commissioners affirmed 'that the Irish Society in their
original institution were created for the purpose of forwarding the
interests and objects of the Plantation, and not for mere private
gain; and that of the large income which they receive from their
possessions in Londonderry, a very inadequate and disproportionate
share is applied for the public purposes, or other objects connected
with the local interests of the districts from which the revenues of
the society are drawn.'

The corporation of Derry cannot put a bye-law in force till it
receives the approval of the Irish Society. And what is this tribunal
whose fiat must stamp the decision of the Derry corporation before it
can operate in the smallest matter within the municipal boundary?
The members are London traders, totally ignorant of Ireland. They
are elected for two years, so that they must go out by the time they
acquire any information about their trust, to make way for another
batch equally ignorant. Having everything to learn during their term
of office, if they have time or capacity to learn anything about
the matter, they must submit to the guidance of the governor, who is
elected virtually, though not formally, for life; and the members of
the Derry corporation believe him to be the autocrat of the society.
Mr. James P. Hamilton, now the assistant-barrister for Sligo, at the
great meeting of the citizens of Derry already mentioned, pronounced
the governors to be 'the most ignorant, the most incompetent, and the
most careless governors that ever were inflicted on a people.' Mr.
Hamilton quoted from the answer of the corporation of London in 1624
to the Privy Council, which required them to convey 4,000 acres to
the citizens of Derry. The corporation replied that they had allotted
1,500 acres for the use of the mayor and other civil officers. That
was either true or false. If true, by what right did they recall the
grant, and re-possess themselves of those lands? By the articles they
were bound to make quays, which were not made. They were bound to
give bog and mountain for the city common, which they never gave. The
corporation had a tract called the sheriffs mountain, but the city was
robbed of it by her cruel stepmother, the Irish Society. The society
was bound to give 200 acres for a free school, and if this had been
done Derry might have had a rich foundation, rivalling Westminster
or the Charter School. Mr. Hamilton, conservative as he is, with t