for its completion had been hitherto fruitless. If then a principle of this fort could be applied to nations, independent of, and unconnected with each other, how much more strongly did it conclude refpecting the policy of two kingdoms, fo strongly connected with each other, as Great Britain and Ireland? This had been the fage and judicious policy of the court of France; and, ever fince the administration of Colbert, it had been her object to arrange the duties of her different provinces upon a footing of the moft perfect equality.

But however wife were the ge. neral idea of fuch an arrangement, it had been defeated by the narrow and injudicious provifions which had been inferted in it. It was impoffible to justify administration relatively to the fourth propofition. The restriction of the Eat India trade had nothing to do with the arrangement of a fyftem of mutual reciprocity. Why had they not adhered to the eleven original propofitions Why had government taken back with one hand what fie had given with the other? Lord Mountmorres trufted, that the bill which had been prefented to the houfe of commons had received an ultimate defeat. Something however of the kind was neceffary; and fo long as the actual inequality of duties fubfitted, fo long as the commerce of Ireland was bound down with chains and fetters, protecting duties were the only refource that could preferve her from

ruin.

Lord Mountmorres was anfwered confiderably in detail by the lord chancellor; and, the addrefs being carried, a proteft was entered against , and figned by the duke of Leinfter, the earl of Charlemont, lords vifcount Mountgarret and Mount

morres; and fupported by the proxies of lords vifcount Powerfcourt and Defart, and lord Belmore.

The house of commons having met on the fame day, a letter was delivered to them from their spea ker Mr. Edmond Sexten ery, declaratory of his refignation of that office. As his intention had been for fome time public, the victorious opposition had entertained the idea of introducing into the chair a perfon of their own nomination; and they fixed for this purpose, upon Mr. George Ponfonby. The design however was foon after difcarded as impracticable, and Mr. John Fotter, chancellor of the exchequer, was elected without oppofition. This bufinefs being dif patched, an addrefs to the lord lieutenant was moved by lord vifcount leadfort, fon to the earl of Bective. The addrefs of the house of commons was more moderate than that of the lords, and fimply fuggefted the intention of leaving the people of that country at liberty, to refume or not the fubject of a commercial adjustment with Great Britain. Its language was therefore approved of by Mr. Connolly and Mr. Forbes: but it was oppofed with warmth by Mr. Grattan and lord Edward Fitzgerald. It was carried upon a divifion, ayes

A

Variety of political fituations and topics fucceed each other with great rapidity in this period of the hiftory of Ireland. The difquifitions of parliamentary re. form were with fome violence detruded from the minds of men by the introduction of the commercial fyftem. The commercial fyftem had fcarcely received its quietus from the Irish parliament, before thofe fcenes of tumult, outrage and violence commenced in the fouthern extremity, which quickly fpread themselves over a great portion of the island. Thefe confiderations however do not rife upon one another in fublimity, grandeur and attraction. Difcuffions of commerce are lefs interesting than difcuffions of liberty; and the fcenes of barbarifm and anarchy, which we are now to introduce, are rather painful and difgufting, than attractive. But the hiftorian cannot mould the concourfe of events to the factitious precepts of rhetoric and compofition; he is obliged to follow them, as they are traced out to his hands by the caprices of men, or the unalterable laws of destiny.

The modern annals of Ireland have frequently been marked with tumultuary proceedings, that blot the page of hiftory, and that are a difgrace to human nature. They unqueftionably compofe a poignant fatire upon the adminiftration and maxims of their government; whether or not they are injurious to the character of the nation, is a point, that admits of greater doubt

and uncertainty. The condition of the people among whom they have broken out is pitiable and forlorn ; and, if they originated merely in the fharp goadings of hunger, and the wild tranfports of defp.ir, the intrinfic character of the country is then completely vindicated.

The difadvantages, that are experienced by the inhabitants of the fouth of Ireland, are numerous. In the first place a very great majority of them are catholics; and this is a fruitful fource of hardship and oppreffion. The fouth has at least been ftationary in point of improvement, while many other parts of the kingdom have advanced with rapidity. The proprietors have feen the increating wealth of their countrymen with jealoufy and envy, and have been prompted to follow them in the advance of their rents, and the increase of their income. Of confequence while the wages of the labouring hind have been low, frequently at the rate of four pence per diem, the demands of his landlord have been preffing and enormous. Finding it no eafy matter to realife his rents, the landlord has gone on to throw the peafantry into the hands of a middle man, or farmer general; and the rapacity of this man has been to be fatisfied, in addition to the receipts of the proprietor. This is probably the principal and predominant grievance of the inhabitants of Munfter. But in addition to this they have frequently felt themfelves harraffed by the twofold demands

of the clergyman of the established church for his dues, and of the catholic priest for thofe contributions which form his fubfiftence. A religious fect, supported by contribution, commonly depends for its funds upon the more opulent or middle clailes of the community; but the Romith religion in Ireland ftill retains this feature of an eftablishment, to have a kind of regular demand upon the poor, the indigent and industrious,

The infurgents in Ireland, under the names of White Boys, Oak Boys and other barbarous appellations, have at different times pointed their irregular efforts at different objects. It has fometimes been the tithe of the church, and fometimes the rent of the proprietor, that they have regarded as the fource of their poverty and their diftrefs. The firft of thefe was the finge object of which they complained in the infurrection, whofe caufes we are endeavouring to trace, and whofe events we are about to relate. Though the clergyman, fo far from receiving more than he is entitled to by law, almost always receives a twentieth or a fortieth part under the denomination of a tenth, yet his claim, being more variable and fluctuating than that of the landlord, oftener affumes the ap, pearance of intolerable calamity. In addition to this circumftance, by a kind of abfurdity that has feldom had an example, the meadow lands of Ireland are totally exempt from tithe, while the operation of this impoft feems directed to the difcouragement of agriculture. The grazier is rch, the husbandman is poor: the grazier is the prot ftant, the husbandman is the catholic. Thus almof the only man, who contributes to the fupport of the ecclefiaftical eftablishment, is the

man, who does not, even in appea rance, derive any benefit from it. The clergyman, a man liberal in his education and urbane in his manners, might be expected to treat the diftrefies of the peafantry with mildness and forbearance; but unfortunately the clergyman like the proprietor, and tor ftill stronger reafons, fince his claim is more liable to be contested, employs a middle man, a proctor, or tithe farmer, to enforce his demands. The proc tor, far from being moved by the inability of the cultivator, treads upon the heels of providence, and facrifices what the judgments of heaven may have left imperfect, to the brutal ty of his temper, or the infatiablenefs of his avarice,

It is for the reader to confider, whether or not the caufes we have enumerated be fufficient to account for the diforders that followed. Many of thofe perfons, who have lived nearest to the feat of the infurrection, actuated by infidious and finifter confiderations, or prompted merely by curiosity and an af fumption of fuperior penetration, or lauly, furnished with facts which were mot likely to be within their reach, have been difpofed to trace the fource of thefe violences to a remoter caufe, Certain writers on the part of the etablishment have reprefented the whole, as a deep and dangerous combination for the overthrow of the established church, and the erection of popery upon its ruins. In the mean time this idea. does not feem to be favoured by the nature of the incidents, which we fhall have to relate. Others, and thefe have been fill more numerous, have maintained that the peafants left to themselves would have remained quiet and fupine; and that the landlords, urged by their envy to their more profpe

rous

rous neighbours, prompted them to. thefe anjuftifiable exertions, in order that by the abolition of tithes they might add that amount to their rents, which was at prefent paid under this form to the church. Particular facts have been cited in proof of this affertion; and to thefe have been added the general obfervation, that the infurgents did not aim to render potatoes tithe free, but from the beginning infifted on annihilating the tithe of hay. This hypothefis has been rendered fill more definite by the statement of Dr. James Butler, titular archbishop of Cafhel, in a publication upon this fubject. He obferves that the interest of the earl of Shannon, which had ufually been predominant in the county of Cork, and which had always been efpoufed by the clergy of the established church, was defeated there at the laft general election. And he afferts, that the fuccefsful party were inftigated by refentment and oppofition, to excite the difcontents, and point the direction of a numerous body of men against those who had become obnoxious to them.

The fymptoms of difcontent firft broke out in the county of Cork, and in the diocese of the bishopric of Cloyne towards the end of the month of September 1785. To this diocefe they were for fome time wholly confined; and they did not make any confiderable figure, or draw a very particular attention till the months of January and February in the following year. By degrees they fpread from the diocese of Cloyne to the diocefe of Cork, and the county of Kerry; and in the lapfe of a few weeks they embraced the whole province of Munfter, the counties of Clare in the province of Connaught, and of Kilkenny in the province of Leinster, 9

and made occafionally excurfions beyond the e limits. A perfon very early diftinguifhed himself among them, and was regarded as the hero of this band of conquerors, whose real or affumed appellation was that of captain Right; and from him they foon became known by the denomination of Right Boys. They were faid to affemble generally on Tuefday and Friday nights, by the fignal of a horn, founded on one of the adjacent hills, and feldom to mufter fewer than eighty men. Arms they obtained by violence from fuch of the inhabitants as poffeffed them, and they proceeded on their excurfions with the affiftance of the neighbouring horfes, which the owners were afraid to place out of their reach.

It is difficult to compofe a narrative of violences, that were carried on upon no plan, and that were fo numerous, that even the daily prints grew tired of the labour of recording them. The perfons concerned in them appeared in no regular bodies, affembled only by night, and were difperfed and vanished by the break of day. Without carrying on a more regular war, they conceived the plan of fuperfeding the rigour of law, and they were generally fuccefsful. When any of their fellows were feized by the vigilance of magiftracy, they maintained them in prifon, exerted themselves indefatigably for their rescue, and, if they did not fucceed in this, intimidated every one from appearing as a witnefs against them. Even when conviction had taken place, and fentence had been pronounced, the chance for impunity was not yet over, and in one inftance the high fheriff of a county, unable to find any perfon to perform the office, is faid to have been obliged to exe

cute