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beheaded the maid of honour for letting her handkerchief fall at a tilting, and two or three gentlemen with her, to keep her company; threw her body into an old arrow case, and buried it therein, and the very next day married a third wife, and his parliament and his clergy made it treason not to say it was well.

He next proposed to Francis I. to bring two princesses of Guise, and a number of other pretty French ladies, that he might chuse a fourth wife among them. The French king was too gallant to bring ladies to market like geldings, so he fell in love with the picture of a Dutch lady, and married her without seeing her. When she came, he found she spoke Dutch, and did not dance well. He swore she was no maid, called her a Flanders mare, and turned her loose; and as he had destroyed Cardinal Woolsey, when he was tired of his former wife, so he beheaded Cromwell when he was surfeited with this one.

He married a fifth wife, with whom he was so delighted, that he had forms of thanksgiving, composed by his bishops, and read in the churches, and then condemned her, her grandmother, uncles, aunts, cousins, about a dozen in all, to be put to death. Having done all this, and much more, he died of a rotten leg, in the 38th year of his reign, and the 56th of his life, a royal peep-of-day-boy, and a very memorable brute.

OF THE POPES OF LONDON.

Now, when we consider what kind of person this Henry was, can we wonder that the Irish were not prepared to swear, that he was the elect man of God, the successor to St. Pe. ter that he kept the keys of Heaven-that he was Christ's vice-gerant upon earth. In short, that he was the supreme head of the church, which, in their idea, was the POPE; would it not at least have required time, per

suasion, gentleness, good offices and great benefits, to have engaged the fol lowers of the benevolent St. Patrick to quit his opinions for the extravagant absurdities of this beast? Alas! instead of persuasion, it was new cruelties; and the persecutions that had exhausted inhumanity, seemed but to revive under the more frightful auspices of perverted religion! Yet, the interested and the intriguing, those who traffic with the king's conscience, and the people's misery, affect to impute all the disaffection of the Irish to religious bigotry.-That the same war was carried on against them after as before the reformation, is certain; the war-whoop was only changed. And the arrows that were prepared for them before, were only dipped anew in this fresh poison. The reformation might be an amelioration, or it might not, according to its effects. The tree is known by its fruit. For my own part, I care as little for Pope Cle ment as for Pope Henry for Pope Pious as for Pope George, if persecu tion be all the benefit they bestow. But upon this new topic I must hold my pen short, for it is apt to run away with me. A few instances out of many may suffice, to shew that the reformation, however good in its principle, brought nothing to the Irish but new afflictions. This is the view of Irish history, which best answers to your question as to the true causes of the troubles in Ireland.

Henry was not too busy disputing with school-masters, broiling young la dies, and murdering his wives, to have time also for tormenting the Irish. He formed a parliament as corrupt and servile as that of England, which, like it, first declared his first marriage void, and the children of it bastards; immediately after, hearing of the murder of Anne Bolein, repealed that law, declared the issue of Anne bastards, and settled the succession upon the issue of Lady Jane, with a power to the new Pope of disposing of the Irish by will.

But

But wicked and ruffian as Henry was, he was not blind: and after many violent attempts, he found it wise to soothe and flatter the Irish, inviting them to his court, and treating their chiefs with marked distinction: by which artifice (for the Irish are too easily won by kindness, though obstinate against oppression) he was followed up by a brigade of Irish to the siege of Bologne, who distinguished themselves by their extraordinary cou rage and activity.

Edward VI. was a virtuous, or what the historians call a weak prince; and if he signed any instruments of intolerance of cruelty, it was with tears in his eyes!

Queen Mary (the bloody) was a bigoted Papist, but Ireland fared all alike; and the "commodious" habitations produced new rebellions.

the stubborn support of ancient institutions good or bad by Englishmen, is celebrated with unbounded commendation; whilst if Irishmen refuse to swear against their conscience and be. lief, there is no pain or ignominy too extreme; so hard a measure is that dealt at all times to them.

It was in the reign of this Papi Elizabeth, that the rebellion of the great Chieftain O'Neil raged, who was so treacherously murdered in a camp: and the title she set up to his estate is quite amusing. It appears in the preamble of the statute-XI. Eliz. ch. 1. in these words:

And first, that at the beginning, and before the comming of Irishmen into the sayd land (Ireland) they were dwelling in a province of Spain, called Biscan, whereof Bayon was a member, and the chief citie; and that at the said Irishmen's comming into Ireland, one King Gurmonde, son to the noble King Belan, king of Great Britaine, which is called England, was lord of Bayon, as many of his successours were to the time of Henry the Second, first conquerour of this realm, and therefore the Irishmen should be the king of England his people, and Ireland his land. Another title is, that at the same time that Irishmen came of Biscay as exiled persons in sixtie ships, they met with the same King Gurmond upon the sea, at the Yles of Orcades, then coming from Denmark, with great victory, their captainės called Heberus and Hermon, went to this king, and him told the cause of their comming out of Biscay, and him prayed with great instance, that he would graunt unto them, that they might inhabit some-land in the west. The king at last. by advice of his counsel, granted to them Ireland to inhabit, and assigned unto them guides for the sea, to bring them thither !” Then follow nearly twenty such reásons, equally pleasant, all which satisfied the Queen's conscience, that O'Neil's But estate belonged of right to her!

POPE ELIZABETH repealed all the laws of her sister, confiscated the commodious habitations without mercy; sent commissioners to exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and passed the oath of supremacy, of which this may be observed that it was now not enough to assent to the doctrine, that the kings of England were the popes of Ireland: but for fear that should not be effectual in provoking revolt, they were forced, under pain of treason, forfeiture, and pramuniere to swear to it. This was not the pitchcap-torture for the head, but the torture for the conscience and the heart. It was esta blishing God Almighty by law, after the fancy of the wickedest of his creatures. When, in old times, it was attempted to force the Norman laws upon the English, the Barons cried out with one voice-" We will have no change in the English law!" Nolu mus leges Anglie mutare. This exclamation, so extolied, was in opposition to a humane law proposed by the Cannonists at the parliament of Merton, the object of which was, to rescue from innocent disgrace, children whose parents married after their birth. But

Need

Kilkenny Nonsense and Wretchedness. i

Need any man want a title to another's land, if he be strong enough to take it? Is there but one King Gurmond? This was an old title to be sure, but nullum tempus occurrit regi. Kings have long heads; and Pope Elizabeth's hands were longer than her feet; for she could lay her hands upon many a commodious seat where she never could set her foot.

This title of King Gurmond was turning the joke upon the three sons of King Milesius, and the descendants

of the

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217

KILKENNY NONSENSE AND

WRETCHEDNESS.

One of those trifling tricks to deceive the public and divert it from the general state of misery, of civil distrace tion and famine, the consequences of the war, the emigrantion of the landed proprietors, and the malignant rivalry of British monopoly, was played off on the 21st of April, in the decayed city of Kilkenny, by a party of gentlemen of the real English breed, celebrating the anniversary of a book. club. The description of their folly was well painted in the wretched newspapers. Notwithstanding all the consequence given to the nonsense, the writer, in his courtly cant, admitted the decay of the wretched city in these words: Kilkenny, heretofore the seat of Parliaments, and the resi dence of Princes, by an unacountable concurrence of circumstances, through the vicissitudes of centuries, has not kept pace in improvement with cities, inferiorly gifted, and unmarked by such honorable distinctions." Here is an evident testimony of the ruin of a city, more than 700 years old, and at this moment the inhabitants who have not courage to abandon it, are immersed in the most disgusting state of poverty. The elegant register of her decay has not honesty enough to ac knowlege, there must be some political evil existing that prostrates a city and starves its population, in the midst of one of the most fertile countries in the world; no, the hired panegyrist of tyranny flies to a round of toasts, and buries in drunken revelry the calamity that crushes industry, and marches away with a brave population. He does not ask what is the cause of this great evil? He does not throw his eye over other cities, that in less than twenty-five years have arisen from deserts; he does not quote the thousands of new cities built in that short period, in United America ; filled with a happy race of men, vend2 E

I suppose King Gurmond gave her leave to plunder the churches, for she did it roundly; still there was no forcing the mere Irish, por the degenerate English to quit Saint Patrick for the Pope of London. The Roman Pope excommunicated the she Pope, and Gurmonded all her lands; but she cared for him as little as I do for her. She managed so well by her deputies in Ireland, that she made a sufficient number of rebellions, and exterminated so many, and Gurmonded so many estates of O'Neils, Mahons, Geraldines, and others, that she had now more commodious habitations than inhabitants, and began what was called the planting. She planted new men in the place of the old ones-living in the place of the dead, and sent over my Scotch, Welsh, and English ancestors to be planted. This was like the Dutch farce, of Adam going to be created. Some of us throve pretty well, and some of us grew old before we grew good. As the plantations were of London Papists, the Roman Fapists were lopped root and branch, to let us grow.

However, these weedings and plantings cost this lady so much money and trouble, the more So, as they ere connected with the disgrace and execution of her lover, (Essex) that she is said to have died of it, and there Let her rest.

FOR MAY, 1812, Vol. V.

ing

ing their industry in every harbour on the globe. He does not ask, why is this unprecedented prosperity? He whines over Parliaments and Princes; he dare not acknowledge that Parlia ments and Princes have been swallowed up in the gulph they dug for their respective countries; no, the pen of the slave is the dagger of a paracide; it conceals public opinion from power, until both are necessarily driven toge ther into conflict, and revolution restores order by revenge. He does not acknowledge that the happiness of the whole is the best security of States: he would rather the people were perishing, than allow that levelling principle to be admitted into society, to the prejudice of his Parliaments and Princes. "Our farmers," (says an American writer)" are our nobility." This Irish Anglo gentleman, would call this blasphemy; and though he allows Parliaments and Princes have abandoned Kilkenny, as they had betrayed Dublin, he would not interrupt the course of misery, least one step towards civilization might betray the duty he owes to political fraud and proud oppression.

He describes the meeting by calling the entertainment "a joyous festivity," and gives a list of the company. We are not surprised that a want of feeling for the deplorable state of industry should express such language, by teiling the world, that joy and festivity could be manifested among ruins.

The toasts were as expressive of the deficiency of moral character, as they were void of honesty; among them were the following:

"The Earls of Ormond and Desart, the promoters of every institution for the advantage of the county and city of Kilkenny.?!

It would be difficult to show how a man like the Earl of Ormond could promote the interests of the places mentioned, who refuses to live on his estate, and spends 80,000 a year, the rents of it, in another country.

"The Lord Lieutenant, and pros perity to Ireland.”

We are at a loss to know, how a man could contribute to the prosperity of Ireland, who has used every measure to keep five millions of its inhabitants ander the interdictions which fanaticism, from the earliest periods of Anglo Irish history, has marked her gloomy steps by intrigue, confiscation, and conquest.

The Dublin Society.-May the noble spirit of its founders animate their successors in the promotion of agriculture, and the fine arts."

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This noble spirit, which we understand draws twenty thousand pounds a year from the taxes, is manifested by expensive establishments, of no real utility to a country like ours, depressed by the extinction of independence, plundered by absentees, and its industry prostrated at the feet of British monopoly. Men of the most vulgar taste directing the funds of this Dublin Society; Major Sirr, Captain Sharkey, and John Claudius Beresford the principal directors, and nothing national forwarded either to promote trade, manufactures, com merce, or education. A petty affec tation for chemistry, botany, natural, history, and painting; of which the managers know as little of either their utility or elegance, as a native of Otaheite does of measuring a degree of longitude. Major Sirr, a man whose taste is as barbarous as any Vandal, to have the disposal of twenty thousand pounds for the culti vation of useful and elegant arts, is such a libel on patriotism and economy, that it must excite disgust as well as contempt, for men who would waste the public money on such pretences, while the people are languishing in all the poverty and inertness which eternal war and banished trade eventually produces.

But the criminal deference to suck an istitution as the Dublin Society, which the higher ranks appear to pay

it on every occasion, is, we know, not the result of ignorance, but that of the most studied fraud; they are eternally talking of agriculture, but never promise the fruits of it to the wretched cultivator. They never express one idea of commerce, for which we are better situated than any other nation. Commerce is to be kept out of view, to leave it exclusively to England, and agriculture is countenanced, only as it contributes to the comfort and grandeur of the same country.

WHIPPING OF SOLDIERS.
On the debate when Mr. Bennet
proposed to the English legislature
some modification of the punishments
inflicted by order of Court Martials,
Sir Francis Burdett recapitulated seve-
ral affecting circumstances of military
punishment. We would wish the
Honourable Knight had consulted the
flogging part of Irish history, from
it he might have extracted examples
of cruelty far beyond any of those he
cited. Major White, of the County
of Dublin Militia, son of Luke White,
the Flying Stationer, and a Candidate
for the representation of the County
of Dublin, could furnish a whipping
anecdote, of unusual complexion:
The affair of Spence the soldier, who
was sentenced to 1000 lashes, for
refusing to join the Protestant worship,
he being a Catholic.

AMERICAN LAW AGAINST IM-
PRESSING.

The American
American legislature has
enacted two laws to restrain the prac-
tice so universal in the British navy, of
One
impressing American seamen.
declares it a capital offence, and
punishes with death any persons found
guilty of the piratical outrage.
British officers may laugh at this, as
vain and impotent, while they are
sneering from their quarter decks, and
repeating the offence. The other act
is so well and efficiently constructed,
that it reaches into the Englishman's
Counting House, the very place in
which he is to be conquered. The

American citizen after this release, is
authorised to charge thirty dollars for
each month's service, against his will,
and may sue and recover the full
amount of his bill from any American
merchent, or tradesman, who owes
any money to any English house; so
that in future, the wages of the injured
American are to be posted into the
books of the purchasers of any British
wares or produce, and debited to the
English gentleman, who may go seek
compensation wherever he can get re-
dress.

COCK OF THE NORTH.

Henry Walker, the conqueror of
this Coach, and Treasurer to "his
Honor," is about to resign his shoulder
trade in the Mass-lane army, to take
a situation in the Battalion of Testi
mony; this alteration is at the sugges
tion of the Twin Brothers of the
Hibernian Journal, the Wrestling
Doctor, and Captain Huddlestone,
who have advised his Honor," to
encrease the physical and book-hand
force of the Battalion, as no man has
greater personal powers, or a harder
mouth than Harry.

ON THE ENCREASE OF THE ORANGE

ARMY.

of

The sentiments of the new Government modelled under the administration of the Prince Regent, have been expressed in such a tone of intolerance towards the Catholics, and such a number of their enemies have been called in to reinforce the bigots, alreaarrogance dy in power, that the Catholic People have sunk as much as the their persecutors has risen, which we believe had not assumed a higher tone of contempt and exclusion, since the year 1795. War has been formally declared by the Orangemen, and their numbers considerably encreased since the 18th of February, their disposable force has been extended to Scotland and England and already have commenced operations. A division of the Scotch Orangemen, on the 4th of March, attacked a body of poor peo ple who were " suspected of idolatry,"

at

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