The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1843-06-12

M sps oF NJ thst hsashirs, the severity 81 hs wiz
lsr, the lorai want Of pay The lrnh yedi ,btissd,
nd grew fat as IL in c over" Such the adsan-
ayes of misery and starr alton at home IA.
So much for what could be effected on LAND, since
the time of the American war, by the British heart
and the British arm without the aid OF lrishmen =
We shall now what this same 'Brt ish heart and
Briii,h arm," was able 10 do on SEA, without similar
assistance. % In the last war; says MIR. Grat,an, IN
1892 referring To the American contest, " OF 81 COO
seamen, 500 were LASH names IN Chelsea, near
one-thlfd OF the pensioners were IRISH names; IN
some of the men Of war, nearly the WHOLE compile
eni II lRIsHi" Thus, TO cite one instance
out OF many that might be given IN corroborailon
of Mr. Grattans assertion, In the year l1oO says
Sir John Cox Hippesley, when fewer Catholics en-
tered the service than at present Chat Is, IN lSlu
The crew of the Thuuderer Of IA guns Commodore
Walsngham, was composed tYo6lhrds OF Caihohcs''
or Irish 10 Sir Jonah Barrl then, IS amply JUS
tifiable in his assertion What England mad 10
dread a naval, well as military score, mao the
% British heart and the British arm" come to blows
with the volunteers in 1882 "The British navy, too
says Sir Jonah, after referring to the amount OF irish
in the English army ''was then also manned by what
were generally denominated British tars but large
proportion of whom were, in fact, sailors oil irish
birth and Irish feelings ready to shed iheir piood
in the service of Great Britain, whilst she renamed
the friend of Ireland but ready to seize ana steer
the British navy into Irish ports, II she declared
|
adds in note confirms this observation. Had Inc
mutneers at that time chosen to carry the British
ships into an Irish port no power could nave pre-
vented them; and had there been strong lnsurrec,
ton in Ireland, it is more than probable they would
have delivered more than one-half of the English
! feet into the hands of their countrymen" On the
18th Of October, 1886 Mr.. Grattan in his speech TO
| Parliament Catholic Emancipation, asserts that
without the Irish Catholics, the British navy could
not keep the and that their proportion there was
SUCH that their ndlsposition to England would De Ia
| tai. NWhat, he eXclaims, I" Is the British navy
a number of planks? Certainly DOT number OF
| British men? Certainly not. No; but a number OF
British and Irish. Transfer" says he, "lhe Irish
seamen to the French and where IS the British ma
Wy PIT So convinced, indeed, were the French Re
publican Government of the great and Indispensable
numbers of Irish sailors the British fleets, that the
first idea conceived by the French Minister Charles
de la CroiX for accomplishing the INVASION OF ana
rendering Ireland independent nation, was scheme
TO dluse disaflection and eventual mutiny and revolt
through the Irish portion of the crews OF his British
Majestys navy,by scattering money amongst Them 10
| And this plan The French Minister had conceived, as
We learn from Mr. Tone, before any communication
| had taken place between them-a circumstance
which strongly evidences the general conviction oil
| the correctness Of Mr. Grattan's statement. Some
time previous to that statement or in February, li9b,
| Mr.. Tone says, Let it never be forgotten, that
wo-thlrds OF the British seamen, as they were called,
IN fact lRIsHMEN !'l9-and in the first curious Me-
mortal upon the condition of Ireland, which he pre-
scented, the same month"; to the minister OF the Direc-
tory he writes follows in proof OF the above asser-
| ton :-"For the nary, have already said that IRE
LAND has furnished less than so 600 eaHen and that
Two-THIRDs of the English feet manned by IRISH
MEN, will heIen he continues, estate the grounds
! Of my assertion First, have myself heard several
BRITISH officers, and, among them, some of very dis
tnguished reputation, say Secondly, know that
when the Catholic delegates, whom had the honor
to attend, were at Saint Jamess, in January, 1893 in
| the course of the discussion with Henry Dundas,
principal Secretary of State they asserted the fact to
| be as have mentioned, and Mr.. Dundas admitted 1t,
which he would most certainly not have done, IT he
could have denied it, AM, lastly, my voyage 10
America, vessel boarded by British irigate,
whose crew consisted OF 300 men, of whom no less
than 2lO were IRISH, as found by inquiry! sub
mt tins fact concludes the Irish exile, ''to the par
tcular notice oithe French Government n't2O In the
course of the following war, or 1907, Doctor Mac
neven states that the proportion of seamen then fur.
! nished by Ireland TO the British navy, as 'almost
two-thirds' GLAND this estimate is not dscounen-
| anced by other authorities Sir John Cox Hppes-
ley in the valuable parliamentary speech already adj
verted to- said, in 1910, that out Of list in his hand
of as ships of the line, which, al two different peri
ods, had belonged TO the Plymouth division, the Cath
olics greatly exceeded the Pro,e- in the ory
of the vessels. In Of the first and second rates,
| the Catholics amounted even 10 two-thrds; while, in
one or two hrst rates they formed nearly the whole
and, in the Naval Hospital about four years before,
Tor the period of the publication of DIR. MacNevens
book of out 47G sailors, no less than 1868 Catho-
lics22 And, fIom the excellent character seamen
assigned to the Irish by Lord Collingw ood-he COM
panion-in-arms Of Nelson, and second in command at
the battle of Traialgar-irom that character and a
remarkable proposal resulting from it, which his
LordshIp made 10 Tie Admiralty, it may be fairly
sumed that the number Of Irish in the British navy
rather augmented than diminished during the re-
maInder OF the against Napoleon. His Lord
snip. writing TO The Earl Mulpraye on the Odd
of A rl 1903, says, zone hundred IRIsH boys came
out two years since, and now the tepmen Of the
Iceland the editor his Lordshp's spondence
gives The following account Of the proposal to the
Admiralty, thus alluded TO, and the honorable
grounds, with respect TO the British, in which that
proposal originated. "He (Lord Collmgwood) had
found that lRIsH boys, from IL to 10 years Of age
when ming ed with English sailors, a,quired rapidly
The order, activity, and sesmanke spirit Of their
comrades; and that, in The climate OF The Medilera-
mean, they often, m less than two years became OK
pert seamen lie accordingly proposed to the Admi
rahty 10 raise yearly 1000 lEIsH boys and 10 send
large portion Of them TO his commando for the pur-
pose continues the editor, Of aving them "taught and
prepared IN ship OF the line before they sent into
smaller vessels 23 Here is equally Trustworthy and
cIednSble opinion of sh aususb from one ct the
most honest men, both IN his private and public ca
pacly, as well as 10y far the ablest admira from the
tme of Lord Nelson's to bis own death in the Bri ish
servce-so much So, indeed, that vben he rote
home To the government, account of in health l.,
be relieved from the Mediterranean station then
more important Than any other, he was Nevertheless
requested TO continue 1T hrs pcs-whch he patro
caliy did I'll be dedl-tecause the government, as
they acknowletg'd could find ad, quaie successor
for him If we may suppose his Lordshit's surces-
lion respecting the 5000 Irish boys t. have been
conn lied wilh-snd The supposti n not an improl-
able one, when We consider the source whence such
advice emanaled, and the superior facility procuring
saiors, es wen as soldiers, IN elard, owing both TO
tho greater want Of employment there than Ia Britain
aud The evident e1p'dency Of avoiding, a-'much a.
possible, The unpopulaity Of quent infection of
inpressment in England, when It could be in p,st
win SO much less couse fer political apprehension,
opon the less commercial, more warIke and npa.
ratively poweress or un huenlia because giously
divided, population Of lreSDd-if for such apparently
strong reasons We may suppose hs Lordships idea to
have been acted upon every year from 1903 tlI the
/ peace 1914 Inland in ,.I,. i,,, h.,