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convulsions must terminate in death, the sure consummation of the prescriptions of all political Sangrados. Still there will be two things wanting to convict and to condemn; and these are, in my opinion, twelve butchers for a jury, and a Jefferies for a judge!

37. EFFECT OF THE EXCLUSIVE SYSTEM ON THE CONDITION OF IRELAND.—Phillips.

Look to protestant Ireland, shooting over the empire those rays of genius, and those thunderbolts of war, that have at once embellished and preserved it. I speak not of a former era. I refer not for my example to the day just passed, when our Burkes, our Barrys, and our Goldsmiths, exiled by this system from their native shores, wreathed the "immortal shamrock" round the brow of painting, poetry, and eloquence! But now, even while I speak, who leads the British senate? A protestant Irishman! Who guides the British arms? A protestant Irishman! And why, why is Catholic Ireland, with her quintuple population, stationary and silent? Have physical causes neutralized its energies? Has the religion of Christ stupified its intellect? Has the God of mankind become the partizan of a monopoly, and put an interdict on its advancement? Stranger, do not ask the bigoted and pampered renegade who has an interest in deceiving you; but open the penal statutes, and weep tears of blood over the reason. Come-come yourself, and see this unhappy people; see the Irishman, the only alien in Ireland, in rags and wretchedness, staining the sweetest scenery ever eye reposed on; persecuted by the middleman of some absentee landlord; plundered by the lay-proctor of some rapacious and unsympathizing incumbent; bearing through life but insults and injustice; and bereaved of even any hope in death, by the heart-rending reflection that he leaves his children to bear, like their father, an abominable bondage? Is it the fact? Let any who doubt it walk out into your streets, and see the consequences of such a system; see it rearing up crowds in a kind of apprenticeship to the prison, absolutely permitted by their parents, from utter despair, to lisp the alphabet and learn the rudiments of profligacy? For my part, never did I meet one of these youthful assemblages without feeling within me a melancholy emotion. How often have I thought, within that little circle of neglected triflers, who seem to have been born in caprice and bred in orphanage, there may exist some mind

formed of the finest mould, and wrought for immortality; a soul swelling with energies and stamped with the patent of the Deity, which, under proper culture, might perhaps bless, adorn, immortalize, or ennoble empires; some Cincinnatus, in whose breast the destinies of a nation may lie dormant; some Milton, "pregnant with celestial fire;" some Curran, who, when thrones were crumbled and dynasties forgotten, might stand the landmark of his country's genius, rearing himself amid regal ruins and national dissolution, a mental pyramid in the solitude of time, beneath whose shade things might moulder, and round whose summit eternity must play. Even in such a circle the young Demosthenes might have once been found, and Homer, the disgrace and glory of his age, have sung neglected! Have not other nations witnessed those things, and who shall say that nature has peculiarly degraded the intellect of Ireland? Oh, my countrymen, let us hope that under better auspices and a sounder policy, the ignorance that thinks so may meet its refutation. Let us turn from the blight and ruin of this wintry day to the fond anticipation of a happier period, when our prostrate land shall stand erect among the nations, fearless and unfettered; her brow blooming with the wreath of science, and her path strewed with the offerings of art; the breath of heaven blessing her flag; the extremities of earth acknowledging her name; her fields waving with the fruits of agriculture; her ports alive with the contributions of commerce; and her temples vocal with unrestricted piety.

38. THE DOWNFALL OF BONAPARTE.-Grant.

The hour of retribution is at length arrived. He who had no mercy upon others, is now reduced to a condition which may excite the pity of his most implacable enemy. He who has made so many miserable, is now condemned to drink, to the very dregs, the bitter cup of degradation and sorrow. He is thrown from his elevation, despoiled of his glories, hunted from hill to hill, and from river to river; the props with which he had supported his power are falling around him; he finds no defense in the thrones behind which he had intrenched his usurped dominion. By a connection with ancient families, he has hoped to clothe his new greatness with something of prescriptive pomp and veneration; but he sees those vanishing before him-Austria renouncing his alliance-Bavaria quitting his ranks-Saxony torn from his grasp the Rhine itself anticipating the hour

of deliverance, and that hour will assuredly come. We are now, indeed, too much in contact, too close to these great events, justly to appreciate their grandeur and their effects; for it is with these prodigious displays of moral power, as it is with the grander and bolder features of nature. It is not till we are removed from their immediate vicinity, that we can ascertain their dimensions, and appreciate their real magnificence. Yet this we may even now assert, that in the whole range of modern history, there is nothing equal or second to these achievements; and that this is one of those events, of which there are not many in history, which taken singly and by itself, decides the destinies of nations, and changes the face of the world. It is true, that the sufferings of humanity were long protracted. It is true, that the hope of all nations was at length wearied out into a dumb and listless despair. We, even we, ourselves, began at last to think that there could be no propitious results. We believed that, in favor of one individual, the eternal laws of God and nature, laws which, till then, we had deemed eternal, were reversed. We almost imagined that the lessons of moral wisdom had been false, and the wishes and execrations of so many millions exercised no influence over the fates and fortunes of their fellow-men. But if the day was delayed, it must be confessed that it was delayed for a terrible purpose, that it might concentrate its destructive energies, and approach at last, with redoubled and accumulated horror. If the sufferings of humanity have been prolonged, they were prolonged that they might in the course of a few months be overpaid in ample measure. Now, instead of armies, heartless in the cause, generals corrupt or incapable, sovereigns blind to their interests or their fame, we see nobles and kings fighting in the ranks-we see crowds of accomplished captains, and where we number men, we number heroes and patriots. It seems, indeed, if I may venture to say so, as if all the treasures of consolation, all the pomp and glory of recompense, were reserved for this occasion. In this one campaign is concentrated the military renown of ages. All that is great, and illustrious, and noble—all that is romantic in bravery and wise in council-all that is venerable in hereditary worth or irresistible in popular opinion-the majesty of thrones-the grandeur of empires-the transcendency of genius -the omnipotence of mind,-all natural-all moral energies seem to be thrown together, crowded and heaped upon each other, to form, as it were, a stage on which a spectacle, at once so consoling and so tremendous, might be exhibited to the eyes of an astonished world.

39.

THE FAME AWAITING A REFORMATION OF THE LAW.-

Brougham.

In pursuing the course which I now invite you to enter upon, I avow that I look for the co-operation of the king's government; and on what are my hopes founded? Men gather not grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles. But that the vine should no longer yield its wonted fruit-that the fig-tree should refuse its natural increase, required a miracle to strike it with barrenness. There are those in the present ministry, whose known liberal opinions have lately been proclaimed anew to the world, and pledges have been avouched for their influence upon the policy of the state. With them others may not, upon all subjects, agree; upon this, I would fain hope there will be found little difference. But be that as it may, whether I have the support of the ministers or no-to the house I look with confident expectation, that it will control them, and assist me; if I go too far, checking my progress-if too fast, abating my speed-but heartily and honestly helping me in the best and greatest work, which the hands of the lawgiver can undertake. The course is clear before us; the race is glorious to run. You have the power of sending your names down through all times, illustrated by deeds of higher fame, and more useful import, than ever were done within these walls. You saw the greatest warrior of the age-conqueror of Italy-humbler of Germanyterror of the north-saw him account all his matchless victories poor, compared with the triumph you are now in a condition to win- -saw him contemn the fickleness of fortune, while, in despite of her he could pronounce his memorable boast, "1 shall go down to posterity with the code in my hand!" You have vanquished him in the field; strive now to rival him in the sacred arts of peace! Outstrip him as a lawgiver whom in arms you overcame! The lustre of the regency will be eclipsed by the more solid and enduring splendor of the reign. The praise which false courtiers feigned for our Edwards and Harrys, the Justinians of their day, will be the just tribute of the wise and the good to that monarch under whose sway so mighty an undertaking shall be accomplished. Of a truth, sceptres are most chiefly to be envied for that they bestow the power of thus conquering and ruling thus. It was the boast of Augustus-it formed part of the glare in which the perfidies of his earlier years were lost-that he found Rome of brick, and left it of marble; a praise not unworthy a great prince, and to which the present reign has its claim also. But how much

nobler will be our sovereign's boast, when he shall have it to say, that he found law dear and left it cheap; found it a sealed book-left it a living letter; found it a patrimony of the rich— left it the inheritance of the poor; found it the two-edged sword of craft and oppression-left it the staff of honesty and the shield of innocence! To me, much reflecting on these things, it has always seemed a worthier honor to be the instrument of making you bestir yourselves in this high matter, than to enjoy all that office can bestow-office of which the patronage would be an irksome incumbrance, the emoluments superfluous to one content with the rest of his industrious fellow-citizens, that his own hands minister to his wants: and as for the power supposed to follow it-I have lived near half a century, and I have learned that power and place may be severed. But one power I do prize; that of being the advocate of my countrymen here, and their fellow-laborer elsewhere, in those things which concern the best interests of mankind. That power, I know full well, no government can give-no change take away!

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This paper, gentlemen, insists upon the necessity of emancipating the catholics of Ireland, and that is charged as part of the libel. If they had waited another year, if they had kept this prosecution impending for another year, how much would remain for a jury to decide upon, I should be at a loss to discover. It seems as if the progress of public reformation was eating away the ground of the prosecution. Since the commencement of the prosecution, this part of the libel has unluckily received the sanction of the legislature. In that interval, our catholic brethren have obtained that admission, which it seems it was a libel to propose; in what way to account for this, I am really at a loss.

Have any alarms been occasioned by the emancipation of our catholic brethren? Has the bigoted malignity of any individuals been crushed? Or has the stability of the government, or that of the country, been weakened ? Or is one million of subjects stronger than four millions? Do you think the benefit they received should be poisoned by the sting of vengeance? If you think so, you must say to them, "you have demanded emancipation, and you have got it; but we abhor your persons, we are outraged at your success; and we will stigmatize, by a

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