many more perished by famine than by the sword. When Lord Edward Bruce, the brother of the deliverer of Scotland, pushed his way from the north to the south of Ireland, famine obliged him speedily to return; and when he got back to Ulster, so horrible was the state of the army, that the dead bodies of those who had died were torn from their graves, and their flesh boiled in their own skulls, and eaten by the famishing survivors. After Desmond's rebellion in the reign of Elizabeth, Spenser tells us that "out of every corner of the woods and glynnes they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legges could not beare them; they looked like anatomies of death, they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves; they did eate the dead carrions, happy where they could find them, yea, and one another soon after, insomuch as the very carcases they spared not to scrape out of their graves; and if they found a plot of water-cresses or shamrocks, there they flocked, as to a feast for the time." In the rebellions of the two O'Neales, the horrors of war were also greatly aggravated by those of famine; but even in peace this scourge has not ceased to visit fertile Ireland, and that which did result from the dire necessities of warfare, is now the consequence of errors in social arrangement, and civil government. The Irish starve, while Ireland over. stocks the English market with corn and cattle. The poor that dwell in the land have no protection, save the hand of casual charity; but though all is done by charity that private charity can do, what does it avail to "a people in beggary—a nation which stretches out its hands for food ?" But what, says the impatient reader who gapes for the wisdom which he doubts not is about to be poured forth touching the Irish Reform Bill," what has this to do with the matter in hand?" "Most excellent, praiseworthy, and attentive reader," I answer, "No exordium to the brief discourse which I intend to deliver for your learning, can be more natural, for it brings us directly to the consideration of the real Reform which is wanting, and teaches us to perceive the hollowness and cruel absurdity of the sham Reform which his Majesty's Ministers propose to a country in a state so deplorable." The indignant language of Scripture says, "shall he ask for bread, and shall you give him a stone!" But even this mockery would not be so bad as that of our government, who, when a people is distracted by ignorance, barbarism, and starvation, offer them a more extended right of returning representatives to the Imperial Parliament! This is beginning at the wrong end with a vengeance. Nothing can save Ireland but a strictness of government coming more near to despotism than the now existing British constitution will admit of, even in the most extreme cases; and instead of this, an attempt is made to loosen the force of government, and to scatter its power among the unruly hands of a wild and disaffected multitude. It is not possible to conceive more deplorable infatuation; and throughout Ireland, it is the general fear of the conservative party, and the universal boast of the noisy supporters of the Revolutionary Bill, that once it is passed, it must be followed by a separation from the legislative government of England, or, at the least, by an abandonment of the Church property to the funds of the State, and thence to the payment of the Roman Catholic clergy. That the English Reform Bill will not satisfy the popular craving for change which it has excited, is matter of reasonable conjecture; that the proposed Irish Reform Bill will not satisfy the Irish, is already proved by Mr O'Connell's letter, for he is too cunning to have expressed his dissatisfaction, without being well aware that he could carry the mass of the people along with him :—and now that I have mentioned this letter, I shall say something about it, in conjunction with the proposed measure which it criticises. Feeling, as I do, as much interest as a foreigner possibly can feel, in the honour and glory of the kingdom of Kerry, I reflect with no small shame upon the circumstance of one of its representatives in Parliament having put forth such a rambling piece of botheration as this letter on the Reform Bill. Indeed the fact of having suffered Dan O'Connell to be elected for Kerry, is in my mind no small disgrace to my favourite kingdom; and I marvel where its ancient aristocratic pride is gone, when a man, whose grandfather was nobody, has been suffered to seize the representation even without a fight for it. What can he feel for Kerry, that a Kerry man should feel? How can he sympathize with the land of lakes and Latin, of mountains and mathe matics-of clouds and classicalityof scenery and science? He has no feeling for any thing but the rant of radicalism, with a riotous rabble roaring in his rear. I am not, thank Heaven, a Member of Parliament, being in no degree ambitious of the martyrdom of stewing in Saint Stephens's five nights in the week from June to September, in the company of such a group of talkers as the Reform-stricken populace returned at the late election; but if I were thus to suffer, I don't know the place I would more willingly suffer for than Kerry. Rich and rare is its beauty; the very grass seems to rejoice in growing as it shoots up, green and luxuriant, out of the dark soil. Far more delicious than the flesh of ordinary sheep is thy small mutton, O Kerry, slightly heather-flavoured! Thy rivers, that "wander at their own sweet will," not too huge, nor yet diminutive-how exquisite their fish! How abundant and incomparable the trout, how admirable the salmon in size and flavour-better than if they were bigger I think, yet a monster is sometimes taken, and "what a delicate monster!" Excellent are thy small well-proportioned black cattle, that spend their youthful days upon the mountain-slopes, picking the herbage not unmixed with heath; and magnificent are these mountains, rearing their eagle haunted tops into the clouds! Honour and fame be unto you, Mangerton, with the "Devil's punch bowl" lying deep and still within your bosom, and to you, loftier Carran Thual," and the rest," and your neighbouring lakes, island-studded; where the green and crimson of the arbutus festoon the fantastic rocks, drooping to the water, made beautiful with their shadows. The red deer still dwells within thy natural woods, fair Killarney; and we drop our oars that we may watch him sweeping along the hills-but he is gone, and we draw near the shore, and climb our way to where O'. Brien's cascade thunders down, tearing its way through the thick wood, in the season the dwelling-place of innumerable woodcocks, which Pat, Dennis, Dan, and Larry, hunt down to the water's edge, while you, stand. ing or seated in your boat, deal death continually from your double-barrelled detonator. Dan O'Connell feels nothing of all this, as a representative of Kerry ought to do-the place that his soul loveth is that where there is crowd, and bustle, and noise, and newspapers. He should represent some town-some clamorous, prating, riotous, litigious town, stuffed with radi cal manufacturing men, and flaunting loquacious women. He should have nothing to do with the county I mean the kingdom-of Kerry. But this digression may seem to be beside the matter-so now for the letter, and the Bill. The letter commences with the usual whining rant about the extreme excellence of the "genuine Irish," and the bad usage they have received from the English. Nobody ever did justice to Ireland who was " impregnated with Angleism." This whole phrase is an O'Con nellism-" Angleism" has nothing to do with English, and I venture further to affirm, that it is not "genuine Irish"-but why should the "Liberator" be bound by the trammels of grammar? Let us come to his facts: "We genuine Irish," he says, "have always behaved well to England-we deserve well of the English people-we have observed every national treaty-we have performed with perfect good faith every stipu lation." It is perhaps not too much to affirm, that O'Connell knows no more of Irish history than of English grammar-What he has learned of either is merely casual, such as may be picked up in conversation or from newspapers. It would be uncharitable to suppose, that he made such an assertion about the "genuine Irish," with any knowledge of the historical facts which it falsifies. The most prominently distinguishing feature of their history, is their inconstancy to political engagements. Other nations that have been attacked by a powerful enemy, have fought while there was any hope in resist Irish, he says, the British nation is indebted for the adoption of the principle of the Reform Bill-there was a majority of Scotch members against that principle-there was a majo that principle-but it was carried through the second reading by " the great and overwhelming majority of the Irish members in its favour." Thus, because Ireland, a distracted, uncivilized portion of the empire, unable to pay any thing like its fair proportion of the taxes, while the outrageous habits of its population require an enormous expense for civil and military force-because Ireland is able, by the number of its representatives, to force the principle of revolution upon the United Kingdom, in spite of decided majorities of the representatives of the wealthy, and powerful, and peaceable portions of the empire against it, this Ireland is to get a yet larger share of the general representation! If this be not using the argumentum ad absurdum, where an argument of serious cogency was intended, such a blunder was never made. It is impossible to adduce a stronger argument than this, to prove that the reasonable Reform of Irish representation would be found in its curtailment. ance, and when that ceased, they have submitted, and become faithful to their conquerors, until by degrees they became incorporated with them; but the Irish never did make a general resistance to the English-rity of English members against their fashion was to submit, when ever a great force, or even an important individual, was at hand to require their submission; but no sooner was the power that had overawed their imagination withdrawn, than they broke their engagement, and relapsed into what they called independence. Thus it is, that in truth"Ireland has never been conquered," because the Irish never would wait for that to happen-they yielded to the English-then began to fight among themselves, and then, being in the humour, began to fight against the power to which they owed allegiance-and this process went on, not once merely, but repeatedly. Even Sir John Davies, whom Irish patriots love to quote, because, being an English lawyer, he has nevertheless vowed at the end of his book, and probably at the end of his bottle also, that " there is no nation of people under the sun that doth love equal and indifferent justice better than the Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, although it be against themselves,"-even he tells us, that in Henry the Eighth's time the Irish made their fourth general submission, "whereof the first was made to King Henry the Second-the second to King John-the third to King Richard the Second-and this last to Sir Anthony St Leger in the thirtythird of Henry the Eighth." Four general submissions anterior to the days of Elizabeth, does not look very like "the constant and undeviating course of perfect good faith" of which Mr Dan O'Connell boasts, without in reality knowing any thing at all about the matter; yet it is upon the ground of the transcendent merits of the Irish in this matter that he demands a greater share for Ireland in the senate of the United Kingdom, than even the new constitution-making Ministry are pleased to allow. He has one other argument, to be Bure, the logic of which must make every undegenerate Kerryman blush up to, and over, the ears. To the My objection to the Irish Reform Bill commences with the second clause of its preamble-it is almost needless to go farther than this and the succeeding clause, for if the preamble be false, then the measure founded upon it is erroneous, ab initio, and ought not to pass. The Irish Reform Bill commences thus-"Whereas it is expedient to diminish the expenses of elections in Ireland, and to extend the elective franchise to many of his Majesty's subjects therein, who have not heretofore enjoyed the same, and to increase the number of representatives for certain cities and boroughs in that part of the United Kingdom." The first clause is true, also it is true that the moon is not made of green cheese-the second and third clauses are both flagrantly untrue. The propositions need but to be calmly considered for one minute by any man who is not mad, nor Irish, to appear in their true colour of glaring falsehood. Why should the elective franchise be extended? Is it because the mass of the Irish are becoming more independent in their circumstances more attached to the united government-more elevated in their pursuits-more peaceable and orderly in their habits? The question seems a mockery, in the face of the afflicting evidence which every day affords proof that the Irish are becoming worse and worse-that wretchedness, fierceness, ignorance, superstition-every thing that degrades humanity, is on the increase. In the name of common sense then, what can there be more like madness than the proposition to extend the elective franchise to many of them who have not previously enjoyed the same? Surely every sane man will admit that the elective franchise ought to be limited, if possible, to such as have some property and some intelligence; why then should it be extended to a greater number of the population of Ireland? Again-what principle is there more established, than that power in the legislature should be proportioned to power out of the legislature:-Knowledge is powerwealth is power-population is power, if accompanied by the other two; but is a wild, unemployed, ignorant, fierce, famishing multitude, an ingredient of national power?-and if it be not, what is the power in Ireland which demands an increase in the number of its representatives? Ireland has nearly a sixth of the Parliamentary representation of the United Kingdom,-does she contribute onetenth in any way, save in a lawless and burdensome population, to the public store of the United Kingdom? All men and books, of decent reputa tion, that treat of politics (to which add even the Times newspaper, although not of decent reputation), admit that it is easier to excite a passion for liberty, than to qualify men for the enjoyment of it. Our Ministers have chosen the easier part; but in Ireland the people are as yet utterly without the teaching which would qualify them to enjoy the political liberty they already pos sess. In speaking of Ireland in this paper, I should always be understood as excluding the principal part of Ulster, which is in all respects as worthy as England or Scotland; but for the rest, it would be much better that for ten or twenty years it had no right to send any members to Parliament. It should be put under military governmentits parliament should be a general officer's staff-its speaker, one who could presently assist himself with cannon, in the event of his voice being too weak to be heard, and attended to. Such a man as Sir Henry Hardinge, with a dozen good officers to assist him, accountable only to Parliament for the due execution of military authority, would probably make Ireland in ten or fifteen years what it should be; and certainly no government, according to the law of England, as it now stands, can do so. Such laws as ours can only serve our purposes in society, while the society generally respects them, and feels an interest in maintaining them in their force. There is no such respectno such interest felt by the mass of the population in the south and west of Ireland, and therefore there is no sufficient power in the law to keep them in order. They are not yet sufficiently civilized to be fit for the enjoyment of such privileges and franchises as they have, yet our Ministers, by the Reform Bill, seek to extend them; and O'Connell says the bill is an "insult and an injury," because the extension is not carried further. All this is most pitiable ignorance and folly-if statesmen wish to learn how to make Ireland prosper, let them read the history of the administration of Strafford who did make Ireland prosper astonishingly. He was, however, despotic and severe, in some cases inexcusably so; but the evils of his despotism might be avoided, while its good might be retained, for his despotism did do good; and nothing buta government approaching to despotism, in the determination and swiftness of its executive authority, will break the barbarism of the Irish into a state fit for a large extension of civil liberty. Mr O'Connell complains of the Bill, that the elective franchise fixed in cities and towns, that is, the occupation of houses worth ten pounds a-year, is greatly too high, and will unjustly exclude too many of the people. I shall not dispute that point with him; and if all the occupiers of ten pound houses are to have the franchise, I am sure it would be much better to extend it still farther-there would be more chance of honesty and right feeling even in a selection by the whole mass of the population, than in one governed by such a class as this Bill would confer the franchise upon. English gentlemen do not know what they are doing, in giving to such people as the shopkeepers in the Irish towns, the right of returning a number of members to Parliament equal to the whole amount of the present representation for Scotland. hate The Irish peasant is a wild, headlong, fierce, frolicsome fellow, whose nature is capable of good, in spite of his extreme imprudence and love of mischief; but the low Irish shopkeeper is, for the most part, a compound of knavish cunning and bigotry, fierce and obstinate, in proportion to his ignorance. Ireland is not a place where fair, straight-forward, honest dealing will bring a man on in a small way of business, and those who succeed in this way, do so by obsequiousness and cunning. The first object is to make a friend of the priest, and, interest and superstition joining together, they submit themselves to him with a desperate idolatry, which almost excludes all love and reverence for any thing else. They look upon their temporal and eternal welfare as placed in his hands, and consider it a merit to with unrelenting hatred, whatever is, or seems to be, inimical to his interest. Such are the people to whom the Irish Reform Bill proposes to give more than forty representatives. As yet, the towns of Ireland have returned but one Roman Catholic member, a gentleman who is not of the Romish faction in politics, Mr Callaghan, of Cork. Were this bill to be passed, it is probable the circumstances would be very nearly reversed, and no more than two or three Protestants (except in Ulster) would be returned for the towns. Á greater blow, therefore, could not be given to the Protestant interest in Ireland, than the bill would inflict. With regard to the alteration of the franchise proposed by the Reform Bill to be effected in counties, it would, so far as it goes, do good. It proposes to give leaseholders for 21 years of property, paying a rent of L.50 a-year, a right to vote; and as these are almost all people of a respectable class in society, Mr O'Con nell is extremely angry with the arrangement, though "having no kind of inclination to assist in playing the game of the Tories, he refrained from tracing out the defect until after the elections shall have terminated." He would much rather give the franchise to those who have a profit rent of L.10 a-year out of leaseholds-that is, he would rather give the county franchise also to his friends the shopkeepers in the towns, who are in the habit of taking leases of land in their neighbourhood, laying out upon it a little capital, and then re-letting it in lots, at an enormous profit, to the poor farmer, whom they grind, to obtain the uttermost farthing beyond what will support him, or rather keep him alive, in the most miserable condition that can be conceived. These petty landlords, the "middle men," are the greatest curse and scourge of the Irish small farmer; they know exactly what may be screwed out of him, beyond what will afford him potatoes, and they exact it without pity, and without even the remotest notion of the wrong they are doing. To these O'Connell wishes to give the franchise, merely because it would give him more power; but happily in this matter the bill does not serve his purpose. For the same reason, he roars out yet more lustily against the provision which takes away from the L.10 voters in towns, the right of voting for the counties in which the towns are situate. A hundred of the voters for the county of Kerry, are, as he says, residents in the town of Tralee, and would be disfranchised, as relates to the county elections, if the bill were to pass. Such a state of things as this, he adds, "cannot be;" and " he hopes he may add, it shall not be." Certainly if it cannot be, he is quite justified in entertaining a very lively hope that it shall not be; but if it were to be, it would be a very important improvement. In brief, the faults of the Irish Reform Bill consist in the extension of the number of representatives, and in giving the representation of the towns into the hands of the L.10 householders. The other arrangements are improvements upon the present system, and the change they would effect would be that of strengthening the interest of the gentry. The forty-shilling franchise, |