Irish blood that has floated her to conquest, or buoyed her in distress. And must the heart for ever recoil with disgust on opening the black statutes which sully the glory of England's brightest page, and brand with suspicion a generous people, whose arm was her stay in the hour of peril, and whose breast was her shield till victory was won?-Base ingratitude of a nation which conquers to enslave, and would bind in eternal bondage the arm that, nerved with freedom, would render her invincible to the combined assaults of the world.

CHAPTER XI.

View of the United Irish System towards the close of the year 1797-Transportation without trial-Friendly communications from confidential departments of the state -Irritating measures of government-Torture-Motion of Lord Moira in the British House of Peers, for an address to the Throne-rejected-In the Irish, to the Viceroy-rejected-Motion of Mr. Fox in the British House of Commons, for an address to the Throne-rejected— Determination to goad Ireland to resistance-Preparations on either side for a hostile struggle.

PRIOR to 1798, the United Irish System seemed to have reached its acme; indeed, strictly speaking, about that period it might rather have been considered on the wane. This may be accounted

for in two ways.

The passions of man are not stationary, and having reached the point of elevation, they either recede, or burst every barrier opposed to their action. It was impossible that the public mind could have acquired a higher pitch of excitement, than was generally experienced in the year 1797. Hence it naturally lowered, because

an immediate appeal to arms was resisted by those who had not formed a just estimate of human nature, in the fluctuating passions of the human mind. It is not the present subject of inquiry, what were the motives which influenced the adoption of this measure; the result was a less ardent feeling in some quarters, which it was afterwards found more difficult to rally.

Another cause for the apparent supineness of some, and the partial defection of others, was the pacific system which government for a moment seemed disposed to adopt; in which, as I have already observed, had they been sincere, conciliation, no doubt could have been effected with the people. This favourable disposition, however, was soon interrupted, and the angry passions on either side were rekindled with increased fury..

The unconstitutional proceeding of transporting men without trial, had long been a favourite measure with the Irish administration, and the merciless hand of a Lutterell, had already depopulated whole districts, tearing asunder the tenderest bonds of nature, severing husband from wife, parent from child. "I was unable," said a gallant British officer, with whom I lately conversed, "I was unable to bear the horror of

the scene; I was on board a British ship of war, then lying in the bay of Dublin, and crowded with those unfortunate victims. The screams of the women and children who daily hovered in small boats round our vessel, to catch a last look of the unhappy husband or parent, whom they were doomed never again to behold, roused such feelings of horror and compassion for the miseries of your unhappy country, that I quitted the ship, and only returned when she was actually under weigh.

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This practice had been so generally acted on,' that it ceased to be a subject of astonishment, and was merely regarded as a common grievance. Some men, however, of more influential connexions in society having experienced this sum-. mary mode of thinning the superabundant population, inquiries were instituted by their friends, and bitter invective expressed the indignation they felt at the foul and despotic proceeding. The United Irish Societies provided funds for the support of the wives and children of those men who were severed from their country, and the sweets of domestic life; powerful exertions. were made to recover some from banishment, and to procure others the protection of more friendly states. Those exertions were not always

unsuccessful, nor could they escape the observation of a vigilant government, and consequently its censure.

Another subject of disquiet to men in power was the difficulty they sometimes encountered in procuring convictions for political offences. The spy and informer were guarded with the most watchful attention. Their informations were considered secret as the inquisitorial tribunal, and yet these informations were often communicated to confidential individuals; which enabled the committee entrusted with the prisoner's defence to defeat the informer's treachery, and rescue the intended victim from the snare of death.

Such was the sympathy of the public, such the intensity of interest which the cause of union excited, that neither in the civil nor military departments did that cause want à confiding and communicating friend, when confidence and communication could present any prospect of safety or justice to the accused in his defence. The crown lawyers have often viewed with astonishment the powerful exertions of our inimitable Curran when defending the life of his client, and it seemed to them a matter of the most unaccountable surprise how this popular advocate could anticipate the most important disclosures,

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