The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-16 00:00:00

IRISH GRIEVANCES.

The substance of the following Letter has *ap-
peared lately in some of the Irish papers :

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DUBLIIN REGISTER.

Sir,—lt wants but a few mouths of ten years
since you first allowed or rather encouraged me
to lay before your readers some impressions,
formed during a previous residence in Ireland,
which no time can change. Since that period
we have lived to see an increase of hope, a bril-
liant harvest of promises, and a great plenty of
advice, but withal a great scarcity of advan-
tages. We have lived to see O'Connell at the
head of a strong party in England, to see the
principle of Repeal cleared from the artful me-
tonym of" separation," and acknowledged where
such a condescension was least expected, tobear
its reasonableness and loyalty most feebly d'enied.
Yet this is a moment chosen by some to dispa-
rage the restoration of a native Parliament as a
maggot of O'Connell's to neutralise the effect of
all the " hereditary-bondsmen-letters" that ever
were written, by giving out that Ireland must
do nothing for herself,- but merely attend the
good pleasure of the Chartists, or perhaps wait
till Mr. Frost returns from abroad.

I have lived among the Irish, have lifted the
chains they wore and found them heqvy, have
tasted the bitter dose set before them. I have
heard the less educated though not 'less intelli-
gent among them speak of the time when they
should have the Union back again, when they
should have parishes—as if they had not parihes
enough—as if the Union were some great bird
of hope, whose flagging wings had left their
shores, and whose return they had been vainly
expecting ever since. The man who killed the
albatross was held up by the poet as a warning
to any one who would cut off the hopes of suffer-
ing humanity; the bird had hovered round a
ship during many days of storm and sunshine,
and the sanguine mariners had iidentified it with
their safety. How strange that Englishmen
should pass a length of time in Ireland, and yet
fail to see that the means of pacification will
never be discovered by an English Parliament,
which on the contrary will assuredly adopt mea-
sures for making the separation final, or the
chain purely military, and the Anglo-orange in-
terest a mere army of occupation. How strange
they should fail to see that almost any form of
native legislation would be as dignified for the
Sovereign as it would be unquestionably honour-
able to the Irish. Their sturdy arms would raise
this pure, this gentle Pharamond on the shield,
and all past miseries be forgotten in an ecstacy of
Royalism.
The virtues of the Irish are of great antiquity
and almost heroic origin. The Council of Con-
stance in 1414, recognised three empires, the Ro-
man, the Greek, and the Irish ; the latter so
called because the orbis Britannicus drew its
science and letters from them. This inherent
excellence, fostered by two peculiar advantages
—the same which aggrandized the Greek and
Italian republics, namely, the habit of popular
eloquence and the continual presetace of armed
foes—have also generated a degree of pride,
increased by ill-usage and confirmed by the
associations of an insular as well as moun-
tainous territory : the result is a supreme
contempt of " England and the English." Not
long ago a Roman Catholic clergyman in a public
letter professed to know nothing of the law of
England and very little of the language. The
tenure of land, on which everything else depends,
is totally opposed to English law ; and by the
way, this cannot be too soon forced on the atten-
tion of the Government, and a compromise rati-
fied about the tenant-right which, however de-
nounced as fictitious by the law of the rich, is
still the law of the land, confirmed by a Com-
mittee of Lords recommending that compensa-
tion should be made to persons racked above a
rack-rent, arid yet ejected after long possession.
In consequence of such misunderstandings-,
Irishmen know or care so little about the state of
opinion here that they have a poor chance of ob-
taining justice for themselves, and the most bril-
liant among them cannot take their proper sta-
tion without first renouncing their own country,
as Castlereagh' Lyndhurst, and Wellington,
each more or less haVe done. On every ac-
count this indifference is to be regretted, and so
far Mr. Hunie was evidently right ! Your
readers might even require some apology for
mentioning a British worthy as an authority
on any point whatever. The name of Chatham
stands next to Alfred in national esteem
—his motto was unanimity. His contempo-
raries, disgusted at the effect of their own absur-
dity, yielded to a dangerous flush of resentment
against America, similar to what is now felt
against Ireland. No doubt if he had been con-
sulted he would have prevented the " separation"
of the colonies; but did he, like Lord Cloncurry,
pretend to say that " peace was all America
wanted ;" did he advise Washington and Frank-
lin to abjure their provincial grievances, come
over to England and agitate reform of the Com-
mons' House ? Nothing like it. He exclaimed
with a monarch's voice—l rejoice that America
has resisted—let Discord reign for ever!
Littora littoribus contraria, fluctibus undas.

It is desirable that the Irish should sympathise
a vast deal more with our injuries, but if we de-
spise their own view of their own case, the
consequence will be, not sympathy, but separa-
tion " for ever."

The accession of Chatham to a Ministry of
that day had converted a series of defeats into
some of the most splendid conquests in our his-
tory—all this he ascribed to unanimity. When
a people is at one with its Government, the good-
will of reasonable men all over the world is se-
cured ; and to the policy of the Queen, so far as
it is liberal to Ireland, may be attributed the vic-
tories of Acre, Ghizm, and China, as well as the
friendship of Soult and Guizot. The Quarterly
Review of last June contained an article on the
life of Lord Chatham, which shows so many
coincidences in the hostility expressed by
" clever men" to the leading spirit of the time,
that I venture to carry on the parallel and tran-
scribe a few particulars.
Chatham's Parliamentary opposition is called
by the reviewer, " an absolute despotism over
king and kingdom, which from his first appear-
ance no Minister has been able to withstand,"—
'-e very words so often applied to O'Connell.
ti- .11 this influence did not prevent the former
Yet b- :no. the best abused man then in the
from be, e'l,old confidence was most unceremo-
world • his L. •.`
prose and verse, described as
niously' , both 1-.,
and "very great impudence :"
"very hard words,
.is by many considered a
like O'Connell, lie v,,...
" theatrical personage" ah:l. " a great actor." His
long refusal of office was a then eof ridicule among
f
'
officials. Even Burke declared, , he has now in
c
his power to come into the service f his coun-
try : will he do so, or will he continue talkin
justice at"—Darrynane ? H. Walpole said
" He has now carte blanche, blanchissime." The
cosmetic Chesterfield " thought him mad," on
which the reviewer observes with great naiveté,
"So unaccountable was his conduct." Yet from
these very refusals, as also in the parallel case, it
was inferred that he was insatiable, simply be-
cause unpurchasable : " He was ravenous for the
place of Secretary at War;" and again, " He
had set his heart on various places which—could
never be found !" That there was a resemblance
in Chatham's mental constitution to that of
O'Connell, may be inferred from circumstances:
" The gracious demeanour of the young King
affected him to tears." Also, " his marriage
was now less conducive to his public importance
than to his domestic happiness." Both had an
instinctive dread of Hanover, both are reproached.
for changes of purpose and of allies. Thus we
are'told that Chatham "preserved his popularity
amidst vicissitudes under which any other poli-
.tician of the day would have sunk. Again, "The
versatility with which Chatham could vary his
associates.... When we recollect his zeal as a
cornet of horse against Sir R. Walpole, we can-
not wonder at his ill-treatment of his old confe-
dera:e Glover." And again, "At one time....
at anotbe he voted for the subsidies, Hano-
verian and ailY
One who would fain extract
In fact, like evCrY
etorts and crucibles of
some gold from the r
public life, he was alternt:tely suspected and be-
trayed. Even so with O'Connell. In vain does
he remonstrate with the individuals who from
his confiding generosity have been at par-
ticular moments his unconscious. instruments
in doing good, without any fitness for that
high duty except derivatively from him. In
vain he asks, with all his broad resplendence
of good nature, Why will they smash them-
selves avainst me? In mentioning a few se-
ceders, Messrs. O'Gorman Mahon, Sharman
Crawford, Lambert, Macdonnell, Colonel But-
ler, and so down through almost every letter of
the alphabet to the original Raphael, Purcell,
Potter—then up again to Moore—Anglesea—
, Burdett—Grey—in just enumerating these and
1 omitting others no charge is made but that of not
i;„.'ing perfectly wise l To elbow O'Connell from
the lieLP. IT," his integrity
absolute and experience of
thirty years.
trial, could be justified by nothing
less than
wisdom. Rashness drives them
on, needs must, knowing neither_
sea-marks nor
soundings; the heaving of the lead is never un-
derstood, the sullen roar of-breakers, the wailing
screams of sea-fowl unileard., unheeded, and the
Ship with all its freighting sfmls is again and
again—not sunk—but strandea on an iron bound
oast amidst the huees and. thees of the more
barbarous sort of inhabitants.
Surely, on a future occasion of this Wad, the
National Association might do somethirig t:or-