offenders. Large bodies of men, armed and mounted, were to be found parading the roads every night, menacing with destruction all who opposed them. The resident gentlemen dared not go out after dusk; they were compelled to keep regular guards for their protection, and, indeed, to convert their houses into so many garri

sons.

There were four other counties of Leinster, to which the illegal associations had extended their influence; namely, Kildare, WestMeath, King's-County, and Meath. The county of Dublin, too, was in some measure the scene of their operations. In these districts, however, the combinations, though connected with the conspirators in the South, seem to have had it particularly in view to effect a rise in the rate of wages; and the arm of the law was for the most part powerful enough to prevent them from becoming very formidable.

In Connaught, the disturbances were confined to the counties of Galway and Roscommon.

Ulster had hitherto been tranquil; but some symptoms of disorder had manifested themselves. A meeting was intended to have been held in Tyrone, on the 1st of January. On the 3rd, a large body consisting of some hundreds, mostly armed, crossed the Derry mountains, demanding arms in their way, but without committing any act of violence. Considerable alarm existed also in the county of Down, though no actual outrage had been perpetrated; but some notices against the payment of tithes had been posted up; an unusually great demand for arms had taken place in Belfast; and it was known, that the practice of administering unlawful oaths was

very prevalent, and that committees had been formed, who were in correspondence with other committees sitting in Dublin. Circumstances like these might reasonably excite alarm in the minds of men, who had before their eyes the excesses that were taking place in Munster.

At this critical time, all who were concerned in the general or local administration of Ireland, appear to have acted with a most praiseworthy energy and diligence. The lord lieutenant was unremitting in his endeavours to ascertain accurately, by official reports regularly transmitted to him, the actual state of every part of the country; and this industry on his part was doubly advantageous, because it not only enabled him to take with promptitude due measures of precaution, but it likewise operated as a powerful motive to increase the zeal and diligence of the local magistrates. These magistrates and the great body of resident gentlemen seem to have dreaded neither toil nor danger, in their efforts to preserve the public peace; and on all occasions the civil and the military power co-operated most cordially. The magnitude of the evil had roused, even the sluggish into activity; and, perhaps, the excess to which the mischief at this time rose, may prove ultimately a benefit to Ireland, by impressing on the wilder part of her population, a dear-bought lesson, which may teach them for the future, to tremble before the law, to dread the power of the executive, and to look with reverential apprehension to the ministers of justice.

Strange as the outrages which we have described must appear to those, who are accustomed to con

template society only as it exists in England, the wonder will cease, when we consider the character of the population in the Southern provinces of Ireland, and the principles on which social order depends. To establish effectually the reign of law, there must exist in the minds of individuals, an habitual sentiment of implicit obedience to it, and a general inclination throughout the mass of the population to concur in enforcing it. Where this general inclination does not prevail, the power of law must necessarily be precarious because there the offender has abundant facilities for escaping detection or avoiding seizure he has neither the fear of punishment to deter him, for of punishment there is little chance; nor the dread of the reprobation of those around him, for their habits of thinking do not lead them to view his purposed deed with abhorrence. Now the lower Irish population, especially in Munster, were never impressed with an habitual reverence for the laws, nor with those feelings which would urge them to co-operate in enforcing the observance of them. Far, therefore, from there being any thing wonderful in the outrages which they may at any time commit, the true matter of wonder is, that they should ever be completely tranquil. Whether they shall be in a disturbed or in a quiet state, must be a matter of mere accident; according as there do or do not exist among them circumstances to excite a general wish to resist the laws.

Such circumstances were in operation at the commencement of the present year. In consequence of the fall in the price of agricultural produce, the more opulent

farmers were involved in pecuniary embarrassments; the less opulent could no longer pay their rent or cultivate their land; and the distress, thus produced, necessarily extended itself to the labourers. The relation between the cultivator of the ground, and those who were entitled to any part of the produce of it, whether in the shape of rent or of tithes, now became a natural source of hostility for the cultivator was no longer able to satisfy the demands to which he was exposed; and, he therefore, very naturally turned round to defy the laws which laid upon him inconvenient obligations, and to trample upon interests which were at variance with his own. There was, indeed, the law to restrain him; but that law had never possessed any moral power over him; he cared for it only, so far as there was physical force to give it effect; and he knew, that, in defying it, he was more likely to meet with the support, than with the opposition of those around him.

The application of civil and military power, may check the progress of actual outrage; or the propensity to violence may be soothed into slumber by the removal of the circumstances, more immediately calling it into action ; but it will be long before the predisposing causes of disorder in Ireland, can be completely eradicated. That cannot be effected, till there grows up a numerous, and opulent middle class, who feel that they have a general interest in submitting, and in making others submit to the law; and till the lower class of the population be distributed into a number of subdivisions with varying habits, so that the feelings, which pervade

any one sub-division, may be kept in check by the presence of other classes who do not share in them. Then, and not till then, can Ireland enjoy a permanent and sure tranquillity.

Even, when this shall have taken place, there will still remain, in the opposing interests of Catholics and Protestants, an almost insurmountable obstacle to the quiet of the country. The Catholics can never, unless they altogether forget the spirit of their religion, see with patience a Protestant church in possession of the honours and emoluments attached to a national ecclesiastical establishment. Nor will this difficulty be in any degree overcome by opening to them the avenues to political power. Such an act of indulgence or of justice, at the same time that it increases their power, must inflame their desire to elevate their own church on the ruins of heresy. The advancement of the upper

classes of the Roman Catholic laity to political privileges will not exalt their clergy; the priesthood will in that case feel only the more deeply their inferiority to the Protestants; and their embittered spirit will be communicated to the lower orders, who will then be less firmly knit to their gentry than at present. The gradual destruction of the Catholic superstition can alone close for ever the wounds of Ireland. That event, if it shall ever happen, can be brought about only very slowly; but whatever system of policy, whether of emancipation or of exclusion, is likely to contribute the most effectually to it, that system is the best for the empire and for mankind.

In the meantime, all that can be done is, to remove as much as possible every local cause of discontent, and to enforce by civil and military power the rigid observance of the laws.

of Commons,

"It is very gratifying to me to be able to inform you, that during the last year the revenue has exceeded that of the preceding, and appears to be in a course of progressive improvement.

"I have directed the estimates of the current year to be laid before you. They have been framed with every attention to economy which the circumstances of the country will permit; and it will be satisfactory to you to learn, that I have been able to make a large reduction in our annual expenditure, particularly in our faval and military establishments.

"My Lords and Gentlemen; "I have the greatest pleasure in acquainting you, that a considerable improvement has taken place, in the course of the last year, in the commerce and manufactures of the United Kingdom, and that I can now state them to be, in their important branches, in a very flourishing condition.

"I must at the same time deeply regret the depressed state of the agricultural interest.

"The condition of an interest so essentially connected with the prosperity of the country will, of VOL. LXIV.

course, attract your early attention; and I have the fullest reliance on your wisdom in the consideration of this important subject.

"I am persuaded, that in whatever measures you may adopt, you will bear constantly in mind, that in the maintenance of our public credit all the best interests of this kingdom are equally involved; and that it is by a steady adherence to that principle that we have attained, and can alone expect to preserve, our high station amongst the nations of the world."

The Speaker having retired from the bar, and his majesty hav¬ ing withdrawn, the Lords adjourned.

It

On the same afternoon, they met again; when lord Roden moved, and lord Walsingham seconded, an address re-echoing the substance of the speech. was agreed to without either division or debate. Lord Lansdown, indeed, spoke at some length, but his remarks were desultory, and were brought forward rather in illustration of the speech, and as reasons for not opposing the address, than in contradiction to either the one or the other. He admitted that our trade was flourishing; but its prosperity, he conceived, arose in a great measure from our increased intercourse with South America; and it was yet uncertain, whether our mercantile speculations in that quarter, would be ultimately advantageous. Though he was pleased with the professions of economy, which the speech contained, he reminded ministers that they were now adopting the maxims, which had been so long urged upon them in vain by him and his friends. He expatiated at considerable length on the distress

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