creditable opinion of Irish seamanship from one of the most honest men, both in his private and public capacity, as well as by far the ablest admiral, from the time of Lord Nelson's to his own death in the British service :-so much so, in-. deed, that when he wrote home to the government, on account of ill health, to be relieved from the Mediterrannean station, then more important than any other, he was, nevertheless, requested to continue at his post-which he patriotically did till he died!-because the government, as they acknowledged, could find no adequate successor for him! If we may suppose his Lordship's suggestion respecting the "5000 IRISH boys" to have been complied with and the supposition is not an improbable one, when we consider the source whence such advice emanated, and the superior facility of procuring sailors, as well as soldiers, in Ireland, owing both to the greater want of employment there than in Britain, and the evident expediency of avoiding, as much as possible, the unpopularity of a frequent infliction of impressment in England, when it could be imposed, with so much less cause for political apprehension, upon the less commercial, more warlike, and comparatively powerless or uninfluential, because religiously divided, population of Ireland-if, for such apparently strong reasons, we may suppose his Lordship's idea to have been acted upon every year from 1808 till the peace in 1814, Ireland, as Lord Collingwood? The courage (that's not the word,) of such a mere "land-lubber" as this Reviewer, is really amusing. With respect to Lord Collingwood's remark as to the good effects of mingling the Irish with English seamen, connect the following passage from Paine's" Common Sense," as tending to show that his Lordship's opinion is not to be taken as implying a superiority in the number of English over Irish seamen in the British navy. "In manning a fleet," says Mr. Paine, addressing the then navyless Americans, to make them "set up for themselves" against England, by sea as well as by land,— "people in general run into great errors; it is NOT necessary that ONEFOURTH part should be sailors. The TERRIBLE privateer, Captain Death stood the hottest engagement of any ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her complement was upwards of Two HUNDRED. A FEW able and social sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landmen in the common work of a ship!" For a short account of the noble engagement of Captain Death and his crew against a far superior force, consult Smollet, (Continuation of Hume, Index, word Death,) and compare the above opinion of Paine, and the result of Lord Collingwood's experience, with the very small amount of but 10 English to 210 IRISH sailors in the vessel mentioned by Mr. Tone. in addition to her previous numbers, would have contributed 35,000 seamen to the British fleets! So much for what the British heart and the British arm" could effect, during the last half century, without Irish MEN; and the enormous amount hereafter stated, of the national debt, will show how much the greatness of England owes to Irish MONEY! CHAPTER III. Statement (in reference to the same idea of a Union,) of the comparative size, in geographical square miles, of Ireland, and the principal states of Europe, with a view of her great natural capabilities for being a maritime power, and the peculiar military strength of her territory, as combined with the large amount of her population, and illustrated by a plan of defensive operations, based on Napoleon principles. A UNION with England must, therefore, be made agreeable to the will of the Irish PEOPLE, emphatically speaking, or however party discord, the offspring of sectarian delusion, may occasion submission for a time, a Union with England, through the Mameluke medium of a numerically-insignificant, contemptibly-bigoted, shamelessly-antinational, individually-rapacious and politically-odious aristocracy, can not and, what is more, ought not, to last.1 MAGNA est VERITAS et PRÆVALEBIT! As a nation, Ireland, in size, fertility, "I had a dream which was not all a dream.-BYRON." I. Methought I saw a numerous host, II. As mine eye this phalanx noted, revenue, and population, even after the emaciating misrule of centuries, and comparatively unimproved as she is, would Written, under the above "nom de guerre," by a member of the original Comet Club, at the time of the arbitrary arrest of Mr. O'Connell, during the Algerine regime of the Anglesey proclamations. be surpassed in Christendom to-morrow by only six powers, France, Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia, and Spain; and perhaps, not so much surpassed by all of those powers, in reality, as in appearance-the Austrian and Prussian monarchies consisting, not of one compact kingdom, but of various distinct states and people, wishing and therefore liable, at some future period, to BE independent.' Taking I The religious alienation from Prussia of its Polish and Rhenish provinces, and the aversion of many considerable portions of its territories to their unjust incorporation with that monarchy, which has only risen to its present condition by the robbery of its neighbours are noto. rious, as well as the hostile feelings of the adjoining states on that ac count, and the consequent obstacles to the permanence of such incorporations. The eventual separation of the Austrian Empire into its primitive national elements, is still more probable, owing to the several considerable and naturally distinct kingdoms of which it is composed, and the comparative weakness of Austria proper, whose two circles or divisions only contain 2,200,000 souls, while Hungary has 9,000,000, Austrian Italy, or the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, 4,500,000, Bohemia, about 4,000,000, and Galicia, or Austrian Poland, the best or most southern part of that dismembered monarchy, and about the size of Ireland, has a population of the same amount. And all these portions of the empire, as well as others of inferior but considerable strength, are, we know, deeply attached to the old recollections of their distinct national independence, and determined to act on those recollections, whenever an opportunity occurs. Had Napoleon, after the victory of Wagram, in 1809, availed himself properly of the political advantages presented to him by those old national associations, he would have broken up the Austrian Empire, leaving its sovereign nothing more than Austria, and have restored the various kingdoms of that empire to their ancient independence, by which he would have placed France in a position of political supremacy in reference to her continental neighbours, analogous to that of the Macedonian monarchy towards the states of ancient Greece. He would also have established himself on the French throne beyond all possibility of removal, since, even after the terrible disasters of the Russian expedition, it was only by the interposition of Austria that he was prevented, in 1813, from reconquering Prussia, and beating back the Russians into their own territories, as he had done, in 1806 and 7. But Napoleon had no sympathy with any recollections or with any forms of nationality, as contrasted with the immense aggregations of military and despotic power, which eventually crushed him as he had crushed others. If France were to become a republic to-morrow, and resolve to act upon a principle opposed to Bonaparte's, by vindicating the natural right of self-government to every nation in Europe, on condition of being merely repaid the expenses of their emancipation, she might compensate for her past errors, and attain the most glorious position in history that any country ever possessed. Her celebrated writer, M. Victor Hugo-speaking of Europe, as displaying one system of un Ireland, with Wakefield, to comprise 32,201 square miles, and comparing her with the size of other independent European countries, as laid down in the Table of President Von Malchus,' she is 4,649 square miles larger than Portugal409 larger than the kingdom of Naples and Sicily-4,473 larger than Bavaria and Saxony combined-233 larger than Sardinia, Wurtemberg, and the Grand Duchy of Baden put together-1,284 larger than Hanover, the Papal dominions, and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany-351 larger than Denmark added to Greece-and 1,429 larger than Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland united. In population EIGHTEEN, and in extent of territory, FIFTEEN European states are inferior to Ireland.3 Her revenue-allowing for various uncredited articles of home consumption, credited to, because purchased in, England-is above £5,000,000 a year. She contains, according to the recent parliamentary report of the Irish Railway Commission, above 8,520,000 inhabitants, or a military population of about 2,000,000; while her insular as contrasted with the continental position of the nations otherwise ranking before her, would give her, under proper management, a defensive strength, sufficient, as the case of England shows, to balance or counteract almost every other superiority. just, international connexions-as presenting a general collection of lord and vassal, of master and slave, of politically white and black statesobserves, in proof of his assertion, that Russia has the late kingdom of Poland, Prussia has Posen, another portion of that old monarchy, Sweden has Norway, Austria has Lombardy or Northern Italy, Naples has Sicily, Piedmont or Savoy has Sardinia, France herself has Corsica, and England has Ireland, "In this condition," says he, "beside each nation in a natural state is seen a nation in an unnatural state." This list, might, as we have seen, be considerably enlarged; and, as regards the present connexion between England and Ireland, the sentiments of such an enlightened and impartial foreigner should have their due weight in both countries, in leading to the formation of a firm and lasting, as opposed to a weak and doubtful connexion between the two islands. The present Union is too unjust to be satisfactory. "This Table," says Mr. Butler Bryan, " is founded, as far as possible, upon official documents: and probably no individual can have enjoyed better sources of correct information, than one who was successively Minister of Finance to the former King of Westphalia, and the present Sovereign of Wurtemberg." 2 The size of the kingdom of Greece, not mentioned in Von Malchus's Table, as not having been established when he wrote, is taken from other authorities. 3 Bryan's Practical View of Ireland, chap. iv. p. 73. |