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security to that part of the country. The magistrates were of opinion that the insurrection act should be renewed, and that Government should be invested with additional powers to put down this system of intimidation and outrage."

Provision also is indispensably required for the protection of the witnesses, who bear testimony in unpopular causes. At present they are sent back after the trial to their homes to be assassinated, or roasted alive by the insurgent peasantry; and yet the English are astonished that justice cannot be obtained in Ireland! In all such cases, where the witness desires it, and he appears to have given a true testimony, he should be furnished with the means of emigration, with his wife and family, and marched to the place of embarkation under a military guard. Nothing short of this will procure evidence against the worst criminals, or overcome the rooted determination of the Irish peasantry to murder all those who have given evidence, as they conceive, against the people; that is, who have sworn the truth against cut-throats and incendiaries.

the simple expedient of marching them to Cork, Waterford, or Dublin, there to be embarked for England, and sold there, is one of the unaccountable parts of the conduct of the present Administration, which proves that they are ignorant of the first principles of the government of mankind. The state of things in Ireland for the last year, is neither more nor less than a direct premium on rebellion, an encouragement to the cessation of payment of taxes, rent, or burdens of any description, and an invitation to the people to avail themselves of the machinery now put in motion against the clergy for their deliverance from rent, taxes, and burdens of every description.

2. The government is now committed in a struggle with the Catholic priesthood as to the payment of tithes; the authority of the law must be vindicated, or the semblance of order, which now exists in Ireland, will be annihilated. Let what measures they choose follow for the commutation of tithes: the first thing to do is, to vindicate the authority of the law against an insurgent people. For this purpose, authority should be obtained from the legislature, to levy from those who can pay and wont pay, the full value of the tithe in kind, with expenses, and to march the cattle distrained off to the nearest sea-port, to be sold in Bristol or Liverpool. A few examples of the vigorous application of this law, would operate like a charm in dissolving the combination against tithes. The present system of exposing the cattle for sale, in a country where no person ventures to buy them, and then marching them back to the owners, is a mere mockery, and tends to nothing but to bring government and the law into contempt. Why they never fell upon

3. Having vindicated the authority of the law, measures should next be taken to prevent the clergy from coming in contact with the cultiva tors, by commuting the tithes, and laying them as a direct burden on the landlords. Let us not be mistaken: we have not the least idea that this will improve the condition of the farmers, or satisfy the desires of the abolitionists-we know well what they wish; the resumption of the tithes to the Catholic clergy, of the estates to the Catholic landlords, and of the government to Catholic leaders, is what they desire, and will never cease to strive for. But though this measure would do as little, in all probability, as Catholic Emancipation to tranquillize Ireland, yet it would remove the irritation which now exists between the clergy and their parishioners, and thus withdraw the Established Church from a political contest, of which it is now the victim.

4. The next great object of Irish legislation, should be the establishment of a judicious and enlightened system of Poor's Laws, for the relief of the sick, the aged, and those who, though willing, can find no employment. It is needless to argue this question-the public mind is made up upon it. The English and Scotch will not much longer submit to have their poor's rates doubled annually by the inundation of Irish beggars; or their scanty channels of employment choked by multitudes of Irish labourers. The time is come, when, in the general distress of the empire, consequent on the shock

given to credit and industry by the Reform Bill, each portion must be led to a maintenance of their own poor. We are persuaded that the Irish themselves must be aware, that however burdensome such a measure may be, it is unavoidable; and that the relief afforded to this country by the absorption of its labouring poor, and their removal from a life of dissolute idleness, will be a greater public and private benefit, than the imposition of poor's rates will be a burden.

The hackneyed argument, that by so doing you will add fuel to the flame, and increase the already redundant numbers of the Irish poor, is generally known to be, what it really is, a complete delusion. A judicious system of poor's rates in reality, instead of being an encouragement to undue increase, is the most effectual means for diminishing it; because it is a check to the propagation of those pauper and degrading habits, which, more than any other circumstance, lead to the multiplication of the poor. Without poor's rates, Ireland has for a century been overwhelmed with a redundant poor with them, England for two has retained hers within the bounds of general comfort and prosperity. This example is decisive: further argument is like attempting to prove that two and two make four.

5. The greatest possible facility should be given by Government to the emigration of the Irish poor. The number who emigrated in 1831 to Canada was 18,000. No reason can be assigned why it should not be 180,000. The expense of transporting settlers to the shores of Canada, is about L.3 a-head: to furnish the means of emigration to this large body, therefore, would only cost L.540,000; and what an immense relief would it prove to every part of the empire! The expense of such a proceeding would, no doubt, be considerable; but what is that to the incalculable relief it would afford to a nation now labouring in every quarter from the immigration of Irish poor? We have spent much more than that sum already in fitting out a fleet to partition the dominions of our ancient ally, and give back Antwerp the stronghold of revolutionary France, to the power which openly aims at our subjugation.

The apprehension so commonly expressed, that if we furnish the Irish with the means of emigration, they will only people the faster at home, and speedily fill up the va cuum produced by our exertions, is altogether chimerical. Even if it were true that this would follow, it would be no reason whatever for not giving this direction to the stream, if it cannot be checked. At present the Irish do not remain at home; they emigrate into England and Scotland, because the steam-boats bring them over the Channel for a sixpence, and they there find employment in health, and a legal settlement in sickness and age. Supposing, therefore, that we could not stop the increase of the Irish poor, we do ourselves, as well as them, an immense service, by turning them into the regions of Transatlantic plenty, instead of the densely peopled shores of Britain. But, in truth, a judicious system of emigration largely carried into execution, would have just an opposite effect. By improving the condition of those who remain at home, and enlarging the sphere of their employment, it would contribute to diffuse better habits, encourage artificial wants, and gradually bring the increase of mankind into some degree of harmony with the augmentation of the wages of labour.

6. The fisheries, and neglected harbours, and waste lands of Ireland, furnish ample room for the commencement of government works on a great scale, to spread wealth, and industry, and orderly habits through its labouring poor. The mines of untouched wealth which there exist are incalculable; they might almost pave the Emerald Isle with gold. In other countries, such undertakings may be safely left to the exertions of private industry. In Ireland the case is otherwise. Unless they are begun and forced on by the capital and the vigour of Government,they never will be attempted. Ireland is in that stage of civilisation when such undertakings must originate with Government, or not be carried on at all. Individual capital will never migrate to a country, where life and property is so precarious as it is in that distracted island. If we would give the people in the south and west a taste for the enjoyments of wealth or the

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acquisitions of industry, we must, in the first instance, force them on a reluctant people by government expenditure.

Having done thus much for the welfare and happiness of Irelandhaving strained every nerve for the real benefit and prosperity of its numerous inhabitants, Government would be entitled to come forward and deliver them from the worst curse which desolates their land, that of their own priests and demagogues. The seditious harangues, the treasonable meetings, the incendiary proclamations, which have so long kept up the flame of discontent in that unhappy country, to promote the ambition of a few restless demagogues, must be put down. The people must be delivered from the tyranny of their demagogues in spite of themselves. England, with its centuries of freedom; Scotland, with its cautious character, could not withstand such incendiary application. How then can it be expected that Ireland is to be tranquil under their influence, destitute as she is of the free habits of the one, or the cautious temperament of the other. Naturally brave, impassioned and ardent, the Irish have never felt in the slightest degree the counteracting influence of the causes which moderate popular excesses in this country, and so long prevented liberty from degenerating into licentiousness. Yet it is into their inflammable bosom that Government has so long allowed the fury of political and religious rancour to be poured without alloy. And still the English express surprise at the ceaseless disquietude and suffering of Ireland!

The consideration of what a wise and beneficent government might have done, and should have done, for Ireland, forms the best introduction to the examination of what the Whigs have actually effected.

In entering on this subject, we know not in what terms to express our astonishment at the mixture of vacillation, recklessness, and ignorance, which the conduct of administration towards Ireland has afforded for the last two years. Indeed, we doubt whether there is on record in European history, such an instance of weakness of judgment and violence of party ambition, as their conduct from first to last has exhibited.

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These are hard words; let the reader judge from the facts, whether or not they are merited.

When they first came into power, in November 1830, they declared their resolution, in the strongest terms, to put a period to the anarchy of Ireland. For three months, Dublin was the scene of the most vehement contest between Mr O'Connell and the Irish Secretary; and at last he was caught by the vigour and ability of the Attorney-General, and actually PLEADED GUILTY to a criminal indictment preferred against him. Their vigour on this occasion was attended with the best effects, and had a prodigious effect both in Ireland and England. O'Connell seemed to be gone; the anarchy of Ireland to be pierced to the heart in the person of the great Agitator; and tranquillity about to revisit its shores, from the experienced hopelessness of agitating with impunity and success. In England, all good men beheld with satisfaction this incipient act of vigour, and anticipated the happiest result from this signal advantage gained over the worst enemy his country had ever known.

But immediately after this decisive success, commenced the ruinous system of weakness, vacillation, and subservience to the mob, which has ever since been pursued. The budget was brought in; Ministers were beaten, laughed at, and evidently falling; and to prop up their tottering power, they resolved to throw themselves, without reserve, into the arms of the revolutionary party in the whole empire. This instantly revived their all but ruined fortunes; the danger was transferred from themselves to the nation; instead of the Whig Administration going down the gulf of perdition, Great Britain entered the jaws; and they had the satisfaction of prolonging a feverish existence for a few years, by a measure which they now know, and do not scruple to avow, will prove the destruction of the empire.

Towards the success of this alliance with the Revolutionists, it was indispensable that the great Agitator should be gained over to their side; and the democrats of Ireland permitted to agitate and convulse the country under the colours of administration. With this view, he was

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never brought up to receive sentence. Month after month, the whole winter term of the Dublin courts expired, without his prosecution being moved in, although it might have been finished in ten minutes; and at last it was allowed to come to a natural termination by the dissolution of Parliament in April 1831.

Not content with this immense boon to the great Agitator, Ministers, in the transports of their first love for the Revolutionists, went a step farther. They promoted him above all his brethren, placed him at the head of the Irish bar, and, if report be true, were only prevented by the firmness of the Irish Secretary, too able a man not to be a Conservative in heart, whatever he is in party, from making him Attorney-General! This unprecedented and disgraceful step was equivalent to a general proclamation of anarchy through the country. The passions of its ardent people were let loose without restraint. Sheltered under the wings of administration, secure from all danger at the hands of Government, the Catholics, democrats, and agitators of that distracted country united together; and in the midst of violence, intimidation, and bloodshed, a large majority of movement-men was returned to Parliament.

unexpected and unhoped for extinction of tithes, the combination against their payment was rapidly organized. The Catholic bishops and priests could not be persuaded that they were not forwarding the views of Administration, and of their favourite pupil and dignified ally, Mr O'Connell, by anticipating a little the work of "Extinction," and refusing de facto to pay those burdens which were so soon de jure to be terminated. Thence arose the immense and unparalleled combination against tithes in Ireland, originating in the diocese of Dr Doyle. Organized by the Catholic leaders in Dublin, it soon spread universally over the south and west; and in a short time two-thirds of the established clergy were in a state of starvation, and the greater part of the country in a virtual insurrection against the authority of the law. The consequences are well known. A bill was brought into Parliament to provide for the necessities of the Irish Church out of the Consolidated Fund; the clergy of Ireland thrown upon the industry of England, and the Attorney-General, charged with the hopeless task, by the aid of the military, of recovering the dues of the church out of several millions of an insurgent peasantry.

Nor was this all. With the view apparently of still farther rousing the passions of the Catholics, Mr Stanley declared in his place in the House of Commons, that “the extinction of tithes" was intended by Government; and the Catholic leaders, by this time become a powerful body in the House, instantly hailed the joyous intelligence, and said, without contradiction from the Treasury Benches, that they considered tithes as now at an end on the other side of St George's Channel. This unexpected intelligence spread like wildfire through Ireland; faster than the fiery cross, it sped from chapel to chapel, from priest to priest; and the people, totally incapable of understanding what was intended, but relying on the words of Administration in the House of Commons, concluded that tithes were finally abolished; and that all payments to the clergy were thenceforward to

cease for ever.

In the tumults consequent on this

Meanwhile the perilous state of the country roused the spirit, and called forth the patriotism of the Protestants of the North. Seeing themselves abandoned by the Government, and on the verge of destruction; anticipating the horrors of the Tyrone Rebellion on a still greater scale, this intrepid band stood forth alone, but undismayed, in the midst of the general paralysis and defection of the empire. While England was quailing under the violence of the Revolutionists, and beholding in consternation the fires at Bristol; while the noble example of the Conservative Meeting at Edinburgh failed to stimulate the Scotch to the discharge of patriotic duty; the Irish Protestants boldly stood forth, and though menaced by dangers infinitely greater than any other part of the British dominions, held a language, and exhibited a determination, which, if generally imitated through the empire, would have consigned the Reform Bill, with its

parent Administration, to an execrated grave, and delivered the empire from all the dangers which its authors are now sensible are thickening round its aged head. History has no more glorious example of courageous ability to refer to, than was exhibited by the brave and illustrious leaders of Irish patriotism; the splendid eloquence of Mr Boyton, the dauntless intrepidity of the Earl of Roden, captivated the brave and the enthusiastic in every part of the empire; and the Protestants of the North, to whom Ireland had so often owed her deliverance, stood forth in such numbers, and with so heroic a spirit, as daunted as much as it astonished the servile crew of the Revolutionists, crouching, though they are under the wings of ministerial support.

Meanwhile the ministerial project for tithes came forth. It was no longer" an extinction" of tithes, but only a "commutation," which by laying them on the landlord directly, still preserved them, though not in so palpable a manner, as a burden on the soil. The wisdom of the change from the intention originally announced, is obvious; and we rejoice at being able to render our humble meed of praise to the Government for this return to Conservative principles, even at the eleventh hour; but what shall we say to the rashness which dictated the previous promise of "extinction," and set the Catholic population every where on fire, at the prospect of a boon which Government never intended they should receive? Thence has arisen the universal, the unanimous detestation in which the Whigs are held in Ireland. The nation, for the last six months, has been every where convulsed by contests for the payment of tithes. Every other subject, how pressing soever, has been lost in the overwhelming interest of that one topic. The peasantry originally roused by the promises of Government for the "extinction" of tithes, organized and headed by the darling favourite of Ministers, the great Agitator, find themselves assailed by the military, for doing what these recent allies, these highly rewarded, and dearly-beloved supporters of Government, urged them to do. Blood has flowed profusely in many places; irritation been widely spread in all,

because the people persist in annexing to the word " extinction" its natural and established meaning. The consequences of this deception, of the frustration of their hopes, and the blasting of these expectations, have been dreadful in the extreme, and so will Government and Parliament find at the next election.

To complete the work of revolutionary madness, the Government next proceeded to pass for Ireland the Reform Bill: a bill which at once swept away the incorporations which the wisdom of James I. had established as a barrier against Catholic invasion; and threw the elections of great part of the country at once into the hands of an infuriated Catholic rabble, acting under the dictation of ambitious and able leaders. Of all the infatuations of which party men were ever guilty, this is perhaps the greatest. For Ireland, great part of whose people are still almost in a savage state, and all of whom are actuated by the strongest political passions, they proposed the same electoral institutions as England for the neighbouring island. Into its inflammable, ardent, and penniless population they poured the same fatal gift of political power which was hardly deemed safe amidst the old established freedom, sober_habits, and extended property of England. One political constitution was carved out at a single heat for England, Scotland, and Ireland; in other words, one measure taken for a man of forty, a youth of eighteen, and a boy of twelve; for in these proportions, or nearly so, is the capacity of the different portions of the empire to bear political excitation, or duly exercise the political rights of electing citizens. The simple enunciation of this fact is sufficient to convict the Ministry, not only of the most culpable rashness, but total ignorance of the first principles of representative governments. It is utterly impossible that the same political institutions can be adapted at the same time to two nations, one of which is in the infancy, and the other in the old age of its political education. If the L.10 franchise and the abolition of the close boroughs is adapted for England, it cannot be suited for Ireland.

What would we say to a legislator who should propose the same politi

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