passions inflamed; and it requires but little knowledge of human nature to be convinced, that the Roman Catholics of Ireland will not 、yield to any class of his Majesty's subjects, in loyalty to their Sovereign, attachment to his family, and allegiance to his government-fidelity to the constitution, obedience to the laws, and devotion to the interests of that great empire, of which this country forms so important, and at present so vulnerable a part.

THE ORANGEMEN OF ARMAGH.

SPEECH AT THE AGGREGATE MEETING, HELD NOVEMBER, 1826.

.

I, NOT very long ago, announced, at the Catholic Association, that I should make some observations on the grand festival of condolence, given to Colonel Verner, at Omagh. Having been prevented, by other occupations, from attending the Association, I relinquished the idea; but as I perceive that the speeches have since been published in a pamphlet, and the attention of the London newspapers has been directed to the sanguinary Christianity of Mr. Robinson, it may be as well to make some few comments upon the atrocious orgies, in which Colonels, Parsons, and Puritans emulated each other in their maledictions of their country. Taken as individuals, the persons assembled on the occasion deserve scorn; but they expressed the feelings of a party. The lucubrations of those consecrated bacchanals, Messrs. Miller, Robinson, and Company, may be considered as the catechism of a faction, and deserve to be saved from immediate oblivion, upon the same principle that a malefactor is prevented from dying of a natural death, in order to break him upon the wheel. Let us, then, proceed to the dinner. Was it not a strange notion after all! What could possess the Orangemen of Armagh to bring the lugubrious triumvirate of defected candidates together? Beaten, utterly and completely beaten-with the dust which they had been compelled to bite in their mouths, and beaten the more disgracefully, because beaten by the men whom they affected to despise they assemble, crow, and clap their wings upon the very dunghill of their defeat. They sung "Io triumphe," as they passed under the yoke! Mr. Robinson lamented, in his Ossianic phraseology, that he of Louth was not there; all that was wanting, indeed, was, that pleasant and vivacious senator, Mr. Leslie Foster, to complete the party; but there was he of Monaghan, and there was he of Armagh, and there was he of Curraghmore. How must they have looked when they surveyed each other in the midst of their melancholy festivities; when he of Armagh looked upon him of Monaghan, and he of Monaghan gazed on him of Curraghmore, their faces must, like the mirrors of melancholy, (if I may so say,) have multiplied the expression of despair. The pamphlet (an authorised publication) called the meeting an assembly of "the Protestant Gentlemen of Armagh."

The Protestant gentlemen, indeed! There was scarcely a man of rank amongst them! Mr. Ensor, in his admirable commentary, has set us right on that head. We are told, indeed, that there was a great number of clergymen of the Established Church of great opulence. I doubt not that; there was many a sordid hearted parson-many a rich and rapacious ecclesiastic-many a fat and glossy vulture, gorged to the beak, and yet scenting out new carrion, and smelling a fresh feast in the ruin and misery of his country. But most of the company were a set of ferocious paupers, whose very means of life depend upon their politics, to which they may be said to owe their subsistence, for in their daily orison to the genius of Orangemen, they may appropriately cry out, "Give us this day our daily bread." In the course of his speech, Sir George Hill observed, that if they changed their principles "misery would attend them ;" and I do verily believe that, without meaning it, he spoke the truth. The orators of the night may be subdivided into two great classes, the military and the ecclesiastical. There were seven parsons who made speeches, three colonels, and one general. It is only fair to give precedence to Lord George. In drinking his health, the chairman told the parsons that Lord George was put out by an intolerant priesthood. The pamphlet states, that Lord George addressed the meeting with the discrimination of a scholar, and the honesty of a soldier. With respect to his military achievements, I never heard that they extended beyond the quay of Waterford; and as to his lordship's talents, I certainly admit that the speech before me produced astonishment in my mind. The truth, I believe, is this, that Lord George hitherto concealed his abilities, lest they should be put into too active a requisition. The Africans imagine that the ourang outang has uncommon talents for eloquence, and can speak remarkably well, but that lest he should be compelled to work, the creature pretends to be dumb. So it is with Lord George. Like "the wild man of the woods," he remained in the forests of Curraghmore, and purposely concealed his genius for elocution lest it should be put to too much task. Of the rest of the military rhetoricians, Colonels Verner and Leslie, and that personification of "John Barleycorn," Colonel Blacker, it is unnecessary to say anything, for they are not worth mention. Upon some other occasion I may, perhaps, enter into some details relative to the last of them-the great supporter of the constitution and the revenue laws; but I have more important matter in hand. I proceed, therefore, to the "Soldiers in Christ," Messrs. Miller and Robinson, who may be considered in some sort as the representatives of the university. I may observe in passing, that it is not a little singular that the university of Dublin which once converted the appellation of the "Silent Sister," into an honourable designation, by refraining, it is said through Dr. Magee's influence, from petitioning against Emancipation should have lately manifested so angry a spirit. There were Messrs. Boyten and Stack, at Omagh. The latter gentleman stated, among other things, that he ADORED Doctor Magee. I understand that the pious gentleman conceives that the world is on the verge of dissolution, and that Doctor Magee is the prophet Enoch in disguise,

"mounted on a white horse," after the manner of the Revelations. But to return to Doctor Miller-he was professor of history in Trinity College, and published his lectures in six volumes. Mr. Murray had the misfortune of putting them into type; and not long after they issued from the press, I remember to have called to Albemarle-street, and found Mr. Murray in a state of considerable exhilaration at the prospect of a great sale. Mr. Croker of the Admiralty, the great Aristarchus of Toryism, had assured him, I fancy, that he had made a great hit. Some six months after, I called again to the shop, and saw some twenty or thirty shelves, exclusively occupied with the Doctor's work. Not a copy had budged. About a year after I returned, and The Philosophy of History" still retained its disastrous permanence. Having read the "Art of Ingeniously Tormenting," I ventured to throw out an observation on the great genius and erudition of the Doctor, who was considered in Dublin College to have thrown Hume and Gibbon into the shade, when Mr. Murray threw his eye over the immovable mass of learning with an expression of despair, and gave that sort of shrug, which none but authors understand, and which has descended from Tonson and Lintot to the eminent Bibliopolists of the present time. I had a recent occasion, however, to read the Doctor's book. The numerous assaults made by the English journals upon my sins against political sensibility, produced some solicitude of mind, and deprived me of sleep. Having passed whole nights in a state of agitated vigilance, I consulted a physician, who prescribed various medicines,

"Poppy and madragora,

And all the drowsy syrups of the world."—

But it was in vain. At length, however, he said, "I have exhausted all my other narcotics, but I have one specific left; read "Miller's Philo. sophy of History," and if it does not set you to sleep, you are destined like the victim of Kahama to eternal vigilance." I accordingly provided myself with the doctor's work, and the effects were truly surprising. : had not read three lines before I felt a salutary heaviness about me. When I had gone through a dozen pages, I began to stretch and yawn in a most luxurious drowsiness, and at length I fell fast asleep. Before however, I had completely closed my eyes, I drew a pencil along a particular passage in the book, which it may be as well that I should read, in order that you may be able to compare it with the doctor's oratory at Armagh. He is expatiating upon the miserable policy adopted towards Ireland, and says, " Such a system of conduct can be explained only as Sir John Davies has remarked, by conceiving that those who held the government of Ireland, acted on the principle of a perpetual war, by which the English should extirpate the Irish, and possess themselves of the vacant territory. Unable, however, to execute such a plan of lawless avidity, they have only generated a national fued, which was afterwards yet more exasperated by a difference of religion, and in this state of extraordinary excitement became a powerful agent in the general combinations of the empire. The influence of this singular policy has been well illustrated by Sir John Davies in comparing the case of Ire

land with that of Wales, the original laws of which were in many particulars similar to those of the former country. Edward I. as soon as he had completed the reduction of that territory, established such a modification of its laws, as in a considerable degree assimilated them to those of England; and when the insurrections of the barons, the wars of France, and the contention of the rival houses, had so withdrawn from Wales the attention of the English government, that it relapsed into its former' condition. Henry VIII. perfected what had been begun by Edward, by receiving that country into an incorporating union with his kingdom, and abolishing at the same time ail usages, which would have maintained its distinction. The result of this different treatment of Wales was that the country was in a short time rendered a scene of order and civilization, whereas the feud of Ireland is still shaking our repose." This, I think, affords a tolerable specimen of the consistency of Doctor Miller. With what scorn we should survey him, when we contrast his mean and miserable politics at Armagh, with his published and recorded opinions upon the fatal misrule of this unfortunate country. Enough of him. I proceed to Mr. Romney Robinson, the astronomer, who, in point of sacerdotal ferocity, it must be admitted, has left the historian far behind. Mr. Robinson is now an important person, and it may gratify your curiosity to hear that he was once upon a time a poet, and published a collection of juvenile poems which made him regarded as a blossom upon Parnassus. In order that you may form a judgment of his genius, it may not be inappropriate to read an extract from his compositions. Mr. Robinson appears to have been upon intinate terms with a certain culinary artist, commonly called a kitchenaid, whose name was Dolly. In one instance he carried his familia rities with this vestal of the scullery to an extreme, which the damsel somewhat acrimoniously resented. He has thought it not inconsistent with his poetical dignity, to record this very interesting, but not very uncommon incident, and begins by an invocation of the Furies, to whose inspirations it must be admitted that he was not a little indebted for L own oration at Armagh.

You should be informed that the indignation of Dolly was produced by a liberty not necessary to be mentioned. Dolly starts up in a paroxysm ot exasperation, and is compared to Mount Etna in an eruption.

"As when in fire Typhæus roars,
And Etna shakes Secilia's shores,
Thus bellowed Doll."-

This is succeeded by a passage to which, even in Mr. Wordsworth's Nursery of the Muses, nothing can be compared.

*

*

"She threw the poker at my head.

And deemed the blow would strike me dead.

The Poet now, with choler swell'd,

Fierce dealt a blow, and Dolly yelled."

*

Mr. Robinson proceeds to describe the process by which this modern Thalestris was thrown upon the ground, and when Dolly and the poet * * but respect to my auditors prevents me from proceeding farther. Suffice it to say that Apollo suddenly appears in the kitchen, and through his celestial intervention, a reconciliation between Dolly and the poet is effected. I have read these passages from Mr. Robinson's poems, for the purpose of illustrating and justifying the claims to intellectual superiority which, in his speech at Armagh, he has claimed for the Irish Protestants Mr. Robinson became a Fellow of Trinity College; and when we consider the miracles in literature and science which have been accomplished by the Professors of that University; when we consider the illumination which they have thrown upon the whole sphere of knowledge, and the number of valuable works with which their press may be said to teem, it must be confessed that the mere fact of Mr. Robinson having once belonged to that intellectual corporation, gives him a paramount title to our respect. In the University Mr. Robinson devoted himself to the study of the stars. His familiar use of the telescope naturally led him to prefer Mr. Croker to Mr. Plunkett. During the memorable contest between those eminent persons, Mr. Robinson consistently voted for "him of the garret." This, however, was not immaterial. Mr. RobizEon and Mr. Croker are both expert at the use of the telescope; aud while the one was engaged in watching the stars, Mr. Croker was occupied in observing "the transit of Venus" in the lodgings of Mrs. Clarke. But let us come to his speech. He returned thanks on behalf of the university, and enumerated some of the illustrious persons who had been produced by that college. He said nothing of Burke or Grattan, (Grattan, whose picture was removed from the great hall of the university by order of the board) nor of Curran, nor of any other advocate of freedom, whose name tends in some degree to rescue our university from shame; but he commemorated the virtues of the Calvinistic Usher, who laid down the doctrines of Geneva as the essential articles of the Irish Church, and had afterwards the meanness to sacrifice his opinion to his sovereign's will. He had the folly to speak of Swift, who was deemed a dunce in our university, and who obtained his degree by special favour, which Doctor Johnson informs us, means in Dublin College, "a want of merit." Mr. Robinson also referred to Molyneux. This was an egre gious mistake; for in Molyneux's celebrated book, which was burned by order of the House of Commons, principles are laid down which are f:: more applicable to the present case of Ireland, than they were to the times in which Molyneux poured out his argumentative vituperation Molyneux insists that Irishmen and Englishmen have equal rights; and maintains the alcminable doctrine that tranny should be encountered

1