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STATE OF IRELAND.

AMONGST those writers who have displayed the greatest animosityto the Catholic cause, it has been very common to throw reproach upon the unfortunate inhabitants of Ireland, because of their poverty and wretchedness; but surely nothing can be so repugnant to humanity and common sense as an accusation so cruel in its nature. Independent of this consideration, however, is it to be admitted as an argument, that, because a people are the victims of penury and woe, because their circumstances are gloomy, and their minds veiled in the darkness of ignorance, the benefits of common rights and privileges, the advantages of enlightened intercourse, the noble impulse which arises from example, and the emulative principle which education creates in the breast, are to be denied to them? We are convinced that the deductions which will be drawn from a contemplation of the domestic state of Ireland, will be exactly the opposite of such a conclusion; and it is under the influence of such an impression that we lay before our English readers. some few sketches illustrative of the misery which at present fetters the native genius of the inhabitants of the sister kingdom, and cramps that talent which, under happier auspices, would corruscate with astonishing splendor, and occupy a first rank in the list of fame.

In the county of Kilkenny, the peasants are miserably lodged, numbers of them not being able to boast of the possession of a bedstead, even of the meanest appearance; the only bed which they occupy is a wad of straw, or heath, laid on a damp floor; their covering principally consists of the habiliments which formed their dress during the day, and these are frequently drenched and soddened by the heavy rains to which they have been exposed. The thatch of their humble cabins is also incompetent to the task of affording shelter; heavy rains continually forcing their way through the inadequate protection, and finding their path down on the beds of the miserable tenants, car rying with them all the sooty substance which has acccumulated from the smoke of the cabin. In Cavan, the appearance of the country is still more afflictive, since it displays a degree of mental ignorance, compared with which bodily degradation is of little consequence. Here the wealthiest inhabitants of the mountains herd with their hogs and domestic animals; one mess of straw serves for the common bed; and the reason of the human inhabitants

of the cabin seems to be reduced to a level with the instinct of the irrational species. Yet, in this wretched state, amidst all the dross of ignorance, the gleams of amiable dispositions and endearing manners are frequently conspicuous. Their fidelity and ardour in friendship, their hospi tality to strangers, their gratitude for favors, and their desire of information, are traits in their character, which are rendered still more bright from the clouds of superstition and illiteracy by which they are surrounded. In the Queen's County, Monaghan, and Derry, the same ab ject state of wretchedness is evident. The hovels of the poor peasantry consist of four mud walls, with a single en trance, and frequently destitute of either a window or chimney. The rental of these cabins is from one to two guineas per annum, and the expense of building one of them is stated at about £8. To each cabin about an acre of land is attached, which is cropped alternately with oats and potatoes, with flax interspered; the two former supply the family with their food, while the latter is spun into linen by the females. With the surplus of the food a pig is fattened, which is sold to pay the rent of the hut.

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Arriving to the next class of society, we see a peasant renting a small farm, at from eight to ten guineas a-year, which gives him the means of keeping a dairy; yet in the still higher classes of farmers, whose rent amounts to three or four hundred a-year, we see the same exterior marks of poverty, as their habitations are not in the least degree superior to those of the labouring classes in this country. Here we see no appearances of sheds, offices, stabling, fenced rick-yards, and such other conveniences as are appended to an English farm of similar extent. Giraldus De Barri gives a melancholy, but we consider it an unjust, character of Irishmen." Alone given up to ease; Alone abandoned to sloth, they think it the greatest delight to be free from labour; they think it the greatest opulence to enjoy their liberty. We are of opinion, however, and that from the result of long experience, and the concurrent testimonies of others still more deeply read in human nature than ourselves, that it is to the existence of middle-men, (of whom we spoke more extensively in our last Number,) that we must attribute the cramped civilization of the people of Ireland, and to the continued and depressing system of exclusion upon which this country has uniformly acted. Under such galling oppression, under such virtual prescription, how is it possible that the genius of a nation can extricate itself from obscurity, that the

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powers of a people can display themselves? For these se veral centuries, refinement, arts, and science, have been completely at a stand in Ireland; and how, indeed, can it be otherwise, when every act of our government tends to check their progress. Would we wish to see the Irish a happy people would we seek to behold them making rapid advances in civilization, and clothing the virtues of their nature in a suitable garb,-would we mark the growth of their national prosperity, and view them rising high in the scale of national respect, we must stretch out the hand of friendship to them, and admit them to an equality of freedom religious and civil; we must look upon them, not as, barbarians and Hottentots, but consider them as our fellowsubjects, as our brethren by adoption, as members of one community, and servants of one sovereign.

We shall not attempt to deny that there is evident in the lowest classes of the Irish peasantry, a ferocity bordering on savage cruelty; but this very defect in their character, when tempered by refinement, would be metamor phosed into that spirit which ornaments and elevates civilized or polished man. This excessive fury, the overflowings of a high spirit, connected with mental ignorance, is the lamentable cause of many sanguinary deeds; such as are disgraceful to reason, and repelling to humanity; but when restrained, and turned into a proper channel by the force of education, its only consequences are a quick susceptibility of insult, a promptitude to avenge injury, and a native dignity which holds out a strong guarantee against the commission of acts which would degrade and stain human nature. If we hope, however, to render Ireland a valuable appendage to the British crown, we can only do so by conciliating the affections of her inhabitants; by displaying a kindred anxiety for their welfare; by cherishing their virtues; and striving by gentleness to wean them from their follies and their faults. Human nature is naturally averse to severity-it repugns against injustice and oppression; and the same disposition which cherishes with eternal gratitude the recollection of a benefit received, burns with an equally-during resentment towards him who has offered an insult. Ireland, won by her admission to a community of privileges, would be an invaluable part of the English empire; while the same spot, more and more estranged by a continued system of unjust persecution, must ever remain a bitter and biting thorn in the side of Britannia, which it were more wise to extract altogether, than to suffer to corrode and fester.

J. A.

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MERITS OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION,

By Dr. JEREMY TAYLOR, Protestant Bishop of Down', preached in a Sermon in Ireland in 1647.

"THE members of the Roman Catholic community may say, that their religion was that of their forefathers, and had the actual possession of men's minds before the opposite opinions had even a name-that, having continued it through such a length of time, it would be objected to them with an ill grace, that this was the effect of invention or design; because it was not likely that all ages should have the same purposes, or that the same doctrine should serve the different ends of several ages. This prescription, moreover, rests upon the grounds, that truth is more ancient than falsehood: and that God would not, for so many ages, have forsaken his church, and left her in

error.

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"To this antiquity of doctrine is annexed an uninterrupted succession of their Bishops from the Apostles; and particularly of their supreme Bishop St. Peter, whose personal prerogatives were so great; and the advantageous manner in which many eminent Prelates of other Sees: have expressed themselves with regard to the Church of Rome. This prerogative includes the advantages of mo narchy, and the constant benefits which are derived from that form of government."

"Nor does the multitude and variety of people who are of this persuasion, their apparent consent with elder ages, and their agreement with one another, form a less presump tion in their favour. The same conclusion must be inferred, from the differences which have arisen amongst their adversaries-the casualties which have happened to many of. them the oblique and sinister proceedings of some who have left their communion."

"To these negative arguments the Catholic adds those of a more positive kind; the beauty and splendour of the. Church of Rome; her solemn service; the stateliness and magnificence of her hierarchy; and the name of "CATHOLIC," which she claims as her own due, and to concern no other sect of Christianity. It has been their happinesss to be instrumental to the conversion of many nations. The world is witness to the piety and austerity of their religious orders; to the single life of their Priests and Bishops; the great reputation of many of their Clergy for faith and sanctity and the known holiness of some of those per sons, whose institutes the religious orders follow."

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ZINE

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CATHOLIC MAGAZINE.

SIR, OBSERVING the following sentence in your last number of the Catholic Magazine, besides an interdiction," I cannot refrain from making some animadversions upon the subject.

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In an age like the present, at the commencement of a new era in religious toleration of opinion, and when the Dissenters have liberally expressed themselves on freedom of discussion and the right of conscience, I saw with anxiety and surprise a declaration which I cannot interpret otherwise, than that the freedom of discussion and calm inquiry has not met with full sanction from some of the clerical orders of our Catholic church. I. conceive that the intention of your publication is to convey religious in struction and loyal patriotism, and to spread abroad the tenets of universal benevolence. It is with regret I obs serve, that all sects have some professors more zealously bigoted than others, but that any member of the sacred offices of the Holy Catholic Church should deem the Catholic Magazine, if properly and usefully conducted, not entitled to the patronage and support of every Catholic, I cannot believe.-Rather should I have thought, that they would have promoted its object, convinced that this is not an age of darkness, and that, as men of all par ties and principles WILL READ, it would be wisely done of so respectable body as the Roman priesthood, to see that the Catholic body are not the only religious community who can lament that they are without one periodical paper or publication of a general nature, to face the inundation of sceptical magazines which teem in every possible form from the press. To me, sir, it is surpri sing that such a glaring want has not been remedied be fore; nevertheless, since you have undertaken so laudable a work, it is not too late to meet the publications of all opponents upon equal ground. Time back, it was the secret boast of the Methodists and Presbyterians, that the Roman Church denied to its members the use of the Holy Scriptures in their vernacular tongue. They must however rescind this assertion, since the sacred writings are now publishing with the permission of the Catholic clergy, and the Douay Bible meets with a very extensive sale. Let me ask of the Protestants, if the English Bible, now read by the Catholics, has verified their prediction? It was confidently said, that the Scriptures being denied to the lay was the cause of their not becoming seceNo. 11.

M

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