But the government itself was the great debaucheé. There was no job too gross, no proceeding so licentious, no abuse of power or patronage so glaring, to which its active agency or tacit sanction was not extended. The Church was in perfect keeping with the State, the public offices were dens of thieves, the courts of justice with their purlieus were sinks of corruption, and the grand juries throughout the country, invited by their practice and example the suitors or claimants at every court of assize in Ireland to disregard both truth and justice to commit perjury, and to plunder or oppress their neighbour. There is no exaggeration-no high colouring in the foregoing statement. The truth of every portion of it is either already recorded in evidence reported to parliament, or could be proved by ten thousand living witnesses. This then being, till lately, the state of Ireland, and of the administration of all her public affairs, it is no wonder that men doubt whether money could be levied equitably, and expended honestly and impartially, even for the benefit of the poor. Let it however be considered, and in the first place, that until within a few years past, an exceedingly small fraction of the people of this country held exclusive possesson of

the administration of public business in all its diversity and ramifications. That fraction of the people lived by their offices, pensions, sinecures, or employments; they alone constituted society in Ireland; they were all sharers alike in oppression, and each took his portion of the spoil produced by it. They were not ashamed of each other, for no man blushes at his own theft in a company of thieves. There was no government to exercise control. The business of government was to divide among them their ill-gotten store. There was no court to which they could be cited, for they themselves filled the bench, and composed the juries; there was no tribunal created by public opinion to which virtue could appeal from oppression, or before which profligacy might be arraigned and convicted. No! for there was no press but that worked by the hireling of corruption, or if another press only breathed on gilded or ermined crime, it was subdued, prosecuted, persecuted, and extinguished. But as the people of this nation multiplied, they waxed strong, they caught a glimpse of knowledge, as Moses saw the Deity, whilst it passed by, and the multitude, warmed and invigorated by it, overthrew and broke down that fortress of corruption which had held + what a base & groundless Libel!

them so long enslaved. This popular might, operating upon parliament has bid a new order of things to arise in Ireland. The government is already more than half emancipated from the slavery of corruption-the courts of justice are being gradually purified; the boards and public offices are every where cleared or clearing out; peculation is now obliged to work in secret. Public monies are now accounted for; jobs, to pass current, must be highly varnished, and a decree, though not yet published, have gone forth against the evil deeds of grand juries. Nay, it is even allowed to tell the world, that the Irish Church establishment must yield to common sense and public interest; and that it is too revolting to allot the tenth of the lands and produce of the most fertile, but poorest nation in Europe, to a clergy whose followers do not amount to even à tithe of the people. There is finally a tribunal already established by public opinion in Ireland, and though it may not yet be formally recognised as the custos morum or vindex injuriarum of the country, it undoubtedly already exercises the powers and privilege of a supreme court.

This therefore being the past and present state of Ireland, with reference to the good or evil ad

ministration of public affairs, a candid man will admit, that though at a period not very remote, no public fund was, or could be, well managed in this country, it does not follow that such fund might not in future be well disposed of. For if popular well, parliamentary inquiry, and an unshackled press, have succeeded in breaking up and subduing one of the strongest combinations ever existing in any country, would not these same powers, now augmented, and free of restraint, be able to prevent effectually the establishment of any new system of abuse? But the truth is, that if any system of relieving the poor were established, which would be based on popular election, on a short duration of power, and on unqualified publicity, it would be morally impossible that such a system could be infected with any great abuse. There never has been peculation, oppression, or waste committed in any establishment founded on the above basis. But if that be true universally, and hold good even when the funds expended are not drawn immediately from the managers of it, would it not be contrary to all reason to suppose, that men elected by the people for a short time, and acting in the presence of the multitude with a tribunal always sitting to reward or condemn them

-would it not, I say, be contrary to all reason to suppose, that men so circumstanced, would assess their neighbours and themselves with any other view than that of promoting the public good? I cannot believe it. I think it is impossible.

But then waiving that part of the objection which applies to abuse, what is to be thought of the other part of it, namely, that which supposes that men could not be found in every parish or district competent to raise and expend a fund for the relief of the poor? If it be allowed to me, that men, honest and disinterested could be found, I would not hesitate a moment on the subject of their competency. It is the transacting of business which makes a man competent to transact it. We do not know, or if we know, we do not estimate justly the intelligence diffused among the industrious classes of society. At public meetings the judicious and practical men of this class are seldom prominent, their ability is not known, because it is not called into action. Let them only be employed in matters having any resemblance to their own affairs, and they will evince a skill and an ability supposed to be beyond their sphere. In applotting the value of property, in discriminating the characters of the poor, in estimating the quan.