Whether or not there was sufficient ground for the former of these opinions; whether those who have, for some time past, managed the powers of government in Ireland, have or have not acted with honest intentions and sound policy; it cannot reasonably be expected that a publication such as that now before us should determine:--but it is most abundantly clear from the report made by a committee of the Irish House of Commons, and from the copious documents which they here lay before the public, that the discontented party in Ireland, whatever might originally have been their object, have for some years past aimed not merely at redress of grievances, but at a dismemberment of the empire; and that the prime object of the tremendous and unprecedented conspiracy, which had so long existed in that country under the name of UNITED IRISHMEN, was the overthrow of the Irish monarchy, and the erection of an Irish republic under French auspices.

Before the Committee of the Commons proceed to trace the extension and progress of the system of treason, since the last report was made on this subject, they advert to the prominent facts established by former inquiries. They briefly state that the society of United Irishmen was established in the year 1791; and that they held forth, as the ostensible objects of their union, Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform, while the real purpose (at least of the leaders of that body) was the separation of Ireland from Great Britain. For the first three years, their attention was entirely taken up in the circulation of seditious publications, particularly the works of Paine: but in the year 1795 the test of the society underwent a striking revision, by omitting, after the words " a full representation of all the people," the words " in the Commons house of parliament." The reason of this omission was admitted by those of the Executive Directory of the union to be, the better to reconcile reformers and republicans in a common exertion to overthrow the state, In the summer of 1796, the society had been greatly enlarged; and at that time was first opened a direct communication between the French and the heads of the party; the result of which was a promise of French assistance to aid the disaffected. About this time, also, the society formed itself secretly into military bodies; of which the numbers in Ulster alone were stated, in April 1797, to amount to 100,000, largely supplied with fire-arms and pikes, and bound by oath to obey their commanders. In addition to these measures, a system of terror was adopted by the society, in order to deter magistrates and witnesses from doing their duty: multitudes were compelled to take illegal oaths; and the robbery of arms from the well-affected became general.

To meet these evils, (the report of Lord Castlereagh proceeds to state,) the insurrection-act was passed; which gave to the magistrates, in disturbed counties, a very enlarged power,-of the extent or nature of which, however, the Committee gives noaccount. The operation of this act was found unequal to its object; for, as the report expresses it, "treason was then too deeply rooted to yield to this remedy." In October 1796, parliament suspended the Habeas Corpus act, and passed an act for arming the yeomanry: who, in the course of six months, amounted to 37,000 men, and in the late rebellion increased to 50,000. The next measure adopted by government was a proclamation to prevent those numerous assemblages of the people under pretence of saving corn, digging potatoes, &c. of which the disaffected availed themselves to display their strength. The proclamation of Lieut. General Lake for disarming Ulster followed, on the 13th of March 1797. The disarming at first was performed, says the Committee, with all possible mildness: but in June following, when a general insurrection was on the point of breaking out, more vigorous measures of compelling a surrender of arms were adopted. Still, however, a general insurrection in Ulster was determined; and, notwithstanding the exertions of the army, a partial rising did take place in the county of Down: but the insurgents, finding themselves unsupported, dispersed. Tranquillity was now partly restored: but the leaders of the treason, fearing that the enemy should be deterred from invasion by this circumstance, began to propagate their system in the southern and western counties of Ireland. Their emissaries were successful; and the same enormities, which had visited the North, became apparent in Munster and Connaught. The great argument used here to excite the people was the oppressiveness of tithes; it succeeded; and the antient abominable White-boy practices of burning corn and houghing cattle were very generally practised.

To arouse the resentment of the Catholics, they were informed that oaths had been taken by large bodies to exterminate them. A paper called "THE UNION STAR," openly recommending insurrection and murder, was privately printed and circulated; and another entitled "THE PRESS," conveying periodical exhortations to outrage and insubordination, was published by Mr. Arthur O'Connor; who admitted, before the Committee, that he was for more than a year a member of the Executive Directory of the Irish Union. Pikes were now fabricated in such numbers as to be co-extensive with the organization of the society itself; 129,000 in the whole have been surrendered to government, exclusively of those with which the insurgents

P4

i

insurgents were armed in the late rebellion. To seduce the soldiery from their allegiance was early made a part of their system; and latterly, in the hope of diminishing the resources of the state, instructions were given to the people to abstain from the consumption of excisable articles.

Having thus far proceeded to detail the domestic measures of the Union, the Committee advert to their connexion with the French; which is developed by the evidence of Dr. M'Nevin, Mr. Emmet, and Mr. A. O'Connor, three members of the Irish Directory. According to them, the party, despairing of carrying their plans into execution through the medium of a democratic reform, avowedly directed their efforts towards revolution; and having learnt from Mr. T. Wolfe Tone at Paris that the state of Ireland had been represented in such a manner to the government of France as to induce to them to resolve on sending a force to Ireland, to enable it to separate from Great Britain; a meeting of the Irish Executive was holden, to consider of this proposal. The result was that they agreed to accept the assistance thus offered by the French government. This meeting took place in the summer of 1796; and Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Mr. A. O'Connor were dispatched to France, in order to communicate the resolution to the Directory. Both of these gentlemen held a conference with General Hoche on the French frontier near Switzerland, and that officer had the command of the expedition which failed in its attempt against Ireland in the month of December following.

From the period of the failure of this expedition, the disaffected either did or pretended to expect the immediate return of the enemy: but in the spring of 1797, the Executive of the Union, thinking that the French were dilatory, dispatched a Mr. Lewins for assistance; who still continues the accredited minister of the Irish Union to the French Directory. Dr. M'Nevin was sent to France for the same purpose in the ensuing summer: but, not being able to reach Paris, he transmitted a memoir to the French minister, which is given in the Appendix, and which, after an exaggerated statement of the resources of the Union, prays earnestly for the promised succours. Those succours, it was proposed, should be limited to such a force as might merely enable them to subvert the government: but the French, on the other hand, were disinclined to send any force to Ireland, unless one which would not only enable them to conquer but to retain the country. In consequence, however, of these and other urgent remonstrances from the leaders of the Irish Union, the French Directory did, during that summer, make preparations of an extensive nature both

both in the Texel and at Brest, for the invasion of Ireland; and it was this urgency which induced the French government to oblige the Dutch fleet to put to sea, and thus caused the memorable victory gained by Admiral Duncan on the 11th of October 1797.

The Committee now proceed to state that, early in the present year, the French government informed the Irish Union that they might expect succour from France in April: but, notwithstanding the rebellion, says the report, they have not yet thought it prudent to fulfil their promise. (The report was written before the landing of the French troops at Killala.)

history of the

The report goes on to give a steps which led immediately to the rebellion. The design of rising, even without foreign aid, it states to have been urged by the Ulster delegates so early as the spring of 1797, in consequence of the vigorous measures of government. The Leinster delegates, however, dissented from the measure at that time: but the consideration of it was resumed by the delegates in March 1798;-when the well-timed measures of government were so efficacious in dissolving the Union, and in obliging the people to surrender their arms, that it became evident to the leaders that they had no other alternative than to rise at once, or to abandon their purpose. About this time, therefore, detailed military instructions were sent to the Adjutants-general of the Union, and all things were prepared for the insurrection. This produced the Government proclamation of the 30th March 1798, stating that the conspiracy had broken out into actual rebellion, and enjoining the military to act in the most summary way in disarming the rebels and the disaffected. This proclamation was transmitted to General Abercrombie, then commander in chief, who published notices to the inhabitants of the disturbed counties, of the measures which he in consequence intended to take. These notices are given in the Appendix; and the Committee observe that no measures of severity were ever adopted by the servants of government without previous and timely notice. The efficacy of these severities was so great, that the leaders of the rebellion began to perceive that their cause was losing ground. The arrest of the Provincial Committee on the 12th of March, and of several other leading members of the Union on the same day, added greatly to their embarrassment, and urged them to a desperate effort. A plan was therefore formed for a general rising. The camp at Loughlinstown, and the artillery station at Chapel-Izod, were to be surprised. The counties of Dublin, Wicklow, and Kildare were to co-operate in the attack; and the insurrection having commenced in the metropolis, of which the the signal was to be the burning of the mail-coaches, it was expected that the North and South would also rise. Government were informed of these intentions; and therefore, though the rising was attempted on the night of the 23d, and the mail-coaches were destroyed according to agreement, it was completely frustrated. On the 24th, the Lord Lieutenant by proclamation authorised the summary punishment of martial law against the rebels, or any who should assist in the rebellion.

Such is a general view of the statements contained in the report made to the House of Commons. The Committee conclude by submitting to the House their opinion on the whole.

The Appendix constitutes the great bulk of this volume, and contains a vast variety of matter; all, in fact, which was connected in any degree with the United Irish, and which could be amassed from former reports of parliamentary committees, seized papers, private information of witnesses, public trials, minutes of courts martial, &c. &c. &c. They seem to go the full length of substantiating, against the United Irish Society, all the charges which the report contains. It deserves to be noticed, however, that no correspondence appears to have passed between the French and the United Irishmen, until after the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam from the government of Ireland.

The matter of the Report of the Upper House of the Irish Parliament being substantially the same with that of the larger mass of information contained in the Report of the Commons, it is unnecessary for us to analyse the former with the attention. which we have bestowed on the latter. It may suffice briefly to observe, that each of these authentic publications completely confirms and illustrates the evidence produced by the other.

ART. XIV. Hora Biblica, &c. 8vo. pp. 109. (Not sold.) 1797.

HIS

T little volume contains the product of the biblical hours of a lay-theologian, Mr. Butler, of Lincoln's Inn; a liberal man, as is evident; a catholic, as we presume, from his general insistance on tradition, and from some specific intimations. They are occupied more with exegetical than with doctrinal points: but of their contents the author's own compendium will be the best description. He undertakes to give,

I. Some history of the rise and decline of the Hebrew language, including an account of the Mishna, the Two Gemaras, and the Targums: II. Some account of the Hellenistic language, principally with a view to the Septuagint version of the Bible: III. Some observations