CHUdNlCLE. 



575 



titiofFending innocence and unpro- 

 tected youth, who were strangers, 

 in some measure, in the land, and 

 who could look for no parochial as- 

 sistance. It was for the wisdom of 

 those whose generosity Avas this day 

 called forth in behalf of those inno- 

 cents, not only to direct its benefi- 

 cial operation towards the particular 

 country to which they belong, but 

 to give it a wider scope, and make 

 it tend to the service and benefit of 

 the empire at large.'' The noble 

 lord, after again assuring the meet- 

 ing of his own grateful feelings, pro- 

 posed the health of a noble friend, 

 which he was confident the compa- 

 ny would receive with the same sa- 

 tisfaction with which he gave it ; 

 for they would feel with him, that 

 his noble friend was universally ac- 

 knowledged to be the boast and or- 

 nament of this country— it was un- 

 necessary to add, that he meant the 

 earl of Moira. It is impossible to 

 describe the ardour of enthusiastic 

 affection with which this toast was 

 received, or the eloquent eifusion of 

 gratitude in which the compliment 

 ■was acknowledged by the noble 

 earl. "The noble president," he hu- 

 morously observed, "was anxious to 

 prove himself an Irishman, in re- 

 commending himself to their notice 

 by a blunder ; for nothing but a 

 blunder could have made his noble 

 friend stumble upon such an extrava- 

 gant encomium as that which he was 

 pleased to bestow upon him. In- 

 deed, it evinced that generous dispo- 

 sition which holds in abhorrence the 

 depreciation of merit, and which, 

 by a contrary impulse, prompts to 

 extol it by an extravagance of praise. 

 To such praise he had but little 

 claim ; if, indeed, he were entitled 

 to the slightest shadow of such a 

 diitiuctiun, he was conscious that 



the prominent motive in his mind^ 

 and that which alone could endear 

 him to his countrymen, was the fear 

 of staining the shamrock. So far he 

 aspired" to the distinction conferred 

 upon him by his noble friend ; but 

 that distinction was applicable to 

 the whole company, as a national 

 assembly. But it should not be 

 merely national in its effecSts, it 

 should be made to extend to the de- 

 fence and protection of the whole 

 empire ; and this, he trusted, would 

 be a principal object of the meeting, 

 whose charity would not be con- 

 fined to merely feeding and cloath- 

 ing ty.e children they patronised, but 

 infusing into them the spirit, and 

 those principles which might be dis- 

 played for the advantage and glory 

 of the empire. As to the fear of 

 staining the shamrock, it was a sen- 

 timent which not only glowed in his 

 breast, but which vibrated in every 

 heart of every individual of the 

 country to which he was proud to 

 belong, and of which he here stood 

 the representative. It was to that 

 sentiment he confidently looked, as 

 the parent of many heroic deeds in 

 the present moment of peril — it was 

 that sentiment M'hich must prompt 

 his countrymen to the manly exer- 

 tions which their country's cause 

 now required at their hands. The 

 situation in which we stood remind- 

 ed him of an old saying which pre- 

 vailed in his part of the country, 

 viz. that " an old castle of bones is 

 worth more than an old castle of 

 stones.''' It was to the hearts and 

 energies of men, that the honour 

 and security of the empire was now 

 to be entrusted. The fear of stain- 

 ing the shamrock must therefore 

 teach them to trample danger under 

 foot, and to arouse themselves from 

 any thing like sullen security and 

 fi b 4 indolent 



