the history of English affairs are equally unimportant.

In proportion as the narrative approaches our own times, it becomes liable to the suspicion of a partiality not resulting merely from a cast of opinion, which it is always the right of an historian to acknowledge. In the campaign of 1794, which the Duke of York waged, there are symptoms of this kind.

We

At the beginning of the sixth and last volume it is said, that the Jacobins triumphed over the Girondists. have always understood that the Gi. rondists triumphed by the means of the Jacobins; and that the Cordeliers triumphed over the Jacobins, and brought the Girondists to the block. The Cordeliers were the regicide portion of the Jacobins.

In detailing the progress of rebellion in Ireland, it is said that the professed objects were reform in Parliament and Catholic emancipation; but that the real objects (p. 203) was separation and independence.

"To promote the changes which they desired, certain persons formed a society to which they gave the name of United Irishmen. This institution, projected and organized by Wolfe Tone, proposed to connect the whole Irish nation together, with the professed purpose of a general melioration of their condition, by a reform of parliament, and an equalization of catholic with protestant privileges, without any exceptions civil or political. The plan of union was formed on unity of object, connection of instruments, and a co-operation of means, that combined secrecy of proceeding with efficacy of counsel and conduct. No meeting was to consist of more than twelve persons; five of these meetings were represented by five members in

mittees, which were styled "baronial," a deputy attended in a superior committee, that presided over all those of the barony or disthese superior committees, composed one of One or two deputies from each of the whole county, and two or three from every county committee composed a provin cial committee. The provincial committees chose in their turn five persons to superintend the whole business of the union: they

Thus,

were elected by ballot, and only known to the secretaries of the provincial committees, who are officially the scrutineers. though their power was great, their agency was invisible, and they were obeyed without being seen or known. Whether the designs of these associates were originally to effect a complete separation of Ireland from Britain has not been ascertained as a fact; but there is no doubt that, in the progress of their concert, they had formed such a project; and that parliamentary change, and catholic emancipation, were only pretexts with the heads and principal agents of this confedera cy, in order to unite the greater numbers in the execution of their designs."

Surely these objects grew out of the difficulty, and but for the obstinate hostility of Great Britain to just ends, would never have been entertained. The recall of Earl Fitzwilliam is hurried over : we should have been glad to know on what grounds the Burkites, who profess hostility to an interior or double cabinet, and who willingly talk of ministerial responsibility, can justify their continuing in office after that recall. By Mr. Burke's letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe, they were pledged to promote a redress of the Catholic grievance: but their anxiety about it only revived, when they had ceased to be employed in withholding it.

IT may be doubted whether religious toleration will ever be practically realized in a community, of which the majority is agreed in religious opinion. All ecclesiastical history is a record of some one sect tyrannizing over some other sect but if a community were subdivided into so many different sects, that the coalition of the rest would always be more powerful than any one, even the most popular; then, and only then, toleration would be always the common interest of them all. Perhaps, therefore, men of authority, who desire to patronize a pure and uninterrupted

religious liberty, and to perpetuate the political equality of religious sects, ought always to secede from the religion of the majority; and thus reduce within the expedient degree of weakness, the dangerous ascendancy of the most popular sect. Some grounds of objection or variation will always present themselves to an inquisitive mind; and these should be exalted into importance against the domineering persuasion.

The catholics of Ireland form, in our apprehension, too numerous a party for the interests of tolerance; if the nation was to become autonomous, and to ap

point its political magistracy at home. But whatever we may suspect of the catholics, we know of the protestants; and have witnessed a religious persecution, which it is neither correct nor useful to disguise under the dress of political party.

Of the accomplished author of this work it will be best to speak in his own words. He thus accounts in the introduction for his interference in Irish

affairs.

“Very serious disturbances took place in a part of the county of Wexford, in the month of June 1793; but they were soon suppressed by the exertions of the country gentlemen, who formed an association for the preservation of the peace. I constantly attended their meetings, and I believe it will be allowed, that my conduct and endeavours proved as effectual as that of any other to restore public tranquillity.

66

In January 1795, while lord Fitz-William was viceroy, I procured a great number of signatures, to a petition to parliament, from the catholics of the county of Wexford, and in the same month I was one of those that presented an address from them to his excellency. When his lordship's recall was announced from the government of Ireland, a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the county of Wexford was convened on the 23d of March of the same year, when a petition to his majesty was unanimously agreed to, and I was appointed one of the delegates to present it to the king. I had been as far as Dublin to take ship for England, when it was thought advisable to have the petition subscribed by as many persons as possible, and while my brother delegates proceeded to London, I returned to the county of Wexford, and considering that I was the chosen delegate of protestants as well as of catholics, I took the precaution of consulting the principal protestant gendemen of the county first, to prevent the possibility of misrepresentation, or of denominating my pursuit the business of party; and I was so successful as to procure in the space of one week, 22,251 signatures to the petition; with which I then proceeded to London, and had the honour to present it, along with my brother delegates, to his majesty, at a public levee at St. James's, the 22d of April 1795; and we met a most gracious reception.

"Different motives of private concern indaced me to resolve to quit Ireland, in the year 1797, and to go to reside in America, and this I purposed to do as soon as the regulation of affairs would permit me. I was mostly in the county of Wexford in the latter end of 1797, and beginning of 1798; but my attendance in Dublin was sometimes necessary upon law business, which I at length flattered myself I had finally got rid of by com

promise. In the latter end of April, therefore, I took leave of my friends, as my proposed short stay in Ireland would not allow me the opportunity of seeing them again; as I had determined to go immediately to this project I was most unhappily disapEngland, and from thence to America. In pointed, as a part of the compromise, which was, that my furniture should be taken at a valuation, was not complied with; and I was therefore reluctantly obliged to remain in the country, until I could, as I thought, dispose of them by auction, which I advertised would take place on Monday the 28th of May. I am thus particular, to counteract the malevolent insinuations of my enemies, and as it was this disappointment that occasioned my detention in the county of Wexford until the commencement of the disturbances; by which I lost all my furniture, and all else that could be taken from me, except what I had on my back, and about my person. Had I any possible intimation of the calamities that ensued, I most undoubtedly would have preferred settling my property even at a loss, and securing the value, to waiting to be detained against my will in that unfortunate country; and I would thus have escaped enduring those sufferings and persecutions that afterward fell to my lot.

"My conduct during the insurrection, as far as it is neessary to be known, properly belongs to the history of the times; and so I shall proceed to a relation of my persecu tion and sufferings.

"Lord Kingsborough and his officers conceived themselves under such obligations to me, that at their entreaty I lived in the same house with them, from the surrender of the town until the 29th of June, when they departed for Waterford. My former intention of going to America, was by no means lessened but augmented, by the scenes of which I had so recently been witness to in my native country. I accordingly persisted in my resolution, and was deterinined to get out of the country as speedily as pos sible. The committee that had been appointed by lieutenant general Lake, to act as a kind of council to general Hunter, then in command in Wexford, and to grant passes, now began to practise their malicious arts against me, which they avoided before, being apprehensive, if not well aware, that their schemes would be counteracted and defeated, if attempted to be put in execution, while the officers, who were ac-. quainted with my conduct, remained in Wexford. I received a note from the chairman of this committee, (and it was delivered to me by one of the body, whom I then considered as my friend) desiring I would write to him, stating what I would wish to be done, and that my request would be taken into immediate consideration. This induced me to write to them, intimating the desire, I had so often expressed, of going

to America, adding, that I wished to set off the next day, in order to sail in a ship then in the harbour of Dublin; and this determination I would, in all probability, have since put in execution, but that I considered it might have given freer sanction to the calumnies so industriously raised against me. This consideration has detained me in Ireland, as here I was the better enabled to vindicate my honour, and this, indeed, my persecutors have completely effected, quite in contradiction to their inclinations and wishes. The immediate consideration of the committee was, in consequence of premeditation, to send back the gentleman, who brought me the note and took my answer, to arrest me. This he did at my lodgings, where I was publicly known to be since the insurrection, and two yeomen were there placed as a guard over me. This whole conduct, from several circumstances of which I have since come to the knowledge, was certainly preconcerted. Had I been sent to gaol, it would have been productive of a trial by court-martial, and this was a benefit which they did not wish to allow me, as they were well aware of the sentiments of the officers, whom I would have summoned hack to Wexford; besides, some individuals among them were most ungratefully induced to forward the vile proceedings against me, as they were apprehensive I might call on them as witnesses, when their loyalty may have been called in question, were they to do justice to my conduct; and it may also have been manifested, that whatever honour some of them now possess, is owing to their taking my advice in preference to their own; as, if they escaped piking on the one side, they may have been hanged on the other, and with much more justice than several who have forfeited their lives on the occasion. To transport me without further enquiry, was therefore considered more adviseable. Several, who had been tried and sentenced to transportation, were taken on the 3d of July from the gaol, and put on board a sloop which had been twice condemned during the insurrection, and which had sunk within a foot of her deck, and was only pumped out that morning. Afterward a guard was sent to my lodgings, and I was marched down to the custom-house-quay, in the most conspicuous manner, and put on board this horrid hulk, without any trial or further investigation!!!

In consequence of the opinion of a most eminent physician in Dublin, that it would be more humane to order me to be shot, than to leave me in such a situation, being made known to general Lake, through general (now sir John) Craddock, he sent down orders to enquire more particularly into the state of my case; and general Hunter accordingly sent doctor Jacob to visit me. The result was, that after five weeks confinement, in such a mansion of wretchedness, I was removed to the gaol; but my health

had become so impaired, that I much fear it may never be perfectly re-established.

me.

"At last my long-wished-for trial came forward, on Thursday the 27th of July, and although I was advised that I might have availed myself of the defectiveness of the indictment in point of form, and although I might also have protected myself by the amnesty act, if necessary, yet I disdained to adopt such subterfuges, and declared myself ready to meet the whole of the charges against Two only, out of the four witnesses, named to me, were brought forward; but their cross-examination completely did away any thing injurious that could be inferred from their direct testimony. One of these was William Carty, the informer, who afterward pleaded guilty to an indictment for murder, was condemned to death, which sentence, in consideration of his services, was commuted for transportation to Botanybay; and although half what he had sworn was false, and invented to criminate me, yet in the event it turned out so much to my honour, that my counsel thought it not necessary to impeach his credit, which I was well prepared to do, he being the principal evidence for the crown. Although it be obvious to infer, that furnishing me with a list of the witnesses, was a palpable consent to produce no others against me but those named therein, yet, on the disappointment of the failure in the evidence of the two first, other witnesses, not named in the list, with which I was furnished, were produced; and the most material of them was sworn of the jury then trying me; and to him I certainly would have objected, had I not been thrown off my guard by the trick practised for that purpose. I was therefore totally unprepared to rebut or explain any evidence he might offer, as, on receiving the list, I had sent off witnesses whose testimony would have particularly borne upon any thing he could allege. I must however excuse counsellor O'Driscol, the leading counsel for the crown, from having any concern in this vile transaction, as he most honourably declared, that he was astonished I had not been furnished with this man's name, as the purport of his evidence was set forth in his brief, which he held up and pointed to; however, he said duty obliged him to insist upon his being examined, for that although it was the privilege of prisoners accused of high treason in England, that no other witnesses but those named in the lists furnished, should be produced against them, yet the law did not entitle them to such an indulgence in Ireland. Notwithstanding all these disadvantages, I was honourably acquitted. Baron Smith declared in his charge, that I had undergone the most virulent persecution, that my loyalty was unimpeachable, and that if the jury attempted to find me guilty, as some juries had acted contrary to law and justice at those assizes in Wexford, I might take advantage of the annesty bill, by mov

Such usage may be expected to embitter: yet the statements which ensue have an impression of candour, temper, accuracy, and veracity, which cannot fail to obtain implicit confidence. The whole narrative is circumstantial, interesting, and horrible in the highest degree: it agitates and impassions like a novel. We could wish, for the honour of our country, and for the reputation of its government, that it were possible to draw a veil over events and transactions, which are disgraceful to human nature by the number of pitiless individuals they imply, and to social order by the display of an undisciplined uncivilized rabble of savages, which it has so long neglected, or vainly tried, to tame. How deep a wound will such particulars inflict on the paternal heart of a sovereign, who has to regret an opportunity of preventing these outrages. By a too scrupulous delay of the solicited redress, he furnished his enemies with a pretext for embittering discontent into rebellion. Had every danger been realized, which the most frantic fancy could hold out as the possible consequence of catholic emancipation, still the evil would not have approached in magnitude that which has already resulted from the refusal. It would be worthy of the independence and humanity of the church of England, to signify by a deputation of its bishops to Majesty, that it prefers the risk of heresy to the reproach of persecution. On the conduct of the roman catholic clergy, Mr. Hay thus speaks:

"While I am on the subject of the rev. Michael Murphy's death, I must beg leave to express the opinion I have adopted, in conjunction with the most sensible and rational men that I have conversed with on the ubject, respecting the priests who were aclive in the insurrection. When clergymen o far forget their duty as to take up arms, o contrary to the spirit of the gospel, they become most dangerous men; and the sooner such are cut off by any fatal catastrophe, the better. The duty of a clergyman is to preach Pace and charity towards all mankind: when his conduct deviates from this, he acts inconsistent with the profession he has entered into. Why throw off the meek garb of peace for the horrid habiliments of war? Under no possible circumstances ought a elergyman to be instrumental to the death of

any person, except in the most urgent necessity of self-defence:whenever else he takes up arms, he becomes a traitor to the gospel of Christ; and although treason may, on particular occasions, be considered useful, yet a traitor to any cause never can be regarded, even by those for whom he exerts himself. Besides, the interference of clergymen encouraging any kind of strife, but particularly warfare, must be considered highly culpable, and deserving of a fatal end. Not one of the priests who took up arms in the county of Wexford, escape! a violent and sudden death, clearly indicating a providential fate; and although they were not all, at the time, under suspension or ecclesiastical censure, yet under one so nearly allied to it, as to prevent any of them from having arrived to the situation of a parish priest. It is but common justice that those alone should bear the disgrace of reprobation who actually de catholic clergy should be rescued from cen served it, and that the great body of the sure, as they were free from blame. The misconduct of a few individuals should not involve the good character of the many, and it must be recollected that, even among the twelve apostles, there was a traitor. The conduct of the roman catholic clergy of the county of Wexford, however unjustly reviled, was, during the insurrection there, christianity, really exemplary and meritoriguided by the true dictates and principles of

ous. They comforted the afflicted with all the zeal and warmth of christian charity, and in the most trying and critical period, practised every deed that must be considered benevolent, by every liberal and enlightened man, whatever brawlers of loyalty may assert to the contrary; endeavouring, with inin general with the stain of infamy, They, discriminating abuse, to brand their conduct by every possible means, sought to afford every assistance and protection in their power, to those who stood in need of it; but their influence was greatly diminished by not following the example of the militant priests, who strove to attain an elevation and superiority over their brethren in this way, which they could not otherwise accomplish. If I may be allowed the expression, the conduct of the fighting priests was truly amphibious. For while they cast off the character of priests, and took up that of soldiers, they still wished to maintain an ascendancy, even in their new stations, by reassuming the priest whenever it answered the purpose of superiority, the passion for which was greatly augmented by indulgence in drinking; and notwithstanding all this, they were conspicuous for courage and humanity."

When will all the votaries of christi

anity cease to confound the son of Mary with the child of Ismael, and to employ, instead of the mild persuasive eloquence of their master, the sword of Mahomet?