3 . D ABC Y, Bookseller & Binder, 26, Wellington-quay, DUBLIN. THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY From the collection of James Collins, Drumoondra, Ireland. Purchased, 1918. 941.S8 '. I ft . , > . 1 ' ADDRESSES PRESENTED TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE EARL OF MULGRAVE, litO.M THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF IRELAND, DURING THE YEARS 1835 AND 1836, J WITH HIS EXCELLENCY'S ANSWERS. DUBLIN. WILLIAM FREDERICK WAKEMAN, 9, D'OLIER-STREET. f- 1836. - Printed by K. Bt LI, so, Marlborongh-street ft "I ' ' ADDRESSES AND ANSWERS, TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. PR^EHONORABILI VIRO CONSTANTINO HENRICO COMITI DE MULGRAVE, HIBERNI^ PROREGI. QCOD PLACEAT EXCELLENTI^ Ex antique tempore mos est, ut Rectores Juventusque Collegii nostri reverentiam solenniter praestarent erga Regis vices Gerentem. Adsumus igitur Nos Praepositus, Socii, et Scholares Collegii Sacrosanctae et Individuae Trinitatis, adventum Tuum, Praesul Honoratissime, gratulari, et nos nostraque Tibi com- mendare. Multis antea temporibus momentosis, huic mori obtemperantes, in has aulas nos contulimus. Sunt autem tempora quae prae caeteris sunt curae et anxietatfe, spei et timoris plena: et sunt sane viri qui prse caeteris talibus temporibus aptantur. Praesen- tem occasionem esse talem judicamus. Te talem esse Virum, ex Genere, ingenio, et institutis, auspicamur. 4^6607 2 Non rudis impcrii vcnis. In alia Insula janijam sumnuc Po- testatis partes sustinuisti. Auspiciis Tuis haec alia floruit. Ibi didicisti vires Populi nuper ad Libertatem admissi regere, vio- lentiam novae Libertatis reprimerc, virtutes fovere, culpas ante- venire, bonum subditorum augere, jura propugnare, abusus auferre. Ibi Te adsuefecisti mansuetum esse quamvis stre- nuum, et ex vultu popularium gratorum historiam Tui regiminis legere. > Nee nova Tuae Genti est Summa Auctoritas, nee ex ignota Stirpe littoribus nostris advenisti. Gratulamur Tibi, Praesul Excellentissime, avito Honore Hiberniae devincto, ut incunabulis adauctae Nominis gloriae. Proavum Tuum Venerandum as- pexit Haec Regio Summa Potestate saepe ac diu vestitum, et per partem vitae lionoribus cumulatae munus Cancellarii administran- u m. In mala tempora incidebat vir ille spectandus, et malls temporum mederi conatus est, jura oppressorum defendere, odia mutua civium lenire, nee infeliciter quamvis fere solus. Ami- cum abeuntem Hibernia lugebat. Nunc Nepotem ejus gaudio et gratulatione accipit. Sunt autem et aliae causae, Pracsul Honoratissime, cur Tuum adventum propter nosmetipsos gratulamur. Nos Academici quamvis gloriam boni regiminis laudamus et avitum Honorem veneramur, proprio tamen et intimo sensu aliis afficimur. Te fautorem studiorum nostrorum accipimus, et non ut censorem severum venire, sed potius nostra probaturum speramus. Jam- jam enim vires Academiae pene efFaetas resuscitavimus, linguas hodiernas, scientias provectiores, Theologiam praecipue coli cu- ravimus, et in omni genere humanioris literaturae juventutem curae nostrae commissam instituimus. Per has artes bonum pub- licum promovere, oflScium nostrum erga Regern Populumque commendare, et favorem Tuum, Praesul Excellentissime, nobis conciliare conabimur, et ex Tua indole, tuisque studiis, auspicati, conatus nostros non fere vanos confident i?r speramus. ' ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I have .heard with satisfaction, and I must acknow- ledge with gratitude, the personal expression of friendly feelings, and of favourable opinion, in which you have conveyed to me, as the representativejof our gracious Sovereign, your accustomed loyal address. Your allusion to those other scenes, where, in- vested with his Majesty's authority, I have heretofore been employed in the service of my country, deserves my special thanks. But you estimate too highly any merit of mine in that mighty change it was my good fortune to witness, as an humble agent in promoting the benevolent intentions, and in enforcing the virtuous will of a powerful people. I evefr felt that the cause was its own strength, and the result was in itself reward. It requires to have seen men slaves, fully to appreciate the happi- ness of leaving them free. I am most grateful for your treasured recollection of my H great and learned ancestor, who for years filled the office of Chancellor in this country, and as one of the Lords Justices, frequently administered the supreme authority. In different circumstances, and in different times, the same qualities may, nevertheless, be worthy of emulation ; and I would willingly be, as he was, the victim of misrepresentation whilst in the ex- ercise of his high office, and of factious attack when retiring into private life, if, after more than another revolving century, I might thereby, with equal justice, be cited to a descendant of mine, as a true friend to Ireland, thus long remembered as the protector of the oppressed, the conciliator of party animosities, and in every shape, and upon all occasions, the distributor of impartial justice. We live, as you have truly stated, in troubled times, tending, however, in the main, I firmly believe, to pro- gressive improvement. Amid much of doubt and fear, good men may conscientiously differ, still the best hope of Ireland, and one , 4 surely not unreasonable, though often disappointed, is, that the natives of this fine and fertile country, in their mutual relations, should dwell less on the distinctions of individual opinion, on which they cannot agree, and more on those great national inte- rests, which they must hold in common, and which their divisions paralyze and destroy. I am pleased to hear that you conceive that my influence may appropriately be applied in advancing the objects of your venerable institution. You may rely upon my zealous attention to any suggestion by which your privileges may be maintained, and your usefulness enlarged ; as I must ever feel that I shall best fulfil my duty to my Sovereign, and promote the happiness of the people, by confirming and extending the benefits of education and the blessings of religion. CITY OF CORK. WE, his Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the mayor, sheriffs, and commonalty of the city of Cork, approach your Excellency, in order to tender our congratulations upon your arrival in Ireland, as the representative of our most gracious Sovereign. We are fully convinced of your Excellency's anxiety to pro- mote the prosperity of this country, and the welfare of its inhabitants of all classes ; and we beg leave to assure your Excellency, that those are the objects of our deepest solici- tude. We gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity thus afforded, of renewing our earnest professions of devoted attachment to our beloved Monarch, and to the constitution under which we are governed, and of conveying those sentiments of sincere respect which we entertain towards your Excellency. Cork, May 27th, 1836. ANSWER. I have to express my best thanks to you, the mayor, sheriffs, and commonalty of Cork, for the address conveying your con- gratulations upon my arrival in Ireland as the representative of our most gracious Sovereign. I can assure you that you do but justice to the anxiety I shall ever feel to promote the prosperity of this country, and the welfare of all classes of its inhabitants. I am also desirous to inform myself personally of the condition of all parts of the island, and, in pursuance of this object, I trust that before . very long, I shall be enabled to visit your ancient and opulent city. In the mean time, I receive with satisfaction those general professions of your ' devoted attachment to the person of the Sovereign and the principles of the constitution. ' ' j . > PARISH OF SAINT THOMAS, DUBLIN. WE, the parishioners of the extensive parish of Saint Thomas, beg leave respectfully to assure your Excellency how cordially we respond to that welcome with which the spontaneous voice of thousands hailed your Lordship to our shores. ;' The inhabitants of this long misgoverned country recognize in your Excellency a nobleman, not more dignified by lineal honours, than by the inheritance ot those qualities which en- deared your lordship's illustrious ancestor (Sir Constantine Phipps) to the good and honest portion of the Irish community. Although, as Irishmen, we cannot but look back upon the period in which he lived, as one marked with the most unrelenting and disastrous persecution of the natives of this country, we yet hail with gratitude his solitary but effective exertions during his government, to suspend the infliction of evil laws, to 'repress the spirit of faction, that scarce waited their sanction, and to direct the legislature to really national, worthy, and serviceable objects. We respectfully but earnestly hope, from the principles on which his Majesty's councils are based, that the benefits of eccle- siastical and corporate reform will speedily be diffused, and with them the blessings of peace, industry, and education amongst the people of Ireland ; and. that while the resources of their native land shall be developed and made, useful, her literature and her history shall be relieved from the calumnies which have 1 too long fomented disunion, suppressed the sense and sympa- thies of national pride, and degraded this country in the eyes of strangers. The difficulties of achieving these desirable objects will add :i peculiar lustre to their accomplishment, and sincerely do we hope that your Excellency may be the instrument by which they will be attained. Dublin, June 6th, 1835. ANSWER. I must ever feel grateful for the extent of that cordial welcome which has greeted my arrival on these shores as the representa- tive of our gracious Sovereign. * I thank you for those expressions of confidence you found upon recollections connected with my name, and expectations derived from my previous character. I am fully aware of the difficulties of the trust with which I have been honored. For myself, I can only rely upon a steady determination to act with firmness and impartiality, in furtherance of the principles on which I have assumed the government, anxiously hoping that I may thereby, in some degree, be successful in my constant en- deavours to mitigate animosities, promote kindly feelings, and, by restoring the tranquillity, to advance the prosperity of this long distracted country. PARISHES OF ST. ANDREW, ST. MARK, ST. PETER, ' !, AND ST. ANNE. WE, the resident inhabitants of the parishes of Ss. Andrew, Mark, Peter, and Anne, beg leave to approach your Excellency with this expression of our sincere gratification at the choice his Majesty has been pleased to make, of a representative, in this part of his dominions. At the present period, when' liberal opinions abroad, and constitutional reform at home, are progressing with a speed, restrained only by the spirit of prudent caution sufficient to afford a well-founded hope that these long looked-for blessings will be as permanent as they are cheering, it is truly pleasing to perceive that the impulse given them here is placed under the control of a statesman not only marked by his zeal in the cause of reform, but peculiarly distinguished by being among the foremost in stepping forward to break the fetters of our fellow- men in the colonies, whose state of moral and civil debasement has been so long a stigma both on the political institutions of Great Britain, and the Christian religion. 8 Trusting that the cheering anticipations now opening on this long-neglected country will be speedily realized in the restora- tion of tranquillity and mutual good will among all classes, and in the full development of its inexhaustible resources, we feel that it is scarcely necessary to add an assurance, that no effort of ours shall be wanting towards the promotion of those advantages which his Majesty has graciously proposed to confer on his grateful and loyal people of Ireland, through the instrumentality of a nobleman possessed of such a claim to our respect and confidence. Shelbourne Hotel, Stephen's-green, Dublin, June 4, 1835. - f - ANSWER. . GENTLEMEN, This most acceptable expression of your gratification at the choice it has pleased his Majesty to make of his repre- sentative, demands my warmest thanks. There is throughout your address a temperate, calm, and deliberate tone, which renders more conspicuous the sincerity of its opinions, and the earnestness of its purport, whilst it enhances the value of those assurances of personal confidence with which it is accompanied. You truly remark that this is a period when liberal opinions, both at home and abroad, are steadily progressing. By our own experience of the past, we may regulate our anticipations of the future. Even within those few years which I have as yet de- voted humbly but zealously to the service of my country, I have myself periodically entered the political arena in the cause of religious liberty, predestined to certain annual defeat. I have heard parliamentary reform stigmatised as reckless in- novation, and negro emancipation ridiculed as a visionary 9 chimera. If very early in life, at some sacrifice, and at u time when the most sanguine never anticipated our subsequent successes, I was the consistent though unimportant advocate of these three great cardinal questions, I shall not be misunder- stood if now, with unabated zeal and under more favorable auspices, I cordially adopt your expressed opinion, that further most necessary constitutional reforms should be conducted in a spirit of prudent caution ; that steering a salutary course be- tween the resistance of the interested, and the restlessness of . the impatient, avoiding unnecessary delay, and compromising no principle, w6 may proceed in the manner most likely to conciliate the good will of all classes, thereby proving that the progress of gradual improvement is consistent with the peace, and connected with the prosperity of the country. 9 , For myself, I will only say, that I trust your too favorable recollection of my past services will induce you occasionally to make for individual acts that kindly allowance which all human conduct requires. Thus I may hope, under the blessing of Providence, and by the continued confidence of my Sovereign, to be made the humble instrument of beneficially advancing the measures of constitutional reform, and permanently promoting the cause of good government in Ireland. PARISH OF SAINT PAUL. WITH feelings of the most profound respect, we hail your Excellency's appointment as the King's representative in Ireland. The inflexible principles of political integrity that have dis- tinguished your past career, induce us to express our hope of the speedy regeneration of Ireland, under the auspices of your enlightened administration. 10 . The anomalous condition of a country teeming with the riches of its produce, and capable of supporting far beyond its present population, yet sacrificed so long to the demon of partial and prescriptive religious discord through ages of misgo- vernment, presents a duty of reform which, however arduous, is worthy the great talents, patriotism, and firmness, that so eminently characterize your Excellency. We assure your Excellency, that our dutiful homage is prof- fered with the deepest sense of gratification at your Excellency's appointment, and anticipated happiness from its continuance, during, which, we hope ultimately to learn, that by merging faction in national and universal philanthropy, the prosperity of our country will be increased, and its vast population rendered tranquil and happy. & We anticipate with peculiar satisfaction, the efforts of his Majesty's government, in furtherance of such salutary measures of ecclesiastical and corporate reform as will, by the dissemina- tion of liberal and unrestricted education, afford free scope to native talent and industry, promote the elevation of the national character, so long obscured by besotted prejudice, and render Ireland a source of strength instead of weakness to the empire. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I truly and gratefully thank you for the feelings with which you hail my appointment, as his Majesty's representative in Ireland. . Although you too favourably estimate my other qualifications for the arduous task which has been confided to me, I may at least trust that your experience will but confirm that conviction of my political integrity which you now express, as derived from my past career. 11 The anomalous condition of this country indeed claims the most anxious and unremitting attention of one whose best hope is to be allowed humbly to devote his time to advance the welfare of his fellow-men. But many of the evils of Ireland are to be traced to a cause which has lately ceased to exist ; its lingering effects cannot therefore much longer be felt. Political pro- scription for religious opinion is already abolished. Our object must be, that past distinctions should not survive as a subject of continued dissension. Mutual forbearance will do much to hasten so desirable a consummation. That universal philan- thropy, the promotion of which you in a praiseworthy spirit desire, is best advanced, as you suggest, by the general diffusion of liberal education. The soil of Ireland is not more fertile in produce than her sons in talent ; judicious and kindly cultivation is what both most require to render the population happy, and the country prosperous. PARISHES OF ST. NICHOLAS WITHOUT, ST. BRIDGET, ST. LUKE, BISHOP AND DEAN'S LIBERTIES. WE, the householders and inhabitants of the parishes of St. Nicholas Without, St. Bridget, St. Luke, with the Bishop and Dean's Liberty, beg leave to approach your Excellency, and offer our warm congratulations on your arrival in this country. We also take this public opportunity of expressing towards his Majesty our deep gratitude for his selection of a nobleman as his Viceroy, holding opinions in unison with that liberal and sound policy which the progress of reform and intelligence has rendered necessary, and possessing polite and social qualities calculated to sooth those asperities which unfortunately distract and divide this country. 12 We beg leave to assure your Excellency, that in seeking for a redress of acknowledged grievances, we are not actuated by a reckless desire of change. Our object is rather to promote serious and deliberate enquiry into the state of existing insti- tutions, with a view to their improvement, and to their future permanence and stability. \ 1 -, We beg your Excellency j|rill accept personally the grateful assurance of our attachment for your past career and exalted patriotism, and allow us to indulge the hope that you may long remain amongst us, to exemplify the value of impartial rule, and to promote the prosperity of a people, who, in despite of calumny, have been ever ready, when there appeared an in- clination to do them justice, to submit .to present infliction, however grievous, rather than by hasty importunity embarrass an honest government in the arrangement of measures requiring attentive consideration to mature and perfect. Still, however, without being deemed over urgent, we respectfully solicit your Excellency's influence with the government, that they will without much delay facilitate the passing of measures on the subject of municipal and church reform ; and we beg to assure your Excellency that a satisfactory adjustment of these questions will not only tend to a further establishment of your fame as a wise and benevolent statesman, but will attach the people to the laws, and, by producing lasting beneficial results to Ireland, indissolubly strengthen the connection between the two countries. . Accept my best thanks for these, your warm congra- tulations on my arrival in this country. It is indeed matter of proud satisfaction to me, that the confidence you have in my character should render my appointment a subject on which, you express deep gratitude to our gracious Sovereign. 13 The firm and temperate spirit in which you allude to your desire for the redress of acknowledged grievances, is worthy of that universal diffusion of general intelligence' to which you allude ; and is best calculated to render such reforms in our existing institutions, as may be found necessary, easy in their enactment, and permanent in their advantages. The cordial feelings with which the Irish people, in their characteristic generosity, are disposed to meet an inclination to do them justice, has indeed been exemplified in a manner I can never forget, by the readiness with which they have been anxious to adopt the flattering recollections of my past career in remote regions, as a foundation for future confidence. . I feel certain that, on the part of those with whom I act, you will find no unnecessary delay in producing those two most important measures of reform to which you allude, and to have my name as a zealous assistant, connected with their satisfactory settlement, is the honest fame I should most desire. PARISH OF ST. MARY. MY LORD, WE, the inhabitants of St. Mary's parish, beg leave to assure y?ur Excellency, that we feel peculiar gratifica- tion in the honor lfeis afforded us, of offering our sincerest con- gratulations to a nobleman of your personal and public character, on your appointment to the government of this country. . Acquainted as we are with your character, a character which has risen superior to accidental and naturally influential circum- stances ; established on the basis of reason, sublimated by re- fined talent, dignified by experience, illuminated by philosophic , /^~* 14 H reflection, and ennobled by undeviating virtue, we cannot but feel confident that your Excellency's government in Ireland will be characterised by that superior wisdom which distinguished you at home in early youth, and shed lustre on your maturity in a foreign land. This, by nature, happily circumstanced, fertile and beautiful country, long distinguished amongst the kingdoms of the earth for its grandeur, its learning, and its virtue, has, until of late, been unhappily celebrated in the history of nations by a worse than Egyptian bondage by its seven centuries of persecution ; though still suffering, deeply suffering, through studied exclusion, systematized combination, active oppression, and unmitigated tyranny, we rejoice that these evil times are passing away, that a prospect of impartial justice opens upon us, and we fondly anticipate its concomitant advantages, order, concord, and happiness. It would be impossible to convey to your Excellency, within the limits of this address, even an outline of the miseries endured in this moral wilderness, by bad laws and their very bad admi- nistration. Though the stream of justice may flow in purity from its source, the channels through which it has to pass are, in too many instances, so contaminated, impure, and poisonous, that those who confide in it through its distant and devious wind- ings, too frequently experience the sad reward of their credu- lity, in scenes of desolation and despair. We have to complain, my Lord, that, when measures of relief are promised to us, they come at a snail's pace, with all the te- dium of a Lapland night. Not so coercion : when it is to come, it comes more quickly than the steps of love or anger, combin- ing, as it were, the celerity of the sun's light with the rage of the tempest, which circumstances we submit, more for your Excellency's consideration, than through the vexation natural to feelings of impatience, created by inquiries ending in nothing, by 15 progressive deterioration, by promises long deferred, and ages of disappointment. ' We have also to complain, my Lord, that hitherto, in innume- rable instances, the friends of the government and of the people were passed over, whilst their enemies, their notorious, active, and avowed enemies, had their delinquencies overlooked, and were honoured with power, place, and patronage, which unjust and tergiversating policy injured the people, insulted the friends of, and weakened the ministry, emboldened their enemies, and eventually aided in the temporary downfall and dissolution of the late reform government. ' We again, my Lord, beg leave to assure your Excellency of our entire confidence in your government ; of our high respect for you, as representative of our gracious Sovereign, and of our respect and esteem for your character, personal and political, which cannot be qualified by rank or station, by distance of time or place. We conclude, my Lord, praying that your government may be of long duration, and that your happiness may be commensurate with your virtues. I Oth June, 1835. GENTLEMEN, ANSWER, It would be impossible for me not to express how- much I feel, that you have formed far too flattering an estimate of my personal qualifications. I will hope that the same elo- quent redundancy of expression,? arising from warmth of feeling, may have somewhat coloured the picture you have sketched of the grievances of which you have had to complain. I trust, with I ; 16 you, that these evil times are passing away. But something may yet remain to correct. To this object my constant atten- tion shall be devoted ; those who ask impartial justice may at least command the honest intention of government to fulfil that prayer. With this principle as the guide of my future actions, on whatever occasion presents itself, you will understand, that whilst I express my most heartfelt thanks for this address, it would not become me to enter into a retrospect of the past. In your concluding prayer for the duration of my government, the impressive indications I have already received of your kind- ness induce me fervently to join ; and whenever, in the usual course, separation shall ensue, I trust that mutual regard, founded on lengthened experience, will secure a perpetual reciprocity of the cordial feelings with which you have welcomed me. PARISH OF ST. GEORGE. WE, the resident inhabitants of the parish of St. George, in the city of Dublin, deeply impressed with the sense of your Excellency's virtues and wisdom, approach your pre- sence, to offer our sincere and fervent congratulations on your Excellency's appointment to the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland. In the respect and duty which every subject owes to the representative of the King, we could never, under any circum- stances, be deficient, and towards a chief governor associated in office with the wise and virtuous men to whom his Majesty's councils are now committed, we should ever entertain sentiments of esteem. But these sentiments are heightened into a more ardent emotion when we behold a nobleman invested with the executive ' 17 authority amongst us, whose cultivated talents, experienced abi- lities, and distinguished virtues afford the strongest guarantees that the principles of reform will not languish in his hands, but that the same devotion to the cause of civil and religious freedom that has hitherto illustrated his career, will continue to direct his conduct in the exercise of the viceregal functions. * We do not forget the magnanimous part which your Excel- lency, on your entrance into public affairs, took in favour of the oppressed. We gratefully remember the consistent advocacy of the rights of the people of Ireland that has marked the course of your Excellency's parliamentary life. We are not strangers to the fame of those benignant virtues that have made the govern- ment of your Excellency in another hemisphere, a renowned epoch in civilization. These traits of your Excellency's character, not less than the great principles of reform which identify you with his Majesty's ministers, made us hail your accession to the lord lieutenancy as a most auspicious event to Ireland. The first steps of your Excellency's government confirmed our anticipations, and we firmly believe we do not entertain any delusive hope, when we augur, that under the government of your Excellency we shall enjoy the satisfaction of seeing the ancient grievances of Ireland redressed ; the public interest pro- moted ; the principles of reform triumphant ; and the harmony, the stability, and the glory of the united kingdom secured. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, . I know not how adequately to express the deep gra- titude with which I have heard that the respect you owe to the c 18 representative of your Sovereign, and the attachment you feel for the principles which now direct his Majesty's councils, are both enhanced By your partial sense of my personal qualifications for the high office with which I have been intrusted. There is one portion of your otherwise far too flattering encomiums, to which it would be false humility if I did not own that I do refer with pride. I should be sorry if I did not myself feel the justice of your allusion to the uniform consistency of my political lite, and my tried devotion to the cause of civil and religious freedom. If I very early felt the necessity of parliamentary reform, I am not likely now lightly to forego its legitimate consequences. If I ever was in parliament the zealous advocate for the removal of all political distinctions on account of religious opinions, I am now determined in the discharge of the duties of the executive, to give to that legislative measure its full practical effect. I will trust that when strict impartiality shall have proved that the subject of by-gone differences is no longer remembered by the government, it will cease to be recalled as a source of discord by the parties themselves. What I believe you do desire, and what in my present office it shall still be my earnest endeavour to insure and maintain for Ireland, is, a perfect equality of civil rights amongst all classes of her inhabitants, and with all other portions of the united empire. PARISH OF ST. MICHAEL AND ST. JOHN. ' May it please your Excellency to accept the unfeigned con- gratulations of men, whose hearts never deceived, whose loyalty never swerved, and whose principles have for their object the maintenance of civil and religious freedom. Ever opposed to the fulsome language of flattery or adulation, we come not to offer incense at the shrine of power, for personal advantage, 19 nor to deliver expressions of exaggeration for an evanescent purpose; we approach your Excellency to offer a tribute of respect for the generous sympathies you have evinced ; and to express our ardent hope that your Excellency has not only the will, but the means of giving peace to our long-distracted country. Considering that effects must remain until their cause is removed, we deem corporate law and church reform as necessary to the tranquillity of Ireland, and to the happiness of her people, and under this impression, confidently trust that your Excellency will have the pleasure of seeing its perfect and speedy accomplish- ment. As the welfare of the people is the best support of the throne, and good government the best means of securing harmony and peace, we trust that the interest of the many will never be sacrificed to the monopoly of b. few, and that a fraction of a nation will never be preferred to the majority of an empire. As the representative of majesty, as the friend of genius, as the patron of arts, as the lover of freedom, as the administrator of impartial justice, and as the father of the poor, we hail with delight the appointment of your Excellency to the office of chief governor of Ireland ; and humbly pray that under your administration intolerance will be banished from our shores, and that justice, virtue, and liberty, will be predominant. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I most willingly believe that the sentiments you now express towards myself, are as sincere as I feel assured they are disinterested. The sympathies in your behalf for which you justly give me credit, and the principles on which I have long acted in your cause, take their date from a period when by me the evils of the country were unseen, and its inhabitants 20 unknown. They are not likely to be weakened or shaken, now that personal observation may best teach me what remains to correct, and that such teeming proofs of your cordial feeling towards myself, must increase my interest in your welfare. You state your hope, that I have not only the will but the means of giving peace to this long-distracted country. It is impossible to blind oneself to the difficulties which attend the task I have undertaken. It is in your power much to smooth my path, by a perseverance in your present praiseworthy con- duct, by moderation on your own parts, and a fair reliance on the honest intentions of government. I would never have been here, had I not myself perfect confidence in those with whom I act ; for sure I am, that the public service can never be beneficially conducted, but by those who possess a community of political principle. Whilst this continues to be the case, I trust that by the gradual diminution of partial opposition, such beneficial measures of reform as those to which you allude may be perfected with the sanction of our gracious Sovereign, and the general acquiescence of a grateful people.- PARISH OF ST. CATHERINE. . MAT IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the parishioners of the extensive, populous, and once affluent parish of St. Catherine, in the city of Dublin, ap- proach your Excellency, to tender to you, on your arrival on our shores, the respectful welcome which is due to the repre- sentative of our King. Allow us, at the same time, to say, that the warmth which must always mark that tribute is, on the pre- sent occasion, enhanced by those feelings of personal affection, and sentiments of personal respect, which belong to lineal dig- nity and lineal worth, concurring in yourself. 21 In a season like this, we pause not to contemplate the aspect which an assembly of the inhabitants of this large portion of the metropolis presents, so painfully contrasting with that which within our recollections it has worn. We turn our eyes from the scenes upon which memory sadly solicits them to dwell, and fix them upon that which hope displays before us, satisfied that in the departure of its prosperity, and the decline of its com- mercial influence, your Excellency's enlightened philanthropy will discern only an increase of importance, and an augmented title to protection and support. An enumeration of the objects which claim the prompt and emphatic regard of his Majesty's ministers, we deem it unne- cessary at this time to make. The incidents of our social and political condition are before them ; where redress and removal are necessary, they know, and they duly estimate the power with which they are invested, to afford the one and effect the other. With the means and the motives of the obstructions presented to them, they are already safely familiar, and we recognize in the commission conferred upon your Excellency, an earnest of the determination of his most gracious Majesty to sanction and aid their steadfast effort to surmount them. We have approached your Excellency, not with the voice of encomium, that were unsuitable, but tendering the expression of profound esteem and of unshaken trust. Rejoicing in the better prospect that opens to us, and congratulating your Ex- cellency on the opportunity thus presented, of inscribing your name on the brightening page of our land's story, by accelerating the -approach of that time, in which all public resources turned into means of public advantage, and common energies confede- rated for common good, shall realize the most ardent anticipa- tions of the moralist and the patriot, that the people of this country are about to enjoy the long-wished for blesssing of ? Happy homes and altars free." * i - - . 22 ! ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, The manner in which, with generous warmth, you state that this tribute of welcome to the representative of your Sovereign is enhanced by personal feelings of affection towards myself, demands my special thanks. Be assured that whilst you consider the commission conferred upon me a pledge for the fair consideration of all such grievances as may require removal, every suggestion which occurs to myself, as likely to promote your welfare, shall be by me faithfully submitted to his Majesty and his confidential advisers. You allude, though with a delicacy which I duly appreciate, on this occasion, but slightly, to the decline of the commercial prosperity of your parish, and you justly add, that I shall consi- der this misfortune an increased title to protection and support. It is a subject which peculiarly befits the attention of a local governor. Any suggestion I may make must be the result of more minute inquiry ; but this I may say generally, that what this country most requires is repose, is that state of things which shall give confidence to capital and consequent employ- ment to industry. No people can thrive in a state of perpetual struggle. Religious liberty is a cause worthy of any effort, of any sacrifice. But if the constitution, on having given equality of civil rights to those of all opinions, is prepared to realize your concluding prayer of freedom for your altars, the fulfilment of your other wish, of " happy homes," must depend most upon yourselves, upon cultivating mutual good will towards each other, and in oblivion of past distinctions, cherishing a fellowship, and sharing a pride in the common name of Irishmen. 1 23 PARISH OF ST. MARY AND ST. PETER, RATHMINES. * MY LORD, WE, the inhabitants of the parish of St. Mary and St. Peter, Rathmines, beg leave to approach your Excellency with the expression of our hearty welcome. ' Fully aware of your Excellency's claims to the confidence of your country as a senator and a statesman ; knowing that your earliest efforts in parliament were directed to the advancement of the civil and religious rights of Ireland, and as a peer to the great cause of reform, we have been more especially interested in that portion of your public life, in which, as governor of Jamaica, you enjoyed the rare happiness of presiding at the manumission of the slave population. The difficulties with which your Lordship's government was beset, and the dangers attendant on the glorious revolution in which it was your fortune to bear so prominent a part, were regarded by the country with a just appreciation of their character and their extent. These difficulties, however, were successfully encountered by the steadiness and prudence of your Excellency's administration, and the danger at one period so menacing, disappeared before the force of your personal character. - You have come to a country placed in different, but, perhaps, not less difficult circumstances. It is not our desire at present to refer to by-gone events, with the nature of which and their tendency, your Excellency is doubtless sufficiently familiar ; nor is it our wish, on an occasion like the present, to refer in an angry spirit to the state of party feeling amongst us. We allude to these topics solely for the purpose of assuring your Excellency, that, as we feel nothing can be more conducive to the success of your government than a cordial and confiding 24 spirit on the part of the people, so it shall be our object to dis- countenancc unnecessary excitement, and to avoid all party recrimination. We shall pursue this course because we believe it such as your Excellency would recommend, and because we know your Excellency is pledged by principle as well as by feeling, by your station, as our most gracious Sovereign's representative, as well as by your position in the general government, to the redress of grievances ; to the extension of the principle of reform, more especially in our municipal bodies ; to the encou- ragement of industry, and the promotion of public works ; to the diffusion of national education ; and to the sacred duty of attempting, at least, to raise the mass of the people from a state of great depression ; in one word, to the regeneration of our country. ANSWER. ; GENTLEMEN, The expression of your hearty welcome to the representative of your Sovereign, is conveyed in terms every way the most gratifying to my feelings. ~ It is, indeed, pleasing to one whose endeavour has aljv-ays been to act upon principle, to find, not only that by those whom he is appointed to govern, his past conduct is considered an acceptable guarantee for his future career, but to gather from this your too favourable record, that time has not obliterated the recollection of early efforts in your cause, that distance has not deadened your interest in later exertions on behalf of others. If I cannot but feel' that you are a little too sanguine in any expectations founded upon your flattering estimate of my personal character, I rejoice to add that the temper in which you convey your admirable assurances, with regard to your own f 25 intentions, is the best calculated to realize your well-founded expectations. It is, depend upon it, by a cordial and confiding spirit in those whom you have reason to believe your friends, by discountenancing unnecessary excitement, and by avoiding party recrimination, that the legitimate objects we have in view are to be most surely obtained. Your address, at its conclusion, points at the real source of our strength. The tide of civilization flows steadily on ; no extraneous agitation is wanted to swell its flood, whilst impo- tent opposition cannot for a moment impede its progress. The spread of intelligence and the diffusion of knowledge will, we may surely foretell, timely reach the whole surface of society, and, amongst many benefits to mankind, let us hope that thus foremost on the calm and buoyant stream of improvement may be borne the regeneration of Ireland. PARISH OF ST. AUDOEN THE inhabitants of St. Audoen's Parish in the city of Dublin, most respectfully approach your Excellency, to express the gratitude they feel to our most gracious Sovereign, for having appointed so distinguished a nobleman his representative in this country. The arduous duties discharged by you, in a remote region, with so much credit to yourself, as a statesman, and with so much honour and advantage to the empire, and the cause of suffering humanity, have so eminently distinguished you as the friend of true and rational liberty, that we look with anxious hope to the application on the part of your Excellency, of practical measures for promoting the prosperity of this hitherto illgoverned country. - Your Excellency will here witness a country peculiarly favoured by climate, and by local position, whose soil produces in abundance every thing necessary for the comfort and happi- ness of its people, yet, our labouring and productive classes almost invariably feel the pressure of extreme want, and too often of famine. To the deficiency in employment, and the consequent desti- tution of the working classes, we are enabled to trace the long train of suffering, and of crime, which has marked the history of our unhappy land ; but we forbear to press this subject on your Excellency, under the firm reliance that your measures will be directed to the true conservative principle ; (using the term in its pure and legitimate, and not in its unworthy and perverted sense ;) the extending to all his Majesty's subjects, the greatest portion of comfort and happiness the state of society will admit of. We repeat we are conservatives, not in the factious, the false, and the perverted sense, in which the term has been lately used. We are not in truth conservatives, for the purpose of acquiring, or maintaining an unjust and injurious ascendancy, nor for the purpose of acquiring or maintaining a dishonest and contempti- ble monopoly. We are not anxious to sustain property and the institutions of the country by a vain and desperate attempt to maintain the present abuses, but, by correcting these abuses, to restore these institutions to their original purity and public utility. In conclusion, we beg to express the entire confidence we feel in your Excellency's administration, and to proffer our cordial co-operation in support of such measures, as you in the exercise of your tried wisdom, and unbending integrity, may think proper to devise. ' ,24th June, 1835. 27 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, The present state of Ireland, so full of anomalous contradictions, is indeed one which might engage the distant interest of speculative philosophy, much more must it command the anxious attention of any statesman who is placed in a situa- tion where he may be allowed to hope in some degree to be the humble instrument of alleviating her artificial ills, and eliciting her natural resources. I return you my most grateful thanks for the personal portion of your address. The tone in which you have now conveyed to me this expression of your wants and wishes, gives me the assurance not only of generous confidence in myself, but of practical co-operation in my efforts. Some patience must be exerted ; some delay must be expected, not in - attempting to apply a remedy, but in awaiting its effect. Where political evils of long standing have produced extensive social derangement, that which time has confirmed, time must assist to cure. But one subject imperiously presses for immediate con- sideration. You allude to the sadly recurring instances of the utter destitution of the imminent danger of starvation of large masses of our fellow men. No social system can contain within itself a truly conservative principle, which does not endeavour to apply a permanent remedy for so fearful a state of things. Let us hope that searching enquiry will shortly lead to such a satisfactory settlement, as will obliterate this political shame will remove this moral misery. rf . - But though on all occasions ready, as the representative of your Sovereign, as far as depends upon me, to study your welfare, and trusting to witness the successful enactment of many most necessary reforms, I cannot but feel that there still depends upon yourselves much which no law can regulate, no ruler c6mmand. It is only by the progressive amalgamation of 28 parties, and the cordial concurrence of all classes, that the resources of this fertile land, and the energies of this fine people can ever be fully developed. PARISH OF ST. MICHAN. WE, the inhabitants of the parish of St. Michan, in the city of Dublin, beg leave to offer to your Excellency our sincere and heartfelt congratulations upon your appointment by his Majesty to be his representative in this kingdom, as we have congratu- lated each other upon the arrival of a nobleman amongst us, whose past life places beyond doubt the pure and liberal princi- ples by which he is actuated in his conduct to his fellow subjects and fellow beings. . For we could not forget your Excellency's entrance into public life. We could not forget that, overcoming by your mental energies the prejudices, perhaps, of education, you set out in the advocacy of those principles of salutary reform which you have since been so instrumental in procuring, that, placed as you were, in a highly influential position in society, which, aided by your Excellency's acknowledged abilities, must have claimed the honours Majesty could bestow, and commanded the influence of ministers, you threw yourself into the balance with the liberties of the people, and acting on the influence of a mind which could be governed only by its own integrity, you avoided contact with, you scorned the temptations and des- pised the power of a party then in office ; the vices, the temp- tut it ms, and the power of which party were so well described by your Excellency nearly fourteen years ago, at a meeting in York, when you said : " The spirit of toryism had so many ramifica- " tions ; so many holds on the follies, vices, and passions of man- " kind ; so many temptations to the cupidity of the selfish ; it 29 held forth so many prospects of advantage to the corrupt ; its power had been so consolidated, by the length of time it had predominated, and every fresh instance of corruption so added to its strength, and every fresh instance qf profligacy so increased its nieans, that it must be owned it became extremely formidable ; its influence was seen in the dead note of the daily petitioner at the treasury, the unprincipled servility of hungry expectancy, and the arbitrary measures of the actual possessors of official power and emolument." The promise of a public life thus commenced by your Excel- lency, has been borne out in its advance ; at length the service of the King was open to high-minded men, advocating the just liberties of the people ; your Excellency was appointed to the government of Jamaica, and you there displayed that executive ability which can only be appreciated by those who are ac- quainted with the difficulty of at once raising tire slave into " the redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled" freeman. ' We feel then happy in your Excellency's presence amongst us ; we feel delightful anticipations of the time, when our hitherto unhappily divided and acknowledgedly misgoverned country will enjoy the blessings of repose and consequent pros- perity ; when we shall be identified in interest and in feeling in national views, and in foreign and domestic policy ; when we shall be by the letter, and more than all, by the administration of the law, on a perfect equality with our fellow subjects of Great Britain ; and we feel our anticipations are well-grounded, under the government of a nobleman whose principles are in accordance with the interest of the people at large, and who is possessed of ability and firmness to carry those principles into practical operation. - ' - : - - . ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, You will not believe that I less strongly feel how truly flattering it is to have your assurances of present confidence founded upon so accurate a record of my past life, when I add, that the very circumstances to which you have alluded, rather induce me to avoid, on this occasion, replying to your recollec- tions in elaborate expressions of gratitude. If the sentiments which you have cited, were then clothed in language which partook somewhat of the warmth of early youth, the principles from which they emanated have, in after years, been main- tained with at least uniform steadiness. If the line of conduct to which a sense of public duty then impelled me, was adopted at some sacrifice of private feelings, it has since been pursued with a desire never wantonly to provoke personal enmities. Great as are the difficulties of the task I have undertaken, it is sufficient stimulus to exertion to be allowed, as the represen- tative of our gracious Sovereign, at least the endeavour to im- prove the condition and conciliate the divisions of this produc- tive but hitherto distracted country, and, whilst such cheering support is derived from your cordial confidence and temperate co-operation, I should desire no other reward than is prospec- tively shadowed forth in the hope, that Ireland may one day prosper in the possession of united hearts and equal rights. PARISH OF ST. JAMES. MY LORD, AT a time when every voice is raised to express the satisfaction felt that his Majesty has been pleased to appoint a 31 nobleman of your high character and intellectual endowments as lord lieutenant of this country, we the inhabitants of Saint James's parish, Dublin, whilst we join our countrymen, feel our- selves inadequate to convey to your Lordship's mind the happi- ness your Lordship's arrival on our shores diffuses amongst us, and our sincere and heartfelt satisfaction at the happy event. My Lord, we look on your Excellency's government as a happy omen that our oppressed and heretofore misgoveWied country is about to rise from her impoverished and degraded state, from the hope that her grievances will speedily be redressed under your paternal government. N ,, And let us, my Lord, congratulate not only you and the people of this country, but those of every part of the British empire, on the selection his most gracious Majesty has been pleased to make of servants, who by their professions and acts are anxious to introduce measures of extensive reform, which were so neces- sary both for the happiness and prosperity of the people, and for the security of the empire. May you, my Lord, live long to enjoy the most perfect felici- ties the human mind can possess, the consciousness of having acted right, and the blessings of a brave, magnanimous, and grateful people; and may we, on our part, regardless of any other consideration but our country's good, ever prove worthy of a free constitution. . ANSWER. GENTUBMEN, IT is impossible not to 1 be deeply penetrated with the gratifying assurance, conveyed in the commencement of your address, that those feelings of satisfaction at my appoint- ment as representative of our gracious Sovereign, which you \ 32 kindly state that you cordially share, are also echoed by the general voice of your countrymen. I have now, it is true, received multiplied welcomes of the warmest kind from every parochial division of the metropolis of Ireland, and, in return, I must beg you to believe that, though expressions of thank- fulness may, by reiteration, lose their point, the feelings of gratitude must be enhanced by accumulating proofs of confi- dence. On the part of those friends with whom I have been hitlprto accustomed to act politically, and who are now his Majesty's constitutional advisers, I trust you will feel that in the short time they have been in office, they have shown every disposition to act in conformity with their own professions and the wishes of the country. In sincere gratitude for the personal good wishes with which you conclude, I can at least promise to devote my best attention temperately, but faithfully and fearlessly, to promote the common interests, the national welfare of Ireland. fl KINGSTOWN AND UNION OF MONKSTOWN. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Kingstown, and the Union of Monkstown, beg leave to approach your Excellency, with feelings of the deepest respect and esteem. We rejoice that our gracious Sovereign, in the exercise of his high prerogative, has entrusted the government of so interesting a portion of his dominions to a nobleman, whose rare and kindred qualities of head and heart, most peculiarly fit him for the delicate task of conciliating a divided country, and ensure him the approbation and support of all truly liberal and enlightened men. , ?/ i 33 We have hitherto been unhappily divided in religion and politics we have been hostile in vindication of our respective opinions. It must, therefore, be gratifying to your Excellency, to be assured that we forget our religious and political differences, when we behold in the character of our governor, intellectual attainments of a high order, combined with the most exalted feelings of humanity. By your generous sympathy, as well as powerful advocacy, you have alleviated the sorrows of suffering humanity in foreign climes, and thereby earned for yourself, even in^ the noon of life, a distinguished place amongst the benefactors of the human race. As such we hasten to present you the tribute of our admiration and respect ; and we gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity thus afforded us of meeting on the neutral ground of humanity and national utility, without distinction of sect or party, for the purpose of manifesting, through your Excellency, our respect for those virtues which adorn your character, and our attachment to our most gracious Sovereign, whom you so efficiently represent. j * You have "learned the luxury of doing good" you enjoy the delightful consciousness of having contributed in no small degree to the happiness of your fellow-men. Our unhappy country presents the most ample field for the exercise of your benevolence and wisdom. Of the sincerity with which you will exercise both in its behalf, your past conduct is the surest pledge; and we earnestly trust that your success in the arduous but noble task of uniting a distracted country, may realize our well-grounded hopes, and surpass your own fondest anticipations. ' ' May your Excellency long enjoy the best wishes, together with the fullest confidence of the Irish nation, for 4hose welfare you evince so deep an interest. By every endeavour to encourage our manufactures, and promote our agricultural V i, 34 interests, and by a steady and impartial administrstion of the laws, may you give to our country prosperity and peace. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, * To you, the inhabitants of the first parish, where, on landing, I was greeted with that warm expression of national cordiality, with which, by every district in this neighbour- hood, I have been since welcomed, I must at once convey the heartfelt assurance that every fresh proof of your kindness has but added strength to my feelings of gratitude, though repetition may somewhat have weakened my power of expression. It needs, however, no command of language to convey to you the satisfaction I must feel in seeing you all here together this day, and in thus deriving the most gratifying conviction, that you are prepared to set an example of attention to my anxious admonition that you should, in oblivion of theoretical differences, upon points on which each man must judge for himself, cordially combine for the practical good of our common country. In the exercise of administrative functions, it is to be expected, as inseparable from sincerity of character, and steadi- ness of purpose, that a due value should always be attached to a community of public principle ; but, I trust, I shall never forget, at the same time, that I am here as the representative of our gracious Sovereign, who is the beneficent patron and pro- tector of all his subjects. In the elevated station which, in his Majesty's name, I here maintain, it will be my pleasure to make no social exclusions on account of opinion. In the exercise of my office, it will be my duty to secure to all alike impartial justice. 35 BARONY OF MALAHIDE. WE, the inhabitants of the ancient and highly privileged Manor of Malahide, approach your Excellency with feelings of regard and esteem; feelings frequently perhaps expressed in terms more energetic on occasions like the present, but seldom equalled in genuineness and warmth, and never surpassed in heartfelt sincerity. Devoid of political considerations, uninfluenced by party feelings, and actuated only by sentiments of respect and esteem, we have resolved on coming forward this day to greet in the person of your Excellency, the representative of our Sovereign and friend of our country, the encourager of our arts and manu- factures, and the sincere well-wisher of the Irish people. It affords us no inconsiderable degree of pride and satisfaction to have this opportunity of welcoming your Excellency to our shores ; gratified to be the first manorial assemblage thus to assure his Majesty, through your Excellency, of our devoted loyalty and attachment, whilst to your Excellency in person we offer our warmest congratulations on your arrival amongst us. Your Excellency's benevolence and philanthropy are already too well known, and too long the subject of admiration and praise, to endanger our incurring the imputation of flattery in adverting to them, and while we regret that another address has anticipated us in those topics on which we would otherwise have dilated, (and of which the bright star that illumes the history of your Excellency's government in Jamaica, forms no inconsider- able portion,) we must at the same time rejoice that they have not been suffered to remain unnoticed, but that their mention has fallen to the lot of those perhaps better qualified, but by no means more desirous to do your Excellency's character that justice it so pre-eminently merits. 36 We would conclude with the hope that your Excellency may long enjoy the best wishes and fullest confidence of the Irish nation, for whose prosperity you have evinced so much anxiety, not in mere words, but by every endeavour to encourage our manufactures, promote the agricultural interests, and advance the general welfare and prosperity of the country. ANSWER. t GENTLEMEN, I can assure you that the expressions in which you have conveyed to me this gratifying address, did not require the apology with which you introduced it, as is best proved by the manner in which it is felt, and the gratitude it has excited. When on a visit in your barony, I enquired with much curiosity into some of the privileges and peculiarities of your ancient manor. It is pleasant to observe still extant, some of those local relations which have been always held to promote good and neighbourly feelings ; whilst in the progress of civili- zation, your sympathies are no longer confined within that narrow circle which in the early days of the barony marked its limits, as is forcibly shown by the warm interest you evidently have taken in the welfare of your fellow-men within those remote regions with which you favourably connect my name. I trust that I shall here have opportunities to do more than repeat professions, and that whilst acting as the representative of our gracious Sovereign, and anxiously attending to those great national interests to which you have alluded, I may earn the title with which you have honoured me, of a friend to this country, and a sincere well-wisher to the Irish people. 37 PARISHES OF CLONDALKIN, PALMERSTOWN, AND LUCAN. WE, the resident inhabitants of the parishes of Clondalkin, Palmerstown, and Lucan, in the county of Dublin, beg leave to approach your Excellency, in order to testify our sincere gratification at the appointment of your Excellency, by our most gracious Sovereign, to the government of this part of the united empire. Sensible of your Excellency's paternal govern- ment in other regions, and under th most trying difficulties, and recollecting the skill and ability with which these difficul- ties were encountered and overcome, we do not think we are too sanguine in the anticipation that under the same wise aus- pices, and under circumstances we trust less difficult, another suffering nation will follow their benefactor, with blessings, gratitude, and regret, to the shore. When we express a hope that your Excellency will be embar- rassed with less difficulties in this country, than those your Excellency dealt with and overcame in another hemisphere, we are not blind to the fact, that the difficulties here are very great ; but our hope of proving less difficult is derived from a reliance on your personal character a conviction that your representa- tions of our condition to a paternal government, will procure that unanimity in just measures, which will render them effective, and that your Excellency will be aided in your efforts to procure for Ireland peaceful improvement, by every good and wise man it contains. ;' On these circumstances we build our hopes, and are convinced that under your Excellency's equal and impartial government, in a country remarkable for its salubrity and fertility, for which nature has done so much, man will cease to mar its beneficence; that Irishmen will be taught at last their true, their common 38 interests ; that the struggle to preserve unjust ascendancy on one hand, and on the other, the too lively sense of past grievances will cease in the brighter prospects opening for the future. Confidently, therefore, relying on the conciliatory disposition of your Excellency's mind, and the impartiality of your govern- ment, we entertain a well-grounded hope that you will finally succeed in removing the causes of such animosities, so contrary to the natural temperament, to the hilarity, hospitality and good-humoured frankness, for which the inhabitants of this Island have always been so remarkable, and that you will be able to direct the energies and talents of these contending parties to objects mutually beneficial to the scientific improve- ment of those means that nature or art may have put within their power for ameliorating our condition ; for profitably culti- vating our soil, and for the necessary but long-neglected attention to agriculture just now labouring under peculiar disadvantages. With such principles of government, the principles of equal justice to all, we have full confidence in domestic peace strength- ening the connection between Britain and Ireland, and relying r._. on such fruits of your Excellency's administration, we trust you may long enjoy the confidence of our gracious Sovereign, and under his sanction continue long to preside over us, a grateful and improving people. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, In referring to my past career, you too favourably estimate my qualifications for contending with those difficulties of my present position, of the extent of which I am thoroughly J 39 aware ; but as long as I shall continue here, as the representa- tive of our gracious Sovereign, I shall steadily proceed in the course I consider best, cheered by the assurance of such tem- perate and efficient support as is conveyed in this address, and already encouraged by indications of a better state of things. It is most satisfactory to me to feel, that comparatively speaking at no period was the general tranquillity of the country more remarkable. Of this, though a deeply interested witness, I could not by possibility take any credit to myself; but thus much I must give to others, that it is accompanied by that, without which it has never existed in Ireland, thorough confidence in the honest intentions of government. Whilst I hear from you that, in the bright hopes of future union, you. are prepared to obliterate all recollection of past grievances, it is surely not too much to expect from every good and rational man of every shade of opinion, that the only exception to the political peace of the country will no longer be found in the attempt to celebrate, as a party boast, the record of events, the circumstances of which have long been obsolete, that are connected with a settlement of the country, which no one would be insane enough to question, but from which the constitution no longer allows any one to derive exclusive advan- tages. Let us trust that the time will come when Irishmen will no longer be divided by differences on points, the comparative truth or error of which must, after all, be decided for us, and hereafter; but that they will be indissolubly bound together by those graduated links in the social chain, upon the perfect and undisturbed connection of which depends the peaceful industry of the cottage, and the profitable employment of the capitalist, thereby ensuring to both consequent content and prosperity. -10 ROYAL HIBERNIAN ACADEMY. MY LORD, WE, the president and members of the Royal Hibernian Academy, beg to approach you with our most re- spectful and sincere congratulations on your arrival as Lord Lieutenant in Ireland. As a body founded by his late most gracious Majesty, for the promotion of the Fine Arts in Ireland, and for this purpose, honoured with royal pecuniary assistance for the last four years, it is our grateful duty to pay all fitting respect to the represen- tative of our royal patron. In fulfilling this obligation, however, we beg most respect- \ fully to assure your Excellency that we derive no ordinary plea- sure on the present occasion in presenting our expression of feelings of loyalty and attachment to a nobleman no less distin- guished for moral than intellectual eminence, and in whom we rest satisfied that the Fine Arts, which are so intimately con- nected with happiness, civilization, and peace, must be sure to tind a zealous promoter and a sincere friend. ANSWER. GENTJLEMSN, In thanking you, the president and members of the Royal Hibernian Academy, for this address, I beg to assure you that I am fully sensible of the general value of such a society, and of the peculiar advantage it may be to Ireland in its pre- sent state. Any neutral ground is desirable, where, in oblivion of other differences, the kindly relations of social life may be cultivated. A taste for the Fine Arts has, in all times and 41 under all circumstances, been found to promote this happy tendency. Let us hope, therefore, that the effect of your institution may be thus to benefit the present generation, whilst leaving lasting memorials of its more direct influence to those that are to come. } SOCIETY FOR DISCOUNTENANCING VICE. j MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, n THE Association Incorporated for Discountenancing Vice, and promoting the knowledge and practice of the Chris- tian religion, beg leave to approach your Excellency with the expression of their most profound and dutiful respects, and to solicit your Excellency's acceptance of the president- ship of this Society. The objects for which we are associated are such as, we feel certain, will commend themselves to your Excellency's approba- tion ; and the means employed for their attainment are worthy, we trust, of your Excellency's patronage. To extend the knowledge of " pure and undefiled religion," to train up the youthful generation in the way they should go, and to contribute as much as possible to the moral improvement of the community, are the objects which alone we have in view. The means which we have adopted in furtherance of these ob- jects are, the affording of aid to schools established under the superintendence of the parochial clergy, the encouragement of catechetical instruction, and the distribution of the holy Scrip- tures, the book of Common Prayer, and such moral and religious tracts, as may be level to the capacities of the young fcnd the ignorant. 42 We are happy to be able to state that, through the divine blessing, our labours have been attended * with the most gratifying success. And as long as we shall be enabled to continue our exertions, they shall be devoted to the diffusion and support of that true and practical religion, which engages its followers, not only to " fear God," but to " honour the King," and to " be obedient to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake." To an Institution, such as ours, the favourable countenance of the representative of his Majesty, is a most valuable advantage. We have enjoyed the sanction of every successive Viceroy of Ireland. And we now venture to hope, that your Excellency will allow your name to be placed at the head of our Society, and thus mark your approval of measures, the tendency of which, we are justified by past experience in saying, is to promote " Peace upon Earth," " Good Will amongst Men," and " Glory to God in the Highest." ANSWER. MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN, I thank you for this Address, and feel gratified by the desire you express, that I should accept the presidentship of your Society. The objects for which you are associated are, indeed, such as must command my approbation, and excite my interest. I have much pleasure in continuing to you my official sanction, when I hear that your high and holy object of diffusing pure religion, is pursued in a manner that has preserved good-will amongst men. Under these circumstances, accept %y warmest wishes for the extension of your influence, and the continuance of your success. 43 QUEEN'S COUNTY. WE, the inhabitants of the Queen's County, are but poorly adequate to convey to your Lordship's mind the happiness your arrival on our shores diffused among us, after a manifestation (during the late three months of tory ascendancy) of such coarse partizan politics, and unconcealed insult to the people as impressed all liberal Irishmen with the sad belief that the annals of atrocity had not ceased in their country ; your Lordship may reasonably believe that your appointment by our gracious Sovereign, as his representative here, shed as it were throughout his subjects a general calm and security. We indeed beheld in your Lordship, not alone the reflecting image of a liberal and enlightened policy, but the fully developed character of a man who, though devested of authority, would from his noble and generous sentiments be ever acceptable to the Irish people. It was not alone the sceptre of command which we beheld in the strong grasp of your Lordship's rule, but in each deed of your past life, we also espied a charming wand of conciliation and peace ; nor did we solely recognize among the attributes of your mind the serious love of justice Wfe have so long desired, but also the equally useful $ind amiable qualities of compassion for the wrongs and consideration for the faults of a much injured people. How sweet and consoling was it then to antici- pate, that in the instance of your sway the cup of hope would not be dashed from the lips of the oppressed, and how much more gratifying is it now to our Irish hearts to confess unalloyed content, give expression to our characteristic gratitude, outstrip the duty of respect and allegiance to our governor, and proffer him cheerful obedience and love. But we turn with pleasure from any consideration of ourselves to congratulate your Lord- ship on the real lustre with which your virtue and success in another unfortunate island has now fully surrounded the British name ; and though it may not be gratifying to our pride as free 44 Irishmen, to institute any comparison between the great mas? of our countrymen and that of those poor strangers, the clanking of whose fetters have yet scarcely ceased, we think that your lordship will agree with us in believing that, from the continued discountenance in Ireland of such just policy as your lordship now, thank Heaven ! represents and distributes, the practical suffering of the wretched in both countries has been too essen- tially similar in very manifold matters. We cannot be sufficiently aware of the many difficulties which your lordship's integrity, energy, and discretion surmounted in your former arduous position ; but as we are intimately acquainted with the many obstacles to improvement which may impede the government's benevolent intentions in this country, we warrant that, as the causes of discontent are gradually and effectually removed, and the way smoothed to peace, concord, and good-will among all classes of men, your lordship will experience in us, and the people generally, most humble and tractable instruments in the aid of general good. That your lordship may prove as fortunate a friend of freedom and humanity in one isle of the west as you have been in another, is our ardent hope ; and as the most important part of your life has been dedicated to the service of man in the two most peculiarly oppressed portions of the globe, we trust that, while in a higher state you receive the solid reward of virtuous exertions, and transmit your name with greater glory to posterity than even your lordship received it from an illustrious ancestor, the Irish people of succeeding time will prove as grateful reverers of your memory as we are grateful admirers of your past and present actions. ANSWER. .( GENTLEMEN, I am most grateful to you for thus approaching me with the expression of the happiness you have felt at my arrival -f ' . ; . ^ - -n^: 45 on your shores ; and the assurance that my appointment as the representative of our most gracious Sovereign, was calculated to diffuse general calm and security. There cannot be a more genuine source of pride to a states- man than that, amongst those to whom he is personally unknown ; his past actions should inspire a desire that he should come unto them and do likewise. I only feel that this, in my own case, arises more from occasions for which I should be thankful, than from qualities of which I can be vain. It will, to the end of my life, be a source of peculiar satisfaction to me, that a second time I have been placed in a situation, where, firmly determined to support the legitimate authority of my office upon all occa- sions, and against all persons, I may beneficially blend the more pleasing influence of conciliation. You have come here to welcome me with Irish warmth of feeling ; you have conveyed your favouring sense of my merits ;, with national force of expression ; you will feel that it is difficult adequately to answer such an address of that which the subject is oneself. I can therefore only assure you with all my heart I feel your kindness, and with all my might will endeavour to deserve your confidence. THE CORPORATION OF TUAM. WE, the sovereign, burgesses, and commonalty of the ancient and loyal corporation of Tuam, and other inhabitants of said city, beg leave to tender to your Excellency our warm congra- tulations upon your Excellency's appointment to the high office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 40 In common with the great majority of the Irish people we hail with delight the appointment of a nobleman as our chief governor, whose voice in the British senate has proclaimed him the eloquent advocate of equal rights and impartial justice to all classes of his Majesty's subjects, and the recollection of whose wise and paternal government in a foreign clime, where your Excellency so nobly contributed to strike the chains from the African slave, makes us cherish the hope that, in reward for such distinguished services, Providence has reserved for your Excellency a glory not less great, and we are convinced not less dear to your Excellency's heart the glory and happiness of being the instrument (in conjunction with a liberal, enlightened, and reforming ministry) to ameliorate the condition of our fine but hitherto neglected country, by providing employment for her poor and industrious inhabitants, and correcting those abuses in her institutions against which her people have with justice so long but in vain complained. ANSWER. I must assure the sovereign, burgesses, and loyal corporation of Tuam, of the gratitude with which I have received their congratulations on my appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Whilst I am duly sensible of the zeal and alacrity with which they have thus, from a remote part of Ireland, conveyed to me their valuable assurance of personal regard and public confidence, I take this opportunity of stating that my attention should be given to all alike, and that my unremitting exertions shall be directed to administer impartial justice throughout this portion of his Majesty's dominions, which he has committed to my charge. . , 47 TOWN OF WICKLOW. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town of Wicklow, in approaching your Excellency, beg leave to express our gratification in having this opportunity of deckring the sincere feeling of respect and esteem with which we regard you as the representative of our gracious Sovereign, and the zealous friend of this country. 1 We have observed your Excellency's repeated declarations of an earnest desire to promote the prosperity of Ireland, as well by the development of her many resources as by the promotion of unanimity and good feeling amongst all classes of her inhabi- tants ; we believe that without the exercise of forbearance, and the cultivation of kindly feeling, we cannot hope to witness the full completion of your Excellency's benevolent wishes for our improvement, and we feel that in declaring our anxiety to con- ciliate each other we give your Excellency the highest gratifi- cation that any words of ours can bestow. It must be a great satisfaction to your Excellency to know that you are now in one of the most orderly and peaceable districts of this island, amongst a population whose uniform good conduct has rendered their government easy and unexpensive. Encouraged by these considerations we hail with unaffected joy the opportunity afforded by your Excellency's visit of witnessing the situation of our town and harbour, neglected and totally inefficient, as they will be found to be, for the ordinary purposes of our struggling trade. Aware of your Excellency's desire to promote the interests of trade and agriculture, we have had it in contemplation to present a memorial to your Excellency on the stae of our port ; but feeling that this is not a fitting time to detail the advantages to 48 be anticipated from the desired improvements therein, we forbear pressing the matter further on your Excellency's attention, having perfect confidence that when our memorial shall be formally laid before your Excellency, it will receive all the attention to which we conceive it is entitled from a paternal governor. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, You will, I am sure, in the exercise of those feelings of kindness which have prompted this address, excuse my inability during this momentary visit to express as fully as I should wish my gratitude for your most flattering reception. It is indeed all that I could possibly desire, to see around me collected, those who furnish this practical proof that they have not been unmindful of my earnest admonition to cultivate good will amongst each other. I regret that business should have abridged this, my first visit to your beautiful country. Be assured that I shall at all times be most anxious to give my attention to any representation for improving your local advantages, and accept these concise but hearty thanks for your unanimous and therefore most gratifying confidence. CITY AND LIBERTIES OF KILKENNY. MAT IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the loyal inhabitants of the City and Liberties of the City of Kilkenny, with feelings of the most profound respect, beg leave to present to you our sincere congratulations upon your appointment to the Viceroyalty of Ireland. The principles of political wisdom and integrity that so strongly marked your Lordship's government in a distant and deeply Wronged portion of the Empire, will, we trust, speedily be brought into full operation here, and ultimately promote the dispensation of equal justice, and the regeneration of our country. With heartfelt satisfaction we view the efforts of his Majesty's ministers to effect an immediate and salutary reform in our ecclesiastical and municipal corporations, and we sincerely hope, that their exertions to overturn all monopoly will be attended with complete success. With perfect confidence we expect that your Excellency's attention will be particularly directed to the peaceable state of this City and its Liberties, and to the propriety of relieving its inhabitants from the pressure and expense of a police estab- lishment. As the representative of Majesty, as the administrator of equal and impartial justice, as the tried friend of the oppressed and enslaved, as the patron and diffuser of useful and general information among all sects and classes of his Majesty's Irish subjects, we hail your Excellency's arrival in our island, and we confidently anticipate, that under your impartial and vigorous government, all the strongholds of intolerance and monopoly will be overturned, and that in their place justice, liberty, and peace may be established in Ireland. ' ANSWER. I cordially thank the loyal inhabitants of the City and Liberties of Kilkenny for this address, conveying to me their congratulations upon my appointment jo the Viceroyalty of 50 Ireland. It will be my constant study to deserve their favour- able estimate of my qualifications for that office. I will make inquiries on the subject of the local establish- ment to which allusion is made, and I trust, shortly, to have an opportunity of a personal inspection of the City of Kilkenny. On all occasions it will be my desire to render my required experience of the wants and wishes of Ireland available, for the promotion of those principles of his Majesty's government, in which the inhabitants of Kilkenny have thus expressed their cordial concurrence. TOWN OF GALWAY. MAT IT PLEASE YOUR ExCELLE! WE, the inhabitants of the ancient and loyal town of Galway beg to approach your Excellency with feelings of admiration of your distinguished character, and sentiments of profound respect for your exalted station. We hail the appointment of your Excellency to the govern- ment of this country as indicating a disposition on the part of our rulers to carry the principles of reform into practical operation, and to distribute equal and impartial justice to the people. The record of your Excellency's government in a distant country, is a proof that the inherent qualities of the heart of Mulgrave are as noble and generous, as his intellectual acquire- ments are brilliant and exalted, and all combined give an earnest of happier days and better prospects to this long dis- tracted and misgoverned country. 51 We are convinced that your Excellency is anxious to redress the wrongs and remedy the evils that Ireland has so long endured, and, we are persuaded, that the resources of your highly enlightened mind will be directed towards the accom- plishment of an object as dear to the friends of peace and order, as it is dreaded by the lovers of discord and contention. We cannot avoid deprecating any attempt to thwart your Excellency's benevolent intentions towards the amelioration and improvement of Ireland, and we promise that the gratitude which a brave and generous people will exhibit, shall shew your Excellency that the character of Irishmen has been too often maligned and misrepresented. ' We recognize in your Excellencey a safe and skilful pilot to guide the helm and direct the vessel of state over the surges of political and party strife, feeling assured that a Viceroy, so distinguished for resolve and determination, will not suffer his progress to be impeded by any obstacle that might possibly retard the accomplishment of so desirable an object. ANSWER, I have received with the highest satisfaction the address of the inhabitants of the ancient and loyal town of Galway. I trust, as my endeavour has always been consistently to promote the cause of constitutional reform, that my career here will be marked by a constant determination to distribute equal and impartial justice, as the representative of our Sovereign. I hope that I may have in the course of this autumn an opportunity of personally thanking you for this frank expression of your confidence, in which anticipations of future benefits to this country, derived from your sense of my past conduct to others, are conveyed in a manner worthy the generous natures of Irishmen. ATHLONE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the loyal and well-affected inhabitants of the borough of Athlone, with sentiments of the most profound respect and esteem, beg leave to offer you our sincere and fervent con- gratulations upon your appointment as chief governor of Ireland. The principles of political integrity and kind-heartedness that so strongly characterised your Excellency's administration in a distant and long-oppressed part of the empire will, we hope, shortly be attended with equally happy results in this country, and ultimately contribute to the impartial dispensation of justice, and the regeneration of our unhappy and too long distracted country. With unaffected delight and satisfaction we perceive the efforts of his Majesty's ministers to accomplish an immediate and salutary reform in our ecclesiastical and municipal corpo- rations, and we trust their exertions to crush the hydra-headed monster of monopoly and intolerance will be crowned with ample success. From the period of your Excellency's arrival on our shores, we in common with all well-disposed Irishmen have looked on your Excellency as the harbinger of brighter prospects, and in our fond anticipations we have not been dis- appointed, for every act of your Excellency has been an earnest of your kind and humane intentions towards unhappy Ireland. With perfect confidence we trust your Excellency's attention will be particularly directed to the local wants of our hitherto neglected and spoliated town ; amongst which none calls more loudly for a remedy than our dilapidated bridge. As the repre- sentative of majesty, as the dispenser of equal and impartial justice, as the true friend of the oppressed and enslaved, as the patron of every thing useful and liberal amongst all sects and classes of his Majesty's Irish subjects, we hail with delight your Excellency's arrival in our island, and we anticipate that under your paternal government all the strongholds of corruption and monopoly will be overturned, and in their stead, justice, liberality, and peace may be substituted. ANSWER. I thank the loyal inhabitants of the borough of Athlone for the gratifying expressions contained in their address. It will be my endeavour personally to deserve their (continued confidence, and, as the representative of our Sovereign, to distribute impartial justice, to advance the peaceful progress of beneficial reform, and as far as lies in my power, to give my best attention to the well-founded complaints of individuals, and the legitimate wants of the country. COUNTY OF CLARE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUK EXCELLENCY, WE, the freeholders and other inhabitants of the county of Clare, in public meeting assembled, beg to offer to your Excellency our warmest congratulations on your recent elevation to the Viceroyalty of Ireland. We hail it as the assurance that a new and more enlightened policy is at length about to guide the destinies of our country; that the prejudices or passions of a faction will no longer be allowed to paralyze its energies, or influence the councils of a paternal monarch. \ ' We have witnessed with feelings of unmingled pleasure since your Excellency's arrival in Ireland, the wise anxiety you have manifested, to comprehend the character and ascertain the wants of those over whom you are called on to preside. You have not indulged in an aristocratic seclusion you have exhibited no vain disregard for the feelings and affections of the great body of the people. We congratulate you on the events which have preceded your Excellency's appointment to office, in the removal from his Majesty's councils of a body of men the hereditary enemies of freedom, who, under delusive pretexts, whether national or reli- gious, have so long trampled on the rights of Ireland, and endangered the best interests of the empire. We hail your elevation to office as among the practical benefits of that great measure of Reform now the law of the empire. Its constitutional progress \ve hope may not be arrested or impaired by the avowed opposition, or insidious adoption of those, who to the last resisted its concession. We trust that his Majesty's ministers will profit by the events that have occurred ; that they will not again be influenced by a weak and criminal delicacy, and gratuitously place their enemies in stations of emolument and influence, or, what we should hold an equal dereliction of duty, advance to power that class of men, those waiters upon events, who, without principle or politics, watch the fluctuations of the conflict, and accommodate their tortuous course to the varying suggestions of a base and sordid calculation. We trust that his Majesty's ministers will be true to their country, their principles, and themselves, and that they will maintain that moral ascendancy so calculated to bring to a suc- cessful issue those great measures of national amelioration now in progress, thereby realizing the anticipations of the empire, 55 and transmitting their own names to posterity encircled by the laurels of an unfading renown. We hail your. Excellency's appointment to the Viceroyalty of this country asfthe best assurance of these desired results, alike distinguished as you are by your equal and impartial advocacy of the first prerogatives of the crown, and the constitutional liberties of the people. We shall conclude by assuring your Excellency, that if we have heretofore been found arrayed against the anti-national governments which have successively ruled this country, we now indulge in the gratifying prospect that we can reconcile the paramount duties we owe that country, with an ardent and constitutional support of his Majesty's present government. ANSWER. I have this morning received from the hands of Mr. O'Brien, one of the representatives of the county of Clare, the address of the freeholders and inhabitants of that county. I take the earliest opportunity of returning my best thanks to them for their expressions both of personal attachment to myself and of concurrence in the principles which now direct his Majesty's councils. I trust that the present advisers of the crown will always be found to give the fullest practical effect to the pro- gress of necessary reform, and that in return, that continued confidence will be shown towards them, which can alone enable them to contend with success against their difficulties. For myself, I shall always desire to maintain that character which this address has kindly ascribed to me, of the impartial supporter of the due prerogatives of the crown, and the constitutional liberties of the people. 56 CITY AND LIBERTIES OF LIMERICK. WE, the undersigned citizens, freeholders, and inhabitants of the City and Liberties of Limerick, beg leave to present to your Excellency our most cordial congratulations on your arrival in this portion of his Majesty's dominions, and upon your accession to the supreme office in the administration of its government. We most unaffectedly profess a well-merited respect for your Excellency's person, so justly invested with the character of a liberal, and enlightened, and consistent politician, evinced in a distinguished public career, which has added a lustre to the dignity derived from your ancestors. We gladly avail ourselves of the occasion to express our conviction, that the administrative acts of your Excellency in this portion of the united empire, and your public expositions of the impartial principles of your Excellency's administration, have not only inspired the cultivated intelligence of the com- munity with a just confidence in your wisdom and policy, but have also generated among the people at large a regard and reverence for constituted authority (in a firm reliance that the laws of the land, administered under your Excellency's auspices, will not only inflict punishment on the guilty, but likewise afford redress to the aggrieved, and just protection to the rights and liberties of all the King's subjects) which circumstances cannot fail to promote public tranquillity in Ireland, and the happiest results to the empire at large. ANSWER. It has given me the greatest pleasure, on the eve of an excur- sion, in the course of which I shall visit the city of Limerick, to 57 receive from thence an address so very numerously signed, and so gratifying in its purport. I shall shortly have an opportunity of showing my personal sense of your favourable opinion, and I trust that long afterwards, I may still continue to deserve it, by a firm determination to distribute impartial justice, and by unremitting exertions to redress the grievances of all who are committed to my charge. BARONY OF KILMAIN, COUNTY MAYO. THE inhabitants of the barony of Kilmain, in the county of Mayo, in public meeting assembled at Ballinrobe, take the earliest opportunity of approaching your Excellency, to assure you of their heartfelt gratification at your Excellency's appoint- ment to the high and important trust of representing our gracious Sovereign, the King, in this portion of his Majesty's dominions. Your claims as such a representative would be cordially and promptly recognized by a people, characterized for their loyalty and generous feelings, but, in addition to such claims, your Excellency has assumed the government of Ireland under other circumstances which are most powerfully calculated to increase the delight of the Irish people at your arrival amongst them. They hail you as the advocate of civil and religious liberty ; as a statesman, under whose benevolent rule, the fetters were struck from the limbs of the slave ; and, above all, as the Viceroy of a King, who, through his ministers, is pledged to the reformation of abuse, and to the restoration and preservation of all that is valuable in the constitution. 58 We greet your Excellency as the herald of justice to Ireland ; we ask nothing more from your Excellency. Judging from your Excellency's brilliant public career, we are convinced that it is, and will continue to be the object of your greatest ambi- tion to apply the functions of your high and distinguished office to the removal of those destructive animosities which have so long afflicted this unhappy country, and to substitute the operations of industry and general improvement, for the mis- chievous workings of other causes, which we hope will shortly, and for ever, be banished from our land. Confiding in your Excellency's intentions, we cordially welcome you to our shores ; and it is our anxious hope, that you may long continue amongst us, to reap the reward of your justice and liberality in the approving sanction of your own enlightened mind, and in the constant gratitude of a warm- hearted and affectionate people. ANSWER. 'i I derive from this address the most convincing proof how sensibly alive this generous people are to the value of supposed good intentions on the part of their rulers, when, from this remote quarter of the island their expressions of confidence are founded upon the report of my previous acts in a distant portion of the globe. I trust you will find that you are not deceived in my anxious desire to serve you. It is my intention, as much as the neces- sary attendance at the seat of government will permit, to visit the different provinces, and it will be my wish every where by my presence to obliterate local differences, and to promote a community of interest in pursuits connected with the national welfare. 59 CITY OF KILKENNY. / MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, THE citizens of Kilkenny having so recently done themselves the honour of congratulating you on your elevation to the Viceregal throne, and having availed themselves of that opportunity of expressing their attachment to the great princi- ples of reform, which constitute so important an object of your administration, there now remains to the citizens the pleasing task of declaring their heartfelt satisfaction at your Excellency's arrival in their ancient and loyal city ; and of hailing your visit as the manifestation of a generous anxiety to ascertain from your own personal observation the real state and circumstances of this part of Ireland, and the measures most likely to contribute to its improvement. The citizens of Kilkenny conceive they will best evince their gratitude, and, in their humble sphere, best co-operate in the benevolent intentions of your Excellency, by frankly laying before you a general outline of their view of the wants and capabilities of their city and the adjacent county. The county of Kilkenny includes a district rich in materials for trade and manufactures, abounding in mines of coal, and iron-ore, and in quarries of slate, flags, marble, and limestone ; yet, are these materials, as it were, locked up from general or extensive use, for want of cheap and commodious means of conveyance to distant markets. In the city of Kilkenny will be found a dense population, the great bulk of which consists of persons in the humbler walks of life, depending for subsistence on their daily labour. Most of this class have of late years been deprived of regular employ- 60 mi-lit, partly by the decay of the woollen manufacture, formerly the staple trade of the city, partly from the want of a resident proprietary and gentry, but still more on account of the depressed state of agriculture, which disables the farmers of the surrounding country from retaining their usual number of labourers. The condition of our shopkeepers, traders, and artisans, is not more prosperous, chiefly from the reduced state of the farmers, on whose consumption the traders of Kilkenny have now princi- pally to depend, most of the landlords and principal gentry having become absentees, whose rents being withdrawn from local circulation, all benefit from its expenditure is lost to the citizens of Kilkenny. In addition to the causes of distress already enumerated, the citizens of Kilkenny cannot, in justice to themselves, refrain from stating to your Excellency, that in their opinion, the decay of trade, and consequent want of employment, is also, in a considerable degree, attributable to the want of a municipal government, fully and effectually representing the citizens. The citizens here beg leave to repeat their sincere attach- ment to the person and government of their gracious Sovereign, and their full confidence in his present liberal and enlightened ministers, to whom they, in common with the empire at large, feel the deepest gratitude for the valuable measures of church and municipal reform now before parliament. Finally, the citizens of Kilkenny assure your Excellency, that they anticipate from your personal experience of the real state of the country, from your information collected from impartial sources, and from your patriotic and benevolent intentions, the happiest results to the prosperity of their city and county. 61 ANSWER. MR. MAYOR, I must commence the expression of my thanks, by assuring you personally of the pleasure it gives me, to see you here upon this occasion, as the organ of that public meeting of the citizens of Kilkenny, from whom this address emanated. You do justice to the motives which induce me to inform myself, by actual inspection, of the state of the country, and you wisely advance the objects I seek to attain, by placing distinctly before me your view of the wants and capabilities of your neighbourhood ; but you will feel that it would not become me, on this occasion, to promise more, than to give my best attention to the statements you have made, whilst I feel duly sensible of the very temperate manner in which you have detailed strictly practical grievances. It is evident that, for the state of things of which you complain, the obvious remedy is to be found in such measures as shall give encouragement to capital and employment to industry. As to the manner in which this may best be done, much must, of course, depend upon the extent to which local interests are to be exclusively considered, or the degree in which more comprehensive benefits are to be consulted. On questions where, according to your- selves, something arises from defects in your internal system of administration, and where the rest certainly does not entirely depend upon the resident government of Ireland, you will not expect that I should undertake to do more in the first place, than carefully to examine, and impartially to balance varying opinions and conflicting interests. . Op, the part of those friends, members of his Majesty's present government, to whom I am bound alike by the ties of private} regard and political connexion, I must thank you for 62 your cordial approbation of those measures of reform which have been by them proposed in parliament, and I can assure you of my belief, that they all share with me in my desire to advance the general prosperity of Ireland, and not to overlook the peculiar interests of the loyal and public spirited inhabitants of Kilkenny. TOWN OF CLONMEL. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Clonmel, most respectfully beg leave to approach your Excellency, to express the great satisfaction we have felt in your appointment to the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, and to offer our wannest congratulations on your arrival in this part of the country. Aware of the blessings which your Excellency's liberal and enlightened policy has contributed to diffuse over another important portion of his Majesty^ dominions, we hailed the appointment of your Excellency to the viceregal government of this kingdom as a proof of the beneficent intentions of his Majesty towards his Irish subjects, and of that enlightened policy which has influenced the selection of his present administration, possessing, as it does, our most unlimited confidence. We anticipate the best results from your Excellency's present tour, evincing a desire to become personally acquainted with the people you have been called on to -govern to behold them, not through any distorting medium, but with the calm, dispassionate view of an enlightened mind, wishing to inform itself of their wants as well as their resources ; and we feel confident, that whatever a wise and an experienced governor can do towards 63 the diminution of those wants, and the development of those resources, will be accomplished by your Excellency. Convinced of your Excellency's determination to wield the power entrusted to you solely with a view to the general welfare, we earnestly hope that your Excellency may be speedily rewarded by beholding the people of this country, under the even-handed administration of that power, and the influence of tranquillizing measures, advance in the scale of intelligence, prosperity, and happiness. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I beg you will accept a sincere, though hurried expression of thanks, for your welcome and congratulations to me as the representative of our Sovereign. .- You justly appreciate the motives which induce me to desire to see things with my own eyes. I trust that when longer expe- rience shall have enabled me more thoroughly to understand the real state of the country, that the anticipations you kindly found on my personal character, and past political career, may not be disappointed. I fear that the very short time I can at present be absent from the seat of government, must oblige me to postpone till another occasion, any further stay in Clonmel ; and I the less regret this, as the grave and important business in which you are at present engaged, would render this an inconvenient opportunity for inspecting your institutions. At all times rely on my best wishes to advance your welfare. <. - , - TOWN OF LISMORE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's dutiful, and loyal subjects, the inhabitants of Lismore, gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by your Excellency's presence, to tender our cordial congratulations upon your arrival amongst us, and to assure you of those sentiments of warm attachment and sincere respect which we entertain towards your Excellency's person as the representative of our gracious Sovereign. Impressed with a deep conviction of your Excellency's earnest anxiety to promote the peace, good order, and prosperity of this country, as also of your determination to administer the laws in a spirit of impartiality and justice, we regard the appointment of a nobleman of your Excellency's amiable and humane cha- racter, as a further proof of the paternal solicitude of our good King, and the benevolent disposition of his ministers towards this country. When we reflect that your Excellency is the descendant and bears the name of an illustrious man, who filled the highest offices, and administered for a time the supreme authority in this country a man whose exalted virtues we hold in gratefiil remembrance and that you yourself, emulous of those virtues, have established a proud claim upon every friend of humanity, by striking off the fetters of the oppressed slave : inspired by such reflections, we receive your Excellency as the harbinger of better days and brighter prospects for our country ; and we earnestly and fervently pray, that Providence may preserve your Excellency, to achieve in Ireland another splendid, peaceful, moral triumph, worthy of the negro emancipator and we trust that when returning at some remote period into the calm enjoy- ment of private life, your Excellency may be cheered by the blessings of a free, united, and happy people. ANSWER. I can hardly at this moment adequately express to you how gratified I am by the comprehensive grounds of public character and political coincidence of principle on which you found your congratulations upon my appointment as the representative of our gracious Sovereign. I can most sincerely assure you that I never was more grati fied than by the buoyant cordiality of your reception ; the effervescence of popular feeling to which no one who means well can be entirely insensible, is rendered more striking by the singular beauty of the scene, and is to me infinitely more valuable that it is associated with the recollections, and accom- panies me to the residence of one whom I am most proud to reckon as one of my earliest and most intimate friends. With all these combined feelings, I beg you to accept my warmest thanks. TALLOW. 4 MAY IT PLEASE YOUK EXCELLENCY, THE inhabitants of the parish of Tallow approach your Excellency, and beg leave to convey to you the expression of their heartfelt sentiments of loyalty to our gracious and beloved sovereign, who has been pleased to commit the destinies of Ireland to the vigilant care of your Excellency's acknowledged judgment and firmness; and to assure your Excellency of their intense feelings of admiration and attachment to your person, the devoted friend of liberty of conscience and happiness to the human race of all climes and colour. In unison with all Ireland, we hail your government of our distracted and pauperized country as the harbinger of better days, and felicitate your Excellency and ourselves upon the near prospect of the redress of our wrongs by the measures of municipal and church reform in progress, under the auspices of his Majesty's Ministers, whose political principles so happily coincide with your own. Though we number in this parish, over six thousand souls, there is not a single individual to dissent from the conviction, that Ireland could not be blessed with a Lord Lieutenant better suited to the present crisis, more competent to obliterate the stains of old misrule, and give full satisfaction to her characte- ristically confiding and loyal people, than the generous, the just, and classic Earl of Mulgrave. i We cherish a fond hope that your Excellency may be able to succeed in rendering justice to our country, for Ireland asks but the claims of eternal justice ; and making her people contented and happy. May bountiful Heaven bless your Excellency with a long and prosperous life, to add more lustre to your honorable name, and give delight to your admiring friends, among whom, the inhabitants of Tallow beg to assure your Excellency they deserve to be considered. i t ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, The warm expressions of attachment and confidence in which you have conveyed your congratulations, whilst they cannot but be deeply felt, are difficult duly to acknowledge. Of my best intentions in your Jaehalf, I can most sincerely assure you, and I trust that the same generous disposition which induces you to anticipate such benefits from my government will be shown in waiting that necessary time by which alone the 67 * consequences of salutary reform can be developed, and I should be amply repaid, if, on the period arriving when in the natural course I shall quit this country, I may still have preserved that unanimity of favourable opinion which you state now to prevail in your populous parish. CITY OF CORK. WE, the Mayor, Sheriffs, and Common Council of the city of Cork, avail ourselves of the opportunity which your Excellency's presence affords, of repeating to your Excellency in person, those sentiments of allegiance to the King, attachment to the constitution, and respect for your Excellency which were con- veyed by the general body of the corporation upon your arrival in Ireland, as the representative of our beloved Sovereign. Your Excellency having been graciously pleased to intimate, that your visit to this city is made in pursuance of a desire to inform yourself personally of the condition of all parts of this island, we beg to offer to your Excellency our grateful acknow- ledgments for the motive to which we owe this opportunity of addressing you. We fully appreciate the benefits to be derived from extending the knowledge of the vast resources of this country, and the advantages to be acquired from engaging towards their develop- ment, the attention of those who like your Excellency are equally distinguished by talent as by station. We confidently anticipate that your Excellency's observations in the progress of your tour will lead to the conclusion that there exists in this country varied and ample sources of wealth and prosperity, and we feel assured that it is your Excellency's 68 anxious desire to render them what we earnestly trust they, ere long, will become, the means of extensively promoting the welfare and happiness of its inhabitants. ANSWER, MR. MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN, I thank you most sincerely for this timely repetition of the expressions of your personal esteem for myself, and of your gratification at my appointment as the representative of our gracious Sovereign. My presence here this day is a practical confirmation of the sentiments and intentions conveyed in my answer to your first address, and I am glad to find that you participate in my idea of the benefits which may be derived from perseverance in the course I propose. I am duly sensible that yours was the first public body removed from the seat of government, which conveyed to me prompt and flattering congratulations upon my arrival, and as your city is second to none so situated in importance, you shall yourselves be second to none in my grateful recollections. CITIZENS OF CORK. MAT IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, the citizens of Cork, approach your Excellency, to present our congratulations on your arrival in this city, to express our respect and esteem for your Excellency's person and character, 69 and to testify our loyalty and attachment to his Majesty, and our gratitude for his gracious selection of so distinguished a nobleman to preside over the government of this country. In appointing your Excellency as his representative in Ireland, we recogntee in hisi Majesty a tender and affectionate regard for its welfare and happiness ; and we hail the appointment as the harbinger of better days for a distracted and impoverished people ; when through the influence of a mild and paternal government, party feuds and anti-national feelings will subside when political and religious contention will be changed into a patriotic and Christian rivalry to promote the interests and prosperity of our common country, and to cherish benevolence and good feeling amongst Irishmen of every class and creed. The wise and statesmanlike policy of your Excellency in the government of a distant colony is an ample guarantee to Ireland, that during the administration of your Excellency, just and liberal measures will be adopted towards this country ; that our commercial and manufacturing interests will be promoted ; that peace and prosperity will yet again beam upon the land ; and that by the continued adoption of all necessary and wholesome improvements, the permanence and stability of our political institutions will be secured. That while your Excellency shall continue to preside over the destinies of this nation, you may witness the blessings of a beneficent government, and the gratitude of a generous and confiding people ; and when your Excellency's official connexion with Ireland shall cease, that the memory of your paternal and impartial administration may long be cherished, and perpetuated to future generations of Irishmen, is the ardent wish of the citizens of Cork, who are gratified at the opportunity you have afforded them of thus personally conveying the sentiments of regard and respect which they entertain towards your Excellency. 70 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, Independent of those portions of your address which are so gratifying to myself, there is from its tone much of solid satisfaction to be derived by any one, from disposition as well as office, deeply interested in the prosperity of the country. It would be sufficient for myself that you should, as you state, consider my appointment by his Majesty, as his representative, as a strong proof of his affectionate regard for the welfare of Ireland ; but as the duties of government and the people, though concurrent, are distinct, it is even more important for the results we all desire, that I should hear from such influential repre- sentations of different shades of opinion, the well-expressed understanding, the combined conviction of the real benefits to be derived from a paternal government. I should ever desire that all and every one should look to me with confidence for that which is in my province to correct or regulate, but much must still depend upon yourselves. With your cordial cooperation I might forget my sense of my own deficiencies without it, even your too favourable estimate of my qualifications could only earn the barren praise of good intentions. I thank you most sincerely for your anticipations of the probable record that may remain of my conduct when my official connexion with Ireland shall have ceased. The future is food for flattering speculation, but the pleasing recollection of this day must always remain, when the result of such a public meeting, in such a city, has been the expression of sentiments which are matter of pride to me, of promise to yourselves. 71 TRADES OF CORK. * MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE beg leave to approach you, to express our hap- piness at the visit which you have been pleased to make to our city, and to tender through you, to the monarch whom you represent, the expression of our firm allegiance, as well as that of our confidence in the administration which his Majesty upholds. sj Sir, Permit us] Sir, to lay before you the object of our association, and the means by which we seek to effect it : The object of our exertions is the improvement, physical and moral, of the destitute mass with which this city and county abound. The means by which we propose to realize this pur- pose, embrace an extension of the elective franchise, and the securing its pure, conscientious, and independent exercise on the part of the humblest elector ; the encouragement of manu- factures, and of industry at large, now at so deplorably low an ebb in this country ; the attainment of a legal provision for the poor, to neutralize, as far as possible, the evil effects of an absentee proprietary ; and the cheap diffusion of knowledge for- we consider this last as the surest means, next to the influence of religion, by which habits of drunkenness, outrage, and illegal combination, may be discountenanced and eradicated. We respectfully submit, that considerable success has attended our strenuous exertions in encouraging our fellow-citizens to reject the inducements to perjury and corruption, which invete- rate and profligate practices had almost naturalized in this city, as connected with the exercise of the elective franchise. Undoubtedly one of the greatest evils, and the most ruinous in its general consequences to the well-being of society amongst 72 us, is that disregard for moral principle, and above all, for the sanctity of oaths, engendered between the ambition of the wealthy and the destitution of our poor, and invariably called into action on the occasions to which we refer. We must express our regret, that the effort to diffuse useful knowledge among our working classes by means of cheap pub- lications, is paralyzed by the taxes affecting the press. We rejoice, however, to observe, that the government, of which your Excellency is a distinguished member, has evinced a dispo- sition to remove the obstacles to general improvement to which we allude. Actuated by the views and principles which we have thus set forth, we cheerfully tender our cordial approbation to the general spirit which characterises the measures of his Majesty's govern- ment. And now, Sir, it remains for us to tender your Excel- lency a hearty welcome, and to assure you how sincerely we wish for the continuance of your stay in Ireland, as the repre- sentative of our most gracious Sovereign. In your character there is nothing equivocal, for your entire political life bears testimony of your attachment to the liberties of mankind. You were aptly chosen to represent your royal master, when about to proclaim freedom to the long degraded African, and the decision and personal courage you evinced on the occasion, proved the wisdom of his Majesty's choice. ' We are persuaded that it will be no fault of yours, if your mission to Ireland shall not also prove a blessing, signal in its nature and results, reconciling to each other a long divided people, leaving no ground for rivalship amongst us, excepting that which is found in the ambition to uphold the security of our connexion with the sister country, under just and equal laws. i 73 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I beg to assure you of my gratitude for your very cordial reception, and trust you will believe that I am duly sensible of the unanimity of feeling displayed amongst you. The objects of your institution, as described by yourselves, appear to me most desirable. As to the means by which these objects are to be attained, it would, under any circumstances, not be befitting in me to express an opinion upon such an occasion, more especially if legislative alteration is contemplated. It is my duty as the representative of our gracious Sovereign to administer the existing laws with strict impartiality, and upon my best exertions to do so you may at all times rely. Your hearty welcome is the best encouragement a continu- tion in your present spirit is the best support in my anxious efforts to do justice to Ireland. CORK MECHANICS' INSTITUTE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the members of the Cork Mechanics' Institute, beg to offer to your Excellency our warmest congratulations on your arrival in this city. You have evinced, by this early progress through the kingdom, a paternal solicitude for the welfare of the people of Ireland, and an anxious wish to acquire, by personal observation, an accurate knowledge of their condition. 74 The impulse which has been given to popular education throughout Europe, has been to us, and we have no doubt, to your Excellency, a source of peculiar satisfaction ; because we are convinced that the most beneficial consequences to society must flow from this universal spread of intelligence. To fit ourselves, therefore, for the duties of good citizenship, we endeavour to take up a prominent position in the advance of human improvement. Accordingly our institute has been founded for the express purpose of diffusing knowledge among the working classes ; hence we have a library and news-room, a scientific day school, a French school, and a school of design ; but we regret to say, that the instruction in the sciences of chemistry, mechanics, &c. which require apparatus, and which are best taught by lectures, is not to be obtained in our institute, owing to the limited pecuniary resources of the members. Recently we have petitioned parliament to obviate this difficulty. Were it not too great an intrusion on your Excel- lency's time, we would solicit your inspection of our institute ; and we are satisfied, your Excellency would make so favourable a report of its utility and good management, as may induce his Majesty's government not to refuse the application we have made to them through parliament. We are sure it will be gratifying to your Excellency to learn, that, although the members of the Cork Mechanics' Institute are composed of persons of all religious denominations, and of all shades of political opinion, yet, leaving our religious and political differences at the threshold of the Institute, we have worked well and cordially together during a period of ten years, from its foundation in 1825, up to the present hour. We cannot take leave of your Excellency without again expressing our joy at your arrival among us ; we trust you are the harbinger of peace and prosperity ; and we deem it a 75 singular blessing of Providence, that in this important crisis, so enlightened a nobleman should have been chosen by his Majesty to rule over the destinies of Ireland. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I desire you will accept my sincere thanks for your congratulations. You do but justice to my earnest desire to promote the progress of general education. It is not only throughout Europe to which you allude that I have marked its beneficial effect I have trusted to its influence to soften the nature of savages to raise the condition of slaves. I am much gratified to learn that your Institute is distin- guished by the exclusion of all political and religious differences. This is as it should be, for it is by the diffusion of mutual enlightenment, that distinctive prejudices are imperceptibly obliterated. * The short time that I am at present enabled to absent myself from the seat of government may oblige me to omit on this occasion much that I should like to embrace, but, at any rate, depend upon my attentive interest in the objects of your praiseworthy institution. ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY OF CORK. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, THE Cork Anti-slavery Society hail with much satisfaction the opportunity afforded by the visit of your Excel- lency to this part of the kingdom, to express the gratitude with which they recollect the wisdom, temper, and firmness displayed by y out. Excellency in the administration of the government of Jamaica, at a period when the interests of the slave had reached their crisis, and when every friend of the negro population in our colonies watched passing events with inexpressible anxiety. The Cork Anti-slavery Society, in addressing their congratu- lations to a zealous friend of moral and civil advancement among the negroes, on the progress of legislation in their favour, cannot but regret that the apprenticeship system was adopted, because they believe that that expedient has delayed the pro- gress of freedom with all its advantages ; yet, are they grateful that the nation's voice has so far been confirmed by law, as to secure, at no distant period, perfect liberty to that portion of our fellow-subjects. The Cork Anti-slavery Society have no wish to flatter, but when .high functionaries in the executive government are found equal to the emergencies in the midst of which they are placed, they think it a duty to express, on suitable occasions, the approbation which they feel. .. . - Such an occasion they regard the present, especially when they reflect that the intrepid friend of the slave, in the hour of his struggle, is now his Majesty's representative, to direct the energies of the government in a country far from being without its difficulties; and they believe that, surrounded by these difficulties, your " Excellency will maintain the same principles of even-handed justice which characterized your government in a distant land. With these views and sentiments, the Society beg your Excellency's acceptance of their sincere thanks for your past exertions in the cause of humanity and justice, and their hope and confidence in your future usefulness as chief governor of their native land. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, In the feelings excited by the reception of such an address, on such an occasion, there is combined much of vivid recollection with somewhat of fond anticipation. It is gratifying to find that amongst those, over whose destinies, as the repre- sentative of our Sovereign, I am now appointed to preside, my exertions in a distant land have been anxiously watched and are favourably appreciated. Any praise that I may have then acquired, I attribute principally to my determination to examine thoroughly and report faithfully. I trust that my early visit here will be accepted as a sufficient proof that the same dispo- sition still prevails. Though a wider field and more complicated concerns may require more constant confinement in a central position, yet, be assured, that all the time I can spare from the general superintendence of all, shall be given to the examination of local wants and individual grievances. You have alluded, with some degree of regret, to the system of apprenticeship. I need not remind you, that mine was an executive, not a legislative share in the measure, and I would only repeat to you, that which I addressed to the legislature of Jamaica, upon the passing of the act : That the British parlia- ment had thought this a necessary precaution, but that no one 78 would more cordially rejoice than myself, when this last vestige of slavery might with safety be obliterated. I must again thank you for the simple and sincere manner in which you have conveyed to me the grateful testimony of your approbation, and can assure you, that you shall, at least, find in me, on all occasions, the same desire to do my duty. COVE AND GREAT ISLAND, CORK. / MAT IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Cove and the Great Island, beg leave to approach your Excellency with our respectful congratulations upon your Excellency's visit to our town and harbour. We feel honoured by this testimony of your Excellency's condescension. The wants of Ireland are not to be learned by partial statements or exaggerated report, but the King's government will be best informed through the personal obser- vation of the King's representative. In the appointment of your Excellency to the Vice-regal throne, we hail the government of an enlightened nobleman, who, we trust, seeking to serve Ireland, by measures of practical good, and himself the centre of unprejudiced judgment and philanthropic feeling, will form around him the placid circle of universal toleration. , We would not dim the lustre, or diminish the pleasure of your Excellency's progress through the south of Ireland, by any untimely remonstrance or complaint, which the present condition of our harbour might induce us to lay before your 79 Excellency. The empty storehouses, the deserted roadstead, the abandoned naval station Ireland's only naval station are open to your Excellency's view, and your Excellency's obser- vant mind, liberal feelings and high sense of justice will draw those conclusions which alone are warrantable. That your Excellency's visit to the town and harbour of Cove will not have been without advantage to its local interests, we confidently anticipate. Perhaps its aquatic beauties may another time attract the presence of your Excellency. The inhabitants of Cove would feel 'gratified by such an event ; and they trust, that your Excellency will accept these humble expressions of respect and confidence, with which they have ventured to approach your Excellency. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I would most willingly adopt as the line of my future conduct in the general government of the country, that course which you have so well expressed in anticipations, founded on your favourable estimate of my character. As to the particular points connected with your local interests, the delicate manner in which you merely hint the subject, shews that you justly consider that an occasion of this kind is more adapted to collect information than to pronounce an opinion. I will give the points to which you allude, my best attention. You are aware that the remedies are not amongst those which are in the power of the local government to apply ; but any thing that, upon comprehensive reflection, I could, consistently with my public duty, recommend, I should certainly do with unmixed pleasure, from this agreeable personal inspection, and most flattering reception. 80 ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY OF CLOYNE AND ROSS. MAT IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, THE undersigned, in his own name, and on behalf of the Roman Catholic Clergy of Cloyne and Ross, begs leave to offer to your Excellency his and their heartfelt felicitations on your arrival in this country, as the representative of our august and beloved Sovereign. Convinced that any measure which a paternal Monarch and a wise government can devise for the improvement of Ire- land, must prove abortive, as long as Ireland's sons continue divided by factious and unchristian feuds, they sincerely wish to see, at length, a period put to the dissensions which have hitherto distracted this unhappy country, and they confidently anticipate the completion of their wishes, from the appointment, as its chief governor, of a nobleman, whose liberal views and impartial administration will repress illegal excesses, and encou- rage moral and peaceable habits in all his Majesty's subjects, without distinction of creed or party. ANSWER. ' t RIGHT REVEREND SIR, I gratefully accept your address, and that of the clergy whose sentiments it conveys. I am well aware of the powerful aid to the well-being of society in this country, which your body can confer, and I receive with much gratification those sentiments of personal respect for myself and loyalty to my Sovereign, which impress me with the belief that your 81 co-operation will be afforded me in the duties which I have undertaken. I thank you most sincerely for the kind and flattering tribute which you have presented to me on this occasion. MAYOR AND CORPORATION OF LIMERICK. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's dutiful servants, the mayor, sheriffs, and citizens of Limerick, in common council assembled* beg leave to offer to your Excellency our congratulation upon your arrival in this ancient and loyal city. We acknowledge with gratitude the honour you have conferred upon us by your Excellency's visit as the representative of our gracious and beloved Sovereign, to whom we take this opportunity of renew- ing the assurance of our unabated attachment, and of our anxious desire to promote the peace and prosperity of this part of his Majesty's dominions. We beg permission to enrol your Excellency's name among the freemen of this ancient corporation. i * v i ANSWER. MR. MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN, I thank you for this address of congratulation, and receive it with pleasure, because I recognize in it a proof that you feel as I am myself already gratefully assured, that, in pre- senting it, you speak the unequivocal sentiments of the citizens of Limerick, whose civic privileges you represent. G 82 CITIZENS OF LIMERICK. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the citizens of Limerick, have already in public meeting assembled, communicated to your Excellency the ex- pression of our warmest congratulation on your recent appoint- ment to the vice-royalty of Ireland, and in your Excellency's reply thereto we were proud to recognize the unequivocal decla- ration of feelings alike befitting the principles of a national ministry, and the representative of a paternal monarch. It is with feelings of equal gratification we now address you on the occasion of your visit to our ancient city ; we accept it as the best assurance of your Excellency's determination, practically to ascertain, and constitutionally to ameliorate the condition of an attached and loyal population. We shall not, in this moment. of triumph, arrest the current of national feeling by painful references to the past ; we join in the prophetic enthusiasm around us, and in the bright prospects of your Excellency's councils^ consign to a willing oblivion the recollection of grievances long felt, of wrongs patiently endured. We anticipate with confidence the permanence of your Excel- lency's administration ; we trust that we shall continue to possess the protecting influence of a nobleman, so intimately identified with our warmest sympathies, and that he shall long enjoy that proudest reward which awaits on exalted nature, the conscious- ness of having deserved and possessed a nation's gratitude. ANSWER. . GENTLEMEN, I have already thankfully acknowledged the former address to which you allude, of which the sterling value was doubtless enhanced by the countless host of its signatures. 83 You will, I am sure, best deserve, and most probably obtain well-merited amelioration, by substituting for a retrospect of reproach, a future of hope. With the characteristic generosity of your country, you now rest your confidence in me, on accredited good intentions. I shall anxiously desire that in the course of my government, I may establish your regard on the more solid foundation of actual services. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF LIMERICK. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, the president, vice-president, and members of the corporation of the Chamber of Commerce of Limerick, beg leave to address your Excellency on your arrival among us, with all the respect due to the representative of Majesty, and to your distinguished personal attributes. We hail your Excellency's appointment to the government of Ireland as a sure indication of the just and salutary intentions of a wise and paternal Monarch towards this country. The medium of such intentions, your Excellency will be cordially welcomed by every friend of social order and happiness, and Ireland will gratefully receive the dispensation of good govern- ment at the hands of your Excellency, who has ever been its enlightened, consistent, and illustrious advocate. Incorporated for the promotion of trade, we feel how its advancement is retarded by the imperfect development of our local as well as national resources; to this may, in a great degree, be attributed the distress of our population, their dis- content, and the insecurity that must exist in any country where vast numbers are without employment, and often without sus- : . 84 tcnancc ; and we regret that the exigencies and extreme des- titution of the population of this district can now receive but the limited observation of one, acute as is your Excellency, in discriminating the latent resources of national evil. To your Excellency it must be manifest how immeasurably beyond the expenditure would be the result arising from the promotion of public works, and the encouragement of manufac- tures ; how soon and how effectually the entire country would be benefitted by the employment of an enduring and industrious population, and by the application of those materials with which nature has furnished Ireland. We therefore venture confidently to hope that your Excel- lency will give the sanction of your approval, and the incalculable benefit of your recommendation to promote these objects. But above all and without which no measure, however com- prehensively liberal, for our internal improvement can avail we trust that government will persevere in the establishment of equal laws, and thereby remove all vestiges of that political inequality between Irishmen, which has produced social asperities and neutralized national enterprise. . ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I am most grateful that you should consider my appointment a* an~ additional indication of the paternal intentions of our gracious Sovereign in your behalf. It is true, as you state, that I have always been, at least, your consistent advocate in Parliament. The first words I uttered, as a representative of the people, were to urge the extinction of the civil distinctions of the vast majority of the Irish people. In the discharge of the duties of the executive, it will ever be my constant *" 85 care, that those laws which are no longer unequal in their pro- visions shall not be partial in their operation. But whilst this, in the way of regulation, is all that now remains to ensure the practical effect of political eligibility to every division of the higher calsses, the actual social condition of large masses of the lowest orders, requires deliberate but undelayed attention. It would be cruelty to hold out any expectation that any projected change would be immediately felt but the necessary preliminary step is, that all, who have the power, should forget ideal differences in cordial union to promote the course of beneficial improvement. TRADES OF LIMERICK. . . MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the congregated trades of the city of Limerick, hasten to tender your Excellency our warmest congratulations on your arrival in our ancient city. Animated with the most profound loyalty to our most gracious Sovereign, and attachment to the British constitution, we fully appreciate the discrimination of his Majesty's government in their selection of a nobleman of your distinguished talents, liberal sentiments, and philanthropic feelings, to administer the executive government of this country, recognising in that appointment, an earnest of their intentions to rescue her from that state of continual distraction and periodical suffering to which for a series of years she has, from a combination of untoward circumstances, been subjected. But your Excellency's arrival has inspired us with the pleasing anticipation, that under your enlightened administration, our 86 i country will ere long find her condition ameliorated, her almost inexhaustible resources amply and properly developed, and her vast capabilities called into active existence through the foster- ing influence of a paternal government ; and that those puerile distinctions which hitherto kept us divided, and rendered us incapable of contributing cither to our moral or social advance- ment,, will cease to dwell, even in our recollections ; and Ireland resuscitated and happy will become the parent of a prosperous, contented, and grateful people, and the strongest bulwark of the British empire. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I am mot pleased that your loyalty and attachment to the British constitution should induce you to hail my appoint- ment as representative of our gracious Sovereign, as a happy omen for Ireland. r* * I have, in the short time I have been here, only been able imperfectly to estimate her inexhaustible resources ; but I have at least been able to appreciate the happiness with which you have applied the epithet of " puerile," to the manner in which social distinctions are often here made matter of dispute, to the exclusion of more practical points of union. I have already seen very much that requires correction in the state of this country, and it is exactly because I am earnest in my desire to remove abuses, and therefore feel how important it is to be allowed to proceed without cavil in my own course, that I rejoice in these reiterated proofs of your confidence, which I highly value as a means to that end. 87 LIMERICK LITERARY INSTITUTION. . . MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the members of the Limerick Literary Institu- tion, beg leave most respectfully to approach your Excellency, and offer our sincere congratulations on your arrival in this city. As members of a society established for literary and scientific purposes, it is to us a source of much gratification that his Majesty has been graciously pleased to appoint, as his Viceroy in this country, a nobleman who, from his varied and distinguished attainments in literature, is eminently qualified to estimate the value and importance of institutions such as ours, and must feel deeply interested in their welfare. t We therefore hail with peculiar pleasure your Excellency's appointment, and entertain the most confident hope that, under the auspices and fostering care of your government, literature and science in this country will make rapid advances, and knowledge and information be generally diffused. .- Fully impressed with a conviction that your Excellency is animated by an ardent desire to effect such objects, and thus promote the social and moral improvement of the people of this country, we beg leave with sentiments of the greatest respect and esteem again to tender your Excellency our sincere con- gratulations on your arrival amongst us. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, You do justice to the desire I should always enter- tain to promote the objects of such an institution as y cur's. 88 By its encouragement, that social intercourse is extended and advanced in which unpleasant differences are best forgotten, and the prosperity of a society like the present is generally con- current with the general welfare of the people. I thank you sincerely for your personal congratulations. ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY OF LIMERICK. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of Limerick, hail your Excellency's arrival in this city with un- feigned pleasure, as it affords us an opportunity of giving a public manifestation of those feelings of loyalty and attach- ment which we have always cherished, and which it has been our pleasing duty ever to inculcate towards the person of our gracious and beloved Sovereign. This pleasure is much heightened by the reflection, that in the discharge of so agreeable a duty, we can at the same time evince the high respect which we entertain for your Excellency's exalted character, and the estimation in which we hold that liberal and enlightened policy, which has marked you as the friend of humanity in other climes, and has diffused universal confidence and tranquillity among us since your arrival. We feel that we could not select a more appropriate oppor- tunity of expressing our approval of that just and liberal system of education conceded to the people of this country by a pater- nal government, than that which the presence of a Viceroy of a highly cultivated mind affords ; convinced that it is calculated to develop the mental resources of the people, to inspire respect for the laws, and allegiance to the throne, and to extend its salutary influence over the interests of society at large, we deem it our duty to facilitate its operation, and ensure its blessings by every means in our power. Participating in the general joy diffused by your presence, it is with reluctance we allude to a melancholy subject ; but being, by the nature of our ministry, brought into hourly contact with the most harrowing scenes of human destitution, we feel the poor of our city could justly reproach us with apathy, did we not avail ourselves of this occasion to express our deep sense of the necessity of a legislative provision for them, and our anxious wish for its speedy enactment. ' May He, " in whose hands are the hearts of princes," and " by whom rulers decree just things," long preserve a Sovereign under whose impartial government we do confidently expect " to lead a peaceful and tranquil life," and ensure to us the con- tinuance of a Viceroy to whom we may apply the words of the Queen of Sala to the wise ruler of Israel, " because God hath " loved his people and will preserve them for ever ; therefore, " hath he placed thee over them to do judgment and justice." ANSWER. . MOST REVEREND SIB, I thank you and the deputation who have attended on the behalf of the Roman Catholic Clergy for the confidence expressed in myself, and the disposition manifested towards your fellow-subjects. . I am perfectly aware how much assistance is to be derived from your body in promoting sentiments of loyalty towards our Sovereign, and kindly conduct towards each other, and whilst I deplore with you, and would relieve the destitute state of large portions of our fellow-creatures, I agree that the moral condition is best elevated by the diffusion of general education. NENAGH AND ITS VICINITY. THE inhabitants of Nenagh and its neighbourhood hailed with heartfelt satisfaction the appointment of your Excellency to the high and important office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. They had attentively marked the noble and benevolent traits which characterized your Excellency's Colonial Government, and they therefore looked on his Majesty's choice of your Excel- lency to represent him here as a guarantee on the part of his ministers, that justice would henceforth be impartially adminis- tered in this country. The uniform, liberal, and enlightened policy which has governed your councils, your Excellency's present tour through the interior of the country, which as it affords you an opportunity of personally observing the conditions and habits of all classes, points out the true source of their distress and the means of redressing it, and the readiness with which your Excellency came forward on every occasion, to patronize and support the several institutions of the metropolis are convincing proofs that those anticipations, so fondly formed on your Excellency's acces- sion, were not ill-founded. h , .(They feel it therefore a debt which they now cheerfully dis- charge, to tender to your Excellency those sentiments of con- gratulation, esteem, and respect, which your Excellency's kind solicitude for the happiness of this country so eminently entitle you to. 91 With gratitude have they observed the beneficial measures brought forward by the present government for the ameliora- tion of Ireland, and great as is the pleasure with which they now express their attachment to and confidence in that govern- ment, they beg to assure your Excellency that the pleasure is considerably enhanced by the recollection that the tender is made through an individual who personally, as well as officially, has evinced so deep an interest in the prosperity and welfare of the country. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, - I am particularly obliged to the inhabitants of Nenagh, for the zeal and promptitude with which they have anticipated my arrival in this neighbourhood, as the representa- tive of his Majesty, by the timely preparation of this address. I consider the manner in which it has been presented as an additional proof of the sincerity of its sentiments. You shall always find in me the same readiness to acquire information, the same desire to act uprightly upon that infor- mation, when acquired. More it is not in human power to command, but the best hopes of the result will be founded in a continuation of the national confidence. ROSCREA. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Roscrca, most respectfully beg leave to approach your Excellency, in order to testify the . 92 great satisfaction we have felt in your appointment to the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, and to offer our respectful congratula- tions on your arrival in this part of the country. From your Excellency's present tour we confidently hope for beneficial results to the people of this country; your Excellency's enlightened mind and experience as a governor and a statesman, will enable you to better judge of the people you are now called on to govern, than through any other medium, also the wants of those people, and the resources of the country. Your appointment to the vice-regal government of this part of the united kingdom, we hailed as a proof of the paternal intentions of his Majesty towards his Irish subjects, and of that sound policy which influenced the selection of his present admi- nistration, possessing, as it does, our unlimited confidence. ANSWER. I thank you, both for your congratulations on my appointment as the representative of your Sovereign, and for the pleasure you express at seeing me amongst you. You state that his Majesty's present administration possesses your unlimited confidence. I am grateful for this cordial expres- sion of your sentiments ; I trust that you will continue to shew that reliance on the impartiality of the executive in all your actions. Recent events here induce me to allude more speci- fically to the desire I feel, that you should live in harmony with each other. If you have any ground of complaint, let it be regu- larly submitted to me, and it shall be carefully examined ; but who- ever first for some childish offence breaks the bond of brotherly love, and disturbs the peace of his neighbourhood, must forfeit my favor and the good opinion of every well-wisher of his country. In alluding to this subject, I cannot but render ample 93 justice to the praiseworthy efforts of those who have on this occasion shown, that whatever other differences they may enter- tain, they at least share in common the true spirit of the Christian religion. SYNOD OF ULSTER. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the ministers and elders of the general Synod of Ulster, at our annual meeting assembled, beg leave to approach your Excellency, and to offer you our sincere congra- tulations on your appointment as chief governor of Ireland. Your Excellency has but lately returned from a situation in which you were called upon to discharge many arduous and important duties. You enjoy not only the high satisfaction of having borne a conspicuous part in the abolition of the iniquitous system of human slavery in our colonies ; but also of witnessing the happy and peaceful effects which have resulted from a policy so judicious and so benign. Your administration there, marked as it was by wisdom, firmness, and humanity, affords the strongest ground of hope, that, under your government here, such mea- sures will be pursued as will tend, by the blessing of Almighty God, to the advancement of the best interests of Ireland. We beg to assure your Excellency of our cordial co-operation, in our several ^situations, in promoting the peace, good order, and prosperity of our country ; and whilst we shall earnestly endeavour to teach the people committed to our care, the doc- trines and duties of our holy religion, we shall not be unmindful of inculcating upon them loyalty to our Sovereign, respect for your Excellency, veneration for the constitution, and obedience to the laws. We beg to repeat to your Excellency our assurance, which we have already given to one of your predecessors, that we shall steadily resist every attempt to weaken the ties which bind this country to Great Britain, convinced, that the more closely the different parts of the empire are united, the more effectually will their common interests be promoted and secured. May your Excellency be directed by that " wisdom which cometh from above," and be enabled by divine grace to carry into effect such measures as may promote in our land the " righteousness which exalteth a nation !" Signed in the name, and by the order of one hundred and eighty-seven ministers, and ninety-three elders, assembled in Synod at Belfast, this tenth day of July, one thousand, eight hundred and thirty-five. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, In returning my grateful thanks to you, the ministers and elders of the general Synod of Ulster for this address, I must at the same time assure you most sincerely of the peculiar value which, in my mind, attaches to this unqualified expression of confidence from so virtuous and learned a body. You have alluded to that great and generous national achieve- ment, negro emancipation, in which our country may justly feel a pure and honest pride, and as you have favorably recorded my humble efforts when permitted personally to promote its success, I should indeed be ungrateful if I did not take this opportunity to bear my cordial testimony to the invaluable assis- tance I at all times received from the missionaries of the church with which you are connected. It was impossible for any set of men more thoroughly to understand, more judiciously to fulfil that paramount duty of their sacred calling, safely to prepare 95 the slave for the enfranchisement of his person by the expansion of his mind, through religious instruction. I have heard with much satisfaction your reiterated assurance that you would steadily resist any attempt to weaken the tics which bind this country to Great Britain. My efforts shall be unceasingly directed, by promoting the cultivation of mutual good-will, and the interchange of reciprocal benefits, to strengthen the inseparable connexion between these two por- tions of the empire, and I thankfully extract from the fervent aspirations with which you conclude, that comfort and support which, in any difficult undertaking, must be derived from the earnest prayers of good men for a successful result. SYNOD OF MUNSTER. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE approach your Excellency as a deputation from the Synod of Munster, the Presbytery of Antrim, and the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster, three religious bodies, separate in their jurisdiction, but distinguished from the other Presbyterian churches in this island, by their strict unanimity in maintaining the fundamental principles of the reformation, viz. the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures, the right of private judgment, and the rejection of human authority in matters of faith. Unalterably attached to these great principles, on which alone we conceive the sacred rights of conscience to be sustained, we have peculiar pleasure in congratulating your Excellency on your appointment to the chief government of Ireland ; and in recording our gratitude to our gracious Sovereign, for selecting, to discharge the duties of that high office, a nobleman so emi- 96 nently distinguished for the firm assertion of the claims of humanity in a foreign clime, and the enlightened advocacy of civil and religious liberty in his native land. ' Sincerely desirous to cherish in ourselves and others the hallowed spirit of universal good-will, so impressively inculcated by our Divine Master, we deeply deplore the unhappy distrac- tions of this portion of the empire, where the Gospel of peace is too frequently perverted into an instrument of political discord, to the great scandal of our common Christianity, the just reproach of our national character, and the baneful obstruction of our national prosperity. It is, however, satisfactory to know, that the influence of the prejudiced and the turbulent is manifestly declining, and that the friends of peace and good order are the increasing portions of society. We indulge the pleasing anticipation, that the number of the peaceable and well-disposed will be continually augmented, by the impartiality of your Excellency's administra- tion, the just and liberal policy of his Majesty's government, and the steady progress of judicious reforms in the various institutions of the country. Viewing the literary, moral, and religious training of the whole people, as the only secure basis of individual virtue, social prosperity, and national liberty, we rejoice in being able to afford our testimony to the beneficial tendency of the new system of Irish education. By its admirable adaptation to the wants of this divided country, laying the foundation of harmony and friendship among the youth of all religious denominations in their united pursuit of knowledge, while it interferes not with the tenets of any church, it has already secured the approbation of the judicious and moderate of all sects and parties. And when the present political feeling arrayed against it under the guise of religion shall have passed away, we confidently anticipate its universal and grateful reception. We assure 97 your Excellency that it is, and always has been, our ear- nest desire to co-operate, to the utmost of our power, with his Majesty's government, in forwarding all objects for the promotion of peace and improvement in our native land. Situated in the most populous cities and enlightened districts of three provinces, and representing much of the wealth, intelli- gence, and respectability of the Presbyterians of Ireland, we will exert all our influence to promote obedience to the laws, loyalty to our King, and good will amongst our fellow-subjects of every denomination. We entreat your Excellency to report of us to tmr gracious Sovereign, as being peaceable and loyal subjects, inflexible in our fidelity to the constitution of these realms, and grateful for the blessings which, through Divine Providence, we enjoy under his benign and paternal sway. It is our earnest prayer to the throne of Grace, that your Excellency's patriotic exertions may be crowned with success, in allaying the fatal dissensions of Ireland, establishing the sole ascendancy of the laws, and uniting the hearts of all classes in promoting the peace and prosperity of our common country. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I have derived the greatest satisfaction from the disposition manifested, and the assurances conveyed in this address, on the part of the bodies whom you represent, and, as exercising the authority of our gracious Sovereign, I cordially thank you for it. When you speak of the value you justly attribute to the sacred right of private judgment and of con- science, it is, I am indeed proud to say, a subject on which I cannot be accused of indifference. It is a cause, to the promo- tion of which, my consistent, though humble advocacy has H 98 > uniformly been directed in Parliament ; it is an object, to the protection of which against persecution my earnest endeavours were, from circumstances, peculiarly directed in that distant part of the globe to which you have alluded. The national system of education, to the progressive benefits of which I am happy to receive your valuable testimony, was instituted with the benevolent desire to diffuse as widely as possible, in this divided land, the practical precepts of our com- mon religion. o As an attached member of the established church of my country, I cannot but regret that the genuine spirit of universal Christianity should ever be lost in the jarring conflicts of dis- puted doctrines. The comparative truth or error of fallible opinions, can only be decided for us, by the Divine Founder of our faith, by whom we are at the same time taught, that the certain reward of good actions will be given to him, who first extends to all the hand of brotherly love. INHABITANTS OF BELFAST. WE, the inhabitants of Belfast and its vicinity, beg to offer to your Excellency our sincere congratulations on your accession to the distinguished office to which his Majesty has been pleased to call you. From a consideration of your past career as a public man, we derive a well-grounded confidence, that while your Excellency's attention will be directed to the due mainte- nance of the authority of the laws, and to the preservation of all that is truly valuable in our institutions, you will be equally assiduous and determined in the removal of all those abuses which have been too long permitted to disfigure their admi- nistration ; and that it will be a principal object of your govern- ment, by establishing the confidence of all parties in the equal 99 distribution of justice, to remove the only obstacle to the deve- lopment of the great natural resources of our country, by restoring peace and harmony among her sons. We entreat your Excellency to accept the assurance of our cordial and zealous support of a government, based upon such truly constitutional principles, as you have on several occasions eloquently explained since your arrival among us ; and it is ou sincere prayer, that your Excellency may be permitted to reap the full harvest of your enlightened and benevolent solicitude for the welfare of Ireland. . ANSWER. ^ ' GENTLEMEN, I thank you most sincerely for these your cordial congratulations. Such expressions of confidence from such persons, and founded on such grounds, are, indeed, the most powerful incitements to unremitting exertions on your behalf. You may at all times rely upon my most zealous intentions, by the fruits of which I trust to improve my title to your favourable opinions ; but the results are in the hands of a higher Power, and one cannot even allude to the future without feeling the uncertainty of all human dispositions, as strongly and sadly illustrated on the eve of the presentation of this address, in the sudden extinction of the first name on your list, who, for some wise but inscrutable purpose, has not been permitted here to reap the full harvest of his sincere solicitude for the welfare of Ireland. . ' I could not avoid, on this occasion, this passing allusion, to that which I know must be your feeling on the subject, though myself personally unable to estimate the extent of your loss. 100 It is my present intention, before the conclusion of next month, and in the course of my first excursion into the north, to visit your city, which I have always heard contains much to excite the admiration of the casual stranger, but more to fix the attention of him who is desirous, as a governor, to promote by the encouragement of settled industry and judicious enterprise, the sure and rapid development of the revenues of this fine country. NEWRY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the borough of Newry, at public meeting assembled, beg leave most respectfully to tender to your Excellency, our sincere and heartfelt congratulations on your elevation to the high and distinguished office to which his Majesty has been pleased to appoint you. We rejoice to see a nobleman of your Excellency's exalted character at the head of the Irish executive. We are pleased at having one placed in authority over us, who, during the whole course of his political life, has been the enlightened and con- sistent advocate of equal laws and impartial government, and who has been no less distinguished as the friend of rational liberty in other climes, than remarkable for his hostility to every species of monopoly and abuse at home. Animated as we are by the most profound veneration for freedom and free institutions, and entertaining the utmost respect for the prin- ciples on which the British constitution is founded, we hail your Excellency's assumption of the Vice-regal functions as an assurance to the people of Ireland, that they are at length about to enjoy the same privileges, and participate in the same advan- 101 tages, which the constitution of Britain has conferred on the sister kingdoms. In other words, we are convinced that so long as the members of the present government continue to occupy the high stations which they hold in his Majesty's councils, and to which they have been called by the voice of the nation, Ireland will be treated not as a conquered province, but as an integral portion of the British empire, and that under the fos- tering influence of your Excellency, her children will soon become a happy, a prosperous, and a united people. We anti- cipate, with confidence, the permanence of your Excellency's administration, and we rest perfectly satisfied, that under its paternal jurisdiction, the vast resources of our country will be properly developed, her capabilities called into active existence, her just rights conceded, and that those laws which are no longer sectarian in principle nor exclusive in provision, will not only cease to be partial in their operation, but so acted upon and administered as to become a terror to evil-doers, and a i protection to those that dp well. Recollecting the noble and philanthropic exertions of your Excellency in a remote region, to ameliorate the condition, and advance the true interest of a long-oppressed portion of our fellow- creatures, and recollecting, at the same time, the unspeakable wretchedness to which the poorer classes of our countrymen have been subjected, we feel assured that your Excellency will devote the energies of your powerful and highly-gifted mind towards the moral and social regeneration of a people who have endured the direst calamities with an almost heroic fortitude. - In conclusion, we beg to express the entire reliance which we place in the good intentions of his Majesty's government. We know they have many difficulties to contend against, but we know at the same time, that they possess the confidence of the people, and so sustained, they must be triumphant. -. 102 ANSWER. I thank the inhabitants of the borough of Newry most sincerely for this address. Your allusions to the principles and actions of my past political life are most gratifying your anticipations of my consequent future career are most encouraging. It is by endeavouring justly to deserve the confidence of the people, that his Majesty's present advisers will seek to obtain their support, but, in furtherance of these views, it will be as much my desire, as my duty to see that in every respect Ireland is treated as an integral portion of the British empire, as I feel assured it is only by adhering rigidly to such a line of conduct that her present evils may be gradually alleviated, or she can hope to become a happy, prosperous, and united country. TOWN OF DROGHEDA. WE, the inhabitants of the town and county of the town of Drogheda, in public meeting convened, approach your Excel- lency with those sentiments of duty and respect which are due to the representative of a Sovereign who reigns over a free people. - We consider it a duty which we owe to our country and to ourselves, in the present critical situation of affairs, to give expression to our sentiments with respect to the appointment of your Excellency to the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland. 103 Your Excellency's patriotic and independent conduct as a legislator had long attracted our attention, and secured our regard on all occasions you were found supporting those measures which were calculated to improve the condition of the people. A discriminating administration, aware of the awful crisis in which our West India colonies were placed by the accumulation of centuries of oppression, inflicted upon the unfortunate negro slaves, wisely selected your Excellency, as eminently qualified and disposed to redress their grievances, and at .the same time to secure the immense and valuable pro- perty embarked in the cultivation of those colonies. These important objects being attained, his Majesty, wisely judging that the awful situation of Ireland required a governor whose ex- perience and wisdom had been so eminently displayed, appointed your Excellency to the important office of Viceroy of this kingdom. We were highly gratified when your appointment was first announced, well knowing that this miserable and unfortu- nate country required a governor who had the energy to put down all insubordination by the strong arm of the law ; and that your Excellency's high sense of honor would not have permitted you to accept this important office, unless full power had been granted you to enforce the equal administration of the laws, and to put down for ever that dominant spirit of ascendancy which has for so many years kept this fine country in degradation and misery. These were our anticipations on your Excellency's arrival in Ireland, and we have not been disappointed. The baneful spirit of faction has already received its death-wound, and although the demon of ascendancy is still struggling, the danger is past ; we feel that a new era has already commenced that the equal administration of the laws may henceforward be expected that the remnant of the penal code will soon be erased from the statute-book that commerce and agriculture will be duly encouraged and that under your Excellency's government, Ireland will become a powerful, happy, and pros- perous kingdom. 104 . ANSWER. * GENTLEMEN, I have to return you my best thanks for the expres- sions contained in this address. You have accurately recorded the acts, if you have too favourably estimated the character of my past career. It is gratifying to me that, on such grounds, you should hail my appointment as the representative of our Sovereign. Be assured that I would not have accepted this post, if I did not think that, notwithstanding occasional disappointments and embarrassments, there was a fair prospect of improving the condition of the country, nor would I ever willingly resign it as long as that chance of conferring substantial benefit remains. With these sentiments I trust to preserve your continued confidence, in which hope I reiterate the assurance of my gratitude for your warm congratulations on the present, and your encouraging anticipations for the future. . -.- TOWN OF ATHLONE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUB EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the ancient and loyal town of Athlone, with the liveliest feelings of respect and attachment, beg leave to approach your Excellency, upon your arrival amongst us, to express to you the pride and pleasure we feel at your Excellency's appointment as chief governor of Ireland. That pride and pleasure owe not their origin to party feeling of any kind, but arise solely from the deep sense we entertain 105 of the beneficial results that are sure to follow the liberal and enlightened course of policy which your Excellency has marked out for the government of this country. In alluding to your Excellency's rule, every act of which has been marked with regard for the well-being of the country, we wish it distinctly to be understood, that it is because we see in its development justice to all, that we so sincerely and so heartily appreciate the value of your Excellency's app< intment, and for that appointment we thank our most gracious S >vereign. Your Excellency is proceeding to make yourself fully acquainted with the Irish nation and with its people. We rejoice in being able to assure your Excellency, that although the wants of the Irish are numerous, you will find there are a few to which they are still strangers, and amongst these few are, loyalty to the throne, and affection for a friend. We avail ourselves of the present opportunity of expressing our unbounded confidence in his Majesty's ministers. The mea- sures proposed by them corporate and church reform, together with an extension of the liberal system of education now acted on in this country, have our sincere approval, and are calculated to win the esteem of all honest and well-disposed men. Corporate reform we look upon, not only as a measure of sound policy, but of justice. Church reform is well calculated to give peace to the country, without endangering the existence or usefulness of the church establishment, and the extension of the present liberal system of education must evidently tend to the moral and political improvement of the people. Ignorance and vice are coeval intelligence and virtue are the same. : ' We would be doing our feelings an injustice, did we omit allusion to your Excellency's efforts in the cause of human freedom in another quarter of the globe however, in pro- nouncing the words, emancipated negroes, we think we best 106 express the eulogy to which your Excellency's exertions are entitled. Your Excellency may rest assured of our every effort to give full effect to the measures of your government, convinced that the cause of justice, to be triumphant, requires but union among its supporters. In conclusion, we wish your Excellency a long and happy life, and anxiously hope your Excellency may long remain chief governor of Ireland. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, . I am not insensible to the zeal with which the inhabitants of the ancient and loyal town of Athlone had already made known to me the kindly sentiments with which they hailed my appointment as chief governor of this country. 1 It is matter of additional gratification that you should seize the first opportunity of my presence amongst you to reiterate these assurances, strengthened by the indications you had already derived from brief experience of my acts, that it was my firm intention to administer impartial justice. The constitutional language in which you convey your appro- bation of the policy of his Majesty's present government, con- vinces me that I may rely on your continued support, whilst it shall ever be my study to deserve your confidence. .' - I thank you lor the "forcible expression of your warm Irish welcome. , 107 * . , ' PARISHES OF CLOUGHPRIOR, FINNOE, BORRISO- KANE, &c. &c. MAY IT PLEASE YOUB EXCEIXENCY, - WE, the clergy, gentry, and land-owners, resident in the parishes of Cloughprior, Finnoe, Borrisokane, Arderony, Kilbarron, Terryglass, and Eglish, in the county of Tipperary, most respectfully beg leave to approach your Excellency, in order to offer you our sincere congratulation on your appointment as chief governor of Ireland, and also to express, through you, our sincere and deep-felt gratitude towards his most gracious Majesty for your Excellency's appointment. We sincerely feel that your Excellency is entitled to the gratitude and confidence of the people of Ireland ; your exertions in the cause of civil and religious liberty have not been unobserved by us. The beneficial effects of your Excellency's government in the colonies, and the distinguished part you have taken in the aboli- tion of slavery, give us the most exalted hope of your Excel- lency's exertions towards the amelioration and improvement of Ireland. The religious and political opinions of one class of Irishmen were sure to be the cause of their being marked as the devoted victims of an intolerant party. But the virtuous political cha- racter of your Excellency is a guarantee for the time to come, that you will give, all we ask for, fair and impartial justice to all classes of his Majesty's subjects. We beg to assure your Excellency that we have every confi- dence in the present ministers of the crown, and we will, we 108 hope, convince them that we can appreciate good and impartial government, and distinguish it from a corrupt and partial one. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, It is a source of just pride to me, that you should state you cherish deepfelt gratitude towards his Majesty for my appointment to the government of Ireland. That the religious or political opinions of any class should in any respect operate as a mark or a detriment in the administra- tion of the laws, is not consistent with my notion of that impartial justice, which you say is all you ask, and which you have an undoubted right to expect. On the part of those private and political friends, who are now his Majesty's confidential advisers, I thank you for those expressions of confidence which are useful to them as a support, and grateful as an encouragement in their endeavours to meet the just and legitimate wishes of the people. TOWN OF PORTUMNA. WE, the inhabitants of the town of Portumna, beg leave to approach your Excellency at a time when every Irish heart swells with enthusiastic delight, and are offering you their un- feigned congratulation^, "and fondly hope that your Excellency will permit the inhabitants of this town to unite their senti- ments and feelings with those of their fellow-countrymen, through the medium of an address, which but very inadequately indeed expresses the unbounded joy which fills the hearts of 109 each and every one of us, on beholding atgongst us the illus- trious character in whom our dearest interests are centered, and who has been induced to visit this, as well as the many parts of Ireland already honoured by your Excellency's presence, from motives of the purest patriotism and benevolence, together with a wish of becoming personally acquainted with the abuses and imperfections which prevent us from more fully participating in the national resources of our country. The firm, uncompro- mising policy pursued by your Excellency, since your acceptance of the high and important office to which you have been called by our gracious Sovereign, demands our warmest, our sincerest acknowledgments, whilst it affords us the most unequivocal assurances of the continuation of that impartiality and true love of justice, which has characterised a truly noble career, and secured for your Excellency the affections and well wishes of all who have been so fortunate as to have their destinies entrusted to your Excellency's protection. The short notice which reached us of this, your Excellency's visit to Portumna, prevents us from manifesting those demonstrations of joy which your Excellency has witnessed in your tour through Ireland, and which a more timely intimation would have enabled us to exhibit in common with our compatriots ; your Excellency will please to accept the warm and united congratulations of the inhabitants of this town, who anxiously hope that God will grant you strength and life to rule over this portion of his Majesty's dominions. ANSWER. I am grateful to the inhabitants of Portumna, for having so well interpreted my feelings towards Ireland generally, and the objects I contemplate in a general inspection of its several dis- tricts. The kindness of your welcome requires no apology for the shortness of the notice. 110 It is gratifying to be so received within the domain of my valued friend, your excellent landlord, as I have often personally witnessed his patriotic exertions on behalf of his native country. TOWN OF LOUGHREA. MAT IT PLEASE YOUB EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town and vicinity of Loughrea, beg leave to approach your Excellency, and to express those sentiments of high respect and esteem which we entertain for you as the representative of our beloved Sovereign, and which are so eminently due to a nobleman of such distinguished talents, conciliating manners, and strict impartiality in the discharge of the arduous and important duties of your high office. We view your appointment as our chief governor, with the most lively satisfaction, and consider your succession to the viceroyalty of Ireland, hailed as it has been throughout the land as the sure forerunner of more fortunate and happy days, and the most incontrovertible proof of his Majesty's benign and paternal disposition towards his Irish subjects. We hail your Excellency's arrival in this part of Ireland with gratification and delight, and have every confidence that your visit will be attended with the most salutary and beneficial results, in ameliorating the condition of a loyal, confiding, and we trust, a deserving people. Allow us in conclusion to express our anxious hope, that your Excellency may enjoy health and vigour to bring to perfection the work so happily begun, and that, ere long, your Excellency may have the consolation of seeing the Irish people, what they ought to be, happy, prosperous, and united. Ill . ANSWER. i GENTLEMEN, I thank you most truly for this expression of your satisfaction at my nomination as the representative of our gracious Sovereign. I trust that I now show, at least, an earnest and early desire to deserve that confidence which you have favorably derived from a flattering estimate of my qualifications, when, so soon after my arrival in this country, I am personally receiving the warm welcome of the loyal inhabitants of Loughrea. ' PARISHES OF ORANMORE AND BALLINACOURTY. MAY IT PLEASE TOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the united parishes of Oran- more and Ballinacourty, approach your Excellency with senti- ments of deep respect and veneration. We take the opportunity of your passing through these parishes, to manifest the esteem in which we hold your character, both as a private gentleman and a public functionary. In the former, we appreciate a mind gifted with rich and lofty intelligences, which have earned for their possessor a wreath of literary glory that shall remain unfaded and green while taste is admired and genius worshipped in the latter, we recognise (almost a novelty in Ireland) a governor, anxious to correct abuses, and to administer the law strictly and impartially. Your Excellency's conduct in a foreign clime, where the name of Mulgrave is uttered amid the grateful prayers of the freed, affords to the people of Ireland a sure confidence, that under your paternal presidency, justice will be done to the country over which our most gracious Sovereign has happily delegated you to rule ; and that peace and tranquil blessings shall supersede ancient animosities, and the thousand evils which former misrule has scattered so widely over the land. That your Excellency may live to witness the happy consum- mation of a nation's hope, and enjoy many, very many, years of happiness and health, is our sincere and ardent prayer. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank you for your attention in preparing this address, to greet me in passing through your parishes. It is pleasing to hear the expression of so favourable an opinion, and to gather from your allusions the grounds on which it is founded. It shall be my endeavour to fulfil all just expectations, and to deserve such zealous confidence. COUNTY OF GALWAY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUB EXCELLENCY, WE, the magistrates, residents, gentlemen, and freeholders of the county of Galway, beg leave most respect- fully to approach your Excellency, and to tender our warmest congratulations upon your appointment to the Viceroyalty of 113 this country. The manly and consistent course of liberal policy which has characterized the governments of your Excellency in a foreign clime, calls forth the approval of every friend to humanity, and if the consciousness of having acted there with clemency towards the oppressed, be to your Excellency a source of gratification, what delights you must have experienced, when through the kindness of our gracious Sovereign, you were- afforded an opportunity of evincing at home, the benevolence you displayed abroad, and of carrying into practice those senti- ments of attachment to Ireland, to which your Excellency had so often given expression. We receive your Excellency's appointment as the strongest proof a paternal government could offer of its kind intentions towards us, being satisfied that under your Excellency, the laws shall be impartially administered, the just complaints of the people attended to, and their grievances redressed. We are aware of the difficulties which your Excellency will have to encounter, in endeavouring to carry these intentions into effect, difficulties which a few are interested in raising, whilst the many are equally interested in removing them ; but your Excellency may rest satisfied, that if unworthy motives should induce some to impede your wishes to establish national tranquillity, the vast majority of the people will lend their ardent cooperation in effectuating peace, reconciling discordant interests, and placing on a firm and substantial basis, the happiness of our long neglected country. We have heard with pleasure of your Excellency's intention to visit Galway, and independent of the gratification which your presence will afford, your visit will have the effect of assuring its inhabitants of the interest which your Excellency takes in their welfare. '.--. . 114 , ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I trust that the magistrates, resident gentlemen, and freeholders of the vast, important, and independent county of Galway, will accept the expression of my warm thanks for this pleasing testimony of their confidence. ; It is true that, upon all occasions, I have during the whole of my political life, endeavoured to express, as strongly as I have always felt it, anxiety for the welfare of Ireland. Those feelings I am desirous to mature by personal observation, and thereby most beneficially to practise. I hope that this early visit to the county of Galway will be taken as a proof that neither am I blinded by distance to the importance of a district, nor will I be deterred by other difficulties from a determination to admi- nister impartial justice, whilst cheered and encouraged by this permanent proof of your favorable disposition and valuable support. CORPORATION OF GALWAY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, the mayor, sheriffs, and free burgesses of the ancient corporation of Galway, in common council assembled, beg leave most respec- fully to greet your Excellency, and offer our congratulations on your arrival amongst us, as the representative of a beloved and patriotic King, to whom we take this opportunity of renewing our devoted attachment. 115 Acknowledging with pride and pleasure, the high honour conferred upon us by your Excellency's visit, we beg leave respectfully to request your Excellency's acceptance of the freedom of our ancient and loyal corporation. ANSWER. MR. MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN, V I I thank you most truly for your personal congratu- lations, and the loyal expressions of attachment to our gracious Sovereign iyith which they are accompanied. ft I shall be happy to have the pleasure I derive from this visit commemorated in the manner you have been good enough to desire. - . INHABITANTS OF GALWAY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, THE inhabitants of this ancient and loyal town, hail your auspicious arrival amongst them with rapture and respect. As the representative of a King whom we venerate, we humbly lay this pledge of our loyalty and allegiance before you, and it is to us a gratifying reflection, that his Majesty is represented here, by one, whose virtues are so exalted, whose character is so respected, and whose brilliant career as a statesman, a governor^ and a scholar, has endeared his name to every lover of freedom and of justice. 116 On your Excellency's arrival in Ireland, we greeted you with all the warmth of Irish feeling; we now receive you with Irish gratitude it beats in every breast, for your righteous adminis- tration of justice, under which, all that is evil must fall into decay, whilst the character of our people, and energies of our country, will be stimulated into vigour, and be nurtured into fruitfulness beneath your cherishing and impartial care. v Cheered by your Excellency's presence amongst us, we almost forgot the weight and the number of our past misfor- tunes. We trust that dissensions will cease, but, if in our fondest hope we are unfortunately disappointed, we confidently rely, that power in your Excellency's hands will never be abused, to connive at the crimes or to sustain the influence of those who originate or foster disaffection or discord. 4 The sympathies of your Excellency's generous heart have been awakened by the recital of the woes of the west of Ireland, and in the name of the poor, we thank jfem for the relief which your Excellency afforded, to stay the ravages of famine and disease. t In your ,tour through this part of Ireland, the capabilities of the soil, and the facilities which exist for the promotion of commerce and internal intercourse, will not fail to strike your Excellency's intelligent mind, and to occupy a portion of your consideration, when forming your wise designs for the improve- ment of Ireland, by the encouragement of industry, and the nurture of enterprise. When your Excellency inspects our city, and views our institutions, we fear that the present state of Galway, as con- trasted with its past condition and renown, may excite in your Excellency's mind some feelings of regret. But it is with pleasure that we assure your Excellency of our reliance upon a speedy, steady, and continuous improvement, as well from the 117 common share which Gal way will have in wise measures of reform, as from the increasing attention of the executive to our local interests. We again assure your Excellency of our profound respect and attachment. We receive you as the herald of that internal peace for which this land has so long languished, with an earnest prayer to Him, who is the King of kings, that Ireland may long be blessed with your presence, and, improved by your wisdom, that faction may be suppressed, and that happiness and justice may be secured to the people. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, It is easy to return acknowledgments for that respect which is due to station ; it is natural, perhaps, to expect the customary tribute of thanks for a welcome visit, but it is impossible to express all I feel at finding, on meeting you all for the first time, that you have so accurately watched, though too partially commemorated my bygone acts, and that you have justly, though generously, derived from the indications of my incipient government, a confidence in my firm intention to administer impartial justice. It is true that my sympathies were early excited for the distresses of the extreme west. I trust, from all accounts, that the worst is for the present over, but much must remain for passing observation, more for subsequent reflection. Such visitations of utter want may be occasional, it can never be right that they should be periodical. ^ ! ' I thank you most cordially for your fervent aspirations addressed to the King of kings, that I may long continue here as the representative of that earthly power which is entrusted 118 to our gracious Sovereign. There is nothing which a subject can more desire than such a station, whilst thus hailed as the minister of internal peace, and the promoter of the prosperity of a confiding people, who are committed to his charge. ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND CLERGY OF GALWAY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of Gal way, anxious to manifest the great joy which your Excel- lency's presence has diffused among us, beg to approach your Excellency with an expression of our profound respect towards the King's representative, and with feelings of delight and congratulation on your Excellency's arrival in this ancient and loyal town. The day on which your Excellency's appointment as Viceroy of Ireland was first announced, inspired us with confidence and filled us with hope, that justice, tempered with clemency, and that relief, with a due regard to the privations we had so long endured, would be administered to the people subject to our spiritual care ; we hailed its rising as the beginning of an era of prosperity and peace, when Ireland could repose in tranquil- lity, the sufferings and distress of her children being mitigated, by the fostering care and attention of a kind and paternal government. While we felt justified in cherishing the hope, that seasonable aid and relief would be afforded to a people still patient under varied and accumulated miseries, we were not forgetful of the encouragement and assistance we were likely to receive from your Excellency, towards their moral and mental improve- ment. o ' * 119 We look forward to the beneficial effects of the salutary system of education, sanctioned and supported by the govern- ment a system calculated to bind in fellowship and harmony persons who may differ in points of belief, but who should be united in one common principle, that of Christian charity and brotherly love. In looking back to days of penalty and proscription, when education was a crime, we beheld our predecessors in the sacred ministry inculcating allegiance and attachment to the throne and constitution ; we may, therefore, be permitted to point to their conduct as a proof of our principles, since under the most adverse circumstances, and amid political suffering, the loyalty of the Catholic clergy could have never been impeached. We have been stimulated to new zeal in exhorting our flocks to obey the laws and respect the constituted authorities, from the disposition evinced by our rulers to attend to the just com- plaints of the people, while your Excellency's gracious visit to the remote parts of Ireland, added to your former wise and humane government of another distant country, give us reason to hope that our anticipations will be fully realized. May it please Providence to give you long life to preside over a people who look up to you with veneration, and who will remember you with gratitude, and ever place the most unbounded confidence in the honour and integrity of your Excellency's tried principles. ANSWER. RIGHT REVEREND SIR, In thanking you and your Catholic clergy who accompany you, for this address to me, as the King's repre- sentative, I must express the pleasure with which I have thus 120 heard conveyed sentiments, which, in every respect, exalt the character and sustain the usefulness of those whose vocation it is to preach peace and charity to the great mass of the popu- lation. Whatever temporary relief may be afforded, whatever permanent amelioration may be contemplated, it is, as you justly suggest, to instruction on a liberal footing, and a conse- quently awakened sense of moral obligation, that we must look for substantial improvement in the social condition of the poor. I am duly sensible of the valuable co-operation to be derived from your body, and I see no reason to doubt, that you will continue to act towards all in that spirit of brotherly love which so well befits your sacred calling, whilst, on my part, it shall be my study that mine should continue to merit the character of a paternal government. CLIFDEN. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town of Clifden and its vicinity, beg leave to approach your Excellency with sentiments of the highest esteem and respect, and to offer you our warmest congratulations on your arrival amongst us. We hailed with delight the joyful tidings of your Excellency's being appointed to rule over us, and with gratitude we thanked our most gracious Sovereign for the paternal boon, which we felt as an earnest of better days being in store for our neglected country ; we felt confident your Excellency's mild and impartial government would dissipate the darkening cloud that for ages has dimmed the lustre of our verdant isle ; that under its benign influence the demon of party spirit, the bane of Ireland, would fly affrighted from our land; that even-handed justice would 121 resume her sway, and peace, tranquillity and contentment diffuse around their healing balm. Nor did we form these hopes in ignorance of your Excellency's character ; no, though almost hidden from the world beneath the shade of our stupendous mountains, yet even here we learned that yours was a life devoted to the public good ; our fellow subjects in Jamaica with gratitude testify their acknowledgments of the many and lasting benefits they have received at your hands, and the trans-Atlantic gales have borne on their stormy pinions to our shores, the regretting sighs of a grateful people at your departure from amongst them. Since your Excellency's arrival in Ireland, we felt satisfied that neither the remoteness of our situation, nor the wildness of our country would preclude us from the benefits of your fostering care ; but we want words to express our gratitude for your coming at so much trouble and inconvenience to visit us, and judge for yourself of the many capabilities for improvement our country affords. , We would respectfully beg to draw your Excellency's atten- tion to the town of Clifden, which within the last twenty years has sprung from her heathery bed, and by unwearied industry and strict integrity is rapidly advancing to commercial impor- tance, and from the laying of her foundation stone has been unrivalled in loyalty and attachment to our King and constitution, and the brightest era in whose annals shall be that on which the noble Mulgrave first trod her infant streets. We feel confident your Excellency's'quick discernment will point out the vast capabilities her matchless situation on the finest arm of the broad Atlantic affords her, and which, if taken advan- tage of, might be rendered beneficial, not alone to her and the empire at large, but to the whole commercial world, by making 122 her the medium of intercourse between the eastern And western hemispheres. In the warmest feelings of our hearts, we thank you for giving us this opportunity of personally testifying our regards, and offering you a hearty cead mille fhalta, on your arrival amongst us. ANSWER, GENTLEMEN, It is most gratifying to find that at this, the extreme point of the United Kingdom, the favourable reputation of my actions in another hemisphere has been thus far borne back towards that remoter west where they occurred. Your expressions partake much of the freshness of feeling and buoyancy of spirit which mark the character of a young and growing community. I should hope while I remain in Ireland to witness the diminution of the painful contrast of neighbouring wretchedness, and the flourishing progression of your own prosperity. ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY OF CONNEMARA. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Clergy of Connemara, beg to tender to you our grateful acknowledgments for your gracious visit to our remote district, and to share with Irishmen our feelings of delight at the auspicious circumstances under 123 which you have come here as the representative of our beloved Monarch, and we cherish the hope that by an impartial admi- nistration of justice, an end will be put to those feuds and dissensions which have so heavily afflicted our country, to the destruction of the peace and happiness of our people. That whilst the entire of Ireland is labouring under evils of no ordinary pressure, we do not exceed the truth, when we declare that the western districts of this island have drunk more deeply of the cup of bitterness than any other portion of this country. Your Excellency has already heard the tale of our woe ; it roused the sympathies of your generous heart, and for your prompt relief we are most grateful. We hail your presence here as a pledge, that you have the happiness of the remotest districts at heart ; you now may see what you have so often heard described, and, whilst you admire the wildness of the scenery which surrounds us, you will see but the emblem of the mass of misery to which our people are almost periodically doomed. We scarcely need direct your attention to the capabilities of our soil, or the many dormant resources of this poor, because neglected district, but from a liberal government, under so esteemed a Viceroy, we confidently trust, that measures of wise and comprehensive policy shall so affect our present melancholy fate, as to give us, in the extension of public works, and in the encouragement of industry, a sure guarantee that famine and pestilence shall be no more the associates of a fertile country, and that periodical distress shall cease to afflict our hardy, industrious, and intelligent people. 124 ' ANSWER. > GENTLEMEN, I thank the Roman Catholic Clergy of Connemara for this address. Your sentiments towards myself merit my gratitude, your sympathies for those whose sufferings you have witnessed claim my approbation. It is impossible not to share in your desire, that a safe and adequate remedy may be dis- covered for evils such as you have described. TOWN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD OF WESTPORT. WE, the undersigned gentry, clergy, magistrates, and inha- bitants of the town and neighbourhood of Westport, avail ourselves of your Excellency's arrival in our county, to present to your Excellency the expression of our devoted and unalter- able attachment to our gracious Monarch, and also the sincere respect we entertain for your Excellency's high character, proved and established on the imperishable basis of your having been selected by our Sovereign, as the illustrious herald of freedom and happiness to the inhabitants of those distant colonies, where dismal and unchristian bondage was permitted too long to tarnish Britain's free and glorious constitution. From your Excellency's discernment and high attainments, we entertain a firm conviction that your Excellency's adminis- tration will successfully promote the advancement of the general interests of this portion of the empire, now entrusted to your Excellency's government. 125 We have to thank your Excellency for the honour you have conferred on our town by your visit to it, and for your active sympathy in the relief extended to the inhabitants of this district. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, It is most gratifying to me to receive such an address from those whose signatures are attached to the one now presented. When the commemoration of past actions is made the groundwork of anticipated benefit from the superin- tendence of a public man, it must be taken as the most valuable foundation of confidence, particularly when coupled with the assurance of your firm conviction that my administration will successfully promote the advancement of the general interests of this portion of the empire. I regret much that a more immediate press of business than I had foreseen, obliges me to shorten my present stay in Westport, but you have given me every inducement to repeat my visit. ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY OF THE DEANERY OF WESTPORT. . MAY IT PLEASE YOUB EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Clergy of the Deanery of Westport, in the archdiocese of Tuam, beg to approach your Excellency with feelings of profound respect and veneration for your Excellency's distinguished and exalted character, and of unabated allegiance to our illustrious Sovereign, whom your 126 Excellency personates in this country. It is to us a source of much pride, and we expect, not undeserving your Excellency's approval, that in these sentiments of respect towards your Excellency, and of loyalty to our King, we are faithfully joined and united by our respective congregations. The poor of this country are our especial inheritance. It is amongst them, with them, and by them we live ; whilst we are often forced to weep over and lament their casual aberrations against the laws of religion and society into which, we deplore the vicious policy, for centuries, of British legislation has still occasionally the effect of seducing them our intimate and perfect knowledge of their unexampled virtues of honesty, integrity, patience, and forbear- ance, under an accumulation of the most unparalleled afflictions and privations, is to us a source of heartfelt consolation. From this our connexion with the poor whatever may tend to alleviate their sufferings, and improve their condition, must be regarded by us as a matter of paramount importance. The benign and liberal attention with which your Excellency has been pleased to view their calamities in the distressed dis- tricts of this country during the late season of hunger and famine, and the efforts of the British senate, during the present session, in the cause of reform, for the establishment of a more extensive and improved system of national education, so essential to the advancement of the religious and moral improvement, and to the civilization of the country, afford us the most gratify- ing assurance, that the poor of Ireland, in whose happiness we take so deep an interest, shall no longer be forgotten in a British parliament. There is one subject to which we deem the present an appro- priate opportunity to refer, which is, the connexion of the Roman Catholic clergy of this country with the state, by what is termed a state provision. 127 From such an arrangement the state would have nothing to gain, whilst it should be infallibly ruinous to the best interests of religion. The state has always enjoyed the allegiance and influence of the Roman Catholic clergy, which emanate not from fear but from conscience, and it cannot expect more. But experience and history both prove, that the Roman Catholic clergy of this country would be reduced to a level with all other denominations of clergy, their influence lost to the state, and forfeited to religion, by such an enactment. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, It is with considerable satisfaction that I have received here, as elsewhere, expressions of attachment and respect from your body. I am duly sensible of the valuable cooperation to be derived from your endeavours to promote that moral feeling amongst your flock, which must be the foundation of good government. i Though I can perfectly understand the motives which may have induced you to volunteer a disinterested disclaimer on the present occasion, yet I regret that you should so prominently have introduced some topics towards the conclusion of your address, and have alluded to possible measures, which are cer- tainly not in the immediate contemplation of any one, for I am afraid that either notice or silence on my part, may, under these circumstances, be construed into either dissent or acquiescence, and I wish to be understood as giving no opinion whatever. It is my duty to administer existing laws with strict impartiality, and, whatever weight you may suppose my recommendations might have in some quarters, the enactment of new laws is ostensibly and actually with the legislature. To that legislature, 128 should ever such a measure as you contemplate, be proposed, your representations must be directed. But I can never believe that any thing would be proposed that could have the effect of disturbing that valuable part of your relations with your flock which you have described that you shall live amongst the poor, with the poor, and for the poor. I bear a cordial testi- mony that the Roman Catholic clergy of your district have lived for the poor, in almost meritorious manner, during the late period of distress, when, as the result of my enquiries, I state to you gratefully, their exertions were beyond all praise. TOWN OF BALLINA. MAY IT PLEASE YOUK EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town of Ballina and its vicinity, respectfully take leave to offer your Excellency our warmest congratulations on your tour through this part of Ire- land, and in common with the rest of his Majesty's faithful subjects, beg leave to assure your Excellency of our unabated and unalterable attachment to his Majesty's government, and anticipate with confidence the final and satisfactory adjustment of those measures now in progress for the amelioration of our hitherto much neglected and distracted country. We look forward with a lively interest to these beneficial results of which your Excellency's visit must be productive, inasmuch as you will be thereby the better enabled to judge of the impoverished state of this part of Ireland, and the vast capa- bilities of improvement which it possesses. We fondly cherished a hope that your Excellency would have honoured Ballina with your presence, but disappointed in that hope, are forced to adopt the only alternative left us, of offering your Excellency, as the representative of his most gracious Majesty, this humble but 129 sincere tribute of our warmest attachment. Your Excellency would have here seen a large and thriving town rise to its pre- sent commercial prosperity, unaided by any funds save those of private enterprize. If a like desire of intimate acquaintance with the distress of the poor, and an earnest desire to relieve that distress had induced other Viceroys to adopt that Course which your Excellency is pursuing, and which is best calculated to obtain both those objects, the parental care of his Majesty's government would not have suffered the admitted capabilities of this town to remain so long neglected, and thus thrown our i starving population so often on the generous sympathy of the English people. Permit us again to convey to your Excellency the assurance of our warmest support, and to express our sincerest hopes that your Excellency may long continue as his Majesty's representa- tive in Ireland, to give effect to those measures which, while they make the people happy and contented, ensure the stability of his Majesty's government. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I request the inhabitants of Ballina to accept my thanks for this address, with the assurance that it is not the anticipation of personal inconvenience, nor the absence of super- ficial objects of attention that would turn my course from any district, when it was deliberately expected that my presence might be a public benefit but the necessity of resuming a position of general superintendence often obliges me to postpone or omit objects of local interest. I shall, however, not forget those points to which you draw my attention during that govern- ment, for the permanency of which, I gratefully acknowledge vour good wishes. <- - . . 130 PARISH OF NEWPORT PRATT. . MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the parish of Newport Pratt, sincerely participating in the universal joy with which the appointment of your Excellency by our beloved Monarch, to the government of this part of his dominions, has filled the heart of every loyal Irishman, avail ourselves of your Excellency's present visit to this country, as a fit opportunity to testify to our gracious Sovereign, our deep sense of gratitude for that appointment, as well as our unalterable attachment to his Majesty's person, (may God bless him,) and our unconditional allegiance to his throne. To this homage of our attachment and allegiance, King William the Fourth is preeminently en- titled, from a variety of considerations. The selection of your Excellency to be his Irish Viceroy, on the same principles that you have so successfully, and so fortunately for the liberties of mankind, governed in another hemisphere, which are the over- throw of monopoly, the correction of abuse, and the impartial administration of the existing laws, affords the truest pledge of his Majesty's kind and paternal dispositions towards Ireland. The system of just and necessary reform carried on in the imperial parliament, with the sanction of his Majesty's ministers, is about to constitute a new epoch, from which may be dated the future tranquillity, prosperity and happiness of this hitherto distracted and ill-fated country. The effective measures now adopted for the extinction of all private illegal associations, which have for the past proved so ruinous to this kingdom, and would still feign to bid defiance to the constituted authorities of the land, inspire us with confi- dence that henceforth the maxim of Irish government shall be, not the ascendency of any party or faction, but the broad and universal principle of " a clear stage and no favor." 131 Entertaining a due estimate of the many signal advantages, which even in so short a time have resulted from your Excel- lency's appointment to the government of our country, we beg most respectfully to present to your Excellency the warmest tribute of our unbounded admiration of the brilliant and illus- trious virtues which adorn your Excellency's character as a statesman and a governor ; accompanied with the assurance of our support and cooperation in giving effect by all means in our power, especially by our faithful observance of the laws to all those salutary measures now promoted under the sanction of his Majesty, for the amelioration of the condition of all his subjects. In this address, we feel bound to refer to your Excellency's seasonable relief sent to the suffering poor of our parish during the late period of famine and distress, and to hope that through your Excellency's recommendation, the attention of his Majesty's government will be directed early in the next session of par- liament to some immediate and decisive legislative enactment to protect them, and the poor of Ireland generally, against the recurrence of similar affliction. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I derive a peculiar satisfaction from the sentiments contained in this address from the inhabitants of Newport Pratt. That amidst the distress which has recently afflicted your district, you should nevertheless derive consolation from my appointment, is, indeed, a stimulus to exertion in your behalf. I trust you have seen that distance would not cause me to neglect your representations, -and I must regret that I should not have been able personally to visit that place, the painful condition of which had lately given me such heartfelt anxiety, but business, at pre- sent, recalls me to the seat of government, and therefore you must here accept my present assurances of thanks for this address. 132 THE CORPORATION OF TUAM. WE, the sovereign, free burgesses, and commonalty of the ancient and loyal corporation of Tuam, beg leave respectfully to present to your Excellency our humble but unfeigned con- gratulations on your arrival amongst us. We have an unequivocal assurance of his Majesty's anxiety to promote the welfare and tranquillity of our country in the selection of your Excellency for the arduous office with which his Majesty has been pleased to invest you at a juncture deeply involving the general interests of the empire, more particularly affecting the happiness and repose of Ireland. We cannot but admire the sympathy and benevolence dis- played by your Excellency in visiting those districts which Providence has been pleased to afflict with distress. Although we are freed (in this immediate neighbourhood) from that extreme distress so prevalent in other districts, we have to state to your Excellency almost a total want of employment for the poor, chiefly on account of the linen trade being rendered totally unprofitable by the abolition of the bounties on exportation of Irish linen, which trade was a few years ago so considerable in Tuam, that there was a weekly expenditure of money, in the purchase of linen and yarn, to the amount of two thousand pounds, which diffused a spirit of comfort and industry among the trades of the town, and the agriculturists for many miles around. We solicit your Excellency will be pleased to honour us with your permission to enrol your name among the freemen of our ancient and loyal corporation. 133 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I had before to thank the sovereign and corporation of Tuanvfor their congratulations upon my appointment, which were conveyed very soon after my arrival in this country. I trust that my having so early made my appearance in your town will be considered as a proof that I mean to act up to my pro- fessions ; and though my stay is now shorter than I would wish, yet I gladly accept the offer of the freedom of Tuam in com- memoration of this, my first visit. TOWN OF TUAM. WE, the inhabitants of the town of Tuam and its neighbour- hood, beg leave to approach your Excellency with the expression of our heartfelt congratulations on this, the occasion of your Excellency's arrival in our town, and to assure your Excellency, that no part of his Majesty's dominions participate more warmly than Tuam does in those feelings of exultation which your Excellency's appointment as our chief governor, has diffused amongst all the truly loyal and well-disposed subjects of his Majesty. In entertaining those sentiments of respect and regard for your Excellency, we are not unmindful of the favours conferred upon our country by your Excellency, in your capacity of a British senator, nor are we disappointed in the least in the expectation we formed that the illustrious individual who so generously and eloquently advocated the cause of oppressed millions, would, when in power, be found the able and willing 134 assistant of a patriotic Sovereign, and of a wise and liberal ministry in promoting useful measures for the regeneration of Ireland. In conclusion, we fervently pray for long life and happiness to your Excellency, that no untoward event may deprive us of your Excellency's paternal care, and that your Excellency may be enabled to complete the work of good government so auspiciously begun by your Excellency, which, judging from the past history of your Excellency's life, we are confident is so dear to your Excellency's heart. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I trust that because I am obliged to reply but con- cisely to your gratifying address, you will not believe that I therefore less cordially acknowledge its gratifying purport. Believe me the next time I shall visit your town, you will find my interest in your welfare undiminishted, and I hope your con- fidence in my intentions confirmed. ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND CLERGY OF TUAM. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Archbishop and Clergy of Tuam, beg leave to approach your Excellency with the sincere assurance of our fealty to our beloved Sovereign, and of a corresponding feeling towards the illustrious individual who sustains with such becoming dignity the delegated honours of the throne. 135 In thus tendering to your Excellency the expression of our loyal attachment to the person and representative of our gracious Monarch, we are but the organs of that conviction zealously diffused among their flocks by the Catholic clergy, that a deep sense of moral responsibility practically influencing human con- duct is the only, foundation on which the order of society can safely and permanently repose. In addition to those claims on our fidelity founded on the viceregal functions with which you are invested, we are proud to recognize other titles to our respect that have been earned by your exalted personal character. We cannot but deem it a happy presage of better days to Ireland, that its destinies are entrusted to an individual who has already proved that the most depressed portion of the human race is not beyond the reach of the sanative influence of good government, and who will apply to the admi- nistration of Ireland those lessons of practical wisdom and benevolence which he has gathered during his past brilliant career. We only regret that your Excellency's stay in this province has been too short to enable you sufficiently to explore the extent of its natural resources, as well as the depth of those feelings of generous and uncalculating allegiance by which the clergy and people are animated towards his Majesty's government. We are aware of the many difficulties that beset his Majesty's ministers in their wise and virtuous efforts to reform those abuses which time introduces into the best institutions. They may, however, rely with confidence on any humble support which we can give to enable them to achieve that object of their noble ambition ; to merge the narrow views of party and of faction in the general happiness of his Majesty's people. We pray your Excellency to accept this tribute of our heartfelt homage, accompanied with the hope that when the feelings that dictate or withhold such addresses shall have passed away, Lord Mulgrave will be ranked among the few Irish Viceroys whose portraits shall stand promi- 13(5 nently out in the light of their public virtues to fix the admi- ration of posterity. ANSWER. MOST REVEREND SIR, - :. . It would be impossible, in the course of a neces- sarily hasty reply, to express the deep sense I entertain of the valuable assurances of support and confidence conveyed in your elaborate and eloquent address. I trust you will believe that I must be grateful, when I find so favourable a sense of my services in the cause of civil and religious liberty entertained in such a quarter. The best conse- quences must arise to the moral and political condition of the people, when those who are the spiritual instructors of a vast proportion of the population entertain sentiments of confidence in the integrity of the executive. SAINT JERLATH'S COLLEGE, TUAM. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the principal professors and students of Saint Jerlath's College, freely participate in the joy that has gladdened every heart, on witnessing your Excellency's visit to this district, hitherto so neglected, but now so fortunately entrusted to your Viceregal solicitude. The period is not long gone by when our doctrine as Christians, and our reputation as subjects, were assailed and condemned upon evidence neither founded upon fact nor supported by proof; but we beg leave to assure your Excellency, 137 that to the King established by Divine Providence, we are truly attached, not through fear or necessity, but freely and cheerfully yielding to none of his Majesty's subjects in bearing towards him the most sincere devotedness of mind and will. My Lord, we have suffered much, but make no complaint,- as the joy this visit diffuses would but ill accord with the detail of our woes. Our priesthood and people had to seek their educa- tion in foreign climes ; we study where the tenets of our religion are as purely taught, and our allegiance to the ruling powers as strongly inculcated. " Since the intelligence of your Excellency's intended tour reached us, our hopes have been ardent, and our anxiety great, and marked as an annual holyday, in the annals of our college, must be the day that realizes our expectations, by bringing within the reach of this address, in the person of the illustrious Viceroy of our country, the distinguished patron of literature, and the firm advocate of our rights. We know that the homage we pay your Excellency, is offering a kind of violence to one who is as solicitous to shun applause, as he is assiduous to deserve it. But while justice and zeal for the good of Ireland, with the most persuasive eloquence in bringing over others to its support, are valuable distinctions, your Excellency cannot expect that the public will so far comply with your inclination, as to forbear celebrating such extraordinary qualities. Your Excellency's literary fame as a distinguished scholar, and profound knowledge as a statesman, are already the theme of general eulogy, and whilst other men passed through contending interests in the ways of ambition, your great abilities have been invited to power, and importuned to accept advancement. It is well known that your Excellency brought to the service of your Sovereign the arts and sciences of ancient Rome and 138 Greece, as well as the most exact knowledge of our constitution, to which we are told must be added a certain urbanity in your Excellency that has been always equal to the great honors with which you have been invested. May it then please your Excellency to accept our warm con- gratulations, and rest assured that the "cead mitte failte" the remarkable phrase of our country, can but feebly convey the intensity of our gratitude for your Excellency's sympathy for our sufferings and your avowed anxiety to improve the institutions of our island. . ANSWER. COLLEGE OF Ti AM, It is most gratifying to find that by your learned body, my interest in the cause of literature and exertions in the service of my country are both so highly appreciated. Circumstances oblige me to request you will accept this hasty but sincere expression of my thanks. CITY OF WATERFORD. WE, the inhabitants of the city of Waterford, beg respectfully to approach your Excellency with unfeigned assurances of our loyalty and attachment. For the confidence reposed in your government by the Irish people, we have to offer our heartfelt congratulations. To heal the wounds of our country, which has been too long permitted to suffer under the baneful effects of political feud . 139 and religions rancour, appears to be the grand and philanthropic work you have nobly undertaken. The union of a grateful people, and the prosperity of a fine and fertile country, must, ere long, be the rich reward of your Excellency's benevolent and patriotic labours. Reform in every department of the state, sound and enlightened policy, sentiments of liberality, and Christian charity, must progress, while the government of the country is entrusted to statesmen such as your Excellency, whose only desire is to administer full, equal, and impartial justice to all classes -if his Majesty's subjects. The glorious success which crowned your Excellency's efforts in our colonies, where the fetters were struck from the limbs of millions of negroes, and the foul blot of slavery erased from the statute-book, affords an earnest of what is to be expected from your Viceroyalty in Ireland. That your Excellency may long continue to reside amongst us, and to enjoy the blessings and gratitude of the friends of mankind of every religious denomination, is the ardent wish of the inhabitants of this ancient and loyal city. ANSWER. I have received with gratitude the warm assurances of attach- ment conveyed to me by the inhabitants of the important city of Waterford. The feelings with which you suppose me to have assumed the government, the noble work you give me credit for having undertaken, and the qualifications which you kindly ascribe to me for its accomplishment, demand my com- bined acknowledgments. Though I had previously to entering upon the government of Ireland an opportunity of visiting your 140 city and some of its institutions, it is certainly not my intention to omit it from that course of personal inspection which I hope in the course of the year to extend through the country. In the mean time, you may rely upon every effort on my part to merit your encomiums and preserve your confidence. COUNTY OF LEITRIM. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY To accept our congratulations upon your appoint- ment as chief governor of Ireland. We hail in it an earnest of upright intentions of his Majesty's present cabinet, and feel confident, that, under your Excellency's administration, the laws will be dispensed with impartiality, wisdom, and justice. While conciliating the affections your Excellency is endea- vouring to ascertain the condition of the country of the great sources of national wealth. Manufactures have been nearly extinguished commerce has for the most part disappeared from our shores : if the fruitfulness of our soil forbid agriculture to decay, it only exists to supply its productions to the more fortunate but less fertile portions of the empire. Poverty is the constant, famine and disease are the too fre- quent inmates of the great majority of our island. Above all, the country has been harassed by a blighting faction, whose power had advanced as our miseries increased; permitted to sacrifice the rights of the many for the interests of the few, they still clamour for the privilege of oppressing, and seek to vindicate it by continued outrage and by arms. 141 A great people, but little familiar with even-handed justice, yet, at all times remarkable for their love of it, can well deride such agitation and impotent violence to the wisdom of his Majesty's government we, for the present, leave their repression ; and whatever may be the difficulties opposed to your Excellency's auspicious course, you may feel assured of the support of a loyal and devoted people. Although rendered cautious by frequent and bitter disappoint- ments, we are willing to wait with patience, and confide in the good intentions of that government which has commenced to prove its sincerity by good laws already proposed, by the impartial administration of those which exist, and by the selec- tion, for our governor, of a nobleman of acknowledged talents and patriotism. Your Excellency, early in life, having disinterestedly espoused the cause of Ireland, and in a more matured age been foremost in emancipating the long-enslaved people of the colonies, induce us confidently to hope that, in the unerring and retributive dis- pensations of Providence, for you has been reserved the destiny to bid the " troubled waters be still," and to proclaim the long- expected tidings of peace and prosperity to this hitherto dis- tracted and unhappy nation. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I return you my warmest thanks for this address. Your allusions to the past and present state of your country are forcibly expressed. Your anticipations of future amendment under my auspices are conceived in a generous spirit of confi- dence, and it will be my desire, by unremitting zeal, to merit the continuance of such feelings. 142 TOWN AND VICINITY OF LONGFORD. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town and vicinity of Longford, beg leave to approach your Excellency to express those sentiments of high respect and esteem which we entertain for you as the representative of our Sovereign, and which are so eminently due to a nobleman of such distinguished talents, conciliating manners, and strict impartiality in the discharge of the arduous duties of your high office. . In alluding to your Excellency's government, every act of which has been marked with the most scrupulous regard for the well-being of the country, we wish it to be understood, that it is because in its development we see the principles of strict and equal justice to all. We also avail ourselves of the present opportunity to express our most unbounded confidence in his Majesty's present minis- ters, and to declare our approbation of the measures of church and corporate reform introduced by them to both houses of parliament. ' Your Excellency may rest assured that we will use every exertion in our power to give full effect to the measures of your government, convinced that the cause of justice and freedom requires but union amongst its supporters to be ultimately triumphant. . We would be doing our feelings injustice were we to close this address without making allusion to the glorious part which your Excellency took in striking off the fetters of our long suffering and oppressed brethren of the colonies, thereby wiping , 143 away the foul stain of negro slavery from the fair scutcheon of our common country. In conclusion, we wish your Excellency long life and health to bring to perfection the work so admirably begun, and that, ere long, you may have the satisfaction of beholding the fruit of your labours in a united and prosperous people. ANSWER. I am desirous to convey to the inhabitants of the town and vicinity of Longford, the assurance of the high gratification I have derived from their address. The allusions to my past conduct and personal character claim my thanks ; the satis- faction you express at the indications you have observed at the very commencement of my government, is a valuable encourage- ment for the future ; depend upon it, the wish nearest my heart is, that the result of my efforts may be to produce the cordial union and consequent prosperity of the people. NEW ROSS. . MAT IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town of New Ross, a place whose name is associated with your title as an Irish peer, and which in its best and proudest days was the birth-place, residence, and property of your noble Irish ancestors, beg leave to convey to your Lordship the expression of our highest respect, and to offer you our most heartfelt congratulations on 144 your arrival in this country, as the representative of Majesty? and, as we sincerely hope, the harbinger of peace. The selection of your Lordship as the Viceroy of Ireland, fully evinces the paternal solicitude of our most gracious Sove- reign for the interest and welfare of this long-distracted country, and we cherish the hope that, under your Excellency's fair and impartial administration, the fond wishes of his Majesty and the just expectations of his loyal Irish subjects will be rea- lized. May your Lordship long live ; and, with equal sincerity, we wish you the enjoyment of health, happiness, and every earthly blessing, amidst a grateful, affectionate, and justice-loving people. ANSWER. I can assure the inhabitants of New Ross, that I have received this address with peculiar interest, from those circum- stances of family connexion with the place, of which it is moat gratifying thus to learn that they entertain a lively recollection. For myself, I must always regard with pleasure a title which locally connects my name with that country, whose welfare is now the object of my anxious solicitude ; and in discharge of the duties of my office, my constant endeavour will be amongst all classes, and in every part of the island, to pro- mote good will between each, and to insure impartial justice to all. . 14,5 l. NAAS, NEWBRIDGE, RATHCOFFEY, CLANE, CAROGH, RATHMORE, AND KILL. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the districts of Naas, New- bridge, Rathcoffey, Clane, Carogh, Rathmore, and Kill, in the county of Kildare, most respectfully approach your Excellency with expressions of devoted loyalty and attachment to our most gracious Sovereign, of profound respect for your Excellency as his Majesty's representative, and with sentiments of unfeigned and affectionate esteem for your Excellency as a statesman of liberal and just policy, and a nobleman of exalted and illustrious character. We beg to assure your Excellency that we fully participate in the joy which your Excellency's appointment to the Viceroyalty has diffused through the great majority of the Irish people, and that we hail your Excellency as the harbinger of peace and con- cord from an enlightened and just administration, which, resting on the powerful hold of public approbation, possesses our unbounded confidence. We beg to assure your Excellency that in despite of corrupt intrigue and factious opposition, it is our unalterable determination to support that administration of which your Excellency is so distinguished a member, in those just and salutary measures of reform and good government, which are alike calculated to renovate the constitution, and to establish the throne in the affections of the people. We pray your Excellency graciously to accept the assurance of our profound regard, in the earnest wish that your Excel- lency's exalted virtues may long shed their lustre around your Excellency's high station ; and that through a life of many years your Excellency may enjoy the triumph of those principles of 146 liberal, impartial, and just government of which your Excellency has ever been the powerful and distinguished advocate. )j ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I can assure you I feel most grateful that you should have seized this occasion to convey your participation in those expressions of satisfaction with which I thankfully acknowledge my appointment as representative of our gracious Sovereign to have been most generally hailed through different parts of the country. It is a most pleasing incident in the few days of relaxation I am now spending in your neighbourhood, that I should at the same time receive this pleasing proof of the solid foundation on which you rest this tribute of general support, and these assur- ances of political concurrence in the principles of myself and those with whom I act. It is such temperate and uniformly diffused support on the part of the people which is best calculated to give confidence and consequent energy to the councils of the Crown, and whilst strengthening the course of judicious and progressive reform, to increase the purity and thereby promote the perma- nence of the settled institutions of the empire. ' 147 i GENTRY, CLERGY, AND LANDHOLDERS OF THE COUNTY OF KILDARE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, on the part of the gentry, clergy, and land- holders of this and the surrounding parishes of the county of Kildare, avail ourselves of the presence of our beloved Monarch's representative amongst us, to assure you of our attachment to the laws and institutions of the empire, and to express our satisfaction that a nobleman of your known character and ability has been selected Viceroy of Ireland. We hail your Excellency's appointment to that important trust with hope and pleasure; your Excellency has already carried into operation measures to abolish slavery in the British colonies. We ardently hope that the higher destiny now awaits your Excellency of promoting those reforms which ages of misrule in Ireland have rendered indispensable for the peace, nay, the safety of the empire. Your Excellency has taken pains to see the country, and to learn the condition of the people especially entrusted to your care. The prevalent destitution of an industrious, active, and enlightened population cannot have escaped your observation. We abstain from detailing the causes of which thia anamoly in a civilized society is the effect. We are fully aware of the difficulties the present government has to encounter in carrying forward those judicious and neces- sary reforms of existing abuses which they have already proposed, and which they contemplate. But we feel confidence in the intentions and principles of a ministry who have accepted office 148 on the expressed condition, that justice to Ireland was essential to the security of the empire. We therefore abstain from pressing upon your Excellency's attention any particular measure which is necessary to insure the peace, and promote the happiness of this important island. We take leave to assure your Excellency, for ourselves and for our countrymen, that we only seek an equal and impartial administration of just laws, that whilst the ministry of which your Excellency is so distinguished a member exert themselves to obtain for the people that most desirable object, you may rest assured of a firm, patient, and zealous support from the inhabitants of this district. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I am much flattered by the manner in which you have congregated here this day to welcome me to your neigh- bourhood. You have rightly described the principles on which my poli- tical connexions and myself have undertaken to administer the government of the country. When a firm intention exists on the part of the advisers of the Crown to promote the course of temperate improvement, the past condition, and even the present state of Ireland mark her out as immediately requiring a large portion of the national attention. I am therefore duly sensible of the intense interest, the deep responsibility of my present position ; but while you thus dis- play, for the futi ire, that fair spirit of personal confidence which freely emanate! from generous natures, and for the present, that 149 due sense of existing difficulties which is produced by accurate observation, I trust that by a happy union of patience and perseverance, all obstacles may be surmounted, and the result may be the unchecked progress of measures of beneficial reform, and the firm establishment of a system of impartial justice. i COUNTY OF ROSCOMMON. WE, his Majesty's loyal subjects in the county of Roscommon, by public requisition assembled, take leave to approach your Excellency with the assurance of our devoted allegiance to the person of our gracious Sovereign, and of our cordial participation in those feelings of satisfaction which your Excellency's appoint- ment to the Lord Lieutenancy of this country diffused among all who truly desired its peace and its prosperity. Impressed with a conviction that these never could be attained while party animo- sities opposed a barrier to community of interests, or while power dispensed its favours and exerted its authority for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, we hailed with the most pleasing anticipation the announcement of him to be the Viceroy of this country, who, himself exalted above sectarian antipathies, ever inculcated by his example the utmost kind- liness of feeling who evinced in his administration of another country his anxiety to sustain the rights, and to redress the wrongs of every grade in society, and who proved that all who participated in humanity partook equally of his philanthropy, his beneficence, his protection, and his justice. In your Excellency's excursions into the interior of Ireland, we are convinced that your Excellency is animated by the desire to inspect the capabilities of this country, with a view to the 150 development of its resources, and to ascertain the circumstances of the people for the purpose of ameliorating their condition. In the promotion of these objects, we cordially wish you the happiness to succeed, assured that for a mind constituted as your Excellency's, no higher gratification can be found than in the advancement of works of utility and benevolence. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I must in the first place assure you individually of the gratification I derive from the zealous alacrity with which those, whose public character I respect, and whose local influence I value, have come this distance personally to present this address. I beg you will express to those on whose behalf you speak, that it was my intention thus early in the course of those excur- sions to which you allude, to have paid a regular visit to the county of Roscommon, but public business having on that occasion recalled me sooner than I had expected, I had at least the satisfaction of observing even during my transient and unex- pected passage, how gratifying a reception the shortest notice would have produced. You accurately estimate the great objects of my government, the distribution of equal favour and impartial justice, and you are indeed right in supposing that the best reward I should desire, would be, as representative of our gracious Sovereign, to induce the people of this country to abandon animosities founded on sectarian differences, to reciprocate mutual benefits, and to study the national welfare under the common name of Irishmen. 151 >ltj : . . !'/ ''!.'. i ; li ;i'-; : TOWN AND VICINITY OF CARLOW. . MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, >rtl i'. WE, the magistrates, clergy, resident gentlemen, and inhabitants of the town and vicinity of Carlow, sharing with all his Majesty's truly loyal subjects in Ireland, in the general joy which pervaded this kingdom on the appointment of your Excellency as its chief governor, beg leave to approach you with the assurance of our sincere congratulations on your acceptance of the high and arduous trust committed to your hands by our most gracious Sovereign, at a period perhaps the most eventful in the annals of our hitherto misgoverned and unhappy country. We hail such appointment on the part of his most gracious Majesty, and his present enlightened cabinet as an earnest that the future government of Ireland shall be directed by a due and impartial administration of the laws, which can alone ensure peace and prosperity to this important portion of his Majesty's dominions. The evidence which your Excellency's past political life exhibits, as well as the strict impartiality which has characterized your government since you came amongst us, affords the consol- ing hope, that notwithstanding the difficulties with which you are surrounded, a nobleman who has heretofore had the firmness to administer the government of an important colony in a manner which has called forth the admiration of every friend of the human race, cannot but ultimately succeed in healing the wounds of our distracted country, in the restoration of harmony and brotherly love amongst all creeds and classes as the common members of one great family ; and we are the more sanguine in this hope, inasmuch as public virtue in some families is said to be hereditary it is therefore natural to expect 152 in a descendant of the good Lord Chancellor Phipps, a more than ordinary solicitude to uphold the rights and liberties of the Irish people. , In conclusion, we beg your Excellency may accept the assurance of our cordial and zealous support of a government formed on the sound and constitutional principles which form the character of the measures of his Majesty's present ministers, and it is our earnest prayers that your Excellency may long con- tinue to witness the practical benefits resulting from the liberal policy which your enlightened mind has pointed out as best calculated to ensure the liberty of the people, as well as the permanent stability of the throne. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, <_> o '- Every fresh proof of the confidence of a generous people, though it may exhaust the power of expression, must extend the feelings of gratitude, and deepen the sense of respon- sibility. It is indeed an irresistible incitement to the faithful discharge of every duty, when a public man has thus gratefully to acknow- ledge that countless thousands of loyal subjects, whilst they still complain of the past, nevertheless identify his name with a future of hope. Knowing however, as I cannot but do, how much must depend upon yourselves, I must rejoice at the spirit and temper of your address. Yours is a part of the country which lias been inci- dentally exposed to peculiar excitement ; it is therefore most gratifying to me, that you should profess to look forward as the most desirable result of my efforts, to the day when those of all 153 creeds and classes should be as the common members of one great family, thus anticipating that happy time when the unin- terrupted resumption of the amiable relations of private life, shall not be found incompatible with a firm, temperate, and virtuous vindication of public principles. " ERRIS. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Erris, notwithstanding the remoteness of our sequestered district, were long ere now most anxious to approach your Excellency with the sincere and ardent expression of our gratitude to his most gracious Majesty, for having chosen as his representative in your Excellency's person, a nobleman so justly celebrated for his philanthropy and love of justice, and whose mode of governing Ireland evinces at once his talents as a statesman, his wisdom as a philosopher, and his charity as a Christian. But shortly after your Excel- lency's auspicious arrival, we were led to believe that it was your intention to make a tour of the kingdom, and we have seen that intention partly carried into effect ; not for amusement or pleasure, but for the acquisition of knowledge of incalculable utility to a Viceroy, to see with your own eyes, and hear with your own ears, the real state and actual condition of the people committed to your paternal care. We cherished the hope, there- fore, that your Excellency's tour, especially on occasion of your recent visit to Mayo, would have taken in our long-neglected but highly interesting and important district, which nature has blessed with so many advantages hitherto unprized, and with vast capabilities as well as facilities for improvement ; but 154 having been disappointed for the present in that fond expectation, we now venture to solicit, that when next your Excellency honors Mayo with a visit, you will graciously condescend to afford the people of Erris, by coming amongst them, an opportunity of personally testifying their admi- ration of your Excellency's principles, their gratitude for your beneficence to the famishing poor during the late calamitous summer, and their unbounded confidence in the justice and wisdom of the councils which direct your Excellency's popular and truly patriotic government. We cannot strew green boughs in your path, for none grow here ; nor welcome you with triumphal arches, for we are an exceedingly poor people ; but for boughs you will get our obedience ; for arches, our loyalty ; and for a testimony to your exalted virtues, the warmest affection of our hearts ; with a truly Irish c&vo mjl& ?4)l'c6 (cead milk faille) to such hospitality as our country can afford. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I can assure you that I should require no adven- titious demonstrations of welcome to give value to the cordial feelings with which you were prepared to hail my appearance amongst you. The manner in which you have on this occasion disregarded distance in conveying to me these gratifying expressions of your confidence, is the best proof of the sincerity of the feelings from' which they emanate. .if!'. The multiplied and various demands upon my time, may sometimes unexpectedly postpone an intended personal inspec- 155 t ion ; hut I am inobt happy that you should gratefully recognize that in a moment of need, my attention was promptly given to the most remote districts. !-.'.-[!Of!rf: 1 look forward to another opportunity of visiting Erris; and in the mean time repeat the assurance of my impartial and com- prehensive superintendence of every portion of this island, which our gracious Sovereign has committed to my charge. CITY OF DERRY. MAY IT PLF.ASE YOUB EXCELLENCY, IN this meeting, assembled to greet your Excellency on your visit to this part of the country, you see around you persons differing perhaps upon some matters of political opi- nion, but agreeing in anxious wishes for the prosperity of our common country, in devoted attachment to our gracious Monarch, and to the principles of civil and religious liberty which placed his family upon the throne ; and especially uniting in testifying our respect for our Sovereign's representative, and in offering your Excellency our warm, sincere, and hearty congratulations on your arrival in the city of Londonderry. The talent, zeal, steadiness, and moderation displayed by your Excellency, during your government of one of our most important colonies, under circumstances more trying than any that had occurred in its history, have already placed your Excel- lency high in the rank of statesmen. You have had the proud gratification of carrying into effect a measure, eminently bene- ficial to a large and long-oppressed portion of the human race, 156 and calculated mure than any other ever adopted by the legis- lature, to exalt the character of the British nation. * We felicitate your Excellency upon having been, in the hand of Providence, the instrument of so great a good ; and wp earnestly trust your Excellency's government here may be likewise blessed in the advancement of the best interests of Ireland, and that your exertions may be rewarded by the cessa- tion of those jealousies and divisions which have contributed to keep this country so far behind the other parts of the empire, have prevented the investment of capital in useful undertakings, and in so many other respects retarded the prosperity of our native land. u We observe with much pleasure the course pursued by your Excellency, of visiting the different parts of the country over which you have been called upon to preside ; you thereby have aji opportunity of judging of its actual state, and will be enabled to adopt such measures as are best calculated to develop its resources ; we respectfully invite the favourable consideration of your Excellency to this immediate district, which, in the peace- able demeanor of its people, their obedience to the laws, and their respect for person and property, will bear comparison with any other portion of his Majesty's dominions. Permit us, in conclusion, to express the pleasure that we feel in bidding your amiable Countess welcome to our ancient city ; we trust you will both receive in it such impressions as will induce you to re-visit us at no distant period, and we beg to offer our best wishes for your health and happiness. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I must, in the first place, request you to accept the sincere expression of our heartfelt gratitude for the cordiality of 157 your present welcome, and the warmth of your concluding wishes for the future. I have, from the first moment of my arrival in this island as the representative of our gracious Sovereign, considered the personal inspection of different parts of the country as an appro- priate duty, the exercise of which was likely to be attended with most beneficial results. In this expectation I have hitherto seen no reason to think I was deceived. It is not with merely selfish feelings that, upon this occasion, I thankfully acknowledge the manner in which you connect my name with that great legislative monument of national philan- thropy, the abolition of slavery. I must always feel that I was, by the permission of Providence, but the distant instrument in the hands of a beneficent government and a generous people ; but it is not only gratifying to myself, it is, I would fain hope, cheering in its consequences, that such a meeting of loyal sub- jects and good citizens, however differing, as you state, upon some other matters of political opinion, should found, upon the past experience of my character, a confidence in my dispo- sition and my qualifications for general conciliation, and the removal of those destructive jealousies and noxious divisions, which, you truly remark, have so long been the bane of this country. With such concurrent assurances of this consciousness, as I have already received, I will not despair of the result. Here the task is not to amalgamate those who have been debased by chains, with those who have been corrupted with power those who claim a property in man, with those who were collected for their use ; all here are natives of the same soil, have the same political character, the same national objects ; the differences are only such as are best decided between man and his own conscientious judgment, in the recesses of his closet. I cannot be surprised to hear such praiseworthy sentiments from the inhabitants of Derry. It is natural that the descendants 158 of those who, in the moment of danger, were celebrated- for their exertions in behalf of civil and religious liberty, should see the best record of the fame of their ancestors in the general diffusion, the universal enjoyment of that for which they hereto* fore contended the undisputed and undisturbed rigid cf freedom of opinion amongst all classes and all creed*. Whilst the form or fame of Ireland is still your mutual boast, and the common name of Irishman a sure bond of sympathy in distant climes, it is ever to be lamented that party feuds should alone deny to your own day, and to your native soil, the practical advantages of this legitimate source of national pride. But when this fatal error is generally perceived, it is already more than half corrected ; and it has given me sincere pleasure to hear those fraternal sentiments which were first conveyed to me at the seat of govern- ment, which were since repeated to me in the extreme south, and the far west, now cheerfully re-echoed in the north. It is in me but to desire, for you to command the result, but you do me justice in supposing that I anxiously look, as the reward of my exertions, to the brightening hope that it may be mine to witness the peaceful prosperity of a united population, and the acknowledged diffusion of the universal benefits of the British constitution. . ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND CLERGY OF DERRY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the diocese of Deny, beg leave most respectfully to approach your Excellency with sentiments of proffemd respect for our beloved .Sovereign, and unfeigned regard for you, his distin- guished representative, satisfied that under your mild and pater- nal government, equal and impartial justice will be at length 159 administered. We hail with unmixed gratification your arrival among us. Your appointment by our gracious Monarch to the high and important station which you fill with so much dignity, and so much advantage to the nation over which you preside, sheds fresh lustre on his throne, and endears him to every well- wisher of his country's prosperity. We will not harrow up your Excellency's feelings, by detailing the manifold and enor- mous grievances under which our hitherto unhappy and distracted country has laboured for centuries. We are anxious to bury in eternal oblivion all past persecutions, being unwilling to make any allusion calculated to re-kindle political strife ; it becomes not our order, it is unsuited to our avocations, and was never in accordance with our wishes. Our Divine Master has taught us, that his kingdom is not of this world. To advance the glory of God, and promote peace and good will among mankind, is the object of our ministry ; and anxious to practise what we are bound to inculcate, we forgive all the injuries which have been too unsparingly inflicted upon us ; we are desirous to forget our former wrongs, and to promote the peace and happiness of Ireland, and are willing to extend the hand of fellowship, even to those who have been hitherto her most inveterate and malevolent foes. We remember with gratitude that your Excellency was one of these enlightened and noble spirits, who, when our people were unemancipated, advocated the principles of civil and reli- gious liberty. The liberal high-minded ministry with which you are connected, to whom we are indebted for the promotion of national education ; the humane and benevolent exercise of your splendid talents in another hemisphere; your impartial distribution of offices in this country, and your anxiety to ascer- tain our wants, inspire us with confidence in your government, and appear to usher in the dawn of a brighter and happier day for Ireland. We can assure your Excellency, thai we hay e at K all times impressed upon our people sentiments of the ..most devoted loyalty, in which they are surpassed by none in the wide range of his Majesty's dominions. How pleasing has the IGO task now become, from the reflection, that we inculcate obe- dience to those to whom our people are bound, not merely by a sense of duty, but also by the not less strong and endearing ties of gratitude and affection. May your Excellency live many years among us, to carry into execution the enlightened measures of just and moderate reform contemplated by his Majesty's ministers, and to diffuse the blessings of peace and harmony among an ever loyal, although long oppressed and persecuted people. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, This address is on the one part as creditable to yourselves, as on the other it is gratifying to me. It is impossi- ble more accurately to have estimated, more forcibly to have expressed the duties of your sacred calling, of which the first worldly obligation is to inculcate peace and good will amongst mankind. Conscientious differences of opinion on some points, which we may mutually entertain, are ill suited to be made the subject of active discord. I duly value your assurance, that you would endeavour to bury in oblivion all of the past that might perpetuate irritation. It has been the misfortune of Ireland, that her sons have but too frequently preferred a painful and unprofitable retrospect of bygone differences, to a practical combination for the present, and the consequent expansion of the national prospects for the future. Your cooperation is, I am sensible, of much importance in producing a better state of things, and I derive the mere plea- sure from the cordial assurances you offer, that it is founded on approbation of the principles which now direct his Majesty's councils, and a confidence in that strict impartiality on my part, which, as the head of the Irish government* it will be my endeavour to make manifest to all alike. 161 . , . TOWN OF NEWTOWNLIMAVADY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Newtownlimavady and its vicinity, beg leave to congratulate your Excellency on your arrival in this district of the kingdom, and we joyfully embrace the opportunity thus afforded to us of testifying in this public manner, our fidelity to his Majesty's person and government, our confidence in that liberal and enlightened administration, of which your Excellency is so distinguished a member, and our respect for your Excellency's private and public character. We hail with satisfaction the appointment of your Excellency to the Viceregency of Ireland, and feel grateful to our gracious Sovereign, for having nominated to this important situation, an individual still more ennobled by the qualities of his head and heart, than by his illustrious rank and station a nobleman who has not only proved himself the friend of humanity, and the protector of the oppressed, in a distant region of the empire, but the intrepid and successful defender of civil and religious liberty in the land which gave him birth. We feel a perfect confidence that, under your Excellency's benign administration, justice will be impartially dispensed to all classes and denominations of his Majesty's subjects, in this part of the united empire ; that the laws will thus come to be universally respected, and that those unhappy animosities, poli- tical and religious, by which our country has so long been distracted, and its prosperity retarded, will be gradually extin- guished. In promotion of these most desirable purposes, we beg leave to tender our zealous, though circumscribed cooperation, and to w 162 assure your Excellency that those statements which have been so frequently anil confidently made, representing the great body of the Protestants of Ulster as embued with the spirit of secta- rian intolerance, are destitute of foundation. On the contrary, we are persuaded that the great majority of the intelligent and educated, of all religious persuasions, are favourable to the prin- ciple of civil and religious liberty. We are thankful to Lord Melbourne and his patriotic admi- nistration for what they have actually done, and equally thankful for what they sincerely, though unsuccessfully, endeavoured to do for the amelioration of our various institutions. We trust that they will persevere with steadiness in their liberal and judicious course of policy, regardless of all the factious oppo- sition which they may have to encounter, and th'at, whilst they preserve with care the essential principles of the British con- stitution, they will adopt whatever measures may be found necessary to obtain for all classes of his Majesty's subjects the full extent of tlie benefits which those principles are calculated to afford. That your Excellency may long continue to enjoy health and happiness, and that your Excellency's benevolent exertions to promote the peace and prosperity of our native land, may be crowned with deserved success, is our fervent prayer. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I regret very much that I should not have had an opportunity of receiving this very gratifying address personally, in the town of Newtownlimavady, as was at first intended. Accept my best thanks for your cordial concurrence in those political principles on which I have always acted. 163 I thoroughly believe that which you state that the great body of the Protestants of Ulster are free from the charge of, in any form, cherishing, or, by any bond, attempting to perpe- tuate sectarian antipathies. This conviction I derive not only from such observation as I have had occasion hitherto to make, but from the confidence that more liberal feelings towards the :# honest opinions of others must be entertained by those, whose contest formerly was for civil and religious liberty. ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY AND INHABITANTS OF STRABANE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic clergy and the inhabitants of Strabane and the surrounding district generally, anxiously avail ourselves of your Excellency's presence, to give expression to the feelings of respect and attachment which we entertain for you as the representative of our gracious Sovereign, and of per- sonal regard for yourself. We beg leave to assure your Excellency, that in common with the rest of Ireland, we hailed with delight your Excellency's appointment, as the ushering in of a brighter day for our long neglected and misgoverned country. The transcendant talents with which Providence has adorned your Lordship, and which shed a lustre around the Viceregal throne of Ireland the uniform exercise of those talents in the cause of civil and religious liberty your appointment by a ministry who are the first that have manifested a real wish to know and ameliorate the wrongs of Ireland impress us with a firm conviction that under your Excellency's mild and parental government, the sources of the evils which have afflicted this 164 i country will be dried .up, and those who before have kept aloof from each other, actuated by party and sectarian prejudices, will forget their former dissensions, and join in one common effort for the amelioration of the country. We would consider ourselves wanting in our duty, did we omit this opportunity of giving expression to our grateful remembrance of the exertions of your illustrious ancestor, in behalf of our ill-fated land, at a time when there were few to raise their voice in its favour. Long may your Excellency's popular and truly patriotic government remain over us to carry into execution those heal- ing measures of reform they have commenced, and when you retire (and may the day be distant), you will carry with you the blessings of a grateful and emancipated people. ANSWER. I beg the Roman Catholic clergy and the inhabitants gene- rally of Strabane and the surrounding district, to believe, that I am very sensible of the kindness which induced them to present to me this address, on my passing through Strabane. It is most gratifying to me that they should consider my appoint- ment as the representative of our most gracious Sovereign, one that is likely to be attended with beneficial results to Ireland ; and I cordially thank them for the good wishes they express towards myself personally, and their confidence in his Majesty's present government. 165 TOWN AND VICINITY OF MONAGHAN. WE, the inhabitants of the town of Monaghan and its vicinity, beg leave to approach your Excellency, and with the highest feelings of respect for your personal virtues and unbounded confidence in the wisdom and the purity of your Excellency's administration, we hail your arrival amongst us. Had time permitted, we should have made a more manifest display of those feelings which pervade the great portion of this populous county ; but a few hours only have elapsed since we learned that your Excellency had selected this line of road, on your return to the capital. Accept, we entreat your Excellency, in this our hurried moment of delight, the assurances of our warm and heartfelt congratulations, our unfeigned attachment to the administration of which your Excellency forms so important a portion, and our firm determination to give efficacy, by every means in our power, to those healing and salutary measures, which the benignity and wisdom of your Excellency's councils' have devised, for the peace, the union, and prosperity of our country. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I should, indeed, have regretted much, had I not availed myself of the earliest occasion, when my course brought me into your neighbourhood, personally to receive this gratify- ing testimonial of respect and attachment from the capital of your populous county. 166 I trust you will find that I shall always endeavour to preserve the maintenance of such marked confidence ; and it will be my highest pride that those who may possibly differ on other points, may continue to unite in the conviction of my strict impartiality in the exercise of my delegated authority. CARRICKMACROSS- MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town and vicinity oi' Carrickmacross, gladly seize this opportunity to tender our loyal respects to the representative of our King, to congratulate your Excellency on your appointment to the Viceregal govern- ment of this country, and to join even thus late, in the hearty welcome which greeted your landing on our shore ; the liberal, humane, and statesmanlike qualities, which your Lordship had elsewhere displayed, giving birth to a feeling of hope and confi- dence, already fully confirmed, that in the exercise of those qua- lities, in conducting the government entrusted to you by our gracious Sovereign, you would, by impartiality and firmness, yet tempering justice with mercy, so impress our community at large with respect for the laws, and the administration of them, as to promote concord, and establish that general tran- quillity that at present so happily pervades our country. We refer with pride to the ancient characteristic of our nation, " a love of equal and impartial justice," and therefore feel it almost unnecessary to disclaim all narrow views of factious or sectarian ascendancy ; we can also assure your Excellency, ' that we will not be wanting in another cherished national trait, that of gratitude, either towards your Excellency personally, or the patriotic and reforming ministry, with which you are 167 connected, and which possess our entire confidence, for the sympathies exhibited by you and them for the wants of our long-neglected and oppressed country. Our warm wishes accompany your Excellency for your health and happiness, and for that of your amiable countess. ANSWER. I thank the inhabitants of Carrickmacross and its vicinity for their very gratifying address, and beg them to believe that it will ever be my most anxious endeavour to retain their confidence, and to promote the general welfare of the inhabi- tants of this country. BALLIBAY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Ballibay and its vicinity, approach your Excellency with the deepest feelings of gratitude and admiration for those virtues which have made your Excel- lency's administration so illustrious. We rejoice, notwithstanding the difficulties which your Excel- lency had to encounter, that under your Excellency's truly impartial and efficient government, the period has arrived when the choice of the King is the choice of the people, when loyalty and patriotism are the same, and when to serve the crown is to serve the country. Though our town is small, yet it contains as large a portion of loyal subjects as any in the empire. 168 We feel deeply grateful to your Excellency for honouring us with your presence, and we feel a new and deep inspiration of the hope which your Excellency must have created in all who have for their object the peace, the happiness, and prosperity of Ireland. ANSWER. _ I thank the inhabitants of Ballibay and its vicinity for the address which they had prepared, in anticipation of my passing through that town ; and beg them to believe that I am very sensible of the gratifying terms in which they express them- selves on the subject of my appointment as the representative of his Majesty in this country, and assure me of their confidence in my administration of the government. ARDEE. > MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Ardee and its vicinity, with feelings of exultation and delight, seize the opportunity of your passing through our ancient town, to convey to you the assu- rance of our profound respect for your Excellency's person, our admiration of your principles and conduct, and our entire devotion and attachment to his Majesty's present administra- tion. Desirous of equal and impartial justice, we recognize in your Excellency's government, that at length the laws are to be administered not for the exclusive benefit and advantage of a sect or party, but for the good of all. 169 We bless our gracious Monarch for many services rendered to our country, but particularly for his selection, at the present crisis, of a nobleman so well qualified as your Excellency for the discharge of the high and important duties committed to your care. Believing the object of your Excellency's wishes to be the regeneration of the country, the amalgamation of all classes and creeds into the common designation of Irishmen, and the pro- motion of every measure calculated to raise Ireland from her present prostrate condition, we pray that you may speedily witness the consummation of your benevolent exertions, and offer our hearty and united co-operation in effectuating so very desirable results. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I beg you will accept my best thanks for the kindness which induced you to present me this address on my passing through Ardee. You do me only justice in believing that I have no other wish in the administration of the government of this country, than to promote the happiness of all classes of its inhabitants. I sin- cerely thank you for your gratifying expressions with regard to myself personally, and the assurance of your devotion and attachment to his Majesty's present administration. 170 . ROYAL BELFAST ACADEMICAL INSTITUTION. MAY IT VLK.YKE YOUH EXCELLENCY, WE, the joint boards of managers and visitors of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the visit of your Excellency to the north of Ireland, to tender our most grateful acknowledgments for the kind and gracious reception with which you were pleased to favour the deputation which, not long since, had the honour of presenting to your Excellency our memorial on its behalf, and for the deep anxiety which your Excellency then manifested to promote its prosperity, by giving to our prayer your most favour- able consideration. About twenty -five years have now elapsed since the founders of this institution conceived the design of erecting, in the metropolis of Ulster, an establishment which should afford to the youth of that province, without distinction of sect or party, the advantages of a system of education so extensive as to embrace at once the most elementary and the most advanced departments of learning. The want of such an establishment, especially accommodated to the circumstances of the middle classes of society, and the consequent necessity which compelled a vast majority of those intended for the sacred ministry in the Presbyterian Church, as well as the other learned professions, to seek, in the land of the stranger, that instruction which their native country was unable to supply, had long been the subject of univer- sal regret. To supply a want so much to be deplored, and to remove a necessity so distressing, required exertions, which nothing but the most determined philanthropy, and the purest patriotism could have sustained. But those labours have been amply rewarded in the success with which they have been crowned, and in the permanence of the establishment, which the continued patronage and fostering care of a paternal government 171 leads the Boards confidently to anticipate. This gratifying anticipation has received additional assurance from the kind condescension of our most gracious Sovereign, in bestowing upon the Belfast Academical Institution the title of " Royal ;" and, as a further mark of distinguished favour, allowing a native artist, educated within its walls, to have the honour of trans- mitting to posterity the features of King William the Fourth, as its exalted patron. Through your Excellency, as the honoured representative of his Majesty, the joint Boards, animated by the liveliest feelings of gratitude, beg leave, most respectfully, to present their duti- ful acknowledgments for this most gracious token of royal favour. Whilst we would gratefully record our sense of the deep obligation conferred upon the Institution, by the truly paternal solicitude, so conspicuously manifested towards it by his Majesty, we trust that we shall not be deemed presumptuous in entertaining a hope that it has not been altogether misplaced, or, in declaring our conviction, that if the aspect of the northern province of Ireland has appeared to your Excellency to possess an expression of more improved habits, and greater advance- ment in civilization, than some other parts of the country, it may be attributed, in no slight degree, to the superior intellectual culture which this Institution has been mainly instrumental in diffusing ; nor will this conviction, we trust, appear exaggerated, when we venture respectfully to remind your Excellency, that whilst its students are to be found in almost every part of Ireland, filling important situations in the instruction of youth, not less than two hundred ministers of the Gospel, duly qualified according to the regulations of their respective churches, have received their education within its nails ; and that of these by far the larger number are now actively engaged in the duties of the sacred office throughout this province. 172 By the large additions which the augmented liberality of his Majesty's government has enabled the managers to make to the original buildings, and the consequent recent extension of the system, so as to embrace a School of Medical Science, the Boards confidently expect a corresponding amount of advantage to the community : as from the uniformly progressing increase in the number of its students in those departments already established, they discover the certain indications of its grow- ing advancement, and confirmed stability in the public estimation. We beg to assure your Excellency that no exertion shall be wanting on the part of the joint Boards to render the Institution under their management increasingly useful as a national establishment. They will always readily receive suggestions for rendering the system more efficient, and willingly adopt those improvements which experience may sanction, and their resources enable them to introduce ; and also endeavour, from time to time, to extend their plan so as to embrace every department of science which circumstances may require. The Boards would farther beg leave to express their sense of the obligation conferred upon the Institution by the attention which it has received from one whose life has been so highly distinguished by its connexion with the noblest effort of British humanity, and one of the most glorious events in the history of man a nobleman, to whom, as the representative of our most gracious Sovereign, the Boards are not more bound to tender their most dutiful respect, than they feel disposed to offer him, as an individual, the tribute of their most sincere and cordial regard. 173 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I have heard this address with much interest, as containing a valuable detail of the rise and progress of this excellent establishment. . I shall not fail to convey to our gracious Sovereign, with your humble duty, the assurance of the deep sense you entertain of his Royal condescension in extending to you such marks of distinguished favour. I am most grateful for your personal expressions towards myself; and you may depend upon my anxiously watching any occasion to extend the sphere of your usefulness, bearing in mind your wishes, and fully sensible of the benefits that have already been derived from your valuable Institution. BELFAST LANCASTERIAN NATIONAL SCHOOL. MAY IT PLEASE YOUB EXCELLENCY, WE, the supporters and friends of the Lancasterian National School in Frederick-street, Belfast, beg leave to embrace the opportunity afforded by your visit to this town, to present our congratulations to your Excellency, on your attain- ment of the high office to which you have been called by his Majesty, together with the expression of our sincere wishes for your Excellency's health and happiness. ... l74 We behold in the person of our chief governor a nobleman whose firmness and moderation, in the discharge of a most important and arduous office abroad, afford to us a guarantee, that, in common with our fellow-citizens, we shall receive, under your Excellency's administration, that protection in the enjoy- ment of our civil and religious rights, and in the peaceable pursuit of the means of individual and national happiness, which we are well assured it is the paternal desire of our most gracious Monarch to extend to all his loving and loyal subjects. We are happy to recognise in your Excellency a steady friend to the dissemination of sound knowledge throughout all classes of the community. Associated together, as we ourselves are, for the purpose of aiding in the advancement of this great object, we rejoice to find our views of the indispensable necessity of education to the well-being of a state, recommended by the example of our King's representative. We beg leave to tender to your Excellency our humble but zealous assistance, in pro- moting, so far as our influence extends, the progress of infor- mation among our countrymen, which has been found to contri- bute so materially to the tranquillity, industry, and order of society, and without which, those free institutions which it is the pride of this empire to possess, can neither be justly appreciated, nor properly used. Having experienced the results of that system of public instruction which has been for some time introduced under the auspices of the Commissioners of National Education, and with which our school was early connected, we are happy to testify that the general principle upon which it is founded meets with approval; and that the mode in which its details have been administered in our institution, has been impartial and judicious. We have much pleasure in stating that the system established by the Commissioners, has enabled the conductors of the Frede- rick-street National School greatly to extend its usefulness, and increase its efficiency, without the surrender or the compromise of any of its original principles. 175 United for the one purpose of promoting education, compris- ing in our own body persons of almost every religious and political denomination, yet all harmoniously co-operating for this valuable and important object, and numbering among the children who are receiving instruction within the walls of our institution, the offspring of persons holding different opinions upon religious and political subjects, we early saw the necessity of abstaining strictly from any attempt, direct or indirect, to interfere with the peculiar tenets of any church or party. We found it needful to rest satisfied with endeavouring to enlarge and expand the minds of our pupils, by literary and scientific knowledge, and to elevate their characters and improve their habits, by communicating information which could hardly fail to be useful for their guidance through life affording them an opportunity of reading the Sacred Scriptures, but leaving it to their parents and guardians to provide such farther instruction in their own peculiar tenets, as they might deem necessary while we nevertheless carefully impressed upon them all those moral truths and religious sanctions which afford a firm basis for the practice of piety and virtue. All this, as we soon ascer- tained, might be done without intermeddling with the distinctions of sect, or giving offence to the conscientious feelings of any class. We have found by experience that this equitable conduct has promoted the success of our institution, and has been pro- ductive of good effects. In the constitution of the National Board, and the system which it has pursued, we find a recognition of our own general principles ; and we cannot doubt, after the experience we have had, that if steadily persevered in, that system will prove a blessing to our native land. We are happy to observe by the rapid extension of its operations, as shewn in the reports laid before parliament, that it has already been adopted by so large a proportion of our fellow-citizens. We are pleased to find that its merits have commanded the uniform support of the legislature, and of every administration that has been in power since it was first promulgated. We are gratified farther to observe that many persons who at first entertained 176 conscientious objections to its principles, have been led, by the experience of its benefits, to desist from their opposition ; and even in some cases to lend it their countenance and support. We trust that under these circumstances, it will continue to receive the sanction of parliament and the executive government ; and that with those improvements which time and the further obser- vation of the system may suggest, it will be handed down as a boon and blessing to future generations. We beg to thank your Excellency for the kind attention which you have been pleased to manifest to the interests of this insti- tution ; we trust that by zeal, diligence, and perseverance in the system which we have hitherto pursued, we shall merit a continuance of your Excellency's favour and support. We conclude with renewed wishes for your Excellency's welfare, and with earnest prayers that your administration may be so guided as to conduce to the growth of knowledge, virtue, and religion liberty, happiness, and tranquillity, in our beloved country. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I have listened with considerable interest to this elaborate statement of your views as to the tendency, and of your opinions as to the actual effects of the national system of education, considered in connexion with your own original institution. I am most happy that you should recognize in me a steady friend to the comprehensive diffusion of moral and religious education. I have confirmed my own original views of its beneficial influence by personal examination of similar establishments in a peculiar state of society, where in addition to the differences which here exist, the distinctions of colour and of caste were blended together. II I It is satisfactory, when one reflects how comparatively modern is the date of all such institutions, to think that now education is no longer by any one denied to be an universal good. All false alarms, founded on a perversion of the saying that know- ledge is power, have yielded to the conviction that no fanciful assertion of equality could be founded on instruction duly apportioned to the capacity to receive it, which must teach that, in intellect, even more than in strength, nature has fixed as marked distinctions, as in relative station, any social system can, by its grades, establish for the benefit of all. You state that you comprise in your body persons of almost every religious sect and political opinion. I most sincerely rejoice to hear it ; it is such an union for such purposes that on these occasions I most desire to witness ; it is as much my indi- vidual disposition as I believe it to be the duty of my office, as far as lies in my power to promote the common good by com- mon concert. My exertions would always be directed to extend amongst you the sphere of mutual agreement, thus adopting in the character of the executive, the same object as dictated the system of national education. I should desire that the influence of my presence might be felt in a temporary oblivion, leading J would hope to a permanent diminution of minor differences as the most welcome tribute to my sincere anxiety for the general prosperity of this long-distracted country. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF DOWN AND CONNOR. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the united Diocese of Down and Connor, beg leave most respect- fully to approach your Excellency, and to hail your arrival in this part of the kingdom. 178 In the selection of a Viceroy distinguished by his philanthropy, and the uniform practical advocacy of the great principle of civil and religious liberty, we recognize, with gratitude, an additional instance of our most gracious Sovereign's paternal solicitude for the amelioration of our long misgoverned country. Among the blessings which an enlightened and reforming ministry have already conferred on Ireland, the system of national education, so well adapted to the mixed character of our community, and to the wants of the people committed to our spiritual superintendence, deservedly holds a conspicuous place, and claims our unqualified approbation. We have, under preceding administrations, faithfully laboured to promote, to the utmost extent of our influence, peace and Christian charity, frequently under difficulties the most dis- couraging and embarrassing. How pleasant now becomes the performance of that duty, when we witness the many healing measures effected and con- templated by his Majesty's ministers, who, in accordance with the principles of national justice, have repudiated the malignant policy of governing Ireland by fomenting the division of her sons. We embrace the present opportunity to assure your Excel- lency, that we anxiously wish to bury in oblivion all former animosities, to co-operate with your wise and patriotic govern- ment, in establishing on a permanent footing the tranquillity of our country, and to extend to our brethren of every religious denomination the right hand of Christian fellowship. May the great Disposer of events enable your Excellency, by the enjoyment of long life, to accomplish the benevolent object intended by our gracious Monarch in appointing you to the Viceregal authority. 179 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, Your cordial expressions towards myself demand my warmest thanks; your liberal professions towards others merit unequivocal approbation. I am glad to hear your practical testimony in favour of the system of national education. I am equally proud that you should connect my appointment with feelings of encreased gratitude to our Sovereign, and my con- tinuance in the government with the brightening prospects of the country. THE TOWN AND PARISH OF BANGOR. MAY IT PLEASE YOUH EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town and parish of Bangor, avail ourselves of the opportunity of your Excellency's presence among us, to offer our humble congratulations on your appointment to the distinguished situation of the representative of our most gracious Sovereign in Ireland. We hail you, not as the mere official representative of royalty, but as the messenger of peace to our distracted country, as the true organ of the benevolent intentions of our Sovereign. We hail your appointment as the indication of the desire of his Majesty's government to carry into effect impartial justice towards all classes of the people without distinction of sect or party ; and to bring into operation measures of practical good, which can alone ameliorate the condition of our hitherto divided population. 180 We hail as the certain pledge of such intentions, the appoint- ment of a nobleman, who had been before distinguished as the messenger of freedom and justice to a distant portion of the inhabitants of this empire, and who had so nobly and zealously discharged the important and honourable functions connected with his office. Among the high attributes which distinguish your Excel- lency as the governor of a country distracted on the one hand by the conflict of political and religious animosities, and ground down on the other by the greatest of all temporal evils, poverty and misery, there is none which can command the approval of every true patriot more than the disposition which your Excellency has evinced to become acquainted with the state, condition and manners of the people committed to your charge, by personally visiting the different parts of the country ; and we trust the district which your Excellency has now honoured with your presence and temporary residence may justly claim the notice of your Excellency as affording a convincing proof that the peace, good order, and happiness of a nation can be best promoted by the extension among its numbers of the true principle of loyalty and obedience to the laws. But above all, we hail at this ancient seat of learning, the arrival of a nobleman, who, in connection with a government which, seeming to rest its stability mainly on the enlightenment of the people, has sent over as the representative of royalty, a nobleman in every way qualified to extend and carry into perfect operation a system of national education founded on the only true basis, namely, that which while it gives to the people a good and a moral education, interferes not with those religious principles in which they have been educated, and which cannot be controlled by man, without the heavy responsibility of pre- suming to judge with faculties merely human of that which is only between man and his Creator. 181 Among the measures which your Excellency's government has adopted for promoting the happiness, and preserving the peace of this country, we wish particularly to refer to the determina- tion which they have come to of withholding the military from giving their assistance in the collection of tithes ; thus pre- venting from again taking place, a further effusion of blood, which has so often been shed in unfortunate collisions between the peasantry and those whose first object should be their protection, and thereby sustaining the constitutional maxim, that civil rights are not to be enforced by the interference of military power. Permit us, in conclusion, most sincerely to congratulate your amiable Countess on her arrival amongst us, and to hope that the impressions which you have both received on this, your first visit to our neighbourhood, may induce you not to make it the last. We beg to offer our best wishes for your continued health and happiness. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I am most grateful to you for the personal feelings with which you hailed my appointment to the government of this country, for the confidence you derive from my previous public conduct, for the satisfaction you express at the indications I have already given of the impartial system I intend to pursue, and I am gratefully sustained in the difficulties with which I may have to contend by the anticipations you indulge of the consequent regeneration of your country. * I regret that time did not permit me to receive this address within the town of Bangor, and I therefore request you to accept this short but sincere expression of my thanks. 182 GREYABBEY, AND ITS VICINITY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the small but loyal town of Greyabbey and its vicinity desire to approach your Excellency with our loyal, and when we consider your Excellency's great merits, we well may add, our dutiful address. We wish to apolo- gize to your Excellency for this hurried and ill-digested address, occasioned by your Excellency's unexpected visit, and short sojourn in our neighbourhood, but we trust that it will not on this account be the less acceptable, being the free, spontaneous, and genuine effusion of our hearts. We most heartily congratulate your Excellency on your appointment to the high and dignified office of representative in this country of our venerable and most gracious Sovereign ; and we heartily congratulate your Excellency on your visit to our ancient town, its ruined Abbey, and the romantic scenery around ; and with an honest pride we as heartily congratulate your Excellency on your arrival amongst us, who have at all times been the warm friends and zealous supporters of that line of policy pursued by your Excellency, which has for its motto -justice to Ireland, good will to all men, and civil and religious liberty all over the world. We are indeed happy to recognise in your Excellency's govern- ment the adoption and successful working of a new line of policy towards our country ; and we are still happier to know that the principles upon which such policy is founded, have been the acting and active springs by which your whole political life has been distinguished. We behold in your Excellency at once the man, and the statesman ; and we conceive that it would reflect a discredit on our characters, if we allowed such a nobleman as you are to pass through our village without conveying to your Excellency, 183 that our devoted affections, our present sympathies, our future hopes in a word, our entire hearts are with you, and with the enlightened government with which your Excellency is so honourably and so eminently connected. It is to us clearly evident, that the present administration possesses every talent of head and heart, to make it eminently capable of guiding in these eventful times, the vessel of the state ; and it is also evident that your Excellency possesses in a preeminent degree, those talents which are so well calculated to redress the grievances, heal the wounds, allay the party animo- sities, and restore peace and harmony to our hitherto distracted country. Disaffection and disloyalty are, since your Excellency came amongst us, withering from the land, and the truly loyal and well-affected towards our reformed and reforming constitution, are rapidly increasing. We are convinced that every man in Ireland owes your Excellency a debt of gratitude, duty, and obedience for your Excellency's strenuous exertions, to put an end to that narrow, illiberal, and partial policy, which has heretofore obstructed the progress of civilization and improvement in Ireland ; and we are convinced that every honest man in Ireland will not hesitate to acknowledge the debt, and by his conduct, in promoting social order, endeavour to repay it. We firmly trust and sincerely hope that allegiance to the King, obedience to the laws, and good will to all mankind, may ever actuate the people of this part of his Majesty's dominions, and that Ireland, during your Excellency's stay, may be prospe- rous and happy, and that those principles of government which your Excellency has been the happy instrument of diffusing, may lay the foundation on which her future prosperity and wel- fare may be solidly and permanently built. And we fervently 184 pray that your Excellency may be immortalized in the history of our country, as the great and good Constantine Henry Earl of Mulgrave, the first Lord Lieutenant under whose govern- ment justice was done to injured Ireland ; and that your Excellency, and the benignant government with which your Excellency is connected, may long continue to guide the councils and sway the destinies of a mighty nation. ANSWER. I cordially thank the inhabitants of Greyabbey and its vicinity, for the address which they forwarded to me on the occasion of my visit to their neighbourhood. I can assure them that I derived the greatest satisfaction from the opportunity of visiting so beautiful a part of the country ; and I gratefully acknowledge that upon no occasion have I received stronger assurances of attach- ment to myself and confidence in my government than are contained in their address. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF DROMORE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese of Dromore, beg leave to approach your Excellency in this moment of your passing through Newry, and most humbly and respectfully to present to you the homage of our unbounded gratitude, and most cordial veneration. We beg to assure your Excellency, that no words can ade- quately express our admiration 01 the fair and upright principles which you have adopted for the government of this country ; 185 that we recognize in your Excellency's mode of applying them, the enlightened statesman, the sincere Christian, and the friend and benefactor of mankind ; and that we consider the appoint- ment of your Excellency to administer the Viceregal powers in Ireland as the strongest proof of the paternal anxiety of our most gracious Sovereign, for the pacification and permanent welfare of his faithful subjects. With these sentiments, we beseech the Lord of lords and King of kings, to give his blessing to all your Excellency's undertakings to make you the successful instrument of impart- ing to Ireland equal laws, impartial justice, liberal institutions, and paternal government ; and to reward yourself and your illus- trious colleagues with every comfort that can contribute to your happiness here and hereafter. ANSWER. RIGHT REVEREND SIR, Accept my best thanks for the cordial manner in which you and the body on whose behalf you speak, have expressed yourselves with regard to my qualifications and con- duct. In the high office which has been entrusted to me, I am sustained by the consciousness of good intentions, but derive inestimable support from such cheering assurances of the prayers of all good men for my success. CUSHENDALL. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY. WE, the inhabitants of Cushendall and its vicinity, eager to manifest our loyalty to our gracious Sovereign, our respect and affection for his Majesty's distinguished representa- 186 tivc, and our confidence in the present liberal administration, upon short notice of your Excellency's approach to our neigh- bourhood, have taken the liberty to assemble around you and offer you the homage of grateful hearts. In this remote portion of long-neglected Ireland, we saw with joy your elevation to the dignified situation you now till. We hailed you as a luminary arisen to let the wants of Ireland be seen, and to animate the breasts of her sons with the hope of her regeneration ; but how delighted are we to perceive that light not only shed its influence from the metropolis, but benignly pass over almost every district of the country, to discover more minutely its state, and prepare for the removal of evils that may here and there prevail. We trust that all opposition will fall before the progress of reform, and that peace and comfort will be procured for his Majesty's subjects in this country, of every denomination. May your Excellency live long to enjoy prosperity, and con- tinue in that exalted station where you can promote the welfare of Ireland. ANSWER. I thank the inhabitants of Cushendall and its vicinity, for the address with which they greeted me on my arrival at Cushendall ; and assure them that the pleasure which I derived from my visit to their part of the country was much encreased by receiv- ing such a demonstration of their regard and confidence. 187 COLEHAINE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUB EXCELLENCY, i WE, a deputation from a large body of our fellow- townsmen, with feelings of unmixed satisfaction, beg leave to approach your Excellency, and to offer you our sincere congra- tulations on your appointment to the high situation of chief governor of this part of the United Kingdom. We feel, that the paternal anxiety of our most gracious Sovereign to promote the peace, happiness, and prosperity of our native land, was never more strongly evinced than in the selection of a Viceroy equally distinguished for his public virtues and his private worth. In this appointment we already see the dawning of a more propitious day for our country. The philanthropic mind that could not rest until those manacles were broken which bound the poor African, dragged from his native shore to a foreign land, to eke out a wretched existence under the merciless lash of the oppressor, will not, we feel confident, cease its benevolent exertions till all is done that can be done to heal the wounds and promote the best interests of Ireland. We are happy to have this opportunity of express- ing the great satisfaction we feel at your Excellency's visiting the different parts of the kingdom, and are convinced from your Excellency's deep penetration, that our favourable anticipations will not be disappointed. From our knowledge and experience of the past, we feel we have a sure guarantee for the future ; and while we place the most unbounded confidence in the wisdom, firmness, and impartiality of the liberal and enlightened administration, of which your Excellency is so distinguished a member, we 188 earnestly hope, that like a rock, unmoved by the angry billows, it may remain unshaken by all the efforts of the interested and factious, until, by the operation of wise and good laws, and the equitable distribution of justice, peace and social happiness may be established on a firm and permanent basis. In fine, we beg to assure your Excellency of our ardent attachment to his Majesty's person and government, our respect for the laws, and our fervent wishes that our unrivalled constitu- tion may be transmitted in its pristine purity to the remotest generations. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I am truly sensible of the feelings which, notwith- standing the short notice of my arrival amongst you, have induced the inhabitants of Coleraine to meet me this day with so gratifying an expression of their confidence and appro- bation. I will, at least, endeavour to merit the continuance of such demonstrations, by the assurance that, so long as I am the representative of our most gracious Sovereign, I will persevere in that impartial course of administration which must triumph over interested opposition, and cannot fail in the opinion of every unprejudiced person to tend to the general happiness of the whole community. I trust upon another occasion, and at a more propitious Season of the year, to have an opportunity of paying a more comprehensive visit to your town and neighbourhood. 189 I- ANTRIM. MAY IT PLEA6B YOUB EXCELLENCY, WE, the undersigned inhabitants of Antrim and its vicinity, approach your Excellency with the liveliest feelings of respect and admiration. We hail your arrival among us as the worthy representative of our excellent King the father of his people, to whom we acknowledge every duty of loyalty and affection. In your Excellency we recognize a Viceroy actuated by a pure spirit of philanthropy ; and manifesting a zeal and activity commensurate with the arduous duties of your exalted station. Under your wise and equitable government, we confidently anticipate many advantages to our native land in the sup- pression of party spirit in the impartial administration of the laws in the gradual abolition of every thing hostile to public liberty and in the diffusion of useful knowledge among all classes of our fellow-subjects. We trust and pray that a kind Providence may prosper your endeavours for the public good ; and that, as you have been a chief agent in exciting the joys of freedom in the breasts of thousands in a foreign land, so you may become powerfully instrumental in promoting peace and harmony, and national happiness among the millions that dwell in our native isle. We beg to offer your Excellency the assurance of our firm attachment to the laws and constitution of the realm, and our determination to contribute all in our power to uphold the union and strength of the united empire. ANSWER. CiF.NTL.EMEN, I must express ray gratitude to you for the zeal and alacrity wMiwhich you have come forward thus to welcome my passing visit to your town. * ;' In the terms of your address I recognize a spirit of true patriotism ; in the aspect of your immediate neighbourhood I trace the result of successful industry. You accurately describe the objects of my government ; I hope you may have formed correct anticipations of its gradual success, towards the promo- tion of which, the earnest and temperate support of such as you, will be a valuable assistance. BALLYMENA. ," ' MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Ballymena and its vicinity, assembled at a meeting convened by public notice, most joy- fully avail ourselves of the opportunity of your Excellency's passing through our town, to testify our respect and attachment to you as the representative of our gracious Sovereign, to offer our congratulations on your appointment to that high office, with the expression of our earnest wishes for your personal prosperity and happiness. From the recollection of your Excellency's former services, as the distinguished friend of freedom, not only in your own 191 country, but in another hemisphere, we feel confident that under your government the laws will be impartially and equita- bly administered ; and we hope that party feuds will gradually subside, and peace and concord be established in our long distracted country. We had anticipated beneficial results to Ireland on hearing of your accession to your present office. Already has your Excellency given us good earnest that our expectations will not be disappointed. By your patient and painstaking inspection and inquiry through every portion of the kingdom, and also by your cultivating a spirit of conciliation and social intercourse with men of all classes and opinions, you are recognized as a truly paternal governor, who will judge with your own eyes of the wants and capabilities of the country, and apply such reme- dies as will render us a united people, and thereby add to the strength and stability of the empire. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I am peculiarly gratified to receive such an address from so respectable a deputation, speaking the sentiments of the inhabitants of Ballymena, at a public meeting assembled. I had heard of the successful industry and rising importance of your town, and can perfectly understand that it is in the cultiva- tion of these kindly feelings towards each other, which you so well express, and which, discouraging party feuds, it shall be my desire, as it is my duty to promote and confirm, that the practical resources of this fine country may be best developed. LURGAN. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the undersigned inhabitants of the town of Lurgan, and county of Armagh, beg leave respectfully to approach your Excellency, with sincere assurances of loyalty and attachment to our most gracious Sovereign, and to those laws and institutions under whose fostering care we enjoy security and protection in person and in property. It is to us a matter of sincere delight, a feeling in which we are persuaded your Excellency will fully participate, that we can congratulate your Excellency on the peace and tranquillity which generally prevail among the population of this densely peopled neighbourhood, and which we mainly attribute, under the blessing of Divine Providence, to the employment afforded by the various branches of our staple, and at present highly flourishing manufacture, and to the consequent habits 'of order and industry that have been produced and encouraged among us. We hail with peculiar satisfaction this first visit from the representative of our Sovereign, feeling persuaded, that the object of your Excellency in coming to this part of Ireland, is to discover, as far as in your power, the actual condition of its inhabitants, their wants and resources, with the view of directing the attention of the government to what may be deemed worthy of encouragement or support, so as to develop and increase those sources of national industry, that even now, under many disadvantages, are extending their blessings around, and which, in their operation, have caused and are causing such marked and decided improvements in the general aspect of the country, and in the habits and condition of the people. 193 TO HER EXCELLENCY THE COUNTESS OF MULGRAVE. - MAY IT PLEASE vocn LADYSHIP, WE, the undersigned inhabitants of the town of Lurgan and county of Armagh, present ourselves before your Ladyship with feelings of heartfelt gratification. We are delighted to behold amongst us, as the wife of the representative of our Sovereign, a Lady, whose many acts of beneficence and charity to the suffering poor of the metropolis are not unknown to us, and have already secured her a favourable reception in our hearts. Your Ladyship is, no doubt, aware that this part of the country has long been the seat of various branches of the limn manufacture, specimens of which we now humbly tender for the acceptance of your Ladyship, and which, we trust your Ladyship may feel yourself justified in honouring with your approbation and patronage. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, It is most gratifying that you should be enabled to offer to me your congratulations on the peace and tran- quillity of this part of the country, and that you should consider the system I am pursuing as likely to operate bene- ficially on the improving condition of other portions of the kingdom. o 1U4 On the part of Lady Mulgrave I must thank you, for myself as well as her, for the favourable mention you make of her sympathies in the sufferings of the poor. It is by the successful exertion of industry and employment of capital, such as you describe, that their sufferings can best be permanently and generally relieved ; and she will cordially accept the specimens you now offer, as an acknowledgment of her interest in your success. CITY OF ARMAGH. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Armagh, beg leave to con- gratulate your Excellency on your arrival in our city, and to express the profound respect which we entertain towards you as the representative of our revered Monarch. Yielding to no portion of his Majesty's subjects in devoted attachment and loyalty to our most gracious Sovereign, we are naturally anxious that our public institutions should be rendered capable of effecting the national and important purposes which they are calculated to accomplish, by affording to every indivi- dual in the community a full participation in their advantages, and an interest in their permanent support. With unfeigned satisfaction we congratulate the inhabitants of this country, that the government of Ireland has been en- trusted to a nobleman, who has already given satisfactory proof of unsullied integrity, and whose enlightened mind has at all times, aad in trying circumstances, prompted him to promote, to the utmost of his power, the happiness and welfare of the human race. 195 Deeply convinced that party spirit has hitherto been the great bane of our distracted country, we perceive with heartfelt joy that it is your Excellency's determination to govern Ireland for the benefit and security of all the people. It must be to your Excellency and his Majesty's ministers a gratifying reflection, that the system of national education which has been adopted for Ireland, is calculated to meet the wishes and the wants of its population, and that it has been already attended with the happiest consequences to our country. We perceive with inexpressible joy that since the accession of the present impartial and enlightened administration, our country has enjoyed the blessings of tranquillity, and this affords irresistible evidence of the confidence reposed by the people in the beneficent intentions of his Majesty's ministers. Your Excellency may therefore have the most implicit reliance on the hearty cooperation of his Majesty's faithful subjects in this part of the empire, and we are happy in having the present opportunity of uniting with our fellow-countrymen in testifying our unqualified admiration of your persevering exertions for the permanent tranquillity and happiness of Ireland. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, It is most gratifying to me to receive these assurances of personal esteem and political confidence, from the inhabitants of the ancient and loyal city of Armagh. When you state the pleasure you feel in availing yourselves of this opportunity of joining in the feelings expressed by your fellow-countrymen, I accept such a tribute with peculiar satisfaction, as crowning the hopes I have prospectively derived from similar demonstrations that my tour into this part of Ireland, whilst it has been agree- able to myself, will not have been entirely useless to others.' I felt convinced, when I determined, even at this advanced season, not to abandon my intention of visiting this and the adjoining counties, that the more by personal intercourse I examined into your condition, and studied your interests, the less likely was I to be myself misunderstood ; and I felt assured that by the great body of my brother Protestants of the North, as much as by those of any other denomination, here, or else- where, justice was likely to be done to the motives of him, who, as the representative of his Sovereign, both professed and main- tained, in your own words, a firm determination to govern Ireland for the benefit and security of all the people. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS AND ELDERS OF THE CONGREGATION OF ARMAGH. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the ministers and elders of the Presbyterian congregation of Armagh, in connexion with the General Synod of Ulster, beg leave to approach your Excellency with senti- ments of profound respect for your person, veneration for the throne, and attachment to the British constitution. As connected with a numerous and respectable portion of his Majesty's subjects in this ancient city, we cannot allow the opportunity that now presents itself to pass away without offer- ing to your Excellency that tribute of loyal attachment which is due no less to the representative of our beloved Sovereign, than to a nobleman of your Excellency's tried worth, and exalted character. Seldom has it happened that the Viceroy of Ireland, he, on whom rests the weighty responsibility of presiding over the executive of this distracted country, has mixed so extensively as 197 your Excellency has done, with the varied ranks and denomina- tions which compose its population, or has adopted the same efficient measures for securing a complete knowledge of its actual condition and necessities. Whilst with all our hearts we applaud the motive that prompts these energetic and laborious inquiries, we trust and pray, that under God, the desired end may be accomplished, in the permanent estab- lishment of social peace and national prosperity. That motive springs from a benevolence, comprehensive, well-regulated, and practical ; and that end would secure a recognition and mutual concession on all hands, of the inalienable birthright of every man a liberty of forming, and in a constitutional manner of expressing, his conscientious opinions. This sound principle, of which we as Presbyterians admit the justice, we sincerely hope may speedily produce its appropriate results in this unhappy land. Your Excellency has already had an opportunity of travelling through some of the counties in which Presbyterianism prevails, and we entertain a confident hope that what your Excellency has witnessed, of the industry and good order of their population, will not weaken that opinion which you were pleased to express in the favourable answer returned to the address from our Synod. Your Excellency may rely on our continuing to inculcate strict obedience to the laws, and due respect for all the consti- tuted authorities, We pray that God, who made you an instrument in shivering the chains which avarice and ambition dared to bind upon the injured African, may so bless your benevolent exertions, that all our national interests may be consolidated, and our country become, what her resources of intellect and produce ought to make her, a prosperous and happy nation. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I feel the importance of this address, and am grati- fied that a body of your calmly observant character should approach me with the assurance of your approval of that por- tion of my public conduct which has been brought to your notice, since your Synod first offered me the valuable expres- sions of their confidence, as founded upon my previous political career. What I have yet been able to do, I should only wish to be considered as a practical indication of the sincerity of my professions. In answer to the former address in which you participated, I stated my belief in what I had always heard of the industry and good order of the Presbyterians of the North. The result of such short intercourse as this first visit has allowed, has, I trust, been such on both sides, as in our relative stations of governor and governed, to improve our mutual good opinion. I can never be sufficiently thankful to Providence, that I was allowed to be an humble instrument in the progress of that great act of national philanthropy to which you allude, and on which the almost unanimous opinion of the country was power- fully expressed. I can only say, that any share in its success, too favourably attributed to my exertions, will induce me, on the more enlarged sphere in which I am now called upon to act, to apply the same unwearied exertions to promote the blessings of internal peace, as I did to abolish the crime of human slavery. 199 CATHOLIC PRIMATE AND CLERGY OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ARMAGH. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Catholic Primate and Clergy of the arch- diocese of Armagh, beg leave most respectfully to approach your Excellency, and offer you our cordial congratulations on your arrival in this ancient city. Whilst we cherish the unfeigned sentiments of unqualified loyalty to our most gracious and paternal Sovereign, we are delighted to find his Majesty's illustrious and beloved represen- tative diffusing, by his influential example, feelings of paternal affection among Irishmen of every religious denomination in this city, where our venerated Apostle formerly disseminated the doctrines of Christian charity and universal benevolence. In the national system of education, which affords to the poor of this kingdom all the advantages of proper instruction, with- out obliging them to alter or abandon the religion of their parents, in the impartial dispensation of evenhanded justice to all classes of his Majesty's faithful subjects, and in the wise and important measures proposed by the liberal and enlightened administration with which your Excellency is associated, we anticipate the total extinction of party spirit, and looking for- ward to the bright prospect of better days, we confidently expect those blessings which are enjoyed in a more happy state of society. With unlimited confidence in the prudence and integrity of your Excellency's government, we humbly offer you our sincere cooperation in restoring tranquillity to our long-distracted coun- try, and freely forgiving all past offences, we are anxious to bury even their recollection in eternal oblivion. - 200 May Almighty God continue to direct your Excellency's laudable exertions, and grant you every means that may be requisite for the establishment of peace, prosperity, and happi- ness in Ireland. * ANSWER. MOST REV. SIR, The Christian spirit which breathes through the whole of this address, is worthy of the sacred ministry of those from whom it emanates, and the early religious recollections connected with the spot where it is presented. , . However we may conscientiously differ upon some points of faith, the diffusion of feelings of brotherly love and universal benevolence must be the common object of all true Christians. Whilst in all political concerns of a temporal nature it shall be my endeavour to make no distinction unfavourable to the free exercise of conscientious opinion, I cannot be insensible to the value of sincere cooperation in promoting the peace and prospe- rity of the country from those who are the spiritual instructors of a large portion of the population. It is, therefore, most gratifying to me to receive these assurances on the behalf of such a body, under the authority of one whose station gives him peculiar weight, and whose character commands universal respect. THE TOWN OF BANBRIDGE. f WE, being a large portion of the clergy of all denominations, and the merchants, manufacturers, agriculturists, and indepen- dent freeholders of the town and neighbourhood of Banbridge, 201 in the county of Down, beg leave to approach your Excellency with hearts of love and gratitude for the kind visit your Excel- lency has so lately made through the north of Ire land, accom panied by Lady Mulgrave, and suite, proclaiming to the people peace, love, and charity. May Almighty God grant to your Excellency long life, and good health, to enable your Excellency to realize these blessings to the people of Ireland, over whom your Excellency is appointed topreside, is the earnest wish and prayer of the undersigned. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, The address forwarded to me containing the signa- tures of so large a portion of the clergy of all denominations, and other most respectable and independent inhabitants of Ban- bridge and its vicinity, has given me the sincerest pleasure. I thankfully acknowledge that you duly appreciate the objects of my progress through the country, and the spirit in which you have met them, cannot but tend to their success. TOWN OF NEWRY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town of Newry and its neighbourhood, beg leave to offer to your Excellency our heart- felt congratulations on your arrival in this part of Ireland ; and although an address which was unanimously adopted at a public meeting of the inhabitants of this town has been already transmit- ted to your Excellency, expressing their gratitude for the selection made by his Majesty of your Excellency to discharge the arduous duties of the King's representative, we do not, under present 202 circumstances, conceive that we should look upon having offered that testimonial as a sufficient mark of our respectful attachment to your Excellency, and confidence in the paternal intentions of his Majesty's government towards Ireland. We therefore seize the opportunity which now occurs, on the occasion of your Excel- lency passing through this town, to renew the expression of the high sense we entertain of the liberal, humane, enlightened, and statesmanlike policy by which your Excellency's adminis- tration has been marked since your entrance into your high and important office. In your Excellency's appointment to the Vice-regal office, and in your upright and impartial discharge of its duties, we hail the prospect of better days for Ireland. The course which your Excellency has adopted for the govern- ment and improvement of Ireland, is the only one which never before has been tried namely, one having reason for its basis, and equal and impartial justice for its guide. A steady perseverance in this line of policy, we are firmly convinced, is almost all that is requisite to ensure the speedy improvement of the social, moral, and commercial condition of our country ; and to solve the hitherto apparent mystery, the difficulty of governing Ireland, which never could be peaceful, happy, or improving, because until now, her affections were never sought to be enlisted, or justice seriously attempted to be rendered to her by her rulers. That your Excellency, and amiable Countess, may enjoy many years of happiness, and that your Excellency may live to see your labours for the good of Ireland crowned with success, is our sincere and fervent prayer. , 203 ANSWER. I thank the inhabitants of this busy and thriving borough, for thus welcoming my arrival, and cheering my passage through their town, by the assurances of their continued confidence. If I needed any assurance to persevere in my efforts to administer impartial justice, it would best be found in such repeated acknowledgments and general appreciation of my motives and conduct. DUNDALK. WE, the inhabitants of Dundalk, gladly embrace the oppor- tunity afforded us by your Excellency's passing through our town, to testify our sincere respect and esteem for your Excellency, and our just appreciation of your many public and private virtues. We feel truly grateful to his Majesty's liberal and enlightened ministers, for having evinced a firm determination to adhere undeviatingly to the principle of equal and impartial justice in the government of this country. It is now quite manifest that Ireland has too long been subjected to factious and oppressive misrule. Short as the period has been since your investment with the Viceregal dignity, the benign and healing policy adopted by your Excellency, has already produced the most beneficial results. Your Excellency's determination to visit every part of Ireland for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the real state of the country by personal observation, merits the highest eulogium. It is clearly the duty of all his Majesty's subjects, cordially to 204 un'tc in aiding your Excellency to carry into effect such prac- tical measures as may be deemed expedient to ameliorate the condition of the country, and to render the vast capacities and resources of this portion of the empire available to the general good of the whole. . We beg leave to assure your Excellency, that you and your amiable Countess have our best wishes for your health and 1 happiness. BARONY OF FORTH. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the barony of Forth, beg to approach your Excellency with sentiments of sincere gratula- tion on your assuming the reins of government in this kingdom. The emancipator of millions of our fellow-creatures in the East from degrading bondage, we hailed your Excellency's appoint- ment to the head of the Irish executive as the harbinger of peace, justice, and equality of civil rights to our hitherto dis- tracted and misgoverned country-i that hope has not been deceived. In the short period of your Excellency's Viceroyalty, we have seen I hat anomalous state of 'things which rendered the interests of a great nation subsidiary-to the political aggrandise- ment and intolerant spirit of a few, give place to the great fundamental principles of civil polity, the well-being of the many ; we have witnessed that insane policy which placed (under the pretext of not giving a victory to any party) the enemies of justice and national concord in a position to work with sad effect against the very men who delegated to them that power, give place to a sound and judicious distribution of the subordinate functions of the government to the well-tried friends of his Majesty's present administration ; and above all, I 205 ne deeply feel the sense of the obligation the Irish people owe to your Excellency, for having discountenanced the fell spirit of faction, which has been the most fruitful source of all dissen- sions and excesses which heretofore disgraced the character of our fatherland, and deluged its plains in blood. Impressed with these considerations, we would do violence to our own feelings, and neglect that paramount duty we owe to our common country, if we did not congratulate your Excel- lency on the judicious and salutary characteristics of your Vice- royalty ; and to wish your Excellency long life and health to advance the social happiness and prosperity of that country, over whose destinies Providence has happily placed you. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, Accept my warmest thanks for this expression of your congratulations. It is indeed a matter of pride and plea- sure to me that you should thus, on a retrospect of the past, and observation of the present, found these assurances of future confidence in my public conduct. It will ever be my desire by all means in my power to discourage faction of every description, and to secure impartial justice to all alike. AUCHTERMUCHTY, FIFESHIRE, SCOTLAND. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, inhabi- 1 tants of Auchtermuchty, in public meeting assembled, beg most respectfully to express to your Excellency the high satisfaction we felt at your recent appointment to the important office of 206 Viceroy in Ireland ; and to otter you our humble but hearty congratulations on the happy consequences which have resulted from your enlightened, and liberal, and impartial administration, in that hitherto misgoverned, and wretched portion of the empire. Your Excellency first became endeared to us by the wise and conciliatory character of your government in Jamaica. We did not fail to notice and admire the prudence and humanity of your Excellency's conduct in that situation, and to rejoice in the success with which you maintained the tranquillity of the colony, in circumstances so critical mitigated, as far as possible, the horrors of slavery exerted a benignant influence in favour of Christian missions, and liberally patronised the cause of edu- cation among the negroes. It is our prayer, that Almighty God may be pleased long to spare your Excellency's life, and to render you in the new and more elevated station you now till so honorably to yourself, and so advantageously to the Irish people, instrumental, to a still greater extent, in contributing to the stability of the throne of our beloved Sovereign, and promoting the real good of his subjects, by allaying those fierce animosities which have so long and so ruinously prevailed in the island, and securing an impartial administration of justice, with equal rights, and full liberty of conscience to all classes and denominations of the people. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I have received with feelings of sincere gratitude the cheering encouragement of your unexpected address. It is worthy of those whose sympathies were exerted on behalf of suffering humanity in the person of the distant negro, I 207 and who kindly noticed my humble efforts to alleviate his con- dition, thus to mark their interest in my arduous, but anxious attempt to administer impartial justice to their fellow country- men in this portion of the empire. It is by the general diffusion of such sentiments of expansive patriotism as this address displays, that one derives confidence in the future, believing whilst local prejudices and interests are thus absorbed in the common welfare, that thereby is most ensured the stability of the throne, and the gradual amelioration of the institutions of a united people. COUNTY OF MEATH. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the noblemen, gentlemen, electors and inhabi- tants of the county of Meath, in public meeting assembled at Navan, on the 28th of October, 1835, beg leave to offer to your Excellency our sincere congratulations, and express our heartfelt emotions of gratitude on your Excellency's appointment to the government of Ireland. We hail the arrival amongst us of a nobleman of your high character, superior abilities, enlarged and liberal understanding, as a sure pledge of his Majesty's parental solicitude to promote our welfare, advance our condition, to soothe and for ever terminate our unhappy contentions and internal discord, which have for so long a period afflicted us, been a reproach to government, and have in the eyes of strangers weakened and disgraced the mighty British empire. Already, though so short a period of time has elapsed since the commencement of your Excellency's administration, do we 208 perceive that a better state of things has arisen in our land, and we feel justified in looking forward to a happier and more peaceful future than has ever before been the lot of the Irish people. Agitation, amongst all parties, has entirely ceased ; the minds of all men seem to be rapidly turning themselves to promote plans of internal improvement, to awaken the energies, and increase the resources of their common, but too long neglected country. However for a time ignorance may misunderstand, or party spirit misrepresent your Excellency's actions, we feel convinced that the time must soon arrive when all will admit, that the only true mode of governing this country, or indeed the only one now practicable, is to pursue calmly and steadily a straightforward and impartial policy ; not to rely on the support of mere sect or party alone, but to govern for the benefit, and consult the feelings of the entire Irish nation ; to abandon mono- polies and sinecures of all sorts, and by a system of wise and just laws, fairly and impartially administered, bring a paternal executive, and a grateful and loyal people, to act cordially and zealously together in promoting: the peace and well-being of the whole community to these being added a dignified, yet mild deportment, kind and conciliating manners, our utmost desires are completely gratified. Of all these benefits, we feel your Excellency's administration to be the proof and pledge, and we anxiously hope that your rule over us may be sufficiently prolonged, to have all your plans fully developed, and your motives clearly understood ; and when at length the time shall arrive, when you will have to resign into the hands of our beloved Sovereign that trust, which you will have so ably discharged, may you be enabled proudly to boast, " I bring to your Majesty the hearts and affections of " a high-minded, gallant and generous people, devoted to our " country, and loyal to their King. I found Ireland convulsed, " agitated, impoverished, and unhappy ; I now restore her to " your Majesty, a united nation, peaceful, contented, flourishing, " and free." 5209 ANSWER. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I wish it were possible to condense into this expres- sion of my gratitude, the extent of my feelings of pride and satisfaction at such a tribute of public approbation, coming from such a quarter, and presented at such a period. I am aware that I see before me the representatives of the property, intelli- gence, and population of your great and influential county. I am also aware that this demonstration comes from those who may formerly have differed on some points, and who are now united not merely in some vague speculation for the future, but in practical testimony as to that improved condition of the country, which I may gratefully feel to be concurrent with, which you kindly state to be consequent upon that system of government which it is my intention steadily to pursue. The date of this address is as full of hope as its substance is of comfort, as it shows that confidence in my disposition has already produced this desired effect, whilst of course I have as yet not had an opportunity to mature any plans for the settlement of the country, or the welfare of the people. I am happy to say that I have received similar assurances of contentment at the opening prospect of the country from all parts, and from persons, still of various sects, and formerly of extreme opinions. If the different portions of this fine people would only learn to know each other, as I am endeavouring by degrees to know them all, they would find how little, with every exertion, any one can do for them compared to what, if united, they could do for themselves. Political agitation has, as you state, entirely ceased. The continuance of such general tranquillity must tend to encourage the contemplated investment of capital in so rich a field of adventure as Ireland offers, whereby may be produced immediate 210 individual benefit even 'to the poorest, and lasting national advantage to the whole people. To endeavour to deserve the continuance of such confidence as this address presents, it is necessary duly to understand the origin of that which I am humbly conscious has not personal merit for its basis, but I am glad to take this opportunity publicly to acknowledge that 'I thankfully trace it to the daily strengthening conviction that impartiality is not with me an idle word, or an empty boast. That my principle is, to com- bine an earnest desire for the gradual amelioration of the social system of this hitherto distracted land with the resolu- tion, as far as the means are placed at my disposal, to preserve the public peace, and to cause all existing laws to be respected. That my evident anxiety is to judge for myself, to found the acts of my government on information collected, not on advice required. To listen to all, but to be led by none, considering myself alone responsible for that public conduct which is the result of the deliberate exercise of my own unbiassed judgment. You allude to the factious misrepresentations to which I may still be subject. This is a matter which it does not become my station to notice, and fortunately is not in my nature to mind. Attempted calumny is the inseparable attendant on public station, but I believe with you that its partial impressions are already yielding to the progress of truth, and the firm determination to do my utmost to fulfil the intentions of a gracious Sovereign, and to meet the wishes of a generous people. 211 MAYNOOTH AND VICINITY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUB EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Maynooth and its vicinity, gladly avail ourselves of your Excellency's visit to this neigh- bourhood, to express our gratitude to his most gracious Majesty, for having appointed, as his representative in this kingdom, a statesman so eminently qualified to carry into full effect the benign intentions of our revered Monarch, to whom, we assure your Excellency, we bear true, undivided, uncondi- tional allegiance. The mature wisdom and unbending integrity, which, in other climes, and, at an earlier period of life, have characterized your Excellency's system of government, were deemed a sufficient guarantee by the Irish people, to repose implicit confidence in the Irish administration, from the moment that your Excellency assumed the reins of government in this kingdom. We con- gratulate our countrymen that they, for once at least, were not deceived ; for every day's experience more and more convinces us, that as confidence never was more unbounded, so never was confidence more securely reposed. We are well aware of the difficulties with which your Excel- lency's administration has been surrounded ; we also witness, with increasing satisfaction, the steady, because gradual disappearance of these difficulties. In this neighbourhood we have long and happily enjoyed a complete exemption from those political strifes and polemical contentions, which have from time to time agitated almost every other part of the kingdom ; this most desirable immunity we attribute, in a great degree, to the constant residence in our immediate vicinity of a nobleman, distinguished not less by his temperate and conciliatory dispo- 212 sition, than by that exalted station which constitutes him first in rank, as well as most illustrious in descent of our Irish nobility. Although we were thus fortunately circumstanced, yet, we never, on that account, declined to give not only free expression to our sentiments with regard to our afflicted country, but also our cordial and efficient support to all those measures which were calculated to place every class of Irishmen in the full enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of British subjects. This spirit still animates us, and we beg leave, therefore, to assure your Excellency, that we will always be ready to co- operate most cordially, and to the utmost extent of our power, in carrying into execution such measures as shall appear to your Excellency just and necessary to advance the best interests of our country, and to promote the prosperity and happiness of all our fellow-subjects of every class and creed. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I am much flattered that you should at the time of my appointment as the representative of our gracious Sovereign, have founded pleasing anticipations upon the events of my past life. I am more gratified that you should state, that your present experience justifies unbounded confidence for the future. I have heard with sincere satisfaction the mention so deservedly made of the beneficial influence of my excellent friend, whose every thought is for his country, whose whole life is in it. For myself, I will say I consider the cordial support and co-operation of such a man, valued as it must always be by myself from personal feelings of long standing, still most 213 important on public grounds, in the actual struggle with those difficulties which, as you state, are gradually disappearing, and which, I trust, will be entirely dispelled by the certain progress of truth. COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the president, masters, professors, and students of the Roman Catholic College at Maynooth, his Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, embrace with pleasure the oppor- tunity, which your gracious visit affords us, of expressing our cordial concurrence in the sentiments of respect and attachment, which the people of Ireland have so justly manifested towards your Excellency. Respect for the representative of royalty is only the homage which the subject owes to his Sovereign. But it is cheering to us, that the tribute we now offer is tendered to a nobleman, whose benevolence, literary attainments, and genius for government, merit for himself admiration and grati- tude, and attest the parental solicitude of our Sovereign for the welfare of his people. The same comprehensive and practical wisdom, which has prompted your Excellency to visit the several districts of this country, that you might see with your own eyes, and feel with your own hands, the wants of a long suffering people, has, no doubt, conducted your Excellency to an institu- tion, which may be justly regarded as one of the principal sources from which private morality and public order flow upon the land. Founded amidst difficulties assailed in its progress by calumny and prejudice struggling with inadequate resources to supply the spiritual wants of a numerous people, the College of Maynooth has pursued with undeviating consistency its arduous career. Strong in conscious integrity of purpose! a 214 stranger to the acrimony alike of religions and political strife, its sole ambition has been, to train up learned and zealous pastors, who might teach the people the great duties, of piety to God, allegiance to the Sovereign, peace and concord among men. If our institution cannot compete with other establishments in wealth or extrinsic advantages, she can, like the Roman matron, point with honourable pride to the genius and the virtues of her children. The visit of your Excellency we regard as the earnest of a liberal and enlightened protection. A mind exalted by the inspiring recollection of hereditary worth enriched with the treasures of classic literature refined by the courtesies of polished life impressed with a deep sense of the importance of religion, cannot fail to extend that fostering patronage, which will enable this institution to accomplish more effectually the great objects to which it has been always devoted. We earnestly pray, that Providence may continue to our hitherto distracted country the blessing of an administration, which reflects so much glory on your Excellency which has already conferred such substantial benefits on Ireland and which is so pregnant with future promise. ANSWER. I thank the president, masters, professors, and students of Maynooth, for the gratifying manner in which they have now expressed themselves upon my visit to the College. It is true, that in the course of the various excursions I have made into different parts of Ireland, with a view to examine particularly into the condition, and to inform myself personally as to the wants of the people, I have thought it a part of my duty to inspect, as far as possible, every public institution, especially those in which the legislature of my country has manifested an interest, and towards which it has extended its protection: 215 It is with much satisfaction that I have heard from you, that you here inculcate doctrines so worthy of the ministers of peace, and that in preparing your pupils for the sacred functions which they will have to discharge, you, at the same time, enjoin on all, as inviolable duties which they are both to preach and to practice, unqualified loyalty to your sovereign, and universal good will towards men. PRESBYTERIAN SYNOD SECEDERS. MAY IT PLEASE YOCR EXCELLENCY, WE, the ministers and elders of the Presbyterian Synod of Ireland, distinguished by the name Seceders, approach your Excellency, expressing most sincqre attachment to your person, and anxiety to promote under your administration peace and good order, and devoted obedience to the laws. In common with the world, we owe your Excellency a debt of gratitude, for your noble and successful exertions on behalf of the West Indian slave. We anticipate much good to our country from your wisdom and decision, your extensive attainments, your well-known activity, zeal, and perseverance, as well as from your mild and conciliatory manners. We rejoice in the disposition which you manifest, to become acquainted with those whom you govern ; you have during your late visit to Ulster, won the good opinions and the hearts of very many. With our whole hearts we wish you success. May your administration be distinguished for the promotion of peace, the extinction of political animosity, the real welfare and prosperity of our native land ; and while made an instrument in the hand of an overruling Providence, of extending " peace as a river" to others, may your own heart be filled with the peace which passeth all understanding. GENTLEMEN, ANSWER. I thank you most sincerely for these assurances of gratitude for my past services, and confidence in my present conduct. In references to my efforts in another capacity, and in another climate, to watch and to regulate the transitions from slavery to freedom, I can with truth declare how much depended upon the co-operation I received from the missionary ministers of every description, and from none more than the different divisions of the Presbyterian persuasion ; all having, wherever their influence extended, persuaded their hearers to consider the interval of anticipated emancipation, not as an excuse for wild outbreak, but in the true spirit of the Gospel, as a period of patient and grateful expectation. I cannot but be much gratified by the impression you state my late visit to Ulster has made. It is true, that I had myself observed throughout that strengthened conviction of my impartiality, which I might fairly trust a liberal and enlightened population would deduce from my conduct. Accept my heartfelt thanks for your valued prayers for my personal support, and for the success of my undertaking. 217 COUNTY AND TOWN OF SLIGO. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the freeholders and inhabitants of the county and of the town of Sligo, by public requisition in county meeting assembled, offer to your Excellency our most cordial congratulations on the happy results which have hitherto attended your government of Ireland. We feel, and we acknowledge, that to the wise and liberal policy adopted by his Majesty's ministers, to the firm, vigorous, and impartial administration of your Excellency, are to be attributed the present peaceable state of the country, the disap- pearance of those agrarian disturbances, which, under another system and other governors, were of such frequent recurrence ; and above all, that reposing confidence in the administration of justice, with which our people are now so generally inspired. Sincerely do we hope that his Majesty's ministers, unmoved and uninfluenced by the designs, the calumny, or the clamour of a disappointed and fallen faction, will steadily persevere in the same line of enlightened policy, and thereby still more enhance the public peace, attach to his Majesty's person and government the affections of a generous people, confirm the stability of the monarchy, and secure the legitimate succession to the throne. To you, my Lord, individually, we tender the expression of our most profound regard, and through you, we entreat to have conveyed to his Majesty, the homage of our devoted loyalty, with the assurance of our most dutiful and grateful thanks, for having selected as his representative in Ireland, a nobleman, who in another government, and in a distant clime, evinced the 218 possession of those superior endowments, which so well qualified him to fill the most exalted station, and direct to a happy accomplishment, measures of the most momentous impor- tance. ANSWER. Accept the assurance of my sincere thanks for the testimony you thus unequivocally offer of the cordial feelings entertained by the people towards my government. Whilst thus cheered by your temperate support, I shall trust to be enabled steadily to advance those happy results to which you allude, and of which popular confidence must be the foun- dation. There are still indisputably many difficulties, but only such as the union of patience and perseverance will ultimately over- come. I can, in conclusion, truly bear witness, as you desire, to the evidence I have every where observed, of the devoted loyalty to their Sovereign of his Majesty's Irish subjects. KING'S COUNTY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, on the part of the nobility, gentry, clergy, electors, and inhabitants of the King's County, assembled by requisition, take leave most respectfully to express our sincere satisfaction, in having the destiny of this country confided to a nobleman of your Excellency's high character, possessed of your useful experience and acknowledged ability. 219 t Hitherto, my Lord, laws, owing to their defectiveness, but still more to a supineness or partiality in their administration, have been compared to a net, through which the little creep and the great break ; we trust, that it is reserved for the present administration, and for your Excellency, to remove from them this double opprobrium ; and this confidence is founded upon your Excellency's decision, to see and to judge of the Irish people, from your own experience, and from your determination to treat misrepresentation with contempt. We are well acquainted with the difficulty your Excellency and your honourable colleagues have to surmount in your endeavours to secure for the people of Ireland an equal and impartial administration of just laws. We recognize in the impartiality which has distinguished the government of your Excellency, a determination to render the administration of the law, not only pure in its source, but free from the leaven of faction in all its parts, by purifying our local magistracy, and, to the extent of your authority, our chartered bodies from the taint of sectarianism and party domination, and thus to diffuse the blessings of the constitution to all classes, and thereby to demonstrate that it is by imparting to all Irish- men an equality of immunities and of rights, that the ties which bind this country to Great Britain, can be rivetted for ever. We are well aware, that some in this, and thousands in adjoining counties, are at this moment driven from their hold- ings, in a country where the possession of land is still essential to the existence of our population, merely in consequence of their devoted support of the reform ministry, of which your Excellency is so distinguished a member. But even this cruel and impolitic oppression, is borne with patience and resignation, in the sanguine, and we trust, well-grounded hope, that the Melbourne ministry will speedily introduce effective measures for the protection and relief of the people. 220 It is our most anxious wish to adopt your Excellency's judicious advice, that all past dissensions and party feuds should be buried in oblivion, for we cordially desire to co-operate with all, who feel interested to promote the happiness and prosperity of the empire at large. Fully convinced, that this is the principle which not only guides the measures, but unites the members of his Majesty's government, give us leave to assure your Excel- lency, that so long as this policy is avowed and acted upon, your Excellency and your honourable colleagues may command not only the firm, zealous, and combined support, but the warm attachment of the people of the King's County. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, Let me assure you of my gratitude for the satisfaction you so cordially express at the qualifications you kindly attri- bute to me for that office to which I have been appointed by my gracious Sovereign. You may rely upon my endeavouring to merit the continu- ance of this good opinion, by perseverance in extending the sphere of personal observation, and by an undeviating desire to administer to all impartial justice, determined alike to support the liberties of the people against any abuse of local power, and to uphold the "majesty of the laws against any system of insubordination ami violence. % On the part of his Majesty's ministers, as well as myself, I can assure you, that we most strongly feel that the general welfare of the state is inseparable from an anxious consideration of the true interests of this hitherto unfortunate, but most important portion of the empire. 221 COUNTY WESTMEATH. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the high sheriff, freeholders, and inhabitants of the county of Westmeath, in public meeting assembled, at Mullingar, on the 10th December, 1835, beg leave to congra- tulate your Excellency upon your appointment to the high and dignified situation of Chief Governor of Ireland ; while we cannot help at the same time feeling that the elevation of a nobleman so distinguished for his liberal and enlightened views, is yet more a subject of congratulation to us and to our fellow- countrymen, than to your Excellency. We are deeply conscious of the many difficulties which beset the government of a country like Ireland, whose best interests have too long been neglected, whose intestine divisions and religious animosities have been at all times rather fostered than discouraged ; and whose children have been taught to regard each other as hereditary enemies, rather than as the fellow- citizens of a common country. From your Excellency's administration, brief as the period of your Excellency's residence among us has been, we are justi- fied in expecting far different results ; we gratefully acknowledge that with your Excellency, " impartiality is not an idle word nor an empty boast," and we feel a well-grounded confidence, that the zeal, activity, and statesmanlike sagacity, which so emi- nently characterized your Excellency's government in Jamaica, will be here exerted upon a larger scale, and prove productive of the same beneficial consequences to the nation, over whose destinies your Excellency has been called to preside. We have seen with the liveliest satisfaction, the anxiety evinced by your Excellency to become personally acquainted '222 with the different provinces of Ireland, and we patiently await with the fullest confidence in the wisdom and discretion of your Excellency's government, the disclosure of those plans for the development of our national resources, which, we are convinced, form the constant subjects of your Excellency's consideration. We feel a justifiable pride in referring to the unparalleled tranquillity which this country at present enjoys, as the neces- sary result of the even-handed justice and strict impartiality of your Excellency's government, which, while it commands the approval of all reflecting men, ensures to your Excellency the grateful affections of a warm-hearted people. ANSWER. MR. HIGH SHEBIFF AND GENTLEMEN, Nothing can possibly be more flattering than the terms in which you have conveyed to me the sentiments of the county of Westmeath upon my personal character, and the conduct of my government. Every such renewed assurance of public confidence, whilst it increases the intensity of my gratitude, tends to exhaust the facility of its expression. But there is one portion of your address, which I cannot too repeatedly, or pointedly acknow- ledge with reiterated thankfulness. You allude with pride to the unparalleled tranquillity of the country, as, you state, the necessary consequence of the even-handed justice and strict impartiality of my government. This language is not only an incitement to face any difficulties, but in itself a reward for any sacrifice ; for however my conduct may be too partially cited as the principal cause of such an effect, yet the indisputable fact is thus publicly proclaimed by those whose station and expe- rience render their testimony invaluable that the country never was in a more satisfactory state, as regards its internal peace, 223 nor more free from serious crime or state offences. The conti- nuation of such praiseworthy conduct on the part of the people, connected as you are pleased to say, with that generous confi- dence in the government, which it shall be my unceasing study to deserve, must tend to develop the internal resources of this fine country, by which means, under the blessing of Providence, we may yet hope to see Ireland as she ought to be. COUNTY OF LOUTH. MAT IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the county of Louth, beg most respectfully to address your Excellency for the purpose of assuring you that we have hailed with feelings of exultation and delight, your appointment to the Viceroyalty of Ireland, as indicating, on the part of his Majesty's ministers, a firm determi- nation to pursue a wise, liberal, and enlightened policy in the government of this country. Since the commencement of your public life, you have ever evinced a steady adherence to just views and sound political principles. In your prudent, humane, and conciliatory conduct as Governor of Jamaica, were united the talents of the states- man, and the virtues of the philanthropist. You have already established an indisputable claim to the respect, esteem, and gratitude of mankind, and your Excellency may well be proud of the honourable distinction which you have so nobly acquired. Yet we trust that still greater glory awaits you in Ireland. The undeviating consistency, and inflexible integrity of your political character, afford the strongest assurance, that your administration will invariably be guided by the principles of equal and impartial justice ; while the deep feeling of interest '2-21 which you manifest ibr the well-being and happiness of the Irish people, induces us to entertain the most fervent hopes and anticipations, that your attention will be successfully directed to such practical plans of social and moral improvement as may be best calculated to raise the country from its present de- pressed and anomalous condition ; to facilitate the investment of capital in useful speculations, to stimulate industry and enterprize in developing the national resources, to give employ- ment to the poor, to diffuse the benefits of education, to promote public works, to encourage and advance our trade, manufactures, and agriculture. We are perfectly sensible of the difficulties which a liberal government must encounter in correcting the manifold evils which have flowed from ages of oppression and misrule, and in carrying into effect just and salutary measures of reform and amelioration in this portion of the empire, where an antinational, overbearing, and rapacious faction, having long possessed a dominant influence in the state, endeavours to preserve a monopoly of power, and to perpetuate corruption and abuse, by means of a dangerous confederacy, whose existence is a manifest violation of the principles of the British constitution. We need not dwell on the lamentable effects of party spirit which are unfortunately too manifest in the bitter dissensions and rancorous animosities by which society is rent asunder and distracted ; but in managing the internal policy of the country we are convinced that you are too high-minded to submit to the control of any faction whatever. Confiding, therefore, in your Excellency's wisdom and energy, and trusting that his Majesty's present constitutional advisers are actuated by a sincere desire to do justice to our country, we feel inclined to regard your Excellency's appointment to the viceregal dignity, as the auspicious opening of a new and bright era in the political history of Ireland. 225 ANSWER. Mn. HIGH SHERIFF, The address of the inhabitants of the county of Louth, forwarded to me by you, has been in every respect most gratifying to my feelings. It is indeed a source of honest pride to me that so important a body should refer to my past political career with unqualified encomium, and should make it the foundation of unlimited confidence for the future. Whilst justice is at the same time done to the undeniable difficulties of my position, with such support I will never shrink from devoting my utmost energy to promote the practical amelioration of Ireland. COUNTY OF MAYO. GENTLEMEN, WE, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the freeholders and inhabitants of the countyof Mayo, in county meeting assembled, offer to your Excellency our hearty con- gratulations, on the King's having confided to you the govern- ment of Ireland. But lately returned from another important duty, which your Excellency discharged with the distinguished approbation of the crown, and to the satisfaction of all classes in the colonies, we have reason to anticipate you will not be less fortunate in the just, fearless, and impartial administration of the royal preroga- tives of justice and mercy, delegated to you in Ireland. We cannot omit this opportunity of conveying to your Excel- lency the sense we entertain of that spirit of liberality and Q 226 justice which his Majesty's government has exhibited in the introduction of all those salutary measures of reform and effective improvement in church and state, so eminently calculated to obtain for all classes their respective rights, and ensure the peace and prosperity of the empire. , We feel confident that you, my Lord, and his Majesty's government will, notwithstanding the clamours of the interested and factious, persevere in your present just policy, and thereby fix yourselves in the affections of the Irish people. ANSWER, GENTLEMEN, I am most grateful to you for having thus conveyed to me personally, the distant sentiments of your extensive county. Though my visit to the principal portion of the county of Mayo, was this year unexpectedly postponed, I saw in all that part through which I passed, most gratifying demonstrations of this warmth of feeling towards me. The period of my residence in the colonies, of which you make favourable mention, will always be to me a subject of pleasing reflection, from the nature of the mighty events then brought about with unexpected acquiescence on the part of all classes ; and without assuming any personal merit therein, or drawing the flattering inference you do therefrom for the future, I have at least derived from that source the useful experience of how little the results of national objects are affected by such clamours as those to which you allude. I have no doubt, that, cheered by generous confidence and general support, his Majesty's ministers will submit to the legis- lature such measures as shall be the best calculated to'consoli- date the foundations of the throne, by cementing the union of all classes of the people. 227 COUNTY WEXFORD. MY LORT>, WE, the nobility, clergy, freeholders, and inhabi- tants of the county Wexford, beg leave to express our sincere and perfect confidence in your Excellency's government. The fame of the exalted character of your mind, your high reputation as a liberal and enlightened statesman, your courage, wisdom, and decision, and the practical demonstration of your successful administration of the affairs of another previously ill- governed country, preceded your arrival in Ireland, as heralds, proclaiming to her, prospective peace, and giving to us, the con- fident hope that sound policy and impartial justice, denied for centuries, would at length be conceded to the just demands of the Irish people you came, my Lord, you saw, you acted, and our hopes have not been disappointed. Long had Ireland suffered under partial sway, and the inju- ries and miseries consequent upon ages of oppression and misrule ; yet she demanded not revenge she sought not favour all she supplicated for, was pure and even-handed justice ! Long had she sighed for a government which would recognize no as- cendancy but the law, no right save what flowed from the constitution, no patronage but for those distinguished by virtue and by talent ; a government which would be zealous to heal the wounds created by sectarian feelings, to repress outrages of party feuds, to abolish corrupt monopoly, and confound the hopes of selfish and malignant intrigue ; a government which would be a protection to every good citizen, without distinction of creed, and a terror alone, to the evil-doer, without reference to the party to which he might belong one which would govern this country by uniting, instead of dividing, the subjects com- 228 milled lo ils care, and Ihus consolidate ihe empire, by render- ing Ireland contented, and consequently tranquil and prosperous. In the ministry of Viscount Melbourne, we discover the ' principles of such a government, already happily commenced under the auspices of your Excellency, and we earnestly pray you may long continue your paternal administration. - We therefore, in conclusion, pledge our confidence and sup- port to the present government, which has selected for the royal representative in Ireland, a nobleman of such varied endow- ments, of such sound political principles, and our gracious Sovereign has more closely rivetted the attachment of a loyal people to himself, by having ratified such selection. In both, we find solid and permanent grounds of congratulation for our suffering country. ANSWER. Accustomed, as with heartfelt gratitude I acknowledge myself to have been to these reiteraled demonstrations of public con- fidence, I can with truth assure you, that there has been none from which I have derived more satisfaclion lhan from ihis dis- play of the congregated feelings of the highly enlightened county of Wexford none that describes with more moderation and firmness what are the real wishes of the people, nor that defines, I believe more accurately, the extent of their expecta- tions from me. Common protection and impartial justice are their full de- mands, and these, elsewhere identified with the first duties of government, comprise that system, as the willing instruments of which, the Irish people, with true loyalty, now hail their sovereign's representative. 229 Whilst providing for the future security of these objects, it has been my desire to avoid and discourage angry retrospect, to endeavour to unite all in the common cause of the country, and whilst on my own part recognizing no distinction, to reject such as would be forced upon me by those who bind themselves to perpetuate a system of exclusion and monopoly. The advisers of the crown will, I doubt not, in their places merit the confidence in their intentions which Ireland has ex- pressed ; and when a nation, with united voice, in legitimate form and faultless tone, asks only for justice, the experience of the present age teaches us, that, whatever may be the opposi- tion of individuals, she need not doubt that result, which could be endangered only by her own indiscretion. My object in assuming the government, which was committed to my charge, was that Ireland, by the impartial administration of equal laws, by the common participation of even benefits, should become in fact and in feeling, as hi law, an integral portion of the united empire. The generous confidence with which such intentions have been discerned and acknowledged by a quicksighted people, at least secures an unremitting perse- verance in that attempt, the success of which must ever be the first wish of my heart. COUNTY OF WATERFORD. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the noblemen, gentlemen, and inhabitants of the county of Waterford, convened by the High Sheriff thereof, beg to offer to your Excellency the assurances of our most pro- found respect, and while we congratulate you on the generally tranquil state of the country, to express our loyalty towards his 231) Majscty, and our gratitude for his gracious attention to our interests, in the appointment of your Excellency as his repre- sentative, fully aware of his Majesty's constant anxiety for the amelioration of the condition of this part of his dominions ; we recognize a fresh mark of his beneficent intentions towards us, in the selection of such a nobleman to carry those objects into effect. Short as has been, comparatively speaking, your residence amongst us as chief governor, we can already perceive symptoms of improvement in our condition. That disquietude and feverish excitement, the consequence of a want of confidence in the government, when all attention is absorbed by political subjects has passed away, and the feelings of trust in his Majesty's present advisers which have arisen in its place, enable us to turn our thoughts to the consideration of our local interests, and the best means of developing the resources of the country. Already have various plans been suggested for the improve- ment of our internal communications some of which, there is little doubt, by the fostering hand of a paternal government coming in aid of our energies, will be brought to maturity. A brighter prospect seems to rise before us, and while we hail it with joy, we cannot but feel that under Providence we are indebted for its appearance to those ministers, who, since they accepted office, in spite of all the difficulties they have to con- tend with, in combatting with long existing prejudices, have never swerved from that line of policy, the maintenance of which is so essential to the interests of the country. If such has been the feeling excited in our breasts towards the government in general, towards your Excellency in par- ticular, we are influenced by sentiments of gratitude for the 231 firm but impartial manner in which since you assumed the reins of government, you have discharged your arduous duties. Our anxious hope is, that you may long continue among us, and that you may eventually reap the rich reward of your exer- tions, in the established prosperity of the country, of which you are now laying the foundation. Hereafter, when party prejudices originating in bad govern- ment shall gradually have vanished, your conduct will be appreciated by a united people, and it will be universally acknowledged that your present course of policy was that which, while it redounded to your own honor, was the one best calculated to secure the interests of the crown, and the wel- fare of the people. ANSWER. MR. HIGH SHERIFF AND GENTLEMEN, In thanking you, the noblemen, gentlemen, and inhabitants of the county of Waterford, for this address, and in gratefully acknowledging the acceptable topics which it con- tains in terms only too personally flattering to myself, I must first express how gladly I reciprocate congratulations with you, on the generally tranquil state of the country. This, which has been proclaimed without dispute on the autho- rity of local experience at so many public meetings, is further confirmed to me by the details of official reports. Of course, in a country where, from various causes connected with a painful retrospect, there has been long so much to regret in the defective organization of society, growing symptoms of improvement are all that could as yet be expected ; and it is no contradiction to the existence of that improvement, to individualize instances in particular districts of continued irregularity- 232 Wherever from local or temporary causes, insubordination to the laws shall still manifest itself, the best exertions of the government shall be directed to repress it by all constitutional means ; but I do not the less thankfully acknowledge the entire absence of any political discontent on the part of the great body of the people, arising from a generous and cordial confidence in the just intentions of the government. Let us hope that this is, as you say, the commencement of a brighter sera ; that speculative dissensions may be succeeded by practical concert for national objects ; that continued tranquillity may be the source of increasing prosperity. As an humble instrument in promoting these objects, the highest reward I can desire would be that, in witnessing the extinction of party differences, I might be remembered as the common friend of united Ireland. COUNTY OF TIPPERARY. WE, his Majesty's loyal subjects, the nobility, clergy, gentry, freeholders, and other inhabitants of the county of Tipperary, offer to your Excellency the fullest expression of our gratitude for the blessings we already enjoy under your impartial govern- ment. In no way has his Majesty's paternal solicitude for the happi- ness of his Irish subjects been more clearly and substantially evinced, than in the choice he has been graciously pleased to make of the nobleman deputed to fill the high situation of his representative here. . Sent to govern this portion of a great empire, your Excellency wisely determined not to consult a faction. Eight millions of good 233 subjects look to you for juttice through the law, while a small and self-interested portion of the community opposed to a nation's rights, would perpetuate a people's wrongs, from motives the most mistaken, and the most selfish. We, in common with all Ireland, hailed your Excellency's appointment to the chief-governorship of this country, with pleasure, and with hope ; we saw in you the harbinger of jus- tice and of peace ; we congratulated each other upon the joyful prospect. In your Excellency we beheld a nobleman, less exalted by rank and station, than by public virtue, with the most highly cultivated mind, acknowledged as a great statesman, celebrated for giving liberty to one portion of the globe, coming as we heard with full powers, and as we believed with fuller inclinations, to extend the same invaluable boon to millions of another. Still, may it please your Excellency, with all those convictions pressing on us, feeling their justice, assured of their truth, we could not look forward without distrust. The recollection of the recall of the revered and never-to-be-forgotten Earl Fitzwilliam, flashed upon our minds ; memory told us that as the cup of hope was then dashed from our lips, the same calamity might occur again. We held back, we hesitated for a time, we feared to congratulate each other upon the happiness of living under the just administration of an impartial governor. But doubt no longer exists : a ministry supported by the king and the people, cannot be supplanted by a party. The scales of justice have been so evenly held by your Excellency, that all classes in this king- dom are not less convinced of the equal administration of the law, than of the merciful exercise of it. We feel that this is not the time or place to lay before your Excellency the wants and miseries of the Irish people they are well known to that government in which your Excellency fills so high and influen- tial a station. Firmly relying on the present ministry to relieve the one and remedy the other, so far as can be effected by legis- 234 lativc enactments, we leave to them the remedy and the cure. We will not embarrass his Majesty's ministers or your Excellency on the subject. ,...;.:. Permit us once more to express to your Excellency our great veneration for your character, the deep sense we entertain of your integrity, and our perfect confidence, that in your adminis- tration of the affairs of Ireland, the only object your Excellency has in view, is the general good of the empire.. ANSWER. > GENTLEMEN, It is with the deepest gratitude that I receive this address from the county of Tipperary. The satisfaction which I have derived from some of the individual expressions of confidence which the occasion elicited, is only exceeded by pride in the readily responsive echo of the congregated feeling of the country. It is impossible, adequately, to express the sense of the obligations which such a tribute imposes, but I wish to seize this opportunity to convey, through you, to those on whose behalf you appear, my opinion and my wishes as to the social state of certain districts in your vast and important county. The total absence of any political discontent, and the comparatively tranquil state of large portions of it seem to mark this as a fitting occasion to endeavour, by all possible means, to extirpate that system of agrarian outrage, which still, I regret to state, exists to a certain extent in those districts which have always been disgracefully subject to it ; my attention was early directed to this subject ; my first object was to establish a more efficient system for the prosecution of lawless outrage of every description, and I am happy to find that the measures which, 235 with the advice of the law officers of the crown, I have taken for the attainment of this end throughout the country have been found peculiarly beneficial in the county of Tipperary, and from persons of all parties, the most satisfactory assurances have been conveyed to me of the improved administration of local justice. From the time of my arrival up to the middle of December, I continued to receive from official sources, reports not wholly satisfactory, but of comparative improvement as to general tranquillity ; this still continued in some districts, formerly the most disturbed, as is known to many who I am now addressing ; in other parts much alarm was about that time experienced at a sudden, though partial increase of crime, I felt how desirable it was, on such an occasion, to act with vigour, in the way if possible of prevention ; I immediately gave the extra force required, and added further reinforcements with a promptitude which I am happy to say, was acknowledged by those of all parties best informed, and most interested in that part of the country. Upon this point I would here add, as it must be satisfactory to you all to learn, that I, within this hour, received an official report from the Cashel district, now the only dis- turbed portion of the county, stating, " that a marked improve- ment for the better has taken place in that part of the county, since the steps recently taken of increasing the force at the police stations, and that the K military patrolling is also consi- dered to be attended with the very best consequences." I do not mention these circumstances from any desire to notice more particularly an extraordinary document connected with the object of your meeting ; it best becomes me to let such slander pass unheeded by, and I can well afford to leave to the judgment of public opinion, the conduct of an individual, whose ignorance of the observances due from an officer of the crown to a person holding the high situation I at present fill, was only exceeded by still greater ignorance of the facts on which his accusation was founded. 230 The real object I have in view in calling your attention to the present state of particular districts of the county of Tipperary is, that you should convey to those thousands of sturdy yeomanry, who participated in the expressions of personal attachment to my- self, which I have this day heard from you, my anxious desire that they should cooperate cordially with a government, in which they profess deserved confidence, in removing from Tipperary the attempted stigma with which a few evil-doers can yet afflict their thriving and beautiful county let them but give me their active support in bringing to punishment these lawless banditti, and depend upon it, I will do my duty by them. In that equal protection to all, which you justly ascribe as the ride of my government, I can never forget that there is no thral- dom so offensive as lawless intimidation, no tyranny so odious as that of the anonymous assassin ; every benevolent intention for the regeneration of Ireland, the diffusion of productive industry, and the enjoyment of rational liberty, require for their develop- ment, the peaceful security of property and of life. COUNTY OF KERRY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's most faithful subjects, the gentry, clergy, freeholders, and inhabitants of the county of Kerry, in public meeting assembled, beg leave to approach your Excel- lency, with the tender of our respectful gratitude to our most gracious Sovereign, for having appointed to the supreme government of this country, a nobleman of your Excellency's well-known patriotism, firmness, intelligence, and dignified impartiality. 237 We have, in common with all Ireland, witnessed, with respectful admiration, the prudent and firm, the discreet and conciliatory, the wise and impartial manner in which your Excellency has administered the government of this country. Superior to all party spirit, you have looked to no other quali- ties in the objects of your selections for offices, than the merits, the intelligence, and the virtues of the candidates. Your dignified firmness has afforded protection to the loyal and well-conducted of all classes, creeds, and ranks in society. Calm and considerate, you have shown how well the caution of the statesman mixes with the decision which ought to charac- terize the exercise of the prerogative of mercy ; and the universal satisfaction, which all the friends of constitutional liberty receive from your government, can be estimated only by the approbation of your own conscience. Receive then our most respectful congratulations, and our fervent wishes for the health, long life, and prosperity of so true a friend to Ireland, and so universally useful an officer of the crown. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I am conscious, that in this ebullition of generous confidence in my intentions, you have too favourably estimated my qualifications, for the high office to which I have been appointed. Yet, whilst justly proud of the sense you entertain of my zeal and integrity, I cannot be blind to the obligations which it imposes, and to the prospects which it opens ; to the mutual advantages likely to be derived from a continuance of that feeling towards the executive government, which, as the representative of my Sovereign, it shall be my study ever to deserve. 238 In the short time that I have as yet presided over the gorern- ment of Ireland, I trust I have shown that there is no part of the island so distant as to prevent its peculiar interests from being an object of personal study ; and, though the county of Kerry is not entirely unknown to me, having formerly, as a private individual, sought in it, at the same time, the cultivation of social regard, and the enjoyments of its natural beauty, yet, I feel that in my present capacity, I owe it as yet its turn of inspection, which, at a convenient season, I hope to have an opportunity of fulfilling. In the mean time, allow me to assure you, in connexion with the gratification of seeing you here to day, that there is no circumstance from which I can derive greater pleasure, than thus to behold the government which I represent, a point of re-union for all who have the real interests of their country at heart, and who, however they may have differed occasionally on other points, concur in connecting the existence of that government with the increasing prosperity of Ireland, and the permanent stability of the empire. COUNTY OF KILKENNY. WE, the nobility, gentry, and freeholders of the county of Kilkenny, take leave to congratulate your Excellency, on the high and distinguished proof which his Majesty has been pleased to give of his royal and gracious confidence, by appoint- ing your Excellency to the exalted and important station of Lord Lieutenant General and Governor General of Ireland. . Your Excellency's distinguished genius and sterling integrity have been long since well known and duly appreciated by the people of Ireland. The many proofs of profound wisdom, and 239 indomitable energy, exhibited by you in administering the government of another important portion of the empire, led us to augur every thing good to Ireland from your Excellency's appointment. After the lapse of more than a year we have the happiness of finding our fondest hopes realized, in the tranquil state of this portion of the empire, in the increasing disposition of the people to obey the laws, and in the marked determination of all classes, to unite with his Majesty's government in the maintenance of the public peace, and in seeking by constitutional means alone, the improvement of our institutions. Your Excellency's laborious and successful exertions to make yourself personally acquainted with the actual condition of every part of Ireland, and of every class of his Majesty's subjects, your courtesy and affability towards all who have had the honour to approach you, your well-known anxiety to form an impartial judgment of every representation made to you, have inspired the people with strong hopes, that your Excellency will not only administer the laws as they exist, with firmness, wisdom, and justice, but that your Excellency will be both able and willing to suggest such improvements as the condition of the country shall appear to you to require. We should not do justice to our own feelings, if we did not congratulate your Excellency on having, in Lord Morpeth, the chief secretary for Ireland, one whose principles so fully coincide with your own. We remember, that for a long period, not only the members of the general government were divided on subjects of great political importance, but that it was usual to have in Ireland a Lord Lieutenant and Chief Secretary who differed in opinion on subjects that had an imme- diate reference to the peace and good government of this country. We rejoice to find that a system, in which there could be neither unity nor strength, has been at length aban- 240 Uoned, and that your Excellency's wise and beneficent designs have been so ably seconded by the talents and integrity of his Lordship. We feel happy in being able to congratulate your Excellency upon the state of profound tranquillity which prevails throughout this county, and we pledge ourselves that every exertion of ours shall be directed to the maintenance of the public peace, and to the establishment of harmony and good feeling amongst all classes of the people. No party should be permitted to triumph over another ; no exclusive advantages should be conferred. Our wish is, to see all united for the general good, and sharers in the general prosperity of the country ; and we are most anxious to merge all religious, as well as political differences, for the purpose of promoting the peace, the harmony, and prosperity of the empire. Long may your Excellency continue to discharge the important functions of your high office, to deserve and to receive the blessings of a grateful people, and to enjoy the heartfelt consciousness of having been mainly instrumental in promoting the prosperity of Ireland : thus combining the energies, consolidating the power, and extending, and perpe- tuating the glory of this great empire. ANSWER. < MR. HIGH SHERIFF AND GENTLEMEN, Expressions every way so gratifying to my feelings, acquire a still more solid value, when appealing for confirmation to the experience of the now by-gone year, as evidencing the increasing disposition of the people to obey the laws, the gene- rally tranquil state of this portion of the empire, and the marked determination of all classes to co-operate with his Majesty's 241 government, in the maintenance of the public peace. This testimony comes with peculiar force from those who have always been most zealous to maintain the supremacy of the laws, in a neighbourhood formerly marked by less favourable circumstances, and where, perhaps, the change has been, the most striking. It is testimony too, which receives from all sides the strongest corroboration from the gratifying spectacle of a generally confiding people. I should be most ungrateful, if I did not acknowledge that, with the characteristic generosity of the Irish nation, most inspiring confidence has been shewn to one who has hitherto, in many cases, only been able to manifest zealous intentions in their -behalf. As you have mentioned, by name, the noble person holding the office of Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, I should not do justice to my own feelings, if I did not state that, upon first assuming the government confided to me, it was matter of peculiar gratification to me, to be able to appoint to that office, one with whom I had long been bound by ties of affectionate regard, by habits of intimate intercourse, and the most perfect concurrence of political principle, and from whom I felt certain I should always receive the most efficient and cordial support. Whilst fulfilling the trust which his Majesty has graciously committed to my charge, I have every inducement to perse- vere in the course which, I thankfully acknowledge, has received your approbation, most anxious to be instrumental, however humbly, in that which I believe in these days to be the highest aspiration, and the noblest work of a patriot to do simple justice to Ireland, and thereby to secure the equal liberties of a powerful, because united people, and consolidate the greatness of a mighty empire. ' . - - R . ! ' 242 COUNTY OF KILDARE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the high sheriff, noblemen, clergymen, free- holders, and landholders of the county of Kildare, assembled in county court-house of Naas, by public requisition, have the pleasing duty to express our confidence in, and respect for the measures adopted by your government in Ireland. The public career of your Excellency as a member of the House of Commons your consistent, early, and able advocacy of civil and religious liberty your conduct as governor of an oppressed and most important dependency of Great Britain, led us to anticipate great benefits from your administration in Ireland, where ages of misrule had disorganized society, and divided her population into sects and parties. Your Excellency's indefatigable personal exertions to learn the actual state of the country your energy and statesmanlike wisdom in the dis- charge of the responsible and arduous duties of your high office, have justified our hopes and confirmed the expectations raised by your previous conduct and ability. At the close of the first year of your Excellency's responsible and various duties as the head of the Irish executive, we are happy in being able thus publicly to record our continued confidence in your determination to reform all existing abuses, and to establish good government on the sound and enlarged basis of public respect and national confidence. We have sincere satisfaction in being able to assure your Excellency, that notwithstanding the extreme suffering of a large proportion of our labouring classes, predial outrage does not exist, and we have to congratulate your Excellency upon the happy tranquillity which characterizes our county. 243 We cannot refrain from expressing to your Excellency the pride and gratification we feel that your Excellency has selected in our county a residence in which to pass those hours of relaxation which can be spared from the duties of your high office, and we most sincerely hope your Excellency may long live to witness the success of those measures we are convinced are dearest to your heart, namely, the peace and prosperity of our native land. ANSWER. | MR. HIGH SHERIFF AND GENTLEMEN, Accustomed, as I acknowledge myself with gratitude to have become, to far too favourable testimonials of public approbation and support from all parts of Ireland, there is something peculiarly pleasing in thus being brought into actual contact with this embodied expression of the sentiments of a warm-hearted people. At the close of the first year of my government, it is, indeed, most valuable to me that you, the congregated intelligence of this celebrated county, should thus unite in bearing your indisputable testimony to its perfect tranquillity, and thus hold out the gratifying prospect that, even amongst those scenes of local misery, unhappily more easy to deplore than remove, not one single predial outrage shall be left, to be perverted to the purposes of those, if any such there be, who would, in spite of all experience, strangely infer that confidence in a government must tend to disregard of its authority, and that national con- tentment in the disposition of their rulers must promote an increase of popular disturbance. The Irish people are too generous to be unreasonable ; they know that the evils of hundreds of revolving years are not to be 244 cured in one. They are aware of the difficulties with which I have to contend, but they cannot overrate my zealous devotion to their cause, whilst I believe equal justice to be all they expect from me, as the representative of that gracious Sovereign, who is the common father of all his united people. Again I most cordially thank the county of Kildare, to which I already owe the relaxation of some tranquil hours, for the animating sensations of this proud moment, of which, believe me, I shall ever treasure a grateful recollection. TOWN OF THURLES. MY LOUD, WE, the inhabitants of the town of Thurles, hail with delight, your Excellency's appearance amongst us, and avail ourselves of the opportunity it affords, of repeating our entire approbation of your Excellency's administration. The wisdom and impartiality with which you have adminis- tered the affairs of this country, under the most trying circumstances, have infused confidence into the public mind, and your paternal advice to the people of this county, added to the force of your Excellency's character, we are happy to be enabled to say, has already effected much good, and we trust, that a perseverance in the wise course which you have hitherto pursued, will shortly restore this fine country to peace and prosperity. We pledge ourselves collectively and individually to use every means in our power to assist your Excellency, in pro- 245 moling peace, good order, and obedience to the laws, and in removing those unhappy distinctions, which have distracted this country, and retarded its improvement. In conclusion, we wish your Excellency health and happiness, and fervently hope, that you may shortly see all your good wishes and intentions for this country realized. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I have had every temptation not to omit the earliest occasion of coming amongst you. When the great and impor- tant county of Tipperary proffered me the most gratifying expression of its confidence, I felt it my duty to suggest how, by practical co-operation in vindicating the laws in certain districts, all that were really anxious to support the government, might give the most valuable proofs of that disposition. It is not often that mutual confidence between the people and their rulers has led to such palpably beneficial results. A continuance in your present course must be as creditable to you as it is agreeable to myself, and highly important in its consequences. Accept this hurried expression of my thanks for your welcome. ~. A >'..' ' ^ I- 246 TOWN OF CASHEL. ' MAT IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the city of Cashel, have lately, in conjunction with our fellow-countrymen of the county of Tipperary, offered to you the fullest expression of our grati- tude for the blessings we enjoyed under your important government. We cannot, however, allow the agreeable oppor- tunity afforded us by your Excellency's visit to our city, to pass by, without again tendering to you our most sincere acknowledgments for your paternal care of this long-neglected country, and your enlightened and statesmanlike views of the means necessary for its improvement. We are aware of your Excellency's anxiety about the state of our county, which was, we regret to say, greatly disturbed at the period of your arrival in this county, and it affords us the greatest satisfaction to be able to inform your Excellency, (and we trust our report will be corroborated by the official autho- rities of the district,) that Tipperary has not been, within our memory, so peaceable as at the present time. This, which has been called "lamentable state of tran- quillity," is owing to the confidence of the great majority of the people in the present government a belief that measures tending to the amelioration of their condition will as soon as pos- sible be adopted ; to your Excellency's wise and just administra- tion of the laws, and also, to the great regard entertained for your Excellency personally. We assure your Excellency, that the request of co-operation on the part of the people, contained in your answer to our county address, has had more effect in promoting peace, than would the powers of twenty insurrection acts, wielded by some of your predecessors in office. Whilst 247 on this subject, allow us to thank your Excellency for your extremely judicious appointments connected with the adminis- tration of justice, and particularly for those of our late admirable representative, the right honourable Louis Perrin ; our excellent county chairman, John Howley, Esq., and our worthy local stipendiary magistrate, Captain Nangle: the former a model judge for present and after-times ; the two latter have already been of material service to this district. We feel bound to inform your Excellency that the deepest dissatisfaction prevails in consequence of the non-settlement of those two important measures which have lately occupied so much of public attention, and that although the insult offered to the people, in refusing them rights as to municipal privileges, similar to those granted to their more fortunate fellow-subjects in England and Scotland, may not be resented for a season, yet, we cannot but feel terror at the possible consequences of per- severing in the present unjust and impolitic management of church property. We are unwilling to embarrass your Excellency with any detail of our particular grievances, being perfectly satisfied of your disposition to remedy them ; but we cannot avoid men- tioning that you now stand in an ancient city, whose history furnishes an epitome of that of Ireland, which, by Tory domi- nation and misrule has been reduced from former splendour to its present almost dilapidated condition, where thousands of the poor are in a state of utter destitution, whilst tens of thousands of pounds annually have been monopolized by two public establishments, the municipal corporation and the church. Permit us, now, to express to your Excellency, our sincere thanks for your visit to this part of the country ; our unbounded respect for your Excellency's person and government; our determination of cordially co-operating with you in the promo- tion of peace and good order in our district, and our prayer that 248 it may please Providence to allow you to remain in your present exalted situation, until you will have the pleasure of witnessing the improved state of things which your government is calcu- lated to produce, and until all parties in the country shall be equally convinced of the benefit of your impartial administra- tion of the affairs of Ireland. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, In gratefully acknowledging this cordial welcome, it is gratifying to me, at the same time, to refer to that practical confidence which you have shown in adopting, at once, the earnest advice I gave you some time since, that you would, yourselves, come forward in vindication of the character of your county. Nobly and promptly did you respond to that call, and I am proud to bear testimony to its fruits in improved tran- quillity and returning confidence. In the few moments of this necessarily hurried visit, I cannot more particularly allude to the other subjects of your address, than by expressing my firm belief, that by avoiding every irritating retrospect, and by a continuance of the conduct to which I have adverted, you are prepared to show that, however you may naturally deplore a temporary denial of a full partici- pation in all measures of reform, you indisputably deserve your equal share of all the common privileges of your fellow-subjects. 249 TOWN OF TIPPERARY. WE, the inhabitants of Tipperary, on hearing it was the intention of your Excellency to pass through our town, avail ourselves with pleasure of this favourable opportunity of assuring your Excellency of our confidence in your kind and impartial government; in the person of your Excellency we recognize a chief governor, who zealously endeavours to heal the wounds which centuries of misrule entailed upon Ireland, whose study it is not to govern for the exclusive benefit of any party, but for the advantage of the entire community, and to make the laws respected by the impartiality and vigour with which they are administered. As inhabitants of the county of Tipperary, we beg to assure your Excellency that the appeal you have made to the yeomanry of this district, has been attended with beneficial results ; already have union and good fellowship succeeded to faction and party feuds, and from the confidence with which the people look forward to the paternal government of your Excellency, we rest satisfied that Tipperary will soon enjoy as perfect peace and tranquillity as any other district in Ireland ; we respectfully assure your Excellency, that every effort of ours shall be to assist you in your wise and good intentions for the better government of Ireland. ANSWER. ' GENTLEMEN, I thank you most sincerely for thus welcoming my presence amongst you. I have seized the earliest opportunity of personally expressing my sense of the manner in which you 250 responded to the call I made upon the strength and character of the county, to vindicate itself from the stigma attached to it by the misdeeds of a few desperate men. I am happy to acknowledge the effects already evident from your praiseworthy exertions, which cannot fail to be attended with still more beneficial results. KANTURK. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Kanturk, partaking in the general feeling of devotion to your Excellency's government which pervades the county, take leave to embrace this happy occasion of offering to your Excellency in person, our warmest assurances of admiration and gratitude, for the honest and fear- less manner in which you have realized to the Irish people, the benign intentions of his Majesty's present high-minded ministry. On your Excellency's accession to the high station which you hold, we felt that your name and the tenor of your previous public life was a guarantee for the fair treatment and paternal solicitude which Ireland expected at your hands, and if we have 'been disappointed by others, our feelings misunderstood, and our motives misrepresented, the cheering reflection at length lies before us, that in your Excellency we have a discriminating friend, who having studied the Irish heart, will not consent to assign it a lower place in the scale of humanity than it deserves. A moment of such hope as your dispensation of justice here has afforded us, blots from our memories centuries of misrule. Of the past, as Irishmen, we do not complain ; in the revellings 251 of hope we will not allow memory to call up the shades of our departed sufferings ; our eyes are too steadily fixed on the bright dawn which you, and your associates in the cause of human freedom have introduced into our political and moral hemis- phere. We beg leave to express to your Excellency our unbounded confidence in your integrity and talent for governing, and when we say we feel gratitude for your zealous promotion of those measures advocated by the general voice of the people, in order to do justice to our feelings, we should express ourselves in that language in which alone we are aliens to your Excellency. ANSWER. I can truly say that the feelings shown by you, and the expressions used in this address, have been as much calculated as those of any I have received, to give me true pleasure and excite my gratitude. It is by such generous oblivion of the past, in calm satisfaction at the opening advantages of the present, (of which, however, you kindly ascribe to myself personally too large a share,) that the surest foundation is laid of national union and common prosperity for the future. In whatever language I may express myself, I trust I shall always succeed in making it understood, that Irish interests must ever have a home in my heart. , - 252 TOWN OF KILLARNEY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town and vicinity of Killarney, beg to approach your Excellency with a tender of our respectful congratulations on your arrival, and with the expres- sions of the gratitude and respect to which we feel you are so eminently entitled, both personally, and as the representative of our venerated and beloved Monarch. The impartiality and wisdom which characterize the govern- ment of your Excellency, and which have been already pro- ductive of so much advantage, make us confidently anticipate further results, most beneficial to our country ; and we beg to express to your Excellency, the full confidence we entertain that his Majesty's government will steadily persevere in its same enlightened course, till it shall have obtained for his faithful subjects in Ireland, such ameliorations in their local institutions, as will place them on a perfect equality with the neighbouring portions of this great empire. We beg also to offer our respectful congratulations to her Excellency, Lady Mulgrave, on her arrival in Killarney. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank you most sincerely for your kind and cordial welcome to your beautiful neighbourhood. The pleasurable recollections connected with my former visit, as an individual, to Killarney, leave me less merit in thus early fulfilling the promise made in my answer to the address of your 253 county, that I should not long delay my presence amongst you as the representative of our gracious Sovereign. For myself, and those with whom I act, I can most strongly assure you, that perfect satisfaction can only follow the fullest admission, that you are entitled to an equal participation in all the common privileges of other British subjects. ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND CLERGY OF ARDFERT AND AGHADOE. MAY IT PLEASE TOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the united dioceses of Ardfert and Aghadoe, beg leave to approach your Excellency, and to express the profound respect which we entertain towards you as the representative of our most revered and gracious Monarch. Yielding to no portion of his Majesty's subjects in sentiments of unqualified loyalty and sincere attachment to his person and government, we recognize with gratitude an additional instance of his paternal solicitude for the welfare of his people, in the selection of a Viceroy always distinguished for his advocacy of civil and religious liberty, and who now, by his influence and example, endeavours to diffuse kindly feelings amongst Irishmen of every religious persuasion. From political strife and party feeling, the bane and destruc- tion of Ireland, this county, thank God, has been comparatively exempt. As ministers of religion, it has been our practice, as it is our duty, to preach peace and charity, and we mean to continue exercising all the influence we might possess, to pro- 254 mote that divine virtue amongst Christians of every religious persuasion. In the name of the Irish poor may we be permitted to return our heartfelt thanks to his Majesty's ministers for that great measure of national education, a measure so highly approved of by all good men as the only one adapted to the wants of the people, considering the mixed character of our community. We pray God to crown with success your Excellency's bene- volent efforts on behalf of this country, and to grant you a long life to witness the peace and prosperity which would natu- rally result from them. ANSWER. RIGHT REV. SIR, AND GENTLEMEN, The experience of more than a twelvemonth has now confirmed my opinion of the beneficial effects arising from the valuable cooperation of the Roman Catholic clergy in pro- moting kindly feelings between individuals, and a general obedience to the law. I am happy to receive your testimony to the system of national education. I am sure you will feel, that to main- tain its utility in the mixed character of the community to which you allude, its neutrality should be preserved unsuspected on all disputed points, beyond the great common field of moral instruction. In returning you my best thanks, both for the general support the cause of good government has received from you, as well as for your personal expressions towards myself, I beg to assure you that I shall persevere in my endeavour to study with impartiality the common interests of all classes of Irishmen. 255 PROVOST AND BURGESSES OF TRALEE. WE, the provost and burgesses of the ancient and loyal borough of Tralee, beg to express the respect which we enter- tain for your Excellency's person, and for the high office with which it has been his Majesty's pleasure to invest you as chief governor of Ireland. Habituated by our principles to regard the constituted autho- rities of the land with reverence, we deem it our duty to take the occasion of your Excellency's presence in our town, to declare to his Majesty's representative, our sentiments of un- feigned loyalty, and undeviating zeal for the maintenance of all those institutions of which your Excellency is the executive head, and by which we trust the British empire will long be preserved in its present high state of prosperity and honor among nations. ANSWER. MR. PROVOST AND GENTLEMEN, I thank you and the burgesses of the thriving town of Tralee for this address upon my arrival amongst you. I have felt it to be my duty to extend to every part, however remote, of this country, which his Majesty has graciously com- mitted to my charge, the instruction to myself, and I trust, the benefit to you of my personal inspection my desire being to judge for myself upon all matters which may require my decision. Depend upon it, the object of my government shall always be to preserve to the British empire that high state of prosperity which, you justly remark, it at present enjoys. 256 INHABITANTS OF TRALEE. WE, the inhabitants of Tralee and its vicinity, beg most respectfully to express to your Excellency the heartfelt pleasure which we derive from your Excellency's visit to our town. We also beg to offer our humble but grateful congratulations on the happy consequences which have resulted from your enlightened, liberal, and impartial administration of this hitherto misgoverned portion of the empire. To your Excellency's wise and just policy we are indebted for that unparalleled state of peace and tranquillity, which now happily prevails throughout Ireland ; and under the auspices of your paternal government, we do confidently and anxiously look forward for the removal of those grievances of which we have still to complain, and to a participation of those corporate rights and immunities which we feel ourselves entitled to enjoy, in common with our English and Scotch fellow-subjects. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank you for these cordial expressions of welcome to this important and improving town. . When a warm-hearted people have thus the quickness to perceive, and the liberality to appreciate, intentions as yet incomplete on the part of their 1 rulers, to promote the general interests of their country, it is a matter of astonishment that such a people should previously have been so long misunder- stood. 257 You state, that to the policy I have pursued, you are indebted for that unparalleled peace and tranquillity now so happily pre- vailing throughout Ireland. When facts which are indisputable are thus too partially, but publicly, ascribed to causes so person- ally flattering, the pardonable pride thus excited can only lead to a determination to persevere in a course which has produced this result, by creating the conviction of my unbiassed resolution to do justice to all alike. TOWN OF MALLOW. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town and surrounding districts of Mallow, avail ourselves of your Excellency's pre- sence amongst us, to present to your Excellency the humble and sincere expression of our loyalty and affectionate attachment to our ^acious Sovereign and his illustrious House, and our admiration and gratitude towards your Excellency, for your wise and paternal government of Ireland, as his representative. We stand before you in number amounting to over one hundred thousand, and the greater part of us avow ourselves as having belonged to that political party in this country, who advocated the repeal of the legislative union between Great Britain and Ireland, in the eager pursuit of which, we dismissed, or aided in dismissing from the representation of this great county and borough in parliament, individuals, who, on other public ques- tions, were entitled to our respect and confidence. * ; , As Irishmen, the love of our own country is puramoi int. in our breasts, and we could not behold without grief and indignation the widespread poverty, discontent, and misery, the effects of long-established oppression and misrule, which have afflicted the land. 8 258 We thought that the only remedy that could be devised for such evils, was a recurrence to a domestic legislature where the laws would emanate from our countrymen, under the control of the opinions and feelings prevailing in Ireland. But the experience we have had of your Excellency's wise, just, and paternal government, carrying into effect the liberal and enlightened principles of his Majesty's present advisers, has taught us otherwise, and we now acknowledge that English states- men, sent by, and representing fairly the people of England, would do full and ample justice to this long afflicted country. j Such a statesman we feel we have in the person of your Excellency, worthy your great nation, and representing fully its generosity, its dauntless spirit, its wide grasp of intellect, the kindly sympathies of the heart, and all the other qualities which dignify and ennoble the name and nature of man. From the hope that we entertain, and, on the condition that the principles indicated by your Excellency's government will be carried into effect, namely, of having the inhabitants of this country rank in the eye of the law on terms of perfect equality with the British people, we tender to your Excellency our solemn abjuration of the question of the repeal of the legislative union, and of every other question calculated to produce an alienation of feeling between the inhabitants of Great Britain and those of Ireland. We seek for equality with the British people, common interests, and reciprocity of benefits, and to be legislated for as a part of Great Britain with less we can never be content. We beseech then, your Excellency, to convey our humble prayer to our gracious King, to devise, in his royal wisdom, , some means whereby to terminate speedily that strife and con- tention which always result from injustice, and which are the sad 25'J inheritance we have derived from our progenitors ; that as all hearts are united in love and attachment to his royal person, he would unite them one to another, by causing that which is just and equal to be done to all, and thus add to the general strength of the empire, encrease his own glory, and raise still higher a throne that already o'ertops that of any other potentate in the universe. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I request you will convey to all this vast assemblage who are beyond the reach of these expressions, my gratitude for the warmth of your welcome to the representative of your Sove- reign. Whilst your opinion of my character is clothed in terms far too flattering, you tender at the same time a personal tribute of the highest intrinsic value, when in consequence of the disposition shown, and the course adopted by my government, you announce your solemn abjuration of your previous opi- nions in favour of a repeal of the union. You do me but justice in believing me to be your sincere friend, and in that sincerity it is, I tell you, that my decided opposition to the repeal of the union is founded upon, and in exact proportion to, my love for Ireland herself. It is unnecessary now, and would be peculiarly ungracious, after your very gratifying declaration, to state the grounds of my conviction, that that measure, if it had been practicable, would have led to consequences far different from those anticipated by its advocates. But the very essence of a true union must be perfect equality on all subjects of legislation, to be treated, as you justly express, in all respects as a part of Great Britain. Depend upon it this is not an age when so reasonable a request can be long denied, and when we perceive the progress 260 which in the last five years has been made in the British parlia- ment on all Irish subjects, and judge from experience during that period, the uniform result of every question which has been repeatedly affirmed by the representatives of the people, I can only, in the character, with which your confidence has invested me, of your true friend, express my firm belief, that with patience and perseverance, the constitution, as at present established, will suffice to secure to you, that for which alone you seek equal justice to all. TOWN OF FERMOY. MAY IT PLEASE YODR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Fermoy, are happy to avail ourselves of the opportunity which your visit here affords us, of testifying in person the strong feelings of respect and affection which, under any circumstances, we consider we owe you as the chief governor of Ireland, but more especially so for the ample manner in which you have fulfilled the beneficial intentions of his Majesty's ministers towards this country, by using the sword committed to your hand with justice and mercy. to At a period of perhaps peculiar" difficulty, you have, under Providence, been the means of restoring to Ireland, tranquillity and peace, which we doubt not will speedily be followeoby the happy effects of encreased industry and wealth ; and although we are satisfied that you need no incentive beyond the con- sciousness of honest intentions, and the approving sentence of your own heart, yet we doubt not that it will cheer on your Excellency in the good work you have undertaken, and so happily commenced, to learn that your labours have met with the grateful approval of the Irish people. 261 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I beg you will convey to the inhabitants of Fermoy, whose sentiments you are deputed to speak, my grateful thanks for their address. I must, as you remark, find my best support in the consciousness of honest intention ; but it is no slight additional reward to observe the undeniable peace and tranquil- lity of the country. You may depend upon my seizing every occasion to promote industry, and encourage the diffusion of wealth, inculcating at the same time, as a necessary ingredient of national prosperity, union and good fellowship amongst all classes of Irishmen. CITIZENS OF CORK. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, the citizens of Cork, approach your Excellency, to express our gratification, at your second visit to this city, to renew the assurance of our loyalty and attachment to his Majesty, and to testify again our respect and esteem for his able and distinguished representative, whom we have now the honor to address. When your Excellency last visited this city, you had not beyp many months chief governor of Ireland, and time had not yet permitted you to develop practically the wise and states- manlike policy for which your Excellency's administration has since been distinguished ; but the citizens of Cork, judging from your government of a distant colony, were filled with hope, and ardently expressed to your Excellency their anticipations of 262 the wisdom, firmness, and impartiality, by which your acts as Viceroy of Ireland would be characterized. The citizens of Cork are happy, that your Excellency has given them an opportunity of now assuring you that these anti- cipations have been fully realized. Scarcely twelve months have elapsed since your first visit to this city, and yet in so short a period, how complete and trium- phant has been the success of the policy adopted in the govern- ment of this long abused and distracted country. Mild, impartial, and decisive, your Excellency has held the scales of justice with an even hand ; uninfluenced by party undismayed by faction you have governed for the whole people of Ireland ; and in that policy your Excellency is the first Viceroy who has been signally and completely successful. Confident in the good intentions of his Majesty's government, and in the impartiality of your Excellency's administration, the Irish people, though labouring under many and serious grievances, are yet patient and tranquil, and though they have many wrongs and insults to endure, they cannot but feel grateful to your Excellency for having exerted your authority and influence in alleviating those grievances in softening down the asperities of party, and in extinguishing those secret and unconstitutional associations, whose existence were dangerous to the institutions, and subversive of the peace and prosperity of the country, and in corroboration of this, the citizens of Cork point with satis- faction to your Excellency's decision respecting the chief magis- tracy of this city, as illustrative of the rectitude and firmness of your Excellency's paternal administration. While the citizens of Cork renew to your Excellency the assurance of their profound respect, they hope your Excellency will permit them to give expression to their deep disappoint- 263 ment and mortification at the fate of the Irish municipal reform bill. The Irish people have experienced the bitter feeling, that they have been treated as aliens and enemies, rather than as friends and fellow-subjects that contempt and insult have been added to injury and wrong that they have been placed before Europe in degraded contrast with the people of England and Scotland, and though united to these kingdoms on th,e principle of equal rights and equal laws, they are forced still to endure a system of municipal government based upon monopoly upheld by religious intolerance exclusive in its benefits and universal in its ex- actions having no communion of interest or feeling with the people at large, and without a single feature which could enable the friends of the system to palliate its abuses or justify its continuance. The citizens of Cork have long witnessed the debasing influence of this municipal system, but they were scarcely pre- pared for the degeneracy that could induce the corporation of the second city in Ireland, to entertain and carry a proposition that on his arrival in this city " no notice should be taken of his Majesty's representative." The inhabitants of this large and populous city with one voice indignantly repudiate this ungenerous act, and they approach your Excellency with redoubled earnestness, proudly and grate- fully to testify to you their respect and attachment, and they accompany the expression of these sentiments with a sincere wish that you may long preside over the destinies of this country, dispensing the blessings of a paternal government, and that your Excellency may often again honour the city of Cork with your presence, at times and under circumstances when it will be impossible for ignorance and faction to insult the representa- tive of our gracious Sovereign. GENTLEMEN, 264 ANSWER. I thank you, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, the citizens of Cork, for this address, which I can truly state I had not anticipated, when I first formed my intention of re- visiting this neighbourhood. Retaining a fresh and grateful recollection of the sentiments so generally expressed towards myself on a former occasion, I had rather looked forward to the present period as one of useful observation on my own part, than of reiterated demonstrations on yours. But, whatever circum- stances may have produced so unexpected a display, my feelings may well be imagined, when the embodied voice of the second city of Ireland thus publicly proclaims that the experience of a revolving year has only strengthened their attachment, and con- firmed their confidence. I might have wished, perhaps, that passages in your address had not obliged me to allude so directly to transactions of some local interest, but I gather from your language that your select civic body has felt itself aggrieved by an act of mine which affected one of its members. I cannot be expected here to defend or explain that which has never been questioned there, where alone I could constitutionally be called to account. In the exercise of an undeniable discretion, I applied a general principle (appropriately no one disputes) to the case of an individual. That principle, in the distribution or confirmation of public offices, first brought into operation on my own sole responsibility, has since been adopted by both houses of parlia- ment, sanctioned by my Sovereign, and apparently, from their prudent conduct and advice, acquiesced in by the heads them- selves of the association in question. Thus armed I can well entertain no stronger sentiment than disinterested regret, that because I have done that which I thought to be my duty, some 265 few should therefore disclaim that which they must know to be theirs ; and as in the unshrinking performance on public grounds of an ungracious act, I can at the same time retain some feeling for personal disappointment, and make much allowance for private sympathy, I have to entreat that you would not resent for me that which I could not bring myself seriously to regard, even had it not led to the gratification of this inestimable testi- monial. My object always is, that my presence should, as last year, tend to the oblivion of party differences ; I should much regret if it should ever be the signal for their renewal. For yourselves, I would remind you that the progress of public opinion is some- times most felt where it is least voluntarily acknowledged ; and in the very proceedings which you now deprecate, you may see additional proof that the advantages of municipal self-govern- ment must ere long be constitutionally conferred on the wealth, enterprize, independence and enlightenment of the citizens of Cork. ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY OF CORK. WE, his Majesty's subjects, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of Cork, beg leave to approach your Excellency, the representative of our gracious Sovereign, with sentiments of profound respect, and we hail with special joy your Excellency's present visit to this city, as affording us an opportunity of thus publicly giving expression to the feelings that we have uniformly cherished. In your Excellency, the representative of his most gracious Majesty, we further recognize those rare endowments, those 266 statesmanlike views, and that unbending energy of purpose, which are so admirably calculated to ensure the peace and prosperity of all classes of his Majesty's subjects, and to promote those important measures that occupy the attention, and will reward the solicitude of that administration in which your Excellency holds so distinguished a place. As ministers of religion, we yield to no class of his Majesty's subjects in anxiety to uphold and advance any measure calcu- lated to improve the condition, enlighten the minds, and exalt the character of the people, and we, therefore, duly appreciate the system of education sanctioned and supported by the government, as a great national good, eminently entitled to our deepest gratitude and most strenuous co-operation. Your Excellency's administration, which merits on so many grounds, the gratitude of the country, claims a special tribute of respect from the wise and the patriotic, on the score of its inflexible impartiality ; undismayed by the clamours of the factious, and heedless of the obliquy of the selfish ; the high principled maxim that guides it is, not the ascendancy of a party, but the happiness of the nation. May the Almighty, in the dispensations of his mercy, continue to your Excellency, through a prolonged life, the blessings of domestic happiness, and may these be enhanced and ennobled by the consciousness of having efficiently co-ope- rated with the benevolent views of our gracious Sovereign, and the salutary measures contemplated by his confidential servants. : J 267 ANSWER. .- RIGHT REVEREND SIB, I must assure you and your brethren, on whose behalf you speak, of my gratitude for this address ; the expres- sions in which you convey your opinions of the intentions and conduct of my administration, are in the highest degree flattering. I am well aware of the beneficial effects which, in a populous city like Cork, must attend the zealous exertions of the ministers of religion, and of the wide field which is necessarily left as the peculiar province of the professors of the faith of so large a proportion of the people. I am happy to express to you as the result of my impressions in a personal inspection of most of the institutions of Cork last year and the present, that you are zealously and laudably co-operating with all the authorities in anxious attention to those who most need your care. It must always be my desire that, whatever differences we may entertain on controversial points, we should thus meet in the common cause of Christian charity. INHABITANTS OF KINSALE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR. EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town and liberties of Kinsale, beg leave to approach your Excellency, with sentiments of the highest esteem and respect, and offer you our warmest congratulations on your arrival in our county, and though a few of us may differ in opinion upon some political matters, we are unanimous in our anxious wish for the prosperity of our 268 country, and from the sentiments you have so eloquently and frequently expressed, we are assured your Excellency feels deeply interested in promoting its best interests ; we are, there- fore, confident you will exercise the power which his most gracious Majesty has committed to your care, with that degree of impartiality which will insure good feeling, prosperity, and happiness amongst us. As Kinsale is not one of those towns that had the good fortune to be visited by your Excellency, evincing as you have an anxiety to become personally acquainted with the wants and resources of the places you have been in, we avail ourselves of this opportunity to respectfully call your attention to our town, one of the most ancient in the kingdom, but certainly long neglected, and to entreat your Excellency would extend your fostering care to us, convinced that your Excellency will act with that even-handed justice which has always marked your conduct, by enabling us, under your patronage, to develop those resources which nature has so bountifully bestowed upon us. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank the inhabitants of Kinsale, for the zealous attention which has induced them thus, through your depu- tation, to meet me here with this address. I have much regretted that the limits of my present tour into the south, have not permitted me to extend my present inspection to your neighbourhood ; I trust, upon my next excursion into this part of the country, I shall be enabled to examine into those local resources of which you speak. T It always gives me the greatest pleasure to hear, that those, who, like you, may differ upon some political matters, concur in 269 bearing testimony to that even-handed justice on my part, which it is my desire to distribute amongst all his Majesty's subjects, whom he has graciously committed to my charge. COVE AND GREAT ISLAND. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Cove and the Great Island, gladly avail ourselves of this, your second visit to our harbour, to express our unbounded confidence in your Excellency's administration, our sincere respect for you as the representative of our paternal Monarch, and that high esteem for yourself personally, to which you are so justly entitled. On your former visit we had the honour of expressing our confident anticipations of the happy results which were likely to accrue to our long-distracted and misgoverned country, from the liberal, just, and impartial course of policy pursued by your Excellency's government; these anticipations have been fully realized ; tranquillity has succeeded to dissension, and too frequent outrage ; and, though measures calculated to promote the interests of Ireland have been for a short time delayed, and our just expectations disappointed, we look forward with confi- dence that your Excellency will witness, during your wise administration, a full concession of equal justice to Irishmen. We gladly avail ourselves of this opportunity to offer our respectful congratulations to her Excellency, Lady Mulgrave, on her arrival in our magnificent harbour. 270 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank you for your expressions of attachment to the representative of our gracious Sovereign, and to myself personally. It is always gratifying to learn after such an interval, that favourable anticipations have not been disap- pointed. You may rely upon my using every care to extend to Irish- men, in all acts which depend upon the executive, that equal justice, which, I trust, will shortly be secured on the basis of legislative enactment. I can assure you, it gives me the greatest pleasure to show to Lady Mulgrave, as well as myself again to enjoy the sight of your magnificent harbour and beautiful neighbourhood. INHABITANTS OF MIDDLETON. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Middleton and its vicinity, gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by your Excellency's presence amongst us, again to express our feelings of respect and attachment to your Excellency, as the represen- tative of our most gracious Sovereign in Ireland. In our address, presented to your Excellency, on your assuming the government of this country, we conveyed to your Excellency the expression of our sanguine hopes, that the 271 judicious appointment of our Sovereign would produce the happiest results, by insuring the vigorous and impartial admi- nistration of the laws to all classes of his Majesty's subjects. We are now most happy to be able to congratulate your Excellency, and the country at large, on the realization of those hopes, so apparent in the unprecedented tranquillity of this kingdom, notwithstanding the exasperating and ruinous pro- ceedings adopted for the collection of that most obnoxious impost tithes ; and we beg to assure your Excellency, that this peaceable state of the country is solely attributable to the confidence the people repose in your judicious and paternal government. Though unwilling, on an occasion like the present, to intro- duce topics of a disagreeable or irritating nature, yet, we cannot avoid adverting, with strong feelings of indignation, to another subject greatly tending to excite the angry feelings of the people, and much calculated to disturb this tranquillity ; we mean the insult sought to be put upon our country, by the irresponsible branch of the legislature attempting to assume a right to withhold from us the enjoyment of those privileges already conceded to our fellow-subjects of England and Scot- land, and to impede the progress of those improvements which were recommended by our king, introduced by his ministers, and sanctioned in every stage by a large majority of the peoples' representatives. To your Excellency personally, and through you to her Excellency the Countess of Mulgrave, on her first visit to the south of Ireland, we beg to present our warmest congratulations, and trust that you will long continue to fill the exalted station for which you have been so wisely and judiciously selected by his Majesty. '27-2 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I can assure the inhabitants of Middleton, that I do not forget that they were amongst the first to approach the seat of government, even from this distance, with the flattering expectations derived from my previous character. It is matter of honest pride to me, that experience should now have confirmed that generous confidence. I trust that obedience to existing laws will continue to take from those who would depreciate your character, any excuse to deny you those equal rights to which you are so justly entitled and which it is the object of my government to secure to you. Accept the renewal of my thanks for this welcome to your thriving town. INHABITANTS OF YOUGHAL. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the inhabitants of Youghal, beg leave to approach your Excellency with our hearty congratulations on your arrival in the neigh- bourhood of this ancient town, and to assure your Excellency of our devoted attachment to his Majesty's sacred person, and our confidence in the integrity of his Majesty's government. 273 We offer to your Excellency, as the King's representative, the assurances of our warmest gratitude for his Majesty's paternal solicitude, in recommending the consideration of healing and salutary measures for the benefit of Ireland ; and in common with millions of our fellow-subjects, we still patiently hope, that the day is not far distant when those measures shall, by mutual concession, be so settled on a secure and permanent basis, that peace and happiness, concord and contentment, may be established amongst us and to. all generations. i We beg your Excellency, personally, to accept the humble tribute of our homage to your Excellency's unceasing efforts to carry into effect, for the advantage of the whole body of the community, the gracious wishes of his Majesty, to heal our unhappy distractions, to unite us in the bond of peace and good will to all men, to establish harmony and conciliation among all classes of the people, and by promoting industry and employ- ment, and fostering the mprovement of our social system, to develop the ample resources of our highly gifted country, and insure the future happiness and prosperity of Ireland. Your Excellency's benevolent and philanthropic 'character, and the firmness and impartiality of your administration, afford undoubted proofs of your anxiety to promote, by every practica- ble means in your power, the attainment of those great objects ; and if a pearl of such surpassing price be added to the royal diadem, what singular satisfaction will it afford us to reflect, that such a consummation of good was, at last, achieved under the auspices of a Monarch, who once honoured this town with his royal presence, and who graciously condescended, in person, to permit his illustrious name, as Duke of Clarence, to be enrolled a freeman of the corporation of Youghal. Impressed with those sentiments of duty and veneration, we now take leave, assuring your Excellency, that we vie with T . 274 England and Scotland in loyalty to the best of Kings, and attachment to a constitution, which secures to every man the blessings of civil and religious liberty. . ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, * * I must here express to you my gratification at the terms in which you have conveyed the assurances of your attachment to your Sovereign, and your confidence in me as his representative. His Majesty would, I am sure, be pleased by your allusion to his early presence amongst you, of which I have no doubt, with that retentive memory which distinguishes him, that he still retains a lively recollection. The limited duration of my stay in this neighbourhood, which the pressure of public business may at any time further shorten, has induced me rather to receive your address here than to risk the loss of the pleasure of hearing such sentiments ; but should it be in my power, I still should be desirous again to visit a town in which, when my arrival was not expected, my reception was nevertheless so warm. You have described at once so accurately and so eloquently the wishes of my heart, and the intentions of my government, that, I trust, I may rely on your cordial concurrence in culti- vating such estimable feelings amongst yourselves, and your steady support in securing to your common country objects which must be dear to every Irishman. 275 INHABITANTS OF LISMORE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, the inhabitants of the manor of Lismore, respectfully beg leave to offer our joyous and sincere congratulations on your Excellency's arrival a second time amongst us. Although but a short interval has elapsed since we enjoyed the opportunity of conveying to your Excellency the high esteem and regard in which we held your personal character, we cannot resist the gratification that a second visit affords of reiterating our former sentiments, and assuring your Excellency, that so far from their having undergone any change, the more we view passing events the more confirmed is our conviction that our most gracious Sovereign has conferred on the Irish people a signal mark of his favour in selecting, as chief governor of this portion of his kingdom, a nobleman, whose intrepidity and honesty of character, afford daily proofs of his determination to promote the prosperity and welfare of Ireland, and to administer the laws without favour or affection to creed, sect, or party. The gratification afforded us by your Excellency's visit to the residence of a nobleman, to whom you were pleased to allude, as one of your earliest and most intimate friends, is considerably enhanced by being honoured with the presence of your amiable and exalted consort, an honour which we duly appreciate and gratefully acknowledge. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, In my answer to your last address, I did, as you remark, allude to circumstances connected with this place, 276 which rendered peculiarly interesting to me a reception so every way gratifying to my feelings. I must now, on the part of Lady Mulgrave, as well as myself, return you our best thanks for the warmth of your renewed welcome. . When last here I was but commencing a system of general inspection of the different provinces of this island. Having now included in it far the greater part of Ireland, it is certainly satisfactory to me to hear that intervening events have so strongly confirmed your favourable opinion, whilst on the other hand, I can say, that I have found the majority of Irishmen of every creed, sect, or party, however hitherto misled by preju- dice, or blinded by misrepresentation, not insensible to the evidence of persevering impartiality on the part of their rulers, and that I do not despair, by encouraging the first returning symptoms of mutual good feeling amongst you all, to promote the consequent prosperity of the country. INHABITANTS OF TALLOW. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Tallow and its vicinity, beg leave most respectfully to express the great pleasure we feel at this your Excellency's second visit to this part of the country. We, in common with the rest of his Majesty's loyal subjects in this kingdom, are most happy to congratulate your Excellency on the realization of those hopes of good government we had formed from your Excellency's wise administration elsewhere, and which your firm and impartial conduct while amongst us has so effectually confirmed. 277 Your Excellency's firmness in the suppression of those secret and illegal combinations, which so strongly tended to foment the party distractions of this heretofore divided country, is an evidence of the resolution with which you are determined to administer impartial justice, for which we beg leave to offer the warm and heartfelt thanks of our community. Making the past a criterion whereby to judge of the future, we entertain the most confident anticipations that the distrac- tions and disabilities under which this country, so ill-treated and misgoverned before your Excellency's arrival amongst us, has continued to labour, will entirely cease under your wise and paternal administration ; and that, enjoying a full participation of the rights and privileges which have been conferred on the people of England and of Scotland, there will no longer exist a cause for the discussion of a question in which, with others of our countrymen, we had warmly engaged. In conclusion, we beg to assure your Excellency, that not only to your government, but to your person, do we feel the strongest attachment, and raise a fervent prayer, that you may long continue to enjoy the satisfaction, which, to a just mind, must result from the consciousness of having been the achiever of so much good to a grateful people. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, It is gratifying in the highest degree, to find so generally diffused a conviction, now strengthened by some expe- rience, that my intentions are equitable and impartial. It will always be my desire to promote union amongst yourselves and establish perfect equality with all your fellow- 278 subjects ; and, whatever partial murmurs personal feelings may occasionally be expected to excite, I entertain perfect confi- dence, judging from such proofs as the present, that a generous people will always render disinterested justice to the purity of my conduct. Accept my sincere thanks for this address. BOROUGH OF CARLOW. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, -> WE, the inhabitants of the borough of Carlow and its vicinity, actuated by the warmest feelings of attachment to your Excellency's government, beg most respectfully to approach you now, for the second time, and welcome your arrival amongst us, as the representative of his most gracious Majesty in Ireland ; uninfluenced by any motive save that gratitude and affection which your impartial and effective admi- nistration of justice inspires, we avail ourselves of the present joyous opportunity pf tendering to you our cordial congratula- tion upon the happy change of condition, which this country has undergone since the auspicious appointment of your Excel- lency as its chief governor. The diminution of crime and outrage which hitherto stained the page of Irish history ; the order and tranquillity which now universally prevail, whilst they speak the praise 6T your Excellency, must also vindicate our national character, and establish the accuracy of the description given of us by Sir J. Davies, " that no people love equal and impartial justice more than the Irish." The results of your Excellency's government afford an happy and striking attes- tation of the truth of this assertion. 279 You came to our shores and found us the victims of exclusion and ascendancy discontent naturally spread itself through the land we could scarcely look to the executive for protection agrarian turbulence shewed itself in every quarter the very bonds of society were all but rent asunder ; at such a crisis it was, that your appearance amongst us, and the hopes associated with your name and virtues, produced an almost magical effect upon us ; we hailed you as the messenger of peace ; and know- ing the intrepidity with which you interposed between the slave and the oppressor, in a country where the liberty of man and the privileges of human nature were so long kept in abeyance, we regarded your appointment as peculiarly suited to our condi- tion ; we rejoice to say that our anticipations have been fully realized, for although many acts of local oppression are perpe- trated by those who are the enemies of your Excellency's principles and government, the confidence reposed in your determination to administer the laws with justice and firmness, have produced that aspect of peace throughout the nation to which we have long been strangers. In reference to this improved state of public affairs, how aptly and justly may the words of the poet be applied : " Defluit saxis agitatus humor, Concidunt vend fugiunt que nubes, Et minax (quod sic voluere) ponto unda recumbit." In conclusion, we beg you to accept the renewed assurance of our unalterable attachment to your Excellency, and that government of which you are so distinguished a member, and hope that you may long continue to fill that high office which you have exercised for the honour and stability of the throne, and the peace and happiness of this important portion of the empire. 280 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank you most warmly for this reiterated expression of your confidence, strengthened as you now profess it to be by intervening experience. Your testimony as to the diminution of crime, and the general tranquillity of the country, has now been placed beyond dispute by judicial records ; and, if in despite of such proofs, some few still there be with such per- verted feelings, as to search with avidity for, and dwell with complacency upon isolated exceptions to this otherwise univer- sal improvement, such attempt could not disprove the result, certainly so satisfactory to myself, and still more creditably gratifying to national feeling, all tending to strengthen and con- firm your declaration, that impartial justice is all you seek ; we must all desire that a demand so reasonable should be secured on the most permanent footing, and, whilst cherishing that expectation, we have the present consolation of knowing, that every succeeding epoch of the continuance of mutual good understanding between the people and their rulers, founded on common esteem, must render these relations more beneficial, and a return to that contrary state, formerly so much deplored, more difficult and more thoroughly incompatible with the first objects of all government, the happiness of the community, and the prosperity of the country. . ' 281 ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND CLERGY OF THE DIOCESES OF KILDARE AND LEIGHLIN. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects the Roman ^Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin, beg to approach your Excellency with the tender of our most respectful congratidations on your arrival in this town, and to express our feelings of respect and attachment to your Excellency, as the representative of our most gracious Sovereign in Ireland. In considering the present improved condition of the country we cannot but feel that our beloved and venerated Sovereign has conferred a most signal favour on his Irish people, in selecting as our chief ruler, a nobleman, whose principle of government, " equal justice to all," and whose intrepidity and honesty of character in adhering inflexibly to that wise maxim, have already produced the happy results of diminishing crime and outrage, and of conciliating the respect of the people for, and their con- fidence in, the administration and protection of the laws. Recognizing in your Excellency all those rare endowments and high attributes which so eminently qualify your Excellency for the very difficult yet honourable office of governing where injustice and misrule systematically and legally prevailed, our only anxiety is that our country may continue to enjoy your Excellency's services until that order, peace, and prosperity, the philanthropic end and aim of your Excellency's administration, be fully and permanently established. Convinced that ascendancy of sect or party is not only incom- patible with our social and temporal welfare, but the very bane of Christian charity and religious feeling, we yield to no class of 282 his Majesty's subjects in our deep solicitude to support your government, which in every act repudiates that illiberal and unwise policy, and honestly looks to the promotion of the hap- piness and prosperity of the whole Irish people. In conclusion, we beg to assure your Excellency that we daily pray in the spirit of our profession, not only for those that arc in high station, but in an especial manner for your Excellency, that you may have length of days and domestic happiness, and may at a still far distant period bring with you from the theatre of this life, the consoling reflection that by an inviolable adhe- rence to the great principle of justice, unbiassed by sectarian and party feeling, you have been enabled to establish, after centuries of misrule, peace, good will, and prosperity in this unhappy land, where until now there have been eternal struggles without one glimpse of freedom, and an unrelaxing pressure of power without one moment of consolation or repose. ANSWER. RIGHT REV. SIB, AND GENTLEMEN, I receive this address with the utmost satisfaction, as a strong proof that you are aware that, under my government, the people show respect for the administration of the laws, because they feel confidence in their equal protection. Acknow- ledging that for the past you too favourably estimate any eiforts of mine, and assuring you that for the future you may depend upon my inflexibly persevering in that course which has been fortunate enough to excite such general approval, I must conclude this necessarily hurried expression of my thanks by protesting the high value I would ever place upon the prayers of all religious men, addressed in that common spirit of Christian charity which you profess, to Divine Providence for the support of good intentions and the perfection of good works. 283 CITIZENS OF KILKENNY. ONCE more have the citizens of Kilkenny been gratified by the opportunity of addressing your Excellency, and the time which has elapsed since their ancient city was last honoured by your presence, has but tended to strengthen in their bosoms that respect and gratitude which all Irishmen feel with the national intensity peculiar to their country. Since they last addressed your Excellency, measures full of justice to Ireland have been obstructed by a portion of the legislature of these kingdoms, and the representatives of the people have been thwarted in their endeavours to enact good laws for the regulation of corporate rights, and church property ; a circumstance well calculated to damp their hopes, were it not that the firmness of his Majesty's ministers, and the decisive justice which marks your Excellency's administration, have pro- duced a strong confidence that the will of the Commons and the right of the People will ultimately and speedily triumph. The citizens of Kilkenny again congratulate your Excellency upon the continuance of that' peace and harmony which pervades all Ireland, and which has arisen as a natural consequence of the wise policy now exercised by the Irish government. It has been peculiar to your Excellency as governor of Ireland, to have won the affections of the people ; because you have been the first to dispense that kind and conciliating justice which has taught Irishmen to feel that a Viceroy can treat them as British subjects, and as men fitted to enjoy the privileges of freemen. The national poet of Ireland has written that " the memory of Ireland's rulers is embalmed in the very gall of the human 284 heart," and, while the poetic image is but too true, it becomes the peculiar pride of your Excellency to form an exception to the character of most of your predecessors, and to have your name wound up with the affections of an affectionate people. They have heard that your Excellency intends to visit some of the ruins and public works of Kilkenny. In the former there is much to win the attention of literary taste, and in the latter much to catch the eye of an observant politician. Prisons and garrisons, which your Excellency's policy never would have needed, have arisen, where, beside them, manufactories and receptacles for the poor have decayed the one from the want of governing encouragement, and the other from the want of proper civic government. Thus, the woollen manufacture has ceased to be a staple trade, and the poverty of the people is strikingly illustrative of the by-gone neglect of their rulers. In conclusion, the citizens of Kilkenny rejoice at your presence, and trust ere long to see the wise measures of his Majesty's ministers, and of your Excellency's government, carried into full effect, when the name of Mulgrave shall be identified with the regeneration of Ireland. ANSWER. - GENTLEMEN, I am sure you will do me the justice not to measure the extent of my gratitude for the elaborate address in which you have conveyed to me the warmth of your feelings and the sincerity of your welcome to me, as the representative of your Sovereign, by the nature of the answer which you are aware the circumstances must upon this occasion necessarily render concise. 285 The name of Kilkenny is associated with the most interesting recollections of Ireland, and though a check may unfortunately have come over the success of your commercial prospects, I can truly say that, as every thing bears the face of improvement in your social and moral relations, you merit the most favourable attention to any statement on such subjects from the govern- ment ; and you may at all times rely upon every exertion of mine for the encouragement of industry, the diffusion of capital, and the consequent revival of former prosperity. ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF KILKENNY. MY LORD, THE Roman Catholic Clergy of the city and county of Kilkenny feel most happy in having an opportunity of offering to your Excellency the most sincere assurance of their respect, admiration, and confidence. As the King's representative, your Excellency would be en- titled, under any circumstances, to every mark of respect. But we cannot forget that our gracious Sovereign, even before he ascended the throne, had given his honest and powerful support to our just claims as Catholics. We remember that very lately his Majesty was pleased to afford the strongest proof of his truly wise and paternal feelings, by admonishing his parliament to legislate for Ireland on the same principles as for England. We know and feel that the people of Ireland seek for nothing more than those equal rights which their Sovereign then demanded for them, and as the representative of so good and gracious a Monarch, we feel doubly anxious to offer to your Excellency the homage of our profound respect. 286 Your Excellency's powerful talents, profound political wisdom, and perfect honesty of principle, had commanded our admiration long before we had the good fortune to be placed under the protection of such a chief governor. We rejoiced, therefore, when the interests of Ireland were committed to your Excel- lency's care, and we have now every reason to know and feel, that our high expectations have been fully realized. Convinced, as we are, that good laws, and the impartial admi- nistration of them, are the most effectual means of promoting the peace andjiappiness of our country, and deeply feeling that nothing can be so conducive to the true interests of religion, as the pre- servation of public order and tranquillity, we owe, as ministers of religion, a deep debt of gratitude to your Excellency for your powerful and successful efforts to restore to Ireland the blessings of a fair and just administration of the laws. Under your Excel- lency's administration the people have begun to regard the law as a friend, and no longer an enemy, as a protector, and no longer an engine of oppression. Again, then, we beg leave to offer to your Excellency the heartfelt assurance of our profound respect, sincere confidence, and lasting -gratitude. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank you most sincerely for your welcome to the representative of your Sovereign, and in that character, I can assure you that I think you have most accurately described tke generous intentions of his Majesty, and the principles of his government ; such is the system of rule of which it is my highest pride to be the instrument. 287 Your personal expressions towards myself far exceed any merit of mine ; but it will always be my object to cause the laws to be respected by constant evidence of their impartiality, and, in this task, I am at all times desirous to avail myself of your powerful cooperation. OPERATIVES OF THE ORMONDE FACTORY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the operatives of the Ormonde Factory, re- joicing at the honour conferred on our city by your Excellency's revered presence, and grateful for the laudable and patriotic motives which have influenced your Excellency's gracious visit, beg leave most respectfully to offer to your Excellency our sincere and grateful congratulations. .. Although our trade has been lamentably depreciated during the last fifteen years and upwards, owing to the removal of the protecting duties, yet since the period of your Excellency's wise, impartial, and philanthropic administration of this country, our condition has been improved such improvement we solely attribute to your Excellency's orders in behalf of our establish- ment, and to the exertions of your Excellency's honourable colleague, Lord Morpeth, whose kindness in that particular we gratefully acknowledge. We further respectfully beg leave to intimate to your Excel- lency, that a new and a splendid water wheel, which from its size and construction is likely to continue capable of working for a century, has just been erected in our Ormonde establishment. We have resolved with pleasure and with pride, that it be deno- minated the Mulgrave wheel, provided your Excellency be graciously pleased to sanction such denomination. 288 That your Excellency may long continue to govern Ireland, as the representative of our beloved Sovereign, and should it at any time (which Heaven avert) occur that your Excellency vacate your present high and dignified station, may your glories in Ireland equal, and if possible surpass, those your Excellency has so nobly and humanely achieved, by your Excellency's powerful exertions in effecting the enfranchisement of the long enslaved children of another country. ANSWER. I hope you will convey to those on whose behalf you spoke, that I conceive the manner in which their sentiments have been conveyed to me is highly creditable to them. I have heard with peculiar pleasure that this branch of manufacture, recently so, depressed, has shown symptoms of revival. I shall be very glad to comply with your request, that my name should be coupled with a work so well calculated to facilitate the operations of industry. COUNTY OF WATERFORD. - MAY IT TLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the high sheriff, lieutenant, deputy lieutenants, magistrates, clergy, gentry, yeomanry, and others, the inha- bitants of the county of Waterford, beg to tender you the expression of our homage, upon the occasion of your Excel- lency's present sojourn within our county. ' We gladly recognize in this visit a signal proof of your Excellency's unceasing efforts to acquaint yourself by personal J 281) observation with the wants, the interests, and the condition of the country, which his Majesty has been graciously pleased to confide to your government, and we place the fullest reliance upon your unalterable determination to persevere in that system of impartial and uncompromising policy which has already won for your Excellency the unqualified confidence and admiration of the Irish people. We trust that in a lively sense of attachment towards his Majesty's person, and in sentiments of dutiful respect towards those whom he has been pleased to set in authority over us, we do not yield to the inhabitants of any other portion of his Majesty's dominions. And we further beg to assure your Excellency, that we expe- rience feelings of gratitude the most profound, for the oppor- tunity which you have seen fit to afford to us, of vindicating in your Excellency's presence, that character of unswerving loyalty towards our Sovereign, which it has ever been, and will continue to be, the heartfelt pride of the county of Waterford to maintain inviolate. . ANSWER. MR. HIGH SHERIFF AND GENTLEMEN, The occasion you have seized to tender the renewal of your expressions of devoted attachment to me as the repre- sentative of your Sovereign, is peculiarly gratifying to me. You rightly estimate the objects which I contemplate in thus personally inspecting every part of this fine country. It is my anxious desire to exercise an unbiassed judgment, strengthened by gradual experience and directed by actnal observation, in such a manner as to the best of my abilities may tend to the benefit of all. Such demonstrations as this are great encourage- u 290 mcnts to proceed, making that a present pleasure to myself which I still hope may be of some future advantage to you. In the name of his Majesty I thank you with that cordiality which I am sure he would graciously feel for these assurances of the inviolable loyalty of the county of Waterford. TOWN OF CAPPOQUIN. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town of Cappoquin, re- cognize with unfeigned satisfaction in the tone and temper of the executive under your Excellency's control, a magnanimity and decision of purpose, imparting a healthful vigour to our respective rights, and cementing our attachment to the institu- tions of our country, in feeling, in opinion, and in duty. We further rejoice in contemplating, that the maxims and motives which influence and direct your Excellency's dignified and equitable impartiality, displayed in your statesmanlike, com- pfehensive, moderate, and upright sway, will lead to the estab- lishment of unity and relinquishment of antiquated prejudices, and separating questions wearing down the opposition of the factious, and healing those wounds which the envenomed shafts of party malignity have so long and so wantonly inflicted. Ardent in our wishes for the national honour, and equally so for that political regeneration which shall give stability to the resources of government, we look with confidence for the conti- nuous exercise of that prospective wisdom which has won for your Excellency fhc Hearts of the Irish people. 291 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank you most sincerely for this gratifying address, in which you have so well described the wishes of my heart, and so accurately defined what I would hope might be the scope of my influence. It is by unremitted exertion on my part, and un'diminished confidence on yours, that we may hope for the attainment of such great national objects. PARISHES OF AGLISH AND WHITECHURCH. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, - WE, the inhabitants of the parishes of Aglish and Whitechurch, are unwilling that your Excellency should depart without expressing our gratification at your visit. h To your Excellency we are indebted for an equitable and impartial mode of government, the happy effects of which you have witnessed in the returning tranquillity and increased pros- perity of the country ; for indulgence has easily produced what severity never could effect. Your anxiety has been directed to destroy our former distinc- tions, and to unite men of all denominations, for the improvement and advantage of our common country. Your Excellency was fortunate in being selected to confer the blessings of freedom upon an oppressed race in a different quarter of the globe still more fortunate in accomplishing the arduous task of healing the wounds of a long-distracted country. 292 For these benefits, your Excellency will enjoy the highest reward that a noble mind can receive your own self-approval and the sympathy and gratitude of every well-regulated mind in the community. ' We are aware that your time is limited and of much value, and therefore abstain from alluding to the grievances under which we still labour confident that ere long your Excellency's anticipations will be realized, and that equal laws and justice will prevail. Permit us once more to testify our respect for your Excel- lency's public and private character, and our humble yet sincere wishes for your happiness. ANSWER. i . GENTLEMEN, ' The sentiments expressed in your address are con- veyed in terms which cannot but be most gratifying to my 'feelings. ..-.->.' You have rightly defined my chief anxiety, which is to destroy all odious and irritating party distinctions, as a necessary preli- minary to that general improvement in the state of the country, which by such generous confidence and cordial cooperation, I yet hope to realize. ,' 1 " . i - -=^CLj 293 ' PARISHES OF STRADBALLY AND BALLYLANEEN. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the united parishes of Strad- bally and Ballylaneen, gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded us, by your Excellency's gracious visit to our county, to approach your Excellency, with the expression of our highest respect and sincerest esteem, as well as to convey to your Excellency the assurance of our unqualified loyalty to our Sovereign, whose paternal feeling towards the people of this country you so faithfully represent. We are well aware how little has yet been done to redress the grievances or improve the condition of the long-oppressed people of this country ; but being satisfied that your Excellency, and the government of which you are so distinguished a mem- ber, have already made great efforts, and are still disposed to use every exertion to do justice to Ireland, and being convinced that nothing has tended more to the furtherance of that object, than the strict and impartial manner in which your Excellency has administered the laws of this country, we, therefore, respectfully request that your Excellency will Accept the assu- rances of our sincerest gratitude to yourself personally, as well as to all the members of the present government, and our un- feigned loyalty to our Sovereign, of whose parental regard for his people, every act of his reign affords such decisive evidence. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, The grateful retrospect which you have cast upon the former acts of his Majesty's reign, demands my thanks as his representative. Such are the principles which I trust it will O \ 294 % be my proud lot in that character still further to advance and mature in the progressive course of temperate reform. I cannot but be highly sensible of the flattering manner in which you identify my name with the best interests of Ireland. ... PARISHES OF MODELIGO AND AFFANE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the parishes of Modeligo and Affane, embrace with pleasure the opportunity which your gracious visit to this neighbourhood affords us, of approaching your Excellency with sentiments of profound homage, admi- ration, and confidence homage, as the representative of our gracious Sovereign admiration for your splendid talents and sound political principles and confidence in your even-handed justice to this long-suffering country. We pledge ourselves to maintain the peace of our district, and" to support by every means in our power the liberal adminis- tration, of which you are so distinguished an ornament. We humbly pray that the Disposer of all good may bless your Excellency with a long and happy life, to enable you to continue the good work you have begun, and receive the heartfelt thanks of a grateful people. / . ' ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank the inhabitants of the two parishes on whose behalf you speak, for these assurances of their confidence. Highly flattering as is the description you have drawn of your feelings towards myself, I consider still more valuable the pledge you have volunteered, by preserving the present praiseworthy condition of your district, to give the most efficient support to my administration. PARISH OF CLASHMORE. * t MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the parish of Clashmore, beg leave to approach your Excellency with the most profound respect, and those expressions of gratitude and joy with which we hail your arrival amongst us, as affording us an opportunity of testifying the respect to which you are so eminently entitled, both personally, and as the representative of our most gracious Monarch. . t In your Excellency we recognize a Viceroy, determined to deal justice with an even hand, uninfluenced by prejudice, and undismayed by fear. Confident in the good intentions of his Majesty's government, and in the wisdom and impartiality of your Excellency's administration, we already anticipate results most favourable to our country. And we wait with patience, 296 until his Majesty's government shall grant to Ireland such amelioration in our local institutions, as shall place us on a perfect equality with every other portion of the empire. . ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, Accept the expression of my gratitude for this aauYess. No one can be more deeply impressed than I am with the justice of that which you seek ; perfect equality with every other portion of the empire. No one can be more ready to bear testimony how much your present conduct deserves it ; and, no one can be more determined to use his best endeavours to secure to you so legitimate an object. PARISH OF RING. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, ' I WK, the inhabitants and parishioners of Ring, in the county of Waterford, beg to welcome the presence of your Lordship in this county, not only as the representative of our gracious Sovereign, but as a nobleman, whose judicious and conciliatory administration, has been the means of promoting the peace, and laying the groundwork, as we fondly anticipate, of our future prosperity. Aj the period of your Excellency's arrival amongst us, this country was torn by political and religious strife ; no confidence was bestowed, nor could any be securely placed in the character of the preceding administration by the mass of the Irish people ; agrarian outrages were general ; political associations, of the 297 most dangerous kind, had been fomented by the officers of that administration ; and the peace of the whole island was menaced by its continuance ; the calendars were unusually heavy ; in one word, the friends of peace and loyalty regarded the approaching season with serious apprehension. The firm and judicious, the mild and conciliatory policy f your Excellency, has happily caused a complete change in our prospects ; the people have a full confidence in your disposition, an entire reliance upon the prudence and energy of your mea- sures. Your Excellency's administration has been distinguished by the demolition, at least in name, of the Orange Association ; by the reconstruction and arrangement of the constabulary, we may, at least, calculate that the police will not be, as here- tofore in too many cases they were, political partisans, and that, ultimately, the people may acquire a confidence in their impar- tiality. By the efforts which the general administration have made to settle the question of tithes, and to impart free municipal institutions to the country, the people have been strengthened in the hopes they entertain, that these sources of discord will be speedily dried. But we cannot, may it please your Excellency, conceal from ourselves, that had we not the Earl of Mulgrave as ow Viceroy, the repeated disappointments we have suffered, particularly under the cruel and exasperating infliction of Exchequer proceedings, must have thrown the country into a state of confusion; it is to you, my Lord, that we owe the present unparalleled state of tranquillity ; it is to your administration the country is indebted for the extraordinary lightness of our criminal calendars. 9 That your Excellency, as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, may witness the fulfilment of your desires, for the peace and liberty of Ireland, as well as of our own hopes, is our fervent prayer. 208 .. ANSWER. r GENTLEMEN, You have faithfully described what are the objects of my administration. It is my desire to teach the people more universal respect for the laws, by increased confidence in their impartiality. You much too favourably estimate any services I have yet been able to render to this country ; but one thing you cannot overrate, my unceasing and heartfelt anxiety that it may still be in my power to render Ireland prosperous and united. ' TOWN AND BOROUGH OF DUNGARVAN. IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, - * * *' WE, his Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the inhabitants of the town and borough of Dungarvan, beg leave humbly to express to your Excellency our high esteem and regard for your person and character, and our thankfulness to his Majesty, for the appointment of so able and distinguished a nobleman to preside over the government of Ireland. In selecting your Excellency as his representative in this country, we recognize that paternal regard for the welfare of his.people, which has ever marked the conduct of our beloved Monarch, and we hail the choice as an earnest of those happy days when the energies of Ireland (too long distracted and paralysed by internal dissension) shall be exerted solely to promote the peace and prosperity of our common country. 299 That prospect, we rejoice to say, is already in the course of fulfilment, and in the tranquillity now prevailing throughout Ireland, we perceive the important and gratifying conjequences of the firm, impartial, and judicious exercise of the authority so deservedly entrusted to your Excellency. These results cannot but afford sincere pleasure to so liberal and enlightened a nobleman, and in expressing our congratu- lations upon the adoption of a course of policy so eminently successful, we beg respectfully to assure your Excellency, how deeply sensible we are of your claims to the gratitude of every Irishman. And we beg to assure your Excellency, that should the occasion ever arrive, when it may be necessary to prove the sincerity of our professions, we confidently hope to convince you, that we are not exceeded by any community whatever, in zeal and attachment for your Excellency, and the enlightened administration you so efficiently represent, and trust that the services you have rendered Ireland, may be recompensed to you and yours, in the course of long and happy years. ? . . ANSWER. . > GENTLEMEN, You could not express your feelings of attachment in any manner more gratifying to myself, than by thus stating that you recognize in my selection, as the representative of his Majesty, an additional proof of the paternal regard of your beloved Sovereign. Connected as the borough of Dungarvan is with a highly valued officer of my government, I could have no reason to doubt the sincerity of your professions as to your support of 300 the principles of my administration. I have no other desire than the general good of the country graciously committed to my charge ; and it is by such testimonials as this, that I am encouraged to persevere in the course which has been fortunate enough to meet your approbation. ' - MAYOR AND CORPORATION OF WATERFORD. WE, the mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, and assistants of the ancient and loyal city of Waterford, in common council assembled, approach your Excellency with our heartfelt con- gratulations upon your arrival in our city, and embrace with pleasure the opportunity now afforded us of testifying our attachment and loyalty to the person of our Sovereign, and that of our most gracious Queen, and the great respect we bear towards your Excellency, whom his Majesty has been graciously pleased to appoint Viceroy of this part of the empire. And, we trust and feel assured, that under the blessing of Divine Providence, and under the influence of your Excellency's government, the domestic peace of Ireland will be maintained, the laws of the land respected, the manufactures and commerce of our country fostered and improved. We pray that your Excellency may long enjoy health and happiness, and we desire your Excellency to rely, at all times, upon the fidelity and attachment of this ancient corporation to the person and family of our most gracious Sovereign, and of our unalterable determination, to preserve, by every means within our power, the integrity of the united British entire. >. . 301 ANSWER. . . i MR. MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN, As representative of your Sovereign I thank you for this expression of your devoted attachment to his royal person and family. For myself, I cannot but be gratified that you should feel assured that, under my influence, the domestic peace of Ireland will be maintained ; the present state of the country is cer- tainly one which warrants the supposition, that, by the blessing of Divine Providence such will be the case, and, should the improvement in its social condition be progressive, commerce and manufactures must benefit by the diffusion of well-founded confidence, and Ireland then permanently occupy the position which befits her, that of an equally favoured portion of the united British empire. ' CITIZENS OF WATERFORD. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, f WE, the inhabitants of Waterford and its liberties, beg leave to approach your Excellency with the expression of our sincere congratulation on your arrival in our ancient city, as the representative of a gracious Sovereign, to whose royal person *nd paternal government we are attached, not less from feelings of gratitude and affection, than from a principle of duty as loyal subjects. 302 In the selection of your Excellency as Viceroy of Ireland, known, as you well are, to be the distinguished advocate of civil and religious liberty, and as the friend of humanity, we instantly discerned the anxious solicitude of our patriot King to do full justice to the Irish people, by governing them, not afe aliens in the land of their birth, but as a portion of his subjects, entitled to every right and privilege of the British consti- tution. We have not been disappointed in the estimate which we formed of your Excellency's character. We have seen in all your public acts, a strict adherence to those principles which rendered your appointment, as our Lord Lieutenant, so grateful to the vast majority of the Irish people ; and we have seen beneficial results, proportioned to our expectations, flowing from your measures. We have seen them in the spirit of union and reconciliation which is every day growing up amongst Irishmen of all classes. We have seen them in the great and extraor- dinary diminution of agrarian outrage, and of every species of public crime, as the records of the late assizes most emphatically attest ; and lastly, we see them, and the whole empire sees them, in the unshaken confidence, which, notwithstanding the proceedings of the present session of parliament, the people of this country continue to repose in that government, of which your Excellency forms so prominent and distinguished a member. We are satisfied that justice full and complete justice to Ireland forms one of the leading principles of his Majesty's present Ministry, and being convinced of that, we submit with patience to that temporary delay in the reform of our insti- tutions, which one branch of the legislature has inflicted upon us. . From our patient conduct, however, we are most anxious that it should not be inferred that we do not feel the insult that has 303 been wantonly put upon a loyal people. We feel it most keenly ; but our attachment to your Excellency's government has been thereby only increased, inasmuch as we are convinced that you sincerely sympathize in our feelings, and because we believe that daily events here only tend to strengthen you in the primary maxims of your policy, which have for their object the regeneration of this country, by completely abolishing all sectarian divisions, and by thus effecting a sincere and cordial union of its people. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, It is my highest pride to hear that the patience under legislative disappointments^ which you have shown in the most praiseworthy degree, is to be ascribed to your confidence in my administration of the executive. It is by mutual perseverance in those courses which have led to so gratifying a result, that the continuance of our several relations can be secured on a basis creditable and beneficial to both. - f The general improvement of the country does, as you state, now rest on facts which none can dispute. As an inseparable portion of that improvement, I trust, we may trace the healing of party divisions, and the rapid growth of a sound national feeling. By anxious prayers for such a consummation, I think I best prove that you do not overrate the extent of my sym- pathy in your cause, and that no true Irish interest shall ever be alien to my heart. . < - - 304 . CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF WATERFORD. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the president and members of the Chamber of Commerce of the city of Waterford, gladly availing ourselves of the opportunity presented by your Excellency's arrival in this city, beg leave to tender to your Excellency, as the representa- tive of our beloved Sovereign, the assurances of our profound respect. Deeply indebted as we feel to his Majesty, for the important and salutary ameliorations of the national institutions, by which his reign has been already signalized, and for the further measures, calculated to extend and secure the freedom and happiness of his subjects, which have originated with his government, we consider it as an additional claim upon our gratitude, that he has been pleased to select a nobleman so well qualified as your Excellency, by ability, intelligence, experience, and firmness of character, to carry into effect his paternal intentions towards this portion of the united kingdom. We have great satisfaction in offering to your Excellency our most respectful congratulations on the decided improvement in the state of public feeling, the gratifying proofs of returning tranquillity, and the increasing spirit of commercial enterprize, now generally perceptible throughout the country. In the encouraging promise of future prosperity to Ireland, which these pleasing indications hold forth, we sincerely and heartily rejoice, not merely as mercantile men, whose peculiar advantage must necessarily be promoted by every circumstance that tends to develop the resources, or impel the industry of the community, but also, and principally, as citizens of the state, whose interests are inseparable from those of our fellow-subjects, and who are equally concerned with all other classes of society, in the advancement of the national welfare. 305 Impressed with the belief, that this happy change has been owing, in a great degree, to the impartial, upright, and judicious conduct pursued by your Excellency in die execution of your official duties, by which practical proofs have been afforded of the beneficial disposition of our revered Sovereign towards this country, and, convinced as we are, that a steady perseverance in the same wise and enlightened policy will ultimately produce confidence, obedience, and contentment amongst a people, grateful for every manifestation of justice and kindness on the part of their rulers, we do most earnestly hope, that your Excellency may long continue to grace that exalted station, in which your exertions have already been so beneficial to Ireland. We beg, in conclusion, so assure your Excellency, that the members of this commercial corporation will ever be found ready to evince their inflexible fidelity to the person and authority of our most gracious Monarch ; their steadfast attach- ment to the principles of constitutional liberty, and their anxious desire to preserve and strengthen those ties of mutual interest, indiscriminate protection, and similar privileges, which unite this country with that mighty nation, whose extended commerce is one of the principal foundations of her wealth, her power, and her greatness. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, Whilst personally grateful for the expressions of attachment and respect, with which you have so flatteringly addressed me, I am not the less sensible that you have weighed with the worldly wisdom of your own active characters, and cherished with the beneficent philosophy of Christian citizens, the sterling benefits which a free people has already derived from 30(J that auspicious portion of his Majesty's reign which has already passed, and the ripening prospects which, by patience and perseverance, may still be matured for this portion of the united kingdom. Your pursuits naturally teach you, that a liberal interchange of mutual benefits must be the condition of all common concerns,, and it is on that basis that we trust to support a permanent union between the two countries. Your experience must have proved, that universal respect for the laws, produced by an impartial administration of them, is the very soul of commercial enterprize, and it is on that founda- tion I would rest my hope, to see the gradual development of the incalculable resources of this fine island. ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF WATERFORD. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese of Waterford, beg leave, in approaching your Excel- lency, to offer you the expression of our heartfelt gratitude, for the many benefits which you have rendered, during your administration, to our hitherto distracted and ill-treated country. Firmly attached, as we are, to the cause of civil and religious liberty, we could not but hail with feelings of unmixed satisfac- tion, your appointment as Viceroy of Ireland, because the records of the times informed us, that, while yet in the morning 307 of life, and acting under the influence of your own natural disposition, you rose above the bias of family-cherished opinions, and associated yourself with those liberal and enlightened states- men, who, in the imperial senate, advocated the repeal of laws, which consigned to an odious and disgraceful inferiority, the great majority of a nation, for their conscientious adherence to the religion of their forefathers. Our anticipations, as to the beneficial results of your Vice- royalty, were most sanguine, and it affords us the most sincere gratification, to assure your Excellency that, so far as your administration of the laws is concerned, our hopes hare not been disappointed. A feeling of union a desire to bury in oblivion the recol- lection of scenes of division and strife, which, for centuries, may have distracted the energies of a nation a diminution of outrages rendering property and life insecure a respect for the constituted authorities, and a conscientious obedience to the laws, these are the trophies which an honest government ought always to aspire to gain ; and to these trophies, your government, by universal consent, has a just and indisputable claim. In the discharge of our duties, in our respective stations, as ministers of religion, it has been to us a source of no ordinary consolation, that, whilst inculcating the doctrines of peace and good-will to all men, we have had the co-operation of a kind and parental executive, cordially assisting in our efforts. Interested monopoly has dared to challenge the quality of our allegiance, but we appeal to history in vindication of our prin- ciples against the injustice of the charge. We are loyal from principle, because, as St. Paul inculcates, " We are obedient to the higher powers," and because, as we learn from the same inspired authority, " Those who resist the powers that be, resist the ordinance of God." We are also loyal from a feeling of 308 pure affection, because our gracious Sovereign, William IV, has given the most unequivocal proofs that he loves his Irish sub- jects, and that he wishes them to be admitted to every right and privilege of the British constitution. In your Excellency we have the best representative of so paternal a king, and may you long preside over the destinies of the Irish people. May no untoward event occur to retard your success in reconciling to each other the divided inhabitants of this country ; and, in the evening of your days, when, in the ordinary course of nature, you will be approximating to that period, at which Divine Providence will remove you from this scene of your earthly labours, may you be consoled by the reflection, that you have regenerated a people who will not cease to invoke heaven in your behalf as their great bene- factor. ANSWER. RIGHT REVEREND SIR, I thank you, and the Roman Catholic Clergy, on whose behalf you speak, for this favourable estimate of that conduct, the unceasing object of which has been, it is most true, to benefit a country, in whose fate I have always felt the deepest interest. I am proud that you should recollect, that as soon as I was of an age entitled to express my sentiments in the great council of the nation, the first words I uttered were in the sacred cause of civil and religious liberty, on a question whose peculiar object was Ireland. I can with truth state, that I have always found you as I should have expected, and as you profess, ministers of peace, 309 disciples of order, and supporters of the constituted authorities, thereby acting up to the sacred precepts taught alike to all believers of the Gospel. In conclusion, I need not assure you, that no doctrinal diffe- rences in matters of faith, can make me insensible to the value of the prayers of millions of fellow-christians, for the Divine aid in the perfection of good works. TOWN OF KENMARE. (PRESENTED AT KILLARNEV. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WITH feelings of unfeigned delight we, the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood of Kenmare, solicit the honour of approaching your Excellency, on your arrival amongst our wild woody glens. We are unskilled, my Lord, in the language of addresses ; and if we fail in giving due expression to our approbation of, and gratitude for your wise, impartial, and conciliatory admi- nistration of the great powers vested in your Excellency the fault is not of our hearts but of our heads. It is not alone by the sound, constitutional, statesmanlike exercise of those great talents, which have given repose and contentment to the nation, that you have won our affections and respect. You are, my Lord, the first representative of Majesty, who has for ages condescended to visit this section of our inte- resting county, and we should be insensible, indeed, to the salutary tendency of such visit, did we not feel truly grateful to your Excellency. But, my Lord, do we owe your Excellency :no nothing more ? Is there nothing due to those traits of philan- thropy and benevolence which have characterized your private and public career, even in a foreign land ? And, although last not least, is there nothing due to those brilliant mental acquire- ments, for which you are so justly distinguished ? Yes, my Lord, as the patron of science and literature, we owe you much ; and for those combined claims upon us, we, in return, tender your Excellency our accustomed loyalty our undeviating fidelity our cordial support of the present government. Deign, my Lord, to accept besides, our fervent wishes for your long continuance amongst us, and our united prayers for your future health, happiness, and prosperity. * ANSWER. / GENTLEMEN, I am very sensible of the kindness which has induced the inhabitants of the town and vicinity of Kenmare to present me with this address, and I beg to assure them, that the pleasure I have derived from my visit to the beautiful scenery in their neighbourhood, has been much enhanced by the demon- strations of regard, on the part of the people, with which I have been every where welcomed. SOVEREIGN AND BURGESSES OF NEW ROSS. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the undersigned sovereign and free burgesses of the town of New Ross, respectfully beg leave to convey to you our congratulations at your Excellency's arrival in this part of his Majesty's dominions. 311 Yielding to no portion of his Majesty's subjects in loyalty to our King, and sincere and unalterable attachment to the con- stitution, we hail with pleasure the opportunity thus afforded, of rendering due homage to the representative of our gracious Sovereign, and to your Excellency personally. On the general tranquillity of the country, we further beg to congratulate your Excellency, and to express our earnest hope, that such measures may be adopted by his Majesty's government as will be conducive, and ultimately tend to the permanence of such tranquillity, and eventually to the peace, happiness, and prosperity of Ireland. ANSWER GENTLEMEN, I return my best thanks to the sovereign and free burgesses of the town of New Ross, for this address to me, as representative of his Majesty. . Your congratulations on the general tranquillity of the country are on every account most welcome, and I trust that your earnest hope may be realized, that his Majesty's advisers may prepare, and that I may be entrusted with the execution of such measures, as may conduce to the honour of the throne and the happiness of the people. 312 TOWN OF NEW ROSS. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, ON a former occasion we, the inhabitants of this ancient town, from which your Lordship derives your title as an Irish peer, and which, in its best and proudest days, was the birth-place, residence, and property of your illustrious Irish ancestors, did ourselves the honour to address your Excellency, expressive of our highest respect and congratulation on your assuming the government of this country, and with feelings of the liveliest gratitude to our most gracious Sovereign, who could not have more clearly evinced his paternal solicitude for the interests and welfare of his loyal Irish subjects, than in the selection of your Lordship as the Viceroy of Ireland. Indeed, the people of Ireland, as well as our good and gracious Monarch, had the best assurance of your Lordship's peculiar fitness to rule the destinies of this unfortunate country, from the soundness of judgment, benevolence of heart, and love of human liberty, so substantially displayed by your Lord- ship as governor of Jamaica, when an act of British justice to the negro population pronounced them free ; an auspicious event, which redounds to the honour and glory of our empire, and will hand down the name of Mulgrave to the admiration of the latest posterity. We have now the pleasure and happiness to cordially welcome your Excellency to our town, and in common with every truly loyal subject and well-wisher of his country, to express our sincerest esteem and warmest attachment for your Excel- lency personally, and our firm and unalterable determination to support by every legal and constitutional means in our power, a government which has been straightforward, equal, impartial, and independent, towards all classes of his Majesty's subjects ; a 313 government, whose wisdom, justice, and liberality, furnish such strong proofs of present amelioration, and promise so much for the future improvement of our country's condition ; a govern- ment whose policy has obtained, and preeminently deserved, the gratitude, the applause and admiration of every friend of peace, order, and social happiness, in Ireland. May this blessing of Divine Providence, in your Excellency's administration of the government of our hitherto oppressed and misruled country be of long duration, and may your Excellency- continue to enjoy health and every earthly happiness, amidst a generous, grateful, and justice-loving people, are the ardent and heartfelt aspirations of the inhabitants of New Ross and its vicinitv. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, By the expressions contained in this address, I per- ceive you do justice to the peculiar interest I must feel in entering for the first time, in the character of representative of your Sovereign, a town with which my family was formerly so nearly connected a town too, in which from indications you had, early in my government, given of your feelings towards myself, I was sure of a cordial welcome. You have alluded to the share which it was my good fortune to enjoy, as the organ and instrument of the national will, in the practical working of the noblest effort of Christian philan- thropy which any people ever could boast. Small as is the merit which I can personally claim, I own it is with pardonable pride that I retain the consciousness that those whom I knew as slaves, still repeat the grateful mention of my name in the spirit-stirring tone of freemen. 314 If this does indeed endear the past, the present is made most valuable by that over kind construction of my conduct, which induces you to view my government as a blessing, for the con- tinuance of which you would supplicate Divine Providence. I should be most ungrateful if, after this, I did not assure you that so long as I am honoured with the continued confidence of my Sovereign, and supported by the undiminished attachment of the people, I cannot anticipate the moment when I would willingly leave you. TOWN OF ENNISCORTHY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's dutiful subjects, inhabitants of Enniscorthy and its vicinity, beg leave to express those feelings of delight with which we behold your Excellency's arrival amongst us, and to assure your Excellency of our devoted attachment to his Majesty's sacred person, and our confidence in his Majesty's present government. Your eminent character as a statesman having preceded your arrival in Ireland, we hailed with joy your appointment to the Viceroyalty of our country, as a sure pledge of that enlightened policy, and of that firm and impartial administration of the laws, which give security to the peer, confidence to the peasant, and peace and happiness to all. Already have some of these happy results been effected under your Excellency's wise administration ; already has the Irish peasant begun to repose confidence in the integrity of British statesmen, and a feeling of mutual kindness between his Majesty's 315 subjects of Great Britain and Ireland, is the happy conse- quence. But we are convinced that until those salutary and healing measures recommended by his Majesty, for the benefit of his Irish people, be carried into effect no governor, however en- lightened no statesman, however profound, can establish that mutual good will among all parties, so essential to the peace and prosperity of our country. Yet under difficulties almost insurmountable, your Excellency has the rare merit of establishing unexampled tranquillity. Happy, indeed, must our gracious Sovereign feel, in having appointed, in times of such peril, a Viceroy who calms the troubled breast, inspires confidence in the government, respect for the laws, and gives consolation to the oppressed and afflicted. May your Excellency live to govern Ireland under more favourable circumstances, when all party dissensions shall have been put an end to by equitable laws ; and the Irish people, as one family, living in harmony and peace, will pour everlasting blessings on the name of the illustrious Mulgrave. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, Accept my thanks for these assurances of attachment to the person of our gracious Sovereign, accompanied by this grateful ebullition of feeling towards myself personally. You say most truly that in these days of enlightenment it is only by extending, even to the peasant, a well-founded con- fidence in the firm and impartial administration of the laws, that the framework of society can be held together, and contentment with the present universally supersede vague speculations of impracticable change. 316 I trust that those to whom that task belongs, will succeed in the work of gradual legislative amelioration, and on my part, it is my most earnest hope that Irishmen of every class will learn to do to each other that justice which it is my effort to extend to all. ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND CLERGY OF THE DIOCESE OF FERNS. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of Ferns, beg leave to approach your Excellency, and to present to your Excellency our dutiful respects and cordial welcome to the county of Wexford. The fame of your illustrious name had reached us before it pleased our beloved Sovereign to appoint you his Majesty's representative in Ireland, and we beg to assure your Excellency, that the appointment afforded us unmixed satisfaction, and confirmed the hope, that there were better days in store for our long-afflicted country. We, in common with our countrymen, congratulate your Excellency on the daily realization of that hope, and the com- parative tranquillity which now happily pervades the whole country, must be mainly attributed to the justice, firmness, and impartiality of your Excellency's administration. In the preservation and furtherance of that tranquillity, your Excellency may confidently calculate upon our faithful coopera- tion, as it is our duty at all times to preserve social order, and to promote charity, harmony, and peace. 317 May Divine Providence bestow on your Excellency length of days, and may your paternal solicitude for the peace, prosperity, and happiness of Ireland, be crowned with the most perfect success. ANSWER. RIGHT REV. SIR, Accept the assurance of my high satisfaction at this expression of your opinion that the hopes you had so early enter- tained of my intentions have not been disappointed by my subsequent efforts in the service of the Irish people. The state of the country is indeed such as must be most gratifying to men of peace. The solemn manner in which, in the character of your calling, you invoke for my success and happiness, the blessings of Providence, commands my gratitude. MAYOR AND BURGESSES OF WEXFORD. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, / WE, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, the mayor, bailiffs, free burgesses, and commonalty of the ancient town of Wexford, beg leave to offer to your Excellency the unfeigned assurance of our attachment and respect. We embrace with delight the occasion with which your Excel- lency's auspicious visit to this district presents us of expressing our humble admiration of that temperate, impartial, and states- manlike policy which has characterized the measures of your Excellency's administration since you Brat assumed the reins of empire in Ireland, and our prayer to the Supreme Ruler of events is, that your Excellency may long, very long, continue to hold and guide them, so as to elaborate the restoration of peace and happiness in our country, which has been so long the theatre of political rancour and factious discord. Upon your Excellency's arrival in Ireland, the island was a prey to the ravages of illegal, secret, and unconstitutional asso- ciations, dangerous to the peace and good order of the com- munity, and threatening to resolve into its original elements the social system itself. These lawless confederacies have been every where dissolved hope has revived in the public mind, and for this great boon we feel solely indebted to the regulated energy and practical wisdom of the present Irish executive. We entreat your Excellency to believe that amongst the national failings (and they are many) which malice has attributed to the people of Ireland, ingratitude is not one, and that no time can obliterate from our memory the invaluable advantages con- ferred upon our country by your Excellency's just and paternal rule, the vigour with which you have repressed incipient com- motion, and the spirit of equitable investigation with which your Excellency has traced the causes of every grievance, have entitled your Excellency to our unlimited confidence, and no support that we are capable of affording shall be wanting to consolidate the strength and secure the duration of your Excellency's auspicious government. ANSWER. MR. MAYOR AND GENTLEMEN, It is most gratifying that a deliberate retrospect of the acts of my government should lead to so marked an approval. 319 m You have justly estimated from recent experience the perni- cious effect of those exclusive combinations which I conceived the well-being of society imperatively called on me at once to repress, but unless roused by fresh indications in any shape of a similar spirit, I have determined from the same love of peace, order, and union, to endeavour to forget that such things have so lately been. . Depend upon it that the generous support I have received from you, commands in return from me an inflexible determina- tion, whenever your interests are concerned, to act precisely upon that plan of conduct which has already fortunately won your applause, and from which you anticipate such auspicious results. TOWN OF WEXFORD. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCKLLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the ancient town of Wexford, and the descendants of the first British colony planted in this island near seven hundred years ago, beg leave, on the joyous occasion of your Excellency's first visit, to offer you, as the representative in Ireland of our most gracious Sovereign, the assurance of our unreserved confidence in your Excellency's government. Your Excellency cannot have failed to bear in mind that from no part of Ireland have such numerous, unequivocal, and re- peated proofs of attachment and respect been given to your Excellency, as those which have emanated from the loyal and generous people of this enlightened district. *^DieTanguine hopes which your first arrival amongst us had engendered, have been matured to realization, by the vigour and impartiality with 320 which, since your assumption of the government, you have exercised the prerogative and dispensed the patronage of the crown. We have the best earnest of your Excellency's paternal soli- citude to the better condition of our long-neglected and mis- governed country, in the healing and salutary policy you have already adopted, and we patiently await the full consummation of our national prosperity and repose, from your Excellency's enlarged views and proverbial strength of character. We would further express to your Excellency our knowledge of the appalling difficulties with which at times the course of your administration has been beset. For these we are prepared to make every allowance, sustained as we are by the well- grounded hope and deep conviction that no such impediments can permanently obstruct your patriotic purpose to introduce EQUAL JUSTICE to a country where she has hitherto been a stranger to persist in that firm and temperate administration of the laws, which has already given such cordial satisfaction to the people of Ireland. Allow us to crave your Excellency's indulgence should aught appear wanting in the arrangements we may have made for your accommodation at Wexford. Your Excellency will, in the spirit of that kindness in which you have come to us, ascribe any such deficiency to the fact, that our ancient town has not been used to receive within her precincts the visit of friends in power ; and the present being, as we will hope but an introductory one on your part, your Excellency may rest assured that when you call again you shall find us quite at home in giving your Excel- lency a reception more forcibly indicative of our boundless gratitude, and of your Excellency's unquestionable title to it. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, There are ancient recollections connected with the town of Wexford, which render my first visit to the scene of such authentic traditions a matter of as much interest to myself as you are pleased to state it is of joy to you. -. I should, indeed, be most ungrateful if I did not bear in mind that, from every portion of this county, I have received countless testimonials of confidence and records of thanks. It is, I conceive, the best proof that the duties of the executive are rightly understood and faithfully executed, when thus in sections, where every one's opinion is collected, the conviction is distinctly attested, that a general paternal superintendence will always promptly and efficiently be individualised and brought home to each man's door whenever occasion requires. By a perseverance in your present course, I feel that the last pretence will be taken from those who do not know you as I now do, any longer to deny equal justice to the people of Ireland. My warmest thanks, not your graceful apologies, best befit a reception where assembled thousands thus convey a hearty welcome. PARISH OF ADAMSTOWN. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, THE freeholders, landholders, and inhabitants of the ancient parish of Adanistown hail with delight an opportunity of welcoming your Excellency to this part of Ireland. They do so, impressed with feelings of affection and gratitude to our most gracious Sovereign, for having selected as his representative, a nobleman of personal and political endowments, calculated to heal the wounds, conciliate the differences, and improve the general condition of this long-distracted country. May your Excellency long continue to adorn the Viceregal throne, conferring benefits on the people of Ireland ; and may the example of your many virtues encourage all future governors to persevere in that course of impartial, conciliatory, and even- handed justice, which has procured for the Earl of Mulgrave the lasting affection and esteem of a warm-hearted and grateful people. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I request you will accept my sincere thanks for this address, and believe that I am most sensible of the flat- tering terms in which you express yourselves with regard to my appointment as the representative of your Sovereign, and assure me of the feelings you entertain towards myself per- sonally. The pleasure of my visit to this interesting part of the country is greatly increased by such demonstrations of attachment on the part of the people. 323 ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND CLERGY OF THE DISTRICT OF MULLINGAR. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the district of Mullingar, joyfully embrace the opportunity which your gracious visit to our town affords, of expressing those sen- timents of respect and attachment which this county, and every part of Ireland, have so justly manifested towards your Excel- lency. The obedience to the laws, the striking diminution of crime, the total extinction of illegal combinations which the tran- quillity of our county, and the unoccupied wards of our jail so strongly attest, are the consoling fruits of the hope which your Excellency's short government of this hitherto misgoverned country has happily inspired. We beg leave to assure your Excellency, that, in our public instruction to our flocks, as also in our private intercourse with them, we never fail to impress on them the inviolable obligation of unqualified loyalty to our Sovereign, and of universal good will to men. We earnestly pray, that Providence may continue to our hitherto distracted country the blessings of an administration, which by its successful exertions to extend to Ireland equal laws and equally free institutions with Great Britain, will render our unfortunate country permanently peaceable, happy, and pros- perous. 32-1 ANSWER. RIGHT REV. SIK, I request that you will accept, on the part of the reverend body whose sentiments you speak, my warm thanks for this address upon my arrival, and the hasty assurance of my satisfaction at your continued confidence. TOWN OF LONGFORD. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Longford and its vicinity, beg leave to approach your Excellency, to express the feelings of unqualified delight with which we hail your arrival amongst us ; not merely as the representative of our beloved Monarch, but as a nobleman whose life has been spent in the advocacy of the great principles of civil and religious liberty ; and to assure you, that we fully participate in the general joy which thrilled the Irish heart, when the news of your appointment first reached our shores, conscious that such appointment betokened good to a land too long distracted by political feud and religious animosity. Nor have we been disappointed in this our expectation, as the wise and statesmanlike course pursued by your Excellency, since your arrival in this country, has given general satisfaction, particularly to the inhabitants of this county, who owe your Excellency a deep debt of gratitude for your wise and discrimi- nating selection of our present independent and impartial high sheriff, thereby creating confidence in the laws, which alone can give security to the throne and prosperity to the people. 325 We cannot allow the present opportunity to pass without expressing our confidence in his Majesty's present ministers, whose enlightened policy has done much to advance and con- solidate the interests of the united kingdoms. In conclusion, we pray for your Excellency long life and health, to witness the consummation of the good work you have so nobly begun. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I trust you will believe that I feel more fully than the occasion will at present allow me to express, the gratifying nature of the reception you have thus unexpectedly prepared for me at Longford. It must always be my best reward to learn that the conduct pursued by myself, in concert with the constitutional advisers of the crown, is so generally esteemed calculated to advance and consolidate the interests of the united kingdom. INHABITANTS OF DRUMSNA. WE, the inhabitants of Drumsna and its vicinity, avail ourselves of the opportunity which your presence affords, to testify our devoted loyalty and attachment to the gracious Monarch, whose representative you are, and to offer you the assurance of that profound respect and gratitude which we entertain towards your Excellency. In your extended and various progress through Ireland, you have been greeted with the thanks, and praise, and exulta- 3B6 tions of the grateful millions who acknowledge the many benefits their country has derived from the fair and impartial government of your Excellency. Cordially do we join in that wide-spread and general senti- ment ; none feel it more strongly, or can express it more sincerely. > . ... Under the influence of your Lordship's sway, we behold general peace and quiet pervading the land, justice impartially administered, and the social condition of our people improved, and we sincerely trust and believe, that the beneficent inten- tions of our gracious Sovereign, the enlightened policy of his present ministers, sustained and enforced by the vigorous administration of your Excellency, will ultimately succeed in removing those obstacles which still impede the improvement and delay the advancement of our country. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, It is most gratifying to me, that the inhabitants of Drumsna, having watched my progress elsewhere, should thus welcome my arrival amongst them. The sentiments which you record, as entertained towards myself are, I am happy to feel, consistent with a conviction of the improved condition, and a confidence in the brightening prospects of this interesting country. 327 INHABITANTS OF JAMESTOWN. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, THAT we, the inhabitants of the ancient town of Jamestown, approach your Excellency with hearts full of con- gratulations upon your arrival in our neighbourhood, and embrace with pleasure, the opportunity offered us, of thus testifying our attachment and loyalty to the person of our Sovereign, and the great respect we bear towards your Excel- lency, whom his Majesty has been graciously pleased to appoint Viceroy of this part of the empire. We pray, that your Excellency may long enjoy health and happiness, and we desire your Excellency to rely at all times on the fidelity and attachment of this ancient town, to the person of our most gracious Sovereign, and our unalterable determination to uphold peace and concord, and we trust, and feel assured, that under the influence of your Excellency's government, the peace of Ireland will be maintained, and the manufactures and commerce of the country fostered and im- proved. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN', I thank you for this address. It is most pleasing to me to learn your opinion of the improved condition of your country, most gratifying to hear it kindly attributed to my influence ; and I share with you in the anticipations which a perseverance in your present conduct is so well calculated to realize. INHABITANTS OF CARRICK-ON-SHANNON. MAY IT PLEASE YOUB EXCELLENCY, THE proprietor and inhabitants of Carrick-on- Shannou beg leave to approach your Excellency with the humble expression of their most heartfelt gratitude for the honour you have vouchsafed to them in visiting this town, and in common with the rest of Ireland, for the unspeakable advan- tages which this country has derived from your administration, and the impartial, paternal, efficient, and ceaseless solicitude which your Excellency has invariably extended to the welfare of all ranks and classes of the community. We humbly conceive that the purest and most acceptable homage we can pay to the transcendant administrative talents, and public and private virtues of your Excellency, is to continue in the paths, as we have hitherto done, of industry, tranquillity, and submission to the laws, ardently hoping, by perseverance in such principles, long to secure a continuance of your Excellency's most gracious countenance and protection. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I am grateful for the testimony you bear to the anxious interest it has been my unceasing endeavour to show alike in all ranks and classes of the community, and in all parts of the country, which his Majesty has graciously committed to my charge. The praiseworthy conduct of the people bears with it its own reward : but when you state, as an additional stimulus to per- 329 severe in such a course, that you may thereby preserve me amongst you, depend upon it, that nothing shall induce me willingly to desert your cause, or forfeit your confidence. INHABITANTS OF MOHILL. MAT IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town of Mohill, in the county of Leitrim, actuated by the proudest feelings of attach- ment to your Excellency's person and government, beg most respectfully to approach you, and welcome, for the first time, your consoling arrival amongst us, as the representative of his most gracious Majesty in Ireland. Unactuated by any motive, except that of gratitude and cordial affection, which your impartial administration of justice inspires, we avail ourselves of the present joyous opportunity, of tendering to you our heartfelt congratulation upon the happy change of our country's con- dition, since the auspicious appointment of your Excellency as its chief governor. Crime and outrage, which, alas, sullied the page of Irish history, have diminished, and whilst that peace and harmony, now universally prevailing in our hitherto distracted country, is chiefly to be attributed to your Excellency, it proves, at the same time, that there are no people on the face of the earth who love equal and impartial justice more than the Irish. On your Excellency's arrival in Ireland you found us excluded victims discontent naturally spread over the land we hailed you as the harbinger of peace, and knowing the heroism with which you interposed between the oppressor and the oppressed in a foreign clime, we regard your appointment as peculiarly adapted to our condition. We rejoice to say, that you fully realized what we anticipated, and, although many acts of local oppression are still perpetrated by some who are inimical to 330 your Excellency's principles, the implicit confidence which we repose on your determination to administer the laws firmly and impartially, have produced that appearance of peace throughout the nation, to which we have long been utter strangers. In conclusion, we beg you to accept our renewed assurance of our unalterable attachment to your Excellency, and to that government of which you are so distinguished a member, and hope that you may long continue to fill that high office, for the honour and stability of the throne, and peace and happiness of this important portion of the empire. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, , I thank you much for the connexion which you arc pleased to have remarked between my former services in another public situation, and the qualifications in a governor, required by the wants of your own country. I have every reason to say, that the Irish are warmly and firmly attached to the principles of impartial justice, which it will always be my desire to administer equally to all. INHABITANTS OF BOYLE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, inhabitants of the town of Boyle and its vicinity, beg leave to approach your Excellency, with humble but heartfelt expres- sions of joy and congratulation, at your Excellency's long- 331 wished-for arrival in this part of the kingdom, and to assure your Excellency of our warmest attachment to his Majesty's sacred person, and our entire confidence in the present enlightened government of this country. When it pleased our beloved Sovereign to select as his representative in this portion of the united kingdom, a noble- man, whose previous administration in another part of the empire had given such proofs of his zeal and ability to promote the interests of the people, and secure respect for the laws, we hailed your Excellency's appointment to the government of Ireland as the harbinger of better days for our too long divided country, as well as an additional proof of his Majesty's paternal solicitude for the welfare and happiness of his faithful people ; and the many improvements in our national condition, with the peace and tranquillity which now happily pervade the land, have fully realized the hopes we then entertained of your Excellency's administration being attended with happiness to the people, and honour to the crown. May your Excellency long continue to enjoy the happiness which must arise from the reflection, that you live in the hearts of a loyal, patriotic, and truly grateful people. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I trust the inhabitants of Boyle will believe, that I cannot be insensible to the manner in which they founded, on the recollection of my former career, in the cause of my country, satisfaction at the selection his Majesty was pleased to make of me, for the administration, in his name, of affairs in this island. It is doubly gratifying that some experience should, in their opinion, have still further justified that choice. 332 l INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN AND COUNTY OF SLIGO. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the freeholders and inhabitants of the town and county of Sligo, on the happy occasion of your arrival among us, present ourselves to offer you our most cordial and respectful welcome ; to renew the assurances of our devoted loyalty to our gracious Sovereign, and to testify the high sense we entertain of your just, firm, and vigorous administration. The great benefits which our country has already realised under your Excellency's government, not only inspire thank- fulness for the past, but afford the strongest anticipations for the future. We seek equality with our fellow-subjects of the other parts of the empire. We require ample justice for our country, and we would be unworthy of that country if we were content with less. To the benevolent intentions of our Sovereign, to the enlightened policy of his ministers, and to the able admi- nistration of your Excellency, we commit our cause. Again, my Lord, we most respectfully bid you welcome among us, and sincerely pray, that you may long continue to enjoy the affections and confidence of a grateful people. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I own, with grateful pride, that this address speaks more than the usual language of complimentary welcome to the person holding the high office I have the honour to fill. To one, whose first desire is to promote, upon all occasion*, points of union amongst Irishmen, it is always acceptable to see any approximation towards that result ; it is most gratifying to find that point of agreement a favourable appreciation of his own exertions in the administration of affairs. It has been my uni- form effort to place you all, in a constitutional point of view, on a footing of perfect equality, both amongst yourselves, and with your fellow-subjects in Great Britain. In all distribution of public trust, in every exercise of my public functions, it has been my endeavour to avoid alike partial favour or positive exclusion. This is the foundation of whatever benefits you kindly state have already been realized. For the future I own I share your favourable anticipations for Ireland, whilst the objects you seek in so admirable a temper, are not party but national. Short as my present stay in Sligo, I am sorry to say, must necessarily be, I cannot consider even this brief visit as ill- timed, when it enables me, in conclusion, to call your attention, as a stimulus to a continuance in your present course, to the gracious manner in which we have just heard that our revered Sovereign has alluded to the improved condition of his Irish people. -. When next we meet, I trust you will then be able to approach me again with the gratifying assurance, that a per- severance in a just and impartial system of government is progressively leading to the results his Majesty so paternally anticipates. ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY OF THE COUNTY OF SLIGO. MAY IT VLB ASK YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Clergy of the county of Sligo, beg leave to approach your Excellency with sentiments of the most profound respect, as the chosen representative of our paternal and beloved Monarch, William the Fourth. Being obliged by our ministry to preach the Gospel to the poor, and to dispense to them the mysteries of our holy religion, we are in constant communication with the people, and can, as witnesses whose veracity cannot be questioned, depose, that they, in common with ourselves, bear pure, true, and undivided allegiance to the Sovereign of the united empire. We repudiate as an unfounded calumny any suggestion to the contrary, let it proceed from what quarter it may, deriving, as we do, competent support from our poor but generous flocks, who, from their scanty means, supply us with all we desire. We cannot be accused of flattery in uniting with thousands in bidding a hearty welcome, to this remote part of Ireland, to the valued nobleman who proved himself the benefactor of the human race in every country and clime in which he exercised the authority with which his Sovereign invested him. When about eighteen months ago the reins of government were confided to your Excellency's hands, our country was in a truly deplorable state ; the prey of violent and adverse factions in the North and South, society was convulsed to its centre, so far as to render both life and property insecure but now (ardent and lasting thanks to your Excellency, who has executed the laws in wisdom, justice, and clemency,) the scene is visibly altered, and we may behold joy and peace (in the midst of many privations) overspreading the land, so that without fear of molestation, any person can journey through this Green Isle. But slightly versed in the 3:15 tbrms of courtly phraseology, permit us, in plain and unvar- nished language, to convey the emotions of joy with which our hearts overflow, in beholding the rare spectacle of a liberal and enlightened Viceroy. Allow us to tender to your Excellency the humble meed of our respect and admiration. We are ready to become efficient auxiliaries to your Excel- lency's government, to bring to a speedy and happy consumma- tion, what we know to be dear to your generous heart, the pacification and improvement of Ireland. 1 We sincerely and fervently pray a long and happy life to our King, and to his invaluable representative ; stability and long continuance in office to the present just and popular ministry. ANSWER. I receive deep gratification from an address so creditable to your own feelings, so flattering in its estimate of my conduct. I have always experienced from you that cooperation which I should expect from faithful ministers of peace, and the present satisfactory state of the country bears testimony to the success- ful exercise of your sacred functions in preaching undivided allegiance to constituted authorities and general good will a'mongst men. INHABITANTS OF TUBBERCURRY. MAY IT PLEASE TOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's dutiful subjects of Tubbercurry, and its vicinity, avail ourselves of this opportunity to congratu- late your Excellency on your arrival in this county, and to assure 336 you of our profound respect tor your person and government ; at the same time to express our gratitude to our revered Sove- reign, for having selected to preside over this kingdom, a noble- man gifted with such discrimination and talent, who so nobly commenced his political career in eloquently assisting to remove the disabilities under which we laboured, and after his hopes were realized, estranged himself from his native country, and went to another hemisphere, undergoing the fatigues and dangers of a pestilential climate, for the humane purpose of setting free a race who differ from us only in colour. After your Excellency conferred all those benefits on the human race, we feel just pride and happiness in seeing you preside over us, inculcating peace, administering equal laws and even-handed justice to all classes of his Majesty's subjects. Such we hail your Excellency's auspicious visit to us, and hope, and most fervently pray, that you may enjoy a long life, assisting the councils of our most gracious Sovereign. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I am much gratified that you should retain so lively a recollection, that very early in my life I devoted myself to the promotion of civil and religious liberty. The allusion to my subsequent career in a foreign clime, and in a sacred cause, merits my thanks, and you do full justice to the objects which I hope to achieve by my government of this country. INHABITANTS AND VISITORS OF BUNDORAN. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Bundoran, and the visitors at the watering place of Bundoran, from several counties of Ireland, beg leave most respectfully to tender to his Majesty, through your Excellency, our most grateful thanks for his paternal soli- citude for the best interests of Ireland, so clearly and practically evinced, in the appointment of a Viceroy, not more distinguished for the brilliancy of his talents and intellectual acquirements, than for the sound wisdom and impartial justice, which have invariably marked your Excellency's administration. Aware that the surest gaurantee of the happiness and pros- perity of a nation, and the efficient means of administering both, is to administer its laws with a steady and impartial hand your Excellency, in dispensing the laws of this country, has known neither religion, nor creed, nor sect. Whilst it was your Excellency's determination that the peaceable and orderly subject should receive the protection of the laws, it has been equally your wish, that the disorderly and turbulent, (no matter how exalted their rank or station,) should not violate them with impunity. Such a wise and judicious course, we ardently hope, will not fail to be productive of the most happy and beneficial results ; the restoration of the tranquillity and order of society ; the extinction of the fell spirit of religious feuds, and the consequent harmonious and social union of persons of every religious deno- mination. Your Excellency, with the wisdom which at once indicates the sound politician and the practical philanthropist, has visited 338 several, indeed most of the districts of Ireland, for the purpose of seeing with your own eyes, the genius, the habits, the wants, and the wishes of her people, the resources of her prosperity, happiness, and wealth. In fine, in no part of the impoverished and suffering districts of this country has the pressure of poverty and distress been more acutely and more severely felt, than in die greater portion of the county of Donegal ; and therefore, we beg leave to offer to your Excellency our most sincere and un- limited thanks for that generous benevolence of heart which has prompted your Excellency to visit our shores, with a view of alleviating those sufferings, and of adopting such wise and salutary measures, as may prevent their future recurrence. That your Excellency may long preside over the destinies of this nation, in the enjoyment of prosperity and health, is our ardent wish and hope. ANSWER. RIGHT REV. SIR, AND GENTLEMEN, I thank you and the residents and visitors of Bun- doran, on whose behalf you speak, for this address. It is gratifying that those who were accidentally assembled for the objects of health, or the purposes of amusement, from different parts of the country, should thus unite in bearing testimony to the honest exertions of my government. Depend upon my perseverance in a course which has been fortunate enough to give such general confidence. 339 CLERGY AND INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF BALLYSHANNON. WE, the clergy and the inhabitants of the town and neigh- bourhood of Ballyshannon, beg leave to approach your Excel- lency, and offer you our cordial congratulations on your arrival in the county of Donegal. During a period of thirty-six years no former Lord Lieutenant has visited this county, nor has any Lord Lieutenant heretofore investigated the means of improving the condition of its people. In this county vast portions of land are the property of absentee noblemen, who seldom or never visit their estates ; in former years, as in the present, the failure of crops, and the pressure of high rents and local taxes, have combined to produce severe distress, contagious diseases, and even actual famine in some districts, while the generosity of the English nation, and occasionally the liberality of the government have been almost the only refuge of the destitute. Your Excellency will have an opportunity, from your own observation, to judge of the patience, submission, and respect for the laws, which the people have maintained, under circumstances calculated to create irritation and discon- tent. We forbear to say any thing of the political questions which have recently occupied the attention of parliament, as connected with Ireland. We respectfully abstain from express- ing to your Excellency, the strong feelings held on these subjects by the people, as we are anxious to avoid every topic at your arrival amongst us that could awaken any sentiments, save those of conciliation and of firm confidence in the administration of which your Excellency is a member. In your Excellency's government we see the disposition of his Majesty to promote the happiness of all classes of his sub- 340 jects, and to distribute equal justice without any regard to sectarian principles the affections of the people are the best reward of your Excellency's generous exertions, and we beg of your Excellency to be assured, that the vast population who have assembled to meet you this day, are grateful to his Majesty for having placed you over them, and anxious to merit the continuance of your zeal for the best interests of this long- neglected country. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank you for this cordial welcome to the county Donegal. You state that within this century, the representative of your Sovereign has never visited this part of the country. Circumstances no doubt have justifiably prevented my prede- cessors from attempting it ; but a negative in those days cannot be held as a precedent, and when the welfare of the people is, however indirectly, concerned, and may be promoted merely at the expense of some personal trouble, I should never stop to consider whether I was doing that which had not been done before. . My attention had been painfully excited by those circum- stances of periodical distress to which you have alluded. I was therefore determined to collect the most accurate information in my power on the subject, most anxious, however, at the same time, to guard against any exaggerated impression that because I felt that in such a state of things something must be wrong, it would therefore be practicable at once to set it right. But the sufferings of the people may be alleviated by sympathy on the part of their rulers, though patience must still be required for the gradual development of any plan for their permanent relief. The sentiments you have this day expressed towards myself, 341 and those with whom I act, convince me that I shall not call in vain for a perseverance in your present praiseworthy conduct. ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND CLERGY OF RAPHOE. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of Raphoe, beg leave to approach your Excellency, and to present to you our dutiful respects and heartfelt welcome to the county of Donegal. Before it pleased our gracious and beloved Sovereign to appoint your Excellency his representative in Ireland, the fame of your illustrious name had reached us ; and we beg to assure you that your Excellency's appointment as Viceroy of Ireland, afforded us the highest gratification, and that the impartial discharge of your arduous duties, has confirmed our hopes that there are better days in store for our long-distracted country. The tranquillity which pervades the large and interesting portion of this diocese, so lately afflicted with distress and famine, is to be attributed to the timely and bountiful relief afforded by that beneficent government, of which your Excel- lency is in this country the head, and to the justice and firmness of your Excellency's administration. In undivided allegiance to our gracious Sovereign, and in profound respect for your Excellency, We, the Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of Raphoe, yield to no other body of men. 342 We have cooperated with the constituted authorities, to maintain tranquillity, and preserve good order in this county, and it shall be our desire, as it is our bounden duty to inculcate charity, and promote social order and peace among all classes. May the Dispenser of all good grant length of days and prosperity to your Excellency, and may your good wishes towards the people of this fine country be realized, and your efforts crowned with success. ANSWER. RIGHT REV. Sin, I return yourself, and the body on whose behalf you speak, my thanks for the assurance of the favourable opinion you declare with regard to myself, and for the gratifying intel- ligence you convey of the improved state of your diocese. You must accept this, as all the occasion enables me to express, of my gratification at this address. INHABITANTS OF DONEGAL. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Donegal and its vicinity generally, impressed with the most profound respect for the laws, and unfeigned loyalty to our most gracious Sovereign, seize the present opportunity of welcoming you, his representa- tive, to this part of the North, and congratulating your Excel- lency on your appointment to the government of this country. 343 That we have not given public expression to our feelings before this, will not, we trust, be attributed to a want of sen- sibility on our part, of the important services rendered to this country, by the firm and impartial administration which your Excellency has exercised since you came amongst us. Under your Excellency's just and decided government, we have observed the growing improvement, as well as the increas- ing tranquillity of the country, while the equitable administra- tion of the law has inspired a degree of confidence in the discharge of the functions of your Excellency's high office, unparalleled before. With the truest sentiments of admiration, we have viewed the deep interest your Excellency has taken in advancing the general condition of Ireland, and this solicitude is more parti- cularly manifested by your Excellency's undertaking the laborious trouble of visiting different parts of the country for the purpose of ascertaining, by personal observation, the resources it contains, and remedying (as far as may be in your power) any evils that may exist. Aware of the many difficulties your Excellency has to en- counter, and convinced that it requires some time to' remedy abuses that have been too deeply settled, still we hope, that under your fostering guidance, we shall be gradually progressing to that station in the realm, which is the object of your Excel- lency's wishes, and which your high and commanding talents; as well as benevolent and liberal mind, are well calculated to secure. That your Excellency may long preside pver us is our fervent prayer, and that, amid the consoling reflections which you must enjoy of having freed from servitude the people of another country, you may have the additional gratification of seeing your successful efforts in contributing to the happiness, welfare, and prosperity of Ireland. 344 . ANSWER. . GENTLEMEN, The advanced hour of the evening to which un- avoidable delays have postponed my arrival in Donegal, obliges me on this occasion, to request you will believe that I am not insensible to the gratifying attention with which you have awaited my coming, and the cheering confidence with which you would encourage me to proceed in the course which has obtained your approbation. INHABITANTS OF KILLYBEGS. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the district of Killybegs, with unmixed feelings of delight at your Excellency's arrival amongst us, anxiously avail ourselves of the opportunity, to offer our grateful thanks to his Majesty's government for the paternal care evinced, and the effectual aid afforded, during the late period of severe and unforeseen distress. We beg to assure your Excellency of our entire confidence in your administration, and whilst we rejoice that under your wise guidance, peace and good order is restored, and justice administered with an impartial hand, we may indulge a hope that remedies will be adopted to meet the periodical distress which but too often appears in these mountainous districts. It is true that distress has prevailed during the past summer, and we would feel happy rf we could assure you that there is no doubtful anticipation for the future ; but we trust that in the 345 career of public improvement which it seems the wise determi- nation of his Majesty's government to pursue, a poor people will not be forgotten, who are more disposed to support themselves by the efforts of honest industry than throw themselves, even in necessity, on the chance of eleemosynary aid. We pray it may be your Excellency's lot long to preside over the destinies of this hitherto neglected country, and to enjoy that health which will enable you to add even new claims to our everlasting gratitude. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I can assure you I feel most grateful for your reception, and for your opinion of the good intentions of my government. I am most desirous upon all occasions to extend the protecting care of the executive to all portions of the people graciously committed to my charge ; but you state most truly, that much must depend upon active and well-directed local cooperation, for it is only by regulated industry that permanent prosperity can be secured. WESLEYAN METHODIST CONGREGATION OF DONKANEELY AND VICINITY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the undernamed members of the Wesleyan Methodist Congregation of Donkaneely and its vicinity, pre- sume thus to approach your Excellency, testifying not only the 346 veneration we feel for the representative of our rightful Sovereign, but, also, the sentiments of exalted esteem and profound respect we entertain for your Lordship's personal character, and well-known principles of moderation and true liberality, and respect for the rights of conscience. We also beg to express the high gratification we feel upon your Excellency's visit to this country, regarding the event as calculated, from the influence of your Lordship's character, and impartial administration, to promote the peace and tranquillity of the country, and unite all classes and denominations of his Majesty's liege subjects, in whatsoever is promotive of the inte- rests of the community, without compromise of those principles which men hold sacred as having reference to God and eternity. Imploring the blessing of the Lord of the universe on this effort of your Excellency to promote the weal of the subjects of your Lordship's administration, we subscribe ourselves your Excellency's humble and obedient servants. ANSWER. . GENTLEMEN, I thank the members of the Wesleyan Methodist Congregation of Donkaneely and its vicinity, for the opinion expressed of my government. I have on other occasions, and in distant lands, known the value of the religious instruction conveyed by the missionaries of your persuasion. I then had it in my power to extend to them protection in the exercise of that religious freedom, which, I have no doubt, you equally respect in others, living in common peace with your neighbours, thereby best fulfilling your duty as Christians. 347 INHABITANTS OF THE PARISH AND TOWN OF ARDARA. WE, the inhabitants of the parish and town of Ardara, beg leave to express our respect and esteem for your Excellency's person, and for the high and responsible office with which it has pleased his Majesty to invest you, as his representative and chief governor of Ireland. We, who have borne the yoke of oppression for centuries in this long neglected and distracted country, have found in your Excellency's person a governor, the supporter of all liberal institutions, not only in forwarding the education of the poor of Ireland, but also in promoting the general welfare of the people, without regard to either sect or party. We also appreciate in your Excellency all the qualities of an able statesman, knowing that the same honourable motives which your Excellency had in visiting other parts of Ireland, have also induced you to come even to the recesses of the mountains of Donegal, that you might see with your own eyes the effects of misgovernment, and the poverty of millions whom you have saved from starvation. We beg to present your Excellency with this humble address, wishing you a prosperous government. ANSWER. GENTI.EMEK, I trust that you will accept in passing the assurance of my gratitude for this reception in Ardara. Depend upon it, 348 I will at all times be ready to listen to the complaints, or to attend to the distresses of the people in any part of the country graciously committed to my charge. By an improved system of regulated industry, and continued confidence in a govern- ment whose intentions are paternal, I hope that there will be no exception to the progressive prosperity of every portion of this fine country. INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF ARDARA. WE, the inhabitants of the town and vicinity of Ardara, beg leave to return your Excellency our sincere thanks for the favour you have done us, by visiting this part of the county Donegal. With heartfelt feelings of gratitude we acknowledge the many benefits you have already conferred upon us, by promoting the education of the poor by promptly attending to the wants of the distressed by supporting all liberal institutions, and by using your best endeavours to do away all party distinctions from amongst us. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, In returning you my best thanks for this address, I gratefully acknowledge that you have rightly estimated the objects of my government; and as you favourably appreciate the benefits already attained thereby, and those which may be anticipated, I doubt not that I shall continue to receive your zealous support. 349 . INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF GLENTIES. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town and vicinity of Glenties, beg leave to approach your Excellency, with the tender of our most respectful congratulations on your arrival in this town, and to express our feelings of respect and attachment to your Excellency, as the representative of our most gracious Sovereign in Ireland. In considering the present improved condition of the country, we feel that our beloved Sovereign has conferred a most signal favour on his Irish subjects, in selecting as our chief ruler a nobleman, whose principle of government is, " equal justice to all," and whose intrepidity and honesty of character, in adhering to that wise maxim, have already produced the happy results of diminishing crime, and of conciliating the respect of the people for, and their confidence in, the administration and protection of the laws. 4 Recognizing in your Excellency all those rare endowments which so eminently qualify your Excellency for the very difficult office of governing where misrule and injustice systematically prevailed, our only anxiety is, that our country may continue to enjoy your Excellency's services, until that order, peace, and prosperity, the end and aim of your Excellency's administration, be fully and permanently established. Convinced that ascendancy of every description is the very bane of Christian charity, and the source of numberless crimes in this unhappy country, we yield to no part of the kingdom in 350 our deep solicitude to support your government, which, in every act repudiates that illiberal policy, and honestly looks to the promotion of the happiness and prosperity of the whole Irish nation. In conclusion, we beg your Excellency to accept the assur- ance of our unalterable attachment to your Excellency, and that government of which you are so distinguished a member, and hope that you may long continue to fill that high office which you have exercised for the honour and stability of the throne, and the peace and happiness of this portion of the empire. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I beg the inhabitants of Glentiea and its vicinity will accept my grateful thanks for this address. Too favourably estimating my personal qualifications, they have rightly defined the wishes of my heart and the objects of my government. Honoured with the continued confidence of my Sovereign, and supported by the affections of the people, I trust that success may not be altogether withheld from my efforts for the amelioration of Ireland. 351 INHABITANTS OF THE PARISHES OF TEMPLE- CRONE AND LETTERMACKAWARD. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the parishes of Temple- crone and Lettermackaward, beg leave to tender to your Excellency, as the representative of our most gracious King, the homage of our humble duty and profound respect, enter- taining in common with the rest of Ireland, sentiments of the strongest attachment to your person, and of admiration of the enlightened and paternal policy which you have pursued since your auspicious appointment to the government of Ireland ; we feel the deepest gratitude for the promptitude with which you hearkened to the cry of distress forwarded through Mr. Dora- brain, and the liberality with which you rescued from starvation a large portion of the population of these parishes. In this the first visit of a Lord Lieutenant to our wild and mountainous district, we discover an additional proof of your paternal solici- tude to improve the condition of the people, however humble or obscure, by personal observation of their situation and their wcnts. We cordially re-echo the repeated declaration made by your Excellency, of an earnest desire to promote the pros- perity of Ireland, by the development of her resources, and the promotion of harmony and good feeling amongst all classes of her inhabitants, and, for ourselves, we can truly affirm, that no religious dissensions, or consequent party feuds have ever been admitted amongst us ; and we have much satisfaction in being able to assure your Excellency, that you are now in one of the most peaceable districts of this island, and that predial outrage or crime of any kind scarcely exist amongst us. We beg to offer our congratulation to your Excellency, on what we believe is to you a source of the highest satisfaction, as it ought to be :J52 of the justcst pride, the absence of crime, and the universal tran- quillity which now reigns throughout Ireland, admittedly the fruits of your firm and impartial, yet conciliatory administration of the laws, and of the full confidence reposed by the people of Ireland in the disposition and intentions of your Excellency and his Majesty's present ministry to do full and complete justice to Ireland ; and, though your intentions have for the present been frustrated and your efforts defeated, yet we are prepared to await with patience their accomplishment, to submit even to wrongs unredressed, and rights withheld, on condition of your Excel- lency's benign and paternal rule being continued to us. We hail the arrival amongst us of the generous, the enlightened, and the high-minded Mulgrave, a name that is written in cha- racters of affection and of love on every heart that is truly Irish ; that you may live to witness the accomplishment of, we are satisfied, your dearest wish, the people of this country united, prosperous, and happy, and to enjoy, to you the sweetest reward, the consciousness of having achieved that desirable consum- mation, is the ardent wish and fervent aspiration of the inhabitants of these parishes, containing a population of over ten thousand souls. ANSWER. . GENTLEMEN, The gratifying commentary with which you have so flatteringly marked your favourable astention to all the past acts of my government, demands that I should, for the present, assure you of my gratitude, and for the future, pledge myself by every effort in my power to continue to deserve an ever ready reward in the affections of the warm-hearted Irish people. 353 INHABITANTS OF CLONDAHONKY, KILMACRE- NAN, MEVAGH, AND CLONDAVADOCK. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's most faithful and loyal subjects, inhabitants of the parishes of Clondahonky, Kilmacrenan, Mevagh, and Clondavadock, approach your Excellency with the sincerest and warmest feelings of attachment and respect, impelled by our national feelings of gratitude and love, for your Excellency's bountiful exertions on behalf of a suffering and hitherto distracted country ; for your impartial administra- tion of justice ; for your charitable and benevolent relief, as well as your parental and fostering watchfulness over the interests and condition of our common country, and of this extensive and peaceable county in particular, we beg humbly, yet strongly and fervently, to offer your Excellency our honest and heartfelt acknowledgments for your great condescension and kindness in thus personally inquiring into, and administering to our dire necessities. Unused as we are to such honour and distinction, our feelings too full, and unexpectedly excited, and consequently embarrassed for utterance, we are, therefore, at a loss adequately to convey them either in justice to ourselves or your Excel- lency's merit ; which reasons, we hope, will also excuse this weak demonstration of our affections, and our confidence towards a Viceroy so devoted to the interests of Ireland ; and we trust that under the direction of a gracious Providence, we may, by obedience to the laws, and attention to your Excellency's wishes, insure welfare and happiness to our country, and best attest the delight and attachment we have towards his Majesty's government, and the feelings we entertain towards one so auspi- ciously sent to preside over a nation formerly the prey to both party and faction. 2 A 354 My Lord, we hold the most unbounded confidence in the healing and effective policy of your administration, as well as your Excellency's enlightened mind and firmness of purpose. And we congratulate your Excellency and our beloved Sove- reign, upon the unexampled tranquillity and peaceful state of the country at large, notwithstanding the machinations and inge- nious devices of the enemies of good order ; and we promise your Excellency all the support in our power, to consolidate and strengthen the permanency and efficacy of your Excellency's government by every legal act and constitutional means in our power, in the stability of which the hopes of ourselves and fellow-countrymen are bound up. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, Nothing can be more gratifying than the terms in which, in behalf of the parishes, whose sentiments you convey, you express personal attachment and political confidence. Accept my cordial thanks for this address. TENANTRY OF CAPTAIN HART UPON THE DOE ESTATES. WE hail your Excellency's arrival in our district, as the guarantee of the peace and tranquillity which has ever been the blessing of the county of Donegal. We wish to live in peace and to support the laws of his most gracious Majesty, and to express our gratitude for his having given power to your Excellency to relieve the distress, under which, by the provi- dence of God, we have of late been permitted to labour. 355 We desire, also, humbly to thank your Excellency, tor the fostering care you have manifested, and for the honour and kindness you have now done us, in personally inquiring into our circumstances. Through the bounty of God we are blessed with the riches of nature and we trust we are not destitute of faithful and willing hearts ; we only require the means of taking advantage of the one and shewing the feelings of the other. We hope your Excellency will pardon this honest expression of our sentiments, and believe us that our united wishes are for your Excellency's prosperity, and for the continuance of the kindnesses you have evinced towards Ireland, and now particu- larly to us. The unprecedented honour of your Excellency's visit to this part of the country, has encouraged us to indulge the hope, (though situated at the remotest border of the British empire,) that under the auspices of his Majesty's government, which has chosen your Excellency to be the harbinger of this welcome dawning of peace and good will, our prospects shall continue to brighten ; and all we now desire, is to be assured of the kindly dispositions of his Majesty's advisers, in order to render him not only ruler of the land, but ruler of our hearts. We humbly pray, that in the office and authority committed to you, your Excellency's councils may be directed by Infinite Wisdom, and upheld by Almighty Power, and that we may be kept in love and obedience towards his Majesty and his repre- sentative. We bid your Excellency welcome to our country ; our words are few and feeble, but the feeling of our hearts is, that we 350 welcome those who wish us well, and we gladly regard your Excellency's visit as a pledge of paternal love from our most gracious Sovereign. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank you for the sentiments so admirably expressed in this address. Be assured that I shall never conceive the inhabitants of any portion of the land graciously committed to my charge, too distant to command my immediate attention whenever occasion requires, and I trust that the personal inspection I have thought it right to undertake, will be instruc- tive to myself and beneficial to you. THE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION OF DUNFANAGHY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the minister, elders, and people of the Presby- terian congregation of Dunfanaghy, beg leave to approach your Excellency, to hail with joy and gratitude your arrival in this part of the country, as the representative of our beloved and most gracious Sovereign, William IV. " To search out the causes of distress which you knew not," whereby you have exhibited a truly Christian and impartially philanthropic spirit, in becoming " a father to the poor," who were ready to perish for lack of food, not only here, but in other parts of the country. 357 We also acknowledge with joy and gratitude, that by the truly Christian and impartial administration of the laws of the land by your Excellency, since your elevation to the high and exalted station which you at present occupy, the demon of discord, which, in times past, rankled in the breasts of the inha- bitants of our land, and perverted every feeling of the heart, to the disgrace of humanity and religion, is now shrouded in the tomb ; and we also trust, that by an equally uniform and impar- tial administration of the law, peace in Ireland, " and good will among all ranks and denominations in it," will soon be uni- versally prevalent, and that " the lion and the lamb will soon lie down together, and every man love his neighbour as himself." Moreover, we cannot omit acknowledging with feelings of indescribable gratitude, the kindness, the honour, and the unwearied attention which your Excellency has, on all occa- sions, manifested to that portion of the Church of Scotland, in Ireland, of which we are a part. And for the kindnesses and honours referred to above, may the blessing of those who were ready to perish come upon your Excellency, and may the King of Peace grant you uninterrupted peace in this world, and in the world to come never-ending peace, and a crown of glory, immortality, and eternal life, is the sincere prayer of your very grateful and loyal well-wishers. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I gratefully accept this address, as expressive of favourable consideration of the acts of my government, bespeak- ing, at the same time, a truly Christian spirit towards your neighbours. You may depend upon my perseverance in the 358. course which you feel beneficial to the people of all classes in this country, and I desire no higher reward than the prayers of good men. . INHABITANTS OF MUFF AND SURROUNDING DISTRICTS. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Muff and the surrounding districts, assembled in public meeting at Iskahun, on the 21st instant, beg leave most respectfully to approach your Excellency with an address, expressive of the great pleasure we feel at this your Excellency's second visit to the county Donegal. We are firm and zealous supporters of his Majesty's present minis- ters, and sincerely attached to your Excellency's person and government. Your Excellency's distinguished administration in the West Indies, and the blessings and advantages resulting from it, were well known in this country previous to your Excellency's arrival amongst us, as the representative of our most gracious Sove- reign. And we look to the period of your Excellency's administration as the commencement of a new and happy era for Ireland, of which its present unexampled state of tranquillity affords ample testimony. We are convinced that your Excellency, in common with his Majesty's ministers, intended to introduce reforms most bene- ficial for Ireland, but have hitherto been prevented from realiz- ing your kind intentions by a party acting in opposition to a majority of the people's representatives. 359 . ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank you for your personal attention in meeting me here this day with this address, and am grateful for the assu- rances contained in it of the support his Majesty's government may rely upon receiving from that district in whose behalf you speak. PARISH OF EAST TULLOGHBIGLEY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, To accept this document as a testimony of the grate- ful feelings of our hearts, which words can but feebly express, and permit us to declare our cordial concurrence in the senti- ments of respect and attachment which the people of Ireland have so justly manifested towards your Excellency. We exceed- ingly rejoice that you, the King's representative, have deigned to come among us and honour us with your presence. We hail the arrival amongst us of the impartial and generous Mul grave. a name that is written in characters of gratitude and affection on every heart that is truly Irish. We return thanks to the Giver of all good gifts, for having placed over us a governor so just and impartial, and for having given him the heart and the wisdom of administering even-handed justice. We also offer our grateful acknowledgments for the timely supply of provisions sent to those districts, which rescued thousands from starvation. We fervently offer up our prayers to the Almighty that he may shower on you his choicest blessings and graces, and that you may on the final day of retribution, hear those consolatory words of our blessed Redeemer, " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord." ANSWER. I cordially thank the inhabitants of the district of East Tul- loghbigley for their address, and beg them to believe that I very much regret the accidental circumstance, which in ignorance of the welcome they had kindly prepared for me, occasioned me to deviate from the route that would have conducted me through their district, and thus prevented me receiving in person this assurance of their feelings towards me. I am happy to learn that the measures taken by the govern- ment for the relief of the distress which earlier in the year prevailed in their part of the country, were not unproductive of good ; and I trust that habits of industry on their part will, under the blessing of Providence, avert a similar calamity in any future season. INHABITANTS OF LETTERKENNY. MAY IT PLEASE YOUB EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, proprietors, freeholders, and inhabitants of the town of Letter- kenny and its vicinity, hail with feelings of no ordinary gratitude, the presence of our chief governor amongst us. 361 Your Excellency's political life was early distinguished by relieving an oppressed class of our fellow-creatures in another quarter of the globe ; and acting now upon a nobler stage, your illustrious career rapidly increases in its splendour, by your labours to gain the confidence and establish the happiness of Irishmen, his Majesty's dutiful subjects, of all denominations, throughout the kingdom. We feel deeply impressed with the local importance of your Excellency's visit to the county of Donegal, disclosing as it necessarily does, to your Excellency's immediate and enlightened view, the condition, the wants, and the interests of its distressed inhabitants, whilst it encourages us to exult in the expectation of having speedily developed under your Excellency's auspices, the numerous capabilities of this important district ; particularly the well-stocked fisheries round our coast, which, if duly encou- raged, would become a source of opulence to our merchants, and of beneficial industry to our vast and increasing population, and a certain means, under Providence, of preventing those fre- quent visitations of scarcity, which we have recently so painfully witnessed. It is an unexampled incident in this country, at least as far as our recollections can go back, to see the representative of Majesty seeking the acquisition of useful and practical know- ledge, with the ceaseless energy, and to the great extent displayed in your Excellency's progress through Ireland ; even the remotest parts of this hitherto unexplored county, have not been deemed unworthy of your personal investigation, assisted on the spot by the resident intelligence of each respective neighbourhood, the surest way of obtaining correct information of the situation of the people, whilst it exhibits at the same time, in the strongest light, your Excellency's paternal solicitude for the general welfare of the land. 362 We beg, on taking leave of your Excellency, to wish you and your amiable Lady, long and happy lives, and conclude by fer- vently praying, that you may soon see all your good intentions, towards the kingdom at large, happily realized. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I thank you for the flattering retrospect you hare taken of my early life, and the favourable estimate you have formed of my present exertions. The state of many districts in your neighbourhood does require the most anxious attention of the government, but I am sure you will perceive, that the only change which can be permanently beneficial, must be gradually developed. In conclusion, I assure you of my most sincere gratitude for your present good wishes. . i INHABITANTS OF ENNISKILLEN. MAT IT PLEASE TOUB EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of Enniskillen and its vicinity, gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded us by your present auspicious visit, to tender our dutiful respects to the representative of our revered Monarch. Should we address your Excellency in terms expressive of the manner in which we estimate your administration, it might appear the language of adulation ; on this subject we would therefore be silent, but we cannot, however, abstain from ex- 363 pressing our conviction that your Excellency is doing more to assuage the excited passions of the people, to establish harmony amongst them, and to cement an indissoluble union between the sister kingdoms, than has ever been effected by any of your predecessors. The people of Ireland expected much from the early and enlightened advocate of civil and religious liberty, and the emancipator of the slave, nor have they been disappointed. The measures of the government, of which in Ireland you are the illustrious head, are eminently calculated to realize our hopes, and now that you have with your own eyes beheld through its length and breadth, the condition of the country, have witnessed the dispositions of its inhabitants, and have seen their necessities and their wants, your Excellency will, we doubt not, use your utmost efforts to secure for them such rights and immunities as are enjoyed, by their fellow-subjects in England and Scotland, notwithstanding the resistance of those opposed to all reform. We forbear adverting to the causes of distress and distraction in Ireland in times gone by, because in your Excellency's government we perceive the determination of our most gracious Sovereign to administer justice to all classes of his subjects, and as we confidently anticipate that the establishment of concord must be the result of your Excellency's mode of discharging the functions of your exalted station, we beg, in conclusion, to convey our heartfelt gratitude to his Majesty for consigning the government of this country to a nobleman upon whom we look as the harbinger of peace. 364 ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, The character with which in conclusion you would invest me, is one for which I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude. It is indeed the highest compliment, the most ines- timable reward, to be considered as the harbinger of peace amongst you. It is true that early in life I contributed my humble efforts to the removal of legislative bars to the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty ; that later I laboured to eradicate the foul disgrace of human slavery but I consider it now an equally important and interesting task to endeavour to establish perfect and practical constitutional equality between all classes of the inhabitants of a free country. No one could really believe that, sincerely attached to the Reformed Faith in which I have been educated, I could ever desire to show favor to any other to the detriment of that which I myself profess but I can respect the opinions of others whilst I cherish my own, and by resolutely resisting ascendancy on any side, and in any shape, I think I best fulfil the wishes of that gracious Sovereign whom I repre- sent, and enforce the enactments of that legislature of which I am a member. I would seek the utter oblivion of personal as well as political distinctions on account of differences in religion. Of this I am sure that social harmony must be the foundation of national prosperity. By the encouragement of kindly feelings amongst you and the distribution of impartial justice to all, I feel that I am best advancing the interests of Ireland by most firmly cementing an indissoluble union with your fellow-subjects in Great Britain. 365 INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF BELTURBET. WE, the undersigned inhabitants of the town and neighbour- hood of Belturbet, beg leave to present our most dutiful respects to your Excellency, and to offer our most grateful acknowledg- ments for your Excellency's endeavours to promote the pros- perity and welfare of this country ; and as the chief motive for your Excellency's visit to our country has been to ascertain the best manner of effecting this generous object, we humbly hope that the town and neighbourhood of Belturbet may participate in the benefits which will mark your Excellency's progress. We beg leave to state, that we are living on the banks of Lough Erne, which presents a natural line of navigation of between forty and fifty miles in length, and that a great part of our com- merce is carried on by means of this navigation, which, however imperfect, is public property, and toll free. That we are assured by the engineers who have surveyed the lake, and by others, that a very small sum of money would render these fifty miles of natural navigation navigable for steamers, and there are persons ready to put steamers on the lake, if this was accomplished. That the government have at different times employed engi- neers, and have laid out large sums of money in improving the navigation of the Shannon, which has opened the way for the most advantageous establishments, and has greatly promoted the industry and welfare of the adjacent counties. . That we humbly hope that your Excellency will not think us unreasonable in seeking similar advantages, and we therefore earnestly request that your Excellency will send an engineer to make a plan and estimate of such works as may be absolutely necessary to render the lake navigable for steamers from Beltur- bet, and from the mouth of the Ulster canal at Wattlebridge, to Enniskillen and Belleek. We farther beg leave to state, that there are two naval officers now making a nautical survey, under the directions of the Admiralty, which they have nearly completed, and it would be very important if your Excellency would send down the engi- neer before these officers and their boats left the lake, that they might assist the engineer with such information as might be necessary, which they are peculiarly well enabled to give, as this is the second year they have been upon the lake, and have thus observed it with great care under its varied appearances, and also, that they might make such further survey as the engineer might require. We confidently hope that your Excellency hereafter may look back with satisfaction to having made available the great re- sources with which nature has presented us, but which have hitherto been nearly neglected ; and that in perfecting the navigation of Lough Erne, we, and all the numerous inhabi- tants of its banks, may ever have reason to be grateful to your Excellency, and to honour your name. ANSWER. MB. HIGH SHERIFF AND GENTLEMEN, I truly thank you for the sense you entertain and express of my zealous endeavours to promote the welfare and prosperity of this country. The object of my present tour having more peculiarly been to make inquiries and observations as to the actual condition of more distant parts, I have not left myself upon this occasion time to make the matters to which you refer, the subject of more particular personal investigation. 367 1 therefore accept and will bear in mind this mention of your wishes in the shape of an address, will communicate with the officers of the establishment to which you allude, and should the obstacles which so often interpose to prevent the commence- ment of an entirely novel undertaking of this description not be found insurmountable, I should, indeed, be most happy if hereafter, as you anticipate, my name should be connected with the improvement of a part of the country so favoured by nature and fostered by industry. INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF CAVAN. MAT IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the town of Cavan, and of the adjoining parishes, beg leave to approach your Excellency with sentiments of the deepest respect and gratitude. We beg to assure your Excellency that we yield to no portion of his Majesty's subjects in veneration for his royal person, and attachment to our ancient constitution. We beg also to assure your Excellency that our gratitude to his Majesty for the cordial feeling which he has always exhibited towards the Irish people, has been considerably enhanced by the judicious selection of a Viceroy, in the person of your Excel- lency, whose humane and judicious course of government in a distant land, gave happy presage of that exalted policy which since you arrived in this country has endeared you to the hearts of the Irish people. Ardently attached as we have ever been to those liberal and enlightened views which at present guide his Majesty's councils, we have beheld with feelings of unmixed satisfaction the 3G8 research of the scholar and the wisdom of the statesman happily united in the person of your Excellency, with that innate energy of character which was so necessary (from the state of society in this country) to work out the practical details of those measures which the liberality of the British legislature has given as an earnest of its future justice. We sincerely hope and trust that your Excellency may long continue as the Viceroy of our gracious Sovereign, and a distin- guished member of his present enlightened government, dis- charging your high and important functions with that wisdom and impartiality which have hitherto characterized your admi- nistration, and produced that respect for the laws, and confidence in the executive which must ever form the basis of genuine loyalty. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, You cannot overrate his Majesty's gracious consi- deration for the interests of his Irish subjects of all classes and denominations, and I am sure that one of the first wishes of his paternal heart is to see them happy and united. I am proud that you should consider my appointment as his representative as an additional mark of his favor. . You may rely upon my perseverance in firmly, and I trust, temperately working out the details of that policy which has been fortunate enough to receive such general support, and which, by abolishing all distinctions of caste, and promoting cordial feelings amongst all, will, in time, I trust, be crowned with success in establishing on a secure basis the universal inte- rests of Ireland. . COUNTY OF WICKLOW. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the inhabitants of the county of Wicklow in public meeting convened by the High Sheriff, approach your Excellency with expressions of satisfaction at your government, and rejoice that you have received the congratulations of the people of Ireland. a His Majesty has expressed in his closing speech to parliament, the gratification he felt at the tranquillity of Ireland, and this is one of the consequences of the just and impartial system of government which has distinguished your Excellency's career. Thus you have effected a most desirable object, and in this country one of rare occurrence, you have obtained the approba- tion of the King, and you also have secured that of the people. Your Excellency not only has administered with justice the laws of the land, but you have begun even to render popular the police of this country a species of force which we cannot but declare to be unconstitutional in its nature and unknown in a free country, and only to be palliated by the peculiar circumstances in which Ireland was placed. But your Excellency will please to observe, that eight thousand armed men cannot keep in obedience eight millions of people, and that it is not the force, but the nature and quality of the law which that force administers, that gives strength, efficacy, and durability to governments. Therefore, Sir, it is, that most respectfully and most firmly we declare, that to secure tranquillity or render permanent the popu- larity of your administration, those laws of which Ireland has 2 B 370 complained must be altered, fur it' we are to remain united to Great Britain, it is only by the participation of equal rights and liberties. We therefore claim equal justice with her. We claim a reform as extensive in the abuses of our corpora- tions. We claim that they should be rendered subject to vigilant popular control. But in particular we claim an alteration in the tithe system, and we confidently assert that peace cannot be established in Ireland, unless such alteration be adopted. Solicitous for the continuance of your Excellency's adminis- tration, we earnestly entreat that you will submit to his Majesty and his ministers our sentiments of loyalty and attachment, but at the same time this our firm resolve, never to desist from the pursuit of these national and legitimate objects. Subjects of the same King, the Irish must be governed by equal laws, and enjoy equal rights and equal liberties with England and Scotland. We therefore ask to be put on an equality, for in no other situation will Ireland consent to stand. Hoping that your Excellency may long continue to govern this part of the empire, we fondly trust that you will lend your aid for the attainment of these national objects, whereby the ties between the governor and governed will be drawn still closer, your Excellency will receive additional thanks, and on Ireland you will confer additional obligations. 371 ANSWER. MR. HIGH SHERIFF AND GENTLEMEN, I thank you most sincerely for your congratulations on the tranquillity of the country, and for these expressions of the favourable sense you entertain of the tendency of my govern- ment. I feel assured that by extending impartial protection alike to every class of his Majesty's subjects, I best fulfil the intentions, and earn the approbation of our most gracious Sovereign, whose reign has been happily marked by the triumphant establishment of so many salutary reforms, formerly so long denied. . You will not expect that on this occasion I should say more with regard to any legislative enactments, than that I should naturally desire that those principles of government which I make the guide of my executive functions, should be established on the most permanent basis. You have alluded to the altered feeling with regard to the constabulary, remarking, at the same time, on the nature of that force. No one could desire more than I should, that the period might come, when its peculiar character could be safely altered ; but, as many other changes requiring time, must pre- cede that desirable result, I am convinced that I am best confirming the growing confidence in the impartial propriety of its proceedings of which you speak, by continuing to appoint the most able officers to perfect its discipline and insure its efficiency, always keeping within my own immediate superin- tendence the control of its conduct. 372 I am grateful for your wishes for the continuance of my government, which I should not desire to retain a moment longer than I felt that its best exertions were directed to secure to Ireland a perfect equality with every other portion of the united empire. COUNTY OF LIMERICK. MAT IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the freeholders and inhabitants of the county of Limerick, in public meeting assembled, convened by the high sheriff in accordance with a public requisition, for the special purpose of testifying our deep sense of your Excellency's many and irresistible claims to the approbation and confidence of the Irish people, gladly avail ourselves of the occasion to record our conviction of the manifold benefits resulting to this long dis- tracted country, from the wise and impartial administration of the laws of our happy constitution, which has characterized your Excellency's government of this portion of his Majesty's domi- nions, a steady perseverance in which can alone, in our opinion, secure the tranquillity of Ireland, and promote the prosperity of the empire. From an attentive observance of your Excellency's career, in the exalted station to which, happily for our country, a paternal Monarch has called your Lordship, we confidently affirm that all your acts have been signalized by a laudable anxiety to promote the public welfare alone, and to dispense, in the genuine spirit of the British constitution, equal justice to all 373 classes of his Majesty's subjects, the happy consequences ef which wise policy are already manifest in that more spontaneous and cheerful obedience to the authority and supremacy of the law on the part of the great mass of our population, than has unfortunately for themselves, and for our common country, dis- tinguished them for the last century. That partial excesses, emanating from local causes, and not unfrequently incident to even the soundest state of society, should still from time to time recur in particular districts, we are by no means surprised, and, however much we may deplore their existence, we are far from considering them a disparage- ment to your Excellency's enlightened policy hitherto, or any discouragement to your frequently expressed determination to persevere therein ; for had the spirit of your Excellency's admi- nistration supplanted the pernicious councils and selfish policy of former days, for as many years as it has months, sufficient time would have hardly elapsed, to heal the wounds and efface the anomalies, which a long course of injustice inflicted on our country. But all gloomy retrospects give way to bright antici- pations of future ameliorations, which your Excellency's well- known firmness of mind, discretion, wisdom, and impartiality so justly inspire us with. Depending upon a long continuance of the benign influence, inseparable from your Excellency's exercise of supreme execu- tive authority in this portion of our gracious Sovereign's dominions, we confidently calculate upon our country speedily attaining all the blessings of internal tranquillity, together with a rapid advancement in the arts of peace, commerce, and civili- zation. 37-1 * , ' ANSWER. MR. HIGH SHERIFF, I can with perfect truth assure you, that of all the addresses which I have had the honour to receive since his Majesty was graciously pleased to commit to my charge this portion of his dominions, there has been none more calculated to make a deep impression on my mind, than that which you have now conveyed to me, expressing the sentiments of such an important body in terms so flattering to myself, and at the same time deliberately proclaiming, from actual experience, the generally improved state of the country. Whilst I cannot but disclaim the individual merit which, on that account, you so kindly ascribe to my anxious endeavours, I must with grati- tude acknowledge such has been the concurrent result. You state most truly, that that improvement so widely felt and so generally acknowledged in the condition of the people, and in their willing obedience to constituted authority, is not to be controverted by partial excesses, which we may still occasionally deplore in particular districts, arising from causes to which, as you state, every society must at all times be subject. One could only pity the perverted feelings of any person who would cherish individual instances of this description, and endea- vour on such grounds to perpetuate the stigma of their country, lest credit should collaterally be given to government for a pro- gressive improvement, resting on the authority of the ministers of the law, and willingly testified from the seats of justice. I feel, in conclusion, that by steadfast perseverance in that line of conduct, which has been fortunate enough to elicit this gratifying expression of your approbation, I shall best prove my continued attachment to the interests of Ireland, and my increasing gratitude for the confidence of her people. 375 BARONIES OF UPPER AND LOWER DULEEK. * MAY IT PLEASE YOUU EXCELLENCY, WE, the undersigned inhabitants of the baronies of Upper and Lower Duleek, in the county of Meath, beg leave to approach your Excellency for the purpose of expressing those feelings of unaffected delight with which your equitable admi- nistration of the laws in the government of Ireland, has filled the hearts of seven millions of his Majesty's loyal and devoted subjects. Your Excellency's brilliant talents, profound political wisdom, and perfect honesty of principle as a statesman, so admirably displayed in your early advocacy of civil and religious liberty, and your philanthropic exertions to procure freedom for the unhappy negro slave, had won our affections and commanded our respect long before we had the blessing of being placed under your parental protection ; we, therefore, hailed with joy your appointment to the Viceroyalty of our country as a sure pledge of that enlightened policy and of that impartial justice which would lead to its rapid amelioration. We have now only to assure your Excellency that our most sanguine anticipations have been fully realized by your noble conduct, on every occa- sion, since your arrival amongst us. We cannot omit the opportunity afforded by your Excellency's visit to our neighbourhood, of conveying to your Excellency the grateful sense we entertain of that spirit of liberality and honesty which his Majesty's government has exhibited in the introduction of those salutary measures of reform and effective improvement in Church and State, which, if permitted to pass into law, must ensure to all classes their constitutional rights, and place the peace and prosperity of this hitherto distracted land on a fixed and permanent foundation. 376 In conclusion, we take leave to express our ardent hope that Providence may long preserve that life on which the tranquil regeneration of our beloved country so mainly depends. ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, I request you will convey to the inhabitants of the baronies of Duleek the assurance of my sincere gratitude for these cordial expressions of attachment. . Your allusion to circumstances in my past career, unconnected with this country, excite in my mind those natural feelings of gratification which a favourable appreciation of one's best endea- vours to do one's duty cannot fail to produce. It is every way gratifying that your opinion thus formed, should have induced you to hail his Majesty's gracious appointment of myself to the government of this country that experience should have con- tirmed this confidence, and that you should thus kindly couple my continuance amongst you with your best hopes for the rege- neration of Ireland. ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY AND INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF NAVAN. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE, the Roman Catholic clergy and inhabitants of the town of Navan, in the county of Meath, hail with delight and with gratitude the accomplishment of your Excellency's gracious promise to honour our town with a visit, and we beg to assure your Excellency that your thus coming amongst us on 377 tins a on the former occasion, is to us a consoling evidence of the confidence which your Excellency so justly places in the loyal and peaceful disposition of the Irish people ; a confidence not only highly honourable to us, but most creditable to your own exalted character, founded as it is in the rectitude of your Excellency's benevolent intentions. Time and experience have but served to confirm us in the opinion which we were first taught to entertain of your Excellency's wisdom and goodness. We have witnessed your Excellency's impartial administration of existing laws, and we have in the past, ample assurance that for the future your wise and paternal exertions will not be wanting to secure the aboli- tion of all unjust and oppressive enactments, and thereby establish the peace and prosperity of this long distracted country. As your Excellency has won the applause and commanded the esteem and affection of every people of every clime where your influence extended, by performing your duty courageously in spite of every opposition ; in like manner you have enlisted our feelings and gained our hearts ; and we earnestly pray that your Excellency may long continue to govern and protect us, until your Excellency shall have the proud gratification to see wretchedness, feuds, and dissensions banished from our shores, and to witness in their stead contentment and plenty flourishing through the land. ANSWER. . GENTLEMEN, I thank you for this your cordial welcome upon my second visit to the town of Navan. I much regretted that, upon the last occasion, circumstances over which I had no control, had protracted my arrival till so 378 late ail hour in the evening, as to cause disappointment to thousands whom I still found assembled. I am most grateful for this expression of continued confidence in my govern- ment. If that time and experience to which you allude, have as yet enabled me to execute but a very small portion of my wishes in your behalf, yet, every moment has certainly tended to confirm a lively hope, that that improvement in the condition of the Irish people, of which their present conduct shews them so worthy, may be steadily effected by patience on your side, and perseverance on my own part, and that of those with whom I act on his Majesty's behalf. INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF TRIM. MAT IT PLEASE YOUK EXCELLENCY, WE, his Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects the inhabitants of the town of Trim and its vicinity, gladly avail ourselves of the present opportunity to express our cordial attachment to your Excellency's person, and our perfect con- fidence in your impartial administration. The ancient town of Trim has frequently been the residence of your Excellency's predecessors and royalty, at times, has lodged within its walls that stern fortress whose massive ruins still attest its former strength and magnificence, has in the olden time resounded with the clang of arms, and poured forth its haughty chivalry to ravage the possessions of the " Irish enemy," or to curb the dissensions of the lords of " the pale." Such scenes are happily passed away for ever, and the Lord Deputy of Ireland now enters within our walls, the friend of 379 peace, the patron of literature and the arts, the lover of freedom, and the dispenser of equal and impartial justice to a grateful and attached people. The " donjon-keep" still frowns above us, but the feudal and despotic principles which caused its elevation, have yielded to the spread of knowledge and refinement, and it now remains only an interesting object of study to the historian or the antiquary. Thus, we fondly hope, before many years shall have elapsed under the mild and beneficent sway of your Excellency, that those unfortunate feuds and wretched party distinctions which so long have afflicted and disgraced our country, may be looked upon as matters of history also, and only to be remembered as an awful warning both for rulers and people ; and that Irishmen of every class and denomination will at length be impressed with the conviction, that the possession of the rights of freemen by all, is a more proud and glorious destiny, than the enjoyment of the privileges of ascendancy by a few. We regret that our neighbourhood possesses few inducements to prolong your stay amongst us, but your Excellency may rest assured that you bear with you our anxious wishes for your health and happiness, and our fervent prayers for the success of your enlightened exertions to regenerate our country. Other parts of Ireland may be enabled to receive your Excellency with more pomp and magnificence, yet none can express sentiments of respect more sincere, or possess feelings of attachment more ardent than the inhabitants of Trim. i 380 ANSWER. In returning you, as the representative of your Sovereign, my sincere thanks for this expression of personal attachment and confidence, I must at the same time assure you of the pleasure I have derived from the eloquent and appropriate terms in which you have called my attention to the circum- stantial recollections of your neighbourhood. The language of this address, in its reflections on the past and its speculations for the future, shews a happy union of admiration for that which is interesting, even in its decay, with a solid appreciation of that which is most valuable in its actual progress. I felt certain that I could not be disappointed in a personal inspection of the time-honoured site of this ancient town. Nor amidst the treasured traditions of former ages can one forget that even in this generation, the town of Trim has increased her future store of historical associations. No lengthened experience of the blessings of peace, no happily altered circum- stances of political amelioration can make one, on the part of posterity, indifferent to the record of the neighbouring nativity of that man whose fame, as the greatest warrior of an eventful age, is public property, in value proportioned to the just pride felt in that national glory to which, under his command, his brother Irishmen by their valour so largely contributed. You have said most truly that, with the progress of know- ledge and refinement, not only has the donjon-keep of feudal tyranny become tenantless, but the equally arbitrary bonds of privileged subjection have burst asunder; the result, I trust, will be the utter oblivion of all party distinctions in the univer- sal acknowledgment of equal rights. Though some few may for a time cling to prejudice, and, sheltering themselves behind that broken-down barrier of the mind, which the resistless pro- 381 ' gress of opinion has overthrown, haunt the defenceless ruins of a power no less obsolete than that of the feudal fortress, still on the fair field of common national interests, all must amicably meet at last ; for in these days of enlightenment, whatever temporary obstacles may occasionally exist to the onward march of improvement, the active principle of every government must be guided by the deliberate opinion, when perfectly ascertained and peaceably pronounced, of the reasoning majority of the entire people. COUNTY CAVAN. MAT IT PLEASE YOUB EXCELLENCY, WE, the undersigned noblemen, gentlemen, clergy, freeholders, and inhabitants of the county of Cavan, beg leave to express to your Excellency our sentiments of warm and respectful attachment, not only as the zealous, firm, and benig- nant representative of our most gracious and beloved Sovereign but as a distinguished, talented, and patriotic statesman. We regret that the limited period of your Excellency's stay in this county, during your progress through this part of Ireland, did not afford us an opportunity to convey to your Excellency in person the high sense we entertain of the benefit Ireland has already derived from the wisdom, firmness, and impartiality by which your Excellency's government has been , , marked. We are aware of the difficulties which your Excellency has had to encounter in carrying into effect the wise and conciliatory sys- tem of policy which you have adopted, and by which alone the evils with which this country is unhappily beset can be alleviated, its tranquillity maintained, and its condition improved ; and we 383 beg leave to assure your Excellency that it is not less our desire than our duty as loyal subjects of his Majesty, to cooperate, as far as in us lies, each in our respective stations, in giving effect to your Excellency's wishes and measures for the welfare of Ireland. We would gladly have confined this address to the expression of our feelings towards your Excellency, but our duties as citizens of a free country, as men who appreciate their rights, and are resolved by every constitutional means to assert and defend them, oblige us to avail ourselves of this occasion to state to your Excellency the deep mortification and disappoint- ment we have felt at the rejection of the measures brought before parliament by his Majesty's ministers, during the last session, for the pacification and improvement of Ireland. We view with alarm the attempts made during the discussions upon those measures in the House of Lords to draw invidious distinc- tions between his Majesty's English and Irish subjects, and we will not disguise from your Excellency that the insulting tone in which certain members of that assembly have spoken of the people of Ireland is a deep aggravation of the injustice with which we feel we have been treated by that branch of the legis- lature. We are ready, as we ever have been, to assist in main- taining the British constitution we are entitled to a full participation in its benefits we seek for nothing more we will be content with nothing less. [Signed by the lieutenant of the county, the high sheriff, and a large body of the gentlemen, clergy, freeholders, and other inhabitants, in number about 1300.] 383 ANSWER. I am much gratified by the kind attention which has suggested this mode of conveying to me these expressions of attachment which my hurried return from a distant part of the country did not afford you an opportunity of addressing to me on the spot. I look forward with pleasure to another occasion of improving my acquaintance with your county, in the course of some future progress, of which that district shall be more the immediate object. I cannot avoid again expressing the deep sense of gratitude I entertain for such reiterated proofs of the confidence of the people, by whose universal and practical cooperation my anxious efforts to maintain the tranquillity, and improve the condition of the country, have been hitherto sustained and rewarded. On the part of the natives of that portion of the empire to which I myself belong, I feel firmly assured that it must ever be their deliberate desire to consider their Irish brethren not only as subjects of the same Sovereign, but as co-equal citizens of a free state, participating to the fullest extent in all the privileges of the British constitution. INDEX, COUNTIES. ANTRIM ........... Clare . 53 Cavau 38-2 Galway 112 Kerry 236 Kildare (1835) 147 (1836) 242 Kilkenny 238 King's County ... 218 Leitrim . 140 Limerick ......... . 372 Louth 223 Mayo 2-25 Meath 207 Queen's County . . . . ... . 43 Roscommon 149 Sligo (1835) 217 (1836) 33-2 Tipperary 232 Waterford (1835) 229 (1836) .288 Westmeath . . . . 221 Wexford 227 Wicklow 369 2 r A. Page. Adamstowri ...... .... 322 Aglish and Whitechurch 291 Ardoe 168 Ardfert and Aghadoe, Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy . . 253 i Ardara, Inhabitants of the Parish and Town 347 Inhabitants of the Town 348 Armagh . . . . . . . . . . .194 Presbyterian Ministers and Elders of the Congregation . 1 96 Catholic Primate and Clergy of the Archdiocese . . 199 Athlonc 52 104 Auchtermuchty, Fifeshire, Scotland ...... 205 B. Ballina 128 Ballibay 167 Ballymena 190 Ballyshannon 339 Banbridge 200 Bangor 179 Barony of Forth . . ... . . . . . . 204 Belfast 98 Royal Academical Institution . . . . . .170 Lancasterian National School . . . . . 173 Belturbct 365 Borrisokane ...... 107 Boyle 330 Bundoran . . . . . . . 337 c. Cappoquin .......... 290 Carlow, Town and Vicinity ....... 151 Borough 278 Carrickmaeross .....- 16G Carrick-on- Shannon ......... 328 Cashel . * .246 Cavan .... . -367 Clashmorc . 295 387 Page Clifclen ......... .120 Clondalkin, Palmerstown, and Lucan ...... 37 Clondahonky, Kilmacrenau, Mevagh, and Clondavadook . . 353 Clonmel 62 Cloyne and Ross, Roman Catholic Clergy ..... 80 Coleraine 187 Connemara, Roman Catholic Clergy . . . . . .122 Cork, Mayor, Sheriffs, and Common Council .... 67 Citizens (1835) 08 _ _ (1836) 2C1 Roman Catholic Clergy ....... 265 Trades 71 Mechanics' Institute ........ 73 Anti-slavery Society ........ 76 Cove and Great Island (1835) 78 _ _ (1836) 269 D. Derry, inhabitants of, and vicinity . . . . . . .155 Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy . . . 158 Donegal ........... 342 Donkaneely and Vicinity, Wesleyan Methodist Congregation . 345 Down and Connor, Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the diocese 177 Drogheda J02 Dromore, Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the diocese . . 184 Drumsna ........... 235 Dublin, Trinity College . . . . . . . . 1 PARISHES. St. Thomas ........ 5 St. Andrew, St. Mark, St. Peter, and St. Ar.ne . . 7 _ St. Paul St. Nicholas Without, St. Bridget, St. Luke, Bishop and Dean's Liberties . . . . . . .11 St. Mary 13 St. George . 1G St. Michael and St. John 18 St. Catherine . . 20 St. Mary and St. Peter, Rathmincs .... -2:j St. Audocn . . . . . . .25 St. Mil-ban .... 28 388 Page Dublin, Parish of St. James 80 Royal Hibernian Academy ...... 40 Society for Discountenancing Vice 41 Duleek 375 Dundalk ... 203 Dungarvan .......... 298 Dunfanaghy, Presbyterian Congregation 356 E. Knniscorthy . . . . . . . . . . .814 Knniskillen .......... 362 En-is 3 153 F, Fermoy 260 Ferns, Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese . . 316 G. Gahvay Town .......... 50 Corporation . . . . . . . . .114 Inhabitants . . . . . . . . . 115 Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy 118 Plenties 349 Greyabbey and Vicinity . . . . . . . .182 I. Jamestown ..... . . 327 K. Kanturk 250 Kenmare ........... 309 Kildare and Lcighlin, Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese 281 Kilkenny, City and Liberties 48 _ City (1835) 59 (1836) 283 Roman Catholic Clergy of the City and County . . 285 Operatives of I he Onnond Factory .... 287 38!) Page Killarney . . _. 232 Killybegs 344 Kilmain ........... 57 Kingstown and Union of Monkstown ...... 32 Kinsale .267 f. * ' L. ^ r Letterkenny ......'.. 360 Limerick, City and Liberties 56 Mayor and Corporation 81 Citizens 82 Chamber of Commerce ...... 83 Trades . 85 Literary Institution ....... 87 Roman Catholic Clergy 88 Lismore (1835) 64 (183G) 275 Longford, Town and Vicinity . . . . . . . 142 Town 24 Loughrea .......... 110 Lurgan 192 M. Malahide 35 Mallow ... 275 Maynooth and Vicinity . . . . . 211 College .213 Aliddleton 270 Modeligo and Affane ......... 294 Mohill 329 Monaghan .......... 165 Muff, and surrounding districts . . . . . . . 358 Mullingar, Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the district . 323 N. Naas, Newbridge, Rathcoffey, Clane, Carogh, Rathmore and Kill . 143 Navan ........... 37(5 N'enagh . . . . . . . . . . .90 New Ross (183J) 14:J 390 Tagc New Ron, Sovereign and Burgesses (1836) ..... 310 Town . . (1836) 312 Newport Pratt 130 Newry 100 . 201 Newtownlimavady . . . . . . . . . 161 o. Oranniore and Ballinai-ourty . . . , . . . .Ill p Pnrtumu.i .......... 108 Presbyterian Synod ......... 205 R. Raphoc, Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy . . . . 341 Ring 296 Roscrea . . . . . . . . . . . 91 s. Sligo, Roman Catholic Clergy of the County ..... 334 Slrabano 163 Stradbally and Hallylaneen . 293 Synod of Ulster 93 Synod of Munster ....... .95 T. Tallow (1835) 65 (1836) 276 Templecrone and Lettcrmackaward . . . . . . 351 Tenantry of Captain Hart on the Doe Estate 354 Thurles . ' . . 244 Tipperary . ... . . . . . . . . 249 Tralee, Provost and Burgesses ....... 255 Inhabitants 256 Trim 378 Tuani, Corporation ......... 45 132 Town . . . . . . . . . . .133 391 Page Tuam, Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy 1 -'J4 St. Jerlath's College . . . . . . . . 136 Tubbercurry . . ....... 385 Tulloghbigley ' . 359 w. Waterford, City (1835) 138 Mayor and Corporation (1836) . . . . . 300 Citizens . . . . . . . . . 301 Chamber of Commerce . 304 Roman Catholic Bishop and Clergy of the Diocese . 306 Westport, Town and Neighbourhood 124 Roman Catholic Clergy of the Deanery . . . 125 Wexford, Mayor and Burgesses . . . . . . .317 Town 319 Wicklow 47 Y. Youghal 272