1 at length justify the wishes of your admirers, and the fallen expectation of this fallen country, is the anxious desire of, "My Lord, your Excellency's most obedient, "DANIEL O'CONNELL." The degree of attention which the Marquis of Wellesley paid to this earnest remon strance of Mr. O'Connell, on the part of the insulted Catholic people of Ireland, can he gathered from the following account of the proceedings in Dublin on July the 12th, 1822, taken from the Freeman's Journal of the succeeding day. "ORANGE DISPLAY. "The statue (King William) in College-green was dressed yesterday, the 12th July, in the usual manner. The ceremony was performed by a few meanlooking persons, about four o'clock in the morning, in the presence of several POLICEMEN, who made no attempt to prevent it. "Two soldiers were observed in College-green about the same time. The persons most active on the occasion were a Mr. Brownlow, who got on the pedestal, a Mr. Forbes, a merchant's clerk, and a Mr. Hudson, A country attorney, name unknown, was also present. When they had completed their foolish and mischievous work, they proceeded in a body to the public-house (Daly's) in Werburgh-street, where they held their grand lodge. On their way they amused themselves by shouting and huzzaing, and alarming the peaceable citizens by striking the doors and window-shutters as they passed along the streets. There were a few spectators in the street when the trappings were put up. "During the whole of the day the assemblage of persons continued to increase hour after hour. At nine o'clock in the evening the crowd became very thick and dense; many of the indignant spectators could no longer endure the insult. Some persons from the crowd accordingly mounted the pedestal, with an intention of undressing the statue. The horse patrole and police prevented them, dispersed, and, as we have been assured by an eye-witness, subsequently charged the people. We could learn that they even used their swords and sticks without ceremony or caution. Shortly afterwards the favoured band approached their idol, and, without the slightest interruption, were permitted not only to undress the statue, but to annoy the respectable neighbourhood with the most boisterous yells and imprecations, No carriage or vehicle of any description was permitted to pass without the drivers taking off their hats to the god of Orange idolatry. A melancholy occurrence took place in consequence of the clamour thus kept up. It unfortunately happened that a car of Mr. Casey's was passing, and before the carman could comply with the requisition of making his obeisance to King William, the horse ran off, frightened by the clamour which assailed it. The car came in contact with another car belonging to Mr. Darcy Burne, and, shocking to relate, the shaft of Mr. Casey's car pierced the breast of Mr. Burne's horse, a fine animal, which immediately fell prostrate in the street! It has been taken to Mr. Watt's, but we regret to hear its death is expected. The carman of Mr. Casey was, we understand, flung from his seat; his head fractured, and otherwise severely bruised. Providentially, neither the family of Mr. Casey nor Mr. Burne was in either car. But both families might have been in them; the mother of ten children, the father on whom ten children depended for bread, might have been in either of these cars, and in them would probably Dave met a sudden and fearful death; and yet, there are persons who assert that the dressing of the statue of King William is a harmless exhibition. "At the moment we are writing these lines (two o'clock, A.M.), small, but noisy groups of Orangemen are standing in the streets, and disturbing the peace by their shouts and exclamations. "We narrate these occurrences with unaffected sorrow Lufurally suggest we must postpone until our next.” The reflections they MR. O'CONNELL ON CIRCUIT. During the summer of this year, Mr. O'Connell, at one of the assize towns of his circuit (the Munster circuit), being as usual in great request among the solicitors of the multitude of unfortunate creatures, whom the misery of the country, and the oppressions of Lad laws, and worse administrators of them, had driven into the commission of offences of various degrees and descriptions, was offered a retainer from the solicitor of a man accused of having plundered some plantations belonging to a rich proprietor of the neighbourhood. The evidence against his client was expected to be of the clearest kind-being that of no less than three servants of the injured party-the gamekeeper, the butler, and a labourer, who had all three assisted in capturing the offender in the very act of committing the depredatio In the face of such evidence it appeared to Mr. O'Connell impossible to do anything towards saving the man from punishment, however severe the latter might be, and dis proportioned to the degree of criminality to be attached to such an act of a poverty. stricken wretch. Severity of the most relentless nature was the sad characteristic of the administration of justice in those times, and Mr. O'Connell was not likely to have refused his exertions towards giving the offender some chance of escape, did a chance appear to him at all possible. But as we have said, he was so thoroughly convinced of the utter futility of rendering the man any service, that his first motion was to refuse undertaking the defence, and he accordingly sent back the retaining fee, advising that it should be applied in some more useful way than in engaging counsel, who could not give value for it. He was sitting in court the morning after his refusal, attending to his other busines when he was suddenly accosted in a very sharp tone by the solicitor for the accused, who demanded to know whether it was the fact that he declined the cause. Being answered that it was, and the simple reason being stated, that matters looked so entirely hopeless, ts to render the feeing of counsel nothing better than a mere waste of the prisoner's money; the solicitor, in still greater anger than before, declared that Mr. O'Connell had to right to refuse in the case, and that he would insist upon his accepting the fee and udertaking it Oh," said Mr. O'Connell, "there is not the slightest necessity for you! rutting yourself into a passion about the matter. If you will insist on my reviving these fees, notwithstanding that I tell you I cannot give you value for them, have it your own way. I am quite satisfied since you are, and I will take the matter up." He did so accordingly, and the case being presently gone into, counsel for the prosecution contented himself with a short statement of facts, and mentioned his having in court three witnesses, whom he would immediately produce, who had all been at the capture of the man in the very act of robbing the plantations. "Get two of them out of court, Mr. O'Connell, while one is under examination," whispered the solicitor. "No, no," was Mr. O'Connell's reply-" they shall all remain in-it is our only chance, as you will see." The first of the three witnesses that appeared on the table was the butler. He was cvi. dently full of his story, and very particularly anxious to attribute the chief part of the credit to himself. Mr. O'Connell marked his victim at once, encouraged him on crossexamination, to tell his tale with all the pomposity and circumstantiality he was inclined to; and then, by a few pointed questions, involved him in such a mass of inconsistencies and contradictions, as utterly to invalidate his testimony. When, at length, he allowed him to escape in confusion from the table, the second witness-the labourer-was called up, and here the wisdom of not insisting on having the witnesses out of court, became at once apparent. The second witness had, of course, heard the evidence of the first, and although not quite pleased at the lion's share of the merits in the capture, which the worthy butler had sought to arrogate to himself, had yet too much interest in the success of the prosecution not to endeavour to support him Accordingly, instead of confining himself to the plain simple narration of the event as it actually occurred, he turned all his attention to seeking to explain away, or reconcile the inconsistencies of his predecessor, and, of course, only succeeded in making the matter worse, when he became to be cross-examined. He left the table in a state of greater botheration than even the butler. The third witness-the gamekeeper-not at all frightened by the discomfiture of the others, now appeared, and his plight was speedily even worse than theirs. He, too, having heard all the preceding evidence, &c., laboured to do away with its inconsistencies, a task the more difficult as they had so multiplied under the second cross-examination. Mr. O'Connell upset him most completely, and, at length, by skilful badgering and tormenting, brought him to such a state, that the following colloquy passed between them : "Now, will you answer me one question more, and then, perhaps, I'll have done with you?" "Oh, if it's only one question more and you'll let me go then, I'll answer it ny way you like!" "Very well now, remember you said so. Now, by virtue of your oath, isn't he prisoner innocent?" By virtue of my oath he is!" It is needless to say the man was acquitted, and Mr. O'Connell left the court in high usement at having so unexpectedly earned the fee, which he had at first so scrupled to cept. His skill in conducting a defence was tested in a more meritorious and a graver case much about the same time, on the same circuit. He was engaged on behalf of a man accused on the testimony only of a young boy, of having been a principal in a savage agra. rian murder which had occurred a few weeks previously. The evidence of the boy was clearly and distinctly given, and for some time Mr. O'Connell was unable to elucidate anything that appeared to hold out a hope for his client, At last the too great readiness of the boy gave an advantage. He had stated that he identified the prisoner by a mark upon one of his cheeks. That there was such a mark needed only a look at the man to establish. But Mr. O'Connell, without allowing his object to be seen, drew the boy out on the subject, until he specified the right cheek as that on which the mark was, and got him two or three times over to repeat the specification, after, in each interval, distracting his attention by asking questions on some indifferent matters. The mark proved to be on the lef check, and this discrepancy, pressed in the speech to evidence of the counsel for the prisoner, saved the prisoner's life. Justice was not defeated thereby, the accused being really innocent, which was fully established a short time afterwards, when the real murderer was arrested, and his identi acation completed by a similar mark being found on his right cheek. It was then seen that the boy had been misled by a general similarity of appearance, coupled with the strange circumstance of both men bearing such marks, though on different cheeks. The mistake as to “right” and “left," was accounted for by the position in which witness and prisoner relatively stood-the left cheek of the latter being, of course, opposite to the right of the former, and the marks thus appearing to correspond. The niceties on which men's lives turn, in criminal trials, were never clearer illustrated than on the occasion in question. Had Mr. O'Connell not caught at this point, but trusted to the defence set up, viz., an alibi, to be proved by a Protestant clergyman, who ha actually had the man employed at a distance from the scene of the murder, all the day which the latter was committed, an innocent man would have assuredly been made a victim. The witness mentioned, entirely broke down, through his anxiety to conceal the vature of the business at which he had kept the man engaged on that day-the not very reditable occupation of making "potteen," Lo., illicit whiskey. The first political speech that Mr. O'Connell made in the winter of 1822, was at a CathoNe charity dinner for the Orphan School at Clondalkin, on Wednesday, the 13th of November, Lord Cloncurry in the chair. Like landmarks throughout his career, are such everrecurring allusions as are contained in this short speech, to the one great object of his Life. MR. O'CONNELL, in returning thanks for his health, commenced by saying, that he was accustomed to public speaking, and could not, at least, plead want of practice as an excuse for want of perfection. (Laughter.) He felt most proud of the opinion which his noble friend had pronounced upon him. He did not aspire to greater honour, or to a higher ambition, than that he was honestly disposed to serve Ireland. When it might please the All-wise Disposer of events to call him from this life, he would be happy if it were inscribed on his grave that he was an honest Irishman," and that his noble friend was the person who wrote that epitaph for him. (Applause.) He delighted in every opportunity of meeting an assembly of his countrymen, and he delighted the more on the present occasion, as some time had elapsed since he could have enjoyed that gratification. He lamented the apathy which prevailed c public topics here, but was glad to notice an effort made for a great public good, and in a quarter in which, he would own, he did not expect it. To Alderman Nugent, as an Irishman, he felt unaffectedly grateful for his meritorious exertions in endeavouring to effect a REPEAL OF THE UNION. 'Twas true he differed, most widely differed from that gentleman in politics, but he would forgive any man his injuries towards himself, or his general political line of conduct, provided he redeemed them by a sincere and substantial service towards his country. In England and Scotland great efforts were making for Le VOL. II. M amelioration of the country. In Scotland. her delegates from her several counties were convened to consult for her interests and future prospects. In England, the great county of York, and several other counties, with their nobles and landed proprietors, had come forward and proclaimed their sentiments; but Ireland was sunk in slumber and despair. He deplored most sincerely the fate of the unfortunate victims whose folly and whose crimes had driven them for ever from their native land. As far as his influence could extend, he wrote and exhorted his countrymen to desist from secret confederacies and private associations. The bond of such conspiracies was guilt; the men who entered them consigned themselves to any man whom interest might instigate into treachery against them. A twelvemonth ago he was aware that the "Michael Coffeys" were abroad, and he then, as now, strenuously and publicly besought the humbler classes to abandon all illegal meetings. His admonition was disregarded, but he would again and again renew it. These associations he regarded as the reaction of Orangeism, and he was persuaded there would not be peace or prosperity for the country, until the Catholic and Protestant united in putting down disaffection in whatever guise, or under whatever banner it reared its unseemly front. Mr. O'Connell enlarged upon a variety of other topics, into which our limits do not permit us to follow him, and concluded a most eloquent and animated address, by pronouncing a handsome eulogy on his Grace the Duke of Leinster, and proposing the health of His Grace. The legal peaceable principles of his agitation, too, are here again enunciated and proclaimed, as on hundreds of occasions before and since. The allusion to Alderman Nugent, in the short speech we have just given, was drawi but by a reference to a then recent meeting of the Guild of Merchants, when a committee their body were appointed, with the late member for the county Meath, Hery rattan, Esq., and his brother James Grattan, Esq., at their head, to prepare a petition for the "REPEAL OF THE UN:ON." The following are a few brief extracts from the petition drawn up by this committes. and adopted by the Protestant Guild of Merchants, or as they described themselves their due legal title: "The Masters, Warden, and Brethren of the Corporation of Merchants, or Guild of the Holy Trinity, Dublin." After dilating generally on the miseries caused to Ireland by the Union, the petitica complained of "The constant recurrence (since the Unio) to coercive measures, to violent acts of parliament, and to the suspensions of the constitution now grown familiar to the Statute Book. The rejection of all motions for inquiry into the evils under which the country suffered-the want of development of the |