SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

POLITICS,

Past and Present Polley of England towards Ireland. Mares.. A Fragment on the Irish Roman Catholic Church. By the late Rev. Sydney Smith.

Prince, Longman and Co.

De Bohan, or the Court Conspirator ; an Historical Romance. By M. Eugene Sue, Author of " The Mysteries of Paris," &c. In three volumes Colburn. Mount Sorel ; or the Heiress of the De Peres. By the Author of the " Two Old

Men's Tales." In two volumes Chapman and Hall. The Freaks of Cupid ; a Novel. By an Irish Bachelor. In three volumes...Newby. The Parish Rescued ; or Laymen's Duties, Bights, and Dangers. By the Reverend W. F. Wilkinson, M.A., Theological Tutor of Cheltenham College, Author of

" The Rector in Search of a Curate." Llatchard.

Molds of Honour ; a Tale of the Court of George I Colburn

POLICY OP ENGLAND TOWARDS IRELAND.

THE object of this volume is to take a general review of the treatment of Ireland by England, from the first conquest to the present age, in order to get a distinct perception of the causes that have produced the misery and disorders of that country, for the purpose of discovering a remedy. To carry out this object clearly and orderly, the author has considered his subject under five sections. He first takes a rapid glance at the English t domination in Ireland from the conquest of Strongbow to the Revolution of 1688; showing that difference of race, and lust of confiscation, with the fear, contempt, anger, and violence springing from these sources, first induced the conquerors to treat the natives as an inferior Sept, whilst the Reformation; by producing a difference of religion, prevented the amalga- mation of the two peoples under the most vigorous rule or by the lapse of time. The epoch from the seoond (or third) conquest of Ireland, by William of Orange, to the close of the last century, is more elaborately treated, to exhibit the excessive severity of the penal laws at a time when persecution for religion was diminishing or dying away elsewhere, and to show how, by means of religious difference, a distinction of caste was kept up, more mischievous than any other system of castes ever esta- blished, because it not merely produced inferiority but degradation. The third section embraces the period from the struggles of the Irish people at the close of the last century, to the passing of the Emancipation Act; when the terrible but definite system of the Puritanioo-Orangemen was abandoned for the miserable "juste-milieu" and " bit-by-bit " policy, that maintained all the galling degradations of the Catholics, yet allowed, them to acquire wealth and power, granted what was granted grudgingly, too late, and imperfectly; the author showing,_ by quotations from then evidence given before the Parliamentary Committees, that the payment t of the Romish clergy, and their recognition by the State, (as has been: lately done under the Charitable Bequests Act,) were declared by O'Con- nell and the Romish Bishops essential parts of any emancipation-scheme: He therefore holds, that the policy of the present time is as exasperating: as that of the worst period, in that it still maintains the degrading dis- tinctions of conquest and superiority, whilst it does not act with the con- sistency of the elder time, which crushed into helplessness those whom it degraded. Having thus concluded that the privileged Church of the minority and the religious degradation of the majority is the monster grievance of the author in his fourth section takes an extensive review of the policy followed in other countries with regard to religion, since the fury of state persecutions for opinion has passed away. The practice of Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Holland, Belgium, France, and some subordi- nate states, is successively examined; and is shown to treat the different' branches of Christian belief with equal respect and encouragement. The Romish states, or rather the states where the rulers or the majority are Romish, pay the Protestant clergy and protect them in their worship,— - sometimes, as in Austria, going so far as to prevent offensive contro- versies or reflections in the sermons of rival sects. On the other hand, the states where the Protestants predominate, support the clergy of the. Romish Church, acknowledge the authority of the Pope, are openly repre-, seined by diplomatic envoys, and enjoy all the advantages which spring, from the influence of paymaster and protector, and a good understanding, with the Court of Rome. Even this Protestant kingdom herself is coin...- pellet], by the pressure of circumstances, to adopt this principle every- where except in Ireland; supporting in her Colonies the Episoopalian, Presbyterian, and Romish Churches. But whilst the Protestant "State with.: a conscience " does enough to " break with Heaven," it loses the benefit of its insolvency—"She pays great debts, but she compounds the small""' In Ireland, the practical contempt with which the Romanists have been treated causes all the evils of politics and passion in that unhappy coun- try; the non-payment of their clergy renders them hostile to the..State,.. instead of its supporters : whilst our " under-the-rose" relations with the Court of Rome seem to possess the usual disadvantages of clandestine connexions.

" Not long after the Emancipation Act of 1829, it was found that, with mil- liras of Catholics scattered over all parts of the empire, it was indispensable that, for the purpose of communication, we should establish diplomatic relations of some sort with the Pope. Our Government dared not do so openly and avowedly; they knew that all the bigotry and folly in the country would have instantly been roused to join in full chorus against such an abomination: but the necessity was urgent, and could not be postponed; and accordingly the following expedient was. adopted. In 1832, the late bfr.Aubyn (then Attaché to the Legation at Florence) was sent to Rome, where he was ordered to reside without any diplomatic cha- racter, and ostensibly as a private gentleman; but by a sort of clandestine diplo- macy, he was put in secret and authorized but unacknowledged communication, with the Cardinal Secretary of State, with whom he confident/ally transacted business, exactly in the same manner, and for the same purposes, as if he had been the accredited representative of his Sovereign. "Can anything be conceived more inconsistent, and more undignified, than . such a private appeal to an authority the existence of which we publicly and ostensibly affect to deny ? Nor is this an imaginary case, but one which has: actually occurred. " When a Roman Catholic see in Ireland became vacant a few years ago, ac- cording to the usual custom, three names were transmitted to the Pope, from, which he was to select one. The British Government was desirous that the choice should not fall upon a particular individual; and a request was preferred to his Holiness, through the channel of our agent, that he would bestow the vacant mitre on either of the other two candidates: but the Pope said, that since the Relief Bill had passed, the English Government was constantly asking favours of him and requiring his assistance; that he did not find such a disposition to oblige him and conform to his wishes, as to induce him always to comply with theirs, and therefore he should not pasa over the person objected to; who consequently received the appointment.Now, this fact seems to prove, first, the egregious folly of doing things by halves, and ineffectually; and secondly, that if we were to deal with the Pope in a spirit of frankness and cordiality, and in a manner befit- ting the dignity of both the contracting parties, he would readily cooperate with us in any measures conducive to the advantage of the people of Ireland and the security and tranquillity of the empire.

" The Pope would no doubt be exceedingly gratified if his authority were formally acknowledged by the Queen; and when this was done, nothing is more certain than that we should find every disposition on his part to make its exercise harmonize with the temporal objects of our Government. • " When the Rebellion broke out in Canada, we requested the Pope to exert his authority with the Roman Catholic priests to induce them to assist us in quelling the disturbance; and his Holiness addressed a pastoral letter to them for that purpose, which was attended by the best effects."

The fifth section is devoted to the future policy which our author deduces from the present and the past : and it substantially amounts to a payment of the Romish clergy, the acknowledgment of the Pope, a re- duction in the Irish Church Establishments—the " appropriation," in fact, which Mr. Ward discovered, and the Whigs, after wearing till they wore it out, threw away. The principle of this appropriation, however " irreligious " or " sacrilegious, is greedily sanctioned by all parties when it is to put money in the purse of the landlords ; as the author shows by reference to the various tithe-bills, &c. The difficulties arising from the prejudices of the British people and the interests of the clergy he does not disguise or deny ; but he thinks them super- able, and by Sir Robert Peel.

"At such a crisis it is impossible not to tarn with hope, amounting to ex- pectation, towards Sir Robert Peel, and with confidence that whatever prejudices may still remain elsewhere unrooted, he, at least, will rise superior to them. Not OW of all his predecessors in the high office he holds has ever rendered more im- portant services to his country than he has now the opportunity of conferring upon her; and of all men he is the best fitted by character, by capacity, and by

don, to accomplish the mighty task that is presented to him. lie has already

e enough to rave to the world that he is actuated by none of the ordinary motives of vulgar ambition. On a memorable occasion, he consented to make momentous and deeply-felt sacrifices to an overwhelming sense of public duty. The subsequent experience of fifteen years' and that intermediate study of the book of life which is the great instructor and adviser of statesmen, can hardly have failed to make him contemplate the discharge of his public obligations in a spirit more independent and more stern; and in a recent instance he evinced a firmness and decision, and a fearlessness of giving offence, equally indiearive of his indifference to the possession of office and his resolution to retain it no longer than he was permitted to exercise the power it conferred according to his own judgment of what was most beneficial to the State. From the very beginning of his public career Sir Robert Peel may claim to be called a Reformer. He has, through the whole course of his political life, steadily, consistently, but cautiously, endeavoured to correct abuses and errors, and to amend the laws, in order to im- prove the social condition of the country. Having without scruple freely. can- Teased his antecedent conduct, I may without scruple do justice to the purity of his motives, the sagacity of his views, and the good services he has performed: but the best of those services will sink into insignificance in comparison with the pacification and reconciliation of Ireland, if Providence should reserve to him the crowning mercy of such an achievement It would indeed be a fallacy and a delusion to suppose that he, or any man, or any set of men, could by any mea- sures, however politic or pacific, immediately dry up the ancient sources of weak- ness and disunion in that country; it would be oversanguine to expect that Ire- land should be at once and completely incorporated in Peeling, as well as in law, with the rest of the empire: all that he can do is to lay the foundations, founda- tions broad and deep, on which a superstructure of coneiliation and union may gradually be built."

Except in the condensed exposition of the practice of the principal Eiropean states in dealing with religion, and the correlative proof that Ireland is an exception to the civilized world, there is no novelty in the course or conclusions of this volume. An historical review of the treat- ment of Ireland by England is a stock theme in all books or pamphlets upon Irish policy : many years since, Sydney Smith urged the payment Of the Romish clergy, with a cogency of argument as well as of wit that would have settled the matter long ago had mere reason been allowed to settle it ; whilst numbers, conspicuous for their position, have proposed dealings with Irish Church property, from reduction to extinction. The book, however, is very able. It displays, indeed, the reading of a gen- tleman rather ;hen the research of an historical inquirer, for Davies and Bacon are the most original authorities referred to; and occasional passages rather exhibit the writer, giving an artificial force and effect to his matter : still, the selection of historical illustrations is sufficient for the purpose, and the rhetorical passages are rare, though the work throughout seems to be the product of a pen accustomed to address the public. The whole subject is better digested, and the matter consequently closer and fuller, than the litterateur is in the habit of attaining to. There is, too, an air of quiet conviction about the views, with a self-possession and retenue, seldom displayed by the mere writer, as well as a perfect free- dom of handling great affairs and great men without unduly depre- ciating them, rarely acquired except by a man of the world.

We have thus far spoken of the book from internal evidence. There am intimations abroad that its importance is derived from the time of its appearance and the position of its author. The Morning Post regards its advent as the sign of some new treason to the Protestant Muse on the part of Peel ; whilst the Morning Chronicle holds that it is.the production of a Conservative of station who speaks the opinions of other Conservatives. How much of this is well-founded, time Will show ; but the probable station of the author gives an interest to some of the facts which he intermingles with his narrative, as they tontain what the elder Disraeli would call "materials for secret history." tknding the reader to the volume for polemics, we shall take our extracts from these more aneedotical passages in reference to the passing of catholic Emancipation..

ANOTHER SILLINESS OF GEORGIC THE FOCIETE.

There is not a doubt that, if they [Peel and Wellington) had followed their own inclinations and consulted their own merely personal interests, they would

have resigned, and left the s to carry out the measure [Catholic Emanci- pation] they had so long labo to promote: but they soon found that the work could only be done by themselves, and that they must either expose the country to enormous -clanger or undertake a task full of difficulty and humiliation, which could not fail to expose them to the bitterest obloquy and reproach, to the dis- ruption of old friendships and connexions, and every sort of unpopularity. They at once flung aside all personal and selfish considerations. They did not hesitate to sacrifice their own characters for consistency; and, what was a still ter

'Angel sacrifice, they did not scruple to adopt the means and expedients (re MP 'ye they must have been) by which alone success could be insured. The rat thing to be done was to impart their designs to the King; and having obtained his con- sent, to conceal them from the rest of the world. The ring was in the highest degree disgusted at the intimation; but he declared that he would only give his consent upon the condition of their all remaining in office, and themselves carry- ing the measure through Parliament; and to this, therefore, they made up their minds to submit. He also required that the matter should be revealed to no human being out of the Cabinet; well knowing the personal annoyance to which. he should be exposed if it once got wind. The Ministers also were aware that it was essential to prevent a No-Popery agitation being got up in England; and they were therefore fully agreed with his Majesty on this point.

The sole chance of resisting the Liberal party, conjoined with Peet; Wellington, the official Tories, and the Tory advocates of Emancipation; was in rousing the Protestant masses of England, and then going to the country with "The King and No Popery." But the trouble was too great for the Sybarite ; and, to save himself a little " personal annoy= ante," he proposed to cut off the supplies and soldiers of his own forte. How the Great Captain must have inwardly chuckled at such stipula- tions for the plan of the campaign I Here is his Majesty again. " Meanwhile, the cauldron of Irish affairs was perpetually flaring up with some fresh ingredient that was cast into it. In the b .:n..inmng of 1829, Lord Anglesey's recall excited, in different ways, both Catholics and Prototants, and tended to make the Duke's intentions more ambiguous than ever. The correspondence which led to that recall was itself caused by the unfortunate course of keeping the Lord-Lieutenant in the dark. He was, not unnaturally, provoked with the Duke's want of confidence; while, without intending it, the free and frank=er pression of his opinions embarrassed the Duke and exasperated the King. It was the King himself who vehemently insisted upon the recall of Lord Angleren though the Duke took all the responsibility and odium of that measure upon Wine self. Such were the difficulties and the personal differences which this long course of mystification unhappily produced, and which continued up to the eve of the meeting of Parliament

DIFFICULTIES OF THE MINISTRY: " THE DOCTOR " BENT FOR.

A call of the House had been ordered on the 5th March, on which day Mr. Peel was to bring the Emancipation Bill before the House of Commons; but in they mean time the Duke of Cumberland, backed by Lord Eldon and the old Anti- Catholic party, had contrived to work the King's mind into a state of frenzy. Ho passed his days in railing against the bill and its authors; and he went so far as to desire a person high in his intimacy and confidence to tell all his Household that he wished them to vote against it; a command which the individual to whom, it was given was, fortunately, too prudent to obey. If his Majesty's ill humour had been confined within the walls of his palace, and had there evaporated, it would not have much signified; but as the time drew near when the irrevocable step was to be taken of proposing the Relief Bill to Parliament, be exhibited very alarming symptoms of a disposition to waver and draw back. On the 3d of March, it was generally known that the bill was in the greatest jeopardy; and nothing could exceed the consternation which prevailed among the friends of Government and Emancipation. On Sunday, the King sent for the Chancellor, pretended that he had not been aware of all the provisions of the bilk said that the securities did not satisfy him, and he would not consent to it. The Chancellor could do nothing with hire; so, instead of returning to town, he pro- ceeded to Strathfieldsaye, where the Duke of Wellington was gone to receive the Judges; there he arrived at three in the morning, and communicated to the Duke what bad passed. On Monday, the Duke went himself to Windsor, and told the King plainly that it was too late now to recede, and if his Majesty made any more difficulties he would instantly resign. The King began whimpering, said he thought the Duke would never desert him in any circumstances; bat, finding him totally deaf to his appeals ad misericordiam, told him he would take a day to consider of his final determination, and communicate it to him. The Government considered themselves out, and thought every thing was at an end: meanwhile, the King sent to Lord Sidmouth, and proposed to him to come and help him to overthrow the bill, and set the Duke of Wellington and O'Connell at defiance. But Eldon's " young master " did notinspire the confidence which his old master might have done—Lord Sidmouth would not trust him; he refused, saying to kit confidants, that he would have done it for the father but could put no rebanos in the son.

THE LAST LITTLENESS.

When the Duke of Wellington made up his mind to carry the Catholic question; he wisely resolved to do it completely, to give unqualified Emancipation, and not to trouble himself about securities ; at the same time he was beset with difficulties which it required all his authority, and no small tact and management, to sur- mount. He had to gain over the King end the Tory party, and to reconcile both to the measure which of all others they most abhorred. His object was to give satisfaction to the Catholics, and at the same time to make the concession as palatable as he could to his Royal Master and his own friends. Of all living men he most thoroughly knew George the Fourth: but, whatever may have been Ids personal opinion of the King, he had a profound reverence for his office; and he probably felt that he was not entitled to deal in a very peremptory manner with prejudices which he had himself only so lately discarded. It may be presumed that it was for these reasons lie condescended to humour the King in his angry and ungracious mood. The King could not raise his mind to the height of the great argument, nor wisely give the assent, which he dared not withhold, in • funk and gracious spirit On the contrary, he became peevish and querulous, made his reluctance notorious to the whole world, gave all the trouble he could to his Ministers, and, instead of courting the popularity which he might easily have obtained from the Irish, was bent upon gratifying his spiteful and vin- dictive feelings by the exclusion of O'Connell .from the seat he had won; and it was the King himself who insisted that the clause in the Act should be so worded as to render the Clare election null and void. To this miserable revenge, this kick at the living lion, it was unfortunately thought worth while to consent.