and muddy lanes, and dotted with hovels. One of the tenants was asked by an acquaintance, "Why Ned, what did you mean by undertaking so many acres, at such a rent?" We shall not offend the pious ear, by repeating his familiar oath, but his laconic reply, and significant wink, form no bad key to the history of Ireland. “ Why man, is'nt it easier any day to get an abatement than to get land?" Ned will pay his enormous rent for a year or two, honestly, provided the agent and his bailiffs keep a close watch upon his spontaneously luxuriant crops. But when three years have thoroughly exhausted the native fertility of the land; and when, without skill or capital to restore it, every resource is taxed, not to pay the rent, which were impracticable, but "to force a stubborn soil for scanty bread," who will dare to eject him? or if ejected, who will dare to enter upon his dilapidated premises? The landlord must be content to let so much of his land lie waste and unproductive, harbouring Ned and his family in estated idleness; fit tools for Jesuit priests and revolutionising demagogues corrupting his other tenantry, and damaging his other property, or he must forcibly seize upon, and soon fling it from him, as a firebrand to inflame the country. Such spots have often festered into Ireland's worst sores.

We said, just now, that for an obvious mercantile reason, quite distinct from any religious bias, namely, their possessing a large stock of disposable labour, the system which we have proposed, would cause a decided preference, among men of all creeds-or none, for Protestant labourers; and thus, that it would materially check the awful torrent of Protestant emigration, which is desolating this land of its stamina and luxuriance; to fertilize, with them, the wilds of America, or the sands of New Holland. But, as this effect of the proposed system developes itself, we think that we see some of the most timid gentry, in whom, even experience has not dispelled the delusive hope of peace and safety, from compromise of principle, and prostration of independence, upon which their fears laid hold; we see them shrug their shoulders, and ask, "what will the Roman Catholics think of all this?" We answer, "No matter what they think of it. Dare to be men. If you will not

ascend, with many, blessed be God, in the present day, to the more elevated platform of uncompromising and ennobling Christianity: dare to be, at least, what your fathers were, men of high sensitive honor, and manly firmness. Men who would rather die in the harness of a volunteer corps, or quench, with their blood, the flames of their desolated hearths and altars, than immolate every principle of honor and religion, upon the shrine-not even of mob popularity, but of mob insolence-than debase themselves to the dust, by cringing to, and kissing the rod of a priest, who has scourged and trampled upon them

than be escorted, for protection, to the fox-cover, by a priest, who has raised, and on due submission condescends to lay, the tempest of popular indignation, which we never could have excited, until they became consenting parties to their own degradation; and who, with a half-suppressed sneer of scorn, would parade these "lords of the soil" over their hereditary estates, as his grateful protegés; to the contempt and scorn of their very menials and tenantry. We speak but facts of newspaper notoriety.

But, with this protest for principle and honor, we answer to your question, that the Roman Catholics will respect you for looking after your own; which, we contend, is a strong feeling amongst them. And, if you cannot appreciate, fully, the security to comfort, property, and life, derivable from being constantly surrounded by those who are identified with you in sympathies and interests, in friends and enemies, in weal and woe,-you will, we assert it, throw around you the shield of moral veneration, which will give you value, and consequent security to your life, even in the estimate of your enemies. Why is the murder of an unpopular king, an odious minister, a zealous partizan, or a respectable gentleman, of so rare occurrence; while there is scarcely a fair, a funeral, or a holiday, when some one of the "ignoble peers”—I speak it not in contempt, but to state my argument-is not offered up, by his friends, in sacrifice to Moloch? Why? Because character clothes the one in the armour of a superstitious awe, against which the rabble may gnash their teeth but shrink from rude collision. While the other is vile and of no estimation. The worthless comrade

of to-day, is, in a squabble, knocked on the head to-morrow. His place, in the social or domestic scene, knows him no more. And after the funeral, which has supplied the neighbours with the carousal of another wake, and the riot of another burying, he is less thought of, by friends or family, than would the pig which was to pay his rent, had it been stolen, or met with some fatal accident. In a word, the frequency of murder is, everywhere, inversely, as the estimated value of a human life. And, now, assassination, through the abundance of competitors, is the worst paid trade amongst us. The archives of our courts of justice have registered the fact, or rather, that half a crown is the purchase money of a human life. And why? Because in these days of compromise and expediency; of prostrate principle and tainted honor; of emancipation and reform; among the teeming moral embryos of the human family, with which the land swarms, it were difficult to find a man! As it respected my personal safety, I should much rather, not only that I were feared, but were hated, by an enemy, rather than despised.

And is there no risk to property, in a system, which places flocks and herds, and golden harvests, at the absolute disposal of a priest, who well knows, and is not slow to avail himself, of the power, which this confers? Have we not seen meadows rot, and corn shed, and the herds, with bursting udders, lowing piteously for relief, which could be purchased from the tender mercies of a priestly demagogue, but by a sacrifice of principle and independence? It were scarcely wise to leave a dangerous weapon in the hand of an enemy, who did already, and, assuredly will again, use it to your injury; because the sure process of disarming him, disturbed a false and treacherous peace, and anticipated some small portion of otherwise certain future annoyance. The Romish Church has, indeed, only partially felt the pulse of the country. But it has fully ascertained the revenue of power, over our country gentlemen, to be derived, from first prohibiting, then sanctioning, by a conditional indulgence, their agricultural occupations and field sports. Full-grown Popery has ever been a relentless tyrant. The time of her maturity is fast approaching. And when her claws have fully grown,

and she is prepared to spring upon her prey, which, with lynx-eyed vigilance, she has scanned and measured; we may expect to see the labour-market transferred from the outer court of the chapel to the sanctuary; and from the Sabbath noon to the vespers, and saints' days, of Popish idolatry. We may see the time, when a heretic landlord must qualify at the font, to render himself worthy of the services of a Popish labourer. And when, in some critical emergency, he may have to make his option between poverty and poperybetween temporal and eternal ruin.

It should not, however, in justice to the plan here proposed, be, for a moment, thought, that it, necessarily, implies, that its subjects should be Protestants. By no means. We confess, indeed, that we should far prefer that they were such. But we deny that it is at all necessary. If any proprietor, or farmer of land, prefers, or is pledged to, Roman Catholic labourers, we assert that every argument advanced, in its degree, applies to them, and proves the plan proposed to be better than the present one, for their management also. But if any Protestant landlord is disposed to adopt it, as the nucleus of a Protestant colony; he will find it peculiarly calculated to effect this object, permanently, and without furnishing any reasonable cause of excuse; on account of its gradual operation, and preparatory discipline.

At the very outset, such a man will exclaim, "where are the Protestants to be got? We see around us Roman Catholic labourers in abundance, from whom we might select; but where are we to find even without selecting, the requisite number of Protestants?" We might answer, procure them from Scotlandfrom the North of Ireland-from “ultima Thulé," from any distance, and with any trouble; and if you agree with us, as to the state and prospects of Ireland, and their cause, you will think the end worthy of the means-such “labourer worthy of his hire." But this is unnecessary. Communicate your plan to the Protestant clergy, of your own, and of the neighbouring parishes; and you will, soon, have an ample list of names, and characters, and other necessary details, from which to make your selection. But are there, indeed, in your immediate neighbourhood, and among the very labourers whom you

occasionally employ, no Protestants
neglected and unknown? Look more
closely. It is wonderful how Protest-
ant individuals-aye, and Protestant
congregations too, when sought after,
emerge from the rubbish of Popery,
and start into view, in places, where
their existence was not previously
dreamed of. The eye that but searches
them out, seems as though it created
them. If you observe, among your
labourers, a man who appears as if he
had known better days; and rather to
have been reduced to, than originally
on a level with those around him-with
some lingering traces of the aristocracy
of feeling, civil and religious, still visi-
ble in his downcast countenance-his
general appearance-decency in rags
-a man, who, if his pastor be negli-
gent, is seldom, indeed, seen at his
parish church; because his profession
of your religion, and that of the State,
draws upon him persecution and con-
tempt-a man, apparently, ill at ease in
heart or conscience; and as if balanc-
ing between emigration and apostacy,
Enquire more diligently about this man,
and you may
find in him the seeds, when
fostered and developed, of a manly,
loyal, and faithful dependent. Enquire,
too, among the tenantry of any liberal
Protestant in your neighbourhood, and
you will sometimes hear of a decent
Protestant family, which has sold its
little all, and is on the wing for Ame-
rica, with its capital and industry; not
because it feels no pang at parting from
each hill and dale, each rock and tree,

Which embosom the bower,
Where the home of its forefathers stood,

but because it can no longer bear up against the grinding despotism of Popery, leagued with the discourage ment of liberal Protestantism; which, at whatever expense of principle, would escape the condemnation of mob county regulators, as they are pleased to style themselves, for the heavy crime of patronising industry, loyalty, and sometimes genuine piety, in the person of a Protestant.

But if you would draw from the fountain, go to the nearest sea-port; and there see the ruptured artery, through which, the heart's blood of Ireland is fast flowing. There see the only specimens which Ireland ever furnished of a respectable yeomanry, such as England, in her best days, might

And see

have been proud to own. them, bowing before the spirit of the times, and with mingled feelings, of tender regret, and burning indignation, bidding a final adieu to her devoted shores. There see, at once, the effects of conciliation, and a fruitful source of the miseries of Ireland; for there

See the rural virtues leave the land, Down where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail,

That idly waiting flaps with every gale,
Downward they move, a melancholy band,
Pass from the shore, and darken all the strand.
Contented toil, and hospitable care,
And kind connubial tenderness, are there;
And piety with wishes placed above,
And steady loyalty, and faithful love.

The sum of Protestant emigration, within the last five years, it were almost impossible to state fully, and if so stated, would not be credited. It is not from this or that neighbourhood alone. Panic and disgust have seized upon the Protestant yeomanry, throughout Ireland. The country is not bleeding merely ; it is sweating blood. Protestant emigration is checked but by one argument,

66

we are not yet ready." We have before us a list of THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE names of Protestants, who lately emigrated, almost in a body, from a circle not exceeding five miles in diameter, and from one of the most Popish and turbulent counties in Ireland-Tipperary. They have abandoned to the evil genius of the land, the neat cottages, and smiling enclosures, of a once thriving Protestant colony. Numbers from adjoining districts

from Templemore, from Clojordan, from Rathdowney, from Kilcooly, &c., have also fled for their lives, and more are preparing to follow. The Palatines are all quitting the country. A gallant and loyal officer, while on duty lately with his regiment, in the neighbourhood of Adare, where are still the expiring remains of a Palatine colony, passed on the road a peasant, with a manly but discontented countenance. He said to a brother officer," That man is of German extraction, I know his light hair and blue eye." The question was put, and answered in the affirmative. He was asked, "whether there were many of his countrymen in the neighbourhood?" He answered with honest indignation, "Not now, and there will shortly be fewer! This is not a land for Protestants!"

At our sea-ports then you will find Protestants of every grade-labourers,

sick exiles" will gladly stop, in answer to your call, and hail it as the dawning of a brighter day for their illfated country. Protect and cherish them. Substitute them every where, as opportunity offers, for the uncivilized horde with which you are now encircled, but which are connected with you by no moral tie. Whose Proteus characters, totally devoid of truth and gratitudefor the latter of which, their language has never been taxed even for a name -no kindness can win, and no principles can fix. And who are, therefore, even prepared, as the times vary, to be abject slaves, or insolent tyrants.

In what we said above, as to the obligation on landlords to provide for their cottier tenants, we would not be misunderstood. In the relation of landlord and tenant, as in every other relation, there is, of course, a reciprocity of obligation. The landlord can be bound to the tenant by no tie, beyond what his legal bonds furnish, unless where the tenant identifies himself with his interests. If the latter practically evince that he has another, and a rival master, with interests diametrically opposite: if he candidly avow, that at the bidding of a priest, he would rise in rebellious arms, to further a secular cause, which can stand but upon the ruin of his landlord's interests which would eject him from his property, and rob him of his life-then, doubtless, his lease accurately defines all that such a man can claim, or reasonably expect, from his landlord-except, indeed, every effort in his power, to let in light upon his gross darkness, and to promote his spiritual good.

We have stated, what we believe to be, one of the mediate and instrumental causes of the moral debasement, the insubordination, and the wretchedness of Ireland. The final cause is the laxity of principle, the compromising expediency, the griping covetousness, the religious indifference-in a word-the ungodliness of nominal Protestantism. The radical reform, therefore, which we would propose for the consideration and adoption of Protestants, is-Godliness. "Let God arise, and his enemies shall be scattered, and all they that hate him shall flee before him." In the topical remedy proposed for the proximate cause to which we have more particularly referred, we have merely

of those who are more conversant with the practical part of such matters than we are, whose rural excursions, it may be supposed, are confined to College parks and academic groves. The plan which we have suggested, will, perhaps, be attended with some trouble in its execution; though by no means such as indolence and timidity would conjure up. But if any plan for the moral improvement-nay, we must say, moral regeneration, of a people, can be devised, free from trouble, let it be preferred. It will, we have no doubt, admit of many modifications and improvements in its detail, suggested by practical experience, or required by local circumstances. To these we freely submit it. The principle, alone, we contend for, and it is this, that landlords, and farmers generally, should avoid, as far as is practicable, the creating, or continuing to maintain, a body of men with the usual appendage of wives and children, over which they can exercise no moral controul; and with whose characters, and even persons, they are for the most part, unacquainted. A body, too, which bears within it a tendency to increase beyond its means of subsistence. Whose daily resources are but barely sufficient for its daily wants, and which, thus, lives, as it were, daily upon the confines of destitution and consequent anarchy. A body selftrained, and therefore trained by ignorance and idleness. And that for such should be substituted a body of labourers, over whom they can exercise a training discipline, a vigilant superintendance, a powerful moral, and in many cases, religious influence. With the certainty of detection and punishment, to deter them from crime-with the necessaries and comforts of life assured to them, to remove much temptation to crime, and to carry them cheerfully through their duties. And with the prospect of advancement and reward, comfortable independence, and domestic enjoyment, to stimulate them to active and intelligent industry-to temperance, frugality, and virtue.

We need scarcely to repeat, with the qualification already mentioned, that no landlord would be justified in adopting this plan, whose estate swarms with cottiers, who exist but by his employment, and who are faithful to his interests-in his neighbourhood and