up; when the voice of the Press was silenced, the thunder of artillery was heard; when opinion was pent up, it fulminated in powder, and uttered its conclusions in most incontrovertible bullets.

Here in England all such extremities are avoided by the docility of the Parliamentary majority, which, by surrendering the rights of the people, and giving tyranny the sanction of statute law, prevents any conflict between an arbitrary executive and an indignant nation. being betrayed, is exceeding great. Swift blames ladies who suffer the fate of Lucretia, saying,

66

The convenience of

Why are they so wilful to struggle with men!" The yielding of our patriots, our trusty delegates, saves our Constitution from any Polignac violation. The legitimate ceremonies are always performed. The Tories throw no obstacles in the way of the game they love-they are obliging panders; they love the vice so well, that they have a prurient pleasure in helping even a rival to it. They play Mephistopheles to the Whig Faust. Alas, poor Margaret! The odds are many against virtue. The apostate is seconded by the enemy of mankind in every act of vice.

There is always a class of persons-" those good souls whose credulous morality (observes Burke) is so invaluable a treasure to crafty politicians"— who are ready to take personal security for public liberty. With these men the Constitution is the composition of the Cabinet. They have confidence

in Ministers. The Vizier will do no wrong. Grey

is great!

Ministers will not abuse their power, Lord Grey at Whitehall will not act tyrannically under this Bill. Probably not. But how will they act in Ireland whom the Bashaw empowers to act? That is the question. The malignity of the tyranny is in the petty agents. The whole force of it descends to men new to authority, and who will make the possession of it a saturnalia to indemnify them for their customary constraints and denials. What controul can be exercised over these small depositaries of great powers? What cognizance can be had of their actions? The omnipotence of the Viceroy is unaccompanied with omniscience. He conveys powers which he has no means of guiding. It is his function to say of the trailers of sabres and smokers of cigars, the idle, thoughtless soldiery, whose heads wear the feather, and whose heel the iron-light of judgment, but of heavy and galling foot in oppression-to this band of the sword and the tinsel, whose business is violence, and whose leisure is trifling-tool and toy-idlers when not employed in the curse of mankind—proverbs of carelessness, transcendent gallants, gay harumscarum scatter-brained fellows-to these, we say, it is the sublime attribute of the Viceroy to pronounce the word, LET THEM BE JUDGES AND THEY ARE JUDGES! Such is the omnipotence derivable from Parliament; and with equal ease and effect

the same voice might be empowered to say to the Judges on the bench,-" Let them be Generals of Division," and they would be Generals of Division; or "Let the Lord High Chancellor be Lord High Admiral," and he would be Lord High Admiral. So wonderful are the powers of Parliament! Should our navy ever again be disorganized by mutiny, should the sailors, wanting confidence in the skill and good intentions of their officers, refuse obedience, we are now furnished with a rule for the suppression of rebellion, and the restoration of order and discipline :-lawyers should by analogy be appointed to the command of ships, barristers of two years' standing, men not unaccustomed to handle a scull between London and Richmond. Should the army be ever in the same ineffective state, as one turn deserves another, the judges who now give place to ensigns may then take their commands, for surely it cannot be contended that there is more of preparation and skill necessary for soldiery than for judgment. Were lawyers, upon proclamation by Lord Brougham of disturbed squadrons, to supersede captains in the command of ships, we might not suspect the Ministry of any intention to abuse their powers to the destruction of the navy, and yet entertain a very rational expectation that ships would be cast away. We might believe that the Admiralty would not approve of any improper orders, and yet tremble for the lives of men tossing about in the Bay of

Biscay under a wigged and gowned skipper. He is told to command according to Hamilton Moore; but Hamilton Moore is not so easily learnt and administered as the statutes at large are now supposed to be.

THE CASE MADE OUR OWN.*

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT, DUBLIN. HOUSE OF COMMONS. DISTURBANCES (ENGLISH) BILL.

MR BLENNERHASSET, Secretary for the affairs of England, moved the first reading of the Suppression of Disturbance Bill for England. He expressed his deep regret at the necessity which compelled him to propose a measure of this arbitrary kind, but said, it was uncontrollable; and that he had never greater confidence in any thing in his life than in his ability to convince the House of the expediency of this Bill-confugiendum est ad imperium. The melancholy state of England was unhappily a matter of too much notoriety, not only in the United Kingdoms, but throughout the civilized world. All Europe was shocked by its crimes; it had arrived at a state of unparalleled demoralization: truth, probity, justice, humanity, nay, reason,

* Ministers had endeavoured to prove the necessity for the Coercion Bill, by citing particular acts of outrage and enormity.

nued, with much emotion,-It cannot surprise me that Irishmen, to whose minds deeds of blood are strange, should shudder and thrill with horror at this hideous, but too accurate picture; but more remained to freeze the blood, and make the hair to stand on end like quills upon the fretful porcupine. The poem continued

Spirit of Burke ! whose belligerent fury

Halloed earth's bloodhounds to rapine and ruin;
Spirit of Burke-Burke the Second-whose fury
Doom'd thee to death scarce for darker misdoing!
Where'er you are lurking,

Behold but the Burking

That's now going onward in every quarter!
See poor Constitution

'Neath fell Revolution,

Pitch-plaster'd and pinion'd, prepared for the slaughter.

The Constitution of England had indeed long been defunct, and the proposed Bill was only intended to protect its corpse from the hideous abuses of crime and science. He had other papers in his hand, which showed the prevalent opinion, that the trade in a certain article of food, which constitutes a part of the favourite food of the people of England, was driven in human flesh (loud groans.)

Mr Thomson called out-" Read, read! Name, name, name!"

Mr Blennerhassett continued-The papers were ballads, which he deemed of the very highest authority; for as they were written and sung for the