aside, procured his enlargemen t; which carefully, until the time came, when took place in grand procession, and they might be opened with effect upon with every circumstance which could bated enemies. Meanwhile money was mark his triumph over the govern to be gathered in- measure after meament. Numerous were now the ac- sure was to be extorted from govern. cessions to repeal. Demonstration ment, by which, the loyal and peace. after demonstration took place, which able portion of the community were marked the progress which it was make to be discouraged, and the seditious ing in the public mind. Many be increased and strengthened ; an orlieved, that by no stretch of power, ganisation was to be perfected, by could the career of the demagogue which a unity of action would be now be arrested ; and when, in almost given to the masses_by which their regal state, he took his place in the powers of mischief would be prodi. Rotundo, to receive the declarations giously augmented ; and then, let any and addresses of the deputations who accident, such as foreign war, internal came from various parts of the coun. distraction, financial derangement, or try, to tender to him their congratula- commercial distress,embarrass England, tion and confidence--we had almost and it would soon be seen how rapidly said their homage and allegiance, the moral would develop into physical the scene was one of the most impos. force; how soon petition and remoning that could be imagined, and might strance would be superseded by the well be called the very apotheosis of musket and the pike : and how rapidly agitation. the barricades would be formed, and It was while he was in prison that the forces arrayed; who would at. poor Smith O'Brien declared himself tempt, at least, by strife of arins, and an out-and-out repealer. The delight at the cannon's mouth, to win, what of the imprisoned Agitator at this they would call_“ Justice for Jreaccession, was quite unbounded. land." At present, the evil has been ar"On being visited by Smith O'Brien rested. The outbreak of rebellion, (who had joined the Repealers at the which was premature, and therefore commencement of the prosecutions), he feeble, has, for the present, been suptook him by both hands, saying, I pressed; but let no one suppose that think it was Providence that raised you up to us in our need; I look on your the danger is overpassed. Of many adhesion as indicative of what Provi parts of Ulster, and of most parts of dence will yet do for us.' Munster and of Connaught, it may, “Mr. O'Brien's junction at this crisis with perfect truth, be said, was of very great value to the Repeal “Incedis per ignes, suppositos cineri doloso." cause. O'Connell said that he did the best thing at the best time.'” How long is this state of things to last? The government have now the power Alas, poor man! what does he him. of putting down treason and sedition self now think of the course upon with a high hand; and if they neglect which he then adventured ? We shall to avail themselves of their opportunot hazard a conjecture. May God nity, or, by mistaken measures, show give him the grace of repentance, and that they do not know the quarter in render him a fitting subject for a de which the danger chiefly lies, not only gree of clemency for which, if he be will present dangers be greatly augnot indeed demented, and be guilty of mented, but unborn ages may have to the high crime for which he stands deplore their folly or their infatuation. committed, he can have very little We wish not to give utterance to a claim! single sentence by which the cases of But he only attempted to carry out the unhappy men who are still to be into act, the lessons which he learned tried for their offences, might be prefrom precept and example. As to the judged. But of the measures which moral force theory, he, as well as should follow their acquital or convicevery other man who was not posi- tion, if the Union is to be preserved tively a simpleton, knew that it was a that is, if the empire is not to be disgreat moral humbug-a masque, be. membered—we may, briefly, be perhind which the batteries of treason mitted to put on record our deliberate were to be erected, and concealed convictions. All agitation for a Repeal of the Union should be made highly penal. We say not how this should be done : that, it is the province of the legal functionaries to determine. But stringent measures should be taken to gua. rantee the inviolability of the Act of Legislative Union; and any agitation which contemplated its dissolution should be regarded with the same vindictive sternness as would be exhibit. ed towards those who sought, by force or fraud, the overthrow of the monarchy, or the deposition of the queen. This, it will be said, would be a strong measure. Granted. But is it or is it not, one which the case requires ? Will any lesser measure be sufficient to take the country out of the chronic agitation by which it is periodically convulsed; and to make a preparation for those healing processes by which it might be rendered peace ful and prosperous, contented and happy in itself, and a blessing, instead of a curse, to the empire? Is there any other mode by which it is possible to provide against the severance of Great Britain and Ireland ? We will not here stop to argue with the babblers, who contemplate Repeal as a final measure, by which the union of the countries would be consolidated, while the union of the legislatures would be divided. If he be not an idiot or a driveller who entertains such a chimera, he must be worse. Is it entertained by any of her majesty's ministers? Is it entertained by any one of the least personal considera tion in either houses of parliament? Do they not know that a divided legislature must soon lead to a die vided empire? Do they not know that if Ireland were severed from the British crown, England herself would be undone ? Did not the unhappy man, Mitchel, who has been expatriated, under the recent felony act, for his offences, declare that his mission, as he called it, was not so much a Repeal of the Union, and a separation of the countries, as the destruction of the British empire ? These were the words of a monomaniac, and for which he has already paid the penalty. Granted. But a monomaniac may sometimes speak God's truth; and he was wiser, in that respect, than our rulers, if they suppose that Repeal, if accomplished, would not lead to separation, and that separation would not place in most perilous jeopardy every interest and every possession of the British crown. A word or two we bad intended to say respecting the Protestant repealers. But we will suppose that they have been already sufficiently admonished by the signs of the times. It is not, surely, a season when they should associate themselves with the seditious, in demanding organic changes. For some of them we entertain great respect; and feel persuaded that they are qualified to work out, in many particulars, much good for their country. But we trust their own good sense, aided by reflection upon recent events, both at home and abroad, will yet, if it have not done so already, inform them that the course upon which they have adventured is both dangerous and impracticable, and so far from being the forerunner of prosperity, would but lead to distraction and anarchy, in Ireland. THE PICTURE. You bid me frame for you in fancy-work, There are who take you with a storm of words, Inseparate as fragrance from the rose, And there are times when silent actions speak IRISI PROPRIETORSHIP. To what guidance is Ireland now to be consigned? By what influence is she to be directed ? Directed she must be. As well might the tottering footsteps of helpless infancy be left to struggle un aided in their embarrassed course, as the people of Ireland be abandoned in the helplessness of their ignorance, in. dolence, and wretchedness, to their own unassisted guidance. They have been rescued the country, thank God, has been rescued from the attempts of the republicans and revolutionists; we have been preserved from the con trol of that wicked party whose de. clared object was confiscation, and the overthrow of all existing institutions; whose avowed instrument was terror. To whom, then, are the people of Ireland to be consigned ? Is there any class in existence--can any class be created-or can any existing class be so modified as to be peculiarly adapted, from their position and influence, to spread among the people that know. ledge, energy, and self-reliance which can alone raise them from their present degradation, and place them in the manly attitude of independence ? The inquiry is one which derives peculiar importance from the present juncture of our affairs. We wish distinctly to be understood as not being about to enter, in this article, into any review of the recent attempt of a few bad men to add the horrors of civil war to our other miseries. It is not while our indignation is yet strong against the traitors, still less while the penalty of their treason is awaiting them, that we could most efficiently, or most becom. ingly, discharge that duty. But it is notorious, that when the daring of the rebel leaders had at length approached its climax — when, from within the cells of Newgate, and from the hills of Liinerick and Tipperary, they called the people to arms—that then, at the eleventh hour, and not until then, the Roman Catholic priesthood actively interposed, and added their persuasions to the sterner influences of the soldiery and constabulary, to save the people from the de. struction which was awaiting them. " And now for these courtesies they must need have moneys." It is more than rumoured, that it is in contemplation of government to make large concessions to the Roman Catholic priesthood, as an acknowledgment for the past, and a retainer for future services. And it is not a little ominous in support of this rumour, that just at this juncture we should have the colonial secretary directing that the Roman Catholic prelates should take precedence next after the Pro. testant prelates of equal degree (a Roman Catholic archbishop, therefore, before a Protestant bishop)—and also directing that they should be addressed by the same appellations that are accorded to the prelates of the Church of England. We have, too, the home secretary speaking of the necessity of glebe-houses for the Irish parishpriests. And we have her Majesty's representative in Ireland, requesting Archbishop Murray to submit to the consideration of the Pope, the most important provisions regarding the Irish government colleges. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland puts himself in communication with the pope, not as a temporal prince, (a character to which he has just now very slight pretensions) but as a sovereign pontiff, claiming spiritual control over her Majesty's subjects in Ireland. He acknowledges him in this capacity “ As I entertain," he says, “a profound veneration for the character of the pope, and implicitly rely upon his upright judgment, it is with pleasure that I now ask your grace to submit these statutes to the consideration of his holiness." These statutes he states * “Digest of Evidence taken before Her Majesty's Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of the Law and Practice in respect to the Occupation of Land in Ireland. Part II.” London : Bigg and Son, Parliament-street. Dublin: Hodges and Smith, Grafton-street. 1848. |