IRELAND. 



-precautions liad been takon, that no eviuencc could be pro- 

 cured againlt: the author, the printer was indifted, but the 

 grand iury, inllead of finding the bill, approved the publica- 

 tion. "The ferment was fo great, that if miniilers had pcr- 

 fevered, a new civil wai- would probably have arifen, thoujjii 

 it, like all preceding ones, would have only contributed, in 

 all probability, to rivet the chains of Ireland inore firmly. 

 As it was, the patent was cancelled, and the ferment allayed. 

 At this time the complaints of the people, on other accounts, 

 Ti-ere loud, of which dean Swift takes particular notice in his 

 " Short View of the State of Ireland ;" he compares this 

 kingdom, in v\'hich a few placemen from England eiijoycd 

 plentiful falaries, to an hofpital, in wliich all the houlhold 

 -officers grow rich, while the poor, for wliofe fake it was 

 built, are almoft ftarving for want of food and raiment. 

 Such are the principal events in Ireland, in the interval 

 between the revolution and the acceffion of his prefent ma- 

 jefty to the throne in 1760. The Catholics were under tlie 

 ■difabilities already ftated, but the pen--il lav.s againll them 

 were feldom, if ever, enforced ; and as the dillance of time 

 increafed, the irritation occaiioned by former events was 

 confiderably abated. Many of that body acquired wealth in 

 the way of' trad?, and the nobility and gentry enjoyed their 

 eilates in quiet. The Proteftants a!fo gradually loll their ap- 

 prchenfions, and were taken up with the contelts againit 

 Britilh fovercignty, which about this time g-dve a continual 

 intereil to the proceedings of parliament, where fome able 

 men dilHnguifhed themfelves by their oppofilion to govern- 

 ment. This parhament was unchanged during the life of the 

 fovereign, and met every focond year ; and as the prefent 

 mode of vacating feats was unknown, when a vacancy hap- 

 pened by death, the greatell exertions were ufed by the con- 

 tending parties, and the eleftion was ufually decided by the 

 majority of the houfe. The Irifh government was pecu- 

 iiarly circumftanced. It was neceffary that every aft ot par- 

 liament Ihould have the fanction both of the Britilh privy 

 council, /. e. of the Britilh minillry, and of the Irifh par- 

 liament. It was therefore neceffary for the former to be able 

 to influence a majority of the latter. To do this, j)laces 

 and penfions were "belloweJ on thofe, whofe powers of elo- 

 quence, or whofe parliamentary intereil made them fervice- 

 able ; and befides this, the miniitry were obhged to gratify 

 the leading fadion, by complying with fuch meafures as 

 were for their privrite advantage, although inconfiftent with 

 found policy, and tlie true interett of Ireland. Hence a num- 

 ■ber of parliamentary grants, which have been juftly IHg- 

 matized as jobs, and hence the undetermined condudl of the 

 Britilh minillry refpetling Irilh meafures, even on occafions 

 not long preceding the Union. The leading party in the 

 Irifii parhament mull be gratified, bccaufe otherwife the 

 public bufinefs would be at a (land. The lord lieutenant 

 was not rcfident, c.Kcept during the parliamentary feffion ; 

 and the management of affairs was, at other times, en- 

 trulled to lords julliccs, generally the primate, the chan- 

 cellor, and the fpeaker of the houfe of commons ; the two 

 former invariably Engliflimen, in whom confidence was 

 chiefly placed, and the lall, a man always pofleffed of great 

 parliamentary influence from his talents and connexions. 

 The firfl; Hep to a change was the rendering parliaments 

 o£lennla), which was moved by G. D. Lucas, and paffed in 

 1768, Tiie lord lieutenant now became cnnllantly refident, 

 and the feflions were held every year. The ipirit of the 

 Irifli parliament increafed ; feveral men of great talents 

 fprung up, and whilll the Britifli mir.illry were engaged in 

 their unhappy contell with America, they were obliged to 

 yield to tlie people of Ireland firll a free trade, and after- 

 wards a repeal of the ftatuteg which rendered Ireland de- 



pendent. The volunteers, a body originally armed for the 

 defence of the country againft French invafion, probably 

 contributed to thefe mealures by the terror they occafioned 

 to the minillry, whilft the agitation in Enijland towards the 

 clofe of the American war, and the unfettled ftate of ad- 

 miniftriiticn between the refignation of lord North, and the 

 appointment of Mr. Pitt, prevented that determined oppo- 

 lition which would have been made in a more fettled Rate of 

 affairs. In 177S the grievances of the Roman Catholics 

 began to receive attention, and that body was reftored to 

 many privileges, of which they had been harfiily deprived. 

 This was the commencement, and fince that time all the 

 moll haraffmg difabilities have been removed, though fome 

 ftill remain, which are frequently the fubjedt of parlia- 

 mentary difcuffion. The events of the lall 20 years are too 

 recent to be enlarged on without that partiality from which 

 human nature is fcaixely ever exempt, and the detail would 

 be perhaps unfuitable to a work of this general nature. 

 Nolwithftanding the mifery occafioned by the rebellion of 

 1798, and the low Hate of many branches of trade and ma- 

 nufadlure, Ireland has rapidly improved within that period, 

 efpccially in agriculture, and (hould it be bleffed with internal 

 peace and union, it will foon, under the follering care of the 

 legiflature, rife to a great degree of profperity, and effentially 

 contribute to the welfare and happinefs of the IJrAted K'wgdcm. 

 See Union. Beaufort's Memou-. Pinkcrton's Geography. 

 Spenfer. Cox. Davis. Holhnglliead. Leland. Curry. 

 Newenham's State of Ireland, &c. &c. 



Ireland's Eye, a fmall illand in the Irifli fea, north of 

 the hill of Howth, in the county of Dublin, Ireland, about 

 a mile from the main land 



Ireland, Neiu, an ifland in the Pacific ocean, which is a 

 long flip of land ftretchii;g from N.W. to S.E. about 270 

 miles, and feparated from Ne'W Britain (which fee} by a 

 channel through which Capt Carteret paffed in 1767, who 

 gave its name to this ifland. This navigator found the 

 nation very holliie, baling lances headed with flint. Their 

 faces were flreaked with white, and their hair befprinkled 

 with powder of the fame colour. They are black, and faid 

 to be wooily-beaded, but without the tliick hps or flat nofe 

 of the negro. Some of the canoes of this ifland were 90 feet 

 in length, formed out of a fingle tree. Bougainville alfo 

 vifited this country, and obferved here the pepper-plant, aud 

 that Angular infecl, the walkmg leaf ; among i:s numerous 

 birds was the great crowned pigeon. To tlie wcfl of New 

 Ireland, and approaching New Guinea, a fuccefficn of little 

 Archipelagos is found ; in which are the Portland ifles, the 

 Admiralty ifles, the Hermit and Exchequer ifles ; all of 

 wh.ich prefent one principal ifl.ind, the centre of the group, 

 of which the circumference is formed by a number of flat 

 iflets linked together by reefs. The principal ifland of. the 

 Admiralty ijhtids (which fee) is mountainous. The in- 

 habitants are not very black. Their phyfiognomy is agree- 

 able, and differs but little from that of the Europeans ; they 

 appear little fociable, and thieves ; they have chiefs who ex- 

 ercife great authority ; they are armed with darts headed 

 with a volcanic glafs. They wear at the extremity of the 

 natural parts the fliell " bulla ovum ;" and are otlierwile 

 entirely naked. The women have only a garment about the 

 waifl. They hve chiefly upon cocoa-nuts, of which thefe 

 ifles have abundance. Their hair is curly, and of a black 

 colour, which they fometimes redden with ochre mixed with 

 oil ; many parts of the body are alfo thus painted, and efpe- 

 cially the face. In thefe illands it was once hoped to find 

 La Peroufe. 



The archipelago of Hermits is fcarcely 14 leagues in cir- 

 cumference; it produces Cythcrean apples, ".Ipondia cy- 



therea," 



