laws or institutions of the country which places Irish manufactures in a worse position than those of England."

What advantage, then, would a repeal of the Union confer? If bounties or protection duties were to be established in Ireland against English manufactures, it might lead to a similar course in England against Irish products; and hostile tariffs would ere long be followed by national rivalry and personal warfare.

The deductions derivable from the facts contained in this volume may be thus briefly stated:

1st. Ireland, in the true sense of the word, never was an independent kingdom, and never possessed a free constitution until her legislative union with England in 1800.

2d. By means of that union, her people have obtained a complete participation in every liberty which the united energies of Englishmen and Scotchmen have acquired, after centuries of struggle and sacrifice.

3d. There is no portion of the world in which political, religious, mercantile, and moral freedom, is more complete than in Ireland.

4th. The property, talent, and industry of Ireland are fairly represented in the Imperial Legislature, according to the existing franchises in the three kingdoms; and that representation rightly exercised is capable of effecting whatever further legislative improvement may be requisite.

5th. The commerce of Ireland, which was feeble and retrograde before the Union, has increased in a remarkable degree since 1800; the progressive increase of wealth is evident in almost every branch of industry.

6th. Ireland is one of the least taxed countries in Europe, and possesses a remarkable exemption from taxation compared with Great Britain; her revenue being in the proportion of £5,000,000 to £45,000,000.

7th. The liberality of the Imperial Legislature and of the people of England on every emergency or distress in Ireland since the Union has no parallel in the history of nations.

What then has Ireland to gain by a repeal of the Act of 1800

PREFACE TO THE SECOND AND THIRD EDITIONS.

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which united her dependent Legislature with that of Great Britain in the same manner as the Parliament of Scotland was united with that of England at the beginning of the 18th century? If an extension of the elective franchise, or vote by ballot, or annual parliaments be sought, they may more readily be obtained by a co-operation with those who are seeking the same legislative changes in England and in Scotland.

Have the proprietors or occupiers of land any benefit to expect by what is now erroneously termed "Repeal," but which in reality would end in "Separation" from England, and an attempt, equally ruinous, to form an "Irish Republic ?"

Were such a disastrous measure accomplished, the large proprietors would soon learn that "tenant-right" meant permanent occupancy free of rent, and the possessors of estates who have received their property from former confiscations would find that the names of the alleged rightful heirs are still carefully registered, and that re-confiscation would be of easy enactment by a mob parliament elected by universal suffrage.

The small cultivators would soon ascertain the loss of the English markets for every thing the earth can produce, and would not find in French fraternity or American sympathy much compensation for the constant ready-money customers they had cast off. Indeed, to no class would a separation from England be more ruinous than to the small cultivators of the soil.

Would the labouring poor, now sustained when in want, sickness, or old age by acts of the Imperial Legislature which compel the property of Ireland to attend to and provide systematically for every necessity of the poor-would those classes benefit by a separation which would probably almost immediately be followed by a repeal of the Christian enactment of the United Parliament which establishes the right to support of every human being born in the land? It required all the exertions, and large pecuniary grants, of the British Government and Parliament to secure the complete enforcement of this most salutary act.

And now let me ask how soon after a separation from England would religious discord-the old bane and curse of Ireland

commence? Most assuredly the Protestant Ulster men would endeavour to resume their former dominant position, not from ambition, or from dislike to their Roman Catholic countrymen, but because they would consider their dominance the only security for their lives and property, and the only means of preserving their political liberty.

The Roman Catholics, numerically superior, would not permit this dominant power: civil war, with all its attendant horrors, must ensue; the property of Ireland would side with the Protestants; the Romanists, after a terrific struggle, would be subdued, or the power of Great Britain would be solicited to restore peace; to re-unite Ireland with England, and to reestablish that perfect religious freedom and social equality which now so completely pervades Ireland.

No person who has studied the past history of Ireland, and who knows the present temper of both Protestants and Romanists, can doubt that such would be the inevitable course of events; and, that after years of bloodshed, an incalculable destruction of property, and a fostering of evil passions which a century might not subdue, Ireland, even if restored to peace and re-united to England, would have retrogaded centuries in wealth, comfort, and social order.*

And here let me ask the Roman Catholic hierarchy and priesthood, what can they expect to gain by separation, revolution, and republicanism? Does the history of any revolutionised state shew that the Romish Church can long stand by the side of Republicanism? Will men who assume the right of self-government, freed from all human laws but those which the ephemeral and ever-changing passions of the multitude create, will they be long obedient to Divine laws, or subject their minds and consciences to a priesthood?

How can priests or laymen have any faith in the virtue of governments, or in the stability of institutions, when they see the most positive, precise, and holy commandment of the Decalogue

* At this moment 200,000 children of the poor of Ireland, without distinction of creed, are daily fed by an English charitable association.

rejected? The French Republic have decreed the first legislative proceedings of their government to commence on the Lord's day, when every opposing human passion and ambition will be brought into collision by candidates contesting for their election to a seat in the French Republican Assembly!

Has Romanism maintained its supremacy during the revolutions of Spain or Portugal? How long will it do so in Italy or in Austria? These are questions well worthy the consideration of the Romish priesthood in Ireland. There are many exemplary priests like Dr. McEnery of Kerry who have foreseen the perni cious consequences of the agitation for a repeal of the Union, and who have struggled earnestly, if not openly, for its suppression.

I would venture to implore every minister of the Roman Catholic Church, as they respect their own holy calling,—as they value the precepts of peace which Christianity places above all things, as they desire quietude here and happiness hereafter, -to aid the Government and the constituted authorities of their country to preserve it from the sedition, anarchy, and ruin to which it is now fast hastening.

The late Mr. O'Connell truly declared that no amount of human liberty was worth a single drop of blood. The history of all nations, of all individuals, proves this. No empire or rule founded by bloodshed has lasted long: no man who has risen to station by bloodshed but has had his retribution; so true is the decree that "he who liveth by violence shall perish by violence;" and that that which is gotten by blood can never be retained.

Ireland is termed a Christian country; but what are the occupations of her men in many parts of Ireland on the Lord's day? Collecting in numbers or in clubs to practise firing with rifles, and make themselves expert in the destruction of their fellow-beings! Can any thinking man suppose a government constituted of such materials would long abstain from violating the other commandments of their Maker? These and other serious thoughts press upon the mind at this period, when the thrones of Christendom are tottering, when all the rights of authority are disputed, and when continental Europe is shaken as with a moral earthquake,

presenting no firm footing on which the principles of political and social re-construction can be based. At such a fearful period, it is of the utmost consequence to us as a nation, to preserve internal peace, to maintain the unity of the Legislature, and to uphold intact the kingdom of our Sovereign. The British empire, which is spread over the habitable globe, is now an example for other nations, a refuge for the persecuted, and an asylum for the distressed, whatever their creed, colour, or clime.

It has required eight centuries of time to construct this wonderful empire, the most free, the most tolerant, the most enlightened, the most Christian that the world ever beheld. For aught finite mortals can tell, the Divine Providence which rules states as well as individuals, has permitted the gradual formation of this vast dominion for some wise purpose conducive to the happiness of mankind.

And now I would respectfully appeal to my fellow-countrymen to reflect on the matter contained in this volume, to examine the facts adduced without reference to the hasty and imperfect context, to weigh seriously the present state of Ireland as compared with its past condition, and especially to consider what they can gain by a separation from England.

There is no proved evil which the Queen and Parliament of the United Kingdom are not anxious to redress. There is no practical good which legislative enactment can confer, that they are not ready to pass. One hundred and five Irish representatives in the Imperial Parliament have only to pronounce their wishes for the passing of an Act not injurious to the connection of the two countries, or abstractedly unjust, and it would be carried with acclamation.

But for the unfortunate agitation that has existed, our Gracious Sovereign would probably ere this have visited Ireland, and have triennially held her court in its metropolis.

Irishmen have heretofore been loyal subjects of the Crown; in the army and in the navy, abroad and at home, they have been among its bravest defenders, and upheld their national qualities in every field.