1829.] Ireland, Ihe Orangemen, and the Papists. 131 



ourselves in^ as the " self-government of the counties," or what Black- 

 stone calls, the rectifying and balancing part of the constitution against 

 the aggressions of authority. Other proposals are, for the immediate 

 proclamation of martial law, the immediate disarming of the North, and 

 the immediate extinction of the yeomanry corps ! The militia has nearly 

 perished already, and when the yeomanry and the independent magis- 

 tracy follow, there will be but little more to remove. 



But if our general disgiist could be deepened, it would be by seeing 

 the miserable race to which we have been sacrificed. In all the magna- 

 nimity of popish patriotism, money is the eternal theme ; the secret 

 spring of all its movements is in the purse ; and the haughtiest threats 

 of public overtlu-ow, or the loudest exultations of popish victory, finish 

 with a squabble on pounds, shillings, and pence. When one of their 

 orators determines to give the world the strongest evidence of his de- 

 votion to the " cause of freedom," he gives an episode of the number of 

 guineas his bag will be minus by his crossing the channel. When 

 another would soar to the summit of human virtue, he declares that he 

 has not got a single additional brief during the last term. The popish 

 rent is invested in the name of one ; the reward of another is to have his 

 electioneering ambition kept free of his proper purse ; the Irish patriot, 

 who exhibits here as the vehicle of all disinterestedness, goes to his 

 " Emerald Isle," to play the part of dun, and, among his high-minded 

 friends and future legislators, meets the reception usually allotted to the 

 character. I\Ir. vEneas Llacdonnell battles hard for his weekly pay, and 

 finds it the hardest point of patriotism, that he can get nobody to care 

 whether he is paid or not. Mr. Lawless complains, with the bitterness 

 of a disappointed patriot, that he has got nothing but the nickname of 

 " Honest Jack," and as this will not feed, clothe, or lodge a man even in 

 Irelanc}, where honesty so much abounds, he feels himself forced to take 

 a step higher in patriotism, and try what can be done for his individual 

 prosperity by his national clamour. He thus states the impediments 

 which still stand between him and the Estate which a grateful country 

 will doubtless be ready to purchase for the assertor of its final and com- 

 jjlete freedom. 



" ' You are all now reduced to one common level of national dishonour' — a 

 party has been raised on the ruins of the majority ; eligibility has been con- 

 ceded, but (as Sheridan said,) like the elig-ibility of the man to take his dinner 

 in the London Tavern: eligible, no doubt, but where is the money? — I ask, 

 where is the means, the instrumentality, by which any popular Irishman 

 (I care not what his religion) can obtain a seat in Parliament } I an- 

 swer, with confidence, there is none. Therefore, I say to all deno- 

 minations in Ireland, no longer he humbugged ; demand in a firm and con- 

 stitutional tone the restoration of your Parliament ; demand the right of self- 

 legislation ; demand that right, which in a few years raised Ireland to be a 

 fruitful competitor with England ; demand that right which circulated your 

 country around the globe as a nation of genius and eloquence, of energy and 

 unl)0unded resources, wliich won for you the homage of the world, and ex- 

 torted even the envy of your enemies. I have attended the debates in the 

 Imperial Legislature during the last session, and I will say, without the fear of 

 contradiction, that if Lord Wellington and Mr. Peel were animated by the 

 «ame feelings which ever inspired the divine bosoms of my wonderful country- 

 men, either Grattan or Curran, they could not, in the situation they stand, do 

 any justice to my country. Can they bring hack the Irish nobility and gentry 

 to Ireland? Mr. Peel has reproached the Irish absentees. Has he converted 

 them? Upwards of fl.,00(),000 «?»/?<«//(/ are lost to Ireland by the necessary 

 Icgali.wd absenteeism of some hundreds of the Irish nobility and gentry. — Our 

 Jirst Duke takes up his residence in Pall-mall. Our Maniuiscs and Earls 



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