"ENGLISH GOVERNMENT IN IRELAND.-During the dreadful period or four hundred years, the laws of the English Government of Ireland did not punish the murder of one man of Irish blood as a crime."Sir James Macintosh. "The stranger shall hear thy lament o'er his plains, The sigh of thy harp shall be sent o'er the deep, Shall pause o'er the songs of their captives, and weep.' Moore. "In the mountains of the parish of Cong, when the potatoes fail them, they bleed their cattle and eat the boiled blood, sometimes mixed with meal, but often without it."—O'Connell. "Grattan declared that he had watched at the cradle of Ireland, and followed her hearse. He is reckoned among the illustrious dead. I live to sound THE TRUMPET FOR HER RESURRECTION."-O'Connell. "The Sans-potatoe Irishman is of the self same stuff as the finest Lord Lieutenant! Not an individual Sans-potatoe human scarecrow, but had a life given to him out of heaven, with eternities depending on it: for once and no second time—with immensity in him, over him, and round him with feelings that a Shakspeare's speech could not utter: with desires illimitable as the autocrat of all the Russias.”—Carlyle. IRELAND-HER WOES AND STRUGGLES UN DER ENGLISH OPPRESSION. I. RELAND cannot be mentioned in connection with England, without striking a sympathetic chord in the heart of every patriot and Christian. Her history is unique. Possessing an indomitable valor, kindling at the first blow of oppression, and striking for freedom in almost every generation, she is still the creature of England's caprices. But bowed and dishonored though she be, she is Ireland still. She has fallen, but not forever. She can be, she will be regenerated. Her spirit is as untamed and excitable as ever. The apathy and submission of slaves, which chills the hope of freedom, is not on her. Like a brave man, she still struggles manfully with her destiny. She also has an existence as a Nation. She has her universities and her literature. She is still the "Emerald Isle of the Ocean." An air of romance and chivalry is around her. The traditionary tales that live in her literature invest her history with heroic beauty. But she has no need of these. Real heroes -the O'Neills, the O'Briens, and the Emmets, will be remem. bered as long as self-denying patriotism and unconquerable valor are honored among men. In every department of literature she still takes her place. Where is the wreath her shamrock does not adorn? Where the muse that has not visited her hills? Her harp has ever kindled the soul of the warrior, and soothed the sorrows of the broken-hearted. It has sounded every strain that can move the human heart to greatness or to love. Whatever vices may stain her people, they are free from the crime of voluntary servitude. The Irishman is the man 96 THE SPIRIT OF HER BARDS. last to be subdued. Possessing an elasticity of character that will rise under the heaviest oppression, he wants only a favorable opportunity, and a single spark, to set him in a-blaze. Distinguished for his inquisitiveness and shrewdness, he is perpetually "talking over things;" nothing escapes his observation -hence he wants no more intimate knowledge of his condition or rights, or the character of his oppressors :-Ireland wants only union. These traits of national character inspire hope; with an ever active and ardent mind, no people can be effectually subdued-neither does it require so long a training nor so loud an appeal, to arouse them to energetic and successful action. T II. 10 a distant observer, that beautiful Island appears like a city of ruins in the saddened light of evening. Her glory and her strength seem departed for ever. But it is not of the poetry of the past the lover of Ireland must speak. Her bards never sang in strains so mournful and pathetic, as the sad lullaby of the mother over her famishing child. The complaint of poverty and the cry of suffering, are more heart-breaking than her most plaintive melodies. Her woes and her dishonor move not the hearts of her oppressors, but they are noted by the God of the poor. Before speaking of the present condition of Ireland, it is necessary to refer to some events in her past history. A knowledge of the causes which have reduced her to subjugation, is necessary, in order to know where the right and wrong lie, and what justice now demands should be done. If invasion, spoliation and piracy on the part of one nation against another, provoke retributive justice, and it sinks under the punishment it has justly incurred, it has no right to complain. But if this same violence and robbery, prompted by cupidity alone, reduce an innocent people to slavery, the case is widely different. We wish to show by a rapid survey of the past his HOW ENGLAND'S TYRANNY BEGAN. 97 tory of Ireland, that she is an invaded and plundered nationthat both her degradation and her servitude are directly chargeable on England—that British cupidity and British pride have been the alpha and omega of Irish suffering. The earliest history of Ireland is so mixed up with tradition, it is impossible to distinguish the true from the false. In the Sixth and Seventh Centuries, Ireland was distinguished for her piety and her learning. In the Ninth Century, she was invaded and harassed by the Danes. In the Eleventh Century, the people rose against the invaders-deposed the usurper, and placed their own king (O'Brien) on the throne. In an attempt to quell an insurrection, O'Brien was slain; and though the Irish were victorious, yet being left without a king, they became divided by conflicting animosities and fatal rivalries, and no longer existed as a nation, but remained broken up till the Anglo-Norman invasion. Pope Adrian, himself an Englishman, made a grant of land to Henry the Second, on the condition he should hold it in fee for the Pope. Henry, of course, became suddenly pious; and wishing to harmonize the conflicting social and political feelings of the country, sent over an army of Norman freebooters, who, with powder and steel, soon succeeded in converting most of the inhabitants. THIS III. THIS is the origin of the connection between England and Ireland. Ireland was not, however, wholly subjugated even by the invasion of Richard, Earl of Strigal, surnamed the Strongbow, although she endured enough to have prostrated the energies and broken the spirit of any other people. Through this period of Irish history, the inhabitants exhibited a patriotism and valor deserving of a better reward. But the myrmidons of England, backed by strong military force, proved too strong for them. They were overwhelmed; the country was put under English deputies, and from that time has been the victim of English oppression. Under the unjust adminis 98 FIRST IRISH PARLIAMENT. tration of these governors, and through the quarrels of the chiefs themselves, the power of the native princes rapidly declined. In 1272 Edward II. ascended the English throne. A century had now elapsed since the Norman invasion. Overcome in almost every attempt to regain their freedom, wrecked by successive disasters, the Irish princes gave over the unequal contest, and many of them, especially those who bordered on the English settlements, sought to become British subjects, in order to be protected from outrage and plunder. For their citizenship, they offered Edward a subsidy of a thousand marks. This was opposed by the local aristocracy, who knew if they became British subjects they could no longer be taxed and plundered with the impunity which had before prevailed. The government of England allowed no one but herself to rob her own subjects. This local aristocracy was English; for it must be remembered, in order to account for the action of the Irish Parliament, that it was always England's policy to keep a certain number of her nobility and citizens in Ireland to preserve the English ascendency. The people petitioned again and again. It was in vain. British slaves they should be-British subjects never. Enraged at this unjust refusal, and maddened by the continued tyranny that only mocked their sufferings, they flew to arms. Sir John Wogan was sent over to quell the insurrection. He assembled an Irish Parliament to take into consideration the state of the country. This was the first Parliament ever constitutionally convened in Ireland. It was in 1295. Several just and useful acts were passed, but they availed little to remedy the evils that had taken such deep and widely spread root in the country. Another cause of evil, was the levying of "coyne and livery" by the great barons to maintain their large retinues. This was another step towards the oppression of the Irish tenantry. Acting on the principle by which aristocrats have always been governed, that what is wrung from the serf is the clear gain of the lord, they drove away, by their extortion, the sturdy yeo |