Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1824-08-26

which Ireland is now placed, are we not
entitled to say, THAT the period has arri
we'd when a serious and deliberate inqs!i
~ mus! he instituted into the real causes
ii the multiplied ou,rages aud aggres-
sicn- Of which, she is, and has been SO
long the theatre, and that vigorous and
perseyering effort must be made 10 re-
move them This is no longer mater
of choice. or Of expediency, but of ne
cessitgi So long as ireland YVES only
occupied by million, or a million and
hall of starving Mretchcs, It was a
comparatively easy task 20 hold them in
seryitude, and to force them 10 submit
to injustice. But, thanks 10 the Poiatoe
and Cottage system, Ireland contains al
this moment nearly Ssrsa millions OF in
habitants, Of which, al the very least.
sir millions are In state Of helotism
and extreme desiiiution, Aud can any
man, out Of the precints Of the Dublin
Corporation, think that any number of
troops which this country can afford 10
send 10 Ireland, should be able constant
II 10 retain such mighty and rapidly
increasing mass OF discomfort and disaf-
lection in unwilling subjection' The
idea is utterly visionary and ridiculous.
Although we were now in possession OF
the countless millions we have expend-.
ed in UNFOLDING and securing the power
Of the Bourbons, the Pope, and the
Grand Seignor, we should not be able
10 maintain a garrison IN every village
in Ireland; nor would the dominion OF
that country, though It were thousand
times richer, and more fertile than it
really IS, be worth preserving ON such
terms. But If we continue our present
system. nothing less than this will be
sufficient TO secure our ascenlancy.--
And, therefore, if we ara really desi-
rous Of preserving the connection be-
tween the two countries. we must en-
deavor to render it, what it has never
hitherto been, productive of advantage
to Ireland. The Irish people--not the
priests, corporators, and middlemen-
but the people, that is, the eottiers and
| occupiers of mud-cot;ages and cabins,
must be taught to feel THAT they have a
stake ~ the hedge, and that it is their
interest to respect the laws, and to sup
port the institutions and government 10
the country. Until this be done, we
shall lock in vain either for tranquility
or improvement in Ireland. White-boy
acts and Insurrection acts may rcpress
disorder for time; but they do not
touch the causes whence it springs, aud
and really serve only to give darker
shade of atrocity to the outrages which
they alternately put down and provoke.
1t is not easy to write dispassionately
on such subject:-But our warmth, on
the present occasion, certainly is not
reinforced by any party or factious feel
ing. This is a.qucstion far beyond the
little hostilities of Whig and Tory; and
possesses an interest which must, in all
good minds, extinguish and eflace the
distinctions Of Ministry and Opposition.
The misgovernment and consequent mi-
sery Of ireland is chargeable, not upon
the present Minister, bat upon the Eng
lish nation generally, and upon all the
statesmen, of every persuasion, who
administered its affairs for the last. two
centuries. We entreat, then, that no
one may shut his ears to our representa-
tons, under an impression that they are
IN any degree distorted or aggravated
By party feelings. They are addressed,
with all imaginable earnestness and hui
mility, to men of sense and influence of
all parties, and chiefly 10 those who have
most power to give effect to our sugges-
tions. If the Ministers would but listen
to them, we should have no objection
that their reign should be mmortsl; and
as we shall refer for our facts, in great
measure, to ministerial and official au-
thorities. we shall endeavor so to word
our observations, as to avoid revolving
any of those without whose corporation
we are aware that no speedy or efficient
redress is to be expected.
1t would require large volume to
trace and point out the precise. influence
and effect OF the various causes which
have conspired to sink the people of
ireland to that extreme OF poverty and
wretchcdness to which they have arrj-
we'd, and which have rendered that
country vast arena for the display of
the most implacable animosities, and of
the most brutal and sanguinary atroci-
| ties. But, in an article like this, we
can do more than state what we con-
ceive to be TIE leading causes Of this
unexampled distress and irritation, and