IRELAND.
Mr. O'Connell has addressed a long letter to Lord Duncannon, in performance of his promise. The first part of it consists in an ex- posure of the absurdity of the Orange pretence, that the Protestants are a persecuted race of beings in Ireland. He calls upon them to make out their list of grievances, and promises to assist in procuring their removal. 46 You (Lord Duncannon) have, of comae, waded through voluminous h ,7;tegues at their late meeting : am I not right in saying, that, after talking ti: live-long hours, they have not specified any one just cause of complaint \illicit affects the Protestants of Ireland? They have not stated.any one law
which e
ich aggrieves them, as Protestants—cause nu such law exists. They have not quoted any one statute which injures them, Protestauts—because no such statute exists. They have not pointed out ion' one act or regulation of the Go- vernment by which they, as Protestants, are unfavourably alfected—becatise no (itch act or regulation exists. They have shoe. a no exclusion or partiality as against them in the appoiutinents to the Bench or at the liar. They have
shown no preference over them in the Army or the Navy, or in the civil eervire of the State. They cannot complain of any preference over them in the nomi-
nation of Sheriffs or Magistrates, or in the selection of tl:e police. They do not point out, in short, any thing which affects them injuriously as Protestants in the distribution of place, power, honours, or emolument., or in the protec- tion of life or property. Thus, then, stands the ease with them in point of common sense. They have no one real cause of complaint. They sutler no injustice. They endure none of the effects of an undue preference of others over them. There is no law—there is no usage injurioua to them. They make all their bustle and outcry for no other reason but that they are threatened to be retarded in the career of unjust ascendancy and domination. They do not rule the people quite as absolutely as they did formerly ; and. be- sidss, there is a great and growing probability that the people will be relieved in a erect measure from tithes; and it is also true, that the period appears to ap- proach when no one man will he compelled to pay for the services of the clergy- man another. These are their ordy grievances—their only causes fur com- phiMt. You will see that I misstate in nothing the eine• of the ascendancy piety. They have not nun real grievance. They have not one rational wound coni- plaiet, save that which the wolf may make when about to be deprived of the sped which he plundered from the farmer's dock. Apply--it is all trash—the rule of commonsense to the outcries of the Orangeieta, and you will arrive at the inevitable conclusion that since the %void(' began, there never vet was sit seaseless, so unfounded an outcry as they live recently raieed ; and then deal with them in silent contempt, as &sere' og of notice only where it may be necessary to pre- vent them from doing more mischief. ConunOnSense uh.o -bids you recollect that the Orange party are the bitter, the decided, the unrelenting enemies of the pre- sent Administration. You know full well that Hue. wouln hurl pea and your cull:agues front Aloe if they could in one hour. Tl-ore is no expense—thee,. are no iiititeit they ivettl I spare to achieve that to them most desiroble object. They am: in shmt, the me t envenomed of the enemies of the present Ministry. Why then, in the name of common sense, should you confer upon that inn ty fnmurs and preferences?" Ile proceeds to argue, that the Irish people have been shamefully treated by the Whig Administration; and anima that, to effect a reconciliation between the Government and the Irish people, it is Miso- Iteely necessary to make the former acquainted with their misconduct —to point out which party has been in the wtong. If the Popular party had been so, I should be the first to advise them to re- trace their steps, and to atone for their errors. I respectfully but distinctly require v(in to adopt a similar line of conduct, when I show that the • follies, the faults, and the crimes,' have all, all been on the side of the Whims; and that we have done nothing but act on the defensive, or assert actively the first prin- ciples of civil liiterty. With such a demonstration before you, I will empha- tically call on you, in the name of your country, either to piocure redress and a change of system Ireland, or at once to resign, and not to allow your hitherto unstained character to be tinged with the duplicity and abandonment of principle on the part of the leading Whigs, of which the Irish people have lien hitherto the victims. Prompt, immediate redress, is what 1 dettnind on the part of the people of Ireland. Do not talk to us of waiting a while' that it been the cant used in this country by the hirelings of the Whigs, until it ha; actually sickened puldis indignation. We will not, I tell vou, wait. We enalit not to wait hunger. You cannot safely postpone us. You will lose the popular support of Ireland if you attempt to procrastinate relief. We will lot he baffled. We cannot be deluded. All we ask is, that vou should put out of office our enemies and yours. A if we require is, that the *Orange faction should not continue to be, as they have hitherto exclusively been, your only instruments of rule in Ireland. We simply ask of you, not to continue to intrust power, as you have hitherto dune, to your mortal enemies, but to geveru Irelitud by avowed and tried friends of reform and of the Irish people—by such men as you are yourself. In the name of common sense, I ask, whether any thiag can be more reasonable and jut than our demand? You cannot conciliate the Orange banditti, even if you were to continue to administer Ireland through the instru- mentality of that faction—a faction which, believe me, is as weak and power- less, save fur minute and individual mischief, as it is odious and detested in the judgment of every intelligent and honest man; and as it also is, I humbly believe, in the sight of the living God of charity and truth." He then arranges the details under separate heads, and promises chapter and verse for everything.
"CHAPTER THE FIRST, " Containing a brief catalogue of some of the follies, faults, and crimes, Perpettated on the People of _Ireland by the Whigs, since they came into office.
4. First—The first folly begins with the beginning. When Earl Grey was made Prime Minister, the only persons he-consulted or intrusted with the Government of Ireland were Lords Plunkett and Anglesey. This was a grievous folly ; and although I do not agree with Talleyrand that it folly is woese than a crime, vet this folly has been the fruitfull source of many crimes. Lord Grey did not deserve his station unless he was aware that there never lived a public man in Ireland so devoid of popularity as Lord Plunkett. He had obtained rather than earned the hatred of all parties. There was some- thing about him which made it impossible to place confidence in him. A Presbyterian in his days of poverty—a Protestant as he grew into wealth. The advocate, and yet deemed the deadly foe, of the Catholics. His whole mind seemed concentrated in self. His cold repulsive mariner, the sardonic eater which ever played about his lips, marked him as a man without a friend —friendships he had none. The most efficient advocate the British empire ever produced, he had no reputation as a lawyer, and gave any thing but satis- faction as a judge. Such was the man whom Lord Grey made Lord Chan- cellor, and one of the principals in the Government of Ireland. Accordingly, he has devoted his opportunities, not to advance the interests, to promote the prosperity, or increase the liberty of his native land, but solely and exclu- sively to heap offices, livings, and emoluments upon his suns, until the fate and fortunes of the ' Hannibals ' have become matter of ridicule and dis- gust, as far as the English language is read and understood. As to Lord Angle-. sey—poor man I—a compound of the most ridiculous weakness, with some splendid and useful theories. After his appointment, I had a dialogue of two hours' length with him (if that may be called a dialogue where the talk was almost exclusively his), but in which I ventured to predict to him that he would not be six months in Ireland before he became the most unpopular Lord-Lieu- tenant that country ever saw. Alas, he took care to verify my prediction within one fortnight after his arrival in Dublin. Lord Grey should have known him better. It was next to madness to confide a country, requiring more of the taleats of governing than any other in the world, to a man of whom it could for one moment be believed that the Duke of Wellington publicly declared 'he was the greatest fool he ever knew :' and, accordingly, I believe, you, my Lord, will readily admit that the greatest fool in the world could not more effectually mis- govern Ireland than did Lord Anglesey. Lord Grey's folly was the greater because of his connexion with you. Ile should have consulted von—there was no excuse for his not consulting you. He ought not to have made arrangements for Ireland without having the benefit of your knowledge of this country, and of your sound advice. Ile might—to descend to smaller faults—have condescended to consult me : but I had earned his personal hostility so long since as 182.5 ; and that hostility—In iseratile dicta—became a directing principle of his misrule of Ireland : but there is no excuse for his not consulting you. How many of the subsequent faults and follies might he not have avoided had he consulted you and attended to your advice."
The promotion of Mr. Joy and Mr. Doherty to the Fen -It form the second chapter of offences. Of Mr. Doherty he says-
" I have no doubt he would readily have accepted the opted of Assistant- Barrister, and thought himself happy in getting it, when he found himself, as if by a miracle, made Chief Justice. There was, indeed, nothing to recommend hint to the Whigs. Ile was their political enemy, but without party or other iutluance. His talents were very moderate; his reputation for legal knowledge by no means great; his success at the liar exceedingly trivial. He would have probably flelt flattered at being called a sixth or seventh rate banister. I again ask, was there ever any thing so foolish as his appointment? But poor Lord Anglesey himself deplored it bitterly. I know those with whom he has all but wept at his ow-n weakness in making this appointment, and at what he bus called Mr. Doherty's ingratitude ! Poor man ! You, may Lord, know what was the effect on Ireland of this folly.' You know how justly indignant, the
popular party were at so preposterous a promotion. Oh,' it was exclaimed,
• how wise to be the enemy of the Whigs—bow foolish to be their friend Neglect is the consequence of the latter—promotion attends the former!' manner in which both these (Eyes were bestowed, filled the popular party with indignation; and never was their indignation more just and reasonable. If the Ministry in England had laid hold of Scarlett and tiuglen, after some of their and sarcastic harangues against the Whigs, and converted them both iota Chief Judges—if they had made Stirlen Chief Baron, and Scarlet Chief Justice, without getting any conce,sion or recantation of hostility Loin them— would not all England have riseu to a man and hooted the Whigs out of office? At least they ought to do so. Yet Setwlett and Sugden, in point of talent, legal knowledge, and success, would have justified any promotion."
Mr. Blackburn, the Attorney-General, is next severely bylined, under the third head. Be accuses this officer of mismanaging Govern- ment prosecutions, when the prisoners are Orangemen; of im 'thing Catholic Jurors, and displaying Orange zeal in the whole course of his public conduct. Ile enlarges again upon the folly of the IViligs its promoting one of their most determined enemies- " I appeal to your common sense whether there be any possibility of meenucil- nig the Popular party in Ireland with the Ministry, so long as you continue in office so decided a political enemy, upon principle, of both, as your Attorney- General ? If, for example, the Whigs had in England appointed Sir aarles Wolter!! Attorney-General—even had he in their company condescended to deity his own political opinions (which he certainly would disdain to do), yet, even on that supposition, what would be the disgust and indignation of the Eng- fish people at his being selected fur such an office by the Whigs? And yet the people of Ireland suffer infinitely more (ruin an adverse Attorney-General than the li:nglish could in the present times possibly do."
The letter concludes with a notification, that the writer has only dis- posed of three out of twenty-one charges, which he is prepared to sub- stantiate against the Whigs. Eighteen more are yet to come.
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