would once have been joined by men, formidable for their talents, and virtues, and enthusiasm. Some of these have expiated their errors by death, others are living peaceably in America,..men to be blamed for these errors only, and fit to be the ornaments of any country, except their own. It was in these men that the strength of the united Irish lay; in Fitzgerald, and M'Nevin, and Emmett, and the republicans; men no otherwise connected with France than as they, most erroneously and unhappily for themselves, considered France to be the upholder of all free and enlightened principles. In those days, too, the very means which were pursued to crush disaffection, would have ensured the success of Hoche; if he had accom plished his landing; for oppression driveth wise men mad,' and thousands, who would now bear arms in defence of the British government, would then have broken out in insurrection against the unendurable tyranny of martial law, and a system little less insolent and inhuman than that which has entailed upon Alva the curses of all posterity. Those days are over, and the present leaders of the disaffected party have manifested their baseness, by becoming the wretched agents and flatterers of Buonaparte; danger, therefore, from them is at an end. An invading army would now be joined by the populace, not by the people; and long before the populace could be disciplined, or even tamed, so as not to be mischievous to their allies, any force which could be landed there would. be outnumbered and subdued. It is our interest and our duty to conciliate the Irish; it is our wish also,..but not from any thought of fear: and were

*

it otherwise, they who press upon us the necessity of this policy, by attempting to intimidate the government into concessions, argue in a manner which neither tends to dispose a government to conciliate, nor a people to be conciliated.

It is not a little curious, that while part of the falling administration declared themselves hostile to Catholic Emancipation upon these grounds, some of the members of the new ministry were known to be friendly to the measure. Mr. Canning had always avowed this opinion; but, like Mr. Pitt, conceived it neither prudent nor constitutional to press the measure upon his Majesty, who would not be persuaded to understand the words of the coronation oath in any other meaning than that for which they had so carefully been framed. Lord Castlereagh too, who transacted the private bargains of the Union, was understood to have pledged himself to the Irish Catholics upon this subject. On the other hand, Lord Erskine, connected as he had always been with the Foxites, reasoned on this occasion with the Crown; and the same sentiments were held by Lord Sidmouth and his friends, who, though the least powerful, were the most popular part of the discarded administration.

It is a melancholy task to peruse the debates in Parliament respecting Ireland. The overbearing spirit, rather than the intolerance of one party, the factious rather than the patriotic interference of

This is what the Irish author calls the madness or malice of 'parliamentary factions, brandishing Ireland against the minister, not the enemy. She complains not less of the neglect of administration, than of the notice of oppositions; their false friendship, their inAammatory pity, their hollow and hypocritical help.'

the other, and the utter indifference toward the real grievances of that miserable country which was uniformly displayed by both, left little hope of any improvement in its condition.

Upon the presentment of some petitions from that country, praying for a commutation of tithes, Mr. Perceval took the opportunity of stating, that it was the intention of government to take this business into their serious consideration, they being com pletely convinced of its importance. He added, however, that the farther he went into the examination the more arduous did the task appear; and that the undertaking of applying a remedy to the evil appeared to be beset with difficulties almost insurmountable. There seemed to be no other difference of opinion upon this subject, than whether the commutation were easy or difficult? Mr. Sheridan declaring, that a little attention might obviate the difficulties, and Mr. Burton, on the other hand, affirming that in that part of England where, for many years, he had been engaged in the discharge of his professional duties, the adjustment of tithes had ever been attended with more complication and difficulty than any other matter which had ever fallen under his notice; and that a very vigorous attempt, which had been made in Devonshire, to arrange the commutation, had been abandoned, on the experience of the impossibility of success. Difficult, indeed, as the commutation of tithes in England must appear to any person who has ever bestowed a serious thought upon the proposal, it is far more so in Ireland. Tithes of agistment have been abolished in that country by a most unjust and arbitrary act of the landed pro

VOL. II.

U

prietors; and thus the whole burthen of the Church establishment was thrown upon tillage-lands, and consequently upon the poor; for when the operation of tithes was thus confined, it became absolutely necessary to increase the rate. The clergy were compelled to exact to the utmost that portion of their right which was left them;..potatoes, from the time of their introduction into the island till about the middle of the last century, had been tithe-free,..they were now assessed, and then it was that tithes became an additional cause of discontent, and afforded a new pretext for riots and insurrections to a people already too prone to violence, and too grievously burthened. Thus the abolition of tithes of agistment increased the burthen of the peasantry; and it is not less evident that they would derive little benefit from a general commutation; for what is now taken from them by the Church, would then be exacted by the landlord. It is not the Church that oppresses them; both there and in England the Church is far more sinned against than sinning; but it is the intermediate race of vermin,..proctors, tithe-farmers, and that whole train of blood-suckers. From these plagues, parliamentary interference might perhaps deliver the poor people of Ireland; and unquestionably this would be a great and most important benefit; but they would still be subject to the unmerciful extortions of the landholders and middle-men: and, till some remedy be devised for this evil, the state of Ireland must ever remain desperately and incurably bad.

Upon presenting a petition from the Irish Ro man Catholics for Emancipation, Mr. Grattan

made one of his most eloquent and fervent speeches. There had been few debates in which all parties were placed in so humiliating a situation; for, on the one hand, the Ministers insulted their opponents for having waived the question when they themselves were in power; and the Opposition, on the other, accused them of breach of promise made at the Union, and base sacrifice of individual opinion to the desire of place; each charging the other with motives of the meanest temporary and per sonal interest. Mr. Perceval indeed was not ob noxious to these reproaches; but the heavy one of having perilously inflamed the public mind for electioneering purposes was brought against him, and the weighty reasonings which he produced lost half their influence, because it was remembered to what ungenerous means he had formerly descended. Mr. Perceval met the question fairly; his colleagues could only parry the attack;..they admitted the truth and wisdom of Mr. Grattan's speech, and, conceding the principle, pleaded only for delay. Though there must be a disappointment in the present instance, Mr. Canning said, there was the consolation of reflecting that the question must ultimately, though gradually, prevail. The practice of mutual conciliation would do more to remove animosities than any motion which could be brought forward. Let any body, who knew the state of the public mind in this country, say, whether there was not a strong prevailing sentiment against further concessions to the Catholics? If this were founded in reason it was not easily to be overcome; and if it were even founded in prejudice, such prejudices did not yield