J 34 Ireland, the Orangemen, and the Papists. []AuG. 



bited to rush upon each other, in all tlie ferocity of a more ' than civil' 

 encounter, were the results of that sifstcm of agitation. It became neces- 

 sary, of course, to put every expedient of popular excitement into action. 

 Every spring in the public mind — the mighty engine with which we 

 worked — was touched. All that the fiercest declamation, the most fiery 

 harangues, the most envenomed sarcasin, the most pitiless vituperation 

 could effect, was resorted to. Whoever opposed the claims of a nation 

 was held up to scorn and detestation ; reproach and contumeli/ were 

 lavishly and unrcmittingli/ poured upon him. A sense of temporary dis- 

 cord was produced, by which the interposition of the legislature was ren- 

 dered indispensable ; and an act of wisdom has thus been extorted." Here 

 at last is plain speaking. Let ]\Iinisters look at this and blush. No, they 

 knew it thoroughly before. They knew the wliole trickery of the 

 intrigue. But let the poor creatures who followed their tergiversation, 

 and joined in their desertion, the miserable slaves of the ministerial nod, 

 the trimmers and turn-coats, read this, and see to what contemptible con- 

 trivances they lent the votes entrusted to them for the rights of their 

 country. We have here the ample, nay, the ostentatious acknowledg- 

 ment once again, that it was not the people who grieved, but the speech- 

 maker ; that the impulse was grounded on no intolerable consciousness 

 of evil among the people, but on the " envenomed hniguage, pitiless vitu- 

 peration, and fiery harangues" of a little jimto of itinerant incendiaries, 

 whose object was to make the " condition of the government insupportable." 

 The friends of the constitution long reiterated this in the ear of the legis- 

 lature. They told IMinisters, you are giving up the constitution to cla- 

 mour ; the rights of Protestantism to the capricious insolence of popery j 

 the real claims of the people of England to the fabricated injuries of the 

 peasants of Ireland. What you are doing will not give the Irish peasant 

 a single potatoe, nor relieve him of a single sixpence of his incum- 

 brances, nor raise him a single step in the scale ; for those things are not 

 to be done by sending a junto of popish demagogues to Parliament. You 

 acknowledge that you break down the constitution, and you break it 

 down for a nonentity ; for menaces which you know can never be more 

 than menaces ; and for dangers which you equally know to be utterly 

 imaginary. 



But the acknowledgment is now fully made, and when we see the 

 weapons that have been suffered to strike down the constitution, the feel- 

 ings of defect and desertion receive the last aggravation of which they 

 are capable. 



To the writer of the letter we can have no hostilitj^ We have looked 

 upon him merely as an advocate, and thank him for this open, though 

 probably unwitting avoAval, of the conduct of his suit. Our indignation, 

 our disgust, our undying hatred — for in such a cause hatred is holy — are 

 for the smiling perfidy that betrayed us. Welcome, we say, the open 

 assault, for agamst that we can be prepared ; but may evil, black as 

 their own hearts, wither the base ambition, and smite the pernicious suc- 

 cesses of tlie hypocrite and the slave. 



There have been some late rumours of applications to Lord Eldon and 

 the Protestants to join the JNIinistry, and that Lord Eldon has, as the pre- 

 liminary to all negociation, declared his disgust at the idea of sitting in 

 anjr cabinet of which IMr. Peel is a member. We give Lord Eldon 

 credit for having used the words, for we entertain no doubt of his feeling 

 the sentiment. The negociation is said to have suddenly broken off ; but 

 certauily not on this account, for his Grace of Wellington would have no 

 mor€ compunction in flinging ]\Ir. Peel overboard, tlian he would have 

 in turning off his footman. He feels well assured, that no public remon- 



