»

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
Deposited by
Henry R. Wagner

FAIR REPRESENTATION OF THE
PRESENT POLITICAL STATE
OF
IRELAND;
IN A COURSE OF STRICTURES ON TWO
PAMPHLETS,
ONE ENTITLED
* THE CASE OF IRELAND RE-CONSIDERED ;'
THE OTHER ENTITLED
' CONSIDERATIONS ON THE STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
IN THE YEAR 1799,  IRELAND}'
WITH
Obfervations on other modem Publications on the Subjefl: of
AN INCORPORATING UNION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND
IRELAND*
Particularly on a Pamphlet entitled
* THE SPEECH OF LORD MINTO IN THE HOUSE -
OF PEERS, APRIL II, I799-'

By PATRICK DUIGENAN, L. L.D.
ONE OP THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CITY OF ARMAGH
IN PARLIAMENT.

Semper ego auditor tagtum 1 Nunquamnfi reponam
Vexatus toties f  Juv. Sat. i.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. WRIGHT, PICCADILLY.
1799'

Printed by S. Gosnell,
Little Queen Street, Holbom,

CONTENTS.

STRICTURES on a Pamphlet entitled < The Cafe of
' Ireland Re-confidered' — • — — 9
Obfervations on a Pamphlet entitled ' Arguments for
1 and againjl an Union confidered' — — 94
Continuation of the Strictures on the ' Cafe of Ireland
' Re-confidered' — — — — 103
Strictures on a Pamphlet entitled ' Considerations on the
1 State of Public Affairs in the Tear 1799- — Ireland'' 138
Obfervations on a Pamphlet entitled ' The Speech of
' LordMinto in the Houfe of Lords, April 1 1, 1799' 174
Obfervations on a Pamphlet entitled e Subjlance of the
' Speech of Lord Sheffield, April 22, 1799' — 207
Obfervations on a Pamphlet entitled ' The Speech of the
* Right Honourable William Pitt' — — 211
APPENDIX.
Calculation of the Number of Inhabitants in Ireland 235
Relative Numbers of Proteflants and Romanijls in Ire
land — — — — 240
Comparative Property of Irijh Proteflants and Romanijls 242
A FAIR

FAIR REPRESENTATION OF THE
PRESENT POLITICAL STATE
OF

IRELAND.

XlN Incorporating Union of Great Britain and Ireland
is a Meafure, the magnitude and importance of which
have not only engaged the moft ferious confideration of
the fubje£ts of the Britifti Empire,' but have attracted the
attention of many of the other ftates of Europe, as well
friends as enemies.
Although I have been for many years the avowed friend
of the meafure, and in the year 1793 declared in the Irifli
Houfe of Commons my fettled opinion on the fubjefl,
and was then the only man who did fo, flating at the
fame time fome of the reafons on which my opinion was
founded ; and although I have, by the occurrences of every
day fince, been more and more confirmed in my fentiments
upon it, and convinced not only of the expediency, but
of the neceffity of the meafure ; yet I do not mean to
trouble my readers with any arguments on the fubjeS :
b my

( 3 )
my defign in the prefent publication is, to expofe the bafe
falfehoods and malignant mifreprefentations of the State
of Ireland, contained in fome pamphlets which have lately
appeared, profeffedly written on the fubje£t of the Union,
but in truth for a very different purpofe ; and to add a few
obfervations on other pamphlets publiflied in England, as
the fubftance of Speeches fpoken in the Britifli Houfes of
Parliament, on the fubjedt of an Incorporating Union, by
men in the higheft ftations in Britain ; from which it would
feem, that thefe great men entertained very erroneous ideas
of the Prefent State of Ireland, and of the Strength, Views,
and Interefts of the different claffesof its inhabitants : and
I am not without hope that I may, by fair and honeft re-
prefentations, conduce to the fuccefs of a meafure, which
has for many years been the object of all my feeble exer
tions in the political world.
In England the projecl of an Incorporating Union of
Great Britain and Ireland has been entertained with an
almoft univerfal approbation ; the good fenfe of the na
tion has clearly pointed out to every honeft mind, the ma-
nifeft advantages to the Britifli Empire in general of fucb
a meafure ; it has been there oppofed only by a handful
of Jacobins. In Ireland the cafe is different ; ithasfteen
there oppofed by many men of great loyalty, abilities, and
rank, and has given rife to much difcontent and diflen-
fion among perfons of the firft political influence. It is
remarkable, however, in Ireland, that all traitors and
Jacobins are unanimous in their reprobation of the mea
fure, while the well-affe&ed are divided in their opinions,
fome (I think the majority) approving, and others difap.
proving of it. Perhaps I may be in fome meafure able
in the conclufion to account for this difference of opinion
4 among

( 3 )
among the Irifh Loyalifts ; at prefent, however, it is fuf-
ficient to remark, that their diflenfion has given an ad
vantage to the Jacobins which they have eagerly availed
themfelves of. All their confpiracies detected, their falfe
treafonable libels expofed and confuted, their rebellion
lupprefledi their French allies chafed out of the ocean,
they lay grovelling on the earth* difabled, difmayed, and
dejefted, till the heat of this conteft between their con^
querors on the fubje£t of the Union again vivified thern,
as the heat of the fun does the infedts on a dunghill ; again
the buzz of thefe hornets was heard in every part of the
nation ; and of all their neftsj Popery fent forth the bufieft
and moft numerous fwarms.
A clafs of writers of that perfuafion have of late been
indefatigable both in England and Ireland, in publifhing
the moft audacious falfehoods refpe&ing Irifli Proteflants,
their religious and political conduct principles, numbers,
ftrength, and influence ; nor are their falfehoods lefs
daring and notorious refpeciting the fame qualities in the
Irifli Romanifts* debafing and vilifying the firft clafs, and
magnifying the laft, with the moft Angular contempt of
truth. No artifice of malignant mifreprefentation, of
flander, of degradation on the one fide, or of applaufe, ce
lebration, aggrandizement) and exaggeration on the other,
has been omittedi »
Thefe writers never entertained the leaft hope that their
calumnies would gain any credit in Ireland ; their falfe-
hood was too notorious there : they publiflied them for
the meridian of England, where the ignorance of the bulk
of the nation of the real ftate of Ireland might caufe a
temporary belief of fi&ions fo boldly and fo impudently
b 2 ilated:

( 4 )
ftated : this temporary belief in the prefent cfifis they
knew they could turn to the advantage of the political
purfuits of their feft ; becaufe it would naturally incline
the leading men in the Britifli Adminiftration to favour
their ruinous claims in the negotiation of an Union of
the two nations, and enable the Irifli Romanifts to obtain
a fupport in the treaty for pretenfions radically inimical
to every Proteftant government, but more particularly fo,
where part of the fovereignty is a popular aflembly ; and
this treaty might be brought to a conclufion before the
Britifli nation ftiould be apprized on what a rotten found
ation their pretenfions were erected.
The degradation and abufe of the Irifli Proteflants by
thefe Romifli writers, and vaunts of the ftrength and im
portance of their own fe£t, were particularly adapted to
alienate the minds of the Britifli Proteflants from their
brethren in Ireland, and to induce them to acquiefce,
perhaps to affift, in the fubverfion of the Proteftant efta-
blifliment in that kingdom, which if they can once effect,
they very juftly confider that the fcheme of the Separation
of the two countries will be more than half accomplifhed,
though a treaty for an Union (hall be concluded : the Pro
teflants of Ireland, as the Romanifts well know, compofing
the principal links of the chain of connexion between the
two nations.
I mould have left thefe malicious Romifli fables to me
rited contempt and oblivion, nor would I have conde-
fcended to have taken the flighted notice of them, had
I not perceived, from reading the fubftance of certain
Speeches of very eminent perfonages, delivered in the Bri
tifli Houfes of Lords and Commons, lately publiflied on
the

( 5 )
the fubject of Union, that the grofs falfehoods arid mifre-'
prefentations of thefe Romifli writers had been adopted by
thefe great men, and that they had been fo far duped by
them, as to repeat them in the Britifli Senate, and to rea-
fon upon them, as if they had been facts ; grounding fome
of their arguments in favour of an Union on fuch deceit
ful phantoms conjured up by thefe magicians of fraud and
malice, and deferting the powerful, convincing, and irre
fragable arguments for an Incorporating Union, grounded
on the fituation and prefent connexion of the two iflands,
the ftate of Europe in general, and the manifeft benefits
which muft neceffarily accrue to each ifland in particular,
and to the Britifli empire in general, from fuch an Union ;
and thereby raifing in the breafts of all the Proteftants of
that empire, the faithful fubjedts of his Majefty, the moft
alarming apprehenfions of innovation in their conftitution
both in church and ftate, and rendering Irifli Proteftants
particularly, in whom is for the prefent veiled, exclufively,
the whole political power of that kingdom, difinclined to
an Union, by giving them caufe to fufpect that fuch an
Union is projected folely for the depreffion of their reli
gion in Ireland, and the elevation of Popery on its ruins.
Two of thefe pamphlets, manifeftly the productions of.
Romifli writers, though they have concealed their names,
I fliall particularly notice, becaufe they contain a general .
collection of all the falfehood and mifreprefentation re-
f petting the ftate of Ireland, the numbers, phyfical and
political ftrength, the influence, principles, and defigns of
the different clafles of its inhabitants, which have been
publiflied in all the pamphlets, magazines, reviews, an
nual regifters, newfpapers, &c. by Romifli writers and
their allies, the Infidels, Republicans, and Jacobins, from
b 3, the

( 6 )
the time Mr. Edmund Burke, the modern apoftle of Po-»
pery, began his operations for the fubverfion of the Pro
teftant religion in Ireland, to the prefent day. One of
thefe pamphlets is entitled, ' The Cafe of Ireland Re-con-
'Jidered, in Anfwcr to a Pamphlet entitled, " Arguments for
" andagainjl an Union confidered.'y The other is entitled,
' Conflagrations on the State of Public Affairs in the Tear
« 1799. — Ireland.' The author of the firft of thefe per
formances pretends to argue againft the Union of the two,
kingdoms ; the author of the fecond, to fupport it with
the utmoft zeal ; but the real purpofe of both is, to de
grade, vilify, and traduce the Proteftant, and magnify,
aggrandize, and elevate the Romifli inhabitants of Ire
land, by every fpecies of falfehopd, mifreprefentation, and
malice. The reputed author of the firft is a Romifli gentleman of
a competent landed eftate in Ireland, who was educated
from his early years in France, where the rudiments of difr
affection to the religion, conftitution, and government of
his country, early implanted in his mind at home, were
carefully cherifhed, cultivated, and reared to maturity :
deeply read in the works of D'Alembert, Voltaire, Rouf-
feau, Diderot, Condorcet, and other philofophers of the
new French fchool, on his return to his native country,
he took care further to improve his ftock of modern phi-
lofophy, by a diligent perufal of the works of Paine, Price,
Prieftley , Godwin, &c. Though by the laws of every coun
try in Europe, and by the common law of the Britifli em
pire, a natural-born fubject, who fights in the ranks of a
boftile nation againft the troops of his natural Sovereign,
is a traitor; and although by the ftatute law of Great Bri
tain and Ireland, a natural-born fubjed, Britifti or Irifli,
fervinar

( 7 )
ferving in the French or Spanish armies, even in time.
of peace, is a traitor ; yet this philofopher's hoftility to his,
country obliterated from his mind all ideas of natural alle
giance, and even of common prudence, and impelled him,
in the courfe of the French and American war, to ferve
in the armies of France, and fight againft his King and
country in the Weft Indies, though he at the fame time
drew the revenue of a competent eftate out of Ireland ;
which eftate, had the law been properly executed, would
have by his treafon become a forfeiture to the Crown.
The Irifh gentlemen ferving in the armies of France, on
the fubverfion of the monarchy, withdrew from that fer-
vice almoft generally, and joined the coalefced powers
with the exiled French princes ; they were all foldiers of
fortune, and had no fubfiftence fave what they could carve
out by their fwords : they excufed their ferving in the
French armies, by alleging, that they were generally poor
gentlemen, who were precluded by the laws of their
country from ferving in its armies (thefe laws are now
repealed in Ireland), and that they ferved in the French
armies for bread ; yet they abandoned the fervice of the
infamous French ufurpers, braved penury and diftrefs,
and preferred poverty to difgrace. This gentleman had no
fuch excufe ; he had a competent fortune in his own
country, yet on the French revolution he did not follow
the example of his aforefaid gallant countrymen. As a
thorough initiated French philofopher, he inlifted in the
fervice of the French ufurpers, and fought in the ranks of
their fanguinary pillaging hordes in the prefent war in
Flanders. Notwithstanding all his treafons, he returned
to his native country, and ftill enjoys his eftate unmo
lested. Perhaps it may be prudent in Government, if it
is determined not to profecute him for his treafons, to
b 4 keep

C 8 )
keep a Ariel watch over his conduct; for a perfon taking
up his refidence within the Britifli dominions, under fuch'
circumftances, may be reafonably fufpected of connexion
and correfpondence with that enemy, in whofe fervice he
has heretofore rifked his life and fortune.
I have ftated this gentleman to be a Romanift ; indeed
he ftates himfelf, in page 58 of his pamphlet, to be fo ; and
I may be perhaps accufed of inconfiftency in fuppofing
any man, inftituted as he has been, to be a Romanift,
v/hich implies his being a Chriflian : to clear myfelf of
any imputation of that kind, it is neceflary that I (hould
briefly explain my meaning, which I cannot do better
than by nearly copying part of Swift's character of the
Earl (afterwards Duke) of Wharton, in his Hiflory of the
Four laft Years of Queen Ann : he there obferves, that
the Earl's father was a rigid Prefbyterian, that the Earl
adopted his father's principles in government, but dropt
his religion, and took up no other in its room, but that
in all other refpedts he was a firm Prefbyterian. Nov*
the gentleman's father I am writing of was a rigid Ro
manift ; he dropt his father's religion, and took up no
other in its room, but in all other refpedts he is a firm
Romanift. And fuch a character is not Angular ; I have
wafted fome attention on feveral perfons bred Romanifts,
who have conformed to the Proteftant religion, and who
have attained honourable, confidential, and lucrative ap
pointments by their conformity ; and on others bred in
that perfuafion, who both in theory and practice have
profefled Deifm ; and fcarce ever knew one of them,
who, in all political purfuits of that feet, did not prove
himfelf to be a firm Romanift : fome of them, in whofe
breafts a few half-fmothered fparks of Chriftianity ftill
I glimmered,

( 9 )
glimmered, have had them kindled into a fort of lambent ,
flame of devotion by the unequivocal fymptoms of ap
proaching death, and they have uniformly died in the
Romifli perfuafion.
The author of the fecond pamphlet I have mentioned
is not afcertained ; many have been the candidates, pro
claimed by the pofterior trumpet of Fame, for the eminent
turpitude of being the parent of this deteftable production.
The author of the firft endeavours to conceal the natural
deformity of falfehood and malice, by clothing them in
fomething of a gentlemanly garb ; the author of the fecond
aggravates that natural deformity, by arraying them in all
the fliaggy horrors of the favage : his unrelenting malig
nant abufe of Irifli Proteftants, from the beginning to the
end of his performance, fufficiently demonftrates his poli
tical creed at leaft to be the fame with that of the author
of the firft pamphlet. But I have perhaps detained the
reader too long by perfonal remarks on thefe two authors ;
I will therefore now proceed to examine the contentsfof
their pamphlets. ' "
The author of the firft grounds all his arguments, for Com-
advancing Irifli Romanifts to an equality of political mentofthe
power in the Britifli empire in general with their pro-Strl&ures
teftant fellow-fubjects, on two politions. The firft andpamphlot
principal is, thai men Jincerely attached to the whole Romijh' ThpCafe
creed may be as goad and faithful fubjecls of the Britijh em-° _ le ^ ¦
pire as Protejianis. The fecond is, that property by /^dered.'
Britijh Conftitution entitles the poffeffors to political power in
proportion to the property, and that it is therefore unconjlitu-
tional to exclude Romanifts from a Jhare of -political power in
Jhejlate proportioned to their property, ' Thefe are the two
grand

( io )
grand pillars on which he propofes to rebuild the gaudy-
palace of Romifli tyranny and ufurpation in the Britifti
empire, at the fame time not negledting to prop it with
numberlefs buttreffes of menaces, (landers, malice, falfe-
hood, fophiftry, and deceit.
His argument on the firft of thefe propofitions he in
troduces in the following modeft manner :

<

' The next is a very old objection, which 1 never could
i Under/land how any well-informed man could make twice.
* The moft numerous religious feet (i.e. Romanifts)
does not acknowledge the fupremacy of the ftate, but
profefles to be fubject to a foreign jurifdiction. Their
religion could not be eftabliflied without deftroying the
conftitution, which is founded on the principles of
civil and ecclefiaftical liberty, and the exclufion of fa*
reign interference and jurifdiction.'

After thus dating the objection, and with no fmall degree
of petulance obferving that no well-informed man could
fupport it, or urge it twice, he argues, thus: ' This may
* be an objection to their having a religious eftablilh-
c ment, but not to their being admitted to a (hare in the
* Legiflature, the King and Peers being, Proteftants, and
< (property being the bafis of reprefentation) nine-tenths
' of the Houfe of Commons. Romanijls do not deny the
' fole right of the fate to manage the concerns, eftablijhment,
' faith, and difcipline of the Church of England; but they
< do not admit the King of England to be fpiritual head
« of the Roman Catholic Church, nor do the Prejhyterians
' admit him to be the head of theirs. This was not a rea-
< fon

( » )
' fon for excluding the Scotch from a (hare in the legif-
* lature of the country they were united to ; why (hould
* it exclude the Irifli ? The fpiritual authority which
' the Romifli Churph poflefles has no fanction, no co-
' ercive power in this life, and can in no way come in
•' contact with civil exiftence. The Pope nominates the
1 Irijh Romijh bijhops, bnt this gives him no real oreffen-
' tial jurifdiction in the Irifli ftate ; he and the whole
¦< Roman Catholic Church have not in the Irifli ftate,
* nor pretend to have, the power of the meaneft veftry.
i* Cujas, a French lawyer, and Cardinal Fleury, have
' declared, that the Pope, nor the whole Church to-
* gether, cannot inflict any coercive punifliment on any
* man, whatfoever his crimes may be, unlefs the Em-
t peror gives him power to do it. The power which
' Popes have been accufed of arrogating over the princes of
' Europe was entirely foreign to their fpiritual authority,
* and to the Roman Catholic religion. In no country in
4 the world can any tribunal exift deriving from the
' Roman Catholic religion, or any fentence be enforced
' affecting a man in any way whatfoever in his liberty,
f life, property, or any part of his civil or natural ex-
* iflence, without the permiflion of the Sovereign of
f that country : fuch is the doctrine of Spain, Portugal,
f and all the Roman Catholic countries in the world.
< Magna Charta, the foundation of civil liberty, as well
* as the Statutes of Praemunire, which fecured eccleflaf-
* tical liberty, were acts of Roman Catholic Parlia-
* ments. If a foreign jurifdiction exift, to that con-
*, fent, and not to the Roman Catholic religion, of
* which it is no inherent part, are the inconveniencies of it
f to be afcribed.' All this the author concludes with an
appofite and moft delightful allufipn, purloined from
Monfieuj:

f " )
Monfieur Voltaire, with a trifling alteration ; to wit,
* Philofophy enters as much into the common concerns
« of life as divinity. It would be a ftrange objection to
' the fyftem of Ariftotie or Copernicus, that it was a
' foreign interference.' Bravo !
Before I proceed to the expofure of this diffufive kind
of argument, partly falfe and partly fophiftical, it will
he neceflary to infert here the Oath of Supremacy, which
all Romanifts abfolutely refufe to take, and have done fo
fince the firft framing of it ; and alfo an Extradt from
the Decrees of a general Council, the decifions of which
all Romanifts now hold as articles of faith, immutable
and irreverfible, not being the decrees of Popes, but of
their univerfal church ; the Oath taken by Romifli Bi-
ihops at their confecration : and I (hall alfo add a few ex
tracts from the recent publications of their moft authentic
writers refpedting the prefent immutable Articles of the
Romifli Creed.
The Oath of Supremacy is as follows :
do fwear, that I do from my heart abhor,

* deteft, and abjure, as impious and heretical, that damn-
f able doctrine and pofition, that Princes excommuni-
« cated or deprived by the Pope, or any authority of the
* See of Rome, may be depofed or murdered by their
< fubjeds, or by any other perfon whatfoever : and I do
* declare, that no foreign Prince, Prelate, State, or Po-
« tentate, hath, or ought to have, any jurifdidion, power,
¥ fuperiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclefiaftical oy
f fpiritual, within this realm. So help me God.' Extracl

( .;i3 0
Bxtracl from the third Chapter of the fourth Council of Ld-
teran, held under Pope Innocent III. in 1215, tranflated
into Englijli.
* We excommunicate and anathematize all herefy,
' raifing itfelf up againft the holy, orthodox, catholic
* faith, which we have above fet forth, condemning all
* heretics, of whatfoever titles, having divers faces, but
' connected and knitted together by their tails ; for in
' refpedt to the vanity of their pretenfions they agree in
* the fame thing.
* We leave the condemned to condign puhijhment by*
' the prefent fecular powers or their magiftrates, fuch of
' them as are clergymen being firft degraded : the
* goods of fuch of them as are laics being confifcated\
* of fuch as are clergymen, applied to the ufe of the
* churches of their refpedtive cures.
* But we decree, that fuch as are only fufpedted of
c herefy be (truck with the fword of excommunication,
' till they (hall prove their innocence refpedtively, ac-
' cording to the nature of the fufpicion and the quality
' of each perfon, by a proper purgation ; and let thera
* be avoided by all perfons till they (hall make fuflicient
* fatisfadtion : and if they fliall continue excommuni-
' cated for the fpace of one year, let them be confidered
' as condemned heretics.
* Let all fecular powers, whatfoever be the nature
' and rank of their refpedtive offices, be admonifhed,
' perfuaded, and, if neceflary, compelled, by ecclefiaftical
' cenfures, that as they defire to be reputed and efteemed
* faithful

f H )
« faithful, they publicly take an oath, that they will, to
4 .the utmoft of their power, endeavour to exterminate all
' fuch as (hall be denounced heretics by the church, out
* of all their dominions and places fubject to their jarif-
* diction ; and let them take this oath refpedtively, the
c moment they (hall be inverted with either fpiritual or
* temporal power.
* But if any temporal Lord fliall neglect to purge his
' dominions of fuch heretical corruption, after being
' required and admonifhed by the Church, by his Me-
* tropolitans and his other provincial Bifliops fo to do,
' let him be immediately bound in the chains of excommuni-
* cation; and if he (hall contumacioufly refufe to make
' fatisfadtion and fubmit himfelf to the Church within
' the year, let this be fignified to the Pope, who Jhall there-
* upon declare hisfubjecls abfolved from their allegiance, and
' proclaim his territories open to the jujl feizure and occu-
' pation of Catholic Powers, who, after they Jhall have ex*
* terminated the heretics, Jhall poffefs them without control,
c and preferve them in the purity of the faith, flill preferv-
' ing the title of the principal Lord, provided he Jhall give
* them no interruption, or oppofe any impediment to their
* proceedings ; and let the fame rule be obferved with
' refpedt to thofe who have no principal lords, i.e.
' republics. * Let all Catholics who (hall undertake a crufade fof
* the extermination of heretics have the fame indulgence,
« and the fame holy privilege, as thofe who undertake
' the crufade for the f xpulfion of the infidels from the
' Holy Land.
« We

( '5 )
' We decree, that not only thofe who profefs heretical
' tenets, but all receivers, protectors, and favourers of
* heretics, are ipfo faclo excommunicated ; and we
* ftridtly ordain and command, that after any fuch (hall .
* be publicly branded with excommunication, if they
' (hall refufe to make fatisfadtion and fubmit themfelves
' to the Church within a year, they Jhall be infamous, nor
' Jhall they be admitted to any public office or council, nor to
' eleel any perfons to fuch, nor to give tejlimony in any_ caufe ;
* neither Jhall they be capable of making wills, nor of fuc-
' ceffion, as heirs or reprefentaiives, to any eftate : they Jhall
' be incapable of fuing in any court, but may themfelves be
' fued : if any fuch perfon Jhall happen to be a judge of any
f court, hit Jentence Jhall be null and void, nor Jhall any
1 caufe be pfofecuted before him : if he Jhall happen to be an
* advocate, he Jhall not be admitted to praclife ; if a notary,
' inftruments drawn up, prepared, witneffed, or executed by
c him, Jhall alfo be void and of no effecj, but condemned
* with their guilty framer : and we command that the fami
' rule be obferved in all Jimilar cafes. But if he be a
* clergyman, let him be depofed both ab officio et bencficio,
' that, as his crime is the greater, fo the greater may
' be his punifliment.

* And if any fuch, after they have been publicly de-
• nounced by the Church, (hall contumacioufly neglect
' to fubmit and make fatisfadtion, let them be compelled
' and driven to it by the inceflant operation of the fen-
* tence of excommunication. Let no clergyman admi-
' nifler to fuch peflilent wretches the facraments of the
' Church, nor permit their bodies to Chriflian burial,
' nor receive their alms and oblations. If they (hall adt
atherwife, let them be fufpended from officiating, and
< let

j£

C *6 )
k let them not be reftored but by the fpecial indulgence"
• of the Pope.
* We alfo add, that every Archbifhop or Bifliop, by
' himfelf or his archdeacon, or other refpedtable per-
4 fons, (hall twice, or at lead once, in every year,
' vifit each parifli in his diocefe, in which it is reported
' that any heretics dwell, and (hall there oblige three or
* more credible perfons, or, if he (hall think proper, the
*• whole vicinage, to fwear, that if any of them (hall
' know, any heretics, or any perfons holdihg or frequent -
' ing fecret conventicles, or affecting either in life or
* manners to differ from the common converfation and
* practice in life of the faithful, they will endeavour
' effectually to difcover and point .them out to the Bifhop ;
' and the Bifliop fliall call the accufed into his prefence,
* and if they (hall not effectually purge themfelves from
* the crimes laid to their charge, or if, after they (hall
' have made their purgation, they (hall perfidioufly re-
' lapfe into their former guilt, they fliall be canonically
1 punifhed. And if any, through damnable obftinacy
* declining to bind themfelves by the religious obligation
' of an oath, fliall perhaps refufe to fwear, let them be
* from that inftant reputed heretics.'
The Oath fworn by every Romifli Bifliop at his confe-
cration is as follows. See the firft vol. of Burnet's Hif-
tory of the Reformation, p. 123.
L  , Bifliop of  ¦  , do fwear, that from this
' hour forward I (hall be faithful and obedient to St. Peter,
* and to the holy Church of Rome, and to my Lord the Pope
1 and his fucceffors canonically entering. I fliall not be of
' counfel

( t7 )
* counfel nor confent that they (hall lofe either life or
' member, or fliall be taken or fuffer any violence or
' any wrong by any means. Their counfel to me cre-
' dited by them, their mefiages or letters, I (hall not
' willingly difcover to any perfon. The Papacy of
1 Rome, the rules of the holy Fathers, and the regality
' of St. Peter, I (hall help, maintain, and defend againft
' all men. The Legate of the See apoftolic, going and
* coming, I fliall honourably entreat : the rights, ho-
' nours, privileges, and authorities of the Church of
* Rome, and of the Pope and his fucceflbrs, I fhall
' caufe to be conferved, defended, augmented, and pro-
' moted. I (hall not be in council, treaty, or any act,
' in which any thing (hall be imagined againft him or
c the Church of Rome, their rights, feats, honours, or
' powers ; and if I know any fuch to be moved or com-
' pafled, I (hall refift it to my power ; and as foon as I
' can I (hall advertife him, or fuch as may give him
' knowledge. The rules of the holy Fathers, the decrees,
' ordinances, fentences, difpofitions, refervations, pro-
' vifions, and commandments apoftolic, to my power I
' (hall keep, and caufe to be kept of others. Heretics,
1 fchifmatics, and rebels to our htly father and his fucceffors,
1 IJliall rejift and perfecute to my power. I (hall come to
' the fynod when I am called, except I be letted by a
' canonical impediment. The threfholds of the apoftles
' I fhall vifit yearly, perfonally or by my deputy. I (hall
' not alienate or fell my pofleflions without the Pope's
' counfel. So help me God and the holy Evangelifts.'
In 1793, Dr. Troy, Romifli Archbifliop of Dublin,
publiflied a pamphlet, which he ftyled « A Paftoral Let-
' ter:' it is in truth apolitical tract, containing argu-
c ments

( tB )
tnents not a little hoftile to the eftablifhed conftitution in-
church and ftate. He endeavours to prove the juftiee,
expediency, and even neceflity of the admiflion of Ro
manifts into the Legiflature, and into all offices of truft
and confidence ; and takes fpecial care to fupport, not
without fome degree of addrefs, his arguments, by me
naces of the effects which he infinuates muft flow from
the numbers and puiflance of the Irifli Romanifts, mag
nified by him infinitely beyond rsality. Any reafonab-le
man would expect that the Doctor would have endea
voured rather to extenuate than openly to aflert and
juftify the papal jurifdiction in Ireland, which he knew
Proteftants held to be one great impediment to the ad
miflion of the Romifli claims; but it is quite otherwife.
In page 31 of this pretended Paftoral Letter is the follow
ing paflage : ' It is a fundamental article of the Roman
' Catholic faith, that the Pope or Bifliop of Rome is
* fucceflbr to St. Peter, Prince of the Apoftles, in that
4 See ; he enjoys by divine right a fpiritual and ecclefi-
• aftical primacy, not only of honour and rank, but of
4 real jurifdiction and authority, in the univerfal church.
4 Roman Catholics conceive this point as clearly efla-
' bliflied in the fcriptures, and by the conftant tradition
4 of the Fathers in every age, as it is by the exprefs deci-
1 /tons of their general councils, which they conjider as in*-
' fallible authority in points of doCirine^
Same author, page 97. — ' Catholics cannot confcien-
8 tioufly abjure the ecclefiaftical authority of the Bi-
4 {hop of Rome. He is guardian of the general ca-
4 nons, and can alone difpenfe with them propria jure,
4 or by inherent right. Others enjoy that power by de-
1 legation from him. The erection, fuppreflion, and
4 union

( i9 )
s union of biflioprics and other benefices ; the elevation
4 of fees to the metropolitical dignity and jurifdiction j
4 the inftitution of general fafts and holidays; difpenfa-
* tions from their obfervance ; the regulation and in-
4 fpedtion of our liturgy ; appeals from inferior ecclefiajli-
' cal courts to his fupreme tribunal ; the fufpenfion and
4 reftoration of bijhops, and numberlefs other particulars of
4 our general church difcipline mentioned in the canons,
4 depend on the Pope as our ecclefiaftical fuperior, and
4 are conuedted with his primacy of jurifdiction in the
*• univerfal church. Henry VIII. of England was the firft
4 Chriflian prince that affumed eccjefiaftical fupremacy, and
' commanded an enjlaved Parliament to enad it as a law of
4 the flate. The Catholics confider it an ufurpation.'
Same author, page 102. — ' The Catholic laity of
4 Ireland refpedt their clergy, and confider it a duty to
4 be regulated by their determinations in all points of
-* religious doctrine. They are attached to their paftors
4 and fpiritual guides, who love them as their children
4 in Chrift. Clergy and laity are united by the moft tender
4 -and interejling conjiderations. Every effort to diffolvt thif
4 union muft prove ineffectual; interefl and duty continue to
4 render it indiffoluble. In adverfity and profperity they
4 muft rife and fall together.'
The fame author, in another place, dates, 4 that the
4 religious principles, of Roman Catholics being un-
4 changeable, they are applicable to all times.'
It is needlefs here to infert any other extracts from
recent publications of Romifli writers: I (hall barely
ebferve, that the fame doctrines are held in a modern
c 2 pub-

( 2° )
publication of Mr. Hufley, a Romifli pried, who informs
us in it, that he had been appointed Bifliop of Water-
ford by the Pope. This publication he alfo ftyles a Paf
toral Letter, though it is perhaps as feditious a publication
as any which has appeared in modern times, provoking
the Irifli Romanifts to infurredtion, and drawing a line
of eternal demarcation between them and their Proteftant
fellow-fubjects, fupported by the whole Romifli hoft of
anathemas and excommunications.
I will now proceed to anfwer the argument of the
author of the ' Cafe of Ireland Re-confidered,' in fupport
of his firft pofition, to wit, that men Jincerely attached to
the whole Romijh creed may be as good and faithful fubjeCts
of the Britifli empire as Proteflants, and confequently as
fafely admiffible to the fupreme legijlative and fuperior ex
ecutive capacities. His diffufive argument on this head,
already mentioned, may be thus condenfed : ' In a
* Romifli ftate, the fupremacy of the Church, or its
4 fpiritual authority, has no fandtion, no coercive power
fc in this life, and can in no way come in contact with
c civil exiftence ; nor can its tribunal exift, fo as to affedt
4 any man in his liberty, life, or property, without the
' permiffion of the fovereign of that country ; and if a
4 foreign jurifdiction exifts in fuch country, it is to the
4 confent of the fovereign power, and not to the Roman
4 Catholic religion, of which it is no inherent part, it is
4 to be afcribed. In a Proteftant ftate, fuch as Ireland,
4 the King, Peers, and nine tenths of the Commons
4 being Proteftants, the confent of the ftate never can be
4 obtained to the exercife of Romifti ecclefiaftical jurif-
4 diction ; therefore in fuch ftate no mifchief can arife
4 from the Romifti tenet of the fupremacy of the Pope,
4 though

( 21 )
* though Romanifts fhould 'fit in Parliament, and be
4 admitted to the higheft offices of the date.' Though
the premifes in this fyllogidic argument be admitted to
be; true, yet the conclufion will by no means follow,
that no mifchief will arife in a: Protedant ftate by the
admifiion of Romanifts into the fupreme legiflative body,
and to the exercife of the higheft executive offices of the
ftate, as I (hall hereafter prove; yet the premifes require
examination. The major propofition, to wit, the fpi
ritual authority of the' Pope not being' an inherent part of
the Romijh religion, has no fanClion, and cannot be ex'tfcifed
even in Rojnijhjlates, but by the tonfent of the fate, is ex
tremely fophiflical ; it confifts 'in fact of two propofr-
tions ; the firft is, the fpiritual authority of the Pope is not
an inherent part of the Romijh religion. This propofition
is already clearly proved to be falfe, by the extracts from
the Lateran Council, and from Doctor Troy, and by the
rejection of the Oath of Supremacy by all Romanifts.
The fecond part of it, that this authority has no fanClion
in this life, and cannot be exercifed, even in Romijh Jlates,
but by the confent of the Jlate, requires explanation.
In a Romifli date, the fovereign power, whether it be
a monarchy or a republic, being veiled in Romanifts/ its
confent to the execution of the decrees of their own
church, of which they admit the Tope to be fupreme
head, is certain. Romifli -monarchs? and governing
members of Romifli republics, are, by the tenets of
their religion, bound, not only to confent to the execu
tion, but to execute the decrees of their church, as well
on the perfons as on the properties of their futfjedts t
hence in Romifli dates the fupremacy of the Pope in
fpirituals amplifies itfelf into the exercife of a mod ex-
c 3 tenfive.

( 22 )
tenfive temporal jurifdiaion, the ftate either refigning
to ecclefiaftical officers the execution of the decrees of
the Church on the perfons and properties of its fubjedts,
or becoming itfelf the executioner of fuch decrees : for
inftance, in moft Romifli countries, fuch as the Church
deems heretics, or even fufpeas of being fo, are impri-
foned by ecclefiaftical officers in ecclefiaftical prifons,
and they are burned by temporal officers when the Church
pronounces them heretics irreclaimable, and delivers them
over to the fecular arm ; as was the cafe in England be
fore the Reformation and during the reign of Qtieen
Mary : therefore in Romifli countries, the Church of
Rome, and its fupreme head the Pope, have real jurif
diaion, efficient tribunals, and fanaions to their decrees
of the moft powerful efficacy ; and their decrees reach
to, and are executed upon, the liberties, lives, and pro
perties, and moft of the temporal concerns of the fub-
jeas ; and fuch dates are themfelves the executioners of
their decrees. This jurifdiaion is an inherent part of
the Roman Catholic religion, and its title is founded in
the very effence of that religion. Dr. Troy dates, 4 that
4 the real jurifdiaion and authority of the Pope is clearly
4 eftabliftied by the fcriptures and the conflant tradition
4 of the Fathers, and the exprefs decifions of general
* councils, which Roman Catholics confider as infallible
4 authority : if is a fundamental article of the Roman Ca-
4 tholic faith.' This doarine is conformable to the La-
teran Council, and to the opinions of all Romifli writers,
ancient or modern, on the fubjea. If a Romifli date
fhould refufe to execute the decrees of the Romifli Church
in what are deemed fpiritual matters, fuch as herefy, and
many others extending to the liberties, lives, and pro
perties of the fubjeas, which are certainly temporal
concerns,

( =3 )
concerns, fuch dates would ceafe to be Roman Catholic.
In fuch dates it is of no moment whether fuch power or
jurifdiaion be exercifed by the Church itfelf, or by the
temporal power under the orders and direaion of the
Church, or by the permifiion of the temporal power, as
long as the acquiefcence and obedience of the temporal
power are enfusred by the very tenets of their religion.
The Romifti doarine of the fupremacy of the Pope
in ecclefiadical matters is fupported in effea and opera
tion by Romifli dates, however in political, theory flatef-
men or lawyers may fometimes prefume partially to dif-
fent from it, admitting it in praaice, and being them
felves its executioners. But in a Protedant date, fuch a
tenet direaiy militates againd the very exidence of the
ftate, is utterly inconfident with the nature and eflence
of the government, and contrary to its vital principles,
both in theory and praaice. In Romifli dates', the ex-
clufive jurifdiaion of the Pope in all fpiritual matters,
fo far as the cognizance of the caufe and pronouncing
fentence, either in the fird indance or on appeal, is ad
mitted to exid ; but, fays this author, he is not permitted to
execute his fentence, where it affeas temporals, without
the approbation of the temporal fovereignty of the
Romifli ftates ; therefore his fupremacy is not admitted
in fuch ftates. This is a miferable fophifm ; for as long
as fuch ftates continue Romifli, they are bound by the
tenets of their religion to execute, and do execute his
fentences, affbaing both the lives and properties of their
fubjeas, that is, their temporal concerns and interefts,
and do thereby effeaually admit his fupremacy, and be
come his minifters, fervants, and executioners.
c 4 As

( ,24 •)
As to the minor propofition of this author's fyllogiftic
argument, to wit, that in Ireland, a Proteftant fate, the
confent of the ftate cannot be procured to the exercife of the
jurifdiction of the Romijh Church, and of its head the Pope;
I believe it is now true, and I hope it will always con
tinue fo ; becaufe I hope our rulers in this Proteftant
Britifti empire never will be induced by falfehood, fraud,
and fophiftry, to transfer to Romanifts the political power
of the ftate, which they would not, nor could not, if
they continued Romanifts, fail to ufe for the introduaion
of their own faith as orthodox, and the fuppreffion of the
Proteftant faith as heretical,, and confequently for the
eftabliftiment of the Pope's fupremacy among their other
religious errors. To give this minor propofition the
effba which this author intends, it is not fufficient that
jt be admitted to be now true, but it muft be fuppofed
that in Ireland it will always continue true, that is, that
though Romanifts be admitted into the fupreme legiflative
and executive authorities of the ftate, yet they never will
be able, on account of their prefent weaknefs and poverty,
to overturn the Proteftant eftablifhment, and confequently
that it cannot be hurtful to the ftate to admit them.
This is at beft a negative argument; it does not tend to
prove that it would be ufeful to the ftate to admit them,
but that it would not be pernicious or detrimental to do
fo ; and it at the fame time, in fome meafure, admits,
that if they were powerful it would be dangerous for
Proteftants to admit them, and confequently that Pro
teftants have a good right to believe that they would ufe
any political power they may acquire, for the fubverfion
of the prefent eftabliftiment ; and this the author more
explicitly admits in more than one paflage, intimating to
Jrjfti Proteftants, that if they will admit Romanids to
the

{ 25^)
the fupreme legiflative and executive' capacities,- they may
have the guaranty of England for the fecurity of their
church eftablifliment ; that is, in other words, 4 Your
church eftablifliment, which in the ,prefent conftitution
of. the date is fecure, will be rendered infecure by your
admiffion of us into the fupreme legiflative and executive
capacities ; and in that cafe you muft apply to your friend
and neighbour for that fecurity which you had in your
own hands, but which you have itioliftily relinquished.'
And this argument he makes ufe of, when he is appa
rently endeavouring to diffuade the Irifli nation from
confentirig to an Incorporating Union with Great Britain,
and -confequently to loofen the bands of connexion of
the two countries.
The conclufion, however, drawn by this author from
thefe premifes, is not warranted by them, though the
truth of the premifes be admitted ; for, even in that cafe,
it can be proved that much mifchief may arife to the
Proteftant ftate of Ireland from the admiffion of Ro
manifts to the legiflative and higheft executive capacities;
and firft from this author's own ftatement. In the fecond
page of his pamphlet he ftates the proportion of Irifli
Romanifts to Irifli Proteftants to be four or five to one.
This is a grofs exaggeration ; but I am now arguing
from his own aflertions. In a commercial country, pro
perty is continually changing hands : landed eftates,.
where there is no reflraint of alienation, change mafters,
~ not fo rapidly as perfonal property, but though in a
flower, yet not lefs certain progrefiion : in the courfe of
trade, the induftrious and indigent are continually
emerging into opulence ; landed property in this country
is every day at market, and by . purchafe comes to the
polfeflion

pofl'effion of the fuccefsful merchant, mechanic, and
fanner: hence if in Ireland the mafs of the people, that
is, five to one, be Romanifts, though at prefent the bulk
of the property of the nation be in the hands of Pro
teftants, yet it will fliift into thofe of Romanifts, by a
progreffion certain, and, confidering the alledged difpro-
portion of numbers, not very flow. The Irifli Roman
ifts have been very lately admitted to every civil fran-
chife enjoyed by the Irifli Proteftants, except to the
capacity of fitting in Parliament, and of occupying about
thirty of the greateft offices of the ftate ; they are even
rendered capable of becoming members of all corpora
tions in the kingdom. If then they (hall be admitted to
fit in Parliament, they muft at a period not very diftant,
as property, admitted by this author to be the bafis of
reprefentation, (hifts to their fcale, be the reprefentatives
in Parliament of all the counties, and of all the boroughs
diftinguiflied by the name of pot-walloping, and, by lefs
rapid degrees, of all or moft of the other boroughs in the
lingdom ; that is, they will in a (hort time compofe the
whole, or at lead a vaft majority of the Houfe of Com
mons. Their Peers (at prefent indeed very few) will fit
in the Houfe of Lords ; fo that in our fupreme legiflative
body they will form one, and infinitely the moft powerful
branch, and have a confiderable influence in the fecond,
and will have power (iifficient to force the third or regal
branch to a compliance with all their fchemes, and oblige
it to fill all the great offices of the ftate with Romanifts,
and introduce as many of them as may amount to a ma
jority into the Houfe of Peers. Hence it is obvious,
from this author's own ftatement, that by admitting Ro
manifts to form part of the fupreme legiflative power of
the ftate, they will by degrees fwallow up the whole,

awe

{ 27* 3
awe the executive into their meafures, and fubvert tllle
Proteftant eftablifliment in Ireland from the foundation ;
for a Romanift is bound, by the tenets of his religion, to
the bed of his power to exterminate all heretics, and
deftroy all heretical eftablifliments ; and this author will
not, I believe, deny, that all Romanifts hold all Proteft
ants to be heretics ; and as he is alfo by the fame religion
bound to eftablifh it in the room of the one fubverted,
and to execute the decrees of the Church of Rome and
of its head the Pope, the fupremacy in fpirituals, to
which a vaft temporal power is annexed, and from which
it is infeparable, will be in efffea and reality torn from
the ftate, and veiled in the Pope, with his confiftory,
nuncios, and minifters ; and the halcyon days of Queen
Mary, and of the bonfires and triumphs1 of Popery, will
return; the writ de Heretico comburendo will again re
ceive the fanaion of Parliament. Such is the ftatement
by which this author endeavours to perfuade Irifli Pro
teftants to betray the political power of the ftate, and the
fecurity of their own lives and properties, into Romifli
hands! But waving all advantage which the grofs exaggerations
and miftatements of this author, or the weaknefs of his
arguments, may afford, I will expofe the mifchief to the
Proteftant ftate of Ireland which muft arife by the ad
miffion of Romanids into Parliament, from the very
nature of its conditution and government, and the true
ftate of its population, relative numbers, and views of
the different clafles of its inhabitants.
The fovereign power of Ireland is veiled in the King,
Lords, and Commons ; and whatever prince wears the
diadem

((?.z8 )
-tfiadem of Great Britain, he is ipfo faCto King of Ireland :
its. population cannot much exceed three millions of peo
ple ; one third at lead of the inhabitants are Proteftants,
two thirds only are Romanifts :' upwards of two millions
of the inhabitants are in fuch a ftate of poverty, that they
cannot pay a yearly tax to the date of four- pence per head
without the greated didrefs, and nine tenths of thefe are
Romanifts. (See Appendix, No. i.) Allfubjeas ofa ftate,
who deny that the fupreme power by which that ftate is
conftitutionally governed is exclufively entitled to enaa
and execute all laws for the good government of that ftate,
and who maintain, as part of their religious creed, that a
power exifts extraneous and feparate from that ftate, and
not under its control and dominion, which can make laws,
and enforce their execution among the fubjeas of that
date in many particulars, arc enemies to its independence,
and traitors. - Irifli Romanifts univerfally, maintain, as
an immutable tenet of their religion, the fupremacy of the
Pope in all fpiritual matters within thiskingdom. See the
above quotations from Dr. Troy (who ftyles the power of
the ftate to determine within itfelf, and by its own judi
catories, all ecclefiaftical caufes, an ufurpation), and all
other Romifli writers on the fame fubject. Romanifts
will not take the Oath of Supremacy before dated. It is
utterly impoffible and impraaicable to feparate a vaft
portion of temporal power and influence from fpiritual
fupremacy: herefy is of fpiritual cognizance, fo is matri
mony ; Romanifts hoki it to be a facrament ; and as to
its validity, their canons are in many indances different
from ours, they declaring marriages null and void, which
by our laws are valid, and vice verfa. What degree of
temporal power and influence does the fupremacy in fpi-
rituals derive from the exchifive jurifdiaion refpefliirg
5 herefy }

( 29 )
herefy? Look to the Lateran Council already quoted!
What degree of temporal power and influence does the
exclufive matrimonial jurifdiaion confer ? Legitimacy
and fucceffion to property real and perfonal, and almoft
every combination of circumftances under which fuch
fucceffion might be claimed, depend on the matrimoniat
jurifdiaion. A thoufand other inftances can be adduced
of the infeparability of fupreme jurifdidtion in fpiritual,
from vaft power and influence in temporal concerns,
The Popes for ages have ufurped temporal authority as
incident to their fpiritual fupremacy in various Chriftian
ftates, and under that title alone ; and as to the extent and
influence of this jurifdiaion, the decline of the Pope's
power as a temporal prince does not in the lead diminiflt
them : as a temporal prince, the Pope never was confider-
able ; the eflence of his ufurpation is in his dominion
over the minds of Romanifts in the date; if they are very
numerous, they mud be dangerous in proportion to their
numbers, wealth, and influence in a Proteftant ftate,
though the Pope ftiould be completely dripped of all his
dominions and territories. The tyranny exerted by the
Pope in temporals, under colour of his fpiritual fupre
macy, is painted in our hiftories, and in the preambles of
the datutes enaaed both in England and Ireland for
abolifliing his ufurpation. See the Englifli datutes 25th
Henry VIII. chap. 21.; 32d Henry VIII. chap. 38. ;
id of Elizabeth, chap. 1.; and Irifli datutes 28th
Henry VIII. chap, 13.19-; 33d Henry VII i. chap. 6.;
2d of Elizabeth, chap. 1. The late Lord Cheflerfield,
whom no man will accufe of much prejudice in reli
gious matters, when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1745,
expreffed himfelf, in his fpeech from the Throne to the
Irifh Parliament, in the following manner : ' However, 4 1 leave

f 3° )
« I leave to yotir confideration whether nothing further
4 can be done, either by new laws, or the more effeaual
4 execution of thofe in being, to fecure this nation againft
4 the great number of Papifts, whofe fpeculative errors
4 would only deferve pity, did not their pernicious influence
4 on civil focicty require and authorize reftraint.' This
Lord was one of thofe men who, according to the author
of ' The Cafe of Ireland Re-confldered,' was prejudiced
and ill-informed, when compared with himfelf! Ana
now I afk this author, whether he can produce a (ingle
inftance in which a'ftate having fufficient power to ex
clude all traitors from its fovereignty, voluntarily called
them to the exercife of fupreme power ? This would be
the cafe, if Romanifts in Ireland were admitted into the
Houfes of Lords and Commons ; for in thefe Houfes, in
conjunaion with the King, and not in the King alone, is
lodged the fupreme power of the ftate ; and fuch is the
peculiar charaaeriftic. of our conftitution, which is a li
mited monarchy : if the Government of Ireland were
guilty of fuch folly, it Would richly merit political diflb-
Iution, and might be juftly termed felo de fe. Shall we
give voices in the fupreme legiflative aflembly, inverted
with the fovereign power, to thofe who are taught by
their religion not only to renounce and difobey, but to-
vilify and traduce the fupremacy of that Legiflature, and
who thus ally fuperftition with treafon, and, as it were,
fanaify rebellion? In the Britifli empire, experience has
fliown the folly, naymadnefs, of inverting Romanifts with
fupreme power. King James the Second, who was per
verted from the Proteftant religion to Popery during his
exile, no fooner afcended the Throne, than be fet every
engine to work, for the purpofe of eftablifliing Popery on
the ruins of the religion of his country : he was a prince
4 not

( 3* )
^iot deftitute of qualities which might have fecured to him
the affbaion of his fubjeas, both as a man and a mo
narch ; but his unfortunate attachment to Popery made
him fet at nought all political and moral obligation ; re-
gardlefs of his coronation oath, he made ufe of all the ad
vantages which his fituation afforded him, to violate every
principle of the conditution, for the fole purpofe of fur-
rendering the fupremacy of the date to a foreign judica
tory, attempting tofubjugate the independent Britifli em
pire to the Papacy, to (hare the regal authority with the
Pope, and to reign partly as his vaflal : the obligation of a
folemn oath yielded to his bigotry, and he reduced to prac
tice the Romifli doarine, that all oaths, the obligations of
which militate in any refpea againft the tenets of their
church, are in themfelves impious, unlawful, and void.
His condua is a perpetual leflbn to Proteftants, not to
rely with too much confidence on the oaths of Romanifts,
the obligations of which operate againft their religious
opinions. The atove arguments alfo prove the mifchief which
muft arife from committing to Romanifts the higher ex
ecutive offices of the ftate; they would be thereby en-
trufted with the execution of laws, which they are bound
in confcience to refill, and which they look upon as im
pious and heretical. Common fenfe exclaims againft
fuch monftrous and deftruaive projeas of innovation !
All Proteftants muft for ever deprecate and oppofe the
granting any part of the fupreme power of the ftate, whe
ther legiflative or executive, to Romanifts, who muft ever
direa that power unceafingly to the deftruaion of the
Proteftant religion, and the eftablifliment of their own ;
and this they can never have any reafonable hope to effea, fave

( 32 )
fave by a total change in the conftitution. It is impof-
fible that any Romanift can honeftly and zealoufly admi-
nifter the affairs of a Proteftant ftate ; he would ceafe to
be a Romanift, if he did not perfeveringly aim at fupre
macy, and the paramount eftabliftiment of the Romifli
religion. Romanifts could not be content to (hare equal
power with thofe they believe to be heretics : the moft
facred engagements (as we fee, among a thoufand inftances,
in the condua of James the Second), if contrary to, or
not coinciding with, the interefts of their church, are by
that church diflblved, and declared void.
The argument of this author, that reprefentation by
the Britifti conftitution is in the fame ratio with property,
that Proteftant property is to that of Romifli property in
Ireland in the proportion of ten to one, and that confe
quently no danger can accrue to the Proteftant intereft by
the admiffion of Romanifts into Parliament, I have an-.
fwered pretty fully already, from the fluauation of pro
perty in a commercial ftate, from the relative numbers of
Irifli Proteftants and Romanifts, and the avowed political
creed of the latter clafs. But though I were to admit,
that property and confequent reprefentation would always
remain in the fame ratio, yet I can point out many mif-
chiefs to the eftabliftiment in church and ftate, which
would moft certainly flow from the admiffion of Romanifts
to feats in Parliament. When King James the Second un
dertook the fubverfion of the Proteftant eftabliftiment in
England and Ireland, the two great branches of the fu
preme authority of both nations, to wit, the Houfes of
Lords and Commons, confifted of Proteftants only. The
fupreme executive, being only one branch of the fove
reign authority of the empire, attempted to carry into
execution

( 33 )
ekectition this defperate projea : hiftory informs us it
was very near fucceeding, and would with certainty have
fucceeded, at leaft in Ireland, had not a great continental
power, nearly allied to the Throne, interfered for our pre-
fervation, roufed the energy of the empire, and defeated
a defign founded in bigotry, and confequent perjury. A\
that time one branch of the fupreme authority was near
effeaing fo defperate an enterprife ; what mifchiefs and
innovations may not be expeaed, in cafe the other two,
branches, or either of them, and particularly the popular
branch, the Houfe of Commons, (hould become even par
tially corrupted with Romifli bigotry, hoftile, and in
curably fo, to the conftitution both in Church and State !
All perfons know that the Houfe of Commons, if unin
fluenced by the monarchy and ariftocracy, could fubvert
the ftate ; it did fo once, and if led by defperate and
wicked politicians, might do fo again : the very exidence
of our political edablifliment depends on the conftitu-
tional influence of the King and Peers among the Com
mons ; and is it confident with the rules of political wif-
dom, to •fuffer any part of that aflembly to be compofed of
the determined, deadly, irreclaimable enemies of the con
ftitution, and of the independence of the empire ? This
author fuppofes that a tenth part of that Houfe would be
immediately occupied by Romifli reprefentatives, in cafe
they were admitted to At in parliament ; but whatever
their number might be at firfl, it certainly would con-
ftantly increafe, from the fhifting of property in com
mercial countries to that Clafs of fubjeas which is moijr.
numerous. The conceffion then to Romanifts of the ca
pacity of fitting in Parliament, would be the immediate
admiffion of thirty members into the Houfe of Commons,
determined enemies of the conftitution in Church and State,
d wh»

( 34 )
who would be always ready to join any difcontented
party in Parliament in oppofition to the Crown and its
Minifters ; any fet of profligate defperadoes ; the profefled
patrons of two oppofition meafures, dignified with the
fpecious and impofing titles of Emancipation and Reform,
fignifying, in the vocabulary of the Irifli Rebels, Popery
and Republicanifm (as is fully proved in the Reports of the
Secret Committees of the Britifli and Irifli Houfes of Lords
and Commons), or in any other meafures for the deftruc-
tionof the conftitution. Romifli Irifli members of Par
liament would fupport emancipation from the principles
of their religion, and reform as ancillary to emancipation,
becaufe moft of the boroughs are at prefent under the in
fluence of Proteftants ; and though Romanifts are ren
dered capable of being members of corporations by the
aa of 1793 in their favour, yet it will take fome time be
fore its operation can enfure to them any domineering in-
tereft in boroughs : befides, the Irifli Romanifts are now
almoft univerfally determined Republicans, as I fhall
hereafter fhow.
It is pretty certain, if Romanifts Were admiflible into
Parliament, that a greater number of them would obtain
feats, than .their property entitles them to expea, on the
fcale laid down by this author ; for the loweft orders of
the Irifli population are almoft all Romanifts, and parti
cularly the Irifli peafantry. Mr. Tone, in his State of
Ireland, drawn up for the ufe of the French Convention,
ftates, that the whole of the Irifh peafantry may be faid
to be Romanifts, and femi-barbarous. The Irifh Pro
teftant Nobility and Gentry, after the paffing of the aft
which enabled Rottfanifts to vote at eleaions of members
ef Parliament, feemed to be feized with a mania for mak ing

( 35 )
ing fofty-fliillihg freeholders, each vying with his neigh
bour for qualifying the greateft number of voters at county
eleaions ; and moft of their tenantry being Romanifts,
they made forty-fhilling freeholders of a vaft number of
them, under the vain opinion, that they would he always
able to command their votes : hence;, in many counties, the
forty-fhilling Romifli freeholders exceed in numbers the
Proteftant freeholders, and woful experience has now
proved to the Proteftant landlords their miftake, in fup-
pofing that the votes of their Romifli tenants would be at
their difpofal ; for in the late Romifli Rebellion it was re
markable, that the infurgent peafants purfued their land
lords with the greateft inveteracy, murdered fuch of them.
as fell into their hands, burned their houfes, and wafted
their property : in faa, thefe half-favages are moftly under
the direaion and influence of their priefts, who would
generally fway county eleaions ; and I need not make
ufe of many arguments to prove, that the perfons eleaed
as reprefentatives for moft of the counties would very foon,
be all Romanifts, whether they had property or not : the
fame would be the cafe in all or moft of the boroughs dif-
tinguiflied by the name of Pot-walloping; of which, I
think, there are eight in the kingdom : fo that the Romifli
reprefentation would immediately amount to much more
than a tenth of the Houfe of Commons ; and this would
be an evil daily increaflng. All thefe Romifli reprefent
atives would moft certainly unite together, and aa in
conjunaion with every difcontented party againft the Go
vernment, whilft it continued Proteftant ; and as all fuch
parties would join the Romanifts in making breaches in
the conftitution favourable to their views, to procure their,
co-operation in their own deflgns, what incalculable mif
chiefs muft arife, and what certain ruin to the prefent
d % eftablifh-

( 36 )
eftablifliment in Church and State, from the admiffion of
Romanifts into Parliament! I am firmly perfuaded that
His Majefty, a truly pious prince, will never be induced
to concur in fo fatal a meafure, but will conceive that his
concurrence would be a violation of his coronation oath*
inafmuch as it would direaiy tend to the overthrow of
that religious eftablifliment which he has folemnly fworn
to maintain and defend.
The fecond general argument of this author on which
he refts the Romifli claims of political power, viz. that
Romanifls have a right to feats in Parliament in propor
tion to their property, becaufe property is, by the Britifli
conftitution, the bafis of reprefentation, is very eafily re
futed. Admitting property to be the bafis of reprefent--
ation, yet by no force of argument can it be proved, that
a clafs of people, from religious principle the determined
enemies of the ftate, traitors in theory, and always in prac
tice, when they dare, be their property what it may, havs
a right to be admitted into the fupreme legiflative power
of the ftate ; they ought to be excluded by every principle
on which civil focieties are founded: and fo far from
being entitled to the enjoyment of any political power in
a ftate, they ought to be extremely well contented with,
and, if they have any fparks of gratitude, very thankful
for, being permitted to remain within the territories of
the ftate, and enjoy the proteaion and benefits of it. Pro
teftant ftates affording fuch indulgence to their Romifli
fubjeas aa on a true Chriflian principle ; they forgive
their enemies, perfecutors, and flanderers, heap benefits
upon them, and deprive them of nothing, except the powey
of injuring their proteaors. The greater part of the
above reafoning applies as well to the rejeaion of Ro
manifts

¦'( 37 )
nratiids from feats in the United Parliament, when an In
corporating Union fhall take place between Great Britain
and Ireland, as from feats in the Irifli Parliament : their
admiffion into either wo\ild be a fatal breach in the confti
tution : the confequence of fuch an innovation in Eng
land I fliall hereafter enlarge on.
I (hall conclude this part of my ahfwer to the author's
fophiftical argument, to prove the Romifli principle of
Papal fupremacy to be no reaforiable objeaion to Ro
manifts' enjoying part of the fovereign authority of the
Proteftant ftate of Ireland by fitting in Parliament, and
being admitted to the higheft executive offices, with ob-
ferving that his petulant affertion, that no well-informed
man would make it twice, is in faa an affertion, that all
Englifli and Irifh ftatefmen and fenators in the reigns of
Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, Elizabeth, and
ever-fince, Were ignorant politicians when compared with
himfelf, and have drawn on themfelves the contempt of
the whole world, by excluding Romanifts from fovereign
power, as he in one place exprefles himfelf. Such pre
emption and -ignorance demonftrate him to be an Irifh-
man, bred in an academy of modern French philofophers,
the only rival of whofe charaaeriftic prefumption is their
ignorance. It is very difficult to determine, whether this author's
next argument betrays moft ignorance or malice. He be
gins it by dating, 4 that Roman Catholics do not deny the
4 fole right of the date to manage the concerns, eflablifh-
'¦ ment, faith and difcipline of the Church of England ;*
thereby, indireaiy, but not lefs decifively, aflerting, that
the faith and difcipline of the Church of England are mere
p 3 c,reaiure*L

( 38 )
.creatures of ftate policy, and that fuch faithis not founded
on, nor its difcipline regulated by, the holy Scriptures,
the revealed word of God, but is of mere human inven
tion, or rather impofition : — mod condefcending admiffion
of this Romifli writer ! At the very time he is endea^
vouring to perfuade Proteftants to acquiefce in the Romifli
claims, he cannot, in the true fpirit of Popery, forbear in
troducing, in almoft every paragraph, fbffle fneer or ma
lignant falfehood againft the eftablifhed church. The
ftate has not affumed the power in the Britifli empire to
manage the faith of its fubjeas, fo far as that faith relates
merely to fpiritual concerns, if by managing is meant the
determining the articles of faith : all fuch are determined
by convocations of the Clergy, according to the doarines
laid down in the holy Scriptures : the fame is true with
refpea to the difcipline of the Church, which is fettled
and regulated by the canons agreed on in convocation,
which convocation fits by the authority of the Crown. As
to the eftablifliment and revenues of the Church, the Bri
tifli flate does always interfere, as:they relate to the tem
poral concerns of the Clergy and Laity both ; and hence
the canons agreed on at convocation, relating neceffarily
to temporal matters,_as well as fpiritual, indiffblubly con-
neaed, muft, to give them a temporal authority, be ap
proved of by the fovereign power; but they bind the
Clergy, without the fanaion of Parliament, in all points
of faith and difcipline. The authority of Parliament is
alfo neceflary to warrant and enforce the public exercife
of religion ; and fuch interference of the ftate the en
croaching fyftem of the Romifti church on the temporal
power of princes and ftates throughout the Chriflian world
made abfolutely neceflary, multiplying corruptions in that
particular for a ferieg of centuries. After thus fneering
pialicioufly

( 39 )
malicioufly at the eftabliflied church, this author proceeds :
4 Roman Catholics do not admit the King of England to be
4 fpiritual head of the Roman Catholic church, nor do the
4 Prejbyterians admit him to be head of theirs : this was not
4 a reafonfor excluding the Scotch from ajhare in iheLegif-
4 'lature of the country they were united to ; why thenjhould it
4 exclude the Irijh f It is to be obferved firft, that he in
finuates the Romifli churclvis the church of the Irifh iii
general ; I fhall hereafter expofe the fraud of that infing*
ation ; but I muft firft examine his argument, admitting,
that I verily believe from fome other paffages in his pam
phlet, it is partly founded on the author's profound igno
rance of the laws of his country, which he manifefts in
more than one inflance, when writing on the repealed
Irifh Popery code, and its efffeas in fociety.
The original' Oath of Supremacy, as ordained to be
taken by the 28th of Henry VIII. chap. 13. contained
the following claufe : * fhall accept, repute, and take the
4 King's Majefty to be the the only fupreme head on earth
4 of the Chureh-of England and Ireland^' This oath was
complained of, as an acknowledgment of a facerdotal
power in the -temporal fovereign. Queen Elizabeth, after
her acceflion, when (he caufed the laws againft the Pope's
authority, which had been repealed by her fifter Mary, to
be re-enaaed, altered Henry's Oath of Supremacy, or
rather caufed an entirely new Oath to be enaaed in the
room of Henry's : in this new Oath of Supremacy is the
following claufe : 4I  do utterly tedify and declare
4 in my confcience, that the Queen's Highnefs is the only
4 fupreme governor of this realm, and of all other her High-
4 nefs's dominions and countries, as- well in all fpiritual
4 or ecclefiaftical things or caufqs as in temporal.' (See Lifts
D4 Aa,

r 4° j
AS, 2d Eliz. chap. i;.fect. J.) And to prevent all 'cavil,
the Queen publiflied an explanation of this Oath of
Supremacy, declaring, ' that (he did not under colour
4 thereof claim any prieftly power, but merely under
4 God to have the fovereignty and rule over all manner of
4 perfons born within her dominions, of what eftate, whe-
4 ther ecclefiaftical or. temporal, foever they be, fo as no
4 other foreign power fliall or ought to have any fuperi-
4 ority over them.' (See ift vol. Carte's Hiftbry of the
Duke of Ormond, page 38.) This Oath of Supremacy
was afterwards abrogated by the Englifli aa of the id of
William and Mary, and a new Oath was fubdituted' in
its place : for it was found that King James the Second,
. under the fanaion of this Oath, had affumed a moft un-
conftitutional power in the affairs of the Church, and
ufed it for the fubverfion of the eftabliftied conftitution
in Church and State. By this new Oath all perfons/ to
whom it was by law adminiftered, only difclaimed and ab
jured all foreign authority or jurifdiction in ecclefiafticaf
¦matters within the realm, and did not fwear that the Mo
narch was either fupreme head, or fupreme governor of thf
Church of the realm. It is enaaed, that this*Oath fhall be
taken in Ireland as well as in England. ¦ I have given
this Oath at large before. Hence it is obvious, that Irifh
Romanifts are not excluded from Parliament, and from
occupying the higheft offices in the ftate, by their not ad
mitting the King to be fupreme head of the Church, as
this author ignorantly dates, but they exclude themfelves
by refufing to abjure the authority of a foreign prince anc{
prelate within the realm.
The Reformation in Scotland was introduced by di
vines -who were the difciples of Calvin: his doarines
5 werp

[ 4i )
^ere univerfally Tece'ived by the Reformed in Scotland ;
and though James the Fird and Charles the Fird did in
troduce epifcopacy into that kingdom, it was almod uni
verfally oppofed by the mafs of the people, both high and
low. Ejnfcopacy was fubverted, and Prefbyterianifm
edablifhed in the great civil war, which commenced in
the year 1641. On the Redoration, epifcopacy was re
ftored, and held its place with great difficulty till the
Revolution in 1688, when Prefbyterianifm was again in
troduced in Scotland on the ruins of Epifcopacy, and was
edablifhed by the King and Parliament, as the religion of
the date, The Union of the two kingdoms of England
and Scotland took place long afterwards, in the 5th year
of Queen Anne ; and previous to the Union, and prepa
rative thereto, an aft was paffed in England for the fecu
rity of the Church of England, whereby the Adts of Uni
formity, as they then flood, are.declared perpetual; as
alfo all other aas then in force for the prefervation of the
Church of England : and it is enaaed, that every fubfe-
quent King and Queen fliall take an oath: inviolably to
maintain the fame, within England, Ireland, Wales, and
the town of Berwick upon Tweed : and a fimilar aa,
previous to the Union, and preparative thereto, was
paffed in Scotland, for the .perpetual fecurity of Prefby
terianifm in that kingdom, being then, and long before,
its edablifhed religion. Thefe two aas are inferted in
the body of the Aa of Union of the two kingdoms ;
and by that aa it is enaaed, that the aforefaid two aas
fhall for ever be obferved as fundamental and effential
conditions of the Union. The twenty-fecond article of
jhe conditions of that Union inferted in, and ratified by,
jthe Adt of Union, provides, that all members of the
United-

( -4* )
United Parliament, Engliflt and Scotch,' fliall, previous-
to their voting in Parliament, take the oath already men
tioned, fubftituted by the ift of William and Mary in
the room of the former Oath of Supremacy, and the Oath
of Abjuration of the defcendants of thejate King James
the Second, and repeat and fign the Declaration againft
Popery. (See Defoe's Hiflory of the Union, arid the Eng-
lifh Statute 5th Anne, chap. 8.) Sir William Blackdone
obferves on this Aa of Union, that any alteration in the
Conftitution of either of thefe churches, or in the liturgy
of the Church of England, would be an infringement of
thefe fundamental and effential conditions-,, and greatly en
danger the Union. (See Blackdone 's Commentaries,
oaavo edit. vol. i. page 98.)
As to particulars refpeaing the difcipline of the Kirk
-of Scotland, I confefs myfelf not well informed, nor Can
I fay whether it does, or does not, admit the King to
be its fupreme head ; but this I will venture to advance,
that the King's Commiffioner fits in every general affem-
bly of the Kirk' of Scotland, and the date exercifes pretty
much the fame controlling power over that Kirk, as it
does over the Church of England. The admiffiort, that
the King is fupreme head over the Kirk of Scotland, is
not required as a qualification for a Scotch member to fit
in the Parliament of Great Britain, nor for any member,
whether Scotch or Englifh : but the abjuration of all
foreign ecclefiaftical or fpiritual jurifdiaion within the
realm is required as a qualification : this abjuration all
Scotch members aftually make, and therefore they are
admitted to fit in Parliament ; but all Irifh Romanifts ab-
folutely refufe to make this abjuration, and therefore ex
clude themfelves from that privilege : and the author's
argument^

( 43 )
argument, that Irifli Romanifls (hould be qualified to fit-
in Parliament, becaufe Scotch Prefbyterians are qualified
fo to do, is a compound of ignorance and fraud.
It is here proper to take notice of another argument of
this author fomewhat of the fame kind with the former.
4 Scotland' (he obferves, in page 10) 4 has preferved her
4 religious eftablifliment in oppofition to that of England,
4 and an epifcopal party at home ;' and from thence he
deduces, in many parts of his pamphlet, 4 that Popery
4 fhould be the edablifhed religion in Ireland, in cafe of
4 an Union, in oppofition to that of England, and a Pro-
4 teftant party in Ireland.'
The Churches of England and Scotland differ but little
in points of faith ; their chief difagreements relate to
points of difcipline : they are both Proteftant churches,
both difavow the fpiritual fupremacy of the Pope, both
difclaim all partnerfhip of dominion within the realm be
tween the ftate and any foreign power ; and as to this
cardinal point, on which all political authority and legi-^
tjmate government reft in the Britifli Empire, thefe two
Churches are fo far from being in oppofition, that there is
the moft perfea harmony between them : no dangerous-
convulfions in the body politic by the clafhing of jurif-
diaions can arife from the one Church being eftablifhed
in one part, and the other in another part of the united
kingdom ; nor can the allegiance of the fubjea be dif-
traaed by the conflia of contending authorities. Prefby
terianifm was the eftablifhed religion of Scotland at the
time of the Union, and longprevious to it ; confequently
Scotland did not preferve it in oppofition to England, for
England did not attempt to fubvert the religion of Scot-
Jandj or claim any right fo to (Jo ; and it is a very ftrange and

( u 3
and unwarraHM^aflumption of this author, that thepre-
fervation of that which I am in full undifturbed poffef-
fion of by a lawful title, and the enjoymeiit of which
by me is not and cannot be in any fhape detrimental to
my neighbour,3 is retained by me in oppofition to' him,
on my concluding a treaty with him for a clofer connexion
,and alliance/* •jKi-„, ¦ . ... ¦ ¦ '
Let us now compare the Prefent State of Ireland as to
Religion,1 with that of Scotland at the time of the Union
with England, which I have already ftated. The pre
fent eftablifhea'religion in Ireland is the Proteftant ; and
this author's argument for the eftabliftiment of Popery in
Ireland, in cafe'of an Union, deduced from the religious
ftate of Scotland at the time of its' Union with England,
is thus: At the- Union, Scotland retained her eftablifhed
'religion in oppofition t0> England ; ergo, Ireland, on an
Uniori with England, fliotild fubvert her eftablifhed reli
gion, being 'the fame with that of England, and fet up
Popery as her eftablifliment in oppofition to England!
Such reafoning puts me in mind of Swift's defcriptic^n
¦of a lady's arguments :
4 Her arguments direaiy tefi'd
4 Againft the fide fhe would defend."
The inevitable deduaion from the author's ftatement is
direaiy contrary to his. It follows from the condua of
Scotland at the Union, as ftated by him; that Ireland
fliould, on an Union with Great Britain, preferve her
eftablifhed religion as Scotland did, and not fuffer it to
be fubverted, impaired, or changed; and the more fo,
as it is the fame with that of England.
The

{ 4S )
The modefty of this author, difcoverable from hi*
pamphlet, is as remarkable as any other of his qualities :
he with great condefcenfiqn tells the people of Great
Britain that he will confent to an Union of Ireland with
their kingdom, provided the eftablifliment of Popery in
Ireland be one of the conditions ; and he calls fuch an
Union a fair and broad Union. In page 6 he thus ex*
preffes himfelf: 4 I think it right to declare that I
4 am no enemy to this meafure, provided it be a fair
* and broad Union;' and this his moft gracious and
conciliating opinion he more fully explains in many paf-
fages of his pamphlet, evidently aiming at ftriking a
bargain with the Britifli Government for an Union; the
price which he demands for the confent of Irifli Roman
ifts to the meafure being no lefs than the fubverfion of
the Proteftant religion in Ireland by the power of Great
Britain ; and he very audacioufly urges the expediency
of fuch a proceeding on the part of Great Britain, by
magnifying the ftrength of the Irifh Romanifts, by the
moft impudent threats of their rebellion, and the power
ful interference of his old affociates, the French affaffins,
on their behalf, in cafe his terms be rejeaed. This
traitorous part of his arguments I fliall more particularly
notice hereafter, and refer to the paffages in his pamphfe*
which contain them.
As this writer thinks fit in fome few paffages to affum*
the mafk of what he efleems moderation, and pretend
that all he requires for Irifh Romanifts is a full equality
of all kind of privileges, and the enjoyment of part of
the fovereignty of the ftate with Proteftants ; (very mo
derate requifitions indeed !) which he endeavours to fhow from

( 46 )
from the fuperiority of the wealth and eftates of Pro
teftants, cannot be dangerous to the ftate; it may not bd
amifs here to take a peep under his mafk, where may be
eafily difcovered the hideous and ferocious, features of the
French Revolutionift, in all their terrific deformity, and
that he really confiders all the claims he makes on behalf
of Prifh Romanifts (and which he afks fometimes as
boons in a ftyle of flurdy folicitation, and fometimes
demands them with infult and menace), merely as the
means of enabling his party to overturn the conftitution
in Church and State. I will for this purpofe felea one-
paflage, though his real views may be difcovered by al
moft every paffage in his pamphlet. In page 40 he writes
thus : 4 I am now come to that important truth, which
4 modern political writers on religious eftablifhments, as
* I am informed, lay down as a principle, that every ftate
4 ought to eftablijh the religious fed which is moft numerous.
4 If the neceffity, or even the bare utility of Religion in a State
4 Be admitted, this truth forces itfelf on the mind moft ad-
4 verfe to conviction, as imperioufly , as thofe axioms which
4 no arguments can render clearer.' He then proceeds to
fhow, that no religious eftablifliment is neceflary in a
ftate, ' becaufe Popery has anfwered all the true purpofes
*¦' of religion in Ireland without an eftabliftiment.' He
then argues, that the ftate may juftly refufe any fupport
to the minifters of the eftablifhed Church ; becaufe, as he
afferts ' the revenue enjoyed by the Church is part of
* the common flock left to the difcretion of the ftate to
4 employ to the beft advantage of the community ; and
* the Irifh Legiflature have a right to determine whether
4 it be right or wrong to apply it to the eftablifliment of
4 the Proteftant Church; and that it would be both wife
' ar4

( 47 )
**and generous for the Government to apply part of it
4 at leaft to the fupport (that is, eftablifliment) of Irifh
4 Romifli priefts.'
The pofition of this author, the inconteftable truth of
which he afferts with fuch dogmatic affurance, to wit,
that every ftate ought to eftablijh the religious feci which is
moft numerous, if the utility of Religion in a State be admitted,
is firft to be examined ; becaufe, as the author has fre
quently ftated the Irifh Romanifts to be moft numerous
in Ireland, he in faa lays it down as a pofition, the
truth of which cannot be difputed, that Popery ought to
be eftablijhed by the Irijh Government, and the revenues of
the Church applied to the fupport of Romijh priefts. Here
then he tells us fairly and openly, that equality of privi
leges, and a fhare in the fovereignty of the ftate, will
not content Irifli Romanifts ; that the Proteftant eftablifti
ment muft and ought to be deftroyed, and Popery placed in itt
room; and that the truth of this lad propofition is in
conteftable. But I cannot agree in the alleged incon
teftable truth of this pofition. I admit that Religion is
both ufeful and neceflary in a State ; it difpofesthe minds
of men to the exercife of all the moral virtues, and to
a cheerful fubmiffion to that degree of fubordination
which is the principal link of connexion in all focieties ;
it has prime influence in curbing unruly paffions, and
reftraining the turbulence of inordinate appetites and
defires ; it therefore ought to be cherifhed and encouraged
by all rulers of States and Empires : but I cannot admit
that a religious eftabliftiment is to be always regulated
by the number of the fubjeas of a ftate maintaining parti
cular dogmas, if fuch dogmas are found, by the beft in
formed and moft refpeaable part of the ftate, to be in-
confiftent

( 4* )
confident with the nature and conftitution of the fociety,
and fubverfive of the very frame of it : I cannot admit,
that Chriftianity is to be treated as a mere engine of ftate^
though true Chriftianity is certainly a great prop of the
Bate : nor Can I ever admit, that ufurpation of part of
the fovereignty of the -ftate, or tranflation of it to a fo
reign power, are any parts of Chriftianity ; and although
the rabble of a country fhould maintain fuch a pernicious
doarine as a tenet of religion, and although the rabble
in every country exceed the wealthy and informed part of
the community, I cannot conceive that the government
of a country is obliged to abdicate part of its fovereign
authority, and confent to the eftablifliment of fuch a
divided power, of an imperium in imperio, though the
rabble fhould be defirous, on the fcore of religion, to
eftablifh fuch a kind of mixed government, as in itfelf,
in its very nature, contains the feeds of anarchy and con-
fufion. The defires or wifhes of the majority of the fubjea*
of a State cannot be complied with, without evident de
ftruaion of the date, in many indances. In all States
in the world, the poor exceed the rich in number, and
they univerfally wifh for a diviilon of the property of
the wealthy ; yet laws for an equal divlflon of pro
perty, real and perfonal, of the nature of agrarian laws,
are held to bedeftruaive to all ftates, and fubverfive of
all induftry, arts, and fciences : and furely property, its
acqtiifition and prefervation, aa as powerfully on the
paffions and prejudices of the people in general as reli
gion, or the maintenance or fubverfion of religious efta-
blifliments : and political writers might as well maintain
that laws for the equal divifion of property fhould be
enaaed

( 49 )
enaaed by the State, as that it fhould eftabllfli that Sea
of Religion, whofe votaries among its fubjeas were moft
numerous. This author admits, that the reprefentatives of the
people in Parliament, or the Commons, the popular and
moft efficient branch of the fupreme authority of the
State, are to be ekaed by the people, reckoned accord
ing to their property, not their number. He afferts,
that the fupreme authorhy of the State can juftly apply
the Revenues of the Church to the fupport and eftablifti
ment of any religion it may think proper; and yet
afferts, in contradiaion to thefe premifes, that the State
is bound to eftablifh that fea whofe votaries are mod
numerous, and not that whofe votaries poffefs mod pro
perty. How infinitely greater does the abfurdity of fuch
deduaion appear, when we reflea that the expediency
of the edablifhment of a Religion fubverfive of the inde
pendence and the very exiftence of the State is fupported
by fuch arguments !
Governments certainly aa wifely in fuiting their laws
to the eftablifhed opinions of the mafs of their fubjeas ;
but in colkaing the opinions of that mafs, number is
not fo much to be regarded as property, ftation,, rank,
and refpeaability. The multitude is even proverbially
ignorant. Information and judgment, the refult of
education, which the generality of mankind never attain,
and which is not in faa neceflary for their flations and
occupations in life, are almoft peculiar to the wealthy,
or at leaft to thofe who are above indigence or the avo
cations of manual labour. In Ireland, if the opinion
of the mafs of the fubjeas, colleaed in the manner
e before

( So )
before mentioned, is to determine the religious eftablifti
ment, the weight of the Proteftant body, though inferior in
number, would infinitely outweigh that of the Romanifts ;
and the Proteftant faith muft continue to be the eftablifhed
religion, if the predominant opinion of the fubjeas, af-
certained by the common rules of reafon and true poli
tical wifdom, is to be the regulator of the condua of
the State in point of religion. Forty-nine parts out of
fifty of the landed eftates in Ireland are in the poffeffion
of Proteftants, and nineteen parts out of twenty of per-
fonal eftates ; fo that they exceed the Romanifts in wealth
in the proportion of forty to one at leaft (See Appendix,
No. i.), and not in the proportion of ten to one only, as
this author, and the writer he undertakes to anfwer, have
affumed. Of two millions of Irifh inhabitants, fo indi
gent as not to be able to pay a tax of four-pence per
head yearly to the State, nine tenths are Romanifts; in
faa, almoft the whole beggary of the kingdom are Ro
manifts : how fuperlative, then, is the audacity of this
Romifti writer, in maintaining that Popery ought to be and
muft be the eftablifhed religion in Ireland, becaufe it is the
religion of the greateft number of Irifh fubjeas ! Is the
mob of a nation to determine its religious eftabliftiment J
Is the mob to fubjea the nation to a foreign power ?
But this felf-evidently true pofition, in the opinion of
this writer, that Popery ought to be the eftablifhed reli
gion in Ireland, becaufe Irifh Romanifts out-number
Irifh Proteftants, may be very eafily refuted even on the
fcore of numbers, and even admitting that fuperiority of
number of fubjeas, reckoned not by property and re-
fpeaability, but by the poll, fhould determine the efta
blifliment of the religion of the State ; for Ireland is not a
kingdom

'( 5i )
kingdom feparate and diftina from Great Britain. Even
in its prefent ftate it is fo clofely conneaed with Great Bri
tain, that the ableft writers againft an Incorporating Union
of the two nations found their dronged arguments on this
pofition, that the prefent connexion between Great Bri
tain and Ireland is fo drong as to be nearly indiffoluble,
and they deduce, that therefore no further Union is ne
ceflary. Certain it is, that the prefent connexion of the
two iflands approaches very near to a complete Union.
The kingdom of Ireland, by the laws of the land, is for
ever annexed to, dependant upon, and infeparably united
to, the imperial crown of Great Britain. Whoever is
King' of Great Britain, is ipfo'faClo King of Ireland.
No Aa of Parliament can pafs in Ireland till after it
has been fent into England, and has there the great feal
of England affixed to it. Ireland is notorioufly part of
the Britifli empire : the King of Great Britain is obliged
at his coronation to fwear that he will maintain the Pro-
tedant religion in Ireland. The inhabitants of Great
Britain are almod all Proteflants. If my memory does
not deceive me, an inquiry into the number of Romanifts
in England was a few years ago made with great accu
racy, by the authority of Government, on complaints of
fome zealous Proteftants, that Romanids were increafing
in number. It appeared on that inquiry, that the com
plaints were ill-founded ; that the number of Romanifls
had confiderably decreafed in England fince the Revolu
tion, and that the whole number of Romanids in Eng~
land, when the inquiry was made, did not exceed eighteen
thoufand. Adding the population of Great Britain and
Ireland together, the Protedants will be found to out
number the Romanids at lead in the proportion of fix to
one in the Britifli Empire in Europe; and hence this
E 2 author's

{ 52 )
author's argument for the edablifhment of Popery and
fubverfion of the Protedant religion, on the fcore of
numbers, in any part of the Britifli European dominions,
will be found, like many of his other arguments, to make
direaiy againft his purpofe.
As this author could not ferioufly entertain the hope,
fanguine as he is, that the rulers of the Britifli Empire
would be duped by his abfurd arguments to overturn the
Proteftant eftabliftiment in Ireland for the purpofe of
fubftituting Popery in its place, he proceeds to allege,
that the eftabliftiment of any religion by the State is
utterly unneceffary, wifhing at leaft to deftroy what his
party is hopelefs of obtaining ; and this modern political
principle, as he ftates it, he fupports by the following'
affertion : Popery has anfwered all the true purpofes of reli
gion in Ireland without an eftablijhment . From his con
federates, the Atheifts of France, he has borrowed this
modern political principle ; but his fupport of it from
the efficacy in Ireland of uneflablifhed Popery, alleging
that it has anfwered all true purpofes of religion, is as
glaring, as notorious a falfehood, as any contained in his
pamphlet, or in any other publication, ancient or mo
dern. The author admits, in the fame page (40), that
Religion is a great help to Morality, Good Order, and Govern
ment. Let us now examine the effeas of Popery in
Ireland by this criterion. The Englifh fettled in Ireland
before the Reformation, were for the moft part always
attached to England : they depended on England for fup
port. A conftant war was kept up between the Englifh
fettlers in a confiderable diftria of Ireland, called the
Pale, and the native Irifh : they would not mix or inter
marry with them. The native Irifli and thefe Englifh fettlers

( 53 )
• fettlers and their defcendants, though inhabiting that part
of Ireland for fome centuries before, remained two dif-
tina and feparate nations in the fame ifland, and perfe
cting each Other, in a predatory and deftruaive war,
with the utmofl rancour ; but no fooner had the Reform
ation been introduced into Ireland, which it was not
with any very material effea till the reign of King James
the Firft, than the natives and thefe Englifh fettlers began
to unite and form alliances. Their mutual enmity abated,
and they joined in a rancorous hatred of the Englifh na
tion and hoftility to it ; the old Englifh fettlers growing
as inveterate as the native Irifh againft the nation from
which they fprung, joining in all fchemes for fevering
the ifland from England for ever, and rendering it an
Independent State. Such a projea indeed had been always
cherifhed by the native Irifh, but Was always oppofed by
the Englifh fettlers till after the Reformation. From this
darling purfuit of the native Irifh before the Reforma
tion, flrengthened by the junaion of the Englifh fettlers
with them after that period, a junaion entirely effeaed by
their common attachment to the doarines of the Romifh
Church ; and from fuch confederacy, cemented by bi
gotry, and inflamed by religious fury againft their fellow-
fiibjeas, fprung Defmond's and Tyrone's rebellions in
the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the horrible rebellion and
maflacre in that of Charles the Firft, and the obftinate
and deftruaive rebellion in the reign of William, and
Mary. In each of thefe rebellions the moft horrible
cruelties were exercifed by the Romifli infurgents on all
Proteftants who fell into their hands ; and the nation was
three times fucceffively defolated, and the Romanifts, as
vanquifhed rebels, reduced to abjea poverty, from which
they have not yet emerged,. Above one half of the inhabit-
je 3 -auts,,

( 54 )
ants, at each time, perifhed by famine and the fword ; mul
titudes deferted the kingdom ; all improvements were de-
ftroyed ; the progrefs of induftry was effeaually impeded ;.
arts and fciences were banifhed ; and Ireland, by fuch
means, though intimately conneaed with the richeft, moft
civilized and induflrious nation in the world, is now a
century behind the reft of Europe in civilization and
every fpecies of valuable improvement, all owing to the
fuperftitious attachment of a confiderable portion of its
inhabitants to the Romifli faith, in oppofition to the Pro
teftant eftablifliment. A large portion of its natives,
all Romanifts, is by the fame caufe continued in a femi-
barbarous ftate. (See Tone's State of Ireland, for the Ufe
of the French Convention.) In fliort, all the calamities
which, for a courfe of two hundred years paft and upwards,
have overwhelmed this unhappy country, in the catalogue
of which muft be included the late rebellion (which this-
author, with fufficient confidence, aflerts was not a
Romifti rebellion), and the murder in cold blood of all
Proteftants who fell into the hands of the infurgents,
have had .their real fource in the Popery of part of the
inhabitants of Ireland. Such is the affiftance which Popery-
without an eftablijhment has afforded to Morality, Good Order,
and Government , within this kingdom ! and fuch the true pur
pofes of Religion which it has anfwered !
This author's next pofition is, that the Revenue of the
Church is part of the common ftock left to the difcretion
of the State to employ to the belt advantage of the Com
munity ; from whence he deduces that it may juftly with
hold it from the fupport of the Protedant edablifhment ;
not without throwing out a ftrong hint of the wifdom
and generofity of applying it, or at lead a part of it, to
4 the

( 55 -)
**he fupport or eftabliftiment of Romifh priefts in Ire
land. The Revenues and Property of the Church are by the
Britifti Conftitution juft as far difpofable of by the State
as the revenues and property of the Laity, and no further.
The State has a right to demand a reafonable part of the
property of all its fubjeas, laity and clergy, by way of
tax, for the fupport of civil and military eftablifhments,
fufficient to fecure the nation in peace at home, and caufe
it to be refpeaed by foreign nations, to repel and punifh
their aggreffions. Until of late years, when the regular
fittings of convocations of the clergy came to be difcon-
tinued, they taxed themfelves, and were not fubjea to
taxation by the Commons. But this author means by
his pofition, that the State has a right to feize on all the
revenues and property of the Church at its pleafure, and
to apply it to what ufe it pleafes, that is, to confifcate it.
This doarine he very explicitly avows and maintains in
the 31ft page of his pamphlet. The State, being efta
blifhed for the proteaion, and not for the deftruaion [of
property, has no more right, by the Britifti Conftitution,
to aa in fuch manner in refpea to the Church, than it
has to feize on and confifcate all the eftates and property
of the Laity ; neither has the State, by the fame Confti
tution, any right to lay any greater tax on ecclefiaftical
than on lay property. Some of our countrymen, who
have been educated in France, are conftantly debafing our
language by introducing Gallicifms into our phrafeology :
in the fame way, thofe who have learned their politics
in the modern French fchool, are for ever obtruding the
flagitious, anarchical, political principles of the French
Atheifts upon us, as if they were part of our conftitu-
E 4 tional

( 56 )
tional principles, endeavouring thus to corrupt and d<?».
bafe our conftitution. This author betrays his French
inftitution and politics, and his utter ignorance of the
conftitution of his country, in numberlefs inftances, one
of which is, his doarine refpeaing the inexpediency and
inutility of a church eftabliftiment, and the juftice of the
confifcation of all church revenues. Under the influence,
or rather pretended influence, of this doarine, the French
Atheifts robbed their national clergy of all fupport, and
then exterminated them, and all Chriftianity, with fire
and fword ; juftifying their robbery and facrilege by this
doarine ; their murders and banifhments, by the neceffity
of ridding themfelves of the people they had robbed :
indeed it has been, in all ages, the praaice of French
robbers to murder thofe they have plundered. Such are
a few of the unconftitutional doarines which this Romifli
writer has publiflied for the perufal of the fubjeas of the
Britifli Empire! and fuch the arguments by which he
attempts to recommend and juftify the fubverfion of our
conftitution in Church and State, and the ereaion of Po
pery on its ruins !
Further to convince my readers, that admiffion into
the Senate and the great offices of the State will not con
tent the Romanifts, and that they aim at nothing lefs
than the overthrow of the Proteftant eftablifliment in
Ireland, I will quote fome of this author's complaints
on the fubjea of tithes, almoft the whole fupport of the
parochial Proteftant clergy of Ireland ; and will at the
fame time note their fclfity and malice, thinking this the
proper place 'or doing fo, as I am expofing his unfounded
affertions refpeaing the property of the Church. In
page 39 he obferves, < The religion of one man out of
4 four

( 57 )
•* four is Proteftant. This religion is endowed with the
4 tithe of the whole kingdom, befide great property in
4 land, an immenfe church eftabliftiment.' In page 31
he writes thus : 4 Among the peafantry, the proportion
4 of Roman Catholics is much greater (than four to one).
4 After paying a tithe, exaCfed generally with great rigour,
' to fupport the eftablifhed religion, of which they never
4 hear but by the tithe proaor, they muft out of their po-
4 verty pay fomething to their own prieft, who, nearly
4 as poor as themfelves, lives with them, and renders
4 them many fervices.' In page 56, with refpedt to
tithes, he thus expreffes himfelf: 4 This tax, and the
4 feverity with which it is colleaed, is one of the great-
4 eft grievances the people labour under ;' fo that, accord
ing to this writer, the payment of tithes to the Proteftant
clergy by the Irifli Romanifts is a grievance to them as
heavy at leaft as exclufion from the Senate and the great
offices of the State, and confequently muft be alfo re-
dreffed before they will confent to an Union. Very
happy it is for Proteftants, and fufficient to put them on
their guard, that thefe Romifh writers in general, when
they plead for an extenfion of privileges to Romanifts,
before a Proteftant tribunal, are fo far tranfported by the
rancour of their fea, that they cannot refrain from
venting their venom againft the Proteftant religion and
its pallors, even by the very intereft of the fea whofe
caufe they are pleading, nor conceal their projeas of
fubverfion of the Proteftant eftabliftiment on the attain
ment of thefe privileges, at the very time they are foli-
citing for them ; nor their intentions to ufe them, in
cafe they fliall be inverted with them, for the deftruaion
of the very people from whom, they are foliciting them.
Their indifcreet impetuofity makes their claims appear as

( 58 )
as reafonable as the felicitation of a murderer would be,
who fhould humbly requeft you to give him your fword
for the purpofe of plunging it Into your heart. I will
now proceed to examine the complaints of this writer
refpeaing tithes.
In the firft place he ftyles Tithes a Tax, to expofe them
to popular odium ; the mafs of the people in every country
being adverfe to the payment of Taxes. Taxes are cer
tain fums of money affeffed on, and levied from, the
fubjeas of the realm, by the lawful authority of Parlia
ment, to be applied to the fupport of Government and
other public purpofes. Tithes predial and mixt, the
only tithes paid in this kingdom, are certain duties to be
paid out of the produce and profits of lands, and beafts
fed on lands, in nature of rent ; but to be paid in kind,
Ss all rents were heretofore paid in this nation, before
money became fo plentiful in Europe as in the prefent,
and for a few immediately preceding ages. In faa,
tithes are a rent with which all the lands in the kingdom
are chargeable, for time immemorial, by the common
law of the realm ; and the clergy have been endowed
with them by a title more ancient by ages than the title
of any fubjea of this or any other kingdom in Europe,
to his particular landed eftate. The only difference be.
tween tithes as a rent, and the rent of any man's landed
eftate, is, that the rents referved on landed eftates in this
kingdom are certain fums of money to be paid in lieu
of a fhare of the produce ; and tithes are an uncertain
duty, being one tenth of the produce payable in kind,
and therefore varying in quantity every year, as the crop
varies, being greater or lefs, as the crop is greater or
lefs annually. Every perfon whofe lands are fubjea to
tithes,

( 59 )
<!thes, if he purchafed the lands himfelf, bought them
fubjedl to the duty or rent of tithes ; if he inherited
them from his anceftors, the purchafing anceftor, who
ever he was, took them fubjea to the payment of tithes:
from hence may be difcovered either the ignorance or
malice of this author, or both, in ftyling tithes a tax.
He next dates, that this tax (that is, tithes) is exacled with
great rigour and feverity. This is a very direa and im
pudent falfehood ; and as this writer has himfelf a landed
eftate in Ireland, it is a falfehood to his own knowledge.
It is a faa too well known to every landholder in this
kingdom, that the Irifli Proteftant clergy in general do
not receive above one-fifth part of what they are by law
entitled to, of the value of their tithes ; that is, one fif
tieth part of the annual value of the produce of the lands,
to the tithe of which they are entitled: for one third of the
tithe of the whole kingdom is in lay hands, and many
parts of it are exempt from the payment of any tithes
whatfoever ; the Proteftant Diffenters, as well as the
Romanifts, pay tithes with great reluaance ; and the
clergyman, haraffed with fuits and chicane, is glad to
accept of a very inadequate compofition for his tithes,
even in parilhes where he is bed paid. No perfonal
tithes are paid in any part of Ireland, or demanded ; and
as for mixt tithes, they are paid very partially. The
only fpecies of them which is paid in any part of Ireland,
is tithe of lamb and wool. Tithe of agidment, or tithe
of milk in dairies, are never demanded or paid, though
payable by the common law. No perfon in Ireland is
better qualified to inform the public in general, on the
/iibjea of the colfeaion of tithes, and the condua of
the edablifhed clergy in Ireland in that particular, than
1 am, from the nature of my profeflion and the offices I
fill ;

( 6o )
fill ; and I can with the greateft truth aver, that the
moderation of the edablifhed Clerg^ in Ireland, in the
colfeaion of their tithes, is unparalleled, when compared
with the condua of any other fet of men in enforcing the
fatisfaaion of their legal demands ; particularly when the
very fcanty provifion which the parochial Clergy in general
" in this kingdom have, is confidered ; the whole benefices
in the nation, reputing each union one benefice, amount
ing only to about eight hundred, and the incumbents of
at lead One half of them are not paid an income of two
hundred pounds per annum ; and of the other half, there
is a moiety whofe incomes, aaually paid, do not exceed
three hundred pounds per annum each ; and throughout
the kingdom it has become neceflary for the Bifhops to
unite a number of parifhes, to enfure even a reafonable
fubfiflence for a clergyman. The whole edablifhed
Clergy of Ireland do not amount to more than one
thoufand three hundred ; and were the whole revenues
of the Church, of every nature, divided equally among
them, each man would not receive more than about one
hundred and fifty pounds per annum. This the author,
in page 3 1 , dyles an immenfe church eftablijhment ; and
infolently adds, that no one can fay it is neceffary or ufeful
in general to the people of the country. Such is the griev
ance people labour under from the feverity with which
Tithes are colleaed in Ireland, and the immenfity of the
Church Edablifhment, according to this author : it is, like
his other pretended grievances, a lying invention of a
malignant Irifh Romanift.
His next complaint refpeaing tithes is, that the Ro
mifh peafantry, very poor from oppreffion, are obliged
to pay them to the Proteftant clergy, whofe fpiritual,
affiftance

< 61 )
afliftance they receive not ; and are at the fame time
obliged to contribute to the fupport of their own clergy
for fpiritual afliftance they do receive from them ; that is,
the Irifli Romifli peafantry pay the Proteftant clergy by
compulfion, without valuable confideration ; the Romifh
clergy by juftice, for valuable confideration. Before I
expofe the falfity of this complaint, it may not be amifs
to fliow the injuftice of it. In every country in which
there is an Eftablifhed Religion, the people at large are
obliged to contribute to the fupport of the minifters of
it ; and it is but reafonable that they fhould do fo, if a
Church Eftablifliment be neceflary and ufeful in a State j
which all people, French philofophers excepted, admit.
If any part of the fubjeas of a State diffent from the
eftabliftiment (as is the cafe, more or lefs, in all Chriflian
ftates), rejea the afliftance of the minifters of the efta
blifliment in fpiritual concerns, and apply to minifters
of their own fefeaion for that purpofe, it may be rea
fonable that they fhould pay thofe whom they have fo
fefeaed ; but there is not the fmalleft juft or reafonable
giound for complaint, inafmuch as the minifters of the
Edablifhed Church are ready to afford them fpiritual aid,
and to perform their appointed duty to them, as well as
to the other fubjeas, if they choofe to accept of their
miniftry. So much for the injudice of the complaint,
fuppofing the matter of it were true. But the whole is
founded on falfehood and fophidry ; for the peafantry do
not pay tithe out of their own property, it is in faa paid
by the landlords. The peafant takes a leafe of his farm
from the proprietor, fubjea to the payment of tithe ;
and the landlord abates more than an equivalent for the
annual tithe, in the yearly rent referved payable to him
felf. Lands in Ireland which are tithe-free are let at an
annual

( 62 )
annual rent from a crown to half a crown per acre more
than lands which are fubjea to tithes ; and in no part of
the kingdom does the annual tithe, as it is paid, amount
to fo much on an average as the abatement in the annual
rent amounts to ; fo that, though the farmer pays the
tithe, yet he does not pay it out of his own pocket, — it
is really and bona fide paid out of the pocket of the land
lord ; and the farmer in that refpea is but his deward,
and pays for him, and on his account. Of the landed
eftates in Ireland, on the moft critical examination, it
appears that forty-nine parts out of fifty are in the hands
of Proteftants ; fo that Proteftants pay forty-nine parts
out of fifty of the tithe payable to the Protedant clergy :
the Romifh farmers do not pay a fixpence of it on their
own accounts, and Romifli landlords not above a fiftieth
part. Every perfon acquainted with the true date of
the kingdom knows the truth of the above ftatement.
The Irifh peafantry, in faa, would be in a worfe con
dition if tithes were abolifhed ; for they would be obliged
to pay an increafe of their annual rents for their farms
in fuch an event, vaftly exceeding the fums which they
now pay for the tithe of them ; and this is exprefsly
admitted by Mr. Emmett, one of the Irifh Direaory,
in his examination on oath before the Secret Committee
of the Irifh Houfe of Lords. See the Appendix to their
Report, No. 6, p. 32, where Mr. Emmett ftates thus :
' / am very fure, if tithes were abolijhed, the people, on
4 taking new leafes, would be obliged to pay mare in propor-
4 tion for lands than the value they now pay for tithes •/
but he admits the leaders of the rebellion endeavoured to
raife a popular cry for the abolition of tithes, as they did
in favour of Catholic Emancipation and Reform, about all
which, he admits, the people did not care a feather, till
they

( 63 J
they perfuaded them that certain imaginary advantages
were to refult from them ; and that they, that is, the
Irifli Republicans, raifed that popular cry, for the mere
purpofe of cajoling the mafs of the people into a fupport
of their own anarchical projeas.
It may be clearly perceived,' that this writer has the
fame purpofe in view, by all his falfehoods and mifre-
prefentations ; and that he dwells on old fubjeas of com
plaint fraudulently aggravated, arifing from the Popery
code, long fince repealed ; on exaggerated accounts of
the poverty and mifery of the Irifli peafantry, arifing, as
he afferts, from oppreffion, but really from repeated re
bellions and difaffeaion ; on falfe flatements refpeaing
tithes, fevere exaaion of them, and immenfe revenues
in the pofl'effion of the Irifh Proteftant Clergy ; and, in
fhort, that he leaves no topic of inflammation, which
can work on the paffions of the Irifli Romanifts, either
from the deep impreffions of their bigotry or intereft,
untouched, for the purpofe of goading them to infur-
reaion and rebellion, and thereby effentially ferving his
mafters the French Convention.
This author admits, that the Pope nominates all the
Irifh Roman bifhops, but afferts • that this gives him no
4 real or effential jurifdiaion in the Irifli ftate, he and
4 the whole Roman Catholic Church not having, nor
* pretending to have, in the Irifh date the power of the
' meaned vedry.' How far this affertion is praaically
true, let any man judge, who has read the Oath of Alle
giance taken by all Romifli bifhops to the'Pope at their
confecration, which I have already fet forth. It is very
true the Romifli bifhops have no tribunals in Ireland, in
which

( 64 )
which they pronounce decrees, the execution of which
they can compel by the laws of the land, as they at pre
fent (land : yet it is equally true, that they have tribunals,
vicars general and officials who do make and pronounce
decrees in what they call fpiritual matters, and in matri
monial caufes efpecially, which highly affea the temporal
concerns of the fubjeas of this realm ; and that they have
ways and means of enforcing, and do enforce, the effeaual
execution of fuch decrees, of which I have within thefe
few years come to the knowledge, in many indances : and
although fuch their proceedings are forbidden by the laws
of the realm under fevere penalties, yet they continue the
praaice, have feals of office, and levy no inconfiderable
fums on the fubjea for licences, difpenfations, and
other incidents of cpifcopal jurifdiaion. If Romanids
fhould be admitted to a fhare of the fupreme authority of
the State, and if any attempt fhould be made to carry the
laws into execution againfl fuch illegal praaices, what
loud complaints fhould we hear of perfecution ! and what
harangues of Romifh orators would be pronounced in the
Senate on the fcore of the obflruaion of the jurifdiaion
of their Bifhops, liegemen of the Pope, in matters very
intimately conneaed with the temporal interefts of the
fubjea ! and how inceffant would their endeavours be to
procure the repeal of fuch wholefome and reftriaive
datutes !
This author obferves, ' that the Statute of Magna
4 Charta; the foundation of civil liberty, and the Statute
4 of Praemunire (2d of Richard the Second), which fe-
4 cured ecclefiaftical liberty, were aas of Roman Catholic
4 Parliaments.' It is to be noted, however, that the Sta
tute of Magna Charts eftablifhed all the ufurpations of the
Romi£b.

( «5 )
^orrrifh Church as they then flood '(See chap. i. xxxiii.
Xxxviii. of it : 2d Coke's Inditutes, page 2. 68. 76.),
and only reprelfed and aboliflied prerogatives. claimed hy
the Crown, which bore hard on.an Aridocracy, clerical and
lay, at that time of mighty power ; and that the datute
of Richard the Second only went to redrain the intro.
duaion into the kingdom of the Pope's bolls which
touched on the King's Crown and Regality, or his realm,
and the execution of fuch I 'the Popedom at that time
¦claiming, and attempting to exercife, an unlimited tem-
'poral authority within the realm, and ufurping all the
prerogatives of the Crown, which abufes it had princi
pally introduced in the reign of King John. The ftatuta
did abrogate, or attempt to abrogate, the fupremacy of the
Pope in fpirituals, and in all temporal matters incident
to fuch fpiritual 'fupremacy.: the authority of the Pope:
tin fpirituals and in temporals infepaTablyconneaed with.
•them, remained'unimpaired in the realm, and was executed!
therein,. either by his own or the Bifliop's officers, or by
•the officers of the Sovereign, notwithstanding ;that datute^
as may be learned from out hiftories, till the time d£
'Henry the Eighth : Richard's Parliament not defigfting to
'Curtail, what they, being Romanifts, believed to be the juft
'portion of temporal ipower incident to the Pope's acknow
ledged 'fupremacy in fpirituals. Till the reign of Henry
the Eighth appeals to Rome, though Illegal before, hail
rt>een always connived at. (See 4th vol. Blackftone's Com
mentaries, page 'i 14.)
The concluding argument of this author For the ad
miffion df Romanifts into the Senate, and into all places
'of mid and confidence within the realm, to wit, aftmilar
fraCfiee in-many ether States, he introduces wifh an affeaa-
? *i0*

( 66 )
tion of great- politenefs : his politenefs indeed is much-ef
the fame kind with that of fome modern men of nice ho
nour, who affea all kind of ceremonious delicacy in their
condua, preparative to a premeditated quarrel, and mean
to procure an exeufe for (hooting a man through the
head, or running him through the hearty with the moft per
fea good breeding i he thus addreffes the gentleman whofe
arguments he has undertaken to anfwer : 4 I am almoft
4 afraid of being accufed of impolitenefs by adducing no-
4 torious faas, which may look like grofs and blunt con-
* tradiaions of the affertions of a gentleman, who ought
4 to have fuch good information upon the fubjea he treats.
Before I proceed to the examination of the inftances of
the praaice of other States, in refpea to the indifcrimi-
nate diftribution of honours, emoluments, and confidential
offices in the civil and military departments, on Proteftants
and Romanifts (inftances almoft all confined to Germany),
which are adduced by this foi-difant well-informed writer,
I muft remark, that the Government of every one of
them is defpotic, and either in the hands of a fingle perfon,
or in thofe of an oligarchy; and that the people at large
have no fhare in the fupreme power of the ftate ; that is,
their. Governments have no democracy intermixed with
them : no affembly, efeaed by the people for a certain
term, and whofe -members at its expiration become part
of the mafs of the people, forms part of their fovereignties ;
and no arguments deduced from the praaice in fuch States
in the particulars above-mentioned will apply to a Go
vernment partly democratic, and the moft efficient part of
which is fuch a popular affembly as above defcribed. In
fuch States any particular religious tenet held by a part of .
the people, hoflile to the principles of Government, can
have but a very fmall mifchievous effea : many civil and
1 all

( 6? )
?all military offices may be difpofed of by fuch defpotic
governments to any perfons they may think capable
of ferving them, without regard to their religious per-
fuafions, and without inconvenience to the fyftem of
government ; for fuch officers can have no fhare or in
fluence in the government, except through the medium of
their defpotic matters, who can difmifs them at their plea-
fure. In a Romifh defpotic government, the employment
of Proteftants in great and confidential offices can be of
no public inconvenience, as well for the before-mentioned
leafon, as becaufe there is no tenet of the Proteftant re
ligion which teaches the perfecution of all Chriftians,
princes and people, differing from Proteftants in point
of doarine, as heretics with fire and fword ; no tenet
which teaches them to overturn the government which
does not fhare its fovereignty with a foreign tribunal. It
is much fafer for a Romifh State to employ Proteftants in
great offices, than for a Proteftant State to employ Ro
manifts. The Saxon State ceconomy this author produces with
a fort of triumphant exultation, as a decifive proof of the
truth of his deduaions ; 4 he ftates it to be a Roman Ca„
4 tholic government in a Proteftant country, the very re-
4 verfe of Ireland : to make the contraft complete, Pro-
4 teftant and Catholic enjoy every privilege without dif-
4 tinaion. The revenue of the Church, f mall but adequate,
4 is given lo thofe who do the fervice of it in either way,
* The peafantry are without any exception the happieft,
4 moft comfortable, and mod contented in the world ;
4 the higher ranks remarkable for their martial and ho-
4 hourable fpirit, the Sovereign is a father of all his fub-
4 jeds. But a ftronger and more extraordinary faa re-
f a 4 mains,

c ^ )
•mains, to confound the friends and ahettbrs of religidni
4 jealoufy and animofityi The Proteftants of Germany,
* certainly not indifferent to the intereffs of their religioh,
4 could hot find a properer perfon to entrurt them to, than
4 to this very Roman Catholic Prince, who is fefeaed by
4 themfelves to be the chief of the Proteftant Union, ahd
* to watch over the treaties made in their favour.
But this Well-informed author, notwithftahding the
amazing extent of his knowledge, feems to be totally
ignorant of the fpecific differences of ithe cbhditution of
the Britifli Empire from that of any other country fn the
world, and the neceflary political effect's of fuch dif
ferences in the internal regulations of a State, ©he efficient
part of whofe fovereignty Is a popular affembly, when
cbntfafled with "the internal political regulations "of a
defpotic government. The ElecW of Saxony is as def
potic a prince as any in Europe within his own terri
tories ; his fubjeas, in a political fenfe, are complete
flaves ; there is no fpice of democracy mingled with his
riower : in his State the 'Sovereign may be truly called the
father of his people, in the fame fenfe that the author of
' Killing no Murder,' gives that title fo Cromwell. 4 Your
4 Highnefs,' fays he,'' is the true/ 'other of your people, for we
'have nothing during your life that we can call our own.' If
the fubjeas of this Efeaor, the higheft ranks, as well as
the peafantry, are the happied and mod contented in
Europe, as' this author dates, it mud follow that abject:
political flavery is produaive of the greateft happinefs to
the fubjea ; a doarine which will not be relifhed by the
fubjeas of the Britifli Empire : God preferve us from fuch
happinefs ! T remember an indance of the Efeaor of
Saxony's mild government of his fubjeas, which was
publiflied

r 69 > •
publiflied throughout Europe above thirty years ago. He
received information that a Saxon peafant had killed a
deer ; he caufed him to be feized, dripped naked, pi
nioned, 'and drongly tied on the back of a dag, which was
immediately turned loofe into the forefts: the wild animal,
affrighted, and rather uneafy under fo arbitrary an impo-
fition, ran furioufly through the woods, till the unhappy
rider was torn to pieces by the proje,aing branches of
trees, and the thorny brambles of the wild.
At the fird dawning of the Reformation in Germany,
the then Efeaor of Saxony, one of the mod potent princes
¦of the Germanic Union, became the profeffed patron of
Luther ; he proteaed him from the fury of the Romanids,
and himfelf as well as his fubjeas became Protedants, as
did- many other German potentates with their people.
The Emperor, at the indigation of the Pope, and other
Romifli ecclefiaftics, commenced a furious war againft
thefe Proteftants ; it raged with great violence for many
years, and incalculable mifchief was done to both parties ;
the Efeaor of Saxony, as the moft confiderable Proteftant
prince^ being at the head of the Proteftants : till at length
both fides, wearied and wafted by the calamities of war,
entered into treaties of peace ; the Efeaor of Saxony, then
a Proteftant, being fefeaed by his Proteftant co-eftates as
chief of the Union. (See Robertfon's Hiflory of Charles
the Fifth, vol. ii. book ii. page 100. ; book v. page 352.
355« i vol, iii. book x. p. 201. oaavo edition.) About the
Beginning of the prefent century, the then Efeaor of
Saxony apoftatized from the religion of his anceftors, and
became a Romanift, his fubjeas being Protedants; and his
fucceflbrs. have continued Romanids to this day. The
anceftor of the Efeaor of Saxony, being a Proteftant, was
by the before-mentioned treaties acknowledged chief of
F 3 the

• ( 10 )
the Proteftant Germanic Union ; but all Germany knows
that the prefent Efeaor, being a Romanift, is not confi
dered or acknowledged as fuch, though the treaties exift ;
and that he could not be confidered as fuch, even if he
were a Proteftant, becaufe he is infinitely inferior in
power to the King of Pruffia, Efeaor of Brandenburgh,
who is now in faa the head of the Proteftant Germanic
Union, and is fo confidered.
The Efeaor of Saxony being a defpotic, in refpea to
his conflitutional authority over his own fubjeas, is yet
a dependant prince in refpea to the Emperor and his co-
eftates, being but a member of the German Empire :
hence he cannot attempt to innovate in the eftablifhed re
ligion of his country, and fubftitute the Romifli faith in
the room of the Proteftant, becaufe the Proteftant States
of the Empire would certainly interfere to prevent him,
and would be obliged by the above-mentioned treaties to
do fo : his fubjeas, fecured in the enjoyment of their re
ligious eftabliftiment by the conftitution of the German
Empire, and their religion teaching them no doarines
hoflile to their Romifli Sovereign, acquiefce under the
government of a Romanift : and as to the enjoyment of
every privilege indifcriminately by Proteftant and Ro
manift, very little mifchief is to be apprehended on that
account in a State, where the Sovereign is defpotic,- and
the people entitled to no privilege, fave what the Sovereign
pleafes to bellow : benefits fpringing entirely from his
favour cannot with propriety be called privileges.
The above reafoning applies to every inftance quoted
by this author of the indifcri initiate advancement of Ro
manifts and Proteftants under the German governments ;
but he is not able to quote one inftance of fuch indif-
criminarn

( 7* )
criminate advancement in any popular government in
Chriftendom : the Swifs States were almoft all oligar
chical, and very defpotic : and in the Dutch State, which
had a great mixture of democracy in it, and which held
out univerfal toleration and proteaion to the profeffors of
all feas, no perfon of a different religious perfuafion from
that of their eftablifliment, before the French fubverted
their conftitution, was differed to fit as a member of their
States General.
This author, with no fmall degree of fophiftry and af-
furance coupled together, obferves, that the Saxon go
vernment is the direa reverfe of that of Ireland, for there
the government (that is, the Efeaor) is Roman Catholic,
and the country Proteftant ; thus indireaiy afferting, that
the religion of the people of Ireland in general is Romifh,
though the government be Proteftant. The truth is, the
religion of the people of Ireland, if determined by the
religion of the majority reckoned by the poll, would be
Romifh by a majority of two to one : if reckoned by pro
perty, would be Proteftant by a majority of forty to one ;
fo that it may be juftly aflerted from fair calculation, ex-
clufive of its being the one eftablifhed, that the religion
of Ireland is Proteftant. The author does not forget to
infinuate in his account of Saxony, that Romifh Irifh
priefts fhould enjoy part at leaft of the. revenue of the
Church in Ireland, by obferving, that in Saxony the
fmall but adequate revenue of the Church is given to thofe
who do the fervice of it in either way ; which observation,
however, is falfe with refpea to that efeaorate in ge
neral. And this author's extraordinary fail confounding, all
his oppofers turns out to be a fabrication of his own, the
materials of which are fraud and ignorance.
F 4 This

( %x )
This author attempts to furnifh an argument in favour
of his po.fitions, from the liberality of the French mo
narchical government to their Proteftant fubjeas : he
afferts, 4 that the Proteftants in. thofe parts of France
4 where they were in any proportion to the Catholics,
4 were exaaiy in the fame fituation as they. Such was
* the cafe of Alfatia ceded to France by the treaty of
* Munfter ; the rights of Proteftants in that province were
4 refpected.' Alface was no part of the realm of France,
it was a part of Germany acquired by the arms and trea
chery of the French monarch : the inhabitants were Pro
teftants, A treaty of peace being concluded between
France and Germany, and this province ceded to France,
the free exercife of the religion of the inhabitants was
ftipul'ated for, and made one of the conditions of the
treaty ; as the province bordered on the territories of the
enemies of France, and might revolt, the French Govern
ment thought it prudent to reconcile the inhabitants to
Iheir new maders, by an adherence to the treaty fo far as
to indulge them in. the free exercife of their religion : it
was ufeful to the French to do fo ; and could not be de
trimental, inafmuch as the people of the province have no
fhare in the government, which is defpotic : a fort of po
litical neceffity infured the obfervation of the treaty,
otherwife it may be fairly prefumed, that this mod faith-
lefs of all nations would not have hefitated at violating the
conditions, The condua of that nation in violating the
Edia of Nants, and perfecuting the Proteflants through
out all their ancient limits, in the true fpirit of Popery,
with fire, fword, and the gallies, particularly in Lan-
guedoc, where they continued to hunt them like wild
heads, till the diffolution of the monarchy, fully juftifies.
fuch a prefumption.
The

( 73- >
* The author then ftates, 4 that Mr. Neckar, whr> was
* Prime Minider, Marechal Saxe many years Com-
* mander in Chief of the armies in France, Marechals
4 Lovendal, Luckner, Wurmfer, and innumerable other
4 Proteftants, were high in civil and military rank in
4 France.' I have already fhown, that, as to the fecurity
of government and the religion edablifhed, it is but of
little moment what the religious perfuafion of military
officers is in defpotic monarchies, as was that of France \
and that the religion even of civil officers in fuch govern
ments is not a matter of much public concern : yet I deny
that there were innumerable indances in France before the
Revolution, of Protedants being high in civil or military
rank : the indances of that kind were very few, and the
author has enumerated the mod of them. But what In
fatuation induced him to refort to the inftance of Mr.
Neckar, a Protedant, being Prime Minider of France'
He was indeed Prime Minider of that devoted country, and
was by reputation a Calvinid, hut in truth, an Atheift \
and the fruits of his miniftry in France were, the over
throw of its ancient government, the fubverfion of its efta
blifhed religion and of all Chriftianity, and the defolation
of the kingdom. And this author holds up the fatal pro
motion in France of this monfter of perfidy and treafon,
an enemy to the eftablifhed religion and conftitution of
that country, as an argument to induce Irifh Proteflants
to betray the fovereignty of the State into the hands of
Irifh Romanifts, the inveterate enemies of its eftablifhed
Religion and Conftitution.
This.author, in page 39, makes the following obfer-
vation : 4 One cannot help pitying a government, which
4 feems to be in cpnftant terror of the profperity of its
4 own

( 74 )
4 own fubjeas. Their number, their riches, their fpirjr,
4 their civil and military talents, are fo many objects of
4 fear.' This is his piaure of the government of Ireland !
The Irifh government has ufed every endeavour which
found policy can diaate, to increafe the profperity of
all its fubjeas : their number, their riches, their fpirit,
their civil and military talents, are the objeas of its ap-
plaufes, of its proud and honourable exultation: but a
certain clafs of Irifh fubjeas are, from religious bigotry,
incurable enemies to the conftitution of their country in
Church and State ; found policy direas, that fuch fhould
be excluded from the fovereign power of the State, which
they muft wield, if inverted with it, for the fubverfion of
the conftitution ; and prevented from ufing either their
number, their riches, their fpirit, or their talents, for the
ruin of their fellow-fubjeas and of the conftitution. The
Irifli Proteftants fear not Irifh Romanifts, either from
their boafted numbers or puiffance ; they know their own
ftrength, and rely on their own courage, of both which
thev have given Romifh Rebels recent proofs ; their con
dua in fuch exclufion is not the effea of fear, but of
wifdom and prudence : it is not cowardice in the garrifon
of an impregnable fortrefs, the fafety and proteaion of a
realm, to refufe entrance into it to their irreconcilable
enemies, whofe numbers or courage, when on the outfide,
can be no objeas of terror. How can it be faid with juf-
tice or reafon, that Irifh Proteftants put any impediments
in the road of Irifh Romanifts to wealth and profperity,
or in their paths to military renown ? Is not the army
now open to them ? Are not trade, and all the avenues of
honeft induftry, as open to them, as to their Proteftant
fellow-fubjeas ? Are not their lives and properties equally
proteaed by the laws ? How falfe then, how malicious, hovy

( 75 J
how infolent, and how petulant, is the above inveaive
of this Romifh writer againft the Irifh Government !
I will now point the reader's attention to thofe parts
of the author's pamphlet, in which he throws out the
moft audacious threats of rebellion and refiftance againft
the lawful authority of the State. Thefe he introduces
under the guife of advice, or fuggeds them as the natural
confequences of what he dyles the oppreffion of the Ro
manids in Ireland by their Protedant fellow-fubjeas and
the State. In pages 6, 7, and 8, he obferves, 4 that it
4 is dangerous, in the prefent date of men's minds all
4 over the world, to exclude formally three millions out
4 of four, in a detached country, from the jud and rea-
4 fonable rights which they fee their fellow fubjeas en-
4 joy ; and that the idea of preferving fuch an eflablifh-
4 ment by force is abfurd and impraaicable.' And then,
after obferving on the fuccefs of the Netherlands in
throwing off the Spanifh yoke, and their right to do fo,
he infinuates that in Ireland, Separation from Great Britain,
and Independency, Jhiuld be maintained at all hazards ; and
concludes with the maxim of one of the French dema
gogues, that infurreStion is the moft fafred of our duties ;
pretending to deduce the judice of thefe treafonable
aphorifms from a paffage in the pamphlet of his anta-
gonifl. Further to flimulate the Irifh Romanids to rebellion,
and to fharpen their natural rancour againtl the Britifli
foldiery, he accufes the Englifh Militia, who gallantly
volunteered for the afliftance of their brethren the Pro
teflants of Ireland, of gratifying their luft by brutal
violations of the Irifh females, in the following paffage s
4 From,

( 76 ) •
* From accounts which the. papers give of the gallantry of
4 the Britijh Militia with the fair, as well' as in the field*
* one would imagine they had read Mr. C.'s pamphlet, and
' were imitating the Romans in fettling the preliminaries of
4 union with the Sabines.' The good condua and ftria
difcipline of the Britifli Militia, which lately came into
Ireland, have been praifed by the two Houfes of Parlia
ment, and by every loyal man in the kingdom ; and for
this moft groundlefs calumny the flanderous author had
no other authority than his own malice. He then pro
ceeds, with the utmoft virulence, to abufe the policy of
Great Britain in refpea to foreign nations, alferting that
fhe has thereby ruined herfelf, and is now a bankrupt,
with which it would be highly imprudent for Ireland to
have any connexion. He lays to the charge of her Mi-
jiiftry all the calamities which, as he ftates, have affiiaed
Ireland for a feries of ages ; and afferts that the dawn of
improvement in the ftate of Ireland commenced with.
her afferting feme degree of independence on England in
the .year 1780. (See pages 9, 10.} Then, after ftylinj*
the Protedant Religion a Medufa's head, which paralyfes
a large portion of our people, or turns their arms, againfl
each other- (thereby admitting, what he in pther places,
denies, that the lad Rebellion, as well as preceding ones,
was a Romifli rebellion}, he recites the triumphs of the.
Republic of Prance, and magnifies her power : he dates,
that a war between Great Britain and Ireland is not pro-:
labh, if the people are fatisfied ; but is to be feared, if the
eaufes of difcontent are not removed. By the people, thid
author, throughout hjs pamphlet, means Romanids ex-.
elufively ; and the principal caufes of complaint which,
he enumerates, are the exchifion of the me.mhers of the
Romifh fea from Parliament, and from the great offices
2 of

C 77 )
*f the State ; that is, from a (hare in the fovereignty o£
the State ; thus declaring in the fnoft explicit terms, that
the Irijh Romanifts will commence hoftilities Jagninft Great
"Britain and the Proteftants oj Ireland, in confederacy with
France, if they do not obtain a Jhare in the fovereignty.
(See page 17.) He further proceeds thus : ' It is dan»-
4 gerous, it is almoft treafon againft the caufe of all
4 regular fociety, attacked as it is by powerful enemies, to
4 trifle in this-manner with the feelings of three millions
4 of people, by excluding them from thofe rights for
4 which they are called upon to rifk their lives.' (Sef
page 23.) Then, after acknowledging that the late frjfti
Rebels, forming the Dkeaory, were in treaty with
France for theij afliftance to feparate Ireland frorri
Great Britain, and praifing this Direaory for their
principles of patriotifm manifefted in; the condua of
the treaty, he proceeds to encourage rebellion, by >in-
finnating the probability of fuccefs, from the fittia-
tioh of Ireland, and the icertainfy of French fupport;
4 Of late,' he obferves., 4 the: theory of infurreaion has
4 akndd forced itfelf upon every fpeculative mind. A
4 province didant from the feat of' empire is much more
4 liable to the hrtrigues of an enemy than one that has it
4 in its centre.' (See page 24.) He proceeds in pretty
much the fame drain to page 30, in which he inferfs a
quotation from Mariana, importing, that all poor perfohSt'
in a State will be enemies to it, if all hopes of emerging
are taken away from them ; which may be very true,
but gives no fupport to the author's arguments, Mariana
does not mean that all foeggars'in a State will rebel, if the
hbpe of emerging into the fovereignty of 'the Sflate is
taken away from them ; 'he means the hope of emerging
into opulence : fuch is the pTecife •Jheaning <sf tbe-paf- fage.

f 78 )
fage. But the means of emerging from poverty into-
opulence are, by our Conditution, as Open to poor Ro
manids as to poor Protedants. The author feems fo
have inferted the quotation for the mere purpofe of
fliowing his learning : it cannot be didorted to fignify
that beggars will be difaffeaed to the State, unlefs they
have grounds to hope that they may be kings.
This author, then, for the mere purpofe of inflam*
mation, falls on the Irifh Popery Code, which has been
fome time fince, perhaps injudicioufly, certainly too
haffily, repealed. He thus defcribes it and its effeas :
4 Laws which for a century cramped the induftry of a
4 people, debarred them from education, armed the
4 brother, againd the brother, and rewarded the fon for
4 betraying the father, excluded the Roman Catholics
4 from Protedant fchools, prevented them from having
4 fchools of their own, and profcribed foreign education.'
(See pages 4. iO.) 4 Thefe laws left a people poor, ig-
4 norant, with little refpea for law, and ferocious from
4 a fenfe of Injury. They rendered property infecure,
4 prevented the cultivation of land, the interior con-
4 fidence ;of< families, the extenfion of trade, or the em-
4 pjoyment of the talents or genius of three fourths of
4 the people in civil or military affairs.' (See page 34.)
'At prefent I fhall only obferve, that England had her
Popery Code as well as Ireland, very fimilar to, and
almoff the fame with the Irifh ; and that this Code,
though the Irifli one be repealed, is (till in force, as to
many parts of it, in England. I fhall hereafter mak«
further obfervations on this author's flriaureson the Irifli
Popery Code ; but fhall fird fhow that the flrength and
puiffance of the Irifh. Romanifts are not fo great or
formidable,

i 79 )
•formidable, "nor their threatened rebellibn, even though
fupported by France, fo dangerous to the Irifh Govern
ment, or to the Britifli Empire in general, as this author
reprefents them. In the fecond place, I fhall prove that
the late Irifh Rebellion was a Romifh Rebellion : in doing
which I fhall be obliged to delineate fome of the cruelties
«xercifed by the Rebels on their Proteftant fellow-fubjeas.
In the third place, I fliall fhow that all the rebellions of
Irifh Romanifts are excited, encouraged, and even com
manded, by the pofitive tenets of their religion : from
whence it will direaiy follow as a corollary, that the
mafs of Irifh Romanifts, as long as they continue of that
perfuafion, muft be juftly confidered by the State as
fubjeas whofe fidelity cannot be relied upon ; and that
' fuch checks fhould be held over them as may prevent
their diftnrbing the State, even after an Incorporating
Union fhall take place. , .
As to the firft, I have already proved, that Irifh Ro
manifts do not exceed Irifh Proteftants in number, in a
greater proportion than that of two to one ; and this proof
I have founded on every rational ground of .inquiry or
invefligation, .which have in that particular been ever
adopted. (See Appendix, No. i.) I have already fhown,
as to the mafs of property in Ireland, real and perfonal,
that the part of it in the hands of Proteftants is to that in
the hands of Romanifts in the proportion of forty to one.
(See Appendix, No. 1.) Now as the ftrength of a nation,
for defence and offence, is in a ratio compofed of its num
bers and its^wealth, fo likewife is the relative ftrength of
two contending parties within it : hence it is demonstrable,
that the Proteftants of Ireland alone are fully able to
.reprefs the threatened rebellion of the- Irifli Romanifts,; and

( «» )
'and fhrs-flras fully snfl .pr&aically prated in the Jattf
-Romifh Rebellion, which .was fuppreffed by the Army,
Militia, and Proteftant Yeomanry of Ireland.
It is well known in Ireland, tfhat tin's Rebellion might
have been prevented and rri«p ped in the bud, iF Vigorous
meafures had been timely adopted by the Irifli Govern
ment. The then Lord Lieutenant (Earl Camden) was
& man of great honour and 'integrity, and a determined
friend to the Goriditution m ChfarCh and State. The
'principal men in power in the kingdom were of fimilftf
'Charaaer. The information refpeaing the feheraes and
•defigns of theconfpirators was Complete, and called far
the moft fpeedy and ftrenuous exertions of the State to
defeat them. The Irifh Parliament conferred the moft
ample authority on the Executive Government ; yet the
delay of exertion was remarkable and notorious. Moft
thinking people attributed the backwardnefs of Govern
ment in feizmg and punifhing thefe Catholics, and fheir
affociates, to a Britifli influence in our councils. It is
ftippofed ;thatthe powers of the Chief Governor were
'fhackled 'by orders from England. The 'date of affairs
in Ireland had been grofsly mifrepreferited to men in
power in England, and thefe mifreprefentations had
Taken deep root. The late Mr. Edmund Burke, an
Irifh gentleirian refident in England, had projeaed the
'total fubverfion of the Protedant Eflabli'fhment in Ire
land fo early as the year 1761 ; and having ingratiated
tiiitifelf with the Secretary of the Marquis of Halifax,
'then Lord Lieutenant tif Ireland, he returned to his
native country in his fuite. He then began his operations
for carrying his projea into execution. He found,
however, the current of opinion in Ireland againfl hig
innovations

( »i )
innovations too ftrong for his demming it. England was
at that time triumphant over France^ and no afliftance
was to be expeaed from that quarter ; and his own
credit in England was not then near fo great as it after
wards was. He was obliged to fufpeiid his operations at
that time, and retire unfuccefsful to England. As foon,
however, as the American war blazed forth, he re
commenced them with all the vigour in his power. He
publiflied a Letter, addreffed to a Romifli Irifh Noble
man, which is exaaiy of the fame nature with the
pamphlet I am now remarking on : indeed all the argu
ments in this pamphlet are taken from the Letter. Mr,
Burke therein paints in the moft glowing colours, the
hardfhips which Romanifts endured in Ireland from the
effea of the Popery Laws ; he boldly afferts their un
doubted right to every privilege enjoyed by Irifh Proteft
ants ; he exaggerates their number and ftrength, and
threatens the Britifli Empire with the exertion of them
againft its then tottering power, as he defcribes it : in
fhort, he dwells on every topic of inflammation of Irifh
Romanifts, on every encouragement, on every provoca
tion to revolt againft Britain in her then diftreffed fitua-
tion ; mixing, throughout the whofe, the groffeft mif-
reprefentations of the ftate of Ireland. This Letter he
followed with a fucceffion of publications, all in the
fame ftrain, under the titles of Letters, Speeches, and
Effays, in the daily Newfpapers, Reviews, Magazines,
Annual Regifters, &c. and continued them to the day of
his death. His parents were Irifh Romanifts ; he was
endowed with very fhowy talents; his ftyle was elegant ;
he was well read in all parts of polite literature ; he was
laborious and indefatigable : but his vanity, the attendant
©n a weak judgment, was unbounded ; . and his zeal for
p promoting

( 82 )
promoting all the political views of Popery was enthu-
fiaftic. This zeal will account for the extraordinary
anomalies in his political condua. He had recom
mended himfelf to the late Marquis of Rockingham,
and by his interefl he obtained a feat in the Britifli Houfe
of Commons. During the American and French war,
no man in England was a flronger advocate for the
Americans. In his fpeeches in Parliament he fupported
all their pretenfions, he juflified all their proceedings,
and often pointed out the meafures, in the Britifh Houfe
of Commons, for diftreffing Britain, which the Ameri
cans afterwards purfued ; in fhort, on all occafions he
appeared a determined republican, and at the fame time
ufed the moft ftrenuous efforts to urge the Irifh Romanifts
to revolt, for the purpofe of increafing the embarraflments
of the Britifh Government. (See the Annual Regifter,
and Hiflory of the late War, chiefly written by Mr.
Burke.) At the time it pleafed the Almighty to vifit
His Majefty with a grievous malady, which fufpended
his exercife of the kingly funaions, when his recovery
was doubtful, and the mind of every honeft and loyal
man in the nation finking under difmal apprehenfions of
impending evils, and his heart burfting with grief for the
danger of his beloved Sovereign, Mr. Burke exultingly
declared in the Houfe of Commons, that God had hurled
His Majefty from his throne. Impious triumph of repub
lican malignity ! At no very long interval after this tranf-
aaion, the French Revolution blazed forth like a volcano,
confumed the Monarchy, Religion, Laws, and Confti
tution of that country ; eftablilhed a Republic, and pro
claimed war arid hoftility againft all Kings. In the pro-
grefs of their career, the French leaders reduced to
praaice the whole theory of all Mr. Burke's republican
4 leffons,

( 83 )
leflbhs, which he had read with fo much fuccefs to the
Americans, from whom the French derived all their po
litical inftruaion. Mr. Burke fuddenly renounced all
his former principles, and employed his polluted peh,
yet flained with democratic ink, in reprobating, with
the utmoft energy, all the proceedings of the French
Democrats, though their enormities were committed in
conformity to the principles laid down in his former
political feaures. It muft be admitted that he fung his
palinodia with great fuccefs and applaufe. He expofed,
with much juftice, force, and perfpicuity, the treafon,
wickednefs, and cruelty, of the French AnarchiftS ; de
veloped their arts and deceptions with great acutenefs,
and raifed the abhorrence of the Britifh nation, as Well
againft them, as againft a faaion of atheiftical republicans
at home, who attempted to fpread the contagion of the
defolating Gallic doarines through the Britifh dominions;
But to what caufe can this fudden change in Mr. Burke's
political condua be attributed ? I can guefs at no other
than his enthufiaftic zeal for the advancement of the
political purfuits and interefts of the Romifh Church, of
which he has fhown himfelf, for a feries of years, the
profeffed advocate. The French atheiftical ufurpers
profcribed Chriftianity and all its profeffors : they con
fequently profcribed Popery, the heretofore eftablifhed
religion of France, with all its interefts, and confifcated
the whofe Church Revenues. This excited Mr. Burke's
rage and refentment againft them ; and hence his repro
bation of their republicanifm. In one of his publica
tions he complains, in the bitternefs of his heart, that
they have^ pulled down the Majefty of Religion ; and
Popery certainly does affea great external pomp and
grandeur. However, if any perfon fliall fuggeft a more
g 2 probable

(, *4 )
probable caufe of the fudden alteration ill the political
condua of Mr. Burke, I fhall readily relinquifh my
hypothefis. This gentleman, very unfortunately for the
repofe of Ireland, and confequently of Great Britain,
has influenced fome men of great rank and power in
England to concur with him in the projea of commu
nicating with the Irifh Romanifts the fupreme power of
the State, by admitting them into Parliament ; and has
had the addrefs, at the fame time, to perfuade them, by
grofs miftatement, that the Romanifts are powerful
enough in Ireland to compel an acquiefcence in fuch
their ambitious views, and that it is therefore good policy
to give that which cannot be withheld. He has alfo, by
the fame means, perfuaded them, in defiance of truth,
that the Irifh Romanifts are grievoufly oppreffed by their
Proteftant fellow-fubjeas ; that they are Monarchists ;
the Irifh Proteftants, Republicans. He has worked on
their generofity, by preaching up thedoarines of Liberality,
Conciliation, Emancipation, and Reform ; concealing
under fuch fpecious names and titles, Romifh Perfec
tion, Rancour, Subverfion and Profcription of the Pro
teftant Religion, Democracy, and Separation, the cer
tain confequences of the fuccefs of his projeas.
Evident marks of the progrefs of Mr. Burke's doc
trines in favour of the Irifh Romanifts may be difco
vered in moft of the Speeches of great and powerful
Noblemen and Commoners in England on the fubjea
of Union, copies of which have been ptiblifhed, and
will be hereafter noticed. This fea of Britijh Politicians
may be diftiuguifbed by the name of Burkifts ; and from the
power and influence of this fea, fatally mifinformed and
milled, with refpea to the affairs and ftate of Ireland, the

( 85 )
-the procraftination and delay of vigorous meafures for
prevention of the Rebellion are generally attributed ; and
to the fame fource may be traced many of the meafures
lately purfued, and, I am forry to fay, flill purfuing, in
Ireland, which give the higheft difguft to the whole
body of Irifh Proteftants, and which, inflead of pro
moting an Incorporating Union of Great Britain and
Ireland, are in faa throwing obftacles in the way of it ;
all which, however, I have the ftrongeft hopes that the
good fenfe of the nation will furmount.
I have ftated that the late Irifli Rebellion was fup-
preffed by the Proteftants of Ireland. To prove that
faa, it is only neceflary to recur to dates. The Rebel
lion broke out on the 23d of May 1798. The whole
Regular Army, the Militia, and the Yeomanry, then in
the kingdom, were the proper forces of Ireland, and
paid by Ireland. Moft of the regular troops had, at
different periods before, been fent out of the kingdom
on foreign fervice, and their places fupplied by Fencible
Regiments, many of them Scotch ; but as thefe troops
were paid by the Irifh Treafury, and were fent in lieu
of the Irifh trained troops employed on foreign expe
ditions, I do not account them Britifli troops fent to our
afliftance in preventing or fuppreffing the Rebellion.
On the 23d of May 1798, the day the Rehellion broke
out, the towns of Naas, Carlow, Baltinglafs, Monaf-
tereven, and Clane, were attacked, and the Rebels
beaten at them all, principally by the Irifli Militia and
Yeomen. On the 29th of the fame month, General
Sir James Duff defeated a large body of Rebels at Kil-
dare, and opened the paffage from Dublin to Munfter,
wh.ich had been obftruaed by them,, On the fame day
q 3 the

( 86 )
the town of Ennifcorthy, in the county of Wexford,
was attacked by a great body of Rebels, commanded by
one Murphy", the Romifh Prieft of a neighbouring pa-
rifli. It was defended by the Proteftant Yeomanry
alone. It was an open place, without fortification, and
the Yeomen fought with them at the outfkirts of the
town. The conteft was long and bloody. The Yeo
manry amounted to about three hundred only ; the Re
bels to more than twice as many thoufands. Forty-
feven of the Yeomanry were killed, and above five hun
dred of the Rebels. When the Romifh inhabitants of
the town found their rebel friends recoiling, they fet fire
to the houfes, moflly thatched, in the rear of the Yeo
manry, and obliged them, from fmoke and heat, to file
off from the town, which the Rebels then entered ; and
this gallant body of men retreated unmofefted to Wex
ford, about eleven miles. The Rebels had, on the pre
ceding day, defeated a party of about one hundred of the
North Cork Regiment of Militia, put them every man
to death, except three who efcaped, and got poffeflion
of their mufkets and ammunition, with which they
greatly galled the Ennifcorthy Yeomanry. On this fuc
cefs, the Peafantry of the country, being for the moft
part Romanifts, joined the Rebels, and they marched on
to Wexford, being a fea-port, and the county town.
There were but few troops in the place. Some Gentle
men in the neighbourhood raifed Yeomanry Corps ; but
having imprudently enrolled Romanifts among them,
they to a man deferted to the Rebels, with their arms
and ammunition ; and there were multitudes of Romifli
inhabitants in the town, who fhowed evident figns of
difaffeaion. Thefe circumftances induced the Com^
mander of the troops to take the refolgtion of abandon ing

f 87 )
mg it, and marching to Duncannon Fort, a ftrong place
about thirty miles diftant, whither he immediately
marched, with all the Proteftant Yeomanry of both the
towns of Wexford and Ennifcorthy ; and the Rebels
took poffeffion of this fea-port town on the 30th of May
1798. On this fuccefs of the Rebels, the whole Romanifts of
the counties of Wexford, Wicklow, Kildare, and Car-
low, joined them. They defeated a detachment of the
army, which had marched from Dublin to the relief of
the Wexford Proteftants, under Colonel Walpole, a
brave man, but an unfkilful commander, who differed
himfelf to be furprifed by this banditti. He paid the
forfeit of his life to his rafhnefs: his parly retired into
the county of Wicklow, and took pod at Arklow. The
Rebels, elated with this fuccefs, muflered their forces,
and marched to attack the town of Rofs,, which, with
Duncannon Fort and the town of Newtown-Barry, were
the only places in the county of Wexford occupied by
the Loyalids. The Regiment of Militia of the county
of Dublin, commanded by Lord Mountjoy, with fome
other troops and Yeomanry Corps, had taken pod in
Rofs, all under the command of Generals Johnfon and
Eudace, both Irifh officers. Their whole force amounted
to about fifteen hundred. The town is not fortified: there
are fome remains of an old wall, which formerly fur-
rounded it, but it is now in ruins. The Rebels com
menced the affault with a body of twenty-five thoufand
men. The troops received them outfide the town. The
Rebels, to diforder the troops, drove before them, with
their pikes, a vafl number of horfes and oxen. They
had fome field-pieces and howitzers, which they had taken
g 4 at

( 88 )
at the rout of a fmall detachment of the garrifon of
Duncannon Fort, fent out againd them very imprudently
by the Governor ; and alfo when they defeated the troops
under Colonel Walpole : their leaders had alfo didributed
among them a confiderable quantity of whifkey, to ren
der them the more defperate by intoxication. They
attacked the troops with great fury ; and Lord Mountjoy
was killed, gallantly fighting at the head of his regiment.
This Nobleman was the fird perfon who introduced a
bill into the Irifh Parliament for the repeal of a part of
the Popery Code, and unfortunately felt the bitter effeas
and inefficiency of his own fyftem of conciliation. The
weight of the Rebel column, after a furious conteft,
forced the troops into the town, and the battle was con
tinued fiercely in the ftreets ; till at length the courage
and difcipline of the Loyalifts prevailed, and the Rebels
were compelled, after a dreadful carnage, to retreat.
Their flain in the ftreets of the town and fuburbs
amounted to two thoufand two hundred, exclufive of
numbers who crawled away from the battle, and died
afterwards of their wpunds. The Military were fo
fatigued, that they were not able to purfue them. The
battle, from the commencement of the affault to the
final retreat of the Rebels, lafted eight hours. This was
the firft great and decifive advantage gained over tha
Rebels. The battle was fought on the 5th of June
1798, and was gained principally by the undaunted
bravery of the Irifli Militia and Yeomanry, conduaed
by two Irifh officers.
The Rebel Army not being difperfed at Rofs, their
leaders determined to try their fortune again ; and in a
few days after their unfuccefsful attack on Rofs, they
! marched

( 89 )
Marched to the other fide of the county of Wexford,
and affaulted the town of Aiklow, lying on the great
road from Wexford to Dublin, about thirty-three miles
from that city. They commenced their affault on this
town, which is alfo unfortified, with a body of eighteen
thoufand men. The troops quartered there under General
Needham did not exceed twelve hundred ; notwithstand
ing which the Rebels were repulfed with great (laughter,
chiefly by the courage of the regiments of Cavan Militia,
commanded by Colonel Barry, and Durham Fencibles,
commanded by Colonel Skerret, together with a confi-
derable body of Yeomanry.
On the 7th of June 1798, a body of Rebels fuddenly
affembled in the county of Aqtrim in the northern part of
the kingdom, rufhed furioufly into the town of Antrim,
where many of the gentlemen of the county, and feveral
juftices of the peace, were affembled, and among the reft
Lord O'Neil : a fkirmifh enfued between the Rebels and
the Yeomen of the town, who, though furprifed, immedi
ately ran to their arms, and colfeaed themfelves into a
body. Lord O'Neil received a mortal wound. It was
remarked, as in the cafe of Lord Mountjoy, that this Peer,
a very amiable man, when he fat in the Houfe of Com
mons, was one of the moft zealous fupporters of the re
peal of the Popery Code, and fuch were the fruits of his
exertions in that caufe! About the fame time the Rebels
rofe in a part of the county of Down, but were immedi
ately attacked, defeated, and difperfed, by General Nugent,
who commanded the troops at Belfaft. This infurrec-
rion broke out on the eftate of the Earl of Mpira, moft of
whofe tenants were aaively engaged in it ; which tends
to fhow how miferably his ^.prdfhip was deceived j who no*

f 90 )
not lung before had vifited his eftate in Down, and refided
in his manfion-houfe at Ballinahinch for fome time ; and
on his return to England praifed the exemplary loyalty of
the inhabitants of the county of Down in the Houfe of
Peers, and particularly of his own tenants ; yet this very
town was then a magazine of arms for the Rebels, and his
tenants were deeply engaged in the confpiracy for a Re
bellion. Such were the diffimulation and fecrecy of thefe
traitors, that they could impofe on this loyal Peer, in his
own manfion-houfe, on his own eftate ! Thefe were the
only infurreaions in the north of Ireland ; they were
quelled in a few days.
. The Rebels in the county of Wexford, where the chief
force of the Leinfter infurgents was concentred, after
their defeats at Rofs and Arklow already mentioned, drew
their main body together, confifting of about eighteen
thoufand men, to Ennifcorthy ; and encamped on a high
and deep hill, called Vinegar Hill, adjacent to that town,
which it overlooks and commands ; the Slaney, a very
confiderable river, running at the bafe of the hill in a
winding channel, and wafhing one half of its circum
ference. This was a very ftrong poft, and if well de
fended might have bid defiance to a confiderable army.
Defeated as the Rebels had been, they feemed to have
given up the idea of offenfive operations, till their French
fuccours fhould arrive, which they impatiently expeaed ;
and relying on the ftrength of their pofition, determined
to await there the attack of the Royai army, which they
knew was affembling on all fides : they had at the fame
time a numerous garrifon in the town of Wexford, a fea-
port ; and were in poifeflion of the whole feacoaft of that
county from Arklow to the mouth of Waterford harbour ;
all

( 9i )
afl which their pofition effeaually covered ; and the run
from thence to the coaft of France, particularly to Brett,
was fliort ; they had fome good cannon and howitzers,
and were in no want of ammunition. The Royal army,
a great part of which was Militia and Yeomen, attacked
them on the 2oth of June 1798, drove them from their
pofition after a feeble refiftance ; and the whole body
would have been killed or taken prifoners, had not one
column of the army, by fome miftake of orders, marched
in a direaion different from that in which it ought to have
been conduaed, and did not arrive at its appointed flation
in proper time ; fo that a gap was left by which almoft the
whole rebel army efcaped, but in the greateft diforder ;
part of them flying towards the mountains of Wicklow,
and part to the chain of mountains feparating the counties
of Carlow and Wexford.
The Rebels in the town of Wexford, hearing of the
defeat, abandoned the town, and fled with that party
which fhaped its courfe to the Wicklow mountains. The
rebel party which retreated towards the mountains of
Carlow, got from thence into the Kilkenny mountains,
and there affaulted the little town of Caftlecomer ; the
garrifon of Kilkenny, which had marched from thence to
oppofe them, commanded by Sir Charles Afgill, de
clining to attack this routed banditti, headed by a Romifli
pried, of the name of Murphy, a drunken ruffian : but a
confiderable body of Yeomanry from the adjacent Queen's
County, with the gallant Colonel Pole at their head, ad
vanced againd them, compelled them to retreat, and pur-
fued them with aaivity : their brave leader fent advice
of his fuccefs to Sir Charles Afgill, who again marched
put of Kilkenny, joined the Yeomanry, and both fell on
this

( 92 )
this party of fugitive Rebels, in number about five thou
fand, routed them with a very great flaughter, and com
pletely difperfedthem : Murphy, their leader, fled drunk
from the field of battle, and was fhortly after taken at
Tullow in the county of Carlow, and hanged. All thefe
tranfaaions happened within a few days after the rout of
the Rebels at Vinegar Hill on the 20th of June 1798 ;
and from that time it may be juftly faid, that the Rebel
lion was extinguifhed : for though the party which fled
to the mountains of Wicklow was compelled by hunger
to defcend into the plain country, and to make an inroad
into the county of Meath, yet it was divided into fmall de
tached bodies, which were hunted from place to place by
the Yeomanry, and fpeedily deftroyed ; very few of them
efcaping back to the mountains. In faa, the battle of
Vinegar Hill put an end to the lad Irifh Rebellion.
The dates of each memorable aaion in this fhort, but
bloody and wadeful Rebellion, are noted, to prove, that
the fuppreffion of it was effeaed folely by the Troops,Mi-
litia, and Yeomen of Ireland, without any afliftance what
foever from England, and without the fmalleft interference
of the Marquis Cornwallis, our prefent Lord Lieutenant:
and aconcife detail of the principal operations is given, to
convince Britifh Statefmen, that Irifli Romanids are not
fo formidable as to entitle them to fuch confideration as
they at prefent feem to attach to them ; and that Irifh
Proteflants are not fo weak, that it has become neceflary
for the Britifh Government to enter into a treaty with,
Irifli Romanifts, and to facrifice the Britifli Conftitution,
as fettled at the glorious Revolution, at the flirine of their
ambition, for the prefervation of the Proteftants of Ire^
hind ; as feems. to be an opinion entertained (or rather
pretended

( 93 )
pretended to be entertained) by fome Englifh Statefmen ;
if credit is to be given to the pamphlets publiflied as the
purport of feveral Speeches made in the Britifh Parlia
ment on the fubjea of the Union. This account of the
fuppreffion of the Rebellion alfo proves, that the idea of
keeping up the prefent eftablifliment in Ireland by force
(if the Rebellions of Irifh Romanifts fliall make force ne
ceflary) is not impraaicable and abfurd, as is dogmatically
and infolently afferted by the Romifh writer already fo
often mentioned. How fhort would be the exiftence, not
only of the Proteftant Eftabliftiment in Ireland, but of the
Irifh Proteftants themfelves, were they reduced to rely on
the juftice and mercy of their Romifti fellow-fubjeas !
The Marquis Cornwallis landed in Ireland, and was
fworn into his office of Lord Lieutenant on the 20th of
June 1798, fubfequent to the fignal defeats of the Rebels
at Rofs and Arklow, on the very day of their decifive dif-
comfiture at Vinegar Hill, and after the total fuppreffion
of the infurreaion in the North of Ireland. The firft re
giment of Englifh Militia which arrived in Ireland, landed
in Dublin on the 29th of June 1798 ; it was the Buck
inghamshire regiment : it was followed on the ift of July
1798 by the Warwickfhire regiment: the arrivals of the
other regiments of Englifh Militia were all fubfequent.
They were not fent to fupprefs the Rebellion, but to affift
his Majefty's faithful fubjeas in Ireland in repelling a
French invafion, which was then expeaed, and was fhortly
afterwards unfuccefsfuUy attempted by the enemy. Every
loyal man in the kingdom welcomed thefe generous vo
lunteers in the fervice of their King and Country, with joy
and gratulation ; but this their reception was not owing
to any idea entertained in Ireland, that (he lay under any
particular

( 94- )
particular obligation to Great Britain for fuch afliftance ;
becaufe it is as much the intereft of Great Britain to affift
Ireland in repelling the common enemy, as it would be
the intereft of Ireland to affift Great Britain on a fimilar
emergency : they are both parts of one and the fame em
pire, and their interefts, in refpea to defence againft a
common enemy, cannot be divided.
Obferva- In this place it is proper to mention a pamphlet pub-
pampWet", li<ned in lreland> entitled, 4 Arguments for and againft an
entitled, <¦ Union confidered,' being the pamphlet which this Romifh
'Arguments for and writer profeffes to anfwer, and which he calls Mr. C.'s
Union con- pamphlet. It is generally fuppofed to have been written
iidered.' by a Gentleman high in the confidence of Government, and
contains many ftrong arguments in favour of an Union ;
yet there are fome parts of it which merit reprehenfion J
and particularly thofe in which the author grounds
his arguments for an Union, on the power of the Irifh
Romanids : he ufes too frequently the argument of Inti
midation to prevail on the Proteftants of Ireland to refort
to the afylum of an Incorporating Union with Great Bri
tain, for proteaion againft the irrefiftible power of the
Irifh Romanifts, as he reprefents it. The fuppofed au
thor is an Englithman, and it has given me no fmall
degree of uneafinefs to obferve, that a Gentleman of abi
lities, as he certainly is, has fo often deferted the irre
fragable arguments for the expediency, and even the ne-
ceflityofan Incorporating Union of the two kingdoms,
arifing from confiderations of the prefent ftate of Europe,
and evident mutual advantage of both countries ; and re-
forted to arguments of terror, grounded on unfubftantial,
fantaftic, and fabulous reprefentations ; as old women
frighten froward children in a nurfery to compliance, by
ftories

( 95 )
Kories of fairies and hobgoblins. lam as fincerely and zeal-
oufly attached to the meafure of an Incorporating Union,
as any Minifler or individual in the Britifh Empire, can be :
but I difdain to fupport fo great, fo important, fo necef
fary a meafure, by fuch frivolous and puerile arguments :
and when I find fuch retorted to by great Statefmen, I am
induced to fufpea, that fome portentous innovation in the
conftitution of the Britifh Empire is meditated, under the
cloak of this falutary meafure ; and that Britons are to be
reconciled to an acquiefcence in fuch innovation, by frau
dulently perfuading them, that the meafure could not be
effeaed, but through the medium of the innovation. Ali-
quid monftri alant I
This Gentleman in his pamphlet dates, that Irifh Ro
manifts are to Irifli Proteftants in the proportion of three
to one ; this proportion is very rafhly adopted from the
calculations of a feditious Romifh affembly, which was
colfeaed fome years ago in the city of Dublin, and which
ftyled itfelf the Catholic Convention ; it prepared a Peti
tion to His Majefly on behalf of the Irifli Romanifts,
which was a colleaion of impudent falfehoods, mifrepre-
fentations, and groundlefs calumnies againft their Pro
teftant fellow-fubjeas. This ftatement I have already
refuted. (See Appendix, No. i.) He then ftates, that
the Irifh Proteftants have been obliged to rely upon Bri
tifh affiftance for the prefervation of their property and
exidence at different periods. This is very true ; and the
affidance has been furnifhed, becaufe the Irifli Proteftants
were attacked by the Irifh Romanifts, for their, attach
ment to the conftitution in Church and State, as eftablifhed
in England ; and their fidelity to the Englifh Crown ;
and becaufe it was abfolutely neceffary for England to
' fupport

( 96 )
fupport them, or abandon Ireland, part of her dominions;
and fhe might have as well abandoned Yorkfhire : ffie
affifted the Irifh Proteftants for her own emolument; they'
were fighting her battles : but the inference attempted to
be drawn from it in the pamphlet is, that the Irifh Pro
teftants are not now able to preferve their property and
exidence from deftruaion by the Irifh Romanifts, with
out the affiftance of Great Britain : this I truft is already
fatisfaaorily proved not to be a faa. At the Revolution
the Irifh Romanifts were completely conquered, their
power reduced, and the Irifh Proteftant intereft fo firmly
eftablifhed, and placed on fuch folid foundations, that it
has been ever fince able to fupport itfelf againft the
affaults of the Romanifts, without the affiftance of Great
Britain ; and is now fully able fo to do : all that Irifh
Proteftants require from their brethren in England is, that
they will not be cheated into a fupport of the Irifh Ro
manifts againft them, and in faa againft themfelves, by
the mifreprefentations and pernicious doarines of the
difciples of Mr. Burke, the modern apoftle of Popery :
they deprecate the effeas on the conftitution of the fpirit
of Burkifm in England. Certain it is, that the Irifh
Proteftants would not be able to fupport their properties
and exiftence againft the Irifh Romanifts affifted by a
itrong French fleet and army, without the affiftance of
Great Britain ; but in fuch cafe they claim fuch affiflance,
not as a boon, but as a right; not on their own account
alone, but on that of Great Britain alfo: Ireland is a part
of the Britifli Empire: as fuch fhe is engaged in the pre
fent war with France ; and the lofs of Ireland would be,
attended by a prodigious diminution of the ftrength, pro
bably by the deftruaion of that Empire : it could not re
ceive a greater injury, a more deadly wound, by the French
occupation

( 97 )
•ccupation of part of the ifland of Great Britain, than by
the French occupation of Ireland : and when the Britifli
Government, or thofe employed by them, argue on the
prefumed weaknefs of the Proteflants of Ireland, they are
in faa depreciating their own ftrength, inviting French
invafion, and exciting Irifli Romanifts to Rebellion! "
The moft dangerous and reprehenfible paragraph in the
laft-mentioned pamphlet is the following : ' Whilft Ire-
* land remains a feparate country from Great Britain,
* Great Britain is not pledged on any fpecific principle to
' fupport one feci in Ireland more than another : if fhe
' cannot preferve the connexion of the two kingdoms in
' their eftablifliment, their power, and their property,
' I know not by what tie fhe is debarred from affifting
1 the Catholics ; for whilft the kingdoms are feparate and
* independent, Ireland, except where the Crown is concerned,
1 is merely bound by the ties of intereft to England, and
* in a fimilar manner England is only bound by the ties of
' intereft, and the rights of the Crown, to Ireland : fhe is
• pledged fo preferve Ireland to the Britifli Crown, but
< not to any particular means, or any particular priii-
' ciples for maintaining that connexion.' Here then
is a public declaration by a Gentleman, fuppofed to ftand
very high in the confidence of both the Irifh and Eng^
ilfh Adminiftrations, and who holds an employment of
great truft under Government, that it is totally immaterial
to the Englifh nation, whether Proteflantifm or Popery
be the eftablifhed religion of Ireland. His Romifti an-
tagonift compares the Proteftant religion to a Medufa's
head ; he beflows the title of Set! upon it. But it is
worth while a little to examine the premiffes, from which
this, extraordinary conclufion, that Great Britain is not
h bound

( 98 )
bound to fupport the Proteftant Religion, more than th«
Romifh, in Ireland, is deduced : the one is, that the king
dom of Ireland, in its prefent ftate, is feparate from, and
independent of, the kingdom of Great Britain. This
premifs is falfe, for the kingdom of Ireland, in its prefent
date, is infeparably annexed, united to, and dependant on
the Imperial Crown of Great Britain : the fupreme Exe
cutive Power in Great Britain and Ireland i-s veded in the
fame perfon ; but the fupreme Executive Power in both
kingdoms, is one of the three branches of the fupreme
Legiflative Power in both ; fo that the two kingdoms
have even part of their Legiflative Powers common to
both. No Aa of Parliament can pafs in Ireland until after
it has been fent into England, and has there obtained the
approbation of the Britifh Cabinet, and has the great feal
of England affixed to it ; the Government of England,
therefore, can, at its difcretion, prevent the enaaion of
any law by the Legiflature of Ireland : thefe are furely
drong bands. of dependance of Ireland on Great Britain ;
and in faa, in the prefent fituation of the two kingdoms,
the connexion between them, and dependance of one on
the other, are fo drong, that the Anti-Unionids, as is al
ready obferved, found on it their mod powerful argument
againd an Incorporating Union, alledging that the two
kingdoms are now infeparably united, and that no further
Union is neceffary. His fecond premifs is, that, in their
prefent ftate, Great Britain cannot preferve the connexion
of the two kingdoms in their edablifhment, their power,
and their property : it is true this is introduced hypothe
tical^, with an if, but the conclufion drawn from it is
abfolute, at lead fo far fo, that without an Incorporating
Union it is to be taken as abfolute. But this premifs is
as falfe as the other ; for the Irifh Protedants themfelves,, if

t 99 )
i^Great Britain does not take a part againd them, arc-
able enough to preferve their edablifhment, their power
and property, and their connexion with Great Britain,
in defiance of the threats or rebellions of Irifli Ro
manifts ; and no doubt can be entertained that Great
Britain has power fufficient to do the fame: fo that the
conclufion, that Great Britain is not bound to fupport the .
Irifli Proteftant more than the Irifh Romanift, unlogically
deduced from one falfe, and one hypothetic premifs im
plying, a falfity, falls to the ground. But the affertions,
that Great Britain is not bound by any fpecific principle
to fupport one more than the other ; and that as fhe is
only bound to fecure Ireland to the Britifh Crown, with
out being bound to any fpecific meafures for fo doing, fhe
may effea this, by giving her fupport to the Romanifts,
and crufhing the Proteftants in Ireland ; require fome
further animadverfion.
King James the Second was driven from his Throne
by the Revolution of 1688, for attempting to place Ro
manifts, both in Great Britain and Ireland, on an equal
footing in refpea to all civil privileges, with his Protedant
fubjeas ; and his Romifh iffue, if any he had, together
with all the next heirs of the Crown, being Romanids, on
the demife of his Protedant iffue without iffue, were de
clared by Aa of Parliament incapable of fucceeding to the
Crown, and the fucceffion limited to his next Protedant
relations, the iffue of the Princefs Sophia, grand-daughter
of King James the Fird, as if the intermediate Romifh
heirs were dead : and his prefent Majefty, whom God
Ipng preferve, under that title, now fits on the Imperial
Throne of the Britifli Empire. Here then is a King de
throned, the hereditary fucceflion interrupted, and turned
H 2 into

( ^0 J
into the Proteftant channel, merely for the purpofe of fe-
curing a fucqeffion of Protedant Monarchs to Great Bri
tain arid Ireland : a furadamenta-1 principle of our confti
tution is varied by a condition, to wit, that the next heir
fhall fucceed to the Throne only on the terms of his being
a Proteftant. Does not His Majefty hold his Crown by
this Proteftant title, and is he not bound to- fwear at his
Coronation, that he will to the utmoft of his power in
violably maintain the Proteftant Religion as eftablifhed in
Ireland, as well as in Great Britain ? Are not His Ma
jefty and his fucceffors bound fo to fwear, as well by the
Aa of the ill of William and Mary, as by the Articles
of the Union of England and Scotland, and the Aa con
firming them ? Why was the Crown limited to the Pro
teftant heirs only, and why was fuch variation made in
our ancient law of Hereditary Succeflion ? Was it not to
prevent, as far as human wifdom coiald provide, all future
attempts to give Popery an eftablifliment, either in Great
Britain or Ireland? Is not Great Britain bound by a fpe
cific principle to fupport the Proteftant Religion, in oppo
fition to Popery, within herfelf r And is fhe not bound
by the fame fpecific principle to the fame condua in Ire
land to the utmod of her power ? How then can this Gen
tleman fupport his pofition, that Great Britain is not
bound by any fpecific principle to fupport the Protedant
Religion, rather than Popery, in Ireland ? It is an indance
among many to be found in his pamphlet, how far men
of good, abilities may be led to advance the mod unwar
rantable pofitions, when they endeavour to deduce con-
clufions unfupported by the fubftantial pillars of Reafora
and Faa. Such is the nature of all his arguments of in
timidation in favour of an Union. I once

*T once heard it roundly afferted, that if the Houfes of
Lords and Commons -fhould agree on a bill for fuh verting
the Protedant Eftablifliment in Ireland, His Majefty, no't-
withftandinghis Coronation Oath, would be bound to give-
it the Royal affent, and thereby eftablifh it as a law, be
caufe his Coronation Oath in all particulars is fo to be
condrued, that it is not binding againd the opinion of the'
two Houfes. I never can agree with fuch reafoning — I
cannot find any fuch faving in the Coronation Oath : it is
an abfolute Oath ; and I never can allow that' the two
Houfes of Parliament have any fuch power, as that of
difpenfing with the obligations of pofitive Oaths : I be
lieve and hope, that the Parliament never will affume the
power of abfolving from the obfervance of Oaths : it
would thereby affume the power arrogated by the Pope,
which is fo much and fo juflly reprobated by all good
Chriftians. And as His Majedy is bound by his Coro
nation Oath inviolably to maintain the Protedant Reli
gion as it is now edablifhed in Ireland, fo is he bound to,
redd all conceffions of privileges to any clafs of his fub
jeas, which would impair or weaken that eftabliftiment ;
though perhaps they would not be at firft attended, or
immediately followed, by its total fubverfion.
This Gentleman has alfo ftafced very erroneoufly, as a
known hiftorical faa, that the Irifli Houfe of Commons
was framed with the fole view of excluding Roman Ca
tholics. The faa is quite otherwife : the affertion is a
(lander on the Irifh Houfe of Commons, invented by our
modern Jacobin Reformers of Parliament ; and is refuted
by all hiflory and records. (See Carte's Hiflory of the
Duke of Ormond, pages 11-13. 18, 19.) I am flir
ts 3 prifed

( 102 )
prifed that he could be hurried into fuch ftrange miftakes:
I have heretofore fully refuted this affertion, in my ' An-
' fwertoMr.Grattan'sAddrefs,'from undoubted authority
of hiflory and records ; and any perfon who wifhes to be
informed on this head, may be fatisfied by reading part of
that anfwer, under the title of 'Remarks on Mr. Gratran's
' Account of the Creation of Boroughs.' Romanifts were
excluded from Parliament by tefts impofed by Aas of
Parliament : a demonstration, if Hiflory had been filent
on the point, that the Houfe of Commons was framed an
tecedent to the exclufion of Romanifts : and thefe tefts
were impofed from neceffity ; the Romanifts by rebel
lions and maffacres, which had their origin in their re
ligious principles, having proved the impraaicability of
communicating the fupreme authority of the State with
them. Romanifts are excluded from feats in the Parlia
ment of Great Britain by the impofition of the fame teft
oaths. Will this Gentleman affert, that the Britifh Houfe
of Commons was framed with the fole view of excluding
Romanifts ? He has many other objeaionable paffages in
his pamphlet, of which his antagonift, the writer of
' The Cafe of Ireland Re-conjidered,' has not failed to take
the advantage : I am very forry that the merit of many
excellent arguments in favour of an Union contained in
it fhould be leffened by fuch crudities; particularly as I
have a great refpea and efteem for the fuppofed author
of it : and I would not have taken any notice of his
pamphlet, except to commend it, had not his antagonift
availed himfelf of the miftakes and miflatements in it, and
thereby put me to the neceffity, in expofing his mif-
chievous pofltions, of animadverting in fome degree on,
'this performance. It

X io3 )
It Is now time to refute the parts of the Romifli au- Continu-
., , ii- i • , i i ¦ r ation of th«
trior s pamphfet, in which he attempts, rather to inii- striaures
nuate than prove, that the late Rebellion in Ireland was cafe of1*
not a Romifli Rebellion. He knew if he ventured to Ireland
make fuch an affertion direaiy, he laid himfelf open to dered."
direa refutation, and provoked it : he therefore chofe ra
ther to make ufe of a mode of defultory argument on this
weak fide of his defence of Irifli Romanifts, from the too
weTl founded objeaions to tHeir pretenfions, arifing from
their open aas of hoftility againft their Proteftant country
men, by aiming detached ftrokes of accufation againft
fome reputed Proteftants, who were concerned in the Re
bellion. This mode of defence of his party is contrary to
the general tenour of his argument ; which is, that the
Irifh Romanifts are excluded from equal privileges with
their fel'low-fiibjeas, that their number and property en
title them to thefe privileges, that the exclufion therefrom
warrants their hoftility to the State, and that their propen-
fity to fuch hoftility will continue as long as the exclufion,
and will break out into open aas of violence on every pro
per opportunity, and that the late Rebellion was the con-
fequence of fuch exclufion ; thereby in faa admitting,
that it was a Romifh Rebellion. In page 22 he has the
following paragraph : ' No doubt a connexion with
4 France has lately been renewed,, but thofe who took the
4 lead in it were of all defcriptions, but perfons chiefly
4 Prefbyterians and Protedants.; of five men who com-
4 pofed the (Irifli) Direaory, four were Proteflants, al-
4 though of any other five men in the country, four were
' Catholics.' In page j i he thus writes : » May not the
* prefent misfortunes of Ireland be rather afcribed to the
1 efforts of a party (the Protedants) to force on us again
4 our childifh trammels which we had outgrown ? This
h 4 ' accounts

( i°4 )
' accounts for the union of all defcriptions of men in
' the late oppofition to Government.' It is worthy of
notice, that he ftyles Rebellion, Oppofition to Govern
ment; fo indeed it is with a vengeance ! In page 47 is
the following obfervation : ' It is difficult to compre-
4 herid the wifdom of that fyftem, which drove Proteftant,
' Prefbyterian, and Catholic, into a defperate union againft;
* it.' There are many other ftrokes of the fame nature
difperfed through his pamphlet. To begin with the firft
affertion ; that of the Irifh Direaory four were Proteftants,
and only one Romanift ; the truth is, there was not
of the five a Proteftant : four of them were profeffed
Deifts or Atheifts, difciples of Mr. Thomas Paine ; and
the fifth, M'Nevin, was a bigotted Romanift : he de
clared indeed, on his examination before the Committee
of the Houfe of Lords, that he and his party meant to
fubvert the prefent Proteftant Church Eftabliftiment, and
not to eftablifh any religion in its room, but he well knew
that the fubverfion of the Proteftant Eftabliftiment in Ire
land would of itfelf be the eftablifliment of Popery.
There was not one Proteftant engaged in the Rebellion,
except a few of the meaneft of the Diffenting clafs, in i.
corner of the North of Ireland, unlefs the avowed dif
ciples of Mr. Paine are to be accounted Proteftants. Thefe
Diffenters were feduced into it, by plaufible pretences of
Reform of Parliament and Abolition of Tithes : but the
barbarous condua of the Leinfter Rebels, in maffacring
all Proteftants they could lay their hands on in cold blood,
foon convinced them of their error ; and one of their
leaders, an attorney by profeffion, being taken and
hanged, at his execution declared that he and his
party were then fully convinced, if they had fucceeded,
that they muft have fought the battle over again ; that is,

is, that they would have to fight their Romifh confe
derates, who they perceived intended to deftroy all
Proteftants. A great proportion of the Infurgents in
the North were Romanifts; for in both the counties of
Down and Antrim, in which the Northern Infurreaion
happened, there are many Romifh inhabitants. This
Infurreaion was very fpeedily quelled. The leaders of
the Diffenters concerned in it were all notorious feaaries,
— Arians, Socinians, or Deifts ; there was not one real
Chriflian Diffenter engaged in it, except a very few of
the meaneft of the people, who were cheated into it in
the , manner I have already mentioned. All Proteftant
Diffenters of any account, who were real Chriftians,
joined heart- and hand with the Proteftants of the Efta
bliftiment throughout the nation, and fought courageoufly
againft the Infurgents.
The great ftrength of the Rebels lay in the province
of Leinfter, and they were to a man Romanifts, except
about fix, who were profeffed Painites. Mr. Bagenal '
Harvey was one of thefe. A few days before the Re- ,
bellion broke out he had been arretted on a charge of
Treafon, by order of Government, and was confined, in
the gaol of Wexford. When the Rebels got poffeffion
of that town, foon after the commencement of the In
furreaion, they liberated Mr. Harvey; and as he was a
man of fome eftate and intereft in the county, they chofe
him for a nominal leader only, and he marched with
them to the attack of Rofs. His command was merely
nominal : he never had any effeaual authority among
them. As foon as they were defeated at Rofs, they de-
pofed him, and chofe a Romifh Farmer, one Roach,
who had been the permanent Serjeant of a Yeomanry Corps,

( "6 )
Corps, and had deferted, one of their Generals ; together
with a number of others, all Romanifts, to wit, Sutton,
Fitzgerald, Parry, Hay, Roach, and Murphy, the two
laft Romifh Priefts, and many other Priefts. They firft
affembled in the county of Wexford, by parifhes, at the
xefpeaive Romifh chapels, and were generally headed by
their Priefts. Mr. Harvey, when he faw them com
mence the maffacre of the Proteftants, which he was
unable to prevent, fpoke feelingly, to a friend he hap
pened to fall in with, of his own fituation : * I fee now
' my folly,' faid he, 4 in embarking in this caufe with
* thefe people : if they fucceed, I fhall be murdered by
' them ; if they are defeated, 1 fliall be hanged.'
The aggregate body of the Leinfter Rebels, all Ro
manifts, affembled in the county of Wexford. Their
defeats and difperfion I have already dated. Their bar
barity was not exceeded by their inhuman forefathers in
the maffacre of the Protedants in the year 1641. The
diocefe of Ferns, in which this Rebellion broke out, was
remarkable for a very pious, regular, and refident body
of Protedant Clergy. The Bifliop was almoft always
refident, and had not for many years abfented himfelf
from the diocefe for a fortnight in each year, previous to
1798, though his refidence was within fifty miles of the
city of Dublin. He attended to his epifcopal "duty, in
every branch of it, with the greateft zeal and aaivity.
In this calamitous year of Rebellion, he had, contrary
to his ufual cuftom, rcfided in Dublin about two months,
immediately previous to its breaking out ; and was at
that time, very fortunately for himfelf and his family,
abfent from Ferns ; otherwife he would have certainly
fallen a facrifice to the bigotted fury of the Rebels. They were

{ 107 )
"Vere therefore obliged to content themfelves with the
plunder and* dilapidation of his houfe, which had been
but lately ereaed, and on which he and his predeceffor
had expended above ten thoufand pounds. They burned
his library, and deftrpyed his furniture. On the firft
burd of the Infurreaion, the Rebels murdered, in the
mod barbarous manner, all the Protedant Clergymen
they could lay their hands on. The Reverend Meffrs.
Turner, Bunowes, Throke, Pentland, and Heydon,
fell facrifices to their fanguinary bigotry. They in fome
days after took the Reverend Mr. Owen prifoner : they
tortured him, and he was thereby for fome time bereft
of his reafon. His life was fpared by fome accident, as
was that of the Reverend Mr. Francis, who, notwith-
danding, was fo much reduced by famine (the Rebels hav
ing for many days allowed him no fubfidence but fome
potatoes which had been cut into pieces for the- purpofe'
of planting), that he died fhortly after he was delivered
from them. They caufed their Priefts to baptize two
or three other Protedant Clergymen who had fallen into
their hands, and their lives were fpared on their fubmit--
ting to have fech a ceremony performed upon them ;
the Rebels edeeming fuch fubmiffion an abjuration of
their religion, and an adoption into the Romifh Church.'
The Reverend Mr. Heydon, already mentioned, was a
native of the county of Wexford, had fpent almod his
whole life there, was near eighty years of age, and
was as charitable a man, and as much edeemed, as
any in the county. The Rebels infifted that he fhould
fubmit to be baptized, which he declining to do, they
immediately pierced him with their pikes, and he fell
dead in the prefence of his wife : they ftripped his body,
and it lay expofed in the ftreets of Ennifcorthy for nine
days,

( io8 )¦
days, till it was almoft devoured by the fwine. Some
of the Rebels, lefs ferocious than the others, buried the
body privately at night in the church- yard : the next day
others of them dug it up, and flung it into the ftreet.
Such was the fate of this ancient Clergyman, as retpea-
able in his profeffion as any either in Great Britain or
Ireland, who feemed to be beloved, and deferved to be
fo, by all his parifhioners, whether Proteftants or Ro
manifts. Moft of the other Proteftant Clergymen in the
diocefe were lucky enough to efcape from thefe barba
rians, fome of them in open boats, acrofs the channel
into Wales, carrying nothing with them but the clothes
on their backs : they all loft their properties, which we're
feized on as plunder by the Rebels.
Previous to the battle of Rofs, the Rebels had colfeaed
all the Proteftants, men, women, and children, they
could lay their hands on, in therr march from Wexford to
the battle. Thefe they left prifoners in the cuftody of
one of their captains, a farmer, of the name of Murphy,
at the houfe of Mr. King, a Proteftant Gentleman (who
luckily efcaped from their fury), at a place called Scollo-
bogue, fome miles diftant from Rofs. About fixty men
were confined in the manfion-houfe, and the reft, men,
women, and children, to the number of one hundred
and eighty-five, in the adjacent barn. On the day of
the battle of Rofs, the Rebels difpatched a meffenger to
Murphy, to defire him, in the name of their General,
to put all the prifoners to death, as the King's troops
were getting the better, and the prifoners would efcape.
Murphy at firft hefitated, and defired a written order to
warrant this barbarous execution ; but a fecond meffage,
to the fame effea, was fhortly after delivered to him
3 from

( *°9 )
» fromMurphy, aRomifli Pried, and one of the Rebel Com
manders, with which latter order the Captain and his gang,
confiding of about three hundred, determined to comply.
The fixty men were fird brought out of the manfion-
houfe, man by man, and all fhot, or murdered by the
dabs of pikes, in the front of the houfe, except two,
.whom Murphy, for fome reafon or other, fpared. The
Rebels determined to make fhorter work with the
people in the barn, the majority of whom were women
and children : they furrounded it, piled combufiibles
about it, and fet it on fire. The enclofed viaims en
deavoured to force the doors : their barbarous execu
tioners kept up an inceffant fire of mufketry upon them,
and killed all who fhowed their heads. The doors were
divided in the middle, fo that the upper parts were open
whild the lower parts were clofed. The Rebels threw
numberlefs fheaves of draw, all in flames, into the barn
at thefe apertures. One unhappy woman had a child in
her arms, which die was fuckling: finding death in
evitable, fhe put the child out over the lower part of
one of the doors, in hopes that fome of thefe barbarians
might have fome fparks of humanity yet twinkling in
their bofoms, and would fave the life of the infant. She
was difappointed : the child was immediately transfixed
with a fpear, and lifted up on the end of it, writhing
with torture. This aaion was loudly applauded by the
furrounding Rebels! Their fhouts of triumphant ex
ultation rent the air ! The whofe number enclofed in
the barn were either fhot dead at the doors, attempting
to force their way out, or confumed within it.
Ill the town of Wexford, the Rebels had feized a
number of Protedants, whom they confined in the gaol. Out

( no )
Out of thefe they daily, during the continuance of the
Rebellion, fefeaed a few, and murdered them with great
.parade in the mod public part of the town ; generally
marching them under drong guards through the dreets
to the end of the bridge, military mufic attending, and
playing a dead march ; charging them with no crime
whatfoever, except that they were heretics irreclaimable.
At the end of the bridge they were put on their knees,
immediately pierced with pikes, and their bodies thrown
into the river, which is there deep and broad. But on
the day of the decifive battle of V inegar Hill, didant only
eleven miles from Wexford, the Rebels in the town de
termined to murder all their prifoners ; and on that day
they conduaed eighty- fix Protedants from the gaol to
the bridge, marching them by fixteen or eighteen at a
time, with mufic playing a dead march, and there mur
dered them all with their pikes. The Rebel who fhowed
himfelf mod aaive in this butchery was celebrated by
the red as a Hero, who never winced at running a Heretic
through the body. Such were their expreffions ! The
remaining prifoners, men, women, and children, were
doomed to flaughter on the next day ; but a party of the
King's troops in the morning rufhed fuddenly into the
town : the Rebels, fought their fafety in flight, and the
lives of upwards of three hundred Protedants were faved.
All the faas I have above mentioned of the barbarities
committed by the Rebels, are notorious, and have been
proved on the oaths of the mod refpeaable witneffes,
on the trials of feveral Rebels, who have been conviaed
of having been concerned in thefe maffacres. It is in
vain for Romifli writers to deny them : they dare not
attempt it in Ireland, where all people are perfedtly
acquainted with the above circumflances. This Romiffa
4 writer

( III )
writer has publiflied his infidious pamphlet iri England ;
it is calculated for that meridian ; he hoped to impofe
on the credulity of ftrangers ; and even there he had not
affurance peremptorily to affert that it was not a Romifli
Rebellion, — he only flrongly infinuates that it was nou
The Infurgents in the two counties of Antrim and
Down were partly Protedant Diffenters of the lowed
clafs, and partly Romanids. They were few in number,
feeble in their operations, and were fpeedily difperfed.
They committed no maffacres, becaufe the Romanifts
among them were obliged to conceal their fanguinary
projeas from the Proteftant Diffenters affociated with
them, and whom they had drawn into the Rebellion by
holding forth to them the fcheme of a Democratic Re
public, and the fubverfion of the Church Eftablifliment.
Thefe Infurgents in the North, of different religious
perfuafions, had different views, which they fludioufly
concealed from each other. The Diffenters among them
thought they were making tools of the Romanifts, to-
affift in the overthrow of the Eftablifliment in Church
and State, and the fubditution of a Republic ; believing
that they would be able to fecure the political power in
fuch a State to themfelves, and introduce that fpecies of
religious perfuafion which, in the days of Cromwell,
Was didinguifhed by the name of Independency, throughout
the nation : their principal leaders were difguifed A the ids.
The Romanids, on the other hand, thought, and with
much more reafon, that they were making tools of the
Diffenters, by inducing them to affift in the fubverfion
of the Proteftant Eftablifliment in Church and State,
and the fubditution of a Democratic Republic ; becaufe
they knew that fuch a projea could not be carried inta
execution

( *i2 y
execution but by the extirpation of all the Irifh Proteft
ants of the Eftablifliment, and a Separation from Great
Britain, for ages the favourite purfuits of Irifh Roman
ifts ; and they faw plainly enough that the whole political
power of the nation muft fall into their hands, in the
event of the fuccefs of fuch projeas ; becaufe the Pro
teftant Diffenters in Ireland do not amount to one eighth
part of the Romanifts in number ; and in a Democratic
Republic, fuch a fmall feaion of the people, bereft of
the fupport of the Proteftants of the Eftablifliment, and
of Great Britain, could have very little political influ
ence, if they were even differed to remain in the coun
try, which, from the religious tenets of the Romanifts,
is highly improbable. The Romanifts know alfo, that
the fubverfion of the Proteftant Eftablifliment would of
itfelf be a fubditution of a Romifli, without further
trouble ; for, from the religious tenets of the Romifh
Faith, its votaries are bound to pay their tithes to their
refpeaive Parifh Priefts, without the fanaion of any
temporal law whatfoever ; and hence it is, that all laws
•enforcing the payment of tithes to Proteftant Clergymen
by them are accounted impious, and the exaaion of fuch
payment a facrilege ; which tenet of itfelf will for ever
render them irreconcilable enemies to a Proteftant Eftablijh-
tnenf. Hence their Clergy, by the fuccefs of their de
figns, would be immediately put into poffeffion of all the
tithes of the nation. Add to this the immenfe fums
which the Romilh Clergy levy on their Laity from Con-
feffions, from Indulgences, from the doarine of Pur
gatory, from Difpenfations, and other concomitants of
their fuperftition, reprobated by the Proteftant doarines ;
and it will be eafily feen, that it would not be neceffary,
on the fubverfion of the Proteftant Church Eftablifliment, to

( "3 )
fo fecure, by temporal laws, any particular endowment
for the fupport of the Romifh Clergy ; and that, even in
their prefent condition, they levy a very ample fubfiftence
on their people.
The horrible cruelties exercifed by the great body of
trie Rebels in Leinder on the Protedants, foon alarmed
the few Diffenters, confederates of the Romifh Infur
gents in the North. They immediately faw into the
real defign of their new allies ; and withdrawing them
felves from a confpiracy which, they clearly perceived,
would in its fuccefs be attended with their own deflruc-
tion, all projeas of Rebellion vanifhed in the province of
Ulfler. Rebellion there was but partially entertained ; ,it
never had very numerous partifans : the flame, thus feeble,
was eafily quenched, never to be re-kindled ; and the people
have returned to their accuftomed induftrious purfuits.
The great drength of the Rebellion lay in the province
of Leinder. The whole mafs of the Romifh inhabit
ants of the counties of Wicklow, Wexford, Kildare,
and Carlow, rofe at once. Many inhabitants of the
adjacent counties, particularly of Meath and Dublin,
of the fame religious perfuafion, joined them. Their
number in arms at one time amounted to upwards of
fifty thoufand men. Confiding in this drength, they did
not think it neceffary to conceal their defigns of extir
pating the Protedants : the excifion of all Heretics they,
on the contrary, proclaimed to be their objea and inten
tion ; and evinced, by their aaions, the fincerity of this
declaration. So early as the year 1792, the Irifli Romanids had
projeaed this Rebellion, and commenced their operations
preparative of itjp In that year, a Secret Committee of
1 them.

( "4 5
them, which had before for fome years privately affembled
in Dublin, determined to take decifive deps towards com
bining their whole colfeaed power throughout the nation,
and making one united effort to feparate the nation from
Great Britain, fubvert the Monarchy, and eftablifli a Ro
mifh Democratic Republic in Ireland, under the proteaion
of France, which encouraged them to the attempt, and
whofe anarchical fchemes they refolved to adopt. The
fuccefs of the French Revolutionifls infpired them with
hopes of fimilar fuccefs ; and fome popular Charaaers.
in England and Ireland appeared publicly as their abettors,
particularly Mr. Edmund Burke, who difpatched his fon
to Ireland to aa as their agent, in which capacity he
exerted himfelf with great zeal and aaivity. They
were thus emboldened to adopt very daring and open
meafures for carrying their projea into execution. With
this view a Romifh merchant in Dublin, one of this
private Society, iffued a kind of writs for the efeaion of
a general Reprefentative Affembly of the Irifh Roman
ifts, to meet at a certain day in the city of Dublin, there
to deliberate on the interefts of that body, and to con
cert proper methods for what was ftyled the Eman
cipation of the Romanifts. Thefe writs were direaed
to the Romifh Parifh Priefts throughout the kingdom,
who were to fuperintend the execution of them. They
were executed in the following manner : The Romifli in
habitants of each parifh were fummoned by the Prieft to
meet at the Romifli chapel ; and there two deputies were
efeaed by the majority of the votes of the adults of the
whole congregation without diflinaion. Thefe deputies
met the deputies of all the pariflies of a barony or hun
dred, at an appointed time and [place, and efeaed, by
plurality of votes, two deputies for (he barony from
among

( "5 )
Imong themfelves. Thefe two baronial deputies met,
at a certain time and place, the other baronial deputies,
and efeaed two deputies from among themfelves, as re
prefentatives of the county. The fame mode of efeaion
of reprefentatives was purfued' in cities and towns cor
porate. Thefe reprefentatives met at the Taylors' Hall,
in the city of Dublin, appointed proper officers, and
continued fitting for many weeks, with the doors of the
hall carefully clofed and guarded, within a furlong of the
Caflle of Dublin, the refidence of the Viceroy. Their
affembling was open and notorious : their deliberations
were kept profoundly fecret. The Magidracy of the
city of Dublin would have immediately difperfed this
unlawful affembly, which, in imitation of the French,
affumed the title of the Catholic Convention ; but the Go
vernment declined to warrant- or countenance fuch ex
ertion of the Police. This Convention compofed a
paper, which they flyled the Petition of tire Roman
Catholics of Ireland to His Majedy, which is one en
tire fydem of the mod audacious and groundless falfe
hoods and mifreprefentations that was ever framed : it is
a virulent and malicious inveaive and libel on the Pro
tedants of Ireland and the eftablifhed Government, and
a forgery of grievances of Irifh Romanifts which never
exifted. They at length clofed their feffion, firft efea-
ing nine of their members to compofe a permanent
Council of Irifli Traitors. This they ftyled the Perma
nent Committee of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. Of
thefe M'Nevin, their Ambaffador to the French Di-
reaory, was the chief. They levied great fums of
money by a regular affeffment, which they impofed on
the Irifli Romanifts, and to which they univerfally fub-
mitted. They fent a deputation to Belfaft, to feduce the
i 2 Proteftant

( n6 )
Proteftant Diffenters there to enter into a confederacy
with them, for the annihilation of the Conftitution, un
der pretence of a co-operation for a Reform of the Re
prefentation in Parliament ; and to the operations of
that Deputation is the late feeble Northern Infurreaion,
which I have mentioned, to be afcribed. They ap
pointed deputies to prefent the flagitious libel, which
they ftyled a Petition to His Majefty ; and fo great was
the influence of Mr. Burke in England at that time, that
he procured 'the introduaion of thefe Deputies to His
:Majefty, by one of the Secretaries of State ; and they
prefented their Petition. To the fame influence is juftly
to be attributed the paffive condua of the Irifh Govern
ment, in refpea to that unlawful affembly. The whole
mafs of the Irifh Romanifts fubmitted to the authority
of this Committee of Nine. They were fefeaed out of
the Reprefentatives chofen by them all in the manner I
bave mentioned, and appointed^by the votes of that whole
body to condua the projeas and fchemes of the Irifh Ro-
.manids ; they are therefore to be confidered astheir exiding
Reprefentatives, and they have aaed as fuch ever fince,
till the breaking out of the Rebellion. One of them,
M'Nevin, was the mod aaive diplomatic member of the
Irifli Direaory.
In the year 1795, when Earl Fitzwilliam was ap
pointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Committee of
Nine determined that the whole mafs of Irifli Romanids
fhould prefent a Petition to Parliament, praying, or
rather demanding, what they dyled Emancipation ; that
is, the fubverfion of the Proteftant Edablifhment in
Church and State. They publiflied a precedent of fuch
3 Petition in the public Newfpapers, and fent out their
mandate

( H7 )
mandate to all of their perfuafion in every part of Ireland,
commanding them to fend up Petitions, drawn after that
model, to be prefented to Parliament, figned by them in
every didria. This mandate was immediately complied
with by the whole body. The affeffments of the Con
vention have been always regularly paid to the Trea-
furer, one of the Nine ; and the Romifh body through
out Ireland regularly correfponded with their Secretary
M4Cormick, till he fled out of the kingdom, to efcape
punifhment for his treafon, fome time after the com
mencement of the Rebellion. L he Committee of Nine
called a general meeting of the Irifh Romanids on the
recall of Earl Fitzwilliam. They met at a Romifh
chapel in Dublin. Several feditious fpeeches were
fpoken at this affembly by M'Nevin, Keough, and
Ryan, three members of the Committee of Nine ; and
by Lewins, their prefent Ambaffador at Paris ; and
very feditious refolutions were entered into by them, and
the whole affembly. All thefe Speeches and Refolutions
the Committee publiflied in feveral Newfpapers both in
Great Britain and Ireland, In one of the Refolutions
agreed to by the whofe body, they voted their mod-
grateful thanks for his fervices, and fifteen hundred
pounds for his trouble, to Theobald Wolfe Tone, as
one of their agents. He was at this time a traitor, in
correfpondence with the French Convention, and em
ployed by them to raife a Rebellion in Ireland. He was
fince taken by Sir John Borlafe Warren's fquadron, r
coming to invade Ireland with a French army, and having
a French commiflion in his pocket. He was conviaed
of high treafon, and ordered for execution; but on the '
morning of the day appointed for his execution he cut
his own throat. His brother, Matthew Tone, was
J 3 hanged

( u8 )
hanged and quartered for the fame crime. In another
Refolution, the Committee of Nine and their Affembly pledged
themfelves, colledively and individually, to rejift even their
Emancipation, if propofed to be conceded on the ignominious.
terms of an acquit Jcence in the fatal meafure of an Union
with Great Britain.
Of this Committee of Nine, M'Nevin and Sweetman
r
are now confined, as profeffed traitors, at Fort George
in Scotland ; Ryan is dead ; Keough and M4Cormick
have found it prudent to withdraw out of the kingdom ;
another was long confined on fufpicion of treafon, but
hais been lately liberated by the clemency of the Marquis
Cornwallis. It is however generally believed that
their places have been duly filled up, and that a Com
mittee of Nine, as the Reprefentative of the whole
mafs of Irifh Romanifts, ftill fubfifts, maintains its au
thority over that body, and continues its operations.
From the detail of the Rife and Progrefs of the late
Rebellion, here faithfully given, it muft be clear to every
difpaflionate perfon, that it was a Romifh Rebellion, and
that it was hatched by the Romifh Convention. But it
may not be amifs here to infert fome quotations from
the Reports of the Secret Committees of the Britifh and
Irifh Houfes of Lords refpeaing it. In the • Report of
' the Committee of the Irifh Houfe of Lords' (page 2) is
the following paragraph: « During that period' (1792
and 1793) ' very confiderable fums of money were
* levied upon the Roman Catholics of this kingdom,
1 under the authority of a Committee of perfons of that
' perfuafion, who then affurned, and feemed in a great
* degree to (Succeed in the government and direaion of
« the

( "9 ) .
* the whole Body of Irifli Catholics.' Ibidem, page 4-
' We have taken up the detail of it from that period'
(1795 and 1796), ' when the confpiracy was fo matured
' as to have for its avowed objea the array and levy of
* a regular military force in every part of the kingdom,
' for the purpofe bf affifting the French, if they fhould
5 be enabled^ to make a defcent upon this country ; or, if
' foreign affiftance could not be procured, of making a
' general infurreaion, in the hope of fubverting the
* Monarchy and- Ecclefiaftical Eftabliftiment, of feizing
* the perfons and confifeating the property of His Ma-
* jetty's loyal fubjeas, and of eftablifhirjg a Republi-
' can Government guaranteed by the power of France.'
And ibidem, pages 10, n, 12, may be feen an account
of the negotiations of M4Nevin, one of the Committee
of Nine, with the French Direaory, to which I refer
the reader.
In the ' Report of the Secret Committee of the Houfe
* of Commons of Great Britain,' fea. 2, page 10* is the
following paffage: ' The confpiratbrs in Ireland, unquef-
4 tionably, always meditated the complete feparation of
' that country from Great Britain.' The Report then
adverts to the Society of United Irijhmen, which it dates to
have been inftituted in the year 1791. And here it is
proper to date* that the Romifh Convention already
mentioned was affembled in the year 1792, and that
almoft the whole of its members, if not the whole, were
United Irijhmen: that all the principal Romifti leaders in
the late Rebellion were members of this Convention ;
and all of them, together with the whole mafs of the
Infurgents, United Irijhmen. In the Report laft men
tioned, fea. 7, page 31, adverting to the mutiny in the
1 4 Britilh

( **° )
Britifh fleet, is the following paffage : < It appears that
* oaths have been tendered by the Mutineers to the crew
* to be United Irifhmen, equal to their brethren in Ire-
* land, and have nothing to do with the King or his
* Government : that they have aaed in the profeffed
' expeaation of affiftance from France, with the exprefs
' view of co-operating . for the expulfion of the Proteft-
• ants from Ireland, and the ereaion of a Roman Ca-
' tholic Government. On another occafion the Oath has
' been as follows : " I fwear to be true to the free and
« united Irifh, who are now fighting our caufe againft
' Tyrants and Oppreflbrs, and to defend their rights to
* the laft drop of my blood, and to keep all fecret : and
* I do agree to carry the (hip into Bred, the next time
' the fhip looks out a-head at fea, and to kill every offi-
' cer and man that (hall hinder us, except the Mader ;
' and to hoid a green enfign with a harp in it, and after-
1 wards to kill and deftroy the Proteftants." Ibid, page 32.
* Your Committee have no hefitation in dating on the
« cleared proof, drongly confirmed by recent circum-
* dances, that among the various bodies inlided in any part
' of Great Britain for the purpofes of fedition and trea-
1 fon, the focieties which have been formed by the
4 United Iriflimen in this country are in all refpeas the
'mod formidable, particularly at the prefent moment;
f whether confidered with a view to their combination,
' their aaual numbers, or the atrocious nature of the
4 defigns, of which they are preparing, in a very fhort
« time, to attempt the execution, in direa co-operation
' with France. The danger to be apprehended from
4 thefe Societies is much increafed, from the conftant
«. communication which they maintain with the Societies
* Jrj Ireland, their mutual confidence in each other, and
5 « the

( 121 )
••the alarming circumdance pf their being at this mo-
' ment fubjea to the fame fecret direaion, and the fame
' chiefs.' This ' Report of the Britifh Houfe of Commons' was
ordered to be printed fo. late as the 15th of. March 1799.
And it is here worthy to be noted, that Mr. Tone, al
ready mentioned, who is acknowledged to have been
Agent of the Romifh Convention in the year 1792, by
,their Permanent Committee, was the founder of the So
ciety of United Irifhmen in the year 179 1; and it is pretty
evident that the Romifh Convention was only an affembly
of the mod confiderable amongd the perfonages which
compofed the Society of United Irifhmen ; — a fpecies of
florilegium of that holy brotherhood !
It is now time to inquire what it' is which induces
Irifh Romanids to aa fo ferocioufly, and to third fo in-
fatiably for the blood of their Proteftant fellow-fubjeas ;
a third at this moment as unquenchable as in the year
1641, the era of the horrible Irifli maffacre! It cannot
arife from the hatred of the native Irifli to the Britifli
Colony, contraaed from the tyranny of the Colony ex-
ercifed over the natives, as is with equal effrontery and
falfehood afferted by the author of the pamphlet entitled,
4 Confide rations on the State of public Affairs in the Tear
' 1799. Ireland;' for at prefent, and for many years
back, the native Irifh, and the Britifh, who from time to
time migrated into Ireland and fettled there, are fo 'in
termixed that no fuch diftinaion as Native and Colonift
can properly be faid now to remain in the. kingdom;
fave that in fome mountainous parts of the province of.
Connaught, and in the mountains in the fouth of the
counties

( 122 )
counties of Cork and Kerry, fuch fufion has not taken
place in any confiderable degree ; and . in thofe parts
there was no Rebellion. In the counties in which the
Rebellion raged, to wit, thofe of Wexford, Wicklow,
Carlow, Kild'are, Meath, and Dublin, the majority of
the peafantry, if their original race is to be difcovered
by their names, is Britifli. There are two baronies in
the county of Wexford, viz. thofe of Forth and
Eargy, entirely peopled by the defcendants of old Englifh
fettlers, who yet retain the old Englifh- language, as it
was fpoken in England in the time of Chaucer, and
Which is almoft unintelligible to a modern Englifliman.
They are for the moft part Romanifts at this day, and
were very aaive Rebels. The Englifh who fettled in
other parts of Ireland, previous to the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, are fo completely incorporated with the ori
ginal natives, that they cannot now be diftinguifhed from
them by their language, cuftoms, or manners ; the fur-
names of the refpe&i'/e' families of them alone mark
their origin. They may be reputed natives ; and there
are few who retain Irifh furnames through the nation,
who have not Britifh blood in their veins. The Romifli
inhabitants of Ireland called by Britifh furnames, anr$
generally reputed of Britifti extraaion, are the moft
powerful portion of Irifh Romanifts in point of pro
perty. In the late Rebellion, almod all the leaders of
the Rebels had Englifh furnames, and the mafs of the
Infurgents was of the fame defcription ; the Rebellion
having raged in the parts of Ireland direaiy oppofite to
Britain, and chiefly in that part formerly called the Pale,
the principal feat of the ancient Englifh Colony, Of
the Protedant inhabitants of Ireland, a large portion has
Irifh furnames, and may be therefore reputed of native Irifli

C I23 )
I#fh extraaion. In a word, the only real and fpecific
didinaion of the inhabitants of Ireland in the prefent time
is, that of Protedants and Romanids. The fanguinary
hodility of the Irifli Romanifts againft the Irifli Proteft
ants cannot therefore be attributed to a national antipathy
fubfifling between Natives and Colonids ; and there is as
little ground for afcribing it to any peculiar propenfity of
the people of Ireland to cruelty, greater than that of other
nations. Oppreffion they cannot reafonably complain
of; for the Irifh Romanifts enjoy a greater portion of
civil liberty, than the moft favoured fubjeas of any fo^
reign nation on the face of the earth. There is there
fore no other reafonable mode of accounting for it, but
by an examination of the doarines of their Religion;
;*nd whoever will attentively confider the precepts of the
Council of Lateran before quoted, refpeaing Herefy,
which they hold as a part of their creed, will there dnd
the true fources of all thofe barbarities, and maffacres of
their fellow-fubjeas, which they have been guilty of.
The legal punilhment of Herefy in the Britifh dominions,
during the domination of Popery, was burning alive :
hence the burning alive of the unfortunate Proteftants in
the barn at Scollobogue, and the perfecutioh of them
with fire and fword in the late Rebellion. The Irifli
Romanifts committed nothing which they were not war
ranted, nay commanded, to commit, by the Council of
Lateran ; and it is remarkable, that at the times of their
perpetrating the mod atrocious cruelties, they always
branded their viaims with the opprobrious title of He
retics. The Romanids in Ireland, whether aboriginal, or
pf old Englifh extraaion, have always endeavoured to
lhake

( m )
fiiake off what they call the Englifh yoke, that is, to fe
parate themfelves from England ; and this political prin
ciple has contributed more than any other circumdance
to keep them deady to the Romifh perfuafion, as being
hodile to the Protedant faith, the Religion of Britain :
"their leaders juftly enough confidering that hoftility of
Religions is a powerful cement of adverfe political par
ties, anda ftrong barrier againft all treaty ; and that Sepa
ration from Britain will be always the favourite purfuit
of men who firmly believe that Britons are an accurfed
race, reprobated by Heaven, the objeas of Divine ven
geance, to be infliaed on them on earth by the fwords
of the faithful ; they therefore fupport and propagate the
Romifh Faith, as they have always done, with all their-
power and influence. And to this political principle of
Separation from Britain, as a firft caufe, may be traced
the perfevering attachment of fuch a number of the in
habitants of Ireland to the Romifli Faith: and of that
attachment their cruelty to their Proteftant countrymen is
the immediate effea.
I fliall now take fome notice of the flriaures thrown
out, by the Author of ' The Cafe of Ireland Re- confidered,'
on the Popery Code fome time fince repealed in Ireland.
The Author has dimmed up all the old common-placer
objeaions to that Code, advanced by the whole fwarm
of Romifli dribblers, with all their exaggerations, fince
the enaaion of it. His objeaions I have already men
tioned ; they are principally contained in pages 4 and 34
of his pamphlet. Notwithdanding this Code has been
for fome years repealed, particularly all fuch parts of
it as he complains of, he again blazons forth its feve-
ritv, for the purpofe of giving a new edge to the
weapons

( I25 )
weapons of his Romifh countrymen (which he appre
hends may have been fomewhat blunted in the recent
Rebellion and Maffacre), and of mifleading the Englifli
nation into an unfounded opinion, that the Irifli Ro
manids have been cruelly oppreffed ; and that their recent
Rebellion has been the effea of that oppreflion, not re-
fortedto for remedy (the Code having been repealed before
the Rebellion), but for revenge. It is neceffary to make a
few remarks on his driaures, to fhow how abfurd they
are, and what little ground there is for them : fo very
little indeed, that there is fufficient reafon to believe the
writer to have been wholly unacquainted with the laws
themfelves, and that he merely copied the obfervations
be makes upon them from others. His ignorance -of
the laws of 'his country is manifed from more thaM
one paffage in his pamphlet. I fhall give one remark
able indance here of his want of knowledge of the
laws. In page 41", obferving on what he palls the
Ted Oaths, meaning the Oaths adminiftered to every
Member of Parliament when he takes his feat in the
Houfe, he has the following paffage; 'Among thefe
4 Oaths I fuppofe is included that of Abjuration, which
' is as violent an infult to the religion of our allies,
' the firft nations on the Continent of Europe, as the
4 abominable Oath of Hatred to Royalty fet up as a
4 teft in France, is to their form of government.' The
Oath of Supremacy I have already mentioned ; the
Oath, ftyled in our Statutes the Oath of Abjuration, is
Amply an oath, firft, of Allegiance to His Majefty ; next,,
of fupport of the Settlement of the Crown, as limited
by an Aa of Parliament, entitled, An Aft for the fur
ther Limitation of the Crown, and better fecuring the
Rights and Liberties of the Subjetl ; and next an Oath
abjuring

t ^ )
abjuring all allegiance to the defcendants of the late
King James the Second. This Oath, together with the
Oaths of Supremacy, and a general Oath of Allegiance,
are all -the oaths enjoined to be taken by Members of
Parliament. How contemptible then is the ignorance
of this Author, who ftates, that this Oath of Abjuration
is a violent infult to the religion of our ajlies, the firft
nations in Europe !
The Irifli Popery Code, which this Author complains
of, was enaaed after the acceffion of King William
and Queen Mary : not" all at once, but from time to
time, as feemed expedient, in feveral fucceffive Seffions
of the Irifh Parliaments, from the 4th of William and
Mary to the 8th of Anne inclufive, but chiefly in the 2d
and 8th of Anne. By this Code Romanids were prohi
bited to teach fchool, and to take leafes of lands for a
longer term than thirty-one years, or to acquire by pur-
chafe any more durable intered in lands. It provided,
that if the elded fon of a Romanid, having an edate in
fee, conformed to the Protedant Religion, his father,
from the time of his conformity, became tenant for life
of his edate, the fee veded in the conforming fon, fub
jea to the debts and incumbrances, and the Lord Chan
cellor was empowered to charge the edate with fortunes
for the younger children, not exceeding in the whole
one third of the full value of it. When a Romanid
died feifed of an edate in fee, if his elded fon did not
conform to the Protedant Religion within a year and a
day after his father's death (if he was then of full age,
or, if then a minor, within a year and a day after he
had attained his full age), the edate gavelled between him
and his brothers. No Romanid could enjoy an of
fice

( 127 )
fice in the State, a comroiffion in the Army, or a feat
in Parliament, without taking the Ted Oaths. Thefe
are the parts of the Popery Code, whofe dire effeas on
the Irifh Romanids this Author fo pathetically laments,
and magnifies with fuch mondrous exaggeration. It is
neceflary here to remark, that thefe laws were all en
aaed from abfolute neceffity : that the reiterated rebel
lions, treafons, and maffacres of the Irifli Romanifts
were the caufes of their enaaion : that they were en
aaed after the Irifh Romanifts had been completely fufa-
dued in a defperate war, waged by them againft their
Proteftant countrymen and the Englifh nation, and
undertaken by them, under the pretence of fupporting
the title of an abdicated Monarch to the Crown ; but
really for the purpofe of feparating Ireland from Great
Britain, and allying it with France r that in this war the
nation was defolated from one extremity to the other,
as it had been frequently before in fimilar precedent re
bellions : that it became evidently detrimental to the State,
to permit Irifli Romanifts to acquire landed eftates, giv
ing them an intereft in the country, which their avowed
principles inevitably led them to ufe for the fubverfion
of the State : that the incurable difpofition of the Irifh
Romanifts to rebellion and maffacre was not the effea,
but the caufe, of the Popery Code ; for that difpofition
led them to the moft flagrant, cruel, and reiterated aas
of rebellion and maffacre, before the enaaion of that
Code ; and all other ways of preventing the repetition
of fuch horrible crimes had been found ineffeaual : that
this Author is guilty of the bafeft deception, in dating
the Popery Code to be the caufe of Rebellions, when it
was only the effea : that the parts of that Code, of
which he complains, as provocations of Irifh Romanids
4 ato

( 128 :j
to Rebelilon, were repealed, before the faff Irifh re
bellion and maffacre ; and confequently could not be the
caufe of them: and it is no unfair deduaion, that the
re-enaaion of a Code, which, while it continued to
be a part of the law of the land, prevented Rebellion,
may become neceffary for the proteaion of the country
from fimilar future calamities.
This Author ftates, that, by the repealed Popery Code,
Romanifts were excluded from Proteftant Schools. This is
a direa falfehood : Romanifts, fo far from being excluded
from Protedant fchools, were invited to them ; every
Protedant fchool in the kingdom was always open to
them ; they might have freely retorted thither for in-
ftruaion in all kinds of learning, without any inter
ference of the fchoolmaders with their religious opinions.
Schools were edablifhed by Government, above half a
century ago, for the education of the children of the
poorer clafs of Irifli Romanifts, who had the privilege
of fending their children to thefe fchools, if they thought
fit, to be educated and maintained gratis : thefe fchools
are called Charter Schools, and the fcholars are educated
in the Protedant Religion, as it is but reafonable that
children educated at the expenfe of the State, fliould be
indruaed in the Religion of the State. But all other
fchools were as open to Romanids as to Proteftants,
without any reference to, or interference with, the reli
gious opinions of Romanifts. The State has lately, but
before this Author publiflied his pamphlet, thought fit
to erea a moft magnificent College, at an amazing ex
penfe, near Dublin, for the exclufive education of Ro
mifh Priefts, whether wifely or not, I will not pre-
fume

( "9 )
fume to determine. I fhall have occafion hereafter more
fully to notice this foundation.
Romifh fludents could not obtain degrees in the Uni-
verfity of Dublin without taking the Oaths of Ab
juration and Supremacy, previous to the repeal of the
Popery Code : but by the aa of the Irifh Parliament
in 1793 in favour of Romanifts, they are rendered ca
pable of taking degrees in that Univerflty.
Romifh fchoolmaders were by the Popery Code pro
hibited to teach. No prohibition, at the time it was
enaaed, could be more reafonable : they inculcated the
rudiments of fedition and treafon with the utmod care
in their fcholars ; and when proper fchools were open
for the indruaion of Romanids, it was a wife and juft
provifion of the State to p'revent their refort to places where
they were early initiated in all the principles of difaf-
feaion to the Government. It appeared in the lad Re
bellion, .that the Romifh fchoolmaders were the mod
zealous, aaive, and bufy propagators of all the doarines
of treafon in the country. The propriety of the education
of Irifli Romanids in France and Spain, after their va
rious rebellions in confederacy with thefe powers, needs
no argument to fupport it.
This Author's next complaint againd the Popery Coffe
is, 4 that it cramped the indudry of the people, and
' armed the brother againd the brother, and rewarded
1 the fon for betraying the father, rendered property in-.
' fecure, prevented the cultivation of land, the interior
4 confidence of families, and the extenfion of trade.'
k_ Romanifts

f *3° >
Romanids by that Code were forbidden to take a leafe
of land for a longer term. than thirty-one years. Againft
that claufe it is to be fuppofed that the accufation of
cramping the indudry of the people is levelled. It is
admitted that a larger proportion of Romanifts is to be
found among the Irifh peafantry, than among the other
claffes of inhabitants ; and it is to be noted that this
author, by the word People, means Romanifts exclu-
fively ; for throughout his pamphlet, like other writers
of his kidney, he infinuates that the Irifh Proteftants are
fo ihfignificant in number, that they are not worthy of
being noticed as a part of the people. It is difficult to
prove, though eafy to affert, that a clafs of the farmers
of a nation, the cultivators of the foil, are cramped in
their induftry, and their cultivation obftruaed, by their
difability to acquire more durable interefts in. their farms,
than Ieafes for thirty-one years give them ; and that fuch
difability in one clafs of farmers cramps the induftry of
the whole body. The farmers in many parts of Eng
land, the moft fkilful in their profeffion of any in the
world, the moft induftrious arid thriving, have no Ieafes
of their farms, but are yearly tenants : in mod parts of
England long Ieafes of farms are unufual, in fome parts
unknown : a feven years leafe of a farm is confidered a fuf
ficient tenure, yet the farmers are remarkable for their ex
cellent cultivation of the land, and the mod aaive indudry,
It is therefore proved by experience, that difability in
farmers to acquire long tenures of their farms is no im
pediment to national indudry. The law in particular
complained of, never operated againd the indudry of the
Romifh farmers, but it operated againd the acquisi
tion of permanent landed eftates by fuch Irifli Romanifts
as had acquired large perfonal property, becaufe all laws
againft

( '3* )
againft fuch acquifition may be eafily evaded by iong
feafes. Such was the intention of the Legiflature, and
it aaed wifely, and for the benefit and fecurity of the
State (as is already fhown)j in enaaing the claufe com
plained of : Romanifts were not reftrained from exert
ing their induftry, and acquiring large perfonal edates j
but they were prohibited to expend their money in the
purchafe of lands, becaufe the fafety of the State re
quired fuch prohibition : and indudry may be, and is*
exerted as dienuoufly in the acquifition of perfonal, as
of real property ; of which the Britifh nation is a
fliining example; The fophiftry of the affertion, that
the induftry of a whole nation was cramped, becaufe
a prohibition of the acquifition of permaneht landed
eftates by a part, and that the pooreft part of it; exifted,
even admitting a cramping quality in the prohibition, is
too glaring and contemptible to require further notice.
The hext accufation of this Author againft the Popery
Code is, that it rewarded the fon for betraying the father,
and armed the brother againft the brother. The part o^
the Code againft which this accufation is levelled* is that
which enaas, that the conformity to the Proteftant Re
ligion of the eldeft fon of a Romanift, feifed in fee of
a landed eftate, fliall render his father tenant for life,
and veft the remainder in fee in the fon, fubje;a how
ever to the payment of real incumbrances, thejud debts
of the father, and of reafonable portions to the younger
children, at the difcretion of the Chancellor : and the
father was compellable to make fome reafonable allow
ance for the fupport of the conforming child. And alfo
that part of the Code which enaaedj that the landed
edate of a Romanift fhould be gavelable among all his
& 2 fonj

C ^ J
fens, in cafe the elded did not conform to the Proted
ant Religion within a year and a day after the death of
his father, if then of the age of twenty-one years ; or
if not, within a year and a day after he had attained that
age. As to the fird claufe, it is conformable to the rules
of juftice, of right reafon, and of nature. The father
is bound by the law of nature to fupport and provide for
his children, and by the common law of the land, the
.elded fon is entitled to fucceed his father in his landed
edate, in cafe the father makes no difpofition of it in
his lifetime, by conveyance or will. It is notorious that
every Romifli father would, on the conformity of his eldeft
fon to the Proteftant Religion (which he would confi
der' as apoftacy), not only withdraw all fupport from
h'itn during his 'own life, but difinherit him : the fear
of which would be an effeaual bar to his conformity,
be he ever fo well inclined to it. This Code, therefore,
in cafe of the fon's conformity, required the father to do
no more than what the law of -nature and the common
law of the land required him to do ; and reftrained him
only from tranfgrefling both, from the impulfe of a blind
bigotry. The payment of his jud debts, and the pro-
vifion of his other children, were fecured^ with the en
joyment of his eftate during his life. How unjud then is
the cenfure of this author on this claufe of the Popery
Code, that it receded the fon for betraying the father !
In refpea to the gavelling claufe, on the non confor
mity of the elded fon, it is to be obferved, that the di-
vifion of the landed edateS of a deceafed father among
his fens in equal portions, is fo far frorh being counted a
"5* hardfhip

( ?33 )
hwrdfhip in many nations of Europe, that it is the' law"
in many of them at this day. It is now the common
law of the county of Kent : it was the law of our Saxon
anceflors. The laws of rnale Primogeniture, as they are
at this day, in refpea to the defcent of real edates, were
introduced by the feudal fyftem imported with William
the Conqueror. The men of Kent infided on reten
tion of their old gavel law, and he conceded it to them.
(See Blackdone's Commentaries, vol. ii. page 84. vol. iv. "
page 406, oflavo edition.) The law of defcent of
landed edates to the eldeft, in exclufion of the other
children, does not take place in refpea to daughters;
fuch eftates defcend to daughters in gavelkind. Many
writers on civil polity, of great eminence, maintain the
opinion, that the law of Gavelkind is more advantageous
to the State, than that of Primogeniture : and it is
agreed by all, that the accumulation of great landed
eftates in one family, to be inherited by one perfon, an
effea of the law of Primogeniture, is dangerous in a
State, whether monarchical, republican, or mixt. It
became neceffary, for the reafen I have already men
tioned, to diminifh the intereft of Irifh Romanifts, de
rived from their enjoyment of large landed eftates ; and
this law was defigned to effea that purpofe, with the
leaft poffible difadvantage to individuals, and without
having recourfe to any meafure, which could be deemed
by reafonable men either harfh or unjud ; it was wifely
calculated to anfwer all thefe ends. If therefore it has
the effea of arming brother againft brother among Irifli
Romanifts, it mud be admitted that they are very prone
to family hoftility ; and to fuch propenfity, and not- to
the law, is fuch hoftility to be attributed : for the law
is in itfelf fair and equal, and its juftice vouched for
k 3 by

( 134 )
by the ufage of feveral European nations, and a part of

our own.

The next complaint of this Author againft the Popery
Code is, that it rendered property infecure. What part of
\t is alluded to, as rendering property infecure, it is hard
to guefs : perhaps it is that part of the Code, which
enaas, that if a Romanift fhall acquire by purchafe an
eftate in lands, contrary to its prohibitions, fuch edate
fliall become forfeitable to the fird Protedant, who fliall
difcover it, and file a bill for the recovery of it. Laws
which, by the wifdom of their provifions, tend to enfure
the execution of them, are juftly efteemed the moft effec
tual, for the eorreaion of thofe evils which they are enaaed
to reprefs : of fuch nature was this claufe of the Popery
Code. The State, for the reafons already mentioned,
deemed it expedient to prohibit the acquifition of landed
edates by Romanids ; if therefore Romanids attempted
to elude or defeat the effea of thefe laws, and expended
their money in the purchafe of landed edates, knowing
the prohibition and the penalty, they had no ground to
complain that their property was infecure, becaufe fuch
edates became forfeited to the fird Protedant difcoverer :
the forfeiture was the confequence of their own tranf-
greffioris of the law, and their attempts to evade it : the
laqded edates fo purchafed by them never were their
lawful property ; and if they rifked their property on fuch
unlawful fpeculations, they themfelves, and not the law,
were the caufe of its infecurity.
This Author next dates, that the Popery Code prevented the
extenfton of trade, and employment of the talents and genius of
three fourths of the people in civil and military affairs. This,
? Code,

( ^35 )
4?ode muft have rather tended to extend trade, than to
confine it : becaufe it prevented whatever Romifh ca
pital there was in the kingdom from being diverted to
the purchafe of lands, and being thereby withdrawn from
trade. And as to the talents and genius of two thirds,
and not of three fourths of the people of Ireland (the
mod indigent and uninformed clafs of fociety), being ex
cluded from all interference with the civil or military
concerns of the Britifli Empire, — the brave, enlightened
Proteftant fubjeas of that empire, out-numbering them
in the proportion of fix to one, wanted no affiftance from
them. Thefe two thirds of the Irifh population, and
their anceftors, had for ages exerted their talents, civil
and military, fuch as they Were, for the fubverfion of
the Protedant edablifhment in Church and State ; and
it was found policy to rejea all hollow alliance of talent
of fuch Subjeas, for the condua of the national ener
gies either in peace or war. The Britifh Empire was,
and is fupported, non tali auxilio, nee defenforibus iftis !
All this Author's complaints againd. the Irifh Popery
Code, and his monftrous exaggerations and falfehoods
refpeaing its provifions and effeas, have been now fully
canvaffed and expofed. And as this Code, in all the
parts complained of, and acrimonioufly mifreprefented
by him, with the view of inflaming the Irifli Romanifts
to another Rebellion, is now repealed, his performance
would not have, been fo much noticed, had not feveral
pamphlets publiflied in England as the fubftance, of
Speeches refpeaing the Union, fpoken in the Britifli.
Houfes of Lords and Commons, by the mod powerful.
Noblemen and Commoners in England, contained paf
fages expreffive of the opinions of the fpeakers, that Irifh:
K, 4 Romanifts,

( & )
Romanids have been cruelly oppreffed by their 'Proteftant,
fellowjiibjeas, without any jufl re'afon to warrant fuch
fuppofed- oppreflions : and that the numbers and ftrength
of Irifh Romanids were fo great, when compared with
thofe of Irifh Proteflants, that it is neceffary to purchafe
theirconfent to an Union, at the price of the facri'fice
of the Proteftant eftablifliment in Ireland. As I have
taken up my pen, chiefly for the purpofe of difabufing
fuch Noblemen and Gentlemen, and giving them true
information of the real ftate of Ireland, with which
fome of them of the greateft rank feem not only unac
quainted, but, what is worfe, feemto have very falfe im-
preflions made upon them to the di fad vantage of the Irifh
Proteflants, I thought I could , not omit refuting the
fhamelefs flanders of this writer, on the laws and go
vernment of Ireland for this century pad. Such re
futation is alfo conformable to my general plan, which is
to expofe, confute, and overthrow the fyftem of Burkifm.
refpeaing Ireland; which, as thefe Speeches too evi
dently prove, has made no inconfiderable progrefs among
the Miniders of the Britifli Empire ; and which has its
foundation deeply laid in bigotry, mifreprefentation,
falfehood, and deceit : to the operations of which fyftem
in Ireland, direaed by the Minifters fent thither from
England, from time to time, for thefe twenty years pad,
are juftly- to be attributed the calamities which have fo
lately affliaed it ; and the diffent of a confiderable body
of Irifli Protedants, from an Incorporating Union with
Great Britaiiij from a fufpicion (ill-founded, as I hope
and believe, yet not altogether groundlefs), that fome
dangerous invafion of the Conditution of the Empire
is, at lead, meditated, under the fhadow and proteaion
of that moft falutary meafure. I fhall

• C r 1 37 )'
?I fliall take mydeave of this Author, by a fhort comment
on the, following paragraph contained in page 16 of his
pamphlet : 4 In Ireland, the Relig'ion of \he people is not
4 permitted to be the Religion of the country : it isfcarcely
4 tolerated : the Religion of a fmall minority: (a political
4 phenomenon) is the edablifhed Religion of the Slate.'
This Author has a rare talent afccondenflng a variety of
falfehoods into one fhort paffage.. Popery .enjoys -the. moft
complete toleration. The Religion of one third of the. in
habitants of Ireland in. number, of forty to. one in pro
perty, is the edablifhed Religion of the State, in Ireland ;
it is alfo the Religion -of fix to one in number, and of one
hundred to one in property, of the .population of the Bri
tifh Empire in Europe, of which Ireland is a limb : // is
therefore the Religion of an infinite majority of the inhabitants
vf the Empire reckoned both by numbers and property.' I- have
quoted- this la'fl paffage, jufl to fliow the audacity of, the
writer, and' the eafe and confidence- with: which he ad
vances the moft- impudent falfehoods, and fupports them
with the moft pitiful- fophiftry.
It has beenaliedged, that. Ireland has manifeflly im
proved in trade and cultivation fince the repeal of the
Popery Code, and that fuch improvement is the effea of
that repeal. The improvement of Ireland from the -year 1780
tdthe breakingout of the late Rebellion- isadirfittecl ; but it
is not to" be attributed to the repeal of the Popery Code,
but' to -the free trade about that time conceded tofrelaod.
by Great Britain, and the abolition of thofe commercial re
gulations, with which the had before that period f hackled-
Ireland ; and part of the improvement is to be laid to the-
account of the ruin of the trade of France and Holland, and

f 138 )
and the rapid increafe of that of the Britifh Empire in ge
neral, within that period.
Striaures I ^ear ^ nave watted too much paper and ink in ex-
cn a pam- p0fjng this Writer, his falfehoods, mifreprefentations, ig-
tled, 'Con- norance, and fophiftry ; but I have already given my rea-
omheState ^on f°r *"° doing, anc* tne feme reafon is my excufe to the
ot Public pUblic for taking notice of the pamphlet entitled, ' Conjt-
thc Year 4 derations upon the State' of Public Affairs in the Tear 1799.
land.' '" ' Ireland.' After reading this publication, it appeared to
me fo very falfe, abufive, abfurd, and contemptible, that
I at firft thought it degrading to any reafonable perfon, to
differ it to occupy any part of his attention : my feeling
was pretty much the fame with that of Qui n the player,
when a celebrated aarefs once gave him a pluck by the
wig in the Green-room : 4 Madam,' faid he, turning to
her, 4 I would fpit in your face, only that would be tak-
* ing notice of you.' However, on further reffeaion,
and on finding by the Speeches already mentioned, that
Burkifm had made a great progrefs among Britifh Statef-
men, I began to perceive, that lies, the mod mondrous
that ever were invented refpeaing the State and Govern-.
ment of Ireland, and its Protedant inhabitants, had gained
credit in England, with men who had power to do infinite
mifchief if they were not undeceived. I therefore thought
it prudent to wade a little more paper and ink, even on
this infamous, malevolent, anonymous flanderer. But
my Striaures on his lihel fhall be very fhort, becaufe, in
my Obfervations on the preceding Author, the reader will
find all the pofitions of the Author of <¦ Confederations, &c*
fully refuted.

This

( *39 )
• This Writer introduces himfelf to the public Under the
mafk of a violent partifan of the meafure of an Incorpo
rating Union of Great Britain and Ireland : but he wears
a very thin mafk ; for through it may be very didinaiy
feen the envenomed, enthufiadic Irifli friar, jud dis
charged on the nation from the mortar of a Spanifh mo-
naftery : all the acrimony, all the falfehood, all the ig
norance, all the bigotry, all the fury, in (hort, all the com-
budibles of fo noifome a compofition ! He purfues the
following line of attack, fupported by explodons of bombs,
carcaffes, and dink-pots, on the Protedants of Ireland.
He gives the titles of Englifh Colonifls, Planters, and
Settlers, to the Irifh Proteflants ; and that of Natives to
the Irifh Romanifts ; and throughout afferts, that the
Proteftants are a Britifh colony, and a handful only when
compared with the natives. He ftates, 4 that the Irifli
*' Parliament is only the reprefentative of this handful
4 of colonifls, and not the reprefentative of the natives,
* or of any part of them ;' and flyles it throughout, in de-
rifion, 4 the Parliament of Dublin.' He ftates, that 4 there
< are in this Parliament of Dublin (meaning the Houfe of
* Commons) one hundred and fixteen placemen, out of
4 three hundred of which it confifts ; and that all its pro-
f ceedings are the effeas of fear and corruption : that it
* is elecled by Ettglijhmen, and compofed of EngliJh.men,to the
? exclufion, of the ancient occupants of the foil? (See page 41.)
He calls all Irifli Proteftants ' the Grantees of Cromwell
f and William the Third, the children of their foldiers,
l- and the heirs of their rapacity.' He accufes thefe two
perfpnages, whom he infolently ranks together, 4 with
* the greateft violence ' and exceffes, and with the ex-
i aaiqns, of the mod grievous confifcations and forfeitures 4 from

( *4° )
4 from the natives.' ;(See page 24.) He ftates the Fra-
teftanis, of Ireland .to be;' the moft wretched, ill-go-
4 verned, and. dependent colony on the face of the globe.'
(Seepage 14.) • He defcribes the Government of Ireland
4i as 3 perpetual military government, the Irifh Pro-
4 teftants,; as having, a trembling dependance upon the
' Crown ;of England for a daily and precarious exidence.'
(See page 5.) He thus paints.. the fituation and fenti-
ment of the Irifli Proteftants and Romanids with refpea
to each other, when obferving on the effeas of the Britifli
Aa of renunciation of 'the power of legislating for Ire
land in the year 1782: 4 They (the Romanids) knew
4 that the. reprefentatives- of a Protedant colony would
' not, and Could- not dareto trud the immenfe majority of
' their nation with an equality of political rights and con-
4 -dkion ; they faw that whatthey looked for, from thepower
4 and magnanimity of Britain, became hopelefs from the
' hands of fettlers, whofe -weaknefs made them jealous and
4 afraid. They we're too confeious of their own ftrength',
4 too- fond of their title; to de-fire or expea that they
4 fhoiild-be ever trufted by znufurper (the Proteftant Go-
4 vernmen-t), whofe force they -defpifed, and whofe right
4 they difputed : they felt themfelves abandoned and
' turned over to the generofity of a handful of proprietors;
4 who Were too power'lefs and too timid to be merciful*
* and if the independent Parliament had been compelled to
4 make the eonceffion, they- would have been too fen-
4 fible of the caufe from which it fprung, would' have
4 called it fearj'aM not liberality, and they would have
4 fe'ized the proffered boon, not as* fatisfadtion and 'con-
4 tent, butarafiep in the' ladder -of their ambition, and an
i advanced poft in- the march' of revenge.' (Seepages 51, 52.J In

.( Hi)
ft the very middle of this torrent of abufe on the Pro
tedants and Parliament- of Irelarid, and panegyric on the
Romanids ; this difpla,y of the ufurpation, weaknefs, and
timidity of'the Prwteftafflfs ; arid of the ftrength and mag
nanimity of-the Romanifts, and judiee of their claims of
power, dominion, and exclufive poffeffion of the kingdom,
is to be met the following curious fentence, which I ifi-
fertas a fpecimfen of the Author's modedy and confifiehcy:
'¦ I draw a'veil over every thing that can difguft or infidme.''
He then proceeds thus further to draw his veil: 4 Though I
4 have heard-the offer of Union condemned, and the fdlvation
'• of a few ajjcrted to depen'dupon the extirpation of themd-
1 jority ;, that the Catholics muft be extinguijhe'd^ and put out ;
4 ihat not aftngle Rohilla of them all can be left with impu-
4 nit'y'; though I have heard fuch fanguihary doflrines pollute
'¦ the walls of a Houfe of Parliament.'1 '(See- page's 63,' 64.)
This Author then takes care to diftinguifh the United
-Jrifhroeni whofe barbarities were too notorious to be
d.eqiedi pr openly palliated, from the Irifh Romanifts ;
and to lay to the charge of the United Irifhmen, as dif-
tina from the Romanifts, the guilt of the late Rebellion ;
but even, here he cannot; forbear falling furioufly on the
Protedants of Ireland for theirrefiftarice to this Rebellion,
and their audacity in prefuming -to'defend their lives and
properties from the Romifh Rebels, and in: attempting to
, piinifli them for the. crimes they had committed. The
lut&.Jkfaftacre and Rebellion, with all due. tendernefs for
the Romifli infurgents, he calls a Civil-lVur. 4 I confefs,'
fays he, 4I fear there are among our 'fettlers in Ireland
'. fome unrelenting minds, who expe& and, prefer another
1 conclufion of..the conted, and very different, from "ours^
'¦¦.the. horrible principle- which has been dif clofed 'even in Eng-
4 land

( Hi )
* tana* (alluding to the Rohilla principle) induces me Vefy*
* drongly to apprehend* that there is no bbflacle in a part'
* of the Colony more hoflile and formidable to the pro-
« jeaed Union, than the hope to be enabled, by the arms
' and treafure of the mother-countryj tti obtain fuch de-
* cidedand definitive fuccefs in the Civil War, as to en-
* able their independent Parliament to attaint and confif-
* cate the remaining part of the property of Ireland, not
* aaually in the occupation of that Colony.' Then, after
exprefling his hope, that His Majedy will never give the
Royal affent to bills for the attainder of the Irifh Rebels,
or confifcation of their property, and confequently that, if
vanquifhed,they will efcape all puniihment ; he proceeds
thus further to cover with his veil, every thing that can
difguft Irifli Proteftants, or inflame Irifli Romanids : 4 If
* the only obdacle to Union in the bofom of our Colony,
4 is this criminal and flagitious hope, of deriving from our
1 viaories an unjud and miferable fuccefs of flavery and
* plunder ; I am fearful that it is impoffible to affign,
* after every allowance for paffion and for prejudice, a
* better or more pardonable plea, for the refufal or the
4 filenee of the Catholic. Revenge and the hope of prey
4 are his undifguifed motives, and he is only fo far lefs ab-
• furd, or lefs guilty than the colonid I have defcribed, as
1 he believes himfelf to have a right, according to the doftrines
* of Imprescriptibility, to pofj'cfs the lands which no time, no
* length of poffeffion can alienate, no acquiefcence transfer.''
{Seepages from 65 to 69.)
Under pretence of condemning the infidelity of the
French Republicans, he introduces a panegyric on the
Irifh Romifti Bifhops ; defcribing them, as men of learn-

( US )
iftg, humanity, and piety (page 71): and under pretence
of reconciling Irifh Romanifts to the meafure of an Union,
he takes an occafion of patting the highed encomiums ort
the whole party ; not forgetting, by way of praifing their
patience and forbearance, to date, ' that they have been
4 mod grievoufly oppreffed by the Colony ; that their ap-
4 petite for revenge, and their exertions in the purfuit of it
' (that is, their Rebellions), were juflifiable ;' but then he
meekly exhorts them to facrifice their revenge, 4 becaufe it
' is almoft fatiated in feas of Civil blood : that a great change
' is propounded to them, and they are called to the rights
4 of citizenfhip by the projeaed Union ;' and pioufty afks
the clerical Irifh Romanid, ' will he dejer to unjurl the
f f acred banner y and to call back the deluded Rebel from
4 the colours of Infidelity?' that is, from his alliance with
France, .' which nation,' he fays, 4 knows the cruel power
4 of artifice and defign upon the devout and agitated bofom
t of poor and honeft ignorance, facrificing all things, fuffering
4 all things, and daring all things, in- the caufe fuppofed if
4 Religion.' (See from page 72 to 76.) The author then
-dates, ' that England cannot fupport her Colony in its
' prefent ftate ; that it were better for England, that her
4 Colony and the whofe ifland of Ireland were precipitated
4 to the bottom of the fea, or blotted from the map, and
4 expunged from the lift of nations, than that fhe fhould
4 remain a diverfion of her power and force, an arfenal of
4 attack and injury, and a devouring gulf of her blood
4 and refources in the prefent war.' (See page 79.) He
then afferts, 4 that there are three millions of wretched na-
* lives, whom the Irifh Proteftant cannot opprefs but by
' the arms of England, nor deliver but with his own
4 ruin.' (Seepage 84.) ' That the natives have been always
4 oppreffed

t M4 ) ,
' oppreffed by the Colony, and that they have rro hopes of
4 reprieve and fafety, but in the grant of Complete Eman-
« cipation: that the Proteftant Government of Ireland i's
' veiled .'in' a reprefentative body, the majority of which
¦' are placemen and afpirants of the Law, and in a faaiduS
4 ariftocracy which outweighs even corruption.' ' (See
pages : 8 8, 89.). „«- That the natives or Catholics' (for he
fometimes calls the Irifli Romanifts by the 'one name;
( -fometimes by the other; but the Proteftants invariably
Colonifls, Planters, and Settlers) 4 cannot expea eman-
' «- cipation fromthe Parliament of Dublin. '.Will a handful
* of men emancipate a multitude? Will an armed regiJ-
« ment liberate a.difarmedhoft ? It. is a myttery not very
l, profound, that ppar is a coward, that Ufvaknefs .cannot
l. Confide, and that Injury never pardons.'-—4 The Par-
4 liament.of Ireland\(her& the Author nodded, he meant
the Parliament of Dublin), 4 dares not fet him (the Ca-
4 tholic) free. I,t is the Imperial Parliament, it is the
¦f power, greatnefs, and fuperiority of England which alone
4 can break fh chains, or contain him in the. firft tranft
« ports of Liberty. Will the.native refufe* the boon (the
'• Union) at the end of fix Centuries of calamity', offruitlef
1 firuggles,,andtenacious- oppreffion F (See pagegiv)- Then
ftill under the pretence of recommending- the Union, he
proceeds to throw the covering of his^veil over every
thing that can .difguft or inflame, by the following ir-
veaive on the-Colony : « The Union is neceffary, becaufe
4 the alternative that remains, is fuch as nature fifckeiw
< at, as- humanity rejeas, . , as inftina flies from, becaufe
J.it is rebellion and, military government, becaufe it is
f impnfonment, torture, and fudden -execution : becaufe
¦'it is. armed profecutors and juries of foldiers, -with, their
-'-Serjeant, learned in the Law: (witty rogue 1} b'fecaufeit -

is

( '45 )
* is the curfew and the paffp'ort bill; becaufe it is in*
* Vafion; maffacre, rape, and pillage; and conflagration ;
* becaufe it is the wretcliedeft and mod degrading con'dU
* tion of humanityj the mod difguding feries of mifery
4 and guiltj the blacked and mod lengthened fcene and
4 proceflion of crimes and fufferingsj that ever humbled
' or affliaed man.' (See pages 93, 94.)
He then proceeds to ddte a dilemma to the Irifh Pro-
teftan* : you muft either agree to an Union, or grant Emanci
pation to the Romanifts ; and fhows that the laft horn will
gore him to death, the firft only flightly wound him : 4 if,'
fays he, 4 you determine on the laft meafure, you receive
4 a Catholic Parliament* you are ruined if the doors of
4 Parliament are opened to a Catholic majority* if you
f divide your power with three millions of malcontents;'
(See pages 94* 95;) Admitting here* that though the Roj
manifts fhall in his fenfe be emancipated, yet they will
remain malcontents ; and that if they are admitted into
Parliament, they will foon form the majority;
His laft. argument to induce Irifli Romanifts to agree
to an Union is* that they will be admitted to feats in the
Imperial Parliament j that isj as he expreffes it* they will
be completely emancipated!
I have now laboured through this moft difgufting per-
forma'nce ; and laid before the reader an epitome of the*
doarines contained in it in the language of the author*
I now proceed to make a few fliort remarks on it, jufl to
point out to the Britifh reader its falfehoods and abfurdity :
to fliow that the whole tenour of it militates againd its
pretended purpofe; and that the Author himfelf meant it as5
L a jufti-

( H6 )
a juftification of the recent and all former Rebellions of
the Irifh Romanifts, of all their maffacres, robberies, and
conflagrations ; as a vehicle of all manner of inyeaive and
flander againft the Irifh Proteftants,, and the- Englifh Go
vernment in; Ireland; and as a provocative to the Irifh
Romanifts. to recommence hoftilities againft their Pro
teftant fellow-fubjeas, and dimulate them- to. revenge and
murder. 1 will begin with making, an obfervation or two* on his
ftyling Irifh ProtedantsColonifts, and Irifh Romanifts Na
tives. His firft view in diftinguifhing the inhabitants of
Ireland into thefe two claffes, was* that he might indulge
the rancour of an Irifh Romanid againft Irifh Protedants
by the more unbridled abufe, from conviaion that Ehg*
lifh Proteflants would not attend patiently to fuch reviling
of their fellow Protedants, under the title of Protedants,
and for no 6ther caufe than their being Protedants. The
Americans, as was the general opinion, had not conduaed
themfelves with gratitude towards the mother -country,
and he hoped to divert the refentment of the inhabitants of
Great Britain againft the American colonifts for their fe-
ceflion, on the heads of the Irifh Proteflants; by dyling
them Colonids, and reprefenting that their late partial re-
jeaion of an Incorporating Union with Great Britain was
a plain proof, that they intended to follow the example of
the American colonifls, and break off all connexion with
Great Britain.. Another and his principal purpofe was*
to jndify the Irifh rebellions and maffacres, and to induce.
the Britifh nation to believe, that they were only, ths
druggies of the oppreffed natives of Ireland, to free them
felves from the tyranny of a handful of colonifts, wrong
ful intruders on their foil and property » and rapacious
plunderers j

( H7 )
plunderers ^ and thereby to induce Great Britain to join.
them in crufhing fo flagitious, fo contemptible, and fo.
feeble a band of monopolids; who, though unable to main
tain their ill-gotten poffeffions againd the natives, the right
owners, without the aflidance of Great Britain, yet had
the audacity to rejea an Incorporating Union. The
Writer knew that the Britifh nation could not be led into
a co-operation with Irifli Romanids, in fo wicked a fcheme
as the dedruaion of the Protedants of Ireland, but by ar
tifice and cunning : he hoped to make fuch a fchenfe pa
latable, and to veil it from the eyes of the Britifh nation
at large, by the fubditution of the words Natives, and Co
lonifts, in the place of Papifts and Proteftants.
That he is himfelf an Irifli Romanid is notorious from
tnany paffages in his pamphlet, though he endeavours,
awkwardly, to conceal it ; as feme of his countrymen in
converfation attempt, ludicroufly enough, to pafs them
felves for natives of Britain,, by an affeaed imitation of
Englifh provincial tones, and muzzling the Irifli brogue.
And one of his main purpofes is, to excite the Irifh Ro
manifts to a new rebellion and maffacre, by defcribing the
Irifli Proteftants as a handful of colonifts, outcafts from
their own country, and defperate adventurers, the proper
objeas of the vengeance of the natives ; and this purpofe
he fo little conceals, that he has in feveral paffages repre
sented, in exprefs terms, the propenfity of Irifh Romanifts
to revenge, that is, to rebellion, as very juflifiable. If
the Britifli nation could be induced by fuch bafe arts to
concur in the deftruaion of the Irifh Proteflants (which
could be effeaed by the power of Britain confederated
with the mafs of Irifh Romanids), this Writer well knew,
that the fure foundation of Britifh influence and power
L2 in

( i*48 )
in Ireland would be uprooted ; and, as he well knew
the irreconcilable hoftility of the Irifli Romanifts to a
Proteftant Britifh Government, he was convinced that'
fuch an event as the deftruaion of the Irifh Proteftants
would be immediately followed by an attempt of the
Irifh Romanifts to feparate themfelves, with the affiftance
of France (whofe politics he fraudulently pretends to
reprobate;, from Great Britain, and to eftablifh an inde
pendent Romifh Republic in Ireland ; and I have already
fhown that this is the avowed intention of the whole
Romifti party in that kingdom. Such is the fraud of
diftinguifhing the inhabitants of Ireland into Colonifts and
Natives, rather than into Proteftants and Romanifts ! I
will now (how the falfehood and abfurdity of the dif-
tinaion. Geraldus Cambrenfis, otherwife Gerald Barry (who
was, in the reign of King Henry the Second, Bifliop of
St. David's in Wales, Hiftoriographer and Secretary to
Henry, a man, for that age, of great learning, and the
perfon whom he fent into Ireland- with his fon John,
when he created him King of Ireland), Roger Hoveden,
Matthew Paris, and all the ancient Englifh hidorians,
agree in giving the following account of the acquifition
of Ireland by the Englifh Monarchs : In the reign of
Henry the Second, Ireland was divided into certain fuf-
fragan kingdoms (if I may fo call them), fubjea to one
Monarch, as principal King or Emperor, to whom the
other Kings paid much' the fame homage as the German
Efeaors at prefent to his Imperial Majefty. Intefline
wars drove one of thefe- petty Kings from his own
country : he fled into England, and implored the affifl-
ance of Henry to enable him to regain his territories. Henry,

( ?49 )
4Ienry, after fending fome adventurers before him to
fmooth the way, went into Ireland at the head of a con
fiderable army, in the • year 1172, above fix hundred
years ago. The Irifli nation, .worried by continual in-
tedine war, univerfally received him as a deliverer. All
the Reguli and Chiefs of the nation, with the chief
Monarch himfelf, threw their crowns at his feet : they,
with the whole body of the Bifhops and Clergy, efeaed
him King or Lord of the whole ifland, and fwore alle
giance to him. He accepted the dominion, and agreed
with them, that they Jhould enjoy the like liberties and im-r
munities, and be governed by the fame mild laws, both civil
and ecclefiaftical, as the people of Engjand. Henry after
wards, in the twenty-fifth year* of hjs reign, created his
fon John, under the dyle and title of Lord of Ireland,
King of that country ; for he thereby enjoyed all manner
of kingly jurifdiaion, pre-eminence, and authority.
Richard, fhe Fird, .eldeft brother of John, afterwards
died without iffue, on which event John became King of
England, and the fovereignty of the two nations be
came, again veded in the fame perfon. Henry the Third,
fon of John, in November 12 16, gave a Magna Charta
to Ireland, word for word the fame as that which he
eight years, afterwards granted tP his kingdom of Eng
land, fave the neceflary alterations in the names of places.
Ry the Irifh Statute of the 33d of Henry the Eighth,
chap. 1, the King's dyle of Lord of Ireland was changed
to that of King, becaufe, as. the preamble recites, ' the
4 King, under the ftyle and title of Lord of Ireland, enjoyed
1 all manner of kingly, jurifdiclion, pre-eminence, and au •
f thort'ty in Ireland, belonging to the imperial ftate and ma-
' jefty of a King ;' and fo the King's, dyle has remained
ever fince. Thus it is plain that all the inhabitants, of
I. 3 Ireland*

( i"S° )
Ireland, whether aboriginals, or of Englifli 'race, de-
fcended from ancedors who from time to time, fince
that kingdom was annexed to the Englifh Crown, fettled
in Ireland, are equally the King's fubjects, and equally
entitled to every benefit of the Britifh Conftitution, ex
cept fuch of them as render themfelves liable to parti
cular reftraints, by profeflirig doarines inimical to the
State. Mr. Molyneux, in his celebrated ' State of Ireland,'
has the following obfervation on this abfurd pofition,
that Ireland is to be confidered as a Britifh Colony:
4 The lad thing I fhall Jake notice of, that fome raife
4 againd us, is, that Ireland is to be looked upon only
' as a colony from England ; and therefore as the Roman
4 colonies were fubjea to and bound by the laws made
4 by the'Senate at Rome, fo ought Ireland by thofe made
4 by the great Council at Wedminder. Of all the oh-
4 jeaions raifed againd us, I take this to be the mod ex-
4 travagant : it feems not to have the lead foundation or
4 colour from reafon or record, Does it not manifedly
f appear by the Conftitution of Ireland, that it is a com-
4 plete kingdom within itfelf? Do not the Kings of
? England bear the ftyle of Ireland amongft the reft of
4 their kingdoms? Is this agreeable to the nature' qf
4 a colony ? Do they ufe the title of Kings of Virginia,
4 New England, or Maryland ? Was not Ireland given
4 by Henry the Second, in a Parliament at Oxford, to
4 his fon John, and made thereby an abfolute kingdom,
4 feparate and wholly independent on England, till they
4 both came united again in him, after the death of his
* brother Richard without iffue ? Have not multitudes
4 of Aas of Parliament, both jn England and Ireland,
I * < declared

'( If* )
* declared Ireland a complete kingdom ? Is not Iceland
¦* ftyled in them all» the Kingdom or Realm of Ireland??
¦* Do-thefe names agree to a colony ? Have we not a
* Parliament and Courts of Judicature ? Do thefe things
4 agree with a Colony ? This, on all 'hands-, involves fo
4 many abfurdities; that I think it deferves nothing more
* of our confideration.' See Molyneux's State of Ireland*
printed by Long, Dublin, 1749. P. 52, 53.
Since I have quoted this celebrated traa, I hope I fha'W
be excufed for a fhort digreffioa here, to fhow by another
quotation • from it, that Mr. MolyheHix, the famous
charnpion for the independence of the Irifh Legiflature
on that of England, was notwitbftandirig a nrrh friend
to an Incorporating Union of the two Kingdoms; In
page 37 he has the following paffage, which is fraudu
lently omitted in a fubfequent edition printed in 1 782 :
* If, from thefe lad-mentionfed records, it be concluded
* that the Parliament of England may bind Ireland, it
' mud alfo be allowed that the people 'of Ireland ought
4 to have their Reprefentatives in the Parliament of Eng-
4 land ; and this I believe we would be willing enough
* to embrace, but this is a 'happinefs ^ve can hardly hope for*
How fmall the hopes of the Irifh nation at the time
Mr. Molyneux wrote, were, of their being admitted to
fhe benefits clearly reftiltihg from ah Incorporating Union,
may be conjeSured from what happened foon after the)
aceeffion of Qiieerj Anne, The Irifh Houfe of Peers at
that time petitioned the Crown to promote fuch an In
corporating Union ; but the Englifh MinifferS fcftrnfully
rejeaed the application. Thank Heaven! found fenfe
and reafon have -fince. triumphed over fuqh abfurd pre
judices,
14, Tq

To return from my digreffion, I tiuft I have deafly,
proved, that the Irifli • nation^either is, nor cap.be con
sidered as, a Britifh colony; and I have before, in ac
counting for the fanguinary difpofition. of Irifli Romanifts
to their Proteftant fellow-fubjeas, fhown, that, no fuch
diftinaion as that of Native and Colonjd does or can
fubfift between the prefent inhabitants of Ireland;. and
that the only general diftinaion between them is, that of
Proteftant and Romanift,— a diftinaion, which I hope,
will be extiriguifhed only by the con.verfion -of fo large a
portion of our population to the Protedant Faith. I (halt
therefore, in , the follqwing remarks on this abominable -
libel, and;in extraaing and expelling the virus of it,
fubditute the words Proteftant and Romanift for the word?
Colonift and Na(iv&. ¦ ,
The Author, in the fird place, dates,, that the Irifh
•Protedants, when cpmpared with .the Romanids, are but
a handful. I have already expofed the falfity-.of this
ftatement,- both as to number and property, {See Appen
dix, No.. i.) He afferts that the Irifh Parliament- (called
by him fneeringly- the Parliament of Dublin) is not the
Reprefentative of the Natiqn, but of this handful . -of
Protedants.. Irifli. Romanids were enabled, by the Aft
of -1793,- already mentioned, tp vote at. the ete&rons.qf -
Members of Parliament, and were admitted tq the ex
ercife of that franchife at the eleaian of the prefent
Irifli Commons. By the Britifh Conftitution, the elecr
tion pf the Commons is made by the people in propor-.
tion to thpir property, not their numbers. I have already
fhown, that of thp prpperty of the nation, thirty-nine
parts out pf forty are in the hands of Irifh Proteftants ;
fo that if the Aa of 1793 na{^ not paffed, and. if the
prefen^

( iS3* )
pwrfent Commons .had been efeaed by the Proteftant*
alone, it would- be a falfehoqd to ftate, that they were
not the.. legitimate. Reprefentatives pf the People; they
would be the, Reprefentatives of thirty- nine parts out of
forty of the. People, reckoned by their property ; the
remaining fortieth part of the property being in the
hands of perfons disqualified from voting by the laws of
the. Society, founded- in wifdom andjuflice. But even
that fortieth part voted on the efeaion of the pre-*-
fent Reprefentatives, In faa, the Commons of Ireland
are efeaed by a much greater proportion of, the property
of the. Irifh nation, thanthe Commons of Great Britain
by>that.of_thelprqpert_y qf the Britifh natjpn, the relative
wealth and population of the two nations duly confix
dered: fo that this Author's affertion, that the prefent
Irifh. Commons are not the Reprefentatives of the Nation
in general, .but, of a handful qf Proteftants, is as falfe as
mad of his other affertions,
Further to difgrace and vilify the Irifh Parliament,
and; to excite. and. provoke Irifh Romanids to rebellion
and murder, and with no other poffible defign, he ftates,
that (he Irijh Houfe of Commons is eleCfed by Englijhmen,
md compofed of Englijhmen, to the exclufion of the ancient-
eccupants of the foil. Here, notwithftanding his flimfy
difguife, the whole traitorous Irifli Romanift burfts .forth
in full deformity;! It can hardly, be alfedged that fuch
an affertion was, intended to provoke the enmity of the.
Englifh Natiqn againft the Irifh. Parliament,. No, no;
it is the triie, genuine fentiment of all Irifh Romanifts,
who call all .Proteftants in theirlanguage* Safonaghs, that
\s, Erigliflimen : the Irifh Parliament are Proteflants,
and- therefore, in their vqcabulary, Englijhmen. It is the
Romifli

< 154 )
Romifli war-whoop in Ireland againft their -Prbteftarit
countrymen : it marks them out for flaughf er, as the cry
of Mad dog! is the fignal for the deftruaion of the canine
fpecies. It is the very fame fentiment contained in the
Letter of Theobald Wolfe Tone, Founder of the Society
of United Irifhmen, and the celebrated Agent of the
Irifh Romanifts, to his affociated Confpirators in Belfaft,
in the year 1791. It is as follows •.-'-' We have no na-
* tionalGovernment: we are ruled 'by Englijhmem,and the
( fervants of Englijhmen-, filled, as to 'commerce, and po-
* litics, with the fhort-fighted and ignorant prejudices of
* their country.' (See Appendix, No. 2, to the Report
of the Secret Committee of the Irifli Houfe of Com*
noons, 1798.)
<• This abufe and degradation of the Irifli Paruamenlt
Biililate direaiy againft 4 he pretended fcope ofthe pam
phlet, which is, to induce the Irifb nation to- agrefeto
an Incorporating Union with Great Britain, and which
can be accomplifhed in a lawful peaceable way, toot
otherwife than by the concurrence of the Parliaments of
the two Countries in the meafure ; and this Writer not
only infinuates, but openly afferts and proclaims, that
the Irifli Parliament is not the Reprefentative of the Irifh
Nation, that is, is riot a Parliament, and is therefore
incompetent to contraa or agree for the Irifh Nation}
Here then his mafk falls entirely off, and his true purpofe
appears, which is, to inflame the Irifli Romanifts torifs
up againft and deftroy a band of Englifh Ufurpers, pre*
tending to be their Reprefentatives, and aaually. affurn&ig
the government of the couhtry. He calls this band, in
many places, Robbers and Plunderers ; and tells the Irifh
Romanifts, that. the ; weaknefs of this band makes them
jealqus,

( iS5 )
je#bus and afraid of them ; and that they cannot expeft
to be emancipated or trufted by fuch Ufurpers, whofe
force they defpife ; and that the Irifh Proteftants have
a trembling dependance on Great Britain for a daily and
precarious exiftence. i
In the next place, he takes care to inculcate the doc
trine of the bafenefs and corruption of this band of
Englifh Ufurpers, the Irifli Commons: he ftates, with
his accultomed difregard, and even contempt of truth,
that out of the whole number, being three hundred,
there are one hundred and fixteen Placemen, and fevenry
" Afpirants of the Law. The number of praaifingBarriftef s
in the Houfe of Commons does not amount to more than
thirty-five, including all the Law Officers of the Crown,
and many of thefe are Placemen ; and there are not more
Placemen, in proportion to their numbers, in the Irifli
Houfe of Commons than in the Britifh. In my * Anfwer
4 to Mr. Grattan's Addrefs to the Citizens of Dublin,' I
have fully difcuffed the queftion, whether the conferring
places of truft and emolument on Members of the Houfe
of Commons by the Crown, be an improper on uncorifti-
'tutional exercife of the prerogative ; and I truft I have
proved that it is not :- for I have fhbwn, firft, that the
Crown cannot fefea perfons to fill places of truft out
qf any other body with fo much propriety; nay more,
that the Crown is under the heceffity of employing
Members of the Houfe of Commons as its fervants, in
executing the public bufinefs'of the nation, in preference
to the members of any bther body : and, in the next
place, I have fhown, that the Influence of the Crown in
' the Houfe of Commons, derived from the patronage of
fuch places, is a conftitutional influence ; that the frame of
our

( 156 )
our Government -could notfubfift without it ; and that, in
many cafes of political economy, theory muft bend a
little to praaice. But it is worth obferving, how in-
confiftent this Author's accufation of corruption againft
the Irifh Houfe of Commons is, with that part of its
condua which he pretends has raifed all his indignation
againft it ; that is, its rejcaion of the propofal on the
part of Great Britain of an Incorporating Union of the
two nations, notwithftanding this propofal was fupported
in the Irifh Houfe of Commons by the whole weight
and influence of the Adminiftration, and by feveral ho
neft and ahfe Senators, who,, were not Placemen ; yet it
was rejeaed. It was fupported by one hundred and
eight Members, only. What became then of the one
hundred and fixteen Placemen ? It is plain that the
alledged cbrruption of the Members of that Houfe, by
the difpofition of places among them, had not the effea
of warping them to vote contrary to their opinions. In
itruth, the meafure was too precipitately urged ; due time
was not afforded for the cool and ferious confideration qf
the great and fubdantial merit of fo important a projea ;
it was very improvidently. fought to be cairied by a coup
de main : but I trud and firmly expea that the meafure
will meet with a very different reception in the enfuing
feffion ; and -that time and reffeaion, and the good fenfe
of .the Commons, though indignant at the unjud accufa
tion of corruption, will enfure its fuccefs.
The author's next abufe of the Irifh Proteftants, as
grantees pf Cromwell and William the Third, as the
children of their foldiers and the heirs of their rapacity,
aga'ui betrays the Irifli Romanid, whofe heart is goaded.
by the ceflrum of revenge. As the firft effufion of his
rancqur,

( 157 )
rawour, he places our illudrious Deliverer, in part the
Founder, or at lead the Reftorer, of our prefent glorious
Conftitution, in the fame rank with the defperate Regi
cide. Next he vents his abufe on all Irifli Proteflants,
dating them to be the children of the foldiers of thefe
two Commanders, and the heirs of their rapacity. He
reprobates all the forfeitures and confifcations of the Irifh
Traitors, which took place after the fuppreffion of two
Irifh Rebellions; the one in the reign of King Charles
the Fird, the other in that of William and Mary.
Thefe forfeitures and confifcations are the conftant
themes of abufive Romifh declamation in Ireland. The
whole party load the memory of Cromwell, as well as
of King William, with every fpecies of vituperation :=
this fnariing cur, therefore, only runs on the trail of his
growling precurfors, and joins in the condant cry of his
own pack, when he opens againd the Regicide and the
Monarch ; but it is not improper to examine the grounds
of his acrimonious complaints.
The Englifh Monarchs, fucceffors of Henry the Se
cond, inherited great dominions in France. The main
tenance of their power on the continent erigroffed their
attention, drained their treafures, and found condant
employment for their armies. Hence the Government
of Ireland, till the reign of Elizabeth, was much ne-
gfeaed. The Irifh natives, feared at the dawn of
civilization, preferred the gloom of their own for..efls
and moraffes to the funfhine" of cultivation and im
provement. The great Englifh Lords, who became.
entitled to vaft traas of land in Ireland, fuch as
the Earl of Chepdow, otherwife Strongbow, who, byi
marriage with the only daughter and child of the pro-:
vincial

f 15* )
vincial King of Leinfter, acquired vaft poffeffions in that
province, did not take the proper care to improve the
country. They brought over with them to Ireland many
of their friends and vaffals : they by degrees mixed with
the native Irifli, and adopted their barbarous ctaftomss
When the great civil war broke out in England between
the Houfes of York and- Lancafter, moft of the chiefs
of the great Englifh families in Ireland joined the con
tending parties, and went over to England with their
vaffals and retainers. The barbarous Irifli joined the
degenerate Englifh mixed with them, took the advantage of
the weaknefs of the Government, the natural effea of the
migration of its fupporters : they rebelled, and feized on
nearly three fourths of the kingdom, which continued
in a lawlefs barbarous date till the acceffion of Queen
Elizabeth. That great Princefs, after a long and ex
pend ve war, reduced to obedience all the Irifh Rebels,
but died before fhe could reap the harveft of her viaories.
Her fucceffor, James the Fird, iaboured with great ac--
tivity and zeal on the fettlement and civilization of the
whole kingdom. He divided the lands forfeited by Re
bellion, in fome places into three parts ; two of which'
parts he diftributed among the ancient poifeflbrs> whether
native Irifh or degenerate Englifh ; the remaining third1
he beftowed on new fettlers from Scotland and England.
In other places, he diftributed half of thefe lands to the
old poffeflbr-s, the other half to new fettlers. He divided;
fuch parts of the kingdom as had, in the manner before'
mentioned, been feized on and occupied by the natives
and degenerate Englifh, into counties. In thefe new, or
rather revived counties, he ereaed towns and created
boroughs : he inftituted a regular Parliament, the Mem*
bers of the Houfe of Commons of which were efeaed* by

( 159 )
b^he-otdrpoffeflbrs and. the- new fettlers without dif
tinaion, in proportion to their properties, throughout
the whole nation. Romanifts and Proteftants fat indif-
criminately in the Houfes of Lords and Commons. None
were excluded by any Ted Oaths whatfoever : the only
oath required was the Oath of Allegiance. Every mea
fure which human wifdom could devife was purfued, as
well in the reign of James as in that of his fucceffor
Charles, to civilize and improve the country. The in-
habitantSj without didinaion, were invited to all the
comforts and all the benefits of civilization and a well-
regulated Government. The nation affumed a different
appearance from that it had worn for a feries of ages ;
and a complete fufion of all defcriptions of Irifh inha
bitants would have been then effeaed with rapidity,
were it not for the unhappy differences on the fcore of
Religion. The intolerant, unfocial doarines of Po
pery, irreconcilable to the Protedant inditutions, had
taken deep root in the minds of the majority of the in
habitants ; and from thence fprung the mod barbarous
and mod unprovoked Rebellion of Irifli Romanifts re
corded in hiflory. This Rebellion, which broke out in
the year 1641, cannot be palliated, as an Infurreaion of
oppreffed Natives againft ufurping Colonifts s for the bed-
difciplined, beft provided, and moft numerous army of
the Infurgents, was compofed of the inhabitants of the
Englifh Pale ; a part of Ireland which was peopled by
Englifli fettlers, who for ages before had continued.
faithful to the Englifh Crqwn, and till that period had
never intermixed by marriage, or any fort of connexion,
with the native Irifh. It was commanded by General
Prefton, brother of the then Lord GbMnaridown. It
was an avoyred Rebellion «f Irifh Romanids, undertaken by

by tfiem for the' purpofe of extirpating Irifli Profeftan'fi
of all defcriptions, and fevering themfelves from Eng
land, at that time diftraaed by civil cbmfn ation s< The-
Rebels in Munfter were commanded by Lord Motinf-
garret, and other Noblemen and Gentlemen, all, or moft
of them, of the bid Englifh race.- During- the firft year
of this Rebellion, the Rebels murdered, at the loweft
Calculation j near forty thoufand Irifh Proteftants, men,'
women, and children, in cold blood: many of therri
they put to death by the moft excruciating tortures. Such
of the Proteftants as efcaped from the firft exploffon of
the Rebellion, which burfl fuddenly and unexpeaedly
like a thunder-ftorm on their heads, flew to arms ; and
for a fpace of ten years and upwards^ with very little
affiftance from England, maintained a cruel and deftrue-
tivey though unequal war, with the Rebels, and proteaed
the furviving Loyalty of the nation, as well from the
Republican Fanatics of that age, as from thefe Romifh
Traitors, who frequently, in the courfe of theRebellibny
joined the Republicans, and invariably adopted fuch
meafures as they thought would moft Conduce to their
ends, — the Eftablifliment of Popery, the Extirpation of
Proteftants, and the Separation of Ireland from the Bri
tifh Crown. At one.period of this Rebellion, the chief
Traitors propofed a treaty with the then Marquis, after-i
wards Duke of Ormond, the King's Lieutenant in Ire
land ; to which propofal he was obliged, by the neceffity
of His Majefty's affairs, to accede. The treaty was
concluded, and the Marquis, with a part of the Royal
Army, was inveigled by the Rebels to Kilkenny, the?
place of meeting of what they ftyled the General- Af
fembly of the Catholics of Ireland, much of the fame
nature with the late Romifh Convention which affemblerR
a iff

( 161 )
^fn Dublin. The Rebels moft perfidioufly, at the inftance
¦of the Pope's Nuncio, broke the treaty ; and two of
their armies, commanded by Generals Prefton and
O'Neil, marched to furprife the Marquis, to intercept
him in his retreat to Dublin, and to cut off his troops.
They were very near fucceeding in their enterprife', the
Marquis efcaping with great difficulty. In fhort, they
contributed full as much as the Scotch Covenanters, to the
final fuccefs of the Republicans in England, and the
fubverfion of the Monarchy. But the Almighty faw
their wickednefs and perfidy, and punifhed them by the
hands of their own affociates in rebellion and murder.
The Englifh Republicans, having made themfelves maf»
ters of England, fent over an army under Cromwell tq
reduce them to obediehce, not to -their lawful Sovereign,
but to the newly-ereaed Englifli Republic ; and to re
venge the blood of the Proteftants of Ireland fo inhu
manly fpilled by them. In one fhort campaign he com
pletely routed and difperfed their murdering; daftardly
bands. Such of them as efcaped the fword, he drove
out of the nation or hanged, parcelled out their landed
property, judly forfeited by their Rebellion, among the
furviving Irifh Proteflants, who had been robbed by
them ; his own officers and foldiers, in lieu of their pay 5
and men who had fubfcribed large fums of money to
defray the expenfes of his expedition, who were dyled
Adventurers. On the redoration of Monarchy, this
divifion of the lands fo judly forfeited to the Crown was
revifed, and its judice and propriety driaiy examined
and inquired into, by Commiffioners duly appointed for
that purpofe. In every cafe in which it appeared that
the lands of an innocent perfon were comprized in the
divifion, they were reftored to him or his heir ; and the
M perfon

( i6* )
perfon in confequence difpoffeffed was awarded a com-
penfation, called a Reprifal ; and the titles of all to the
lands juftly forfeited were eftablifhed and confirmed by
two Aas of the Irifli Parliament, entitled, the Aas of
Settlement and Explanation.
The complaint of this Romifh Writer of the confifca
tions by King William is flill more unjuft. The Irifh
Romanifts, after the acceflion of William and Mary,
rofe in rebellion in a mafs* Their views were the very
fame as in the Rebellion of 1641, — the eftablifhment of
Popery, and Separation from England. Their apparent
attachment to King James the Second arofe from inter-
efted views : they hoped by his means to procure power
ful afliftance from the Court of France, and they con
fidered him only as an engine auxiliary to their real
defigns. When rfiat Rebellion was finally fuppreffed
by the furrender of Limerick in the year 1691, one of
the conditions flipulated on behalf of the Romanifts was,
that fuch of them as chofe to remain in their own coun
try, rather than repair to France and enter into the
fervice of that hoftile nation, fhould, on their taking
the Oath of Allegiance to King William and Queen
Mary, preferve their eftates difcharged of forfeiture and
confifcation on account of their rebellion. A few of
them chofe to flay at home, and they preferved their
eftates : the reft went to France, and thereby voluntarily
fubmitted their eftates to forfeiture ; which eftates were
afterwards partly fold for the public benefit, and partly
granted by the Crown to perfons who had loyally ferved
it in fuch critical times. The complaints, therefore, of
this Romifh Writer, of the forfeitures and confifcations
in the times of Cromwell and King William, amount to
this ;

f. i«3 )
this ; that th6 confifcation and forfeiture of the property"
*>f Rebels, the mod fanguinary and barbarous whofe
crimes ever blotted and defaced the page of hidory, are
unjud ; amount to robbery and plunder, exercifed by
rapacious ufurpers, though warranted by the known law
of the -land in all ages ; and confequently that the law of
the land warrants and patronizes robbery, plunder, and
rapacity ; and that all loyal fubjeas are robbers and
plunderers^ And in conformity with this doarine, he
proceeds to reprobate all punifhment of the late Irifh
Rebels by. confifcation and forfeiture.
This Romifh Writer afferts, that Irifh Proteftants have
a trembling dependance on tl.e Englifh nation for their
exidence ; and dwells on their weaknefs; timidity, and
cruelty, and on the irrefiftible ftrength, numbers, and
courage of the prefent race of Irifh Romanids, with
exultation and delight '; intimating, that if the Englifh
nation will remain neuter, the Irifh Romanids will
inflantly extirpate the Irifh Proteftants, who at prefent,
by the aid of England, keep them in chains. It is there
fore proper to examine whether Irifh Romanifts be in a
ftate of oppreflion and flavery, and kept in chains by their
Proteftant countrymen. By the laws of Ireland at pre
fent, the Romanifts enjoy more real political liberty, and
better fecurity for their lives and properties, than the
moft favoured fubjeas of any foreign State in the known
world. They efea their Reprefentatives in Parliament ;
in which Parliament, together with the King, the fu
preme authority of the State is veiled ; they have the
benefit of a conftitutional Jury to try all queftions which
affea their lives or properties ; they enjoy the benefit of
ihe Habeas Corpus A& as much as Proteftants; they
M a havos

( i&4 )
have a fhare in the Magiftracy ; they are Grand Jurors J'
they Can acquire and difpofe of their properties, real
and perfonal, as freely as Proteftants; they enjoy a
complete toleration in Religion ; fhe Law and the Army
are open to them ; and they are on a perfea equality
with all His Majefty's other fubjeas, except that their
own refufal to take the Ted Oaths excludes them from
feats in Parliament, and from about thirty of the great
offices of the State. (See all the prefent incapacities of
Irifli Romanifts, particularly fpecified in the 9th feaion
of the Aa of the 33d year of His prefent Majefty, en
titled, 4 An Aa for the Relief of His Majefty's Popifli
4 or Roman Catholic Subjeas of Ireland.' Appendix,
No. 2.) Such are the chains and fetters in which their
Proteftant countrymen bind Irifh Romanifts ! and fuch is
the flavery fo pathetically deplored by this Writer, and
others of his perfuafion !
The ftrength and -puiffanee of Irifli Romanifts have
been put to the trial in their late Rebellion. They were
vanquifhed and completely fubdued by the Proteftant
power of the nation, without any affiflance from Eng
land, in the courfe of about fix weeks. The Marquis
Cornwallis, as before bbferved, had no part of the merit
of quelling the Rebellion : it was effeaually crufhed by
the meafures taken by his predeeeffor, before he had time
in any manner to interfere. It is true, fome part of the
routed Rebels took fhelter, after his arrival in Ireland,
in the mountain of Wicklow, and from thence made
incurfions, in detached gangs of banditti, into the couni
ties of Kildare and Meath ; but they we're hunted like
wild beads by the Protedant Yeomanry, and would have
been all flain o.- hanged, were it not for the merciful
2 interpofition

( i&5 )
tnterpofition of the Marquis. Immediately after his
arrival in Ireland, he publiflied a Proclamation of In
demnity to- fuch of thefe Rebels as would fubmit, and
furrender their arms. His Generals redrained the efforts
of the Yeomanry, incenfed againd the Rebels for the
•daughter of their relations and friends, and the wade of
their property. At the time this Proclamation was iffued,
the Rebellion, as to any effeas to be dreaded from it of
important damage to the nation in general, was crufhed ;
and the routed Traitors, hopelefs, without refource or
means of efficient refinance, judly expeaed the punifh-
ment due to their horrible crimes ; which the Marquis,
following the diaates (as I fuppofe) of his own cle
mency, or perhaps by orders from England, remitted.
Two of his Generals were employed to fupprefs the
only confiderable body of this fcattered Banditti, which
remained together in the mountains of Wicklow: they
were moflly Murderers, Robbers, and Defperadoes,
hopelefs of pardon ; fome of them Deferters from differ
ent Regiments of Militia. A Gentleman of the county
conduaed thefe Generals and their forces to a certain
part pf the mountains, the rendezvous of thefe affaffins,
\U\axe they might have deftroyed the whole gang,
amounting to about fix hundred ; but thefe Commanders
declined to attack them, declaring they were unwilling
to died the blood of the poor wretches. They therefore
thought it prudent to qoax them into fubmiffion ; for
which purpofe they difpatched two Romifh Priefls to
them, loaded with the Proclamations of Indemnity ;
they colfeaedas many country Girls as they could pro
cure ; they hired a number of Irifh Pipers; they pro
vided hpgfheads qf whifkey, fet the Pipers playing, and
M 3 the

f 166 )
the Girls dancing, which fo delighted the Murderers, that
many of them came in, gave upr their pikes, partook of
the feflivity, and departed with plenty of whifkey in
their domachs, and proteaibns in their pockets. The
clemency of the Marquis and his Generals was cele
brated in all the Romifh NewTpapers of the city of
Dublin ; his praifes were wafted to London ; the Cou-,
rier, the Morning Chronicle, &c. re-echoed them ; the,
whole Oppofition in England from top to bottom,
From flafhing Pentley? down tq piddling Tibbalds,
rung the changes on his liberality, his mercy, his cle
mency, his wifdom, &c. : and well they might ; for the
Marquis arrived in Ireland in the very nick of time, to
refcue their party there from final extinaion. In fhort,
in refpeft to the Irifh Rebels, the condua of the Mar
quis has been marked with conceffion, conciliation, and
pardon, not with warlike hoftility ; for expiring Rebel
lion did not demand the exertion of his military talents,
and he difdained to trample upon proftrate Traitors. It
is my fervertt wifh, my conftant prayer, that the mercy
thus extended to thefe Romifh Infurgents may incline
their hearts to peace and loyalty, and make them under*
ftand, that they live under and are proteaed by a GoveA-
rnent the mildeft upon earth, which wifhes not to
inflia the punifhments due to their crimes, but rather
that they fhould repent, and enjoy the comforts of peace
and fecurity under the proteaion of laws, to which all
the members pf the community are equally fubjea.
The Marquis Cornwallis certainly merits the tribute
pf jufl praife from all the loyal fubjeas of His Majefty
}n Ireland, for the powerful exertions ^of his military Ml*

( i67 )
ftcill, in putting the kingdom into the moft complete
date of defence againft the invafion of the foreign
enemy, with which it is threatened. Every branch of
military fervice has been attended to by him with the
utmod care and zeal : the troops have been dationed fo
judicioufly in cantonments, that a ftrqng body can be
affembled with great expedition in any part of the king
dom, againft which the Enemy may point his attack ;
the Cavalry, Infantry, and Artillery, Regulars and Mi
litia, are perfeaiy well equipped and provided, and the
Yeomanry well armed and trained, and ready for aftion
at the fhorteft notice ; the whole nation wears a mili
tary afpea, and its force is fo combined and regulated
by the fkilful arrangements of the Marquis, that it may
bid defiance to an infinitely more formidable force than
its foreign enemies are able to bring againft it ; and
internal tranquillity is re-eftablifhed, at leaft for the
prefent. The weaknefs and timidity of the Irifh Protedants are
the next themes of this Romifti Declaimer; according
%o him, their weaknefs makes them timid, their timidity
cruel. Of the vaunts of the drength, numbers, and wealth
of Irifh Romanids I have already expofed the falfity ;
as well by the event of the late Rebellion, as by a
fair calculation of their real numbers and wealth. The
fame arguments and calculation prove the real ftrength,
numbers, and wealth of Irifli Proteflants. I truft that
in the late Rebellion, as well as on all former occafions,
Irifh Protedants have plainly difproved the charge of
timidity.; The .cruelty this Author charges upon them, is,
that they cruelly refufed to grant,, what he calls Eman
cipation, to their Romifh fellow-fubjeas : that is, if is
M 4 a great

{ 168 }
a great cruelty in Trifh Proteftants to refufe to deliver the
Sovereignty of the State into the hands of Irifh Ror
manifts ; and this cruelty arifes from cowardice; foj?
Irifh Proteftants are afraid to do fo. If fuch be cruelty
and cowardice, I hope fuch will for ever be imputable
to Irifli Protedants : may they always be afraid to de
liver the State Into the power of its enemies ! and may
they always cruelly refufe to betray the Conftitution |
it is the fame cruelty and cowardice a man is guilty of,
who tells a gang of robbers, 4 Do not attempt to come
* into my houfe, fdr if you make fuch attempt, I and
' hiy fervants will refid, and perhaps kill you ; I will
4 not trud you in my houfe, keep at the outfide.' Such
a. man certainly is afraid to let them into his houfe, and
threatens to kill them if they attempt to force an en
trance : is he therefore guilty pf cowardice and cruelty ?
But one argument remains, demonstrative of the real
ftrength of Irifh Proteftants : they have raifed during
this war, in which their connexion with Great Britain
has involved them, immenfe fums for the fervice of the
Empire in general, and for the profecution of the war.
That Irifh Parliament, which this Writer vilifies and
traduces, as the Reprefentatives of a handful of Prb-
tedants and Englifhmen, has raifed in this, year fevenj
mill-ions fterling for the public fervice, though the- na
tion was in that year weakened by the Rebellion of Irifh
Romanifts; of which great fum one part out of forty
only was, or could be paid by Irifh Romanifts; fome
part of that money, it is true, has been borrowed in
England, but on the credit and fecurity of the Irifh
Funds ; both principal and intereft are to be paid by
Ireland. All the Englifh Militia, who, on the breaking outj.

( 1% )
ouf* of. the Rebellion, fo gallantly volunteered for the
afliftance of their brethren the Proteftants of Ireland, as
well againd their foreign as domeftic enemies, were paid,
sifter they arrived in Ireland,, out of the Irilh Treafury
and Irifh Funds. Are the Irifh Proteftants. then fo
weak, as to be the objeas of derifion and contempt to
this Romifh Writer and his aflociates ? And is Ireland
only a diver/ion of the power and force, an arfenal -of at
tack and injury, and a devouring gulf of the blood and- re-
fources of England in the prefent war, as this Rqmifh
Writer afferts ? The revenues Of Pruffia, one of the
moft potent European States, do not amount yearly to
fix millions fterling. Ireland, by the efforts of , her
Proteftant Parliament 9nd population, has contributed
feven millions in the laft year, and in the preceding
year, five millions, to the fupport of the war, and has
not coft Great Britain a dxpence for her defence. It is
true the Britifh Fleet and Britifli Militia have flown to
her fupport, when threatened with invafion by the com
mon enemy : but Ireland has paid the Britifh Militia for
their affiftance, And has not Great Britain- employed
her fleets and armies for the fupport of her allies in the
prefent war, and even paid the troops of her-allies for
fighting in their own defence ? And is fhe not bound
to give greater affiftance to Ireland, a part of the Bri
tifh Empire, to defend her againft the common enemy,
than to foreign nations her allies ? This Writer fays#
it ijvould be better for Great Britain, that Ireland were
plotted from the lift of nations, and funk in the fea, than
that Jhe Jhsuld remain a. diver/ion of her arms in the pre*
fent war. May not the fame be faid with equal juftice
of any part of Great Britain itfelf, if threatened with
an attack by the enemy; of Yorkthire, of Scotland, fas
inftance ?

( 17° )
inftance ? Ireland is in faa as much a part of the Bri
tifh European Empire, as either of the countries men
tioned, and her fubjugation by the enemy would be as
injurious to that Empire, and fo would her lofs, by im-;
merfion in the oceam.
The complaints of this Libeller, of a criminal negfea
of the natives of Ireland by the Englifli nation, and
that the barbarity of thefe natives is juftly to be attri-.
buted to this negfea, are utterly unfounded: ever fince
the commencement of the reign of James the Firft, as
long as the diftinaion of Native and Colonift, or rather
New Settler, remained among the inhabitants of Ireland/
the attention of the Englifh Mortarchs, and their Mini
fters in Ireland, was uniformly direaed to the encou
ragement and civilization of the natives ; and to the
abolition of all diftinaions between the inhabitants of
the country. Their benevolent intentions have been
countcraaed only, by the intolerant fpirit of Popery,
inceffantly operating as an effeaual barrier againft har
mony and union, as I have already proved.
This Author's praifes of the Romifti titular Bifhops in
Ireland, of their learning, humanity, and piety; of all
which accomplifhments, I prefume he means to offer
Huffey, the titular Bifliop of Waterford, as a fhining
example ; his advice to them, to unfurl their Sacred Ban
ners ; his fuggeftion of the doarine of Imprefcriptibility,
of which he hints a feeble difapprobation only, accord
ing to which Irifh Romanifts, or, as he calls them, Na
tives, have a right to the poffeffion of all the lands of the
nation, which no time, no length of poffeffion can alienate?
and his frequent introduaion of the eternal principles of

( 171 )
of revenge of the Irifh Romanifts againft Irifli Pro
teftants ; all, all proclaim him an inveterate Irifh Ro
manift ; and his folly as well as impudence in attempting
to affume the mafk of an Englifhman.
I fliall now clofe my obfervations on this anonymous
flanderer and his libel, with the fum of his arguments,
to induce the inhabitants of Ireland to confent to an
Union with Great Britain ; from which it will clearly
appear, that his real defign was direaiy contrary to his
profeffed one; and was to promote the feparation of
Ireland from Great Britain, by ftimulating the Irifli
Romanifts to a Rebellion ; and by fowing the feeds of
diffenfion between the Englifh and Irifh Proteftants;
and thereby depriving the latter of all affiftance from.
Great Britain, if not enfuring its hoftility againft them.
His argument to the Irifh Proteftants to induce them
o confent to an Union, is as follows : ' You, the Irifli
Proteftants, are the bafeft, moft tyrannical, moft
cowardly, moft cruel race of mortals on the earth ;
you are as weak as you are cowardly : we, tHe Englifh
Protedants, confider you jn this light ; we deleft yout
crimes ; you are murderers and robbers, you cannot
exift but by our favour and proteaion. Give your-
felves up direaiy into our hands without referve ; if
you do not, the defcendants of thofe you have mur
dered and robbed will quickly deftroy you : notwith-
danding you are fo infamous a race, and that we have
fo thorough a contempt for you, we will confer on
you a perfea equality with ourfelves ; and we, the
braveft, the riched, and the mod honourable people
pn the earth, will affociate with you on perfea terms 4 of

C 172 )
4 of equality, Robbers, murderers, and daftardly
4 wretches as you are, you fhall become our companions
' and our friends ; we will treat you exaaiy as brethren ;
4 you fhall fhare all our advantages and all our fortunes.
In fhort, the means by which he propofes to reconcile
Irifh Proteftants to an Union with Great Britain, are,
jn the charaaer of an Engliftunan, to load them with
*rvery fpecies of abufe, flander, and calumny, . and
brand them with every crime which can debafe humanity.
Very conciliating means truly !
His arguments to induce Irifh Romanifts to agree to
an Union with Great Britain are : 4 You, the natives of
' Ireland, have been bafely and wickedly tyrannized over
.' by the Englifh nation for fix centuries paft, as your
4 confidential agent Mr. Tone has already told you. The
' Englifli have robbed you ef your lands, they havereduced
' you to a ftate of barbarous flavery : they govern you at
* prefent by a gang of corrupt fub-tyrants, whom they dyle
1 a Parliament, elecled by Englijhmen, and compofed of Eng-
' lifhmen, to the exclufion of you the ancient occupants of the foils.
4 thefe fub-tyrants are the Reprefentatives of a handful
' only of Englifhmen, their fellow-tyrants in your couu-
' try of Ireland : you are fully able to deftroy them, for
' they are weak and timid, You are juftly entitled to all
* the lands now poffeffed by them, for no, length of time can.
' warrant their retention of them. You have endured fix
* centuries of calamity, of fruitlefs ftruggles and tenacious op-.
* preffion. Great Britain, employed fully in the prefent
* war with France, is unable to protea her colony of mur-
' derers and robbers. Now is your time for (baking off the
4 Englifh yoke. You have revenge to gratify, and the.
' recovery of your Property will be your reward : the de-
4 ftruaion.

( 173 }
* ftruaion of the Englifh invaders will be the certain con-
* fequence of your attempt to (hake off your chains. I
' lately heard a propofal made in the Britijh Parliament ut-
< terly to extirpate you ! not to leave a Rohilla (that is, a
4 Tribe J of you living! The Englifh are Heretics, with
' whom it would be impious for you, by the principles of
4 your holy Religion, to affociate, or fraternize. Your
4 Bifhops are men of the greateft piety, humanity, and
< learning, particularly the Right Reverend Father Huffey,
4 your Bifliop of Waterford : you have all read his pious
4 Paftoral Letter, fully dating your oppreffion by a handful
of Heretics, not a tenth, nay not an hundredth part of you
in number. Unfurl your facred banners, as vour
4 brethren the late fuppreffed Irifh martyrs did ; they
' marched under facred green banners, with a white crofs
4 and reverfed crown floating in the midft : you ought to
4 have all joined in that holy war, though you did not,
4 from, an ill-grounded timidity ; confequently the Here-
4 tics were viaorious. Yet I advife you to forget your
4 revenge, to abandon all thoughts of recovering your lands,
4 and to give yourfelves up into the hands of the Englijh
* Heretics by agreeing to an Incorporating Union with
* Great Britain !'
How far fuch arguments are likely to fucceed with
Irifh Romanids in promoting an Union; and how far
the Author intended they fhould fucceed, I leave to the
judgment of the reader.
I fhall now proceed, purfuant to my original purpofe,
to make a few fhort remarks on fome pamphlets which
have been publiflied in England, on the fubjea of an
Incorporating Union, as the fubftance of Speeches made in

( m )
in both Houfes of the Britifh Parliament, fey men of great
rank, and in high offices in Britain. My remarks fhall
be confined to fuch parts of their Speeches, as relate td
the two great claffes of Irifh population, to wit, thofe of
Protedants and Romanids.
Gbferva- I will begin with a pamphlet entitled, * The Speech of
pampWet,3' Lord Mint0 '» the Houfe °f Lords> APril "» '799''
entitled, becaufe hisLordfhip has confumed fixteen pages, beginning
Speech of at page 66, and ending with page 82, in arguing for the
to in the r'ght, as he ftyles it, of Irijh Romanifts to political equality
Houfe of w-lth j^p prateftants. He dyles their exclufion from
April n, Parliament, and from about thirty of the great offices of
the State, fuch as thofe of Viceroy, of Lord Chancellor, of
Judges, and of Genera! in Chief, &c. the prefent humi
liating and degrading exchfion of fhe Catholic part of the
Irijh nation; throughout dyling Irifh Romanids, Catholics,
not Romanifts, or Roman Catholics, excluding Proted
ants from all title to Catholicity, though Chridians : he dates
himfelf to be a warm friend to the meafure of an Union,
principally on account of its meliorating the condition,
and extinguifhing the difcontents of a great majority of
the inhabitants of Ireland, by providing for the jufl claims
of the Catholic Irijh, by an explicit article of the treaty it
felf. And he dates a very curious dilemma, entirely
founded on the affumed pofition, that Irijh Romanifts have
a juft right to political equality with Pnteftants ; which af-
fumption his Lordfhip, who feems to be an expert lo
gician, mud know to be petitio principii. The dilemma
is thus : 'Protedant afcendancy in Ireland cannot be fup-
4 ported without derogating from what may appear to be
f a natural right of the Catholic :' (in many other places
he pofitively afferts it to be his right.) « Catholics can-
4 flqt

( 175 )
* not be fupported in their claim of equality, without
4 transferring to them that afcendancy, which equality of
4 rights mud draw to the larger body ; this mud ex-
1 pofe the Protedants to danger, who ought to be pro-
' teaed: and Ireland in its prefent fituation will be
' gored by one or other of the horns of this dilemma.'
He dyles the Irifh Protedant afcendancy a l monopoly op-
4 pofed to common right, that is, to the right of Ro-
4 manifts to political equality.' His Lordfhip, being
aware of His Majefty's Coronation Oath, and the Treaty
of Union between England and Scotland ; of both which
he was too cautious in direa terms to recommend the
violation ; expreffes himfelf thus : ' I do not fee how
4 the jus tertii, as it may be called, of England, can
4 affea the relative claims of thefe two Irifli nations
4 (Proteftants and Romanifts), or of thefe two parts of
4 the Irifh nation ; and therefore I might have thought
4 it diflicult'to affign a fufficient reafon, to preclude His
4 Majefty, as fovereign of Ireland, from concurring
4 with his Irifli Parliament, or even from exerting, in
( every lawful way, his legitimate powers, in promoting
1 fuch meafures as might be calculated to place every clafs
4 of his Irilh fubjeas on an equal footing as to civil
4 rights, and confolidate thefe two hoflile nations into
' one peaceable and united family.' All this cautious, cir
cumlocutory, wheedling argument is ufed by his Lord
fhip, to infimiate, that England has no intereft in fup-
porting the Irifh Proteftants ; and that the Coronation
Oath, and the Treaty of Union between England and
Scotland, ought not to preclude the adoption of meafures
fending to the fubverfion of the prefent Proteftant efta
blifhment in Ireland. His Lordfhip propofes two methods
of effeaing this: one through the medium of the Irifh Par
liament ;

( »** )
liament ; the other j through that of the King's prerogative i
and I wifh his Lordfhip had condefcended to explain^ by
what lawful exertion of the King's prerogative, the
aas requiring the Oath of Supremacy to be taken, and
the Declaration againft Popery to be repeated and ftih-
fcribed, by all Members of both Houfes of Patliamentj
and by all the great officers of the State, can be difpenfed
with, or how thefe Aas can be repealed Of altered,
except by Parliament. The rejeaion of this Oath and
Declaration by Romanifts, is the only bar to their being
on an exaa level with Proteftants as to alt civil rights i
what then can be his Lordfhip's meaning in infinuating
that Romanifts may be put on an exaa level with Pro
teftants, by His Majefty's exerting in every lawful way
his legitimate powers, as contra-diftinguiflied frbm his
concurrence with his Parliament r Does he mean to
infinuate that His Majefty poffeffes a legitimate power to
difpenfe with the provifions of Aas of "Parliament t
And if he does not, I hope his Lordfhip will take an
occafion of explaining this paffage for the fatisfaaion as
well of Irifh as of Englifh Protedants.
His Lordfhip proceeds to argue, 4 I cannot admit
' the afcendancy of one part of a nation over another
* part of the fame nation, to the extent, and to the
4 purpofe claimed in Ireland (that is, the exclufion of
4 Romanifts from feats in Parliament, and from the
4 great offices of the State, by the obligation of the Aas
4 enjoining the taking of the Oath of Supremacy and
4 the repeating and figning the Declaration), as capable of
4 aflumiiig any oharaaer deferving the denomination
* of right ; that which is wrong on one fide, cannot,
4 intelligibly to me, become a right in the other : wrong 4 is

( 177 )
*• is hot a material of which it appears poffible to con-
* ftrua right. The virtues of poffeffion) prefcription,
• or any other limitation of time, which are fuppofed to '
* cure the vices of a bad title, are not at all applicable
* to the cafe of perpetually fubfiftingj and as it were
* renovating wrongs, efpecially fuch as affea the poli-
* tical rights of great numbers of men ; inftead of eon-
4 verting right into wrong, they only improve and for-
1 tify the title of thofe who differ, to (hake off the in-
4 jury on the fird opportunity that offers.' His Lord
fhip then ftates, 4 that the Catholics of Ireland not only
4 claim a participation in civil franchifes enjoyed by
* their Proteftant countrymen, but they fofter claims
4 on the properly of Proteftants, the prefent poffeffion
' of which they treat as mere ufurpation.' He then
gives a fling, in the true French tafte, againft the af-
piring charaaer of all Churches, as he was obliged to
admit that fuch was the charaaer of the Romifh
Church. With a gobd deal of caution he infinuates,
that titles to lands, or any thing elfe, by prefcription,
are not the beft ; arid that all titles of Irifh Proteftants,
either to afcendancy in political power, or to property,
are by prefcription. The firft he abfolutely condemns,
as continuations of Wrong ; with refpea to the Other,
the titles to landed property, he only 4 hints a flaw, arid
4 heft tales defecl.'
Notwithftanding all this argument for the juftice of the
claims of Irifh Romanifts to political equality, and after
dating, 'that their profpea of obtaining it by the Treaty
4 of Union between Great Britain and Ireland, is his prin-
4 cipal reafon for approving that meafure ; and after dif-
« tinguifhing the two claffes of Irifh Proteflants and Ro-
n * manifts

( i78 )
« manifts by an Eaft Indian term of different cafts : and
4 ftating, that they are inflamed againft each other by
4 mutual hatred, whofe motives are irreconcilable, its
' charaaer bitter, malignant, and implacable ; that the
4 fovereign caft of Irifhmen (that is, Proteftants) claim
4 their fovereignty as of right, and ground it on an old
4 title of conqu'eft, confirmed, as they contend, by poffeffion,
4 acquiefcence, and prefcription :' and after drawing all
this piaure of the ftate of Ireland, and in the middle of
all his laboured argument of the right of Irifli Romanifts
to political equality, his Lordfhip makes the following in
genuous confeffion : 4 I certainly pretend to no credit on
' fuch points from perfonal knowledge or inquiry. I fhould
4 wifh, therefore, to qualify any thing that may appear
4 rafh or peremptory, in what I hazard on fuch a fubjea,
4 by avowing that degree of diffidence in my own views,
' which may be thought becoming with regard to fe.as,
4 which though attefted, I think, fatisfaaorily by others,
4 have not fallen under my own obfervation.' It is dn-
cerely to be wifhed, that his Lordfhip, confeffing his own
want of knowledge of the fubjea, had been lefs rafh and
peremptory, and had not hazarded fo much on the date of
Ireland, and on the fubjea of the claims of Irifh Ro
manifts to political equality (though, as his Lordfhip ex
preffes himfelf, he could not help Jympathizing with them, and
confequently with all the members of Oppofition both in
Great Britain and Ireland ; and with all the Jacobins in
both kingdoms, who have repeatedly proclaimed a fimilar
fympathy), becaufe his Lordfhip being a great diplomatic
charaaer, and high in the confidence of the Britifh Go
vernment, does no fmall mifchief to that very Government,
hi advancing and openly patronizing principles fubverfive,
not. only of the Irifh Conftitution, but of the Britifh alfo, as
t I hope

( 179 )
piope to make evident, and that too without any necef
fity whatfoever for the promulgation of fuch doarines ;
which, fo far from being favourable to an Incorporating
Union of Great Britain and Ireland, tend to render the
accomplifhment of that great meafure more difficult, per
haps impraaicable : and it is the more to be lamented,
when it is confidered, that the meafure can be fupported
by irrefragable arguments of fignal public advantage,
without reforting to fuch fallacious and pernicious prin
ciples and doarines.
I have been diligent in my inquiries refpeaing Lord
Minto, as I have not the honour of the flighted perfonal
acquaintance with his Lordfhip. From the information
I have received, I find that he is a Scotch gentleman of
family, and before his advancement to the Peerage, he <vas
known by the name and title of Sir Gilbert Elliot, Bart.
and had been for a time Viceroy of Corfica : he had con-
traaed a great intimacy with Mr. Edmund Burke, the
great Irifh apoftle of Popery already mentioned. He ap
pears by the pamphlet I am now commenting upon, to be
a perfon of learning and fagacity : his abilities fland con-
feffed by his being Intrufted by the Britifh Government
with the execution of commiffions of the greated im
portance, and with the mod honourable embaflies : his
fervices to his King and Country have raifed him to the
Britifh Peerage. In this pamphlet he has colfeaed the
mod powerful arguments, which have been urged, either
in Great Britain or Ireland, in favour of an Incorporating
Union of the two countries, and difpofed them in admi
rable order : though little is urged in it, which had not
been already laid before the public ; yet the arguments are
digeded in fo perfpicuous and conneaed a feries, and dif-
N 2 pofed

( r8b )
pofed of with fo much judgment, that it may be faid to
comprize in itfelf all the merit of alj preceding publica
tions on the fubjea : I think it a very valuable perform
ance. With thefe ideas of it, I felt great pain on reading
the paflages I have quoted. The rank and ability of the
¦yvriter, and the excellent reafoning contained in the other
parts of it, rendered a refutation of thefe exceptionable
paragraphs and their doarines a work of imperious ne
ceffity. Such are my only reafon, and my only excufe,
for entering the lids of argument with fo great and fo
refpeaable a character as his Lordfhip, though I am as
fmcere a friend to the meafure of an Incorporating Union
as his Lordfhip.
All his Lordfhip's arguments in favour of the claims of
the Irifli Romanifts to political equality are founded on
this one pofition, that they are entitled to that equality by
common right. Common right, in the ufual acceptation
bf the word, means the common law of the land : but I
prefume his Lqrdfhip means it in a more extended fenfe,
and that he means a right founded on the immutable rules
of reafon and juflice. If this pofition is overturned, his
Lordfhip's whole argument falls with it : it therefore de
mands examination. The rights of mankind in political
fqcieties are twofold, natural and political : the fird are
born with a man, he becomes entitled to them the mo
ment of his birth ; but as man is a fecial animal, and as
the human race cannot fubfid but in fociety, he becomes
entitled, to them with this limitation, that the enjoyment
of them is to be regulated by that fociety of which he is
born a member,, whild he continues one of that fociety.
The fociety may eftablilh certain rules for its own pre-
fervation, and without which it cannot fubfid, redraining
4 and

( i8r )
fnd modifying the full exercife of what are calle'd natural
rights, in -cafes where the full exercife of natural rights
would endanger the exidence or fecurity qf the fociety ;
and regulations for the fecure enjoyment of natural rights
thus modified. To thefe rules and regulations all mem
bers of all political focieties mud fubmit ; and all the be
nefits men enjoy under thefe laws are their political rights.
In faa, mankind's political rights, are their natural rights
modified, and their enjoyment fecured, by the laws of
fociety. Natural rights are immutable ; modifications of
them by the laws of fociety are various; in the various fo
cieties of mankind on the face of the globe ; and hence
they are dyled political rights as didinguifhed from na
tural. The laws of each fociety have been originally
framed on the confent of the majority of the community,
either tacit or exprefs : general acquiefcence implies tacit
confent : aaual compaa, as is the cafe in fome focieties,
is exprefs confent. Thefe rules have been altered in fo
cieties at times by tyranny and ufurpation. In the Bri
tifh Empire, the common law is that fyftem of law which
is edablifhed by tacit confent for ages : the ftatute law is
that fydem of law which is edablifhed by confent or agree
ment of the members. In great or even confiderable em
pires or governments, it is utterly impraaicable to colfea
the opinions of all the members of the fociety taken by the
poll, on any public meafure : fuch an attempt would tend
to inevitable confufion and diffolution of the fociety ; be
caufe the great mafs of the people in all States, fubfifting
by bodily labour, are ignorant, and incapable in general of
forming correa opinions on great and momentous poli
tical queftions. By the Britifh Conftitution, generally and
defervedly efteemed the very effence of political wifdom*
the method of colfeaing the opinions of the majority of
n 3 the

( i82 )
the nation, for the purpofe of enaaing new laws, or al
tering or abrogating the'old ones, is partly by the votes of
the majority of a certain clafs of great and diftinguifhed
perfonages eminent for their dignity and property : but
chiefly by the votes of the majority of Reprefentatives
chofen by the people, and affembled in general Council or
Parliament : thefe Reprefentatives, though they reprefent
the whole body or mafs of the people, yet are not efeaed
by the majority of votes of the people of each diftria
reckoned by the poll, but by their property: and one
twentieth part of the people at large are not qualified, by
their property, to vote at the eleaions of their Reprefenta
tives in Parliament either in England or Ireland.
What Lord Minto ftyles the fovereignty of the Pro
teftants in Ireland overthe Irifh Romanifts confifts in this:
that Proteftants are capable of fitting in Parliament, and
of filling about thirty of the great offices of the State, to
which the exercife of the fupreme Executive Power is
intrufted : and the Romanifts exclude themfelves from
thefe two capacities by rejeaing the Oath of Supremacy
and Declaration, as already mentioned : both which the
Proteftants take and fubferibe on being admitted into Par
liament, or into any of thefe offices. In every other par
ticular there is a perfea equality of political privileges at
prefent between Irifh Proteftants and Romanifts. The
Irifli Proteftants maintain that the aforefaid exclufion of
Irifli Romanifts (which his Lordfhip is pleafed to ftyle
Protedant Sovereignty and Monopoly ; terms learned in
the Schola Burkeiana)had its origin in political right, and in
the very fird of political rights, to wit, that of the State to
preferve its own exidence, and independence of all foreign
jurifdiajons : and whatever afccndancy (dyled by his
Lordfhip

C 1S3 )
Jfftrdfhip Sovereignty) this exclufion has conferred on
Irifh Proteflants, they claim the fame, not, as his Lordfhip
very erroneoufly fuppofes, on the title of conquefl, of ac-,
quiefcence or prefcription ; but on the datute law of the
land, enaaed both in England and Ireland. And I cannot
diffidently exprefs my amazement at this very extraor
dinary miftake of his Lordfhip, a great diplomatic cha
raaer, and fuppofed to be perfeaiy well acquainted with
the laws of his country !
The exclufion of Romanifts from all public offices in
England and Ireland, commenced with the operation of
the Statute which enaas the Oath of Supremacy, and
which was enaaed in Ehgland in the firft, and in Ire
land in the fecond year of Queen Elizabeth: and all
accefs to fuch offices in England has been doubly barred,
as againft Romanifts, by the Teft and Corporation Aas.
(See Appendix, No. 3.) In Ireland thefe two A£ts,
there alfo euaaed, have been with great precipitancy,
not to fay want of political wifdom, repealed in 1793;
except fo far as relates to the great offices of the State
already mentioned. The exclufion of Romanifts from
feats in Parliament, arifing from the Oath of Supremacy
and Declaration, took place in England by the operation
of the Statute of the 30th of Charles the Second, chap. 2 ;
and the doors of Parliament were further barred againft
them in England by the Statute of the id of George
the Firft, chap-. 13, both which Statutes are yet unre
pealed : they were both enaaed foon after in Ireland,
By thefe Statutes, to prevent crude innovations in Re
ligion and Government, it is enaaed, that no Member
fliall fit or vote in either Houfe of Parliament, tiil he
hath, in the prefence of the Houfe, taken th.eQaths of
n i. Supremacy*

( i»4 )
Supremacy, Allegiance, and Abjuration ; and repeated
and fubferibed theDeclaration againdTranfubdantiatipn»
Invocation of Saints, and Sacrifice of the Mafs. (See
Englifh Statutes, and id Blackdone's Commentaries,
p. 158, oaavo edition.) By the 22d article of the
Union of England and Scotland, all Scotch Members are
obliged to take the fame Oaths, and fubfcrihe the fame
Declaration : and in the Aa ratifying the Treaty of
Union of England and Scotland two Aas of the re-
fpeaive Parliaments of the two nations are recited, the
one providing for the perpetual edablifhment and main
tenance of the Prefbyterian Church in Scotland, the
other for the perpetual edablifhment and maintenance
of the Church of England, in England, Wales, Ireland,
and the town of Berwick upon Tweed : and thefe two
Aas are therein declared to he fundamental and effential
conditions of that Union. (See Defoe's Hiflory of the
Union of England and Scotland, from page 557 to 562,
find the Englifh Statutes.) How then can his Lordfhip
maintain that the exclufion of Irifh Romanifts from
Parliament, and the aforefaid offices, which he, adopting
the phrafeology of his Gamaliel, Mr. Edmund Burke,
is pleafed to ftyle Proteftant Sovereignty, Afcendaiicy,
and Monopoly, is a wrong; and its continuance a con
tinuance of wrong? He mud mean, that it is a redriaion
of the natural rights of man, which is not required by
that fird of political objeas, the fafety and prefervation
of the State; or that it is not conformable to the opinions
of the majority of the members of the community, and
therefore unjud. As to the fird, I have already proved,
that Romanids, from their religious doarines, ought
not to be admitted to the enjoyment of any portion
of the Sovereignty of a Protedant State ; and that they
fliould

( i83 )
flfould be excluded from the Houfes of Lords and Com
mons, both in Great Britain and Ireland, becaufe it would
be highly injurious, and perhaps, in Ireland, dedruaive
to the State to admit them; and confequently that it is
no wrong to exclude them.' If their exclufion is a
wrong in Ireland, it mud be a wrong in Great Britain ;
for the principles of natural judice are immutable, and
not variable by the circumdance of their being more
numerous in Ireland than in Great Britain. What is
right or wrong in this particular in the one country,
mud be right or wrong in the other. Their exclufion in
Ireland is more requifitethan in Great Britain, on account
of their greater numbers in the former country, and their
claims to all the landed property in the hands of Pro
tedants, the poffeffion of which, his Lordfhip dates,
they confider as ufurpation : and Dr. Troy, as before
mentioned, dates, that they confider the Protedant
Edablifhment an ufurpation. Thefe circumdances ren
der their elevation in Ireland more dangerous than in
Great Britain, and their exclufion in the former country
more jud and reafonable.
If his Lordfhip thinks the exclufion of Romanids
from Parliament and the great offices of the State a
wrong, he mud think that all the great datefmen in
Britain and Ireland, fince the commencement of the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, were workers of iniquity ;
and all the Statutes enaaed fince, refpeaing Romanids,
public wrongs ; he mud think King James the Second
wasperfeaiy judifiable in endeavouring to remedy this
wrong; the glorious King William the Third an
ufurper; and all who aflided in the Revolution of 1688
Rebels. His Lordfhip declares it to be his warmed wifh

( 186 ))
with to eftablifh Irifh Romanids in an equality- of civil
rights 'with Irifh Protedants; King James the Second
profeffed nothing more. He profeffed fimilar defigns in
England. - His attempts to'carry thefe defigns into exe
cution, both in England and Ireland, cod him his
crown, and canfigned htm and his luc-klefs progeny to
perpetual exile.
His Lordfhip cannot arraign the aforefaid Statutes of
injudice in excluding Romanids, on the principle that
they are not conformable to the opinion of the majority
of the Irifh nation: for, waving the argument of the
fuperior number by tlie poll of the Protedants in Great
Britain and Ireland, taken together, over the Romanids,
and confidering Ireland a d-iftina and independent nation
(which it is not), let his Lordfhip's principle be examined
by the principles of the Conftitution : by that conditu-
tion, the Reprefentatives of the People are efeaed by the
People, reckoned, not by their numbers by the poll,
but by their property: thirty-nine parts out of forty of
Irifh property are in the hand's of Irifh Proteftants-,
confequently the conditutional power of efeaion is
pofieffed by the Irifli Proteftants, though Romanids now
enjoy the eleai've franchife, as well as Protedants: the
Houfe of Commons, fo ele&.ed, together with the Lords
and- the Monarch, have enaaed thefe Statutes, by the
operation of which Romanifts are excluded ; that is,
they were enaaed by the true legitimate Sovereign
Power of the State. The very capacity of fitting in
Parliament and enjoying public offices is a political
right, merely arifing from the inditutions of civil fo
ciety, and may judly be withheld or abridged by the
jnprcme conftitutional power of that focietv, when it
deems

( i87 )
deems the exertion of its authority in fuch particulars
conducive' to the well-being of the State. "With what
propriety or truth can his Lordfhip then maintain, that
the exclufion of Romanids from certain political fitu-
ations, effeaed by the operation of Statutes enaaed
by Parliament, affembled purfuant to the principles of
the Conditution, is a wrong, and an unjud invafion of
their natural rights ? It is a pofition not to be fupported
by reafon or argument!
I trud I have fairly lopped off the fird horn of his
Lordfhip's dilemma, to wit, that exclufion cf Irifh
Romanids cannot be fupported, and confequent Pro
tedant afeendancy maintained, without violation of the
natural rights of the Irifli Romanids, and continuation
of the injudice. I have reduced his two-horned bug
bear to an unicorn ; and I will preferve the remaining
horn, to wit, that the exclufion of Irifli Romanids can
not be repealed", and their claims acceded to, without detri-,
ment to the Protedant Edablifhment in Ireland, to gore
and lacerate (to ufe his own words) the remainder of his
Lordfhip's argument with : nay more, I will fharpen
this horn, and prove, that the admiffion of Irifli Roman.
ids into Parliament and the great offices of the State,
would, in the event of an Incorporating Union of Great
Britain and Ireland taking place, be fubverfive of the
Conditution of the Empire in general; and that the
publication and fupport of fuch a projea by great Mi-
niders of State are very likely to difincline the real
friends of the Conditution in Church and State, as
well in Great Britain as Ireland, to the meafure. of an
LTnion. However,

( i»8 )
However, before I begin to ufe, th.e horn, it is not im«
proper to^take notice, that his Lordfhip has infinuated,
that Irifh Proteftants hold their edates under the titles
of Conqued or Prefcription. Conqued is in general a
title founded on wrong; and the title by Prefcription
his Lordfhip endeavours to difcredit. I am extremely
jforry to be obliged to obferve, that his Lordfhip here
isnanifefts much want of knowledge of the real fituation
and eircumdances of Ireland, and that his Gamaliel
has led him again into a grofs error. If any edates in
Ireland can at this day be faid to be enjoyed under the
title of Conqued, they mud be fuch as were acquired by
the firft Britifli adventurers in Ireland in the reign of
Henry the Second. His acquifition of Ireland cannqt
properly be called a Conqued ; for though he arrived in
Ireland at the head of an army, the whole Irifli nation,
as I before obferved, fubmitted, and fwore fealty to him,
and chofe liim for their Monarch, without putting him
to the neceffity of driking a blow. Of the great
edates acquired by his followers, fome were gained* not
by force, but by lawful conveyance and fucceffion : fuch
was that of Richard de Clare, Earl of Chepflow, fur-
named Strongbow, who married the only daughter and
child qf the King of Leinder, and became in her tight
entitled to a Vaft territory in that province, in which he
fettled a great number of his vaffals; and which always,
till the reign of Elizabeth, was the moft confiderable
feat of the Englifh Colony in Ireland, and great part of
it was called the Pale, or the Territory governed by
Englifh Laws. However, . whether the firft Englifh
adventurers gained their eftates by the fword, or other-
wife, I apprehend to be at this day of little confequence,
for there is fearce remaining a Angle eftate in this king dom

( 1*0 )
da*n which is not held by titles derived from Elizabeth,
or her fucceffors, by patents, Aas of Parliament, or other
good and fufficient conveyances. And it might be fa id,
with more reafon, that all the great families in England,
moft of whom yet retain their Norman furnames, and
whofe anceftors obtained eftates in the reign of William
the Conqueror, held thefe eftates by Conqued. For
the acquifition of England by William preceded the ac
quifition of Ireland by Henry only by one century;
and a much greater proportion of perfons in Ireland,
poffeffing landed edates, have old Irifh furnames, 'than
perfons of the fame defeription in England, who have
Saxon, or old Britifh furnames.
The infinuation, that many Irifli Proteflants derive
the titles of their edates from prefcription, is equally
grouridlefs. After the fird acquifition of Ireland bv
the Englifh Crown, there does not feem to have been
any very great influx of Englifh into Ireland for fome
centuries. The civil wars of York and Lancafler
drew out of Ireland moft of the great Englifh families
which had fettled in it, together with their vaffals, and
mod of them perifhed in that unhappy conteft. The
greater part of the remainder of the Englifh Colony
adopted the barbarous Irifh cudoms, and degenerated
into Irifh barbarians. After the acceflion of Elizabeth,
the Earl of Defmond, a great and powerful Nobleman in
Munfier, of Englifh extraaion, rebelled againd her";
flie fubdued him, and. all his vad poffeffions were for
feited to the Crown: die granted them to a confiderable
colony of Englifh fettlers. The great and formidable
Rebellion of the Earl of Tyrone broke out afterwards
in her reign : he poffeffed, by himfelf or his vaffals, almoft

( 190 )
almoft the whole- province pf Ulder. The Queen, after
a long, expenfive, and deftruaive war, which defplated
the country, completely vanquifhed him, but died before
file could j;eap the fruits of her viaory. Her.fucceffor,
James the Firft, employed his whole reign in improving
the natiqn ; he divided part of the lands forfeited in
this Rebellion, and another which followed clofe on its
heels, among Englifli and Scotch fettlers, and his loyal
Irifli Proteftant fubjeas, and the red he parcelled out
among, the native Irifh. His fon, Charles the Fird,
followed bis example ; and a great part of the Irifli na
tion, which held their lands by prefcription, furrendered
them to the Crown, and paffed patents for them, con
forming to the Englifh law of tenures, either in
capite or focage. When Cromwell had reduced the Irifh
Rebels, he divided, the lands forfeited by the Rebellion
among the. foldiers, adventurers, and loyal Irifli Pro
teftants. Such, of his grants as dill fubfid, and a large
portion of Ireland is held under them, were confirmed
immediately after the Reflorotion, by the Aas of Settle
ment and Explanation. The forfeitures of the Rebels
in the reign of King William have been alfo difpofed
of by patents among the King's loyal fubjeas. And all
thefe eftates, frnce the original grants of them, have
been conveyed over and over again, for valuable confe
derations, by family fettlements, and by purchafes, in-
fomuch that there is fcarcely one edate in the whole
Kingdom of Ireland held by the title of prefcription; the
original grants of them all can be produced, or are recited
In the different conveyances. But if they were'heldby
prefcription, as his Lordfhip erroneoufly fuppofes, a '
poffeffion of two hundred years from the reign of
Elizabeth ; of one hundred and fifty, at lead, from the
reigns

¦1 r9l )
tjigns,, of James- and Charles; of, near an hundred. and
fifty from the time of Cromwell ; and of upwards of
one hundred fince the laft forfeitures in the; reign of
King William, would conditute a good title, it-o. the
prefent pofleflprs by the laws of Great Britain and Ire
land, which make dxty years .undidurbed^ poffeffion, a
good title, and a bar in a writ of right. , -,i\-
,As a , confiderable part of ; the kn.d.ed .effates in .the
ppffeffion qf- Irifh Protedants ,condfts of; lands forfeited
to the Crown in ;.the different Rebellions UI jhaver.menr
tioned, when his Lprdlhjp hints that Irifh ;Prq^edants
derive their titles to their, ., eftates . from, Conqued, he
¦tnufi mean,, that. the fuppreffion of every Rebellion is a
Conqued. ,jtThe jud rights qf, a conqueror are pretty
accurately defined, by JYIr- Locke, 'in. his Treatife, pii
Government, but; the, condua;. of a conqueror tosthe
yanquifhed. is generally, meafured,- by his will, and plea-
fure; and is the .exercife .of, an arbitrary tyranny over
their perfons and properties : and, his. Lordfhip's view,
in, infinuating thatfthie titles of Irifh Protedants to
their eftates are founded in, Conqued, feems to, be, to
difpacage kifh ^Protedants, as deriving their properties
from the, exertions of unlawful, violence and rapacity ;
that is, in plain Englifh, that they are the heirs of robbers
and plunderers ; ,as bas,indeed, been already afferted by
•the abufive Author of 4 Cpnfideratiqns on the State of Public
.'Affairs in the Tear, 1799.' -L never, before heard it in-
finuated, ripal thes fuppreffion. of .a: Rebellion was a
Conqued of the nation- :^ Conqued entirely changes the
laws, conftitution, and government of a natip.iv; .but
the fuppreffion of a Rebellion, in part of a nation
(and in every Rebellion a part of a nation only is en
gaged),

( i92 )
gaged), does not change the laws, conftitution, and
government of a nation : it, on the contrary, eda-
blifhes them all, and gives them additional fecurity.
Are the fuppreffions of all the various Rebellions in
England, fince the acceffion of William the Firft to the
prefent day, to be confidered as Conquefls of England ?
And is the fuppreffion of every Rebellion in Ireland,
fince the acceffion of Henry the Second, to be confidered
as a new Conqued of Ireland ? the very fuppofition is
an abfurdity. Rebellion is High Treafon; its guilt and it's
puni'fhment are accurately defined by the laws of Eng
land and Ireland, and one part of the punifhment is
the forfeiture of the property of Rebels to the Crown r
the Crown difpofes of this forfeited property to its loyal
fubjeas, in reward of their fervices, or forother valuable
confiderations ; and the Grantees of the Crown hold
fuch property by a legal title, not founded on Conqued,
but oh the known and edablifhed laws of the land.
But whatever was his Lordfhip's view in infinuating
that the Irifh Proteftants held their eftates by the title
of Conqueft, and that the Irifh Romanids, being un-
judly difpoffefled, had. a right to reclaim them, whether
it was to difparage or to intimidate, Irifh Proteflants,
confeious of the judice and lawfulnefs of their titles,
and of their own drength and courage to defend them
againft all attempts of Irifh Romanifts, read fuch in-
finuations with the moft perfea apathy, as they do all
his Lordfhip's laboured doubts refpeaing the efficacy of
a title by prefcription ; and were it not for the high
refpea I entertain for his Lordfhip, I might make ufe
of a hardier expteffion. I now

m i 193 )
i I now arm myfelf with the remaining horn of his
.Lordfhip's dilemma, to wit, that the admiffion of Irijh
Romanifts into Parliament; and to the great executive offices
of the State, would be very prejudicial to the Irijh Proteftants,
and would much endanger the eftablijhed Conftitution in Ire
land. To render this horn dill more formidable, I can
furnifh it with a very drong ai}d very fharp antler, to
iwit, that fuch admiffion would, in cafe of an Unions greatly
endanger the Britijh Conftitution, and muft be attended with
an Innovation in it ; which, I truft, will be reprobated by
Hts Majefty; by the great Minifter, who now with fo much
glory to himfelf, and advantage to the Nation, takes the lead in
the Britifh Cabinet ; and by all the loyal Proteftant inha-
hitants of Great Britain : and that, fo far from promoting
an Union, the very propofal of fo dangerbus an inno
vation, mud throw the greated impediments in the way
of that moft falutary meafure.
The danger of admitting Irifh Romanids into Par
liament in Ireland, that is, into a fhare of the fovereign
authority of the State, I have already very fully ex-
pofed. The appointment of a Romifh Viceroy of Ire
land, of a Romifh Lord Chancellor, of Romifh Judges",
of a Romifh Commander in Chief of the army, and
the admiffion of Romifh Peers and Commoners into
Parliament, mud all tend to the fubverfion of the Irifli
Proteftant Edablifhment, both in Church and State;
this is fo notorious, that no arguments are required to
prove it: it is evident that fuch appointments, and fuch
admiffion, would of themfelves be a fubverfion of the
prefent edablifhment. This horn without the antler is
fufficient to lacerate all his Lordfhip's arguments in the
prefent fituation of Great Britain and Ireland.
o Let

( 194 )
Lettts now fuppqfe that an Incorporating Union of the
two countries had taken place, and that they were con-
folidated into one body. If in fuch cafe Romanids
were to be admitted into Parliament, and to fill the
great offices of the State, all the laws enaaed in England
againd Popery, fince the acceffion of Queen Elizabeth,
mud be repealed. I will mention fome of thefe Aas
particularly, that the People of England may clearly under-
/land the momentous and dangerous alterations which muft be
made in the Britifh Conftitution, which has been improving
Jrbm the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth, till
it has attained its prefent unrivalled excellence ; under
which the prefent generation and their ancedors for
two centuries have lived; and which has defcended to
the People of England daring that period, in fucceffion
from father to fon, as an inheritance; if what LordMinto
ftyles the prefent humiliating and degrading exclufion of tht
Catholic part of the Irifh nation fhall be done away, by the
adoption of his fcheme of conferring equal privileges on
them with their fellow-fubjeas, in cafe of an Union.
The Aa of the id of Elizabeth, which enjoins the
taking of the Oath of Supremacy by all public officers;
the Bill of Rights, the id of William and Mary, new-
modelling the Oath of Supremacy, and extending the
fphere of the operation of the A& of Elizabeth in r^fpeft
to that Oath, mud be repealed. The Aas of the 30th of
Charles the Second, chap. 2, and the id of George the
Firft, chap. 13, enaaing that no Member fhall fit or
vote in either Houfe of Parliament, till he hath, in
the prefence of the Houfe, taken the Oaths of Alle
giance, Supremacy, and Abjuration, and repeated and
fubfcribed the Declaration, nmll be repealed. The
2 Ted

( i9S >
m
Ted Aa, requiring all officers, civil arid military, to take?
the above Oaths, repeat and fubfcribe the Declaration,
and receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper,according
to the ufage of the Church of England, mud be repealed :
the Cbrporation Aa mud: fliare the fame fate. Thefe
two Aas, Blackdone dates to be bulwarks of the Con
ditution, and that they were enaaed to feeure the eda
blifhed Church againd perils from Non-conformids of
all denomi nation s> among which he particularly enu
merates Papifts. (See Blackdone's Commentaries, vol. iv,;
page 57, oaavo edition.) And he dates, that the Aas
of Charles the Second and George the Fird, requiring
all Members of both Houfes of Parliament to take the
Oaths, and repeat and fubfcribe the Declaration, were
enaaed, to prevent crude innovations in Religion and
Government. (See Blackdone's Commentaries, vol. i.
page 158, oaavo edition.) The articles and provifipns.
of the Treaty of Union of England and Scotland muft.
Ire altered: that one, among others, which enjoins
the taking of the Coronation Oath by His Majedy ;
and more particularly thofe parts of the Treaty
ftyled by Blackdone fundamental and effential con
ditions of the Union. (See Blackdone's Comment
aries, id vol. pages 92, 93, oaavo edition.) I have
quoted Blackdone on thefe points, to fhow the opinions
of that able conftitutional lawyer on the parts of the
Englifh laws relating to Papids; becaufe in his remarks
on the Englifh Popery Code, he expreffes his opinion, that
feveral parts of it, which he enumerates, may be re- '
pealed without inconvenience ; but the parts I have
above mentioned, he thinks effentially neceflary to the
prefervation of the Protedant Edablifhment in Church
and State in England, and that they cannot be repealed
0 2 confidently

C *0 )
Confidently with the fafety of that edablifhment in Eng
land, or with the continuation of the Union of England
and Scotland.
It may be here argued, that an Incorporating Union
of Great Britain and Ireland may be effeaed, without
all the aforefaid alterations in the laws of England; for
imputations may be inferted in the Treaty of an Union
of the two nations, that Irifh Romanids, efeaed in
Ireland members of the imperial Parliament, fhall fit
and vote therein, without taking the Oaths, or fub-
fcribing the Declaration above-mentioned; and that they
fhall be capable of filling public offices in Ireland on the
fame terms. And it may be urged, in refpea to offices,
that fuch dipulations have taken place in the Aa of
Union of England and Scotland ; for Scotchmen are by
that Aa capable of filling public offices in Scotland,
without taking the Oaths prefcribed to be' taken by pub
lic officers in England, and without receiving the Sacra
ment according to the ufage of the Church of England.
Ori the part of this argument which relates to public-
offices, I fhall only obferve, that public officers in
Scotland, as I am informed, are obliged to take oaths
ahd engagements full as hodile to Popery, as thofe en
joined to be taken by public officers in England, which
they were obliged to take in their own country before the Union :
and that no Scotchman can enjoy any office in England.
without taking the Oaths, and receiving the Sacrament
as prefcribed in England. But with refpea to the capa
city of fitting in Parliament, fuch dipulations can re
ceive no fort of countenance from the conditions of the
Union of England and Scotland ; for the Scotch Mem
bers are not admitted to fit in the Parliament of Great.,
I Britain.

( 197 )
.Britain, without taking the fame Oaths, and repeating
and fubferibing the fame Declaration, as the Englifh
Members are obliged to take, repeat, and fubfcribe. I
will therefore proceed to examine the praaicability and
juflice of the infertion of fuch dipulations in a treaty of
Incorporating Union of Great Britain and Ireland ; and
their efficacy in removing the prefent complaints of the
Irifh Romanifts, in cafe they were inferted.
It is fird to be obferved, that by the eftablifhed Confti
tution of Ireland, fince the latter end of the reign pf
Charles the Second, the Romanifts are excluded from
Parliament by the Oaths, which it is enaaed all members
fhall take, previous to their admiffion to fit or vote h>
either Houfe ; they are excluded from the great offices of
the State by the fame means : and that by Lord Minto's
fcheme, to raife them from their prefent degraded and hu
miliated condition (as he ftyles it), the prefent laws of Ire
land enjoining the taking of thefe Oaths are to be repealed,
preparative to an Union of the two countries ; or by the
treaty of Union itfelf to be ratified by the Parliaments of
Great Britain and Ireland. He admits that fuch fcheme,
whilft the Parliaments of the two countries remain fepa*
rate and diftina, would be very dangerous to the Pro
teftant Eftablifhment in Church and State in Ireland, if
carried into effea ; becaufe, as he reafons, the fuperior
number of Romanifts in Ireland, when put on a perfea
equality with Proteftants in refpea to civil privileges,
would enable them by degrees to engrofs the whole power
of the State, and overturn the Proteftant Eftablifhment in
Ireland. Now, fuppofing the two countries were confo-
lidated into one body politic by an Union, and Romanifts
put on a perfea equality of civil privileges with Proteftants
03 in

( 198 )
in Ireland; they would, according to his Lordfhip's rea
foning, in time return all the Irifh Members to the Houfe
of Commons of the imperial Parliament. It is proppfed
that Ireland, on an Union, fhall have one hundred Re
prefentatives in the imperial Commons : if thefe fhould
be all, or a great part of them, Romanifts, if would not
be very difficult for them, on many occafions, where
a Minider might dand in need of their fervices, to
obtain a domineering influence with refpea to all Irifh
affairs: it appears at prefent, though they have little- poli
tical power in Ireland, that they have procured an intereft
in the Britifh Cabinet, very alarming to every attached
friend to the Conditution in Church and State in Ireland:
this would be increafed a thoufand fold, if an Union took
place on the terms fuggeded by Lord Minto : in truth, the
Proteftant Edablifhment in Ireland could not furvive fuch
an event for many feffions. And I beg of his Lordfhip,
and other great Britifh Statefmen, ferioufly to confider,
whether their propofing fchemes of Union, fubverfive of
the Protedant Edablifhment in Ireland, is a likely method
of inducing Irilh Protedants, in whofe hands, for the
prefent, alinod the whole political power of the State is
lodged, to confent to an Union : and whether the con
tinued intrigues of every Britifh Statefman, for fome years
pad fent into Ireland, to aa as the Minider, with the
Irifh Romanifts, for the depreffion of the Proteftant in
tereft in that kingdom, and the elevation of Popery on its
ruins, are likely to incline Irifh Proteftants to commit all
their civil and religious rights, and thofe of their pofterity,
to the abfolute difpofalof perfons who fhow no difpo
fition to fupport and maintain them. Lord Minto admits,
that Great Britain is bound tp fupport the Irifh Proteftants

< 199 J
% every tie of gratitude, for their unalterable attachment
to the intereds of the Britifh Empire ; they defire no fup
port from Great Britain, as againft Romanifts, the com
mon political enemy of Britifh, as well as Irifh Proteftants :
all Proteftants, in the eyes of Irifh Romanifts, are Eng-
liihmen, and vice verfa ; they have but one name for both:
they are eternal and implacable enemies of Protedants,
from the tenetsof their religion : Irilh Proteflants are able",
without any fupport from Great Britain, to protea them
felves from all the force, from all the fury, from all the
rancour of Irifli Romanids : all they require from Britifh
Protedants is, that they will not join in a hollow league
with the avowed enemies both of Englifh and Irifh Pro
teflants, againd Irifh Proteftants : they have not merited
fuch treatment from Britifh Proteftants, they have ever
remained faithful to the Britifh Crown, they are now fup-
porting it with their blood and treafure, fpilling and la-
vifhing one and the other in the prefent glorious corned!
Give them, then, illudrious Britifli Statefmen, no caufe to
exclaim, in the language of the Roman poet,
Perierunt tempora longi fervitii !
They are ready to coalefce with you, but not on terms
which in the end will be found equally detrimental to you
and them : they demand, nay entreat no more from you,
as the condition of an Incorporating Union, than the pre-
fervation of their prefent Conditution in Church and
State ; and they deprecate only its fubverfion.
I fhall now make a few obfervations on the juflice, effi
cacy, and praaicability of fuch a fcheme of Union when
confidered in refpea to Great Britain- -By this fcheme
Irifh Romanifts muft be admitted into the imperial Par-
9 4 liament ;

( 200 )
liament ; and by his Lordfhip's reafoning, exclufive of
Romifli Irifh Lords, a great proportion, and in time the
whole number of Irifh Corrjmoners, to wit, one hundred,
which are to be. admitted into the- imperial Commons,
will be Romauifts; confequently the above- mentioned-
Englifh Aas of Charles the Second and George the Firft
muft be repealed in favour of Irifh Romanifts ; in faa,
they muft be entirely repealed, becaufe it would be highly-
abfurd to exclude Englifh and Scotch Romanifts, when
Irifh Romanids are admitted. When thus they have
gained admiffion ipto the Houfes of Lords and Commons
in the imperial Parliament, and formed confequently no
inconfiderable part of the fupreme power of the State, in
violation of every principle of the Britifli Conftitution
fince the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth ; the
Britifti Minifter; to fecure the fupport of fo powerful a
body in Parliament, mud deliver into their- hands the
whole patronage of Ireland. The Protedant Edablifh
ment of that nation mud be fubverted, and all public'
offices there mud be filled with Romanids, If any flipula--
tions fhall be made in the treaty of Union, for the fecurity
of the Protedant Edablifhment in Ireland; though fuch
treaty be ratified by the Parliaments of both countries
previous to the Union, and by the imperial Parliament
after ; yet fuch dipulations cannot fubfid for any length
of time. No doubt can be entertained, that the imperial
Parliament, being the fupreme authority of the Empire,-
will be competent to alter or abrogate the conditions and
articles of the Union at its pleafure ; and if it fhould alter
or abrogate fuch articles as relate to the Protedant Eda
blifhment in Ireland, at the exprefs indance and defire'
of the Reprefentatives of Ireland in the imperial Parlia
ment, affifted by the Britifh Raomifh members, who could
< complain

( 201 )
•Bmplain on behalf of Ireland, of the infringement of the
treaty of Union ? or who could complain with effea ?
If the Reprefentatives of Scotland in the Parliament of
, Great Britain fhould demand an alteration of the articles
and conditions of the Union, relating only to Scotland,
and the Parliament of Great Britain fhould comply with
fuch demand, would any complaint be made on behalf of
Scotland of the infringement of the treaty of Union r or,
if made, would it be followed by any material effea ?
The maxim of Volenti nonfit injuria would be the anfwer
to fuch complaints. When Ireland was by fuch means
converted into a Romifli country, would its Reprefentatives
in the imperial Parliament, and the Romifh Britifh Mem
bers, be coiffented ? would their conflituents be contented ?
Certainly not. Scotchmen- are capable of filling the
highed employments in England, complying with the Ted
Aa ; and the Prefbyterian doarines oppofe no infer-.
mountable barriers againd fuch compliance ; but the
Romifh do. Many natives of Scotland have rifen to the
highed dations in England fince the Union : the prefent ,
Lord Chancellor of England, Mr. Secretary Dundas, Ad
miral Duncan, Sir Ralph Abercrombie, Lord Minto him
felf, with multitudes of others, are prefent, the late Lord
Mansfield and others, pad examples, of the great eleva
tion to which the fhining abilities of North-Britons have
raifed them in England. In cafe of an Incorporating
Union of Great Britain and Ireland, Irifh Proteftants
being capable of 'filling high offices in England, the abi
lities of fome of that defcription might promote them to :
elevated dignities there. But Britifh and Irifli Romanifts
would be excluded, by the Englifh Teft Aa, from all pub
lic offices in England, and from being officers in any cor
porations;

( 202 )
pbrattons in England by the Corporation Aa. How low!
then would the exclamations of the Romifh Members of
both Houfes of the imperial Parliament be againft the
Teft and Corporation Aas ! They would reprefent, that
though, by an Incorporating Union, Great Britain and Ire
land were confolidated into one nation, yet they by thefe
Aas were deprived of the benefits of the Britifh Confti
tution in four fifths of that confolidated nation by thefe
Aa», and admitted only to a fhare with all their fellow-
fubjeas imthe public employments, emoluments, and po
litical power of the remaining fifth ; all their fubjeas
being alfo admiflible to employments in that fifth. They
would loudly complain, as they at prefent do, of this, in
equality of condition with their fellow-citizens, and infift
that they were excluded from the rights of citizenfhip.
If the Minifter of the day flood in need of their affiftance
in Parliament, as he eften would, he muft liften to fuch
complaints, and liften with favour ! If fimilar complaints
of the Romifh party are attended to at prefent, when they
are deftitute of political power, much more attention muft
be paid to them, when they fliall form a confiderable part
of the fupreme power of the State. At the Minider's beck,
how many Lord Mintos would be found ready to join in
the cry of the Romifti pack ! how loud would they bellow
hi the ears of the imperial Parliament the degraded and
humiliated ftate of Britijh. and Irijh Catholics I It is not im-
poffible, that both the Ted and Corporation Aas might
be thus cried down : and what Blackdone fo judly dyles
the bulwarks of the Conftitution, defending the Eftablifhed
Church from all perils from Non-conformifts. of all de-
fcriptions, and the Conftitution from all innovations in
Religion and Government, might be cqmpletely over
thrown and deftroyed ; and the deluge of Republicanifm and

( 3»3 )
and Superdition, and their certain attendant, Infidelity,
let in to overwhelm the Britifh Empire.
But let us fuppofe, that the found good fenfe and fpirit
of the people of Great Britain fhould refifl and defeat thefe
attempts to repeal the Ted and Corporation Aas. The
certain confequences of an Union with fuch dipulations in
favour of Irifh Romanids as 1 have dated, would be, that
both Englifli and Irifh Romanifts in the imperial Parlia
ment would take every method to manifeft their hoftility
to the Conftitution : they would be found the conftant
fupporters of every oppofition to the meafures of Go
vernment in Parliament ; they would be the fteady allies
qf the whole Jacobin faaion : Englifli and Irifh' Ro
manifts would by themfelves form a powerful party in the
imperial Legiflature ; they would be the patrons and the
partifans of 'every faaious projea, of every defperate dif-
appointed leader in either Houfe of Parliament ; the
avowed fupporters of every attempt to overturn and de-
droy the Conditution of their country. And I leave it
to Britifh Statefmen, and particularly to that renowned
Minider, who has fo glorioufly and fuccefsfully dood
forth the proteaor and fupporter of Chridianity, of law
ful government, of humanity and ju-dice in Europe, to
confider, whether fuch fchemes of aggrandizement of
Romanids in the Britifh Empire are praaicable ; and, if
praaicable, whether they are confident with the prin
ciples of found policy and juftice ; and whether any po
litical arrangements whatfoever, fhort of configning to
them the whole power pf the State, will content Ro
manids ; and whether any favours conferred upon them
will render them a whit better fubjeas to a Proteftant
$3ritifh Government, than they are at prefent : whether all

( 204 )
all fuch arguments as are advanced by Lord Minto, do
not direaiy tend to retard, perhaps to defeat, the accom-
plifhment of that great and highly beneficial meafure, an
Incorporating Union of Great Britain and Ireland, by
alarming the Proteflants of both countries with fears of
the fubverfion of the prefent Conditution in Church and
£tate, as the unavoidable confequence of .fuch a meafurej
on the terms and conditions propofed by his Lordfhip :
Whether any neceffity ever exifled for propofing fuch
terms and conditions : whether they have not their origin
iq the deceptive, deflruaive, falfe, and erroneous doc
trines refpeaing Ireland, of the late Mr. Edmund Burke
and his difciples : whether it is either reafonable, jud, or
expedient; to confer fuch privileges on Irifh Romanids,
after fo many maffacres and rebellions, and particularly
immediately after their recent maffacre and rebellion,
which has been very partially and inadequately punifhed ;
and which merits vengeance, not honourable reward :
and finally, whether fuch arguments as are advanced by
Lord Minto, if perfifted in and further urged, may not be
thefources of infinite calamity to both countries.
I will take my leave of Lord Minto and his Speech, by
obferving, that his Lordfhip in fome parts, particularly in
thofe relating to the animofities refulting from difference
of Religion in Ireland, feems to defert his ufual caution,
and to fpeak in a drain of diaation to Irifli Proteftants
not very conciliating ; intimating an abjea dependance of
the Irifh nation on Great Britain, pretty much in the
dyle of a very arbitrary matter to his ilave ; his Lordfhip's;
prudence will, I am fure, prevent fuch errors from creep
ing into any of his future publications. He alfo diflin-
gujfhes ' Jrifh Proteftants and Romanifts by the title of
different

( 265 )
different cafts ; and ftates, ' that every one knows the firm
4 and immovable bafis on which their mutual hatred
' flands, the irreconcilable nature of its motives, its
4 bitter, malignant, and implacable charaaer.' His Lord
fhip ought to have been fomewhat better acquainted with
the Irifh nation, before he ventured to give the aforefaid
defcription of it. His information refpeaing Ireland
feems to be very imperfea in other particulars, as well
as in the foregoing. In the great Eaft Indian Peninfula,
the natives, who are but flaves to the Moors, are divided
into feveral claffes, by Europeans called cafts ; they are
all of the fame Religion, t,hat of Brama ; and thefe cafts
never intermarry with each other, or intermix- in any
way, or even eat together. Their Religion teaches them
to preferve themfelves perfeaiy feparate and diftina the
one caft from the other, and fo they have continued for
ages. No fuch feparation or didinaion ever took place
in Ireland between Protedants and Romanifts : they in
termarry with each other, and live together, very fre
quently in amity and concord, as friends and neighbours.
Romanifts frequently conform to the Proteftant Religion,
and there is fcajce a family of any note in Ireland which
has not relatives of both Religions. Many families of
the middle rank are much mixed. Proteftant men have
Romifli wives, and Protedant women Romifh hufbands ;
and very often, in fuch cafes, the progeny, male and
female, has been educated in different perfuafions ; the
males following the Religion of the father, the females
that of the mother. Romanids, when aaing in a body
as a political party, are very different in their condua
from that which they purfue in private life. The un
alterable principles of benevolence. which the Almighty
has implanted in the breafts of mankind, as fecial crea
tures,

( 266 )
ttties, exerts its natural influence on Irifh Rdmahifts*
when difengaged frbm the leading principles of their
fea confidered as i faaion : it guides them to fhe ex-
ercife of the ufual offices of neighbours and friends, to
thofe of a different religious perfuafion. When they a$
in a body, and are actuated by the principles of their
fea, fuch as they are taught in the Lateran Council, they
have often aaed with the greateft barbarity, arid com-*
mitred the moft inhuman maffacres on their Prbteftant
neighbours, relations, and friends; tearing afunder thert
all the ties of blood, and violating all the duties of
friendfhip ; and fuch effeas of their religious principles
make them the more dangerous as a body, inafmuch as
they extinguifh all the fecial feelings in the breafts of a
clafs of men as amply endowed by Nature with the fecial
qualities and virtues as any other. The Religion of Pro
teftants teaches them no fuch inhuman doarines : they
therefore, as a political body, entertain no fuch deteft-
able opinions. They are willing to treat, and have
always treated, their Romifli fellow-fubjeas, as a body,
with every degree of indulgence and kindnefs, which is,
or can be confident with their own fafety and proteaion ;
and in private life they have always been ready to extend
to, and receive from Romanifts, every kind of fecial,
frieridly, and neighbourly offices. His Lordfhip is fome-
what incorrea, if not offenfive, in applying the diftinc-
tion of different cafts to Irifh Proteftants and Romanifts;
thereby evidently meaning to degrade both the one and
the" other, by levelling them with the enflaved, ignorant,
pagan natives of Hindoftan. He is alfo grofsly miftaken
in renrefenting the hatred which Irifh Romanifts, as a
body and a faaion, manifeft againd their ProteftanS
countrymen, as mutual. Irifh Proteftants entertain no
fuch

{ 207 )
fuch hatred of their Romifti fellow-fubjeas, nor did they
ever difcover any fymptoms of fuch hatred. They have
never adopted any deliberate meafure of hoftility againft
their Romifh countrymen, which was not demanded by
the imperious calls of felf-defence and proteaion ; and
his Lordfhip might have fpared fo unwarranted a reflec
tion, as well as others of the .fame kind, on Irifli Pro
tedants. They are indeed well convinced that Irifh
Romanifts, when they aa as a political body, do enter
tain a hatred of Irifh Proteftants, the motives of which
are of an irreconcilable nature, and its charaaer bitter,
¦malignant, and implacable, becaufe they are taught by
the principles of their Religion to entertain it ; but the
Proteftant Religion inculcates no fuch .principles.
I have now fo fully expofed the mifreprefentations of
the Political State of Ireland in the Englifh publications
refpeaing the relative numbers, wealth, and power, and
the rights and claims, of Proteflants and Romanifts ;
fhe civil diffenfions and Rebellions which have taken
place in that nation fince the Reformation, and the
caufes of them ; that it is not neceffary to advert to other
modern Englifli publications on the fame fubjea ; be
caufe the mifreprefentations contained in them are
all of the fame nature with thofe I have already
expofed. But there is one pamphlet lately publiflied,
entitled, 4 Subftance of the Speech of the .Right Honour-
< able Lord Sheffield, Monday, April 22d, 1799, upon
¦*¦ the Subject of Union with Ireland;' one paragraph of
which I than here take notice of; it is to be found in
page 43, and is as follows: 4 The objeaion to Union
4 on the part of the Proteftants of Ireland is nnac-
' countable. They can hardly be faid to conftitute a
* nation j

( 208 )
4 nation ; they are an Englifh Colony governing upwards
4 of three millions of Roman Catholics, or at lead fix
4 times their own number, in a country acquired and
4 maintained by Englifh arms and treafure ; which Co-
4 lony never could have fupported itfelf, and even the
4 lad dimmer would have been overwhelmed, unlefs
4 proteaed by the fame means, by Englifh power.'
Every perfon who has read the p/eceding pages of this
traa, will be convinced that every line of this para
graph contains a grofs mifreprefentation, highly offenfive
to every Protedant inhabitant of Ireland, and little cal
culated to promote an Union, the profeffed objea of the
Speech. This mifreprefentation, I am convinced, is
entirely and juftly attributable to Burkifm, and mifin-
formation conveyed to the noble Speaker by the followers
of that fea ; his well-known charaaer fetting him high
above all fufpicion of any other motive. I have already
fliown that Irifli Proteftants cannot be confidered as an
Englifli Colony, when oppofed to Irifh Romanifts. The
diftinaion of Colonift and Native has been long fince
worn out ; anil if the origin of the race of Irifh inhabit
ants is to be traced by their furnames, the inhabitants of
native Irifli extraaion compofe a very. large proportion
of Irifh Proteftants, and thofe of native Englifh extrac
tion a ftill greater proportion of Irifh Romanifts. His
Lordfhip. is e^gregioufiy miftaken in his calculation of the
relative numbers of Irifh Proteftants and Romanifts.
^Ree Appendix, No. i.) The Romifh Convention cal
culated the relative numbers as three to one : his Lord
fhip has doubled the proportion ! Property is on the
fide of the Irifh Proteftants as thirty-nine to one ; they
have therefore, though the fmaller number, a right to
govern the greater, by the principles of, the Britifh Con
ftitution.

( 2og. )
iftitution. Ireland is an acquifition to the Britifh Crowhj
made by Henry the Second, not by the expenditure of
blood and treafure, but by the confent of the natives.
If the Englifh Crowh has been obliged to employ its
arms and expend its treafure in the fuppreffion of fub
fequent Rebellions, the loyal inhabitants of Ireland have
always affifted with their arms and treafure, and the
Englifli nation has been fully repaid by the retention of
its filter kingdom as part of the Britifh Empire, without
which it could fcarcely fubfid in an independent date,
at lead in the prefent fituation of Europe. His Lordfhip.
is alfo under a great error, when he dates that Ireland is
a country maintained by Britifh arms and treafure; and
that Irifh Proteftants, whom he calls a Colony, could
never fupport themfelves without Britifli arms and trea
fure, and that they Would haVe been overwhelmed in
the fummer of 1798, had they not been protected by
Englifh power : for Ireland feipp'orts herfelf by her own
arms and treafure, and the Irifh Proteftants are well
able to maintain themfelves againft any efforts of Irifh
Romanifts by their own arms and treaftire ; and demon-
ftrated fuch their ability in the fuppreffion of the Romifh
Rebellion in the dimmer of 1798, without any Britifh
affiftance. Lord Cornwallis came over to Ireland for
the purpofe of extending pardon to the Irifh Rebels,
already routed and difperfed, and for defending the
country from a foreign invafion ; and if the Britifh
nation fent affiftance to part of the Britifli Empire,
invaded or threatened with an invafion by the French,
with whom the Empire is at war, was the part affifted
under any greater obligation for that affiftance than the
part which did not Hand in need of fuch affiftance ? Is
not Ireland engaged in the prefent war with France
p merely

f 210 )
merely becaufe fhe is a part of the, Britifh Empire ? And
is fhe not entitled to affiftance from the other parts of
the Empire, when menaced with an invafion--by the
common enemy ? She is not equal by herfelf to combat
with France, neither are the other parts of the Empire
taken feparately : they muft combat the common enemy
with the common force of the whole. It gives me great
pain to be obliged thus to animadvert on thefe unfounded
aflertions which his Lordfhip has been deceived into the
rifking. How very ridiculous would the affertion be,
that the Normans fettled in England are now French
Colonifts ! The man would be looked upon as infane,
who fhould argue, that thefe Colonifts, compared with
the native Saxons and Britons, were only as one to fix,
and that therefore this Colony fhould agree to an Incorpo
rating Union with France. Yet fuch argument would be as
good as his Lordfhip's ; for the. Normans fettled in England
only one century earlier than the Englifh fettled in Ire
land ; and the Normans may more judly be faid to have
fettled in England by conqueft, than the Englifh in Ire
land. William, previous to his fettlement in England,
defeated the Saxon Monarch in a great and decifive battle.
Henry the Second acquired Ireland without a blow. In
truth, all fuch arguments are highly abfurd. Different
riations inhabiting the fame territory for feven hundred
years, as the Saxons and Normans ; for fix hundred
years, as the Englifh and Irifh ; under the fame Govern
ment and Laws, muft be fo blended and mixed together,
as to become one and the fame, nation : otherwife the
inhabitants of the different diflrias of the habitable
world might be faid to be compofed of different na
tions refpeaively, and the diftinaions of different races
fubfift in the fame country for ever. I muft here ob-
ferve,

( 211 ).
fa#ve, that publications, purporting to be Speeches fpoken
in the Britifh Parliament, refpeaing Irifh affairs, as wed
by the Members in Oppofition as by fome of His Ma
jefty's Minifters and their friends, have had very bad
effeas in Ireland, and have been among the moft promi
nent caufes of the laft Rebellion ; holding out ftrong
encouragements to Irilh Romanifts, and as it were fti-
mulating them to infurreaion, and infpiring them with
the mod flattering hope of fuccefs. It is fincerely to
be wifhed, that at leaft the friends of Government in
England were more circumfpea and difcreet in their
affertions and pofitions refpeaing the date of Ireland,
and fomewhat better informed, before they venture to
fend abroad to the public, crude and ill-digefted plans of
projeaed innovations in that kingdom, and rafh and
ill-founded opinions concerning the political influence
and power of the different claffes of its inhabitants.
In the pamphlet entitled 4 Arguments for and againft
4 an Union between Great Britain and Ireland confidered,
written, as generally reported, by an Englifh Gentleman
in a confidential office under the Government in Ireland,
the following points, among others, are ftated as pro-
pofed to be edablifhed by an Union: ' An Arrangement
1 for the Roman Catholic Clergy, fo as to put an end, if
4 poffible, to religious jealoufies, and to enfure the at-
4 tachment of that order of men to the State. — An Ar-
4 rangement with rcfpeft to Tithes' And in page 30 of
that excellent pamphlet entitled ' The Speech of the Right
4 Honourable William Pitt in the Britijh Houfe of Com-
4 mons,' there is a paffage which has given no fmall
caufe of alarm to Irifh Proteflants : the caufes of
complaint of Irifh Romanids are therein dyled moft
P 2 goading

( 212 )
godding and ofpreffive ; and the paffage proceeds, — * with
4 refpect to the grievances of which the lower orders of
• the Catholics of Ireland complain, I do not at prefent
4 purpofe entering into the detail Of the means which
4 may be found1 to alleviate their diflreffes, nor how far
4 it i, poffible fo give them relief on the fubjetl of Tithei,
* or put it into their power to make a provifton for the Clergy
* of their own Church' Conneaing this paffage with
the two points fuggeded by the above-mentioned pam
phlet, it would feem ihat the Briiifti Miniflry had' come
to a refolution to give a national fupport to the Romifh
Irifli Clergy, and that this fupport is to be extraaed
from that of the Parochial Protedant Clergy of Ireland,
to wit, the Tithes, by affigning a portion of them to the
Romifli Clergy. 1 have already diown, that no part of
the Tithes is really and bona fide paid out of the property
of the Peafantry, but out of that of their Landlords ;
and that forty-nine parts out of fifty of the landed edates
belong to Proteftants, and confequently that forty-nine
parts out of fifty 6f the Tithes are really paid out of the
property of Proteftants. I have fhown, that the Irifli
Proteftant Clergy are not paid by the Romifli Peafantry
in general, more than one fifth part of the real value of
the Tithes, though an abatement is made out of the rents
of their farms nearly equal to the real value of them ;
fo that the Peafantry really gain, inftead of lofing, by
the lands being fubjea to Tithes. Is it therefore confid
ent with juftice, leaving civil policy out of the quedion,
to compel Irifli Protedant Landlords to fupport Romifh
Prieds for inftruaiiig their Tenantry in principles hodile,
not only to the State, but to their perfonal fafety indi
vidually ? And is it reafonable that fuch fupport fhould
be fubtraaed from the fubfiftence of the Protedant Pa
rochial

( 2I3 )
rochial Clergy, already diffidently fcanty ? It mud be
obferved here, that the Romifh Parifh Priefts have in
general a comfortable firbfidence : they can afford to live
as well as the great majority of the beneficed Proteftant
Clergy of Ireland. I have already (hown the poor pro-
vifion which is made for them ; and the Curates of the
edablifhed Church are in a worfe fituation, in point of
fubfiflence, than the great majority of Romilh Prieds ;
nor is there at prefent any great profpea of materially
bettering their condition ; the narrow circumdances and
fcanty provifion of the majority of the beneficed Clergy
rendering any confiderable increafe of the dipends of
Curates in general impraaicable. The Proteftant Clergy
are moftly married men, and have families to fupport:
the Romifh Prieds are bound to celibacy. I have already
fhown, that Romilh Priefts, from certain doctrines and
ceremonies of their Religion, have ways and means of
extraaing money from thofe of their perfuafion, which
the Proteftant Clergy have not. The former, through
out Europe, are complete adepts in the feience of reli
gious alchemy. A Romifli Pried can procure a fubfifl
ence from a congregation of Romanifts, when a Proteft
ant Clergyman, with a congregation of Protedants
equally numerous and wealthy, if bereft of Tithes, would
darve. It is further to be confidered, that thedifaffeaion
of the Romifli Clergy, as well as Laity, arifes from the
principles of their Religion ; and that it admits of no
other cure than the change of thefe principles. Were
the Romifh Clergy in poffeffion of the whole revenues
of the Proteftant Church Eftablifhment in Ireland, it
would not render them a whit lefs hoftile to the Proteft
ant Government. No argument for conferring on them
a provifion from the State can be deduced from the fup-
p 3 pofition,

( 214 )
.pofition, that the attachment of that order of men would bt
thereby enfured to the State. Their hoftility would in
fuch cafe remain unchanged : their ability to exercife it
more effeaually would be increafed. The Gentleman
who has propofed this expedient, has, if I am rightly
informed, documents in his poffeffion fufficient to de-
monftrate that the Romifh Prieds throughout the king
dom were very aaive agents in the late Rebellion : many
of them appeared openly in arms, and were generally
the mod blood-thirdy of the Infurgents. It is not a
little furprifing to obferve, that a fcheme for conferring
public rewards and edablifliments on vanquifhed, yet
irreclaimable Rebels, who fo recently imbrued their
hands in the blood of their loyal fellow-fubjeas, at the
expenfe, and extraaed from the pockets, of the furviv-
ing fufferers? fhould be propofed as one of the conditions
of an Incorporating Union of Great Britain and Ireland!
And it is to be hoped that fuch fcheme will be finally
reprobated by the magnanimous Britifh Minider, and by
every Protedant in Great Britain and Ireland ; and that
no new arrangements refpeaing Tithes will be introduced
in Ireland, except fuch as fhall be adopted in England;
and that the eflablifhed Clergy of both kingdoms may be
kept on the fame footing. That great Minifter, who
may. with propriety be dyled the Atlas of Europe, is fo
fully engaged in bufinefs of the greateft moment to the
Chriflian world, that he has not always fufficient leifure
to examine minutely all the circumftances which mud be
confidered in the progrefs of a Treaty qf Union. His
great and comprehenfive mind entertains the general plan
on an enlarged feale of public utility ; but he will not
difdain to receive information from inferior underftand-
Jngs on points of moment, relating to the rights of
confiderable

(' 2I5 )
>confiderable bodies of men, whofe agency materially
contributes to the exiftence of fociety, and whofe fe
curity mud be provided for in the treaty, — rights on
which he may have yet caft but a tranfient glance, as a
-man furveying a region from a high mountain, views, with
but little attention, inferior eminences.
I cannot help expreffing my regret, that the .fpirit of
Burkifm, which has notori-oufly poffeffed fome men of
;great power in England, feems to have made its way to
the Britifh Minider, fo as to convey to him fome very
falfe information refpeaing Irifh affairs. His ftyling
the caufes of complaint of Irifh Romanifts moft goading
and oppreffive, convinces me that feme impreffions have
been made upon him, not at all favourable to the true
interefls, not only of Irifh, 'but of Englifli Proteflants.
I cannot comprehend what goading or opprejfive cauje of
complaint Irifh Romanifts labour under. They are on an
exaa level with Irifh Proteftants in the equal enjoyment of
ail civil .privileges, except the capacity of fitting in Par
liament .and filling a few public offices, in whofe depart
ment is lodged the Supreme Executive Power of the
State. And how are they incapacitated ? By their re-
fufal to take the oaths and engagements for the fecurity
¦of the State, taken by all His Majefty's fubjeas who fit
in Parliament *or fill fuch offices. This incapacity is the
only caufe of complaint of liilh Romanifts ; and Englifh
Romanifts have the very fame caufe of complaint. Is
this a caufe of complaint moft goading and opprejfive?
Are the provifions of the Englifh Aa of the firft of
Elizabeth, of the Bilhof Rights, the ift of- William
and Mary, of the Ted and Corporation Afts, of the
-50th of Charles the Second, .of the id of George the
p 4 ' Firft,

( 2.6 )
Fird, of the A& ratifying .the Articles of Union of
-England and Scotland, of all the fimilar Aas in Ireland,
all already mentioned, goading and oppreffive ? I am
convinced Mr. Pitt never intended to throw fuch a re-
ffeaion, fuch a cenfure, on thefe Aas, allowed by all
our abled writers, and by all who are not Romanids or
Jacobins, to be the bulwarks of the Conftitution. I
confefs myfelf utterly unable to guefs the meaning of
the paffage I have quoted, and would acknowledge great
obligations to any perfon who would be kind enough tq
explain it to me,
I think this no improper place to give a fhort defcrip-
tion, for the information of Englifh Protedants, of the
¦magnificent Jeminary for the exclufive education of Romijh
Priefts, lately founded and edablifhed in Ireland by the
fole influence of the Engli/h Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant,
always the Irijh Prime Minifter.
In the feffion of the Irifh Parliament of the year 1795,
a Bill was introduced by the Secretary into the Houfe
qf Commons, entitled, ' An Aa for the better Erluca,-
4 tion of Perfons profeffing the Popifli or Roman Ca-
4 tholic Religion.' This Aa empowered certain truf-
tees, therein named, to receive donations for eflablifh-
ing and endowing an academy, for the education of per
fons profeffing the Roman Catholic Religion, and to
acquire lands exempt from forfeiture by mortmain, not
exceeding the yearly value of one thoufand pounds : and
a claufe was introduced at the end of it, for giving
thefe truflees the dim of eight thoufand pounds, out of
the public money, as an aid to the undertaking. This
Bill paffed through the Houfe, and was enaaed into a
law,

( 217 )
Jaw, without oppofition, and with little notice or dif.
cuffion. The Secretary reprefented, that it was more
the intereft of the State to permit Romanifts to found
a feminary for the education of their youth at home,
than, by refuting fuch permiffion, to incline them to
fend them abroad to foreign Romifli feminaries ; and
that it was becoming the liberality of the nation to give
them fome aid towards the inftitution. Thefe repre-
fentations were plaufible, and no Member of either
Houfe thought it a matter of fufficient importance to
warrant an oppofition, fnppofing the Romanifts were
to complete the bufinefs at their own cods ; and that
Parliament would hear no more of it. Mr. Huffey,
already mentioned, a Romifli Pried educated in Spain,
a.nd imported into Ireland during the fliort Lieutenancy
of Earl Fitzwilliam, was, by the influence of the Se
cretary, appointed Prelident of the Seminary: this
man has been fince appointed Bifliop of Waterford, as
he afferts, by the Pope, and has made himfelf very re
markable in Ireland, by the publication of a moft in
flammatory feditious pamphlet, under the title of a Paf
toral Letter. The projeaors of this fcheme of a Ro
mifh Seminary, however, were determined not to let the
Irifh Parliament off on fuch cheap terms: the Engliftj
Secretary, though a very honourable worthy man, feemed
in every particular to be a (launch Burkifl, or at lead
to be under the dominion of that fea of politicians ;
and, being the odenfible founder of the Seminary, he
refolved it fhould not be left for its fupport to the ca-
fual benevolence of Irifli Romanifts, for whofe ufe
it was founded ; he procured the payment to the truf-
tees of large fums of money out of the public purfe,
amounting in the whole to near forty thoufand pounds. In

•( ai8 )
In every fubfequent feffion, a regular charge of eight
thoufand pounds was made to Parliament for its annual
fupport. The magnitude of this dim, for fuch a purpofe,
dartled fome of the Members of both Houfes, and regular
accounts and items of the eftablifhment and expendi
ture were called for : and it appeared in the feffion of
1798, that not one penny had ever been received by
the'truftees, from any Romanid as a donation: that the
eftablifhment was for the exclufive education of two
hundred ftudents in Divinity only, as a fource to fur-
nifli a perpetual fupply of two thoufand Romijh Priefts to
•the Kingdom : that each of thefe ftudents was to be en
tertained in the Seminary for four years, and then priefted,
and fent abroad as an officiating Clergyman : that the
annual dim of eight thoufand pounds was required for
the maintenance of them and their teachers; that is,
thefe two hundred dudents were to be educated at an
annual expenfe of forty pounds per head to the nation :
that none of the Romifh laity were to be admitted as
dudents into this Seminary ; which is neither more
nor lefs than a moft magnificent Romifh Monaftery,
ereaed, and to be fupported, by the Irifli Proteftant
Parliament, within eleven miles of the city of Dublin,
for the fapient purpofe of training a perpetual body of
two thoufand miffionaries to be difperfed through the
nation, to propagate fyftematic doarinal difaffeaion
to the eftablifhed Government in Church and State.
Many Members of .both Houfes expreffed their diflike
of this inftitution ; they did not fail to ftate to the Mi
nider, that Parliament had been led into an acquiefcence
with the meafure in its infancy, by great cunning and
addrefs; that the Bill, under the fhade of which this
noxious and unconditutional weed had fprung up, did
not

m ( 219 )
not warrant fo dangerous an innovation ; that It only
empowered Irifh Romanids to found a Seminary at
their own expenfe, for the education of their youth in
'general ; yet this was a .Seminary founded, and to be
fupported, at the expenfe of the nation, for the exclu
five education of Romifli Priefts ; that it was evident:
the Romifh Laity did nordefire nor want fuch a Se
minary, for they never had fubfcribed a (hilling to its
fupport ; and the Univerfity of Dublin had been opened
to them for the education of their youth, by the Bill of
1793, in their favour. The Englifh Secretary argued
for the expediency of the inftitution, principally, almoft
entirely, on the neceffity, as he alledged, of a fupply of Ro-
mijh Priefts for the nation : he ftated, that the Semi
naries for the education of the Romifh Priefts in France
and Flanders, had been deftroyed by the Jacobins ; that
Romifli Priefts required an education different from
that of their Laity ; arid that therefore this Seminary was
properly appropriated to the exclufive education of Ro
mifh Priefts. Many Members of the Houfe could not
comprehend the force of this argument : they could
not underftand how the deftruaion of Seminaries for
¦the education of Romifli Prieds in Flanders or France,
made it imperative on the State to provide for the edu
cation of a fet of men, in principles of Religion, not
only different from that of the State, but hoftile to it ;
and for the purpofe of diffufing it. They conceived the de
druaion of fuch Seminaries to be advantageous to the State;
the edablifhment of fimilar ones in their own country,
for the fame purpofe, highly pernicious. They couM
not comprehend the public utility of educating Romifh
youth, deftined for the Minidry, in different fchools
from the lay youth of that perfuafion : they knew it ro
be

( -220 )
be an old policy in the Gmrt of Rome, to feparate the
Clergy from the Laity, .in all concerns relating to pri
vate life, as much as poffible ; that it might attach the
Clergy in all countries to its own particular intereft :
but they could not comprehend the neceffity of their fup-
porting fuch a political fyftem. The Minider was very
hard pufhed in the year 3798, in carrying the grant of
eight thoufand pounds to his Monaftery through the
Houfe ; many of his moft attached fiends deferred, and
left the Houfe during the dtbate ; he was obliged to fend out
his emiffaries to rally his fcattered troops ; and he carried
it at laft by a refeaant majority in a very thin Houfe,
few more than forty Members being prefent. In the
laft feffion of the Irifh Parliament, the new Minider
introduced a Bill in the Houfe of Commons, for a grant
of a fomething lefs dim than eLjht thoufand pounds to
this Monaftery ; it palfed the Houfe, and went up to
the Lords, where it was thrown out. It appeared on
this occafion, that fixty-nine dudents onlyk inflead of
two hundred, were maintained in the houfe, notwith-
danding the charge for the fupport of the full number
was but little diminiflied. It was currently reported,
and very generally believed, that about thirty-fix Romifh
dudents from this Monaftery, had, on the breaking out
of the Rebellion, joined the Infurgents, and fought at
Kikock and other places againd the King's troops.
Certain it is, that fixteen or feventeen have been ex
pelled from it on account of the Rebellion; but the
Governors watted with becoming prudence, tid the Re-
: bellion was fuppreffed, before they executed this aa of
wholefome feverity. Some of thefe rebellious dudents
had been flain in aaion, and others had fled to efcape
punifhment. Previous to the breaking out of the Re
bellion,

( 221 ),
bdlion, a vifitatioti had been held in Trinity College,
Dublin, ahd fevenfeen ftudents, all Romanids, except
three or four reputed Protedants, to the bed of my re*
colfeaion, had been expelled by the Vifitors ; it being
proved, that they had been feduced info that abominable
traitorous affociatiori, called the Society of United Irifh
men :. one of the reputed Proteftants was a brother of
Mr. Emmet, a Member Of the Irilh Direaory, now im-
prifoned at Fort George in Scotland. From what ap
peared before the Vifitors, it vi'as pretty evident, that-
Romanifts had reforted to that College, particularly the
fons of a leading Romifli democrat, heretofore a very
aaive Member of the Romifli Convention in Dublin,
for the fole purpofe of diffufing the pdifoh, and pro
pagating the doari-neSj of the United Irifhmen through
the College ; and that the contagion was flopped in time',
by the fpirit and exertions of the Protedant ftudents;
through whofe intervention the Vifitors were called- on
for the exertion of their authority, to purge the Col
lege of fuch peftilent Corruptions. When the new Mi-
nifter found his Bill, for the grant of fo large a dim
of money to the Romifh Seminary; was rejeaed by the
Houfe of Lords, he attempted to introduce another Bill
/or the fame purpofe, into the Houfe of Commons ; but
this was rejeaed, conformably to the -eftablifhed ufage
of the Houfe, which forbids the introduaion of a new
Bill, for the fame purpofe with a rejeaed one, in the
fame feffion. The new Minifler, on the introduaion of
his fecond Bill, thought fit to advert to the vifitation
which had been held eight months before in the College
of Dublin ; and extolling, very judly, the condua of one
of the Vifitors (without condefeending to take the final led
notice of the condant of the other, who had in every parti -
% cu!ar

( 222 )'
cular concurred with his colleague), he took occafioritc»
acquaint the Houfe, that the College of Dublin had been
infeaed with the ppifon of treafon ; without any rea
fon, vifible to the generality of the Members, for the in
troduaion' of the vifitation or the- infeaion of the
College of Dublin into his fpeech ; with any part of
which they had no apparent connexion : he alfo pathe
tically lamented the mifcarriage of his Bill in the Hon fe-
of Lords; and particularly dated, that Government
would not let fo ufeful an inftitution, as that of the Romifh
Monaftery, fall to decay, for want of fufficient fupport. I
perfeaiy underdood the Irifh Minifter's reafon for in
troducing into his fpeech the vifitation of the College
of Dublin, and its infeaion : he feared the objeaions
which might be made to the Romifh Monadery, on the
fcore of treafon, and determined to obviate them, by dat
ing that the Protedant College of Dublin had,alfo been in
feaed. Buthe omitted to flate, that almofl all the dudents
expelled from the College of Dublin were Romanids,
or had been fhortly before fo ; and that the infeaion
had. been introduced by them : that the College of Dub
lin had near feven hundred dudents, feventeen only of
whom were expelled, and that they were dragged to the
vifitatorial tribunal by the Protedant dudents : that the
great mafs of the dudents of Trinity College^ Dub
lin, were eminently loyal: and that the Romifh Mo
nadery, Whofe dudents were deluded from the world,
and therefore lefs liable to external infeaion, . had but fix
ty-nine dudents, feventeen of whom were expelled for
sa^al Rebellion, exclufive of thofe who were killed in
aaion, or fled from the gallows. I never could difeqver
the .utility of the inditution, as dated by the Minider ;
nor. do I fuffiqiently underftand, how Government, can
apply

( 223 )
apiJy any part of the public treafure to its fupport, not-
only without the concurrence of Parliament, but con
trary to its decifion, by the rejeaion of "the Bill for
that purpofe : I thought the Treafury was better guarded,
than to admit of fuch an arbitrary difpofition of any part
of its contents. The annual income for the fupport
of the Univerfity of Dublin does not amount to eight
thoufand pounds. A large part of this arifes from pri
vate donations, the remainder from grants of the Crown
of its own edates, and no part of it from Parliamentary
grants of fums to be raifed by taxes affeffed on the fub
jea. The monflrous provifion required for the educa
tion and fubddence of two hundred Romifh dudents,
all paupers, will be more clearly underdood, when I
compare it with that which is provided for poor fcholars
in Trinity College, Dublin, mod of whom are de-
dined to the Protedant Miniftry in Ireland. There are
thirty fizers in the College of Dublin ; thefe poor-
gentlemen have no provifion whatfoever from the
College, fave their dinners, of the broken meat from
the table of the fellows : they are obliged to provide
their own chambers : there are feventy-two fcholars of
the houfe, thirty of whom enjoy what are called Na
tives' Places ; the Natives have each a falary of twenty
pounds per annum, and their dinners: the remaining
forty-two fcholars have four pounds per annum, and
their dinners : they are both obliged to provide their own
chambers. A fcholarfhip is not attainable till the ftu-
dent is of two or three years danding, a Native's place
not until he is of four : and both expire when the ftu-
dent attains the danding of a Mader of Arts. ,The
Romifh poor fcholars in the Monaftery are magnificently*
lodged gratis, and maintained at a great expenfe in a
3 mod

feofi plentiful manner: .there is a prdvifiori- , for tv?tf
hundred. How different are the eftabliftimentS for the
education of the Proteftant and Romifh Clergy in Ire
land ! And how infinitely fuperior is that of the latter'
clafs ! This is one, and a very glaring effea of the
fpirit of - Burkifm, diffufed among our rufers both iti
Great Britain and Ireland. There is nO fuch magni
ficent foundation, in any College of the two famous.
Univerfities of Oxford and Cambridge, for the educa
tion and fubfidence. pf poor, or any ftudents^ as is made
in' this Romifh Monadery, for the education and fub%,
fidence of thefe embryos of Romifh Prieds, dedined
for the propagation of doarinal principles through the
realm, fubverfive of the Conditution in Church and
State !
I am now Come to the lad obfervation I fhall make
on the melancholy effeas of the fpirit of Burkifm ifl
the Britifli Councils: I fhould indeed have been Willing
to omit it, from my refpea to the great Perfonagej
whofe condua I mud neceffarily advert to; but the:
franfaaiort I am about to date, has become fo public^
and is of itfelf of fo extraordinary a nature, fo de-
'mondrative of the deceptions praaifed in England by
Mr. Burke's difeiples, and the mifmformation refpea
ing the date of Ireland, which, they find means to -con-=
vey to' great: Minifters of State, and obtain credit for %
that it cannot be omitted in a Traa, Written with a view
of opening the eyes of the Britifh nation, and expofing
to it the dangerous arts of the profeffors of Burkifflij
and the deplorable effeas they are capable of pro
ducing. The

( 225 )
• The county of Wexford, in which the late Rebel
lion burd out, fuddenly and Unexpeaedly, with aflp-
nifhing rapidity and fury, lies on the fea-coaft oppofite
to Pembrokefhire in South Wales ; it is almoft entirely
comprifed in the diocefe of Ferns. The Rebels in two
days made themfelves mailers of almoft the whole
county, and particularly of the inland parts. I have
already dated part of the barbarous maffacres they com
mitted on the Proteftant inhabitants of that county in
cold blood ; and particularly their daughter of ah the
Proteftant Clergy who fell into their hands. At the
firft explofion, a few Protedant Clergymen, and other
Protedant inhabitants, living near the fea-coad, finding
their retreat into the country cut off, and hearing of
the indifcriminate murder of all Protedants by the Re
bels, hopelefs of mercy, fled to the coafl, threw them
felves into the fird boats they met with, almod all fmall
yawls and fkiffs, undecked, and furnifhed only with oars,
and committed themfelves to the waves of a very boifterous
fea, to efcape from their mercilefs purfuers. The Al
mighty God preferved the lives of thefe perfecuted wan
derers ; they eroded the Channel fafely, and landed in
Pembrokefhire, with no other fuftenance than what
was contained in their pockets ; and no clothes,
but what they wore on their perfons ; and made their
wav to the town of Haverford Wed, deditute of all
means of fubfidence. Mr. John Colclough of Tintern
Abbey, on the fea-coad of the county of Wexford, the
fecond fon of a refpeaable family in the county, and
nephew to Mr. Cornelius Grogan, who aaed in the
capacity of Commidary General to the Rebel army,
having a dout veffel of his own, put tp fea on the
breaking out of the Rebellion, and landed in Pembrok?-
q^ lhire,

( 426 )
'(hire, ;tbgether with one Thomas M'Cord or M'Leard,
a clerk whom he employed in a flour-mill, and they
both repaired to the town of Haverford Wed. It ap
pears by the Report of the Secret Committee of the '
Irilh Houfe Of Commons, that Mr. Colclough and his
clerk were fiifpe&cd to have been very aaive in pro
moting the Rebellion. (See Appendix to that Report,
No. 35.) However, whether the fufpicion was jud or
not, neither the one nor the other chofe to join the In
furgents ; for they quitted the country on the commence
ment of the Rebellion. Mr. Colclough was at the
head of his family intered (his eldeft brother being ab-
fent on the Continent), which was very confiderable,
and gave him a great influence among the lower orders
in the county, particularly the Romifh peafantry; and
he might have been of great fervice in curbing the Re
bellion, had he remained in the country, and been
willing to exert himfelf in that refpea : and he could
have remained in the country with greater fafety than
other gentlemen, as well on account of his family in
fluence, as that of his uncle, a Rebel General, and a
man of great property. The Magiftracy and inhabit
ants of Haverford Weft received the unfortunate fu
gitives with great charity and hofpitality : they made
fubferiptions for their relief and fupport until they
could procure fupplies for their fubfidence from Ireland.
Meff. Jordan and Bowren, Magiftrates of Haverford
Wfeft, wrote an account of the arrival of thefe fufferers
in their town, to his Grace the Duke of Portland,
His Majedy's Secretary of State for the Home
•Department, and probably folicited relief for them :
'to this application of thefe Magiftrates, his Grace was
pleafed to return the following anfwer : which I here
infert,

b- i2j )
Kiferf, as it waspubliffied in the Dublin Journal; and
feveral other Newfpapers. It bears date the 22d of June
1798 «

4 Gentlemen,

4 I have received your letter on the fubjea of the late in-
4 flux of perfons in your county from Ireland, and am ex-
* tremely forry to obferve that there are fo many young
' Clergymen and able-bodied men among them. The condua
4 of fuch perfons in remaining out of Ireland at a moment
' like the prefent, is very much to be cenfured ; and I dc
4 fire that you will ufe your bedendeavours to imprefs them
* with a due fenfe of the dangerous tendency of fuch an
4 example, and of the diflionourable and difgraceful im-
• putations to which it obvioufly expofes themfelves : and
' at the fame time that you will make known to the'
4 Clergy, that their names will certainly be reported to 'their1
f refpeclive diocefans. With refpea to Mr. Colclough i.
' and Mr. M'Cord, I defire that they may have full IP
4 berty, either to go to Ireland, or to flay in the country ;
4 and that all perfons for whom they will anfwer, as well.as
4 all the infirm men, women, and children, may be ad-*
* mitted to the fame indulgence. 4 I am, Gentlemen,
4 Your mod obedient humble fer*ant, , -
4 Whitehall, June 22d, 1798. PortIANd; '
' To Meff'rs. Jordan and Bowen, at Haverford Weft.'
The county and the town of Wexford were refcued
from the Rebels, about the time of the date qf the Duke's,
ktler. They were chafed from them with confiderable
q_2 'daughter ;

( *rt )
ftaughter : the Protedant Gentlemen of the county were
fummoned to a general meeting in the town of Wexford
on the 7th of July 1798, by General Lake. A copy of
the Duke's letter was laid before them ; they were all
ftruck with amazement : and they determined uhani-
Hibufly to fend a fetter to the Duke on the fubjea, of
which the following is a copy : it was figned by the High
Sheriff of the county ;
«' The Committee of Gentlemen of the county of
Wexford, appointed by General Lake, having read a
copy of a letter from his Grace the Duke of Portland
to Meffrs. Bowen and Jordan, Magiftrates in the town
of Haverford Wed, South Wales, dated 22d Ju-ne, ult.
and which appears to have been in anfwer to a letter
received by his Grace from thofe Gentlemen, cannot
avoid teftifying their hearty forrow at the cenfure thrown
upon the Clergy of their diocefe in faid fetter, and their
indignation at the grofs mifreprefentation which muft
have occafioned it. They are unanimous in a high
opinion of the loyalty, patriotifm, and proper condua
of the Clergy, and ftrongly feel the neceffity of their
flight and abfence during the continuance of the Rebel
lion which fo unhappily raged in this county ; as, had
they not effeaed their efcape, they have every reafon to
conclude that they would have fhared a fimilar fate with
thofe unhappy few of that body, who early fell into the
hands of the Infurgents, and were afterwards maffacred
in cold blood.
' They lament, that men of fuch unblemifbed cha-
*> 'raaer and condua, fhould, from the fecret reprefenta-
«- tions of perfons no way qualified, be profcribed that
* proteaion

( 229 }
' proteaion and afylum fo liberally beftowed .on the per-
4 fons of Mr. John Colclough and Thomas M'Cord, men
4 who were, and might have remained in perfea fecurity
1 in His Majefty's fort at Duncannon, and whofe cha-
1 raaers are by no means free from imputation in this
4 country, and on whom they are forry to find fuch favoUT
4 lavifhed by the Englifi) Cabinet, as they are certain no
4 favourable account of their condua could be made to
¦* Government fave by themfelves.
4 Edward Percivall,
4 Sheriff, and Chairman of the Committee.
4 Wexford, July Jth, 1798.
4 To his Grace the Duke of Portland, Whitehall'
To this letter, though written in the names of a great
number of the mod refpeaable Gentlemen in the county,
and figned by the High Sheriff, his Grace, as I am in
formed, never condefcended to return any anfwer.
The following paragraph was inferted in the Waterford
Newfpaper of July the 10th, 1798 :
* Yefierday Mr. John Colclough of Tintern Cadle,
4 county of Wexford, was brought here from Milford,in
4 cudody of two King's meffengers ; he was efcorted by
4 a party of the Union cavalry to Thomas Town on his
i way to Dublin. Mr. M'Cord, who was implicated in
4 the charge for which the former was apprehended, had
4 made off, but it is faid that there was no probability of
4 his avoiding the vigilance of his purfuers. Thefe are
4 the two Gentlemen who were fpoken fo favourably of in a
<U ' htttr

( 230 .)
4 letter from the Duke of Portland to Meffrs. Jordan arid
;*¦ Bow en at Haverford Weft.
4 Clericus Wexfordiensis.'
His Grace the Duke of Portland is the chief of the
family of Bentinck in England, which is originally Dutch ;
his Grace's ancedor was the great favourite of King Wil
liam the Third, our glorious deliverer from Popery, Sla
very, and arbitrary Power: he accompanied thatgreatPrince
to England;, and received from him mod bountiful rewards
for his fervices, and mod lavifh marks of his favour. His
•Grace owes all his honours, all his great edates, to the
Revolution of 1688 ; he enjoys, and holds them, if I niay
fo fay, by a Protedant tenure. His Grace is univerfally
edeemed a Nobleman of great benevolence, and amply
endowed with the fecial virtues. At the time he wrote
this letter to the Magidrates of Haverford Wed, he was,
as he now is, His Majedy's principal Secretary of State
for the Home Department ; and confequently ought to
have been well informed on points relating to the internal
date, as well of Ireland, as of Great Britain. To what
caufe then can the writing of fuch a letter by his Grace, fo
unmeritedly reffeaing on the condua of Protedant Cler
gymen, be attributed ? Proteftant Clergymen in the mod
didreffed fituation that men could be reduced to ! obliged
to beg from drangers a morfel of hread, and a fpot to lay
their wearied limbs in ! a letter profcribing all relief to
Proteftant Clergymen, obliged to fly, naked and deditutei
from their homes, in open hoats acrofs the fea, and to
brave all the perils of the deep, to efcape from the ruth-
lefs daggers of infuriate Romifh affaffins ; that relief which
was fo liberally and charitably afforded to French Romijh
Priefts in fimilar circumdances ! a letter enjoining their
-¦ ¦¦ Proteftant

( • 231 ¦ ) •
Proteftant fellow-fubjeas to.fpurn Proteftant Clergymen,
dying from maffacre, and imploring proteaion, with
contempt arid reprobation from their doors ! The caufe is
to be found in the indefatigable exertions of the difeiples
of the late .Mr. Edmund Burke, and of himfelf whilft
" Uving, in infufing the poifon of his Romifh principles into,
the minds of his Grace, and of other great men in Eng*-
land : mifreprefenting, traducing, and vilifying with
unwearied and unceafing application, the whole Pro-,
teftant fydem in Ireland. How powerful muft the in
fluence of Burkifm be, when it could load the mild and;
benevolent difpofition of his Grace with fo uncharitable.
a bias! I have been for fifteen years laft pad Vicar Ge
neral of the diocefe of Ferns ; I have therefore an oppor
tunity of being well acquainted with the Clergy of it ;and
I never yet knew a fet of men more orthodox, more
pious, more charitable, more efteemed by their Protedant
parifhioners, and, as was generally fuppofed, by their
Romifh parifhioners too, till the late Rebellion fet fire tp
the mine of their irreclaimable hodility to what they are
taught to repute Herefy. The Wexford Clergy were
almoft all. refident in their refpeaive parifhes, and were.
regular in the difcharge of their duty. But my tedimony
of their irreproachable and meritorious condua is of very
little.- confequence, when weighed with that of the gfeat
body of the Protedant Gentlemen of the county, their pa,
rifliioners, and their attached friends, from a due fenfe
and. experience, of their merits. His Grace's nnwar-j
rantable reffeaions on 'the condua of the poor, diftreiled,
defpoiied, and exiled Proteftant Clergy of Wexford, in his
letter, are not more wonderful, than his favourable re
commendation of Meffus. Colclough and M'Cord to the
' Magiftrates of Haverford Weft. Surely if the condua .of
;..- . -¦ ¦.: Q.4 tlw

( 232 )
the Clergy, in flying from their country in a feafon of
Rebellion, was reprehenfible ; that of thefe two per-
jonages, particularly of the firft, in abandoning their
country at fo critical a period, deferved infinitely more the
cenfure of his Grace. They were both young men able
to fight in defence of their lives and properties ; and Mr.
Colclough could have been of great fervice in extinguifh-
ing the flames of Rebellion in a very confiderable part of
the county of Wexford, had he been inclined to exert
himfelf for that purpofe ; and they could both have re
mained at home with much lefs hazard to their perfons
or properties, than the Proteftant Clergy. His Grace's
favour to thefe two men muft have arifen from the fame
fource with his reprobation of the condua of the Wexford
Clergy. And I do prefume moft humbly to fugged to
his Grace, the juftice and propriety of reviewing his own
condua on this occafion ; and examining into the fources
of that mifinformation, which led his Grace to adopt a
proceeding fo oppofite to the general operations of his
Grace's humanity, fo very difireffing to the innocent and
oppreffed objeas of his Grace's cenfure, and fo grating to
the feelings of every loyal Protedant fubjea of the Bri
tifh Empire.
I will conclude with expreffing a wifh, that the in
fluence of Burkifm may receive an effeaual and timely
check, as well in Great Britain as in Ireland : and that
all difgraceful and pitiful intrigues with an Irifli Romifh
faaion, in itfelf utterly inefficient, either for the promo
tion or obdruaion of an Incorporating Union of the two
nations, and highly offenfive to the loyal Protedant fub
jeas of His Majedy in Ireland, may be fpeedily and
for ever abandoned ^ aril that the patronage by Britifli
Statefman

( 233 1
Statefmen of fuch mifchievous, defperate projeas as Lord
Minto's, which, if at all praaicable, would be fubverfive
of the Conditution in Church and State, in both coun
tries, may not be made a powerful objeaion to that moft
effeaive of all meafures, which can be ever propofed for
the aggrandizement of the Britifh Empire, and the mu
tual benefit of both countries — an Incorporating
Union. PATRICK DUIGENAN,
Dublin, September 20th, 1799*

P. S. My original defign was, to prefent to the Britifli
Miniflry, and to the Englifli nation in general, a fair and
jufl piaure of the Prefent Political State of Ireland; which
feems to have, for fome time pad, been expofed to their
view in yery falfe and deceptive colours. I conceived
that fuch a performance might be of ufe in the arrange
ment of meafures, which mud precede and introduce an
Incorporating Union of the two nations. I am a man
attached to no party, unlets my deady adherence to the
principles of the Conditution of the Britifh Empire in
Church and State, be confidered as attachment to a party.
I am neither placed nor penfioned, but I am a loyal Pro
tedant fubjea of His Majedy. I have explicitly ex-
preffed my opinion refpeaing an Incorporating Union,
though I have offered no arguments on the queflion, as it has
been already fully canvaffed in many able publications both
in England and Ireland ; amongft which, I particularly
recommend tb the perufal of fuch as are defirous of good
informatipn on the fubjea, two pamphlets : the one con-
4. taming

(H 234 >
taintng 4 The Speech of William Smith, Efq. on the Debate of
* fhe Hjfueftion of Union in the Irijh Houfe of Commons,' par
ticularly that part of it which relates to the Competency
of Parliament : the other, the fame Gentleman's ' Review'
of the pamphlet containing 4 The Speech of the Right Ho-
* naurable the Speaker of the Irijh Houfe of Commons : infi
nitely the moft formidable adverfary of an Union, and one
of the ableft men in Ireland. Thefe two pamphlets I look
upon, as capital performances. In the latter, the author,
who is a young man, has combated with great vigour the,
arguments of the well-informed veteran politician.

APPENDIX,

V ( 2J5 )

APPENDIX,

No. i.
Calculation of the Number of Inhabitants in Ireland.
OlR William Petty dlrveyed the whole kingdom
ot Ireland with amazing accuracy (as may be feen by his
Map preferved in the Surveyor-general's office), fhortly
before the Reftoration in 1660, by order of the then
Irifli Government. In his ' Political Anatomy' he ftates
the whole population of Ireland in 1672, fixteen years
antecedent to the commencement of the Revolution war,
to amount to one million one hundred thoufand.
Dean Swift, in his fecond Drapier's Letter, publiflied
in 1724, ftates, that the inhabitants of Ireland, by the
largeft computation, then amounted to one million and a
half only.
In 1732, an enumeration of the inhabitants of Ireland
was made by order of Government, and they were found
to be under two millions,
Mr. Bufhe, a Member of the Irifli Houfe pf Commons,
has given an account of the number of houfes in Ireland,
calculated

( 236 )
calculated from the hearth-money books in 1791 ; with
other documents for enumerating the inhabitants of Ire-r
land. Mr. Chalmers, from the documents furniflied by Mr.
Bufhe, calculates the number of inhabitants of Ireland
in 1791 to amount to four millions two hundred thoufand ;
and from thence deduces, that they have been nearly
quadrupled in the courfe of one hundred years fince the
Revolution. (See ' Chalmers's Eftimate,' page 222, 223.)
With this laft calculation I cannot agree, for the fol
lowing reafons :
id. Mr. Chalmers, who has taken great pains to as
certain the population of England and Wales, computes
that population at the time of the Revolution to have
amounted to nearly feven millions (Edimate, page 58); and
the population in the year 1794 to amount to nearly eight
millions and a half (Edimate, page 220) : and confequently,
that England and Wales have increafed in population only
one million and a half in one hundred years. In his
quotation from Mr. Wallace it is laid down, that the
didreffed circumdances of mankind difabling them to pro
vide for a family, check very greatly the increafe of po
pulation (Edimate, page 221) : and he dates, that when
England was a country of fhepherds and warriors, fhe
was inconfiderable in numbers ; that when manufaaurers
found their way into the country, when hufbandmen
gradually acquired greater (kill, and when the fpirit of
commerce at length aauated all, people, as it were, grew
<out of the earth, amidd convulfions, famine, and warfare ;
that England can fcarcely be regarded as a manufaauring and

X 237 )
arid commercial country at the Revolution, when con
tra (led with her prefent profperity in manufaaure and
trade. (Eftimate, page 212, 213.) Ireland, during the
whole period from the Revolution to the prefent day,
when manufaaures and commerce are little more than in
their dawn, that dawn itfelf only commencing in the
year 1782, when the fhackles on her commerce were taken
off, may be faid to have been a country of fhepherds and
warriors. The whole kingdom, part of the province of
Ulfter excepted, in which the linen manufaaure has for
fome years flourifhed (and which alfo has been doubled in
the laft ten years), being almoft deftitute of agriculture
and manufaaures, and inhabited chiefly by herdfmen ;
a peafantry, as poor and miferable as any in Europe, for
want of employment, and always furnifhing the armies
of foreign Potentates, as well as thofe of Great Britain,
with multitudes of foldiers, and all foreign nations, par
ticularly America, with crowds of emigrants : England,
at the fame time, condantly increafing in manufaaures
and commerce, and her people fo fully employed, that
the nation has frequently complained of want of hands to
execute the various works in which they were engaged.
From all which, I think it not only improbable, but
jmpoffible, that Ireland can have quadrupled her popu
lation fince the Revolution, and that England and Wales
fhould not, in the fame fpace of time, have increafed
their population even by a fourth part.
2dly. I think the calculation made by Mr. Chalmers,
from the documents afforded by Mr. Bufhe, of the num- "
bers in each houfe, is too great ; in particular, the cal
culation of fix perfons to a houfe of one hearth : not
more than four, if fo many, fhould be allowed. The
inhabitants

t 238 )
Inhabitants of fuch houfes cannot be fuppofed to maintarr*
fervants; they confid of a man, his wife, and children*
when fully inhabited ; often of widows and children.
The Irifh inhabitants of fuch houfes fend off their chil
dren as fervants or labourers the moment they are able tb
gain any kind of fubfidence, their extreme poverty dif-
abling them to maintain a family.
3dly. I am inclined to think that there is feme error in
the calculation of the number of houfes in the nation,
and that they do not amount to fo many as Mr.-Bufhe has-
computed them to be.
'4thly, andladly. The fuperficial contents of the ifland
of Great Britain are to thofe of Ireland in the proportion
of three and a' half to one. I conjeaure, from the in-
fpeaion of the maps, that- the fuperficial contents of
Scotland, with its iflands, are pretty much the fame with
thofe of Ireland, perhaps they a little exceed them : Eng
land and Wales mud be therefore more than twice as
large as Ireland. I appeal to every intelligent man who
has travelled over the two nations, whether the local'po-
pulation of England and Wales be not vadly greater than
that of Ireland. If England and Wales have mountains
and wafles, Ireland has her mountains, wades, bogs,
lakes, and moraffes, of much greater extent,, compara
tively fpeaking, than England and Wales ; and in the
inhabited parts of the two nations the populoufnefs of
England and Wales exceeds that of Ireland in a very
great ratio. I fancy Mr. Chalmers, whofe refearches,-
accuracy, and judgment, do him infinite honour, never
travelled through Ireland, particularly through the pro
vinces of Connaughr,. Munfter, and Leinder ; if he had,.he never

( 239 *)
tftver cobld have been induced to believe that Ireland con
tained upwards of four millions of inhabitants, and England
and Wales only double that number. One thing I will
venture to afftrt, either that the calculation of the number
of inhabitants of England and Wales falls vadly fhort of
the real number, or that the number of the inhabitants of
Ireland is grofsly exaggerated: and that if Ireland con
tains upwards of four millions of inhabitants, England
and Wales contain at lead twelve millions. I have a
much better opinion cf the accuracy of Mr. Chalmers's
calculations, and the authenticity of his documents, than
of thofe of Mr. Bufhe ; and am myfelf decidedly of
opinion, that the number of the inhabitants of Ireland
has been exaggerated ; and particularly, becaufe 1 have
known it to be a cuflom in Ireland, for gentlemen, who
have affumed the title of Patriots, condantly to exaggerate
the drength and importance of Ireland, with a view of
bearding Great Britain ; and they have, in the fafhion of
Faldaff, increafed their men in buckram by upwards of
one million, in my own recolfeaion. A fort of inferior
Member of this clafs of politicians, and an United Iriih-
man, lately publiflied a pamphlet in Dublin, relating to
.the health of the Citizens, and means of preferving it,
in which he afferts, tranfiently as it were, that the inha
bitants of Dublin amount to four hundred thoufand, though
I never before heard them computed at a greater number
« than one hundred and fifty thoufand, and they are certainly
under two hundred thoufand. I am myfelf of opinion
that the whole inhabitants of Ireland do not amount to
more than three millions, if to fo many.

Relative

{ 240 1
Relative Numbers of Proteftants and Romanifts in Ireland* ¦¦
Sir William Petty, in his ' Political Anatomy,' dates
the proportion of Protedants and Romanids in Ireland to
be as three to eight, in the year 1672, fixteen years before
the. Revolution, fo that at that time the Irifh Proteftants
amounted to more than one third of the inhabitants of the
country. In the year 1732, an accurate enumeration was
made by order of Government of all the families in Ire-
landjdiflinguifhing the Protedant families from the Romifh
in each Province, and a calculation was made from
thence of the numbers of the Proteftant and Romifh in
habitants of Ireland: it was printed in Dublin in the year
1736, and reprinted in 1788. It appears from that cal
culation, that in the year 1732 the number of Proteftant
inhabitants was to that of the Romifh in the proportion
of one to two and a half. Dr. Burke, Romifh titular
Bifliop of Offory, wrote a book in Latin, which he
entitled, 4 Hibernia Dominicana ;' it was printed at
Bruffels in the year 1762 ; and he particularly ftates, that
an aaual enumeration was made of the numbers of Pro
teftants and Romanifts in Ireland in the year 1731, and
that there were found to be then in the kingdom feven
hundred thoufand four hundred and fifty-three Proteftants;
and one million three hundred and nine thoufand feven
hundred and fixty-eight Romanifts: fo that the proportion
of Romanifts and Protedants was hot in the year 173!
quite two to one, according to Dr. Burke. It is very
likely that this Romifh Bifhop had very accurate inform
ation of the relative numbers, perhaps better than that
which could be deduced from the documents dated in the
pamphlet containing the calculation made in 1732. Dr.
'J irke alfo dates, that the proportion had much' increafed on

(241 )
^on the Protedant fide, between the year 173 1 and the
year 1762, when he wrote, by the operation of the Ro*
pery Code, and the Protedant Cbarter-fchools, and makes
grievous complaints of the increafe of Heretics, as he
ftyles Protedants. The Popery Code continued in full
vigour till the year 1776, and its operation, together with
the Charter-fchools, mud have increafed the proportion
on the Protedant fide. There is a modern document
which muft have great weight in this queflion, taken
from the numbers of beggars admitted into the Houfe of
Indudry in Dublin, for a courfe of fix years, beginning
with the year 1784, and ending with the year 1789 ;
and their refpeaive religious perfuafions.
This Houfe of Indudry is a general receptacle for all
beggars which flock into Dublin from all parts of Ireland,
for there are no poor rates in Ireland. Divine fervice is
performed feparately in this receptacle for perfons of the
two perfuafions, and chaplains are retained for each by
the Corporation. Numbers admitted,
Proteftants. Romanifts.
In 1784 — 696 — 1870
In 1785.- — 768 — 243S
In 1786 — 1794 — 2912
In 1787 — 1493 ~ 334-t
In 1788 — 854 — 3643
In 1789 — 798 — 36l5
Sum total 6403 17,816, ,
The Romifli beggars- admitted -during acouffe' of fix
years, did not exceed the Proteftant beggars in the pro
portion of three to one. The Houfe of Indu-dry is filled
r with

t 242 )
with the lowed clafs ; and as the property in the hatids
of Irifh Protedants is to that in the hands of Irifh Ro
manifts as thirty-nine to one, the proportion of beggars
on the fide of Irifh Romanifts to thofe on the Proteftant
fide, muft vadly exceed the proportion of Romanids and
Protedants in the nation at large. Befides, although
wandering beggars flock to Dublin from all parts of the
kingdom, the fewed certainly come from the northern
counties, which abound mod with Protedants ; for
having a flourifhing manufaaure, thefe counties fend forth
fewed beggars. From all thefe documents it may be
fairly concluded, that Irifh Romanifts exceed Irifli Pro
teflants in number throughout the whole kingdom in no
greater proportion than that of two to one, perhaps in a
much lefs.
The Romifh Convention in Dublin, in the year 1792,
fird broached the pofitions, that Irifh Romanifts exceeded
Irifh Proteftants in the proportion of three to one, and
that the grofs number of the inhabitants amounted to four
millions ; confequently, that the Romanifts amounted to
three millions. They never produced any document on
which. they pretended to found a calculation; however,
they then admitted that Irilh Proteftants. amounted to one
million. It is remarkable that this Convention never
fcrupled to advance and publifh any falfehood whatfoever,
which they thought might be of advantage to their caufe ;
of which their petition to His Majefty is a very prominent.
inftance.
: Comparative Property of Irifij Proteftants and Romanifts.
The firft reafonable ground of calculation of the com-
-panttiv* property of Irifh Proteftants and Romanifts,
S muft

( 243 )
mutt be taken from the quantity of landed edates in the
hands of the members of each perfuafion refpea ively;
and this is the fared ground of calculation in a country
like Ireland, which is only jud beginning to be a com
mercial country, and has as yet made no great progrefs.
To make a true edimate in this refpea, we mud gq
back to the time of James the Fird. In his reign, fix
whole counties, out of nine contained in tke province of
Ulder, were forfeited to the Crown for treafon : the
King granted a great part of thefe couhties to Englifh
and Scotch Proteftants. Thefe grants made a great ad
dition to the landed eftates at that time in the hands of
Protedants; and the Grantees being infinitely more
indudrious than the former poffeflbrs, fuch of the ancient
inhabitants as retained their eflates by the favour of the
Crown, in thefe fix counties, and the fame clafs through
out the whole province of Ulfter, being a barbarous race;
unufed to indudry, and addiaed to luxury and gluttony*
particularly to an immoderate third for drong liquors,
waded their properties, contraaed large debts, and fold
great portions of their edates to their indudrious and
frugal Protedant neighbours in that province, before the
great Irifh Rebellion in 1641. Their poverty, the con-
fequence of their own idlenefs and diflipation, and their
envy of the profperity of their Protedant neighbours,
the fruit of their frugality and indudry, are affigned as
fome of the caufes of that horrid Rebellion and Maffacre.
The whole mafs of Irilh Romanids throughout, the na
tion engaged in this Rebellion of 1641 5 arid when it
was at length fuppreffed, almoft the whole of the landed
eflates in the hands of Irifh Romanids, at the time of
its commencement, were forfeited to the Crown, and
parcelled out among Proteflants. Thefe forfeitures, with
-*• v R2 the

( fltt )
the lanaea' eflates itt the hands of Proteftants at the com
mencement of the Rebellion, ambunted to five fixths of
the whole landed property of the nation. The Irifh
Romanifts in a mafs again rebelled in the year 1699.
After a war which laded three years with uncommon
fury, they were fubdued ; but obtained conditions, by
which they were at liberty to remain in Ireland, and
retain their eftates, on the terms of their fubmiffion to
the new Government under King William and Queeft
Mary, and taking fhe Oath of Allegiance ; or of trans
porting themfelves to France, and relinquifhing their
eftates as forfeitures. Almod the whole body of Ro
manids then ehfVtled to edates in Ireland, chofe rather
to go to France and abandon their edates, than fubmit to
the Government and take the Oath of Allegiance. They
entertained drong hopes of a new revolution in their
favour, in which they weie difappoinfed. The edates
thus abandoned to forfeiture were granted by the Crown
fo Protedants. By the feveral means before mentioned,
almod the whole landed property in Ireland became
veded in Protedants. That part of the Popery Code
which prohibited Irifh Romanifls to acquire landed pro
perty was enaaed in the fecond year of Queen Anne
(1703), fhortly after the Revolution. It was afterwards
flrengthened by the eighth of Anne (1709), and was hot
materially relaxed, fo as to allow them to purchafe
eftates in fee, till the year 1782. In all the interrriediatfc
fpace, being eighty years, Romanids had the liberty of
alienating the fmall pittance of landed property which
remained in their hands after the Revolution, which
they did not fail to make a liberal ufe of; but no liberty
of acquifition : and during the eighteen years lad pa-ft, '
they have had neither property, time, nor qpporturrity to

( 245 )
t»purchafe or acquire any confiderable portion of Janded
edates, fo as materially or fendbly to diminifh the mats
of landed property in the hands pf Irifli Proteftants at
large. And from all the caqfes before mentioned if is
certain, that the allowance of one fiftieth part of thf
landed property of the nation to the fhare of Irifh Ro
manifls, at the prefent day, is rather too great.
The fmall proportion pf perfonal property in the hands
bf Irifh Romanifts, when compared with that in the
poffeffion of Irifli Proteftants, may be eftirnated from.
the following faas : About fixteen years ago, wlif n a
national Bank was eftablifhed in Ireland, the capital prp-
pofed was fix hundred thoufand pounds. The Irifli Ro
manifts fubferibed as much of this capital as they could,
raife, with a hope of engroffing to themfelves the whole
direaion of the Bank, and thereby gaining a powerful
influence to their party ; yet the whole body was not then
able to fubfcribe a larger part of this capital than fixty
thoufand pounds, one tenth of it ! One argument
ftrpngly relied upon for the propriety of repealing that
part of the Ropery Cpde which forbad the acquifitiqn of
landed edates by Romanids, and that which had moft;
weight with many Members of Parliament in that
tranfeaion, was, that if Romanids were allowed to buy
edatps, the rates of purchafe of lands would be doubled,
from the vad number of Romifh buyers (represented as
pqffeffed of great perfonal property), which would then
flock into the land market. They haye had liberty to
purchafe eflates thefe eighteen years pad, When they
obtained that liberty, fee-fimpfe edates in Ireland, though
leafed to tenants for long terms qf -years, and confe-
fluently not likely to increafe in value, vyeje Jg$ at the
£ 3 «t«L

¦f 246 )
rate of from twenty-three to. twenty-five years purchafe :
at prefent they do not bring a greater price than eighteen
years purchafe ; and they have been gradually finking in
value from the time the Romanids obtained the permif-
fion to purchafe ; a demondration, that the number of
purchafers in the land market did hot much increafe by
that permiffion, and that the perfonal riches of Irifh
Romanids were imaginary. Since the free trade was.
granted to Ireland in the year 1782, feme Irifh Roman-
ids have acquired confiderable fortunes in trade ; but
feveral Irifh Proteftants have alfo acquired large fortunes
jn the fame time, by the fame means ; fo that it is pretty
clear, that" the perfonal eftates of Irifh Rqmanifts, in
the mafs, do not amount to more than the twentieth part
of the perfonal property of the nation, if to fq much.
It is proper here to infert an account of a very extra-?
ordinary and artful attempt at procuring a fraudulent and
garbled enumeration of the numbers of Proteftants and
Romanifls in Ireland, and giving it a credit and authen
ticity ; which was made' iii the year 1795, and which
pught to put Irifh Proteftants on their guard, and render
them more vigilant in defeating fuch attempts for the
future. In the year 1786, a fociety was formed in Ireland,
and" incorporated by patent, dyled the Royal Irifh Aca
demy. A great number of the fird charaaers in, the
kingdom in rank and property are members qf this Aca
demy';', Lords, Privy Counfellors, Bifhops, and diftin-
'gu'ifhed' Commoners. It is of the fame nature with the
Royal Society in England. It has been inflituted for the
advancement of the dudies of Science, Polite Literature, and;

m C 247 J
and Antiquities. As focieties formed on the Continent,
nominally for fimilar purpofes, were perverted into en
gines for the fubverfion of the refpeaive Governments
under which they were edablifhed, one of which was the
Society of Economids in France ; and as the judly ad
mired, celebrated, and learned Author of the ' Purfuits
4 of Literature' has hinted, that attempts have been made
to didort fome of the publications of the Royal Society
in London to political and faaious purpofes, by fome
bufy Romanids, under the veil of gratifying public cu-
riofity by refearches into antiquities; fo fome of the
mod faaious of the Romanids of Ireland, and defperate
Jacobins their allies, foon direaed their attention to this
Society, and endeavoured, with too much fuccefs, to
get themfelves admitted members of it ; and I have read
with amazement the names of Dr. M'Nevin, and others
of rather worfe and more dangerous charaaers, in the
lid of the members of this Society. It is an obfervation
of Dean Swift, that men of ability often, from a lidlefs
inaaivity, refign their pretenfions to -vigilant dunces, who
are furenever to be out of the way. A fimilar obfervation
is applicable to men of great rank and charaaer in fo
cieties fuch as I am adverting to. From bufinefs, from
inattention, and other caufes, they are frequently found
almod to abandon the meetings of thefe focieties, and
refign the management of them to vigilant Jacobins, who
are fure never to abfent themfelves; giving them thus an
opportunity of perverting the profeffed purpofes of fuCh
focieties to their own faaious plans and defigns, and
damping their frauds with the credit of great names.
Thus it has happened in this Society. Dr. Prieftley, as well
as I recolfea, coined the word Statiftical. He was defirous
qf fubverting the Conditution in Church and State, and
£ 4 With

v *4» )
with that view endeavoured to encourage all Diffenters
To enter into a general confederacy for the purpofe, and ,
proceeded in the execution of that fcheme, by fefeaing
fuch parts of England, as abounded moft with them, and
numbering the inhabitants, with the different modes of
their religious worfhip, to fhow that the number of in
habitants of- the eftablifhed Religion was not equal to
that of Diffenters of all denominations. For this pur
pofe he put forward what he called Statiftieal Inquiries
in particular places, fuch as Birmingham, &c. ; and to
give an importance to his feditious operations, and to
difgtiife them as the mere fpeculative purfuits of a philo-
fopher, he coined the quaint term Statiftieal ; a Statiftieal
Inquiry, 'n the vulgar tongue, fignifying nothing more
than an Inquiry into the State. This mode of inquiry has
been taken up fince in England by a refpeaable Baronet,
3 believe for laudable purpofes. The Romanids and
Jacobins in the Royal Irifh Academy procured a Com
mittee of Statiftieal Inquiry to be appointed by the So
ciety (the Members probably of their own nomination),
for the enumeration of the inhabitants of Ireland, diftin-
guifhing the religious perfuafion of each perfon. A
Form was printed by this Committee, in columns,
direaing the mode in which the returns of the number,
religion, and occupations of the inhabitants of each
parifh, barony, . county, and diocefe in the kingdom,
was to be made ; and by the printed Form it appears,
that the whole was to have been executed by the Romifh
Parifh Priefts throughout the kingdom. When the Ro
mifh Pried of each parifh had fabricated his ftatiftical
account of the numbers, religion, and occupation of the
inhabitants of his parifh, he was to fhow it (if ho
thought fit) to the Proteftant or Diffenting Min-ifter of
i the

C 249 )
*he parifh, and requefl his fignature. This Committee.
Well' knew, that not one Protedant Minifter in one hun
dred would fign fuch an account, made up by the Romifh
Pneft. The printed Form alfo contained a Refolution
of this Committee, to apply to the Romifh titular Bi
fhops, requeuing their affiftance in making this datidical
inquiry, and ijie Copy of a Letter to be written by them
refpeaiveiy to each of their fubordinate Prieds. The
Committee managed the whole bufinefs in the Society.
This was a fcheme equally fraudulent and dangerous,
calculated by the original projeaor or projeaors for the
mere purpofe of fapping the Protedant intered in Ire
land. The Committee for Statidical Inquiries paffed
over the Protedant Miniders, and fefeaed the Romifh
Priefts throughout the kingdom, to make this inquiry,
well knowing that they would make returns in the fame
fpirit with Huffey, titular Bifliop of Waterford, who
dated, in a feditious pamphlet publiflied by him, that
Irifli Romanifls exceeded Irifh Proteftants in the king
dom at large, in the proportion of ten to one ; and in
that of one hundred to one in the diocefe of Waterford :
A moft impudent falfehood ! The Proteftants, as ap
pears by the printed Form, were to be fubdivided by the
Romifh Prieds into different feas, fuch as Protedants,
Prefbyterians, Quakers, Methodids, &c. fo as to make
the numbers of each fea, when compared with the Ro
manids, appear in a diminifhed ratio ; and to withdraw
the attention of thofe, into whofe hands the publication
of the refujt of the datidical inquiry fhould come, from
the fum total of the Proteflants, and to fix it on the
aggregate exaggerated number of Romanifls ; though, as
Romanifts confider all who are not of their communion to

( 250 J
to be Heretics, and' are, equal" enemies to them all, in'
comparing, the relative numbers oflrifh Proteftants and
Romanifts, all perfons who are not Rorrianifts, are juftly
to be accounted on the Proteftant fide ; it being equally
the intereft of them all to oppofe the perfecuting fpirit
of Popery, the common enemy. The time of infti-
tuting th,is inquiry is worthy of remark. -V^The Refolu
tion of the Committee to employ the Romiflreriefts'-in"
the bufinefs, in the printed Form' in my poffeffion,
bears date June 20th, 179S, the very time when the Ro
manifts throughout the kingdom were bufily employed
in preparing for a general Infurreaion, arid, as they
flyted it, organizing their army1'; and the refiilt of fuch
an inquiry "made by fhe; Romifli Priefts throughout 'the
nation, but publiflied under the fanaion and authority
of fo refpeaable a body as the Royal Irifh Academy, as
a mere philofophical tranfaaion, detached1 from all fuf
picion of party intrigue, the projeaorS knew would give
mighty encouragement to the Infurreaion, by the falfe
and inflated account of the numbers and ftrength of
Irifh Romanifts, when compared with the dwarfifh re
prefentation of theiroppbnents, which they knew would
be contained in it. This would add to the confidence of
the Rebels, and deprefs the fpirits of the loyal inhabit
ants.' The projeaors alfo knew, that fuch a fraudulent
inquiry would have a drong 'effea in Great Britain in
their favour, in the event either of the fuccefs or fup-»
predion of the Rebellion.
It is not generally known how far this inquiry has
been proceeded on ; but this is certain, that, antecedent
fo the Rebellion, feveral perfons who joined in it, and
fome of whom were flain in the progrefs of it, others
hanged

( =5' )
hanged on its fuppreffion, and feme who^have been ac
quitted on trials for treafon by the provifibns of the
Amnefty Bill, were very aaive in making the inquiry,
and proceeded on it under the form prefcribed by the
Committee for Statiftieal Inquiry. Perhaps the refpea
able Members of the Society have been awakened from
their flumbers by the dangerous and fraudulent tendency
of the rrleafure, and have defeated the projea.

No. 2.
ExtraCf from the Iriflj Aft of the 3.3J of His prefent Ma~
jefty (1793), entitled, ' An Aft for the Relief of His
' Majefty's Popifl: or Roman Catholic Subjefts of Ire-
4 'land.'
Sect. IX.
PROVIDED always, and be it enaaed, That nothing
herein contained fhall extend, or be conftrued to extend,
to enable any perfon to fit or vote in either Houfe of
Parliament, or to hold, exercife, or enjoy the office of
Lord Lieutenant, Lord Deputy, or other chief Governor
or Governors of this kingdom ; Lord High Chancellor,
or Keeper, or Commiifioner of the Great Seal of this
Kingdom ; Lord High Treafurer, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Chief Juftice of the Court of King's Bench
or Common Pleas, Lord Chief Baron of the Court of
Exchequer, Juftice of the Court of King's Bench or
Common Pleas, or Baron of the Court of Exchequer,
Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, Mafter or
Keeper of the Rolls, Secretary of State, Keeper of

f 252 )
of the Privy Seal, Vice-treafurer, Teller or Cafbier of
the Exchequer, or Auditor General, Lieutenant or Go
vernor, or Cudos Rotulorum of Counties, Secretary to
the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Deputy, or other chief Go
vernor or Governors of. this Kingdom, Member of His
Majefty's mod honourable Privy Council, Prime Ser
jeant, Attorney General, Solicitor General, Second and
Third Serjeants at Law, or King's Counfel, Matters in
Chancery, Proved or Fellow of the College of the Holy
and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin,
Podmader-general, Mafter and Lieutenant-general of
His Majefty's Ordnance, Commander in Chief of His
Majedy's Forces, Generals on the Staff, and Sheriffs and
Sub-fheriffs of any County in this Kingdom, or any
office contrary to the rules, orders, and direaions made
and edablifhed by the Lord Lieutenant and Council, in
purfuance qf the Aa paffed in the 17th and 18th years
of the reign of King Charles the Second, entitled, An
Aft for explaining fome Doubts arifing upon an Aft, entitled,
4 An Aft for the better Execution of His Majefty's gracious
' Declaration for the Settlement of his Kingdom of Ireland,
4 and Satisfaction of the fever al Interefts of Adventurers, Sol-
* diers, and other his Subjefts there; and for making fome
Alterations of, and Additions unto, the faid Aft, for the more
fpeedy and effeftual Settlement of this Kingdom ; unlefs he
ihall fiave taken, made, and fubferibed the oaths and
declarations, and performed the feveral requifites, which
by any law heretofore made, and now of force, are required,
to enable any perfon to fit or vote, or to hold, exercife,
and enjoy the faid offices refpeaively.

Ne.

( 253 )
No. 3.
Extract from Blackftone's Commentaries, Ath vol. page 57,
Oftavo Edition.
THE better to fecUre the edablifhed Church againd
perils from Non-conformids of all denominations, In
fidels, Turks, Jews, Heretics, Papifts, and Seftaries,
there are two bulwarks erefted, called the 'Corporation and
Teft Ails. By the former of which no perfon can be
legally eleaed to any office relating to the government
of any city or corporation, unlefs, within a twelvemonth
before, he has received the facrament of the Lord's,
Supper according to the rites of the Church of England ;
and he is enjoined to take the Oaths of Allegiance and
Supremacy, at the fame time that he takes the Oath of
Office; or in default of either of thefe requifites, his
efeaion fhall be void. The other, called the Teft Aft,
direas all Officers, civil and military, to take the Oaths,-
and make the Declaration againft Tranfubdantiation, in
the Court of King's Bench or Chancery, the next term,
or at the next quarter-feffions, or within fix months
after their admiffion ; and alfo within the fame time tp
receive the facrament of the Lord's Supper, according
to the ufage of the Church of England, in fome public
church, immediately after divine fervice and fermo%
and to deliver into Court a certificate thereof, figned by
the Minifter and Churchwardens ; and alfo to prove the
fame by two credible witneffes, upon forfeiture of 500/.
and difability to hold the office.
P.S. Ted Aa paffed in the 13th of Charles II. c. 1.
Corporation Aa in the 25th of Charles II. c. 2.

THE END.

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