deaf to our requisition for redress. Confiding not only in the justice, but in what is far better than the justice of our cause, and putting, as I do, my best. almost my only trust in the power and the union, and consolidation of the great community to which I belong, I shall say more:— No wise minister will dare to withold what seven millions demand, not only with an impassioned ardour and a vehement adjuration, but what is far more important-what they demand together, and call for in the name of justice at once. Lord Bacon, whose imagination was the lamp by which he threw light on his deep and vast meditations, says "that the people are like Briareus, because he was the giant of a hundred hands." Hitherto the Irish people raised up their arms irregularly and by starts-let them put forth all their power in one simultaneous supplication-let Briareus even upon his knees (for I would not allow Briareus to get up) lift up his hundred hands together, and the gigantic petitioner will not be disregarded. "Do you mean to threaten us:" some Protestant, bloated and big with the consciousness of his ascendancy, will, perhaps, exclaim-no. But I entreat him to peruse a recent treatise of the Under-Secretary of State, and he will find in the simɩ ltaneous meetings of seven millions of the Irish people, the best practical commentary upon Mr. Spring Rice's patriotic and impassioned lucubrations. What did the Under-Secretary of State declare? That which I dare not utter, but which, in his official whispers with my Lord Lansdowne, Mr. Spring Rice will not fear to intimate. Yet, to a certain extent I will speak out, and ask whether, if seven millions of the Irish people are thus marshalled, it be possible that their rights should long be kept back? Who will be sufficiently rash to answer in the affirmative? Is it wise-is it-aye-that is the word-is it safe to continue the system by which such results are generated? Was such a state of things ever yet heard of? Has it a parallel in the history of the world? Is there an instance of any government, except that of England, thus arraying and disciplining the people into alienation from the State, by a mad perseverance in a course which irritates the feelings, stimulates the passions, and exasperates the indignation of seven millions of its subjects? What but a diseased and deeply-disordered state of things could thus raise the whole population of the country into this orderly and pacific leve en masse, and bring them into phalanx? I may be asked, "if you consider this mighty gathering an evil, why do you co-operate in its production?" My reply is this:-The gathering is not the evil; in the law, which thus organises the people, lies the essence and source of calamity The assembling of the people is but the evidence of the condition of the country, and I would not deny the government the benefit of that great phenomenon. If the people can thus meet to petition-if they are so systematically organised, that at a signal of peace (for we use no other) they immediately fall into their ranks, and present an almost infinite array of supplicants, what are we to expect if we -What shall I say? If ever the prognostications of the Under-Secretary of State shall be unhappily converted from speculation to reality, and shall pass from possibility into fact. The simul*aneous meetings do not produce the evil; they only serve to illustrato

and place it in a conspicuous and powerful light; they throw a glare upon the penal code. These suggestions are meant for our opponents, in order that they may dispel the mist and obscurity which impede their intellectual vision, and prevent them from perceiving the brink on which they thread. I would shake, and somewhat rudely rouse these somnambulists, who dream upon a precipice, on whose verge they take their walks of visionary security. But I have another task to perform. If what is uttered in this room did not reach beyond it, I should not waste my labour in thriftless declamation here. But that which is spoken in this assembly is heard at a great distance. The press is a speakingtrumpet-and every word I utter is carried through that great vehicle of the mind, to the remotest extremities of Ireland. I feel that every syllable that I articulate will be heard, not only by the hundreds within these walls, but by the millions without them. The press, I repeat it. is the trumpet, into which I put my spirit. I feel as if I stood upon some great eminence, and from that elevation addressed myself to congregated millions. To them, and not to you, I speak and say, "slaves -slaves, you are seven millions-know your own strength-appreciate your power-it is no longer fitting that a handful of men should lord it over you. Meet on the same day-at the same moment-meet loyally, legally and constitutionally-but meet-assemble round your altars and your priests-let the rites of your church be celebrated-let the chalice ascend and the cross be lifted up, and then raise your voices for iberty together. Raise such a call for freedom, as shall travel through every department of the State. Let the representatives of the people hearken to that burst of anguish from the people's hearts-let it reach into the lofty halls of the titled senate, and amidst the luxurious recesses of the kingly palace. Let it not be unheard. Let a shout go forth for freedom, at which England shall start to which France shall not be deaf-at which princes shall be amazed, and cabinets shall stand appalled. Call for freedom, and call for it as your right-call for it in the name of reason-call for it in the name of justice-call for it in the name of expediency—call for it in the name of safety – call for it legally but determinedly—and above all—let seven millions call for it together.

ADJOURNMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION

SPEECH ON THE ADJOURNMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION, IN CONSEQUENCE OF MR. CANNING'S PROMOTION TO POWER.

THE time has arrived when proof should be given to England, that what the full stretch of legislative power could not effect-what an act of parliament, framed upon principles the most despotic, and constructed with all the perverse skill and malevolent nicety of legal art, could not achieve a single measure of conciliation, or, I should rather say, the unere intimation of a more just and kindly feeling in the future govern

meat of this country, can at once and instantaneously accomplish. In order to crush the Roman Catholic Association, and carry a bill through the House of Commons for the purpose, every ministerial resource was employed-the executive influence was exercised to its utmost extentevery retainer of government, every tool of the Treasury, every expectant of office, was summoned by special requisition to the aid of the minister. The passions of the English people, their spirit of domination, their national pride, and their religious rancour, were studiously and strenuously excited, and. England was persuaded, by the most vehement appeals to her ancient and inveterate animosities, to approve of an act of parliament, which afforded a fatal precedent, and struck the right of petition to the heart. Yet this obnoxious bill, which has justly received a name that suggests, if I may so say, the piracy of freedom, proved utterly unavailing, and the spirit of the Irish people appeared to derive new force and vigour from the measures of coercion which were adopted to put it down. But justice and kindness can do what severity and rigour were incapable of effecting, and the time has come, if not for the complete dissolution, for at least the temporary suspension of this assembly. In my opinion, we ought to give earnest to the government, of our disposition to assist their beneficent intentions towards this country, and of our solicitude to accommodate ourselves in every particular to their views, when we have once been convinced (as we are convinced) that a sincere disposition exists in the leading members of the administration to carry that measure upon which the happiness of Ireland mainly depends. I have not risen for the purpose of making a specific motion, because, from the peculiar circumstances in which I stand, I do not wish that a measure of adjournment should originate with myself. But I shall not be deterred by any consideration from stating what I believe to be not only the most generous and the most grateful, but also the wisest course which, under existing circumstances, we can adopt. I always thought that it behoved us, in the adverse fortunes of our country, to bear ourselves with a lofty and somewhat indignant demeanour. When I saw the spirit of perfidy presiding over the councils of the country-when I saw baseness and falsehood in the guise of candour and impartiality-when I found the faction by which Ireland has been so long insulted and oppressed, invested with despotic power, and the liberal portion of the administration utterly stripped and destitute of substantial influence, I could not but feel resentment at the monstrous imposture that was attempted to be practised upon us, and I spoke under the influence of those feelings of natural exasperation which it was impossible not to entertain, and to which it was difficult not to give vent. But now that hypocrisy and fraud have been banished from the Cabinet-now, that a man with a mind as large, and liberal, and enlightened, as was ever placed at the head of the government of these countries, has obtained that ascendancy, which has been hailed by the acclamations of the empire, and which is likely to be productive of incalculable good to Ireland- now that there is something like honesty and fair dealing to be expected in the measures of the Cabinet, it befits us to lay aside the tone and language of acrimony and

to accommodate our proceedings to the interests of those who have our benefit honestly at heart. The resolutions adopted at the aggregate meeting, not to press our petition against the desire of our advocates, appeared to me to be most judicious and expedient, and I was con firmed in that opinion, not only by the subsequent observations made by Mr. Brougham, whose attachment to our cause is not to be questioned, but still more by my Lord Eldon's wish that Catholic Emancipation should be immediately discussed. This generous aspiration of the learned and weeping lord, excited the merriment of the house. Indeed, it was ridiculous that a man who had, while in office, deprecated ali consideration of the subject, should, the moment he was removed from place, urge on and endeavour to precipitate the matter into a premature discussion. Mr. Dawson, too, (the fraternal representative of Mr. Peel,) has, in a paroxysm of disappointed ambition, called for the immediate consideration of the measure. Alas! poor gentleman! his mind has been ruffled by his unexampled political adversity, and looks like the water in the old moat of Londonderry, roused from the stagnant tranquillity in which it lay covered with Orange ooze, into a storm. Mr. Peel is too cautious a man to indulge in bursts of rancour, and is anxious to preserve a character for peculiar moderation; but his brother-in-law, who was his under-secretary, and who of course imbibed his real feelings and opinions, affords an insight into the real character and motives of Mr. Peel. Our antagonists are most desirous for discussion-their solicitude to press the measure is the strongest argument that could be advanced for its suspension: and as we have wisely taken the determination not to embarrass our advocates by urging our petition, we shall only act with consistency, and follow up that judicious course of conduct by adjourning the meetings of the Association. Perhaps I shall be told that we ought not to indulge in sanguine expectations, and that we should have derived a better lesson from experience and the repeated frustration of our hopes-I answer, that we have now better grounds of confidence than we ever had since our question was first agitated in Parliament, and that it never stood in such a conlition before. The circumstances of the question have changed in three :naterial points. In the first place our most vehement opponents are out of office, the fury which they have displayed is evidence that they do not expect speedily to be restored to the luxuries of place. I cannot here refrain froin making an observation relative to a recent statement made by Mr. Peel. That gentleman, who put in such extraordinary claims to manliness and honour, used to protest, when in office, that no distinction was ever made by him, in the distribution of patronage, between Catholic and Protestant. When the Catholic complained that, notwithstanding the pretended neutrality of the Cabinet, every place of emolument was given away to Orangemen, Mr. Peel used to declare. with the most solemn asseverations, that he paid no regard whatever to difference of religion, or to considerations of party in the selection of individuals for office. Mr. Goulbourn (his appropriate utensil) used to make the same declaration. What does Mr. Peel now state? He says that he adhered to the former administration because it had a Protes

tant Premier, and because the patronage of government, under his auspices, was exerted to support Protestant principles, and flowed in Protestant channels. So much for the ostentatious and elaborate frankness of the very manly and lofty-minded Secretary to the Home Department. The second material circumstance of change is, that a man is at the head of affairs who is devoted to our cause, and whose devotion to it is the ground upon which he has been deserted by his former colleagues. In the elevation of Mr. Canning to the highest station in the British empire, I rejoice, not only on account of my own country, but because he is the great champion of liberal opinions, and exhibits from the summit of power to which he has been raised, and from which he is beheld by all mankind, an object well worthy of their admiration. He is the author of South American freedom, and as long as liberty exists in the New World, (and it will be as eternal as the mountains from which its standard is unfurled) so long the celebrity of Mr. Canning will be transmitted from age to age in an illustrious perpetuation. In the triumph of this philosophical statesman, the cause, not only of liberty, but of intellect, has obtained a victory. The great struggle which has recently taken place, was a contest between mind and power; the grand cabal which lies defeated and shattered at the feet of this celebrated man, may be said to have been vanquished by the ascendancy of genius over all the might which the confederated oligarchy, by which the empire has been so long governed, could bring up against him. There cannot be a better evidence of the freedom of our institutions, and of the preponderance of the popular principle in our constitution, than that the eloquence of this extraordinary person prevailed not only over the power and influence of so large a portion of the aristocracy; but that the greatest captain of his time, with all his military renown, fell at once before it. It is an additional circumstance of honour to Mr. Canning that, as he himself recently stated, he is a poor man. With no other patrimony than his talents, he had almost every imaginable obstacle to contend with; yet, by the self-elevating power of intellect, he has raised himself, unaided by wealth, or aristocratic connexions, or any of the ordinary means of political ascent, to the highest point of glory to which it is possible for a subject of these countries to attain. The third ircumstance of change to which I have adverted, as affording reason to change the policy on which we have hitherto wisely acted, but in which it would be injudicious to persevere, is the union between Mr. Canning and the Whigs. The opposition benches are deserted, or if they are not in utter solitude, it is only because such men as the Dawson, and Sir T. Lethbridge, that western luminary, are set, as a kind of beacon, to warn philosophy and liberality away. I am justified in saying, that a most important change, pregnant with high hopes, has taken place, and that any experience derived from past disappointment does not furnish an exact rule for our future conduct. I return, there fore, to my original advice, which is, that we suspend the meetings of the Association, with a view to smooth the way for the existing government. Independently of the other advantages which flow from this proceeding, we shall show the people of England. and the King of