your Majesty's person and family, and those principles which placed them on the throne of these realms; and, at the same time, of declaring, that, in such a period as the present, we should think it little short of treason to be silent on the state of this your Majesty's kingdom of Ireland. It is not merely of a long, disastrous, unjust, and unnecessary war, which has destroyed public credit, commerce and manufactures, we complain-Your Majesty, in your wisdom, must have perceived the evil consequences of that war through every part of your dominions. It is not the melancholy waste of blood and treasure of which we complain; because those calamities cannot be remedied—but we beg leave to approach your throne with a plain unexaggerated state of our present grievances. Ever since the administration of the great Lord Chatham, almost all and good wise men have concured in the absolute necessity of a parliamentary reform, as well for the security of the throne as the people. Your Majesty's present minister has given lessons to the empire on that head, which can never be forgotten; and the ruin which has accompanied his deviation from that principle has demonstrated the necessity of that measure. The dutiful and loyal petitions of your people have not been attended to. The most constitutional and loyal means of seeking redress have been opposed by the most unconstitutional and illegal coercions. Every right for the establishment of which our forefathers shed their blood, and for the protection of which your Majesty's ancestors were called to the throne, has been successively taken away by the undue influence of your Majesty's present ministers;—the right of petitioning greatly invaded by the convention bill;-the trial by jury, by summary convictions, under the most unconstitutional laws;-the liberty of the press, and the freedom of speech, by the shameful encouragement of spies and informers;-the right of habeas corpus has been suspended; and the great right, which is the security of all other rights, the right of bearing arms, has been grossly violated, not only by a series of laws repug nant to the written and acknowledged compact between the crown and the people, expressed unequivocally in the bill of rights; but, in a late instance, by an act of state, avowedly illegal. We, therefore, humbly intreat your Majesty to dismiss from your councils and presence, your present ministers, as the first step towards restoring peace, prosperity and happiness to this distracted country, and thereby firmly securing the interests of the crown and people, which are both at present in the most alarming danger; and we further entreat your Majesty immediately to call such men to your councils as may assist your people in obtaining a reform of parliament, embracing every religious persuasion, as the sure and only means of rendering this kingdom prosperous and happy. AR. JOHNSTON, Chairman, By, and on the behalf, and at the desire of four thousand eight hundred and three freeholders of the county of Down, who subscribed their names to the above petitions No. VIII.-Page 69. THE reader is, to avoid repetition, in consequence of the increasing bulk of the work, referred to No. X+where will be found the substance of what was intended for this Number. B No. IX. Page 72. The following lesson of policy and humanity offered by a hired informer to the government that suborned him, is unparalleled in history. LETTER OF MR. BIRD, TO THE LORD-LIEUTENANT, EARL CAMBDEN. MY LORD, IN as few words as can convey my meaning, I will explain the object of my application, which I am pretty sure will be deemed a very ill-timed one. In a letter which I caused to be delivered to Mr. Cooke, I candidly made known my reasons for quitting a situation which I could not think of without horror! the consequence of which was, that two persons escaped a fate, to which they had been long since doomed by anticipation; that point gained, although a very important one, by no means satisfies me. Messrs. Nelson and Russel are yet prisoners; and your lordship's great knowledge of law, precludes the necessity of my asserting, that there is no kind of change whatever, which could by any means be supported against those gentlemen. Then why, my lord, hold honest men in captivity, without even the shadow of a crime to adduce? Why irritate the public mind, already goaded nearly to desperation? Such conduct, my lord, is as base as it is impolitic; spurn such actions as you ought; give peremptory orders for the instant liberation of the persons before-mentioned, and you will acquire an honest popularity, infinitely more grateful to a feeling heart, than the barren adulation of that venal throng, whose baneful advice at present guides your lordship's steps; and who, if suffered to proceed, will lead you to inevitable ruin! The gratitude of those individuals, will induce them to place their freedom purely to your lordship's benevolence, as they are utterly ignorant of this application in their behalf; and I further assure your lordship, that they ever shall remain so, if my request be now granted. Your lordship's native goodness, will, I hope, incline you` to pardon the freedom of my style. The importance of the subject throws etiquette at a distance; and ceremony, from me, would be mere buffoonery. My mind is intent on weightier matters, and let me incur what censure I may, I am determined to restore those gentlemen to their freedom, or lose my own in the attempt. I seriously entreat your lordship not to suppose I would deign to use empty menacé to attain my purpose. No, I scorn so mean a subterfuge; and did you but know the ada mantine foundation on which I build my hope of success, you would not, my lord, for a single moment, hesitate between right and wrong, justice and tyranny; but would instantly comply with my just request. Should the enormous power, the lively craft of your wicked counsellors, prevail over the dictates of honor in your lordship's breast, then, my lord, am I irrevocably determined to place in Lord Moira's hands, such documents as shall strike your boldest orators dumb, and raise through the three kingdoms such a tornado of execration, as shall penetrate the inmost recesses of the Cabinets of London and of Dublin! If your lordship can find no better way to unravel the mys tery, apply to Kemmis, the crown solicitor, perhaps he'll tremble; but he can inform you of what it is I speak, and which your bonor and your interest demand should be eternally concealed, or honestly explored! I now take my final leave of your lordship, in whose breast it remains to decide on as important an event, take it all in all, as ever presented itself to your consideration. I am, my Lord, with the utmost respect, Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant, J. BIRD. P.S. If the gentlemen, herein-mentioned, are not restored to liberty within three days from the delivery of this letter to your excellency, I shall conceive it a direct denial, and take my measures accordingly. LETTER OF THE SAME TO MR. NELSON. SIR, IN what language to address a gentleman, whom I have so very deeply injured, I scarcely know; but with the purest truth I can assure you, Sir, that though plunged in a dungeon, deprived of every comfort tyranny could wrest from you, separated, for ought you know, eternally separated from your wife, your children, friends and home, your property devastated, your health and vigour drooping, beneath such an aceumulated load of misery and woe-still, Sir, had you known my real state of mind, it was infinitely less to be envied than yours. Happiness has to me been a stranger ever since the fatal day when poverty, and something worse, urged me to accept the wages of infamy. How those men may feel themselves, in whose hands I have been an instrument of ruin, I cannot say ; but I strongly suspect, could the secrets of their hearts be exposed to your view, they would not be more the objects of your scorn, than your pity! The first gleams of happiness, which for twelve months has visited my breast, have been, since I have ceased to rank among the number of those sanguinary monsters, who are in fact destroying that very system they are striving to support. You, Sir, will shortly be restored to that liberty which your life has been hitherto devoted to procure for others; and if you can then think of me, without horror or disgust, it is as much as I can expect-more than I deserve. Great have been the pangs of remorse I have endured, when reflecting on the situation of your amiable wife and unprotected offspring; nor did the state of poor Shanaghan's family distress me less-they, I fear, suffered more than yours in some points— but 'twont bear reflection. I shall only further take the liberty of remarking, that if my utmost exertions to serve the men I was hired to destroy, can entitle me to pardon, from you and from them, I |