27 APRIL 1844, Page 12

THE QUESTION OF IRELAND'S GREATNESS.

" SELF-PRAISE is no recommendation" ; though to the West of St. George's Channel it appears to be deemed the highest. Most na- tions, indeed, are more or less given to self-glorification; and very fantastic laudations have been uttered by Frenchmen on "ha gloire," by Englishmen on the " solid virtues," &c. of the English. We in England begin to grow ashamed of the foolish dotage; but the Irish know no end to adulation of themselves. If we may judge by public men, the most popular is the man that most grossly flatters ; his most favourite bits of eloquence are the most fulsome. It scarcely matters how transparent it is : O'CONNELL tells the rabble rout around him that they are the bravest, the most vir- tuous, the finest people on the face of the earth: the women, from among whom come the beauties of our St. Giles's and our " rookeries," are " the most beautiful" and "the chastest" : every meeting, each one after the other, is the most magnificent, awe- inspiring, or some such thing. As the Irish probably believe O'Coxeera., every individual bogtrotter must think himself farther advanced in the march of human perfectibility than the most illus- trious foreigners. What is this but telling the miserable, starving, unsuccessful peasant, that all his ills are the work of fate or " tyranny," absolving him from self-regimen or better exertion? If he is already so much better than the more prosperous Eng- lishman, why should he alter himself? let well alone—let the best remain as it is. The source of the evil must be sought somewhere else: of course, the cause of the failure cf the Irish is the fault of England, and that only. The Irish are just what they should be—touch not that bright perfection ; and if Ireland is wretched, pauper, starving, turbulent, distracted with Ribandism, Orangeism, Repeal, Paddy M`liewism, what can they do to mend it—for they can't be better than the best ? Why should they ? And if Eng- land is more prosperous, peaceable, powerful, wealthy, enterprising, those results, like "reading and writing," must "come by nature." The logic is incontestable.

The assertion of their own preeminence, however, proves too much. If it is so conspicuous, what need to keep on sa■ ing it daily and weekly ? what occasion is there for the Dublin Nation to puff an old republished pamphlet, "A Defence of the Courage, Honour, and Loyalty of the Irish Nation ?" What need to dwell upon what Irishmen did n the days of Brien Boroihtne—at Cremona and Fontenoy—at every time and place but the present ? If Irishmen are so great and powerful at every time and in every place but now and in Ireland, why do they permit such transcendent virtues to expatriate themselves—why volunteer that worst kind of ab- senteeism? This is not the kind of regimen which is wholesome for what at least may be called an unsuccessful people. A true patriot would boldly and earnestly hold up to the Irish their weaknesses : he would say, "You are well-meaning, warm-hearted, active of limb and wit ; but you are more ragged, more comfortless, more hungry, more torn by factious and secret conspiracies, poorer, more suc- cessless, than any people in Europe : find out why you are so, in your own deficiencies; mend your ways, and you will mend your estate." Any people that courageously and firmly faces its own de- ficiencies and difficulties, may defy the neglect or mismanagement of others. England works her own welfare, Scotland hers, neither depending on the other : if Ireland once determined to rely on her- self, she would do as much. It is not political repeal that Ireland needs, but disuse of the delusive excuses for shortcomings. Let the Irish learn to apply to themselves the real test of efficient merit—success.