SITTINGS OF THE ELDON CLUB. SCENE.-The Black Rock-The Parlour of Sir Harcourt Lees. PRESENT. REV. TIGHE GREGORY, REV. SIR We should have held this sitting at the York Tavern-it was so understood. Poor M'Cullagh deserves to be supported: he has lost a good situation, and got into difficulties in his zeal for the good cause. Gregory. He's not the only one that has suffered, Colonel. Haydn. True, doctor, he is not. I wonder where is my recompense for all my labours :-I have given up my old religion-I have established the Star' I have endured abuse-I have submitted to a caning-I have borne the expense of sixteen actions at law in my eagerness to support Protestant ascendency;-yet curse the thing Protestant ascendency will do for me. I came forward some time ago, merely to ask subscriptions in advance; but no one understood meall gave the cold shoulder. Sheriff Lamprey. There are worse things than a cold shoulder, Mr. Editor Haydn. Haydn. Be quiet, most sapient knife-grinder! Code. I too, as a literary defender of church and state-as a strenuous supporter of our glorious and exclusive constitution-I might look, I think, for something like gratitude among loyal men: but we live in strange times; my excellent correspondent, the Archbishop of Dublin, and a few Sir Harcourt. Who talks of red noses? have we not Bardolphs enough here? Try that other bottle of 'Sneyd's 1811;' and, if there remains a coldlooking nose among you, I'm no true sportsman. Gregory. Pardon me, my dear Sir Harcourt, we were talking on rather a serious subject-the recompense that a loyal man should naturally look for and obtain. As King. Be calm, Doctor! sure as foolscap is foolscap, there will shortly-ay, very shortly- be something in the way of employment, and of reward too, for every loyal man in the country. I think we shall have rare doings: the papists sir, are touched to the quick; they won't bear their late disappointment; they are naturally rebellious: look at their late meetings, their association buttons, and their uniform. Sir Harcourt. Right, Sir Abey we may see good times again, fine jobs, new clothing, permanent pay, free quarters-Tally ho! and away after them' -Hem! Blacker. Sir Harcourt's song-silence, gentlemen. Sir Harcourt. No hunting song, I assure you. Blacker. Well, what you please. Sir Harcourt. Hem! I'll give you, gentlemen, a new ballad- the Protestant's Song of Triumph:' it goes to an old air- Croppies, lie down.' (Sir Harcourt sings.) Oh! the throat-cutting papists at last are put down; And Liverpool told them to tease him no more. Down, down! Papists, lie down! And still we shall grind them, nor give up a right Down, down! Papists, lie down ! They may prate in their way of six millions of men,' King. Bravo! By all the gods, Sir Harcourt has grown poetical, and a right loyal and hearty song has he written us. Sir Harcourt. It is not my composition, Sir Abey; it has been written by this poor fellow here, Travers Burke, my poet in ordinary-the translator of Macpherson's 'Ossian's Darthula-my hack editor of the 'Antidote it is a good and loyal song, however, and suits the temper of the times. That ninny, Canning, has been overpowered after all his blarney, old Liverpool has been guided by me at last; through him I have gained my point; I have sheltered the church, and preserved the empire. : Code. Who else could have done it? Admirable claret this, Sir Harcourt! Benecarlo, by-the-by (in an under tone). Down, down! Pa pists, lie down! Gregory. Gentlemen, the address of our guild to the Duke of York has just been received from the hands of the scrivener; it is a beautiful copy. Blacker. The address, doctor, as a literary composition, does you in finite credit. Gregory. It has some merit, I think, but one of the popish journals stated that I had also prepared an address for Mrs. Clarke, begging of her to get me to preach before Royalty,' like Dr. O'Meara. I had no such thing in contemplation-her day is gone by. I had, however, some notion of a private or personal address, in a poetical shape, for the duke, I being, like him, a soldier and a clergyman. Haydn. Tell me, doctor, in what character do you intend appearing when you go forward with the address from the Guild of Merchants?' Is it as a merchant, a soldier, or a doctor of divinity? Gregory. As all the three united. Haydn. Well done, Cerberus ! what merchants will accompany you? Gregory. The following have offered their services:-the merchant Major Sirr, the merchant the Rev. Litton Crosbie, the merchant Attorney Glascock, and the merchant Colonel Blacker. Haydn. Rare merchants indeed! the trading interest of Dublin shall be nicely represented. Doctor, doctor, though I support the cause, I must say you Orangemen are a strange set. But, about the private personal poetical production, did you write it? Gregory. Not entirely, but I've a scrap here; it begins Hail, Royal York!' I also wrote that song now selling in London, beginning Thanks, Royal York!' Haydn. The devil you did! Gregory. I did; Royal York' sounds quite poetically: shall I read? Haydn. By all means, doctor; I'm upon the hinges of anxiety. Gregory. Hail, Royal York !'Mr. Helton, will you keep silence? We've heard enough about that speech of yours: let me advise you never to speak again: don't expose yourself; Hail, Royal York! Star'. Sheriff Lamprey. Who speaks of the Star?' It's one of the most liveliest and most notedest papers in Ireland: I tould the lord-lieutenant so. Gregory. Peace! peace! my gentle knife-grinder! Listen only : Hail, Royal York! star of the Brunswick line, I've held the sword, can preach and wield the pen : 6 A churchman and a warrior thou art, That there's a likeness here now who'll deny? Sheriff Lamprey (snatching the paper). Why, what strange stuff is this! see the state he's in! Why, doctor, we must take out a statue of lunatism against you, as Torny Glascock says. Poor dear man! Sir Harcourt. Brethren, I believe you're all mad: let us talk of rational matters-what think you of swallowshooting? Code. It must be a charming amusement, Sir Harcourt. This is admirable claret; but pray, as a sportsman, what think you of my Angling Excursions?' Sir Harcourt. Indeed and truly I never could get beyond the preface: the rest, I am sure, must be good. Code. Oh! very good! it is a most entertaining book: I said so in my own paper, the 'Warder.' Sir Harcourt. No one, Mr. Codey, had a better right to say so. King. Doctor Gregory, when are we to have the painting of the duke done for the assembly-room of our Guild? : Gregory. Never, I believe the guild of merchants is not the thing it appears; the members abound in big words, but are slack in money; they have more of profession_about them than of real loyalty. I speak it in the bitterness of my heart-three members yesterday offered me sixpence each as their subscription for the painting; I flung the paltry trifle from me. Others, not belonging to the guild, have been more liberal. Handwich, the bottle-thrower, offers to make a frame; Sibthorpe, the glazier, will give the colours and a plate of glass; but we want some one to sketch the portrait and use the brush. Blacker. Couldn't we make a grand-jury business of it, and get it by presentment? King. No! no; the grand juries must be careful now: there is a cursed Report' just printed that won't serve them; it is stated in this Report that a certain stationer sat on nineteen grand juries out of twenty, and frequently audited his own accounts. Blacker. And what if he did? Should such a person act like your ordinary characters? He and his brother corporators are privileged men; but how goes on your electioneering affairs, Sir Abraham ? King Swimmingly, my dear Colonel! I have promises of support from every quarter; the weavers of the Coombe and the nailers of Kevin Street are on my side, even to a man. The corporation have not been idle either-they will not suffer their champion to be baffled; they have been making freemen by the score: some of the honest fellows got in without paying the stamp-duty, for the Stamp-office is now looking after them. I think Dublin will at last have an efficient representative-a member worthy of her. They may talk of old Grattan: but what was he? a mere pitiful blunderer. I shall show the Imperial Parliament something new. Code. By-the-by, Sir Abraham, the last number of the new magazine took a sly hit at you. King. What new magazine? Gregory. Oh yes; a very dangerous publication that, Helton; it is no friend to our cause, doctor;-along with its partner Captain Rock, it will make the Londoners too knowing; they will soon know too much of Irish affairs. Works of this character will soon put them up to every thing; they will learn from them how matters are arranged here-that the guild of merchants are not merchants-that the corporation does not represent the citizens-and that civic honours are looked upon, in general, as any thing but an honour. Gregory. We must establish a rival publication; what think you of the Monthly Williamite ?' All. An excellent idea, doctor! Do start it. Gregory. Your names as subscribers, gentlemen. Blacker. Sir Harcourt, good night: I hope my jingle is in waiting. Gregory. Gentlemen, subscribe. King. Good night, Sir Harcourt; I must walk on towards Dunleary. Sheriff Lamprey. Good night, noble baronet: where's my coach? (Sir Harcourt shows the gentlemen out; Tighe Gregory bows to eachputs up his memorandum-book in despair-and departs.) STANZAS, By the Author of The Plagues of Ireland.' THE bigot's word hath gone forth, And the voice of wisdom, and wit, and worth, Bright prospects are overcast, Fond hopes are harshly broken, The hireling his boast hath made; That may crown the crew, who, for rapine arrayed, He may mock o'er a fallen land, For wounded pride hath a deadly hand, Let him vaunt not of former deeds, Fresh laurels may cease to grow: 'Tis not the proud one's frown, Nor the learned one's sophistry 'Tis not the sword can keep millions down, Thou shalt triumph, my country, at last! A LONDON PAPER HAS STATED THAT, IN CONSEQUENCE OF IRELAND BEING UNABLE TO SUPPORT A SINGLE PERIODICAL, THE DUBLIN AND LONDON MAGAZINE HAD BEEN DISCONTINUED. A SALE, INFERIOR TO THAT OF NO LITERARY PUBLICATION OF THE DAY, MIGHT BE A SUFFICIENT ANSWER TO THE INVIDIOUS FALSEHOOD; BUT, IN JUSTICE TO THE NATION AND OURSELVES, WE SHALL REPEL THE CALUMNY AT LENGTH IN OUR NEXT. DUBLIN AND LONDON MAGAZINE. AUGUST, 1825. THE TRADE AND MANUFACTURES OF IRELAND. In our first number we endeavoured to prove that Ireland wants only a restoration of her political rightsthat the sum-total of her grievances, with a few local exceptions, was the non emancipation of her people-and that both the public and the legislature had imbibed very erroneous notions respecting the cause of discontent. The events of the last five months have tended to confirm these opinions; and it was with no small regret that we have listened to the friends of Ireland, declaiming on the benefits likely to result from the anticipated influx of English capital, and the establishment of manufactures. These unfounded expectations have been echoed by the Parliamentary Committees on the State of Ireland; and those who ridicule the wisdom of legislative bodies may find in their Reports* ample food for laughter. It is really very extraordinary, in this age of Scotch lecturers, to find such a mass of political ignorance; and those who attribute the supposed miseries of Ireland to the absence of trade and manufactures are certainly unacquainted with the first rules of political arithmetic, and strangers to the situation which these kingdoms now bear to each other. In the political body,' says Adam Smith, the natural effort which every man is continually making to better his condition is a principle of preservation capable of preventing and correcting, in many respects, the bad effects of political economy, in some degree, both partial and oppressive.' The truth of this is exemplified in the history of Ireland; for, in the political body,' says the same author, 'the wisdom of Nature has, fortunate ly, made ample provision for remedying many of the bad effects of the folly and injustice of man; in the same manner as it has done, in the natural body, for remedying those of his sloth and intemperance. Neither persecution nor oppression can prevent men from acquiring wealth. The Jews have been proverbially rich, notwithstanding the systematic cruelty with which they have been treated; and the Catholics of Ireland, even during the first fifty years of the penal laws, contrived to engross a large portion of the trade of the country; and eventually secured the partial destruction of that ferocious code, by making the Protestant aristocracy of the country their debtors.+ Such were the capabilities of the country, and such the fertility of the soil, that individuals might be said to be prosperous, notwithstandstanding the political degradation of the kingdom. We are well aware of the unjustifiable conduct of the English government, on various occasions, towards the mercantile and manufacturing interests of Ireland; but, though their laws and restrictions originated in gross selfishness and political ignorance, they effected little or no mischief; and the complaints of the Irish people on this subject, though very natural, have no foundation in reality; for the statutes of William were nothing more than impertinent badges of slavery, imposed upon a trade which could not possibly have rivalled that of England, and which, in all probability, required no such opposition to prevent its ever arriving at maturity. A brief historical summary of the manufactures of Ireland will make this apparent. We have incontestable proofs of the *The Report talks childishly about small farms and manufactures, but says not one word respecting Catholic disabilities! So much for parliamentary inquiries. The provision trade, till broken by repeated embargoes, had enriched several Catholics; who, unable to purchase land, had created a multiplied adherence by money, which they lent at legal interest; and to members of both Houses, among others.'-HARDY's Life of Charlemont. VOL. I.-No. 6. 2 I |