had been depressed in former ages, by continual misgovernment; and if they were advancing, it was because some amelioration, some softening of the detestable conduct of the old vile policy towards the Catholics, and poor peasantry, had been obtained by the exertions of those ambitious and wicked men, whom Mr Moore, in his poetic frenzy, characterises as Furies, bursting "out of hell!' But were there no oppressions in Ireland, no sins of government, no grinding of landlords, no factious magistrates, no political judges, no venal tyrannical parliaments, no insolent licentiousness in the vice-regal court? Were there no public jobs, no grand jury presentments, no packing of petty juries, no insulting party processions, and symbols of domineering hatred ;-no religious disqualifications, no rigorous exaction of oppressive tithes, no clerical courts, no votes against conscience at elections, under pain of starvation ;-no wide-spread desolation, caused by the forcible ejectment of thousands of miserable creatures from their cabins, to gratify a rich man's revenge or lust of gain? Were there no ferocious sectarian yeomanry, no triangles, no pitched caps, no tortured wretches to bare their lacerated bodies to their relations? In fine, to use the powerful expression of a friend, were not the Catholics forced to pay for two Gods, and only allowed to have one? Oh, no! Ireland was the land of justice and generosity on the part of the rich! of happiness with the poor! Well fed, well clothed, well lodged, sure of evenhanded justice, their religion respected, their property protected,—equal in rights, though unequal in state, with the proudest of the land, -what had the Irish people to complain of ? And is the truth of history to be thus cast aside? Are the wrongs of millions to be thus denied? Are the rights of man, and that noble pride of man, which swells and hardens in resistance to oppression, to be thus derided, spurned at, and trampled upon with filthy hoofs ? Oh! but when the English constitution was transferred to Ireland, no beneficial consequences ensued,'-Irishmen are so lawless ! Tilly-fally, Sir John, never tell me! Your ancient swaggerer never came within my doors.' Where, how, when, was this English constitution applied to the Irish? Where is it to be found even in name, much less in practice? Was it not, and is it not, eternally invoked, and in vain, by those furies whose torches flare so in Mr Moore's eyes, that he cannot see the truth, and all the venom of whose snakes seems to have tainted his spirit. Why should the Irish people be in favour of the law? What do they know of it but its pains; when do they ever encounter it but as the upholder of wrongs and oppressions upon themselves? It robs them, insults, crushes them, but never protects them; the cup presented to their lips is always sour,-the

precious pearl of justice dissolved in the vinegar of faction! Are they to be reproached that their hearts are too big and manly to suffer this, that they are too fierce to lie down and weep at their wrongs, without a blow stricken in revenge? Yes, they are lawless, and they will be lawless until the law is just towards them. Then they will be the most obedient of subjects, for they love justice in their souls, and with redoubled ardour, because she is an absent friend. Yet we are not to be misunderstood. On Mr Moore's opinions, if they stood alone, we would not waste a thought. We fully admit his right to make himself as odious a partisan of an odious system as a complete developement of his politics can effect. But when he puts those opinions forward under the protection of his brother's name, and in such a manner that the generality must conclude that he is only the echo of that brother's sentiments, and perhaps even his words, they acquire weight; not to injure those whom they are directed against, but to lower Sir John Moore's reputation as a wise and liberal man ; to drag it from the clear atmosphere of his own manly conceptions, and plunge it in the unwholesome fogs of his biographer's prejudices. It is this faithlessness of which we complain, and which we are determined to expose; for nothing can be more injurious to Sir John Moore than his brother's narrative of his actions, unaccompanied with his own opinions and observations on the state of the country.

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According to the author of the work before us, the rebellion of 1798 was produced by wicked and cunning men, who persuaded the people that they were miserable when they were happy, and goaded them to the monstrous folly of supposing that a better government than they enjoyed, was possible to be obtained. grateful wretches! But let us hear Sir John Moore, or at least the substance of his observations. In this country they quell 'disturbances by proclaiming districts, and letting the soldiers loose upon the people, and the military are encouraged to violence against all who are called disaffected.'' The giving away ⚫ of militia regiments was managed so as to serve parliamentary purposes, and they were officered in the same view: thus the 'most profligate of men are empowered to work any evil that their cupidity or revengeful passions prompt them to; and so complete are the ramifications of corruption, and so complicated the abuses, that the appointment of a dictator seems to be the only cure.' Again, when the Chancellor Fitzgibbon, in a speech celebrated at that period, asserted, that conciliation had "been already tried with the Catholics, but that it had only created discontent, and that each new concession produced new demands,' &c., Sir J. Moore remarked, that nothing could be

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more natural in the people, nothing more unreasonable than the Chancellor's complaint; that the Catholics had a right to be put on the same footing with their fellow-subjects; that they were 'pleased with each approach to that equality, but unsatisfied un'til they obtained all; that the government was impolitic and ' unjust, to favour one part to the oppression of nineteen; and 'that all to whom equal rights were denied were oppressed. And in almost every page of his Journal he expresses his indignation at the treatment of the poor people, and his disapproval of the system of the government; which he describes as having no other object than that of terrifying the poor, ready always to grant any 'power to act against them, but indulging the rest of the commu'nity in every sort of abuse and violence.'

Here we see the enlarged mind, the humane and just sentiments of Moore. But we have not yet done; we must descend to particulars; we must look a little closely into what passes under the general term of violence; we must examine what was the nature of that paternal government, which so captivated the senses of Mr James Moore, that he forgets every thing, but the opportunity of venting his anger against those who could be so madly foolish as to dislike it. The military claim precedence. What manner of soldiers were thus let loose upon the wretched districts which the ascendency men were pleased to call disaffected? They were men, to use the venerable Abercrombie's words, who were formidable to every body but the enemy.' We ourselves were young at the time; yet, being connected with the army, we were continually amongst the soldiers,-listening with boyish eagerness to their conversations, and we well remember, and with horror, to this day, the tales of lust, and blood, and pillage, the records of their own actions against the miserable peasantry, which they used to relate. But even the venerable Abercrombie, that soul of honour, that star of England's glory, cannot escape the sneer of the author before us. He had no political circumspection, and so resigned his office'-which, rightly interpreted, means, that he disdained to lend himself to pillage, cruelty, and devastation. No, truly, he had none of that political circumspection;' he would not sell his soul for the smiles of power; he would not stain his white hairs with innocent blood; he reserved himself to sustain the reputation of his country by deeds of a different nature; he lived an honest man, and died a hero and what is more to our present purpose, his conduct in Ireland, -that conduct which Mr James Moore calls devoid of political circumspection,'—was so fully approved by Sir John Moore, that he would have resigned also; and was only persuaded not to do so

VOL. LIX, NO. CXIX.

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by Sir Ralph, who feared it would give to an act of conscience and political dignity the appearance of party-spirit. And it is Sir John Moore's brother, that, after a lapse of thirty-five years, casts this sneer upon the venerable and upright man!

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Such was the military power. Let us now take an example of the civil power's proceedings in Ireland at that unhappy period; let us look closely at the introduction of the English constitution, the benefits of which the lawless Irish reject; and here again we will make our sketch from our recollection of Sir John Moore's picture, pledging ourselves, as before, for the ral truth of the facts. Being on the march from Fermoy, he entered the town of Clogheen, where in the street he saw a man tied up, and under the lash, while the street itself was lined with country people on their knees, with their hats off. He was informed that the High Sheriff, Mr Fitzgerald, was making great discoveries, and that he had already flogged the truth out of many respectable persons. His rule was, to flog each person till he 'told the truth,' that is, until he confessed himself a rebel, and gave the names of other rebels; and then the persons, so accused, were sent for and flogged until they also confessed, and also 'swelled the list of the proscribed!' Oh, most glorious constitution! most paternal government! Oh, calumniated Inquisition !

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Mr Moore, speaking of his brother's services in the county of Wicklow, says, page 206, But, as in the hotbed of civil war, 'vices multiply and attain maturity, there still remained hordes of irreclaimable rebels meditating vengeance. Many of these 'lay in wait in the mountains of Wicklow, and in boggy places, 'from whence they issued to plunder and burn property, murder the farmers and proprietors, and wage a cruel desultory war.' And at page 209, Lord Cornwallis was well aware of the evil 'disposition and thirst for revenge, which prevailed through the country so recently subjected.' But what says Sir John Moore himself, the man who was employed to suppress this remnant of the rebellion in that very county of Wicklow? Why, that mo• derate treatment by the generals, and the preventing of the troops 'from pillaging and molesting the people, would soon restore tranquillity; that the latter would certainly be quiet, if the gentlemen and yeomen would only behave with tolerable decency, and not • seek to gratify their ill humour and revenge upon the poor;' nay, "that he judged their harshness and violence had originally driven 'the farmers and peasants to revolt, and that they were as ready as ever to renew their former ill usage of them! Again, we ask, why is all this suppressed? Is this author afraid to give currency to that accusation which the Protestant loyalists so loudly made at the time, that Sir John Moore was himself a rebel? Alas,

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poor man! He cannot understand that justice and humanity are not derogatory to power. Everywhere this feeling is apparent. At page 226, it is said, The defeat of the French invaders, and the punishment of the rebels, pacified Ireland. But this * temporary benefit was procured by a British army, which put an ' end to a calamitous insurrection raised on the fallacious plea of liberty. Now, the writer of this passage was himself in Ireland, in the camp of Lord Cornwallis, at the time, and therefore cannot be ignorant that the rebellion was quelled, not by punishments, but mildness-by Lord Cornwallis's lenity, by his amnesty, by his humane interference between the suffering people and their ferocious persecutors. Alas! the author knows all this, but it does not suit his prejudices to acknowledge it.

At page 211, we find it asserted, that, in the action at Castlebar, the troops, who were almost all Irish militia, did, after a slight resistance, to the great astonishment of General Lake, take to flight, and no efforts could stop them;' and farther, that the defeat manifested disaffection' amongst them. But the truth is, that General Lake and Lord Hutchinson were both in the town of Castlebar, and, it is said, in bed, whilst the battle took place a mile outside. Wherefore, no efforts were or could be made, by them, to stop the flight, which did not arise from disaffection, but from a very natural cause. For the troops were placed in a narrow contracted position; they were confusedly drawn up on an open slope of ground, about half-musket shot from a hedge and ditch, which the enemy's skirmishers were allowed to occupy without resistance, while their columns turned both flanks. There were no generals present to direct, and nothing but disorder could ensue: some militia officers of superior rank fled the first, and so disgracefully, that a squib was published at the time, entitled The Castlebar Races,' in which the appearance of the supposed horses and their performances, and some of the latter were very wonderful, were set forth with genuine Irish humour. The soldiers were not to blame; but the poor men were Irishmen, and are therefore obnoxious to our author. Mere Irishmen quoit them down, Bardolph, as you would a 'shove shilling.' And yet in the last of Sir John Moore's fields, the Irishmen of the 50th regiment were the foremost to charge at his voice, and went the farthest. How the blind mole works!

One more piece of justice to Irishmen, and to Sir John Moore's memory, and we close this chapter of his book. The celebrated Wolfe Tone was taken, fighting desperately, in a French ship, and tried by a court-martial in Dublin: he was an ardent spirit, an accomplished man, had been a prime mover of revolt in Ireland, and all eyes were fixed upon him, to see if