Where were the unrivalled talents of the South, to have beheld these abuses, and to have tolerated them for fifty years? Where was Malone, and Fitzgibbon, and Burgh, and Daly, and Flood, thefe monuments of national ability, the pledges and memorials of Irifh intellect?--I feel no diminution of independence in ballowing the dead; the charnel houfe of kings has but an empty treafury-Why did departed greatnefs fuffer thefe things?FROM HABIT! that trangler-in-the birth of originality and amendment!They were born in a Province where man was already reduced to this degradation; their infant eyes' were accustomed to the fad fpectacle; and minds which were prone to melt at imaginary woe, did not fhrink at the contemplation of thefe domeftic enormities. Let us not be enthralled by habit: Let us inquire if these things exift; and afford our virtuous efforts to arrest the dæmon of mifery upon his errand.And where is that ONE MAN, that living oracle, whom all confide in, and revere? who is of himfelf competent to the MINISTRY OF MERCY! Let HIM, who could reftore a conftitution, bend over the miferies of man, over the orphans of the statethe defrauded heirs of that conflitution; let HIM ftoop to the peasants, and they fhall arife to the confolations of industry, and affume their independent fubordination in the ftate.

We toast Cromwell, and king William, and Washington, and Fayette; and we ranfack the living world, and the mighty dead, and corrufcate from Europe to America for honorable ftimulus to our paffion for fame and public virtue ;-but we think not of home-we forget our native ifland-we do not recollect the illuftrious

toaft,

toaft, Our own neglected and capable---wo MILLIONS, loyal, and oppreffed Irifhmen!

We forget that Cromwell and William were inimical to Ireland, fevere and haughty conquerors-And we forget that Washington and Fayette would hoot us from their fhores, and would fay-"Begone, ye tyrants!-Be juft at home, before you dare to profane the haunts of freedom, the territory of France and America, with your inconfiftent falutation,-with your polluting praise :" And the great French repub lic will cry, with a repelling voice-"We feek not the affociation of tyrants, and we reject your proffered approbation-Ye fhallow politi cians, degrade us not with your impotent addreffes; till you reftore to their birth-right, your own countrymen, OUR CATHOLIC BRETHREN!"

It was the frequent, and cutting reply of the Marquis of Pombal, to remonftrances of conceited and meddling Proteftants at the Portuguese court, "Sir, the fufferings of a British Proteftant perfecutor, when laid by the heels here, is to me a fource, if not of chriftian, at leaft of retaliating fatisfaction----The penal laws of Ireland fanction our inquifition----!"

But no relaxation of that code, fhort of the extenfion of the right of fuffrage, will operate to the relief of the Catholic peafantry: Nothing under that--will float him up to the level of his Proteftant neighbour-In all competitions, without that right, he muft elfe fink into inferiority, and continue a victim to oppreffion.

Of what avail will it be to the farmer of Tipperary, and the manufacturer of Cunnemarah, that a channel

a channel is opened to the bar, and the army, for the provifion of younger children of a few opulent families?How will that extend liberty to the working portion of the community?--What encouragement can that hold out to the growing induftry of the fouthern provinces ?----If that description of men be not emancipated,--the moment he learns his craft, he will emigrate to France, or America-He will only remain in Ireland while he continues ignorant, useless, and a burthen---It is the peculiar nature of manufacturers to be FREE; their hands inculcate independence to their minds; they foon feel that their craft will afford them maintenance every where; and they will roam to thofe countries, where, without an impofition of perjury and hypocrify, industry conducts to influence and precedence for these paffions operate juft as powerfully in a village and country town, as at a court, or among the most vain, and ambitious of their landlords.

I know, and have ftudied manufacturers; and am not lightly to be replied to by gentlemen of other provinces, or thofe of my own, who have never made themselves acquainted with that defcription of men, whofe youth is spent in foxhunting, and in the avocations of the feudal times; to whom enclosures, bleach-greens, plantations, and ditches, are but as cobwebs

to their beagles, and to their courfers: I fpeak to men who are defirous of manufacturers, who wish to civilize their tenantry, to enlarge their ren-troll, and to increase the citizens of the island.

The inclination for manufactures in the South, has fwelled almoft into an enthufiaftic paffion

and

and why do they not fucceed? Why do not the northern manufacturers emigrate to Munfter rather than brave the Atlantic? Because the people are not FREE, and not regarded: Becaufe a northern weaver will brook difficulties and poverty rather than difrespect: Because ye have not yet learned the deference due to an induftrious, proud, poor man. And because a clumfy-fingered flave is incapable of any thing, but to handle a turf-fley, or to pou ter with a fpade for fcanty food, in that portion of earth which he is not rich enough to plough,

The more induftrious a manufacturer is, the prouder he will become; and the more oppreffed, he will be the more fturdy: a Northern manufacturer and an English yeoman commit that fort of refiftance ten times in a year, for which papifts are hung: But that pride, and that refif tance, if extended to the south, would create, and preferve an impregnable wall against their country's enemies; and that furdy rudeness might eafily be fimiled at, and tolerated by their landlords, which can alone create for them, an important weight in the scale, of Europe.

With regard to thefe, our dejected countrymen preferring a refpectful application to the Legislature for an alleviation of their fufferings, if not for a frank restoration of their rights, a measure which must be so exceedingly confonant to the ideas of liberty of their Proteftant friends, I acknowledge I cannot perceive how it can be attended with any additional ills to themDenunciations of wrath, or refinements of cruelty cannot now await the conftitutional efforts of intelligent Catholicks, for the recovery of their defrauded liberties: Their condition cannot now be made worfe, because they have prefumed to

wish that it were better: They cannot now be fentenced to the wheel, because they have ventured to complain of the torture-It could not now produce new penal ftatutes, the genius of the times would not afford fafe warranty

It would be an unwife ftretch of prerogative to close up the avenues of communication between government and the people; or to punish fubjects for giving utterance to the bitter feelings of their minds.It will be ever both juft and political, to leave with the people an organ by which they can speak their voice-The right of the subject to petition, and the freedom of the prefs, while they enfure our perfons and properties, fecure, also, our obedience-Thefe grand confervatories of liberty afford a vent for the malignant humours of a nation; and diffipate the fever which agitates fociety, when unnatural refraints diftemper the human mind-No period can be improper for foliciting a boon which is to extinguifh all jealoufies, party prejudices, and feuds; moulding the people into one common mass, through the medium of one common intereft.

A calm, liberal, and manly, appeal to a philofophic and unprejudiced parliament of 1792. The peaceable fupplication of a fubfcribing few, prefented amid a crowded fenate of the affembled Proteftant powers of the realm, without pageantry of circumftance, and unattended by the areful magmficence of affociated MILLIÓNS, might experience a parental reception equal to their fondeft filial hopes: And it would bring home conviction to their Proteftant allies, that a political foul has an exiftence in, and does diffuse an energy through the Catholick body; -a circum