SKETCH OF THE 73 C STATE OF IRELAND, PAST AND PRESENT. Imperaturus es hominibus, qiii nee totam scrvitutem pati possunt, nee totam libertatera. Tacit. Hist. i. 16. EIGHTH EDITION. DUBLIN: M. N. MAHON, 116, GRAFT0N-6TR EET. 1822. Daniel Graisberrj', Printer. ADVERTISEMENr TO THIS EDITION. THE Reader is requested to observe that the following pages were written in 1807, and pub- lished in the beginning of 1808. The corrections that have been since made, are verbal or expla- natory. No substantial alteration has been thought necessary, Dec, 20th, 1821. Q 1 f) f> TO THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS WELLESLEY, hOKD LIEUTENANT GENERAL AND GENERAL GOVERNOR OF IRELAND, ^C. S^C. S^C. MY LORD, I REQUEST you to perusc the following pages. Our sentiments probably may not, in every instance, accord ; but I trust I shall convince your Lordship, that the state of Ireland not only deserves your attention, but im- periously calls upon you, as a Statesman and an Irishman, to exert your great and increasing in- fluence in her cause 5 hitherto so constantly mismanaged and so often betrayed. A SKETCH OF THE STATE OF IRELAND, PAST AND PRESENT.. I. An author ambitious of fame should write the Object of the work. history of transactions that are past, and of men that are no more ; desirous of profit, he should, seek it from the prejudiced liberality of a party : but he whose object is his country, must hope for neither ; and, shrouded in disinterested obscurity, should speak of sects and factions not what they desire, but what they deserve, to hear : to his impartiality, his own times should be as those of Charles or James ; and the ministers, bigots, and demagogues of his day, as Laud or Prynne, as Fitton, Hamilton, or Tyrconnell. B ties. STATE OF IRELAND, And this style of writing— least popular, least profitable — is at all times the most difficult, and in bad times the most dangerous : power, always quick in revenge, is quickest in reaching its lite- rary opponents ; and the populace is never more slanderous than in arraigning the motives of him who would curb their violence, itsdifficui- II. These disadvantages, great every where, are in Ireland oppressive ; where impartiality sel- dom thinks, and never writes : party the only dis- tinction, passion the only incitement ; where the faction in and the faction out, Orangemen and Defenders, coercers and revolutionists, the English administration and the Irish directory, have divided between them the press and the nation* I am therefore aware ^thatt; my undertaking is a rash and imprudent novelty^ attractive neither of the light nor of the grave, of this junto or that. To speak what I feel, — to tell what I see, — to sketch with a true but transient pencil, the state of Ireland, and, in considering the evils and the remedies, to deliver an unbought and unbigoted opinion on the measure of Catholic emancipation : to doubt whether I shall be heard j to be assured PAST AND PRESENT. tliat, if heard, I shall offend j to do my duty, without hope, but not without fear 5 — those are my objects, this my situation ; — the inevitable fate of contemporary truth. III. From the date of the English establish- English conquest ment in Ireland, first effected, afterwards ex- ^"'p*'^'^'- tended, finally secured, by domestic treachery and nQg, tlie foreign sword, there was, till the last century, no civil government. The king's deputies, and the deputies of the deputies, were strangers and soldiers, needy and tyrannical ; their duty, con- quest J their reward, plunder ; their residence^ an encampment ; their administration, a campaign ! The Capital and a small neighbourhood, emphati- cally called the English Pale, acknowledged theoretic existence, but enjoyed not the practical benefit of laws. As the superior arms or arts of the settlers changed turbulent neighbours into re- bellious subjects, the Pale was enlarged, but they had no laws to dispense, no civilisation to commu- nicate. I will not wade through the blood of a continual rebellion and intermittent massacres, nor through recriminations nearly as odious, and retaliations quite as bloody. Prized should the land be, every foot of which has been, fought ; B 2 * STATE OF IRELAND, and fertile the country manured by the indiscri- minate slaughter of her sons and her step-sons ! Suffice it to say, the riotous discontent of the half- subdued drew down the suspicious severity of the half-established, and this protracted and barbarous struggle effected by degrees the degradation of botK State of IV. I pass over the alternate ravages of Charles Ireland at the Revoiu- and Cromwell, to arrive at the almost Theban 164-6 contest of James and William — the lawful, but in- 16SS. tolerant and intolerable possessor of the throne, and the unamiable, but enlightened and necessary instrument of his expulsion. Of the Irish, there had been no Religious Re- Jormation ; illiterate, they could not find their own way ; and poor, they had little to tempt the missionaries of Henry the Vlllth : all, therefore, in Ireland, that was Irish, was Papist ; almost all that was English, was Protestant. James was a Papist, and William a politician, much more than they were Christians. The blind devo- tion of the former recommended him to the love and loyalty of the natives, while it exposed him to the fear and enmity of the settlers Hence a PAST AND PRESENT. 5 war, perhaps not yet concluded ; and feuds, con- fessed to be unextinguished. V. Offended, neglected, and despised by their Revolution- respective princes, the two parties evinced a generous attachment to their fortunes. But the greater merit is here with the adherents of James. He, to insult and neglect of his followers, added weakness, and meanness, and cruelty, and cow- ardice, and defeat ; while William — though the friend only of Holland, and the enemy of Ireland — was a conqueror and a hero, had won three king- doms, and deserved to win them. Between such men, it was not fortune that de- cided J the courage of James fled at the battle of the Boyne, and even his hopes expired in the treaty of Limerick. By conquest and by capi- KjQi, tulation, the triumph of William was complete ; as complete, at least, as he desired. Ireland in- deed was not tranquillised, but his throne was secured. With war enough at home, she had none to invade the shores of her neighbour. William seized her as an outwork of England, as he took Namur for the safety of Holland. But though James had abandoned the Irish, the Measures Irish had not abandoned James : against his undis- Jacobites. 6 STATE OF IRELAND, turbed predecessors, they had maintained desultory but implacable war ; to him, expelled and outlawed, they exhibited, as were their character and custom, ' a perverse loyalty, like their perverse rebellion, blind to its object, and atrocious in its measures. 1689. While James and his power lingered in Ireland, he assembled a pseudo-parliament. He had chosen ^the members ; he chose the measures— 1st the act of repeal, justifying all rebellion, breaking all faith ; 2d the act of attainder, proscribing thou- sands by name, and millions by inference ; 3d the act for liberty of conscience, licence to the papists^ hardship to the reformed. The whole closed with the subversion of established institutions, dilapi- dation of cliurches, spoliation of bishoprics, de- nunciation, plunder, and oppression of the whole Protestant community. Penal laws VII. From the Papist, thus lately tyrannical, pists. now subdued, the Protestant thought it justifiable to subtract all power. Obsolete penalties were revived, and new restraint enacted — of their am- bition from the senate, their partiality from the magistracy, their force from the field : that in- fluence, often misused, sliould not be regained, 1 703. possessions were forfeited, acquisitions forbidden ; PAST AND PRESENT. that disaffection, as it was natural, should be ini" potent, weapons of offence were stricken from their hands, and the means of resistance removed, as its causes were multiplied. The retaliation was complete ; not so its justi- fication. William had ratified the articles of Li. merick, and broke them ; — a policy useful to him and his near successors, fatal to us ; ensuring temporary tranquillity, and lasting dissension. Contempt would have extinguished the Popish superstition, proscription has perpetuated it. The sword had failed, while both had swords ; the law had failed, while it existed but for one ; the alliance of the law and the sword effected some- thing. It has been called a peace, and a truce — it was a pause — * to the Catholics,* said Mr* Grattan eloquently, * a sad servitude, to the Pro- * testants a drunken triumph ;' but, had James prevailed, it had been to the Protestants neither sad nor servitude, but death ! to the Catholics a triumph, not drunken, but bloody ! This, ex- perience deduces from the ferocious bigotry of that sect at that day ; this, history writes or warrants ; this, Mr. Grattan, in his candour and intelligence, does not doubt. 8 STATE OF IRELAND, English in- VIII. Where the warfare of the nations ceased, 1 698. ^^^^ ®^ their Parliaments began : the English to assume new, or to assert ancient superiority ; the Irish to deny the latter, and to resist both. Then Molyneux wrote his Case of Ireland^ valuable for its matter, important in its effect, interesting as the dawn of political discussion. It shook the presumption of one parliament, and fortified the confidence of the other. Hence a more modern policy : the seat and style of the discussion was changed ; the contest was no longer between the senates themselves, but between the adherents of each in the Irish parliament. A supremacy more complete than she dared to claim as of right, England now established by influence — a courteous name for profligacy on one side, and prostitution on the other. Hence a degraded population, a hireling aris- tocracy, a corrupt government ; hence the low intrigues, meanness, and misery, of three gene- rations. From the reign of William to that of George the Illd— a long pause in the annals 1715. of our turbulence — during two Jacobite invasions, 1745. while half England was hesitating, and Scot- PAST AND PRESENT. 9 land had treasonably decided between the Pro- testant prince and Popish pretender, Ireland was tranquil ; in allegiance sullen, perhaps, but unbroken. But this is all the historian has to tell ; the rest was the squabble of petty pretenders to power, unimportant even in its day, contemp- tible in ours ; youth became age, and age sank into the grave in silence and ignorance : for our glory nothing was achieved, for our improvement nothing attempted : almost a century is almost a blank. IX. With one great exception. On this gloom, character of Dean one luminary rose ; and Ireland worshipped it Swift. with almost Persian idolatry : personal resent- ment was, perhaps, the first motive of the pa- triotism of Swift, but it assumed in its progress a higher port, and directed itself by nobler con- siderations. The jealousy of the partisan soon expanded into the generous devotion of a patriot, and the power of his mind and the firmness of his character raised him to an ascendancy which no other individual ever attained or deserved ; above suspicion, he was trusted 5 above envy, he was beloved ; above rivalry, he was obeyed. His wisdom was at once practical and prophetic j re- 10 STATE OF IRELAND, medial for the present, warning for the future : he first taught Ireland that she might hccome a nation, and England that she might cease to be a despot. But he was a churchman. His gown impeded his course, and entangled his efforts ; guiding a senate, or heading an army, he had perhaps been equal to Cromwell, and Ireland not less than England : as it was, he saved her by his courage, improved her by his authority, adorned her by his talents, and exalted her by his fame. 1 724. His mission was but of ten years j and for ten 1734. years only did his personal power mitigate the government : but when no longer feared by the great, he was yet not forgotten by the wise ; his influence, like his writings, has survived a cen- tury ; and the foundations of whatever prosperity we have since erected, are laid in the disinterested and magnanimous patriotism of Swift. This is not digression, it is instruction ; jus- tice to the dead, example to the living, it is the debt we owe, and the precept we should incul- cate ; when such a man is emulated, his country is redeemed. Declaration X. The acccssion of Gcorffe the Hid. was to of inde- ^ pendence. Ireland the tera, not of her independence, but of PAST AND PRESENT. 11 the diffusion of those principles, which twenty years after effected, and in twenty years more de- stroyed it. Of the injustice of England towards America, the retribution was signal, and the result univer- sal. Ambition was foiled, obstinacy subdued : and oppression on one conferred freedom on both shores of the Atlantic. While her right arm was employed in scourging or curbing America, the reins and rod of Ireland were forced from the other ; and distress resigned what generosity would never have bestowed. Ireland thought that she had attained the maturity at which the pu- pilage of a people should cease ; and she under- i^gg^ took, in the pride of heart, the management of her own revenues, the regulation of her own fa- mily, and the maintenance of her own rank in the society of nations. XI. Of this revolution, bloodless, or only Character of Mr. bought with American blood, Mr. Grattan was Grattan. the leader. His history is now identified with his country's, and even his character may be as- similated to hers. A mind impetuous, and de- termined ; views not always correct, but always generous j an eloquence peculiar and popular ; in 12 STATE OF IRELAND, a delivery somewhat fantastical, but most impres- sive ; gentle manners j a feeling heart ; undaunted spirit ; in private, most of what is amiable ; in public, much of what is great. Flattered and reviled, alternately and intemperately, he has been worshipped and branded, as a saviour and as a traitor — that exageration, this falsehood. What he sought for Ireland he did not always obtain ; much of what he obtained has reverted ; much of what has not reverted is injurious : this is not sal- vation. Too true to his party to be always just towards his opponents— too fond of liberty to be always on his guard against licence, the public eye, incapable of nice distinctions in perilous times, confounded him with agitators with whom he had nothing in common but some hasty expressions, and some indiscreet and untimely opinions j when at last the crisis came, he injudiciously retired from the senate, and abandoned for a moment his station in the country. But this was not treason. Thus, however, living characters are drawn. XII. The lifetime of our independence was short, its author is still * living, his measure already • These sheets were first published in 1808. Mr. Grattan died in 1 820, in the enjoyment of the undivided respect of all parties, and the unanimous admiration of his country. PAST AND PRESENT. JS dead : * he sate by its cradle, he followed its hearse/ Murmurs against this dispensation of Providence have arisen, but unjustly. The being, ^ from its mother* s womb untimely ripped,* was faint and feeble ; the dissolution, though sudden, was natural 5 though early, not premature. Totally separated from England, an inde- pendent existence was, perhaps, possible — but while the connexion, however modified, subsisted, it was visionary. The claim of right was extin- guished, but the activity of influence was sub- tilised and invigorated. It was in nature that the greater should rule the less ; it was in nature too, that, intoxicated with fancies of freedom, Ireland should revolt at the reality of dependence ; too powerful for a province, too weak for a rival ; the consequences were inevitable— a Rebellion and the Union. XIII. In force for nearly a century of quiet. Relaxation the popery laws had been lately mitigated, codef" Elated at this favour, while independence was 1778. in progress, the Catholics expected to be trium- pha?itf on its establishment — not unreasonably. Of Great Britain and Ireland they were an in- considerable sect ; of solitary Ireland an im- 1* STATE OP IRELAND, portant majority. In its narrow scale of poli- tics, they hoped for weight, perhaps prepon- derance ! in vain — the independence was nomi- nal ; the connexion real. Disappointment en- sued, and dissatisfaction. Nor were these con- fined to the Catholics. The volunteers, a great body of all religions, heated by popular dis- cussions in military assemblies— confiding in their arms and numbers — bold in their impu- nity, and infected with licentious politics, had wishes which they dared not speak, and would gladly have taken what it were treason to de- mand. Provincial XIV. lu this tumult the Catholic was again exigent, and the Protestant indifferent, or fa- vourable ; further relaxation ensued, and more general tumult. Minds became unsettled ; the state feeble, insurrection strong. In the north, an armed parliament discussed constitutional theories and despised the existent laws : but confined itself to I784, speculative treason. In the south there was actual war : midnight insurgents seized whole counties ; at the close of the day the populace rose, and all was confusion and cruelty, flakes of fire and PAST AND PRESENT. 15 streams of blood, till the dawn ; — evils real or imaginary, the excuses ; evils monstrous and in- evitable, the consequences. They evaded the 1787' law, they escaped the sword ; at last they defied both. The nights were nights of plunder, the days of punishment, and both of horror. Then, as now, the disease was referred to the severities of the popery code, and tithe system — and the remedy suggested was the re- peal of both. But the alleged grounds of Irish insurrection are seldom real. The rebel- lion is raised first, and the grievance found afterwards ; as between individuals of our na- tion, the quarrel often prece^^^ the ostensible oflPence. XV. While further indukences to the Ca- ,F"'^^'- «- '^ laxation. tholics were granted, and others in progress, ,^-j^ the French revolution, having filled its own country brimful with misery, began to over- flow upon ours. Much of that event Ireland had already anticipated ; for the rest she was prepared. She had had her national Iconveii' Hon, her national guards, and her regenerated constitution ; she too was doomed to have her massacres, her desolation. The course some- l6 STATE OF IRELAND, what less bloody, the crisis shorter, and the event more fortunate, but neither totally dissimilar. 1798. Again, the claims of the Catholics — and again, the concession of the government ; the offensive code repealed in more than they desired— almost all that it contained ; nothing reserved, but the command of armies, the dignities of the law, the senate and the throne. And thus the question now stands ! — where will it rest ? Character XVI. In obtaining these concessions, Mr. of Lord . Clare. Grattan was aided by Gardiner, lord Mountjoy, and O'Neil, lord O'Neil, the earliest friends of the Catholics, tlie /lirst victims of the rebellion. Against them sto^sj^fj^jsometimes alone, Fitzgibbon, earl of Clare ; a n* n not to be omitted in even a sJietch of Irish history. Of extraordinary en- dowments, great acquisitions, and transcendant arrogance. Bold and voluble in his speech, daring in his counsels, and fixed in his resolves, the stature of his mind overtopped his asso- ciates, and collef^ted upon him the eyes of all, the shafts of many. An humble origin could not moderate his pride ; though success and almost supreme power, seemed to temper it. PAST AND PRESENT. 17 In wrath, less violent, than sudden ; in revenge, not frequent, but implacable ; he deserved more political friends, fewer enemies ; but there was something in him that would be obeyed, and his opponents fled, and his party fell before his victorious and envied ascendancy. As chan- cellor, like Shaftesbury, he had no enemy j and administered just?fce with undivided applause. In private, he was amiable ; to his family, his friends, and his followers, indulgent, faithful, and generous. In peaceful times, he would have been beloved — and lost. In days of fer- ment, if a demagogue, he would have shaken, as when minister he supported, the pillars of the state. The popish religion he thought unfavourable to freedom and knowledge ; its professors, hostile to the government and constitution. Hence his op- position to all indulgences of that sect ; always consistent — often imprudent. As Mr. Grattan was called traitor — so was Lord Clare — tyrant, with equal exaggeration. When prejudices shall be buried in the graves of these illustrious rivals, we shall probably confess that both were sincere, both fallible j both honest, — c 18 STATE OF IRELAND, both mistaken ; — human in their errors and pas- sions, immortal by their virtues and patriotism. 0/1793!" XVII. The hordes of petty rebels, that for twenty years, under twenty barbarous names and pretences, had harassed the land, now sank into one great union against all civil and eccle- siastical institutions — it was the legacy of the American contest paid by !^rance. The con- flagration was general : war on every side : in Ulster of politics ; elsewhere, of bigotry. The 1798. Dissenter fought — the Papist massacred — the Loyalist cut down both. Some provocation there may have been ; much vengeance there was : but where most, if any, provocation, least slaughter, no cruelty ; where no previous oppres- sion, most blood, much torture. The details of of this rebellion, realising all we read of 1641, I am willing to omit ; but its objects must not be forgotten — that of the Dissenters— a republic 5 that of the Papists — popish ascendancy ; of both, connexion with France, separation from England. Its results too are important ; Union with Eng- land, separation from France, and both, we trusty eternal. XVIII. From the principles of 1782 sprang PAST AND PRESENT. 19 inevitably connexion with France, or Union with England, The late and decided atrocities accelerated the choice — not without hesitation. A haughty aristocracy and a proud people did not easily resign their power and their name ; nor an aspiring gentry their hopes ; all about to be lost in British ascendancy. The aversion was almost unanimous, and twice victorious. But Mr. Pitt was undaunted : he saw that this vital mea- sure, once proposed, must be carried, or the country lost ; and fortunately Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, then Minister in Ireland, happened to possess the qualities that were necessary to se- cond so great a design. Young and inexperienced — unknown in busi- ness—little known in the world — unconnected with either of the great political parties which had so long divided the Irish Senate, Lord Castle- reagh would not have been selected by an ordinary mind for the conduct of such a measure, which involved every branch of national policy — struck every string of public and private feeling, and awakened all the prejudices and all the passions of individuals, of parties, of sects, and of nations ! But those who knew him judged better ; his inexpe- c2 20 STATE OF IRELAND, rience was compensated by an intuitive knowledge of mankind — his youth was moderated by temper and self-possession ; and the highest intrepidity, softened by the gentlest manners, gave him an even more than moral influence which — in a popular assembly, at once, violent and punctilious — neither rank, nor wealth, nor even talents alone could have obtained. It is the painful lot of a minister that he has to deal with the infirmities of the human mind, and that those who are insensible to higher mo- tives must be urged by the incentives which they are capable of feeling. The opponents of the Union charged its pro- moters with deception, intimidation, corruption — and though the extent of these arts was probably exafffferated, no doubt much was done which many would think unjustifiable, and which all would agree to be unavowable. But those, who denounced these acts of the Ministers, were obliged, by the same necessity, to practise them. The rage of the people was op- posed to the allurements of the Court ; popularity bid against favor, hope against fear, and re- signation was sometiuies consoled by the hopes of PAST AND PRESENT. 21 a reversion : — both parties addressed themselves to the best passions of mankind, and to the worst ; but with different success j — the honest preferred England to France ; the base, possession to ex- pectancy; and the act of Union was passed— strange to add, not only without bloodshed, but almost without violence. But the parties had been rather enthusiastic than cordial. Each feared its own success ; the Opposition theirs, as dan- gerous — the Unionists theirs, as degrading — to the country. The victory was without triumph, and the defeat without dejection. XIX. The Earl of Hardwicke's succeeded LordHard- wicke's ad- the Union administration. His counsels — ^by his ministra- tion. friends alleged not to be his own — were weak and double. By his public and private gentleness, some ostentatious charity, and the universal pur- chase of the press, the shadow of popularity was ac- quired, but this shadow, with which he was content- ed, deceived England, and darkened Ireland. In- activity, on the part of the Government, was called mildness and conciliation— sullenness on that of the People, content and gratitude. On 1803» this calm of conciliation and content, burst forth another rebellion ; short in its duration, 22 STATE OF IRELAND, contemptible in it actions, but serious by its unsounded depth and unknown extent. It was the policy of that day to under-rate the dan- ger ; and the peril of Ireland was forgotten in a squabble between the governor and the general, Mr. Pitt. XX. In aid of the Union the Ministry had courted the Catholics ; but they found the So- vereign averse to any further concession ; and were reduced to the necessity of vindicating their 1801. honor by a resignation of their power. In such aflfairs a minister should not promise without a previous authority to perform, nor is his resig- nation any satisfaction to those, whose cause that resignation only renders more desperate. 1804. Mr. Pitt's conduct while out of office had no relation to Irish affairs ; but his return to power ought to have had. This the Catholics felt — they were the holders of his promises, and they now demanded their amount. The minister could not deny the debt, but asked time, to pay. He would have temporised : but England is not tole- rant of popery, nor Ireland of suspense j both 1805. parties hastened on to discussion, in which the Catholic was successfully opposed by the minis- ters, who had, a few years before, favoured — PAST AND PRESENT. 23 and violently supported by the opposition, who, a few years after, sacrificed him. Such are the inconsistencies of faction. Ireland sank back into her silence; and all again was mild and grateful and hollow : a halcyon calm, momentary and delusive. The stupendous conquests of the French, the dissolution of the whole European system, astounded the loyal and inspirited the disaffected ; — the death of Mr. Pitt — dying, probably, of the general despair — deep- ened the gloom, and the choice of the new mi- nistry did not alleviate the anxieties of the friends of civil and ecclesiastical establishments in Ire- land, in England, or in Europe. Such was the state of things when the depar- 1 806. ture of Lord Hardwicke bequeathed to his suc- cessor insurrection in five counties, discontent in twenty, and agitation in all. XXI. That* successor was John Duke of Adminis- tration of Bedford, amiable and honourable, but by party the Duke of Bedford. connexions unfitted for the station of Viceroy of Ireland. The brother of Francis — that inconsist- ent Duke, whose democratical folly Burke has • The Earl of Powis was named by Mr. Pitt's ministry to succeed Lord Hardwicke, but he never came to Ireland, ^4 STATE OF IRELAND, immortalised. — He inherited likewise his influence, his politics and his party. That party, Mr. Fox conducted in England, and the Ponsonby*s in Ireland. In opposition at the time of the French Revolution, they naturally but unfortunately con- nected themselves with the friends of that event. But that event was too strong for them and for itself — Revolution became subversion. Entan- gled in its anarchy, they could neither restrain their associates, nor disengage themselves ; and Europe saw with wonder a British aristocracy in- terchanging praises and principles with the demo- crats of France. wuft'e XXII. They repented, no doubt, but in pri- vate ; and, until they had given ministerial proofs of their conversion, they possessed the disgraceful confidence of the ill-affected in all countries. At their exaltation, the intemperance of their late associates in Ireland knew no bounds : the advent of the Whig viceroy w^as hailed by the same voices which had before welcomed the French, To his first levee crowded, in the levelling au- dacity of their joy, persons of every rank, ex- cept the highest; of every description, but the loyal. From their concealment or exile suddenly disaffected. PAST ANB PRESENT. 25 emerged the unexecuted patriots of 1798, beard- ing and insulting the very magistrates before whom they had been convicted. Some indiscreet legal promotions, some ill-advised civil appoint- ments, raised to confidence the hopes of those fa- natics ; but raised only to overthrow. The vice- roy, awakened to his sense and dignity, and the chancellor— Ponsonby — respectable by his birth and talents, were disgusted at the vulgar fellow- ship, and alarmed at the traitorous insolence. They did something, and should have done more, to the repression of both j but they wished not, or dared not, to exasperate an unforgiving faction ; and by their want of decision lost one party without gaining the other; all were disaffected or dissatisfied. Though beyond the strict limits of my essay, it is right to say that in European politics also, the ministry disappointed the hopes of their for- mer friends, before they had time to conciliate the good will of their late antagonists. After an ill-judged but consistent effort at peace, they found themselves obliged to adopt the policy they had so long reprobated ; and no doubt they would have pursued it with firmness and zeal. — But the Irish Catholics were again to dis- 26 STATE OF IRELAND, solve a British ministry. The opinion of the Sovereign with regard to them vi^as known to be unchanged, and every intreaty and in- trigue were employed by the ministry to dis- suade the Catholics from anodier parliamentayy appeal for indulgence. But the Catholics were re- solved on the attempt, and I cannot blame their re- solution ; I did not think it untimely, I can never think it unjust ; I approved their pressure upon Mr. Pitt — I cannot disapprove their earnestness with Mr. Fox, but I blame, I denounce, as traitorous to the constitution and ruinous to their cause, the speeches then published by their pretended and pernicious friends ; — fatal advocates ! if, indeed, their real object was Catholic emancipation, and not Catholic insurrection. Catholic XXIII. To stifle this appeal, that threatened Bill of 5 1807. jt with dissolution, the ministry proposed a substi- tute—an expedient — to quiet the Catholic, to con- ciliate the king, and thus to keep their places permanently. It had a double face, this measure ; and I scarcely know by which to describe it. It was represented — to the Catholic, as opening to him every rank of military honour ; to the king, as giving nothing new, but merely raising the ' English Catholic to the Irish level. In Dublin, PAST AND PRESENT. 27 it was blazoned as a triumph to Ireland ; at Wind- sor, it was mitigated into mere justice to Eng- land: — but the fraud met its fate; the British king refused to decorate the Roman triumph. Scorned by the Sovereign, by the Catholic, and by the Protestant, the ministry were driven from the cabinet, and at the ensuing elections hardly found their way into the senate. I regret, not the loss of this bill, but that it, or a more liberal, * was not candidly proposed, and honestly carried. I lament, not that those mi- nisters lost their places, but that their deserved failure has disgraced and endangered a good cause, and disappointed and disturbed an unhappy people. XXIV. Thus far we have walked in the foot- Remediei. steps of time, and heard the voice of history. Events lead us to experience, experience to im- provement. There remain then for inquiry the present evil — the future remedy. Nations have moral as well as physical climates ; and no good is practicable, no institution can be permanent, that is not fitted to the national tem- * An act of the same purport, — 57 Geo. III. c. 92,— passed in 1807 without opposition, almost without observation. 28 STATE OF IRELAND, perament. The plant of the east withers in the west, the animal of the north degenerates in the south. We have but lately and imperfectly learned, that political modes which exalt one country may debase another. The self-confidence of England in her system, may be wisdom at home, but it is folly abroad ; she would legislate for Corsica and India, as for Wales or Devon, and hast lost one, and risked the loss of the other. France, by the converse of the same madness, introduced foreign principles into her government, and lost herself. Humanity re- joices that she has arisen from the grave of demo- cracy ; and those even who think worst of Buona- parte, assent to my reasoning, by attributing his success to the congeniality of his institutions. He has re-established the throne of the Bourbons to seat himself in it. Ireland— and in a greater degree than other countries — has feelings that must be flattered j and prejudices and habits, that, to be conquered, must be soothed. She must not be stretched on the Procrustan bed, and lopped or lengthened to an iron scale. Those that legislate for her should PAST AND PRESENT. 29 know her, and their system should be elastic and accommodating. Thus impressed, I trace the outline of our man- ners freely, and, if I can, truly. XXV. Its popular character and customs dis- ^"^^ '^^•" '■ * racter tinguish and disincline Ireland from England. Varieties have been sought in the national dis- position, referable to the double origin of the Irish people, in vain : however differing in rank, party, or ancestry, they bear the indelible mark of a common nativity. Restless, yet indolent ; shrewd, and indiscreet ; impetuous, impatient, and impro- vident ; instinctively brave, thoughtlessly gene- rous; quick to resent and forgive offences, to form and renounce friendships j they will forgive injury rather than insult ; their country's good they seldom, their own they carelessly, pursue, but the honour of both they eagerly vindicate j op- pression they have long borne, insolence never. With genius they are profusely gifted, with judg- ment sparingly ; to acquire knowledge they find more easy than to arrange and employ it : inferior in vanity only to the French, and in wit superior perhaps even to the Italian, they are more able to give, and more ready to receive, amusement than 30 STATE OF IRELAND, instruction j in raillery and adulation they freely indulge, but without malignity or baseness. It is the singular temper of this people, that they are prone equally to satirize and to praise, and patient alike of sarcasm and flattery. Inclining to exaggerate, but not intending to deceive, you will applaud them rather for sincerity than truth. Accuracy is not the merit, nor duplicity the failing, of a lively but neglected and ur^cultivated people. Their passions lie on the surface, unsheltered from irritation or notice : and cautious England is too fond of recognizing the Irish character only by these inconsistencies and errors, which her own novercal government has contributed to produce or perpetuate. The upper XXVI. In their domestic life, the gentry and classes. traders differ from the English of equal rank, not in essentials but in modes. Here are less neatness and economy, more enjoyment and society. Emu- lative profusion is an Irish folly. The gentry would rival the nobility j the merchant affects to surpass, and the shopkeeper to approach, the splen- dor of the gentry. Hence patrimonies are dila- pidated ; hence : ipital is diverted from business to pleasure : the profit of one enterprise is not, as in PAST AND PRESENT. 31 England, embarked in another, but sunk in a villa or an equipage. The English trader bequeaths, the Irish enjoys ; but his enjoyment is not often elegant, and seldom secure. The nobility and affluent gently spend much or all of their fortunes and time in England; leav- ing their places to be filled — in the country, by hired agents — in the city, by a plebeian aristocracy: the former, solely engaged in increasing and col- lecting rents, can have little conciliatory power with the people ; and the influence of the htter tends rather to increase than diminish the political danger. A great evil. Not because the country is drained by remittances, but because she is widowed of her natural protectors. The loss is, not of money, but manners ; not of wealth, but of civilization and peace. XXVII. The condition of the peasant was of The pea- santry. late utterly, and is still almost, barbarous. What the Romans found the Britons and Geraians, the Britons found the Irish — and left them : the ne- glect of the conquerors or the degeneracy of the colonists, and the obstinacy of the natives, have preserved, even to our day, living proofs of the 32 STATE OF IRELAND, veracity of Ccesar and Tacitus : of this, many will affect to be incredulous — of the Irish, lest it di- minish the character of their country — of the English, because it arraigns the wisdom and policy of their system. But the experienced know it to be true, and the impartial will own it. The cultivator of the land seldom holds from the inheritor ; between them stands a series of sub-landlords and tenants, each receiving a profit from his lessee, but having no further interest or connexion with the soil. The last in the series must provide for the profits of all — he therefore parcels out, at rack rents, the land to his misera- ble tenant. Here is no yeomanry, no agricultural capitalist 5 no degree between the landlord and labourer ; and the words * peasantry' and * poor* are synonimous. Modes of XXVIII. Their dwellings are of primitive and life. easy construction — the walls and floors of clay, the roof of sod or thatch : within, are two unequal divisions ; in the smaller, filthy and unfurnished, you would hardly suppose the whole family to sleep ; in the larger, on a hearth, without grate or chimney, a scanty fire w^arms rather by its smoke than its blaze, and discolours whatever it PAST AND PRESENT. 3S warms. Glazed windows there are none, the open door amply sufficing for light and air, to those who are careless of either. Furniture they neither have, nor want ; their food and its preparation are simple — potatoes or oaten cakes, sour milk, and sometimes salted fish. In drink they are not so temperate : of all spirituous liquors they are immoderately fond, but most of whiskey, the dis- tilled extract of fermented corn. In many dis- tricts, by an ingenious and simple process, they prepare this liquor themselves, but clandestinely, and to the great injury of national morals and re-, venue. Were they allowed, by private distillation, io indulge their taste for inebriety, their own vice would more effectually subdue them than centuries of war. XXIX. Their dress is mean and squalid ; par- Their dress, ticularly of the females, whom you would not al- ways distinguish from men by their attire. Of personal cleanliness they have little care. Both sexes wear, in winter and summer, long woollen coats, or cloaks, like the sagura of their ancestors. The children are generally half, and sometimes altogether naked ; living, without distinction of sexes, in dirt and mire, almost with the cattle. D 3^ STATE OF IRELAND, Yet from this nakedness and filth, they grow up to that strength and stature for which they are admirable. Their Reii- XXX. The peasantry of Ireland are generally gion. of the Roman Catholic religion, but utterly and disgracefully ignorant ; few among them can read, fewer write. The Irish language, a barbarous jargon, is generally, and in some districts ex- clusively, spoken : and with it are retained customs and superstitions as barbarous. Popish legends and pagan tradition are confounded, and revered : for certain holy wells, and sacred places, they have extraordinary respect ; thither crowd, the sick for cure, and the sinful for expiation ; and their priests, deluded or deluding, enjoin those pilgrimages as penance, or applaud them, when voluntary, as piety. The religion of such a peo- ple is not to be confounded with one of the same name professed by the enlightened nations of Eu- rope. The University of Paris has some tenets in common, perhaps, with the Irish Papist ; but does it believe that spring water can restore the cripple, enlighten the blind, or purify the guilty ? Their man- XXXI. In agricultural pursuits they are nei- ther active nor expert : hereditary indolence PAST AND PRESENT. 95 would incline them to employ their lands in pas- turage ; and it is often more easy to induce them to take arms, for their country, or against it, than to cultivate the earth, and wait upon the seasons. Even at this day, the sons, of the old inheritors are suspected of being more ready to regain their possessions by their blood, than by their labour. Their very amusements are pole- mical : fighting is a pastime, which they seldom assemble without enjoying ; not, indeed, with iron weapons, but with clubs, which they always carry, and frequently and skilfully use. When not driven by necessity to labour, they willingly consume whole days in sloth, or as willingly employ them in riot ; strange diversity of nature, to love indolence and hate quiet— to be reduced to slavery, but not yet to obedience. XXXII. Who will call this people civilized, No single remedy suf» or wonder that they are turbulent? Who con-^"'^"*- fide in the empiric promising to cure so compli- cated a disorder by a single specific ? It is but too plain, that there is something to be lamented, and, if possible, changed, in the character of the nation — much in its habits — more in the acci- dental circumstances in which it languishes 5 and D 2 36 STATE OF IRELAND, it IS evident, that no individual remedy can reach and reform evils so heterogeneous. Party is indeed blind, and. ignorance adventurous ; but the time, we trust, is past, when party and igno- rance alone determined upon the interests of Ireland. Emafda- XXXIII. Friendly — on principles and condi- enough* tions hereafter to be developed — to Catholic eman- cipation, I cannot believe it panaceatic — alone beneficial — alone necessary. It will be a part — but only a part — of any enlightened system of Irish policy: but it is not itself a system. Who can be emancipated, and from "what? At most six lords, one hundred and fifty commoners, and twenty ecclesiastics ; from four or five disa- bilities, which reach not, interest not, the mass of their community. Theorists trace from the political exclusion of the peer, the mental debase- ment of the peasant — truly, perhaps, in a people affluent and enlightened ; truly in small and po- lished states ; falsely in a great mass of penury and ignorance. Dispel the gloom, enrich the penury, the crowd may then, and cannot till then, become sympathetic to the feelings of honour and ambition : hence, I reason, that to mere emanci- Past and present. 57 pation there are previous paramount duties j that enlightening two millions of Catholics is more important then indulging two hundred. But the Irish Protestant, has he no grievance — ^labours he under no difliculy ? has he no cause, or taint of disaffection ? Your Protestant tenants, few in numbers ; — your Protestant artizans and manufacturers, a great and pining population^ — ask them for a description of tlieir exclusive Pa- radise. In all that regards happiness and power you will find them to be Catholics, reading the liturgy ; as the Catholics are Protestants, singing the mass. Emancipate themy emancipate all ; vi- vify your country — not in details, but in generals ; not in extremities, but at the heart. XXXIV. To catalogue and class the diseases Principal causes of and remedies would be a treatise. I only the evii. sketch — happy if what I write hastily, be read at all. C'ompendiously, then — the springs of our mis- fortune are five-fold: — J. The ignorance— 2 The poverty— 3. The political debasement of the inferior orders — i. The Catholic code — 5. The provinciality of the government. Ignorance XXXV. 1. Domestic economy, agricultural ^'^^^p^^ ° pie. 38 STATE OF IRELAND, improvement, the love and knowledge of the laws, the detection and expulsion of superstition, the growth and influence of true piety, who can expect them among a people utterly dark and blind? Of four millions — the probable popula- tion—one million perhaps can write and read ; of this million, three-fourths are Protestants and Protestant Dissenters : there remains a solid mass of dangerous and obstinate ignorance ; not all, but chiefly, Catholic. The laws of God they take on trust, of the land on guess, and despise or insult both. The Government publishes proclamations, the rebel chiefs manifestoes— the rebel soldier reads neither : his spiritual or secu- lar leader he follows into implicit treason ; inca- pable of discussing motives or being enlightened by results ; and thus the folly and defeat of one insurrection do not deter from another. In all our perils— it is an important truth — the real danger is in those who cannot read, the true security in those who can. Superior know- ledge is one cause and branch of the Protestant ascendancy, from which the Catholics must eman- cipate themselves. XXXVI. The remedy of this evil must be PAST AND PHESENT. aa souo'ht in its causes; a narrow and sectarian ^^'^^^^''^ ^'^ o ' a general plan of public education, the mistaken policy ^^^jJ^^^^ji^L of the popisli priesthood, the absence or indo- lence of the estabished clei'gy— sources of more and greater evils than Ireland thinks, or England would believe. To the Government I should say — *' Educate your people :'* I care not by what system, if it be capacious ; nor at what cost, if it be pro- ductive. Between systems of public instruction, I will not decide ; thaty however, must be preferable, which acts most by incitement and least by force. I should even — not unhesitatingly— venture to propose, that those only should vote at elections who could write and read their own affidavits of registry. This principle is not novel in our Con- stitution , our wise ancestors promoted learnin<^ by granting, even to criminals, the benefit of clergy. Would it not be as efficacious, and more just to extend to a certain proficiency in letters, not pardon but privilege j not impunity in crime, but advancement in political power. Is it not monstrous, in theory as well as practice, that the grossest ignorance should influence the choice of 40 STATE OF IRELAND, a legislator, as much as the most cultivated un- derstanding—that the enlightened should be over- borne in the highest exercise of rational liberty, by the rude and barbarous ? Yet thus it is, and and the primary assemblies of Ireland are swayed by brutal ignorance and profligate perjury. We have seen, in some counties, the majority of constituents driven like cattle to the hustings We have seen them— unable even to speak Eng- lish—attempt to poll in Irish. We know that these miserable creatures are weapons wielded by the gentry against each other at elections, and by demagogues against the gentry in rebellions. Is this to be borne?— From such turbid and poi- soned sources, can the stream be pure and so- litary ? Duty of the XXXVII. To the Catholic priesthood I should Clergy. Say, *' You profcss to be ministers of light, not of darkness ; you should advance learning — you SHALL not impede it ; your tenets shall not be invaded, but your flocks shall be instructed.— If you will not cooperate in a generous system of national education, expect no favour from the na- tion — you shall have none." PAST AND PRESENT. 41 XXX VIII. But to the Established clergy what Duty of shall I urge ? The times, momentous to all, are lished cier. cry, critical to them : their flocks turbulent, their re- venues invaded, their very hierarchy assailed :■— these are not days for sloth. Ireland is divided into 2,500 parishes, melted down into 1,200 be- nefices, on which there are are but 1,000 churches. The 1,200 beneficed clergy of these 2,500 parishes, where are they ? one-third of them are not resident — absentees from their du- ties — mortmainers upon the land ! The Catholic priest, the Dissenting minister, the Methodist preacher, are they supine or absent ? Are they without proselytes and converts, without interest or influence with the people ? A friend to reli- gion, I am an enemy to salaried idleness. To 2,500 parishes I would have 2,500 parsons j no curates at fifty pounds a year, nor absentees at two thousand ; no starving zeal, no lazy affluence* The ecclesiastical establishment, which laymen are invoked to defend, churchmen should support by their presence, dignify by their piety, and ex- tend by their example. XXXIX. 2. Of the exactions of the owners, Rents. and the indigence of the cultivators of land, mi- serable and the consequences. Landlords with- "^2 STATE OF IRELAND, out friends or influence ; a peasantry without an interest, almost without a livelihood, in the coun- try—nothing to defend — nothing to love — de- spairing and desperate, ripe and ready for change. The evil is plain, the remedy not so evident. The price of the use of land, can — at least should — never be restrained by law : free com- petition is the life-blood of commerce ; and the relation of landlord and tenant, in the matter of rents, is purely commercial. The appeal, therefore, is to the good feeling and good policy of the landholders. In England, the law of public opinion, as well as the law of reason, terrifies a landlord from plundering of his own estate : much of it is held at his will ; but his will is wisdom, or the wisdom of others restrains his will ; and he is glad, or obliged, to content himself with just profits, strictly paid, by a thriving tenantry. Where there is protection on one side, fidelity on the other, and confidence on both, the fairest tenure is at 'will : rents then fluctuate with the price of produce, and the results are profits duly appor- tioned. These results, theorists hence proposed PAST AND PRESENT. 43 to obtain by conditional leases, and clauses of sur- render and redemption ; but unfortunately it is still a theorem. In Ireland^ tenure at will, is indefinite op- pression—tenure by lease, oppression by lease : rents, are, not the proportions of, but nearly the whole, produce. The actual cultivator sel- dom is better paid than by scanty food, ragged raiment, and a miry hovel ; nothing is saved for exigencies, nothing remitted for capital : and the peasant and the land are alike neglected, im- poverished, and starved. The theorist says, this, like other commerce, will find its level. Experience says to the theorist, it will not. The peasant's spirit is broken ; he thinks not of independence, dreams not of property, un- less in dreams of insurrection. His wishes have no scope ; he is habituated to derive from his land and his labour, only his daily potatoe : and we know, that competitors offer the whole value of the produce, minus that daily potatoe. Sometimes more than the whole value is pro- mised, and nothing paid ; the tenant for a few months appeases his hunger j quarter-day ap- '*'* STATE OF IRELAND, proaches — he absconds ; and the absentee landlord in Dublin, or London, exclaims at the knavery of an Irish tenant. In the mere spirit of trade, what can land- lords expect from tenants without capital or cre- dit ? from impoverishing the fountains of their ' wealth ? from denying their factors even a com- mission on their profits ? But a landlord is not a mere land merchant : he has duties to perform, as well as rents to re- ceive ; and from his neglect of the former, spring his difficulty in the latter, and the general mi- sery and distraction of the country. The combi- nation, of the peasantry against this short-sighted monopoly, are natural and fatal. Whoever as- sembles the Irish, disturbs them ; disturbance soon coalesces with treason ; and the suicide ava- rice that drives the peasantry to combine, precipi- tates them to rebel. For fifty years past Ireland has been disturbed and disgraced by a constant warfare between the landlords and their tenants. Tithes. XL. Tithes also — the pretence, and, therefore, the cause of an hundred insurrections—belong to this part of the subject. A tax rather vexatious than oppressive, and more embarassing PAST AND PRESENT. 45 than either : vexatious, because paid directly and in kind, at unequal and fluctuating rates : em- barassing, because it is vexatious ; because a people, unanimous in this alone, declaim against it ; and because no satisfactory substitute has been hi- therto devised. But they are not unjust — not even oppressive— rather profitable to the tenant, computed as a tenth in his bargain, seldom amounting to a twen- tieth in his payment. Nor are they as is often alleged levied from the Popish peasant for the Protestant parson. By the peasant, Popish or Protestant, they are not in fact paid ; for his headrent is always diminished by more than their amount. Those who occupy tithe-free lands, pay, in the increased rent, a double tithe : hence follow, that tithes are really the contri- bution of the landlords ; and that to abolish them, without condition or substitute, would be a direct donative to the rich, at the expense of the clergy and the poor. If abolished, they must be replaced, or the church establishment overthrown. The latter part of the alternative I dismiss altogether from my thoughts J and shall only consider of the fittest sub- 46 STATE OF IRELAND, stitute. I disregard, as aii obstacle, the divine origin of tithes ; and disallow the claims of the church to them, as the hereditary property of those, whose cle- rical character is not itself hereditary. In Levi's family, it might be just that tithes should descend, because the priesthood did: but here they are, as they should be, the property of the state, that pays its ecclesiastical, as it does its civil, military, and fiscal ojSicers, with equal powers of change, modification, and controul. It has been proposed to replace them, by a com- mutation for glebe, impracticable, I fear, from its complication ; — a corn rent, more oppressive and vexatious than the present evil ; — an acreable land tax, less objectionable, but unsatisfactory and unequal, as computed on the ualterable measure^ and not on the various and fluctuating values of land. I, with great hesitation, would propose for consi- deration, a system not perfect, certainly but less ob- jectionable. A poundage upon all 7'ents ; not of a tenth, perhaps not a twentieth, probably of a thir- tieth or fortieth. The clergy, in great towns, are now paid, by a rate on the estimated value of each house. My PAST AND PRESENT, 4-7 proposition would extend this system over the whole country. In 1787, an intelligent prelate computed the average of each clergyman's annual income, at 133/. 6s. 1 will suppose it now to be 250/. ; the benefices fewer than 1,200 ; the ecclesiastical es- tablishment less, therefore, than 300,000/. But 6d. in the pound— one fortieth — on the estimated rent-roll of Ireland, would produce 500,000/. A sum adequate to the payment of all the clergy, Proteslant, Catholic^ and Dissenting* But on the other hand it must be confessed that this change — perhaps ani/ change — might endanger tithe property altogether. In the times in which we live, and in such as we see approaching, it cannot be doubted that the very evils of the tithe system tend to its preservation. Its complication, its minute dis- tribution, its uncertainty, its division between the laity and clergy, — all act as outworks — as impedi- ments in the way of innovation. That which is made easy of collection is made easy of confiscation ; and if this property were reduced to a known amount, a a tangible form, and exclusively affected to eccle- siastical purposes, the temptation to divert it to 48 STATE OF IRELAND, Other uses would be increased, and the means of doing so facilitated. In the consideration of these conflicting diffi- culties one principle, however, may be stated as decided. Tithes in Ireland must follow the fate of tithes in England ; and until some change of the system can be made palatable to the Church of England, it is idle to discuss any arrangement here. But surely some legal provision should, at once, be made for the Catholic Priesthood — for the spiritual ministers of the majority of the people, which now pays, with almost equal reluctance, a double establishment. Such a provision would remove the most plausible and the most serious ob- jections to tithes, and until this be accomplished, tithes in England and tithes in Ireland, can hardly be said to stand on the same grounds of policy and reason. I pass over the details, I trust practicable, to arrive at the results, certainly beneficial — the pea- santry relieved, at least appeased j the landlord secured ; the Protestant clergy amply indemnified ; the Catholic priesthood, the servants of the Bri- tish empire, not of Rome, their power of good PAST AND PRESENT. 49 increased, of evil destroyed, and their present pre- carious and illegal livelihoods replaced by a con- stitutional and honourable provision — a chief cause of animosity eradicated, and the country indulged, improved, perhaps tranquillized, by the extension of a principle already, as in the case of the Dis- senting clergy, familiar and approved. XLI. 3. The practical debasement of the ^t^te of the law. lower orders of society is compounded of their ignorance and poverty — already examined ; of the injustice or contumely of their superiors, to discuss which might exasperate these, inflame the others^ and injure all ; — and lastly, of the dearness and difficulty of legal redress, not to be passed over unlamented — unreprehended. The law has never thoroughly mingled itself with Ireland : there lately were, perhaps still are, districts impervious to the king's writs — castles fortified against the sheriff, and legal estates in- vaded by force of arms ; — contumacies, not fre- quent indeed, but from which an inquirer will de- duce, not unfairly, ordinary disrespect for the law. This in civil cases. In criminal — how large a share of our jurisprudence ! — witnesses not unfrequently suborned, intimidated or murdered— juries sub- E 50 STATE OF IRELAND, dued — felons acquitted. In common transactions, the administration by justices of the peace, some- times partial, generally despised and always unsa- tisfactory. The body— in England so effective— of mayors, bailiffs, and constables, unknown, or known as a jest. Parish offices, sinecures : the great man and the strong man executing, the poor and weak suffering, what is miscalled the law. The blame is not easily apportioned — much is in the pride and folly of the gentry ; much in the native perverseness of the people ; much in the indifference of the government j something in an indiscreet nomination of magistrates : more, and most of all, in the exorbitant taxation of legal proceedings, by which the law has become, not a refuge to the poor, but a luxury to the rich. The courts are open to the indigent, only as spectators ; the peasant, oppressed or defrauded to the amount of 10/., cannot buy even a chance of redress in the lottery of the law for less than 60/. By victory or defeat he is equally and irremediably ruined. This system must be amended — abandoned. I consider the habitual weakness of the law, as the first cause of the habitual weakness of the land, from Henry to George. PAST AND PRESENT. 51 The thoughts of those who read for ideas, not words, fill up my outline. Let us hope that the wisdom of the legislature will soon erase it. XLII. 4. On the subject of Catholic emanci- CathoHc Eraancipa- pation all men speak and write, but few candidly, — tion. its supporters and its opponents are equally inju- dicious or unjust ; the reason is, that the parties of the state have divided the question between them ; and contest it, not for its sake, but their own : it is the means, not the object of the war. The Roman empire was divided into two factions, and the green and the blue distracted the civilized world. Did the civilized world bleed for the colour of an actor's coat, when they seemed to do so ? No. They bled for their party, not for its symbol. Catholic emancipation is the green and blue of Ireland, the colour of the division, not the cause. This the liberal, the sagacious, and the well informed, have admitted : though all the furious, the shallow, and the bigoted, deny it, and prove it by their very denial. How else could half a nation so pertinaci- ously seek, and the other half refuse an almost empty privilege ? How else can it have hap- pened that every concession has produced E 2 52 STATE OF IRELAND, commotion, and complaint encreased as the grievance disappeared ? Twenty years ago there was much to desire, and to deny, and the Ca- tholic code was scarcely thought of : there now remains, unconceded, nothing in which the people are concerned— yet to the Catholic code is atti i- buted all our misfortunes. The truth is, the parties have made the question, not the question the parties. Claims of XLIII. Let US rcvicw and refute the so- the Catho- lics, phisms of both : and first of the emancipators. 1. * The merits of the Catholics.* What merits? They have been loyal in 1715, 1745, and 1797 : perhaps in 1798 and in 1803 : but if they were — as they were not — unexceptionably loyal, what is the merit ? Is it a virtue not to be criminal ? is not to rebel, supererrogation ? Admit, however, the merit : has it not been already rewarded ? A century of penalties re- mitted in half a score of years, is it no boon ? Admit, again, that the reward was inadequate ; we then ask, was the Catholic so much more loyal than the Protestant, that the latter should be stripped of his ascendancy to clothe the former ? — My conclusion is, • that he who vaunts his loyalty as a merit, has little merit in his loyalty, and that when Catholic meiit is PAST AND PRESENT. 5S pleaded against the ascendancy, Protestant merit should be pleaded for it, and a balance struck. 2. The emancipators allege * the force and power of the Catholic body,* and apply the argument doubly ; offering assistance — or threatening opposition. What new assistance can we have? Two thirds of our military are already Catholics ; because two thirds of our population are so. If the proportion of Ca- tholic soldiers and sailors be greater, it is and will be so, because they are the poorer sect ; poverty, in all countries, takes refuge in the armies; nor would Catholic emancipation make one man in Ireland a soldier, who had wealth enough to remain a citizen. Thus vanishes their boasted aid. Their hostility I do not feai. The Catholic force can never be united against the present establishment of law and property; and, if it should, it would find that physical strength is not the best part of power^ 3. It has been alleged, that * all our disturbances have sprung from the hardships under which the Catholics labour.* What is this, but to say, that they are not patient and loyal — that the rebellions and massacres, which we hoped were 54 STATE OF IRELAND, political, have all been Catholic ; the works of a perverse and pestilent sect, incapable of gra- titude, unworthy of indulgence, unfit for tole- ration ? — Such is the false and detestable allega- tion of a partizan, espousing the Catholic cause without affection, and calumniating his friends to dupe his opponents. But let us not charge upon the Catholic as a crime the frenzy of his advocate. 4. * The moral injustice of the Catholic laws' is vehemently urged, but not easily proved. The Pa- pist, when able, proscribed the Protestant : the vic- torious Protestant copied the Papist statute against its enactors. We may doubt that this was wise, but not that it was just.* Who pities the inventor and victim of the brazen bull ? * But it is un- just/ the Catholics add, * that the minority of a people should restrict the majority, which ma- jority we are.* True, numerically, as two ex- ceed one. But if rank, property, education, in- dustry, skill, manners, intelligence— the essence of a nation — be esteemed, they are, of Ireland even, a weak minority ; as, both numerically and morally, they are of the empire at large. nee est lexjustior uUa Quam necis artifices arte perire sua. PAST AND PRESENT. 55 — Finally, their plea should be, not of their force, nor of their numbers, but of their mode- ration, liberality, and innocuous tenets : if they prove the former, without the latter, they prove against themselves. XLIV. Their adversaries have but little ad- Objections . of the Pro- vantage over them m the argument. The fear of testants. the Protestant, like the complaint of the Papist, comes too late. It strains at the gnat, having swallowed the camel. 1 can well conceive why Lord Clare would have strangled Papist — privilege in its birth; — why he feared to make the first plunge down the declivity of concession j — why he refused power to the numerous and dangerous. But I cannot conceive, why we should now feel this after-alarm ; why, having rushed down precipices, we stop short at a slope j why we instigate and in- dulge the populace, and restrict and discourage the rich, the noble, and the loyal. If we fear the revengeful bigotry of the Papist, let us not exasperate, without disarm- ing him. The power of the gentry and priest- hood, let us either conciliate or unnerve. We are in a practical dilemma. We must resume 56 STATE OF IRELAND, all that we have granted, or grant all that we re- tain. I confidently advise the latter course. Emandpa- ^LV. Before the Union, this perfect tolera- tion safe. ^Jqj^ ^g^g impracticable. No State religion has ever dared to indulge a sectarian majority. France persecuted the Protestant; England the Papist ; and Scotland both : and all succeeded. When Scotland became 'predominately presby- terian, France catholic, and England protestant, persecution ceased, and toleration began. Ire- land is almost the only country in the world which has not had the disgrace and the benefit of active persecution. There was enough to ex- asperate—not extinguish. But what early into- lerance might have effected, the Union has, by gentle means, accomplished. The established now out-number the sectaries, and the Catholic assertion of * force,* and, the Protestant of ' danger,* are equally absurd. Do we fear a Papist parliament ? — The majority of the freenolders of the empire must first become Papists, and then, emancipated or not, the par- liament will, and ought to ' be Papist : — a Papist king? It cannot be, till parliament and people PAST AND PRESENT. 57 are papist ; then so should the king — Papist judges and generals ? — Why not ; if upright and skilful. Their talents ^e may employ, but their bigotry we cannot fear, till the king is Papist ; and in that eventf, however we now decide, there must be Papist generals and judges. History is called in to deceive us, not to en- lighten : to bear witness of the popish tyrants John and James — and to omit Harry and Charles. We forget, too, how we did subdue John and expel James, and would again the imitator of either. Every thing is forgotten, but passion and party, and a great nation wastes its strength and reputation in antiquated follies and differences about nothing. XLVI. I conclude, that the Catholic lawyer, Ought to be granted. soldier, gentry, priesthood, and nobility, should be admitted to all the honours of their professions and ranks : That one torch of discord at least should be extinguished : That a nominal but de- gradii^ distinction should be abolished in a na- tion that fears the name of degradation, more even than the reality : That this should be done, because in politics words are things — because wisdom relieves real grievances, and policy, even 58 STATE OF IRELAND, the fictitious : — because evil cannot result from this good, or, if it can, is counterbalanced, or if not counter-balanced, may be remedied, as it has been before. Trade, when free, finds its level. So will religion. The majority will no more persist — when it is not a point of honour to do so— in the worse faith than it would in the worse trrfde. Councils decide that the Confession of Augs- burgh is heresy ; and parliaments vote that Popery is superstition, and both impotently. No man will ever be converted, when his reli- gion is also his party. Oncondi- XLVII. But expedient as Catholic eman- fiions. cipation may be, I think it only expedient, and concede it, not without the following condi- tions : 1. That no violence be done to the consti- tution, by forcing from any of the three estates a reluctant consent. If obstacles arise, they must be surmounted by time, by patience, and by the law. 2. That the priesthood be Catholic, but not Popish : — paid by the state, approved by the PAST AND PRESENT. crown, and independent of all foreign con- troul. 3. That a wide and liberal system of national education be adopted by the legislature, and pro- moted by every sect. 4. Either that my former proposition con- cerning voters at elections be adopted, or that forty shillings freeholders* be disfranchised alto- gether, lest numerous ignorance overwhelm educa- tion and wealth. But if, at last, this measure be found im- practicable, others more important and effec- tive may be carried. I have enumerated them ; and I solemnly assert, as my most mature * An English reader will hardly understand what is meant in Ireland by the designation o? forty shillings freeholder. He is a peasant of the lowest class made a freeholder by his landlord for electioneering pur- poses. — The mode of making freeholders is, to grant the peasant his cottage, his garden, or his farm, by lease, for one, two, or three lives ; this tenure for lives changes a real leaseholder into a technical freeholder. He swears that his tenement is worth 40s. a year, and thus acquires the elective franchise ; which, in the mode in which it is exercised, would be better called the elective servitude. In general the landlord directs the votes of these poor creatures according to his own will ; but instances have occurred, in which bigotry was stronger than interest, and the secret influence of the priests overbore the natural power of the landlord : but in whatever vi«w the matter is considered, the 40s. freeholders are a political and moral abuse. 60 STATE OF IRELAND, Opinion, that without them Catholic emancipa- tion would not tranquillize the country; and that they, without it, would. From those whom the penal laws would still affect we have no- thing to fear : from those whom poverty, igno- rance, and oppression brutalize, we have nothing to hope. Defects of XLVIII. 5. On the defects of the Govern- the Go- vernment uient of Ireland, this is not a season to dilate. Some of them are inevitable, and the correction of the rest cannot be accelerated — may be retarded, by discussion : what in other times might assuage, would in ours inflame. Three sources of danger may, I think, without increase of danger, be noticed. 1. A quicksand goverment, that swallows in its fluctuations every venture of reform. In seven years,* we have had four Chief Governors and * Fiftqpn years have since elapsed, and have given Ireland four more Chief Governors, and five more Secretaries. It is worth while to record the names and dates of all since the Union. Lords Lieutenant — 1801, Marquis Cornwallis, Earl of Hardwicke; 1805, Earlof Powis; 1806 Duke of Bedford ; 1807, Duke of Richmond; 1S13, Lord Whitworth ; 1817, Earl Talbot; 1821, Marquis Wellesley. Secretaries — 1801, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Abbot; 1802, Mr. Wickham ; 1804, Sir E. Nepean ; 1805, Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Long; 1806, Mr. El- liott; 1807, Sir A. Wellesley; 1809, Mr. Dundas, Mr. Pole; 1812' Mr. Peel; 1817, Mr. Grant; 1821, Mr. Goulboum. PAST^AND PRESENT. 61 eight chief secretaries of different principles and parties, each stifling the abortive system of his predecessor by a system as abortive. What, in a few months, coukl they attain of information, or accomplish of reform ? With all their varied and various talents they were impotent ; and years have elapsed and ad- ministrations reigned, without any change to Ire- land but of years and administrations. Do we think either that local knowledge is un- necessary to an Irish Minister, or that the King can confer it as he does a title ? Wavering is weakness — weakness in Ireland is wickedness. Leave with, or send to us, ministers, knowing us, whom we know : coolly planning — steadily executing : not a secretary with every season, and a system with every secretary. 2. Not to be forgotten is the madness or ma- lice of parliamentary factions — surviving one se- nate — disturbing another ; brandishing Ireland against the minister, not the enemy. She com- plains not less of the neglect of administrations, than of the notice of oppositions—their false friend- ship — their inflammatory pity — their hollow and hypocritical help. 62 STATE OF IRELAND, S. But a more pressing danger impends from those who have as their object or pretence, the re- peal of Union :* to many of the loyal an object; to all the disaffected a pretence. When the friend of Ireland, the partizan of France, and the enemy of England may coalesce, the coalition is alarming, however specious the pretext. Treason will shelter itself under its loyal associates, till it dare to cast them off. It will use and dupe them. My opinion I have already delivered, that in our circumstances, the Union, whether good or evil, was inevitable. The present posture of po- litics strengthens that opinion. Whatever is not England, must be France. Will those even who may dissent from this, dare to promise, that the repeal would place us where vve originally stood ; — that popular com- motion can be put under settlement 5 that 1808 will stop short at the unsatisfactory and litigated boundary of 1782 ; — that the rebellions in Ire- land, the revolutions in France, and the subver- sion of Europe, are without consequences physical or moral ? * It is to be hoped that this danger is greatly diminished, if not alto- gether removed. The Union seems to naturalize iteelf in Ireland. PAST AND PRESENT. 63 If any believe these things, they dream : for them there is the barest possibility, against them all the probabilies of reason and expe- rience, XLIX. Here I should conclude, but I dare not ; a solemn impression urges my pen, I have, perhaps, mistaken much — I have omitted much ; but that which I cannot mistake — can- not omit — is the novel and tremendous peril which surrounds us ; most tremendous, because its novelty does not seem to surprize, nor its terror to alarm. The sword and sceptre of Europe are in one hand.* Hosts more numer- ous than the Crusaders ; an empire more powerful than the Roman, talents and force, such as never before were united, all associated against us ! The boundaries, the thrones, the laws of nations are changed ; all is changed, and all still changes j and every change is in- tended for our ruin. This is not our crime, it may even be our merit : but it is our crime, and our folly, and our danger, that we are not * This danger is also vanished ; but the author does not think him- self jnstified jn omitting what formed so important a featme of his original view. 64 STATE OF IRELAND, united to avert the ruin ; that our rulers are miserably squabbling about places, and our people disputing about dogmas. The instinct of brutes unites them in a common danger, the reason of man seems to render him an easier prey. The ministry has exasperated the opposition, and the opposition the ministry. The Protes- tant is not blameless with regard to the Catho- lic, nor the Catholic with regard to the Protestant. England has not been guiltless towards Ireland, nor Ireland towards England. On all sides there is something to be forgiven, and great reason that it should be forgiven. If our internal discords aid the enemy, we shall soon have neither parties, religions, nor coun- tries. And let us not deceive ourselves ; all our united force against that enemy will not be superfluous. Let us not hope for external aid, for revolts among his tributaries, or rebellion in his empire : whilst he lives there will be neither ; the obedience of France he has insured by peace, and the submission of Europe by war : gratitude and fear will preserve quiet at home, while he PAST AND PRESENT. 65 tries his fortune and his talents against his last and greatest enemy. If we are unanimous I do not despair of the event : if we are not, a miracle only can save us ; our navies alone cannot — our armies cannot j but our navies, and our armies, and union, and toleration in politics and religion, may : I dare not say they will 5 but if England and Ireland are true to themselves, and to each other, either their triumph will renovate the world, or their fall leave in the world nothing worth living for. Thoughts crowd on my mind, wishes on my heart, and words to my pen j but to those who think I have said enough, and to those who feel, I am afraid to say more — FINIS. 1 Date Due ^ BOSTON COLLEGE 3 9031 01213194 2 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS CHESTNUT HILL. MASS. Books may be kept for two weeks and may be renewed for the same period, unless reserved. Two cents a day is charged for each book kept overtime. If you cannot find what you want, ask the Librarian who will be glad to help you. The borrower is responsible for books drawn on his card and for all fines accruing on the same.