486 Colonel Roche Fermoy on the [ Nov. 
ration of independence, produced, in Ireland, the reverse of heroes, statesmen 
and legislators—i. e. nothing but speech-makers. 
¢ A nation of abortive men, 
Who dart the tongue, and point the pen, 
And at the back of Europe hurled— 
The base posterior of the world.’ 
« A remark of Colonel Napier, in his history of the war in the Peninsula, 
illustrates the effect of this tendency of feeling in any nation. “ Their 
(the Spaniards’) tardy abortive measures demonstrated, how wide the space 
between a sophist and a statesman, and how dangerous to a nation is that 
public feeling, which, insatiable of words, disregards the actions of men, esteem- 
ing more the interested eloquence of a wit and an orator like Demades, than 
the simple integrity, sound judgment, and great exploits, of a general like 
Phocion. 
“ As the differences subsisting between the courses which Ireland and 
America have been touched upon, it may be necessary to observe upon the 
effects, which these different courses have, in the different countries, produced. 
“In America, the relief sought was in the declaration of independence. 
“In Ireland, the relief, not sought, but by pretence of which she was, in 
purpose, overlaid, was the act of wnion. : 
“In America, the declaration of independence was framed by a body of 
men, calling itself a congress, composed almost entirely of traders and 
farmers. 
“ In Ireland, the act of union was framed by certain Noblemen and Gentle- 
men, who received, among them, under one act of Parliament alone, and of 
their own making, the sum of £1,500,000, for their trouble in knocking down. 
their country to the highest bidder. 
“From the Jife of the American congress arose two men, whose names are 
now interwoven with all of whatever history records of the brave, the wise, 
and the virtuous among the active spirits of mankind—Washington and 
Franklin. 
“ These two names are mentioned but as samples of that sagacity, and that 
spirit, which animated the first American congress. 
« From the death and subsequent putrefaction of the body of the Irish Par- 
liament, sprung up divers assemblies or associations, calling themselves by 
divers names ; but have any or have all of these assemblies put forth such 
samples as Washington and Franklin ?—-samples of the mere gristle of the 
then youthful America. 
«‘ These two men did not, perhaps, understand how to ‘ marshal assets’ in 
a court of equity, or to conduct a pitched battle for an old cow in replevin, as 
well as some other leaders ; but they had deeply studied the problem of The- 
mistocles, how to make a small state a great one. Of the labours of these 
American leaders, in order to form a just estimate, it will be necessary to sur- 
vey the materials with which they began, and the building, which has, on the 
foundation laid by them, been erected.” 
The colonel has a soldierly disdain of spouters: the very last sen- 
tence of his book is—< The school-master is abroad ; he will have his 
military as well as his civil schools ;” and the business to be taught by 
the learned pedagogue is the best method of severing Ireland from Eng- 
land. The example of Prussia, in 1813, has taught eight propositions, 
which prove the possibility of putting the lesson into practice :— 
“ First.—From the two instances which the transactions of Prussia have 
afforded, it may be inferred, that it does not require more than five millions 
of people, and a revenue, amounting to four millions sterling, for any nation 
to maintain an independent position, and ‘to equal, in her exertion, a power in 
Europe, perhaps not the first, but certainly of the first order.’ 
“Secondly.—That such independence may, with such resources, be main- 
