norities, was deemed a nefarious barter of principle for emolument and power. Unless, however, it be laid down as an axiom, that they, who have at one time voted against ministers, must do so always, there seems to be no ground for throwing any blame on the Grenville connection for their conduct on this occasion. They had never been friends to the increase of popular influence; and, when they differed from the ministers, it was not so much on questions of principle, as on the expediency of particular measures. Lord Liverpool and his associates were pursuing a calm and temperate system of policy, the objects of which were, to preserve peace abroad, and tranquillity at home, and to give the industry of the country full scope for its exertion. In the reduction of the public expenditure, they had done as much as could be reasonably expected or perhaps prudently effected. There was, therefore, no broad, intelligible ground, on which the Grenvilles could place themselves in regular array against the ministers. On the other hand, principles of a most dangerous tendency were openly preached throughout the country, and countenanced by too many members of the Opposition. The sanctity of public faith was derided as a foolish delicacy; the inviolable rights of property were spoken of lightly, or talked of as entitled to respect only in reference to land. The Grenvilles had always been most hostile to such principles, and they could in no way so effectually oppose them, as by making common cause with the government. The Grenvilles had no one great principle in common with the mass of the Opposition; on no one great principle was

there any difference between them and the ministers; the differences of opinion, that had existed between them and the government, related only to matters of detail and of minute arrangement.

They might, no doubt, have joined the ranks of the ministers, without any personal participation in honours or emoluments. There is, however, a great difference in practical effect, between coalescing completely with an administration, and giving it a voluntary and independent, though continued, support. Whatever influence a party may possess, it is only by identifying themselves with the ministry, that they can give the government the full benefit of it. If the Grenvilles, without accepting place, had merely voted with the ministers, they would not have afforded the ministry that effectual aid which it was their wish to give; nor would the ministers have been altogether satisfied with so partial and imperfect a support. The very refusal to take office would have been interpreted into a declaration of unwillingness to make common cause with those who had the reins of power in their hands. In such circumstances, there can be no union of parties without an acceptance of office: that acceptance operates as a complete amalgamation of political interests as a solemn declaration of coincidence of sentiments on all great questions of policy-as a pledge to forget, in this general coincidence, any little points of difference, and to co-operate with each other in matters of subordinate importance, even where a complete unanimity of opinion may not exist.

The gain to the ministers by this accession of force was not very

tration of Ireland was confided, was of much greater importance. The appointment of lord Wellesley to be lord lieutenant of that part of the empire, was regarded as the commencement of a new system of government, and this presage was strengthened by the removal of Saurin, the able and vehement friend of protestant ascendancy, from the high situation of attorney general, in order to make way for the advancement of his rival Plunkett, who, embracing both Catholics and Protestants in his impartial philanthropy, sought, or pretended to seek, to confer political power on the Catholics, as a sure mode of strengthening the established Protestant church. Under these new auspices, it was supposed, every ebullition of that spirit, which exulted in the depression of the Catholics, would be discouraged; the zeal of the Orange party would be repressed; the affections of the Catholics would be conciliated; and from the vigorous measures, which the energy of lord Wellesley's character would lead him to adopt, coupled with his freedom from anti-catholic prejudices, his administration, it was hoped, would prove an epoch, from which Ireland might date an æra of internal union and tranquillity.

These expectations, so far as they counted upon what might be effected by talent and firmness, were not unreasonable; but so far as they depended upon the conciliating influence of the inclinations of the new rulers of Ireland to favour the Catholics, they were a tottering structure raised upon the sand. The executive authority of Ireland was now in the hands of individuals known to be friendly

to the policy of conferring political power on the Catholics; and if it had been the intention of the cabinet to carry that policy into effect, these men would no doubt have been the proper persons to employ. But no such intention existed in the cabinet: the Catholics were to continue excluded from all that was then closed against them. Under such circumstances, the removal of those, who, like Saurin, were adverse to their claims-the elevation to high place of those, who, like Wellesley and Plunkett, were their advocates and patrons, could not soothe the jealous spirit of two adverse factions; on the contrary, the hopes of the one being excited and the fears of the other, both would be thrown into a state of more violent fermentation than before. Lord Wellesley might, and did discourage Orange toasts and ceremonies: but what did that avail? avail? While the laws of the land conferred political ascendancy on the Protestants, it could not be otherwise than fruitless to attempt to restrain them' from the joyous and ostentatious celebration of their triumph. They could not want the power to do so, while they had the inclination; and the inclination was not likely to be lessened by the interference of the supreme power to check it. Such interference could tend only to teach them to ascribe more importance to the observances which were thus discouraged, and to make them assert their superiority more loudly and in a manner more galling to those who were beneath them.

Lord Wellesley held his first levee at the castle of Dublin, on the 8th of January; when two addresses of congratulation were presented to him from the Catholics;

one from the Catholic archbishops and bishops; the other from the Catholic laity.

The corporation of Dublin declared their feelings plainly enough, by an address of affectionate condolence, which they presented to Mr. Saurin, on his unexpected removal from the high office, that had been so long filled by him with the most distinguished ability. On another occasion, too, they gave a very clear proof, that they were not inclined to concur in the sentiments of their new rulers. On the 14th of January, an attempt was made to set an example for the introduction of Roman Catholics into corporations. For that purpose, at the quarterly guild of the merchants of Dublin, a proposal was brought forward for the admission of Catholic freemen into their number. The question was put upon the petition of a Mr. Hugh O'Connor, praying to be admitted into the guild by grace special. It was rejected by a majority. A ballot was then demanded; and the demand was supported, among others, by Mr. Grattan, Mr. Hely Hutchinson, and lord Cloncurry. The opponents of it, among whom was Mr. Ellis, moved an amendment, that the question should be adjourned sine die. A ballot took place upon the amendment; when there appeared for the adjournment, 180; against it, 59. The Orange party, as might have been expected, exulted not a little in their triumphant majority of 121, which had been called forth into action by this premature attempt to promote the work of conciliation.

A short time after this event, the committee, who had been appointed to arrange a grand conci

liation dinner in commemoration of his majesty's visit in the preceding year, were compelled to relinquish publicly their trust, from the impossibility which they experienced of carrying it into effect.

If the presence of the marquis Wellesley was ineffectual to allay the heart-burnings and jealousies which raged between the upper classes in Ireland, it was equally inadequate to the suppression of those outrages, which made a great part of the island a tempestuous scene of violence, iniquity, and disorder. Atrocious deeds, similar to those which disgraced the conclusion of the preceding year, continued to be daily and nightly perpetrated. In vain had the military force been augmented in the disturbed districts; in vain had the judges and ministers of the law performed their functions with stern severity; in vain had many of the deluded wretches atoned on the scaffold for their crimes. The country was still in the same insecure and unquiet state; the outrages, instead of ceasing, were multiplied in number, and became more audacious in their character. Nearly the whole of Munster was in a situation into which it is difficult to conceive how a civilized country could fall, that was not afflicted by foreign invasion, or had not been the seat of a protracted civil war.

The proceedings in the county of Cork show, most clearly, the

On so important a topic as that of the Irish disturbances, and one with which party-spirit generally mixes up much falsehood, we have followed only lord Wellesley's official dispatches to the Secretary of State for the home department.

"

nature and magnitude of the evils which now afflicted Ireland. One of the first official documents, which came under the eye of the new lordlieutenant, was a memorial addressed to him by twenty-eight magistrates of the southern part of that county. "The progress," say they in that memorial, "of this diabolical system of outrage during the last month has been most rapid and alarming; and we regret to say, that we have been obliged, from want of adequate assistance, to remain almost passive spectators of its daring advances, until at length many have been obliged to convert their habitations into garrisons, and others have sought security in the towns. "We know that nightly meetings are held in various parts of the district, which it would be our duty to disperse, and, if possible, to bring those concerned in them to justice; and we are most willing to do our duty if we had the means, but we are utterly destitute of any force adequate to such an undertaking. We cannot expect individuals to leave their houses and families exposed, while they go out with patroling parties, and even if they could, for one or two nights, engage in such duty, they, could not continue it; it would be beyond their physical strength, and incompatible with their other avocations.

wholly inadequate to the ordinary duties of civil constables, much less to the suppression of formidable insurrection. In fact, the whole district may be said to be in a defenceless state."

There would be no end to an enumeration of the various outrages that were committed in the month of January; a few specimens must suffice. In the neighbourhood of Bantry, the house of a Mr. Mellifont was attacked by a body of men, some hundreds in number, all armed and mounted on horseback. They were pursued, but without effect, upwards of fourteen miles; an indubitable proof that they had been brought together from a great distance by a regularly connected system. On the 8th of January, the house of Dr. Townsend, at Kilmaraird was entered by a large party with their faces blackened, who, after searching in vain for arms, robbed the house and beat the owner. Two nights afterwards, some of the military having come up with a party of the White-boys, at Anverstown (a distance of fifteen miles from Dr. Townsend's), one of the miscreants was shot, and on his person were found various articles, the property of Dr. Townsend. The man himself lived thirty miles from the place where he met his fate. Facts like these could not be isolated events, springing from individual poverty or distress; they must have been the result of a concerted system of action.