We have seen with deep regret, by the newspaper reports of recent proceedings in parliament, that in answer to a question put by Mr. W. S. O'Brien, the Secretary for Ireland declared the government to have no intention, of asking permission for us to make public railways with our own money.

force the legislative concession of that miserably humble demand. "May we improve our country,-good masters?""You shall not," cry Sir Robert Peel and Sir Edward Bulwer. "We will do it at our own expense, kind gentlemen ;"-" No matter," mumble Inglis and Aglionby." "We offer to mortShould this plain recital of a simple fact gage our county taxes, to pay the loan fall into the hands of any, who from ignorance which it will be necessary to raise on the of our condition may be disposed to regard joint credit of the United Kingdoms, and as such a statement as incredible,-as contain- the loan required would be only two millions ing an imputation of tyranny beyond historic and a half, and our proffered county rates parallel, of philo-barbarism beyond the ca- are one million and a quarter per annum, we pacity of the 19th century to give credence are thus tendering you, we conceive, tolerably to, we only beg of them to keep their tem- good security:""We don't care, and we per cool, and suspend their judgment while won't hear any thing about your taxes; we we-not argue, for there is nothing to argue will take no security; it may be tolerably upon in the matter, but-repeat what has good, for aught we know to the contrary; but been in this journal, and in the daily press, the notion of money being raised for mere reiterated over and over again. The case is Irish improvement on the joint credit, is a direct and palpable one of national desire for quite intolerable; we have something else to self-improvement on the one side, and of na- do with our money; we must have cash to bultional determination to prevent that improve-ly China, cash to hold down India,-cash ment on the other. It is a case unclouded to get into Aden, and keep possession there, by party error or party feeling of any kind.cash to bribe Syria to revolt, and to enMen of all creeds and ranks and opinions in Ireland, cordially and publicly, not on one occasion but repeatedly, have united to demand leave to create improved facilities of internal intercourse and trade; and men of all sorts and degrees and factions in Gt. Britain, have unblushingly opposed by stupid selfish

VOL. III. NO. XVII.

courage Texian pirates in revolting, negrostealing, slave-culturing of cotton, and the promotion of other great interests of civilization;-cash to sustain a coming war with France, and to create new offices and pensions and commissionerships at home;-cash to beautify London, in every imaginable way,"

L

regarded year after year, when addressed by select and highly respectable assemblies of the noble and wealthy Catholics of Dublin and London, to the British public and government, wrought sudden and universal conviction, when they came as the voice of the Simultaneous meetings. In a word,-the Bull party never did and never will concede any thing to Ireland, voluntarily. Nothing but the indomitable persistency in the demand of our rights, and the calm steadfast unanimity of men resolved to obtain, what they feel can only be withheld from them in fraud, will quell the arrogant tone, or divide the councils of injustice and oppression. It will be our own fault henceforth, if we sit down contented with the refusal of any thing we demand. Time was, in the days of the Charleses and Georges, when the insolence of ascendancy was uncurbed, because of our ignorance and our weakness. But that time is gone, and our domineering neighbours know it. They will swagger on as of yore, no doubt, up to a certain point, as they did on the Catholic question, the Tithe question, and the Corporation question; but we compelled them to give up wholly on the first of these, and partially on the others: and with the blessing of God, we will yet compel them to do us justice on the Railway question, and on every other that we make up our minds steadily to enforce.

exclaim Mr. Radical Wakley, and Colonel Conservative Sibthorpe,-Manchester Phillips, and Yorkshire Duncombe,-Plumptre of Kent, and Williams of Coventry, Sir J. Duke, and Sir E. Knatchbull,-Caledonian M'Taggart, English Goulburn, Jewish D'Israeli, and Mr. Holmes all the way from Berwick-upon-Tweed. Is it possible to look at the division list, that thus arrays men of so utterly discordant sentiments on every other subject, and to disbelieve that something more than casual impressions or unreasoning folly bands them together, and marshals them against our neglected and defenceless land? The riddle is too easily read. In the united parliament, Whig and Tory are less powerful and distinguishing party signals, than English ascendancy and Irish rights. Time immemorial there has been in St. Stephen's Chapel a Bull party, comprising three-fourths of the entire house, no matter how elected or composed. Two centuries ago, that party, rallied by the magic call of English monopoly, forsook the ordinary standards of Treasury and Opposition, and hurled the memorable act for annihilating the Irish cattle trade, against our country. Every man of talent, or who is now remembered for any thing, resisted that atrocious act; but they resisted in vain. Again, in 1698, a similar outburst of national hatred took place, when the Lords and Commons were cheered as they ostentatiously demand- It should never be forgotten, however, that ed from the throne, the absolute suppression the first step in every such process of moral of our Woollen manufacture. Again, in compulsion, is to make out a clear and un1719, we have the same unquenchable jea- answerable case of international right and lousy of Irish freedom solemnly declaring, equity. There is and there has ever been in what at a subsequent period their successors England, a small but important party, or voted to be a usurpation and a lie, that the rather sprinkling of independent minded men, appellate jurisdiction from the Irish courts who loath the vulgar, ruthless love of tyranlay constitutionally to an exclusively Eng-ny, that animates the Bull faction. Such a lish court of peers. In 1773 we have the resolution of the Irish parliament in favour of an absentee tax, approved of by the most popular minister of England, Lord North, and sanctioned by his great opponent, Lord Chatham; yet we find both the minister and the orator abandoned by their most faithful adherents,-the tocsin of British ascendancy sounded, and the national claim of Ireland scouted by overwhelming power. It is needless to recapitulate how Free Trade and Independence were achieved, and how they were subsequently forfeited. They were lost, as they were won, by force; an Irish army surrounded the Parliament House in 1782; English bayonets surrounded it in 1800. How was Catholic Emancipation carried? By the moral power of physical force. The same arguments that were dis

man was Temple; such a man was Chesterfield; such a man was Chatham, Adam Smith, Arthur Young, Charles Fox, Romilly; such in our own days are Lords John Russell, Normanby, and Ebrington. Round men of this stamp, good hearted men like Mr. Cholmondeley, the Bishop of Norwich, Dr. Lushington, Mr. Wallace, Mr. Lister, and many more whose names are less familiar, can usefully rally, and adding their weight to the Irish party, make them strong, even unto victory.

These men are ready and willing to be convinced; and we are inexcusable if we take not every pains to satisfy their judgments, and to win their co-operation. If we suffer ingenious calumny or misrepresentation to go uncontradicted, how can we complain that they stand by, or abet our enemies? Let us

keep this, for it is a vital element for our | in substance, more in sound than in fact. future policy, always in mind.

since then? Somewhat, doubtless: the Pu- | ritans robbed in the name of the Lord; the Economists rob in the name of Ricardo: the men of 1649 read the bible; the men of 1841 read Bentham: the former had one virtue, that of being in earnest ;-when the latter argue for Malthusian morality and the harmlessness of absenteeism-is it not harsh to believe them so ?

falsehood being one of the deadliest poisons known, it is generally vended and labelled, "Best elixir of the purest facts carefully prepared." Even that is not always enough. The character of the establishment whereout the potion comes, is often curiously questioned; and hence the laudable anxiety of all experienced dose-givers, to be able to show a label from the head repertory and grand manufactory of facts, at whose treshold all manner of raw truth and falsehood are daily laid, and within whose walls they are together so ingeniously disguised, and with so much subtlety commingled, that it frequently becomes a labour of no little time and skill, to analyze and sever them into their original distinctness.

Whether the age of miracles be passed or no, some have doubted; but it is tolerably clear that the age of oracles is only commencing. With a Blue book for a vaticinating stool, and parliamentary evidence to supply riddle talk, any man may, with a little practice, not only prophecy any thing he takes into his head, but absolutely make people believe any thing to have happened, that it suits his humour or interest to invent. And herein do the modern or statistic oracles far surpass their heathen predecessors. They could only venture to foretell, taking their chance for what might turn up to eke out a meaning. But our statistic Dodona can obliterate all the inconvenient evidence of our senses, to say nothing of the testimony of history, whereof at will it can take no account; and demonstrate, according to the strictest forms of parliament, that what never happened at all, did positively, and undoubtedly, and demonstrably take place. Ah! they may talk as they will of the good old times, but there never, never was an age like this.

Ab uno exemplo disce omnes. When ministers asked in 1839, for leave to issue Exchequer bills to the extent of £2,500,000, in order to spend that sum upon Railways in Ireland, they grounded the application upon two principal facts:-1st, that unless such a loan were given, Ireland must lose the advantage of these improved facilities of transit, not having the means otherwise of attempting their construction; and 2nd, that the same security, which in a hundred previous instances had been found unfailing, for the repayment of the money proposed to be lent, would again be given: and this security, as we have already observed, was a local revenue, two years' payment of which would expunge the debt. The moment the proposition was made,-" Whig robbery," roared the Times; “ England is going to be swindled," sobbed the Herald; "a popish plot," was discerned by the Standard; "an unnecessary abandonment of the great fundamental principles, upon an adherence to which, so far as the circumstances of each particular case will admit, the permanent prosperity and improvement of a great commercial country must mainly rest,"-circumlocuted the Tamworth trumpeter. Last of all comes the perverse Spectator, with its little fife and drum, attempting to mimic the burlier sounds of the band that went before, and failing that, essaying a small mischievous chirrup of its own. Well understanding the addiction of its readers to anything that There sits for the Irish borough of Newry, looks like statistical facts, the Spectator pub- in the present parliament, a young English lished a series of articles, purporting to give gentleman of the name of Ellis. And there detailed evidence of how and when poor in--does not sit perhaps, but at all events nocent John Bull had been swindled out of vast sums, by his overreaching partner, Patrick. A show of figures, to accomplish this praiseworthy task of exposure and conviction, being indispensable, the self-dubbed national accuser was resolved to go to the fountain head of all modern political knowledge, the Library of random Returns, ordered to be made by the omniscient House of Commons. In this we grant our prosecutor showed his ordinary keenness of discrimination. Poison, whether it be meant to work in the belly or the brain-the death of an individual, or the detriment of a nation-is somehow or other unpopular in name. And

there fidgets up and down, about and across the floor of the House of Lords, a certain much-given-to-intermeddling personage, for his sins entitled "Brougham and Vaux." These two senators, either by concert, or through a singular coincidence, thought fit, early in the session of 1839, to call for a certain return regarding the sums expended upon public works in Ireland since the Union. What specific mischief his lordship hoped to accomplish by his statistic movement, may never, perhaps, be known. He had heard of something useful being projected by his old friends the Whigs, and thought it a good opportunity of showing

his activity and highsouled independence, by | doing something calculated to throw false light on the measure. We are not sure that his return was ever presented or printed; and in all human probability his shuttlecock-ship forgets every thing about the matter.

Fortunately, however, the return moved for in the Commons' House by Mr. Ellis, was in due time both produced and printed. Though we differ widely from that gentleman in opinions, we shall not do him the injustice of supposing that he understood precisely what he was doing, when he asked for the return in question. His want of acquaintance with public accounts may be a loss to himself, and an injury to the public, but it implies nothing of which an honourable man need be ashamed. In total unconsciousness of the injustice he was thus lending himself to commit, Mr. Ellis was induced to move for "a Return of all monies, from whatever sources, and under whatever descriptions, voted or applied by way of grant or loan, in aid of public works in Ireland since the Union." Now, by the rules and customs of the House of Commons, any thing not strictly and literally ordered to be given in a particular return, is inadmissible. Mr. Ellis moved only for half the account between Ireland and the imperial treasury, and therefore he got only the half of it. Had he moved for the other half, he would have got that also; but that he did not do. The account in question consists of several millions of money; and in this account, if properly stated, there would be made to appear, what there must be, and there is, a credit side and a debit side. The debit side was moved for, and the credit side was not; and thus the balance sheet is ordered to be printed against Ireland, by the unwitting House of Commons, as if there were, in point of fact, no credits in the said account at all. We are debited with no less a sum than £8,828,141; and the whole of the credits being left out, ignorant English members are thus led to the utterly deceptive inference, that we are defaulters to the entire amount so stated! In charity we must repeat our belief, that Mr. Ellis was unaware of the delusion he was thus rendering himself the means of creating; but 'tis truly a pity when members move for papers they don't understand. Had Mr. Ellis possessed the ordinary acquaintance with public county business in Ireland, which every country gentleman on this side of the channel has, he could not have fallen into the stupid blunder he did, and suffered himself, by designing persons, to be used so completely as a catspaw. Or if we can imagine an Irish member being bamboozled to

such an extent, we suspect he would at least have known, when he had burnt his fingers, whether the chesnuts were rotten or no. Not so, apparently, the member for Newry. It is now upwards of a year and a-half since the one-sided reckoning that bears his name was presented to parliament. It is to be presumed that he read the same after it was printed. But it is certain, at least, that the Spectator read and published every item thereof, before it was in possession of the members of the House of Commons. To what intellectual faculty of abstraction, or arriving at conclusions from data given a priori, we are wholly unable to say.

Be this as it may, the ridiculous, but not on that account less mischievous tale of Ireland being a defaulter, on foot of money lent her since the Union, to the tune of £8,828,141, has gone forth, upon the highest statistical authority in the realm, uncontradicted and ungainsayed; and the government, staggering from such a blow in the face, have never ventured to whisper a renewal of the only proposition, by which it is possible to accomplish the construction of great lines of Railway in Ireland.

But what could Government have done? How could they ask an English member to vote more money, after its being shown in black and white, that on similar pretences the joint exchequer had lost in recent years such an enormous sum?

Enormous indeed; but did it never occur to any of the gentry, whom we pay enormous salaries to per annum, to ask the simple, and one would have thought, the obvious question-is the return true? Unbelievable as it may appear, the fact nevertheless is certain, that not one of the said gentry did ever take the trouble of asking the said question, as we ourselves happen unequivocally to know. We further know, that the Government were apprized at the time, when this sham account appeared, that it could be refuted most triumphantly. They were distinctly told that the refutation could be completed from the same public sources of information, whence the charges had been drawn. They were urged and pressed to have this act of common justice to the country done; yet from that day to this, they have never condescended to trouble their heads on the matter. They have suffered an unreal, an unfair, an unquestionable accusation of fraud and insolvency to lie uncontradicted for more than a whole year, against the resources, the hopes, and the character of the country; and they have done so with the elements of the contradiction in their hands!