The Sham Squire and the Informers of 1798. By W.
J. Fitzpatrick, J.P. (Hotten.)—This rambling and disconnected volume contains a good deal of curious information about the lamentable incidents and infamous people that disgraced Dublin, the Irish character, and the English Government at the end of the last century. We have accepted our share of the obloquy, but Irishmen have not ; and we are not surprised to find that the Irishman, which has figured in the criminal law courts of late, "tendered. its thanks to the author, and strongly advised all Nationalists to get possession of this valuable work." It presents a horrible picture of the agencies of which the Government of that time availed themselves for the purpose of managing Ireland. One is really inclined to pity the English officials who, in consequence of the national policy of the day, had to oonaort with some of the greatest scoundrels in the world, and to take the lives of some very honest fellows. We do not know whether any one cares nowadays to learn who it was that actually received the Government reward for the appre- hension of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, or that one magistrate was more worthless and corrupt than another, or that barristers and priests were both in the habit of receiving what goes by the ignominious term of " blood-money ;" if so, he will find a full and particular account of such matters in this little volume. We think that its real use is to direct attention to a principle and a fact ; the principle is the misery and de- gradation that arise both to governors and governed from injustice, and the fact, that we Englishmen have not yet exhausted that visitation which the sins of the fathers entail upon the children even to the third and fourth generations.
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