*(>9 



Lancashire.—' Mr. Phillips's Speech, 



'^I knew. Sir, the statue was too strikinc; 

 to requite a name upon the pedestal. Alas, 

 Ireland lias liu\i: now to console her, ex- 

 cept Uie conHcioiisncss of having produced 

 such men. It would be a treasonable adu- 

 lation in me to deceive you. Six centu- 

 ries of base niis<,'overnment— of causeless, 

 futlile-ss, and un<;ratefid persecution have 

 liow reduced Ihat country (o a crisis, at 

 which, ) know not whether the friend of 

 biiraauity has most cause to grieve, or to 

 lejoice; because I am not sure tliat the 

 •aine teeling which prompts tlie tear at hu- 

 man sufferings, ought not to triumph in 

 that Increased infliction which may at 

 length tire iheuj out of eiilnrance. I 

 trust in God a clian^:e of system may in 

 time anticipate the results of desperation ; 

 hut you may quite depend on it, a period 

 is approaching wlien, if Penally does not 

 pause in the pursuit, Patience will turn 

 sliort on the piU'suer. Can you wonder at 

 it? — Contemplate Ireland during any given 



?eriod of Eii!{laud's rule, and what a pic- 

 me<l()es she exliihit !— Behold her created 

 in all the prodii;ali(Y of iininre — with a soil 

 that anticipates the h«>l)aiKhnan's desires — 

 vith harbours coiivtina; the connnerce of 

 ♦lie woild — withi'ivors capable of the most 

 effective navigation — :with the ore of every 

 inetal strii«i;lin{i throri>;li her surtace-— 

 ^ith a people, bravf, f^cnerous, and intel- 

 lectual, literally titrciiiji thi-ir way throu<;h 

 the disabdities of tiieir own country, into 

 the highest statiofis of every other ; and 

 Vfell rewarding the policy that promotes 

 them, by acliievemcnts the most heroic, 

 and allegiance < VI ithout a bteuiish. How 

 lave the sncccssive Governments of En- 

 gland demeaned themselves to a nation, of- 

 Ji'rin^ t>ueli an acciiiiiidation of moral and 

 political advantages ! .See it in the atale of 

 Ireland at this instant — in the universial 

 "bankruptcy that overwhelms her — in the 

 loss of her trade — in the annihilation of her 

 jwanufactuies — in the delude of her debt — 

 in the divis^ions of her people— iii all the 

 loathsome operations of au odious^ mono- 

 polizing, hypecritical fanaticism on the one 

 band, wrestlinj; with the untiring but 

 natural rrpiisals of an irritated population 

 «nthe otiiei f It required uo common in- 

 Henaity to reduce such a country to such a 

 sititaiion. But it has been done — ^Man has 

 conqneied the Ivjiicficence of the Deity— 

 bis harpy loiieh iias i:!,HHi.«ed the viands to 

 eorruptioii, and tiiat laud, which you in;c;lit 

 iMkve p<i.')k<'t'*<e<l in health, and wealth, and 

 ■wisioiir, to siippo.'-t you in your huiir »f 

 neei' ii'<w wnlhes iu tlie at;oitles of deaili, 

 Tinai^ie even to lilt the sliioud with ivhich 

 Famiiir and-Faiiiity try to enciunber her 

 coir. ui>K)|i . Tins I- «!iat I ^fi'. a pensioned 

 Press denl•lUll^ate^ tianqiiiHity. — Oh, woe 

 to the laui' ttiieaifiiicd vvith >uch tranqnil- 

 lity — S'l'Umii>fm J'vciunt, ^K>a-«t aj-pellanl 

 -»-it is-jnot jei the tiaii«|iiiilkty of solitude — 

 itet$«et y«t tlw irapquillity otUcatlj— but, 



[Dec.1, 



if yon would know what it is, go forth ill 

 the silence of creation — when every wind 

 is liitNlied, and every echo mute, and aH nit- 

 lure seems In listen in dumb, and tcmtied, 

 and breathless expectation — so forth in 

 such ail liniir and see the terrible tranqnil- 

 lity by which you are siirionndedl Hovr 

 could it be otherwise— when, for a^es upon 

 ages. Invention has fatigued itself with «n. 

 pedients for irritation— when, as I have 

 read with horror in theproiiressof my legal 

 studies, the homicide of a *' mere Irish- 

 man" wa< considered justifiable, and wlien 

 his ignorance was the origin of all hin 

 crimes, his education vi as proliibited bij Act 

 of Partinmenl ! when the people were 

 worm-eati'U by the odious verinm which* 

 Church and State adultery had spawned — 

 when a bad heart and brainless head were 

 the fang< by which every foreign advem 

 tnrer and domestic traitor tasteiied upon 

 office — when the property of the native 

 was but an invitation to plunder, and his 

 nou-acqllic^eence the signal for confisca- 

 tion — when religion itself was made the 

 oilions piclciice for every persecution, and 

 the files of hell were alternatively liihted 

 with the cross, and quenched in the blood 

 of its detVnccless followers ! I speak dS 

 times that are passed ; but can their rirol- 

 kclian8--cau their consequences, be so 

 readily eradicated ? Why, however, should 

 I refer to periods that are distant? Be- 

 hold, at this instant, five millions of her 

 penple <li:>qiialified on account of their laith 

 --and that by a country professing free- 

 dom I and tint under a Government call- 

 ing itself Christian! You, (when I say 

 yon, of coiiise I niran, not the high-minded 

 people of .Knglaud, but the men who mis» 

 Rovern ns both) teem to have taken out a 

 roving commission in search of grievances 

 abrcad, v^liilst you overlook the calamities 

 at your own door, and of your own inHie- 

 timi. — You traverse the ocean to cinanri- 

 pate the African— yon cross the line to 

 Convert the Hii -luo — you hurl your thun- 

 der against the savage Alg'crinc — hnt.your 

 own brethren at lnjine, who sjitak the same 

 toiiL'iiG, acknowledge the same Kin'/, and 

 km el to the same God, cannot get oi;c vi,<it 

 from your ilincianl limmmity ! Oil, such a 

 system is almost too abominable for a 

 uanie — it is a nionster of impiety, impoiicy, 

 ingratitiidev ami injustice! 'I'he Pajraii 

 nations of aniiiinity scarcely acted on such 

 barbarous pviiiciples. Look to ancient 

 Kome, with iier sword in one hand ami her 

 Consliintion in the other, liLalliig the injii- 

 »ies of Cduqiicst with the embrace of 

 brotherhood, and wisely converting the 

 captive into tlie citizen. — Look to her 

 peat c'lemy, the glorious Carthagenian, at 

 the foot <if the Alps, ranging his prisouera 

 round him, and, by the poiitic option of 

 captivity or arms, lecrnitiDg his legions 

 with liie very men whom he had literally 

 conquered tuto gratitude! Thfy laid their 

 tbiuidiLtioai 



