The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-29 00:00:00

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The Union was carried
.by
.corruption and by fear.
The shrieks of the rebellion still echoes in the nation's
ofir'The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, and. martial
had been proclaimed. The country was an a state
„„rge—the Minister had a rod of steel for the people,
a purse of countless gold for the senator. He ap-
Peered with a crop of Cadmus to the one, and like the
tshower of I)ana^ to the other ; but in the midst of that
rliameatary profligacy, at which even Sir Robert
t„alPole would have been astonished, the genius of the
tentry remained incorruptible—Grattan, Curran, and
bright
of those famous men, whose names cast so
Iltyit a light upon this, the brighest part of
_onr.history
rr.a
.moment yielded to a sordid or ignoble impulsier.,
e distinguished men of the bar were faithful to the
ki-rintrY• Sir Jonah Barrington, in his history of the Rise
411 of the Irish Nation, has quoted the speeches of
thee most eminent men of our profession ; amongst which
Ivif.e of Mr. Goold, who argued the question of • ht
be equal equal eloquence and subtlety, Mr. Joy, Mr.
ket44lVir. 13ushe, and Saurin are conspicuous. Lord Plun
fith,raied the right of Parliament to destroy itself. Mr.
topi:5•11 appealed to the authority of Mr. Lock;;toTehleossatmsoe
e was taken by Mr. Bushe, whom
CY---Bushe, whom it was impossible fo'rvtehose'by whom
N;lieblest eloquence was justly prized, not to admire-
-I,,ta it was impossible for those by whom the purest
t
Irirsth was justly estimated not to reverence; and whsomani
ex,i!l_ll,Possible for those by whom a mostot
tgoeln(ewreo.o
Thed
alto`aq nature could be appreciated u
rileY-Ge • 1 has stated that the opinions of these emi-
bett nela the Union, ought
khjersons delivered at the time of .
al; held in no account. lam not surprised that that
al!vatiori should be applied by him to
.Lord Plun ket,
4DCII recollect he so recently quoted one of his Lordship's
Drisnta; when he callang to induce the
itititlitt to break through its rules, in order to assist
torthin the 'eagerness of his pursuit. All the finesse of
at- was to' be thrown down in order to accelerate the
hater of her Majesty's Attorney-General. But what
soil •
the will he give for not attaching any value to
ext as of Mr. Saurin. He said Mr. Saurin
fat his his opinions in mere debate. So that the
liat4B",:alportant priniciples solemnly laid down in par-
tlik'ntttry debate are to be regarded as little better
aqk kere forensic asseveration. I can now account for
44,,,eeches which I heard in the House of Commons
the education question. I think, however,
`44)• such doctrines be propounded in the House of
You °us itself, they would be listened to with surprise.
kill:v.4:s"e 'heard, gentlemen, in the course of this trial,
tl:Zumg of the morality of war, and also something of
'°ratity of rebellion, which the Right Hon. Gen-
11e bwlta• pleased to substitute as a synonyme for
ut of the morality of Parliament, I trust you. will
`,ll by an estimate from 'the specimen presented to
~asnher Majesty's Attorney-General. But. these
„•a's were expressed before the Act of Parliament
trtsed. Surely the truth of great principles does
4r:Pend upon an Act of Parliament. They are not for
hat for all time. They are immutable and im-
akaPable. They are immertal as the mind of man,
lererahle
of decomposition or decay. The question
ki! You is not whether these principles are well or
4e):11(led, but you must take the fact of their having
4expressed into nar consideration, where you have
h h'N'taine the intent of the men upon whose motives.
tli 4°e to e;tjudicate. The great authority to which
ita,lera4t.Yerg.ers appeal gives them a right to a political
,`att your part, andshould induce you to think
e•- ille • t
It they were led astray, they were. led. astray.
Nlit,:4l4hority of men with whom surely it is no dis-
N,"l coincide. But whatever we may think of the
171; IA validity of the union, you must bear in mind that
7114 l'-'ennell has again and again stated that the Union
aw must, as long as it remains law, bi submitted_
inn tdl his positions regarding the validity of the
49,tei11,,,g0e no other object than the constitutional in-,
t`atti,-,,11kt of the people to adopt the most effectual means
-6•
~g,which the law itself may be repealed or modi-
Zaer sT),'„ae union was a bargain and sale. As a sale it
244 °"igate and the bargain was a bad one ; for better
111i,,ght ;lave been obtained, and may be still 0b-
,1.-41,, ,You do not become the auxiliaries of the
,Nll%feY-Lileneval. Three-fourths of the Irish Pro-
.•k Were suppressed. Not a single'English member
a4l)'ltracted,and there can be no doubt we stood
,1•}4P,11 a relation towards the English members,
11' (' th”e were completely nullified in the House
rper74l"llB. But, gentlemen, one could perhaps
o.oe ipiled to the terms of the union, bad as they
ltlle results Of the union had been beneficial
-Nt• urs'uuntry. We are told by some that our maw,.
13,kt d-s
at,td our agricultural produce have greatly
_a
,tb,e-; out tis the condition of the great bulk of
titlsis4le of what
country, which is, after all, the con-
• *-•
,t)1,11 with Christian statesmen, ought to
e most._ie • Thegreater happiness of the greater
ZalbWr's aße h 't ntithesis ; but there is a great
irC.,llristinant itaymicoenadensed in it. When travellers
"la 'ace from Germany, from America, arrive in
ljteNeviL,ll4trY'e and contemplate the frightful spectacle
8,.44111,7 by the misery of the people, although. pre-
l/rePared by descriptions of the national misery.
;14 118:" aghast it what they see, but what they could
°t4te '/;e imagined. Why is this ? How does this
ll'hi,.hot things arise in a country which Bacon, and
,er n,
lbe SuSPenser' notwithstanding their masterdom
eesl,ish language, seem to be at a loss for
er „fficientl glowing to describe ? If look at
and the people in a miserable con-
in'Twe attribute the fault to the Government. Are
t'ssott:elatirl to attribute it to the soil, to the climate,,or
ttcr evil genius who exercises a sinister influence
~e,ar destinies ? The fault, as it appears to me,
hi's-1,4111Y in that system of policy which has been
ltce()kiln by eth Imperial Parliament, for which, on this
ttetiQ t e union is to be condemned. Let me see,
th:rtleo,avhether I can make out my case. I shall
Tugh the leading facts with great celerity ; but
tail a case as this I should not apprehend the int-
ON lull of being. wantonly prolix. Your time is, in-
most valuable, but the interests at stake are Ines-
)ofh:"°ly precious ; and time will be scarce noted by, you
t
V you bear in mind that the effects of your verdict
et ' ec felt when generations have psssed away—when
1119 heart that now throbs in this great assembly shall
t were
to p a Ipitate—when the contentions by which
tf Catholic
once agitated shall touch us no further; and all
L
4acl and Protestant, Whig and Tory, Radical
‘iter"'Pealer, and Conservative, shall have been gathered
firstst all at last shall go down in peace together. The
tr,4t,,,jlleasures adopted in the Imperial Parliament were a
the irtatiork of martial law, an extended suspension of
ca„as Corpus Act. Mr. Pitt was honestly anxious
"kis -.,43' Catholic emancipation, and to make at the same
`4,144 Prevision for the Roman Catholic clergy. You may
°l' el You may—perhaps, think that Catholic
.
ti You
ought never to have been car-
l'fi444 Ut " if it was to be carried, how much
f`4l. WOUld it have been to have settled
thro„..t3,fotir ordealg and without putting the country
Pee,:fira that of 'excitement through which the Im-
It 11 -earliament, by the procrastination of justice, forced
? Mr. Pitt, by transferring the Catholic ques-
'ls , w""ite the Irish to the Imperial Parliament, destroyed
1/I,aejeof Lachninistration and furnished a proof that,. in
wing able to place Ireland under the protection
I,t!olis.itYwit,.l4enius, he placed it under the. control of 'the
pit ti
reogious prejudices of the English people. M.
hr..
retur
ned to the first place in the Ministry, wit ,
ft-Fr4fil6thofiefuri:tehle'eenripooblfiecing able to make any stipulations , for
his own engagements or the reahsa-
h ehe- felt to be indispensable
t'sti(;,- Peace policy which
Ireland. The Roman Catholic
Per• was brought forward in 1805, and was lost in an
-4°llse of Co mons Mr. Pitt died after the
tllll:,,v,plrethAusterlitz, andm was 'succeeded by the Whigs.
41.) posed a measure, which the Tories, who drove
p"1,14, krt'-"tr,„len the "No Popery " cry, carried in 1816, and
bj'ile-The''ueed the new doctrine, that the usefulness of
aTires is to be tried far best upon the prinei-
-1,,Y wh which they were founded, than by the parties
Lae 41 ,they were accomplished. The expulsion of
fo °eelgs from office in 1806, may, in your judgment,
s,ttati,P a fortunate proceeding ; but fortunate or un-
Jiefreitifurnishes -another proof that the Govern-
)) l'ari• and had been made over, not so much to
ih lament as to the great mass of the people
rte that l'arliament. is held under control.
aso e found in the portfolio of the Whigs two
• tion
1 th a draft-bill for Catholic Emancipa
'3r) the -e mike of Wellington, then Sir Arthur Welles-
-I\ll,hAriii,°,tee,,r,etary for Ireland,' flung into the fire ; and
,c,'ol eye to which clauses have been recently added,:
!.1 41, n Mr. Shaw declared were " wantonly severe.
1 tots Yitle",°eivo that an Arms Bill, with all its moles-
s„kthe be required ; but it is beyond question that,
I;,ll.i,"„ear 1819, when England was on the verge of a
44, 4itilstri.,.° Such Bill was ever propounded by the Bri-
aogrgAi„, 'Y; and granting, for a moment, for the sake
tai'l;asly-nelts, that some such Bill is requisite, how scan-
re t a country have been governed for almost
tr,`,l-t?Ire:(111!14117, if this outrage upon the Bill of Rights be
Relit4a. Aet !-aving passed the Arms Bill and the Insur-
b proe'n4 appropriate adjunct, the Imperial Parliah-
hi, 're 4, b'e,edl to reduce the allowance to Maynoot
eti°,ald be One opinion regarding Maynoeth7thattlit
15L'keeed, "'tally suppressed, or largely and munificently
Ep flanalld that an education should be given to the
st itifi-Atholic clergy such as a body exercising such
thauten,2e ought to receive. There are some who
th:Tated ;it better that the Catholic clergy were
-eyanee. Ido not wish to see a gallo-Hiber-
N'red Ita`t%t_l in Ireland. Parisian. manners may be rel-
N, hit) 0, 141 test of Irish morality, and own that
th)Na uoeh attached to my sovereign, and to the eon-
itkes eqz,(4 aIY country with England, to desire that
b4duct ors of French ambition, that these instru-
41:re_nell. intrigue, should be located in every
(!on movision of the country. State to an Enk-
,'Niirb'ervative----point out to him the importance of
forall prises ©r - intellectual exertion, by holding
tkl. tee, genius at Maynooth, and he will sa it is
ylk
IN? the mess
the English Government are
.una e to
re• Why ? Because the religious ob.
tIte.:()I• ofto one People of England are in the way. An-
a °de • e results of the Legislative Union: In 1810, a
slace th
weer Bcrabie c Union had elapsed, the country was in
e uti;,, condition—its destitution, its degradation,
fisitts•zr,ally.felt, and by none more than the her7fl A requisition was addressed to the
of the city, signed by men of the greatest
11i NO" consideration amongst us. A meeting
eng Called
James Riddle was in the chair. At that
fif.• O'Connell attended. .11e had in 1800
(41„ furw.:_6(!,' speech against the Union, and in 1810 he
F,i4ered to denounce that measure. The speech
lvhi 'al. to thy' hull on that occasion was precisely
1. ost, numerous and most powerful harangues
'Y e,",,ave been read to yon. He is represented in 1844
1404 'taJestvA
Attoniey-n
_General as influenced by the
They
a ono:i guilt' and the most unworthy motives. The pee-
11V_°.esea.rre,yed together, in order that at a signal
ofd that a sanguinary republic should
cell a view
ernwmehrhlyalciitlehha,ltiilDtoii
raeneogivenhelsrmi,oB
t'eCnet n
tl lh isth teombaegnt eAliff _
e°torittti
illet.genlefratthedeseinatroe
thethe
stteiQ s4l 1844 r
agurn, NN at were the objects in 1810 ? The
41;7, veheta7°,B, the same topics of declamation, the
41117 't "!lt adjurations, are employed. Gentlemen of
Wall
" reeid.thitt SPOSCh Lo, you ;•-•

" Mr. O'Connell declared that he offered himself to the
meeting with unfeigned diffidence. He was unable to do
justice to his feelings, on the great national subject on which
they had met. He felt too much of personal anxiety to allow
him to arrange in anything like order, the many topics
which rushed upon his mind, now that after ten years of
silence and torpor, Irishmen again began to recollect their
enslaved country. It was a melancholy period, those ten
years, a period in which Ireland saw her artificers starved
—her tradesmen begging—her merchants become bankrupts
—her gentry banished—her nobility degraded. Within
that period domestic turbulence broke from day to day into
open violence and murder. Religious dissensions were ag-
gravated and embittered. Credit and commerce were anni-
hilated—taxation augmented in amount and in vexation.
Besides the " hangings off " of the ordinary assizes, we had
been disgraced by the necessity that existed for holding two
Special Commissions of death, and had been degraded by
one rebellion—and, to crown all, we were at length insulted
by being told of our growing prosperity. This was not the
painting of imagination—it borrowed nothing from fancy.
It was, alas ! the plain representation of the facts that had
occurred—the picture in sober colours of the real state of
his ill-fated country. There was not a man present but
must know that more misery existed than he had described.
Such being the history of the first ten years of the Union, it
would not be difficult to convince any unprejudiced man, na
all those calamities had sprang from that measure. Ireland
was favoured by Providence with a fertile soil, an excellent
situation for commerce, intersected by navigable rivers, in-
dented at every side with safe and commodious harbours,
blessed with a fruitful soil, and with a vigorous, hardy,
generous, and brave population ; how did it happen, then,
that the noble qualities of the Irish people were perverted—
that the order of Providence was disturbed, and ibs bless-
ings worse than neglected? The fatal cause was obvious—
it was the Union. That those deplorable effects would fol-
low from that accursed measure was prophesied. Before
the Act of Union passed, it had been already proved that
the trade of the country and its credit must fail as capital
was drawn from it—that turbulence and violence would in-
crease when the gentry were removed to reside in another
country—that the taxes should increase in the same propor-
tion as the people became unable to pay them ! But neither
the arguments nor the prophetic fears have ended with
our present evils. It has also been demonstrated, that as
long as the Union continues so long must our evils accumu-
late. The nature of that measure, and the experience of
facts which we have now had, leave no doubt of the truth
of what has been asserted respecting the future; but, if
there be any still incredulous, he can only be of those who
will not submit their reason to authority. To such persons
the authority of Mr. Foster, his Majesty's Chancellor of
the Exchequer for Ireland, would probably be conclusive,
and Mr. Foster has assured us that final ruin to our country
must be the consequence of the Union. I will not dwell,
Mr. Sheriff, on the miseries on my country ; I am disgusted
with the wretchedness the Union has produced, and I do
not dare to trust myself with the contemplation of the
accumulation of sorrow that must overwhelm the land
if the Union be not repealed. I beg to call the atten-
tion of the meeting to another part of the subject. The
Union, Sir, was a violation of our national and inherent
rights ; a flagrant injustice. The representatives whom we
had elected for the short period of eight years had no
authority to dispose of their country for ever. It cannot be
pretended that any direct or express authority to that effect
was given to them, and the nature of their delegation ex-
cludes all idea of their having any such by implication. They
were the servants of the nation, empowered to consult for its
good; not its masters to traffic and dispose of it at their
fantasy, or for their profit. I deny that the nation itself had
a right to barter its independence, or to commit political
suicide ; but when our servants destroyed our existence as
a nation, they added to the baseness of assassination all the
guilt of high treason. The reasoning upon which those
opinions are founded is sufficiently obvious. They require no
sanction from the authority of any name ; neither do I pre-
tend to give them any weight • by declaring them to be con-
scientiously my own ; but if you want authority to induce
the conviction that the Union had injustice for its principle,
and a crime for its basis, I appeal to that of his Majesty's
present Attorney-General, Mr. Saurin, who in his place in
the Irish Parliament, pledged his character as a lawyer and
*statesman, that the Union must be a violation of every
moral principle, and that it was a mere question of prudence
whether it should not be resisted by, force. I also appeal
to the opinions of the late Lord High Chancellor of Ireland,
Mr. George Ponsonby, of the present Solicitor-General, Mr.
Bushe, and of that splendid lawyer, Mr. Plunket. The
Union was therefore a manifest injustice; and it con-
tinues to be unjust at this day ; it was a crime, and
must be still criminal, unless it sh-all be ludicrously said that
crime, like wine, improves, by old age, and that time mollifies
injustice into innocence. lon may smile at the supposition,
but in sober sadness you must be convinced that we daily
suffer injustice ; that every succeeding day adds only
another sin to the catalogue of British vice ; and that if the
Union continues it will only make the crime hereditary,
and injustice perpetual. We have been robbed, my
countrymen, most foully robbed, of our birthright, of
our independence; may it not be permitted us mourn-
fully to ask how this consummation of evil was per-
fected ? for it was not in any disastrous battle that our
liberties were struck down ; no foreign invader had de-
spoiled the land; we have not forfeited our country by any
crimes; neither did we lose it by any domestic insurrection;
no, the rebellion was completely put down before the Union
was accomplished ; the Irish militia and the Irish yeomanry
had put it down. How, then, have we become enslaved?
Alas ! England, that ought to have been to us a sister
and a friend—England, whom we had loved, and fought
and bled for—England, whom we have protected, and whom
we do protect—England, at a period when, out of 100,000
seamen in her service, 70,000 were Irish—England stole
upon us like a thief in the night, and robbed us of
the precious gem of our liberty, she stole from us that
which not enriched her, but made us poor indeed.' Re-
flect, then, my friends, on the means employed to effect this
disastrous measure. I do not speak of the meaner instru-
ments of bribery and corruption. We all know that every-
thing was put up to sale—nothing profane or sacred was
omitted in the Union mart. Offices in the revenue, com-
mands in the army and navy, the sacred ermine of justice,
and the holy altars of God, were all profaned and polluted
as the rewards of Union services. By a vote in favour of
the Union, ignorance, incapacity, and profligacy obtained
certain promotion ; and our ill-fated, but beloved country, was
degraded to her utmost limits before she was transfixed in sla-
very. But I do not intend to detain you in contemplation of
those vulgar means of Parliamentary success, they are within
the daily routine of official management ; neither will I direct
your attention to the frightful recollection of that avowed
fact, which is now part of history, that the rebellion itself
was fomented and encouraged in order to facilitate the Union.
Even the rebellion was an accidental and a secondary cause
—the real cause of the Union lay deeper, but is quite ob-
vious—it is to be found at once in the religious dissensions
which the enemies of Ireland have created, and continued,
and seek to perpetuate among themselves, by telling us off,
and separating us into wretched sections and miserable sub-
divisions ; they separated the Protestant from the Catholic,
and the Presbyterians from both ; they revived every anti-
quated cause of domestic animosity, and invented new pre-
texts of rancour ; but, above all, my countrymen, they be-
lied and calumniated us to each other, and they continued
to repeat that assertion until we came to believe it ; they
succeeded in producing all the madness of party and reli-
gious distinctions, and whilst we were lost in the stupor of
insanity, they plundered us of our country, and left us to
recover at our leisure from the horrid delusion into which
we had been so artfully conducted. Such, then, were the
means- by which the Union was -effectuated. It has stripped
us of commerce and wealth—it has degraded us, and deprived
us, not only of our station as a nation, but even of
the name of our country. We are governed by foreigners—
foreigners make our laws, for were the hundred Members
who nominally represent Ireland iu what is called the
Imperial Parliament, were they really our representatives,
what influence could they, although =bought and
unanimous, have over the 558 English and Scotch
Members ? But what is the fact ? Why that out of -
the hundred, such as they are, that sit for this country,
more than one-fifth know nothing of us, and are unknown
to us. What, for example, do we know of Andrew Strahan,
printer to the King? What can Henry Martin, barrister-
at-law, care for the rights and liberties of Irishmen ? Some
of us may, perhaps, for our misfortunes, have been com-
pelled to read a verbose pamphlet of James Stevens, but
who knows .anything of one Crile, one Hughan, one Cackin,
or of a dozen more whose names I could mention, only be-
cause I have discovered them for the purpose of speaking to
you about them ; what sympathy can we in our sufferings
expect from those men? What solicitude for our interests?
What are they to Ireland or Ireland to them ? No, Mr.
Sheriff, we are not represented ; we have no effectual share
in the legislation ; the thing is a mere mockery. Neither is
the Imperial Parliament competent to legislate for us ; it is
too unwieldy a machine to legislate with discernment for
England alone ; but with respect to Ireland, it has all the
additional inconveniences that arise from want of interest
and total ignorance. ,Sir, when I talk of the utter ignorance
in Irish affairs of the 'Members of the Imperial Parliament, I
do not exaggerate or mis-state ; the Ministers themselves are
in absolute darkness with respect to this country. I under-
take to demonstrate it. Sir, they have presumed to speak of
the growing prosperity of Ireland ; I know them to be vile
and profligate ; I cannot be !inspected of flattering them.;
yet, vile as they are, I do not believe that they could have
had the audacity to insert in the speech, supposed to be
spoken by his Majesty, that expression, had they known
that, in fact, Ireland was in abject and increasing poverty.
Sir, they were content to take their information from a pen-
sioned Frenchman, a being styled Sir Francis D'lvernois,
who, in one of the pamphlets which it his trade to write,
has proved by excellent samples of vulgar arithmetic, that
manufactures are flourishing, our commerce extending, and
our felicity consummate. When you detect the Ministers
themselves in such gross ignorance as, upon such authority,
to place an insulting falsehood as it were in the mouth of
our revered Sovereign, what think you can be the fitness of
nine minor imps of legislation to make laws for Ireland?' In-
deed, the recent plans of taxation sufficiently
evince how in-
competent the present scheme of Parliament is to legislate for
Ireland. Had we an Irish Parliament, it is impossible to
conceive that they would have adopted taxes at once
oppressive and unproductive, ruinous to the country, and
useless to the Crown. No, Sir,. an Irish Parliament, ac-
quainted with the state of the country, and individually
interested to tax proper objects, would have, even in this
season of distress, no difficulty in raising the necessary sup-
plies. The loyalty and good sense of the Irish nation would
aid them ; and we should not now perceive taxation unpro-
ductive of money, but abundantly fertile in discontent. There.
is another subject that peculiarly requires the attention of
the Legislature ; but it is one which can be managed only by
a resident and domestic Parliament—it includes everything
that relates to those strange and portentous disturbances
which, from time to time, affright and desolate the fairest
districts of the island. It is a delicate, difficult subject, and
one that would require the most minute knowledge of
the causes that produce those disturbances, and would
demand all the attention and care of men, whose
individual safety was connected with the discovery
of a proper remedy. I do not wish to -calculate the
extent of evil that may be dreaded from the outrages I al-
lude to, if our country shall continue in the hands of foreign
empirics and pretenders ; but it is clear to demonstration,
that no man can be attached to his king and country who
does not avow the necessity of submitting the control of this
political question to the only competent tribunal—an Irish
Parliament. The ills of this awful moment are confined to
our domestic complaints and calamities. The great enemy
of the liberty of the world extends his influence and his
power from the Frozen Ocean to the Straits of Gib-
raltar. • He threatens us with invasion from the thousand
ports of his vast empire ; how is it possible to resist him
with an impoverished, divided, and dispirited empire. If
then you are loyal to your excellent Monarch—if you are
attached to the last relic of political freedom, can you he-
sitate to join in endeavouring to procure the remedy for
all your calamities—the sure protection against all the
threats of your enemy—the Repeal of
ohferthhearUdynioaaan.
br the
ayevse,
rioesvtoadreeestofolrcrieslrgiievne Ibtecikr
to Ireland
ail you may defy
population, and you have nothing to, dread from foreign power.
It is useless to detain the meeting longer in detailing the
miseries that the Union has produced, or in pointing out
the necessity that exists for its repeal. I have never met
any man who did deplore this fatal measure which has des-
poiled his country; ncr do I believe there is a single indi-
viprdoubaaltiiona tohf e
tihs laatn
ndo-eals
oo r coldeuwould. I b ef found
be n d egvl eand tt oo preseetend
faapc e-
of the man, or rather of the beast, who could dare to say
he thought the Union wise or good—for the being who could

say so must be devoid of all the feelings that distinguish
humanity. With the knowledge that such were the senti-
ments of the universal Irish nation, how does it happen that

he Union has lasted for ten years? The solution of the

question is easy—the Union continued only because we
despaired of its repeal. Upon this despair alone has it
continued—yet what could be more absurd than such de-
spair ? If the Irish sentiment be but once known—if
the voice of six millions be raised from Cape Clear
to the Giant's Causeway—if the men most remark-
able for their loyalty to their King and attachment to
constitutional liberty, will come forward as the
leaders of the public voice, the nation would, in an hour,
grow too great for the chains that now shackle you,- and
the Union must be repealed without commotion and without
difficulty. Let the most timid amongst us compare the pre-
sent probability of repealing the Union with the prospect that
in the year 1795 existed of that measure being ever brought
about. Who in 1795 thought an Union possible ? Pitt
dared to attempt it, and he succeeded. It only requires the re-
solution to attempt its repeal. In fact, it requires only to enter-
tain the hope of repealing it, to make it impossible that the
Union should continue ; but that pleasing hope could never
exist, whilst the infernal dissensions on the score of religion
were kept up. The Protestant alone could not expect to
liberate his country—the Roman Catholic alone could not do
it—neither could .the Presbyterians—but amalgamate the
three into the Irishman, and the Union is repealed. Learn
discretion from your enemies—they have crushed your
country by fomenting religious discord, serve her by aban-
doning it for ever. Let each man give up his share of the
mischief, lot each man forsake every feeling of rancour.
Yet, I say not this to barter with you, my countrymen, I
require no equivalent from you ; whatever course you shall
take, my mind is fixed ; I trample under foot the Catholic
claims, if they can interfere with the repeal; I abandon
all wish for emancipation if it delays the repeal. Nay,
were Mr. Perceval to-morrow to offer me the repeal of the
Union upon the terms of re-enacting the penal code, I de-
clare from my heart and in the presence of my God,
that I would most cheerfully embrace his offer. Let us,
then, my beloved countrymen, sacrifice our wicked and
groundless animosities on the altar of our country ; let that
spirit which heretofore emanating from Dungannon spread
all over the island, and gave light and liberty to the land,
be again cherished amongst us—let us rally round to the
standard of old Ireland, and we shall easily procure the
greatest of political blessings, an Irish King, an Irish House
of Lords, and an Irish House of Commons."

Gentlemen of the Jury, I entreat you to take
this speech into your box—to compare it with the
speeches read on behalf of the Crown, and by that com-
parison to determine the course which you ought to take
when the liberty of your fellow-subject is to depend
upon your judgment. At that a,ggregate meeting, in-
cluding so large a portion of the Protestant inhabitants
of this town, with the High Sheriff of the Dublin
Corporation in the chair, a series of resolutions was
passed against the union. It was determined that peti-
tions should be presented to Parliament, and that they
should be entrusted to Sir Robert Shaw aad to Mr.
Grattan. Sir Robert Shaw, in his answer, stated, that
he had supported the union in Parliament, and that his
opinions upon the subject were unaltered. The follow-
ing is the answer of Mr. Grattan, and that answer af-
fords a proof of the falsehood of an allegation often
made, that a great change of opinion had taken place in
the mind of that illustrious man with respect to the Le-
gislative Union :

" Gentlemen—l have the honour to receive an address
presented by your Committee, and an expression of their
wishes that I should present certain petitions and support
the repeal of an Act entitled the Act of Union ; and your
Committee adds, that it speaks with the authority of my
constituents, the freemen and freeholders of the city of
Dublin. I beg to assure your Committee, and through them
my much-beloved and much-respected constituents, that I
shall accede to their proposition. I shall present their pe-
tition, and shall support the repeal of the Act of the Union,
with that decided attachment to our connection with Great
Britain, and to that harmony between the two countries,
without which the connection cannot last. I do not impair
either, as I apprehend, when I assure you I shall support
the repeal of the Act of the Union. You will please to ob-
serve, that a proposition of that sort, in Parliament, to be
either prudent or possible, must wait till it is called for and
backed by the nation. When proposed I shall then—as at
all times I hope I shall—prove myself an Irishman, and
that Irishman whose first and last passion was his ative
country. " HENRY GRAWAN."

" Backed by the nation!" Mark that phrase. It occurs
again and again in the speeches of Mr. O'Connell. Mr.
O'Connell again and again declares, that unless backed
by the nation nothing can be accomplished by him. And
if it be a crime to apply all the resources of It's intel-
lect, with an indefatigable energy and an indomitable
perseverance, to the attainment of the just means de-
scribed by Mr. Grattan in the phrase, "backed by the
nation," then is the son of Daniel O'Connell guilty.
But it will be stronger, indeed, if, in the opinion of
twelve men of plain sense and of sound feeling, it should
be deemed a crime to seek the attainment of Repeal by
the only instrumentality by which Mr. Grattan said it
could be effected. What is the meaning of " backed
by the nation?" What is the nation? We say, the
Irish Catholics. The enormous majority of the peo-
ple are the nation. We say the Irish Protestants,
who have the property of the country at large, being in
the exclusive enjoyment of great intellectual advantages,
and who are united, organised, and determined, are the
Irish nation. The high Catholics and the Irish Protest-
ants are both in the wrong. Neither constitute the Irish
nation. Both do. And it was the sustainment of both
that Mr. Grattan considered to be indispensable to make
the proposition in Parliament either prudent or pos-
sible. That just object—the combination of all
classes and of all parties in this country—Mr.
O'Connell has laboured to attain. You may think
that he has laboured, and with labour in vain,
to attain it ; but you cannot consider it criminal
to toil for its accomplishment ; and if you conceive that
was his object, and the object of his son—or if you have a
reasonable doubt upon the subject, you are bound to
acquit him. In 1812 Mr. Perceval lost his life, and
efforts were made to construct a Cabinet favourable to
emancipation : the project failed, and a State prosecu-
tion against the Catholic board was resolved on. Mr.
Burrowes was the counsel for the defendants, and at the
outset of his speech he boldly adverted to the fact that
not a single Roman Catholic was upon the jury. He
said " that the exclusion of Roman Catholics from the
jury was calculated to bring the administration of the
law into disrepute ; and he expressed his solemn, and I
believe sincere, conviction, that the Protestant jury
which he addressed resented the office which had been
assigned to them, and were indignant at a selection from
which so many inferences might be derived. It might at
first appear likely that a Protestant jury would take an
addre's so bold in bad part; but they gave Mr. Burrowes
credit for his manly frankness, and they acquitted the
traversers. The Crown resorted to a second prosecu-
tion; means more effectual were adopted, and a conviction
was obtained. Mr. Saurin did not deny that the Ro-
man Catholics had been excluded. He was of opinion
that Protestant ascendency should everywhere prevail,
and not least in those public tribunals, which are armed
with so much authority, and exercise so much influ-
ence over the fortunes of the State. I did not blame
Mr. Saurin. He acted, in all likelihood, conscien-
tiously, and whatever were his faults, duplicity was
certainly not amongst the number. I saw him in the
height of his power and in his fall : he was meek in
his prosperity, and in his adverse fortune he was serene.
The lustre of adversity shone in his smile; for his faults,
such as they were, his home, an almost inevitable inherit-
ance of antipathy, furnishes an excuse. How much
more commendable was his conduct and the conduct of

the Government of the day, than if they had been pro-
fuse of professions they never meant to realise, and had
offered an insult to the understanding as well as a gross
wrong to the rights of the Irish people ; and yet I shall
not be surprised if, notwithstanding all that has hap-
pened, the same cant of impartiality shall be persevered
in, and that we shall hear the same protestations of
solicitude to make no distinction between Catholics
and Protestants in all departments, but more es-
pecially in the administration of the law. The screen
falls—" the little French milliner" is disclosed—
"by all that is horrible, Lady Teazle ;" yet
Joseph preserves his self-possession, and deals in senti-
ment to the last. But if, after all that has befallen, my
Lord Eliot shall continue to deal in sentimentality in
the House of Commons, the exclamation of Sir Peter

Teazle " Oh, damn your sentiment !" will break in
upon him on every side. The Government, as I told
you, in 1812 succeeded in their State prosecution. What
good for the country was effected by it ? Was the Ca-
tholic question put down, or did a verdict facilitate the
Government of Mr. Peel, who was soon after appointed
Secretary for Ireland ? He was an Irish Member. You
are surprised at the intimation. He was returned for
the borough of Cashel, where a very small, but a -very
discriminating constituency, under the influence of some
very weighty arenas:its, though they had never seen
him' and, I believe, he had never seen tho chapel of
St. Cormack, were made sensible of his surpassing
merits. It has been remarked, that young statesmen
who are destined to operate upon England are first sent
to dissect upon this country. Mr. Peel had a fine hand
and admirable instruments, and he certainly gave proof
that he would give the least possible pain in any ampu-
tations which he might afterwards have to perform. He
was decorous—he. avoided the language of wanton in-
sult ; endeavoured to give us the advantages of a united
despotism, and " dwelt in decencies for ever." Yet, was
his Irish government, and he must have felt it, an utter
failure—he must have seen, even then, the irresistible
arguments in favour of Catholic Emancipation ; but ha
had not the moral intrepidity to break.from his party, and
to do at once what he was compelled to do afterwards.
The Insurrection Act was renewed, the disturbances of
the country were not diminished, and Ireland continued
to reap the bitter fruits of Imperialiegislation. A new
policy was tried after Mr. Peel had proceeded to Eng-
land, and the notable expedient was adopted of counte-
racting the Secretary with the Lord Lieutenant, and the
Lord Lieutenant with the Secretary. We had Grant
against Talbot, and Wellesley against Goulburn. It is
almost unnecessary to say, that a Government carried
on upon such a principle was incapable of good. The
Roman Catholics of Ireland had been led from time to
time to entertain the hope that something would be done
for their relief. Their eyes were opened at last by
the disingenuous dealing of George IV., who only
smothered his laughter with . the handkerchief with
which he affected to dry his eyes ; and Daniel O'Connell,
feeling that liberty could never be achieved by going
through the miserable routine of supplication, founded
the celebrated Society, by which results so great were
almost immediately produced—the Catholic Association
was created by him. He constructed a gigantic engine
by which public opinion was to be worked—he formed
the smallest wheels of his complicated machinery, and
he put it into motion by that continuous current of elo-
quence which gushed with an abundance so astonish-
ing as if from a hot well from his soul. A vast or•
ganisation of the Catholic millions was accomplished :
the Catholic aristocracy the middle classes the
entire of the clergy were enrolled in this celebrated
confederacy. The Government became alarmed, and
in 1825 a Bill was brought in for the suppression of
this famous league. Mr. O'Connell proceeded to
London and tendered the most extensive concessions to
the Government. An offer was made to associate the
Catholic Church with the State. If the Catholic ques-
tion had been adjusted in 1825, and upon the terms pro-
posed, it is obvious that the fearful agitation that dis-