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What marvel is it then that gentlemen opposite should deal in such vehement protestations? There is however one man of great abilities, not a member of this House, but whose talents and whose boldness have placed him in the topmost place in his party-who disdaining all imposture, and thinking it the best course to appeal directly to the religious and national antipathies of the people of this country-abandoning all reserve, and flinging off the slender veil by which his political associates affect to cover, although they cannot hide their motives-distinctly and audaciously tells the Irish people that they are not entitled to the same privileges as Englishmen ; and pronounces them in every way particular which could enter his minute renumeration of the circumstances by which fellow-citizenship is created, in race, identity, and religion, to be aliens-to be aliens in race to be aliens in country to be aliens in religion. Aliens! good God! was Arthur, Duke of Wellington, in the House of Lords, and did he not start up and exclaim Hold! I have seen the aliens do their duty?' The Duke of Wellington is not a man of an excitable temperament. His mind is of a cast too martial to be easily moved; but notwithstanding his habitual inflexibility, I cannot help thinking that when he heard his Roman Catholic countrymen (for we are his countrymen) designated by a phrase as offensive as the abundant vocabulary of his eloquent confederate could supply-I cannot help thinking that he ought to have recollected the many fields of fight in which we have been contributors to his renown, The battles, sieges, fortunes, that he has passed,' ought to have come back upon him. He ought to have remembered that from the earliest achievements in which he displayed that military genius which has placed him foremost in the annals of modern warfare, down to that last and surpassing combat which has made his name imperishable-from Assaye to Waterloo-the Irish soldiers, with whom your armies are filled, were the inseparable auxiliaries to the glory with which his unparalleled successes have been crowned. Whose were the arms that drove your bayonets at Vimiera through the phalanxes that never reeled in the shock of war before? What desperate valour climbed the steeps and filled the moats at Badajos? All his victories should have rushed and crowded back upon his memory-Vimiera, Badajos, Salamanca, Albuera, Toulouse, and last of all, the greatest- Tell me, for you were there-I appeal to the gallant soldier before me (Sir Henry Hardinge)-from whose opinions I differ, but who bears, I know, a generous heart in an intrepid breast; tell me, for you must needs remember-on that day when the destinies of mankind were trembling in the balance-while death fell in showers-when the artillery of France was levelled with the precision of the most deadly science-when her legions, incited by the voice and inspired by the example of their mighty leader, rushed again and again to the onset- tell me, if for an instant, when to hesitate for an instant was to be lost, the 'aliens' blenched? when at length the moment for the last and decisive movement had arrived, and the valour which had so long been wisely checked was at last let loose-when, with words familiar but immortal, the Great Captain commanded the great assault-tell me if Catholic Ireland

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with less heroic valour than the natives of this your own glorious country, precipitated herself upon the foe? The blood of England, Scotland, and of Ireland, flowed in the same stream, and drenched the same field. When the chill morning dawned, their dead lay cold and stark together;-in the same deep pit their bodies were deposited-the green corn of spring is now breaking from their commingled dust the dew falls from heaven upon their union in the grave. Partakers in every peril-in the glory shall we not be permitted to participate; and shall we be told, as a requital, that we are estranged from the noble country for whose salvation our life-blood was poured out?"

The volumes give us an agreeable picture of Sheil's school days, for which the author found most of his materials in Sheil's "Recollections of the Jesuits," published in the New Monthly and forming part of the Legal and Political Sketches, edited by Mr. Savage. He also drew upon the recollections of some of Sheil's schoolfellows, Mr. Justice Ball in particular, and has on the whole succeeded in making this portion of the work not the least interesting of the entire. Sheil, like many other successful Irishmen, had to struggle with adversity in London. His dramatic efforts and their success, which was far from contemptible even as a money speculation, were more characteristic of the times than of the man. There was then a demand for dramatic literature whatever we may think of the supply. The decay of the higher order of dramatic literature is one of the features of the age; whether from a defect of intellectual or of histrionic ability it is not our business to inquire now. One thing is certain, that perhaps the noblest department of poetry is without a living and working representative in the language. There were, however, two other pursuits, both rather incompatible with his dramatic tastes, pressing themselves upon the young author, Law and Politics, and to both of these he gave his full attention. His practice at the bar was more than respectable, and the silk gown was not as some imagine a bribe for political services. It is indisputable too that once committed to the movement for emancipation, he embarked in it with a zeal and unreserve which we have ventured to affirm it would always have been desirable for him to keep in action. He has given a modest account of himself and his services in some of the papers in the New Monthly; and his attendance at the Penenden Heath meeting, shews how thoroughly he was imbued with the chivalry of the movement, and how little he

calculated danger or trouble. His part in the memorable Clare election was only less conspicuous than that of O'Connell ; and as we have an account of it in his own words, we shall borrow a specimen of his eloquence on that occasion, from the Sketches, Legal and Historical. ::

"But why should I have recourse to illustration which may be accounted fantastical, in order to elucidate what is in itself so plain and obvious? Protestant gentlemen, who do me the honour to listen to me, look, I pray you, a little dispassionately at the real causes of the events which have taken place amongst you. I beg of you to put aside your angry feelings for an instant, and believe me that I am far from thinking that you have no good ground for resentment. It must be most painful to the proprietors of this County to be stripped in an instant of all their influence; to be left destitute of all sort of sway over their dependents, and to see a few demagogues and priests usurping their natural authority. This feeling of resentment must be aggravated by the consciousness that they have not deserved such a return from their tenants; and as I know Sir Edward O'Brien to be a truly benevolent landlord, I can well conceive that the apparent ingratitude with which he was treated, has added to the pain which every landlord must experience; and I own that I was not surprised to see tears bursting from his eyes, while his face was inflamed with the emotions to which it was not in human nature that he should not give way.

But let Sir Edward O'Brien, and his fellow proprietors, who are gathered about him, recollect that the facility and promptitude with which the peasantry have thrown off their allegiance, are owing not so much to any want of just moral feeling on the part of the people, as to the operation of causes for which the people are not to blame. In no other country, except in this, would such a revolution have been effected. Wherefore? Because in no other country are the people divided by law from their superiors, and cast into the hands of a set of men, who are supplied with the means of national excitement by the system of Government under which we live. Surely no man can believe that such an anomalous body as the Catholic Association could exist, excepting in a community which had been alienated from the State by the State itself. The discontent and the resentment of seven millions of the population have generated that domestic government which sways through the force of public opinion, and uses the national passions as the instruments for the execution of its will. From that body there has now been issuing, for many years, a continuous supply of exciting matter, which has overflowed the nation's mind. The lava has covered and inundated the whole country, and is still flowing, and will continue to flow from its volcanic source. But, if I may so say, the Association is but the crater in which the fiery matter finds a vent, while its fountain is in the depth of the law itself. It would be utterly impossible, if all men were placed upon equality of citizenship, and there were no exasperating distinctions amongst us, to create any artificial

causes of discontent. Let men declaim for a century, with far higher powers than any Catholic agitator is endowed with, and if they have no real ground of public grievance to rest upon, their harangues will be empty sound and idle air. But when what they tell the people is true-when they are sustained by substantial facts, then effects are produced, of which what has taken place at this election is only an example. The whole body of the people being grievously in flamed and rendered susceptible, the moment any accident such as this election, occurs, all the popular passions start simultaneously up, and bear down every obstacle before them. Do not, therefore, be surprised that the peasantry should thus at once throw off their allegiance to you, when they are under the operation of emotions which it would be wonderful if they could resist. The feeling by which they are now actuated would make them not only vote against their landlords, but would make them rush into the field, scale the batteries of a fortress, and mount the breach; and, gentlemen, give me now leave to ask you, whether, after a due reflection upon the motives by which your vassals (for so they are accounted) are governed, you will be disposed to exercise any measure of severity in their regard.

I hear it said, that before many days go by, there will be many tears shed in the hovels of your slaves, and that you will take a terrible vengeance of their treason I trust in God that you will not, when your own passions have subsided, and your blood has had time to cool, persevere in such a cruel, and let me add, such an unjustifiable determination. Consider, gentlemen, whether a great allow ance should not be made for the offence which they have committed. If they are, as you say they are, under the influence of fanaticism, I would Say to you, that such an influence affords many circumstances of extenuation, and that you should forgive them, for they know not what they do.' They have followed their priests to the hustings, and they would follow them to the scaffold. But you will ask, wherefore should they prefer their priests to their landlords, and have purer reverence for the altars of their religion, than for the counter on which you calculate your rents? Ah, gentlemen, consider a little the relation in which the priest stands towards the peasant. Let us put the priest into one scale, and the landlord into the other, and let us see which should preponderate. I will take an excellent landlord and an excellent priest. The landlord shall be Sir Edward O'Brien, and the priest shall be Mr Murphy of Corofin. Who is Sir Edward O'Brien? A gentleman who has a great fortune, who lives in a splendid mansion, and who, from the windows of a palace, looks upon possessions almost as wide as those which his ancestors beheld from the summit of their feudal towers. His tenants pay him their rent twice a year, and they have their land at a moderate rate. So much for the landlord.

I come now to Father Murphy of Corofin. Where does he reside? In an humble abode, situate at the foot of a mountain, and in the midst of dreariness and waste. He dwells in the midst of his parishioners, and is their benefactor, their friend, their father. It is not only in the actual ministry of the sacraments of religion that

he stands as an object of affectionate reverence among them. I saw him, indeed, at his altar, surrounded by thousands, and felt myself the influence of his contagious and enthusiastic devotion. He addressed the people in the midst of a rude edifice, and in a language which I did not understand; but I could perceive what a command he has over the minds of his devoted followers. But it is not merely as the celebrator of the rites of Divine Worship that he is dear to his flock; he is their companion, the mitigator of their calamities, the soother of their afflictions, the trustee of their hearts, the repository of their secrets, the guardian of their interests, and the sentinel of their death-beds. A peasant is dying-in the midst of the winter's night, a knock is heard at the door of the priest, and he is told that his parishioner requires his spiritual assistance the wind is howling, the snow descends upon the hills, and the rain and storm beat againt his face; yet he goes forth, hurries to the hovel of the expiring wretch, and taking his station beside the mass of pestilence of which the bed of straw is composed, bends to receive the last whisper which unloads the heart of its guilt, though the lips of the sinner should be tainted with disease, and he should exhale mortality in his breath.

Gentlemen, this is not the language of artificial declamation-this is not the mere extravagance of rhetorical phrase. This, every word of this, is the truth-the notorious, palpable, and unquestionable truth. You know it, every one of you know it to be true; and now let me ask you can you wonder for a moment that the people should be attached to their clergy, and should follow their ordinances as if they were the injunctions of God? Gentlemen, forgive me, if I venture to supplicate, on behalf of your poor tenants, for mercy to them. Pardon them, in the name of that God who will forgive you your offences in the same measure of compassion which you will show to the trespasses of others. Do not, in the name of that Heaven before whom every one of us, whether landlord, priest, or tenant, must at last appear-do not prosecute these poor people: don't throw their children out upon the public road-don't send them forth to starve, to shiver, and to die. For God's sake, Mr. Fitzgerald, and for your own sake, and as you are a gentleman and a man of honour, interpose your influence with your friends, and redeem your pledge. I address myself personally to you. On the first day of the election you declared that you wonld deprecate all persecution by the landlords, and that you were the last to wish that harsh and vindictive measures should be employed. I believe youand now I call upon you to redeem that pledge of mercy, to fulfill that noble engagement, to perform that great moral promise. You will cover yourself with honour by so doing, in the same way that you will share in the ignominy that will attend upon any expedients of rigour. Before you leave this country to assume your high functions, employ yourself diligently in this work of benevolence, and enjoin your friends with that eloquence of which you are the master, to refrain from cruelty, and not to oppress their tenants.

Tell them, sir, that instead of busying themselves in the worthless occupation of revenge, it is much fitter that they should take the

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