portion of our native genius and learning is a first and obvious advantage; to give encouragement and hope to more; to awaken that literary tone which humanizes, polishes and adorns private life; to shed a civilized grace over the name of Ireland in foreign countries; to give a home direction to the sympathies of the better mind of our countrymen who spend fortune and talent abroad; to attract capital and enterprize to our shore; and, by shewing the way, awaken that life in the Irish publishing trade, which alone is wanting to raise us to the level of our neighbours. One successful adventure is but the step to another; and there is no reason, but those which arise from long-clinging prejudices, why Dublin should not be the centre of Irish cultivation, in all that improves and humanizes. An Irish press may. we trust, well supply the place which a native legislature once held a focus of talent, and a nursery for the production of eminent men. It would be absurd to suppose, that the tone of society, that taste, knowledge and every sentiment which belongs to cultivated society, does not gain power and influence by the intermixture of minds professedly devoted to polite literature. In the Scottish metropolis society, through all its circles, takes its impulses from a few individual centres; and these impulses are, by an insensible but sure process, communicated from rank to rank through many a widening circle, until they embrace the land. Such, as far as we can express it in a few words, is the benefit we propose, and the principle on which we depend.

In throwing these reflections before our readers, we have studiously endeaYoured to keep within the level of ordinary experience and observation, and to avoid tasking attention by any elaborate analysis of social causes or workings; nor have we aimed to lead the reader into detail, further than the distinct statement of our view absolutely required. The time is not yet arrived when we may securely launch into the depths of our moral and intellectual history; topics of more immediate interest engross the public ear, and the sense to which we would appeal, is yet but a consummation devoutly to be wished for." Yet, having begun and continued our labors, under a solemn sense of their importance to this country, we enter tain a sanguine assurance of their success, and it is our settled conviction,

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that when calmer and more prosperous days shall allow the public mind to look back on this troubled period, with a view undisturbed by party strife, that these efforts will be recollected as among the first favorable gleams of national amelioration, and that it will be deemed no trivial incident of an eventful time, that has brought so far towards maturity the first literary journal on the settled principles of

commerce.

Our valuable, extensive, and still extending circulation, with the unanimous · voice of the public press, which has. every where laid aside party feeling to cheer us on, may sufficiently attest: that we do not overrate our success. Difference of opinion has not withheld the impartial approbation of our opponents; and they who from their position are most likely to appreciate the influence of public causes cannot be supposed to have erred, in thus setting their friendly stamp on our pretensions.

Of our contributors we have already dropped some words. The well-known convention, which throws a transparent veil over the names of periodical writers, makes it impossible to allude to these gentlemen otherwise than collectively. But we cannot allow ourselves to speak doubtfully or equivocally of persons whose talents do honour to their country, and whose names are for the greater part to be recorded in her historic wreath. We would not exchange our contributors for those of any other periodical in the empire; though the public may feel assured, that, in proportion as our means increase with our circulation, no effort shall be wanting to secure whatever power of talent, or weight of name, the best mind of the day affords.. This is but the natural operation of that commercial process which is the basis of every rational undertaking. One fact, connected with this topic, may be stated as serving to exhibit, in part, the natural underworking of a literary establishment of this description. The enormous mass of clever manuscripts of every kind-poetry, essays, reviews, tales, critical dissertations, without measure or respitewhich flow monthly on our hands, so as to make the task of selection impossible to ordinary diligence; and insertion-had we a number for every day in the year,-quite out of the question: from this, we say, it will at once appear to what an extent the faculties of

the national mind are set to work. Thus, on a moment's reflection, will it be seen how we humanize the land. However inflamed by local discontent or party feeling-however maddened by agitation, or exasperated by religious animosity-the moment we appear in the remotest village, where there is half-a-crown to purchase, or a tongue to read us, a new spirit falls over the minds of men. The village orator leaps from his tub, and tunes his genius to romance and song; the blacksmith stops swallowing the tailor's news, and commits his glowing inspiration to the post; the apothecary and the gauger make up their recent coolness, and an able treatise on things in general finds its way to our desk. Every public road, that converges to our dwelling, from every quarter of the land, sends in its daily torrent of wit and inspiration, to testify our influence, and the extent of our faine, and to give solid assurance that Ireland is at her humanities, and that our circulation is a mission of light and power. Our numerous extern contributors have indeed reason to be grateful to us, both for what we have done for them, and for what we have left undone; the gentle excitement of their talent, and the discreet concealment of their dulness ;-some we have encouraged -some we have laughed at some advised to try some other amusement -but all with paternal tenderness, and in the confidential secrecy of office. Petulant remonstrances we have received with dignified forbearance; appeals to our patriotism, with a bland smile of compassion; offers of canvass for readers, on the score of some prosaic ineptitude, or dribbling commonplace of rhyme, we have heard in silent scorn. But this indeed is a subject in itself.

We have made no allusion to our political functions. These, amongst our own peculiar friends and supporters, need no praise, and can convey no recommendation to those who differ from us. Yet, even on this topic there are some general observations of much importance to be observed in the conduct of a periodical like this. One of the general advantages which we have at least in our power, and within the scope of our plan, is the more general and historic aspect with which political events may be invested in the more deliberate retrospect of the month. We do not desire to be misunderstood into the absurd notion,

that we would shut ourselves out from a fair and manly use of the weapons of party controversy, which are flashing and circling round our ears wherever we turn. Such dastardly discretion never gains its cowardly object; it cannot serve our friends, or gain the respect of our honourable adversaries; "to be weak is miserable, doing or suffering." We are conservative; and no feeble vacillation shall dishonor our steady and upright strength. We cannot assent to the suspicious friendship that would counsel an impotent moderation, where vigor and intrepid activity prompt to rough collision; we laugh to scorn the silly repreach of newspaper politics. We assert and shall not relinquish our right to fling aside our literary tiara— our jewelled wand, with which we sit pointing oracularly to the destinies of the nation, and leaping down into the thronged arena, to lay about us among our friends of the press, as long and as stoutly as our spirit impels. Our friends of the daily press are, we contend, excellent companions, and we do not shrink from the comparison. But, this point being saved, there is another consideration of much importance, which we shall keep in view, so far as our purposes and duties admit, “ exceptis excipiendis," as the worthy prior of Jorvaulx Abbey is recorded to have said upon a very similar occasion. In our column the inflammatory topics of the month will mostly be found to appear through the softening medium of afterthought, and when they have already in some degree undergone the sifting of public opinion. They may thus be expected, so far as

may be, to appear comparatively.

divested of the rancorous tone, and of the irritating, degrading and disgusting personality which is offensive to the mind of a gentleman, to whatever party he may be attached. So far as the topic before our notice shall admit of it, we shall endeavour to take our stand on the high ground of principle, and to enlarge the compass of political discussion by historical and philosophical views. Thus may we hope to supply a momentous desideratum in the state-craft of the day, which is not less remarkable for its ability in the labyrinth of small details and expediencies which fill our eyes and ears on every side, than for its near-sightedness, as to directions and results, the natural effect of superficial and narrow views.

THE parliamentary campaign has commenced, and commenced exactly as we could have desired. The ministry provoked a discussion on the state of Ireland, and have been signally defeated. In one respect, it has made us think better of them than we did before. It is hard to believe that they could have been fully aware of "the fantastic tricks" of their Irish Chief Governor, or of the insults and injuries to which the Protestant population of this country have been exposed, since his arrival, when they boldly volunteered to share the responsibilities of his misgovernment, and even to demand praise for the wisdom and the impartiality of his administration. And it is also but justice to them to acknowledge, that no men could have seemed more overwhelmed by a sense of condemnation, than they appeared, when the astounding array of facts, which were deployed against them by the skill and the ability of Sergeant Jackson, routed, and threw into irretrievable confusion, their presumptuous anticipations.

And is it possible, we ask ourselves, that they could have been so grossly ignorant as they seemed, of the doings in Ireland? It is difficult to believe, that men, charged with the concerns of this mighty empire, could have been either so miserably incompetent, or so culpably negligent, as not to be aware of the tendency, at least, of almost every one of Lord Mulgrave's measures, to foster the insolence and the sedition of one portion of the people, and to chill the loyalty, outrage the feelings, and destroy the property of the other. And yet, either such ignorance or such negligence can alone account for the astonishing confidence with which Lord John Russell threw down the gauntlet

VOL. IX.

to the Irish Conservatives, and challenged them to point out a single instance by which the most captious impugners of the measures of the Lord Lieutenant could prove the justice of their accusations.

He instanced, as deserving of particular commendation, the resolution of the Irish Attorney-General, not to avail himself of the privilege of the crown in the challenge of jurors; and more than insinuated, that former law-officers abused that prerogative of office, to the oppression of the subject, and the perversion of justice. With respect to the latter assertion, we must always believe, that a gentleman does not, knowingly, state a deliberate falsehood; and, therefore, we ascribe to gross ignorance the statement by which his Lordship had been deceived; but, with respect to the former, never did an unfortunate advocate experience confutation more confounding.

The debate is too recent to justify us in referring at any length to Sergeant Jackson's powerful exposure of this part of the ministerial case. Suffice it to say, that the English members were astounded. The case to which he alluded was simply this :—A Protestant family, named Carter, resident in the Queen's County, were tenants of Lord Maryborough, for a piece of land, for which they paid rent, and to which they were justly entitled. They proceeded to fence it; but this exercise of their legal rights gave the agrarian depredators offence, and one of the family was so severely beaten, that he lost his senses, and is, we believe, at this moment, the inmate of a lunatic asylum. The elder member of the family they murdered. Nor was this appalling outrage done in a corner.

2 c

The supposed guilty parties were well known. They were indicted for the murder. One very generally suspected to have been assisting in the perpetration of the crime, appeared in court, and assisted the culprits in their challenges, while the crown-solicitor was compelled, by his instructions, to sit by, and see a jury sworn, from whom a righteous verdict could not be expected. The consequence was, as might be anticipated, that justice was defeated. The indictment was tried at another assizes; and, the same practice of not putting by being persevered in on the part of the crown, a convict, a man who had been tried and found guilty of a similar offence, found his way into the jury box, and again there was no verdict. A third time the case came on to be tried, and with a similar result, owing to the same cause. The law was made a laughing-stock, and the crown lawyers were found, in point of fact, the most efficient protectors of the most notorious offenders.

Such was the working of the beautiful system, for which the Irish Lord Lieutenant took so much credit, and for which the Home Secretary challenged the admiration of parliament. We may add, as we cannot afford space to dwell upon this part of the subject at length, that in every other instance, in which he vaunted of the doings of the Irish Government, he was not more successful. The gross partiality in the appointment of magistrates, and revising barristers; the gross abuse of the prerogative of mercy, in the pardon of offenders; the sweeping clearances made by his Excellency, in the various jails, during his peregrinations through the country; his marked patronage of the new seditious association, which has chiefly signalized itself by abetting the anti-tithe conspiracy; the discountenance which Government has shown towards the established clergy, who are not deemed entitled to ordinary protection, when they proceed to the recovery of their vested rights; all this was brought home to ministers with a degree of conviction which left nothing to be desired;-and the lame apologies by which their scandalous abuse of power was sought to be justified, did not, for a moment, impose upon even the most sanguine adherents of the administration. Insomuch, that many of them were well content to drop the further prosecution of the subject; and, although, like the month of March, it

had come in like a lion, to suffer it to go out like a lamb.

And here, we cannot but congratulate our fellow-conservatives, upon the signal effect produced by the late great meeting at the Mansion-house in this city.

The resolutions there passed, were the provocatives by which Lord John Russell's vain-glorious statements were called forth, and without which, it is probable, an opportunity might not have been, as yet, afforded, of showing up the pernicious mispolicy of the government in Ireland. But he himself compelled the production of the evidence by which he stands condemned. When he discovered his error, it was too late to retrace his steps. He could not forbid the exposures which he defied ; and the resolutions which he had hoped to exhibit as false or exaggerated, he was compelled to witness proved to demonstration.

Nor can we take leave of this part of the subject, without commending the industry and the caution of the able and honest men by whom the measures of that great meeting were prepared. Their statements were bold; but they were all based upon such evidence as could not be refuted, and, when brought to the test of proof, were found to be rather under than over-coloured, and to involve even a deeper condemnation than might at first be apprehended. This was true wisdom. There is nothing by which the Conservatives would have suffered more severely, than by making any allegations which could not be substantiated. This was the error into which their adversaries had hoped that they were entrapped, when Lord John Russell bade them a proud defiance, in introducing his bill for municipal corporations. Had they been taken thus at fault, their defeat and disgrace would have been signal; and ministers would have commenced their parliamentary campaign with an eclat that would have augured most prosperous things. But the ground which they chose for their field of battle, was the very one that we should have desired; and the onset which was to eventuate in our route, has only terminated in their confusion. All this is as it should be ;—and again and again we would impress upon our friends, that a result so fortunate could only have been produced, by a caution which was as scrupulous in the verification of accusatory statements, as the eloquence was brilliant, and the abi

will

As a set-off against the defeat, (for although there was no division, the discussion was felt as a defeat,) which ministers sustained upon moving for leave to introduce the municipal bill, a great deal of very idle boasting has taken place, because of the majority of eighty, by which, in its subsequent stage, it was supported. This may do very well to deceive those who reside at a distance; but, with those who more truly understand the matter, it passes for very little indeed. In the first place, it fell short by six of the last division, upon what was, substantially, the same question, in the last session; and this, notwithstanding a defalcation oftwenty-two Conservatives, who were absent without pairs. This latter event is, indeed, a ground of mortification, and shows, we are sorry to say, a degree of remissness in the defenders, which is not to be found in the assailants of our institutions. In the second place, no less than fourteen Conservatives voted in the majority; not being able to bring themselves to condemn, without a crime, the old corporations. For this feeling, we can make much allowance; as in truth we participate in it to a great degree our selves. To be sure, it may be said, that no unwillingness has been expressed, on the part of our corporate bodies, to surrender, upon the terms proposed by the conservative leaders, their ancient privileges and prescrip

tions; and, "volenti non fit injuria.” But, if this concession is extorted by the unprincipled violence of a tyrannous majority; if it be not a concession to reason, but to faction, we cannot but honour the virtuous men, who, on this occasion, however mistakenly, ran counter to the wishes of their friends, because in their judgments, expediency should never be preferred to justice.

The question, indeed, was one, upon which, of all others, the ministers felt themselves strongest. A large majority had been already pledged to them upon it, and this majority was kept up by the threat of a dissolution, in case of any considerable falling off, by which very many of them knew well that they would lose their seats. The vaunted trial of strength was, therefore, nothing more than a skilful putting of the best leg foremost. But, turn we from the division to the debate, and never was there a more signal triumph than the Conservatives had in argument. This, after all, is the great point to be considered. Let any dispassionate reader peruse the speeches of the ministers and their supporters, in comparison with those of the able and honest men by whom their views and principles were impugned, and, we venture to say, that wisdom and folly, fair intentions and chicanery, were never more strikingly contrasted. On the one side, we have intimidation and violence; on the other, eloquence and reason. On the one side, we have a popish democracy, masquerading it under the flimsy disguise of constitutional improvement; on the other, a sincere desire to ameliorate, accompanied by a cautious avoidance of every thing which would tend to convulse or to destroy. The patronizers of the normal schools of agitation, would fain communicate a sort of political St. Vitus's dance to the people of Ireland, and keep them in a state of quivering excitability from one extremity of the kingdom to the other. Faulkland's prayer, "peace, peace," is that which the Conservatives consider the desideratum in this unhappy country; and they are, accordingly, willing to take power from one party, without conferring it on the other. Indeed, it is perfectly impossible, that the masterly speeches, in which their views upon this subject have been made known to the public, shall not, in due time, produce their due effect, and give rise to a feeling out of doors which may very soon produce a sen