few colonies, which we ourselves have so lately given up, without any equivalent,, Buonaparté has laid three republics and two kingdoms under contribution; and has conquered and rifled an electorate, having an army of twenty thousand regular troops, with one of the finest arsenals in Europe.

INVASION. The probability of this event taking place very soon, at any rate, is diminished by the measures, which France seems inclined to pursue on the side of Germany. To lay the Prince of Hesse under contribution-has been attempted, if not executed; and other acts, of that sort, are talked of. That the preparations for invasion have slackened in Holland is certain; and, upon the whole, thank God! the like lihood of an immediate invasion is more distant. By the month of May next, if a suitable change takes place in the councils of the nation, we shall have a regular army of a hundred thousand men: then we may hope to defend ourselves in the only way that it can be effectual, that is, by attacking the enemy.

THE PRINCE.-There seems to prevail, a very general desire and disposition to call the minister to account for his extraordinary, and, if the case be not greatly misrepresented, most unwarrantable conduct towards this illustrious personage.

In the last brevet

promotion, his Royal Highness has again been missed. Had any other colonel been so treated, it is well known, that he would have thrown up his commission. How great, then, must be their malice, who compel the Prince to submit to such an insult, or to expose himself to the imputation of quitting the service, and deserting the country in this hour of danger! He has wisely and most magnanimously chosen the former coarse; but, in proportion to the magnitude of his sacrifices ought to be the gratitude and af fection of the people and the zeal of all those who have the means of openly espousing his

cause.

IRELAND.

While the Attorney Gene

ral of Ireland, is, in open court, calling the late rebellion " a contemptible' riot," and while the Irish administration are, in various ways, endeavouring to inculcate a belief, that "perfect tranquillity and content" reign through that country, the ministry at Westminster are calling for a renewal of the Habeas Corpus Suspension and of the Martial Law bills. These bills will not, however, it is to be hoped, pass, this time. without some inquiry as to the grounds, on which they are to be justified, which inquiry would, of

:

course, enable parliament to judge of the real state of Ireland. As one of the reasons for the renewal of these bills it is asserted by ministers, that "every nian in Ireland, who is worth twenty pounds, wishes for their renewal." The case of these Irish people is very plain, then they are mad; bat happening, just at this time, to be blessed with a lucid interval, they are beseeching the Doctor to put a straight waistcoat on them, before the return of their fit.To the bills there is no objection, if the necessity of them be made out; but, every man who retains in his bosom any attachment to real liberty, or any regard for justice, must deprecate the adoption of such a measure, till it be proved that the cause is something more than " contemptible riot.”

NOTIFICATIONS.

PARTIES.-A circumstance, very closely connected with this subject, is the publication of a pamphlet, on the part of Mr. Pitt, in answer to a pamphlet, sometime ago published on the part of Mr. Addington. Thus the mutual accusations of these two gentle men are, at last, fully before the public; but, there are certain chasms, which want filling up, in order to complete the argus ments on each side. This deficiency it is intended to supply and, in pursuance of this intention, to devote, next week, one entire sheet to a comparative analysis of the two works, interspersed with such comments as the matter may require.

JUVERNA -The fourth letter of this wri ter was not received till too late for the present sheet. It will certainly be found in the next The editor need not, especially when the times are considered, assure the author that nothing but the utter impossibility of inserting the letter this week, could have produced the delay.

OXFORD VOLUNTEERS. The corrected statement respecting the conduct of a part of this corps, as mentioued in a preecding sheet, has not been received. When it is, it will be inserted.

VOL. IV. No. 23.]

"

801]

AFFAIRS OF IRELAND.

LETTER IV.

Dublin, Nov. 28, 1603. SIR,-In my second letter I stated to you the conduct of the government of Ireland at the time the rebellion broke out. In my third I endeavoured to ascertain of what

materials that government was composed, and to inquire by what acts the sublime personages who are now become our rulers acquired their right to the description bestowed on them by the Doctor of being "truly great characters." But, perhaps, in adverting to that " truly great character," the late chancery pleader, I did not do justice to the Doctor. Great and little are certamly relative terms. And, although by the standard of public opinion, or of public service, the true greatness of the late chancery pleader may not appear, yet, whenever an intellectual microscope shall be formed of such magnifying power as to enable us to discover the real extent of the Doctor's own capacity, it may be found that, in a relative sense, between the applauder and the applanded, the description of a truly great character given to the latter, may not have been misapplied. I have traced these truly great characters through the night of terror; the one not having come forward at all, and the other having made good his retreat. I have, however, made one small omission with respect to Lord Hardwicke. It is a certain fact, that upon having been directed so to do by Mr. Marsden, his excellency did come to Dublin on the day of the rebellion, at two o'clock, and that he never attempted 10 retreat until about five o'clock in the evening, when it was the opinion of Mr. Marsden that his excellency should retreat, lest an alarm should be excited through the kungdom by his excellency's remaining in town.

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to dine at the Castle. And here ends the military career of Mr. Marsden and his excellency. Of the tendency of their civil conduct, afterwards, a few facts will be worth your observation. Mr. Marsden, in his first fright on the night of the 23d of July, had sent off dispatches to London. Of the contents of these dispatches we are ignorant; but we may infer something of their essence from their substantial effects. The British ministry must have acted under the information of these dispatches. Accordingly, bills for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and for the establishment of martial law for Ireland, passed through the Houses of Parliament in one night. Lord Hawkesbury, in his reply on that night to Mr. Windham, used this remarkable expression. "A rebellion has broke out in Ire"land more enormous than ever occurred "before." In Ireland, Sir, the City of Dublin was turned into the state of a blockaded town. Syracuse from Marcellus, and Saguntum from Hannibal were not more anxiously watched. Regular troops, yeomanry, general officers, and great guns; attornies-general and block houses were all in commotion. Centripetal and centrifugal forces in equal motion, and in equality of counter-action to each other. Arms, from that precipitate revulsion of terror which marks the ague-fit of the mind, were indiscriminately put into any hands where tongues could be found to ask for them. To put down this most enormous rebellion," a body of yeomanry were placed on permanent pay and duty, to the amount, in point of expense, of above £100,000 per month. That this body of yeomanry was called out in aid of the regular force, merely for the

66

See page 19, of Mr. Marsden's Pamphlet, cu. titled, An Impartial Observer,

from the following circumstance: that at this moment, while I am writing, although it is the very period at which the landing of a foreign enemy may most probably be expected, this body of yeomanry are, almost entirely, to be put off permanent duty, and to have their pay withdrawn. And, now,

Sir, if you were to inquire at the Castle of Dublin, what had been the occasion of all this clatter of preparation, both civil and military, you would be told, "indeed there "had been a DISPUTE in Thomas Street "in the night of the 23d of July." Nay, Sir, I will venture to assert, that if any person were now to go to the waiting room of Itr. Marsden, and were to presume to call the bloody transaction of the 23d of July, by any other name than "a dispute in Tho66 mas Street," there is not a follower of Mr. Marsden, even to my Lord Lieutenant, who would not consider him as having talked very indecently. Great men are often known by lle things, and there is one circumstance which is scarcely worth notice, but as a trait of character. On the 1st of August, the bills which had been brought into Parliament on the 28th of July arrived in Ireland, By that day our truly great characters" had, in some degree, recovered that portion of understanding with which it has been plca ed God to endow them. By that day they began to perceive the difficul ty under which their conduct had brought them. Did a rebellion break out? Had it been eight months in preparation? Had arnis and ammunition for 20,000 men been deposited within half a mile of the Castle of Dublin? If so, were the government prepared? And if not, what had they been doing? And if they were prepared, why (to use the phrase of Mr. Whiteford's cross reading of the newspapers), did the Lord Lieutenant like those who presented the petition at St. James's, which missed fire, "make off?" These were questions which then began to ferment in the understandings of these truly great characters, and they deemed it wise, in order to soften as far as possible the inevitable and cruel answers to such interrogatories, to withdraw the fact of rebellion, as tar as possible, from the public eye. For this purpose, the skill of that truly great character, the Doctor's lawyer, and of Mr. Marsden's attorney-general was resorted to. And accordingly, in the phrases of the proclamations, which were issued from the Privy Council on the 1st of August, we can perceive a cunning struggle of duplicity with fact, and a ridiculous combination of fear with folly. The well defined and legal

avoided; and the act is, in one line, denominated a sort of a rebellious insurrection; in another, an outrage; in another, a conspiracy; in another, a murder. And now, by the lapse of time, the tattle of court runners, and the unqualified and contradictory assertions of Mr. Marsden's attorney-general on the trials for high treason, this rebellion, said, by my Lord Hawkesbury, to be "more

enormous than ever occurred before," has gradually sunk into a dispute in Thomas Street. But it were well if these exertions of little cunning reached no further. What I have stated of them, will serve only to excite contempt among the grave, and mirth among the jesting part of mankind. What I have now to touch upon must be done with a delicate hand. I will confine myself to a bare narrative of facts, and will not presume to give any opinion. As soon as the government had fully recovered its recollection, a commission directed to five of the judges, issued for the trial of those rebels who had been arrested for treason committed in the county and city of Dublin. This commission, having issued while the judges were on circuit, was filled up (and very properly filled up) with the names of the five senior of those judges who were then on the circuits, which were likely to terminate at the earliest period of time. Such was the reason given by government for the particular selection of the judges named in that commission, an fit certainly was a good reason. In some time after this commission had been sitting, it became necessary to issue a new commission for the trial of rebels in the shires of Antrim and of Down. In the appointment of this second commission, the principle which directed the selection in the first was not adhered to. hered to. On the contrary, the junior judge of the twelve was very anxiously colled out, and placed in this new commission, over the heads of a number of his seniors. This, however. could not, and ought not to have given oflence to any of those senior judges, because, whatever opinion of them the government may have manifested in such an appointment, the opinion of the present government upon such a subject (known to be influenced by motives very different from general justice) is top contemptible to have the slightest effect upon any of those learned judges, in the public mind. The circumstance, therefore, was not at first attended to. There is published in this city a newspaper called the Dublin Journal. It is, in general, conducted with good sense, loyalty, and a regard to truth;

but, in particular deviations, it is known to be under the control and immediate direction of government. In that paper of the 20th of October last, a publication appeared, which purported to be a charge given by the junior judge above alluded to, to the grand jury of the county of Antrim. In this place I beg now to declare, that I am far from attempting to assert, that the learned judge did pronounce any such charge: and when I speak of his charge, I request you will understand I mean only the newspaper publication above-mentioned. In the newspaper publication the learned judge is made to tell the grand jury, that "through "the well-timed efforts and strenuous exer "tions of a WISE and ENERGETIC govern

ment, &c. the progress of such crimes as "lately disgraced this country had been ef"fectually checked." If the learned justice did make any such assertion, (which I am far from supposing) with what amazement the grand jury must have received such a broadside, poured upon the truth of the fact, I cannot, as I was not present, know; but I can very well imagine what the feelings of twenty-three well informed gentlemen must have been. Their respect, and a thorough knowledge of their duty would necessarily keep them silent. But though men remain silent under the proper awe and control of a court of justice, their language only becomes more strenuous when that restraint is taken off, and they meet together in private confidence. They who have read the paper to which I have alluded, do not scruple to say, that they are willing to assent to the language attributed to the learned justice, if it shall be admitted that the picture of Mr. Marsden wringing his hands and calling upon God to help him, when Captain King, of the Lawyers' Corps, forced his way into Mr. Marsden's presence on the night of the 23d of July, be a proof of the wisdom and the energy of government. If poor Sir Edward Baker Littlerales having fallen into hystericks upon seeing the unfortunate daughter of Lord Kilwarden be a proof of the wisdom and the energy of the government. If the retreat of the Lord Lieutenant to the Park, there to remain within cover of the guns of the battery, be a proof of the wisdom and the energy of the government. If all these facts be evidence of that wisdom and that energy, then they say they will be willing to assent to the assertion, which the government, in their newspaper have attributed to the learned justice. They say, if it should be admitted that a conspiracy and plot having existed in various parts of the kingdom since

the time at which the charge of the learned justice is supposed to have been pronounced: if committees in actual debate (par ly composed of the King's militia) having been since taken up by the yeomanry, and the prisons filled with them, be proof that an "effectual check" had been, before, put to the crime of rebellion, then they say they will assent to the charge attributed to the learned justice. But, Sir, suggestion does not stop here. Men ask, how could (if the learned justice did make any such assertion) the learned justice be led to give credit to a position which contradicts the evidence of the seases of every man in the kingdom, who was present at, or knew any thing of the transaction? How could a learned judge be supposed to assert that, which no man in the kingdom would assert, unless he had some reasons of the same nature as those which prevailed on Mr. Marsden's attorneygeneral, on the trials for high treason, to assert something of the same kind? Men, Sir, couple the extraordinary selection of the learned justice from amongst his fellows, with the extraordinary assertion attributed to him in a government newspaper, and they ask, if he made that assertion, where did he get his information? Was he ever in Mr. Marsden's audience room since the night of the 23d of July? What passed there? What were the pre-disposing causes which induced government to select particularly that learned justice? Could government have foreseen (and if so, by what faculty) that the learned justice would have given an instruction to the grand jury, so very useful and so very grateful to the government? What night telescope could have been applied to the eye of Mr. Marsden, which, through the dark womb of things unborn, could have enabled him to perceive through this little future star of praise, springing from the creat ve lips of the learned justice? Here, Sir, decorum towards you and towards the Public induces me to be silent as to other, and perhaps stronger observations. But I may, I believe, add what men also say, that if it were possible the ermined robe of the most awtul attribute of his Majesty should have been wrapped round the acts of Mr. Marsden, in order to screen them from public disgrace, we might then look for another, but not less fatal end to our liberties and to our constitution than that which rebellion or invasion could produce. And in truth, they say, that except as to momentary effects, rebellion and invasion might be viewed with indifference, if it can be supposed, that the stained hands of a petty clerk had been washed in the

very fountain of justice. I am compelled here by the duty of civility and respect, to turn aside from the general course of my subject, in order to take notice of a letter signed Cambricus, which appeared in your paper of the 12th instant. Cambricus has done me the honour to advert to a sentence in a former letter of mine, in which the name of Lord Kenyon was mentioned. I am not surprised at Cambricus having been offended, when he found his countryman introduced into such company. I am ready to confess, that when I placed the name of Lord Kenyon in that sentence, I ought to have added some observations to it which I am now very sorry were omitted: and, though I know my letters were written for a good public purpose, and though I think they have not been without some effect, yet I do assure Cambricus, I would almost wish they never had been published, rather than one line of them should have given offence to any honest gentleman of Wales. But, I am ready to confess my fault and to make atonement; and when I say so much, if Cambricus be a genuine son of St. David, I am certain of his forgiveness. I not only agree with Cambricus in every part of the character which he has given of Lord Kenyon, but I will go a little further, and I will do so publicly, that in this instance Cambricus may cease to compare me with the author of the Pursuits of Literature, who, by the account of Cambricus, corrected in private only, the misrepresentation he had uttered in public. Lord Kenyon was a man of eminent knowledge as a lawyer. He was, besides, a man of remarkable rity and singleness of heart; and I make no doubt of his having now fully experienced the truth of that consoling sentence of Hooker "It is not the deepness of their "knowledge but the singleness of their "belief which God accepteth." But to these high acquirements, and to these virtuous natural dispositions, Lord Kenyon added one singular branch of knowledge, which is, perhaps, more rarely possessed than any other. Lord Kenyon knew, or at least acted as if he knew, the precise bounds and limits of his own powers and his own attainments. Cardinal Richelieu was a very great statesman: he wished to be thought a very great poet; and he made very bad verses. Lord Kenyon was neither a wit nor a statesman: but he knew himself, and so he never became either mischievous or ridiculous. Whether this conduct in my Lord Kenyon proceeded From an innate modesty of nature, or from a penetrating logical faculty, turning in

pu

Cam

upon and viewing itself. (its hardest exercise) I cannot, nor is it necessary for me to determine. Instead of calling him to the high station which he so ably filled, had it pleased his Majesty to bless the western neighbours of Cambricus (who certainly owe the honest and warm-hearted princi pality no ill will) with Lord Kenyon for their Chancellor; I can very well conceive what Lord Kenyon, in such a situation, would have done, and also, what he would not have done. From a rare modesty of nature, or from a rare precision of selfknowledge, Lord Kenyon would have acted with reserve and circumspection, on his arrival in a country, with the moral quali ties of the inhabitants of which, and with their per-ons, manners, and individual characters and connexions, he must have been utterly unacquainted. In such a country, torn with domestic sedition and treason, threatened with foreign invasion, and acting, since the union, under an untried con stitution, if Doctor Addington had required that Lord Kenyon should direct bridgeshire Earl" in ALL his councils," Lord Kenyon would as soon, at the desire of Lord St. Vincent's, have undertaken to pilot a line of battle ship through the Needles. Particularly, the integrity of Lord Kenyon would have shrunk from such an undertaking, if a condition had been added to it that no one nobleman or gentleman who possessed any rank, estate, of connexion in the country, should upon any account be consulted. His pride would have spurned at the undertaking, if he were told, that to the Cambridgeshire Earl and himself, in the cares of government, a clerk in the secretary's office, and a couple of lawyers without political habits, political information or honourable connexion, were to be joined as assessors, and to be the only assessors. And Lord Kenyon's pride and integrity would have both joined in preventing him from being, himself, the instru ment of introducing such men into a cabi net of government. If any one man could be found, of whom a young but unhappy victim of the justly offended laws of his country, had, in the moment of his convic tion and sentence, uttered the following apostrophe That viper! whom my "father nourished! He it was from whose "lips first imbibed those principles and "doctrines, which now by their effects "drag me to my grave; and he it is who is 66 now brought forward as my prosecutor, "and who by an unheard of exercise of "the prerogative, has wantonly lashed, "with a speech to evidence, the dying son