mediate and radical change in the whole order of things, when they beheld him raised to that elevated situation, in which he became enabled to direct the influence of the crown to the annihilation of every national abuse, and the admission of all his Majesty's Irish subjects to an indiscriminate participation of the rights of the constitution. The Irish are naturally sanguine in their expectations. They more confidently anticipated the benefits to arise out of these first (and they were the last) genuine acts of the Whig influence in the cabinet, than they reflected upon the probable effects of the partiality of the two other parts of that cabinet to the atrocious system, which they had so long and zealously co-operated in supporting. They reflected not upon the weight, number and perseverance of the individuals in the late forced coalition, to whom Lord Redesdale's weeping lamentations in the court of chancery applied; when he there proclaimed, that he had been given up and betrayed on the ground of that very conduct, which his treacherous friends had instructed and stimulated him to pursue. 1806. Whig ad tion. The private views and motives of individuals are State of the not open to historic scrutiny: but the combination, ministrasuccession and reciprocal bearings of broad facts cannot fail to produce conclusions in the mind of the impartial reader, faithfully corresponding with the spirit of the actors in the scenes exhibited to his view. The first feelings and expectations of the Irish mind on the late change of men pro 1806. mised also a change of measures and principles*. A generous credit was allowed for the sincerity, as a plenary confidence was felt in the purity of a Whig administration, of which Mr. Fox was considered the soul and efficient director. Then forcibly rushed upon the Irish mind the full reflection of the zeal, energy and perseverance, with which the Whigs had, when in opposition, pressed upon the legislature and the public the imperious necessity of abolishing the whole system of proscriptive division and religious ascendancy in Ireland. The natural result was a sanguine confidence, that now they had become masters of the influence of the crown, it would be instantly applied to that purpose. In this ebullition of Catholic expectancy, the triple coalition was formed of three component parts, to be known and judged of by their respective heads or leaders, Fox, Grenville and Sidmouth. The satellites moved uniformly within the orbits of their respective planets. Mr. Fox had invariably and unconditionally at all times spoken and acted for unqualified religious freedom, and a thorough reform of Irish abuse. Lord Grenville had for 17 years been the co-adviser and co-adjutor of Mr. Pitt in every measure of government in Ireland up to the Union: even after the accomplishment of that fatal measure, he had joined and re-echoed Mr. Pitt's unequivocal and unconditional Unlike to the change of the Pitt administration in 1801; which was merely of men and not of measures or principles. Vide what was most wisely said upon that subject by Earl Moira and Lord Holland, vol. i. p. 36. declarations of the necessity of Catholic emancipation, though he afterwards declared both in words and writing, that he had always meant it to be qualified, and fettered with such conditions and provisos, as would in fact render the concession inadmissible to the Catholic body. His Lordship however had the merit of resisting Mr. Pitt's repeated solicitations to return to power without having redeemed his (even qualified) pledge to the Catholics of Ireland. Lord Sidmouth was the boasted and pledged opponent to Catholic concession under every possible variation of political occurrence. The friends and co-operators of Lord Redesdale, the Attorney and Solicitor General, retained their situations and confidence: Mr. Alex. ander Marsden, the secret adviser and machinist to the late administrations, was not displaced. The whole of the Orange magistracy remained undisturbed in the commission of the peace. Even Major Sirr was still seen, as the tutelary guardian of the Castle-yard. No floating patronage was removed from any promoter of the late, to countenance or encourage the supporters of the new system. The name of Grattan, the friend and father of Irish liberty, was not seen on the list of changes, and Mr. Curran, the unvacillating asserter of Ireland's rights and freedom, remained nearly five months unpromoted. Mr. Hardy, and several gentlemen of tried virtue, and well deserving of their country, were left wholly unprovided for. And Mr. Elliott, the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, had long been an approved servant to former 1806. 1806. Ireland left to Mr. Pon sonby. administrations in Ireland, and was better known by his sympathies with the Orange societies, than with the proscribed body of Irish Catholics. own. The encreasing difficulties in negociating a peace, and the declining state of Mr. Fox's health prevented his personal attention to the affairs of Ireland. He had procured Lord Redesdale's instant removal in a very marked manner, and his unsuspecting mind was satisfied, that by having placed Mr. Ponsonby in that important situation, he had put the affairs of Ireland under the advice and controul of a gentleman, whose principles and policy towards her were in perfect unison with his The arrangements for carrying on the Irish government under the Duke of Bedford threw the whole management and patronage substantially under the influence of Mr. Ponsonby. The country at that moment unquestionably required not only a government of efficient energy, but a government, which commanded the plenary and practical confidence of its predominant population. The Irish quickly seize and strongly retain prejudices for or against public characters, as they have experienced their support or opposition to their national interests. Their judgment is generally just: their memory and tradition faithful. The multitude seldom, if ever, come into contact with their real governor they take his spirit and conduct from the actions of those, who are deputed to bring the administration and execution of the laws home to their own doors. If within the boundaries of their respective districts an uniformity of system still prevail, what boots the change to them, whether a Russell or a Camden rule? Whether the Orange magistrate oppress them by an original commission under one Chancellor, or by the continuance or renewal of it under another. The fact was, that the Irish Catholics, making unquestionably five millions of the actual population of the country, when the Bedford administration was appointed, confidently looked up to the adoption of those measures, which the leading members of it, had, (when out of place) so warmly advocated. They were, however, quickly and unaccountably checked in their fond expectancies by their inability to perceive any other change in the Irish government, than that of the Viceroy and Chancellor. Their public conduct in attempting to forward their own cause brings forth in a very strong point of view the real system of the Bedford administration in Ireland, and much of the Grenville administration in England. 1806. Catholic In the year 1804, Mr. James Ryan, a young Attempts gentleman, well connected in the mercantile inte- to lead the rest in Dublin exhibited more than ordinary zeal cause. for the promotion of the Catholic cause. He inhabited a large house in Marlborough-street, to which he invited such Catholics, as were disposed to co-operate with him in the same object, to meet and consult upon the common cause. The rigorous conduct of government towards the Catholics after the explosion in July, 1803, prevented any public meetings of the Catholic body upon the subject of their emancipation. No persons then |