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The evil is one which, under the present system of government in Ireland, must not only exist, but must necessarily increase; and who shall say whether it will terminate before the whole of England be consigned to the same dreadful condition of miserable poverty, to which she has so woefully contributed to reduce that unhappy country? It is now nearly a month, since the distressed and impoverished state of Ireland has rendered her condition alarming; and though this has been officially announced for the same period, it does not yet appear to have attracted the notice of the legislature, or even of the English journals. Really to judge from the contents of our public press, the details of a fashionable party, the birth of some unnatural monster among the animal creation, or even the flowering of a primrose in January, is of more importance to the people of England, than are the most vital interests of the sister island, the possession of which has alone elevated us above the rank of secondary nations, by furnishing us with almost unlimited resources-by supplying half our navy, and more than half our army.(")

() Since the above was written, nearly another twelvemonth has elapsed, during which circumstances have occurred, which will, at length, force the situation of Ireland upon the attention both of the government and the people of England, and which prove more strongly than

I hope a few words may be permitted me (and I speak them with all due respect) to the Right Rev.

ever the absolute necessity of bringing to a final and happy adjustment, that question which still agitates one country, and still paralyses the other. The war which is actually raging, and the rumours of others, are sufficient to convince any but an obstinate and imbecile government of the policy of marshalling our resources, and husbanding our strength; while the late events in Clare have exhibited, in all its energy, the power with which the enemies of emancipation have to contend. That that power must prove irresistible is certain; if it lead to good, they who brought it into action have all the merit and all the glory; but if to evil, they who have unjustly, unconstitutionally, and wickedly opposed it, though they will share the misfortune with others, will alone be burthened with all the responsibility and all the dishonour. They who cry violence against O'Connell and Shiel, and shelter themselves in their intolerance under the disingenuous pretext of turbulence on the part of those whom they are pleased to style the Irish demagogues, would they support emancipation upon any terms or under any circumstances? There are men who know nothing of Catholicity but what they have learnt from the Protestant's Catechism-who know nothing of Ireland but what they glean from the liberal and enlightened columns of the Standard, or Dublin Evening Mail;-men who allow themselves to be carried away by a spirit of vengeance, and who, in their pride and obstinacy, are ready to sacrifice millions of their fellow creatures to the fancied guilt of a few individuals. They call for passive submission to their tyranny; words of sweet

Bench of Bishops.-Gratitude alone should induce them to act differently from what they do; for

ness for their insolence; gratitude for their injustice. It is their will and pleasure, that what is now demanded as a right shall be sued for as a boon,-that we should learn to speak with honied lips,-that instead of holding ourselves erect, we should crawl upon the earth. They tell us that, when we are less eager in the pursuit, and when our relish for freedom is less keen, or, in other words, when we are become abject in our slavery,-silent under unmerited reproach, and willing victims at the shrine of bigotry; when that blessed day shall arrive, which they know full well will never come ;-then it is that, in their hypocrisy, they say, that the light of liberality shall shine in upon them;-that, when tamed into servility by misfortune, we are unfitted for any noble deed or any honourable employment, that then, forsooth, they will put us into possession of all our desires, having first deprived us of every capacity to enjoy them;-that then they will open to us the paths of fame, when we are so crippled as to be unable to advance in them.

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"Cease to agitate, and perhaps something may be done," is the language of him who governs the politics of the day. I do not accuse the Duke of Wellington of such views as those I have just described, much less of such a disposition of mind; I trust his soul is too noble ever to have harboured such ideas; but being constrained by circumstances, and obliged to humour a party, he is compelled to use expressions which, with little meaning in themselves, may be so construed as to chime in with the opinions and conduct of men whom he is not at liberty to

they have certainly never yet repaid the obligation under which they were placed by the votes of the

offend, and who are thereby honoured and supported in their miserable policy and their paltry subterfuges.

Let us refer to what passed at the anniversary dinner at Derry, and let us judge to which party the accusation of outrageous violence should attach. The violence of the Catholics is a violence of zeal in the cause of justice and of right-a violence of wholesome indignation against the tyranny which oppresses them-a violent desire to emancipate their country from the evils that afflict her. But the men of Derry are outrageous, because the reign of bigotry is drawing to a close-because the tyrannical ascendancy which they have enjoyed for centuries, is about to be overthrown-because their monopoly of liberty, of political power, of the sweets of dominion, of all that men hold most dear in civil life, is to be broken down-because those, who have a right to be their equals, are to be raised to a level, and only to a level, with themselves-because one of their own brotherhood, more wise and more honest than the rest, has done himself immortal honour, by yielding to circumstances, instead of clinging, with obstinate bigotry and selfishness, to a cause, which, if allowed to run its course, instead of leading to a continuance of those delights which they are so reluctant to share with others, must inevitably bring ruin on themselves, together with the rest of the empire. This, and this only, is their apology for calling for the blood of the people!

If such language as was heard at Derry, had ever been delivered in the Catholic Association, with a numerous body of armed men to echo it back, what invectives would

26 Catholic Peers, who, in 1661, united in restoring them to their seats in the Legislature (from which the persecuted sectaries had driven them,) nor requited the good offices they had previously received from the Catholic Peerage, in 1641. No greater proof than these facts present, can be given of the sincerity of those professions which we make, in case of justice being done us, to rank ourselves amongst the constitutional supporters of the established church; and yet, she opposes emancipation, to secure her temporalities! One while, she argues that Catholics will thrive so fast on freedom, that they will overrun the whole empire.

it not have called forth, what horror would it not have excited! The cry of rebellion would have sounded from one end of the kingdom to the other; the whole power of government would have been invoked to stifle the monster in its birth!-But it is well that the Orangemen of the North have unmasked themselves. They exhibit to the world the vitiating principle of that unhallowed cause with which they are identified, and prove themselves the true originals of those startling and terrific portraits, which we now perceive to have been sketched without exaggeration by the Catholic leaders. From being our most dangerous enemies, we may in future consider them as our best friends.

N. B. For a few illustrations, hastily collected from the public journals, of the actual condition of things in Ireland, see APPENDIX, No. VI.

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