The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1821-01-22 00:00:00

MR. O'CONNELL'S REPLY
TO MR. SHEIL

. . ~

TO THE CATHOLICS OF IRELAND.
l" But, alas !foe ►is Cawley—bet pride is Anne by,
" And that spirit in looken which never would bend;
" O'er the ruin her children is secret must sigh—
" Fur, 'tie imam to love bee, and death to &find"

Merrion-sqoarr, 12th January. 1921.
Firt.user•Cottnirttirnita —I think it may be earful flirt 1
should offer you • fr. remarks upon • rhapsody which Hr.
Mira by published, trader the title of A Reply to my Woe
A 'Myra..
i will not do him the injustice to efuppwor, that he insagiusa
he has gieco any answer to gay arguments. He buena he has
ntit--urittscr is it important 'to inquire, odd. r what "mnta-
tins of iraprti.e" its wrote. To ascertain whether lit found
biosa.lf "tilled with fery—ropt-Auspirrd," or acted tor some
colder sad, more considerate calculation, would be quite so
iroinferreting distuvrry.
Set 1 am rtelty it a loos to know liner 1 have provoked
!fie tragic instil and stable ire of this iansb.c risspeodist.
It seems to me, that anything so unprovoked never appeared
"a the lOM's of causeless ',civility. He set uut so • pas-
sion, and preservers the consistency of his rage to the earl.
And yet, after all, 1 would venture to auger Sisal, like the
rabid animal is the fable, Mr. Sbeil is sot balls* mad as ha
pretends to be.
Th.rt was lately Is this country, and I fancy Mr.lawil
?tato him, a geosloinos who was so von bevy an Athalia,
last i; ones met safe for a believer to he its his comps•Hp.we
Mi. friends were obliged to prefses thu., " Mr. reg

OHIO* you say personal oftener, but I really
the existeace of a Deity." Su I And it tweertaty twiny to-
,lr. Sheil—"Sir, I do ..t Nam you any insult—indeed I do
' .pot— hut yet I ans (serenity, aye, end disintereatrdly, st-
ile-bed lo toy religion, to my cuindry, sod to laxity."
hownimost, nay Consitrymea, is the crime for whirls he
Nat hemowed on me d great variety of hard namem. He
hairnet; by malting sim, m ailwasing fregweier —twat am
lowto"—ao4 thirdly, 4* lielontqwwwies owtertab."
Again. he denoinfitates 'ma Wraw is amber"—then
" restellytt, with frefilist Ilirs"—chow, how terrific! "b s..
pbfrf olverittag f. eraeliterwa"—soft lastly, mid which is
:.s In Ite 10 Mime, "w ravine of Airy *plows."
Fium all them plain premises, Mr. *btil would hive you
e-ow the following immitable conchisioa, that the Catholics
•'!oul.1 cootinne, year after year, and century after cento.y
!f.,r he puts an limit to it), to petition a Parliament which
stnnws how to refuse, though it has no mann: to give for
t refusal.
Hist this is trilling. Mr. Sheil is prrfeetly aware that the
eat trestles which the Catholics of Ireland moat decide is
:his, whether they ought to continue to petition an unre-
firmed Parliament after repeat. el mod viewless rejection.—
. r join st once the inereaaing Friends of Liberty, who desire
ro restore the Constitution by refurvaiag that Parliament?
That is the question.
Now, it is Oahe that so rational man conceives that a de-
cision net so nsousentous a question is this, involving as well
the rights *tithe isterests of millions, *ensold he aided, either
t vituperation, however ramenrows., or by the tawdry and
1.: RV I dement ions of use* dramatic orstory—such oratory is
51 for ..thine else hot to gratify that specie. of vanity
which might, in a whoa-boy, be allowed to. exclaim, " Ace
what a very clever little geatleman I am! Wha wants tie?"

The pablie ein pin wodifseg from the mere sdenirslion of
Sh.irs talents, if lateens they be ; neither would my
a. gnmenis be weakenerl by their revs., Oven Were Kr. shell
14 prove beyond a rhumba that I am one of those ndidisr, hut
• liR, ton common creatures, who are the name of pairiotisus
In serve private purposes, and pre tried to take au in..
r-regt in religion, merely to forwent their views, on the pe-
ralttion of place, or the sordid ensohoment of pension. Such
per•nnot e►rtainly deserve execration—l wily say they may
rewoon well notwithstanding.

The qoestion betwren ow Is soot to be &rioted by (*sweeter,
and I therefore, sad for many other reasons, commit mine
.Rlo the hoods of yuu, my Countrymen. Hitt I feel mys►lf
hound to notice two topics whit* Mr Sbeil loss rut forward
,1 his letter, breause if I were to leave them snrefuteol, their
effect might he to divert your attention from the force of my
so,rsontng to motives of inert personal consideration.

The As, of these topics is an empty boasi—ilse second is
an unfounded insinuation.

The boat is, that he (Mr. Rivet)) convicted me of incon.
.'.,teary on the subject of the Veto, by %hewing, that in
J .iteary, 1519, I air fentortraltle to a rife, for which, he
rays, " he cited mruleal pumice from my address of that
tomtit."
Now mark me, sty Countrymen, 1 prey you. Is that very
eitderss I COMITISPOCeII the Aiseesmion ..f the rem with this
passe:—" IVtfh raped to the Veto, wee sestirweets are
wt?haword aid wwwtterwble—my oppositiow to the reto
it bonded ee principles which I cow werer yield. As As
I DATES.? IT—AS • CATHOLIC I DIPRCCATC IT."

qeeh were my words. Mr. Mmil, of comer, omitted this
passage in his garbled moron from the Address. He well
emirs there M high authority/for saying that it requires but
hole Mottllret to vary the best swaging, merely by omitting
part of the subject matte►. Even a foul can do it. Ido
nut accuse Mr Shell of being a fool—vrrytor inched from it.
I only point out how admirable is the eaudeur of a rhapau•
dist. Pray admire that eandoer !
With this single observation 1 tabs leave of Mr. Shell's
bowl. If it be nut en empty bast, I mationit In be tatted •
losttoen, and a vane, and a Any varier, fur the rest of my
loft. .

Mr Sheirs insinuation deserves a more ample discussion.
It is this—he distinctly issimsahrs that I am actwated by
motives am/rale hostility or personal revealment in Mr.
Pisinkett —or, in the words of the rhapsodist, " That the
risah.liglet, with feeble and fretful See, is mats behind."
I do, my fellow.cuutitrymen, most solemnly assure you,
this there is oat tee slightest foundation whatsoever for this
ataistuatitm—that the direct contrary it the fart—in plain
truth, it is not my d aposisioi to enterlato resentment even
a:4lrat tht.se who injure me ; and Nothing can he more re-
pugnant to my habits than to feel ill-will withutst cause.
New, m polio of fact, Mr. Plunkett miter did eat any ura
broadness whatsoever, or übened me any isiclvility or heat-
serition--stsr the contrary, be' has hero, in alt my intercourse
will hint, uniformly courteous. attruligre, and even kind. I
are d-. ply a. itsible of that attention and kindness is all the
cuss in whirl I have ',ten concerned with him as ("trowel ;
sad no mass living is mine ready to give %lr. Plunkett credit
tsr the virtues labiate "darn Ms private life.
As a Professiowal man, I am perfectly sensible of his me.
MI. I leave known the powers of the first Advocates of
aitidearatimer—Erskine sod Curran— Ronal ly and Hail; and
'have no hesitation is saying, that Mr. Plunkett is more
—lfni than any one of them ; lie combines • strength of
idd, and clearness of insatiate, with a perpetual and un
Going. readiness, In • degree -which, probably. very few
a—perhaps no man, ever before poitsessell. Others may ,
—acted hint so the higher ardent of eloquence; bat in Frac-
fired wlifilg; as au advocate, there is nu living man, at either
Ilse, iu &sides/due trebled, to compare with lam. -
Saab are my sevitiiiiesis of Mr. Flu ikett. ' I admire his
rankahle sad exemplary deportment its private I
reeraftilly acknowledge his profeasiunal superiority and
itealleuce.
II is true that I am ifecirksny hostile to.bis ;entities! opt.
~sops on general as well as on lore sir' jerts. Hut is it fair
to stifereatese, as the rhapsodist has done, this open and con.
ablation& oppositiosi with the odium of private aistignitY ?
opposition to Mr. Plunkett is funniest on public pens.
arpleesud is limited by that ribber principle, sad is steams-
peoie4 by sincerer regret.
(1, y oppuo tion is not the tens decided on that account-1
tarn I r Ararat_ relish the pablig.ms• era, Overeat...l the rlis
yierita,i it. Miorhester, an 4 tks killing of else men, women.
mod 'iodate's three—T lisetkeigitiA shut dispersion-1 speak
as flee must porpnitoral event of oiratferei tiaras. ft
slow* shall tra • anthem,' elettluen eatablisbral. to England, I
Via elkoietsnia wilt be coosAiteglar the first step to nacos
blirnmerst. If we are fatedsta fall into ilex horrors isf revs/.
lotioto' that dispersion* weq.be considered as the accelerator
of Ws progress. fatbereSare, ai a public Min', caisaot relish
WO advocate, neither as I forgive the inclusive advocacy of