They cannot long resist it; but they sometimes try to excite and to guide it. The more informed the community becomes, such undue influence will be the less powerful; and the better the constitution of Parliament is made, the worse will be the chance of other leaders than their representatives directing the energies of the people.

Before concluding these reflections, we must take notice of an objection which has been frequently urged against cheap literature. It is said to be interfering with the production of works of a higher description. A little reflection must show that this is quite impossible, except in one way-and to this exception we shall confine our attention for the present, intending on another occasion to enter more at large into the general question, on account of its importance, rather than of any doubt or difficulty which cau be said to attend it. The only injury which cheap publications can do to the productions of genius is by plagiarism; in short, by interfering with the rights of property. We do not believe that they have been guilty of this great offence; but undoubtedly they who conduct them are exposed to the temptation of committing it, and may often yield to this temptation without perceiving the injury they are doing to others. It is only necessary to throw out this hint, we should think, in order to put well-meaning publishers on their guard; and we should hope that against those of another description the Law will be found sufficiently strong.

ART. XI.-1. Ireland, a Tale, by HARRIET MARTINEAU. 12mo. London: 1832.

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2. Speech of the Right Hon. Sir R. PEEL, on the Bill for Suppressing Disturbances in Ireland. 8vo. London: 1833. 3. Speech of the Right Hon. E. G. STANLEY, on the Bill for Suppressing Disturbances in Ireland. 8vo. London: 1833. 4. Speech of the Right Hon. SPRING RICE on the Repeal of the Union. 8vo. London: 1833.

T is with feelings of the deepest regret and disappointment that we find ourselves once more engaged in writing an article upon the State of Ireland. Let not our Hibernian friends and readers consider this admission to be founded upon any want of sympathy for them, or upon any disrespect towards their country. We can assure them, in all sincerity and singleness of heart, that from the day of passing the Relief Bill, we had hoped a separate disquisition upon Ireland would have become as absurd and as unnecessary as an essay upon the

separate interests of the Vale of Aylesbury or of the Isle of Thanet. So long as we considered Ireland the victim of oppression and of intolerance, the pages of this journal were devoted to her cause and to her wrongs; and no effort of ours has been omitted that could bring before the public a practical view of her condition, physical, moral, and political. We pride ourselves peculiarly on one claim to public attention; our observations have ever been of a practical nature, and not only intended but calculated to suggest the remedy, in describing the evil-to excite to the discharge of duty on the part of the legislature, on the part of communities, and of individuals, rather than to exasperate angry passions, and to create useless discontent. We had fondly hoped, that with the reign of intolerance and injustice, our occupation as Reviewers of high grievances would have been gone. We have resisted manifold and great temptations presented to us by Mr Sadler and others, and have neither nibbled nor bit at the light summer fly of the pamphleteer, or at the heavy bait of the report of a Parliamentary Committee, believing that a full reliance might be placed upon the natural progress of knowledge, the extension of good principles, and of national prosperity. We had hoped that we should at length see Ireland all that her poets and orators have told us, in describing all that she is and that she is not. We must confess, that, in many important particulars, our expectations have been grievously disappointed. In many respects the condition of Ireland has not improved, in some it has retrograded; and if our views were confined within the narrow limits of the present, -if we did not think that, as intelligent and responsible beings, we are also bound to consider the future, we should sink in discouragement, if not in despair.

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Our Tory friends must not misconstrue these observations. If Catholic Emancipation has not as yet produced the tranquillity, the cessation of civil strife, and the respect for the laws, which had been anticipated as its consequences, no reasonable man ought on that account to raise a doubt respecting the wisdom and the necessity of that great measure. was just, and therefore it was expedient. However great 'my disappointment,' observed Sir Robert Peel in the last session, and however I may have suffered personally by the course I then pursued, even with my present experience, were I again called upon to decide, my judgment would remain unchanged.' There are some weak or inconsiderate persons, who, after supporting the Relief Bill, now express their regret at its success. Do they not know that this regret is unavailing? Do they not know that the word which has gone forth cannot be

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recalled that there is no retreat—and that to sigh for the glories of Dr Duigenan, and the protection and safety of the Penal Code, is but to imitate the sorrow of a twice-wedded matron who destroys the peace of her home by lamentation loud and deep, in honour of her dear first husband. It is not upon these grounds that we should wish our opinions to rest. Nulla vestigia retrorsum, it is true; but if the road were as broad and smooth as Macadam could make it-if the rate of travelling were as rapid as that upon the Manchester Railway, it appears to us impossible, except from the most complete want of understanding or deficiency of principle, that any man can wish to reverse his course. Turbulence we have to encounter, it is true-insubordination still exists-the agitators still carry on their wicked crusadebut do their grievances continue the same? Do they possess the same means of uniting the Roman Catholic body, and of dividing the Protestants which formerly existed? Is there the same sympathy felt for their struggles? Formerly they stood as warriors engaged in a noble and honourable conflict; now they are but as gladiators who beat the air. There is no one evil in the present system which in our minds would not have been infinitely greater, had Emancipation been refused or delayed; and many of the greatest dangers which existed under the former state of things, if not wholly removed, have at least been greatly diminished. Discontent still exists, and is loud in its clamours-but the greatest of all grievances, religious intolerance, has ceased. To say that the last state of Ireland is worse than the first, is to imagine that a lever can be as powerful without as with a ful

crum.

It is important to follow up these observations further, for we are well aware how industriously circulated has been the sophism which attributes the present state of Ireland to Catholic Emancipation. We are well aware with what adroitness this sophism has been applied to other questions. Observe the consequences of overthrowing the bulwarks of the constitution,' exclaims the Tory. Profit by the example given you in yielding to 'intimidation,' observes the Waverer. Avoid all great and 'sudden changes, as bringing with them frightful calamities,' whispers the moderate Reformer. We, on the contrary, say,profit by this great lesson, avoid injustice, dread the refusal of just claims, do not allow the hearts of nations to sicken in deferred hope. Grant wisely, but grant generously; above all, when called upon to concede, let concession be made upon just principles; and do not refuse to reason and justice what you must be compelled to yield to an overwhelming necessity. It has been truly said, that one of the highest characteristics of reveal

ed religion is the control and responsibility which it affixes to human motives. Even in practical politics, the declared motives of the statesman inevitably affect the consequences of his act. The government, and still more, the legislature of a country, to be respected, should always maintain an honourable superiority; and where a concession is made reluctantly upon false principles, it loses all its grace, and many of its beneficial consequences. The lamp may be in our hand, but it will have lost its magical power. Emancipation was carried, not as an act of justice, or even of liberality,-it was allowed to pass as a triumph; -the agitators and orators being placed in the car, and the members of the Duke of Wellington's Government following the chariot wheels as bondsmen. Is it surprising that such an event should have turned the heads even of that most calm and judicious class of men who guided the councils of the Catholic Association? Is it wonderful that they should be elated in having thus conquered the conqueror of Europe? This error we believe to have been the great source of mischief. The false principle, and the low and secondary arguments on which the Relief Bill of 1829 was founded and recommended, have gone far towards neutralizing the immediate benefits of Emancipation. But fortunately these sources of evil are but transitory and evanescent. The principles of justice on the contrary are eternal. When the errors and blunders of 1829 are forgotten, the triumph of justice and toleration, in freeing the consciences of men from any restraints but those of duty, will be complete; and the seed which has been cast in the ground, and which as yet scarcely seems to vegetate, will bring forth an abundant harvest.

It is also but an act of justice to state, that the friends of Emancipation were never such political quacks as to suggest or to hope, that all that intolerance had, during a century and a half, effected, toleration could in one session repair. It is always more easy to destroy than to build up; and whilst the powers of mischief are rapid and infinite, the work of restoration and of remedy is slow and difficult. We could readily refer to the speeches of Mr Fox, Lord Grey, Lord Holland, and Lord Lansdowne, in confirmation of this statement-but are not all these things written in the chronicles of the Parliamentary Reporter? We should almost fear to be guilty of a breach of privilege, were we to fill our pages from the speeches of former debates. During the last two years, nearly half the debates in the House of Commons have been made up of idle references to former discussions; and many of our orators, like the Gouls and Afrits of the Arabian Legends, seem to have no appetite but for the exhumed carcasses of the departed.

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Our object, in making these observations, has been to guard ourselves and our readers from the misconception that we doubt the justice, the policy, or the ultimate advantages of Emancipation, because we feel it to be our duty to proceed to give our opinion upon the present state of Ireland, the evils which oppress her, and the remedies upon which she can rely for protection and safety.

In the first article of this Number, we have introduced to the notice of our readers the very able and instructive series of Tales published by Miss Martineau. We then reserved for future and separate consideration her tract on Ireland. We did so, not from any peculiarity or superiority which distinguishes it, but because we felt that we could not touch upon the state of Ireland generally, without throwing the fair authoress so far into the background as to expose our gallantry to some suspicion. In this tract are to be found many of the characteristics of Miss Martineau's other publications;—an adherence to her general principles, carried, perhaps, too far,-great distinctness and power in enunciating them, a singular facility, by a few touches, of sketching the features and attitudes of her dramatis personce, or rather of cutting their portraits into copper, like Salvator Rosa in his etchings,and at times the bursts of unaffected sensibility so peculiarly feminine, and which combine rather than contrast with the severity of some of her doctrines. Still, though this tale is very able, yet, taken on the whole, it is not attractive. It appears to us to deal too much in shadows; and where a light is thrown in, it is rather that of a torch, or of an explosion, than of the noonday sun. During the reign of Mrs Radcliffe ani of Udolpho, it was said by a French critic of his countrywomen, elles ont quittés les rubans rosés pour les idées noires.' As far as the choice of trimmings, we are perfectly willing to leave Miss Martineau to her own taste; but we cannot help thinking that if she were to deal less exclusively than she does in 'les idées noires,' her works would lose nothing in truth, and would gain much in practical utility. When we follow her through that course of philosophical enquiry which more frequently leads her to analyze evils than to discuss remedies, we sink disheartened, and are tempted to ask the authoressHast thou wandered there

To bring us back the tidings of despair?'

There is not a sufficient encouragement held out to the performance of active duty; the reward which society holds out in the results of its own improvement is underrated; the power of enlightened benevolence is circumscribed; and hope is repre