flower's barrow. 107 



"There remains then only the third class, which I have stated to con- 

 sist of Irishmen ; men, for the most part, poor Country People, who, 

 from the mildness of their dispositions, are alike strangers to factions, 

 and to civil strife, who have travelled hither to share with us our peni- 

 tential exercises, and of whose conduct, previous to their coming, I was 

 furnished with the most flattering recommendatory testimonials. In 

 truth, tlie persons who propagate such miserable fabrications, appear 

 but imperfectly instructed in the life we lead. Isolated, as we are, from 

 the world, and the relations of the world, and preserving a silence, 

 interrupted only by the peals of psalmody, or the hardy operations 

 necessary to overcome the infertility of the desert soil which we inhabit, 

 can even malice itself brand us as rebels, or stigmatise us as incendi- 

 aries? Constituting, as we do, a solitary family of Brethren, we are 

 enabled by some trifling assistance from that Government, which, from 

 report it miglit appear our intention to subvert; by the assistance also 

 of some generous friends ; but above all, by the labour of our hands, and 

 the sweat of our brows ; we arc enabled, I say, to support a life of 

 perpetual abstinence and austerity. Can such a house, the venerable 

 retreat of recollection, midnight psalmody, and sober solitary medita- 

 tion, be duly regarded as the haunt of Demagogues and Rebels? Can 

 conspiracy exist in a place where the inter-communication of sentiment is 

 precluded by a law of silence? Amongst us that law is of strict, and 

 paramount obligation. The Superior, or a Person commissioned by the 

 Superior, is alone exempted from its influence, and amongst the Brethren 

 it is never violated. This statement gives but little countenance to the 

 imputation of intrigue ; and our epistolary correspondence gives as little. 

 I, indeed, am in the daily receipt of many letters, I open all, and read 

 all, but the contents I keep to myself, except when I may occasionally 

 judge it adviseable to communicate them. With regard to the writing 

 of letters, none are ever written but by my express permission ; and I 

 always peruse them, previously to their being dispatched. All the let- 

 ters which are arrived from Ireland within the last eighteen months, are 

 still producible, and, with great pleasure, I would submit them to the 

 inspection of you, Sir, Counsellor Bond, or any other Person what- 

 soever. 



"From what I have above declared, it will appear that if there be 

 any Person in the house open to suspicion, that Person must be myself, 

 and if my character after nearly twenty years, of which seventeen have 

 been passed at Lulworth, since my emigration, is not considered of suf- 

 ficient weight in the present instance, I pledge my word of honor, ( and 

 it is the honor of a French Clerg3rman,) that neither has been said or 

 written in this house a word that should excite either the suspicions, 

 or the apprehensions of the Government. I declare, that on no account 

 would I consent to receive suspected Persons into our Society, and I 

 pledge myself, to receive at my hazard, all those who may at any time 

 come xmder my direction. By the way, it may not be unnecessary to 

 remark, that neither Gazettes, nor Newspapers, nor any Pamphlet of 

 any description whatever, have ever found entrance here; and to this 



