diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4063-0.txt | 5031 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4063-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 124841 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4063-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 229930 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4063-h/4063-h.htm | 5591 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4063-h/images/tpb.jpg | bin | 0 -> 84680 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4063-h/images/tps.jpg | bin | 0 -> 19147 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/ptpml10.txt | 5334 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/ptpml10.zip | bin | 0 -> 123522 bytes |
11 files changed, 15972 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4063-0.txt b/4063-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1898a55 --- /dev/null +++ b/4063-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5031 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Peter Plymley's Letters, by Sydney Smith, +Edited by Henry Morley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Peter Plymley's Letters + and Selected Essays + + +Author: Sydney Smith + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: September 8, 2014 [eBook #4063] +[This file was first posted on 29 October 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PETER PLYMLEY'S LETTERS*** + + +Transcribed from the 1893 Cassell & Company edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + CASSELL’S NATIONAL LIBRARY + + * * * * * + + + + + + PETER PLYMLEY’S LETTERS + AND + SELECTED ESSAYS + + + * * * * * + + BY + SYDNEY SMITH + + [Picture: Decorative graphic] + + CASSELL & COMPANY LIMITED + _LONDON PARIS & MELBOURNE_ + 1893 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +SYDNEY SMITH, of the same age as Walter Scott, was born at Woodford, in +Essex, in the year 1771, and he died of heart disease, aged seventy-four, +on the 22nd of February, 1845. His father was a clever man of wandering +habits who, when he settled in England, reduced his means by buying, +altering, spoiling, and then selling about nineteen different places in +England. His mother was of a French family from Languedoc, that had been +driven to England by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Sydney +Smith’s grandfather, upon the mother’s side, could speak no English, and +he himself ascribed some of his gaiety to the French blood in his veins. + +He was one of four sons. His eldest brother Robert—known as Bobus—was +sent to Eton, where he joined Canning, Frere, and John Smith, in writing +the Eton magazine, the _Microcosm_; and at Cambridge Bobus afterwards was +known as a fine Latin scholar. Sydney Smith went first to a school at +Southampton, and then to Winchester, where he became captain of the +school. Then he was sent for six months to Normandy for a last polish to +his French before he went on to New College, Oxford. When he had +obtained his fellowship there, his father left him to his own resources. +His eldest brother had been trained for the bar, his two younger brothers +were sent out to India, and Sydney, against his own wish, yielded to the +strong desire of his father that he should take orders as a clergyman. +Accordingly, in 1794, he became curate of the small parish of +Netherhaven, in Wiltshire. Meat came to Netherhaven only once a week in +a butcher’s cart from Salisbury, and the curate often dined upon potatoes +flavoured with ketchup. + +The only educated neighbour was Mr. Hicks Beach, the squire, who at first +formally invited the curate to dinner on Sundays, and soon found his wit, +sense, and high culture so delightful, that the acquaintance ripened into +friendship. After two years in the curacy, Sydney Smith gave it up and +went abroad with the squire’s son. “When first I went into the Church,” +he wrote afterwards, “I had a curacy in the middle of Salisbury Plain; +the parish was Netherhaven, near Amesbury. The squire of the parish, Mr. +Beach, took a fancy to me, and after I had served it two years, he +engaged me as tutor to his eldest son, and it was arranged that I and his +son should proceed to the University of Weimar in Saxony. We set out, +but before reaching our destination Germany was disturbed by war, and, in +stress of politics, we put into Edinburgh, where I remained five years.” + +Young Michael Beach, who had little taste for study, lived with Sydney +Smith as his tutor, and found him a wise guide and pleasant friend. When +Michael went to the University, his brother William was placed under the +same good care. Sydney Smith, about the same time, went to London to be +married. His wife’s rich brother quarrelled with her for marrying a man +who said that his only fortune consisted in six small silver teaspoons. +One day after their happy marriage he ran in to his wife and threw them +in her lap, saying, “There, Kate, you lucky girl, I give you all my +fortune!” The lucky girl had a small fortune of her own which her +husband had strictly secured to herself and her children. Mr. Beach +recognised the value of Sydney Smith’s influence over his son by a +wedding gift of £750. In 1802 a daughter was born, and in the same year +Sydney Smith joined Francis Jeffrey and other friends, who then +maintained credit for Edinburgh as the Modern Athens, in the founding of +_The Edinburgh Review_, to which the papers in this volume, added to the +Peter Plymley Letters, were contributed. The Rev. Sydney Smith preached +sometimes in the Episcopal Church at Edinburgh, and presently had, in +addition to William Beach, a son of Mr. Gordon, of Ellon Castle, placed +under his care, receiving £400 a year for each of the young men. + +In 1803 Sydney Smith left Edinburgh for London, where he wrote busily in +_The Edinburgh Review_, but remained poor for many years. His wit +brought friends, and the marriage of his eldest brother with Lord +Holland’s aunt quickened the growth of a strong friendship with Lord +Holland. Through the good offices of Lord Holland, Sydney Smith +obtained, in 1806, aged thirty-five, the living of Foston-le-Clay, in +Yorkshire. In the next year appeared the first letter of Peter Plymley +to his brother Abraham on the subject of the Irish Catholics. + +These letters fell, we are told, like sparks on a heap of gunpowder. All +London, and soon all England, was alive to the sound reason recommended +by a lively wit. Sydney Smith lived to be recognised as first among the +social wits, and it was always the chief praise of his wit that wisdom +was the soul of it. Peter Plymley’s letters, and Sydney Smith’s articles +on the same subject in _The Edinburgh Review_ were the most powerful aids +furnished by the pen to the solution of the burning question of their +time. Lord Murray called the Plymley letters “after Pascal’s letters the +most instructive piece of wisdom in the form of irony ever written.” +Worldly wealth came later; but in wit, wisdom, and kindly helpful +cheerfulness, from youth to age, Sydney Smith’s life was rich. + + H. M. + + + + +LETTERS ON THE SUBJECT OF THE CATHOLICS. + + + TO + MY BROTHER ABRAHAM, + WHO LIVES IN THE COUNTRY. + BY PETER PLYMLEY. + + + +LETTER I. + + +DEAR ABRAHAM,—A worthier and better man than yourself does not exist; but +I have always told you, from the time of our boyhood, that you were a bit +of a goose. Your parochial affairs are governed with exemplary order and +regularity; you are as powerful in the vestry as Mr. Perceval is in the +House of Commons,—and, I must say, with much more reason; nor do I know +any church where the faces and smock-frocks of the congregation are so +clean, or their eyes so uniformly directed to the preacher. There is +another point, upon which I will do you ample justice; and that is, that +the eyes so directed towards you are wide open; for the rustic has, in +general, good principles, though he cannot control his animal habits; +and, however loud he may snore, his face is perpetually turned towards +the fountain of orthodoxy. + +Having done you this act of justice, I shall proceed, according to our +ancient intimacy and familiarity, to explain to you my opinions about the +Catholics, and to reply to yours. + +In the first place, my sweet Abraham, the Pope is not landed—nor are +there any curates sent out after him—nor has he been hid at St. Albans by +the Dowager Lady Spencer—nor dined privately at Holland House—nor been +seen near Dropmore. If these fears exist (which I do not believe), they +exist only in the mind of the Chancellor of the Exchequer; they emanate +from his zeal for the Protestant interest; and, though they reflect the +highest honour upon the delicate irritability of his faith, must +certainly be considered as more ambiguous proofs of the sanity and vigour +of his understanding. By this time, however, the best-informed clergy in +the neighbourhood of the metropolis are convinced that the rumour is +without foundation; and though the Pope is probably hovering about our +coast in a fishing-smack, it is most likely he will fall a prey to the +vigilance of our cruisers; and it is certain that he has not yet polluted +the Protestantism of our soil. + +Exactly in the same manner, the story of the wooden gods seized at +Charing Cross, by an order from the Foreign Office, turns out to be +without the shadow of a foundation; instead of the angels and archangels, +mentioned by the informer, nothing was discovered but a wooden image of +Lord Mulgrave, going down to Chatham, as a head-piece for the _Spanker_ +gun-vessel; it was an exact resemblance of his Lordship in his military +uniform; and _therefore_ as little like a god as can well be imagined. + +Having set your fears at rest, as to the extent of the conspiracy formed +against the Protestant religion, I will now come to the argument itself. + +You say these men interpret the scriptures in an unorthodox manner, and +that they eat their god.—Very likely. All this may seem very important +to you, who live fourteen miles from a market-town, and, from long +residence upon your living, are become a kind of holy vegetable; and in a +theological sense it is highly important. But I want soldiers and +sailors for the state; I want to make a greater use than I now can do of +a poor country full of men; I want to render the military service popular +among the Irish; to check the power of France; to make every possible +exertion for the safety of Europe, which in twenty years’ time will be +nothing but a mass of French slaves: and then you, and ten other such +boobies as you, call out—“For God’s sake, do not think of raising cavalry +and infantry in Ireland! . . . They interpret the Epistle to Timothy in a +different manner from what we do! . . . They eat a bit of wafer every +Sunday, which they call their God!” . . . I wish to my soul they would +eat you, and such reasoners as you are. What! when Turk, Jew, Heretic, +Infidel, Catholic, Protestant, are all combined against this country; +when men of every religious persuasion, and no religious persuasion; when +the population of half the globe is up in arms against us; are we to +stand examining our generals and armies as a bishop examines a candidate +for holy orders; and to suffer no one to bleed for England who does not +agree with you about the second of Timothy? You talk about the +Catholics! If you and your brotherhood have been able to persuade the +country into a continuation of this grossest of all absurdities, you have +ten times the power which the Catholic clergy ever had in their best +days. Louis XIV., when he revoked the Edict of Nantes, never thought of +preventing the Protestants from fighting his battles; and gained +accordingly some of his most splendid victories by the talents of his +Protestant generals. No power in Europe, but yourselves, has ever +thought for these hundred years past, of asking whether a bayonet is +Catholic, or Presbyterian or Lutheran; but whether it is sharp and +well-tempered. A bigot delights in public ridicule; for he begins to +think he is a martyr. I can promise you the full enjoyment of this +pleasure, from one extremity of Europe to the other. + +I am as disgusted with the nonsense of the Roman Catholic religion as you +can be: and no man who talks such nonsense shall ever tithe the product +of the earth, nor meddle with the ecclesiastical establishment in any +shape; but what have I to do with the speculative nonsense of his +theology, when the object is to elect the mayor of a county town, or to +appoint a colonel of a marching regiment? Will a man discharge the +solemn impertinences of the one office with less zeal, or shrink from the +bloody boldness of the other with greater timidity, because the blockhead +thinks he can eat angels in muffins and chew a spiritual nature in the +crumpets which he buys from the baker’s shop? I am sorry there should be +such impious folly in the world, but I should be ten times a greater fool +than he is, if I refused, till he had made a solemn protestation that the +crumpet was spiritless and the muffin nothing but a human muffin, to lead +him out against the enemies of the state. Your whole argument is wrong: +the state has nothing whatever to do with theological errors which do not +violate the common rules of morality, and militate against the fair power +of the ruler: it leaves all these errors to you, and to such as you. You +have every tenth porker in your parish for refuting them; and take care +that you are vigilant and logical in the task. + +I love the Church as well as you do; but you totally mistake the nature +of an establishment, when you contend that it ought to be connected with +the military and civil career of every individual in the state. It is +quite right that there should be one clergyman to every parish +interpreting the Scriptures after a particular manner, ruled by a regular +hierarchy, and paid with a rich proportion of haycocks and wheatsheafs. +When I have laid this foundation for a rational religion in the +state—when I have placed ten thousand well-educated men in different +parts of the kingdom to preach it up, and compelled everybody to pay +them, whether they hear them or not—I have taken such measures as I know +must always procure an immense majority in favour of the Established +Church; but I can go no further. I cannot set up a civil inquisition, +and say to one, you shall not be a butcher, because you are not orthodox; +and prohibit another from brewing, and a third from administering the +law, and a fourth from defending the country. If common justice did not +prohibit me from such a conduct, common sense would. The advantage to be +gained by quitting the heresy would make it shameful to abandon it; and +men who had once left the Church would continue in such a state of +alienation from a point of honour, and transmit that spirit to their +latest posterity. This is just the effect your disqualifying laws have +produced. They have fed Dr. Rees, and Dr. Kippis; crowded the +congregations of the Old Jewry to suffocation: and enabled every +sublapsarian, and superlapsarian, and semi-pelagian clergyman, to build +himself a neat brick chapel, and live with some distant resemblance to +the state of a gentleman. + +You say the King’s coronation oath will not allow him to consent to any +relaxation of the Catholic laws.—Why not relax the Catholic laws as well +as the laws against Protestant dissenters? If one is contrary to his +oath, the other must be so too; for the spirit of the oath is, to defend +the Church establishment, which the Quaker and the Presbyterian differ +from as much or more than the Catholic; and yet his Majesty has repealed +the Corporation and Test Act in Ireland, and done more for the Catholics +of both kingdoms than had been done for them since the Reformation. In +1778 the ministers said nothing about the royal conscience; in 1793 no +conscience; in 1804 no conscience; the common feeling of humanity and +justice then seem to have had their fullest influence upon the advisers +of the Crown; but in 1807—a year, I suppose, eminently fruitful in moral +and religious scruples (as some years are fruitful in apples, some in +hops),—it is contended by the well-paid John Bowles, and by Mr. Perceval +(who tried to be well paid), that this is now perjury which we had +hitherto called policy and benevolence. Religious liberty has never made +such a stride as under the reign of his present Majesty; nor is there any +instance in the annals of our history, where so many infamous and +damnable laws have been repealed as those against the Catholics which +have been put an end to by him; and then, at the close of this useful +policy, his advisers discover that the very measures of concession and +indulgence, or (to use my own language) the measures of justice, which he +has been pursuing through the whole of his reign, are contrary to the +oath he takes at its commencement! That oath binds his Majesty not to +consent to any measure contrary to the interest of the Established +Church; but who is to judge of the tendency of each particular measure? +Not the King alone: it can never be the intention of this law that the +King, who listens to the advice of his Parliament upon a read bill, +should reject it upon the most important of all measures. Whatever be +his own private judgment of the tendency of any ecclesiastical bill, he +complies most strictly with his oath, if he is guided in that particular +point by the advice of his Parliament, who may be presumed to understand +its tendency better than the King, or any other individual. You say, if +Parliament had been unanimous in their opinion of the absolute necessity +for Lord Howick’s bill, and the King had thought it pernicious, he would +have been perjured if he had not rejected it. I say, on the contrary, +his Majesty would have acted in the most conscientious manner, and have +complied most scrupulously with his oath, if he had sacrificed his own +opinion to the opinion of the great council of the nation; because the +probability was that such opinion was better than his own; and upon the +same principle, in common life, you give up your opinion to your +physician, your lawyer, and your builder. + +You admit this bill did not compel the King to elect Catholic officers, +but only gave him the option of doing so if he pleased; but you add, that +the King was right in not trusting such dangerous power to himself or his +successors. Now you are either to suppose that the King for the time +being has a zeal for the Catholic establishment, or that he has not. If +he has not, where is the danger of giving such an option? If you suppose +that he may be influenced by such an admiration of the Catholic religion, +why did his present Majesty, in the year 1804, consent to that bill which +empowered the Crown to station ten thousand Catholic soldiers in any part +of the kingdom, and place them absolutely at the disposal of the Crown? +If the King of England for the time being is a good Protestant, there can +be no danger in making the Catholic _eligible_ to anything: if he is not, +no power can possibly be so dangerous as that conveyed by the bill last +quoted; to which, in point of peril, Lord Howick’s bill is a mere joke. +But the real fact is, one bill opened a door to his Majesty’s advisers +for trick, jobbing, and intrigue; the other did not. + +Besides, what folly to talk to me of an oath, which, under all possible +circumstances, is to prevent the relaxation of the Catholic laws! for +such a solemn appeal to God sets all conditions and contingencies at +defiance. Suppose Bonaparte was to retrieve the only very great blunder +he has made, and were to succeed, after repeated trials, in making an +impression upon Ireland, do you think we should hear any thing of the +impediment of a coronation oath? or would the spirit of this country +tolerate for an hour such ministers, and such unheard-of nonsense, if the +most distant prospect existed of conciliating the Catholics by every +species even of the most abject concession? And yet, if your argument is +good for anything, the coronation oath ought to reject, at such a moment, +every tendency to conciliation, and to bind Ireland for ever to the crown +of France. + +I found in your letter the usual remarks about fire, fagot, and bloody +Mary. Are you aware, my dear Priest, that there were as many persons put +to death for religious opinions under the mild Elizabeth as under the +bloody Mary? The reign of the former was, to be sure, ten times as long; +but I only mention the fact, merely to show you that something depends +upon the age in which men live, as well as on their religious opinions. +Three hundred years ago men burnt and hanged each other for these +opinions. Time has softened Catholic as well as Protestant: they both +required it; though each perceives only his own improvement, and is blind +to that of the other. We are all the creatures of circumstances. I know +not a kinder and better man than yourself; but you, if you had lived in +those times, would certainly have roasted your Catholic: and I promise +you, if the first exciter of this religious mob had been as powerful then +as he is now, you would soon have been elevated to the mitre. I do not +go the length of saying that the world has suffered as much from +Protestant as from Catholic persecution; far from it: but you should +remember the Catholics had all the power, when the idea first started up +in the world that there could be two modes of faith; and that it was much +more natural they should attempt to crush this diversity of opinion by +great and cruel efforts, than that the Protestants should rage against +those who differed from them, when the very basis of their system was +complete freedom in all spiritual matters. + +I cannot extend my letter any further at present, but you shall soon hear +from me again. You tell me I am a party man. I hope I shall always be +so, when I see my country in the hands of a pert London joker and a +second-rate lawyer. Of the first, no other good is known than that he +makes pretty Latin verses; the second seems to me to have the head of a +country parson and the tongue of an Old Bailey lawyer. + +If I could see good measures pursued, I care not a farthing who is in +power; but I have a passionate love for common justice, and for common +sense, and I abhor and despise every man who builds up his political +fortune upon their ruin. + +God bless you, reverend Abraham, and defend you from the Pope, and all of +us from that administration who seek power by opposing a measure which +Burke, Pitt, and Fox all considered as absolutely necessary to the +existence of the country. + + + +LETTER II. + + +DEAR ABRAHAM,—The Catholic not respect an oath! why not? What upon earth +has kept him out of Parliament, or excluded him from all the offices +whence he is excluded, but his respect for oaths? There is no law which +prohibits a Catholic to sit in Parliament. There could be no such law; +because it is impossible to find out what passes in the interior of any +man’s mind. Suppose it were in contemplation to exclude all men from +certain offices who contended for the legality of taking tithes: the only +mode of discovering that fervid love of decimation which I know you to +possess would be to tender you an oath “against that damnable doctrine, +that it is lawful for a spiritual man to take, abstract, appropriate, +subduct, or lead away the tenth calf, sheep, lamb, ox, pigeon, duck,” +&c., &c., &c., and every other animal that ever existed, which of course +the lawyers would take care to enumerate. Now this oath I am sure you +would rather die than take; and so the Catholic is excluded from +Parliament because he will not swear that he disbelieves the leading +doctrines of his religion! The Catholic asks you to abolish some oaths +which oppress him; your answer is that he does not respect oaths. Then +why subject him to the test of oaths? The oaths keep him out of +Parliament; why, then, he respects them. Turn which way you will, either +your laws are nugatory, or the Catholic is bound by religious obligations +as you are; but no eel in the well-sanded fist of a cook-maid, upon the +eve of being skinned, ever twisted and writhed as an orthodox parson does +when he is compelled by the gripe of reason to admit anything in favour +of a dissenter. + +I will not dispute with you whether the Pope be or be not the Scarlet +Lady of Babylon. I hope it is not so; because I am afraid it will induce +His Majesty’s Chancellor of the Exchequer to introduce several severe +bills against popery, if that is the case; and though he will have the +decency to appoint a previous committee of inquiry as to the fact, the +committee will be garbled, and the report inflammatory. Leaving this to +be settled as he pleases to settle it, I wish to inform you, that, +previously to the bill last passed in favour of the Catholics, at the +suggestion of Mr. Pitt, and for his satisfaction, the opinions of six of +the most celebrated of the foreign Catholic universities were taken as to +the right of the Pope to interfere in the temporal concerns of any +country. The answer cannot possibly leave the shadow of a doubt, even in +the mind of Baron Maseres; and Dr. Rennel would be compelled to admit it, +if three Bishops lay dead at the very moment the question were put to +him. To this answer might be added also the solemn declaration and +signature of all the Catholics in Great Britain. + +I should perfectly agree with you, if the Catholics admitted such a +dangerous dispensing power in the hands of the Pope; but they all deny +it, and laugh at it, and are ready to abjure it in the most decided +manner you can devise. They obey the Pope as the spiritual head of their +Church; but are you really so foolish as to be imposed upon by mere +names? What matters it the seven-thousandth part of a farthing who is +the spiritual head of any Church? Is not Mr. Wilberforce at the head of +the Church of Clapham? Is not Dr. Letsom at the head of the Quaker +Church? Is not the General Assembly at the head of the Church of +Scotland? How is the government disturbed by these many-headed Churches? +or in what way is the power of the Crown augmented by this almost nominal +dignity? + +The King appoints a fast-day once a year, and he makes the bishops: and +if the government would take half the pains to keep the Catholics out of +the arms of France that it does to widen Temple Bar, or improve Snow +Hill, the King would get into his hands the appointments of the titular +Bishops of Ireland. Both Mr. C-’s sisters enjoy pensions more than +sufficient to place the two greatest dignitaries of the Irish Catholic +Church entirely at the disposal of the Crown. + +Everybody who knows Ireland knows perfectly well, that nothing would be +easier, with the expenditure of a little money, than to preserve enough +of the ostensible appointment in the hands of the Pope to satisfy the +scruples of the Catholics, while the real nomination remained with the +Crown. But, as I have before said, the moment the very name of Ireland +is mentioned, the English seem to bid adieu to common feeling, common +prudence, and common sense, and to act with the barbarity of tyrants and +the fatuity of idiots. + +Whatever your opinion may be of the follies of the Roman Catholic +religion, remember they are the follies of four millions of human beings, +increasing rapidly in numbers, wealth, and intelligence, who, if firmly +united with this country, would set at defiance the power of France, and +if once wrested from their alliance with England, would in three years +render its existence as an independent nation absolutely impossible. You +speak of danger to the Establishment: I request to know when the +Establishment was ever so much in danger as when Hoche was in Bantry Bay, +and whether all the books of Bossuet, or the arts of the Jesuits, were +half so terrible? Mr. Perceval and his parsons forget all this, in their +horror lest twelve or fourteen old women may be converted to holy water +and Catholic nonsense. They never see that, while they are saving these +venerable ladies from perdition, Ireland may be lost, England broken +down, and the Protestant Church, with all its deans, prebendaries, +Percevals, and Rennels, be swept into the vortex of oblivion. + +Do not, I beseech you, ever mention to me again the name of Dr. Duigenan. +I have been in every corner of Ireland, and have studied its present +strength and condition with no common labour. Be assured Ireland does +not contain at this moment less than five millions of people. There were +returned in the year 1791 to the hearth tax 701,000 houses, and there is +no kind of question that there were about 50,000 houses omitted in that +return. Taking, however, only the number returned for the tax, and +allowing the average of six to a house (a very small average for a +potato-fed people), this brings the population to 4,200,000 people in the +year 1791: and it can be shown from the clearest evidence (and Mr. +Newenham in his book shows it), that Ireland for the last fifty years has +increased in its population at the rate of 50 or 60,000 per annum; which +leaves the present population of Ireland at about five millions, after +every possible deduction for _existing circumstances_, _just and +necessary wars_, _monstrous and unnatural rebellions_, and all other +sources of human destruction. Of this population, two out of ten are +Protestants; and the half of the Protestant population are Dissenters, +and as inimical to the Church as the Catholics themselves. In this state +of things thumbscrews and whipping—admirable engines of policy as they +must be considered to be—will not ultimately avail. The Catholics will +hang over you; they will watch for the moment, and compel you hereafter +to give them ten times as much, against your will, as they would now be +contented with, if it were voluntarily surrendered. Remember what +happened in the American war, when Ireland compelled you to give her +everything she asked, and to renounce, in the most explicit manner, your +claim of Sovereignty over her. God Almighty grant the folly of these +present men may not bring on such another crisis of public affairs! + +What are your dangers which threaten the Establishment?—Reduce this +declamation to a point, and let us understand what you mean. The most +ample allowance does not calculate that there would be more than twenty +members who were Roman Catholics in one house, and ten in the other, if +the Catholic emancipation were carried into effect. Do you mean that +these thirty members would bring in a bill to take away the tithes from +the Protestant, and to pay them to the Catholic clergy? Do you mean that +a Catholic general would march his army into the House of Commons, and +purge it of Mr. Perceval and Dr. Duigenan? or, that the theological +writers would become all of a sudden more acute or more learned, if the +present civil incapacities were removed? Do you fear for your tithes, or +your doctrines, or your person, or the English Constitution? Every fear, +taken separately, is so glaringly absurd, that no man has the folly or +the boldness to state it. Every one conceals his ignorance, or his +baseness, in a stupid general panic, which, when called on, he is utterly +incapable of explaining. Whatever you think of the Catholics, there they +are—you cannot get rid of them; your alternative is to give them a lawful +place for stating their grievances, or an unlawful one: if you do not +admit them to the House of Commons, they will hold their parliament in +Potatoe Place, Dublin, and be ten times as violent and inflammatory as +they would be in Westminster. Nothing would give me such an idea of +security as to see twenty or thirty Catholic gentlemen in Parliament, +looked upon by all the Catholics as the fair and proper organ of their +party. I should have thought it the height of good fortune that such a +wish existed on their part, and the very essence of madness and ignorance +to reject it. Can you murder the Catholics? Can you neglect them? They +are too numerous for both these expedients. What remains to be done is +obvious to every human being—but to that man who, instead of being a +Methodist preacher, is, for the curse of us and our children, and for the +ruin of Troy and the misery of good old Priam and his sons, become a +legislator and a politician. + +A distinction, I perceive, is taken by one of the most feeble noblemen in +Great Britain, between persecution and the deprivation of political +power; whereas, there is no more distinction between these two things +than there is between him who makes the distinction and a booby. If I +strip off the relic-covered jacket of a Catholic, and give him twenty +stripes . . . I persecute; if I say, Everybody in the town where you live +shall be a candidate for lucrative and honourable offices, but you, who +are a Catholic . . . I do not persecute! What barbarous nonsense is +this! as if degradation was not as great an evil as bodily pain or as +severe poverty: as if I could not be as great a tyrant by saying, You +shall not enjoy—as by saying, You shall suffer. The English, I believe, +are as truly religious as any nation in Europe; I know no greater +blessing; but it carries with it this evil in its train, that any villain +who will bawl out, “_The Church is in danger_!” may get a place and a +good pension; and that any administration who will do the same thing may +bring a set of men into power who, at a moment of stationary and passive +piety, would be hooted by the very boys in the streets. But it is not +all religion; it is, in great part, the narrow and exclusive spirit which +delights to keep the common blessings of sun and air and freedom from +other human beings. “Your religion has always been degraded; you are in +the dust, and I will take care you never rise again. I should enjoy less +the possession of an earthly good by every additional person to whom it +was extended.” You may not be aware of it yourself, most reverend +Abraham, but you deny their freedom to the Catholics upon the same +principle that Sarah your wife refuses to give the receipt for a ham or a +gooseberry dumpling: she values her receipts, not because they secure to +her a certain flavour, but because they remind her that her neighbours +want it:—a feeling laughable in a priestess, shameful in a priest; venial +when it withholds the blessings of a ham, tyrannical and execrable when +it narrows the boon of religious freedom. + +You spend a great deal of ink about the character of the present prime +minister. Grant you all that you write—I say, I fear he will ruin +Ireland, and pursue a line of policy destructive to the true interest of +his country: and then you tell me, he is faithful to Mrs. Perceval, and +kind to the Master Percevals! These are, undoubtedly, the first +qualifications to be looked to in a time of the most serious public +danger; but somehow or another (if public and private virtues must always +be incompatible), I should prefer that he destroyed the domestic +happiness of Wood or Cockell, owed for the veal of the preceding year, +whipped his boys, and saved his country. + +The late administration did not do right; they did not build their +measures upon the solid basis of facts. They should have caused several +Catholics to have been dissected after death by surgeons of either +religion; and the report to have been published with accompanying plates. +If the viscera, and other organs of life, had been found to be the same +as in Protestant bodies; if the provisions of nerves, arteries, cerebrum, +and cerebellum, had been the same as we are provided with, or as the +Dissenters are now known to possess; then, indeed, they might have met +Mr. Perceval upon a proud eminence, and convinced the country at large of +the strong probability that the Catholics are really human creatures, +endowed with the feelings of men, and entitled to all their rights. But +instead of this wise and prudent measure, Lord Howick, with his usual +precipitation, brings forward a bill in their favour, without offering +the slightest proof to the country that they were anything more than +horses and oxen. The person who shows the lama at the corner of +Piccadilly has the precaution to write up—_Allowed by Sir Joseph Banks to +be a real quadruped_, so his Lordship might have said—_Allowed by the +bench of Bishops to be real human creatures_. . . . I could write you +twenty letters upon this subject; but I am tired, and so I suppose are +you. Our friendship is now of forty years’ standing; you know me to be a +truly religious man; but I shudder to see religion treated like a +cockade, or a pint of beer, and made the instrument of a party. I love +the king, but I love the people as well as the king; and if I am sorry to +see his old age molested, I am much more sorry to see four millions of +Catholics baffled in their just expectations. If I love Lord Grenville, +and Lord Howick, it is because they love their country; if I abhor . . . +it is because I know there is but one man among them who is not laughing +at the enormous folly and credulity of the country, and that he is an +ignorant and mischievous bigot. As for the light and frivolous jester, +of whom it is your misfortune to think so highly, learn, my dear Abraham, +that this political Killigrew, just before the breaking-up of the last +administration, was in actual treaty with them for a place; and if they +had survived twenty-four hours longer, he would have been now declaiming +against the cry of No Popery! instead of inflaming it. With this +practical comment on the baseness of human nature, I bid you adieu! + + + +LETTER III. + + +ALL that I have so often told you, Mr. Abraham Plymley, is now come to +pass. The Scythians, in whom you and the neighbouring country gentleman +placed such confidence, are smitten hip and thigh; their Beningsen put to +open shame; their magazines of train oil intercepted, and we are waking +from our disgraceful drunkenness to all the horrors of Mr. Perceval and +Mr. Canning . . . We shall now see if a nation is to be saved by +school-boy jokes and doggrel rhymes, by affronting petulance, and by the +tones and gesticulations of Mr. Pitt. But these are not all the +auxiliaries on which we have to depend; to these his colleague will add +the strictest attention to the smaller parts of ecclesiastical +government, to hassocks, to psalters, and to surplices; in the last +agonies of England, he will bring in a bill to regulate Easter-offerings: +and he will adjust the stipends of curates, when the flag of France is +unfurled on the hills of Kent. Whatever can be done by very mistaken +notions of the piety of a Christian, and by a very wretched imitation of +the eloquence of Mr. Pitt, will be done by these two gentlemen. After +all, if they both really were what they both either wish to be, or wish +to be thought; if the one were an enlightened Christian who drew from the +Gospel the toleration, the charity, and the sweetness which it contains; +and if the other really possessed any portion of the great understanding +of his Nisus who guarded him from the weapons of the Whigs, I should +still doubt if they could save us. But I am sure we are not to be saved +by religious hatred, and by religious trifling; by any psalmody, however +sweet; or by any persecution, however sharp; I am certain the sounds of +Mr. Pitt’s voice, and the measure of his tones, and the movement of his +arms, will do nothing for us; when these tones and movements, and voice +brings us always declamation without sense or knowledge, and ridicule +without good humour or conciliation. Oh, Mr. Plymley, this never will +do. Mrs. Abraham Plymley, my sister, will be led away captive by an +amorous Gaul; and Joel Plymley your firstborn, will be a French drummer. + +Out of sight, out of mind, seems to be a proverb which applies to enemies +as well as friends. Because the French army was no longer seen from the +cliffs of Dover; because the sound of cannon was no longer heard by the +debauched London bathers on the Sussex coast; because the _Morning Post_ +no longer fixed the invasion sometimes for Monday, sometimes for Tuesday, +sometimes (positively for the last time of invading) on Saturday; because +all these causes of terror were suspended, you conceived the power of +Bonaparte to be at an end, and were setting off for Paris with Lord +Hawkesbury the conqueror. This is precisely the method in which the +English have acted during the whole of the revolutionary war. If Austria +or Prussia armed, doctors of divinity immediately printed those passages +out of Habakkuk, in which the destruction of the Usurper by General Mack, +and the Duke of Brunswick, are so clearly predicted. If Bonaparte +halted, there was a mutiny or a dysentery. If any one of his generals +were eaten up by the light troops of Russia, and picked (as their manner +is) to the bone, the sanguine spirit of this country displayed itself in +all its glory. What scenes of infamy did the Society for the Suppression +of Vice lay open to our astonished eyes! tradesmen’s daughters dancing, +pots of beer carried out between the first and second lesson, and dark +and distant rumours of indecent prints. Clouds of Mr. Canning’s cousins +arrived by the waggon; all the contractors left their cards with Mr. +Rose; and every plunderer of the public crawled out of his hole, like +slugs, and grubs, and worms after a shower of rain. + +If my voice could have been heard at the late changes, I should have +said, “Gently, patience, stop a little; the time is not yet come; the mud +of Poland will harden, and the bowels of the French grenadiers will +recover their tone. When honesty, good sense, and liberality have +extricated you out of your present embarrassment, then dismiss them as a +matter of course; but you cannot spare them just now; don’t be in too +great a hurry, or there will be no monarch to flatter, and no country to +pillage; only submit for a little time to be respected abroad, overlook +the painful absence of the tax-gatherer for a few years, bear up nobly +under the increase of freedom and of liberal policy for a little time, +and I promise you, at the expiration of that period, you shall be +plundered, insulted, disgraced, and restrained to your heart’s content. +Do not imagine I have any intention of putting servility and canting +hypocrisy permanently out of place, or of filling up with courage and +sense those offices which naturally devolve upon decorous imbecility and +flexible cunning: give us only a little time to keep off the hussars of +France, and then the jobbers and jesters shall return to their +birthright, and public virtue be called by its own name of fanaticism.” +Such is the advice I would have offered to my infatuated countrymen: but +it rained very hard in November, Brother Abraham, and the bowels of our +enemies were loosened, and we put our trust in white fluxes and wet mud; +and there is nothing now to oppose to the conqueror of the world but a +small table wit, and the sallow Surveyor of the Meltings. + +You ask me, if I think it possible for this country to survive the recent +misfortunes of Europe?—I answer you, without the slightest degree of +hesitation: that if Bonaparte lives, and a great deal is not immediately +done for the conciliation of the Catholics, it does seem to me absolutely +impossible but that we must perish; and take this with you, that we shall +perish without exciting the slightest feeling of present or future +compassion, but fall amidst the hootings and revilings of Europe, as a +nation of blockheads, Methodists, and old women. If there were any great +scenery, any heroic feelings, any blaze of ancient virtue, any exalted +death, any termination of England that would be ever remembered, ever +honoured in that western world, where liberty is now retiring, conquest +would be more tolerable, and ruin more sweet; but it is doubly miserable +to become slaves abroad, because we would be tyrants at home; to +persecute, when we are contending against persecution; and to perish, +because we have raised up worse enemies within, from our own bigotry, +than we are exposed to without, from the unprincipled ambition of France. +It is indeed a most silly and affecting spectacle to rage at such a +moment against our own kindred and our own blood; to tell them they +cannot be honourable in war, because they are conscientious in religion; +to stipulate (at the very moment when we should buy their hearts and +swords at any price) that they must hold up the right hand in prayer, and +not the left; and adore one common God, by turning to the east rather +than to the west. + +What is it the Catholics ask of you? Do not exclude us from the honours +and emoluments of the state because we worship God in one way, and you +worship Him in another. In a period of the deepest peace, and the +fattest prosperity, this would be a fair request; it should be granted, +if Lord Hawkesbury had reached Paris, if Mr. Canning’s interpreter had +threatened the Senate in an opening speech, or Mr. Perceval explained to +them the improvements he meant to introduce into the Catholic religion; +but to deny the Irish this justice now, in the present state of Europe, +and in the summer months, just as the season for destroying kingdoms is +coming on, is (beloved Abraham), whatever you may think of it, little +short of positive insanity. + +Here is a frigate attacked by a corsair of immense strength and size, +rigging cut, masts in danger of coming by the board, four foot water in +the hold, men dropping off very fast; in this dreadful situation how do +you think the Captain acts (whose name shall be Perceval)? He calls all +hands upon deck; talks to them of King, country, glory, sweethearts, gin, +French prison, wooden shoes, Old England, and hearts of oak; they give +three cheers, rush to their guns, and, after a tremendous conflict, +succeed in beating off the enemy. Not a syllable of all this; this is +not the manner in which the honourable Commander goes to work: the first +thing he does is to secure twenty or thirty of his prime sailors who +happen to be Catholics, to clap them in irons, and set over them a guard +of as many Protestants; having taken this admirable method of defending +himself against his infidel opponents, he goes upon deck, reminds the +sailors in a very bitter harangue, that they are of different religions; +exhorts the Episcopal gunner not to trust to the Presbyterian +quartermaster; issues positive orders that the Catholics should be fired +at upon the first appearance of discontent; rushes through blood and +brains, examining his men in the Catechism and thirty-nine Articles, and +positively forbids every one to sponge or ram who has not taken the +Sacrament according to the Church of England. Was it right to take out a +captain made of excellent British stuff, and to put in such a man as +this? Is not he more like a parson, or a talking lawyer, than a +thorough-bred seaman? And built as she is of heart of oak, and admirably +manned, is it possible, with such a captain, to save this ship from going +to the bottom? + +You have an argument, I perceive, in common with many others, against the +Catholics, that their demands complied with would only lead to further +exactions, and that it is better to resist them now, before anything is +conceded, than hereafter, when it is found that all concessions are in +vain. I wish the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who uses this reasoning to +exclude others from their just rights, had tried its efficacy, not by his +understanding, but by (what are full of much better things) his pockets. +Suppose the person to whom he applied for the meltings had withstood +every plea of wife and fourteen children, no business, and good +character, and refused him this paltry little office because he might +hereafter attempt to get hold of the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster +for life? would not Mr. Perceval have contended eagerly against the +injustice of refusing moderate requests, because immoderate ones may +hereafter be made? Would he not have said, and said truly, Leave such +exorbitant attempts as these to the general indignation of the Commons, +who will take care to defeat them when they do occur; but do not refuse +me the Irons and the Meltings now, because I may totally lose sight of +all moderation hereafter? Leave hereafter to the spirit and the wisdom +of hereafter; and do not be niggardly now from the apprehension that men +as wise as you should be profuse in times to come. + +You forget, Brother Abraham, that is a vast art, where quarrels cannot be +avoided, to turn public opinion in your favour and to the prejudice of +your enemy; a vast privilege to feel that you are in the right, and to +make him feel that he is in the wrong: a privilege which makes you more +than a man, and your antagonist less; and often secures victory by +convincing him who contends that he must submit to injustice if he +submits to defeat. Open every rank in the army and the navy to the +Catholic; let him purchase at the same price as the Protestant (if either +Catholic or Protestant can purchase such refined pleasures) the privilege +of hearing Lord Castlereagh speak for three hours; keep his clergy from +starving, soften some of the most odious powers of the tithing-man, and +you will for ever lay this formidable question to rest. But if I am +wrong, and you must quarrel at last, quarrel upon just rather than unjust +grounds; divide the Catholic and unite the Protestant; be just, and your +own exertions will be more formidable and their exertions less +formidable; be just, and you will take away from their party all the best +and wisest understandings of both persuasions, and knit them firmly to +your own cause. “Thrice is he armed who has his quarrel just;” and ten +times as much may he be taxed. In the beginning of any war, however +destitute of common sense, every mob will roar, and every Lord of the +Bedchamber address; but if you are engaged in a war that is to last for +years, and to require important sacrifices, take care to make the justice +of your case so clear and so obvious that it cannot be mistaken by the +most illiterate country gentleman who rides the earth. Nothing, in fact, +can be so grossly absurd as the argument which says I will deny justice +to you now, because I suspect future injustice from you. At this rate, +you may lock a man up in your stable, and refuse to let him out, because +you suspect that he has an intention, at some future period, of robbing +your hen-roost. You may horsewhip him at Lady Day, because you believe +he will affront you at Midsummer. You may commit a greater evil, to +guard against a less which is merely contingent, and may never happen. +You may do what you have done a century ago in Ireland, make the +Catholics worse than Helots, because you suspected that they might +hereafter aspire to be more than fellow citizens; rendering their +sufferings certain from your jealousy, while yours were only doubtful +from their ambition; an ambition sure to be excited by the very measures +which were taken to prevent it. + +The physical strength of the Catholics will not be greater because you +give them a share of political power. You may by these means turn rebels +into friends; but I do not see how you make rebels more formidable. If +they taste of the honey of lawful power, they will love the hive from +whence they procure it; if they will struggle with us like men in the +same state for civil influence, we are safe. All that I dread is the +physical strength of four millions of men combined with an invading +French army. If you are to quarrel at last with this enormous +population, still put it off as long as you can; you must gain, and +cannot lose, by the delay. The state of Europe cannot be worse; the +conviction which the Catholics entertain of your tyranny and injustice +cannot be more alarming, nor the opinions of your own people more +divided. Time, which produces such effect upon brass and marble, may +inspire one Minister with modesty and another with compassion; every +circumstance may be better; some certainly will be so, none can be worse; +and after all the evil may never happen. + +You have got hold, I perceive, of all the vulgar English stories +respecting the hereditary transmission of forfeited property, and +seriously believe that every Catholic beggar wears the terriers of his +father’s land next his skin, and is only waiting for better times to cut +the throat of the Protestant possessor, and get drunk in the hall of his +ancestors. There is one irresistible answer to this mistake, and that +is, that the forfeited lands are purchased indiscriminately by Catholic +and Protestant, and that the Catholic purchaser never objects to such a +title. Now the land so purchased by a Catholic is either his own family +estate, or it is not. If it is, you suppose him so desirous of coming +into possession that he resorts to the double method of rebellion and +purchase; if it is not his own family estate of which he becomes the +purchaser, you suppose him first to purchase, then to rebel, in order to +defeat the purchase. These things may happen in Ireland, but it is +totally impossible they can happen anywhere else. In fact, what land can +any man of any sect purchase in Ireland, but forfeited property? In all +other oppressed countries which I have ever heard of, the rapacity of the +conqueror was bounded by the territorial limits in which the objects of +his avarice were contained; but Ireland has been actually confiscated +twice over, as a cat is twice killed by a wicked parish boy. + +I admit there is a vast luxury in selecting a particular set of +Christians, and in worrying them as a boy worries a puppy dog; it is an +amusement in which all the young English are brought up from their +earliest days. I like the idea of saying to men who use a different +hassock from me, that till they change their hassock they shall never be +Colonels, Aldermen, or Parliament-men. While I am gratifying my personal +insolence respecting religious forms, I fondle myself into an idea that I +am religious, and that I am doing my duty in the most exemplary, as I +certainly am in the most easy, way. But then, my good Abraham, this +sport, admirable as it is, is become, with respect to the Catholics, a +little dangerous; and if we are not extremely careful in taking the +amusement, we shall tumble into the holy water and be drowned. As it +seems necessary to your idea of an established church to have somebody to +worry and torment, suppose we were to select for this purpose William +Wilberforce, Esq., and the patent Christians of Clapham. We shall by +this expedient enjoy the same opportunity for cruelty and injustice, +without being exposed to the same risks: we will compel them to abjure +vital clergymen by a public test, to deny that the said William +Wilberforce has any power of working miracles, touching for barrenness or +any other infirmity, or that he is endowed with any preternatural gift +whatever. We will swear them to the doctrine of good works, compel them +to preach common sense, and to hear it; to frequent Bishops, Deans, and +other High Churchmen; and to appear, once in the quarter at the least, at +some melodrame, opera, pantomime, or other light scenical representation; +in short, we will gratify the love of insolence and power; we will enjoy +the old orthodox sport of witnessing the impotent anger of men compelled +to submit to civil degradation, or to sacrifice their notions of truth to +ours. And all this we may do without the slightest risk, because their +numbers are, as yet, not very considerable. Cruelty and injustice must, +of course, exist; but why connect them with danger? Why torture a +bulldog when you can get a frog or a rabbit? I am sure my proposal will +meet with the most universal approbation. Do not be apprehensive of any +opposition from ministers. If it is a case of hatred, we are sure that +one man will defend it by the Gospel: if it abridges human freedom, we +know that another will find precedents for it in the Revolution. + +In the name of Heaven, what are we to gain by suffering Ireland to be +rode by that faction which now predominates over it? Why are we to +endanger our own Church and State, not for 500,000 Episcopalians, but for +ten or twelve great Orange families, who have been sucking the blood of +that country for these hundred years last past? and the folly of the +Orangemen in playing this game themselves, is almost as absurd as ours in +playing it for them. They ought to have the sense to see that their +business now is to keep quietly the lands and beeves of which the fathers +of the Catholics were robbed in days of yore; they must give to their +descendants the sop of political power: by contending with them for +names, they will lose realities, and be compelled to beg their potatoes +in a foreign land, abhorred equally by the English, who have witnessed +their oppression, and by the Catholic Irish, who have smarted under them. + + + +LETTER IV. + + +THEN comes Mr. Isaac Hawkins Brown (the gentleman who danced so badly at +the Court of Naples), and asks if it is not an anomaly to educate men in +another religion than your own. It certainly is our duty to get rid of +error, and, above all, of religious error; but this is not to be done +_per saltum_, or the measure will miscarry, like the Queen. It may be +very easy to dance away the royal embryo of a great kingdom; but Mr. +Hawkins Brown must look before he leaps, when his object is to crush an +opposite sect in religion; false steps aid the one effect as much as they +are fatal to the other: it will require not only the lapse of Mr. Hawkins +Brown, but the lapse of centuries, before the absurdities of the Catholic +religion are laughed at as much as they deserve to be; but surely, in the +meantime, the Catholic religion is better than none; four millions of +Catholics are better than four millions of wild beasts; two hundred +priests educated by our own government are better than the same number +educated by the man who means to destroy us. + +The whole sum now appropriated by Government to the religious education +of four millions of Christians is £13,000; a sum about one hundred times +as large being appropriated in the same country to about one-eighth part +of this number of Protestants. When it was proposed to raise this grant +from £8,000 to £13,000, its present amount, this sum was objected to by +that most indulgent of Christians, Mr. Spencer Perceval, as enormous; he +himself having secured for his own eating and drinking, and the eating +and drinking of the Master and Miss Percevals, the reversionary sum of +£21,000 a year of the public money, and having just failed in a desperate +and rapacious attempt to secure to himself for life the revenues of the +Duchy of Lancaster: and the best of it is, that this minister, after +abusing his predecessors for their impious bounty to the Catholics, has +found himself compelled, from the apprehension of immediate danger, to +grant the sum in question, thus dissolving his pearl in vinegar, and +destroying all the value of the gift by the virulence and reluctance with +which it was granted. + +I hear from some persons in Parliament, and from others in the sixpenny +societies for debate, a great deal about unalterable laws passed at the +Revolution. When I hear any man talk of an unalterable law, the only +effect it produces upon me is to convince me that he is an unalterable +fool. A law passed when there was Germany, Spain, Russia, Sweden, +Holland, Portugal, and Turkey; when there was a disputed succession; when +four or five hundred acres were won and lost after ten years’ hard +fighting; when armies were commanded by the sons of kings, and campaigns +passed in an interchange of civil letters and ripe fruit; and for these +laws, when the whole state of the world is completely changed, we are +now, according to my Lord Hawkesbury, to hold ourselves ready to perish. +It is no mean misfortune, in times like these, to be forced to say +anything about such men as Lord Hawkesbury, and to be reminded that we +are governed by them, but as I am driven to it, I must take the liberty +of observing that the wisdom and liberality of my Lord Hawkesbury are of +that complexion which always shrinks from the present exercise of these +virtues by praising the splendid examples of them in ages past. If he +had lived at such periods, he would have opposed the Revolution by +praising the Reformation, and the Reformation by speaking handsomely of +the Crusades. He gratifies his natural antipathy to great and courageous +measures by playing off the wisdom and courage which have ceased to +influence human affairs against that wisdom and courage which living men +would employ for present happiness. Besides, it happens unfortunately +for the Warden of the Cinque Ports, that to the principal incapacities +under which the Irish suffer, they were subjected after that great and +glorious revolution, to which we are indebted for so many blessings, and +his Lordship for the termination of so many periods. The Catholics were +not excluded from the Irish House of Commons, or military commands, +before the 3rd and 4th of William and Mary, and the 1st and 2nd of Queen +Anne. + +If the great mass of the people, environed as they are on every side with +Jenkinsons, Percevals, Melvilles, and other perils, were to pray for +divine illumination and aid, what more could Providence in its mercy do +than send them the example of Scotland? For what a length of years was +it attempted to compel the Scotch to change their religion: horse, foot, +artillery, and armed Prebendaries, were sent out after the Presbyterian +parsons and their congregations. The Percevals of those days called for +blood: this call is never made in vain, and blood was shed; but, to the +astonishment and horror of the Percevals of those days, they could not +introduce the book of Common Prayer, nor prevent that metaphysical people +from going to heaven their true way, instead of our true way. With a +little oatmeal for food, and a little sulphur for friction, allaying +cutaneous irritation with the one hand, and holding his Calvinistical +creed in the other, Sawney ran away to his flinty hills, sung his psalm +out of tune his own way, and listened to his sermon of two hours long, +amid the rough and imposing melancholy of the tallest thistles. But +Sawney brought up his unbreeched offspring in a cordial hatred of his +oppressors; and Scotland was as much a part of the weakness of England +then as Ireland is at this moment. The true and the only remedy was +applied; the Scotch were suffered to worship God after their own tiresome +manner, without pain, penalty, or privation. No lightning descended from +heaven: the country was not ruined; the world is not yet come to an end; +the dignitaries who foretold all these consequences are utterly +forgotten, and Scotland has ever since been an increasing source of +strength to Great Britain. In the six hundredth year of our empire over +Ireland we are making laws to transport a man if he is found out of his +house after eight o’clock at night. That this is necessary I know too +well; but tell me why it is necessary. It is not necessary in Greece, +where the Turks are masters. + +Are you aware that there is at this moment a universal clamour throughout +the whole of Ireland against the Union? It is now one month since I +returned from that country; I have never seen so extraordinary, so +alarming, and so rapid a change in the sentiments of any people. Those +who disliked the Union before are quite furious against it now; those who +doubted doubt no more; those who were friendly to it have exchanged that +friendship for the most rooted aversion; in the midst of all this (which +is by far the most alarming symptom), there is the strongest disposition +on the part of the northern Dissenters to unite with the Catholics, +irritated by the faithless injustice with which they have been treated. +If this combination does take place (mark what I say to you), you will +have meetings all over Ireland for the cry of _No Union_; that cry will +spread like wild-fire, and blaze over every opposition; and if this be +the case, there is no use in mincing the matter; Ireland is gone, and the +death-blow of England is struck; and this event may happen +_instantly_—before Mr. Canning and Mr. Hookham Frere have turned Lord +Howick’s last speech into doggerel rhymne; before “_the near and dear +relations_” have received another quarter of their pension, or Mr. +Perceval conducted the Curates’ Salary Bill safely to a third reading. +If the mind of the English people, cursed as they now are with that +madness of religious dissension which has been breathed into them for the +purposes of private ambition, can be alarmed by any remembrances, and +warned by any events, they should never forget how nearly Ireland was +lost to this country during the American war; that it was saved merely by +the jealousy of the Protestant Irish towards the Catholics, then a much +more insignificant and powerless body than they now are. The Catholic +and the Dissenter have since combined together against you. Last war, +the winds, those ancient and unsubsidised allies of England; the winds, +upon which English ministers depend as much for saving kingdoms as +washerwomen do for drying clothes; the winds stood your friends: the +French could only get into Ireland in small numbers, and the rebels were +defeated. Since then, all the remaining kingdoms of Europe have been +destroyed; and the Irish see that their national independence is gone, +without having received any single one of those advantages which they +were taught to expect from the sacrifice. All good things were to flow +from the Union; they have none of them gained anything. Every man’s +pride is wounded by it; no man’s interest is promoted. In the seventh +year of that union four million Catholics, lured by all kinds of promises +to yield up the separate dignity and sovereignty of their country, are +forced to squabble with such a man as Mr. Spencer Perceval for five +thousand pounds with which to educate their children in their own mode of +worship, he, the same Mr. Spencer, having secured to his own Protestant +self a reversionary portion of the public money amounting to four times +that sum. A senior Proctor of the University of Oxford, the head of a +house, or the examining chaplain to a bishop, may believe these things +can last; but every man of the world, whose understanding has been +exercised in the business of life, must see (and see with a breaking +heart) that they will soon come to a fearful termination. + +Our conduct to Ireland during the whole of this war has been that of a +man who subscribes to hospitals, weeps at charity sermons, carries out +broth and blankets to beggars, and then comes home and beats his wife and +children. We had compassion for the victims of all other oppression and +injustice except our own. If Switzerland was threatened, away went a +Treasury Clerk with a hundred thousand pounds for Switzerland; large bags +of money were kept constantly under sailing orders; upon the slightest +demonstration towards Naples, down went Sir William Hamilton upon his +knees, and begged for the love of St. Januarius they would help us off +with a little money; all the arts of Machiavel were resorted to to +persuade Europe to borrow; troops were sent off in all directions to save +the Catholic and Protestant world; the Pope himself was guarded by a +regiment of English dragoons; if the Grand Lama had been at hand, he +would have had another; every Catholic clergyman who had the good fortune +to be neither English nor Irish was immediately provided with lodging, +soap, crucifix, missal, chapel-beads, relics, and holy water; if Turks +had landed, Turks would have received an order from the Treasury for +coffee, opium, korans, and seraglios. In the midst of all this fury of +saving and defending this crusade for conscience and Christianity, there +was a universal agreement among all descriptions of people to continue +every species of internal persecution, to deny at home every just right +that had been denied before, to pummel poor Dr. Abraham Rees and his +Dissenters, and to treat the unhappy Catholics of Ireland as if their +tongues were mute, their heels cloven, their nature brutal, and +designedly subjected by Providence to their Orange masters. + +How would my admirable brother, the Rev. Abraham Plymley, like to be +marched to a Catholic chapel, to be sprinkled with the sanctified +contents of a pump, to hear a number of false quantities in the Latin +tongue, and to see a number of persons occupied in making right angles +upon the breast and forehead? And if all this would give you so much +pain, what right have you to march Catholic soldiers to a place of +worship, where there is no aspersion, no rectangular gestures, and where +they understand every word they hear, having first, in order to get him +to enlist, made a solemn promise to the contrary? Can you wonder, after +this, that the Catholic priest stops the recruiting in Ireland, as he is +now doing to a most alarming degree? + +The late question concerning military rank did not individually affect +the lowest persons of the Catholic persuasion; but do you imagine they do +not sympathise with the honour and disgrace of their superiors? Do you +think that satisfaction and dissatisfaction do not travel down from Lord +Fingal to the most potato-less Catholic in Ireland, and that the glory or +shame of the sect is not felt by many more than these conditions +personally and corporeally affect? Do you suppose that the detection of +Sir Henry Mildmay, and the disappointment of Mr. Perceval _in the matter_ +of the Duchy of Lancaster, did not affect every dabbler in public +property? Depend upon it these things were felt through all the +gradations of small plunderers, down to him who filches a pound of +tobacco from the King’s warehouses; while, on the contrary, the acquittal +of any noble and official thief would not fail to diffuse the most +heart-felt satisfaction over the larcenous and burglarious world. +Observe, I do not say because the lower Catholics are affected by what +concerns their superiors, that they are not affected by what concerns +themselves. There is no disguising the horrid truth, _there must be some +relaxation with respect to tithe_: this is the cruel and heart-rending +price which must be paid for national preservation. I feel how little +existence will be worth having, if any alteration, however slight, is +made in the property of Irish rectors; I am conscious how much such +changes must affect the daily and hourly comforts of every Englishman; I +shall feel too happy if they leave Europe untouched, and are not +ultimately fatal to the destinies of America; but I am madly bent upon +keeping foreign enemies out of the British empire, and my limited +understanding presents me with no other means of effecting my object. + +You talk of waiting till another reign before any alteration is made; a +proposal full of good sense and good nature, if the measure in question +were to pull down St. James’s Palace, or to alter Kew Gardens. Will +Bonaparte agree to put off his intrigues, and his invasion of Ireland? +If so, I will overlook the question of justice, and finding the danger +suspended, agree to the delay. I sincerely hope this reign may last many +years, yet the delay of a single session of Parliament may be fatal; but +if another year elapse without some serious concession made to the +Catholics, I believe, before God, that all future pledges and concessions +will be made in vain. I do not think that peace will do you any good +under such circumstances. If Bonaparte give you a respite, it will only +be to get ready the gallows on which he means to hang you. The Catholic +and the Dissenter can unite in peace as well as war. If they do, the +gallows is ready, and your executioner, in spite of the most solemn +promises, will turn you off the next hour. + +With every disposition to please (where to please within fair and +rational limits is a high duty), it is impossible for public men to be +long silent about the Catholics; pressing evils are not got rid of, +because they are not talked of. A man may command his family to say +nothing more about the stone and surgical operations; but the ponderous +malice still lies upon the nerve, and gets so big, that the patient +breaks his own law of silence, clamours for the knife, and expires under +its late operation. Believe me, you talk folly when you talk of +suppressing the Catholic question. I wish to God the case admitted of +such a remedy; bad as it is, it does not admit of it. If the wants of +the Catholics are not heard in the manly tones of Lord Grenville, or the +servile drawl of Lord Castlereagh, they will be heard ere long in the +madness of mobs, and the conflicts of armed men. + +I observe it is now universally the fashion to speak of the first +personage in the state as the great obstacle to the measure. In the +first place, I am not bound to believe such rumours because I hear them; +and in the next place, I object to such language, as unconstitutional. +Whoever retains his situation in the ministry while the incapacities of +the Catholics remain, is the advocate for those incapacities; and to him, +and to him only, am I to look for responsibility. But waive this +question of the Catholics, and put a general case:—How is a minister of +this country to act when the conscientious scruples of his Sovereign +prevent the execution of a measure deemed by him absolutely necessary to +the safety of the country? His conduct is quite clear—he should resign. +But what is his successor to do?—Resign. But is the King to be left +without ministers, and is he in this manner to be compelled to act +against his own conscience? Before I answer this, pray tell me in my +turn what better defence is there against the machinations of a wicked, +or the errors of a weak Monarch, than the impossibility of finding a +minister who will lend himself to vice and folly? Every English Monarch, +in such a predicament, would sacrifice his opinions and views to such a +clear expression of the public will; and it is one method in which the +Constitution aims at bringing about such a sacrifice. You may say, if +you please, the ruler of a state is forced to give up his object when the +natural love of place and power will tempt no one to assist him in its +attainment; this may be force; but it is force without injury, and +therefore without blame. I am not to be beat out of these obvious +reasonings, and ancient constitutional provisions, by the term +conscience. There is no fantasy, however wild, that a man may not +persuade himself that he cherishes from motives of conscience; eternal +war against impious France, or rebellious America, or Catholic Spain, may +in times to come be scruples of conscience. One English Monarch may, +from scruples of conscience, wish to abolish every trait of religious +persecution; another Monarch may deem it his absolute and indispensable +duty to make a slight provision for Dissenters out of the revenues of the +Church of England. So that you see, Brother Abraham, there are cases +where it would be the duty of the best and most loyal subjects to oppose +the conscientious scruples of their Sovereign, still taking care that +their actions were constitutional and their modes respectful. Then you +come upon me with personal questions, and say that no such dangers are to +be apprehended now under our present gracious Sovereign, of whose good +qualities we must be all so well convinced. All these sorts of +discussions I beg leave to decline. What I have said upon constitutional +topics, I mean of course for general, not for particular application. I +agree with you in all the good you have said of the powers that be, and I +avail myself of the opportunity of pointing out general dangers to the +Constitution, at a moment when we are so completely exempted from their +present influence. I cannot finish this letter without expressing my +surprise and pleasure at your abuse of the servile addresses poured in +upon the throne, nor can I conceive a greater disgust to a Monarch, with +a true English heart, than to see such a question as that of Catholic +Emancipation argued, not with a reference to its justice or importance, +but universally considered to be of no further consequence than as it +affects his own private feelings. That these sentiments should be mine +is not wonderful; but how they came to be yours does, I confess, fill me +with surprise. Are you moved by the arrival of the Irish Brigade at +Antwerp, and the amorous violence which awaits Mrs. Plymley? + + + +LETTER V. + + +DEAR ABRAHAM,—I never met a parson in my life who did not consider the +Corporation and Test Acts as the great bulwarks of the Church; and yet it +is now just sixty-four years since bills of indemnity to destroy their +penal effects, or, in other words, to repeal them, have been passed +annually as a matter of course. + + _Heu vatum ignar mentes_. + +These bulwarks, without which no clergyman thinks he could sleep with his +accustomed soundness, have actually not been in existence since any man +now living has taken holy orders. Every year the Indemnity Act pardons +past breaches of these two laws, and prevents any fresh actions of +informers from coming to a conclusion before the period for the next +indemnity bill arrives; so that these penalties, by which alone the +Church remains in existence, have not had one moment’s operation for +sixty-four years. You will say the legislature, during the whole of this +period, has reserved to itself the discretion of suspending or not +suspending. But had not the legislature the right of re-enacting, if it +was necessary? And now when you have kept the rod over these people +(with the most scandalous abuse of all principle) for sixty-four years, +and not found it necessary to strike once, is not that the best of all +reasons why the rod should be laid aside? You talk to me of a very +valuable hedge running across your fields which you would not part with +on any account. I go down, expecting to find a limit impervious to +cattle, and highly useful for the preservation of property; but, to my +utter astonishment, I find that the hedge was cut down half a century +ago, and that every year the shoots are clipped the moment they appear +above ground: it appears, upon further inquiry, that the hedge never +ought to have existed at all; that it originated in the malice of +antiquated quarrels, and was cut down because it subjected you to vast +inconvenience, and broke up your intercourse with a country absolutely +necessary to your existence. If the remains of this hedge serve only to +keep up an irritation in your neighbours, and to remind them of the feuds +of former times, good nature and good sense teach you that you ought to +grub it up, and cast it into the oven. This is the exact state of these +two laws; and yet it is made a great argument against concession to the +Catholics, that it involves their repeal; which is to say, Do not make me +relinquish a folly that will lead to my ruin; because, if you do, I must +give up other follies ten times greater than this. + +I confess, with all our bulwarks and hedges, it mortifies me to the quick +to contrast with our matchless stupidity and inimitable folly the conduct +of Bonaparte upon the subject of religious persecution. At the moment +when we are tearing the crucifixes from the necks of the Catholics, and +washing pious mud from the foreheads of the Hindoos; at that moment this +man is assembling the very Jews at Paris, and endeavouring to give them +stability and importance. I shall never be reconciled to mending shoes +in America; but I see it must be my lot, and I will then take a dreadful +revenge upon Mr. Perceval, if I catch him preaching within ten miles of +me. I cannot for the soul of me conceive whence this man has gained his +notions of Christianity: he has the most evangelical charity for errors +in arithmetic, and the most inveterate malice against errors in +conscience. While he rages against those whom in the true spirit of the +Gospel he ought to indulge, he forgets the only instance of severity +which that Gospel contains, and leaves the jobbers, contractors, and +money-changers at their seats, without a single stripe. + +You cannot imagine, you say, that England will ever be ruined and +conquered; and for no other reason that I can find, but because it seems +so very odd it should be ruined and conquered. Alas! so reasoned, in +their time, the Austrian, Russian, and Prussian Plymleys. But the +English are brave: so were all these nations. You might get together a +hundred thousand men individually brave; but without generals capable of +commanding such a machine, it would be as useless as a first-rate +man-of-war manned by Oxford clergymen or Parisian shopkeepers. I do not +say this to the disparagement of English officers: they have had no means +of acquiring experience; but I do say it to create alarm; for we do not +appear to me to be half alarmed enough, or to entertain that sense of our +danger which leads to the most obvious means of self-defence. As for the +spirit of the peasantry in making a gallant defence behind hedge-rows, +and through plate-racks and hen-coops, highly as I think of their +bravery, I do not know any nation in Europe so likely to be struck with +the panic as the English; and this from their total unacquaintance with +the science of war. Old wheat and beans blazing for twenty miles round; +cart mares shot; sows of Lord Somerville’s breed running wild over the +country; the minister of the parish wounded sorely in his hinder parts; +Mrs. Plymley in fits. All these scenes of war an Austrian or a Russian +has seen three or four times over: but it is now three centuries since an +English pig has fallen in a fair battle upon English ground, or a +farm-house been rifled, or a clergyman’s wife been subjected to any other +proposals of love than the connubial endearments of her sleek and +orthodox mate. The old edition of Plutarch’s Lives, which lies in the +corner of your parlour window, has contributed to work you up to the most +romantic expectations of our Roman behaviour. You are persuaded that +Lord Amherst will defend Kew Bridge like Cocles; that some maid of honour +will break away from her captivity, and swim over the Thames; that the +Duke of York will burn his capitulating hand; and little Mr. Sturges +Bourne give forty years’ purchase for Moulsham Hall, while the French are +encamped upon it. I hope we shall witness all this, if the French do +come; but in the meantime I am so enchanted with the ordinary English +behaviour of these invaluable persons, that I earnestly pray no +opportunity may be given them for Roman valour, and for those very +un-Roman pensions which they would all, of course, take especial care to +claim in consequence. But whatever was our conduct, if every ploughman +was as great a hero as he who was called from his oxen to save Rome from +her enemies, I should still say, that at such a crisis you want the +affections of all your subjects in both islands: there is no spirit which +you must alienate, no art you must avert, every man must feel he has a +country, and that there is an urgent and pressing cause why he should +expose himself to death. + +The effects of penal laws in matters of religion are never confined to +those limits in which the legislature intended they should be placed: it +is not only that I am excluded from certain offices and dignities because +I am a Catholic, but the exclusion carries with it a certain stigma, +which degrades me in the eyes of the monopolising sect, and the very name +of my religion becomes odious. These effects are so very striking in +England, that I solemnly believe blue and red baboons to be more popular +here than Catholics and Presbyterians; they are more understood, and +there is a greater disposition to do something for them. When a country +squire hears of an ape, his first feeling is to give it nuts and apples; +when he hears of a Dissenter, his immediate impulse is to commit it to +the county gaol, to shave its head, to alter its customary food, and to +have it privately whipped. This is no caricature, but an accurate +picture of national feelings, as they degrade and endanger us at this +very moment. The Irish Catholic gentleman would bear his legal +disabilities with greater temper, if these were all he had to bear—if +they did not enable every Protestant cheese-monger and tide-waiter to +treat him with contempt. He is branded on the forehead with a red-hot +iron, and treated like a spiritual felon, because in the highest of all +considerations he is led by the noblest of all guides, his own +disinterested conscience. + +Why are nonsense and cruelty a bit the better because they are enacted? +If Providence, which gives wine and oil, had blessed us with that +tolerant spirit which makes the countenance more pleasant and the heart +more glad than these can do; if our Statute Book had never been defiled +with such infamous laws, the sepulchral Spencer Perceval would have been +hauled through the dirtiest horse-pond in Hampstead, had he ventured to +propose them. But now persecution is good, because it exists; every law +which originated in ignorance and malice, and gratifies the passions from +whence it sprang, we call the wisdom of our ancestors: when such laws are +repealed, they will be cruelty and madness; till they are repealed, they +are policy and caution. + +I was somewhat amused with the imputation brought against the Catholics +by the University of Oxford, that they are enemies to liberty. I +immediately turned to my “History of England,” and marked as an +historical error that passage in which it is recorded that, in the reign +of Queen Anne, the famous degree of the University of Oxford respecting +passive obedience, was ordered by the House of Lords to be burnt by the +hands of the common hangman, as contrary to the liberty of the subject +and the law of the land. Nevertheless, I wish, whatever be the modesty +of those who impute, that the imputation was a little more true, the +Catholic cause would not be quite so desperate with the present. +Administration. I fear, however, that the hatred to liberty in these +poor devoted wretches may ere long appear more doubtful than it is at +present to the Vice-Chancellor and his Clergy, inflamed as they doubtless +are with classical examples of republican virtue, and panting, as they +always have been, to reduce the power of the Crown within narrower and +safer limits. What mistaken zeal to attempt to connect one religion with +freedom and another with slavery! Who laid the foundations of English +liberty? What was the mixed religion of Switzerland? What has the +Protestant religion done for liberty in Denmark, in Sweden, throughout +the north of Germany, and in Prussia? The purest religion in the world, +in my humble opinion, is the religion of the Church of England: for its +preservation (so far as it is exercised without intruding upon the +liberties of others) I am ready at this moment to venture my present +life, and but through that religion I have no hopes of any other; yet I +am not forced to be silly because I am pious; nor will I ever join in +eulogiums on my faith which every man of common reading and common sense +can so easily refute. + +You have either done too much for the Catholics, worthy Abraham, or too +little; if you had intended to refuse them political power, you should +have refused them civil rights. After you had enabled them to acquire +property, after you had conceded to them all that you did concede in ’78 +and ’93, the rest is wholly out of your power: you may choose whether you +will give the rest in an honourable or a disgraceful mode, but it is +utterly out of your power to withhold it. + +In the last year, land to the amount of _eight hundred thousand pounds_ +was purchased by the Catholics in Ireland. Do you think it possible to +be-Perceval, and be-Canning, and be-Castlereagh, such a body of men as +this out of their common rights, and their common sense? Mr. George +Canning may laugh and joke at the idea of Protestant bailiffs ravishing +Catholic ladies, under the 9th clause of the Sunset Bill; but if some +better remedy be not applied to the distractions of Ireland than the +jocularity of Mr. Canning, they will soon put an end to his pension, and +to the pension of those “near and dear relatives,” for whose eating, +drinking, washing, and clothing, every man in the United Kingdoms now +pays his two-pence or three-pence a year. You may call these +observations coarse, if you please; but I have no idea that the Sophias +and Carolines of any man breathing are to eat national veal, to drink +public tea, to wear Treasury ribands, and then that we are to be told +that it is coarse to animadvert upon this pitiful and eleemosynary +splendour. If this is right, why not mention it? If it is wrong, why +should not he who enjoys the ease of supporting his sisters in this +manner bear the shame of it? Everybody seems hitherto to have spared a +man who never spares anybody. + +As for the enormous wax candles, and superstitious mummeries, and painted +jackets of the Catholic priests, I fear them not. Tell me that the world +will return again under the influence of the smallpox; that Lord +Castlereagh will hereafter oppose the power of the Court; that Lord +Howick and Mr. Grattan will do each of them a mean and dishonourable +action; that anybody who has heard Lord Redesdale speak once will +knowingly and willingly hear him again; that Lord Eldon has assented to +the fact of two and two making four, without shedding tears, or +expressing the smallest doubt or scruple; tell me any other thing absurd +or incredible, but, for the love of common sense, let me hear no more of +the danger to be apprehended from the general diffusion of Popery. It is +too absurd to be reasoned upon; every man feels it is nonsense when he +hears it stated, and so does every man while he is stating it. + +I cannot imagine why the friends to the Church Establishment should enter +in such a horror of seeing the doors of Parliament flung open to the +Catholics, and view so passively the enjoyment of that right by the +Presbyterians and by every other species of Dissenter. In their tenets, +in their Church Government, in the nature of their endowments, the +Dissenters are infinitely more distant from the Church of England than +the Catholics are; yet the Dissenters have never been excluded from +Parliament. There are 45 members in one House, and 16 in the other, who +always are Dissenters. There is no law which would prevent every member +of the Lords and Commons from being Dissenters. The Catholics could not +bring into Parliament half the number of the Scotch members; and yet one +exclusion is of such immense importance, because it has taken place; and +the other no human being thinks of, because no one is accustomed to it. +I have often thought, if the _wisdom of our ancestors_ had excluded all +persons with red hair from the House of Commons, of the throes and +convulsions it would occasion to restore them to their natural rights. +What mobs and riots would it produce! To what infinite abuse and obloquy +would the capillary patriot be exposed; what wormwood would distil from +Mr. Perceval, what froth would drop from Mr. Canning; how (I will not say +_my_, but _our_ Lord Hawkesbury, for he belongs to us all)—how our Lord +Hawkesbury would work away about the hair of King William and Lord +Somers, and the authors of the great and glorious Revolution; how Lord +Eldon would appeal to the Deity and his own virtues, and to the hair of +his children: some would say that red-haired men were superstitious; some +would prove they were atheists; they would be petitioned against as the +friends of slavery, and the advocates for revolt; in short, such a +corruptor of the heart and understanding is the spirit of persecution, +that these unfortunate people (conspired against by their fellow-subjects +of every complexion), if they did not emigrate to countries where hair of +another colour was persecuted, would be driven to the falsehood of +perukes, or the hypocrisy of the Tricosian fluid. + +As for the dangers of the Church (in spite of the staggering events which +have lately taken place), I have not yet entirely lost my confidence in +the power of common sense, and I believe the Church to be in no danger at +all; but if it is, that danger is not from the Catholics, but from the +Methodists, and from that patent Christianity which has been for some +time manufacturing at Clapham, to the prejudice of the old and admirable +article prepared by the Church. I would counsel my lords the Bishops to +keep their eyes upon that holy village, and its vicinity; they will find +there a zeal in making converts far superior to anything which exists +among the Catholics; a contempt for the great mass of English clergy, +much more rooted and profound; and a regular fund to purchase livings for +those groaning and garrulous gentlemen whom they denominate (by a +standing sarcasm against the regular Church) Gospel preachers and vital +clergymen. I am too firm a believer in the general propriety and +respectability of the English clergy, to believe they have much to fear +either from old nonsense or from new; but if the Church must be supposed +to be in danger, I prefer that nonsense which is grown half venerable +from time, the force of which I have already tried and baffled, which at +least has some excuse in the dark and ignorant ages in which it +originated. The religious enthusiasm manufactured by living men before +my own eyes disgusts my understanding as much, influences my imagination +not at all, and excites my apprehensions much more. + +I may have seemed to you to treat the situation of public affairs with +some degree of levity; but I feel it deeply, and with nightly and daily +anguish; because I know Ireland; I have known it all my life; I love it, +and I foresee the crisis to which it will soon be exposed. Who can doubt +but that Ireland will experience ultimately from France a treatment to +which the conduct they have experienced from England is the love of a +parent, or a brother? Who can doubt but that five years after he has got +hold of the country, Ireland will be tossed away by Bonaparte as a +present to some one of his ruffian generals, who will knock the head of +Mr. Keogh against the head of Cardinal Troy, shoot twenty of the most +noisy blockheads of the Roman persuasion, wash his pug-dogs in holy +water, and confiscate the salt butter of the Milesian republic to the +last tub? But what matters this? or who is wise enough in Ireland to +heed it? or when had common sense much influence with my poor dear Irish? +Mr. Perceval does not know the Irish; but I know them, and I know that at +every rash and mad hazard they will break the Union, revenge their +wounded pride and their insulted religion, and fling themselves into the +open arms of France, sure of dying in the embrace. And now, what means +have you of guarding against this coming evil, upon which the future +happiness or misery of every Englishman depends? Have you a single ally +in the whole world? Is there a vulnerable point in the French empire +where the astonishing resources of that people can be attracted and +employed? Have you a ministry wise enough to comprehend the danger, +manly enough to believe unpleasant intelligence, honest enough to state +their apprehensions at the peril of their places? Is there anywhere the +slightest disposition to join any measure of love, or conciliation, or +hope, with that dreadful bill which the distractions of Ireland have +rendered necessary? At the very moment that the last Monarchy in Europe +has fallen, are we not governed by a man of pleasantry, and a man of +theology? In the six hundredth year of our empire over Ireland, have we +any memorial of ancient kindness to refer to? any people, any zeal, any +country on which we can depend? Have we any hope, but in the winds of +heaven and the tides of the sea? any prayer to prefer to the Irish, but +that they should forget and forgive their oppressors, who, in the very +moment that they are calling upon them for their exertions, solemnly +assure them that the oppression shall still remain? + +Abraham, farewell! If I have tired you, remember how often you have +tired me and others. I do not think we really differ in politics so much +as you suppose; or at least, if we do, that difference is in the means, +and not in the end. We both love the Constitution, respect the King, and +abhor the French. But though you love the Constitution, you would +perpetuate the abuses which have been engrafted upon it; though you +respect the King, you would confirm his scruples against the Catholics; +though you abhor the French, you would open to them the conquest of +Ireland. My method of respecting my sovereign is by protecting his +honour, his empire, and his lasting happiness; I evince my love of the +Constitution by making it the guardian of all men’s rights and the source +of their freedom; and I prove my abhorrence of the French, by uniting +against them the disciples of every church in the only remaining nation +in Europe. As for the men of whom I have been compelled in this age of +mediocrity to say so much, they cannot of themselves be worth a moment’s +consideration, to you, to me, or to anybody. In a year after their death +they will be forgotten as completely as if they had never been; and are +now of no further importance than as they are the mere vehicles of +carrying into effect the common-place and mischievous prejudices of the +times in which they live. + + + +LETTER VI. + + +DEAR ABRAHAM,—What amuses me the most is to hear of the _indulgences_ +which the Catholics have received, and their exorbitance in not being +satisfied with those indulgences: now if you complain to me that a man is +obtrusive and shameless in his requests, and that it is impossible to +bring him to reason, I must first of all hear the whole of your conduct +towards him; for you may have taken from him so much in the first +instance that, in spite of a long series of restitution, a vast latitude +for petition may still remain behind. + +There is a village, no matter where, in which the inhabitants, on one day +in the year, sit down to a dinner prepared at the common expense: by an +extraordinary piece of tyranny, which Lord Hawkesbury would call the +wisdom of the village ancestors, the inhabitants of three of the streets, +about a hundred years ago, seized upon the inhabitants of the fourth +street, bound them hand and foot, laid them upon their backs, and +compelled them to look on while the rest were stuffing themselves with +beef and beer; the next year the inhabitants of the persecuted street, +though they contributed an equal quota of the expense, were treated +precisely in the same manner. The tyranny grew into a custom; and, as +the manner of our nature is, it was considered as the most sacred of all +duties to keep these poor fellows without their annual dinner. The +village was so tenacious of this practice, that nothing could induce them +to resign it; every enemy to it was looked upon as a disbeliever in +Divine Providence, and any nefarious churchwarden who wished to succeed +in his election had nothing to do but to represent his antagonist as an +abolitionist, in order to frustrate his ambition, endanger his life, and +throw the village into a state of the most dreadful commotion. By +degrees, however, the obnoxious street grew to be so well peopled, and +its inhabitants so firmly united, that their oppressors, more afraid of +injustice, were more disposed to be just. At the next dinner they are +unbound, the year after allowed to sit upright, then a bit of bread and a +glass of water; till at last, after a long series of concessions, they +are emboldened to ask, in pretty plain terms, that they may be allowed to +sit down at the bottom of the table, and to fill their bellies as well as +the rest. Forthwith a general cry of shame and scandal: “Ten years ago, +were you not laid upon your backs? Don’t you remember what a great thing +you thought it to get a piece of bread? How thankful you were for cheese +parings? Have you forgotten that memorable era, when the lord of the +manor interfered to obtain for you a slice of the public pudding? And +now, with an audacity only equalled by your ingratitude, you have the +impudence to ask for knives and forks, and to request, in terms too plain +to be mistaken, that you may sit down to table with the rest, and be +indulged even with beef and beer: there are not more than half a dozen +dishes which we have reserved for ourselves; the rest has been thrown +open to you in the utmost profusion; you have potatoes, and carrots, suet +dumplings, sops in the pan, and delicious toast and water in incredible +quantities. Beef, mutton, lamb, pork, and veal are ours; and if you were +not the most restless and dissatisfied of human beings, you would never +think of aspiring to enjoy them.” + +Is not this, my dainty Abraham, the very nonsense and the very insult +which is talked to and practised upon the Catholics? You are surprised +that men who have tasted of partial justice should ask for perfect +justice; that he who has been robbed of coat and cloak will not be +contented with the restitution of one of his garments. He would be a +very lazy blockhead if he were content, and I (who, though an inhabitant +of the village, have preserved, thank God, some sense of justice) most +earnestly counsel these half-fed claimants to persevere in their just +demands, till they are admitted to a more complete share of a dinner for +which they pay as much as the others; and if they see a little attenuated +lawyer squabbling at the head of their opponents, let them desire him to +empty his pockets, and to pull out all the pieces of duck, fowl, and +pudding which he has filched from the public feast, to carry home to his +wife and children. + +You parade a great deal upon the vast concessions made by this country to +the Irish before the Union. I deny that any voluntary concession was +ever made by England to Ireland. What did Ireland ever ask that was +granted? What did she ever demand that was not refused? How did she get +her Mutiny Bill—a limited Parliament—a repeal of Poyning’s Law—a +constitution? Not by the concessions of England, but by her fears. When +Ireland asked for all these things upon her knees, her petitions were +rejected with Percevalism and contempt; when she demanded them with the +voice of 60,000 armed men, they were granted with every mark of +consternation and dismay. Ask of Lord Auckland the fatal consequences of +trifling with such a people as the Irish. He himself was the organ of +these refusals. As secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, the insolence and +the tyranny of this country passed through his hands. Ask him if he +remembers the consequences. Ask him if he has forgotten that memorable +evening when he came down booted and mantled to the House of Commons, +when he told the House he was about to set off for Ireland that night, +and declared before God, if he did not carry with him a compliance with +all their demands, Ireland was for ever lost to this country. The +present generation have forgotten this; but I have not forgotten it; and +I know, hasty and undignified as the submission of England then was, that +Lord Auckland was right, that the delay of a single day might very +probably have separated the two peoples for ever. The terms submission +and fear are galling terms when applied from the lesser nation to the +greater; but it is the plain historical truth, it is the natural +consequence of injustice, it is the predicament in which every country +places itself which leaves such a mass of hatred and discontent by its +side. No empire is powerful enough to endure it; it would exhaust the +strength of China, and sink it with all its mandarins and tea-kettles to +the bottom of the deep. By refusing them justice now when you are strong +enough to refuse them anything more than justice, you will act over +again, with the Catholics, the same scene of mean and precipitate +submission which disgraced you before America, and before the volunteers +of Ireland. We shall live to hear the Hampstead Protestant pronouncing +such extravagant panegyrics upon holy water, and paying such fulsome +compliments to the thumbs and offals of departed saints, that parties +will change sentiments, and Lord Henry Petty and Sam Whitbread take a +spell at No Popery. The wisdom of Mr. Fox was alike employed in teaching +his country justice when Ireland was weak, and dignity when Ireland was +strong. We are fast pacing round the same miserable circle of ruin and +imbecility. Alas! where is our guide? + +You say that Ireland is a millstone about our necks; that it would be +better for us if Ireland were sunk at the bottom of the sea; that the +Irish are a nation of irreclaimable savages and barbarians. How often +have I heard these sentiments fall from the plump and thoughtless squire, +and from the thriving English shopkeeper, who has never felt the rod of +an Orange master upon his back. Ireland a millstone about your neck! +Why is it not a stone of Ajax in your hand? I agree with you most +cordially that, governed as Ireland now is, it would be a vast accession +of strength if the waves of the sea were to rise and engulf her +to-morrow. At this moment, opposed as we are to all the world, the +annihilation of one of the most fertile islands on the face of the globe, +containing five millions of human creatures, would be one of the most +solid advantages which could happen to this country. I doubt very much, +in spite of all the just abuse which has been lavished upon Bonaparte, +whether there is any one of his conquered countries the blotting out of +which would be as beneficial to him as the destruction of Ireland would +be to us: of countries I speak differing in language from the French, +little habituated to their intercourse, and inflamed with all the +resentments of a recently-conquered people. Why will you attribute the +turbulence of our people to any cause but the right—to any cause but your +own scandalous oppression? If you tie your horse up to a gate, and beat +him cruelly, is he vicious because he kicks you? If you have plagued and +worried a mastiff dog for years, is he mad because he flies at you +whenever he sees you? Hatred is an active, troublesome passion. Depend +upon it, whole nations have always some reason for their hatred. Before +you refer the turbulence of the Irish to incurable defects in their +character, tell me if you have treated them as friends and equals? Have +you protected their commerce? Have you respected their religion? Have +you been as anxious for their freedom as your own? Nothing of all this. +What then? Why you have confiscated the territorial surface of the +country twice over: you have massacred and exported her inhabitants: you +have deprived four-fifths of them of every civil privilege: you have at +every period made her commerce and manufactures slavishly subordinate to +your own: and yet the hatred which the Irish bear to you is the result of +an original turbulence of character, and of a primitive, obdurate +wildness, utterly incapable of civilisation. The embroidered inanities +and the sixth-form effusions of Mr. Canning are really not powerful +enough to make me believe this; nor is there any authority on earth +(always excepting the Dean of Christ Church) which could make it credible +to me. I am sick of Mr. Canning. There is not a “ha’porth of bread to +all this sugar and sack.” I love not the cretaceous and incredible +countenance of his colleague. The only opinion in which I agree with +these two gentlemen is that which they entertain of each other. I am +sure that the insolence of Mr. Pitt, and the unbalanced accounts of +Melville, were far better than the perils of this new ignorance:— + + Nonne fuit satiùs, ristes Amaryllidis iras + Atque superba pati fastidia? nonne Menalcan? + Quamvis ille _niger_? + +In the midst of the most profound peace, the secret articles of the +Treaty of Tilsit, in which the destruction of Ireland is resolved upon, +induce you to rob the Danes of their fleet. After the expedition sailed +comes the Treaty of Tilsit, containing no article, public or private, +alluding to Ireland. The state of the world, you tell me, justified us +in doing this. Just God! do we think only of the state of the world when +there is an opportunity for robbery, for murder, and for plunder; and do +we forget the state of the world when we are called upon to be wise, and +good, and just? Does the state of the world never remind us that we have +four millions of subjects whose injuries we ought to atone for, and whose +affections we ought to conciliate? Does the state of the world never +warn us to lay aside our infernal bigotry, and to arm every man who +acknowledges a God, and can grasp a sword? Did it never occur to this +administration that they might virtuously get hold of a force ten times +greater than the force of the Danish fleet? Was there no other way of +protecting Ireland but by bringing eternal shame upon Great Britain, and +by making the earth a den of robbers? See what the men whom you have +supplanted would have done. They would have rendered the invasion of +Ireland impossible, by restoring to the Catholics their long-lost rights: +they would have acted in such a manner that the French would neither have +wished for invasion nor dared to attempt it: they would have increased +the permanent strength of the country while they preserved its reputation +unsullied. Nothing of this kind your friends have done, because they are +solemnly pledged to do nothing of this kind; because, to tolerate all +religions, and to equalise civil rights to all sects, is to oppose some +of the worst passions of our nature—to plunder and to oppress is to +gratify them all. They wanted the huzzas of mobs, and they have for ever +blasted the fame of England to obtain them. Were the fleets of Holland, +France, and Spain destroyed by larceny? You resisted the power of 150 +sail of the line by sheer courage, and violated every principle of morals +from the dread of fifteen hulks, while the expedition itself cost you +three times more than the value of the larcenous matter brought away. +The French trample on the laws of God and man, not for old cordage, but +for kingdoms, and always take care to be well paid for their crimes. We +contrive, under the present administration, to unite moral with +intellectual deficiency, and to grow weaker and worse by the same action. +If they had any evidence of the intended hostility of the Danes, why was +it not produced? Why have the nations of Europe been allowed to feel an +indignation against this country beyond the reach of all subsequent +information? Are these times, do you imagine, when we can trifle with a +year of universal hatred, dally with the curses of Europe, and then +regain a lost character at pleasure, by the parliamentary perspirations +of the Foreign Secretary, or the solemn asseverations of the pecuniary +Rose? Believe me, Abraham, it is not under such ministers as these that +the dexterity of honest Englishmen will ever equal the dexterity of +French knaves; it is not in their presence that the serpent of Moses will +ever swallow up the serpents of the magician. + +Lord Hawkesbury says that nothing is to be granted to the Catholics from +fear. What! not even justice? Why not? There are four millions of +disaffected people within twenty miles of your own coast. I fairly +confess that the dread which I have of their physical power is with me a +very strong motive for listening to their claims. To talk of not acting +from fear, is mere parliamentary cant. From what motive but fear, I +should be glad to know, have all the improvements in our constitution +proceeded? I question if any justice has ever been done to large masses +of mankind from any other motive. By what other motives can the +plunderers of the Baltic suppose nations to be governed in their +intercourse _with each other_? If I say, Give this people what they ask +because it is just, do you think I should get ten people to listen to me? +Would not the lesser of the two Jenkinsons be the first to treat me with +contempt? The only true way to make the mass of mankind see the beauty +of justice is by showing to them, in pretty plain terms, the consequences +of injustice. If any body of French troops land in Ireland, the whole +population of that country will rise against you to a man, and you could +not possibly survive such an event three years. Such, from the bottom of +my soul, do I believe to be the present state of that country; and so far +does it appear to me to be impolitic and unstatesman-like to concede +anything to such a danger, that if the Catholics, in addition to their +present just demands, were to petition for the perpetual removal of the +said Lord Hawkesbury from his Majesty’s councils, I think, whatever might +be the effect upon the destinies of Europe, and however it might retard +our own individual destruction, that the prayer of the petition should be +instantly complied with. Canning’s crocodile tears should not move me; +the hoops of the maids of honour should not hide him. I would tear him +from the banisters of the back stairs, and plunge him in the fishy fumes +of the dirtiest of all his Cinque Ports. + + + +LETTER VII. + + +DEAR ABRAHAM,—In the correspondence which is passing between us, you are +perpetually alluding to the Foreign Secretary; and in answer to the +dangers of Ireland, which I am pressing upon your notice, you have +nothing to urge but the confidence which you repose in the discretion and +sound sense of this gentleman. I can only say, that I have listened to +him long and often with the greatest attention; I have used every +exertion in my power to take a fair measure of him, and it appears to me +impossible to hear him upon any arduous topic without perceiving that he +is eminently deficient in those solid and serious qualities upon which, +and upon which alone, the confidence of a great country can properly +repose. He sweats and labours, and works for sense, and Mr. Ellis seems +always to think it is coming, but it does not come; the machine can’t +draw up what is not to be found in the spring; Providence has made him a +light, jesting, paragraph-writing man, and that he will remain to his +dying day. When he is jocular he is strong, when he is serious he is +like Samson in a wig; any ordinary person is a match for him: a song, an +ironical letter, a burlesque ode, an attack in the newspaper upon +Nicoll’s eye, a smart speech of twenty minutes, full of gross +misrepresentations and clever turns, excellent language, a spirited +manner, lucky quotation, success in provoking dull men, some half +information picked up in Pall Mall in the morning; these are your +friend’s natural weapons; all these things he can do: here I allow him to +be truly great; nay, I will be just, and go still further, if he would +confine himself to these things, and consider the _facete_ and the +playful to be the basis of his character, he would, for that species of +man, be universally regarded as a person of a very good understanding; +call him a legislator, a reasoner, and the conductor of the affairs of a +great nation, and it seems to me as absurd as if a butterfly were to +teach bees to make honey. That he is an extraordinary writer of small +poetry, and a diner out of the highest lustre, I do most readily admit. +After George Selwyn, and perhaps Tickell, there has been no such man for +this half-century. The Foreign Secretary is a gentleman, a respectable +as well as a highly agreeable man in private life; but you may as well +feed me with decayed potatoes as console me for the miseries of Ireland +by the resources of his _sense_ and his _discretion_. It is only the +public situation which this gentleman holds which entitles me or induces +me to say so much about him. He is a fly in amber, nobody cares about +the fly; the only question is, How the devil did it get there? Nor do I +attack him for the love of glory, but from the love of utility, as a +burgomaster hunts a rat in a Dutch dyke, for fear it should flood a +province. + +The friends of the Catholic question are, I observe, extremely +embarrassed in arguing when they come to the loyalty of the Irish +Catholics. As for me, I shall go straight forward to my object, and +state what I have no manner of doubt, from an intimate knowledge of +Ireland, to be the plain truth. Of the great Roman Catholic proprietors, +and of the Catholic prelates, there may be a few, and but a few, who +would follow the fortunes of England at all events: there is another set +of men who, thoroughly detesting this country, have too much property and +too much character to lose, not to wait for some very favourable event +before they show themselves; but the great mass of Catholic population, +upon the slightest appearance of a French force in that country, would +rise upon you to a man. It is the most mistaken policy to conceal the +plain truth. There is no loyalty among the Catholics: they detest you as +their worst oppressors, and they will continue to detest you till you +remove the cause of their hatred. It is in your power in six months’ +time to produce a total revolution of opinions among this people; and in +some future letter I will show you that this is clearly the case. At +present, see what a dreadful in state Ireland is in. The common toast +among the low Irish is, the feast of the _passover_. Some allusion to +_Bonaparte_, in a play lately acted at Dublin, produced thunders of +applause from the pit and the galleries; and a politician should not be +inattentive to the public feelings expressed in theatres. Mr. Perceval +thinks he has disarmed the Irish: he has no more disarmed the Irish than +he has resigned a shilling of his own public emoluments. An Irish +peasant fills the barrel of his gun full of tow dipped in oil, butters up +the lock, buries it in a bog, and allows the Orange bloodhound to ransack +his cottage at pleasure. Be just and kind to the Irish, and you will +indeed disarm them; rescue them from the degraded servitude in which they +are held by a handful of their own countrymen, and you will add four +millions of brave and affectionate men to your strength. Nightly visits, +Protestant inspectors, licenses to possess a pistol, or a knife and fork, +the odious vigour of the _evangelical_ Perceval—acts of Parliament, drawn +up by some English attorney, to save you from the hatred of four millions +of people—the guarding yourselves from universal disaffection by a +police; a confidence in the little cunning of Bow Street, when you might +rest your security upon the eternal basis of the best feelings: this is +the meanness and madness to which nations are reduced when they lose +sight of the first elements of justice, without which a country can be no +more secure than it can be healthy without air. I sicken at such policy +and such men. The fact is, the Ministers know nothing about the present +state of Ireland; Mr. Perceval sees a few clergymen, Lord Castlereagh a +few general officers, who take care, of course, to report what is +pleasant rather than what is true. As for the joyous and lepid consul, +he jokes upon neutral flags and frauds, jokes upon Irish rebels, jokes +upon northern and western and southern foes, and gives himself no trouble +upon any subject; nor is the mediocrity of the idolatrous deputy of the +slightest use. Dissolved in grins, he reads no memorials upon the state +of Ireland, listens to no reports, asks no questions, and is the + + “_Bourn_ from whom no traveller returns.” + +The danger of an immediate insurrection is now, I _believe_, blown over. +You have so strong an army in Ireland, and the Irish are become so much +more cunning from the last insurrection, that you may perhaps be +tolerably secure just at present from that evil: but are you secure from +the efforts which the French may make to throw a body of troops into +Ireland? and do you consider that event to be difficult and improbable? +From Brest Harbour to Cape St. Vincent, you have above three thousand +miles of hostile sea coast, and twelve or fourteen harbours quite capable +of containing a sufficient force for the powerful invasion of Ireland. +The nearest of these harbours is not two days’ sail from the southern +coast of Ireland, with a fair leading wind; and the furthest not ten. +Five ships of the line, for so very short a passage, might carry five or +six thousand troops with cannon and ammunition; and Ireland presents to +their attack a southern coast of more than 500 miles, abounding in deep +bays, admirable harbours, and disaffected inhabitants. Your blockading +ships may be forced to come home for provisions and repairs, or they may +be blown off in a gale of wind and compelled to bear away for their own +coast; and you will observe that the very same wind which locks you up in +the British Channel, when you are got there, is evidently favourable for +the invasion of Ireland. And yet this is called Government, and the +people huzza Mr. Perceval for continuing to expose his country day after +day to such tremendous perils as these; cursing the men who would have +given up a question in theology to have saved us from such a risk. The +British empire at this moment is in the state of a peach-blossom—if the +wind blows gently from one quarter, it survives; if furiously from the +other, it perishes. A stiff breeze may set in from the north, the +Rochefort squadron will be taken, and the Minister will be the most holy +of men: if it comes from some other point, Ireland is gone; we curse +ourselves as a set of monastic madmen, and call out for the unavailing +satisfaction of Mr. Perceval’s head. Such a state of political existence +is scarcely credible: it is the action of a mad young fool standing upon +one foot, and peeping down the crater of Mount Ætna, not the conduct of a +wise and sober people deciding upon their best and dearest interests: and +in the name, the much-injured name, of heaven, what is it all for that we +expose ourselves to these dangers? Is it that we may sell more muslin? +Is it that we may acquire more territory? Is it that we may strengthen +what we have already acquired? No; nothing of all this; but that one set +of Irishmen may torture another set of Irishmen—that Sir Phelim +O’Callaghan may continue to whip Sir Toby M’Tackle, his next door +neighbour, and continue to ravish his Catholic daughters; and these are +the measures which the honest and consistent Secretary supports; and this +is the Secretary whose genius in the estimation of Brother Abraham is to +extinguish the genius of Bonaparte. Pompey was killed by a slave, +Goliath smitten by a stripling, Pyrrhus died by the hand of a woman; +tremble, thou great Gaul, from whose head an armed Minerva leaps forth in +the hour of danger; tremble, thou scourge of God, a pleasant man is come +out against thee, and thou shalt be laid low by a joker of jokes, and he +shall talk his pleasant talk against thee, and thou shalt be no more! + +You tell me, in spite of all this parade of sea-coast, Bonaparte has +neither ships nor sailors: but this is a mistake. He has not ships and +sailors to contest the empire of the seas with Great Britain, but there +remains quite sufficient of the navies of France, Spain, Holland, and +Denmark, for these short excursions and invasions. Do you think, too, +that Bonaparte does not add to his navy every year? Do you suppose, with +all Europe at his feet, that he can find any difficulty in obtaining +timber, and that money will not procure for him any quantity of naval +stores he may want? The mere machine, the empty ship, he can build as +well, and as quickly, as you can; and though he may not find enough of +practised sailors to man large fighting-fleets—it is not possible to +conceive that he can want sailors for such sort of purposes as I have +stated. He is at present the despotic monarch of above twenty thousand +miles of sea-coast, and yet you suppose he cannot procure sailors for the +invasion of Ireland. Believe, if you please, that such a fleet met at +sea by any number of our ships at all comparable to them in point of +force, would be immediately taken, let it be so; I count nothing upon +their power of resistance, only upon their power of escaping unobserved. +If experience has taught us anything, it is the impossibility of +perpetual blockades. The instances are innumerable, during the course of +this war, where whole fleets have sailed in and out of harbour, in spite +of every vigilance used to prevent it. I shall only mention those cases +where Ireland is concerned. In December, 1796, seven ships of the line, +and ten transports, reached Bantry Bay from Brest, without having seen an +English ship in their passage. It blew a storm when they were off shore, +and therefore England still continues to be an independent kingdom. You +will observe that at the very time the French fleet sailed out of Brest +Harbour, Admiral Colpoys was cruising off there with a powerful squadron, +and still, from the particular circumstances of the weather, found it +impossible to prevent the French from coming out. During the time that +Admiral Colpoys was cruising off Brest, Admiral Richery, with six ships +of the line, passed him, and got safe into the harbour. At the very +moment when the French squadron was lying in Bantry Bay, Lord Bridport +with his fleet was locked up by a foul wind in the Channel, and for +several days could not stir to the assistance of Ireland. Admiral +Colpoys, totally unable to find the French fleet, came home. Lord +Bridport, at the change of the wind, cruised for them in vain, and they +got safe back to Brest, without having seen a single one of those +floating bulwarks, the possession of which we believe will enable us with +impunity to set justice and common sense at defiance. + +Such is the miserable and precarious state of an anemocracy, of a people +who put their trust in hurricanes, and are governed by wind. In August, +1798, three forty-gun frigates landed 1,100 men under Humbert, making the +passage from Rochelle to Killala without seeing any English ship. In +October of the same year, four French frigates anchored in Killala Bay +with 2,000 troops; and though they did not land their troops, they +returned to France in safety. In the same month, a line-of-battle ship, +eight stout frigates, and a brig, all full of troops and stores, reached +the coast of Ireland, and were fortunately, in sight of land, destroyed, +after an obstinate engagement, by Sir John Warren. + +If you despise the little troop which, in these numerous experiments, did +make good its landing, take with you, if you please, this _prècis_ of its +exploits: eleven hundred men, commanded by a soldier raised from the +ranks, put to rout a select army of 6,000 men, commanded by General Lake, +seized their ordnance, ammunition, and stores, advanced 150 miles into a +country containing an armed force of 150,000 men, and at last surrendered +to the Viceroy, an experienced general, gravely and cautiously advancing +at the head of all his chivalry and of an immense army to oppose him. +You must excuse these details about Ireland, but it appears to me to be +of all other subjects the most important. If we conciliate Ireland, we +can do nothing amiss; if we do not, we can do nothing well. If Ireland +was friendly, we might equally set at defiance the talents of Bonaparte +and the blunders of his rival, Mr. Canning; we could then support the +ruinous and silly bustle of our useless expeditions, and the almost +incredible ignorance of our commercial orders in council. Let the +present administration give up but this one point, and there is nothing +which I would not consent to grant them. Mr. Perceval shall have full +liberty to insult the tomb of Mr. Fox, and to torment every eminent +Dissenter in Great Britain; Lord Camden shall have large boxes of plums; +Mr. Rose receive permission to prefix to his name the appellative of +virtuous; and to the Viscount Castlereagh a round sum of ready money +shall be well and truly paid into his hand. Lastly, what remains to Mr. +George Canning, but that he ride up and down Pall Mall glorious upon a +white horse, and that they cry out before him, Thus shall it be done to +the statesman who hath written “The Needy Knife-Grinder,” and the German +play? Adieu only for the present; you shall soon hear from me again; it +is a subject upon which I cannot long be silent. + + + + +LETTER VIII. + + +NOTHING can be more erroneous than to suppose that Ireland is not bigger +than the Isle of Wight, or of more consequence than Guernsey or Jersey; +and yet I am almost inclined to believe, from the general supineness +which prevails here respecting the dangerous state of that country, that +such is the rank which it holds in our statistical tables. I have been +writing to you a great deal about Ireland, and perhaps it may be of some +use to state to you concisely the nature and resources of the country +which has been the subject of our long and strange correspondence. There +were returned, as I have before observed, to the hearth tax in 1791, +701,102 houses, which Mr. Newenham shows from unquestionable documents to +be nearly 80,000 below the real number of houses in that country. There +are 27,457 square English miles in Ireland, and more than five millions +of people. + +By the last survey it appears that the inhabited houses in England and +Wales amount to 1,574,902, and the population to 9,343,578, which gives +an average of 5.875 to each house, in a country where the density of +population is certainly less considerable than in Ireland. It is +commonly supposed that two-fifths of the army and navy are Irishmen, at +periods when political disaffection does not avert the Catholics from the +service. The current value of Irish exports in 1807 was £9,314,854 17s. +7d.; a state of commerce about equal to the commerce of England in the +middle of the reign of George II. The tonnage of ships entered inward +and cleared outward in the trade of Ireland, in 1807, amounted to +1,567,430 tons. The quantity of home spirits exported amounted to 10,284 +gallons in 1796, and to 930,800 gallons in 1804. Of the exports which I +have stated, provisions amounted to four millions, and linen to about +four millions and a half. There was exported from Ireland, upon an +average of two years ending in January, 1804, 591,274 barrels of barley, +oats, and wheat; and by weight 910,848 cwts. of flour, oatmeal, barley, +oats, and wheat. The amount of butter exported in 1804, from Ireland, +was worth, in money, £1,704,680 sterling. The importation of ale and +beer, from the immense manufactures now carrying on of these articles, +was diminished to 3,209 barrels, in the year 1804, from 111,920 barrels, +which was the average importation per annum, taking from three years +ending in 1792; and at present there is an export trade of porter. On an +average of three years, ending March, 1783, there were imported into +Ireland, of cotton wool, 3,326 cwts., of cotton yarn, 5,405 lbs.; but on +an average of three years, ending January, 1803, there were imported, of +the first article, 13,159 cwts., and of the latter, 628,406 lbs. It is +impossible to conceive any manufacture more flourishing. The export of +linen has increased in Ireland from 17,776,862 yards, the average in +1770, to 43,534,971 yards, the amount in 1805. The tillage of Ireland +has more than trebled within the last twenty-one years. The importation +of coals has increased from 230,000 tons in 1783, to 417,030 in 1804; of +tobacco, from 3,459,861 lbs. in 1783, to 6,611,543 in 1804; of tea, from +1,703,855 lbs. in 1783, to 3,358,256 in 1804; of sugar, from 143,117 +cwts. in 1782, to 309,076 in 1804. Ireland now supports a funded debt of +above 64 millions, and it is computed that more than three millions’ of +money are annually remitted to Irish absentees resident in this country. +In Mr. Foster’s report, of 100 folio pages, presented to the House of +Commons in the year 1806, the total expenditure of Ireland is stated at +£9,760,013. Ireland has increased about two-thirds in its population +within twenty-five years, and yet, and in about the same space of time, +its exports of beef, bullocks, cows, pork, swine, butter, wheat, barley, +and oats, collectively taken, have doubled; and this, in spite of two +years’ famine, and the presence of an immense army, that is always at +hand to guard the most valuable appanage of our empire from joining our +most inveterate enemies. Ireland has the greatest possible facilities +for carrying on commerce with the whole of Europe. It contains, within a +circuit of 750 miles, 66 secure harbours, and presents a western frontier +against Great Britain, reaching from the Firth of Clyde north to the +Bristol Channel south, and varying in distance from 20 to 100 miles; so +that the subjugation of Ireland would compel us to guard with ships and +soldiers a new line of coast, certainly amounting, with all its +sinuosities, to more than 700 miles—an addition of polemics, in our +present state of hostility with all the world, which must highly gratify +the vigorists, and give them an ample opportunity of displaying that +foolish energy upon which their claims to distinction are founded. Such +is the country which the Right Reverend the Chancellor of the Exchequer +would drive into the arms of France, and for the conciliation of which we +are requested to wait, as if it were one of those sinecure places which +were given to Mr. Perceval snarling at the breast, and which cannot be +abolished till his decease. + +How sincerely and fervently have I often wished that the Emperor of the +French had thought as Mr. Spencer Perceval does upon the subject of +government; that he had entertained doubts and scruples upon the +propriety of admitting the Protestants to an equality of rights with the +Catholics, and that he had left in the middle of his empire these +vigorous seeds of hatred and disaffection! But the world was never yet +conquered by a blockhead. One of the very first measures we saw him +recurring to was the complete establishment of religious liberty: if his +subjects fought and paid as he pleased, he allowed them to believe as +they pleased: the moment I saw this, my best hopes were lost. I +perceived in a moment the kind of man we had to do with. I was well +aware of the miserable ignorance and folly of this country upon the +subject of toleration; and every year has been adding to the success of +that game, which it was clear he had the will and the ability to play +against us. + +You say Bonaparte is not in earnest upon the subject of religion, and +that this is the cause of his tolerant spirit; but is it possible you can +intend to give us such dreadful and unamiable notions of religion. Are +we to understand that the moment a man is sincere he is narrow-minded; +that persecution is the child of belief; and that a desire to leave all +men in the quiet and unpunished exercise of their own creed can only +exist in the mind of an infidel? Thank God! I know many men whose +principles are as firm as they are expanded, who cling tenaciously to +their own modification of the Christian faith, without the slightest +disposition to force that modification upon other people. If Bonaparte +is liberal in subjects of religion because he has no religion, is this a +reason why we should be illiberal because we are Christians? If he owes +this excellent quality to a vice, is that any reason why we may not owe +it to a virtue? Toleration is a great good, and a good to be imitated, +let it come from whom it will. If a sceptic is tolerant, it only shows +that he is not foolish in practice as well as erroneous in theory. If a +religious man is tolerant, it evinces that he is religious from thought +and inquiry, because he exhibits in his conduct one of the most beautiful +and important consequences of a religious mind—an inviolable charity to +all the honest varieties of human opinion. + +Lord Sidmouth, and all the anti-Catholic people, little foresee that they +will hereafter be the sport of the antiquary; that their prophecies of +ruin and destruction from Catholic emancipation will be clapped into the +notes of some quaint history, and be matter of pleasantry even to the +sedulous housewife and the rural dean. There is always a copious supply +of Lord Sidmouths in the world; nor is there one single source of human +happiness against which they have not uttered the most lugubrious +predictions. Turnpike roads, navigable canals, inoculation, hops, +tobacco, the Reformation, the Revolution—there are always a set of worthy +and moderately-gifted men, who bawl out death and ruin upon every +valuable change which the varying aspect of human affairs absolutely and +imperiously requires. I have often thought that it would be extremely +useful to make a collection of the hatred and abuse that all those +changes have experienced, which are now admitted to be marked +improvements in our condition. Such a history might make folly a little +more modest, and suspicious of its own decisions. + +Ireland, you say, since the Union is to be considered as a part of the +whole kingdom; and therefore, however Catholics may predominate in that +particular spot, yet, taking the whole empire together, they are to be +considered as a much more insignificant quota of the population. +Consider them in what light you please, as part of the whole, or by +themselves, or in what manner may be most consentaneous to the devices of +your holy mind—I say in a very few words, if you do not relieve these +people from the civil incapacities to which they are exposed, you will +lose them; or you must employ great strength and much treasure in +watching over them. In the present state of the world you can afford to +do neither the one nor the other. Having stated this, I shall leave you +to be ruined, Puffendorf in hand (as Mr. Secretary Canning says), and to +lose Ireland, just as you have found out what proportion the aggrieved +people should bear to the whole population before their calamities meet +with redress. As for your parallel cases, I am no more afraid of +deciding upon them than I am upon their prototype. If ever any one +heresy should so far spread itself over the principality of Wales that +the Established Church were left in a minority of one to four; if you had +subjected these heretics to very severe civil privations; if the +consequence of such privations were a universal state of disaffection +among that caseous and wrathful people; and if at the same time you were +at war with all the world, how can you doubt for a moment that I would +instantly restore them to a state of the most complete civil liberty? +What matters it under what name you put the same case? Common sense is +not changed by appellations. I have said how I would act to Ireland, and +I would act so to all the world. + +I admit that, to a certain degree, the Government will lose the +affections of the Orangemen by emancipating the Catholics; much less, +however, at present, than three years past. The few men, who have +ill-treated the whole crew, live in constant terror that the oppressed +people will rise upon them and carry the ship into Brest:—they begin to +find that it is a very tiresome thing to sleep every night with cocked +pistols under their pillows, and to breakfast, dine, and sup with drawn +hangers. They suspect that the privilege of beating and kicking the rest +of the sailors is hardly worth all this anxiety, and that if the ship +does ever fall into the hands of the disaffected, all the cruelties which +they have experienced will be thoroughly remembered and amply repaid. To +a short period of disaffection among the Orangemen I confess I should not +much object: my love of poetical justice does carry me as far as that; +one summer’s whipping, only one: the thumb-screw for a short season; a +little light easy torturing between Ladyday and Michaelmas; a short +specimen of Mr. Perceval’s rigour. I have malice enough to ask this +slight atonement for the groans and shrieks of the poor Catholics, +unheard by any human tribunal, but registered by the Angel of God against +their Protestant and enlightened oppressors. + +Besides, if you who count ten so often can count five, you must perceive +that it is better to have four friends and one enemy than four enemies +and one friend; and the more violent the hatred of the Orangemen, the +more certain the reconciliation of the Catholics. The disaffection of +the Orangemen will be the Irish rainbow: when I see it I shall be sure +that the storm is over. + +If these incapacities, from which the Catholics ask to be relieved, were +to the mass of them only a mere feeling of pride, and if the question +were respecting the attainment of privileges which could be of importance +only to the highest of the sect, I should still say that the pride of the +mass was very naturally wounded by the degradation of their superiors. +Indignity to George Rose would be felt by the smallest nummary gentleman +in the king’s employ; and Mr. John Bannister could not be indifferent to +anything which happened to Mr. Canning. But the truth is, it is a most +egregious mistake to suppose that the Catholics are contending merely for +the fringes and feathers of their chiefs. I will give you a list in my +next Letter of those privations which are represented to be of no +consequence to anybody but Lord Fingal, and some twenty or thirty of the +principal persons of their sect. In the meantime, adieu, and be wise. + + + +LETTER IX. + + +DEAR ABRAHAM,—No Catholic can be chief Governor or Governor of this +kingdom, Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal, Lord High Treasurer, +Chief of any of the Courts of Justice, Chancellor of the Exchequer, +Puisne Judge, Judge in the Admiralty, Master of the Rolls, Secretary of +State, Keeper of the Privy Seal, Vice-Treasurer or his Deputy, Teller or +Cashier of Exchequer, Auditor or General, Governor or Custos Rotulorum of +Counties, Chief Governor’s Secretary, Privy Councillor, King’s Counsel, +Serjeant, Attorney, Solicitor-General, Master in Chancery, Provost or +Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, Postmaster-General, Master and +Lieutenant-General of Ordnance, Commander-in-Chief, General on the Staff, +Sheriff, Sub-Sheriff, Mayor, Bailiff, Recorder, Burgess, or any other +officer in a City, or a Corporation. No Catholic can be guardian to a +Protestant, and no priest guardian at all; no Catholic can be a +gamekeeper, or have for sale, or otherwise, any arms or warlike stores; +no Catholic can present to a living, unless he choose to turn Jew in +order to obtain that privilege; the pecuniary qualification of Catholic +jurors is made higher than that of Protestants, and no relaxation of the +ancient rigorous code is permitted, unless to those who shall take an +oath prescribed by 13 and 14 George III. Now if this is not picking the +plums out of the pudding and leaving the mere batter to the Catholics, I +know not what is. If it were merely the Privy Council, it would be (I +allow) nothing but a point of honour for which the mass of Catholics were +contending, the honour of being chief-mourners or pall-bearers to the +country; but surely no man will contend that every barrister may not +speculate upon the possibility of being a Puisne Judge; and that every +shopkeeper must not feel himself injured by his exclusion from borough +offices. + +One of the greatest practical evils which the Catholics suffer in Ireland +is their exclusion from the offices of Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff. +Nobody who is unacquainted with Ireland can conceive the obstacles which +this opposes to the fair administration of justice. The formation of +juries is now entirely in the hands of the Protestants; the lives, +liberties, and properties of the Catholics in the hands of the juries; +and this is the arrangement for the administration of justice in a +country where religious prejudices are inflamed to the greatest degree of +animosity! In this country, if a man be a foreigner, if he sell +slippers, and sealing wax, and artificial flowers, we are so tender of +human life that we take care half the number of persons who are to decide +upon his fate should be men of similar prejudices and feelings with +himself: but a poor Catholic in Ireland may be tried by twelve Percevals, +and destroyed according to the manner of that gentleman in the name of +the Lord, and with all the insulting forms of justice. I do not go the +length of saying that deliberate and wilful injustice is done. I have no +doubt that the Orange Deputy Sheriff thinks it would be a most +unpardonable breach of his duty if he did not summon a Protestant panel. +I can easily believe that the Protestant panel may conduct themselves +very conscientiously in hanging the gentlemen of the crucifix; but I +blame the law which does not guard the Catholic against the probable +tenor of those feelings which must unconsciously influence the judgments +of mankind. I detest that state of society which extends unequal degrees +of protection to different creeds and persuasions; and I cannot describe +to you the contempt I feel for a man who, calling himself a statesman, +defends a system which fills the heart of every Irishman with treason, +and makes his allegiance prudence, not choice. + +I request to know if the vestry taxes in Ireland are a mere matter of +romantic feeling which can affect only the Earl of Fingal? In a parish +where there are four thousand Catholics and fifty Protestants, the +Protestants may meet together in a vestry meeting at which no Catholic +has the right to vote, and tax all the lands in the parish 1s. 6d. per +acre, or in the pound, I forget which, for the repairs of the church—and +how has the necessity of these repairs been ascertained? A Protestant +plumber has discovered that it wants new leading; a Protestant carpenter +is convinced the timbers are not sound; and the glazier who hates holy +water (as an accoucheur hates celibacy, because he gets nothing by it) is +employed to put in new sashes. + +The grand juries in Ireland are the great scene of jobbing. They have a +power of making a county rate to a considerable extent for roads, +bridges, and other objects of general accommodation. “You suffer the +road to be brought through my park, and I will have the bridge +constructed in a situation where it will make a beautiful object to your +house. You do my job, and I will do yours.” These are the sweet and +interesting subjects which occasionally occupy Milesian gentlemen while +they are attendant upon this grand inquest of justice. But there is a +religion, it seems, even in jobs; and it will be highly gratifying to Mr. +Perceval to learn that no man in Ireland who believes in seven sacraments +can carry a public road, or bridge, one yard out of the direction most +beneficial to the public, and that nobody can cheat the public who does +not expound the Scriptures in the purest and most orthodox manner. This +will give pleasure to Mr. Perceval: but, from his unfairness upon these +topics I appeal to the justice and the proper feelings of Mr. Huskisson. +I ask him if the human mind can experience a more dreadful sensation than +to see its own jobs refused, and the jobs of another religion perpetually +succeeding? I ask him his opinion of a jobless faith, of a creed which +dooms a man through life to a lean and plunderless integrity. He knows +that human nature cannot and will not bear it; and if we were to paint a +political Tartarus, it would be an endless series of snug expectations +and cruel disappointments. These are a few of many dreadful +inconveniences which the Catholics of all ranks suffer from the laws by +which they are at present oppressed. Besides, look at human nature: what +is the history of all professions? Joel is to be brought up to the bar: +has Mrs. Plymley the slightest doubt of his being Chancellor? Do not his +two shrivelled aunts live in the certainty of seeing him in that +situation, and of cutting out with their own hands his equity +habiliments? And I could name a certain minister of the Gospel who does +not, in the bottom of his heart, much differ from these opinions. Do you +think that the fathers and mothers of the holy Catholic Church are not as +absurd as Protestant papas and mammas? The probability I admit to be, in +each particular case, that the sweet little blockhead will in fact never +get a brief;—but I will venture to say, there is not a parent from the +Giant’s Causeway to Bantry Bay who does not conceive that his child is +the unfortunate victim of the exclusion, and that nothing short of +positive law could prevent his own dear, pre-eminent Paddy from rising to +the highest honours of the State. So with the army and parliament; in +fact, few are excluded; but, in imagination, all: you keep twenty or +thirty Catholics out, and you lose the affections of four millions; and, +let me tell you, that recent circumstances have by no means tended to +diminish in the minds of men that hope of elevation beyond their own rank +which is so congenial to our nature: from pleading for John Roe to taxing +John Bull, from jesting for Mr. Pitt and writing in the _Anti-Jacobin_, +to managing the affairs of Europe—these are leaps which seem to justify +the fondest dreams of mothers and of aunts. + +I do not say that the disabilities to which the Catholics are exposed +amount to such intolerable grievances, that the strength and industry of +a nation are overwhelmed by them: the increasing prosperity of Ireland +fully demonstrates to the contrary. But I repeat again, what I have +often stated in the course of our correspondence, that your laws against +the Catholics are exactly in that state in which you have neither the +benefits of rigour nor of liberality: every law which prevented the +Catholic from gaining strength and wealth is repealed; every law which +can irritate remains; if you were determined to insult the Catholics, you +should have kept them weak; if you resolved to give them strength, you +should have ceased to insult them—at present your conduct is pure, +unadulterated folly. + +Lord Hawkesbury says, “We heard nothing about the Catholics till we began +to mitigate the laws against them; when we relieved them in part from +this oppression they began to be disaffected.” This is very true; but it +proves just what I have said, that you have either done too much or too +little; and as there lives not, I hope, upon earth, so depraved a +courtier that he would load the Catholics with their ancient chains, what +absurdity it is, then, not to render their dispositions friendly, when +you leave their arms and legs free! + +You know, and many Englishmen know, what passes in China; but nobody +knows or cares what passes in Ireland. At the beginning of the present +reign no Catholic could realise property, or carry on any business; they +were absolutely annihilated, had had no more agency in the country than +so many trees. They were like Lord Mulgrave’s eloquence and Lord +Camden’s wit; the legislative bodies did not know of their existence. +For these twenty-five years last past the Catholics have been engaged in +commerce; within that period the commerce of Ireland has doubled—there +are four Catholics at work for one Protestant, and eight Catholics at +work for one Episcopalian. Of course, the proportion which Catholic +wealth bears to Protestant wealth is every year altering rapidly in +favour of the Catholics. I have already told you what their purchases of +land were the last year: since that period I have been at some pains to +find out the actual state of the Catholic wealth: it is impossible upon +such a subject to arrive at complete accuracy; but I have good reason to +believe that there are at present 2,000 Catholics in Ireland, possessing +an income of £500 and upwards, many of these with incomes of one, two, +three, and four thousand, and some amounting to fifteen and twenty +thousand per annum:—and this is the kingdom, and these the people, for +whose conciliation we are to wait Heaven knows when, and Lord Hawkesbury +why! As for me, I never think of the situation of Ireland without +feeling the same necessity for immediate interference as I should do if I +saw blood flowing from a great artery. I rush towards it with the +instinctive rapidity of a man desirous of preventing death, and have no +other feeling but that in a few seconds the patient may be no more. + +I could not help smiling, in the times of No Popery, to witness the loyal +indignation of many persons at the attempt made by the last ministry to +do something for the relief of Ireland. The general cry in the country +was, that they would not see their beloved Monarch used ill in his old +age, and that they would stand by him to the last drop of their blood. I +respect good feelings, however erroneous be the occasions on which they +display themselves; and therefore I saw in all this as much to admire as +to blame. It was a species of affection, however, which reminded me very +forcibly of the attachment displayed by the servants of the Russian +ambassador at the beginning of the last century. His Excellency happened +to fall down in a kind of apoplectic fit, when he was paying a morning +visit in the house of an acquaintance. The confusion was of course very +great, and messengers were despatched in every direction to find a +surgeon: who, upon his arrival, declared that his Excellency must be +immediately blooded, and prepared himself forthwith to perform the +operation: the barbarous servants of the embassy, who were there in great +numbers, no sooner saw the surgeon prepared to wound the arm of their +master with a sharp, shining instrument, than they drew their swords, put +themselves in an attitude of defence, and swore in pure Sclavonic, “that +they would murder any man who attempted to do him the slightest injury: +he had been a very good master to them, and they would not desert him in +his misfortunes, or suffer his blood to be shed while he was off his +guard, and incapable of defending himself.” By good fortune, the +secretary arrived about this period of the dispute, and his Excellency, +relieved from superfluous blood and perilous affection, was, after much +difficulty, restored to life. + +There is an argument brought forward with some appearance of plausibility +in the House of Commons, which certainly merits an answer: You know that +the Catholics now vote for members of parliament in Ireland, and that +they outnumber the Protestants in a very great proportion; if you allow +Catholics to sit in parliament, religion will be found to influence votes +more than property, and the greater part of the 100 Irish members who are +returned to parliament will be Catholics. Add to these the Catholic +members who are returned in England, and you will have a phalanx of +heretical strength which every minister will be compelled to respect, and +occasionally to conciliate by concessions incompatible with the interests +of the Protestant Church. The fact is, however, that you are at this +moment subjected to every danger of this kind which you can possibly +apprehend hereafter. If the spiritual interests of the voters are more +powerful than their temporal interests, they can bind down their +representatives to support any measures favourable to the Catholic +religion, and they can change the objects of their choice till they have +found Protestant members (as they easily may do) perfectly obedient to +their wishes. If the superior possessions of the Protestants prevent the +Catholics from uniting for a common political object, then the danger you +fear cannot exist: if zeal, on the contrary, gets the better of acres, +then the danger at present exists, from the right of voting already given +to the Catholics, and it will not be increased by allowing them to sit in +parliament. There are, as nearly as I can recollect, thirty seats in +Ireland for cities and counties, where the Protestants are the most +numerous, and where the members returned must of course be Protestants. +In the other seventy representations the wealth of the Protestants is +opposed to the number of the Catholics; and if all the seventy members +returned were of the Catholic persuasion, they must still plot the +destruction of our religion in the midst of 588 Protestants. Such +terrors would disgrace a cook-maid, or a toothless aunt—when they fall +from the lips of bearded and senatorial men, they are nauseous, +antiperistaltic, and emetical. + +How can you for a moment doubt of the rapid effects which would be +produced by the emancipation? In the first place, to my certain +knowledge the Catholics have long since expressed to his Majesty’s +Ministers their perfect readiness _to vest in his Majesty_, _either with +the consent of the Pope_, _or without it if it cannot be obtained_, _the +nomination of the Catholic prelacy_. The Catholic prelacy in Ireland +consists of twenty-six bishops and the warden of Galway, a dignitary +enjoying Catholic jurisdiction. The number of Roman Catholic priests in +Ireland exceeds one thousand. The expenses of his peculiar worship are, +to a substantial farmer or mechanic, five shillings per annum; to a +labourer (where he is not entirely excused) one shilling per annum; this +includes the contribution of the whole family, and for this the priest is +bound to attend them when sick, and to confess them when they apply to +him; he is also to keep his chapel in order, to celebrate divine service, +and to preach on Sundays and holydays. + +In the northern district a priest gains from £30 to £50; in the other +parts of Ireland from £60 to £90 per annum. The best paid Catholic +bishops receive about £400 per annum; the others from £300 to £350. My +plan is very simple: I would have 300 Catholic parishes at £100 per +annum, 300 at £200 per annum, and 400 at £300 per annum; this, for the +whole thousand parishes, would amount to £190,000. To the prelacy I +would allot £20,000 in unequal proportions, from £1,000 to £500; and I +would appropriate £40,000 more for the support of Catholic schools, and +the repairs of Catholic churches; the whole amount of which sum is +£250,000, about the expense of three days of one of our genuine, good +English _just and necessary wars_. The clergy should all receive their +salaries at the Bank of Ireland, and I would place the whole patronage in +the hands of the Crown. Now, I appeal to any human being, except Spencer +Perceval, Esq., of the parish of Hampstead, what the disaffection of a +clergy would amount to, gaping after this graduated bounty of the Crown, +and whether Ignatius Loyala himself, if he were a living blockhead +instead of a dead saint, could withstand the temptation of bouncing from +£100 a year at Sligo, to £300 in Tipperary? This is the miserable sum of +money for which the merchants and landowners and nobility of England are +exposing themselves to the tremendous peril of losing Ireland. The +sinecure places of the Roses and the Percevals, and the “dear and near +relations,” put up to auction at thirty years’ purchase, would almost +amount to the money. + +I admit that nothing can be more reasonable than to expect that a +Catholic priest should starve to death, genteelly and pleasantly, for the +good of the Protestant religion; but is it equally reasonable to expect +that he should do so for the Protestant pews, and Protestant brick and +mortar? On an Irish Sabbath, the bell of a neat parish church often +summons to church only the parson and an occasionally conforming clerk; +while, two hundred yards off, a thousand Catholics are huddled together +in a miserable hovel, and pelted by all the storms of heaven. Can +anything be more distressing than to see a venerable man pouring forth +sublime truths in tattered breeches, and depending for his food upon the +little offal he gets from his parishioners? I venerate a human being who +starves for his principles, let them be what they may; but starving for +anything is not at all to the taste of the honourable flagellants: strict +principles, and good pay, is the motto of Mr. Perceval: the one he keeps +in great measure for the faults of his enemies, the other for himself. + +There are parishes in Connaught in which a Protestant was never settled +nor even seen. In that province in Munster, and in parts of Leinster, +the entire peasantry for sixty miles are Catholics; in these tracts the +churches are frequently shut for want of a congregation, or opened to an +assemblage of from six to twenty persons. Of what Protestants there are +in Ireland, the greatest part are gathered together in Ulster, or they +live in towns. In the country of the other three provinces the Catholics +see no other religion but their own, and are at the least as fifteen to +one Protestant. In the diocese of Tuam they are sixty to one; in the +parish of St. Mulins, diocese of Leghlin, there are four thousand +Catholics and one Protestant; in the town of Grasgenamana, in the county +of Kilkenny, there are between four and five hundred Catholic houses, and +three Protestant houses. In the parish of Allen, county Kildare, there +is no Protestant, though it is very populous. In the parish of Arlesin, +Queen’s County, the proportion is one hundred to one. In the whole +county of Kilkenny, by actual enumeration, it is seventeen to one; in the +diocese of Kilmacduagh, province of Connaught, fifty-two to one, by +ditto. These I give you as a few specimens of the present state of +Ireland; and yet there are men impudent and ignorant enough to contend +that such evils require no remedy, and that mild family man who dwelleth +in Hampstead can find none but the cautery and the knife. + + —“Omne per ignem + Excoquitur vitium.” + +I cannot describe the horror and disgust which I felt at hearing Mr. +Perceval call upon the then Ministry for measures of vigour in Ireland. +If I lived at Hampstead upon stewed meats and claret; if I walked to +church every Sunday before eleven young gentlemen of my own begetting, +with their faces washed, and their hair pleasingly combed; if the +Almighty had blessed me with every earthly comfort—how awfully would I +pause before I sent forth the flame and the sword over the cabins of the +poor, brave, generous, open-hearted peasants of Ireland! How easy it is +to shed human blood; how easy it is to persuade ourselves that it is our +duty to do so, and that the decision has cost us a severe struggle; how +much in all ages have wounds and shrieks and tears been the cheap and +vulgar resources of the rulers of mankind; how difficult and how noble it +is to govern in kindness and to found an empire upon the everlasting +basis of justice and affection! But what do men call vigour? To let +loose hussars and to bring up artillery, to govern with lighted matches, +and to cut, and push, and prime; I call this not vigour, but the _sloth +of cruelty and ignorance_. The vigour I love consists in finding out +wherein subjects are aggrieved, in relieving them, in studying the temper +and genius of a people, in consulting their prejudices, in selecting +proper persons to lead and manage them, in the laborious, watchful, and +difficult task of increasing public happiness by allaying each particular +discontent. In this way Hoche pacified La Vendée—and in this way only +will Ireland ever be subdued. But this, in the eyes of Mr. Perceval, is +imbecility and meanness. Houses are not broken open, women are not +insulted, the people seem all to be happy; they are not rode over by +horses, and cut by whips. Do you call this vigour? Is this government? + + + +LETTER X. AND LAST. + + +YOU must observe that all I have said of the effects which will be +produced by giving salaries to the Catholic clergy, only proceeds upon +the supposition that the emanciptaion of the laity is effected:—without +that, I am sure there is not a clergyman in Ireland who would receive a +shilling from government; he could not do so, without an entire loss of +credit among the members of his own persuasion. + +What you say of the moderation of the Irish Protestant clergy in +collecting tithes, is, I believe, strictly true. Instead of collecting +what the law enables them to collect, I believe they seldom or ever +collect more than two-thirds; and I entirely agree with you, that the +abolition of agistment tithe in Ireland by a vote of the Irish House of +Commons, and without any remuneration to the Church, was a most +scandalous and Jacobinical measure. I do not blame the Irish clergy; but +I submit to your common sense, if it be possible to explain to an Irish +peasant upon what principle of justice, or common sense, he is to pay +every tenth potato in his little garden to a clergyman in whose religion +nobody believes for twenty miles around him, and who has nothing to +preach to but bare walls? It is true, if the tithes are bought up, the +cottager must pay more rent to his landlord; but the same thing done in +the shape of rent is less odious than when it is done in the shape of +tithe. I do not want to take a shilling out of the pockets of the +clergy, but to leave the substance of things, and to change their names. +I cannot see the slightest reason why the Irish labourer is to be +relieved from the real onus, or from anything else but the name of tithe. +At present he rents only nine-tenths of the produce of the land, which is +all that belongs to the owner; this he has at the market price; if the +landowner purchase the other tenth of the Church, of course he has a +right to make a correspondent advance upon his tenant. + +I very much doubt, if you were to lay open all civil offices to the +Catholics, and to grant salaries to their clergy, in the manner I have +stated, if the Catholic laity would give themselves much trouble about +the advance of their Church; for they would pay the same tithes under one +system that they do under another. If you were to bring the Catholics +into the daylight of the world, to the high situations of the army, the +navy, and the bar, numbers of them would come over to the Established +Church, and do as other people do; instead of that, you set a mark of +infamy upon them, rouse every passion of our nature in favour of their +creed, and then wonder that men are blind to the follies of the Catholic +religion. There are hardly any instances of old and rich families among +the Protestant Dissenters: when a man keeps a coach, and lives in good +company, he comes to church, and gets ashamed of the meeting-house; if +this is not the case with the father, it is almost always the case with +the son. These things would never be so if the Dissenters were in +_practice_ as much excluded from all the concerns of civil life as the +Catholics are. If a rich young Catholic were in Parliament, he would +belong to White’s and to Brookes’s, would keep race-horses, would walk up +and down Pall Mall, be exonerated of his ready money and his +constitution, become as totally devoid of morality, honesty, knowledge, +and civility as Protestant loungers in Pall Mall, and return home with a +supreme contempt for Father O’Leary and Father O’Callaghan. I am +astonished at the madness of the Catholic clergy in not perceiving that +Catholic emancipation is Catholic infidelity; that to entangle their +people in the intrigues of a Protestant parliament, and a Protestant +court, is to ensure the loss of every man of fashion and consequence in +their community. The true receipt for preserving their religion, is Mr. +Perceval’s receipt for destroying it: it is to deprive every rich +Catholic of all the objects of secular ambition, to separate him from the +Protestant, and to shut him up in his castle with priests and relics. + +We are told, in answer to all our arguments, that this is not a fit +period—that a period of universal war is not the proper time for +dangerous innovations in the constitution: this is as much as to say, +that the worst time for making friends is the period when you have made +many enemies; that it is the greatest of all errors to stop when you are +breathless, and to lie down when you are fatigued. Of one thing I am +quite certain: if the safety of Europe is once completely restored, the +Catholics may for ever bid adieu to the slightest probability of +effecting their object. Such men as hang about a court not only are deaf +to the suggestions of mere justice, but they despise justice; they detest +the word _right_; the only word which rouses them is _peril_; where they +can oppress with impunity, they oppress for ever, and call it loyalty and +wisdom. + +I am so far from conceiving the legitimate strength of the Crown would be +diminished by these abolitions of civil incapacities in consequence of +religious opinions, that my only objection to the increase of religious +freedom is, that it would operate as a diminution of political freedom; +the power of the Crown is so overbearing at this period, that almost the +only steady opposers of its fatal influence are men disgusted by +religious intolerance. Our establishments are so enormous, and so +utterly disproportioned to our population, that every second or third man +you meet in society gains something from the public; my brother the +commissioner,—my nephew the police justice,—purveyor of small beer to the +army in Ireland,—clerk of the mouth,—yeoman to the left hand,—these are +the obstacles which common sense and justice have now to overcome. Add +to this that the King, old and infirm, excites a principle of very +amiable generosity in his favour; that he has led a good, moral, and +religious life, equally removed from profligacy and methodistical +hypocrisy; that he has been a good husband, a good father, and a good +master; that he dresses plain, loves hunting and farming, fates the +French, and is in all his opinions and habits, quite English:—these +feelings are heightened by the present situation of the world, and the +yet unexploded clamour of Jacobinism. In short, from the various sources +of interest, personal regard, and national taste, such a tempest of +loyalty has set in upon the people that the 47th proposition in Euclid +might now be voted down with as much ease as any proposition in politics; +and therefore if Lord Hawkesbury hates the abstract truths of science as +much as he hates concrete truth in human affairs, now is his time for +getting rid of the multiplication table, and passing a vote of censure +upon the pretensions of the _hypotenuse_. Such is the history of English +parties at this moment: you cannot seriously suppose that the people care +for such men as Lord Hawkesbury, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Perceval on their +own account; you cannot really believe them to be so degraded as to look +to their safety from a man who proposes to subdue Europe by keeping it +without Jesuit’s Bark. The people at present have one passion, and but +one— + + “A Jove principium, Jovis omnia plena.” + +They care no more for the ministers I have mentioned, than they do for +those sturdy royalists who for £60 per annum stand behind his Majesty’s +carriage, arrayed in scarlet and in gold. If the present ministers +opposed the Court instead of flattering it, they would not command twenty +votes. + +Do not imagine by these observations that I am not loyal; without joining +in the common cant of the best of kings, I respect the King most +sincerely as a good man. His religion is better than the religion of Mr. +Perceval, his old morality very superior to the old morality of Mr. +Canning, and I am quite certain he has a safer understanding than both of +them put together. Loyalty within the bounds of reason and moderation is +one of the great instruments of human happiness; but the love of the king +may easily become more strong than the love of the kingdom, and we may +lose sight of the public welfare in our exaggerated admiration of him who +is appointed to reign only for its promotion and support. I detest +Jacobinism; and if I am doomed to be a slave at all, I would rather be +the slave of a king than a cobbler. God save the King, you say, warms +your heart like the sound of a trumpet. I cannot make use of so violent +a metaphor; but I am delighted to hear it, when it is the cry of genuine +affection; I am delighted to hear it when they hail not only the +individual man, but the outward and living sign of all English blessings. +These are noble feelings, and the heart of every good man must go with +them; but God save the King, in these times, too often means God save my +pension and my place, God give my sisters an allowance out of the privy +purse—make me clerk of the irons, let me survey the meltings, let me live +upon the fruits of other men’s industry, and fatten upon the plunder of +the public. + +What is it possible to say to such a man as the Gentleman of Hampstead, +who really believes it feasible to convert the four million Irish +Catholics to the Protestant religion, and considers this as the best +remedy for the disturbed state of Ireland? It is not possible to answer +such a man with arguments; we must come out against him with beads and a +cowl, and push him into an hermitage. It is really such trash, that it +is an abuse of the privilege of reasoning to reply to it. Such a project +is well worthy the statesman who would bring the French to reason by +keeping them without rhubarb, and exhibit to mankind the awful spectacle +of a nation deprived of neutral salts. This is not the dream of a wild +apothecary indulging in his own opium; this is not the distempered fancy +of a pounder of drugs, delirious from smallness of profits; but it is the +sober, deliberate, and systematic scheme of a man to whom the public +safety is intrusted, and whose appointment is considered by many as a +masterpiece of political sagacity. What a sublime thought, that no purge +can now be taken between the Weser and the Garonne; that the bustling +pestle is still, the canorous mortar mute, and the bowels of mankind +locked up for fourteen degrees of latitude! When, I should be curious to +know, were all the powers of crudity and flatulence fully explained to +his Majesty’s ministers? At what period was this great plan of conquest +and constipation fully developed? In whose mind was the idea of +destroying the pride and the plasters of France first engendered? +Without castor oil they might for some months, to be sure, have carried +on a lingering war! but can they do without bark? Will the people live +under a government where antimonial powders cannot be procured? Will +they bear the loss of mercury? “There’s the rub.” Depend upon it, the +absence of the materia medica will soon bring them to their senses, and +the cry of _Bourbon and bolus_ burst forth from the Baltic to the +Mediterranean. + +You ask me for any precedent in our history where the oath of supremacy +has been dispensed with. It was dispensed with to the Catholics of +Canada in 1774. They are only required to take a simple oath of +allegiance. The same, I believe, was the case in Corsica. The reason of +such exemption was obvious; you could not possibly have retained either +of these countries without it. And what did it signify, whether you +retained them or not? In cases where you might have been foolish without +peril you were wise; when nonsense and bigotry threaten you with +destruction, it is impossible to bring you back to the alphabet of +justice and common sense. If men are to be fools, I would rather they +were fools in little matters than in great; dulness turned up with +temerity is a livery all the worse for the facings; and the most +tremendous of all things is the magnanimity of the dunce. + +It is not by any means necessary, as you contend, to repeal the Test Act +if you give relief to the Catholic: what the Catholics ask for is to be +put on a footing with the Protestant Dissenters, which would be done by +repealing that part of the law which compels them to take the oath of +supremacy and to make the declaration against transubstantiation: they +would then come into Parliament as all other Dissenters are allowed to +do, and the penal laws to which they were exposed for taking office would +be suspended every year, as they have been for this half century past +towards Protestant Dissenters. Perhaps, after all, this is the best +method—to continue the persecuting law, and to suspend it every year—a +method which, while it effectually destroys the persecution itself, +leaves to the great mass of mankind the exquisite gratification of +supposing that they are enjoying some advantage from which a particular +class of their fellow creatures are excluded. We manage the Corporation +and Test Acts at present much in the same manner as if we were to +persuade parish boys who had been in the habit of beating an ass to spare +the animal, and beat the skin of an ass stuffed with straw; this would +preserve the semblance of tormenting without the reality, and keep boy +and beast in good humour. + +How can you imagine that a provision for the Catholic clergy affects the +5th article of the Union? Surely I am preserving the Protestant Church +in Ireland if I put it in a better condition than that in which it now +is. A tithe proctor in Ireland collects his tithes with a blunderbuss, +and carries his tenth hay-cock by storm, sword in hand: to give him equal +value in a more pacific shape cannot, I should imagine, be considered as +injurious to the Church of Ireland; and what right has that Church to +complain if Parliament chooses to fix upon the empire the burden of +supporting a double ecclesiastical establishment? Are the revenues of +the Irish Protestant clergy in the slightest degree injured by such +provision? On the contrary, is it possible to confer a more serious +benefit upon that Church than by quieting and contenting those who are at +work for its destruction? + +It is impossible to think of the affairs of Ireland without being +forcibly struck with the parallel of Hungary. Of her seven millions of +inhabitants, one half were Protestants, Calvinists, and Lutherans, many +of the Greek Church, and many Jews: such was the state of their religious +dissensions that Mahomet had often been called in to the aid of Calvin, +and the crescent often glittered on the walls of Buda and Presburg. At +last, in 1791, during the most violent crisis of disturbance, a Diet was +called, and by a great majority of voices a decree was passed, which +secured to all the contending sects the fullest and freest exercise of +religious worship and education; ordained—let it be heard in +Hampstead—that churches and chapels should be erected for all on the most +perfectly equal terms; that the Protestants of both confessions should +depend upon their spiritual superiors alone; liberated them from swearing +by the usual oath, “the Holy Virgin Mary, the saints, and chosen of God;” +and then the decree adds, “that _public offices and honours_, _high or +low_, _great or small_, _shall be given to natural-born Hungarians who +deserve well of their country_, _and possess the other qualifications_, +_let their religion be what it may_.” Such was the line of policy +pursued in a Diet consisting of four hundred members, in a state whose +form of government approaches nearer to our own than any other, having a +Roman Catholic establishment of great wealth and power, and under the +influence of one of the most bigoted Catholic Courts in Europe. This +measure has now the experience of eighteen years in its favour; it has +undergone a trial of fourteen years of revolution such as the world never +witnessed, and more than equal to a century less convulsed: What have +been its effects? When the French advanced like a torrent within a few +days’ march of Vienna, the Hungarians rose in a mass; they formed what +they called the sacred insurrection, to defend their sovereign, their +rights and liberties, now common to all; and the apprehension of their +approach dictated to the reluctant Bonaparte the immediate signature of +the treaty of _Leoben_. The Romish hierarchy of Hungary exists in all +its former splendour and opulence; never has the slightest attempt been +made to diminish it; and those revolutionary principles, to which so +large a portion of civilised Europe has been sacrificed, have here failed +in making the smallest successful inroad. + +The whole history of this proceeding of the Hungarian Diet is so +extraordinary, and such an admirable comment upon the Protestantism of +Mr. Spencer Perceval, that I must compel you to read a few short extracts +from the law itself:—“The Protestants of both confessions shall, in +religious matters, depend upon their own spiritual superiors alone. The +Protestants may likewise retain their trivial and grammar schools. The +Church dues which the Protestants have hitherto paid to the Catholic +parish priests, schoolmasters, or other such officers, either in money, +productions, or labour, shall in future entirely cease, and after three +months from the publishing of this law, be no more anywhere demanded. In +the building or repairing of churches, parsonage-houses, and schools, the +Protestants are not obliged to assist the Catholics with labour, nor the +Catholics the Protestants. The pious foundations and donations of the +Protestants which already exist, or which in future may be made for their +churches, ministers, schools and students, hospitals, orphan houses, and +poor, cannot be taken from them under any pretext, nor yet the care of +them; but rather the unimpeded administration shall be intrusted to those +from among them to whom it legally belongs, and those foundations which +may have been taken from them under the last government shall be returned +to them without delay. All affairs of marriage of the Protestants are +left to their own consistories; all landlords and masters of families, +under the penalty of public prosecution, are ordered not to prevent their +subjects and servants, whether they be Catholic or Protestant, from the +observance of the festivals and ceremonies of their religion,” etc. etc. +etc.—By what strange chances are mankind influenced! A little Catholic +barrister of Vienna might have raised the cry of _No Protestantism_, and +Hungary would have panted for the arrival of a French army as much as +Ireland does at this moment; arms would have been searched for; Lutheran +and Calvinist houses entered in the dead of the night; and the strength +of Austria exhausted in guarding a country from which, under the present +liberal system, she may expect in the moment of danger the most powerful +aid: and let it be remembered that this memorable example of political +wisdom took place at a period when many great monarchies were yet +unconquered in Europe; in a country where the two religious parties were +equal in number; and where it is impossible to suppose indifference in +the party which relinquished its exclusive privileges. Under all these +circumstances the measure was carried in the Hungarian Diet by a majority +of 280 to 120. In a few weeks we shall see every concession denied to +the Catholics by a much larger majority of Protestants, at a moment when +every other power is subjugated but ourselves, and in a country where the +oppressed are four times as numerous as their oppressors. So much for +the wisdom of our ancestors—so much for the nineteenth century—so much +for the superiority of the English over all the nations of the Continent. + +Are you not sensible, let me ask you, of the absurdity of trusting the +lowest Catholics with offices correspondent to their situation in life, +and of denying such privileges to the higher. A Catholic may serve in +the militia, but a Catholic cannot come into Parliament; in the latter +case you suspect combination, and in the former case you suspect no +combination; you deliberately arm ten or twenty thousand of the lowest of +the Catholic people; and the moment you come to a class of men whose +education, honour, and talents seem to render all mischief less probable, +then you see the danger of employing a Catholic, and cling to your +investigating tests and disabling laws. If you tell me you have enough +of members of Parliament and not enough of militia without the Catholics, +I beg leave to remind you that, by employing the physical force of any +sect at the same time when you leave them in a state of utter +disaffection, you are not adding strength to your armies, but weakness +and ruin. If you want the vigour of their common people, you must not +disgrace their nobility and insult their priesthood. + +I thought that the terror of the Pope had been confined to the limits of +the nursery, and merely employed as a means to induce young master to +enter into his small-clothes with greater speed and to eat his breakfast +with greater attention to decorum. For these purposes the name of the +Pope is admirable; but why push it beyond? Why not leave to Lord +Hawkesbury all further enumeration of the Pope’s powers? For a whole +century you have been exposed to the enmity of France, and your +succession was disputed in two rebellions: what could the Pope do at the +period when there was a serious struggle whether England should be +Protestant or Catholic, and when the issue was completely doubtful? +Could the Pope induce the Irish to rise in 1715? Could he induce them to +rise in 1745? You had no Catholic enemy when half this island was in +arms; and what did the Pope attempt in the last rebellion in Ireland? +But if he had as much power over the minds of the Irish as Mr. +Wilberforce has over the mind of a young Methodist converted the +preceding quarter, is this a reason why we are to disgust men who may be +acted upon in such a manner by a foreign power? or is it not an +additional reason why we should raise up every barrier of affection and +kindness against the mischief of foreign influence? But the true answer +is, the mischief does not exist. Gog and Magog have produced as much +influence upon human affairs as the Pope has done for this half century +past; and by spoiling him of his possessions, and degrading him in the +eyes of all Europe, Bonaparte has not taken quite the proper method of +increasing his influence. + +But why not a Catholic king as well as a Catholic member of Parliament, +or of the Cabinet?—Because it is probable that the one would be +mischievous and the other not. A Catholic king might struggle against +the Protestantism of the country, and if the struggle were not successful +it would at least be dangerous; but the efforts of any other Catholic +would be quite insignificant, and his hope of success so small, that it +is quite improbable the effort would ever be made: my argument is, that +in so Protestant a country as Great Britain, the character of her +parliaments and her cabinet could not be changed by the few Catholics who +would ever find their way to the one or the other. But the power of the +Crown is immeasurably greater than the power which the Catholics could +obtain from any other species of authority in the state; and it does not +follow because the lesser degree of power is innocent that the greater +should be so too. As for the stress you lay upon the danger of a +Catholic chancellor, I have not the least hesitation in saying that his +appointment would not do a ten thousandth part of the mischief to the +English Church that might be done by a Methodistical chancellor of the +true Clapham breed; and I request to know if it is really so very +necessary that a chancellor should be of the religion of the Church of +England, how many chancellors you have had within the last century who +have been bred up in the Presbyterian religion? And again, how many you +have had who notoriously have been without any religion at all? + +Why are you to suppose that eligibility and election are the same thing, +and that all the cabinet _will_ be Catholics whenever all the cabinet +_may_ be Catholics? You have a right, you say, to suppose an extreme +case, and to argue upon it—so have I: and I will suppose that the hundred +Irish members will one day come down in a body and pass a law compelling +the King to reside in Dublin. I will suppose that the Scotch members, by +a similar stratagem, will lay England under a large contribution of meal +and sulphur: no measure is without objection if you sweep the whole +horizon for danger; it is not sufficient to tell me of what may happen, +but you must show me a rational probability that it will happen: after +all, I might, contrary to my real opinion, admit all your dangers to +exist; it is enough for me to contend that all other dangers taken +together are not equal to the danger of losing Ireland from disaffection +and invasion. + +I am astonished to see you, and many good and well-meaning clergymen +beside you, painting the Catholics in such detestable colours; +two-thirds, at least, of Europe are Catholics—they are Christians, though +mistaken Christians; how can I possibly admit that any sect of +Christians, and, above all, that the oldest and the most numerous sect of +Christians are incapable of fulfilling the common duties and relations of +life: though I do differ from them in many particulars, God forbid I +should give such a handle to infidelity, and subscribe to such blasphemy +against our common religion? + +Do you think mankind never change their opinions without formally +expressing and confessing that change? When you quote the decisions of +ancient Catholic councils, are you prepared to defend all the decrees of +English convocations and universities since the reign of Queen Elizabeth? +I could soon make you sick of your uncandid industry against the +Catholics, and bring you to allow that it is better to forget times past, +and to judge and be judged by present opinions and present practice. + +I must beg to be excused from explaining and refuting all the mistakes +about the Catholics made by my Lord Redesdale; and I must do that +nobleman the justice to say, that he has been treated with great +disrespect. Could anything be more indecent than to make it a morning +lounge in Dublin to call upon his Lordship, and to cram him with +Arabian-night stories about the Catholics? Is this proper behaviour to +the representative of Majesty, the child of Themis, and the keeper of the +conscience in West Britain? Whoever reads the Letters of the Catholic +Bishops, in the appendix to Sir John Hippesly’s very sensible book, will +see to what an excess this practice must have been carried with the +pleasing and Protestant nobleman whose name I have mentioned, and from +thence I wish you to receive your answer about excommunication, and all +the trash which is talked against the Catholics. + +A sort of notion has, by some means or another, crept into the world that +difference of religion would render men unfit to perform together the +offices of common and civil life: that Brother Wood and Brother Grose +could not travel together the same circuit if they differed in creed, nor +Cockell and Mingay be engaged in the same cause, if Cockell was a +Catholic and Mingay a Muggletonian. It is supposed that Huskisson and +Sir Harry Englefield would squabble behind the Speaker’s chair about the +council of Lateran, and many a turnpike bill miscarry by the sarcastical +controversies of Mr. Hawkins Brown and Sir John Throckmorton upon the +real presence. I wish I could see some of these symptoms of earnestness +upon the subject of religion; but it really seems to me that, in the +present state of society, men no more think about inquiring concerning +each other’s faith than they do concerning the colour of each other’s +skins. There may have been times in England when the quarter sessions +would have been disturbed by theological polemics; but now, after a +Catholic justice had once been seen on the bench, and it had been clearly +ascertained that he spoke English, had no tail, only a single row of +teeth, and that he loved port wine—after all the scandalous and infamous +reports of his physical conformation had been clearly proved to be +false—he would be reckoned a jolly fellow, and very superior in flavour +to a sly Presbyterian. Nothing, in fact, can be more uncandid and +unphilosophical than to say that a man has a tail, because you cannot +agree within him upon religious subjects; it appears to be ludicrous: but +I am convinced it has done infinite mischief to the Catholics, and made a +very serious impression upon the minds of many gentlemen of large landed +property. + +In talking of the impossibility of Catholic and Protestant living +together with equal privilege under the same government, do you forget +the Cantons of Switzerland? You might have seen there a Protestant +congregation going into a church which had just been quitted by a +Catholic congregation; and I will venture to say that the Swiss Catholics +were more bigoted to their religion than any people in the whole world. +Did the kings of Prussia ever refuse to employ a Catholic? Would +Frederick the Great have rejected an able man on this account? We have +seen Prince Czartorinski, a Catholic Secretary of State in Russia; in +former times a Greek patriarch and an apostolic vicar acted together in +the most perfect harmony in Venice; and we have seen the Emperor of +Germany in modern times intrusting the care of his person and the command +of his guard to a Protestant Prince, Frederick of Wittenberg. But what +are all these things to Mr. Perceval? He has looked at human nature from +the top of Hampstead Hill, and has not a thought beyond the little sphere +of his own vision. “The snail,” say the Hindoos, “sees nothing but his +own shell, and thinks it the grandest palace in the universe.” + +I now take a final leave of this subject of Ireland; the only difficulty +in discussing it is a want of resistance, a want of something difficult +to unravel, and something dark to illumine. To agitate such a question +is to beat the air with a club, and cut down gnats with a scimitar; it is +a prostitution of industry, and a waste of strength. If a man say, I +have a good place, and I do not choose to lose it, this mode of arguing +upon the Catholic question I can well understand; but that any human +being with an understanding two degrees elevated above that of an +Anabaptist preacher, should conscientiously contend for the expediency +and propriety of leaving the Irish Catholics in their present state, and +of subjecting us to such tremendous peril in the present condition of the +world, it is utterly out of my power to conceive. Such a measure as the +Catholic question is entirely beyond the common game of politics; it is a +measure in which all parties ought to acquiesce, in order to preserve the +place where and the stake for which they play. If Ireland is gone, where +are jobs? where are reversions? where is my brother Lord Arden? where are +my dear and near relations? The game is up, and the Speaker of the house +of Commons will be sent as a present to the menagerie at Paris. We talk +of waiting from particular considerations, as if centuries of joy and +prosperity were before us: in the next ten years our fate must be +decided; we shall know, long before that period, whether we can bear up +against the miseries by which we are threatened or not; and yet, in the +very midst of our crisis, we are enjoined to abstain from the most +certain means of increasing our strength, and advised to wait for the +remedy till the disease is removed by death or health. And now, instead +of the plain and manly policy of increasing unanimity at home, by +equalising rights and privileges, what is the ignorant, arrogant, and +wicked system which has been pursued? Such a career of madness and of +folly was, I believe, never run in so short a period. The vigour of the +ministry is like the vigour of a grave-digger—the tomb becomes more ready +and more wide for every effort which they make. There is nothing which +it is worth while either to take or to retain, and a constant train of +ruinous expeditions have been kept up. Every Englishman felt proud of +the integrity of his country; the character of the country is lost for +ever. It is of the utmost consequence to a commercial people at war with +the greatest part of Europe, that there should be a free entry of +neutrals into the enemy’s ports; the neutrals who earned our manufactures +we have not only excluded, but we have compelled them to declare war +against us. It was our interest to make a good peace, or convince our +own people that it could not be obtained; we have not made a peace, and +we have convinced the people of nothing but of the arrogance of the +Foreign Secretary: and all this has taken place in the short space of a +year, because a King’s Bench barrister and a writer of epigrams, turned +into Ministers of State, were determined to show country gentlemen that +the late administration had no vigour. In the meantime commerce stands +still, manufactures perish, Ireland is more and more irritated, India is +threatened, fresh taxes are accumulated upon the wretched people, the war +is carried on without it being possible to conceive any one single object +which a rational being can propose to himself by its continuation; and in +the midst of this unparalleled insanity we are told that the Continent is +to be reconquered by the want of rhubarb and plums. A better spirit than +exists in the English people never existed in any people in the world: it +has been misdirected, and squandered upon party purposes in the most +degrading and scandalous manner; they have been led to believe that they +were benefiting the commerce of England by destroying the commerce of +America, that they were defending their Sovereign by perpetuating the +bigoted oppression of their fellow-subjects; their rulers and their +guides have told them that they would equal the vigour of France by +equalling her atrocity; and they have gone on wasting that opulence, +patience, and courage, which, if husbanded by prudent and moderate +counsels, might have proved the salvation of mankind. The same policy of +turning the good qualities of Englishmen to their own destruction, which +made Mr. Pitt omnipotent, continues his power to those who resemble him +only in his vices; advantage is taken of the loyalty of Englishmen to +make them meanly submissive; their piety is turned into persecution, +their courage into useless and obstinate contention; they are plundered +because they are ready to pay, and soothed into asinine stupidity because +they are full of virtuous patience. If England must perish at last, so +let it be: that event is in the hands of God; we must dry up our tears +and submit. But that England should perish swindling and stealing; that +it should perish waging war against lazar houses and hospitals; that it +should perish persecuting with monastic bigotry; that it should calmly +give itself up to be ruined by the flashy arrogance of one man, and the +narrow fanaticism of another; these events are within the power of human +beings, and I did not think that the magnanimity of Englishmen would ever +stoop to such degradations. + + _Longum Vale!_ + + PETER PLYMLEY. + + + + +HISTORICAL APOLOGY FOR THE IRISH CATHOLICS. + + +_Historical Apology for The Irish Catholics_. By WILLIAM PARNELL, +Esquire. Fitzpatrick, Dublin. 1807. + + * * * * * + +IF ever a nation exhibited symptoms of downright madness, or utter +stupidity, we conceive these symptoms may be easily recognised in the +conduct of this country upon the Catholic question. A man has a wound in +his great toe, and a violent and perilous fever at the same time; and he +refuses to take the medicines for the fever because it will disconcert +the toe! The mournful and folly-stricken blockhead forgets that his toe +cannot survive him; that if he dies, there can be no digital life apart +from him: yet he lingers and fondles over this last part of his body, +soothing it madly with little plasters, and anile fomentations, while the +neglected fever rages in his entrails, and burns away his whole life. If +the comparatively little questions of Establishment are all that this +country is capable of discussing or regarding, for God’s sake let us +remember that the foreign conquest, which destroys all, destroys this +beloved _toe_ also. Pass over freedom, industry, and science—and look +upon this great empire, by which we are about to be swallowed up, only as +it affects the manner of collecting tithes, and of reading the +liturgy—still, if all goes, these must go too; and even, for their +interests, it is worth while to conciliate Ireland, to avert the +hostility, and to employ the strength of the Catholic population. We +plead the question as the sincerest friends to the Establishment;—as +wishing to it all the prosperity and duration its warmest advocates can +desire,—but remembering always what these advocates seem to forget, that +the Establishment cannot be threatened by any danger so great as the +perdition of the kingdom in which it is established. + +We are truly glad to agree so entirely with Mr. Parnell upon this great +question; we admire his way of thinking, and most cordially recommend his +work to the attention of the public. The general conclusion which he +attempts to prove is this: that religious sentiment, however perverted by +bigotry or fanaticism, has always a _tendency_ to moderation; that it +seldom assumes any great portion of activity or enthusiasm, except from +novelty of opinion, or from opposition, contumely, and persecution, when +novelty ceases; that a Government has little to fear from any religious +sect, except while that sect is new. Give a Government only time, and, +provided it has the good sense to treat folly with forbearance, it must +ultimately prevail. When, therefore, a sect is found, after a lapse of +years, to be ill-disposed to the Government, we may be certain that +Government has widened its separation by marked distinctions, roused its +resentment by contumely, or supported its enthusiasm by persecution. + +The _particular_ conclusion Mr. Parnell attempts to prove is, that the +Catholic religion in Ireland had sunk into torpor and inactivity, till +Government roused it with the lash: that even then, from the respect and +attachment which men are always inclined to show towards government, +there still remained a large body of loyal Catholics; that these only +decreased in number from the rapid increase of persecution; and that, +after all, the effects which the resentment of the Roman Catholics had in +creating rebellions had been very much exaggerated. + +In support of these two conclusions, Mr. Parnell takes a survey of the +history of Ireland, from the conquest under Henry to the rebellion under +Charles I., passing very rapidly over the period which preceded the +Reformation, and dwelling principally upon the various rebellions which +broke out in Ireland between the Reformation and the grand rebellion in +the reign of Charles I. The celebrated conquest of Ireland by Henry II. +extended only to a very few counties in Leinster; nine-tenths of the +whole kingdom were left, as he found them, under the dominion of their +native princes. The influence of example was as strong in this as in +most other instances; and great numbers of the English settlers who came +over under various adventures resigned their pretensions to superior +civilisation, cast off their lower garments, and lapsed into the nudity +and barbarism of the Irish. The limit which divided the possessions of +the English settler from those of the native Irish was called _the pale_; +and the expressions of inhabitants _within the pale_, and _without the +pale_, were the terms by which the two nations were distinguished. It is +almost superfluous to state, that the most bloody and pernicious warfare +was carried on upon the borders—sometimes for something, sometimes for +nothing—most commonly for cows. The Irish, over whom the sovereigns of +England affected a sort of nominal dominion, were entirely governed by +their own laws, and so very little connection had they with the justice +of the invading country, that it was as lawful to kill an Irishman as it +was to kill a badger or a fox. The instances are innumerable, where the +defendant has pleaded that the deceased was an Irishman, and that +therefore defendant had a right to kill him—and upon the proof of +Hibernicism, acquittal followed of course. + +When the English army mustered in any great strength, the Irish +chieftains would do exterior homage to the English Crown; and they very +frequently, by this artifice, averted from their country the miseries of +invasion: but they remained completely unsubdued, till the rebellion +which took place in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, of which that politic +woman availed herself to the complete subjugation of Ireland. In +speaking of the Irish about the reign of Elizabeth or James I., we must +not draw our comparisons from England, but from New Zealand; they were +not civilised men, but savages; and if we reason about their conduct, we +must reason of them as savages. + + “After reading every account of Irish history,” says Mr. Parnell, + “one great perplexity appears to remain: How does it happen, that, + from the first invasion of the English till the reign of James I., + Ireland seems not to have made the smallest progress in civilisation + or wealth? + + “That it was divided into a number of small principalities, which + waged constant war on each other—or that the appointment of the + chieftains was elective—do not appear sufficient reasons, although + these are the only ones assigned by those who have been at the + trouble of considering the subject: neither are the confiscations of + property quite sufficient to account for the effect. There have been + great confiscations in other countries, and still they have + flourished; the petty states of Greece were quite analogous to the + chiefries, as they were called, in Ireland; and yet they seemed to + flourish almost in proportion to their dissensions. Poland felt the + bad effects of an elective monarchy more than any other country; and + yet, in point of civilisation, it maintained a very respectable rank + among the nations of Europe; but Ireland never, for an instant, made + any progress in improvement, till the reign of James I. + + “It is scarcely credible, that in a climate like that of Ireland, and + at a period so far advanced in civilisation as the end of Elizabeth’s + reign, the greater part of the natives should go naked. Yet this is + rendered certain by the testimony of an eye-witness, Fynes Moryson. + ‘In the remote parts,’ he says, ‘where the English laws and manners + are unknown, the very chief of the Irish, as well men as women, go + naked in the winter time, only having their privy parts covered with + a rag of linen, and their bodies with a loose mantle. This I speak + of my own experience; yet remember that a Bohemian baron coming out + of Scotland to us by the north parts of the wild Irish, told me in + great earnestness, that he, coming to the house of O’Kane, a great + lord amongst them, was met at the door by sixteen women, all naked, + excepting their loose mantles, whereof eight or ten were very fair; + with which strange sight his eyes being dazzled, they led him into + the house, and then sitting down by the fire, with crossed legs, like + tailors, and so low as could not but offend chaste eyes, desired him + to sit down with them. Soon after, O’Kane, the lord of the country, + came in all naked, except a loose mantle and shoes, which he put off + as soon as he came in; and, entertaining the Baron after his best + manner in the Latin tongue, desired him to put off his apparel, which + he thought to be a burden to him, and to sit naked. + + “‘To conclude, men and women at night going to sleep, he thus naked + in a round circle about the fire, with their feet towards it. They + fold their heads and their upper parts in woollen mantles, first + steeped in water to keep them warm; for they say, that woollen cloth, + wetted, preserves heat (as linen, wetted, preserves cold), when the + smoke of their bodies has warmed the woollen cloth.’ + + “The cause of this extreme poverty, and of its long continuance, we + must conclude, arose from the peculiar laws of property which were in + force under the Irish dynasties. These laws have been described by + most writers as similar to the Kentish custom of gavelkind; and, + indeed, so little attention was paid to the subject, that were it not + for the researches of Sir J. Davis, the knowledge of this singular + usage would have been entirely lost. + + “The Brehon law of property, he tells us, was similar to the custom + (as the English lawyers term it) of hodge-podge. When any one of the + sept died, his lands did not descend to his sons, but were divided + among the whole sept: and, for this purpose, the chief of the sept + made a new division of the whole lands belonging to the sept, and + gave every one his part according to seniority. So that no man had a + property which could descend to his children; and even during his own + life his possession of any particular spot was quite uncertain, being + liable to be constantly shuffled and changed by new partitions. The + consequence of this was that there was not a house of brick or stone + among the Irish down to the reign of Henry VII.; not even a garden or + orchard, or well-fenced or improved field; neither village or town, + or in any respect the least provision for posterity. This monstrous + custom, so opposite to the natural feelings of mankind, was probably + perpetuated by the policy of the chiefs. In the first place the + power of partitioning being lodged in their hands, made them the most + absolute of tyrants, being the dispensers of the property as well as + of the liberty of their subjects. In the second place, it had the + appearance of adding to the number of their savage armies; for where + there was no improvement or tillage, war was pursued as an + occupation. + + “In the early history of Ireland, we find several instances of + chieftains discountenancing tillage; and so late as Elizabeth’s + reign, Moryson says, that ‘Sir Neal Garve restrained his people from + ploughing, that they might assist him to do any mischief.’”—(pp. + 99–102). + +These quotations and observations will enable us to state a few plain +facts for the recollection of our English readers:—1st, Ireland was never +subdued till the rebellion in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 2nd, For +four hundred years before that period the two nations had been almost +constantly at war; and in consequence of this, a deep and irreconcilable +hatred existed between the people within and without the pale. 3rd, The +Irish, at the accession of Queen Elizabeth, were unquestionably the most +barbarous people in Europe. So much for what had happened previous to +the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and let any man, who has the most +superficial knowledge of human affairs, determine whether national +hatred, proceeding from such powerful causes, could possibly have been +kept under by the defeat of one single rebellion—whether it would not +have been easy to have foreseen, at that period, that a proud, brave, +half-savage people, would cherish the memory of their wrongs for +centuries to come, and break forth into arms at every period when they +were particularly exasperated by oppression, or invited by opportunity. +If the Protestant religion had spread in Ireland as it did in England, +and if there had never been any difference of faith between the two +countries—can it be believed that the Irish, ill-treated and infamously +governed as they have been, would never have made any efforts to shake +off the yoke of England? Surely there are causes enough to account for +their impatience of that yoke, without endeavouring to inflame the zeal +of ignorant people against the Catholic religion, and to make that mode +of faith responsible for all the butchery which the Irish and English for +these last two centuries have exercised upon each other. Everybody, of +course, must admit, that if to the causes of hatred already specified +there be added the additional cause of religious distinction, this last +will give greater force (and what is of more consequence to observe, give +a _name_) to the whole aggregate motive. But what Mr. Parnell contends +for, and clearly and decisively proves, is that many of those sanguinary +scenes attributed to the Catholic religion are to be partly imputed to +causes totally disconnected from religion; that the unjust invasion, and +the tyrannical, infamous policy of the English, are to take their full +share of blame with the sophisms and plots of Catholic priests. In the +reign of Henry VIII., Mr. Parnell shows that feudal submission was +readily paid to him by all the Irish chiefs; that the Reformation was +received without the slightest opposition; and that the troubles which +took place at that period in Ireland are to be entirely attributed to the +ambition and injustice of Henry. In the reign of Queen Mary there was no +recrimination upon the Protestants—a striking proof that the bigotry of +the Catholic religion had not at that period risen to any great height in +Ireland. The insurrections of the various Irish princes were as numerous +during this reign as they had been in the two preceding reigns—a +circumstance rather difficult of explanation, if, as is commonly +believed, the Catholic religion was at that period the main-spring of +men’s actions. + +In the reign of Elizabeth, the Catholic in the pale regularly fought +against the Catholic out of the pale. O’Sullivan, a bigoted Papist, +reproaches them with doing so. Speaking of the reign of James I., he +says, “And now the eyes even of the English Irish (the Catholics of the +pale) were opened; and they cursed their former folly for helping the +heretic.” The English Government were so sensible of the loyalty of the +Irish English Catholics that they entrusted them with the most +confidential services. The Earl of Kildare was the principal instrument +in waging war against the chieftains of Leix and Offal. William +O’Bourge, another Catholic, was created Lord Castle Connel for his +eminent services; and MacGully Patrick, a priest, was the State spy. We +presume that this wise and _manly_ conduct of Queen Elizabeth was utterly +unknown both to the Pastrycook and the Secretary of State, who have +published upon the dangers of employing Catholics even against foreign +enemies; and in those publications have said a great deal about the +wisdom of our ancestors—the usual topic whenever the folly of their +descendants is to be defended. To whatever other of our ancestors they +may allude, they may spare all compliments to this illustrious Princess, +who would certainly have kept the worthy confectioner to the composition +of tarts, and most probably furnished him with the productions of the +Right Honourable Secretary as the means of conveying those juicy +delicacies to a hungry and discerning public. + +In the next two reigns, Mr. Parnell shows by what injudicious measures of +the English Government the spirit of Catholic opposition was gradually +formed; for that it did produce powerful effects at a subsequent period +he does not deny; but contends only (as we have before stated) that these +effects have been much overrated, and ascribed _solely_ to the Catholic +religion when other causes have at least had an equal agency in bringing +them about. He concludes with some general remarks on the dreadful state +of Ireland, and the contemptible folly and bigotry of the English—remarks +full of truth, of good sense, and of political courage. How melancholy +to reflect, that there would be still some chance of saving England from +the general wreck of empires, but that it may not be saved, because one +politician will lose two thousand a year by it, and another three +thousand—a third a place in reversion, and a fourth a pension for his +aunt! Alas! these are the powerful causes which have always settled the +destiny of great kingdoms, and which may level Old England, with all its +boasted freedom, and boasted wisdom, to the dust. Nor is it the least +singular, among the political phenomena of the present day, that the sole +consideration which seems to influence the unbigoted part of the English +people, in this great question of Ireland, is a regard for the personal +feelings of the Monarch. Nothing is said or thought of the enormous risk +to which Ireland is exposed—nothing of the gross injustice with which the +Catholics are treated—nothing of the lucrative apostasy of those from +whom they experience this treatment: but the only concern by which we all +seem to be agitated is, that the King must not be vexed in his old age. +We have a great respect for the King; and wish him all the happiness +compatible with the happiness of his people. But these are not times to +pay foolish compliments to kings, or the sons of kings, or to anybody +else; this journal (the _Edinburgh Review_) has always preserved its +character for courage and honesty; and it shall do so to the last. If +the people of this country are solely occupied in considering what is +personally agreeable to the King, without considering what is for his +permanent good, and for the safety of his dominions; if all public men, +quitting the common vulgar scramble for emolument, do not concur in +conciliating the people of Ireland; if the unfounded alarms, and the +comparatively trifling interests of the clergy, are to supersede the +great question of freedom or slavery, it does appear to us quite +impossible that so mean and so foolish a people can escape that +destruction which is ready to burst upon them—a destruction so imminent +that it can only be averted by arming all in our defence who would +evidently be sharers in our ruin—and by such a change of system as may +save us from the hazard of being ruined by the ignorance and cowardice of +any general, by the bigotry or the ambition of any minister, or by the +well-meaning scruples of any human being, let his dignity be what it may. +These minor and domestic dangers we must endeavour firmly and temperately +to avert as we best can; but at all hazards we must keep out the +destroyer from among us, or perish like wise and brave men in the +attempt. + + + + +IRELAND AND ENGLAND. + + +1. _Whitelaw’s History of the City of Dublin_. 4to. Cadell and Davies. + +2. _Observations on the State of Ireland_, _principally directed to its +Agriculture and Rural Population_; _in a Series of Letters written on a +Tour through that Country_. In 2 vols. By J. C. CURWEN, Esq., M.P. +London, 1818. + +3. _Gamble’s Views of Society in Ireland_. + + * * * * * + +THESE are all the late publications that treat of Irish interests in +general, and none of them are of first-rate importance. Mr. Gamble’s +“Travels in Ireland” are of a very ordinary description, low scenes and +low humour making up the principal part of the narrative. There are +readers, however, whom it will amuse; and the reading market becomes more +and more extensive, and embraces a greater variety of persons every day. +Mr. Whitelaw’s “History of Dublin” is a book of great accuracy and +research, highly creditable to the industry, good sense, and benevolence +of its author. Of the “Travels” of Mr. Christian Curwen we hardly know +what to say. He is bold and honest in his politics, a great enemy to +abuses, vapid in his levity and pleasantry, and infinitely too much +inclined to declaim upon commonplace topics of morality and benevolence. +But, with these drawbacks, the book is not ill-written, and may be +advantageously read by those who are desirous of information upon the +present state of Ireland. + +So great and so long has been the misgovernment of that country, that we +verily believe the empire would be much stronger if everything was open +sea between England and the Atlantic, and if _skates and cod-fish_ swam +over the fair land of Ulster. Such jobbing, such profligacy, so much +direct tyranny and oppression, such an abuse of God’s gifts, such a +profanation of God’s name for the purposes of bigotry and party spirit, +cannot be exceeded in the history of civilised Europe, and will long +remain a monument of infamy and shame to England. But it will be more +useful to suppress the indignation which the very name of Ireland +inspires, and to consider impartially those causes which have marred this +fair portion of the creation, and kept it wild and savage in the midst of +improving Europe. + +The great misfortune of Ireland is that the mass of the people have been +given up for a century to a handful of Protestants, by whom they have +been treated as _Helots_, and subjected to every species of persecution +and disgrace. The sufferings of the Catholics have been so loudly +chanted in the very streets, that it is almost needless to remind our +readers that, during the reigns of George I. and George II., the Irish +Roman Catholics were disabled from holding any civil or military office, +from voting at elections, from admission into corporations, from +practising law or physic. A younger brother, by turning Protestant, +might deprive his elder brother of his birthright; by the same process he +might force his father, under the name of a liberal provision, to yield +up to him a part of his landed property; and, if an eldest son, he might, +in the same way, reduce his father’s fee-simple to a life-estate. A +Papist was disabled from purchasing freehold lands, and even from holding +long leases; and any person might take his Catholic neighbour’s house by +paying £5 for it. If the child of a Catholic father turned Protestant he +was taken away from his father and put into the hands of a Protestant +relation. No Papist could purchase a freehold or lease for more than +thirty years, or inherit from an intestate Protestant, nor from an +intestate Catholic, nor dwell in Limerick or Galway, nor hold an +advowson, nor buy an annuity for life. £50 was given for discovering a +Popish archbishop, £30 for a Popish clergyman, and 10s. for a +schoolmaster. No one was allowed to be trustee for Catholics; no +Catholic was allowed to take more than two apprentices; no Papist to be +solicitor, sheriff, or to serve on Grand Juries. Horses of Papists might +be seized for the militia, for which militia Papists were to pay double, +and to find Protestant substitutes. Papists were prohibited from being +present at vestries, or from being high or petty constables: and, when +resident in towns, they were compelled to find Protestant watchmen. +Barristers and solicitors marrying Catholics were exposed to the +penalties of Catholics. Persons plundered by privateers during a war +with any Popish prince were reimbursed by a levy on the Catholic +inhabitants where they lived. All Popish priests celebrating marriages +contrary to 12 Geo. I., cap 3, were to be _hanged_! + +The greater part of these incapacities are removed, though many of a very +serious and oppressive nature still remain. But the grand misfortune is +that the spirit which these oppressive laws engendered remains. The +Protestant still looks upon the Catholic as a degraded being. The +Catholic does not yet consider himself upon an equality with his former +tyrant and taskmaster. That religious hatred which required all the +prohibiting vigilance of the law for its restraint has found in the law +its strongest support; and the spirit which the law first exasperated and +embittered continues to act long after the original _stimulus_ is +withdrawn. The law which prevented Catholics from serving on Grand +Juries is repealed; but Catholics are not called upon Grand Juries in the +proportion in which they are entitled by their rank and fortune. The +Duke of Bedford did all he could to give them the benefit of those laws +which are already passed in their favour. But power is seldom entrusted +in this country to one of the Duke of Bedford’s liberality, and +everything has fallen back in the hands of his successors into the +ancient division of the privileged and degraded castes. We do not mean +to cast any reflection upon the present Secretary for Ireland, whom we +believe to be upon this subject a very liberal politician, and on all +subjects an honourable and excellent man. The Government under which he +serves allows him to indulge in a little harmless liberality; but it is +perfectly understood that nothing is intended to be done for the +Catholics; that no loaves and fishes will be lost by indulgence in +Protestant insolence and tyranny; and, therefore, among the generality of +Irish Protestants, insolence, tyranny, and exclusion continue to operate. +However eligible the Catholic may be, he is not elected; whatever +barriers may be thrown down, he does not advance a step. He was first +kept out by law; he is now kept out by opinion and habit. They have been +so long in chains that nobody believes they are capable of using their +hands and feet. + +It is not, however, the only or the worst misfortune of the Catholics +that the relaxations of the law are hitherto of little benefit to them; +the law is not yet sufficiently relaxed. A Catholic, as everybody knows, +cannot be made sheriff; cannot be in parliament; cannot be a director of +the Irish Bank; cannot fill the great departments of the law, the army, +and the navy; is cut off from all the high objects of human ambition, and +treated as a marked and degraded person. + +The common admission now is that the Catholics are to the Protestants in +Ireland as about four to one, of which Protestants not more than _one +half_ belong to the Church of Ireland. This, then, is one of the most +striking features in the state of Ireland. That the great mass of the +population is completely subjugated and overawed by a handful of +comparatively recent settlers, in whom all the power and patronage of the +country is vested, who have been reluctantly compelled to desist from +still greater abuses of authority, and who look with trembling +apprehension to the increasing liberality of the parliament and the +country towards these unfortunate persons whom they have always looked +upon as their property and their prey. + +Whatever evils may result from these proportions between the oppressor +and oppressed—to whatever dangers a country so situated may be considered +to be exposed, these evils and dangers are rapidly increasing in Ireland. +The proportion of Catholics to Protestants is infinitely greater now than +it was thirty years ago, and is becoming more and more favourable to the +former. By a return made to the Irish House of Lords in 1732 the +proportion of Catholics to Protestants was not two to one. It is now (as +we have already observed) four to one; and the causes which have thus +altered the proportions in favour of the Catholics are sufficiently +obvious to any one acquainted with the state of Ireland. The Roman +Catholic priest resides; his income entirely depends upon the number of +his flock; and he must exert himself or he starves. There is some chance +of success, therefore, in _his_ efforts to convert; but the Protestant +clergyman, if he were equally eager, has little or no probability of +persuading so much larger a proportion of the population to come over to +his Church. The Catholic clergyman belongs to a religion that has always +been more desirous of gaining proselytes than the Protestant Church; and +he is animated by a sense of injury and a desire of revenge. Another +reason for the disproportionate increase of Catholics is that the +Catholics will marry upon means which the Protestant considers as +insufficient for marriage. A few potatoes and a shed of turf are all +that Luther has left for the Romanist; and, when the latter gets these, +he instantly begins upon the great Irish manufacture of children. But a +Protestant belongs to the sect that eats the fine flour and heaves the +bran to others; he must have comforts, and he does not marry till he gets +them. He would be ashamed if he were seen living as a Catholic lives. +This is the principal reason why the Protestants who remain attached to +their Church do not increase so fast as the Catholics. But in common +minds, daily scenes, the example of the majority, the power of imitation, +decide their habits, religious as well as civil. A Protestant labourer +who works among Catholics soon learns to think and act and talk as they +do; he is not proof against the eternal panegyric which he hears of +Father O’Leary. His Protestantism is rubbed away, and he goes at last, +after some little resistance, to the chapel where he sees everybody else +going. + +These eight Catholics not only hate the ninth man, the Protestant of the +Establishment, for the unjust privileges he enjoys—not only remember that +the lands of their father were given to his father—but they find +themselves forced to pay for the support of his religion. In the +wretched state of poverty in which the lower orders of Irish are plunged, +it is not without considerable effort that they can pay the few shillings +necessary for the support of their Catholic priest; and when this is +effected, a tenth of the potatoes in the garden are to be set out for the +support of a persuasion, the introduction of which into Ireland they +consider as the great cause of their political inferiority, and all their +manifold wretchedness. In England a labourer can procure constant +employment, or he can, at the worst, obtain relief from his parish. +Whether tithe operates as a tax upon him, is known only to the political +economist: if he does pay it, he does not know that he pays it, and the +burden of supporting the Clergy is at least kept out of his view. But in +Ireland, the only method in which a poor man lives is by taking a small +portion of land in which he can grow potatoes: seven or eight months out +of twelve, in many parts of Ireland, there is no constant employment of +the poor; and the potato farm is all that shelters them from absolute +famine. If the Pope were to come in person, seize upon every tenth +potato, the poor peasant would scarcely endure it. With what patience, +then, can he see it tossed into the cart of the heretic rector, who has a +church without a congregation, and a revenue without duties? We do not +say whether these things are right or wrong, whether they want a remedy +at all, or what remedy they want; but we paint them in those colours in +which they appear to the eye of poverty and ignorance, without saying +whether those colours are false or true. Nor is the case at all +comparable to that of Dissenters paying tithe in England; which case is +precisely the reverse of what happens in Ireland, for it is the +contribution of a very small minority to the religion of a very large +majority; and the numbers on either side make all the difference in the +argument. To exasperate the poor Catholic still more, the rich graziers +of the parish, or the squire in his parish, pay no tithe at all for their +grass land. Agistment tithe is abolished in Ireland, and the burthen of +supporting two Churches seems to devolve upon the poorer Catholics, +struggling with plough and spade in small scraps of dearly-rented land. +Tithes seem to be collected in a more harsh manner than they are +collected in England. The minute sub-divisions of land in Ireland—the +little connection which the Protestant clergyman commonly has with the +Catholic population of his parish—have made the introduction of tithe +proctors very general, sometimes as the agent of the clergyman, sometimes +as the lessee or middleman between the clergyman and the cultivator of +the land, but, in either case, practised, dexterous estimators of tithe. +The English clergymen in general are far from exacting the whole of what +is due to them, but sacrifice a little to the love of popularity or to +the dread of odium. A system of tithe-proctors established all over +England (as it is in Ireland), would produce general disgust and +alienation from the Established Church. + + “During the administration of Lord Halifax,” says Mr. Hardy, in + quoting the opinion of Lord Charlemont upon tithes paid by Catholics, + “Ireland was dangerously disturbed in its southern and northern + regions. In the south principally, in the counties of Kilkenny, + Limerick, Cork, and Tipperary, the White Boys now made their first + appearance; those White Boys who have ever since occasionally + disturbed the public tranquillity, without any rational method having + been as yet pursued to eradicate this disgraceful evil. When we + consider that the very same district has been for the long space of + seven-and-twenty years liable to frequent returns of the same + disorder into which it has continually relapsed, in spite of all the + violent remedies from time to time administered by our political + quacks, we cannot doubt but that some real, peculiar, and topical + cause must exist, and yet neither the removal, nor even the + investigation of this cause, has ever once been seriously attempted. + Laws of the most sanguinary and unconstitutional nature have been + enacted; the country has been disgraced and exasperated by frequent + and bloody executions; and the gibbet, that perpetual resource of + weak and cruel legislators, has groaned under the multitude of + starving criminals; yet, while the cause is suffered to exist, the + effects will ever follow. The amputation of limbs will never + eradicate a prurient humour, which must be sought in its source and + there remedied.” + + “I wish,” continues Mr. Wakefield, “for the sake of humanity and for + the honour of the Irish character, that the gentlemen of that country + would take this matter into their serious consideration. Let them + only for a moment place themselves in the situation of the + half-famished cotter, surrounded by a wretched family clamorous for + food, and judge what his feelings must be when he sees the tenth part + of the produce of his potato garden exposed at harvest time to public + _cant_, or if he have given a promissory note for the payment of a + certain sum of money to compensate for such tithe when it becomes + due, to hear the heart-rending cries of his offspring clinging round + him, and lamenting for the milk of which they are deprived by the + cows being driven to the pound to be sold to discharge the debt. + Such accounts are not the creations of fancy; the facts do exist, and + are but too common in Ireland. Were one of them transferred to + canvas by the hand of genius, and exhibited to English humanity, that + heart must be callous indeed that could refuse its sympathy. I have + seen the cow, the favourite cow, driven away, accompanied by the + sighs, the tears, and the imprecations of a whole family, who were + paddling after, through wet and dirt, to take their last affectionate + farewell of this their only friend and benefactor at the pound gate. + I have heard with emotions which I can scarcely describe, deep curses + repeated from village to village as the cavalcade proceeded. I have + witnessed the group pass the domain walls of the opulent grazier, + whose numerous herds were cropping the most luxuriant pastures, while + he was secure from any demand for the tithe of their food, looking on + with the most unfeeling indifference.”—Ibid., p. 486. + +In Munster, where tithe of potatoes is exacted, risings against the +system have constantly occurred during the last forty years. In Ulster, +where no such tithe is required, these insurrections are unknown. The +double Church which Ireland supports, and that painful visible +contribution towards it which the poor Irishman is compelled to make from +his miserable pittance, is one great cause of those never-ending +insurrections, burnings, murders, and robberies, which have laid waste +that ill-fated country for so many years. The unfortunate consequence of +the civil disabilities, and the Church payments under which the Catholics +labour, is a rooted antipathy to this country. They hate the English +Government from historical recollection, actual suffering, and +disappointed hope, and till they are better treated they will continue to +hate it. At this moment, in a period of the most profound peace, there +are twenty-five thousand of the best disciplined and best appointed +troops in the world in Ireland, with bayonets fixed, presented arms, and +in the attitude of present war: nor is there a man too much—nor would +Ireland be tenable without them. When it was necessary last year (or +thought necessary) to put down the children of reform, we were forced to +make a new levy of troops in this country; not a man could be spared from +Ireland. The moment they had embarked, Peep-of-Day Boys, Heart-of-Oak +Boys, Twelve-o’-clock Boys, Heart-of-Flint Boys, and all the bloody +boyhood of the Bog of Allen, would have proceeded to the ancient work of +riot, rapine, and disaffection. Ireland, in short, till her wrongs are +redressed and a more liberal policy is adopted towards her, will always +be a cause of anxiety and suspicion to this country, and in some moment +of our weakness and depression, will forcibly extort what she would now +receive with gratitude and exultation. + +Ireland is situated close to another island of greater size, speaking the +same language, very superior in civilisation, and the seat of government. +The consequence of this is the emigration of the richest and most +powerful part of the community—a vast drain of wealth—and the absence of +all that wholesome influence which the representatives of ancient +families, residing upon their estates, produce upon their tenantry and +dependents. Can any man imagine that the scenes which have been acted in +Ireland, within these last twenty years, would have taken place, if such +vast proprietors as the Duke of Devonshire, the Marquis of Hertford, the +Marquis of Lansdowne, Earl Fitzwilliam, and many other men of equal +wealth, had been in the constant habit of residing upon their Irish as +they are upon their English estates? Is it of no consequence to the +order and the civilisation of a large district, whether the great mansion +is inhabited by an insignificant, perhaps a mischievous attorney, in the +shape of agent, or whether the first and greatest men of the United +Kingdoms, after the business of Parliament is over, come with their +friends and families, to exercise hospitality, to spend large revenues, +to diffuse information, and to improve manners? This evil is a very +serious one to Ireland; and, as far as we see, incurable. For if the +present large estates were, by the dilapidation of families, to be broken +to pieces and sold, others equally great would, in the free circulation +of property, speedily accumulate; and the moment any possessor arrived at +a certain pitch of fortune, he would probably choose to reside in the +better country—near the Parliament, or the Court. + +This absence of great proprietors in Ireland necessarily brings with it, +or if not necessarily, has actually brought with it, the employment of +the middlemen, which forms one other standing and regular Irish +grievance. We are well aware of all that can be said in defence of +middlemen; that they stand between the little farmer and the great +proprietor as the shopkeeper does between the manufacturer and consumer; +and, in fact, by their intervention, save time, and therefore expense. +This may be true enough in the abstract; but the particular nature of +land must be attended to. The object of the man who makes cloth is to +sell his cloth at the present market, for as high a price as he can +obtain. If that price is too high, it soon falls; but no injury is done +to his machinery by the superior price he has enjoyed for a season—he is +just as able to produce cloth with it, as if the profits he enjoyed had +always been equally moderate; he has no fear, therefore, of the +middleman, or of any species of moral machinery which may help to obtain +for him the greatest present prices. The same would be the feeling of +any one who let out a steam-engine, or any other machine, for the +purposes of manufacture; he would naturally take the highest price he +could get; for he might either let his machine for a price proportionate +to the work it did, or the repairs, estimable with the greatest +precision, might be thrown upon the tenant; in short, he could hardly ask +any rent too high for his machine which a responsible person would give; +dilapidation would be so visible, and so calculable in such instances, +that any secondary lease, or subletting, would be rather an increase of +security than a source of alarm. Any evil from such a practice would be +improbable measurable, and remediable. In land, on the contrary, the +object is not to get the highest prices absolutely, but to get the +highest prices which will not injure the machine. One tenant may offer +and pay double the rent of another, and in a few years leave the land in +a state which will effectually bar all future offers of tenancy. It is +of no use to fill a lease full of clauses and covenants; a tenant who +pays more than he ought to pay, or who pays even to the last farthing +which he ought to pay, will rob the land, and injure the machine, in +spite of all the attorneys in England. He will rob it even if he means +to remain upon it—driven on by present distress, and anxious to put off +the day of defalcation and arrear. The damage is often difficult of +detection—not easily calculated, not easily to be proved; such for which +juries (themselves perhaps farmers) will not willingly give sufficient +compensation. And if this be true in England, it is much more strikingly +true in Ireland, where it is extremely difficult to obtain verdicts for +breaches of covenant in leases. + +The only method, then, of guarding the machine from real injury, is by +giving to the actual occupier such advantage in his contract, that he is +unwilling to give it up—that he has a real interest in retaining it, and +is not driven by the distresses of the present moment to destroy the +future productiveness of the soil. Any rent which the landlord accepts +more than this, or any system by which more rent than this is obtained, +is to borrow money upon the most usurious and profligate interest—to +increase the revenue of the present day by the absolute ruin of the +property. Such is the effect produced by a middleman; he gives high +prices that he may obtain higher from the occupier; more is paid by the +actual occupier than is consistent with the safety and preservation of +the machine; the land is run out, and, in the end, that maximum of rent +we have described is not obtained; and not only is the property injured +by such a system, but in Ireland the most shocking consequences ensue +from it. There is little manufacture in Ireland; the price of labour is +low, the demand for labour irregular. If a poor man be driven, by +distress of rent, from his potato garden, he has no other resource—all is +lost: he will do the impossible (as the French say) to retain it; +subscribe any bond, and promise any rent. The middleman has no character +to lose; and he knew, when he took up the occupation, that it was one +with which pity had nothing to do. On he drives; and backward the poor +peasant recedes, loses something at every step, till he comes to the very +brink of despair; and then he recoils and murders his oppressor, and is a +_White Boy_ or a _Right Boy_;—the soldier shoots him, and the judge hangs +him. + +In the debate which took place in the Irish House of Commons, upon the +Bill for preventing tumultuous risings and assemblies, on the 31st of +January, 1787, the Attorney-General submitted to the House the following +narrative of facts. + + “The commencement,” said he, “was in one or two parishes in the + county of Kerry; and they proceeded thus. The people assembled in a + Catholic chapel, and there took an oath to obey the laws of Captain + Right, and to starve the clergy. They then proceeded to the next + parishes on the following Sunday, and there swore the people in the + same manner; with this addition, that they (the people last sworn) + should on the ensuing Sunday proceed to the chapels of their next + neighbouring parishes and swear the inhabitants of those parishes in + like manner. Proceeding in this manner, they very soon went through + the province of Munster. The first object was the _reformation of + tithes_. They swore not to give more than a certain price per acre, + not to assist or allow them to be assisted in drawing the tithe, and + to permit _no proctor_. They next took upon them to prevent the + collection of parish cesses, next to nominate parish clerks, and in + some cases curates, to say what church should or should not be + repaired, and in one case to threaten that they would burn a _new_ + church if the _old_ one were not given for a mass-house. At last + they proceeded to regulate the price of lands, to raise the price of + labour, and to oppose the collection of the hearth-money and other + taxes. Bodies of 5,000 of them have been seen to march through the + country unarmed, and, if met by any magistrate, _they never offered + the smallest rudeness or offence_; on the contrary, they had allowed + persons charged with crimes to be taken from amongst them by the + magistrate _alone_, unaided by any force. + + “The Attorney-General said he was well acquainted with the province + of Munster, and that it was impossible for human wretchedness to + _exceed that of the peasantry of that province_. The unhappy + tenantry were _ground to powder_ by relentless landlords; that, far + from being able to give the clergy their just dues, they had not food + or raiment for themselves—the landlord grasped the whole; and sorry + was he to add that, not satisfied with the present extortion, some + landlords had been so base as to instigate the insurgents to rob the + clergy of their tithes, not in order to alleviate the distresses of + the tenantry, but that they might add the clergy’s share to the cruel + rack-rents they already paid. The poor people of Munster lived in a + _more abject state of poverty than human nature could be supposed + equal to bear_.”—“Grattan’s Speeches,” vol. i., p. 292. + +We are not, of course, in such a discussion to be governed by names. A +middleman might be tied up by the strongest legal restriction, as to the +price he was to exact from the under-tenants, and then he would be no +more pernicious to the estate than a steward. A steward might be +protected in exactions as severe as the most rapacious middleman; and +then, of course, it would be the same thing under another name. The +practice to which we object is the too common method in Ireland of +extorting the last farthing which the tenant is willing to give for land +rather than quit it: and the machinery by which such practice is carried +into effect is that of the middleman. It is not only that it ruins the +land; it ruins the people also. They are made so poor—brought so near +the ground—that they can sink no lower; and burst out at last into all +the acts of desperation and revenge for which Ireland is so notorious. +Men who have money in their pockets, and find that they are improving in +their circumstances, don’t do these things. Opulence, or the hope of +opulence or comfort, is the parent of decency, order, and submission to +the laws. A landlord in Ireland understands the luxury of carriages and +horses, but has no relish for the greater luxury of surrounding himself +with a moral and grateful tenantry. The absent proprietor looks only to +revenue, and cares nothing for the disorder and degradation of a country +which he never means to visit. There are very honourable exceptions to +this charge: but there are too many living instances that it is just. +The rapacity of the Irish landlord induces him to allow of the extreme +division of his lands. When the daughter marries, a little portion of +the little farm is broken off—another corner for Patrick, and another for +Dermot—till the land is broken into sections, upon one of which an +English cow could not stand. Twenty mansions of misery are thus reared +instead of one. A louder cry of oppression is lifted up to heaven, and +fresh enemies to the English name and power are multiplied on the earth. +The Irish gentleman, too, extremely desirous of political influence, +multiplying freeholds, and splitting votes; and this propensity tends of +course to increase the miserable redundance of living beings, under which +Ireland is groaning. Among the manifold wretchedness to which the poor +Irish tenant is liable, we must not pass over the practice of driving for +rent. A lets land to B, who lets it to C, who lets it again to D. D +pays C his rent, and C pays B. But if B fails to pay A, the cattle of B, +C, D are all driven to the pound, and after the interval of a few days +sold by auction. A general driving of this kind very frequently leads to +a bloody insurrection. It may be ranked among the classical grievances +of Ireland. + +Potatoes enter for a great deal into the present condition of Ireland. +They are much cheaper than wheat; and it is so easy to rear a family upon +them, that there is no cheek to population from the difficulty of +procuring food. The population therefore goes on with a rapidity +approaching almost to that of new countries, and in a much greater ratio +than the improving agriculture and manufacturers of the country can find +employment for it. All degrees of all nations begin with living in +pig-styes. The king or the priest first gets out of them; then the +noble, then the pauper; in proportion as each class becomes more and more +opulent. Better tastes arise from better circumstances; and the luxury +of one period is the wretchedness and poverty of another. English +peasants, in the time of Henry VII., were lodged as badly as Irish +peasants now are; but the population was limited by the difficulty of +procuring a corn subsistence. The improvements of this kingdom were more +rapid; the price of labour rose; and with it the luxury and comfort of +the peasant, who is now decently lodged and clothed, and who would think +himself in the last stage of wretchedness if he had nothing but an iron +pot in a turf house, and plenty of potatoes in it. The use of the potato +was introduced into Ireland when the wretched accommodation of her own +peasantry bore some proportion to the state of those accommodations all +over Europe. But they have increased their population so fast, and, in +conjunction with the oppressive government of Ireland retarding +improvement, have kept the price of labour so low, that the Irish poor +have never been able to emerge from their mud cabins, or to acquire any +taste for cleanliness and decency of appearance. Mr. Curwen has the +following description of Irish cottages:— + + “These mansions of miserable existence, for so they may truly be + described, conformably to our general estimation of those + indispensable comforts requisite to constitute the happiness of + rational beings, are most commonly composed of two rooms on the + ground floor, a most appropriate term, for they are literally on the + earth, the surface of which is not unfrequently reduced a foot or + more to save the expense of so much outward walling. The one is a + refectory, the other the dormitory. The furniture of the former, if + the owner ranks in the upper part of the scale of scantiness, will + consist of a kitchen dresser, well provided and highly decorated with + crockery—not less apparently the pride of the husband than the result + of female vanity in the wife: which, with a table, a chest, a few + stools, and an iron pot, complete the catalogue of conveniences + generally found as belonging to the cabin: while a spinning-wheel, + furnished by the Linen Board, and a loom, ornament vacant spaces that + otherwise would remain unfurnished. In fitting up the latter, which + cannot on any occasion or by any display add a feather to the weight + or importance expected to be excited by the appearance of the former, + the inventory is limited to one, and sometimes two beds, serving for + the repose of the whole family! However downy these may be to limbs + impatient for rest, their coverings appear to be very slight, and the + whole of the apartment created reflections of a very painful nature. + Under such privations, with a wet mud floor and a roof in tatters, + how idle the search for comforts!”—_Curwen_, _i._, pp. 112, 113. + +To this extract we shall add one more on the same subject. + + “The gigantic figure, bareheaded before me, had a beard that would + not have disgraced an ancient Israelite—he was without shoes or + stockings—and almost a sans-culotte—with a coat, or rather a jacket, + that appeared as if the first blast of wind would tear it to tatters. + Though his garb was thus tattered, he had a manly commanding + countenance. I asked permission to see the inside of his cabin, to + which I received his most courteous assent. On stooping to enter at + the door I was stopped, and found that permission from another was + necessary before I could be admitted. A pig, which was fastened to a + stake driven into the floor, with length of rope sufficient to permit + him the enjoyment of sun and air, demanded some courtesy, which I + showed him, and was suffered to enter. The wife was engaged in + boiling thread, and by her side, near the fire, a lovely infant was + sleeping, without any covering, on a bare board. Whether the fire + gave additional glow to the countenance of the babe, or that Nature + impressed on its unconscious cheek a blush that the lot of man should + be exposed to such privations, I will not decide; but if the cause be + referable to the latter, it was in perfect unison with my own + feelings. Two or three other children crowded round the mother: on + their rosy countenances health seemed established in spite of filth + and ragged garments. The dress of the poor woman was barely + sufficient to satisfy decency. Her countenance bore the expression + of a set melancholy, tinctured with an appearance of ill health. The + hovel, which did not exceed twelve or fifteen feet in length and ten + in breadth, was half obscured by smoke—chimney or window I saw none; + the door served the various purposes of an inlet to light and the + outlet to smoke. The furniture consisted of two stools, an iron pot, + and a spinning-wheel, while a sack stuffed with straw, and a single + blanket laid on planks, served as a bed for the repose of the whole + family. Need I attempt to describe my sensations? The statement + alone cannot fail of conveying to a mind like yours an adequate idea + of them—I could not long remain a witness to this acme of human + misery. As I left the deplorable habitation the mistress followed me + to repeat her thanks for the trifle I had bestowed. This gave me an + opportunity of observing her person more particularly. She was a + tall figure, her countenance composed of interesting features, and + with every appearance of having once been handsome. + + “Unwilling to quit the village without first satisfying myself + whether what I had seen was a solitary instance or a sample of its + general state, or whether the extremity of poverty I had just beheld + had arisen from peculiar improvidence and want of management in one + wretched family, I went into an adjoining habitation, where I found a + poor old woman of eighty, whose miserable existence was painfully + continued by the maintenance of her granddaughter. Their condition, + if possible, was more deplorable.”—_Curwen_, i., pp. 181–183. + +This wretchedness, of which all strangers who visit Ireland are so +sensible, proceeds certainly in great measure from their accidental use +of a food so cheap, that it encourages population to an extraordinary +degree, lowers the price of labour, and leaves the multitudes which it +calls into existence almost destitute of everything but food. Many more +live in consequence of the introduction of potatoes; but all live in +greater wretchedness. In the progress of population, the potato must of +course become at last as difficult to be procured as any other food; and +then let the political economist calculate what the immensity and +wretchedness of a people must be, where the further progress of +population is checked by the difficulty of procuring potatoes. + +The consequence of the long mismanagement and oppression of Ireland, and +of the singular circumstances in which it is placed, is, that it is a +semi-barbarous country—more shame to those who have thus ill-treated a +fine country and a fine people; but it is part of the present case of +Ireland. The barbarism of Ireland is evinced by the frequency and +ferocity of duels—the hereditary clannish feuds of the common people and +the fights to which they give birth—the atrocious cruelties practised in +the insurrections of the common people—and their proneness to +insurrection. The lower Irish live in a state of greater wretchedness +than any other people in Europe inhabiting so fine a soil and climate. +It is difficult, often impossible, to execute the processes of law. In +cases where gentlemen are concerned, it is often not even attempted. The +conduct of under-sheriffs is often very corrupt. We are afraid the +magistracy of Ireland is very inferior to that of this country; the +spirit of jobbing and bribery is very widely diffused, and upon occasions +when the utmost purity prevails in the sister kingdom. Military force is +necessary all over the country, and often for the most common and just +operations of Government. The behaviour of the higher to the lower +orders is much less gentle and decent than in England. Blows from +superiors to inferiors are more frequent, and the punishment for such +aggression more doubtful. The word _gentleman_ seems, in Ireland, to put +an end to most processes at law. Arrest a gentleman!!!—take out a +warrant against a gentleman—are modes of operation not very common in the +administration of Irish justice. If a man strike the meanest peasant in +England, he is either knocked down in his turn, or immediately taken +before a magistrate. It is impossible to live in Ireland without +perceiving the various points in which it is inferior in civilisation. +Want of unity in feeling and interest among the people—irritability, +violence, and revenge—want of comfort and cleanliness in the lower +orders—habitual disobedience to the law—want of confidence in +magistrates—corruption, venality, the perpetual necessity of recurring to +military force—all carry back the observer to that remote and early +condition of mankind, which an Englishman can learn only in the pages of +the antiquary or the historian. We do not draw this picture for censure +but for truth. We admire the Irish—feel the most sincere pity for the +state of Ireland—and think the conduct of the English to that country to +have been a system of atrocious cruelty and contemptible meanness. With +such a climate, such a soil, and such a people, the inferiority of +Ireland to the rest of Europe is directly chargeable to the long +wickedness of the English Government. + +A direct consequence of the present uncivilised state of Ireland is, that +very little English capital travels there. The man who deals in +steam-engines, and warps and woofs, is naturally alarmed by Peep-of-Day +Boys, and nocturnal Carders; his object is to buy and sell as quickly and +quietly as he can, and he will naturally bear high taxes and rivalry in +England, or emigrate to any part of the Continent, or to America, rather +than plunge into the tumult of Irish politics and passions. There is +nothing which Ireland wants more than large manufacturing towns to take +off its superfluous population. But internal peace must come first, and +then the arts of peace will follow. The foreign manufacturer will hardly +think of embarking his capital where he cannot be sure that his existence +is safe. Another check to the manufacturing greatness of Ireland is the +scarcity, not of coal, but of good coal, cheaply raised—an article in +which (in spite of papers in the Irish Transactions) they are lamentably +inferior to the English. + +Another consequence from some of the causes we have stated is the extreme +idleness of the Irish labourer. There is nothing of the value of which +the Irish seem to have so little notion as that of time. They scratch, +pick, dawdle, stare, gape, and do anything but strive and wrestle with +the task before them. The most ludicrous of all human objects is an +Irishman ploughing. A gigantic figure—a seven-foot machine for turning +potatoes in human nature—wrapt up in an immense great-coat, and urging on +two starved ponies, with dreadful imprecations and uplifted shillala. +The Irish crow discerns a coming perquisite, and is not inattentive to +the proceedings of the steeds. The furrow which is to be the depository +of the future crop is not unlike, either in depth or regularity, to those +domestic furrows which the nails of the meek and much-injured wife +plough, in some family quarrel, upon the cheeks of the deservedly +punished husband. The weeds seem to fall contentedly, knowing that they +have fulfilled their destiny, and left behind them, for the resurrection +of the ensuing spring, an abundant and healthy progeny. The whole is a +scene of idleness, laziness, and poverty, of which it is impossible, in +this active and enterprising country, to form the most distant +conception; but strongly indicative of habits, whether secondary or +original, which will long present a powerful impediment to the +improvement of Ireland. + +The Irish character contributes something to retard the improvements of +that country. The Irishman has many good qualities: he is brave, witty, +generous, eloquent, hospitable, and open-hearted; but he is vain, +ostentatious, extravagant, and fond of display, light in counsel, +deficient in perseverance, without skill in private or public economy, an +enjoyer, not an acquirer—one who despises the slow and patient +virtues—who wants the superstructure without the foundation, the result +without the previous operation, the oak without the acorn and the three +hundred years of expectation. The Irish are irascible, prone to debt and +to fight, and very impatient of the restraints of law. Such a people are +not likely to keep their eyes steadily upon the main chance like the +Scotch or the Dutch. England strove very hard at one period to compel +the Scotch to pay a double Church, but Sawney took his pen and ink, and +finding what a sum it amounted to became furious and drew his sword. God +forbid the Irishman should do the same! The remedy now would be worse +than the disease; but if the oppressions of England had been more +steadily resisted a century ago, Ireland would not have been the scene of +poverty, misery, and distress which it now is. + +The Catholic religion, among other causes, contributes to the +backwardness and barbarism of Ireland. Its debasing superstition, +childish ceremonies, and the profound submission to the priesthood which +it teaches, all tend to darken men’s minds, to impede the progress of +knowledge and inquiry, and to prevent Ireland from becoming as free, as +powerful, and as rich as the sister kingdom. Though sincere friends to +Catholic emancipation, we are no advocates for the Catholic religion. We +should be very glad to see a general conversion to Protestantism among +the Irish, but we do not think that violence, privations, and +incapacities, are the proper methods of making proselytes. + +Such, then, is Ireland at this period—a land more barbarous than the rest +of Europe, because it has been worse treated and more cruelly oppressed. +Many of the incapacities and privations to which the Catholics were +exposed have been removed by law, but in such instances they are still +incapacitated and deprived by custom. Many cruel and oppressive laws are +still enforced against them. A tenth part of the population engrosses +all the honours of the country; the other nine pay a tenth of the product +of the earth for the support of a religion in which they do not believe. +There is little capital in the country. The great and rich men are +called by business, or allured by pleasure, into England; their estates +are given up to factors, and the utmost farthing of rent extorted from +the poor, who, if they give up the land, cannot get employment in +manufactures, or regular employment in husbandry. The common people use +a sort of food so very cheap that they can rear families who cannot +procure employment, and who have little more of the comforts of life than +food. The Irish are light-minded—want of employment has made them idle; +they are irritable and brave, have a keen remembrance of the past wrongs +they have suffered, and the present wrongs they are suffering from +England. The consequence of all this is, eternal riot and insurrection, +a whole army of soldiers in time of profound peace, and general rebellion +whenever England is busy with her other enemies or off her guard! And +thus it will be, while the same causes continue to operate, for ages to +come, and worse and worse as the rapidly increasing population of the +Catholics becomes more and more numerous. + +The remedies are time and justice, and that justice consists in repealing +all laws which make any distinction between the two religions; in placing +over the government of Ireland, not the stupid, amiable, and +insignificant noblemen who have too often been sent there, but men who +feel deeply the wrongs of Ireland, and who have an ardent wish to heal +them; who will take care that Catholics, when eligible, shall be elected; +who will share the patronage of Ireland proportionally among the two +parties, and give to just and liberal laws the same vigour of execution +which has hitherto been reserved only for decrees of tyranny, and the +enactments of oppression. The injustice and hardship of supporting two +Churches must be put out of sight, if it cannot or ought not to be cured. +The political economist, the moralist, and the satirist, must combine to +teach moderation and superintendence to the great Irish proprietors. +Public talk and clamour may do something for the poor Irish, as it did +for the slaves in the West Indies. Ireland will become more quiet under +such treatment, and then more rich, more comfortable, and more civilised; +and the horrid spectacle of folly and tyranny, which it at present +exhibits, may in time be removed from the eyes of Europe. + +There are two eminent Irishmen now in the House of Commons—Lord +Castlereagh and Mr. Canning—who will subscribe to the justness of every +syllable we have said upon this subject, and who have it in their power, +by making it the condition of their remaining in office, to liberate +their native country, and raise it to its just rank among the nations of +the earth. Yet the Court buys them over, year after year, by the pomp +and perquisites of office; and year after year they come into the House +of Commons, feeling deeply, and describing powerfully, the injuries of +five millions of their countrymen—and _continue_ members of a government +that inflicts those evils, under the pitiful delusion that it is not a +Cabinet Question, as if the scratchings and quarrellings of Kings and +Queens could alone cement politicians together in indissoluble unity, +while the fate and torture of one-third of the empire might be +complimented away from one minister to another, without the smallest +breach in their Cabinet alliance. Politicians, at least honest +politicians, should be very flexible and accommodating in little things, +very rigid and inflexible in great things. And is this _not_ a great +thing? Who has painted it in finer and more commanding eloquence than +Mr. Canning? Who has taken a more sensible and statesmanlike view of our +miserable and cruel policy than Lord Castlereagh? You would think, to +hear them, that the same planet could not contain them and the oppressors +of their country—perhaps not the same solar system. Yet for money, +claret, and patronage, they lend their countenance, assistance, and +friendship to the Ministers who are the stern and inflexible enemies to +the emancipation of Ireland! + +Thank God that all is not profligacy and corruption in the history of +that devoted people—and that the name of Irishman does not always carry +with it the idea of the oppressor or the oppressed—the plunderer or the +plundered—the tyrant or the slave! Great men hallow a whole people, and +lift up all who live in their time. What Irishman does not feel proud +that he has lived in the days of GRATTAN? who has not turned to him for +comfort, from the false friends and open enemies of Ireland? who did not +remember him in the days of its burnings and wastings and murders? No +Government ever dismayed him—the world could not bribe him—he thought +only of Ireland—lived for no other object—dedicated to her his beautiful +fancy, his elegant wit, his manly courage, and all the splendour of his +astonishing eloquence. He was so born and so gifted that poetry, +forensic skill, elegant literature, and all the highest attainments of +human genius were within his reach; but he thought the noblest occupation +of a man was to make other men happy and free; and in that straight line +he went on for fifty years, without one side-look, without one yielding +thought, without one motive in his heart which he might not have laid +open to the view of God and man. He is gone!—but there is not a single +day of his honest life of which every good Irishman would not be more +proud than of the whole political existence of his countrymen—the annual +deserters and betrayers of their native land. + + + + +MOORE’S CAPTAIN ROCK. + + +_Memoirs of Captain Rock_, _the celebrated Irish Chieftain_; _with some +Account of his Ancestors_. Written by Himself. Fourth Edition. 12mo. +London, 1824. + + * * * * * + +THIS agreeable and witty book is generally supposed to have been written +by Mr. Thomas Moore, a gentleman of small stature, but full of genius, +and a steady friend of all that is honourable and just. He has here +borrowed the name of a celebrated Irish leader, to typify that spirit of +violence and insurrection which is necessarily generated by systematic +oppression, and rudely avenges its crimes; and the picture he has drawn +of its prevalence in that unhappy country is at once piteous and +frightful. Its effect in exciting our horror and indignation is in the +long run increased, we think—though at first it may seem counteracted—by +the tone of levity, and even jocularity, under which he has chosen to +veil the deep sarcasm and substantial terrors of his story. We smile at +first, and are amused, and wonder, as we proceed, that the humorous +narrative should produce conviction and pity—shame, abhorrence, and +despair. + +England seems to have treated Ireland much in the same way as Mrs. +Brownrigg treated her apprentice—for which Mrs. Brownrigg is hanged in +the first volume of the Newgate Calendar. Upon the whole, we think the +apprentice is better off than the Irishman; as Mrs. Brownrigg merely +starves and beats her, without any attempt to prohibit her from going to +any shop, or praying at any church her apprentice might select: and once +or twice, if we remember rightly, Brownrigg appears to have felt some +compassion. Not so Old England, who indulges rather in a steady +baseness, uniform brutality, and unrelenting oppression. + +Let us select from this entertaining little book a short history of dear +Ireland, such as even some profligate idle member of the House of +Commons, voting as his master bids him, may perchance throw his eye upon, +and reflect for a moment upon the iniquity to which he lends his support. + +For some centuries after the reign of Henry II., the Irish were killed +like game, by persons qualified or unqualified. Whether dogs were used +does not appear quite certain, though it is probable they were, spaniels +as well as pointers; and that, after a regular point by Basto, well +backed by Ponto and Cæsar, Mr. O’Donnel or Mr. O’Leary bolted from the +thicket, and were bagged by the English sportsman. With Henry II. came +in tithes, to which, in all probability, about one million of lives may +have been sacrificed in Ireland. In the reign of Edward I. the Irish who +were settled near the English requested that the benefit of the English +laws might be extended to them; but the remonstrance of the barons with +the hesitating king was in substance this: “You have made us a present of +these wild gentlemen, and we particularly request that no measures may be +adopted to check us in that full range of tyranny and oppression in which +we consider the value of such a gift to consist. You might as well give +us sheep, and prevent us from shearing the wool, or roasting the meat.” +This reasoning prevailed, and the Irish were kept to their barbarism, and +the barons preserved their dive stock. + + “Read ‘Orange faction’ (says Captain Rock) here and you have the + wisdom of our rulers, at the end of near six centuries, _in statu + quo_. The grand periodic year of the stoics, at the close of which + everything was to begin again, and the same events to be all reacted + in the same order, is, on a miniature scale, represented in the + history of the English Government in Ireland, every succeeding + century being but a new revolution of the same follies, the same + crimes, and the same turbulence that disgraced the former. But ‘Vive + l’ennemi!’ say I: whoever may suffer by such measures, Captain Rock, + at least, will prosper. + + “And such was the result at the period of which I am speaking. The + rejection of a petition, so humble and so reasonable, was followed, + as a matter of course, by one of those daring rebellions into which + the revenge of an insulted people naturally breaks forth. The + M’Cartys, the O’Briens, and the other Macs and O’s, who have been + kept on the alert by similar causes ever since, flew to arms under + the command of a chieftain of my family; and, as the proffered + _handle_ of the sword had been rejected, made their inexorable + masters at least feel its _edge_.”—(_pp._ 23–25.) + +Fifty years afterwards the same request was renewed and refused. Up +again rose Mac and O, a _just and necessary war_ ensued; and after the +usual murders, the usual chains were replaced upon the Irishry. All +Irishmen were excluded from every species of office. It was high treason +to marry with the Irish blood, and highly penal to receive the Irish into +religious houses. War was waged also against their Thomas Moores, Samuel +Rogerses, and Walter Scotts, who went about the country harping and +singing against English oppression. No such turbulent guests were to be +received. The plan of making them poets-laureate, or converting them to +loyalty by pensions of £100 per annum, had not then been thought of. +They debarred the Irish even from the pleasure of running away, and fixed +them to the soil like negroes. + + “I have thus selected,” says the historian of Rock, “cursorily and at + random, a few features of the reigns preceding the Reformation, in + order to show what good use was made of those three or four hundred + years in attaching the Irish people to their English governors; and + by what a gentle course of alternatives they were prepared for the + inoculation of a new religion, which was now about to be attempted + upon them by the same skilful and friendly hands. + + “Henry VII. appears to have been the first monarch to whom it + occurred, that matters were not managed exactly as they ought in this + part of his dominions; and we find him—with a simplicity which is + still fresh and youthful among our rulers—expressing his _surprise_ + that his subjects of this land should be so prone to faction and + rebellion, and that so little advantage had been hitherto derived + from the acquisitions of his predecessor, notwithstanding the + fruitfulness and natural advantages of Ireland. Surprising, indeed, + that a policy, such as we have been describing, should not have + converted the whole country into a perfect Atlantis of + happiness—should not have made it like the imaginary island of Sir + Thomas More, where ‘_tota insula velut una familia est_!’—most + stubborn, truly, and ungrateful, must that people be, upon whom, up + to the very hour in which I write, such a long and unvarying course + of penal laws, confiscations, and Insurrection Acts has been tried, + without making them in the least degree in love with their rulers. + + “Heloise tells her tutor, Abelard, that the correction which he + inflicted upon her only served to increase the ardour of her + affection for him; but bayonets and hemp are no such ‘_amoris + stimuli_.’ One more characteristic anecdote of those times and I + have done. At the battle of Knocktow, in the reign of Henry VII., + when that remarkable man, the Earl of Kildare, assisted by the great + O’Neal and other Irish chiefs, gained a victory over Clanricard of + Connaught, most important to the English Government, Lord + Gormanstown, after the battle, in the first insolence of success, + said, turning to the Earl of Kildare, ‘We have now slaughtered our + enemies, but, to complete the good deed, we must proceed yet further, + and—cut the throats of those Irish of our own party!’ Who can wonder + that the Rock family were active in those times?”—(pp. 33, 35.) + +Henry VIII. persisted in all these outrages, and aggravated them by +insulting the prejudices of the people. England is almost the only +country in the world (even at present) where there is not some favourite +religious sport, where absurd lies, little bits of cloth, feathers, rusty +nails, splinters, and other invaluable relics, are treasured up, and in +defence of which the whole population are willing to turn out and perish +as one man. Such was the shrine of St. Kieran, the whole treasures of +which the satellites of that corpulent tyrant turned out into the street, +pillaged the sacred church of Clonmacnoise, scattered the holy nonsense +of the priests to the winds, and burnt the real and venerable crosier of +St. Patrick, fresh from the silversmith’s shop, and formed of the most +costly materials. Modern princes change the uniform of regiments; Henry +changed the religion of kingdoms, and was determined that the belief of +the Irish should undergo a radical and Protestant conversion. With what +success this attempt was made, the present state of Ireland is sufficient +evidence. + +“Be not dismayed,” said Elizabeth, on hearing that O’Neal meditated some +designs against her government; “tell my friends, if he arise, it will +turn to their advantage—_there will be estates for those who want_.” +Soon after this prophetic speech, Munster was destroyed by famine and the +sword, and near 600,000 acres forfeited to the crown, and distributed +among Englishmen. Sir Walter Raleigh (the virtuous and good) butchered +the garrison of Limerick in cold blood, after Lord Deputy Gray had +selected 700 to be hanged. There were, during the reign of Elizabeth, +three invasions of Ireland by the Spaniards, produced principally by the +absurd measures of this princess for the reformation of its religion. +The Catholic clergy, in consequence of these measures, abandoned their +cures, the churches fell to ruin, and the people were left without any +means of instruction. Add to these circumstances the murder of M’Mahon, +the imprisonment of O’Toole and O’Dogherty, and the kidnapping of +O’Donnel—all truly Anglo-Hibernian proceedings. The execution of the +laws was rendered detestable and intolerable by the queen’s officers of +justice. The spirit raised by these transactions, besides innumerable +smaller insurrections gave rise to the great wars of Desmond and Hugh +O’Neal; which, after they had worn out the ablest generals, discomfited +the choicest troops, exhausted the treasure, and embarrassed the +operations of Elizabeth, were terminated by the destruction of these two +ancient families, and by the confiscation of more than half the +territorial surface of the island. The last two years of O’Neal’s wars +cost Elizabeth £140,000 per annum, though the whole revenue of England at +that period fell considerably short of £500,000. Essex, after the +destruction of Norris, led into Ireland an army of above 20,000 men, +which was totally baffled and destroyed by Tyrone, within two years of +their landing. Such was the importance of Irish rebellions two centuries +before the time in which we live. Sir G. Carew attempted to assassinate +the Lugan Earl—Mountjoy compelled the Irish rebels to massacre each +other. In the course of a few months 3,000 men were starved to death in +Tyrone. Sir Arthur Chichester, Sir Richard Manson, and other commanders, +saw three children feeding on the flesh of their dead mother. Such were +the golden days of good Queen Bess! + +By the rebellions of Dogherty, in the reign of James I., six northern +counties were confiscated, amounting to 500,000 acres. In the same +manner, 64,000 acres were confiscated in Athlone. The whole of his +confiscations amount to nearly a million acres; and if Leland means +plantation acres, they constitute a twelfth of the whole kingdom +according to Newenham, and a tenth according to Sir W. Petty. The most +shocking and scandalous action in the reign of James, was his attack upon +the whole property of the province of Connaught, which he would have +effected, if he had not been bought off by a sum greater than he hoped to +gain by his iniquity, besides the luxury of confiscation. The Irish, +during the reign of James I., suffered under the _double_ evils of a +licentious soldiery and a religious persecution. + +Charles I. took a bribe of £120,000 from his Irish subjects, to grant +them what in those days were called _Graces_, but in these days would be +denominated the Elements of Justice. The money was paid, but the graces +were never granted. One of these graces was curious enough: “That the +clergy were not to be permitted to keep henceforward any private prisons +of their own, but delinquents were to be committed to the public jails.” +The idea of a rector, with his own private jail full of Dissenters, is +the most ludicrous piece of tyranny we ever heard of. The troops in the +beginning of Charles’s reign were supported by the weekly fines levied +upon the Catholics for non-attendance upon established worship. The +Archbishop of Dublin went himself at the head of a file of musketeers, to +disperse a Catholic congregation in Dublin—which object he effected after +a considerable skirmish with the priests. “The favourite object” (says +Dr. Leland, a Protestant clergyman, and dignitary of the Irish Church) +“of the Irish Government and the English Parliament, was _the utter +extermination_ of all the Catholic inhabitants of Ireland.” The great +rebellion took place in this reign, and Ireland was one scene of blood +and cruelty and confiscation. + +Cromwell began his career in Ireland by massacring for five days the +garrison of Drogheda, to whom quarter had been promised. Two millions +and a half of acres were confiscated. Whole towns were put up in lots, +and sold. The Catholics were banished from three-fourths of the kingdom, +and confined to Connaught. After a certain day, every Catholic found out +of Connaught was to be punished with death. Fleetwood complains +peevishly “that the people _do not transport readily_,” but adds, “_it is +doubtless a work in which the Lord will appear_.” Ten thousand Irish +were sent as recruits to the Spanish army. + + “Such was _Cromwell’s_ way of settling the affairs of Ireland; and if + a nation _is_ to be ruined, this method is, perhaps, as good as any. + It is, at least, more humane than the slow, lingering process of + exclusion, disappointment, and degradation, by which their hearts are + worn out under more specious forms of tyranny; and that talent of + despatch which Molière attributes to one of his physicians is no + ordinary merit in a practitioner like Cromwell:—“C’est un homme + expéditif, qui aime à depêcher ses malades; et quand on à mourir, + cela se fait avec lui le plus vite du monde.” A certain military + Duke, who complains that Ireland is but half conquered, would, no + doubt, upon an emergency, try his hand in the same line of practice, + and, like that ‘stern hero’ Mirmillo, in the Dispensary, + + “While others meanly take whole months to slay, + Despatch the grateful patient in a day!” + + “Among other amiable enactments against the Catholics at this period, + the price of five pounds was set on the head of a Romish priest, + being exactly the same sum offered by the same legislators for the + head of a wolf. The Athenians, we are told, encouraged the + destruction of wolves by a similar reward (five drachms); but it does + not appear that these heathens bought up the heads of priests at the + same rate, such zeal in the cause of religion being reserved for + times of Christianity and Protestantism.”—(pp. 97–99.) + +Nothing can show more strongly the light in which the Irish were held by +Cromwell than the correspondence with Henry Cromwell respecting the +peopling of Jamaica from Ireland. Secretary Thurloe sends to Henry, the +Lord Deputy in Ireland, to inform him that “a stock of Irish girls and +Irish young men are wanting for the peopling of Jamaica.” The answer of +Henry Cromwell is as follows:—“Concerning the supply of young men, +although we must use force in taking them up, _yet it being so much for +their own good_, and likely to be of so great advantage to the public, it +is not the least doubted but that you may have such a number of them as +you may think fit to make use of on this account. + +“I shall not need repeat anything respecting the girls, not doubting to +answer your expectations to the full _in that_; and I think it might be +of like advantage to your affairs there and ours here if you should think +fit to send 1,500 or 2,000 boys to the place above mentioned. _We can +well spare them_; and who knows but that it may be the means of making +them Englishmen—I mean, rather, Christians? As for the girls, I suppose +you will make provisions of clothes, and other accommodations for them.” +Upon this, Thurloe informs Henry Cromwell that the council have voted +4,000 _girls_, _and as many boys_, to go to Jamaica. + +Every Catholic priest found in Ireland was hanged, and five pounds paid +to the informer. + +“About the years 1652 and 1653,” says Colonel Lawrence, in his _Interests +of Ireland_, “the plague and famine had so swept away whole counties, +that a man might travel twenty or thirty miles and not see a living +creature, either man, or beast, or bird, they being all dead, or had +quitted those desolate places. Our soldiers would tell stories of the +places where they saw smoke—it was so rare to see either smoke by day or +fire or candle by night.” In this manner did the Irish live and die +under Cromwell, suffering by the sword, famine, pestilence, and +persecution, beholding the confiscation of a kingdom and the banishment +of a race. “So that there perished,” says Sir W. Petty, “in the year +1641, 650,000 human beings, whose bloods somebody must atone for to God +and the King!” + +In the reign of Charles II., by the Act of Settlement, four millions and +a half of acres were for ever taken from the Irish. “This country,” says +the Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant in 1675, “has been perpetually rent +and torn since his Majesty’s restoration. I can compare it to nothing +better than the flinging the reward on the death of a deer among the pack +of hounds, where every one pulls and tears where he can for himself.” +All wool grown in Ireland was, by Act of Parliament, compelled to be sold +to England; and Irish cattle were excluded from England. The English, +however, were pleased to accept 30,000 head of cattle, sent as a gift +from Ireland to the sufferers in the great fire! and the first day of the +Sessions, after this act of munificence, the Parliament passed fresh acts +of exclusion against the productions of that country. + +“Among the many anomalous situations in which the Irish have been placed, +by those ‘marriage vows, false as dicers’ oaths,’ which bind their +country to England, the dilemma in which they found themselves at the +Revolution was not the less perplexing or cruel. If they were loyal to +the King _de jure_, they were hanged by the King _de facto_; and if they +escaped with life from the King _de facto_, it was but to be plundered +and proscribed by the King _de jure_ afterwards. + + “‘Hac _gener_ atque _socer_ coeant mercede suorum.’—VIRGIL. + + “‘In a manner so summary, prompt, and high mettled, + Twixt father and son-in-law matters were settled.’ + +“In fact, most of the outlawries in Ireland were for treason committed +the very day on which the Prince and Princess of Orange accepted the +crown in the Banqueting-house; though the news of this event could not +possibly have reached the other side of the Channel on the same day, and +the Lord-Lieutenant of King James, with an army to enforce obedience, was +at that time in actual possession of the government, so little was common +sense consulted, or the mere decency of forms observed, by that rapacious +spirit, which nothing less than the confiscation of the whole island +could satisfy; and which having, in the reign of James I. and at the +Restoration, despoiled the natives of no less than ten millions six +hundred and thirty-six thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven acres, now +added to its plunder one million sixty thousand seven hundred and +ninety-two acres more, being the amount altogether (according to Lord +Clare’s calculation) of the whole superficial contents of the island! + + “Thus, not only had _all_ Ireland suffered confiscation in the course + of this century, but no inconsiderable portion of it had been twice + and even thrice confiscated. Well might Lord Clare say, ‘that the + situation of the Irish nation, at the Revolution, stands unparalleled + in the history of the inhabited world.’” (pp. 111–113.) + +By the Articles of Limerick, the Irish were promised the free exercise of +their religion; but from that period to the year 1788, every year +produced some fresh penalty against that religion, some liberty was +abridged, some right impaired, or some suffering increased. By acts in +King William’s reign, they were prevented from being solicitors. No +Catholic was allowed to marry a Protestant; and any Catholic who sent a +son to Catholic countries for education was to forfeit all his lands. In +the reign of Queen Anne, any son of a Catholic who chose to turn +Protestant got possession of the father’s estate. No Papist was allowed +to purchase freehold property, or to take a lease for more than thirty +years. If a Protestant dies intestate, the estate is to go to the next +_Protestant_ heir, though all to the tenth generation should be Catholic. +In the same manner, if a Catholic dies intestate, his estate is to go to +the next Protestant. No Papist is to dwell in Limerick or Galway. No +Papist is to take an annuity for life. The widow of a Papist turning +Protestant to have a portion of the chattels of deceased in spite of any +will. Every Papist teaching schools to be presented as a regular Popish +convict. Prices of catching Catholic priests, from 50s. to £10, +according to rank. Papists are to answer all questions respecting other +Papists, or to be committed to jail for twelve months. No trust to be +undertaken for Papists. No Papist to be on Grand Juries. Some notion +may be formed of the spirit of those times, from an order of the House of +Commons, “that the Sergeant-at-Arms should take into custody all Papists +that should presume to come into _the gallery_!” (_Commons’ Journal_, +vol. iii., fol. 976.) During this reign the English Parliament +legislated as absolutely for Ireland as they do now for Rutlandshire, an +evil not to be complained of, if they had done it as justly. In the +reign of George I., the horses of Papists were seized for the militia, +and rode by Protestants; towards which the Catholics paid double, and +were compelled to find Protestant substitutes. They were prohibited from +voting at vestries, or being high or petty constables. An act of the +English Parliament in this reign opens as follows:—“Whereas attempts have +been lately made to shake off the subjection of Ireland to the Imperial +Crown of these realms, be it enacted,” etc. etc. In the reign of George +II. four-sixths of the population were cut off from the right of voting +at elections by the necessity under which they were placed of taking the +oath of supremacy. Barristers and solicitors marrying Catholics are +exposed to all the penalties of Catholics. Persons robbed by privateers +during a war with a Catholic State are to be indemnified by a levy on the +Catholic inhabitants of the neighbourhood. All marriages between +Catholics and Protestants are annulled. All Popish priests celebrating +them are to be hanged. “This system” (says Arthur Young) “has no other +tendency than that of driving out of the kingdom all the personal wealth +of the Catholics, and extinguishing their industry within it; and the +face of the country, every object which presents itself to travellers, +tells him how effectually this has been done.”—_Young’s Tour in Ireland_, +vol. ii., p. 48. + + * * * * * + +Such is the history of Ireland—for we are now at our own times; and the +only remaining question is, whether the system of improvement and +conciliation begun in the reign of George III. shall be pursued, and the +remaining incapacities of the Catholics removed, or all these concessions +be made insignificant by an adherence to that spirit of proscription +which they professed to abolish? Looking to the sense and reason of the +thing, and to the ordinary working of humanity and justice, when +assisted, as they are here, by self-interest and worldly policy, it might +seem absurd to doubt of the result. But looking to the facts and the +persons by which we are now surrounded, we are constrained to say that we +greatly fear that these incapacities never will be removed till they are +removed by fear. What else, indeed, can we expect when we see them +opposed by such enlightened men as Mr. Peel—faintly assisted by men of +such admirable genius as Mr. Canning—when Royal Dukes consider it as a +compliment to the memory of their father to continue this miserable +system of bigotry and exclusion, when men act ignominiously and +contemptibly on this question, who do so on no other question, when +almost the only persons zealously opposed to this general baseness and +fatuity are a few Whigs and Reviewers, or here and there a virtuous poet +like Mr. Moore? We repeat again, that the measure never will be effected +but by fear. In the midst of one of our just and necessary wars, the +Irish Catholics will compel this country to grant them a great deal more +than they at present require or even contemplate. We regret most +severely the protraction of the disease, and the danger of the remedy; +but in this way it is that human affairs are carried on! + +We are sorry we have nothing for which to praise Administration on the +subject of the Catholic question, but it is but justice to say, that they +have been very zealous and active in detecting fiscal abuses in Ireland, +in improving mercantile regulations, and in detecting Irish jobs. The +commission on which Mr. Wallace presided has been of the greatest +possible utility, and does infinite credit to the Government. The name +of Mr. Wallace in any commission has now become a pledge to the public +that there is a real intention to investigate and correct abuse. He +stands in the singular predicament of being equally trusted by the rulers +and the ruled. It is a new era in Government when such men are called +into action; and if there were not proclaimed and fatal limits to that +ministerial liberality, which, so far as it goes, we welcome without a +grudge and praise without a sneer, we might yet hope that, for the sake +of mere consistency, they might be led to falsify our forebodings. But +alas! there are motives more immediate, and therefore irresistible; and +the time is not yet come when it will be believed easier to govern +Ireland by the love of the many than by the power of the few, when the +paltry and dangerous machinery of bigoted faction and prostituted +patronage may be dispensed with, and the vessel of the State be propelled +by the natural current of popular interests and the breath of popular +applause. In the meantime, we cannot resist the temptation of gracing +our conclusion with the following beautiful passage, in which the author +alludes to the hopes that were raised at another great era of partial +concession and liberality, that of the revolution of 1782, when, also, +benefits were conferred which proved abortive because they were +incomplete, and balm poured into the wound, where the envenomed shaft was +yet left to rankle. + + “And here,” says the gallant Captain Rock, “as the free confession of + weakness constitutes the chief charm and use of biography, I will + candidly own that the dawn of prosperity and concord which I now saw + breaking over the fortunes of my country, so dazzled and deceived my + youthful eyes, and so unsettled every hereditary notion of what I + owed to my name and family, that—shall I confess it—I even hailed + with pleasure the prospects of peace and freedom that seemed opening + around me; nay, was ready, in the boyish enthusiasm of the moment, to + sacrifice all my own personal interest in all future riots and + rebellions to the one bright, seducing object of my country’s liberty + and repose. + + “When I contemplated such a man as the venerable Charlemont, whose + nobility was to the people like a fort over a valley, elevated above + them solely for their defence; who introduced the polish of the + courtier into the camp of the freeman, and served his country with + all that pure Platonic devotion which a true knight in the time of + chivalry proffered to his mistress; when I listened to the eloquence + of Grattan, the very music of freedom, her first fresh matin song, + after a long night of slavery, degradation, and sorrow; when I saw + the bright offerings which he brought to the shrine of his + country—wisdom, genius, courage, and patience, invigorated and + embellished by all those social and domestic virtues, without which + the loftiest talents stand isolated in the moral waste around them, + like the pillars of Palmyra towering in a wilderness!—when I + reflected on all this, it not only disheartened me for the mission of + discord which I had undertaken, but made me secretly hope that it + might be rendered unnecessary; and that a country which could produce + such men and achieve such a revolution, might yet—in spite of the + joint efforts of the Government and my family—take her rank in the + scale of nations, and be happy! + + “My father, however, who saw the momentary dazzle by which I was + affected, soon drew me out of this false light of hope in which I lay + basking, and set the truth before me in a way but too convincing and + ominous. ‘Be not deceived, boy,’ he would say, ‘by the fallacious + appearances before you. Eminently great and good as is the man to + whom Ireland owes this short era of glory, _our_ work, believe me, + will last longer than his. We have a power on our side that “will + not willingly let us die;” and, long after Grattan shall have + disappeared from earth like that arrow shot into the clouds by + Alcestes, effecting nothing, but leaving a long train of light behind + him, the family of the ROCKS will continue to flourish in all their + native glory, upheld by the ever-watchful care of the Legislature, + and fostered by that “nursing-mother of Liberty,” the Church.’” + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PETER PLYMLEY'S LETTERS*** + + +******* This file should be named 4063-0.txt or 4063-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/0/6/4063 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive +specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this +eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given +away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks +not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the +trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country outside the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and + most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this + eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the + United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you + are located before using this ebook. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The +Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the +mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its +volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous +locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt +Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to +date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and +official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/4063-0.zip b/4063-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9c69b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/4063-0.zip diff --git a/4063-h.zip b/4063-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..420fccf --- /dev/null +++ b/4063-h.zip diff --git a/4063-h/4063-h.htm b/4063-h/4063-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4366358 --- /dev/null +++ b/4063-h/4063-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5591 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Peter Plymley's Letters, by Sydney Smith</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Peter Plymley's Letters, by Sydney Smith, +Edited by Henry Morley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Peter Plymley's Letters + and Selected Essays + + +Author: Sydney Smith + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: September 8, 2014 [eBook #4063] +[This file was first posted on 29 October 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PETER PLYMLEY'S LETTERS*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1893 Cassell & Company edition by +David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">CASSELL’S NATIONAL LIBRARY</span></p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<h1><span class="smcap">Peter Plymley’s Letters</span><br +/> +<span class="smcap">and</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">SELECTED ESSAYS</span></h1> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br +/> +SYDNEY SMITH</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/tpb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative graphic" +title= +"Decorative graphic" + src="images/tps.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center">CASSELL & COMPANY <span +class="smcap">Limited</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall"><i>LONDON PARIS & +MELBOURNE</i></span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">1893</span></p> +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Sydney Smith</span>, of the same age as +Walter Scott, was born at Woodford, in Essex, in the year 1771, +and he died of heart disease, aged seventy-four, on the 22nd of +February, 1845. His father was a clever man of wandering +habits who, when he settled in England, reduced his means by +buying, altering, spoiling, and then selling about nineteen +different places in England. His mother was of a French +family from Languedoc, that had been driven to England by the +Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Sydney Smith’s +grandfather, upon the mother’s side, could speak no +English, and he himself ascribed some of his gaiety to the French +blood in his veins.</p> +<p>He was one of four sons. His eldest brother +Robert—known as Bobus—was sent to Eton, where he +joined Canning, Frere, and John Smith, in writing the Eton +magazine, the <i>Microcosm</i>; and at Cambridge Bobus afterwards +was known as a fine Latin scholar. Sydney Smith went first +to a school at Southampton, and then to Winchester, where he +became captain of the school. Then he was sent for six +months to Normandy for a last polish to his French before he went +on to New College, Oxford. When he had obtained his +fellowship there, his father left him to his own resources. +His eldest brother had been trained for the bar, his two younger +brothers were sent out to India, and Sydney, against his own +wish, yielded to the strong desire of his father that he should +take orders as a clergyman. Accordingly, in 1794, he became +curate of the small parish of Netherhaven, in Wiltshire. +Meat came to Netherhaven only once a week in a butcher’s +cart from Salisbury, and the curate often dined upon potatoes +flavoured with ketchup.</p> +<p>The only educated neighbour was Mr. Hicks Beach, the squire, +who at first formally invited the curate to dinner on Sundays, +and soon found his wit, sense, and high culture so delightful, +that the acquaintance ripened into friendship. After two +years in the curacy, Sydney Smith gave it up and went abroad with +the squire’s son. “When first I went into the +Church,” he wrote afterwards, “I had a curacy in the +middle of Salisbury Plain; the parish was Netherhaven, near +Amesbury. The squire of the parish, Mr. Beach, took a fancy +to me, and after I had served it two years, he engaged me as +tutor to his eldest son, and it was arranged that I and his son +should proceed to the University of Weimar in Saxony. We +set out, but before reaching our destination Germany was +disturbed by war, and, in stress of politics, we put into +Edinburgh, where I remained five years.”</p> +<p>Young Michael Beach, who had little taste for study, lived +with Sydney Smith as his tutor, and found him a wise guide and +pleasant friend. When Michael went to the University, his +brother William was placed under the same good care. Sydney +Smith, about the same time, went to London to be married. +His wife’s rich brother quarrelled with her for marrying a +man who said that his only fortune consisted in six small silver +teaspoons. One day after their happy marriage he ran in to +his wife and threw them in her lap, saying, “There, Kate, +you lucky girl, I give you all my fortune!” The lucky +girl had a small fortune of her own which her husband had +strictly secured to herself and her children. Mr. Beach +recognised the value of Sydney Smith’s influence over his +son by a wedding gift of £750. In 1802 a daughter was +born, and in the same year Sydney Smith joined Francis Jeffrey +and other friends, who then maintained credit for Edinburgh as +the Modern Athens, in the founding of <i>The Edinburgh +Review</i>, to which the papers in this volume, added to the +Peter Plymley Letters, were contributed. The Rev. Sydney +Smith preached sometimes in the Episcopal Church at Edinburgh, +and presently had, in addition to William Beach, a son of Mr. +Gordon, of Ellon Castle, placed under his care, receiving +£400 a year for each of the young men.</p> +<p>In 1803 Sydney Smith left Edinburgh for London, where he wrote +busily in <i>The Edinburgh Review</i>, but remained poor for many +years. His wit brought friends, and the marriage of his +eldest brother with Lord Holland’s aunt quickened the +growth of a strong friendship with Lord Holland. Through +the good offices of Lord Holland, Sydney Smith obtained, in 1806, +aged thirty-five, the living of Foston-le-Clay, in +Yorkshire. In the next year appeared the first letter of +Peter Plymley to his brother Abraham on the subject of the Irish +Catholics.</p> +<p>These letters fell, we are told, like sparks on a heap of +gunpowder. All London, and soon all England, was alive to +the sound reason recommended by a lively wit. Sydney Smith +lived to be recognised as first among the social wits, and it was +always the chief praise of his wit that wisdom was the soul of +it. Peter Plymley’s letters, and Sydney Smith’s +articles on the same subject in <i>The Edinburgh Review</i> were +the most powerful aids furnished by the pen to the solution of +the burning question of their time. Lord Murray called the +Plymley letters “after Pascal’s letters the most +instructive piece of wisdom in the form of irony ever +written.” Worldly wealth came later; but in wit, +wisdom, and kindly helpful cheerfulness, from youth to age, +Sydney Smith’s life was rich.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">H. M.</p> +<h2><span class="smcap">Letters on the Subject of the +Catholics</span>.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">TO</span><br +/> +MY BROTHER ABRAHAM,<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">WHO LIVES IN THE COUNTRY.</span><br /> +BY PETER PLYMLEY.</p> +<h3>LETTER I.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Abraham</span>,—A worthier and +better man than yourself does not exist; but I have always told +you, from the time of our boyhood, that you were a bit of a +goose. Your parochial affairs are governed with exemplary +order and regularity; you are as powerful in the vestry as Mr. +Perceval is in the House of Commons,—and, I must say, with +much more reason; nor do I know any church where the faces and +smock-frocks of the congregation are so clean, or their eyes so +uniformly directed to the preacher. There is another point, +upon which I will do you ample justice; and that is, that the +eyes so directed towards you are wide open; for the rustic has, +in general, good principles, though he cannot control his animal +habits; and, however loud he may snore, his face is perpetually +turned towards the fountain of orthodoxy.</p> +<p>Having done you this act of justice, I shall proceed, +according to our ancient intimacy and familiarity, to explain to +you my opinions about the Catholics, and to reply to yours.</p> +<p>In the first place, my sweet Abraham, the Pope is not +landed—nor are there any curates sent out after +him—nor has he been hid at St. Albans by the Dowager Lady +Spencer—nor dined privately at Holland House—nor been +seen near Dropmore. If these fears exist (which I do not +believe), they exist only in the mind of the Chancellor of the +Exchequer; they emanate from his zeal for the Protestant +interest; and, though they reflect the highest honour upon the +delicate irritability of his faith, must certainly be considered +as more ambiguous proofs of the sanity and vigour of his +understanding. By this time, however, the best-informed +clergy in the neighbourhood of the metropolis are convinced that +the rumour is without foundation; and though the Pope is probably +hovering about our coast in a fishing-smack, it is most likely he +will fall a prey to the vigilance of our cruisers; and it is +certain that he has not yet polluted the Protestantism of our +soil.</p> +<p>Exactly in the same manner, the story of the wooden gods +seized at Charing Cross, by an order from the Foreign Office, +turns out to be without the shadow of a foundation; instead of +the angels and archangels, mentioned by the informer, nothing was +discovered but a wooden image of Lord Mulgrave, going down to +Chatham, as a head-piece for the <i>Spanker</i> gun-vessel; it +was an exact resemblance of his Lordship in his military uniform; +and <i>therefore</i> as little like a god as can well be +imagined.</p> +<p>Having set your fears at rest, as to the extent of the +conspiracy formed against the Protestant religion, I will now +come to the argument itself.</p> +<p>You say these men interpret the scriptures in an unorthodox +manner, and that they eat their god.—Very likely. All +this may seem very important to you, who live fourteen miles from +a market-town, and, from long residence upon your living, are +become a kind of holy vegetable; and in a theological sense it is +highly important. But I want soldiers and sailors for the +state; I want to make a greater use than I now can do of a poor +country full of men; I want to render the military service +popular among the Irish; to check the power of France; to make +every possible exertion for the safety of Europe, which in twenty +years’ time will be nothing but a mass of French slaves: +and then you, and ten other such boobies as you, call +out—“For God’s sake, do not think of raising +cavalry and infantry in Ireland! . . . They interpret the Epistle +to Timothy in a different manner from what we do! . . . They eat +a bit of wafer every Sunday, which they call their God!” . +. . I wish to my soul they would eat you, and such reasoners as +you are. What! when Turk, Jew, Heretic, Infidel, Catholic, +Protestant, are all combined against this country; when men of +every religious persuasion, and no religious persuasion; when the +population of half the globe is up in arms against us; are we to +stand examining our generals and armies as a bishop examines a +candidate for holy orders; and to suffer no one to bleed for +England who does not agree with you about the second of +Timothy? You talk about the Catholics! If you and +your brotherhood have been able to persuade the country into a +continuation of this grossest of all absurdities, you have ten +times the power which the Catholic clergy ever had in their best +days. Louis XIV., when he revoked the Edict of Nantes, +never thought of preventing the Protestants from fighting his +battles; and gained accordingly some of his most splendid +victories by the talents of his Protestant generals. No +power in Europe, but yourselves, has ever thought for these +hundred years past, of asking whether a bayonet is Catholic, or +Presbyterian or Lutheran; but whether it is sharp and +well-tempered. A bigot delights in public ridicule; for he +begins to think he is a martyr. I can promise you the full +enjoyment of this pleasure, from one extremity of Europe to the +other.</p> +<p>I am as disgusted with the nonsense of the Roman Catholic +religion as you can be: and no man who talks such nonsense shall +ever tithe the product of the earth, nor meddle with the +ecclesiastical establishment in any shape; but what have I to do +with the speculative nonsense of his theology, when the object is +to elect the mayor of a county town, or to appoint a colonel of a +marching regiment? Will a man discharge the solemn +impertinences of the one office with less zeal, or shrink from +the bloody boldness of the other with greater timidity, because +the blockhead thinks he can eat angels in muffins and chew a +spiritual nature in the crumpets which he buys from the +baker’s shop? I am sorry there should be such impious +folly in the world, but I should be ten times a greater fool than +he is, if I refused, till he had made a solemn protestation that +the crumpet was spiritless and the muffin nothing but a human +muffin, to lead him out against the enemies of the state. +Your whole argument is wrong: the state has nothing whatever to +do with theological errors which do not violate the common rules +of morality, and militate against the fair power of the ruler: it +leaves all these errors to you, and to such as you. You +have every tenth porker in your parish for refuting them; and +take care that you are vigilant and logical in the task.</p> +<p>I love the Church as well as you do; but you totally mistake +the nature of an establishment, when you contend that it ought to +be connected with the military and civil career of every +individual in the state. It is quite right that there +should be one clergyman to every parish interpreting the +Scriptures after a particular manner, ruled by a regular +hierarchy, and paid with a rich proportion of haycocks and +wheatsheafs. When I have laid this foundation for a +rational religion in the state—when I have placed ten +thousand well-educated men in different parts of the kingdom to +preach it up, and compelled everybody to pay them, whether they +hear them or not—I have taken such measures as I know must +always procure an immense majority in favour of the Established +Church; but I can go no further. I cannot set up a civil +inquisition, and say to one, you shall not be a butcher, because +you are not orthodox; and prohibit another from brewing, and a +third from administering the law, and a fourth from defending the +country. If common justice did not prohibit me from such a +conduct, common sense would. The advantage to be gained by +quitting the heresy would make it shameful to abandon it; and men +who had once left the Church would continue in such a state of +alienation from a point of honour, and transmit that spirit to +their latest posterity. This is just the effect your +disqualifying laws have produced. They have fed Dr. Rees, +and Dr. Kippis; crowded the congregations of the Old Jewry to +suffocation: and enabled every sublapsarian, and superlapsarian, +and semi-pelagian clergyman, to build himself a neat brick +chapel, and live with some distant resemblance to the state of a +gentleman.</p> +<p>You say the King’s coronation oath will not allow him to +consent to any relaxation of the Catholic laws.—Why not +relax the Catholic laws as well as the laws against Protestant +dissenters? If one is contrary to his oath, the other must +be so too; for the spirit of the oath is, to defend the Church +establishment, which the Quaker and the Presbyterian differ from +as much or more than the Catholic; and yet his Majesty has +repealed the Corporation and Test Act in Ireland, and done more +for the Catholics of both kingdoms than had been done for them +since the Reformation. In 1778 the ministers said nothing +about the royal conscience; in 1793 no conscience; in 1804 no +conscience; the common feeling of humanity and justice then seem +to have had their fullest influence upon the advisers of the +Crown; but in 1807—a year, I suppose, eminently fruitful in +moral and religious scruples (as some years are fruitful in +apples, some in hops),—it is contended by the well-paid +John Bowles, and by Mr. Perceval (who tried to be well paid), +that this is now perjury which we had hitherto called policy and +benevolence. Religious liberty has never made such a stride +as under the reign of his present Majesty; nor is there any +instance in the annals of our history, where so many infamous and +damnable laws have been repealed as those against the Catholics +which have been put an end to by him; and then, at the close of +this useful policy, his advisers discover that the very measures +of concession and indulgence, or (to use my own language) the +measures of justice, which he has been pursuing through the whole +of his reign, are contrary to the oath he takes at its +commencement! That oath binds his Majesty not to consent to +any measure contrary to the interest of the Established Church; +but who is to judge of the tendency of each particular +measure? Not the King alone: it can never be the intention +of this law that the King, who listens to the advice of his +Parliament upon a read bill, should reject it upon the most +important of all measures. Whatever be his own private +judgment of the tendency of any ecclesiastical bill, he complies +most strictly with his oath, if he is guided in that particular +point by the advice of his Parliament, who may be presumed to +understand its tendency better than the King, or any other +individual. You say, if Parliament had been unanimous in +their opinion of the absolute necessity for Lord Howick’s +bill, and the King had thought it pernicious, he would have been +perjured if he had not rejected it. I say, on the contrary, +his Majesty would have acted in the most conscientious manner, +and have complied most scrupulously with his oath, if he had +sacrificed his own opinion to the opinion of the great council of +the nation; because the probability was that such opinion was +better than his own; and upon the same principle, in common life, +you give up your opinion to your physician, your lawyer, and your +builder.</p> +<p>You admit this bill did not compel the King to elect Catholic +officers, but only gave him the option of doing so if he pleased; +but you add, that the King was right in not trusting such +dangerous power to himself or his successors. Now you are +either to suppose that the King for the time being has a zeal for +the Catholic establishment, or that he has not. If he has +not, where is the danger of giving such an option? If you +suppose that he may be influenced by such an admiration of the +Catholic religion, why did his present Majesty, in the year 1804, +consent to that bill which empowered the Crown to station ten +thousand Catholic soldiers in any part of the kingdom, and place +them absolutely at the disposal of the Crown? If the King +of England for the time being is a good Protestant, there can be +no danger in making the Catholic <i>eligible</i> to anything: if +he is not, no power can possibly be so dangerous as that conveyed +by the bill last quoted; to which, in point of peril, Lord +Howick’s bill is a mere joke. But the real fact is, +one bill opened a door to his Majesty’s advisers for trick, +jobbing, and intrigue; the other did not.</p> +<p>Besides, what folly to talk to me of an oath, which, under all +possible circumstances, is to prevent the relaxation of the +Catholic laws! for such a solemn appeal to God sets all +conditions and contingencies at defiance. Suppose Bonaparte +was to retrieve the only very great blunder he has made, and were +to succeed, after repeated trials, in making an impression upon +Ireland, do you think we should hear any thing of the impediment +of a coronation oath? or would the spirit of this country +tolerate for an hour such ministers, and such unheard-of +nonsense, if the most distant prospect existed of conciliating +the Catholics by every species even of the most abject +concession? And yet, if your argument is good for anything, +the coronation oath ought to reject, at such a moment, every +tendency to conciliation, and to bind Ireland for ever to the +crown of France.</p> +<p>I found in your letter the usual remarks about fire, fagot, +and bloody Mary. Are you aware, my dear Priest, that there +were as many persons put to death for religious opinions under +the mild Elizabeth as under the bloody Mary? The reign of +the former was, to be sure, ten times as long; but I only mention +the fact, merely to show you that something depends upon the age +in which men live, as well as on their religious opinions. +Three hundred years ago men burnt and hanged each other for these +opinions. Time has softened Catholic as well as Protestant: +they both required it; though each perceives only his own +improvement, and is blind to that of the other. We are all +the creatures of circumstances. I know not a kinder and +better man than yourself; but you, if you had lived in those +times, would certainly have roasted your Catholic: and I promise +you, if the first exciter of this religious mob had been as +powerful then as he is now, you would soon have been elevated to +the mitre. I do not go the length of saying that the world +has suffered as much from Protestant as from Catholic +persecution; far from it: but you should remember the Catholics +had all the power, when the idea first started up in the world +that there could be two modes of faith; and that it was much more +natural they should attempt to crush this diversity of opinion by +great and cruel efforts, than that the Protestants should rage +against those who differed from them, when the very basis of +their system was complete freedom in all spiritual matters.</p> +<p>I cannot extend my letter any further at present, but you +shall soon hear from me again. You tell me I am a party +man. I hope I shall always be so, when I see my country in +the hands of a pert London joker and a second-rate lawyer. +Of the first, no other good is known than that he makes pretty +Latin verses; the second seems to me to have the head of a +country parson and the tongue of an Old Bailey lawyer.</p> +<p>If I could see good measures pursued, I care not a farthing +who is in power; but I have a passionate love for common justice, +and for common sense, and I abhor and despise every man who +builds up his political fortune upon their ruin.</p> +<p>God bless you, reverend Abraham, and defend you from the Pope, +and all of us from that administration who seek power by opposing +a measure which Burke, Pitt, and Fox all considered as absolutely +necessary to the existence of the country.</p> +<h3>LETTER II.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Abraham</span>,—The Catholic +not respect an oath! why not? What upon earth has kept him +out of Parliament, or excluded him from all the offices whence he +is excluded, but his respect for oaths? There is no law +which prohibits a Catholic to sit in Parliament. There +could be no such law; because it is impossible to find out what +passes in the interior of any man’s mind. Suppose it +were in contemplation to exclude all men from certain offices who +contended for the legality of taking tithes: the only mode of +discovering that fervid love of decimation which I know you to +possess would be to tender you an oath “against that +damnable doctrine, that it is lawful for a spiritual man to take, +abstract, appropriate, subduct, or lead away the tenth calf, +sheep, lamb, ox, pigeon, duck,” &c., &c., &c., +and every other animal that ever existed, which of course the +lawyers would take care to enumerate. Now this oath I am +sure you would rather die than take; and so the Catholic is +excluded from Parliament because he will not swear that he +disbelieves the leading doctrines of his religion! The +Catholic asks you to abolish some oaths which oppress him; your +answer is that he does not respect oaths. Then why subject +him to the test of oaths? The oaths keep him out of +Parliament; why, then, he respects them. Turn which way you +will, either your laws are nugatory, or the Catholic is bound by +religious obligations as you are; but no eel in the well-sanded +fist of a cook-maid, upon the eve of being skinned, ever twisted +and writhed as an orthodox parson does when he is compelled by +the gripe of reason to admit anything in favour of a +dissenter.</p> +<p>I will not dispute with you whether the Pope be or be not the +Scarlet Lady of Babylon. I hope it is not so; because I am +afraid it will induce His Majesty’s Chancellor of the +Exchequer to introduce several severe bills against popery, if +that is the case; and though he will have the decency to appoint +a previous committee of inquiry as to the fact, the committee +will be garbled, and the report inflammatory. Leaving this +to be settled as he pleases to settle it, I wish to inform you, +that, previously to the bill last passed in favour of the +Catholics, at the suggestion of Mr. Pitt, and for his +satisfaction, the opinions of six of the most celebrated of the +foreign Catholic universities were taken as to the right of the +Pope to interfere in the temporal concerns of any country. +The answer cannot possibly leave the shadow of a doubt, even in +the mind of Baron Maseres; and Dr. Rennel would be compelled to +admit it, if three Bishops lay dead at the very moment the +question were put to him. To this answer might be added +also the solemn declaration and signature of all the Catholics in +Great Britain.</p> +<p>I should perfectly agree with you, if the Catholics admitted +such a dangerous dispensing power in the hands of the Pope; but +they all deny it, and laugh at it, and are ready to abjure it in +the most decided manner you can devise. They obey the Pope +as the spiritual head of their Church; but are you really so +foolish as to be imposed upon by mere names? What matters +it the seven-thousandth part of a farthing who is the spiritual +head of any Church? Is not Mr. Wilberforce at the head of +the Church of Clapham? Is not Dr. Letsom at the head of the +Quaker Church? Is not the General Assembly at the head of +the Church of Scotland? How is the government disturbed by +these many-headed Churches? or in what way is the power of the +Crown augmented by this almost nominal dignity?</p> +<p>The King appoints a fast-day once a year, and he makes the +bishops: and if the government would take half the pains to keep +the Catholics out of the arms of France that it does to widen +Temple Bar, or improve Snow Hill, the King would get into his +hands the appointments of the titular Bishops of Ireland. +Both Mr. C-’s sisters enjoy pensions more than sufficient +to place the two greatest dignitaries of the Irish Catholic +Church entirely at the disposal of the Crown.</p> +<p>Everybody who knows Ireland knows perfectly well, that nothing +would be easier, with the expenditure of a little money, than to +preserve enough of the ostensible appointment in the hands of the +Pope to satisfy the scruples of the Catholics, while the real +nomination remained with the Crown. But, as I have before +said, the moment the very name of Ireland is mentioned, the +English seem to bid adieu to common feeling, common prudence, and +common sense, and to act with the barbarity of tyrants and the +fatuity of idiots.</p> +<p>Whatever your opinion may be of the follies of the Roman +Catholic religion, remember they are the follies of four millions +of human beings, increasing rapidly in numbers, wealth, and +intelligence, who, if firmly united with this country, would set +at defiance the power of France, and if once wrested from their +alliance with England, would in three years render its existence +as an independent nation absolutely impossible. You speak +of danger to the Establishment: I request to know when the +Establishment was ever so much in danger as when Hoche was in +Bantry Bay, and whether all the books of Bossuet, or the arts of +the Jesuits, were half so terrible? Mr. Perceval and his +parsons forget all this, in their horror lest twelve or fourteen +old women may be converted to holy water and Catholic +nonsense. They never see that, while they are saving these +venerable ladies from perdition, Ireland may be lost, England +broken down, and the Protestant Church, with all its deans, +prebendaries, Percevals, and Rennels, be swept into the vortex of +oblivion.</p> +<p>Do not, I beseech you, ever mention to me again the name of +Dr. Duigenan. I have been in every corner of Ireland, and +have studied its present strength and condition with no common +labour. Be assured Ireland does not contain at this moment +less than five millions of people. There were returned in +the year 1791 to the hearth tax 701,000 houses, and there is no +kind of question that there were about 50,000 houses omitted in +that return. Taking, however, only the number returned for +the tax, and allowing the average of six to a house (a very small +average for a potato-fed people), this brings the population to +4,200,000 people in the year 1791: and it can be shown from the +clearest evidence (and Mr. Newenham in his book shows it), that +Ireland for the last fifty years has increased in its population +at the rate of 50 or 60,000 per annum; which leaves the present +population of Ireland at about five millions, after every +possible deduction for <i>existing circumstances</i>, <i>just and +necessary wars</i>, <i>monstrous and unnatural rebellions</i>, +and all other sources of human destruction. Of this +population, two out of ten are Protestants; and the half of the +Protestant population are Dissenters, and as inimical to the +Church as the Catholics themselves. In this state of things +thumbscrews and whipping—admirable engines of policy as +they must be considered to be—will not ultimately +avail. The Catholics will hang over you; they will watch +for the moment, and compel you hereafter to give them ten times +as much, against your will, as they would now be contented with, +if it were voluntarily surrendered. Remember what happened +in the American war, when Ireland compelled you to give her +everything she asked, and to renounce, in the most explicit +manner, your claim of Sovereignty over her. God Almighty +grant the folly of these present men may not bring on such +another crisis of public affairs!</p> +<p>What are your dangers which threaten the +Establishment?—Reduce this declamation to a point, and let +us understand what you mean. The most ample allowance does +not calculate that there would be more than twenty members who +were Roman Catholics in one house, and ten in the other, if the +Catholic emancipation were carried into effect. Do you mean +that these thirty members would bring in a bill to take away the +tithes from the Protestant, and to pay them to the Catholic +clergy? Do you mean that a Catholic general would march his +army into the House of Commons, and purge it of Mr. Perceval and +Dr. Duigenan? or, that the theological writers would become all +of a sudden more acute or more learned, if the present civil +incapacities were removed? Do you fear for your tithes, or +your doctrines, or your person, or the English +Constitution? Every fear, taken separately, is so glaringly +absurd, that no man has the folly or the boldness to state +it. Every one conceals his ignorance, or his baseness, in a +stupid general panic, which, when called on, he is utterly +incapable of explaining. Whatever you think of the +Catholics, there they are—you cannot get rid of them; your +alternative is to give them a lawful place for stating their +grievances, or an unlawful one: if you do not admit them to the +House of Commons, they will hold their parliament in Potatoe +Place, Dublin, and be ten times as violent and inflammatory as +they would be in Westminster. Nothing would give me such an +idea of security as to see twenty or thirty Catholic gentlemen in +Parliament, looked upon by all the Catholics as the fair and +proper organ of their party. I should have thought it the +height of good fortune that such a wish existed on their part, +and the very essence of madness and ignorance to reject it. +Can you murder the Catholics? Can you neglect them? +They are too numerous for both these expedients. What +remains to be done is obvious to every human being—but to +that man who, instead of being a Methodist preacher, is, for the +curse of us and our children, and for the ruin of Troy and the +misery of good old Priam and his sons, become a legislator and a +politician.</p> +<p>A distinction, I perceive, is taken by one of the most feeble +noblemen in Great Britain, between persecution and the +deprivation of political power; whereas, there is no more +distinction between these two things than there is between him +who makes the distinction and a booby. If I strip off the +relic-covered jacket of a Catholic, and give him twenty stripes . +. . I persecute; if I say, Everybody in the town where you live +shall be a candidate for lucrative and honourable offices, but +you, who are a Catholic . . . I do not persecute! What +barbarous nonsense is this! as if degradation was not as great an +evil as bodily pain or as severe poverty: as if I could not be as +great a tyrant by saying, You shall not enjoy—as by saying, +You shall suffer. The English, I believe, are as truly +religious as any nation in Europe; I know no greater blessing; +but it carries with it this evil in its train, that any villain +who will bawl out, “<i>The Church is in danger</i>!” +may get a place and a good pension; and that any administration +who will do the same thing may bring a set of men into power who, +at a moment of stationary and passive piety, would be hooted by +the very boys in the streets. But it is not all religion; +it is, in great part, the narrow and exclusive spirit which +delights to keep the common blessings of sun and air and freedom +from other human beings. “Your religion has always +been degraded; you are in the dust, and I will take care you +never rise again. I should enjoy less the possession of an +earthly good by every additional person to whom it was +extended.” You may not be aware of it yourself, most +reverend Abraham, but you deny their freedom to the Catholics +upon the same principle that Sarah your wife refuses to give the +receipt for a ham or a gooseberry dumpling: she values her +receipts, not because they secure to her a certain flavour, but +because they remind her that her neighbours want it:—a +feeling laughable in a priestess, shameful in a priest; venial +when it withholds the blessings of a ham, tyrannical and +execrable when it narrows the boon of religious freedom.</p> +<p>You spend a great deal of ink about the character of the +present prime minister. Grant you all that you +write—I say, I fear he will ruin Ireland, and pursue a line +of policy destructive to the true interest of his country: and +then you tell me, he is faithful to Mrs. Perceval, and kind to +the Master Percevals! These are, undoubtedly, the first +qualifications to be looked to in a time of the most serious +public danger; but somehow or another (if public and private +virtues must always be incompatible), I should prefer that he +destroyed the domestic happiness of Wood or Cockell, owed for the +veal of the preceding year, whipped his boys, and saved his +country.</p> +<p>The late administration did not do right; they did not build +their measures upon the solid basis of facts. They should +have caused several Catholics to have been dissected after death +by surgeons of either religion; and the report to have been +published with accompanying plates. If the viscera, and +other organs of life, had been found to be the same as in +Protestant bodies; if the provisions of nerves, arteries, +cerebrum, and cerebellum, had been the same as we are provided +with, or as the Dissenters are now known to possess; then, +indeed, they might have met Mr. Perceval upon a proud eminence, +and convinced the country at large of the strong probability that +the Catholics are really human creatures, endowed with the +feelings of men, and entitled to all their rights. But +instead of this wise and prudent measure, Lord Howick, with his +usual precipitation, brings forward a bill in their favour, +without offering the slightest proof to the country that they +were anything more than horses and oxen. The person who +shows the lama at the corner of Piccadilly has the precaution to +write up—<i>Allowed by Sir Joseph Banks to be a real +quadruped</i>, so his Lordship might have said—<i>Allowed +by the bench of Bishops to be real human creatures</i>. . . +. I could write you twenty letters upon this subject; but I +am tired, and so I suppose are you. Our friendship is now +of forty years’ standing; you know me to be a truly +religious man; but I shudder to see religion treated like a +cockade, or a pint of beer, and made the instrument of a +party. I love the king, but I love the people as well as +the king; and if I am sorry to see his old age molested, I am +much more sorry to see four millions of Catholics baffled in +their just expectations. If I love Lord Grenville, and Lord +Howick, it is because they love their country; if I abhor . . . +it is because I know there is but one man among them who is not +laughing at the enormous folly and credulity of the country, and +that he is an ignorant and mischievous bigot. As for the +light and frivolous jester, of whom it is your misfortune to +think so highly, learn, my dear Abraham, that this political +Killigrew, just before the breaking-up of the last +administration, was in actual treaty with them for a place; and +if they had survived twenty-four hours longer, he would have been +now declaiming against the cry of No Popery! instead of inflaming +it. With this practical comment on the baseness of human +nature, I bid you adieu!</p> +<h3>LETTER III.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">All</span> that I have so often told you, +Mr. Abraham Plymley, is now come to pass. The Scythians, in +whom you and the neighbouring country gentleman placed such +confidence, are smitten hip and thigh; their Beningsen put to +open shame; their magazines of train oil intercepted, and we are +waking from our disgraceful drunkenness to all the horrors of Mr. +Perceval and Mr. Canning . . . We shall now see if a nation is to +be saved by school-boy jokes and doggrel rhymes, by affronting +petulance, and by the tones and gesticulations of Mr. Pitt. +But these are not all the auxiliaries on which we have to depend; +to these his colleague will add the strictest attention to the +smaller parts of ecclesiastical government, to hassocks, to +psalters, and to surplices; in the last agonies of England, he +will bring in a bill to regulate Easter-offerings: and he will +adjust the stipends of curates, when the flag of France is +unfurled on the hills of Kent. Whatever can be done by very +mistaken notions of the piety of a Christian, and by a very +wretched imitation of the eloquence of Mr. Pitt, will be done by +these two gentlemen. After all, if they both really were +what they both either wish to be, or wish to be thought; if the +one were an enlightened Christian who drew from the Gospel the +toleration, the charity, and the sweetness which it contains; and +if the other really possessed any portion of the great +understanding of his Nisus who guarded him from the weapons of +the Whigs, I should still doubt if they could save us. But +I am sure we are not to be saved by religious hatred, and by +religious trifling; by any psalmody, however sweet; or by any +persecution, however sharp; I am certain the sounds of Mr. +Pitt’s voice, and the measure of his tones, and the +movement of his arms, will do nothing for us; when these tones +and movements, and voice brings us always declamation without +sense or knowledge, and ridicule without good humour or +conciliation. Oh, Mr. Plymley, this never will do. +Mrs. Abraham Plymley, my sister, will be led away captive by an +amorous Gaul; and Joel Plymley your firstborn, will be a French +drummer.</p> +<p>Out of sight, out of mind, seems to be a proverb which applies +to enemies as well as friends. Because the French army was +no longer seen from the cliffs of Dover; because the sound of +cannon was no longer heard by the debauched London bathers on the +Sussex coast; because the <i>Morning Post</i> no longer fixed the +invasion sometimes for Monday, sometimes for Tuesday, sometimes +(positively for the last time of invading) on Saturday; because +all these causes of terror were suspended, you conceived the +power of Bonaparte to be at an end, and were setting off for +Paris with Lord Hawkesbury the conqueror. This is precisely +the method in which the English have acted during the whole of +the revolutionary war. If Austria or Prussia armed, doctors +of divinity immediately printed those passages out of Habakkuk, +in which the destruction of the Usurper by General Mack, and the +Duke of Brunswick, are so clearly predicted. If Bonaparte +halted, there was a mutiny or a dysentery. If any one of +his generals were eaten up by the light troops of Russia, and +picked (as their manner is) to the bone, the sanguine spirit of +this country displayed itself in all its glory. What scenes +of infamy did the Society for the Suppression of Vice lay open to +our astonished eyes! tradesmen’s daughters dancing, pots of +beer carried out between the first and second lesson, and dark +and distant rumours of indecent prints. Clouds of Mr. +Canning’s cousins arrived by the waggon; all the +contractors left their cards with Mr. Rose; and every plunderer +of the public crawled out of his hole, like slugs, and grubs, and +worms after a shower of rain.</p> +<p>If my voice could have been heard at the late changes, I +should have said, “Gently, patience, stop a little; the +time is not yet come; the mud of Poland will harden, and the +bowels of the French grenadiers will recover their tone. +When honesty, good sense, and liberality have extricated you out +of your present embarrassment, then dismiss them as a matter of +course; but you cannot spare them just now; don’t be in too +great a hurry, or there will be no monarch to flatter, and no +country to pillage; only submit for a little time to be respected +abroad, overlook the painful absence of the tax-gatherer for a +few years, bear up nobly under the increase of freedom and of +liberal policy for a little time, and I promise you, at the +expiration of that period, you shall be plundered, insulted, +disgraced, and restrained to your heart’s content. Do +not imagine I have any intention of putting servility and canting +hypocrisy permanently out of place, or of filling up with courage +and sense those offices which naturally devolve upon decorous +imbecility and flexible cunning: give us only a little time to +keep off the hussars of France, and then the jobbers and jesters +shall return to their birthright, and public virtue be called by +its own name of fanaticism.” Such is the advice I +would have offered to my infatuated countrymen: but it rained +very hard in November, Brother Abraham, and the bowels of our +enemies were loosened, and we put our trust in white fluxes and +wet mud; and there is nothing now to oppose to the conqueror of +the world but a small table wit, and the sallow Surveyor of the +Meltings.</p> +<p>You ask me, if I think it possible for this country to survive +the recent misfortunes of Europe?—I answer you, without the +slightest degree of hesitation: that if Bonaparte lives, and a +great deal is not immediately done for the conciliation of the +Catholics, it does seem to me absolutely impossible but that we +must perish; and take this with you, that we shall perish without +exciting the slightest feeling of present or future compassion, +but fall amidst the hootings and revilings of Europe, as a nation +of blockheads, Methodists, and old women. If there were any +great scenery, any heroic feelings, any blaze of ancient virtue, +any exalted death, any termination of England that would be ever +remembered, ever honoured in that western world, where liberty is +now retiring, conquest would be more tolerable, and ruin more +sweet; but it is doubly miserable to become slaves abroad, +because we would be tyrants at home; to persecute, when we are +contending against persecution; and to perish, because we have +raised up worse enemies within, from our own bigotry, than we are +exposed to without, from the unprincipled ambition of +France. It is indeed a most silly and affecting spectacle +to rage at such a moment against our own kindred and our own +blood; to tell them they cannot be honourable in war, because +they are conscientious in religion; to stipulate (at the very +moment when we should buy their hearts and swords at any price) +that they must hold up the right hand in prayer, and not the +left; and adore one common God, by turning to the east rather +than to the west.</p> +<p>What is it the Catholics ask of you? Do not exclude us +from the honours and emoluments of the state because we worship +God in one way, and you worship Him in another. In a period +of the deepest peace, and the fattest prosperity, this would be a +fair request; it should be granted, if Lord Hawkesbury had +reached Paris, if Mr. Canning’s interpreter had threatened +the Senate in an opening speech, or Mr. Perceval explained to +them the improvements he meant to introduce into the Catholic +religion; but to deny the Irish this justice now, in the present +state of Europe, and in the summer months, just as the season for +destroying kingdoms is coming on, is (beloved Abraham), whatever +you may think of it, little short of positive insanity.</p> +<p>Here is a frigate attacked by a corsair of immense strength +and size, rigging cut, masts in danger of coming by the board, +four foot water in the hold, men dropping off very fast; in this +dreadful situation how do you think the Captain acts (whose name +shall be Perceval)? He calls all hands upon deck; talks to +them of King, country, glory, sweethearts, gin, French prison, +wooden shoes, Old England, and hearts of oak; they give three +cheers, rush to their guns, and, after a tremendous conflict, +succeed in beating off the enemy. Not a syllable of all +this; this is not the manner in which the honourable Commander +goes to work: the first thing he does is to secure twenty or +thirty of his prime sailors who happen to be Catholics, to clap +them in irons, and set over them a guard of as many Protestants; +having taken this admirable method of defending himself against +his infidel opponents, he goes upon deck, reminds the sailors in +a very bitter harangue, that they are of different religions; +exhorts the Episcopal gunner not to trust to the Presbyterian +quartermaster; issues positive orders that the Catholics should +be fired at upon the first appearance of discontent; rushes +through blood and brains, examining his men in the Catechism and +thirty-nine Articles, and positively forbids every one to sponge +or ram who has not taken the Sacrament according to the Church of +England. Was it right to take out a captain made of +excellent British stuff, and to put in such a man as this? +Is not he more like a parson, or a talking lawyer, than a +thorough-bred seaman? And built as she is of heart of oak, +and admirably manned, is it possible, with such a captain, to +save this ship from going to the bottom?</p> +<p>You have an argument, I perceive, in common with many others, +against the Catholics, that their demands complied with would +only lead to further exactions, and that it is better to resist +them now, before anything is conceded, than hereafter, when it is +found that all concessions are in vain. I wish the +Chancellor of the Exchequer, who uses this reasoning to exclude +others from their just rights, had tried its efficacy, not by his +understanding, but by (what are full of much better things) his +pockets. Suppose the person to whom he applied for the +meltings had withstood every plea of wife and fourteen children, +no business, and good character, and refused him this paltry +little office because he might hereafter attempt to get hold of +the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster for life? would not Mr. +Perceval have contended eagerly against the injustice of refusing +moderate requests, because immoderate ones may hereafter be +made? Would he not have said, and said truly, Leave such +exorbitant attempts as these to the general indignation of the +Commons, who will take care to defeat them when they do occur; +but do not refuse me the Irons and the Meltings now, because I +may totally lose sight of all moderation hereafter? Leave +hereafter to the spirit and the wisdom of hereafter; and do not +be niggardly now from the apprehension that men as wise as you +should be profuse in times to come.</p> +<p>You forget, Brother Abraham, that is a vast art, where +quarrels cannot be avoided, to turn public opinion in your favour +and to the prejudice of your enemy; a vast privilege to feel that +you are in the right, and to make him feel that he is in the +wrong: a privilege which makes you more than a man, and your +antagonist less; and often secures victory by convincing him who +contends that he must submit to injustice if he submits to +defeat. Open every rank in the army and the navy to the +Catholic; let him purchase at the same price as the Protestant +(if either Catholic or Protestant can purchase such refined +pleasures) the privilege of hearing Lord Castlereagh speak for +three hours; keep his clergy from starving, soften some of the +most odious powers of the tithing-man, and you will for ever lay +this formidable question to rest. But if I am wrong, and +you must quarrel at last, quarrel upon just rather than unjust +grounds; divide the Catholic and unite the Protestant; be just, +and your own exertions will be more formidable and their +exertions less formidable; be just, and you will take away from +their party all the best and wisest understandings of both +persuasions, and knit them firmly to your own cause. +“Thrice is he armed who has his quarrel just;” and +ten times as much may he be taxed. In the beginning of any +war, however destitute of common sense, every mob will roar, and +every Lord of the Bedchamber address; but if you are engaged in a +war that is to last for years, and to require important +sacrifices, take care to make the justice of your case so clear +and so obvious that it cannot be mistaken by the most illiterate +country gentleman who rides the earth. Nothing, in fact, +can be so grossly absurd as the argument which says I will deny +justice to you now, because I suspect future injustice from +you. At this rate, you may lock a man up in your stable, +and refuse to let him out, because you suspect that he has an +intention, at some future period, of robbing your +hen-roost. You may horsewhip him at Lady Day, because you +believe he will affront you at Midsummer. You may commit a +greater evil, to guard against a less which is merely contingent, +and may never happen. You may do what you have done a +century ago in Ireland, make the Catholics worse than Helots, +because you suspected that they might hereafter aspire to be more +than fellow citizens; rendering their sufferings certain from +your jealousy, while yours were only doubtful from their +ambition; an ambition sure to be excited by the very measures +which were taken to prevent it.</p> +<p>The physical strength of the Catholics will not be greater +because you give them a share of political power. You may +by these means turn rebels into friends; but I do not see how you +make rebels more formidable. If they taste of the honey of +lawful power, they will love the hive from whence they procure +it; if they will struggle with us like men in the same state for +civil influence, we are safe. All that I dread is the +physical strength of four millions of men combined with an +invading French army. If you are to quarrel at last with +this enormous population, still put it off as long as you can; +you must gain, and cannot lose, by the delay. The state of +Europe cannot be worse; the conviction which the Catholics +entertain of your tyranny and injustice cannot be more alarming, +nor the opinions of your own people more divided. Time, +which produces such effect upon brass and marble, may inspire one +Minister with modesty and another with compassion; every +circumstance may be better; some certainly will be so, none can +be worse; and after all the evil may never happen.</p> +<p>You have got hold, I perceive, of all the vulgar English +stories respecting the hereditary transmission of forfeited +property, and seriously believe that every Catholic beggar wears +the terriers of his father’s land next his skin, and is +only waiting for better times to cut the throat of the Protestant +possessor, and get drunk in the hall of his ancestors. +There is one irresistible answer to this mistake, and that is, +that the forfeited lands are purchased indiscriminately by +Catholic and Protestant, and that the Catholic purchaser never +objects to such a title. Now the land so purchased by a +Catholic is either his own family estate, or it is not. If +it is, you suppose him so desirous of coming into possession that +he resorts to the double method of rebellion and purchase; if it +is not his own family estate of which he becomes the purchaser, +you suppose him first to purchase, then to rebel, in order to +defeat the purchase. These things may happen in Ireland, +but it is totally impossible they can happen anywhere else. +In fact, what land can any man of any sect purchase in Ireland, +but forfeited property? In all other oppressed countries +which I have ever heard of, the rapacity of the conqueror was +bounded by the territorial limits in which the objects of his +avarice were contained; but Ireland has been actually confiscated +twice over, as a cat is twice killed by a wicked parish boy.</p> +<p>I admit there is a vast luxury in selecting a particular set +of Christians, and in worrying them as a boy worries a puppy dog; +it is an amusement in which all the young English are brought up +from their earliest days. I like the idea of saying to men +who use a different hassock from me, that till they change their +hassock they shall never be Colonels, Aldermen, or +Parliament-men. While I am gratifying my personal insolence +respecting religious forms, I fondle myself into an idea that I +am religious, and that I am doing my duty in the most exemplary, +as I certainly am in the most easy, way. But then, my good +Abraham, this sport, admirable as it is, is become, with respect +to the Catholics, a little dangerous; and if we are not extremely +careful in taking the amusement, we shall tumble into the holy +water and be drowned. As it seems necessary to your idea of +an established church to have somebody to worry and torment, +suppose we were to select for this purpose William Wilberforce, +Esq., and the patent Christians of Clapham. We shall by +this expedient enjoy the same opportunity for cruelty and +injustice, without being exposed to the same risks: we will +compel them to abjure vital clergymen by a public test, to deny +that the said William Wilberforce has any power of working +miracles, touching for barrenness or any other infirmity, or that +he is endowed with any preternatural gift whatever. We will +swear them to the doctrine of good works, compel them to preach +common sense, and to hear it; to frequent Bishops, Deans, and +other High Churchmen; and to appear, once in the quarter at the +least, at some melodrame, opera, pantomime, or other light +scenical representation; in short, we will gratify the love of +insolence and power; we will enjoy the old orthodox sport of +witnessing the impotent anger of men compelled to submit to civil +degradation, or to sacrifice their notions of truth to +ours. And all this we may do without the slightest risk, +because their numbers are, as yet, not very considerable. +Cruelty and injustice must, of course, exist; but why connect +them with danger? Why torture a bulldog when you can get a +frog or a rabbit? I am sure my proposal will meet with the +most universal approbation. Do not be apprehensive of any +opposition from ministers. If it is a case of hatred, we +are sure that one man will defend it by the Gospel: if it +abridges human freedom, we know that another will find precedents +for it in the Revolution.</p> +<p>In the name of Heaven, what are we to gain by suffering +Ireland to be rode by that faction which now predominates over +it? Why are we to endanger our own Church and State, not +for 500,000 Episcopalians, but for ten or twelve great Orange +families, who have been sucking the blood of that country for +these hundred years last past? and the folly of the Orangemen in +playing this game themselves, is almost as absurd as ours in +playing it for them. They ought to have the sense to see +that their business now is to keep quietly the lands and beeves +of which the fathers of the Catholics were robbed in days of +yore; they must give to their descendants the sop of political +power: by contending with them for names, they will lose +realities, and be compelled to beg their potatoes in a foreign +land, abhorred equally by the English, who have witnessed their +oppression, and by the Catholic Irish, who have smarted under +them.</p> +<h3>LETTER IV.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Then</span> comes Mr. Isaac Hawkins Brown +(the gentleman who danced so badly at the Court of Naples), and +asks if it is not an anomaly to educate men in another religion +than your own. It certainly is our duty to get rid of +error, and, above all, of religious error; but this is not to be +done <i>per saltum</i>, or the measure will miscarry, like the +Queen. It may be very easy to dance away the royal embryo +of a great kingdom; but Mr. Hawkins Brown must look before he +leaps, when his object is to crush an opposite sect in religion; +false steps aid the one effect as much as they are fatal to the +other: it will require not only the lapse of Mr. Hawkins Brown, +but the lapse of centuries, before the absurdities of the +Catholic religion are laughed at as much as they deserve to be; +but surely, in the meantime, the Catholic religion is better than +none; four millions of Catholics are better than four millions of +wild beasts; two hundred priests educated by our own government +are better than the same number educated by the man who means to +destroy us.</p> +<p>The whole sum now appropriated by Government to the religious +education of four millions of Christians is £13,000; a sum +about one hundred times as large being appropriated in the same +country to about one-eighth part of this number of +Protestants. When it was proposed to raise this grant from +£8,000 to £13,000, its present amount, this sum was +objected to by that most indulgent of Christians, Mr. Spencer +Perceval, as enormous; he himself having secured for his own +eating and drinking, and the eating and drinking of the Master +and Miss Percevals, the reversionary sum of £21,000 a year +of the public money, and having just failed in a desperate and +rapacious attempt to secure to himself for life the revenues of +the Duchy of Lancaster: and the best of it is, that this +minister, after abusing his predecessors for their impious bounty +to the Catholics, has found himself compelled, from the +apprehension of immediate danger, to grant the sum in question, +thus dissolving his pearl in vinegar, and destroying all the +value of the gift by the virulence and reluctance with which it +was granted.</p> +<p>I hear from some persons in Parliament, and from others in the +sixpenny societies for debate, a great deal about unalterable +laws passed at the Revolution. When I hear any man talk of +an unalterable law, the only effect it produces upon me is to +convince me that he is an unalterable fool. A law passed +when there was Germany, Spain, Russia, Sweden, Holland, Portugal, +and Turkey; when there was a disputed succession; when four or +five hundred acres were won and lost after ten years’ hard +fighting; when armies were commanded by the sons of kings, and +campaigns passed in an interchange of civil letters and ripe +fruit; and for these laws, when the whole state of the world is +completely changed, we are now, according to my Lord Hawkesbury, +to hold ourselves ready to perish. It is no mean +misfortune, in times like these, to be forced to say anything +about such men as Lord Hawkesbury, and to be reminded that we are +governed by them, but as I am driven to it, I must take the +liberty of observing that the wisdom and liberality of my Lord +Hawkesbury are of that complexion which always shrinks from the +present exercise of these virtues by praising the splendid +examples of them in ages past. If he had lived at such +periods, he would have opposed the Revolution by praising the +Reformation, and the Reformation by speaking handsomely of the +Crusades. He gratifies his natural antipathy to great and +courageous measures by playing off the wisdom and courage which +have ceased to influence human affairs against that wisdom and +courage which living men would employ for present +happiness. Besides, it happens unfortunately for the Warden +of the Cinque Ports, that to the principal incapacities under +which the Irish suffer, they were subjected after that great and +glorious revolution, to which we are indebted for so many +blessings, and his Lordship for the termination of so many +periods. The Catholics were not excluded from the Irish +House of Commons, or military commands, before the 3rd and 4th of +William and Mary, and the 1st and 2nd of Queen Anne.</p> +<p>If the great mass of the people, environed as they are on +every side with Jenkinsons, Percevals, Melvilles, and other +perils, were to pray for divine illumination and aid, what more +could Providence in its mercy do than send them the example of +Scotland? For what a length of years was it attempted to +compel the Scotch to change their religion: horse, foot, +artillery, and armed Prebendaries, were sent out after the +Presbyterian parsons and their congregations. The Percevals +of those days called for blood: this call is never made in vain, +and blood was shed; but, to the astonishment and horror of the +Percevals of those days, they could not introduce the book of +Common Prayer, nor prevent that metaphysical people from going to +heaven their true way, instead of our true way. With a +little oatmeal for food, and a little sulphur for friction, +allaying cutaneous irritation with the one hand, and holding his +Calvinistical creed in the other, Sawney ran away to his flinty +hills, sung his psalm out of tune his own way, and listened to +his sermon of two hours long, amid the rough and imposing +melancholy of the tallest thistles. But Sawney brought up +his unbreeched offspring in a cordial hatred of his oppressors; +and Scotland was as much a part of the weakness of England then +as Ireland is at this moment. The true and the only remedy +was applied; the Scotch were suffered to worship God after their +own tiresome manner, without pain, penalty, or privation. +No lightning descended from heaven: the country was not ruined; +the world is not yet come to an end; the dignitaries who foretold +all these consequences are utterly forgotten, and Scotland has +ever since been an increasing source of strength to Great +Britain. In the six hundredth year of our empire over +Ireland we are making laws to transport a man if he is found out +of his house after eight o’clock at night. That this +is necessary I know too well; but tell me why it is +necessary. It is not necessary in Greece, where the Turks +are masters.</p> +<p>Are you aware that there is at this moment a universal clamour +throughout the whole of Ireland against the Union? It is +now one month since I returned from that country; I have never +seen so extraordinary, so alarming, and so rapid a change in the +sentiments of any people. Those who disliked the Union +before are quite furious against it now; those who doubted doubt +no more; those who were friendly to it have exchanged that +friendship for the most rooted aversion; in the midst of all this +(which is by far the most alarming symptom), there is the +strongest disposition on the part of the northern Dissenters to +unite with the Catholics, irritated by the faithless injustice +with which they have been treated. If this combination does +take place (mark what I say to you), you will have meetings all +over Ireland for the cry of <i>No Union</i>; that cry will spread +like wild-fire, and blaze over every opposition; and if this be +the case, there is no use in mincing the matter; Ireland is gone, +and the death-blow of England is struck; and this event may +happen <i>instantly</i>—before Mr. Canning and Mr. Hookham +Frere have turned Lord Howick’s last speech into doggerel +rhymne; before “<i>the near and dear relations</i>” +have received another quarter of their pension, or Mr. Perceval +conducted the Curates’ Salary Bill safely to a third +reading. If the mind of the English people, cursed as they +now are with that madness of religious dissension which has been +breathed into them for the purposes of private ambition, can be +alarmed by any remembrances, and warned by any events, they +should never forget how nearly Ireland was lost to this country +during the American war; that it was saved merely by the jealousy +of the Protestant Irish towards the Catholics, then a much more +insignificant and powerless body than they now are. The +Catholic and the Dissenter have since combined together against +you. Last war, the winds, those ancient and unsubsidised +allies of England; the winds, upon which English ministers depend +as much for saving kingdoms as washerwomen do for drying clothes; +the winds stood your friends: the French could only get into +Ireland in small numbers, and the rebels were defeated. +Since then, all the remaining kingdoms of Europe have been +destroyed; and the Irish see that their national independence is +gone, without having received any single one of those advantages +which they were taught to expect from the sacrifice. All +good things were to flow from the Union; they have none of them +gained anything. Every man’s pride is wounded by it; +no man’s interest is promoted. In the seventh year of +that union four million Catholics, lured by all kinds of promises +to yield up the separate dignity and sovereignty of their +country, are forced to squabble with such a man as Mr. Spencer +Perceval for five thousand pounds with which to educate their +children in their own mode of worship, he, the same Mr. Spencer, +having secured to his own Protestant self a reversionary portion +of the public money amounting to four times that sum. A +senior Proctor of the University of Oxford, the head of a house, +or the examining chaplain to a bishop, may believe these things +can last; but every man of the world, whose understanding has +been exercised in the business of life, must see (and see with a +breaking heart) that they will soon come to a fearful +termination.</p> +<p>Our conduct to Ireland during the whole of this war has been +that of a man who subscribes to hospitals, weeps at charity +sermons, carries out broth and blankets to beggars, and then +comes home and beats his wife and children. We had +compassion for the victims of all other oppression and injustice +except our own. If Switzerland was threatened, away went a +Treasury Clerk with a hundred thousand pounds for Switzerland; +large bags of money were kept constantly under sailing orders; +upon the slightest demonstration towards Naples, down went Sir +William Hamilton upon his knees, and begged for the love of St. +Januarius they would help us off with a little money; all the +arts of Machiavel were resorted to to persuade Europe to borrow; +troops were sent off in all directions to save the Catholic and +Protestant world; the Pope himself was guarded by a regiment of +English dragoons; if the Grand Lama had been at hand, he would +have had another; every Catholic clergyman who had the good +fortune to be neither English nor Irish was immediately provided +with lodging, soap, crucifix, missal, chapel-beads, relics, and +holy water; if Turks had landed, Turks would have received an +order from the Treasury for coffee, opium, korans, and +seraglios. In the midst of all this fury of saving and +defending this crusade for conscience and Christianity, there was +a universal agreement among all descriptions of people to +continue every species of internal persecution, to deny at home +every just right that had been denied before, to pummel poor Dr. +Abraham Rees and his Dissenters, and to treat the unhappy +Catholics of Ireland as if their tongues were mute, their heels +cloven, their nature brutal, and designedly subjected by +Providence to their Orange masters.</p> +<p>How would my admirable brother, the Rev. Abraham Plymley, like +to be marched to a Catholic chapel, to be sprinkled with the +sanctified contents of a pump, to hear a number of false +quantities in the Latin tongue, and to see a number of persons +occupied in making right angles upon the breast and +forehead? And if all this would give you so much pain, what +right have you to march Catholic soldiers to a place of worship, +where there is no aspersion, no rectangular gestures, and where +they understand every word they hear, having first, in order to +get him to enlist, made a solemn promise to the contrary? +Can you wonder, after this, that the Catholic priest stops the +recruiting in Ireland, as he is now doing to a most alarming +degree?</p> +<p>The late question concerning military rank did not +individually affect the lowest persons of the Catholic +persuasion; but do you imagine they do not sympathise with the +honour and disgrace of their superiors? Do you think that +satisfaction and dissatisfaction do not travel down from Lord +Fingal to the most potato-less Catholic in Ireland, and that the +glory or shame of the sect is not felt by many more than these +conditions personally and corporeally affect? Do you +suppose that the detection of Sir Henry Mildmay, and the +disappointment of Mr. Perceval <i>in the matter</i> of the Duchy +of Lancaster, did not affect every dabbler in public +property? Depend upon it these things were felt through all +the gradations of small plunderers, down to him who filches a +pound of tobacco from the King’s warehouses; while, on the +contrary, the acquittal of any noble and official thief would not +fail to diffuse the most heart-felt satisfaction over the +larcenous and burglarious world. Observe, I do not say +because the lower Catholics are affected by what concerns their +superiors, that they are not affected by what concerns +themselves. There is no disguising the horrid truth, +<i>there must be some relaxation with respect to tithe</i>: this +is the cruel and heart-rending price which must be paid for +national preservation. I feel how little existence will be +worth having, if any alteration, however slight, is made in the +property of Irish rectors; I am conscious how much such changes +must affect the daily and hourly comforts of every Englishman; I +shall feel too happy if they leave Europe untouched, and are not +ultimately fatal to the destinies of America; but I am madly bent +upon keeping foreign enemies out of the British empire, and my +limited understanding presents me with no other means of +effecting my object.</p> +<p>You talk of waiting till another reign before any alteration +is made; a proposal full of good sense and good nature, if the +measure in question were to pull down St. James’s Palace, +or to alter Kew Gardens. Will Bonaparte agree to put off +his intrigues, and his invasion of Ireland? If so, I will +overlook the question of justice, and finding the danger +suspended, agree to the delay. I sincerely hope this reign +may last many years, yet the delay of a single session of +Parliament may be fatal; but if another year elapse without some +serious concession made to the Catholics, I believe, before God, +that all future pledges and concessions will be made in +vain. I do not think that peace will do you any good under +such circumstances. If Bonaparte give you a respite, it +will only be to get ready the gallows on which he means to hang +you. The Catholic and the Dissenter can unite in peace as +well as war. If they do, the gallows is ready, and your +executioner, in spite of the most solemn promises, will turn you +off the next hour.</p> +<p>With every disposition to please (where to please within fair +and rational limits is a high duty), it is impossible for public +men to be long silent about the Catholics; pressing evils are not +got rid of, because they are not talked of. A man may +command his family to say nothing more about the stone and +surgical operations; but the ponderous malice still lies upon the +nerve, and gets so big, that the patient breaks his own law of +silence, clamours for the knife, and expires under its late +operation. Believe me, you talk folly when you talk of +suppressing the Catholic question. I wish to God the case +admitted of such a remedy; bad as it is, it does not admit of +it. If the wants of the Catholics are not heard in the +manly tones of Lord Grenville, or the servile drawl of Lord +Castlereagh, they will be heard ere long in the madness of mobs, +and the conflicts of armed men.</p> +<p>I observe it is now universally the fashion to speak of the +first personage in the state as the great obstacle to the +measure. In the first place, I am not bound to believe such +rumours because I hear them; and in the next place, I object to +such language, as unconstitutional. Whoever retains his +situation in the ministry while the incapacities of the Catholics +remain, is the advocate for those incapacities; and to him, and +to him only, am I to look for responsibility. But waive +this question of the Catholics, and put a general case:—How +is a minister of this country to act when the conscientious +scruples of his Sovereign prevent the execution of a measure +deemed by him absolutely necessary to the safety of the +country? His conduct is quite clear—he should +resign. But what is his successor to +do?—Resign. But is the King to be left without +ministers, and is he in this manner to be compelled to act +against his own conscience? Before I answer this, pray tell +me in my turn what better defence is there against the +machinations of a wicked, or the errors of a weak Monarch, than +the impossibility of finding a minister who will lend himself to +vice and folly? Every English Monarch, in such a +predicament, would sacrifice his opinions and views to such a +clear expression of the public will; and it is one method in +which the Constitution aims at bringing about such a +sacrifice. You may say, if you please, the ruler of a state +is forced to give up his object when the natural love of place +and power will tempt no one to assist him in its attainment; this +may be force; but it is force without injury, and therefore +without blame. I am not to be beat out of these obvious +reasonings, and ancient constitutional provisions, by the term +conscience. There is no fantasy, however wild, that a man +may not persuade himself that he cherishes from motives of +conscience; eternal war against impious France, or rebellious +America, or Catholic Spain, may in times to come be scruples of +conscience. One English Monarch may, from scruples of +conscience, wish to abolish every trait of religious persecution; +another Monarch may deem it his absolute and indispensable duty +to make a slight provision for Dissenters out of the revenues of +the Church of England. So that you see, Brother Abraham, +there are cases where it would be the duty of the best and most +loyal subjects to oppose the conscientious scruples of their +Sovereign, still taking care that their actions were +constitutional and their modes respectful. Then you come +upon me with personal questions, and say that no such dangers are +to be apprehended now under our present gracious Sovereign, of +whose good qualities we must be all so well convinced. All +these sorts of discussions I beg leave to decline. What I +have said upon constitutional topics, I mean of course for +general, not for particular application. I agree with you +in all the good you have said of the powers that be, and I avail +myself of the opportunity of pointing out general dangers to the +Constitution, at a moment when we are so completely exempted from +their present influence. I cannot finish this letter +without expressing my surprise and pleasure at your abuse of the +servile addresses poured in upon the throne, nor can I conceive a +greater disgust to a Monarch, with a true English heart, than to +see such a question as that of Catholic Emancipation argued, not +with a reference to its justice or importance, but universally +considered to be of no further consequence than as it affects his +own private feelings. That these sentiments should be mine +is not wonderful; but how they came to be yours does, I confess, +fill me with surprise. Are you moved by the arrival of the +Irish Brigade at Antwerp, and the amorous violence which awaits +Mrs. Plymley?</p> +<h3>LETTER V.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Abraham</span>,—I never met a +parson in my life who did not consider the Corporation and Test +Acts as the great bulwarks of the Church; and yet it is now just +sixty-four years since bills of indemnity to destroy their penal +effects, or, in other words, to repeal them, have been passed +annually as a matter of course.</p> +<blockquote><p><i>Heu vatum ignar mentes</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>These bulwarks, without which no clergyman thinks he could +sleep with his accustomed soundness, have actually not been in +existence since any man now living has taken holy orders. +Every year the Indemnity Act pardons past breaches of these two +laws, and prevents any fresh actions of informers from coming to +a conclusion before the period for the next indemnity bill +arrives; so that these penalties, by which alone the Church +remains in existence, have not had one moment’s operation +for sixty-four years. You will say the legislature, during +the whole of this period, has reserved to itself the discretion +of suspending or not suspending. But had not the +legislature the right of re-enacting, if it was necessary? +And now when you have kept the rod over these people (with the +most scandalous abuse of all principle) for sixty-four years, and +not found it necessary to strike once, is not that the best of +all reasons why the rod should be laid aside? You talk to +me of a very valuable hedge running across your fields which you +would not part with on any account. I go down, expecting to +find a limit impervious to cattle, and highly useful for the +preservation of property; but, to my utter astonishment, I find +that the hedge was cut down half a century ago, and that every +year the shoots are clipped the moment they appear above ground: +it appears, upon further inquiry, that the hedge never ought to +have existed at all; that it originated in the malice of +antiquated quarrels, and was cut down because it subjected you to +vast inconvenience, and broke up your intercourse with a country +absolutely necessary to your existence. If the remains of +this hedge serve only to keep up an irritation in your +neighbours, and to remind them of the feuds of former times, good +nature and good sense teach you that you ought to grub it up, and +cast it into the oven. This is the exact state of these two +laws; and yet it is made a great argument against concession to +the Catholics, that it involves their repeal; which is to say, Do +not make me relinquish a folly that will lead to my ruin; +because, if you do, I must give up other follies ten times +greater than this.</p> +<p>I confess, with all our bulwarks and hedges, it mortifies me +to the quick to contrast with our matchless stupidity and +inimitable folly the conduct of Bonaparte upon the subject of +religious persecution. At the moment when we are tearing +the crucifixes from the necks of the Catholics, and washing pious +mud from the foreheads of the Hindoos; at that moment this man is +assembling the very Jews at Paris, and endeavouring to give them +stability and importance. I shall never be reconciled to +mending shoes in America; but I see it must be my lot, and I will +then take a dreadful revenge upon Mr. Perceval, if I catch him +preaching within ten miles of me. I cannot for the soul of +me conceive whence this man has gained his notions of +Christianity: he has the most evangelical charity for errors in +arithmetic, and the most inveterate malice against errors in +conscience. While he rages against those whom in the true +spirit of the Gospel he ought to indulge, he forgets the only +instance of severity which that Gospel contains, and leaves the +jobbers, contractors, and money-changers at their seats, without +a single stripe.</p> +<p>You cannot imagine, you say, that England will ever be ruined +and conquered; and for no other reason that I can find, but +because it seems so very odd it should be ruined and +conquered. Alas! so reasoned, in their time, the Austrian, +Russian, and Prussian Plymleys. But the English are brave: +so were all these nations. You might get together a hundred +thousand men individually brave; but without generals capable of +commanding such a machine, it would be as useless as a first-rate +man-of-war manned by Oxford clergymen or Parisian +shopkeepers. I do not say this to the disparagement of +English officers: they have had no means of acquiring experience; +but I do say it to create alarm; for we do not appear to me to be +half alarmed enough, or to entertain that sense of our danger +which leads to the most obvious means of self-defence. As +for the spirit of the peasantry in making a gallant defence +behind hedge-rows, and through plate-racks and hen-coops, highly +as I think of their bravery, I do not know any nation in Europe +so likely to be struck with the panic as the English; and this +from their total unacquaintance with the science of war. +Old wheat and beans blazing for twenty miles round; cart mares +shot; sows of Lord Somerville’s breed running wild over the +country; the minister of the parish wounded sorely in his hinder +parts; Mrs. Plymley in fits. All these scenes of war an +Austrian or a Russian has seen three or four times over: but it +is now three centuries since an English pig has fallen in a fair +battle upon English ground, or a farm-house been rifled, or a +clergyman’s wife been subjected to any other proposals of +love than the connubial endearments of her sleek and orthodox +mate. The old edition of Plutarch’s Lives, which lies +in the corner of your parlour window, has contributed to work you +up to the most romantic expectations of our Roman +behaviour. You are persuaded that Lord Amherst will defend +Kew Bridge like Cocles; that some maid of honour will break away +from her captivity, and swim over the Thames; that the Duke of +York will burn his capitulating hand; and little Mr. Sturges +Bourne give forty years’ purchase for Moulsham Hall, while +the French are encamped upon it. I hope we shall witness +all this, if the French do come; but in the meantime I am so +enchanted with the ordinary English behaviour of these invaluable +persons, that I earnestly pray no opportunity may be given them +for Roman valour, and for those very un-Roman pensions which they +would all, of course, take especial care to claim in +consequence. But whatever was our conduct, if every +ploughman was as great a hero as he who was called from his oxen +to save Rome from her enemies, I should still say, that at such a +crisis you want the affections of all your subjects in both +islands: there is no spirit which you must alienate, no art you +must avert, every man must feel he has a country, and that there +is an urgent and pressing cause why he should expose himself to +death.</p> +<p>The effects of penal laws in matters of religion are never +confined to those limits in which the legislature intended they +should be placed: it is not only that I am excluded from certain +offices and dignities because I am a Catholic, but the exclusion +carries with it a certain stigma, which degrades me in the eyes +of the monopolising sect, and the very name of my religion +becomes odious. These effects are so very striking in +England, that I solemnly believe blue and red baboons to be more +popular here than Catholics and Presbyterians; they are more +understood, and there is a greater disposition to do something +for them. When a country squire hears of an ape, his first +feeling is to give it nuts and apples; when he hears of a +Dissenter, his immediate impulse is to commit it to the county +gaol, to shave its head, to alter its customary food, and to have +it privately whipped. This is no caricature, but an +accurate picture of national feelings, as they degrade and +endanger us at this very moment. The Irish Catholic +gentleman would bear his legal disabilities with greater temper, +if these were all he had to bear—if they did not enable +every Protestant cheese-monger and tide-waiter to treat him with +contempt. He is branded on the forehead with a red-hot +iron, and treated like a spiritual felon, because in the highest +of all considerations he is led by the noblest of all guides, his +own disinterested conscience.</p> +<p>Why are nonsense and cruelty a bit the better because they are +enacted? If Providence, which gives wine and oil, had +blessed us with that tolerant spirit which makes the countenance +more pleasant and the heart more glad than these can do; if our +Statute Book had never been defiled with such infamous laws, the +sepulchral Spencer Perceval would have been hauled through the +dirtiest horse-pond in Hampstead, had he ventured to propose +them. But now persecution is good, because it exists; every +law which originated in ignorance and malice, and gratifies the +passions from whence it sprang, we call the wisdom of our +ancestors: when such laws are repealed, they will be cruelty and +madness; till they are repealed, they are policy and caution.</p> +<p>I was somewhat amused with the imputation brought against the +Catholics by the University of Oxford, that they are enemies to +liberty. I immediately turned to my “History of +England,” and marked as an historical error that passage in +which it is recorded that, in the reign of Queen Anne, the famous +degree of the University of Oxford respecting passive obedience, +was ordered by the House of Lords to be burnt by the hands of the +common hangman, as contrary to the liberty of the subject and the +law of the land. Nevertheless, I wish, whatever be the +modesty of those who impute, that the imputation was a little +more true, the Catholic cause would not be quite so desperate +with the present. Administration. I fear, however, +that the hatred to liberty in these poor devoted wretches may ere +long appear more doubtful than it is at present to the +Vice-Chancellor and his Clergy, inflamed as they doubtless are +with classical examples of republican virtue, and panting, as +they always have been, to reduce the power of the Crown within +narrower and safer limits. What mistaken zeal to attempt to +connect one religion with freedom and another with slavery! +Who laid the foundations of English liberty? What was the +mixed religion of Switzerland? What has the Protestant +religion done for liberty in Denmark, in Sweden, throughout the +north of Germany, and in Prussia? The purest religion in +the world, in my humble opinion, is the religion of the Church of +England: for its preservation (so far as it is exercised without +intruding upon the liberties of others) I am ready at this moment +to venture my present life, and but through that religion I have +no hopes of any other; yet I am not forced to be silly because I +am pious; nor will I ever join in eulogiums on my faith which +every man of common reading and common sense can so easily +refute.</p> +<p>You have either done too much for the Catholics, worthy +Abraham, or too little; if you had intended to refuse them +political power, you should have refused them civil rights. +After you had enabled them to acquire property, after you had +conceded to them all that you did concede in ’78 and +’93, the rest is wholly out of your power: you may choose +whether you will give the rest in an honourable or a disgraceful +mode, but it is utterly out of your power to withhold it.</p> +<p>In the last year, land to the amount of <i>eight hundred +thousand pounds</i> was purchased by the Catholics in +Ireland. Do you think it possible to be-Perceval, and +be-Canning, and be-Castlereagh, such a body of men as this out of +their common rights, and their common sense? Mr. George +Canning may laugh and joke at the idea of Protestant bailiffs +ravishing Catholic ladies, under the 9th clause of the Sunset +Bill; but if some better remedy be not applied to the +distractions of Ireland than the jocularity of Mr. Canning, they +will soon put an end to his pension, and to the pension of those +“near and dear relatives,” for whose eating, +drinking, washing, and clothing, every man in the United Kingdoms +now pays his two-pence or three-pence a year. You may call +these observations coarse, if you please; but I have no idea that +the Sophias and Carolines of any man breathing are to eat +national veal, to drink public tea, to wear Treasury ribands, and +then that we are to be told that it is coarse to animadvert upon +this pitiful and eleemosynary splendour. If this is right, +why not mention it? If it is wrong, why should not he who +enjoys the ease of supporting his sisters in this manner bear the +shame of it? Everybody seems hitherto to have spared a man +who never spares anybody.</p> +<p>As for the enormous wax candles, and superstitious mummeries, +and painted jackets of the Catholic priests, I fear them +not. Tell me that the world will return again under the +influence of the smallpox; that Lord Castlereagh will hereafter +oppose the power of the Court; that Lord Howick and Mr. Grattan +will do each of them a mean and dishonourable action; that +anybody who has heard Lord Redesdale speak once will knowingly +and willingly hear him again; that Lord Eldon has assented to the +fact of two and two making four, without shedding tears, or +expressing the smallest doubt or scruple; tell me any other thing +absurd or incredible, but, for the love of common sense, let me +hear no more of the danger to be apprehended from the general +diffusion of Popery. It is too absurd to be reasoned upon; +every man feels it is nonsense when he hears it stated, and so +does every man while he is stating it.</p> +<p>I cannot imagine why the friends to the Church Establishment +should enter in such a horror of seeing the doors of Parliament +flung open to the Catholics, and view so passively the enjoyment +of that right by the Presbyterians and by every other species of +Dissenter. In their tenets, in their Church Government, in +the nature of their endowments, the Dissenters are infinitely +more distant from the Church of England than the Catholics are; +yet the Dissenters have never been excluded from +Parliament. There are 45 members in one House, and 16 in +the other, who always are Dissenters. There is no law which +would prevent every member of the Lords and Commons from being +Dissenters. The Catholics could not bring into Parliament +half the number of the Scotch members; and yet one exclusion is +of such immense importance, because it has taken place; and the +other no human being thinks of, because no one is accustomed to +it. I have often thought, if the <i>wisdom of our +ancestors</i> had excluded all persons with red hair from the +House of Commons, of the throes and convulsions it would occasion +to restore them to their natural rights. What mobs and +riots would it produce! To what infinite abuse and obloquy +would the capillary patriot be exposed; what wormwood would +distil from Mr. Perceval, what froth would drop from Mr. Canning; +how (I will not say <i>my</i>, but <i>our</i> Lord Hawkesbury, +for he belongs to us all)—how our Lord Hawkesbury would +work away about the hair of King William and Lord Somers, and the +authors of the great and glorious Revolution; how Lord Eldon +would appeal to the Deity and his own virtues, and to the hair of +his children: some would say that red-haired men were +superstitious; some would prove they were atheists; they would be +petitioned against as the friends of slavery, and the advocates +for revolt; in short, such a corruptor of the heart and +understanding is the spirit of persecution, that these +unfortunate people (conspired against by their fellow-subjects of +every complexion), if they did not emigrate to countries where +hair of another colour was persecuted, would be driven to the +falsehood of perukes, or the hypocrisy of the Tricosian +fluid.</p> +<p>As for the dangers of the Church (in spite of the staggering +events which have lately taken place), I have not yet entirely +lost my confidence in the power of common sense, and I believe +the Church to be in no danger at all; but if it is, that danger +is not from the Catholics, but from the Methodists, and from that +patent Christianity which has been for some time manufacturing at +Clapham, to the prejudice of the old and admirable article +prepared by the Church. I would counsel my lords the +Bishops to keep their eyes upon that holy village, and its +vicinity; they will find there a zeal in making converts far +superior to anything which exists among the Catholics; a contempt +for the great mass of English clergy, much more rooted and +profound; and a regular fund to purchase livings for those +groaning and garrulous gentlemen whom they denominate (by a +standing sarcasm against the regular Church) Gospel preachers and +vital clergymen. I am too firm a believer in the general +propriety and respectability of the English clergy, to believe +they have much to fear either from old nonsense or from new; but +if the Church must be supposed to be in danger, I prefer that +nonsense which is grown half venerable from time, the force of +which I have already tried and baffled, which at least has some +excuse in the dark and ignorant ages in which it +originated. The religious enthusiasm manufactured by living +men before my own eyes disgusts my understanding as much, +influences my imagination not at all, and excites my +apprehensions much more.</p> +<p>I may have seemed to you to treat the situation of public +affairs with some degree of levity; but I feel it deeply, and +with nightly and daily anguish; because I know Ireland; I have +known it all my life; I love it, and I foresee the crisis to +which it will soon be exposed. Who can doubt but that +Ireland will experience ultimately from France a treatment to +which the conduct they have experienced from England is the love +of a parent, or a brother? Who can doubt but that five +years after he has got hold of the country, Ireland will be +tossed away by Bonaparte as a present to some one of his ruffian +generals, who will knock the head of Mr. Keogh against the head +of Cardinal Troy, shoot twenty of the most noisy blockheads of +the Roman persuasion, wash his pug-dogs in holy water, and +confiscate the salt butter of the Milesian republic to the last +tub? But what matters this? or who is wise enough in +Ireland to heed it? or when had common sense much influence with +my poor dear Irish? Mr. Perceval does not know the Irish; +but I know them, and I know that at every rash and mad hazard +they will break the Union, revenge their wounded pride and their +insulted religion, and fling themselves into the open arms of +France, sure of dying in the embrace. And now, what means +have you of guarding against this coming evil, upon which the +future happiness or misery of every Englishman depends? +Have you a single ally in the whole world? Is there a +vulnerable point in the French empire where the astonishing +resources of that people can be attracted and employed? +Have you a ministry wise enough to comprehend the danger, manly +enough to believe unpleasant intelligence, honest enough to state +their apprehensions at the peril of their places? Is there +anywhere the slightest disposition to join any measure of love, +or conciliation, or hope, with that dreadful bill which the +distractions of Ireland have rendered necessary? At the +very moment that the last Monarchy in Europe has fallen, are we +not governed by a man of pleasantry, and a man of theology? +In the six hundredth year of our empire over Ireland, have we any +memorial of ancient kindness to refer to? any people, any zeal, +any country on which we can depend? Have we any hope, but +in the winds of heaven and the tides of the sea? any prayer to +prefer to the Irish, but that they should forget and forgive +their oppressors, who, in the very moment that they are calling +upon them for their exertions, solemnly assure them that the +oppression shall still remain?</p> +<p>Abraham, farewell! If I have tired you, remember how +often you have tired me and others. I do not think we +really differ in politics so much as you suppose; or at least, if +we do, that difference is in the means, and not in the end. +We both love the Constitution, respect the King, and abhor the +French. But though you love the Constitution, you would +perpetuate the abuses which have been engrafted upon it; though +you respect the King, you would confirm his scruples against the +Catholics; though you abhor the French, you would open to them +the conquest of Ireland. My method of respecting my +sovereign is by protecting his honour, his empire, and his +lasting happiness; I evince my love of the Constitution by making +it the guardian of all men’s rights and the source of their +freedom; and I prove my abhorrence of the French, by uniting +against them the disciples of every church in the only remaining +nation in Europe. As for the men of whom I have been +compelled in this age of mediocrity to say so much, they cannot +of themselves be worth a moment’s consideration, to you, to +me, or to anybody. In a year after their death they will be +forgotten as completely as if they had never been; and are now of +no further importance than as they are the mere vehicles of +carrying into effect the common-place and mischievous prejudices +of the times in which they live.</p> +<h3>LETTER VI.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Abraham</span>,—What amuses me +the most is to hear of the <i>indulgences</i> which the Catholics +have received, and their exorbitance in not being satisfied with +those indulgences: now if you complain to me that a man is +obtrusive and shameless in his requests, and that it is +impossible to bring him to reason, I must first of all hear the +whole of your conduct towards him; for you may have taken from +him so much in the first instance that, in spite of a long series +of restitution, a vast latitude for petition may still remain +behind.</p> +<p>There is a village, no matter where, in which the inhabitants, +on one day in the year, sit down to a dinner prepared at the +common expense: by an extraordinary piece of tyranny, which Lord +Hawkesbury would call the wisdom of the village ancestors, the +inhabitants of three of the streets, about a hundred years ago, +seized upon the inhabitants of the fourth street, bound them hand +and foot, laid them upon their backs, and compelled them to look +on while the rest were stuffing themselves with beef and beer; +the next year the inhabitants of the persecuted street, though +they contributed an equal quota of the expense, were treated +precisely in the same manner. The tyranny grew into a +custom; and, as the manner of our nature is, it was considered as +the most sacred of all duties to keep these poor fellows without +their annual dinner. The village was so tenacious of this +practice, that nothing could induce them to resign it; every +enemy to it was looked upon as a disbeliever in Divine +Providence, and any nefarious churchwarden who wished to succeed +in his election had nothing to do but to represent his antagonist +as an abolitionist, in order to frustrate his ambition, endanger +his life, and throw the village into a state of the most dreadful +commotion. By degrees, however, the obnoxious street grew +to be so well peopled, and its inhabitants so firmly united, that +their oppressors, more afraid of injustice, were more disposed to +be just. At the next dinner they are unbound, the year +after allowed to sit upright, then a bit of bread and a glass of +water; till at last, after a long series of concessions, they are +emboldened to ask, in pretty plain terms, that they may be +allowed to sit down at the bottom of the table, and to fill their +bellies as well as the rest. Forthwith a general cry of +shame and scandal: “Ten years ago, were you not laid upon +your backs? Don’t you remember what a great thing you +thought it to get a piece of bread? How thankful you were +for cheese parings? Have you forgotten that memorable era, +when the lord of the manor interfered to obtain for you a slice +of the public pudding? And now, with an audacity only +equalled by your ingratitude, you have the impudence to ask for +knives and forks, and to request, in terms too plain to be +mistaken, that you may sit down to table with the rest, and be +indulged even with beef and beer: there are not more than half a +dozen dishes which we have reserved for ourselves; the rest has +been thrown open to you in the utmost profusion; you have +potatoes, and carrots, suet dumplings, sops in the pan, and +delicious toast and water in incredible quantities. Beef, +mutton, lamb, pork, and veal are ours; and if you were not the +most restless and dissatisfied of human beings, you would never +think of aspiring to enjoy them.”</p> +<p>Is not this, my dainty Abraham, the very nonsense and the very +insult which is talked to and practised upon the Catholics? +You are surprised that men who have tasted of partial justice +should ask for perfect justice; that he who has been robbed of +coat and cloak will not be contented with the restitution of one +of his garments. He would be a very lazy blockhead if he +were content, and I (who, though an inhabitant of the village, +have preserved, thank God, some sense of justice) most earnestly +counsel these half-fed claimants to persevere in their just +demands, till they are admitted to a more complete share of a +dinner for which they pay as much as the others; and if they see +a little attenuated lawyer squabbling at the head of their +opponents, let them desire him to empty his pockets, and to pull +out all the pieces of duck, fowl, and pudding which he has +filched from the public feast, to carry home to his wife and +children.</p> +<p>You parade a great deal upon the vast concessions made by this +country to the Irish before the Union. I deny that any +voluntary concession was ever made by England to Ireland. +What did Ireland ever ask that was granted? What did she +ever demand that was not refused? How did she get her +Mutiny Bill—a limited Parliament—a repeal of +Poyning’s Law—a constitution? Not by the +concessions of England, but by her fears. When Ireland +asked for all these things upon her knees, her petitions were +rejected with Percevalism and contempt; when she demanded them +with the voice of 60,000 armed men, they were granted with every +mark of consternation and dismay. Ask of Lord Auckland the +fatal consequences of trifling with such a people as the +Irish. He himself was the organ of these refusals. As +secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, the insolence and the tyranny +of this country passed through his hands. Ask him if he +remembers the consequences. Ask him if he has forgotten +that memorable evening when he came down booted and mantled to +the House of Commons, when he told the House he was about to set +off for Ireland that night, and declared before God, if he did +not carry with him a compliance with all their demands, Ireland +was for ever lost to this country. The present generation +have forgotten this; but I have not forgotten it; and I know, +hasty and undignified as the submission of England then was, that +Lord Auckland was right, that the delay of a single day might +very probably have separated the two peoples for ever. The +terms submission and fear are galling terms when applied from the +lesser nation to the greater; but it is the plain historical +truth, it is the natural consequence of injustice, it is the +predicament in which every country places itself which leaves +such a mass of hatred and discontent by its side. No empire +is powerful enough to endure it; it would exhaust the strength of +China, and sink it with all its mandarins and tea-kettles to the +bottom of the deep. By refusing them justice now when you +are strong enough to refuse them anything more than justice, you +will act over again, with the Catholics, the same scene of mean +and precipitate submission which disgraced you before America, +and before the volunteers of Ireland. We shall live to hear +the Hampstead Protestant pronouncing such extravagant panegyrics +upon holy water, and paying such fulsome compliments to the +thumbs and offals of departed saints, that parties will change +sentiments, and Lord Henry Petty and Sam Whitbread take a spell +at No Popery. The wisdom of Mr. Fox was alike employed in +teaching his country justice when Ireland was weak, and dignity +when Ireland was strong. We are fast pacing round the same +miserable circle of ruin and imbecility. Alas! where is our +guide?</p> +<p>You say that Ireland is a millstone about our necks; that it +would be better for us if Ireland were sunk at the bottom of the +sea; that the Irish are a nation of irreclaimable savages and +barbarians. How often have I heard these sentiments fall +from the plump and thoughtless squire, and from the thriving +English shopkeeper, who has never felt the rod of an Orange +master upon his back. Ireland a millstone about your +neck! Why is it not a stone of Ajax in your hand? I +agree with you most cordially that, governed as Ireland now is, +it would be a vast accession of strength if the waves of the sea +were to rise and engulf her to-morrow. At this moment, +opposed as we are to all the world, the annihilation of one of +the most fertile islands on the face of the globe, containing +five millions of human creatures, would be one of the most solid +advantages which could happen to this country. I doubt very +much, in spite of all the just abuse which has been lavished upon +Bonaparte, whether there is any one of his conquered countries +the blotting out of which would be as beneficial to him as the +destruction of Ireland would be to us: of countries I speak +differing in language from the French, little habituated to their +intercourse, and inflamed with all the resentments of a +recently-conquered people. Why will you attribute the +turbulence of our people to any cause but the right—to any +cause but your own scandalous oppression? If you tie your +horse up to a gate, and beat him cruelly, is he vicious because +he kicks you? If you have plagued and worried a mastiff dog +for years, is he mad because he flies at you whenever he sees +you? Hatred is an active, troublesome passion. Depend +upon it, whole nations have always some reason for their +hatred. Before you refer the turbulence of the Irish to +incurable defects in their character, tell me if you have treated +them as friends and equals? Have you protected their +commerce? Have you respected their religion? Have you +been as anxious for their freedom as your own? Nothing of +all this. What then? Why you have confiscated the +territorial surface of the country twice over: you have massacred +and exported her inhabitants: you have deprived four-fifths of +them of every civil privilege: you have at every period made her +commerce and manufactures slavishly subordinate to your own: and +yet the hatred which the Irish bear to you is the result of an +original turbulence of character, and of a primitive, obdurate +wildness, utterly incapable of civilisation. The +embroidered inanities and the sixth-form effusions of Mr. Canning +are really not powerful enough to make me believe this; nor is +there any authority on earth (always excepting the Dean of Christ +Church) which could make it credible to me. I am sick of +Mr. Canning. There is not a “ha’porth of bread +to all this sugar and sack.” I love not the +cretaceous and incredible countenance of his colleague. The +only opinion in which I agree with these two gentlemen is that +which they entertain of each other. I am sure that the +insolence of Mr. Pitt, and the unbalanced accounts of Melville, +were far better than the perils of this new ignorance:—</p> +<blockquote><p>Nonne fuit satiùs, ristes Amaryllidis +iras<br /> +Atque superba pati fastidia? nonne Menalcan?<br /> +Quamvis ille <i>niger</i>?</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In the midst of the most profound peace, the secret articles +of the Treaty of Tilsit, in which the destruction of Ireland is +resolved upon, induce you to rob the Danes of their fleet. +After the expedition sailed comes the Treaty of Tilsit, +containing no article, public or private, alluding to +Ireland. The state of the world, you tell me, justified us +in doing this. Just God! do we think only of the state of +the world when there is an opportunity for robbery, for murder, +and for plunder; and do we forget the state of the world when we +are called upon to be wise, and good, and just? Does the +state of the world never remind us that we have four millions of +subjects whose injuries we ought to atone for, and whose +affections we ought to conciliate? Does the state of the +world never warn us to lay aside our infernal bigotry, and to arm +every man who acknowledges a God, and can grasp a sword? +Did it never occur to this administration that they might +virtuously get hold of a force ten times greater than the force +of the Danish fleet? Was there no other way of protecting +Ireland but by bringing eternal shame upon Great Britain, and by +making the earth a den of robbers? See what the men whom +you have supplanted would have done. They would have +rendered the invasion of Ireland impossible, by restoring to the +Catholics their long-lost rights: they would have acted in such a +manner that the French would neither have wished for invasion nor +dared to attempt it: they would have increased the permanent +strength of the country while they preserved its reputation +unsullied. Nothing of this kind your friends have done, +because they are solemnly pledged to do nothing of this kind; +because, to tolerate all religions, and to equalise civil rights +to all sects, is to oppose some of the worst passions of our +nature—to plunder and to oppress is to gratify them +all. They wanted the huzzas of mobs, and they have for ever +blasted the fame of England to obtain them. Were the fleets +of Holland, France, and Spain destroyed by larceny? You +resisted the power of 150 sail of the line by sheer courage, and +violated every principle of morals from the dread of fifteen +hulks, while the expedition itself cost you three times more than +the value of the larcenous matter brought away. The French +trample on the laws of God and man, not for old cordage, but for +kingdoms, and always take care to be well paid for their +crimes. We contrive, under the present administration, to +unite moral with intellectual deficiency, and to grow weaker and +worse by the same action. If they had any evidence of the +intended hostility of the Danes, why was it not produced? +Why have the nations of Europe been allowed to feel an +indignation against this country beyond the reach of all +subsequent information? Are these times, do you imagine, +when we can trifle with a year of universal hatred, dally with +the curses of Europe, and then regain a lost character at +pleasure, by the parliamentary perspirations of the Foreign +Secretary, or the solemn asseverations of the pecuniary +Rose? Believe me, Abraham, it is not under such ministers +as these that the dexterity of honest Englishmen will ever equal +the dexterity of French knaves; it is not in their presence that +the serpent of Moses will ever swallow up the serpents of the +magician.</p> +<p>Lord Hawkesbury says that nothing is to be granted to the +Catholics from fear. What! not even justice? Why +not? There are four millions of disaffected people within +twenty miles of your own coast. I fairly confess that the +dread which I have of their physical power is with me a very +strong motive for listening to their claims. To talk of not +acting from fear, is mere parliamentary cant. From what +motive but fear, I should be glad to know, have all the +improvements in our constitution proceeded? I question if +any justice has ever been done to large masses of mankind from +any other motive. By what other motives can the plunderers +of the Baltic suppose nations to be governed in their intercourse +<i>with each other</i>? If I say, Give this people what +they ask because it is just, do you think I should get ten people +to listen to me? Would not the lesser of the two Jenkinsons +be the first to treat me with contempt? The only true way +to make the mass of mankind see the beauty of justice is by +showing to them, in pretty plain terms, the consequences of +injustice. If any body of French troops land in Ireland, +the whole population of that country will rise against you to a +man, and you could not possibly survive such an event three +years. Such, from the bottom of my soul, do I believe to be +the present state of that country; and so far does it appear to +me to be impolitic and unstatesman-like to concede anything to +such a danger, that if the Catholics, in addition to their +present just demands, were to petition for the perpetual removal +of the said Lord Hawkesbury from his Majesty’s councils, I +think, whatever might be the effect upon the destinies of Europe, +and however it might retard our own individual destruction, that +the prayer of the petition should be instantly complied +with. Canning’s crocodile tears should not move me; +the hoops of the maids of honour should not hide him. I +would tear him from the banisters of the back stairs, and plunge +him in the fishy fumes of the dirtiest of all his Cinque +Ports.</p> +<h3>LETTER VII.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Abraham</span>,—In the +correspondence which is passing between us, you are perpetually +alluding to the Foreign Secretary; and in answer to the dangers +of Ireland, which I am pressing upon your notice, you have +nothing to urge but the confidence which you repose in the +discretion and sound sense of this gentleman. I can only +say, that I have listened to him long and often with the greatest +attention; I have used every exertion in my power to take a fair +measure of him, and it appears to me impossible to hear him upon +any arduous topic without perceiving that he is eminently +deficient in those solid and serious qualities upon which, and +upon which alone, the confidence of a great country can properly +repose. He sweats and labours, and works for sense, and Mr. +Ellis seems always to think it is coming, but it does not come; +the machine can’t draw up what is not to be found in the +spring; Providence has made him a light, jesting, +paragraph-writing man, and that he will remain to his dying +day. When he is jocular he is strong, when he is serious he +is like Samson in a wig; any ordinary person is a match for him: +a song, an ironical letter, a burlesque ode, an attack in the +newspaper upon Nicoll’s eye, a smart speech of twenty +minutes, full of gross misrepresentations and clever turns, +excellent language, a spirited manner, lucky quotation, success +in provoking dull men, some half information picked up in Pall +Mall in the morning; these are your friend’s natural +weapons; all these things he can do: here I allow him to be truly +great; nay, I will be just, and go still further, if he would +confine himself to these things, and consider the <i>facete</i> +and the playful to be the basis of his character, he would, for +that species of man, be universally regarded as a person of a +very good understanding; call him a legislator, a reasoner, and +the conductor of the affairs of a great nation, and it seems to +me as absurd as if a butterfly were to teach bees to make +honey. That he is an extraordinary writer of small poetry, +and a diner out of the highest lustre, I do most readily +admit. After George Selwyn, and perhaps Tickell, there has +been no such man for this half-century. The Foreign +Secretary is a gentleman, a respectable as well as a highly +agreeable man in private life; but you may as well feed me with +decayed potatoes as console me for the miseries of Ireland by the +resources of his <i>sense</i> and his <i>discretion</i>. It +is only the public situation which this gentleman holds which +entitles me or induces me to say so much about him. He is a +fly in amber, nobody cares about the fly; the only question is, +How the devil did it get there? Nor do I attack him for the +love of glory, but from the love of utility, as a burgomaster +hunts a rat in a Dutch dyke, for fear it should flood a +province.</p> +<p>The friends of the Catholic question are, I observe, extremely +embarrassed in arguing when they come to the loyalty of the Irish +Catholics. As for me, I shall go straight forward to my +object, and state what I have no manner of doubt, from an +intimate knowledge of Ireland, to be the plain truth. Of +the great Roman Catholic proprietors, and of the Catholic +prelates, there may be a few, and but a few, who would follow the +fortunes of England at all events: there is another set of men +who, thoroughly detesting this country, have too much property +and too much character to lose, not to wait for some very +favourable event before they show themselves; but the great mass +of Catholic population, upon the slightest appearance of a French +force in that country, would rise upon you to a man. It is +the most mistaken policy to conceal the plain truth. There +is no loyalty among the Catholics: they detest you as their worst +oppressors, and they will continue to detest you till you remove +the cause of their hatred. It is in your power in six +months’ time to produce a total revolution of opinions +among this people; and in some future letter I will show you that +this is clearly the case. At present, see what a dreadful +in state Ireland is in. The common toast among the low +Irish is, the feast of the <i>passover</i>. Some allusion +to <i>Bonaparte</i>, in a play lately acted at Dublin, produced +thunders of applause from the pit and the galleries; and a +politician should not be inattentive to the public feelings +expressed in theatres. Mr. Perceval thinks he has disarmed +the Irish: he has no more disarmed the Irish than he has resigned +a shilling of his own public emoluments. An Irish peasant +fills the barrel of his gun full of tow dipped in oil, butters up +the lock, buries it in a bog, and allows the Orange bloodhound to +ransack his cottage at pleasure. Be just and kind to the +Irish, and you will indeed disarm them; rescue them from the +degraded servitude in which they are held by a handful of their +own countrymen, and you will add four millions of brave and +affectionate men to your strength. Nightly visits, +Protestant inspectors, licenses to possess a pistol, or a knife +and fork, the odious vigour of the <i>evangelical</i> +Perceval—acts of Parliament, drawn up by some English +attorney, to save you from the hatred of four millions of +people—the guarding yourselves from universal disaffection +by a police; a confidence in the little cunning of Bow Street, +when you might rest your security upon the eternal basis of the +best feelings: this is the meanness and madness to which nations +are reduced when they lose sight of the first elements of +justice, without which a country can be no more secure than it +can be healthy without air. I sicken at such policy and +such men. The fact is, the Ministers know nothing about the +present state of Ireland; Mr. Perceval sees a few clergymen, Lord +Castlereagh a few general officers, who take care, of course, to +report what is pleasant rather than what is true. As for +the joyous and lepid consul, he jokes upon neutral flags and +frauds, jokes upon Irish rebels, jokes upon northern and western +and southern foes, and gives himself no trouble upon any subject; +nor is the mediocrity of the idolatrous deputy of the slightest +use. Dissolved in grins, he reads no memorials upon the +state of Ireland, listens to no reports, asks no questions, and +is the</p> +<blockquote><p>“<i>Bourn</i> from whom no traveller +returns.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The danger of an immediate insurrection is now, I +<i>believe</i>, blown over. You have so strong an army in +Ireland, and the Irish are become so much more cunning from the +last insurrection, that you may perhaps be tolerably secure just +at present from that evil: but are you secure from the efforts +which the French may make to throw a body of troops into Ireland? +and do you consider that event to be difficult and +improbable? From Brest Harbour to Cape St. Vincent, you +have above three thousand miles of hostile sea coast, and twelve +or fourteen harbours quite capable of containing a sufficient +force for the powerful invasion of Ireland. The nearest of +these harbours is not two days’ sail from the southern +coast of Ireland, with a fair leading wind; and the furthest not +ten. Five ships of the line, for so very short a passage, +might carry five or six thousand troops with cannon and +ammunition; and Ireland presents to their attack a southern coast +of more than 500 miles, abounding in deep bays, admirable +harbours, and disaffected inhabitants. Your blockading +ships may be forced to come home for provisions and repairs, or +they may be blown off in a gale of wind and compelled to bear +away for their own coast; and you will observe that the very same +wind which locks you up in the British Channel, when you are got +there, is evidently favourable for the invasion of Ireland. +And yet this is called Government, and the people huzza Mr. +Perceval for continuing to expose his country day after day to +such tremendous perils as these; cursing the men who would have +given up a question in theology to have saved us from such a +risk. The British empire at this moment is in the state of +a peach-blossom—if the wind blows gently from one quarter, +it survives; if furiously from the other, it perishes. A +stiff breeze may set in from the north, the Rochefort squadron +will be taken, and the Minister will be the most holy of men: if +it comes from some other point, Ireland is gone; we curse +ourselves as a set of monastic madmen, and call out for the +unavailing satisfaction of Mr. Perceval’s head. Such +a state of political existence is scarcely credible: it is the +action of a mad young fool standing upon one foot, and peeping +down the crater of Mount Ætna, not the conduct of a wise +and sober people deciding upon their best and dearest interests: +and in the name, the much-injured name, of heaven, what is it all +for that we expose ourselves to these dangers? Is it that +we may sell more muslin? Is it that we may acquire more +territory? Is it that we may strengthen what we have +already acquired? No; nothing of all this; but that one set +of Irishmen may torture another set of Irishmen—that Sir +Phelim O’Callaghan may continue to whip Sir Toby +M’Tackle, his next door neighbour, and continue to ravish +his Catholic daughters; and these are the measures which the +honest and consistent Secretary supports; and this is the +Secretary whose genius in the estimation of Brother Abraham is to +extinguish the genius of Bonaparte. Pompey was killed by a +slave, Goliath smitten by a stripling, Pyrrhus died by the hand +of a woman; tremble, thou great Gaul, from whose head an armed +Minerva leaps forth in the hour of danger; tremble, thou scourge +of God, a pleasant man is come out against thee, and thou shalt +be laid low by a joker of jokes, and he shall talk his pleasant +talk against thee, and thou shalt be no more!</p> +<p>You tell me, in spite of all this parade of sea-coast, +Bonaparte has neither ships nor sailors: but this is a +mistake. He has not ships and sailors to contest the empire +of the seas with Great Britain, but there remains quite +sufficient of the navies of France, Spain, Holland, and Denmark, +for these short excursions and invasions. Do you think, +too, that Bonaparte does not add to his navy every year? Do +you suppose, with all Europe at his feet, that he can find any +difficulty in obtaining timber, and that money will not procure +for him any quantity of naval stores he may want? The mere +machine, the empty ship, he can build as well, and as quickly, as +you can; and though he may not find enough of practised sailors +to man large fighting-fleets—it is not possible to conceive +that he can want sailors for such sort of purposes as I have +stated. He is at present the despotic monarch of above +twenty thousand miles of sea-coast, and yet you suppose he cannot +procure sailors for the invasion of Ireland. Believe, if +you please, that such a fleet met at sea by any number of our +ships at all comparable to them in point of force, would be +immediately taken, let it be so; I count nothing upon their power +of resistance, only upon their power of escaping +unobserved. If experience has taught us anything, it is the +impossibility of perpetual blockades. The instances are +innumerable, during the course of this war, where whole fleets +have sailed in and out of harbour, in spite of every vigilance +used to prevent it. I shall only mention those cases where +Ireland is concerned. In December, 1796, seven ships of the +line, and ten transports, reached Bantry Bay from Brest, without +having seen an English ship in their passage. It blew a +storm when they were off shore, and therefore England still +continues to be an independent kingdom. You will observe +that at the very time the French fleet sailed out of Brest +Harbour, Admiral Colpoys was cruising off there with a powerful +squadron, and still, from the particular circumstances of the +weather, found it impossible to prevent the French from coming +out. During the time that Admiral Colpoys was cruising off +Brest, Admiral Richery, with six ships of the line, passed him, +and got safe into the harbour. At the very moment when the +French squadron was lying in Bantry Bay, Lord Bridport with his +fleet was locked up by a foul wind in the Channel, and for +several days could not stir to the assistance of Ireland. +Admiral Colpoys, totally unable to find the French fleet, came +home. Lord Bridport, at the change of the wind, cruised for +them in vain, and they got safe back to Brest, without having +seen a single one of those floating bulwarks, the possession of +which we believe will enable us with impunity to set justice and +common sense at defiance.</p> +<p>Such is the miserable and precarious state of an anemocracy, +of a people who put their trust in hurricanes, and are governed +by wind. In August, 1798, three forty-gun frigates landed +1,100 men under Humbert, making the passage from Rochelle to +Killala without seeing any English ship. In October of the +same year, four French frigates anchored in Killala Bay with +2,000 troops; and though they did not land their troops, they +returned to France in safety. In the same month, a +line-of-battle ship, eight stout frigates, and a brig, all full +of troops and stores, reached the coast of Ireland, and were +fortunately, in sight of land, destroyed, after an obstinate +engagement, by Sir John Warren.</p> +<p>If you despise the little troop which, in these numerous +experiments, did make good its landing, take with you, if you +please, this <i>prècis</i> of its exploits: eleven hundred +men, commanded by a soldier raised from the ranks, put to rout a +select army of 6,000 men, commanded by General Lake, seized their +ordnance, ammunition, and stores, advanced 150 miles into a +country containing an armed force of 150,000 men, and at last +surrendered to the Viceroy, an experienced general, gravely and +cautiously advancing at the head of all his chivalry and of an +immense army to oppose him. You must excuse these details +about Ireland, but it appears to me to be of all other subjects +the most important. If we conciliate Ireland, we can do +nothing amiss; if we do not, we can do nothing well. If +Ireland was friendly, we might equally set at defiance the +talents of Bonaparte and the blunders of his rival, Mr. Canning; +we could then support the ruinous and silly bustle of our useless +expeditions, and the almost incredible ignorance of our +commercial orders in council. Let the present +administration give up but this one point, and there is nothing +which I would not consent to grant them. Mr. Perceval shall +have full liberty to insult the tomb of Mr. Fox, and to torment +every eminent Dissenter in Great Britain; Lord Camden shall have +large boxes of plums; Mr. Rose receive permission to prefix to +his name the appellative of virtuous; and to the Viscount +Castlereagh a round sum of ready money shall be well and truly +paid into his hand. Lastly, what remains to Mr. George +Canning, but that he ride up and down Pall Mall glorious upon a +white horse, and that they cry out before him, Thus shall it be +done to the statesman who hath written “The Needy +Knife-Grinder,” and the German play? Adieu only for +the present; you shall soon hear from me again; it is a subject +upon which I cannot long be silent.</p> +<h2>LETTER VIII.</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Nothing</span> can be more erroneous than +to suppose that Ireland is not bigger than the Isle of Wight, or +of more consequence than Guernsey or Jersey; and yet I am almost +inclined to believe, from the general supineness which prevails +here respecting the dangerous state of that country, that such is +the rank which it holds in our statistical tables. I have +been writing to you a great deal about Ireland, and perhaps it +may be of some use to state to you concisely the nature and +resources of the country which has been the subject of our long +and strange correspondence. There were returned, as I have +before observed, to the hearth tax in 1791, 701,102 houses, which +Mr. Newenham shows from unquestionable documents to be nearly +80,000 below the real number of houses in that country. +There are 27,457 square English miles in Ireland, and more than +five millions of people.</p> +<p>By the last survey it appears that the inhabited houses in +England and Wales amount to 1,574,902, and the population to +9,343,578, which gives an average of 5.875 to each house, in a +country where the density of population is certainly less +considerable than in Ireland. It is commonly supposed that +two-fifths of the army and navy are Irishmen, at periods when +political disaffection does not avert the Catholics from the +service. The current value of Irish exports in 1807 was +£9,314,854 17s. 7d.; a state of commerce about equal to the +commerce of England in the middle of the reign of George +II. The tonnage of ships entered inward and cleared outward +in the trade of Ireland, in 1807, amounted to 1,567,430 +tons. The quantity of home spirits exported amounted to +10,284 gallons in 1796, and to 930,800 gallons in 1804. Of +the exports which I have stated, provisions amounted to four +millions, and linen to about four millions and a half. +There was exported from Ireland, upon an average of two years +ending in January, 1804, 591,274 barrels of barley, oats, and +wheat; and by weight 910,848 cwts. of flour, oatmeal, barley, +oats, and wheat. The amount of butter exported in 1804, +from Ireland, was worth, in money, £1,704,680 +sterling. The importation of ale and beer, from the immense +manufactures now carrying on of these articles, was diminished to +3,209 barrels, in the year 1804, from 111,920 barrels, which was +the average importation per annum, taking from three years ending +in 1792; and at present there is an export trade of porter. +On an average of three years, ending March, 1783, there were +imported into Ireland, of cotton wool, 3,326 cwts., of cotton +yarn, 5,405 lbs.; but on an average of three years, ending +January, 1803, there were imported, of the first article, 13,159 +cwts., and of the latter, 628,406 lbs. It is impossible to +conceive any manufacture more flourishing. The export of +linen has increased in Ireland from 17,776,862 yards, the average +in 1770, to 43,534,971 yards, the amount in 1805. The +tillage of Ireland has more than trebled within the last +twenty-one years. The importation of coals has increased +from 230,000 tons in 1783, to 417,030 in 1804; of tobacco, from +3,459,861 lbs. in 1783, to 6,611,543 in 1804; of tea, from +1,703,855 lbs. in 1783, to 3,358,256 in 1804; of sugar, from +143,117 cwts. in 1782, to 309,076 in 1804. Ireland now +supports a funded debt of above 64 millions, and it is computed +that more than three millions’ of money are annually +remitted to Irish absentees resident in this country. In +Mr. Foster’s report, of 100 folio pages, presented to the +House of Commons in the year 1806, the total expenditure of +Ireland is stated at £9,760,013. Ireland has +increased about two-thirds in its population within twenty-five +years, and yet, and in about the same space of time, its exports +of beef, bullocks, cows, pork, swine, butter, wheat, barley, and +oats, collectively taken, have doubled; and this, in spite of two +years’ famine, and the presence of an immense army, that is +always at hand to guard the most valuable appanage of our empire +from joining our most inveterate enemies. Ireland has the +greatest possible facilities for carrying on commerce with the +whole of Europe. It contains, within a circuit of 750 +miles, 66 secure harbours, and presents a western frontier +against Great Britain, reaching from the Firth of Clyde north to +the Bristol Channel south, and varying in distance from 20 to 100 +miles; so that the subjugation of Ireland would compel us to +guard with ships and soldiers a new line of coast, certainly +amounting, with all its sinuosities, to more than 700 +miles—an addition of polemics, in our present state of +hostility with all the world, which must highly gratify the +vigorists, and give them an ample opportunity of displaying that +foolish energy upon which their claims to distinction are +founded. Such is the country which the Right Reverend the +Chancellor of the Exchequer would drive into the arms of France, +and for the conciliation of which we are requested to wait, as if +it were one of those sinecure places which were given to Mr. +Perceval snarling at the breast, and which cannot be abolished +till his decease.</p> +<p>How sincerely and fervently have I often wished that the +Emperor of the French had thought as Mr. Spencer Perceval does +upon the subject of government; that he had entertained doubts +and scruples upon the propriety of admitting the Protestants to +an equality of rights with the Catholics, and that he had left in +the middle of his empire these vigorous seeds of hatred and +disaffection! But the world was never yet conquered by a +blockhead. One of the very first measures we saw him +recurring to was the complete establishment of religious liberty: +if his subjects fought and paid as he pleased, he allowed them to +believe as they pleased: the moment I saw this, my best hopes +were lost. I perceived in a moment the kind of man we had +to do with. I was well aware of the miserable ignorance and +folly of this country upon the subject of toleration; and every +year has been adding to the success of that game, which it was +clear he had the will and the ability to play against us.</p> +<p>You say Bonaparte is not in earnest upon the subject of +religion, and that this is the cause of his tolerant spirit; but +is it possible you can intend to give us such dreadful and +unamiable notions of religion. Are we to understand that +the moment a man is sincere he is narrow-minded; that persecution +is the child of belief; and that a desire to leave all men in the +quiet and unpunished exercise of their own creed can only exist +in the mind of an infidel? Thank God! I know many men whose +principles are as firm as they are expanded, who cling +tenaciously to their own modification of the Christian faith, +without the slightest disposition to force that modification upon +other people. If Bonaparte is liberal in subjects of +religion because he has no religion, is this a reason why we +should be illiberal because we are Christians? If he owes +this excellent quality to a vice, is that any reason why we may +not owe it to a virtue? Toleration is a great good, and a +good to be imitated, let it come from whom it will. If a +sceptic is tolerant, it only shows that he is not foolish in +practice as well as erroneous in theory. If a religious man +is tolerant, it evinces that he is religious from thought and +inquiry, because he exhibits in his conduct one of the most +beautiful and important consequences of a religious mind—an +inviolable charity to all the honest varieties of human +opinion.</p> +<p>Lord Sidmouth, and all the anti-Catholic people, little +foresee that they will hereafter be the sport of the antiquary; +that their prophecies of ruin and destruction from Catholic +emancipation will be clapped into the notes of some quaint +history, and be matter of pleasantry even to the sedulous +housewife and the rural dean. There is always a copious +supply of Lord Sidmouths in the world; nor is there one single +source of human happiness against which they have not uttered the +most lugubrious predictions. Turnpike roads, navigable +canals, inoculation, hops, tobacco, the Reformation, the +Revolution—there are always a set of worthy and +moderately-gifted men, who bawl out death and ruin upon every +valuable change which the varying aspect of human affairs +absolutely and imperiously requires. I have often thought +that it would be extremely useful to make a collection of the +hatred and abuse that all those changes have experienced, which +are now admitted to be marked improvements in our +condition. Such a history might make folly a little more +modest, and suspicious of its own decisions.</p> +<p>Ireland, you say, since the Union is to be considered as a +part of the whole kingdom; and therefore, however Catholics may +predominate in that particular spot, yet, taking the whole empire +together, they are to be considered as a much more insignificant +quota of the population. Consider them in what light you +please, as part of the whole, or by themselves, or in what manner +may be most consentaneous to the devices of your holy +mind—I say in a very few words, if you do not relieve these +people from the civil incapacities to which they are exposed, you +will lose them; or you must employ great strength and much +treasure in watching over them. In the present state of the +world you can afford to do neither the one nor the other. +Having stated this, I shall leave you to be ruined, Puffendorf in +hand (as Mr. Secretary Canning says), and to lose Ireland, just +as you have found out what proportion the aggrieved people should +bear to the whole population before their calamities meet with +redress. As for your parallel cases, I am no more afraid of +deciding upon them than I am upon their prototype. If ever +any one heresy should so far spread itself over the principality +of Wales that the Established Church were left in a minority of +one to four; if you had subjected these heretics to very severe +civil privations; if the consequence of such privations were a +universal state of disaffection among that caseous and wrathful +people; and if at the same time you were at war with all the +world, how can you doubt for a moment that I would instantly +restore them to a state of the most complete civil liberty? +What matters it under what name you put the same case? +Common sense is not changed by appellations. I have said +how I would act to Ireland, and I would act so to all the +world.</p> +<p>I admit that, to a certain degree, the Government will lose +the affections of the Orangemen by emancipating the Catholics; +much less, however, at present, than three years past. The +few men, who have ill-treated the whole crew, live in constant +terror that the oppressed people will rise upon them and carry +the ship into Brest:—they begin to find that it is a very +tiresome thing to sleep every night with cocked pistols under +their pillows, and to breakfast, dine, and sup with drawn +hangers. They suspect that the privilege of beating and +kicking the rest of the sailors is hardly worth all this anxiety, +and that if the ship does ever fall into the hands of the +disaffected, all the cruelties which they have experienced will +be thoroughly remembered and amply repaid. To a short +period of disaffection among the Orangemen I confess I should not +much object: my love of poetical justice does carry me as far as +that; one summer’s whipping, only one: the thumb-screw for +a short season; a little light easy torturing between Ladyday and +Michaelmas; a short specimen of Mr. Perceval’s +rigour. I have malice enough to ask this slight atonement +for the groans and shrieks of the poor Catholics, unheard by any +human tribunal, but registered by the Angel of God against their +Protestant and enlightened oppressors.</p> +<p>Besides, if you who count ten so often can count five, you +must perceive that it is better to have four friends and one +enemy than four enemies and one friend; and the more violent the +hatred of the Orangemen, the more certain the reconciliation of +the Catholics. The disaffection of the Orangemen will be +the Irish rainbow: when I see it I shall be sure that the storm +is over.</p> +<p>If these incapacities, from which the Catholics ask to be +relieved, were to the mass of them only a mere feeling of pride, +and if the question were respecting the attainment of privileges +which could be of importance only to the highest of the sect, I +should still say that the pride of the mass was very naturally +wounded by the degradation of their superiors. Indignity to +George Rose would be felt by the smallest nummary gentleman in +the king’s employ; and Mr. John Bannister could not be +indifferent to anything which happened to Mr. Canning. But +the truth is, it is a most egregious mistake to suppose that the +Catholics are contending merely for the fringes and feathers of +their chiefs. I will give you a list in my next Letter of +those privations which are represented to be of no consequence to +anybody but Lord Fingal, and some twenty or thirty of the +principal persons of their sect. In the meantime, adieu, +and be wise.</p> +<h3>LETTER IX.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Abraham</span>,—No Catholic can +be chief Governor or Governor of this kingdom, Chancellor or +Keeper of the Great Seal, Lord High Treasurer, Chief of any of +the Courts of Justice, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Puisne Judge, +Judge in the Admiralty, Master of the Rolls, Secretary of State, +Keeper of the Privy Seal, Vice-Treasurer or his Deputy, Teller or +Cashier of Exchequer, Auditor or General, Governor or Custos +Rotulorum of Counties, Chief Governor’s Secretary, Privy +Councillor, King’s Counsel, Serjeant, Attorney, +Solicitor-General, Master in Chancery, Provost or Fellow of +Trinity College, Dublin, Postmaster-General, Master and +Lieutenant-General of Ordnance, Commander-in-Chief, General on +the Staff, Sheriff, Sub-Sheriff, Mayor, Bailiff, Recorder, +Burgess, or any other officer in a City, or a Corporation. +No Catholic can be guardian to a Protestant, and no priest +guardian at all; no Catholic can be a gamekeeper, or have for +sale, or otherwise, any arms or warlike stores; no Catholic can +present to a living, unless he choose to turn Jew in order to +obtain that privilege; the pecuniary qualification of Catholic +jurors is made higher than that of Protestants, and no relaxation +of the ancient rigorous code is permitted, unless to those who +shall take an oath prescribed by 13 and 14 George III. Now +if this is not picking the plums out of the pudding and leaving +the mere batter to the Catholics, I know not what is. If it +were merely the Privy Council, it would be (I allow) nothing but +a point of honour for which the mass of Catholics were +contending, the honour of being chief-mourners or pall-bearers to +the country; but surely no man will contend that every barrister +may not speculate upon the possibility of being a Puisne Judge; +and that every shopkeeper must not feel himself injured by his +exclusion from borough offices.</p> +<p>One of the greatest practical evils which the Catholics suffer +in Ireland is their exclusion from the offices of Sheriff and +Deputy Sheriff. Nobody who is unacquainted with Ireland can +conceive the obstacles which this opposes to the fair +administration of justice. The formation of juries is now +entirely in the hands of the Protestants; the lives, liberties, +and properties of the Catholics in the hands of the juries; and +this is the arrangement for the administration of justice in a +country where religious prejudices are inflamed to the greatest +degree of animosity! In this country, if a man be a +foreigner, if he sell slippers, and sealing wax, and artificial +flowers, we are so tender of human life that we take care half +the number of persons who are to decide upon his fate should be +men of similar prejudices and feelings with himself: but a poor +Catholic in Ireland may be tried by twelve Percevals, and +destroyed according to the manner of that gentleman in the name +of the Lord, and with all the insulting forms of justice. I +do not go the length of saying that deliberate and wilful +injustice is done. I have no doubt that the Orange Deputy +Sheriff thinks it would be a most unpardonable breach of his duty +if he did not summon a Protestant panel. I can easily +believe that the Protestant panel may conduct themselves very +conscientiously in hanging the gentlemen of the crucifix; but I +blame the law which does not guard the Catholic against the +probable tenor of those feelings which must unconsciously +influence the judgments of mankind. I detest that state of +society which extends unequal degrees of protection to different +creeds and persuasions; and I cannot describe to you the contempt +I feel for a man who, calling himself a statesman, defends a +system which fills the heart of every Irishman with treason, and +makes his allegiance prudence, not choice.</p> +<p>I request to know if the vestry taxes in Ireland are a mere +matter of romantic feeling which can affect only the Earl of +Fingal? In a parish where there are four thousand Catholics +and fifty Protestants, the Protestants may meet together in a +vestry meeting at which no Catholic has the right to vote, and +tax all the lands in the parish 1s. 6d. per acre, or in the +pound, I forget which, for the repairs of the church—and +how has the necessity of these repairs been ascertained? A +Protestant plumber has discovered that it wants new leading; a +Protestant carpenter is convinced the timbers are not sound; and +the glazier who hates holy water (as an accoucheur hates +celibacy, because he gets nothing by it) is employed to put in +new sashes.</p> +<p>The grand juries in Ireland are the great scene of +jobbing. They have a power of making a county rate to a +considerable extent for roads, bridges, and other objects of +general accommodation. “You suffer the road to be +brought through my park, and I will have the bridge constructed +in a situation where it will make a beautiful object to your +house. You do my job, and I will do yours.” +These are the sweet and interesting subjects which occasionally +occupy Milesian gentlemen while they are attendant upon this +grand inquest of justice. But there is a religion, it +seems, even in jobs; and it will be highly gratifying to Mr. +Perceval to learn that no man in Ireland who believes in seven +sacraments can carry a public road, or bridge, one yard out of +the direction most beneficial to the public, and that nobody can +cheat the public who does not expound the Scriptures in the +purest and most orthodox manner. This will give pleasure to +Mr. Perceval: but, from his unfairness upon these topics I appeal +to the justice and the proper feelings of Mr. Huskisson. I +ask him if the human mind can experience a more dreadful +sensation than to see its own jobs refused, and the jobs of +another religion perpetually succeeding? I ask him his +opinion of a jobless faith, of a creed which dooms a man through +life to a lean and plunderless integrity. He knows that +human nature cannot and will not bear it; and if we were to paint +a political Tartarus, it would be an endless series of snug +expectations and cruel disappointments. These are a few of +many dreadful inconveniences which the Catholics of all ranks +suffer from the laws by which they are at present +oppressed. Besides, look at human nature: what is the +history of all professions? Joel is to be brought up to the +bar: has Mrs. Plymley the slightest doubt of his being +Chancellor? Do not his two shrivelled aunts live in the +certainty of seeing him in that situation, and of cutting out +with their own hands his equity habiliments? And I could +name a certain minister of the Gospel who does not, in the bottom +of his heart, much differ from these opinions. Do you think +that the fathers and mothers of the holy Catholic Church are not +as absurd as Protestant papas and mammas? The probability I +admit to be, in each particular case, that the sweet little +blockhead will in fact never get a brief;—but I will +venture to say, there is not a parent from the Giant’s +Causeway to Bantry Bay who does not conceive that his child is +the unfortunate victim of the exclusion, and that nothing short +of positive law could prevent his own dear, pre-eminent Paddy +from rising to the highest honours of the State. So with +the army and parliament; in fact, few are excluded; but, in +imagination, all: you keep twenty or thirty Catholics out, and +you lose the affections of four millions; and, let me tell you, +that recent circumstances have by no means tended to diminish in +the minds of men that hope of elevation beyond their own rank +which is so congenial to our nature: from pleading for John Roe +to taxing John Bull, from jesting for Mr. Pitt and writing in the +<i>Anti-Jacobin</i>, to managing the affairs of +Europe—these are leaps which seem to justify the fondest +dreams of mothers and of aunts.</p> +<p>I do not say that the disabilities to which the Catholics are +exposed amount to such intolerable grievances, that the strength +and industry of a nation are overwhelmed by them: the increasing +prosperity of Ireland fully demonstrates to the contrary. +But I repeat again, what I have often stated in the course of our +correspondence, that your laws against the Catholics are exactly +in that state in which you have neither the benefits of rigour +nor of liberality: every law which prevented the Catholic from +gaining strength and wealth is repealed; every law which can +irritate remains; if you were determined to insult the Catholics, +you should have kept them weak; if you resolved to give them +strength, you should have ceased to insult them—at present +your conduct is pure, unadulterated folly.</p> +<p>Lord Hawkesbury says, “We heard nothing about the +Catholics till we began to mitigate the laws against them; when +we relieved them in part from this oppression they began to be +disaffected.” This is very true; but it proves just +what I have said, that you have either done too much or too +little; and as there lives not, I hope, upon earth, so depraved a +courtier that he would load the Catholics with their ancient +chains, what absurdity it is, then, not to render their +dispositions friendly, when you leave their arms and legs +free!</p> +<p>You know, and many Englishmen know, what passes in China; but +nobody knows or cares what passes in Ireland. At the +beginning of the present reign no Catholic could realise +property, or carry on any business; they were absolutely +annihilated, had had no more agency in the country than so many +trees. They were like Lord Mulgrave’s eloquence and +Lord Camden’s wit; the legislative bodies did not know of +their existence. For these twenty-five years last past the +Catholics have been engaged in commerce; within that period the +commerce of Ireland has doubled—there are four Catholics at +work for one Protestant, and eight Catholics at work for one +Episcopalian. Of course, the proportion which Catholic +wealth bears to Protestant wealth is every year altering rapidly +in favour of the Catholics. I have already told you what +their purchases of land were the last year: since that period I +have been at some pains to find out the actual state of the +Catholic wealth: it is impossible upon such a subject to arrive +at complete accuracy; but I have good reason to believe that +there are at present 2,000 Catholics in Ireland, possessing an +income of £500 and upwards, many of these with incomes of +one, two, three, and four thousand, and some amounting to fifteen +and twenty thousand per annum:—and this is the kingdom, and +these the people, for whose conciliation we are to wait Heaven +knows when, and Lord Hawkesbury why! As for me, I never +think of the situation of Ireland without feeling the same +necessity for immediate interference as I should do if I saw +blood flowing from a great artery. I rush towards it with +the instinctive rapidity of a man desirous of preventing death, +and have no other feeling but that in a few seconds the patient +may be no more.</p> +<p>I could not help smiling, in the times of No Popery, to +witness the loyal indignation of many persons at the attempt made +by the last ministry to do something for the relief of +Ireland. The general cry in the country was, that they +would not see their beloved Monarch used ill in his old age, and +that they would stand by him to the last drop of their +blood. I respect good feelings, however erroneous be the +occasions on which they display themselves; and therefore I saw +in all this as much to admire as to blame. It was a species +of affection, however, which reminded me very forcibly of the +attachment displayed by the servants of the Russian ambassador at +the beginning of the last century. His Excellency happened +to fall down in a kind of apoplectic fit, when he was paying a +morning visit in the house of an acquaintance. The +confusion was of course very great, and messengers were +despatched in every direction to find a surgeon: who, upon his +arrival, declared that his Excellency must be immediately +blooded, and prepared himself forthwith to perform the operation: +the barbarous servants of the embassy, who were there in great +numbers, no sooner saw the surgeon prepared to wound the arm of +their master with a sharp, shining instrument, than they drew +their swords, put themselves in an attitude of defence, and swore +in pure Sclavonic, “that they would murder any man who +attempted to do him the slightest injury: he had been a very good +master to them, and they would not desert him in his misfortunes, +or suffer his blood to be shed while he was off his guard, and +incapable of defending himself.” By good fortune, the +secretary arrived about this period of the dispute, and his +Excellency, relieved from superfluous blood and perilous +affection, was, after much difficulty, restored to life.</p> +<p>There is an argument brought forward with some appearance of +plausibility in the House of Commons, which certainly merits an +answer: You know that the Catholics now vote for members of +parliament in Ireland, and that they outnumber the Protestants in +a very great proportion; if you allow Catholics to sit in +parliament, religion will be found to influence votes more than +property, and the greater part of the 100 Irish members who are +returned to parliament will be Catholics. Add to these the +Catholic members who are returned in England, and you will have a +phalanx of heretical strength which every minister will be +compelled to respect, and occasionally to conciliate by +concessions incompatible with the interests of the Protestant +Church. The fact is, however, that you are at this moment +subjected to every danger of this kind which you can possibly +apprehend hereafter. If the spiritual interests of the +voters are more powerful than their temporal interests, they can +bind down their representatives to support any measures +favourable to the Catholic religion, and they can change the +objects of their choice till they have found Protestant members +(as they easily may do) perfectly obedient to their wishes. +If the superior possessions of the Protestants prevent the +Catholics from uniting for a common political object, then the +danger you fear cannot exist: if zeal, on the contrary, gets the +better of acres, then the danger at present exists, from the +right of voting already given to the Catholics, and it will not +be increased by allowing them to sit in parliament. There +are, as nearly as I can recollect, thirty seats in Ireland for +cities and counties, where the Protestants are the most numerous, +and where the members returned must of course be +Protestants. In the other seventy representations the +wealth of the Protestants is opposed to the number of the +Catholics; and if all the seventy members returned were of the +Catholic persuasion, they must still plot the destruction of our +religion in the midst of 588 Protestants. Such terrors +would disgrace a cook-maid, or a toothless aunt—when they +fall from the lips of bearded and senatorial men, they are +nauseous, antiperistaltic, and emetical.</p> +<p>How can you for a moment doubt of the rapid effects which +would be produced by the emancipation? In the first place, +to my certain knowledge the Catholics have long since expressed +to his Majesty’s Ministers their perfect readiness <i>to +vest in his Majesty</i>, <i>either with the consent of the +Pope</i>, <i>or without it if it cannot be obtained</i>, <i>the +nomination of the Catholic prelacy</i>. The Catholic +prelacy in Ireland consists of twenty-six bishops and the warden +of Galway, a dignitary enjoying Catholic jurisdiction. The +number of Roman Catholic priests in Ireland exceeds one +thousand. The expenses of his peculiar worship are, to a +substantial farmer or mechanic, five shillings per annum; to a +labourer (where he is not entirely excused) one shilling per +annum; this includes the contribution of the whole family, and +for this the priest is bound to attend them when sick, and to +confess them when they apply to him; he is also to keep his +chapel in order, to celebrate divine service, and to preach on +Sundays and holydays.</p> +<p>In the northern district a priest gains from £30 to +£50; in the other parts of Ireland from £60 to +£90 per annum. The best paid Catholic bishops receive +about £400 per annum; the others from £300 to +£350. My plan is very simple: I would have 300 +Catholic parishes at £100 per annum, 300 at £200 per +annum, and 400 at £300 per annum; this, for the whole +thousand parishes, would amount to £190,000. To the +prelacy I would allot £20,000 in unequal proportions, from +£1,000 to £500; and I would appropriate £40,000 +more for the support of Catholic schools, and the repairs of +Catholic churches; the whole amount of which sum is +£250,000, about the expense of three days of one of our +genuine, good English <i>just and necessary wars</i>. The +clergy should all receive their salaries at the Bank of Ireland, +and I would place the whole patronage in the hands of the +Crown. Now, I appeal to any human being, except Spencer +Perceval, Esq., of the parish of Hampstead, what the disaffection +of a clergy would amount to, gaping after this graduated bounty +of the Crown, and whether Ignatius Loyala himself, if he were a +living blockhead instead of a dead saint, could withstand the +temptation of bouncing from £100 a year at Sligo, to +£300 in Tipperary? This is the miserable sum of money +for which the merchants and landowners and nobility of England +are exposing themselves to the tremendous peril of losing +Ireland. The sinecure places of the Roses and the +Percevals, and the “dear and near relations,” put up +to auction at thirty years’ purchase, would almost amount +to the money.</p> +<p>I admit that nothing can be more reasonable than to expect +that a Catholic priest should starve to death, genteelly and +pleasantly, for the good of the Protestant religion; but is it +equally reasonable to expect that he should do so for the +Protestant pews, and Protestant brick and mortar? On an +Irish Sabbath, the bell of a neat parish church often summons to +church only the parson and an occasionally conforming clerk; +while, two hundred yards off, a thousand Catholics are huddled +together in a miserable hovel, and pelted by all the storms of +heaven. Can anything be more distressing than to see a +venerable man pouring forth sublime truths in tattered breeches, +and depending for his food upon the little offal he gets from his +parishioners? I venerate a human being who starves for his +principles, let them be what they may; but starving for anything +is not at all to the taste of the honourable flagellants: strict +principles, and good pay, is the motto of Mr. Perceval: the one +he keeps in great measure for the faults of his enemies, the +other for himself.</p> +<p>There are parishes in Connaught in which a Protestant was +never settled nor even seen. In that province in Munster, +and in parts of Leinster, the entire peasantry for sixty miles +are Catholics; in these tracts the churches are frequently shut +for want of a congregation, or opened to an assemblage of from +six to twenty persons. Of what Protestants there are in +Ireland, the greatest part are gathered together in Ulster, or +they live in towns. In the country of the other three +provinces the Catholics see no other religion but their own, and +are at the least as fifteen to one Protestant. In the +diocese of Tuam they are sixty to one; in the parish of St. +Mulins, diocese of Leghlin, there are four thousand Catholics and +one Protestant; in the town of Grasgenamana, in the county of +Kilkenny, there are between four and five hundred Catholic +houses, and three Protestant houses. In the parish of +Allen, county Kildare, there is no Protestant, though it is very +populous. In the parish of Arlesin, Queen’s County, +the proportion is one hundred to one. In the whole county +of Kilkenny, by actual enumeration, it is seventeen to one; in +the diocese of Kilmacduagh, province of Connaught, fifty-two to +one, by ditto. These I give you as a few specimens of the +present state of Ireland; and yet there are men impudent and +ignorant enough to contend that such evils require no remedy, and +that mild family man who dwelleth in Hampstead can find none but +the cautery and the knife.</p> +<blockquote><p>—“Omne per ignem<br /> +Excoquitur vitium.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I cannot describe the horror and disgust which I felt at +hearing Mr. Perceval call upon the then Ministry for measures of +vigour in Ireland. If I lived at Hampstead upon stewed +meats and claret; if I walked to church every Sunday before +eleven young gentlemen of my own begetting, with their faces +washed, and their hair pleasingly combed; if the Almighty had +blessed me with every earthly comfort—how awfully would I +pause before I sent forth the flame and the sword over the cabins +of the poor, brave, generous, open-hearted peasants of +Ireland! How easy it is to shed human blood; how easy it is +to persuade ourselves that it is our duty to do so, and that the +decision has cost us a severe struggle; how much in all ages have +wounds and shrieks and tears been the cheap and vulgar resources +of the rulers of mankind; how difficult and how noble it is to +govern in kindness and to found an empire upon the everlasting +basis of justice and affection! But what do men call +vigour? To let loose hussars and to bring up artillery, to +govern with lighted matches, and to cut, and push, and prime; I +call this not vigour, but the <i>sloth of cruelty and +ignorance</i>. The vigour I love consists in finding out +wherein subjects are aggrieved, in relieving them, in studying +the temper and genius of a people, in consulting their +prejudices, in selecting proper persons to lead and manage them, +in the laborious, watchful, and difficult task of increasing +public happiness by allaying each particular discontent. In +this way Hoche pacified La Vendée—and in this way +only will Ireland ever be subdued. But this, in the eyes of +Mr. Perceval, is imbecility and meanness. Houses are not +broken open, women are not insulted, the people seem all to be +happy; they are not rode over by horses, and cut by whips. +Do you call this vigour? Is this government?</p> +<h3>LETTER X. AND LAST.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">You</span> must observe that all I have +said of the effects which will be produced by giving salaries to +the Catholic clergy, only proceeds upon the supposition that the +emanciptaion of the laity is effected:—without that, I am +sure there is not a clergyman in Ireland who would receive a +shilling from government; he could not do so, without an entire +loss of credit among the members of his own persuasion.</p> +<p>What you say of the moderation of the Irish Protestant clergy +in collecting tithes, is, I believe, strictly true. Instead +of collecting what the law enables them to collect, I believe +they seldom or ever collect more than two-thirds; and I entirely +agree with you, that the abolition of agistment tithe in Ireland +by a vote of the Irish House of Commons, and without any +remuneration to the Church, was a most scandalous and Jacobinical +measure. I do not blame the Irish clergy; but I submit to +your common sense, if it be possible to explain to an Irish +peasant upon what principle of justice, or common sense, he is to +pay every tenth potato in his little garden to a clergyman in +whose religion nobody believes for twenty miles around him, and +who has nothing to preach to but bare walls? It is true, if +the tithes are bought up, the cottager must pay more rent to his +landlord; but the same thing done in the shape of rent is less +odious than when it is done in the shape of tithe. I do not +want to take a shilling out of the pockets of the clergy, but to +leave the substance of things, and to change their names. I +cannot see the slightest reason why the Irish labourer is to be +relieved from the real onus, or from anything else but the name +of tithe. At present he rents only nine-tenths of the +produce of the land, which is all that belongs to the owner; this +he has at the market price; if the landowner purchase the other +tenth of the Church, of course he has a right to make a +correspondent advance upon his tenant.</p> +<p>I very much doubt, if you were to lay open all civil offices +to the Catholics, and to grant salaries to their clergy, in the +manner I have stated, if the Catholic laity would give themselves +much trouble about the advance of their Church; for they would +pay the same tithes under one system that they do under +another. If you were to bring the Catholics into the +daylight of the world, to the high situations of the army, the +navy, and the bar, numbers of them would come over to the +Established Church, and do as other people do; instead of that, +you set a mark of infamy upon them, rouse every passion of our +nature in favour of their creed, and then wonder that men are +blind to the follies of the Catholic religion. There are +hardly any instances of old and rich families among the +Protestant Dissenters: when a man keeps a coach, and lives in +good company, he comes to church, and gets ashamed of the +meeting-house; if this is not the case with the father, it is +almost always the case with the son. These things would +never be so if the Dissenters were in <i>practice</i> as much +excluded from all the concerns of civil life as the Catholics +are. If a rich young Catholic were in Parliament, he would +belong to White’s and to Brookes’s, would keep +race-horses, would walk up and down Pall Mall, be exonerated of +his ready money and his constitution, become as totally devoid of +morality, honesty, knowledge, and civility as Protestant loungers +in Pall Mall, and return home with a supreme contempt for Father +O’Leary and Father O’Callaghan. I am astonished +at the madness of the Catholic clergy in not perceiving that +Catholic emancipation is Catholic infidelity; that to entangle +their people in the intrigues of a Protestant parliament, and a +Protestant court, is to ensure the loss of every man of fashion +and consequence in their community. The true receipt for +preserving their religion, is Mr. Perceval’s receipt for +destroying it: it is to deprive every rich Catholic of all the +objects of secular ambition, to separate him from the Protestant, +and to shut him up in his castle with priests and relics.</p> +<p>We are told, in answer to all our arguments, that this is not +a fit period—that a period of universal war is not the +proper time for dangerous innovations in the constitution: this +is as much as to say, that the worst time for making friends is +the period when you have made many enemies; that it is the +greatest of all errors to stop when you are breathless, and to +lie down when you are fatigued. Of one thing I am quite +certain: if the safety of Europe is once completely restored, the +Catholics may for ever bid adieu to the slightest probability of +effecting their object. Such men as hang about a court not +only are deaf to the suggestions of mere justice, but they +despise justice; they detest the word <i>right</i>; the only word +which rouses them is <i>peril</i>; where they can oppress with +impunity, they oppress for ever, and call it loyalty and +wisdom.</p> +<p>I am so far from conceiving the legitimate strength of the +Crown would be diminished by these abolitions of civil +incapacities in consequence of religious opinions, that my only +objection to the increase of religious freedom is, that it would +operate as a diminution of political freedom; the power of the +Crown is so overbearing at this period, that almost the only +steady opposers of its fatal influence are men disgusted by +religious intolerance. Our establishments are so enormous, +and so utterly disproportioned to our population, that every +second or third man you meet in society gains something from the +public; my brother the commissioner,—my nephew the police +justice,—purveyor of small beer to the army in +Ireland,—clerk of the mouth,—yeoman to the left +hand,—these are the obstacles which common sense and +justice have now to overcome. Add to this that the King, +old and infirm, excites a principle of very amiable generosity in +his favour; that he has led a good, moral, and religious life, +equally removed from profligacy and methodistical hypocrisy; that +he has been a good husband, a good father, and a good master; +that he dresses plain, loves hunting and farming, fates the +French, and is in all his opinions and habits, quite +English:—these feelings are heightened by the present +situation of the world, and the yet unexploded clamour of +Jacobinism. In short, from the various sources of interest, +personal regard, and national taste, such a tempest of loyalty +has set in upon the people that the 47th proposition in Euclid +might now be voted down with as much ease as any proposition in +politics; and therefore if Lord Hawkesbury hates the abstract +truths of science as much as he hates concrete truth in human +affairs, now is his time for getting rid of the multiplication +table, and passing a vote of censure upon the pretensions of the +<i>hypotenuse</i>. Such is the history of English parties +at this moment: you cannot seriously suppose that the people care +for such men as Lord Hawkesbury, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Perceval on +their own account; you cannot really believe them to be so +degraded as to look to their safety from a man who proposes to +subdue Europe by keeping it without Jesuit’s Bark. +The people at present have one passion, and but one—</p> +<blockquote><p>“A Jove principium, Jovis omnia +plena.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>They care no more for the ministers I have mentioned, than +they do for those sturdy royalists who for £60 per annum +stand behind his Majesty’s carriage, arrayed in scarlet and +in gold. If the present ministers opposed the Court instead +of flattering it, they would not command twenty votes.</p> +<p>Do not imagine by these observations that I am not loyal; +without joining in the common cant of the best of kings, I +respect the King most sincerely as a good man. His religion +is better than the religion of Mr. Perceval, his old morality +very superior to the old morality of Mr. Canning, and I am quite +certain he has a safer understanding than both of them put +together. Loyalty within the bounds of reason and +moderation is one of the great instruments of human happiness; +but the love of the king may easily become more strong than the +love of the kingdom, and we may lose sight of the public welfare +in our exaggerated admiration of him who is appointed to reign +only for its promotion and support. I detest Jacobinism; +and if I am doomed to be a slave at all, I would rather be the +slave of a king than a cobbler. God save the King, you say, +warms your heart like the sound of a trumpet. I cannot make +use of so violent a metaphor; but I am delighted to hear it, when +it is the cry of genuine affection; I am delighted to hear it +when they hail not only the individual man, but the outward and +living sign of all English blessings. These are noble +feelings, and the heart of every good man must go with them; but +God save the King, in these times, too often means God save my +pension and my place, God give my sisters an allowance out of the +privy purse—make me clerk of the irons, let me survey the +meltings, let me live upon the fruits of other men’s +industry, and fatten upon the plunder of the public.</p> +<p>What is it possible to say to such a man as the Gentleman of +Hampstead, who really believes it feasible to convert the four +million Irish Catholics to the Protestant religion, and considers +this as the best remedy for the disturbed state of Ireland? +It is not possible to answer such a man with arguments; we must +come out against him with beads and a cowl, and push him into an +hermitage. It is really such trash, that it is an abuse of +the privilege of reasoning to reply to it. Such a project +is well worthy the statesman who would bring the French to reason +by keeping them without rhubarb, and exhibit to mankind the awful +spectacle of a nation deprived of neutral salts. This is +not the dream of a wild apothecary indulging in his own opium; +this is not the distempered fancy of a pounder of drugs, +delirious from smallness of profits; but it is the sober, +deliberate, and systematic scheme of a man to whom the public +safety is intrusted, and whose appointment is considered by many +as a masterpiece of political sagacity. What a sublime +thought, that no purge can now be taken between the Weser and the +Garonne; that the bustling pestle is still, the canorous mortar +mute, and the bowels of mankind locked up for fourteen degrees of +latitude! When, I should be curious to know, were all the +powers of crudity and flatulence fully explained to his +Majesty’s ministers? At what period was this great +plan of conquest and constipation fully developed? In whose +mind was the idea of destroying the pride and the plasters of +France first engendered? Without castor oil they might for +some months, to be sure, have carried on a lingering war! but can +they do without bark? Will the people live under a +government where antimonial powders cannot be procured? +Will they bear the loss of mercury? “There’s +the rub.” Depend upon it, the absence of the materia +medica will soon bring them to their senses, and the cry of +<i>Bourbon and bolus</i> burst forth from the Baltic to the +Mediterranean.</p> +<p>You ask me for any precedent in our history where the oath of +supremacy has been dispensed with. It was dispensed with to +the Catholics of Canada in 1774. They are only required to +take a simple oath of allegiance. The same, I believe, was +the case in Corsica. The reason of such exemption was +obvious; you could not possibly have retained either of these +countries without it. And what did it signify, whether you +retained them or not? In cases where you might have been +foolish without peril you were wise; when nonsense and bigotry +threaten you with destruction, it is impossible to bring you back +to the alphabet of justice and common sense. If men are to +be fools, I would rather they were fools in little matters than +in great; dulness turned up with temerity is a livery all the +worse for the facings; and the most tremendous of all things is +the magnanimity of the dunce.</p> +<p>It is not by any means necessary, as you contend, to repeal +the Test Act if you give relief to the Catholic: what the +Catholics ask for is to be put on a footing with the Protestant +Dissenters, which would be done by repealing that part of the law +which compels them to take the oath of supremacy and to make the +declaration against transubstantiation: they would then come into +Parliament as all other Dissenters are allowed to do, and the +penal laws to which they were exposed for taking office would be +suspended every year, as they have been for this half century +past towards Protestant Dissenters. Perhaps, after all, +this is the best method—to continue the persecuting law, +and to suspend it every year—a method which, while it +effectually destroys the persecution itself, leaves to the great +mass of mankind the exquisite gratification of supposing that +they are enjoying some advantage from which a particular class of +their fellow creatures are excluded. We manage the +Corporation and Test Acts at present much in the same manner as +if we were to persuade parish boys who had been in the habit of +beating an ass to spare the animal, and beat the skin of an ass +stuffed with straw; this would preserve the semblance of +tormenting without the reality, and keep boy and beast in good +humour.</p> +<p>How can you imagine that a provision for the Catholic clergy +affects the 5th article of the Union? Surely I am +preserving the Protestant Church in Ireland if I put it in a +better condition than that in which it now is. A tithe +proctor in Ireland collects his tithes with a blunderbuss, and +carries his tenth hay-cock by storm, sword in hand: to give him +equal value in a more pacific shape cannot, I should imagine, be +considered as injurious to the Church of Ireland; and what right +has that Church to complain if Parliament chooses to fix upon the +empire the burden of supporting a double ecclesiastical +establishment? Are the revenues of the Irish Protestant +clergy in the slightest degree injured by such provision? +On the contrary, is it possible to confer a more serious benefit +upon that Church than by quieting and contenting those who are at +work for its destruction?</p> +<p>It is impossible to think of the affairs of Ireland without +being forcibly struck with the parallel of Hungary. Of her +seven millions of inhabitants, one half were Protestants, +Calvinists, and Lutherans, many of the Greek Church, and many +Jews: such was the state of their religious dissensions that +Mahomet had often been called in to the aid of Calvin, and the +crescent often glittered on the walls of Buda and Presburg. +At last, in 1791, during the most violent crisis of disturbance, +a Diet was called, and by a great majority of voices a decree was +passed, which secured to all the contending sects the fullest and +freest exercise of religious worship and education; +ordained—let it be heard in Hampstead—that churches +and chapels should be erected for all on the most perfectly equal +terms; that the Protestants of both confessions should depend +upon their spiritual superiors alone; liberated them from +swearing by the usual oath, “the Holy Virgin Mary, the +saints, and chosen of God;” and then the decree adds, +“that <i>public offices and honours</i>, <i>high or +low</i>, <i>great or small</i>, <i>shall be given to natural-born +Hungarians who deserve well of their country</i>, <i>and possess +the other qualifications</i>, <i>let their religion be what it +may</i>.” Such was the line of policy pursued in a +Diet consisting of four hundred members, in a state whose form of +government approaches nearer to our own than any other, having a +Roman Catholic establishment of great wealth and power, and under +the influence of one of the most bigoted Catholic Courts in +Europe. This measure has now the experience of eighteen +years in its favour; it has undergone a trial of fourteen years +of revolution such as the world never witnessed, and more than +equal to a century less convulsed: What have been its +effects? When the French advanced like a torrent within a +few days’ march of Vienna, the Hungarians rose in a mass; +they formed what they called the sacred insurrection, to defend +their sovereign, their rights and liberties, now common to all; +and the apprehension of their approach dictated to the reluctant +Bonaparte the immediate signature of the treaty of +<i>Leoben</i>. The Romish hierarchy of Hungary exists in +all its former splendour and opulence; never has the slightest +attempt been made to diminish it; and those revolutionary +principles, to which so large a portion of civilised Europe has +been sacrificed, have here failed in making the smallest +successful inroad.</p> +<p>The whole history of this proceeding of the Hungarian Diet is +so extraordinary, and such an admirable comment upon the +Protestantism of Mr. Spencer Perceval, that I must compel you to +read a few short extracts from the law itself:—“The +Protestants of both confessions shall, in religious matters, +depend upon their own spiritual superiors alone. The +Protestants may likewise retain their trivial and grammar +schools. The Church dues which the Protestants have +hitherto paid to the Catholic parish priests, schoolmasters, or +other such officers, either in money, productions, or labour, +shall in future entirely cease, and after three months from the +publishing of this law, be no more anywhere demanded. In +the building or repairing of churches, parsonage-houses, and +schools, the Protestants are not obliged to assist the Catholics +with labour, nor the Catholics the Protestants. The pious +foundations and donations of the Protestants which already exist, +or which in future may be made for their churches, ministers, +schools and students, hospitals, orphan houses, and poor, cannot +be taken from them under any pretext, nor yet the care of them; +but rather the unimpeded administration shall be intrusted to +those from among them to whom it legally belongs, and those +foundations which may have been taken from them under the last +government shall be returned to them without delay. All +affairs of marriage of the Protestants are left to their own +consistories; all landlords and masters of families, under the +penalty of public prosecution, are ordered not to prevent their +subjects and servants, whether they be Catholic or Protestant, +from the observance of the festivals and ceremonies of their +religion,” etc. etc. etc.—By what strange chances are +mankind influenced! A little Catholic barrister of Vienna +might have raised the cry of <i>No Protestantism</i>, and Hungary +would have panted for the arrival of a French army as much as +Ireland does at this moment; arms would have been searched for; +Lutheran and Calvinist houses entered in the dead of the night; +and the strength of Austria exhausted in guarding a country from +which, under the present liberal system, she may expect in the +moment of danger the most powerful aid: and let it be remembered +that this memorable example of political wisdom took place at a +period when many great monarchies were yet unconquered in Europe; +in a country where the two religious parties were equal in +number; and where it is impossible to suppose indifference in the +party which relinquished its exclusive privileges. Under +all these circumstances the measure was carried in the Hungarian +Diet by a majority of 280 to 120. In a few weeks we shall +see every concession denied to the Catholics by a much larger +majority of Protestants, at a moment when every other power is +subjugated but ourselves, and in a country where the oppressed +are four times as numerous as their oppressors. So much for +the wisdom of our ancestors—so much for the nineteenth +century—so much for the superiority of the English over all +the nations of the Continent.</p> +<p>Are you not sensible, let me ask you, of the absurdity of +trusting the lowest Catholics with offices correspondent to their +situation in life, and of denying such privileges to the +higher. A Catholic may serve in the militia, but a Catholic +cannot come into Parliament; in the latter case you suspect +combination, and in the former case you suspect no combination; +you deliberately arm ten or twenty thousand of the lowest of the +Catholic people; and the moment you come to a class of men whose +education, honour, and talents seem to render all mischief less +probable, then you see the danger of employing a Catholic, and +cling to your investigating tests and disabling laws. If +you tell me you have enough of members of Parliament and not +enough of militia without the Catholics, I beg leave to remind +you that, by employing the physical force of any sect at the same +time when you leave them in a state of utter disaffection, you +are not adding strength to your armies, but weakness and +ruin. If you want the vigour of their common people, you +must not disgrace their nobility and insult their priesthood.</p> +<p>I thought that the terror of the Pope had been confined to the +limits of the nursery, and merely employed as a means to induce +young master to enter into his small-clothes with greater speed +and to eat his breakfast with greater attention to decorum. +For these purposes the name of the Pope is admirable; but why +push it beyond? Why not leave to Lord Hawkesbury all +further enumeration of the Pope’s powers? For a whole +century you have been exposed to the enmity of France, and your +succession was disputed in two rebellions: what could the Pope do +at the period when there was a serious struggle whether England +should be Protestant or Catholic, and when the issue was +completely doubtful? Could the Pope induce the Irish to +rise in 1715? Could he induce them to rise in 1745? +You had no Catholic enemy when half this island was in arms; and +what did the Pope attempt in the last rebellion in Ireland? +But if he had as much power over the minds of the Irish as Mr. +Wilberforce has over the mind of a young Methodist converted the +preceding quarter, is this a reason why we are to disgust men who +may be acted upon in such a manner by a foreign power? or is it +not an additional reason why we should raise up every barrier of +affection and kindness against the mischief of foreign +influence? But the true answer is, the mischief does not +exist. Gog and Magog have produced as much influence upon +human affairs as the Pope has done for this half century past; +and by spoiling him of his possessions, and degrading him in the +eyes of all Europe, Bonaparte has not taken quite the proper +method of increasing his influence.</p> +<p>But why not a Catholic king as well as a Catholic member of +Parliament, or of the Cabinet?—Because it is probable that +the one would be mischievous and the other not. A Catholic +king might struggle against the Protestantism of the country, and +if the struggle were not successful it would at least be +dangerous; but the efforts of any other Catholic would be quite +insignificant, and his hope of success so small, that it is quite +improbable the effort would ever be made: my argument is, that in +so Protestant a country as Great Britain, the character of her +parliaments and her cabinet could not be changed by the few +Catholics who would ever find their way to the one or the +other. But the power of the Crown is immeasurably greater +than the power which the Catholics could obtain from any other +species of authority in the state; and it does not follow because +the lesser degree of power is innocent that the greater should be +so too. As for the stress you lay upon the danger of a +Catholic chancellor, I have not the least hesitation in saying +that his appointment would not do a ten thousandth part of the +mischief to the English Church that might be done by a +Methodistical chancellor of the true Clapham breed; and I request +to know if it is really so very necessary that a chancellor +should be of the religion of the Church of England, how many +chancellors you have had within the last century who have been +bred up in the Presbyterian religion? And again, how many +you have had who notoriously have been without any religion at +all?</p> +<p>Why are you to suppose that eligibility and election are the +same thing, and that all the cabinet <i>will</i> be Catholics +whenever all the cabinet <i>may</i> be Catholics? You have +a right, you say, to suppose an extreme case, and to argue upon +it—so have I: and I will suppose that the hundred Irish +members will one day come down in a body and pass a law +compelling the King to reside in Dublin. I will suppose +that the Scotch members, by a similar stratagem, will lay England +under a large contribution of meal and sulphur: no measure is +without objection if you sweep the whole horizon for danger; it +is not sufficient to tell me of what may happen, but you must +show me a rational probability that it will happen: after all, I +might, contrary to my real opinion, admit all your dangers to +exist; it is enough for me to contend that all other dangers +taken together are not equal to the danger of losing Ireland from +disaffection and invasion.</p> +<p>I am astonished to see you, and many good and well-meaning +clergymen beside you, painting the Catholics in such detestable +colours; two-thirds, at least, of Europe are Catholics—they +are Christians, though mistaken Christians; how can I possibly +admit that any sect of Christians, and, above all, that the +oldest and the most numerous sect of Christians are incapable of +fulfilling the common duties and relations of life: though I do +differ from them in many particulars, God forbid I should give +such a handle to infidelity, and subscribe to such blasphemy +against our common religion?</p> +<p>Do you think mankind never change their opinions without +formally expressing and confessing that change? When you +quote the decisions of ancient Catholic councils, are you +prepared to defend all the decrees of English convocations and +universities since the reign of Queen Elizabeth? I could +soon make you sick of your uncandid industry against the +Catholics, and bring you to allow that it is better to forget +times past, and to judge and be judged by present opinions and +present practice.</p> +<p>I must beg to be excused from explaining and refuting all the +mistakes about the Catholics made by my Lord Redesdale; and I +must do that nobleman the justice to say, that he has been +treated with great disrespect. Could anything be more +indecent than to make it a morning lounge in Dublin to call upon +his Lordship, and to cram him with Arabian-night stories about +the Catholics? Is this proper behaviour to the +representative of Majesty, the child of Themis, and the keeper of +the conscience in West Britain? Whoever reads the Letters +of the Catholic Bishops, in the appendix to Sir John +Hippesly’s very sensible book, will see to what an excess +this practice must have been carried with the pleasing and +Protestant nobleman whose name I have mentioned, and from thence +I wish you to receive your answer about excommunication, and all +the trash which is talked against the Catholics.</p> +<p>A sort of notion has, by some means or another, crept into the +world that difference of religion would render men unfit to +perform together the offices of common and civil life: that +Brother Wood and Brother Grose could not travel together the same +circuit if they differed in creed, nor Cockell and Mingay be +engaged in the same cause, if Cockell was a Catholic and Mingay a +Muggletonian. It is supposed that Huskisson and Sir Harry +Englefield would squabble behind the Speaker’s chair about +the council of Lateran, and many a turnpike bill miscarry by the +sarcastical controversies of Mr. Hawkins Brown and Sir John +Throckmorton upon the real presence. I wish I could see +some of these symptoms of earnestness upon the subject of +religion; but it really seems to me that, in the present state of +society, men no more think about inquiring concerning each +other’s faith than they do concerning the colour of each +other’s skins. There may have been times in England +when the quarter sessions would have been disturbed by +theological polemics; but now, after a Catholic justice had once +been seen on the bench, and it had been clearly ascertained that +he spoke English, had no tail, only a single row of teeth, and +that he loved port wine—after all the scandalous and +infamous reports of his physical conformation had been clearly +proved to be false—he would be reckoned a jolly fellow, and +very superior in flavour to a sly Presbyterian. Nothing, in +fact, can be more uncandid and unphilosophical than to say that a +man has a tail, because you cannot agree within him upon +religious subjects; it appears to be ludicrous: but I am +convinced it has done infinite mischief to the Catholics, and +made a very serious impression upon the minds of many gentlemen +of large landed property.</p> +<p>In talking of the impossibility of Catholic and Protestant +living together with equal privilege under the same government, +do you forget the Cantons of Switzerland? You might have +seen there a Protestant congregation going into a church which +had just been quitted by a Catholic congregation; and I will +venture to say that the Swiss Catholics were more bigoted to +their religion than any people in the whole world. Did the +kings of Prussia ever refuse to employ a Catholic? Would +Frederick the Great have rejected an able man on this +account? We have seen Prince Czartorinski, a Catholic +Secretary of State in Russia; in former times a Greek patriarch +and an apostolic vicar acted together in the most perfect harmony +in Venice; and we have seen the Emperor of Germany in modern +times intrusting the care of his person and the command of his +guard to a Protestant Prince, Frederick of Wittenberg. But +what are all these things to Mr. Perceval? He has looked at +human nature from the top of Hampstead Hill, and has not a +thought beyond the little sphere of his own vision. +“The snail,” say the Hindoos, “sees nothing but +his own shell, and thinks it the grandest palace in the +universe.”</p> +<p>I now take a final leave of this subject of Ireland; the only +difficulty in discussing it is a want of resistance, a want of +something difficult to unravel, and something dark to +illumine. To agitate such a question is to beat the air +with a club, and cut down gnats with a scimitar; it is a +prostitution of industry, and a waste of strength. If a man +say, I have a good place, and I do not choose to lose it, this +mode of arguing upon the Catholic question I can well understand; +but that any human being with an understanding two degrees +elevated above that of an Anabaptist preacher, should +conscientiously contend for the expediency and propriety of +leaving the Irish Catholics in their present state, and of +subjecting us to such tremendous peril in the present condition +of the world, it is utterly out of my power to conceive. +Such a measure as the Catholic question is entirely beyond the +common game of politics; it is a measure in which all parties +ought to acquiesce, in order to preserve the place where and the +stake for which they play. If Ireland is gone, where are +jobs? where are reversions? where is my brother Lord Arden? where +are my dear and near relations? The game is up, and the +Speaker of the house of Commons will be sent as a present to the +menagerie at Paris. We talk of waiting from particular +considerations, as if centuries of joy and prosperity were before +us: in the next ten years our fate must be decided; we shall +know, long before that period, whether we can bear up against the +miseries by which we are threatened or not; and yet, in the very +midst of our crisis, we are enjoined to abstain from the most +certain means of increasing our strength, and advised to wait for +the remedy till the disease is removed by death or health. +And now, instead of the plain and manly policy of increasing +unanimity at home, by equalising rights and privileges, what is +the ignorant, arrogant, and wicked system which has been +pursued? Such a career of madness and of folly was, I +believe, never run in so short a period. The vigour of the +ministry is like the vigour of a grave-digger—the tomb +becomes more ready and more wide for every effort which they +make. There is nothing which it is worth while either to +take or to retain, and a constant train of ruinous expeditions +have been kept up. Every Englishman felt proud of the +integrity of his country; the character of the country is lost +for ever. It is of the utmost consequence to a commercial +people at war with the greatest part of Europe, that there should +be a free entry of neutrals into the enemy’s ports; the +neutrals who earned our manufactures we have not only excluded, +but we have compelled them to declare war against us. It +was our interest to make a good peace, or convince our own people +that it could not be obtained; we have not made a peace, and we +have convinced the people of nothing but of the arrogance of the +Foreign Secretary: and all this has taken place in the short +space of a year, because a King’s Bench barrister and a +writer of epigrams, turned into Ministers of State, were +determined to show country gentlemen that the late administration +had no vigour. In the meantime commerce stands still, +manufactures perish, Ireland is more and more irritated, India is +threatened, fresh taxes are accumulated upon the wretched people, +the war is carried on without it being possible to conceive any +one single object which a rational being can propose to himself +by its continuation; and in the midst of this unparalleled +insanity we are told that the Continent is to be reconquered by +the want of rhubarb and plums. A better spirit than exists +in the English people never existed in any people in the world: +it has been misdirected, and squandered upon party purposes in +the most degrading and scandalous manner; they have been led to +believe that they were benefiting the commerce of England by +destroying the commerce of America, that they were defending +their Sovereign by perpetuating the bigoted oppression of their +fellow-subjects; their rulers and their guides have told them +that they would equal the vigour of France by equalling her +atrocity; and they have gone on wasting that opulence, patience, +and courage, which, if husbanded by prudent and moderate +counsels, might have proved the salvation of mankind. The +same policy of turning the good qualities of Englishmen to their +own destruction, which made Mr. Pitt omnipotent, continues his +power to those who resemble him only in his vices; advantage is +taken of the loyalty of Englishmen to make them meanly +submissive; their piety is turned into persecution, their courage +into useless and obstinate contention; they are plundered because +they are ready to pay, and soothed into asinine stupidity because +they are full of virtuous patience. If England must perish +at last, so let it be: that event is in the hands of God; we must +dry up our tears and submit. But that England should perish +swindling and stealing; that it should perish waging war against +lazar houses and hospitals; that it should perish persecuting +with monastic bigotry; that it should calmly give itself up to be +ruined by the flashy arrogance of one man, and the narrow +fanaticism of another; these events are within the power of human +beings, and I did not think that the magnanimity of Englishmen +would ever stoop to such degradations.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Longum Vale!</i></p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Peter +Plymley</span>.</p> +<h2><span class="smcap">Historical Apology for the Irish +Catholics</span>.</h2> +<p><i>Historical Apology for The Irish Catholics</i>. By +<span class="smcap">William Parnell</span>, Esquire. +Fitzpatrick, Dublin. 1807.</p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p><span class="smcap">If</span> ever a nation exhibited symptoms +of downright madness, or utter stupidity, we conceive these +symptoms may be easily recognised in the conduct of this country +upon the Catholic question. A man has a wound in his great +toe, and a violent and perilous fever at the same time; and he +refuses to take the medicines for the fever because it will +disconcert the toe! The mournful and folly-stricken +blockhead forgets that his toe cannot survive him; that if he +dies, there can be no digital life apart from him: yet he lingers +and fondles over this last part of his body, soothing it madly +with little plasters, and anile fomentations, while the neglected +fever rages in his entrails, and burns away his whole life. +If the comparatively little questions of Establishment are all +that this country is capable of discussing or regarding, for +God’s sake let us remember that the foreign conquest, which +destroys all, destroys this beloved <i>toe</i> also. Pass +over freedom, industry, and science—and look upon this +great empire, by which we are about to be swallowed up, only as +it affects the manner of collecting tithes, and of reading the +liturgy—still, if all goes, these must go too; and even, +for their interests, it is worth while to conciliate Ireland, to +avert the hostility, and to employ the strength of the Catholic +population. We plead the question as the sincerest friends +to the Establishment;—as wishing to it all the prosperity +and duration its warmest advocates can desire,—but +remembering always what these advocates seem to forget, that the +Establishment cannot be threatened by any danger so great as the +perdition of the kingdom in which it is established.</p> +<p>We are truly glad to agree so entirely with Mr. Parnell upon +this great question; we admire his way of thinking, and most +cordially recommend his work to the attention of the +public. The general conclusion which he attempts to prove +is this: that religious sentiment, however perverted by bigotry +or fanaticism, has always a <i>tendency</i> to moderation; that +it seldom assumes any great portion of activity or enthusiasm, +except from novelty of opinion, or from opposition, contumely, +and persecution, when novelty ceases; that a Government has +little to fear from any religious sect, except while that sect is +new. Give a Government only time, and, provided it has the +good sense to treat folly with forbearance, it must ultimately +prevail. When, therefore, a sect is found, after a lapse of +years, to be ill-disposed to the Government, we may be certain +that Government has widened its separation by marked +distinctions, roused its resentment by contumely, or supported +its enthusiasm by persecution.</p> +<p>The <i>particular</i> conclusion Mr. Parnell attempts to prove +is, that the Catholic religion in Ireland had sunk into torpor +and inactivity, till Government roused it with the lash: that +even then, from the respect and attachment which men are always +inclined to show towards government, there still remained a large +body of loyal Catholics; that these only decreased in number from +the rapid increase of persecution; and that, after all, the +effects which the resentment of the Roman Catholics had in +creating rebellions had been very much exaggerated.</p> +<p>In support of these two conclusions, Mr. Parnell takes a +survey of the history of Ireland, from the conquest under Henry +to the rebellion under Charles I., passing very rapidly over the +period which preceded the Reformation, and dwelling principally +upon the various rebellions which broke out in Ireland between +the Reformation and the grand rebellion in the reign of Charles +I. The celebrated conquest of Ireland by Henry II. extended +only to a very few counties in Leinster; nine-tenths of the whole +kingdom were left, as he found them, under the dominion of their +native princes. The influence of example was as strong in +this as in most other instances; and great numbers of the English +settlers who came over under various adventures resigned their +pretensions to superior civilisation, cast off their lower +garments, and lapsed into the nudity and barbarism of the +Irish. The limit which divided the possessions of the +English settler from those of the native Irish was called <i>the +pale</i>; and the expressions of inhabitants <i>within the +pale</i>, and <i>without the pale</i>, were the terms by which +the two nations were distinguished. It is almost +superfluous to state, that the most bloody and pernicious warfare +was carried on upon the borders—sometimes for something, +sometimes for nothing—most commonly for cows. The +Irish, over whom the sovereigns of England affected a sort of +nominal dominion, were entirely governed by their own laws, and +so very little connection had they with the justice of the +invading country, that it was as lawful to kill an Irishman as it +was to kill a badger or a fox. The instances are +innumerable, where the defendant has pleaded that the deceased +was an Irishman, and that therefore defendant had a right to kill +him—and upon the proof of Hibernicism, acquittal followed +of course.</p> +<p>When the English army mustered in any great strength, the +Irish chieftains would do exterior homage to the English Crown; +and they very frequently, by this artifice, averted from their +country the miseries of invasion: but they remained completely +unsubdued, till the rebellion which took place in the reign of +Queen Elizabeth, of which that politic woman availed herself to +the complete subjugation of Ireland. In speaking of the +Irish about the reign of Elizabeth or James I., we must not draw +our comparisons from England, but from New Zealand; they were not +civilised men, but savages; and if we reason about their conduct, +we must reason of them as savages.</p> +<blockquote><p>“After reading every account of Irish +history,” says Mr. Parnell, “one great perplexity +appears to remain: How does it happen, that, from the first +invasion of the English till the reign of James I., Ireland seems +not to have made the smallest progress in civilisation or +wealth?</p> +<p>“That it was divided into a number of small +principalities, which waged constant war on each other—or +that the appointment of the chieftains was elective—do not +appear sufficient reasons, although these are the only ones +assigned by those who have been at the trouble of considering the +subject: neither are the confiscations of property quite +sufficient to account for the effect. There have been great +confiscations in other countries, and still they have flourished; +the petty states of Greece were quite analogous to the chiefries, +as they were called, in Ireland; and yet they seemed to flourish +almost in proportion to their dissensions. Poland felt the +bad effects of an elective monarchy more than any other country; +and yet, in point of civilisation, it maintained a very +respectable rank among the nations of Europe; but Ireland never, +for an instant, made any progress in improvement, till the reign +of James I.</p> +<p>“It is scarcely credible, that in a climate like that of +Ireland, and at a period so far advanced in civilisation as the +end of Elizabeth’s reign, the greater part of the natives +should go naked. Yet this is rendered certain by the +testimony of an eye-witness, Fynes Moryson. ‘In the +remote parts,’ he says, ‘where the English laws and +manners are unknown, the very chief of the Irish, as well men as +women, go naked in the winter time, only having their privy parts +covered with a rag of linen, and their bodies with a loose +mantle. This I speak of my own experience; yet remember +that a Bohemian baron coming out of Scotland to us by the north +parts of the wild Irish, told me in great earnestness, that he, +coming to the house of O’Kane, a great lord amongst them, +was met at the door by sixteen women, all naked, excepting their +loose mantles, whereof eight or ten were very fair; with which +strange sight his eyes being dazzled, they led him into the +house, and then sitting down by the fire, with crossed legs, like +tailors, and so low as could not but offend chaste eyes, desired +him to sit down with them. Soon after, O’Kane, the +lord of the country, came in all naked, except a loose mantle and +shoes, which he put off as soon as he came in; and, entertaining +the Baron after his best manner in the Latin tongue, desired him +to put off his apparel, which he thought to be a burden to him, +and to sit naked.</p> +<p>“‘To conclude, men and women at night going to +sleep, he thus naked in a round circle about the fire, with their +feet towards it. They fold their heads and their upper +parts in woollen mantles, first steeped in water to keep them +warm; for they say, that woollen cloth, wetted, preserves heat +(as linen, wetted, preserves cold), when the smoke of their +bodies has warmed the woollen cloth.’</p> +<p>“The cause of this extreme poverty, and of its long +continuance, we must conclude, arose from the peculiar laws of +property which were in force under the Irish dynasties. +These laws have been described by most writers as similar to the +Kentish custom of gavelkind; and, indeed, so little attention was +paid to the subject, that were it not for the researches of Sir +J. Davis, the knowledge of this singular usage would have been +entirely lost.</p> +<p>“The Brehon law of property, he tells us, was similar to +the custom (as the English lawyers term it) of hodge-podge. +When any one of the sept died, his lands did not descend to his +sons, but were divided among the whole sept: and, for this +purpose, the chief of the sept made a new division of the whole +lands belonging to the sept, and gave every one his part +according to seniority. So that no man had a property which +could descend to his children; and even during his own life his +possession of any particular spot was quite uncertain, being +liable to be constantly shuffled and changed by new +partitions. The consequence of this was that there was not +a house of brick or stone among the Irish down to the reign of +Henry VII.; not even a garden or orchard, or well-fenced or +improved field; neither village or town, or in any respect the +least provision for posterity. This monstrous custom, so +opposite to the natural feelings of mankind, was probably +perpetuated by the policy of the chiefs. In the first place +the power of partitioning being lodged in their hands, made them +the most absolute of tyrants, being the dispensers of the +property as well as of the liberty of their subjects. In +the second place, it had the appearance of adding to the number +of their savage armies; for where there was no improvement or +tillage, war was pursued as an occupation.</p> +<p>“In the early history of Ireland, we find several +instances of chieftains discountenancing tillage; and so late as +Elizabeth’s reign, Moryson says, that ‘Sir Neal Garve +restrained his people from ploughing, that they might assist him +to do any mischief.’”—(pp. 99–102).</p> +</blockquote> +<p>These quotations and observations will enable us to state a +few plain facts for the recollection of our English +readers:—1st, Ireland was never subdued till the rebellion +in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 2nd, For four hundred +years before that period the two nations had been almost +constantly at war; and in consequence of this, a deep and +irreconcilable hatred existed between the people within and +without the pale. 3rd, The Irish, at the accession of Queen +Elizabeth, were unquestionably the most barbarous people in +Europe. So much for what had happened previous to the reign +of Queen Elizabeth; and let any man, who has the most superficial +knowledge of human affairs, determine whether national hatred, +proceeding from such powerful causes, could possibly have been +kept under by the defeat of one single rebellion—whether it +would not have been easy to have foreseen, at that period, that a +proud, brave, half-savage people, would cherish the memory of +their wrongs for centuries to come, and break forth into arms at +every period when they were particularly exasperated by +oppression, or invited by opportunity. If the Protestant +religion had spread in Ireland as it did in England, and if there +had never been any difference of faith between the two +countries—can it be believed that the Irish, ill-treated +and infamously governed as they have been, would never have made +any efforts to shake off the yoke of England? Surely there +are causes enough to account for their impatience of that yoke, +without endeavouring to inflame the zeal of ignorant people +against the Catholic religion, and to make that mode of faith +responsible for all the butchery which the Irish and English for +these last two centuries have exercised upon each other. +Everybody, of course, must admit, that if to the causes of hatred +already specified there be added the additional cause of +religious distinction, this last will give greater force (and +what is of more consequence to observe, give a <i>name</i>) to +the whole aggregate motive. But what Mr. Parnell contends +for, and clearly and decisively proves, is that many of those +sanguinary scenes attributed to the Catholic religion are to be +partly imputed to causes totally disconnected from religion; that +the unjust invasion, and the tyrannical, infamous policy of the +English, are to take their full share of blame with the sophisms +and plots of Catholic priests. In the reign of Henry VIII., +Mr. Parnell shows that feudal submission was readily paid to him +by all the Irish chiefs; that the Reformation was received +without the slightest opposition; and that the troubles which +took place at that period in Ireland are to be entirely +attributed to the ambition and injustice of Henry. In the +reign of Queen Mary there was no recrimination upon the +Protestants—a striking proof that the bigotry of the +Catholic religion had not at that period risen to any great +height in Ireland. The insurrections of the various Irish +princes were as numerous during this reign as they had been in +the two preceding reigns—a circumstance rather difficult of +explanation, if, as is commonly believed, the Catholic religion +was at that period the main-spring of men’s actions.</p> +<p>In the reign of Elizabeth, the Catholic in the pale regularly +fought against the Catholic out of the pale. +O’Sullivan, a bigoted Papist, reproaches them with doing +so. Speaking of the reign of James I., he says, “And +now the eyes even of the English Irish (the Catholics of the +pale) were opened; and they cursed their former folly for helping +the heretic.” The English Government were so sensible +of the loyalty of the Irish English Catholics that they entrusted +them with the most confidential services. The Earl of +Kildare was the principal instrument in waging war against the +chieftains of Leix and Offal. William O’Bourge, +another Catholic, was created Lord Castle Connel for his eminent +services; and MacGully Patrick, a priest, was the State +spy. We presume that this wise and <i>manly</i> conduct of +Queen Elizabeth was utterly unknown both to the Pastrycook and +the Secretary of State, who have published upon the dangers of +employing Catholics even against foreign enemies; and in those +publications have said a great deal about the wisdom of our +ancestors—the usual topic whenever the folly of their +descendants is to be defended. To whatever other of our +ancestors they may allude, they may spare all compliments to this +illustrious Princess, who would certainly have kept the worthy +confectioner to the composition of tarts, and most probably +furnished him with the productions of the Right Honourable +Secretary as the means of conveying those juicy delicacies to a +hungry and discerning public.</p> +<p>In the next two reigns, Mr. Parnell shows by what injudicious +measures of the English Government the spirit of Catholic +opposition was gradually formed; for that it did produce powerful +effects at a subsequent period he does not deny; but contends +only (as we have before stated) that these effects have been much +overrated, and ascribed <i>solely</i> to the Catholic religion +when other causes have at least had an equal agency in bringing +them about. He concludes with some general remarks on the +dreadful state of Ireland, and the contemptible folly and bigotry +of the English—remarks full of truth, of good sense, and of +political courage. How melancholy to reflect, that there +would be still some chance of saving England from the general +wreck of empires, but that it may not be saved, because one +politician will lose two thousand a year by it, and another three +thousand—a third a place in reversion, and a fourth a +pension for his aunt! Alas! these are the powerful causes +which have always settled the destiny of great kingdoms, and +which may level Old England, with all its boasted freedom, and +boasted wisdom, to the dust. Nor is it the least singular, +among the political phenomena of the present day, that the sole +consideration which seems to influence the unbigoted part of the +English people, in this great question of Ireland, is a regard +for the personal feelings of the Monarch. Nothing is said +or thought of the enormous risk to which Ireland is +exposed—nothing of the gross injustice with which the +Catholics are treated—nothing of the lucrative apostasy of +those from whom they experience this treatment: but the only +concern by which we all seem to be agitated is, that the King +must not be vexed in his old age. We have a great respect +for the King; and wish him all the happiness compatible with the +happiness of his people. But these are not times to pay +foolish compliments to kings, or the sons of kings, or to anybody +else; this journal (the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>) has always +preserved its character for courage and honesty; and it shall do +so to the last. If the people of this country are solely +occupied in considering what is personally agreeable to the King, +without considering what is for his permanent good, and for the +safety of his dominions; if all public men, quitting the common +vulgar scramble for emolument, do not concur in conciliating the +people of Ireland; if the unfounded alarms, and the comparatively +trifling interests of the clergy, are to supersede the great +question of freedom or slavery, it does appear to us quite +impossible that so mean and so foolish a people can escape that +destruction which is ready to burst upon them—a destruction +so imminent that it can only be averted by arming all in our +defence who would evidently be sharers in our ruin—and by +such a change of system as may save us from the hazard of being +ruined by the ignorance and cowardice of any general, by the +bigotry or the ambition of any minister, or by the well-meaning +scruples of any human being, let his dignity be what it +may. These minor and domestic dangers we must endeavour +firmly and temperately to avert as we best can; but at all +hazards we must keep out the destroyer from among us, or perish +like wise and brave men in the attempt.</p> +<h2><span class="smcap">Ireland and England</span>.</h2> +<p>1. <i>Whitelaw’s History of the City of +Dublin</i>. 4to. Cadell and Davies.</p> +<p>2. <i>Observations on the State of Ireland</i>, +<i>principally directed to its Agriculture and Rural +Population</i>; <i>in a Series of Letters written on a Tour +through that Country</i>. In 2 vols. By J. C. <span +class="smcap">Curwen</span>, Esq., M.P. London, 1818.</p> +<p>3. <i>Gamble’s Views of Society in +Ireland</i>.</p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p><span class="smcap">These</span> are all the late publications +that treat of Irish interests in general, and none of them are of +first-rate importance. Mr. Gamble’s “Travels in +Ireland” are of a very ordinary description, low scenes and +low humour making up the principal part of the narrative. +There are readers, however, whom it will amuse; and the reading +market becomes more and more extensive, and embraces a greater +variety of persons every day. Mr. Whitelaw’s +“History of Dublin” is a book of great accuracy and +research, highly creditable to the industry, good sense, and +benevolence of its author. Of the “Travels” of +Mr. Christian Curwen we hardly know what to say. He is bold +and honest in his politics, a great enemy to abuses, vapid in his +levity and pleasantry, and infinitely too much inclined to +declaim upon commonplace topics of morality and +benevolence. But, with these drawbacks, the book is not +ill-written, and may be advantageously read by those who are +desirous of information upon the present state of Ireland.</p> +<p>So great and so long has been the misgovernment of that +country, that we verily believe the empire would be much stronger +if everything was open sea between England and the Atlantic, and +if <i>skates and cod-fish</i> swam over the fair land of +Ulster. Such jobbing, such profligacy, so much direct +tyranny and oppression, such an abuse of God’s gifts, such +a profanation of God’s name for the purposes of bigotry and +party spirit, cannot be exceeded in the history of civilised +Europe, and will long remain a monument of infamy and shame to +England. But it will be more useful to suppress the +indignation which the very name of Ireland inspires, and to +consider impartially those causes which have marred this fair +portion of the creation, and kept it wild and savage in the midst +of improving Europe.</p> +<p>The great misfortune of Ireland is that the mass of the people +have been given up for a century to a handful of Protestants, by +whom they have been treated as <i>Helots</i>, and subjected to +every species of persecution and disgrace. The sufferings +of the Catholics have been so loudly chanted in the very streets, +that it is almost needless to remind our readers that, during the +reigns of George I. and George II., the Irish Roman Catholics +were disabled from holding any civil or military office, from +voting at elections, from admission into corporations, from +practising law or physic. A younger brother, by turning +Protestant, might deprive his elder brother of his birthright; by +the same process he might force his father, under the name of a +liberal provision, to yield up to him a part of his landed +property; and, if an eldest son, he might, in the same way, +reduce his father’s fee-simple to a life-estate. A +Papist was disabled from purchasing freehold lands, and even from +holding long leases; and any person might take his Catholic +neighbour’s house by paying £5 for it. If the +child of a Catholic father turned Protestant he was taken away +from his father and put into the hands of a Protestant +relation. No Papist could purchase a freehold or lease for +more than thirty years, or inherit from an intestate Protestant, +nor from an intestate Catholic, nor dwell in Limerick or Galway, +nor hold an advowson, nor buy an annuity for life. +£50 was given for discovering a Popish archbishop, +£30 for a Popish clergyman, and 10s. for a +schoolmaster. No one was allowed to be trustee for +Catholics; no Catholic was allowed to take more than two +apprentices; no Papist to be solicitor, sheriff, or to serve on +Grand Juries. Horses of Papists might be seized for the +militia, for which militia Papists were to pay double, and to +find Protestant substitutes. Papists were prohibited from +being present at vestries, or from being high or petty +constables: and, when resident in towns, they were compelled to +find Protestant watchmen. Barristers and solicitors +marrying Catholics were exposed to the penalties of +Catholics. Persons plundered by privateers during a war +with any Popish prince were reimbursed by a levy on the Catholic +inhabitants where they lived. All Popish priests +celebrating marriages contrary to 12 Geo. I., cap 3, were to be +<i>hanged</i>!</p> +<p>The greater part of these incapacities are removed, though +many of a very serious and oppressive nature still remain. +But the grand misfortune is that the spirit which these +oppressive laws engendered remains. The Protestant still +looks upon the Catholic as a degraded being. The Catholic +does not yet consider himself upon an equality with his former +tyrant and taskmaster. That religious hatred which required +all the prohibiting vigilance of the law for its restraint has +found in the law its strongest support; and the spirit which the +law first exasperated and embittered continues to act long after +the original <i>stimulus</i> is withdrawn. The law which +prevented Catholics from serving on Grand Juries is repealed; but +Catholics are not called upon Grand Juries in the proportion in +which they are entitled by their rank and fortune. The Duke +of Bedford did all he could to give them the benefit of those +laws which are already passed in their favour. But power is +seldom entrusted in this country to one of the Duke of +Bedford’s liberality, and everything has fallen back in the +hands of his successors into the ancient division of the +privileged and degraded castes. We do not mean to cast any +reflection upon the present Secretary for Ireland, whom we +believe to be upon this subject a very liberal politician, and on +all subjects an honourable and excellent man. The +Government under which he serves allows him to indulge in a +little harmless liberality; but it is perfectly understood that +nothing is intended to be done for the Catholics; that no loaves +and fishes will be lost by indulgence in Protestant insolence and +tyranny; and, therefore, among the generality of Irish +Protestants, insolence, tyranny, and exclusion continue to +operate. However eligible the Catholic may be, he is not +elected; whatever barriers may be thrown down, he does not +advance a step. He was first kept out by law; he is now +kept out by opinion and habit. They have been so long in +chains that nobody believes they are capable of using their hands +and feet.</p> +<p>It is not, however, the only or the worst misfortune of the +Catholics that the relaxations of the law are hitherto of little +benefit to them; the law is not yet sufficiently relaxed. A +Catholic, as everybody knows, cannot be made sheriff; cannot be +in parliament; cannot be a director of the Irish Bank; cannot +fill the great departments of the law, the army, and the navy; is +cut off from all the high objects of human ambition, and treated +as a marked and degraded person.</p> +<p>The common admission now is that the Catholics are to the +Protestants in Ireland as about four to one, of which Protestants +not more than <i>one half</i> belong to the Church of +Ireland. This, then, is one of the most striking features +in the state of Ireland. That the great mass of the +population is completely subjugated and overawed by a handful of +comparatively recent settlers, in whom all the power and +patronage of the country is vested, who have been reluctantly +compelled to desist from still greater abuses of authority, and +who look with trembling apprehension to the increasing liberality +of the parliament and the country towards these unfortunate +persons whom they have always looked upon as their property and +their prey.</p> +<p>Whatever evils may result from these proportions between the +oppressor and oppressed—to whatever dangers a country so +situated may be considered to be exposed, these evils and dangers +are rapidly increasing in Ireland. The proportion of +Catholics to Protestants is infinitely greater now than it was +thirty years ago, and is becoming more and more favourable to the +former. By a return made to the Irish House of Lords in +1732 the proportion of Catholics to Protestants was not two to +one. It is now (as we have already observed) four to one; +and the causes which have thus altered the proportions in favour +of the Catholics are sufficiently obvious to any one acquainted +with the state of Ireland. The Roman Catholic priest +resides; his income entirely depends upon the number of his +flock; and he must exert himself or he starves. There is +some chance of success, therefore, in <i>his</i> efforts to +convert; but the Protestant clergyman, if he were equally eager, +has little or no probability of persuading so much larger a +proportion of the population to come over to his Church. +The Catholic clergyman belongs to a religion that has always been +more desirous of gaining proselytes than the Protestant Church; +and he is animated by a sense of injury and a desire of +revenge. Another reason for the disproportionate increase +of Catholics is that the Catholics will marry upon means which +the Protestant considers as insufficient for marriage. A +few potatoes and a shed of turf are all that Luther has left for +the Romanist; and, when the latter gets these, he instantly +begins upon the great Irish manufacture of children. But a +Protestant belongs to the sect that eats the fine flour and +heaves the bran to others; he must have comforts, and he does not +marry till he gets them. He would be ashamed if he were +seen living as a Catholic lives. This is the principal +reason why the Protestants who remain attached to their Church do +not increase so fast as the Catholics. But in common minds, +daily scenes, the example of the majority, the power of +imitation, decide their habits, religious as well as civil. +A Protestant labourer who works among Catholics soon learns to +think and act and talk as they do; he is not proof against the +eternal panegyric which he hears of Father O’Leary. +His Protestantism is rubbed away, and he goes at last, after some +little resistance, to the chapel where he sees everybody else +going.</p> +<p>These eight Catholics not only hate the ninth man, the +Protestant of the Establishment, for the unjust privileges he +enjoys—not only remember that the lands of their father +were given to his father—but they find themselves forced to +pay for the support of his religion. In the wretched state +of poverty in which the lower orders of Irish are plunged, it is +not without considerable effort that they can pay the few +shillings necessary for the support of their Catholic priest; and +when this is effected, a tenth of the potatoes in the garden are +to be set out for the support of a persuasion, the introduction +of which into Ireland they consider as the great cause of their +political inferiority, and all their manifold wretchedness. +In England a labourer can procure constant employment, or he can, +at the worst, obtain relief from his parish. Whether tithe +operates as a tax upon him, is known only to the political +economist: if he does pay it, he does not know that he pays it, +and the burden of supporting the Clergy is at least kept out of +his view. But in Ireland, the only method in which a poor +man lives is by taking a small portion of land in which he can +grow potatoes: seven or eight months out of twelve, in many parts +of Ireland, there is no constant employment of the poor; and the +potato farm is all that shelters them from absolute famine. +If the Pope were to come in person, seize upon every tenth +potato, the poor peasant would scarcely endure it. With +what patience, then, can he see it tossed into the cart of the +heretic rector, who has a church without a congregation, and a +revenue without duties? We do not say whether these things +are right or wrong, whether they want a remedy at all, or what +remedy they want; but we paint them in those colours in which +they appear to the eye of poverty and ignorance, without saying +whether those colours are false or true. Nor is the case at +all comparable to that of Dissenters paying tithe in England; +which case is precisely the reverse of what happens in Ireland, +for it is the contribution of a very small minority to the +religion of a very large majority; and the numbers on either side +make all the difference in the argument. To exasperate the +poor Catholic still more, the rich graziers of the parish, or the +squire in his parish, pay no tithe at all for their grass +land. Agistment tithe is abolished in Ireland, and the +burthen of supporting two Churches seems to devolve upon the +poorer Catholics, struggling with plough and spade in small +scraps of dearly-rented land. Tithes seem to be collected +in a more harsh manner than they are collected in England. +The minute sub-divisions of land in Ireland—the little +connection which the Protestant clergyman commonly has with the +Catholic population of his parish—have made the +introduction of tithe proctors very general, sometimes as the +agent of the clergyman, sometimes as the lessee or middleman +between the clergyman and the cultivator of the land, but, in +either case, practised, dexterous estimators of tithe. The +English clergymen in general are far from exacting the whole of +what is due to them, but sacrifice a little to the love of +popularity or to the dread of odium. A system of +tithe-proctors established all over England (as it is in +Ireland), would produce general disgust and alienation from the +Established Church.</p> +<blockquote><p>“During the administration of Lord +Halifax,” says Mr. Hardy, in quoting the opinion of Lord +Charlemont upon tithes paid by Catholics, “Ireland was +dangerously disturbed in its southern and northern regions. +In the south principally, in the counties of Kilkenny, Limerick, +Cork, and Tipperary, the White Boys now made their first +appearance; those White Boys who have ever since occasionally +disturbed the public tranquillity, without any rational method +having been as yet pursued to eradicate this disgraceful +evil. When we consider that the very same district has been +for the long space of seven-and-twenty years liable to frequent +returns of the same disorder into which it has continually +relapsed, in spite of all the violent remedies from time to time +administered by our political quacks, we cannot doubt but that +some real, peculiar, and topical cause must exist, and yet +neither the removal, nor even the investigation of this cause, +has ever once been seriously attempted. Laws of the most +sanguinary and unconstitutional nature have been enacted; the +country has been disgraced and exasperated by frequent and bloody +executions; and the gibbet, that perpetual resource of weak and +cruel legislators, has groaned under the multitude of starving +criminals; yet, while the cause is suffered to exist, the effects +will ever follow. The amputation of limbs will never +eradicate a prurient humour, which must be sought in its source +and there remedied.”</p> +<p>“I wish,” continues Mr. Wakefield, “for the +sake of humanity and for the honour of the Irish character, that +the gentlemen of that country would take this matter into their +serious consideration. Let them only for a moment place +themselves in the situation of the half-famished cotter, +surrounded by a wretched family clamorous for food, and judge +what his feelings must be when he sees the tenth part of the +produce of his potato garden exposed at harvest time to public +<i>cant</i>, or if he have given a promissory note for the +payment of a certain sum of money to compensate for such tithe +when it becomes due, to hear the heart-rending cries of his +offspring clinging round him, and lamenting for the milk of which +they are deprived by the cows being driven to the pound to be +sold to discharge the debt. Such accounts are not the +creations of fancy; the facts do exist, and are but too common in +Ireland. Were one of them transferred to canvas by the hand +of genius, and exhibited to English humanity, that heart must be +callous indeed that could refuse its sympathy. I have seen +the cow, the favourite cow, driven away, accompanied by the +sighs, the tears, and the imprecations of a whole family, who +were paddling after, through wet and dirt, to take their last +affectionate farewell of this their only friend and benefactor at +the pound gate. I have heard with emotions which I can +scarcely describe, deep curses repeated from village to village +as the cavalcade proceeded. I have witnessed the group pass +the domain walls of the opulent grazier, whose numerous herds +were cropping the most luxuriant pastures, while he was secure +from any demand for the tithe of their food, looking on with the +most unfeeling indifference.”—Ibid., p. 486.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In Munster, where tithe of potatoes is exacted, risings +against the system have constantly occurred during the last forty +years. In Ulster, where no such tithe is required, these +insurrections are unknown. The double Church which Ireland +supports, and that painful visible contribution towards it which +the poor Irishman is compelled to make from his miserable +pittance, is one great cause of those never-ending insurrections, +burnings, murders, and robberies, which have laid waste that +ill-fated country for so many years. The unfortunate +consequence of the civil disabilities, and the Church payments +under which the Catholics labour, is a rooted antipathy to this +country. They hate the English Government from historical +recollection, actual suffering, and disappointed hope, and till +they are better treated they will continue to hate it. At +this moment, in a period of the most profound peace, there are +twenty-five thousand of the best disciplined and best appointed +troops in the world in Ireland, with bayonets fixed, presented +arms, and in the attitude of present war: nor is there a man too +much—nor would Ireland be tenable without them. When +it was necessary last year (or thought necessary) to put down the +children of reform, we were forced to make a new levy of troops +in this country; not a man could be spared from Ireland. +The moment they had embarked, Peep-of-Day Boys, Heart-of-Oak +Boys, Twelve-o’-clock Boys, Heart-of-Flint Boys, and all +the bloody boyhood of the Bog of Allen, would have proceeded to +the ancient work of riot, rapine, and disaffection. +Ireland, in short, till her wrongs are redressed and a more +liberal policy is adopted towards her, will always be a cause of +anxiety and suspicion to this country, and in some moment of our +weakness and depression, will forcibly extort what she would now +receive with gratitude and exultation.</p> +<p>Ireland is situated close to another island of greater size, +speaking the same language, very superior in civilisation, and +the seat of government. The consequence of this is the +emigration of the richest and most powerful part of the +community—a vast drain of wealth—and the absence of +all that wholesome influence which the representatives of ancient +families, residing upon their estates, produce upon their +tenantry and dependents. Can any man imagine that the +scenes which have been acted in Ireland, within these last twenty +years, would have taken place, if such vast proprietors as the +Duke of Devonshire, the Marquis of Hertford, the Marquis of +Lansdowne, Earl Fitzwilliam, and many other men of equal wealth, +had been in the constant habit of residing upon their Irish as +they are upon their English estates? Is it of no +consequence to the order and the civilisation of a large +district, whether the great mansion is inhabited by an +insignificant, perhaps a mischievous attorney, in the shape of +agent, or whether the first and greatest men of the United +Kingdoms, after the business of Parliament is over, come with +their friends and families, to exercise hospitality, to spend +large revenues, to diffuse information, and to improve +manners? This evil is a very serious one to Ireland; and, +as far as we see, incurable. For if the present large +estates were, by the dilapidation of families, to be broken to +pieces and sold, others equally great would, in the free +circulation of property, speedily accumulate; and the moment any +possessor arrived at a certain pitch of fortune, he would +probably choose to reside in the better country—near the +Parliament, or the Court.</p> +<p>This absence of great proprietors in Ireland necessarily +brings with it, or if not necessarily, has actually brought with +it, the employment of the middlemen, which forms one other +standing and regular Irish grievance. We are well aware of +all that can be said in defence of middlemen; that they stand +between the little farmer and the great proprietor as the +shopkeeper does between the manufacturer and consumer; and, in +fact, by their intervention, save time, and therefore +expense. This may be true enough in the abstract; but the +particular nature of land must be attended to. The object +of the man who makes cloth is to sell his cloth at the present +market, for as high a price as he can obtain. If that price +is too high, it soon falls; but no injury is done to his +machinery by the superior price he has enjoyed for a +season—he is just as able to produce cloth with it, as if +the profits he enjoyed had always been equally moderate; he has +no fear, therefore, of the middleman, or of any species of moral +machinery which may help to obtain for him the greatest present +prices. The same would be the feeling of any one who let +out a steam-engine, or any other machine, for the purposes of +manufacture; he would naturally take the highest price he could +get; for he might either let his machine for a price +proportionate to the work it did, or the repairs, estimable with +the greatest precision, might be thrown upon the tenant; in +short, he could hardly ask any rent too high for his machine +which a responsible person would give; dilapidation would be so +visible, and so calculable in such instances, that any secondary +lease, or subletting, would be rather an increase of security +than a source of alarm. Any evil from such a practice would +be improbable measurable, and remediable. In land, on the +contrary, the object is not to get the highest prices absolutely, +but to get the highest prices which will not injure the +machine. One tenant may offer and pay double the rent of +another, and in a few years leave the land in a state which will +effectually bar all future offers of tenancy. It is of no +use to fill a lease full of clauses and covenants; a tenant who +pays more than he ought to pay, or who pays even to the last +farthing which he ought to pay, will rob the land, and injure the +machine, in spite of all the attorneys in England. He will +rob it even if he means to remain upon it—driven on by +present distress, and anxious to put off the day of defalcation +and arrear. The damage is often difficult of +detection—not easily calculated, not easily to be proved; +such for which juries (themselves perhaps farmers) will not +willingly give sufficient compensation. And if this be true +in England, it is much more strikingly true in Ireland, where it +is extremely difficult to obtain verdicts for breaches of +covenant in leases.</p> +<p>The only method, then, of guarding the machine from real +injury, is by giving to the actual occupier such advantage in his +contract, that he is unwilling to give it up—that he has a +real interest in retaining it, and is not driven by the +distresses of the present moment to destroy the future +productiveness of the soil. Any rent which the landlord +accepts more than this, or any system by which more rent than +this is obtained, is to borrow money upon the most usurious and +profligate interest—to increase the revenue of the present +day by the absolute ruin of the property. Such is the +effect produced by a middleman; he gives high prices that he may +obtain higher from the occupier; more is paid by the actual +occupier than is consistent with the safety and preservation of +the machine; the land is run out, and, in the end, that maximum +of rent we have described is not obtained; and not only is the +property injured by such a system, but in Ireland the most +shocking consequences ensue from it. There is little +manufacture in Ireland; the price of labour is low, the demand +for labour irregular. If a poor man be driven, by distress +of rent, from his potato garden, he has no other +resource—all is lost: he will do the impossible (as the +French say) to retain it; subscribe any bond, and promise any +rent. The middleman has no character to lose; and he knew, +when he took up the occupation, that it was one with which pity +had nothing to do. On he drives; and backward the poor +peasant recedes, loses something at every step, till he comes to +the very brink of despair; and then he recoils and murders his +oppressor, and is a <i>White Boy</i> or a <i>Right +Boy</i>;—the soldier shoots him, and the judge hangs +him.</p> +<p>In the debate which took place in the Irish House of Commons, +upon the Bill for preventing tumultuous risings and assemblies, +on the 31st of January, 1787, the Attorney-General submitted to +the House the following narrative of facts.</p> +<blockquote><p>“The commencement,” said he, +“was in one or two parishes in the county of Kerry; and +they proceeded thus. The people assembled in a Catholic +chapel, and there took an oath to obey the laws of Captain Right, +and to starve the clergy. They then proceeded to the next +parishes on the following Sunday, and there swore the people in +the same manner; with this addition, that they (the people last +sworn) should on the ensuing Sunday proceed to the chapels of +their next neighbouring parishes and swear the inhabitants of +those parishes in like manner. Proceeding in this manner, +they very soon went through the province of Munster. The +first object was the <i>reformation of tithes</i>. They +swore not to give more than a certain price per acre, not to +assist or allow them to be assisted in drawing the tithe, and to +permit <i>no proctor</i>. They next took upon them to +prevent the collection of parish cesses, next to nominate parish +clerks, and in some cases curates, to say what church should or +should not be repaired, and in one case to threaten that they +would burn a <i>new</i> church if the <i>old</i> one were not +given for a mass-house. At last they proceeded to regulate +the price of lands, to raise the price of labour, and to oppose +the collection of the hearth-money and other taxes. Bodies +of 5,000 of them have been seen to march through the country +unarmed, and, if met by any magistrate, <i>they never offered the +smallest rudeness or offence</i>; on the contrary, they had +allowed persons charged with crimes to be taken from amongst them +by the magistrate <i>alone</i>, unaided by any force.</p> +<p>“The Attorney-General said he was well acquainted with +the province of Munster, and that it was impossible for human +wretchedness to <i>exceed that of the peasantry of that +province</i>. The unhappy tenantry were <i>ground to +powder</i> by relentless landlords; that, far from being able to +give the clergy their just dues, they had not food or raiment for +themselves—the landlord grasped the whole; and sorry was he +to add that, not satisfied with the present extortion, some +landlords had been so base as to instigate the insurgents to rob +the clergy of their tithes, not in order to alleviate the +distresses of the tenantry, but that they might add the +clergy’s share to the cruel rack-rents they already +paid. The poor people of Munster lived in a <i>more abject +state of poverty than human nature could be supposed equal to +bear</i>.”—“Grattan’s Speeches,” +vol. i., p. 292.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>We are not, of course, in such a discussion to be governed by +names. A middleman might be tied up by the strongest legal +restriction, as to the price he was to exact from the +under-tenants, and then he would be no more pernicious to the +estate than a steward. A steward might be protected in +exactions as severe as the most rapacious middleman; and then, of +course, it would be the same thing under another name. The +practice to which we object is the too common method in Ireland +of extorting the last farthing which the tenant is willing to +give for land rather than quit it: and the machinery by which +such practice is carried into effect is that of the +middleman. It is not only that it ruins the land; it ruins +the people also. They are made so poor—brought so +near the ground—that they can sink no lower; and burst out +at last into all the acts of desperation and revenge for which +Ireland is so notorious. Men who have money in their +pockets, and find that they are improving in their circumstances, +don’t do these things. Opulence, or the hope of +opulence or comfort, is the parent of decency, order, and +submission to the laws. A landlord in Ireland understands +the luxury of carriages and horses, but has no relish for the +greater luxury of surrounding himself with a moral and grateful +tenantry. The absent proprietor looks only to revenue, and +cares nothing for the disorder and degradation of a country which +he never means to visit. There are very honourable +exceptions to this charge: but there are too many living +instances that it is just. The rapacity of the Irish +landlord induces him to allow of the extreme division of his +lands. When the daughter marries, a little portion of the +little farm is broken off—another corner for Patrick, and +another for Dermot—till the land is broken into sections, +upon one of which an English cow could not stand. Twenty +mansions of misery are thus reared instead of one. A louder +cry of oppression is lifted up to heaven, and fresh enemies to +the English name and power are multiplied on the earth. The +Irish gentleman, too, extremely desirous of political influence, +multiplying freeholds, and splitting votes; and this propensity +tends of course to increase the miserable redundance of living +beings, under which Ireland is groaning. Among the manifold +wretchedness to which the poor Irish tenant is liable, we must +not pass over the practice of driving for rent. A lets land +to B, who lets it to C, who lets it again to D. D pays C +his rent, and C pays B. But if B fails to pay A, the cattle +of B, C, D are all driven to the pound, and after the interval of +a few days sold by auction. A general driving of this kind +very frequently leads to a bloody insurrection. It may be +ranked among the classical grievances of Ireland.</p> +<p>Potatoes enter for a great deal into the present condition of +Ireland. They are much cheaper than wheat; and it is so +easy to rear a family upon them, that there is no cheek to +population from the difficulty of procuring food. The +population therefore goes on with a rapidity approaching almost +to that of new countries, and in a much greater ratio than the +improving agriculture and manufacturers of the country can find +employment for it. All degrees of all nations begin with +living in pig-styes. The king or the priest first gets out +of them; then the noble, then the pauper; in proportion as each +class becomes more and more opulent. Better tastes arise +from better circumstances; and the luxury of one period is the +wretchedness and poverty of another. English peasants, in +the time of Henry VII., were lodged as badly as Irish peasants +now are; but the population was limited by the difficulty of +procuring a corn subsistence. The improvements of this +kingdom were more rapid; the price of labour rose; and with it +the luxury and comfort of the peasant, who is now decently lodged +and clothed, and who would think himself in the last stage of +wretchedness if he had nothing but an iron pot in a turf house, +and plenty of potatoes in it. The use of the potato was +introduced into Ireland when the wretched accommodation of her +own peasantry bore some proportion to the state of those +accommodations all over Europe. But they have increased +their population so fast, and, in conjunction with the oppressive +government of Ireland retarding improvement, have kept the price +of labour so low, that the Irish poor have never been able to +emerge from their mud cabins, or to acquire any taste for +cleanliness and decency of appearance. Mr. Curwen has the +following description of Irish cottages:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“These mansions of miserable existence, for +so they may truly be described, conformably to our general +estimation of those indispensable comforts requisite to +constitute the happiness of rational beings, are most commonly +composed of two rooms on the ground floor, a most appropriate +term, for they are literally on the earth, the surface of which +is not unfrequently reduced a foot or more to save the expense of +so much outward walling. The one is a refectory, the other +the dormitory. The furniture of the former, if the owner +ranks in the upper part of the scale of scantiness, will consist +of a kitchen dresser, well provided and highly decorated with +crockery—not less apparently the pride of the husband than +the result of female vanity in the wife: which, with a table, a +chest, a few stools, and an iron pot, complete the catalogue of +conveniences generally found as belonging to the cabin: while a +spinning-wheel, furnished by the Linen Board, and a loom, +ornament vacant spaces that otherwise would remain +unfurnished. In fitting up the latter, which cannot on any +occasion or by any display add a feather to the weight or +importance expected to be excited by the appearance of the +former, the inventory is limited to one, and sometimes two beds, +serving for the repose of the whole family! However downy +these may be to limbs impatient for rest, their coverings appear +to be very slight, and the whole of the apartment created +reflections of a very painful nature. Under such +privations, with a wet mud floor and a roof in tatters, how idle +the search for comforts!”—<i>Curwen</i>, <i>i.</i>, +pp. 112, 113.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>To this extract we shall add one more on the same subject.</p> +<blockquote><p>“The gigantic figure, bareheaded before me, +had a beard that would not have disgraced an ancient +Israelite—he was without shoes or stockings—and +almost a sans-culotte—with a coat, or rather a jacket, that +appeared as if the first blast of wind would tear it to +tatters. Though his garb was thus tattered, he had a manly +commanding countenance. I asked permission to see the +inside of his cabin, to which I received his most courteous +assent. On stooping to enter at the door I was stopped, and +found that permission from another was necessary before I could +be admitted. A pig, which was fastened to a stake driven +into the floor, with length of rope sufficient to permit him the +enjoyment of sun and air, demanded some courtesy, which I showed +him, and was suffered to enter. The wife was engaged in +boiling thread, and by her side, near the fire, a lovely infant +was sleeping, without any covering, on a bare board. +Whether the fire gave additional glow to the countenance of the +babe, or that Nature impressed on its unconscious cheek a blush +that the lot of man should be exposed to such privations, I will +not decide; but if the cause be referable to the latter, it was +in perfect unison with my own feelings. Two or three other +children crowded round the mother: on their rosy countenances +health seemed established in spite of filth and ragged +garments. The dress of the poor woman was barely sufficient +to satisfy decency. Her countenance bore the expression of +a set melancholy, tinctured with an appearance of ill +health. The hovel, which did not exceed twelve or fifteen +feet in length and ten in breadth, was half obscured by +smoke—chimney or window I saw none; the door served the +various purposes of an inlet to light and the outlet to +smoke. The furniture consisted of two stools, an iron pot, +and a spinning-wheel, while a sack stuffed with straw, and a +single blanket laid on planks, served as a bed for the repose of +the whole family. Need I attempt to describe my +sensations? The statement alone cannot fail of conveying to +a mind like yours an adequate idea of them—I could not long +remain a witness to this acme of human misery. As I left +the deplorable habitation the mistress followed me to repeat her +thanks for the trifle I had bestowed. This gave me an +opportunity of observing her person more particularly. She +was a tall figure, her countenance composed of interesting +features, and with every appearance of having once been +handsome.</p> +<p>“Unwilling to quit the village without first satisfying +myself whether what I had seen was a solitary instance or a +sample of its general state, or whether the extremity of poverty +I had just beheld had arisen from peculiar improvidence and want +of management in one wretched family, I went into an adjoining +habitation, where I found a poor old woman of eighty, whose +miserable existence was painfully continued by the maintenance of +her granddaughter. Their condition, if possible, was more +deplorable.”—<i>Curwen</i>, i., pp. +181–183.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This wretchedness, of which all strangers who visit Ireland +are so sensible, proceeds certainly in great measure from their +accidental use of a food so cheap, that it encourages population +to an extraordinary degree, lowers the price of labour, and +leaves the multitudes which it calls into existence almost +destitute of everything but food. Many more live in +consequence of the introduction of potatoes; but all live in +greater wretchedness. In the progress of population, the +potato must of course become at last as difficult to be procured +as any other food; and then let the political economist calculate +what the immensity and wretchedness of a people must be, where +the further progress of population is checked by the difficulty +of procuring potatoes.</p> +<p>The consequence of the long mismanagement and oppression of +Ireland, and of the singular circumstances in which it is placed, +is, that it is a semi-barbarous country—more shame to those +who have thus ill-treated a fine country and a fine people; but +it is part of the present case of Ireland. The barbarism of +Ireland is evinced by the frequency and ferocity of +duels—the hereditary clannish feuds of the common people +and the fights to which they give birth—the atrocious +cruelties practised in the insurrections of the common +people—and their proneness to insurrection. The lower +Irish live in a state of greater wretchedness than any other +people in Europe inhabiting so fine a soil and climate. It +is difficult, often impossible, to execute the processes of +law. In cases where gentlemen are concerned, it is often +not even attempted. The conduct of under-sheriffs is often +very corrupt. We are afraid the magistracy of Ireland is +very inferior to that of this country; the spirit of jobbing and +bribery is very widely diffused, and upon occasions when the +utmost purity prevails in the sister kingdom. Military +force is necessary all over the country, and often for the most +common and just operations of Government. The behaviour of +the higher to the lower orders is much less gentle and decent +than in England. Blows from superiors to inferiors are more +frequent, and the punishment for such aggression more +doubtful. The word <i>gentleman</i> seems, in Ireland, to +put an end to most processes at law. Arrest a +gentleman!!!—take out a warrant against a +gentleman—are modes of operation not very common in the +administration of Irish justice. If a man strike the +meanest peasant in England, he is either knocked down in his +turn, or immediately taken before a magistrate. It is +impossible to live in Ireland without perceiving the various +points in which it is inferior in civilisation. Want of +unity in feeling and interest among the +people—irritability, violence, and revenge—want of +comfort and cleanliness in the lower orders—habitual +disobedience to the law—want of confidence in +magistrates—corruption, venality, the perpetual necessity +of recurring to military force—all carry back the observer +to that remote and early condition of mankind, which an +Englishman can learn only in the pages of the antiquary or the +historian. We do not draw this picture for censure but for +truth. We admire the Irish—feel the most sincere pity +for the state of Ireland—and think the conduct of the +English to that country to have been a system of atrocious +cruelty and contemptible meanness. With such a climate, +such a soil, and such a people, the inferiority of Ireland to the +rest of Europe is directly chargeable to the long wickedness of +the English Government.</p> +<p>A direct consequence of the present uncivilised state of +Ireland is, that very little English capital travels there. +The man who deals in steam-engines, and warps and woofs, is +naturally alarmed by Peep-of-Day Boys, and nocturnal Carders; his +object is to buy and sell as quickly and quietly as he can, and +he will naturally bear high taxes and rivalry in England, or +emigrate to any part of the Continent, or to America, rather than +plunge into the tumult of Irish politics and passions. +There is nothing which Ireland wants more than large +manufacturing towns to take off its superfluous population. +But internal peace must come first, and then the arts of peace +will follow. The foreign manufacturer will hardly think of +embarking his capital where he cannot be sure that his existence +is safe. Another check to the manufacturing greatness of +Ireland is the scarcity, not of coal, but of good coal, cheaply +raised—an article in which (in spite of papers in the Irish +Transactions) they are lamentably inferior to the English.</p> +<p>Another consequence from some of the causes we have stated is +the extreme idleness of the Irish labourer. There is +nothing of the value of which the Irish seem to have so little +notion as that of time. They scratch, pick, dawdle, stare, +gape, and do anything but strive and wrestle with the task before +them. The most ludicrous of all human objects is an +Irishman ploughing. A gigantic figure—a seven-foot +machine for turning potatoes in human nature—wrapt up in an +immense great-coat, and urging on two starved ponies, with +dreadful imprecations and uplifted shillala. The Irish crow +discerns a coming perquisite, and is not inattentive to the +proceedings of the steeds. The furrow which is to be the +depository of the future crop is not unlike, either in depth or +regularity, to those domestic furrows which the nails of the meek +and much-injured wife plough, in some family quarrel, upon the +cheeks of the deservedly punished husband. The weeds seem +to fall contentedly, knowing that they have fulfilled their +destiny, and left behind them, for the resurrection of the +ensuing spring, an abundant and healthy progeny. The whole +is a scene of idleness, laziness, and poverty, of which it is +impossible, in this active and enterprising country, to form the +most distant conception; but strongly indicative of habits, +whether secondary or original, which will long present a powerful +impediment to the improvement of Ireland.</p> +<p>The Irish character contributes something to retard the +improvements of that country. The Irishman has many good +qualities: he is brave, witty, generous, eloquent, hospitable, +and open-hearted; but he is vain, ostentatious, extravagant, and +fond of display, light in counsel, deficient in perseverance, +without skill in private or public economy, an enjoyer, not an +acquirer—one who despises the slow and patient +virtues—who wants the superstructure without the +foundation, the result without the previous operation, the oak +without the acorn and the three hundred years of +expectation. The Irish are irascible, prone to debt and to +fight, and very impatient of the restraints of law. Such a +people are not likely to keep their eyes steadily upon the main +chance like the Scotch or the Dutch. England strove very +hard at one period to compel the Scotch to pay a double Church, +but Sawney took his pen and ink, and finding what a sum it +amounted to became furious and drew his sword. God forbid +the Irishman should do the same! The remedy now would be +worse than the disease; but if the oppressions of England had +been more steadily resisted a century ago, Ireland would not have +been the scene of poverty, misery, and distress which it now +is.</p> +<p>The Catholic religion, among other causes, contributes to the +backwardness and barbarism of Ireland. Its debasing +superstition, childish ceremonies, and the profound submission to +the priesthood which it teaches, all tend to darken men’s +minds, to impede the progress of knowledge and inquiry, and to +prevent Ireland from becoming as free, as powerful, and as rich +as the sister kingdom. Though sincere friends to Catholic +emancipation, we are no advocates for the Catholic +religion. We should be very glad to see a general +conversion to Protestantism among the Irish, but we do not think +that violence, privations, and incapacities, are the proper +methods of making proselytes.</p> +<p>Such, then, is Ireland at this period—a land more +barbarous than the rest of Europe, because it has been worse +treated and more cruelly oppressed. Many of the +incapacities and privations to which the Catholics were exposed +have been removed by law, but in such instances they are still +incapacitated and deprived by custom. Many cruel and +oppressive laws are still enforced against them. A tenth +part of the population engrosses all the honours of the country; +the other nine pay a tenth of the product of the earth for the +support of a religion in which they do not believe. There +is little capital in the country. The great and rich men +are called by business, or allured by pleasure, into England; +their estates are given up to factors, and the utmost farthing of +rent extorted from the poor, who, if they give up the land, +cannot get employment in manufactures, or regular employment in +husbandry. The common people use a sort of food so very +cheap that they can rear families who cannot procure employment, +and who have little more of the comforts of life than food. +The Irish are light-minded—want of employment has made them +idle; they are irritable and brave, have a keen remembrance of +the past wrongs they have suffered, and the present wrongs they +are suffering from England. The consequence of all this is, +eternal riot and insurrection, a whole army of soldiers in time +of profound peace, and general rebellion whenever England is busy +with her other enemies or off her guard! And thus it will +be, while the same causes continue to operate, for ages to come, +and worse and worse as the rapidly increasing population of the +Catholics becomes more and more numerous.</p> +<p>The remedies are time and justice, and that justice consists +in repealing all laws which make any distinction between the two +religions; in placing over the government of Ireland, not the +stupid, amiable, and insignificant noblemen who have too often +been sent there, but men who feel deeply the wrongs of Ireland, +and who have an ardent wish to heal them; who will take care that +Catholics, when eligible, shall be elected; who will share the +patronage of Ireland proportionally among the two parties, and +give to just and liberal laws the same vigour of execution which +has hitherto been reserved only for decrees of tyranny, and the +enactments of oppression. The injustice and hardship of +supporting two Churches must be put out of sight, if it cannot or +ought not to be cured. The political economist, the +moralist, and the satirist, must combine to teach moderation and +superintendence to the great Irish proprietors. Public talk +and clamour may do something for the poor Irish, as it did for +the slaves in the West Indies. Ireland will become more +quiet under such treatment, and then more rich, more comfortable, +and more civilised; and the horrid spectacle of folly and +tyranny, which it at present exhibits, may in time be removed +from the eyes of Europe.</p> +<p>There are two eminent Irishmen now in the House of +Commons—Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning—who will +subscribe to the justness of every syllable we have said upon +this subject, and who have it in their power, by making it the +condition of their remaining in office, to liberate their native +country, and raise it to its just rank among the nations of the +earth. Yet the Court buys them over, year after year, by +the pomp and perquisites of office; and year after year they come +into the House of Commons, feeling deeply, and describing +powerfully, the injuries of five millions of their +countrymen—and <i>continue</i> members of a government that +inflicts those evils, under the pitiful delusion that it is not a +Cabinet Question, as if the scratchings and quarrellings of Kings +and Queens could alone cement politicians together in +indissoluble unity, while the fate and torture of one-third of +the empire might be complimented away from one minister to +another, without the smallest breach in their Cabinet +alliance. Politicians, at least honest politicians, should +be very flexible and accommodating in little things, very rigid +and inflexible in great things. And is this <i>not</i> a +great thing? Who has painted it in finer and more +commanding eloquence than Mr. Canning? Who has taken a more +sensible and statesmanlike view of our miserable and cruel policy +than Lord Castlereagh? You would think, to hear them, that +the same planet could not contain them and the oppressors of +their country—perhaps not the same solar system. Yet +for money, claret, and patronage, they lend their countenance, +assistance, and friendship to the Ministers who are the stern and +inflexible enemies to the emancipation of Ireland!</p> +<p>Thank God that all is not profligacy and corruption in the +history of that devoted people—and that the name of +Irishman does not always carry with it the idea of the oppressor +or the oppressed—the plunderer or the plundered—the +tyrant or the slave! Great men hallow a whole people, and +lift up all who live in their time. What Irishman does not +feel proud that he has lived in the days of <span +class="smcap">Grattan</span>? who has not turned to him for +comfort, from the false friends and open enemies of Ireland? who +did not remember him in the days of its burnings and wastings and +murders? No Government ever dismayed him—the world +could not bribe him—he thought only of Ireland—lived +for no other object—dedicated to her his beautiful fancy, +his elegant wit, his manly courage, and all the splendour of his +astonishing eloquence. He was so born and so gifted that +poetry, forensic skill, elegant literature, and all the highest +attainments of human genius were within his reach; but he thought +the noblest occupation of a man was to make other men happy and +free; and in that straight line he went on for fifty years, +without one side-look, without one yielding thought, without one +motive in his heart which he might not have laid open to the view +of God and man. He is gone!—but there is not a single +day of his honest life of which every good Irishman would not be +more proud than of the whole political existence of his +countrymen—the annual deserters and betrayers of their +native land.</p> +<h2><span class="smcap">Moore’s Captain Rock</span>.</h2> +<p><i>Memoirs of Captain Rock</i>, <i>the celebrated Irish +Chieftain</i>; <i>with some Account of his Ancestors</i>. +Written by Himself. Fourth Edition. 12mo. +London, 1824.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> agreeable and witty book is +generally supposed to have been written by Mr. Thomas Moore, a +gentleman of small stature, but full of genius, and a steady +friend of all that is honourable and just. He has here +borrowed the name of a celebrated Irish leader, to typify that +spirit of violence and insurrection which is necessarily +generated by systematic oppression, and rudely avenges its +crimes; and the picture he has drawn of its prevalence in that +unhappy country is at once piteous and frightful. Its +effect in exciting our horror and indignation is in the long run +increased, we think—though at first it may seem +counteracted—by the tone of levity, and even jocularity, +under which he has chosen to veil the deep sarcasm and +substantial terrors of his story. We smile at first, and +are amused, and wonder, as we proceed, that the humorous +narrative should produce conviction and pity—shame, +abhorrence, and despair.</p> +<p>England seems to have treated Ireland much in the same way as +Mrs. Brownrigg treated her apprentice—for which Mrs. +Brownrigg is hanged in the first volume of the Newgate +Calendar. Upon the whole, we think the apprentice is better +off than the Irishman; as Mrs. Brownrigg merely starves and beats +her, without any attempt to prohibit her from going to any shop, +or praying at any church her apprentice might select: and once or +twice, if we remember rightly, Brownrigg appears to have felt +some compassion. Not so Old England, who indulges rather in +a steady baseness, uniform brutality, and unrelenting +oppression.</p> +<p>Let us select from this entertaining little book a short +history of dear Ireland, such as even some profligate idle member +of the House of Commons, voting as his master bids him, may +perchance throw his eye upon, and reflect for a moment upon the +iniquity to which he lends his support.</p> +<p>For some centuries after the reign of Henry II., the Irish +were killed like game, by persons qualified or unqualified. +Whether dogs were used does not appear quite certain, though it +is probable they were, spaniels as well as pointers; and that, +after a regular point by Basto, well backed by Ponto and +Cæsar, Mr. O’Donnel or Mr. O’Leary bolted from +the thicket, and were bagged by the English sportsman. With +Henry II. came in tithes, to which, in all probability, about one +million of lives may have been sacrificed in Ireland. In +the reign of Edward I. the Irish who were settled near the +English requested that the benefit of the English laws might be +extended to them; but the remonstrance of the barons with the +hesitating king was in substance this: “You have made us a +present of these wild gentlemen, and we particularly request that +no measures may be adopted to check us in that full range of +tyranny and oppression in which we consider the value of such a +gift to consist. You might as well give us sheep, and +prevent us from shearing the wool, or roasting the +meat.” This reasoning prevailed, and the Irish were +kept to their barbarism, and the barons preserved their dive +stock.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Read ‘Orange faction’ (says +Captain Rock) here and you have the wisdom of our rulers, at the +end of near six centuries, <i>in statu quo</i>. The grand +periodic year of the stoics, at the close of which everything was +to begin again, and the same events to be all reacted in the same +order, is, on a miniature scale, represented in the history of +the English Government in Ireland, every succeeding century being +but a new revolution of the same follies, the same crimes, and +the same turbulence that disgraced the former. But +‘Vive l’ennemi!’ say I: whoever may suffer by +such measures, Captain Rock, at least, will prosper.</p> +<p>“And such was the result at the period of which I am +speaking. The rejection of a petition, so humble and so +reasonable, was followed, as a matter of course, by one of those +daring rebellions into which the revenge of an insulted people +naturally breaks forth. The M’Cartys, the +O’Briens, and the other Macs and O’s, who have been +kept on the alert by similar causes ever since, flew to arms +under the command of a chieftain of my family; and, as the +proffered <i>handle</i> of the sword had been rejected, made +their inexorable masters at least feel its +<i>edge</i>.”—(<i>pp.</i> 23–25.)</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Fifty years afterwards the same request was renewed and +refused. Up again rose Mac and O, a <i>just and necessary +war</i> ensued; and after the usual murders, the usual chains +were replaced upon the Irishry. All Irishmen were excluded +from every species of office. It was high treason to marry +with the Irish blood, and highly penal to receive the Irish into +religious houses. War was waged also against their Thomas +Moores, Samuel Rogerses, and Walter Scotts, who went about the +country harping and singing against English oppression. No +such turbulent guests were to be received. The plan of +making them poets-laureate, or converting them to loyalty by +pensions of £100 per annum, had not then been thought +of. They debarred the Irish even from the pleasure of +running away, and fixed them to the soil like negroes.</p> +<blockquote><p>“I have thus selected,” says the +historian of Rock, “cursorily and at random, a few features +of the reigns preceding the Reformation, in order to show what +good use was made of those three or four hundred years in +attaching the Irish people to their English governors; and by +what a gentle course of alternatives they were prepared for the +inoculation of a new religion, which was now about to be +attempted upon them by the same skilful and friendly hands.</p> +<p>“Henry VII. appears to have been the first monarch to +whom it occurred, that matters were not managed exactly as they +ought in this part of his dominions; and we find him—with a +simplicity which is still fresh and youthful among our +rulers—expressing his <i>surprise</i> that his subjects of +this land should be so prone to faction and rebellion, and that +so little advantage had been hitherto derived from the +acquisitions of his predecessor, notwithstanding the fruitfulness +and natural advantages of Ireland. Surprising, indeed, that +a policy, such as we have been describing, should not have +converted the whole country into a perfect Atlantis of +happiness—should not have made it like the imaginary island +of Sir Thomas More, where ‘<i>tota insula velut una familia +est</i>!’—most stubborn, truly, and ungrateful, must +that people be, upon whom, up to the very hour in which I write, +such a long and unvarying course of penal laws, confiscations, +and Insurrection Acts has been tried, without making them in the +least degree in love with their rulers.</p> +<p>“Heloise tells her tutor, Abelard, that the correction +which he inflicted upon her only served to increase the ardour of +her affection for him; but bayonets and hemp are no such +‘<i>amoris stimuli</i>.’ One more +characteristic anecdote of those times and I have done. At +the battle of Knocktow, in the reign of Henry VII., when that +remarkable man, the Earl of Kildare, assisted by the great +O’Neal and other Irish chiefs, gained a victory over +Clanricard of Connaught, most important to the English +Government, Lord Gormanstown, after the battle, in the first +insolence of success, said, turning to the Earl of Kildare, +‘We have now slaughtered our enemies, but, to complete the +good deed, we must proceed yet further, and—cut the throats +of those Irish of our own party!’ Who can wonder that +the Rock family were active in those times?”—(pp. 33, +35.)</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Henry VIII. persisted in all these outrages, and aggravated +them by insulting the prejudices of the people. England is +almost the only country in the world (even at present) where +there is not some favourite religious sport, where absurd lies, +little bits of cloth, feathers, rusty nails, splinters, and other +invaluable relics, are treasured up, and in defence of which the +whole population are willing to turn out and perish as one +man. Such was the shrine of St. Kieran, the whole treasures +of which the satellites of that corpulent tyrant turned out into +the street, pillaged the sacred church of Clonmacnoise, scattered +the holy nonsense of the priests to the winds, and burnt the real +and venerable crosier of St. Patrick, fresh from the +silversmith’s shop, and formed of the most costly +materials. Modern princes change the uniform of regiments; +Henry changed the religion of kingdoms, and was determined that +the belief of the Irish should undergo a radical and Protestant +conversion. With what success this attempt was made, the +present state of Ireland is sufficient evidence.</p> +<p>“Be not dismayed,” said Elizabeth, on hearing that +O’Neal meditated some designs against her government; +“tell my friends, if he arise, it will turn to their +advantage—<i>there will be estates for those who +want</i>.” Soon after this prophetic speech, Munster +was destroyed by famine and the sword, and near 600,000 acres +forfeited to the crown, and distributed among Englishmen. +Sir Walter Raleigh (the virtuous and good) butchered the garrison +of Limerick in cold blood, after Lord Deputy Gray had selected +700 to be hanged. There were, during the reign of +Elizabeth, three invasions of Ireland by the Spaniards, produced +principally by the absurd measures of this princess for the +reformation of its religion. The Catholic clergy, in +consequence of these measures, abandoned their cures, the +churches fell to ruin, and the people were left without any means +of instruction. Add to these circumstances the murder of +M’Mahon, the imprisonment of O’Toole and +O’Dogherty, and the kidnapping of O’Donnel—all +truly Anglo-Hibernian proceedings. The execution of the +laws was rendered detestable and intolerable by the queen’s +officers of justice. The spirit raised by these +transactions, besides innumerable smaller insurrections gave rise +to the great wars of Desmond and Hugh O’Neal; which, after +they had worn out the ablest generals, discomfited the choicest +troops, exhausted the treasure, and embarrassed the operations of +Elizabeth, were terminated by the destruction of these two +ancient families, and by the confiscation of more than half the +territorial surface of the island. The last two years of +O’Neal’s wars cost Elizabeth £140,000 per +annum, though the whole revenue of England at that period fell +considerably short of £500,000. Essex, after the +destruction of Norris, led into Ireland an army of above 20,000 +men, which was totally baffled and destroyed by Tyrone, within +two years of their landing. Such was the importance of +Irish rebellions two centuries before the time in which we +live. Sir G. Carew attempted to assassinate the Lugan +Earl—Mountjoy compelled the Irish rebels to massacre each +other. In the course of a few months 3,000 men were starved +to death in Tyrone. Sir Arthur Chichester, Sir Richard +Manson, and other commanders, saw three children feeding on the +flesh of their dead mother. Such were the golden days of +good Queen Bess!</p> +<p>By the rebellions of Dogherty, in the reign of James I., six +northern counties were confiscated, amounting to 500,000 +acres. In the same manner, 64,000 acres were confiscated in +Athlone. The whole of his confiscations amount to nearly a +million acres; and if Leland means plantation acres, they +constitute a twelfth of the whole kingdom according to Newenham, +and a tenth according to Sir W. Petty. The most shocking +and scandalous action in the reign of James, was his attack upon +the whole property of the province of Connaught, which he would +have effected, if he had not been bought off by a sum greater +than he hoped to gain by his iniquity, besides the luxury of +confiscation. The Irish, during the reign of James I., +suffered under the <i>double</i> evils of a licentious soldiery +and a religious persecution.</p> +<p>Charles I. took a bribe of £120,000 from his Irish +subjects, to grant them what in those days were called +<i>Graces</i>, but in these days would be denominated the +Elements of Justice. The money was paid, but the graces +were never granted. One of these graces was curious enough: +“That the clergy were not to be permitted to keep +henceforward any private prisons of their own, but delinquents +were to be committed to the public jails.” The idea +of a rector, with his own private jail full of Dissenters, is the +most ludicrous piece of tyranny we ever heard of. The +troops in the beginning of Charles’s reign were supported +by the weekly fines levied upon the Catholics for non-attendance +upon established worship. The Archbishop of Dublin went +himself at the head of a file of musketeers, to disperse a +Catholic congregation in Dublin—which object he effected +after a considerable skirmish with the priests. “The +favourite object” (says Dr. Leland, a Protestant clergyman, +and dignitary of the Irish Church) “of the Irish Government +and the English Parliament, was <i>the utter extermination</i> of +all the Catholic inhabitants of Ireland.” The great +rebellion took place in this reign, and Ireland was one scene of +blood and cruelty and confiscation.</p> +<p>Cromwell began his career in Ireland by massacring for five +days the garrison of Drogheda, to whom quarter had been +promised. Two millions and a half of acres were +confiscated. Whole towns were put up in lots, and +sold. The Catholics were banished from three-fourths of the +kingdom, and confined to Connaught. After a certain day, +every Catholic found out of Connaught was to be punished with +death. Fleetwood complains peevishly “that the people +<i>do not transport readily</i>,” but adds, “<i>it is +doubtless a work in which the Lord will appear</i>.” +Ten thousand Irish were sent as recruits to the Spanish army.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Such was <i>Cromwell’s</i> way of +settling the affairs of Ireland; and if a nation <i>is</i> to be +ruined, this method is, perhaps, as good as any. It is, at +least, more humane than the slow, lingering process of exclusion, +disappointment, and degradation, by which their hearts are worn +out under more specious forms of tyranny; and that talent of +despatch which Molière attributes to one of his physicians +is no ordinary merit in a practitioner like +Cromwell:—“C’est un homme expéditif, qui +aime à depêcher ses malades; et quand on à +mourir, cela se fait avec lui le plus vite du monde.” +A certain military Duke, who complains that Ireland is but half +conquered, would, no doubt, upon an emergency, try his hand in +the same line of practice, and, like that ‘stern +hero’ Mirmillo, in the Dispensary,</p> +<p>“While others meanly take whole months to slay,<br /> +Despatch the grateful patient in a day!”</p> +<p>“Among other amiable enactments against the Catholics at +this period, the price of five pounds was set on the head of a +Romish priest, being exactly the same sum offered by the same +legislators for the head of a wolf. The Athenians, we are +told, encouraged the destruction of wolves by a similar reward +(five drachms); but it does not appear that these heathens bought +up the heads of priests at the same rate, such zeal in the cause +of religion being reserved for times of Christianity and +Protestantism.”—(pp. 97–99.)</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Nothing can show more strongly the light in which the Irish +were held by Cromwell than the correspondence with Henry Cromwell +respecting the peopling of Jamaica from Ireland. Secretary +Thurloe sends to Henry, the Lord Deputy in Ireland, to inform him +that “a stock of Irish girls and Irish young men are +wanting for the peopling of Jamaica.” The answer of +Henry Cromwell is as follows:—“Concerning the supply +of young men, although we must use force in taking them up, +<i>yet it being so much for their own good</i>, and likely to be +of so great advantage to the public, it is not the least doubted +but that you may have such a number of them as you may think fit +to make use of on this account.</p> +<p>“I shall not need repeat anything respecting the girls, +not doubting to answer your expectations to the full <i>in +that</i>; and I think it might be of like advantage to your +affairs there and ours here if you should think fit to send 1,500 +or 2,000 boys to the place above mentioned. <i>We can well +spare them</i>; and who knows but that it may be the means of +making them Englishmen—I mean, rather, Christians? As +for the girls, I suppose you will make provisions of clothes, and +other accommodations for them.” Upon this, Thurloe +informs Henry Cromwell that the council have voted 4,000 +<i>girls</i>, <i>and as many boys</i>, to go to Jamaica.</p> +<p>Every Catholic priest found in Ireland was hanged, and five +pounds paid to the informer.</p> +<p>“About the years 1652 and 1653,” says Colonel +Lawrence, in his <i>Interests of Ireland</i>, “the plague +and famine had so swept away whole counties, that a man might +travel twenty or thirty miles and not see a living creature, +either man, or beast, or bird, they being all dead, or had +quitted those desolate places. Our soldiers would tell +stories of the places where they saw smoke—it was so rare +to see either smoke by day or fire or candle by +night.” In this manner did the Irish live and die +under Cromwell, suffering by the sword, famine, pestilence, and +persecution, beholding the confiscation of a kingdom and the +banishment of a race. “So that there perished,” +says Sir W. Petty, “in the year 1641, 650,000 human beings, +whose bloods somebody must atone for to God and the +King!”</p> +<p>In the reign of Charles II., by the Act of Settlement, four +millions and a half of acres were for ever taken from the +Irish. “This country,” says the Earl of Essex, +Lord Lieutenant in 1675, “has been perpetually rent and +torn since his Majesty’s restoration. I can compare +it to nothing better than the flinging the reward on the death of +a deer among the pack of hounds, where every one pulls and tears +where he can for himself.” All wool grown in Ireland +was, by Act of Parliament, compelled to be sold to England; and +Irish cattle were excluded from England. The English, +however, were pleased to accept 30,000 head of cattle, sent as a +gift from Ireland to the sufferers in the great fire! and the +first day of the Sessions, after this act of munificence, the +Parliament passed fresh acts of exclusion against the productions +of that country.</p> +<p>“Among the many anomalous situations in which the Irish +have been placed, by those ‘marriage vows, false as +dicers’ oaths,’ which bind their country to England, +the dilemma in which they found themselves at the Revolution was +not the less perplexing or cruel. If they were loyal to the +King <i>de jure</i>, they were hanged by the King <i>de +facto</i>; and if they escaped with life from the King <i>de +facto</i>, it was but to be plundered and proscribed by the King +<i>de jure</i> afterwards.</p> +<blockquote><p>“‘Hac <i>gener</i> atque <i>socer</i> +coeant mercede suorum.’—<span +class="smcap">Virgil</span>.</p> +<p>“‘In a manner so summary, prompt, and high +mettled,<br /> +Twixt father and son-in-law matters were settled.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“In fact, most of the outlawries in Ireland were for +treason committed the very day on which the Prince and Princess +of Orange accepted the crown in the Banqueting-house; though the +news of this event could not possibly have reached the other side +of the Channel on the same day, and the Lord-Lieutenant of King +James, with an army to enforce obedience, was at that time in +actual possession of the government, so little was common sense +consulted, or the mere decency of forms observed, by that +rapacious spirit, which nothing less than the confiscation of the +whole island could satisfy; and which having, in the reign of +James I. and at the Restoration, despoiled the natives of no less +than ten millions six hundred and thirty-six thousand eight +hundred and thirty-seven acres, now added to its plunder one +million sixty thousand seven hundred and ninety-two acres more, +being the amount altogether (according to Lord Clare’s +calculation) of the whole superficial contents of the island!</p> +<blockquote><p>“Thus, not only had <i>all</i> Ireland +suffered confiscation in the course of this century, but no +inconsiderable portion of it had been twice and even thrice +confiscated. Well might Lord Clare say, ‘that the +situation of the Irish nation, at the Revolution, stands +unparalleled in the history of the inhabited +world.’” (pp. 111–113.)</p> +</blockquote> +<p>By the Articles of Limerick, the Irish were promised the free +exercise of their religion; but from that period to the year +1788, every year produced some fresh penalty against that +religion, some liberty was abridged, some right impaired, or some +suffering increased. By acts in King William’s reign, +they were prevented from being solicitors. No Catholic was +allowed to marry a Protestant; and any Catholic who sent a son to +Catholic countries for education was to forfeit all his +lands. In the reign of Queen Anne, any son of a Catholic +who chose to turn Protestant got possession of the father’s +estate. No Papist was allowed to purchase freehold +property, or to take a lease for more than thirty years. If +a Protestant dies intestate, the estate is to go to the next +<i>Protestant</i> heir, though all to the tenth generation should +be Catholic. In the same manner, if a Catholic dies +intestate, his estate is to go to the next Protestant. No +Papist is to dwell in Limerick or Galway. No Papist is to +take an annuity for life. The widow of a Papist turning +Protestant to have a portion of the chattels of deceased in spite +of any will. Every Papist teaching schools to be presented +as a regular Popish convict. Prices of catching Catholic +priests, from 50s. to £10, according to rank. Papists +are to answer all questions respecting other Papists, or to be +committed to jail for twelve months. No trust to be +undertaken for Papists. No Papist to be on Grand +Juries. Some notion may be formed of the spirit of those +times, from an order of the House of Commons, “that the +Sergeant-at-Arms should take into custody all Papists that should +presume to come into <i>the gallery</i>!” +(<i>Commons’ Journal</i>, vol. iii., fol. 976.) +During this reign the English Parliament legislated as absolutely +for Ireland as they do now for Rutlandshire, an evil not to be +complained of, if they had done it as justly. In the reign +of George I., the horses of Papists were seized for the militia, +and rode by Protestants; towards which the Catholics paid double, +and were compelled to find Protestant substitutes. They +were prohibited from voting at vestries, or being high or petty +constables. An act of the English Parliament in this reign +opens as follows:—“Whereas attempts have been lately +made to shake off the subjection of Ireland to the Imperial Crown +of these realms, be it enacted,” etc. etc. In the +reign of George II. four-sixths of the population were cut off +from the right of voting at elections by the necessity under +which they were placed of taking the oath of supremacy. +Barristers and solicitors marrying Catholics are exposed to all +the penalties of Catholics. Persons robbed by privateers +during a war with a Catholic State are to be indemnified by a +levy on the Catholic inhabitants of the neighbourhood. All +marriages between Catholics and Protestants are annulled. +All Popish priests celebrating them are to be hanged. +“This system” (says Arthur Young) “has no other +tendency than that of driving out of the kingdom all the personal +wealth of the Catholics, and extinguishing their industry within +it; and the face of the country, every object which presents +itself to travellers, tells him how effectually this has been +done.”—<i>Young’s Tour in Ireland</i>, vol. +ii., p. 48.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>Such is the history of Ireland—for we are now at our own +times; and the only remaining question is, whether the system of +improvement and conciliation begun in the reign of George III. +shall be pursued, and the remaining incapacities of the Catholics +removed, or all these concessions be made insignificant by an +adherence to that spirit of proscription which they professed to +abolish? Looking to the sense and reason of the thing, and +to the ordinary working of humanity and justice, when assisted, +as they are here, by self-interest and worldly policy, it might +seem absurd to doubt of the result. But looking to the +facts and the persons by which we are now surrounded, we are +constrained to say that we greatly fear that these incapacities +never will be removed till they are removed by fear. What +else, indeed, can we expect when we see them opposed by such +enlightened men as Mr. Peel—faintly assisted by men of such +admirable genius as Mr. Canning—when Royal Dukes consider +it as a compliment to the memory of their father to continue this +miserable system of bigotry and exclusion, when men act +ignominiously and contemptibly on this question, who do so on no +other question, when almost the only persons zealously opposed to +this general baseness and fatuity are a few Whigs and Reviewers, +or here and there a virtuous poet like Mr. Moore? We repeat +again, that the measure never will be effected but by fear. +In the midst of one of our just and necessary wars, the Irish +Catholics will compel this country to grant them a great deal +more than they at present require or even contemplate. We +regret most severely the protraction of the disease, and the +danger of the remedy; but in this way it is that human affairs +are carried on!</p> +<p>We are sorry we have nothing for which to praise +Administration on the subject of the Catholic question, but it is +but justice to say, that they have been very zealous and active +in detecting fiscal abuses in Ireland, in improving mercantile +regulations, and in detecting Irish jobs. The commission on +which Mr. Wallace presided has been of the greatest possible +utility, and does infinite credit to the Government. The +name of Mr. Wallace in any commission has now become a pledge to +the public that there is a real intention to investigate and +correct abuse. He stands in the singular predicament of +being equally trusted by the rulers and the ruled. It is a +new era in Government when such men are called into action; and +if there were not proclaimed and fatal limits to that ministerial +liberality, which, so far as it goes, we welcome without a grudge +and praise without a sneer, we might yet hope that, for the sake +of mere consistency, they might be led to falsify our +forebodings. But alas! there are motives more immediate, +and therefore irresistible; and the time is not yet come when it +will be believed easier to govern Ireland by the love of the many +than by the power of the few, when the paltry and dangerous +machinery of bigoted faction and prostituted patronage may be +dispensed with, and the vessel of the State be propelled by the +natural current of popular interests and the breath of popular +applause. In the meantime, we cannot resist the temptation +of gracing our conclusion with the following beautiful passage, +in which the author alludes to the hopes that were raised at +another great era of partial concession and liberality, that of +the revolution of 1782, when, also, benefits were conferred which +proved abortive because they were incomplete, and balm poured +into the wound, where the envenomed shaft was yet left to +rankle.</p> +<blockquote><p>“And here,” says the gallant Captain +Rock, “as the free confession of weakness constitutes the +chief charm and use of biography, I will candidly own that the +dawn of prosperity and concord which I now saw breaking over the +fortunes of my country, so dazzled and deceived my youthful eyes, +and so unsettled every hereditary notion of what I owed to my +name and family, that—shall I confess it—I even +hailed with pleasure the prospects of peace and freedom that +seemed opening around me; nay, was ready, in the boyish +enthusiasm of the moment, to sacrifice all my own personal +interest in all future riots and rebellions to the one bright, +seducing object of my country’s liberty and repose.</p> +<p>“When I contemplated such a man as the venerable +Charlemont, whose nobility was to the people like a fort over a +valley, elevated above them solely for their defence; who +introduced the polish of the courtier into the camp of the +freeman, and served his country with all that pure Platonic +devotion which a true knight in the time of chivalry proffered to +his mistress; when I listened to the eloquence of Grattan, the +very music of freedom, her first fresh matin song, after a long +night of slavery, degradation, and sorrow; when I saw the bright +offerings which he brought to the shrine of his +country—wisdom, genius, courage, and patience, invigorated +and embellished by all those social and domestic virtues, without +which the loftiest talents stand isolated in the moral waste +around them, like the pillars of Palmyra towering in a +wilderness!—when I reflected on all this, it not only +disheartened me for the mission of discord which I had +undertaken, but made me secretly hope that it might be rendered +unnecessary; and that a country which could produce such men and +achieve such a revolution, might yet—in spite of the joint +efforts of the Government and my family—take her rank in +the scale of nations, and be happy!</p> +<p>“My father, however, who saw the momentary dazzle by +which I was affected, soon drew me out of this false light of +hope in which I lay basking, and set the truth before me in a way +but too convincing and ominous. ‘Be not deceived, +boy,’ he would say, ‘by the fallacious appearances +before you. Eminently great and good as is the man to whom +Ireland owes this short era of glory, <i>our</i> work, believe +me, will last longer than his. We have a power on our side +that “will not willingly let us die;” and, long after +Grattan shall have disappeared from earth like that arrow shot +into the clouds by Alcestes, effecting nothing, but leaving a +long train of light behind him, the family of the <span +class="smcap">Rocks</span> will continue to flourish in all their +native glory, upheld by the ever-watchful care of the +Legislature, and fostered by that “nursing-mother of +Liberty,” the Church.’”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PETER PLYMLEY'S LETTERS***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 4063-h.htm or 4063-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/0/6/4063 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive +specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this +eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given +away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks +not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the +trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country outside the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and + most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this + eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the + United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you + are located before using this ebook. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The +Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the +mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its +volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous +locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt +Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to +date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and +official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +</pre></body> +</html> diff --git a/4063-h/images/tpb.jpg b/4063-h/images/tpb.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b049e5f --- /dev/null +++ b/4063-h/images/tpb.jpg diff --git a/4063-h/images/tps.jpg b/4063-h/images/tps.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ccfe7c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/4063-h/images/tps.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9f948f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #4063 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4063) diff --git a/old/ptpml10.txt b/old/ptpml10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a07f770 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ptpml10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5334 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Peter Plymley's Letters etc., by Sydney Smith +#1 in our series by Sydney Smith + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below, including for donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + + + +Title: Peter Plymley's Letters and Selected Essays + +Author: Sydney Smith + +Release Date: May, 2003 [Etext #4063] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] +[The actual date this file first posted = 10/29/01] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Peter Plymley's Letters etc., by Sydney Smith +*******This file should be named ptpml10.txt or ptpml10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, ptpml11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ptpml10a.txt + +This etext was produced by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk, +from the 1893 Cassell & Company edition. + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 +or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 4,000 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of 10/17/01 contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, +Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, +North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, +South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, +Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in about 45 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. Please feel +free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork +to legally request donations in all 50 states. If +your state is not listed and you would like to know +if we have added it since the list you have, just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in +states where we are not yet registered, we know +of no prohibition against accepting donations +from donors in these states who approach us with +an offer to donate. + + +International donations are accepted, +but we don't know ANYTHING about how +to make them tax-deductible, or +even if they CAN be made deductible, +and don't have the staff to handle it +even if there are ways. + +All donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541, +and has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal +Revenue Service (IRS). Donations are tax-deductible to the maximum +extent permitted by law. As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the +additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +*** + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + +PETER PLYMLEY'S LETTERS AND SELECTED ESSAYS + + + + +Contents: + Introduction + Peter Plymley's Letters + Historical Apology For The Irish Catholics + Ireland and England + Moore's Captain Rock + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +Sydney Smith, of the same age as Walter Scott, was born at Woodford, +in Essex, in the year 1771, and he died of heart disease, aged +seventy-four, on the 22nd of February, 1845. His father was a +clever man of wandering habits who, when he settled in England, +reduced his means by buying, altering, spoiling, and then selling +about nineteen different places in England. His mother was of a +French family from Languedoc, that had been driven to England by the +Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Sydney Smith's grandfather, upon +the mother's side, could speak no English, and he himself ascribed +some of his gaiety to the French blood in his veins. + +He was one of four sons. His eldest brother Robert--known as Bobus- +-was sent to Eton, where he joined Canning, Frere, and John Smith, +in writing the Eton magazine, the Microcosm; and at Cambridge Bobus +afterwards was known as a fine Latin scholar. Sydney Smith went +first to a school at Southampton, and then to Winchester, where he +became captain of the school. Then he was sent for six months to +Normandy for a last polish to his French before he went on to New +College, Oxford. When he had obtained his fellowship there, his +father left him to his own resources. His eldest brother had been +trained for the bar, his two younger brothers were sent out to +India, and Sydney, against his own wish, yielded to the strong +desire of his father that he should take orders as a clergyman. +Accordingly, in 1794, he became curate of the small parish of +Netherhaven, in Wiltshire. Meat came to Netherhaven only once a +week in a butcher's cart from Salisbury, and the curate often dined +upon potatoes flavoured with ketchup. + +The only educated neighbour was Mr. Hicks Beach, the squire, who at +first formally invited the curate to dinner on Sundays, and soon +found his wit, sense, and high culture so delightful, that the +acquaintance ripened into friendship. After two years in the +curacy, Sydney Smith gave it up and went abroad with the squire's +son. "When first I went into the Church," he wrote afterwards, "I +had a curacy in the middle of Salisbury Plain; the parish was +Netherhaven, near Amesbury. The squire of the parish, Mr. Beach, +took a fancy to me, and after I had served it two years, he engaged +me as tutor to his eldest son, and it was arranged that I and his +son should proceed to the University of Weimar in Saxony. We set +out, but before reaching our destination Germany was disturbed by +war, and, in stress of politics, we put into Edinburgh, where I +remained five years." + +Young Michael Beach, who had little taste for study, lived with +Sydney Smith as his tutor, and found him a wise guide and pleasant +friend. When Michael went to the University, his brother William +was placed under the same good care. Sydney Smith, about the same +time, went to London to be married. His wife's rich brother +quarrelled with her for marrying a man who said that his only +fortune consisted in six small silver teaspoons. One day after +their happy marriage he ran in to his wife and threw them in her +lap, saying, "There, Kate, you lucky girl, I give you all my +fortune!" The lucky girl had a small fortune of her own which her +husband had strictly secured to herself and her children. Mr. Beach +recognised the value of Sydney Smith's influence over his son by a +wedding gift of 750 pounds. In 1802 a daughter was born, and in the +same year Sydney Smith joined Francis Jeffrey and other friends, who +then maintained credit for Edinburgh as the Modern Athens, in the +founding of The Edinburgh Review, to which the papers in this +volume, added to the Peter Plymley Letters, were contributed. The +Rev. Sydney Smith preached sometimes in the Episcopal Church at +Edinburgh, and presently had, in addition to William Beach, a son of +Mr. Gordon, of Ellon Castle, placed under his care, receiving 400 +pounds a year for each of the young men. + +In 1803 Sydney Smith left Edinburgh for London, where he wrote +busily in The Edinburgh Review, but remained poor for many years. +His wit brought friends, and the marriage of his eldest brother with +Lord Holland's aunt quickened the growth of a strong friendship with +Lord Holland. Through the good offices of Lord Holland, Sydney +Smith obtained, in 1806, aged thirty-five, the living of Foston-le- +Clay, in Yorkshire. In the next year appeared the first letter of +Peter Plymley to his brother Abraham on the subject of the Irish +Catholics. + +These letters fell, we are told, like sparks on a heap of gunpowder. +All London, and soon all England, was alive to the sound reason +recommended by a lively wit. Sydney Smith lived to be recognised as +first among the social wits, and it was always the chief praise of +his wit that wisdom was the soul of it. Peter Plymley's letters, +and Sydney Smith's articles on the same subject in The Edinburgh +Review were the most powerful aids furnished by the pen to the +solution of the burning question of their time. Lord Murray called +the Plymley letters "after Pascal's letters the most instructive +piece of wisdom in the form of irony ever written." Worldly wealth +came later; but in wit, wisdom, and kindly helpful cheerfulness, +from youth to age, Sydney Smith's life was rich. + +H. M. + + + +LETTERS ON THE SUBJECT OF THE CATHOLICS. +TO MY BROTHER ABRAHAM, +WHO LIVES IN THE COUNTRY. +BY PETER PLYMLEY. + + + +LETTER I. + + + +Dear Abraham,--A worthier and better man than yourself does not +exist; but I have always told you, from the time of our boyhood, +that you were a bit of a goose. Your parochial affairs are governed +with exemplary order and regularity; you are as powerful in the +vestry as Mr. Perceval is in the House of Commons,--and, I must say, +with much more reason; nor do I know any church where the faces and +smock-frocks of the congregation are so clean, or their eyes so +uniformly directed to the preacher. There is another point, upon +which I will do you ample justice; and that is, that the eyes so +directed towards you are wide open; for the rustic has, in general, +good principles, though he cannot control his animal habits; and, +however loud he may snore, his face is perpetually turned towards +the fountain of orthodoxy. + +Having done you this act of justice, I shall proceed, according to +our ancient intimacy and familiarity, to explain to you my opinions +about the Catholics, and to reply to yours. + +In the first place, my sweet Abraham, the Pope is not landed--nor +are there any curates sent out after him--nor has he been hid at St. +Albans by the Dowager Lady Spencer--nor dined privately at Holland +House--nor been seen near Dropmore. If these fears exist (which I +do not believe), they exist only in the mind of the Chancellor of +the Exchequer; they emanate from his zeal for the Protestant +interest; and, though they reflect the highest honour upon the +delicate irritability of his faith, must certainly be considered as +more ambiguous proofs of the sanity and vigour of his understanding. +By this time, however, the best-informed clergy in the neighbourhood +of the metropolis are convinced that the rumour is without +foundation; and though the Pope is probably hovering about our coast +in a fishing-smack, it is most likely he will fall a prey to the +vigilance of our cruisers; and it is certain that he has not yet +polluted the Protestantism of our soil. + +Exactly in the same manner, the story of the wooden gods seized at +Charing Cross, by an order from the Foreign Office, turns out to be +without the shadow of a foundation; instead of the angels and +archangels, mentioned by the informer, nothing was discovered but a +wooden image of Lord Mulgrave, going down to Chatham, as a head- +piece for the Spanker gun-vessel; it was an exact resemblance of his +Lordship in his military uniform; and THEREFORE as little like a god +as can well be imagined. + +Having set your fears at rest, as to the extent of the conspiracy +formed against the Protestant religion, I will now come to the +argument itself. + +You say these men interpret the scriptures in an unorthodox manner, +and that they eat their god.--Very likely. All this may seem very +important to you, who live fourteen miles from a market-town, and, +from long residence upon your living, are become a kind of holy +vegetable; and in a theological sense it is highly important. But I +want soldiers and sailors for the state; I want to make a greater +use than I now can do of a poor country full of men; I want to +render the military service popular among the Irish; to check the +power of France; to make every possible exertion for the safety of +Europe, which in twenty years' time will be nothing but a mass of +French slaves: and then you, and ten other such boobies as you, +call out--"For God's sake, do not think of raising cavalry and +infantry in Ireland! . . . They interpret the Epistle to Timothy in +a different manner from what we do! . . . They eat a bit of wafer +every Sunday, which they call their God!" . . . I wish to my soul +they would eat you, and such reasoners as you are. What! when Turk, +Jew, Heretic, Infidel, Catholic, Protestant, are all combined +against this country; when men of every religious persuasion, and no +religious persuasion; when the population of half the globe is up in +arms against us; are we to stand examining our generals and armies +as a bishop examines a candidate for holy orders; and to suffer no +one to bleed for England who does not agree with you about the +second of Timothy? You talk about the Catholics! If you and your +brotherhood have been able to persuade the country into a +continuation of this grossest of all absurdities, you have ten times +the power which the Catholic clergy ever had in their best days. +Louis XIV., when he revoked the Edict of Nantes, never thought of +preventing the Protestants from fighting his battles; and gained +accordingly some of his most splendid victories by the talents of +his Protestant generals. No power in Europe, but yourselves, has +ever thought for these hundred years past, of asking whether a +bayonet is Catholic, or Presbyterian or Lutheran; but whether it is +sharp and well-tempered. A bigot delights in public ridicule; for +he begins to think he is a martyr. I can promise you the full +enjoyment of this pleasure, from one extremity of Europe to the +other. + +I am as disgusted with the nonsense of the Roman Catholic religion +as you can be: and no man who talks such nonsense shall ever tithe +the product of the earth, nor meddle with the ecclesiastical +establishment in any shape; but what have I to do with the +speculative nonsense of his theology, when the object is to elect +the mayor of a county town, or to appoint a colonel of a marching +regiment? Will a man discharge the solemn impertinences of the one +office with less zeal, or shrink from the bloody boldness of the +other with greater timidity, because the blockhead thinks he can eat +angels in muffins and chew a spiritual nature in the crumpets which +he buys from the baker's shop? I am sorry there should be such +impious folly in the world, but I should be ten times a greater fool +than he is, if I refused, till he had made a solemn protestation +that the crumpet was spiritless and the muffin nothing but a human +muffin, to lead him out against the enemies of the state. Your +whole argument is wrong: the state has nothing whatever to do with +theological errors which do not violate the common rules of +morality, and militate against the fair power of the ruler: it +leaves all these errors to you, and to such as you. You have every +tenth porker in your parish for refuting them; and take care that +you are vigilant and logical in the task. + +I love the Church as well as you do; but you totally mistake the +nature of an establishment, when you contend that it ought to be +connected with the military and civil career of every individual in +the state. It is quite right that there should be one clergyman to +every parish interpreting the Scriptures after a particular manner, +ruled by a regular hierarchy, and paid with a rich proportion of +haycocks and wheatsheafs. When I have laid this foundation for a +rational religion in the state--when I have placed ten thousand +well-educated men in different parts of the kingdom to preach it up, +and compelled everybody to pay them, whether they hear them or not-- +I have taken such measures as I know must always procure an immense +majority in favour of the Established Church; but I can go no +further. I cannot set up a civil inquisition, and say to one, you +shall not be a butcher, because you are not orthodox; and prohibit +another from brewing, and a third from administering the law, and a +fourth from defending the country. If common justice did not +prohibit me from such a conduct, common sense would. The advantage +to be gained by quitting the heresy would make it shameful to +abandon it; and men who had once left the Church would continue in +such a state of alienation from a point of honour, and transmit that +spirit to their latest posterity. This is just the effect your +disqualifying laws have produced. They have fed Dr. Rees, and Dr. +Kippis; crowded the congregations of the Old Jewry to suffocation: +and enabled every sublapsarian, and superlapsarian, and semi- +pelagian clergyman, to build himself a neat brick chapel, and live +with some distant resemblance to the state of a gentleman. + +You say the King's coronation oath will not allow him to consent to +any relaxation of the Catholic laws.--Why not relax the Catholic +laws as well as the laws against Protestant dissenters? If one is +contrary to his oath, the other must be so too; for the spirit of +the oath is, to defend the Church establishment, which the Quaker +and the Presbyterian differ from as much or more than the Catholic; +and yet his Majesty has repealed the Corporation and Test Act in +Ireland, and done more for the Catholics of both kingdoms than had +been done for them since the Reformation. In 1778 the ministers +said nothing about the royal conscience; in 1793 no conscience; in +1804 no conscience; the common feeling of humanity and justice then +seem to have had their fullest influence upon the advisers of the +Crown; but in 1807--a year, I suppose, eminently fruitful in moral +and religious scruples (as some years are fruitful in apples, some +in hops),--it is contended by the well-paid John Bowles, and by Mr. +Perceval (who tried to be well paid), that this is now perjury which +we had hitherto called policy and benevolence. Religious liberty +has never made such a stride as under the reign of his present +Majesty; nor is there any instance in the annals of our history, +where so many infamous and damnable laws have been repealed as those +against the Catholics which have been put an end to by him; and +then, at the close of this useful policy, his advisers discover that +the very measures of concession and indulgence, or (to use my own +language) the measures of justice, which he has been pursuing +through the whole of his reign, are contrary to the oath he takes at +its commencement! That oath binds his Majesty not to consent to any +measure contrary to the interest of the Established Church; but who +is to judge of the tendency of each particular measure? Not the +King alone: it can never be the intention of this law that the +King, who listens to the advice of his Parliament upon a read bill, +should reject it upon the most important of all measures. Whatever +be his own private judgment of the tendency of any ecclesiastical +bill, he complies most strictly with his oath, if he is guided in +that particular point by the advice of his Parliament, who may be +presumed to understand its tendency better than the King, or any +other individual. You say, if Parliament had been unanimous in +their opinion of the absolute necessity for Lord Howick's bill, and +the King had thought it pernicious, he would have been perjured if +he had not rejected it. I say, on the contrary, his Majesty would +have acted in the most conscientious manner, and have complied most +scrupulously with his oath, if he had sacrificed his own opinion to +the opinion of the great council of the nation; because the +probability was that such opinion was better than his own; and upon +the same principle, in common life, you give up your opinion to your +physician, your lawyer, and your builder. + +You admit this bill did not compel the King to elect Catholic +officers, but only gave him the option of doing so if he pleased; +but you add, that the King was right in not trusting such dangerous +power to himself or his successors. Now you are either to suppose +that the King for the time being has a zeal for the Catholic +establishment, or that he has not. If he has not, where is the +danger of giving such an option? If you suppose that he may be +influenced by such an admiration of the Catholic religion, why did +his present Majesty, in the year 1804, consent to that bill which +empowered the Crown to station ten thousand Catholic soldiers in any +part of the kingdom, and place them absolutely at the disposal of +the Crown? If the King of England for the time being is a good +Protestant, there can be no danger in making the Catholic ELIGIBLE +to anything: if he is not, no power can possibly be so dangerous as +that conveyed by the bill last quoted; to which, in point of peril, +Lord Howick's bill is a mere joke. But the real fact is, one bill +opened a door to his Majesty's advisers for trick, jobbing, and +intrigue; the other did not. + +Besides, what folly to talk to me of an oath, which, under all +possible circumstances, is to prevent the relaxation of the Catholic +laws! for such a solemn appeal to God sets all conditions and +contingencies at defiance. Suppose Bonaparte was to retrieve the +only very great blunder he has made, and were to succeed, after +repeated trials, in making an impression upon Ireland, do you think +we should hear any thing of the impediment of a coronation oath? or +would the spirit of this country tolerate for an hour such +ministers, and such unheard-of nonsense, if the most distant +prospect existed of conciliating the Catholics by every species even +of the most abject concession? And yet, if your argument is good +for anything, the coronation oath ought to reject, at such a moment, +every tendency to conciliation, and to bind Ireland for ever to the +crown of France. + +I found in your letter the usual remarks about fire, fagot, and +bloody Mary. Are you aware, my dear Priest, that there were as many +persons put to death for religious opinions under the mild Elizabeth +as under the bloody Mary? The reign of the former was, to be sure, +ten times as long; but I only mention the fact, merely to show you +that something depends upon the age in which men live, as well as on +their religious opinions. Three hundred years ago men burnt and +hanged each other for these opinions. Time has softened Catholic as +well as Protestant: they both required it; though each perceives +only his own improvement, and is blind to that of the other. We are +all the creatures of circumstances. I know not a kinder and better +man than yourself; but you, if you had lived in those times, would +certainly have roasted your Catholic: and I promise you, if the +first exciter of this religious mob had been as powerful then as he +is now, you would soon have been elevated to the mitre. I do not go +the length of saying that the world has suffered as much from +Protestant as from Catholic persecution; far from it: but you +should remember the Catholics had all the power, when the idea first +started up in the world that there could be two modes of faith; and +that it was much more natural they should attempt to crush this +diversity of opinion by great and cruel efforts, than that the +Protestants should rage against those who differed from them, when +the very basis of their system was complete freedom in all spiritual +matters. + +I cannot extend my letter any further at present, but you shall soon +hear from me again. You tell me I am a party man. I hope I shall +always be so, when I see my country in the hands of a pert London +joker and a second-rate lawyer. Of the first, no other good is +known than that he makes pretty Latin verses; the second seems to me +to have the head of a country parson and the tongue of an Old Bailey +lawyer. + +If I could see good measures pursued, I care not a farthing who is +in power; but I have a passionate love for common justice, and for +common sense, and I abhor and despise every man who builds up his +political fortune upon their ruin. + +God bless you, reverend Abraham, and defend you from the Pope, and +all of us from that administration who seek power by opposing a +measure which Burke, Pitt, and Fox all considered as absolutely +necessary to the existence of the country. + + + +LETTER II. + + + +Dear Abraham,--The Catholic not respect an oath! why not? What upon +earth has kept him out of Parliament, or excluded him from all the +offices whence he is excluded, but his respect for oaths? There is +no law which prohibits a Catholic to sit in Parliament. There could +be no such law; because it is impossible to find out what passes in +the interior of any man's mind. Suppose it were in contemplation to +exclude all men from certain offices who contended for the legality +of taking tithes: the only mode of discovering that fervid love of +decimation which I know you to possess would be to tender you an +oath "against that damnable doctrine, that it is lawful for a +spiritual man to take, abstract, appropriate, subduct, or lead away +the tenth calf, sheep, lamb, ox, pigeon, duck," &c., &c., &c., and +every other animal that ever existed, which of course the lawyers +would take care to enumerate. Now this oath I am sure you would +rather die than take; and so the Catholic is excluded from +Parliament because he will not swear that he disbelieves the leading +doctrines of his religion! The Catholic asks you to abolish some +oaths which oppress him; your answer is that he does not respect +oaths. Then why subject him to the test of oaths? The oaths keep +him out of Parliament; why, then, he respects them. Turn which way +you will, either your laws are nugatory, or the Catholic is bound by +religious obligations as you are; but no eel in the well-sanded fist +of a cook-maid, upon the eve of being skinned, ever twisted and +writhed as an orthodox parson does when he is compelled by the gripe +of reason to admit anything in favour of a dissenter. + +I will not dispute with you whether the Pope be or be not the +Scarlet Lady of Babylon. I hope it is not so; because I am afraid +it will induce His Majesty's Chancellor of the Exchequer to +introduce several severe bills against popery, if that is the case; +and though he will have the decency to appoint a previous committee +of inquiry as to the fact, the committee will be garbled, and the +report inflammatory. Leaving this to be settled as he pleases to +settle it, I wish to inform you, that, previously to the bill last +passed in favour of the Catholics, at the suggestion of Mr. Pitt, +and for his satisfaction, the opinions of six of the most celebrated +of the foreign Catholic universities were taken as to the right of +the Pope to interfere in the temporal concerns of any country. The +answer cannot possibly leave the shadow of a doubt, even in the mind +of Baron Maseres; and Dr. Rennel would be compelled to admit it, if +three Bishops lay dead at the very moment the question were put to +him. To this answer might be added also the solemn declaration and +signature of all the Catholics in Great Britain. + +I should perfectly agree with you, if the Catholics admitted such a +dangerous dispensing power in the hands of the Pope; but they all +deny it, and laugh at it, and are ready to abjure it in the most +decided manner you can devise. They obey the Pope as the spiritual +head of their Church; but are you really so foolish as to be imposed +upon by mere names? What matters it the seven-thousandth part of a +farthing who is the spiritual head of any Church? Is not Mr. +Wilberforce at the head of the Church of Clapham? Is not Dr. Letsom +at the head of the Quaker Church? Is not the General Assembly at +the head of the Church of Scotland? How is the government disturbed +by these many-headed Churches? or in what way is the power of the +Crown augmented by this almost nominal dignity? + +The King appoints a fast-day once a year, and he makes the bishops: +and if the government would take half the pains to keep the +Catholics out of the arms of France that it does to widen Temple +Bar, or improve Snow Hill, the King would get into his hands the +appointments of the titular Bishops of Ireland. Both Mr. C-'s +sisters enjoy pensions more than sufficient to place the two +greatest dignitaries of the Irish Catholic Church entirely at the +disposal of the Crown. + +Everybody who knows Ireland knows perfectly well, that nothing would +be easier, with the expenditure of a little money, than to preserve +enough of the ostensible appointment in the hands of the Pope to +satisfy the scruples of the Catholics, while the real nomination +remained with the Crown. But, as I have before said, the moment the +very name of Ireland is mentioned, the English seem to bid adieu to +common feeling, common prudence, and common sense, and to act with +the barbarity of tyrants and the fatuity of idiots. + +Whatever your opinion may be of the follies of the Roman Catholic +religion, remember they are the follies of four millions of human +beings, increasing rapidly in numbers, wealth, and intelligence, +who, if firmly united with this country, would set at defiance the +power of France, and if once wrested from their alliance with +England, would in three years render its existence as an independent +nation absolutely impossible. You speak of danger to the +Establishment: I request to know when the Establishment was ever so +much in danger as when Hoche was in Bantry Bay, and whether all the +books of Bossuet, or the arts of the Jesuits, were half so terrible? +Mr. Perceval and his parsons forget all this, in their horror lest +twelve or fourteen old women may be converted to holy water and +Catholic nonsense. They never see that, while they are saving these +venerable ladies from perdition, Ireland may be lost, England broken +down, and the Protestant Church, with all its deans, prebendaries, +Percevals, and Rennels, be swept into the vortex of oblivion. + +Do not, I beseech you, ever mention to me again the name of Dr. +Duigenan. I have been in every corner of Ireland, and have studied +its present strength and condition with no common labour. Be +assured Ireland does not contain at this moment less than five +millions of people. There were returned in the year 1791 to the +hearth tax 701,000 houses, and there is no kind of question that +there were about 50,000 houses omitted in that return. Taking, +however, only the number returned for the tax, and allowing the +average of six to a house (a very small average for a potato-fed +people), this brings the population to 4,200,000 people in the year +1791: and it can be shown from the clearest evidence (and Mr. +Newenham in his book shows it), that Ireland for the last fifty +years has increased in its population at the rate of 50 or 60,000 +per annum; which leaves the present population of Ireland at about +five millions, after every possible deduction for EXISTING +CIRCUMSTANCES, JUST AND NECESSARY WARS, MONSTROUS AND UNNATURAL +REBELLIONS, and all other sources of human destruction. Of this +population, two out of ten are Protestants; and the half of the +Protestant population are Dissenters, and as inimical to the Church +as the Catholics themselves. In this state of things thumbscrews +and whipping--admirable engines of policy as they must be considered +to be--will not ultimately avail. The Catholics will hang over you; +they will watch for the moment, and compel you hereafter to give +them ten times as much, against your will, as they would now be +contented with, if it were voluntarily surrendered. Remember what +happened in the American war, when Ireland compelled you to give her +everything she asked, and to renounce, in the most explicit manner, +your claim of Sovereignty over her. God Almighty grant the folly of +these present men may not bring on such another crisis of public +affairs! + +What are your dangers which threaten the Establishment?--Reduce this +declamation to a point, and let us understand what you mean. The +most ample allowance does not calculate that there would be more +than twenty members who were Roman Catholics in one house, and ten +in the other, if the Catholic emancipation were carried into effect. +Do you mean that these thirty members would bring in a bill to take +away the tithes from the Protestant, and to pay them to the Catholic +clergy? Do you mean that a Catholic general would march his army +into the House of Commons, and purge it of Mr. Perceval and Dr. +Duigenan? or, that the theological writers would become all of a +sudden more acute or more learned, if the present civil incapacities +were removed? Do you fear for your tithes, or your doctrines, or +your person, or the English Constitution? Every fear, taken +separately, is so glaringly absurd, that no man has the folly or the +boldness to state it. Every one conceals his ignorance, or his +baseness, in a stupid general panic, which, when called on, he is +utterly incapable of explaining. Whatever you think of the +Catholics, there they are--you cannot get rid of them; your +alternative is to give them a lawful place for stating their +grievances, or an unlawful one: if you do not admit them to the +House of Commons, they will hold their parliament in Potatoe Place, +Dublin, and be ten times as violent and inflammatory as they would +be in Westminster. Nothing would give me such an idea of security +as to see twenty or thirty Catholic gentlemen in Parliament, looked +upon by all the Catholics as the fair and proper organ of their +party. I should have thought it the height of good fortune that +such a wish existed on their part, and the very essence of madness +and ignorance to reject it. Can you murder the Catholics? Can you +neglect them? They are too numerous for both these expedients. +What remains to be done is obvious to every human being--but to that +man who, instead of being a Methodist preacher, is, for the curse of +us and our children, and for the ruin of Troy and the misery of good +old Priam and his sons, become a legislator and a politician. + +A distinction, I perceive, is taken by one of the most feeble +noblemen in Great Britain, between persecution and the deprivation +of political power; whereas, there is no more distinction between +these two things than there is between him who makes the distinction +and a booby. If I strip off the relic-covered jacket of a Catholic, +and give him twenty stripes . . . I persecute; if I say, Everybody +in the town where you live shall be a candidate for lucrative and +honourable offices, but you, who are a Catholic . . . I do not +persecute! What barbarous nonsense is this! as if degradation was +not as great an evil as bodily pain or as severe poverty: as if I +could not be as great a tyrant by saying, You shall not enjoy--as by +saying, You shall suffer. The English, I believe, are as truly +religious as any nation in Europe; I know no greater blessing; but +it carries with it this evil in its train, that any villain who will +bawl out, "The Church is in danger!" may get a place and a good +pension; and that any administration who will do the same thing may +bring a set of men into power who, at a moment of stationary and +passive piety, would be hooted by the very boys in the streets. But +it is not all religion; it is, in great part, the narrow and +exclusive spirit which delights to keep the common blessings of sun +and air and freedom from other human beings. "Your religion has +always been degraded; you are in the dust, and I will take care you +never rise again. I should enjoy less the possession of an earthly +good by every additional person to whom it was extended." You may +not be aware of it yourself, most reverend Abraham, but you deny +their freedom to the Catholics upon the same principle that Sarah +your wife refuses to give the receipt for a ham or a gooseberry +dumpling: she values her receipts, not because they secure to her a +certain flavour, but because they remind her that her neighbours +want it:- a feeling laughable in a priestess, shameful in a priest; +venial when it withholds the blessings of a ham, tyrannical and +execrable when it narrows the boon of religious freedom. + +You spend a great deal of ink about the character of the present +prime minister. Grant you all that you write--I say, I fear he will +ruin Ireland, and pursue a line of policy destructive to the true +interest of his country: and then you tell me, he is faithful to +Mrs. Perceval, and kind to the Master Percevals! These are, +undoubtedly, the first qualifications to be looked to in a time of +the most serious public danger; but somehow or another (if public +and private virtues must always be incompatible), I should prefer +that he destroyed the domestic happiness of Wood or Cockell, owed +for the veal of the preceding year, whipped his boys, and saved his +country. + +The late administration did not do right; they did not build their +measures upon the solid basis of facts. They should have caused +several Catholics to have been dissected after death by surgeons of +either religion; and the report to have been published with +accompanying plates. If the viscera, and other organs of life, had +been found to be the same as in Protestant bodies; if the provisions +of nerves, arteries, cerebrum, and cerebellum, had been the same as +we are provided with, or as the Dissenters are now known to possess; +then, indeed, they might have met Mr. Perceval upon a proud +eminence, and convinced the country at large of the strong +probability that the Catholics are really human creatures, endowed +with the feelings of men, and entitled to all their rights. But +instead of this wise and prudent measure, Lord Howick, with his +usual precipitation, brings forward a bill in their favour, without +offering the slightest proof to the country that they were anything +more than horses and oxen. The person who shows the lama at the +corner of Piccadilly has the precaution to write up--ALLOWED BY SIR +JOSEPH BANKS TO BE A REAL QUADRUPED, so his Lordship might have +said--ALLOWED BY THE BENCH OF BISHOPS TO BE REAL HUMAN CREATURES. . +. . I could write you twenty letters upon this subject; but I am +tired, and so I suppose are you. Our friendship is now of forty +years' standing; you know me to be a truly religious man; but I +shudder to see religion treated like a cockade, or a pint of beer, +and made the instrument of a party. I love the king, but I love the +people as well as the king; and if I am sorry to see his old age +molested, I am much more sorry to see four millions of Catholics +baffled in their just expectations. If I love Lord Grenville, and +Lord Howick, it is because they love their country; if I abhor . . . +it is because I know there is but one man among them who is not +laughing at the enormous folly and credulity of the country, and +that he is an ignorant and mischievous bigot. As for the light and +frivolous jester, of whom it is your misfortune to think so highly, +learn, my dear Abraham, that this political Killigrew, just before +the breaking-up of the last administration, was in actual treaty +with them for a place; and if they had survived twenty-four hours +longer, he would have been now declaiming against the cry of No +Popery! instead of inflaming it. With this practical comment on the +baseness of human nature, I bid you adieu! + + + +LETTER III. + + + +All that I have so often told you, Mr. Abraham Plymley, is now come +to pass. The Scythians, in whom you and the neighbouring country +gentleman placed such confidence, are smitten hip and thigh; their +Beningsen put to open shame; their magazines of train oil +intercepted, and we are waking from our disgraceful drunkenness to +all the horrors of Mr. Perceval and Mr Canning . . . We shall now +see if a nation is to be saved by school-boy jokes and doggrel +rhymes, by affronting petulance, and by the tones and gesticulations +of Mr. Pitt. But these are not all the auxiliaries on which we have +to depend; to these his colleague will add the strictest attention +to the smaller parts of ecclesiastical government, to hassocks, to +psalters, and to surplices; in the last agonies of England, he will +bring in a bill to regulate Easter-offerings: and he will adjust +the stipends of curates, when the flag of France is unfurled on the +hills of Kent. Whatever can be done by very mistaken notions of the +piety of a Christian, and by a very wretched imitation of the +eloquence of Mr. Pitt, will be done by these two gentlemen. After +all, if they both really were what they both either wish to be, or +wish to be thought; if the one were an enlightened Christian who +drew from the Gospel the toleration, the charity, and the sweetness +which it contains; and if the other really possessed any portion of +the great understanding of his Nisus who guarded him from the +weapons of the Whigs, I should still doubt if they could save us. +But I am sure we are not to be saved by religious hatred, and by +religious trifling; by any psalmody, however sweet; or by any +persecution, however sharp; I am certain the sounds of Mr. Pitt's +voice, and the measure of his tones, and the movement of his arms, +will do nothing for us; when these tones and movements, and voice +brings us always declamation without sense or knowledge, and +ridicule without good humour or conciliation. Oh, Mr. Plymley, this +never will do. Mrs. Abraham Plymley, my sister, will be led away +captive by an amorous Gaul; and Joel Plymley your firstborn, will be +a French drummer. + +Out of sight, out of mind, seems to be a proverb which applies to +enemies as well as friends. Because the French army was no longer +seen from the cliffs of Dover; because the sound of cannon was no +longer heard by the debauched London bathers on the Sussex coast; +because the Morning Post no longer fixed the invasion sometimes for +Monday, sometimes for Tuesday, sometimes (positively for the last +time of invading) on Saturday; because all these causes of terror +were suspended, you conceived the power of Bonaparte to be at an +end, and were setting off for Paris with Lord Hawkesbury the +conqueror. This is precisely the method in which the English have +acted during the whole of the revolutionary war. If Austria or +Prussia armed, doctors of divinity immediately printed those +passages out of Habakkuk, in which the destruction of the Usurper by +General Mack, and the Duke of Brunswick, are so clearly predicted. +If Bonaparte halted, there was a mutiny or a dysentery. If any one +of his generals were eaten up by the light troops of Russia, and +picked (as their manner is) to the bone, the sanguine spirit of this +country displayed itself in all its glory. What scenes of infamy +did the Society for the Suppression of Vice lay open to our +astonished eyes! tradesmen's daughters dancing, pots of beer carried +out between the first and second lesson, and dark and distant +rumours of indecent prints. Clouds of Mr. Canning's cousins arrived +by the waggon; all the contractors left their cards with Mr. Rose; +and every plunderer of the public crawled out of his hole, like +slugs, and grubs, and worms after a shower of rain. + +If my voice could have been heard at the late changes, I should have +said, "Gently, patience, stop a little; the time is not yet come; +the mud of Poland will harden, and the bowels of the French +grenadiers will recover their tone. When honesty, good sense, and +liberality have extricated you out of your present embarrassment, +then dismiss them as a matter of course; but you cannot spare them +just now; don't be in too great a hurry, or there will be no monarch +to flatter, and no country to pillage; only submit for a little time +to be respected abroad, overlook the painful absence of the tax- +gatherer for a few years, bear up nobly under the increase of +freedom and of liberal policy for a little time, and I promise you, +at the expiration of that period, you shall be plundered, insulted, +disgraced, and restrained to your heart's content. Do not imagine I +have any intention of putting servility and canting hypocrisy +permanently out of place, or of filling up with courage and sense +those offices which naturally devolve upon decorous imbecility and +flexible cunning: give us only a little time to keep off the +hussars of France, and then the jobbers and jesters shall return to +their birthright, and public virtue be called by its own name of +fanaticism." Such is the advice I would have offered to my +infatuated countrymen: but it rained very hard in November, Brother +Abraham, and the bowels of our enemies were loosened, and we put our +trust in white fluxes and wet mud; and there is nothing now to +oppose to the conqueror of the world but a small table wit, and the +sallow Surveyor of the Meltings. + +You ask me, if I think it possible for this country to survive the +recent misfortunes of Europe?--I answer you, without the slightest +degree of hesitation: that if Bonaparte lives, and a great deal is +not immediately done for the conciliation of the Catholics, it does +seem to me absolutely impossible but that we must perish; and take +this with you, that we shall perish without exciting the slightest +feeling of present or future compassion, but fall amidst the +hootings and revilings of Europe, as a nation of blockheads, +Methodists, and old women. If there were any great scenery, any +heroic feelings, any blaze of ancient virtue, any exalted death, any +termination of England that would be ever remembered, ever honoured +in that western world, where liberty is now retiring, conquest would +be more tolerable, and ruin more sweet; but it is doubly miserable +to become slaves abroad, because we would be tyrants at home; to +persecute, when we are contending against persecution; and to +perish, because we have raised up worse enemies within, from our own +bigotry, than we are exposed to without, from the unprincipled +ambition of France. It is indeed a most silly and affecting +spectacle to rage at such a moment against our own kindred and our +own blood; to tell them they cannot be honourable in war, because +they are conscientious in religion; to stipulate (at the very moment +when we should buy their hearts and swords at any price) that they +must hold up the right hand in prayer, and not the left; and adore +one common God, by turning to the east rather than to the west. + +What is it the Catholics ask of you? Do not exclude us from the +honours and emoluments of the state because we worship God in one +way, and you worship Him in another. In a period of the deepest +peace, and the fattest prosperity, this would be a fair request; it +should be granted, if Lord Hawkesbury had reached Paris, if Mr. +Canning's interpreter had threatened the Senate in an opening +speech, or Mr. Perceval explained to them the improvements he meant +to introduce into the Catholic religion; but to deny the Irish this +justice now, in the present state of Europe, and in the summer +months, just as the season for destroying kingdoms is coming on, is +(beloved Abraham), whatever you may think of it, little short of +positive insanity. + +Here is a frigate attacked by a corsair of immense strength and +size, rigging cut, masts in danger of coming by the board, four foot +water in the hold, men dropping off very fast; in this dreadful +situation how do you think the Captain acts (whose name shall be +Perceval)? He calls all hands upon deck; talks to them of King, +country, glory, sweethearts, gin, French prison, wooden shoes, Old +England, and hearts of oak; they give three cheers, rush to their +guns, and, after a tremendous conflict, succeed in beating off the +enemy. Not a syllable of all this; this is not the manner in which +the honourable Commander goes to work: the first thing he does is +to secure twenty or thirty of his prime sailors who happen to be +Catholics, to clap them in irons, and set over them a guard of as +many Protestants; having taken this admirable method of defending +himself against his infidel opponents, he goes upon deck, reminds +the sailors in a very bitter harangue, that they are of different +religions; exhorts the Episcopal gunner not to trust to the +Presbyterian quartermaster; issues positive orders that the +Catholics should be fired at upon the first appearance of +discontent; rushes through blood and brains, examining his men in +the Catechism and thirty-nine Articles, and positively forbids every +one to sponge or ram who has not taken the Sacrament according to +the Church of England. Was it right to take out a captain made of +excellent British stuff, and to put in such a man as this? Is not +he more like a parson, or a talking lawyer, than a thorough-bred +seaman? And built as she is of heart of oak, and admirably manned, +is it possible, with such a captain, to save this ship from going to +the bottom? + +You have an argument, I perceive, in common with many others, +against the Catholics, that their demands complied with would only +lead to further exactions, and that it is better to resist them now, +before anything is conceded, than hereafter, when it is found that +all concessions are in vain. I wish the Chancellor of the +Exchequer, who uses this reasoning to exclude others from their just +rights, had tried its efficacy, not by his understanding, but by +(what are full of much better things) his pockets. Suppose the +person to whom he applied for the meltings had withstood every plea +of wife and fourteen children, no business, and good character, and +refused him this paltry little office because he might hereafter +attempt to get hold of the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster for +life? would not Mr. Perceval have contended eagerly against the +injustice of refusing moderate requests, because immoderate ones may +hereafter be made? Would he not have said, and said truly, Leave +such exorbitant attempts as these to the general indignation of the +Commons, who will take care to defeat them when they do occur; but +do not refuse me the Irons and the Meltings now, because I may +totally lose sight of all moderation hereafter? Leave hereafter to +the spirit and the wisdom of hereafter; and do not be niggardly now +from the apprehension that men as wise as you should be profuse in +times to come. + +You forget, Brother Abraham, that is a vast art, where quarrels +cannot be avoided, to turn public opinion in your favour and to the +prejudice of your enemy; a vast privilege to feel that you are in +the right, and to make him feel that he is in the wrong: a +privilege which makes you more than a man, and your antagonist less; +and often secures victory by convincing him who contends that he +must submit to injustice if he submits to defeat. Open every rank +in the army and the navy to the Catholic; let him purchase at the +same price as the Protestant (if either Catholic or Protestant can +purchase such refined pleasures) the privilege of hearing Lord +Castlereagh speak for three hours; keep his clergy from starving, +soften some of the most odious powers of the tithing-man, and you +will for ever lay this formidable question to rest. But if I am +wrong, and you must quarrel at last, quarrel upon just rather than +unjust grounds; divide the Catholic and unite the Protestant; be +just, and your own exertions will be more formidable and their +exertions less formidable; be just, and you will take away from +their party all the best and wisest understandings of both +persuasions, and knit them firmly to your own cause. "Thrice is he +armed who has his quarrel just;" and ten times as much may he be +taxed. In the beginning of any war, however destitute of common +sense, every mob will roar, and every Lord of the Bedchamber +address; but if you are engaged in a war that is to last for years, +and to require important sacrifices, take care to make the justice +of your case so clear and so obvious that it cannot be mistaken by +the most illiterate country gentleman who rides the earth. Nothing, +in fact, can be so grossly absurd as the argument which says I will +deny justice to you now, because I suspect future injustice from +you. At this rate, you may lock a man up in your stable, and refuse +to let him out, because you suspect that he has an intention, at +some future period, of robbing your hen-roost. You may horsewhip +him at Lady Day, because you believe he will affront you at +Midsummer. You may commit a greater evil, to guard against a less +which is merely contingent, and may never happen. You may do what +you have done a century ago in Ireland, make the Catholics worse +than Helots, because you suspected that they might hereafter aspire +to be more than fellow citizens; rendering their sufferings certain +from your jealousy, while yours were only doubtful from their +ambition; an ambition sure to be excited by the very measures which +were taken to prevent it. + +The physical strength of the Catholics will not be greater because +you give them a share of political power. You may by these means +turn rebels into friends; but I do not see how you make rebels more +formidable. If they taste of the honey of lawful power, they will +love the hive from whence they procure it; if they will struggle +with us like men in the same state for civil influence, we are safe. +All that I dread is the physical strength of four millions of men +combined with an invading French army. If you are to quarrel at +last with this enormous population, still put it off as long as you +can; you must gain, and cannot lose, by the delay. The state of +Europe cannot be worse; the conviction which the Catholics entertain +of your tyranny and injustice cannot be more alarming, nor the +opinions of your own people more divided. Time, which produces such +effect upon brass and marble, may inspire one Minister with modesty +and another with compassion; every circumstance may be better; some +certainly will be so, none can be worse; and after all the evil may +never happen. + +You have got hold, I perceive, of all the vulgar English stories +respecting the hereditary transmission of forfeited property, and +seriously believe that every Catholic beggar wears the terriers of +his father's land next his skin, and is only waiting for better +times to cut the throat of the Protestant possessor, and get drunk +in the hall of his ancestors. There is one irresistible answer to +this mistake, and that is, that the forfeited lands are purchased +indiscriminately by Catholic and Protestant, and that the Catholic +purchaser never objects to such a title. Now the land so purchased +by a Catholic is either his own family estate, or it is not. If it +is, you suppose him so desirous of coming into possession that he +resorts to the double method of rebellion and purchase; if it is not +his own family estate of which he becomes the purchaser, you suppose +him first to purchase, then to rebel, in order to defeat the +purchase. These things may happen in Ireland, but it is totally +impossible they can happen anywhere else. In fact, what land can +any man of any sect purchase in Ireland, but forfeited property? In +all other oppressed countries which I have ever heard of, the +rapacity of the conqueror was bounded by the territorial limits in +which the objects of his avarice were contained; but Ireland has +been actually confiscated twice over, as a cat is twice killed by a +wicked parish boy. + +I admit there is a vast luxury in selecting a particular set of +Christians, and in worrying them as a boy worries a puppy dog; it is +an amusement in which all the young English are brought up from +their earliest days. I like the idea of saying to men who use a +different hassock from me, that till they change their hassock they +shall never be Colonels, Aldermen, or Parliament-men. While I am +gratifying my personal insolence respecting religious forms, I +fondle myself into an idea that I am religious, and that I am doing +my duty in the most exemplary, as I certainly am in the most easy, +way. But then, my good Abraham, this sport, admirable as it is, is +become, with respect to the Catholics, a little dangerous; and if we +are not extremely careful in taking the amusement, we shall tumble +into the holy water and be drowned. As it seems necessary to your +idea of an established church to have somebody to worry and torment, +suppose we were to select for this purpose William Wilberforce, +Esq., and the patent Christians of Clapham. We shall by this +expedient enjoy the same opportunity for cruelty and injustice, +without being exposed to the same risks: we will compel them to +abjure vital clergymen by a public test, to deny that the said +William Wilberforce has any power of working miracles, touching for +barrenness or any other infirmity, or that he is endowed with any +preternatural gift whatever. We will swear them to the doctrine of +good works, compel them to preach common sense, and to hear it; to +frequent Bishops, Deans, and other High Churchmen; and to appear, +once in the quarter at the least, at some melodrame, opera, +pantomime, or other light scenical representation; in short, we will +gratify the love of insolence and power; we will enjoy the old +orthodox sport of witnessing the impotent anger of men compelled to +submit to civil degradation, or to sacrifice their notions of truth +to ours. And all this we may do without the slightest risk, because +their numbers are, as yet, not very considerable. Cruelty and +injustice must, of course, exist; but why connect them with danger? +Why torture a bulldog when you can get a frog or a rabbit? I am +sure my proposal will meet with the most universal approbation. Do +not be apprehensive of any opposition from ministers. If it is a +case of hatred, we are sure that one man will defend it by the +Gospel: if it abridges human freedom, we know that another will +find precedents for it in the Revolution. + +In the name of Heaven, what are we to gain by suffering Ireland to +be rode by that faction which now predominates over it? Why are we +to endanger our own Church and State, not for 500,000 Episcopalians, +but for ten or twelve great Orange families, who have been sucking +the blood of that country for these hundred years last past? and the +folly of the Orangemen in playing this game themselves, is almost as +absurd as ours in playing it for them. They ought to have the sense +to see that their business now is to keep quietly the lands and +beeves of which the fathers of the Catholics were robbed in days of +yore; they must give to their descendants the sop of political +power: by contending with them for names, they will lose realities, +and be compelled to beg their potatoes in a foreign land, abhorred +equally by the English, who have witnessed their oppression, and by +the Catholic Irish, who have smarted under them. + + + +LETTER IV. + + + +Then comes Mr. Isaac Hawkins Brown (the gentleman who danced so +badly at the Court of Naples), and asks if it is not an anomaly to +educate men in another religion than your own. It certainly is our +duty to get rid of error, and, above all, of religious error; but +this is not to be done per saltum, or the measure will miscarry, +like the Queen. It may be very easy to dance away the royal embryo +of a great kingdom; but Mr. Hawkins Brown must look before he leaps, +when his object is to crush an opposite sect in religion; false +steps aid the one effect as much as they are fatal to the other: it +will require not only the lapse of Mr. Hawkins Brown, but the lapse +of centuries, before the absurdities of the Catholic religion are +laughed at as much as they deserve to be; but surely, in the +meantime, the Catholic religion is better than none; four millions +of Catholics are better than four millions of wild beasts; two +hundred priests educated by our own government are better than the +same number educated by the man who means to destroy us. + +The whole sum now appropriated by Government to the religious +education of four millions of Christians is 13,000 pounds; a sum +about one hundred times as large being appropriated in the same +country to about one-eighth part of this number of Protestants. +When it was proposed to raise this grant from 8,000 pounds to 13,000 +pounds, its present amount, this sum was objected to by that most +indulgent of Christians, Mr. Spencer Perceval, as enormous; he +himself having secured for his own eating and drinking, and the +eating and drinking of the Master and Miss Percevals, the +reversionary sum of 21,000 pounds a year of the public money, and +having just failed in a desperate and rapacious attempt to secure to +himself for life the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster: and the +best of it is, that this minister, after abusing his predecessors +for their impious bounty to the Catholics, has found himself +compelled, from the apprehension of immediate danger, to grant the +sum in question, thus dissolving his pearl in vinegar, and +destroying all the value of the gift by the virulence and reluctance +with which it was granted. + +I hear from some persons in Parliament, and from others in the +sixpenny societies for debate, a great deal about unalterable laws +passed at the Revolution. When I hear any man talk of an +unalterable law, the only effect it produces upon me is to convince +me that he is an unalterable fool. A law passed when there was +Germany, Spain, Russia, Sweden, Holland, Portugal, and Turkey; when +there was a disputed succession; when four or five hundred acres +were won and lost after ten years' hard fighting; when armies were +commanded by the sons of kings, and campaigns passed in an +interchange of civil letters and ripe fruit; and for these laws, +when the whole state of the world is completely changed, we are now, +according to my Lord Hawkesbury, to hold ourselves ready to perish. +It is no mean misfortune, in times like these, to be forced to say +anything about such men as Lord Hawkesbury, and to be reminded that +we are governed by them, but as I am driven to it, I must take the +liberty of observing that the wisdom and liberality of my Lord +Hawkesbury are of that complexion which always shrinks from the +present exercise of these virtues by praising the splendid examples +of them in ages past. If he had lived at such periods, he would +have opposed the Revolution by praising the Reformation, and the +Reformation by speaking handsomely of the Crusades. He gratifies +his natural antipathy to great and courageous measures by playing +off the wisdom and courage which have ceased to influence human +affairs against that wisdom and courage which living men would +employ for present happiness. Besides, it happens unfortunately for +the Warden of the Cinque Ports, that to the principal incapacities +under which the Irish suffer, they were subjected after that great +and glorious revolution, to which we are indebted for so many +blessings, and his Lordship for the termination of so many periods. +The Catholics were not excluded from the Irish House of Commons, or +military commands, before the 3rd and 4th of William and Mary, and +the 1st and 2nd of Queen Anne. + +If the great mass of the people, environed as they are on every side +with Jenkinsons, Percevals, Melvilles, and other perils, were to +pray for divine illumination and aid, what more could Providence in +its mercy do than send them the example of Scotland? For what a +length of years was it attempted to compel the Scotch to change +their religion: horse, foot, artillery, and armed Prebendaries, +were sent out after the Presbyterian parsons and their +congregations. The Percevals of those days called for blood: this +call is never made in vain, and blood was shed; but, to the +astonishment and horror of the Percevals of those days, they could +not introduce the book of Common Prayer, nor prevent that +metaphysical people from going to heaven their true way, instead of +our true way. With a little oatmeal for food, and a little sulphur +for friction, allaying cutaneous irritation with the one hand, and +holding his Calvinistical creed in the other, Sawney ran away to his +flinty hills, sung his psalm out of tune his own way, and listened +to his sermon of two hours long, amid the rough and imposing +melancholy of the tallest thistles. But Sawney brought up his +unbreeched offspring in a cordial hatred of his oppressors; and +Scotland was as much a part of the weakness of England then as +Ireland is at this moment. The true and the only remedy was +applied; the Scotch were suffered to worship God after their own +tiresome manner, without pain, penalty, or privation. No lightning +descended from heaven: the country was not ruined; the world is not +yet come to an end; the dignitaries who foretold all these +consequences are utterly forgotten, and Scotland has ever since been +an increasing source of strength to Great Britain. In the six +hundredth year of our empire over Ireland we are making laws to +transport a man if he is found out of his house after eight o'clock +at night. That this is necessary I know too well; but tell me why +it is necessary. It is not necessary in Greece, where the Turks are +masters. + +Are you aware that there is at this moment a universal clamour +throughout the whole of Ireland against the Union? It is now one +month since I returned from that country; I have never seen so +extraordinary, so alarming, and so rapid a change in the sentiments +of any people. Those who disliked the Union before are quite +furious against it now; those who doubted doubt no more; those who +were friendly to it have exchanged that friendship for the most +rooted aversion; in the midst of all this (which is by far the most +alarming symptom), there is the strongest disposition on the part of +the northern Dissenters to unite with the Catholics, irritated by +the faithless injustice with which they have been treated. If this +combination does take place (mark what I say to you), you will have +meetings all over Ireland for the cry of No Union; that cry will +spread like wild-fire, and blaze over every opposition; and if this +be the case, there is no use in mincing the matter; Ireland is gone, +and the death-blow of England is struck; and this event may happen +INSTANTLY--before Mr. Canning and Mr. Hookham Frere have turned Lord +Howick's last speech into doggerel rhymne; before "the near and dear +relations" have received another quarter of their pension, or Mr. +Perceval conducted the Curates' Salary Bill safely to a third +reading. If the mind of the English people, cursed as they now are +with that madness of religious dissension which has been breathed +into them for the purposes of private ambition, can be alarmed by +any remembrances, and warned by any events, they should never forget +how nearly Ireland was lost to this country during the American war; +that it was saved merely by the jealousy of the Protestant Irish +towards the Catholics, then a much more insignificant and powerless +body than they now are. The Catholic and the Dissenter have since +combined together against you. Last war, the winds, those ancient +and unsubsidised allies of England; the winds, upon which English +ministers depend as much for saving kingdoms as washerwomen do for +drying clothes; the winds stood your friends: the French could only +get into Ireland in small numbers, and the rebels were defeated. +Since then, all the remaining kingdoms of Europe have been +destroyed; and the Irish see that their national independence is +gone, without having received any single one of those advantages +which they were taught to expect from the sacrifice. All good +things were to flow from the Union; they have none of them gained +anything. Every man's pride is wounded by it; no man's interest is +promoted. In the seventh year of that union four million Catholics, +lured by all kinds of promises to yield up the separate dignity and +sovereignty of their country, are forced to squabble with such a man +as Mr. Spencer Perceval for five thousand pounds with which to +educate their children in their own mode of worship, he, the same +Mr. Spencer, having secured to his own Protestant self a +reversionary portion of the public money amounting to four times +that sum. A senior Proctor of the University of Oxford, the head of +a house, or the examining chaplain to a bishop, may believe these +things can last; but every man of the world, whose understanding has +been exercised in the business of life, must see (and see with a +breaking heart) that they will soon come to a fearful termination. + +Our conduct to Ireland during the whole of this war has been that of +a man who subscribes to hospitals, weeps at charity sermons, carries +out broth and blankets to beggars, and then comes home and beats his +wife and children. We had compassion for the victims of all other +oppression and injustice except our own. If Switzerland was +threatened, away went a Treasury Clerk with a hundred thousand +pounds for Switzerland; large bags of money were kept constantly +under sailing orders; upon the slightest demonstration towards +Naples, down went Sir William Hamilton upon his knees, and begged +for the love of St. Januarius they would help us off with a little +money; all the arts of Machiavel were resorted to to persuade Europe +to borrow; troops were sent off in all directions to save the +Catholic and Protestant world; the Pope himself was guarded by a +regiment of English dragoons; if the Grand Lama had been at hand, he +would have had another; every Catholic clergyman who had the good +fortune to be neither English nor Irish was immediately provided +with lodging, soap, crucifix, missal, chapel-beads, relics, and holy +water; if Turks had landed, Turks would have received an order from +the Treasury for coffee, opium, korans, and seraglios. In the midst +of all this fury of saving and defending this crusade for conscience +and Christianity, there was a universal agreement among all +descriptions of people to continue every species of internal +persecution, to deny at home every just right that had been denied +before, to pummel poor Dr. Abraham Rees and his Dissenters, and to +treat the unhappy Catholics of Ireland as if their tongues were +mute, their heels cloven, their nature brutal, and designedly +subjected by Providence to their Orange masters. + +How would my admirable brother, the Rev. Abraham Plymley, like to be +marched to a Catholic chapel, to be sprinkled with the sanctified +contents of a pump, to hear a number of false quantities in the +Latin tongue, and to see a number of persons occupied in making +right angles upon the breast and forehead? And if all this would +give you so much pain, what right have you to march Catholic +soldiers to a place of worship, where there is no aspersion, no +rectangular gestures, and where they understand every word they +hear, having first, in order to get him to enlist, made a solemn +promise to the contrary? Can you wonder, after this, that the +Catholic priest stops the recruiting in Ireland, as he is now doing +to a most alarming degree? + +The late question concerning military rank did not individually +affect the lowest persons of the Catholic persuasion; but do you +imagine they do not sympathise with the honour and disgrace of their +superiors? Do you think that satisfaction and dissatisfaction do +not travel down from Lord Fingal to the most potato-less Catholic in +Ireland, and that the glory or shame of the sect is not felt by many +more than these conditions personally and corporeally affect? Do +you suppose that the detection of Sir Henry Mildmay, and the +disappointment of Mr. Perceval IN THE MATTER of the Duchy of +Lancaster, did not affect every dabbler in public property? Depend +upon it these things were felt through all the gradations of small +plunderers, down to him who filches a pound of tobacco from the +King's warehouses; while, on the contrary, the acquittal of any +noble and official thief would not fail to diffuse the most heart- +felt satisfaction over the larcenous and burglarious world. +Observe, I do not say because the lower Catholics are affected by +what concerns their superiors, that they are not affected by what +concerns themselves. There is no disguising the horrid truth, THERE +MUST BE SOME RELAXATION WITH RESPECT TO TITHE: this is the cruel +and heart-rending price which must be paid for national +preservation. I feel how little existence will be worth having, if +any alteration, however slight, is made in the property of Irish +rectors; I am conscious how much such changes must affect the daily +and hourly comforts of every Englishman; I shall feel too happy if +they leave Europe untouched, and are not ultimately fatal to the +destinies of America; but I am madly bent upon keeping foreign +enemies out of the British empire, and my limited understanding +presents me with no other means of effecting my object. + +You talk of waiting till another reign before any alteration is +made; a proposal full of good sense and good nature, if the measure +in question were to pull down St. James's Palace, or to alter Kew +Gardens. Will Bonaparte agree to put off his intrigues, and his +invasion of Ireland? If so, I will overlook the question of +justice, and finding the danger suspended, agree to the delay. I +sincerely hope this reign may last many years, yet the delay of a +single session of Parliament may be fatal; but if another year +elapse without some serious concession made to the Catholics, I +believe, before God, that all future pledges and concessions will be +made in vain. I do not think that peace will do you any good under +such circumstances. If Bonaparte give you a respite, it will only +be to get ready the gallows on which he means to hang you. The +Catholic and the Dissenter can unite in peace as well as war. If +they do, the gallows is ready, and your executioner, in spite of the +most solemn promises, will turn you off the next hour. + +With every disposition to please (where to please within fair and +rational limits is a high duty), it is impossible for public men to +be long silent about the Catholics; pressing evils are not got rid +of, because they are not talked of. A man may command his family to +say nothing more about the stone and surgical operations; but the +ponderous malice still lies upon the nerve, and gets so big, that +the patient breaks his own law of silence, clamours for the knife, +and expires under its late operation. Believe me, you talk folly +when you talk of suppressing the Catholic question. I wish to God +the case admitted of such a remedy; bad as it is, it does not admit +of it. If the wants of the Catholics are not heard in the manly +tones of Lord Grenville, or the servile drawl of Lord Castlereagh, +they will be heard ere long in the madness of mobs, and the +conflicts of armed men. + +I observe it is now universally the fashion to speak of the first +personage in the state as the great obstacle to the measure. In the +first place, I am not bound to believe such rumours because I hear +them; and in the next place, I object to such language, as +unconstitutional. Whoever retains his situation in the ministry +while the incapacities of the Catholics remain, is the advocate for +those incapacities; and to him, and to him only, am I to look for +responsibility. But waive this question of the Catholics, and put a +general case: --How is a minister of this country to act when the +conscientious scruples of his Sovereign prevent the execution of a +measure deemed by him absolutely necessary to the safety of the +country? His conduct is quite clear--he should resign. But what is +his successor to do?--Resign. But is the King to be left without +ministers, and is he in this manner to be compelled to act against +his own conscience? Before I answer this, pray tell me in my turn +what better defence is there against the machinations of a wicked, +or the errors of a weak Monarch, than the impossibility of finding a +minister who will lend himself to vice and folly? Every English +Monarch, in such a predicament, would sacrifice his opinions and +views to such a clear expression of the public will; and it is one +method in which the Constitution aims at bringing about such a +sacrifice. You may say, if you please, the ruler of a state is +forced to give up his object when the natural love of place and +power will tempt no one to assist him in its attainment; this may be +force; but it is force without injury, and therefore without blame. +I am not to be beat out of these obvious reasonings, and ancient +constitutional provisions, by the term conscience. There is no +fantasy, however wild, that a man may not persuade himself that he +cherishes from motives of conscience; eternal war against impious +France, or rebellious America, or Catholic Spain, may in times to +come be scruples of conscience. One English Monarch may, from +scruples of conscience, wish to abolish every trait of religious +persecution; another Monarch may deem it his absolute and +indispensable duty to make a slight provision for Dissenters out of +the revenues of the Church of England. So that you see, Brother +Abraham, there are cases where it would be the duty of the best and +most loyal subjects to oppose the conscientious scruples of their +Sovereign, still taking care that their actions were constitutional +and their modes respectful. Then you come upon me with personal +questions, and say that no such dangers are to be apprehended now +under our present gracious Sovereign, of whose good qualities we +must be all so well convinced. All these sorts of discussions I beg +leave to decline. What I have said upon constitutional topics, I +mean of course for general, not for particular application. I agree +with you in all the good you have said of the powers that be, and I +avail myself of the opportunity of pointing out general dangers to +the Constitution, at a moment when we are so completely exempted +from their present influence. I cannot finish this letter without +expressing my surprise and pleasure at your abuse of the servile +addresses poured in upon the throne, nor can I conceive a greater +disgust to a Monarch, with a true English heart, than to see such a +question as that of Catholic Emancipation argued, not with a +reference to its justice or importance, but universally considered +to be of no further consequence than as it affects his own private +feelings. That these sentiments should be mine is not wonderful; +but how they came to be yours does, I confess, fill me with +surprise. Are you moved by the arrival of the Irish Brigade at +Antwerp, and the amorous violence which awaits Mrs. Plymley? + + + +LETTER V. + + + +Dear Abraham,--I never met a parson in my life who did not consider +the Corporation and Test Acts as the great bulwarks of the Church; +and yet it is now just sixty-four years since bills of indemnity to +destroy their penal effects, or, in other words, to repeal them, +have been passed annually as a matter of course. + + +Heu vatum ignar mentes. + + +These bulwarks, without which no clergyman thinks he could sleep +with his accustomed soundness, have actually not been in existence +since any man now living has taken holy orders. Every year the +Indemnity Act pardons past breaches of these two laws, and prevents +any fresh actions of informers from coming to a conclusion before +the period for the next indemnity bill arrives; so that these +penalties, by which alone the Church remains in existence, have not +had one moment's operation for sixty-four years. You will say the +legislature, during the whole of this period, has reserved to itself +the discretion of suspending or not suspending. But had not the +legislature the right of re-enacting, if it was necessary? And now +when you have kept the rod over these people (with the most +scandalous abuse of all principle) for sixty-four years, and not +found it necessary to strike once, is not that the best of all +reasons why the rod should be laid aside? You talk to me of a very +valuable hedge running across your fields which you would not part +with on any account. I go down, expecting to find a limit +impervious to cattle, and highly useful for the preservation of +property; but, to my utter astonishment, I find that the hedge was +cut down half a century ago, and that every year the shoots are +clipped the moment they appear above ground: it appears, upon +further inquiry, that the hedge never ought to have existed at all; +that it originated in the malice of antiquated quarrels, and was cut +down because it subjected you to vast inconvenience, and broke up +your intercourse with a country absolutely necessary to your +existence. If the remains of this hedge serve only to keep up an +irritation in your neighbours, and to remind them of the feuds of +former times, good nature and good sense teach you that you ought to +grub it up, and cast it into the oven. This is the exact state of +these two laws; and yet it is made a great argument against +concession to the Catholics, that it involves their repeal; which is +to say, Do not make me relinquish a folly that will lead to my ruin; +because, if you do, I must give up other follies ten times greater +than this. + +I confess, with all our bulwarks and hedges, it mortifies me to the +quick to contrast with our matchless stupidity and inimitable folly +the conduct of Bonaparte upon the subject of religious persecution. +At the moment when we are tearing the crucifixes from the necks of +the Catholics, and washing pious mud from the foreheads of the +Hindoos; at that moment this man is assembling the very Jews at +Paris, and endeavouring to give them stability and importance. I +shall never be reconciled to mending shoes in America; but I see it +must be my lot, and I will then take a dreadful revenge upon Mr. +Perceval, if I catch him preaching within ten miles of me. I cannot +for the soul of me conceive whence this man has gained his notions +of Christianity: he has the most evangelical charity for errors in +arithmetic, and the most inveterate malice against errors in +conscience. While he rages against those whom in the true spirit of +the Gospel he ought to indulge, he forgets the only instance of +severity which that Gospel contains, and leaves the jobbers, +contractors, and money-changers at their seats, without a single +stripe. + +You cannot imagine, you say, that England will ever be ruined and +conquered; and for no other reason that I can find, but because it +seems so very odd it should be ruined and conquered. Alas! so +reasoned, in their time, the Austrian, Russian, and Prussian +Plymleys. But the English are brave: so were all these nations. +You might get together a hundred thousand men individually brave; +but without generals capable of commanding such a machine, it would +be as useless as a first-rate man-of-war manned by Oxford clergymen +or Parisian shopkeepers. I do not say this to the disparagement of +English officers: they have had no means of acquiring experience; +but I do say it to create alarm; for we do not appear to me to be +half alarmed enough, or to entertain that sense of our danger which +leads to the most obvious means of self-defence. As for the spirit +of the peasantry in making a gallant defence behind hedge-rows, and +through plate-racks and hen-coops, highly as I think of their +bravery, I do not know any nation in Europe so likely to be struck +with the panic as the English; and this from their total +unacquaintance with the science of war. Old wheat and beans blazing +for twenty miles round; cart mares shot; sows of Lord Somerville's +breed running wild over the country; the minister of the parish +wounded sorely in his hinder parts; Mrs. Plymley in fits. All these +scenes of war an Austrian or a Russian has seen three or four times +over: but it is now three centuries since an English pig has fallen +in a fair battle upon English ground, or a farm-house been rifled, +or a clergyman's wife been subjected to any other proposals of love +than the connubial endearments of her sleek and orthodox mate. The +old edition of Plutarch's Lives, which lies in the corner of your +parlour window, has contributed to work you up to the most romantic +expectations of our Roman behaviour. You are persuaded that Lord +Amherst will defend Kew Bridge like Cocles; that some maid of honour +will break away from her captivity, and swim over the Thames; that +the Duke of York will burn his capitulating hand; and little Mr. +Sturges Bourne give forty years' purchase for Moulsham Hall, while +the French are encamped upon it. I hope we shall witness all this, +if the French do come; but in the meantime I am so enchanted with +the ordinary English behaviour of these invaluable persons, that I +earnestly pray no opportunity may be given them for Roman valour, +and for those very un-Roman pensions which they would all, of +course, take especial care to claim in consequence. But whatever +was our conduct, if every ploughman was as great a hero as he who +was called from his oxen to save Rome from her enemies, I should +still say, that at such a crisis you want the affections of all your +subjects in both islands: there is no spirit which you must +alienate, no art you must avert, every man must feel he has a +country, and that there is an urgent and pressing cause why he +should expose himself to death. + +The effects of penal laws in matters of religion are never confined +to those limits in which the legislature intended they should be +placed: it is not only that I am excluded from certain offices and +dignities because I am a Catholic, but the exclusion carries with it +a certain stigma, which degrades me in the eyes of the monopolising +sect, and the very name of my religion becomes odious. These +effects are so very striking in England, that I solemnly believe +blue and red baboons to be more popular here than Catholics and +Presbyterians; they are more understood, and there is a greater +disposition to do something for them. When a country squire hears +of an ape, his first feeling is to give it nuts and apples; when he +hears of a Dissenter, his immediate impulse is to commit it to the +county gaol, to shave its head, to alter its customary food, and to +have it privately whipped. This is no caricature, but an accurate +picture of national feelings, as they degrade and endanger us at +this very moment. The Irish Catholic gentleman would bear his legal +disabilities with greater temper, if these were all he had to bear-- +if they did not enable every Protestant cheese-monger and tide- +waiter to treat him with contempt. He is branded on the forehead +with a red-hot iron, and treated like a spiritual felon, because in +the highest of all considerations he is led by the noblest of all +guides, his own disinterested conscience. + +Why are nonsense and cruelty a bit the better because they are +enacted? If Providence, which gives wine and oil, had blessed us +with that tolerant spirit which makes the countenance more pleasant +and the heart more glad than these can do; if our Statute Book had +never been defiled with such infamous laws, the sepulchral Spencer +Perceval would have been hauled through the dirtiest horse-pond in +Hampstead, had he ventured to propose them. But now persecution is +good, because it exists; every law which originated in ignorance and +malice, and gratifies the passions from whence it sprang, we call +the wisdom of our ancestors: when such laws are repealed, they will +be cruelty and madness; till they are repealed, they are policy and +caution. + +I was somewhat amused with the imputation brought against the +Catholics by the University of Oxford, that they are enemies to +liberty. I immediately turned to my "History of England," and +marked as an historical error that passage in which it is recorded +that, in the reign of Queen Anne, the famous degree of the +University of Oxford respecting passive obedience, was ordered by +the House of Lords to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman, +as contrary to the liberty of the subject and the law of the land. +Nevertheless, I wish, whatever be the modesty of those who impute, +that the imputation was a little more true, the Catholic cause would +not be quite so desperate with the present. Administration. I +fear, however, that the hatred to liberty in these poor devoted +wretches may ere long appear more doubtful than it is at present to +the Vice-Chancellor and his Clergy, inflamed as they doubtless are +with classical examples of republican virtue, and panting, as they +always have been, to reduce the power of the Crown within narrower +and safer limits. What mistaken zeal to attempt to connect one +religion with freedom and another with slavery! Who laid the +foundations of English liberty? What was the mixed religion of +Switzerland? What has the Protestant religion done for liberty in +Denmark, in Sweden, throughout the north of Germany, and in Prussia? +The purest religion in the world, in my humble opinion, is the +religion of the Church of England: for its preservation (so far as +it is exercised without intruding upon the liberties of others) I am +ready at this moment to venture my present life, and but through +that religion I have no hopes of any other; yet I am not forced to +be silly because I am pious; nor will I ever join in eulogiums on my +faith which every man of common reading and common sense can so +easily refute. + +You have either done too much for the Catholics, worthy Abraham, or +too little; if you had intended to refuse them political power, you +should have refused them civil rights. After you had enabled them +to acquire property, after you had conceded to them all that you did +concede in '78 and '93, the rest is wholly out of your power: you +may choose whether you will give the rest in an honourable or a +disgraceful mode, but it is utterly out of your power to withhold +it. + +In the last year, land to the amount of EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND +POUNDS was purchased by the Catholics in Ireland. Do you think it +possible to be-Perceval, and be-Canning, and be-Castlereagh, such a +body of men as this out of their common rights, and their common +sense? Mr. George Canning may laugh and joke at the idea of +Protestant bailiffs ravishing Catholic ladies, under the 9th clause +of the Sunset Bill; but if some better remedy be not applied to the +distractions of Ireland than the jocularity of Mr. Canning, they +will soon put an end to his pension, and to the pension of those +"near and dear relatives," for whose eating, drinking, washing, and +clothing, every man in the United Kingdoms now pays his two-pence or +three-pence a year. You may call these observations coarse, if you +please; but I have no idea that the Sophias and Carolines of any man +breathing are to eat national veal, to drink public tea, to wear +Treasury ribands, and then that we are to be told that it is coarse +to animadvert upon this pitiful and eleemosynary splendour. If this +is right, why not mention it? If it is wrong, why should not he who +enjoys the ease of supporting his sisters in this manner bear the +shame of it? Everybody seems hitherto to have spared a man who +never spares anybody. + +As for the enormous wax candles, and superstitious mummeries, and +painted jackets of the Catholic priests, I fear them not. Tell me +that the world will return again under the influence of the +smallpox; that Lord Castlereagh will hereafter oppose the power of +the Court; that Lord Howick and Mr. Grattan will do each of them a +mean and dishonourable action; that anybody who has heard Lord +Redesdale speak once will knowingly and willingly hear him again; +that Lord Eldon has assented to the fact of two and two making four, +without shedding tears, or expressing the smallest doubt or scruple; +tell me any other thing absurd or incredible, but, for the love of +common sense, let me hear no more of the danger to be apprehended +from the general diffusion of Popery. It is too absurd to be +reasoned upon; every man feels it is nonsense when he hears it +stated, and so does every man while he is stating it. + +I cannot imagine why the friends to the Church Establishment should +enter in such a horror of seeing the doors of Parliament flung open +to the Catholics, and view so passively the enjoyment of that right +by the Presbyterians and by every other species of Dissenter. In +their tenets, in their Church Government, in the nature of their +endowments, the Dissenters are infinitely more distant from the +Church of England than the Catholics are; yet the Dissenters have +never been excluded from Parliament. There are 45 members in one +House, and 16 in the other, who always are Dissenters. There is no +law which would prevent every member of the Lords and Commons from +being Dissenters. The Catholics could not bring into Parliament +half the number of the Scotch members; and yet one exclusion is of +such immense importance, because it has taken place; and the other +no human being thinks of, because no one is accustomed to it. I +have often thought, if the WISDOM OF OUR ANCESTORS had excluded all +persons with red hair from the House of Commons, of the throes and +convulsions it would occasion to restore them to their natural +rights. What mobs and riots would it produce! To what infinite +abuse and obloquy would the capillary patriot be exposed; what +wormwood would distil from Mr. Perceval, what froth would drop from +Mr. Canning; how (I will not say MY, but OUR Lord Hawkesbury, for he +belongs to us all)--how our Lord Hawkesbury would work away about +the hair of King William and Lord Somers, and the authors of the +great and glorious Revolution; how Lord Eldon would appeal to the +Deity and his own virtues, and to the hair of his children: some +would say that red-haired men were superstitious; some would prove +they were atheists; they would be petitioned against as the friends +of slavery, and the advocates for revolt; in short, such a corruptor +of the heart and understanding is the spirit of persecution, that +these unfortunate people (conspired against by their fellow-subjects +of every complexion), if they did not emigrate to countries where +hair of another colour was persecuted, would be driven to the +falsehood of perukes, or the hypocrisy of the Tricosian fluid. + +As for the dangers of the Church (in spite of the staggering events +which have lately taken place), I have not yet entirely lost my +confidence in the power of common sense, and I believe the Church to +be in no danger at all; but if it is, that danger is not from the +Catholics, but from the Methodists, and from that patent +Christianity which has been for some time manufacturing at Clapham, +to the prejudice of the old and admirable article prepared by the +Church. I would counsel my lords the Bishops to keep their eyes +upon that holy village, and its vicinity; they will find there a +zeal in making converts far superior to anything which exists among +the Catholics; a contempt for the great mass of English clergy, much +more rooted and profound; and a regular fund to purchase livings for +those groaning and garrulous gentlemen whom they denominate (by a +standing sarcasm against the regular Church) Gospel preachers and +vital clergymen. I am too firm a believer in the general propriety +and respectability of the English clergy, to believe they have much +to fear either from old nonsense or from new; but if the Church must +be supposed to be in danger, I prefer that nonsense which is grown +half venerable from time, the force of which I have already tried +and baffled, which at least has some excuse in the dark and ignorant +ages in which it originated. The religious enthusiasm manufactured +by living men before my own eyes disgusts my understanding as much, +influences my imagination not at all, and excites my apprehensions +much more. + +I may have seemed to you to treat the situation of public affairs +with some degree of levity; but I feel it deeply, and with nightly +and daily anguish; because I know Ireland; I have known it all my +life; I love it, and I foresee the crisis to which it will soon be +exposed. Who can doubt but that Ireland will experience ultimately +from France a treatment to which the conduct they have experienced +from England is the love of a parent, or a brother? Who can doubt +but that five years after he has got hold of the country, Ireland +will be tossed away by Bonaparte as a present to some one of his +ruffian generals, who will knock the head of Mr. Keogh against the +head of Cardinal Troy, shoot twenty of the most noisy blockheads of +the Roman persuasion, wash his pug-dogs in holy water, and +confiscate the salt butter of the Milesian republic to the last tub? +But what matters this? or who is wise enough in Ireland to heed it? +or when had common sense much influence with my poor dear Irish? +Mr. Perceval does not know the Irish; but I know them, and I know +that at every rash and mad hazard they will break the Union, revenge +their wounded pride and their insulted religion, and fling +themselves into the open arms of France, sure of dying in the +embrace. And now, what means have you of guarding against this +coming evil, upon which the future happiness or misery of every +Englishman depends? Have you a single ally in the whole world? Is +there a vulnerable point in the French empire where the astonishing +resources of that people can be attracted and employed? Have you a +ministry wise enough to comprehend the danger, manly enough to +believe unpleasant intelligence, honest enough to state their +apprehensions at the peril of their places? Is there anywhere the +slightest disposition to join any measure of love, or conciliation, +or hope, with that dreadful bill which the distractions of Ireland +have rendered necessary? At the very moment that the last Monarchy +in Europe has fallen, are we not governed by a man of pleasantry, +and a man of theology? In the six hundredth year of our empire over +Ireland, have we any memorial of ancient kindness to refer to? any +people, any zeal, any country on which we can depend? Have we any +hope, but in the winds of heaven and the tides of the sea? any +prayer to prefer to the Irish, but that they should forget and +forgive their oppressors, who, in the very moment that they are +calling upon them for their exertions, solemnly assure them that the +oppression shall still remain? + +Abraham, farewell! If I have tired you, remember how often you have +tired me and others. I do not think we really differ in politics so +much as you suppose; or at least, if we do, that difference is in +the means, and not in the end. We both love the Constitution, +respect the King, and abhor the French. But though you love the +Constitution, you would perpetuate the abuses which have been +engrafted upon it; though you respect the King, you would confirm +his scruples against the Catholics; though you abhor the French, you +would open to them the conquest of Ireland. My method of respecting +my sovereign is by protecting his honour, his empire, and his +lasting happiness; I evince my love of the Constitution by making it +the guardian of all men's rights and the source of their freedom; +and I prove my abhorrence of the French, by uniting against them the +disciples of every church in the only remaining nation in Europe. +As for the men of whom I have been compelled in this age of +mediocrity to say so much, they cannot of themselves be worth a +moment's consideration, to you, to me, or to anybody. In a year +after their death they will be forgotten as completely as if they +had never been; and are now of no further importance than as they +are the mere vehicles of carrying into effect the common-place and +mischievous prejudices of the times in which they live. + + + +LETTER VI. + + + +Dear Abraham,--What amuses me the most is to hear of the INDULGENCES +which the Catholics have received, and their exorbitance in not +being satisfied with those indulgences: now if you complain to me +that a man is obtrusive and shameless in his requests, and that it +is impossible to bring him to reason, I must first of all hear the +whole of your conduct towards him; for you may have taken from him +so much in the first instance that, in spite of a long series of +restitution, a vast latitude for petition may still remain behind. + +There is a village, no matter where, in which the inhabitants, on +one day in the year, sit down to a dinner prepared at the common +expense: by an extra-ordinary piece of tyranny, which Lord +Hawkesbury would call the wisdom of the village ancestors, the +inhabitants of three of the streets, about a hundred years ago, +seized upon the inhabitants of the fourth street, bound them hand +and foot, laid them upon their backs, and compelled them to look on +while the rest were stuffing themselves with beef and beer; the next +year the inhabitants of the persecuted street, though they +contributed an equal quota of the expense, were treated precisely in +the same manner. The tyranny grew into a custom; and, as the manner +of our nature is, it was considered as the most sacred of all duties +to keep these poor fellows without their annual dinner. The village +was so tenacious of this practice, that nothing could induce them to +resign it; every enemy to it was looked upon as a disbeliever in +Divine Providence, and any nefarious churchwarden who wished to +succeed in his election had nothing to do but to represent his +antagonist as an abolitionist, in order to frustrate his ambition, +endanger his life, and throw the village into a state of the most +dreadful commotion. By degrees, however, the obnoxious street grew +to be so well peopled, and its inhabitants so firmly united, that +their oppressors, more afraid of injustice, were more disposed to be +just. At the next dinner they are unbound, the year after allowed +to sit upright, then a bit of bread and a glass of water; till at +last, after a long series of concessions, they are emboldened to +ask, in pretty plain terms, that they may be allowed to sit down at +the bottom of the table, and to fill their bellies as well as the +rest. Forthwith a general cry of shame and scandal: "Ten years +ago, were you not laid upon your backs? Don't you remember what a +great thing you thought it to get a piece of bread? How thankful +you were for cheese parings? Have you forgotten that memorable era, +when the lord of the manor interfered to obtain for you a slice of +the public pudding? And now, with an audacity only equalled by your +ingratitude, you have the impudence to ask for knives and forks, and +to request, in terms too plain to be mistaken, that you may sit down +to table with the rest, and be indulged even with beef and beer: +there are not more than half a dozen dishes which we have reserved +for ourselves; the rest has been thrown open to you in the utmost +profusion; you have potatoes, and carrots, suet dumplings, sops in +the pan, and delicious toast and water in incredible quantities. +Beef, mutton, lamb, pork, and veal are ours; and if you were not the +most restless and dissatisfied of human beings, you would never +think of aspiring to enjoy them." + +Is not this, my dainty Abraham, the very nonsense and the very +insult which is talked to and practised upon the Catholics? You are +surprised that men who have tasted of partial justice should ask for +perfect justice; that he who has been robbed of coat and cloak will +not be contented with the restitution of one of his garments. He +would be a very lazy blockhead if he were content, and I (who, +though an inhabitant of the village, have preserved, thank God, some +sense of justice) most earnestly counsel these half-fed claimants to +persevere in their just demands, till they are admitted to a more +complete share of a dinner for which they pay as much as the others; +and if they see a little attenuated lawyer squabbling at the head of +their opponents, let them desire him to empty his pockets, and to +pull out all the pieces of duck, fowl, and pudding which he has +filched from the public feast, to carry home to his wife and +children. + +You parade a great deal upon the vast concessions made by this +country to the Irish before the Union. I deny that any voluntary +concession was ever made by England to Ireland. What did Ireland +ever ask that was granted? What did she ever demand that was not +refused? How did she get her Mutiny Bill--a limited Parliament--a +repeal of Poyning's Law--a constitution? Not by the concessions of +England, but by her fears. When Ireland asked for all these things +upon her knees, her petitions were rejected with Percevalism and +contempt; when she demanded them with the voice of 60,000 armed men, +they were granted with every mark of consternation and dismay. Ask +of Lord Auckland the fatal consequences of trifling with such a +people as the Irish. He himself was the organ of these refusals. +As secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, the insolence and the tyranny +of this country passed through his hands. Ask him if he remembers +the consequences. Ask him if he has forgotten that memorable +evening when he came down booted and mantled to the House of +Commons, when he told the House he was about to set off for Ireland +that night, and declared before God, if he did not carry with him a +compliance with all their demands, Ireland was for ever lost to this +country. The present generation have forgotten this; but I have not +forgotten it; and I know, hasty and undignified as the submission of +England then was, that Lord Auckland was right, that the delay of a +single day might very probably have separated the two peoples for +ever. The terms submission and fear are galling terms when applied +from the lesser nation to the greater; but it is the plain +historical truth, it is the natural consequence of injustice, it is +the predicament in which every country places itself which leaves +such a mass of hatred and discontent by its side. No empire is +powerful enough to endure it; it would exhaust the strength of +China, and sink it with all its mandarins and tea-kettles to the +bottom of the deep. By refusing them justice now when you are +strong enough to refuse them anything more than justice, you will +act over again, with the Catholics, the same scene of mean and +precipitate submission which disgraced you before America, and +before the volunteers of Ireland. We shall live to hear the +Hampstead Protestant pronouncing such extravagant panegyrics upon +holy water, and paying such fulsome compliments to the thumbs and +offals of departed saints, that parties will change sentiments, and +Lord Henry Petty and Sam Whitbread take a spell at No Popery. The +wisdom of Mr. Fox was alike employed in teaching his country justice +when Ireland was weak, and dignity when Ireland was strong. We are +fast pacing round the same miserable circle of ruin and imbecility. +Alas! where is our guide? + +You say that Ireland is a millstone about our necks; that it would +be better for us if Ireland were sunk at the bottom of the sea; that +the Irish are a nation of irreclaimable savages and barbarians. How +often have I heard these sentiments fall from the plump and +thoughtless squire, and from the thriving English shopkeeper, who +has never felt the rod of an Orange master upon his back. Ireland a +millstone about your neck! Why is it not a stone of Ajax in your +hand? I agree with you most cordially that, governed as Ireland now +is, it would be a vast accession of strength if the waves of the sea +were to rise and engulf her to-morrow. At this moment, opposed as +we are to all the world, the annihilation of one of the most fertile +islands on the face of the globe, containing five millions of human +creatures, would be one of the most solid advantages which could +happen to this country. I doubt very much, in spite of all the just +abuse which has been lavished upon Bonaparte, whether there is any +one of his conquered countries the blotting out of which would be as +beneficial to him as the destruction of Ireland would be to us: of +countries I speak differing in language from the French, little +habituated to their intercourse, and inflamed with all the +resentments of a recently-conquered people. Why will you attribute +the turbulence of our people to any cause but the right--to any +cause but your own scandalous oppression? If you tie your horse up +to a gate, and beat him cruelly, is he vicious because he kicks you? +If you have plagued and worried a mastiff dog for years, is he mad +because he flies at you whenever he sees you? Hatred is an active, +troublesome passion. Depend upon it, whole nations have always some +reason for their hatred. Before you refer the turbulence of the +Irish to incurable defects in their character, tell me if you have +treated them as friends and equals? Have you protected their +commerce? Have you respected their religion? Have you been as +anxious for their freedom as your own? Nothing of all this. What +then? Why you have confiscated the territorial surface of the +country twice over: you have massacred and exported her +inhabitants: you have deprived four-fifths of them of every civil +privilege: you have at every period made her commerce and +manufactures slavishly subordinate to your own: and yet the hatred +which the Irish bear to you is the result of an original turbulence +of character, and of a primitive, obdurate wildness, utterly +incapable of civilisation. The embroidered inanities and the sixth- +form effusions of Mr. Canning are really not powerful enough to make +me believe this; nor is there any authority on earth (always +excepting the Dean of Christ Church) which could make it credible to +me. I am sick of Mr. Canning. There is not a "ha'porth of bread to +all this sugar and sack." I love not the cretaceous and incredible +countenance of his colleague. The only opinion in which I agree +with these two gentlemen is that which they entertain of each other. +I am sure that the insolence of Mr. Pitt, and the unbalanced +accounts of Melville, were far better than the perils of this new +ignorance:- + + +Nonne fuit satius, ristes Amaryllidis iras +Atque superba pati fastidia? nonne Menalcan? +Quamvis ille niger? + + +In the midst of the most profound peace, the secret articles of the +Treaty of Tilsit, in which the destruction of Ireland is resolved +upon, induce you to rob the Danes of their fleet. After the +expedition sailed comes the Treaty of Tilsit, containing no article, +public or private, alluding to Ireland. The state of the world, you +tell me, justified us in doing this. Just God! do we think only of +the state of the world when there is an opportunity for robbery, for +murder, and for plunder; and do we forget the state of the world +when we are called upon to be wise, and good, and just? Does the +state of the world never remind us that we have four millions of +subjects whose injuries we ought to atone for, and whose affections +we ought to conciliate? Does the state of the world never warn us +to lay aside our infernal bigotry, and to arm every man who +acknowledges a God, and can grasp a sword? Did it never occur to +this administration that they might virtuously get hold of a force +ten times greater than the force of the Danish fleet? Was there no +other way of protecting Ireland but by bringing eternal shame upon +Great Britain, and by making the earth a den of robbers? See what +the men whom you have supplanted would have done. They would have +rendered the invasion of Ireland impossible, by restoring to the +Catholics their long-lost rights: they would have acted in such a +manner that the French would neither have wished for invasion nor +dared to attempt it: they would have increased the permanent +strength of the country while they preserved its reputation +unsullied. Nothing of this kind your friends have done, because +they are solemnly pledged to do nothing of this kind; because, to +tolerate all religions, and to equalise civil rights to all sects, +is to oppose some of the worst passions of our nature--to plunder +and to oppress is to gratify them all. They wanted the huzzas of +mobs, and they have for ever blasted the fame of England to obtain +them. Were the fleets of Holland, France, and Spain destroyed by +larceny? You resisted the power of 150 sail of the line by sheer +courage, and violated every principle of morals from the dread of +fifteen hulks, while the expedition itself cost you three times more +than the value of the larcenous matter brought away. The French +trample on the laws of God and man, not for old cordage, but for +kingdoms, and always take care to be well paid for their crimes. We +contrive, under the present administration, to unite moral with +intellectual deficiency, and to grow weaker and worse by the same +action. If they had any evidence of the intended hostility of the +Danes, why was it not produced? Why have the nations of Europe been +allowed to feel an indignation against this country beyond the reach +of all subsequent information? Are these times, do you imagine, +when we can trifle with a year of universal hatred, dally with the +curses of Europe, and then regain a lost character at pleasure, by +the parliamentary perspirations of the Foreign Secretary, or the +solemn asseverations of the pecuniary Rose? Believe me, Abraham, it +is not under such ministers as these that the dexterity of honest +Englishmen will ever equal the dexterity of French knaves; it is not +in their presence that the serpent of Moses will ever swallow up the +serpents of the magician. + +Lord Hawkesbury says that nothing is to be granted to the Catholics +from fear. What! not even justice? Why not? There are four +millions of disaffected people within twenty miles of your own +coast. I fairly confess that the dread which I have of their +physical power is with me a very strong motive for listening to +their claims. To talk of not acting from fear, is mere +parliamentary cant. From what motive but fear, I should be glad to +know, have all the improvements in our constitution proceeded? I +question if any justice has ever been done to large masses of +mankind from any other motive. By what other motives can the +plunderers of the Baltic suppose nations to be governed in their +intercourse WITH EACH OTHER? If I say, Give this people what they +ask because it is just, do you think I should get ten people to +listen to me? Would not the lesser of the two Jenkinsons be the +first to treat me with contempt? The only true way to make the mass +of mankind see the beauty of justice is by showing to them, in +pretty plain terms, the consequences of injustice. If any body of +French troops land in Ireland, the whole population of that country +will rise against you to a man, and you could not possibly survive +such an event three years. Such, from the bottom of my soul, do I +believe to be the present state of that country; and so far does it +appear to me to be impolitic and unstatesman-like to concede +anything to such a danger, that if the Catholics, in addition to +their present just demands, were to petition for the perpetual +removal of the said Lord Hawkesbury from his Majesty's councils, I +think, whatever might be the effect upon the destinies of Europe, +and however it might retard our own individual destruction, that the +prayer of the petition should be instantly complied with. Canning's +crocodile tears should not move me; the hoops of the maids of honour +should not hide him. I would tear him from the banisters of the +back stairs, and plunge him in the fishy fumes of the dirtiest of +all his Cinque Ports. + + + +LETTER VII. + + + +Dear Abraham,--In the correspondence which is passing between us, +you are perpetually alluding to the Foreign Secretary; and in answer +to the dangers of Ireland, which I am pressing upon your notice, you +have nothing to urge but the confidence which you repose in the +discretion and sound sense of this gentleman. I can only say, that +I have listened to him long and often with the greatest attention; I +have used every exertion in my power to take a fair measure of him, +and it appears to me impossible to hear him upon any arduous topic +without perceiving that he is eminently deficient in those solid and +serious qualities upon which, and upon which alone, the confidence +of a great country can properly repose. He sweats and labours, and +works for sense, and Mr. Ellis seems always to think it is coming, +but it does not come; the machine can't draw up what is not to be +found in the spring; Providence has made him a light, jesting, +paragraph-writing man, and that he will remain to his dying day. +When he is jocular he is strong, when he is serious he is like +Samson in a wig; any ordinary person is a match for him: a song, an +ironical letter, a burlesque ode, an attack in the newspaper upon +Nicoll's eye, a smart speech of twenty minutes, full of gross +misrepresentations and clever turns, excellent language, a spirited +manner, lucky quotation, success in provoking dull men, some half +information picked up in Pall Mall in the morning; these are your +friend's natural weapons; all these things he can do: here I allow +him to be truly great; nay, I will be just, and go still further, if +he would confine himself to these things, and consider the facete +and the playful to be the basis of his character, he would, for that +species of man, be universally regarded as a person of a very good +understanding; call him a legislator, a reasoner, and the conductor +of the affairs of a great nation, and it seems to me as absurd as if +a butterfly were to teach bees to make honey. That he is an +extraordinary writer of small poetry, and a diner out of the highest +lustre, I do most readily admit. After George Selwyn, and perhaps +Tickell, there has been no such man for this half-century. The +Foreign Secretary is a gentleman, a respectable as well as a highly +agreeable man in private life; but you may as well feed me with +decayed potatoes as console me for the miseries of Ireland by the +resources of his SENSE and his DISCRETION. It is only the public +situation which this gentleman holds which entitles me or induces me +to say so much about him. He is a fly in amber, nobody cares about +the fly; the only question is, How the devil did it get there ? Nor +do I attack him for the love of glory, but from the love of utility, +as a burgomaster hunts a rat in a Dutch dyke, for fear it should +flood a province. + +The friends of the Catholic question are, I observe, extremely +embarrassed in arguing when they come to the loyalty of the Irish +Catholics. As for me, I shall go straight forward to my object, and +state what I have no manner of doubt, from an intimate knowledge of +Ireland, to be the plain truth. Of the great Roman Catholic +proprietors, and of the Catholic prelates, there may be a few, and +but a few, who would follow the fortunes of England at all events: +there is another set of men who, thoroughly detesting this country, +have too much property and too much character to lose, not to wait +for some very favourable event before they show themselves; but the +great mass of Catholic population, upon the slightest appearance of +a French force in that country, would rise upon you to a man. It is +the most mistaken policy to conceal the plain truth. There is no +loyalty among the Catholics: they detest you as their worst +oppressors, and they will continue to detest you till you remove the +cause of their hatred. It is in your power in six months' time to +produce a total revolution of opinions among this people; and in +some future letter I will show you that this is clearly the case. +At present, see what a dreadful in state Ireland is in. The common +toast among the low Irish is, the feast of the PASSOVER. Some +allusion to Bonaparte, in a play lately acted at Dublin, produced +thunders of applause from the pit and the galleries; and a +politician should not be inattentive to the public feelings +expressed in theatres. Mr. Perceval thinks he has disarmed the +Irish: he has no more disarmed the Irish than he has resigned a +shilling of his own public emoluments. An Irish peasant fills the +barrel of his gun full of tow dipped in oil, butters up the lock, +buries it in a bog, and allows the Orange bloodhound to ransack his +cottage at pleasure. Be just and kind to the Irish, and you will +indeed disarm them; rescue them from the degraded servitude in which +they are held by a handful of their own countrymen, and you will add +four millions of brave and affectionate men to your strength. +Nightly visits, Protestant inspectors, licenses to possess a pistol, +or a knife and fork, the odious vigour of the EVANGELICAL Perceval-- +acts of Parliament, drawn up by some English attorney, to save you +from the hatred of four millions of people--the guarding yourselves +from universal disaffection by a police; a confidence in the little +cunning of Bow Street, when you might rest your security upon the +eternal basis of the best feelings: this is the meanness and +madness to which nations are reduced when they lose sight of the +first elements of justice, without which a country can be no more +secure than it can be healthy without air. I sicken at such policy +and such men. The fact is, the Ministers know nothing about the +present state of Ireland; Mr. Perceval sees a few clergymen, Lord +Castlereagh a few general officers, who take care, of course, to +report what is pleasant rather than what is true. As for the joyous +and lepid consul, he jokes upon neutral flags and frauds, jokes upon +Irish rebels, jokes upon northern and western and southern foes, and +gives himself no trouble upon any subject; nor is the mediocrity of +the idolatrous deputy of the slightest use. Dissolved in grins, he +reads no memorials upon the state of Ireland, listens to no reports, +asks no questions, and is the + + +"BOURN from whom no traveller returns." + + +The danger of an immediate insurrection is now, I BELIEVE, blown +over. You have so strong an army in Ireland, and the Irish are +become so much more cunning from the last insurrection, that you may +perhaps be tolerably secure just at present from that evil: but are +you secure from the efforts which the French may make to throw a +body of troops into Ireland? and do you consider that event to be +difficult and improbable? From Brest Harbour to Cape St. Vincent, +you have above three thousand miles of hostile sea coast, and twelve +or fourteen harbours quite capable of containing a sufficient force +for the powerful invasion of Ireland. The nearest of these harbours +is not two days' sail from the southern coast of Ireland, with a +fair leading wind; and the furthest not ten. Five ships of the +line, for so very short a passage, might carry five or six thousand +troops with cannon and ammunition; and Ireland presents to their +attack a southern coast of more than 500 miles, abounding in deep +bays, admirable harbours, and disaffected inhabitants. Your +blockading ships may be forced to come home for provisions and +repairs, or they may be blown off in a gale of wind and compelled to +bear away for their own coast; and you will observe that the very +same wind which locks you up in the British Channel, when you are +got there, is evidently favourable for the invasion of Ireland. And +yet this is called Government, and the people huzza Mr. Perceval for +continuing to expose his country day after day to such tremendous +perils as these; cursing the men who would have given up a question +in theology to have saved us from such a risk. The British empire +at this moment is in the state of a peach-blossom--if the wind blows +gently from one quarter, it survives; if furiously from the other, +it perishes. A stiff breeze may set in from the north, the +Rochefort squadron will be taken, and the Minister will be the most +holy of men: if it comes from some other point, Ireland is gone; we +curse ourselves as a set of monastic madmen, and call out for the +unavailing satisfaction of Mr. Perceval's head. Such a state of +political existence is scarcely credible: it is the action of a mad +young fool standing upon one foot, and peeping down the crater of +Mount AEtna, not the conduct of a wise and sober people deciding +upon their best and dearest interests: and in the name, the much- +injured name, of heaven, what is it all for that we expose ourselves +to these dangers? Is it that we may sell more muslin? Is it that +we may acquire more territory? Is it that we may strengthen what we +have already acquired? No; nothing of all this; but that one set of +Irishmen may torture another set of Irishmen--that Sir Phelim +O'Callaghan may continue to whip Sir Toby M'Tackle, his next door +neighbour, and continue to ravish his Catholic daughters; and these +are the measures which the honest and consistent Secretary supports; +and this is the Secretary whose genius in the estimation of Brother +Abraham is to extinguish the genius of Bonaparte. Pompey was killed +by a slave, Goliath smitten by a stripling, Pyrrhus died by the hand +of a woman; tremble, thou great Gaul, from whose head an armed +Minerva leaps forth in the hour of danger; tremble, thou scourge of +God, a pleasant man is come out against thee, and thou shalt be laid +low by a joker of jokes, and he shall talk his pleasant talk against +thee, and thou shalt be no more! + +You tell me, in spite of all this parade of sea-coast, Bonaparte has +neither ships nor sailors: but this is a mistake. He has not ships +and sailors to contest the empire of the seas with Great Britain, +but there remains quite sufficient of the navies of France, Spain, +Holland, and Denmark, for these short excursions and invasions. Do +you think, too, that Bonaparte does not add to his navy every year? +Do you suppose, with all Europe at his feet, that he can find any +difficulty in obtaining timber, and that money will not procure for +him any quantity of naval stores he may want? The mere machine, the +empty ship, he can build as well, and as quickly, as you can; and +though he may not find enough of practised sailors to man large +fighting-fleets--it is not possible to conceive that he can want +sailors for such sort of purposes as I have stated. He is at +present the despotic monarch of above twenty thousand miles of sea- +coast, and yet you suppose he cannot procure sailors for the +invasion of Ireland. Believe, if you please, that such a fleet met +at sea by any number of our ships at all comparable to them in point +of force, would be immediately taken, let it be so; I count nothing +upon their power of resistance, only upon their power of escaping +unobserved. If experience has taught us anything, it is the +impossibility of perpetual blockades. The instances are +innumerable, during the course of this war, where whole fleets have +sailed in and out of harbour, in spite of every vigilance used to +prevent it. I shall only mention those cases where Ireland is +concerned. In December, 1796, seven ships of the line, and ten +transports, reached Bantry Bay from Brest, without having seen an +English ship in their passage. It blew a storm when they were off +shore, and therefore England still continues to be an independent +kingdom. You will observe that at the very time the French fleet +sailed out of Brest Harbour, Admiral Colpoys was cruising off there +with a powerful squadron, and still, from the particular +circumstances of the weather, found it impossible to prevent the +French from coming out. During the time that Admiral Colpoys was +cruising off Brest, Admiral Richery, with six ships of the line, +passed him, and got safe into the harbour. At the very moment when +the French squadron was lying in Bantry Bay, Lord Bridport with his +fleet was locked up by a foul wind in the Channel, and for several +days could not stir to the assistance of Ireland. Admiral Colpoys, +totally unable to find the French fleet, came home. Lord Bridport, +at the change of the wind, cruised for them in vain, and they got +safe back to Brest, without having seen a single one of those +floating bulwarks, the possession of which we believe will enable us +with impunity to set justice and common sense at defiance. + +Such is the miserable and precarious state of an anemocracy, of a +people who put their trust in hurricanes, and are governed by wind. +In August, 1798, three forty-gun frigates landed 1,100 men under +Humbert, making the passage from Rochelle to Killala without seeing +any English ship. In October of the same year, four French frigates +anchored in Killala Bay with 2,000 troops; and though they did not +land their troops, they returned to France in safety. In the same +month, a line-of-battle ship, eight stout frigates, and a brig, all +full of troops and stores, reached the coast of Ireland, and were +fortunately, in sight of land, destroyed, after an obstinate +engagement, by Sir John Warren. + +If you despise the little troop which, in these numerous +experiments, did make good its landing, take with you, if you +please, this precis of its exploits: eleven hundred men, commanded +by a soldier raised from the ranks, put to rout a select army of +6,000 men, commanded by General Lake, seized their ordnance, +ammunition, and stores, advanced 150 miles into a country containing +an armed force of 150,000 men, and at last surrendered to the +Viceroy, an experienced general, gravely and cautiously advancing at +the head of all his chivalry and of an immense army to oppose him. +You must excuse these details about Ireland, but it appears to me to +be of all other subjects the most important. If we conciliate +Ireland, we can do nothing amiss; if we do not, we can do nothing +well. If Ireland was friendly, we might equally set at defiance the +talents of Bonaparte and the blunders of his rival, Mr. Canning; we +could then support the ruinous and silly bustle of our useless +expeditions, and the almost incredible ignorance of our commercial +orders in council. Let the present administration give up but this +one point, and there is nothing which I would not consent to grant +them. Mr. Perceval shall have full liberty to insult the tomb of +Mr. Fox, and to torment every eminent Dissenter in Great Britain; +Lord Camden shall have large boxes of plums; Mr. Rose receive +permission to prefix to his name the appellative of virtuous; and to +the Viscount Castlereagh a round sum of ready money shall be well +and truly paid into his hand. Lastly, what remains to Mr. George +Canning, but that he ride up and down Pall Mall glorious upon a +white horse, and that they cry out before him, Thus shall it be done +to the statesman who hath written "The Needy Knife-Grinder," and the +German play? Adieu only for the present; you shall soon hear from +me again; it is a subject upon which I cannot long be silent. + + + +LETTER VIII. + + + +Nothing can be more erroneous than to suppose that Ireland is not +bigger than the Isle of Wight, or of more consequence than Guernsey +or Jersey; and yet I am almost inclined to believe, from the general +supineness which prevails here respecting the dangerous state of +that country, that such is the rank which it holds in our +statistical tables. I have been writing to you a great deal about +Ireland, and perhaps it may be of some use to state to you concisely +the nature and resources of the country which has been the subject +of our long and strange correspondence. There were returned, as I +have before observed, to the hearth tax in 1791, 701,102 houses, +which Mr. Newenham shows from unquestionable documents to be nearly +80,000 below the real number of houses in that country. There are +27,457 square English miles in Ireland, and more than five millions +of people. + +By the last survey it appears that the inhabited houses in England +and Wales amount to 1,574,902, and the population to 9,343,578, +which gives an average of 5.875 to each house, in a country where +the density of population is certainly less considerable than in +Ireland. It is commonly supposed that two-fifths of the army and +navy are Irishmen, at periods when political disaffection does not +avert the Catholics from the service. The current value of Irish +exports in 1807 was 9,314,854 pounds 17s. 7d.; a state of commerce +about equal to the commerce of England in the middle of the reign of +George II. The tonnage of ships entered inward and cleared outward +in the trade of Ireland, in 1807, amounted to 1,567,430 tons. The +quantity of home spirits exported amounted to 10,284 gallons in +1796, and to 930,800 gallons in 1804. Of the exports which I have +stated, provisions amounted to four millions, and linen to about +four millions and a half. There was exported from Ireland, upon an +average of two years ending in January, 1804, 591,274 barrels of +barley, oats, and wheat; and by weight 910,848 cwts. of flour, +oatmeal, barley, oats, and wheat. The amount of butter exported in +1804, from Ireland, was worth, in money, 1,704,680 pounds sterling. +The importation of ale and beer, from the immense manufactures now +carrying on of these articles, was diminished to 3,209 barrels, in +the year 1804, from 111,920 barrels, which was the average +importation per annum, taking from three years ending in 1792; and +at present there is an export trade of porter. On an average of +three years, ending March, 1783, there were imported into Ireland, +of cotton wool, 3,326 cwts., of cotton yarn, 5,405 lbs.; but on an +average of three years, ending January, 1803, there were imported, +of the first article, 13,159 cwts., and of the latter, 628,406 lbs. +It is impossible to conceive any manufacture more flourishing. The +export of linen has increased in Ireland from 17,776,862 yards, the +average in 1770, to 43,534,971 yards, the amount in 1805. The +tillage of Ireland has more than trebled within the last twenty-one +years. The importation of coals has increased from 230,000 tons in +1783, to 417,030 in 1804; of tobacco, from 3,459,861 lbs. in 1783, +to 6,611,543 in 1804; of tea, from 1,703,855 lbs. in 1783, to +3,358,256 in 1804; of sugar, from 143,117 cwts. in 1782, to 309,076 +in 1804. Ireland now supports a funded debt of above 64 millions, +and it is computed that more than three millions' of money are +annually remitted to Irish absentees resident in this country. In +Mr. Foster's report, of 100 folio pages, presented to the House of +Commons in the year 1806, the total expenditure of Ireland is stated +at 9,760,013 pounds. Ireland has increased about two-thirds in its +population within twenty-five years, and yet, and in about the same +space of time, its exports of beef, bullocks, cows, pork, swine, +butter, wheat, barley, and oats, collectively taken, have doubled; +and this, in spite of two years' famine, and the presence of an +immense army, that is always at hand to guard the most valuable +appanage of our empire from joining our most inveterate enemies. +Ireland has the greatest possible facilities for carrying on +commerce with the whole of Europe. It contains, within a circuit of +750 miles, 66 secure harbours, and presents a western frontier +against Great Britain, reaching from the Firth of Clyde north to the +Bristol Channel south, and varying in distance from 20 to 100 miles; +so that the subjugation of Ireland would compel us to guard with +ships and soldiers a new line of coast, certainly amounting, with +all its sinuosities, to more than 700 miles--an addition of +polemics, in our present state of hostility with all the world, +which must highly gratify the vigorists, and give them an ample +opportunity of displaying that foolish energy upon which their +claims to distinction are founded. Such is the country which the +Right Reverend the Chancellor of the Exchequer would drive into the +arms of France, and for the conciliation of which we are requested +to wait, as if it were one of those sinecure places which were given +to Mr. Perceval snarling at the breast, and which cannot be +abolished till his decease. + +How sincerely and fervently have I often wished that the Emperor of +the French had thought as Mr. Spencer Perceval does upon the subject +of government; that he had entertained doubts and scruples upon the +propriety of admitting the Protestants to an equality of rights with +the Catholics, and that he had left in the middle of his empire +these vigorous seeds of hatred and disaffection! But the world was +never yet conquered by a blockhead. One of the very first measures +we saw him recurring to was the complete establishment of religious +liberty: if his subjects fought and paid as he pleased, he allowed +them to believe as they pleased: the moment I saw this, my best +hopes were lost. I perceived in a moment the kind of man we had to +do with. I was well aware of the miserable ignorance and folly of +this country upon the subject of toleration; and every year has been +adding to the success of that game, which it was clear he had the +will and the ability to play against us. + +You say Bonaparte is not in earnest upon the subject of religion, +and that this is the cause of his tolerant spirit; but is it +possible you can intend to give us such dreadful and unamiable +notions of religion. Are we to understand that the moment a man is +sincere he is narrow-minded; that persecution is the child of +belief; and that a desire to leave all men in the quiet and +unpunished exercise of their own creed can only exist in the mind of +an infidel? Thank God! I know many men whose principles are as firm +as they are expanded, who cling tenaciously to their own +modification of the Christian faith, without the slightest +disposition to force that modification upon other people. If +Bonaparte is liberal in subjects of religion because he has no +religion, is this a reason why we should be illiberal because we are +Christians? If he owes this excellent quality to a vice, is that +any reason why we may not owe it to a virtue? Toleration is a great +good, and a good to be imitated, let it come from whom it will. If +a sceptic is tolerant, it only shows that he is not foolish in +practice as well as erroneous in theory. If a religious man is +tolerant, it evinces that he is religious from thought and inquiry, +because he exhibits in his conduct one of the most beautiful and +important consequences of a religious mind--an inviolable charity to +all the honest varieties of human opinion. + +Lord Sidmouth, and all the anti-Catholic people, little foresee that +they will hereafter be the sport of the antiquary; that their +prophecies of ruin and destruction from Catholic emancipation will +be clapped into the notes of some quaint history, and be matter of +pleasantry even to the sedulous housewife and the rural dean. There +is always a copious supply of Lord Sidmouths in the world; nor is +there one single source of human happiness against which they have +not uttered the most lugubrious predictions. Turnpike roads, +navigable canals, inoculation, hops, tobacco, the Reformation, the +Revolution--there are always a set of worthy and moderately-gifted +men, who bawl out death and ruin upon every valuable change which +the varying aspect of human affairs absolutely and imperiously +requires. I have often thought that it would be extremely useful to +make a collection of the hatred and abuse that all those changes +have experienced, which are now admitted to be marked improvements +in our condition. Such a history might make folly a little more +modest, and suspicious of its own decisions. + +Ireland, you say, since the Union is to be considered as a part of +the whole kingdom; and therefore, however Catholics may predominate +in that particular spot, yet, taking the whole empire together, they +are to be considered as a much more insignificant quota of the +population. Consider them in what light you please, as part of the +whole, or by themselves, or in what manner may be most consentaneous +to the devices of your holy mind--I say in a very few words, if you +do not relieve these people from the civil incapacities to which +they are exposed, you will lose them; or you must employ great +strength and much treasure in watching over them. In the present +state of the world you can afford to do neither the one nor the +other. Having stated this, I shall leave you to be ruined, +Puffendorf in hand (as Mr. Secretary Canning says), and to lose +Ireland, just as you have found out what proportion the aggrieved +people should bear to the whole population before their calamities +meet with redress. As for your parallel cases, I am no more afraid +of deciding upon them than I am upon their prototype. If ever any +one heresy should so far spread itself over the principality of +Wales that the Established Church were left in a minority of one to +four; if you had subjected these heretics to very severe civil +privations; if the consequence of such privations were a universal +state of disaffection among that caseous and wrathful people; and if +at the same time you were at war with all the world, how can you +doubt for a moment that I would instantly restore them to a state of +the most complete civil liberty? What matters it under what name +you put the same case? Common sense is not changed by appellations. +I have said how I would act to Ireland, and I would act so to all +the world. + +I admit that, to a certain degree, the Government will lose the +affections of the Orangemen by emancipating the Catholics; much +less, however, at present, than three years past. The few men, who +have ill-treated the whole crew, live in constant terror that the +oppressed people will rise upon them and carry the ship into Brest: +--they begin to find that it is a very tiresome thing to sleep every +night with cocked pistols under their pillows, and to breakfast, +dine, and sup with drawn hangers. They suspect that the privilege +of beating and kicking the rest of the sailors is hardly worth all +this anxiety, and that if the ship does ever fall into the hands of +the disaffected, all the cruelties which they have experienced will +be thoroughly remembered and amply repaid. To a short period of +disaffection among the Orangemen I confess I should not much object: +my love of poetical justice does carry me as far as that; one +summer's whipping, only one: the thumb-screw for a short season; a +little light easy torturing between Ladyday and Michaelmas; a short +specimen of Mr. Perceval's rigour. I have malice enough to ask this +slight atonement for the groans and shrieks of the poor Catholics, +unheard by any human tribunal, but registered by the Angel of God +against their Protestant and enlightened oppressors. + +Besides, if you who count ten so often can count five, you must +perceive that it is better to have four friends and one enemy than +four enemies and one friend; and the more violent the hatred of the +Orangemen, the more certain the reconciliation of the Catholics. +The disaffection of the Orangemen will be the Irish rainbow: when I +see it I shall be sure that the storm is over. + +If these incapacities, from which the Catholics ask to be relieved, +were to the mass of them only a mere feeling of pride, and if the +question were respecting the attainment of privileges which could be +of importance only to the highest of the sect, I should still say +that the pride of the mass was very naturally wounded by the +degradation of their superiors. Indignity to George Rose would be +felt by the smallest nummary gentleman in the king's employ; and Mr. +John Bannister could not be indifferent to anything which happened +to Mr. Canning. But the truth is, it is a most egregious mistake to +suppose that the Catholics are contending merely for the fringes and +feathers of their chiefs. I will give you a list in my next Letter +of those privations which are represented to be of no consequence to +anybody but Lord Fingal, and some twenty or thirty of the principal +persons of their sect. In the meantime, adieu, and be wise. + + + +LETTER IX. + + + +Dear Abraham,--No Catholic can be chief Governor or Governor of this +kingdom, Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal, Lord High +Treasurer, Chief of any of the Courts of Justice, Chancellor of the +Exchequer, Puisne Judge, Judge in the Admiralty, Master of the +Rolls, Secretary of State, Keeper of the Privy Seal, Vice-Treasurer +or his Deputy, Teller or Cashier of Exchequer, Auditor or General, +Governor or Custos Rotulorum of Counties, Chief Governor's +Secretary, Privy Councillor, King's Counsel, Serjeant, Attorney, +Solicitor-General, Master in Chancery, Provost or Fellow of Trinity +College, Dublin, Postmaster-General, Master and Lieutenant-General +of Ordnance, Commander-in-Chief, General on the Staff, Sheriff, Sub- +Sheriff, Mayor, Bailiff, Recorder, Burgess, or any other officer in +a City, or a Corporation. No Catholic can be guardian to a +Protestant, and no priest guardian at all; no Catholic can be a +gamekeeper, or have for sale, or otherwise, any arms or warlike +stores; no Catholic can present to a living, unless he choose to +turn Jew in order to obtain that privilege; the pecuniary +qualification of Catholic jurors is made higher than that of +Protestants, and no relaxation of the ancient rigorous code is +permitted, unless to those who shall take an oath prescribed by 13 +and 14 George III. Now if this is not picking the plums out of the +pudding and leaving the mere batter to the Catholics, I know not +what is. If it were merely the Privy Council, it would be (I allow) +nothing but a point of honour for which the mass of Catholics were +contending, the honour of being chief-mourners or pall-bearers to +the country; but surely no man will contend that every barrister may +not speculate upon the possibility of being a Puisne Judge; and that +every shopkeeper must not feel himself injured by his exclusion from +borough offices. + +One of the greatest practical evils which the Catholics suffer in +Ireland is their exclusion from the offices of Sheriff and Deputy +Sheriff. Nobody who is unacquainted with Ireland can conceive the +obstacles which this opposes to the fair administration of justice. +The formation of juries is now entirely in the hands of the +Protestants; the lives, liberties, and properties of the Catholics +in the hands of the juries; and this is the arrangement for the +administration of justice in a country where religious prejudices +are inflamed to the greatest degree of animosity! In this country, +if a man be a foreigner, if he sell slippers, and sealing wax, and +artificial flowers, we are so tender of human life that we take care +half the number of persons who are to decide upon his fate should be +men of similar prejudices and feelings with himself: but a poor +Catholic in Ireland may be tried by twelve Percevals, and destroyed +according to the manner of that gentleman in the name of the Lord, +and with all the insulting forms of justice. I do not go the length +of saying that deliberate and wilful injustice is done. I have no +doubt that the Orange Deputy Sheriff thinks it would be a most +unpardonable breach of his duty if he did not summon a Protestant +panel. I can easily believe that the Protestant panel may conduct +themselves very conscientiously in hanging the gentlemen of the +crucifix; but I blame the law which does not guard the Catholic +against the probable tenor of those feelings which must +unconsciously influence the judgments of mankind. I detest that +state of society which extends unequal degrees of protection to +different creeds and persuasions; and I cannot describe to you the +contempt I feel for a man who, calling himself a statesman, defends +a system which fills the heart of every Irishman with treason, and +makes his allegiance prudence, not choice. + +I request to know if the vestry taxes in Ireland are a mere matter +of romantic feeling which can affect only the Earl of Fingal? In a +parish where there are four thousand Catholics and fifty +Protestants, the Protestants may meet together in a vestry meeting +at which no Catholic has the right to vote, and tax all the lands in +the parish 1s. 6d. per acre, or in the pound, I forget which, for +the repairs of the church--and how has the necessity of these +repairs been ascertained? A Protestant plumber has discovered that +it wants new leading; a Protestant carpenter is convinced the +timbers are not sound; and the glazier who hates holy water (as an +accoucheur hates celibacy, because he gets nothing by it) is +employed to put in new sashes. + +The grand juries in Ireland are the great scene of jobbing. They +have a power of making a county rate to a considerable extent for +roads, bridges, and other objects of general accommodation. "You +suffer the road to be brought through my park, and I will have the +bridge constructed in a situation where it will make a beautiful +object to your house. You do my job, and I will do yours." These +are the sweet and interesting subjects which occasionally occupy +Milesian gentlemen while they are attendant upon this grand inquest +of justice. But there is a religion, it seems, even in jobs; and it +will be highly gratifying to Mr. Perceval to learn that no man in +Ireland who believes in seven sacraments can carry a public road, or +bridge, one yard out of the direction most beneficial to the public, +and that nobody can cheat the public who does not expound the +Scriptures in the purest and most orthodox manner. This will give +pleasure to Mr. Perceval: but, from his unfairness upon these +topics I appeal to the justice and the proper feelings of Mr. +Huskisson. I ask him if the human mind can experience a more +dreadful sensation than to see its own jobs refused, and the jobs of +another religion perpetually succeeding? I ask him his opinion of a +jobless faith, of a creed which dooms a man through life to a lean +and plunderless integrity. He knows that human nature cannot and +will not bear it; and if we were to paint a political Tartarus, it +would be an endless series of snug expectations and cruel +disappointments. These are a few of many dreadful inconveniences +which the Catholics of all ranks suffer from the laws by which they +are at present oppressed. Besides, look at human nature: what is +the history of all professions? Joel is to be brought up to the +bar: has Mrs. Plymley the slightest doubt of his being Chancellor? +Do not his two shrivelled aunts live in the certainty of seeing him +in that situation, and of cutting out with their own hands his +equity habiliments? And I could name a certain minister of the +Gospel who does not, in the bottom of his heart, much differ from +these opinions. Do you think that the fathers and mothers of the +holy Catholic Church are not as absurd as Protestant papas and +mammas? The probability I admit to be, in each particular case, +that the sweet little blockhead will in fact never get a brief;--but +I will venture to say, there is not a parent from the Giant's +Causeway to Bantry Bay who does not conceive that his child is the +unfortunate victim of the exclusion, and that nothing short of +positive law could prevent his own dear, pre-eminent Paddy from +rising to the highest honours of the State. So with the army and +parliament; in fact, few are excluded; but, in imagination, all: +you keep twenty or thirty Catholics out, and you lose the affections +of four millions; and, let me tell you, that recent circumstances +have by no means tended to diminish in the minds of men that hope of +elevation beyond their own rank which is so congenial to our nature: +from pleading for John Roe to taxing John Bull, from jesting for Mr. +Pitt and writing in the Anti-Jacobin, to managing the affairs of +Europe--these are leaps which seem to justify the fondest dreams of +mothers and of aunts. + +I do not say that the disabilities to which the Catholics are +exposed amount to such intolerable grievances, that the strength and +industry of a nation are overwhelmed by them: the increasing +prosperity of Ireland fully demonstrates to the contrary. But I +repeat again, what I have often stated in the course of our +correspondence, that your laws against the Catholics are exactly in +that state in which you have neither the benefits of rigour nor of +liberality: every law which prevented the Catholic from gaining +strength and wealth is repealed; every law which can irritate +remains; if you were determined to insult the Catholics, you should +have kept them weak; if you resolved to give them strength, you +should have ceased to insult them--at present your conduct is pure, +unadulterated folly. + +Lord Hawkesbury says, "We heard nothing about the Catholics till we +began to mitigate the laws against them; when we relieved them in +part from this oppression they began to be disaffected. This is +very true; but it proves just what I have said, that you have either +done too much or too little; and as there lives not, I hope, upon +earth, so depraved a courtier that he would load the Catholics with +their ancient chains, what absurdity it is, then, not to render +their dispositions friendly, when you leave their arms and legs +free! + +You know, and many Englishmen know, what passes in China; but nobody +knows or cares what passes in Ireland. At the beginning of the +present reign no Catholic could realise property, or carry on any +business; they were absolutely annihilated, had had no more agency +in the country than so many trees. They were like Lord Mulgrave's +eloquence and Lord Camden's wit; the legislative bodies did not know +of their existence. For these twenty-five years last past the +Catholics have been engaged in commerce; within that period the +commerce of Ireland has doubled--there are four Catholics at work +for one Protestant, and eight Catholics at work for one +Episcopalian. Of course, the proportion which Catholic wealth bears +to Protestant wealth is every year altering rapidly in favour of the +Catholics. I have already told you what their purchases of land +were the last year: since that period I have been at some pains to +find out the actual state of the Catholic wealth: it is impossible +upon such a subject to arrive at complete accuracy; but I have good +reason to believe that there are at present 2,000 Catholics in +Ireland, possessing an income of 500 pounds and upwards, many of +these with incomes of one, two, three, and four thousand, and some +amounting to fifteen and twenty thousand per annum:- and this is the +kingdom, and these the people, for whose conciliation we are to wait +Heaven knows when, and Lord Hawkesbury why! As for me, I never +think of the situation of Ireland without feeling the same necessity +for immediate interference as I should do if I saw blood flowing +from a great artery. I rush towards it with the instinctive +rapidity of a man desirous of preventing death, and have no other +feeling but that in a few seconds the patient may be no more. + +I could not help smiling, in the times of No Popery, to witness the +loyal indignation of many persons at the attempt made by the last +ministry to do something for the relief of Ireland. The general cry +in the country was, that they would not see their beloved Monarch +used ill in his old age, and that they would stand by him to the +last drop of their blood. I respect good feelings, however +erroneous be the occasions on which they display themselves; and +therefore I saw in all this as much to admire as to blame. It was a +species of affection, however, which reminded me very forcibly of +the attachment displayed by the servants of the Russian ambassador +at the beginning of the last century. His Excellency happened to +fall down in a kind of apoplectic fit, when he was paying a morning +visit in the house of an acquaintance. The confusion was of course +very great, and messengers were despatched in every direction to +find a surgeon: who, upon his arrival, declared that his Excellency +must be immediately blooded, and prepared himself forthwith to +perform the operation: the barbarous servants of the embassy, who +were there in great numbers, no sooner saw the surgeon prepared to +wound the arm of their master with a sharp, shining instrument, than +they drew their swords, put themselves in an attitude of defence, +and swore in pure Sclavonic, "that they would murder any man who +attempted to do him the slightest injury: he had been a very good +master to them, and they would not desert him in his misfortunes, or +suffer his blood to be shed while he was off his guard, and +incapable of defending himself." By good fortune, the secretary +arrived about this period of the dispute, and his Excellency, +relieved from superfluous blood and perilous affection, was, after +much difficulty, restored to life. + +There is an argument brought forward with some appearance of +plausibility in the House of Commons, which certainly merits an +answer: You know that the Catholics now vote for members of +parliament in Ireland, and that they outnumber the Protestants in a +very great proportion; if you allow Catholics to sit in parliament, +religion will be found to influence votes more than property, and +the greater part of the 100 Irish members who are returned to +parliament will be Catholics. Add to these the Catholic members who +are returned in England, and you will have a phalanx of heretical +strength which every minister will be compelled to respect, and +occasionally to conciliate by concessions incompatible with the +interests of the Protestant Church. The fact is, however, that you +are at this moment subjected to every danger of this kind which you +can possibly apprehend hereafter. If the spiritual interests of the +voters are more powerful than their temporal interests, they can +bind down their representatives to support any measures favourable +to the Catholic religion, and they can change the objects of their +choice till they have found Protestant members (as they easily may +do) perfectly obedient to their wishes. If the superior possessions +of the Protestants prevent the Catholics from uniting for a common +political object, then the danger you fear cannot exist: if zeal, +on the contrary, gets the better of acres, then the danger at +present exists, from the right of voting already given to the +Catholics, and it will not be increased by allowing them to sit in +parliament. There are, as nearly as I can recollect, thirty seats +in Ireland for cities and counties, where the Protestants are the +most numerous, and where the members returned must of course be +Protestants. In the other seventy representations the wealth of the +Protestants is opposed to the number of the Catholics; and if all +the seventy members returned were of the Catholic persuasion, they +must still plot the destruction of our religion in the midst of 588 +Protestants. Such terrors would disgrace a cook-maid, or a +toothless aunt--when they fall from the lips of bearded and +senatorial men, they are nauseous, antiperistaltic, and emetical. + +How can you for a moment doubt of the rapid effects which would be +produced by the emancipation? In the first place, to my certain +knowledge the Catholics have long since expressed to his Majesty's +Ministers their perfect readiness TO VEST IN HIS MAJESTY, EITHER +WITH THE CONSENT OF THE POPE, OR WITHOUT IT IF IT CANNOT BE +OBTAINED, THE NOMINATION OF THE CATHOLIC PRELACY. The Catholic +prelacy in Ireland consists of twenty-six bishops and the warden of +Galway, a dignitary enjoying Catholic jurisdiction. The number of +Roman Catholic priests in Ireland exceeds one thousand. The +expenses of his peculiar worship are, to a substantial farmer or +mechanic, five shillings per annum; to a labourer (where he is not +entirely excused) one shilling per annum; this includes the +contribution of the whole family, and for this the priest is bound +to attend them when sick, and to confess them when they apply to +him; he is also to keep his chapel in order, to celebrate divine +service, and to preach on Sundays and holydays. + +In the northern district a priest gains from 30 to 50 pounds; in the +other parts of Ireland from 60 to 90 pounds per annum. The best +paid Catholic bishops receive about 400 pounds per annum; the others +from 300 to 350 pounds. My plan is very simple: I would have 300 +Catholic parishes at 100 pounds per annum, 300 at 200 pounds per +annum, and 400 at 300 pounds per annum; this, for the whole thousand +parishes, would amount to 190,000 pounds. To the prelacy I would +allot 20,000 pounds in unequal proportions, from 1,000 to 500 +pounds; and I would appropriate 40,000 pounds more for the support +of Catholic schools, and the repairs of Catholic churches; the whole +amount of which sum is 250,000 pounds, about the expense of three +days of one of our genuine, good English JUST AND NECESSARY WARS. +The clergy should all receive their salaries at the Bank of Ireland, +and I would place the whole patronage in the hands of the Crown. +Now, I appeal to any human being, except Spencer Perceval, Esq., of +the parish of Hampstead, what the disaffection of a clergy would +amount to, gaping after this graduated bounty of the Crown, and +whether Ignatius Loyala himself, if he were a living blockhead +instead of a dead saint, could withstand the temptation of bouncing +from 100 pounds a year at Sligo, to 300 pounds in Tipperary? This +is the miserable sum of money for which the merchants and landowners +and nobility of England are exposing themselves to the tremendous +peril of losing Ireland. The sinecure places of the Roses and the +Percevals, and the "dear and near relations," put up to auction at +thirty years' purchase, would almost amount to the money. + +I admit that nothing can be more reasonable than to expect that a +Catholic priest should starve to death, genteelly and pleasantly, +for the good of the Protestant religion; but is it equally +reasonable to expect that he should do so for the Protestant pews, +and Protestant brick and mortar? On an Irish Sabbath, the bell of a +neat parish church often summons to church only the parson and an +occasionally conforming clerk; while, two hundred yards off, a +thousand Catholics are huddled together in a miserable hovel, and +pelted by all the storms of heaven. Can anything be more +distressing than to see a venerable man pouring forth sublime truths +in tattered breeches, and depending for his food upon the little +offal he gets from his parishioners? I venerate a human being who +starves for his principles, let them be what they may; but starving +for anything is not at all to the taste of the honourable +flagellants: strict principles, and good pay, is the motto of Mr. +Perceval: the one he keeps in great measure for the faults of his +enemies, the other for himself. + +There are parishes in Connaught in which a Protestant was never +settled nor even seen. In that province in Munster, and in parts of +Leinster, the entire peasantry for sixty miles are Catholics; in +these tracts the churches are frequently shut for want of a +congregation, or opened to an assemblage of from six to twenty +persons. Of what Protestants there are in Ireland, the greatest +part are gathered together in Ulster, or they live in towns. In the +country of the other three provinces the Catholics see no other +religion but their own, and are at the least as fifteen to one +Protestant. In the diocese of Tuam they are sixty to one; in the +parish of St. Mulins, diocese of Leghlin, there are four thousand +Catholics and one Protestant; in the town of Grasgenamana, in the +county of Kilkenny, there are between four and five hundred Catholic +houses, and three Protestant houses. In the parish of Allen, county +Kildare, there is no Protestant, though it is very populous. In the +parish of Arlesin, Queen's County, the proportion is one hundred to +one. In the whole county of Kilkenny, by actual enumeration, it is +seventeen to one; in the diocese of Kilmacduagh, province of +Connaught, fifty-two to one, by ditto. These I give you as a few +specimens of the present state of Ireland; and yet there are men +impudent and ignorant enough to contend that such evils require no +remedy, and that mild family man who dwelleth in Hampstead can find +none but the cautery and the knife. + + +- "Omne per ignem +Excoquitur vitium." + + +I cannot describe the horror and disgust which I felt at hearing Mr. +Perceval call upon the then Ministry for measures of vigour in +Ireland. If I lived at Hampstead upon stewed meats and claret; if I +walked to church every Sunday before eleven young gentlemen of my +own begetting, with their faces washed, and their hair pleasingly +combed; if the Almighty had blessed me with every earthly comfort-- +how awfully would I pause before I sent forth the flame and the +sword over the cabins of the poor, brave, generous, open-hearted +peasants of Ireland! How easy it is to shed human blood; how easy +it is to persuade ourselves that it is our duty to do so, and that +the decision has cost us a severe struggle; how much in all ages +have wounds and shrieks and tears been the cheap and vulgar +resources of the rulers of mankind; how difficult and how noble it +is to govern in kindness and to found an empire upon the everlasting +basis of justice and affection! But what do men call vigour? To +let loose hussars and to bring up artillery, to govern with lighted +matches, and to cut, and push, and prime; I call this not vigour, +but the SLOTH OF CRUELTY AND IGNORANCE. The vigour I love consists +in finding out wherein subjects are aggrieved, in relieving them, in +studying the temper and genius of a people, in consulting their +prejudices, in selecting proper persons to lead and manage them, in +the laborious, watchful, and difficult task of increasing public +happiness by allaying each particular discontent. In this way Hoche +pacified La Vendee--and in this way only will Ireland ever be +subdued. But this, in the eyes of Mr. Perceval, is imbecility and +meanness. Houses are not broken open, women are not insulted, the +people seem all to be happy; they are not rode over by horses, and +cut by whips. Do you call this vigour? Is this government? + + + +LETTER X. AND LAST. + + + +You must observe that all I have said of the effects which will be +produced by giving salaries to the Catholic clergy, only proceeds +upon the supposition that the emanciptaion of the laity is effected: +--without that, I am sure there is not a clergyman in Ireland who +would receive a shilling from government; he could not do so, +without an entire loss of credit among the members of his own +persuasion. + +What you say of the moderation of the Irish Protestant clergy in +collecting tithes, is, I believe, strictly true. Instead of +collecting what the law enables them to collect, I believe they +seldom or ever collect more than two-thirds; and I entirely agree +with you, that the abolition of agistment tithe in Ireland by a vote +of the Irish House of Commons, and without any remuneration to the +Church, was a most scandalous and Jacobinical measure. I do not +blame the Irish clergy; but I submit to your common sense, if it be +possible to explain to an Irish peasant upon what principle of +justice, or common sense, he is to pay every tenth potato in his +little garden to a clergyman in whose religion nobody believes for +twenty miles around him, and who has nothing to preach to but bare +walls? It is true, if the tithes are bought up, the cottager must +pay more rent to his landlord; but the same thing done in the shape +of rent is less odious than when it is done in the shape of tithe. +I do not want to take a shilling out of the pockets of the clergy, +but to leave the substance of things, and to change their names. I +cannot see the slightest reason why the Irish labourer is to be +relieved from the real onus, or from anything else but the name of +tithe. At present he rents only nine-tenths of the produce of the +land, which is all that belongs to the owner; this he has at the +market price; if the landowner purchase the other tenth of the +Church, of course he has a right to make a correspondent advance +upon his tenant. + +I very much doubt, if you were to lay open all civil offices to the +Catholics, and to grant salaries to their clergy, in the manner I +have stated, if the Catholic laity would give themselves much +trouble about the advance of their Church; for they would pay the +same tithes under one system that they do under another. If you +were to bring the Catholics into the daylight of the world, to the +high situations of the army, the navy, and the bar, numbers of them +would come over to the Established Church, and do as other people +do; instead of that, you set a mark of infamy upon them, rouse every +passion of our nature in favour of their creed, and then wonder that +men are blind to the follies of the Catholic religion. There are +hardly any instances of old and rich families among the Protestant +Dissenters: when a man keeps a coach, and lives in good company, he +comes to church, and gets ashamed of the meeting-house; if this is +not the case with the father, it is almost always the case with the +son. These things would never be so if the Dissenters were in +PRACTICE as much excluded from all the concerns of civil life as the +Catholics are. If a rich young Catholic were in Parliament, he +would belong to White's and to Brookes's, would keep race-horses, +would walk up and down Pall Mall, be exonerated of his ready money +and his constitution, become as totally devoid of morality, honesty, +knowledge, and civility as Protestant loungers in Pall Mall, and +return home with a supreme contempt for Father O'Leary and Father +O'Callaghan. I am astonished at the madness of the Catholic clergy +in not perceiving that Catholic emancipation is Catholic infidelity; +that to entangle their people in the intrigues of a Protestant +parliament, and a Protestant court, is to ensure the loss of every +man of fashion and consequence in their community. The true receipt +for preserving their religion, is Mr. Perceval's receipt for +destroying it: it is to deprive every rich Catholic of all the +objects of secular ambition, to separate him from the Protestant, +and to shut him up in his castle with priests and relics. + +We are told, in answer to all our arguments, that this is not a fit +period--that a period of universal war is not the proper time for +dangerous innovations in the constitution: this is as much as to +say, that the worst time for making friends is the period when you +have made many enemies; that it is the greatest of all errors to +stop when you are breathless, and to lie down when you are fatigued. +Of one thing I am quite certain: if the safety of Europe is once +completely restored, the Catholics may for ever bid adieu to the +slightest probability of effecting their object. Such men as hang +about a court not only are deaf to the suggestions of mere justice, +but they despise justice; they detest the word RIGHT; the only word +which rouses them is PERIL; where they can oppress with impunity, +they oppress for ever, and call it loyalty and wisdom. + +I am so far from conceiving the legitimate strength of the Crown +would be diminished by these abolitions of civil incapacities in +consequence of religious opinions, that my only objection to the +increase of religious freedom is, that it would operate as a +diminution of political freedom; the power of the Crown is so +overbearing at this period, that almost the only steady opposers of +its fatal influence are men disgusted by religious intolerance. Our +establishments are so enormous, and so utterly disproportioned to +our population, that every second or third man you meet in society +gains something from the public; my brother the commissioner,--my +nephew the police justice,--purveyor of small beer to the army in +Ireland,--clerk of the mouth,--yeoman to the left hand,--these are +the obstacles which common sense and justice have now to overcome. +Add to this that the King, old and infirm, excites a principle of +very amiable generosity in his favour; that he has led a good, +moral, and religious life, equally removed from profligacy and +methodistical hypocrisy; that he has been a good husband, a good +father, and a good master; that he dresses plain, loves hunting and +farming, fates the French, and is in all his opinions and habits, +quite English: --these feelings are heightened by the present +situation of the world, and the yet unexploded clamour of +Jacobinism. In short, from the various sources of interest, +personal regard, and national taste, such a tempest of loyalty has +set in upon the people that the 47th proposition in Euclid might now +be voted down with as much ease as any proposition in politics; and +therefore if Lord Hawkesbury hates the abstract truths of science as +much as he hates concrete truth in human affairs, now is his time +for getting rid of the multiplication table, and passing a vote of +censure upon the pretensions of the hypotenuse. Such is the history +of English parties at this moment: you cannot seriously suppose +that the people care for such men as Lord Hawkesbury, Mr. Canning, +and Mr. Perceval on their own account; you cannot really believe +them to be so degraded as to look to their safety from a man who +proposes to subdue Europe by keeping it without Jesuit's Bark. The +people at present have one passion, and but one - + + +"A Jove principium, Jovis omnia plena." + + +They care no more for the ministers I have mentioned, than they do +for those sturdy royalists who for 60 pounds per annum stand behind +his Majesty's carriage, arrayed in scarlet and in gold. If the +present ministers opposed the Court instead of flattering it, they +would not command twenty votes. + +Do not imagine by these observations that I am not loyal; without +joining in the common cant of the best of kings, I respect the King +most sincerely as a good man. His religion is better than the +religion of Mr. Perceval, his old morality very superior to the old +morality of Mr. Canning, and I am quite certain he has a safer +understanding than both of them put together. Loyalty within the +bounds of reason and moderation is one of the great instruments of +human happiness; but the love of the king may easily become more +strong than the love of the kingdom, and we may lose sight of the +public welfare in our exaggerated admiration of him who is appointed +to reign only for its promotion and support. I detest Jacobinism; +and if I am doomed to be a slave at all, I would rather be the slave +of a king than a cobbler. God save the King, you say, warms your +heart like the sound of a trumpet. I cannot make use of so violent +a metaphor; but I am delighted to hear it, when it is the cry of +genuine affection; I am delighted to hear it when they hail not only +the individual man, but the outward and living sign of all English +blessings. These are noble feelings, and the heart of every good +man must go with them; but God save the King, in these times, too +often means God save my pension and my place, God give my sisters an +allowance out of the privy purse--make me clerk of the irons, let me +survey the meltings, let me live upon the fruits of other men's +industry, and fatten upon the plunder of the public. + +What is it possible to say to such a man as the Gentleman of +Hampstead, who really believes it feasible to convert the four +million Irish Catholics to the Protestant religion, and considers +this as the best remedy for the disturbed state of Ireland? It is +not possible to answer such a man with arguments; we must come out +against him with beads and a cowl, and push him into an hermitage. +It is really such trash, that it is an abuse of the privilege of +reasoning to reply to it. Such a project is well worthy the +statesman who would bring the French to reason by keeping them +without rhubarb, and exhibit to mankind the awful spectacle of a +nation deprived of neutral salts. This is not the dream of a wild +apothecary indulging in his own opium; this is not the distempered +fancy of a pounder of drugs, delirious from smallness of profits; +but it is the sober, deliberate, and systematic scheme of a man to +whom the public safety is intrusted, and whose appointment is +considered by many as a masterpiece of political sagacity. What a +sublime thought, that no purge can now be taken between the Weser +and the Garonne; that the bustling pestle is still, the canorous +mortar mute, and the bowels of mankind locked up for fourteen +degrees of latitude! When, I should be curious to know, were all +the powers of crudity and flatulence fully explained to his +Majesty's ministers? At what period was this great plan of conquest +and constipation fully developed? In whose mind was the idea of +destroying the pride and the plasters of France first engendered? +Without castor oil they might for some months, to be sure, have +carried on a lingering war! but can they do without bark? Will the +people live under a government where antimonial powders cannot be +procured? Will they bear the loss of mercury? "There's the rub." +Depend upon it, the absence of the materia medica will soon bring +them to their senses, and the cry of Bourbon and bolus burst forth +from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. + +You ask me for any precedent in our history where the oath of +supremacy has been dispensed with. It was dispensed with to the +Catholics of Canada in 1774. They are only required to take a +simple oath of allegiance. The same, I believe, was the case in +Corsica. The reason of such exemption was obvious; you could not +possibly have retained either of these countries without it. And +what did it signify, whether you retained them or not? In cases +where you might have been foolish without peril you were wise; when +nonsense and bigotry threaten you with destruction, it is impossible +to bring you back to the alphabet of justice and common sense. If +men are to be fools, I would rather they were fools in little +matters than in great; dulness turned up with temerity is a livery +all the worse for the facings; and the most tremendous of all things +is the magnanimity of the dunce. + +It is not by any means necessary, as you contend, to repeal the Test +Act if you give relief to the Catholic: what the Catholics ask for +is to be put on a footing with the Protestant Dissenters, which +would be done by repealing that part of the law which compels them +to take the oath of supremacy and to make the declaration against +transubstantiation: they would then come into Parliament as all +other Dissenters are allowed to do, and the penal laws to which they +were exposed for taking office would be suspended every year, as +they have been for this half century past towards Protestant +Dissenters. Perhaps, after all, this is the best method--to +continue the persecuting law, and to suspend it every year--a method +which, while it effectually destroys the persecution itself, leaves +to the great mass of mankind the exquisite gratification of +supposing that they are enjoying some advantage from which a +particular class of their fellow creatures are excluded. We manage +the Corporation and Test Acts at present much in the same manner as +if we were to persuade parish boys who had been in the habit of +beating an ass to spare the animal, and beat the skin of an ass +stuffed with straw; this would preserve the semblance of tormenting +without the reality, and keep boy and beast in good humour. + +How can you imagine that a provision for the Catholic clergy affects +the 5th article of the Union? Surely I am preserving the Protestant +Church in Ireland if I put it in a better condition than that in +which it now is. A tithe proctor in Ireland collects his tithes +with a blunderbuss, and carries his tenth hay-cock by storm, sword +in hand: to give him equal value in a more pacific shape cannot, I +should imagine, be considered as injurious to the Church of Ireland; +and what right has that Church to complain if Parliament chooses to +fix upon the empire the burden of supporting a double ecclesiastical +establishment? Are the revenues of the Irish Protestant clergy in +the slightest degree injured by such provision? On the contrary, is +it possible to confer a more serious benefit upon that Church than +by quieting and contenting those who are at work for its +destruction? + +It is impossible to think of the affairs of Ireland without being +forcibly struck with the parallel of Hungary. Of her seven millions +of inhabitants, one half were Protestants, Calvinists, and +Lutherans, many of the Greek Church, and many Jews: such was the +state of their religious dissensions that Mahomet had often been +called in to the aid of Calvin, and the crescent often glittered on +the walls of Buda and Presburg. At last, in 1791, during the most +violent crisis of disturbance, a Diet was called, and by a great +majority of voices a decree was passed, which secured to all the +contending sects the fullest and freest exercise of religious +worship and education; ordained--let it be heard in Hampstead--that +churches and chapels should be erected for all on the most perfectly +equal terms; that the Protestants of both confessions should depend +upon their spiritual superiors alone; liberated them from swearing +by the usual oath, "the Holy Virgin Mary, the saints, and chosen of +God;" and then the decree adds, "that PUBLIC OFFICES AND HONOURS, +HIGH OR LOW, GREAT OR SMALL, SHALL BE GIVEN TO NATURAL-BORN +HUNGARIANS WHO DESERVE WELL OF THEIR COUNTRY, AND POSSESS THE OTHER +QUALIFICATIONS, LET THEIR RELIGION BE WHAT IT MAY." Such was the +line of policy pursued in a Diet consisting of four hundred members, +in a state whose form of government approaches nearer to our own +than any other, having a Roman Catholic establishment of great +wealth and power, and under the influence of one of the most bigoted +Catholic Courts in Europe. This measure has now the experience of +eighteen years in its favour; it has undergone a trial of fourteen +years of revolution such as the world never witnessed, and more than +equal to a century less convulsed: What have been its effects? +When the French advanced like a torrent within a few days' march of +Vienna, the Hungarians rose in a mass; they formed what they called +the sacred insurrection, to defend their sovereign, their rights and +liberties, now common to all; and the apprehension of their approach +dictated to the reluctant Bonaparte the immediate signature of the +treaty of Leoben. The Romish hierarchy of Hungary exists in all its +former splendour and opulence; never has the slightest attempt been +made to diminish it; and those revolutionary principles, to which so +large a portion of civilised Europe has been sacrificed, have here +failed in making the smallest successful inroad. + +The whole history of this proceeding of the Hungarian Diet is so +extraordinary, and such an admirable comment upon the Protestantism +of Mr. Spencer Perceval, that I must compel you to read a few short +extracts from the law itself: --"The Protestants of both confessions +shall, in religious matters, depend upon their own spiritual +superiors alone. The Protestants may likewise retain their trivial +and grammar schools. The Church dues which the Protestants have +hitherto paid to the Catholic parish priests, schoolmasters, or +other such officers, either in money, productions, or labour, shall +in future entirely cease, and after three months from the publishing +of this law, be no more anywhere demanded. In the building or +repairing of churches, parsonage-houses, and schools, the +Protestants are not obliged to assist the Catholics with labour, nor +the Catholics the Protestants. The pious foundations and donations +of the Protestants which already exist, or which in future may be +made for their churches, ministers, schools and students, hospitals, +orphan houses, and poor, cannot be taken from them under any +pretext, nor yet the care of them; but rather the unimpeded +administration shall be intrusted to those from among them to whom +it legally belongs, and those foundations which may have been taken +from them under the last government shall be returned to them +without delay. All affairs of marriage of the Protestants are left +to their own consistories; all landlords and masters of families, +under the penalty of public prosecution, are ordered not to prevent +their subjects and servants, whether they be Catholic or Protestant, +from the observance of the festivals and ceremonies of their +religion," etc. etc. etc.--By what strange chances are mankind +influenced! A little Catholic barrister of Vienna might have raised +the cry of NO PROTESTANTISM, and Hungary would have panted for the +arrival of a French army as much as Ireland does at this moment; +arms would have been searched for; Lutheran and Calvinist houses +entered in the dead of the night; and the strength of Austria +exhausted in guarding a country from which, under the present +liberal system, she may expect in the moment of danger the most +powerful aid: and let it be remembered that this memorable example +of political wisdom took place at a period when many great +monarchies were yet unconquered in Europe; in a country where the +two religious parties were equal in number; and where it is +impossible to suppose indifference in the party which relinquished +its exclusive privileges. Under all these circumstances the measure +was carried in the Hungarian Diet by a majority of 280 to 120. In a +few weeks we shall see every concession denied to the Catholics by a +much larger majority of Protestants, at a moment when every other +power is subjugated but ourselves, and in a country where the +oppressed are four times as numerous as their oppressors. So much +for the wisdom of our ancestors--so much for the nineteenth century- +-so much for the superiority of the English over all the nations of +the Continent. + +Are you not sensible, let me ask you, of the absurdity of trusting +the lowest Catholics with offices correspondent to their situation +in life, and of denying such privileges to the higher. A Catholic +may serve in the militia, but a Catholic cannot come into +Parliament; in the latter case you suspect combination, and in the +former case you suspect no combination; you deliberately arm ten or +twenty thousand of the lowest of the Catholic people; and the moment +you come to a class of men whose education, honour, and talents seem +to render all mischief less probable, then you see the danger of +employing a Catholic, and cling to your investigating tests and +disabling laws. If you tell me you have enough of members of +Parliament and not enough of militia without the Catholics, I beg +leave to remind you that, by employing the physical force of any +sect at the same time when you leave them in a state of utter +disaffection, you are not adding strength to your armies, but +weakness and ruin. If you want the vigour of their common people, +you must not disgrace their nobility and insult their priesthood. + +I thought that the terror of the Pope had been confined to the +limits of the nursery, and merely employed as a means to induce +young master to enter into his small-clothes with greater speed and +to eat his breakfast with greater attention to decorum. For these +purposes the name of the Pope is admirable; but why push it beyond? +Why not leave to Lord Hawkesbury all further enumeration of the +Pope's powers? For a whole century you have been exposed to the +enmity of France, and your succession was disputed in two +rebellions: what could the Pope do at the period when there was a +serious struggle whether England should be Protestant or Catholic, +and when the issue was completely doubtful? Could the Pope induce +the Irish to rise in 1715? Could he induce them to rise in 1745? +You had no Catholic enemy when half this island was in arms; and +what did the Pope attempt in the last rebellion in Ireland? But if +he had as much power over the minds of the Irish as Mr. Wilberforce +has over the mind of a young Methodist converted the preceding +quarter, is this a reason why we are to disgust men who may be acted +upon in such a manner by a foreign power? or is it not an additional +reason why we should raise up every barrier of affection and +kindness against the mischief of foreign influence? But the true +answer is, the mischief does not exist. Gog and Magog have produced +as much influence upon human affairs as the Pope has done for this +half century past; and by spoiling him of his possessions, and +degrading him in the eyes of all Europe, Bonaparte has not taken +quite the proper method of increasing his influence. + +But why not a Catholic king as well as a Catholic member of +Parliament, or of the Cabinet?--Because it is probable that the one +would be mischievous and the other not. A Catholic king might +struggle against the Protestantism of the country, and if the +struggle were not successful it would at least be dangerous; but the +efforts of any other Catholic would be quite insignificant, and his +hope of success so small, that it is quite improbable the effort +would ever be made: my argument is, that in so Protestant a country +as Great Britain, the character of her parliaments and her cabinet +could not be changed by the few Catholics who would ever find their +way to the one or the other. But the power of the Crown is +immeasurably greater than the power which the Catholics could obtain +from any other species of authority in the state; and it does not +follow because the lesser degree of power is innocent that the +greater should be so too. As for the stress you lay upon the danger +of a Catholic chancellor, I have not the least hesitation in saying +that his appointment would not do a ten thousandth part of the +mischief to the English Church that might be done by a Methodistical +chancellor of the true Clapham breed; and I request to know if it is +really so very necessary that a chancellor should be of the religion +of the Church of England, how many chancellors you have had within +the last century who have been bred up in the Presbyterian religion? +And again, how many you have had who notoriously have been without +any religion at all? + +Why are you to suppose that eligibility and election are the same +thing, and that all the cabinet WILL be Catholics whenever all the +cabinet MAY be Catholics? You have a right, you say, to suppose an +extreme case, and to argue upon it--so have I: and I will suppose +that the hundred Irish members will one day come down in a body and +pass a law compelling the King to reside in Dublin. I will suppose +that the Scotch members, by a similar stratagem, will lay England +under a large contribution of meal and sulphur: no measure is +without objection if you sweep the whole horizon for danger; it is +not sufficient to tell me of what may happen, but you must show me a +rational probability that it will happen: after all, I might, +contrary to my real opinion, admit all your dangers to exist; it is +enough for me to contend that all other dangers taken together are +not equal to the danger of losing Ireland from disaffection and +invasion. + +I am astonished to see you, and many good and well-meaning clergymen +beside you, painting the Catholics in such detestable colours; two- +thirds, at least, of Europe are Catholics--they are Christians, +though mistaken Christians; how can I possibly admit that any sect +of Christians, and, above all, that the oldest and the most numerous +sect of Christians are incapable of fulfilling the common duties and +relations of life: though I do differ from them in many +particulars, God forbid I should give such a handle to infidelity, +and subscribe to such blasphemy against our common religion? + +Do you think mankind never change their opinions without formally +expressing and confessing that change? When you quote the decisions +of ancient Catholic councils, are you prepared to defend all the +decrees of English convocations and universities since the reign of +Queen Elizabeth? I could soon make you sick of your uncandid +industry against the Catholics, and bring you to allow that it is +better to forget times past, and to judge and be judged by present +opinions and present practice. + +I must beg to be excused from explaining and refuting all the +mistakes about the Catholics made by my Lord Redesdale; and I must +do that nobleman the justice to say, that he has been treated with +great disrespect. Could anything be more indecent than to make it a +morning lounge in Dublin to call upon his Lordship, and to cram him +with Arabian-night stories about the Catholics? Is this proper +behaviour to the representative of Majesty, the child of Themis, and +the keeper of the conscience in West Britain? Whoever reads the +Letters of the Catholic Bishops, in the appendix to Sir John +Hippesly's very sensible book, will see to what an excess this +practice must have been carried with the pleasing and Protestant +nobleman whose name I have mentioned, and from thence I wish you to +receive your answer about excommunication, and all the trash which +is talked against the Catholics. + +A sort of notion has, by some means or another, crept into the world +that difference of religion would render men unfit to perform +together the offices of common and civil life: that Brother Wood +and Brother Grose could not travel together the same circuit if they +differed in creed, nor Cockell and Mingay be engaged in the same +cause, if Cockell was a Catholic and Mingay a Muggletonian. It is +supposed that Huskisson and Sir Harry Englefield would squabble +behind the Speaker's chair about the council of Lateran, and many a +turnpike bill miscarry by the sarcastical controversies of Mr. +Hawkins Brown and Sir John Throckmorton upon the real presence. I +wish I could see some of these symptoms of earnestness upon the +subject of religion; but it really seems to me that, in the present +state of society, men no more think about inquiring concerning each +other's faith than they do concerning the colour of each other's +skins. There may have been times in England when the quarter +sessions would have been disturbed by theological polemics; but now, +after a Catholic justice had once been seen on the bench, and it had +been clearly ascertained that he spoke English, had no tail, only a +single row of teeth, and that he loved port wine--after all the +scandalous and infamous reports of his physical conformation had +been clearly proved to be false--he would be reckoned a jolly +fellow, and very superior in flavour to a sly Presbyterian. +Nothing, in fact, can be more uncandid and unphilosophical than to +say that a man has a tail, because you cannot agree within him upon +religious subjects; it appears to be ludicrous: but I am convinced +it has done infinite mischief to the Catholics, and made a very +serious impression upon the minds of many gentlemen of large landed +property. + +In talking of the impossibility of Catholic and Protestant living +together with equal privilege under the same government, do you +forget the Cantons of Switzerland? You might have seen there a +Protestant congregation going into a church which had just been +quitted by a Catholic congregation; and I will venture to say that +the Swiss Catholics were more bigoted to their religion than any +people in the whole world. Did the kings of Prussia ever refuse to +employ a Catholic? Would Frederick the Great have rejected an able +man on this account? We have seen Prince Czartorinski, a Catholic +Secretary of State in Russia; in former times a Greek patriarch and +an apostolic vicar acted together in the most perfect harmony in +Venice; and we have seen the Emperor of Germany in modern times +intrusting the care of his person and the command of his guard to a +Protestant Prince, Frederick of Wittenberg. But what are all these +things to Mr. Perceval? He has looked at human nature from the top +of Hampstead Hill, and has not a thought beyond the little sphere of +his own vision. "The snail," say the Hindoos, "sees nothing but his +own shell, and thinks it the grandest palace in the universe." + +I now take a final leave of this subject of Ireland; the only +difficulty in discussing it is a want of resistance, a want of +something difficult to unravel, and something dark to illumine. To +agitate such a question is to beat the air with a club, and cut down +gnats with a scimitar; it is a prostitution of industry, and a waste +of strength. If a man say, I have a good place, and I do not choose +to lose it, this mode of arguing upon the Catholic question I can +well understand; but that any human being with an understanding two +degrees elevated above that of an Anabaptist preacher, should +conscientiously contend for the expediency and propriety of leaving +the Irish Catholics in their present state, and of subjecting us to +such tremendous peril in the present condition of the world, it is +utterly out of my power to conceive. Such a measure as the Catholic +question is entirely beyond the common game of politics; it is a +measure in which all parties ought to acquiesce, in order to +preserve the place where and the stake for which they play. If +Ireland is gone, where are jobs? where are reversions? where is my +brother Lord Arden? where are my dear and near relations? The game +is up, and the Speaker of the house of Commons will be sent as a +present to the menagerie at Paris. We talk of waiting from +particular considerations, as if centuries of joy and prosperity +were before us: in the next ten years our fate must be decided; we +shall know, long before that period, whether we can bear up against +the miseries by which we are threatened or not; and yet, in the very +midst of our crisis, we are enjoined to abstain from the most +certain means of increasing our strength, and advised to wait for +the remedy till the disease is removed by death or health. And now, +instead of the plain and manly policy of increasing unanimity at +home, by equalising rights and privileges, what is the ignorant, +arrogant, and wicked system which has been pursued? Such a career +of madness and of folly was, I believe, never run in so short a +period. The vigour of the ministry is like the vigour of a grave- +digger--the tomb becomes more ready and more wide for every effort +which they make. There is nothing which it is worth while either to +take or to retain, and a constant train of ruinous expeditions have +been kept up. Every Englishman felt proud of the integrity of his +country; the character of the country is lost for ever. It is of +the utmost consequence to a commercial people at war with the +greatest part of Europe, that there should be a free entry of +neutrals into the enemy's ports; the neutrals who earned our +manufactures we have not only excluded, but we have compelled them +to declare war against us. It was our interest to make a good +peace, or convince our own people that it could not be obtained; we +have not made a peace, and we have convinced the people of nothing +but of the arrogance of the Foreign Secretary: and all this has +taken place in the short space of a year, because a King's Bench +barrister and a writer of epigrams, turned into Ministers of State, +were determined to show country gentlemen that the late +administration had no vigour. In the meantime commerce stands +still, manufactures perish, Ireland is more and more irritated, +India is threatened, fresh taxes are accumulated upon the wretched +people, the war is carried on without it being possible to conceive +any one single object which a rational being can propose to himself +by its continuation; and in the midst of this unparalleled insanity +we are told that the Continent is to be reconquered by the want of +rhubarb and plums. A better spirit than exists in the English +people never existed in any people in the world: it has been +misdirected, and squandered upon party purposes in the most +degrading and scandalous manner; they have been led to believe that +they were benefiting the commerce of England by destroying the +commerce of America, that they were defending their Sovereign by +perpetuating the bigoted oppression of their fellow-subjects; their +rulers and their guides have told them that they would equal the +vigour of France by equalling her atrocity; and they have gone on +wasting that opulence, patience, and courage, which, if husbanded by +prudent and moderate counsels, might have proved the salvation of +mankind. The same policy of turning the good qualities of +Englishmen to their own destruction, which made Mr. Pitt omnipotent, +continues his power to those who resemble him only in his vices; +advantage is taken of the loyalty of Englishmen to make them meanly +submissive; their piety is turned into persecution, their courage +into useless and obstinate contention; they are plundered because +they are ready to pay, and soothed into asinine stupidity because +they are full of virtuous patience. If England must perish at last, +so let it be: that event is in the hands of God; we must dry up our +tears and submit. But that England should perish swindling and +stealing; that it should perish waging war against lazar houses and +hospitals; that it should perish persecuting with monastic bigotry; +that it should calmly give itself up to be ruined by the flashy +arrogance of one man, and the narrow fanaticism of another; these +events are within the power of human beings, and I did not think +that the magnanimity of Englishmen would ever stoop to such +degradations. + +Longum Vale! + +PETER PLYMLEY. + + + +HISTORICAL APOLOGY FOR THE IRISH CATHOLICS. + + + +Historical Apology for The Irish Catholics. By WILLIAM PARNELL, +Esquire. Fitzpatrick, Dublin. 1807. + +If ever a nation exhibited symptoms of downright madness, or utter +stupidity, we conceive these symptoms may be easily recognised in +the conduct of this country upon the Catholic question. A man has a +wound in his great toe, and a violent and perilous fever at the same +time; and he refuses to take the medicines for the fever because it +will disconcert the toe! The mournful and folly-stricken blockhead +forgets that his toe cannot survive him; that if he dies, there can +be no digital life apart from him: yet he lingers and fondles over +this last part of his body, soothing it madly with little plasters, +and anile fomentations, while the neglected fever rages in his +entrails, and burns away his whole life. If the comparatively +little questions of Establishment are all that this country is +capable of discussing or regarding, for God's sake let us remember +that the foreign conquest, which destroys all, destroys this beloved +TOE also. Pass over freedom, industry, and science--and look upon +this great empire, by which we are about to be swallowed up, only as +it affects the manner of collecting tithes, and of reading the +liturgy--still, if all goes, these must go too; and even, for their +interests, it is worth while to conciliate Ireland, to avert the +hostility, and to employ the strength of the Catholic population. +We plead the question as the sincerest friends to the +Establishment;--as wishing to it all the prosperity and duration its +warmest advocates can desire,--but remembering always what these +advocates seem to forget, that the Establishment cannot be +threatened by any danger so great as the perdition of the kingdom in +which it is established. + +We are truly glad to agree so entirely with Mr. Parnell upon this +great question; we admire his way of thinking, and most cordially +recommend his work to the attention of the public. The general +conclusion which he attempts to prove is this: that religious +sentiment, however perverted by bigotry or fanaticism, has always a +TENDENCY to moderation.; that it seldom assumes any great portion of +activity or enthusiasm, except from novelty of opinion, or from +opposition, contumely, and persecution, when novelty ceases; that a +Government has little to fear from any religious sect, except while +that sect is new. Give a Government only time, and, provided it has +the good sense to treat folly with forbearance, it must ultimately +prevail. When, therefore, a sect is found, after a lapse of years, +to be ill-disposed to the Government, we may be certain that +Government has widened its separation by marked distinctions, roused +its resentment by contumely, or supported its enthusiasm by +persecution. + +The PARTICULAR conclusion Mr. Parnell attempts to prove is, that the +Catholic religion in Ireland had sunk into torpor and inactivity, +till Government roused it with the lash: that even then, from the +respect and attachment which men are always inclined to show towards +government, there still remained a large body of loyal Catholics; +that these only decreased in number from the rapid increase of +persecution; and that, after all, the effects which the resentment +of the Roman Catholics had in creating rebellions had been very much +exaggerated. + +In support of these two conclusions, Mr. Parnell takes a survey of +the history of Ireland, from the conquest under Henry to the +rebellion under Charles I., passing very rapidly over the period +which preceded the Reformation, and dwelling principally upon the +various rebellions which broke out in Ireland between the +Reformation and the grand rebellion in the reign of Charles I. The +celebrated conquest of Ireland by Henry II. extended only to a very +few counties in Leinster; nine-tenths of the whole kingdom were +left, as he found them, under the dominion of their native princes. +The influence of example was as strong in this as in most other +instances; and great numbers of the English settlers who came over +under various adventures resigned their pretensions to superior +civilisation, cast off their lower garments, and lapsed into the +nudity and barbarism of the Irish. The limit which divided the +possessions of the English settler from those of the native Irish +was called THE PALE; and the expressions of inhabitants WITHIN THE +PALE, and WITHOUT THE PALE, were the terms by which the two nations +were distinguished. It is almost superfluous to state, that the +most bloody and pernicious warfare was carried on upon the borders-- +sometimes for something, sometimes for nothing--most commonly for +cows. The Irish, over whom the sovereigns of England affected a +sort of nominal dominion, were entirely governed by their own laws, +and so very little connection had they with the justice of the +invading country, that it was as lawful to kill an Irishman as it +was to kill a badger or a fox. The instances are innumerable, where +the defendant has pleaded that the deceased was an Irishman, and +that therefore defendant had a right to kill him--and upon the proof +of Hibernicism, acquittal followed of course. + +When the English army mustered in any great strength, the Irish +chieftains would do exterior homage to the English Crown; and they +very frequently, by this artifice, averted from their country the +miseries of invasion: but they remained completely unsubdued, till +the rebellion which took place in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, of +which that politic woman availed herself to the complete subjugation +of Ireland. In speaking of the Irish about the reign of Elizabeth +or James I., we must not draw our comparisons from England, but from +New Zealand; they were not civilised men, but savages; and if we +reason about their conduct, we must reason of them as savages. + + +"After reading every account of Irish history," says Mr. Parnell, +"one great perplexity appears to remain: How does it happen, that, +from the first invasion of the English till the reign of James I., +Ireland seems not to have made the smallest progress in civilisation +or wealth? + +"That it was divided into a number of small principalities, which +waged constant war on each other--or that the appointment of the +chieftains was elective--do not appear sufficient reasons, although +these are the only ones assigned by those who have been at the +trouble of considering the subject: neither are the confiscations +of property quite sufficient to account for the effect. There have +been great confiscations in other countries, and still they have +flourished; the petty states of Greece were quite analogous to the +chiefries, as they were called, in Ireland; and yet they seemed to +flourish almost in proportion to their dissensions. Poland felt the +bad effects of an elective monarchy more than any other country; and +yet, in point of civilisation, it maintained a very respectable rank +among the nations of Europe; but Ireland never, for an instant, made +any progress in improvement, till the reign of James I. + +"It is scarcely credible, that in a climate like that of Ireland, +and at a period so far advanced in civilisation as the end of +Elizabeth's reign, the greater part of the natives should go naked. +Yet this is rendered certain by the testimony of an eye-witness, +Fynes Moryson. 'In the remote parts,' he says, 'where the English +laws and manners are unknown, the very chief of the Irish, as well +men as women, go naked in the winter time, only having their privy +parts covered with a rag of linen, and their bodies with a loose +mantle. This I speak of my own experience; yet remember that a +Bohemian baron coming out of Scotland to us by the north parts of +the wild Irish, told me in great earnestness, that he, coming to the +house of O'Kane, a great lord amongst them, was met at the door by +sixteen women, all naked, excepting their loose mantles, whereof +eight or ten were very fair; with which strange sight his eyes being +dazzled, they led him into the house, and then sitting down by the +fire, with crossed legs, like tailors, and so low as could not but +offend chaste eyes, desired him to sit down with them. Soon after, +O'Kane, the lord of the country, came in all naked, except a loose +mantle and shoes, which he put off as soon as he came in; and, +entertaining the Baron after his best manner in the Latin tongue, +desired him to put off his apparel, which he thought to be a burden +to him, and to sit naked. + +"'To conclude, men and women at night going to sleep, he thus naked +in a round circle about the fire, with their feet towards it. They +fold their heads and their upper parts in woollen mantles, first +steeped in water to keep them warm; for they say, that woollen +cloth, wetted, preserves heat (as linen, wetted, preserves cold), +when the smoke of their bodies has warmed the woollen cloth.' + +"The cause of this extreme poverty, and of its long continuance, we +must conclude, arose from the peculiar laws of property which were +in force under the Irish dynasties. These laws have been described +by most writers as similar to the Kentish custom of gavelkind; and, +indeed, so little attention was paid to the subject, that were it +not for the researches of Sir J. Davis, the knowledge of this +singular usage would have been entirely lost. + +"The Brehon law of property, he tells us, was similar to the custom +(as the English lawyers term it) of hodge-podge. When any one of +the sept died, his lands did not descend to his sons, but were +divided among the whole sept: and, for this purpose, the chief of +the sept made a new division of the whole lands belonging to the +sept, and gave every one his part according to seniority. So that +no man had a property which could descend to his children; and even +during his own life his possession of any particular spot was quite +uncertain, being liable to be constantly shuffled and changed by new +partitions. The consequence of this was that there was not a house +of brick or stone among the Irish down to the reign of Henry VII.; +not even a garden or orchard, or well-fenced or improved field; +neither village or town, or in any respect the least provision for +posterity. This monstrous custom, so opposite to the natural +feelings of mankind, was probably perpetuated by the policy of the +chiefs. In the first place the power of partitioning being lodged +in their hands, made them the most absolute of tyrants, being the +dispensers of the property as well as of the liberty of their +subjects. In the second place, it had the appearance of adding to +the number of their savage armies; for where there was no +improvement or tillage, war was pursued as an occupation. + +"In the early history of Ireland, we find several instances of +chieftains discountenancing tillage; and so late as Elizabeth's +reign, Moryson says, that 'Sir Neal Garve restrained his people from +ploughing, that they might assist him to do any mischief.'"--(pp. +99-102). + + +These quotations and observations will enable us to state a few +plain facts for the recollection of our English readers: --lst, +Ireland was never subdued till the rebellion in the reign of Queen +Elizabeth. 2nd, For four hundred years before that period the two +nations had been almost constantly at war; and in consequence of +this, a deep and irreconcilable hatred existed between the people +within and without the pale. 3rd, The Irish, at the accession of +Queen Elizabeth, were unquestionably the most barbarous people in +Europe. So much for what had happened previous to the reign of +Queen Elizabeth; and let any man, who has the most superficial +knowledge of human affairs, determine whether national hatred, +proceeding from such powerful causes, could possibly have been kept +under by the defeat of one single rebellion--whether it would not +have been easy to have foreseen, at that period, that a proud, +brave, half-savage people, would cherish the memory of their wrongs +for centuries to come, and break forth into arms at every period +when they were particularly exasperated by oppression, or invited by +opportunity. If the Protestant religion had spread in Ireland as it +did in England, and if there had never been any difference of faith +between the two countries--can it be believed that the Irish, ill- +treated and infamously governed as they have been, would never have +made any efforts to shake off the yoke of England? Surely there are +causes enough to account for their impatience of that yoke, without +endeavouring to inflame the zeal of ignorant people against the +Catholic religion, and to make that mode of faith responsible for +all the butchery which the Irish and English for these last two +centuries have exercised upon each other. Everybody, of course, +must admit, that if to the causes of hatred already specified there +be added the additional cause of religious distinction, this last +will give greater force (and what is of more consequence to observe, +give a NAME) to the whole aggregate motive. But what Mr. Parnell +contends for, and clearly and decisively proves, is that many of +those sanguinary scenes attributed to the Catholic religion are to +be partly imputed to causes totally disconnected from religion; that +the unjust invasion, and the tyrannical, infamous policy of the +English, are to take their full share of blame with the sophisms and +plots of Catholic priests. In the reign of Henry VIII., Mr. Parnell +shows that feudal submission was readily paid to him by all the +Irish chiefs; that the Reformation was received without the +slightest opposition; and that the troubles which took place at that +period in Ireland are to be entirely attributed to the ambition and +injustice of Henry. In the reign of Queen Mary there was no +recrimination upon the Protestants--a striking proof that the +bigotry of the Catholic religion had not at that period risen to any +great height in Ireland. The insurrections of the various Irish +princes were as numerous during this reign as they had been in the +two preceding reigns--a circumstance rather difficult of +explanation, if, as is commonly believed, the Catholic religion was +at that period the main-spring of men's actions. + +In the reign of Elizabeth, the Catholic in the pale regularly fought +against the Catholic out of the pale. O'Sullivan, a bigoted Papist, +reproaches them with doing so. Speaking of the reign of James I., +he says, "And now the eyes even of the English Irish (the Catholics +of the pale) were opened; and they cursed their former folly for +helping the heretic." The English Government were so sensible of +the loyalty of the Irish English Catholics that they entrusted them +with the most confidential services. The Earl of Kildare was the +principal instrument in waging war against the chieftains of Leix +and Offal. William O'Bourge, another Catholic, was created Lord +Castle Connel for his eminent services; and MacGully Patrick, a +priest, was the State spy. We presume that this wise and MANLY +conduct of Queen Elizabeth was utterly unknown both to the +Pastrycook and the Secretary of State, who have published upon the +dangers of employing Catholics even against foreign enemies; and in +those publications have said a great deal about the wisdom of our +ancestors--the usual topic whenever the folly of their descendants +is to be defended. To whatever other of our ancestors they may +allude, they may spare all compliments to this illustrious Princess, +who would certainly have kept the worthy confectioner to the +composition of tarts, and most probably furnished him with the +productions of the Right Honourable Secretary as the means of +conveying those juicy delicacies to a hungry and discerning public. + +In the next two reigns, Mr. Parnell shows by what injudicious +measures of the English Government the spirit of Catholic opposition +was gradually formed; for that it did produce powerful effects at a +subsequent period he does not deny; but contends only (as we have +before stated) that these effects have been much overrated, and +ascribed SOLELY to the Catholic religion when other causes have at +least had an equal agency in bringing them about. He concludes with +some general remarks on the dreadful state of Ireland, and the +contemptible folly and bigotry of the English--remarks full of +truth, of good sense, and of political courage. How melancholy to +reflect, that there would be still some chance of saving England +from the general wreck of empires, but that it may not be saved, +because one politician will lose two thousand a year by it, and +another three thousand--a third a place in reversion, and a fourth a +pension for his aunt! Alas! these are the powerful causes which +have always settled the destiny of great kingdoms, and which may +level Old England, with all its boasted freedom, and boasted wisdom, +to the dust. Nor is it the least singular, among the political +phenomena of the present day, that the sole consideration which +seems to influence the unbigoted part of the English people, in this +great question of Ireland, is a regard for the personal feelings of +the Monarch. Nothing is said or thought of the enormous risk to +which Ireland is exposed--nothing of the gross injustice with which +the Catholics are treated--nothing of the lucrative apostasy of +those from whom they experience this treatment: but the only +concern by which we all seem to be agitated is, that the King must +not be vexed in his old age. We have a great respect for the King; +and wish him all the happiness compatible with the happiness of his +people. But these are not times to pay foolish compliments to +kings, or the sons of kings, or to anybody else; this journal (the +Edinburgh Review) has always preserved its character for courage and +honesty; and it shall do so to the last. If the people of this +country are solely occupied in considering what is personally +agreeable to the King, without considering what is for his permanent +good, and for the safety of his dominions; if all public men, +quitting the common vulgar scramble for emolument, do not concur in +conciliating the people of Ireland; if the unfounded alarms, and the +comparatively trifling interests of the clergy, are to supersede the +great question of freedom or slavery, it does appear to us quite +impossible that so mean and so foolish a people can escape that +destruction which is ready to burst upon them--a destruction so +imminent that it can only be averted by arming all in our defence +who would evidently be sharers in our ruin--and by such a change of +system as may save us from the hazard of being ruined by the +ignorance and cowardice of any general, by the bigotry or the +ambition of any minister, or by the well-meaning scruples of any +human being, let his dignity be what it may. These minor and +domestic dangers we must endeavour firmly and temperately to avert +as we best can; but at all hazards we must keep out the destroyer +from among us, or perish like wise and brave men in the attempt. + + + +IRELAND AND ENGLAND + + + +1. Whitelaw's History of the City of Dublin. 4to. Cadell and +Davies. + +2. Observations on the State of Ireland, principally directed to +its Agriculture and Rural Population; in a Series of Letters written +on a Tour through that Country. In 2 vols. By J. C. Curwen, Esq., +M.P. London, 1818. + +3. Gamble's Views of Society in Ireland. + +These are all the late publications that treat of Irish interests in +general, and none of them are of first-rate importance. Mr. +Gamble's "Travels in Ireland" are of a very ordinary description, +low scenes and low humour making up the principal part of the +narrative. There are readers, however, whom it will amuse; and the +reading market becomes more and more extensive, and embraces a +greater variety of persons every day. Mr. Whitelaw's "History of +Dublin" is a book of great accuracy and research, highly creditable +to the industry, good sense, and benevolence of its author. Of the +"Travels" of Mr. Christian Curwen we hardly know what to say. He is +bold and honest in his politics, a great enemy to abuses, vapid in +his levity and pleasantry, and infinitely too much inclined to +declaim upon commonplace topics of morality and benevolence. But, +with these drawbacks, the book is not ill-written, and may be +advantageously read by those who are desirous of information upon +the present state of Ireland. + +So great and so long has been the misgovernment of that country, +that we verily believe the empire would be much stronger if +everything was open sea between England and the Atlantic, and if +SKATES AND COD-FISH swam over the fair land of Ulster. Such +jobbing, such profligacy, so much direct tyranny and oppression, +such an abuse of God's gifts, such a profanation of God's name for +the purposes of bigotry and party spirit, cannot be exceeded in the +history of civilised Europe, and will long remain a monument of +infamy and shame to England. But it will be more useful to suppress +the indignation which the very name of Ireland inspires, and to +consider impartially those causes which have marred this fair +portion of the creation, and kept it wild and savage in the midst of +improving Europe. + +The great misfortune of Ireland is that the mass of the people have +been given up for a century to a handful of Protestants, by whom +they have been treated as Helots, and subjected to every species of +persecution and disgrace. The sufferings of the Catholics have been +so loudly chanted in the very streets, that it is almost needless to +remind our readers that, during the reigns of George I. and George +II., the Irish Roman Catholics were disabled from holding any civil +or military office, from voting at elections, from admission into +corporations, from practising law or physic. A younger brother, by +turning Protestant, might deprive his elder brother of his +birthright; by the same process he might force his father, under the +name of a liberal provision, to yield up to him a part of his landed +property; and, if an eldest son, he might, in the same way, reduce +his father's fee-simple to a life-estate. A Papist was disabled +from purchasing freehold lands, and even from holding long leases; +and any person might take his Catholic neighbour's house by paying 5 +pounds for it. If the child of a Catholic father turned Protestant +he was taken away from his father and put into the hands of a +Protestant relation. No Papist could purchase a freehold or lease +for more than thirty years, or inherit from an intestate Protestant, +nor from an intestate Catholic, nor dwell in Limerick or Galway, nor +hold an advowson, nor buy an annuity for life. 50 pounds was given +for discovering a Popish archbishop, 30 pounds for a Popish +clergyman, and 10s. for a schoolmaster. No one was allowed to be +trustee for Catholics; no Catholic was allowed to take more than two +apprentices; no Papist to be solicitor, sheriff, or to serve on +Grand Juries. Horses of Papists might be seized for the militia, +for which militia Papists were to pay double, and to find Protestant +substitutes. Papists were prohibited from being present at +vestries, or from being high or petty constables: and, when +resident in towns, they were compelled to find Protestant watchmen. +Barristers and solicitors marrying Catholics were exposed to the +penalties of Catholics. Persons plundered by privateers during a +war with any Popish prince were reimbursed by a levy on the Catholic +inhabitants where they lived. All Popish priests celebrating +marriages contrary to 12 Geo. I., cap 3, were to be HANGED! + +The greater part of these incapacities are removed, though many of a +very serious and oppressive nature still remain. But the grand +misfortune is that the spirit which these oppressive laws engendered +remains. The Protestant still looks upon the Catholic as a degraded +being. The Catholic does not yet consider himself upon an equality +with his former tyrant and taskmaster. That religious hatred which +required all the prohibiting vigilance of the law for its restraint +has found in the law its strongest support; and the spirit which the +law first exasperated and embittered continues to act long after the +original stimulus is withdrawn. The law which prevented Catholics +from serving on Grand Juries is repealed; but Catholics are not +called upon Grand Juries in the proportion in which they are +entitled by their rank and fortune. The Duke of Bedford did all he +could to give them the benefit of those laws which are already +passed in their favour. But power is seldom entrusted in this +country to one of the Duke of Bedford's liberality, and everything +has fallen back in the hands of his successors into the ancient +division of the privileged and degraded castes. We do not mean to +cast any reflection upon the present Secretary for Ireland, whom we +believe to be upon this subject a very liberal politician, and on +all subjects an honourable and excellent man. The Government under +which he serves allows him to indulge in a little harmless +liberality; but it is perfectly understood that nothing is intended +to be done for the Catholics; that no loaves and fishes will be lost +by indulgence in Protestant insolence and tyranny; and, therefore, +among the generality of Irish Protestants, insolence, tyranny, and +exclusion continue to operate. However eligible the Catholic may +be, he is not elected; whatever barriers may be thrown down, he does +not advance a step. He was first kept out by law; he is now kept +out by opinion and habit. They have been so long in chains that +nobody believes they are capable of using their hands and feet. + +It is not, however, the only or the worst misfortune of the +Catholics that the relaxations of the law are hitherto of little +benefit to them; the law is not yet sufficiently relaxed. A +Catholic, as everybody knows, cannot be made sheriff; cannot be in +parliament; cannot be a director of the Irish Bank; cannot fill the +great departments of the law, the army, and the navy; is cut off +from all the high objects of human ambition, and treated as a marked +and degraded person. + +The common admission now is that the Catholics are to the +Protestants in Ireland as about four to one, of which Protestants +not more than ONE HALF belong to the Church of Ireland. This, then, +is one of the most striking features in the state of Ireland. That +the great mass of the population is completely subjugated and +overawed by a handful of comparatively recent settlers, in whom all +the power and patronage of the country is vested, who have been +reluctantly compelled to desist from still greater abuses of +authority, and who look with trembling apprehension to the +increasing liberality of the parliament and the country towards +these unfortunate persons whom they have always looked upon as their +property and their prey. + +Whatever evils may result from these proportions between the +oppressor and oppressed--to whatever dangers a country so situated +may be considered to be exposed, these evils and dangers are rapidly +increasing in Ireland. The proportion of Catholics to Protestants +is infinitely greater now than it was thirty years ago, and is +becoming more and more favourable to the former. By a return made +to the Irish House of Lords in 1732 the proportion of Catholics to +Protestants was not two to one. It is now (as we have already +observed) four to one; and the causes which have thus altered the +proportions in favour of the Catholics are sufficiently obvious to +any one acquainted with the state of Ireland. The Roman Catholic +priest resides; his income entirely depends upon the number of his +flock; and he must exert himself or he starves. There is some +chance of success, therefore, in HIS efforts to convert; but the +Protestant clergyman, if he were equally eager, has little or no +probability of persuading so much larger a proportion of the +population to come over to his Church. The Catholic clergyman +belongs to a religion that has always been more desirous of gaining +proselytes than the Protestant Church; and he is animated by a sense +of injury and a desire of revenge. Another reason for the +disproportionate increase of Catholics is that the Catholics will +marry upon means which the Protestant considers as insufficient for +marriage. A few potatoes and a shed of turf are all that Luther has +left for the Romanist; and, when the latter gets these, he instantly +begins upon the great Irish manufacture of children. But a +Protestant belongs to the sect that eats the fine flour and heaves +the bran to others; he must have comforts, and he does not marry +till he gets them. He would be ashamed if he were seen living as a +Catholic lives. This is the principal reason why the Protestants +who remain attached to their Church do not increase so fast as the +Catholics. But in common minds, daily scenes, the example of the +majority, the power of imitation, decide their habits, religious as +well as civil. A Protestant labourer who works among Catholics soon +learns to think and act and talk as they do; he is not proof against +the eternal panegyric which he hears of Father O'Leary. His +Protestantism is rubbed away, and he goes at last, after some little +resistance, to the chapel where he sees everybody else going. + +These eight Catholics not only hate the ninth man, the Protestant of +the Establishment, for the unjust privileges he enjoys--not only +remember that the lands of their father were given to his father-- +but they find themselves forced to pay for the support of his +religion. In the wretched state of poverty in which the lower +orders of Irish are plunged, it is not without considerable effort +that they can pay the few shillings necessary for the support of +their Catholic priest; and when this is effected, a tenth of the +potatoes in the garden are to be set out for the support of a +persuasion, the introduction of which into Ireland they consider as +the great cause of their political inferiority, and all their +manifold wretchedness. In England a labourer can procure constant +employment, or he can, at the worst, obtain relief from his parish. +Whether tithe operates as a tax upon him, is known only to the +political economist: if he does pay it, he does not know that he +pays it, and the burden of supporting the Clergy is at least kept +out of his view. But in Ireland, the only method in which a poor +man lives is by taking a small portion of land in which he can grow +potatoes: seven or eight months out of twelve, in many parts of +Ireland, there is no constant employment of the poor; and the potato +farm is all that shelters them from absolute famine. If the Pope +were to come in person, seize upon every tenth potato, the poor +peasant would scarcely endure it. With what patience, then, can he +see it tossed into the cart of the heretic rector, who has a church +without a congregation, and a revenue without duties? We do not say +whether these things are right or wrong, whether they want a remedy +at all, or what remedy they want; but we paint them in those colours +in which they appear to the eye of poverty and ignorance, without +saying whether those colours are false or true. Nor is the case at +all comparable to that of Dissenters paying tithe in England; which +case is precisely the reverse of what happens in Ireland, for it is +the contribution of a very small minority to the religion of a very +large majority; and the numbers on either side make all the +difference in the argument. To exasperate the poor Catholic still +more, the rich graziers of the parish, or the squire in his parish, +pay no tithe at all for their grass land. Agistment tithe is +abolished in Ireland, and the burthen of supporting two Churches +seems to devolve upon the poorer Catholics, struggling with plough +and spade in small scraps of dearly-rented land. Tithes seem to be +collected in a more harsh manner than they are collected in England. +The minute sub-divisions of land in Ireland--the little connection +which the Protestant clergyman commonly has with the Catholic +population of his parish--have made the introduction of tithe +proctors very general, sometimes as the agent of the clergyman, +sometimes as the lessee or middleman between the clergyman and the +cultivator of the land, but, in either case, practised, dexterous +estimators of tithe. The English clergymen in general are far from +exacting the whole of what is due to them, but sacrifice a little to +the love of popularity or to the dread of odium. A system of tithe- +proctors established all over England (as it is in Ireland), would +produce general disgust and alienation from the Established Church. + + +"During the administration of Lord Halifax," says Mr. Hardy, in +quoting the opinion of Lord Charlemont upon tithes paid by +Catholics, "Ireland was dangerously disturbed in its southern and +northern regions. In the south principally, in the counties of +Kilkenny, Limerick, Cork, and Tipperary, the White Boys now made +their first appearance; those White Boys who have ever since +occasionally disturbed the public tranquillity, without any rational +method having been as yet pursued to eradicate this disgraceful +evil. When we consider that the very same district has been for the +long space of seven-and-twenty years liable to frequent returns of +the same disorder into which it has continually relapsed, in spite +of all the violent remedies from time to time administered by our +political quacks, we cannot doubt but that some real, peculiar, and +topical cause must exist, and yet neither the removal, nor even the +investigation of this cause, has ever once been seriously attempted. +Laws of the most sanguinary and unconstitutional nature have been +enacted; the country has been disgraced and exasperated by frequent +and bloody executions; and the gibbet, that perpetual resource of +weak and cruel legislators, has groaned under the multitude of +starving criminals; yet, while the cause is suffered to exist, the +effects will ever follow. The amputation of limbs will never +eradicate a prurient humour, which must be sought in its source and +there remedied." + +"I wish," continues Mr. Wakefield, "for the sake of humanity and for +the honour of the Irish character, that the gentlemen of that +country would take this matter into their serious consideration. +Let them only for a moment place themselves in the situation of the +half-famished cotter, surrounded by a wretched family clamorous for +food, and judge what his feelings must be when he sees the tenth +part of the produce of his potato garden exposed at harvest time to +public CANT, or if he have given a promissory note for the payment +of a certain sum of money to compensate for such tithe when it +becomes due, to hear the heart-rending cries of his offspring +clinging round him, and lamenting for the milk of which they are +deprived by the cows being driven to the pound to be sold to +discharge the debt. Such accounts are not the creations of fancy; +the facts do exist, and are but too common in Ireland. Were one of +them transferred to canvas by the hand of genius, and exhibited to +English humanity, that heart must be callous indeed that could +refuse its sympathy. I have seen the cow, the favourite cow, driven +away, accompanied by the sighs, the tears, and the imprecations of a +whole family, who were paddling after, through wet and dirt, to take +their last affectionate farewell of this their only friend and +benefactor at the pound gate. I have heard with emotions which I +can scarcely describe, deep curses repeated from village to village +as the cavalcade proceeded. I have witnessed the group pass the +domain walls of the opulent grazier, whose numerous herds were +cropping the most luxuriant pastures, while he was secure from any +demand for the tithe of their food, looking on with the most +unfeeling indifference."--Ibid., p. 486. + + +In Munster, where tithe of potatoes is exacted, risings against the +system have constantly occurred during the last forty years. In +Ulster, where no such tithe is required, these insurrections are +unknown. The double Church which Ireland supports, and that painful +visible contribution towards it which the poor Irishman is compelled +to make from his miserable pittance, is one great cause of those +never-ending insurrections, burnings, murders, and robberies, which +have laid waste that ill-fated country for so many years. The +unfortunate consequence of the civil disabilities, and the Church +payments under which the Catholics labour, is a rooted antipathy to +this country. They hate the English Government from historical +recollection, actual suffering, and disappointed hope, and till they +are better treated they will continue to hate it. At this moment, +in a period of the most profound peace, there are twenty-five +thousand of the best disciplined and best appointed troops in the +world in Ireland, with bayonets fixed, presented arms, and in the +attitude of present war: nor is there a man too much--nor would +Ireland be tenable without them. When it was necessary last year +(or thought necessary) to put down the children of reform, we were +forced to make a new levy of troops in this country; not a man could +be spared from Ireland. The moment they had embarked, Peep-of-Day +Boys, Heart-of-Oak Boys, Twelve-o'-clock Boys, Heart-of-Flint Boys, +and all the bloody boyhood of the Bog of Allen, would have proceeded +to the ancient work of riot, rapine, and disaffection. Ireland, in +short, till her wrongs are redressed and a more liberal policy is +adopted towards her, will always be a cause of anxiety and suspicion +to this country, and in some moment of our weakness and depression, +will forcibly extort what she would now receive with gratitude and +exultation. + +Ireland is situated close to another island of greater size, +speaking the same language, very superior in civilisation, and the +seat of government. The consequence of this is the emigration of +the richest and most powerful part of the community--a vast drain of +wealth--and the absence of all that wholesome influence which the +representatives of ancient families, residing upon their estates, +produce upon their tenantry and dependents. Can any man imagine +that the scenes which have been acted in Ireland, within these last +twenty years, would have taken place, if such vast proprietors as +the Duke of Devonshire, the Marquis of Hertford, the Marquis of +Lansdowne, Earl Fitzwilliam, and many other men of equal wealth, had +been in the constant habit of residing upon their Irish as they are +upon their English estates? Is it of no consequence to the order +and the civilisation of a large district, whether the great mansion +is inhabited by an insignificant, perhaps a mischievous attorney, in +the shape of agent, or whether the first and greatest men of the +United Kingdoms, after the business of Parliament is over, come with +their friends and families, to exercise hospitality, to spend large +revenues, to diffuse information, and to improve manners? This evil +is a very serious one to Ireland; and, as far as we see, incurable. +For if the present large estates were, by the dilapidation of +families, to be broken to pieces and sold, others equally great +would, in the free circulation of property, speedily accumulate; and +the moment any possessor arrived at a certain pitch of fortune, he +would probably choose to reside in the better country--near the +Parliament, or the Court. + +This absence of great proprietors in Ireland necessarily brings with +it, or if not necessarily, has actually brought with it, the +employment of the middlemen, which forms one other standing and +regular Irish grievance. We are well aware of all that can be said +in defence of middlemen; that they stand between the little farmer +and the great proprietor as the shopkeeper does between the +manufacturer and consumer; and, in fact, by their intervention, save +time, and therefore expense. This may be true enough in the +abstract; but the particular nature of land must be attended to. +The object of the man who makes cloth is to sell his cloth at the +present market, for as high a price as he can obtain. If that price +is too high, it soon falls; but no injury is done to his machinery +by the superior price he has enjoyed for a season--he is just as +able to produce cloth with it, as if the profits he enjoyed had +always been equally moderate; he has no fear, therefore, of the +middleman, or of any species of moral machinery which may help to +obtain for him the greatest present prices. The same would be the +feeling of any one who let out a steam-engine, or any other machine, +for the purposes of manufacture; he would naturally take the highest +price he could get; for he might either let his machine for a price +proportionate to the work it did, or the repairs, estimable with the +greatest precision, might be thrown upon the tenant; in short, he +could hardly ask any rent too high for his machine which a +responsible person would give; dilapidation would be so visible, and +so calculable in such instances, that any secondary lease, or +subletting, would be rather an increase of security than a source of +alarm. Any evil from such a practice would be improbable +measurable, and remediable. In land, on the contrary, the object is +not to get the highest prices absolutely, but to get the highest +prices which will not injure the machine. One tenant may offer and +pay double the rent of another, and in a few years leave the land in +a state which will effectually bar all future offers of tenancy. It +is of no use to fill a lease full of clauses and covenants; a tenant +who pays more than he ought to pay, or who pays even to the last +farthing which he ought to pay, will rob the land, and injure the +machine, in spite of all the attorneys in England. He will rob it +even if he means to remain upon it--driven on by present distress, +and anxious to put off the day of defalcation and arrear. The +damage is often difficult of detection--not easily calculated, not +easily to be proved; such for which juries (themselves perhaps +farmers) will not willingly give sufficient compensation. And if +this be true in England, it is much more strikingly true in Ireland, +where it is extremely difficult to obtain verdicts for breaches of +covenant in leases. + +The only method, then, of guarding the machine from real injury, is +by giving to the actual occupier such advantage in his contract, +that he is unwilling to give it up--that he has a real interest in +retaining it, and is not driven by the distresses of the present +moment to destroy the future productiveness of the soil. Any rent +which the landlord accepts more than this, or any system by which +more rent than this is obtained, is to borrow money upon the most +usurious and profligate interest--to increase the revenue of the +present day by the absolute ruin of the property. Such is the +effect produced by a middleman; he gives high prices that he may +obtain higher from the occupier; more is paid by the actual occupier +than is consistent with the safety and preservation of the machine; +the land is run out, and, in the end, that maximum of rent we have +described is not obtained; and not only is the property injured by +such a system, but in Ireland the most shocking consequences ensue +from it. There is little manufacture in Ireland; the price of +labour is low, the demand for labour irregular. If a poor man be +driven, by distress of rent, from his potato garden, he has no other +resource--all is lost: he will do the impossible (as the French +say) to retain it; subscribe any bond, and promise any rent. The +middleman has no character to lose; and he knew, when he took up the +occupation, that it was one with which pity had nothing to do. On +he drives; and backward the poor peasant recedes, loses something at +every step, till he comes to the very brink of despair; and then he +recoils and murders his oppressor, and is a White Boy or a Right +Boy;--the soldier shoots him, and the judge hangs him. + +In the debate which took place in the Irish House of Commons, upon +the Bill for preventing tumultuous risings and assemblies, on the +31st of January, 1787, the Attorney-General submitted to the House +the following narrative of facts. + + +"The commencement," said he, "was in one or two parishes in the +county of Kerry; and they proceeded thus. The people assembled in a +Catholic chapel, and there took an oath to obey the laws of Captain +Right, and to starve the clergy. They then proceeded to the next +parishes on the following Sunday, and there swore the people in the +same manner; with this addition, that they (the people last sworn) +should on the ensuing Sunday proceed to the chapels of their next +neighbouring parishes and swear the inhabitants of those parishes in +like manner. Proceeding in this manner, they very soon went through +the province of Munster. The first object was the REFORMATION OF +TITHES. They swore not to give more than a certain price per acre, +not to assist or allow them to be assisted in drawing the tithe, and +to permit NO PROCTOR. They next took upon them to prevent the +collection of parish cesses, next to nominate parish clerks, and in +some cases curates, to say what church should or should not be +repaired, and in one case to threaten that they would burn a NEW +church if the OLD one were not given for a mass-house. At last they +proceeded to regulate the price of lands, to raise the price of +labour, and to oppose the collection of the hearth-money and other +taxes. Bodies of 5,000 of them have been seen to march through the +country unarmed, and, if met by any magistrate, THEY NEVER OFFERED +THE SMALLEST RUDENESS OR OFFENCE; on the contrary, they had allowed +persons charged with crimes to be taken from amongst them by the +magistrate ALONE, unaided by any force. + +"The Attorney-General said he was well acquainted with the province +of Munster, and that it was impossible for human wretchedness to +EXCEED THAT OF THE PEASANTRY OF THAT PROVINCE. The unhappy tenantry +were GROUND TO POWDER by relentless landlords; that, far from being +able to give the clergy their just dues, they had not food or +raiment for themselves--the landlord grasped the whole; and sorry +was he to add that, not satisfied with the present extortion, some +landlords had been so base as to instigate the insurgents to rob the +clergy of their tithes, not in order to alleviate the distresses of +the tenantry, but that they might add the clergy's share to the +cruel rack-rents they already paid. The poor people of Munster +lived in a MORE ABJECT STATE OF POVERTY THAN HUMAN NATURE COULD BE +SUPPOSED EQUAL TO BEAR."--"Grattan's Speeches," vol. i., p. 292. + + +We are not, of course, in such a discussion to be governed by names. +A middleman might be tied up by the strongest legal restriction, as +to the price he was to exact from the under-tenants, and then he +would be no more pernicious to the estate than a steward. A steward +might be protected in exactions as severe as the most rapacious +middleman; and then, of course, it would be the same thing under +another name. The practice to which we object is the too common +method in Ireland of extorting the last farthing which the tenant is +willing to give for land rather than quit it: and the machinery by +which such practice is carried into effect is that of the middleman. +It is not only that it ruins the land; it ruins the people also. +They are made so poor--brought so near the ground--that they can +sink no lower; and burst out at last into all the acts of +desperation and revenge for which Ireland is so notorious. Men who +have money in their pockets, and find that they are improving in +their circumstances, don't do these things. Opulence, or the hope +of opulence or comfort, is the parent of decency, order, and +submission to the laws. A landlord in Ireland understands the +luxury of carriages and horses, but has no relish for the greater +luxury of surrounding himself with a moral and grateful tenantry. +The absent proprietor looks only to revenue, and cares nothing for +the disorder and degradation of a country which he never means to +visit. There are very honourable exceptions to this charge: but +there are too many living instances that it is just. The rapacity +of the Irish landlord induces him to allow of the extreme division +of his lands. When the daughter marries, a little portion of the +little farm is broken off--another corner for Patrick, and another +for Dermot--till the land is broken into sections, upon one of which +an English cow could not stand. Twenty mansions of misery are thus +reared instead of one. A louder cry of oppression is lifted up to +heaven, and fresh enemies to the English name and power are +multiplied on the earth. The Irish gentleman, too, extremely +desirous of political influence, multiplying freeholds, and +splitting votes; and this propensity tends of course to increase the +miserable redundance of living beings, under which Ireland is +groaning. Among the manifold wretchedness to which the poor Irish +tenant is liable, we must not pass over the practice of driving for +rent. A lets land to B, who lets it to C, who lets it again to D. +D pays C his rent, and C pays B. But if B fails to pay A, the +cattle of B, C, D are all driven to the pound, and after the +interval of a few days sold by auction. A general driving of this +kind very frequently leads to a bloody insurrection. It may be +ranked among the classical grievances of Ireland. + +Potatoes enter for a great deal into the present condition of +Ireland. They are much cheaper than wheat; and it is so easy to +rear a family upon them, that there is no cheek to population from +the difficulty of procuring food. The population therefore goes on +with a rapidity approaching almost to that of new countries, and in +a much greater ratio than the improving agriculture and +manufacturers of the country can find employment for it. All +degrees of all nations begin with living in pig-styes. The king or +the priest first gets out of them; then the noble, then the pauper; +in proportion as each class becomes more and more opulent. Better +tastes arise from better circumstances; and the luxury of one period +is the wretchedness and poverty of another. English peasants, in +the time of Henry VII., were lodged as badly as Irish peasants now +are; but the population was limited by the difficulty of procuring a +corn subsistence. The improvements of this kingdom were more rapid; +the price of labour rose; and with it the luxury and comfort of the +peasant, who is now decently lodged and clothed, and who would think +himself in the last stage of wretchedness if he had nothing but an +iron pot in a turf house, and plenty of potatoes in it. The use of +the potato was introduced into Ireland when the wretched +accommodation of her own peasantry bore some proportion to the state +of those accommodations all over Europe. But they have increased +their population so fast, and, in conjunction with the oppressive +government of Ireland retarding improvement, have kept the price of +labour so low, that the Irish poor have never been able to emerge +from their mud cabins, or to acquire any taste for cleanliness and +decency of appearance. Mr. Curwen has the following description of +Irish cottages:- + + +"These mansions of miserable existence, for so they may truly be +described, conformably to our general estimation of those +indispensable comforts requisite to constitute the happiness of +rational beings, are most commonly composed of two rooms on the +ground floor, a most appropriate term, for they are literally on the +earth, the surface of which is not unfrequently reduced a foot or +more to save the expense of so much outward walling. The one is a +refectory, the other the dormitory. The furniture of the former, if +the owner ranks in the upper part of the scale of scantiness, will +consist of a kitchen dresser, well provided and highly decorated +with crockery--not less apparently the pride of the husband than the +result of female vanity in the wife: which, with a table, a chest, +a few stools, and an iron pot, complete the catalogue of +conveniences generally found as belonging to the cabin: while a +spinning-wheel, furnished by the Linen Board, and a loom, ornament +vacant spaces that otherwise would remain unfurnished. In fitting +up the latter, which cannot on any occasion or by any display add a +feather to the weight or importance expected to be excited by the +appearance of the former, the inventory is limited to one, and +sometimes two beds, serving for the repose of the whole family! +However downy these may be to limbs impatient for rest, their +coverings appear to be very slight, and the whole of the apartment +created reflections of a very painful nature. Under such +privations, with a wet mud floor and a roof in tatters, how idle the +search for comforts!"--Curwen, i., pp. 112, 113. + + +To this extract we shall add one more on the same subject. + + +"The gigantic figure, bareheaded before me, had a beard that would +not have disgraced an ancient Israelite--he was without shoes or +stockings--and almost a sans-culotte--with a coat, or rather a +jacket, that appeared as if the first blast of wind would tear it to +tatters. Though his garb was thus tattered, he had a manly +commanding countenance. I asked permission to see the inside of his +cabin, to which I received his most courteous assent. On stooping +to enter at the door I was stopped, and found that permission from +another was necessary before I could be admitted. A pig, which was +fastened to a stake driven into the floor, with length of rope +sufficient to permit him the enjoyment of sun and air, demanded some +courtesy, which I showed him, and was suffered to enter. The wife +was engaged in boiling thread, and by her side, near the fire, a +lovely infant was sleeping, without any covering, on a bare board. +Whether the fire gave additional glow to the countenance of the +babe, or that Nature impressed on its unconscious cheek a blush that +the lot of man should be exposed to such privations, I will not +decide; but if the cause be referable to the latter, it was in +perfect unison with my own feelings. Two or three other children +crowded round the mother: on their rosy countenances health seemed +established in spite of filth and ragged garments. The dress of the +poor woman was barely sufficient to satisfy decency. Her +countenance bore the expression of a set melancholy, tinctured with +an appearance of ill health. The hovel, which did not exceed twelve +or fifteen feet in length and ten in breadth, was half obscured by +smoke--chimney or window I saw none; the door served the various +purposes of an inlet to light and the outlet to smoke. The +furniture consisted of two stools, an iron pot, and a spinning- +wheel, while a sack stuffed with straw, and a single blanket laid on +planks, served as a bed for the repose of the whole family. Need I +attempt to describe my sensations? The statement alone cannot fail +of conveying to a mind like yours an adequate idea of them--I could +not long remain a witness to this acme of human misery. As I left +the deplorable habitation the mistress followed me to repeat her +thanks for the trifle I had bestowed. This gave me an opportunity +of observing her person more particularly. She was a tall figure, +her countenance composed of interesting features, and with every +appearance of having once been handsome. + +"Unwilling to quit the village without first satisfying myself +whether what I had seen was a solitary instance or a sample of its +general state, or whether the extremity of poverty I had just beheld +had arisen from peculiar improvidence and want of management in one +wretched family, I went into an adjoining habitation, where I found +a poor old woman of eighty, whose miserable existence was painfully +continued by the maintenance of her granddaughter. Their condition, +if possible, was more deplorable."--Curwen, i., pp. 181-183. + + +This wretchedness, of which all strangers who visit Ireland are so +sensible, proceeds certainly in great measure from their accidental +use of a food so cheap, that it encourages population to an +extraordinary degree, lowers the price of labour, and leaves the +multitudes which it calls into existence almost destitute of +everything but food. Many more live in consequence of the +introduction of potatoes; but all live in greater wretchedness. In +the progress of population, the potato must of course become at last +as difficult to be procured as any other food; and then let the +political economist calculate what the immensity and wretchedness of +a people must be, where the further progress of population is +checked by the difficulty of procuring potatoes. + +The consequence of the long mismanagement and oppression of Ireland, +and of the singular circumstances in which it is placed, is, that it +is a semi-barbarous country--more shame to those who have thus ill- +treated a fine country and a fine people; but it is part of the +present case of Ireland. The barbarism of Ireland is evinced by the +frequency and ferocity of duels--the hereditary clannish feuds of +the common people and the fights to which they give birth--the +atrocious cruelties practised in the insurrections of the common +people--and their proneness to insurrection. The lower Irish live +in a state of greater wretchedness than any other people in Europe +inhabiting so fine a soil and climate. It is difficult, often +impossible, to execute the processes of law. In cases where +gentlemen are concerned, it is often not even attempted. The +conduct of under-sheriffs is often very corrupt. We are afraid the +magistracy of Ireland is very inferior to that of this country; the +spirit of jobbing and bribery is very widely diffused, and upon +occasions when the utmost purity prevails in the sister kingdom. +Military force is necessary all over the country, and often for the +most common and just operations of Government. The behaviour of the +higher to the lower orders is much less gentle and decent than in +England. Blows from superiors to inferiors are more frequent, and +the punishment for such aggression more doubtful. The word +GENTLEMAN seems, in Ireland, to put an end to most processes at law. +Arrest a gentleman!!!--take out a warrant against a gentleman--are +modes of operation not very common in the administration of Irish +justice. If a man strike the meanest peasant in England, he is +either knocked down in his turn, or immediately taken before a +magistrate. It is impossible to live in Ireland without perceiving +the various points in which it is inferior in civilisation. Want of +unity in feeling and interest among the people--irritability, +violence, and revenge--want of comfort and cleanliness in the lower +orders--habitual disobedience to the law--want of confidence in +magistrates--corruption, venality, the perpetual necessity of +recurring to military force--all carry back the observer to that +remote and early condition of mankind, which an Englishman can learn +only in the pages of the antiquary or the historian. We do not draw +this picture for censure but for truth. We admire the Irish--feel +the most sincere pity for the state of Ireland--and think the +conduct of the English to that country to have been a system of +atrocious cruelty and contemptible meanness. With such a climate, +such a soil, and such a people, the inferiority of Ireland to the +rest of Europe is directly chargeable to the long wickedness of the +English Government. + +A direct consequence of the present uncivilised state of Ireland is, +that very little English capital travels there. The man who deals +in steam-engines, and warps and woofs, is naturally alarmed by Peep- +of-Day Boys, and nocturnal Carders; his object is to buy and sell as +quickly and quietly as he can, and he will naturally bear high taxes +and rivalry in England, or emigrate to any part of the Continent, or +to America, rather than plunge into the tumult of Irish politics and +passions. There is nothing which Ireland wants more than large +manufacturing towns to take off its superfluous population. But +internal peace must come first, and then the arts of peace will +follow. The foreign manufacturer will hardly think of embarking his +capital where he cannot be sure that his existence is safe. Another +check to the manufacturing greatness of Ireland is the scarcity, not +of coal, but of good coal, cheaply raised--an article in which (in +spite of papers in the Irish Transactions) they are lamentably +inferior to the English. + +Another consequence from some of the causes we have stated is the +extreme idleness of the Irish labourer. There is nothing of the +value of which the Irish seem to have so little notion as that of +time. They scratch, pick, dawdle, stare, gape, and do anything but +strive and wrestle with the task before them. The most ludicrous of +all human objects is an Irishman ploughing. A gigantic figure--a +seven-foot machine for turning potatoes in human nature--wrapt up in +an immense great-coat, and urging on two starved ponies, with +dreadful imprecations and uplifted shillala. The Irish crow +discerns a coming perquisite, and is not inattentive to the +proceedings of the steeds. The furrow which is to be the depository +of the future crop is not unlike, either in depth or regularity, to +those domestic furrows which the nails of the meek and much-injured +wife plough, in some family quarrel, upon the cheeks of the +deservedly punished husband. The weeds seem to fall contentedly, +knowing that they have fulfilled their destiny, and left behind +them, for the resurrection of the ensuing spring, an abundant and +healthy progeny. The whole is a scene of idleness, laziness, and +poverty, of which it is impossible, in this active and enterprising +country, to form the most distant conception; but strongly +indicative of habits, whether secondary or original, which will long +present a powerful impediment to the improvement of Ireland. + +The Irish character contributes something to retard the improvements +of that country. The Irishman has many good qualities: he is +brave, witty, generous, eloquent, hospitable, and open-hearted; but +he is vain, ostentatious, extravagant, and fond of display, light in +counsel, deficient in perseverance, without skill in private or +public economy, an enjoyer, not an acquirer--one who despises the +slow and patient virtues--who wants the superstructure without the +foundation, the result without the previous operation, the oak +without the acorn and the three hundred years of expectation. The +Irish are irascible, prone to debt and to fight, and very impatient +of the restraints of law. Such a people are not likely to keep +their eyes steadily upon the main chance like the Scotch or the +Dutch. England strove very hard at one period to compel the Scotch +to pay a double Church, but Sawney took his pen and ink, and finding +what a sum it amounted to became furious and drew his sword. God +forbid the Irishman should do the same! The remedy now would be +worse than the disease; but if the oppressions of England had been +more steadily resisted a century ago, Ireland would not have been +the scene of poverty, misery, and distress which it now is. + +The Catholic religion, among other causes, contributes to the +backwardness and barbarism of Ireland. Its debasing superstition, +childish ceremonies, and the profound submission to the priesthood +which it teaches, all tend to darken men's minds, to impede the +progress of knowledge and inquiry, and to prevent Ireland from +becoming as free, as powerful, and as rich as the sister kingdom. +Though sincere friends to Catholic emancipation, we are no advocates +for the Catholic religion. We should be very glad to see a general +conversion to Protestantism among the Irish, but we do not think +that violence, privations, and incapacities, are the proper methods +of making proselytes. + +Such, then, is Ireland at this period--a land more barbarous than +the rest of Europe, because it has been worse treated and more +cruelly oppressed. Many of the incapacities and privations to which +the Catholics were exposed have been removed by law, but in such +instances they are still incapacitated and deprived by custom. Many +cruel and oppressive laws are still enforced against them. A tenth +part of the population engrosses all the honours of the country; the +other nine pay a tenth of the product of the earth for the support +of a religion in which they do not believe. There is little capital +in the country. The great and rich men are called by business, or +allured by pleasure, into England; their estates are given up to +factors, and the utmost farthing of rent extorted from the poor, +who, if they give up the land, cannot get employment in +manufactures, or regular employment in husbandry. The common people +use a sort of food so very cheap that they can rear families who +cannot procure employment, and who have little more of the comforts +of life than food. The Irish are light-minded--want of employment +has made them idle; they are irritable and brave, have a keen +remembrance of the past wrongs they have suffered, and the present +wrongs they are suffering from England. The consequence of all this +is, eternal riot and insurrection, a whole army of soldiers in time +of profound peace, and general rebellion whenever England is busy +with her other enemies or off her guard! And thus it will be, while +the same causes continue to operate, for ages to come, and worse and +worse as the rapidly increasing population of the Catholics becomes +more and more numerous. + +The remedies are time and justice, and that justice consists in +repealing all laws which make any distinction between the two +religions; in placing over the government of Ireland, not the +stupid, amiable, and insignificant noblemen who have too often been +sent there, but men who feel deeply the wrongs of Ireland, and who +have an ardent wish to heal them; who will take care that Catholics, +when eligible, shall be elected; who will share the patronage of +Ireland proportionally among the two parties, and give to just and +liberal laws the same vigour of execution which has hitherto been +reserved only for decrees of tyranny, and the enactments of +oppression. The injustice and hardship of supporting two Churches +must be put out of sight, if it cannot or ought not to be cured. +The political economist, the moralist, and the satirist, must +combine to teach moderation and superintendence to the great Irish +proprietors. Public talk and clamour may do something for the poor +Irish, as it did for the slaves in the West Indies. Ireland will +become more quiet under such treatment, and then more rich, more +comfortable, and more civilised; and the horrid spectacle of folly +and tyranny, which it at present exhibits, may in time be removed +from the eyes of Europe. + +There are two eminent Irishmen now in the House of Commons--Lord +Castlereagh and Mr. Canning--who will subscribe to the justness of +every syllable we have said upon this subject, and who have it in +their power, by making it the condition of their remaining in +office, to liberate their native country, and raise it to its just +rank among the nations of the earth. Yet the Court buys them over, +year after year, by the pomp and perquisites of office; and year +after year they come into the House of Commons, feeling deeply, and +describing powerfully, the injuries of five millions of their +countrymen--and CONTINUE members of a government that inflicts those +evils, under the pitiful delusion that it is not a Cabinet Question, +as if the scratchings and quarrellings of Kings and Queens could +alone cement politicians together in indissoluble unity, while the +fate and torture of one-third of the empire might be complimented +away from one minister to another, without the smallest breach in +their Cabinet alliance. Politicians, at least honest politicians, +should be very flexible and accommodating in little things, very +rigid and inflexible in great things. And is this NOT a great +thing? Who has painted it in finer and more commanding eloquence +than Mr. Canning? Who has taken a more sensible and statesmanlike +view of our miserable and cruel policy than Lord Castlereagh? You +would think, to hear them, that the same planet could not contain +them and the oppressors of their country--perhaps not the same solar +system. Yet for money, claret, and patronage, they lend their +countenance, assistance, and friendship to the Ministers who are the +stern and inflexible enemies to the emancipation of Ireland! + +Thank God that all is not profligacy and corruption in the history +of that devoted people--and that the name of Irishman does not +always carry with it the idea of the oppressor or the oppressed--the +plunderer or the plundered--the tyrant or the slave! Great men +hallow a whole people, and lift up all who live in their time. What +Irishman does not feel proud that he has lived in the days of +GRATTAN? who has not turned to him for comfort, from the false +friends and open enemies of Ireland? who did not remember him in the +days of its burnings and wastings and murders? No Government ever +dismayed him--the world could not bribe him--he thought only of +Ireland--lived for no other object--dedicated to her his beautiful +fancy, his elegant wit, his manly courage, and all the splendour of +his astonishing eloquence. He was so born and so gifted that +poetry, forensic skill, elegant literature, and all the highest +attainments of human genius were within his reach; but he thought +the noblest occupation of a man was to make other men happy and +free; and in that straight line he went on for fifty years, without +one side-look, without one yielding thought, without one motive in +his heart which he might not have laid open to the view of God and +man. He is gone!--but there is not a single day of his honest life +of which every good Irishman would not be more proud than of the +whole political existence of his countrymen--the annual deserters +and betrayers of their native land. + + + +MOORE'S CAPTAIN ROCK. + + + +Memoirs of Captain Rock, the celebrated Irish Chieftain; with some +Account of his Ancestors. Written by Himself. Fourth Edition. +12mo. London, 1824. + +This agreeable and witty book is generally supposed to have been +written by Mr. Thomas Moore, a gentleman of small stature, but full +of genius, and a steady friend of all that is honourable and just. +He has here borrowed the name of a celebrated Irish leader, to +typify that spirit of violence and insurrection which is necessarily +generated by systematic oppression, and rudely avenges its crimes; +and the picture he has drawn of its prevalence in that unhappy +country is at once piteous and frightful. Its effect in exciting +our horror and indignation is in the long run increased, we think-- +though at first it may seem counteracted--by the tone of levity, and +even jocularity, under which he has chosen to veil the deep sarcasm +and substantial terrors of his story. We smile at first, and are +amused, and wonder, as we proceed, that the humorous narrative +should produce conviction and pity--shame, abhorrence, and despair. + +England seems to have treated Ireland much in the same way as Mrs. +Brownrigg treated her apprentice--for which Mrs. Brownrigg is hanged +in the first volume of the Newgate Calendar. Upon the whole, we +think the apprentice is better off than the Irishman; as Mrs. +Brownrigg merely starves and beats her, without any attempt to +prohibit her from going to any shop, or praying at any church her +apprentice might select: and once or twice, if we remember rightly, +Brownrigg appears to have felt some compassion. Not so Old England, +who indulges rather in a steady baseness, uniform brutality, and +unrelenting oppression. + +Let us select from this entertaining little book a short history of +dear Ireland, such as even some profligate idle member of the House +of Commons, voting as his master bids him, may perchance throw his +eye upon, and reflect for a moment upon the iniquity to which he +lends his support. + +For some centuries after the reign of Henry II., the Irish were +killed like game, by persons qualified or unqualified. Whether dogs +were used does not appear quite certain, though it is probable they +were, spaniels as well as pointers; and that, after a regular point +by Basto, well backed by Ponto and Caesar, Mr. O'Donnel or Mr. +O'Leary bolted from the thicket, and were bagged by the English +sportsman. With Henry II. came in tithes, to which, in all +probability, about one million of lives may have been sacrificed in +Ireland. In the reign of Edward I. the Irish who were settled near +the English requested that the benefit of the English laws might be +extended to them; but the remonstrance of the barons with the +hesitating king was in substance this: "You have made us a present +of these wild gentlemen, and we particularly request that no +measures may be adopted to check us in that full range of tyranny +and oppression in which we consider the value of such a gift to +consist. You might as well give us sheep, and prevent us from +shearing the wool, or roasting the meat." This reasoning prevailed, +and the Irish were kept to their barbarism, and the barons preserved +their dive stock. + + +"Read 'Orange faction' (says Captain Rock) here and you have the +wisdom of our rulers, at the end of near six centuries, in statu +quo. The grand periodic year of the stoics, at the close of which +everything was to begin again, and the same events to be all reacted +in the same order, is, on a miniature scale, represented in the +history of the English Government in Ireland, every succeeding +century being but a new revolution of the same follies, the same +crimes, and the same turbulence that disgraced the former. But +'Vive l'ennemi!' say I: whoever may suffer by such measures, +Captain Rock, at least, will prosper. + +"And such was the result at the period of which I am speaking. The +rejection of a petition, so humble and so reasonable, was followed, +as a matter of course, by one of those daring rebellions into which +the revenge of an insulted people naturally breaks forth. The +M'Cartys, the O'Briens, and the other Macs and O's, who have been +kept on the alert by similar causes ever since, flew to arms under +the command of a chieftain of my family; and, as the proffered +HANDLE of the sword had been rejected, made their inexorable masters +at least feel its EDGE."--(pp. 23-25.) + + +Fifty years afterwards the same request was renewed and refused. Up +again rose Mac and O, a JUST AND NECESSARY WAR ensued; and after the +usual murders, the usual chains were replaced upon the Irishry. All +Irishmen were excluded from every species of office. It was high +treason to marry with the Irish blood, and highly penal to receive +the Irish into religious houses. War was waged also against their +Thomas Moores, Samuel Rogerses, and Walter Scotts, who went about +the country harping and singing against English oppression. No such +turbulent guests were to be received. The plan of making them +poets-laureate, or converting them to loyalty by pensions of 100 +pounds per annum, had not then been thought of. They debarred the +Irish even from the pleasure of running away, and fixed them to the +soil like negroes. + + +"I have thus selected," says the historian of Rock, "cursorily and +at random, a few features of the reigns preceding the Reformation, +in order to show what good use was made of those three or four +hundred years in attaching the Irish people to their English +governors; and by what a gentle course of alternatives they were +prepared for the inoculation of a new religion, which was now about +to be attempted upon them by the same skilful and friendly hands. + +"Henry VII. appears to have been the first monarch to whom it +occurred, that matters were not managed exactly as they ought in +this part of his dominions; and we find him--with a simplicity which +is still fresh and youthful among our rulers--expressing his +SURPRISE that his subjects of this land should be so prone to +faction and rebellion, and that so little advantage had been +hitherto derived from the acquisitions of his predecessor, +notwithstanding the fruitfulness and natural advantages of Ireland. +Surprising, indeed, that a policy, such as we have been describing, +should not have converted the whole country into a perfect Atlantis +of happiness--should not have made it like the imaginary island of +Sir Thomas More, where 'tota insula velut una familia est!'--most +stubborn, truly, and ungrateful, must that people be, upon whom, up +to the very hour in which I write, such a long and unvarying course +of penal laws, confiscations, and Insurrection Acts has been tried, +without making them in the least degree in love with their rulers. + +"Heloise tells her tutor, Abelard, that the correction which he +inflicted upon her only served to increase the ardour of her +affection for him; but bayonets and hemp are no such 'amoris +stimuli.' One more characteristic anecdote of those times and I +have done. At the battle of Knocktow, in the reign of Henry VII., +when that remarkable man, the Earl of Kildare, assisted by the great +O'Neal and other Irish chiefs, gained a victory over Clanricard of +Connaught, most important to the English Government, Lord +Gormanstown, after the battle, in the first insolence of success, +said, turning to the Earl of Kildare, 'We have now slaughtered our +enemies, but, to complete the good deed, we must proceed yet +further, and--cut the throats of those Irish of our own party!' Who +can wonder that the Rock family were active in those times?"--(pp. +33, 35.) + +Henry VIII. persisted in all these outrages, and aggravated them by +insulting the prejudices of the people. England is almost the only +country in the world (even at present) where there is not some +favourite religious sport, where absurd lies, little bits of cloth, +feathers, rusty nails, splinters, and other invaluable relics, are +treasured up, and in defence of which the whole population are +willing to turn out and perish as one man. Such was the shrine of +St. Kieran, the whole treasures of which the satellites of that +corpulent tyrant turned out into the street, pillaged the sacred +church of Clonmacnoise, scattered the holy nonsense of the priests +to the winds, and burnt the real and venerable crosier of St. +Patrick, fresh from the silversmith's shop, and formed of the most +costly materials. Modern princes change the uniform of regiments; +Henry changed the religion of kingdoms, and was determined that the +belief of the Irish should undergo a radical and Protestant +conversion. With what success this attempt was made, the present +state of Ireland is sufficient evidence. + +"Be not dismayed," said Elizabeth, on hearing that O'Neal meditated +some designs against her government; "tell my friends, if he arise, +it will turn to their advantage--THERE WILL BE ESTATES FOR THOSE WHO +WANT." Soon after this prophetic speech, Munster was destroyed by +famine and the sword, and near 600,000 acres forfeited to the crown, +and distributed among Englishmen. Sir Walter Raleigh (the virtuous +and good) butchered the garrison of Limerick in cold blood, after +Lord Deputy Gray had selected 700 to be hanged. There were, during +the reign of Elizabeth, three invasions of Ireland by the Spaniards, +produced principally by the absurd measures of this princess for the +reformation of its religion. The Catholic clergy, in consequence of +these measures, abandoned their cures, the churches fell to ruin, +and the people were left without any means of instruction. Add to +these circumstances the murder of M'Mahon, the imprisonment of +O'Toole and O'Dogherty, and the kidnapping of O'Donnel--all truly +Anglo-Hibernian proceedings. The execution of the laws was rendered +detestable and intolerable by the queen's officers of justice. The +spirit raised by these transactions, besides innumerable smaller +insurrections gave rise to the great wars of Desmond and Hugh +O'Neal; which, after they had worn out the ablest generals, +discomfited the choicest troops, exhausted the treasure, and +embarrassed the operations of Elizabeth, were terminated by the +destruction of these two ancient families, and by the confiscation +of more than half the territorial surface of the island. The last +two years of O'Neal's wars cost Elizabeth 140,000 pounds per annum, +though the whole revenue of England at that period fell considerably +short of 500,000 pounds. Essex, after the destruction of Norris, +led into Ireland an army of above 20,000 men, which was totally +baffled and destroyed by Tyrone, within two years of their landing. +Such was the importance of Irish rebellions two centuries before the +time in which we live. Sir G. Carew attempted to assassinate the +Lugan Earl--Mountjoy compelled the Irish rebels to massacre each +other. In the course of a few months 3,000 men were starved to +death in Tyrone. Sir Arthur Chichester, Sir Richard Manson, and +other commanders, saw three children feeding on the flesh of their +dead mother. Such were the golden days of good Queen Bess! + +By the rebellions of Dogherty, in the reign of James I., six +northern counties were confiscated, amounting to 500,000 acres. In +the same manner, 64,000 acres were confiscated in Athlone. The +whole of his confiscations amount to nearly a million acres; and if +Leland means plantation acres, they constitute a twelfth of the +whole kingdom according to Newenham, and a tenth according to Sir W. +Petty. The most shocking and scandalous action in the reign of +James, was his attack upon the whole property of the province of +Connaught, which he would have effected, if he had not been bought +off by a sum greater than he hoped to gain by his iniquity, besides +the luxury of confiscation. The Irish, during the reign of James +I., suffered under the DOUBLE evils of a licentious soldiery and a +religious persecution. + +Charles I. took a bribe of 120,000 pounds from his Irish subjects, +to grant them what in those days were called Graces, but in these +days would be denominated the Elements of Justice. The money was +paid, but the graces were never granted. One of these graces was +curious enough: "That the clergy were not to be permitted to keep +henceforward any private prisons of their own, but delinquents were +to be committed to the public jails." The idea of a rector, with +his own private jail full of Dissenters, is the most ludicrous piece +of tyranny we ever heard of. The troops in the beginning of +Charles's reign were supported by the weekly fines levied upon the +Catholics for non-attendance upon established worship. The +Archbishop of Dublin went himself at the head of a file of +musketeers, to disperse a Catholic congregation in Dublin--which +object he effected after a considerable skirmish with the priests. +"The favourite object" (says Dr. Leland, a Protestant clergyman, and +dignitary of the Irish Church) "of the Irish Government and the +English Parliament, was THE UTTER EXTERMINATION of all the Catholic +inhabitants of Ireland." The great rebellion took place in this +reign, and Ireland was one scene of blood and cruelty and +confiscation. + +Cromwell began his career in Ireland by massacring for five days the +garrison of Drogheda, to whom quarter had been promised. Two +millions and a half of acres were confiscated. Whole towns were put +up in lots, and sold. The Catholics were banished from three- +fourths of the kingdom, and confined to Connaught. After a certain +day, every Catholic found out of Connaught was to be punished with +death. Fleetwood complains peevishly "that the people DO NOT +TRANSPORT READILY," but adds, "IT IS DOUBTLESS A WORK IN WHICH THE +LORD WILL APPEAR." Ten thousand Irish were sent as recruits to the +Spanish army. + + +"Such was Cromwell's way of settling the affairs of Ireland; and if +a nation IS to be ruined, this method is, perhaps, as good as any. +It is, at least, more humane than the slow, lingering process of +exclusion, disappointment, and degradation, by which their hearts +are worn out under more specious forms of tyranny; and that talent +of despatch which Moliere attributes to one of his physicians is no +ordinary merit in a practitioner like Cromwell: --"C'est un homme +expeditif, qui aime a depecher ses malades; et quand on a mourir, +cela se fait avec lui le plus vite du monde." A certain military +Duke, who complains that Ireland is but half conquered, would, no +doubt, upon an emergency, try his hand in the same line of practice, +and, like that 'stern hero' Mirmillo, in the Dispensary, + + +"While others meanly take whole months to slay, +Despatch the grateful patient in a day!" + + +"Among other amiable enactments against the Catholics at this +period, the price of five pounds was set on the head of a Romish +priest, being exactly the same sum offered by the same legislators +for the head of a wolf. The Athenians, we are told, encouraged the +destruction of wolves by a similar reward (five drachms); but it +does not appear that these heathens bought up the heads of priests +at the same rate, such zeal in the cause of religion being reserved +for times of Christianity and Protestantism."--(pp. 97-99.) + + +Nothing can show more strongly the light in which the Irish were +held by Cromwell than the correspondence with Henry Cromwell +respecting the peopling of Jamaica from Ireland. Secretary Thurloe +sends to Henry, the Lord Deputy in Ireland, to inform him that "a +stock of Irish girls and Irish young men are wanting for the +peopling of Jamaica." The answer of Henry Cromwell is as follows:- +"Concerning the supply of young men, although we must use force in +taking them up, YET IT BEING SO MUCH FOR THEIR OWN GOOD, and likely +to be of so great advantage to the public, it is not the least +doubted but that you may have such a number of them as you may think +fit to make use of on this account. + +"I shall not need repeat anything respecting the girls, not doubting +to answer your expectations to the full IN THAT; and I think it +might be of like advantage to your affairs there and ours here if +you should think fit to send 1,500 or 2,000 boys to the place above +mentioned. WE CAN WELL SPARE THEM; and who knows but that it may be +the means of making them Englishmen--I mean, rather, Christians? As +for the girls, I suppose you will make provisions of clothes, and +other accommodations for them." Upon this, Thurloe informs Henry +Cromwell that the council have voted 4,000 GIRLS, AND AS MANY BOYS, +to go to Jamaica. + +Every Catholic priest found in Ireland was hanged, and five pounds +paid to the informer. + + +"About the years 1652 and 1653," says Colonel Lawrence, in his +Interests of Ireland, "the plague and famine had so swept away whole +counties, that a man might travel twenty or thirty miles and not see +a living creature, either man, or beast, or bird, they being all +dead, or had quitted those desolate places. Our soldiers would tell +stories of the places where they saw smoke--it was so rare to see +either smoke by day or fire or candle by night." In this manner did +the Irish live and die under Cromwell, suffering by the sword, +famine, pestilence, and persecution, beholding the confiscation of a +kingdom and the banishment of a race. "So that there perished," +says Sir W. Petty, "in the year 1641, 650,000 human beings, whose +bloods somebody must atone for to God and the King!" + +In the reign of Charles II., by the Act of Settlement, four millions +and a half of acres were for ever taken from the Irish. "This +country," says the Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant in 1675, "has been +perpetually rent and torn since his Majesty's restoration. I can +compare it to nothing better than the flinging the reward on the +death of a deer among the pack of hounds, where every one pulls and +tears where he can for himself." All wool grown in Ireland was, by +Act of Parliament, compelled to be sold to England; and Irish cattle +were excluded from England. The English, however, were pleased to +accept 30,000 head of cattle, sent as a gift from Ireland to the +sufferers in the great fire! and the first day of the Sessions, +after this act of munificence, the Parliament passed fresh acts of +exclusion against the productions of that country. + + +"Among the many anomalous situations in which the Irish have been +placed, by those 'marriage vows, false as dicers' oaths,' which bind +their country to England, the dilemma in which they found themselves +at the Revolution was not the less perplexing or cruel. If they +were loyal to the King de jure, they were hanged by the King de +facto; and if they escaped with life from the King de facto, it was +but to be plundered and proscribed by the King de jure afterwards. + + +"'Hac gener atque socer coeant mercede suorum.'--VIRGIL. + +"'In a manner so summary, prompt, and high mettled, +Twixt father and son-in-law matters were settled.' + + +"In fact, most of the outlawries in Ireland were for treason +committed the very day on which the Prince and Princess of Orange +accepted the crown in the Banqueting-house; though the news of this +event could not possibly have reached the other side of the Channel +on the same day, and the Lord-Lieutenant of King James, with an army +to enforce obedience, was at that time in actual possession of the +government, so little was common sense consulted, or the mere +decency of forms observed, by that rapacious spirit, which nothing +less than the confiscation of the whole island could satisfy; and +which having, in the reign of James I. and at the Restoration, +despoiled the natives of no less than ten millions six hundred and +thirty-six thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven acres, now added +to its plunder one million sixty thousand seven hundred and ninety- +two acres more, being the amount altogether (according to Lord +Clare's calculation) of the whole superficial contents of the +island! + +"Thus, not only had ALL Ireland suffered confiscation in the course +of this century, but no inconsiderable portion of it had been twice +and even thrice confiscated. Well might Lord Clare say, 'that the +situation of the Irish nation, at the Revolution, stands +unparalleled in the history of the inhabited world.'" (pp. 111- +113.) + + +By the Articles of Limerick, the Irish were promised the free +exercise of their religion; but from that period to the year 1788, +every year produced some fresh penalty against that religion, some +liberty was abridged, some right impaired, or some suffering +increased. By acts in King William's reign, they were prevented +from being solicitors. No Catholic was allowed to marry a +Protestant; and any Catholic who sent a son to Catholic countries +for education was to forfeit all his lands. In the reign of Queen +Anne, any son of a Catholic who chose to turn Protestant got +possession of the father's estate. No Papist was allowed to +purchase freehold property, or to take a lease for more than thirty +years. If a Protestant dies intestate, the estate is to go to the +next PROTESTANT heir, though all to the tenth generation should be +Catholic. In the same manner, if a Catholic dies intestate, his +estate is to go to the next Protestant. No Papist is to dwell in +Limerick or Galway. No Papist is to take an annuity for life. The +widow of a Papist turning Protestant to have a portion of the +chattels of deceased in spite of any will. Every Papist teaching +schools to be presented as a regular Popish convict. Prices of +catching Catholic priests, from 50s. to 10 pounds, according to +rank. Papists are to answer all questions respecting other Papists, +or to be committed to jail for twelve months. No trust to be +undertaken for Papists. No Papist to be on Grand Juries. Some +notion may be formed of the spirit of those times, from an order of +the House of Commons, "that the Sergeant-at-Arms should take into +custody all Papists that should presume to come into THE GALLERY!" +(Commons' Journal, vol. iii., fol. 976.) During this reign the +English Parliament legislated as absolutely for Ireland as they do +now for Rutlandshire, an evil not to be complained of, if they had +done it as justly. In the reign of George I., the horses of Papists +were seized for the militia, and rode by Protestants; towards which +the Catholics paid double, and were compelled to find Protestant +substitutes. They were prohibited from voting at vestries, or being +high or petty constables. An act of the English Parliament in this +reign opens as follows: --"Whereas attempts have been lately made to +shake off the subjection of Ireland to the Imperial Crown of these +realms, be it enacted," etc. etc. In the reign of George II. four- +sixths of the population were cut off from the right of voting at +elections by the necessity under which they were placed of taking +the oath of supremacy. Barristers and solicitors marrying Catholics +are exposed to all the penalties of Catholics. Persons robbed by +privateers during a war with a Catholic State are to be indemnified +by a levy on the Catholic inhabitants of the neighbourhood. All +marriages between Catholics and Protestants are annulled. All +Popish priests celebrating them are to be hanged. "This system" +(says Arthur Young) "has no other tendency than that of driving out +of the kingdom all the personal wealth of the Catholics, and +extinguishing their industry within it; and the face of the country, +every object which presents itself to travellers, tells him how +effectually this has been done."--Young's Tour in Ireland, vol. ii., +p. 48. + + +Such is the history of Ireland--for we are now at our own times; and +the only remaining question is, whether the system of improvement +and conciliation begun in the reign of George III. shall be pursued, +and the remaining incapacities of the Catholics removed, or all +these concessions be made insignificant by an adherence to that +spirit of proscription which they professed to abolish? Looking to +the sense and reason of the thing, and to the ordinary working of +humanity and justice, when assisted, as they are here, by self- +interest and worldly policy, it might seem absurd to doubt of the +result. But looking to the facts and the persons by which we are +now surrounded, we are constrained to say that we greatly fear that +these incapacities never will be removed till they are removed by +fear. What else, indeed, can we expect when we see them opposed by +such enlightened men as Mr. Peel--faintly assisted by men of such +admirable genius as Mr. Canning--when Royal Dukes consider it as a +compliment to the memory of their father to continue this miserable +system of bigotry and exclusion, when men act ignominiously and +contemptibly on this question, who do so on no other question, when +almost the only persons zealously opposed to this general baseness +and fatuity are a few Whigs and Reviewers, or here and there a +virtuous poet like Mr. Moore? We repeat again, that the measure +never will be effected but by fear. In the midst of one of our just +and necessary wars, the Irish Catholics will compel this country to +grant them a great deal more than they at present require or even +contemplate. We regret most severely the protraction of the +disease, and the danger of the remedy; but in this way it is that +human affairs are carried on! + +We are sorry we have nothing for which to praise Administration on +the subject of the Catholic question, but it is but justice to say, +that they have been very zealous and active in detecting fiscal +abuses in Ireland, in improving mercantile regulations, and in +detecting Irish jobs. The commission on which Mr. Wallace presided +has been of the greatest possible utility, and does infinite credit +to the Government. The name of Mr. Wallace in any commission has +now become a pledge to the public that there is a real intention to +investigate and correct abuse. He stands in the singular +predicament of being equally trusted by the rulers and the ruled. +It is a new era in Government when such men are called into action; +and if there were not proclaimed and fatal limits to that +ministerial liberality, which, so far as it goes, we welcome without +a grudge and praise without a sneer, we might yet hope that, for the +sake of mere consistency, they might be led to falsify our +forebodings. But alas! there are motives more immediate, and +therefore irresistible; and the time is not yet come when it will be +believed easier to govern Ireland by the love of the many than by +the power of the few, when the paltry and dangerous machinery of +bigoted faction and prostituted patronage may be dispensed with, and +the vessel of the State be propelled by the natural current of +popular interests and the breath of popular applause. In the +meantime, we cannot resist the temptation of gracing our conclusion +with the following beautiful passage, in which the author alludes to +the hopes that were raised at another great era of partial +concession and liberality, that of the revolution of 1782, when, +also, benefits were conferred which proved abortive because they +were incomplete, and balm poured into the wound, where the envenomed +shaft was yet left to rankle. + + +"And here," says the gallant Captain Rock, "as the free confession +of weakness constitutes the chief charm and use of biography, I will +candidly own that the dawn of prosperity and concord which I now saw +breaking over the fortunes of my country, so dazzled and deceived my +youthful eyes, and so unsettled every hereditary notion of what I +owed to my name and family, that--shall I confess it--I even hailed +with pleasure the prospects of peace and freedom that seemed opening +around me; nay, was ready, in the boyish enthusiasm of the moment, +to sacrifice all my own personal interest in all future riots and +rebellions to the one bright, seducing object of my country's +liberty and repose. + +"When I contemplated such a man as the venerable Charlemont, whose +nobility was to the people like a fort over a valley, elevated above +them solely for their defence; who introduced the polish of the +courtier into the camp of the freeman, and served his country with +all that pure Platonic devotion which a true knight in the time of +chivalry proffered to his mistress; when I listened to the eloquence +of Grattan, the very music of freedom, her first fresh matin song, +after a long night of slavery, degradation, and sorrow; when I saw +the bright offerings which he brought to the shrine of his country-- +wisdom, genius, courage, and patience, invigorated and embellished +by all those social and domestic virtues, without which the loftiest +talents stand isolated in the moral waste around them, like the +pillars of Palmyra towering in a wilderness!--when I reflected on +all this, it not only disheartened me for the mission of discord +which I had undertaken, but made me secretly hope that it might be +rendered unnecessary; and that a country which could produce such +men and achieve such a revolution, might yet--in spite of the joint +efforts of the Government and my family--take her rank in the scale +of nations, and be happy! + +"My father, however, who saw the momentary dazzle by which I was +affected, soon drew me out of this false light of hope in which I +lay basking, and set the truth before me in a way but too convincing +and ominous. 'Be not deceived, boy,' he would say, 'by the +fallacious appearances before you. Eminently great and good as is +the man to whom Ireland owes this short era of glory, OUR work, +believe me, will last longer than his. We have a power on our side +that "will not willingly let us die;" and, long after Grattan shall +have disappeared from earth like that arrow shot into the clouds by +Alcestes, effecting nothing, but leaving a long train of light +behind him, the family of the ROCKS will continue to flourish in all +their native glory, upheld by the ever-watchful care of the +Legislature, and fostered by that "nursing-mother of Liberty," the +Church.'" + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg eText Peter Plymley's Letters etc. + diff --git a/old/ptpml10.zip b/old/ptpml10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..611f914 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ptpml10.zip |
