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3. Resolved unanimously-That, anx-, ious, as we are, to remove from the Government every species of unjust influence, equally injurious to King and people, and to promote a system of general reform, especially in that branch of the Legislature, the corrupt state of which has been the great source of all our national calamities the Commons House of Parliament; we, nevertheless, feel equally anxious to maintáin the real splendour and dignity of the crown, and all its just and necessary powers and prerogatives.

4. Resolved unanimously-That deeply lamenting the afflicting incapacity of our most gracious Sovereign, by which the functions of the Executive Government have been suspended, we derive a cheering consolation in contemplating the many amiable qualities of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and the attachment which he has invariably evinced for the rights and liberties of the people, affording the nation the best grounded confidence of seeing the royal functions wisely and ably exercised.

5. That, impressed with these considerations, we cannot but view all attempts to abridge the Royal Authority, and impose restrictions upon the Regent, in the person of his Royal Highness, as highly dangerous and unconstitutional, establishing a new estate in the realm, to controul and counteract the Executive Government, and tending to render it feeble and inefficient, at a time when the state of the nation peculiarly requires its full energies.

6. Resolved, That we, therefore, view with concern and indignation the attempts which are made to degrade the kingly of fice, and to render it dependent upon those ministers, who have so long abused the confidence of the Sovereign, who have uniformly shown a marked contempt for public opinion, whose whole career has been a series of incapacity, misconduct, and violation of the Constitution; who have added to the catalogue of their crimes by usurping the Royal Authority, and who, not content with having engrossed patronage and emolument, and secured to themselves and adherents a profusion of pensions and sinecures, are now endeavouring to obtain an unconstitutional power and influence, which would enable them to embarrass and impede the Executive Go vernment in all its operations, and render it subject to their controul.

7. Resolved unanimously-That the command over his Majestys' seals assumed, BELFAST MAG. NO. XAA,

and exercised by the two houses of Parlia ment in the late instance of ordering an issue of treasure from his Majesty's Exchequer, appears to us subversive of the independence, and dangerous to the existence of the regal part of our government, and that to prevent the necessity of having again recourse to such perilous expedients, and of thereby confirming and extending still further this alarming precedent, it is the opinion of this meeting, that in the present suspension of the exercise of the Royal Authority, the most constitutional mode of proceeding would be to imitate the glorious example of our ancestors in 1688, by the two houses of Parliament. addressing his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to take upon himself the civil, military, and financial administration of the government.

8. Resolved unanimously, That this Common Hall do petition the Right Honourable the House of Lords and the Honourable the House of Commons, agreea bly to the foregoing Resolutions.

The drafts of the petitions being read, were unanimously agreed to.

9. Resolved unanimously-That the said petition be signed by the Lord Mayor, four Aldermen, and ten Liverymen.

10. Resolved unanimously-That the Sheriffs do wa upon, and request some Lord in Parliament to present the said petition to the Right Honourable the House of Lords.

11. Resolved unanimously-That Mr. Alderman Coombe, one of the Representatives of this city in Parliament, be requested to present the said petition to the Honourable the House of Commons.

12. Resolved unanimously-That the Representatives of this city in parliament be instructed to support the said petition in the house of Commons, and to oppose all attempts to abridge and fetter the Regent with restrictions.

13. Resolved unanimously-That the thanks of this Common Hall be given to Thomas Smith, esq. Alderman, our late worthy Chief Magistrate, for his very able, upright, and independent conduct, during the time the ardent and important duties of that office were confided to him, wherein he evinced the most kind and friendly attention to his fellow-citizens, a dignified and unostentatious hospitality, a strict impartiality on all occasions, and a constant regard for the rights, liberties, and franchises of this city.

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14. Resolved unanimously-That the

thanks of this Common Hall be given to Robert Waithman, esq. who moved, and Samuel Favell, esq. who seconded the se veral resolutions which have been agreed to this day.

15. Resolved unanimously-That the thanks of this Common Hall be given to the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, for his readiness in calling this meeting, and his impartial conduct in the chair this day.

DOMESTIC OCCURRENCES.

INTERNAL DISTURBANCES.*

It is impossible to consider this subject, including, as it necessarily does, a retrospect to past, but not very remote times, without shuddering at the "dreadful notes of preparation," which appear to strike every eye, and every ear, but those, that

We are quite free from internal disturbances in the north. The causes which have long operated to produce disturbances in the south, do not exist with us, or at least not at all in the same proportion. Our poor people are more independent of the richer classes, Those employed in

manufactories are not so much under the power of their employers, as the small cottiers, and labourers are of the landholders, and consequently they are not so much oppressed. Independence enlarges their views. The disturbances in the south appear to proceed from long continued op pressions of the poor, who feel their oppressions, and are not sufficiently enlightened to perceive that violence on their parts only renders their situation worse. We do not wonder at their outrages, and that men with uncultivated minds taking revenge into their own hands, should commit shocking crimes. Instead of looking exclusively at their faults, let us look at the language and conduct of the higher classes. How do the rich merchants of Waterford, and other commercial towns in the south, and the aristocratic 'squires of the county Tipperary, speak of the poor papists and natives, as they call them, as if we had not all a cominon country and birth-place in Ireland. We see that with the highest state of mental improvement, men do not easily forgive injuries: how then can we expect that these men, brayed in the mortar by the pestle of the church and of the state," men oppressed by their landlords, kept in poverty and ignorance, ridiculed and abused, should conquer the propensities of our common nature, and be alone blamed for

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should be constantly open and watchful for the peace and welfare of the public. The pretended hostility of the Shanavests and Caravats to each other is now laid a◄ side, because no longer deemed necessary, and a peace, hostile to public tranquillity, has been announced between the adverse parties. Corps of peasantry are carrying on military operations throughout the counties of Kilkenny, Tipperary, Limerick and the adjacent parts, as if they were acting under the sanction of the laws. Systematic robbery supplies them with arms, and their depredations are carried on with little or no appearance of tumultuary violence. All field sports are given over; the fowler is sure to be despoiled of his gun and, unless a speedy and effectual check is given to the spirit of insurrection, the country will present the most dreadful of all spectacles, an armed peasantry, and a disarmed gentry.

Very lately, a fellow in the neighbourhood of Clogheen, told a gentleman, whom he met hunting, that if he ever heard again of his dogs and horses going over other men's grounds, he would shoot him." The hint was effectual, and this alone demonstrates the state of terror and humiliation, to which the natural guardians of the public peace, the country gentlemen, are reduced in that part of the country.

It is computed that upwards of 10,000 stand of arms are in the hands of the insurgents in a single district of the county Tipperary.

In the county of Meath there has been a great many depredations perpetrated lately, by a banditti stiling themselves Jack Carders. On the night of the 16th ult. they attacked the farm-yard and offices of Mr. T. B. Hardman, and fired several shots into the house of his bailiff, and hav ing forcibly entered it, threatened to shoot him, beat him severely, and then, in a most savage manner, scraped his back with a wool card. After thus mal-treating the bailiff, they cut down about 250 young trees in the plantation, and destroy

excesses, which the v'ews of the rich have as essentially contributed to produce, as their own uninstructed and ungoverned passions. Let us not always look at the dark side of character for a generous display of feeling among the lower classes of our country, let us refer to the account of their conduct near Cork, as noticed in the next article, in an extract from Counsellor O'Connel's speech.

ed several gates, &c. They then left a written paper with the bailiff, threatening all persons who should take lands over the heads of others in the counties of Dublin, Meath, or Louth. When they departed, they took with them five mares and one horse, which were afterwards found on the hill of Bellewstown.

On the 8th ult. five large ash trees were cut down and carried away from the estate of George Palmer, esq. near Castle Fellingham.

On the 24th ult. a meeting of the principal inhabitants of Drogheda was held there, when they came to sundry resolutions respecting the disturbed state of the country. Among other things they say: "We behold with the utmost horror and, indignation the commencement in this neighbourhood of that system of nocturnal plunder and depredation, which has so long distracted the southern counties of this kingdom." The meeting next opened a subscription for the purpose of raising a fund to reward auch persons as shall be the means of discovering the depredators, and they also appointed a committee to meet weekly in order to devise such measures as may be judged necessary, and to communicate with neighbouring magistrates.

On the 27th ult. a meeting of the magistrates of the county of Meath was held at Dunleek, when a committee was appointed to enquire into the causes of the disturbances which have lately disgraced this neighbourhood. They afterwards resolved," that upon a close investigation, and on the report of the committee, we find that this neighbourhood is in a most disturbed state."They afterwards entered into a liberal subscription for obtain ing discoveries, and defraying expences.

We gladly publish the following sketch of Irish character from Counsellor O'Connell's speech in the Catholic Committee... from Cobbett's Register of 19th inst. page

136.

"When a detachment of the Brunswick corps, quartered at Fermoy, in August last, was ordered to embark at Cove, on the march from Fermoy, some women, who accompanied the soldiers hither, for the purpose of keeping up with the battalion, or because they knew that incumbered with children, they would have less prospect of being received in the transports, began to abandon their children, leaving them in the potato gardens aud behind the hedges. one or two of the children were found in mach danger from the cattle and pigs.

The country people became alarmed; compassion shot, like electricity, through then; they crouded to the troops and attended their march, receiving every child the women chose to leave behind; they even offered money to the mothers to give up the children without exposing them. Astonished at the eagerness of their humanity, some of the women availed themselves of it, and actually set up their children to auction. A child or two between Middleton and ——, sold as high as six shillings. I was myself shown some of the children in about six weeks after, and the potato diet had agreed very well with them. Can any man be found so callous to humanity, as not to regret that the noble nature of the Irish peasant is not better cultivated; but the fact I speak of passed almost as a thing of course, and nearly without notice it was indeed mentioned in one or two of the Cork news-papers, but there it rested. In England, had a man of fortune, out of ostentation or vanity, taken up a single child of a foreign soldier it would be blazoned forth trumpet-tongued; the news-papers vould never cease extolling the bountiful benefactor-the fact would be sung in ballads, and recorded in lyric poetry; but in Ireland it is a crime against the hirelings of the day, to praise Irish virtues; for which, I trust, that they will never forgive me."

Sir Samuel Romilly, in the midst of his numerous professional and political engagements, does not caffer the cause of humanity to lie neglected, He has lately written to this country to press the sending forward the petition for changing the punishment of death for robbing bleachgreens, which, he says, he shall be very happy to present to the house of Commons, as soon as he receives it.

The Public Bakery of Lisburn not having been latterly conducted so as to answer the original plan, a new bakery has been lately opened in that town, by an individual on his own account, with an intention to embrace the original design of such institutions. Connected with the bakery, there is a store for the sale of oatmeal, by retail, which being entirely conducted on a ready money plan, affords that article on much lower terms to the poor, than when it was sold through hucksters, who often trust, and are under the necessity of charging a high premium as an insurance against the risks of bad debts. It is of great importance to the poor to accustom them to deal for ready money, and

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singular advantage in the town of Belfast. It might be connected with the House of Industry: the officers of that institution to conduct the sale without additional expense, and the knowledge of the situation of the poor already acquired by the com

persons to receive the benefits of such a scheme, by giving the poor tickets to enable them to purchase oat meal in proportion to the size of their families.

practically to convince them of the benefits of such a mode. Running into debt is generally ruinous to the poor, not only to their comforts, but frequently to their morality. A poor family dependent solely on their weekly labour, should never except on extraordinary occasions, as sick-mittee would enable them to select proper ness, or great emergencies, anticipate their small funds. By so doing they learn habits of improvident wastefulness, and only transfer the burden to be more severely felt again with additional pressure. The. friends to the poor should strongly inculcate this lesson on those over whom they may have influence. Perhaps the poor can by no means be more effectually served, without violating their independence, than by plans calculated to enable them to economize their slender earnings; and for this purpose, public bakeries and readymoney meat stores are particularly serviceable.

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An institution of this kind might be of

Much may be done for the poor by assisting them in plans of frugality and foresight: they may thus be advanced higher in the scale of civilization, as rational improvable beings, while mere giving to them not unfrequently injures by teaching dependence and a lazy reliance on casual supplies. The enlightened science of benevolence should always be judiciously coupled with the practice. Neither, without the aid of the other, is really efficaci

ous.

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

From 20th December, 1810; till 20th January, 1811.

The long continuance of wet weather has greatly interrupted the progress of the plough. Except in the light and dry soils, very little tillage has yet been accomplished; and unless, a favourable change takes place soon, the field work of the farmer will be much behind, and probably occasion a late seed time, as was the case last year.

A very considerable proportion of the wheat intended to be sown, has not been got into the ground in proper time. In many parts of the country, the people are busily employed at trenching in their wheat on soils that were too wet to allow of its being sown earlier. The produce of those late crops will depend more on the kind of weather we have in summer, than the earlier ones; if it prove a cold or wet season, they will not arrive at that state of maturity which is necessary to produce either good quality, or a sufficient quantity; and although it may sometimes seem adviseable to sow wheat at a late season, for the sake of lessening the spring work, which in adverse seasons is frequently too heavy for the farmer to get through in proper time; yet it is matter of doubt, whether it would not be better for him to take the risk of suffering that inconvenience, and sow his ground with potato oats, which, in soil prepared for wheat, would hardly ever fail of producing him a crop, equal if not superior to the wheat, and he would have this advantage in addition, that his land would be left in a much cleaner, and less exhausted state, by the one than the other.

The early sown crops of wheat, in a general way, look extremely well, and the young clover, and grass, sown last spring, have an appearance of furnishing an ample supply of green food for the ensuing summer; what a pity it is that the generality of the Irish farmers, cannot be prevailed on to lay down their lands with artificial seeds (which would always secure to them a good crop of grass the first year) instead of throwing out their fields in a state of poverty and nakedness, to be overrun with weeds, (the natural tenants of the soil) which seldom allow a tolerable crop of grass to succeed them in less than three or four years, to the great injury of the poor cattle who are turned in to seek their food upon it.

The prices of grain have not altered much since last report; but it is the opinion of some who are deemed competent judges of such things, that both wheat and oats will experience an advance.

Potatoes are at present plenty in the markets, and selling at a price not too high, in proportion to the rent of land:

The hint given in last month's report, to those who had raised their potatoe crops after the few nights of hard frost, appears now to have been a seasonable one, as the writer of this report has since seen large heaps examined, which had many frosted roots in them, and if suffered to remain, would have materially injured the 'whole.

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COMMERCIAL REPORT.

The quantity of foreign linen imported into Britain, may be estimated by the following account for 1810, of those imported into the port of London, as extracted from the London commercial list. The value affixed is on guess, and may be far wrong.

35,000 pieces of cambrick, supposed at £2.............. £70,000
3,000............lawn, (32 yards long).......................4.............. 12,000
52,000 ............linen, check..

14,000 Cwt. of linen yarn.........

9,000 Hundred ells canvas, Hessens

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....................3...... 156,000

......6...... 84,000

86,000 Do. at Is. 6d. per ell, or £7 per Hundred, 615,000

£367,000

If the imports of Hull, Leith, and all other places should be equal to London, it would appear as if two millions sterling were paid for this article to other countries, an amount probably more than the export from Ireland. The greater part of these linens from the continent are shipped for the West Indies, after being warehoused, lying under bond in England; and a duty of 15 per cent, is, by the act of last year charged on exportation. Irish coarse linens are intitled to a bounty of three half-pence per yard, on exportation, which estimated at 12 per cent, and added to the duty of 15 per cent, makes a difference of 27 per cent, in favour of Irish linens.

A plan has been in agitation in this country, to petition the lords of trade to increase the duty on foreign linens to 50 per cent, and to prevent their being bonded and warehoused in Britain. The policy of this ineasure may be well doubted. If the duty be raised too high, the re-action in raising the prices of our coarse linens is to be dreaded, while greater facility would be also given for smuggling foreig linens from the United States of North America, into the West Indian Islands; anl Irish linens thus raised in price, would have to meet a severe competition with the smuggled linens in that market. In the memorial to the lords of trade, on this subject, offered for signature, some expressions against Bonaparte, as the spot of Europe, were introduced. They are irrelevant in a memorial entirely relating to a matter of trade, and do great injury by keeping up that irritation against the French, which has already produced so much mischief to these islands. Bonaparte acts with vigour, as an enemy; this is to be expected. Abuse is an unmaniy mode of attacking aim, and only fosters our malignant passions. To enter on the question, who is pre-eminently the despot of Europe, would exceed our present bounds. One of the rival powers is powerful by land, and the other by sea: both exercise their power to the annoyance of the other; to the mutual injury of their respective countries; to the hurt of neutrals, and in violation of the principles of justice. The hands of our government are not sufficiently clean, to justify us in upbraiding Bonaparte for his system of tyranny.

Brown linens have considerably advanced in price, notwithstanding the dul sales in the white state. The flax turns out very coarse, and in consequence, the average value of linens in every market, is less than in former years. The approaching market in Dublin will probably be extremely dull, principally owing to a want of purchases for America, which in our unsettled relations with that country cannot be expected.

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