such steps as were calculated to repress violence, secure life and property, and if possible give his majesty's peacable subjects some reason to place confidence in the administration of law. The government, on receiving this seasonable and most necessary application, signed as it was by the principal nobility and gentry of the county, wrote down quietly to some friends in the disturbed district, who were of its own way of thinking, and like itself inveterate sticklers for tranquillity, and hearing in reply that every thing was calm and smooth, it answered the memorial by stating that it had made diligent enquiry into the state of the district alluded to, and found nothing in it to justify them in acceding to the prayer of the memorial. On hearing this, Rickard the Rake, instead of skulking about at night, showed a bold and open front, and eloquently told the people with a significant nod of impudence and meaning -that all was as he had said to them -The Government was on their side! And as for an English agent they would let him know and feel too, that he wouldn't be allowed to trample on and tyrannize over a people who felt their wrongs and were bent upon removing them. The English agent, however, could have put up with the misguided conduct of the villagers had matters rested here; but even this was not to be. The men whom he had recently employed on the works, and whom nothing, under the circumstances, but absolute distress and destitution, could have induced to incur the vengeance of the persons he had discharged, now struck in their turn and demanded a higher rate of wages. His reply was brief this, said he, is not only ingratitude but malice, and folly greater than both. Go about your business, I will hear no more of it. They withdrew, and that evening about dusk, he received a bullet in his shoulder which, for upwards of a fortnight, rendered his life uncertain; but by his orders, for he was still able to speak, a notice was posted up for the next day, in every public place, stating that the works were discontinued. This act of violence brought the proprietors to the spot, who, finding that neither the lives of their officers, nor their own property could be safe, and seeing, moreover, that society was nearly disorganized, they wound up their affairs, and bade adieu to the turbulent inhabitants of our village for ever. This fact, and the attempted assassination of the agent, opened the eyes of government a little. They sent down a stipendiary magistrate and a posse of constabulary to the district, and, lo! once more, on the very next day after their arrival, did Rickard the Rake, in company with a very pretty girl of the village, bid them his heart was too full-a last and silent adieu! ! "What! Rickard the Rake gone It can't be possible, surely! And now, that he is gone, who was he? Where did he come from? And where, my goodness, where can he be gone to? And pretty Kitty Hanratty along with him! Well! well ! But who the dickens was he; or what was he at all?" To which was echoed the old and uniform reply of—" Nobody knows." Let us see now, what were the consequences of Rickard the Rake's visits to our fellow subjects? Moral feeling corrupted-political principles shaped into sedition and treason-the heart and hand familiarized with blood and guilt, way-laying, burning, perjury, idleness, and revenge-death in its worst of horrors-shameful, untimely, ignominious death-brought upon hundreds, who, were it not for the accursed system which he taught them, would have led honest and creditable lives, and died among their families in a good old age. But this is not all. Oh ! many a greyhaired father's heart has been bowed down and broken with sorrow-many a loving and affectionate mother, whose heart was a well of tenderness, has been snatched into her grave-many a mourning and distracted widow, has sat paralyzed with misery, amidst the cry of her fatherless orphans-many a whole family has been swept away by desolation and ruin off the very face of the earth-and all through the dark and bloody spirit of this wicked system; a system which has done a thousand times more evil to my countrymen than all their friends have ever been able to do them good. Time, however, has passed, and we must beg our readers, before parting, to take a last glance at our village. Where now, alas! is its warmth and neatness ?-and where the comforts of its inhabitants? Its street is again full of ruts, and mud, and green pools, and dunghills. The roofs of its houses are partially unslated; the white-washing is now almost black, or at best a dreary brown; the glass windows are gone, with the exception of the frames; and the broken panes are stuffed here and there with straw or rags; whilst in many cases they cannot afford even this. All, in fact, is as it was before their prosperity; bleakness, beggary, and desolation, with this bitter reflection superadded, that they now know, by contrast, the uttermost depths of their misery. And what was the principal cause that reduced them to this, and that has left them now without employment, with worse morals, hardened feelings, and desperate cha racters? Why the visit of Rickard the Rake. What! Rickard the Rake again! "Can no one tell us," exclaims the reader, who was Rickard the Rake? Where did he come from, and where has he gone? Deuce take it, why keep your readers in suspense ?" Gentle reader, you must know he is the fac simile of many characters too prevalent among us in the first place, and drawn too to the very life and in the next place, he is the impersonationof the Ribbon System. MEMORANDA OF THE MONTH. PERSECUTION FOR CONSCIENCE SAKE. THERE are thousands of intelligent persons who would gladly leave the communion of the Church of Rome, did they get even that protection the law affords in this unhappy country. But if a man once attempts to change his religion from conviction, or lets his determination to do so be known, he is assailed from all quarters, and obliged to change to some remote district, or leave the country altogether. If assailed, after being denounced from the altars, none will dare give evidence against his assailants, and if any are found hardy enough to do so, they are equally persecuted; nor dare a jury, in such a case, attempt to give an honest verdict. The following authentic letter, from an intelligent convert from the Church of Rome, will show how far we are borne out in these senti ments : "To the Editor of the Kilkenny Moderator. "SIR-Having, from the conviction of the errors of popery, been induced to leave the Church of Rome, and thereby been prevented gaining a livelihood by my trade, I am now compelled to quit my na tive country; and, knowing that it is customary to vilify the character of those who have acted as I have done, I must observe, that in the step which I have taken, I have sacrificed friends and emoluments; and, moreover, that since my joining the Protestant Church, offers have been kindly made to me by my former clergy to reinstate me in the office which I once held in the chapel, with a permanent salary, if I would return to their communion. I have felt it due to my character to state this before leaving the country, in order that, if contradicted before 1 go, I may be able to prove the correctness of my statement, and prevent any advantage being taken of my absence to circulate reports injurious to me. I now leave Ireland, sincerely forgiving all those who may have injured me, and hoping that all may be led to search the Scriptures daily,' and be brought to the same conviction with myself, that there is 'no other means given under heaven unto men whereby they may be saved, but only the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.' "I remain your humble servant, "PATRICK Kennedy. "Callan, 6th February, 1838." THE TRADES-MR. O'CONNELL. Mr. O'Connell's late rupture with the trades has, at least, been productive of one good, by giving the public another proof of his inconsistency and insincerity, and his readiness to change when it suits his own convenience. Of this there is a glaring instance, when his sentiments on combination, as delivered by him in 1833, are contrasted with those delivered by him at the late meetings in this city. But we will let him speak for himself, by placing a few of his conflicting opinions in juxtaposition Mr. O'Connell in 1883. "I am of opinion that you have a right to combine. In point of law you are allowed to do so-in point of common sense you are bound to do so. The poor man's labour is his property as much, nay more than the rich man's estate, for it often happens that the rich man's estate is procured for him by somebody else, but the poor man's labour is completely his own. It is the highest species of property, and the law recognises -labour as property. I agree in the propriety of operatives combining. I go to the full length of approving of open combination. Mr. O'Connell in 1837-8. "Why have I undertaken this subject? (the putting down combination.) Because I consider it my duty; and I am careless what popularity I forfeit, so long as I can attain my wishes. When I talk to other men on other subjects, I am successful, because the hearts and judg ments of my auditors are with me, but I cannot succeed with combinators, because they are bound by a tie which prohibits them from listening to reason, to common sense, and argument-they will not listen to common sense. (Yes we will, we will assist you.) Then go with me and put down your own illegality.(Frightful hissing.) Does any one deny that the limiting apprentices is an offence against the laws? (Hissing.) You confirm every charge I make against you. * * * "I cannot permit anything that would violate the laws. O Heavens! are we so degraded? I want to leave the talent of Ireland its full scope. I want that you should not come with your iron monopoly, and your illegal limitation, between the intellect of Ireland and its full and fair development."-[Vide O'Connell's Speech at the Royal Exchange, on the 20th December last.] PAPAL USURPATIONS. On the 12th February John M'Hale, Titular Bishop of Tuam, addressed a letter to Lord John Russell, in which he assumes the title of the Protestant archbishop of that diocese, in violation of the 24th section of the emancipation bill of 1829, which is as follows: "24. And whereas, the Protestant Episcopal Church of England and Ireland, and the doctrine, discipline, and government thereof, and likewise the Protestant Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the doctrine, discipline, and government thereof, are, by the respective acts of union of England, Scotland, and of Great Britain and Ireland, established permanently and inviolably: And whereas the right and title of archbishops to their respective provinces, of bishops to their sees, and of deans to their deaneries, as well in England as in Ireland, have been settled and established by law: Be it therefore enacted, that if any person, after the commencement of this act, other than the person hitherto authorized by law, shall assume, or use the name, style, or title of archbishop of any province, bishop of any bishopriok, or dean of any deanery, in England or Ireland, he shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred pounds !" The following is the letter: "To Lord John Russell. "Dublin, February 12, 1838. "MY LORD-A declaration ascribed to Lord Lansdowne in the Freeman's Journal of this day has filled my mind with serious alarm for the purity and freedom of the Catholic religion in Ireland. It is needless to allude to the statement of his intention to forward the suggestions recommended for adoption by the education commissioners. At present I have not leisure, on the eve of my return to my diocess, to enter into all the bearings of the question on the system of education with a fulness deserving its importance. It is not less vital than the questions regarding the veto on the appointment of Catholic bishops, or the pensioning of the Catholic clergy, which have long and repeatedly occupied the deliberations of the Catholic bishops. It must then excite the surprise, and alarm the fears of the faithful, that any minister should declare his resolve to act on a report essentially connected with the reli gion of the Irish people, on which the bishops could not have pronounced an opinion, and into the grounds of which they had not time to enquire. I should therefore beg of your lordship to pause in the career of legislation until the sentiments of the Catholic bishops and clergy of Ireland are sufficiently ascertained on the benefits or evils of the system, and its practical operation. I take occasion to address your lordship thus briefly, to remove a delusion under which many members of the legislature manifestly la bour. They seem to be under an impression that it is competent, for them, through the agency of boards of their selection, to assume and exercise complete control over the education-even the religious education-of the people. That is an error which would be as fatal to the interests of the state as it would be to the purity of the Catholic religion. It is but right to acquaint your lordship that the Catholic bishops, and the Catholic bishops alone, have the right to regulate the choice of the books out of which the faithful are to draw the nutriment of piety and sound doctrine. It would be a lamentable day for Ireland that books of piety were to be regulated by the devotional taste of those alone to whom any government would wish to confide the spiritual care of the people. Could I transfer this right, or delegate my duty of vigilance to another, I should gladly resign the trust to any one or more of my brethren in the hierarchy. But every bishop is entrusted by the Holy Ghost, and by the successor of St. Peter, with the peculiar care of his own flock. I beg leave, therefore, to assure Lord Stanley, and others who would wish to subject the Catholic church to the influence of the ministers of the day, that to no authority on earth save the Pope, shall I submit the books from which the children in my diocess shall derive religious instruction. On the disproportioned number of Catholic and Protestant commissioners on the lectures to be given in the training of the masters on the recent number of inspectors, and their qualificatians and duties on the want in the board of a fair representation of the different localities of Ireland-but, above all, on the mass of im portant evidence which I have gleaned from the voluminous reports regarding the recent education inquiry, I shall forbear any remarks until my resumption of the subject. I must, however, not forget to remark, that the attention of the public is alive to the dark and mysterious nature of the office which is to be exercised by those foreign functionaries, some of the new inspectors-all forsooth for the preservation of the faith of the people and the legitimate influence of their pastors; and that the Catholic clergy will not, I hope, omit to inspect the English or Scotch puritan inspectors. In the meantime, deprecating any interference with the temporal titles or revenues of which the Protestant bishops are so jealous; and assuring your lordship that it is assumed only in conformity with the primitive practice, before titles or benefices were known in the Catholic church, I have the honour to be your lordship's obedient servant, "JOHN TUAM." Comment is superfluous-we beg our reader's attention to the doctrine, not covertly insinuated, but openly put forward in this document-that the prescriptive right of the Popish prelates to the dignities of their sees, is anterior to, and above all laws of the state.How far we may expect this doctrine to be acted on, the following extract from the Courier, government newspaper, may perhaps prepare our readers to judge "Extract of a Letter from an English Gentleman in Dublin, dated Feb. 12. "Yesterday I was at St. Patrick's Cathedral, one of the finest in Ireland, an ancient venerable pile, built seven centuries ago, with Catholic hands and Catholic funds; the people still Catholic, but robbed by the English of this noble temple, converted into a Protestant church, for a handful of the population. What should we do, were the Irish to use York Minster as we, by right of conquest, use St. Patrick's cathedral, making it the church of the Catholics, while we, the people, are Protestant? Justice is the same in all countries; and the Irish, still Catholics, are now intelligent enough, and strong enough to obtain it, and that at no distant period. They will not much longer have to submit to such an anomaly as a rich Protestant establishment in a Catholic country, or to have the tithes imposed for Catholic priests diverted from them for the use of Protestant clergy, who have no cure of souls in a Catholic country. The organ at St. Patrick's is one of the very finest in the kingdom; but the preacher, one of the dignified clergy, is far below mediocrity!!" It is scarcely necessary for us to expose the flowing sophistry of this.Whatever be the merits or demerits of the reformation in diverting either Patrick's Cathedral or York Minster from the ceremonies of the mass to the purer Our readers are aware that we have endeavoured in these memoranda to give some idea of the tranquillity of Ireland, by recording, on a page which we may well call the page of blood, the actual murders which each month brings to light. We strictly confine ourselves to those cases in which the crime of the assassin is consummated by the death of the victim. COUNTY LONGFORD. On the night of the 10th of February, about eight o'clock, another of those cold-blooded murders, for which the county Longford has lately become so notorious, was committed at Ballinamuck. It must be in the remembrance of our readers that a man named Cathcart, a driver of Lord Lorton's, was waylaid near his own house at Ballinamuck, sometime about the month of August last, by two men, who fired at him, and lodged a number of slugs in his chest. Against one of those men, the son of the far-famed Mother Prunty, Cathcart swore positive informations, and he was, in consequence, apprehended and lodged in gaol. Cathcart slowly recovered, after a long and dangerous illness; but in the plenitude of paternity exercised by our present government, Prunty, as a matter of course, was bailed out, on some insignificant sum, till the assizes; thus giving him an opportunity of mending his hand, and possibly preventing a prosecution altogether. The result is just what might have been expected: It would appear that Cathcart was at Carryglass, the seat of Mr. Lefroy, on Friday, and was returning home in company with a man named Davis, who rode behind him. On coming to a boreen, they both dismounted, Davis alleging that the road was SO bad it would be better to walk. They had not proceeded far when two men jumped out from behind the hedge, and fired at Cathcart, who immediately |