4 That a parliament composed of such materials, and acting so perpetually in contempt of public opinion, should be themselves dispersed in turn by a superior power, will be easily conceived by any reflecting mind. The Irish parliament, during the reign of queen Anne, was humbled so low in the estimation of the sister country, that the parliament of the latter did not hesitate to assume the right of legislating for Ireland, and of casting off an odious faction which at once disgusted by their insolence and their oppression. Indeed the English parliament, in all the more important considerations which affected the empire, dictated the law to Ireland, as if no Irish parliament existed. They directed the sale of the forfeited estates, and prohibited catholics from being the purchasers. They avoided all leases made to catholics, They permitted Ireland to export linen to the plantations, and appointed the town of Ross, in the county of Wexford, the port for exporting wool from Ireland to England. Sir William Wyndham, an able and distinguished champion of the tories, brought a bill into the house of commons in 1712 denominated the schism bill, the object of which was to extinguish the power of the whigs; and the reader will on the journals of the lords, by the whigs of that house, how ferocious the spirit of persecution against the urhappy catholic must have been, when the principal reason advanced by the defeated whig was the possibility of being deprived of the power of co-operating effectually with his protestant countryman in keeping down the catholic, who was then an object of commiseration rather than resentment. This protest demonstrates the fanatical barbarity with which this unfortunate country was pursued by the most enlightened among the English nation-by the advocates of the free and enlightened principles of the revolution, and the boasted champions of civil and religious liberty. The whig lords protested against that part of the schism bill which relates to Ireland, in the following benevolent and Christian lan find in the protest entered guage: "The miseries we apprehend here, (in England) are greatly enhanced by extending this bill to Ireland, where the consequences of it may be fatal; for since the number of catholics in that kingdom far exceeds the protestants of all denominations together; and that the dissenters are to be treated as enemies, or at least as persons dangerous to the church and state, who have al ways in all times joined, and still would join, with the members of that church, against the common enemy of their religion; and since the army there is very much reduced, the protestants, thus unnecessarily divided, seem to us to be exposed to the danger of another massacre, and the protestant religion in danger of being extirpated." The reader will not wonder that the monopolists who ruled in Ireland, and who were the mere echoes of the whigs and tories of England, should have pursued the Irish catholic with such implacable malignity. The Cromwellians of 1645 were not more zealous in their denunciations against the catholic than the whigs and tories in the reign we are now recording. In Ireland the whigs and tories played their little parts in emulation of their English masters. The Irish lords and commons were in perpetual conflict; the former in support of tory prin ciples-the latter, of whig. The causes of difference were scarcely ever found out of the narrow circle of monopoly. The people at large were uninterested in the result of a combat which ended in the overthrow of some powerful individual of either party. For instance, the whigs of the commons made furious war against sir Constantine Phibs, the tory chancellor of Ireland. Backed by the queen, the chancellor set his enemies at defiance ; and the oppressed portion of the community enjoyed the defeat of the whigs, and their humiliation under the superior power of their tory competitors. It is impossible to reflect on the events of a reign so calamitous to Ireland, without indulging at the same instant in the consolation that all this shocking and atro cious violation of human right which we have witnessed, is, in the nineteenth century, the object of every man's disgust or indignation; that the protestant and the presbyterian of the present day, who peruse the sanguinary records which contain the act of their ancestors, are equally anxious to bury them in everlasting oblivion: that the spirit of monopoly, which would grasp at more than it could enjoy, has given way to the mild and Christian principle which sees the greatest advantage in the communication of mutual protection, and the greatest happiness in the promotion of mutual harmony: that the British government, which so long pursued the disastrous and unprofitable policy of dividing Ireland, in order the more effectually to control it, is disposed to surrender this contemptible principle to the more enlarged and productive principle of equal protection and equal privilege: that such a change should have taken place, and now promises to be the possession of the people who read this compendium, is a cheering subject of congratulation, after all the blood and havoc through which we have waded. We have endeavored, in this brief chronicle of Ireland's story, to embrace all the great and leading facts which calumny and misrepresentation have so often and so successfully distorted; which have been the subject of so much reproach, and so much exasperation; which have been the natural offspring of bad government, and the natural resource of a persecuted nation. We have endeavoured to vindicate a brave people, in perpetual conflict for its civil and religious liberties, against the black and infamous charges which the hired libeller has elaborately brought against them. We have endeavoured to demonstrate to the English reader that when Ireland drew the sword of rebellion, she was but following the feelings of human nature, which prompted her to repel the violator of her rights: that her rebellions against England were the necessary result of her sufferings, and the feeble, though disastrous struggles of a people, who, under a mild and protecting government, would have contributed to its wealth, its power, and its greatness. The sword of intolerance has at length been sheathed; -the bigotry of the sectarian has at length been discouraged; the human mind can now give full rein to its powers with impunity. Uncontrouled by the dictation of a supposed infallibility, every man is suffered to adore his Creator as his conscience directs him; and the profession of a particular creed of Christianity has almost ceased to be a measure of Irish loyalty. The protestant, the presbyterian and the catholic, respect each other's conscientious attachment to the religion of their fathers. The legislator can now discover no cause for the loyalty of the subject so strong as the possession of civil and religious liberty. He reads the cruelties of intolerance, in order to avoid their repetition; and draws from the follies of his ancestors the wisest and most beneficial lessons of instruction. We took up our pen with an ardent wish to avenge the insults offered to the character and honor of our country. If the reader shall be of opinion that we have performed the task with zeal and with firmness, we shall triumph in the contemplation of our labors, and congratu late our countrymen on the benefits which may possibly result from them. We have called the Irish reader to the consideration of those causes which were the fruitful sources of Irish misfortune; we have endeavoured to point out to the future politician of our country, the errors of those who are in the tomb; or, as Edmund Burke philosophically observes, we have written under the impression that "NO PEOPLE WILL LOOK FORWARD TO POSTERITY, WHO DO NOT OFTEN LOOK BACKWARD TO THEIR ANCESTORS." FINIS. ERRATA.-Page 139, line 28, in part of the impression, for Ormond and Osmond, read Ormond and Desmond.-Page 445, line 9, in part of the impression, for Henry II, read Rich ard If.-Page 144, at top, for Edward III. read Edward IV. APPENDIX. A catalogue of the lords spiritual and temporal of the kingdom of Ireland, at the sitting of the Irish parliament, including those created by the late King James H. after his abdication, according to their respective precedencies, in the year 1689, in which those that were formerly attainted, and those that sate, are distinguished. Note-All that were attainted had outlawries reversed. SIR Alexander Fitton, Kt. Lord Chancellor,Sate. Dr. Michael Boyle, Lord Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of all Ireland. Doctor Francis Marsh, Archbishop of Dublin. Vacant Archbishop of Cashel. Doctor John Vessey, Archbishop of Tuam. DUKES. James Butler, Duke of Ormond. Prot. Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare. Cath: Mac Donuel, Earl of Antrim Sate. Cath. Nugent, Earl of Westmeath. Sate, (under age, the right Earl a Clergyman.) Prot. Ridgway, Earl of Londonderry. Prot. Fielding, Earl of Desmond. Sate. Cath. Plunket, Earl of Fingal. Attainted (a Minor.) Prot. Chichester, Earl of Donegal. Prot. Lambert, Earl of Cavan. Prot. O'Brien, Earl of Inchiquin. Cath. Mac Cartney, Earl of Clancarty. Sate (under age, attainted, but restored by a clause in the act.) Prot. Boyle, Earl of Orrery. Prot. Coote, Earl of Montrath. Prot. Moore, Earl of Drogheda. Prot. Talbot, Earl of Waterford and Wexford. |