[Illustration: Thomas Davis]

THOMAS DAVIS

Selections from his Prose and Poetry

WITH AN INTRODUCTIONBY T. W. ROLLESTON, M. A. 

NEW YORK:FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANYPUBLISHERS

Library of Irish Literature

_General Editors_: ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES, M. A. 

WILLIAM MAGENNIS, M. A. DOUGLAS HYDE, LL. D. (Dublin). 

1. Thomas Davis. Selections from his Prose and Poetry. Edited by T. W. ROLLESTON, M. A. (Dublin). 

2. Wild Sports of the West. W. H. MAXWELL. Edited by THE EARL OF DUNRAVEN. 

3. Legends of Saints and Sinners from the Irish. Edited by DOUGLAS HYDE, LL. D. (Dublin). 

4. Humours of Irish Life. Edited by CHARLES L. GRAVES, M. A. (Oxon). 

5. Irish Orators and Oratory. Edited by T. M. KETTLE, National University of Ireland. 

6. The Book of Irish Poetry. Edited by ALFRED PERCEVAL GRAVES, M. A. (Dublin). 

Other Volumes in Preparation. Each Crown 8vo. Cloth, with Frontispiece net $1. 00

INTRODUCTION. 

In the present edition of Thomas Davis it is designed to offer aselection of his writings more fully representative than has hithertoappeared in one volume. The book opens with the best of his historicalstudies--his masterly vindication of the much-maligned Irish Parliamentof James II. [1] Next follows a selection of his literary, historicaland political articles from _The Nation_ and other sources, and, finally, we present a selection from his poems, containing, it ishoped, everything of high and permanent value which he wrote in thatmedium. The "Address to the Historical Society" and the essay on"Udalism and Feudalism, " which were reprinted in the edition of Davis'sProse Writings published by Walter Scott in 1890, are here omitted--theformer because it seemed possible to fill with more valuable and maturework the space it would have taken, and the latter because the causewhich it was written to support has in our day been practically won;Udalism will inevitably be the universal type of land-tenure inIreland, and the real problem which we have before us is not how to winbut how to make use of the institution, a matter with which Davis, inthis essay, does not concern himself. 

The life of Thomas Davis has been written by his friend and colleague, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, and an excellent abridgment of it appears as avolume in the "New Irish Library. " In the latter easily available formit may be hoped that there are few Irishmen who have not madethemselves acquainted with it. It is not, therefore, necessary to dealwith it here in much detail. Davis was born in Mallow on October 14th, 1814. His father, who came of a family originally Welsh, but longsettled in Buckinghamshire, had been a surgeon in the Royal Artillery. His mother, Mary Atkins, came of a Cromwellian family settled in theCounty Cork. It does not seem an altogether hopeful kind of ancestryfor an Irish Nationalist, and his family were, as a matter of fact, altogether of the other way of thinking. But the fact that hisgreat-grandmother, on the maternal side, was a daughter of TheO'Sullivan Beare may have had a counteracting influence, if not throughthe physical channel of heredity, at least through the poet'simagination. As a child, Davis was delicate in health, sensitive, dreamy, awkward, and passed for a dunce. It was not until he hadentered Trinity College that the passion for study possessed him. Thispassion had manifestly been kindled, in the first instance, by theflame of patriotism, but how and when he first came to break loose fromthe traditional politics of his family we have no means of knowing, unless a gleam of light is thrown on the matter by a saying of his froma speech at Conciliation Hall:--"I was brought up in a mixed seminary, [2]where I learned to know, and knowing to love, my countrymen. "

At the University he sought no academic distinctions, but readomnivorously. History, philosophy, economics, and ethics were thesubjects into which he flung himself with ardour, and which, in afterdays, he was continually seeking to turn to the uses of his country. Bythe time he had left College and was called to the Bar (1837) he haddisciplined himself by thought and study, and was a very differentbeing from the dreamy and backward youth described for us by the candidfriends of his schooldays. A dreamer, indeed, he always was, but he hadlearned from Bishop Butler, whom he reverenced profoundly and spoke ofas "the Copernicus of ethics, " that there is no practice more fatal tomoral strength than dreaming divorced from action. Some concrete act, some definite thing to be done, was now always in his mind, but always, it may be added, as the realisation of some principle arrived at byserious and accurate thinking. He had acquired clear convictions, hispowers of application were enormous, he had a boundless fertility ofinvention, and was manifestly marked out as a leader of men. It isinteresting to go through the pages of Davis's Essays and to note howmany of his practical suggestions for work to be done in Ireland havebeen taken up with success, especially in the direction of music andpoetry, of the Gaelic language, and of the study of Irish archaeologyand the protection of its remains. But a new Davis would mark withkeener interest the many tasks which yet remain to be taken in hand. 

His connection with the Bar was little more than nominal; from thebeginning, the serious work of his life seemed destined to bejournalism. After some experiments in various directions, he, withGavan Duffy and John Blake Dillon, during a walk in the Phoenix Park inthe spring of 1842, decided to establish a new weekly journal, to beentitled, on Davis's suggestion, _The Nation_. Its purpose, which itwas afterwards to fulfil so nobly, was admirably expressed in itsmotto, taken from a saying of Stephen Woulfe: "To create and fosterpublic opinion in Ireland, and to make it racy of the soil. " Davis'swas the suggestion of making national poems and ballads a prominentfeature of the journal--the feature by which it became best known anddid, perhaps, its most impressive, if not its most valuable, work. His"Lament for Owen Roe, " which appeared in the sixth number, worked inIreland like an electric shock, and woke a sleeping faculty to life andaction. Henceforth Davis's public life was bound up with the _Nation_. Into this channel he threw all his powers. What kind of influence heexerted from that post of vantage the pages of this book will tell. 

Davis was naturally a member of O'Connell's Repeal Association, buttook no prominent part in its proceedings, except on one momentousoccasion on which we must dwell for a while. The debate was on thesubject of Peel's Bill for the establishment of a large scheme ofnon-sectarian education in Ireland. Of this measure Sir Charles Duffywrites:--

 "A majority of the Catholic Bishops approved of the general design, objecting to certain details. All the barristers and country gentlemen in the Association, and the middle class generally, supported it. To Davis it was like the unhoped-for realization of a dream. To educate the young men of the middle class and of both races, and to educate them together, that prejudice and bigotry might be killed in the bud, was one of the projects nearest his heart. It would strengthen the soul of Ireland with knowledge, he said, and knit the creeds in liberal and trusting friendship. "[3]

But O'Connell, though he had previously favoured the principle of mixededucation, now saw a chance of flinging down a challenge to the "YoungIrelanders" from a vantage-ground of immense tactical value. He threwhis whole weight against the proposal, taunted and interrupted itssupporters, and seemed determined at any cost to wreck the measure onwhich such high hopes had been set. The emotion which Davis felt, andwhich caused him to burst into tears in the midst of the debate, seemedto some of his friends at the time over-strained. But he was not thefirst strong man from whom public calamities have drawn tears; andassuredly if ever there were cause for tears, Davis had reason to shedthem then. More, perhaps, than any man present, he realised the fatefulnature of the decision which was being made. He knew that one of thegoverning facts about Irish public life is the existence in the countryof two races who remain life-long strangers to each other. Catholic andProtestant present to each other a familiar front, but behind thesurface of each is a dark background which in later life, whenassociations, and often prejudices, have been formed, the other canrarely penetrate and rarely wishes to do so. It was Davis's belief thatif the young people of Ireland were to be permanently segregated fromchildhood to manhood in different schools, different universities, where early friendships, the most intimate and familiar of any, couldnever be made, and ideas never interchanged except through publiccontroversy, the barrier between the two Irish races would beinfinitely difficult to break down, and no scheme of Irish governmentcould be conceived which would not seem like a triumph to one of themand bondage to the other. The views of the Young Irelanders did notprevail, and Ireland as a nation has paid the penalty for twogenerations, and will probably pay it for many a day to come. It may, of course, be argued that religious interests are paramount, and thatthese are incompatible with a scheme of mixed education. This is notthe place to debate such a question, nor can anyone quarrel with adecision arrived at on such grounds. But let it be arrived at with aclear understanding of the certain consequences, and let it be admittedthat when Davis saw the wreck of the scheme for united education hefelt truly that a long and perhaps, for many generations, irretrievablestep was being taken away from the road to nationhood. 

But after this despondent reflection, let us cheer ourselves by settingthe proud and moving words with which Duffy concludes his account ofthe transactions in the _Life of Davis_:--

 "I have not tacked to any transaction in this narrative the moral which it suggests; the thoughtful reader prefers to draw his own conclusions. But for once I ask those to whom this book is dedicated to note the conduct of Catholic young men in a mortal contest. The hereditary leader of the people, sure to be backed by the whole force of the unreflecting masses, and supported on this occasion by the bulk of the national clergy--a man of genius, an historic man wielding an authority made august by a life's services, a solemn moral authority with which it is ridiculous to compare the purely political influence of anyone who has succeeded him as a tribune of the people--was against Thomas Davis, and able, no one doubted, to overwhelm him and his sympathisers in political ruin. A public career might be closed for all of us; our journal might be extinguished; we were already denounced as intriguers and infidels; it was quite certain that, by-and-by, we would be described as hirelings of the Castle. But Davis was right; and of all his associates, not one man flinched from his side--not one man. A crisis bringing character to a sharper test has never arisen in our history, nor can ever arise; and the conduct of these men, it seems to me, is some guarantee how their successors would act in any similar emergency. "

The year 1845 was loaded with disaster for Ireland. It saw the defeatof the Education scheme; it saw the advancing shadow of the awfulcalamity in which the Repeal movement, the Young Irelanders, andeverything of hope and promise that lived and moved in Ireland were toperish--and it saw the death of Thomas Davis. 

He had had an attack of scarlet fever, from which he seemed to berecovering, but a relapse took place--owing, perhaps, to incautiousexposure before his strength had returned--and, in the early dawn ofSeptember 15th, he passed away in his mother's house. The years of hislife were thirty-one; his public life had lasted but for three. Hisfuneral was marked by an extraordinary outburst of grief and affection, which was shared by men of all creeds, all classes, all political campsin Ireland. 

No mourning, indeed, could be too deep for the withdrawal at such amoment of such a leader from the task to which he had consecrated hislife. That task was far more than the winning of political independencefor his country. Davis united in himself, in a degree which has neverbeen known before or since, the spirit of two great originators inIrish history--the spirit of Swift and the spirit of Berkeley--ofSwift, the champion of his country against foreign oppression; ofBerkeley, who bade her turn her thoughts inward, who summoned her tocultivate the faculties and use the liberties she already possessed forthe development of her resources and the strengthening of her nationalcharacter. Davis's best and most original work was educative ratherthan aggressive. He often wrote, as Duffy says, "in a tone of strictand haughty discipline designed to make the people fit to use and fitto enjoy liberty. " No one recognised more fully than he theregenerative value of political forms, but his ideal was never that ofa millennium to be won by Act of Parliament--he was ever on the watchfor some opportunity to remind his countrymen of the indispensable needof self-discipline and self-reliance, of toil, of veracity, of justiceand fairness towards opponents. No one ever said sharper and sternerthings to the Irish people--witness his articles on "Scolding Mobs, " on"Moral Force, " and on the attack upon one of the jurors who hadconvicted O'Connell at the State Trial. [4] But Davis could utter hardthings without wounding, for, when all is said, the dominant temper ofthe man was love. That, and that alone, was at the very centre of hisbeing, and by that influence everything that came from him wasirradiated and warmed. He had, as an Irish patriot, unwavering faith, unquenchable hope; he had also, and above all, the charity which gaveto every other faculty and attainment the supreme, the most enduringgrace. 

T. W. ROLLESTON. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [1] This work, with the inclusion of the full text of the more important of the Acts of the Parliament of James II. , and with an Introduction by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, was reprinted from the _Dublin Monthly Magazine_ of 1843 by Mr. Fisher Unwin in 1891 as the first volume of the 'New Irish Library. ' It is now out of print. 

 [2] Mr. Mongan's School on Lower Mount Street. 

 [3] "Life of Davis, " p. 286. 

 [4] "Life of Davis, " pp. 218, 219. 

I. The Irish Parliament of James II. 

PREFACE. 

This enquiry is designed to rescue eminent men and worthy acts fromcalumnies which were founded on the ignorance and falsehoods of the OldWhigs, who never felt secure until they had destroyed the character aswell as the liberty of Ireland. 

Irish oppression never could rely on mere physical force for any lengthof time. Our enormous military resources, and the large proportion of"fighting men, " or men who love fighting, among our people, prohibitit. It was ever necessary to divide us by circulating extravagantstories of our crimes and our disasters, in order to poison the wellsof brotherly love and patriotism in our hearts, that so many of usmight range ourselves under the banner of our oppressor. 

Calumny lives chiefly on the past and future; it corrupts history andcroaks dark prophecies. Never, from TYRCONNELL'S rally down toO'CONNELL'S revival of the Emancipation struggle--never, from thesummons of the Dungannon Convention to the Corporation Debate onRepeal, has a single bold course been proposed for Ireland, that folly, disorder, and disgrace has not been foreboded. Never has any great deedbeen done here that the alien Government did not, as soon as the factsbecame historical, endeavour to blacken the honour of the statesmen, the wisdom of the legislators, or the valour of the soldiers whoachieved it. 

One of the favourite texts of these apostles of misrule was the IrishGovernment in King JAMES'S time. "There's a specimen, " they said, "ofwhat an Irish Government would be--unruly, rash, rapacious, andbloody. " But the King, Lords, and Commons of 1689, when looked athonestly, present a sight to make us proud and hopeful for Ireland. Attached as they were to their King, their first act was for Ireland. They declared that the English Parliament had not, and never had, anyright to legislate for Ireland, and that none, save the King andParliament of Ireland, could make laws to bind Ireland. 

In 1698, just nine years after, while the acts of this great Senatewere fresh, Molyneux published his _case of Ireland_, that case whichSwift argued, and Lucas urged, and Flood and Grattan, at the head of70, 000 Volunteers, carried, and England ratified against her will. Thus, then, the idea of 1782 is to be found full grown in 1689. Thepedigree of our freedom is a century older than we thought, and Irelandhas another Parliament to be proud of. 

That Parliament, too, established religious equality. It anticipatedmore than 1782. The voluntary system had no supporters then, and thatpatriot Senate did the next best thing: they left the tithes of theProtestant People to the Protestant Minister, and of the CatholicPeople to the Catholic Priest. Pensions not exceeding £200 a year weregiven to the Catholic Bishops. And no Protestant Prelates were deprivedof stipend or honour--they held their incomes, and they sat in theParliament. They enforced perfect liberty of conscience; nor is therean Act of theirs which could inform one ignorant of Irish faction towhat creed the majority belonged. Thus for its moderation and charitythis Parliament is an honour and an example to the country. 

While on the one hand they restored the estates plundered by theCromwellians thirty-six years before, and gave compensation to allinnocent persons--while they strained every nerve to exclude theEnglish from our trade, and to secure it to the Irish--while theyintroduced the Statute of Frauds, and many other sound laws, and thusshowed their zeal for the peaceful and permanent welfare of the People, they were not unfit to grapple with the great military crisis. Theyvoted large supplies; they endeavoured to make a war-navy; the leadingmembers allowed nothing but their Parliamentary duties to interferewith their recruiting, arming, and training of troops. They were notimorous pedants, who shook and made homilies when sabres flashed andcannon roared. Our greatest soldiers, M'Carthy and Tyrconnell, and, indeed, most of the Colonels of the Irish regiments, sat in Lords orCommons;--not that the Crown brought in stipendiary soldiers, but thatthe Senate were fearless patriots, who were ready to fight as well asto plan for Ireland. Theirs was no qualified preference for freedom ifit were lightly won--they did not prefer 'Bondage with ease tostrenuous liberty. '

Let us then add 1689 to our memory; and when a Pantheon or Valhalla ispiled up to commemorate the names and guard the effigies of the greatand good, the bright and burning genius, the haughty and faithfulhearts, and the victorious hands of Ireland, let not the men of thattime--that time of glory and misfortune--that time of which Limerick'stwo sieges typify the clear and dark sides--defiance and defeat of theSaxon in one, trust in the Saxon and ruin on the other--let not thelegislators or soldiers of that great epoch be forgotten. 

Thomas Davis. July, 1843. 

CHAPTER I. 

A RETROSPECT. 

How far the Parliament which sat in Dublin in 1689 was right or wronghas been much disputed. As the history of it becomes more accuratelyand generally known, the grounds of this dispute will be cleared. 

Nor is it of trifling interest to determine whether a Parliament, whichnot only exercised great influence at the time, but furnished theenactors of the Penal Laws with excuses, and the achievers of theRevolution of 1782 with principles and a precedent, was the good orevil thing it has been called. 

The writers commonly quoted against it are, Archbishop King, Harris, Leland; those in its favour, Leslie, Curry, Plowden, and Jones. [5] Ofall these writers, King and Lesley are alone original authorities. Harris copies King, and Leland copies Harris, and Plowden, Curry, andJones rely chiefly on Lesley. Neither Harris, Leland, nor Curry addsanything to our knowledge of the time. King (notwithstanding, as weshall show hereafter, his disregard of truth) is valuable as acontemporary of high rank; Lesley, also a contemporary, and ofunblemished character, is still more valuable. Plowden is a fair andsagacious commentator; Jones, a subtle and suggestive critic on thosetimes. 

If, in addition, the reader will consult such authorities as theLetters of Lord Lieutenant Tyrconnell;[6] the Memoirs[7] of James theSecond by himself; _Histoire de la Révolution par Mazure_;[8] andthe pamphlets quoted in this publication, and the notes to it, he willbe in a fair way towards mastering this difficult question. 

After all, that Parliament must be judged by its own conduct. If itsacts were unjust, bigoted, and rash, no excuse can save it fromcondemnation. If, on the other hand, it acted with firmness and loyaltytowards its king--if it did much to secure the rights, the prosperity, and the honour of the nation--if, in a country where property had beenturned upside down a few years before, it strove to do justice to themany, with the least possible injury to the few--if, in a country tornwith religious quarrels, it endeavoured to secure liberty of consciencewithout alienating the ultra zealous--and, finally, if in a country inimminent danger from a powerful invader and numerous traitors, it wasmore intent on raising resources and checking treason than would becomea parliament sitting in peace and safety, let us, while confessing itsfallibility, attend to its difficulties, and do honour to its vigourand intelligence. 

Before we mention the composition of the Parliament, it will be rightto run over some of the chief dates and facts which brought about thestate of things that led to its being summoned. Most Irishmen(ourselves among the number) are only beginners at Irish history, andcannot too often repeat the elements: still the beginning has beenmade. It is no pedantry which leads one to the English invasion for thetap-root of the transactions of the seventeenth century. 

Four hundred years of rapacious war and wild resistance had made eachbelieve all things ill of the other; and when England changed her creedin the sixteenth century it became certain that Ireland would adhere tohers at all risks. Accordingly, the reigns of the latter, andespecially of the last of the Tudors, witnessed unceasing war, in whichan appetite for conquest was inflamed by bigotry on the English side, while the native, who had been left unaided to defend his home, was nowstimulated by foreign counsels, as well as by his own feelings, toguard his altar and his conscience too. 

James the First found Ireland half conquered by the sword; he completedthe work by treachery, and the fee of five-sixths of Ulster rewardedthe "energy" of the British. The proceedings of Strafford added largedistricts in the other provinces to the English possessions. Still, inall these cases, as in the Munster settlement under Elizabeth, the bulkof the population remained on the soil. To leave the land was to die. They clung to it amid sufferings too shocking to dwell on;[9] theyclung to it under such a serfhood as made the rapacity of theirconquerors interested in retaining them on the soil. They clung to itfrom necessity and from love. They multiplied on it with the rapidityof the reckless. Yet they retained hope, the hope of restitution andvengeance. The mad ferocity of Parsons and Borlace hastened theoutbreak of 1641. That insurrection gave back to the native hisproperty and his freedom, but compelled him to fight for it--first, against the loyalists; next, against the traitors; and lastly, againstthe republicans. After a struggle of ten years, distinguished by theability of the Council of Kilkenny, and the bravery of Owen Roe and hisfollowers, the Irish sunk under the abilities and hosts of Cromwell. Those who felt his sway might well have envied the men who conqueredand died in the breach of Clonmel, or fell vanquished or betrayed atLetterkenny and Drogheda. During the insurrection of 1641, the royalgovernment, at once timid and tyrannical, united with the sordidcapitalists of London to plunder the Irish of their lands and liberty, if not to exterminate them. [10] In order to effect this, a system ofunparalleled lying was set afoot against the natives of this kingdom. The violence which naturally attended the sudden resumption of propertyby an ignorant, excited, and deeply wronged people, was magnified intoa national propensity to throat-cutting. Exaggerations the mostbarefaced were received throughout England. Deaths, which theEnglish-minded Protestant, the Rev. Mr. Warner, has ascertained to havebeen under 12, 000--reckoning deaths from hardships along with those bythe sword--were rated in England at 150, 000, and by John Milton at616, 000. [11] No wonder the English nation looked upon us as bloodysavages; and no wonder they looked approvingly at the massacres andconfiscations of the Lord Protector. But the Irish deemed they werefree from crime in resuming by force of arms the land which arms hadtaken from them; they regarded the bloodshed of '41 as a deplorableresult of English oppression; they fought with the hearts of resolvedpatriots till 1651. 

The restoration of the Stuarts was hailed as the restoration of theirrights. They were woefully disappointed. A compromise was made betweenthe legitimists and the republicans; the former were to resume theirrank, the latter to retain their plunder, Ireland was disregarded. Themockery of the Court of Claims restored less than one-third of theIrish lands. While in 1641 the Roman Catholics possessed two-thirds ofIreland, in 1680 they had but one-fifth[12]. Besides, the newpossessors were of an opposite creed, and fortified themselves by PenalLaws. Under such circumstances the aim of most men would be much thesame, namely, to take the first opportunity of regaining theirproperty, their national independence, and religious freedom. Withreference to their legislation on the two latter points, doubts may beentertained how much should be complained of; and even those whocondemn that on the first, should remember that "the re-adjustment ofall private rights, after so entire a destruction of their landmarks, could only be effected by the coarse process of general rules[13]. "

Let us now run over a few dates, till we come to the event which gavethe Irish this opportunity. On the 6th of February, 1685, Charles theSecond died in the secret profession of the Roman Catholic faith, andhis brother, James Stuart, Duke of York, succeeded him. 

James the Second came to his throne with much of what usually winspopular favour. He united in his person the blood of the Tudor, Plantagenet, and Saxon kings of England, while his Scottish descentcame through every king of Scotland, and found its spring in the IrishDalriad chief, who, embarking from Ulster, overran Albany. In addition, James had morals better than those of his rank and time, as muchintellect as most kings, and the reputation acquired from his navaladministration, graced as it was by sea-fights in which no ship wasearlier in action than James's, and by at least one great victory--thatover Opdam--fought near Yarmouth, on the 3rd June, 1665. 

Yet the difference of his creed from that of his English subjects blewthese popular recollections to shivers. He tried to enforce, first, toleration; and, secondly, perfect religious equality, and intended, as many thought, the destruction of that equality, by substituting aRoman Catholic for a Protestant supremacy; and the means he used forthis purpose were such as the English Parliament had pronouncedunconstitutional. He impeached the corporate charters by _quowarranto_, brought to trial before judges whom he influenced, as allhis predecessors had done. He invaded the customs of the universities, as having a legal right to do so. He suspended the penal laws, andpunished those who disobeyed his liberal but unpopular proclamations. Some noble zealots, the Russells and Sidneys, crossed his path in vain;but a few bold caballers, the Danbys, the Shaftesburys, and Churchills, by urging him to despotic acts, and the people to resistance, broughton a crisis; when, availing themselves of it, they called in a foreignarmy and drove out James, and swore he had abdicated; expelled thePrince of Wales, and falsely called him bastard; made terms withWilliam, that he should have the crown and privy purse, and they theactual government; and ended by calling their selfish and hypocriticalwork, "a popular and glorious revolution. "

It is needless to follow up James's quarrel with the university ofOxford, and his unsuccessful prosecution of the seven Bishops on the29th of June, 1688, who, emboldened by the prospect of a revolution, refused to read his proclamation of indulgence. From the day of theiracquittal, James was lost. Letters were circulated throughoutEngland[14] and Ireland, declaring the young Prince of Wales (who wasborn 10th June) spurious, and containing many other falsehoods, so asto shake men's souls with rumours, and arouse popular prejudices. Thearmy was tampered with; the nobles and clergy were in treaty withHolland. James not only refused to retract his policy till it was toolate; but refused, too, the offer of Louis to send him French troops. 

Similar means had been used by and against him in Ireland. Tyrconnell, who had replaced Clarendon as Lord Lieutenant in 1686, got in thecharters of the corporations, reconstructed the army, and used everymeans of giving the Roman Catholics that share in the government ofthis country to which their numbers entitled them. And, on the otherhand, the Protestant nobles joined the English conspiracy, and adoptedthe English plan of false plots and forged letters. 

At length, on 4th November, 1688, Prince William landed at Torbay with15, 000 veterans. James attempted to bear up, but his nearest anddearest, his relatives and his favourites, deserted him in the hour ofhis need. It seems not excessive to say that there never was arevolution in which so much ingratitude, selfishness, and meanness weredisplayed. There is not one great genius or untainted character eminentin it. Yet it succeeded. On the 18th of December, William enteredLondon; on the 23rd, James sailed for France; and in the Februaryfollowing the English convention declared he had _abdicated_. 

These dates are, as Plowden remarks, important; for though James'sflight, on the 23rd of December, was the legal pretence forinsurrection in the summer of 1689, yet negotiations had been going onwith Holland through 1687 and 1688, [15] and the Northern Irish formedthemselves into military corps, and attacked the soldiers of the crownbefore Enniskillen, on the _first week_ in December; and on the 7thDecember the gates of Derry were shut in the face of the king'stroops, [16] facts which should be remembered in judging the loyalty ofthe two parties. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [5] King's "State of the Protestants. " Harris's "Life of King William, " folio, Dublin, 1749, book 8. Leland's "History of Ireland, " vol. 3, book 6, chaps. 5 and 6. Lesley's "Answer to King's State of the Protestants, " London, 1692. Curry's "Review of the Civil Wars of Ireland. " Plowden's "Historical Review of Ireland; also History of Ireland, " vol. I. , c. 9. Jones's "Reply to an anonymous writer from Belfast, signed Portia, " Dublin, 1792. 

 [6] Thorpe's MSS. 

 [7] London, 2 vols. 4to, edited by Rev. J. Clarke. 

 [8] Paris, 1825, 3 vols. 8vo. 

 [9] Spenser's "View"; Fynes Moryson's "Itinerary"; Captain Lee's "Memoir"; Harris's "Letters"; and Carte's "Ormonde. "

 [10] See the proofs of this collected in Carey's "Vindiciæ Hibernicæ. "

 [11] Milton's "Eikonoclastes"; Warner's "History of the Rebellion"; Carey's "Vindiciæ"; and Pamphlets, Libraries of Trinity College and the Dublin Society. 

 [12] Sir W. Petty's "Political Anatomy of Ireland"; Lawrence's "Interest of Ireland"; "Curry's Review"; "Carte's Life and Letters of Ormonde, " &c. 

 [13] Hallam's "Constitutional History, " v. 3, p. 588, 3rd edition. 

 [14] Speke's "Memoirs. "

 [15] See the Declaration of Union, dated 21st March, 1688, in the Appendix to Walker's "Account of the Siege of Derry. "

 [16] These acts were done in good faith by the people, instigated by the devices of the nobles. A letter, now admitted to have been forged, was dispersed by Lord Mount Alexander, announcing the design of the Roman Catholics to murder the Protestants. 

CHAPTER II. 

ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THE PARLIAMENT. --THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 

James landed at Kinsale, 12th March, 1689, about a month after theelection of William and Mary by the English convention. He enteredDublin in state on the 24th March, accompanied by D'Avaux, asAmbassador from France, and a splendid court. His first act was toissue five proclamations--the first, requiring the return and aid ofhis Irish absentee subjects; the second, urging upon the localauthorities the suppression of robberies and violence which hadincreased in this unsettled state of affairs; the third, encouragingthe bringing provisions for his army; the fourth, creating a currencyof such metal as he had, conceiving it preferable to a paper currency(a gold or silver currency was out of his power, for of the twomillions promised him by France, he only got £150, 000); the fifthproclamation summoned a parliament for the 7th May, 1689. 

James also issued a proclamation promising liberty of conscience, justice and protection[17] to all; and, after receiving manycongratulatory addresses, set out for Derry to press the blockade. Onthe 29th April he returned to Dublin. On the 7th May Ireland possesseda complete and independent government. Leaving the castle, over whichfloated the national flag, James proceeded in full procession to theKing's Inns, where the Parliament sat, and the Commons having assembledat the bar of the Peers, James entered, "with Robe and Crown, " andaddressed the Commons in a speech full of manliness and dignity. At theclose of the speech, the Chancellor of Ireland, Lord Gosworth, directedthe Commons to retire and make choice of a Speaker. In half an hour theCommons returned and presented Sir Richard Nagle as their Speaker, aman of great endowments and high character. The Speaker was accepted, and the Houses adjourned. 

The peers who sat in this parliament amounted to fifty-four. Amongthese fifty-four were six dignitaries of the Protestant Church, oneduke, ten earls, sixteen viscounts, and twenty-one barons. It containedthe oldest families of the country--O'Brien and DeCourcy, MacCarty andBermingham, De Burgo and Maguire, Butler and Fitzpatrick. The bishopsof Meath, Cork, Ossory, Limerick, and Waterford, and the Protestantnames of Aungier, Le Poer, and Forbes sat with the representatives ofthe great Roman Catholic houses of Plunket, Barnewell, Dillon, andNugent. Nor were some fresher honours wanting; Talbot and Mountcashelwere the darlings of the people, the trust of the soldiery, the themesof bards. 

King's impeachment of this parliament is amusing enough. His firstcharge is, that if the House were full, the majority would have beenProtestant. Now, if the majority preferred acting as insurgents underthe Prince of Orange, to attending to their duties in the Irish houseof peers, it was their own fault. Certain it is, the most violent mightsafely have attended, for the earls of Granard and Longford and thebishop of Meath not only attended, but carried on a bold and systematicopposition. And so far was the House from resenting this, that theycommitted the sheriff of Dublin to prison for billeting an officer atthe bishop of Meath's. Yet the bishop had not merely resisted theirfavourite repeal of the Settlement, but, in doing so, had stigmatizedtheir fathers and some of themselves as murderous rebels. 

King's next charge is, that the attainders of many peers were reversedto admit them. Now this is unsupported evidence against fact, andsimply a falsehood. Then he complains of the new creations. They werejust _five_ in number; and of these five, two were great legaldignitaries--the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice of Ireland; thethird was Colonel MacCarty, of the princely family of Desmond, and adistinguished soldier with a great following; the others, Brown, LordKenmare; and Bourke, Lord Bofin (son of Lord Clanricarde), men of highposition in their counties. 

Fitton, Lord Gosworth, occupied the woolsack. That he was a man ofcapacity, if not of character, may be fairly presumed from his partyhaving put him in so important an office in such trying times. [18] Hecertainly had neither faction nor following to bring with him. Nor washe treated by his party below what his rank entitled him to. Theappointments in his court were not interfered with: his decrees werenot impeached, and in the council he sat above even Herbert, the LordChancellor of England. Yet, King describes this man as "detected offorgery, " one who was brought from gaol to the woolsack--one who hadnot appeared in any court--a stranger to the kingdom, the laws, and thepractice and rules of court;--one who made constant needless referencesto the Masters to disguise his ignorance, and who was brought intopower, first, because he was "a convert papist, that is, a renegade tohis country and his religion;" and, secondly, because he would enablethe Irish to recover their estates by countenancing "forgeries andperjuries, " which last, continues the veracious archbishop, he nearlyeffected, without putting them to the trouble of repealing the Acts ofSettlement. King staggers from the assertion that Fitton denied justiceto Protestants, into saying it was got from him with difficulty. 

Thomas Nugent, Baron Riverstown, second son of the Earl of Westmeath, was chosen chairman of committees. King, who is the only authority atpresent accessible to us, states that Nugent had been "out" in 1641, but considering that he did not die till 1715, he must have been a mereboy in '41, if born at all; and, at any rate, as his family, includinghis grandfather, Lord Delvin (first Earl of Westmeath), and his father, carried arms against the Irish up to 1648, and suffered severely, it ismost improbable that he was, as a child, in the opposite ranks. 

The Irish had never ceased to agitate against the Acts of Settlementand Explanation. Thus Sir Nicholas Plunket had done legal battleagainst the first, till an express resolution excluded him by name fromappearing at the bar of the council. Then Colonel Talbot (Tyrconnell)led the opposition effort for their repeal or mild administration. In1686, Sir Richard Nagle went to England, as agent of the Irish, to seektheir repeal. But the greatest effort was made in 1688. Nugent and Ricewere sent expressly to London to press the repeal. Rice is said to haveshown great tact and eloquence, but Nugent to have been rash andconfused. Certain it is, they were unsuccessful with the council, andwere brutally insulted by the London mob, set on by the very decentchiefs of the Williamite party. 

Of the eighteen prelates, ten were Englishmen, one Welsh, and onlyseven Irish. Several had been chaplains to the different lordslieutenant. Eleven out of the eighteen were in England during thesession. Of these, some were habitual absentees, such as ThomasHackett, bishop of Down, deprived in 1691 by Williamite commissionersfor an absence of twenty years. Others had got leave of absence during'87 and '88. Some, like Archbishop John Vesey of Tuam, and BishopRichard Tennison of Killala, fled in good earnest, and acceptedlecturerships and cures in London. 

There was one man among them who deserves more notice, Anthony Dopping, lord bishop of Meath. He was born in Dublin, 28th March, 1643, and died24th April, 1697. He was educated in St. Patrick's schools, and won hisfellowship in T. C. D. In 1662, being only 19 years old. He led theopposition in the parliament of '89 with great vigour and pertinacity. He resisted all the principal measures, and procured great changes insome of them, as appears by "The Journal. " He had a fearless characterand ready tongue. He continued a leader of the Ultras after the battleof the Boyne, and quarrelled with the government. King William, findinghow slowly the Irish war proceeded, had prepared and sent to Ireland aproclamation conceding the demands of the Roman Catholics, grantingthem perfect religious liberty, right of admission to all offices, andan establishment for their clergy. [19] While this was with the printersin Dublin, news came of the danger of Limerick. The proclamation wassuppressed by the Lords Justices, who hastened to the camp, "to holdthe Irish to as hard terms as possible. This they did effectually. "Still these "hard terms" were too lenient for the Ultras, who roaredagainst the treaty of Limerick, and demanded its abrogation. On theSunday after the Lords Justices had returned, full of joy at havingtricked the Irish into so much harder terms than William had directedthem to offer, they attended Christ Church, and the bishop of Meathpreached a sermon, whose whole object was to urge the breaking of thetreaty of Limerick, contending (says Harris, in his Irish Writers inWare, p. 215) that "peace ought not to be kept with a people soperfidious. " The Justices, and the Williamite or moderate party, wereenraged at this. The bishop of Kildare was directed to preach in ChristChurch on the following Sunday in favour of the treaty; and he obtainedthe place in the privy council from which the bishop of Meath wasexpelled; but ultimately the party of the latter triumphed, and enactedthe penal laws. 

The list of the Lords Temporal has been made out with great care, fromall the authorities accessible. 

Ireland had then but two dukes, Tyrconnell and Ormond. Ormond possessedthe enormous spoils acquired by his grandfather from the Irish, and wastherefore largely interested in the success of the English party. He, of course, did not attend. His huge territory and its regal privilegeswere taken from him by a special act. 

Considering the position he occupied, the materials on the life ofTyrconnell are most unsatisfactory. Richard Talbot was a cadet of theIrish branch of the Shrewsbury family, and numbered in his ancestorsthe first names in English history. His father was Sir William Talbot, a distinguished Irish lawyer, and his brother, Peter Talbot, was R. C. Archbishop of Dublin, and was murdered there by tedious imprisonment ona false charge in 1680. He was a lad of sixteen when Cromwell sackedDrogheda in September 1649, and he doubtless brought from its bloodyashes no feeling in favour of the Saxon. He was all his life engaged inthe service of the Irish and of James. He was attached to the Duke ofYork's suite from the Restoration, and was taken prisoner by the Dutch, on board the Catharine, in the naval action at Solebay, 29th May, 1672. [20] After the Acts of Settlement and Explanation were passed, heacted as agent for the Irish Roman Catholics, urging their claims withall the influence his rank, abilities, and fortune[21] could command. His zeal got him into frequent dangers; he was sent to the Tower in1661 and 1671 for having challenged the Duke of Ormond, and the EnglishCommons presented an address in 1671, praying his dismissal from allpublic employments. He was selected by James, both from personal trustand popularity, to communicate with the Irish; and though Clarendon wasfirst sent as Lord Lieutenant in '85, Tyrconnell had the independentmanagement of the army, [22] and replaced Clarendon in 1686. 

Sarsfield, who was at the head of "the French party, " and most of thegreat Irish officers, thought him undecided, hardly bold enough, andwith a selfish leaning towards England. Of his selfishness we have nowa better proof than they had, a proof that _might_ have abated hismaster's eulogy, given further on. We say _might_, for _possibly_Tyrconnell was in communication with James as to the French offers. 

 "It is now ascertained that, doubtful of the king's success in the struggle for restoring popery in England, he had made secret overtures to some of the French agents, for casting off all connection with that kingdom in case of James's death, and, with the aid of Louis, placing the crown of Ireland on his own head. M. Mazure has brought this remarkable fact to light. Bonrepos, a French emissary in England, was authorised by his court to proceed in a negociation with Tyrconnell for the separation of the two islands, in case that a Protestant should succeed to the crown of England. He had accordingly a private interview with a confidential agent of the Lord Lieutenant at Chester in the month of October, 1687. Tyrconnell undertook that in less than a year everything should be prepared. "[23]

Tyrconnell was made Baron Talbotstown, Viscount Baltinglass, and Earlof Tyrconnell in 1686, and Duke and Marquis, 30th March, 1689. 

From his coming to Ireland, he worked hard for his master and hiscountrymen. He gradually substituted Jacobite soldiers for theOliverians, who till then filled the ranks. He increased the armylargely, and lent the king 3, 000 men in '88. Mischief was done toJames's cause by this employment of Irish troops in England. He wasactive in calling in the corporation charters, and was exposed to muchcalumny on account of it. The means, doubtless, were indefensible (forthe change should have been effected by act of Parliament, as it has atlength been in our times), but the end was to put the corporations intothe hands of the Irish people. And even in those new corporations, one-third of the burgesses were of English descent and Protestantfaith; but this moderation is attempted to be shaved away by theWilliamites, who insist that most of these Protestants were Quakers, whom they describe as a savage rabble, originally founded by theJesuits[24]--with what injustice we need hardly say. James describeshim "as a man of good abilities and clear courage, and one who for manyyears had a true attachment to his majesty's person and interest. "[25]

Lord Clanrickarde represented the Mac William _Uachdar_, one of the twogreat branches of the De Burgos, who usurped the chieftaincy on thedeath of the Earl of Ulster in the year 1333. His father was the greatLord Clanrickarde, who held Connaught in peace and loyalty, from 1641to 1650; when the troops for which he had negotiated with the Duke ofLorraine not arriving, he too yielded to the storm. 

Mac Donnel Lord Antrim, also the representative of a great house (theLord of the Isles), was equally dependant on his predecessor fornotoriety. His elder brother, the Marquis and Earl of Antrim, played anotorious and powerful part on the Irish side, in the war, from 1642 upto 1650. This Earl Alexander also commanded an Irish regiment duringthe same war. He was within the treaty of Limerick, and saved his rankand fortune. 

Lords Longford and Granard were Williamites in fact. This does notfollow from their having acted so vigorously in the opposition in 1689, but from their having joined William openly the year after. LordGranard had been offered the command of the Williamites of Ulster in1688, and on his refusal, Lord Mount Alexander was appointed. 

Among the earls, one naturally looks for the two famous names of Taaffeand Lucan. But Taaffe was then on an embassy to the emperor, andPatrick Sarsfield was not made Earl of Lucan till after. Indeed hispatent is not entered in the rolls, from which 'tis probable he was nottitled till after the battle of the Boyne. 

Viscount Iveagh held Drogheda at the battle of the Boyne, and wasinduced to surrender it by William's ruffianly and unmilitary threat of"no quarter. "

Lord Clare was father to the famous Lord Clare, whose regiment was theglory of the Irish Brigade, and who was killed at Ramillies in 1706. Hewas descended from Connor O'Brian, third earl of Thomond. 

Lord Mountcashel, by his rapidity and skill, completely broke theMunster insurgents, and made that province, till then considered thestronghold of the English, James's best help. To him was intrusted theBill repealing the Settlement in the Commons, where he sat as memberfor the county of Cork till that Bill passed the Commons, when he wascalled to the Upper House as Lord Mountcashel. 

Lord Kinsale represented the famous John De Courcy, Earl of Ulster, andhad the blood of Charlemagne in his veins. He served asLieutenant-Colonel to Lord Lucan. His attainder under William wasreversed, and he appeared at court, where he enforced the privilegepeculiar to his family of remaining covered in the king's presence. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [17] See as to this, Melfort's letter to Pottinger, the sovereign of Belfast; "History of Belfast, " pp. 72-3; Lesley _proves_, on Williamite authority, that the Protestants were worse treated by William's army than by James's. See Dr. Gorges in Lesley's Appendix. 

 [18] He was appointed in 1686 (see Appendix B). T. W. R. 

 [19] In July, 1691, William had offered these terms: 1st. The free public exercise of the Roman Catholic Religion. 2nd. Half the churches in the kingdom. 3rd. Half the employments, civil and military, if they pleased. 4th. Half their properties, as held prior to Cromwell's conquest. The terms were at once refused. The suppressed proclamation doubtless offered at least as much. (Harris's "William, " and Plowden, b. 2. )

 [20] Rawdon Papers, p. 253. 

 [21] Anthony Hamilton, in his "Memoirs of Grammont, " exaggerates this to £40, 000 a year, and attributes Miss Jennings' affection to its attractions. But besides that, by his statement, Tyrconnell had been a rival of Grammont with Miss Hamilton, there is enough in Grammont to account for it otherwise. Hamilton, an Irishman, and a Jacobite, seems to have sympathised with Tyrconnell. He describes him as "one of the largest and most powerful looking men in England, " "with a brilliant and handsome appearance, and something of nobility, not to say haughtiness in his manners. " He mentions circumstances, showing him bold, free, amorous, and, strange for a courtier, punctual in payment of debts. Yet this man, so full of refinement, and so trained, is described by King as addressing the Irish Privy Council thus:--"I have put the sword into your hands, and God damn you all if ever you part with it. "

 [22] Clarendon's "State Letters, " vol. I. And the Diary. 

 [23] Hallam's "Constitutional History, " v. Iii. , p. 530. 

 [24] State Tracts, Will. III. 's reign, H. R. 's App. To Cox. 

 [25] "Memoirs of James II. , " by the Rev. ---- Clarke, Chaplain to George IV. These memoirs seem to have been copies of memoirs written under James II. 's inspection, and deposited in the Scotch College in Paris. The originals perished at the French Revolution, and their copies came to Rome, from whence they were procured for the English government in 1805. See Mr. Clarke's preface, and Guizot's preface to his translation of them in the "Mémoires de la Révolution. "

CHAPTER III. 

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 

The number of members in the Commons, as the complement was made upunder the monstrous charters of James I. , Charles I. , and Charles II. , far outdoing in their unconstitutional nature any of the stretchings ofprerogative in the reign of James II. , amounted to 300. The numberactually returned was 224. Of the deficiencies, no less than 28 werecaused by the places being the seats of the war. 

The character of this assembly must be chiefly judged by its acts, andwe shall presently resume the consideration of them; but there are somethings in the composition of the Commons whereby their character hasbeen judged. 

They have been denounced by King: but before we examine his statements, let us inquire who he was, lest we underrate or overrate his testimony;lest we unjustly require proof, in addition to the witness of athoroughly pure and wise man; or, what is more dangerous, lest weremain content with the unconfirmed statements of a bigot or knave. 

William King was the son of James King, a miller, who, in order toavoid taking the Solemn League and Covenant, removed from the North ofScotland, and settled in Antrim, where William was born, 1st of May, 1650. (See Harris's "Ware, " Bishops of Derry. ) He was educated atDungannon, was a sizar, "_native_, " and schoolmaster in T. C. D. , and wasordained in 1673. Parker, archbishop of Tuam, gave him a heap oflivings, and on being translated to Dublin, procured the Chancellorshipof St. Patrick's for King in 1679. This he held during the Revolution. He was imprisoned in 1689 on suspicion, but after some months wasreleased, through the influence of Herbert and Tyrconnell, andnotwithstanding C. J. Nugent's opposition. Immediately on his releasehe wrote his "State of the Protestants of Ireland, " printed in London, _cum privilegio_, at the chief Williamite printer's. It was written andpublished while the war in Ireland was at its height, and when it wassought at any price to check the Jacobite feeling then beginning torevive in England, by running down the conduct of the Irish, James'smost formidable supporters. Moreover, King had been imprisoned (justlyor unjustly) by James's council, and he obtained the bishopric of Derryfrom William, on the 25th of January, 1690 (old style), namely, withinthirty-eight weeks before the publication of his book, which wasprinted, _cum privilegio_, 15th of October, 1691. Whether the bishopricwas the wages of the book, or the book revenge for the imprisonment, weshall not say; but surely King must have had marvellous virtue to writeimpartially, in excited and reckless times, for so demoralized a partyas the English Whigs, when he wrote of transactions yet incomplete, ofwhich there was a perilous stake not only for him but for his friends, and when, of the parties at issue, one gave him a gaol and the other amitre. 

There is scarcely a section in his book that does not abound with themost superlative charges, put in the coarsest language. All thecalumnies as to 1641, which are now confessed to be false, are gospeltruths in his book. He never gives an exact authority for any of hisgraver charges, and his appendix is a valuable reply to his text. 

When, in addition to these external probabilites and intrinsicevidences of falsehood, we add that, immediately on its publication, Lesley wrote an answer to it, denying its main statements as mere lies, and that his book was never replied to, we will not be in a hurry toadopt any statement of King's. 

But in order to see the force of this last objection to King'scredibility, something must be known of Lesley. 

Charles Lesley, son of the bishop of Clogher, is chiefly known for hisvery able controversial writings against Deists, Catholics, andDissenters. He was a law-student till 1680, when he took orders; and in1687 became chancellor of Connor. When, in 1688, James appointed aRoman Catholic sheriff for Monaghan, Mr. Lesley, being then sick withgout, had himself carried to the courthouse, and induced themagistrates to commit the sheriff. In fact, it appears from Harris("Life of William, " p. 216, and "Writers of Ireland, " pp. 282-6), thatLesley was notorious for his conversions of Roman Catholics, and hisstern hostility to Tyrconnell's government. Lesley refused to take theoath of supremacy after the Revolution, and thereby lost all chance ofpromotion in the Church. He was looked on as the head of the nonjurors, and died in March, 1721-2, at Glaslough, universally respected. 

Such being Mr. Lesley's character, so able, so upright, so zealouslyProtestant, he, in 1692, wrote an answer to King's "State, " in which heaccuses King of the basest personal hypocrisy and charges him withhaving in his book written gross, abominable, and notorious falsehoods, and this he _proves_ in several instances, and in many more renders ithighly probable. King died 8th May, 1729, leaving Lesley's bookaltogether unreplied to. 

Here then was that man--bishop of Derry for eleven years and archbishopof Dublin for twenty-seven years--remaining silent under a charge ofdeliberate and interested falsehood, and that charge made by nounworthy man, but by one of his own country, neighbourhood, andcreed--by one of acknowledged virtue, high position, and vastabilities. 

Nor is this all; Lesley's book was not only unanswered; it was watchedand attempted to be stopped, and when published, was instantly orderedto be suppressed, as were all other publications in favour of the Irishor of King James. 

The reader is now in a position to judge of the credibility of anyassertion of King's, when unsupported by other authority. 

King's gravest charges are in the following passage:--

 "These members of the House of Commons are elected either by freeholders of counties, or the freemen of the corporations; and I have already showed how king James wrested these out of the hands of Protestants, and put them into Popish hands in the new constitution of corporations, by which the freemen and freeholders of cities or boroughs, to whom the election of burgesses originally belongs, are excluded, and the election put into the hands of a small number of men named by the king, and removable at his pleasure. The Protestant freeholders, if they had been in the kingdom, were much more than the papist freeholders, but now being gone, though many counties could not make a jury, as appeared at the intended trial of Mr. Price and other Protestants at Wicklow, who could not be tried for want of freeholders--yet, notwithstanding the paucity of these, they made a shift to return knights of the shire. The common way of election was thus:--The Earl of Tyrconnell, together with the writ for election, commonly sent a letter, recommending the persons he designed should be chosen; the sheriff or mayor being his creature, on receipt of this, called so many of the freeholders of a county or burgesses of a corporation together, as he thought fit, and without making any noise, made the return. It was easier to do this in boroughs--because, by their new charters, the electors were not above twelve or thirteen, and in the greatest cities but twenty-four; and commonly, not half of these in the place. The method of the Sheriff's proceeding was the same; the number of Popish freeholders being very small, sometimes not a dozen in a county, it was easier to give notice to them to appear, so that the Protestants either did not know of the election or durst not appear at it. "

First let us see about the boroughs. King, in his section on thecorporations, states in terms that "they" (the Protestants) "thought itreasonable to keep these (corporate towns) in their own hands, as beingthe foundation of the legislative power, and therefore secludedpapists, " etc. The purport, therefore, of King's objection to the newconstitution under King James's charters was the admission of RomanCatholics. Religious equality was sinful in his eyes. 

The means used by James to change the corporations, namely bringing_quo warrantos_ in the Exchequer against them, and employing all theniceties of a confused law to quash them, we have before condemned. Indoing so, he had the precedents of the reigns called most constitutionalby English historians, and those not old, but during his brother'sreign; nor can anyone who has looked into Brady's treatise on Boroughsdoubt that there was plenty of "law" in favour of James's conduct. [26]But still public policy and public opinion in England were againstthese _quo warrantos_, and in Ireland they were only approved of bythose who were to be benefited by them. 

But the means being thus improper, the use made by James of this powercan hardly be complained of. The Roman Catholics were then about900, 000, the Protestants, over 300, 000. James, it is confessed, allowedone-third of the corporations to be Protestant, though they werelittle, if at all, more than one-fourth of the population. This willappear no great injustice in our times, although some of theseProtestants may, as it has been alleged, have been "Quakers. "

It must also be remembered that those proceedings were begun not byJames but by Charles; that the corporations were, with some show oflaw, conceived to have been forfeited during the Irish war, or theCromwellian rule; and that being offered renewals on terms, theyrefused; whereupon the _quo warrantos_ were brought and decided beforethe regular tribunals during the earlier and middle part of James'sreign. On the 24th September, 1687, James issued his Royal Letter (tobe found in Harris's Appendix, pp. 4 to 6), commanding the renewal ofthe charters. By these renewals, the first members of the corporationswere to be named by the lord lieutenant, but they were afterwards tobe elected by the corporations themselves. There certainly are_non-obstante_ and non-resistance clauses ordered to be inserted, inthe prerogative spirit of that day, which were justly complained of. 

With reference to the number of burgesses, King's statement that thenumber of electors was usually twelve or thirteen, and in the greatestcities but twenty-four, is untrue. Most of the Irish boroughs werecertainly reduced to these numbers under the liberal Hanoveriangovernment, but not so under James. The members' names are given infull in Harris's Appendix, and from those it appears that nocorporation had so few as twelve electors. Only five, viz. --Dungannon, Ennis, St. Johnstown (in Longford), Belturbet, and Athboy, were as lowas thirteen; twenty-three, viz. --Tuam, Kildare, Cavan, Galway, Callan, Newborough, Carlingford, Gowran, Carysfort, Boyle, Roscommon, Athy, Strabane, Middletown, Newry, Philipstown, Banagher, Castlebar, Fethard, Blessington, Charleville, Thomastown, and Baltimore, varied fromfourteen to twenty-four; most of the rest varied from thirty to forty. Dublin had seventy-three; Cork, sixty-one; Clonmel, forty-six; Cashel, forty-two; Drogheda, fifty-seven; Kilkenny, sixty-one; Limerick, sixty-five; Waterford, forty-nine; Youghal, forty-six; Wexford, fifty-three, and Derry, sixty-four. This is a striking proof of thelittle reliance to be placed on King's positive statements. 

Harris, a hostile authority, gives the names and generally theadditions of the members of each corporation, and the majority aremerchants, respectable traders, engineers, or gentlemen. Moreover, insuch towns as our local knowledge extends to, the names are those ofthe best families, not being zealous Williamites. As to the counties, King relies upon a pamphlet published in London in 1689, setting outgreat grievances in the title page, and disproving them in the body ofthe tract. 

If many Protestant freeholders had fled to England, who was toblame?--Most assuredly, my Lord Mount Alexander and the rest of theright noble and honourable suborners, devisers, and propagators offorged letters and infamous reports, whereby they frightened theProtestants, in order to take advantage of their terror for their ownselfish ends. The exposure of these devices by the publication of"Speke's Memoirs, " by the confessed forgery of the Dromore letter, etc. , have thrown the chief blame of the Protestant desertion off theshoulders of those Protestants, off the shoulders, too, of the Irishgovernment, and have brought it crushingly upon the aristocratic cabal, who alone profited by the revolution, as they alone caused it. 

In the absence of other testimony, we must take, with similar allowances, the story of Tyrconnell "_commonly_" sending an unconstitutional letterto influence the election. But how very good these Jacobite sheriffsand mayors were to let King into the secret, in 1691, when theirdestiny was uncertain! That such gossip was current is likely, but fora historian to assert on such authority is scandalous. 

King asserts that the unrepresented boroughs were "_about twenty-nine_. "Now, there were but _eighteen_ boroughs unrestored; but King helps outthe falsehood by inserting places--Thurles, Tipperary, Arklow, andBirr--which _never_ had members before or since, by _creating_ a_second_ town of Kells, by transferring St. Johnstown in Longford whichreturned members, to St. Johnstown in Donegal, which was a seat of war, and by other tricks equally discreditable to his honesty andintelligence. 

The towns unrestored _could_ not have sent members to James'sparliament, and it was apparently doubted whether they ought to havedone so to William's in '92. 

Against the Commons actually elected the charge is that only sixProtestants were elected. In the very section containing the charge itis much qualified by other statements. "Thus, " he says, "one GerardDillon, Sergeant-at-Law, a most furious Papist, was Recorder of Dublin, and he stood to be chosen one of the burgesses for the city, but couldnot prevail, because he had purchased a considerable estate under theAct of Settlement, and they feared lest this might engage him to defendit;" and therefore they chose Sir Michael Creagh and Terence Dermot, their Senior Aldermen, showing pretty clearly that the good citizens ofDublin set little value on the "furious Popery" of Prime SergeantDillon, in comparison with their property plundered by the Act ofSettlement. 

The election for Trinity College is worthy of notice. We have it setout in flaming paragraphs how horribly the College was used, worse thanany other borough, "Popish Fellows" being intruded. "In the house theyplaced a Popish garrison, turned the chapel into a magazine, and manyof the chambers into prisons for Protestants. " (King, p. 220, Ed. 1744. ) Yet, _miraculous_ to say, in the heart of this "Popishgarrison, " the "turned-out Vice-Provost, Fellows, and Scholars" met, and elected two most bold, notable, and Protestant Williamites. 

If this election could take place in Dublin, under the very nose of theGovernment, and in a corporation in which the king had unquestionedcontrol, one will hesitate about the compulsion or exclusion in otherplaces. 

Besides Sir John Meade and Mr. Joseph Coghlan, the members for theCollege, there "were four more Protestants returned, of whose behaviourI can give no account, " says King. Pity he does not give the names. 

If we were to allow a similar error in King's account of the creed ofthe elected, that we have proved in his lists of the borough electors, it would raise the number of Protestants in the house to aboutfourteen. 

Allowing then for the Protestants in arms against the Government--outof the country, or within the seat of war--the disproportion betweentheir representatives and the Roman Catholics will lessen greatly. 

One thing more is worth noticing in the Commons, and that is a sort ofsept representation. Thus we see O'Neills in Antrim, Tyrone, andArmagh; Magennises in Down; O'Reillys in Cavan; Martins, Blakes, Kirwans, Dalys, Bourkes for Connaught; MacCarthys, O'Briens, O'Donovansfor Cork and Clare; Farrells for Longford; Graces, Purcells, Butlers, Welshs, Fitzgeralds for Tipperary, Kilkenny, Kildare, etc. ; O'Tooles, Byrnes, and Eustaces for Wicklow; MacMahons for Monaghan; Nugents, Bellews, Talbots, etc. , for North Leinster. 

Sir Richard Nagle, the Speaker, was the descendant of an old Normanfamily (said to be the same as the Nangles) settled in Cork. Hispaternal castle, Carrignancurra, is on the edge of a steep rock, overthe meadows of the Blackwater, half-a-dozen miles below Mallow. It isnow the property of the Foot family, and here may still be seen themouldering ruin where that subtle lawyer first learned to plan. Peacefully now look the long oak-clad cliffs on the happy river. 

Nagle had obtained a splendid reputation at the Irish Bar. "He had beeneducated among the Jesuits, and designed for a clergyman, " says King, "but afterwards betook himself to the study of the law, in which hearrived to a good perfection. " Harris, likewise, calls him "an artfullawyer of great parts. " Tyrconnell valued him rightly, and brought himto England with him in the autumn of 1686. His reputation seems to havebeen great, for it seems the lords interested in the Settlement Act, "on being informed of Nagle's arrival, were so transported with ragethat they would have had him immediately sent out of London. "

He was knighted, and made attorney-general in 1687; and on James'sarrival, March, 1688-9, he was made secretary of state. He is said, weknow not how truly, to have drafted the Commons' bill for the repeal ofthe Settlement. 

Let us mention some of the members. --Nagle's colleague in Cork wasColonel MacCarty, afterwards Lord Mountcashel. Miles de Courcy, afterwards Lord Kinsale, MacCarty Reagh, who finally settled in France. His descendant, Count MacCarty Reagh, was notable for having one of thefinest libraries in Europe, which was sold after the Revolution. 

The Rt. Hon. Simon Lutteral raised a dragoon regiment for James, andafterwards commanded the Queen's regiment of infantry in the Brigade. He was father to Colonel Henry Lutteral, accused of having betrayed thepassage of the Shannon at Limerick; and though Harris throws doubt onthis particular act of treason, his correspondence and rewards fromWilliam seem sufficient proof and confirmation of his guilt. 

Lally of Tullendaly, member for Tuam, was the representative of theO'Lallys, an old Irish sept. His brother, John Gerard Lally, settled inFrance, and married a sister to Dillon, "_colonel propriétaire_" in theBrigade, and was Colonel commanding in this illustrious regiment. SirGerard was father to the famous Count Thomas Lally Tollendal, who, after having served from the age of twelve to sixty-four in everyquarter of the globe, from Barcelona to Dettingen, and from Fontenoy toPondicherry, was beheaded on the 9th of May, 1766. The Marquis De LallyTollendal, a distinguished lawyer and statesman of the Bourbonistparty, and writer of the life of Strafford, and many other works, was agrand-nephew to James Lally, the member for Tuam in '89. 

Colonel Roger Mac Elligot, who commanded Lord Clancarty's regiment (the12th infantry) in the Brigade, was member for Ardfert. 

Limerick. --Sir John Fitzgerald was "_col. Propr. _" of the regiment ofLimerick (8th infantry) in the Brigade. 

Oliver O'Gara, member for Tulske, was Lieutenant-Colonel of the guardsunder Colonel Dorrington. 

Hugh Mac Mahon, Gordon O'Nials Lieutenant-Colonel, was member forMonaghan. 

The Right Hon. Nicholas Purcell, member for Tipperary, was a PrivyCouncillor early in James's reign. His family were Barons of Loughmoe, and of great consideration in those parts. 

The first bill introduced into the Lords was on the 8th of May--thatfor the recognition of the king--and the same day committees ofgrievance were appointed. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [26] Hallam ("Constitutional History, " chaps. 13 and 14) contains enough to show the uncertainty of the law. Throughout these, as in all parts of his work, he is a jealous Williamite and a bigoted Whig. His treatment of Curry has been justly censured by Mr. Wyse, in his valuable "History of the Catholic Association, " vol. I. , pp. 36-7. 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE SESSION. 

It is needless for us to track the parliament through the debates ofthe session, which lasted till the 20th July. The few acts (thirty-five), passed in two months, received full and earnest discussion; committeesand counsel were heard on many of them (the Acts for repealing theSettlement in particular), and this parliament refused even to adjournduring any holiday. 

We trust our readers will deal like searchers for truth, not likepolemics, with these documents, and with the history of these times. But, above all, let them not approach the subject unless it be in aspirit enlightened by philosophy and warmed by charity. Thus studied, this time, which has been the armoury of faction, may become the templeof reconciliation. The descendant of the Williamite ought to sympathisewith the urgent patriotism and loyalty of the parliament, rather thandwell on its errors, or on the sufferings which civil war inflicted onhis forefathers. The heir of the Jacobite may well be proud of suchcountrymen as the Inniskilliners and the 'Prentice Boys of Derry. Bothmust deplore that the falsehoods, corruption, and forgeries of Englisharistocrats, the imprudence of an English king, and the fickleness ofthe English people placed the noble cavalry which slew Schomberg, andall but beat William's immense masses at the Boyne, in opposition tothe stout men of Butler's-bridge and Cavan. What had not the defendersof Derry and Limerick, the heroes of Athlone, Inniskillen, and Aughrimdone, had they cordially joined against the alien? Let the RomanCatholics, crushed by the Penal Code, let the Protestants, impoverishedand insulted by England, till, musket in hand and with bannersdisplayed, they forced their rights from her in '82--let both looknarrowly at the causes of those intestine feuds, which have prostratedboth in turn before the stranger, and see whether much may not be saidfor both sides, and whether half of what each calls crime in the otheris not his own distrust or his neighbour's ignorance. Knowledge, Charity, and Patriotism are the only powers which can loose thisPrometheus-land. Let us seek them daily in our own hearts andconversation. 

The Acts and other official documents of James's Parliament wereordered by William's Parliament to be burned, and became extremelyscarce. In 1740 they were printed in Dublin by Ebenezer Rider, and fromthat collection we propose to reprint the most important of them, asthe best and most solid answer to misrepresentation. 

The Parliament which passed those Acts was the first and the last whichever sat in Ireland since the English invasion, possessed of nationalauthority, and complete in all its parts. The king, by law and infact--the king who, by his Scottish descent, his creed, and hismisfortunes, was dear (mistakenly or not) to the majority of the thenpeople of Ireland--presided in person over that Parliament. The peerageconsisted of the best blood, Milesian and Norman, of great wealth andof various creeds. The Commons represented the Irish septs, the Danishtowns, and the Anglo-Irish counties and boroughs. No Parliament ofequal rank, from King to Commons, sat here since; none sat here beforeor since so national in composition and conduct. 

Standing between two dynasties--endangering the one, and almostrescuing the other--acting for a nation entirely unchained then for thefirst time in 500 years--this Parliament and its Acts _ought_ topossess the very greatest interest for the historian and the patriot. 

This was the speech with which his Majesty opened the Session:--

 _My Lords and Gentlemen_, The Exemplary Loyalty which this Nation hath expressed to me, at a time when _others_ of my _Subjects undutifully misbehaved themselves to me, or so basely deserted me_: And your seconding my Deputy, as you did, in His Firm and Resolute asserting my Right, in preserving this Kingdom for me, and putting it in a Posture of Defence; made me resolve to come to you, and to venture my life with you, in the defence of your Liberties and my Own Right. And to my great Satisfaction I have not only found you ready to serve me, but that your Courage has equalled your Zeal. 

 I have always been for Liberty of Conscience, and against invading any Man's Property; having still in my Mind that Saying in Holy Writ, _Do as you would be done to, for that is the Law and the Prophets_. 

 _It was this Liberty of Conscience I gave, which my Enemies both Abroad and at Home dreaded; especially when they saw that I was resolved to have it Established by Law in all my Dominions, and made them set themselves up against me_, though for different Reasons. Seeing that if I had once settled it, _My people_ (_in the Opinion of the One_) would have been too happy; and I (_in the Opinion of the Other_) too great. 

 _This Argument was made use of_, to persuade their own People to joyn with them, and to many of my Subjects to use me as they have done. But nothing shall ever persuade me to change my Mind as to that; and wheresoever I am the Master, I design (God willing) to Establish it by Law; and have no other Test or Distinction but that of Loyalty. 

 I expect your Concurrence in so Christian a Work, and in making Laws against Prophaneness and all Sorts of Debauchery. 

 I shall also most readily consent to the making such Good and Wholesome Laws as may be for the general Good of the Nation, the Improvement of Trade, and the relieving of such as have been injured by the late _Acts of Settlement_, as far forth as may be consistent with Reason, Justice, and the Publick Good of my People. 

 And as I shall do my Part to make you Happy and Rich, I make no Doubt of your Assistance; by enabling me to oppose the unjust Designs of my Enemies, and to make this Nation flourish. 

 And to encourage you the more to it, you know with what Ardour and Generosity and Kindness the Most Christian King gave a secure retreat to the Queen, my Son, and Myself, when we were forced out of _England_, and came to seek for Protection and Safety in his Dominions; how he embraced my Interest, and gave me such Supplies of all Sorts as enabled me to come to you; which, without his obliging Assistance, I could not have done: _This he did_ at a Time when he had so many and so considerable Enemies to deal with: _and you see still continues to do_. 

 I shall conclude as I have begun, and assure you I am as sensible as you can desire of the signal Loyalty you have expressed to me; and shall make it my chief study (as it always has been) to make you and all my Subjects happy. 

These were the Acts of that memorable parliament. 

CHAPTER I. 

An Act of Recognition. 

CHAPTER II. 

An Act for Annulling and making Void all Patents of Officers for Life, or during good Behaviour. 

CHAPTER III. 

An Act declaring, That the Parliament of England cannot bind Ireland[and] against Writs of Error and Appeals, to be brought for RemovingJudgments, Decrees, and Sentences given in Ireland, into England. 

CHAPTER IV. 

An Act for Repealing the Acts of Settlement, and Explanation, Resolution of Doubts and all Grants, Patents and Certificates, pursuantto them or any of them. [This Act will be dealt with separately in thenext chapter. ]

CHAPTER V. 

An Act for punishing of persons who bring in counterfeit Coin offoreign Realms being current in this Realm, or counterfeit the samewithin this Realm, or wash, clip, file, or lighten the same. 

CHAPTER VI. 

An Act for taking off all Incapacities on the Natives of this Kingdom. 

CHAPTER VII. 

An Act for taking away the Benefits of the Clergy in certain Cases ofFelony in this Kingdom for two Years. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

An Act to continue two Acts made to prevent Delays in Execution; and toprevent Arrests of Judgments and Superseding Executions. 

CHAPTER IX. 

An Act for Repealing a Statute, Entituled, An Act for Provision ofMinisters in Cities and Corporate Towns, and making the Church of St. Andrews in the Suburbs of [the city of] Dublin Presentative for ever. 

CHAPTER X. 

An Act of Supply for his Majesty for the Support of his Army. 

[The Act of Supply begins by giving good reasons for the making of it;namely, that the army cost far more than the king's revenue, and thatthat army was rendered necessary from the invasion of Ireland by theEnglish rebels. It next grants the king £20, 000 a month, to be raisedby a land-tax, and this sum it distributes on the different countiesand counties of towns, according to their abilities. The rebelliouscounties of Fermanagh and Derry are taxed just as lightly as if theywere loyal. The names of the commissioners are, beyond doubt, those ofthe first men in their respective counties. The rank of the country wasas palpably on James's side as was the populace. 

The clauses regarding the tenants are remarkably clear and liberal:"For as much, " it says, "as it would be hard that the tenants shouldbear _any_ proportion of the said sum, considering that it is verydifficult for the tenant to pay his rent in these distracted times, " itgoes on to provide that the tax shall, in the first instance, be paidby the occupier, but that, where land is let at its value, he shall beALLOWED THE WHOLE OF THE TAX OUT OF HIS RENT, notwithstanding anycontract to the contrary; and that where the land was let at _half_ itsvalue _or less_, then, and then only, should the tenant pay a share(half) of the tax. Thus not only rack-rented farms, but all let at anyrent, no matter how little, over half the value, were free of this tax. Where, in distracted or quiet times, since, has a parliament oflandlords in England or Ireland acted with equal liberality?

The £20, 000 a month hereby granted was altogether insufficient for thewar; and James, urged by the military exigency, which did not toleratethe delay of calling a parliament when Schomberg threatened thecapital, issued a commission on the 10th April, 1690, to raise £20, 000a month additional; yet so far was even this from meeting his wants, that we find by one of Tyrconnell's letters to the queen (quoted inThorpe's catalogue for 1836), that in the spring of 1689, James'sexpenses were £100, 000 a month. Those who have censured this additionallevy and the brass coinage were jealous of what was done towardsfighting the battle of Ireland, or forgot that levies by the crown andalterations of the coin had been practised by every government inEurope. ]

CHAPTER XI. 

An Act for Repealing the Act for keeping and celebrating the 23rd of_October_ as an Anniversary Thanksgiving in this Kingdom. 

CHAPTER XII. 

An Act for Liberty of Conscience, and Repealing such Acts or Clauses inany Act of Parliament which are inconsistent with the same. 

An Act concerning Tythes and other Ecclesiastical Duties. 

_Acts XIII. And XV. Provide for the payment of tithes by Protestantsto the Protestant Church and by Catholics to the Catholic Church. _

CHAPTER XIV. 

An Act regulating Tythes, and other Ecclesiastical Duties in theProvince of _Ulster_. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

An Act for Repealing the Act for real Union and Division of Parishes, and concerning Churches, Free-Schools and Exchanges. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

An Act for Relief and Release of poor distressed Prisoners for Debts. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

An Act for the Repealing an Act, Entituled, An Act for Confirmation ofLetters Patent Granted to his Grace James Duke of Ormond. 

[The list of estates granted to Ormond, under the settlement at therestoration, occupies a page and a half of Cox's Magazine. To reducehim to his hereditary principalities (for they were no less) which heheld in 1641, was no great grievance, and that was the object of thisAct. ]

CHAPTER XIX. 

An Act for Encouragement of Strangers and others to inhabit and plantin the Kingdom of _Ireland_. 

CHAPTER XX. 

An Act for Prevention of Frauds and Perjuries. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

An Act for Prohibiting the Importation of English, Scotch, or WelchCoals into this Kingdom. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

An Act for ratifying and confirming Deeds and Settlements and lastWills and Testaments of Persons out of Possession. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

An Act for the speedy Recovering of Servants' Wages. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

An Act for Forfeiting and Vesting in His Majesty the Goods ofAbsentees. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

An Act concerning Martial Law. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

An Act for Punishment of Waste committed on Lands restorable to oldProprietors. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

An Act to enable his Majesty to regulate the Duties of ForeignCommodities. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

An Act for the better settling Intestates' Estates. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

An Act for the Advance and Improvement of Trade, and for Encouragementand increase of Shipping, and Navigation. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

An Act for the Attainder of Divers Rebels, and for the Preserving theInterest of Loyal Subjects. --(Dealt with in our sixth chapter. )

CHAPTER XXXI. 

An Act for granting and confirming unto the Duke of _Tyrconnel_, Landsand Tenements to the Value of £15, 000 _per annum_. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

An Act for securing the Water-Course for the Castle and City of_Dublin_. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

An Act for relieving Dame _Anna Yolanda Sarracourt_, alias _Duval_, andher Daughter. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

An Act for securing Iron-works and Land thereunto belonging, on Sir_Henry Waddington_, Knight, at a certain Rate. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

An Act for Reversal of the Attainder of _William Ryan_ of _Bally Ryan_in the County of _Tipperary_, Esq. ; and for restoring him to his Blood, corrupted by the said Attainder. 

CHAPTER V. 

REPEAL OF THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 

It appears from the Journal of the proceedings of the parliament, andfrom many other authorities, that no act of the Irish Parliament of1689 received such full consideration as the following. Two bills werebrought in for the purpose of repealing the acts of settlement--thatinto the House of Lords, on May 13, by Chief Justice Nugent; that intothe House of Commons by Lord Riverstown and Colonel MacCarthy. Committees sat to inquire into the effects of the bills; many memorialswere read and considered; counsel were heard, both generally on thebills and on their effects on individuals; the debates were long, andit was not till after several conferences between the two houses thatthe act passed. The act was deliberately and maturely considered. 

The titles and some of the effects of the acts of settlement are givenin the preamble to the following statute. The effect of those acts ofsettlement had been, in a great degree, to confirm the unprincipleddistribution of Irish property, made by Cromwell's government, amongstthose who had served it best, or, what meant nearly the same thing, whohad most injured the Irish. The acts of settlement gave legality to arevolution which transferred the lands of the natives to militarycolonists. The repeal of those acts, within 24 years after they passed, and within about 37 years after that revolution took place, cannotexcite much surprise. The _one-third_ of their holdings (which theCromwellian soldiers were obliged by the acts of the settlement to giveup) could not have made a fund to reprize those who had been oustedfrom the entire. However, the giving up of that one-third was notstrictly enforced, and the stock resulting was wasted by commissioners, and distributed as the applicants had interest at court, not as theyhad title to the lands. Thus, Lord Ormond got some HUNDRED THOUSANDacres; albeit he had done more substantial injury to the Irish, and tothe royalist cause in which they foolishly embarked, than any of theparliamentarians, from Coote to Ireton. Under such circumstances, weare not exaggerating the effect of the acts of settlement, passed afterthe Restoration, in saying, that they confirmed by law the Cromwellianrobbery. The testimony of all the credible writers of the time goes tothe same effect. Indeed, the repeal of the acts of settlement wouldhave been against the interests of the natives, if they had receivedjustice from those acts. This, in itself, is sufficient to prove howmuch hardship they had caused. The repeal of those acts by the Irish, as soon as they were in power, seems natural, considering how great andhow recent was the injury they inflicted. Still, as we said, 24 yearshad passed since those acts had become law. Many persons had gotpossession of properties under that law, and many of those propertieshad, doubtless, been sold, leased, subdivided, improved, andincumbered, upon the faith of that law. It might be urged that personsinterested by such means in these properties had become so with fullknowledge that they had been acquired by violence and injustice, andthat the original owners and their families were in existence, readyand resolved to take their first opportunity of regaining their rights. Such reasoning fixes all who had advanced money, made purchases, orbecome in any wise interested under the acts of settlement, with suchinjustice and imprudence as to diminish their claim for compensationupon the repeal of those acts. But it only diminished, it did notdestroy that claim. All those persons reposed some confidence in thesecurity of the then existing government; and many of them found ajustification for the Cromwellian conquest, in the conduct of theIrish, as the well-sustained falsehoods of the English describe it. 

For these reasons, Chief Justice Keating prepared a long memorial, which Forbes, Lord Granard, presented to the king, during thediscussions on the bills, in May, 1689, setting forth the claims ofthose who came in under the acts of settlement, as incumbrancers, purchasers, tenants, by marriage, etc. This memorial is dishonestlyrepresented by the Whig writers, as directed against the repealaltogether; but any one who reads it (which he can do in the appendixto Harris's life of William) will find that it is an argument in favourof the classes described in the last sentence. From the long andcareful clauses in the following act, for the reprisal and compensationof those classes, we must infer that Keating's memorial produced itsintended effect. However, these clauses require to be carefullyexamined, to see whether they carry out this principle of compensationfairly and impartially. The character of this parliament for moderationdepends greatly on their doings in this respect. 

We now come to a second class, the Irish who, having been given thealternative of "Hell or Connaught" (as a certain bishop was of Heavenor Dungarvan), preferred the latter, and were located on the lands ofthe Connaught people. This class would generally come in for their oldholdings in the other provinces, and required no compensation; but thedistribution, under this act, of the incumbrances, etc. , between themand the owners of their former and present lands, seems lawyer-like andreasonable. 

The next great class are the "adventurers, " those who got lands duringthe Commonwealth, and whose holdings were confirmed by the settlement. Their claim was boldly and ably urged by Anthony Dopping, bishop ofMeath. His speech on the Repeal Bill is given in King's appendix, andis worth reading. He bases their claim upon the supposition of theIrish having been bloody rebels, rightly punished by the giving oftheir lands to their loyal conquerors. His speech gives the genuineopinion of the English at the time. The preamble to the following act, and that to the Commons' bill, give the Irish view of the war. Thesedocuments deny that the bulk of the Irish were engaged in theconspiracy of 1641; and the denial is true, although it is also truethat more than a "few indigent persons" engaged in it, as is plain fromLord Maguire's narrative; and although it might have more become thisIrish parliament to proclaim the absolute justice of the rising of1641, on account of the sufferings of all ranks of Irish, in propertyand in political and religious rights; while they might have lamentedthat English atrocities had led to a cruel retaliation, though oneinfinitely less than it has been represented. However, the parliament, probably from delicacy to the king, based the rights of the Irish uponthe peace of 1684, and the Restoration as restoring them to theirloyalty, and to the properties possessed in 1641. 

Most fair inquirers will allow the justice of this restoration of theIrish; but will lament that the act before us contains no provision forthe families of those adventurers, who, however guilty when they cameinto the country, had been in it for from thirty to forty years, andhad time and some citizenship in their favour. There had been soundpolicy in that too, but it was not done; and though the open hostilityof most of those adventurers to the government--though the wants andurgency of the old proprietors, added to a lively recollection of thehorrors which thronged about their advent, may be urged in favour ofleaving them to work out their own livelihood by hard industry, or toreturn to England, we cannot be quite reconciled to the wisdom of thecourse. Yet, let any one who finds himself eager to condemn the IrishParliament on this account read over the facts that led to it, namely:the conquest of Leinster before the Reformation; the settlements ofMunster and Ulster, under Elizabeth and James; the governments ofStrafford, and Parsons, and Borlace; Cromwell's and Ireton's conquest;the effects of the acts of settlement, and the false-plot reign ofCharles II. ; let them, we say, read these, and be at least moderate incensuring the Parliament of 1689. 

_The Preamble to the Act of Repeal of the Acts of Settlement andExplanation, etc. , as it passed the House of Commons. _[27]

Whereas the Ambition and Avarice of the Lords Justices ruling over thisyour Kingdom, in 1641, did engage them to gather a malignant Party andCabal of the then Privy Council contrary to their sworn Faith andnatural Allegiance, in a secret Intelligence and traitorousCombination, with the Puritan Sectaries in the Realm of _GreatBritain_, against their lawful and undoubted Sovereign, his Peace, Crown, and Dignity, the Malice of which made it soon manifest in theNature and Tendency of their Proceedings; their untimely Prorogationsof a loyal unanimous Parliament, and thereby making void, anddisappointing the Effects of many seasonable Votes, Bills, andAddresses which, passed into Laws, had certainly secured the Peace andTranquility of this Kingdom, by binding to his Majesty the Hearts ofhis _Irish_ Subjects, as well by the Tyes of Affection and Gratitude, as Duty and Allegiance there. The said Lords Justices traitorouslydisbanding his Majesty's well assured Catholick Forces, when his Personand Monarchy were exposed to the said Rebel Sectaries, then marching inhostile Arms to dispoil him of his Power, Dominion, and Life; theirimmediate calling into the Place and Stead of those his Majesty'sfaithful disbanded Forces, a formidable Body of disciplined Troopsallied and confederated in Cause, Nation and Principles with thoseRebel Sectaries; their unwarrantable Entertainment of those Troops inthis Kingdom, to the draining of his Majesty's Treasury, and Terror ofhis Catholick Subjects, then openly menaced by them the aforesaid LordsJustices with a Massacre and total Extirpation, their bloodyProsecution of that Menace, in the Slaughter of many innocent Persons, thereby affrighting and compelling others in despair of Protection, from their Government, to unite and take Arms for their necessaryDefence, and Preservation of their Lives; their unpardonablePrevarication from his Majesty's Orders to them, in retrenching theTime by him graciously given to his Subjects so compelled into Arms ofreturning to their Duty; and stinting the General Pardon to such onlyas had no Freehold Estates to make Forfeitures of; their perniciousArts in way-laying, exchanging and wickedly depriving all Intercourseby Letters, Expresses, and other Communications and Privity betwixtyour said Royal Father and his much abused People; their insolent andbarbarous Application of Racks and other Engines of Torture to Sir_John Read_, his then Majesty's sworn menial Servant, and that upontheir own conscience Suspicions of his being intrusted with the toojust Complaints of the persecuted Catholick aforesaid; their diabolicalMalice and Craft, in essaying by Promises and Threats, to draw fromhim, the said _Read_, in his Torments, a false and impious Accusationof his Master and Sovereign as being the Author and Promoter of thethen Commotion, so manifestly procured, and by themselves industriouslyspread. 

And whereas a late eminent Minister of State, for parallel Causes andEnds, pursuing the Steps of the aforesaid Lords Justices, hath by hisInterest and Power, cherished and supported a Fanatical RepublicanParty, which heretofore opposed, put to flight, and chased out of thisyour Kingdom of _Ireland_, the Royal Authority lodged in his Person, and to transfer the calamitous Consequences of his fatal Conduct fromhimself, upon your trusty _Roman_ Catholick Subjects, to the Breach ofpublick Faith solemnly given and proclaimed in the Name of our lateSovereign, interposed betwixt them and his late Majesty's generalIndulgence and Pardon, and wrought their Exclusion from that Indemnityin their Estates, which by the said publick Faith is specially providedfor, and since hath been extended to the most bloody and execrableTraitors, few only excepted by Name in all your Realms and Dominions. And further, to exclude from all Relief, and even Access of Admittanceto Justice, to your said _Irish_ Catholick People, and to secure tohimself and his Posterity, his vast Share of their Spoils; he the saideminent Minister did against your sacred Brother's Royal Promise andSanction aforesaid, advise and persuade his late Majesty to give, andaccordingly obtained his Royal Assent to two several Acts. The oneintituled, _An Act for the better Execution of his Majesty's graciousDeclaration for the Settlement of this Kingdom of_ Ireland, _andSatisfaction of the several Interests of Adventurers, Soldiers, andother his Majesty's Subjects there_. Which Act was so passed at aParliament held in this Kingdom, in the 14th and 15th Years of hisReign. And the other, An Act intituled, _An Act of Explanation_, etc. 

Which Act was passed in a Session of the Parliament held in thisKingdom, in the 17th and 18th Years of his Reign, most of the Membersthereof being such, as forcibly possessed themselves of the Estates ofyour Catholic subjects in this Kingdom, and were convened together forthe sole special Purpose of creating and granting to themselves andtheir Heirs, the Estates and Inheritances of this your Kingdom of_Ireland_, upon a scandalous, false Hypothesis, imputing the traitorousDesign of some desperate, indigent Persons to seize your Majesty'sCastle of _Dublin_, on the 23rd of _October_, 1641, to an universalConspiracy of your Catholick Subjects, and applying the Estates andPersons thereby presumed to have forfeited, to the Use and Benefit ofthat Regicide Army, which brought that Kingdom from its due Subjectionand Obedience to his Majesty, under the Peak and Tyranny of a bloodyUsurper. An Act unnatural, or rather viperously destroying his lateMajesty's gracious Declaration, from whence it had Birth, and itsClauses, Restorations and Uses, inverting the very fundamental Laws, aswell of your Majesty's, as all other Christian Governments. An Actlimiting and confining the Administration of Justice to a certain Termor Period of Time, and confirming the Patrimony of Innocents unheard, to the most exquisite Traytors, that now stand convict on Record; theAssigns and Trustees, even of the then deceased _Oliver Cromwell_himself, for whose Arrears, as General of the Regicide Army, specialProvision is made at the Suit of his Pensioners. Now in regard the Actsabove mentioned do in a florid and specious Preamble, contrary to theknown Truth in Fact, comprehend all your Majesty's _Roman_ CatholickSubjects of _Ireland_, in the Guilt of those few indigent Personsaforesaid, and on that Supposition alone, by the Clause immediatelysubsequent to that Preamble, vest all their Estates in his lateMajesty, as a Royal Trustee, to the principal Use of those who deposedand murthered your Royal Father, and their lawful Sovereign. Andfurthermore, to the Ends that the Articles and Conditions granted inthe Year 1648, by Authority from your Majesty's Royal Brother, thenlodged in the Marquess of _Ormond_, may be duly fulfilled and made goodto your Majesty's present _Irish_ Catholick Subjects, in all theirParts and Intentions, and that the several Properties and Estates inthis Kingdom may be settled in their antient Foundations, as they wereon the 21st of _October_, 1641. And that all Persons may acquiesce andrejoyce under an impartial Distribution of Justice, and sit peaceablydown under his own Vine or Patrimony, to the abolishing all Distinctionof Parties, Countries and Religions, and settling a perpetual Union andConcord of Duty, Affection, and Loyalty to your Majesty's Person andGovernment in the Hearts of your Subjects, Be it enacted, etc. 

[Here follows the Act of Repeal. ]

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [27] This Preamble is James II. 's own writing, as appears by "The Journal. "

CHAPTER VI. 

THE ACT OF ATTAINDER. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

_An Act for the attainder of various rebels, and for preserving theinterests of loyal subjects. _

The authenticity of this Act as printed by Archbishop King has beenquestioned, especially by William Todd Jones in 1793. But we believeits authenticity cannot be successfully contested. Lesley, in his"Reply" to King, makes no attempt to disprove its existence, but, onthe contrary, alludes to it and applauds James for having opposed it. King, however, asserts that the Act was kept a secret; and that thepersons attainted, or their friends, could not obtain a copy of it. Forthis Jones answers:--

 "But the fact (as stated by King) is impossible: conceive the absurdity; an act of parliament is _smuggled_, where? through two houses of lords and commons; of whom were they composed? of catholics crowded with protestants; though Leland, upon the authority of King, says there were but fourteen _real_ protestants. Well, what did these two houses do? They voted and passed a _secret_ act of attainder of 2, 500 protestants, which was to lie-by privately in petto, to be brought forward _at a proper time_; unknown, unheard of, by all the protestant part of the kingdom, till _peace_ was restored: and that, according to King, was to be deemed _the proper time_ for a renewal of _war_ and _devastation_, by its publication and execution, and the secret was to be closely kept from nearly 3, 000 persons by the whole house of commons; by fifty-six peers, including primate Boyle, Barry lord Barrymore, Angier lord Longford, Forbes, the incomparable lord Granard (of whom more in my next continuation), Parsons lord Ross, Dopping bp. Of Meath, Otway bp. Of Ossory, Wetenhal bishop of Cork, Digby bishop of Limerick, Bermingham lord Athenry, St. Lawrence lord Howth, Mallon lord Glenmallon, Hamilton lord Strabane, all protestants and many of them presbyterians, or rather puritans. It was kept close from 3, 000 persons by all the privy council; by all the clerks of parliament who engross and tack together bills, it was to be kept an entire secret from all the protestants without doors, by all the protestants within the gates of parliament; and this probable, wise politic expectation was entertained _by those Catholic peers and representatives_, who through the cloud of war, passion, and uncertainty, could exercise the more than human moderation in solemnly prescribing the narrow bounds of thirty-eight years to all enquirers after titles under the revived court of claims: by those peers and representatives, whose patriotism, political knowledge, and comprehensive minds instructed them TO DECLARE THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE REALM, THE FREEDOM OF IRISH TRADE, AND THE INESTIMABLE VALUE OF A MARINE. --Good God, that any man, woman I mean, after such ACKNOWLEDGED, UNCONTROVERTED DOCUMENTS of the wisdom and reach of mind of that parliament, could be induced to credit and to advance the forgeries of a vicar of Bray under a persecuting protestant administration, FOR THE WICKED PURPOSE OF CALUMNIATING THEIR MEMORY, AND DEFEATING THE EFFORTS OF THEIR POSTERITY FOR FREEDOM.... 

 "A secret conspiracy BY WAY OF STATUTE against the lives of near three thousand people, appears in itself impracticable and fabulous; but that it should have been agitated IN OPEN PARLIAMENT, and in the hearing of the protestant members, and yet expected to have been kept a secret from the protestants, _by these protestant members_, is childish and ridiculous. --In that parliament sat the venerable lord Granard, a protestant, and _a constant adherent and companion_ of King James in Ireland--'This excellent nobleman had married a lady of presbyterian principles; was protector of the northern puritans; had humanely secreted their teachers from those severities which in England proved both odious and impolitic; and had gained them an annual pension of £500 from government. '--(Leland, vol. 3, p. 490). 'It was this lord Granard to whom the assembled protestants of Ulster, by colonel Hamilton of Tullymore, who was sent to Dublin for the sole purpose, unanimously offered the command of their armed association, from their confidence in his protestant principles; but he told Mr. Hamilton THAT HE HAD LIVED LOYAL ALL HIS LIFE, AND WOULD NOT DEPART FROM IT IN HIS OLD AGE; AND HE WAS RESOLVED THAT NO MAN SHOULD WRITE REBEL UPON HIS GRAVESTONE. '--(Lesley's "Reply, " pp. 79, 80. ) ... Is it then likely that this man would be privy to a general protestant proscription, and not reveal it?--and it is probable that such a SECRET CONSPIRACY BY WAY OF STATUTE could pass the houses of commons, and lords, the privy council, and finally the king, and that it never should come to the knowledge of a peer of parliament, a favourite of the court, a resident in Dublin, and every day attendant in his place in the upper house?"

The intrinsic improbability is well proved here, and would suffice toshow King's falsehood as to the secrecy of the act; but if furtherproof were needed, the authorities which prove the authenticity of theact utterly disprove the secrecy alleged by King. The act is welldescribed, in the London Gazette of July 1 to 4, 1689, and the namesare given in print, in a pamphlet licensed in London, the 2nd day ofthe year 1690 (March 26th, old style). 

Jones's statement as to the destruction of all papers relating to thatparliament having been ordered, under a penalty of £500 and incapacityfrom office, is certain, and we give the clause in our note;[28] butthis clause was not enacted till 1695, and, therefore, could not haveaffected the acts of 1689, when King wrote in 1690. 

Moreover, we cannot find any trace of Richard Darling (who professedlymade the "_copia vera_" for King) as clerk in the office of the Masterof the Rolls, or in any office, in 1690. A Richard Darling wasappointed secretary to the commissioners for the inspection offorfeitures, by patent dated 1st of June, 5 William III. (1693)

There certainly are grounds for supposing that some great jugglery, either as to the clauses or names in the act, was perpetrated by thiswell-paid and unscrupulous Williamite. The temptation to fabricate asmuch of the act (clauses or names) as possible was immense. The want ofscruple to commit any fraud is plain upon King's whole book. Thelikelihood of discovery alone would deter him. Probably every familywho had a near relative in the "list" would be secured to William'sinterest, and no part of King's work could have helped more than thisact to make that book what Burnet called it, "the best fitted to_settle_ the minds" of the people of England, of any of the bookspublished on the Revolution. 

The preamble states truly the rebellion of the northerns to dethronetheir legitimate king, and bring in the Prince of Orange; and that theinsurgents, though offered full pardon in repeated proclamations, stillcontinued in rebellion. It enacts that certain persons therein named, who had "notoriously joyned in the said rebellion and _invasion_, " orbeen slain in rebellion, should be attainted of high treason, andsuffer its penalties, _unless before the 10th of August following_(_i. E. _, at least seven weeks from the passing of the act) they cameand stood their trial for treason, according to law, when, if otherwiseacquitted, the Act should not harm them. The number of persons in thisclause vary in the different lists from 1, 270 to 1, 296. 

It cannot be questioned that the persons here _conditionally_ attaintedwere in arms to dethrone the hereditary sovereign, supported, as hewas, by a regularly elected parliament, by a large army, by foreignalliances, and by the good-will of five-sixths of the people ofIreland. King he was _de jure_ and _de facto_, and they sought todethrone him, and to put a foreign prince on the throne. If ever therewere rebels, they were. 

As to their creed, there is no allusion to it. Roman Catholic andProtestant persons occur through the lists with common penaltiesdenounced against both; but neither creed is named in it. 

We do not say whether those attainted were right or wrong in theirrebellion: but the certainty that they were rebels according to thelaw, constitution, and custom of this and most other nations, justifiedthe Irish parliament in treating them as such; and should make all whosympathise with _these_ rebels pause ere they condemn every other partyon whom law or defeat have fixed that name. Yet even this attaint isbut _conditional_; the parties had over seven weeks to surrender andtake their trial, and the king could, at any time, for over four monthsafter, grant them a pardon both as to persons and property--a pardonwhich, whether we consider his necessities and policy, his habitualleniency, or the repeated attempts to win back his rebellious subjectsby the offer of free pardon, we believe he would have refused to few. This, too, is certain, that it _has never been even alleged that onesingle person suffered death under this much talked of Act_. Of theconstitutional character of the Act, more presently. 

The second article attaints persons who had absented themselves "sinceor shortly before" the 5th November, 1688, unless they return beforethe 1st of September, that is, in about ten weeks. Staying in Englandcertainly looked like adhesion to the invader, yet the mere difficultyof coming over during the war should surely have been considered. 

The third attaint is of persons absent before (some time probablybefore) 5th November, 1688, unless they return before the 1st October, that is, within about fourteen weeks. 

Moreover, a certain number of the persons named in this conditionalattaint are excepted from it specially, by a following clause, unlessthe king should go to England (their usual residence) before 1stOctober, 1689, and that after his arrival they should neglect tosignify their loyalty to the satisfaction of his Majesty. 

Yet Harris and "The List" licensed 26th March, 1690, have the audacityto _add_ these English residents and make another list of attaintedpersons, _instead of deducting_ them from the list under clause 3. 

With similar want of faith, both these writers make out a fifth list ofattaints of the persons explicitly not attainted, but whose _rents_ areforfeited by sec. 8, so long as they continue absentees. Thus, two outof the five lists, by adding which Harris makes up his 2, 461 attaints, are not lists of attainders at all, and one of them should be ratherdeducted from one of the three lists of real attaints. Harris has underthis exception for English residents 547 names (though printed 647 intotting), and were we to deduct these and the fifth list of 85 persons, his number of attaints would fall to 1, 829; though he himself confessesthat there must be some small drawback for persons attainted twiceunder different descriptions; and though his own totting, withoutremoving either the fourth or fifth list, is only 2, 461, yet in histext he says, "about 2, 600" were attainted. 

Yet Harris and "The List" pamphlet, which give the names in schedules, were more likely to misplace the lists than King, and he certainly didso in reference to the fourth list. 

 Names. King's first list, like the rest, contains 1, 280 His second 455 And his third 197 ------ 1, 932 And deducting the names in list 4 59 ------ King's list falls to 1, 873

Yet even in this many are attainted twice over. 

Harris's second list and "The List's" third list, each of 79 names, should be under title 4, namely, English residents, containing 59 inKing. Harris's third list of 454 names should be second, namely, Absentees since 5th November, containing in King 455, and in "The List"480 names. Harris's fourth list of 547, and "The List's" fourth list of528 names, should go to No. 3 in King, containing only 197 names, viz. , of persons absent before 5th November. Without making thesecorrections, we would have the conditional attaints, under clauses 1, 2, and 3, amount in "The List" to 1, 311, in Harris to 1, 282, and inKing to 1, 873. But if we make these corrections, King's will remain at1, 873, Harris's rise to 2, 218, and "The List" to 2, 209. 

It would, we think, puzzle La Place to calculate the probability of anyparticular name being authentic amid this wilderness of inaccuracies. 

The fifth class of 85 persons are, as we said, _not attainted at all_. The 8th section declares them to be absent from nonage, infirmity, etc. , and denounces no penalty against their persons, but "it beingmuch to the weakening and impoverishing of this Realm, that any of theRents or Profits of the Lands, Tenements, of Hereditaments thereofshould be sent into or spent in any other place beyond the seas, butthat the same should be kept and employed within the Realm for thebetter support and defence thereof, " it vests the properties of theseabsentees in the King, until such time as these absentees return andapply by petition to the Chancery or Exchequer for their restoration. Harder penalties for absenteeism were enacted repeatedly before, andconsidering the necessities of Ireland in that awful struggle, thisprovision seems just, mild, and proper. 

By the fourth section, all the goods and properties of _all_ thefirst four classes of absentees were also vested in the King till theirreturn, acquittal, pardon or discharge. By the 5th and 6th sections, remainders and reversions to innocent persons after any estate forlives forfeited by the Act, are saved and preserved, provided (by the7th section) claims to them are made within 60 days after the firstsitting of the Court of Claims under the Act. But remainders insettlements, of which the uses could be changed, or where the landswere "plantation" lands, etc. , were not saved. Whether such a Court ofClaims ever sat is at least doubtful. 

By the 9th and 11th sections, the rights and incumbrances ofnon-forfeiting persons over the forfeited estates are saved, provided(by section 12) their claims are made, as in case of remainder-men, etc. 

The 10th section makes void Lord Strafford's abominable "offices, " orconfiscations of Connaught, Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary, andconfirms the titles of the right owners, as if these offices had notbeen found. 

The 13th section repeals a private act for conferring vast estates onLord Albemarle out of the forfeitures on the Restoration. 

The remaining clauses, except the last, have nothing to do with theAttainders. They are subsidiary to the Act repealing the Acts ofSettlement and Explanation. They reprize ancient proprietors, who hadbought or taken leases of their own estates from the owners under theSettlement Acts. 

The 17th section provides for the completion of the Down or StraffordSurvey, and for the reduction of excessive quit rents. In this sectionthe phrase occurs, "their Majesties, " but this is probably a mistake inprinting, though a crotchety reasoner might find in it a doubt of theauthenticity of the Act. 

The 21st and last section provides that any of the persons attainted"who shall return to their duty and loyalty" may be pardoned by royalwarrant, provided that such pardon be issued "before the first day ofNovember next, otherwise the pardon to be of no effect. "

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [28] The clause for the destruction of the Records of the parliament of 1689, is in an act annulling the attainders and all acts of 1689. 

 "Be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal and commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That all and every the acts, or pretended acts, and the rolls whereon the said acts or pretended acts, and every of them, are recorded or engrossed, and all proceedings of what nature or kind soever had, made, done, or passed by the said persons lately so assembled at Dublin, pretending to be or calling themselves by the name of a Parliament, and also all writs issued in order to the calling of the said pretended Parliament, and returned into any office in this kingdom, and there remaining, and all the journals of the said pretended Parliament, and other books or writings in any wise relating thereunto, or to the holding thereof, shall, by the officers or persons in whose custody the same are, be brought before the lord deputy, or other chief governour or governours of this kingdom for the time being, at such time as the lord deputy, or other chief governour or governours for the time being shall appoint, at the council chamber in Dublin, and there shall be publicly and openly cancelled and utterly destroyed: and in case any officer or person in whose hands or custody the said acts and rolls or proceedings, or any of them, do or shall remain, shall wilfully neglect or refuse to produce the same, to the intent that the same may be cancelled and destroyed, according to the true intent of this act, every such person and officer shall be, and is hereby adjudged and declared to be from thenceforth incapable of any office or employment whatsoever, and shall forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred pounds, one-half thereof to his Majesty, and the other half to such person or persons that shall sue for the same by any action of debt, bill, plaint, or information, in any court of record whatsoever. "--7 _Will. III. Ir. C. 1. _

 "_It is possible_ an outline of some such bill might have been prepared by one of those hot-headed people of whom James had too many in his councils either for his safety or for his reputation, and they were chiefly ENGLISH; and that such draft of a bill having been laid before _parliament_, that wise, patriotic and sagacious _body_ did ameliorate and reduce it into 'the statute for the revival of the court of claims'; a law so unparalleled from its moderation in its review of forfeitures, by going back to _Cromwell's debentures exclusively_; a period of only thirty-eight years anterior to the date of their then sitting. 

 "Such a _draft of a bill_, like our own protestant bill for the castration of Romish priests, _which did pass_ here but was cushioned in England, [1] or like the _threat of a bill for levelling popish chapels_, which I myself heard made when I sat in the house of commons, such a draft of a bill, I say, might have been found among the baggage of the Duke of Tyrconnel, of Sir Richard Nagle, or of the unfortunate sovereign himself, for Burnet acquaints us, That all Tyrconnel's papers were taken in the camp; and those of James were found in Dublin. " (Burnet's "Own Times, " Vol. 2nd, p. 30). 

 [1] This is not quite correct. The penalty in the Bill, as it passed the Irish House of Commons, was branding on the cheek. In sending the Bill on to England the Irish Privy Council substituted castration. The English Government restored the original penalty. The Bill ultimately fell through, but not, it would seem, on this point. See Lecky, "History of England, " Vol. I. , ch. Ii. --T. W. R. 

CHAPTER VII. 

CONCLUSION. 

Let us now run our eyes ever the deeds of the Feis or parliament of1689. It came into power at the end of a half century of which thebeginning was a civil and religious, social and proprietal persecution, combining all the atrocities to which Ireland had been alternativelysubject for four centuries and a half. Of this, the next stage was apartial insurrection, rendered universal by a bloody and rapaciousgovernment. The next stage was a war, in which civil and religiousquarrels were so fiendishly combined that it could not end while therewas any one to fight with; in which the royalist dignitaries were thecruelest foes of the royalist armies and people, and in which theservices done by cool and patriot soldiers were rendered useless byfactious theologians. The next stage was conquest, slaughter, exile, confiscation, and the repose of solitude or of slavery. The next was aRestoration which gave back its worst prerogatives to the crown, butgave the restorers and royalists only a skirt of their properties. Thencame a struggle for proprietal justice and religious toleration, met byan infamous conspiracy of the deceptious aristocracy and the fanaticpeople of England, to blast the characters of the Irish, and decimatethe men; and lastly, a king, who strained his prerogative to do themjustice, is driven from England by a Dutchman, supported by blueguards, black guards, and flaming lies, and is forced to throw himselfon the generosity and prudence of Ireland. 

A faction existed who raised a civil war in every province; and inevery province, save one, it was suppressed; but in that one itcontinued, and the sails of an invading fleet already flap in theChannel breeze when this parliament is summoned. 

How difficult was their position! How could they act as freemen, without appearing ungenerous to a refugee and benefactor king? Howguard their nationality, without quarrelling with him or alienatingEngland from him? How could they do that proprietal justice and grantthat religious liberty for which the country had been struggling? Howcheck civil war--how sustain a war by the resources of a distractedcountry? Yet all this the Irish parliament did, and more too; for theyestablished the principal parts of a code needful for the _permanent_liberty and prosperity of Ireland. 

Take up the list of acts passed in their session of seventy-two daysand run over them. They begin by recognising their lawful king who hadthrown himself among them. They pledge themselves to him against hispowerful foe. Knowing full well the struggle that was before them, andthat lukewarm and malcontent agents might ruin them, they tossed asidethose official claims, which in times of peace and safety should besacred. 

But their next act deserves more notice. It must not be forgotten thatMolyneux's "Case of Ireland, " which the parliaments of England andIreland first burnt, and ended by declaring and enacting as sound law, was published in 1699, just ten years after this parliament of James's. Doubtless the antique rights of the native Irish, the comparativeindependence of the Pale, the arguments of Darcy, the memory of thecouncil of Kilkenny, might suggest to Molyneux those principles ofindependence, which one of his cast of mind would hardly reach bygeneral reasoning. But why go so far back, and to so much less aptprecedents? Here, in the parliament of 1689, was a law made declaringIreland to be and to have always been a "distinct kingdom" fromEngland; "always governed by his majesty and his predecessors accordingto the ancient customs, laws, and statutes thereof, and that theparliament of Ireland, and that _alone_, could make laws to bind thiskingdom;" and expressly enacting and declaring that no law save such asthe Irish parliament might make should bind Ireland. And this actprohibited all English jurisdiction in Ireland, and all appeals to theEnglish peers or to any other court out of Ireland. Is not this thewhole argument of Molyneux, the hope of Swift and Lucas, the attempt ofFlood, the achievement of Grattan and the Volunteers? Is not this anepitome of the Protestant patriot attempts, from the Revolution to theDungannon Convention? Is not this the soul of '82? Surely, if it be, asit is, just to track the stream of liberation back to Molyneux, weshould not stop there; but when we find that a parliament which satonly ten years before his book was published, which must have been adaily subject of conversation--as it certainly was of writtenpolemics--during those ten years; when we find this upper fountain soobviously streaming into the thought of Molyneux, should we notassociate the parliament of 1689 with that of 1782, and place Nagle andRice and its other ruling spirits along with Flood and Grattan in ourgratitude?

Moreover, the lords and commons expressly repealed Poyning's law, andpassed a bill creating Irish Inns of Court, and abolishing the rulesfor keeping terms in London. But the king rejected these. We are tothis day without this benefit which the senate of '89 tried to give us;and the future advocates and judges of Ireland are hauled off to aforeign and dissolute capital to go through an idle and expensiveceremony, term after term, as an essential to being allowed to practisein the courts of this their native kingdom. 

The Act (c. 4. ) for restoring the ancient gentry to their possessions, we have already canvassed. It were monstrous to suppose the parliamentought to have respected the thirty-eight years' usurpation of savageinvaders, and to have overlooked the rights of the national chieftains, the plundered proprietors who lived, and whose families lived, to claimtheir rights. The care with which purchasers and incumbrancers were tobe reprized we have already noticed; yet we cannot but repeat ourregret that the bill of the Lords (which left the adventurers ofCromwell a moiety of their usurpations) did not pass. 

Naturally related to this are the Acts, c. 24, for vesting attaintedabsentees' goods in the King, and c. 30, attainting a number ofinsurgents. We have already shown from King, that the Whigs had takengood care of the two things forfeited--their chattels, which they hadsent to them, without opposition, during the month of March, and theirpersons, which they put under the guard of the gallant insurgents ofDerry and Fermanagh, or in the keeping of William and the charity ofEngland. How poorly they were treated then in England may be guessed atby the choice men of the impoverished defenders of Derry having beenleft without money, aye, or even clothing or food in the streets ofLondon. 

We heartily censure this Attainder Act. It was _the_ mistake of theIrish Parliament. It bound up the hearts and interests of those whowere named in it, and of their children, in William's success. It couldnot be enforced: they were absent. It could not be terrible tillvictory sanctioned it, and then it would be needless and cruel toexecute. Yet, let us judge the men rightly. James had been hunted outof England by lies, treachery, bigotry, cabal, and a Dutch invader, forhaving attempted to grant religious liberty, by his prerogative. Thoseattainted were, nine out of ten, in arms against him and their country. They had been repeatedly offered free pardon. Just before the Act wasbrought in, a free pardon, excepting only ten persons, was offered, yetfew of the insurgents came in; and James, instead of forbiddingquarter, or hanging his prisoners, or any other of the acts of rigourusual in hereditary governments down to our own time, consented to anAct requiring the chief persons of the insurrection to come, in periodsspecified, and amply long enough, to stand their trials. Certain it is, as we said before, that though many of these were or became prisoners, none were executed. The Act was a dead letter; and considering theprinciples of the time, surely the Act was not wonderful. 

In order, then, to judge them better, let us see what the otherside--the immaculate Whigs, who assailed the Irish--did when they werein power. Of anything previous to the Revolution--of the treachery andblood, by law and without law, under the Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts, and the Commonwealth--'tis needless to speak. But let us see what theirneighbours, the Williamites, did. 

The Irish Attainder Act was not brought in till the end of June. Now, this is of great value, for the dates of the last papers on Ireland, laid before the English Commons, having been 10th June, 1689, they, onthe 20th June, "_Resolved_, that leave be given to bring in a Bill toattaint of high treason certain persons who are now in Ireland, or anyother parts beyond the seas, adhearing to their Majesties' enemies, andshall not return into England by a certain day. "[29]

The very next entry is--"A Bill for the attainting certain persons ofhigh treason, was read the first time. " "_Resolved, _ that the Bill beread a second time. "

Here was a bill to attaint persons beyond seas in another kingdom whereWilliam had never been acknowledged--where James was welcomed by ninemen out of ten--from whence, so far from being able to procure evidenceor allow defence, they could but by accident get intelligence andreports once in some months. It is not here pretended that theattainted were habitual residents in England. The bill passed thesecond reading, and was committeed, June 22nd, with an instruction tothe committee, "That they insert into the bill such other of thepersons as were this day _named in the house_, as they shall findcause. "

Again, on the 24th--"_Ordered_, that it be an instruction to thecommittee, to whom the bill for attainting certain persons is referred, that they prepare and bring in a clause for the _immediate_ seizing theestates of such persons who are _or_ shall be proved to be in arms withthe late King James in Ireland, or in his service in France. " On the29th is another instruction to "prepare and bring in a clause that theestates of the persons who are now in rebellion (!) in Ireland beapplied to the relief of the Irish Protestants fled into this realm;and also to declare all the proceedings of the pretended parliament andcourts of justice, now held in Ireland, to be null and void;" thecommittee "to sit _de die in diem_, till the bill be finished. "

Up to this time they could not have known that any attainder act hadbeen brought in in Ireland. On the 9th July, Sergeant Trenchardreported, "That the committee had _proof_" (we shall presently see ofwhat kind) "of _several other_ persons being in Ireland in arms withKing James, and therefore had agreed their names should be inserted inthe bill. " "Ordered, that the bill, so amended, be engrossed. " On the11th July the bill passed, inserting _August_, 1689, instead of Augustnext, and inserting some Christian names. 

The bill reached the Lords. 

Upon the 24th July a message was sent to the Lords urging the despatchof the bill. On the 2nd August, at a conference, the Lords required toknow _on what evidence_ the names were introduced as being in Ireland, "for, upon their best inquiry, they say they cannot learn some of themhave been there--they instanced the Lord Hunsden. " On the 3rd ofAugust, Mr. Sergeant Trenchard acquaints the house that the names ofthose who gave evidence at the bar of the house touching the personswho are named in the bill of attainder, being in Ireland, were BazillPurefoy and William Dalton; and those at the committee, to whom thebill was referred, were William Watts and Math. Gun; four persons, twoand two giving the whole evidence for the attainder of those who stoodby King James in Ireland! This report was handed to the Lords on the5th August. 

On the 20th August the Lords returned the bill, with some amendments, leaving out Lord Hunsden and four or five more, and inserting a fewothers; and upon this day the parliament was prorogued. 

Again, on the 30th October, a bill was ordered to attaint all suchpersons as were in rebellion against their Majesties. On the 26thNovember, certain members were ordered to prepare a bill attainting allwho had been in arms against William and Mary, since _14th February_, 1688-9, or any time since, and all who _have been_, or shall be, _aiding, assisting, or abetting_ them. On the 10th December the billwas reported and read a first time, and the committee ordered to bringin a bill for sale of the estates forfeited thereby. 

On the 4th April, 1690, another bill was ordered, and was read 22ndApril. 

Again, on 22nd October, another attainder and confiscation bill wasbrought and passed the Commons on the 23rd December. 

Wearied at length by unsuccessful bills, which the better or moreinterested feeling of the Lords, or the policy of the King, perpetuallydefeated, they abandoned any further attainder bills, and merelyadvertized for money on the forfeited lands in Ireland. 

The attainders in _court_ might satisfy them. The commissioners offorfeitures, under 10 William III. , c. 9, reported to the Commons onthe 15th of December, 1699, that the persons outlawed for treason inIreland since the 13th of February, 1688-9, on account of the laterebellion, were 3, 921 in number. It was abominable for James'sparliament to attaint conditionally the rebels against the old king, but reasonable for the Whigs to attaint about double the numberabsolutely, for never having recognized the new king! These 3, 921 hadproperties, says the report, to the amount of 1, 060, 792 _plantation_acres, worth £211, 623 a year, and worth in money, £2, 685, 130, "besidesthe several denominations in the said several counties to which nonumber of acres can be added, by reason of the imperfection of thesurveys not here valued. " Of these 3, 921, there were 491 restored underthe first commission on the articles of Galway and Limerick; and 792under the second commission, having joint properties of 233, 106 acres, worth £55, 763 a year, or £724, 923 purchase, leaving 2, 638 personshaving 827, 686 acres, worth £155, 859 a year, or £1, 960, 206. Yet thefees were monstrous, says the commissioners, in these Courts of Claims, £5 being the register's fees for even _entering_ a claim. Williamrestored property to the amount of 74, 733 acres, worth £20, 066 perannum, or £260, 863 in all, which would leave as absolutely forfeitedproperty 752, 953 acres, worth £135, 793 a year, and £1, 699, 343 in all;and even were we to deduct in proportion, which we ought not, as thosepardoned were chiefly the very wealthy few, there would remain over2, 400 persons attained by office, after deducting all who carved outtheir acquittal with shot and sword, and all whom the tenderness orwisdom of the king pardoned. 

The commissioners state that £300, 000 worth of chattels were seized, not included in the above estimate; nor were 297 houses in Dublin, 26in Cork, 226 elsewhere, mills, chief rents, £60, 000 worth of woods, etc. , in it. 

Most of these properties had been given away freely by William. Amongsthis grants they specify all King James's estates, over 95, 000 acres, worth £25, 995 a year, to Mrs. Elizabeth Villiers, Countess of Orkney. She was William's favourite mistress. James, to his honour be itspoken, had thrown these estates into the general fund for reprisal ofthe injured Irish. 

Here, then, is certainly not a justification of the Parliament of 1689, in passing the Attainder Act, but evidence from the journals of theEnglish Parliament and the reports of their commissioners, that theytried to do worse than the Irish Parliament (under far greater excuses)are accused of having done, and that the actual amount of punishment_inflicted_ by the Williamite courts in Ireland far exceeded what theIrish Parliament of 1689 had _conditionally threatened_. 

The next Acts as a class are c. 9, repealing ministers' money act; c. 12, granting perfect liberty of conscience to men of all creeds; c. 13, directing Roman Catholics to pay their tithes to their own priests; c. 14, on Ulster poundage; c. 15, appointing those tithes to the _parish_priests, and recognising as a Roman Catholic prelate no one but himwhom the king under privy signet and sign manual should signify andrecognize as such. All these acts went to create religious equality, certainly not the voluntary system; neither party approved of it then;but to make the Protestant support his own minister, and the RomanCatholic his own, without violation of conscience, or a shadow ofsupremacy. The low salaries (£100 to £200 a year) of the Roman Catholicprelates, and their exclusion from Parliament, were in the samemoderate spirit. 

Again, this Parliament introduced the Statute of Frauds (which, havingbeen set aside, was not adopted until the 7th William III. ); Acts forrelief of poor debtors, for the speedy recovery of wages, and forratifying wills and deeds by persons out of possession. 

Chapter 21, forbidding the importation of foreign coals, was designedto render this country independent of English trade. At that time thebogs were larger and the people fewer. Their opinion that thisimportation which "hindered the industry of several poor people andlabourers who might have employed themselves" in supplying the cities, etc. , with turf, reminds us of Mr. Laing's most able notice in his"Norway" of the immense employment to men, women, and children, by thecutting of firewood; and what a powerful means this is of doing thatwhich is as important as the production of wealth, the diffusion of itwithout any great inequality through all classes. Part of c. 29, encouraging trade, laying heavy import duties on English goods, andgiving privileges to Irish ships over foreign, especially over English, was the result of sound, practical patriotism. It was necessary toguard our trade, manufactures, and shipping against the rivalry of anear, rich, and aspiring neighbour, that would crush them in theircradles. It was wise to raise the energies of infant adventure byfavour, and not trust it in a reckless competition. The example, too, of all countries which had reared up commerce by their own favour andtheir neighbours' surrender of trade, would have justified them. 

Besides the schools for the Navy under c. 29, c. 16 deals also withschools. We have not the latter Act; but, considering James's knownzeal for education, his foundation of the Kilkenny college, and thespirit of the provision in c. 29, we may guess the liberality of theother. One of the most distinguished of our living historians has toldus that he remembered having seen evidence that this Act established aschool for general (national) education in every parish in Ireland. 

C. 10, the Act of Supply; c. 25, Martial Law, and this Act, c. 29, werea code of defence. The supply was proportioned to their abilities:every exertion was made, and all efforts were needed. Plowden puts theeffect of this c. 29 not ill:--

 "Although James were averse from passing the acts I have already mentioned, he probably encouraged another which passed _for the advance and improvement of trade and for encouragement and increase of shipping and navigation_, which purported to throw open to Ireland a free and immediate trade with all our plantations and colonies; to promote ship-building, by remitting to the owners of Irish-built vessels large proportions of the duties of custom and excise, encourage seamen by exempting them for ten years from taxes, and allowing them the freedom of any city or seaport they should chuse to reside in, and improve the Irish navy by establishing free schools for teaching and instructing in the mathematics and the art of navigation, in Dublin, Belfast, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Galway. If James looked up to any probability of maintaining his ground in Ireland he must have been sensible of the necessity of an Irish navy. No man was better qualified to judge of the utility of such institutions than this prince. He was an able seaman, fond of his profession; and to his industry and talent does the British navy owe many of its best signals and regulations. The firmness, resolution and enterprise which had distinguished him, whilst Duke of York, as a sea officer, abandoned him when king, both in the cabinet and the field. "

Thus, then, this Parliament exercised less severity than any of itstime; it established liberty of conscience and equality of creeds; itproscribed no man for his religion--the word Protestant does not occurin any Act--(though, while it sat, the Westminster Convention was notonly thundering out insults against "popery, " but exciting William topersecute it, and laying the foundation of the penal code); itintroduced many laws of great practical value in the business ofsociety; it removed the disabilities of the natives, the scars of oldfetters; it was generous to the king, yet carried its own opinions outagainst his where they differed; it, finally--and what should win theremembrance and veneration of Irishmen through all time--it boldlyannounced our national independence, in words which Molyneux shouted onto Swift, and Swift to Lucas, and Lucas to Flood, and Flood and Grattanredoubling the cry; Dungannon church rang, and Ireland was again anation. Yet something it said escaped the hearing or surpassed thevigour of the last century; it said, "Irish commerce fostered, " and itwas faintly heard, but it said, "an Irish navy to shield our coasts, "and it said, "an Irish army to scathe the invaders, " and Grattanneglected both, and our coast had no guardian, and our desecratedfields knew no avenger. 

We have printed the king's speech at the opening of this eventfulparliament, the titles of _all_ its Acts, and all the statutessummarized in full detail which we could in any way procure--sufficient, we think, with the scattered notices of the chief members, to make theworking of this Parliament plain. We are conscious of many defects inour information and way of treating the subject; but we commenced byavowing that we were not professors but students of Irish history;trying to come at some clear understanding on a most important part ofit, communicating our difficulties and offering our solutions, as theyoccurred to us, in hopes that some of our countrymen would take up thesame study, and do as much or more than we have done, and possibly thatone of those accomplished historians, of which Ireland now has a few, would take the helm from us, and guide the ship himself. 

We have no reason to suppose that we succeeded in either object; yet wecling to the belief that, owing to us, some few persons will for thefuture be found who will not allow the calumnies against our noble oldParliament of 1689 to pass uncontradicted. It might have been better, but this is well. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [29] The dates about the time of this revolution are most important. On the 10th October, 1688, William issued an address, dated at the Hague, and another from the same place, dated 24th October, intended to counterwork James's retractations. He landed at Torbay, November 5th, arrived in London December 17th. Some Whig Lords signed an association, dated December 19th, pledging themselves to stand by the prince, and avenge him if he should perish. December 23rd, William issued the letter calling the members of Charles II. 's parliament, the mayor, aldermen, and 50 councillors of London. December 26th they met, called on the prince to assume the government and issue letters for a convention, and they signed the association of the Whig Lords. They presented their address 27th December, it was received December 28th, and then this little club broke up. December 29th William issued letters for a convention, which met 22nd January, 1688-9, finally agreed on their declaration against James and his family, and for William and Mary, 12th February; and these, king and queen, were proclaimed 13th February, 1688-9. February 19th, a Bill was brought in to call the convention a parliament; it passed, and received royal assent 23rd February. By this the lords and gentlemen who met 22nd January were named the two houses of parliament, and the acts of this convention-parliament were to date from 13th February. This hybrid sat till 20th August, and having passed the Attainder Act was adjourned to 20th September, and then 19th October, 1689. This second session lasted till 27th January, 1689-90, when it was stopped by a prorogation to the 2nd April; but before that day it was dissolved, and a parliament summoned by writ, which met 20th March, 1689, and as a first law, passed an act ratifying the proceedings of the convention. 

II. Literary and Historical Essays. 

MEANS AND AIDS TO SELF-EDUCATION. 

 "What good were it for me to manufacture perfect iron while my own breast is full of dross? What would it stead me to put properties of land in order, while I am at variance with myself? To speak it in a word: the cultivation of my individual self, here as I am, has from my youth upwards been constantly though dimly my wish and my purpose. "

 "Men are so inclined to content themselves with what is commonest; the spirit and the senses so easily grow dead to the impressions of the beautiful and perfect; that every one should study to nourish in his mind the faculty of feeling these things by every method in his power. For no man can bear to be entirely deprived of such enjoyments; it is only because they are not used to taste of what is excellent, that the generality of people take delight in silly and insipid things, provided they be new. For this reason, he would add, 'one ought at least every day to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. '"--_Goethe. _

We have been often asked by certain of the Temperance Societies to givethem some advice on Self-Education. Lately we promised one of thesebodies to write some hints as to how the members of it could use theirassociation for their mental improvement. 

We said, and say again, that the Temperance Societies can be made useof by the people for their instruction as well as pleasure. Assembliesof any kind are not the _best_ places either for study or invention. Home or solitude are better--home is the great teacher. In domesticbusiness we learn mechanical skill, the nature of those material bodieswith which we have most to deal in life--we learn labour by example andby kindly precepts--we learn (in a prudent home) decorum, cleanliness, order--in a virtuous home we learn more than these: we learn reverencefor the old, affection without passion, truth, piety, and justice. These are the greatest things man can know. Having these he is well;without them attainments of wealth or talent are of little worth. Homeis the great teacher; and its teaching passes down in honest homes fromgeneration to generation, and neither the generation that gives, northe generation that takes it, lays down plans for bringing it to pass. 

Again, to come to designed learning. We learn arts and professions byapprenticeships, that is, much after the fashion we learned walking, orstitching, or fire-making, or love-making at home--by example, precept, and practice combined. Apprentices at anything, from ditching, basket-work, or watch-making, to merchant-trading, legislation, orsurgery, submit either to a nominal or an actual apprenticeship. Theysee other men do these things, they desire to do the same, and theylearn to do so by watching _how_, and _when_, and asking, or guessing_why_ each part of the business is done; and as fast as they know, orare supposed to know, any one part, whether it be sloping the ditch, ortotting the accounts, or dressing the limb, they begin to do that, and, being directed when they fail, they learn at last to do it well, andare thereby prepared to attempt some other or harder part of thebusiness. 

Thus it is by experience--or trying to do, and often doing athing--combined with teaching or seeing, and being told how and whyother people more experienced do that thing, that most of the practicalbusiness of life is learned. 

In some trades, formal apprenticeship and planned teaching exist aslittle as in ordinary home-teaching. Few men are of set purpose taughtto dig; and just as few are taught to legislate. 

Where formal teaching is usual, as in what are called learnedprofessions, and in delicate trades, fewer men know anything of thesebusinesses. Those who learn them at all do so exactly and fully, butcommonly practise them in a formal and technical way, and invent andimprove them little. In those occupations which most men take upcasually--as book-writing, digging, singing, and legislation, and thelike--there is much less exact knowledge, less form, more originalityand progress, and more of the public know something about them in anunprofessional way. 

The Caste system of India, Egypt, and Ancient Ireland carried out theformal apprenticeship plan to its full extent. The United States ofAmerica have very little of it. Modern Europe is between the two, asshe has in most things abolished caste or hereditary professions (kingsand nobles excepted), but has, in many things, retained exactapprenticeships. 

Marriage, and the bringing up of children, the employment ofdependants, travel, and daily sights and society, are our chiefteachers of morals, sentiment, taste, prudence and manners. Mechanicaland literary skill of all sorts, and most accomplishments, are usuallypicked up in this same way. 

We have said all this lest our less-instructed readers should fall intoa mistake common to all beginners in study, that books, and schooling, and lectures, are the chief teachers in life; whereas most of thethings we learn here are learned from the experience of home, and ofthe practical parts of our trades and amusements. 

We pray our humbler friends to think long and often on this. 

But let them not suppose we undervalue or wish them to neglect otherkinds of teaching; on the contrary, they should mark how much theinfluences of home, and business, and society, are affected by thequantity and sort of their scholarship. 

Home life is obviously enough affected by education. Where the parentsread and write, the children learn to do so too, early in life and withlittle trouble; where they know something of their religious creed theygive its rites a higher meaning than mere forms; where they know thehistory of the country well, every field, every old tower or arch is asubject of amusement, of fine old stories, and fine young hopes; wherethey know the nature of other people and countries, their own countryand people become texts to be commented on, and likewise supply aliving comment on those peculiarities of which they have read. 

Again, where the members of a family can read aloud, or play, or sing, they have a well of pleasant thoughts and good feelings which canhardly be dried or frozen up; and so of other things. 

And in the trades and professions of life, to study in books theobjects, customs, and rules of that trade or profession to which youare going saves time, enables you to improve your practice of it, andmakes you less dependent on the teaching of other practitioners, whoare often interested in delaying you. 

In these, and a thousand ways besides, study and science produce thebest effects upon the practical parts of life. 

Besides, the _first_ business of life is the improvement of one'sown heart and mind. The study of the thoughts and deeds of great men, the laws of human, and animal, and vegetable, and lifeless nature, theprinciples of fine and mechanical arts, and of morals, society, andreligion--all directly give us nobler and greater desires, more wideand generous judgments, and more refined pleasures. 

Learning in this latter sense may be got either at home or at school, by solitary study, or in associations. Home _learning_ depends, ofcourse, on the knowledge, good sense, and leisure of the parents. TheGerman Jean Paul, the American Emerson, and others of an inferior sort, have written deep and fruitful truths on bringing up and teaching athome. Yet, considering its importance, it has not been sufficientlystudied. Upon schools much has been written. Almost all the privateschools in this country are bad. They merely cram the memories ofpupils with facts or words, without developing their judgment, taste, or invention, or teaching them the _application_ of any knowledge. Besides, the things taught are commonly those least worth learning. This is especially true of the middle and richer classes. Instead ofbeing taught the nature, products, and history, first of their own, andthen of other countries, they are buried in classical frivolities, languages which they never master, and manners and races which theycannot appreciate. Instead of being disciplined to think exactly, tospeak and write accurately, they are crammed with rules and taught torepeat forms by rote. 

The National Schools are a vast improvement on anything hitherto inthis country, but still they have great faults. From the miserablysmall grant the teachers are badly paid, and, therefore, hastily andmeagrely educated. 

The maps, drawing, and musical instruments, museums and scientificapparatus, which should be in every school, are mostly wantingaltogether. The books, also, are defective. 

The information has the worst fault of the French system: it is tooexclusively on physical science and natural history. Fancy a _National_School which teaches the children no more of the state and history ofIreland than of Belgium or Japan! We have spoken to pupils, nay, tomasters of the _National_ Schools, who were ignorant of the physicalcharacter of every part of Ireland except their native villages--whoknew not how the people lived, or died, or sported, or fought--who hadnever heard of Tara, Clontarf, Limerick, or Dungannon--to whom theO'Neills and Sarsfields, the Swifts and Sternes, the Grattans andBarrys, our generals, statesmen, authors, orators, and artists, werealike and utterly unknown! Even the hedge schools kept up something ofthe romance, history, and music of the country. 

Until the _National_ Schools fall under national control, the peoplemust take _diligent care to procure books on the history, men, language, music, and manners of Ireland for their children_. Theseschools are very good so far as they go, and the children should besent to them; but they are not _national_, they do not use the Irishlanguage, nor teach anything peculiarly Irish. 

As to solitary study, lists of books, pictures, and maps can alone begiven; and to do this usefully would exceed our space at present. 

As it is, we find that we have no more room and have not said a word onwhat we proposed to write--namely, Self-Education through theTemperance Societies. 

We do not regret having wandered from our professed subject, as, iftreated exclusively, it might lead men into errors which noafterthought could cure. 

What we chiefly desire is to set the people on making out plans fortheir own and their children's education. Thinking cannot be done bydeputy--they must think for themselves. 

THE HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Something has been done to rescue Ireland from the reproach that shewas a wailing and ignorant slave. 

Brag as we like, the reproach was not undeserved, nor is it quiteremoved. 

She is still a serf-nation, but she is struggling wisely and patiently, and is ready to struggle, with all the energy her advisers thinkpolitic, for liberty. She has ceased to wail--she is beginning to makeup a record of English crime and Irish suffering, in order to explainthe past, justify the present, and caution the future. She begins tostudy the past--not to acquire a beggar's eloquence in petition, but ahero's wrath in strife. She no longer tears and parades her wounds towin her smiter's mercy; and now she should look upon her breast andsay:--"That wound makes me distrust, and this makes me guard, and theyall will make me steadier to resist, or, if all else fails, fiercer toavenge. "

Thus will Ireland do naturally and honourably. 

Our spirit has increased--our liberty is not far off. 

But to make our spirit lasting and wise as it is bold--to make ourliberty an inheritance for our children, and a charter for ourprosperity--we must study as well as strive, and learn as well as feel. 

If we attempt to govern ourselves without statesmanship--to be a nationwithout a knowledge of the country's history, and of the propensitiesto good and ill of the people--or to fight without generalship, we willfail in policy, society, and war. These--all these things--we, peopleof Ireland, must know if we would be a free, strong nation. A mockeryof Irish independence is not what we want. The bauble of a powerlessparliament does not lure us. We are not children. The office ofsupplying England with recruits, artizans, and corn, under the benigninterpositions of an Irish Grand Jury, _shall_ not be our destiny. Byour deep conviction--by the power of mind over the people, we say, No!

We are true to our colour, "the green, " and true to our watchword, "Ireland for the Irish. " We want to win Ireland and keep it. If we winit, we will not lose it nor give it away to a bribing, a bullying, or aflattering minister. But, to be able to keep it, and use it, and governit, the men of Ireland must know what it is, what it was, and what itcan be made. They must study her history, perfectly know her presentstate, physical and moral--and train themselves up by science, poetry, music, industry, skill, and by all the studies and accomplishments ofpeace and war. 

If Ireland were in national health, her history would be familiar bybooks, pictures, statuary, and music to every cabin and shop in theland--her resources as an agricultural, manufacturing, and tradingpeople would be equally known--and every young man would be trained, and every grown man able to defend her coast, her plains, her towns, and her hills--not with his right arm merely, but by his disciplinedhabits and military accomplishments. These are the pillars ofindependence. 

Academies of art, institutes of science, colleges of literature, schools and camps of war, are a nation's means for teaching itselfstrength, and winning safety and honour; and when we are a nation, please God, we shall have them all. Till then we must work forourselves. So far as we can study music in societies, art in schools, literature in institutes, science in our colleges, or soldiership intheory, we are bound as good citizens to learn. Where these are deniedby power, or unattainable by clubbing the resources of neighbours, wemust try and study for ourselves. We must visit museums andantiquities, and study, and buy, and assist books of history to knowwhat the country and people were, how they fell, how they suffered, andhow they arose again. We must read books of statistics--and let uspause to regret that there is no work on the statistics of Irelandexcept the scarce lithograph of Moreau, the papers in the second Reportof the Railway Commission, and the chapters in _M'Culloch's Statisticsof the British Empire_--the Repeal Association ought to have a handbookfirst, and then an elaborate and vast account of Ireland's statisticsbrought out. 

To resume, we must read such statistics as we have, and try and getbetter; and we must get the best maps of the country--the Ordnance andCounty Index Maps, price 2_s. _ 6_d. _ each, and the Railway Map, price£1--into our Mechanics' Institutes, Temperance Reading-rooms, andschools. We must, in making our journeys of business and pleasure, observe and ask for the nature and amount of the agriculture, commerce, and manufactures of the place we are in, and its shape, population, scenery, antiquities, arts, music, dress, and capabilities forimprovement. A large portion of our people travel a great deal withinIreland, and often return with no knowledge, save of the inns theyslept in and the traders they dealt with. 

We must give our children in schools the best knowledge of science, art, and literary elements possible. And at home they should see andhear as much of national pictures, music, poetry, and military scienceas possible. 

And finally, we must keep our own souls, and try, by teaching andexample, to lift up the souls of all our family and neighbours to thatpitch of industry, courage, information, and wisdom necessary to enablean enslaved, dark, and starving people to become free, and rich, andrational. 

Well, as to this National History--L'Abbé MacGeoghegan published ahistory of Ireland, in French, in 3 volumes, quarto, dedicated to theIrish Brigade. Writing in France he was free from the Englishcensorship; writing for "The Brigade, " he avoided the impudence ofHuguenot historians. The sneers of the Deist Voltaire, and the lies ofthe Catholic Cambrensis, receive a sharp chastisement in his preface, and a full answer in his text. He was a man of the most variedacquirements and an elegant writer. More full references and thecorrection of a few errors of detail would render his book moresatisfactory to the professor of history, but for the student it is thebest in the world. He is graphic, easy, and Irish. He is not a bigot, but apparently a genuine Catholic. His information as to the numbers oftroops, and other facts of our Irish battles, is superior to any othergeneral historian's; and they who know it well need not blush, as mostIrishmen must now, at their ignorance of Irish history. 

But the Association for liberating Ireland has offered a prize for anew history of the country, and given ample time for preparation. 

Let no man postpone the preparation who hopes the prize. An originaland highly-finished work is what is demanded, and for the compositionof such a work the time affords no leisure. 

Few persons, we suppose, hitherto quite ignorant of Irish history, willcompete; but we would not discourage even these. There is neither intheory nor fact any limit to the possible achievements of genius andenergy. Some of the greatest works in existence were written rapidly, and many an old book-worm fails where a young book-thrasher succeeds. 

Let us now consider some of the qualities which should belong to thishistory. 

_It should, in the first place, be written from the originalauthorities. _ We have some notion of giving a set of papers on theseauthorities, but there are reasons against such a course, and wecounsel no man to rely on us--every one on himself; besides, such ahistorian should rather make himself able to teach us than need tolearn from us. 

However, no one can now be at a loss to know what these authoritiesare. A list of the choicest of them is printed on the back of theVolunteer's card for this year, and was also printed in the_Nation_. [30] These authorities are not enough for a historian. Thematerials, since the Revolution especially, exist mainly in pamphlets, and even for the time previous only the leading authorities are in thelist. The list is not faulty in this, as it was meant for learners, notteachers; but anyone using these authorities will readily learn fromthem what the others are, and can so track out for himself. 

There are, however, three tracts specially on the subject of Irishwriters. First is Bishop Nicholson's "Irish Historical Library. " Itgives accounts of numerous writers, but is wretchedly meagre. InHarris's "Hibernica" is a short tract on the same subject; and inHarris's edition of Ware's works an ample treatise on _Irish Writers_. This treatise is most valuable, but must be read with caution, as Warewas slightly, and Harris enormously, prejudiced against the nativeIrish and against the later Catholic writers. The criticisms of Harris, indeed, on all books relative to the Religious Wars are partial anddeceptious; but we repeat that the work is of great value. 

The only more recent work on the subject is a volume written by EdwardO'Reilly, for the Iberno-Celtic Society, on the Native Irish Poets: aninteresting work, and containing morsels invaluable to a picturesquehistorian. 

By the way, we may hope that the studies for this prize history will befruitful for historical ballads. 

Too many of the original works can only be bought at an expense beyondthe means of most of those likely to compete. For instance, Harris's"Ware, " "Fynes Moryson, " and "The State Papers of Henry the Eighth, "are very dear. The works of the Archæological Society can only be gotby a member. The price of O'Connor's "Rerum Hibernicarum ScriptoresVeteres" is eighteen guineas; and yet, in it alone the annals ofTigernach, Boyle, Innisfallen, and the early part of the "Four Masters"are to be found. The great majority of the books, however, aretolerably cheap; some of the dearer books might be got by combinationamong several persons, and afterwards given to the RepealReading-rooms. 

However, persons resident in, or able to visit Dublin, Cork, orBelfast, can study all, even the scarcest of these works, without anyreal difficulty. 

As to the qualities of such a history, they have been concisely enoughintimated by the Committee. 

It is to be A HISTORY. One of the most absurd pieces of cant going isthat against history, because it is full of wars, and kings, andusurpers, and mobs. History describes, and is meant to describe, _forces_, not proprieties--the mights, the acted realities of men, badand good--their historical importance depending on their mightiness, not their holiness. Let us by all means have, then, a "graphic"narrative of what was, not a set of moral disquisitions on what oughtto have been. 

Yet the man who would keep chronicling the dry events would misswriting a history. He must fathom the social condition of thepeasantry, the townsmen, the middle-classes, the nobles, and the clergy(Christian or Pagan), in each period--how they fed, dressed, armed, andhoused themselves. He must exhibit the nature of the government, themanners, the administration of law, the state of useful and fine arts, of commerce, of foreign relations. He must let us see the decay andrise of great principles and conditions--till we look on a totteringsovereignty, a rising creed, an incipient war, as distinctly as, byturning to the highway, we can see the old man, the vigorous youth, orthe infant child. He must paint--the council robed in its hall--thepriest in his temple--the conspirator--the outlaw--the judge--thegeneral--the martyr. The arms must clash and shine with genuine, notromantic, likeness; and the brigades or clans join battle, or divide inflight, before the reader's thought. Above all, a historian should beable to seize on character, not vaguely eulogising nor cursing; butfeeling and expressing the pressure of a great mind on his time, and onafter-times. 

Such things may be done partly in disquisitions, as in Michelet's"France"; but they must now be done in narrative; and nowhere, not evenin Livy, is there a finer specimen of how all these things may be doneby narrative than in Augustine Thierry's "Norman Conquest" and"Merovingian Scenes. " The only danger to be avoided in dealing with solong a period in Thierry's way is the continuing to attach importanceto a once great influence, when it has sunk to be an exceptive power. He who thinks it possible to dash off a profoundly coloured and shadednarrative like this of Thierry's will find himself bitterly wrong. Evena great philosophical view may much more easily be extemporised thanthis lasting and finished image of past times. 

The greatest vice in such a work would be bigotry--bigotry of race orcreed. We know a descendant of a great Milesian family who supports theUnion, because he thinks the descendants of the Anglo-Irish--hisancestors' foes--would mainly rule Ireland, were she independent. Theopposite rage against the older races is still more usual. A religiousbigot is altogether unfit, incurably unfit, for such a task; and thewriter of such an Irish history must feel a love for all sects, aphilosophical eye to the merits and demerits of all, and a solemn andhaughty impartiality in speaking of all. 

Need we say that a history, wherein glowing oratory appeared in placeof historical painting, bold assertion instead of justifiedportraiture, flattery to the living instead of justice to the dead, clever plunder of other compilers instead of original research, or acramped and scholastic instead of an idiomatic, "clear and graphic"style, would deserve rejection, and would, we cannot doubt, obtain it. 

To give such a history to Ireland as is now sought will be a proud andillustrious deed. Such a work would have no passing influence, thoughits first political effect would be enormous; it would be read by everyclass and side; for there is no readable book on the subject; it wouldpeople our streets, and glens, and castles, and abbeys, and coasts witha hundred generations besides our own; it would clear up the grounds ofour quarrels, and prepare reconciliation; it would _unconsciously_make us recognise the causes of our weakness; it would give us greatexamples of men and of events, and materially influence our destiny. 

Shall we get such a history? Think, reader! has God given you the souland perseverance to create this marvel?

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [30] The following is the list of books given as the present sources of history:--

 SOME OF THE ORIGINAL SOURCES OF IRISH HISTORY. 

 ANCIENT IRISH TIMES. 

 Annals of Tigernach, abbot of Clonmacnoise, from A. D. 200 to his death, 1188, partly compiled from writers of the eighth, seventh, and sixth centuries. 

 Lives of St. Patrick, St. Columbanus, etc. 

 Annals of the Four Masters, from the earliest times to 1616. 

 Other Annals, such as those of Innisfallen, Ulster, Boyle, etc. Publications of the Irish Archæological Society, Danish and Icelandic Annals. 

 ENGLISH INVASION AND THE PALE. 

 Gerald de Barri, surnamed Cambrensis, "Topography" and "Conquest of Ireland. " Four Masters, Tracts in Harris's Hibernica. Campion's, Hanmer's, Marlborough's, Camden's, Holingshed's, Stanihurst's, and Ware's Histories. Hardiman's Statutes of Kilkenny. 

 Henry VIII. And Elizabeth. --Harris's Ware. O'Sullivan's Catholic History. Four Masters. Spencer's View. Sir G. Carew's Pacata Hibernia. State Papers, Temp. H. VIII. Fynes Moryson's Itinerary. 

 James I. --Harris's Hibernica. Sir John Davies' Tracts. 

 Charles I. --Strafford's Letters. Carte's Life of Ormond. Lodge's Desiderata. Clarendon's Rebellion. Tichborne's Drogheda. State Trials. Rinuccini's Letters. Pamphlets. Castlehaven's Memoirs. Clanrickarde's Memoirs. Peter Walsh. Sir J. Temple. 

 Charles II. --Lord Orrery's Letters. Essex's Letters. 

 James II. And William III. --King's State of Protestants, and Lesley's Answer. The Green Book. Statutes of James's Parliament, in Dublin Magazine, 1843. Clarendon's Letters. Rawdon Papers. Tracts. Molyneux's Case of Ireland. 

 George I. And II. --Swift's Life. Lucas's Tracts. Howard's Cases under Popery Laws. O'Leary's Tracts. Boulter's Letters. O'Connor's and Parnell's Irish Catholics. Foreman on "The Brigade. "

 George III. --Grattan's and Curran's Speeches and Lives--Memoirs of Charlemont. Wilson's Volunteers. Barrington's Rise and Fall. Wolfe Tone's Memoirs. Moore's Fitzgerald. Wyse's Catholic Association. Madden's United Irishmen. Hay, Teeling, etc. , on '98. Tracts. MacNevin's State Trials. O'Connell's and Sheil's Speeches. Plowden's History. 

 Compilations. --Moore. M'Geoghegan. Curry's Civil Wars. Carey's Vindiciæ. O'Connell's Ireland. Leland. 

 Current Authorities. --The Acts of Parliament. Lords' and Commons' Journals and Debates. Lynch's Legal Institutions. 

 Antiquities, Dress, Arms. --Royal Irish Academy's Transactions and Museum. Walker's Irish Bards. British Costume, in Library of Entertaining Knowledge. 

ANCIENT IRELAND. 

There was once civilisation in Ireland. We never were very eminent, tobe sure, for manufactures in metal, our houses were simple, our verypalaces rude, our furniture scanty, our saffron shirts not oftenchanged, and our foreign trade small. Yet was Ireland civilised. Strange thing! says someone whose ideas of civilisation are identicalwith carpets and cut-glass, fine masonry, and the steam engine; yet'tis true. For there was a time when learning was endowed by the richand honoured by the poor, and taught all over our country. Not only didthousands of natives frequent our schools and colleges, but men ofevery rank came here from the Continent to study under the professorsand system of Ireland, and we need not go beyond the testimonies ofEnglish antiquaries, from Bede to Camden, that these schools wereregarded as the first in Europe. Ireland was equally remarkable forpiety. In the Pagan times it was regarded as a sanctuary of the Magianor Druid creed. From the fifth century it became equally illustrious inChristendom. Without going into the disputed question of whether theIrish church was or was not independent of Rome, it is certain thatItaly did not send out more apostles from the fifth to the ninthcenturies than Ireland, and we find their names and achievementsremembered through the Continent. 

Of two names which Hallam thinks worth rescuing from the darkness ofthe dark ages, one is the Irish metaphysician, John Erigena. In arecent communication to the "Association" we had Bavariansacknowledging the Irish St. Killian as the apostle of their country. 

Yet what, beyond a catalogue of names and a few marked events, do eventhe educated Irish know of the heroic pagans or the holy Christians ofOld Ireland? These men have left libraries of biography, religion, philosophy, natural history, topography, history, and romance. They_cannot all be worthless_; yet, except the few volumes given us bythe Archæological Society, which of their works have any of us read?

It is also certain that we possessed written laws with extensive andminute comments and reported decisions. These Brehon laws have beenfoully misrepresented by Sir John Davies. Their tenures were thegavelkind once prevalent over most of the world. The land belonged tothe clan, and on the death of a clansman his share was re-apportionedaccording to the number and wants of his family. The system of erics orfines for offences has existed amongst every people from the Hebrewsdownwards, nor can anyone, knowing the multitude of crimes nowpunishable by fines or damages, think the people of this empirejustified in calling the ancient Irish barbarous because they extendedthe system. There is in these laws, so far as they are known, minuteness and equity; and what is a better test of their goodness welearn from Sir John Davies himself, and from the still abler BaronFinglass, that the people reverenced, obeyed, and clung to these laws, though to decide by or obey them was a high crime by England's code. Moreover, the Norman and Saxon settlers hastened to adopt these Irishlaws, and used them more resolutely, if possible, than the Irishthemselves. 

Orderliness and hospitality were peculiarly cultivated. Publiccaravansarais were built for travellers in every district, and we havewhat would almost be legal evidence of the grant of vast tracts of landfor the supply of provisions for these houses of hospitality. Theprivate hospitality of the chiefs was equally marked; nor was it quiterude. Ceremony was united with great freedom of intercourse, age, andlearning, and rank, and virtue were respected, and these men, whosecookery was probably as coarse as that of Homer's heroes, had aroundtheir board harpers and bards who sang poetry as gallant and fiery, though not so grand, as the Homeric ballad-singers, and flung off amusic which Greece never rivalled. 

Shall a people, pious, hospitable, and brave, faithful observers offamily ties, cultivators of learning, music, and poetry, be called lessthan civilised because mechanical arts were rude and "comfort" despisedby them?

Scattered through the country in MS. Are hundreds of books wherein thelaws and achievements, the genealogies and possessions, the creeds andmanners and poetry of these our predecessors in Ireland are set down. Their music lives in the traditional airs of every valley. 

Yet _mechanical civilisation_, more cruel than time, is trying toexterminate them, and, therefore, it becomes us all who do not wish tolose the heritage of centuries, nor to feel ourselves living amongnameless ruins, when we might have an ancestral home--it becomes allwho love learning, poetry, or music, or are curious of human progress, to aid in or originate a series of efforts to save all that remains ofthe past. 

It becomes them to lose no opportunity of instilling into the minds oftheir neighbours, whether they be corporators or peasants, that it is abrutal, mean, and sacrilegious thing to turn a castle, a church, atomb, or a mound into a quarry or a gravel pit, or to break the leastmorsel of sculpture, or to take any old coin or ornament they may findto a jeweller, so long as there is an Irish Academy in Dublin to payfor it or accept it. 

Before the year is out we hope to see A SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OFIRISH MUSIC established in Dublin, under the joint patronage of theleading men of all politics, with branches in the provincial towns forthe collection and diffusion of Irish airs. [31]

An effort--a great and decided one--must be made to have the IrishAcademy so endowed out of the revenues of Ireland that it may be ANATIONAL SCHOOL OF IRISH HISTORY AND LITERATURE AND A MUSEUM OF IRISHANTIQUITIES on the largest scale. In fact, the Academy should be asecular Irish College, with professors of our old language, literature, history, antiquities, and topography; with suitable schools, lecture-rooms, and museums. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [31] Like many of the suggestions of Thomas Davis this has borne fruit. In our own day the Irish Folk Song Society (20 Hanover Square, London, W. ) as well as the Feis Ceoil and the Gaelic League have done invaluable work in the direction indicated. --[Ed. ]

HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OF IRELAND. 

We were a little struck the other day in taking up a new book byMerimée to see after his name the title of "Inspector-General of theHistorical Monuments of France. " So then France, with the feeding, clothing, protecting, and humouring of thirty-six million people toattend to, has leisure to employ a Board and Inspector, and money topay them for looking after the Historical Monuments of France, lest theBayeux tapestry, which chronicles the conquest of England, or theAmphitheatre of Nimes, which marks the sojourn of the Romans, sufferany detriment. 

And has Ireland no monuments of her history to guard; has she no tablesof stone, no pictures, no temples, no weapons? Are there no Brehon'schairs on her hills to tell more clearly than Vallancey or Davies howjustice was administered here? Do not you meet the Druid's altar andthe Gueber's tower in every barony almost, and the Ogham stones in manya sequestered spot, and shall we spend time and money to see, to guard, or to decipher Indian topes, and Tuscan graves, and Egyptianhieroglyphics, and shall every nation in Europe shelter and study theremains of what it once was, even as one guards the tomb of a parent, and shall Ireland let all go to ruin?

We have seen pigs housed in the piled friezes of a broken church, cowsstabled in the palaces of the Desmonds, and corn threshed on the floorof abbeys, and the sheep and the tearing wind tenant the corridors ofAileach. 

Daily are more and more of our crosses broken, of our tombs effaced, ofour abbeys shattered, of our castles torn down, of our cairnssacrilegiously pierced, of our urns broken up, and of our coins melteddown. All classes, creeds and politics are to blame in this. Thepeasant lugs down a pillar for his sty, the farmer for his gate, thepriest for his chapel, the minister for his glebe. A mill-stream runsthrough Lord Moore's Castle, [32] and the Commissioners of Galway haveshaken and threatened to remove the Warden's house--that fine stonechronicle of Galway heroism. 

How our children will despise us all for this! Why shall we seek forhistories, why make museums, why study the manners of the dead, when wefoully neglect or barbarously spoil their homes, their castles, theirtemples, their colleges, their courts, their graves? He who tramples onthe past does not create for the future. The same ignorant and vagabondspirit which made him a destructive prohibits him from creating forposterity. 

Does not a man, by examining a few castles and arms, know more of thepeaceful and warrior life of the dead nobles and gentry of our islandthan from a library of books; and yet a man is stamped as unletteredand rude if he does not know and value such knowledge. Ware's_Antiquities_, and Archdall, speak not half so clearly the taste, thehabits, the everyday customs of the monks, as Adare Monastery, [33] forthe fine preservation of which we owe so much to Lord Dunraven. 

The state of civilisation among our Scotic or Milesian, or Norman, orDanish sires, is better seen from the Museum of the Irish Academy, andfrom a few raths, keeps, and old coast towns, than from all the printsand historical novels we have. An old castle in Kilkenny, a house inGalway give us a peep at the arts, the intercourse, the creed, theindoor and some of the outdoor ways of the gentry of the one, and ofthe merchants of the other, clearer than Scott could, were he to write, or Cattermole were he to paint, for forty years. 

We cannot expect Government to do anything so honourable and liberal asto imitate the example of France, and pay men to describe and savethese remains of dead ages. But we do ask it of the clergy, Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenting, if they would secure the character of men ofeducation and taste--we call upon the gentry, if they have any pride ofblood, and on the people, if they reverence Old Ireland, to spare andguard every remnant of antiquity. We ask them to find other quarriesthan churches, abbeys, castles and cairns--to bring rusted arms to acollector and coins to a museum, and not to iron or goldsmiths, and totake care that others do the like. We talk much of Old Ireland, andplunder and ruin all that remains of it--we neglect its language, fiddle with its ruins, and spoil its monuments. [34]

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [32] Mellifont, founded in 1142 by O'Carroll, King of Oriel. --C. P. M. 

 [33] See _Irish Franciscan Monasteries_, by C. P. M. , C. C. 

 [34] Again we note that, though late in the day, Davis's appeal has been answered, and most of the important ancient monuments of the country placed under official protection. The real need now is for scientific exploration of the ancient sites. --[Ed. ]

IRISH ANTIQUITIES. 

There is on the north (the left) bank of the Boyne, between Droghedaand Slane, a pile compared to which, in age, the Oldbridge obelisk is athing of yesterday, and compared to which, in lasting interest, theCathedrals of Dublin would be trivial. It is the Temple of Grange. History is too young to have noted its origin--Archæology knows not itstime. It is a legacy from a forgotten ancestor, to prove that he, too, had art and religion. It may have marked the tomb of a hero who freed, or an invader who subdued--a Brian or a Strongbow. But whether or not ahero's or a saint's bones consecrated it at first, this is plain--it isa temple of nigh two thousand years, perfect as when the last Pagansacrificed within it. [35]

It is a thing to be proud of, as a proof of Ireland's antiquity, to beguarded as an illustration of her early creed and arts. It is one of athousand muniments of our old nationality which a national governmentwould keep safe. 

What, then, will be the reader's surprise and anger to hear that somepeople having legal power or corrupt influence in Meath are getting, orhave got, _a presentment for a road to run right through the Templeof Grange_!

We do not know their names, nor, if the design be at once given up, asin deference to public opinion it must finally be, shall we take thetrouble to find them out. But if they persist in this brutal outrageagainst so precious a landmark of Irish history and civilisation, thenwe frankly say if the law will not reach them public opinion shall, andthey shall bitterly repent the desecration. These men who design, andthose who consent to the act, may be Liberals or Tories, Protestants orCatholics, but beyond a doubt they are tasteless blockheads--poordevils without reverence or education--men, who, as Wordsworth says--

 "Would peep and botanise Upon their mothers' graves. "

All over Europe the governments, the aristocracies, and the people havebeen combining to discover, gain, and guard every monument of whattheir dead countrymen had done or been. France has a permanentcommission charged to watch over her antiquities. She annually spendsmore in publishing books, maps, and models, in filling her museums andshielding her monuments from the iron clutch of time, than all theroads in Leinster cost. It is only on time she needs to keep watch. AFrench peasant would blush to meet his neighbour had he levelled aGaulish tomb, crammed the fair moulding of an abbey into his wall, orsold to a crucible the coins which tell that a Julius, a Charlemagne, or a Philip Augustus swayed his native land. And so it is everywhere. Republican Switzerland, despotic Austria, Prussia and Norway, Bavariaand Greece are all equally precious of everything that exhibits thearchitecture, sculpture, rites, dress, or manners of theirancestors--nay, each little commune would guard with arms these localproofs that they were not men of yesterday. And why should not Irelandbe as precious of its ruins, its manuscripts, its antique vases, coins, and ornaments, as these French and German men--nay, as the English, forthey, too, do not grudge princely grants to their museums andrestoration funds. 

This island has been for centuries either in part or altogether aprovince. Now and then above the mist we see the whirl of Sarsfield'ssword, the red battle-hand of O'Neill, and the points of O'Connor'sspears; but 'tis a view through eight hundred years to recognise theSunburst on a field of liberating victory. Reckoning back fromClontarf, our history grows ennobled (like that of a decayed house), and we see Lismore and Armagh centres of European learning; we see ourmissionaries seizing and taming the conquerors of Europe, and, fartherstill, rises the wizard pomp of Eman and Tara--the palace of the IrishPentarchy. And are we the people to whom the English (whose fatherswere painted savages when Tyre and Sidon traded with this land) canaddress reproaches for our rudeness and irreverence? So it seems. The_Athenæum_ says:--

 "It is much to be regretted that the society lately established in England, having for its object the preservation of British antiquities, did not extend its design over those of the sister island, which are daily becoming fewer and fewer in number. That the gold ornaments which are so frequently found in various parts of Ireland should be melted down for the sake of the very pure gold of which they are composed, is scarcely surprising; but that carved stones and even immense druidical remains should be destroyed is, indeed, greatly to be lamented. At one of the late meetings of the Royal Irish Academy a communication was made of the intention of the proprietor of the estate at New Grange to destroy that most gigantic relic of druidical times, which has justly been termed the Irish pyramid, merely because its vast size 'cumbereth the ground. ' At Mellifont a modern cornmill of large size has been built out of the stones of the beautiful monastic buildings, some of which still adorn that charming spot. At Monasterboice, the churchyard of which contains one of the finest of the round towers, are the ruins of two of the little ancient stone Irish churches, and three most elaborately carved stone crosses, eighteen or twenty feet high. The churchyard itself is overrun with weeds, the sanctity of the place being its only safeguard. At Clonmacnoise, where, some forty years ago, several hundred inscriptions in the ancient Irish character were to be seen upon the gravestones, scarcely a dozen (and they the least interesting) are now to be found--the large flat stones on which they were carved forming excellent slabs for doorways, the copings of walls, etc. ! It was the discovery of some of these carved stones in such a situation which had the effect of directing the attention of Mr. Petrie (then an artist in search of the picturesque, but now one of the most enlightened and conscientious of the Irish antiquaries) to the study of antiquities; and it is upon the careful series of drawings made by him that future antiquarians must rely for very much of ancient architectural detail now destroyed. As to Glendalough, it is so much a holiday place for the Dubliners that it is no wonder everything portable has disappeared. Two or three of the seven churches are levelled to the ground--all the characteristic carvings described by Ledwich, and which were '_quite unique in Ireland_, ' are gone. Some were removed and used as keystones for the arches of Derrybawn bridge. Part of the churchyard has been cleared of its gravestones, and forms a famous place, where the villagers play at ball against the old walls of the church. The little church, called 'St. Kevin's Kitchen, ' is given up to the sheep, and the font lies in one corner, and is used for the vilest purposes. The abbey church is choked up with trees and brambles, and being a little out of the way a very few of the carved stones still remain there, two of the most interesting of which I found used as coping-stones to the wall which surrounds it. The connection between the ancient churches of Ireland and the North of England renders the preservation of the Irish antiquities especially interesting to the English antiquarian; and it is with the hope of drawing attention to the destruction of those ancient Irish monuments that I have written these few lines. The Irish themselves are, unfortunately, so engrossed with political and religious controversies, that it can scarcely be hoped that single-handed they will be roused to the rescue even of these evidences of their former national greatness. Besides, a great obstacle exists against any interference with the religious antiquities of the country, from the strong feelings entertained by the people on the subject, although _practically_, as we have seen, of so little weight. Let us hope that the public attention directed to these objects will have a beneficial result and ensure a greater share of 'justice to Ireland'; for will it be believed that the only establishment in Ireland for the propagation and diffusion of scientific and antiquarian knowledge--the Royal Irish Academy--receives annually the munificent sum of £300 from the Government! And yet, notwithstanding this pittance, the members of that society have made a step in the right direction by the purchase of the late Dean of St. Patrick's Irish Archæological Collection, of which a fine series of drawings is now being made at the expense of the Academy, and of which they would, doubtless, allow copies to be made, so as to obtain a return of a portion of the expense to which they are now subjected. Small, moreover, as the collection is, it forms a striking contrast with our own _National_ Museum, which, rich in foreign antiquities, is almost without a single object of native archæological interest, if we except the series of English and Anglo-Saxon coins and MSS. "

The Catholic clergy were long and naturally the guardians of ourantiquities, and many of their archæological works testify theirprodigious learning. Of late, too, the honourable and wise reverencebrought back to England has reached the Irish Protestant clergy, andthey no longer make antiquity a reproach, or make the maxims of theiconoclast part of their creed. 

Is it extravagant to speculate on the possibility of the Episcopalian, Catholic, and Presbyterian clergy joining in an Antiquarian Society topreserve our ecclesiastical remains--our churches, our abbeys, ourcrosses, and our fathers' tombs, from fellows like the Meathroad-makers? It would be a politic and a noble emulation of the sects, restoring the temples wherein their sires worshipped for their childrento pray in. There's hardly a barony wherein we could not find an oldparish or abbey church, capable of being restored to its former beautyand convenience at a less expense than some beastly barn is run up, asif to prove and confirm the fact that we have little art, learning, orimagination. 

Nor do we see why some of these hundreds of half-spoiled buildingsmight not be used for civil purposes--as almshouses, schools, lecture-rooms, town-halls. It would always add another grace to aninstitution to have its home venerable with age and restored to beauty. We have seen men of all creeds join the Archæological Society topreserve and revive our ancient literature. Why may we not see, evenwithout waiting for the aid of an Irish Parliament, an AntiquarianSociety, equally embracing the chief civilians and divines, andcharging itself with the duties performed in France by the Commissionof Antiquities and Monuments?

The Irish antiquarians of the last century did much good. They calledattention to the history and manners of our predecessors which we hadforgotten. They gave a pedigree to nationhood, and created a faith thatIreland could and should be great again by magnifying what she hadbeen. They excited the noblest passions--veneration, love of glory, beauty, and virtue. They awoke men's fancy by their gorgeous picturesof the past, and imagination strove to surpass them by its creations. They believed what they wrote, and thus their wildest stories sank intomen's minds. To the exertions of Walker, O'Halloran, Vallancey, and afew other Irish academicians in the last century, we owe almost all theIrish knowledge possessed by our upper classes till very lately. It wassmall, but it was enough to give a dreamy renown to ancient Ireland;and if it did nothing else, it smoothed the reception of Bunting'smusic, and identified Moore's poetry with his native country. 

While, therefore, we at once concede that Vallancey was a bad scholar, O'Halloran a credulous historian, and Walker a shallow antiquarian, weclaim for them gratitude and attachment, and protest, once for all, against the indiscriminate abuse of them now going in our educatedcircles. 

But no one should lie down under the belief that these were the deepand exact men their contemporaries thought them. They were not patientnor laborious. They were very graceful, very fanciful, and often verywrong in their statements and their guesses. How often they avoidedpainful research by gay guessing we are only now learning. O'Halloranand Keatinge have told us bardic romances with the same tone as truechronicles. Vallancey twisted language, towers, and traditions into hiswicker-work theory of Pagan Ireland; and Walker built great facts andgreat blunders, granite blocks and rotten wood, into his antiquarianedifices. One of the commonest errors, attributing immense antiquity, oriental origin, and everything noble in Ireland to the Milesians, originated with these men; or, rather, was transferred from theadulatory songs of clan-bards to grave stories. Now, it is quitecertain that several races flourished here before the Milesians, andthat everything oriental, and much that was famous in Ireland, belongedto some of these elder races, and not to the Scoti or Milesians. 

Premising this much of warning and defence as to the men who first madeanything of ancient Ireland known to the mixed nation of modernIreland, we turn with pure pleasure to their successors, theantiquarians and historians of our own time. 

We liked for awhile bounding from tussuck to tussuck, or resting on agreen esker in the domain of the old academicians of Grattan's time;but 'tis pleasanter, after all, to tread the firm ground of our ownarchæologists. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [35] The reader who wishes to know what modern archæology has to say of this great tumulus may be referred to Mr. George Coffey's "Newgrange, " published by Hodges, Figgis & Co. , 1912. It dates from about 1, 000 years earlier than Davis supposed. 

THE ROUND TOWERS OF IRELAND. [36]

Accustomed from boyhood to regard these towers as revelations of agorgeous but otherwise undefined antiquity--dazzled by orientalanalogies--finding a refuge in their primeval greatness from themeanness or the misfortunes of our middle ages, we clung to the beliefof their Pagan origin. 

In fancy we had seen the white-robed Druid tend the holy fire in theirlower chambers--had measured with the Tyrian-taught astronomer thelength of their shadows--and had almost knelt to the elemental worshipwith nobles whose robes had the dye of the Levant, and sailors whosecheeks were brown with an Egyptian sun, and soldiers whose bronze armsclashed as the trumpets from the tower-top said that the sun had risen. What wonder that we had resented the attempt to cure us of so sweet afrenzy?

We plead guilty to having opened Mr. Petrie's work strongly bigotedagainst his conclusion. 

On the other hand, we could not forget the authority of the book. Itsauthor we knew was familiar beyond almost any other with thecountry--had not left one glen unsearched, not one island untrod; hadbrought with him the information of a life of antiquarian study, agraceful and exact pencil, and feelings equally national and lofty. Weknew also that he had the aid of the best Celtic scholars alive in theprogress of his work. The long time taken in its preparation ensuredmaturity; and the honest men who had criticised it, and the adventurerswho had stolen from it enough to make false reputations, equallytestified to its merits. 

Yet, we repeat, we jealously watched for flaws in Mr. Petrie'sreasoning; exulted as he set down the extracts from his opponents, inthe hope that he would fail in answering them, and at last surrenderedwith a sullen despair. 

Looking now more calmly at the discussion, we are grateful to Mr. Petrie for having driven away an idle fancy. In its stead he has givenus new and unlooked-for trophies, and more solid information on Irishantiquities than any of his predecessors. We may be well content tohand over the Round Towers to Christians of the sixth or the tenthcentury, when we find that these Christians were really eminent inknowledge as well as piety, had arched churches by the side of these_campanilia_, gave an alphabet to the Saxons, and hospitality andlearning to the students of all western Europe--and the more readily, as we got in exchange _proofs_ of a Pagan race having a Pelasgicarchitecture, and the arms and ornaments of a powerful and cultivatedpeople. 

The volume before us contains two parts of Mr. Petrie's essay. Thefirst part is an examination of the false theories of the origin ofthese towers. The second is an account not only of what he thinks theirreal origin, but of every kind of early ecclesiastical structure inIreland. The third part will contain a historical and descriptiveaccount of every ecclesiastical building in Ireland of a date prior tothe Anglo-Norman invasion of which remains now exist. The work iscrowded with illustrations drawn with wonderful accuracy, and engravedin a style which proves that Mr. O'Hanlon, the engraver, has become soproficient as hardly to have a superior in wood-cutting. 

We shall for the present limit ourselves to the first part of the workon the

"ERRONEOUS THEORIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ORIGIN AND USES OF THE ROUNDTOWERS. "

The first refutation is of the

"THEORY OF THE DANISH ORIGIN OF THE TOWERS. "

John Lynch, in his _Cambrensis Eversus_, says that the Danes arereported (_dicuntur_) to have first erected the Round Towers as_watch_-towers, but that the Christian Irish changed them into _clock_or bell-towers. Peter Walsh[37] repeated and exaggerated the statement;and Ledwich, the West British antiquary of last century, combined itwith lies enough to settle his character, though not that of thetowers. The only person, at once explicit and honest, who supportedthis Danish theory was Dr. Molyneux. His arguments are that all stonebuildings, and, indeed, all evidences of mechanical civilisation, inIreland were Danish; that some traditions attributed the Round Towersto them; that they had fit models in the monuments of their owncountry; and that the word by which he says the native Irish call them, viz. , "Clogachd, " comes from the Teutonic root, clugga, a bell. Thesearguments are easily answered. 

The Danes, so far from introducing stone architecture, found itflourishing in Ireland, and burned and ruined our finest buildings, anddestroyed mechanical and every kind of civilisation wherever theirravages extended--doing thus in Ireland precisely as they did in Franceand England, as all annals (their own included) testify. Tradition doesnot describe the towers as Danish watch-towers, but as Christianbelfries. The upright stones and the little barrows, not twelve feethigh, of Denmark, could neither give models nor skill to the Danes. They had much ampler possession of England and Scotland, and permanentpossession of Normandy, but never a Round Tower did they erect there;and, finally, the native Irish name for a Round Tower is _cloic-theach_, from _teach_, a house, and _cloc_, the Irish word used for a bell inIrish works before "the Germans or Saxons had churches or bells, " andbefore the Danes had ever sent a war-ship into our seas. 

We pass readily from this ridiculous hypothesis with the remark thatthe gossip which attributes to the Danes our lofty monumental pyramidsand cairns, our Druid altars, our dry stone caisils or keeps, and ourraths or fortified enclosures for the homes or cattle of our chiefs, isequally and utterly unfounded; and is partly to be accounted for fromthe name of power and terror which these barbarians left behind, andpartly from ignorant persons confounding them with the most illustrousand civilised of the Irish races--the Danaans. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [36] _The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_, vol. Xx. Dublin: Hodges & Smith, Grafton Street. 

 [37] A turbulent and learned Franciscan friar who figured in the Confederation of Kilkenny. --C. P. M. 

THEORY OF THE EASTERN ORIGIN OF THE ROUND TOWERS. 

Among the middle and upper classes in Ireland the Round Towers areregarded as one of the results of an intimate connection betweenIreland and the East, and are spoken of as either--1, Fire Temples; 2, Stations from whence Druid festivals were announced; 3, Sun-dials(gnomons) and astronomical observatories; 4, Buddhist or Phallictemples, or two or more of these uses are attributed to them at thesame time. 

Mr. Petrie states that the theory of the Phoenician or Indo-Scythicorigin of these towers was stated for the first time so recently as1772 by General Vallancey, in his "Essay on the Antiquity of the IrishLanguage, " and was re-asserted by him in many different and contradictoryforms in his _Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis_, published at intervalsin the following years. 

It may be well to premise who

GENERAL CHARLES VALLANCEY

was. His family were from Berry, in France; their name Le Brun, calledDe Valencia, from their estate of that name. General Vallancey was bornin Flanders, but was educated at Eton College. When a captain in the12th Royal Infantry he was attached to the engineer department inIreland, published a book on Field Engineering in 1756, and commenced asurvey of Ireland. During this he picked up something of the Irishlanguage, and is said to have studied it under Morris O'Gorman, clerkof Mary's Lane Chapel. He died in his house, Lower Mount Street, 18thAugust, 1812, aged 82 years. 

His _Collectanea_, and his discourses in the Royal Irish Academy, ofwhich he was an original member, spread far and wide his orientaltheories. He was an amiable and plausible man, but of little learning, little industry, great boldness, and no scruples; and while hecertainly stimulated men's feelings towards Irish antiquities, he hasleft us a reproducing swarm of falsehood, of which Mr. Petrie hashappily begun the destruction. Perhaps nothing gave Vallancey's folliesmore popularity than the opposition of the Rev. Edward Ledwich, whose_Antiquities of Ireland_ is a mass of falsehoods, disparaging to thepeople and the country. 

FIRE TEMPLES. 

Vallancey's first analogy is plausible. The Irish Druids honoured theelements and kept up sacred fires, and at a particular day in the yearall the fires in the kingdom were put out, and had to be re-lightedfrom the Arch-Druid's fire. A similar creed and custom existed amongthe Parsees or Guebres of Persia, and he takes the resemblance to proveconnection and identity of creed and civilisation. From this heimmediately concludes the Round Towers to be Fire Temples. Now there isno evidence that the Irish Pagans had sacred fires, except in openspaces (on the hilltops), and, therefore, none of course that they hadthem in towers round or square; but Vallancey falls back on the_alleged existence of Round Towers in the East similar to ours, andon etymology_. 

Here is a specimen of his etymologies. The Hebrew word _gadul_signifies _great_, and thence a tower; the Irish name for a roundtower, _cloghad_, is from this _gadul_ or _gad_, and _clogh_, a_stone_: and the Druids called every place of worship _cloghad_. Towhich it is answered--_gadul_ is not _gad_--_clogh_, a _stone_, is not_cloch_, a _bell_. The Irish word for a Round Tower is _cloich-theach_, or bell-house, and there is no proof that the Druids called _any_ placeof worship _cloghad_. 

Vallancey's guesses are numerous, and nearly all childish, and we shallquote some finishing specimens, with Mr. Petrie's answers:--

 "This is another characteristic example of Vallancey's mode of quoting authorities: he first makes O'Brien say that _Cuilceach_ becomes corruptly _Claiceach_, and then that the word _seems_ to be corrupted _Clogtheach_. But O'Brien does not say that _Cuilceach_ is corruptly _Claiceach_, nor has he the word _Culkak_ or _Claiceach_ in his book; neither does he say that _Cuilceach seems_ to be a corruption of _Clog-theach_, but states positively that it is so. The following are the passages which Vallancey has so misquoted and garbled--

 "'CUILCEACH, a steeple, cuilceach Cluan-umba, Cloyne steeple--this word _is_ a corruption of Clog-theach. 

 "'CLOIG-THEACH, a steeple, a belfry; _corrupte_ Cuilg-theach. '

 "Our author next tells us that another name for the Round Towers is _Sibheit_, _Sithbeit_, and _Sithbein_, and for this he refers us to O'Brien's and Shaw's Lexicons; but this quotation is equally false with those I have already exposed, for the words _Sibheit_ and _Sithbeit_ are not to be found in either of the works referred to. The word _Sithbhe_ is indeed given in both Lexicons, but explained a city, not a round tower. The word _Sithbhein_ is also given in both, but explained a fort, a turret, and the real meaning of the word as still understood in many parts of Ireland is a fairy-hill, or hill of the fairies, and is applied to a green round hill crowned by a small sepulchral mound. 

 "He next tells us that _Caiceach_, the last name he finds for the Round Towers, is supposed by the Glossarists to be compounded of _cai_, a house, and _teach_, a house, an explanation which, he playfully adds, is tautology with a witness. But where did he find authority for the word _Caiceach_? I answer, nowhere; and the tautology he speaks of was either a creation or a blunder of his own. It is evident to me that the Glossarist to whom he refers is no other than his favourite Cormac; but the latter makes no such blunder, as will appear from the passage which our author obviously refers to--

 "'_Cai i. Teach unde dicitur ceard cha i. Teach cearda; creas cha i. Teach cumang. _'

 "'_Cai, i. E. _, a house; _unde dicitur ceard-cha, i. E. _, the house of the artificer; _creas-cha, i. E. _, a narrow house. '"

The reader has probably now had enough of Vallancey's etymology, but itis right to add that Mr. Petrie goes through every hint of such proofgiven by the General, and disposes of them with greater facility. 

The next person disposed of is Mr. Beauford, who derives the name ofour Round Towers from _Tlacht--earth_; asserts that the foundations oftemples for Vestal fire exist in Rath-na-Emhain, and other places (poordevil!)--that the Persian Magi overran the world in the time of thegreat Constantine, introducing Round Towers in place of the Vestalmounds into Ireland, combining their fire-worship with ourDruidism--and that the present towers were built in imitation of theMagian Towers. This is all, as Mr. Petrie says, pure fallacy, without aparticle of authority; but we should think "_twelfth_" is a misprintfor "_seventh_" in the early part of Beauford's passage, and, therefore, that the last clause of Mr. Petrie's censure is undeserved. 

This Beauford is not to be confounded with Miss Beaufort. She, too, paganises the towers by aggravating some misstatements of Mason's_Parochial Survey_; but her errors are not worth notice, except theassertion that the Psalters of Tara and Cashel allege that the towerswere for keeping the sacred fire. These Psalters are believed to haveperished, and any mention of sacred fires in the glossary of CormacM'Cullenan, the supposed compiler of the Psalter of Cashel, is adverseto their being in towers. He says:--

 "_Belltane, i. E. , bil tene, i. E. , tene bil, i. E. _, the goodly fire, _i. E. _, two goodly fires, which the Druids were used to make, with great incantations on them, and they used to bring the cattle between them against the diseases of each year. "

Another MS. Says:--

 "_Beltaine, i. E. , Bel-dine; Bel_ was the name of an idol; it was on it (_i. E. _, the festival) that a couple of the young of every cattle were exhibited as in the possession of _Bel; unde Beldine_. Or, _Beltine, i. E. , Bil-tine, i. E. _, the goodly fire, _i. E. _, two goodly fires, which the Druids were used to make with great incantations, and they were used to drive the cattle between them against the diseases of each year. "

Mr. Petrie continues:--

 "It may be remarked that remnants of this ancient custom, in perhaps a modified form, still exist in the May-fires lighted in the streets and suburbs of Dublin, and also in the fires lighted on St. John's Eve in all other parts of Ireland. The _Tinne Eigin_ of the Highlands, of which Dr. Martin gives the following account, is probably a remnant of it also, but there is no instance of such fires being lighted in towers or houses of any description:--

 "'The inhabitants here (Isle of Skye) did also make use of a fire called _Tin Egin_ (_i. E. _), a forced Fire, or Fire of necessity, which they used as an Antidote against the _Plague_ or _Murrain_ in cattle; and it was performed thus: All the fires in the Parish were extinguish'd, and eighty-one marry'd men, being thought the necessary number for effecting this Design, took two great Planks of Wood, and nine of 'em were employed by turns, who by their repeated Efforts rubb'd one of the Planks against the other until the Heat thereof produced Fire; and from this forc'd Fire each Family is supplied with new Fire, which is no sooner kindled than a pot full of water is quickly set on it, and afterwards sprinkled upon the people infected with the Plague, or upon cattle that have the Murrain. And this, they all say, they find successful by experience. '--_Description of the Western Islands of Scotland_ (second edition), p. 113. 

 "As authority for Miss Beaufort's second assertion, relative to the Tower of Thlachtga, etc. , we are referred to the _Psalter of Tara_, by Comerford (p. 41), cited in the _Parochial Survey_ (vol. Iii. , p. 320); and certainly in the latter work we do find a passage in nearly the same words which Miss Beaufort uses. But if the lady had herself referred to Comerford's little work, she would have discovered that the author of the article in the _Parochial Survey_ had in reality no authority for his assertions, and had attempted a gross imposition on the credulity of his readers. "

Mr. D'Alton relies much on a passage in _Cambrensis_, wherein he saysthat the fishermen on Lough Neagh (a lake certainly formed by aninundation in the first century, A. D. 62) point to such towers underthe lake; but this only shows they were considered old in Cambrensis'stime (King John's), for Cambrensis calls them _turres ecclesiasticas_(a Christian appellation); and the fishermen of every lake have suchidle traditions from the tall objects they are familiar with; and thesteeples of Antrim, etc. , were handy to the Loch n-Eathac men. 

One of the authorities quoted by all the Paganists is from the _UlsterAnnals_ at the year 448. It is--"Kl. Jenair. Anno Domini cccc. Xlº. Viiiº. Ingenti terræ motu per loca varia imminente, plurimi urbis auguste murirecenti adhuc reædificatione constructi, cum l. Vii. Turribusconruerunt. " This was made to mean that part of the wall of Armagh, with fifty-seven Round Towers, fell in an earthquake in 448, whereasthe passage turns out to be a quotation from "Marcellinus"[38] of thefall of part of the defences of Constantinople--"Urbis Augustæ!"

References to towers in Irish annals are quoted by Mr. D'Alton; butthey turn out to be written about the Cyclopean Forts, or low stoneraths, such as we find at Aileach, etc. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [38] Author of the _Life of Thucydides_. --C. P. M. 

CELESTIAL INDEXES. 

Dr. Charles O'Connor, of Stowe, is the chief supporter of theastronomical theory. One of his arguments is founded on the mistakenreading of the word "_turaghun_" (which he derives from _tur_, a tower, and _aghan_, or _adhan_, the kindling of flame), instead of"_truaghan_, " an ascetic. The only other authority of his which we havenot noticed is the passage in the _Ulster Annals_, at the year 995, inwhich it is said that certain Fidhnemead were burned by lightning atArmagh. He translates the word celestial indexes, and paraphrases itRound Towers, and all because _fiadh_ means witness, and _neimhedh_, heavenly or sacred, the real meaning being holy wood, or wood of thesanctuary, from _fidh_, a wood, and _neimhedh_, holy, as is proved by apile of _exact_ authorities. 

Dr. Lanigan, in his ecclesiastical history, and Moore, in his generalhistory, repeat the arguments which we have mentioned. They also bringobjections against the alleged Christian origin, which we hold over;but it is plain that nothing prevailed more with them than the allegedresemblance of these towers to certain oriental buildings. Assuredly ifthere were a close likeness between the Irish Round Towers and orientalfire temples of proved antiquity, it would be an argument for identityof use; and though direct testimony from our annals would come in andshow that the present towers were built as Christian belfries from thesixth to the tenth centuries, the resemblance would at least indicatethat the belfries had been built after the model of Pagan fire towerspreviously existing here. But "rotundos of above thirty feet indiameter" in Persia, Turkish minarets of the tenth or fourteenthcenturies, and undated turrets in India, which Lord Valentia thoughtlike our Round Towers, give no _such_ resemblance. We shall lookanxiously for exact measurements and datas of oriental buildingsresembling Round Towers, and weigh the evidence which may be offered toshow that there were any Pagan models for the latter in Ireland or inAsia. 

Mr. Windele, of Cork, besides using all the previously-mentionedarguments for the Paganism of these towers, finds another in thesupposed resemblance to THE NURRAGGIS OF SARDINIA, which are tombs ortemples formed in that island, and attributed to the Phoenicians. But, alas, for the theory, they have turned out to be "as broad as they'relong. " A square building, 57 feet in each side, with bee-hive towers ateach angle, and a centre bee-hive tower reaching to 45 or 65 feet high, with stone stairs, is sadly unlike a Round Tower!

The most recent theory is that the Round Towers are

HERO-MONUMENTS. 

Mr. Windele and the South Munster Antiquarian Society started this, SirWilliam Betham sanctioned it, and several rash gentlemen dug undertowers to prove it. At Cashel, Kinsale, etc. , they satisfied themselvesthat there were no sepulchres or bones ever under the towers, but insome other places they took the rubbish bones casually thrown into thetowers, and in two cases the chance underlying of ancientburying-grounds, as proofs of this notion. But Mr. Petrie settles forthis idea by showing that there is no such use of the Round Towersmentioned in our annals, and also by the following most interestingaccount of the cemeteries and monuments of all the races of PaganIrish:--

 HISTORY OF THE CEMETERIES. 

 "A great king of great judgments assumed the sovereignty of Erin, _i. E. _, Cormac, son of Art, son of Conn of the Hundred Battles. Erin was prosperous in his time, because just judgments were distributed throughout it by him; so that no one durst attempt to wound a man in Erin during the short jubilee of seven years; for Cormac had the faith of the one true God, according to the law; for he said that he would not adore stones, or trees, but that he would adore Him who had made them, and who had power over all the elements, _i. E. _, the one powerful God who created the elements; in Him he would believe. And he was the third person who had believed in Erin before the arrival of St. Patrick. Conchobor MacNessa, to whom Altus had told concerning the crucifixion of Christ, _was the first_; Morann, the son of Cairbre Cinncait (who was surnamed Mac Main), was the second person; and Cormac was the third; and it is probable that others followed on their track in this belief. 

 "Where Cormac held his court was at Tara, in imitation of the kings who preceded him, until his eye was destroyed by Engus Gaibhuaiphnech, the son of Eochaidh Finn Futhairt: but afterwards he resided at Acaill (the hill on which Serin Colaim Cille is at this day), and at Cenannas (Kells), and at the house of Cletech; for it was not lawful that a king with a _personal_ blemish should reside at Tara. In the second year after the injuring of his eye he came by his death at the house of Cletech, the bone of a salmon having stuck in his throat. And he (Cormac) told his people not to bury him at Brugh (because it was a cemetery of Idolaters), for he did not worship the same God as any of those interred at Brugh; but to bury him at Ros-na-righ, with his face to the east. He afterwards died, and his servants of trust held a council, and came to the resolution of burying him at Brugh, the place where the kings of Tara, his predecessors, were buried. The body of the king was afterwards thrice raised to be carried to Brugh, but the Boyne swelled up thrice, so that they could not come; so that they observed that it was 'violating the judgment of a prince' to break through this testament of the king, and they afterwards dug his grave at Ros-na-righ, as he himself had ordered. 

 "These were the chief cemeteries of Erin before the Faith (_i. E. _, before the introduction of Christianity), viz. , Cruachu, Brugh, Tailltin, Luachair, Ailbe, Oenach Ailbe, Oenach Culi, Oenach Colmain, Temhair Erann. 

 "Oenach Cruachan, in the first place, it was there the race of Heremon (_i. E. _, the kings of Tara) were used to bury until the time of Cremhthann, the son of Lughaidh Riabh-n-derg (who was the first king of them that was interred at Brugh), viz. , Cobhlhach Coelbregh, and Labhraidh Loingsech, and Eocho Fedhlech with his three sons (_i. E. _, the three Fidhemhna--_i. E. _, Bres, Nar, and Lothoe), and Eocho Airemh, Lughaidh Riabh-n-derg, the six daughters of Eocho Fedhlech (_i. E. _, Medhbh, and Clothru, Muresc, and Drebrin, Mugain, and Ele), and Adill Mac Mada with his seven brothers (_i. E. _, Cet, Anlon, Doche, _et ceteri_), and all the kings _down_ to Cremhthann (these were all buried at Cruachan). Why was it not at Brugh that the kings (of the race of Cobhthach down to Crimthann) were interred? Not difficult; because the two provinces which the race of Heremon possessed were the province of Gailian (_i. E. _, the province of Leinster), and the province of Olnecmacht (_i. E. _, the province of Connaught). In the first place, the province of Gailian was occupied by the race of Labhraidh Loingsech, and the province of Connaught was the peculiar inheritance of the race of Cobhtach Coelbregh; wherefore it (_i. E. _, the province of Connaught) was given to Medhbh before every other province. (The reason that the government of this land was given to Medhbh is because there was none of the race of Eochaidh fit to receive it but herself, for Lughaidh was not fit for action at the time. ) And whenever, therefore, the monarchy of Erin was enjoyed by any of the descendants of Cobhthach Coelbregh, the province of Connaught was his _ruidles_ (_i. E. _, his native principality). And for this reason they were interred at Oenach na Cruachna. But they were interred at Brugh from the time of Crimthann (Niadh-nar) to the time of Loeghaire, the son of Niall, except three persons, namely, Art, the son of Conn, and Cormac, the son of Art, and Niall of the Nine Hostages. 

 "We have already mentioned the cause for which Cormac was not interred there. The reason why Art was not interred there is because he 'believed, ' the day before the battle of Muccramma was fought, and he predicted the Faith (_i. E. _, that Christianity would prevail in Erin), and he said that his own grave would be at Dumha Dergluachra, where Treoit [Trevet] is at this day, as he mentioned in a poem which he composed--viz. , _Cain do denna den_ (_i. E. _, a poem which Art composed, the beginning of which is _Cain do denna den_, etc. ). When his (Art's) body was afterwards carried eastwards to Dumha Dergluachra, if all the men of Erin were drawing it thence, they could not, so that he was interred in that place because there was a Catholic church to be afterwards at the place where he was interred (_i. E. _, Treoit _hodie_). Because the truth and the Faith had been revealed to him through his regal righteousness. 

 "Where Niall was interred was at Ochain, whence the hill was called Ochain, _i. E. _, _Och Caine_, _i. E. _, from the sighing and lamentation which the men of Erin made in lamenting Niall. 

 "Conaire More was interred at Magh Feci in Bregia (_i. E. _, at Fert Conaire); however, some say that it was Conaire Carpraige was interred there, and not Conaire Mor, and that Conaire Mor was the third king who was interred at Tara--viz. , Conaire, Loeghaire, and * * *

 "At Tailltin the kings of Ulster were used to bury--viz. , Ollamh Fodhla, with his descendants down to Conchobhar, who wished that he should be carried to a place between Slea and the sea, with his face to the east, on account of the Faith which he had embraced. 

 "The nobles of the Tuatha De Danann were used to bury at Brugh (_i. E. _, the Dagda with his three sons; also Lughaidh and Oe, and Ollam, and Ogma, and Etan, the Poetess, and Corpre, the son of Etan), and Cremhthann followed them because his wife Nar was of the Tuatha Dea, and it was she solicited him that he should adopt Brugh as a burial-place for himself and his descendants, and this was the cause that they did not bury at Cruachan. 

 "The Lagenians (_i. E. _, Cathair with his race and the kings who were before them) were buried at Oenach Ailbhe. The Clann Dedad (_i. E. _, the race of Conaire and Erna) at Temhair Erann; the men of Munster (_i. E. _, the Dergthene) at Oenach Culi, and Oenach Colmain; and the Connacians at Cruachan. "

ANCHORITE TOWERS. 

Because Simon Stylites lived in a domicile, sized "scarce two cubits, "_on_ a pillar sixty feet high, and because other anchorites lived onpillars and in cells, Dean Richardson suggested that the Irish RoundTowers were for hermits; and was supported by Walter Harris, Dr. Milner, Dr. King, etc. The _cloch angcoire_, or hermit's stone, quotedin aid of this fancy, turns out to be a narrow cell; and so much forthe hermits!

The confusion of

TOURS AND TOWERS

is a stupid pun or a vulgar pronunciation in English; but in Irish gaverise to the antiquarian theory of Dr. Smith, who, in his _History ofCork_, concludes that the Round Towers were penitential prisons, because the Irish word for a penitential round or journey is _turas_!

THE PHALLIC THEORY

never had any support but poor Henry O'Brien's enthusiastic ignoranceand the caricaturing pen of his illustrator. 

We have now done with the theories of these towers, which Mr. Petriehas shown, past doubt, to be either positively false or quite unproved. His own opinion is that they were used--1, as belfries; 2, as keeps, orhouses of shelter for the clergy and their treasures; and 3, aswatch-towers and beacons; and into his evidence for this opinion weshall go at a future day, thanking him at present for having displaceda heap of incongruous, though agreeable, fancies, and given us thelearned, the most exact, and the most important work ever published onthe antiquities of the Ancient Irish Nation. 

THE IRISH BRIGADE. 

When valour becomes a reproach, when patriotism is thought a prejudice, and when a soldier's sword is a sign of shame, the Irish Brigade willbe forgotten or despised. 

The Irish are a military people--strong, nimble, and hardy, fond ofadventure, irascible, brotherly, and generous--they have all thequalities that tempt men to war and make them good soldiers. Dazzled bytheir great fame on the Continent, and hearing of their insular warschiefly through the interested lies of England, Voltaire expressed hiswonder that a nation which had behaved so gallantly abroad had "alwaysfought badly at home. " It would have been most wonderful. 

It may be conceded that the Irish performed more illustrious actions onthe Continent. They fought with the advantages of French discipline andequipment; they fought as soldiers, with the rights of war, not"rebels, with halters round their necks"; they fought by the side ofgreat rivals and amid the gaze of Europe. 

In the most of their domestic wars they appeared as divided clans orabrupt insurgents; they were exposed to the treachery of a moreinstructed, of an unscrupulous and a compact enemy; they had neitherdiscipline, nor generalship, nor arms; their victories were those of amob; their defeats were followed by extermination. 

We speak of their ordinary contests with England from the time ofRoderick O'Connor to that of '98. Occasionally they had moreopportunities, and their great qualities for war appeared. In Hugh (or, rather Aodh) O'Neill they found a leader who only wanted materialresources to have made them an independent nation. Cautious, as becamethe heir of so long a strife, he spent years in acquiring militaryknowledge and nursing up his clan into the kernel for a nation; craftyas Bacon and Cecil, and every other man of his time, he learned war inElizabeth's armies, and got help from her store-houses. When thediscontent of the Pale, religious tyranny, and the intrigues andhostility of Spain and Rome against England gave him an opening, he puthis ordered clan into action, stormed the neighbouring garrisons, struck terror into his hereditary foes, and gave hope to all patriots;but finding that his ranks were too few for battle, he negotiatedsuccessfully for peace, but unavailingly for freedom; his grievancesand designs remained, and he retired to repeat the same policy, till, after repeated guerillas and truces, he was strong enough to proclaimalliance with Spain and war with England, and to defeat and slay everydeputy that assailed him, till at last he marched from the triumph ofBeal-an-ath Buidhe[39] (where Marshal Bagenal and his army perished) tohold an almost royal court at Munster, and to reduce the Pale to thelimits it had formed in the Wars of the Roses; and even when theneglect of Spain, the genius of Mountjoy, the resources and intriguesof England, and the exhaustion and divisions of Ireland had renderedsuccess hopeless, the Irish under O'Ruarc, O'Sullivan, and O'Dohertyvindicated their military character. 

From that period they, whose foreign services, since Dathi's time, hadbeen limited to supplying feudatories to the English kings, began tofight under the flags of England's enemies in every corner of Europe. The artifices of the Stuarts regained them, and in the reign of Charlesthe First they were extensively enlisted for the English allies and forthe crown; but it was under the guidance of another O'Neill, and forIreland, [40] they again exhibited the qualities which had sustainedTyrone. The battle of Benburb affords as great a proof of Irishsoldiership as Fontenoy. 

But it was when, with a formal government and in a regular war, theyencountered the Dutch invader, they showed the full prowess of theIrish; and at the Boyne, Limerick, Athlone, and Aughrim, in victory ordefeat, and always against _immensely superior numbers and armaments_, proved that they fought well at home. 

Since the day when Sarsfield sailed the Irish have never had anopportunity of refuting the calumny of England which Voltaire accepted. In '98 they met enormous forces resting on all the magazines ofEngland; they had no officers; their leaders, however brave, neitherknew how to organise, provision, station, or manoeuvre troops--theirarms were casual--their ignorance profound--their intemperanceunrestrainable. If they put English supremacy in peril (and had Arklowor Ballinahinch been attacked with skill, that supremacy was gone), they did so by mere valour. 

It is, therefore, on the Continent that one must chiefly look for Irishtrophies. It is a pious and noble search; but he who pursues it hadneed to guard against the error we have noticed in Voltaire, ofdisparaging Irish soldiership at home. 

The materials for the history of the Irish Brigade are fastaccumulating. We have before us the _Military History of the IrishNation_, by the late Matthew O'Conor. He was a barrister, but studiedmilitary subjects (as became a gentleman and a citizen), peculiarlyinterested himself in the achievements of his countrymen, and preparedmaterials for a history of them. He died, leaving his work unfinished, yet, happily sufficiently advanced to offer a continuous narrative ofIrish internal wars, from Hugh O'Neill to Sarsfield, and of theirforeign services up to the Peace of Utrecht, in 1711. The style of thework is earnest and glowing, full of patriotism and liberality; but Mr. O'Conor was no blind partisan, and he neither hides the occasionalexcesses of the Irish, nor disparages their opponents. His descriptionsof battles are very superior to what one ordinarily meets in the worksof civilians, and any one reading them with a military atlas will begratified and instructed. 

The value of the work is vastly augmented by the appendix, which is amemoir of the Brigade, written in French, in 1749, and including theWar Office orders, and all the changes in organisation, numbers, andpay of the Brigade to that date. This memoir is authenticated thus:--

 "His Excellency, the Duke of Feltré, Minister of War, was so kind as to communicate to me the original memoir above cited, of which this is a perfect copy, which I attest. 

 "DE MONTMORENCY MORRES (Hervé), "Adjutant-Commandant, Colonel. 

 "Paris, 1st September, 1813. "

To give any account of the details of Mr. O'Conor's book we shouldabridge it, and an abridgment of a military history is a catalogue ofnames. It contains accounts of Hugh O'Neill's campaigns and of the warsof William and James in Ireland. It describes (certainly a new chapterin our knowledge) the services of the Irish in the Low Countries andFrance during the religious wars in Henri Quatre's time, and thehitherto equally unknown actions abroad during Charles the Second'sexile and reign. 

The wars of Mountcashel's (the old) Brigade in 1690-91, under St. Ruthin Savoy, occupy many interesting pages, and the first campaigns of theNew Brigade, with the death of Sarsfield and Mountcashel, are carefullynarrated. The largest part of the work is occupied with the wars of theSpanish succession, and contains minute narratives of the battles andsieges of Cremona, Spire, Luzzaca, Blenheim, Cassano, Ramilies, Almanza, Alcira, Malplaquet, and Denain, with the actions of the Irishin them. 

Here are great materials for our future History of Ireland. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [39] See Mitchel's _Life of Hugh O'Neill_, and Meehan's _Flight of the Earls_. Dublin: Duffy & Sons. 

 [40] Owen Roe, who defeated Monro, 1646. 

THE SPEECHES OF GRATTAN. [41]

Of the long line of Protestant patriots Grattan is the first in genius, and first in services. He had a more fervid and more Irish nature thanSwift or Flood, and he accomplished what Swift hardly dreamed, andFlood failed in--an Irish constitution. He had immeasurably moreimagination than Tone; and though he was far behind the great Founderof the United Irishmen in organising power, he surpassed him ininspiration. The statues of all shall be in our forums, and examples ofall in our hearts, but that of Grattan shall be pre-eminent. Thestubborn and advancing energy of Swift and Flood may teach us to bearup against wrong; the principles of Tone may end in liberation; but thesplendid nationality of Grattan shall glorify us in every condition. 

The speeches of Grattan were collected and his memoirs written by hisson. The latter is an accessible and an invaluable account of his life;but the speeches were out of print, not purchasable under five or sixguineas, and then were unmanageably numerous for any but a professedpolitician. Mr. Madden's volume gives for a trifle all Grattan's mostvaluable speeches, with a memoir sufficient to explain the man and theorator. 

On the speeches of Grattan here published we have little to say. Theyare the finest specimens of imaginative eloquence in the English, or inany, language. There is not much pathos, and no humour in them, and inthese respects Grattan is far less of an Irishman, and of an oratortoo, than Curran; but a philosophy, penetrating constitutions for theirwarnings, and human nature for its guides--a statesman's (asdistinguished from an antiquarian's) use of history--a passionate scornand invective for the base, tyrannical, and unjust--a fiery and copiouszeal for liberty and for Ireland, and a diction and cadence almostlyrical, made Grattan the sudden achiever of a Revolution, and willmake him for ever one of the very elements of Ireland. 

No other orator is so uniformly animated. No other orator hasbrightened the depths of political philosophy with such vivid andlasting light. No writer in the language except Shakespeare has sosublime and suggestive a diction. His force and vehemence areamazing--far beyond Chatham, far beyond Fox, far beyond any orator wecan recall. 

To the student of oratory Grattan's speeches are dangerouslysuggestive, overpowering spirits that will not leave when bid. Yet, with all this terrible potency, who would not bask in his genius, evenat the hazard of having his light for ever in your eyes. The bravestudent will rather exult in his effulgence--not to rob, not to mimicit--but to catch its inspiration, and then go on his way resolved tocreate a glory of his own which, however small, being genuine, shallnot pale within its sphere. 

To give a _just_ idea of Grattan's rush and splendour to anyone notfamiliar with his speeches is impossible; but _some_ glimmer may begot by one reading the extracts we shall add here. We shall take themat random, as we open the pages in the book, and leave the reader, untaught in our great orator, to judge, if chance is certain of findingsuch gems, what would not judicious care discover! Let him use thatcare again and again. 

 "Sir, we may hope to dazzle with illumination, and we may sicken with addresses, but the public imagination will never rest, nor will her heart be well at ease; never! so long as the parliament of England exercises or claims a legislation over this country: so long as this shall be the case, that very free trade, otherwise a perpetual attachment, will be the cause of new discontent; it will create a pride to feel the indignity of bondage; it will furnish a strength to bite your chain, and the liberty withheld will poison the good communicated. 

 "The British minister mistakes the Irish character; had he intended to make Ireland a slave he should have kept her a beggar; there is no middle policy; win her heart by the restoration of her right, or cut off the nation's right hand; greatly emancipate, or fundamentally destroy. We may talk plausibly to England, but so long as she exercises a power to bind this country, so long are the nations in a state of war; the claims of the one go against the liberty of the other, and the sentiments of the latter go to oppose those claims to the last drop of her blood. The English opposition, therefore, are right; mere trade will not satisfy Ireland--they judge of us by other great nations, by the nation whose political life has been a struggle for liberty; they judge of us with a true knowledge and just deference for our character: that a country enlightened as Ireland, chartered as Ireland, armed as Ireland and injured as Ireland, will be satisfied with nothing less than liberty. 

 "Impracticable! impracticable! impracticable! a zealous divine will say; any alteration is beyond the power and wisdom of parliament; above the faculties of man to make adequate provision for 900 clergymen who despise riches. Were it to raise a new tax for their provision, or for that of a body less holy, how easy the task! how various the means! but when the proposal is to diminish a tax already established, an impossibility glares us in the face, of a measure so contrary to our practices both in church and state. "

We were wrong in saying there was no humour in Grattan. Here is apassage humorous enough, but it is scornful, rhetorical humour:--

 "It does not affect the doctrine of our religion; it does not alter the church establishment; it does not affect the constitution of episcopacy. The modus does not even alter the mode of their provision, it only limits the quantum, and limits it on principles much less severe than that charity which they preach, or that abstinence which they inculcate. Is this innovation?--as if the Protestant religion was to be propagated in Ireland, like the influence of a minister, by bribery; or like the influence of a county candidate, by money; or like the cause of a potwalloping canvasser, by the weight of the purse; as if Christ could not prevail over the earth unless Mammon took him by the hand. Am I to understand that if you give the parson 12s. In the acre for potatoes and 10s. For wheat, the Protestant religion is safe on its rock? But if you reduce him to 6s. The acre for potatoes and wheat, then Jupiter shakes the heavens with his thunder, Neptune rakes up the deep with his trident, and Pluto leaps from his throne! See the curate--he rises at six to morning prayers; he leaves company at six for evening prayer; he baptises, he marries, he churches, he buries, he follows with pious offices his fellow creature from the cradle to the grave; for what immense income! what riches to reward these inestimable services? (Do not depend on the penury of the laity, let his own order value his deserts. ) £50 a year! £50! for praying, for christening, for marrying, for churching, for burying, for following with Christian offices his fellow-creature from cradle to grave; so frugal a thing is devotion, so cheap religion, so easy the terms on which man may worship his Maker, and so small the income, in the opinion of ecclesiastics, sufficient for the duties of a clergyman, as far as he is connected at all with the Christian religion. 

 * * * * *

 "By this trade of parliament the King is absolute; his will is signified by both houses of parliament, who are now as much an instrument in his hand as a bayonet in the hands of a regiment. Like a regiment we have our adjutant, who sends to the infirmary for the old and to the brothel for the young, and men thus carted, as it were, into this house, to vote for the minister, are called the representatives of the people! Suppose General Washington to ring his bell, and order his servants out of livery to take their seats in Congress--you can apply this instance. 

 "It is not life but the condition of living--the slave is not so likely to complain of the want of property as the proprietor of the want of privilege. The human mind is progressive--the child does not look back to the parent that gave him being, nor the proprietor to the people that gave him the power of acquisition, but both look forward--the one to provide for the comforts of life, and the other to obtain all the privileges of property. "

But we have fallen on one of his most marvellous passages, and we giveit entire:--

 "I will put this question to my country; I will suppose her at the bar, and I will ask her, Will you fight for a Union as you would for a constitution? Will you fight for that Lords and that Commons who, in the last century, took away your trade, and, in the present, your constitution, as for that King, Lords, and Commons who have restored both? Well, the minister has destroyed this constitution; to destroy is easy. The edifices of the mind, like the fabrics of marble, require an age to build, but ask only minutes to precipitate; and as the fall of both is an effort of no time, so neither is it a business of any strength--a pick-axe and a common labourer will do the one--a little lawyer, a little pimp, a wicked minister the other. 

 "The Constitution, which, with more or less violence, has been the inheritance of this country for six hundred years--that _modus tenendi parliamentum_, which lasted and outlasted of Plantagenet the wars, of Tudor the violence, and of Stuart the systematic falsehood--the condition of our connection--yes, the constitution he destroys is one of the pillars of the British Empire. He may walk round it and round it, and the more he contemplates the more must he admire it--such a one as had cost England of money millions and of blood a deluge, cheaply and nobly expended--whose restoration had cost Ireland her noblest efforts, and was the habitation of her loyalty--we are accustomed to behold the kings of these countries in the keeping of parliament--I say of her loyalty as well as of her liberty, where she had hung up the sword of the Volunteer--her temple of fame as well as of freedom--where she had seated herself, as she vainly thought, in modest security and in a long repose. 

 "I have done with the pile which the minister batters, I come to the Babel which he builds; and as he throws down without a principle, so does he construct without a foundation. This fabric he calls a Union, and to this, his fabric, there are two striking objections--first it is no Union; it is not an identification of people, for it excludes the Catholics; secondly, it is a consolidation of the Irish legislatures--that is to say, a merger of the Irish parliament, and incurs every objection to a Union, without obtaining the only object which a Union professes; it is an extinction of the constitution, and an exclusion of the people. Well! he has overlooked the people as he has overlooked the sea. I say he excludes the Catholics, and he destroys their best chance of admission--the relative consequence. Thus he reasons, that hereafter, in course of time (he does not say when), if they behave themselves (he does not say how), they may see their subjects submitted to a course of discussion (he does not say with what result or determination); and as the ground for this inane period, in which he promises nothing, and in which, if he did promise much, at so remote a period he could perform nothing, unless he, like the evil he has accomplished, be immortal. For this inane sentence, in which he can scarcely be said to deceive the Catholic, or suffer the Catholic to deceive himself, he exhibits no other ground than the physical inanity of the Catholic body accomplished by a Union, which, as it destroys the relative importance of Ireland, so it destroys the relative proportion of the Catholic inhabitants, and thus they become admissible, because they cease to be anything. Hence, according to him, their brilliant expectation: 'You were, ' say his advocates, and so imports his argument, 'before the Union as three to one, you will be by the Union as one to four. ' Thus he founds their hopes of political power on the extinction of physical consequence, and makes the inanity of their body and the nonentity of their country the pillars of their future ambition. "

We now return to the memoir by Mr. Madden. It is not the details of alife meagre for want of space, and confused for want of principles, asmost little biographies are; it is an estimate--a profound one--ofGrattan's original nature, of the influences which acted on him fromyouth to manhood, of his purposes, his principles, and his influence onIreland. 

Henry Grattan was twenty-nine years of age when he entered on politics, and in seven years he was the triumphant leader of a people free andvictorious after hereditary bondage. He entered parliament educated inthe meta-physical and political philosophy of the time, injured by itscold and epigrammatic verse and its artificial tastes--familiar withevery form of aristocratic life from Kilkenny to London--familiar, too, with Chatham's oratory and principles, and with Flood's views andexample. He came when there were great forces rushing through theland--eloquence, love of liberty, thirst for commerce, hatred ofEnglish oppression, impatience, glory, and, above all, a militaryarray. He combined these elements and used them to achieve theRevolution of '82. Be he for ever honoured!

Mr. Madden defends him against Flood on the question of Simple Repeal. Here is his reasoning:--

 "It is an easy thing now to dispose of the idle question of simple repeal. In truth, there was nothing whatever deserving of attention in the point raised by Mr. Flood. The security for the continuance of Irish freedom did not depend upon an English act of parliament. It was by Irish _will_ and not at English pleasure that the new constitution was to be supported. The transaction between the countries was of a high political nature, and it was to be judged by political reason, and by statesmanlike computation, and not by the petty technicalities of the court of law. The revolution of 1782, as carried by Ireland, and assented to by England (in repealing the 6th George the First), was a political compact--proposed by one country, and acknowledged by the other in the face of Europe; it was not (as Mr. Flood and his partisans construed the transaction) of the nature of municipal right, to be enforced or annulled by mere judicial exposition. "

This is unanswerable, but Grattan should have gone further. TheRevolution was effected mainly by the Volunteers, whom he had inspired;arms could alone have preserved the constitution. Flood was wrong insetting value on one form--Grattan in relying on any; but both beforeand after '82 Flood seems to have had glimpses that the question wasone of might, as well as of right, and that national laws could notlast under such an alien army. 

Taken as military representatives, the Convention at the Rotunda waseven more valuable than as a civic display. Mr. Madden censures Grattanfor having been an elaborate neutral during these Reform dissensions;but that the result of _such_ neutrality ruined the Conventionproves a comparative want of power in Flood, who could have governedthat Convention in spite of the rascally English and the feeble IrishWhigs. Oh, had Tone been in that council!

In describing Grattan's early and enthusiastic and ceaseless advocacyof Catholic liberty, Mr. Madden has a just subject for unmixed eulogy. Let no one imagine that the interest of these Emancipation speeches hasdied with the achievement of what they pleaded for; they will everremain divinest protests against the vice and impolicy of religiousascendency, of sectarian bitterness, and of bigot separation. 

For this admirable beginning of the design of giving Ireland its mostglorious achievement--the speeches of its orators--to contemplate, thecountry should be grateful; but if there can be anything better for itto hear than can be had in Grattan's speeches, it is such language asthis from his eloquent editor:--

 "Reader! if you be an Irish Protestant, and entertain harsh prejudices against your Catholic countrymen, study the works and life of Grattan--learn from him--for none can teach you better how to purify your nature from bigotry. Learn from him to look upon all your countrymen with a loving heart--to be tolerant of infirmities caused by their unhappy history--and, like Grattan, earnestly sympathise with all that is brave and generous in their character. 

 "Reader! if you be an Irish Catholic, and that you confound the Protestant religion with tyranny, learn from Grattan that it is possible to be a Protestant and have a heart for Ireland and its people. Think that the brightest age of Ireland was when Grattan--a steady Protestant--raised it to proud eminence; think also that in the hour of his triumph he did not forget the state of your oppressed fathers, but laboured through his virtuous life that both you and your children should enjoy unshackled liberty of conscience. 

 "But reader! whether you be Protestant or Catholic, or whatever be your party, you will do well as an Irishman to ponder upon the spirit and principles which governed the public and private life of Grattan. Learn from him how to regard your countrymen of all denominations. Observe, as he did, how very much that is excellent belongs to both the great parties into which Ireland is divided. If (as some do) you entertain dispiriting views of Ireland, recollect that any country containing such elements as those which roused the genius of Grattan never need despair. _Sursum corda_. Be not disheartened. 

 "Go--go--my countrymen--and, within your social sphere, carry into practice those moral principles which Grattan so eloquently taught, and which he so remarkably enforced by his well-spent life. He will teach you to avoid hating men on account of their religious professions or hereditary descent. From him you will learn principles which, if carried out, would generate a new state of society in Ireland. "

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [41] "The Select Speeches of the Right Hon. Henry Grattan. To which is added his Letter on the Union, with a Commentary on his Career and Character. " By Daniel Owen Madden, Esq. , of the Inner Temple. Dublin: James Duffy, 1845. 8vo, pp. 534. 

MEMORIALS OF WEXFORD. 

'Twixt Croghan-Kinshela and Hook Head, 'twixt Carnsore and MountLeinster, there is as good a mass of men as ever sustained a state byhonest franchises, by peace, virtue, and intelligent industry; and asstout a mass as ever tramped through a stubborn battle. There is acounty where we might seek more of stormy romance, and there is acounty where prospers a shrewder economy, but no county in Ireland isfitter for freedom than Wexford. 

They are a peculiar people--these Wexford men. Their blood is for themost part English and Welsh, though mixed with the Danish and Gaelic, yet they are Irish in thought and feeling. They are a Catholic people, yet on excellent terms with their Protestant landlords. Outrages areunknown, for though the rents are high enough, they are not unbearableby a people so industrious and skilled in farming. 

Go to the fair and you will meet honest dealing, and a look that heedsno lordling's frown--for the Wexford men have neither the base bend northe baser craft of slaves. Go to the hustings, and you will see openand honest voting; no man shrinking or crying for concealment, orextorting a bribe under the name of "his expenses. " Go to their farmsand you will see a snug homestead, kept clean, prettily sheltered (muchwhat you'd see in Down); more green crops than even in Ulster; theNational School and the Repeal Reading-room well filled, and everyreligious duty regarded. 

Wexford is not all it might be, or all that, with more education andthe life-hope of nationality, it will be--there is something to blameand something to lament, here a vice sustained, and there a misfortunelazily borne; yet, take it for all in all, it is the most prosperous, it is the pattern county of the South; and when we see it comingforward in a mass to renew its demand for native government, it is anomen that the spirit of the people outlives quarrels and jealousies, and that it has a rude vitality which will wear out its oppressors. 

Nor are we indifferent to the memories of Wexford. It owes much of itspeace and prosperity to the war it sustained. It rose in '98 withlittle organisation against intolerable wrong; and though it wasfinally beaten by superior forces, it taught its aristocracy and thegovernment a lesson not easily forgotten--a lesson that popular angercould strike hard as well as sigh deeply; and that it was better toconciliate than provoke those who even for an hour had felt theirstrength. The red rain made Wexford's harvest grow. Theirs was notreacherous assassination--theirs no stupid riot--theirs no palemutiny. They rose in mass and swept the country by sheer force. 

Nor in their sinking fortunes is there anything to blush at. Scullabogue was not burned by the fighting men. 

Yet nowhere did the copper sun of that July burn upon a moreheart-piercing sight than a rebel camp. Scattered on a hill-top, orscreened in a gap, were the grey-coated thousands, their memories madat burned cabins, and military whips, and hanged friends; their hopesdimmed by partial defeat; their eyes lurid with care; their brows fullof gloomy resignation. Some have short guns which the stern of a boatmight bear, but which press through the shoulder of a marching man; andothers have light fowling-pieces, with dandy locks--troublesome anddangerous toys. Most have pikes, stout weapons, too; and though someswell to hand-spikes, and others thin to knives, yet, for all that, fatal are they to dragoon or musketeer if they can meet him in a rush;but how shall they do so? The gunsmen have only a little powder inscraps of paper or bags, and their balls are few and rarely fit. Theyhave no potatoes ripe, and they have no bread--their food is the worncattle they have crowded there, and which the first skirmish may rendfrom them. There are women and children seeking shelter, seeking thosethey love; and there are leaders busier, feebler, less knowing, lessresolved than the women and the children. 

Great hearts! how faithful ye are! How ye bristled up when the foe cameon, how ye set your teeth to die as his shells and round-shot fellsteadily; and with how firm a cheer ye dashed at him, if he gave youany chance at all of a grapple! From the wild burst with which yetriumphed at Oulart Hill, down to the faint gasp wherewith the last ofyour last column died in the corn-fields of Meath, there is nothing toshame your valour, your faith, or your patriotism. You wanted arms, andyou wanted leaders. Had you had them, you would have guarded a greenflag in Dublin Castle a week after you beat Walpole. Isolated, unorganised, unofficered, half-armed, girt by a swarm of foes, youceased to fight, but you neither betrayed nor repented. Your sons neednot fear to speak of Ninety-eight. 

You, people of Wexford, almost all Repealers, are the sons of the menof '98; prosperous and many, will you only shout for Repeal, and lineroads and tie boughs for a holiday? Or will you press yourorganisation, work at your education, and increase your politicalpower, so that your leaders may know and act on the knowledge that, come what may, there is trust in Wexford?

THE HISTORY OF TO-DAY. 

From 1793 to 1829--for thirty-six years--the Irish Catholics struggledfor Emancipation. _That_ Emancipation was but admission to theBench, the Inner Bar, and Parliament. It was won by self-denial, genius, vast and sustained labours, and, lastly, by the sacrifice ofthe forty-shilling freeholders--the poor veterans of the war--and bysubmission to insulting oaths; yet it was cheaply bought. Not socheaply, perchance, as if won by the sword; for on it were expendedmore treasures, more griefs, more intellect, more passion, more of allwhich makes life welcome, than had been needed for war; still it wascheaply bought, and Ireland has glorified herself, and will throughages triumph in the victory of '29. 

Yet what was Emancipation compared to Repeal?

The one put a silken badge on a few members of one profession; theother would give to all professions and all trades the rank and richeswhich resident proprietors, domestic legislation, and flourishingcommerce infallibly create. 

Emancipation made it possible for Catholics to sit on the judgmentseat; but it left a foreign administration, which has excluded them, save in two or three cases, where over-topping eminence made theacceptance of a Judgeship no promotion; and it left the localJudges--those with whom the people have to deal--as partial, ignorant, bigoted as ever; while Repeal would give us an Irish code andIrish-hearted Judges in every Court, from the Chancery to the PettySessions. 

Emancipation dignified a dozen Catholics with a senatorial name in aforeign and hostile Legislature. Repeal would give us a Senate, aMilitia, an Administration, all our own. 

The Penal Code, as it existed since 1793, insulted the faith of theCatholics, restrained their liberties, and violated the public Treatyof Limerick. The Union has destroyed our manufactures, prohibits ourflag, prevents our commerce, drains our rental, crushes our genius, makes our taxation a tribute, our representation a shadow, our name aby-word. It were nobler to strive for Repeal than to get Emancipation. 

Four years ago the form of Repeal agitation began--two years ago, itsreality. Have we not cause to be proud of the labours of these twoyears? If life be counted, not by the rising of suns, or the idleturning of machinery, but by the growth of the will, and the progressof thoughts and passions in the soul, we Irishmen have spent an agesince we raised our first cry for liberty. Consider what we were then, and what we have done since. We had a People unorganised--disgustedwith a Whig alliance--beaten in a dishonourable struggle to sustain afaction--ignorant of each other's will--without books, without song, without leaders (save one), without purposes, without strength, withouthope. The Corn Exchange was the faint copy of the Catholic Association, with a few enthusiasts, a few loungers, and a few correspondents. Opposite to us was the great Conservative party, with a majorityexceeding our whole representation, united, flushed, led by thecraftiest of living statesmen, and the ablest of living generals. Oh, how disheartening it was then, when, day by day, we found prophecy andexhortation, lay and labour, flung idly before a distracted People! Maywe never pass through that icy ordeal again!

How different now! The People are united under the greatest system oforganisation ever attempted in any country. They send in, by theirCollectors, Wardens, and Inspectors, to the central office of Ireland, the contributions needed to carry on the Registration of Voters, thepublic meetings, the publications, the law expenses, and theorganisation of the Association; and that in turn carries onregistries, holds meetings, opens reading-rooms, sends newspapers, andbooks, and political instructions, back through the same channel; sothat the Central Committee knows the state of every parish, and everyparish receives the teaching and obeys the will of the CentralCommittee. 

The Whig Alliance has melted, like ice before the sun, and the strongsouls of our people will never again serve the purposes of a faction. 

The Conservative party, without union and without principle, isbreaking up. Its English section is dividing into the tools ofexpediency and the pioneers of a New Generation--its Irish section intoCastle Hacks and National Conservatives. 

Meantime, how much have the Irish people gained and done? They havereceived and grown rich under torrents of thought. Song and sermon andmusic, speech and pamphlet, novel and history, essay and map andpicture, have made the dull thoughtful and the thoughtful studious, andwill make the studious wise and powerful. They have begun a system ofself-teaching in their reading-rooms. If they carry it we shall, beforetwo years, have in every parish men able to manufacture, to trade, andto farm--men acquainted with all that Ireland was, is, and shouldbe--men able to serve The Irish Nation in peace and war. 

In the teeth, too, of the Government we held our meetings. They are notfor this time, but they were right well in their own time. They showedour physical force to the Continent, to ourselves, to America, to ourrulers. They showed that the people would come and go rapidly, silently, and at bidding, in numbers enough to recruit a dozen armies. These are literal facts. Any one monster meeting could have offeredlittle resistance in the open country to a regular army, but itcontained the materials--the numbers, intelligence, and obedience--of aconquering host. Whenever the impression of their power grows faint weshall revive them again. 

The toleration of these meetings was the result of fear; theprosecution of their chiefs sprung from greater fear. That prosecutionwas begun audaciously, was carried on meanly and with virulence, andended with a charge and a verdict which disgraced the law. An illegalimprisonment afforded glorious proof that the people could refrain fromviolence under the worst temptation; that their leaders were firm; and, better than all, that had these leaders been shot, not prisoned, theirsuccessors were ready. Such an imprisonment served Ireland more than anacquittal, for it tried her more; and then came the day of triumph, when the reluctant constitution liberated our chiefs and branded ouroppressors. 

This is a history of two years never surpassed in importance andhonour. This is a history which our sons shall pant over and envy. Thisis a history which pledges us to perseverance. This is a history whichguarantees success. 

Energy, patience, generosity, skill, tolerance, enthusiasm created anddecked the agitation. The world attended us with its thoughts andprayers. The graceful genius of Italy and the profound intellect ofGermany paused to wish us well. The fiery heart of France tolerated ourunarmed effort, and proffered its aid. America sent us money, thought, love--she made herself a part of Ireland in her passions and herorganisation. From London to the wildest settlement which throbs in thetropics or shivers nigh the Pole, the empire of our misruler was shakenby our effort. To all earth we proclaimed our wrongs. To man and God wemade oath that we would never cease to strive till an Irish nationstood supreme on this island. The genius which roused and organised us, the energy which laboured, the wisdom that taught, the manhood whichrose up, the patience which obeyed, the faith which swore, and thevalour that strained for action, are here still, experienced, recruited, resolute. 

The future shall realise the promise of the past. 

THE RESOURCES OF IRELAND. [42]

Bishop Berkeley put, as a query, could the Irish live and prosper if abrazen wall surrounded their island? The question has been often andvaguely replied to. 

Dr. Kane has at length answered it, and proved the affirmative. Confining himself strictly to the _land_ of our island (for he does notenter on the subjects of fisheries and foreign commerce), he has provedthat we possess _physical_ elements for every important art. Not thathe sat down to prove this. Taste, duty, industry, and genius promptedand enabled him gradually to acquire a knowledge of the physicalproducts and powers of Ireland, and his mastery of chemical andmechanical science enabled him to see how these could be used. 

Thus qualified, he tried, in the lecture-room of the Dublin Society, tocommunicate his knowledge to the public. He was as successful as anyman lecturing on subjects requiring accurate details could be; and nowhe has given, in the volume before us, all his lectures, and much more. He then is no party pamphleteer, pandering to the national vanity; buta philosopher, who garnered up his knowledge soberly and surely, andnow gives us the result of his studies. There was undoubtedly a gooddeal of information on the subjects treated of by Dr. Kane scatteredthrough our topographical works and parliamentary reports, but thatinformation is, for the most part, vague, unapplied, and not tested byscience. Dr. Kane's work is full, clear, scientific, exact in statingplaces, extent, prices, and every other working detail, and is a manualof the whole subject. 

In such interlaced subjects as industrial resources we must be contentwith practical classifications. 

Dr. Kane proceeds in the following order:--First, he considers the_mechanical_ powers of the country--viz. , its fuel and its waterpowers. Secondly, its _mineral_ resources--its iron, copper, lead, sulphur, marble, slates, etc. Thirdly, the agriculture of the countryin its first function--the raising of food, and the modes of cropping, manuring, draining, and stacking. Fourthly, agriculture in itssecondary use, as furnishing staples for the manufacture of woollens, linens, starch, sugar, spirits, etc. Fifthly, the modes of carryinginternal trade by roads, canals, and railways. Sixthly, the cost andcondition of skilled and unskilled labour in Ireland. Seventhly, ourstate as to capital. And he closes by some earnest and profoundthoughts on the need of industrial education in Ireland. 

Now, let us ask the reader what he knows upon any or all of thesesubjects; and whether he ought, as a citizen, or a man of education, ora man of business, to be ignorant of them? Such ignorance as existshere must be got rid of, or our cry of "Ireland for the Irish" will bea whine or a brag, and will be despised as it deserves. We must knowIreland from its history to its minerals, from its tillage to itsantiquities, before we shall be an Irish nation, able to rescue andkeep the country. And if we are too idle, too dull, or too capriciousto learn the arts of strength, wealth, and liberty, let us not murmurat being slaves. 

For the present we shall confine ourselves to the subjects of themechanical powers and minerals of Ireland, as treated by Dr. Kane. 

The first difference between manufactures now and in _any_ formertime is the substitution of machines for the hands of man. It mayindeed be questioned whether the increased strength over matter thusgiven to man compensates for the ill effects of forcing people to workin crowds; of destroying small and pampering large capitalists, oflessening the distribution of wealth even by the very means whichincreases its production. 

We sincerely lament, with Lord Wharncliffe, the loss of domesticmanufactures; we would prefer one housewife skilled in the distaff andthe dairy--home-bred, and home-taught, and home-faithful--to a factoryfull of creatures who live amid the eternal roll, and clash, andglimmer of spindles and rollers, watching with aching eyes the thousandtwirls and capable of but one act--tying the broken threads. We abhorthat state; we prefer the life of the old times, or of modern Norway. 

But, situated as we are, so near a strong enemy, and in the new highwayfrom Europe to America, it may be doubted whether we can retain oursimple domestic life. There is but one chance for it. If the PrussianTenure Code be introduced, and the people turned into smallproprietors, there is much, perhaps every, hope of retaining ourhomestead habits; and such a population need fear no enemy. 

If this do not come to pass, we must make the best of our state, joinour chief towns with railways, put quays to our harbours, mills on ourrivers, turbines on our coasts, and under restrictions and withguarantees set the steam engine to work at our flax, wool, andminerals. 

The two great mechanical powers are fire and water. Ireland is noblyendowed with both. 

We do not possess as ample fields of flaming coal as Britain; but evenof that we have large quantities, which can be raised at about the samerate at which English coal can be landed on our coast. 

The chief seats of flaming coal in Ireland are to the west of LoughAllen, in Connaught, and around Dungannon, in Tyrone. There is a smalldistrict of it in Antrim. 

The stone coal, or anthracite, which, having little gas, does notblaze, and, having much sulphur, is disagreeable in a room, and hasbeen thought unfit for smelting, is found--first, in the Kilkennydistrict, between the Nore and Barrow; secondly, from Freshford toCashel; and thirdly, in the great Munster coal country, cropping up inevery barony of Clare, Limerick, Cork, and Kerry. By the use of vapourwith it, the anthracite appears to be freed from all its defects as asmelting and engine coal, and being a much more pure and powerful fuelthan the flaming coal, there seems no reason to doubt that in it wehave a manufacturing power that would supply us for generations. 

Our bogs have not been done justice to. The use of turf in a damp stateturns it into an inferior fuel. Dried under cover, or broken up anddried under pressure, it is more economical, because far moreefficient. It is used now in the Shannon steamers, and its use isincreasing in mills. For some purposes it is peculiarly good--thus, forthe finer ironworks, turf and turf-charcoal are even better than wood, and Dr. Kane shows that the precious Baltic iron, for which from £15 to£35 per ton is given, could be equalled by Irish iron smelted by Irishturf for six guineas per ton. 

Dr. Kane proves that the cost of fuel, even if greater in Ireland, byno means precludes us from competing with England; he does so byshowing that the cost of fuel in English factories is only from 1 to1-1/2 per cent. , while in Ireland it would be only 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 percent. , a difference greatly overbalanced by our cheaper labour--labourbeing over 33 per cent. Of the whole expense of a factory. 

Here is the analysis of the cost of producing cotton in England in1830:--

 Cotton wool £8, 244, 693 or per cent. 26. 27 Wages 10, 419, 000 " 33. 16 Interest on capital 3, 400, 000 " 10. 84 Coals 339, 680 " 1. 08 Rent, taxes, insurance, other charges, and profit 8, 935, 320 " 28. 65 ---------- ------ £31, 338, 693 100. 00

In water-power we are still better off. Dr. Kane calculates the rainwhich falls on Ireland in a year at over 100 billion cubic yards; andof this he supposes two-thirds to pass off in evaporation, leavingone-third, equal to nearly a million and a half of horse-power, toreach the sea. His calculations of the water-power of the Shannon andother rivers are most interesting. The elements, of course, are theobserved fall of rain by the gauge in the district, and the area of thecatchment (or drainage) basins of each river and its tributaries. Thechief objection to water-power is its irregularity. To remedy this heproposes to do what has increased the water-power on the Bannfive-fold, and has made the wealth of Greenock--namely, to makemill-lakes by damming up valleys, and thus controlling and equalisingthe supply of water, and letting none go waste. His calculations of therelative merits of undershot, overshot, breast, and turbine wheels aremost valuable, especially of the last, which is a late and successfulFrench contrivance, acting by pressure. He proposes to use the turbinein coast mills, the tide being the motive-power; and, strange as itsounds, the experiments seem to decide in favour of this plan. 

 "The turbine was invented by M. Fourneyron. Coals being abundant, the steam engine is invented in England; coals being scarce, the water-pressure engine and the turbine are invented in France. It is thus the physical condition of each country directs its mechanical genius. The turbine is a horizontal wheel furnished with curved float-boards, on which the water presses from a cylinder which is suspended over the wheel, and the base of which is divided by curved partitions, that the water may be directed in issuing, so as to produce upon the curved float-boards of the wheel its greatest effect. The best curvature to be given to the fixed partitions and to the float-boards is a delicate problem, but practically it has been completely solved. The construction of the machine is simple, its parts not liable to go out of order; and as the action of the water is by pressure, the force is under the most favourable circumstances for being utilised. 

 "The effective economy of the turbine appears to equal that of the overshot wheel. But the economy in the turbine is accompanied by some conditions which render it peculiarly valuable. In a water-wheel you cannot have great economy of power without very slow motion, and hence where high velocity is required at the working point, a train of mechanism is necessary, which causes a material loss of force. Now, in the turbine the greatest economy is accompanied by rapid motion, and hence the connected machinery may be rendered much less complex. In the turbine also a change in the height of the head of water alters only the power of the machine in that proportion, but the whole quantity of water is economised to the same degree. Thus if a turbine be working with a force of ten horses, and that its supply of water be suddenly doubled, it becomes of twenty horse-power; if the supply be reduced to one-half, it still works five horse-power; whilst such sudden and extreme change would altogether disarrange water-wheels, which can only be constructed for the minimum, and allow the overplus to go to waste. "

Our own predilection being in favour of water-power--as cheaper, healthier, and more fit for Ireland than steam--gave the followingpeculiar interest in our eyes:--

 "I have noticed at such length the question of the cost of fuel and of steam power, not from my own opinion of its ultimate importance, but that we might at once break down that barrier to all active exertion which indolent ignorance constantly retreats behind. The cry of 'What can we do? consider England's coal-mines, ' is answered by showing that we have available fuel enough. The lament that coals are so dear with us and so cheap in England, is, I trust, set at rest by the evidence of how little influential the price of fuel is. However, there are other sources of power besides coals; there are other motive-powers than steam. Of the 83, 000 horse-power employed to give motion to mills in England, 21, 000, even in the coal districts, are not moved by fire, but by water. The force of gravity in falling water can spin and weave as well as the elasticity of steam; and in this power we are not deficient. It is necessary to study its circumstances in detail, and I shall therefore next proceed to discuss the condition of Ireland with regard to water-power. "

Dr. Kane proves that we have at Arigna an _inexhaustible_ supplyof the richest iron ore, with coals to smelt it, lime to flux it, andinfusible sand-stone and fire-clay to make furnaces of on the spot. Yetnot a pig or bar is made there now. He also gives in great detail theextent, analysis, costs of working, and every other leading fact as tothe copper mines of Wicklow, Knockmahon, and Allihies; the lead, gold, and sulphur mines of Wicklow; the silver mines of Ballylichey, anddetails of the building materials and marbles. 

He is everywhere precise in his industrial and scientific statements, and beautifully clear in his style and arrangement. 

Why, then, are we a poor province? Dr. Kane quotes Forbes, Quetelet, etc. , to prove the physical strength of our people. He might havequoted every officer who commanded them to prove their courage andendurance; nor is there much doubt expressed even by their enemies oftheir being quick and inventive. Their soil is productive--the riversand harbours good--their fishing _opportunities_ great--so is theirmeans of making internal communications across their great centralplains. We have immense water and considerable fire power; and, besidesthe minerals necessary for the arts of peace, we are better suppliedthan almost any country with the finer sorts of iron, charcoal, andsulphur, wherewith war is now carried on. Why is it, with these meansof amassing and guarding wealth, that we are so poor and paltry? Dr. Kane thinks we are so from want of industrial education. He is partlyright. The remote causes were repeated foreign invasion, forfeiture, and tyrannous laws. Ignorance, disunion, self-distrust, quickcredulity, and caprice were the weaknesses engendered in us bymisfortune and misgovernment; and they were then the allies ofoppression; for, had we been willing, we had long ago been rich andfree. Knowledge is now within our reach if we work steadily; andstrength of character will grow upon us by every month of perseveranceand steadiness in politics, trade, and literature. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [42] _The Industrial Resources of Ireland_, by Robert Kane, M. D. , Secretary to the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, Professor of Natural Philosophy to the Royal Dublin Society, and of Chemistry to the Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland. Dublin: Hodges & Smith, 21 College Green. 

THE VALUATION OF IRELAND. 

The Committee of 1824 was but meagrely supplied with evidence as toforeign surveys. They begin that subject with a notice of the Survey ofEngland, made by order of William the Conqueror, and called theDoomsday Book. That book took six years to execute, and is mostadmirably analysed by Thierry. 

The following is their summary account of some modern surveys:--

 "In France the great territorial survey or _cadastre_ has been in progress for many years. It was first suggested in 1763, and after an interval of thirty years, during which no progress was made, it was renewed by the government of that day, and individuals of the highest scientific reputation, MM. Lagrange, Laplace, and Delambre, were consulted with respect to the best mode of carrying into effect the intention of government. Subsequent events suspended any effectual operations in the French _cadastre_ till the year 1802, when a school of topographical engineering was organised. The operations now in progress were fully commenced in 1808. The principle adopted is the formation of a central commission acting in conjunction with the local authorities; the classification of lands, according to an ascertained value, is made by three resident proprietors of land in each district, selected by the municipal council, and by the chief officer of revenue. 'In the course of thirteen years, one-third only of each department had been surveyed, having cost the state £120, 000 per annum. At the rate at which it is carried on, it may be computed as likely to require for its completion a total sum of £4, 680, 000, or an acreable charge of 8-3/4d. ' The delay of the work, as well as the increase of expense, seem to have been the result of the minuteness of the survey, which extends to every district field--a minuteness which, for many reasons, your committee consider both unnecessary and inexpedient to be sought for in the proposed Survey of Ireland. 

 "The survey of Bavaria is of modern date, but of equal minuteness. It is commenced by a primary triangulation, and principal and verification bases; it is carried on to a second triangulation, with very accurate instruments, so as to determine 'all the principal points; the filling up the interior is completed by a peculiar species of plane table; and in order to do away with the inaccuracies of the common chain, the triangulation is carried down on paper to the most minute corners of fields. ' _The map is laid down on a scale of twelve inches to the mile, or one-five-thousandth part of the real size; and as it contains all that is required in the most precise survey of property, it is used in the purchase and sale of real estates. _

 "The cadastre of Savoy and Piedmont began in 1729, and is stated to have at once afforded the government the means of apportioning justly all the territorial contributions, and to have put an end to litigations between individuals, by ascertaining, satisfactorily, the bounds of properties. 

 "The Neapolitan survey under Visconti, and that of the United States under Heslar, are both stated to be in progress; but your committee have not had the means of ascertaining on what principles they are conducted. "

The committee adopted a scale for the maps of six inches to a statutemile, believing, apparently with justice, that a six-inch scale map, ifperfectly well executed, would be minute enough for buyers and sellersof land, especially as the larger holdings are generally townlands, thebounds of which they meant to include. And, wherever a greater scalewas needed, the pentagraph afforded a sufficiently accurate plan offorming maps to it. They, in another point, _proposed_ to differ fromthe Bavarian Survey, in omitting field boundaries, as requiring toomuch time and expense; but they stated that barony, parish, andtownland boundaries were essential to the utility of the maps. Theyalso seemed to think that for private purposes their utility would muchdepend on their being accompanied, as the Bavarian maps were, by amemoir of the number of families, houses, size, and description offarms, and a valuation. And for this purpose they printed all theforms. The valuation still goes on of the townlands, and classes ofsoil in each. The Statistical Memoir has, unfortunately, been stopped, and no survey or valuation of farms, or holdings as such, has beenattempted. We would _now_ only recall attention to the design of theCommittee of 1824 on the subject. 

They proposed to leave the whole Survey to the Board of Ordnance, andthe Valuation to Civil Engineers. 

The Valuation has been regulated by a series of Acts of Parliament, andwe shall speak of it presently. 

The Survey commenced in 1826, and has gone on under the superintendenceof Colonel Colby, and the local control of Captain Larcom. 

The following has been its progress:--First, a base line of about fivemiles was measured on the flat shore of Lough Foyle, and from thencetriangular measurements were made by the theodolite and over the wholecountry, and all the chief points of mountain, coast, etc. , ascertained. How accurately this was done has been proved by anastronomical measurement of the distance from Dublin to Armagh (aboutseventy miles), which only differed four feet from the distancecalculated by the Ordnance triangles. 

Having completed these large triangles, a detailed survey of thebaronies, parishes, and townlands of each county followed. The fieldbooks were sent to the central station at Mountjoy, and sketched, engraved on copper, and printed there. The first county published wasDerry, in 1833, and now the townland survey is finished, and all thecounties have now been engraved and issued, except Limerick, Kerry, andCork. 

The Survey has also engraved a map of Dublin City on the enormous scaleof five feet to a statute mile. This map represents the shape and spaceoccupied by every house, garden, yard, and pump in Dublin. It containsantiquarian lettering. Every house, too, is numbered on the map. One ofits sheets, representing the space from Trinity College to the Castle, is on sale, as we trust the rest of it will be. 

Two other sets of maps remain to be executed. First--maps of the townsof Ireland, on a scale of five feet to a mile. Whatever may be said inreply to Sir Denham Norrey's demand for a survey of holdings in ruraldistricts does not apply to the case of towns, and we, therefore, trustthat the holdings will be marked and separately valued in towns. 

The other work is a general _shaded_ map of Ireland, on a scale of oneinch to the statute mile. At present, as we elsewhere remarked, theonly tolerable shaded map of Ireland is that of the Railway Commission, which is on a scale of one inch to four statute miles. Captain Larcomproposes, and the Commission on the Ordnance Memoir recommend, thatcontour lines should be the skeleton of the shading. If this plan beadopted the publication cannot be for some years; but the shading willhave the accuracy of machine-work instead of mere hand skill. Contoursare lines representing series of levels through a country, and areinestimable for draining, road-making, and military movements. Butthough easily explained to the eye, we doubt our ability to teach theirmeaning by words only. 

To return to the townland or six-inch survey. The names were correctedby Messrs. Petrie, O'Donovan, and Curry, from every source accessiblein _Ireland_. Its maps contain the county, barony, parish, townland, and glebe boundaries, names and acreage; names and representations ofall cities, towns, demesnes, farms, ruins, collieries, forges, limekilns, tanneries, bleach-greens, wells, etc. , etc. ; also of allroads, rivers, canals, bridges, locks, weirs, bogs, ruins, churches, chapels; they have also the number of feet of every little swell ofland, and a mark for every cabin. 

Of course these maps run to an immense number. Thus, for the county ofGalway there are 137 double folio sheets, and for the small county ofDublin, 28. Where less than half the sheet is covered with engraving(as occurs towards the edges of a county) the sheet is sold, uncoloured, for 2_s. _ 6_d. _; where more than half is covered the priceis 5_s. _

In order to enable you to find any sheet so as to know the bearings ofits ground on any other, there is printed for each county an index map, representing the whole county on one sheet. This sheet is on a smallscale (from one to three miles to an inch), but contains in smallertype the baronies and parishes, roads, rivers, demesnes, and most ofthe information of general interest. This index map is divided by linesinto as many oblong spaces as there are maps of the six-inch scale, andthe spaces are numbered to correspond with the six-inch map. On thesides of the index maps are tables of the acreage of the baronies andparishes; and examples of the sort of marks and type used for eachclass of subjects in the _six-inch_ maps. Uncoloured, the index map, representing a whole county, is sold for 2_s. _ 6_d. _

Whenever those maps are re-engraved, the Irish words will, we trust, bespelled in an Irish and civilised orthography, and not barbarously, asat present. 

It was proposed to print for each county one or more volumes, containing the history of the district and its antiquities, thenumbers, and past and present state and occupations of the people, thestate of its agriculture, manufactures, mines, and fisheries, and whatmeans of extending these existed in the county, and its naturalhistory, including geology, zoology, etc. All this was done for thetown of Derry, much to the service and satisfaction of its people. Allthis ought to be _as fully_ done for Armagh, Dublin, Cork, and everyother part of Ireland. 

The commissioners recommend that the geology of Ireland (and we wouldadd natural history generally) should be investigated and published, not by the topographical surveyors nor in counties, but by a specialboard, and for the whole of Ireland; and they are right, for ourplants, rocks, and animals are not within civil or even obvioustopographical boundaries, and we have plenty of Irishmen qualified toexecute it. They also advise that the statistics should be entrusted toa statistical staff, to be permanently kept up in Ireland. This staffwould take the census every ten years, and would in the intervalsbetween the beginning and ending of each census have plenty ofstatistical business to do for parliament (Irish or Imperial) and forpublic departments. If we are ever to have a registry of births, deaths(with the circumstances of each case), and marriages, some such staffwill be essential to inspect the registry, and work up information fromit. But the history, antiquities, and industrial resources, thecommissioners recommend to have published in county volumes. They aretoo solicitous about keeping such volumes to small dimensions; but therest of their plans are admirable. 

The value of this to Ireland, whether she be a nation or a province, cannot be overrated. From the farmer and mechanic to the philosopher, general, and statesman, the benefit will extend, and yet so careless orso hostile are ministers that they have not conceded it, and so feebleby dulness or disunion are Irishmen and Irish members, that they cannotextort even this. 

We now come to the last branch of the subject--

THE VALUATION. 

The Committee of 1824 recommended only principles of Valuation. Theywere three, viz. :--

 "§ 1. A fixed and uniform principle of valuation applicable throughout the whole work, and enabling the valuation not only of townlands, but that of counties to be compared by one common measure. § 2. A central authority, under the appointment of government, for direction and superintendence, and for the generalisation of the returns made in detail. § 3. Local assistance, regularly organised, furnishing information on the spot, and forming a check for the protection of private rights. "

Accordingly, on the 5th of July, 1825, an Act was passed requiring, inthe first instance, the entry in all the grand jury records of thenames and contents of all parishes, manors, townlands, and otherdivisions, and the proportionate assessments. It then went on toauthorise the Lord Lieutenant to appoint surveyors to be paid out ofthe Consolidated Fund. These surveyors were empowered to require theattendance of cess collectors and other inhabitants, and with theirhelp to examine, and ascertain, and mark the "reputed boundaries of alland every or any barony, half barony, townland parish, or otherdivision or denomination of land, " howsoever called. The Act alsoinflicted penalties on persons removing or injuring any post, stone, orother mark made by the surveyors; but we believe there has been nooccasion to enforce these clauses, the good sense and good feeling ofthe people being ample securities against such wanton crime. Suchsurvey was not to affect the rights of owners; yet from it lay anappeal to the Quarter Sessions. 

This, as we see, relates to _civil boundaries_, not _valuations_. 

In May, 1820, another Act was passed directing the Ordnance officers tosend copies of their maps, as fast as finished, to the Lord Lieutenant, who was to appoint "_one_ Commissioner of Valuation for _any_counties"; and to give notice of such appointment to the grand jury ofevery such county. Each grand jury was then to appoint an AppealCommittee for each barony, and a Committee of Revision for the wholecounty. This Commission of Valuation was then to appoint from three tonine fit valuators in the county, who, after trial by the Commissioner, were to go in parties of three and examine all parts of their district, and value such portion of it, and set down such valuation in a parishfield book, according to the following average prices:--

 "SCALE OF PRICES. 

 Wheat, at the general average price of 10s. Per cwt. , of 112 lbs. 

 Oats, at the general average price of 6s. Per cwt. , of 112 lbs. 

 Barley, at the general average price of 7s. Per cwt. , of 112 lbs. 

 Potatoes, at the general average price of 1s. 7d. Per cwt. , of 112 lbs. 

 Butter, at the general average price of 69s. Per cwt. , of 112 lbs. 

 Beef, at the general average price of 33s. Per cwt. , of 112 lbs. 

 Mutton, at the general average price of 34s. 6d. Per cwt. , of 112 lbs. 

 Pork, at the general average price of 25s. 6d. Per cwt. , of 112 lbs. "

That is, having examined each tract--say a hill, a valley, an inch, areclaimed bit, and by digging and looking at the soil, they were toconsider what crop it could best produce, considering its soil, elevation, nearness to markets, and then estimating crops at theforegoing rate, they were to say how much per acre the tract was, intheir opinion, worth. 

From this Parish Field Book the Commissioner was to make out a table ofthe parishes and townlands, etc. , in each barony, specifying theaverage and total value of houses in such sub-divisions, and to forwardit to the high constable, who was to post copies thereof. A vestry oftwenty-pound freeholders and twenty-shilling cesspayers was to becalled in each parish to consider the table. If they did not appeal, the table was to stand confirmed; if they did appeal, the grand jurycommittee of appeal, with the valuation commissioner as chairman, wereto decide upon the appeal; but if the assessor were dissatisfied, theappeal was to go to the committee of revision. The same committee werethen to revise the _proportionate_ liabilities of _baronies_, subjectto an appeal to the Queen's Bench. The valuation so settled was to bepublished in the _Dublin Gazette_, and thenceforward all _grand jury_and _parish_ rates and cesses were to be levied in the _proportions_thereby fixed. But no land theretofore exempt from any rate was therebymade liable. The expenses were to be advanced from the consolidatedfund, and repaid by presentment from the county. 

It made the _proportionate_ values of parishes and townlands, pendingthe baronial survey and the baronial valuation, to bind after revisionand publication in some newspaper circulating in the county; but_within three years_ there was to be a second revision, after whichthey were to be published in the _Dublin Gazette_, etc. , and be finalas to the _proportions_ of all parish or grand jury rates to be paid byall baronies, parishes, and townlands. It also directed the annexationof detached bits to the counties respectively surrounding them, and itlikewise provided for the _use_ of the valuation maps and field booksin applotting the grand jury cess charged on the holders of lands, butsuch valuation to be merely a guide and not final. From the varyingsize and value of holdings this caution was essential. 

Under this last Act the valuation has been continued, as every readerof the country papers must have seen by Mr. Griffith's Notices, and isnow complete in twenty counties, forward in six, begun in two, and notyet begun in Cork, Kerry, Limerick, or Dublin. 

Mr. Griffith's instructions are clear and full, and we stronglyrecommend the study of them, and an adherence to their forms andclassifications, to valuators of all private and public properties, sofar as they go. He appointed two classes of valuators--OrdinaryValuators to make the first valuation all over each county, and CheckValuators to re-value patches in every district, to test the accuracyof the ordinary valuators. 

The ordinary valuator was to have two copies of the Townland (or6-inch) Survey. Taking a sheet with him into the district representedon it, he was to examine the quality of the soil in lots of from fiftyto thirty acres, or still smaller bits, to mark the bounds of each loton the survey map, and to enter in his field book the value thereof, with all the special circumstances specially stated. The examinationwas to include digging to ascertain the depth of the soil and thenature of the subsoil. All land was to be valued at its agriculturalworth, supposing it liberally set, leaving out the value of timber, turf, etc. Reductions were to be made for elevation above the sea, steepness, exposure to bad winds, patchiness of soil, bad fences, andbad roads. Additions were to be made for neighbourhood of limestone, turf, sea, or other manure, roads, good climate and shelter, nearnessto towns. 

The following classification of soils was recommended:--

 "ARRANGEMENT OF SOILS. 

 All soils may be arranged under four heads, each representing the characteristic ingredients, as--1. Argillaceous, or clayey; 2. Silicious, or sandy; 3. Calcareous, or limy; 4. Peaty. 

 For practical purposes it will be desirable to sub-divide each of these classes:--

 Thus argillaceous soils may be divided into three varieties, viz. --clay, clay loam, and argillaceous alluvial. 

 Of silicious soils there are four varieties, viz. --sandy, gravelly, slaty, and rocky. 

 Of calcareous soils we have three varieties, viz. --limestone, limestone gravel, and marl. 

 Of peat soils two varieties, viz. --moor, and peat or bog. 

 In describing in the field book the different qualities of soils, the following explanatory words may be used as occasion may require:--

 _Stiff_--Where a soil contains a large proportion, say one-half, or even more, of tenacious clay, it is called stiff. In dry weather this kind of soil cracks and opens, and has a tendency to form into large and hard lumps, particularly if ploughed in wet weather. 

 _Friable_--Where the soil is loose and open, as is generally the case in sandy, gravelly, and moory lands. 

 _Strong_--Where a soil contains a considerable portion of clay, and has some tendency to form into clods or lumps, it may be called strong. 

 _Deep_--Where the soil exceeds ten inches in depth the term deep may be applied. 

 _Shallow_--Where the depth of the soil is less than eight inches. 

 _Dry_--Where the soil is friable, and the subsoil porous (if there be no springs), the term dry should be used. 

 _Wet_--Where the soil or subsoil is very tenacious, or where springs are numerous. 

 _Sharp_--Where there is a moderate proportion of gravel, or small stones. 

 _Fine or Soft_--Where the soil contains no gravel, but is chiefly composed of very fine sand, or soft, light earth without gravel. 

 _Cold_--Where the soil rests on a tenacious clay subsoil, and has a tendency when in pasture to produce rushes and other aquatic plants. 

 _Sandy or Gravelly_--Where there is a large proportion of sand or gravel through the soil. 

 _Slaty_--Where the slaty substratum is much intermixed with the soil. 

 _Worn_--Where the soil has been a long time under cultivation, without rest or manure. 

 _Poor_--Where the land is naturally of bad quality. 

 _Hungry_--Where the soil contains a considerable portion of gravel, or coarse sand, resting on a gravelly subsoil; on such land manure does not produce the usual effect. 

 The _colours of soils_ may also be introduced, as brown, yellow, blue, grey, red, black, etc. 

 Also, where applicable, the words steep, level, shrubby, rocky, exposed, etc. , may be used. "

Lists of market prices were sent with the field books, and the amountsthen reduced to a uniform rate, which Mr. Griffith fixed at 2_s. _ 6_d. _per pound over the prices of produce mentioned in the Act. 

Rules were also given for valuation of houses, but we must refer to Mr. Griffith's work for them. 

COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

While the Irish were excluded from English law and intercourse, Englandimposed no restrictions on our trade. The Pale spent its time tillingand fighting, and it was more sure of its bellyful of blows than ofbread. It had nothing to sell; why tax its trade? The slight commerceof Dublin was needful to the comforts of the Norman Court in DublinCastle. Why should _it_ be taxed? The market of Kilkenny was guarded bythe spears of the Butlers, and from Sligo to Cork the chiefs and townsof Munster and Connaught--the Burkes, O'Loghlens, O'Sullivans, Galway, Dingle, and Dunboy--carried on a trade with Spain, and piracy of waragainst England. How _could they_ be taxed?

Commercial taxes, too, in those days were hard to be enforced, and moreresembled toll to a robber than contribution to the state. Every greatriver and pass in Europe, from the Rhine and the Alps to Berwick andthe Blackwater, was affectionately watched by royal and noble castlesat their narrowest points, and the barge anchored and the caravanhalted to be robbed, or, as the receivers called it, to be taxed. 

At last the Pale was stretched round Ireland by art and force. Solitudeand peace were in our plains; but the armed colonist settled in it, andthe native came down from his hills as a tenant or a squatter, and akind of prosperity arose. 

Protestant and Catholic, native and colonist, had the sameinterest--namely, to turn this waste into a garden. They had not, norcould they have had, other things to export than Sydney or Canada havenow--cattle, butter, hides, and wool. They had hardly corn enough forthemselves; but pasture was plenty, and cows and their hides, sheep andtheir fleeces, were equally so. The natives had always been obliged toprepare their own clothing, and therefore every creaght and digger knewhow to dress wool and skins, and they had found out, or preserved froma more civilised time, dyes which, to this day, are superior to anyothers. Small quantities of woollen goods were exported, but ourassertion holds good that in our war-times there was no manufacture forexport worth naming. 

Black Tom Wentworth, the ablest of despots, came here 210 years ago, and found "small beginnings towards a clothing trade. " He at onceresolved to discourage it. He wrote so to the king on July 25th, 1636, and he was a man true to his enmities. "But, " said he, "I'll give thema linen manufacture instead. " Now, the Irish had raised flax and madeand dyed linen from time immemorial. The saffron-coloured linen shirtwas as national as the cloak and birred; so that Strafford ratherintroduced the linen manufacture among the new settlers than among theIrish. Certainly he encouraged it, by sending Irishmen to learn inBrabant, and by bringing French and Flemings to work in Ireland. 

Charles the Second, doubtless to punish us for our most unwise loyaltyto him and his father, assented to a series of Acts prohibiting theexport of Irish wool, cattle, etc. , to England or her colonies, andprohibiting the _direct_ importation of several colonial productsinto Ireland. The chief Acts are 12 Charles, c. 4; 15 Charles, c. 7;and 22 and 23 Charles, c. 26. Thus were the value of land in Ireland, the revenue, and trade, and manufactures of Ireland--Protestant andCatholic--stricken by England. 

Perhaps we ought to be grateful, though not to England, for these Acts. They plundered our pockets, but they guarded our souls from beinganglicised. To France and Spain the produce was sent, and the woollenmanufacture continued to increase. 

England got alarmed, for Ireland was getting rich. The English lordsaddressed King William, stating that "the growth and increase of thewoollen manufacture in Ireland had long been, and would be _ever_, looked upon with great jealousy by his English subjects, and prayinghim, by very strict laws, totally to prohibit and suppress the same. "The Commons said likewise; and William answered comfortably:--"I shalldo all that in me lies to discourage the woollen manufacture inIreland, and to encourage the linen manufacture there, and to promotethe trade of England. "

He was as good as his word, and even whipped and humbugged theunfortunate Irish Parliament to pass an Act, putting twenty per cent. Duty on broad and ten per cent. On narrow cloths--

 "But it did not satisfy the English parliament, where a perpetual law was made, prohibiting from the 20th of June, 1699, the exportation from Ireland of all goods made or mixed with wool, except to England and Wales, and with the licence of the commissioners of the revenue; duties had been before laid on the importation into England equal to a prohibition, therefore this Act has operated as a total prohibition of the exportation. "

There was nothing left but to send the wool raw to England; to smuggleit and cloths to France and Spain, or to leave the land unstocked. Thefirst was worst. The export to England declined, smuggling prospered, "wild geese" for the Brigade and woollen goods were run in exchange forclaret, brandy, and silks; but not much land was left waste. Our silks, cottons, malt, beer, and almost every other article was similarlyprohibited. Striped linens were taxed thirty per cent. , many otherkinds of linen were also interfered with, and twenty-four embargoes innineteen years straitened our foreign provision trade. Thus Englandkept her pledge of wrath, and broke her promise of service to Ireland. 

A vigorous system of smuggling induced her to relax in some points, andthe cannon of the Volunteers blew away the code. 

By the Union we were so drained of money, and absentee rents and taxes, and of spirit in every way, that she no longer needs a prohibitory codeto prevent our competing with her in any market, Irish or foreign. TheUnion is prohibition enough, and that England says she will maintain. 

Whether it be now possible to create home manufactures, in the oldsense of the word--that is, manufactures made in the homes of theworkers--is doubted. 

In favour of such a thing, if it be possible, the arguments arenumberless. Such work is a source of ingenuity and enjoyment in thecabin of the peasant; it rather fills up time that would be otherwiseidled than takes from other work. Our peasants' wives and daughterscould clothe themselves and their families by the winter night work, even as those of Norway do, if the peasants possessed the littleestates that Norway's peasants do. Clothes manufactured by hand-workare more lasting, comfortable, and handsome, and are more natural andnational than factory goods. Besides, there is the strongest of allreasons in this, that the factory system seems everywhere a poison tovirtue and happiness. 

Some invention, which should bring the might of machinery in awholesome and cheap form to the cabin, seems the only solution of thedifficulty. 

The hazards of the factory system, however, should be encountered, wereit sure to feed our starving millions; but this is dubious. 

A Native Parliament can alone judge or act usefully on this momentoussubject. An absentee tax and a resident government, and the progress ofpublic industry and education, would enable an Irish Parliament tocreate vast manufactures here by protecting duties in the firstinstance, and to maintain them by our general prosperity, or it couldrely on its own adjustment of landed property as sufficient to put thepeople above the need of hazarding purity or content by embarking ingreat manufactures. 

A peasant proprietary could have wealth enough to import wrought goods, or taste and firmness enough to prefer home-made manufactures. 

But these are questions for other years. We wish the reader to take ourword for nothing, but to consult the writers on Irish trade:--Laurence's_Interest of Ireland_ (1682); Browne's _Tracts_ (1728); Dobbs on"Trade" (1729); Hutchinson's _Commercial Restraints_ (1779); Sheffieldon "Irish Trade" (1785); Wallace on "Irish Trade" (1798); the various"Parliamentary Reports, " and the very able articles on the same subjectin the _Citizen_. 

Do not be alarmed at the list, reader; a month's study would carry youthrough all but the Reports, and it would be well spent. But if youstill shrink, you can ease your conscience by reading Mr. JohnO'Connell's Report on "The Commercial Injustices, " just issued by theRepeal Association. It is an elaborate, learned, and most useful tract. 

NATIONAL ART. 

No one doubts that if he sees a place or an action he knows more of itthan if it had been described to him by a witness. The dullest man, who"put on his best attire" to welcome Cæsar, had a better notion of lifein Rome than our ablest artist or antiquary. 

Were painting, then, but a coloured chronicle, telling us facts by theeye instead of the ear, it would demand the Statesman's care and thePeople's love. It would preserve for us faces we worshipped, and theforms of men who led and instructed us. It would remind us, and teachour children, not only how these men looked, but, to some extent, whatthey were, for nature is consistent, and she has indexed her labours. It would carry down a pictorial history of our houses, arts, costume, and manners to other times, and show the dweller in a remote isle theappearance of countries and races of his cotemporaries. 

As a register of _facts--as a portrayer of men, singly, orassembled--and as a depicter of actual scenery, art is biography, history, and topography taught through the eye. 

So far as it can express facts, it is superior to writing; and nothingbut the scarcity of _faithful_ artists, or the stupidity of thepublic, prevents us from having our pictorial libraries of men andplaces. There are some classes of scenes--as where continuous action isto be expressed--in which sculpture quite fails, and painting is but ashadowy narrator. 

But this, after all, though the most obvious and easy use of Paintingand Sculpture, is far indeed from being their highest end. 

Art is a regenerator as well as a copyist. As the historian, whocomposes a history out of various materials, differs from a newspaperreporter, who sets down what he sees--as Plutarch differs from Mr. Grant, and the Abbé Barthelemy from the last traveller in India--so dothe Historical Painter, the Landscape composer (such as Claude orPoussin) differ from the most faithful Portrait, Landscape, or SceneDrawer. 

The Painter who is a master of composition makes his pencil cotemporarywith all times and ubiquitous. Keeping strictly to nature and fact, Romulus sits for him and Paul preaches. He makes Attila charge, andMohammed exhort, and Ephesus blaze when he likes. He tries not rashly, but by years of study of men's character, and dress, and deeds, to makethem and their acts come as in a vision before him. Having thus got adesign, he attempts to realise the vision on his canvas. He pays themost minute attention to truth in his drawing, shading, and colouring, and by imitating the force of nature in his composition, all the cloudsthat ever floated by him, "the lights of other days, " and the forms ofthe dead, or the stranger, hover over him. 

But Art in its higher stage is more than this. It is a creator. Greatas Herodotus and Thierry are, Homer and Beranger are greater. The idealhas resources beyond the actual. It is infinite, and Art isindefinitely powerful. The Apollo is more than noble, and the Herculesmightier than man. The Moses of Michael Angelo is no likeness of theinspired law-giver, nor of any other that ever lived, and Raphael'sMadonnas are not the faces of women. As Reynolds says, "the effect ofthe capital works of Michael Angelo is that the observer feels hiswhole frame enlarged. " It is creation, it is representing beings andthings different from our nature, but true to their own. In thisself-consistency is the only nature requisite in works purelyimaginative. Lear is true to his nature, and so are Mephistopheles, andPrometheus, and Achilles; but they are not true to human nature; theyare beings created by the poets' minds, and true to _their_ lawsof being. There is no commoner blunder in men, who are themselves merecritics, never creators, than to require consistency to the nature ofus and our world in the works of poet or painter. 

To create a mass of great pictures, statues, and buildings is of thesame sort of ennoblement to a people as to create great poems orhistories, or make great codes, or win great battles. The next best, though far inferior, blessing and power is to inherit such works andachievements. The lowest stage of all is neither to possess nor tocreate them. 

Ireland has had some great Painters--Barry and Forde, for example, andmany of inferior but great excellence; and now she boasts highnames--Maclise, Hogan, and Mulready. But their works were seldom donefor Ireland, and are rarely known in it. Our portrait and landscapePainters paint foreign men and scenes; and, at all events, the Irishpeople do not see, possess, nor receive knowledge from their works. Irish history has supplied no subjects for our greatest Artists; andthough, as we repeat, Ireland possessed a Forde and Barry, creativePainters of the highest order, the pictures of the latter are mostlyabroad; those of the former unseen and unknown. Alas! that they are sofew. 

To collect into, and make known, and publish in Ireland the best worksof our living and dead Artists is one of the steps towards procuringfor Ireland a recognised National Art. And this is essential to ourcivilisation and renown. The other is by giving education to studentsand rewards to Artists, to make many of this generation truerepresenters, some of them great illustrators and composers, and, perchance, to facilitate the creation of some great spirit. 

Something has been done--more remains. 

There are schools in Dublin and Cork. But why are those so neglectedand imperfect? and why are not similar or better institutions inBelfast, Derry, Galway, Waterford, and Kilkenny? Why is there not adecent collection of casts anywhere but in Cork, and why are they in agarret there? And why have we no gallery of Irishmen's, or any othermen's, pictures in Ireland?

The Art Union has done a great deal. It has helped to support inIreland artists who should otherwise have starved or emigrated; it hasdispersed one (when, oh when, will it disperse another?) fine print ofa fine Irish picture through the country, and to some extent interestedas well as instructed thousands. Yet it could, and we believe will, domuch more. It ought to have Corresponding Committees in the principaltowns to preserve and rub up old schools of art and foster new ones, and it might by art and historical libraries, and by other ways, helpthe cause. We speak as friends, and suggest not as critics, for it hasdone good service. 

The Repeal Association, too, in offering prizes for pictures andsculptures of Irish historical subjects, has taken its proper place asthe patron of nationality in art; and its rewards for Building Designsmay promote the comfort and taste of the people, and the reputation ofthe country. If artists will examine the rules by which the pictures, statues, and plates remain their property, they will find the prizesnot so small as they might at first appear. Nor should they, frominterest or just pride, be indifferent to the popularity and fame ofsuccess on national subjects, and with a People's Prizes to becontended for. If those who are not Repealers will treat theAssociation's design kindly and candidly, and if the Repealers will actin art upon principles of justice and conciliation, we shall not onlyadvance national art, but gain another field of common exertion. 

The Cork School of Art owes its existence to many causes. 

The intense, genial, and Irish character of the people, the southernwarmth and variety of clime, with its effects on animal and vegetablebeings, are the natural causes. 

The accident of Barry's birth there, and his great fame, excited theambition of the young artists. An Irishman and a Corkman had gone outfrom them, and amazed men by the grandeur and originality of his worksof art. He had thrown the whole of the English painters intoinsignificance, for who would compare the luscious commonplace of theStuart painters, or the melodramatic reality of Hogarth, or theimitative beauty of Reynolds, or the clumsy strength of West, with theoverbearing grandeur of his works?

But the _present_ glories of Cork, Maclise and Hogan, the greater, but buried might of Forde, and the rich promise which we know isspringing there now, are mainly owing to another cause; and that is, that Cork possesses a gallery of the finest casts in the world. 

These casts are not very many--117 only; but they are perfect, they arethe first from Canova's moulds, and embrace the greatest works of Greekart. They are ill-placed in a dim and dirty room--more shame to therich men of Cork for leaving them so--but there they are, and therestudied Forde, and Maclise, and the rest, until they learned to drawbetter than any moderns, except Cornelius and his living brethren. 

In the countries where art is permanent there are greatcollections--Tuscany and Rome, for example. But, as we have saidbefore, the highest service done by success in art is not in thepossession but in the creation of great works, the spirit, labour, sagacity, and instruction needed by the artists to succeed, and flungout by them on their country like rain from sunny clouds. 

Indeed, there is some danger of a traditionary mediocrity followingafter a great epoch in art. Superstition of style, technical rules incomposition, and all the pedantry of art, too often fill up the ranksvacated by veteran genius, and of this there are examples enough inFlanders, Spain, and even Italy. The schools may, and often do, makemen scholastic and ungenial, and art remains an instructor and refiner, but creates no more. 

Ireland, fortunately or unfortunately, has everything to do yet. Wehave had great artists--we have not their works--we own the nativity ofgreat living artists--they live on the Tiber and the Thames. Ourcapital has no school of art--no facilities for acquiring it. 

To be sure, there are rooms open in the Dublin Society, and they havenot been useless, that is all. But a student here cannot learn anatomy, save at the same expense as a surgical student. He has no great worksof art before him, no Pantheon, no Valhalla, not even a good museum orgallery. 

We think it may be laid down as unalterably true that a student shouldnever draw from a flat surface. He learns nothing by drawing from thelines of another man--he only mimics. Better for him to draw chairs andtables, bottles and glasses, rubbish, potatoes, cabins, or kitchenutensils, than draw from the lines laid down by other men. 

Of those forms of nature which the student can originally consult--thesea, the sky, the earth--we would counsel him to draw from them in thefirst learning; for though he ought afterwards to analyse and maturehis style by the study of works of art, from the first sketches to thefinished picture, yet, by beginning with nature and his ownsuggestions, he will acquire a genuine and original style, superior tothe finest imitation; and it is hard to acquire a master's skillwithout his manner. 

Were all men cast in a divine mould of strength and straightness andgallant bearing, and all women proportioned, graceful, and fair, theartist would need no gallery, at least to begin his studies with. Hewould have to persuade or snatch his models in daily life. Even then, as art creates greater and simpler combinations than ever exist infact, he should finally study before the superhuman works of hispredecessors. 

But he has about him here an indifferently-made, ordinary, not veryclean, nor picturesquely-clad people; though, doubtless, if they hadthe feeding, the dress, and the education (for mind beautifies thebody) of the Greeks, they would not be inferior, for the Irishstructure is of the noblest order. 

To give him a multitude of fine natural models, to say nothing of idealworks, it is necessary to make a gallery of statues or casts. Thestatues will come in good time, and we hope, and are sure, thatIreland, a nation, will have a national gallery, combining the greatestworks of the Celtic and Teutonic races. But at present the most thatcan be done is to form a gallery. 

Our readers will be glad to hear that this great boon is about to begiven to Irish Art. A society for the formation of a gallery of castsin Dublin has been founded. 

It embraces men of every rank, class, creed, politics, and calling, thus forming another of those sanctuaries, now multiplying in Ireland, where one is safe from the polemic and the partisan. 

Its purpose is to purchase casts of all the greatest works of Greece, Egypt, Etruria, ancient Rome, and Europe in the middle ages. This willembrace a sufficient variety of types, both natural and ideal, toprevent imitation, and will avoid the debateable ground of modern art. Wherever they can afford it the society will buy moulds, in order toassist provincial galleries, and therefore the provinces areimmediately interested in its support. 

When a few of these casts are got together, and a proper galleryprocured, the public will be admitted to see, and artists to study, them without any charge. The annual subscription is but ten shillings, the object being to interest as many as possible in its support. 

It has been suggested to us by an artist that Trinity College ought toestablish a gallery and museum containing casts of all the ancientstatues, models of their buildings, civil and military, and acollection of their implements of art, trade, and domestic life. Anobler institution, a more vivid and productive commentary on theclassics, could not be. But if the Board will not do this ofthemselves, we trust they will see the propriety of assisting thispublic gallery, and procuring, therefore, special privileges for thestudents in using it. 

But no matter what persons in authority may do or neglect, we trust thepublic--for the sake of their own pleasure, their children's profit, and Ireland's honour--will give it their instant and full support. 

HINTS FOR IRISH HISTORICAL PAINTINGS. 

National art is conversant with national subjects. We have Irishartists, but no Irish, no national art. This ought not to continue; itis injurious to the artists, and disgraceful to the country. Thefollowing historical subjects were loosely jotted down by a friend. Doubtless, a more just selection could be made by students noting downfit subjects for painting and sculpture, as they read. We shall behappy to print any suggestions on the subject--our own are, as we callthem, mere hints with loose references to the authors or books whichsuggested them. For any good painting, the marked figures must be few, the action obvious, the costume, arms, architecture, postureshistorically exact, and the manners, appearance, and rank of thecharacters strictly studied and observed. The grouping and drawingrequire great truth and vigour. A similar set of subjects illustratingsocial life could be got from the Poor Report, Carleton's, Banim's, orGriffin's stories, or, better still, from observation. 

The references are vague, but perhaps sufficient. 

 The Landing of the Milesians. --Keating, Moore's Melodies. 

 Ollamh Fodhla Presenting his Laws to his People. Keating's, Moore's, and O'Halloran's Histories of Ireland. --Walker's Irish Dress and Arms, and Vallancey's Collectanea. 

 Nial and his Nine Hostages. --Moore, Keating. 

 A Druid's Augury. --Moore, O'Halloran, Keating. 

 A Chief Riding out of his Fort. --Griffin's Invasion, Walker, Moore. 

 The Oak of Kildare. --Moore. 

 The Burial of King Dathy in the Alps, his thinned troops laying stones on his grave. --M'Geoghegan, "Histoire de l'Irlande" (French edition), Invasion, Walker, Moore. 

 St. Patrick brought before the Druids at Tara. --Moore and his Authorities. 

 The First Landing of the Danes. --See Invasion, Moore, etc. 

 The Death of Turgesius. --Keating, Moore. 

 Ceallachan tied to the Mast. --Keating. 

 Murkertach Returning to Aileach. --Archæological Society's Tracts. 

 Brian Reconnoitring the Danes before Clontarf. 

 The Last of the Danes Escaping to his Ship. 

 O'Ruare's Return. --Keating, Moore's Melodies. 

 Raymond Le Gros Leaving his Bride. --Moore. 

 Roderick in Conference with the Normans. --Moore, M'Geoghegan. 

 Donald O'Brien Setting Fire to Limerick. --M'Geoghegan. 

 Donald O'Brien Visiting Holycross. --M'Geoghegan. 

 O'Brien, O'Connor, and M'Carthy making Peace to attack the Normans. --M'Geoghegan, Moore. 

 The Same Three Victorious at the Battle of Thurles. --Moore and O'Conor's Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores. 

 Irish Chiefs leaving Prince John. --Moore, etc. 

 M'Murrough and Gloster. --Harris's Hibernica, p. 53. 

 Crowning of Edward Bruce. --Leland, Grace's Annals, etc. 

 Edgecombe Vainly Trying to Overawe Kildare. --Harris's Hibernica. 

 Kildare "On the Necks of the Butlers. "--Leland. 

 Shane O'Neill at Elizabeth's Court. --Leland. 

 Lord Sydney Entertained by Shane O'Neill. 

 The Battle of the Red Coats. --O'Sullivan's Catholic History. 

 Hugh O'Neill Victor in Single Combat at Clontibret. --Fynes Moryson, O'Sullivan, M'Geoghegan. 

 The Corleius. --Dymmok's Treatise, Archæological Society's Tracts. 

 Maguire and St. Leger in Single Combat. --M'Geoghegan. 

 O'Sullivan Crossing the Shannon. --Pacata Hibernia. 

 O'Dogherty Receiving the Insolent Message of the Governor of Derry. --M'Geoghegan. 

 The Brehon before the English Judges. --Davis's Letter to Lord Salisbury. 

 Ormond Refusing to give up his Sword. --Carte's Life of Ormond. 

 Good Lookers-on. --Strafford's Letters. 

 Owen Conolly before the Privy Council, 1641. --Carey's Vindiciæ. 

 The Battle of Julianstown. --Temple's Rebellion, and Tichbourne's Drogheda. 

 Owen Roe Organising the Creaghts. --Carte, and also Belling and O'Neill in the Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica. 

 The Council of Kilkenny. --Carte. 

 The Breach of Clonmel. --Do. 

 Smoking Out the Irish. --Ludlow's Memoirs. 

 Burning Them. --Castlehaven's Memoirs. 

 Nagle before the Privy Council. --Harris's William. 

 James's Entry into Dublin. --Dublin Magazine for March, 1843. 

 The Bridge of Athlone. --Green Book and Authorities. 

 St. Ruth's Death. --Do. 

 The Embarkation from Limerick. --Do. 

 Cremona. --Cox's Magazine. 

 Fontenoy. --Do. 

 Sir S. Rice Pleading against the Violation of the Treaty of Limerick. --Staunton's Collection of Tracts on Ireland. 

 Molyneux's Book burned. 

 Liberty Boys Reading a Drapier's Letter. --Mason's St. Patrick's Cathedral. 

 Lucas Surrounded by Dublin Citizens in his Shop. 

 Grattan Moving Liberty. --Memoirs. 

 Flood Apostrophising Corruption. --Barrington. 

 Dungannon Convention. --Wilson, Barrington. 

 Curran Cross-Examining Armstrong. --Memoirs. 

 Curran Pleading before the Council in Alderman James's Case. 

 Tone's First Society. --See his Memoirs. 

 The Belfast Club. --Madden's U. I. , Second Series, vol. I. 

 Tone, Emmet, and Keogh in the Rathfarnham Garden. 

 Tone and Carnot. --Tone's Memoirs. 

 Battle of Oulart. --Hay, Teeling, etc. 

 First Meeting of the Catholic Association. 

 O'Connell Speaking in a Munster Chapel. --Wyse's Association. 

 The Clare Hustings. --Proposal of O'Connell. 

 The Dublin Corporation Speech. 

 Father Mathew Administering the Pledge in a Munster County. 

 Conciliation. --Orange and Green. 

 The Lifting of the Irish Flags of a National Fleet and Army. 

OUR NATIONAL LANGUAGE. 

Men are ever valued most for peculiar and original qualities. A man whocan only talk commonplace, and act according to routine, has littleweight. To speak, look, and do what your own soul from its depthsorders you are credentials of greatness which all men understand andacknowledge. Such a man's dictum has more influence than the reasoningof an imitative or commonplace man. He fills his circle withconfidence. He is self-possessed, firm, accurate, and daring. Such menare the pioneers of civilisation and the rulers of the human heart. 

Why should not nations be judged thus? Is not a full indulgence of itsnatural tendencies essential to a _people's_ greatness? Force themanners, dress, language, and constitution of Russia, or Italy, orNorway, or America, and you instantly stunt and distort the whole mindof either people. 

The language, which grows up with a people, is conformed to theirorgans, descriptive of their climate, constitution, and manners, mingled inseparably with their history and their soil, fitted beyondany other language to express their prevalent thoughts in the mostnatural and efficient way. 

To impose another language on such a people is to send their historyadrift among the accidents of translation--'tis to tear their identityfrom all places--'tis to substitute arbitrary signs for picturesque andsuggestive names--'tis to cut off the entail of feeling, and separatethe people from their forefathers by a deep gulf--'tis to corrupt theirvery organs, and abridge their power of expression. 

The language of a nation's youth is the only easy and full speech forits manhood and for its age. And when the language of its cradle goes, itself craves a tomb. 

What business has a Russian for the rippling language of Italy orIndia? How could a Greek distort his organs and his soul to speak Dutchupon the sides of the Hymettus, or the beach of Salamis, or on thewaste where once was Sparta? And is it befitting the fiery, delicate-organed Celt to abandon his beautiful tongue, docile andspirited as an Arab, "sweet as music, strong as the wave"--is itbefitting in him to abandon this wild, liquid speech for the mongrel ofa hundred breeds called English, which, powerful though it be, creaksand bangs about the Celt who tries to use it?

We lately met a glorious thought in the "Triads of Mochmed, " printed inone of the Welsh codes by the Record Commission: "There are threethings without which there is no country--common language, commonjudicature, and co-tillage land--for without these a country cannotsupport itself in peace and social union. "

A people without a language of its own is only half a nation. A nationshould guard its language more than its territories--'tis a surerbarrier, and more important frontier, than fortress or river. 

And in good times it has ever been thought so. Who had dared to proposethe adoption of Persian or Egyptian in Greece--how had Periclesthundered at the barbarian? How had Cato scourged from the forum himwho would have given the Attic or Gallic speech to men of Rome? Howproudly and how nobly Germany stopped "the incipient creeping" progressof French! And no sooner had she succeeded than her genius, which hadtossed in a hot trance, sprung up fresh and triumphant. 

Had Pyrrhus quelled Italy, or Xerxes subdued Greece for a time longenough to impose new languages, where had been the literature whichgives a pedigree to human genius? Even liberty recovered had beensickly and insecure without the language with which it had hunted inthe woods, worshipped at the fruit-strewn altar, debated on thecouncil-hill, and shouted in the battle-charge. 

There is a fine song of the Fusians, which describes

 "Language linked to liberty. "

To lose your native tongue, and learn that of an alien, is the worstbadge of conquest--it is the chain on the soul. To have lost entirelythe national language is death; the fetter has worn through. So long asthe Saxon held to his German speech he could hope to resume his landfrom the Norman; now, if he is to be free and locally governed, he mustbuild himself a new home. There is hope for Scotland--strong hope forWales--sure hope for Hungary. The speech of the alien is not universalin the one; is gallantly held at bay in the other; is nearly expelledfrom the third. 

How unnatural--how corrupting 'tis for us, three-fourths of whom are ofCeltic blood, to speak a medley of Teutonic dialects! If we add theCeltic Scots, who came back here from the thirteenth to the seventeenthcenturies, and the Celtic Welsh, who colonised many parts of Wexfordand other Leinster counties, to the Celts who never left Ireland, probably five-sixths, or more, of us are Celts. What business have wewith the Norman-Sassenagh?

Nor let any doubt these proportions because of the number of English_names_ in Ireland. With a politic cruelty the English of the Palepassed an Act (3 Edw. IV. , c. 3) compelling every Irishman withinEnglish jurisdiction "to go like to one Englishman in apparel, andshaving off his beard above the mouth, " "and shall take to him anEnglish sirname of one town, as Sutton, Chester, Trym, Skryne, Corke, Kinsale; or colour, as White, Blacke, Browne; or art or science, asSmith or Carpenter; or office, as Cook, Butler; and that he and hisissue shall use this name, under pain of forfeiting his goods yearly. "

And just as this Parliament before the Reformation, so did anotherafter the Reformation. By the 28th Henry VIII. , c. 15, the dress andlanguage of the Irish were insolently described as barbarous by theminions of that ruffian king, and were utterly forbidden and abolishedunder many penalties and incapacities. These laws are still in force;but whether the Archæological Society, including Peel and O'Connell, will be prosecuted seems doubtful. 

There was, also, 'tis to be feared, an adoption of English names, during some periods, from fashion, fear, or meanness. Some of our bestIrish names, too, have been so mangled as to require some scholarshipto identify them. For these and many more reasons the members of theCeltic race here are immensely greater than at first appears. 

But this is not all; for even the Saxon and Norman colonists, notwithstanding these laws, melted down into the Irish, and adopted alltheir ways and language. For centuries upon centuries Irish was spokenby men of all bloods in Ireland, and English was unknown, save to a fewcitizens and nobles of the Pale. 'Tis only within a very late periodthat the majority of the people learned English. 

But, it will be asked, how can the language be restored now?

We shall answer this partly by saying that, through the labours of theArchæological and many lesser societies, it _is_ being revived rapidly. 

We shall consider this question of the possibility of reviving it moreat length some other day. 

Nothing can make us believe that it is natural or honourable for theIrish to speak the speech of the alien, the invader, the Sassenaghtyrant, and to abandon the language of our kings and heroes. What! giveup the tongue of Ollamh Fodhla and Brian Boru, the tongue of M'Carty, and the O'Nials, the tongue of Sarsfield's, Curran's, Mathew's, andO'Connell's boyhood, for that of Strafford and Poynings, Sussex, Kirk, and Cromwell!

No! oh, no! the "brighter days shall surely come, " and the green flagshall wave on our towers, and the sweet old language be heard once morein college, mart, and senate. 

But even should the effort to save it as the national language fail, bythe attempt we will rescue its old literature, and hand down to ourdescendants proofs that we had a language as fit for love, and war, andbusiness, and pleasure, as the world ever knew, and that we had not thespirit and nationality to preserve it!

Had Swift known Irish he would have sowed its seed by the side of thatnationality which he planted, and the close of the last century wouldhave seen the one as flourishing as the other. Had Ireland used Irishin 1782, would it not have impeded England's re-conquest of us? But'tis not yet too late. 

For _you_, if the mixed speech called English was laid withsweetmeats on your child's tongue, English is the best speech ofmanhood. And yet, rather, in that case you are unfortunate. The hills, and lakes, and rivers, the forts and castles, the churches andparishes, the baronies and counties around you, have all Irishnames--names which describe the nature of the scenery or ground, thename of founder, or chief, or priest, or the leading fact in thehistory of the place. To you these are names hard to pronounce, andwithout meaning. 

And yet it were well for you to know them. That knowledge would be atopography, and a history, and romance, walking by your side, andhelping your discourse. Meath tells it flatness, Clonmel the abundantriches of its valley, Fermanagh is the land of the Lakes, Tyrone thecountry of Owen, Kilkenny the Church of St. Canice, Dunmore the greatfort, Athenry the Ford of the Kings, Dunleary the Fort of O'Leary; andthe Phoenix Park, instead of taking its name from a fable, recognisesas christener the "sweet water" which yet springs near the east gate. [43]

All the names of our airs and songs are Irish, and we every day are aspuzzled and ingeniously wrong about them as the man who, when asked forthe air, "I am asleep, and don't waken me, " called it "Tommy M'Cullaghmade boots for me. "

The bulk of our history and poetry are written in Irish, and shall we, who learn Italian, and Latin, and Greek, to read Dante, Livy, and Homerin the original--shall we be content with ignorance or a translation ofIrish?

The want of modern scientific words in Irish is undeniable, anddoubtless we should adopt the existing names into our language. TheGermans have done the same thing, and no one calls German mongrel onthat account. Most of these names are clumsy and extravagant; and arealmost all derived from Greek or Latin, and cut as foreign a figure inFrench and English as they would in Irish. Once Irish was recognised asa language to be learned as much as French or Italian, our dictionarieswould fill up and our vocabularies ramify, to suit all the wants oflife and conversation. 

These objections are ingenious refinements, however, rarely thought oftill after the other and great objection has been answered. 

The usual objection to attempting the revival of Irish is, that itcould not succeed. 

If an attempt were made to introduce Irish, either through the nationalschools, or the courts of law, into the eastern side of the island, itwould certainly fail, and the reaction might extinguish it altogether. But no one contemplates this save as a dream of what may happen ahundred years hence. It is quite another thing to say, as we do, thatthe Irish language should be cherished, taught, and esteemed, and thatit can be preserved and gradually extended. 

What we seek is, that the people of the upper classes should have theirchildren taught the language which explains our names of persons orplaces, our older history, and our music, and which is spoken in themajority of our counties, rather than Italian, German, or French. Itwould be more useful in life, more serviceable to the taste and geniusof young people, and a more flexible accomplishment for an Irish man orwoman to speak, sign, and write Irish than French. 

At present the middle classes think it a sign of vulgarity to speakIrish--the children are everywhere taught English, and English alone inschools--and, what is worse, they are urged by rewards and punishmentsto speak it at home, for English is the language of their masters. Now, we think the example and exertions of the upper classes would besufficient to set the opposite and better fashion of preferring Irish;and, even as a matter of taste, we think them bound to do so. And weask it of the pride, the patriotism, and the hearts of our farmers andshopkeepers, will they try to drive out of their children's minds thenative language of almost every great man we had, from Brian Boru toO'Connell--will they meanly sacrifice the language which names theirhills, and towns, and music, to the tongue of the stranger?

About half the people west of a line drawn from Derry to Waterfordspeak Irish habitually, and in some of the mountain tracts east of thatline it is still common. Simply requiring the teachers of the nationalschools in these Irish-speaking districts to know Irish, and supplyingthem with Irish translations of the school books, would guard thelanguage where it now exists, and prevent it from being swept away bythe English tongue, as the Red Americans have been by the English racefrom New York to New Orleans. 

The example of the upper classes would extend and develop a modernIrish literature, and the hearty support they have given to theArchæological Society makes us hope that they will have sense andspirit to do so. 

But the establishment of a newspaper partly or wholly Irish would bethe most rapid and sure way of serving the language. The Irish-speakingman would find, in his native tongue, the political news and generalinformation he has now to seek in English; and the English-speakingman, having Irish frequently before him in so attractive a form, wouldbe tempted to learn its characters, and, by-and-by, its meaning. 

These newspapers in many languages are now to be found everywhere buthere. In South America many of these papers are Spanish and English, orFrench; in North America, French and English; in Northern Italy, Germanand Italian; in Denmark and Holland, German is used in addition to thenative tongue; in Alsace and Switzerland, French and German; in Poland, German, French, and Sclavonic; in Turkey, French and Turkish; inHungary, Magyar, Sclavonic, and German; and the little Canton of Grisonuses three languages in its press. With the exception of Hungary, thesecondary language is, in all cases, spoken by fewer persons than theIrish-speaking people of Ireland, and while they everywhere tolerateand use one language as a medium of commerce, they cherish the other asthe vehicle of history, the wings of song, the soil of their genius, and a mark and guard of nationality. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [43] 'Bright water' is the true rendering: Could Davis have been thinking of _binn uisge_, and supposing that _binn_ meant sweet in taste as well as in sound?--[Ed. ]

INSTITUTIONS OF DUBLIN. 

Judged by the _Directory_, Dublin is nobly supplied with institutionsfor the promotion of Literature, Science, and Art; and, judged by itsmen, there is mind enough here to make these institutions prosper, andinstruct and raise the country. Yet their performances are far short ofthese promises, and the causes for ill-success are easily found. Webelieve these causes could be almost as easily removed. 

In the first place, we have too many of these institutions. Stingygrants from Government and the general poverty of the people rendereconomy a matter of the first consequence; yet we find these societiesmaintaining a number of separate establishments, at a great expense ofrent and salaries. 

The consequence, of course, is that none of them flourish as theyought--museums, meetings, lectures, libraries, and exhibitions are allfrittered away, and nothing is done so well as it might be. Moreover, from the want of any arrangement and order, the same men are draggedfrom one society to another--few men do much, because all are forced toattempt so many things. 

But 'tis better to examine this in detail, and in doing so we may aswell give some leading facts as to the chief of these bodies. Take, forexample, as a beginning, the

INSTITUTIONS FOR THE PROMOTION OF FINE ARTS. 

And first there is the Hibernian Academy. It was founded in 1823, received a present of its house in Abbey Street, and some books andcasts, from Francis Johnston, a Dublin architect, and has the miserableincome of £300 a year from the Treasury. It has a drawing-school, witha few casts, no pictures, bad accommodation, and professors whose payis nearly nominal. 

It undoubtedly has some men of great ability and attainments, and somewho have neither; but what can be done without funds, statues, orpictures? To aggravate its difficulties, the Dublin Society has anotherart school, still worse off as to casts, and equally deficient inpictures. As a place of instruction in the designing of patterns formanufactures and the like, the Dublin Society school has worked well;and many of the best-paid controllers of design in the Englishmanufactories were educated there; but as a school of fine arts it doeslittle; and no wonder. Another branch of the Hibernian Academy'soperations is its annual exhibition of pictures. These exhibitionsattract crowds who would never otherwise see a painting, promotethought on art, and procure patronage for artists. In this, too, theHibernian Academy has recently found a rival in the Society of IrishArtists, established in 1842, which has an annual exhibition in CollegeStreet, and pays the expenses of the exhibition out of the admissionfees, as does the Hibernian Academy. We are not attaching blame to theSociety of Irish Artists in noticing the fact of its rivalry. 

There are three other bodies devoted to the encouragement of art. Oneof these is the Art Union, founded in 1840, and maintained entirely bysubscriptions to its lottery. It distributes fine engravings from Irishpictures among all its members, and pictures and statues, bought in theexhibitions of the Hibernian Academy, and of the Society of IrishArtists, among its prize-holders; and it gives premiums for the worksof native or resident artists. Its operation is as a patron of art;and, in order to get funds for this purpose, and also to securesuperior works and a higher competition, it extends its purchases tothe best foreign works exhibited here. It has no collection, and hasmerely an office in College Street--in fact, its best permanentpossession is its unwearied secretary. The Society of Ancient Art wasestablished last year for the formation of a public gallery of castsfrom classical and mediæval statues, and ultimately for purposes ofdirect teaching by lectures, etc. It obtained some funds bysubscription; but under the expectation, 'tis said, of a public grant, has done nothing. Lastly, there is the "Institute of Irish Architects, "founded in 1839 "for the general advancement of civil architecture, forpromoting and facilitating the acquirement of a knowledge of thevarious arts and sciences connected therewith, for the formation of alibrary and museum, " etc. 

To us it is very plain that here are too many institutions, and thatthe efficiency of all suffers materially from their want of connectionand arrangement. Some, at least, might be amalgamated with greatadvantage, or rather all, except the Art Union. That is only a club ofpurchasers, and any attempt materially to change its nature would perilits funds. Some such plan as the following would accomplish all that isvainly attempted now. Let the Government be pressed to give £2, 000 ayear, if the public supply £1, 000 a year. Let this income go to a newHibernian Academy--the present Hibernian Academy, Artists' Society, Society of Ancient Art, the Art Schools of the Dublin Society, and theInstitute of Irish Architects being merged in it. This merger could beeasily secured through the inducements secured by the charter, and byaccommodation, salaries, and utility of the new body. The presentproperty of these bodies, with some moderate grant, would suffice forthe purchase of a space of ground ample for the schools, museums, library, lecture-room, and yards of such an institution. 

At the head of it should be a small body governing and accounting forits finances, but _no person_ should be a governing member of more thanone of its sections. These sections should be for Statuary, Painting, Architecture, and Design Drawing. Each of these sections should haveits own Gallery and its own Practice Rooms; but one Library and onepublic Lecture Room would suffice for the entire. The architecturalsection would also need some open space for its experiments and itslarger specimens. A present of copies of the British Museum casts, along with the fund of the Ancient Art Society, would originate a CastGallery, and a few good pictures could be bought as a commencement of aNational Gallery of Painting, leaving the economy of the managers andthe liberality of the public gradually to fill up. Collections ofnative works in canvas and marble, and architectural models, could besoon and cheaply procured. The Art Library of the Dublin Society addedto that of the Hibernian Academy would need few additions to make itsufficient for the new body. 

Such an Institute ought not to employ any but the best teachers andlecturers. It should encourage proficiency by rewards that wouldinstruct the proficient; it should apply itself to cataloguing, preserving, and making known all the works of art in the country; giveprizes for artistical works; publish its lectures and transactions;issue engravings of the most instructive works of art; and hold eveningmeetings, to which ladies would be admitted. It should allow at least£400 a year for the support of free pupils. In connection with itsdrawing and modelling schools should be a professorship of anatomy, or, what were better, some arrangement might be made with the College ofSurgeons, or some such body, for courses of instruction for its pupils. The training for its pupils in sculpture, painting, and design shouldinclude the study of ancient and modern costumes, zoology, and ofvegetable and geological forms. For this purpose books should not be somuch relied on as lectures in gardens, museums, and during studentexcursions. Of course the architectural pupils should be required toanswer at a preliminary examination in mathematics, and should receivespecial instruction in the building materials, action of climate, etc. , in Ireland. 

Were the buildings standing, and the society chartered judiciously, thesum we have mentioned would be sufficient. Four professors at from £200to £300 a year each, four assistants at £100 a year each, a librarianat the same rate, with payments for extra instruction in anatomy, etc. , etc. , and for porters, premiums, and so forth, would not exceed £2, 000a year. So that if £400 were expended on free pupils, there wouldremain £600 a year for the purchase of works for the galleries. 

At present there is much waste of money, great annoyance and loss oftime to the supporters of these institutions, and marvellously littlebenefit to art. The plan we have proposed would be economical both oftime and money; but, what is of more worth, it would give us, what wehave not now, a National Gallery of Statuary and Painting--goodExhibition Rooms for works of art--business-like Lecturers andLectures--great public excitement about art--and, finally, a greatNational Academy. 

If anyone has a better plan, let him say it; we have told ours. At allevents, some great change is needed, and there can be no fitter timethan this for it. 

In any community it is desirable to have Literary Institutions, as wellclassified as legal offices, and as free from counteraction; but it isespecially desirable here now. Our literary class is small, and itsduties measureless. The diseased suction of London--the absence ofgentry, offices, and Legislature--the heart-sickness that is on everythoughtful man without a country--the want of a large, educated, andtherefore book-buying class--and (it must be confessed) the depressionand distrust produced by rash experiments and paltry failure, have leftus with few men for a great work. Probably the great remedy is therestoration of our Parliament--bringing back, as it would, thearistocracy and the public offices, giving society and support toWriters and Artists, and giving them a country's praise to move and acountry's glory to reward them. 

But one of the very means of attaining nationality is securing someportion of that literary force which would gush abundantly from it;and, therefore, consider it how you will, it is important to increaseand economise the exertions of the literary class in Ireland. Yet thereverse is done. Institutions are multiplied instead of those beingmade efficient which exist; and men talk as proudly of the new"Teach-'em-everything-in-no-time-Society" as if its natty laws were alibrary, its desk a laboratory and a museum, and its members freshlabourers, when all they have done is to waste the time of persons whohad business, and to delude those who had none, into the belief thatthey were doing good. Ephemeral things! which die not withoutmischief--they have wasted hours and days of strong men in spinningsand, and leave depression growing from their tombs. 

It is a really useful deed to rescue from dissipation, or from idlereading, or from mammon-hunting, one strong, passionate man or boy, andto set him to work investigating, arranging, teaching. It is an honesttask to shame the 'broidered youth from meditation on waistcoats andthe display of polka steps into manly pursuits. It is an angel'smission (oftenest the work of love) to startle a sleeping andunconscious genius into the spring and victory of a roused lion. But itis worse than useless to establish new associations and orders withoutwell considering first whether the same machinery do not already existand rust for want of the very energy and skill which you need too. There is a bridge in a field near Blarney Castle where water never ran. It was built "at the expense of the county. " These men build theirmills close as houses in a capital, taking no thought for the stream toturn them. 

We have already censured this in some detail with reference tosocieties for the promotion of the Fine Arts, and have urged theformation, out of all these fiddling, clashing bodies, of some onegreat institution for the promotion of Painting, Sculpture, andArchitecture, with a Museum, a Library, a Gallery, and Lecturers, governed by professional minds, great enough to be known and regardedby the people, and popular and strong enough to secure Governmentsupport. 

Similar defects exist everywhere. Take the Dublin Society for example. Nothing can be more heterogeneous than its objects. We are far fromdenying its utility. That utility is immense, the institution isnative, of old standing (it was founded in 1731), national, and, whenit wanted support, our pen was not idle in its behalf. 

But we believe its utility greatly diminished by its attempting toomany things, and especially by including objects more fitly belongingto other institutions; and on the opposite side it is maimed, by theinterference of other bodies, in its natural functions. The DublinSociety was founded for the promotion of husbandry and other usefularts. Its labours to serve agriculture have been repeated andextensive, though not always judicious. It has also endeavoured topromote manufactures. It has gardens and museums fitter for scientificthan practical instruction, admirable lecturers, a library mostgenerously opened, a drawing-school of the largest purposes and ofequivocal success, and various minor branches. 

The Irish Academy has some of this fault. It endeavours to uniteantiquarianism and abstract science. Its meetings are alternatelyentertained with mathematics and history, and its transactions areequally comprehensive. We yield to none in anxiety for the promotion ofantiquarian studies; we think the public and the government disgracedby the slight support given to the Academy. We are not a little proudof the honour and strength given to our country by the science ofMacCullagh, Hamilton, and Lloyd; but we protest against the attempt tomix the armoury of the ancient Irish, or the Celtic dialects, or theessay on Round Towers, with trigonometry and the calculus, whether in alecture-room or a book. 

Let us just set down, as we find them, some of the Literary andScientific Institutions. There are the Royal Dublin Society, the RoyalIrish Academy (we wish these royalties were dropped--no one mindsthem), the Irish Archæological Society, the Royal Zoological Society, the Geological Society, the Dublin Natural History Society, the DublinPhilosophical Society, the Royal Agricultural Society, etc. , etc. Now, we take it that these bodies might be usefully reduced to three, and ifthree moderate government grants were made under conditions rewardingsuch a classification, we doubt not it would instantly be made. 

In the first place, we would divorce from the Irish Academy thescientific department, requiring Trinity College to form some voluntaryorganisation for the purpose. To this non-collegiate philosophersshould be admitted, and, thus disencumbered, we would devote theAcademy to antiquities and literature--incorporate with it theArchæological Society--transfer to it all the antiques (of which it hadnot duplicates) in Trinity College, the Dublin Society, etc. , andenlarge its museums and meeting-room. Its section of "politeliterature" has long been a name--it should be made real. There wouldbe nothing inconvenient or strange in finding in its lecture-rooms ortransactions the antiquities and literature of Ireland, diversified bygeneral historical, critical, and æsthetical researches. 

The Dublin Society would reasonably divide into two sections. One, forthe promotion of husbandry, might be aggrandised by tempting theAgricultural Society to join it, and should have a permanent museum, anextensive farm, premiums, shows, publications, and special lecturers. The second section, for the encouragement of manufactures, should haveits museum, workshops, and experiment ground (the last, perhaps, as theagricultural farm), and its special lecturers. The library might wellbe joint, and managed by a joint committee, having separate funds. Thegeneral lecturers on chemistry and other such subjects might be paid incommon. The drawing school (save that for pattern and machine drawing)might be transferred to the Art Institution; and the botanic garden andmuseum of minerals to a third body we propose. 

This third body we would form from a union of the Zoological, theGeological, the Natural History, and all other such societies, andendow it with the Botanic and Zoological Gardens--give it rooms for ageneral and for a specially Irish museum, and for lecture-rooms intown, and supply it with a small fund to pay lecturers, who should gothrough the provinces. 

We are firmly convinced that this re-arrangement of the Institutions ofDublin is quite practicable, would diminish unproductive expenses, economise the time, and condense the purposes of our literary, scientific, and artistical men, and increase enormously the use of theinstitutions to the public. 

Of course the whole plan will be laughed at as fanciful and improbable;we think it easy, and we think it will be done. 

IRELAND'S PEOPLE, LORDS, GENTRY, COMMONALTY. 

When we are considering a country's resources and its fitness for apeculiar destiny, its people are not to be overlooked. How much theythink, how much they work, what are their passions, as well as theirhabits, what are their hopes and what their history, suggest inquiriesas well worth envious investigation as even the inside of a refugee'sletter. 

And there is much in Ireland of that character--much that makes hersuperior to slavery, and much that renders her inferior to freedom. 

Her inhabitants are composed of Irish nobles, Irish gentry, and theIrish people. Each has an interest in the independence of theircountry, each a share in her disgrace. Upon each, too, there devolves aseparate duty in this crisis of her fate. They all haveresponsibilities; but the infamy of failing in them is not alike inall. 

The nobles are the highest class. They have most to guard. In everyother country they are the champions of patriotism. They feel there isno honour for them separate from their fatherland. Its freedom, itsdignity, its integrity, are as their own. They strive for it, legislatefor it, guard it, fight for it. Their names, their titles, their verypride are of it. 

In Ireland they are its disgrace. They were first to sell and would belast to redeem it. Treachery to it is daubed on many an escutcheon inits heraldry. It is the only nation where slaves have been ennobled forcontributing to its degradation. 

It is a foul thing this--dignity emanating from the throne to gild thefilthy mass of national treason that forms the man's part of many anIrish lord. 

We do not include in this the whole Irish peerage. God forbid. Thereare several of them not thus ignoble. Many of them worked, struggled, sacrificed for Ireland. Many of them were true to her in the darkesttimes. 

They were her chiefs, her ornaments, her sentinels, her safeguards. Alas! that they, too, should have shrunk from their position, and lefttheir duties to humbler, but bolder and better men. 

Look at their station in the State. Is it not one of unequivocal shame?They enjoy the half-mendicant privilege of voting for a representativeof their order, in the House of Lords, some twice or thrice in theirlives. One Irish peer represents about a dozen others of his class, andthus, in his multiplex capacity, he is admitted into fellowship withthe English nobility. The borrowed plumes, the delegated authority ofso many of his equals, raise him to a half-admitted equality with anEnglish nobleman. And, although thus deprived of their inheritance ofdignity, they are not allowed even the privilege of a commoner. AnIrish lord cannot sit in the House of Commons for an Irish county orcity, nor can he vote for an Irish member. 

But an Irish lord can represent an English constituency. Thedistinction is a strange one--unintelligible to us in any sense but oneof national humiliation. We understand it thus--an Irish lord is toomean in his own person, and by virtue of his Irish title, to rank withthe British peerage. He can only qualify for that honour by uniting inhis the suffrages and titles of ten or twelve others. But--flatteringdistinction!--he is above the rank of an Irish commoner, nor is hepermitted to sully his name with the privileges of that order. And--unspeakable dignity!--he may take his stand with a British mob. 

There is no position to match this in shame. There is no guilt sodespicable as dozing in it without a blush or an effort, or even adream for independence. When all else are alive to indignity, andworking in the way of honour and liberty, they alone, whom it wouldbest become to be earliest and most earnest in the strife, sink backreplete with dishonour. 

Of those, or their descendants, who, at the time of the Union, soldtheir country and the high places they filled in her councils and inher glory, for the promise of a foreign title, which has not beenredeemed, the shame and the mortification have been perhaps too greatto admit of any hope in regard to them. Their trust was sacred--theirhonour unsuspected. The stake they guarded above life they betrayedthen for a false bauble; and it is no wonder if they think their infamyirredeemable and eternal. 

We know not but it is. There are many, however, not in that category. They struggled at fearful odds, and every risk, against the fate oftheir country. They strove when hope had left them. Wherefore do theystand apart now, when she is again erect, and righteous, and daring?Have they despaired for her greatness, because of the infidelity ofthose to whom she had too blindly trusted?

The time is gone when she could be betrayed. This one result is alreadyguaranteed by recent teaching. We may not be yet thoroughly instructedin the wisdom and the virtue necessary for the independent maintenanceof self-government; but we have mastered thus much of nationalknowledge that we cannot be betrayed. There is no assurance everynation gave which we have not given, or may not give, that our presentstruggle shall end in triumph or in national death. 

The writers of _The Nation_ have never concealed the defects orflattered the good qualities of their countrymen. They have told themin good faith that they wanted many an attribute of a free people, andthat the true way to command happiness and liberty was by learning thearts and practising the culture that fitted men for their enjoyment. Nor was it until we saw them thus learning and thus practising that ourfaith became perfect, and that we felt entitled to say to all men, hereis a strife in which it will be stainless glory to be even defeated. Itis one in which the Irish nobility have the first interest and thefirst stake in their individual capacities. 

As they would be the most honoured and benefited by national success, they are the guiltiest in opposing or being indifferent to nationalpatriotism. 

Of the Irish gentry there is not much to be said. They are divisibleinto two classes--the one consists of the old Norman race commingledwith the Catholic gentlemen who either have been able to maintain theirpatrimonies, or who have risen into affluence by their own industry;the other, the descendants of Cromwell's or William's successfulsoldiery. 

This last is the most anti-Irish of all. They feel no personaldebasement in the dishonour of the country. Old prejudices, a barbarouslaw, a sense of insecurity in the possessions they know were obtainedby plunder, combine to sink them into the mischievous and unholy beliefthat it is their interest as well as their duty to degrade, and wrong, and beggar the Irish people. 

There are among them men fired by enthusiasm, men fed by fanaticism, men influenced by sordidness; but, as a whole, they are earnestthinkers and stern actors. There is a virtue in their unscrupulousness. They speak, and act, and dare as men. There is a principle in theirunprincipledness. Their belief is a harsh and turbulent one, but theyprofess it in a manly fashion. 

We like them better than the other section of the same class. Theselast are but sneaking echoes of the other's views. They are cowardpatriots and criminal dandies. But they ought to be different from whatthey are. We wish them so. We want their aid now--for the country, forthemselves, for all. Would that they understood the truth, that theythought justly, and acted uprightly. They are wanted, one and all. Whyconceal it--they are obstacles in our way, shadows on our path. 

These are called the representatives of the property of the country. They are against the national cause, and therefore it is said that allthe wealth of Ireland is opposed to the Repeal of the Union. 

It is an ignorant and a false boast. 

The people of the country are its wealth. They till its soil, raise itsproduce, ply its trade. They serve, sustain, support, save it. Theysupply its armies--they are its farmers, its merchants, its tradesmen, its artists, all that enrich and adorn it. 

And, after all, each of them has a patrimony to spend, the honourableearning of his sweat, or his intellect, or his industry, or his genius. Taking them on an average, they must, to live, spend at least £5 eachby the year. Multiply it by seven millions, and see what it comes to. 

Thirty-five millions annually--compare with that the rental of Ireland;compare with it the wealth of the aristocracy spent in Ireland, and arethey not as nothing?

But a more important comparison may be made of the strength, thefortitude, the patience, the bravery of those, the enrichers of thecountry, with the meanness in mind and courage of those who are opposedto them. 

It is the last we shall suggest. It is sufficient for our purpose. Tothose who do not think it of the highest value we have nothing to say. 

THE STATE OF THE PEASANTRY. 

In a climate soft as a mother's smile, on a soil fruitful as God'slove, the Irish peasant mourns. 

He is not unconsoled. Faith in the joys of another world, heightened byhis woe in this, give him hours when he serenely looks down on thetorments that encircle him--the moon on a troubled sky. Domestic love, almost morbid from external suffering, prevents him from becoming afanatic or a misanthrope, and reconciles him to life. Sometimes heforgets all, and springs into a desperate glee or a scathing anger; andlatterly another feeling--the hope of better days--and anotherexertion--the effort for redress--have shared his soul with religion, love, mirth, and vengeance. 

His consolations are those of a spirit--his misery includes allphysical sufferings, and many that strike the soul, not the senses. 

Consider his griefs! They begin in the cradle--they end in the grave. 

Suckled by a breast that is supplied from unwholesome or insufficientfood, and that is fevered with anxiety--reeking with the smoke of analmost chimneyless cabin--assailed by wind and rain when the weatherrages--breathing, when it is calm, the exhalations of a rotten roof, ofclay walls, and of manure, which gives his only chance of food--he isapt to perish in his infancy. 

Or he survives all this (happy if he have escaped from gnawing scrofulaor familiar fever), and in the same cabin, with rags instead of hismother's breast, and lumpers instead of his mother's milk, he spendshis childhood. 

Advancing youth brings him labour, and manhood increases it; but youthand manhood leave his roof rotten, his chimney one hole, his windowanother, his clothes rags (at best muffled by a holiday _cotamore_)--hisfurniture, a pot, a table, a few hay chairs and rickety stools--hisfood, lumpers and water--his bedding, straw and a coverlet--hisenemies, the landlord, the tax-gatherer, and the law--his consolation, the priest and his wife--his hope on earth, agitation--his hopehereafter, the Lord God!

For such an existence his toil is hard--and so much the better--itcalms and occupies his mind; but bitter is his feeling that the toilwhich gains for him this nauseous and scanty livelihood heaps daintiesand gay wines on the table of his distant landlord, clothes hischildren or his harem in satin, lodges them in marble halls, and bringsall the arts of luxury to solicit their senses--bitter to him to feelthat this green land, which he loves and his landlord scorns, isravished by him of her fruits to pamper that landlord; twice bitter forhim to see his wife, with weariness in her breast of love, to see halfhis little brood torn by the claws of want to undeserved graves, and toknow that to those who survive him he can only leave the inheritance towhich he was heir; and thrice bitter to him that even his hovel has notthe security of the wild beast's den--that Squalidness, and Hunger, andDisease are insufficient guardians of his home--and that the puff ofthe landlord's or the agent's breath may blow him off the land where hehas lived, and send him and his to a dyke, or to prolong wretchednessin some desperate kennel in the next town, till the strong wings ofDeath--unopposed lord of such suburb--bear them away. 

Aristocracy of Ireland, will ye do nothing?--will ye do nothing forfear? The body who best know Ireland--the body that keep Ireland withinthe law--the Repeal Committee--declare that unless some great changetake place an agrarian war may ensue! Do ye know what that is, and howit would come? The rapid multiplication of outrages, increased violenceby magistrates, collisions between the people and the police, coercivelaws and military force, the violation of houses, the suspension ofindustry--the conflux of discontent, pillage, massacre, war--the gentryshattered, the peasantry conquered and decimated, or victorious andruined (for who could rule them?)--there is an agrarian insurrection!May Heaven guard us from it!--may the fear be vain!

We set aside the fear! Forget it! Think of the long, long patience ofthe people--their toils supporting you--their virtues shamingyou--their huts, their hunger, their disease. 

To whomsoever God had given a heart less cold than stone, these truthsmust cry day and night. Oh! how they cross us like _Banshees whenwe would range free on the mountain--how, as we walk in the eveninglight amid flowers, they startle us from rest of mind! Ye nobles! whosehouses are as gorgeous as the mote's (who dwelleth in the sunbeam)--yestrong and haughty squires--ye dames exuberant with tingling blood--yemaidens, whom not splendour has yet spoiled, will ye not think of thepoor?--will ye not shudder in your couches to think how rain, wind, andsmoke dwell with the blanketless peasant?--will ye not turn from thesumptuous board to look at those hard-won meals of black and slimyroots on which man, woman, and child feed year after year?--will yenever try to banish wringing hunger and ghastly disease from the homeof such piety and love?--will ye not give back its dance to thevillage--its mountain play to boyhood--its serene hopes to manhood?

Will ye do nothing for pity--nothing for love? Will ye leave a foreignParliament to mitigate--will ye leave a native Parliament, gained inyour despite, to redress these miseries--will ye for ever abdicate theduty and the joy of making the poor comfortable, and the peasantattached and happy? Do--if so you prefer; but know that if you do, youare a doomed race. Once more, Aristocracy of Ireland, we warn andentreat you to consider the State of the Peasantry, and to save themwith your own hands. 

HABITS AND CHARACTER OF THE PEASANTRY. [44]

There are (thank God!) four hundred thousand Irish children in theNational Schools. A few years, and _they will be the People ofIreland--the farmers of its lands, the conductors of its traffic, theadepts in its arts. How utterly unlike _that Ireland will be to theIreland of the Penal Laws, of the Volunteers, of the Union, or of theEmancipation?

Well may Carleton say that we are in a transition state. The knowledge, the customs, the superstitions, the hopes of the People are entirelychanging. There is neither use nor reason in lamenting what we mustinfallibly lose. Our course is an open and a great one, and will try usseverely; but, be it well or ill, we cannot resemble our fathers. Noconceivable effort will get the people, twenty years hence, to regardthe Fairies but as a beautiful fiction to be cherished, not believedin, and not a few real and human characters are perishing as fast asthe Fairies. 

Let us be content to have the past chronicled wherever it cannot bepreserved. 

Much may be saved--the Gaelic language and the music of the past may behanded uncorrupted to the future; but whatever may be the substitutes, the Fairies and the Banshees, the Poor Scholar and the Ribbonman, theOrange Lodge, the Illicit Still, and the Faction Fight are vanishinginto history, and unless this generation paints them no other will knowwhat they were. 

It is chiefly in this way we value the work before us. In it Carletonis the historian of the peasantry rather than a dramatist. The fiddlerand piper, the seanachie and seer, the match-maker and dancing-master, and a hundred characters beside are here brought before you, moving, acting, playing, plotting, and gossiping! You are never wearied by aninventory of wardrobes, as in short English descriptive fictions; yetyou see how every one is dressed; you hear the honey brogue of themaiden, and the downy voice of the child, the managed accents offlattery or traffic, the shrill tones of woman's fretting, and thetroubled gush of man's anger. The moory upland and the corn slopes, theglen where the rocks jut through mantling heather, and bright brooksgurgle amid the scented banks of wild herbs, the shivering cabin andthe rudely-lighted farm-house are as plain in Carleton's pages as if heused canvas and colours with a skill varying from Wilson and Poussin toTeniers and Wilkie. 

But even in these sketches his power of external description is not hisgreatest merit. Born and bred among the people--full of their animalvehemence--skilled in their sports--as credulous and headlong inboyhood, and as fitful and varied in manhood, as the wildest--he hadfelt with them, and must ever sympathise with them. Endowed with thehighest dramatic genius, he has represented their love and generosity, their wrath and negligence, their crimes and virtues, as a heartypeasant--not a note-taking critic. 

In others of his works he has created ideal characters that give him ahigher rank as a poet (some of them not surpassed by even Shakespearefor originality, grandeur, and distinctness); but here he is a genuineSeanachie, and brings you to dance and wake, to wedding andchristening--makes you romp with the girls, and race with theboys--tremble at the ghosts, and frolic with the fairies of the wholeparish. 

Come what change there may over Ireland, in these _Tales and Sketches_the peasantry of the past hundred years can be for ever lived with. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [44] _Tales and Sketches illustrating the Irish Peasantry. _ By William Carleton. James Duffy, Dublin, 1845. 1 vol. , 8vo. , pp. 393. 

IRISH SCENERY. 

We no more see why Irish people should not visit the Continent than whyGermans or Frenchmen ought not to visit Ireland; but there is adifference between them. A German rarely comes here who has nottrampled the heath of Tyrol, studied the museums of Dresden and thefrescoes of Munich, and shouted defiance on the bank of the Rhine; andwhat Frenchman who has not seen the vineyards of Provence and thebocages of Brittany, and the snows of Jura and the Pyrenees, ever droveon an Irish jingle? But our nobles and country gentlemen, ourmerchants, lawyers, and doctors--and what's worse, their wives anddaughters--penetrate Britain and the Continent without ever tryingwhether they could not defy in Ireland the _ennui_ before which theyrun over seas and mountains. 

The cause of this, as of most of our grievances, was misgovernment, producing poverty, discomfort, ignorance, and misrepresentation. Thepeople were ignorant and in rags, their houses miserable, the roads andhotels shocking; we had no banks, few coaches, and, to crown all, theEnglish declared the people to be rude and turbulent, which they werenot, as well as drunken and poor, which they assuredly were. An Irishlandlord who had ill-treated his own tenants felt a conscientious dreadof all frieze-coats; others adopted his prejudices, and a people whonever were rude or unjust to strangers were considered unsafe to travelamongst. 

Most of these causes are removed. The people are sober, and are rapidlyadvancing to knowledge, their political exertions and dignity havebroken away much of the prejudices against them, and a man passingthrough any part of Ireland expects to find woeful poverty and strongdiscontent, but he does not fear the abduction of his wife, or attemptsto assassinate him on every lonely road. The coaches, cars, and roads, too, have become excellent, and the hotels are sufficient for anyreasonable traveller. One very marked discouragement to travelling wasthe want of information; the maps were little daubs, and theguide-books were few and inaccurate. As to maps we are now splendidlyoff. The Railway Commissioners' Map of Ireland, aided by the OrdnanceIndex Map of any county where a visitor makes a long stay, are ample. We have got a good general guide-book in Fraser, but it could not holda twentieth of the information necessary to a leisurely tourist; nor, till the Ordnance Memoir is out, shall we have thorough hand-books toour counties. Meantime, let us not burn the little guides to Antrim, Wicklow, and Killarney, though they are desperately dull andinexact--let us not altogether prohibit Mrs. Hall's gossip, though sheknows less about our Celtic people than the Malays; and let us be eventhankful for Mr. O'Flanagan's volume of the Munster Blackwater (thoughit is printed in London) for his valuable stories, for his minute, picturesque, and full topography, for his antiquarian and historicdetails, though he blunders into making Alaster M'Donnell a Scotchman, and for his hearty love of the scenery and people he has undertaken toguide us through. 

And now, reader, in this fine soft summer, when the heather isblooming, and the sky laughing and crying like a hysterical bride, fullof love, where will ye go--through your own land or a stranger's? Ifyou stay at home you can choose your own scenery, and have something tosee in the summer, and talk of in the winter, that will make yourfriends from the Alps and Apennines respectful to you. 

Did you propose to study economies among the metayers of Tuscany or theartisans of Belgium, postpone the trip till the summer of '45 or '46, when you may have the passport of an Irish office to get you a welcome, and seek for the state of the linen weavers in the soft hamlets ofUlster--compare the cattle herds of Meath with the safe little holdingsof Down and the well-found farms of Tipperary, or investigate thestatistics of our fisheries along the rivers and lakes and shores ofour island. 

Had a strong desire come upon you to toil over the glacier, whosecentre froze when Adam courted Eve, or walk amid the brigand passes ofItaly or Spain--do not fancy that absolute size makes mountaingrandeur, or romance--to a mind full of passion and love of strength(and with such only do the mountain spirits walk) the passes ofGlenmalure and Barnesmore are deep as Chamouni, and Carn Tual andSlieve Donard are as near the lightning as Mount Blanc. 

To the picture-hunter we can offer little, though Vandyke's finestportrait is in Kilkenny, and there is no county without somecollection; but for the lover of living or sculptured forms--for theartist, the antiquarian, and the natural philosopher, we have more thanfive summers could exhaust. Every one can see the strength of outline, the vigour of colour, and the effective grouping in every fair, andwake, and chapel, and hurling-ground, from Donegal to Waterford, thoughit may take the pen of Griffin or the pencil of Burton to representthem. An Irishman, if he took the pains, would surely find somethingnot inferior in interest to Cologne or the Alhambra in study of themonumental effigies which mat the floors of Jerpoint and Adare, or thecross in a hundred consecrated grounds from Kells to Clonmacnoise--ofthe round towers which spring in every barony--of the architecturalperfection of Holycross and Clare-Galway, and the strange fellowship ofevery order in Athassel, or of the military keeps and earthen pyramidsand cairns, which tell of the wars of recent and the piety of distantcenturies. The Entomology, Botany, and Geology of Ireland are not halfexplored; the structure and distinctions of its races are but justattracting the eyes of philosophers from Mr. Wilde's tract, and thecountry is actually full of airs never noted, history never written, superstitions and romances never rescued from tradition; and why shouldIrishmen go blundering in foreign researches when so much remains to bedone here, and when to do it would be more easy, more honourable, andmore useful?

In many kinds of scenery we can challenge comparison. Europe has nolake so dreamily beautiful as Killarney; no bays where the boldness ofNorway unites with the colouring of Naples, as in Bantry; and you mightcoast the world without finding cliffs so vast and so terrible asAchill and Slieve League. Glorious, too, as the Rhine is, we doubt ifits warmest admirers would exclude from rivalry the Nore and theBlackwater, if they had seen the tall cliffs, and the twisted slopes, and the ruined aisles, and glancing mountains, and feudal castlesthrough which you boat up from Youghal to Mallow, or glide down fromThomastown to Waterford harbour. Hear what Inglis says of thisAvondhu:--

 "We have had descents of the Danube, and descents of the Rhine, and the Rhone, and of many other rivers; but we have not in print, as far as I know, any descent of the Blackwater; and yet, with all these descents of foreign rivers in my recollection, _I think the descent of the Blackwater not surpassed by any of them. _ A detail of all that is seen in gliding down the Blackwater from Cappoquin to Youghal would fill a long chapter. There is every combination that can be produced by the elements that enter into the picturesque and the beautiful--deep shades, bold rocks, verdant slopes, with the triumphs of art superadded, and made visible in magnificent houses and beautiful villas with their decorated lawns and pleasure grounds. "

And now, reader, if these kaleidoscope glimpses we have given you havemade you doubt between a summer in Ireland and one abroad, give yourcountry "the benefit of the doubt, " as the lawyers say, and boat on ourlake or dive into our glens and ruins, wonder at the basalt coast ofAntrim, and soften your heart between the banks of the Blackwater. 

IRISH MUSIC AND POETRY. 

No enemy speaks slightingly of Irish Music, and no friend need fear toboast of it. It is without a rival. 

Its antique war-tunes, such as those of O'Byrne, O'Donnell, Alestrom, and Brian Boru, stream and crash upon the ear like the warriors of ahundred glens meeting; and you are borne with them to battle, and theyand you charge and struggle amid cries and battle-axes and stingingarrows. Did ever a wail make man's marrow quiver, and fill his nostrilswith the breath of the grave, like the ululu of the north or thewirrasthrue of Munster? Stately are their slow, and recklessly splendidtheir quick marches, their "Boyne Water, " and "Sios agus sios liom, "their "Michael Hoy, " and "Gallant Tipperary. " The Irish jigs andplanxties are not only the best dancing tunes, but the finest quickmarches in the world. Some of them would cure a paralytic and make themarble-legged prince in the _Arabian Nights_ charge like a Fag-an-Bealachboy. The hunter joins in every leap and yelp of the "Fox Chase"; thehistorian hears the moan of the penal days in "Drimindhu, " and sees theembarkation of the Wild Geese in "Limerick's Lamentation"; and ask thelover if his breath do not come and go with "Savourneen Deelish" and"Lough Sheelin. "

Varied and noble as our music is, the English-speaking people inIreland have been gradually losing their knowledge of it, and a numberof foreign tunes--paltry scented things from Italy, lively trifles fromScotland, and German opera cries--are heard in our concerts, and whatis worse, from our Temperance bands. Yet we never doubted that "TheSight Entrancing, " or "The Memory of the Dead, " would satisfy even themost spoiled of our fashionables better than anything Balfe or Rossiniever wrote; and, as it is, "Tow-row-row" is better than _poteen_ to theteetotalers, wearied with overtures and insulted by "BritishGrenadiers" and "Rule Brittannia. "

A reprint of _Moore's Melodies_ on lower keys, and at _much_ lowerprices, would probably restore the sentimental music of Ireland to itsnatural supremacy. There are in Bunting but two good sets ofwords--"The Bonny Cuckoo, " and poor Campbell's "Exile's of Erin. " Theseand a few of Lover's and Mahony's songs can alone compete with Moore. But, save one or two by Lysaght and Drennan, almost all the Irishpolitical songs are too desponding or weak to content a people marchingto independence as proudly as if they had never been slaves. 

The popularity and immense circulation of the _Spirit of the Nation_proved that it represented the hopes and passions of the Irish people. This looks like vanity; but as a corporation so numerous as thecontributors to that volume cannot blush, we shall say our say. Forinstance, who did not admire "The Memory of the Dead"? The very Stampofficers were galvanised by it, and the Attorney-General was repeatedlyurged to sing it for the jury. He refused--he had no music to sing itto. We pitied and forgave him; but we vowed to leave him no such excusenext time. If these songs were half so good as people called them, theydeserved to flow from a million throats to as noble music as everO'Neill or O'Connor heard. 

Some of them were written to, and some freely combined with, old andsuitable airs. These we resolved to have printed with the music, certain that, thus, the music would be given back to a people who hadbeen ungratefully neglecting it, and the words carried into circleswhere they were still unknown. 

Others of these poems, indeed the best of them, had no antetypes in ourancient music. New music was, therefore, to be sought for them. Not ontheir account only was it to be sought. We hoped they would be themeans of calling out and making known a contemporary music fresh withthe spirit of the time, and rooted in the country. 

Since Carolan's death there had been no addition to the store. Not thatwe were without composers, but those we have do not compose Irish-likemusic, nor for Ireland. Their rewards are from a foreign public--theirfame, we fear, will suffer from alienage. Balfe is very sweet, andRooke very emphatic, but not one passion or association in Ireland'sheart would answer to their songs. 

Fortunately there was one among us (perchance his example may light usto others) who can smite upon our harp like a master, and make it sighwith Irish memories, and speak sternly with Ireland's resolve. To him, to his patriotism, to his genius, and, we may selfishly add, to hisfriendship, we owe our ability now to give to Ireland music fit for"The Memory of the Dead" and the "Hymn of Freedom, " and whatever elsewas marked out by popularity for such care as his. 

In former editions of the _Spirit_[45] we had thrown in carelesslyseveral inferior verses and some positive trash, and neither paper norprinting was any great honour to the Dublin press. Every improvement inthe power of the most enterprising publisher in Ireland has been made, and every fault, within our reach or his, cured--and whether as thefirst publication of original airs, as a selection of ancient music, oras a specimen of what the Dublin press can do, in printing, paper, orcheapness, we urge the public to support this work of Mr. JamesDuffy's--and, in a pecuniary way, it is his altogether. 

We had hoped to have added a recommendation to the first number of thiswork, besides whatever attraction may lie in its music, its ballads, orits mechanical beauty. 

An artist, whom we shall not describe or he would be known, [46] sketcheda cover and title for it. The idea, composition, and drawing of thatdesign were such as Flaxman might have been proud of. It is a monumentto bardic power, to patriotism, to our music and our history. There isat least as much poetry in it as in the best verses in the work itillustrates. If it do nothing else, it will show our Irish artists thatrefinement and strength, passion and dignity, are as practicable inIrish as in German painting; and the lesson was needed sorely. But ifit lead him who drew it to see that our history and hopes present fitforms to embody the highest feelings of beauty, wisdom, truth, andglory in, irrespective of party politics, then, indeed, we shall haveserved our country when we induced our gifted friend to condescend tosketching a title-page. We need not describe that design now, as itwill appear on the cover of the second number, and on the title-page ofthe finished volume. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [45] A splendid edition of this work, greatly enlarged, and printed in The Irish Exhibition Buildings, was issued by Messrs. Duffy and Sons, September, 1882. 

 [46] The artist referred to was Sir Frederick Burton. [Ed. ]

BALLAD POETRY OF IRELAND. 

How slow we have all been in coming to understand the meaning of IrishNationality!

Some, dazzled by visions of pagan splendour, and the pretensions ofpedigree, and won by the passions and romance of the olden races, continued to speak in the nineteenth century of an Irish nation as theymight have done in the tenth. They forgot the English Pale, the UlsterSettlement, and the filtered colonisation of men and ideas. A Celtickingdom with the old names and the old language, without the oldquarrels, was their hope; and though they would not repeat O'Neill'scomment as he passed Barrett's castle on his march to Kinsale, andheard it belonged to a Strongbownian, that "he hated the Norman churlas if he came yesterday"; yet they quietly assumed that the Norman andSaxon elements would disappear under the Gaelic genius like the tracksof cavalry under a fresh crop. 

The Nationality of Swift and Grattan was equally partial. They saw thatthe government and laws of the settlers had extended to theisland--that Donegal and Kerry were in the Pale; they heard the Englishtongue in Dublin, and London opinions in Dublin--they mistook Irelandfor a colony wronged, and great enough to be a nation. 

A lower form of nationhood was before the minds of those who saw in itnothing but a parliament in College Green. They had not erred injudging, for they had not tried to estimate the moral elements andtendencies of the country. They were as narrow bigots to theomnipotency of an institution as any Cockney Radical. Could they, byany accumulation of English stupidity and Irish laziness, have gotpossession of an Irish government, they would soon have distressedevery one by their laws, whom they had not provoked by theiradministration, or disgusted by their dulness. 

Far healthier, with all its defects, was the idea of those who saw inScotland a perfect model--who longed for a literary and artisticnationality--who prized the oratory of Grattan and Curran, the novelsof Griffin and Carleton, the pictures of Maclise and Burton, theancient music, as much as any, and far more than most, of the politicalnationalists, but who regarded political independence as a dangerousdream. Unknowingly they fostered it. Their writings, their patronage, their talk was of Ireland; yet it hardly occurred to them that theideal would flow into the practical, or that they, with their dread ofagitation, were forwarding a revolution. 

At last we are beginning to see what we are, and what is our destiny. Our duty arises where our knowledge begins. The elements of Irishnationality are not only combining--in fact, they are growing confluentin our minds. Such nationality as merits a good man's help and wakens atrue man's ambition--such nationality as could stand against internalfaction and foreign intrigue--such nationality as would make the Irishhearth happy and the Irish name illustrious, is becoming understood. Itmust contain and represent the races of Ireland. It must not be Celtic, it must not be Saxon--it must be Irish. The Brehon law and the maximsof Westminster, the cloudy and lightning genius of the Gael, the placidstrength of the Sasanach, the marshalling insight of the Norman--aliterature which shall exhibit in combination the passions and idiomsof all, and which shall equally express our mind in its romantic, itsreligious, its forensic, and its practical tendencies--finally, anative government, which shall know and rule by the might and right ofall; yet yield to the arrogance of none--these are components of_such_ a nationality. 

But what have these things to do with the "Ballad Poetry of Ireland"?Much every way. It is the result of the elements we have named--it iscompounded of all; and never was there a book fitter to advance thatperfect nationality to which Ireland begins to aspire. That a countryis without national poetry proves its hopeless dulness or its utterprovincialism. National poetry is the very flowering of the soul--thegreatest evidence of its health, the greatest excellence of its beauty. Its melody is balsam to the senses. It is the playfellow of childhoodripens into the companion of his manhood, consoles his age. It presentsthe most dramatic events, the largest characters, the most impressivescenes, and the deepest passions in the language most familiar to us. It shows us magnified, and ennobles our hearts, our intellects, ourcountry, and our countrymen--binds us to the land by its condensed andgem-like history, to the future by examples and by aspirations. Itsolaces us in travel, fires us in action, prompts our invention, shedsa grace beyond the power of luxury round our homes, is the recognisedenvoy of our minds among all mankind and to all time. 

In possessing the powers and elements of a glorious nationality, weowned the sources of a national poetry. In the combination and jointdevelopment of the latter we find a pledge and a help to that of theformer. 

This book of Mr. Duffy's, [47] true as it is to the wants of the time, isnot fortuitous. He has prefaced his admirable collection by anIntroduction, which proves his full consciousness of the worth of histask, and proves equally his ability to execute it. In a space tooshort for the most impatient to run by he has accurately investigatedthe sources of Irish Ballad Poetry, vividly defined the qualities ofeach, and laboured with perfect success to show that all naturallycombine towards one great end, as the brooks to a river, which marcheson clear, deep, and single, though they be wild, and shallow, andturbid, flowing from unlike regions, and meeting after countlesswindings. 

Mr. Duffy maps out three main forces which unequally contribute to anIrish Ballad Poetry. 

The _first_ consists of the Gaelic ballads. True to the vehemence andtendencies of the Celtic people, and representing equally theirvagueness and extravagance during slavish times, they neverthelessremain locked from the middle and upper classes generally, and from thepeasantry of more than half Ireland, in an unknown language. Many ofthem have been translated by rhymers--few indeed by poets. The editorof the volume before us has brought into one house nearly all thepoetical translations from the Irish, and thus finely justifies theballad literature of the Gael from its calumnious friend:--

 "With a few exceptions, all the translations we are acquainted with, in addition to having abundance of minor faults, are eminently un-Irish. They seem to have been made by persons to whom one of the languages was not familiar. Many of them were confessedly versified from prose translations, and are mere English poems, without a tinge of the colour or character of the country. Others, translated by sound Irish scholars, are bald and literal; the writers sometimes wanting a facility of versification, sometimes a mastery over the English language. The Irish scholars of the last century were too exclusively national to study the foreign tongue with the care essential to master its metrical resources; and the flexible and weighty language which they had not learned to wield hung heavily on them, 'Like Saul's plate armour on the shepherd boy, Encumbering, and _not_ arming them. '

 If it were just to estimate our bardic poetry by the specimens we have received in this manner, it could not be rated highly. But it would manifestly be most unjust. Noble and touching, and often subtle and profound thoughts, which no translation could entirely spoil, shine through the poverty of the style, and vindicate the character of the originals. Like the costly arms and ornaments found in our bogs, they are substantial witnesses of a distinct civilisation; and their credit is no more diminished by the rubbish in which they chance to be found than the authenticity of the ancient _torques_ and _skians_ by their embedment in the mud. When the entire collection of our Irish Percy--James Hardiman--shall have been given to a public (and soon may such a one come) that can relish them in their native dress, they will be entitled to undisputed precedence in our national minstrelsy. "

About a dozen of the ballads in the volume are derived from the Irish. It is only in this way that Clarence Mangan (a name to which Mr. Duffydoes just honour) contributes to the volume. There are fourtranslations by him, exhibiting eminently his perfect mastery ofversification--his flexibility of passion, from loneliest grief to themaddest humour. One of these, "The Lament for O'Neil and O'Donnell, " isthe strongest, though it will not be the most popular, ballad in thework. 

Callanan's and Ferguson's translations, if not so daringly versified, are simpler and more Irish in idiom. 

Most, indeed, of Callanan's successful ballads are translations, andwell entitle him to what he passionately prays for--a minstrel of freeErin to come to his grave, "And plant a wild wreath from the banks of the river O'er the heart and the harp that are sleeping for ever. "

But we are wrong in speaking of Mr. Ferguson's translations inprecisely the same way. His "Wicklow War Song" is condensed, epigrammatic, and crashing, as anything we know of, except the "Pibrochof Donnil Dhu. "

The _second_ source is--the common people's ballads. Most of these"make no pretence to being true to Ireland, but only being true to the_purlieus_ of Cork and Dublin"; yet now and then one meets a fine burstof passion, and oftener a racy idiom. The "Drimin Dhu, " "The Blackbird, ""Peggy Bawn, " "Irish Molly, " "Willy Reilly, " and the "Fair ofTurloughmore, " are the specimens given here. Of these "Willy Reilly"(an old and worthy favourite in Ulster, it seems, but quite unknownelsewhere) is the best; but it is too long to quote, and we must limitourselves to the noble opening verse of "Turloughmore"--

 "'Come, tell me, dearest mother, what makes my father stay, Or what can be the reason that he's so long away?' Oh! 'hold your tongue, my darling son, your tears do grieve me sore; I fear he has been murdered in the fair of Turloughmore. '"

The _third_ and principal source consists of the Anglo-Irish ballads, written during the last twenty or thirty years. 

Of this highest class, he who contributes most and, to our mind, bestis Mr. Ferguson. We have already spoken of his translations--hisoriginal ballads are better. There is nothing in this volume--nothingin _Percy's Relics_, or the _Border Minstrelsy_, to surpass, perhaps to equal, "Willy Gilliland. " It is as natural in structure as"Kinmont Willie, " as vigorous as "Otterbourne, " and as complete as"Lochinvar. " Leaving his Irish idiom, we get in the "Forester'sComplaint" as harmonious versification, and in the "Forging of theAnchor" as vigorous thoughts, mounted on bounding words, as anywhere inthe English literature. 

We must quote some stray verses from "Willy Gilliland":--

 "Up in the mountain solitudes, and in a rebel ring, He has worshipped God upon the hill, in spite of church and king; And sealed his treason with his blood on Bothwell bridge he hath; So he must fly his father's land, or he must die the death; For comely Claverhouse has come along with grim Dalzell, And his smoking roof tree testifies they've done their errand well. 

 * * * * * * * * * *

 "His blithe work done, upon a bank the outlaw rested now, And laid the basket from his back, the bonnet from his brow; And there, his hand upon the Book, his knee upon the sod, He filled the lonely valley with the gladsome word of God; And for a persecuted kirk, and for her martyrs dear, And against a godless church and king he spoke up loud and clear. 

 * * * * * * * * * *

 "'My bonny mare! I've ridden you when Claver'se rode behind, And from the thumbscrew and the boot you bore me like the wind; And while I have the life you saved, on your sleek flank, I swear, Episcopalian rowel shall never ruffle hair! Though sword to wield they've left me none--yet Wallace wight I wis, Good battle did, on Irvine side, wi' waur weapon than this. '--

 "His fishing-rod with both his hands he gripped it as he spoke, And, where the butt and top were spliced, in pieces twain he broke; The limber top he cast away, with all its gear abroad, But, grasping the tough hickory butt, with spike of iron shod, He ground the sharp spear to a point; then pulled his bonnet down, And, meditating black revenge, set forth for Carrick town. "

The only ballad equally racy is "The Croppy Boy, " by some anonymous butmost promising writer. 

Griffin's "Gille Machree"--of another class--is perfect--"striking onthe heart, " as Mr. Duffy finely says, "like the cry of a woman"; buthis "Orange and Green, " and his "Bridal of Malahide, " belong to thesame class, and suffer by comparison, with Mr. Ferguson's ballads. 

Banim's greatest ballad, the "Soggarth Aroon, " possesses even deepertenderness and more perfect Irish idiom than anything in the volume. 

Among the Collection are Colonel Blacker's famous Orange ballad, "Oliver's Advice" ("Put your trust in God, my boys, but keep yourpowder dry"), and two versions of the "Boyne Water. " The latter andolder one, given in the appendix, is by far the finest, and containstwo unrivalled stanzas:--

 "Both foot and horse they marched on, intending them to batter, But the brave Duke Schomberg he was shot as he crossed over the water. When that King William he observed the brave Duke Schomberg falling, He rein'd his horse, with a heavy heart, on the Enniskilleners calling; 'What will you do for me, brave boys? see yonder men retreating, Our enemies encouraged are--and English drums are beating'; He says 'My boys, feel no dismay at the losing of one commander, For God shall be our King this day, and I'll be general under. '"

Nor less welcome is the comment:--

 "Some of the Ulster ballads, of a restricted and provincial spirit, having less in common with Ireland than with Scotland; two or three Orange ballads, altogether ferocious or foreign in their tendencies (preaching murder, or deifying an alien), will be no less valuable to the patriot or the poet on this account. They echo faithfully the sentiments of a strong, vehement, and indomitable body of Irishmen, who may come to battle for their country better than they ever battled for prejudices or their bigotries. At all events, to know what they love and believe is a precious knowledge. "

On the language of most of the ballads Mr. Duffy says:--

 "Many of them, and generally the best, are just as essentially Irish as if they were written in Gaelic. They could have grown among no other people, perhaps under no other sky or scenery. To an Englishman, to any Irishman educated out of the country, or to a dreamer asleep to impressions of scenery and character, they would be achievements as impossible as the Swedish _Skalds_ or the _Arabian Nights_. They are as Irish as Ossian or Carolan, and unconsciously reproduce the spirit of those poets better than any translator can hope to do. They revive and perpetuate the vehement native songs that gladdened the halls of our princes in their triumphs, and wailed over their ruined hopes or murdered bodies. In everything but language, and almost in language, they are identical. That strange tenacity of the Celtic race, which makes a description of their habits and propensities when Cæsar was still a Proconsul in Gaul true in essentials of the Irish people to this day, has enabled them to infuse the ancient and hereditary spirit of the country into all that is genuine of our modern poetry. And even the language grew almost Irish. The soul of the country, stammering its passionate grief and hatred in a strange tongue, loved still to utter them in its old familiar idioms and cadences. Uttering them, perhaps, with more piercing earnestness, because of the impediment; and winning out of the very difficulty a grace and a triumph. "

How often have we wished for such a companion as this volume! Worsethan meeting unclean beds, or drenching mists, or Cockney opinions, wasit to have to take the mountains with a book of Scottish ballads. Theywere glorious, to be sure, but they were not ours--they had not thebrown of the climate on their cheek, they spoke of places afar, andways which are not our country's ways, and hopes which were notIreland's, and their tongue was not that we first made sport and lovewith. Yet how mountaineer without ballads any more than without ashillelagh? No; we took the Scots ballads, and felt our souls rubbingaway with envy and alienage amid their attractions; but now, Brighid, be praised! we can have all Irish thoughts on Irish hills, true to themas the music, or the wind, or the sky. 

Happy boys! who may grow up with such ballads in your memories. Happymen! who will find your hearts not only doubtful but joyous in servingand sacrificing for the country you thus learned in childhood to love. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [47] _Ballad Poetry of Ireland_, --Library of Ireland, No. II. 

A BALLAD HISTORY OF IRELAND. 

Of course the first _object_ of the work we project[48] will be to makeIrish History familiar to the minds, pleasant to the ears, dear to thepassions, and powerful over the taste and conduct of the Irish peoplein times to come. More _events_ could be put into a prose history. Exact dates, subtle plots, minute connections and motives rarely appearin Ballads, and for these ends the worst prose history is superior tothe best ballad series; but these are not the highest ends of history. To hallow or accurse the scenes of glory and honour, or of shame andsorrow; to give to the imagination the arms, and homes, and senates, and battles of other days; to rouse, and soften, and strengthen, andenlarge us with the passions of great periods; to lead us into love ofself-denial, of justice, of beauty, of valour, of generous life andproud death; and to set up in our souls the memory of great men, whoshall then be as models and judges of our actions--these are thehighest duties of history, and these are best taught by a BalladHistory. 

A Ballad History is welcome to childhood, from its rhymes, its highcolouring, and its aptness to memory. As we grow into boyhood, theviolent passions, the vague hopes, the romantic sorrow of patriotballads are in tune with our fitful and luxuriant feelings. In manhoodwe prize the condensed narrative, the grave firmness, the critical art, and the political sway of ballads. And in old age they are doubly dear;the companions and reminders of our life, the toys and teachers of ourchildren and grand-children. Every generation finds its account inthem. They pass from mouth to mouth like salutations; and even theminds which lose their words are under their influence, as one canrecall the starry heavens who cannot revive the form of a singleconstellation. 

In olden times all ballads were made to music, and the minstrel sangthem to his harp or screamed them in recitative. Thus they reachedfarther, were welcomer guests in feast and camp, and were betterpreserved. We shall have more to say on this in speaking of ourproposed song collection. Printing so multiplies copies of ballads, andintercourse is so general, that there is less need of this adaptationto music now. Moreover, it may be disputed whether the dramatic effectin the more solemn ballads is not injured by lyrical forms. In suchstreaming exhortations and laments as we find in the Greek choruses andin the adjurations and caoines of the Irish, the breaks and parallelrepetitions of a song might lower the passion. Were we free to do so, we could point out instances in the _Spirit of the Nation_ in which therejection of song-forms seems to have been essential to the awfulnessof the occasion. 

In pure narratives and in the gayer and more splendid, though lessstern ballads, the song-forms and adaptation to music are clear gains. 

In the Scotch ballads this is usual, in the English rare. We look invain through Southey's admirable ballads--"Mary the Maid of the Inn, ""Jaspar, " "Inchcape Rock, " "Bishop Hatto, " "King Henry V. And theHermit of Dreux"--for either burden, chorus, or adaptation to music. Inthe "Battle of Blenheim" there is, however, an occasional burden line;and in the smashing "March to Moscow" there is a great chorusing about--

 "Morbleu! Parbleu! What a pleasant excursion to Moscow. "

Coleridge has some skilful repetitions and exquisite versification inhis "Ancient Mariner, " "Genevieve, " "Alice du Clos, " but nowhere asystematic burden. Campbell has no burdens in his finest lyric ballads, though the subjects were fitted for them. The burden of the "Exile ofErin" belongs very doubtfully to him. 

Macaulay's best ballad, the "Battle of Ivry, " is greatly aided by theeven burden line; but he has not repeated the experiment, though he, too, makes much use of repeating lines in his Roman Lays and otherballads. 

While, then, we counsel burdens in Historical Ballads, we wouldrecognise excepted cases where they may be injurious, and treat them asin _no case_ essential to perfect ballad success. In songs, we wouldalmost always insist either on a chorus, verse, or a burden of somesort. A burden need not be at the end of the verse; but may, with quiteequal success, be at the beginning or in the body of it, as may be seenin the Scotch Ballads, and in some of those in the _Spirit of theNation_. 

The old Scotch and English ballads, and Lockhart's translations fromthe Spanish, are mostly composed in one metre, though written down ineither of two ways. Macaulay's Roman Lays and "Ivry" are in this metre. Take an example from the last:--

 "Press where ye see my white plume shine, amid the ranks of war, And be your Oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre. "

In the old ballads this would be printed in four lines, of eightsyllables and six alternately, and rhyming only alternately, thus:--

 "Press where ye see my white plume shine, Amid the ranks of war, And be your Oriflamme to-day The helmet of Navarre. "

So Macaulay himself prints this metre in some of his Roman Lays. 

But the student should rather avoid than seek this metre. The uniformold beat of eight and six is apt to fall monotonously on the ear, andsome of the most startling effects are lost in it. In the _Spirit ofthe Nation_ the student will find many other ballad metres. Campbell'smetres, though new and glorious things, are terrible traps toimitation, and should be warily used. The German ballads, and, stillmore, Mr. Mangan's translations of them, contain great variety of newand safe, though difficult, metres. Next in frequency to thefourteen-syllable line is that in eleven syllables, such as "MaryAmbree" and "Lochinvar"; and for a rolling brave ballad 'tis a finemetre. The metre of fifteen syllables with double rhymes, (or accents)in the middle, and that of thirteen, with double rhymes at the end, istolerably frequent, and the metre used by Father Prout, in his nobletranslation of "Duke D'Alençon, " is admirable, and easier than itseems. By the way, what a grand burden runs through that ballad:--

 "Fools! to believe the sword could give to the children of the Rhine, Our Gallic fields--the land that yields the Olive and the Vine!"

The syllables are as in the common metre, but it has thrice the rhymes. 

We have seen great materials wasted in a struggle with a crotchetymetre; therefore, though we counsel the invention of metres, we wouldadd that unless a metre come out racily and appropriately in the firstcouple of verses, it should be abandoned, and some of those easilymarked metres taken up. 

A historical ballad will commonly be narrative in its form, but notnecessarily so. A hymn of exultation--a call to a council, an army, ora people--a prophecy--a lament--or a dramatic scene (as in Lochiel), may give as much of event, costume, character, and even scenery as amere narration. The varieties of form are infinite, and it argues lackof force in a writer to keep always to mere narration, though whenexact events are to be told that may be the best mode. 

One of the essential qualities of a good historical ballad is truth. Topervert history--to violate nature, in order to make a fine clatter, has been the aim in too many of the ballads sent us. He who goes towrite a historical ballad should master the main facts of the time, andstate them truly. It may be well for those perhaps either not to studyor to half-forget minute circumstances until after his ballad isdrafted out, lest he write a chronicle, not a ballad; but he will dowell, ere he suffers it to leave his study, to reconsider the facts ofthe time or man, or act of which he writes, and see if he cannot addforce to his statements, an antique grace to his phrases, and colour tohis language. 

Truth and appropriateness in ballads require great knowledge and taste. 

To write an Irish historical ballad, one should know the events whichhe would describe, and know them not merely from an isolated study ofhis subject, but from old familiarity, which shall have associated themwith his tastes and passions, and connected them with other parts ofhistory. How miserable a thing is to put forward a piece of vehementdeclamation and vague description, which might be uttered of any event, or by the man of any time, as a historical ballad. We have had battleballads sent us that would be as characteristic of Marathon or Waterlooas of Clontarf--laments that might have been uttered by a German or aHindu--and romances equally true to love all the world over. 

Such historical study extends not merely to the events. A ballad writershould try to find the voice, colour, stature, passions, and peculiarfaculties of his hero--the arms, furniture, and dress of the congress, or the champions, or the troops he tells of--the rites wherewith theyouth were married--the dead interred, and God worshipped; and thearchitecture--previous history and pursuits (and, therefore, probableideas and phrases) of the men he describes. 

Many of these things he will get in books. He should shun compilations, and take up original journals, letters, state papers, statutes, andcotemporary fictions and narratives as much as possible. Let him notmuch mind Leland or Curry (after he has run over them), but work likefury at the Archæological Society's books--at Harris's Hibernica, atLodge's Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica, at Strafford's Pacata, Spencer'sView, Giraldus's Narrative, Fynes Moryson's Itinerary, the OrmondPapers, the State Papers of Henry the Eighth, Stafford's and Cromwell'sand Rinuccini's Letters, and the correspondence and journals, fromDonald O'Neill's letter to the Pope down to Wolfe Tone's gloriousmemoirs. 

In the songs, and even their names, many a fine hint can be got; and heis not likely to be a perfect Balladist of Ireland who has not felt totears and laughter the deathless passions of Irish music. 

We have condemned compilations; but the ballad student may well labourat Ware's Antiquities. He will find in the History of British Costume, published by the Useful Knowledge Society, and in the illustrated worknow in progress called Old England, but beyond all other books, in thehistorical works of Thierry, most valuable materials. Nothing, not eventhe Border Minstrelsy, Percy's Relics, the Jacobite Ballads, or theArchæological Tracts, can be of such service as a repeated study of theNorman Conquest, the Ten Years' Study, and the Merovingian Times ofAugustine Thierry. 

We know he has rashly stated some events on insufficient authority, anddrawn conclusions beyond the warrant of his promises; but there is moredeep dramatic skill, more picturesque and coloured scenery, moredistinct and characteristic grouping, and more lively faith to the lookand spirit of the men and times and feelings of which he writes, inThierry, than in any other historian that ever lived. He has almost anintuition in favour of liberty, and his vindication of the "men of '98"out of the slanderous pages of Musgrave is a miracle of historicalskill and depth of judgment. 

In the Irish Academy in Dublin there is a collection (now arranged andrapidly increasing) of ancient arms and utensils. Private collectionsexist in many provincial towns, especially in Ulster. Indeed, we knowan Orange painter in a northern village who has a finer collection ofIrish antiquities than all of the Munster cities put together. Accurateobservation of, and discussion on, such collections will be of vastservice to a writer of historical Ballads. 

Topography is also essential to a ballad, or to any Historian. This isnot only necessary to save a writer from such gross blunder as we metthe other day in Wharton's Ballad, called "The Grave of King Arthur, "where he talks of "the steeps of rough Kildare, " but to give accuracyand force to both general references and local description. 

Ireland must be known to her Ballad Historians, not by flat, but byshaded maps, and topographical and scenic descriptions; not by maps ofto-day only, but by maps (such as Ortelius and the maps in the StatePapers) of Ireland in time past; and, finally, it must be known by the_eye_. A man who has not raced on our hills, panted on our mountains, waded our rivers in drought and flood, pierced our passes, skirted ourcoast, noted our old towns, and learned the shape and colour of groundand tree and sky, is not master of all a Balladist's art. Scott knewScotland thus, and, moreover, he seems never to have laid a scene in aplace that he had not studied closely and alone. 

What we have heretofore advised relates to the Structure, Truth, andColouring of ballads; but there is something more needed to raise aballad above the beautiful--it must have Force. Strong passions, daringinvention, vivid sympathy for great acts--these are the result of one'swhole life and nature. Into the temper and training of "A Poet, " we donot presume to speak. Few have spoken wisely of them. Emerson, in hisrecent essay, has spoken like an angel on the mission of "The Poet. "Ambition for pure power (not applause); passionate sympathy with thegood, and strong, and beautiful; insight into nature, and such lovingmastery over its secrets as a husband hath over a wife's mind, are thesurest tests of one "called" by destiny to tell to men the past, present, and future, in words so perfect that generations shall feeland remember. 

We merely meant to give some "Hints on the Properties of HistoricalBallads"--they will be idle save to him who has the mind of a Poet. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [48] A "Ballad History of Ireland. "

THE SONGS OF IRELAND. [49]

There are great gaps in Irish song to be filled up. This is true evenof the songs of the Irish-speaking people. Many of the short snatchespreserved among them from olden times are sweet and noble; but the bulkof the songs are very defective. Most of those hitherto in use werecomposed during the last century, and therefore their structure isirregular, their grief slavish and despairing, their joy reckless andbombastic, their religion bitter and sectarian, their politics Jacobiteand concealed by extravagant and tiresome allegory. Ignorance, disorder, and every kind of oppression weakened and darkened the lyricgenius of Ireland. Even these, such as they are, diminish daily in thecountry, and a lower class comes in. We have before us a number of theballads now printed at Cork, in Irish, and English and Irish mixed. They are little above the street ballads in the English tongue. IfHardiman's and Daly's collections be fair specimens (as we believe theyare) of the Irish Jacobite songs, we should not care to have more thana few of them given to the people; but, perhaps, there may be twenty, which, if printed clearly in slips, would sell as ballads in the Irishdistricts. 

Assuming that the morsels given in O'Reilly's catalogue of Irishwriters do not exaggerate the merits of the older bards, their workswould supply numberless pastoral, love, joy, wailing, and war songs. Apopular editor of these could condense them into three or four verseseach--cut them so as exactly to suit the airs, preserve the local andbroad historical allusions, but remove the clumsy ornaments andexaggerations. This is what Ramsay, Burns, and Cunningham did with theLowland Scotch songs, and thus made them what they are--the best inEurope. This need not prevent complete editions of these songs inlearned books; but such books are for libraries, not cabins. 

There is one want, however, in _all_ the Irish songs--it is of strictlynational lyrics. They are national in form and colour, but clannish inopinion. In fact, from Brian's death, there was no thought of an Irishnation, save when some great event, like Aodh O'Neill's march toMunster, or Owen Roe's victory at Beinnburb, flashed and vanished. These songs celebrate M'Carthy or O'More, O'Connor or O'Neill--_his_prowess, _his_ following, _his_ hospitality; but they cry down hisIrish or "more than Irish" neighbour as fiercely as they do the foreignoppressor. True it is, you will find amid the flight of minstrels onebolder than the rest, who mourns for the time when the Milesiansswayed, and tells that "a soul has come into Eire, " and summons all theMilesian tribes to battle for Ireland. But even in the seventeenthcentury, when the footing of the Norman and Saxon in Ireland was assure as that of the once-invading Milesians themselves, we find the crypurely to the older Irish races, and the bounds of the nation made, notby the island, but by genealogy. 

We may remark, in passing, that on no hypothesis did these sameMilesians form more than the aristocracy of ancient Ireland--a class--arace of conquerors. 

Dr. MacHale has made a noble attempt to supply this deficiency by histranslation of Moore into Irish; but we are told that the language ofhis translation is too literary, and that the people do not relishthese songs. A stronger reason for their failure (if in so short a timetheir fate can be judged) is, that the originals want the idiom andcolour of the country, and are too subtle in thought. This remark doesnot apply to Moore's love songs, not to some, at least, of hispolitical lyrics, and we cannot doubt that, if translated intovernacular Irish, and printed as ballads, they would succeed. For thepresent nothing better can be done than to paraphrase the _Songs of theNation_ into racy and musical Irish; though a time may come whensomeone born amid the Irish tongue, reared amid Gaelic associations, instructed in the state of modern Ireland, and filled with passion andprophecy, shall sing the union and destiny of all the races settled onIrish ground, till the vales of Munster and the cliffs of Connaughtring with the words of Nationality. 

But whatever may be done by translation and editing for the songs ofthe Irish-speaking race, those of our English-speaking countrymen areto be written. Moore, Griffin, Banim, and Callanan have written plentyof songs. Those of Moore have reached the drawing rooms; but what dothe People know even of his? Buy a ballad in any street in Ireland, from the metropolis to the village, and you will find in it, perhaps, some humour, some tenderness, and some sweetness of sound; but you willcertainly find bombast, or slander, or coarseness, united in all caseswith false rhythm, false rhyme, conceited imagery, black paper, andblotted printing. A high class of ballads would do immense good--thepresent race demean and mislead the people as much as they stimulatethem; for the sale of these ballads is immense, and printers in Dublin, Drogheda, Cork, and Belfast live by their sale exclusively. Were anenterprising man to issue the choice songs of Drennan, Griffin, Moore, on good paper, and well printed, he would make a fortune of "halfpennyballads. "

The Anglo-Irish songs, though most of the last century, are generallyindecent or factious. The cadets of the Munster Protestants, livinglike garrison soldiers, drinking, racing, and dancing, wrote the oneclass. The clergy of the Ulster Presbyterians wrote the other. "TheRakes of Mallow" and "The Protestant Boys" are choice specimens of thetwo classes--vigorous, and musical, and Irish, no doubt, but surely notfit for this generation. 

Great opportunities came with the Volunteers and United Irishmen, butthe men were wanting. We have but one good Volunteer song. It waswritten by Lysaght, after that illustrious militia was dissolved. Drennan's "Wake of William Orr" is not a song; but he gave the UnitedMen the only good song they had--"When Erin First Rose. " In "Paddy'sResource, " the text-book of the men who were "up, " there is but onetolerable song--"God Save the Rights of Man;" nor, looking beyondthese, can we think of anything of a high class but "The Sean BheanBhochd, " "The Wearing of the Green, " Lysaght's "Island, " and Reynolds'"Erin-go-bragh, " if it be his. 

Two of Lady Morgan's songs, "Savournah Dilis" and "Kate Kearney, " havecertainly gone through all classes; and perhaps we might add a littleto these exceptions; but it is a sad fact that most of the few goodsongs we have described are scarce, and are never printed in a balladshape. 

There is plenty, then, for the present race of Irish lyrists to do. They have a great heritage in the national music. It has everyexcellence and every variety. It is not needful for a writer of oursongs to be a musician, though he will certainly gain much accuracy andsave much labour to others and himself by being so. Moore is a musicianof great attainments, and Burns used to compose his songs when goingover, and over, and over the tune with or without words. But constantlylistening to the playing of Irish airs will enable any man with atolerable ear, and otherwise qualified, to write words to them. 

Here, we would give two cautions. First--that the airs in Moore'sMelodies are very corrupt, and should never be used for the study ofIrish music. This is even more true of Lover's tunes. There is no needof using them, for Bunting's and Holden's collections are cheaper, andcontain pure settings. Secondly--that as there are hundreds of thefinest airs to which no English words have been written, and as theeffect of a song is greatly increased by having one set of words alwaysjoined with one tune, our versifiers should carefully avoid the airs towhich Moore, Griffin, or any other Irishman has written even moderatelygood words. 

In endeavouring to learn an air for the purpose of writing words to it, the first care should, of course, be to get at its character--as gay, hopeful, loving, sentimental, lively, hesitating, woeful, despairing, resolute, fiery, or variable. Many Irish airs take a differentcharacter when played fast or slow, lightly or strongly; but there issome one mode of playing which is best of all, and the characterexpressed by it must determine the character of the words. For nothingcan be worse than a gay song to calm music, or massive words to adelicate air; in all cases _the tune must suggest, and will suggest, tothe lyrist the sentiment of the words_. 

The tune will, of course, fix the number of lines in a verse. Frequently the number and order of the lines can be varied. Threerhymes and a fall, or couplets, or alternate rhymes, may answer thesame set of notes; or rhymes, if too numerous, may be got rid of bymaking one long, instead of two short lines. Where the same notes comewith emphasis at the ends of musical phrases, the words should rhyme, in order to secure the full effect. The doubling two lines into one ismost convenient where the first has accents on both the last syllables, for you thus escape the necessity of double rhyming. In the softer airsthe effect of this is rather agreeable than otherwise. 

Talking of double rhymes, they are peculiarly fitted for strongpolitical and didactic songs, for the abstract and political words inEnglish are chiefly of Latin origin, of considerable length andgravity, and have double accents. The more familiar English words(which best suit most songs) contain few doubly-accented terminations, and are, therefore, little fitted for double rhyming. 

Expletive syllables in the beginning of lines where the tune is sharpand gay are often an improvement, but they should never follow a doublerhyme. 

In strong and firm tunes, having a syllable for every note is aperfection, though one hard to be attained without harshness, from thecrowd of consonants in English. With soft tunes, on the other hand, itis commonly better to have in most lines two or more light notes to onesyllable, so that the words may be dwelt on and softly sounded; butwhere and how must be determined by the taste of the writer. 

The sound of the air will always show the current of thought, itspauses and changes; and a nice attention and bold sympathy with theseproperties of a tune is necessary to lyrical success. 

A great advantage, too, of writing for existing airs is the variety ofmetres thus gained, and the naturally greater variety of thought andexpression thus suggested. 

We have spoken, in reference to Ballads, of the use of Choruses andBurdens, and said that we thought there were some Ballads which wereinjured by them; but all songs, save (perhaps) those of desperatesorrow, gain by burden lines and choruses. They are almost universal inthe Native Irish and Lowland Scotch. Beranger has employed them in mostof his songs, and Moore in many of his. A chorus should, of course, contain the very spirit of the song--bounding, if it be gay; fierce, ifit be bold; doting, if it loves. Merely repeating one verse between, orat the head or tail of another, is not putting a chorus; it must be_the_ verse which beats the best on your ear, and has the most echo inyour heart. So, too, of burdens; they are not made merely by bringingin the same words in like places. They must be marked words forciblybrought in. 

Irish choruses have often a glorious effect in English songs, nor needanyone familiar with the peasantry, or with Edward O'Reilly's IrishWriters, published as the first part of the _Transactions of theIberno-Celtic Society_ be at any loss for them. 

These are some of the minutiæ of song-writing, which we note for theconsideration of our young writers, leaving them to add to or modifythese, according to their observation. 

Of course, different men and different moods will produce variousclasses of songs. We shall have places for all, Songs for the Streetand Field require simple words, bold, strong imagery, plain, deeppassions (love, patriotism, conciliation, glory, indignation, resolve), daring humour, broad narrative, highest morals. In songs for thewealthier classes, greater subtlety, remoter allusion, less obviousidiom and construction, will be tolerable, though in all cases we thinksimplicity and heartiness needful to the perfect success of a song. 

If men able to write will fling themselves gallantly and faithfully onthe work we have here plotted for them, we shall soon have Fair andTheatre, Concert and Drawing-room, Road and Shop, echoing with Songsbringing home Love, Courage, and Patriotism to every heart. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [49] This essay, together with another of less value, was reprinted from _The Nation_ by M. J. Barry as an introduction to his "Songs of Ireland" 1845. [Ed. ]

INFLUENCES OF EDUCATION. 

"Educate, that you may be free. " We are most anxious to get the quiet, strong-minded People who are scattered through the country to see theforce of this great truth; and we therefore ask them to listen soberlyto us for a few minutes, and when they have done to think and talkagain and again over what we say. 

If Ireland had all the elements of a nation, she might, and surelywould, at once assume the forms of one, and proclaim her independence. Wherein does she now differ from Prussia? She has a strong and compactterritory, girt by the sea; Prussia's lands are open and flat, andflung loosely through Europe, without mountain or river, breed ortongue, to bound them. Ireland has a military population equal to therecruitment of, and a produce able to pay, a first-rate army. Herharbours, her soil, and her fisheries are not surpassed in Europe. 

Wherein, we ask again, does Ireland now differ from Prussia? Why canPrussia wave her flag among the proudest in Europe, while Ireland is afarm?

It is not in the name of a kingdom, nor in the formalities ofindependence. We could assume them to-morrow--we could assume them withbetter warrants from history and nature than Prussia holds; but theresult of such assumption would perchance be a miserable defeat. 

The difference is in Knowledge. Were the offices of Prussia abolishedto-morrow--her colleges and schools levelled--her troops disarmed anddisbanded, she would within six months regain her whole civil andmilitary institutions. Ireland has been struggling for years, and mayhave to struggle many more, to acquire liberty to form institutions. 

Whence is the difference? Knowledge!

The Prussians could, at a week's notice, have their central offices atfull work in any village in the kingdom, so exactly known are theirstatistics, and so general is official skill. Minds makeadministration--all the desks, and ledgers, and powers of DowningStreet or the Castle would be handed in vain to the ignorants of ----any untaught district in Ireland. The Prussians could open theircollegiate classes and their professional and elementary schools asfast as the order therefor, from any authority recognised by thePeople, reached town after town--we can hardly in ten years get a fewschools open for our people, craving for knowledge as they are. ThePrussians could re-arm their glorious militia in a month, andre-organise it in three days; for the mechanical arts are verygenerally known, military science is familiar to most of the wealthiermen, discipline and a soldier's skill are universal. If we had beenoffered arms to defend Ireland by Lord Heytesbury, as the Volunteerswere by Lord Buckinghamshire, we would have had to seek for officersand drill-sergeants--though probably we could more rapidly advance inarms than anything else, from the military taste and aptness for war ofthe Irish People. 

Would it not be better for us to be like the Prussians than as weare--better to have religious squabbles unknown, education universal, the People fed, and clad, and housed, and independent as becomes men;the army patriotic and strong; the public offices ably administered;the nation honoured and powerful? Are not these to be desired andsought by Protestant and Catholic? Are not these things _to be done_, if we are good and brave men? And is it not _plain_, from what we havesaid, that the reason for our not being all that Prussia is, andsomething more, is ignorance--want of civil and military and generalknowledge amongst all classes?

This ignorance has not been our fault, but our misfortune. It was theinterest of our ruler to keep us ignorant, that we might be weak; andshe did so--first by laws, prohibiting education; then by refusing anyprovision for it; next, by perverting it into an engine of bigotry; andnow, by giving it in a stunted, partial, anti-national way. Practice isthe great teacher, and the possession of independence is the naturaland best way for a People to learn all that pertains to freedom andhappiness. Our greatest voluntary efforts, aided by the amplestprovincial institutions, would teach us less in a century than we wouldlearn in five years of Liberty. 

In insisting on education we do not argue against the value of_immediate independence_. _That would be our best teacher. _ An IrishGovernment and a national ambition would be to our minds as soft rainsand rich sun to a growing crop. But we insist on education for thePeople, whether we get it from the Government or give it to themselvesas a round-about, and yet the only, means of getting strength enough togain freedom. 

Do our readers understand this? Is what we have said _clear_ to _you_, reader!--whether you are a shopkeeper or a lawyer, a farmer or adoctor? If not, read it over again, for it is your own fault if it benot clear. If you now know our meaning, you must feel that it is yourduty to your family and to yourself, to your country and to God, to_act_ upon it, to go and remove some of that ignorance which makes youand your neighbours weak, and therefore makes Ireland a poor province. 

All of us have much to learn, but some of us have much to teach. 

To those who, from superior energy and ability, can teach the People, we now address ourselves. 

We have often before and shall often again repeat, that the majority ofour population can neither read nor write, and therefore that from thesmall minority must come those fitted to be of any civil or militaryuse beyond the lowest rank. The People may be and are honest, brave, and intelligent; but a man could as well dig with his hands as govern, or teach, or lead without the elements of Knowledge. 

This however, is a defect which time and the National Schools mustcure; and the duty of the class to which we speak is to urge theestablishment of such Schools, the attendance of the children at them, and occasionally to observe and report, either directly or through thePress, whether the admirable rules of the Board are attended to. Inmost cases, too, the expenditure of a pound-note and a little time andadvice would give the children of a school that instruction in nationalhistory and in statistics so shamefully omitted by the Board. Reader!will you do this?

Then of the three hundred Repeal Reading-rooms we know that some, andfear that many, are ill-managed, have few or no books, and are meregossiping-rooms. Such a room is useless; such a room is a disgrace toits members and their educated neighbours. The expense having been goneto of getting a room, it only remains for the members to establishfixed rules, and they will be supplied with the Association Reports(political reading enough for them), and it will be the plain duty ofthe Repeal Wardens to bring to such a room the newspapers supplied bythe Association. If such a body continue and give proofs of being inearnest, the Repeal Association will aid it by gifts of books, maps, etc. , and thus a library, the centre of knowledge and nursery of usefuland strong minds, will be made in that district. So miserably off isthe country for books, that we have it before us on some authority thatthere are _ten counties in Ireland without a single book-seller inthem_. We blush for the fact; it is a disgrace to us; but we must haveno lying or flinching. There is the hard fact; let us face it like menwho are able for a difficulty--not as children putting their headsunder the clothes when there is danger. Reader! cannot you do somethingto remedy this great, this disabling misery of Ireland? Will not you_now_ try to get up a Repeal Reading-room, and when one is establishedget for it good rules, books from the Association, and make it a centreof thought and power?

These are but some of the ways in which such service can be done by themore for the less educated. They have other duties often pointed out byus. They can sustain and advance the different societies for promotingagriculture, manufactures, art, and literature in Dublin and thecountry. They can set on foot and guide the establishment of TemperanceBands, and Mechanics' Institutes, and Mutual Instruction Societies. They can give advice and facilities for improvement to young men ofpromise; and they can make their circles studious, refined, andambitious, instead of being, like too many in Ireland, ignorant, coarse, and lazy. The cheapness of books is now such that even Irishpoverty is no excuse for Irish ignorance--that ignorance whichprostrates us before England. We must help ourselves, and therefore wemust educate ourselves. 

FOREIGN TRAVEL. 

We lately strove to induce our wealthier countrymen to explore Irelandbefore they left her shores in search of the beautiful and curious. Webid the economist search our towns and farms, our decayed manufactures, and improving tillage. Waving our shillelagh, we shouted the cragsmanto Glenmalure and Carn Tual, and Achill and Slieve League. Manuscriptin hand, we pointed the antiquary to the hundred abbeys of NorthMunster, the castles of the Pale, the palaces and sepulchres ofDunalin, Aileach, Rath Croghan, and Loughcrew, and we whispered to ourcountrywomen that the sun rose grandly on Adragool, that the moon wassoft on Lough Erne ("The Rural Venice"), and that the Nore andBlackwater ran by castled crags like their sweet voices over old songs. 

But there are some who had not waited for our call, but had dutifullygrown up amid the sights and sounds of Ireland, and knew the yellowfields of Tipperary, and the crash of Moher's wave, and the basaltbarriers of Antrim, and the moan or frown of Wexford over the graves of'98, and there are others not yet sufficiently educated to prize homeexcellence. To such, then, and to all our brethren and sisters goingabroad, we have to say a friendly word. 

We shall presume them to have visited London, Woolwich, the factoriesof Lancashire and Warwick, and to have seen the Cumberland lakes, andtherefore to have seen all worth seeing in England, and that they arebound for somewhere else. For a pedestrian not rich there is Wales--thesoft vales of the far North and South Clwyd, and the Wye and Llanrwst, and the central mountain groups of Snowdon, and still finer of CaderIdris. But if he go there we pray him not to return without havingheard and, so far as he could, noted down a few airs from the harp andcruit, collected specimens of the plants and minerals of Wales for themuseum (existing or to be) of his native town, studied the statisticsof their great iron works or their little home-weaving; nor, if he hashad the sense and spirit to take a Welsh and an Irish vocabulary, without some observations on the disputed analogy of the two languages, and how far it exists in general terms, as it certainly does in namesof places. By the way, we warn him that he will know little of thepeasantry, and come home in the dark about Rebecca, unless he can speakWelsh. The Welsh have been truer to their language than we were toours; their clergy ministered in it; their people refused their tonguesto the Saxon as if 'twere poison; and even their nobles, though temptedby England, welcomed the bard who lamented the defeat of Rhuddlan, andgloried in the frequent triumphs of Glendower. 

But let us rather classify pursuits than countries. 

We want the Irish who go abroad to bring something back besides theweary tale of the Louvre and Munich, and the cliffs of the Rhine, andthe soft airs of Italy. We have heard of a patriot adventurer whocarried a handful of his native soil through the world. We want ourfriends to carry a purpose for Ireland in their hearts, to study otherlands wisely, and to bring back all knowledge for the sustenance anddecoration of their dear home. 

How pleasantly and profitably for the traveller this can be done. Thereis no taste but may be interested, no capacity but can be matched, nocountry but can be made tributary to our own. The historian, thelinguist, the farmer, the economist, the musician, the statesman, andthe man of science can equally augment their pleasure and make itminister to Ireland. 

Is a man curious upon our language? He can (not unread in Neilson, norunaccompanied by O'Reilly's Dictionary) trace how far the Celtic wordsmixed in the classical French, or in the patois of Bretagne or Gascony, coincide with the Irish; he can search in the mountains of North Spain, whether in proper names or country words there be any analogy to theGaelic of the opposite coast of Ireland. 

The proper names are the most permanent, and if there be any truth inSir William Betham's theories, the names of many a hill and stream inTuscany, North Africa, and Syria ought to be traceable to an Irishroot. Nor need this language-search be limited to the south. Beginningat the Isle of Man, up by Cumberland (the kingdom of Strath Clyde), through Scotland, Denmark, Norway, to Ireland, the constant intercoursein trade and war with Ireland, and in many instances the earlyoccupation by a Celtic race, must have left indelible marks in thelocal names, if not the traditions, of the country. To the tourist inFrance we particularly recommend a close study of the _History of theGauls_, by Amadeus Thierry. 

The student of our ecclesiastical history, whether he hold with Dr. Smiles that the Irish Church was independent, or with Dr. Miley, thatit paid allegiance to Rome, may delight in following the tracks of theIrish saints, from Iona of the Culdees to Luxieu and Boia (founded byColumbanus), and St. Gall, founded by an Irishman of that name. Rumoldcan be heard of in Mechlin, Albhuin in Saxony, Kilian in Bavaria, Fursey in Peronne, and in far Tarentum the traveller will find morethan one trace of the reformer of that city--the Irishman, St. Cathaldus. We cannot suppose that any man will stray from Stackallen, or Maynooth at least, without keeping this purpose in mind, nor wouldit misbecome a divine from that Trinity College of which Ussher was afirst Fellow. 

Our military history could also receive much illustration from Irishtravellers going with some previous knowledge and studying thetraditions and ground, and using the libraries in the neighbourhood ofthose places where Irishmen fought. Not to go back to the Irish who (ifwe believe O'Halloran) stormed the Roman Capital as the allies ofBrennus of Gaul, nor insisting upon too minute a search for that Alpinevalley where, says MacGeoghegan, they still have a tradition of Dathy'sdeath by lightning, there are plenty of places worth investigating inconnection with Irish military history. In Scotland, for example, 'twere worth while tracking the march of Alaster MacDomhnall and his1, 500 Antrim men from their first landing at Ardnamurchan throughTippermiur, Aberdeen, Fivy, Inverlochy, and Aulderne, toKilsyth--victories, won by Irish soldiers and chiefs, given to them bytradition, as even Scott admits, though he tries to displace its valuefor Montrose's sake, and given to them by the highest cotemporaryauthorities--such as the Ormond papers. 

Then there is the Irish Brigade. From Almanza to Fontenoy, fromRamillies to Cremona, we have the names of their achievements, but theregister of them is in the libraries and war offices and private papersof France, and Spain, and Austria, and Savoy. A set of visits to Irishbattle-fields abroad, illustrated from the manuscripts of Paris, Vienna, and Madrid, would be a welcomer book than the reiteratedassurances that the Rhone was rapid, the Alps high, and Florence richin sculpture, wherewith we have been dinned. 

We have no lives of our most illustrious Irish generals in foreignservices--Marshal Brown, the Lacys, Montgomery of Donegal, the rival ofWashington; and yet the materials must exist in the offices andlibraries of Austria, Russia, and America. 

Talking of libraries, there is one labour in particular we wish ourcountrymen to undertake. The constant emigration of the princes, nobles, and ecclesiastics of Ireland, from the Reformation downwards, scattered through the Continent many of our choicest collections. Themanuscripts from these have been dispersed by gift and sale amonghundreds of foreign libraries. The Escurial, Vienna, Rome, Paris, andCopenhagen are said to be particularly rich in them, and it cannot bedoubted that in every considerable library (religious, official, orprivate) on the Continent some MSS. Valuable to Ireland would be found. In many cases these could be purchased, in some copied, in all listed. The last is the most practical and essential labour. It would check andguide our inquiries now, and would prepare for the better day, when wecan negotiate the restoration of our old muniments from the governmentsof Europe. 

A study of the monuments and museums throughout France, Spain, Italy, and Scandinavia, in reference to the forts, tombs, altars, and weaponsof ancient Ireland, would make a summer pleasant and profitable. 

But we would not limit men to the study of the past. 

Our agriculture is defective, and our tenures are abominable. It werewell worth the attention of the travelling members of the IrishAgricultural Society to bring home accurate written accounts of thetenures of land, the breeds of cattle, draining, rotation, crops, manures, and farm-houses, from Belgium or Norway, Tuscany or Prussia. 

Our mineral resources and water-power are unused. A collection ofmodels or drawings, or descriptions of the mining, quarrying, andhydraulic works of Germany, England, or France, might be found mostuseful for the Irish capitalist who made it, and for his country whichso needs instruction. Besides, even though many of these things bedescribed already, yet how much more vivid and practical were theknowledge to be got from observation. 

Our fine or useful arts are rude or decayed, and our industrial andgeneral education very inferior. The schools and galleries, museums andeducational systems of Germany deserve the closest examination withreference to the knowledge and taste required in Ireland, and the meansof giving them. One second-rate book of such observations, with specialreference to Ireland, were worth many greater performances unapplied tothe means and need of our country. 

Ireland wants all these things. Before this generation dies, it musthave made Ireland's rivers navigable, and its hundred harbours securewith beacon and pier, and thronged with seamen educated in navalschools, and familiar with every rig and every ocean. Arigna must bepierced with shafts, and Bonmahon flaming with smelting-houses. Ourbogs must have become turf-factories, where fuel will be husbanded, andprepared for the smelting-house. Our coal must move a thousand engines, our rivers ten thousand wheels. 

Our young artisans must be familiar with the arts of design and thenatural sciences connected with their trade; and so of our farmers; andboth should, beside, have that general information which refines andexpands the minds--that knowledge of Irish history and statistics thatmakes it national, and those accomplishments and sports which makeleisure profitable and home joyous. 

Our cities must be stately with sculpture, pictures, and buildings, andour fields glorious with peaceful abundance. 

But this is an Utopia! Is it? No; but the practicable object of thosewho know our resources! To seek it is the solemn, unavoidable duty ofevery Irishman. Whether, then, oh reader, you spend this or any comingseason abroad or at home, do not forget for a day how much should bedone for Ireland. 

"THE LIBRARY OF IRELAND. "

While the Gaelic-speaking people of Ireland were restricted totraditional legends, songs, and histories, a library was provided forthose who used English by the genius and industry of men whose nameshave vanished--a fate common to them with the builder of the Pyramids, the inventor of letters, and other benefactors of mankind. Moore hasgiven, in _Captain Rock_, an imperfect catalogue of this library. Thescientific course seems to have been rather limited, as Ovid's _Art of_(let us rather say essay on) _Love_ was the only abstract work; but itcontained biographies of _Captain Freney the Robber_, and of _RedmondO'Hanlon the Rapparee_--wherein, we fear, O'Hanlon was made, by apartial pen, rather more like Freney than history warrants; dramas suchas the _Battle of Aughrim_, written apparently by some AlsatianWilliamite; lyrics of love, unhoused save by the watch; imperial works, too, as _Moll Flanders_; and European literature--_Don Beliants, andthe Seven Champions_. Whether they were imported, or originallyproduced for the grooms of the dissolute gentry, may be discussed; butit seems certain that their benign influence spread, on one side, tothe farmers' and shopkeepers' sons, and, on the other, to the cadets ofthe great families--and were, in short, the classics of tipsy Ireland. The deadly progress of temperance, politics, and democracy has sentthem below their original market, and in ten years the collector willpay a guinea apiece for them. 

During the Emancipation struggle this indecent trash shrunk up, and atotally different literature circulated. The Orange party regaledthemselves chiefly with theology, but the rest of the country (stillexcepting the classes sheltered by their Gaelic tongue) formed aliterature more human, and quite as serious. There occasionally isgreat vigour in the biographies of Lord Edward, Robert Emmet, and otherpopular heroes chronicled at that time; but the long interview of Emmetwith Sarah Curran, the night before his execution, is a fair specimenof the accuracy of these works. The songs were intense enough, occasionally controversial, commonly polemical, always extravagant; theGranu Wails and Shan-Van-Vochts of the Catholic agitation cannot be toosoon obsolete. The famous Waterford song:--

 "O'Connell's come to town, And he'll put the Orange down, And by the heavenly G---- he'll wear the crown, Says the Shan Van Vocht!"

is characteristic of the zeal, discretion, and style of these oncepowerful lyrics. A history of the authorship of these biographies andsongs would be interesting, and is perhaps still possible. The reprintin the series of Hugh O'Reilly's Irish history--albeit, a mass ofpopular untruth was put at the end of it--shows as if some moreconsiderate mind had begun to influence these publications. They, too, are fast vanishing, and will yet be sought to illustrate their times. 

In the first class we have described there was nothing to redeem theirstupid indecency and ruffianism; in the latter, however one may grieveat their bigotry, and dislike their atrocious style, there were purity, warmth, and a high purpose. 

The "Useful Knowledge Society" period arrived in Britain, and floodedthat island with cheap tracts on algebra and geometry, chemistry, theology, and physiology. Penny Magazines told every man how hisstockings were wove, how many drunkards were taken up per hour inSouthwark, how the geese were plucked from which the author got hispens, how many pounds weight of lead (with the analysis thereof, and anaccount of the Cornish mines by way of parenthesis) were in the typesfor each page, and the nature of the rags (so many per cent. Beggars, so many authors, so many shoe-boys) from which the paper of theall-important, man and money-saving Penny Magazine was made. On itsbeing suggested that man was more than a statistician, or a dabbler inmathematics, a _moral_ series (warranted Benthamite) was issued toteach people how they should converse at meals--how to choose theirwives, masters, and servants by phrenological developments, and how tolive happily, like "Mr. Hard-and-Comfortable, " the Yellow Quaker. 

Unluckily for us, there was no great popular passion in Ireland at thetime, and our communication with England had been greatly increased bysteamers and railways, by the Whig alliance, by democratic sympathy, and by the transference of our political capital to Westminster. Tracts, periodicals, and the whole horde of Benthamy rushed in. Withoutmanufactures, without trade, without comfort to palliate suchdegradation, we were proclaimed converts to Utilitarianism. The Irishpress thought itself imperial, because it reflected that ofLondon--Nationality was called a vulgar superstition, and a generalEuropean Trades' Union, to be followed by a universal Republic, becamethe final aspirations of "all enlightened men. " At the same time theNational Schools were spreading the elements of science and the meansof study through the poorer classes, and their books were merelyintellectual. 

Between all these influences Ireland promised to become a farm forLancashire, with the wisdom and moral rank of that district, withoutits wealth, when there came a deliverer--the Repeal agitation. 

Its strain gradually broke the Whig alliance and the Chartist sympathy. Westminster ceased to be the city towards which the Irish bowed andmade pilgrimage. An organisation, centring in Dublin, connected thePeople; and an oratory full of Gaelic passion and popular idiomgalvanised them. Thus there has been, from 1842--when the Repealagitation became serious--an incessant progress in Literature andNationality. A Press, Irish in subjects, style, and purpose, has beenformed--a National Poetry has grown up--the National Schools haveprepared their students for the more earnest study of National politicsand history--the classes most hostile to the agitation are converts toits passions; and when Lord Heytesbury recently expressed his wonder atfinding "Irish prejudices" in the most cultivated body in Ireland, heonly bore witness to an aristocratic Nationality of which he could havefound countless proofs beside. 

Yet the power of British utilitarian literature continues. The wealthyclasses are slowly getting an admirable and a costly NationalLiterature from Petrie, and O'Donovan, and Ferguson, and Lefanu, andthe _University Magazine_. The poorer are left to the newspaper and themeeting, and an occasional serial of very moderate merits. That class, now becoming the rulers of Ireland, who have taste for the higherstudies, but whose means are small, have only a few scattered workswithin their reach, and some of them, not content to use theseexclusively, are driven to foreign studies and exposed to alieninfluence. 

To give to the country a National Library, exact enough for the wisest, high enough for the purest, and cheap enough for all readers, appearsthe object of "The Library of Ireland. "

Look at the subjects--_A History of the Volunteers_, Memoirs of HughO'Neill, of Tone, of Owen Roe, of Grattan, Collections of Irish Balladsand Songs, and so forth. It would take one a month, with the use of allthe libraries of Dublin, to get the history of the Volunteers. InWilson's so-called history you will get a number of addresses and 300pages of irrelevant declamation for eight or ten shillings. Tryfurther, and you must penetrate through the manuscript catalogues ofTrinity College and the Queen's Inns (the last a wilderness) to findthe pamphlets and newspapers containing what you want; yet the historyof the Volunteers is one interesting to every class, and equallypopular in every province. 

Hugh O'Neill--he found himself an English tributary, his clan beaten, his country despairing. He organised his clan into an army, defeated byarms and policy the best generals and statesmen of Elizabeth, and gaveIreland a pride and a hope which never deserted her since. Yet the onlywritten history of him lies in an Irish MS. In the Vatican, unprinted, untranslated, uncopied; and the Irishman who would know his life mustgrope through Moryson, and Ware, and O'Sullivan in unwilling libraries, and in books whose price would support a student for two winters. 

Of Tone and Grattan--the wisest and most sublime of our lastgeneration--there are lives, and valuable ones; but such as the richonly will buy, and the leisurely find time to read. 

The rebellion of 1641--a mystery and a lie--is it not time to let everyman look it in the face? The Irish Brigade--a marvellous reality tofew, a proud phantom to most of us--shall we not all, rich and poor, learn in good truth how the Berserk Irish bore up in the winter streetsof Cremona, or the gorgeous Brigade followed Clare's flashing plumesright through the great column of Fontenoy?

Irish Ballads and Songs--why (except that _Spirit of the Nation_ whichwe so audaciously put together), the popular ballads and songs are thefaded finery of the West End, the foul parodies of St. Giles's, thedrunken rigmarole of the black Helots--or, as they are touchinglyclassed in the streets, "sentimental, comic, and nigger songs. " YetBanim, and Griffin, and Furlong, Lover and Ferguson, Drennan andCallanan, have written ballads and songs as true to Ireland as everMacNeill's or Conyngham's were to Scotland; and firmly do we hope tosee with every second lad in Ireland a volume of honest, noble, Irishballads, as well thumbed as a Lowland Burns or a French Beranger, andsweetly shall yet come to us from every milking-field and harvest-homesongs not too proudly joined to the sweetest music in the world. 

This country of ours is no sand bank, thrown up by some recent capriceof earth. It is an ancient land, honoured in the archives ofcivilisation, traceable into antiquity by its piety, its valour, andits sufferings. Every great European race has sent its stream to theriver of Irish mind. Long wars, vast organisations, subtle codes, beacon crimes, leading virtues, and self-mighty men were here. If welive influenced by wind and sun and tree, and not by the passions anddeeds of the past, we are a thriftless and a hopeless People. 

A CHRONOLOGY OF IRELAND. 

There is much doubt as to who were the first inhabitants of Ireland;but it is certain that the Phoenicians had a great commerce with it. The Firbolgs, a rude people, held Ireland for a long period. They weresubdued by the Tuatha de Danaan, a refined and noble race, which in itsturn yielded its supremacy to the arms of the Milesians. The datesduring these centuries are not well ascertained. 

B. C. 

1000. Dr. O'Conor, the Librarian of Stowe, fixes this as the mostprobable date of the Milesian invasion. 

---- Ollamh Fodhla institutes the Great Feis, or Triennial Convention, at Tara. 

---- Thirty-two monarchs are said to have reigned between thissovereign and Kimbaoth, who built the Palace of Emania. 

A. D. 

 40. Reformation of the Bardic or Literary Order, by Conquovar, King of Ulster. 

 90. The old population successfully revolt against the Milesians, and place one of their own race upon the throne. 

 130. Re-establishment of the Milesian sway. 

 164. King Feidlim, the Legislator, establishes the laws of Eric. 

 258. From Con of the Hundred Battles descended the chieftains whosupplied Albany, the modern Scotland, with her first Scottish rulers, by establishing, about the middle of the third century, the kingdom ofDalriada in Argyleshire. 

 333. The Palace of Emania destroyed during a civil war. 

 387. The birth of St. Patrick. 

 396. Nial of the Nine Hostages invades Britain. 

 432. His Mission to Ireland. 

 436. Dathi, the last of the Pagan monarchs of Ireland, succeeded Nial, and was killed while on one of his military expeditions, at the foot ofthe Alps, by lightning. 

 465. March 17--Death of St. Patrick. 

 554. The last triennial council held at Tara. 

 795. First Invasion of the Danes. 

1014. April 23, Good Friday--Defeat of the Danes at Clontarf by BrianBoroihme. 

1152. Synod of Kells. Supremacy of the Church of Rome acknowledged. 

1159. Pope Adrian's bull granting Ireland to Henry II. 

1169. May--First landing of the Normans. 

1171. October 18--Henry II. Arrives in Ireland. 

1172. A Council, called by some a Parliament, held by Henry II. AtLismore. 

1185. Prince John is sent over by his father as Lord of Ireland, accompanied by his tutor, Giraldus Cambrensis. 

1210. King John, at the head of a military force, arrives in Ireland. 

1216. Henry III. Grants Magna Charta to Ireland. 

1254. Ireland granted, under certain conditions, by Henry III. To hisson, Prince Edward. 

1277. Some of the Irish petition Edward I. For an extension of Englishlaws and usages to them. 

1295. A Parliament held at Kilkenny by Sir John Wogan, Lord Justice. 

1309. A Parliament held at Kilkenny by Sir John Wogan. Its enactmentson record in Bolton's Irish Statutes. 

1315. Edward Bruce lands with 6, 000 men at Larne in May, invited by theIrish. Crowned near Dundalk. 

1318. Defeat and death of Bruce at Faghard, near Dundalk. 

1367. Parliament assembled at Kilkenny by Lionel, Duke of Clarence, atwhich the celebrated Anti-Irish Statute was passed prohibiting adoptionof Irish costume or customs, intermarriage with the Irish, etc. , undervery severe penalties, to the Anglo-Irish of the Pale. 

1379. The first Act ever passed against Absentees. 

1394. Richard II. Lands with an army at Waterford. 

1399. Richard II. 's second expedition to Ireland. 

1463. A College founded at Youghal by the Earl of Desmond. Another atDrogheda. 

1472. Institution of the Brotherhood of St. George for the protectionof the Pale. 

1494. Nov. --The Parliament assembled at Drogheda passed Poyning's Law. 

1534. First step of the Reformation in Ireland. 

1536. Nearly total destruction of the Kildare Geraldines. Henry VIII. 'ssupremacy enacted by Statute. 

1537. Act passed for the suppression of religious houses. 

1541. Act passed declaring Henry VIII. _King_ of Ireland. 

1579. The last Earl of Desmond proclaimed a traitor. 

1583. The Earl of Desmond assassinated. 

1586. April 26--Attainder of Desmond and his followers. Forfeiture ofhis estate--574, 628 Irish acres. Elizabeth institutes the plantingsystem. 

1592. The Dublin University founded. 

1595. Aodh O'Neill's victory at Blackwater, and death of Marshal Bagnal. 

1603. March 30--Submission of O'Neill (Tyrone) to Mountjoy. 

1607. Flight of the Northern Earls, Tyrone and Tyrconnell. Consequentseizure by the Crown of the six entire counties of Cavan, Fermanagh, Armagh, Derry, Tyrone, and Tyrconnel (now Donegal), amounting in thewhole to about 511, 456 Irish acres. 

1608. May 1--Sept. --Sir Cathair O'Dogherty's rising. 

1613. May 18--After the creation of fourteen peers and forty newboroughs, a Parliament is assembled to support the new _plantation_ ofUlster by the attainder and outlawry of the gentlemen of that province. 

1616. Commission for inquiring into defective titles. 

1635. Lord Wentworth's oppressive proceedings to find a title in theCrown to the province of Connaught. 

1641. Oct. 23--The breaking out of the celebrated Irish insurrection. 

1642. The confederate Catholics form their General Assembly and SupremeCouncil at Kilkenny--"Pro Deo, pro rege, _et patria, Hibernia, unanimes_, " their motto. 

1646. June 5--Monroe totally defeated by Owen Roe O'Neill at Benburb, near Armagh. 

1649. Aug. 15--Oliver Cromwell arrives in Dublin. 

---- Sept. 2, 10, 15. --Siege, storming, and massacre of Drogheda. 

---- Oct. 1--Siege and massacre of Wexford. 

---- Nov. 6--Death of Owen Roe O'Neill at Cloch-Uachdar Castle, Co. Cavan. 

1650. May 29--Cromwell embarks for England. 

1653. Sept. 26--The Irish war proclaimed ended by the EnglishParliament. --Act of Grace, ordering the Irish Catholics to transportthemselves, on pain of death, into Connaught before 1st of March, 1654. 

1661. May 8, 1666. Acts of Settlement and Explanation. 7, 800, 000 acresconfiscated and distributed under them. 

1689. March 12--James II. Landed at Kinsale. 

---- May 7 } The Irish Parliament summoned by him: met at the---- July 20 } Inns of Court. 

1690. June 14--William III. Landed at Carrickfergus Bay. 

---- July 1--Battle of the Boyne. 

---- Aug 30--The first siege of Limerick under William III. Raised bySarsfield. 

1691. June 30--Athlone taken after a gallant defence. 

1691. July 12--Battle of Aughrim. 

---- Oct. 3--Capitulation and Treaty of Limerick. 

1692. April 5--The articles agreed upon by the Treaty confirmed byWilliam III. 

---- Nov. 3--Lord Sydney's protest against the claim of the IrishHouse of Commons to the right of "preparing heads of bills for raisingmoney"--the beginning of the struggle between the Protestant ascendencyand the English Government, which bore national fruit in 1782, butwhich was crushed in 1800. 

1695. August--Parliament violated the Treaty of Limerick--

 7 William III. , c. 67--Prohibits Catholic education at home or abroad. 

 7 William III. , c. 5--Disarms Papists. 

1697. 9 William III. , c. 1--Banishes Popish archbishops, bishops, vicars-general, and all regular clergy, on pain of death. 9 WilliamIII. , c. 2--An Act "to confirm the Treaty of Limerick, " which directlyand grossly violates its letter and spirit. It is fit to remember thatin the Irish House of Lords, from which Catholics were excluded, sevenspiritual and five temporal peers protested against this infamouslegislation. 

1698. The 9 and 10 William III. , c. 40--An Act aimed at the Irishwoollen manufacture. Molyneux published his famous _Case of Irelandbeing bound by Acts of Parliament passed in England_. This book, byorder of the English House of Commons, was burned by the hangman. 

1704. March 4--The "Act to prevent the further growth of Popery, " oneof the most noted links in the penal chain. 

1719. October 17--Representation of the Irish House of Lords againstappeals to England. 

1720. 6 Geo. I. --Act passed by the English Legislature to secure thedependency of Ireland. 

---- Swift's first Irish pamphlet--"A proposal for the universal use ofIrish manufactures. " Prosecuted by Government. 

1724. Wood's patent to coin half-pence for Ireland, and Swift'ssuccessful opposition to the scheme by the "Letters of M. B. Drapier. "The first time all Irish sects and parties were unanimous upon nationalgrounds. 

1728. 1 Geo. II. , c. 9, s. 8. --The Act disfranchising Roman Catholics. 

1737. The tithe of agistment got rid of by the Irish gentry, and thechief burden of the tithe thereby thrown on the farmers and peasantry. 

1743. Lucas rises into notice in the Dublin Corporation. 

1745. April 30--Battle of Fontenoy. 

1749. Dr. Lucas is obliged to leave Ireland. 

1753. Dec. 17--The House of Commons asserts its control successfullyover the surplus revenue, in opposition to Government. 

1756. The first public effort by Mr. O'Connor and Dr. Curry to inspirethe Catholics with the spirit of freedom. They succeed with themercantile body, but are opposed by many of the gentry and clergy. 

1760. March and April--Mr. Wyse and Dr. Curry revive the scheme of anassociation to manage Catholic affairs. 

1761. Dr. Lucas returned as representative of Dublin to the firstparliament of George III. 

1763. Establishment of the _Freeman's Journal_ by Dr. Lucas--thefirst independent Irish newspaper. 

1768. The duration of parliament limited to eight years. 

1778. First relaxation of the Penal Code, Catholics allowed longtenures of land, etc. 

---- The Volunteers first formed. Flood the foremost popular leader. 

1779. The achievement of Free Trade [_i. E. _, Ireland's right to tradewith the colonies, etc. ]. 

1782. Ireland's legislative independence won. Grattan's prime. 

1785. Orde's Commercial Propositions. 

1789. Debates upon the Regency question. 

1790. The formation of the Society of United Irishmen at Belfast. Theobald Wolfe Tone its founder. 

1792. } The Franchise restored to the Roman Catholics; the Bar opened1793. } to them, etc. 

1795. Sept. 21--First Orange Lodge formed. 

1796. Dec. 24--The remnant of the French expedition arrives in BantryBay without General Hoche, the commander. 

1798. May 23--Breaking out of the insurrection. 

---- June 21--Battle of Vinegar Hill. 

---- August 22--General Humbert lands with a small force at Killala. 

---- Dec. 9--Meeting of the Bar to oppose the projected Union. Saurinmoves the resolution, which is carried. 

1799. Jan. 22--The Union proposed. 

---- June 1--Parliament prorogued, Government having been defeated bysmall majorities. 

1800. Feb. 10--The House of Lords divided, 75 for and 26 against theUnion. 

---- Feb. 15--The House of Commons divided, 158 for, 115 against theUnion. 

---- March 17--On this day, the first of the following January wasfixed in the Commons for the commencement of the Union. 

1803. Robert Emmet's insurrection and execution. 

1810. Great Repeal meeting in Dublin. 

1821. George IV. In Ireland. 

1823. Catholic Association formed. 

1825. Act passed to put down the Catholic Association. 

1828. O'Connell's election for Clare. 

1829. April 13--Emancipation granted. 

1831. Education Board formed. 

1833. Coercion Bill passed by the Whigs. 

1836. May--Parliament rejects Repeal motion. 

1838. Poor Law. Temperance Movement. 

1840. Corporation Reform. Repeal Association formed by O'Connell. 

1842. October 15--Establishment of the _Nation_. 

1843. Monster meetings. Prosecutions. William Smith O'Brien joins theRepeal Association. 

1844. Verdict against, and imprisonment of Repeal leaders, 12thFebruary, and 30th May. Liberation, 7th September. 

The future is ours--for good, if we are persevering, intelligent, andbrave; for ill, if we quarrel, slumber, or shrink. 

III. Political Articles. 

NO REDRESS--NO INQUIRY. 

The British Parliament has refused to redress our wrongs, or even toinquire into them. For five long nights were they compelled to listento arguments, facts, and principles proving that we were sorelyoppressed. They did not deny the facts--they did not refute thereasoning--they did not undermine the principles--but they would nottry to right us. 

"We inherit the right of hatred for six centuries of oppression; whatwill you do to prove your repentance, and propitiate our revenge?"--andthe answer is, "That's an old story, we wish to hear no more of it. "

Legislature of Britain, you shall hear more of it!

The growing race of Irishmen are the first generation of freemen whichIreland nursed these three centuries. The national schools may teachthem only the dry elements of knowledge adulterated with Anglicism, andTrinity College may teach them bigotry, along with graceful lore andstrong science; but there are other schools at work. There is anational art, and there is an Irish literature growing up. Day afterday the choice of the young men discover that genius needs a country tohonour and be loved by. The Irish Press is beginning to teach thePeople to know themselves and their history; to know other nations, andto feel the rights and duties of citizens. The agitation, whose surgessweep through every nook of the island, converts all that the Peoplelearn to national uses; nothing is lost, nothing is adverse; neutralityis help, and all power is converted into power for Ireland. 

Ireland is changing the loose tradition of her wrongs into history andballad; and though justice, repentance, or retribution may make hercease to need vengeance, she will immortally remember her bondage, herstruggles, her glories, and her disasters. Till her suffering ceasesthat remembrance will rouse her passions and nerve her arm. May she notforgive till she is no longer oppressed; and when she forgives, may shenever forget!

Why need we repeat the tale of present wretchedness? Seven millions anda half of us are Presbyterians and Catholics, and our wholeecclesiastical funds go to the gorgeous support of the Clergy of theremaining 800, 000, who are Episcopalians. Where else on _earth_ does asimilar injury and dishonour exist? Nowhere; 'twas confessed it existednowhere. Would it weaken the empire to abolish this? Confessedly not, but would give it some chance of holding together. Would it injureProtestantism? You say not. Idle wealth is fatal to a Church, andsupremacy bears out every proud and generous convert. Why is itmaintained? The answer is directly given--"England (that is, theEnglish aristocracy) is bigoted, " and no Ministry dare give youredress. These are the very words of Captain Rous, the Tory member forWestminster, and the whole House assented to the fact. If you cannotredress--if you will not go into inquiry, lest this redress, so neededby us, should be fatal to your selfish power, then loose your hold ofus, and we will redress ourselves; and we will do so with less injuryto any class than you possibly could, for a free nation may begenerous--a struggling one will not and ought not to be so. 

We are most dishonestly taxed for _your_ debts; the fact was notdenied--an ominous silence declared that not a halfpenny of that mightymortgage would be taken off our shoulders. 

You raise five millions a year from us, and you spend it on Englishcommissioners, English dockyards, English museums, English ambition, and English pleasures. With an enormous taxation, our public officeshave been removed to London, and you threaten to remove our Courts ofJustice, and our Lord Lieutenancy, the poor trapping of old nationhood. We have no arsenals, no public employment here; our literary, scientific, and charitable institutions, so bountifully endowed by aNative Legislature, you have forced away, till, out of that enormoussurplus revenue raised here, not £10, 000 a year comes back for suchpurposes, while you have heaped hundred upon hundred thousand into thelap of every English institution. For National Education you dribbleout £50, 000 a year--not enough for our smallest province. Will youredress these things? No, but you boast of your liberality in giving usanything. 

"Oh, but you are not overtaxed, " says Peel; "see, your Post-officeproduces nothing to the revenue. " Ay, Sir, our Post-office, whichlevies the same rates as the English Post-office, produces nothing;Ireland is too poor to make even a penny-postage pay its own cost. Nostronger mark of a stagnant trade could be adduced. "And then welowered your spirit duty. " Yes you did, because it brought in less thanthe lower duty. What single tax did you take off, except when it hadbeen raised so high, or the country had declined so low, that it ceasedto be productive? You increased our taxation up to the end of the wartwo and a half times more rapidly than you did your own, and youdiminished our taxation after the war thirty times less rapidly. 

You have a fleet of steamers now--you had none in 1817, says somepattern of English Senators, whose constituents are bound to subscribea few school-books for him if they mean to continue him as theirdelegate. 

And my Lord Eliot says our exports and imports have increased. We wishyour Lordship would have separate accounts kept that we might know howmuch. But they _have_ increased--ay, they have; and they areprovisions. And our population has increased: and when we had one-halfthe number of People to feed we sent out a tenth of the provisions wesend away now. This is ruin, not prosperity. We had weavers, iron-workers, glass-makers, and fifty other flourishing trades. Theysold their goods to Irishmen in exchange for beef and mutton, andbread, and bacon, and potatoes. The Irish provisions were notexported--they were eaten in Ireland. They are exported now--for Irishartisans, without work, must live on the refuse of the soil, and Irishpeasants must eat lumpers or starve. Part of the exports go to buy ragsand farming tools, which once went for clothes and all other goods toIrish operatives, and the rest goes to raise money to pay absenteerents and imperial taxes. Will you tax our absentees? Will you employour artisans? Will you abate your taxes, or spend them among us? No;you refuse redress--you refuse inquiry. 

Your conquests and confiscations have given us land tenures alien tothe country and deadly to the peasant. Will you interfere in propertyto save him, as you interfered to oppress him? You hint that you mightinquire, but you only offered redress in an Arms' Bill--to prostratethe poor man, to violate the sanctity of his home, to brand him, andleave him at the mercy of his local tyrant. 

Will you equalise the franchise, and admit us, in proportion to ournumbers, into your Senate, and let us try there for redress? You mayinquire, perhaps, some other time; if much pressed, you may considersome increase of the franchise--you decline to open the representation. 

And if England will do none of these things, will she allow us, forgood or ill, to govern ourselves, and see if we cannot redress our owngriefs? "No, never, never, " she says, "though all Ireland cried forit--never! Her fields shall be manured with the shattered limbs of hersons, and her hearths quenched in their blood; but never, while Englandhas a ship or a soldier, shall Ireland be free. "

And this is your answer? We shall see--we shall see!

And now, Englishmen, listen to us! Though you were to-morrow to give usthe best tenures on earth--though you were to equalise Presbyterian, Catholic, and Episcopalian--though you were to give us the amplestrepresentation in your Senate--though you were to restore ourabsentees, disencumber us of your debt, and redress every one of ourfiscal wrongs--and though, in addition to all this, you plundered thetreasuries of the world to lay gold at our feet, and exhausted theresources of your genius to do us worship and honour--still we tellyou--we tell you, in the names of liberty and country--we tell you, inthe name of enthusiastic hearts, thoughtful souls, and fearlessspirits--we tell you, by the past, the present and the future, we wouldspurn your gifts, if the condition were that Ireland should remain aprovince. We tell you, and all whom it may concern, come whatmay--bribery or deceit, justice, policy, or war--we tell you, in thename of Ireland, that Ireland shall be a Nation!

THE RIGHT ROAD. 

By the People the People must be righted. Disunion, and sloth, andmeanness enslaved them. Combination, calm pride, and ceaseless labourmust set them loose. Let them not trust to the blunders of theirenemies, or the miracles of their chiefs--trust nothing, men ofIreland, but the deep resolve of your own hearts. 

As well might you leave the fairies to plough your land or the idlewinds to sow it, as sit down and wait for freedom. 

You are on the right road. 

The Repeal Year is over--what then?--Call next year the Repeal Year ifyou have a fancy for names; and if that, too, searches yourfetter-sores with its December blast, work the next year, and the next, and the next. Cease not till all is done. If you sleep, now that youhave climbed so far, you may never wake again. 

Abandon or nod over your task, and the foreign minister will treat youas mad, and tie you down, or as idiotic, and give you sugar plums andstripes. Every man with a spark of pride and manhood would leave you tobear alone the scorn of the world, and from father to son you wouldlive a race of ragged serfs till God in his mercy should destroy thePeople and the soil. 

You are on the right road. You don't want to go to war. Your greatestleader objects, on principle, to all war for liberty. All your friends, even those who think liberty well worth a sea of blood, agree with himthat it is neither needful nor politic for you to embark in a war withyour oppressor. It is not that they doubt your courage nor resources--itis not that they distrust your allies--but it is that they _know_ youcan succeed without a single skirmish, and therefore he who harmsperson or property in seeking Repeal is criminal to his country. 

But if they preach peace loudly, they preach perseverance with stillgreater emphasis. It is the universal creed of all Liberals, that_anything_ were better than retreat. One of the most moderate ofthe Whigs said to us yesterday: "I would rather walk at O'Connell'sfuneral than witness his submission. " And he said well. Death is noevil, and dying is but a moment's pang. There is no greater sign of apampered and brutish spirit in a man than to wince at the foot-sound ofdeath. Death is the refuge of the wronged, the opiate of the restless, the mother's or the lover's breast to the bruised and disappointed; itis the sure retreat of the persecuted, and the temple-gate of theloving, and pious, and brave. When all else leaves us, it is faithful. But where are we wandering to pluck garlands from the tomb?

Retreat would bring us the woes of war, without its chances or itspride. The enemy, elate at our discomfiture, would press upon our rear. The landlord would use every privilege till he had reduced his farms toinsurgentless pastures. The minister would rush in and tear away thelast root of nationality. The peasant, finding his long-promised hopeof freedom and security by moral means gone, and left unled to his ownimpulses, would league with his neighbour serfs, and ruin others, inthe vain hope of redressing himself. The day would be dark withtyranny, and the night red with vengeance. The military triumph of therack-renter or the Whiteboy would be the happiest issue of the strife. 

If the People ought neither spring into war, nor fall through confusioninto a worse slavery, what remains? Perseverance. They are on the rightroad, and should walk on in it patiently, thoughtfully, and withoutlooking back. 

The Repeal organisation enables the People to act together. It is thebark of the tree, guarding it and binding it. It is the cause of ourunanimity; for where else has a party, so large as the Irish Repealers, worked without internal squabbles? It is the secret of our discipline. How else, but by the instant action of the Association on the wholemass of the People, through the Repeal Press and the Repeal Wardens, could our huge meetings have been assembled or been broughttogether?--how else could they have been separated in quiet?--how elsecould the People have been induced to continue their subscriptionsmonth after month and year after year?

An ignorant or unorganised People would soon have tired of the constantsubscriptions and meetings, and have broken into disorder or sunk intoapathy. 

He is a long-sighted and sober-minded man that lays out money on acomplex yet safe speculation, or lays it by for an evil day. That is aPeople having political wisdom which denies itself some presentindulgence for a future good. It had been pleasanter, for some at leastof the People, to have spent in eating or clothing the shilling theysent to the Repeal Association, just as six years ago they found itpleasanter to spend the shilling, or the penny, or the pound, on thewhiskey shop. But the same self-denying and far-seeing resolve whichenabled them to resign drink for food, and books, and clothing, inducedthem to postpone some of these solid comforts to attend meetings, andto give money, in order to win, at some future time, fixed holdings, trade, strength, and liberty. 

The People, if they would achieve their aim, must continue theirexertions. 

It will not do to say, wait till the trials are over. The rate of thetrials will not determine Repeal. 

The conviction, imprisonment, or death of their present leaders willnot crush it. There are those ready to fill the vacancies in thecolumn, and to die too. The rudest and the humblest in the land wouldgrow into an inspired hero were leader after leader to advance andfall. Victory would be the religion of the country, and by one means orother it would triumph. A stronger spirit than his who died issues fromthe martyr's coffin. 

Nor would the success of the accused carry Repeal. 

It would embarrass the minister--it would gain time--it would give usanother chance for peaceful justice. 

But the Queen's Bench is not the imperial Parliament, nor is theTraversers' plea of "not guilty" a bill to overturn the Union, andconstruct Irish independence on its ruins. 

To win by peace they must use all the resources of peace, as they havedone hitherto. 

Is there any parish wherein there are no Repeal Wardens active everyweek in collecting money, distributing cards, tracts, and newspapers?Let that parish meet to-morrow or to-morrow week, appoint _active_Wardens, send up its subscriptions, and get down its cards, papers, andtracts, week after week, till the year goes round or till Repeal iscarried. 

Is there any town or district which has not a Temperance Band andReading-room? If there be, let that town or district meet at once, andsubscribe for instruments, music, and a teacher; let the members meet, and read, and discuss, and qualify themselves by union, study, andpolitical information to act as citizens, whether their duty lead themto the public assembly, the hustings, or the hill-side. By acting thus, and not by listening for news about trials, the People have advancedfrom mouldering slaves into a threatening and united People; continuingto act thus, they will become a triumphant nation, spite of fortifiedbarracks, Wellington, Peel, and England. They are in the right road;let them walk on in it. 

FOREIGN POLICY AND FOREIGN INFORMATION. 

Our history contains reasons for our extending the Foreign Policy ofIreland. This we tried to develop some months back. 

The partial successes of the wars of the sixteenth and seventeenthcenturies, from Hugh O'Neill to James the Second, were in no slightdegree owing to the arms and auxiliary troops of Spain and France. 

Our yet more complete triumphs in the political conflicts of theeighteenth and nineteenth centuries owed still more to our foreignconnections--witness the influence of the American war on the creationof the Volunteers, the effect of the battle of Jemappes, and of theFrench Fraternity of Ulster on the Toleration Act of 1793, and how muchthe presence of American money, and the fear of French interference, hastened the Emancipation Act of 1829. 

With reference to this last period, we may state that such an effecthad the articles published in _l'Etoile_ on Ireland that Canningwrote a remonstrance to M. De Villele, asking him "was it intended thatthe war of pens should bring on one of swords. " The remonstrance wasunavailing--the French sympathy for Ireland increased, and otheroffices than newspaper offices began to brush up their information onIreland. But arms yielded to the gown, and the maps and statistics ofIreland never left the War Office of France. 

But our own history is not the only advocate for a Foreign Policy forIreland. 

Foreign alliances have ever stood among the pillars of national power, along with virtue, wise laws, settled customs, military organisations, and naval position. Advice, countenance, direct help, are secured byold and generous alliances. Thus the alliance of Prussia carriedEngland through the wars of the eighteenth century, the alliance ofFrance rescued the wavering fortunes of America, the alliance ofAustria maintains Turkey against Russia, and so in a thousand instancesbeside. 

A People known and regarded abroad will be more dignified, moreconsistent, and more proud in all its acts. Fame is to national mannerslittle less than virtue to national morals. A nation with a high andnotorious character to sustain will be more stately and firm than if itlived in obscurity. Each citizen feels that the national name which hebears is a pledge for his honour. The soldier's uniform much lesssurely checks the display of his vices, and an army's standard lesscertainly excites its valour than the name of an illustrious countrystimulates its sons to greatness and nobility. The _prestige_ of Rome'sgreatness operated even more on the souls of her citizens than on thehearts of her friends and foes. 

Again, it is peculiarly needful for _Ireland_ to have a Foreign Policy. Intimacy with the great powers will guard us from English interference. Many of the minor German states were too deficient in numbers, boundaries, and wealth to have outstood the despotic ages of Europe butfor those foreign alliances, which, whether resting on friendship or adesire to preserve the balance of power, secured them against theirrapacious neighbours. And now time has given its sanction to theircontinuance, and the progress of localisation guarantees their futuresafety. When Ireland is a nation she will not, with her vast populationand her military character, require such alliances as a _security_against an English _re-conquest_; but they will be useful in banishingany _dreams of invasion_ which might _otherwise_ haunt the brain of ourold enemy. 

But England is a pedagogue as well as a gaoler to us. Her prisondiscipline requires the Helotism of mind. She shuts us up, like anotherCaspar Hauser, in a dark dungeon, and tells us what she likes ofherself and of the rest of the world. And this renders foreigninformation most desirable for us. 

She calls France base, impious, poor, and rapacious. She lies. Francehas been the centre of European mind for centuries. France was thefirst of the large states to sweep away the feudal despotism. Francehas a small debt and an immense army; while England has a vast debt andscanty forces. France has five millions of kindly, merry, well-fedyeomen. England swarms with dark and withered artisans. Every seventhperson you meet in France is a landowner in fee, subject to moderatetaxation. Taxes and tenancies-at-will have cleared out the yeomanryof England. France has a literature surpassing England's modernliterature. France is an apostle of liberty--England the turnkey of theworld. France is the old friend, England, the old foe, of Ireland. Fromone we may judge all. England has defamed _all other countries_ inorder to make us and her other slaves content in our fetters. 

England's eulogies on herself are as false and extravagant as hercalumnies on all other states. She represents her constitution as theperfection of human wisdom; while in reality it is based on conquest, shaken by revolution, and only qualified by disorder. Her boastedtenures are the relics of a half-abolished serfdom, wherein thecultivator was nothing, and the aristocrat everything, and in which aprimogeniture extending from the King to the Gentleman _often_ placedidiocy on the throne, and tyranny in the senate, and _always_ produceddisunion in families, monopoly in land, and peculation throughout everybranch of the public service. Her laws are complicated, and theiradministration costly beyond any others ever known. Her motley andtyrannous flag she proclaims the first that floats, and her totteringand cruel empire the needful and sufficient guardian of our liberties. 

By cultivating Foreign Relations, and growing intimate with foreignstates of society, we will hear a free and just criticism on England'sconstitution and social state. We will have a still better and fairercommentary in the condition and civil structure of other countries. 

We will see _small_ free states--Norway, Sweden, Holland, Switzerland, and Portugal--maintaining their homes free, and bearing their flags intriumph for long ages. We will learn from themselves how they kepttheir freedom afloat amid the perils of centuries. We will salute themas brethren subject to common dangers, and interested in onepolicy--localisation of power. 

The Catholic will see the Protestant states of Prussia, Holland, Saxony, and America; and the Protestant will see the Catholic statesof Belgium, Bavaria, and France, all granting full liberty ofconscience--leaving every creed to settle its tenets with itsconscience, and dealing, _as states_, only with citizens, not sects. 

He who fancies some intrinsic objection to our nationality to lie inthe co-existence of two languages, three or four great sects, and adozen different races in Ireland, will learn that in Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium, and America, different languages, creeds, andraces flourish kindly side by side, and he will seek in Englishintrigues the real well of the bitter woes of Ireland. 

Germany, France, and America teach us that English economics are notfit for a nation beginning to establish a trade, though they may be foran old and plethoric trader; and therefore that English and Irishtrading interests are directly opposed. Nor can our foreign trade butbe served by foreign connections. 

The land tenures of France, Norway, and Prussia are the reverse ofEngland's. They resemble our own old tenures; they better suit ourcharacter and our wants than the loose holdings and servile wagessystem of modern England. 

These, and a host of lessons more, will we learn if we study the books, laws, and manners, and cultivate an intimacy with the citizens offoreign states. We will thus obtain countenance, sympathy, and help intime of need, and honour and friendship in time of strength; and thus, too, we will learn toleration towards each other's creed, distrust inour common enemy, and confidence in liberty and nationality. 

Till Ireland has a foreign policy, and a knowledge of foreign states, England will have an advantage over us in both military and moral ways. We will be without those aids on which even the largest nations have attimes to depend; and we will be liable to the advances of England'streacherous and deceptive policy. 

Let us, then, return the ready grasp of America, and the warm sympathyof France, and of every other country that offers us its hand andheart. Let us cultivate a Foreign Policy and Foreign Information asuseful helps in that national existence which is before us, though itshappiness and glory depend, in the first instance, on "ourselvesalone. " Ireland has a glorious future, if she be worthy of it. We mustbelieve and act up to the lessons taught by reason and history, thatEngland is our interested and implacable enemy--a tyrant to herdependants--a calumniator of her neighbours, and both the despot anddefamer of Ireland for near seven centuries. Mutual respect forconscience, an avoidance of polemics, concession to each other, defiance to the foe, and the extension of our foreign relations, areour duty, and should be our endeavour. Vigour and policy within andwithout, great men to lead, educated men to organise, brave men tofollow--these are the means of liberation--these are elements ofnationality. 

MORAL FORCE. 

There are two ways of success for the Irish--arms and persuasion. Theyhave chosen the latter. They have resolved to win their rights by moralforce. For this end they have confederated their names, their moneys, their thoughts, and their resolves. For this they meet, organise, andsubscribe. For this they learn history, and forget quarrels; and forthis they study their resources, and how to increase them. 

For moral success internal union is essential. 

Ireland, through all its sects and classes, must demand Repeal beforethe English Minister will be left without a fair reason to resist it, and not till then we be in a state to coerce his submission. 

Conciliation of all sects, classes, and parties who oppose us, or whostill hesitate, is _essential_ to moral force. For if, instead ofleading a man to your opinions by substantial kindness, by zealouslove, and by candid and wise teaching, you insult his tastes and hisprejudices, and force him either to adopt your cause or to resistit--if, instead of slow persuasion, your weapons are bullying andintolerance, then your profession of moral force is a lie, and a liewhich deceives no one, and your attacks will be promptly resisted byevery man of spirit. 

The Committee of the Repeal Association have of late begun to attend tothe Registries. The majority of Irish electors belong to the middleclass; and if all of that class who could register and vote didregister and vote, it would be out of the landlords' power to coercethem. The landlords have awoken to a sense of their danger. They beginto know that if once the quiet patriots of this country conclude thatreform of the landlords is hopeless, the only barrier between them andtheir tenants will sink, and they will sink too. 

There will be less landlordism next election--at least we warn thelandlords that there _must_ be less. 

If, then, the majority of members chosen by the middle class opposeDomestic Legislation, the middle class is suspected of not being trulynational--the sincerity of the People is made doubtful--an impedimentis opposed to Repeal, which the Repeal Association properly strive toupset. 

Therefore do they and we urge the Repealers to serve noticesdiligently, accurately, and at once. Therefore do they and we promptthem to attend at the Sessions, and boldly claim their rights ascitizens contributing to the State, and entitled to a vote in electingits managers; and therefore do they and we advise each constituency toconsider well whether they have or can procure a representative whosepurity of life, undoubted honesty, knowledge of politics, and devotedzeal to secure Domestic Government fit him to legislate in St. Stephen's, or to agitate in the Corn Exchange, or wherever elsenationality may have a temple. 

We say, the advocacy of a "Domestic Legislature, " because _that_ iswhat Ireland wants. We are a province, drained by foreign taxation andabsentees, governed by a foreign legislature and executive. We seek tohave _Ireland_ governed by an Irish senate and executive for herself, and by Irishmen; and although a man shall add to this a claim for ashare in the government of the _empire_, and of course a consent togive taxes and soldiers, therefore that (though to us it seems unwise)is not such a difference as should make us divide. He is a Repealer ofthe Union as decidedly as if he never called himself a Federalist. SuchRepealing Federalists are Messrs. Crawford, Wyse, John O'Brien, Caulfield, Ross, O'Malley, O'Hagan, Bishop Kennedy, and numbers ofothers in and out of the Association. In selecting or in agitatingabout Members we must therefore never forget that a Federalist is quiteas likely to be national as a technical Repealer, and that if hismorals and ability be better than those of a _so-called_ Repealcandidate, he is the better man. 

We have also classed morals, ability, and zeal as being quite asrequisite as national opinions in a Representative. 

If our Members were a majority in the House, it might not be verymoral, but at least it would have some show of excuse if we sent in aflock of pledged delegates to vote Repeal, regardless of their powersor principles; though even then we might find it hard to get rid of thescoundrels after Repeal was carried, and when Ireland would needvirtuous and unremitting wisdom to make her prosper. 

But now, when our whole Members are not a sixth of the Commons, andwhen the English Whigs are as hostile to Repeal as the English Tories, and more hostile to it than the Irish Tories--now, it is plain we mustget weight for our opinions by the ability and virtue of our Members;and therefore we exhort the People, as they love purity, as they prizereligion, as they are true to themselves, to Ireland, and to liberty, to spurn from their hustings any man who comes there without purity andwisdom, though he took or kept a thousand Repeal pledges. 

We want men who are not spendthrifts, drunkards, swindlers--we wanthonest men--men whom we would trust with our private money or ourfamily's honour; and sooner than see faded aristocrats and brawlingprofligates shelter themselves from their honest debtors by a Repealmembership, we would leave Tories and Whigs undisturbed in their seats, and strive to carry Repeal by other measures. 

Conciliation, virtue, and wisdom are our moral means of success. Theymust be used and sought on the hustings as well as in the ConciliationHall. We must not prematurely, and at Heaven knows what distance froman election, force a good and able man to accept a pledge or quarrelwith us. Pledges are extreme things, hardly constitutional, and highlyimprudent in a well-governed country. Nevertheless, they are sometimesneeded, as are sharper remedies; and such need will exist here at thegeneral election. No man must go in for any place where the popularwill prevails unless he is a Repealer or a Federalist; and, what is_equally_ essential, an upright, unstained, and zealous man, who willwork for Ireland and do her credit. But it seems to us quite prematureto insist on those pledges from honourable, proud, and patriotic men_now_, who will, in all likelihood, be with us before an electioncomes, provided they are treated with the respect and forbearance dueto them whether they join us or not. 

These are some of the canons of moral force; and if, as we trust, Ireland can succeed without cannon of another kind, it must be by usingthose we have here mustered. 

CONCILIATION. 

The People of Ireland have done well in naming the scene of theirfuture counsels the Conciliation Hall. 

It intimates the cause of all our misery, and suggests the cure. Prostrated by division, union is our hope. 

If Irishmen were united, the Repeal of the Union would be instantly andquietly conceded. A Parliament, at whose election mutual generositywould be in every heart and every act, would take the management ofIreland. For oh! we ask our direst foe to say from the bottom of hisheart, would not the People of Ireland melt with joy and love to theirProtestant brethren if they united and conquered? And surely from sucha soil noble crops would grow. No southern plain heavy with corn, andshining with fruit-clad hamlets, ever looked so warm and happy as wouldthe soul of Ireland, bursting out with all the generosity and beauty ofa grateful People. 

We trust that the opening of the Conciliation Hall will be a signal toCatholic and Protestant to _try_ and agree. 

Surely our Protestant brethren cannot shut their eyes to the honour itwould confer on them and us if we gave up old brawls and bitterness, and came together in love like Christians, in feeling like countrymen, in policy like men having common interests. Can they--ah! tell us, dearcountrymen!--can you harden your hearts at the thought of looking onIrishmen joined in commerce, agriculture, art, justice, government, wealth, and glory?

Fancy the aristocracy placed by just laws, or by wise concession, onterms of friendship with their tenants, securing to these tenants everyfarthing their industry entitled them to; living among them, promotingagriculture and education by example and instruction; sharing theirjoys, comforting their sorrows, and ready to stand at their headwhenever their country called. Think well on it. Suppose it to exist inyour own county, in your own barony and parish. Dwell on this sight. See the life of such a landlord and of such farmers--so busy, sothoughtful, so happy! How the villages would ring with pleasure andtrade, and the fields laugh with contented and cheered labour. Imaginethe poor supporting themselves on those waste lands which the homeexpenditure of our rents and taxes would reclaim, and the workhouseturned into an hospital, or a district college. Education and art wouldprosper; every village, like Italy, with its painter of repute. Thenindeed the men of all creeds would be competent by education to judgeof doctrines; yet, influenced by that education, to see that God meantmen to live, and love, and ennoble their souls; to be just, and toworship Him, and not to consume themselves in rites, or theologicalcontention; or if they did discuss, they would do so not as enemies, but inquirers after truth. The clergy of different creeds would beplaced on an equality, and would hope to propagate their faith not byhard names or furious preaching, but by their dignity and wisdom, andby the marked goodness of their flocks. Men might meet or part atchurch or chapel door without sneer or suspicion. From the christeningof the child, till his neighbours, Catholic and Protestant, followedhis grey-haired corpse to the tomb, he might live enjoying much, honoured much, and fearing nothing but his own carelessness or vice. 

This, 'twill be said, is a paradise. 

Alas! no--there would still be individual crime and misfortune, national difficulties and popular errors. These are in the happiest andbest countries. 

But the condition of many countries is as Paradise to what we are. 

Where else in Europe is the peasant ragged, fed on roots, in a wigwam, without education?

Where else are the towns ruined, trade banished, the till, and theworkshop, and the stomach of the artisan empty? Where else is there anexportation of over one-third of the rents, and an absenteeism of thechief landlords? What other country pays four and a half million taxesto a foreign treasury, and has its offices removed or filled withforeigners? Where else are the People told they are free andrepresented, yet only one in two hundred of them have the franchise?Where, beside, do the majority support the Clergy of the minority? Inwhat other country are the majority excluded from high ranks in theUniversity? In what place, beside, do landlords and agents extort suchvast rents from an indigent race? Where else are the tenants everpulling, the owners ever driving, and both full of anger? And whatcountry so fruitful and populous, so strong, so well marked and guardedby the sea, and with such an ancient name, was reduced to provincialismby bribery and treacherous force, and is denied all nationalgovernment?

And if the answer be, as it must, "nowhere is the like seen, " then wesay that union amongst Irishmen would make this country comparatively aparadise. For union would peacefully achieve independence; would enableus to settle the landlord and tenant question; would produce religiousequality, as the first act of independence; would restore the absenteesby the first of our taxes; would cherish our commerce, facilitateagriculture and manufactures, and would introduce peace and socialexertion, instead of religious and political strife. 

Again, then, we ask the Protestant to ponder over these things--tothink of them when he lies down--to talk over them to his Catholicneighbours--to see if he and they couldn't agree--and to offer up inchurch his solemn prayers that this righteous and noble conclusion ofour mourning may be vouchsafed. 

Where, in aught that has been said or done by the Catholic party, isthere evidence of that intolerant and usurping spirit which theProtestants seem to dread?

Do they think it possible for a whole People of some millions of men, women, and children to tell a public lie, and to persevere in the giantfalsehood for years? The present generation have been brought up inthis faith of religious equality, and they would be liars, andapostates too, if they wished for ascendency. We may add it would notbe safe nor possible for the Catholics to establish an ascendency, even if the Union were repealed; and, therefore, we again ask theProtestants, for the sake of peace, interest, and religion, to _try_ ifthey cannot unite with the Catholics for the prosperity of Ireland. 

To the Catholics we have nothing to say but to redouble their efforts. 

Conciliation is a fixed and everlasting duty, independently of thepolitical results it might have. If they despaired of winning theProtestants to Repeal, conciliation would still be their duty, as menand Christians. But there is every ground for hope. The Protestants, indefeating the rack-renters' anti-Repeal meeting, showed they began tosee their interest. Something has been, more shall be done to removethe prejudice against the Catholics, derived from lying histories; andif we may take the stern reproof of the _Banner of Ulster_ to the_Evening Mail_ as speaking the sentiments of the Presbyterians of theNorth, then they begin to feel like religious Irishmen, and they willpresently be with us. 

SCOLDING MOBS. [50]

Why on earth have so many of the People of Dublin made fools ofthemselves by getting together in Sackville Street every evening tohoot at coaches? The coach contract was an injury and an insult to us, but it is now irremediable. We have serious work before us, and let ushave no by-battles. To the devil with the whole affair, rather thancompromise our cause. 

Nothing could please the Government more than frequent little rows, which would get up a hatred between the soldiers and police and thepeople. They are now very good friends. The armed men are becomingpopular and patriotic, and the unarmed, we trust, more orderly, hospitable, and kindly every day. Let us have no more tussling andpatrolling. 

What do these mobs mean? A noisy mob is always rash--often cruel andcowardly. A good friendly shout from a multitude is well, and a passinghearty curse endurable. The silent and stern assemblage of orderly men, like the myriads of Tipperary, or like one of Napoleon's armies, is anoble sight and a mighty power; but a scolding, hooting mob, whichmeets to make a noise, and runs away from a stick, a horse, or a sabre, is a wretched affair. 

"I hate little wars, " said Wellington. So do we; and we hate still morea petty mob meeting without purpose, and dispersing without success. Perfect order, silence, obedience, alacrity, and courage make anassemblage formidable and respectable. We want law and order--we areseriously injured by every scene or act of violence, no matter howtransient. Let us have no more of this humbug. If we are determined menwe have enough to _learn_ and to do without wasting our time in hissingand groaning coaches. 

In reference to popular faults, we cannot help saying a word on thelanguage applied to certain of the enemy's leaders, especially the Dukeof Wellington. We dislike the whole system of false disparagement. TheIrish People will never be led to act the manly part which libertyrequires of them by being told that "the Duke, " that gallant soldierand most able general, is a screaming coward and doting corporal. Wehave grave and solemn work to do. Making light of it or of our enemiesmay inspire a moment's overweening confidence, but would ensureultimate defeat. We have much to contend against; but our resources areimmense, and nothing but our own rashness or cowardice can defeat us. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [50] The withdrawal of the Coach Contracts from Ireland is but another instance of the same spiteful and feeble policy. Messrs. Bourne and Purcell had for years held the contract for building the Irish Mail Coaches. This contract was less a source of wealth to them than of support and comfort to hundreds of families employed by them. The contract runs out--Messrs. Bourne & Purcell propose in form for it--an _informal_ proposal, at a rate inconsiderably lower, is sent in by another person, and is at once accepted. It is accepted notwithstanding its irregularity, and notwithstanding the offer of Messrs. Bourne & Purcell to take it, even at a loss, as low as anyone else. It is given to a foreigner. Were the difference triple what it was, that contract should have been left in Ireland. --_Nation_. 

MUNSTER OUTRAGES. 

The people of Munster are in want--will murder feed them? Is there someprolific virtue in the blood of a landlord that the fields of the Southwill yield a richer crop where it has flowed? As the Jews dashed theirdoor-posts on the Passover, shall the blood of an agent shelter thecabins of Tipperary? Shame, shame, and horror! Oh! to think that thesehands, hard with innocent toil, should be reddened with assassination!Oh! bitter, bitter grief, that the loving breasts of Munster shouldpillow heads wherein are black plots, and visions of butchery andshadows of remorse! Oh! woe unutterable, if the men who abandoned thesin of drunkenness should companion with the devil of murder; and ifthe men who, last year, vowed patience, order, and virtue, rashly andimpiously revel in crime. 

But what do we say? Where are we led by our fears? Surely, Munster isagainst these atrocities--they are the sins of a few--the People arepure and sound, and all will be well with Ireland! 'Tis so, 'tis so; wepray God 'tis so: but yet the People are not without blame!

Won't they come and talk to us about these horrid deeds? Won't theymeet us (as brothers to consider disorders in their family) and dosomething--do all to stop them? Don't they confide in us? Oh! theyknow, well they know that our hearts love them better than life--wellthey know that to-morrow, if 'twould serve, we would be ready to die bytheir side in battle; but we are not ready to be their accomplices incrime--we would not be unsteady on the scaffold, so we honestly diedfor them, but we have no share with the murderer!

Nor is it we alone, who have ever professed our willingness to take thefield with the people, who loathe and denounce these crimes. Let themen of Munster read the last Act of the Repeal Association, and theywill find Daniel O'Connell, William Smith O'Brien, and the entireRepeal League confederated to proclaim and trample down the assassins. Let them enter their chapels, and from every altar they will hear theirbeloved priests solemnly warning them that the forms of the Church areas fiery coals on the heads of the blood-stained. Let them look upongovernment, and they will find a potent code and vast police--adisciplined army--all just citizens, combined to quell the assassin;and then let them with their consciences approach their God, and learnthat the murderer is dark before Him. 

Heaven and earth raise their voices against these crimes. Will they notbe hopeless?--must they not be desperately wicked?

What chance has the guilty of success?--what right to commit so deadlya sin? These murders will not give the people the land, nor leases, norlow rents. When the country was in a rude state, intimidation easy, andconcealment easier, they tried the same thing. They began butcheringbailiffs--they rose to shooting landlords. Did they get nearer theirobject? Did they overpower their oppressors, stop the law, mitigatetheir condition?--No, but the opposite; the successors of theslaughtered men levied the rents and enforced the ejectments of theslain. They did so with greater zeal, for vengeance strengthened theirresolve. They did so with greater effect, for the law that might haveinterfered where the people were oppressed, and society, which wouldhave aided the wronged people, took arms against assassins, and thedeath groan of the victim was the best rallying cry of oppression. 

So it will be again. Already men whose tongues, and pens, and heartswere busy pleading for better tenures and juster rents are silenced. They will not clamour for rights when assassins may recruit their gangswith the words of the innocent. Already minds deep in preparingremedies for popular suffering are meditating means of popularcoercion. The justice, not only of government but society, has growncautious of redress, and is preparing to punish--a repetition of guiltwill aggravate that punishment and postpone that redress. 

Headstrong and vain men, your sins will not give you a landlord theless nor a persecutor the less; while ever the land is liable to therent there will be found men willing to hazard their lives to get it, and you but arm them with fresh powers, with the sympathy of the publicand the increased force of law and government, to lean yet heavier onyou. 

Why, too, should Munster lead in guilt? Our richest province, ourpurest race, our fairest scenes--oh! why should its bloodshed be asplenteous as its rains? Other people suffer much. The peaceful peopleof Kerry, the whole province of Connaught, many counties of Leinsterare under a harsher yoke than the men of North Munster: yet they do notseek relief in butchery. 

Thank God! they do not. How horrid a blot upon earth were Ireland, ifits poor had no reliance but the murder of the rich; better by far thatthat people rose and waged open war. That were wild--that werecriminal; but 'twould be wisdom and mercy compared with theseindividual murders. 

How horrible is the condition of a district subject to such crimes! Feware struck, but all suffer! 'Tis as if men knew assuredly that a spiritof plague were passing through the land, but knew not whom it wouldwither. Think of a district where there has been peace--the People arepoor, but they are innocent; some of the rich are merciless, but someare just, and many are kind and sympathising; in their low homes, intheir safe chapels, in the faith of their fellows, in the hope ofbetter days, in the effort for improvement, but above all in theirconscious innocence, the most trampled of them have consolation, andthere is a sort of smile even on the wretched. But let some savagespirits appear among them--let the shebeen house supply the ferocitywhich religion kept down, and one oppressor is marked out forvengeance, his path is spied, the bludgeon or the bullet smites, and heis borne in to his innocent and loving family a broken and stainedcorpse, slain in his sins. 

Pursuit follows--the criminals become outlaws--they try to sheltertheir lives and console their consciences by making many share theirguilt--another and another is struck at. Haunted by remorse, andtracked by danger, and now intimate with crime, a less and a lessexcuse suffices. He began by avenging his own wrong, becomes theavenger of others, then perhaps the tool of others, who use the wrongsof the country as a cloak for unjustified malice, and the _suspected_tyrant or the rigid, yet not unjust, man shares the fate of the glaringoppressors. What terror and suspicion--what a shadow as of death isthere upon such a district! No one trusts his neighbour. The rich, excited by such events, believe the poor have conspired to slay them. They dread their very domestics, they abhor the People, rage at thecountry, summon each other, and all the aid that authority can give toprotect and to punish; they bar their doors before sunset, theirhearths are surrounded with guns and pistols--at the least rustle everyheart beats and women shriek, and men with clenched teeth andembittered hearts make ready for that lone and deadly conflict--thatbattle without object, without honour, without hope, without quarter. 

Then they cover the country with patrols--they raise up a cloud ofhovering spies--no peasant, no farmer feels safe. Those who conniveshudder at every passing troop, and see an informer in every stranger. Those who do not connive tremble lest they be struck as enemies of thecriminal; and thus from bad to worse till no home is safe--no heartcalm of the thousands. 

As yet no district has attained this horrible ripeness; but to thisNorth Munster may come, unless the People interfere and put down theoffenders. 

Will they suffer this hell-blight to come upon them? Will they waittill violence and suspicion are the only principles retaining poweramong them? Will they look on while the Repeal movement--the educating, the ennobling, the sacred effort for liberty--is superseded by the buzzof assassination and vengeance? Or will they now join O'Connell andO'Brien--the Association, the Law, and the Priesthood; and wheneverthey hear a breath of outrage, denounce it as they wouldAtheism--whenever they see an attempt at crime, interpose with brave, strong hand, and, in Mr. O'Brien's words, "leave the guilty no chanceof life but in hasty flight from the land they have stained with theircrimes. "

Once again we ask the People--the guiltless, the suffering, the noble, the brave People of Munster--by their patience, by their courage, bytheir hopes for Ireland, by their love to God, we implore them to putdown these assassins as they would and could were the weapons of themurderers aimed at their own children. 

A SECOND YEAR'S WORK. 

It was a bold experiment to establish _The Nation_. Our success is morehonourable to Ireland than to us, for it was by defying evil customsand bad prejudices we succeeded. 

Let us prove this. 

Religion has for ages been so mixed with Irish quarrels that it isoften hard to say whether patriotism or superstition was the animatingprinciple of an Irish leader, and whether political rapacity or bigotedzeal against bigotry was the motive of an oppressor. Yet in no countrywas this more misplaced in our day than in Ireland. Our upper classeswere mostly Episcopalians--masters not merely of the institutions, butthe education and moral force of the country. The middle ranks and muchof the peasantry of one of our greatest provinces were Presbyterians, obstinate in their simple creed--proud of their victories, yetapprehensive of oppression. The rest of the population were Catholics, remarkable for piety and tenderness, but equally noted for ignoranceand want of self-reliance. To mingle politics and religion in such acountry was to blind men to their common secular interests, to renderpolitical union impossible, and national independence hopeless. 

We grappled with the difficulty. We left sacred things to consecratedhands--theology and discipline to Churchmen. We preached a nationalitythat asked after no man's creed (_friend's or foe's_); and now, afterour Second Year's Work, we have got a _practical_ as well as a verbaladmission that religion is a thing between man and God--that no citizenis to be hooted, or abused, or marked down because he holds anyimaginable creed, or changes it any conceivable number of times. 

We are proudly conscious that, in preaching these great truths withsuccess, we have done more to convince the Protestants that they maycombine with the Catholics and get from under the shield of Englandthan if we had proved that the Repeal of the Union would double theears of their corn fields. 

There had been a long habit of looking to foreign arms or English mercyfor redress. We have shared the labours of O'Connell and O'Brien inimpressing on the People that self-reliance is the only liberator. Wehave, not in vain, taught that, though the concessions of England orthe sympathy of others was to be welcomed and used, still they would bebest won by dignity and strength; and that, whether they came or not, Ireland could redress herself by patience, energy, and resolution. 

Yet, deficient as the People were in genuine self-reliance, they hadbeen pampered into the belief that they were highly educated, noblyrepresented, successful in every science and art, and that consequentlytheir misery was a mysterious fate, for which there was no remedy inhuman means. We believe we have convinced them of the contrary of this. Ireland has done great things. She has created an unrivalled music andoratory, taken a first place in lyric poetry, displayed great valour, ready wit--has been a pattern of domestic virtue and faith underpersecution; and lately has again advanced herself and her fame bydeliberate temperance, by organised abstinence from crime, and byincreasing political discipline. Yet there is that worst of all factson the face of the census, that most of the Irish can neither read norwrite; there is evidence in every exhibition that this land, whichproduced Barry, Forde, Maclise, and Burton, is ignorant of the finearts; and proof in every shop or factory of the truth of Kane's motto, that industrial ignorance is a prime obstacle to our wealth. We have nonational theatre, either in books or performance; and though we havegot of late some classes of prose literature--national fiction, forinstance--we have yet to write our history, our statistics, and much ofour science. 

We have week after week candidly told these things to the People, and, instead of quarrelling with us, or running off to men who said "theIrish have succeeded in everything, " they hearkened to us, and raisedour paper into a circulation beyond most of the leaders of the Londonpress, and immensely beyond any other journal that ever was in Ireland. What is more cheering still, they have set about curing their defects. They are founding Repeal Reading-rooms. They have noted down theirignorance in many portions of agriculture, manufactures, commerce, history, literature, and fine arts; and they are working with theAgricultural Societies, forming Polytechnic Institutions for theimprovement of manufactures, and giving and demanding support to theantiquarian and historical and artistical books and institutions inIreland. Large _classes_ wished well to, and small ones supportedeach of these projects before; but in this journal _all_ classeswere canvassed incessantly, and not in vain--and if there be unanimitynow, we claim some credit for ourselves, but much more for the People, who did not resent harsh truth, and took advice that affronted theirvanity. 

A political impatience and intolerance have too often been seen in thiscountry. It is one of the vices of slaves to use free speech to insultall who do not praise their faults and their friends and theircaprices. We rejoice, in looking over our files, to see how rarely wewere personal and how generally we recognised the virtues of politicalfoes. It is an equal pleasure to recall that in many questions, butespecially in reference to the Liberal Members not in the Association, we stood between an impolitic fury and its destined victims. The Peoplebore with us, and then agreed with us. We told them that men able andvirtuous--men who had gone into Parliament when Repeal was a Whigbuggaboo to frighten the Tories, were not to be hallooed from theirseats because Repeal had suddenly grown into a national demand. Thesemen, we said, may become your allies, if you do not put them upon theirmettle by your rudeness and impatience. If they join you, they will befaster and more useful friends than men who compensate for every defectby pledge-bolting at command. 

Mr. O'Connell, who had at first seemed to incline to the oppositeopinion, concurred with us. Mr. O'Brien was zealous on the same side;the "premature pledges" were postponed to their fit time--anelection--and the people induced to apply themselves to the Registries, as the true means of getting Repeal members. 

We have maintained and advanced our foreign policy--the recognition andstudy of other countries beside England, and a careful separation ofourselves from England's crimes. We have, we believe, not neglectedthose literary, antiquarian, and historical teachings, and thosepopular projects which we pointed to last year as part of our labours;and we are told that the poetry of _The Nation_ has not been worse thanin our first year. But these things are more personal, less indicativeof national progress, and therefore less interesting than our successin producing political tolerance, increased efforts for education, andthat final concession to religious liberty--the right to change withouteven verbal persecution. 

The last year has been a year of hard work and hard trial to thecountry and to us. Our first year was spent in rousing andanimating--the second in maintaining, guiding, and restraining. Itsmotto is, "Bide your time. " Never had a People more temptation to berash; and it is our proudest feeling that in our way we aided theinfinitely greater powers of O'Connell till his imprisonment, and ofO'Brien thereafter, to keep in the passion, while they kept up thespirit of the People. 

They and we succeeded. 

The People saw the darling of their hearts dragged to trial, yet theynever rioted; they found month after month go by in the disgustingdetails of a trial at bar, yet, instead of desponding, they improvedtheir organisation, studied their history and statistics--increased indignity, modesty, and strength. At length came the imprisonment; wealmost doubted them, but they behaved gloriously--they recognised theirwrongs, but they crossed their arms--they were neither terrified, disordered, nor divided--they promptly obeyed their new leaders, and, with shut teeth, swore that their "only vengeance should be victory. "They succeeded--bore their triumph as well as their defeat, and are nowtaking breath for a fresh effort at education, organisation, andconciliation. 

It is something to have laboured through a Second Year for such aPeople. Let them go on as they have begun--growing more thoughtful, more temperate, more educated, more resolute--let them complete theirparish organisation, carry out their registries, and, above all, establish those Reading-rooms which will inform and strengthen theminto liberty; and, ere many years' work, the Green Flag will be salutedby Europe, and Ireland will be a Nation. The People have shown thattheir spirit, their discipline, and their modesty can be relied on;they have but to exhibit that greatest virtue which their enemies denythem--perseverence--and all will be well. 

ORANGE AND GREEN. 

Here it is at last--the dawning. Here, in the very sanctuary of theOrange heart, is a visible angel of Nationality:--

 "If a British Union cannot be formed, perhaps an Irish one might. What could Repeal take from Irish Protestants that they are not gradually losing '_in due course_'?

 "However improbable, it is not impossible, that better terms might be made with the Repealers than the Government seem disposed to give. A hundred thousand Orangemen, with their colours flying, might yet meet a hundred thousand Repealers on the banks of the Boyne; and, on a field presenting so many solemn reminiscences to all, sign the Magna Charta of Ireland's independence. The Repeal banner might then be Orange and Green, flying from the Giant's Causeway to the Cove of Cork, and proudly look down from the walls of Derry upon a new-born nation. 

 "Such a union, not to be accomplished without concession on all sides, would remove the great offence of Irish Protestants--their Saxon attachment to their British fatherland. Cast off, as they would feel themselves by Great Britain, and baptised on the banks of the Boyne into the great Irish family, they would be received into a brotherhood which, going forward towards the attainment of a national object, would extinguish the spirit of Ribbonism, and establish in its place a covenant of peace. "

So speaks the _Evening Mail_, the trumpet of the northern confederates, and we cry amen! amen!

We exult, till the beat of our heart stays our breathing, at the visionof such a concourse. Never--never, when the plains of Attica saw therivals of Greece marching to expel the Persian, who had tried tointrigue with each for the ruin of both--never, when, from the uplandsof Helvetia, rolled together the victors of Sempach--never, when, atthe cry of Fatherland, the hundred nations of Germany rose up, andswept on emancipating to the Rhine--never was there under the sky agodlier or more glorious sight than that would be--to all slaves, balsam; to all freemen, strength; to all time, a miracle!

If Ireland's wrongs were borne for this--if our feuds and our wearysapping woes were destined to this ending, then blessed be the griefsof the past! His sickness to the healed--his pining to the happylover--his danger to the rescued, are faint images of such a birth fromsuch a chaos. 

It is something--the cheer of an invisible friend--to have, even for amoment, heard the hope. It must abide in the souls of the Irish, guaranteeing the moderation of the Catholic--wakening the aspirationsof the Orangemen. There it is--a cross on the sky. 

It may not now lead to anything real. Long-suffering, oft-baffledIreland will not abandon for an inch or hour its selected path byreason of this message. 

We hope from it, because it has been prompted by causes which willdaily increase. Incessantly will the British Minister labour to gainthe support of seven millions of freed men, by cutting away everyprivilege and strength from one million of discarded allies. 

We hope from it, because, as the Orangemen become more enlightened, they will more and more value the love of their countrymen, be prouderof their country, and more conscious that their ambition, interest, andeven security are identical with nationality. 

We hope from it, because, as the education of People and the elevationof the rich progress, they will better understand the apprehensions ofthe Orangemen, allow for them in a more liberal spirit, and be able togive more genuine security to even the nervousness of their newfriends. 

We hope most from it, because of its intrinsic greatness. It is thebest promise yet seen to have the Orangemen proposing, even as achance, the conference of 100, 000 armed and ordered yeomen from theNorth, with 100, 000 picked (ay, by our faith! and martial) Southerns onthe banks of the Boyne, to witness a treaty of mutual concession, oblivion, and eternal amity; and then to lift an Orange-Green Flag ofNationhood, and defy the world to pull it down. 

Yet 'tis a distant hope, and Ireland, we repeat, must not swerve forits flashing. When the Orangemen treat the shamrock with as ready awelcome as Wexford gave the lily--when the Green is set as consort ofthe Orange in the lodges of the North--when the Fermanagh meetingdeclares that the Orangemen are Irishmen pledged to Ireland, andsummons another Dungannon Convention to prepare the terms of ourtreaty; then, and not till then, shall we treat this gorgeous hope as areality, and then, and not till then, shall we summon the Repealers toquit their present sure course, and trust their fortunes to the Leagueof the Boyne. 

Meantime, we commend to the hearts and pride of "the Enniskilleners"this, their fathers', declaration in 1782:--

 "COUNTY FERMANAGH GRAND JURY. 

 "We, the Grand Jury of the county of Fermanagh, being constitutionally assembled at the present assizes, held for the county of Fermanagh, at Enniskillen, this 18th day of March, 1782, think ourselves called upon at this interesting moment to make our solemn declarations relative to the rights and liberties of Ireland. 

 "We _pledge ourselves_ to this our country, that we will never pay obedience to any law made, or to be made, to bind Ireland, except those laws which are and shall be made by the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland. 

 "Signed by order, "ARTHUR COLE HAMILTON, Foreman. "

ACADEMICAL EDUCATION. [51]

The rough outlines of a plan of Academical Education for Ireland arenow before the country. The plan, as appears from Sir James Graham'svery conciliatory speech, is to be found three Colleges; to give them£100, 000 for buildings, and £6, 000 a year for expenses; to open them toall creeds; the education to be purely secular; the students not tolive within the Colleges; and the professors to be named and removed, now and hereafter, by Government. 

The announcement of this plan was received in the Commons withextravagant praise by the Irish Whig and Repeal members, nor was anyhostility displayed except by the blockhead and bigot, Sir RobertInglis--a preposterous fanatic, who demands the repeal of theEmancipation Act, and was never yet missed from the holy orgies ofExeter Hall. Out of doors it has had a darker reception; but now thatthe first storm of joy and anger is over, it is time for the people ofIreland to think of this measure. 

It is for them to consider it--it is for them to decide on it--it isfor them to profit by it. For centuries the Irish were paupers andserfs, because they were ignorant and divided. The Protestant hated theCatholic, and oppressed him--the Catholic hated the Protestant, andwould not trust him. England fed the bigotry of both, and flourished onthe ignorance of both. The ignorance was a barrier between oursects--left our merchant's till, our farmer's purse, and our statetreasury empty--stupefied our councils in peace, and slackened our armin war. Whatsoever plan will strengthen the soul of Ireland withknowledge, and knit the sects of Ireland in liberal and trustingfriendship, will be better for us than if corn and wine were scatteredfrom every cloud. 

While 400, 000 of the poor find instruction in the National Schools, themeans of education for the middle and upper classes are as bad now asthey were ten or fifty years ago. A farmer or a shopkeeper in Irelandcannot, by any sacrifice, win for his son such an education as would beproffered to him in Germany. How can he afford to pay the expense ofhis son's living in the capital, in addition to Collegiate fees; and, if he could, why should he send his son where, unless he be anEpiscopalian Protestant, those Collegiate offices which, though theycould be held but by a few score, would influence hundreds, are deniedhim. Even to the gentry the distance and expense are oppressive; and tothe Catholics and Presbyterians of them the monopoly is intolerable. 

To bring Academical Education within the reach and means of the middleclasses, to free it from the disease of ascendency, and to make it ameans of union as well as of instruction, should be the objects of himwho legislates on this subject; and we implore the gentry and middleclasses, whom it concerns, to examine this plan calmly and closely, andto act on their convictions like firm and sensible men. If such ameasure cannot be discussed in a reasonable and decent way, ourprogress to self-government is a progress to giddy convulsions andshameful ruin. 

Let us look into the details of the plan. 

It grants £100, 000 and £18, 000 a year for the foundation of threeProvincial Colleges. The Colleges proposed are for the present numerousenough. It will be hard to get competent Professors for even these. Elementary Education has made great way; but the very ignorance forwhich these Institutions are meant as a remedy makes the class ofIrishmen fit to fill Professors' chairs small indeed; and, small as itis, it yearly loses its best men by emigration to London, where theyfind rewards, fame, and excitement. The dismissal, hereafter, ofincompetent men would be a painful, but--if pedants, dunces, and cheatswere crammed into the chairs--an unavoidable task. A gradual increaseof such Colleges will better suit the progress of Irish intelligencethan a sudden and final endowment. But though the Colleges are enough, and the annual allowance sufficient, the building fund isinadequate--at least double the sum would be needed; but this brings usto another part of the plan--the residence of the students outside theCollege. 

To the extern residence we are decidedly opposed. It works well inGermany, where the whole grown population are educated; but in Ireland, where the adult population are unhappily otherwise, 'tis a matter ofconsequence to keep the students together, to foster an academic spiritand character, and to preserve them from the stupefying influences ofcommon society. However, this point is but secondary, so we pass fromit, and come to the two great principles of the Bill. 

They are--Mixed Education and Government Nomination; and we are asresolute for the first as we are against the second. 

The objections to separate Education are immense; the reasons for itare reasons for separate life, for mutual animosity, for penal laws, for religious wars. 'Tis said that communication between students ofdifferent creeds will taint their faith and endanger their souls. Theywho say so should prohibit the students from associating _out_ of theColleges even more than _in_ them. In the Colleges they will be joinedin studying mathematics, natural philosophy, engineering, chemistry, the principles of reasoning, the constitution of man. Surely union inthese studies would less peril their faith than free communication outof doors. Come, come, let those who insist on unqualified separateEducation follow out their principles--let them prohibit Catholic andProtestant boys from playing, or talking, or walking together--let themmark out every frank or indiscreet man for a similar prohibition--letthem establish a theological police--let them rail off each sect (asthe Jews used to be cooped) into a separate quarter; or rather, to savepreliminaries, let each of them proclaim war in the name of his creedon the men of all other creeds, and fight till death, triumph, ordisgust shall leave him leisure to revise his principles. 

These are the logical consequences of the doctrine of SeparateEducation, but we acquit the friends of it of that or any other suchferocious purpose. Their intentions are pious and sincere--theirargument is dangerous, for they might find followers with less virtueand more dogged consistency. 

We say "an _unqualified_ separate Education, " because it is said, withsome plausibility, that the manner in which theology mixes up withhistory and moral philosophy renders common instruction in them almostimpossible. The reasoning is pushed too far. Yet the objection shouldbe well weighed; though we warn those who push it very far not to fallinto the extravagance of a valued friend of ours, who protested againstone person attempting to teach medicine to Catholics and Protestants, as one creed acknowledged miraculous cures and demoniacal possessions, and the other rejected both!

It should be noted, too, that this demand for separate _Professors_does not involve separate Colleges, does not assume that any evil wouldresult from the friendship of the students, and does not lead to thedesperate, though unforeseen, conclusions which follow from the othernotion. 

'Tis also a different thing to propose the establishment of Deans ineach College to inspect the religious discipline and moral conduct ofthe students--a Catholic Dean, appointed by the Catholic Church, watching over the Catholic students; and so of the Episcopalians andPresbyterians. Such Deans, and Halls for religious teaching, will beabsolutely necessary, should a residence in the Colleges be required;but should a system of residence in registered lodgings andboarding-houses be preferred, similar duties to the Deans might beperformed by persons nominated by the Catholic, Protestant, andPresbyterian Churches respectively, without the direct interposition ofthe College; for each parent would take care to put his child under thecontrol of his own Church. An adequate provision in some sufficientmanner for religious discipline is essential, and to be dispensed withon no pretence. 

These, however, are details of great consequence to be discussed in theCommons' Committee; but we repeat our claim for mixed education, because it has worked well among the students of Trinity College, andwould work better were its offices free, because it is the principleapproved by Ireland when she demanded the opening of those offices, andwhen she accepted the National Schools--because it is the principle ofthe Cork, the Limerick, and the Derry meetings; but above all, becauseit is consistent with piety, and favourable to that union of Irishmenof different sects, for want of which Ireland is in rags and chains. 

Against the nomination of Professors by Government we protestaltogether. We speak alike of Whig or Tory. The nomination would be_looked on_ as a political bribe, the removal as a politicalpunishment. Nay, the nomination _would_ be political. Under greatpublic excitement a just nomination might be made, but in quiet timesit would be given to the best mathematician or naturalist who attendedthe levee and wrote against the opposition. And it would be an enormouspower; for it would not merely control the immediate candidates, buthundreds, who thought they might some ten years after be solicitors forprofessorships, would shrink from committing themselves to uncourtlypolitics, or qualify by Ministerial partisanship, not philosophicalstudy, for that distant day. A better engine for corrupting that greatliterary class which is the best hope of Ireland could not be devised;and if it be retained in the Bill, that Bill must be resisted anddefeated, whether in or out of Parliament. We warn the Minister!

We have omitted a strange objection to the Bill--that it does not givemixed education. It is said the Colleges of Cork and Galway would beattended only by Catholics, and that of Belfast by Protestants. Bothare errors. The middle class of Protestants in Cork is numerous--theyand the poorer gentry would send their sons to the Cork College to saveexpense. The Catholics would assuredly do the same in Belfast; they doso with the Institution in the Academy there already; and though theCatholics in Cork, and the Protestants in Belfast, would be themajorities, enough of the opposite creed would be in each to produceall the wholesome restraint, and much of the wholesome toleration andgoodwill, of the mixed system of Trinity. Were the objection good, however, it ought to content the advocates of separate education. 

It has been said, too, that the Bill recognises a religious ascendencyin the case of Belfast. This seems to us a total misconception of thewords of the Minister. He suggested that the Southern College should bein Cork, the Western in Limerick or Galway, the Northern in Derry orBelfast. Had he stopped at Derry the mistake could never have occurred;but he went on to say that if the College were planted in Belfast, thebuilding now used for the Belfast Academy would serve for the newCollege, and unless the echoes of the old theological professors bemore permanent than common, we cannot understand the sectarianism ofthe _building_ in Belfast. 

A more valid objection would be that the measure was not more complete;and the University system will certainly be crippled and impotentunless residence for a year at least in it be essential to a Universitydegree. 

The main defect of the Bill is its omitting to deal with TrinityCollege. It is said that the property is and was Protestant; but theBill of '93, which admitted Catholics to be educated on this Protestantfoundation, broke down the title; and, at all events, the property isas public as the Corporation, and is liable to all the demands ofpublic convenience. But it is added that the property of TrinityCollege is not more than £30, 000 or £40, 000 a year, and that the grantfor Catholic Clerical Education alone is £26, 000 a year; and certainlytill the Protestant Church be equalised to the wants of the Protestantpopulation there will be something in the argument. When thatReformation comes, a third of the funds should be given for ProtestantClerical Education, and the College livings transferred to the ClericalCollege, and the remaining two-thirds preserved to Trinity College as asecular University. 

Waiting that settlement, we see nothing better than the proposal soadmirably urged by the _Morning Chronicle_, of the grant of £6, 000--wesay £10, 000--a year, for the foundation of Catholic fellowships andscholarships in Trinity College. Some such change must be made, for itwould be the grossest injustice to give Catholics a share, or thewhole, of one or two new, untried, characterless Provincial Academies, and exclude them from the offices of the ancient, celebrated, andnational University. If there is to be a religious equality, TrinityCollege must be opened, or augmented by Catholic endowment. For this nodemand can be too loud and vehement, for the refusal will be an affrontand a grievance to the Catholics of Ireland. 

We have only run over the merits and faults of this plan. Next to aTenure or a Militia Bill, it is the most important possible. Questionsmust arise on every section of it; and, however these questions bedecided, we trust in God they will be decided without acrimony orrecrimination, and that so divine a subject as Education will not leadto disunions which would prostrate our country. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [51] From _The Nation_, May 17, 1845. 

IV. Poetical Works. 

A NATION ONCE AGAIN. 

I. 

When boyhood's fire was in my blood I read of ancient freemenFor Greece and Rome who bravely stood, THREE HUNDRED MEN AND THREE MEN. [52]And then I prayed I yet might see Our fetters rent in twain, And Ireland, long a province, be A NATION ONCE AGAIN. 

II. 

And, from that time, through wildest woe, That hope has shone, a far light;Nor could love's brightest summer glow Outshine that solemn starlight:It seemed to watch above my head In forum, field and fane;Its angel voice sang round my bed, "A NATION ONCE AGAIN. "

III. 

It whispered, too, that "freedom's ark And service high and holy, Would be profaned by feelings dark And passions vain or lowly:For freedom comes from God's right hand, And needs a godly train;And righteous men must make our land A NATION ONCE AGAIN. "

IV. 

So, as I grew from boy to man, I bent me to that bidding--My spirit of each selfish plan And cruel passion ridding;For, thus I hoped some day to aid-- Oh! can _such_ hope be vain?--When my dear country shall be made A NATION ONCE AGAIN. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [52] The Three Hundred Greeks who died at Thermopylæ, and the Three Romans who kept the Sublician Bridge. 

THE GERALDINES. 

I. 

The Geraldines! the Geraldines!--'tis full a thousand yearsSince, 'mid the Tuscan vineyards, bright flashed their battle-spears;When Capet seized the crown of France, their iron shields were known, And their sabre-dint struck terror on the banks of the Garonne:Across the downs of Hastings they spurred hard by William's side, And the grey sands of Palestine with Moslem blood they dyed;But never then, nor thence, till now, has falsehood or disgraceBeen seen to soil Fitzgerald's plume, or mantle in his face. 

II. 

The Geraldines! the Geraldines!--'tis true, in Strongbow's van, By lawless force, as conquerors, their Irish reign began;And, oh! through many a dark campaign they proved their prowess stern, In Leinster's plains and Munster's vales on king and chief and kerne;But noble was the cheer within the halls so rudely won, And generous was the steel-gloved hand that had such slaughter done;How gay their laugh, how proud their mien, you'd ask no herald's sign--Among a thousand you had known the princely Geraldine. 

III. 

These Geraldines! these Geraldines!--not long our air they breathed;Not long they fed on venison, in Irish water seethed;Not often had their children been by Irish mothers nursed;When from their full and genial hearts an Irish feeling burst!The English monarchs strove in vain, by law and force and bribe, To win from Irish thoughts and ways this "more than Irish" tribe;For still they clung to fosterage, to _breitheamh_[53], cloak, and bard:What king dare say to Geraldine, "your Irish wife discard?"

IV. 

Ye Geraldines! ye Geraldines!--how royally ye reignedO'er Desmond broad, and rich Kildare, and English arts disdained:Your sword made knights, your banner waved, free was your bugle callBy Gleann's[54] green slopes, and Daingean's[55] tide, from Bearbha's[56] banks to Eóchaill. [57]What gorgeous shrines, what _breitheamh_ lore, what minstrel feasts there wereIn and around Magh Nuadhaid's[58] keep, and palace-filled Adare!But not for rite or feast ye stayed, when friend or kin were pressed;And foemen fled, when "_Crom Abu_"[59] bespoke your lance in rest. 

V. 

Ye Geraldines! ye Geraldines!--since Silken Thomas flungKing Henry's sword on council board, the English thanes among, Ye never ceased to battle brave against the English sway, Though axe and brand and treachery your proudest cut away. Of Desmond's blood through woman's veins passed on th' exhausted tide;His title lives--a Sacsanach churl usurps the lion's hide;And, though Kildare tower haughtily, there's ruin at the root, Else why, since Edward fell to earth, had such a tree no fruit?

VI. 

True Geraldines! brave Geraldines!--as torrents mould the earth, You channelled deep old Ireland's heart by constancy and worth:When Ginckel 'leaguered Limerick, the Irish soldiers gazedTo see if in the setting sun dead Desmond's banner blazed!And still it is the peasants' hope upon the Cuirreach's[60] mere, "They live, who'll see ten thousand men with good Lord Edward here"--So let them dream till brighter days, when, not by Edward's shade, But by some leader true as he, their lines shall be arrayed!

VII. 

These Geraldines! these Geraldines!--rain wears away the rockAnd time may wear away the tribe that stood the battle's shock;But ever, sure, while one is left of all that honoured race, In front of Ireland's chivalry is that Fitzgerald's place:And, though the last were dead and gone, how many a field and town, From Thomas Court to Abbeyfeile, would cherish their renown, And men would say of valour's rise, or ancient power's decline, "'Twill never soar, it never shone, as did the Geraldine. "

VIII. 

The Geraldines! the Geraldines!--and are there any fearsWithin the sons of conquerors for full a thousand years?Can treason spring from out a soil bedewed with martyrs' blood?Or has that grown a purling brook, which long rushed down a flood?--By Desmond swept with sword and fire--by clan and keep laid low--By Silken Thomas and his kin, --by sainted Edward, no!The forms of centuries rise up, and in the Irish lineCOMMAND THEIR SON TO TAKE THE POST THAT FITS THE GERALDINE![61]

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [53] _Angl. _ Brehon. 

 [54] _Angl. _ Glyn. 

 [55] _Angl. _ Dingle. 

 [56] _Angl. _ Barrow. 

 [57] _Angl. _ Youghal. 

 [58] _Angl. _ Maynooth. 

 [59] Formerly the war-cry of the Geraldines, and now their motto. 

 [60] _Angl. _ Curragh. 

 [61] The concluding stanza was found among the author's papers, and was inserted in the first edition. It is believed to have had a personal reference, not to any Geraldine but to William Smith O'Brien. --Ed. 

O'BRIEN OF ARA. [62]

AIR--_The Piper of Blessington_. 

I. 

Tall are the towers of O'Ceinneidigh[63]-- Broad are the lands of MacCarrthaigh[64]--Desmond feeds five hundred men a-day; Yet, here's to O'Briain[65] of Ara! Up from the Castle of Druim-aniar, [66] Down from the top of Camailte, Clansman and kinsman are coming here To give him the CEAD MILE FAILTE. 

II. 

See you the mountains look huge at eve-- So is our chieftain in battle--Welcome he has for the fugitive, -- _Uisce-beatha_[67] fighting, and cattle! Up from the Castle of Druim-aniar, Down from the top of Camailte Gossip and ally are coming here To give him the CEAD MILE FAILTE. 

III. 

Horses the valleys are tramping on, Sleek from the Sacsanach manger--_Creachts_ the hills are encamping on, Empty the bawns of the stranger! Up from the Castle of Druim-aniar, Down from the top of Camailte, _Ceithearn_[68] and _buannacht_ are coming here To give him the CEAD MILE FAILTE. 

IV. 

He has black silver from Cill-da-lua[69]-- Rian[70] and Cearbhall[71] are neighbours--'N Aonach[72] submits with a _fuililiú_-- Butler is meat for our sabres! Up from the Castle of Druim-aniar Down from the top of Camailte, Rian and Cearbhall are coming here To give him the CEAD MILE FAILTE. 

V. 

'Tis scarce a week since through Osairghe[73] Chased he the Baron of Durmhagh[74]--Forced him five rivers to cross, or he Had died by the sword of Red Murchadh![75] Up from the Castle of Druim-aniar, Down from the top of Camailte, All the Ui Bhriain are coming here To give him the CEAD MILE FAILTE. 

VI. 

Tall are the towers of O'Ceinneidigh-- Broad are the lands of MacCarrthaigh--Desmond feeds five hundred men a-day; Yet, here's to O'Briain of Ara! Up from the Castle of Druim-aniar, Down from the top of Camailte, Clansman and kinsman are coming here To give him the CEAD MILE FAILTE. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [62] Ara is a small mountain tract south of Loch Deirgdheire, and north of the Camailte, or the Keeper, hills. It was the seat of a branch of the Thomond princes, called the O'Briens of Ara. 

 [63] _Vulgo_ O'Kennedy. 

 [64] _Vul. _ M'Carthy. 

 [65] _Vul. _ O'Brien. 

 [66] _Vul. _ Drumineer. 

 [67] _Vul. _ Usquebaugh. 

 [68] _Vul. _ Kerne. 

 [69] _Vul. _ Killaloe. 

 [70] _Vul. _ Ryan. 

 [71] _Vul. _ Carroll. 

 [72] _Vul. _ Nenagh. 

 [73] _Vulgo_, Ossory. 

 [74] _Vul. _ Lurrow. 

 [75] _Vul. _ Murrough. 

THE SACK OF BALTIMORE. [76]

I. 

The summer sun is falling soft on Carbery's hundred isles--The summer sun is gleaming still through Gabriel's rough defiles--Old Inisherkin's crumbled fane looks like a moulting bird;And in a calm and sleepy swell the ocean tide is heard;The hookers lie upon the beach; the children cease their play;The gossips leave the little inn; the households kneel to pray--And full of love and peace and rest--its daily labour o'er--Upon that cosy creek there lay the town of Baltimore. 

II. 

A deeper rest, a starry trance, has come with midnight there;No sound, except that throbbing wave in earth, or sea, or air. The massive capes and ruined towers seem conscious of the calm;The fibrous sod and stunted trees are breathing heavy balm. So still the night, these two long barques round Dunashad that glide, Must trust their oars--methinks not few--against the ebbing tide--Oh! some sweet mission of true love must urge them to the shore--They bring some lover to his bride, who sighs in Baltimore!

III. 

All, all asleep within each roof along that rocky street, And these must be the lover's friends, with gently gliding feet--A stifled gasp! a dreamy noise! "the roof is in a flame!"From out their beds, and to their doors, rush maid, and sire, and dame--And meet, upon the threshold stone, the gleaming sabre's fall, And o'er each black and bearded face the white or crimson shawl--The yell of "Allah" breaks above the prayer and shriek and roar--Oh, blessed God! the Algerine is lord of Baltimore!

IV. 

Then flung the youth his naked hand against the shearing sword;Then sprung the mother on the brand with which her son was gored;Then sunk the grandsire on the floor, his grand-babes clutching wild;Then fled the maiden moaning faint, and nestled with the child;But see, yon pirate strangled lies, and crushed with splashing heel, While o'er him in an Irish hand there sweeps his Syrian steel--Though virtue sink, and courage fail, and misers yield their store, There's _one_ hearth well avengéd in the sack of Baltimore!

V. 

Mid-summer morn, in woodland nigh, the birds began to sing--They see not now the milking maids--deserted is the spring!Mid-summer day--this gallant rides from distant Bandon's town--These hookers crossed from stormy Skull, that skiff from Affadown;They only found the smoking walls, with neighbours' blood besprent, And on the strewed and trampled beach awhile they wildly went--Then dashed to sea, and passed Cape Cléire, and saw five leagues beforeThe pirate galleys vanishing that ravaged Baltimore. 

VI. 

Oh! some must tug the galley's oar, and some must tend the steed--This boy will bear a Scheik's chibouk, and that a Bey's jerreed. Oh! some are for the arsenals, by beauteous Dardanelles;And some are in the caravan to Mecca's sandy dells. The maid that Bandon gallant sought is chosen for the Dey--She's safe--he's dead--she stabbed him in the midst of his Serai;And when to die a death of fire that noble maid they bore, She only smiled--O'Driscoll's child--she thought of Baltimore. 

VII. 

'Tis two long years since sunk the town beneath that bloody band, And all around its trampled hearths a larger concourse stand, Where high upon a gallows tree, a yelling wretch is seen--'Tis Hackett of Dungarvan--he who steered the Algerine!He fell amid a sullen shout, with scarce a passing prayer, For he had slain the kith and kin of many a hundred there--Some muttered of MacMurchadh, who brought the Norman o'er--Some cursed him with Iscariot, that day in Baltimore. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [76] Baltimore is a small seaport in the barony of Carbery, in South Munster. It grew up round a Castle of O'Driscoll's, and was, after his ruin, colonized by the English. On the 20th of June, 1631, the crew of two Algerine galleys landed in the dead of the night, sacked the town, and bore off into slavery all who were not too old, or too young, or too fierce for their purpose. The pirates were steered up the intricate channel by one Hackett, a Dungarvan fisherman, whom they had taken at sea for the purpose. Two years after he was convicted and executed for the crime. Baltimore never recovered this. To the artist, the antiquary, and the naturalist, its neighbourhood is most interesting. See "The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Cork, " by Charles Smith, M. D. 

LAMENT FOR THE DEATH OF EOGHAN RUADH O'NEILL. [77]

I. 

"Did they dare, did they dare, to slay Eoghan Ruadh O'Neill?""Yes, they slew with poison him they feared to meet with steel. ""May God wither up their hearts! May their blood cease to flow!May they walk in living death, who poisoned Eoghan Ruadh!"

II. 

"Though it break my heart to hear, say again the bitter words. From Derry, against Cromwell, he marched to measure swords:But the weapon of the Sacsanach met him on his way, And he died at Cloch Uachtar, [78] upon St. Leonard's day. 

III. 

"Wail, wail ye for the Mighty One! Wail, wail ye for the Dead!Quench the hearth, and hold the breath--with ashes strew the head. How tenderly we loved him! How deeply we deplore!Holy Saviour! but to think we shall never see him more. 

IV. 

"Sagest in the council was he, kindest in the hall!Sure we never won a battle--'twas Eoghan won them all. Had he lived--had he lived--our dear country had been free;But he's dead, but he's dead, and 'tis slaves we'll ever be. 

V. 

"O'Farrell and Clanrickarde, Preston and Red Hugh, Audley and MacMahon, ye are valiant, wise, and true;But--what, what are ye all to our darling who is gone?The Rudder of our Ship was he, our Castle's corner stone!

VI. 

"Wail, wail him through the Island! Weep, weep for our pride!Would that on the battle-field our gallant chief had died!Weep the Victor of Beann-bhorbh[79]--weep him, young men and old;Weep for him, ye women--your Beautiful lies cold!

VII. 

"We thought you would not die--we were sure you would not go, And leave us in our utmost need to Cromwell's cruel blow--Sheep without a shepherd, when the snow shuts out the sky--Oh! why did you leave us, Eoghan? Why did you die?

VIII. 

"Soft as woman's was your voice, O'Neill! bright was your eye, Oh! why did you leave us, Eoghan? Why did you die?Your troubles are all over, you're at rest with God on high, But we're slaves, and we're orphans, Eoghan!--why didst thou die?"

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [77] Commonly called Owen Roe O'Neill. Time, 10th November, 1649. Scene--Ormond's Camp, County Waterford. Speakers--A veteran of Eoghan O'Neill's clan, and one of the horsemen just arrived with an account of his death. 

 [78] Clough Oughter. 

 [79] Benburb. 

THE PENAL DAYS. 

AIR--_The Wheelwright_. 

I. 

Oh! weep those days, the penal days, When Ireland hopelessly complained. Oh! weep those days, the penal days, When godless persecution reigned; When year by year, For serf and peer, Fresh cruelties were made by law, And filled with hate, Our senate sate To weld anew each fetter's flaw. Oh! weep those days, those penal days--Their memory still on Ireland weighs. 

II. 

They bribed the flock, they bribed the son, To sell the priest and rob the sire;Their dogs were taught alike to run Upon the scent of wolf and friar. Among the poor, Or on the moor, Were hid the pious and the true-- While traitor knave, And recreant slave, Had riches, rank, and retinue;And, exiled in those penal days, Our banners over Europe blaze. 

III. 

A stranger held the land and tower Of many a noble fugitive;No Popish lord had lordly power, The peasant scarce had leave to live; Above his head A ruined shed, No tenure but a tyrant's will-- Forbid to plead, Forbid to read Disarmed, disfranchised, imbecile--What wonder if our step betraysThe freedman, born in penal days?

IV. 

They're gone, they're gone, those penal days! All creeds are equal in our isle;Then grant, O Lord, thy plenteous grace, Our ancient feuds to reconcile. Let all atone For blood and groan, For dark revenge and open wrong; Let all unite For Ireland's right, And drown our griefs in freedom's song;Till time shall veil in twilight haze, The memory of those penal days. 

THE SURPRISE OF CREMONA. 

1702. 

I. 

From Milan to Cremona Duke Villeroy rode, And soft are the beds in his princely abode;In billet and barrack the garrison sleep, And loose is the watch which the sentinels keep:'Tis the eve of St. David, and bitter the breezeOf that mid-winter night on the flat Cremonese;A fig for precaution!--Prince Eugene sits downIn winter cantonments round Mantua town!

II. 

Yet through Ustiano, and out on the plain, Horse, foot, and dragoons, are defiling amain. "That flash!" said Prince Eugene: "Count Merci, push on"--Like a rock from a precipice Merci is gone. Proud mutters the Prince: "That is Cassioli's sign:Ere the dawn of the morning Cremona'll be mine;For Merci will open the gate of the Po, But scant is the mercy Prince Vaudemont will shew!"

III. 

Through gate, street, and square, with his keen cavaliers--A flood through a gulley--Count Merci careers--They ride without getting or giving a blow, Nor halt till they gaze on the gate of the Po. "Surrender the gate!"--but a volley replied, For a handful of Irish are posted inside. By my faith, Charles Vaudemont will come rather late, If he stay till Count Merci shall open that gate!

IV. 

But in through St. Margaret's the Austrians pour, And billet and barrack are ruddy with gore;Unarmed and naked, the soldiers are slain--There's an enemy's gauntlet on Villeroy's rein--"A thousand pistoles and a regiment of horse--Release me, MacDonnell!"--they hold on their course. Count Merci has seized upon cannon and wall, Prince Eugene's headquarters are in the Town-hall!

V. 

Here and there, through the city, some readier band, For honour and safety, undauntedly stand. At the head of the regiments of Dillon and BurkeIs Major O'Mahony, fierce as a Turk. His sabre is flashing--the major is dress'd, But muskets and shirts are the clothes of the rest!Yet they rush to the ramparts, the clocks have tolled ten, And Count Merci retreats with the half of his men. 

VI. 

"In on them!" said Friedberg--and Dillon is broke, Like forest-flowers crushed by the fall of the oak;Through the naked battalions the cuirassiers go;--But the man, not the dress, makes the soldier, I trowUpon them with grapple, with bay'net, and ball, Like wolves upon gaze-hounds, the Irishmen fall--Black Friedberg is slain by O'Mahony's steel, And back from the bullets the cuirassiers reel. 

VII. 

Oh! hear you their shout in your quarters, Eugene?In vain on Prince Vaudemont for succour you lean!The bridge has been broken, and, mark! how, pell-mellCome riderless horses, and volley and yell!He's a veteran soldier--he clenches his hands, He springs on his horse, disengages his bands--He rallies, he urges, till, hopeless of aid, He is chased through the gates by the IRISH BRIGADE. 

VIII. 

News, news, in Vienna!--King Leopold's sad. News, news, in St. James's!--King William is mad. News, news, in Versailles!--"Let the Irish BrigadeBe loyally honoured, and royally paid. "News, news, in old Ireland!--high rises her pride, And high sounds her wail for her children who died, And deep is her prayer: "God send I may seeMacDonnell and Mahony fighting for me!"

THE FLOWER OF FINAE. 

I. 

Bright red is the sun on the waves of Lough Sheelin, A cool, gentle breeze from the mountain is stealing, While fair round its islets the small ripples play, But fairer than all is the Flower of Finae. 

II. 

Her hair is like night, and her eyes like grey morning, She trips on the heather as if its touch scorning, Yet her heart and her lips are as mild as May day, Sweet Eily MacMahon, the Flower of Finae. 

III. 

But who down the hill-side than red deer runs fleeter?And who on the lake-side is hastening to greet her?Who but Fergus O'Farrell, the fiery and gay, The darling and pride of the Flower of Finae?

IV. 

One kiss and one clasp, and one wild look of gladness;Ah! why do they change on a sudden to sadness?--He has told his hard fortune, no more he can stay, He must leave his poor Eily to pine at Finae. 

V. 

For Fergus O'Farrell was true to his sire-land, And the dark hand of tyranny drove him from Ireland;He joins the Brigade, in the wars far away, But he vows he'll come back to the Flower of Finae. 

VI. 

He fought at Cremona--she hears of his story;He fought at Cassano--she's proud of his glory. Yet sadly she sings _Siúbhail a rúin_[80] all the day, "Oh! come, come, my darling, come home to Finae. "

VII. 

Eight long years have passed, till she's nigh broken-hearted, Her _reel_, and her _rock_, and her flax she has parted;She sails with the "Wild Geese" to Flanders away, And leaves her sad parents alone in Finae. 

VIII. 

Lord Clare on the field of Ramillies is charging--Before him, the Sacsanach squadrons enlarging--Behind him the Cravats their sections display--Beside him rides Fergus and shouts for Finae. 

IX. 

On the slopes of La Judoigne the Frenchmen are flyingLord Clare and his squadrons the foe still defying, Outnumbered, and wounded, retreat in array;And bleeding rides Fergus and thinks of Finae. 

X. 

In the cloisters of Ypres a banner is swaying, And by it a pale, weeping maiden is praying;That flag's the sole trophy of Ramillies' fray;This nun is poor Eily, the Flower of Finae. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [80] Shule aroon. 

CLARE'S DRAGOONS. 

AIR--_Viva la_. 

I. 

When, on Ramillies' bloody field, The baffled French were forced to yield, The victor Saxon backward reeled Before the charge of Clare's Dragoons. The Flags we conquered in that frayLook lone in Ypres' choir, they say, We'll win them company to-day, Or bravely die like Clare's Dragoons. 

CHORUS. 

_Viva la_, for Ireland's wrong! _Viva la_, for Ireland's right!_Viva la_, in battle throng, For a Spanish steed, and sabre bright!

II. 

The brave old lord died near the fight, But, for each drop he lost that night, A Saxon cavalier shall bite The dust before Lord Clare's Dragoons. For never, when our spurs were set, And never, when our sabres met, Could we the Saxon soldiers get To stand the shock of Clare's Dragoons. 

CHORUS. 

_Viva la_, the New Brigade! _Viva la_, the Old one, too!_Viva la_, the rose shall fade, And the shamrock shine for ever new!

III. 

Another Clare is here to lead, The worthy son of such a breed;The French expect some famous deed, When Clare leads on his bold Dragoons. Our Colonel comes from Brian's race, His wounds are in his breast and face, The _bearna baoghail_[81] is still his place, The foremost of his bold Dragoons. 

CHORUS. 

_Viva la_, the New Brigade! _Viva la_, the Old one, too!_Viva la_, the rose shall fade, And the shamrock shine for ever new!

IV. 

There's not a man in squadron hereWas ever known to flinch or fear;Though first in charge and last in rere, Have ever been Lord Clare's Dragoons;But see! we'll soon have work to do, To shame our boasts, or prove them true, For hither comes the English crew, To sweep away Lord Clare's Dragoons. 

CHORUS. 

_Viva la_, for Ireland's wrong! _Viva la_, for Ireland's right!_Viva la_, in battle throng, For a Spanish steed and sabre bright!

V. 

Oh! comrades! think how Ireland pines, Her exiled lords, her rifled shrines, Her dearest hope, the ordered lines, And bursting charge of Clare's Dragoons. Then fling your Green Flag to the sky. Be "Limerick" your battle-cry, And charge, till blood floats fetlock-high, Around the track of Clare's Dragoons!

CHORUS. 

_Viva la_, the New Brigade! _Viva la_, the Old one, too!_Viva la_, the rose shall fade, And the shamrock shine for ever new!

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [81] Gap of danger. 

THE BATTLE EVE OF THE BRIGADE. 

AIR--_Contented I am_. 

I. 

The mess-tent is full, and the glasses are set, And the gallant Count Thomond is president yet;The veteran stands, like an uplifted lance, Crying--"Comrades, a health to the monarch of France!"With bumpers and cheers they have done as he bade, For King Louis is loved by the Irish Brigade. 

II. 

"A health to King James, " and they bent as they quaffed, "Here's to George the _Elector_, " and fiercely they laughed, "Good luck to the girls we wooed long ago, Where Shannon and Barrow and Blackwater flow;""God prosper Old Ireland, "--you'd think them afraid, So pale grew the chiefs of the Irish Brigade. 

III. 

"But, surely, that light cannot come from our lamp, And that noise--are they _all_ getting drunk in the camp?""Hurrah! boys, the morning of battle is come, And the _générale's_ beating on many a drum. "So they rush from the revel to join the parade:For the van is the right of the Irish Brigade. 

IV. 

They fought as they revelled, fast, fiery, and true, And, though victors, they left on the field not a few;And they who survived fought and drank as of yore, But the land of their heart's hope they never saw more;For in far foreign fields, from Dunkirk to Belgrade, Lie the soldiers and chiefs of the Irish Brigade. 

FONTENOY. 

1745. 

I. 

Thrice, at the huts of Fontenoy, the English column failed, And twice the lines of Saint Antoine the Dutch in vain assailed;For town and slope were filled with fort and flanking battery, And well they swept the English ranks and Dutch auxiliary. As vainly, through De Barri's wood, the British soldiers burst, The French artillery drove them back, diminished, and dispersed. The bloody Duke of Cumberland beheld with anxious eye, And ordered up his last reserve, his latest chance to try, On Fontenoy, on Fontenoy, how fast his generals ride!And mustering come his chosen troops, like clouds at eventide. 

II. 

Six thousand English veterans in stately column tread;Their cannon blaze in front and flank, Lord Hay is at their head;Steady they step a-down the slope--steady they climb the hill;Steady they load--steady they fire, moving right onward still, Betwixt the wood and Fontenoy, as through a furnace blast, Through rampart, trench, and palisade, and bullets showering fast;And on the open plain above they rose and kept their course, With ready fire and grim resolve, that mocked at hostile force:Past Fontenoy, past Fontenoy, while thinner grew their ranks--They break, as broke the Zuyder Zee through Holland's ocean banks. 

III. 

More idly than the summer flies, French tirailleurs rush round;As stubble to the lava tide, French squadrons strew the ground;Bomb-shell and grape and round-shot tore, still on they marched and fired--Fast from each volley grenadier and voltigeur retired. "Push on, my household cavalry!" King Louis madly cried:To death they rush, but rude their shock--not unavenged they died. On through the camp the column trod--King Louis turns his rein:"Not yet, my liege, " Saxe interposed, "the Irish troops remain. "And Fontenoy, famed Fontenoy, had been a WaterlooWere not these exiles ready then, fresh, vehement, and true. 

IV. 

"Lord Clare, " he says, "you have your wish; there are your Saxon foes!"The Marshal almost smiles to see, so furiously he goes!How fierce the look these exiles wear, who're wont to be so gay, The treasured wrongs of fifty years are in their hearts to-day--The treaty broken, ere the ink wherewith 'twas writ could dry, Their plundered homes, their ruined shrines, their women's parting cry, Their priesthood hunted down like wolves, their country overthrown--Each looks as if revenge for all were staked on him aloneOn Fontenoy, on Fontenoy, nor ever yet elsewhere, Rushed on to fight a nobler band than these proud exiles were. 

V. 

O'Brien's voice is hoarse with joy, as, halting, he commands"Fix bay'nets!--charge!" Like mountain storm, rush on these fiery bands!Thin is the English column now, and faint their volleys grow, Yet, must'ring all the strength they have, they make a gallant show. They dress their ranks upon the hill to face that battle-wind--Their bayonets the breakers' foam; like rocks, the men behind!One volley crashes from their line, when, through the surging smoke, With empty guns clutched in their hands, the headlong Irish broke. On Fontenoy, on Fontenoy, hark to that fierce huzza!"Revenge, remember Limerick! dash down the Sacsanach!"

VI. 

Like lions leaping at a fold when mad with hunger's pang, Right up against the English line the Irish exiles sprang:Bright was their steel, 'tis bloody now, their guns are filled with gore;Through shattered ranks and severed files the trampled flags they tore;The English strove with desperate strength, paused, rallied, staggered, fled--The green hill-side is matted close with dying and with dead. Across the plain, and far away, passed on that hideous wrack, While cavalier and fantassin dash in upon their track. On Fontenoy, on Fontenoy, like eagles in the sun, With bloody plumes, the Irish stand--the field is fought and won!

THE DUGANNON CONVENTION. 

1782. 

I. 

The church of Dungannon is full to the door, And sabre and spur clash at times on the floor, While helmet and shako are ranged all along, Yet no book of devotion is seen in the throng. In the front of the altar no minister stands, But the crimson-clad chief of these warrior bands;And, though solemn the looks and the voices around, You'd listen in vain for a litany's sound. Say! what do they hear in the temple of prayer?Oh! why in the fold has the lion his lair?

II. 

Sad, wounded, and wan was the face of our isle, By English oppression and falsehood and guile;Yet when to invade it a foreign fleet steered, To guard it for England the North volunteered. From the citizen-soldiers the foe fled aghast--Still they stood to their guns when the danger had passed, For the voice of America came o'er the wave, Crying: Woe to the tyrant, and hope to the slave!Indignation and shame through their regiments speed:They have arms in their hands, and what more do they need?

III. 

O'er the green hills of Ulster their banners are spread, The cities of Leinster resound to their tread, The valleys of Munster with ardour are stirred, And the plains of wild Connaught their bugles have heard;A Protestant front-rank and Catholic rere--For--forbidden the arms of freemen to bear--Yet foemen and friend are full sure, if need be, The slave for his country will stand by the free. By green flags supported, the Orange flags wave, And the soldier half turns to unfetter the slave!

IV. 

More honoured that church of Dungannon is now, Than when at its altar communicants bow;More welcome to heaven than anthem or prayerAre the rites and the thoughts of the warriors there;In the name of all Ireland the Delegates swore:"We've suffered too long, and we'll suffer no more--Unconquered by Force, we were vanquished by Fraud;And now, in God's temple, we vow unto GodThat never again shall the Englishman bindHis chains on our limbs, or his laws on our mind. "

V. 

The church of Dungannon is empty once more--No plumes on the altar, no clash on the floor, But the councils of England are fluttered to see, In the cause of their country, the Irish agree;So they give as a boon what they dare not withhold, And Ireland, a nation, leaps up as of old, With a name, and a trade, and a flag of her own, And an army to fight for the people and throne. But woe worth the day if to falsehood or fearsShe surrenders the guns of her brave Volunteers!

TONE'S GRAVE. 

I. 

In Bodenstown Churchyard there is a green grave, And wildly along it the winter winds rave;Small shelter, I ween, are the ruined walls there, When the storm sweeps down on the plains of Kildare. 

II. 

Once I lay on that sod--it lies over Wolfe Tone--And thought how he perished in prison alone, His friends unavenged, and his country unfreed--"Oh, bitter, " I said, "is the patriot's meed;

III. 

"For in him the heart of a woman combinedWith a heroic life and a governing mind--A martyr for Ireland--his grave has no stone--His name seldom named, and his virtues unknown. "

IV. 

I was woke from my dream by the voices and treadOf a band, who came into the home of the dead;They carried no corpse, and they carried no stone, And they stopped when they came to the grave of Wolfe Tone. 

V. 

There were students and peasants, the wise and the brave, And an old man who knew him from cradle to grave, And children who thought me hard-hearted; for theyOn that sanctified sod were forbidden to play. 

VI. 

But the old man, who saw I was mourning there, said:"We come, sir, to weep where young Wolfe Tone is laid, And we're going to raise him a monument, too--A plain one, yet fit for the simple and true. "

VII. 

My heart overflowed, and I clasped his old hand, And I blessed him, and blessed every one of his band:"Sweet! sweet! 'tis to find that such faith can remainTo the cause, and the man so long vanquished and slain. "

VIII. 

In Bodenstown Churchyard there is a green grave, And freely around it let winter winds rave--Far better they suit him--the ruin and gloom--TILL IRELAND, A NATION, CAN BUILD HIM A TOMB. 

NATIONALITY. 

I. 

A Nation's voice, a nation's voice-- It is a solemn thing!It bids the bondage-sick rejoice-- 'Tis stronger than a king. 'Tis like the light of many stars, The sound of many waves, Which brightly look through prison bars, And sweetly sound in caves. Yet is it noblest, godliest known, When righteous triumph swells its tone. 

II. 

A nation's flag, a nation's flag-- If wickedly unrolled, May foes in adverse battle drag Its every fold from fold. But in the cause of Liberty, Guard it 'gainst Earth and Hell;Guard it till Death or Victory-- Look you, you guard it well!No saint or king has tomb so proudAs he whose flag becomes his shroud. 

III. 

A nation's right, a nation's right-- God gave it, and gave, too, A nation's sword, a nation's might, Danger to guard it through. 'Tis freedom from a foreign yoke, 'Tis just and equal laws, Which deal unto the humblest folk, As in a noble's cause. On nations fixed in right and truth, God would bestow eternal youth. 

IV. 

May Ireland's voice be ever heard Amid the world's applause!And never be her flag-staff stirred, But in an honest cause!May Freedom be her very breath, Be Justice ever dear;And never an ennobled death May son of Ireland fear!So the Lord God will ever smile, With guardian grace, upon our isle. 

SELF-RELIANCE. 

I. 

Though savage force and subtle schemes, And alien rule, through ages lasting, Have swept your land like lava streams, Its wealth and name and nature blasting;Rot not, therefore, in dull despair, Nor moan at destiny in far lands!Face not your foe with bosom bare, Nor hide your chains in pleasure's garlands. The wise man arms to combat wrong, The brave man clears a den of lions, The true man spurns the Helot's song; The freeman's friend is Self-Reliance!

II. 

Though France that gave your exiles bread, Your priests a home, your hopes a station, Or that young land where first was spread The starry flag of Liberation, --Should heed your wrongs some future day, And send you voice or sword to plead 'em, With helpful love their help repay, But trust not even to them for Freedom. A Nation freed by foreign aid Is but a corpse by wanton scienceConvulsed like life, then flung to fade-- The life itself is Self-Reliance!

III. 

Oh! see your quailing tyrant run To courteous lies, and Roman agents, His terror, lest Dungannon's sun Should rise again with riper radiance. Oh! hark the Freeman's welcome cheer, And hark your brother sufferers sobbingOh! mark the universe grow clear, Oh! mark your spirit's royal throbbing--'Tis Freedom's God that sends such signs, As pledges of his blest alliance;He gives bright hopes to brave designs, And lends his bolts to Self-Reliance!

IV. 

Then, flung alone, or hand in hand, In mirthful hour, or spirit solemn;In lowly toil, or high command, In social hall, or charging column:In tempting wealth, and trying woe, In struggling with a mob's dictation;In bearing back a foreign foe, In training up a troubled nation:Still hold to Truth, abound in Love, Refusing every base compliance--Your Praise within, your Prize above, And live and die in SELF-RELIANCE!

THE BURIAL. [82]

Why rings the knell of the funeral bell from a hundred village shrines?Through broad Fingall, where hasten all those long and ordered lines?With tear and sigh they're passing by--the matron and the maid--Has a hero died--is a nation's pride in that cold coffin laid?With frown and curse, behind the hearse, dark men go tramping on--Has a tyrant died, that they cannot hide their wrath till the rites are done?

THE CHANT. 

"_Ululu! ululu!_ high on the wind, There's a home for the slave where no fetters can bind. Woe, woe to his slayers!"--comes wildly along, With the trampling of feet and the funeral song. 

 And now more clear It swells on the ear; Breathe low, and listen, 'tis solemn to hear. 

"_Ululu! ululu!_ wail for the dead. Green grow the grass of Fingall on his head;And spring-flowers blossom, 'ere elsewhere appearing, And shamrocks grow thick on the Martyr for Erin. _Ululu! ululu!_ soft fall the dewOn the feet and the head of the martyred and true. "

 For awhile they tread In silence dread-- Then muttering and moaning go the crowd, Surging and swaying like mountain cloud, And again the wail comes fearfully loud. 

THE CHANT. 

"_Ululu! ululu!_ kind was his heart!Walk slower, walk slower, too soon we shall part. The faithful and pious, the Priest of the Lord, His pilgrimage over, he has his reward. By the bed of the sick lowly kneeling, To God with the raised cross appealing--He seems still to kneel, and he seems still to pray, And the sins of the dying seem passing away. 

 "In the prisoner's cell, and the cabin so dreary, Our constant consoler, he never grew weary; But he's gone to his rest, And he's now with the bless'd, Where tyrant and traitor no longer molest-- _Ululu! ululu!_ wail for the dead! _Ululu! ululu!_ here is his bed!"

Short was the ritual, simple the prayer, Deep was the silence, and every head bare;The Priest alone standing, they knelt all around, Myriads on myriads, like rocks on the ground. Kneeling and motionless--"Dust unto dust. He died as becometh the faithful and just--Placing in God his reliance and trust. "

Kneeling and motionless--"ashes to ashes"--Hollow the clay on the coffin-lid dashes;Kneeling and motionless, wildly they pray, But they pray in their souls, for no gesture have they;Stern and standing--oh! look on them now. Like trees to one tempest the multitude bow;Like the swell of the ocean is rising their vow:

THE VOW. 

"We have bent and borne, though we saw him torn from his home by the tyrant's crew--And we bent and bore, when he came once more, though suffering had pierced him through:And now he is laid beyond our aid, because to Ireland true--A martyred man--the tyrant's ban, the pious patriot slew. "And shall we bear and bend for ever, And shall no time our bondage sever And shall we kneel, but battle never, "For our own soil? "And shall our tyrants safely reign On thrones built up of slaves and slain, And nought to us and ours remain "But chains and toil? "No! round this grave our oath we plight, To watch, and labour, and unite, Till banded be the nation's might-- "Its spirit steeled, "And then, collecting all our force, We'll cross oppression in its course, And die--or all our rights enforce, "On battle field. "

Like an ebbing sea that will come again, Slowly retired that host of men;Methinks they'll keep some other dayThe oath they swore on the martyr's clay. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [82] Written on the funeral of the Rev. P. J. Tyrrell, P. P. , of Lusk; one of those indicted with O'Connell in the Government prosecution of 1843. 

WE MUST NOT FAIL. 

I. 

We must not fail, we must not fail, However fraud or force assail;By honour, pride, and policy, By Heaven itself!--we must be free. 

II. 

Time had already thinned our chain, Time would have dulled our sense of pain;By service long, and suppliance vile, We might have won our owner's smile. 

III. 

We spurned the thought, our prison burst, And dared the despot to the worst;Renewed the strife of centuries, And flung our banner to the breeze. 

IV. 

We called the ends of earth to viewThe gallant deeds we swore to do;They knew us wronged, they knew us brave, And all we asked they freely gave. 

V. 

We took the starving peasant's miteTo aid in winning back his right, We took the priceless trust of youth;Their freedom must redeem our truth. 

VI. 

We promised loud, and boasted high, "To break our country's chains, or die;"And, should we quail, that country's nameWill be the synonym of shame. 

VII. 

Earth is not deep enough to hideThe coward slave who shrinks aside;Hell is not hot enough to scatheThe ruffian wretch who breaks his faith. 

VIII. 

But--calm, my soul!--we promised trueHer destined work our land shall do;Thought, courage, patience will prevail!We shall not fail--we shall not fail!

O'CONNELL'S STATUE. 

LINES TO HOGAN. 

Chisel the likeness of The Chief, Not in gaiety, nor grief;Change not by your art to stone, Ireland's laugh, or Ireland's moan. Dark her tale, and none can tellIts fearful chronicle so well. Her frame is bent--her wounds are deep--Who, like him, her woes can weep?

He can be gentle as a bride, While none can rule with kinglier pride;Calm to hear, and wise to prove, Yet gay as lark in soaring love. Well it were, posterityShould have some image of his glee;That easy humour, blossomingLike the thousand flowers of spring!Glorious the marble which could showHis bursting sympathy for woe:Could catch the pathos, flowing wild, Like mother's milk to craving child. 

And oh! how princely were the artCould mould his mien, or tell his heartWhen sitting sole on Tara's hill, While hung a million on his will!Yet, not in gaiety, nor grief, Chisel the image of our Chief, Nor even in that haughty hourWhen a nation owned his power. 

But would you by your art unrollHis own, and Ireland's secret soul, And give to other times to scanThe greatest greatness of the man?Fierce defiance let him beHurling at our enemy--From a base as fair and sureAs our love is true and pure;Let his statue rise as tallAnd firm as a castle wall;On his broad brow let there beA type of Ireland's history;Pious, generous, deep and warm, Strong and changeful as a storm;Let whole centuries of wrongUpon his recollection throng--Strongbow's force, and Henry's wile, Tudor's wrath, and Stuart's guile, And iron Strafford's tiger jaws, And brutal Brunswick's penal laws;Not forgetting Saxon faith, Not forgetting Norman scath, Not forgetting William's word, Not forgetting Cromwell's sword. Let the Union's fetter vile--The shame and ruin of our isle--Let the blood of 'Ninety-EightAnd our present blighting fate--Let the poor mechanic's lot, And the peasant's ruined cot, Plundered wealth and glory flown, Ancient honours overthrown--Let trampled altar, rifled urn, Knit his look to purpose stern. 

Mould all this into one thought, Like wizard cloud with thunder fraught;Still let our glories through it gleam, Like fair flowers through a flooded stream, Or like a flashing wave at night, Bright, --'mid the solemn darkness, bright. Let the memory of old daysShine through the statesman's anxious face--Dathi's power, and Brian's fame, And headlong Sarsfield's sword of flame;And the spirit of Red Hugh, And the pride of 'Eighty-Two, And the victories he won, And the hope that leads him on!

Let whole armies seem to flyFrom his threatening hand and eye. Be the strength of all the landLike a falchion in his hand, And be his gesture sternly grand. A braggart tyrant swore to smiteA people struggling for their right;O'Connell dared him to the field, Content to die but never yield;Fancy such a soul as his, In a moment such as this, Like cataract, or foaming tide, Or army charging in its pride. Thus he spoke, and thus he stood, Proffering in our cause his blood. Thus his country loves him best--To image this is your behest. Chisel thus, and thus alone, If to man you'd change the stone. 

THE GREEN ABOVE THE RED. 

AIR--_Irish Molly O!_

I. 

Full often when our fathers saw the Red above the Green, They rose in rude but fierce array, with sabre, pike and _scian_, And over many a noble town, and many a field of dead, They proudly set the Irish Green above the English Red. 

II. 

But in the end throughout the land, the shameful sight was seen--The English Red in triumph high above the Irish Green;But well they died in breach and field, who, as their spirits fled, Still saw the Green maintain its place above the English Red. 

III. 

And they who saw, in after times, the Red above the GreenWere withered as the grass that dies beneath a forest screen;Yet often by this healthy hope their sinking hearts were fed, That, in some day to come, the Green should flutter o'er the Red. 

IV. 

Sure 'twas for this Lord Edward died, and Wolfe Tone sunk serene--Because they could not bear to leave the Red above the Green;And 'twas for this that Owen fought, and Sarsfield nobly bled--Because their eyes were hot to see the Green above the Red. 

V. 

So when the strife began again, our darling Irish GreenWas down upon the earth, while high the English Red was seen;Yet still we held our fearless course, for something in us said, "Before the strife is o'er you'll see the Green above the Red. "

VI. 

And 'tis for this we think and toil, and knowledge strive to glean, That we may pull the English Red below the Irish Green, And leave our sons sweet Liberty, and smiling plenty spreadAbove the land once dark with blood--_the Green above the Red_!

VII. 

The jealous English tyrant now has banned the Irish Green, And forced us to conceal it like a something foul and mean;But yet, by Heavens! he'll sooner raise his victims from the deadThan force our hearts to leave the Green, and cotton to the Red!

VIII. 

We'll trust ourselves, for God is good, and blesses those who leanOn their brave hearts, and not upon an earthly king or queen;And, freely as we lift our hands, we vow our blood to shedOnce and for evermore to raise the Green above the Red. 

THE VOW OF TIPPERARY. 

I. 

From Carrick streets to Shannon shore, From Slievenamon to Ballindeary, From Longford Pass to Gaillte Mór, Come hear The Vow of Tipperary. 

II. 

Too long we fought for Britain's cause, And of our blood were never chary;She paid us back with tyrant laws, And thinned The Homes of Tipperary. 

III. 

Too long with rash and single arm, The peasant strove to guard his eyrie, Till Irish blood bedewed each farm, And Ireland wept for Tipperary. 

IV. 

But never more we'll lift a hand-- We swear by God and Virgin Mary!Except in war for Native Land, And _that's_ The Vow of Tipperary!

TIPPERARY. 

I. 

Let Britain boast her British hosts, About them all right little care we;Not British seas nor British coasts Can match the Man of Tipperary!

II. 

Tall is his form, his heart is warm, His spirit light as any fairy--His wrath is fearful as the storm That sweeps the Hills of Tipperary!

III. 

Lead him to fight for native land, His is no courage cold and wary;The troops live not on earth would stand The headlong charge of Tipperary!

IV. 

Yet meet him in his cabin rude, Or dancing with his dark-haired Mary, You'd swear they knew no other mood But Mirth and Love in Tipperary!

V. 

You're free to share his scanty meal, His plighted word he'll never vary--In vain they tried with gold and steel To shake the Faith of Tipperary!

VI. 

Soft is his _cailin's_ sunny eye, Her mien is mild, her step is airy, Her heart is fond, her soul is high-- Oh! she's the Pride of Tipperary!

VII. 

Let Britain brag her motley rag; We'll lift the Green more proud and airy--Be mine the lot to bear that flag, And head the Men of Tipperary!

VIII. 

Though Britain boasts her British hosts, About them all right little care we--Give us, to guard our native coasts, The matchless Men of Tipperary!

THE WEST'S ASLEEP. 

AIR--_The Brink of the White Rocks. _

I. 

When all beside a vigil keep, The West's asleep, the West's asleep--Alas! and well may Erin weep, When Connaught lies in slumber deep. There lake and plain smile fair and free, 'Mid rocks--their guardian chivalry--Sing oh! let man learn libertyFrom crashing wind and lashing sea. 

II. 

That chainless wave and lovely landFreedom and Nationhood demand--Be sure, the great God never planned, For slumbering slaves, a home so grand. And, long, a brave and haughty raceHonoured and sentinelled the place--Sing oh! not even their sons' disgraceCan quite destroy their glory's trace. 

III. 

For often, in O'Connor's van, To triumph dashed each Connaught clan--And fleet as deer the Normans ranThrough Corlieu's Pass and Ardrahan. And later times saw deeds as brave;And glory guards Clanricarde's grave--Sing oh! they died their land to save, At Aughrim's slopes and Shannon's wave. 

IV. 

And if, when all a vigil keep, The West's asleep, the West's asleep--Alas! and well may Erin weep, That Connaught lies in slumber deep. But, hark! some voice like thunder spake:"_The West's awake! the West's awake!_"--"Sing oh! hurra! let England quake, We'll watch till death for Erin's sake!"

A SONG FOR THE IRISH MILITIA. 

AIR--_The Peacock. _

I. 

The tribune's tongue and poet's penMay sow the seed in prostrate men;But 'tis the soldier's sword aloneCan reap the crop so bravely sown!No more I'll sing nor idly pine, But train my soul to lead a line--A soldier's life's the life for me--A soldier's death, so Ireland's free!

II. 

No foe would fear your thunder words, If 'twere not for your lightning swords--If tyrants yield when millions pray, 'Tis less they link in war array;Nor peace itself is safe, but whenThe sword is sheathed by fighting men--A soldier's life's the life for me--A soldier's death, so Ireland's free!

III. 

The rifle brown and sabre brightCan freely speak and nobly write--What prophets preached the truth so wellAs HOFER, BRIAN, BRUCE, and TELL?God guard the creed these heroes taught--That blood-bought Freedom's cheaply boughtA soldier's life's the life for me--A soldier's death, so Ireland's free!

IV. 

Then, welcome be the bivouac, The hardy stand, and fierce attack, Where pikes will tame their carbineers, And rifles thin their bay'neteers, And every field the island throughWill show "what Irishmen can do!"A soldier's life's the life for me--A soldier's death so Ireland's free!

V. 

Yet, 'tis not strength and 'tis not steelAlone can make the English reel;But wisdom, working day by day, Till comes the time for passion's sway--The patient dint and powder shock, Can blast an empire like a rock. A soldier's life's the life for me--A soldier's death, so Ireland's free!

VI. 

The tribune's tongue and poet's penMay sow the seed in slavish men;But 'tis the soldier's sword aloneCan reap the harvest when 'tis grown. No more I'll sing, no more I'll pine, But train my soul to lead a line--A soldier's life's the life for me--A soldier's death, so Ireland's free. 

OUR OWN AGAIN. 

I. 

Let the coward shrink aside, We'll have our own again;Let the brawling slave deride-- Here's for our own again!Let the tyrant bribe and lie, March, threaten, fortify, Loose his lawyer and his spy-- Yet we'll have our own again!Let him soothe in silken tone, Scold from a foreign throne:Let him come with bugles blown-- We shall have our own again!Let us to our purpose bide, We'll have our own again!Let the game be fairly tried, We'll have our own again!

II. 

Send the cry throughout the land, "Who's for our own again?"Summon all men to our band, -- Why not our own again?Rich and poor, and old and young, Sharp sword, and fiery tongue, Soul and sinew firmly strung-- All to get our own again!Brothers strive by brotherhood--Trees in a stormy wood--Riches come from Nationhood-- Sha'n't we have our own again?Munster's woe is Ulster's bane! Join for our own again--Tyrants rob as well as reign-- We'll have our own again!

III. 

Oft our fathers' hearts it stirred, "Rise for our own again!"Often passed the signal word, "Strike for our own again!"Rudely, rashly, and untaught, Uprose they, ere they ought, Failing, though they nobly fought-- Dying for their own again!Mind will rule and muscle yieldIn senate, ship, and field:When we've skill our strength to wield, Let us take our own again!By the slave his chain is wrought-- Strive for our own again. Thunder is less strong than thought-- We'll have our own again!

IV. 

Calm as granite to our foes, Stand for our own again;Till his wrath to madness grows, Firm for our own again. Bravely hope, and wisely wait, Toil, join, and educate;Man is master of his fate; We'll enjoy our own again!With a keen constrained thirst--Powder's calm ere it burst--Making ready for the worst-- So we'll get our own again. Let us to our purpose bide, We'll have our own again!God is on the righteous side, We'll have our own again!

CELTS AND SAXONS. [83]

I. 

We hate the Saxon and the Dane, We hate the Norman men--We cursed their greed for blood and gain, We curse them now again. Yet start not, Irish-born man! If you're to Ireland true, We heed not blood, nor creed, nor clan-- We have no curse for you. 

II. 

We have no curse for you or yours, But Friendship's ready grasp, And Faith to stand by you and yours Unto our latest gasp--To stand by you against all foes, Howe'er, or whence they come, With traitor arts, or bribes, or blows, From England, France, or Rome. 

III. 

What matter that at different shrines We pray unto one God?What matter that at different times Your fathers won this sod?In fortune and in name we're bound By stronger links than steel;And neither can be safe nor sound But in the other's weal. 

IV. 

As Nubian rocks, and Ethiop sand Long drifting down the Nile, Built up old Egypt's fertile land For many a hundred mile, So Pagan clans to Ireland came, And clans of Christendom, Yet joined their wisdom and their fame To build a nation from. 

V. 

Here came the brown Phoenician, The man of trade and toil--Here came the proud Milesian, A hungering for spoil;And the Firbolg and the Cymry, And the hard, enduring Dane, And the iron Lords of Normandy, With the Saxons in their train. 

VI. 

And oh! it were a gallant deed To show before mankind, How every race and every creed Might be by love combined--Might be combined, yet not forget The fountains whence they rose, As, filled by many a rivulet, The stately Shannon flows. 

VII. 

Nor would we wreak our ancient feud On Belgian or on Dane, Nor visit in a hostile mood The hearths of Gaul or Spain;But long as on our country lies The Anglo-Norman yoke, Their tyranny we'll stigmatize, And God's revenge invoke. 

VIII. 

We do not hate, we never cursed, Nor spoke a foeman's wordAgainst a man in Ireland nursed, Howe'er we thought he erred;So start not, Irish-born man, If you're to Ireland true, We heed not race, nor creed, nor clan, We've hearts and hands for you. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [83] Written in reply to some very beautiful verses printed in the _Evening Mail_, deprecating and defying the assumed hostility of the Irish Celts to the _Irish_ Saxons. 

ORANGE AND GREEN WILL CARRY THE DAY. 

AIR--_The Protestant Boys. _

I. 

Ireland! rejoice, and England! deplore-- Faction and feud are passing away. 'Twas a low voice, but 'tis a loud roar, "Orange and Green will carry the day. " Orange! Orange! Green and Orange! Pitted together in many a fray-- Lions in fight! And linked in their might, Orange and Green will carry the day. Orange! Orange! Green and Orange! Wave them together o'er mountain and bay. Orange and Green! Our King and our Queen! "Orange and Green will carry the day!"

II. 

Rusty the swords our fathers unsheathed-- William and James are turned to clay--Long did we till the wrath they bequeathed, Red was the crop, and bitter the pay! Freedom fled us! Knaves misled us! Under the feet of the foemen we lay-- Riches and strength We'll win them at length, For Orange and Green will carry the day! Landlords fooled us; England ruled us, Hounding our passions to make us their prey; But, in their spite, The Irish UNITE, And Orange and Green will carry the day!

III. 

Fruitful our soil where honest men starve; Empty the mart, and shipless the bay;Out of our want the Oligarchs carve; Foreigners fatten on our decay! Disunited, Therefore blighted, Ruined and rent by the Englishman's sway; Party and creed For once have agreed-- Orange and Green will carry the day! Boyne's old water, Red with slaughter! Now is as pure as an infant at play; So, in our souls, Its history rolls, And Orange and Green will carry the day!

IV. 

English deceit can rule us no more; Bigots and knaves are scattered like spray--Deep was the oath the Orangeman swore, "Orange and Green must carry the day!" Orange! Orange! Bless the Orange! Tories and Whigs grew pale with dismay, When from the North Burst the cry forth, "Orange and Green will carry the day!" No surrender! No Pretender! Never to falter and never betray-- With an Amen, We swear it again, ORANGE AND GREEN SHALL CARRY THE DAY. 

THE LOST PATH. 

AIR--_Grádh mo chroidhe. _

I. 

Sweet thoughts, bright dreams, my comfort be, All comfort else has flown;For every hope was false to me, And here I am, alone. What thoughts were mine in early youth! Like some old Irish song, Brimful of love, and life, and truth, My spirit gushed along. 

II. 

I hoped to right my native isle, I hoped a soldier's fame, I hoped to rest in woman's smile And win a minstrel's name--Oh! little have I served my land, No laurels press my brow, I have no woman's heart or hand, Nor minstrel honours now. 

III. 

But fancy has a magic power, It brings me wreath and crown, And woman's love, the self-same hour It smites oppression down. Sweet thoughts, bright dreams, my comfort be, I have no joy beside;Oh! throng around, and be to me Power, country, fame, and bride. 

THE GIRL OF DUNBWY. 

I. 

'Tis pretty to see the girl of DunbwyStepping the mountain statelily--Though ragged her gown, and naked her feet, No lady in Ireland to match her is meet. 

II. 

Poor is her diet, and hardly she lies--Yet a monarch might kneel for a glance of her eyes. The child of a peasant--yet England's proud QueenHas less rank in her heart, and less grace in her mien. 

III. 

Her brow 'neath her raven hair gleams, just as ifA breaker spread white 'neath a shadowy cliff--And love, and devotion, and energy speakFrom her beauty-proud eye, and her passion-pale cheek. 

IV. 

But, pale as her cheek is, there's fruit on her lip, And her teeth flash as white as the crescent moon's tip, And her form and her step like the red-deer's go past--As lightsome, as lovely, as haughty, as fast. 

V. 

I saw her but once, and I looked in her eye, And she knew that I worshipped in passing her by;The saint of the wayside--she granted my prayer, Though we spoke not a word, for her mother was there. 

VI. 

I never can think upon Bantry's bright hills, But her image starts up, and my longing eye fills;And I whisper her softly, "Again, love, we'll meet!And I'll lie in your bosom, and live at your feet. "

BLIND MARY. 

AIR--_Blind Mary. _

I. 

There flows from her spirit such love and delight, That the face of Blind Mary is radiant with light--As the gleam from a homestead through darkness will showOr the moon glimmer soft through the fast falling snow. 

II. 

Yet there's a keen sorrow comes o'er her at times, As an Indian might feel in our northerly climes!And she talks of the sunset, like parting of friends, And the starlight, as love, that not changes nor ends. 

III. 

Ah! grieve not, sweet maiden, for star or for sun, For the mountains that tower or the rivers that run--For beauty and grandeur, and glory, and light, Are seen by the spirit, and not by the sight. 

IV. 

In vain for the thoughtless are sunburst and shade, In vain for the heartless flowers blossom and fade;While the darkness that seems your sweet being to boundIs one of the guardians, an Eden around!

OH! THE MARRIAGE. 

AIR--_The Swaggering Jig. _

I. 

Oh! the marriage, the marriage, With love and _mo bhuachaill_ for me, The ladies that ride in a carriage Might envy my marriage to me;For Eoghan[84] is straight as a tower, And tender, and loving, and true;He told me more love in an hour Than the Squires of the county could do. Then, Oh! the marriage, etc. 

II. 

His hair is a shower of soft gold, His eye is as clear as the day, His conscience and vote were unsold When others were carried away;His word is as good as an oath, And freely 'twas given to me;Oh! sure, 'twill be happy for both The day of our marriage to see. Then, Oh! the marriage, etc. 

III. 

His kinsmen are honest and kind, The neighbours think much of his skill, And Eoghan's the lad to my mind, Though he owns neither castle nor mill. But he has a tilloch of land, A horse, and a stocking of coin, A foot for a dance, and a hand In the cause of his country to join. Then, Oh! the marriage, etc. 

IV. 

We meet in the market and fair-- We meet in the morning and night--He sits on the half of my chair, And my people are wild with delight;Yet I long through the winter to skim, Though Eoghan longs more I can see, When I will be married to him, And he will be married to me. Then, Oh! the marriage, the marriage, With love and _mo bhuachaill_ for me, The ladies that ride in a carriage, Might envy my marriage to me. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- [84] _Vulgo_, Owen, a name frequent among the Cymry (Welsh). 

THE BOATMAN OF KINSALE. 

AIR--_An Cota Caol. _

I. 

His kiss is sweet, his word is kind, His love is rich to me;I could not in a palace find A truer heart than he. The eagle shelters not his nest From hurricane and hail, More bravely than he guards my breast-- The Boatman of Kinsale. 

II. 

The wind that round the Fastnet sweeps Is not a whit more pure--The goat that down Cnoc Sheehy leaps Has not a foot more sure. No firmer hand nor freer eye E'er faced an autumn gale--De Courcy's heart is not so high-- The Boatman of Kinsale. 

III. 

The brawling squires may heed him not, The dainty stranger sneer--But who will dare to hurt our cot When Myles O'Hea is here?The scarlet soldiers pass along; They'd like, but fear to rail;His blood is hot, his blow is strong-- The Boatman of Kinsale. 

IV. 

His hooker's in the Scilly van When seines are in the foam;But money never made the man, Nor wealth a happy home. So, blest with love and liberty, While he can trim a sail, He'll trust in God, and cling to me-- The Boatman of Kinsale. 

LOVE AND WAR. 

I. 

How soft is the moon on Glengariff, The rocks seem to melt with the light:Oh! would I were there with dear Fanny, To tell her that love is as bright;And nobly the sun of July O'er the waters of Adragoole shines--Oh! would that I saw the green banner Blaze there over conquering lines. 

II. 

Oh! love is more fair than the moonlight, And glory more grand than the sun:And there is no rest for a brave heart, Till its bride and its laurels are won;But next to the burst of our banner, And the smile of dear Fanny, I craveThe moon on the rocks of Glengariff-- The sun upon Adragoole's wave. 

MY LAND. 

I. 

She is a rich and rare land;Oh! she's a fresh and fair land;She is a dear and rare land-- This native land of mine. 

II. 

No men than her's are braver--Her women's hearts ne'er waver;I'd freely die to save her, And think my lot divine. 

III. 

She's not a dull or cold land;No! she's a warm and bold land;Oh! she's a true and old land-- This native land of mine. 

IV. 

Could beauty ever guard her, And virtue still reward her, No foe would cross her border-- No friend within it pine!

V. 

Oh! she's a fresh and fair land;Oh! she's a true and rare land;Yes! she's a rare and fair land-- This native land of mine. 

THE RIGHT ROAD. 

I. 

Let the feeble-hearted pine, Let the sickly spirit whine, But work and win be thine, While you've life. God smiles upon the bold--So, when your flag's unrolled, Bear it bravely till you're cold In the strife. 

II. 

If to rank or fame you soar, Out your spirit frankly pour--Men will serve you and adore, Like a king. Woo your girl with honest pride, Till you've won her for your bride--Then to her, through time and tide, Ever cling. 

III. 

Never under wrongs despair;Labour long, and everywhere, Link your countrymen, prepare, And strike home. Thus have great men ever wrought, Thus must greatness still be sought, Thus laboured, loved, and fought Greece and Rome. 

MY GRAVE. 

Shall they bury me in the deep, Where wind-forgetting waters sleep?Shall they dig a grave for me, Under the green-wood tree?Or on the wild heath, Where the wilder breathOf the storm doth blow?Oh, no! oh, no!

Shall they bury me in the Palace Tombs, Or under the shade of Cathedral domes?Sweet 'twere to lie on Italy's shore;Yet not there--nor in Greece, though I love it more, In the wolf or the vulture my grave shall I find?Shall my ashes career on the world-seeing wind?Shall they fling my corpse in the battle mound, Where coffinless thousands lie under the ground?Just as they fall they are buried so--Oh, no! oh, no!

No! on an Irish green hill-side, On an opening lawn--but not too wide;For I love the drip of the wetted trees--I love not the gales, but a gentle breezeTo freshen the turf--put no tombstone there, But green sods decked with daisies fair;Nor sods too deep, but so that the dew, The matted grass-roots may trickle through. Be my epitaph writ on my country's mind, "HE SERVED HIS COUNTRY, AND LOVED HIS KIND. "

Oh! 'twere merry unto the grave to go, If one were sure to be buried so.