REVIEWS.

ANTI-UNION PAMPHLETS-THE REPEALER'S MANUAL.

By J. W. BATTERSBY.-Part 1st.

The question which is now so rapidly progressing, the repeal of the union, has given birth to a number of pamphlet publications, which are exceeded in number only by those which appeared when the union itself was under consideration. The majority of those which have been published during the last three years have emanated from the pens of writers, who have endeavoured to dissuade those who have not yet made up their minds, from forming any opinions favourable to the project of repeal. Like every other subject which involves so much of national importance, it can be better discussed through the medium of the press than in the debates of a convention. It affords too many arguments, derived from facts which research alone can give, and which publications of an elaborate nature only can detail. The chief objection which we have to the pamphlet now before us belongs to its construction. The author devotes too much space in proving that absenteeism is an evil, and in combating the sophisms of certain Scotch economists, who had endeavoured to make people believe that it was not a national detriment. It is now six years since this preposterous docrine was first promulgated, and before as many weeks had elapsed the fallacies upon which it was founded were completely overturned. Such being the case, it is now a waste of its attention to call the public mind to the subject, for the purpose of giving it a serious consideration. The evils resulting from absenteeism are are now as generally admitted as any other truisms which the experience of mankind has enabled them to decide. The author has collected a great mass of extracts, from historical and statistical writers, which are valuable, when applied in support of his own conclusions, but from the manner in which he has strung them together, they receive but little benefit from their position in the work. He has also fallen into the school-boy error of digressing into the frivolity of poetical quotations, the frequent recurrence to which distracts the attention of the reader from the more substantial arguments which they are intended to adorn. We would advise the author to correct this habit in the succeeding parts of his undertaking. Facts, and not the creations of fancy, are his best materials.

THE FEDERALIST.-NO. III.

The third part of this publication has reached us, but at too late a period for the lengthened notice, in our present number, which it merits. It is a highly important and interesting production, and must receive the earnest and respectful attention of all who desire to understand the condition of the people of this country, and the means of alleviating their most unmerited sufferings.

If there be a pang more deadly than another in the degradation of slavery, it is that in which the cry of suffering is suppressed. Complaint is the last privilege of misery-to deprive men of it is the worst act of brutal despotism. The murderer, who stabs at once to the heart, and thus silences the voice of his victim, is merciful, compared with the tyrant who tortures, but will not kill-who goads, but will not hear the groan of agonised nature. The errors and imperfections of Governments are as natural as those of individual humanitytheir vices are the same; their correction, punishment, and amendment should be similar. "Too much power maketh the heart proud," and cruelty is the fruit of pride. When men are exalted above their proper sphere, and cease to be dependant on society, they become haughty, and lose their sympathy for their fellow-men. Thus do Governments arrogate undue authority, and become reckless of their duties to their subjects. Monarchy or Oligarchy, their tendency to despotism is still the same. The vigilance of a people who would preserve free institutions, should, therefore, never tire; their firmness should be unfailing. Authority creates corruption, and abuse begets abuse, until at length, perhaps after ages of misrule and disaffection, the question of the State becomes one of-crime sanctioned by law; or-justice vindicated by revolution. To prevent this evil it is the duty of every human being who values freedom and social order, to resist the encroachments of Government-to watch its operations with a jealous eye, and restrict them within their proper limits. In a representative Government, the constituted guardians of our liberties and interests can only be apprised of grievances by the general voice of the people, and redress can only be obtained by open exposure of injury. The moment free expression of complaint is prohibited or restrained, legislative representation becomes a mockery-despotism usurps its functions It is, then, the necessary right of free citizens to discuss freely their wrongs, and suggest their remedies; it is emphatically the distinctive mark of freedom to do so. It is, moreover,

VOL. I. NO. XI.

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a proof that freedom is deserved where this right is claimed, for the spirit that resents bondage, and openly asserts its wrongs, should never be enslaved. On the other hand, the contented slave presents the most degraded aspect of human nature. The wretch who crouches to his tyrant in voluntary servility, and hugs his ignominious chain, forfeits the privileges of his being, and sinks below the brute; he has lost the god-like principle that ennobled his existence, and becomes more hateful than the crawling reptile we spurn from our path.

How far do these reflections apply to Ireland, and its system of government, at this moment? Alas! even while we write, the brand of slavery is searing the very heart of the country; the fetters of the despot are flung round us, and we sink beneath the iron heel of the oppressor. Why are we captives-why does the whetted sword of the tyrant thirst for our blood? Have we transgressed the laws that bind man to man, and nation to nation, in social compact? Are we savage outlaws of civilization? Is there about us an untameable ferocity of disposition that rejects restraint, and is insensible to the common principles of reason and justice? Is our freedom-our very existence, incompatible with the security and happiness of society? Are we, indeed, the feræ naturæ of “nature's common"-the fierce creatures whom no law protects, and for whom there is no safety? Why is it, we repeat, that we are thus placed without the pale of all free and peaceful institutions? We know not how to answer. We have never heard an answer to our questions. Hitherto it has not been the custom to restrict our liberties at the mere will of our rulers-in future, let their pleasure be the avowed measure of our laws.

We had thought that Charles the Tenth and Polignac of France had won the last gory laurel of infamy. We were disappointed. It was reserved for England-" the pride and envy of surrounding nations"-to excel France even in this. In France, the King and his Ministry ventured to violate the constitution in a single point, without the sanction of the Parliament; in England the deed is completely eclipsed, for the British Minister openly demands the consent of Parliament, of the first Parliament freely chosen by the people,-to destroy the entire Constitution in England?-No; in Ireland! -in IRELAND; and this success must place him far above the Frenchman in his fame, though not his fate!

Let us examine this last "great charter" of Tyranny. We know it is needless to dwell on its provisions, for every man's heart and thoughts are full of it, yet it is well to record on every occasion and by every means our opinions of its nature and design. It has, fortunately for futurity and the interests of the remotest posterity, become a vital portion of the most important period of our history. In a century or two hence some American Gibbon, or Irish Hallam, of the age, will refer to it in describing the "decline and fall" it precipitated in a great empire, or draw from it and its consequences constitutional instruction for his countrymen. They will describe these times thus: In the thirty-fourth year of the NINETEENTH CENTURY-a period in which a high degree of civilization prevailed in Europe, and all the arts that adorn and benefit society, except the important art of government, were highly cultivated-Ireland, now so powerful and happy, was a miserable, degraded province, under the dominion of England.

It is almost incredible, but the fact is not to be disputed, that Ireland submitted to this dominion for nearly seven centuries, notwithstanding the vast energies of her people, and the unrivalled resources she has since developed. It is the opinion of the most eminent cotemporary writers and statesmen, that this unworthy and calamitous prostration of the country was principally caused by the religious dissensions of the people, which were much fomented by the English; but it is more probable that it was caused by ignorance among the people of their true rights and power. It is, however, certain that England compelled Ireland to support an enormous alien Church Establishment, which, of course, had an interest in promoting the division by which its own ascendancy was maintained; but the people, at length, saw the evil it produced, and having discovered the secret of peaceful combination, they joined together to abolish it. It was at this time also that Ireland sought to resume the right of self-legislation, of which she was deprived thirty or forty years before, through the jealousy felt by English statesmen of her increasing prosperity. The people of England, too, then governed by a monarchy, had commenced to reform their institutions, and to wrest from the aristocracy the powers they had long usurped and abused. Many of this class were formerly distinguished by fantastic and absurd titles, and were profanely styled "Lords." One of them, whom the Irish historians call Curfew Grey, because he revived an old and odious law, was then Prine Minister of England. Before he became a "lord" he was remarkable for liberal popular sentiments, but his accession to title, and, above all, to office, left him free to pursue the bent of his disposition uncontrolled, and he became the most arbitrary and intolerant member of his "order." He formed a cabinet of selfish and haughty men like himself, who had gained power by their hollow professions of liberality. They were compelled, principally by the exertions of the Irish, to make certain improvements in the representation of the people; and this led them to fear that their power should ultimately be held for the service of the people. It was resolved to crush the growing spirit of reform; Ireland, by its strenuous support of it had earned their hatred, and was doomed to become their victim. They framed a measure, even in those days of comparative barbarism, unparalleled by any example in ancient or modern history, and which has descended to us, as a model of legislative iniquity, under the appropriate title of "The Infernal Statute." It received this appellation perhaps because the people then believed that a measure so horrible could not have originated in the human mind. There was not an important right enjoyed by the subject, or a law affording protection to life and liberty, that it did not annul and repeal. It suppressed, at the will of the Chief Governor, all public discussion on politics, and all political associations or assemblages whatsoever; it suppressed the sacred right of petitioning; it destroyed the Liberty of the Press; it annulled the Habeas Corpus Act, and abolished Trial by Jury; it imprisoned men in their habitations from sunset to sunrise, and exposed them to the unrestricted intrusion of the hired, liveried butchers employed to inflict it on the people; it deprived all citizens of the protection of arms, and punished them for possessing

them; it subjected every man in the community to the custody of the lowest ruffian in office wherever his caprice or his malice might direct, and left even female delicacy and purity exposed to the rude contamination of the most brutal, unbridled, licentiousness; it placed the life, liberty and property of the most guiltless individual at the mercy of any perjured miscreant; it gave the right of deciding upon all offences brought before them to three subalterns in the army, and gave complete impunity to them and all who administered it;-in short, it delivered over the entire people, male and female alike, to the unrestricted license of irresponsible military powers, aggravated by the influence of corrupt, designing and oppressive civil authorities. Such a measure might well be deemed infernal; the heart shrinks to contemplate the appalling atrocities perpetrated under its sanction. It is scarcely credible that human nature submitted to it for a single hour; yet so it was. The spirit of the unfortunate people was depressed by long suffering, and they had learned to submit to wrong without resistance. A portion of the English faction which had formerly ruled the country, snatched eagerly at its powers, and administered them mercilessly in vengeance for their fall, but they also, in their turn, became its victims. At length community of injury and interests created between all classes of the people identity of feelingand purpose. They perceived the degradation and misery to which their mad, unhallowed feuds had reduced their common country; they became united in sorrow; they joined in resolute indignation; liberty and home were equally dear to both; they arose together, as one man, in their might, and

We must not anticipate the historian too far. Let us rather confine our attention to the immediate question. What is the real object of these measures? It is manifest that the suppression of rustic outrages that prevail in a few small districts, is but a pretext. These outrages are well known by the government, and all its officials in Ireland, to have their origin in deep-seated causes of discontent, which must be removed, or the entire country depopulated, before tranquillity can be permanently established. Besides, the powers of existing laws have been repeatedly and constantly found sufficient to correct the wildest excesses of the wretched peasantry. The gibbet and the convict ship have never been denied the victims claimed by insulted justice. It were well for humanity that the laws had been directed to the removal of the misery that made the poor man desperate, rather than to the punishment of guilt created by their opera-. tion. But the sources of legislation have been too long corrupted, and its powers perverted to evil, to permit it to resume at once its true and proper functions. It is, however, most strange and lamentable to find a legislature, even partially reformed, and pledged as it is to promote further reform, adopting the worst principles of legislation, and giving to the most despotic and barbarous powers the full forms and sanction of law. In opposition to the free and enlightened spirit of the age-in violation of all liberty and justice-in contravention of policy and prudence-in defiance of the eternal execration of mankind, and of the undying hostility of a brave, generous, intelligent, and powerful people, the British Parliament proposes to outlaw eight millions of British subjects! The Ministry who have the audacity to