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‘THE PROVINCIAL PRESS OF ENG.\'
‘LAND versus THE CA FHOEI cS Or
IRELAND. | cae
» .Ipwas our design to have noticed an article now
‘before us, in. the London Morning Post. con-
staining reflections on the: conduct of .the Catho-
lic speakers, at alate Meeting of the Hibernian So-
veiety. at Cork; but our attention has been. call-
‘ed off from that point by the following, taken from
‘the Macclesfield Courier, Stockport Press, and
"Cheshire. General. Advertiser.’ Although the ar-
ticle is some what long, like the name of the Paper,
‘we will insert it entire, 50: that the writer may haxe
‘fair play. :
“Tt has been the “fashion, _davng the last fouty years,, “to
hold up the.Frish people -commisecation. of Eu-
vices, entirely to the tyrannical ‘oppression of their govérn- |,
ment. J Wht, genius, peutencss of intellect, generosity) cour-
age, "fidelity and kindne: ve been ascribed to the ILi- |;
wbernian, by 0 rators ‘ands wrt tors, “aqui mieux,” and John
Bull with his usual docility swallowed the dose, and slum-
~hered under itsefects for maiy. a year, dreaming occa-
sienally that ke must have behaved exiremely itl to this char~
ming nation, and half persuading himself that’ he was the
+ origittal sin’ of Ireland, the . fons. et origo’ ou the other side
,of the water. All this- went ow prosperously’ during the
Jate- wer, and during the seven. years of anxiety which suc-
ceeded t it, because John. Bull was too. much occupied with his
n affairs, to admit of his examining, Ww, scrupulously,
Minto those of the sister kingdom; and’ the when they
-eould neither obtain a shearing nor belief nae any other
-subject, were still the popular oracles upon the ‘state of
vIreland.”. At, length a time of rest arrived, a time of unex-
-ampled. wealth and prosperity. for England ; and her people
-began to-find their attention solicited and their disgust exci
sted, by-the daily occurrences of crimes, in Ireland, which
vwaald have scarcely been creditle of any people amongst
-whom the devilwas not ‘walking abroad in.open daylight, :
-as.we are told that he gsed formerly to.do iu. Berlin. \’Mur-
-ders, worthy ofthe French revolutiocary mobs, formed the
standing dish in. every Irish newspaper 5. whilst, robbery,
Tapes Sand houseburning, appeared to constitute the ordinary
“pastime of our amiable neighbours. -It began also to be ‘re-
canarked, that the time of our police. Magistrates wag almost
“emirely engrossed, by the crimes and Vices of the Irish ‘exni- }.
grants. Ten, then recollected how freqnectly it had been }.
. Femurked, that the most.savage aesassinations in England,
Chad been coinitted by Irishmen; and the result ofthis awa-
~heuing of John Bull has: been, as might be expected, a con-
+ viction that he has been grossly misled in.his estimate of the
+vish character. It will not be Jong before the pepular delu-
sion, upon this subject, will have eutirely passed away ; and
it cannot but result, from enquiry into the real ‘condition. of
sfreland, that her sufferings are the consequence not of her
. governors, but of the vices of. the governed.” The: spirit of
the government is much more frequently inflaenced by the
-ebaracter of the people, than the geaius of the subjects, by
:the conduct oftheir rulers. -No pation can have been worse
governed than Scotland bas been at. different periods of her
“URtor; ¥5 3 but the Scotch character has always continued the
Santer hey. Were a prudent, a moral, and a religious peo
ple, when they wereeven less civilized than the“ Irish.are at
“this: moment ; and. they still’ continue to’ maintain that
: character, -‘ par exedicwee’ in an ege, and under a govern-
-ment the most religious and moral.that has yet adorned
- the. annals of mankind. » The .[rishyon. the contrary, have
- been, m all ages. and under all circumstances, a vicious and |
‘immoral people. From the date of their earliest records, to
the present hour. their history: isa mere Newgate Calendar,
, a detail of ferocity aod treachery, ‘of ingrat titude and false:
shood. Under Strafford, and unde the Marquis of Wel-
Wsley, their tsar is precisely the same 3, and if is now time |:
- that we should ask ourselves, whether we are to continue to
ascribe this national disgrace to our oWN-governmeut, or to
: the character, the ‘ indoles? of the natives. That Ireland i is
\auffering severely, from poverty, from want ‘of enploy-
‘uient for the people; from, the deficiency of capital, and
from the absence of commerce, it, would’ be,vain to deny.—
At would be equally vain to.dispute that she possesses every
natural advantage for the encouragement of industry..." For
the cotton manufacture, that. great source of wealth and
activity, no country is go eminently adapted as Ireland.—
Large and secure barbours on the western side of the
+ Island, are capable of receiving the merchant shipping of
the. whale, word. Rivers of great extent aod extreme ras
Bidicy, take their course through’ ‘tvery county in'the king~
Provisions are sold at prices which should render
even ary accessible to the worst paid artizam upon:
glish scale of wages,.aud tle population—the idle pop-
tations redundant. » With: thete: facts before us it may
naturally be asked how it happers, that the enterprising
capitalists of England have not introduced the great mans
factures et which we speak? ' The answer is unhappi
ready. They dare not! For they know that they. we
have to encounter fraud in every dealing; idleness, ferocity,
and revenge would frustrate every plan to which labour was
concerned ; dishonesty would absorb their profits ;, and as-
sassination, or at least the burning of their mills, world be
the ultimate reward of their endeavours. «In the towns they
would.meet a degraded and ‘perverted intellect, sharpened
for the’ purpose of deceit and'trickery ; a smooth specious
exterior, covering dishonesty and sw indling = end a total ine
sensibility to that disgrace, which ‘im, England, even “a
rogue feels when he is detected. - In the ‘country they would
nd that filth, laziness, obstinacy ‘and brutality, were the
characteristics ofthe labouring poor, whoare mutinous when
they are wneniployed ; dranken, idle, 4nd ungovernable when
ey have work. ‘This is the secret, t e “arcanum”
ehh will lead us to understand the distress ‘of the Irish peo-
ple... They have tio capital, because they cannot be trusted
they. huve no trade, because they hare no characters they have
.no work, because no man dare reside amongst them to
direc! ’ "Uthis statement be true, and we shall be glad if it
can be controverted, our readers will s¢e that we need not go
to.theseat of government to look for the causes cf Irish suf-,
fering ; since it is to be found in.every shop of her towns, in
every cottage upon the face of the land.” Cathblic éniancie
pation 3 inight no doubt do-much fos Ireland, but it must be
EMANCIPATION rnax tHe Carnotic Re1icion. To effect
this end, the Missionary Societies in England, which are
wasting the publi¢ money aud the time of theit preachers, in
the idie trickery of conversion antdivest savages,” cinight di-
rect their attention to Ireland. “There a wide field is open
for their exertions, and it isa disgrace to them. that they
have not long since ““Jaid the ough to the furrow.’> There
the Protestant Missionary mighbinvitate the founders of the
Christian Fuith, and strive aguingt ignorance, prejudice ahd
cruelty... ‘That he might meet the fate of the apostles, * and
crowa his work’ with 1 martyrdony, is pr erty certain ; but itis
the duly of these societies who profzss to ‘contémn ‘al things
for Curist’s sake,’ to endeavour, & at east, to enlighten the
savage population of Ireland.
brn,
Such are the sentiments pit, forth by this worthy
| Editor, who has chosen forthe motto tg his. Paper,
pe Be just, and fear not,” and. ssures his. readers,
his paper circulates extensi Jn. the. principal
counties in England, and Nortit Ww ales, and foreign
‘countries. -'Fa enter fully i into his ‘false assertions
Fwould take-up our. whole paper. We must there--
fore confine ourselves. to’ the striking heads, and be
as brief'as the importance of ‘the question will ad-
mit. The drift of the: article is to shew, Ist, That
the Irish have « heen, i incall ages, a Vicious and im-
moral people,” 2d, That the ‘auflerings of Ireland
“ara the consequence; not of her governors, but of
the vices. of the, governed 5 37. Sd, That this bruta-
lity of charaeter originates. from the’ Principles of
their, religion; and, 4th, That, ¢ f course, | it is the
duty of England ty annihilate the Catholic. -rNigion,
whieh is, and. has always beeayits religion of Jre-
land.
». That the- Lesh arcemore prone: to. vice than the
rest of mankind, we positively deny, and we shall
not rest our.denial upon mere assertion, but pro-
duce better facts.than the’ Macclesfield Courier hias
‘done to substantiate his base slanderZthe facts we
bring forward are the unhappy disturbances in the
south.of Ireland, originatiug in the cruel exaction
of the Tithe-proctor and middlemen 5 of robberies,
and rapes, and house: burnings, which this modest
Editor says). appear.“ “to, cobs’ te the ordinary
wretched peasant of Ireland, when we see’ him
goaded by religious prejudice and the intolerance
of a bigotted faction: though we must_condemn his
taking the law into his own hands when he commits
those violences to which he is driven ina moment of
desperation, yet. we cannot help pitying the offern-
der and execrating the measures that urge him to
commit such acts of violations —But alas! for the
peasant of Ireland, we are told’ there is no law, he
cannot expect’ justice while the Orange faction is
rape, if the Alacclesfield Editor devoted a Ltde of
his editorial time in reading the-Assize reports for
England, he would find that more cases of this kind,
and under. more atrocious circumstances, have re-
bles‘and prisons, than j in Treland.
gland is almost entirely: engrossed by the crimes
hood, which gny unprejudiced person will admit,.
whois a constant observer: of what is reported as oc-
curring at those seats of justice. ‘Tbe wi riter draws
a contrast between ‘Scotch and ‘Trish 5 we shall not
| follow him in the’ eomparison, but we should be glad
‘to know, why i in England, that land of Bibles, that
land of classic liberty, as.it is termed, that it shoul
be thought necessary to Have betwixt sizand seven
hundered Statutes regarding criminal punishment,
and nearly two hundred offences incurring the pen-
alty of death, This we believe i is. neither the case in
hIreland, nor in any other country.in the world but
Eugland? Should we not take the beam out of our
own eye, before we attempt to pluck the mote out of
our Brothers? ‘That the Trish. Aave been a moral
people, we have the authority of Mn, JosephIvimey,
the Secretary to the Irish Baptist. School Society,
who, in a- lecture deliv ered at, Bristol; in .1818,.
quoted the. following w rds of Archbishop Usher,
on the testimony | of Bede: kK About the middle of
‘the’ seventh century, numbers, both of the nobles:
‘aud. ‘second. rank ‘of English, | left their country, and:
retired into. Ireland, for the sake of Studying the-
ology, , or ‘leading © there. a@ stricter . lifé. . And
plying them also with Books, and ‘being teachers.
without fee or, reward, 4 most honourable testi.
mony, not only to the, learning, but 2lso to the:
hospitality and bounty of that nation.“—This was jn
the seventh! ‘eentury;, cwhen as the bigoted press‘of”
‘England will. have i ity the: ‘nation was envelopped i in
‘the darkness of ‘Popery 3 3, since ‘that period Ireland
-has been under the-slavery. of England, and has.
been treated, “more: Ike,a Colony , of slay es, than
civilized christian peoples»,
»That the ‘Irish are, not bencath the: Enilisli i
point of virtue and morality in these our own days,
notwithstanding the. lying assertions of the Maceles-.
feld Courter, may be gathered from a few incon-
4 trovertible facts. Since the commencement of Bis.
on the man who can_ be witty ow such a subject.—
*
When we look upon the miserable sivation of. the
ble Societies in England, the prisons have been?
too smell for. the aumber of j persens committed for.
dominant ovet him.—Withrespect to the charge of.
cently. been committed im England, the Jand of Bi-
That.the time of the: police magistrates in En- *
and. yices of the Irish Emigrants, is a brazen false- |
all these, he affirms, the Irish most willingly” re-.,
ceived, and maintained at their own charge, sups—