70 THE IRISH PEOPLE. 



own Irish heroes . . . they spared their powder, 

 but they gave the enemy the steel with a vengeance. 

 How was the Isle of Bourbon taken 1 By the valour 

 of the Irish Catholics, under the conduct of as brave 

 and skilful an officer as any in the service ; I mean 

 my gallant friend and respected constituent, Colonel 

 Keating. If the Irish Catholics were sent out 

 under the command of their own brave countrymen, 

 of such men as the Irish Generals, Lords Wellington 

 and Hutchinson, Marshal Beresford, Generals 

 Spencer, Doyle, Pack, and others, what might they 

 not accomplish ? The navy is manned by more Irish 

 than English. ... If the Irish were well used 

 they might be led by a silken thread; they de- 

 manded but their rights, and their rights they would 

 have. With my last breath I will support the just 

 cause of the Irish Catholics." 



I regret that I cannot here state the proportion of 

 Irish, Scots, and English in the Peninsular War. 

 The relative number of the Irish must have been 

 greater than in 1830, which was a time of peace. 

 On the 1st of January, 1830, the relative numbers 



were* : 



Irish. English. Scots. 



Infantry ... 37,740 30,208 10,506 



Cavalry ... 3,025 5,031 750 



40,765 35,239 11,256 



* P. 32 of Ireland, by J. G. V. Porter, Esq. 1844. 2nd Ed- 

 London : published by Ridgway and Fisher, Son & Co. 



