638 
more causes than are necessary, is perpetu- 
ally leading to false conclusions. It does, 
very well for those whose object is the 
argument alone; but for any practical or 
useful purpose, the postulate must be 
amended to “‘ no more causes than are 
true ;? and the frue causes of the miseries 
of Ireland are multifarious. Some of them 
(more than we can find space to enu- 
merate) are properly exposed in this “‘ Let- 
ter;”’ and we recommend to particular atten- 
tion all that is said about magistrates, and 
the abuses of the magistracy (p. 8, &c.) 
which, though by no’ means all that might 
be objected, nor completely impartial in 
the selection, is nevertheless highly impor- 
tant, as coming from such a quarter. To 
think of a magistracy, of which a magistrate 
can say, that ‘‘ they have been, in toomany 
instances, disturbers, rather than preservers 
of the peace,”’ who “solicit their offices for 
the sake of the fees,” make ‘ £300, and 
sometimes £400 per annum, by fomenting 
petty disputes ;” and by means of shilling 
signatures to consequent ‘‘ informations, 
warrants, affidavits, and recognizances,”’ 
and “ bribes for suppressing the whole 
transaction,’’ make each “‘ case of assault, 
onan average, worth one pound !”’ 
A single quotation, however, will satisfy 
our readers, that we do not mean to re- 
commend an unqualified accord with all 
the propositions of the author. Repelling 
the accusations against the Orange Society 
as being the cause of all the dissensions in 
Treland, he says (p. 68) 
«“* The Orange Socicty creates dissention, as a man 
who resists an assault creates a battle—there would 
not have been a battle had he submitted to the in- 
jury. The Orange Society defends the king, the 
constitution, the church, and the laws; and when 
these are unassailed, it is quiescent.’ 
Nor are the historical researches much 
more ministrative to the logic of this ‘ Irish 
Magistrate,” than his more recent recol- 
lections. He is one of those who have not 
yet. recovered from the hydrophobia oc- 
easioned by the bark of the French. Reyo- 
lution ; and, forgetting the white-boyisms, 
peep-o’-day-boyisms, | Captain Rockisms, 
outrages and insurrections of an oppressed 
and enslayed people, that have marked 
their annals for centuries, he raves, with all 
-the, symptomatic incoherency, of the. dis- 
order, .about, the Irishmaa. having latterly 
acquired a propensity for secret: conspiracy 
and midnight: assassination ; » and ):adds, 
“ this I attribute tothe French Revolu- 
tion, which preached murder, and taught 
him to supose himself a slave’:” as if there 
were not enough, and had not been enough 
in the’ treatment of Ireland, for many gene- 
rations, to proselytize an Irishman to that 
opinion, In many respects, however, his 
sketches of Irish character aré just and 
instructive. — See’ pp 2 and 3. 
** Tt has been said of the Irishman, that he is gene 
yous and brave, intelligent-and accomplished, grate- 
ful and benevolent ;—it has been as frequently as- 
Review of Literature. 
serted of him, that he is slavish and blood-thirsty, 
stupid and irreclaimable, perfidious and revengeful. 
To me, however, there appears no difficulty in this 
collision of assertion; for, notwithstanding the rules 
of logic, both these contradictory propositions are 
true. The educated Irishman is generally a model 
of the civil, the military, and, the social virtues. 
The perverted Irishman is often a dangerpus and 
ruthless savage. 
And what perverts him but. oppression 
and injustice ? 
But, in many other points of view, Ireland pre- 
sents to the politician anigmas and contradictions.— 
She has mines, without metal; fish, without fish- 
eries; harbours, without commerce; canals, without 
navigation; and soil, without agriculture—She ex- 
ports food, while she is dying of hunger.”—** Inqui- 
sitive and talented, they are benighted and stupified 
—possessing inexhaustible riches, thty are afflicted 
with squalid poverty—blessed with 2 free constitu- 
tion, they are the lowest of slaves !” 
How far Treland is blessed, however, with 
the freedom of the English ‘constitution, 
does not, eyen on the magistrate’s own 
shewing, very plainly appear. 
On the importance of fine he justly 
remarks— 
«© Whoever will look at the map of aes will 
perceive that she must belong either to England or 
to France; and, in the latter case, England must 
soon yield to her ancient rival. With Ireland united 
to her, Britain ‘might defy the world in arms—With 
Ireland hostile, she must soon submit,’ and perish, 
The welfare or the ruin of Ireland is; therefore,’an 
alternative of life or death to England.” 
The dilemma of our present situation 
with respect to the Catholic Question is 
well and satisfactorily put—(p. 135, &e.) 
‘© In no case is error more apparent than in that 
of the Roman Catholic claims. Mad they been 
granted to their utmost extent when first preferred, 
it might have been well. Wad they been totally re- 
jected, and the penal-laws preserved in their full 
force, it might have been justified by their former 
feelings. But to give them such a taste of privileges 
as might whet their appetite—to place the object of 
their ambition almost within their grasp, was one o- 
those timid and unsatisfactory measures which the 
history of the world informs us must) ever fail in 
producing peace.” —‘* The question \of Catholic 
Emancipation has arrived at a crisis which jcannot 
be overlooked; and whether past measures have 
been right or wrong, we haye now no. altemative 
but the re-enactment of the penal-laws against the 
Roman Catholics, or full concession of the privileges 
which they require.” ig? edie 
Nor are his arguments less conclusive in 
shewing (and he does it, evidently, with’ no 
kind of partiality for the Catholics, who re- 
ceive sufficiently hard measure at his hatids), 
that whatever dangers may have beet sug- 
gested from granting their claims, those very 
same dangers are much greater ' so- long as 
the concession is withheld. a? 
‘A Story of a Life: By the’ “iat of 
Scenes and Impressions i” pt and 
Ttaly yy ”" Recollections of the’ Peninsula,” 
&e. 2 vols. 12mo.—This is a romance which 
bears.the same sort of relation. to books of 
voyages and travels, which those of the now 
declining ‘ Great Unknown” do to the 
epochs 
