readily lent his car, and, from motives be understood as not reflecting in of the purest benevolence, subscribed the remotest degree on those who to Bible and Tract Societies, which advocate the right of the laity to promised to illuminate the Irish the free use of both Testaments: we mind. Report followed Report, each believe that they do so conscientiousconfirming the misrepresentation of ly; and, in return, we request of the former, and calling for a further them to extend the same candour tosubscription; for religionists, like wards their opponents, and confess warriors, look upon money as the that they mistook their character; sinews of their respective armies. for, in the words of Dr. Doyle, the Catholic clergy of Ireland are energetic, active, laborious, shrewd, and intelligent: they are the most moral class of persons, not only in this country, but, I think, existing on the earth: they are exact, or rather, they are filled with zeal, in the discharge of their duties.' It would be invidious to particularize individuals; yet it would be unjust to withhold our opinion of the talents displayed, during the late religious war, by the venerated dignitary before us, or the Rev. Mr. M'Sweeny, of Carlow—a gentleman who deserves the honour of being called the modern O'Leary.' A notion was long prevalent in Ireland that Biblemen disbelieved the statements of their missionaries, the Catholics supposing it impossible for Christians, otherwise enlightened, to give credit to inconsistent and contradictory reports. But the event has proved the sincerity of these subscribers; for, within the last twelve months, a beardless boy, and a rugged tar, overflowing with enthusiasm, believed themselves fully adequate to the task of illuminating the benighted Irish, and defeating in argument the Popish priests. Such, too, had been the influence of uncontradicted calumnies, that this extravagant pair met the support of men who, from their opportunities, should have known better, and succeeded in gaining to their side nearly all the Protestant talent, and certainly all the Protestant rabble, in the kingdom. What was the result?-The Catholic Association had already inspired confidence in all; and, under their auspices, the clergy burst from their silence met their opponents on legitimate ground-and never has triumph been more complete. Their habitual libellers were compelled to acknowledge their scholastic abilities; and the English people were astonished at the learning displayed by men whom they believed not only ignorant themselves, but the cause of ignorance in others. It is a fact, too, which should be generally known, that, while evangelical advocates were brought from the most distant parts to each Bible discussion, they were encountered only by the parish priests and curates of the place-men Believing, as we do, that all religious teachers, no matter of what creed or sect, who enjoy the confidence of. the poor classes, must necessarily be moral, austere, and pious, it was with no small satisfaction that we hailed the recent discussions in Ireland. So far from considering them, with Dr. Doyle, as mischievous, we are inclined to regard them as forerunners of better days-as lights that will direct the public eye to the condition of the people, and show to the world that abstract opinions do not incapacitate the mind for either moral or political truths. Already they have been productive of good they have tended to exalt the Catholics in the estimation of their neighbours, and relieve their clergy from the foul imputations which had been attached to their names; while they have disabused the English people, who now begin to look upon their fellow-subjects, not as serfs degraded by ignorance and superstition, but as men entitled to an equality of privileges. Truth will result from discussion, as fire is elicited from the contact of steel and flint; and, believing that religious rancour originates in mutual ignorance, we hail the occasion which has brought men of opposite creeds together, convinced that, when the heat of argument has subsided, they will see in each other much to admire, and nothing to perpetuate the hostile feelings they have hitherto indulged in. The 'Bible war,' 'tis true, produced a great excitation in the public mind; but, in the moral, as in the physical world, agitation is not unfrequently productive of great and lasting blessings. Among the chief causes which have contributed to inspire the Irish people with confidence in their just demands, and to arouse the whole nation to a fearless assertion of their undoubted rights, may be mentioned the writings of J. K. L., the episcopal initials of the Right Rev. Dr. Doyle. His sentiments reflect much credit on the sacred profession of which he is a member, while they do honour to his patriotism and universal philanthropy. Until the present volume, however, Dr. Doyle has confined himself to occasional pamphlets, one or more of which are embodied in the work before us-a work every way creditable to the Irish press. These Letters, twelve in number, are written in a graceful flowing style, frequently rising to sublimity, and scarcely ever descending to mediocrity; while it is completely free from that cant, which, like a noxious poison, infuses itself into the writings of most divines-only to deaden them. The doctor discusses nearly all the topics which affect the state of Ireland; and, while we are compelled to differ with him on some points, there are many others on which we entirely agree. A political writer is in perpetual danger of his subject being rendered uninteresting by the mutation of party feeling; and we trust the conciliatory measures now in progress will shortly have this effect on the remarks contained in the doctor's letter on the state of parties, as well as that on the administration of justice. No man, we are sure, will rejoice at this more than our reverend author himself; and we do trust that it will be effected without any infringement being made upon the popular rights of the great body of the people. There is an evident disposition in the Government to do justice to Ireland; and, though the Burial Service Bill and the Tithe Composition Bill have not effected all the good they might have done, yet they are an evidence of what the predominance of public opinion is capable of wringing from the defenders of political incubuses which weigh down the energies of a people. The Tithe Composition Bill, inasmuch as it does not guard against a return to the decimal division, is defective: yet it may lead to a complete extinction of this unjust impost on labour, industry, and capital. The Irish peasantry,' says the doctor, 'are partially relieved by it; the proprietor of the land not only has his income diminished by it, but he is brought into closer contact with the Church; the value of tithes throughout the kingdom will be ascertained by it; and all who have eyes can see the glories of the Establishment. Only let the Church lands be now ascertained and estimated, let her parochial assessments by vestries be placed before the public, and we shall see whether this mighty Babylon can be suffered to exist; whether this enormous mass of wealth can remain untouched in a country which has no exchequer, which cannot pay the interest of her debt, which has no public institution that is not sectarian; a country where there are upwards of a million of paupers, and one half of the operative classes destitute of employment. We shall see whether this magnum latrocinium, as it was called by Burke, be compatible with the exigencies of the state, the interest of the proprietors, and the peace or prosperity of the empire. We may hear in and out of parliament special pleading and electioneering harangues, proving the utility and decorum of this monstrous Establishment; we may hear of her ministers being all saints, and her children without the comforts of life; but we can refer, in reply, to the thou sands and hundreds of thousands which she wrenches from the hand of industry. We may be told that it is the proprietor alone who pays her income; but the proprietor, in self-defence, will argue for the inviolability of his estate; and he will also plead for the seed, and sweat, and labour of his tenant, which are now overlooked or entirely forgotten. The claim of property will be advanced; and some lawyer, from his brief, will support it against common sense and honesty, and without regard to the title by which it is held but he will be passed unheeded; whilst every man will see that the Establishment was created only for the good of the people, to provide them with religious teachers, to support their public worship, to clothe the naked, and to feed the poor, and that it no longer fulfils those ends. The law will be advanced as the great safeguard of this Mammon of iniquity in the hands of churchmen; but the wisdom of the law and its justice will be questioned, when, like other noxious laws, it operates not for the good, but to the detriment, of the commonwealth. The excess of the Establishment, to be ascertained by this Act, must be corrected. Religion must be rescued from the plague of riches; her ministers must divest themselves of all characters but their own; the absurd fiction, by which they are compared to proprie tors, must cease, or the real proprietors themselves must become vassals of the Church. For the commencement of this godly work we are indebted to the Irish Government; and, though it were their only merit, it should endear them to the people.' The Burial Service Bill, which was intended to preserve the Catholic priest from the arrogance of the Protestant rector, has been, by the absurd provisions introduced into it, rendered a dead letter; and the Constabulary Bill, from the description of persons employed under it, has contributed, in no slight degree, to that disaffection among the peasantry which it was intended to suppress. A measure thus necessary and wise, rendered worse than abortive by the exclusive system which prefers none but loyalists in Ireland, is a comment on Catholic disabilities which we recommend to the serious attention of those who oppose emancipation. In our last we threw out some hints respecting the increase of population, and we are happy to find our ideas on this head confirmed by so high an authority as Dr. Doyle. He asserts-and we perfectly agree with him-that the population has increased but very little, if at all, during these last fifty years; and he re It is to be observed, that, according to the above returns, the number of marriages in the last year were exactly the same as in the year 1784-that is, forty years ago; and that the number of births were almost equal in one year, at that remote period, to what it has been in the year just ended; the difference being only nine in a total of about three hundred.' We have heard that Government has provided for the emigration of two millions of the Irish people to the inhospitable wilds of Canada. We hope the report has no foundation in truth; for, if such be the intention of ministers, they are capable of greater folly than we suspected them to be burdened with. Ireland, we have already stated, is fully capable of supporting her present population; and in this assertion we are borne out by Dr. Doyle: but we will even go farther, and give it as our opinion, that were her inhabitants doubled, nay, even trebled, enough would still remain to feed and employ them. Can this be doubted when we know that a more perfect system of husbandry would quadruple her productions that capital could bring under the dominion of the plough a million acres now completely waste? At present she exports more agricultural produce than any country of the same extent in Europe-perhaps as much grain, beef, and butter, as her inhabitants consume at home. To talk, therefore, of superabundant popula tion, is mere nonsense; and to tell us that one-fourth, or one-third, of an agricultural people, in a country enjoying any thing like a free trade, are subject to a state bordering upon famine, is telling us what never did, nor ever can, permanently exist. Providence, as if foreseeing the tyranny and injustice of man, has wisely ordered that personal liberty and independence may be enjoyed in an agricultural country in spite of despotism and arbitrary power. If proof of this be wanted, we need only refer to Turkey, Italy, and other states where civil liberty is unknown, but where the peasant is, perhaps, the happiest on the globe. We here repeat our former assertion, that the condition of the Irish peasantry is totally misunderstood. We should not take for a criterion the few preceding years, because they suffered a depression from which no part of the empire was free. England, too, had her Captain Rocks, her distress, and want of employment, during the last ten years. Her riots were more sanguinary than those in Ireland; for we cannot forget Nottingham, and other manufacturing towns, where a system similar to that in Munster was carried on. Property was destroyed, individuals were assaulted, the poor combined against the rich; and, were it not for the poorlaws, her misery would have been still greater. She has now recovered, and the natural operation of things is rapidly producing the same happy change in Ireland. We look forward to better prospects, and are fully persuaded that we shall again witness peace and plenty in possession of the peasantry. We know them well, and have often compared their condition with that of the peasantry of other and far distant nations; and returned with the conviction that happiness is as available in Ireland as in any country on the globe. They have we admit and deplore it-suffered much distress since 1815; but events are rapidly producing a state of things similar to what existed previously to that period, and we personally know that, at that time, it was a very usual thing for a farmer who tilled not more than thirty or forty acres to keep a race-horse, or at least a hunter, in his stable; while he spent more money at fairs and patterns than would make his whole farm as rich as a cabbagegarden. Every one who knows Ireland knows that we state a fact; and it must be admitted that much of the recent misery was attributable to their own improvidence. A better system of husbandry is undoubtedly wanted in many parts of Ireland; and to prove that, even under existing circumstances, independence is within the reach of agricultural industry, we have only once more to refer to the county of Wexford. In the baronies of Forth and Bargie there are no resident gentry; the farms are all small; and yet, though subject to the same laws as other baronies in Ireland, the people have been, comparatively, wealthy and happy, though they pay higher rents and tithes than any other people in the kingdom. The parliamentary inquiry into the state of Ireland which is now going on renders any detailed observations premature: yet we cannot pass over in silence the contemplated disfranchisement of the forty-shilling freeholders. To these men the nation is under lasting obligations; for, were it not for them, the representation of the kingdom had been still in the hands of a few intolerant families, whom these freeholders have long since deprived of monopoly and power. But, independent of gratitude, there is another and a mightier reason why they should not be deprived of their right to vote at elections: their very existence depends upon it, because the system, it may be said, created them, and the destruction of the system would be their destruction also. We are glad that a man of Dr. Doyle's talents and character has taken up this subject, and thrown the shield of reason and patriotism over this defenceless class of his countrymen. Did his book contain nothing more than this Letter it would be invaluable; and the following extract is so full, clear, and rational, that we quote it with pleasure : But if there be one measure more than another calculated to seal the doom of Ireland, to eradicate from her soil the very seeds of freedom, and to ensure for ever her degradation, that measure is, in my opinion, the disfranchisement of the fortyshilling freeholders! It is the natural right of man—a right interwoven with the essence of our constitution, and producing, as its necessary effect, the House of Commons, that a man who has life, liberty, and property, should have some share or influence in the disposal of them by law. Take the elective franchise from the Irish peasant, and you not only strip him of the present reality or appearance of this right, but you disable him and his posterity ever to acquire it. He is now poor and oppressed, you then make him vile and contemptible; he is now the image of a freeman, he will be then the very essence of a slave; he has now a hope that, should his country improve, he may one day raise his voice on the hustings, and plead the cause of all who belong to his class in life, whilst he proclaims the virtue of the candidate whom he supports, or upbraids the recreant who betrays the public trust: but take from him his freehold, and you cast him out of the constitution. Like the helot at Athens, he may go to the forum and gaze at the election, and then return to hew his wood or fetch his water to the freeman; an inhabitant, but not a citizen, of the country which gave him birth. 'Why do we decry, and so justly, those despotic governments which depress the energies, debase the faculties, and break down the health and vigour of the human race? Why do we preach up to kings and states the justice and necessity of giving constitutions to their subjects? What do we mean by the lectures we read them, if it be not to admit those who constitute the community, and bear the burdens of the state, to have some actual or virtual share in the making and administering of the laws under which they are to live? Are they absolute monarchies we wish them to establish? No: these are blessings which they already enjoy. Are they republics we recommend them to adopt? Ah, no: we wish these to flourish only beyond the Atlantic. Do we submit to them whether an aristocracy or an oligarchy be not desirable? Of these we are so enamoured, that I believe we would not be disposed to infringe on such nations as enjoy a monopoly of this species of government. What is it then that we so forcibly and frequently recommend? We want these foreign governments to admit some little tincture of democracy, to let in on the inert pool of wealth and indolence of hereditary wisdom even a little acid extracted from the people. Well, and if this be what we recommend to strangers, whence the thought of inverting the process, when we wish to cure our own diseases? But it is said, though the forty-shilling freeholds be abolished, and the qualification raised to suppose ten or twenty pounds, you will still have a great number possessed of the elective franchise. This supposition is unfounded; you will have but a small number, and they more corrupt than the lowest class now are. Freeholders then will be of that description of farming esquires who are always looking for some situation or place for their children or friends, the hope of obtaining which will supersede in their mind every other consideration. They will be the most corrupt class of electors in Europe; just as much so as the Irish electors were before the extension of the franchise to Catholics. These men, moreover, will revive amongst us the class of middlemen, the worst description of oppressors that the curse of Cromwell has produced in Ireland. The peasantry, who are now regarded as something by the proprietors, will be cast out of their holdings, and either left to perish on the highways, or subjected to the torture of these middlemen; a torture with which I am well acquainted, and which is the most cruel that has ever been inflicted on any people, unless upon the Irish and the slaves in the West Indies. "The taking away a vote is the taking away a shield which the subject has not only against the oppression of power, but that worst of all oppression, the persecu tion of private society and private manners. No candidate for parliamentary influence is obliged to the least attention towards them either in cities or counties: on the contrary, if they should become obnoxious to any bigoted or malignant people amongst whom they live, it will become the interest of those who court popular favour to use the numberless means which always reside in magistracy and influence to oppress them. The proceedings in a certain county in Munster, during the unfortunate period I have mentioned, read a strong lecture on the cruelty of depriving men of that shield on account of their speculative opinions."-These are the words of Mr. Burke, a name and an authority which all revere. But it is said that the forty-shilling freeholders are now brought to the hustings like cattle, and that they exercise no liberty in giving their votes. This is true of many of them; but what would be their condition if they could not vote? In place of forming the herd of the nobleman or wealthy commoner, they would be the |