heinousness of the guilt of those by whom they were projected ; and I have no doubt that many who bow advocate their pardon would shrink from them with abhorrence had not tbe civil strife and | bloodshed which they meditated been prevented by the defensive measures of tbe government and tbe general loyalty of her Majesty's subjects. "Although convicted of high treason, the lives of Mr. Smith O'Brien and his associates were spared by tbe exercise of the Royal prerogative ; and they, as well as the persons who incurred the penalty of transportation for their treasonable practices, have been treated with unusual indulgence in the place of their exile. Even the measures of restraint rendered necessary by their own conduct have been of short duration. 11 It is, however, to be regretted that these acts of lenity have not been attended with the effects 'that might reasonably have been expected, but on tbe contrary, repeated attempts to escape have taken place — in one case with success.; and that none of the persons, in whose behalf my interference is solicited, have expressed contrition for • their crimesf*or manifested any sense of gratitude or loyalty to tbs gracious Sovereign whom they have so grievously offended, and to whose clemency some of them are indebted for their lives. " Under these circumstances I do not consider myself justified in recommending the prayer of the memorial to Her Majesty's favourable consideration." His Excellency having handed his reply to the Lord Mayor, the deputation withdrew. Tbe Freeman's Journal is, of course, highly incensed with the language of Lord Eglinton, more especially for his presuming " to lecture the raemorialisis en the heinousness of the crime, against society contemplated by tbe men of '48." " Could not Lord Eglinton, asks the indignant writer — Have refused the prayer without insulting bis captives by talking of them as men would talk of banditti? "Heinous crimes" and "honourable men shrinking from them with abhorrence," are not the phrases we expected from a man of Lord Eglington's reputation when talking of gentlemen whose honour is as untainted as his own, and whose personal friendships extend into every circle, /rom the highest to the lowest. But if a chivalrous sense of what is due to fallen men had no weight with the Viceroy and his advisers, regard for the position of tbe memorialists ought to have made him adopt another tone and other phraseology. Perhaps never did men commit a greater blunder than has the Irish Executive on this occasion. An opportunity was given them of doing a gracious act in a graceful manner. That opportunity they flung away with the folly of children and the petulance of prudes." ATTEMPTED ASSASSINAIION. The following communication, dated " Enniskillen, Sunday evening," appeared in the Mail of last night t — A mounted policeman is just come for Lord Enniskillen, with news that a Protestant farmer named Lennard was shot yesterday at 5 o'clock, p.m., near Knockmiuny, not many miles from. Enniskillen, on Mr. Arthur Cole's estate. Some Roman Catholic tenants named Linnie were, on the lapse of an old life, to have their farms squared and re-arranged. They vowed vengeance against any new comer, and the agent told them that be would turn them out. One man afterwards apologised, and he was allowed to remain ; the others were turned out last sessions,, and were off for America, it was said. Yesterday the new tenant was at work, when a man (a stranger) walked up, and asked if be wanted a labourer. He said no, and the man drew a pistol, lodged four slugs in his arm and side, and re-, treated. Tbe wounded man is not expected to survive, and depositions are to be taken to-day. THE EXODUS FROM ULSTER. A letter iv tbe Western Star calls attention to the vast extent of emigration from the province of Ulster :— From Personal observation (says the writer) J hate arrived at the conclusion that the emigration' of the Presbyterian population of Ulster since,

the commencement of tbis year has exceeded in numbers that of any of tbe other provinces. There' would seem latterly to have arisen a very gener&l feeling of discontent on the subject of tenant right, which the people contend has been unfairly encroached upon, md now that they have arrived at the conclusion that they are to be for the time to come placed at tbe mercy of the landlord or agent, without any recognised right to dispose of their interest in their holdings, as was the custom heretofore, they haye — a great many of them at least — determined to try their fortune in other lands — the favourite destination appearing to be Australia, whence such glowing accounts have reached of gold finding, as had the effect of making many who had previously determined on seeking ~a home in the United States to change their destination ia the direction of the " digging-"