Star.
London, England, 1822-02-12 00:00:00

~-

•

' ,"••


concireadou, ce with any appeuranck-tuf sympathy
for that distress which is Moira to resist ins dl..
turbed districts.
If it should be die policy 0f.% Willi Government to
trace discontent, when it exists, to its origin, before
even it legislates for its removal, what shall we say
of men who put a whole community out of the pals of
the laws without any such investigation? and yet that.
has been done by the passing of the Acts of yesterday.
Whoever has regarded the state of Ireland for the last
century, will have seen that the discontents there have
always originated among' the lower classes---men
who are in a state of poverty and ignorance. The
Rightboys of former years, had the same avowed ob-
ject in their unlawful associations as the Shanavats,
the Carders, and the Whiteboys, of the present day;
all acting from the • estate impulw ; all conceiving
themselves oppressed by high rents, tithes, excessive
taxation, and the oppressive tyranny of middle-men
and agents. When men, brooding over their own
miseries, and those of their ancestors for ages, resolve
to seek redress, they do not always take the best means
to attain it ; and the Irish have, in too many instances,
become either the cools of men who had other-views
than their relief, or have been led, to commit out-
rages which their situation, wretched as it was, could
never justify. • •
The high state of irritability to which the minds of
the Irish peasantry have been wound up, and the
dreadful outrages they have committed, cannot but
be regarded with horror, and we very naturally ei%
claim against the barbarous state of a country which
it might have been supposed a long intercourse with
England should have .civilized ; but in looking at the
effects, .we perhaps condemn unthinkingly, without
ever reflecting on the causes which have produced
them. The fact is, that in many parts of Ireland the
peasantry have bad none of the advantages of civili-
zation ; they are left by their natural guardians to
men who have no other intercourse with them but to
oppress; and to exact from their scanty earnings and
wretched families tithes and taxes. The Irish peasants
are, in fact, nearly in a state of prescription ; their
employers are their immediate rulers, who have no-
thing in common with them, who feed on their misery
and riot in their wretchedness. Lord REDESDALS de-
clares, that in his intercourse with the Irish," he had
found them most sensible of kindness and attention;
and if they found those to whom they were known
act towards them with mildness, they were always
ready to evince gratitude and mildness return."--
But the Government has never acted towards them
in a way to ensure their gratitude: laws the most
severe have been enacted, and their execution con-
fided to men who, instead of exercising their power
with gentleness and discretion, have heaped insult on
misery, and arn ed, not " with a little brief autho-
rity," but with inordinate power, have " played such
antics before high heaven as make even Angels weep.
We entertain as high an opinion of the talents and
integrity of the Marquis NN ELLESLEY as the most
aidelit of his admirers; and Ke trust that.his autho-
rity will be ss iclded by mercy slier his wretched
fellow-country men. We cannot, however, forget that
his Lordship was long the Viceroy of an Empire
where power was seldom under restraint, and where
moderation almost ceased to be considered a virtue.
If, after restoring Ireland to tranquillity, he should
institute a full inquiry into her real situation, and
obtain the redress of her grievances, he will acquire
more true glory than he could do by wielding the
destinies of a great Empire in India, or by presiding
over the Councils of Britain at home.

Just as our Paper was going to press, we received
the French Papers of Sunday last, by express. The
following are extracts:

rArus, FEBRUARY w.

It is affirmed, that after the discussion of the laws
on the Press, the Sanitory Law, and those on the
Finances, the Session of 1821 will be prorogued,
which will take place, to all appearance, in the
beginning of Apiil. The same Session will be ad-
journed to the month of June, to proceed to the
meant! es of legislation which the Ministry will
have prepared by that time.
Pi ivate letters from Nantes state, that a plot has
been discovered there, organized by some Officers
and subalterns of one of the regiments of the line in
garrison in that city. Some soldiers, whom they at
tempted to seduce, have discovered the whole to their.
Colonel. Three Officers are said to be arrested, and
two or three others, with some subalterns, have Bed.

AUGSBURG, FEBRUARY 3.
(From a Private Letter.)

It is affirmed that the Court of Austria has received
from St. Petersburgh, dispatches which
,are by no
means favourable to the preservation of peace. •
it is certain that, notwithstanding the badness of
the roads, Count Wittgenstein's Army continues its
movements. All the divisions, with their artillery,
arrive successively in Bessarabia and on the Pruth.
Private letters confirm the raising of the blockade
of Joannina, and the retreat of Chourschid Pacha.