The society of a fellow-passenger, captain Davy, of the 29th regiment, and the politeness of captain Sutton, of which I cannot say too much, rendered the former part of the voyage agreeable; but during the latter part the weather was bad, and my health began again to decline. During the few days we staid at Halifax, I was forbidden to go on shore, which mortified my curiosity more than my pride, and I suppose was intended as a mortification; for the most narrow suspicion or contemptible jealousy could scarcely imagine any mischief I could do, were I ever so inclined.

On the 4th of July, a day ever memorable in the annals of America, I arrived in the waters of the Hudson, but I did not reach the city until most of its inhabitants had retired to rest. And now that my travels are at an end, that I am at length arrived in a land of peace and liberty, let us for awhile repose.

I shall shortly take up my pen again, to give such answer as I can to that serious question, "the true causes of the wretchedness and troubles in Ireland;" but not without the disquieting apprehension, that those troubles and that wretchedness may be revived, even whilst my pen runs on. The view I shall take of this mournful subject shall be rapid, for the time I have to bestow upon it is short. I shall attempt nothing but the outlines and principal results. If they should awake your soul to sympathy, and stimulate your curiosity to further enquiry, they will have answered a good end. If they can reclaim you or any good man from delusion, on a subject at this juncture infinitely important, and eminently connected with the welfare of the human race, I shall not have written in vain. If I should once prevail so far, I shall then earnestly recom

mend to your perusal the work of Mr. Plowden, which, however undigested, and perhaps faulty in point of induction, is yet, considering the short time in which it was compiled, and the many disadvantages of writing such a history, a monument of everlasting honor to the abilities and integrity of its author.

LETTER XXXII.

Causes of the Troubles in Ireland-A brief Review of Irish History.

IN what manner to treat this subject; how to wade through oceans of iniquity and bloodshed; how to relate the long uninterrupted calamities of the most oppressed of nations; if there be any way of passing over this without sinking the mind into the gloom of tragedy, let us seek it; for my heart has already bled enough. Let us rather travel lightly over the vantage grounds of this history than descend into the dismal vale of death!

Perhaps, if the feelings of generous indignation could be so far subdued, the most beneficial moral that could be extracted from the Anglo-Irish tyranny, would be its absurdity. There are men of ambition so depraved, who would rejoice to be called wicked, if with that they could appear what the corruptions of the world, and the servility of historians have denominated GREAT. But these same men would never have courage to consummate their crimes, were they taught that these crimes would render

Let us

them contemptible, and still more, ridiculous. then, I pray you, take that view which may be most useful, and will be least dispiriting. Give me your hand; let us call this an historical ramble; let us avoid all tedious method and detail; and if there be few flowers, let us cull the fruit.

.

Irish Antiquity-An Historical Ramble.

I often wonder why men set so much value upon ancestry. For as all moralists agree, that frand and violence prevail in this life over gentleness and virtue; so to say that we had great ancestors, is too often the same as to say, that we descend from great knaves. However, if it be a boast, the Irish, like other nations, have their origin in the clouds. I respect the researches of antiquarians, because they open interesting prospects of human things, enlarge our narrow views, and are auxiliaries to philosophy and truth. But as to any view of civil polity, or any right one nation has to usurp upon another, because it is more ancient, they are absurd. Indeed the antiquity claimed by the Indians and other nations of the East, are good arguments to silence all who can make no pretentions beyond the creation. Therefore, our business is to skip at once over the creation and the deluge, and begin where profit begins.

One historian has made of Ireland, the Ogyges, the Ultima Thule, the Island of Calypso, and more, which I have forgotten: I have only my frail memory to consult.

Of the origin of the Milesian Race, and the Irish

Language.

BEFORE I enter upon this important office of tracing the descent of the Irish monarchs, I will, as the historian's titles may reflect upon his works, proffer my own more moddest claims of ancestry.

A

It is some years since one of my uncles delivered to the dowager Lady Moira, a pedigree authenticated by the Herald's office, wherein our line was traced through Joseph of Aramathea. How much higher it went I do not remember; but as that ancestor may stand well with Jew or Gentile, I am not too proud to abide by him, if you think it dignity sufficient to qualify me to be the herald of the Irish kings.

For the same good reason that we skipped over the creation, and jumped across the deluge, we will, with your leave, pass by the Parthalonians, Nemedes, Belgians, Dannonians, Galenians and Davans, all Asiatic Scythians, as they say, who arrived at different times; when, I will not declare; nor indeed if I would, could I..

Blessed be the time when the Bards got leave to sing their histories, and accompany them with their harps; the music helped the story; for as Figaro says, "what is not good enough to be said, will do very well to sing." If I could play this over with my fiddle, how easy would it be.

But we that undertake to be historians now-a-days, must write in straight prose line, and keep our balance like rope-dancers; for if we make a false step, there are more to laugh at than to pity us. We must therefore steer

between Scylla and Charibdis. We must avoid on the one hand that gross and indolent ignorance which, too dull and too lazy to examine and compare, finds it shorter to deny and contradict. On the other hand, we must avoid that more amiable folly of enlightened credulity, which sins through the too passionate love of discovery and research.

The following account of the Milesian race is pretty fully substantiated: Near one thousand years before Christ, three sons of Milesius, Heber, Eremon and Ith, came with a colony from Gallicia in Spain, into Ireland. And from thence were descended the great monarchs of Ireland. These Milesians were of Scythian origin, their ancestors having migrated to Phoenicia; the Phoenicians having, as every body knows, founded Carthage, and these Carthagenians having gone to the maritime coast of Spain, came from thence into Ireland.

Colonel Valancy has proved this Carthagenian origin in a variety of ways. Two of them principally I can call to mind. First, the arms and armour dug up in Ireland, of which the form and composition are evidently Carthagenian; and secondly, the language, which he has shewn to be the same, and produced some lines of Carthagenian and Irish where there is not the variation of a syllable; and this opinion is sanctioned by Sir Laurence Parsons.

Col. Valancy also shews, that the speech of Hanno, the Carthagenian, in the play of Plautus, entitled Penulus, is Irish. I have this day laid my hand by chance upon the second volume of Plautus Taubmanni; and in the first scene of the fifth act of that play, I find it asserted, that Casaubonus‡

+Notis. Panorum autem idioma syriaco tractum docet Casaubonus ad suet.