that unclean beast, the monster, that I glory in being the son of an honest, humble, Irish Catholic man and woman, and in not coming from the loins of Princes, most of whom, from the Prince of Peace, Goday, and his sup-, posed son, (not to mention the Princes of Hertford, Clarke, Jordan, and Co.) down to the present princely representation of the house of Idoagh, are the dirtiest and most unprincipled ruffians that ever crawled on the face of the

earth.

I have already told you, my dauntless countrymen, that I rest not my claims to your attention on a descent from proud beggarly blood; and I have admitted also, that I am not able to feast monsters by the fruits of compound calculations, on the sale of Irish rights; neither do I claim, like the heads of the conclave, any merits from offering a bargain (in private, to Sir John C. Hippesley) of the Irish Catholic Church, in 1805, and from using two strings to my bow, by writing and selling mystical jargon in 1808, against my former proposal, when I found the popular cry was raised against the intrigue. All this, and the exercise of undue hypocritical church influence, I leave to the pious, patriotic defamers of the board and of the independent press. These are the weapons they have long used to put down every honest Irishman who had either virtue or spirit to refuse them unqualified allegi. ance, and to these weapons I will now oppose facts.

Their double-dealing, defamatory misrepresentation of honest men and honest measures, shall be met and exposed by a plain unvarnished statement of their conduct in the pages of the Irish Magazine, which is now read in every village of the kingdom, and in every respectable town of the United States. Their misdeeds shall stand upon record-a record which should have been long since written; their secret Yarmouth exertions to rule, to dictate to the majesty of the Irish FOR JULY, 1812, VOL. V.

Catholic people in the management of
all their spiritual and temporal concerns
should have been long since laid before
the public; but, perhaps it was better
of defamation
to have allowed their cup
to become brimful.

Before I proceed to detail the nu-
merous stratagems and overt-acts of
your authentically Catholic enemies,
allow me to direct your attention to a
letter of mine, published in the Irish
Magazine for May last, and addressed
to Doctor Hamill, April 30, 1812.
It was, as I then stated, with extreme
reluctance that letter was wrung from
me. Nothing but the utmost provoca-
tion could have prevailed upon me to
turn aside out of my usual course of
Orange game, to a set of men that I
had once foolishly considered as friends
to Ireland. Although, as it must be
very natural to suppose, almost every
day, since the time of their bringing
the household troops from Francis-
street, Thomas-street, Smithfield, &c.
to bear upon the Committee, sup-
plied me with fresh communications as
to their despotic views of supreme ec-
clesiastical and temporal rule over the
Catholic councils. Although for more
than a year I was in possession of nearly
all the circumstances already related,
or to be given hereafter, still I had the
merit, perhaps the demerit, of abstain-
ing from this exposure of their public
misdeeds, every one of which was the
constant topic of conversation from the
very moment they raised the character
of the country, by attempting to sa-
crifice its constitutional organ-the
Committee to the gratification of
their own inordinate ambition. Things
could not possibly happen otherwise in
a city like Dublin, and in a great na-
tional cause, which interested the feel-
ings of every one. They were obliged
from their own shameful conduct to
pass through the ordeal of public opi-
nion. In subjecting their public acts
to be tried by the fire of that furnace,
the dross of their counterfeit patriot-
ism became manifest to all except them-

2 S

selves;

200

selves; who even yet, in the noon daylight of general information, reflected, by discussion, on the long list of their works of darkness, appear, or wish to appear, as blind as bats to a sense of their present degraded state as pure and harmless-kind souis! as newly baptized infants in the midst of a corrupt and uncharitable world!!!

In the present Number will be found a second letter of mine to Doctor Hamill, connected with the former of April 30th. The second one I had intended for insertion in June last, but the truth is, that on finding the first to have so confounded, so maddened the Members of the Conclave, I determined to defer its publication to the present date, that I might watch their movements, and thus be the better enabled to detect, expose, and join my fellow-citizens in laughing at their base hypocrisy. Never did a letter create such consternation and alarm among the Jantzaries and household troops of the Conclave, as that of April. It hit them on the sore point-it struck them home to the quick. Like a bomb-shell falling on a body of unsuspecting planners of hostile assault, it completely dispersed them, and blew up their concealed batteries. They held meeting after meeting to find out! my informants-not a man of known public virtue among the Catholics but was in turn accused and denounced

the runners were all at work--the pious calumniators sneaked about from house to house, crying out that charity had fled the earth. Even Talleyrand expressed his indignation in public and private, at the ancharitableness of the

letter.

But, when such men talk of charity, when they have peace and charity in such a manner and so frequently on their lips they shall for that very rea spn hear from me in my next, among nany other things, practical and pub lic proofs adduced of their charity towards Mr. James Ryan, Mr. Randal

Mac Donnell, Rev. John Ryan, and Rev. Mr. Lanigan Rev. Mr. Lanigan, Secretary of the Dublin Society-instances of charity towards the English Catholic Bishops, in declaring them "fallen from all reverence" (Stupeo's excommunication) towards the Catholic Committee, in embarrassing all their operations, and proclaiming by word and letter as violating the laws, and inviting the French!!!towards the Catholic Clergy and Gentry of Ireland, by exacting from them large sums of money for opposing the Veto, which they had before, like true intriguers, privately supported-and lastly, by supplying their monster with paragraphs, in the well-known hand-writing of Stupeo, for the patriotic pages of Burke Fitzsimmons, and entertaining him and their monster in private. I shall be obliged to show their charitable re gards for the peace and happiness of the country, and their love for preserving the personal character of every man, whether Protestant, Presbyte rian, or Catholic, who has distinguishe ed himself by endeavouring to wrest the rod of power out of the intolerant hands of that once happy country worst and most inveterate oppressors

In the late debates in the English Parliament on Mr. Canning's motion for taking into consideration the Catholic claims, a Sir Charles Burrell declared that, from what he had read of the language and resolutions of the Catholic Body, at the late Aggregate Meeting, he (Sir Charles) would This melanoppose any concessions. choly and disastrous event we hope will be repaired by the penitence of the call Catholics, whom we advise to cal another Aggregate Meeting, and, if possible, by an adoption of more supplicating language, try to avert the dangerous consequences of Sir Charles Sir Charles Burrell's indignation. reminds us of a Mr. Van, a Member of the same House of Commons, who, in the year 1775, threatened the people of America, if they persisted opposing the stamp act, and refusing to drink fea, that he would withdraw his parliamentary aid and assistance, and even bring a bill into Parliament for knocking the br bricks of Boston about the ears of its inhabitants. We have not heard that the people he menaced with his high displeasure laughed at the selfimportant senator; but the world knows that the citizens of America dehed Mr. Van-they drink tea without a British license, and the bricks of Boston continue in the best condition and repair.

MASTER OF THE ROLLS.

The election of a President of the Dublin Library, in the place of the late Richard Kirwan, Esq. has afforded us an opportunity of laying before our readers a handsome testimony of the approbation which a respectable literary body have bestowed on our upright and illustrious countryman Mr. Curfan: the address, we understand, is from the pen of Counsellor Phillips, the accomplished author of the " Consolations of Erin "

To the of the Rolls.

Rt. Hon. John Curran,

Be pleased to accept my most grateful acknowledgment of the honour you confer upon me, in the offer of that Chair, which was so splendidly fille 1 by our illustrious countryman. I cannot but most highly value such a mark of favour from so respectable a body of my fellow citizens.

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It

It would be an unworthy affectation were I to say, that the gratification which I feel in accepting this offer, was in any degree diminished by the reflection, that a sort of comparison may be suggested, in which I could not have even the consolation of think ing, that the victory under which so unequal a competitor must sink, could add any thing to the credit of so honoured a predecessor. I know the gifts which he has conferred upon science, and the glory which he has bequeathed to Ireland, in a name which cannot be involved in the mortality of his person, but must live for ever. But I cannot think myself humiliated by the consciousness of individual disparity, while I feel that I am an Irishman, and as such, am raised in participating the honour of my country. 1 A long and intimate friendship with Mr. Kirwan, gave me the opportunity of knowing how he felt and thought on such subjects as I was capable of discussing with him. As a man, his heart was exalted above every vulgar prejudice, and every interested antipathy; it was enamoured with liberty, and recoiled from thraldom. As a philosopher, he saw that servitude was a condition befitting no human being but him who was vile enough to inflict or to endure it. I can assume but little praise to myself in venturing to hope, that such facilities of communication were not utterly lost upon me, and that the high and manly tone of spirit, in which he took an interest m the various and wayward destinies of Ireland, could not fail of making some impression upon me, to your kind belief that this may have been the case, and to that alone, I. attribute your election of me to succeed him; because, in that point only could you have hoped that, in my succession, he would not be altogether unrepresented.

The time has long passed away, in which I should have been unwilling to allude to my attachment to our common country; but in this happier period of patriotic liberality, thank

God, there is nothing rare or peculiar in the sentiment; and every man may freely profess it, without incurring the charge of egotism or vanity.

Shall I presume to advert to the over-measure of commendation which your kindness has led you to use to myself? I should be mortified if you could suspect that while I felt the kindness, I did not also look farther to the motive of such disproportioned approbation. It is wise and politic, to reward even the most barren good beyond the exact limits of its claim; and perhaps it belongs peculiarly to the nature of the Irish heart, that it may be generous and even prodigal, without any risk of improvement.

The answer delivered the 29th, when the Society came to the following resolution :

That the Address of the Dublin Library Society to the Right Hon. John Philpot Curran, Master of the Rolls, on his election to the presidency of this institution, with the reply, be published in three London and three Dublin papers.

Signed by Order,

JOSEPH LEFANU, Chairman.

On the answer being read, Mr. J. Lawless moved that it, and the Address, should be inserted in the Jourmals, upon which Charles Phillips, Esq. spoke as follows:

"Allow me, Sir, to second this motion, and to trespass on your time for a few moments. I should be deficient in gratitude if I did not return you my sincere thanks for the flattering manner in which you have received my very humble Address. It was drawn up mid the confusion of the ballot, and, as my friends know, with very little previous notice; its unworthiness carries with it, however, at least this alleviation, that it mattered but little, whether it was maturely considered or hastily sketched, it must have proved quite inadequate to the merits of the great man who forms its subject. He

who

counter;

Master of the Rolls.

a monument; and the treasures she has
poured forth at his command, are so
many immutable inscriptions to his
But theme is melancholy;
memory.
Kirwan has left us, but not alone. No,
no; not alone Even while she mourn,
over his new made grave, genis lifts
her head, and smiles in tears on his
successor. Happy, happy Ireland !
happy amid all your miseries; man
cannot take away what God has given,
and it is not in the power of all the
despots, in creation, to wring from you
the pride of retrieving such a loss, by
such a reparation. This transition
from the tombs to the name of Curran,
seems like rising from death to the
prospect of immortality. And immor-
tal he must be, if talents, direct from
Heaven, exerted in the highest inte-
rests of earth, can constitute a claim to
immortality. 'Mid the race of reptiles
which our fall has generated, whom
we see coiling round the broken co-
lumns of our State, and winding them-
selves into a loathsome and disgusting
elevation, I cannot help looking upon
this man as I would upon some noble
statue, 'mid the ruins of antiquity-a
sacred relic of departed worth a si-
lent memorial of the virtue that has
been. But it is not in my feeble
tongue to do him justice; no, nor is it
in the malice of his enemies to do him
injury. He has the reward and anti-
dote within himself; he has it in the
sight of people consecrating his old
age. And, in my mind, Sr, if there
be one reward upon earth superior to
another, 'tis the applause of our coun.
try, and the consciousness of deserving
it-reward, richer than all the baubles
in the power of majesty to bestow;
brighter than the star upon the despot's
breast, purer than the gems of the im-
perial diadem! Sir, I have trespassed
on your time; you will, I feel, excuse
me; but these few remarks have been
unavoidably extorted, lest, after having
paid my poor tribute to living merit,
I should appear ungratefully forgetful
of the illustrious dead.

who composed an address on this ocgasion, had a double difficulty to enthe one rising from pride for him we had elected, the other from A loss, grief for him we had lost! indeed, not only to individuals, but to science not only to our institution but to the country-not only to our country but the universe. He was one of those splendid prodigies which occasionally arise in our system, as it were to vindicate the dignity of the species, created, one would imagine, by the hand of the Almighty God, for the purpose of confounding the speculations of the atheist and the blasphemer, by proving, that even here our mortal nature may be sublimed into the sem blance of inspired wisdom, and that there is a spirit within us which can emerge from our infirmities, and almost associate us with perfection! It is our boast to have lived with him-he has been a favour conferred upon our age. Such men as KIRWAN are the offspring of centuries. Nature seems to put forth her whole energies in their formation, and to sink exhausted by the immensity of the effort. To follow him through the range of his discoveries, would require an intellect like his Few are the arts that he has not enriched! Many are the sciences that mourn him! Whether he was employed in developing the properties of matter, or in explaining the intricacies of mind, his powers seemed to be magical-almost miraculous. Error fell before him; and at his bidding, like that of the sage in holy writ, even the barren rock became a fountain of fertility! He illustrated the image of an expressive author; his reason strode upon the mountain tops, and made for for itself a plain of continued elevations. I have heard with sorrow some calculations made, as to the propriety of erecting his bust-a bust of Kirwan! Why? It is a debt due not to him, but to ourselves—a tribute not to his name, but of our gratitude. Until nature perishes, he cannot want

own.

ENGLISH