in cash and kind, for, in addition to a handsome subscription, he presented a receipt in full for his bill of costs in preparing the conveyance of the land (a process m u c h dearer then than now). Mr. 'John T h o m a s Smith, the proprietor of the Queen's Theatre, was Irish by marriage, and took kindly to the Society. Influenced mainly by the persuasiveness of Mr. Finn, he gave a theatrical benefit to the Building Fund, and the performance was enhanced by the gratuitous services of Mr. George Coppin and his gifted wife, a lady w h o has not often had an equal on the colonial stage. T h e event came off on the 3rd June, when the Society marched in procession to the theatre, whither they were played by the Father Matthew Temperance Band. T h e stage was draped with green banners, the members appeared in regalia, and the house was thronged. Master O'Farrell, a show-scholar of Mr. J. R. M'Laughlin, an elocutionary teacher, and a verse writer of considerable ability, recited an address prepared for the occasion. T h e result was not only enjoyment and satisfaction, but a welcome increase to the Hibernian public purse. Smith handed over the whole takings less the cost of light and printing, and for the .£65 15s 6d. so netted, a special vote of thanks was accorded to the donor, and a similar compliment paid to the Coppins. T h e July of this year was scandalized by the Orange rows, described elsewhere. Since its inauguration in 1843, tne Orange Association endeavoured to justify its existence and m a k e capital out of the reiterated assertion that the St. Patrick Society was an exclusively religious and political Brotherhood, which, under a pretence of nationality, was fomenting sectarian strife and animosity; but for this there could be adduced no sort of tangible proof. Its Rules, as already shown, amply provided for the elimination of such elements of discord. There was no religious or political ban of exclusion. All its meetings were open to the public without sign, countersign, or pass-word. There were no secret oaths or averments, in fact everything about it was as unconcealed as noon-day. T o its festivals the principal guests, periodically invited, were English and Scotch, Episcopalian and Presbyterian; and it had the countenance and good-will of the more respectable classes of the community. T h e "Head-centre" of the Oppositionists was Mr. William Kerr, who, for reasons well appreciated by himself, pandered to the insensate bigotry of the Orangemen ; and the newspapers with which he was connected—the Patriot, Courier, and Argus—teemed with nauseous and sensational statements, in which there was not a scintilla of truth. For years the feud raged with intense acrimony, and hard hitting from both sides. It was sought to connect the St. Patrick Society with the disgraceful riot that occurred, though it had about as m u c h to do with it as the M a n in the M o o n ; and when the Mayor (Dr. Palmer), in an Official Report to the Government, recklessly attempted to implicate it in the causes that'led up to the lawless outbreak, the Society issued a manifesto which, to borrow a vulgarism left him "not a leg to stand upon." In the end of the year a Bill was introduced into' the Legislature of N e w South Wales for the prohibition of Party Processions, and as at first drafted by the Attorney-General (Mr. J. H . Plunkett), the Freemasons and Oddfellows were specially exempted from its provisions; but through the representations of the St Patrick Society this clause was withdrawn, and when the Act passed no Society was either mentioned or excludedthe measure was general in its application to associated congregations of persons publicly marching in any display which, in the opinion of a bench of magistrates, could be considered as coming within the meaning of the phraseology employed. Though it could not be positively said thai the Act applied to the St. Patrick processions, the Society, in order to set a good example, decided upon suspending their annual marching demonstrations, and from r8 4 6 until 1850, the epoch of Separation, there was no Irish celebration of the kind.
ST. PATRICK'S HALL.
T h e funds having risen to a condition to incti'r., LOUUlllon u -AAT c 1 T 1 to justify a commencement of the long-wished-for L building, M r . Samuel Jackson, the earliest of Melbourne arrhir^wc • • 7 Commiss,oned plans, and St. Patrick's D a y (,847) was fixed ! t ' to prepare nxed as a most appropriate time to m a k e the practical 7 4/;
