The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-12-21 00:00:00

IDECEMBFA 21, 1822

IRE! AN D.
--,./11011•11
The late scandalous nee of riot and outrage ex-
hibited in the Theatre of Kilo, sufficiently demon-
strates the extent to wfards,yeligious bigotry and
political intolerance are carried by our Hibernian
neighbours; and were any thing wanting to prove
the urgent necessity that exists for a thorough change
in the mode of administering the affairs of Ireland, it
would be.found in the disgraceful occurrence to which
we allude. He must, however, be a very superficial
observer of the working of tweets who would separate
effect from its cause ; said, confining his atten-
tion to the perpetrators of an outrage, overlook
the via a Servo by which they are impelled. We hold
the principles and practices of the Orange faction, as
we do those of all other factions, in the detestation
which they so justly deservei but, at the same time,
we eta .fled mach, in thollio sed history of the
Intland; to ir not to es
imp'

-

flagitious excesses into which they have recently been
betrayed. When we reflect upon times that are gone
by—(times which it were devoutly to be wished we
could blot from our recollection for ever)--when we re-
member that there was a period of Ireland's history
wherein the very faction of which we now so loudly
complain was organized, cherished, and encouraged by
the Government itself :—that there was a time when
the life and liberty and property of every man
were left to the mercy of this faction, and at
its disposal,—when every Orange ruffian was a
sovereign, and every bayonet a sceptre ;—when
we reflect, we say, upon these times (and they are still
green in memory), we cannot wonder that men,
intoxicated with the recollection of such absolute
power as the Orangemen of Ireland once possessed,
should make a desperate, though dying, struggle to
retain it ? In the conduct of these infuriated zealots we
see much to deplore and condemn, but nothing that
should surprise us. It isnot in human nature tamely to
relinquish an advantage without an equivalent in some
shape or other, and we hesitate not to pronounce that
man a miserable reasoner indeed, who, possessing any
knowledge of Irish history, would expect a peace-
able surrender of those extravagant powers and
privileges which the Orangemen had formerly exer-
cised without restraint, and which they had been
led to believe they should continue, uninteraptedly,
to enjoy. They are now, we trust, likely to
be undeceived, and to be taught, at last, the whole-
some lesson, that the laws of this country are made
alike for the benefit of all. We have every thing to
hope from the intellectual vigour and statesman-like
sieves of the Memnon, Nobleness now plume et dm
helm. The Marquis WELLESLEY undoubtedly has
it in his power to do much for Ireland, and we wil-
lingly receive the sweeping and decisive measures
lately adopted for the reformation of the magisuacy,
as an earnest of the sincerity of his intentions with
respect to the future. There are, however, many
things essential to the peace and prosperity of Ireland
which his Lordship cannot effect. For these the re-
medies are in other hands. Whether they will
be applied or not is a question which must be left to
time to determine. In the mean while we shall ad-
vert briefly to the main causes of those discontents
which have lately manifested themselves in acts of
violence little short of open rebellion; and this we
shall do, not so much for the purpose of discussing
their several merits (for they are already sufficiently
understood), as of sbewing not only that no effectual
steps have hitherto been taken to ameliorate the con-
dition of the Irish people, but that none are even
now in contemplation.
The present distressed and disorganised state of
that country may be said to arise, principally, from
the absence of the chief proprietors of the soil, the
natural guardians of the peasantry—from rack rents
—from tithes—and from the religious disabilities
under which three-fourths of its population labour.
We shall take these in order as they occur :

The immediate and necessary erect of the absence of tbe
landed proprietor is—the abstraction of a certain portion of
' the wealth of a country which, being turned into foreign
channels, affords no benefit to the soil that produced it; and
it follows, of course, that the quantal of injury sustained by
any country from such a cause, mast be in proportion to the
number of its absentees. But, besides the direct injury thus
inflicted, the moral habits and domestic oonsferts of a pea-
sentry suffer materially, and run late visible decay, when the
head that should direct, and the hand that should support
them, are withdrawn. Now, in both of these ways, the Irish
have suffered more, perhaps, than any other people upon the
face of the earth ; and though we eau not admit that these
evils arc ascribable, in their fullest extent, to the Union be-
tween the two islands, them is no doubt that they have in-
creased tenfold since that measure; and therefore, whatever
our own opiuions may be as to the general policy of the mea-
sure itself, or as to Wu utter impracticability antler rescind-
ing it, the Irish aro justly entitled to lay at our doors all the
mischief,. that have resulted to their country from its adop-
tion, and particularly so, as it has not been attended with
any one of the promised benefits. When we deprived them
of their independence (and deprived them, let it be remem-
bered, by means of the most barefaced bribery), we were ecr-
tautly boned to give them something in return : and have we
done so ? As to their power of sending Representatives to the
English House, we conscientiously believe that, so far from
being an advantage, it would be well fur them if that had been
taken from them along with the rest ; and this we know to
have been the opinion, too, of one of the ablest and best friends
Ireland ever bad; who, in an address to some English gentle-
men, upon • festive occasion, alluded to the Union in those
remarkable word* :—" You prevailed upon my unhappy coun-
try to sell her very life; and when she lay dead, instead of
affording her decent riles of sepulture, yon tied her eorse to
whatever remained of vital representation in your own coun-
try, and you have been rewarded for it accordingly—you
have not been haunted by her ghost, but you have been rot-
ting with her carcass."
The act of Union was, in truth, the death warrant of Ire-
land's prosperity as well as dirtily. It annihilated her is-
land trade ; and we are /et to learn how it served her experts.
The nun-residence, however, of the nobility and gentry, is
the thing Oddly felt; and to compel these (0, slay at home,

the bankrupt shopkeepers of the principal cities and towns,
in the bitterness of their hearts, have pioposed various et-
pedients—amongst others, en absintee tax; bnt neither this
nor any other suggestion has ever been attended to ; and we
mention the (set as one instance wherein a positive, ruinous,
and n o provoked injury has been inflicted by our Government,
upon Ireland, without even so much as an attempt at repo-
ration.

Beetroot, an equally inexhaustible Muntain of calamity in
belied, bears a strung resemblance, and, indeed, a close af-
laity to the former grievance; with this difference, how.
ever, that the latter is likely, in time, to effect its own cure.
But as this is a question rather between landlord and tenant
than between Government and People, we shall merely ob-
serve, for the information of such of our readers as may not
bo acquainted with the meaning of the term, that rackteut
is a cumpaet between a landlord and tenant, founded upon'
the rapacity of the one and the necessity. of the other, and
generally coding in the ruin of both ; fez the tenant, unable
to defray the exorbitant rent odt of the proceeds of his
crop, is compelled to draw upon his capital, and, not untie-'
etteatly, in Ireland at least, to sell even the implements of
husbandry to satisfy the halfyearly era% ings of his impede-
-184.1.1.411•14. This destructive system, wbiet+bq►.ptnnto.l

commonly reverted to by the absentees, to .ena►le them to
make • display In this country to which the legitimate pro-
duce of their estates, in their own, was inadequate : and
lodiag this fail, as it necessarily did befond a certain
point, they then had recourse to the still Moire adven-
turous, though lose cruel, expedieht bf railing stoney
by mortgage. The consequence now is, that the te-
sant, after being plundered by the tax gatherers and tithe
proctors (w ho get the first pluck at him), is unable to pay, not
only the rackreut, but any rent it all ; while the equally in-
digent landlord is obliged to allow the interest of his debt to
accumulate with the principal, and to leave to be deter
mined by the generosity of the mortgagee how long be shall
continue lord of the soil. Were the absentee landlords the
only sufferers upon them amnions, we confess we should
behold their dowofal with a very pious resignation to the
will of heaven. Towards the unfortunate, unoffending pea-
santry, however, who are the especial victims of this perni-
cious sod unprincipled system, we have very different feel-
ings; and we conceive that no stronger argument could be
adduced to stimulate the Oovernmeot to the adoption of
some plan to check the rambling propensities of the Gran-
dees of Ireland, than is to be found in the present degraded
and impoverished condition of her untisppy peasantry.
But amongst the various ills of Ireland there is not one
which so everlastingly engenders, poverty and discord as the
TITUS: nor do we know of any occaiion upon which the
conduct of Government towards that unhappy country ap-
pears to greater disadvantage than when viewed in connex-
ion with this subject ; for, notwithstanding the concurring
testimonies of all ranks and descriptions of men, as to the
imperious necessity of at least new modelling this odious
impost, it is still permitted to exist, and, like an ugly witch Of
night, to scare the slumbers of the country. It is not
to be presumed that the Irish have profited so little by
experience as not to know that the justice of a cause is any
thing but an earnest of its success ;—we should rather
conclude, from the disastrous issue of every appeal which
they have hitherto made, for the redrese Or their manifold
grievances, that they had long since abandoned all
hope of a favourable consideration of any question by which
they were to be exclusively benefited. Still, without incur-
ring the imputation of a bluader,l they might very tetiendly
fall Cato the oolitic, that a matter whist; vitally aliodad the
Interests of the empire at large, would meet with a better Nei
and under these circumstances, indulge some hope of etroitur
for &share in a common blessing: and this, we believe, was
precisely their view of the Tithe qustion last Session. Perim
this delusive dream, however, they were soon awakened by
the principal Law Oli.•cer of the Crown, who, to the astonish-
ment of all but those who knew him well, come down with a
declaration that it would be dangerous to meddle with the
property of the Church, and consequently that the Tithes
could not be touched. The manner in which this declaration
was broached did not save it from the odium which It se
justly deserved—the warmest admirers of the Learned Gen-
tleman deeming it more than sufficient to neetraliao all the
merits of the speech into which it was so artfully introduced.
But where, we should be glad to learn. is this great danger
of meddling with the property of the Church? The visual
powers of some men are wonderfully strengthened by
staring at nothing. We know that optical illusions are
infinite, and that the perceptive faculties of an unemployed
statesman become marvellously changed when he looks
through the spectacles of office ; but we do not know,
nor have we ever been able to discover, what possible
danger can arise from compelling the high priests or the
chords ,to renounce some portion of their enormous
revenues for the relief of the country. When wo re-
fieet with how little ceremony our Ministers have meddled
with the property of the people, until the people have
scarcely any property left (whether with danger or not
is yet to be seen), we are utterly at a loss to account for
this extraordinary fastidiousness about the property of
the Cnu•ou. Wo look a little beyond the tithe when we
say that the revenues of the clergy, at all timer tee great,
are absolutely intolerable in a season of universal distress;
and that it is little less than maddening to see a churchman,
however distinguished by moral or intellectual endowments,
wallowing in the enjoyment of thirty or forty thousand a year,
while the surrounding poor. fur whose benefit it was origi-
stilly and chiefy designed, are thrown for support upon the
emaciated bosoms of the people.
Under the tithe system in Ireland, it is notorious that'
every species of fraud, rubbery, and oppression, has been
played with variations; the people have complained till
they are breathless ; and, of late, finding complaint of no
avail, they have resorted to the desperate altcruative of
placing themselves is battle arra► against those laws to which
they have so long appealed in vain for protection.

"This is not, nor it cannot come, to good."
ft would be quite a work of suptererogatioo, and inconsistent
besides with the'plina whioh we proposed to oursel►es when
we began this article, to enter into a history of the greet
question of Clinoue EMANCIPATION. Tlits most important
subject has been so often before the British public, and its
merits have been so thoroughly dist:issed both in and not of
Parliament, that wo conceive it won's' be impouible either
to give it an additional feature, or add one hue to the 'Wi-
pes complesimis *lnch it has from time to tine assumed. Our
own minds have been long made up upon it. We estimate it
at just so mock value as Use happioese of rive millions of peo-
ple may be supposed to be worth ; and so powerful do we
consider its bold upon justice and souud policy, that we mist
deem its ultimate success indubitable before a tribunal that
has so many precessions to both.
Immediately after the la,t debate upon this question, it was
very generally rumourml, and as generally believed, that a'
Noble Lord high in office had been beard to declare, t►at the
Catholic Bill should never pass the Upper House *Ann be
had the honour of a scat in it. We are very far from quar-
relling with the declaration thus imputed to that Noble Lord,
whether it be taken as an avowal of his sentiments upon the
question, or of his lised determination to resist its progress,
satisfied as we arc that he spoke conscientiously, and aoeord•
ing to the best dictates of his judgment. All we °Untold for
is, that so lung ss those who are decidedly hostile to the man
cipation of their Roman Catholic fellow subjects are conti-
nued in those high offices of the state which give a command-
ing influence and a preponderating power in the Senate, It
can never be supposed to be the serious intention of Govern-
ment to remove the yoke from the necks of our ROalltS Ca-
tholic brethren.

NRIos 7d.

FRENCH PAPERS.

PARIS, RI4CERIIIIIIIB. •.
Yesterday a grand diploma* dinner was gixen,by M.,14 „,
Covet di Borgo, Ambassador of his Majesty the Easpeerre of
BMW& The King's Ministers and the Duke of weiliattal.
were present.
ft is announced that changes will shortly he made in the
personal organization of the Administrations and Prefectures..
Yesterday the Kisig transacted business with M. the Duke.
de Dondeauville.

Before mass the King received in private antiimbee the
Prince de Hoheulolte.

At ope o'clock his Majesty recseirm4 the A
Ministers Plenipotentiaries of the Foreign Powers. The Dalt
of Wellington was %%WI their Excellencies. The Princes and
Princesses of the Rol al Family afterwards received the Noble
Duke and their Exc,•liencles.

At three o'clock yesterday his Majesty traawsoted hasirtess
with the Council of Ministers.

. -
M. de Chatuabriansi will Dot be here so soon uhe was '
rata- Hls departure from Veroai has been retarded a few

_

Marshal Sachet has not had a private audience with the
Duke d'Angoulesne ; be only paid his respects to his Royal
Highness.--(Journat des Debate.) . •
M. Sierri, one of the persons attached to the Spanish an-
busy at London, has lately come to France, on his way as a
courier extraordinary from Loud n to Madrid. The shalom
with which be is charged, we are assured, is of the highest
Importance ; at least he tray els with such speed, that, contrary
to usage, he did not enter Paris, and his Journey was only
known at the Spanish Embassy by a letter communicating hist
destination to M. the Duke da San-Larenzo.—(Journal de
Paris.) •
We have received the Madrid Journals of the 17th by an
extraordinary conveyance. The Universal of the Sth con-
tains a transcript of the Decree of the Cortes for the transfer
and tale. Of forty millions more of renter, which will be in-
scribed is the great book. The sale of them %seismal. Is to be
forthwith effected, and, accordingly, the Minister has promptly
announced that he will receive Formals from those who are
disposed to give him money in exchange for these reeler.
The foreign capitalists are thus invited to remit to Spain
what they are inclined to Invest (d fonds perdu.). The
necessities of the Spanish treasury are pressing, whirl induces
a belief that this great financial operation will be promptly
concluded.—dareftc de France.

[From the liloalleur of Wednesday.)
" On the 12th of lait November there was inserted In the
Moaitear a notice relative td the adoptida In France of a sys-
tem of signals in mc in England, and which is designated under
the Dune of a Universal Telegraphic Laireage.
" His liscellenci the Minister of Marine and Colonies ad-
dossed, upon this subjec+, the following circular, dated Dec.
17, to the Commissioners of Marine at Dtrokirt, Haire, flt:
Maio, Nantes. Horiestei, Bayonne, and Marseilles.

" ' Sta—Mews. Luscombe, items of tbe Jlaseciation called
Lloyd's. at Loudon, have cared to be translated into French a
work entitled, Universal Telegraphic Language, or Code
of Signals.
" • By mans of this wofk, and of the sign's Which it con;
tacos; the AO of Frame atalliaglatid way carry on, at sea,
easy sod arta. eemmunications.
" • Vends perided with this work, and with these sign,
Slay alitiller. with greater rapidity; &Nista:me to othrain dis-
tress, or demand assistant* thitaselves ; they will be able to
give and receive important indicators es to shoals that should
be avoided, what coarses should be followed, and with respect
to anchorages, the entrance of ports, fie;
" ' There are various reasons which =algae to induce thn
French navy to adopt a syitem already practised Is Eagleed.
and which, in many clreansuinces, may tie admitted with results
the most bilabial to hatianlty, to conmseree; and to naviga-
tion In general.

" ' I have, tberefore, given orders in the the Military peer.
that the Commusdas of King's ships should be somesslvely
supplied with the work and the signs in question ; and I in-
struci yoll to intone the Chamber of Commerce of this.
(Signed) " 'ldatteuts as CcsattoxT-Toxxsxaa'.

•eoeiues or srAfx.

BATOrti, DICZWIIIR 12.

General O'Donnel continues intrenched on the River do
Lombies : be expects eves.", moment to be attacked by Gm.
Torrijos. It is calculated thit OTlonnol bis already beet
beaten f but I can Ramiro you, that, up to the boor at which
write, no advice of this nature has reached the StaLquaetars.
Bayonne Is in a state of bustle, and ovary *log isdleate a
war. The park of artillery is prepared to mom at a taco sest's
notice; it Is composed of 300 tumbrils full of anomaitior,
and KS field-pieces. General Tirlet, inspoetor•Gfeaund of
Artillery, has just arrived here. The fortifications of our town
aro actively carried on, notwithstanding the bad 'Feather.

MADRID, D1V11411211 4.
The following is s sneeinet account of the proeeedinp of the
Lencisburiaa Club on Sunday last, the Ist instant,

This sitting, which was a most tumultuous one, was almo t
wholly take* up in vindicating the venerable Romero A;-
perste, against the calumnies of the Spectator.
The first who occupied the tribune, was an individual nam d
Florian, a furious revolutionist, who by his deo:ham-1u a
against the Spectator, and his hyperbolical praise of t' 0
I rtuons Romero Alposete, that Intrepid ehampioa of fiber y
so infuriated his hearers, that they clamorously demanded t'
number of the joareal in question, is order to bare eu out, -
da-fe. The speake► had at length moth difficulty in tetra n.
ing them from proceeding to excesses.
Almost all the other declaimers, especially Merales ard
Mejla, also advocated the cause of the Neator of the Li' e-
frau:. and trampled upon the Spectator.

In fact, this slid* (der* witch it was rumoured that ti
tactless had entered Gesdalaxara) was a violent one, and
excited fears of ail explodes.
The intelligence received Widows daily more fearful for
the Mersa: ; the Royalist's already multiply round the cap" al:
It is alarmed that' they have *treed Geodalaxara ; that La
Maisel* has almost entirely revolted, and that dye Mooned of
that Province are at Talavera de la Reins, commanded by Le
Mance. It was also said yeeterd), that Merino bad entered
Borges.

The Liberate are plunged lido consternation; all they tow
can do is this, to rant their vain fery, and threaten to massacre
the prisoners and all " Bervilts."
What especially increases the rage of the Cousaniele, is so
see that "Tin-Tin " (St. Martin) has bees liberated, sod that
Cortes have decided' in their Sitting of yesterthe, that the
dapitulatiOn granted he Parties, at the Cass del Caen sad'
'the of the Brigadier Plazencia, at the Eseurial, will he nein-
, tabled in their full extent.

General Quessda bas deemed it commenant with his honenr,
publicly to disavow certain expressions imputed to him by the
French tibereast, with the view of exciting fears as to the
chances of a war with the Spanish Deseamisados. We
(L'Etotle) bastes to pronsipui the merged. reply of this
Defender of the Faith to t►e calumnies of our Revolutionists s—.
TO THE EDITOR.
Ste—l an Wonted that several permits &arm, they have
.beerdMe say, that the day on with* the Ftwacb arty eLtaa

.

and South Sea Houses.

t t

Ppaln, theßoyalists would un:te with the kesolotionista In re-:
Agog them.—The7 who attribate such language to me sky
mot know the Spanish Royalists. The Royalists of Spain aria
waited to the Royalists of Prance, as firmly as are the Llberaaf
of France to the Liberaux of Spain, and, inasmuch as 'the
sl ones of Spain would not refuse aid to the Contagion,' if it

oftsted In France, we also, sobjeets of a lloarieres, would
rat reface Ole aid of a I ing of Entree, head of UM sorrel

34. A.
4
W e Should be happy, COO' the drawl, to see the rldWilhe
appear as a trophy Of deliterante on the very soil where Ml]
tr‘entenred dag floated to ratite es.' A Bourbon woald res-
sheet the evils to Which Bonaparte subjected us, rtd it
triumphal arches that a French Royalistearroy Auld
restock on its way to Madrid. The whole popalatioak-oula)
vjostancously join the Ftettcli, and the Dews of-its ippreach
woad act with electric effect in all our provinces. We did ark
relbse the aid of tile English and Portuguese against Boas-
-111001; bow then tan we reject the aid of the Preach, our
na-
7ilt'atlles,to aerhillate the Revolution? If the Catalonians,
Arragonese, the Navarrese, are aronished at any thing,
itY that they are still waiting th-r arrival of the French. I
roe the bourn to be, dm.
.(Sltlized) " The fiene.ral QUESADA."

Pi. Tao at tbo sank, Excbegner, and East India

THE BRITISH PRESS.