Letters on the Irish nation : written during a visit to that kingdom, in the autumn of the year 1799

LETTERS

ON THE

IRISH NATION:

WRITTEN

DURING A VISIT TO THAT KINGDOM,
IN THE AUTUMN OF THE YEAR 1799-

Qualem dccet efle Sororem.

' By GEORGE COOPER, Eft.

I

OF THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF LINCOLN'S JNN.

THE SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY T. BKNSLEY, " BOLT COURT,

FOR J. WHITE, AT HORACE'S HEAD, FLEET-STREET.

TO THE

SECOND EDITION,

THE very flattering reception
this work has already received from the
public, induces the author to republifh
it in its prefent improved ftate.

Since the publication of the firft edi-
tion, however, which is now a twelve-
month, one of the moft leading circum-
flances upon which it profeffes to treat,
has undergone a moft important change.
This is the nature of the connection be-
tween Great Britain and Ireland. The

IV ADVERTISEMENT.

Lcgiflative Union has received the final
fandlion of the parliaments of both king-
doms. But there is nothing in that mea-
fure, or in the confequences which have
already enfued from it, that at all weakens
the reafonings contained in the following
pages. On the contrary, thofe efFe&s, tri-
fling as they yet are, operate as a power-
ful confirmation of them. I therefore
prefent this Second Edition to the pub-
lic with increafed courage.

Neither have I neglecled any, thing
which could render this impreffion as cor-
rect and perfect as poffible. I have not
only carefully watched the flow operation
of varying circumflances, but have alfo lif-
tened to that free and enlarged difcuflion,
both public and private, which preceded
and accompanied them. From the addi-
tional lights which this examination af-

ADVERTISEMENT. V

forded me, as well as from fubfequent
reflection, I have corrected every thing
which appeared to me objectionable in
the Firft Edition of the work, and added
fuch frefh matter as I thought would
tend to remove every pofiible obfcurity.

It only remains for me to take this op-
portunity of acknowledging my obliga-
tions to my particular friend James
Clarke, Efq. a Barrifter of the Middle
Temple, who accompanied me in my ex-
curfion to Ireland, and whofe teftimony
therefore, if it were wanting in fupport of
the juftice of the obfervations made there,
I am more particularly enabled to adduce,
becaufe they were in fome meafure fug"
gefted by himfelf.

London^ Ofloberi%, 1800.

THE CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION - - - Page xiii

LETTER I.

Weljh 'four — Short Account of the Climate of Ire-
land, and of the General Phyfical Appearances
of that Kingdom— Character of the People — In-
quiry into the Caujes of National Charafters—
Phyfical and Moral Caujes — Differences of Opi-
nion on this SubjecJ — Diftinffion of Ranks in
Ireland — Colonifts with their Defendants, and
Native Irijh or Aborigines — i. traits of Cha-
racter wherein they rejemble each other — Prin-
ciples in Human Nature varioujly combined in
different Nations — A Metaphyfical View of the
. t a 4

Vlll CONTENTS.

Irijh Character — Popular Vanity— Courage— -
ChoLr and Impetuofity — Hofpitality — Love of
Gaming — the Dejlruttive Excejfts to which it is
carried in Ireland— 1. Higher Clafs of People
confidered — their Refinement — Education —
Lawyers — compared with Englijh ones — Irijh
Gallantry—Immorality, and the Cauje of it of-
figned — Virtue of the PVomen — Religion —
3. Lower Clafs ccnfidered — have been longjlation-
ary — Refemblame in Manners of all uncivilized
Nations — ' Irijh Peasantry — Lodging — Diet—?
Difpofition — their grofs Superftition-?— Indolence
— Condufion of the Subjeff, and Comparifon of
Irijh Refinement with that of the Englijh

Page i— 79

LETTER II.

Political Difcords — Government — Theories ef Poli-
tics examined — Two Rules for determining the
Practical Merits of any Government — Irijh
driftocracy—*No Middle Rank of People —

CONTENTS. IX

Some Account of Dublin and its Public Edifices —
Tranfition from the City to the Country —Cp-
pre/ficn of the Peajantry — Examination of the
Monarchial Part of the Gcvernment— of the De-
mocratic, &c. - - «•> - Page oo — -j 20

LETTER III.

Religious DiftinEfions — Hiftorical Sketch of the
Origin of their Religious Animcfities — Pro-
teftant Colcnijls and Catholic Natives-~Situa-
tion of the Catholics conjidercd — P rot eft ants —
Diffenters —- Effcft's of Intolerancy — Religious
'Tejls difcuffed — Idea of a Balance of Religious
Interefts ------ 121 — 164

ObjecJ of Government to provide for the Nece/fi-
ties of the People — to be done by encouraging In-
faftry — Agriculture a leading Re four ce — its low
State in Ireland a principal Caufe of the Poverty

X CONTENTS,

of the People — Means which ought to be taken
to encourage it—ficuring to the Farmer the
Fruits of his Labour — Bounties given by Le-
gi/lature on Exportation — the Policy of that Syf-
tem examined and recommended — Granaries —
Advantages of Irijh Soil and Climate — General
Want of Employment — Manufactures — Inland
Trade — Foreign Commerce — Parochial Provi-
Jionfor the Poor wanted in Ireland

Page 165 — 231

^LETTER V,

Inquiry into Caufes of the late Rebellion — Different
Opinions on that Point — Primary Caufes and
proximate ones — State of the Parties fince his
Majeftfs Accejjion — Rife of the Orange Fac-
tion, and Confpiracy of the United Irifhmen—-
French Principles, how far they influenced the
latter — their attempts to ftir up the Catholics —
Organization of the Confpiracy — their Declara-
6

CONTENTS. XI

tions-r-Means by which they fucceeded in bring-
ing over the Ca'holics — Refult of thsir Machi-
nations— Triumph of the Orange Party — Gene-
ral Review of the Rebellion - - 232 — 268

LETTER VI.

Caufes which led to the acknowledgment of the Iri/h
Con/lit ution of 1782 — State of the Connexion
with Great Britain before that 'Time—Political
Conferences of their Independence — An infuffi-
cient Meafure — Proofs of a Temporizing Spirit
in the Parliament --in Religious , Commercial and
Agricultural Affairs — Two diftinguijhing Effects
•—Increaje of Corruption, &c. - 269 — 298

V

LETTER VII.

Review of Caufes which lead to a Legi/lative
Union with Great Britain — Advantages of
Union to the Government of the Country, to the
Religious Differences of the People, and to In-

Ill CONTENTS.

duftry and Commerce — Military Policy which
has hitherto prevailed in the Government of
Ireland examined — True Source of Public Power
and Individual Happinefs to a Nation — Prejent
imperfeft Connexion of the Two Kingdoms — Opi-
nions of the People of Ireland on the Meajure of
Union— Conclufion - - Page 299 — 254

INTRODUCTION.

IT has often been to me a fubjecl: of
fome furprife, when I have heard Trilh
affairs fo much the topic both of public
and private difcumon as they have been
of late, that the country itfelf mould
have been fo little vifited by travellers
from Great Britain. The mofl remote
corners of the Hebrides have been of-
ten explored, and the characters of our
Northern neighbours an hundred times laid
open to Englim curiofity. But though
the name of Ireland is moil familiar to
our ears, yet the kingdom and its inhabi-

xiv INTRODUCTION.

tants have been as little defcribed as if the
Atlantic had flowed between us, inftead
of dividing us both from the new world *.
The obfervation is fomewhere in Swift,
that few travellers think it worth their
while to vifit Ireland. What was true
in his time, has continued fo to the pre-
fent period. It feems to have been
blotted out of the geographical outline of
European tours. I do not confider thofe
who have been led there by the calls of in-
tereft or of honour, as forming any juft
objection to the truth of a general remark*

* I have fince met with a fimilar remark which
comes from the very higheft andbeft authority, Lord
Chancellor Clare, in the fpeech which he delivered in-
the Houfe of Lords in Ireland, on Lord Moira's mo-
tion, February 19, 1798, makes ufe of rhefe words:
" It is one of the greateft misfortunes of this country,
" that the people of England know lefs of it, than they
*' know perhaps of any other nation in Europe." Page
84 of the fpeech printed by Wright.

INTRODUCTION. XV

Gentlemen of that defcription are includ-
ed, by Sterne, within the clafs of tra-
vellers from neceflity. Their objects are
bufmefs, or military fervice, and if ever
they move out of the fphere of thofe
duties, it is entirely for their own plea-
fure : the literary world is never in the
leaft inftrucTied by it. There has not
been a Chardin or a Rennell in Ireland.
Setting afide then altogether this defcrip-
tion of travellers, who, to confefs the
truth, have been hitherto by far too nu-
merous for the advantage either of Great
Britain or of Ireland ; I think it will be
conceded to me, that if we look over the
lift of tourifts who have favoured the
world with that knowledge which the in-
defatigable fpirit of Britifh inquiry has
led them to collecl in other countries,
we lhall be at a lofs to difcover why the

XVI INTRODUCTION.

fifter kingdom has been fo flrangely over-
looked.

When I confidered this circumftance,
and at the fame time felt a full conviction
of the extreme intereft which every fubjecl:
of Great Britain muft feel at the prefent
moment in whatever relates to Ireland ;
I thought I could not better fpend that
feafon of recreation which the Autumn
afforded me as a member of a learned
profeffion —

c itm jam non mifcent jurgla leges ,

Et paccm piger annus habet, mejjefque revcrfa
Dimifit'c Forum * ; —

than in paying a vifit to the undefervedly
negleded Hibernia. I thought it a laud-
able curiofity to inquire a little into a
nation, with which Great Britain was
about to become moft clofely united.

* Statius.

?

INTRODUCTION. XV11

An Engliihman's heart ihould not, even
in war time, be feparated, like his native
ifland, from the reft of the world. There
is a certain debt which every man owes
to his country, as well as to his profeffion.
I had often thought that a lawyer is too
apt to confider himfelf excufable in com-
plete indolence, when he has paid his ne-
ceffary tribute of attention W> the calls of
his profeffion. His furnmer vacation,
which might be profitably employed, is
too frequently devoted to the mereil in-
activity, perhaps e conchas et uniblltcos ad
Cajetam kgereJ If he joins in the diffi- -
pation of a public watering place, it is {till
lefs excufable. I determined to avoid
both. I formed the refolution of dedicat-
ing a few leifure weeks to a perfonal ex-
amination into the {late and condition of
the Iriih nation. The refult of the obfer-

b

Xviii INTRODUCTION.

rations and reflc&ions which I made,
when I was there, I now prefent to the
Public in the following pages.

It muft certainly be allowed, that no-
thing is more interefting, ufeful, and hor-
nourable, than the ftudy of the govern-
ment, the religion, the commerce, and
the manners of a great nation. They
form a large portion of the whole circle
of human fcience. To underftand them
thoroughly, is only within the fcope of
fuch talents as muft be combined to form
both the ftatefman and the metaphyfi-
cian. Looking back therefore on what
I have attempted, I may fay with Lord
Bacon, that what I have written, appears
1 not much better than that noife or found
' which muficians make while they are
* tuning their inftruments, which is no-
' thing plealant to hear, but yet is a caufc

INTRODUCTION. XIX

* why the rnufic is fweeter afterwards. So

* have I been content to tune the inftru-

* ments, that they may play who have bet-
' ter hands.' Though I directed my atten-
tion to thefe fubjefts whilft I was in Ire-

/
land, yet I cannot afpire to be confidered

as more than a fuperficial obferver. I ac-
knowledge that the country prefents other
interesting objects to a vifitor. It abounds
with the greateft variety of natural curiofi-
ties, and with that moft enchanting rural
fcenery (more particularly in the county of
Wrcklow, over which I travelled) which
the admirers of picliurefque beauty go in
fearch of. It would well exercife the pencil
cither of Pouflin or Salvator Rofa, But I
could not perfuade myielf to fill my let-
ters with defcriptions of that fort. There
were other objecls which more engaged
my attention, arid interefted my inquiries,
ba

XX

The ftate of the Irifh kingdom had been
the great fubject of public difcumon, evef
fmce its Legislative Union with Great
Britain was propofed. The principal ar-
guments in favour of that meafure were
drawn from that topic. It was the Uni-
on therefore that attracted my attention
to Irifh affairs ; which principally induced
me to vifit the country, and which after-
wards bounded the nature of my inquiries
when I was in it. Every fact which could
tend to make up my opinion on that
great contefted meafure, was an object to
which my obfervations were principally
directed.

I cannot pretend to aitcrt, that every
thing which I have faid in the following
Letters is altogether new, or that many of
the obferVations have not even been made
by other writers.- I can only take to my-

INTRODUCTION. XXI

felf the merit of having afcended to the
fountain-head of information, fo far a,s
having been in the country can entitle me
to it, and no farther. Having made my
remarks on the fpot, and from a perfonal
obfervation of facls, I may be confidered
as more peculiarly fpcaking, ' Ex1 Tri-
podej than other writers on the fubjecl:.
All that has been faid in England muft
have neceflarily partaken in a great de-
gree of the nature of abftradt reafbning.
What I have written, if not more correcl,
is at leafl more impartial. The looker-on
not only fees more of the game than thofe
who play, but can alfo judge of it much
better. But it would be abfurd, under
every advantage, to aim at perfect origi-
nality, confidering the very extenfive dif-
cuffion ofjrifh affairs which the Union

XX11 INTRODUCTION'.

has led to. I cannot, however, confci-
entioufly accufe myfelf of the leaft pla-
giarifm. In ftudying a fubjecr., it isfome-
times difficult to diftinguifh one's own
thoughts from thofe which originally be-
•longed to other people. Where it can be
done, no perfonal vanity fhould ever be
fufTered to interfere with the difcharge of
that important duty. But as I have been
in a fituation to fee and not to read, to fur-
nim my mind with the images of things,
with original pictures, and not with mere
copies or the reprefentations of other
men's ideas ; I flatter myfelf that I do not
ftand expofed even to any fufpicions of
that fort.

It is a celebrated faying of the fame
great philofopher above mentioned, that
a well written book compared with its
rivals and antagonifts, is like the ferpent

INTRODUCTION. XX1U

of Mofes, which immediately fwallowed
up thofe of the Egyptians. But having no
rivals in my general defign, there is not
any neceflity for my work undergqjng fo
fevere a trial. With refpect to the dif-
cuffion of the Union between the two
kingdoms, which forms but a fmall por-
tion of this work, and that only becaufe
it was incident to the propofed outline of
it ; I have not fufficient vanity to ima-
gine that it will completely annihilate the
many excellent publications on that fub-
ject. Neither am I of opinion that it
ought to do fo. I really think that fo
important a meafure as that great legifla-
tive one in queftion cannot have been too
much canvaiTed, and that the greater the
number of underftandings which were
employed upon it the better.

As every man both judges and looks
b4

XXIV INTRODUCTION.

cither through a true or falfe medium,
according to his education, his habits, and
his prejudices, I cannot therefore omit
mentioning, that I have always made it
an object with myfelf, to bring my mind
to a right understanding on certain leading
principles of politics. What thefe lead-
ing principles are, and from whence de-
rived, will be hereafter explained. The
blaze of the French revolution, indeed,
for fome time dazzled my eyes, and the
Ihock of it threw me, with many others,
into confufion. Every thing which was
bottomed in antiquity feemed by that
fplendid event (for it was fplendid in its
commencement) torn up by the roots,
But I have long recovered myfelf from,
my amazement. I have once mote re-
cognized the principles of the old fchool.
Through the medium of thefe principles^

INTRODUCTIOX. XXV

v

I made my obfervations on the Irifli go-
vernment. It was, however, impoffible
for any man, even without a guide to
prevent falfe impreflions, to have mif-
taken his way in that country. The pracr.
tical merits of the government might be
there read in fo unequivocal a language,
that it was impoffible to form an errone-r
ous appreciation of them. The fame op^
tics, however, through which I did ac-
tually view Ireland and its government,
I often contemplate the Britilh nation.
The more I furvey it, the more I am de-
lighted with the contrail. The more I
reflecT: on my country, the more I am
convinced ©f the truth of Montefquieu's
obfervation— - ' Que cefl k peuple du mondc
f qui a k mieux fit fe pre'valoir a lafois dc
f ces trots grandcs chofes, la Religion, k Com*

, ct la Liber te*.

i
* De 1' Efpiritdes Loix, 1. xx. c. I.

XXVI INTRODUCTION.

I did not however undertake the talk
of vifiting Ireland, for the fake of difcover-
ing abufes in its government, to inveigh
againft. My objecT: was to find topics
for admiration in the purfuit of truth.
My mind was neither bialTed by national
nor party prejudices. My political prin-
ciples had neither been borrowed from
the monaftic notions which prevailed un-
der the Houfe of Stewart, nor fabricated
in the warchoufes of French democracy.
I felt myfelf a friend to good govern-
ment wherever it was to be found, and I
looked on the Britifh conftitution as of
the ciTence of it. But as to oppreffion
and anarchy, whether it were in France
or in Ireland, I beheld them both with
equal regret and indignation.

On the fubjcft of the religious differ-
ences of the Irim, I have carefully guarded

3

INTRODUCTION. XXVll

againft making any obfervations which
might be thought foreign to the fubjedt.
I have always efpoufed the caufe of the
party which I thought oppreffed, without
being attached either to the Catholic or
to the Prefbyterian perfuafion. If the
caufe of religion has ever fufTered in the
eyes of mankind, it has been owing to
miftaken and foolilh zealots. I am fure I
am not a member of that body. I have
difcufled the interefts of the Catholics and
Proteftants in Ireland, in a political point
of view, and not as a polemic divine. I
have always endeavoured to reconcile, in
my own mind, an high refpeft for the

caufe of religion, with but little con-

\

cern for particular controverted doctrines.
Thefe, from their very nature, muft al-
ways remain fubjeds of doubt and uncer-
tainty. The combatants on thefe points,

XXVH1 INTRODUCTION.

fays Voltaire, almofl as if they were danc-
ing a minuet, turn and fhift and move
about without ever advancing a fmglc ilep,
till at laft they both . find themfelves at
the identical fpot from whence they firft
fetout*. But I had not any thing to do
with them in the following inquiry, and
therefore I have patted them by. If 1
have thought proper to mention them
here, it was only left I fliould be miftaken

* ' Ne difcutons point la foule de cos proportion*
fju'on peut attaqucr et defendre long terns fans con-
ven-ir de rien. Ce font des fourccs intariffables dc dil
pute. Les deux contendans tournent fans avancer,
comme s'ils danfaient un menuet; ils fe retrouvent a
la fin tous deux en m'erne ei>drpit d'ou ils etoient partis.1
It would have been an happy circumstance for his
country and for the whole chriftian wotld, if this
lively and ingenious writer had preferved the time
neutral indifference on religious points throughout all
his difcuffions. We may fmile at the bright effufions
of his fancy, but we cannot but deplore the effect
which they have produqed.

for a fupcrftitious miffionary, who hag
written a whole volume in order to ad-
vocate the caufe of his own conventiclo
in one chapter of it.

I have alfo faid as little as poffible on
that grand common place for decla-
mation, the progrefs of French princi-
ples all over Europe. I have left that
fubjecl: to thofe who do not defpair of
rivalling Pitt in. prccifion, or Burke in
eloquence. That wonderful event, the
French Revolution, as it has been felt, and
{foil continues to be Ib, in the rnofl op-
pofite quarters of the globe, fo has it
called forth into action the greateft and
moft oppofite talents. As Great Britain
and Ireland have feverely felt the fhock of
it, fo have they been zealous in difcuffing
the caufes of. It was moil: efpecially felt
in England, where ' grand fwelling
6

XXX INTRODUCTION.

timents of liberty' have always been par-
ticularly liftened to. I am fure it would
be hypocrify in me to deny how often I
have been atfe&ed when I have met with
the lofty glowing maxims of republican-
ifm in the poets and orators of antiquity.
I have felt all that ' glorying and inward
triumph* at fublime paflages of this fort,
which every reader muft have experienced
upon fuch occasions. I hope I mall long
continue to enjoy that pleafure. Is it
therefore to be wondered at, that the
heart mould have been ftimulated to take
an active part in their favour, when they
pafled from the clofet to the fenate ? Is it
ftrange that the abhorrence which we ib
early have imbibed againft ancient ty-
ranny, and which the deliberations of our
more mature age muft lead to confirm in
u.s, when we furvey our own glorious con-

INTRODUCTION. XX3A

iiitution, fliould have led men to rejoice
at the French Revolution ? at the political
emancipation of thirty millions of men ?
But whatever were our raptures at the
commencement of that event, the ex-
cefFes which it is has led to, have ftartled
themoft anxious friends of liberty. They
have been obliged to paufe, to reflect,
and to difcriminate.

This inward conflict has terminated in
an endeavour to diftinguim between fober,
virtuous, and rational freedom; and that
falfe lawlefs fpecies of it which is in fact
the worft of all tyrannies. It has alfb
taught us the important leflbn ofdifcri-
minating between the realfriends of liber-
ty, and thofe who only ufe it as a cloak
to cover other deligns. The Britim na-
tion will now acknowledge no other
freedom than that which confifts in per-

INTRODUCTION.

fonal fccurity, perfonal liberty, and
protection of private property ; — that free-
dom which the law defines and fupports.

With refpecl to the Iriih rebellion, I
endeavoured faithfully to get at the caufes
of it, both from my own individual
inquiry, and from an examination of pub-
lic documents, It was not my defign to
delineate the confequences, or to enter
into any detail of the particular facia
which arofe out of that event. During
my ftay in Ireland, I had indeed ample
materials for fuch an undertaking. But I
thought that to trumpet them forth
would come with a bad grace on the e^e
of an Union. I have always thought,
and am ftill perfuaded, that civil dif*
ferences, like family ones, ihould be bu-
ried in oblivion. I think it is Quintilian
who tells the ftor/ of a certain philofor

INTRODUCTION. XXXlll

pher offering to teach Themiftocles the
art of memory, to fuch an extent, that he
fhould be perfectly able at all times to re-
colled: whatever took place within the
iphere of his observation. The illuftri-

ous Athenian however made anfwer, that

<
it would be doing him a much greater

favour to teach him to forget rather than
remember what he pleafed! — Let the par-
ty historians of Ireland take the hint.
I hope that the defign which was adver-
tifed in Dublin, whiHl I was there, of
blazoning out the details of that unhappy
event, the rebellion, will be given up.
When the interefts of both parties are on
the eve of adjuftment, and I truft of re-
conciliation, particular pafl differences
fhould receive a general amnefty. This
feems to be the proper and natural death
of civil diflenfions.

XXXIV INTRODUCTION.

Before I clofe thefe preliminary obfer-
vations, I would fain make my peace with
any gentleman who may be difpleafed
with any thing which I have faid of the
people of Ireland in the following Let-
ters. I have never been in the leaft per-
fonal, and general chara&eriftics have al-
ways been allowed fair game for fatire.
But I muft not be thought to affert a
right merely becaufe I have exercifedit.
I have never painted defects in hideous co-
lours, or with the exaggeration of carica-
ture ; but merely as truth and impartial juf-
tice obliged me to do. 1 did not however
find much occailon for cenfure of any fort.
I look upon the people of Ireland as a
brave and generous people. Their hof-
pitality is confpicuous. In their deport-
ment towards Grangers, they are perfectly
free and unreferved. There is a fpirit of

INTRODUCTION. XXXV

franknefs and an engaging fprightlinefs
in their general demeanour which cannot
fail to make impreffions in their favour.
I would not be thought to have made an
ill ufe of the opportunities which I en-
joyed of gaining all the information I
could defire. They are a people I efteem,
and I fhould be forry to deferve the ill opi-
nion of any individual amongft them.

I am confident that it is an undertaking
of fome difficulty, as well as delicacy, to
inquire into the caufes of public grievances
and difcontents. If a man happens to dif-
cover the real evil, he incurs the danger
of being looked upon as the inftrument
of faction ; if he fails in his refearches, he
is defpifed as a fuperficial and vifionary
libeller. If he approves of the conduct of
government, he will be looked upon as its
tool : if he condemns it, though he there-

XXXVI INTRODUCTION.

by furnifhes out that fort of repaft which
is always fwallowed moft greedily bv the
multitude ; yet may that line of conduct
as often be juftly imputed to fpleen or dif-
appointment, as it deferves to be con-
fidered the language of impartial truth.
There is as much of falfe liberty in ma-
lignant inveclive, as there is of fervility in
undefervingly paid adulation *. As I dif-
claim both, I hope I lhall not be fufpecled
of either. Every man may ftep a little
out of his ordinary fphere, when the af-
fairs of a nation are diftracled. It did not
perhaps even require anticipation to look
upon the affairs of Ireland as thofe of
Great Britain, to examine into them nar-
rowly, and to reafon upon them freely,
boldly and liberally.

* Adulation! fcedum crimen fervitutis, malignitati
falfa fpecies libertatis iaeft. TAG,

INTRODUCTION. XXXV11

With refpeft to the execution of this
work, as it profcfles to be only an epifto-
lary one, I hope that much apology is not
required for it. Many graces of arrange-
ment and diclion have been facrificed,
to accommodate the time of publication
to the political topic of the day. I have
however been, to myfelf, a moil feverc
critic *. Whilft I have been reviling
thefe Letters for the Prefs, I have an
hundred times refolved to abandon alto-
together the delign of publifhing them.
I have even proceeded to tear my papers.
But my courage at length has conquered
my irrefolution. But yet, after all, I
fhould never have afpired beyond the ob-
fcurity of an anonymous writer, if I had
thought that my name would be pledged

* Soyez vous a vous meme un fevere critique.

BOILEAU.

XXXV111 INTRODUCTION.

cither for argument or ftyle, and not
merely for that regard to impartial truth
and juftice with which the Letters were
written.

I conclude this Introduction (left the
prologue mould be longer than the drama)
with hoping that I mall not be thought to
have been altogether travelling out of my
profeiTion. I mould be forry to be clafled
with the mere pamphleteers of the day, be-
caufe I have aflumed that character to fill
up a few leifure hours. I have always been
ufed to active purfuits, and had rather
employ myfelf even about trifles, than
drag out the time in unprofitable indo-
lence. I truft, however, that the ta£k I
have ventured upon, will neither be con-
fidered trifling, nor uninterefting at the
prefent period of time. I even hope that
the importance of it will alone fuffice to

INTRODUCTION. XXXIX

excufe the defective execution of it. To
be inftrumental in reftoring order and re-
pole to a kingdom, fo greatly diftra&ed
as Ireland has long been — to aim at pro-
moting a good understanding between
that nation and Great Britain, ' in order
that every thing ihould be fweetly and har-
moniouily difpofed through both iflands
towards the confervation of their com-
mon liberties, commerce, and dominion*
— is merely, in the attempt, an under-
taking that would do honour to the
brightest talents, and obtain pardon for the
efforts of the mcaneft underftanding. That
object I have conftantly had in view.
But, had I done juftice to the attempt,
even if I had been able, (which I am fure
nobody is farther from fuppofmg than I
am,) I ihould have been carried far beyond
thofe bounds which I had prefcribed to

xl INTRODUCTION.

myfelf. The torrent would have carried
me away from all my professional avoca-
tions, inftead of merely filling up a chafm
in them. Had I flopped ftill more out of
the way, I mould like Atalanta have loft
the, race, and that too, perhaps, without
picking up the golden apples. For, the
more I thought of my fubjec"l, the more, I
confefs, I found the difficulties of it in-
creafe. I have therefore done little more
than the merely fketching an outline.
Such, however, as it is, I throw it as
my mite into the rich bank of Britim
Literature. Whatever may be its fate,
the author is fure to fatisfy every liberal
critic, by confeffing himfelf, in the words
of the greateft poet that ever wrote,

NHITION, ovifw eiSoP OIJLOUOV
Q-J$' ayopsujv, iva. r' ctvfy

London, Nov. I, 1799.

ON THE

IRISH NATION.

LETTER I.

ON THE CHARACTER OF THE IRISH.

My dear Sir,

WHEX I laft addreffed
you, I was profecuting my journey
through North Wales. I was ftudioufly
exploring the retreats and faftneffes to
which our gallant anceftors retired in
the lall defence of their liberties. I felt
happy in the midft of a brave and honeft
people. They have long enjoyed the
B

2 LETTERS ON THE

high character of combining individual
integrity with public loyalty and attach-
ment to England. There is no country
where I could poffibly have felt myfelf
more at home. The Englifhman who
travels through it, will find the fyftem of
manners and the habits of life which pre-
vail there, only fo far differing from his
own, as to furnim a pleafmg variety to
inftrucl: and recreate the mind. He may
there travel over claffic ground without
going far abroad for it, and find fufficient
objects to enrich his imagination, improve
his tafte, and meliorate his heart.

I have now arrived in Ireland. With
the fpirit of curiofity raifed to its higheft
pitch, having climbed the ihaggy fteep of
old Snowdon, and wound back my way-
through the mazes, defiles, and pafles,
which abound in the romantic country

V

3

IRISH NATION. 3

of the Ancient Britons ; I left the royal
towers of Caernarvon, the birth-place of
the unfortunate Edward ; crofted the fa-
mous limit which Tacitus has immortal-
ized; and travelled acrofs the iiland which
was the laft fancluary of Druidical fuper-
ftition, and the boundary of Roman con-
queft, At the oppofite extremity of An-
glefea I embarked for Dublin, to which
favourable winds blew me fafely over in
twelve hours.

It will be the objecl: of this letter to
defcribe the contrail of character which I
have met with in the fitter kingdom. In
my future letters I mall defcend to other
important particulars. But, in difcharging
this tafk, I muft declare that it will neither
be my inclination nor duty to apologife for
any feeming prolixities. You have re-
quefted my obfervations on the Irifh na-

B *

•*-* ••» ,

4 LETTERS ON THE

tion, and I fhall give them to you in fuch
order, at fuch length, and moreover at fuch
times, as my fmgle judgment fhall dictate.
The government, the religion, the morals,
and the manners, of a country, are the ob-
jects which attract a traveller's attention.
In flu dying thefe, he will always find his
beft account. But the connexion of Ire-
land with Great Britain may extend the
inquiry to the phyfical peculiarities of the
country. The climate, the foil, and the
natural beauties, will perhaps excite your
curiofity; I fhall, therefore, difpatch that
fubjecl in a very few words.

The difference of a fmgle degree of la-
titude cannot, of itfelf, make the climate of
Ireland differ much from that of England.
But the bogs and moraffes, which confli-
tute the peculiar characterise of the coun-
try, occafion an extraordinary moiflure

IRISH NATION. £

and dampnefs of the atmofpherc. Ireland
may be juftly called, in the words of Ta-
citus, ' terra paludibus f&da? I may even
carry on the parallel with the defcription
which that admirable writer proceeds in
giving of ancient Germany. Its lands afe
almoft entirely pafturage, and of courfe
afford fuftenance to prodigious flocks and
herds. The perennial greennefs of the
country is therefore, on thefe two ac-
counts, juftly proverbial. But in the article
of timber, there is an uncommon defici-
ency. I have heard it eftimated, and I
think with fome appearance of truth, that
there is as much wood in our fmgle county
of Kent, as in the whole kingdom of Ire-
land. When I add to thefe phyfical pecu-
liarities, that the bays and harbours of Ire-
land are uncommonly pi&urefque, as well
as commodious; that the Shannon is a

6 LETTERS ON THE

moft noble river ; that the lakes of Kil-
larney are the moft enchanting in the
world ; and that Dublin, in population,
magnitude, and the fplendour of its public
edifices, is the fecond city in his Maj city's
dominions ; you know all that is necciTary
to learn, or perhaps that is worth know-
ing, of the general appearance of the
country.

Leaving, therefore, the detailed defcrip-
tion of thefe particulars to thofe whofe
difpofitions or leifure it may fuit with to
make them, I proceed to the more impor-
tant tafk of inquiring into the character
of the Irifli people. I am fenfible, how-
ever, that a difcuffion of this fort is at-
tended with great difficulties. I truft you
-will, therefore, give me credit for entering
upon it with becoming diffidence. He who
flatters himfelf that the character either of

IRISH NATION. *r

an individual, or of a nation, may afford
an uniformity of virtuous and honourable
qualities, without the alloy of any faults
or defeats, will find himfelf in the refult
greatly difappointed. To fuch a man
therefore I do not addrefs myfelf. ' The
web of our life (as Shakefpeare fome-
.where remarks) is of mingled yarn, good
and ill together. Our virtues would be
too proud, if they were not counterba-
lanced by our vices ; and our vices would
be intolerable, if they were not chaftifed
T^y our virtues.'

The characters, then, both of indivi-
duals and of nations, are alike chequered
with beauties and deformities, with virtues
and with vices. If we inquire into the
caufes from which thefe peculiarities flow,
we mall find that it neceflarily muft be fo.
The infirmity of human nature is a plea
B4

8 LETTERS ON THE

broad enough to palliate almoft the-greateft
defeats. But philofophers, when inquir-
ing into the caufes of national characters,
have pufhed their refearches ftill farther.
Though the moft accomplished politicians,
both of ancient and modern times, have
been divided in opinion with refpecl to
thefe caufes; yet they all agree that the
effects are neceffary, invariable, and un-
alterable. Phyfical caufes and moral ones
have been alternately cried up. Mankind
flood long contented with the authorities
of Ariftotle and his difciple Montefquieu,
who laid great ftrefs upon the former; but
that opinion has been at length arraigned
by the cool fcepticifm of Hume. That
philofopher doubts altogether- of the int-
fluence of phyfical caufes*. It is far from

* This difference in the opinion of thefe great
jcen may be feen by referring to Ariflotle's Politics,

IRISH NATION. 9

my intention to declare myfelf the advo-
cate of either party, or to decide dogma-
tically on their refpeclive merits. I mould
be happy were I able to reconcile them.
It is a misfortune to mankind, when the
great oracles of human wifdom contradicl
each other. Perhaps, however, in this
cafe, as in moft others, truth will be
found in the medium, equally apart from
both the extremes ; and in chooiing this
courfe I am fupported by confiderable
'authorities.

The phyfical qualities of climate, air,
and food, may certainly produce fome ef-
fects on the national character ; but I am
inclined to coniider them as very incon-

B. 4, with Montefquieu De 1'Efprit des Loix, L. 14.
who moil ingenioufly applies the notion of Ariftotle,
though without any mention of him : and Hume, in
his Eflay on National Characters, who contradidis
them both, without noticing the name of either.

10 LETTERS ON THE

fiderable. * By working infenfibly on the
tone and habit of the body, thefe pecu-
liarities may perhaps influence in a fmall
degree the temper and the paffions.' But
-whoever confiders that the moft oppofite
and inconliftent characters are often to be
found under the fame climate, and that,
on the other hand, an uniformity of dif-
poiition and manners is fometimes feen in
the moft oppofite extremes of heat and
cold, will, I truft, be inclined to afcribe
only a trifling effecl; to phyfical caufes in
producing national characters. — It is, then,
to moral caufes that we muft principally
refort, in accounting for the manners of a
nation. Thefe are enumerated by Hume
to be the nature of the government ; the
revolutions of public affairs ; the religion,
the laws, the plenty or penury in which
the people live; the fituation of the

IRISH NATION. II

country with refpecl to its neighbours;
and fuch like particulars. Thefe are the
circumftances which move the thoughts
and the paffions of men. Hence their len-
timents and their habits are formed; and
from hence their actions proceed. It is,
therefore, from thefe fources that the ge-
neral fpirit of every civilized nation mufl
principally take its rife.

In order to give you a diftincT: idea of this
national character in the fifter kingdom, it
will be neceflary to apprize you of a dif-
tincliion of ranks unknown in England. It
is not merely that ftrong line of demarca-
tion which in all countries divides the rich
from the poor: it is fomething more. The
emigrations from Great Britain to Ireland
have given rife to two clafles of people in it,
the colonifts with their defcendants, and
the native Irifh, the original inhabitants of

13 LETTERS ON THE

the country. To the firft of thcfe ranks
is confined all the civil power of the ftate,
both iupremc and fubordinate ; all the pro-
perty in it both landed and commercial;
and all the education and refinement. It
is not neceflary that I mould point out to
you, how much the other clafs of the peo-
ple muft be feparated from this firft,- when
deprived of all thefe advantages. But
the government, the eftabliihed religion,
and the laws, have added weight and force
to this already formidable barrier. Re-
ferving the general difcuffion of thefe par-
ticulars to a future opportunity, I mall
content myfelf with remarking, that, not-
withftanding thefe diftinclions -between
the Irim people, there are certain features
of national character in which they refem-
ble each other. I mall, therefore, endea-
vour, firil to point out this coincidence;

IRISH NATIOK. 13

and then, by obfervations on each clafg
feparately, inform you of the particulars
in which they differ.

Almoft all philofophers have concurred
in allowing to the paffiona a certain mare
in forming the human character, though
fome of them have denied their controul
over a truly virtuous man. The feverity
of the Stoics, indeed, led them to declare,
and even to define all paffion as contrary
to nature ; and the fplendid eloquence of
Cicero has been exerted in giving weight
to that opinion*. But the progrefs of
truth has at laft fully Ihewn that thefe
fublimated notions are inconfiftent with
the frailty of man. Ariftotle (who op-
pofed Plato in this as in all his other opi-
nions) paved the way to a more mild and

* See the fourth Tufculan Difputation of Cicero,
chap. vi. et feq.

14 LETTERS ON THE

\

moderate fyftem of philofophy. When the
dodrines of the Peripatetic School had
been long almoft forgotten, a philofopher
and hiftorian was born in the bleak and
frozen regions of the North, who has on
this occaiion undefervedly acquired the
merit of originality in eftablifhing the opi-
nions of the Stagyrite*. Whilft the un-
learned Sophifters of the day thought that
Hume was attacking them, they were un-
confcious that he was only wielding the
weapons of Ariftotle. By this fyftem,
whofe bafis is nature, and whofe fuper-
ilruclurc the moft unanfwerable reafoning,
virtue is proved to be nothing more than
the difcipline of our natural feelings and
affections into fteady habits of right con-
<Jucl. It does not confift in the extinction
of the paffions, but in the regulation of

* See Hume's Principles of Morals.

IRISH NATION. f£

them. Virtue is grafted on the ftock of
the natural arTe&ions : Reafon, which is the
prefiding deity, is exalted over the heart,
to govern by its dictates ' the little flate of
man.'

Perhaps it will be found, that all na-
tional characters differ in proportion to the
degrees in which thefe two principles of
reafon and paffion are found to prepon-
derate. They constitute all the interme-
diate gradations between the civilized ftate
and the inhabitants of New Zealand.
They form even the extremes themfelves.
It is for this reafon that the philofophers
of all ages and in all countries are the fame
characters. We may certainly form to
ourfelves an idea of an angel without paf-
fions, but it is inconnftent with human
nature. Merely to imagine an individual
of this defcription, whatever might be the

1 6 LETTERS ON THE

perfection of the reafon with which we*
fuppofe that he is endued, would be to pic-
ture to the fancy a tame, flat, infipid, fickly
uniformity of characler. On the other
hand, the contraft is equally deplorable.
For if the mind is not guided and fteered
by reafon, it muft inevitably, like a veflel
which has loffc its rudder, be driven at
random by the tides of caprice, or tolled
and fhipwrecked by the waves of paffion.
It is therefore to the happy combination of
both principles, to the juil mixture of
both ingredients, that all that is virtuous
and ornamental in the human characler
is produced.

I think that I cannot give you a better
general idea of the Irifh characler than by
reforting to this fyftem of metaphyfics. It
feems to me that the principle of paffion
bears a more than equal fway over that of

IRISH NA.TION. IJ

reafon, with this people. They are indued
with warm hearts, ftrong feelings, and
that peculiar force of natural fentiment
which I confider as capable of being ex-
alted, by the wifdom of legiflation, into a
moil amiable national character. But
that which ought only to enliven and
impaflion the understanding, is left to
vegetate unpruned in all the wanton exu-
berance of nature. It is not fufficiently
under the controul and difcipline of reafon
and moral habit. The confequence is,
that it leads to many faults, at the fame
time that it conftitutes many virtues in
their characters. I mail point out to you
how this haughty principle difplays itfelf
in the Irifli nation.

I. i. This is firft in a great national
pride and an high conceit of the political
rank of their country in the lift of nations,

C

l8 LETTERS ON THE

and of each individual of it as an impor-
tant member of fociety. It cannot be
dhTembled that they are a vain-glorious
and a boafting nation. The popular va-
nity of the whole can only be equalled by
the family pride of each individual. They
are equally ridiculous in their genealogical
calculations, and their hyperbolical enco-
miums on their country. Their hifto-
rians have traced up the pedigree of their
country to a period much earlier than the
chronological records of civilized fociety
extend. They will allow, that the ' v'txere
fortes ante Agamemnona ' of Horace, is at
leaft true, if applied to Ireland. They
inform you, that it was flourifhing in
learning and civilization, whilfl all other
nations were obfcured in ignorance and
barbarifm. Europe and America arc con-
tented to acknowledge their gratitude to

IRISH NATION. 19

Phoenicia, for beftowing on them the be-
nefits of letters and religion. But the ge-
nerality of the Irim hiftorians forming a
folitary exception to this general acquief-
cence of modern nations, have inverted
the ordinary progrefs of civilization, by
aflerting that their country was in the en-
joyment of it prior to the Aflyrian or oldeft
of the four monarchies of the ancient
world.* They aflert that Egypt and

* This is calculating according to Sir Kaac New-
ton's Chronology. Sir "William Jones has however
demonilrated that a powerful monarchy was eftablifhed
in Iran or Perfia in its largeft fenfe, long before the
AJJyrian or Pl/hdadi government; that it was in truth
a Hindu monarchy, though he fays that if any choofe
to call itCufian, Cafdean,or Scythian, he will not en-
ter into a debate on mere names ; that it fubfifted
many centuries, and that its hiftoryhas been engrafted
on that of the Hindus, who founded the monarchies of
Ayodhya and Indrapreftha ; that the language of the
firft Perfian Empire was the mother of Sancrifl, and
confequently of the Zend and Perfij as well as of Greek,
Latin, and Gothic. ( See his fixth Difcourfe to the «
Afiatic Society.) — Words would be wanting to ex-

Cz

30 LETTERS ON THE

Phoenicia received the arts and fciences
from the great anceftor of the Irifh na-
tion. This people, fo polifhed in the re-
moteft periods of antiquity, may therefore
confidently lay claim to the honour of
being the fathers of letters*. The beauty
and fertility of their country are equally
the objects of their commendation. They
will tell you that whatever is celebrated
for beauty in hiftory or fable, is but a faint

•v

prefs the efteem and veneration which I feel for this
Columbus in literature. As a linguift he can only be
compared to the celebrated Giovanni Pico, a nobleman
of Mirandula, in the age of Lorenzo de Medicis. But as
a chronologift, an antiquary, an aftronomer, a theorift
in mufic, an elegant poet, fuperadded to his acquire-
ments as a lawyer, he has no parallel. This finifhed
model of intellectual and moral excellence is now
no more :

Dear fen of memory, great heir of fame,

What need'ft thou fuch weak witnefs of thy name ?

* See O'Halloran's Hiftory, and lerne defended
by the fame author. 410, 1774.

IRISH NATION. 21

pi&ure of what is to be feen in Ireland. I
have found amongft them more Rudbecks
than the univerfity of Upfal ever produ-
ced*. As that celebrated profeflbr af-
fured the Swedes in his work called the
Manheim or Atlantica, that the ' Atlantis
of Plato, the country of the Hyperboreans,
the gardens of the Hefperides, the Fortu-
nate Iflands, and even the Elyfian Fields,
were all, but imperfect tranfcripts of the
delightful region of Sweden;' fo are the
Irifh equally lavifh in their encomiums on
Ireland. It was but the other day that I
accidentally fell into company with a pro-
feflbr of their univerfity of Dublin, and
the converfation turning on the refpeclive
merits of Great Britain and Ireland in the
above-mentioned particulars, I found it

* Some account of Rudbeck may be found in
Gibbon's Hiftory, chap. ix.

C Q

32 LETTERS ON THE

impoffible to convince him that London
was a finer city than Dublin, or that Eng-
land in fertility and cultivation could at all
be compared with Ireland. I left him to the
peaceable enjoyment of his ovs n opinion.
Something has alfo been hinted of the
pride of pedigree difplayed here by indi-
viduals. The Irimman in this-refpe& far
exceeds all other nations. ' He can point
out the individual fon of Japhet from
whofe loins he is lineally defcended.' J
remember to have fomewhere read, that
in the reign of Edward the fecond, an
Ulfter prince made a public boaft of
having fucceeded to near two hundred
kings of Ireland, his lineal anceftors, down
to the year 1 1 70. Would you ima-
gine that the genealogical tree of the
meaneft individual has an almoft equally
deep root? The facl; is undoubtedly fo.

6

IRISH NATION. 23

With this ipirit, and with a fimilar boaft
of anceftry, a kitchen- wench in the fer-
vice of the celebrated bifhop of Cloyne
refufed to carry out cinders; becaufe me
was defcended from an old Irim flock *.
I might weary you with details of this
fort, but I content myfelf with alluring
you that there is no nation whofe legen-
dary tales about their country and kin-
dred are fo extravagant and ridiculous as
thofe of the Irim. The Englilh have
been laughed at by foreigners for their
predilection in favour of their own coun-
try. But an Englifhman's vanity pro-
ceeds from a conviction of the acknow-
ledged fuperiority in the constitution, the
laws, the commerce, and the enjoyment

* See Bifhop Berkeley's work entitled ' A Word
to the Wife; or, Letter to the Roman Catholic
Clergy of Ireland.'

C4

24 LETTERS ON THE

of the comforts of life, which his country
enjoys over all the world. The utmoft
paroxyfms of his pride on thefe accounts,
are fobriety and moderation themfelves,
when compared with thofe of the Irifh-
man. I do not, however, mention this
leading feature in the character of the
Irifli nation, as an unpardonable folly.
On the contrary, I acknowledge it to be,
in the abftracl:, and without reference to
its confequences on induftry, an harmlefs
and innocent prejudice. T am not igno-
rant that, generally fpeaking, there is an
' habitual, native dignity' inspired by the
idea of a liberal defcent, which is admi-
rably calculated for the prevention of
crime, and the prefervation of a rational
and manly virtue. Not but that an en-
lightened education, and an acquaintance
with the laws of humanity, will give a'

IRISH NATION. 25

fuperior elevation to the foul, to all the
prerogatives of nobility, and all the pride,
and pomp, and boaft, of heraldry. It
would even be better to infufe into the
minds of a nation the fpirit of life and
energy, than the pride of anceftry, how-<
ever refined and fubtilized. All I contend
for is, that the vanity of a noble defcent
may co-operate with the greateft talents
and learning, and where they are want-
ing will often fupply the place of them.

3. But I turn with pleafure from the
laughable exceiTes to w^hich this trait of
Irifh character leads, to one that I could
expatiate upon with pleafure as a fcholar,
and with gratitude as an Englifh fubject.
I mean that heroic courage, that moft
fplendid of all qualities, which has long
adorned the people of this country. Not
that I imagine it proceeds either from any

26 LETTERS ON THE

i

principle of felf-prefervation, or fenfe of
duty, which they have; but from that pride,
that love of distinction, and that warmth of
temper which fo much diftinguifhes them.
All the world muft agree, that the Irifh
are a brave and warlike people. They
may be flaughtered or difperfed in the
field of battle, but their fpirit can never

x ,

be tamed. Their minds are capable of
being wound up to the higheffc pitch of
fortitude ; and their bodies are hardy, ro-
buft, and equal to the greatefl fatigue.
Their courage, indeed, is certainly not
that juft medium between ramnefs and
pufillanimity, which a philofopher would
admire. It is too much influenced by
paffion, and too little by the cool dictates
of reafon and reflection. For true forti-
tude can alone be feen in exploits which
are not only warranted by juftice, but alfo

IRISH NATION. %J

v

guided by the dictates of wifdom. But
this is not the character of Irifli courage :
it is more of *' towering phrenzy and dif-
traction.' The confequence * is, that it
has chiefly been found ferviceable when
made fubordinate to order and flricl: dif-
cipline. It is of itfelf generally unfit to
refolve before it executes. For this rea-
fon, the Irifh have always diftinguifhed
themfelves in the fubordinate ftations in
our fleets and armies, but feldom when
pofTefTed of fupreme power. They have
always fucceeded to admiration where
mere boldnefs has been looked for. They
are gifted with that enterprifmg charac-
ter which difregards all obftacles, or only
confiders them as fo many incentives to
exertion.

A characleriftic naturally connected
with this philofophical defect (for it is no

LETTERS ON THE

more) in the bravery of the Irifh, is, that

/

they are hafty and impetuous, ram and
choleric, and fubjecl: to the moft violent
attacks of anger and paffion. This iraf-
cible temper has created in the Englifh
an habit of cautioufly avoiding too great
a degree of intimacy with them. When
heated with wine, of which they are im-
moderately fond, there is no defcription
of people more quarrelfome or dangerous.
Drinking, inftead of promoting harmony,
and conviviality, too frequently leads
them into broils and encounters. Even
the merry-making of the peafant gene-
rally ends in bloodmed. But this is, in
lome degree, to be attributed to that ge-
nerous warmth and opennefs of temper,
to that boldnefs, both in fpeech and
action, which, when heightened by the
juice of the grape, pours out the fenti-

IRISH NATION. 2p

ments of the heart in the moft unguarded
manner. There is an obfervation of my
favourite author, Lord Chancellor Bacon,
which irrefiftibly forces itfelf on my mind
whilft I am on this fubjecl: : ' Wine (fays
he) is of a common nature with all the
paffions, and will be found to kindle and
excite each of them in an equal degree.'
When, therefore, the natural difpofition
of the Irifhman receives this artificial ir-
ritation, the refult muft neceflarily be fuch,
as I have defcribed it.

3. The fame difpofition which displays
itfelf in the manner I have above related,
mews itfelf alfo among the Irim in ano-
ther amiable point of view. This is in a
fpirit of liberality and generofity, wThich
I have feldom feen, equalled. The hofpi-
tality and munificence which they difplay
towards ftrangers, is, I think, if not un-

30 LETTERS ON THE

equalled, at leaft not exceeded, in any
European country. That referve towards
ftrangers, which alike chara&erifes the
Englifhman and his maftiff, is unknown
in Ireland. An accidental rencontre on
the public road, often leads to the utmoft
hofpitality : I have myfelf more than once
experienced the benefit of this quality,
under circumflances of that nature. The
liberality difplayed towards their guefts at
their tables is indeed fo extreme as to be
frequently prejudicial to their fortunes.
But it is obvious that there is a degree of
oflentatious vanity which has fome mare
in leading them to thefe excefles: and their
quicknefs in forming friendfliips is attend-
ed vath that general confequence which
accompanies this difpofition, a propor-
tionate fhortnefs in the duration of their
attachments.

IRISH NATION. 31

4. But there is a trait in their difpofi-
tions and manners fomcwhat connected
with this hofpitality, and which often
ferves as a foil to it. This is an exceffive
love of gaming, no where indulged to
greater lengths than in Ireland. This fpi-
rit for play is not confined to the higher
claffes of individuals as in England, but
extends to the pooreft and rneaneft of the
people. The erTecl: which it produces on
their conduct, converfation, and behaviour
in focial life, has been to me a matter of

Ik

inconceivable amazement. I happened
to be in Dublin when the State Lottery-
was drawing, and if it had been neceflary
to convince me how pernicious an expe-
dient this is for raifmg money for the ufe
of the government, I Ihould have there
met with it. The crowds which are
drawn in this vortex are inconceivable ;

33 LETTERS ON THE

old and young, rich and poor, gentleman
and beggar, are alike avowed candidates
for the favours of the blind goddefs. In
England, the laws guard againft many of
the evils which this invention has been
found to produce : the refinement of man-
ners is ftill an additional guard againft
them. But in Ireland thefe laws do not
exift ; and manners form no barrier to
fupply the want of them. I, have heard
gentlemen in the moft fafhionable circles
of polite company, openly exult at their
gains, even by the infurance of lottery-
tickets. Indeed, fpeculations of that na-
ture cannot any where elfe be carried on
to fuch an extent. Perhaps, too, I may
add to this, that the profeffion of a game-
fter is more confined to the natives of
Ireland, than of any other portion of his
"Majefty's dominions.

IRISH NATIONS 33

But the effects of this gaming expedient
for raifmg money, are flill more confpicu-
ous amongft the lower clafTes of the peo-
ple. The public ftreets of Dublin are
filled with lottery -offices, beyond the
conception even of a Londoner. Thefe
mops are Adorned with every thing which
can catch the eye, and delude the mind
of the unwary. They are filled with
crowds of the mod miferable ragged ob-
jects (of which Dublin, perhaps, contains
more than any other city in Europe),
flaking their daily bread on the chance of
gain. I have often obferved in London
the multitudes of poor people, who are
plundered by the keepers of lottery-offices.
I have often heard of the families of in-
duftrious mechanics and manufacturers
driven by their frauds into the flreets to
beg their bread. I have even known old

D

54 LETTERS ON THE

fervants plundered of the ' thrifty hire,
laved in a life of fervice.' But yet thefe
are all trifles when compared with the ex-
tent to which the evil of lottery-offices is
carried on in Ireland. They are there an
infult to the eye of public decency. The
immenfe fortunes alfo, which I underftand
are often fuddenly amafled by the keepers
of thefe gaming-houfes, arc incredible. To
my mind, this open pillage of the public is
an outrage committed on every principle
of morality, of moderation, and of the fpi-
rit and object of laws.

When I add to thefe general charac-
teriftics of the nation their excel!! ve cre-
dulity, which has alwrays been impofed on
by thofe who have been bafe enough to
take advantage of it, and which has fo
often made them the dupes of political
innovators and artful demagogues, I con-

IRISH NATION. 35

fider that I have nearly fummed up every
thing which I had to fay on this part of
my fubjecl:.

II. Thefe, then, are what I confider to
be the moil Unking traits of that charac-
ter which is common to all ranks and
defcriptions of people in Ireland : they
conflitute what may perhaps be called
the general manners of the nation. You
will, therefore, next expecl of me, that I
mould difcufs feparately, the two clafTes
into which I have divided the people, in
order to point out the differences in their
characters.

i . In thefe, the effecl; of moral caufes
is moft confpicuoufly difplayed. All the
higher ranks of the people have emi-
grated from England or Scotland, and
obvioufly carry about them thoie diftin-
D 2,

36 LETTERS ON THE

guifhing marks which a mother country
always produces on her fons, and which
a vicinity of iltuation, and conftant cor-
refpondence with them, muft perpetually
keep alive.

This diftinguimes the nobility and gen-
try of Ireland, by a degree of civilifation
and refinement in their manners, unknown
to the majority of the people. It pro-
duces a fimilitude of manners with the
Englifh nation, to the extent of the com-
munication between the two countries.
Our univerfities of Oxford and Cambridge,
particularly the former, abound with Irifh
ftudents ; and our four inns of court in
London, are thronged with them. This
refidence in the metropolis and the feats
of learning in England, produces that
urbanity of manners which fometimes al-
moft melts down the Irifh gentleman intp

IRISH NATION. 37

an Englifh one, and muft alfo extend the
influence of education, and the refinement
of manners, throughout the , circle of
friends and relatives at home.

Z. In this Englifh fchool are formed the
individuals who compofe the Irifh legifla-
tive and judicial bodies. On thefe two
theatres, the houfes of parliament and the
bar, it muft be allowed that many mining
characters have been exhibited ; and that
many ftill continue to merit the applaufe
and admiration of the world. As almoft
every gentleman in Ireland confiders the
education of his fon incomplete without
fending him to ftudy three years in the
Temple, it neceflarily follows, that the
members of their parliament and their
barrifters are blended together in educa-
tion and character. Indeed it is well
known that one third of the houfe of
Dn

38 LETTERS ON THE

commons has generally been praclifmg
lawyers, or at lead gentlemen who have
been regularly trained up to the profeffion.
For in Ireland, as well as in England, the
profeffion of the law now takes place of the
church, and is at prefent that fame road
to dignity and promotion which the latter
was a few centuries ago. Perhaps it is even
more fo in Ireland than it is in England.
At any rate, however, it will appear, from
what is above mentioned,^ that the num-
ber of candidates who venture for the
prizes of the profeffion is here in by far
the greateft proportion of the two king-
doms. The' obfervations, therefore, ap-
plicable to the talents which are difplayed
in the courts of juftice, are perfectly ap-
plicable to thofe which the parliament
affords the field for.

3. To the honour of Ireland, it muft be
6

IRISH NATION. 39

acknowledged that the integrity and pu-
rity of character of thofe who have pre-
fided over the adminiftration of juftice in
the kingdom, has always been unble-
mifhed and irreproachable. If they have

fbmetimes been accufed of fuffering the

»

violence of party-fpirit to influence their
profeffional conducl, they have never been
in the flighteft degree even iufpecled of
the leafb corruption. The voice of ca-
lumny herfelf has, in this refpeft, been
forced to be filent. And it is probable
that the firft charge is unfounded, and is
the mere efFecl of mutually recrimina;.
factions. But the difmterefted difplay of
great talents in the fervice of their coun-
try, is a glory which moft of their judges
may defervedly lay claim to. It mufl
alib be confeffed, that there is often much
learning, and ftill more talent, to be found
D4

40 LETTERS ON THE

amongft thofe who fill the fecondary ranks
in the profeffion of the law. I cannot
dnTemble my fentiments. It feems to
me that there are not many of that fo-
renfic rabble *, that mechanical order of
practitioners ; that half-witted, quibbling,
over-technical clafs of lawyers, ' who
grovel all their lives in a mean but gain-
ful application to the little arts of chi-
cane -f*.' I am inclined to think that the
nature of the Irifh character renders it
almoft impoffible to find the narrow-
minded ' cantor formularum, auceps fylla-
barum vel acutus prteco aftionimi againft
which, as applied to the lawyers of mo-
dern times, the keen ridicule of Cicero
has fo juftly been directed. It is proba-

* Rabula forenfis. Cic.
f Bolingbroke.

IRISH NATION. 41

bable, too, that this fatire is more appli-
cable to Weftminfter Hall than it ever
was to the Roman Forum. But the bent
of the minds of Irim lawyers leads them
in a widely different- direction. There
will be found at the Irim bar individuals

X

of that enlarged education which tends to

form orators, philofophers, and ftatefmen:
there will be difcovered at it men who
have climbed to what Bolingbroke calls
' the vantage ground of fcience.' Their
indifcriminate application to all the walks
of the profeffion (fo carefully avoided in
England) gives them an enlarged and
comprehenfive knowledge, rather than
that which is nicely accurate and parti-
cular. Add to this, the warmth and
energy of the Irim character greatly tends
to form the true orator. It gives him
that empaffioned ftyle . of declamation

42 LETTERS ON THE

which is of the very eflence of the real
talent for perfuafion. All high eloquence
muft /low from paflion. There is a cold-
nefs and torpor in the Englifli character,
a dull, tame iluggifhnefs in the nation,
which is incompatible with true oratory.
Perhaps we have feldom produced fuch
animated fpeakers as Flood and Curran.
Let me not be mifunderftood. I am in-
clined to queftion whether they do not
ftand unrivalled by the Englifh in that
florid ftile of eloquence, of which ima-
gination and paffion form the principal
ingredients. Rational, argumentative ora-
tors we have in abundance. Our feriate
I

and courts are crowded with lawyers and
ftatefmen of folid learning and real ge-
nius, who therefore fteer clear of that
empty declamation, that ' bald unjointed
chat,' and verbofe counterfeited ap-

IRISH NATION. 43

pearance of knowledge*, which muft
{o often characterize the Irifli orator.
I muft fpeak the truth of my country,
however I may y^/ prejudiced in its favour.
We have often produced a Coke and a
Blackftone, but never a Cicero or an Hor-
tenfms. Our Englifh lawyers too will be
often found to have inherited much of the
fubtilty, and even of the chicanery which
characterized their Norman anceftors.
They are not altogether unpra&ifed in
thofe illaqueating fubtilties and fine fpun
webs of fmeiTe which entrap and enfnare
the understanding. It is true, that with
all thefe draw-backs we often hear oratory
in England in which every thing thatlearn-
ing can afford is adorned by the fplendid
trappings and embellimments of rhetoric.
But although there are many exceptions

* Verbofa^fimulatio prudentis. Cic.

44 LETTERS ON THE

to the remark, yet it will generally be
found that this is a exotic talent. It is
feldom of Englifh growth. It has either
emigrated from Ireland, or defcended
from the bleak mountains of Caledonia.
Murray was a Scot; and Burke was of the
filter kingdom.

4. But to return from the appreciation
of talent to the confideration of manners :
there is a {hiking peculiarity in the Irifh
character which it is almoft impoffible that
you Ihould have overlooked; I mean that
romantic gallantry towards the fair fex,
that chivalrous fpirit, which has always
fo highly diftinguifhed and marked the
Irifh nation. The warmth of their tem-
pers will partly account for it. Their ob-
ligations to the feudal fyflem, and its atten-
dant chivalry, which has contributed fo
much towards the refinement of modern

IRISH NATION. 45

manners, will account for the reft. That
military fyftem which our anceftors were
fo familiar with, is itfelf.no more. It
now ftrikes us with that fame veneration
and awe which the view of the ruins of
the abbies and monafteries which were
founded under it, and of the caftles and
fortrefles which compofed a part of it,
are fo well calculated to infpire. But the
confequence which this fyftem has en-
tailed on pofterity will perhaps be never
eradicated It is queftionable whether
they ought to be fo; notwithstanding the
grains of alloy they carry with them.
They have found an eloquent champion
in Edmund Burke ; and, with reference
to Ireland, his beautiful encomiums are
peculiarly juft and applicable He knew
full well that the impaffioned character
of his countrymen had been materially

46 LETTERS ON THE

foftened and adorned by the influence of
this benign principle. It has made them
men of the niceft honour, and lovers of
the moft engaging kind. The company
of the fair-fex has been there formed by
the influence which chivalry has left be-
hind it, into the grand fchool for all thofe
mild and amiable virtues which they
may be faid to be poflefled of. It has
been made the fource of all their polite-
nefs, and of all the gentlenefs of manners,
purity, patience, and obfervance, of which
they can poffibly boaft.

5. The ancient world were ftrangers to
this romantic kind of attachment to wo-
men; but it muft alfo be remembered,
that they were flrangers to the abufes of
thofe laws of honour which chivalry has
left behind. Againft thefe laws moralifts
cannot too much declaim, or legiflators

IRISH NATION. 47

too carefully guard. In proportion to the
influence which they obtain, it has been
invariably found that all other laws and
regulations are weakened and undermined.
In France, where this principle was carried
to its high eft pitch, it is well known that
the moft wanton attacks on private hap-
pinefs were considered as no reproach to
the character of a gentleman. Seduction
and adultery were carried on in the fpirit
of the old knight-errantry, and in the moft
open and unreferved manner. Indeed the
fair-fex always appreciated their confe-
quence by the number of fuitors in their
train. Gallantry, which is perhaps but
another name for chivalry, feemed to have
altered even the unalterable nature of vir-
tue itfelf, amongft the people of France
under the old government. It created new
merits, and gloffed over old vices. * How
* This is well depictured by a keen and fatirical

48 LETTERS ON THE

far the revolution in politics which has
been effected will alter them in thefe re-
fpecls, experience alone can demonftrate.

Setting afide for our future correfpond-
ence the fubjecls of the religious and po-
litical differences of the Irifh, I cannot
better account for the flack lyftem of mo-

obferver of human nature, although in this refpe6fc,
like the Roman hiftorian Salluft, his own life was not
the befl commentary on the excellent precepts with
which his writings abound. The gay, the debauched
Voltaire obferves, * Ne remarquez vous pas que toute
fociete s'empreffe a chaffer un coquin, de qualite ou
non, qui eftfurpristrompantau jeu, nes'agirait'il que
de quclques piftoles ? tandis que toute fociete fe fait
devoir de proteger, de fauver, d 'aider tous les coupa-
bles des deux crimes les plus funejles au genre humain,
le duel and Fadultere? On fe pique de proteger ces deux
delits, dont 1 'un detruit les defenfeurs de 1'etat, et
1'autre donne a tant de peres de families, a tant de
princes, des heretiers qui ne font pas leurs enfans!
Ne trouvez, vous pas les barbares Turcs beaucoup plus
fages que nos barbares poKs occidentaux? Les Turcs ne
connoiffent ni lavaine gloire du duel,vni la galanterie
de 1'adultere. Ne conviendrex vous pas' d'ailleurs
qu'il eft des delits qu'il faut toujours tacher d'ignorer?
(Prixde lajuftice, &c. art. 4.)

IRISH NATION. 49

rality which is fo obfervable in Ireland,
by any other principle than the one above
mentioned. There is a profanenefs, a ne-
glecl: of public worfhip and private devo-
tion, a cruel oppreflfion of the tenantry,
and a general want of charity towards the
poor, more ftriking amongft the Irim gen-
try than any where I ever faw or heard of.
Religion has done little or nothing towards
the civilization of the Trim. To it, as a
foftener and improver of their manners,
they may well renounce all obligation.
But though I have pictured this general
ftate of immorality, yet there is one par-
ticular to which in juftice to their charac-
ter I muft acknowledge that the charge
does not apply; I allude to conjugal infi-
delity; inftances of which are much lefs
frequent than in England. The women
have the character of being virtuous; I
E

50 LETTERS ON THE

am fure I fhould be forry by any infi-
nuation to rob them of that brighteil
jewel in the female character. That they
are many of them beautiful I have feen
and often felt, and that they are chafte I
moft fully believe : But the evil of chi-
valry, (for I am on the fubject, and
muft proceed with it,) which has not
extended to the corruption of the wo-
men, has made full amends for the
deficiency by the ravages it has made, in
this particular, in the characters of the
men. Although their debaucheries may
not be fa evident in their own country,
yet in England and in foreign nations they
have always been highly diftinguifhed for
them.

The reafon of this ftate of immorality,
particularly with reference to its effects
on the lower orders of fociety in Ireland,
6

IRISH NATION. 51

fuch as I have defcribed them, has
been well given by an excellent philofo-
pher. ' The laws of honour,' fays he,
' only prefcribe duties towards equals,
without attending either to thofe which
are due to the Supreme Being, or to our
inferiors*.'

I conclude the obfervations which fug-
geft themfelves to my mind on the cha-
racter of the higher clafs of people in
Ireland, with remarking, that there is not
only a general neglecl of religion amongft
them, but even a frequent derifion of it
in others. This derifion mounts into per-
fecution, where the religion profefled by
others happens to differ from that which
is eftablifhed by law. The rich have all
the intolerancy of bigots, without any of
their piety. I think that you will agree

* Paley.
E 2

with me, that thefc are fufficiently ftrik-
ing traits of character to diftinguifh the
wealthy from the lower clafles of the peo-
ple in Ireland.

III. It is in general remarked, and with
great truth, that the manners of a nation
alter confiderably from one age to another;
either by revolutions in government, by
the mixture of ftrangers amongft them, or
even by that inconftancy to which all hu-
man affairs are fubjecled by nature. But
perhaps this obfervation will be found to
be exclusively inapplicable to three-fourths
of the Irilh nation. As the earlieft records
of the commencement of the connexion
between the two countries inform us that
they then were — fo will they be found at
prefent — an illiterate and uncivilized peo-
ple. I pafs over their legendary tales of
antient refinement, having nothing to dp

IRISH NATION. £3

with a period three thoufand years before
Chrift, which refts upon little more than
oral tradition. I havd obferved that the
relative fituation of one ftate with ano-
ther, muft, \vithout doubt, have great
influence on the manners, and even fenti-
ments, of both nations. Civilization has
gradually travelled from the South to the
North; oppofmg itfelf, as it were, to the
ordinary progrefs of conqueft. Afia taught
Europe, giving leflbns to Greece her firft-
born child; and that lovely female, the
darling pride of nature, communicated her
knowledge to Italy. The conquerors of
the world fpread civilization through Gaul,
till at laft it reached the moft northern
points of Britain. Thule, at laft, has in-
deed had her hiftorians and rhetoricians*.

* Gall/a coufidicos docu t facunda Biitannos,
De conducen'h loquitur jam rhetore Thule.

Juv. Sat. 15.

54 LETTERS ON THE

The relative fituation of one Hate with
another has thus always demonftrated its
influence on the manners, and even fenti-
ments, of its neighbour. France has cer-
tainly operated confiderably, in thefe re-
fpecls, upon England. It is faid, and with
truth, to have forwarded our refinement,
directed our tafte, and, in every fenfe, to
have been a cradle and nurfery to the na-
tion gentis incunabula noftra.

This principle will well account for
that portion of civilization which I have
obverved is actually found amongft the rich
and powerful in Ireland. Our colonifts
have carried it over from the mother coun-
try, and the education of the child has
followed up that of the parent. But
this refinement of manners has never crept
into the great mafs of the people. Other
nations have advanced in all the arts of

IRISH NATION. 55

s

polifhed life by infenfible degrees; but the
bulk of the Irifh nation is ftill almoft at a
ftand. The natives of that country, the
defcendants, as it feems probable, of its
aborigines, ftill remain the fame rude
barbarians that our earlieft accounts de-
fcribe them. I lhall have little difficulty
in defcribing this character, as it may be
depictured in the fame few words with
that of all nations who have been feen in
a ftate of ignorance and barbarity.

i . If we ftudy the manners of the an-
cient Germans, in Tacitus; or of the Tartar
tribes, as defcribed by the French miffion-
aries and travellers ; or of the modern
American Indians, as they have been often
feen by our colonifts in the North, and cir-
cumnavigators in the South ; it is impolTi-
ble that we mould not be ftruck with the
refemblance which they bear to each other,
E4

56 LETTERS ON THE

The caufe may be traced to the plain and
fimple operations of nature. ' As the ap-
petites of a quadruped,' fays Gibbon, 'may
be more eafily afcertained than the fpecu-
lations of a philofopher; fo the favage tribes
of mankind, as they approach nearer to
the condition of animals, preferve a
ftronger refemblance to themfelves and to
each other. The uniform {lability of their
manners is a natural confequence of the im-
perfection of their faculties. Reduced to
afimilarfituation, their wants, theirdefires,
their enjoyments, are all the fame.' Some
fpeculative writers in confidering this fub-
jecl: have gone fo far as to fay, that per-
haps it would fometimes be an happy

circumftance if a certain depravity in hu-

»•

man nature did not prevent a perfect fimi-
litude between the barbarian and the pro-
cefs of inftinct in the brute creation. It

IRISH NATION. 57

It muft undoubtedly be conceded that
there are certain advantages which inftin&
muft be allowed to poflefs, even over the
moft boafted refinements of civil fociety.
It was the opinion of Plutarch, that the
fimplicity to be met with in the actions
of our fellow-creatures, mews nature pure
and untainted ; neither difguifed with art,
nor clouded with paflion; neither" darned
withphilofophy, nor corrupted with a mul-
tiplicity of contradictory opinions *. The
celebrated philofopher of Geneva would
no doubt have coincided in this fentiment.
Indeed he feems to have proceeded upon it
in feveral of the extraordinary opinions
refpecling the ftate of nature, which he
has publifhed to the world. If fimplicity
in morals or in politics is indeed the cri-
terion of excellence, we mail find that if

/

* De amore prolis.

58 LETTERS ON THE

we carry the analogy from the brute to
the vegetable creation, it is there ftill far-
ther difcernible. It is obvious that the
vegetable world is in a manner tied
down by the root to preferve an unifor-
mity of nature, without fenfe or even in-
ftincl: to miflead it. But thefe analogies
are abfurd in their application and dange-
rous in their confequences. It is the ob-
ject of morality to lift human nature ftill
higher than it is, rather than to debafe it
ftill lower. But morality is inefficient for
this purpofe without the aid of religion.
Unaffifted reafon is the moft fallacious of
all guides. Although it is ftiled the great
director ot the human fpecies, it is always
hunting after new roads to happinefs and
is never content with the old ones ; a fuffi-
cient proof (if -proof were wanting) of its

. .T^

complete inadequacy and infufficiency.
But to return from this digreffion, into

IRISH NATION. 59

which the hypothesis of Plutarch infenfi-
bly led me, it will not require that great
writer's zeal for parallelifm to difcover
almoft the fame traits of character in the
poor peafantry of Ireland, which diftin-
guifh every uncivilifed people. The in-
fluence of nature has not been fubdued,
but in many refpecls perpetuated, by the
operation of moral caufes. And yet this
is extraordinary, when we come to coiiii-
der the fubjecl:. Africa, Tartary, and Si-
beria, have always been countries in a
{late of barbarifm ; and the reafon which
has been affigned for it by Adam Smith
is, that ' they are inland countries, nei-
ther inclofmg large feas and gulfs in their
bofoms, like the Baltic and Mediterranean,
nor rivers capable of carrying commerce
and communication through them by the
means of navigation.' But Ireland is
bountifully fupplied by Providence with

60 LETTERS ON THE

almoft every advantage of this fort. Her
harbours are almoft innumerable, and her
navigable rivers fuperior, both in number
and magnitude, to thofe of Great Britain.
How her femi-barbarifm (as it has been
called) fhould then ftill exift, may appear
inconceivable. But I fhall explain this
feeming paradox in my two next letters.
At prefent I content myfelf with-obferv-
ing, that, though the condition and man-
ners of the Irifh do not prefent us with
that appearance of an affociated band of
warriors which the political fociety of the
German tribes formerly gave them, and

which is ftill feen in North America; nor
•*»

with that pleafmg idea of a numerous and
increafmg family, which the Tartar tribes
have always fuggefted to the mind of the
philofopher; although they more approxi-
mate to the degraded ftate of a horde of
Hottentots : yet I am perfuaded, that in

IRISH NATION. 6l

the three important articles of habitation,
diet, and difpofition, there will be found
a great refemblance. If the effects of
government and religion could be fuf-
pended, the parallel would be perfect.
They would, under different circum-
ftances, prefent us with the picture of the
fhepherd and of the warrior.

2. The Irifh peafant lives in a low, nar-
row hut, called a cabin ; which is built of
the flightefl materials, cemented with
clay, and thatched with ftraw. It is ge-
nerally without glafs to its windows, or a
door to fliut out the wind and rain. It
feldom enjoys the convenience of a chim-
ney, fo that the fmoke is feen afcending
through every quarter of the roof. In
this cold and comfortlefs habitation, the
two fexes promifcuouily herd together.
Thefe narrow precincts muft not only af-
ford flicker to a wife and family, but they

6z LETTERS ON THE

muft alfo inclofe within them his live flock,
if indeed the peafant rifes in worldly for-
tune to the poflemon of a cow or a pig.
Thefe enjoyments of property are thus, like
all other human advantages, tempered
with a proportionate fhare of inconve-
niences. They deprive him of fo much
room in his cabin. The whole family are
obliged to live under the fame roof. Chil-
dren and pigs may indeed, and always do,
eat, drink, and ileep together. But a ftall
muft be provided for a cow, by portioning
off part of the cabin. The peafant, though
he may poffefs half a rood of land, cannot
parcel it off for the purpofe, becaufe it
would rob him fo far of the fource of his
fubfiftence. This naturally leads me to
coniider that fubjecl:.

3. The diet of the I rim peafantry is
chiefly vegetables ; his fubfiftence depend-
ing on a fmall fpot of ground, which he

IRISH NATION. 03

generally fows with potatoes. Bread,
which conftitutes the ordinary and whole-
fbme food of a civilifed people, he is al-
moft a ftranger to. It can only be obtain-
ed by agriculture, which is here at its
loweft ebb; the lands being, as I have
before obferved, almoft wholly thrown
into pafture for cattle. But perhaps it
might therefore be reafonably expected,
that the peafant would often enjoy the
nouriftiment of animal food. But the
facl: is other wife : he is almoft a ftranger to
it. His poverty will not allow him to live
upon that which is one of the great trading
commodities of the country. If he poflefTed
cattle, he muft fell them to make up his
heavy rents : when he is without them,
where can he obtain the means of pur-
chafmg them? The confequence of this
is, that the peafant ftarves in the midft of
plenty. Whilft the beaft of the field is

64 LETTERS ON THE

fattened, the man is often feen famiming.
And yet, notwithstanding this fcarcity of
animal food, and entire dependence on
roots for fubfiflence, it muft be confeiTed
that the peafantry are naturally an healthy
and robuft race of men. Their limbs are
well formed, and they poflefs great ftrength
of body. The medical world may with
reafon confider thefe two circumftances
as convincing proofs, that a vegetable diet
is at leaft as fully congenial to nature as
any other.

4. If we proceed from thefe external
circumftances to examine the furniture of
the peafant's mind, his difpofition, and the
qualities of his heart ; we mall find him
miferably deftitute of fear, reafon, and
often of humanity. His poverty and op-
preffion neceflarily make him a prey to
the mean and ferocious vices. He is the
Have of ignorance and fuperftition, which

IRISir NATION. 65

will generally be found inseparably con-
nected together. The Roman Catholic
prieft is the petty tyrant of each village.
But his authority does not create that re-
ligious, orderly, decent, and dignified
conduct which Chriflianity produces in
England. There is no where to be feen
that orderly obfervance of the Sabbath,
\vhich, to a traveller in Great Britain,
befpeaks the mild influence of religion.
On the contrary, the lower claffes of the
people are a prey to that grofs, irrational
fort of fuperflition which has little ten-
dency to enlighten the mind, to curb the
paffions, or to regulate the conduct. The '.
empire of the prieft is founded on the
fears and the observances of his followers.
It is a throne whofe ' ftubble pillars' are
concealed by the gloomy darknefs of ig-
norance and credulity. The ceremonies of

F

66 LETTERS ON THE

worfhip are mere mechanical operations,
confifting of exterior practices, in which
the mind has no concern, and which have
therefore been often compared to the pa-
gan idolatry of antiquity. It is founded
on the pamons, and its effects are moft
vifible in creating and keeping alive a
bitter fpirit of intolerance. I know that
the heart of man cannot in any country,
generally fpeaking, bear a religious void ;
but here it feems fupplied by a iyftem of
blind and implicit reliance on the direc-
tions of a godly father. He regulates
their wants in this life, and directs their
fears or hopes of the next. He fells them
the abfolution of their fins, or refigns
them to the pit of damnation. They can
entertain little dread of incurring ftains
which may be eafily wiped away. It is
faith, rather than works, which, to judge

IRISH NATION. 6j

from their characters and conduct, feems
to be confidered as achieving the glorious
reward of falvation. On the aflurance of a
mortal man, and that often a venal one,
they build their hopes of divine favour. On
the worfhip of a few wooden images
(falfe idols, before which they bow),
the imaginary patronage of fome tutelary
faint, ftated fallings, prayers, together
with a few other abfurd rites and ceremo-
nies, they reft their hopes of a bleffed

X

immortality.

If this fyftem of religion could make
the people more fober, devout, and orderly,
it would deferve the higheft commenda-
tion. If it could remove that intem-
perate behaviour ib univerfal, and har-
monife the manners of three millions of
people, the gratitude of the enlightened
part of mankind would unite them in its

68 LETTERS ON THE

commendation. The philofopher muil:
approve of every religion which makes a
better man. Perhaps neither the Tal-
mud, nor the Koran, deferve reprobation,
when confidered in a worldly point of
view, a^ a code of laws, and apart from
truths of a more fublime and celeflial na-
ture. But the effect of the Catholic fu-
perftition on the Trim, is to plunge their
minds in the darknefs and gothic igno-
rance of the 1 3th century. Had Great
Britain {till continued the prey of papal
tyranny, it is probable that it would have
been at prefent buried in that fame gloo-
my ignorance. We mould not have been
able to boaft of our Bacon, our Loeke,
or our Newton. The philofophy of the
latter we undoubtedly mould never have
had produced, fmce it is well known that
Galileo, who went upon the fame princi-

IRISH NATION. 69

pies with the fyftem of Copernicus, was
obliged to renounce them as a dangerous
and damnable herefy, becaufe they feemed
inconfiftent with the motion of the Sun
as mentioned in the old Teftament. But
it is not merely as a barrier to knowledge
that I difapprove of this religion in Ireland.
What is perhaps of equal importance is,
that it makes them the dupes of artful
demagogues, who affume the cloak of the
ecclefiaftical profeflion. It is the charac-
ter of every rude nation to be led by its
priefts. By this religion, are often inflamed
thofe fierce paffions which fometimes
break out with the moft fanatical fury in
all the horrors of civil war.

5. There is but one feature more which
I have to add to this degraded character,
and which we mail invariably find to cha-
racterize the manners of a people in a

?O LETTERS ON THE

flate of ignorance and poverty. I mean
that extraordinary indolence, fo much ex-
claimed againft in the Trim nation. A
leading caufe of this vice is a characterif-
tic to which I have before at fame length
adverted. This is that extraordinary na-
tional pride and that vanity of high de-
fcent which fo much prevails amongft the
people. Perhaps there is nothing which
is fo much calculated to palfy the arm of
virtuous induftry as the pride of birth,
notwithstanding it is often, as I have before
allowed, a preventive of crime. But this
political effecl:, this deftructive idlenefs
which feems almoft infeparable from it,
may undoubtedly be counteracted by mo-
ral caufes. To agriculture and trade and
civilization we can alone look for a re-
moval of this defect. Induftry is nothing
but a habit, and thefe are capable of lead-

IRISH NATION. Jl

ing to the formation of it. They are the
principles which expand and exercife the
faculties of the mind, and ' make off that
lethargy which creeps over the fenfes of
barbarous nations.' Whether we trace the
character of the German,, as delineated
by the pencil of Tacitus, or actually be-
hold the Irifh boor ; we mall find them
both the fame flothful beings. When
the uneafmefs which fuch a ftate of exif-
tence muft naturally create, leads them to
aclion, it muft often be to afts of murder
and rapine. Their difpofitions accommo-
date themfelves in an extraordinary man-
ner to the oppofite extremes of indolence
and turbulent aggreflion*. The moment
they ceafe to be defpicable, they become

* Mira diverfitate naturae cum iidem homines
fie ament inertiam et oderunt quietem. — TAG. de
morib. Germ.

73 LETTERS ON THE

objects of dread and danger. An eloquent
writer who well knew and commife-
rated the condition of thefe unfortunate
men, in defcribing their excefles, accounts
at the fame time for the caufeofthem, in
thefe words: ' The nation (fays he) is at
prefent divided into two almoft dilHncl:
bodies, with little common intereft, fym-
pathy, or connexion. One of thefe pof-
fefles all the franchifes, all the property,
all the education: the other is compofed
of drawers of water and cutters of turf for
them . Are we to be aftonifhed, that when
they are reduced to a mob, if they happen
to acl at all, they will acl exactly like a
mob, without temper, meafure, or fore-
fight*?'

finifhed that hafty fketch

* Burke's Works, v. iii. p. 548, 410 edit.

IRISH NATION. 73

of the features which feem to me, fmce
I have been in Ireland, to ftamp the cha-
ra&er of the lower clafles of the people,
and feparate them from the rich part of
the nation. I may draw this conclufion
from the examination of them both : The
-polimed minority of the nation is one
hundred years behind England in refine-
ment, and the rude majority of it is at lean:
five. With many noble qualities of the
heart, there is {till much remaining for the
flow operation of laws and civilization to
efTecT;. The virtues of courage and gene-
rofity are dimmed and obfcured by a cloud
of vices. With the rich, a relaxed fyftem
of morality is aided by the artificial varnifh
of famionable manners and thofe advan-
tages which I have allowed that the laws
of honour may and do carry with them,
notwithftanding their mixture of evil.

74 LETTERS ON THE

With the poor it is replaced by the
grofleft fuperftition. How much the rich
have benefited by the exchange, I leave
you to determine. As for the poor, I
think they muft be acknowledged dread-
ful lofers by it. Perhaps there is fome
truth in the opinion of Lord Verulam,
that ' athetfm is better than fuperftition ;
for a man is then left to fenfe, to philofo-
phy, to natural piety, to laws and to re-
putation; all which may be guides to an
outward moral virtue. But fuperftition
difmounts all thefe, and erects an abfolute
monarchy in the mind of men*.'

Civil difcords have alfo injured the caufe
of religion, and increafed the natural fero-
city of the Irilh character. Their ten-
dency i^to banifh the milder qualities of

* Effay xviii. of Superftition.

IRISH NATION. 75

the heart, and to familiarize the mind to
reflections at which it would naturally re-
volt with horror. A proportionate degra-
dation of the morals and manners takes
place, till at length the individual contem-
plates or engages in fcenes of maiTacre and
devaftation without feeling any emotions
of fear or remorfe.

For my own part, I cannot conclude
this long letter (which is Ihort, confider-
ing how extenfive the nature of the fub-
ject of it is), without again repeating,
that I do not know of any country where
the character of the people is more fitted
by nature, than is that of the Irifh, for
the high eft attainments in moral or intel-
lectual excellence. The bountiful hand
of the Almighty has given the materials ;
it muft be the care of a legiflator to form
and fafliion them. That there is a great

76 LETTERS ON THE

portion of talent given them, may be
judged of from the numerous and bright
line of examples which they have given
to the world. There is a long lift of
poets, philofophers, and hiftorians, whofc
very names compofe a galaxy of mining
ftars in the firmament of literature. With
what pleafure could I dwell on the learn-
ing of Archbifhop timer; the wit, eccen-
tricity, and knowledge, of Swift; the pene-
tration, judgment, and benevolent patri-
otifm of Bifhop Berkeley; the artlefs fim^
plicity and naivete of Sterne; the verfatile
talents of the good-natured Goldfmith ;
the fplendid eloquence and excellent mo-
rals of Burke ; not to mention a crowd of
elegant poets, claffic writers, and fprightly
dramatifts, fome of which are now living,
but many more gone to fwell the lift of
departed Trim worthies.

IRISH NATION. 77

It is true that within thefe few years
the Iriih have highly diftinguimed them-
felyes in literature, but it has generally

been under the foflering hand of Britifh

i

governments. At home they have fel-
dom made any figure. Even the Royal
Trim Academy has never yet brought to
light any thing extraordinary for genius,
tafte, or learning. A leading caufe of the
very few works of merit which appear in
Ireland remains to be mentioned. This
is the want of an acl of the legifla-
ture to protect the copy-right of authors.
It is unneceffary to add that genius will
always beft flourifh, and learning be moft

cultivated, where the rewards of it are

•
leaft liable to uncertainty either in their

nature or their continuance.

That this fliould never have been fuffi-
ciently attended to in Ireland, appears to
i

/ 8 LETTERS ON THE

me extraordinary, when I confider the ta-
lents and knowledge which are often found
there. There may be more good fenfe
in England, but there is wanting the
life and energy of the Irifli character.
' Strong paflions awaken the faculties, and
fuffer not a particle of the man to be loft/
That they poffefs thofe warm paflions
and fentiments which may be directed to
the higheft moral energies, I have alrea-
dy made appear. Virtue has been Ihewn
to be nothing but paflion difciplined by
reafon and good habits. Ariftotle has
even called it ' reflecting appetite,' and
' impaflioned intellect*.' From this af-
fociation then proceeds all that is
amiable, and all that is honourable,
in fociety. From this co-operation the

* Ethics to Nicomachus.

; IRISH NATION. 79

head acquires wifdom, and the heart tem-
perance, fortitude, andjuftice. Whether
you confider the happinefs of individuals
or of nations, it will be found in both to
arife from the fame fources. If you im-
prove the man in knowledge and virtue,
you thereby improve the ftate in them.
By this a flate arrives at that which is the
ftandard of polifh and urbanity ; of that
elegance without luxury, and that refine-
ment without effeminacy which Pericles
thought the peculiar glory of his age and
country*. There is a chain in fociety,
which plainly accounts for it. ' Men form
the rudiments of families ; families confti-
tute the elements of ftates ; and in every
fyftem the parts will be found by their
refpeclive excellencies to promote the per-
fection and harmony of the whole.'

I am, &c. &c.

* Oratio Funeh. in Thucyd.

80 LETTERS ON THE

LETTER II.

ON THE PRACTICAL MERITS OF THE
GOVERNMENT, &C. &C.

My dear Sir,

THERE is no nation in the
world where the effe&s of jarring and dif-
cordant interefts are fo vifible, as in the one
where I am at prefent an Englifh traveller.
They force themfelves upon the attention
of the moft fuperficial obferver. The ani-
mofities of the people are fo great and
irreconcileable, that a moft important and
inftruclimg leflbn of politics is to be ga-
thered from the collifion. You may con-
clude that I was eager to take advantage
of it, and to glean every information on a
fubjecl which from its importance to hu-

IRISH NATION. 8l

man happinefs deferves the deepeft con-
fideration.

I fet myfelf therefore attentively to
work, in order to difcover what were the
caufes of thefe contending interefts and
unhappy dhTenfions, which for fo long a
time have diftra&ed Ireland. I foon found
that they might almoft all be traced to
the eftablimment of an Englifh govern-
ment over it, not merely becaufe it was
Englifh in its birth, but becaufe its growth
as well as its adoption were merely for
the benefit of thofe who were of Englifh
origin. As I have in my preceding letter
endeavoured to give you fome idea of this
people in their individual capacities, as
men, I mall devote the prefent one to the
defign of confidering them in their politi-
cal fituation, as citizens. The difcuffion
is indeed difficult and perplexing, fmce it
G

82 LETTERS ON THE

has divided the opinions of the grcateft
ftatefmen of the age we live in. I fhall
however endeavour to narrow it as much
as poflible. It will be my aim to tread
over fuch ground as I cannot flip or ftum-
ble on, to choofe fuch a path as I cannot
cafiiy wander from; and where I do deviate
out of the beaten road, it will be, like a
faithful traveller, only to notice fuch fa&s
and objects as I think worth defcribing.

But perhaps it will be obferved to me
in this political outfet : 5 Unlefs your
mind is unprejudiced by erroneous theories,
you will fee things through a falfe medium
and with diftempered optics. It is there-
fore neceffary that you mould firft exa-
mine into the ftrength of the bafis upon
which you build, left the fuperftrufture
mould be weak, from the tottering foun-
dation upon which it refls.*

IRISH NATION. 83

My anfwer is ready : I acknowledge
the truth of the intimation, and think my
felf injuftice bound to declare the princi-
ples upon which I fet out. Why fliould
I not glory in an opportunity of difavow-
ing the moft peftilential political tenets
that ever over-ran the world. I feel an
equal pride in breaking a lance either
againft .the abfurd fyftem which .upholds
defpotifm, or that which juilifies popular
phrenfy. The reign of the Houfe of
Stuart ought to furnim to every Englim-
man a commentary on the one, and the
excefles of the French Revolution on the
other. But that religious fyftem which
deduced paflive obedience from the at-
tempt to trace govefnment up to the
Deity, has now long flept amongft the
dufty volumes of our libraries, and a phi-
lofophical one has ftarted up in its place
which refts the foundation of political
G 2

84 LETTERS ON THE

authority upon Contract. The former
will probably be never again awakened
into life, although the darling child of
modern times is not likely to be long-
lived. Both Hobbes and Rouffeau, the
guardians and champions of it, have drawn
altogether oppofite confequences, though-
equally dangerous ones, from the fame
principle. Nothing can fo much expofe
the weaknefs of political principles as a
contrariety in the inferences which are
made from them. From thofe in quef-
tion have been deduced on the one hand
a iyftem of defpotifm, and on the other
a government of diforder and uncontrouled
licentioufnefs. The focial contract how-
ever of Roufleau does not merit the ap-
pellation of a political fyftem, becaufe a
{yftem ex vi termini implies order and
confiftency*.

* Si on fe donnait la peine de lire attentivement

IRISH NATION. 85

When to the thus admirably illuftra-
tive glofles of thefe two political navi-
gators, from whofe difcoveries a new world
has indeed been made known to us,
(but has been a world of mifery) ; is added
the light which reafon and experience
have thrown upon the fubject ; I think
it will be found that in thefe Northern
iflands the accompanying antidote will be
powerful enough for the poifon. Be-
tween the powers of action and reaction I
truft that our minds will be kept found and
healthy. The confequences of erroneous
fyftems of politics, like the excefles of the
human body, generally afford their own
remedy. The unbiased inquirer after
truth is brought back to fome ftandard
from whence he has been infenfibly led

ce livre du Contrat Social, il n'y a pas un page
ou 1'on ne trouvat des erreurs ou dcs contradictions.
— Voltaire Idee Republicaine. Note to 2nd edit.

86 LETTERS ON THE

aftray; or introduced to that true ftandard
which is fan&ioned and confirmed by the
experience of ages.

I have thought it neceflary to enter into
this explanation, left I ihould be thought
to difapprove of the Irifh government on
account of its having been originally forced
on the great majority of the nation, and
ftill continuing inimical to what they
confider their lawful interefts. If the
confent of the majority was indeed eflen-
tial to the eftablifhment of every lawful
government, that of Ireland is undoubt-
edly a tyranny. But as I am perfuaded
that no fuch neceffity exifts, and that if it
did, there is no government in the world
which could ftand the teft of it; I do not
condemn the Irilh on any fuch grounds.
There is no better guard againft fo grand
a miftake in politics and others of a fimilar

IRISH NATION. 87

nature, together with the dangerous con-
fequences which may be deduced from
them, than a right apprehenfion of firft
principles. To avoid the errors of modern
innovators, mankind have been driven
back to the writings of Ariftotle. That
extraordinary philofopher, whofe fame is
now as frefti as it was two thoufand years
ago, mull be again called in, to inftrucl:
the moderns in a fcience, in which, after
fo long an interval of time, they have yet
made no improvements, but have rather
deviated into the grofTeft miflakcs and
errors. From the writings of that great
genius wre are then taught to confider the
origin of government, not as the w^ork of
art or of intellect, much lefs as the refult
of contract ; but as the confequence of a
natural mftinclive impulfe towards com-
fort, convenience, and fecurity. Govern-
G 4

88 LETTERS ON THE

ment was not made, created, or cove-
nanted about, but arofe out of human na-
ture. It is coeval with fociety, and fociety
is coeval with man. The hiftories of the
origin of almoft every nation, as far as
they can be traced back, confirm this hypo-
thefis. From the almoft infenfibly gradu-
al coalition of a few hunters or rimers, the
government of every nation has taken its
rife. Laws indeed, which were afterwards
added, are artificial aids and contrivances
firft introduced to prop and fupport this
natural inftitution or new-made govern-
ment. Hiftory even goes fo far as to
inform us that the firft government of
every nation was of a monarchical nature,
and without laws, Ijecaufe the will of the
prince was in the place of all law*.

*Nullae civitati leges erant, quia libido regum
pro legibus habebatur. JUST. Hift. 1. z.

IRISH NATION. OQ

With laws commenced liberty and fe-
curity, for they thwart, controul and fub-
jecl:, the paffions of individuals, in order to
prevent their injuring fociety. But the
origin of political fociety is totally diftincl.
As it was dictated by nature, and cherifhed
by a conviction and fenfe of its utility, fo
that fame principle of general convenience
which, for the well-being of mankind,
neceflarily gave rife to government, ftill
holds it together, and muffc ever continue
to do fo. Utility is thus the moral
principle upon which the obedience of
citizens and the protection of magiftrates
reft. It was nature which eftablifhed the
fubordinations of fervant to mafter, of fa-
mily to father, and of wife to hufband.
Thefe three branches of domeftic economy
are the germe of all government: Princl-
pmm Urbis et quafi Seminar mm Reipublka* .

* See Cicero's Offices, b. i.e. 17.

9° LETTERS ON THE

But in every ftate there are certain in-
tercuts which are contending with each
other for a preponderance, and from the
elevation of one of which, or the combi-
nation of two or of the whole, the govern-
ment receives its peculiar character and
denomination. Thefe three principles
are talents, wealth, and numbers; birth
being nothing more than the inheritance
of a title to the rewards beftowed upon
either of the two firft. The beft govern-
ment muft obvioufly be that in which
thefe three principles have their juft
preponderance, diftinctions, and honours.
But to proceed : Experience has proved
that this equilibrium can alone be pre-
ferved by the eftabliihment of different
bodies, to each of which muft be affigned
the guardianfhip of one of the above
three principles, and a fuperintending dif-
truft andjealoufyof the other two. This
6

IRISH NATION. 91

is in other words nothing lefs than that
government of check and controul which
is 'emphatically called free, becaufeno one
principle is exalted on the depreffion of
the others.' It has therefore been well
faid, that in governments, fimplicity is
defpotifm, and combination the only
fource of liberty*. The reafon of this is,
that in the fimple forms of government,
(which is the firft cafe), power, and the
controul of that power, are vetted in the
fame hand ; whereas in the mixed govern-
ments (which is the latter cafe), they are
placed in different hands. And though the
prefervation of the three principles, or of
that juft weight which talents, property,
and numbers, mould have, is entmfted to
bodies termed monarchical, ariftocratical,

* Macauley's Rudiments of Politics.

93 LETTERS ON TH£

and democratic ; flill the government does
not difcontinue to be the lefs founded in
nature and utility. Its origin alfo ftill
continues the fame, though its genealogy
is a little more extended, and its moral
principle, upon which depends the obe-
dience of the fubjecl and the authority
of the government, like the old leaden
ruler of the Lefbian architeclure, equally
accommodates itfelf to every form.

Thus it is that in the Politics of Ari-
ftotle, in whofe writings the above prin-
ciples are all bottomed, we fee the embryo
of the Britilh Conftitution. It is a vul-
gar error to fuppofc that philofopher was
unacquainted with the advantages of a
balanced government, of a government of
check and controul, or even of a reprefen-
tative one*. There is not the leaft foun-

* See the Preface to Dr. Gillies's Ariilotle.

IRISH NATION. 93

dation to fuppofe, that they had efcaped
the notice of fo deep an obferver *.

Thus you fee, my dear Sir, I proceed to
inquire into the ftate of Irifh Politics, with
a mind holding in equal indifference the
principles and the concluiions flowing from
that divine right which kings have fet up,
and that doctrine of contracT: which the
populace oppofe to it. I have proved my
right, an unprejudiced mind with an in-
dependent fpirit, the paflport to any in-
quiry. You will iee that I have not

* I cannot refrain from embracing this opportunity
of acknowledging my obligations to Mr. Mackintofh,
for the light which he has thrown on Ariilotle's Poli-
tics. The lateft, the moft elegant, and perhaps the
beft commentary, or rather almoft paraphrafe, ever
made of thefe political writings was delivered by Mr.
Mackintolh in the courfe of his Lectures on the Law
of Nature and Nations, in Lincoln's-Inn Hall, laft
winter. I am happy in paying this tribute of applaufe
to an undertaking, at the execution of which through-
out I had the fatisfa&ion of being prefent.

94 LETTERS ON THE

adopted private, but general advantage, as
the ftandard by which I have regulated
my obfervations, and have meafured the
inferences which I have drawn from
them.

The prevalent form of government
which is found to exift in any nation is,
indeed, a fubjecl:, to underftand the na-
ture of which thoroughly often requires
fome trouble, and is attended with, great
difficulty. But the criterion of the prac-
tical excellence of every government is
level to the obfervation and capacity of
all men. The ftate of the people is
the mirror in which its merits or deme-
rits may be always read. This is a
ftandard which no accidental circum-
ftances can vary.

Whatever then may be the preponder-
ance which a government gives to talents,

IRISH NATION. 95

to property, or to numbers, different mo-
difications of which three antagonift prin-
ciples make the differences in all the
conftitutions of Europe; there neverthe-
lefs muft remain two immutable and eter-
nal rules, by which its practical merits are
to be decided. The firft of thefe flows
from the nature of man, and is this:
41 Under a good government the middle
rank of people always moji abounds/ The
fecond rule fprings from the moft approved
principles of politics, and the very effence
of a balanced government. It is this:
' Under a government well adminiflered,
it is always difficult to afcertain to which

of the three fimple forms of government

\

the conftitution moft approximates*.'
It is impoflible to entertain a doubt that

4

* See Ariftotle's Politics, book the fixth.

96 LRTtERS ON THE

the moderately rich moft abounding in a
nation, is a fure teft of a good pra&ical
government ; if we confider that wealth
produces infolence, and poverty the mean
and ferocious vices. But moderate fortune
is ever found to create that happy medium
of character which is the true ftandard of
human happinefs. The two opposite ex-
tremes place mankind in a ftate of intel-
lectual and moral degradation inconfiftent
with good government. The prefumptu-
ous arrogance and dropfied greatnefs of
immoderate wealth is, however, worfe than
the meannefs of pedlars or ferocity of fa-
vages. The middle rank of people have
alfo not only been ever found the beft guar-
dians of public liberty, but it has always
been even found to exift in proportion to
their prevalence. I truft that my other
principle, concerning balanced power, car-

IRISH NATION. 97

ries with it its own demonft ration. It may
be called a leading axiom under a govern-
ment of check and controul. Liberty can
only be preferved by the unfettered oper-
ation of every wheel and member of this
political mechanifm. All the governments
both of antiquity and of modern times will
be found more or lefs free as they approach
to this model of perfection*. But after all
our refearches, there will never be found
any example fo powerfully fupporting both
thefe criterion principles as the Britim
Constitution, which fbands proudly fore-
moft and eminently confpicuous above all
others to filence the fophift and convince
the real philofopher.

Such then are the two principles, drawn

* Polybhas has taken great pains to prove that
it exifted in perfedlion in the Roman Conliitution.
Fragm. 1. 6.

H

98 LETTERS ON THE

from the theory which I have firft explain-
ed, by which I have examined and judged
of the Irim government. No difciple of
Zoroafter could more firmly have relied
on the truth of his two principles, than I
have done. No devout Perfian, no fanc"li-
fied minifter of the Magi, could more perti-
nacioufly have refolved to adhere to them.
They have been the Zendavefta* of my
political creed. You will find that I have
ufed them as a clue by which I have been
guided through the mazes and intricacies
which are found in the labyrinth of this
political difcuffion.

The Irim government is, in theory, the
rival of the Britifh conftitution : it is
formed and fafhioned upon the model of

* The religious do£trinc of the Two Principles
eftabliftied amongft the ancient Perfians by Zoroafter,
was contained in a book called the Zendavefta.

IRISH NATION. 99

it ; but in adminiftration it differs toto coelo.
Inftead of being that balanced govern-
ment of King, Lords, and Commons; that

>

conftitution founded on a juft and equal
regard to talents, wealth, and numbers, em-
bodied in monarchical, ariftocratical, and
democratical corporations, the refpeclive
interefts of which are equitably adjufted,
and reciprocally check and controul each
other, it is in practice the corruption and
very antipodes of them all. The truth is,
that neither the King nor the Commons
have any real mare of the public authority.
They form neceflary, and I grant even
nominal, members of the legiflature ; but
in facl: the ariffcocracy has a preponderance
which outrages the arithmetic of true
politics.

Neither is this ariftocracy that natural
one which is founded on- the diflin&ions
U2

100 LETTERS ON THE

of talents, birth, or fortune, and which,
more or lefs, muft and ought to prevail
in every country. Virtue, whether per-
fonal or hereditary, muft always make
diftin&ions amongft men, and give a pre-
eminence to thofe who are pofTeiTed of
them. This is a natural ariftocracy, but
it is not the one which prevails in Ireland.
Neither is the latter an ufurped defpotifm
of one houfe of parliament over the other
two members of the government. No :
it is nothing more or lefs than a tyran-
nizing junto, formed out of both houfes,
that conftitutes this odious ariftocracy,
who have entailed the kingdom on them-
felves. This is it which clogs and fetters
the wheels of government. The prin-
ciple upon which it is founded is Eng-
Hlh defcent. The government is there-
fore a complete oligarchy. Inftead of

IRISH NATIOX. IOI

there being any doubt as to which of the
fimple forms of government the conftitu-
tion inclines, there is the moll barefaced
exhibition of the little weight which ei-
ther talents or numbers poffefs w^hen put
into the fcales againft this birth and the
property which has been long attached
to it. Neither does the monarchical
branch of the conftitution poffefs its jufl
weight and equipoife. It is altogether
fupported by the prefence of an English
viceroy, and an Englifh minifter. Againft
thefe two, but more particularly againfr.
the latter, is the whole force and energy
of the ariftocracy directed. He is looked
upon by them as an interloper, whofe
views and interefts are diametrically op-
pofite to, and inconfiftent with, their
views and . interests, and who is ferving
not them and their country, but Great

105 LETTERS ON THE

Britain and an abfent fovereign. The
confequence of this oppoiition neceflarily
is, that the fyftem of corruption is re-
forted to, in order to make amends for
that want of weight and equipoife which
the executive government ought to pof-
fefs without reforting to fuch affiftance.

There is a long chain of confequences
connected with this circumftance. The
moft important of thefe is, that the con-
nexion between the two kingdoms being
maintained by this {ingle tie of unity of
executive power, is necefTarily endan-
gered. With that weak fupport which
it receives in Ireland, if reafon did not
therefore point out the probability of a
complete feparation, experience immedi-
ately muft. It is frelh in the recollection
.." of every one, that during the late alarm-
ing indifpofition of his Majefty, the par-

IRISH NATION. 103

liament of this country aiTerted their right
to appoint a regent of their own choofing,
who mould be independent of, and dif-
tincl: from, that of Great Britain. If this
had really taken place, the feparation of
the two kingdoms was the inevitable
confequence. That it would have hap-
pened nothing could have poffibly pre-
vented, but the happy recovery of his
Majefty, and the confequent refumption
of his royal functions.

I truft that it is evident to you, from
what is above faid, that the monarchical
part of the Irifli government is too weak
and insignificant to maintain the equi-
poife of its theoretic conftitution. Let
us, then, next examine the popular part
of it. Here it will appear, that there is
not any juft reprefentation of the people.
Three-fourths of the population, which
H4

IO4 LETTERS ON THE

is the proportion of the Catholics of this
country to the Proteftants, are unrepre-
fented in parliament, if the being barred
from electing members, the objecls of
their own free, unbiafled choice, defer ve
(as it undoubtedly muft) to be ib called.
They are prevented choofmg fuch repre-
fentatives as muft neceflarily moft poflefs
their confidence, namely, members of
their own religious community. They
are, on the contrary, compelled to elecl
proteftants, whofe interefts are as oppo-
fite and inimical (as are their religious
opinions) to thofe of the individuals for
whom they are delegated the reprefenta-
tives in parliament. This therefore can-
not, in fa6t, be any real reprefentation.
The inference which we are compelled
to draw, therefore, is, that if the royal
branch of the conflitution is deftitute of

IRISH NATION. 105

its juft equipoife, the popular part of it is
a mere mockery and mimicry of a demo-
cracy. Both are merged and almoft ex-
tin guimed in an ariftocracy which was
meant to balance and maintain them.
Alone, and almoft undifhirbed, this
ariftocracy rules the conftitution, the
Queen and fovereign lady of the Irim
nation.

You will perceive that I have inverted

^ +

the order into which I arranged the two

grand principles by which I judge of the
Irim government, and have taken the
liberty of difcuffing the laft of them firft.
The reafon why I have done fo was, be-
caufe the facl: which I have meafiired by
it, is of public notoriety. It is not necef-
fary to have travelled into Ireland to ac-
quire the knowledge of it. The exiftence
of an odious ariftocracy in it, is known to

IO6 4 LETTERS ON THE

every man on your fide of the water. But
to apply the other principle, to obferve
whether the middle rank does or not
abound, a voyage acrofs the Irifh fea is
altogether indifpenfable. In my preced-
ing letter I have endeavoured to acquaint
you with the characters of only two or-
ders of men in this country, the rich and
the poor ; becaufe there is not any inter-
mediate clafs. I mall proceed now to
make fome further obfervations on the
fame fubje6l.

Here I will be bold enough to affert,
that the peculiarity which moft ftrikes
every ftranger upon landing in Ireland,
and of which I myfelf felt the full force,,
is that face of beggary, wrant, and wretch-
ednefs, which every where prefents itfelf.
For my own part, I was fo much {truck
with the contrail between it and the

IRISH NATION. 107

country which I had juft quitted, that I
could not but reflect, how very applica-
ble would be the remark which Charles V.
made of the relative appearance of France
and Spain (through both of which coun-
tries he had often travelled) to the com-
parifon between England and Ireland.
* In the former/ faid he, ' every thing
abounds ; in the latter every thing feems
to be wanting.' Had he been crofting
the Irifh channel, no obfervation could
poffibly have been more applicable.

The traveller who lands in Dublin finds
that the ftreets are crowded with craving
wretches, whofe diftrefles are mocking to
humanity, and whofe nakednefs is hurt-
ful to the eye of decency. With this mi-
fery of the lower clafTes (for in a greater
or a lefs degree it pervades three- fourths of
the whole people of Ireland) is contracted

JOS LETTERS ON THE

the condition of the wealthy. Their pub-
lic edifices, their palaces, their fquares, and
the ftreets which diverge from them, and
their equipages, are magnificent beyond
meafure. In the capital of the kingdom
there is to be feen nothing of thofe groups
of moderately dimenfioned houfes, inhabit-
ed by the middling clafles of people, and
fuitable to a mediocrity of fortune, which
compofe the far greater part of the city of
London. The dimenfions of all the build-
ings in Ireland are in oppofite extremes.
The eye reverts, almoft the fame as in
Egypt, from the pyramid to the mud-
cottage. The air feems to be either
' mocked with idle ftate,' or the earth
defiled with more than CafFrarian wretch-
ednefs.

I vifited the Houfes of Parliament, and
the Courts of Juftice, which conflitute

IRISH NATIOJT. 109

two of the grandeft piles of building in all
Dublin. But neither law nor a conftitu-
tion can exift in edifices : if they could,
Ireland would indeed enjoy them. But
what are thefe boafted terms of freedom
and juftice, but words and parchment, un-
lefs a people have rights and property to
be protected ? If they are only made the
fortrefles to uphold oppreflion, they be-
come a curfe inflead of a bleffing. If they
are made the guards of property wrung
by the tyranny of a few from the great
mafs of the people, they are nothing but a
monument whofe bafis is the mifery and
oppreffion of the nation.

I looked on the Parliament-houfe in
Dublin with its proud Corinthian pillars,

its boaft of ancient architecture, its mag-

•

nificent porticos, extent of building, glit-
tering cupola, and crowded ftatues, which

IIO LETTERS ON THE

crown the whole, with delight and admira-
tion. But its femicircular front of Port-
land ftone, only ferves to ikreen fo many
hundred yards of houfes which would
otherwife difguft the eye. I next walked
to the Four Courts (of Juftice), and fur-
veyed that building from the oppofite
bank of the Liffey, to that on which the
noble edifice bearing that name is fituated.
I was aftonimed at the elegance of its ex-
terior, exhibiting all the embellimments
which architectural and fculptural fcience
can beflow. In order to take a view of
the interior of the building, I then crofled
the narrow ftream of the Liffey, over a
bridge which feems to be intended as the
prototype of ours at Weftminfter. As
if making my approach to an Athenian
temple, I ,afcended a lofty range of ftone
fteps; I was foon ufhered by an Irifh
6

IRISH NATION. Ill

Cicerone into a fplendid circular hall,

nearly feventy feet in diameter, from which

i
the four courts of juftice radiate at equal

diftances. My eye dwelt with pride and
admiration on fluted lhafts and Corinthian
capitals. I enumerated the emblematical
devices which adorn this hall ; the iigning
the great charter of our common liberties
by King John at Runnimead, and of thofe
of the city of Dublin by King James, writh
crowds of feudal knights and barons bold,
armed at all points. I looked higher to-
wards the roof of the building, and num-
bered eight ftatues as if fupporting the
dome. There was Liberty and Eloquence,
Prudence and Juftice, Wifdom and Law,
with Punimment, and laftly Mercy, bring-
ing up the rear. Roving thus from orna-
ment to ornament, from the interfering
black and white marble fquares of the floor,
which feemed formed like a planetarium

112 LETTERS ON THE

to revolve round a common centre, up to
the cupola where the emulous plaifterer
had exerted all his ikill ; I began to fancy
myfelf in one of thofe fairy palaces which
fome ingenious romance-writers have de-
fcribed. But, by fome accident in coming
out, the talifman was broken, and the en-
chantment melted in a moment. The
vifionary fabric vaniflied into air. I found
myfelf as much furprifed as many other
fimple knights-errant have been when they
awakened from a fimilar trance. My
olfactory nerve was aiTailed by the horrid
ftench which arifes from the Liffey (the
Cloaca Maxima of Dublin) ; my auditory
nerves were affaulted with the clamorous
importunities of a crowd of beggars ; and
my organs of vifion turned away with
difguft from every edifice and object within
the horizon.

I was impatient to get into the country,

IRISH NATION. 113

.or the accommodation which the Dublin
hotels (they difdain the name of inns, and
have no fuch thing) offer to ftrangers is
moft execrable and intolerable. An Eng-
limman, who has never travelled out of his'
own country, can form no adequate idea
of their dirt and inconveniences. I had
been much better accommodated in the
moft dreary and unfrequented recedes of
North Wales. I could not poffibly throw
myfelf on the hofpitalityof my Irim friends,
becaufe at this feafon of the year they are
in the country. I therefore followed their
example as foon as I had feen every thing
which Dublin could offer to the curiofity
of a. foreigner.

Though the accommodations for tra-
velling are here very inferior to thofe of
Great Britain, yet the roads are good, and
the inns in the country are infinitely fu-
I

114 LETTERS ON THE

perior to thofe of the capital. But the
contrail between the rich and the poor,
the lord and the peafant, is as ftrongly
marked as it is in Dublin. But I have
endeavoured, in my laffc letter, to give
you fome idea of this clafs of people. I
can only add to my defcription of this
full picture of human mifery, that 1 have
read of the bondfmen and villeins of the
ancient feudal fyftem, and of the boors
and vaffals (glebtz adfcriptititj , as they are
now feen to exift in the tenures of modern
Germany : but I cannot conceive the fitu-
ation of either to be fo miferable as that of
the Irifh peafantry. I am convinced that
the condition of the Weft India negro is a
paradife to it. The Have in our colonies
has meat to eat, and diftilled fpirit to-
drink, whilft the life of the Irilh peafant
ib alrnoft that of a favage who feeds upon

7

IRISH NATION. 115

milk and roots. His clothing, if indeed
it deferves that name, is a fyftem of
' loop'd and window'd raggednefs,' and
he lives in a clay-built cottage, fuch as I
have defcribcd it to you. I aflure you
that I have felt for the dignity of human
nature, when I have beheld a race of men,
who, in form and motion, in ftature and
in countenance, were the pride of the fpe-
cies ; on whofe perfons Heaven had la-
vimed all its favours—

Os fublime dedit, ccelumque tueri
Juffit, et credos ad lidera tollere vultus:

who are gifted with courage, with gene-
rofity, with many heroic virtues, and al-
moft with every thing, in outward appear-
ance, which can give the world ' affurance
of men :' to fee them, I fay, humiliated
and degraded to fo wretched a condition.
I am not the advocate of rebellion ; but

Il6 LETTERS OX THE

this I muft fay, that if fuch men as thefc
are to be made Helots and Penefts of, and
chained to the cultivation of the foil
without partaking of hardly any of its
fruits ; if a government fit only for the
puny race of Afiatic climes is forced upon
the hardy giant fons of the North ; their
lords and rulers muft expect that the
avenging thunder will fometimes burft
on their heads;

Such are the fa els which in this country
offer themfelves to view ; and fuch is the
character of the Trim government in its
practical merits,, which the application of
thefe two principles therefore obliges us to
make. There is neither balanced power,

v

nor a middle^clafs of people. Thq,country
is divided between the difproportionately
rich, and the miferably poor. It is ruled
by an ariftocracy with a rod of iron. As

IRISH NATION.

under the defpotifms of the Eaft, there is
fcarce any intermediate ftation between
the fultan and the Have, the free govern-
ments of Europe are perhaps diftinguimed
from the defpotic ones of the Eaft, by no-
thing more than the oppofite conditions of
the great mafs of the people. The com-
preheniive policy of the one produces the
peace and happinefs of the whole : but in
Asiatic monarchies we fee, what I think
Montefquieu fomewhere calls, a fplendid
focus collected in the centre, with mifery
and weaknefs in all the extremities. Such
is the cafe in Ireland. There is no power-
ful nobility, no judicial corporation, no
mercantile interefts to temper and mode-
rate the power of the ariftocracy over the
people, becaufe thefe very bodies are
themfelves the component parts of the
ariftocracy.

13

Il8 LETTERS ON THE

Neither is the fyftem of Viceroyal
government, as it exifts in Ireland, alto-
gether without objections to it. Its ex-
ertions muft neceffarily be crippled by
the ariftocracy of the country. Whether
it is fuccefsful or unfuccefsful in its admi-
niftration, {till it is at all times attended
with the greateft inconveniences. When
it is oppofed, the wheels of government
are clogged, and the executive power
palfied and inefficient: When it is unim-
peded, it is through the medium of
influence and corruption, which, are
more deteftable, although lefs fenfibly
deftruclive. But this evil, though more

N

flow, is yet equally fure in its operation.

This is the miferable government which
fubfifls in Ireland. How long it will exift,
God alone knows ; but, if I may venture
to predict, it will not be long. The

IRISH NATION. 1 19

s of the world feem to have
* lived their day.' They have perifhed in
moft other countries, and cannot long
furvive in Ireland. This at leaft I will
venture to uflert, that not even the ple-
beians of old Rome ever fighed fo much
for the removal of that patrician power
by which they were opprefled, as the
I rim do for that of the petty tyrants who

rule over them.
i
Upon the crifis of this great conteft

the welfare of Ireland altogether depends.
The parties are now at iflue on it.
Until the matter is decided, the country
will remain in its prefent confufion.
' For while a fyftem of administration
is attempted, entirely repugnant to the
genius of the people, and not confor-
mable even to the real principle of
their government, every thing mufl ne-
14

12O LETTERS ON THE

ceiTarily be difordered for a time, until
this fyftem deftroys the true conftitu-
tion, or the conftitution gets the better
of this fyftem.'

I am, &c. &c,

IRISH NATION. 121

LETTER III.

01 THE RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES OF
THE IRISH, &C. &C.

My dear Sir,

IT is a .peculiarity known only
to Ireland, perhaps of all other countries,
that its inhabitants are more diftinguifhed
from each other, on account of their re-
ligious opinions, than they are by any other
criterion. To this as a leading caufe may be
traced that extreme ftate of oppreffion in
which I have defcribed the poor as living.
It is their misfortune to be born Roman
Catholics, and to adhere to that religion
which their anceftors have profefled ever
fmce the gofpel was firft preached in the
ifland. That pure and humble religion
which was fent from Heaven to unite all

12 Z LETTERS ON THE

the nations of the earth in piety, harmony,
and univerfal love, has proved to this
country a fource of the moft bloody and
implacable animofities.

If I were about to give a perfect ftranger
to the political connexions of" Great Bri-
tain fome general idea of the condition of
the people of Ireland in the article of re-
ligion, I fhould defire him to abftracl:
himfelf for a moment, and endeavour to
conceive what muft be the relation between
the conquerors and the natives of fome
freih invaded country. If his fancy could
paint him a lively picture of the forenefs,
thcjealoufy, and the diftruft, which muft
cxift, he would then be able to compre-
hend, in fome little degree at leaft, the
Situation of the Irim. No .animoiity can
be more irreconcileable, no jealoufy more
watchful, and, I will venture to add, no

IRISH NATION.

dread fo irremoveable, as that which
feems to fubfift between the government
and the fubjects of this kingdom.

If you paufefor a moment to confider the
outline of the hiftory of the connexion
between Great Britain and Ireland, you
will be able to account for it. You will
fee the caufes of diis defpotifm in govern-
ment and intolerance in religion. It is
fcarcely any thing but a beadroll of broils

and battles. Henry the Second invaded

i
Ireland about fix hundred years ago, but

very imperfectly conquered it, and planted
fome colonies in it. It was at that time
plunged in fuch extreme barbarity, that
we are informed by the hiftorians of the
age, that only a few Engliih of defperatc
fortunes could be perfuaded to transport
themfelves into the country*. That few

* See Brompton, p. 1069, and Neubrig, 403,
quoted in Hume's Hiftory, v. i. p, 431, 8vo. edit.

124 LETTERS 0>J THE

however had great difficulty to maintain
their ftation; attempts being perpetually
made to expel the colony. It was not till
the reign of James the Firft, that the
ifland was completely fubdued. That
monarch endeavoured to civilize the na-
tives by abolifhing their barbarous ufages
and cuftoms, and fubftituting in their
room the benefits of Englifh government,
laws, and manners. But in this he met
with great oppofition, the Irim being
ftrongly attached to a fort of wild unwrit-
ten fyftem of jurifprudence, called their
Brehon law, the leading feature of which
was that of inflicting a pecuniary commu-
tation on all offences, including even
murder.

Unfortunately the exertions of James
were oppofed not merely by the brutality
and ignorance of the Irifh, but with an

IRISH NATION. 135

obftacle of the moil unfurmountable na-
ture, which had but lately arifen. This
was that bar which the reformation had
placed between the natives, and the colo-
nifts who followed the religion of the
mother country. The confequence was,
that the oppofition which laws, intereft,
and manners, had long before created, was
inflamed by religious antipathy, the moft
deadly of all paffions. To the old diftinc-
tion between colonift and native was fu-
peradded that of Proteftant and Catholic.
Into thefe two diitincl: bodies of Proteftant
colonifh and Catholic natives, the nation
has ever fmce continued to be divided.

This added frelh fuel to the flame of their

\

former diflenfions, and may be conildered
as the cauie of all the calamities which
have fmce afflicted this unfortunate coun-
try. Religion, inftead of tending to heal

12,6 LETTERS ON THE

the difcontents which the government
occafioned, heightened and incrcafed them.
Inftead of their co-operating in a tendency
to make good citizens, they have created
irreconcileable enemies. I fhall endeavour
to give you fbme account of the ftate of
the Catholics and of the Proteftants, in a
regular order.

I. The Catholics, I have already obferved,
are the real natives of Ireland, and the
original rightful poiTeflbrs of the foil. But
they have however been gradually expelled
from that pofleffion by the fure progrefs
of violence and confiscation. No fooner
was war ended or rebellion crufhed than
the lawyers went to work with chicane,
and the legislature with penal ftatutes.
They firft ftripped the native of his eftate,
and then difqualified him by law from
recovering it again, or even from acquir-

IRISH NATION.

ing other property. When aggreffion
provoked the Trim to felt- defence or to
revenge, the frantic ftruggles which were
dictated by their defpair, were converted
into pretext, and newreafons for additional
acls of oppreffion.

It is not therefore to be wondered that
the Irim fhould always have looked upon
thefe colonifts as intruders and robbers,
and have embraced every opportunity of
expelling them from their country. With
this view have been the aflbciates of every
domeftic and foreign enemy to the go-
vernment of Engl^id. They have joined,
if not openly and avowedly, yet always in
their hearts and minds, every pretender^ to
the crown from Lambert Simnel down to
Edward Stuart. ~ We have never been at:
war with the French, the Spaniards, or
the Emperor, but thofe powers have found

I 28 LETTERS ON THE

their account in ftirring up the native
Irifh. Numbers of them have always
been oppofed to us in the armies of our
enemies, and, by their defperate valour
alone, have often flood in the way of our
victories. Annales vaterum delicla loquen-
fur: harebunt maculce. The confequences
of fuch ftrong difaffeclion towards the
Englifh have been fuch as might naturally
have been expected. Attainder has been
followed up by attainder, and confifcation
by confifcation. In the reign of James
the whole province of Ulfter came to the
crown, and equally imn^enfe traces of land
were taken from the Catholics in the
times of Cromwell and William the Third.
By thefe means, the intereft of three mil-
lions of natives in their own foil has been
at length almoft totally extirpated. Penal
laws and difquali tying flatutes, fome of

IRISH NATION.

which ftill remain, completely foreclofed
the poffibility of their ever regaining that
intereft. They were deprived of the right
of electing reprefentatives, and ftill conti-
nue fhut out from feats in Parliament
and all the great offices of ftate. Every
office and every franchife, ecclefiaftical,
civil, and military, was taken from them;
and the mercilefs unrelenting hand of the
law, having {tripped them naked, , turned
them out of doors, that miferable populace
which we now behold them. For my
own part, fmce I have been in Ireland, I
have invariably afcertained that almoft
every pitiable objecl: in rags and mifery
was a Catholic; and that almoft every
man who enjoyed the advantages of food
and cloathing obtained them by his Pro-
teftantifm. They carry thefe palpable
badges of their religious differences about

K

I

130 LETTERS OX THE

them. It is utterly impoffible that the
contrail can be more ftriking, between
the lazy luxurious European and the
naked ftarved Afiatic on the plains of
Hindoftan.

II. I take my leave of the Catholics for
the prefent, and turn to the Injh Proteftants.
Thefe are the colonifts who have migrated
from the mother country, and who have
been fed by the plunder gained by con-
queft and confifcation. The Proteftant
religion has alfo been long the badge of
that arift6cracy which in my laft letter
I have mentioned as tyrannizing over Ire-
land.

But the Proteftant colonifts in this
country are divided into two clafles ; thofe
of the Church of England, and thofe of
the Church of Scotland. The defcen-
dants of the Englifh. are of the firft order;

IRISH NATION.

and thefe are the wealthy inhabitants of
Dublin, Waterford, Cork, and the whole
fouthern and eaftern coafts. They are
like the rich embroidered border of a tat-
tered and thread -bare mantle. The fecond
clafs is compofed of emigrants from Scot-
land, their heirs and fucceifors. Thefe
are fpread over all the northern provinces
of the kingdom, enjoying a tolerable mare
of the commerce of the country and fome
of its landed property. Of each of thefe
in their order.

i . Conqueft and confiscation constitute
the title of the Proteftant who nTued from
England. Military fervice was in general
the confideration he paid, and his fword
might have been properly called his title-
deed. The followers of Cromwell, and

'^
the heroes who afterwards grained the

o

battle of the Boyne, which confirmed the
K 2

LETTERS ON THE

fettlement of the Englifh, were rewarded
with the eftatcs of thofe who fell by the
fword or the hands of the executioner.

The fpoils of the flam were left to thofe
who fought for fomething more than
glory. The eftates and effects of thofe who
fell in battle, and of thofe who were at all
implicated in the charge of disaffection,
which probably always compofed a ftill
greater number, were the booty of the
conquering fbldiers. They were accord-
ingly distributed amongft them. Thefe
hands fr.il 1 engrofs all the church patro-
nage, all the honours, and the far greater
part of the landed property of the country.

2. As the pride of Alexander could bear
no equal with him in power, fo did the
jealoufy of the Anglo- Jrifh for a long time
influence them in their conduct towards
the Scotch. The far greater part of

IRISH NATION. 133

this numerous body, computed at near
i ,000,000, fettled in Ireland in the reign
of their countryman James the Firft. But
thefe adventurers, and fellow -labourers in
the fame profitable vineyard with the
Englim, were not admitted to an equal
footing with them. The fupreme power
of the ftate has been always almoft exclu-
fively in the hands of the Proteftants.
The DnTenters were for a long time ex-
cluded, not only from all fhare in the
legiilature, but even from all fubordinate
offices of magiftracy. The teft and cor-
poration a&s, which deprived them of all
fecondary offices of magiflracy under the
government, have however been at length
repealed; at leaft fo far as concerns the
civil power of the ftate.

The Diflenters are an opulent and en-
lightened body of men, poffefling large

134 LETTERS ON THE

landed eftates, and having exclufively in
their own hands great part of the com-
merce of the country. The linen trade,
which has been properly called the
great ftaple of Irifh wealth, is a child of
their own rearing. They eftablifhed it
themfelves ; brought it to perfection by
their own induftry ; and of courfe have
the emoluments of it exclufively in their
own hands. There remains therefore no
fource of difcontent and uneafmefs which
they can reafonably complain of, except
indeed their exclufion from church patro-
nage and eccleiiaftical wealth and honours,
*nay be thought of that nature.

Thefe are the prominent religious dif-
tin&ions which prevail in Ireland.
They exift alfo in England, but they are
not fo marked, nor are the consequences
of them fo oppreffive. They affect but a

IRISH NATION. 135

fmall part of the population of the coun-
try; whilft in Ireland they tyrannize almoft
over the whole inhabitants. The ftigma
of religion (for it cannot be called any
thing elfe) is attached to more than three
millions of Catholics, and to nearly one
million of DhTenters, though it affects the
latter in a much lefs important degree.
Not more than five hundred thoufand
Proteftants can therefore be faid to enjoy,
fully and without any reflricliion whatever,
the benefits of government*.

* Mr. Jackfon, in a paper intended to have been
fent to France, but which was feized, and fully
proved on his trial, eftimates the population of Ireland
at 4,500,000; of which 450,000 are Proteftants,
900,0:0 DifTenters, and 3,150,000 Catholics.—
Air Chalmers eftimated the number of inhabitants
in 1791 to amount to 4,200,000. — I find however,
that a very late writer (Dr. Duignan) difapproves
even of tins calculation, and fays that it cannot be
much more than three millions, two tfnrds of which he
reckons to be Roman Catholics and one third Pro-

K4

136 LETTERS ON THE

t muft here confefs that I fhould be
afliamed not to add myfelf to the lift of
the advocates for that univerfal toleration
which is every day gaining partifans, and
which looks to the removal of all religious
diftin&ions in political matters. I am per-*
fuaded, and cannot be induced to relinquifh
the conviction, thatknowledge isbecoming
every day more generally and more equal-
ly diffufed over Europe; mail I fay over the
Globe ? We are daily gaining frefh lights
from the philofophy of ethics, and even
of religion, almoft in the fame manner as
aftronomers by the improvement of their
glafles, are continually enlarging their
catalogues of the vifible fixed ftars. Not
that thefe lights, both in phyfics and in
morals, did not before exift, but that they

teftants. — (Prefent Political State of Ireland, p. 28,
and Appendix, No. i), Note to id edit.

IRISH NATION. 137

were invisible to us. In the latter cafe, it
was nothing but ignorance which blinded
mankind. The chapter of prejudices
which impedes, and which always will
impede, the improvement of the volume
of Human Knowledge, is indeed a long
and difficult one ; but it is equally pleafmg
as it is true, to obferve how greatly it has
of late been abridged and curtailed. Let
any man who doubts whether toleration
(which is the natural efTecliofan enlight-
ened age, and may even be called the
barometer of it) is daily gaining ground,
look (not at the modern French philofo-
phy, which ftrikes at the very root of the
firft principles of morality), but let him
look back one fmgle century, and then
confider how many millions or people
have in the courfe of that time been
emancipated from its fhackles! When he

9

LETTERS ON THE

has looked over the map of Europe, and
contemplated the condition of the diffe-
rent nations of it at the commencement
of the eighteenth century, and at the clofe
of it, comparing the former with the
latter, notwithstanding all its drawbacks :
let him then continue his retrograde
review for another century. He will
then be advanced almoft into twilight.
Let this inquirer then mount up one fur-
ther period of a hundred years, and he will
have nearly reached that '. Cimmerian
darknefs' which preceded the Reforma-
tion, and overfpread the whole face of
Europe. This was the boundary of that
dark period of hiftory, in which Europe
was uniformly buried in the grofleft fuper-
ftition, and unhefitatingly bowed down
before the golden calf which was fet up.
Not even the breaks of light, the literary
corrufcations which buril forth in Italy

IRISH NATION. 139

during the age of the Medicis, were fuffi-
cient to difpel that night of fuperftition
which then prevailed.

If the philofophic inquirer recoils at
the recollection of thele times, and hurriesr
back to the comparatively happy period in
which he lives, he muft then thank his
ftars that he was born in an age in which
the principles of true religion are better
underftood. He will then fee that tole-
ration, the companion of knowledge and
liberality, is -making hafty ftrides amongft
us. This is alone that folid happinefs
which is increafing in every age ; it is
that only Eternal Peace of this life which
Voltaire thought mankind will ever en-
joy undifturbed by war or commotion ;
it is the- object for which Locke and
Hume, and a lift of worthies, long fighed
in vain, and committed to their pofterity
the facred charge of obtaining in ftill

140 LETTERS ON TII£

happier times. When the idol of bigotry
once falls to the ground (for it has fome
time tottered), and univerfal toleration
rifes out of its ames, we mall then enjoy a
' blefled fabbath of repofe, — an age of joy
and happinefs, — a real Millenium ! '

Much as I value my religion, yet truth
obliges me to confefs that the world has
never yet enjoyed the full benefits of
Chriftianity. The peace and harmony
which it wras intended to promote have
never yet been fufficiently comprehen-
ilve. There has always been hitherto
great ground for complaint, and great
room for improvement. The profcrip-
tions of antiquity are nothing when com-
pared with thofe of modern religion. It
is true that Chriflianity has removed
thofe wide-fpread fcenes of defolation
which marked the progrefs of fuch con-
querors as Attila, Zingis, and Tamerlane ;

IRISH NATION.

but it has left in the room of them
difcords between the citizens of the fame
ftate, and religious factions whofe domef-
tic conflicts, if notfo bloody, are yet more
implacable. Mankind have never yet
fully learnt the important leflbn of bear-
ing with other religious opinions than
thofe of their own party.

I truft however that the period is not
far off, when it will at leaft be well un-
derftood both in Great Britain, and Ire-
land ; when all eccleafiftical tefts will
be banifhed beyond the pale of true
religion, and the Diflenters be received
into the bofom of the ftate as virtuous
citizens, and the Roman Catholics as
loyal fubjedls. There is no other teft
except that of religion which either of
them could declare themfelves aggrieved
by. There can be no political ordeal,
as the teft of loyalty, to which they feem

142 LETTERS ON THE

unwilling to fubmit. I truft, and am
convinced, that it is nothing but fcruples
of mere confcience to which they attend,

>

in objecting to exifting tefts. Every fe-
curity for their loyalty and attachment
to the government, which the fafety of
the ftate mall require or think neceffary,
they have freely offered to give.

The principal grievance which the
Roman Catholics both of Great Britain
and of Ireland complain, is their excluilon
from feats in the legiflatures of either
country. By the ftatutes made in the
thirtieth year of Charles the Second's
.reign, and in the third of William and
Mary's, it is required that all peers and
members' of parliament mail take the
oaths of allegiance and fupremacy before
they can fit or vote in either houfe.
The oath of allegiance to his Majeity,
the Catholic are willing to fubfcribe to.

IRISH NATION, 143

But it is to part of the oath of fupremacy

•

that they refufe their affent. This oath

firft requires them to abjure the ' damna-
ble doclrine, that princes excommunicated
by the Pope, may be depofed and mur-
dered by their own fubjefts.' The Ca-
tholics have no objection to fubfcribe
to this; but to the fecond part of the
oath which requires them to declare
that ' no foreign perfon, prelate, or ftate,
hath any power, jurifdi&ion, pre-emi-
nence, or authority, ecclefiajlical or fp'ir'itual,
within this realm', they objecl, becaufe
it interferes with the firft principle of
their religion, which is the acknowledg-
ment of the Pope as the head of the
Catholic church. It is thus merely a

fcruple of confcience which excludes them

/

from their feats in the legiflature. And
even this fcruple might be eafily avoided,
by the parliament altering two words

144 LETTERS ON THE

in the oath of Supremacy, and fubftituting
civil or temporal in the place of * ecclefiaftical
orfpintual' 1 confefs I am of opinion that
it might be done without deftroying or
even endangering any fecurity erected for
the prefervation of the government. I
am perfuaded that the legifiatures of both
kingdoms are called upon to do it by
every principle of juftice, of liberality,
and of thofe other virtues which fupport
a free conftitution.

With refpecl: to the Diflenters of
Ireland, they do not labour under the fame
difqualifications as that feel does in Eng-
land. It is unneceflary for me to inform
you, that the Diflenters of England are
excluded from offices and employments
by the tcfl and corporation acls. Thefe
acts require as qualifications for holding
places, that certain oaths lhall be taken,

IRISH NATION. 145

and alib that the facrament ihall be re-
ceived in a Proteftant church. It is
from religious fcruples therefore that Dif-
fenters are at all opprefTed, as well as the
Roman Catholics. Any political teft,
which mall be required of them, they
have alfb long declared themfelves willing
to undergo. The only point upon which
any difference is entertained, is that of the
propriety of making the particular religi-
ous opinions of this body of men any ob-
jection to their holding political power
in Great Britain. I confefs that upon
this queftion my opinion is now 'moft
decidedly made up, and the example of
Ireland has operated moft forcibly orT
my mind in convincing me that to do fb
is impolitic as well as unjuft.

I mall not however ftay to eftablim
by any argument a truth which has

146 LETTERS ON THE

been recognized and acceded to in this
country, fo far at leaft as relates to Pro-
teftant DhTenters. But with regard tb
the policy of the difqualifications of the
Roman Catholics, a topic fo important
in its nature and application to Ireland, and
fb materially connected with the fubjed:
of the prefent letter, it is irripoflible for
me to be altogether filent.

The evil political tendency of the
Roman Catholic faith is the principal
ground upon which their enemies defend
the laws enafted againft them. But
certainly the invocation , of faints, doc-
trine of tranfubftantiation, and fuch
tenets, are innocent to fociety. As to
that fpiritual fupremacy which their own
church acknowledges to be in the Pope,
I think it cannot with juftice be mifcon-
ftrued and perverted into any denial

IRISH NATION. 147

of his Majefty's title to be confidered
as Head of the Church of England.
Neither is it equitable to infer that they
are enemies to the eftablifhed government
becaufe they differ from the eftablifhed
religion, when that inference is not only
repelled by their own exprefs declarations,
but by a readinefs to undergo the ordeal
of any political teft which it mall be
thought neceflary to impofe on them.

Civil duties are diftincT: from and in-
dependent of religious opinions, and it
feems to me that fo long as -they conti-
nue to be feparated, the non-conformifts
to Proteftantifm have every right whicjj
juftice can afford to be admitted to the

enjoyment of the constitution under

fe
which they are born. Now it- muft be

allowed by all parties, that by thefe laws
fome millions of fubjecls are deprived

148 LETTERS ON THE

of their otherwife natural birth-rights.
Some great and commanding neceffity
can then alone juftify this exclufion.
Thefe men are members of the ftate ;
they contribute their mare, according
to their ability, towards the expences
of the flate, they fight its battles both
by fea and land; and why are they
not admitted to enjoy every benefit and
franchife which it can afford ? It is nothing
but idle talk to aflert that the defence
of the conftitution being connected with
that of the ecclefiaftical eftablimment ;
the -endangering of the one would at the
fame time be the undermining of the
other. I am ready to allow the truth
of the propofition in its fulleft extent,
•becaufe I am a friend to them both.
But the propofition does not in the leaft
apply to the point in difpute, unlefs

IRISH NATION. 149

it can be firft mewn that the Proteftant
religion would be endangered, for upon
that muft principally depend the exift-
cnce of the ecclefiaftical eftablifhment
in both kingdoms. But it feems to me
that this religion is built upon a rock

which no length of time will be able to
t
• overturn. It is not defending, but rather

attacking the Proteftant religion, to aflert
that it is maintained by any thing but
its own evidences, truth, and merits ;
or even to infer that it will be endangered
by an equitable toleration of other re-
ligions. As then the ecclefiaftical efta>
blimment ftands upon the fame founda-
tion with the Proteftant religion, it
would rather feem to add to the fecurity
of them both, by removing every ground
of refentment againft them. Is it not
an eternal truth, ' that every religion which
L q

150 LETTERS ON THE

which is perfecuted becomes itfelf per-
fecuting ? As foon as by fome accidental
turn it arifes from depreffion, it attacks
the religion which perfecutes it, not as
a religion, but as a tyranny.' The fecurity
then of every religion and its eftablifti-
ment depends, firft upon its truth and
merits, and next on its toleration of other
religions, for it then never fails of meet-
ing from them a return of the like
mildnefs and indulgence. .

Religious toleration is thus not only
the beft policy which a ftate can poffibly
adopt, but it is alfo a principle of the
law of nature, engraven in the hearts of all
mankind. If I am called upon for the
proof of this proportion; it is evident,
from the abfurdity of fuppofmg for a
moment that any created being has a
right to force another, under the fear

IRISH NATION. 1^1

of penalties, to think precifely as he
does. I grant that if the law commands
any one religion to be obferved to the ex-
clufion of others, the obligations of natu-
ral law are then fuperfeded fo far as they
might influence the external conducl of
any individual; but the free operations
of his mind within itfelf are beyond the
controul and jurifdiclion of all ftatutes
and edicts. They may be compared to
fpace itfelf, ' a circle whofe centre is
every where, but whofe circumference is
no where.' •

The pofitive laws of many nations
have recognized this principle of na-
tural juftice. It has even been contend-
ed, and with great force of argument,
that Toleration is one of the oHeft prin-
ciples even of the Britifh eonftitution.
The leading article of the great charter
L4

LETTERS ON THE

of our liberties (and Irim liberties are our
liberties, for nearly the fame laws govern
in both countries); the firft article, I fay,

of Magna Charta directs that no man mall
i

be difturbed in the exercife of his religion,
and that the Church of England mall be
free. And though the arrogant preten-
fions of the See of Rome formerly render-
ed it neceflary to guard againft its ufurpa-
tions in thefe countries, yet that ftorm
has long blown over, and that power long
been fhipwrecked. It is as ridiculous to
fufpeft danger from the Court of Rome
now, as it would be to dread the ambition
of their renowned forefathers. We have
lived to fee the rod of St. Peter broken to
pieces, and the ' vicar of Chrift upon
earth' hurled from his throne. The
meridian of fuperftition has been occupied
by the profelytes of atheifm, and that
power which once fulminated over Eu-

IRISH NATIOM. 1^3

rope and affrighted the monarchs of the
world, is now reduced to iniignificance,
and almoft to contempt, if pity did not
prevent it. Why mould we then conjure
up phantoms of departed greatnefs to
alarm and terrify us ? The Caefars of the
fword, and the Popes of the church, are
both gone by. At diftant periods from
the prefent time and from each other,

they have given us uneafmefs, and we now

J|
may in fafety defpife them bofen.

The laws againft the Roman Catholi'cs
appear therefore to me to be founded
upon ridiculous, abfurd, and antiquated
principles of policy, totally inapplicable to
the prelent times. Their exiftence with-
out the neceflity under the preflure of
which they were enacted, is inconfiflcnt
with the policy of a liberal and enlight-
ened nation. It is committing the great-

154 LETTERS ON THE

eft injufticc, and violating the true ipirit
both of natural and pofitive law.
For, to punifh a man for fpeculative
opinions which have neither dangerous
effects nor dangerous tendencies, is the
higheft injuftice and the greateft violation
of national freedom. It does this by

9

creating difqualifications. To difqualify
a man is to punifh him by affixing the
ftigma of miftruft on him. Not even a
life of fervice can warn away the difgrace
or remove the jealoufy of thefe laws.
The army of Great Britain is filled with
Scotch .DhTenters, and the militia of
Ireland is almoft wholly compofed of
Catholics. And yet though they are
trufted with arms in their hands, yet
they ftill labour under fufpicions of difaf-
feclion, and under profcriptions the moft
ungenerous and tyrannical.

IRISH NATION. 155

There is a fpirit of generofity which
when adopted in the policy of a nation
never fails of meeting with a full return of
merit and fervices. I cannot, in cafting
my eye over the page of hiftory, but
recollec"l that the Romans knew the full
value of this liberal principle. They
granted the freedom of their city, with a
full {hare of its honours and privileges,
to Latium, to Italy, and laftly to the
provinces. They facrinced even their
vanity, to the increafmg their power.
Virtue and merit was adopted as their
own, wherever it was met with. Not
even flaves or Grangers, enemies or barba-
rians, were fhut out. By fhunning that
narrow policy which had ruined Athens
and Sparta, her ftrength increafed with
her good fortune, and as fhe gained her
authority ihe was lure to confirm it.
6

1$6 LETT Ens ON THE

With this renowned nation there was a
free toleration or" all religious, and even
an adoption of the gods of all other nations
into Rome. This affociation of all the
divinities of the world, ' cette efpece
cThofpitalite divine? (as Voltaire calls it)
feems to have been common to almoft
all antiquity. As they had no peculiar
dogmas, they had no religious wars.
They perhaps might think that ambition
and rapine flied enough of human blood
without the aid of religion to extermi-
nate mankind. It is remarked, that from
the building of Rome till' the reign of
Domitian, there was no man ever perfe-
cuted for his private opinions. In Greece
indeed there was one inftance of it, and
that inftance was Socrates. But it is well
known that the Athenians long repented
of their conduct, and as proofs of their

IRISH NATIOtf. I5/

contrition, puniihed his accufersand credl-
ed altars to his memory.

But this generous policy, this liberal
and enlightened conduct, was fuffered
to die away, and the nations of modern
hiftory who rofe out of the afhes of anti-
quity fubltituted other principles in their
room. As Harrington has remarked in
the preliminary to his Oceana, there is a
' meannefs and poornefs in modern pru-
dence, not only to the damage of civil
government, but of religion itfelf.'- The
effects of this narrow policy have been
to cramp the fpirit of free inquiry for
many ages, and then to injure in the
greateft degree the caufe of religion.
For when men whofe minds were fupe-
rior to ordinary prejudices came to refleft
on this falfe policy, they have even inclined
to doubt whether the difcords, intole-

158 LETTERS ON THE

ranees, and perfecutions, which have ac-
companied the introduction of Chriftia-
nity, have not more than counterbalanced
the benefits which the world has received
from it. They recollected that its earth-
ly object was to promote peace and bro-
therly love: but that its real effects had
been, to occafion more war and tumults
than could be attributed to any other
fmgle caufe. Its difciples had appeared
even zealous to invent unintelligible doc-
trines on which differences in opinion
might enfue. Firft the Trinity was a
pretext for bloodmed, and then the doc-
trines of the Incarnation created a theolo-
gical war of 250 years. But Chriflians,
no longer ihedding each other's blood
about thefe fubje&s, next invented new
creeds and articles about which they
might perfecute each other. It might

IRISH NATION. 159

have been hoped that the Reformation
would have {lifted the flames of religious
difputes amongft ourfelves; but it has
turned out otherwife. Men have not
been wanting who have kept alive the
fpirit of church party, and converted
* this madnefs of the many to the gain of
the few*? Human creeds and articles
have been invented -and, made the tefts
of party, not the ftandards of truth.
Thofe whofe confciences have been large
enough to fwear to them, have found no
inconvenience from their eftablimment :
but as intereft and confcience are often

* The advocates for our modern Tefts fliould con-
fult an excellent paper of Sir Richard Steele's in the
Spectator (No. 3/6), where is related the ftory of
the day watchman and his attendant the goofe.
Under this fymbol, adds the author, you may enter into
the manner and method of leading creatures with
their eyes open through thick and thin, for they fee
not what, nor know not why.

l6o LETTERS ON THE

\

at variance, the temptations to perjury
are too great for a wife legiflature ever to
hold out.

Such are the conclufions which are
drawn to the prejudice of religion itfelf.

Philofophers of no ordinary ftamp have
\

then reverted to the policy of antiquity
in feconding the habits of the fuperilitious
part of every nation by the reflections of
the enlightened. Unlefs this is done,
they have thought that religion could
produce no advantage to a ftate. Theo-
logical rancour only ferves to imbitter
'the fuperflition of a people.^ If the Pa-
ganifm of antiquity had any exclusive
merit which Chriftianity has not yet been
able to boaft of, it was that mutual indul-
gence, that religious concord1 and univer-
fal fpirit of toleration which is produced.
Such wras the mild fpirit of antiquity,

1KISH NATION. l6l

that, as it has been well obferved by an
eloquent hiftorian, * nations were lefs at-
tentive to the differences than to the
refemblcnices of their religious worfhip*.'

I muft indeed confefs, that I look for-
ward to fee the objections to chriftianity
removed by the adoption of the fame liberal
and enlightened policy in thefe inlands. I
hope, and even truft, that the caufe or
univerfal toleration is every day gaining
ground, and I could even wifli to fee
Chriftians of every denomination united
as the children of one God, as difciples or
one faith, and as the coheirs of one and
the fame inheritance \.

At any rate however I am perfuaded
that before another century is elapfed our

* Gibbon.

fUnius Dei parentis homines, confortes fidei, fpei
cohsereJes. M. Fel. 313. ed. Ouzeli.

M

:l62 LETTERS ON THE

posterity will wonder that the world
could have been fb long divided by a
religion which ought to have united them ;
that to the bleffings of a free government
will be added that of a free toleration ;
and that our fellow-fubjecls will no longer
be outraged by tefts, nor by penal ftatutes.
Our well poifed and balanced confti-
tution will by this attain perfection ; for
religious power 'will thin be balanced agaliift
religious power, as civil power lias hitherto
been agahtfl civil. To the mutual depend-
ence and mutual check of three legiilative
bodies, may be added that of the three
feels of Chriftianity. In an imperial par-
liament of Great Britain and Ireland, the
fame principle which preferves the inter-
efts of King, Lords, aad Commons, will
preferve that of Roman Catholics, Protef- ,
tants, and Diflenters. The authority of

IRISH tfATIOX, 163

England, Scotland, and Ireland,* will give
a due preponderance to the refpec"tive
religions of the majority of each of their
inhabitants. Three kingdoms will fup-
port and maintain inviolate their three
feparate modes of faith.

The Prefbyterians and Roman Catho-
lics of England will no longer fuffer
under unjuft and invidious exclusions from
power, nor the Catholics of Ireland under
a local ariftocracy and general profcription.
By obliterating partial distinctions we mall
infenfibly coalefce into one great nation",
united by language, manners, and civil
inltitutions. We mall then be equal to
the weight of a powerful empire. The
annals of religious perfecution and of
Chriftian animofities will meet with aN
full and final period. The true ends of
religion, which are to promote glory to
M 2,

164 LETTERS ON THE

God in the higheft, peace on earth, and
good will towards men, will be fully
attained. The true ends of a free conili-
tution, which are to afford univerfal
protection and happinefs, will be enjoyed;
and all men, parties, and opinions, will rally
round a throne to fupport a government
which will then be more defervedly than
ever, what it has long continued, the
envy and admiration of the world.

I am, &c. &c.

IRISH NATION.

LETTER IV.

OF SOME OTHER DISADVANTAGES UN-
DER WHICH THE IRISH NATION LA-
BOURS IN AGRICULTURE, &C. &C.

My dear Sir,

ALTHOUGH government
and religion are fubje&s which moft en-
gage the attention of mankind, and which
I have therefore treated of in my two laft
letters, yet there are other topics ilill
left behind which are of great import-
ance. They are not, indeed, fo much
the objects which hiftory celebrates, be-
caufe hiftory is little more than a record
of the crimes of ambition ; a kind of
M3

1 66 LETTERS ON THE

knowledge which Lord Bacon well ob-
ferves is ' too much drenched in blood.'
But thefe topics, which we have ftill to
difcufs, are" thofe upon which the hap-
pinefs and greatnefs of nations moft de-
pend. That happinefs may be varied by
the degrees of freedom and fecurity which
governments are inftituted to afford ; but
the firft ftep towards the exiftence of hap-
pinefs muft depend upon the people's pof-
feffing the neceflaries and conveniencies
of life.

It has therefore, you know, been con-
fidered by the writers on the fcience of
-politics, that the firft duty which a ftate
owTes to its members, after protecting
them from foreign invafion and domeftic
injuftice ; the firft pbjcft of civil fociety,
after it is organifed, is to provide for the
neceffities of the people. Unlefs a go-

IRISH NATION. l6j

vernment takes care to furnilh its fubjecls
with an happy plenty of the ncceffaries
and conveniencies of life, and protects
them in the peaceable enjoyment of thefe
advantages, it defeats the very end and
object of its inftitution. Montefquieu
obferves, " Quelques aumones que TOIL
fait a un homme nud dans les rues, ne
remplhTent point les obligations de 1'etat,
qui dolt a tons les citoyens une fubjylence
ajfiiree, la nourriture,, une vetement conue-
nable, et un genre de vie qui ne foit con-
traire a la fanfe** Every individual
who cannot command the comforts and
conveniencies of life from wealth here-
ditary or acquired, has yet never thelefs an
equivalent to give in exchange for them.
This is his perfonal labour and industry.
Thefe muft constitute the only titles of

* De 1'Efprit des Loix, liv. 23. ch. 29.

M4

168 LETTERS ON THE

the majority of the people in every ilatc
to the porTcflion of them.

A government, therefore, to fulfil its
firft duty, muft encourage labour, animate
induftry, and excite abilities. It muft take
fuch meafures that every man may live by
his own honeft exertions. It muft propofe
honours, rewards, and privileges, for thofe
who diftinguifh themfelves. When it does
thefe things, it has the effecl: of making
the ftate powerful and the fubjects happy.
When it neglects them, the ftate is weak
and the people are miferable.

But though this great charge is entruft-
ed to the care of a legiflator, yet every thing
is not left to him to provide for. Nature
has done her full mare. She has given the
earth to afford fubfiftence to its inhabitants,
and £very country, by the induftry of its
people, may enjoy the fruits of it. It is

IRISH NATION. 19

therefore on the exertion of that labour,
which a government muft bring about,
that it difcharges its duty. Agriculture is
the nurfe of a ftate, and its fureft and beft
refource. It is the moil iolid fund of
wealth to a people, and, of all arts, it is by
far the moft ufeful and neceiTary *. For
though in fome countries Nature has ren-

* See the £rft volume of Adam Smith's Wealth
of Nations, paflim. — I take this opportunity of men-
tioning, that, in preparing this fecond edition for the
prefs, I have carefully read over that lahorious but ad-
mired work, with a view to the examination and cor-
recTion of the arguments contained in this letter. In
confequence of this, 1 have now inierted feveral fiiort
extracts from that work, particularly in the com-
mencement of the letter where I judged that elucida-
tion would be gained from them. But as thefe paffages
were mixed with other papers containing fome of my
own reflections, which had been made in thecourfeof
the lafr twelvemonth ; 1 am almoft afraid, that, from
being under apprehensions left I ihoukl mention his
name in fupport of my own fentirnents, and where I
ought not to have done, I may have negiecV-d to
mention it in fome few places where I ought to have
<k>ne fo. Note to ad edit.

LETTERS ON THE

dered it almoft unnecefTary,by that fertility
of foil and beauty of climate which fhe has
given them, yet it is generally found that
the ftate muft hold out encouragement to
it by proper laws- and regulations. And
though even in the moil fertile countries
the people enjoy the neceiTaries of life
with lefs labour than in more barren coun-
tries, yet they cannot, on that account,
be called rich or powerful. Neither land
nor gold is wealth, but as it is made fuch
by induftry. Unlefs they can purchafe
the produce of other men's induftry, and
thereby fave one's own labour, of what
ufe are they ? In a ftate of uncivilifed
fbciety it is evident that every man muft
fiipply his own wants of every kind. He
muft feek his own food, build his own
cottage, and procure his own clothing.
But where induftry is introduced into

IRISH NATION*

fociety, and men, from being hunters or
rimers, become polifhed beings, they learn
to exchange the furplus produce of their
lands, or the price of that produce, which
is the fame thing, for the labour of other
people. It is the fame with gold, or the
profits made by lending gold to others ;
it is exchanged (and in the power of be-
ing exchanged confiffe its value) for la-
bour. As we cannot well provide our-
felves with all the neceflaries, convenien-
ces, and luxuries of life, it is evident that
every man muft be rich or poor, accord-
ing as he can command them, or in-
fluence the people to provide them for
him. • A man might poflefs twenty miles
of land around him in the wilds of Ame-
rica, and yet ftarve. The African is poor
and deftitute even in the midft of his
golden fands. Even money is but an ar-

9

I

1/2 LETTEIIS ON THE

tificial ftandard for estimating the value
of the produce of induftry. It is only
the reprefentative of labour, whilft in-
duftry is the conftituent, the real wealth,
and without which the coin would be
ufelefs metal. But even when it re-
ceives its value from induftry, it is intrin-
iically and of itfelf nothing more than a
' ticket or a counter/ which, the Scythian
Anacharfis well remarked, only ferves for
the convenience oi calculation.

But to haften to my application of thefe
principles : I have defcribed the Irifh na-
tion as miferably deftitute of all the com-
forts and conveniences of life. I have been
told in reply, that they are an indolent peo-
ple. I have acknowledged the truth of the
remark, and have accordingly confidered
idlenefs as one of the characlieriftics of the
nation, and have endeavoured to prove

IRISH NATION. 173

that pride is a leading caufe of it. But
then I afiert, that they would not be fo
if they were well governed, and that this
vice might be eafily counteracted. In-
duflry may be roufed by encouragement;
it may be created, by exciting the paffions
of felf-prefervation or of felf-intereft. LJn-
lefs employment is held out, it is unjuft
to accufe them of idlenefs : unlefs the
means of enriching them are afforded and
laid open, it is highly abfurd to upbraid
them with their poverty.

' In order to put induftry into motion
(fays Adam Smith*), three things are
requisite : materials to work upon, tools
to work with, and the wages or recom-
pence for which the work is done. Mo-
ney is neither a material to work upon,
nor a tool to work with ; and though the

* Wealth of Nations, Vol. I; c. 2,.

174 LETTERS ON THE

wages of workmen are commonly paid to
him in money, yet his real revenue, like
that of all other men, confifts, not in the
money, but in the money's worth ; not
in the metal pieces, but in what can be
got for them.'

I aiTert that agriculture, which is the
moft natural means of employing induf-
try, is in Ireland too much difcouraged.

f

Scarcely any thing but pafture lands are
to be feen. Grazing of cattle is their
grand, paffion. The farmer feels it his
intereft to devote his lands to it, and to
neglect tillage. I am alfo credibly in-
formed, that the cultivation of thofe lands
which are laid out in tillage is in general
fo very defective, that not above half of
the crops are gathered which the fertility
of the foil could afford. The caufe of
this preference given to pafture is altoge-

IRISH NATION. 175

ther a moral one : the farmer finds it his
intereft. But a legislator that regarded
the happinefs of the people, and the prof-
perity of the nation, would make it the
interelr. of the farmer and of the land-
holder that agriculture mould be culti-
vated as a fcience, and their lands and
attention be dedicated to it.

Although the greater part of the coun-
tries of modern Europe have advanced
the improvement of their agriculture by
means of their manufactures and com-
merce, yet it is u'niverfally allowed by all,
except the interelled advocates of the
mercantile fyftem, that this order is con-
trary to the natural courfe of things, and
therefore neceiTarily both flow and uncer-
tain. ' Compare (fays the fame author
above quoted*) the flow progrefs of thofe

* Wealth of Nations, Vol. II. 130.

Ij6 LETTERS ON THE

countries of which the wealth depends
very much upon their commerce and ma-
nufactures, with the rapid advance of our
North American colonies, of which the
wealth is founded altogether in agricul-
ture. Through the greater part of Eu-
rope the number of inhabitants is not
fuppofed to double in lefs than five hun-
dred years. In feveral of the North Ame-
rican colonies it is found to double in
twenty or five-and-twenty years.' No ar-
gument can poffibly be more decifive in
favour of the agricultural fyftem than this
one drawn from the fubjecl: of popula-
tion, which follows plenty and riches as
infeparably as the fliadow does the fub-
ftance.

The increafe of pafture lands in Eng-
land was formerly the fubjecl of univerfal
complaint, but by prudent regulations

IRISH NATION. 177

England is now one of the beft cultivated
countries in the world. Might not the
fame means be adopted in Ireland, and
with the fame fuccefs ? It is obvious
that pafture lands afford employment to
a comparatively fmall number of the in-
habitants of a country, and food to much
vlefs than agriculture does. And though
it may be faid that the mode of living
amongft the Trim is fimple, and fuch as
that bread is not a neceflary article of con-
fumption ; yet, granting that this is partly
true, I aflert that the mode of living will
not do every thing, and that it fliould even
be the endeavour of laws to alter itfo as to
give employment to the people, and kindle
among them a more general fpirit of in-
duftry.

It is univerfally allowed that food will
always purchafe labour : it will excite as
N

178 LETTERS ON THE

much induftry as it can maintain people.
There is alfb no other line in .which a
given fum of money, or a given capital,
will employ fo much labour as in agri-
culture. Servants, cattle, and even nature
herfelf, labour in the caufe of agricul-
ture. It is alfo the moft fecure employ-
ment for capital, always at home, ex-
• pofed to none of the perils of the feas and
of warfare, fo that it is furprifing it
fhould not have more influenced the po-
licy . of modern Europe than trade has
done. Independent, however, of its ge-
neral advantages, I think its promotion is
a remedy fo peculiarly applicable to the
cafe of Ireland, that I cannot but lament
the difadvantages under which it here
labours, and endeavour to point out the
methods by which its profperity may be
probably eftablifhed.

IRISH NATION.

The firft important difadvantage under
which the peafantry of Ireland labour,
and the removal of which may be
confidered as the beft ftep that could be
taken in order to promote the fpirit of
agricultural induftry is, the non-refidence
of the greater part of landed proprietors
on their eftates. The fum of money
which it is calculated, is annually fcnt
out of the kingdom to the abfentee-own-
ers of eftates, is enormous and incredible.
I have heard it efti mated at a very large
portion indeed of the whole rental of the
kingdom. This is undoubtedly not only
injuring the nation at large, but is a
grievance much more feverely felt by the
poor tenants of an eftate. Inftead of
being gladdened with the prefence of
their landlord (as is univerfally the cafe
in England for fome months in the year
NJ?

l8o LETTERS ON THE

at leaft,) and in confequcnce of which
they enjoy their mare in the ' returned
fruits of their own induftry, circulating
back through the channels from whence
it originally flowed;' they are obliged to
labour for far-diftant matters, who are
perfect ftrangers to them.

The rich man here is not that ' diftri-
buting medium' by which great wealth
in a {ingle hand, becomes more bene-
ficial to the community, than the fame
incorne would be if divided amongft a
number of individuals. One wealthy
proprietor has it in his power to employ
more induftry, to hire more labourers,
to encourage more manufacturers both
of the neceflaries and of the luxuries of
life, and to reward and patronize in a
greater degree the profeiTors of the fine arts,
than could poffibly be done if his fortune

IRISH NATION. l8l

were to be portioned out amongft a
dozen different people. If this were not
the cafe in other countries, the inequality
of property would be fo much felt, as
could not be endured. By it alone the
other difadvantages of enormous wealth
in the hands of a few individuals, is
completely counterbalanced. To the
want then of the refidence of large landed
proprietors in their own country, may
be attributed, in a great meafure, the
very low ftate at which the fine arts are
at prefent in Ireland (infomuch fo that
fcarce a picture or a ftatue are to be found
out of Dublin and its neighbourhood);
and to their non-refidence on their eftatcs
a great mare of the caufes of the neglect
of agriculture. But this has been fo
much, and for fo long a time, a topic of
invective with the well wimers of Ireland,
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1 82 LETTERS ON THE

\

and with all fo very obvious a truth, that
I forbear enlarging further on it.

The leading principle of agricultural
policy, againft which the above mentioned
evil militates, as do alfo thofe others
which I mall hereafter enumerate, is,
that the farmer JJiould have a certain prof-
pett of enjoying a great Jhare of, if not the
entire fruits of his own labour.

For this reafon it mould be the object
of the legiflature to prevent, if poffible,
all ftrangers to the eftate from enjoying
any profits from it. It is well known
that in Ireland there are very frequently
three or four intermediate landlords be-
tween the farmer and the owner of the
eftate. In order that thefe mefne holders
may enjoy a confiderable advantage from
the;r bargains, they are obliged to tie
down the poor peafant to the moft

IRISH NATION. 183

exorbitant rents, and rack him in the
moft unmerciful manner. It has always
been the policy of the law of England
to difcourage as much as pomble thefe
under tenancies or fub-infeudations. Their
effects are, to enrich Grangers and inter-
lopers, by the impoverifhment of the
eftate, by the owner's deprivation of his
juft profits, and by the plunder of the
terre- tenant. It is to be lamented that
the- Parliament of Ireland have never
attempted a remedy to this evil.

Upon the fame principle of fecuring to
the farmer the fruits of his induftry,
he fhould alfo be fecured in his pofleffion
by a long leafe at a fixed rent. I am
willing to allow that long leafes may
be difpenfed with in thofe countries
where confidence in the landlord fupplies
the place of them ; but this cannot pof-
N4

184 LETTERS ON. THE

fibly be the cafe in Ireland for the reafons
above given. The farmer mould alfo
have fecured to him the advantage of
every improvement which he mall make,
which a long leafe is certainly beft cal-
culated to afford. He is then better
fatisfied with paying a high rent, becaufe
he is fecure in his poffeffion of the land
for fuch a term of years as gives him time
to recover his firft loffes, and make a
profit by the further improvement of the
land.1 If the farmer works for the benefit
of another and not for his own, his in-
duftry will proportionably abate. If the
advantages of all improvements are not
fecured to himfelf, his rent muft be low,
if it is a fair rent ; if it is high, he will not
be able to pay it; and in either cafe is it
reafonable to expecl: that he will be at the
expence and trouble of making improve-
ments ?

IRISH NATION. 185

Inftead of this, the facl: almoft univer-
fally throughout this country is, that the
farmers have ihort leafes for three or five
years, without any confidence, and with
very high rents. If the farmer make any
improvement, it is made an argument for
raifmg his rent upon the renewal of the
leafe, as if the middle- man (or landlord)
had made the improvement himfelf. But
the truth is, that improvements are never
made, becaufe the farms at the expiration
of the leafes are always put up to auction,
and given to whoever will bid the moil
rent for them.

This avaricious conduct oi*the part of
thofe who have the letting out of farms,
creates what I may reckon as a third
difadvantage under which agriculture lies
in Ireland. This is the want of what
is called in England ( a tenant-right,' or
moral claim on the landlord for a renewal

I 86 LETTERS ON THE

of the leafe at a fair rent. No proprietor
can be juftified in taking more rent than
the furplus amounts to, which the farmer
has in his hands after paying all his
expences and deducting his ufual profits.
Thefe expences are the inftruments of huf-
bandry, the flocking the farm with cattle,
the feed, the wages of labourers, and the
maintenance -of the farmer's family. But
no attention can poffibly be paid to thefe
circumftances in letting farms jn Ireland,
when they are always given to thofe who
will pay the moft rent for them, on the
expiration of the fhort leafes. The poor
tenants therefore who are fo ignorant as
not to know the circumftances which
mould determine the quantum of rent,
and being actuated by a fpirit of rivalry
neceflarily exifting amongft them under
fuch circumftances, offer much more rent

IRISH NATION, l8/

than they can afford, and fo much as ' eat*
up the whole produce of the land! '

The confequence of this putting farms
up to auclion is, that the farmer by
paying fo high a rent is not only kept fo
poor as never to be able to accumulate
fufficient capital to make improvements,
which are expenfi ve ; but even if he had
Capital, the fhortnefs of his term would
prevent him from making them, becauie
he could not have time to x re-imburfe
himfelf with profit, before his rent would
be railed, or he would be turned out to
make room for one who offered more
rent, on account of the increafe in the
produce of the farm, which the improve-
ments had occalioned.

The next diiadvantage under which it
appears to me that agriculture lies in this
country, is the fmall fize of the generality
6

l88 LETTERS ON THE

of farms. I do not however think that
very large farms are advantageous to cul-
tivation, though perhaps very fmall ones
are lefs fo, but that there is in this as in
other things, a juft medium. In Ireland
the farms are almoft univerfally in the
extreme of diminutivenefs. The tenant
is therefore reduced to the condition of a
labourer, and as his rent is high, he is not
only incapable of accumulating capital,
but even of paying himfelf that which
otherwife muft have been expended as the
wages of labour. A miferable fubfiftencc
is all that he can poffibly afpire to.

Upon the fame principle of excluding
ilrangers to the eftate from deriving any
of thofe profits which ought to belong to
the farmer, the legiilature mould remedy
what I mail mention as the laft, though
it is not the leaft, grievance under which

IRISH NATION. 189

the peafants of Ireland labour. In this
light I confider Tythes. I fhall not enter
into any difcuffion of the right which
the clergy have to tythes, becaufe I do
not think that it can be well questioned ;
nor fhall I affert that they are rigoroufly
exacted in Ireland, becaufe I believe the
facl: to be otherwife : I fhall only obferve,
that if in England they are always re-
ludlantly paid and are confidered as op-
preffive, in Ireland they are highly impo-
litic as well as tyrannical. They operate

as a bounty upon pafturage, and occafion

I

the neglect of tillage in this country,

more than any other caufe whatfoever.

t
What farmer alfo will be at the expence

of making improvements, when a prieft,
who pays no fhare of that expence, is
to feize upon a large fhare of the profits?
In rich and fertile countjpps, the tythc

LETTERS ON THE

of the produce of land is often great
enough to pay the farmer's rent, or ' to
replace his capital employed in cultivation,
together with a juft and moderate profit
on it/ Under the preflure of fuch an
incumbrance, particularly under the cir-
cumftances of the cafe in Ireland, it is
hardly to be wondered at, that this alone,
independent of the other diiconragements
to agriculture which I have above enu-
merated, mould have kept it at that very
low ebb in which, not withstanding what
has been done for it, it ftill continues.

The peafant, after difcharging his rent
to his landlord, has to pay tythes to a
clergy wrhich he abhors, and then to con-
tribute his dues towards the maintenance
of his own Catholic paftor.

Between the burdens which are im-
pofed on nim by the whole three, his

IRISH NATIOX.

oppreflfion is mofl extreme. His flavery
is both temporal and fpiritual ; but the
latter is neceflarily the moft galling. It
is indeed true, that his focage or lay
landlord is obliged to content himfelf
with the payment of rent ' wrung from
the peafant by hands habituated to the
gripings of ufury.' His power of d'iftrefs
•is certainly exerted to its utmoft extent.
But between the landlord and the tenant,
however far they may be removed from
each other, there is flill fome natural
as well as legal privity or relationlhip.
Between the peafant, however, who is a
Roman Catholic, and the Proteftant cler-
gyman, there cannot poffiblyexift the leaft.
Religious as wrell as popular prejudices
will therefore be alvvavs fo combined as

J

to make the tythe claimant (notwith-
ftanding all that can be^jSid in favour

1 0,2 LETTERS , ON THE

of him) as an odious ftranger who is
allowed by law to plunder the farmer.
But the grievance does not end here.
As if to make tythes ftill more odious and
oppreflive to the tenant, he has after
paying them to fatisfy the demands of
his own prieft, who like a lord in the
old feudal tenure of frankalmoigne, bran-
difhing the two-edged fword of St. Peter
(with all the weight which the fuperfti-
tion of the fourteenth century gave to it
in England, and which it flill has in Ire-
land), exa"s his homage, and his fealty,
and his free alms, with the moil inexorable
fe verity. Though I mould therefore be
forry to fee the property of the church
under the prefent mild Proteftant efla-
blimment which exifts in Ireland; —
though I fay I mould be forry to fee it
confifcated, and the owners of it thrown

IRISH NATION. 193

deititute on the charity of the world
like the clergy of another neighbouring
kingdom; yet under all the circumftances
of complicated hardihip under which the
Irim peafantry pay tythes, I would re-
commend, if not an abolition of them,
at lead that fome fubftitute mould be
contrived which mould rather encourage
than difcountenance induftry.

It is for thefe various reafons that the
Irim farmers prefer laying out their lands
in pafture rather than in tillage. It is
to them a much more profitable fpecula-
tion. Pafture lands are kept in order
at a much lefs expence than the other.
They do not require the purchafmg and
maintenance of cattle for the plough;
the buying and keeping in order all the
various implements of hu^andry ; the
O

LETTERS ON THE

cxpence of fending corn to market, -which
laft, if the farmer lives at any difhmce,
muft be very great ; but, what is of ftill
greater weight with him, they pay no
tythes. Cultivation is therefore neglected,
becaufe the great expence, ikill, and
labour, which attend it, are not fuffi-
ciently rewarded.

But, granting that even thefe great
checks to agriculture and induftry were
retained, ftill a wife legtflature might
probably find means to counteract their
bad effects. If the peafant, notwithftand-
ing them, can gain more profit by
agriculture than by pafturage, he will
adopt it. The legiflature fhould enfure
him of it, and the example of other
countries will mew how fuccefsfully the
attempt has been made.

This has arifen from confidering corn

NATION.

not merely as an article of provifion or
neceflary food, but as an article of mer-
chandize, .or as the object of commerce.
In order that the farmer mould grow not
only as much as is neceflary for fubfiftence,
but fometimes even more by the certainty
of having a good market, and getting a
good price for it; the fyftem of giving
bounties on exportation' has been introduced
into Great Britain, and even latterly into
Ireland with fome advantage, but not
fufficiently to counteract the many obfta-
cles which lay ip the1 way of its fuccefs.
As perhaps you are not well acquainted
with the nature of this fyftem, and as it
has lately been decried, for no other reafon,
as I think, than becaufe it has not been
well underftood, I mail trouble you with
a very few words on the mbject. In
order to infure a plentiful growth of corn.
O i

LETTERS ON THE

the farmer is made fure of difpofmg of
it to advantage. When the plenty is
fuch that he cannot get a fair price
at home, it is made up to him by
the government's paying him a bounty
on his fending it abroad. By the af-
fiftance of it, the merchant is enabled
to underfell all competitors in the foreign
market. By the quantity of exports being
thus increafed, the balance of trade is
turned in favour of the country, whilil
all the people are enriched. Inftead of
the fubjed: paying heavy duties to the
ftate on exportation, the ftate finds its
intereft in paying him to do it. Before
this principle was adopted in England,
and before me cultivated corn for other
nations as well as for herfelf, the agricul-
ture of England was very inconfiderable.
It was in the beginning of the reign of

IRISH NATION. 197

Elizabeth, that the exportation of corn
firft commenced by the permiffion of the
legislature, and Camden obicrves that
' agriculture from that moment received
new life and vigour/ It is therefore to
this policy, combined with that of the
Navigation Aft, that the beft French
writers on the fubjecl: have finally attri-
buted the whole fuperiority in commer-
cial greatnefs which England enjoys over
all the other nations of Europe*.

In order to prevent every inconvenience
which may refult from fending too much
corn out of a .kingdom, nothing is fo
eafy as to take off thefe bounties upon
proper occafions, and lay them on the

* Les Interets de la France mal entendus dans les
Branches de 1'Agriculture, &c. 2 voli^^emo. at Am-
fterdam, 1757, fuppofed to be written by Mr. Bou-
lainvilliers : fee vol. i. p. 93 to 1 1 1, and vol. ii. p. 123.
See alfo L'Ami des Homines, vol. iii. p. 259.

03

10,8 LETTERS ON THE

Importation of it, at the fame time that
heavy duties are laid on exporting it.

Other expedients have alfo been fome-
times fuccefsfully adopted, for the fame
purpofe. Such is the eftablifliment of
granaries or public magazines of corn.
By this inftitution the farmer is always
fttre of having a certain price fo* his corn,
becaufe the market can never be over-
ftocked in the commodity. Neither is it
poflible that there fhould ever be top
fmall a quantity in it. When from the
great plenty there is any danger of the
price getting too low, the government
purchafes the overplus after private indi-
viduals have bought what they wanted.
But >vhen, on the other hand, the fear-
city is fuch that the price muft rife above
its juft flandard, the granaries are thei>
opened, and every inconvenience is ob-
viated.

IKISH NATION. JO<J

But though this policy is adopted with
advantage in Switzerland, in order to
prevent the corn of the country being
fold at too low a rate to foreigners, from
whom it has been fometimes neceflary
to purchafe it back again at an exorbitant
price; yet it has been generally found
that a well regulated fyilem of exportation
is the beft encouragement to agriculture.
It is found more effectually to prevent
pernicious monopolies. It is alfo recom-
mended by the advantages it affords to
navigation, and the number of feamen it
employs in the management of the veflels
which are engaged in the carriage of corn
to foreign countries.

I am however fully aware that

Dr. Adam Smith, the ingenious and

learned author of the * Wealth of

Nations/ (a work of great judgment

O 4

SCO LETTERS ON THE

and accuracy, but which does not poflefs
fo much originality in its principles as is
commonly fuppofed,) has made fome ob-
jections to the fyftem of bounties on
exportation. I cannot however think
them applicable to the peculiar cafe of
Ireland, whatever may be their merit
in a general point of view, which has
alfo been queftioned by the beft judges.
His objections are that they diminim the

i/ 9

home market in order to encourage the
foreign, and operate as a double tax
upon the people ; firft. the tax which
they are obliged to contribute in order
to pay the bounty; and fecondly the tax
which arifes from the advanced price of
the commodity in the home market, and
which, as the whole body of the people
are purchasers of corn,; muft in this parti-
cular commodity bq paid by the whole
body of the people*.' .

* B. iv. c. 5.

IRISH NATION. SOI

To the firft objection that they would
dimiriifh the home market, I anfwer,
that in the cafe of Ireland, it mufl
proceed upon an affurription by no means
admitted. This is, that the home market
is in fuch a ftate of profperity, as to be
fufceptible of injury from any attempt
made to improve agriculture. I confefs I
do not think it at all refembles the fenfitive
plant, which, if you 'touch it, it fhrinks;
if you prefs it, it dies.' The fact, on the
contrary, is, that the home market is in
that moft deplorable ftate \vhich may
perhaps by fome fuccefsful experiment
be improved, but whicfy cannot ever be
injured.

It Ihould alfo be recollected that
Dr. Smith's opinion is confirwikto thofe
cafes in wThich .bounties are given to
agriculture, to the difcouragcment of ma-
nufactures, and that all he contends for

LETTERS ON THE

is, that both fhould be left free, open, and
unconfincd. But in the prefent inftance
it is not meant to force the induftry of
the country from its natural channel into
another which is deemed more profitable,
tut to raife, quicken, and extend the
whole labour of the kingdom. It is
intended to counteract the difcourage-
ment under which agricultural induftry
lies from the operation of moral caufes.
It is propofed to enable it to raife its
head, notwithftanding the oppreffions of
landlords and exactions of the clergy.
We are therefore fo far from differing in
opinion with Dr. Smith, that in this our
ideas meet each other, that both agricul-
ture and manufactures fliould be put
upon a level, and treated impartially.
It is evident that this can never be the cafe,
unlefs fomething is done to relieve tillage
6

IRISH NATION. 303

frofn thofe burthens and discouragements
under which it now droops.

It is alfo faid that a bounty operates as
a double tax. To this it may be anfwered,
that, fo far as the expence of putting
in practice that fyftem muft be levied by
government upon the people, it is cer-
tainly a tax. But this is the object we are
contending for, upon the principle that
the general advantages produced to the
community, in confequence.of it, more
than counterbalance that inconvenience.
It is parting with a little, in order that
the general plenty and profperity of the
country may be increafed in a tenfold
degree. It never can operate as a double
tax by alfo raifmg the price of the
Commodity in the home market, becaufe,
upon Dr. Smith's own principles, if com
became dear at home, or even advances

204 LETTERS ON THE

in price above that fair and equitable
ftandard at which it is meant to be kept,
the natural confequence muft be, that
the exportation trade would undoubtedly
checked. The farmer would hurry his
corn to the home market, where he would
get a better price than he could have by
exporting it, notwithftanding the boun-
ty. The natural effect of .this would be
to reftore the market to its former
level. The fame fluctuations prevail in
every trade. If the profits become fud-
denly greater in, one line than thofe which
are got in another in which capital is
ufually employed, every body is tranf-
ferring his capital from thofe other trades
into this new channel which promifes
fo much wealth. This reftores the pro-
fits of that line to its ordinary level, by
making the fupply of the market greater

IRISH NATION. 305

than the demand for the commodity.
On the other hand, if by any accident '
the profits fhould be lefs than thofe of
other trades, every merchant mifts his
capital from the unprofitable channel
to fome more promifmg one, which
again reftores the level price of the market
by making the demand equally great,
and upon a footing, with the fupply. It
is evident from this reafoning, that if the
iyftem of exportation diminimed too
greatly the home market, and raifed the
price of the corn in it, the evil would
afford its own remedy. The exportation
would naturally ceafe, becaufe the profits
to be made at home would furpafs thofe
to be had by fending the commodity to a
foreign market.

I will not attempt ferioufly to refute an
objection brought againft this fyftem of

506 LETTERS ON THE

exportation from its liability to produce
frauds. It may be faid that corn can be
Ih'pped as if for exportation, in order to
get the bounties, and be afterwards
re-landed atfome other part of the country.
But if this deferred an argument to
{hew its fallacy, it may be faid that
nothing could be fo eafy as that cuftom-
houfe officers mould take .care that
when a corn veffel was cleared out, Ihe
mould be required to contain proper
documents on board, to afcertain her port
of lading and port of difcharge, at the
fame time that it mould be made highly
penal to land the goods at any other than
the appointed port, except forced by bad
weather. But it is abfurd to argue againft
laws from the evafions which they
fometimes meet with, and muft neeefla-

* v- »»• P- 35> °>

IRISH NATION. 507

rily be expofecL to. Nobody would fe-
xioufly think proper to deny the govern-
ment a revenue, becaufe it gives rife to
the mifchief of fmuggling.

Upon the whole, I will venture to
aflert, that whatever difadvantages the
fyflem -of giving bounties on the exporta-
tion of corn is liable to in a general point
of view, and from a fuperficial confidera-
tioii of the fubjecl; ; all thefe are obliviated
'by a -well regulated fyftem of that nature,

which is what I am contending for. In

>
times of plenty, let not the farmer be

deprived of his juft profits, and agriculture
be difcouraged by the price of corn fulling
below its proper level. Let the public be
always .fupplied at a reafonable price, and.
Jet the farmer fend his furplus produce
abroad, underfelling rival nations by means
of the encouragement received at home.

208 LETTERS ON TrfE

In times of fcarcity, on the contrary, natu*-
ral intereft will make him bring his. com-
modity to the home market ; by its pro-
ducing a better price there than at the
foreign one. It will not even be neceflary
to remove the bounty on exportation,
becaufe the amount of it, even when
added to the price at the foreign market,
will not amount to the profits to be made
by the fale of the commodity at home. In
times of extraordinary fcarcity, indeed, the
ufual refource muft be had recourfe to,
of giving bounties on the importation
inftead of on the exportation of corn.

I am not however fo far an advocate
for the fyftem of bounties on exportation
as to be convinced that they are pre-
ferable to thofe oa produSion which are
recommended by Dr. Smith. All I con-
tend for is, that fomething fhould be done

IRISH NATION. 509

for the agriculture of Ireland, and that
bounties of fome fort feem to be the moft
likely remedy to counteract the numerous
difadvantages under which it lies. I am
not one of thofe political economics who
would deprefs manufactures and com-
merce, to encourage tillage. Let them both
be put upon an equal footing. Agriculture
is indeed the moft folid and durable wealth
of the two, not being fubjcct to injury from
hoftilities, which manufactures and fo-
reign trade are. Without the foreign mar-
ket the manufacturers cannot fell their
commodities ; but the farmer is not fubject
to the fame inconveniences. Let therefore
this natural fource of wealth be improved.,
and if no better means can be deviled, let
not the government reject too haftily That
which has been found by experience, if not
P

21O LETTERS ON THE

always to produce much good, yet at leaft
never to occafion any mifehief.

Thefe are the expedients to which
Great Britain has had recourfe, in order
to bring its agriculture to that pitch of
improvement at which it now {lands.
She was formerly frequently obliged to
have recourfe to other nations for fupport.
But the cafe is now far otherwife. Nothing
but the accidental badnefs of the feafons
can leflen the happy plenty fhe enjoys*.
Why have not fimilar pains and attention
been beftowed by the Trim legiflature on the
important fubjecl: of agriculture, and the

* The prefent high price of provifions in England,
pccafioned by the badnefs of feafons and the burthens
neceflarily impofed on the people for carrying on the
war, and which muft of courfe produce a proportionate
rife in the pricexof all the neceflfaries of life (with
corn amongft the reil), is no objection to the truth of
this eulogiurn on the ftate of Englifli agriculture.—-
(Note to 2nd edit. O&ober 15, 1800.)

6

IRISH NATION. 2,11

fyftem of bounties been as fteadily and
wifely perfifted in ? Why, inftead of la- .
vifhing the revenue^ of the ftate in fup-
port of idle placemen, in the maintenance
of deftruclive factions, and in building
ridiculous edifices, has me not devoted
part of them to counteract the abufes
which opprefs the peafantry, and difcou-
rage agriculture and induftry ? She might
with half the expence which the mainte-
nance of her ariftocracy has cofl the na-
tion, have been as flourifhing in agricul-
ture as Great Britain herfelf is, and have
fupplied the neceffities of the parent
country, whenever misfortunes mould re-
quire it. Thoufands of famimed fubjeds
might have been employed in the cultiva-
tion of the earth, and the peafants would
have found their native country the feat of
plenty and happinefs, inftead of being the
P 2

LETTERS ON THE

lowcft fink of poverty and wretched-
ncfs.

Every country is capable of feeding its
own inhabitants ; but the foil and climate
of Ireland are fo excellent, that with good
cultivation it might contribute towards
fupporting its neighbours. For, though
the quantity of unprofitable land is very
great ; though, if you calculate the bogs,
the rocks and the barren mountains, that
quantity is perhaps more than double what
is to be feen in England ; yet the fertility
of the remainder, and the temperature of
the air, amply compenfate for the defect.
The country poiTefles the convenience of
fafe ports and havens in a greater degree
perhaps than any other European nation.
But yet, notwithflanding all thefe advan-
tages, the facl: is, that the greater part of
the provifions which are confumed in the
country are brought from England. The

IRISH NATION.

poor, not having the means of purchafing
thefe, are in want of common fuftenance,
without either houfe or clothes to flicker
them from the inclemencies of the
\veather.

The reafon of this mifery may be traced
to that want of employment in which the
bulk of the people live. From witnefTing
the miferies produced by indolence, I
could be eafily led to write an homily
in praife of induftry. But I mall never
forget the fentiments of the beft fcholar
and moft virtuous man of his age, upon
that fubjccl:. ' If (fays Dr. Ifaac Barrow)
the wTater runneth, it holdeth clear, fweet,
and frefh ; but ftagnation turneth it into
a noifome pool: if the air is fanned by
winds, it is pure and wholefome : but

•If : |

being mut up it groweth thick and putrid.
If metals be employed, they abide fmooth

214 LETTERS ON THE

and fplendid, but lay them up and they

foon contrail ruft : if the earth is adorned

with culture it yieldeth fevenfold, but

lying neglected it will foon be overgrown

with brakes and thirties ; and the better

the foil is, the ranker the weeds it will

produce. All nature is upheld in being,

order, and ftate, by conftant agitation/

Can any poor conceits of mine be necef-

fary on the fubjecl: after this fimple, clear,

and yet elegant paflage, which exhibits

the ' Jimpky munditm in all its charms?

Can any thing be more effectually urged

to convince you that induftry is the ar-

cbitecl: of all that isftately, ornamental, or
i.

ufeful in fociety ? that it has built mag-
nificent bridges that we may fafely pafs
over rivers, and reared aflonifhing aque-
ducts, that rivers may be made to pafs
over our heads : that it has framed mips

IRISH NATION.

by which the moft diftant countries are
connected, and invented letters by which
the moft remote ages are infeparably
linked and blended together : in Ihort,
that it is the fource of all wealth, grandeur,
and profperity; . that it has done every
thing which civilizes mankind and adorns
the world ; that it has bent the haughty
foul of man to an obedience to laws and
government, and that it has even fub-
jected the creation to his command.

I have faid that I would not write an ho-
mily, and yet the fubjecl has almorft led
me into one. I will therefore confine
myfelf to mere facl. I will aiTert that
the induftry of the lower clauses of the
people, who are, or at leaft ought to be,
the life blood of every ftate; of the far*
mers, manufacturers, and labourers ; is
-too fatally checked by difcontents, and
ftifled by a load of oppreffions ; that all
P 4

LETTERS ON THE

improvements in agriculture are thwarted
by the covetoufnefs of landlords, and the
exactions of the clergy ; and that the legif-
lature does not Efficiently counteract
thefe checks, but are fatisfied with
facrificing the good of the nation to their
own private interests.

Such is the deplorable condition in
which Ireland {lands with refpect to agri-
culture. The firft means by which every
civilized nation exerts the induftry of its
inhabitants, and provides for their wants,
is thus neglected. That duty of providing
food and clothing, with the other or-
dinary conveniences of life, which I have
obferved that every government owes to
its fubjects, is left undifcharged. Inftead
of fulfilling the higher duties of advancing
the nation to a ftate of true felicity by
education, virtue, and real piety, it flops
flaort in the very threfhold, by leaving

IRISH NATION. 217

them unprovided with the neceflaries of
life.

After corn it is probable that fuel
may be reckoned the next neceflary
of life. With refpecl to coals it is rather
unfortunate, that though Ireland poflefTes
feveral coal mines, at Ballycaflle in the
north, and Duncannon in the county of
Tyrone, and probably at other places
which I have not heard of or do not re-
collecl:; yet me has always hitherto been
fupplied with that article from Great
Britain. The principal caufe of this has
probably been a want of fpirit and in-
duftry in the nation. It is true that fome
parliamentary encouragement has been
extended to this particular. But all en-
deavours have hitherto completely failed.
Perhaps at fome future period, and that
not very diftant, when the indufhy of the

LETTERS ON THE

nation ihall be fet at work by the impulfc
of capital, the Irifh will enjoy the riches
which Providence has beftowed on their
foil* The coal trade may then, amongft
other things, prove a valuable fpeculation
to ibme enterprifmg individuals, and a na-
tional blefling to the community at large.
But with refpecl to agriculture, the
moft folid and permanent fource of wealth
to a nation, it fometimes happens that a
nation deftitute of the means of promoting
it, ftill enjoys all the advantages of it from
the encouragementof trade, manufactures,
and commerce. This has been more par-
ticularly the cafe with Holland. The
unremitting induftry of its people has fur-
mounted even the obftacles which nature
had thrown in their way. In the midft of
their marmes and fogs, without either foil
or climate to favour them, they became

IRISH NATION. £19

a rich and powerful nation. They made
even the tides ftop mort and the ocean
give way to their induftry. Without
either agriculture or even manufactures
of their own, they grew rich and powerful
by becoming the carriers of the produc-
tions of other nations. Let us then fee
what is the ftate of manufactures and
commerce in Ireland.

Excepting their linen trade, which is
carried on in the North, there is fcarce
any other very confiderable manufacture
in the kingdom. And yet it has often
been aiTerted by thpfe efteemed competent
judges of the fubjecl:, that the country is
very favourable to the eftablimment of
many others. If they could only find
means to increafe the {lock of public in-
duftry, and lefien the number of the idle
and indolent, they would find both their

220 LETTERS ON THE

manufactures and agriculture gain incre-
dible advantages. The connexion be-
tween the two is fb great, that an improve-
ment in the one will be generally found
to improve the other. The gains of the
manufacturer create a market for the far-
mer's corn. The farmer will lay out his
lands in tillage, in order that with the

profits he may purchafe the luxuries of

i

life. Thus are thefe two employments
mutually fubfervient to each other's ad-
vantage. The advancement of foreign
trade alfo introduces fuch foreign articles
as fpur the induftry of the farmer. Whe-
ther he works for the necefTaries or the
luxuries of life, the advantage to the ftate
is equally great. But foreign commerce,
as it gains ground, is more extensively be-
neficial ; ior it furnifhes materials for new
manufactures, enriches the finances of the

IRISH NATION. 231

ftate, and promotes refinement. Wherever
commerce * fpreads her wings, there civi-
lizatio.n is ever found to flourim.' But it is
perfectly unneceflary for me to be laviili
in encomiums on a fubjecl which in theory
affords no difference of opinion, the ad-
vantages of it being allowed and admitted
on all hands.

The fum total of what I have advanced
may be comprifed in very few words.
Every government ihould fupport its peo-
ple. The wealth of a ftate is its induftry.
That induftry muft be exercifed on agri-
culture, manufactures, and commerce. All
thefe three are connected with each other,
and mutually improve or decline together.
Agriculture is checked by a want of ftock
in the farmer, which arifes from not hav-
ing a proper intereft in the foil, and fecu-
rity in the exclufive enjoyment of the pro-

2 2 2 LETTERS OX THE

fits derived from the improvement of it.
It does not feem that the Irifh govern-
ment has taken fufficient pains to coun-
teract thefe obftacles by giving bounties,
or by obliging landlords to take part of
their rent in corn, as was formerly done
almoft every where, and is ftill the cafe
in fome places. Neither are the aids of
manufactures and commerce in a fuffici-
ently flouriihing condition to exalt their
fallen fitter.

Without the market which trade af-
fords, how is the farmer to pay his land-
lord, to pay the taxes of the ftate, to pay
his tithes to two clergymen, and then
with what remains to fupport himfelf and
his family? Without the affiftance of
agriculture, how is the manufacturer to do
the fame? Where little com is grown, that
.little muft be fold very dear; which obliges

IRISH NATION. 223

the Irim manufacturer to fell his commo-
dity at a price proportionate to what he
pays for food. Even Irim linens therefore
require Englifh bounties to find a market,
or other nations would underfell them by
many degrees. Thus, whilft tillage lan-
guifhes and is neglected, trade is fettered,
and the people are in a ftate of poverty

and wretchednefs.

/

If I were called upon to name any one
caufe which it was probable occafioned
this general poverty in the agricultural,
manufacturing, and commercial fyftems,
more than any other fmgle principle ; I
Ihould undoubtedly mention the high rate
of inter eft for money in Ireland. In a mo-
ral point of view 1 mall leave it to others
to examine. With refpect however to its
influence on agriculture and trade, I fliall
conclude this long letter with /cry briefly

22J. LETTERS ON THE

pointing out what appear to me to be
infurmountable objections to it.

Capital is That which more than any
thing elfe is wanted in Ireland. It is this
alone which can put induftry into motion
and give it animation. Political econo-
mifts have therefore laid it down as an
axiom, that the induftry of no nation can
ever exceed what its capital can employ.
It is with capital that the materials to work
upon and the tools to work with are pur-
chafed ; it is with capital that the work-
men, the manufacturers, or the labourers,
are paid their wages ; it is with capital
that the merchant fits out his mip and
cargo, the manufacturer increafes the
number of his hands, and the farmer im-
proves his lands. Upon this therefore,
as upon a pivot, the activity of merchants,
manufacturers, and farmers, muft altoge-
ther turn.

IRISH NATION;

As then there exifts this extraordinary
want of capital amongft thefe people,
what can be the reafon why it is not
procured by loan ? Can any thing be more
obvious than that the reafon muft be, be-
caufe the rate of interefl which is to be
paid for it, eats up too large a fhare of the
cafual profits to be acquired by the em-
ployment of it? None of thefe defcriptions
of men will therefore borrow money,
which they muft pay fo high a price for.

In the firft place, with refpect to com-
merce, I mould beg to know what muft
be the condition of Irim merchants in
their dealings with other nations, when
they are obliged to pay a higher rate of in-
tereft for the money they borrow than
other merchants obtain their capitals for ?
The Englim trader pays five per cent, the
Dutch perhaps three or four, and other
Q

226 LETTERS ON THE

commercial nations in the fame propor-
tion, whilfl the Irim merchant will per-
haps find a difficulty in getting money at
fix, the legal rate of interefl. The necef-
fary confequence of this is, that the other
nations mull underfell the Trim merchant
in the foreign market. Nothing then
but a mofl extenfive commerce, can ena-
ble him to make it worth his while to
continue his dealings: the erTecl: of which is
that the profeffion of a merchant muft be
confined, as it now is, to a few projectors
and adventurers.

But granting for a moment that a few
individuals are to be found hardy enough
to engage in trade, it will follow that,
fuppofmg they trade, as moft young
beginners generally do, upon borrowed
money ; the payment of this high rate
of interefl mufl entirely run away with

IRISH NATION*

their profits. I have therefore no hefita-
tion whatever in afferting that the com-
mercial profperity of every European na-
tion muft depend upon the legislature's
eftabliming a low rate of intereft.

The fame effects are obfervable on agri-
culture and manufactures. The improve-
ment of land requires capital. The Irifli
farmer is, as I have before fhewn, unable
to fave money out of the profits of his
land ; he muft therefore borrow it. But
then the intereft which he muft pay for
it, by eating up the profits which he
could make by the employment of capital,
fruftrates the very end for which he re-
quires it. In like manner the poor manu-
facturer whofe gain is fmall on account of
the dearnefs of his materials, of labour,
and of all the necefTaries of life, will not
hazard the embarking borrowed capital
Q 3

LETTERS ON THE

in a fpeculation, which if it fuccecds, his
profits muft go to pay the intereft, and if
he fails, bankruptcy and ruin are the
inevitable confequences.

I have thus finished this deplorable pic-
ture in all its parts, and have endeavoured
to point out a want of legiflative wifdom,
which I cannot but fufpeft to be the
caufe of it. To conchfde. — Neither has
the government (thus neglecting to fup-
ply the wTants of the people by calling
their induftry into action) inftituted any
parochial provision for the poor through-
out the kingdom, to fupply the omif-
fion. .The poor laws of England firfl
began upon the dhTolution of the monaf-
teries, and perhaps as many poor were
then thrown upon the public, as there are
at prefent in Ireland. The government
however foon afforded relief to their dif-

IRISH NATION. 2^9

trefs, by quartering them upon the pa-
rimes to which they feverally belonged.
From hence has fprung up a volume of
laws, rules, and regulations, fomewhat
indeed confufed, disorderly, and operating
in many cafes as a great grievance; yet
undoubtedly difplaying the charity and be-
nevolence of the nation, and that fpirit
of humanity which makes them fubmit
to inconveniences for the fupport of their
fellow creatures. I am not therefore fure
that I would recommend the adoption of
our fyftem of poor laws into Ireland.
There would be fo many calls for the be-
nefitof this relief in Ireland, that the nation
would be unable to bear the expences of
it. It can only be eftablifhed as the auxi-
liary of a great trade, to provide for the
few hands which the labour of an induf-
trious nation leaves without maintenance.

23O LETTERS ON THE

Unlefs a nation is rich, it can never main-
tain its poor, for the poor then becomes
the nation itfelf. The bulk of every ftate
muft fupport itfelf by its induflry, for the
advantages of fortune are neceiTarily con-
fined to very few- When the majority
maintain themfelves, the minority may
then expecl fome relief. But for a fmall
minority to fupport a large majority of
ifre population, is one of thofe paradoxes
in politics, which the benevolence of no
nation eyer attempted to put in practice,
or the eccentricity of any fophift to illuf-
trate and recommend. ' There is not a
more neceflary or more certain maxim in
the frame and constitution of ibciety,
than that every individual muft contri-
bute his fhare in order to the well-being
of the community : ancj furely they muft
be very deficient in found policy, who

IRISH NATION.

fuffer one half of a parifh to continue
idle, diflblute, and unemployed; and at
length are amazed to find that the induf-
try of the other half is not able to main-
tain the whole.' Such is the remark of
the only excellent (and at the fame time
elegant) commentator on her laws which
England can boaft of. If this obfervation
of the incomparable Blackftone, is appli-
cable to parimcs, how much more is it to
a whole kingdom ? — and if fo, to the cafe
of Ireland ?

I am, &c. &c.

232 LETTERS ON THE

LETTER V.

OF THE CAUSES OF THE LATE
j &C.

My dear Sir,

WHEN I firfl took upon
myfelf the tafk of vifiting Ireland, and of
perfonally looking into the {late and con-
dition of that kingdom, I was fully ap-
prifed of the many difficulties and obfta-
cles with which I had to ' encounter, I
was fenfible how delicate the nature of
the fiibjecT: was into which I was about
to inquire, and how much that delicacy
was increafed by the times and exifting
circumftances. The minds of the people
would be fore, and bruifed almoft to death

IRISH NATION.

with political differences, which had coft
them fo much pain and anxiety. I had
even to apprehend that a queftion might

sfive uneafmefs, or be the means of excit-
o

ing alarm and fufpicion. Where every
man muft look with referve and diftruft
on his neighbour; where experience had
mewn the pofiibility of meeting with an
enemy in the difguife of a friend or
neareft inmate ; I knew that to inquire
would be to rankle a deep and deadly
wound ; and to put my own obfervations
to the teft, by communicating them to
thofe beft capable of judging of their
truth and accuracy, would be engaging in
a work of dangerous and uncertain hazard,
and be treading over the mournful embers
pf half extinguifhed fires*.

* Periculofae plenum opus aleae
Tradtas, et inceclis per ignes
$uppofitos cineri dolofo.

234 LETTERS ON THE

Since, my arrival in Ireland, I have
found all thefe apprehensions realized to
their full amount. But yet the Import-
ance of the information which I TOS de-
firous of obtaining, urged me on to profe-
cute my inquiries with alacrity and perfe-
verance. It is true my refolutions coft me
fome pain in the execution, but I con{l-
dered that the fpirit of inquiry ought not
to be damped by confi derations of that
nature. I had embarked in the caufe,
and was determined to profecute my
voyage to the end. As for thofe who
might be inclined to judge feverely of my
conduct, I 'left them to take into the
account, the agent, and the object of the
action on which they were about to pafs
fentence. I found, that even in Ireland
the name of an Englimman carries with
it that weight and refpect which has long

IRISH NATION. 335

- flattered our pride in foreign countries. In
Ireland, too, every man is fenfible how
much the profperity and deareft interefts
of the two countries are linked and
blended together. They are confcious,
that whatever mock is received by the
one, muft run with electrical force and
rapidity through the other. What confi-
derations had I then to deter me from my
objecl? I had only to look into the ftate
of the country, and to hear the tale of
thofe who have been witnefTes and fuffer-
ers in the calamities which it had expe-
rienced.

When I firft landed in Ireland, I fpcnt
a few days in Dublin, and then vifited
the country which had been the theatre
of the late rebellion. In the capital, I

obferved the ftreets were crowded with

/

the widows and orphans of thofe who

2$ LETTERS ON THE

had fallen in battle : In the country I be-
held the villages every where burnt and
razed to the ground. Every thing I caft
my eyes on, prefented the melancholy
features of ruin and defolation. I was
refolved to make myfelf matter of the
real caufes of the unhappy differences
which had fubfitted. I inquired of the
Proteftant landlord, and he told me that it
was a Catholic war. I turned to the
DhTenter (for fuch in every fenfe of the
xvord he evinced himfelf to be), and he
anfwered, that it was an infurreclion of
the peafantry againft their cruel matters—
that it was like the celebrated La Jac-
querie of France ; and that the oppreffion
of the natural ariftocracy.of the country
had occafioned fo much bloodfhed. When
I reforted in the laft place to the Catholic
(for in Ireland the diftinftions of religion

IRISH NATION.

mark men more than any thing elfe, and
are the caufe of all other diftinclions) and
preffed him to inform me what he confi-
dered to be the caufes and the objects of
the late civil commotions, he allured me,
that it was brought about entirely by the
partifans of French principles. He added,
that it was no war of religion ; becaufe
none of the Catholics of Cork, Water-
ford, Limerick, Clare, Galway, or of any
part of the kingdom, except thofe of the
few counties in which the rebellion broke
out, were at all implicated in it; that the
Catholics of Wicklow and Wexford were
neceflarily fo, becaufe all the peafantry
there were of that religion.

Amidft thefe various and contradictory
opinions how was I to difcover the truth?
This alone I could afcertain with pre-
cifion, that thj whole nation was con-

338 LETTERS ON THE

vulfed with jarring interefts and irrecon-
cileable animofities; that thefe were the
primary caufes of the rebellion ; and that,
whilft they fubfifted, Ireland muft ftill
continue the unhappy country which I
then beheld it.

The inquiry then fhifted to, What arc
thefe contending interefts ? what the
caufes of them ? and what is it that has
kindled them into the flame of civil war ?
I divided the inquiry into a political and a
religious one. I hoped that this diviflon
would fatisfy my curiofity, as the prifm
by feparating a ray of lights mews its
component parts in their true colours.
An examination into the practical merits
of the government led me to a knowledge
of the general ftate of the country. An
inquiry into the religious differences of
Ireland fully informed me of the condi-

IRISH NATION. 239

tion of each particular clafs of its inhabi-
tants. You have had the refult of both
thefe refearches. But they only acquaint
you with the primary caufes of the rebel-
lion, not with the proximate or immedi-
ate ones. I proceed therefore to develops
the circumftances in the ftate of parties
which led more directly to the rebellion.

Since the acceffion of his prefent Ma-
jefty to the throne, many attempts have
been made byfucceffive viceroys to dimi-
nifli the overgrown power of the arifto-
cracy of the country. All thefe however
failed of erTecl, becaufe they wanted the
cordial co-operation of the Britim cabinet.
Let me be bold enough to aflert, that in
the inevitable confequences of the exifting
ftate of parties, Great Britain hoped and
trufted that Ireland would fee the necef-
fityof an union. The administrations of

540 LETTERS ON THE

Lord Townfhend, of the Marquis of
Rockingham, and of Lord Wcftmoreland,
fucceffively pafTed away without any
thing material being done. The phan-
toms, the ihadows of royalty, they ftalked
acrofs the ftage to pleafe the vanity of
the Trim nation with the parade and in-
trigue of a Court. The Prefidency, how-
ever, of the latter Viceroy, Lord Weft-
moreland, is remarkable for a faction
called the Orange party, and the confpi-
racy of the United Irimmen, taking their
rife under it. In the principles upon
which thefe two cabals were formed, and
in the hiftory of their proceedings, may
be diftinclly traced the immediate caufes
of the Irim rebellion. The Orange party
wras formed to perpetuate the abufes and
oppreffions of the government, by dif-
countenancing every innovation. The

IRISH NATION. 54!

United Irimmen marmalled themfelves
on the other hand, not merely to reform
all abufes (for, had they proceeded no
farther, £hey would have merited the
higheft applaufe), but alfo to carry inno-
ration to the extent of feparating the
country from Great Britain, and making
it a free, integral, and independent re-
public.

The narrative of the collifion of thefc
two parties till an explofion took place,
may be comprifed in a few words. Lord
Weftmoreland in a fpeech from the
throne recommended the claims of the
Catholics, to be taken into immediate
confideration, and the expectation of their
complete emancipation (as it was figura-
tively called) ran very high. The im-
pulfe of all difmterefled men was greatly
in favour of the meafure. The befl fliare
R

LETTERS ON THE

of the talents on both fides of the water
was exerted in its behalf. Burke * wrote
and fpoke for the Catholics, and fent his
only fon over to Ireland; and the whole
eloquence of the Britifh Houfe of Com-
mons was roufed in their behalf. To op-
pofe this, the ariftocracy of Ireland pro-
ceeded to ' array an army of their own.'
They openly avowed themfelves deter-
mined to ihed the laft drop of their blood
before any conceflions mould be made to
the Catholic body. In this oppofition

* The zeal which this great man (who is now no
more, but who will live in memory as long as the lan-
guage which he wrote in {hall be fpoken or read, and
as long as there (hall he any tafte remaining in the
world, or any admiration of the pureft ethics taught in
the mofl enchanting and bewitching ftyle) difplayed
throughout his whole life and till the hour of his
diffolution, in behalf of his diftrefled countrymen the
Catholics of Ireland, mufl evince, even to the moft
fceptical, if not the juftice, at leaft the fincerity, of his
exertions.

N IRISH NATION. 343

may be feen the origin of the Orange
party.

During the whole of thefe proceedings
in favour of the Catholics, it is obvious
that the confpiracy of the United Irifh-
men was gradually ripening. The abufes
of the government were the theme both of
public and private difcuffion, and the
hopes of their being reformed were of
courfe great. The United Irifhmen art-
fully fomented the difcontents of the
people, as an engine to effectuate their
own views. They had imbibed their
political opinions from the French Revo-
lution, and were clofely connected with
the partifans of it (by an accredited re-
prefentative at Paris), whofe views of dif-
organization completely correfponded with
their own. This threatened to prove the
fource of the utmoft diforder to the
R z

544 LETTERS ON THE

/

The tide of republicanifm in Ireland ebbed
and flowed according to the fuccefs of
its friends on the continent. When the
allied armies retired from the French
territory in the autumn of the year 1795,
it was at its highefl pitch. Eternal war was
declared againft all Kings by the friends
of Liberty. The United Irimmen mar-

!

lhalled their corps, and difplayed the
emblems of fedition in the ilreets and
fquares of Dublin, and in the full face of
the noon-day. A national Guard was
formed upon the plan, and even with the
uniform, of that of Paris. The nation
was attempted to be roufed by feditious
publications and addreffes ; and Dungan-
non, where the volunteers of Ireland had
a few years before aflerted the indepen-
dence of the country, was re-appointed
the fpot where the voice of Liberty was

IRISH NATION.

once more to be heard. During the whole
of thefe proceedings the arm of govern-
ment feemed palfie^ and the nation
looked on, appalled fpeclators of the fcene.
The fteadinefs of the phyfician feemed
overpowered by the very afpecl: of the djf-
cafe. It appeared as if little more than
the caft of a die was to determine whether
Revolution or Treafon was to be the
watch- word of Ireland.

At length, however, the government
took courage; proclamations were hTued
forbidding armed aflemblies of the people,
and fome of the confpirators were feized.
Hamilton Rowan, their oftenfible leader,
was brought to trial ; others fled to France ;
and the proceedings of the confpiracy,
though not lefs vigorous, became however
lefs open. They had coupled their caufe
with that of the Catholics; and every

£4° LETTERS ON THE

exertion which was made for that opprefTed
body was paving the wray to the defigns of
the confpirators. They therefore endea-
voured to roufe the Catholics, as the in^
ftrument by which the conftitution both
in church and ftate was to be completely
overturned. But, to the honour of that
great body be it recorded, the loyalty of
the far greater part of them was proof
againft thefe artful machinations. The
Catholics felt themfelves attached to a
conflitutionof King, Lords, and Commons.
They therefore renounced all coalition
with the confpirators, and preferred their
humble claims to Parliament, to be ad-
mitted within the pale of a conftitution
which they were ready to defend with
their lives and fortunes.

This was during the corrupt adminif-
tration of the Earl of Weftmoreland.

IRISH NATION. 247

The petition of the Catholics was pre-
fented to his Majefty, and by him was
gracioufly received and referred to the
parliament of Ireland. The juftice of
their claims being fupported by able
friends on both fides of the water, made
this the period in which thofe conceffions
which they have obtained, were made to
them, and thofe harm difqualincations
which formerly attended them were in a
great^ degree repealed.

Such was the ilate of parties when Lord
Weflmoreland was recalled, and the admi-
niftration of Earl Fitzwilliam commenced.
All the circumftances relating to that
event are, however, fo freih in the recol-
lection of every man, that it would be
abufmg your patience if I were to attempt
to recapitulate them. Suffice it to fay,
that .the fudden recall of that amiable
R 4

LETTERS ON THE

nobleman, at the moment when the ex-
pectations of Catholic emancipation were
at their full height, and made the avowed
object of his administration; contributed
not a little to bring the affairs of Ireland
to a fpeedy crifis. Nothing could have
happened more opportune to the United
Irimmen. If we are only to confider this
recall as the precurfor of that defolating
civil war which ravaged Ireland, it is
undoubtedly much to be lamented. But
if, on the contrary, we contemplate it as
one of thofe measures which was to pre-
pare the kingdom for a full and final fet-
tlement of its political and religious inte-
refts (although that objecl was not at the

time fufficiently ripe for avowal), it feems

\

to me that the wifdom and neceffity of it
cannot but be acquiefced in.

The confpiracy of the United Irilhmena

IRISH NATION. 249

notwithstanding the obftacles it had met
with, had now however become ripe for
explofion, and the virtuous Lord Camden's
adminiftration was to be the unhappy
epoch of it. At the head of this plot was
an ' Executive Directory/ under the con- ,
troul and fuperintendance of which were
( Provincial and Baronial Committees/
fcattered over the greater part of the
country. They had their ' affiliated fo-
cieties' in different parts of the three
kingdoms, with which, and with the
government of France, they kept up a
regular and frequent correfpondence. The
train was laid throughout England, Scot-
land, and Ireland ; but fortunately the ex-
plofion only took place in the latter
country.

Seditious harangues and publications
have been called by Lord Verulam the

LETTERS ON THE

fitter of rebellion; and the obfervation
is founded in human nature, and con-
firmed by uniform experience. -* The
poets therefore (fays this great man)
fabled Fame, or that fwift plague Ru-
mour*, to be the youngeft Jifler of the

giants who warred againft Godf. For

/
rebellious actions and feditious reports do

not differ in nature or kind, but as it
were only m fex ; the one being mafculine
and the other feminine.' Whoever exa-
mines the rife and progrefs of the fociety
of the United Irimmen will not require
any further confirmation of the truth of
what I have before aflerted. Whoever
reads the addrefles and declarations with

* Fama Malum quo non aliud velocius ullum.
f Illam Terra parens, ira irratata deorum,
Extremamy ut perhibent, Coeo. Enceladoquc

fororem
Progenuit— — — —

IRISH NATJOX. 251

which the prefs was daily teeming, cannot
entertain a doubt that the United Irimmen
were the fomenters and the inftigators of
the rebellion. They poured forth the
dhtrefles of the people, and taught them to
be discontented with the exifting govern-
ment of the country. But this leiTon had
been long fully learnt. They therefore,
ftudied how to exaggerate the evils which
the people fufFered, and to make light of
thofe advantages which they perhaps did
enjoy. Whilft they endeavoured to ex-
afperate their minds to a pitch of phrenzy,
they profeiled their own views to be moil
/difmtereftedly patriotic.

This fungous aflbciation took upon
themfelves the piloting of the.ftate veflel
through the ilorms and tempefts of a re-
volution. They made pikes, formed de-
pots of muikets and ammunition, and caft
d

2$2 LETTERS ON THE

cannon, which they carefully concealed
till it mould be wanting. They tampered
with the foldiers to feduce them from
their allegiance, and folicited and obtained
a promife of affiftance from the French.

Backed and encouraged by the forward
{late of their preparations, the fociety nTued
declarations, purporting that ' Univerfal-
Emancipation, writh a Reprefentative Le-
giflature,' was their ' polar principle.'
The King and the Houfe of Peers, toge-
ther with the ecclefiaftical eftablifhment,
were therefore left to their fate. In the
bombaftic jargon of French Republican-
ifm, they invited a ' compacY of Pref-
byterian and Catholic ; that ' provincial
conventions' mould affemble, and elecl
' delegates' to confer with thofe chofen
by proteftant bodies of a ' fimilar nature
and organization.' They avowed that

IRISH NATION.

nothing would fatisfy them but ' imme-
diate, ample, and fubftantial juftice to the
Catholics ; ' but they declared at the fame
time they confidered that merely as the
* portal to the temple of National
Freedom *.'

Unfortunately for Ireland, the Catho-
lics of fome few counties liftened to thefe
artful invitations ; but the Prefbyterian
intereft flood aloof, and rerufed its co-
operation. Neither would any of the
Catholic body have joined the aifociation,
if the eloquent exertions of the Earl of
Moira had been liftened to in the parlia-
ment of his native country. The Critical

* See the Addrefs of the Society of United Irifh-
men at Dublin, to the Volunteers of Ireland, figned by
Archibald Hamilton Rowan, as Secretary, and fully
proved on his trial. Alfo the other papers annexed to
the report of the Secret Committee of the Houfe of
Lords in Ireland — Auguft 1798.

254 LETTERS ON THE

and dangerous flate of public affairs at
this time was feen into and predicted by
that virtuous nobleman. With the moft
patriotic enthufiafm, he hurried over from
Great Britain to his native country, and
in -his place in the Legislature of the king-
dom, propofed conciliatory meafures to
allay the threatening difcontents. But
the infatuation of the Irifh Parliament
prevented his advice being attended to.

Nothing then could prevent the burft-
ing of the impending {form.

The unhappy peafantry of Wicklow,,
Wexford, and the ' adjoining counties,
groaning under the weight of their op-
preffions — milled by the artifices of their
own priefts — flattered with the aflurance
of repoiTeffing thofe eftates of which their
anceftors had formerly been plundered —
and allured that they would enjoy them

IRISH NATION.

again under the protection of a ' Catholic
Republic* — liftened to the delufion, and
promifed their warm cp-operation. The
names of many great men were made ufe
of to encourage them by their examples ;
fome of whom in facT: fecretly abetted all
thefe proceedings. Great afliftance was
promifed from the French, if it mould be
neceffary ; and the landing which at that
time had been recently effected by fome
troops of that nation at Bantry-Bay,
ferved to countenance the delufion. But
all this would have been inefficient to
bring the Catholics into the field, if it
had not been mduftrioufly circulated by
the United Irimmen, that the Orange
party was inftituted in order to extermi-
nate them. It was reprefented, that the
Proteftants had entered into a ' folemn
league and covenant to deftroy them, and

256 LETTERS ON THE

that they had fworn to wade up to their
knees in Popim blood*.' The day when
the maflacre was to commence was
even mentioned. This artful infmuation
and moft ingenious device completed the
momentum of difafFeclion which before
there was little to reftrain: this artifice
brought the Catholic peafantry into the
field at the time fixed on by the confpi-
racy for a general rifmg *(*.

I am forry to be obliged to confefs,
that there was but too much appearance
of rcafon to juftify the Catholics in giving
ear to this fuggeftion of a mafTacre.
Orange lodges were fpread over the coun-
ties in which the rebellion broke out,
more numeroufly than through the other

* See the Report of the Committee of the Houfe
of Lords. • The truth of this fa6t I had many oppor-
tunities of afcertaining.

t The Rebellion broke out the 33d of May, 1798.

I

IRISH NATION.

parts of the kingdom. Oaths were ad-
miniftered to thofe who enrolled them-*
felves of that party; the nature and pur-
port of which the peafantry were unac-
quainted with, but which they were led
to believe were for the defign of extermi-
nating them. Neither is there any doubt
but that fuch a wifli has been profeiTed by
many of the Orange party. I am fure I
have heard it declared, and fo muft every
man who has at all mixed in fociety in the
country, that Ireland would never be at
reft till the Roman Catholics were com-
pletely exterminated. Such a fentiment
has even been avowed in the public deli-
berations of the Legislature. I was not
indeed prefent to hear it myfelf, but I
have not the leaft reafon to doubt of the
fad;. The charge has been publicly made
by others, and has never yet been denied,

S

£58 LETTERS ON THE

The well informed author of a refpecT:-
able publication, on the ftate of affairs in
Ireland in the year 1799*, has this re-
markable paffage: 'And though there
may be men of ferocious minds who would
exterminate the natives ; though I have
heard an atrocious policy avowed in the
public councils, by which they were to
be armed and let loofe upon each other ;
though 1 have heard the offer of Union
condemned as a remedy inadequate to the
evil, and the falvation of the few afferted to
depend upon the extermination of the
majority ; that the Catholics muft be ex-
tinguimed and put out ; that not a fmgle
Rohilla of them all can be left with im-
punity ; though I have heard thefefangui-

* Con federations on the State of Public Affairs in
the year 1799. Ireland, p. 63.

IRISH NATION. $59

nary do flr hies pollute the walls of a Hoiife of
Parliament, yet I am fatisfied that they
are confined to a few breads not wickeder
than they are weak.'

What anfwer does the Orange party
make to this charge, which ftands thus
openly upon record ? They refufe to plead
to the indictment ; they ftand obftinatelj
mute : their guilt muft therefore be taken
pro confejjo*. The inference is, that the
miferable peafantry, in giving credit to
the affertion of a maffacre, acled upon
good collateral evidence, which, when
added to the pofitive proof (for fuch it
muft have appeared to them) which forged
Orange oaths, purporting a mailacre, pro-

* I find that Dr. Duigenan, in his * Prefent Political
State of Ireland,' publifhed fmce the firft edition of
thefe letters, adlually quotes the above paflage, but
to my great furprize does not attempt to anfwer
it. — Note to id edit.

S 2,

LETTERS ON THE

duced; muft entirely acquit them of every
crime. It muft evince their conduct to
have been nothing but an exertion of the
mere right of felf-defence; that right
which no law can take away, becaufe it
" is paramount to all law ; that right which
no ariftocracy can overthrow, becaufe it
has for its bafis human nature. It muft
reduce their criminality to the fault of
pofTeiTmg too great a lhare of credulity.
The moft improbable fuggeftions have at
all times been eafily palmed upon the
Irilh peafantry. The dreadful maflacre
which took place in the year 1641 was
brought about by fimilar means. It was
then, as in the prefent cafe, induftrioufly
circulated throughout the kingdom that
the Proteftants (and particularly the
Prefbyterians, who at that time had emi-
grated to Ireland in great numbers) were

IRISH NATION. 2O"l

about to exterminate the Catholics.
What will not apprehenfions of this fort
perform', when backed by the impulfe of
religious enmity ? Till education therefore
has removed this aflbciation of ignorance,
credulity, and fuperftition, in the lower
clafles of the community in Ireland, there
can never exift any perfeuft fecurity againft
infurre&ions.

This is a ' round unvarnifhed tale* of
the circumftances which led to the Trim
rebellion. In that unhappy conteft,
brothers were armed againft each other's
lives, and children againft thofe of their
parents. Ireland will long feel the effects
of it — Crudum adhuc vidnus me dent mm
rnanus reformidat. Peace was however at
length purchafed (if indeed that dreadful
fcene which flaughter and defolation
produce deferves the name of peace); it

S3

2,62, LETTERS ON THE

was purchafed with little lefs than th«
lofs of one hundred thoufand lives. Of
thefe about nine-tenths were of the infur-
gents ; the lofs of the royalifts being about
10,000 men.

After the great victories which were
gained at Vinegar-Hill and fome other
places, the triumphs of the Orange party-
were now complete. The hue and cry
of Popifh plot and Catholic rebellion was
ynmedialely vociferated. Not even the
high-church mobs in the time of Sache-
verel could have exceeded their religious

zeal. It betrayed them into exccffes
which generous enemies would have been.

amamed of. It was like Philip of Mace-
don dancing on the field of battle, and in-
fulting the dead bodies of his enemies,
after his victory at Cheronsea. They
talked of a reftoration of the whole of the

IRISH NATION. 2,6$

black code of penal laws which had ever
been enacted againft Popery. The flatute
book was again to be difgraced and brand-
ed with thofe flams which for fome years
the legislature had been gradually purg-
ing it of. Popiih recufant convicts were
to be again introduced to the acquaintance
of Irifh law, with all the penalties and
punifhments attached to them. The
.exercife of the Roman Catholic religious
worfliip was alfo to be prohibited under fe-
verc penalties and punifhments. Frefh life
was to be given to laws againfl the Ca-
tholics which had become dead letters,
and frefh- heaps were to be piled on thofe
which already exifled, ' Immenfiis aliarum
fuper alias aceruatamm kgum cumulus?

But I trufl you will feel convinced,
that the ftigma caft on the Roman Ca-
tholics was unmerited and unjuft; that
S4

364 LETTERS ON THE

there is neither any thing now exifting in
the nature of that perfuafion, or in the
difpofitions of its profeflbrs, which ought
to check that fpirit of liberality and hu-
mane toleration which has honoured the
reign of his prefent Majefty, and which
is every day gaining gound in Europe. It
is pleafmg to compare that ' mild fpirit of
philofophy which has adorned the prefent
reign, with the harlhnefs and feverity
which caft a melancholy gloom over fome
of the moft brilliant periods of Britifh
hiftory.' I do not plead the caufe of Su-
perftition, or of its nurfery and hot-bed,
the Church of Rome. 1 am in this parti-
cular at leaft the advocate of human nar
ture. It is to affift in overturning fuper-
ftition that I have directed my aim ; for

the readieft road to this object appears to

k »

be the abolition of all thofe opprobrious

IRISH NATION. 365

f-

diftinclions which are the very batteries
and bulwarks of intolerancy.

The Irifh rebellion did not originate
in religious differences, however they
might contribute to inflame it in its pro-
grefs. The earthly paffions of malice and
ambition were undoubtedly heightened by
* the flame of theological difcord;' but
they were not created by it. They were
created by thole oppreffions under which
I have defcribed the peafantry as cxifting.
Upon a populace with minds fo defirous
of innovation, not merely for the fake of
innovation, but of relief from their mife-
ries, the principles of Jacobin Liberty
and religious zeal muft have afted with a
powerful purchafe. The Cat hoiks became
therefore the tools, and the Society of United
Irifhmen were the bujy workmen of the re-
bellion. Priefls and traitors kindled the

266 LETTERS ON THE

fpirit of bloody and implacable hoftility,
by blowing the trumpet and lighting the
firebrand of religious war. Chriftianity
has in all times (and almoft in all coun-
tries) fmce its eftablifhment, been made
the fulcrum by which thofe who were its
pretended friends, but who were in faft its
greateft enemies, have difturbed the quiet
of the wrorld. In this cafe, it is probable
that the motives of thefe priefts and of
thefe traitors were different from each
other. I will venture to affert, that the
motives of the multitude differed alike
from 'both. They all co-operated in one
common defign of overthrowing the go-
vernment ; but fuccefs would have foon
thrown afunder fuch ill-jointed materi-
als. It is well known that the Catholics
would have foon fliaken off their con-
nexion with the apoftles of French
6

IRISH NATION. 367

Freedom*. But the fortune of the king-
dom prevented our witneffing the horrid
fcenes which mufl have followed their
fuccefs. They both funk together in one
gulph ; they both fell facrifices to ' the
fire-eyed maid of fmcky war.' May the
nation learn to avoid a repetition of thefe
horrors ! May they learn the important
leflbn of removing thofe grievances which
muft again lead to them ! It is the me-
lancholy tafk of the hiftorian to paint the
fcene ; it is the bufinefs of the legiilator
to profit by the event. Pofterity demands
that the hard-earned leflbns of experience
mould not be thrown away. Pofterity
requires that the caufe of knowledge,
truth, and juftice, mould every day ad-

* This appeared from the confeffioiv of feveral
of the rebels who were made prifoners and afterward*
hanged.

568 LETTERS ON THE

vance, for upon that advancement mufl
depend the happinefs of mankind, both
moral and political.

I am, &c. &c.

"IRISH NATION. 269

LETTER VI.

!

ON THE CONSTITUTION OF 1783.

My dear Sir,

IT has often happened
that the principle upon which either an
individual or a nation a&s may be good,
when the meafure adopted in confequence
of it is far from deferring an equal marc of
comm endation. I confider this to have been
precifely the cafe with the Irifh nation in
the year 1785. It had long laboured
under the grievance of being bound by
laws, in the making of which it had no

LETTERS ON THE

fhare. and of being crippled in the pafling
of thofe which its own internal legislature
deemed neceflary. Great Britain had
always confidered the country as a depen-
dant and fubordinate kingdom, which it
had conquered, planted, and civilized ; and
which of courfe could have no farther
claims than to the clemency of the victor.
They had found the iiland in a rude and
barbarous ftate, not even the Romans,
that banditti which had pillaged almoft
all the reft of the world, having evtr
penetrated into it to carry civilization
along with ilavery. Great Britain had
therefore never thought of communicating,
as its right, all the advantages of that free
government and fovereign legiflative au-
thority which fhe herfelf was in the en-
joyment of.

Molyneux, the friend of Locke, had in

IRISH NATION. 171

rain flood forward in the behalf of his
unhappy country. The excefs of his zeal
was perhaps the principal occafion of his
ill-fuccefs. He participated in that ardent
love of freedom which pervaded his Eng-
lifh contemporaries, which had reared the
fabric of their liberties, and brought about
a declaration of their rights. The writ-
ings of Locke had perhaps fixed the poli-
tical opinions of his friend, and determin-
ed in his own mind the line of conduct
which he mould purfue. In purfuance
therefore of his determinations he went
over to England, and fubmitted to the
examination and judgment of this rival in
Fame of the immortal Newton, his logical
reafonings on the grievances of the fifter
kingdom. Locke approved of his conduct
and fentiments, and encouraged him in
his refolution of publiming them.. He

2J2, LETTERS ON THE

therefore boldly advocated the caufe of
Ireland, denied the right of conqueft
which Great Britain claimed over it, and
demanded for his country a full fhare of

"I*

Britifh freedom*. It is not necefTary that
I fhould enter into the merits of that
celebrated production. Whatever faults
there may be in the argument (and faults
there certainly are), the intentions of the
author were pure and patriotic. His en-
thufiafm however was cried down as the
effect of madnefs, and his writings were
condemned to be burnt by the hands of
the common hangman.

The period was not yet arrived in
which claims of this fort could be fuc-
cefsfully made. Another century was to
revolve over the heads of the Irifh, ano-

* See his book entitled « The Cafe of Ireland/
printed in 1698.

IRISH NATION. 2,73

ther generation was to pals away, before
they could be heard with effecl:. Some
faint ftruggles and feeble efforts were
indeed made by the parliament of Ireland
fhortly after the acceffiori of the houfe of
Brunfwick to the throne* But they fooii
died away, and are now only remarkable
on account of the imprifonment of

4

Sir Jeffrey Gilbert, an Englimman who
at that time filled with honour the high
office of Lord Chief Baron of the Court
of Exchequer in Ireland. This great man,
whofe name is juftly dear to every lawyer
for the literary fervices which he has
rendered to the profeffion, was commit-
ted to prifon by the Houfe of Lords in
Ireland for maintaining * the right of the
Britifh Houfe of Lords to determine in
the laft refort appeals from the decisions

* In the cafe of Annefley and Sherlock.

T

374 LETTERS ON THE

of the courts of juftice in Ireland. He
was however ibon releafed, and an acT:
was patted in the Britim legiflature to
deny the appellate jurifdicYion of the
Trim Lords Houfc of Parliament, and to
aflert that of the Britifh, and alfb further
to fecure the dependency of Ireland upon
the crown of Great Britain.

In the new world, the fpirit of indepen-
dence firft awoke from her long trance*
The genius of Liberty, after eftabliming
the freedom of her hardy fons in that
remote quarter of the globe, traverfed the
Atlantic Ocean, and winged her flight
towards Europe. She firfl alighted upon
the mores of Ireland. The influence of
that viiit ran through the country with
electrical rapidity. Ireland was inftantly
in a flame. As if by the force of magic,
forty thoufand men fuddenly declared

IRISH NATION* 275

themselves the champions of the liberties
of their country. The exigencies of the
times had armed thefe volunteer patriots,
and there was no refufmg claims which

were backed by fuch irrcfiftible power.

«

They had aflbciated to protect their coun-
try from invafion, and they now turned
their fwords againft the very government
which they had apparently embodied
themfelves to protecl. The unfortunate
adminiftration of Lord North had not
fufficient force or courage to withftand
the torrent *. By the declaration of inde-
pendence, which therefore foon followed,
Ireland was reluctantly torn from the bo-
fom of the mother country.

I need not inform you, that by the act
which was patted in the twenty- third year of

* See this unfortunate period depictured by Burke
in his letter to the Drke of Bedford. — p. 14.

T 2

2/6 LETTERS ON THE

his prefent Majefty's reign, it was exprelsly
declared, that the people of Ireland fhould,
in all cafes whatfoevrer, be bound only by
laws enacted by his Majefty and the Par-
liament of that kingdom. Two years
before, all pretenfions to fuperiority
founded on the ftatute law had been
abandoned. But prior to that period
Ireland was bound (when named) by acls
of the Britim Parliament. As a depen-
dent fubordinate kingdom, their Parlia-
ment was alfo incompetent to pals laws
without lending over to England the
heads and titles of them, to undergo the
conlideration of the EnglifliPrivy Council.
It was even neceffary to certify the caules
and confiderations of holding a Parlia-
ment, before it could lawfully be convened.
Appeals alfo lay to England from the de-
cifions made by their Courts of Law and

IRISH NATION.

Equity, as I have before mentioned. From
the Court of King's Bench in Ireland,
the appeal was to the King s Bench in
England ; and from the Court of Chan-
cery there to the Britim Houfe of Lords.
Ireland enjoyed ibme of the advantages
of the happy genius which had formed
the Englifh laws and conftitution The
government of the country, though alien
to it, was yet a Britiili government, of
which freedom was -the predominant
principle. The laws, though they were of
Englifh growth and exportation, were yet
famed for their vvifdom and mildnefs.
They had been planted by King John,
or. according to others by his father,
Henry the Second, at the Council of
Lifmore ; ami the Irilh nation had pub-
licly fworn to obey them. Their lawyers
were all educated (as they flill continue
T 3

Z?. LETTERS OX THE

to be) in our fchools of jurifprudcnce and
fountains of municipal law — the Inns of
Court, A refort to thefe original fources,
in the form of a Britifh appellate jurifdio
tion, was therefore wife and commenda-
ble. But, independent of its propriety on
thefe grounds, it was highly neceflary for
the prefervation of that fovereign power
and intereft which Great Britain claimed
over Ireland. Supreme judicial and legif-
lative pow7ers are infeparably connected
together. Such was the ftate of the
kingdom: but all exifting provifions for
the government of the country were
fwept away by the acl; of independence.

But after what has been faid in the
preceding letters, I muft leave you to de-
termine whether that independence was
the meafure which was beft fitted to
promote the happinefs of the country.

IRISH NATION. 379

I grant that much was to be done, but I
contend that a falfe remedy was too
haftily adopted. That remedy was total-
ly inadequate to the extent- of the evil.
It induced the neceffity of adopting only
half meafiires fcr the relief of the nation.
An ariftocracy was feated on the king-
dom, whofe minds were averfe and whofe
interefts were oppolite to thofe of the
bulk of the people. This government
was reduced to the difagreeable alternative
of either difregarding its own existence
and preservation, or elfe of leaving the op-
preffions of the people unremedied. If it
removed the difabilities under which the
great mafs of the people, the Catholic and
Prefbyterian bodies, lay, and admitted
them to a full ihare of the benefits of a
free government, it was feared that with-
out the affiftance of Great Britain the
T 4

£80 LETTERS OX THE

Proteftant afcendancy would be highly,
endangered. They had even to appre-
hend that his Majefly's crown might he
voted off his head. The Proteftant in-,
tereft would be merged and loft in the
torrent with which the opening fuch
flood-gates would immediately overwhelm
them. They had in facl: precluded
themfelves from demanding the aid of the
Britim government, if they were really
to be confidered and treated as an inde-
pendent kingdom. If then, on the other
hand, that juft fear which muft follow the
giving up any legiflative authority out of
their own hands prevailed, all the abufes
of the old ftate of things muft continue.
They might indeed have adopted a ( cour
rageous wifdom/ and admitted all ranks
of people to the full benefit of this boaft-
£d conftitution. But infteaji of doing

IRISH NATION. 2i

this, they had recourfe to a ' falfe reptile
prudence, the refult not of caution but of
fear. They fought for a refuge from
their fears, in their fears themfelves.
They confidered a temporizing meannefs
as the only fource of fafety. Inftead of
building the fafety of the government
upon the interefts, the wifhes, and the
refpecT: of the people, they compromifed
and truckled with the power which they
dreaded, as the only means of drawling
put their puny exiftence*.'

Thefe obfervations will be found appli-
cable to almoft all the meafures which
the Irim legiilature have adopted. The
conceffions which have been wrrefted from
them in favour of the Catholics, have
.obliged the Proteftants to join their inte-
with that of the DhTenters, in order

* Burke.

23 LETTERS ON THE

to preferve the balance of power. But
yet they have never dared to allow a re-
prefentation of the Catholic body by mem-
bers of their own religious faith, being
confcious that the Proteftant power, even
in its combined ftate, would weigh but as
a feather in the fcale againft fuch repre-
fentatives. They have therefore endea-
voured to make their peace with the Ca-
tholics, by repealing the moft invidious of
the laws againft them ; by building and
endowing a royal college for the educa-
tion of their clergy, with other baubles of
the fame nature. Still however, whilfl
the latter are precluded from enjoying
the eflence of a free government, a repre-
fentation in parliament by members of
their own uncontrouled choice and appro-
bation, but, on the contrary, are obliged to
choofe the tools of the ariftocracy and the

IRISH NATION. 383

declared enemies of their interefts, they
are little better than in a flate of fervitude.
Still the afcendancy of one party is main-
tained by the degradation of the other :

/

{till thofe ancient animofities, irrecon-
cileabie antipathies, feuds, and rival inte-
refts, are perpetuated, which fo often have
hurried the kingdom into anarchy an<J
confufion.

Neither has much more been done to
improve the induftry and commerce of
the kingdom. Soon after the acl: of in-
dependence, and during the Lord Lieu-
tenancy of the Duke of Rutland, the
Britim Parliament offered certain terms
upon which the commercial interefts of
the two kingdoms mould be mutually
adjufted. Every thing was offered which
was thought at that time at all confident
with the interefts of the mother country,

24 LETTERS ON THE

But becaufe Great Britain would not
affign over to this independent kingdom
all its own commercial advantages, the
Parliament of Ireland rejected the pro-
pofals altogether. The miftrc'fs of the
feas was to grant them every thing, or
they would accept of nothing. They
'Would not fubmit to the commercial
regulations which we had made or fhould
hereafter make for the better regulation
of the trade with our colonies. We
offered to allow them to participate in
that trade upon the fame terms and under
the iame regulations as we ourfelves
enjoyed it. Our navigation laws met
with no better reception. If it had been
the laws of Draco which we were offering
them, they could not have been more
indignantly rejefted. They refufed all
reftrided right of trading, even fuch as

IRISH NATION. 385

iliould only pay a due regard to the charter
of our Eaft India Company. It was alib
confidered by the framers of thefe pro-
pofitions, that fonie compenfation was
juftly due for admitting them to any
participation of commerce. An annual
contribution was therefore required to be
paid, in order to make fome amends for

the lofs to the revenue of the country,

i

which would be fuftained by a diminution
of the duties paid to the Englifh Govern-
ment. But they rejected the mention of
this propofal with contempt and indigna-
tion as a public infult. The other pro-
portions fhared the fame fate. They
might have united the commercial advan-
tages of the two kingdoms upon one
footing, equal in liberty and equal in
neceflary reftriclions. But they refufed
to do Ib. Public intereft gave way to

586 LETTERS OX THE

national pride, and to that fpirit of intoxi-
cation which generally accompanies new-
gotten power.

Something however was neceflary to
be done. As fenfe had been fupplied
by found, and argument by declamation;
fo fubftantial benefits wrere^to be fupplied
by oftentatious parade. The parliament
of Ireland, in order therefore to amuie
the people, and make them fome amends
for the want of trade and commerce,
erected a magnificent Cuftom-houfe and
Exchange for their merchants. • Thus
have they continued ftedfaftly to adhere
to the old maxim of facrificing the real
interests of the country to that popular
vanity which fo much characlerifes the
nation.

It would be ufurping the province of
the hiftorian, and quitting that of an

IRISH NATION. 387

epiftolary correfpondent, were I to lead
you through the detail of the proceedings
of the Irifli parliament, under the different
Lord Lieutenants which the kingdom
has had fmce the period of her indepen-
dence. Thefe already form a part of the
hiftory of the nation. In them, as there
will be found much to condemn, fo un-
doubtedly there will be difcovered fome
meafures which muft be approved of.
I cannot, in juftice to the Irim legiflature,
take leave of the fubjecl: of this letter,
without enumerating fome of thefe latter.
The repeal of the teft and corporation
acls was a wife meafure, and has been
attended with the happieft confequences.
The fame may be faid of the removal
of fome of the difqualifications under
which the Roman Catholics laboured,
as in purchafing land, ferving on juries,

388 LETTERS OX THE

\\ith fome other particulars of lefs cori-<
fequence. They have alfo endeavoured
to amend the corn laws, and to encourage
the growth of that article, and confe-
quently the increafe of agriculture, by
offering bounties. But I am inclined to
think that the meafure might have been
better managed in point of time and
degree, which would have infured it
better fuccefs than it actually has been
attended with. But there is one aft of
this legiilature on which I cannot but
bcftow my warmeft commendation. This
is the ftatute for regiftering memorials of
all deeds and incumbrances affecting land,
in an office appointed to be kept for that
purpofe. We have a fimilar law in
England, Ib far as relates to the counties
of Middlefex and Yorkfliire. I truft, how-
ever, that the period is not far diflant

IRISH NATIOX. 389

when the legiflature of Great Britain will
lee the wifdom and, propriety of extend-
ing it to the whole kingdom. It has often
appeared to me that this notonety in the
alienation and incumbering of real pro-
perty, for the fecurity of purchafers, is
abfolutely required by the old common
law of the kingdom; and that even thofe
principles of commerce, wealth, and re-
finements, which have overthrown, and
rendered in a great degree ufelefs, the
fimplicity of our ancient law, and almoft
fubftituted another voluminous code in
its place, ftill more demands this notoriety.
The leading feature of this mafs of ju-
rifprudence undoubtedly is, that the
alienation of land mould be as free and
unfettered, by entails or other means, as
poffible, in order to increafe the circula-
tion of property and anfwer the various
U

LETTERS ON THE

objects of barter. Undoubtedly nothing
can fo much contribute towards this
object as the rendering of titles to eftates
as clear as poffible, in order that purcha-
fers may never be intimidated from laying
out their money by the fear of dormant
claims afterwards ftarting up to diflurb
their pofleffion. The only means of pre-
venting this is that which has been
adopted by the parliament of Ireland, of
rendering a regiftry of thefe claims necef-
fary to be made at their firft commence-
ment.

«• <

But, notwithstanding this and other
particular prudent regulations, I truft that
what I have before obferved muft have
fufficiently convinced you of the ineffi-
cient nature of the conftitution of 1782.
I mall neverthelefs trouble you with a
few further obfervations on that particular.

IRISH NATION.

In confcquence of the people being
ill-governed, and of their commerce being
cramped and flitted, the talents and
virtues of the bulk of the nation find
no room for exertion or encouragement
for cultivation. The road to all the
wealth and honours of the flate, whether
military, ecclefiaftical, or judicial, is com-
pletely choked up. Every thing is done
by parliamentary influence and intereft:
without it nothing. It would be as eafy
for the fmalleft fmgle drop of water to
force its way through the ftrongeft dike
in Holland, as for individual merit,
without any collateral afliftance, to force
itfelf into the funfhine of glory through
the barriers and obstacles of influence
and corruption which are oppofed to
it.

If we turn from its domeftic effects to

U 2,

LETTERS ON THE

examine its confequences on the connec-
tion with Great Britain, we ihall find it
as has been already faid, that it has left
the fingle link of unity in the executive
power. We cannot then but recollect
that the regency bufmefs has fhewn
how flender this is, and how eafily endan-
gered. But there are caufes which render
this tie ftill more weak and precarious.
This is the extraordinary influx of French
political opinions. In 1798 thefe would
certainly have broken it completely afun-
der, if military aid had not ftepped in
to fave it. The rebellion has proved that
the mafs of the people are averfe to the
new government, and the long continued
endeavours of the common enemy of the
eflablimments of Europe, to lop off this
member of the Britim empire, make
fome frelh exertions necefTary to fecure
it to us,

IRISH NATION. 593

But to conclude this review of the
merits of the government, the ftate of
the people is a fufficient mirror of thofe
merits; but we have feen its defects by a
more minute and analytical examination.
By the anatomy of the component parts,
we have feen how unjointed are the mem-
bers of this body politic. But though
the Parliament has not been able or
willing to beftow on the people the
bleffings of a free conftitution, yet they
have erected a Parliament-houfe, which
for fplendour has perhaps no equal in the
world. They feem to have been fenfible
that their exiftence could not be long,
and therefore took an early opportunity
of committing to carpenters and mafons
the tafk of writing their hiftory.

Such is the hafty furvey which I have
made of this much talked of conftitution

294 LETTERS ON THE

of 1783. It appeared like a veflel with
gilded beams and painted oars, and pur-
ple fails, with her flags, pendants, and
ftreamers floating in the air, but only fit,
for fmooth waters and favourable winds.
Whilft thefe continued — whilft the pub-
lic mind and public ftrength were united
*— the veffel' failed well and made a fplen-
did appearance. But no fooner did the
winds arife, the waves foam, and the
tempeft howl, than it was loft and wrecked
almoft in its very launch.

I have, you fee, taken fome pains to
defcribe to you the birth and fomc of the
adls of this independent legiflature. In
difcharging this talk, I have briefly laid
open the effects which have attended it.
Two confequences, however, may yet be
diftin&ly traced from this glorious afler-
tion of Irilh liberty. It confirmed the

IRISH NATION.

authority of the ariftocracy over the peo-
ple, delivering them up as ilaves to a
planter, to ufe or to abufe them. Intereft or
inclination were left without an appellate
jurifdiclion, as the fole principles which
Ihould regulate its conduct. That pa-
rental controul of the Britifh government

which before exifted, was in a great

i
meafure done away. It could no longer

moderate inteftine difputes, ailuage the
violence of faction, and from the com-
manding height on which it flood, look
down on the bitternefs of party fpirit,
and becaufe fuperior to and uninfluenced
by it, heal the wounds which it made.
But the rage for innovation fwept away
this power of controul.

The firft effecl: therefore of this new

f
conftitution was to fix firmly the oUJlate

of things, with all the abufes and oppref-

U 4

2$6 , LETTERS ON THE

fions with which that ftate was accom-
panied. Its other effecT: was to occafion
the moft enormous increafe of bribery
and corruption, in order to enable the
executive government to maintain its juft
ftation. His Majefty's councils can have
no farther weight than what they receive
from a fyftem of corruption co-extenfive
with the independence with which the
legiflative bodies are inverted. Hence it
was that their Viceroys have been obliged
to ftain the honour of the purple, by
fubmitting to numerous indignities. Hence
it was that they have been often obliged
to create new places to provide for the
friends to Government, and to lay on taxes,
with the produce of which their clamorous
cravings might be fatisfied. Voters in
Parliament muft be paid ; or, if they could
not be bought fufficiently cheap, new

IRISH NATION. 297

ieats muft be purchafed for thofe who
were wanted to make up the complement
of minifterial force. The Lord Lieu-
tenant, who mines with the borrowed light
of the Caefars under the Eaftern defpotifm
which prevailed in the decline of the
Roman empire, muft of neceffity fupport
the dignity and power of the purple with
which he is invefted. But whilft he is
cut off from all the fupport neceflary to
government ; whilft an independent arif-
tocracy defies his power, or obliges him to
truck and compromife with it for procu-
ring its affiftance : he ftands like an infu-
lated rock, pulhed off from its native
ihore, and left to brave and buffet with

the angry winds and billows which

,
furround it. Hence frefh expedients

have been refbrted to. The flight con-
nection of the two kingdoms was necefla-

LETTERS ON THE

ry to be prefervcd, if it could not be
ftrcngthened. Hence it was that Lord
Weftmoreland, in order to raife money,
put up peerages to public auction. Other
ihifts and artifices have been devifed
in order to fupport this iyftem of corrup-
tion, till at length it has exceeded all
bounds. It has now indeed patted be-
yond the Rubicon. Some frefh remedy
is called for, and that can only be found
in a legiflative union with Great Britain.
In my following and concluding letter,
I ftiall endeavour to give fome method to
my thoughts upon that important mea-
fure.

I am, &c. &c.

IRISH NATION. 299

LETTER VII.

ON THE LEGISLATIVE UNION WITH
GREAT BRITAIN.

My dear Sir,

You have remarked in
your anfwer to my laft letter, and I think
your obfervation moft juft, that the
prefent is an age of innovation, big with
portentous changes and events of an
extraordinary nature. It is indeed fo ;
but whether for the eventual benefit of
mankind or not, is a problem too deep
for our philofophy. The folution of that
queftion muft be left to an all- wife,

300 LETTERS OH THE

though myfterious Providence. It is our

. part alone to profit by what is paffing

before our eyes. Indeed it feems to me,

\

that the man who can look tamely on,
an unconcerned fpe&ator of the fcene
which is acting before his eyes, rnuft
poflefs that drowfy ftupidity and torpid
liftlefTnefs of mind wThich feldom fall to
the lot of human nature. There cannot
be any excufe for fuch neglect. There is
not any pretext for an individual's thus
collecting and folding himfelf up, as
it were, within a circle, with his own
.private interefts and purfuits in the cen-
tre. He is rather called upon to confider
himfelf as a link of that great chain
which holds together fociety, and the
order of the univerfe. Remove that link,
and the chain becomes broken and imper-
fect. In the clofe and compact union of

IRISH NATION. 30!

the component parts of every fyftem, its
fafety, order, and harmony, will be found
to confift.

It is true, that the ftorm which fo
lately agitated the political horizon has
fbmewhat abated. We are a little more
compofed, at leaft in the North of
Europe. We are left at liberty, after the
great danger is over, to contemplate the
ravages of the tempeft, and devife means
for our future fecurity.

We may fee that it has fhaken old
Europe to her loweft foundation. The
States of Holland, France, and Italy, have,
been fw allowed up in the earthquake,
and the mock has vibrated to the very
heart of Great Britain and Ireland,

— f. Jam Deiphcbi dedit ampla ruinam

Volcano fuperante domus : jam proxu'mus ardet
Ucalegon.

3O2 LETTERS ON THE

You who have remained quietly at
home under the protecting aegis of a Bri-
tilh Government, have not felt thofefevere
convulfions which have laid wafte other
kingdoms. England, like a tortoife in its
ihell, as Livy has fomewhere remarked of
Peloponnefus, found a fafe defence in
that angry fea which furrounds her on
all fides. The ftorm indeed ftood fuf-
pended over your heads, and ready to
burfl upon you. But at lafl it blew over,
and poured its deftructive fury upon
Ireland. It has defolated this unhappy
country, and laid wafte its richeft and
moft flourifhing provinces. Not even
the foft myrtle has efcaped the fulphureous
bolt which fplit the ' unwredgeable and
gnarled oak.' The aged and the infirm,
the young and the defencelefs, perifhed in
one common ruin. Mothers in vain
I

IRISH NATION. 303

prefled their infants to their breafts for
protection. All fell in one undiftinguifh-
able fcene of human carnage. I have
vifited that unfortunate kingdom, which
for an hundred miles in length is one
continued vifta of fmoking ruins and de-
folation. As I travelled on I could not
but exclaim,

-' Alas, poor country !

* Almojl afraid to know itfelf! It cannot

' Be call'd a mother, but a grave : where nothing

* But who knows nothing is once feen to (mile :

' Where fighs and groans, and flirieks that rend the air,

' Are made, not marked; where violent forrow Teems

* A modern ecftafy : the dead man s knell

* Is there fcarce afk 'dfor whom : and good men's lives

* Expire before the flowers in their caps,
' Dying or ere they ficken.'

And now, whilft the kingdom is im-
preffed with the lively fenfe of thefe
naileries, whilft the embers of the late
commotions are ftill warm, and whilft it
is ftill fmarting under the green forenefs

304 LETTERS ON THE

of its intcftine divifions; a Legiflative

Union with Great Britain is propofed.

\
The mother country 'opens out her arms

to embrace and relieve the child which
had deferted her.

I promifed to give you my fentiments

on this fubjecl:; I cannot preface them by

/

any other remark than that the advantages
of the propofal appear to me fo manifefl
and obvious, that I cannot for a moment
conceive that any thing 'but the moft
abfurd national pride which drftinguifhes
this people, or the perhaps ftill more
irremoveable fenfe of private intereft in-
fluencing the ariftocracy of the country
in oppofition to the public good, mould
induce a moment's hefitation in accepting
fuch an offer. I know that thefe two
principles will do much, but, I hope,
not every thing. I am confident that

IRISH NATION. 305

uttered and vanity will create many
obftacles in the way of the Union, but
I hope that they will not altogether pre-
vent its completion.

I truft that the letters which I have
written from this country, have not left
vou altogether ignorant of the caufea
which lead to the Union. It has been
my object to give fome faint delineation
of them. I know that it is a melancholy
picture which I have iketched, but I
hope it is not altogether an unfaithful one.
It has been to me a painful duty, which
I owed to truth and juftice, to declare my
opinion that the government is nothing
but ' a painted and gilded tyranny ;' the
eftablifhed religion an ' hard and ftcrn
intolerance.' I know that they are ar-
rayed in an unfuitcd magnificence, and
covered over with the impofmg robes of
X

306 LETTERS ON THE

independence and freedom. But I have
torn away the mafk, to difcover the real
features. I have Ihewn the nation di-
vided into two parties, which, though
they have fomc features running through
the whole, are yet in mofl particulars as
different as nations which go by different
names. It muft by this time be obvi-
ous to you, that the government wants
all thofe balances and counterpoifes
which ferve to fix the ftate, to give it
a Heady direction, and to furnifh fure
correctives to any violent fpirit that might
at any time prevail ; — that it is founded
upon the fiiccefsful violence of a profcrib-
ing, and tyrannical ariitocracy j — that the
lower clafs of people exhibit the mofl
iliocking and difgufting fpeclacle of men-
dicancy ever beheld ; — that religion,
'inflcad of drawing clofer the links

IRISH NATION. 307

of the great chain of creation — -inftead of
connecting man with man, ' and man
with God — -has proved the fource of
the moft unparalleled miferies to Ireland.
I would fain be informed, by thofe gen-
tlemen who are fuch ftaunch friends to
the independence of Ireland, what are
the fubftantial benefits/which have been
gained by that independence? It was
wrefted and ufurped from England in a
moment of weaknefs and danger. In
that ftorm in which Ireland deferted us,
we loft America, ' the brighteft planet -
in our political orrery/ I have always
thought the advantages which even Ame-
rica gained by her independence were of
a doubtful complexion. But the Irifli
conftitution of 1782 has not to my
judgment the leaft evidence to" bring
forward in fupport of its character and
X 3

308 LETTERS O3 THE

merits. I would afk its friends, whether
it did not confirm inftcad of remove the
tyrannic rule of a defpotic junta? — •
whether, when this growing branch was
torn from the parent flock, the vicious
iyftem of its internal policy was removed ?
— whether that fame mifery which drove
hundreds of the famimed peafantry to
America, by the efforts of whofe defpair
the revolt of the colonies proved fuc-
cefsful, does not llill continue a living
monument of the defects of the govern-
ment ?

If thefe things have indeed been all
done, I mould then become the fworn
foe to an Union, which might injure,
but could not improve the kingdom.
But knowing that the fact is other wife,
and that the great1 dcfertion from the
country, even by its own landholders

IRISH NATION. 309

(who live in England, where, they know
that both their lives and property are
fecure, which in Ireland are not fb,
and who draw after them, out of the
kingdom, perhaps a moiety, certainly a
third of its annual rent) — knowing, I fay,
that this emigration is the greateft proof

which can be had of the mefficacy of this
/

independence towards infuring the prof-
perity of Ireland, I canno_t but concur
moft heattily in fupport of the Union *.

* I fliall not enter into the much difcufled queftion
of the csmpetency of the Irifh parliament to confent
to an Union. I {hail only obfcrve, that it is not ne-
ceffary to maintain its competency by the doctrine of
what has been figuratively called ' its Omnipotence.'
The power of parliament muft be determined by a
• recurrence to the principle upon which all political
power is founded, and that is Utility, or the public good.
As upon this principle, the power alone depends ; fo
by it alone can that power be limjted or controuled.
For the fallacy of the arguments deduced from all
other fources by which the competency of the Irifh
Parliament has been afierted. See * The Power of Par-

310 LETTERS ON THE

Let us trace thofe leading effejfls which
muft obviouily follow this grand meafure.
We cannot but be firft {truck with
that multiplication of common ftrength
and means 'which will arife to the whole
empire. Ireland will become an efficient
portion of our military, commercial, an4
financial force, inftead of an expenfive
and weak aflbciate. The aims of the
French to feparate us will be completely
cut off, and the ifland will be converted
into a point of attack againft them,
inftead of a weak quarter at which they

have always affailed us.
(

The ariftocracy alfo of the country,
which has fo long oppreffed the people,
will no longer be able to tyrannize over

liament confidered,' by * Henry MacUock, jun. Efq. of
the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn.' This fmall
fra&, if it does not convince, muft at leaft (hew the
jnduftry, extenfive reading, and ingenuity of the
author.

IRISH NATION. 31!

them. By the union of Scotland with
England, the inferior ranks of people, fays
an excellent judge *, * gained a complete
delivery from the power of an ariftocracy
which had always before opprefled them.'
But this ariflocracy is not like that which
governed Scotland, ' founded in the na-
tural and refpeclable diftinclion oT birth
and fortune,' but in the mofl odious of
all diftin&ions, thofe of religious and
political prejudices. It has grown into
manhood by means which have perpe-
tually 'entailed on it the public detcftation.
The fyftern of confifcation by which it
has been fed, has indeed been too much
reforted to. It is a iyftem which much
eloquence has been exerted in the defence
of, but which can never refcue itfelf from

* Adam Smith.

X, 4

315 LETTERS ON THE

the charge both of impolicy and inhuma •
nity. Inilead of dcftroying the means of
future difturbances, and plucking them up
by the roots, it makes enmities permanent,
hereditary, and irfemoveable. The caufes
and fources of civil war are perpetuated.
This is the principle which Thucydides la-
ments the effects of in Greece, which the
Latin ' hiftorians deplored in their own
time, and Machiavel, many ages after ir+
the republic of Florence. It is now a ' fa-
lient living fpring' of misfortunes tp Ire-
land.

The poorefl of the people are neither fo
ignorant as not to know that the punifh-
ments of their ancestors are entailed on
their pofterity, or fo unfeeling as not to
fmart under a fenfe of fuch injufj:ice.
There is a fenfe of right and wrong, of
juftice and injuftice, which is implanted
fr nature in the breads of the moll unci-

IRISH NATION, 313

vilized barbarians. ' Aik the moft untu-
tored child whether the feed which the
farmer fows in the earth is his own,
and whether the robber who afiailinates
him acquires thereby a jufb title to it ?
All the legiflators of the world will not
give you a better anfvver.' Neither can
any moral caufes altogether eradicate this
principle of juftice, which the Almighty
feems fo univerfally to have implanted
amongft men. The Irifli peafant is con-
fcious of it, notwithftanding his humili-
ated condition; ' notwithftanding the ele-
phants of government are treading him to
death.' It exifts therefore, it flourifhes ' in
fpite of all the paffions which combat it ;
in fpite of thofe tyrants who would drown
it in blood; in fpite of thofe impoftors
who would extinguifh it in fuperitition -*.*

* See Voltaire's EJJaifur les meettri.

LETTERS ON THE

From father to fon therefore is carefully
tranfmitted a knowledge of the eftates
which the family was formerly poffeffcd
of. Each child, like a young Hannibal,
feems fvvorn to die or to recover them.
To refift this unextinguifhable fpirit of
enmity, it is neceflary to refufe them all
ihare in the government. A local arifto-
cracy is obliged to opprefs them. But an
Union will fafely afford the means of re-
drafting thefe long eftablilhed grievances.
The benefits of the conftitution of Great
Britain will be communicated tp the
pooreft cabin in Ireland. The people
will emerge from their flavery into the
dignity of a free nation. That govern-
ment, the endeavour to overturn which
has coft them fo many rebellions and
mafTacres, will depart in peace. Harmo-
ny will be reflored to the kingdom, if

IRISH NATION. 315

indeed it ever was in poflfeffion of it. This
grand object, the moft deiirable of all
others, will at leaft be certainly attained.
2,. The effects of an Union on the go-
vernment are connected with thofe which
it will have on the religious differences of
the country. I do confefs, that I look
forward to the moft important advantages
in this point of view. Civilization, with
her attendant, fcience, will fleal into the
hearts of the great mafs of the people,
and banim that grofs fuperftition which
has fo long held an empire over them.
There is no antidote to this gloomy poifon
of the mind, fo effectual as the wide
diffufion of education. From this fprings,
up a generous liberality of Icntiment.
]By this is removed all the mean and all
the felfim paffions. This it is which
(preads far and wide a noble and expanded

3*6 LETTERS ON THE

view of that great chain which connects
man with his fellow creatures. It is the
parent of philanthropy and univerfal
benevolence. The heart, in confequence
of education, expands its affections from ,
the objects at the family fire fide, ' firft to
its native country,' and ' next to all the
human race.' Intolerance flies before it,
and like a coward flculks and conceals
itfelf in the ' cell of the monk, or in the
breail of the inquifitor.*

If education thus takes wing, bigotry
will be removed, that felfim paffion which
pcrfuades man that he alone is made
for heaven and heaven for him. In the
place of it, toleration will be eftablifhed,
not only an advantage in itfelf, but alfo in
its political confequences. Our conftitu-
tion will receive material improvement,
Whilft true Chriftianity will be enjoyed

IRISH NATION.

as a Hefting, and as that mild and humble
religion which it originally was fent from
heaven, even the political interefts of its
different fectarifts will be preferred,
without the tyranny of any one body,
or the oppreffion of the others. That in-
flux of Catholic power, which under the
Constitution of 1782 would be fubverfive
of the Proteftant intereft, will by an
Union be attended with no danger of
that fort. It will add to our balance of
civil power a balance of religious interefts,
and our government of check and con-
troul will be thereby perfected and com-
pleted. I truft that by it the tripod of
the Constitution will ftand upon a ftill
more firm, fixed, and immoveable bafis
than even it now does. Government and
Religion ought to coincide in a tendency
to make good citizens. In Ireland they

£l8 LETTEKS ON THE

do not, When the tendency of religion
in the leaft deviates from the end of
making good fubjeds; the tendency of the
government towards that object ought
to be {lengthened. The caufe of the

Union may be refled upon that argument

i
alone. In that firigle point of view I

think all men will agree in its expediency.
3. Its advantages to the wealth of the
country cannot from their nature be made
the fubjecl of computation, but the moft
fanguine expectations may well be in-
dulged on that head. It is certain that
agriculture will be much benefited. Thofe
means by wliic,h England has raifed the
{fate of its agriculture to the height and
perfection which it now enjoys, will by an

X

Union be communicated to Ireland. The
legiflative encouragement of the one
country will be extended to the other ;
6

IRISH NATION. 319

and I augur the moft happy effects from
them. I figure to myfelf thoulands of
the poor of Ireland receiving employment
and food from the increafe of tillage lands.
By increafmg the ftock of induftry in this
channel alone, the wealth and happinefs
of the people and the power and finances
of the government will be greatly im-
proved. But when we come to add
the weight of Britim capital into the
fcale, the effects muft promife to be
moil extenfively beneficial.

This cannot but be attracted over by
the fecuritv which it before wanted and

tt

will then have received. Ever)' road to
profitable fpeculation in Great Britain
has been long filled with adventurers,
and this notwithflanding the infinity of
modes in which it is exerted. Ireland,
after the Union, offers a new field to the

32O LETTERS OX THE

merchant, and no doubt can be cntefj
tained that it will be inftantly occupied*
The genius of {peculation can never leave
unattcmpted fo fair a profped: of advan-
tage. With the convenience of ports and
navigable rivers, but what is perhaps above
all, with the excellent fituation of Ireland
for a trans- Atlantic trade, it mufl become
the emporium of the produce of the
New World.

This influx of capital will in a propor-
tionate degree increafe the ftock of public
mduftry, and animate the agricultural and
commercial intcrefts. In a few years
one of the happy fruits of this will be,
that we Ihall not only fee Britifh fubjecls
fettling in Ireland to enjoy the advantages
of her ports, her havens, and her natural
wealth ; but we mall find a period put to
that annual emigration of thoufands of
Irim fubjecls, thofe children of fortune, or

IRI^H NATION. 321

rather of misfortune, who for want of
encouragement to remain at home, have,
like the Jews in deftiny, been for fo many
years difperfed and fcattered over the face
of the European world, the hirelings
of the ambitious and powerful, or the
drudges of the mercenary part of man-
kind.

Foreign trade can alone create opulent
mercantile communities and corporations.
The example of England has fhewn the
advantages which thefe produce both to
the caufe of liberty and civilization. They
alone can check and controul the en-
croachments and oppreffio'ns of the go-
vernment. They alone can form a ba-
lance agaimt that ariftocracy which the
landed intereft of every nation has a
natural tendency to produce. Foreign
trade, by eftablifhing powerful mercantile
Y

LETTERS ON THE

corporations, creates a rival influence to
the wealth and power of the nobility.
The commons of England have by thefe
means rifen into notice, and gradually
formed themfelves into the moft confi-
derable branch of the legiflature.

It is a miftaken and Machiavelian po-
licy upon which the Irifh government
has been hitherto permitted to proceed.
It has been conceived that thofe fuper-
fluous hands which Great Britain employs
in foreign trade, are in Ireland made fub-
fervient to the greatnefs of the ftate, by
affording an inexhauftible fupply to our
fleets and armies. But nothing is fo eafy
as to prove that this policy is not only
violent and barbarous, but even erroneous
and abfurd. The more labour is em-
ployed beyond the mere necefTaries of life,
the more powerful is the ilate ; fmce the

IRISH NATION.

perfons engaged in that labour may be
ealily converted to the public fervice.
By impofmg a tax, the people are obliged
to retrench in fome of thofe fuperfluities
which they can belt difpenfe with,
Thofe whofe labour has been employed
about thefe luxuries muft either enlifl
in the troops, or, by turning themfelves
to agriculture, thereby oblige fome labour-
ers to enlift for want of employment *.

Thus does a fovereign raife an army or
man a fleet. By this principle, the lafling
happinefs of the fubjecl: is not facrificed to
the mere temporary greatnefs of the ftate,
but made to coincide with it. Govern-
ments not only find their interefts pro-
moted by thefe means, but mufl invaria-
*

bly difcover that their real .flrength altx>
gether depends on them. Commerce,

* Hume's Eflay on commerce.

324 LETTERS ON THE

which affords fubfiftence to great numbers
of fubjects, thereby increafes the popula-
tion of the country, and the wealth of the
revenues. When I have confidered thefe
things, I have been at a lofs to difcover
how the real interefts of Ireland could
have been fo long unattended to. I
have wondered how that Spartan policy
of building the greatnefs of the flate
on the poverty of the people could have
been fo long practifed by a great com-
mercial nation. Thofe brave troops who
have recruited our armies from Ireland,
would, if commerce had been extended
over it, have been doubled in their num-
bers by that increafe of the population
which muft have enfued, becaufe inva-
riably the effect of this policy.

One confiderable effect which muft
alfo enfue from thefe means, if by an

IRISH NATION. 325

Union they are carried into execution,
will be the lowering the intereft of money
in Ireland. There is no greater proof of
the poverty of a nation than the high rate
of intereft. But the increafe of induftry
and commerce will remove the circumflan-
ces from which high intereft for the loan
of money is invariably found to proceed.
They will leflen the demand for borrow-
ing, and they will afford greater riches to
fupply that demand. Plenty is always
found to diminim the value of money.

There is no truer maxim of policy than
that to make a people richer is the way
to make fubjecls happier, and the ffote
more powerful. If the Union therefore
is to be confidered as an alliance of proper-
ty, a marriage ' cum pondere et Kbris, in
which the value of the dowry is alone to
be looked to; it is impomble that the

LETTERS ON THE

objection can be on the part of Ireland,
A wealthy fuitor offers his hand, and all
the inducements of riches operate in a
ten-fold degree. Ireland is miferably
poor ; thoufands living in a ftate without
induftry muft neceflarily exhauft it. Ruf-
fia has emerged from barbarity in propor-
tion as commerce has extended itfelf there.
The fame effects muft arife from fimilar
caufes in Ireland. An alliance of the
richeft and moft commercial country in
Europe, with one that is perhaps without
exception trie pooreft, muft raife its prof-
perity to a level with the height of that
of the fuperior ftate with which it unites.
4. I truft that the hiftory of Irifh re-
bellions will alfo by this meafure receive
a final period. The oppreilions of go-
vernment will be removed, the progrefs
of Jacobinifm checked, and the prejudices

IRISH NATION. 327

N

of religion eradicated by the flow but
certain progrefs of civilization. ' Le Com"
merce (fays Montefquieu) guerit des prc-
juge's dejlrufteurs? When an enlightened
method of conndering religion is intro-
duced and ordained by the ftate, no man
will be perfecuted for his fcruples of con-
fcience. Peace and brotherly love will be
reftored to a country which for many
centuries at leaft has been a ftranger to
it, and amidft this fmiling fcene of gene-
ral joy and happinefs —

" Every man (hall eat in fafety

Under his own vine what he plants, and {ing
The merry fongs of peace to all his neighbours."

A Legislative Union recommended by
fuch important advantages to Ireland, I
think, cannot require any farther argu-
ment in fupport of it. As far as my own
observation and experience in the country

LETTERS ON THE

go, the benefits which I have enumerated
muft enfue. Great Britain \vill alfo re-
ceive her proportionate lhare in the com-
mon profperity : Nequefuse folum auxilmm
petit falutis, fed conjunctim. An Union,
whilft it promifes to Ireland the folid be-
nefits of law and policy, of trade and
manufacture, of arts and fciences, will,
by the acceffion of ftrength, render Great
Britain equal to the weight of a powerful
empire, and of the contefts in which it
may be engaged. It will raife a power-
ful coloflus, which, refting one foot upon
the Irifh fhore, and the other upon Bri-
tifh foil, whilft it beftrides the interme-
diate channel, ihall ftrike terror into our
enemies, and be fully able to cope with
that ' tremendous fpeclre which has
ftalked out of the tomb of the murdered
monarchy of France*.' It will inforce our

* Burk«.

IRISH NATION. 329

juft claims to be confidered the mediators
and arbiters of Europe. Whether the
interefled fpeculations of Great Britain »
on her part, prove fallacious or juft; ftill
it muft be owned that they are equitably
entertained. The fleets of Great Britain
are manned and fitted out, and victualled
by the powerful afiiftance of Ireland.
' A multiplication of thefe refources is
therefore juftly defirable. But is it not
evident that this increafe in the po-
pulation and produce of Ireland which
is aimed at by the Union, is much more
materially benefiting that country than
the nation which promotes them ? The
reafon is obvious. National ftrength and
refources are folely obtained by Great
Britain : but Ireland, at the fame time
that (lie partakes of thefe, together with
the protection and glory which atten4

33° LETTERS ON THE

them, enjoys in addition, a multiplication
of all the necefTaries, comforts, and luxuries
of life. The queftion is the fame in fome
refpecls as between the market and the
confumer. To the latter the induftry of
the former is but a tranfient advantage ;
but to the market accrue all that wealth
aad diverfity of benefits which fucceisful
labour affords.

The fubfifting connection between

Great Britain and Ireland is weak, im-

j

perfect, and ill cemented. I cannot but
confefs that I have long looked upon
the prefent government of the two king-
doms as a fort of double-headed monfter.
It is fuch a political Cerberus as hiftory,
whether civil or natural, never defcribed.
It is only fit to adorn the mufeum of a
virtuofo, or one of the pigeon-holes of the
Abbe Sieyes. If the interefts of the two
i

IRISH NATION. 33 I

kingdoms have (as is univerfally agreed)
been long united, I affert that it is impoffi-
ble for that community of interefts to be
well governed by councils feparate and
independent of each other. This part- .
nerfhip of property fhould be directed by
an authority wholly entire and undivided,
I would allow it as many faces as Janus,
as many eyes as Argus, and as many
hands as Briareus ; but it Ihould only be
directed by one head. Hitherto we have
had in Ireland an unwieldy and ill-con-
ftruclied, and then a wounded and crippled
body to drag after, rather than to" aid us.
We cannot both profper ynlefs infpired
by the virtue, guided by the wifdom, and
commanded by the word, of one legifla- ,
ture. I had rather that a common fupe-
rior fhould be chofen by the neighing of
horfes, or the cafting of lots, than that we
fhould remain thus divided.

LETTERS ON THE

Experience has demonftrated the ad-
vantages of the union offtates, confidered
as an abftracl queftion. The Romans
gained the world by union amongft them-
felves and with other nations. Their
enemies loft their liberties by divifions
amongft themfelves and with each other.
Wherever the Roman foldier conquered,
he made friends and citizens for his coun-
try. I will not urge the union of the
Provinces of Holland againft Philip the
Second, or of the States of America
againft George the Third. They have
been fufficiently commented upon, toge-
ther with the more remote examples from
our hiftory, of the Heptarchy, of our
Union with Wales, and laftly of that
with Scotland. We ihall find that the
fame principle has been invariably attend-
ed with fimilar advantages both in ancient

IRISH NATION. 333

and modern hiftory. Had it been ftill
more confulted, the page of hiftory would
not be fo full of the miferies of nations.
SwhTerland would now have been in
pofleffion of its liberty, if the cantons had
been firmly united. Germany, though a
great and powerful empire, would yet, if
better united under one head, be the dread
and envy of Europe. At prefent the dif-
putes of the different ftates have tended
to weaken the whole, and to fubjecl; it to
the infults and attacks of foreign powers.
I might thus run through the whole lift
of European kingdoms, and I am fure
I fhould fin/? in the hiftory of each of
them fome argument drawn from its
experience in favour of union. Italy has
long been a dreadful example of the
want of Union. If a firm co-operation
had taken place, it is probable, that me

334 LETTERS OS THE

would never have been the prey of her
formidable Gallic neighbour. How often
is this leiTon inculcated in the writings of
the politic Machiavel ? How much, and
yet how fruitlefsly has he deplored the dif-
union of the different ftates of Italy, af-
cribing it to the ambitious aim of the fee
of Rome after temporal power*? But
in latter times this ambitious fpirit has not
exifted, and yet their union has never
taken place. Spain too was formerly dif-
fracted by a number of independent ftates
and principalities within its domain. The
union of the kingdoms of Caftile and
Arragon, by the marriage of Ifabel and
Ferdinand, removed much of this evil.
The confequence of this happy union was

* Machiav. Difcorfi, 1. i. c. xii. and Delle Hiflo-
rie Fiorent. 1. i.

IRISH NATION. 335

the overturning of the kingdom of the
Saracens, which had maintained its ground
in Spain for a period of 700 years.
From this event the rife of the greatnefs
of the Spanim monarchy may be dated.
It is well known to what power it rofe
under Charles the Fifth. The liberties of
Europe were confidered in danger. But
the union of the States of Flanders during
the reigns of his two fucceiTors was the
means of preferving Europe. The inde-
pendence of Holland was achieved by the
bravery of the Dutch, the wifdom pf their
burgomafters, and the union of their feve-
ral provinces in one common caufe. The
independence of Portugal completed the
decline of the Spanim monarchy.

Thus we fee that union was the means
of raifmg the Spanim power, and the
neglect of continuing that iyftem the caufe

LETTERS ON THE

of its decay. By fcizing this negleclie'd
principle, the Spaniih Netherlands and
Holland recovered their liberties, and the
balance of power in Europe was once
more prefer ved.

But if we look into the hiflory of the
more northern ftates of Europe, we fhall
find a cafe more exactly in point. I allude
to the famous conftitution of Calmar, in
1397, by which the three kingdoms of
Denmark, Norway, and Swreden, were
united, and confolidated into one under
Margaret, the Semiramis of the North.
Had this union continued in force, inflead
of being dhTolved by the jealoufies and
diiTenfions of the feveral members of it,
the fplendour of the North of Europe
would not have fo declined. Thefe three
kingdoms have been lefs noticed by philo-
fophers than even their prefent mfignifi-

IRISH NATION. 337

cance will warrant. It is well known that
the brave aiTertors of the liberties of the
world iflued from thefe frozen climes,
and overturned the gigantic fabric of
Roman defpotifm. Liberty was born the
hardy child of the North, and has always
proved faithful to and worthy of her
origin. All the free governments of Eu-
rope may trace their defcent from a Gothic
root. In their feveral hiftories many an
important leflbn may be read to illuftrate
the propofition with which I fet out,
that the Union of the three kingdoms of
England, Scotland, and Ireland, cannot be
too much recommended. If the union
of Calmar had continued in force, inftead
of drflblving by the banifhment of Chrif-
tian the Second in 1523, thofe three
northern kingdoms would have anticipat-

33*

ed our claims to be confidcred the politi-
cal arbiters of Europe.

I think it has been fufficiently proved,
that the connection between the two
countries has been hitherto raw and ill-
cemented — That the conftitution of 1 782,
leaving the fingle tie of a common Exe-
cutive Power, is not that fort of union
which hirtory has often prefented cafes of
between other rtates. In thofe cafes
there were no independent legiflativc
bodies inverted with that great power
which refults from the principles of a
Britifh conftitution, to fetter and clog
the beneficial operation of their union
under one monarch. The prince was
generally in thofe cafes inverted both with
the legiilative and executive powers, or
with that fort of influence which virtually
gave them to him. " But the power of

IRISH NATiOX. 339

the King of Great Britain is not fufficient
to oblige the ariftocracy of Ireland to bow
down the itubborn neck of its pride and
ambition to the yoke of moderation and
virtue. Neither has their fuccefsful refift-
ance been founded on any confidence
which the people might have in them. I
am perfuaded that the Parliament does
not poflefs the good opinion and confi-
dence of the people. The difcontents of
the people are too loud to imagine the
contrary. We do not fee them obedient
to the laws, profperous in their induftry,
or indeed poiTcfled of any fpirit of induftry
at all. We cannot fay that they are united
at home, when we fee duTenfions in all
parts of the kingdom, and an univerfal
fpirit of diftruft and dnTatisfacYion. We
have feen the authority of the Parliament
contefted, by a powerful rebellion, almo&

Z 2,

34° LETTERS ON THE

at the very doors of the Senate Houfe,
And though I am one of thofe who are
firmly perfuaded that parties are of great
advantage to a free flate, yet it is not
thofe divifions which prevail in Ireland, it
is not fuch factions as thofe of the Orange
and the United Irifhmen, that merit this
approbation. Neither do I infer from
hence, that where the people are difcon-
tented, the government muft neceflarily
be bad. I am not fo fanguine an admirer
of the popular part of a ftate as to transfer
to it that maxim of the Englim conftitu-
tion applicable to the regal, that it' ' can
do no wrong.' I will even concede that
the people of Ireland have frequently
adled moft outrageoufly. But I mufr.
infift, that in all difputes with them and
their rulers, the prefumption is at leaft
upon a par in favour of the people. ' Ex-

IRISH NATION. 341

perience (to borrow the obfervation of a
zealous champion* of ariftocracies) may
perhaps juftify me in going much farther.
Where popular discontents have been very-
prevalent ; it may well be affirmed and
fupported, that there has been generally
Something found amifs in the conftitution,
or in the conduct of government. The
people have no intereft in diforder: —
when they do wrong, it is their error, and
mot their crime. But with the governing
part of a ftate it is far otherwife. They
certainly may acl ill by defign, as well
as by miftake.' ' Les revolutions qui ar-
rfoent dans ks grands etats ne font point un
effeffi du hazard, ~ni du caprice des peuples.
Rien nerevolte ks grands dun royaume com-
me. un gouvernment foible et derange. Pour
la populace, ce ri ejl jamais par envie d'at-

* Burke, Vol. I. p. 416. 410. edit, of his Works.

23

342 LETTERS ON THE

taquer quelle fe Jbuleve, mais par impa*
t fence de foiiffrir*.'

Such are the opinions of two great
men, who cannot be fufpefted of any
inclination to take the part of the people
againft their lawful rulers. The queition
then is as to the proper remedy, and I
aflert that this can only be found in a
Legifiative Union with Great Britain.
This will unite the people amongft them-
felves, will eradicate their feuds, and
' foften, blend, and harmonize, the colours
of that melancholy picture which Ireland
has hitherto prefented.' It will remove

thofe internal factions which are more

i
deftrucYive than war, famine, peftilence,

or any of the evils which offended Heaven
inflicts on the human race — That ariiro

* Mem. de Sully, Vol. I. p. 133.

IRISH NATION. 343

cracy which has fprung out of England
colonization, but which has long loft all
traces of that generofity, humanity, arid
dignity of mind which characlerifed the
nation from which they derive their pedi-
gree, will recover thofe loft traits of Eng-
lifh character. ' The child will then affi-
milate to its parent, and reflect with true
filial piety the beauteous countenance of
Britifh liberty.' If a common language re-
ceives the aid of an equal government, it
muft unite by degrees the moft widely
diftant characters.

I have often repeated, that there is
much energy in the Irifli character. There
is confequently much matter to work
upon. The energies of the moral world
equally afford the means of grand im-
provements and important purposes of
utility as thofe of the material. As natural

z 4

i

344 LETTERS ON TtfE

philosophers direft the active properties
of air or water, fo will wife ftatefmen
thofe latent energies which are found in
mankind. A prudent legiflature will
tame their wild nature, fubdue them to
ufe, and render them the moft powerful
and moft tractable agents in fubfervience
to great views and great defigns. But
the legislators of Ireland have hitherto
been labouring at the wrrong end. They
have been fatisfied with endeavouring to
curb the conduct, inftead of attempting to
mould the difpontion and character.
When the influence of civilization was
only wanting, they were hanging out the
law in all its gloomy terrors. They
appear to have been unaware of the
danger of fwelling the code of criminal
juftice in the country. They feem to
have been unapprized that laws fhould

IRISH NATION. 345

grow out of the character and fentiments
of a people, and not be impofed in direct
contradiction and oppofition to them.
They have not appeared fenfible that
though human laws may often correct
the outward excefs, yet they can never
form the inward principle — ' Serendi funt
MORES,' was the emphatic expreffion of
Cicero on this fubjecl:. Penal flatutes
may fometimes curb the overt a<fl, but
they cannot reach the heart. It remains
therefore to be feen whether the combin-
ed legislative wifdom of both kingdoms
will not adopt a different line of conduct.

\

I have taken fome pains to collecl: the
fentiments of the people of Ireland, upon
the fubjecl: of this propofed Union. I am
happy to find a great majority in favour
of it. It muft of courfe be expecled that
all the feditious and traiteroufly difpofed

346 LETTERS ON THE

partizans of France, the remnants of re-
bellion, the fociety of United Irimmen,
•who would wifh to fubjecl their country
to the ambitious views of their French
neighbour, are irreconcileable enemies to
the Union. But amongft the well-
withers to their fovereign and to the
Britifh connection, the number of enemies
to the meafure is very fmall. The
Catholics are decided friends and fupport-
ers of the meafure, in fpite of the remon-
flrances of a few difcontented individuals
who afTume the voice of the whole
Catholic body. I have had many oppor-
tunities, fmce I have been in Ireland, of
afcertaining this fact. In travelling
through the fouth-eaft of the country, the
fpot where the rebellion moll raged, I
had frequent opportunities of hearing the
fentiments of the peafantry of Wicklow

IRISH NATION. 347

and Wexford on the ftate of affairs.
They all profefs as much hatred now
againft thole men who inftigated them
to take up arms, as they formerly did
dgainft the Proteftant ariftocracy of the
country. It feems alfo to be. their unani-
mous opinion, that an Union holds out
the profpecl of effectual relief to them.

The chief oppofition to the meafure
will be that of the capital. The people
of Dublin are generally inimical to it,
from motives of intereft and pride. Some
of them confider that the commercial
greatnefs of the city will be foon eclipfed
by Cork and Water ford, which 'are more
advantageouily fituated for trade, and en-
joy better harbours. But the interefl of
Dublin muft give way to that of the
kingdom at large. This is fuppofing
that it really will fuffer in the event of an
3

348 LETTERS ON THE

Union, which is however by no means a
point agreed on by all parties.

The diffipation of the capital will un-j
doubtedly be diminimed, but not the
induflry and commerce of it. It is faid
that the removal of the legiflature will
injure the city, but thofe who urge this
argument are unacquainted with the real
fources of the wealth of a city. It is
only the removal of men whofe fortunes
are engaged in trade that hurts a place,
by diminiming the capital which puts
induftry into motion. ' Thofe who live
upon their private fortunes (fays the au-
thor of the Wealth of Nations) are idlers,
and contribute little towards the riches'
of a metropolis.' If we look to all the
capitals of Europe we mall find them
poor, unlefs they derive their wealth from
commerce. The trade of Paris is trifling,

IRISH NATION. £49

and all the parliament towns in France
before the revolution were miferably poor.

* It is the fame with Madrid, Vienna, and
Rome, where the falfe glitter of a few
difproportionately rich individuals makes
amends for the poverty of the bulk of the
people.' Dublin therefore will not be
injured by the feat of legiflature being
removed to London. It is impomble
that it mould be otherwife. ' Let any
man (continues Adam Smith) who doubts
of this, compare the iituation of Edin-
burgh before the Union, when it was the
refidence of its ariftocracy, with what it

# now, fmce it has ceafed to be the
neceffary refidence of the principal nobi-
lity and gentry of Scotland.'

As for that oppofition which may arife

..from the pride and vanity of any part of

the Irifh nation, it would be abfurd that

35® LETTERS ON THE

it fhould ftand in the way of the meafure.
Trifling points of honour fhould not keep
us afundcr, but rather in their adjuftment
conjoin us (till more clofely together,
They fhould not form obftacles to an
Union, but as it were clafps and hinges to
it. They fhould conftitute a contigna-
tion which will link the two edifices to-
gether.

I do confefs, my dear friend, that I look
forward with peculiar pleafure to this
meafure, which mall unite the hitherto
difcordant members of our political great-
nefs ; which mall unite all ranks of men,
and rally them round the throne. If an
army mould be under the command of
one general, d fortiori fhould two nations
under fuch circumftances as Great Britain
and Ireland be under the full command of
one entire fovereign authority. Ireland
is the right arm of our empire : but

IRISH NATION. 351

now it feems as if the two hands defigned
by nature for reciprocal affiftance and co-
operation were continually impeding and
baffling each other ; as unfortunate as if
the two feet fhould entangle and trip up
the natural body. We cannot both prof-
per under a divided government. It
would be equally poffible (or rather im-
poffible) for the human body, though
compofed of different members, whofe
offices are different, to be therefore govern-
ed by the influence of more then one
mind. We muft be firmly interwoven
and knit together in a bond of connection,
•which mail be broad, comprehenfive, and
indhToluble. We mall then poflefs all
that combination, and all that oppofition
of intcrefts; all that aclion and counter
acYion which in the political as well as in
the natural world, from the f reciprocal

LETTERS ON THE

ftruggle of difcordant powers/ draws
out the harmony of the univerfe.

This matter-piece of politics, which
was the darling project of the illuftrious
Lord Chatham, will be carried into execu-
tion by his ftill greater fon and fucceflbr.
He is an active and penetrating miniftcr,
whofe motives I fmcerely believe to be
patriotic and difmterefted. If his love for
his country, and his exertions in its behalf,
are not fhewn in the manner which fome
individuals would delire, and according to
their fafhions of thinking and acting, it
remains for pofterity to determine which
is in the right. They will have before
them that experience of the effects of his
meafures, which is at prefent hid in the
womb of futurity. As for ourfelves, we
are incapable of penetrating into it. Our

*

fhortfighted impatience may indeed com-

IRISH NATION

plain, but it cannot properly judge of
his conduct.

If Providence in its wifdom mould or-
dain that the exertions of this minifter
are to be crowned with fuccefs : if to the
political falvation of Europe which he
promifes to effect (and in which if he
fails it will only be from the want of
proper fupport, and not from any defi-
ciency in his own natural energies) : if to
this any frefli glory can be added, or any
frefh laurels be gained, it will refult from
this meafure of an Union. The alliance
of the three kingdoms, of England, Scot-
land, and Ireland, will be then firm, when
their purfuits and averfions are invariably
directed towards the fame objects. We
fliall be then all equally flickered under
the canopy of a common caufe. Our
connection will be then clofe and induTo*
Aa

354 LETTERS, &C.

luble; a confolidation of force, which
fhall combine us with a degree of cohefion
and firmnefs, before unknown, into one
mighty body, informed by one foul.
Cur reciprocal interefts will reft on the
firm pillars of Juftice, Religion, Council,
and Treafure. National and local diftinc-
tions, prejudices and grievances, will be
removed ; no ftings of refentment will be
left to rankle in the hearts of a fufFering
party; all will be melted and blended
into one great people, and then at length
fhall we be able to exclaim with joy and
triumph on both fides of the Trim fea— *•
CUNCTI GENS SUMUS UNA !

I remain, dear Sir,

Yours, &c. &c»

THE END.