1826. ] [481 J 
A SKETCH FROM THE IRISH BENCH. 
His jest will savour but-of shallow wit, 
When thousands weep more than did laugh at it.—Henry the Fifth. 
To the complaints of reformers against the multifarious departures 
from the theoretic purity of our constitution,—-to the reiterated demon- 
stration of that practical corruption, which seems rapidly effecting a 
virtual revolution in the national institutes and fortunes, by a trans- 
ference of the substantial control over the resources of the country 
into the hands of new and unrecognised authorities, there is one 
fashionable and accredited reply,—“ that the system, such as it is, 
works well.” How far this assertion is true in fact, or available in 
consequence, it is not our present purpose to decide; though it may 
be observed, par parenthése, that we never hear it, without being 
reminded of the grave-digger’s remark on the gallows. “ The gallows 
does well. But how does it well? it does well to those who do ill.” 
The frequency of the averment, coupled as it has been by certain 
awkward phenomena in the statistics of the country, has operated as a 
provocative to inquiry, turning the minds of men by an additional 
motive to the canvassing of “ things as they are,” and fixing attention 
upon that “ working,” which has been made matter of such unsparing 
and unceasing eulogy. It is not therefore very surprising, that any 
details illustrative of the subject should be graciously received by the 
public; and that the periodical literature of the day should have 
acquired, not only a deep die of politics, but also a disposition to per- 
sonality, wherever individuals have been mixed up with things, and 
persons amalgamated with opinions. There is no point of view in which 
a government can be considered more instructive and convincing, 
than the history of its public functionaries. The memoirs of the Du 
Barris and the Dubois, all private, personal, and scandalous as they 
are, have thrown a stronger light on the genius of the French monarchy 
than a whole library of archives and diplomatic documents; and an 
history of the house of Jenkinson, of Grenville, of Beresford, or of 
Hutchinson, would give a clearer insight into the real mechanism of the 
English and Irish constitutions, than all the Humes and the Delomes 
that ever wrote. In tracing the footsteps of public characters in their 
several paths to wealth and distinction, we arrive, by the shortest cut, 
at a knowledge of the talents required, and of the virtues rewarded 
under the system to which they give efficacy ; we observe the levers and 
springs of the state machine in their immediate operation; we discover 
the ends to which it is directed, and the means by which its purposes 
are attained; and we come at once to an intimate acquaintance with its 
influence upon public morals and national happiness. A scrutinizing 
and critical biography is to politics what morbid anatomy is to medicine; 
and the vices of the individual epitomize the qualities of the reigning 
epidemic. 
This is the secret of the very prevalent curiosity which pervades the 
English public respecting Irish men and Irish affairs. The condition 
of Ireland is to strangers a perfect mystery ; and each separate transac- 
tion, as it arises, an unanswerable riddle: for it is the misfortune of 
that country, in uniting itself with the great political body, of which it 
has become a constituent portion, still to continue a separate system ; 
to be governed upon a distinct principle, and moved towards distinct 
ends ; and to remain in all that respects public manners and internal 
M.M. New Series —Vou.I1. No.11. 3Q 
