At a large public meeting held at Armagh on the 3rd of February,

"The Rev. Mr. Lennon, P.P., of Crossmagien, in presenting himself to second the resolution was enthusiastically cheered. What, he would ask, was the cause of destitution in Ireland? (Cries of 'Hear, hear.") They would all answer him with one voice-arbitrary, cruel, and rack-renting landlordism. (Cheers.)"

PRIESTS' PUBLISHED LETTERS.

It may fairly be urged that in speechifying it is the nature of Man, under the excitement of the moment, to ejaculate from that mischievous little hole, his mouth, more than he had intended to say; and although a priesthood most certainly ought not to take the lead in violent political meetings-and if they do take the lead, should, for the credit of their cloth, be exceedingly careful not to be seditious, yet, I admit, they may argue that the same excuses which are granted to the frailty of other men ought liberally to be extended to them. Be it so. But when a priest sits down in his lonely chamber to write a letter to be disseminated-not in his own little parish, but-throughout the length and breadth of Ireland, he and the gown he wears must be held responsible, not only for the principles he expounds, but for the language in which those principles have been promulgated.

FROM THE TABLET,' MAY 15, 1852.

"Mr. Corballis, Q. C., and the Standard.

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE TABLET.'

"Arklow, May 12, 1852. "DEAR SIR,-It would be a charity to administer some wholesome admonition to Mr. J. R. Corballis, whose letter to the Standard you term 'pert and low,' but which I

designate at once ignorant and impertinent. He boasts of his familiarity with the venerated deceased. I am sorry the intercourse has not left a deeper trace of knowledge, and of a more profound respect for the dignitaries of the religion which the gentleman professes.

"He has the audacity to call our Episcopal titles 'empty,' and to insinuate that some who bear them rest thereon their claims to respect instead of depending on their public and private virtues.

"But Mr. Corballis is a great stickler for the inviolability of the law of the land, which he doubtless thinks should supersede the law of God as well as the law of the Church. If he lived in the days of Nero or Domitian he would, as a matter of course, have burnt incense on the altar of Jupiter Capitolinus to prove his loyalty; and if the British parliament took it into their wise heads (unlikelier things have come to pass) to render penal the observance of Catholic Fasts and Festivals, he would, I suppose, deem it a conscientious duty to eat flesh-meat on a Friday, and not to dare show his nose in a Catholic house of worship on a holiday. Let me instruct this gentleman a little, and tell him that any law at variance with the Divine law, or with the Ecclesiastical law in matters purely spiritual, is no law at all, has no binding force in conscience, is, like the body sweltering in the grave, void of soul and animating principle, and should be evaded, and disobeyed, and got rid of by the subject whenever and by whatever fair means he can. Such I hold the Titles Act to be, and I hold, moreover, that no Catholic in the kingdom can vote without sin for a candidate who he believes will maintain that law, or second any similar legislation.

"The Catholic Clergy, Mr. Editor, are a loyal body. They most willingly acknowledge the supremacy of their Sovereign in temporal matters. But in their spiritual affairs they allow her no supremacy; they owe her no allegiance, and will pay her none, because they cannot do so without a violation of their conscience and their duty to GOD.-I remain, dear Sir, yours truly,

"JAMES REDMOND, P.P.”

66

FROM THE TELEGRAPH,' MAY 31, 1852.

Extract of a Letter from the Rev. T. Beechinor.

"Newmarket, May 15, 1852. "Let me tell you, Sir, there are no men in existence more anxious to avoid the turmoil and family losses of contested elections than PRIESTS; they are members of society, however, as well as others, and nothing but the heavy injustice of the oppressors of our creed and country could have dragged us from the quiet of the sanctuary; and it is only when landlords, agents, drivers, and the underlings managing properties, will cease their threats and persecutions, that the Catholic clergyman ought to be silent in his chapel; at all events it is only then that I will. Let Lord Derby give us the ballot,' when every honest voter will be independent of any influence, and we will then see how many Frewens will come to the hustings. Such, Sir, is my reply to your budget of charges.

.

"I will make no apology for sending both your letter and my answer to the Cork Examiner for publication, particularly as you have courted public opinion by sending your thoughts on paper to the tenants on the estate.

I am, Sir, faithfully yours, &c.,
"J. BEECHINOR, P.P.

"W. R. Fitzmaurice, Esq., Everton, Carlow."

FROM THE TELEGRAPH,' JUNE 4, 1852.

"To the Electors of Carlow.

"Now is the day, now is the hour.'

"We are deeply steeped in misery. There is no use in attempting to describe it. It is seen by all. It is apparent in the rags and filth with which seven-eighths of the people are covered. It is apparent in the fleshless bones, the pallid lips, the sunken eyes of the population. It is there before us, it meets us at every turn, in broad, palpable, hideous characters. It has seized upon every class and section of the people. The farmers, the shopkeepers, the

trades, the professions; Protestants, Catholics, and Dissenters are all oppressed, impoverished and borne down. By whom? by what agency has this almost universal ruin been caused? What has left the shops of our country towns without business, the traders unemployed? What has forced the population in hundreds of thousands to quit the land of their fathers, or to take refuge in those monster emporiums of human wretchedness, the Irish workhouses? The cause is evident. The people are borne down by the landlord and the law-maker; by the enormous burden of rent, tithes, and taxes, placed on their shoulders, and by the want of a legal tenant-right to protect farming industry.

"Mr. Clayton Browne in his address puts forward, as a claim to our support, his increasing anxiety to promote the welfare and improvement of the town.'

"I regret for his own sake, for I feel disposed to speak kindly of him, that he has not eschewed this topic. When and where, and after what fashion, I beg to ask his friends, has he attempted to improve the town or promote the welfare of its inhabitants? His increasing anxiety which, no doubt, he feels intensely, has never, to my knowledge, and I am rather an old inhabitant of the borough, developed itself in act. Has he, men of Carlow, ever contributed, even in the smallest amount, to one Catholic educational or benevolent institution in the town? The Catholics constitute the masses of the people. They have been oppressed, ground down, and plundered; they have had, out of their poverty, to erect their own schools, colleges, chapels, and cathedrals; for of these and the means of supporting them they have been robbed in favour of the State Church; and I have yet to learn to what extent we are indebted to the munificence of Mr. Browne in those cur unparalleled difficulties.

"His sympathies have never been with the people, they seem to have been all reserved for those fanatical associations, those dens of bigotry, proselytism, and corruption, which have originated in and grown out of the hatred of the national religion, and of the classes whom the bigots seek to pervert and oppress.