guaranteed and secured by the articles of Limerick, we shall, even in a compendium of Irish history, set forth at length, and without mutilation, those two articles by which the rights of Ireland were so unequivocally conditioned for. These articles were flagrantly violated by the English and the Irish parliament. A cowardly war of sophistry was waged by the devouring spirit of confiscation against the naked and unarmed people of Ireland. It is a great lesson of instruction to the Irish nation, and it is hoped will sufficiently demonstrate the necessity of everlastingly keeping up that firm imposing countenance, which says to a rival nation," We are always ready to resent oppression. Act with honour and with justice, and we will make common cause with you against the world; but attempt to plunder us of our property, deprive us of our rights, or to throw us back into a state of barbarism, and we will no longer acknowledge our allegiance. The bond which cemented us is dissolved, and in proportion to the strength of the obligation by which you were bound to act fairly and correctly, in the same proportion do we feel indignant that you should be the active instrument of our degradation." This is the language of truth, and the only language which is ever heard by a government of intolerance. It touches the sensitive chord of selfishness, and makes the look in oppressor upon the prudence or the common sense of his oppression. The articles of Limerick were violated because the Irish nation was disarmed and divided, their spirit was broken, and the

English nation played the tyrant, because she knew she could trample on her victim with impunity. The great events of a century, however, have raised up Ireland from her humbled station; and England now dare no longer think it wisdom to make experiments on the patience and the feelings of the Irish people. The latter look back with indignation on the base record of dishonour and injustice which the violated articles of Limerick exhibit; they call to their recollection the glorious efforts of their aneestors; and, in the stern accents of an abused and insulted creditor, demand from the English nation the faithful payment of that debt which their fa vourite monarch pledged his honour to discharge. The articles which secured the rights of Ireland, and for the obtaining of which, Sarsfield and the brave men who fought by his side agreed to sheath their swords, were as follows:

1st, The Roman catholics of this kingdom shall enjoy such privileges, in the exercise of their religion, as are consistent with the laws of Ireland, or as they did enjoy in the reign of King Charles II.; and their majesties, as soon as their affairs will permit them to summon a parliament in this kingdom, will endeavour to procure the said Roman catholics such farther security in this particular, as may preserve them from any disturbance upon account of their said religion.

"2d, All the inhabitants or residents of Limerick, or any other garrison now in the possession of the Irish all officers and soldiers now in arms un; der any commission of King James, or those autho

rised by him to grant the same, in the several counties of Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, and Mayo, or any of them; and all the commissioned officers, in their majestie's quarters, that belong to the Irish regiments, now in being, that are treated with, and who are not prisoners of war, or have taken protection, and who shall return and submit to their majesties' obedience, and their and every of their heirs, shall hold, possess and enjoy all and every their estates of freehold and inheritance, and all the rights, titles, and interests, privileges and immunities, which they and every or any of them held, enjoyed, or were rightfully and lawfully entitled to, in the reign of Charles II. or at any time since, by the laws and statutes that were in force in the said reign of Charles II. and shall be put in possession by order of the government, of such of them as are in the king's hands, or the hands of his tenants, without being put to any suit or trouble therein, and all such estates shall be freed of crown debts, quit rents, and other public charges incurred and become due since Michaelmas, 1688, to the day of the date hereof; and all persons comprehended in this article shall have, hold and enjoy all their goods and chattels, real and personal, to them or any of them belonging, and remaining either in their own hands or the hands of any persons whatsoever in trust for them, or for the use of them or any of them; and all and every the said persons, of what profession, trade or calling soever they be, shall or may use, exercise, and practise their several and respective professions, trades and

VOL. II.

callings, as freely as they used and exercised, and enjoyed the same in the reign of King Charles II.; provided that nothing in this article contained be construed to extend to, or restore any forfeiting person, now out of the kingdom, except what are hereafter comprised; provided also, that no person whatsoever shall have or enjoy the benefit of this article, that shall neglect or refuse to take the oath of allegiance made by an act of parliament in England, in the first year of the reign of their present majesties, when thereunto required."

The ninth article conditions, that the oath to be administered to such Roman catholics as submit to their majesties' government, shall be the oath of allegiance, and no other.

If any man is to be found, in the present day, armed with sufficient front to deny that the rights of Ireland were secured by the articles of Limerick, let the articles themselves be stated, and the assertor will not repeat the falsehood. He may say, with the mercenary enemies of Irish liberty, that King William had no power of performing the promise which he made, of keeping sacred his plighted faith; that he should obey the will of the English 'parliament, and that this parliament resolved to dishonour their monarch, by forcing him to violate his faith with the Irish nation. As this has been once urged, or something that amounts to it, so may it be urged again; but it is not in the power of the sophist to disprove the fact, that the Irish were a plundered and deceived nation; that the powers which could not conquer did betray, and the heart

which could not bend to force, was at length obliged to surrender to fraud.* Harris, in his life of

* That the faith which was solemnly pledged to Ireland by William, was as solemnly violated, and that the infamous violation was aggravated by the insolent sophistry of confiscators, who 'struggled to bend the plain and intelligible language of a clear and intelligible treaty, to the mean and mercenary purposes of national plunder, is known to every man who has read the history of England, however indifferent he may be to the fate and fortunes of Irishmen. Mr Burke, who is an authority before whom the enemies, as well as the friends of Ireland are accustomed to bow with equal veneration, has left to the people of the British empire, and to the world, his opinion of this miserable feature in the life of William, that monarch of immortal memory, in the opinion of every trading Irishman, speculating on the degradation of his country.

Among the many valuable legacies which that great and extraordinary man, Edmund Burke, has bequeathed to his countrymen, there is none perhaps so pregnant with solid and substantial advantage as his "Tracts on the Penal Laws," published after his decease. They are decisive against all the frothy declamation with which monopoly has ever insulted our understanding and spirit, and ably vindicate that proud tone of remonstrance by which every Irishman, who speaks on the subject of Irish rights, should be distinguished. Its solid and substantial excellence will excuse its length; its eloquence will delight, while its masterly reasoning will instruct and convince the reader. Speaking of the various plans of oppression and systems of torture practised by England against Ireland, he is carried to the articles of Limerick, which closed the Irish war of 1691.

"When," writes Mr Burke, " by every expedient of force and policy, by a war of some centuries, by extirpating a number of the old, and by bringing in a number of new people, full of those opinions, and intending to propagate them, they had fully compassed their object, they suddenly took another turn, commenced an opposite persecution, made heavy laws, carried on mighty wars, inflicted and suffered the worst evils, extirpated the mass of the old, brought in new inhabitants; and they con