Punch (15.1848)

MERMAIDS AT PLAY; OR, A

NICE LITTLE WATER PARTY.

IRISH NEWS FOE AMERICAN READERS.

Expressly Written for the " Tribune," New York Paper.

You have, ere this, expected extraordinary intelligence of the glorious
rebellion in Ireland, and 1 should be unworthy of the cause if I could
disappoint you! The chain cable that formed the corrouing Union is
chopped in two—Ireland is a Republic. At this moment the national
■flag, a Golden Harp in a green field, waves above Dublin Castle; and
Lord Clarendon—in the very van that conveyed Mitchel to his
dungeon (there's retribution for you!)—has been rattled to the rail-
way station. He has been allowed to take with him only one carpet-
bag to England; the rest of his wardrobe being confiscated to the poor
of Dublin. Smith O'Brien has been voted President for the term of
his natural life; wit h permission to name his successor.

My former letter must have informed you of the escape of the Presi-
dent from the dungeon of the Saxon. He was confined at the extreme
top of the prison, and supped every night upon bread-and-milk. There
was a mighty good reason for this. Thirty fathoms of silk cord—twisted
by the Lady Repealers of the Four-Leaved Shamrock Club—were con-
veyed to the illustrious captive in a milk-pail, concealed beneath the
lacteal fluid. At midnight, the Liberator of himself and country let
himself from the roof— the cord gliding swiftly through his glowing
hands"—perpendicularly down, as the blessing of chance would have it,
upon the head of the sentry. The man fell stunned to the earth ; when
O'Brien seized the musket, and discharging it, and giving three cheers
for Repeal, was joined by some say a thousand, but it is certain not less
than fifty, patriots.

It would be tedious to detail the victories of the night, they trod so
close upon the heels of one another. I have only time to say, that
before two in the morning Lord Clarendon was a prisoner—he was
taken in his bed, in his first sleep—and the Liberator and President of
Ireland had quaffed a bumper of claret, calling upon Mr. Meagher,
(who was of course one of the party) to give them, on the festive occasion,
" Who fears to speak of '98 ? "

Lord John Russell escaped somehow. There are many reports
as to the manner of his evasion. But the story most generally credited
is, that he was carried on board the packet by his faithful valet in a
fiddle-ease. _ I believe the President is, after all, not sorry for this, as
it relieves him of a difficulty.

The populace have been greatly excited by the clemency of the
President; who—in opposition to the advice of a majority of his
council—has come to terms with the English Army, permitting them
to quit Ireland with their arms, stores, and honours of war. The
national heart has been acutely touched by the loss of so many bayonets.
2 ought not to omit a circumstance that, after all, speaks very favour-

ably for the chivalrous bearing of the Saxon. Prince George and
General Macdonald both dined with the President, ere their depar-
ture, and in the handsomest manner drank the immortality of the
Irish Republic.

In order to wipe into oblivion every obligation to the Saxon, it is the
intention of the President to send by an early post to the English
Government, an LO.U. tor the eight millions voted in the time of
famine by the British House of Commons.

The receipt of the Queen op England will—when obtained—be
worked in the flag of the Republic !

SUBJECTS FOR THE EASEL.

ur artists are evidently at a loss for subjects worthy of
their paint-pots, their pencils, and their palettes, and we
therefore take pity on their poverty of idea by recommending
a few subjects to their attention. " Catch a weasel asleep "
is looked upon as a direction not to be complied with, but
to " Catch an easel asleep " would be accomplished very
easily, for nothing can be more sombre than most of the productions of
Art that are to be met with on our modern canvass. There is, perhaps,
a dearth of subjects, for history and fiction have been long ago almost
exhausted, and the supplies of fancy have been always of a rather
limited order, so that there is scarcely anything left for the painter to
fall back upon. We have, however, set our own ingenuity to work for
a new batch of subjects worthy of the artists of our native land, and we
beg to suggest the following :—

1. The Egyptian giving the Handkerchief to the Mother of OtMlo.\

2. The Husband of the Nurse of Juliet in one of his merry moods.

3. The malignant Turk beating a Venetian and traducing the State.

4. The Dogs barking at Richard the Third as he halted by 'em.j)

5. The Baker baking the meats for Hamlet's Father's funeral.

More Arrests.

We understand that a new writ has been issued and placed in the
hands of a well-known Sheriff's Officer whose quickness is at variance
with the slowness indicated in his name, and who has received instruc-
tions to lose no time in arresting the potato disease. Should he succeed
in arresting this enemy to the prosperity of the country, he will earn
not only the gratitude of all classes, but half-a-guinea in addition, by
way of fee, on the arrest being made.