mysteries he has rejected of this truly and intensely pathetic poem, touches us with melancholy charity for those to whom his ancestors first taught the lesson of a like humiliation. Alas that a nation glowing with the most enthusiastic courage, moved by the tenderest sympathies, and penetrated by a constitutional piety as devoted as profound, should so long have misapplied these noblest attributes of a high-destined people! What material for an almost perfect society does the national genius not present? Instinctive piety, to lay the only sure foundation of human morals and immortal hopes; constitutional loyalty, to preserve the civil compact inviolate; legitimate affection, to ensure public virtue and private happiness; endless humour, to quicken social intercourse; and last, and, save one attribute, best, indomitable love of country to consolidate the whole. This sacred loyalty we have reserved for our conclusion, as a green spot of neutral ground, where all parties may meet in kindness, and part in peace. We have prosecuted our inquiry after the nature of Irish sentiment through many a perplexing and many a dangerous topic, 66 per ignes Suppositos cineri doloso." Grateful to our parched feet is the dewy sward of shamrocks; and here, standing on the firm ground of love for our country, we call for a chorus from Irishmen of all denominations to THE FAIR HILLS OF HOLY IRELAND. A pleasant and a hospitable place is Ireland to dwell in, In which is the fruit of health in the top of the barley car; There is honey in the trees in the valleys of mist, And streams in summer are along the verge of every road : On the fair hills of holy Ireland. He is curled, ringletted, plaited, Uileacan dubh O! Every hero who departs from the coasts of Ireland: And I will go a visiting, if it be that my life be long, To the land of joy, wherein it is meet for life to be; 'Twere better for me, though your riches be great for boasting, to be On the fair hills of holy Ireland. Profitable and large are the stacks in Ireland; Uileacan dubh O! The butter and the cream are distributed in abundance there; Uileacan dubh O! The cresses on the water, and the soft sorrels are at hand, And the cuckoo is calling there from day to day, And the bold thrush of the sweetest sounding music is singing loudly ERIN GO BRAGH! ANTHONY POPLAR'S NOTE-BOOK. WE commence our extracts from our tablets of this month, by a reference to a subject to which nothing but a sense of duty could induce us to allude; we mean some comments upon the last number of this periodical, which appeared in the Sun, London Newspaper. It is always painful to be obliged to speak of ourselves, and to fair criticism we cannot, almost under any circumstances, conceive a writer called on to reply. When, however, a charge is brought against a political writer, of entertaining political opinions and feelings which he can utterly, and indignantly, disclaim, there is no rule, either of courtesy or etiquette, that requires him to submit to the imputation. This is, precisely, the position in which we are placed a most respectable and justly influential journal has attempted to fasten on us sentiments which we hold in the most unmitigated abhorrence, and has taken two separate opportunities of repeating the charge. In their review of our number for August, they distinctly charged us with advocating the extermination of the Roman Catholics!! and now they appear to have no way altered their opinion of our sentiments. From the Sun of September the second, we take the following : “THE DUBLIN ÜNIVERSITY MAGAZINE.-The Toryism of Maga and Regina is rank radicalism compared with the blood-red orange conservatism of this "official bulletin" from the head-quarters of the Irish Church militant. From the style of some of these articles before us, we should not be at all surprised at shortly hearing of a proposal for erecting a Roden rostrum in Dublin, something after the style of that from which the Pater Patriæ of Rome harangued the people, with the trifling difference of substituting Papists' heads for the beaks of ships in its erection. This antichristian bigotry is the more to be regretted, as this periodical may boast of an abundance of literary talent of a very high order." And so our cotemporary continues in a strain very complimentary to our merits, and, we confess, very gratifying to our feelings; but it is not with his opinion as to our literary pretensions, that we have to do; it is with his, either wilful misrepresentation, or gross misapprehension of our policy, that we are now concerned. We put the case in its double point of view, although we feel quite satisfied that the latter branch of the alternative is the true one. Grievous as is the imputation which is contained in the paragraph we have quoted, and calculated as it is to lower the character, and injure the circulation of our periodical, with all who value the principles of religious charity, we would pass it by unnoticed, or leave its refutation to the spirit of the articles which we publish, were it not that it appears part and parcel of a systematic effort which is now making, to neutralise the effect which the exertions of the Irish Protestant party are unquestionably producing with the people of Britain, by representing them in a character of all others the most odious to a Christian people, that of religious persecutors and religious exterminators. The truth is, that the case is precisely the reverse; we are the objects, not the agents of a bitter and relentless persecution, and, so far from ever thinking of oppressing others, we feel our own lives and liberties insecure. We are not vain enough to believe that our individual opinions are of importance enough to deserve the misrepresentation of the Sun; the very language of the paragraph proves that he flies at higher game, and assails, through us, the great and influential party with which we are connected, and whose confidence, we are proud to say, we possess. It is then, in justice to that party, that we reply to the observations of the Sun, and, in the name of that party do we solemnly deny that, as far as our knowledge of them extends, they entertain any other feeling towards their Roman Catholic brethren than that of a deep concern for their welfare, and an anxious desire to ameliorate their condition. One thing we can positively state, that the "unchristian bigotry" with which our contemporary charges us, is as much opposed to the obligations of an Orangeman as it is to the spirit of Protestantism and the genius of Christianity. And having thus given to the charge a denial as strong and as positive as the courtesies of language will permit, may we venture to put two questions to the conductors of the Sun. Will they insert this our strong, but, we trust, temperate, denial in the columns of their paper, and thus afford to our defence a circulation co-extensive with that which they have already given to the accusation?—and may we also presume to inquire upon what passages in our pages they have grounded their charge? That we are Tory, we confess; not that we are pledged to uphold the opinions or defend the conduct of any particular set of men; but we are Tory in as far as Toryism consists in maintaining the principles of the British constitution, the sanctions of religion, and the authority of the word of God. That we have not scrupled to express our honest opinions against Popery, as essentially an ungodly and an unscriptural system as a system false in a religious, and dangerous in a political view— we are ready to admit ; but that ever an expression has escaped from our pen that justifies, in ever so remote a degree, the imputation that we passed the line that separates religious principle from religious animosity, and distinguishes zeal from sectarianism-that we ever transferred our hatred of a system to individuals, or our detestation of falsehood to its dupes, we utterly and totally deny. We are aware that it may not be usual for the conductors of a periodical such as ours at all to enter into controversy with the daily press; in many ways it is inconvenient-as a habit it would be impracticable. We have deviated from our own usage because we conceive the matter to which we have alluded of importance. We are very sure that these upon whose conduct we have commented, will receive our remarks as they are intended; we are under many obligations to them for the good opinion they have been more than once pleased to express of our literary labours; perhaps we could not give a more substantial proof of the value we set upon that good opinion, than by the pains we have taken to refute their accusation. There is much in the political history of the past month that demands attention, much that is cheering and animating, as it gives promise of the not very distant triumph of the sacred cause in which we have embarked. But before we allude to this-before we enter on the troubled and angry subjects o. politics, we trust we may be permitted to speak of those who are gone to a happier and a more peaceful world. Within the last month the episcopal and judicial benches have each lost one of their brightest ornaments-it is needless to say that we allude to the deaths of Judge Jebb, and the late lamented Bishop of Raphoe. Of Judge Jebb, personally, we knew nothing; but of his character as an upright and constitutional judge-as a scholar, and a man of genius, who is there in Ireland that has not heard? We know that slander, which never yet affixed even the breath of suspicion to his living fame, has come forth to drop its darkest venom on his grave; and we know that almost before that grave had closed upon his cold remains, the pen of the traducer had violated the sanctity of death, and insulted the feelings of surviving relatives, by the heartlessness of cool and deliberate untruth. There were times when worth and virtue might have looked forward to the cessation of animosity with their lives; but a new spirit is arisen-the bitterness of party now hunts down its victim to the tomb-the "virtutum incolumem odimus-sublatam quærimus" is no longer true, and the hostility which virtue provokes while living, appears to reserve its most malignant rancour for the memory of the dead. But the name of Judge Jebb will long be remembered with affection and esteem, at least so long as there is in Ireland respect for learning, admiration of genius, or esteem for worth. It is needless now to speculate upon the effect of the changes which the vacancy thus created may produce. Probably before these pages meet the eye of our readers, an appointment shall have set conjecture at rest. Mr. Crampton, Mr. Perrin, and Mr. O'Loghlen, are spoken of as likely to succeed; while some persons suppose that the ministry will take this opportunity of conveniently getting rid of Mr. Blackburne, whose honesty and integrity have sorely vexed them. We are no friends to Mr. Blackburne, or his politics, but we believe him to be an honest man, and there is not on record an instance of an AttorneyGeneral accepting the place of a puisne judge. Of Mr. Crampton we will say nothing. Indeed, of the persons at all likely to be appointed, we believe Mr. Perrin is the best. He did not, to be sure, show much discretion in abandoning a lucrative practice in his profession, to enter on the uncertain speculations of a political adventurer-a life for which he was not qualified either by his habits or his talents; however, of all the persons likely to obtain the vacant place, his appointment would give the most general satisfaction, and we believe that he would make the best judge. This much we conceive it but right to say of one to whom we are politically opposed, but whose personal integrity and professional attainments we respect. By the death of the last Protestant bishop of Raphoe, the income of another see has gone to swell the coffers of the church commissioners--we believe this is the fourth or fifth see that has fallen vacant since the bishop-exterminating bill was passed-we have been told that there is a probability that a portion of the revenues of Raphoe will find their way to the purposes for which the income of the suppressed bishoprics was destined-for it is a fact, which has been communicated to us upon good authority, that the revenues of all the bishoprics, which had previously fallen in, were not sufficient to cover the expenses of the places and posts created by the operation, perhaps we should say the administration of the act!! Of Dr. Bisset, the late bishop, we desire to say a few words. The memory of this truly Christian prelate will long be held in affectionate reverence by the people among whom he lived and the clergy over whom he ruled. Possessing in his disposition that which has been well termed "the milk of human kindness"-if he had a fault it was that he was too mild-and that he extended his charity to that point at which it becomes the amiable weakness of being too indulgent to the faults of others. We believe, we may safely say, that no man was ever more impartial or more disinterested in the disposal of his patronage-the giving away of livings he seemed to consider as part of the duties, not the emoluments, of the episcopal office; and he exercised this tremendous responsibility with a scrupulous regard to the rewarding of merit and the interests of religion. From the columns of the Evening Mail we take the following eloquent and just tribute to his memory— -a tribute which is honourable to our contemporary, because, until late events had united all good men in a steadfast opposition to an infidel revolution, his lordship was a favourer of what were generally termed liberal politics : "It is with deep regret that we convey to our readers the melancholy intelligence of the death of the Right Rev. Dr. Bisset, the late and last Protestant bishop of Raphoe. His lordship expired at the residence of his nephew, in Scotland, at the hereditary mansion of the family. This sad event will be deeply lamented by the clergy of the diocese, over whom, for a period of twelve years, he exercised a truly pastoral and paternal care. When the see of Dublin became vacant by the death of Archbishop Magee, the government offered to Dr. Bisset the vacant archiepiscopal dignity; but his lordship declined it, assigning as his reason the increasing and multiplying infirmities of age, and his anxious desire to end his days among the clergy whom he knew and loved. His lordship was known in the literary world by a life of Edmund Burke. His benevolence was unbounded, and his charity munificent ;when Raphoe was visited last spring by the awful disease that desolated so many towns and villages in the land, his lordship remained at the palace, and converted his offices into hospitals for the sick, whom he attended with his own hands, administering alike bodily and spiritual relief. His lordship was, we believe, in his 79th year-his best memorial will be in the remembrance of the people among whom he lived-his best epitaph in the veneration that will follow to the grave the philanthropist and the Christian. The patronage of the see devolves to Dr. Ponsonby, the Bishop of Derry, who, it is thought, will make his selection to reside at the palace in Raphoe, upon the improvement of which the late bishop had expended a considerable sum." And while we thus record the obituary of the great, we feel that we would not do justice to our feelings did we pass over in silence the death of one to whom though neither a judge nor a bishop, the literature of his country is yet deeply indebted-we mean the late John James M'Gregor, author of the History of the French Revolution. Mr. M'Gregor was a native of the city of Limerick; at the early age of nineteen he commenced his literary career as editor of a provincial paper, the Munster Telegraph. His great work on the French Revolution extends to twelve volumes, octavo; and we believe that it is only its size and costliness that have prevented it from attaining to the most extensive circulation. For truth and particularity of narration, beautifully connected by philosophical reasoning, we know of no history that excels it; while the moral to be drawn from that awful lesson of the wickedness of men's passions and the danger of democratic license is powerfully and constantly enforced. Mr. M'Gregor was attached to the connection of Methodists, and was for many years editor of the Primitive Wesleyan Magazine. He also gave to the world three volumes of a series of "True Stories from the History of Ireland," a series which he left incomplete of the last volume that appeared, we have already had occasion to express our editorial opinion. In the later years of his life he filled the office of literary assistant to the Kildare-street Education Society, a provision which was lost to his declining years by the abolition of the office, consequent on the withdrawal of the government grant. He died at Mountpleasant, near this city, with the Christian's trust and peace. He left behind him a character, the deserving of which should be the first object, as the attaining it is the highest boast, of all literary men-that he had never written a line which the sanctions of religion or the interests of morality would require him to alter or erase. : We beg to call the attention of the clergy, and of our readers in general, to the resolutions passed by the assembled clergy of the diocese of Limerick— resolutions which we regard as among the most important that have ever come before the public. We cannot yet forget the outcry that was raised by the Radical friends of the church!! on the rejection of Lord Althorp's, or, to speak more correctly, Mr. O'Connell's tithe bill, by the House of Lords; the government prints were filled with the most heartrending and pathetic accounts of the misery of that destitution into which the parson-starving peers and parsonstarving Orangemen (for these two bodies were universally united) had plunged the poor clergy, and a grand declaration of the clergy, headed by one Dean Burgh, (whose name, we think, we remember in some kind of connection with the education board of Drs. Murray and Sadlier,) was to give expression to the indignation of the oppressed and persecuted body. The case was simply this-the clergy were reduced to want by the withholding of their lawful claims; and the government of the king, whose sworn duty it is to enforce for them their full legal rights, take the rogue's advantages of their distress, and offer them three-fifths of their income!! This equitable and very just proposition the House of Lords rejected. Then came the question, would the suffering clergy approve of this? Might not present wants be so urgent as to make them glad to get anything, and induce them to sell their future interests, for a little present relief? As far as the clergy themselves were concerned, we believe that their distress was so urgent that they would have been glad to get the smallest instalment for their immediate and pressing necessities; but they were but trustees for their successors and their flocks, and duty prevented them from acceding to any such arrangement-and here we have the testimony of the clergy of Limerickmen upon whom, be it remembered, the withholding of their just rights pressed with the greatest severity, that they, for themselves thank the peers for having rejected the measure which would have given them present relief, but bartered for it the rights of their successors and of the church. In pledging themselves |