Star.
London, England, 1803-02-03 00:00:00

SHIP OWNijiS.

/4\ T a nomer'ua and relpc't.tble rf Ship
-k CW!.. by Public A‘lverintni,..A. art held
I ltdo 15,2.:,at the Lonlon Tavet a. to take
t! I.,tr •I matter; int:pert:ince to the
!r:L:fl. aud in particular fuch furthz: nteaferes,
t. fccifary to adopt to give exact to the fc-
, I t.hcaf.on% to Par;i:mcnt ter the repeal of the Outi-s on
t Tonnarc of Ship, ar.d on Oil and Skins, the produce of the
Erit.:h iffncritts;

JOHN HILL, Erg. in t'ac Chair.
Th R. l.lutiouc uftt, i a Gut.rial Meeting were read and
corhrmed. _ .

I he Seerctari then read the Report of the Committee for
th. Port of London, cortairing f:vcrat ftatement, relative to
th, wefent Rate oft! r shipping Irt..rett of Great Brita;n, Ltd
Zna a let L,r front the Chairman of the Committee of Ship
Owners at containing the Refolutions. recently enterea
ir!o there, r ..preffiv, of the determination of the Ship OWtlerE
et that P-it to fuppert the applkatiaas to Patliament for tit..
• the Duties.
Refolv.:l t.nanimouf!' t the Lett era received by the St.•
et, 1,-.1 the 13,1.2 e rs R.ver Thatref, re:pc:l-
ing the nutnb,r of S:apt. built in t. c Port of London fies: e
/ tare. be read The Secretary then read the fame accordingly.
Refolved unanimoully,That the Thanks of the Ship Owner,
trefent at this Meeting he given to the Committee of Snip
wrier, for the Port of L tarn, for their coattail! and Mdefatt
gable Attention to the general interc ft of Shipping, and in par-
ticular tor the 'I rouble they have experienced in their it.vetii-
gation of the feveral fulled!' relative to the Tonnage Duty, and
that the Committee he ,nftrueled to ore firth finder
Which may appear to than molt advifable to be adopted, to
obtain the repeal of the Tonnage Duties.
Refolved trla ireollfly, That ANT IION• CA L•ilT, Efq. he
added to the Committee of ship Owners for the Port of Lon-
don, for the current Year.
/Waived urtnimeofly, That the Chairman he requefted to
correrpond with the Chairman of the Committee of Aip Own-
ers for the Port of RA and to communicate to hint th. Infor-
mation referred to in his Letter.
Refolved unanimoufly, that there Rtfolutions be ink rted in
the Ne,fpapers, and aUo tranfmitted to the Ship Owners :.t
all the Out Ports.

„....
Refo'Ted unanimoully,That the Thanks of the Ship Owners
prefent at this ?dieting be giver to the Chairman, for his
Cmitiudt in the Chair, and for his great Attention to
the general Inter& of Ship Owners. (Signed)
J. HILL, Chairman.

STATE OF IRELAND.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR.

Sir--I am encouraged by the general impartiality
of your print, to addrefs to you a few oblervations
on the prefent hate of Ireland,the fubjeftoffn mrch
soineprefentation, the viaim of ignorance, and de-
famation. When I fee the prints of this city cm-
fcribing, as in a Rate of infurreaion, that member
of the B. it; th Empire, only fecond in importance;
when I behold the high political complexion
which they impart to partial riots, and local
jealoufies, and provincial antipathies, which have
always exided, not in Ireland alone, hut even in
this land of boafled law and civilization, I would
feel inclined to laugh at the credulity or invention
of the writers, if I did nn: know the very form us
mifchief, which, unintentionally I fhould hope,
they effea by their vansifhed tales. Indeed, when
it is confidered how much in all fituations, and
under all circumltances, truth is facrificed to
views of party, or individual profit, I am nit much
furprifed that the London prints, fo numerous, and
now fo devoid of Continental fubjeas. Mould
eagerly ferve to the public what is eagerly lwal-
.lowed; but if their readers are fo indifcriminate
in their tape; if they are fo very open mouthed
after news, is ft then politic or Konen to adminiiler
to them poifon in them food ?
I am but a few days arrived from Ireland ;—I
-think I know the country well, and have not lived
_in if...without obfervation ; I may therefore be al-
lowed the flrength of evidence which fhould juiily
attach to an eye witnef.. The violations of the
peace which have lately taken place in one or two
fbuthern counties, are no snore extraordinary. nor
more arifing out of political motives, than thole
twifturnal affociations which I remember from
my infancy. That part of Ireland has been Isis
aftodn pon by the influence of commerce and civi-
lization than moil other partsof the ifland,theculture
of the pound is there the only refouree of a very
increafed population, and attached to the foil,
which every peafant regards as his inheritance,
and without enterprise, knowledge, or capital, to
cultivate auxiliary arts, it becomes a natural de•
duaion, that the refident farmers and day la-
bourers, look with jealoufy to the arrival of gran-
gers of their own defeription, whnfe rival' y may
tend to :auk the price of land to the one, or reduce
the price of labour to the other. The intruders,
thus In obnoxious to the hatred of the lowell or-
ders of the counties of Limerick and Tipperary,
(the county of Waterford cannot properly be in-
cluded, as it was affeaed only in its frontier near
Clonmel) are Kerry-roes; poor itinerant labour-
ers, who quit a more Revile and uncultivated track
to gain employment where more labonr is exer-
cited, and where nature is more bountiful in her
prod.laions ; having to Ilrive againli prejndices,
and the influence of residence, they wink under
the current, or combinated price of labour, and
are neceffarily preferred by the fat Trier, and hence
proceed thole nigkly meetings of the native 11.
b•oirers (if I be all wed the espre(lion), and hence
thole floggings, croppings, &c. which, by writers
at this fide of the Channel, are (welled into
political magritude ; and this ragged. bafe, mot-
Icy, and inconfillent tiffue of ignorance, jealonty,
and local crime, i, by partizan, dafign, or love
of the Mat VLI1(111,. envrinved in the green mantle
of trealon ; diFvined into ailianc.: with f.;:rign en-
rni:y, and (apple(' to receive all influence and
motion from the Star of St. Cloud. This is the
faa, Sir, common;-..ated to you by a man who
would “ nothing extenuate, nor let down aught
in malice :"
It is true, Sir, that the accounts which hat
occalionally appeared in the provincial Irilh prints
and in ionic of the Dublin papers, may, in a grea.
vocal-me, have jiifli ied the lan:l.l.l;te of the I.on•
4.1 .. prints; but in pre poeurn as lice fce„,. ~i. ..0
tion i, remote, fhould he tlie cao:ionc belief n:
flatcrnents pade by intereflcd parties. A I.nn,:on
Editor Gould feel himfelf as in the feat of iccoi.l
tog Police, not cieduloutly accepting, n iihou:
diiiinaion, all that lie hears, all that ii told him;
bast whh a head and liCalt abilmaed from p,i,,
dice, lie fhould coolly weight and ei:ctiir.: tii:
yotKie bpd Ir. fridcnce, and reject the milt or
n- . - .
iiiiyaUe to,Athto, h. ‘.-ould
r .
1.. If
..„..1.4‘
..
vabl turbulence of
1
O
', ...: AMii —. ''. - t '
.es 711 it
Z ..: ••"- ..:4% ...ik .1 tetiV.4 . li" . ,

a few county Limerick Day-labourers has no po-
litical fpring of adios; ; if it had, would it not he
more general ? or could any but a d :wntight ideot
fuppofe it would lead them to whip and cudgel
each other? If political, why have not thofe
outrages extended to the North, the Eaft, the
Weft of Ireland—why not to the immediately
adjoining counties ; or, narrowing the queßion
within the limit of truth, why are they confined
only to a few parifhes ? The fait anfwers the
quetlion ; and political motive and conneaion
can only teem to appear to the microfcopic eye of
alarmed credulity or difeafed judgment. Indeed,
Sir, Ido not remember, generally (peaking, Ireland
more tranquil at any period than it is at prefent ;
but I will endeavour to expl tin why it is repre-
tented otherwire—There are in Ireland a defcrip-
:ion of men whole prejudices and felfifh interells
are advert to the quiet of their country—men
who, until the late unhappy rebellion, were not
known beyond the parilh in which they raided,
and who, without genius or talents, without li-
beral heads or honeti hearts, role in the turmoil
of the times into temporary notice and import-
ance. Reamed peace and tranquillity have fent
back thole men into the bofom of their native ob-
fcurity ; and power, if it can corrupt the hearts
and weaken the underaandings of men whom their
fortunes have led into the feats of Kings, it is not
grange that an ignorant, prejudiced, bigotted,
Irilh Country
_lattice of Peace fhould yield his
integrity, judgment, and patriotifm to the clan-
gei offs inn aence. Men who have had the whip hand of
their countrymen, finding themfelves funk into the
mats of quiet lubjeclion, naturally with again to
rcfume the rod, and run about the country " reek-
ing whom they may fiourze ;" with this view, they
magnify and mifreprefent every trifling offence
aiding out of the ordinary Rate of fociety ; and,
it is not improbable, are accelfary to thole offences
by their own ft:pi:let:els, in order to acquire again,
under the infurrcaion tka, powers which would
, arm them with a " Vii.,our beyond the Law."—
I Many of thole very men hare a property in the
provincial Newfpapers, or poffels over them
the, influence of patronage ; and nothing, there.
fore, can be caller than to reprefent the Rate
of the country in the colours moll likely to
I promote their private virus. Fortunately, how-
ever, for Ireland, its prefent rulers would not
accept the charaaer of the country from fuch men.
lifting upon the wife and generous policy of Mar-
quis Coativraaets, and the fuggeftion of his own
numerous and exalted virtues, Lord Haanwices
has banifhed prejudice and intrigue from the
Cattle ; he Rands independent of party fpirit and
party cunning, and truth and juflice have their
feats at the Council Board. Mr. WICKHAM has
not had esperience without profit ; he has not
Peen the feveral countries and Courts of Europe,
without reading the volume of human nature ;
and he does not give up his eye: to the Phankif-
magorics of Tarty juggle, or his ears to the decep-
tions whifpetings at iivifible evil. Mr. MAlsnam,
who (hares the civil labours of the Irifh Govern-
ment, is a Gentleman of cool; Rroag, and diferi-
minating judgment, and a heart found and bene-
volent. From Inch charaaers, intemperance iir
precipitancy of conduct is not to be expelled, and
the repofe of Ireland is tale in their hands: they
have examined perfonally into thole ~ tales of
wonder," which are repeated here, with fiaional
embellithrnent, to the gaping, fluting multitude,
and they have found them " full of found and
fury, meaning nothing."—They have found that
the exifling evil is only fuch as an attire Magif-
tracy, emulating the worthy condua of a Do
Nouo H MOR a, can eafily fupprefs ; and tinfchooled
in the politics of the Pelf-ordained Patriarch of the
" /Pl:,'?ern Farridy," they have not difcovered loch
charms in the military fceptre,although decorated
with the Regent or the Pitt Diamond, asfhoula an
duce them to fubflitute it for the common law of
England, and the tact td and protehing thield cf
the Britith Contlitution! There will be no Martial
Law in Ireland ; there -will be no need of it,
while its Government is adminiiiered by men,
who will not Coffer the delegated (word of jtillice
to become the (port of madmen, knives, or fools!
I have been thus dance on this fubjea, becaufc
I with to remove from the minds of my Britith fel-
low-fubjeas imprellions alike inju: ions to their own
fpiritolcommercialenterprize,to the improvement
of Ireland, and to the general profperity of the em-
pire. lam one of thole who have hailed the Lc-
giflative Union of Great Britain and Ireland as
the day-gar of imperial fit-engem eloality, and
happinefs : I law in it the extinpion of that vile
policy, which founded rule upon weaknefs and di-
vilion, which made us contribute to the Exche-
quer of our own corruption ; which made genius
I and talents the purveyors of vice, and public fitu-
I atinn the grave of private virtue and patriotifro :
' I law the phylical Alperin:4y of Ireland over Bri•
tain ; her capabilities of improvement, and that
the wanted hut tome communication Of the moral
ltrength of Great Britain to become exalted her-
fell, and to exalt the empire to an elevation of
power and glory, which, bat through the me
dium of :maid, the nev..r can truly and perma- '
nently artive at. I expeaed the introduaion of
Britilh capital, knowledge, and indullry into my
native die; bat I feel that my hopes cannot be ,
realized, while the !tate of the country continues
to be mifreprefemed. The man of property and i
incluflry will naturally look for fecurity in the
prolecution of his tilecidations, and he is led to
think that he will nit find that fccurity in Ireland.
I befeech him to rcjea the faife and i»juiious fop- !
pofition. There is not a part of Ireland wherein
he will not be as life as within the cities of Lon-
don
or Weilminfler. Let him employ the poor,
and multiply the objeas of labour and tonnes of
wages, and he will be fenced round by the refpea
and the affehions of the people. If he will but
he informed by his experience, he will find that
fr_land is not the country which it is clefcribed to
be ; that it is not the vantage ground of foreign
ambition, and that thole men are not only impo-
li•ic but lIIIiII3, who give it a charaher which
they would befitate, nn the belt evidence, to apply
tn the 41 mil of Jamaica, or any other fugar.can: I
sol-my.—l am, sir, your vc:y humble fervaat,
London, Feb. 1,1803. MI IRISH AL•X•