rebellion has raised its front, and though, in all instances, constrained to withdraw into retirement, has offered much instruction in its display of a disaffected people; and, the instruction having been neglected, has won from the government a vantage-ground, and has disciplined and accoutred its exasperated multitudes for more elaborate and more sanguinary insurrection. It was very generally understood that, when the Rebellion of 1798 was suppressed, there remained in Ireland very large numbers, who conceived themselves still bound by the treasonable oaths they had taken, and whose unchanged feelings and wishes did not allow them to esteem the obligation as oppressive. The crowds of willing recruits who so speedily surrounded the standard of Humbert at Killala,-the disorder from which, since that day, Ireland has never been wholly free,-the declaration of Grattan, in the year 1807, that there was a French party among the people, whose objects and exertions were so formidable, that even he was willing to take his full share of responsibility with ministers in the enactment of an oppressive and almost unconstitutional statute,— the frightful outrages, at which, from their frequency, astonishment, if not horror, has ceased to be experienced,—and the close and effectual confederacy by which successive governments have been confounded and disgraced, abundantly and painfully confirm the misgivings that treason had survived insurrection. But (and it is an acknowledgment which we make with no small mortification) during those momentous years, when rebellion was not yet fully organized, and in which a wise administration might have defeated its projects and won back a cherished people from its seductions, time was suffered to pass on unimproved, and the attention of men in power was diverted from real danger and their proper duty, to waste itself upon ostents of power and passion, which, but for that conspiracy of more daring spirits, so fatally disregarded, would have been altogether harmless. We are far from denying that vehement harangues could not be perpetually sounded forth, without exercising some influence over a disaffected and irritable population; but we strenuously affirm, that the rustic insurrection was of an origin very different from the excitement which eloquence produces; and we are convinced that, to apply the strait waistcoat to the lips, for the purpose of restraining the sallies of an insane patient in an access of delirium, would be just as rational as the effort to suppress the disorders which have been the real plague of Ireland, by tampering with or even silencing the craters of her metropolis. The disaffection of the people had its origin in real grievances, or in counsels which were not ostentatiously proclaimed. To subdue or convert it demanded a knowledge of its cause, and a wise and determined use of the means means whereby the sources of just complaint should be dried up, and affectation of grievance and fallacious expectation be alike effectually discountenanced. There was no community of interest or object between the two parties. The associators' laboured for notoriety, and aspired after advancement; the people demanded, or desired rather, relief: relief, on the one hand, from the dreadful enormities of the incendiary and assassin; relief, on the other, from the pressure of almost intolerable distress. Here was the difficulty on which the entire energy of the Irish government should have been bent: but it was not. That government were pursuing their phantom-chase; an image was before them-the semblance of a formidable antagonist; it had the inania verbasine mente sonum,' which had bewildered Turnus of old; and, like him, the guardians of the people left their worst enemy to finish his work, while they were cheated and bewildered by the wiles of the shadowy challenger, whom they might have despised if they had faithfully and bravely stood to their proper duty. It would not be becoming in us to insinuate that there was concert between the movements of Insurrection in the country and Agitation in the towns; that Captain Rock, in conquering the people, and Counsellor O'Connell, in bullying the parliament, were performing each his allotted part; that the Association was conjured up by some wily Ismeno, to secure him leisure for new devices, and to guard the precincts of that deep forest' which spreads not far from Christianity.' * But while we hazard no such venturous allegation, we may, with much confidence, affirm, that the result of the coincident warfare was as effectual as if it had been waged by a combination; that it served to distract the councils. and retard the operations of a government which, possessing neither courage to force a way through the guarded posts, nor discretion to find a less perilous approach, was held in inactivity, or employed in bootless enterprise, until its resources were exhausted, and such a concentration of force arrayed against it, as compelled a dishonourable surrender. We should also have left this part of our subject incomplete, if we did not add, that were we to suspect design where we find so remarkable a coincidence, our suspicious would not be altogether unwarranted by historical precedent. In the Memoir' published in America by Emmett and Mac Nevin, there is a disclosure full of instruction, which ought not to be neglected. It is said of the associates of these gentlemen,They rejoiced that the agitation and controversies which were *Sorge non lungi alle Cristiane tende Fra solitarie valle alta foresta. Qui nell' ora che'l sol piu chiaro splende E luce incerta e scolorita e mesta,' &c. &c. Gerusalemme Liberata, canto xiii. stanza 2. springing springing up would so entirely engross the attention of their opulent, interested, and ambitious adversaries, as that they and their proceedings would pass unnoticed. They well knew that, in the midst of disputes for power, places, and emoluments, neither the great nor their connexions would condescend to bestow a thought upon despised malcontents, or the advances of an obscure system. They, therefore, not unwillingly assisted in keeping the attention of government, and of the higher ranks, occupied with party contests,' &c. &c.* It is unhappily evident that the attention of government, and of the higher ranks,' has been as successfully diverted from its proper object by the associations of late days, as it was by the contrivers of rebellion in the less perilous times they have succeeded. Cautious men stood aghast at the intemperance, and prudent men were bewildered by the devices, of the agitators who absorbed their attention. Their thoughts were perpetually engaged in the consideration of expedients by which these might be subdued, or seduced into silence; and although they knew that words do not literally poison the air, and professed to dread the agitators' harangues because of their probable effect on a discontented people, they left that discontented people exposed to influences ten thousand times more pernicious than the orator's most virulent didactics. The result is, that now, throughout Ireland, insurrection esteems itself successful: it has removed many obstacles; it has attached numerous retainers, if not friends; and when it makes preparation for a bolder achievement than any as yet attempted, expects to meet, in the champions of law, opponents easily daunted, and brings to the conflict bands encouraged by success wherever they have dared to seek it. But, hitherto, it is most important to bear in mind, Insurrection has been only marshalling its forces. Those outrages in the south and west of Ireland, at which humanity shudders, have been termed 'driftless and desultory.' They were not more so than the gratuitous atrocities by which Catiline familiarised his instruments with guilt, and affrighted his adversaries. However disproportioned Captain Rock's objects may have been to the crimes which attained them, his sagacity has not been belied in their effects. The threatenings of the law fall to the ground like meteors, for a moment gazed after and forgotten; the menace of the insurgent is heard in dismay, because it is followed by sure destruction. Retributive justice is permitted to retain its pomp, but it is bereft of power: it cannot protect its friends-it cannot reach its enemies; it has had the mortification to see terror transferred from the culprit to the witness-box, to the jury-room, and, some have insinuated, even to the bench; it seems, in short, reduced or tra * Pieces of Irish History, &c. New York. 1807. pp. 92, 99. vestied vestied into a state in which only the satire of Timon against Jupiter can adequately describe it; and if, as yet, it has not experienced the fate of Saturn, has been so effectually divested of authority and fear, that basest natures are encouraged to seek the renown of Salmoneus, and may out-thunder law with impunity. Thus much has been effected in the cause of Insurrection by instruments who seem to have had no direct interest in the objects for which they contended. Is it rational to imagine that when their power shall have been organized, and their influence greatly extended, they will be less inclined to exert it in the furtherance of plans wherein their concern is immediate and truly important? Is it to be supposed that they have so long been toiling for other's good, staking life on every effort they made, and when the cause is won, shall have become careless of their own advantage? Is the end of their tragical contrivances to be that Mr. O'Connell has his patent, and Mr. Shiel may plead in silk attire? or will they not give themselves with at least equal interest to the attainment of measures which shall better their own temporal condition, and, in some respect, cause their domestic comforts to correspond with the dignity of their political enlargement? The man is not wise who doubts that they will. The preliminary measures, however, are not yet completed. REFORM OF REPEAL must put the last hand to the work of preparation. For either, or rather for both of these, the hereditary bondsmen' are now labouring in the struggle which, successfully ended, is to dismiss them bond-slaves no more. Let them have Reformlet all necessity of disguise be removed-and they will send a band of delegates into the House,' from whose eloquence our English members will pray to be delivered : let them have Repeal, and there needs no spirit of vaticination to pronounce what must succeed. But it is not with consequences we have here proposed to concern ourselves,-rather with the spirit and resources in which those events, from which great consequences follow, are to be planned and perfected. The means of winning the great triumph are to be sought, as we have already stated, in the numbers and resolution of the people who strive for it-that is to say, of the great mass of the Irish people in the southern and western provinces, both oppidan and rustic. The mechanics have sufficiently declared their sentiments as to the benefits they expect to derive from a repeal;' and the shopkeepers have too keen a sense of their interest not to know that they are far more dependant on the good-will of those who strive to dissolve the Union, than on the favour of those who would preserve it. Times are very much altered since the days when it was the habit of Irish gentry to afford a liberal encouragement to the tradespeople of the towns or villages villages which had natural claims on their favour or protection. Facilities of conveyance are such, that even the resident aristocracy supply their wants from a distance, and thus lose that influence which a large local expenditure would secure them; the competition, therefore, for the favour of the poorer classes is unaffected by any looking up for the patronage of the great, and is, in general, aided and advanced much more by accommodating the political tastes of purchasers, than by trading with them on the more advantageous terms; thus men of business often become, as it were, honorary members of the union.' There are places where the objects of Captain Rock or Terry Alt may be as effectually forwarded as where blood is poured out; and services of great moment can be rendered by shopkeepers who do not put their lives in peril, but who will as naturally fall in with the prevailing bias of the inferior orders, as political journals speak the sentiments of their readers. Against this formidable array of strength what can be done? Is Ireland to be quietly resigned? Is a civil war to be courted? Are terms of compromise to be discovered, and can they be rendered binding? We have asserted, that all the efforts hitherto made, and the advantages acquired, are only preparatory to something yet to be effected. Of the past conflicts, the peasantry bore the brunt, and the gentry have all the benefit. The peril, the wretchedness, the iniquity, through which honours were won for one class, issued in increased penalty on the other. Surely it is natural to believe, that this latter party are still looking to an unattained object, towards which they may have been, though somewhat circuitously, constantly advancing-an object, to the attaining which, Reform of Parliament, Repeal of the Union, are only stages; and it is not irrational to inquire whether this is an object which might safely be conceded, and whether such concession, graceful and timely, might not divert the thoughts of a conciliated multitude from schemes conversant about revolution. How are we to learn the objects which the discontented peasantry of Ireland are really desirous of accomplishing? How are we to learn the real grievance which disposes them to violence, and presents them, swept and garnished,' to the wiles of every tempter? Shall we hear their professed advocates? Dr. Doyle proclaims that the established church is the offence, and that when it is overthrown, and when it has surrendered its revenues to their original use, of feeding the poor, peace shall be permitted to revisit Ireland. This Right Reverend Divine has opportunities of learning the sentiments and opinions of the Roman Catholic people, such as might have stamped a value on his statements; but, unhappily, his declarations, pledges, and professions have been, and on solemn occasions too, of such a nature as, in our inability to reconcile |