578 Treland in. 1826. [Deez 
jack-in-office;! who thinks by his arrogance.and yiolence.to make, himself 
friends with “the partizans of ascendancy.) It)is,,useless to.multiply, 
_ éxamples ofthis diversity between the two countries ;, they, will ,occur, 
in every sentence I am writing: and it may,suffice, generally; to, sayy, 
that in’ Ireland, fromthe Lord-Lieutenant to, the beggar, in, the ,streets,, 
every'portion of ‘society is dislocated and diseased, | The capital, is, the, 
seat of famine and) of fever; the country, like the town, is, swarming, 
with unoccupied paupers: and when I use; the term, pauper, I imply.a 
degree of destitution and) of misery, of which no. stretch of the fancy, 
can) do justice. Let the reader figure to himself whole. families,., so, 
completely without decent clothing as to be unable to appear in the 
streets in the face of day. Let him imagine. them crowded in, the close 
and filthy apartments of the most wretched and ill-built parts, of the 
metropolis, without bedding, or blanket, or fuel; the doors remoyed 
from the apartments by the landlord, to expel the rentless, and unpro- 
fitable ‘tenant ;—the dying and the dead strewed together, on.the,dank 
straw, or naked floor, without a friendly hand to administer even) a) cup. 
of cold water, to quench the flame of fever in their parched, and 
blistered palates ;—let him imagine all this, and he will have one isolated 
group in the immense and varied picture of Irish misery. , If we. turn 
to the upper classes of society, we find the nobles absentees, or \the few 
residents occupied in ejecting their rebellious voters, in road-jobbing, in 
intriguing with the government for power and patronage, ; in harassing 
the population with the forced distribution of bibles and tracts, ,and, 
strange to tell, in deciding public controversies on, points of faith with 
their Catholic neighbours. If we look at the Protestant, clergy,,we find 
them occupied in the law courts with their tithes, or preaching|polemical 
sermons, or uttering incendiary speeches in their, nightly orgies,. under 
banners; deprecating the ‘“ humbug terrors. of another wor d,”..as,.the 
‘stimulants of Catholic conscience ;* and. scarcely, ever less out, of their 
proper sphere, than when engaged in field-sports and gusticing. |, The 
Catholic clergy, on the other hand, are not, a whit, bebind-hand with 
their clerical rivals of the establishment in political zeal); but.are moying 
heaven and earth to animate and energize their flocks in) the, steady 
pursuit of emancipation. The success with which, they, have operated.is 
powerfully evinced, in the almost total overthrow and, dismemberment, of 
the landed interest at the elections ;—in the swelling the amount of 
subscriptions to support the freeholders; and in the almost universality 
of parochial meetings for petitioning Parliament. From this,time for- 
ward, the representation of Ireland may be considered as, wholly 
Catholic; not a candidate for any county but will discover, before the 
next general election, abundance of good reasons. for, embracing the 
party of emancipation: nor can it be doubted that, by the carrying that 
measure, and by rendering the professors of the Catholic faith admissible 
to a seat in the two houses, the influence of the religion would rather 
be decreased than enlarged in Parliament. In the mean time, the, Irish 
government—a chequered board, “here a.white square and _,there;a 
black,” has a liberal Lord-Lieutenant, and an Orange, Chief-Secretary;; 
an ascendancy Lord-Chancellor, and an emancipating Ate a 
while, almost universally, the subalterns of office, are amongst; the most 
determined exclusionists, throwing all sorts of difficulties of detail‘in, the 
ITBIOV vs Sild 9T8 
inotar Daa .2tios 
* Fact—at one of the consolation dinners.. 
' 
