Then all was still-and there I lay, And cursings raged within my breast, I heard again the sound of feet, They shut the lid-they screwed it down- I heard the horrid hammer fall; It seemed to crush my brainAgain it fell-but the last stroke Had snapt that deadly chain. My brain was calmed, my tongue unloosed, A heavy weight oppressed my heart- A hideous shriek broke from my lips- I felt as though a dreadful dream 'Tis over now, and long since past, The screwing of the coffin lid The hammer's heavy fall. MEMORANDA FROM OUR TABLETS OF THE MONTH. LORD MULGRAVE'S OPINION OF THE CORPORATION OF DUBLIN. September 31st.-This day, according to ancient custom the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs elect were presented by the Recorder to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant. The proceedings, always interesting, were on this occasion, rendered remarkable by the testimony which was borne by Lord Mulgrave to the unexceptionable character of the civic appointments made by the corporation. His Excel lency thus addressed the Lord Mayor elect: "" My Lord Mayor elect, I feel it the less necessary to do more, on this occasion, than to express my general concurrence in the description of your duties which has just been given to you by the learned judge who has addressed you, because I am fortunate in being able to refer you to the past as a sufficient guide for the future. I am able to direct your attention to the acts of your predecessor, and by these, better than by any words of mine, to give you a guide for your future conduct. It is a matter of unqualified satisfaction to me to find, at the close of the second entire year in which it has been my fortune to witness the results of appointments such as have this day been made, that I can, in this instance, as in the preceding, state that in every official act in which, by my position, I have been placed in contact with the chief magistrate of this city, he has acquired my hearty concurrence and approbation. I had the happiness of stating this at the close of the mayoralty of that worthy and respected man, Mr. Alderman Morrisson, of whom an intervening year has not been able to obliterate the remembrance. I am happy to state that his successor has emulated the line of conduct which in him elicited my approbation; and, in doing so, I am happy to add that the activity, zeal, and integrity of his coadjutors, the High Sheriffs, have also been all that I could desire." Would Lord Mulgrave have been able to say this much after two years' of the £10 householders of this city? experience of a corporation consisting most probably with Mr. Arkins and Mr. Slevin as the two Lord Mayors. Alderman Morrisson was as just as it His Excellency's eulogium upon was beautiful. This excellent man has since paid the debt of nature; and the has followed him to the grave. His Excellency surely must feel that under the wild system which it is proposed to substitute for the staid and ancient franchises of this great city, such a man would have been outstript in the competition of crime much by any noisy declaimer or reckless incendiary. universal esteem of his fellow citizens MR. GIFFARD AND THE BATTLE OF THE DIAMOND. We feel it a duty to transfer to our columns the following letter-not only because it completes the chain of his torical evidence relative to the Battle of the Diamond, but also because we feel a pride in recording the vindication of a father's memory-beautiful in the spirit of filial piety which pervades it-proceeding from the pen of an individual of whom Ireland and the Irish University may well feel proud. "To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle. "Myddelton-square, Sept. 26. "Sir-When you are informed that I am the only surviving son of the gentleman unfavourably referred to in the following passage of Mr. Quigley's letter, published in this day's Morning Chronicle, you, I am sure, will acknowledge my claims to offer a few words in vindication of my father's memory : "About the middle of June, 1795, the Peep-o'-day Orangemen assembled at Diamond, in a road-side public house, kept by Daniel Winter, who was an Orange fanatic. They circulated a report that their object was nothing further than to have a dance and make merry, but they arrived well armed, and, when excited by potations of whiskey, in the course of the night, they announced their real object, by firing bullets into the houses of Roman Catholics situated on Fahert-hill. "Such an unexpected and extraordinary attack upon the Catholics, when sunk in sleep, alarmed and irritated the Defenders, and caused some of their party to assemble and return the fire. It appeared next morning that each party occupied positions on opposite hills, but at such a respectful distance that their fire was totally unavailing, Information of such unprecedented proceedings was conveyed to Portadown, the residence of Mr. Obins, a magistrate, who immediately put himself at the head of a detachment of the city of Dublin militia, and marched to disperse the rioters. On the approach of the soldiers the Defenders fled; their opponents, with the utmost confidence, remained in their positions, with their arms in their hands, until the soldiers made them prisoners. Captain Giffard, who had made himself very notorious in Dublin as a bigoted persecutor of Catholics, was the officer commanding the troops, and he soon discovered that his prisoners were the Peep-o'-day party, which caused him to hold a consultation with Mr. Obins, the result of which was an immediate liberation of the prisoners, to whom Mr. Obins returned their arms, bade them a friendly good morning, and marched the troops home to their quar ters.' "The epithet bigoted persecutor,' applied to Mr. Giffard, though definite enough in its proper meaning, has been so indiscriminately bestowed upon all who in any way opposed the wishes of Roman Catholics, that I am at a loss to know in which sense it is employed by Mr. Quigley. If that gentleman would be understood as merely saying that my father was an active and zealous opponent of the claims of Roman Catholics to political power, I am bound to confess the truth of the charge; he certainly was, in his humble sphere, just such a bigoted persecutor' as in a more exalted rank were George III., Frederick Duke of York, and all the men of his time, whom posterity will hold in highest honour, and his name may bear the burthen in such company, without causing pain or a blush to his children. But if Mr. Quigley uses the phrase in its proper sense, I appeal to all my father's contemporaries, whether Protestants or Roman Catholics, for proof that it is most unjustly applied to him. The part which he acted in Irish politics was not very obscure, and it was not at all doubtful it necessarily gave offence to those to whom he stood opposed, and they were numerous, and not very scrupulous in making charges, yet I am not aware of a single act of persecution of which he has been accused, either as magistrate, landlord, the holder of a military command, or in any other relation of life. It was my father's almost singular happinessand I have frequently heard him refer to the circumstance as one for which he was most thankful to have passed through the whole of the civil war, from 1795 to 1799, generally holding an independent command, without being under the ne cessity of inflicting severity in a single instance. While others less fortunate, as he said-others less firm, uncompromis ing, and vigilant, if not less humane, some perhaps will think with me-were forced upon the necessity of very harsh proceedings. And it is but justice to my father's memory to add, that in the murder of his son, and eight of his near kindred, he had sharper provocation than most. "I now allude to my father's share in the matter of the Diamond. "There is a discrepancy of dates as to this affair, which I confess myself unable to reconcile with certainty or at all clear up, except in so far as I can say that Mr. Quigley must be mistaken in fixing the date of my father's interference so early as June 1795. I see by this paper that it was scarcely possible for him to be absent from Dublin in June, July, or August of that year. Beyond his negative testimony I cannot go; but my impression is, that Musgrave and Plowden are probably right in connecting the affair of the 21st of September with that which called for the interposition of the military commanded by Mr. Giffard. The date, if an error, is, however of less importance than another error into which Mr. Quigley has fallen, viz.-the assertion that my father had made prisoners of the Peepo'-day Boys;' he made no prisoners from either party on the occasion of his interference. But I shall best answer Mr. Quigley by giving my father's account of the whole transaction, as I have frequently heard it from his lips, under circumstances that rendered misrepresentation impossible, had he been capable of falsehood, (which assuredly he was not,) for the narrative was given in the presence of brother officers, who had been witnesses to all that passed upon the occasion referred to, whatever the date. My father marched from Portadown with a company of the City of Dublin militia (about fifty men,) and attended by a magistrate, (Mr. Obins, the gentleman named by Mr. Quigley, I presume.) My father acted, however, as I have reason to believe, not upon the suggestion of the local magistrate, but in obedience to a confidential communication from the government. Upon his arrival at the village of the Diamond, he found the antagonist parties pretty much as Mr. Quigley describes them, confronting each other at a distance of about 200 yards, on the sloping sides of two hills. Each party stood arrayed by a stone-wall, which served to dress its line; with this difference of tactics, however, that the Peep-o'-day Boys' stood before their wall, the Defenders behind the wall on their side. Notwithstanding this partial concealment of the Defenders, it was ob vious that they were much the more numerous body, probably in the proportion of 1000 to 190 Peep-o'-day Boys.' Mr. Giffard having taken up his position in the valley midway between the contending parties, called upon both to lay down their arms in the king's name.' The Peep-o'-day Boys' instantly obeyed, grounding their weapons with considerable military precision. The Defenders acted differently; they, at the same time, changed the objects of their hostility, and instead of continuing their ineffective fire upon the Peep-o'-day Boys,' they turned upon the nearer mark, the military, two of whom, Nicholas Walsh and Alexander Macdonald, they wounded severely. After this fire they fled; it need not be added, carrying off their arms. To pursue the fugitives would defeat the purpose of the expedition. Mr. Giffard, therefore, in order to give his men time to cool their anger at the treachery of the Defenders, marched them up to the place where the Peep-o'-day Boys' remained with their arms grounded. Thanking them for their ready obedience, he remonstrated with them upon the impropriety of levying war, as it were, of their own authority, assuring them that no government could wink at such a violation of order and peace. They replied that they had not been the aggressors; that they had been night after night attacked, both in their houses and on the highway, and that, upon this occasion, they appeared to answer a challenge, which they could not war. refuse without encouraging their enemies to destroy them. Mr. Giffard observed that the excuse of persecution might be true, or it might be false, but that it was one which could not be received by any regular government as authorising civil He told them that he would not deprive them of the arms which they had surrendered with such loyal alacrity, more particularly as their enemies had retired in possession of their weapons, but exacted, in return for this indulgence, a promise that they would desist from such musters, that they would associate themselves with the well-disposed and loyal among their neighbours, and, having so associated, go at once into communication with the magistrates and gentlemen of the county for the common safety. "The promise was, I believe, faithfully observed in every case where the magistrates and gentry listened to the offer of the humbler Protestants, and hence the Orange institution. "Mr. Plowden assigns to my father the honour of founding that institution; but he has no other claim to that honour than what I have described. He was not an Orangeman until 1798.—I remain, Sir, with great respect, your obedient humble servant, THE CONSTABULARY CIRCULAR. With deep alarm, and we may sincerely add regret, we feel ourselves called on to put on record one of the most extraordinary documents which, perhaps, has ever been issued. It is a document which, divesting it of all the verbiage that clothes it, simply means that Lord Mulgrave puts a price upon protection, and will give it to those, and those only, who can pay for it. The subject is too momentous to be passed over with a light comment-for the present, therefore, we content ourselves with placing on record the official circular addressed by Colonel Shaw Kennedy, to all officers of police "CIRCULAR. "His Excellency has established the rule, that it is only in cases of urgent necessity that protection is to be afforded to individuals, by placing men of the force in their premises. "When individuals receive such protection, they will, in future, be obliged to provide the men with lodging, bedding, and fuel; and to pay for each man a sum not exceeding one shilling per night. for individual protection, or the protection When men of the force are thus employed of any private property, it will be the duty of the officers of the force fully to inform me of the whole of the circumstances, in order that the daily allowance for each ing to the circumstances of the case, and man employed may be regulated accordthe condition of the parties to whom the aid may be afforded. "The payments so made will be credited by the paymaster to the public, in the accounts of the county, by deducting it from the charge of extra allowances; and to enable him to do so, chief constables are to account to him monthly in their pay bills-should there be any suspension of payment, the chief constable is to report to me, through the sub-inspector, the cause of it, and his opinion as to the necessity of continuing the protection. The authority for granting the protection and fixing the rate of charge, is to be annexed to the pay list where the deduction for it is made. The constables on such duty, being provided with lodging, bedding, and fuel, are not entitled to any allowance for being absent from their quarters at night. "It is clearly to be understood by the officers of the force, that these regulations will, in no degree, diminish the strictness of the rule by which his Excellency refuses to place, or to leave, parties for the protection of individuals, or of private property, except in cases of urgent necessity; nor will they increase the discretionary power, by which the officers of the force may now, in very urgent cases, afford such protection without reference to me. (Signed) "J. S. KENNEDY. "Constabulary Office, Dublin Castle, Sept. 7, 1837." ESPIONAGE THE TRALEE CLUB-MR. DARBY O'GRADY. The example set by the Irish go. vernment in the case of Colonel Verner, has not been lost upon their followers; and already we are called on to record some of its fruits. Every Protestant gentleman in Ireland must, in future, feel that, even in the retirement of the most domestic privacy, he has no security against the presence of spies. No confidence of private life is safe; our most unguarded conversations are listened to; our most confidential letters are insecure from inspection. A Radical print in Tralee professes to give a full and accurate report of a conversation at a private dinner-table in the club-house of the Tralee Club. It is very true that the statement was afterwards proved to be false; we have the evidence of one of the gentleman mentioned in the report, that the entire was a fabrication. We do not choose to pollute our columns by repeating the infamous story; but the attempt to blazon to the public the occurrences of a meeting, of all others perhaps the most sacred in its privacy, does not derive such extenuation from the fact that the occurrences thus publish ed, were, to use an Irish mode of speaking, just no occurrences at all. Mr. Darby O'Grady, brother of Lord Guillamore, addressed a letter in the most perfect confidence to Mr. Crosby Moore; by some unexplained means, this letter found its way into the Radical journals. There is nothing in the letter of which the writer need feel ashamed. No one, however, wishes to have his private communications rudely obtruded before the pub VOL. X. MY DEAR CROSBIE-I would have written to you before but that Edward Crosbie was an eye-witness to what took place. We are to petition, and fifty gentlemen have set down their names to share the expense between them, be it what it may. The worst that can happen is, that the election will be declared invalid, and the issue of a new writ; this will drive Fitzgibbon from the field, for Standish has now declared against him. If what I read in the papers, or half, be true, and are capable of proof, there will be no doubt of the county Tipperary lads being also unseated. "Now, my good fellow, my object in now writing to you is for the purpose of ensuring our success on the next contest. If we, landlords, overlook our tenants' conduct, surely the priests will have the game in future to themselves. "I noticed three of my tenants among the rioters who attacked our tally-room in Limerick, and I have commenced already the war of extermination against them. There were many more of them there, but I have not heard their names mentioned yet; and would rather not, for I think three quite sufficient to carry my point with the priest. 66 Now, there were several of your tenants, their sons, and servants also. Those are all known, but you might select from the guilty, three or four lads, whose removal from your estate would 2 T |