g18 
us that he has no means of forming a 
judgment of the authenticity of this work, 
“but what are equally open to his read- 
ers, namely, an attentive examination of | 
the evidence contained in the work it- 
felf:” this is very curious. Carnot’s ma- 
nufcript muft have been prefented to him 
by the hands of a viewlefs fairy in the 
midft of his flumbers : but it is a wafte of 
time to expofe fuch a ftupid forgery as 
this is. 
A Middlefex magiftrate has publifheda 
pamphlet, entitled, Tbe Secrets of the En- 
glifo Baftile difelofed: to which is added, 
a Copy of the Rules and Orders by which the 
whole Syfiemis regulated. ‘The {pirit and 
temper which are difplayed in this pam- 
phlet, we confider to be diametrically op- 
pofite to the fpirit and temper of a true 
patriot, and a man of enlarged and liberal 
fentiments. 
That this divifion of our Retrofpeét 
fhould be lefs long than ufual, will not be 
furprifing to thofe who refleét that the 
public attention has been, as it were, mo- 
nopolifed by the diftraéted ftate of 
IRISH POLITICS. 
It will not be expeéted, and it certainly 
will not be defired, that we fhould enu- 
merate allthe pamphlets which have been 
publifhed on the Union ; it will be fufh- 
cient to notice a few of thofe which are of 
acknowledged excellence on either fide of 
the queftion. _ For form’s fake we men- 
tion that Zhe Subffance of Mr. Pirt’s 
{peeches on the 23d and 31ft of January, 
5799, has been publithed ; and that alfo of 
thofe of Mefirs. ADDINGTON and Dun- 
as : thefe fpeeches were pretty generally 
read at the time they were delivered, as 
have the various debates which have fince 
taken place in the Britifh houfe of commons 
on the fubjeét of an union with Ireland. 
The pamphlets which, in point of ftyle, 
hold unequalled eminence, are, Dr. DREN- 
NAN’s two Leticrs to the Right Honourable 
William Pitt. Dr. Drennan is a dif- 
ciple of the fchcol of Burke : in the efti- 
mation of fome perfons (we are not of the 
number) the f{cholar excels the mafler, 
even in his happieft efforts. The imagery 
of Drennan is rich and various: buz it is 
dazzling, and too abundant. Dr. D.ad- 
vances but little that is new on his fubjeé : 
the commercial advantages and difadvan- 
tages of an union are not difcufled; he 
confiders the very propofiion of fuch an 
union as the groffeft infult which can be 
offered to his country ; and, ina firain of 
moft animated and indignant eloquence, 
he exeerates a meafure which is to tram- 
ple on her independence. We are not in 
Retrofpect of Domeftic Literature...Irifb Politicss 
the habit of making extraéts; but we feel 
an impulfe which is irrefiftible to trans _ 
{cribe the following paflage, which per- 
haps, for correétnefs of defcription, for 
originality, elegance, and fimplicity, may 
almoft defy us to fhowa parallel from 
Burke : <‘ Let me ftop to bow to that 
** charaéter—I need not name him— 
“ oreater, far greater in his voluntary 
** exile than Charles or Dioclefian. I had 
‘* rather divide a cabbage with this man, 
* than a cabinet with the other. I look 
“‘ vp to his majeftic and magnanimous 
‘mind with the fame eyes that travellers 
‘“‘view the dome of the Pantheon at 
‘Rome. When they enter, nothing at 
‘* firft furprifes them. They fee notim- 
“‘ mediately its greatnefs; its length, 
‘* breadth, height, fo nicely proportioned, 
“that they exaétly fill the eye; and the 
‘¢ more it is attended to, the longer, it is 
‘* examined, its grandeur is encreafed, and 
“‘ their aftonifhment. While, perhaps, 
“for the pleafure of .contraft, they turn 
“ their view to a tall, ungainly Egyptian 
** obelifk, deeply indented with my fterious 
** emblemsand infcrutable hieroglyphics.”” 
Mr. GEKAHTY has publifhed two fe- 
parate Letters to ibe Marquis Cornwallis, im 
which he has ftated in plain and elegant 
language all the principal arguments in 
favour of the union; he gives a flight 
fketch of the hiftory of Ireland from its 
conqueft, and the turbulence whiclr from 
that period has marked the national cha- 
raéter. Ireland, he fays, muft either be 
united with England, and be governed 
by a parliament fitting in London, or fhe 
-‘muft fubmit to fuch a reform in her pars 
liament as will inevitably lead to a demo-. 
cracy. Mr. Gerahty dwells on the ads 
vantages which, in his opinion, are to flow 
in upon his country in a full ftream, and, 
like the waters of the Nile, to fertilife the 
land ; it feems to trouble him very little 
that the people of Ireland are, almoft toa 
man, hoftile to the experiment ; that this 
torrent of fertility, therefore, will be re- 
fifed in its courfe, and that from this very 
refiftance it muft inevitably rage and foam, 
and defolate the earth. Mr. Gerahty 
laughs, and we laugh with him, at the 
idea which the anti-unionifts entertain of 
preferving the independence of the parlia- 
ment of Ireland ! To be fure, it is abfurd 
and ludicrous enough. 
To the pamphlet entitled, Arguments 
for and againft the Union between Great Bri- 
tain and Ireland confidered, a pamphlet 
which, with the utmoft affectation of can- - 
dour and impartiality, hasas little of either 
as can well he conceived, have been pub- 
lithed 
