Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Next Page
OCR
‘ :
© . .
a5 ‘ “
85
5 :
°y
oe | AND WILL PBEVALL: K
as i . : 7
fe d , mom . : SPea :
x ; ay cn ‘ : \*s
or : whee i 9
1 ‘A
i . . : + 4 wert . . r . ‘ S.
ms | VOL. T. NEW-YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1825. o ‘NO.32
4, . =
he 4
IRISH ELOQUENCE. arms. - (Cheers.) His face must have kindled with revenge | of expression. Its necessary results upon the national charac
x —— and glory—every nervo must have been braced—every sinew | ter were speedily product ‘The
ds ee SHIEL'S Speech, at the County Meath Catholic | must bave been strung—his hand must have been laid spon procal—it corrupts the spressee and the oppr The | pos
o, . uw, held at Nacan, on the 30ik of Augast last.) that sword which had unplumed tm. But, oh! pulation was divided into thousands of tyrants and millions of
B ! Jee then rose, and spoke as follows :—Upon the 30th | 48 gltted tothe scubbard ; he could but grasp its hilt. ‘The re-| slaves. The Judges of the land declared that a Papist could
he ‘ aay of June, in the year 1690, the waters of that river, upon | Collection of the treaty must have come upon him, and striking | not breathe without the connivance of the Government. The
se : whose banks you ure now assembled, were red with blood. that brow which was furrowed by the casque, he must have ex- | common ai s made a matter of indulgenee.
ing 4 was upon the banks of that river that James and William met, | Claiined, rs France, ree art come too Jate, and Ireland is lost | til the year 17. 730 that the Government first manife ‘
ni i and the rollof their cannon might have been heard from the | for ever ! —(Lou ts.) You must not chide me, my Lord, | tention to the condition of the people. ‘
Me ‘ spot on which youstand. The combat was attended with a va-| for presenting this picture in these strong terms—and there are | hope for Ireland rose out of thr public
! riety of fortune, and at one moment the ish forces were upon | S°™Me, perhaps, who will deem them excessive colours—it is a Bedford, the then Lord Lieutevant, states in the Hox eof Cony:
E- : the point of triumph. . ‘Spare my English subjects!” ex-| theme to which it is impossible for any Catholic to revert with- | mons that Mr. Secretary Pitt had assured him that Feance spe+
i i claimed the wretched Prince, to whom the Irish Janguage hi ut emotion, and I confess for my own part, that I cannot even | culated upon the discontent of the people. ‘the Catholic mer-
Fe { attached his most appropriate designation, and well might his contemplate the event to which I have referred without sympa- | chants took advantage of the intimation. They propose to ad- +
ee 4 infatuated followers cry out, that if there were an exchange of | thizing in the feelings of the men who were placed ina situation | dress the Lord Lieutenant. "Ihe nobility.aud gentry, who bad
it } Kings, they would Gighi the battle over, again. The Irish were | 8° exciting, and who had still the power to resist the temptations | acquired habits’ of timidity, opposed it. The more democratic ’
or : defeated, but not overthrown; the bloody day of Aughrim suc- which the event I have attempted to describe must have held | party prevaile rench flect was off the coast, and a
vot i ceeded; ‘the ball that pierced St. Ruth was lodged i in the breast | Out to them. They did resist it. In despite of the allurement | cious answer was returned. Mr. Masou’s motion for allowing
off h of Ireland. Notwithstanding these disasters, the Irish power | which the landing of a great reinforcement had presented, the | Catholits to lend money on mortgages was lost by a majority -
aL was not annihilated, and the wall of Limer Sch still effordea the | Irish Catholics, with arms in their bands—with a strong city in | of 138 to 151... This was the first motion made in their favour.
of Teans of a per ermanent defence. A larg ge be iy “rench and | their possession, and while William was enga: a foreign | In 1772, by a great stretch of mercy, Catholics were allowed ta
ony,
‘
adr
gston
Irish troops were assembled within its gates. William; who had
been formerly driven from its gates, foresaw that if the expect-
succoars sheuld arrive from France, the war would, at all
id eventually “hs fortune might be re-
Under these cireumstances he instructed his officers
to conclude a peace with as much speed as possible. Leland,
1 who affects to discredit the ‘Secret Proclamation,” as it was
‘ called, by which the Lords Justices tendered much more fa-
vourable terms than were subsequently granted, admits that
; William bad directed Ginekle to terminate the war upon any
conditions. It appears from a letter written by the nephew of
‘Lord Tyrconnell, that at one period w ‘liam was willing to se-
cure to the Catholics one half churches, and of the
sfices, civil and military, and compensation for the forfeited
. States. It was obviously a matter of great in
tgicious Prince, to put an end to intestine di
whea En;
trish gartison, After some negociation, in which Sir Theobald
» Butler, who had been Attorney- General to James the Second,
took a leading part, it was stipulated that the Irish Catholies
should be secured in the undisturbed possession of their pro
perty, in the “nee of their retigion, and in the rights and pri-
vileges pick y had enjoye: the reigu of Charles the Se-
id the Teen of that Monarch Catholics sat in Parlia-
mess and that right was of course reserved as fally aud effectu-
aly as if ithad been distinctly specified in the contract. Ont
St '¥ 6 mtober i in the year 1691, the articles of capitulation
. were Signed Immediately after, \ and before the gates had been
mown open, intelligence arrived that a foreign fleet was seen
. ei the Coast, It may readily be conjectured with what an in-
in 'se emotion the news was received. Picture to yourselves au
emo the scene which the city must hdve presented. An
who st Steet Boclaimed. A few days are allowed to the Irish
come erced exile to ignominy to yombark for France. . They
bastion’ during that interval in possession of the fortress, whose
oven in temas ined {inbattered. The green flag, with the harp
stood ty Bold, yet uated fromthe citadel. The Irish soldiers
the felt Pon the battlements, and looked for the last time upon
and ofthe et Country, upon which go miany of theix sons
Lanchol cit brothers were . lying dead. In the midst of that me-
~a wou ai the hoary damp that hung upon their. hearts
ory our is suddenly heard that a Pench ae } fleet has been seen
Acourier arrives— g of France has been
and proclaims the ar-
r the comand of Chateau
with ammunition, ‘rms, and men. It would re-
SPE
g
=
é
8
Bs
ZS
3
wa hich that intelligence must have produced
soto ho had but the day before set their hands to the
on cin, Would he not make us thrill in the de-
uch: A scene? Would he not make our hearts leap
ig the effects of this great but unavailing
rous and gallant men who had not aban-
» When he had deserted himself?: With
e paint the simultancous im.
which the weapons, that hung loosely to the ground,
pcan nena tebe
e
2
=
&
ze
=
2
Noble Sunes ing eye! Should we not behold the brave and
the artion’s id kindling with the intelligence, and starting into
: “f Jing inating wtU9¢ again? Ie is not in the mere indulgence
i d Sarath hatLspeak. He did—the generous aud de-
i wi «lf in despate, wk from the earth ou which he had thrown
: en th
| he ‘ched his ear.. E e sound of France and of succour
vi
aroused wi ithig Ee nobler i instinct ofhis nature must have
war, replete with embarrassment and peril remained faithtalto
their compact, and trusting iu a false and perfidious enemy,
threw the gates open and surrendered. WV hat part did the con-
anerors act? There is not in the records of mankind an exam-
ple of more foul and abominable perfidy than the almost instan-
taneous violation of the charter to which religion, justice, and
honour, had set their seals.’ Where was-the first anuouncement
of the detestable purpose made? Before the altar of Almighty
God! Dopping, the Bishop of Meath, (he ought to have been
Archbishop of Dablin—(a laugh)—preaching before the Justices
in Christ Church, the Sunday afer they had returned froin the
camps insisted that faith ought not to be kept with the Catholics:
—He proclaimed treachery and sacrilege as part of his sacer-
dotal ethics, and Parliament soon cried“ Amen !” Before their
purpose was carried into execution, a little mockery was deem-
ed expedient, and a medal was struck, to use Harris’ 's expres-
sion; to “eternize the mercy of the Sovereign.”’ The Queen
was represented with an olive branch in her hand as the sym-
bolof peace. .A harp was inscribed upon the reverse with a
motto, which intimated a cessation of discord in the words, Juin
placidum redictura melus; and it was further specified thut in
the year 1691, * Ireland was received to mercy.” A few weeks
after some Catholics were deprived of their estates, and Quire.
ges were committed upon thetr names and persons. These were
the preliminari ies to an act of more formal oppression : and j in
1703 it was deemed expedient to legalize atrocity, and to incor.
porate villany with the of Parliament was intro-
duced, by which the very * order of ature wes inverted, and
parricide was made a precept m the decalogueof thelaw. The
atrocities of the first penal law (for the monster was mature
at its birth) are described by Sir Theobald Butler with the clo-
quence of @ man whose soul was wrung within him, and wh
drew his oratory not from the sources of artificiat emotion, but
from the deep and troubled fountains of the heart.» After hay-
ing conjared the House of Ce ns, in the name of every law
man and divine, not to infringe a treaty which had been ren-
dered sacred by the most solemn obligations by whieh man
be bound on earth, or should be in awe of Heaven; he that was
not only the people's advocate, but his own, and was to be him-
self the victim of this parricidal law, proceeds to ileseribe the
consequonces of allowing the Prot estant son to tear his property
from the Catholic father, and exelaims, ‘is not this egaiast the
laws of God and man, against the rules of redson and justice,
by which all men ought to be e governed 7 Ts not this the surest
way in the world to make children become undutiful, and to
bring the grey head of the father to the grave with grief and
tears? [It would be hard froin any man—but from ason—a
child—(his face must have been “covered with tears as he
spoke)—a son, a child, the fruit of my body, whom I have nur-
sed in my bosom; and tendered more * dearly, than my own life,
to become my plunderer, to ro! y estate, and to take
away my bread, is much more grievous thau from any other,
and enough to ‘make the most flinty of hearts to bleed to think
on’t. (Alas! my Lord, he ws speaking tothe Scotts and Jen-
kinsans of the day) For God's sake, will you consider whe-
ther this is according tothe golden rule, to do as you would be
done unto, and if ou will not—nay, surely you cannot.
without manifest i injustice, take from us cd birth-rights, and
invest them in others before our faces.”* In such tanguage did
Sir Theobald Butler, who was a Catholic Lawyer of the first
eminence, and who had. been himself a party to the treaty of
Limerick, implore the Trish Hoase of Commons to Eespect the
Taw of man and of . Butitwas in vain. The Eill passed
and was suceceded by other enactments of the same character.
Nothing was omitted that could be devised by the Satanic ge-
nius of the penal legislation for the oppression and degradation
of the people. » Session after session, new chains were forged,
take leases of bog not exceeding filty acres. ‘In 1774 America ”
egan to manifest n sense of her i injuries, aad of her power;—
and the Catholics were indulged so far as to be allowed to tes~ *
tify their allegiance by oath. - This was thé first recognition-of |’
their relation as subjcets tothe State. The air of heaven teas. *
ed tobe a luxury, and their right to breathe was acknowledged
by the law, In 1778, the discontents of America augmented. *
The voluateers of Ireland appeared. A new argument for te-
lief was supplied, and Mr. Gardiner’s bill was passed, by only
a majority of nine, in the House of Commons. By that Bill
Catholics were allowed to take leases for 999 years, and their
property was made devisable and descendable.
resolutions at Dungannon were published. ‘The last was in fa~
vour of the Roman, Catholics, and five days after the 2Ist and
22, i
ed to take lands without limit, and cevtain penaities upon theit
clergy were removed. | At length, in 1791, the French revolt :
tion, that memorable event whieh struck’ the mortal world to
the centre, extended its influence to Ireland, and onthe Ith
February, 1791, the Catholic Committee were summoned toge-
her. e Aristocracy were appalled by the incidents which
wded mpon mankind, They were so long habituated to @ -
dungeon light, that they were’ dazzled by the full and perfect
day, and sunk back for a moment into the obscurity to which
they were accustomed, The address of the sixty-four Seceders
was termed, but mots i it has been represented, a grovelting ac-
quiescence in th . They did not dare to petition for
That more audacious supplication was .
reserved for the aspiring spirit of the Catholic traders i Dub- *
s rejected by a major
andeight, to twenty-three, But the people were not discourag-*'
ed.* vA great national convention, was sunmoned, and met on
the 2d December, 1792. There was the great root of the Catho- >
lic Association. - Successive branches have been lopped off, but’ ‘
the trunk is unwithered still—(Cheers.) What was the result! *
It was pretended that the Catholic Delegates were the greatest’
enemies to their own cause, and Mr, Hobart immedintely after
moved for leave to bring in the great Statute of 1793. “On the
very same night, he announced awar, The lightnings of Grat-.
tan's cloguence were followed by the thunders af the revolu-
1793 gave us political power, by
giving us the elective franct was a moiety of Catholic
emancipation. Lord Fitzwilliam arrived with the residue of
the nation’s liberty in his gift, but the evil genius of the countey
in the shape of a Beresford (mark it, frecholdecs of Waterford!) °
phispered away the treedom of Ireland, and converted the ma-
lady of the Prince iuto the degradation of the People. In 1795,
i bill to ad.wit Catholics into Parliament, was lost by a maje-
rity of 155 to 84; and ou the 17th February, ay, the questi even #
was lost for the last time in Ireland, by 143 The coun-
try was driven into insurrection, and Ravvied. ‘trom rebellion to
is anticipated Fesulie. The Union passed. There fet me fora
moment pause, and ask of auy man who reviews the progress
of the Catholic question up to this great epoch, whether apy
thing was ever won by pusillanimous proceedings. and whether
the poriion of liber ty that was obtained by the Irish Catholies
was not wrung from the apprehension: of the minister by the»)
determination of the poople 2 What proce the treaty of Li
erick? ‘The fear of France.” What produced its violation 2 .
The bare coufidencei inimpani ty. What prodaced the series or »
relasations from 1772 to 1793? ‘America, Reform and France,
Was any thing ever won on “yeophantic turpitude and by crawls
ing setwility 7 2” Is it from the past that we should learn to speak
ina “ bondsman’s key” or ask forliberty inthe accent of men-,
dicant supplication ? Js there any thing in the past that shoul:
discourage us for the future? In “1792 there were only twenty
Tose of Gommons in our favour. The
three meinbers lel,
until there was not a point left to which a fetter could be at. | Catholic Convention assein fictory was the vassal of'-
tached, and the very power of oppression had been exhausted France. ail me 5 hte roceed, was carried by qn im-
by its accumulation. It were vain to attempt to describe the | meuse otis. ut Jet me proceed, and the time I have al-
of atrocity jn which
crime appeared to have heen gather-
His soul must have been at once in
ee
measureless villany of that system, This execrable assemblage ready ccc a admon'shies me to be brief—(Cries of No, no #
and Go on
ed, Daiffed the geuius oF load Bare, and desed the power j his wieged ineapeaty to fulfil his pledge. Ta 1805 our question
ln 1801 Mv. Pitt resigned upon the ground of
. . ~