and an Answer to Veritas's Vindication of the Roman Catholic Clergy of the Town of Wexford. By Veredicus. Third Edi tion. 8vo. 2s. Dublin, Milliken; London, Wright, 1799. A number of the most shocking cruelties which were committed in Ireland during the late rebellion, and which were apparently produced by the operation of religious fanaticism on the Irish cathofics, are here detailed; evidently with the view of proving that the catholic creed cannot be safely tolerated in a protestant state. In order to effect this purpose with greater certainty, the writer prefixes to his detail of crimes committed by the Irish catholics, a dissertation designed to shew that many doctrines of the popish church not only encouraged but even recommended persecution and bloodshed ever since the beginning of the 12th century, and that these abominable doctrines have been constantly enforced in every country in Europe, where the Roman pontiff had obtained any authority.' Without pretending to vindicate the popish creed, or to enter into a question which has been so often discussed, we cannot but ask what is the object of this writer? Does he mean to stimulate govern ment to exterminate its catholic subjects; to raise again a spirit of religious persecution; and to perpetuate and inflame the unhappily existing animosities between protestant and catholic in Ireland? We can scarcely believe that any man is wicked enough to entertain such views; and yet we find it equally difficult to discover any other cause for such a publication as the present. If the catholic be really, and necessarily as a catholic, such a man as he is here described, no protestant government should tolerate him :-if the charge be meant to be confined to the ignorant and uncivilized among the Romanists, it should be made rather against barbarism and ignorance, than against the religious community. Admitting (what cannot be denied) that religious fury, interweaving itself with the principles of rebellion in Ireland, has perpetrated in some parts of that unhappy country the most enormous crimes, we yet cannot perceive that good of any kind can result from angry invective, and virulent abuse, against general descriptions of religionists. Let the arm of justice punish crimes: let the voice of reason combat superstition and bigotry: but reproach and crimination, not of guilty individuals, but of sects and of creeds, can tend only to inflame the worst passions, and to exasperate evils which they can never cure. Wall Art. 22. A fair Representation of the present Political State of Ireland; in a Course of Strictures on Two Pamphlets, one entitled "the Case of Ireland re-considered," &c. * the other, "Considerations on the State of Public Affairs in 1799,-Ireland +;" particularly on a Pamphlet entitled "the Speech of Lord Minto, in the House of Peers," &c. " By Patrick Duigenan, LL. D. one of the Representatives of the City of Armagh in Parliament. &vo. 45. 6d. sewed. Wright. We are led, by the perusal of this very critical performance, to consider Dr. Duigenan as a brother Reviewer, and so able an one, *See M. Rev. March 1799, P. 337. †M. Rev. June 1799, Ib. p. 217. that that were he to honour us by taking a seat at our Board, we are persuaded that we should have reason to be satisfied with our associate for the department of Ireland. The Doctor is a zealous advocate for the proposed National Union but, as a firm Protestant, he strongly reprobates the notions held out by some other supporters of the same cause, who, in their speeches and writings, have pleaded in favour of the high claims of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. He is particularly severe in his criticisms on Lord Minto, a Brother Unionist; whom he pointedly censures for having, in his Speech of April 11th, in the House of Peers, consumed sixteen pages in arguing for the right, as he styles it, of Irish Romanists to political equality with Irish Protestants. He styles their exclusion from Parliament, and from about thirty of the great offices of the State, such as those of Viceroy, of Lord Chancellor, of Judges, and of General in Chicf, &c. the present humiliating and degrading exclusion of the Catholic part of the Irish nation; throughout styling Irish Romanists, Catholics, not Roma.ists, or Roman Catholics, excluding Protestants from all title to Catholicity, though Christians.' On the fallacy and dangerous tendency of such doctrine, our author expatiates at great length, and with no small degree of energy: but he allows that in all other respects, (excepting only what relates to the pretended rights of the Romanists,) his Lordship's Speech merits the highest applause. From Lord Minto, the Doctor extends his censure to the Speech of Lord Sheffield; whom he censures for favouring the claims of the Irish Romanists, and for depreciating the established rights and real importance of the Protestants of that kingdom. Speaking of himself, and of his principal view in regard to his present work, Dr. D. observes, Although I have been for many years the avowed friend of the measure, and in the year 1793 declared in the Irish House of Commons my settled opinion on the subject, and was then the only man who did so, stating at the same time some of the reasons on which my opinion was founded; and although I have, by the occurrences of every day since, been more and more confirmed in my sentiments upon it, and convinced not only of the expediency, but of the necessity of the measure; yet I do not mean to trouble my readers with any arguments on the subject: my design in the present publication is, to expose the base falsehoods and malignant misrepresentations of the State of Ireland, contained in some pamphlets which have lately appeared, professedly written on the subject of the Union, but in truth for a very different purpose; and to add a few observations on other pamphlets published in England, as the substance of Speeches spoken in the British Houses of Parliament, on the subject of an Incorporating Union, by men in the highest stations in Britain; from which it would seem, that these great men entertained very erroneous ideas of the present State of Ireland, and of the Strength, Views, and Interests of the different classes of its inhabitants: and * See M. Rev. vol. xxix, p. 344. A a REV, Nov. 1799. I am I am not without hope that I may, by fair and honest representa tions, conduce to the success of a measure, which has for many years been the object of all my feeble exertions in the political world.' In fine, for we must not enlarge in a catalogue article,-we highly recommend to the attention of such of our readers on this side of the water, as are desirous of gaining true information on the present political state of Ireland, the whole contents of the representation given by Dr. D. We would particularly point out to their notice, his strong observations on what he conceives to be the erroneous doctrines respecting the claims of the Irish Romanists to Political Equality with the Protestants; asserting that they are entitled to that equality by common right,-i. e. a right founded on the immutable rules of reason and justice. This position is here discussed in a masterly way; such as could only be expected from one who is thoroughly acquainted with the circumstances, principles, habits, and rooted prejudices of the claimants. In various parts of this work, the shrewd and penetrating author incidentally glances at, the political tenets and principles of the latecelebrated Mr. Edmund Burke, and their dissemination by his disciples; who now, we are given to understand, zealously apply them to the case and the claims of the Romanists :-principles which, Dr. D. apprehends, have been, of late years, unhappily too much adopted among the GREAT: among people whose influence and example are too likely to fix the fashion of public opinion.-Even the BRITISH COUNCILS,' he fears, have not entirely escaped the infection. Should the curiosity of our readers be excited to learn a little more respecting the person of Dr. Duigenan, and his rank in society, than he has announced concerning himself in his title page, we can in some degree gratify them by the addition of a few words. Speaking of the clergy of the county of Wexford, he says, I have been, for fifteen years last past, Vicar General of the Diocese of Ferns; I have therefore an opportunity,' &c. p. 231. Again; I am attached to no party, unless my steady adherence to the principlesof the constitution of the British Einpire in church and state be considered as attachment to a party. I am neither placed nor pensioned, but am a loyal Protestant subject of his majesty.'-p. 233Art. 23. Impartial Relation of the Military Operations which took place in Ireland, in consequence of the Landing of a Body of French Troops under General Humbert in August 1798. By an Officerwho served in the Corps under the command of his Excellency Marquis Cornwallis. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Egerton. 1799. This pamphlet is professed to have been written in consequence of very gross misrepresentations which have been made of the means employed to defeat the enemy's object' in the invasion of the last year. if Lord Cornwallis has been misrepresented as having been deficient in either courage or skill in resisting the French army, we are convinced that there is not a man in either Great Britain or Ireland, who could be deceived by the falsehood; on that ground, therefore, this defence defence must have been a work of supererogation: but, if the supposed misrepresentations relate to the unaccountable defeat at Castlebar, or to his Lordship's distrust of the fidelity of the Irish peasantry, or to his fear of bringing the army, which he first collected, against the enemy, this Impartial Relation seems little likely to correct them. Of the unfortunate affair at Castlebar, the writer says in express terms, that our troops at the critical moment, as if seized with a sudden panic, and without any apparent reason, gave way; and, notwithstanding every effort made by General Lake and Major-Generals Hutchinson and Trench, could not be rallied;' and that, of 182 men of the Longford and Kilkenny militia who were missing on that day, 'thegreater number deserted to the enemy.'--For the tardy operations of his Lordship, who, with a force of 7824 men under his com mand, exclusive of 2436 under General Taylor, suffered the enemy, consisting on their first landing of only 1260 men, to remain in the Country for seventeen days without coming to a decisive engagement, the writer very rationally accounts, (as every man who knew the state of Ireland had already done,) by calling to recollection that the disaffected in every part of the kingdom had only continued quiet because they were unwilling to trust to the first success of so small a foreign support; and also, that it was obvious prudence in Lord Cornwallis not to place himself in a situation to give or to receive a decisive action, until his corps should be composed of troops in which he could firmly confide,' namely, as we understand the author, the Queen's and the 29th regiments. These reasons afford a full justification of his Lordship's conduct: but they hold out a melancholy picture of the state of the popular mind in that country, and not a flattering one of its militia and yeomanry 'force; of which descriptions the army under Lord Cornwallis principally consisted. We hope that both have been materially altered for the better, since the unfortunate epoch of the rebellion; or much indeed have we to dread from any new attempts of the enemy in that quarter! The dry detail of military operations in this little tract is rendered much more simple and intelligible, by a prefixed map of the scene of action against the French force in Ireland. Annexed, also, are the dispatches and proclamations of General Humbert, with translations. ASTRONOMY. Art. 24. Catalogue of Stars, taken from Mr. Flamsteed's Observations contained in the Second Volume of the Historia Colestis, and not inserted in the British Catalogue. With an Index, to point out every Observation in that Volume belonging to the Stars of the British Catalogue. To which is added, a Collection of Errata that should be noticed in the same Volume. By Carolina Herschel. With Introductory and Explanatory Remarks to each of them, by William Herschel, LL.D. F. R.S. Published by order, and at the expence of the Royal Society. Folio. 109. Boards. Elmsly and Co. Of this valuable and useful work, announced to the public by Dr. Herschel on a former occasion, it will be sufficient to say that it See Phil. Trans. for 1797, Part II. vol. 17. p. 297. or M. R. N. S. vol. 26. p. 50. A a 2 does Wall..e. does great honour to the judgment and laborious attention of the lady by whom it was compiled; and we have reason for believing that, in consequence of her accuracy and the pains bestowed on it by her brother, it is as free from errors as the nature and extent of it would allow. The result of it has already been attended with the discovery of between five and six hundred stars observed by Mr. Flamsteed, which had escaped the notice of those who framed the British Catalogue; and in future times many useful purposes will be answered by referring to the stars observed by an astronomer of such celebrity. From the annexed notes, it appears 'that several of the omitted stars have since been observed by other astronomers, such as MAYER and DE LA CAILLE, and some of them before, by HEVELIUS.' Dr. H. adds that where any of these omitted stars will account for the insertion of stars into the British Catalogue, which neither were observed by FLAMSTEED, nor have any existence, it has been pointed out in these notes, which, on all these accounts, must become of considerable value to astronomers that wish to review the stars of the British Catalogue.' Astronomers in general will think themselves much indebted to the Royal Society, for the publication of a work to which they may now have easy access, and from which they may derive many considerable advantages. The attention and finances of the Society cannot be more laudably employed than in such methods of encouraging meritorious labours, and promoting useful science. POLITICAL, &c. Re.s. Art. 25. The Politician's Creed; or Political Extracts: being an 1799. In our xixth vol. N. S. p. 24, and in our next succeeding vol. p. 220, we noticed the 1st and 2d parts of this Politician's Creed, and briefly mentioned the principal subjects and branches of political investigation which were brought forwards by the author-who, we understand, is the ingenious and active Róbert John Thornton, M. D. In this additional volume, Dr. T. has laid before the public a considerable variety of striking observations, accompanied with valuable hints and enforcements, on the following important topics: viz. The severity of our penal laws. Penitentiary Houses. Employment of Convicts. Transportation. Prevention of Crimes. Police. Receivers of stolen Goods. Receiving of base Money. Begging. Public Establishments for the Poor. The Administration of Justice with respect to the Poor. Slavery, &c. &c. Whatever imperfections may be discoverable by the severity of citicism, in the composicion of these public-spirited essays, we can. not, on the whole, with-hold our recommendation of works which so very materially regard the good order and welfare of society; and in which so many public and alarming evils are taken into consider ation, |