o an imputation that
we are desirous to produce a general disorganisation of society
in this country, and to overthrow social order, we deem it right
again to place before the public the following fundamental rule,
as that which constitutes the basis of action proposed to our
fellow-countrymen, by the Irish Confederation:--

RULE

"That a society be now formed, under the title of 'The Irish
Confederation,' for the purpose of protecting our national
interests, and obtaining the legislative independence of
Ireland, by the force of opinion, by the combination of all
classes of Irishmen, and the exercise of all the political,
social and moral influences within our reach.

"II. That (under present circumstances) the only hope of the
liberation of this country lies in a movement in which all
classes and creeds of Irishmen shall be fairly represented, and
by which the interests of none shall be endangered.

"III. That inasmuch as English legislation threatens all
Irishmen with a common ruin, we entertain a confident hope their
common necessities will speedily unite Irishmen in an effort to
get rid of it.

"IV. That we earnestly deprecate the expression of any
sentiments in the Confederation, calculated to repel or alarm
any section of our fellow-countrymen.

"V. That we disclaim, as we have disclaimed, any intention of
involving our country in civil war, or of invading the just
rights of any portion of its people.

"VI. That the Confederation has not recommended, nor does it
recommend, resistance to the payment of rates and rents, but, on
the contrary, unequivocally condemns such recommendations.

"VII. That, in protesting against the disarmament of the Irish
people, under the Coercion Bill lately enacted, and in
maintaining that the right to bear arms, and to use them for
legitimate purposes, is one of the primary attributes of
liberty, we have had no intention or desire to encourage any
portion of the population of this country in the perpetration of
crimes, such as those which have recently brought disgrace upon
the Irish people; and which have tended, in no trifling degree,
to retard the success of our efforts in the cause of national
freedom.

"VIII. That to hold out to the Irish people the hope that, in
this present broken and divided condition, t