as has been introduced into these Lectures as now published; but this course is on the present occasion advisedly adopted. It is desired that both the English Government and its various opponents should be allowed, as far as possible, to state their own views and intentions in their own language; and the authorities referred to, although most of them exist in printed books, are not of easy access to those who do not possess a private, or habitually use a public library. In citing public documents and private correspondence, an attempt has been made to avoid the error of treating them as evidence of all the facts stated in them. In the present work reference has been made to Statutes, official instructions, and correspondence, subject to the following restrictions. Public State Papers, such as Statutes, Proclamations, &c., are cited as evidence only of facts stated in them, which were of such notoriety, that any false statement relative to them would have been at once detected by the general public of the day; with this exception, all recitals or preambles in such documents are treated merely as statements of their case by the Government or their authors, especially adapted to the prejudices and opinions of those to whom they were addressed; but all such documents may be read against their authors, so far as they admit anything which, at the time of their publication, would have been esteemed unfavourable or discreditable to the party by which they were issued. To secret State documents, such as instructions to the Deputies, reports to the Irish Council or officials, and the correspondence between the Irish and English Government, which were never intended for publication, greater credence may be given; they may be cited as evidence of facts within the reasonable means of information of the writer, and as generally fairly expressing his character, opinions, and objects. They also can be fairly used against their authors, as far as they admit or disclose failures, or anything which then (or perhaps even at the present time) would have been considered discreditable. In these Lectures, therefore, it has been desired to avoid the error of citing against the Celtic population the statements contained in English and Irish State Papers, or of citing against the English the unsupported allegations of Irish writers; each party is left, as far as possible, to detail their own actions, and explain their own policy. |