514 
Remarks on the present State of Ireland. 
Jan, 1, 
ey ea byl ‘ae | (orem 
in the Parliamentary refusal’ of Catholic’  faistress Stil?’ more the alread , ost dis- 
Emancipation, and: they believevall the 
rests / All. theix. wretchedness, alli-their 
privations, all, their, miseries,.are attfi- 
buted,|-to.; this, alleged callosity ;. and 
with, this’ general, belief, it, cannot be 
expected that. tame. or ready, obedience 
to the \laws,| that) have been, made, or 
may; be.made,, will, be given. Intelli- 
gence, reaches the remotest cabins ; re- 
_port, fromthe chagrin of the disappointed 
Aggregate) Catholic Body, impetuously 
rushes. into. every habitation; and the 
slight of -the English Parliament is 
howled in every village. “ They might 
if they would,” it is exclaimed, “ re- 
lieve poor Ireland; but they will not: 
and yet. they expect obedience and re- 
spect... It is the wish of every Irishman 
-to be second to none in the empire, to 
be'equal’ with any or all other subjects 
under’the same dominion. They be- 
lieve, if the Parliament will not grant 
them ‘what is’ merely conscientious, and 
costs nothing, it will not extend any 
part of the public treasure, to their re- 
lief or improyement,”... But the English 
Goyerament is not exclusively to blame: 
the cause of the greatest:afiliction of that 
fine country, blessed as it is with a soil 
that assures abundance to industry, is 
the numerous absentees from it. Here, 
here is the chief cause of the evil, or the 
chief evils which afflict them. The poor 
peasant trembles as often as his rent 
day is seen in the prospect; he per- 
ceives the rack renter’s agent, with looks 
truly indicative of the barbarous feeling 
within, demanding, not merely at the 
cabin doer, or that: of the small farm- 
house, his claim—but on the floor, on his 
miserable hearth; and the’ harsh sound 
ereeps through his veins, unmans him, 
and bereaves him of all courage. The 
general cry, in return, is, “I have it not 
yet; have patience; consider my chil- 
der, my ould father, or mother, there 
in the corner; I will pay you shortly; 
I havea trifle due, or I am about to 
sell part.of my stock, or ahorse, or a 
cow, and will freely give you the whole. 
Pray have mercy, and be kind to me.” 
The absentee-men hear nothing of this, or 
any thing like it. With the hardly-earned 
produce of their tenantry, they are, or 
may be, now revelling, with hearts light 
and careless; among. the Monsieurs of 
the continent; or, perhaps, among their 
female relations, unlearning the true 
Irish disposition, and imbibing those pro- 
pelniciye which, when they do. think of 
onouring ‘their country: by ayvisit, will 
‘serve only !as so many moral:plagues,’ to 
| § ae > igio/ | fact 
rw .4Ai6q-9 
tressed. ic Shame on the! men! who pau. 
perize the ‘beings: who ought £6be dear 
to them; asso many links of the sane 
chain,—as_ So. many: ‘members? of the 
saifie large family! bso? yaors199 og86 
Mr. Editor, in this country ‘you know 
nothing of the ‘consequencés' of the 
desertion of it by the: edueated,by' the 
intelligent and proprietary classes :\you 
may lose a few, and they ‘may’ be 
spared, but your aggregate’ intelligétice 
and wealth stay with you; and’ dispetise 
again, in some sort, to the commiuitiity, 
what the common labour! produces “for 
them from the soil. But} alas} it'is' fot 
so with poor Ireland. Her proprietors. 
wander over every region, dissipating 
in riot, ostentation and extravagance, 
what is wrung from the misery Of their 
tenantry, and the exhaustion “of ‘their 
estates. Can these wandering ‘prodi- 
gals, like the prodigal ‘in’ the ‘parable, 
cast an eye to their country and’ Hot 
turn self-accusers,’ in’ language like “the 
following : “ All this endurance, ‘alf ‘this 
misery, this affliction, ‘18 justly ‘attri- 
buted to us; we'nvight have prevented 
all, or the greater ‘part; by‘our presence, 
our influence, our exaniplée.’"We might 
have instructed and enriched “the Trish , 
mind, and made ‘it’ ¢o-equal ‘with the 
most enlightened’ of’ the world. “We 
grieve; we ‘will hasten’ to °6ur ‘6wn 
domiciles, our own ‘hearths } ‘spend our 
rents among’ our’ too long deserted 
tenants, and rescue them from 'the ‘gripe 
of proctors, and pettyfog¢ers, and nitd- 
dle men.” Peasantry of Ireland! cease 
to blame the English Government’ for 
its apathy: continue to blame’ rathér 
your own absentees, ‘intil you perceive * 
the effects of something like the ‘above 
lamentation ! fONSTRISSIFOMS "(See 
In short, Sir, IE cannot better” con- 
clude than in the language‘of my Ho 
Norbury, the Irish judge, in giving #' late 
charge to the grand jury of Westmeath, 
“ T consider,” said he, “ ti tienlies 
as the great curse’ of Ireland: ‘they will, 
however, come sneaking back again, and 
you will, of course, ‘use’ them ¢ivilly ; 
but don’t forget to» tellothem what ‘you 
have been domg while they weré absent 
—above' all, don’t forget’ to: tell them 
that they have been the ‘chief “cause ‘of 
it alli: e.5 of the disturbances, €xecu- 
tions, &c. iS gninedh Hiss 
eee ol) 0) Sermo 
To the Editor of ithe Monthly Magazine. 
) oStr x unit sastriser sd3 mot 
Bs paragraph lately ipanewspaper, 
B® itappewrs that/accoupley whose 
1Of » es bormtereban of deanvonds /hetetes 
