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stable and uniform throughout the species as is the material structure of humanity; and in the lineaments of which we may read that there is a moral regimen among men, and therefore a moral governor who hath instituted, and who presides over it. Therefore it was that these imperial despots, the worst and haughtiest of recorded monarchs, stood aghast at the spectacle of their own worthlessness.

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This is not a local or a geographical notion. It is a universal feeling to be found wherever men are found, because interwoven with the constitution of humanity. It is not, therefore, the peculiarity of one creed or of one country. It circulates at large throughout the family of man. can trace it in the theology of savage life; nor is it wholly overborne by the artificial theology of a more complex and idolatrous paganism. Neither crime nor civilization can extinguish it; and, whether in the "conscientia scelerum" of the fierce and frenzied Catiline, or in the tranquil contemplative musings of Socrates and Cicero, we find the impression of at once a righteous and reigning Sovereign.

XXXII-ON PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

FOX.

IT is asked, whether liberty has not gained much of late years, and whether the popular branch ought not therefore to be content? To this, I answer, that, if liberty has gained much, power has gained more. Power has been indefatigable, and unwearied in its encroachments; everything has run in that direction through the whole course of the present reign. Nothing, therefore, I say, has been gained to the people, whilst the constant current has run towards the crown; and God knows what is to be the consequence, both to the crown and the country. I believe we are come to the last moment of possible remedy. I believe that at this moment the enemies of both are few; but I firmly believe, that what has been seen in Ireland, will be experienced also here; and that, if we are to go in the same career with convention bills and acts of exasperation of all kinds, the few will soon become the many, and that we shall have to pay a severe retribution for our present pride. What a noble lord said some time

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ago of France, may be applicable to this very subject. What, said he, negotiate with France? With men, whose hands are reeking with the blood of their sovereign? What, shall we degrade ourselves by going to Paris, and there asking in humble diplomatic language to be on good understanding with them? Gentlemen will remember these lofty words; and yet we have come to this humiliation; we have negotiated with France! and I shall not be surprised to see the noble lord himself going to Paris, not at the head of his regiment, but on a diplomatic commission to those very regicides, to pray to be on a good understanding with them. Shall we then be blind to the lessons, which the events of the world exhibit to our view? Pride, obstinacy, and insult, must end in concessions, and those concessions must be humble in proportion to our unbecoming pride.

XXXIII-CHARACTER OF JUSTICE.

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SHERIDAN.

MR. HASTINGS, in the magnificent paragraph which concludes this communication, says, I hope it will not be a departure from official language to say, that the majesty of justice ought not to be approached without solicitation. She ought not to descend to inflame or provoke, but to withhold her judgment, until she is called on to determine." But, my lords, do you, the judges of this land, and the expounders of its rightful laws, do you approve of this mockery, and call it the character of justice, which takes the form of right to excite wrong? No, my lords, justice is not this halt and miserable object; it is not the ineffective bauble of an Indian pagod; it is not the portentous phantom of despair; it is not like any fabled monster, formed in the eclipse of reason, and found in some unhallowed grove of superstitious darkness, and political dismay! No, my lords. In the happy reverse of all this, I turn from the disgusting caricature to the real image! Justice I have now before me, august and pure! the abstract idea of all that would be perfect in the spirits and the aspirings of men! where the mind rises, where the heart expands; where the countenance is ever placid and benign; where her favorite attitude is to stoop to the unfortunate; to

hear their cry and to help them; to rescue and relieve, to succor and save; majestic from its mercy; venerable from its utility; uplifted, without pride; firm, without obduracy; beneficent in each preference; lovely, though in her frown!

On that justice I rely; deliberate and sure, abstracted from all party purpose and political speculation, not on words, but on facts. You, my lords, who hear me, I conjure, by those rights it is your best privilege to preserve; by that fame it is your best pleasure to inherit; by all those feelings which refer to the first term in the series of existence, the original compact of our nature-our controlling rank in the creation. This is the call on all, to administer to truth and equity, as they would satisfy the laws and satisfy themselves -with the most exalted bliss possible or perceivable for our nature, the self-approving consciousness of virtue, when the condemnation we look for will be one of the most ample mercies accomplished for mankind since the creation of the world!

XXXIV. THE HOUR OF DESTINY.

DUBLIN NATION.

THE last plank has now, indeed, been shivered, to which we clung with such despairing faith. The last drop added to the cup of insult and misery, and it has overflowed. Men of Ireland, the hour of trial and deliverance has at last been struck by Providence. Calmly contemplate all that God, humanity, and your outraged country now demand of you, and then resolutely dare, heroically conquer, or bravely die. What have you to fear? Nothing in Heaven, for you are justified before God. You may kneel by your uplifted battleflag, and call Him to witness how have endured every wrong-suffered, unrevenged, every infamy-and sought redress only with streaming eyes and clasped hands, and passionate prayers for justice! justice! The cry has gone up to heaven, and entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, but it could not melt the heart of man. We appeal to God, then, in the day of battle: we claim his vengeance for our wrongs; for has he not said: "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, saith the Lord ?" Do you fear the judgment of men? Look round the earth-every nation cheers you on

you

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with words of hope and sympathy and encouragement. Uplift your battle-flag, and from the two hemispheres, and across the two oceans, not words alone, but brave hearts and armed hands will come to aid you.

Ireland! Ireland! it is no petty insurrection-no local quarrel-no party triumph that summons you to the field. The destinies of the world-the advancement of the human race-depend now on your courage and success; for if you have courage, success must follow! Tyranny, and despotism, and injustice, and bigotry, are gathering together the chains that have been flung off by every other nation of Europe, and are striving to bind them upon us--the ancient, brave, free Irish people. It is a holy war to which we are called—a war against all that is opposed to justice and happiness and freedom. Conquer, and tyranny is subdued forever. It is a death-struggle now between the oppressor and the slave-between the murderer and his victim. Strike!strike! Another instant, and his foot will be upon your neck-his dagger at your heart. Will he listen to prayers?

Will he melt at tears? We have looked to heaven, and earth, and asked, "Is there no way to save Ireland but by this dark path?" We have taken counsel of misery, and famine, and plague, and said, "Will ye not plead for us? Will not horror grant what justice denies ?" But they die! -they die! The strong men, and the mothers, and the pale children, down they fall, thousands upon thousands-a deathruin of human corses upon the earth, and their groans vibrate with a fearful dissonance through the country, and their death-wail shrieks along the universe, but no pity dims the eye of the stern murderer who watches their agonies.

Then arose a band of martyrs, and they stood between the living and the dead, and preached the truth, such as the world has known from the beginning, only they preached it more eloquently, for they were young and gifted, and genius burned in their eyes, and patriotism in their hearts-and God has filled these young noble spirits with a lofty enthusiasm for the divinest purpose-the regeneration of their country. But what care they for genius, or virtue, or patriotism? -these iron machines, called governments, who "grind down men's bones to a pale unanimity." So they trembled at the voices of these young preachers, and strove to crush them by cunning and ingenious tortures that made life more terrible even than death; and soon there were noble limbs

writhing in prison cells; and proud hearts beating in ignominious exile. And now with the groans of the dying, there went up from our fatal land the shrieks of despairing mothers, and the weeping of young wives left desolate by lonely hearths, and the bewildered cries of orphaned children when they heard they had no father.

XXXV.-THE SAME-CONTINUED.

DUBLIN NATION.

WHAT then? Is there no hope? Will ye drag on a wretched existence, degraded in the eyes of Europe-making Ireland a by-word amongst the nations? Will ye suffer these things, that so children your in after years may rise up and say,-Was it thus, and thus, when ye were young men, and ye never lifted your arms to prevent it? Did ye sell not only the lives of your brothers, but also the honor of your country? Have ye left nothing but a heritage of shaine? No! God has not utterly forsaken us. He has left us one path, but one. There is no other. You must march on it, or the ruin of your country, the death of the living, and the vengeance of the unavenged dead will be on your souls. But here solemnly we acquit the English people of all participation in forcing on us this dreadful alternative-slavery or war. Not the brave, generous, English people, but the tyrant, imbecile ministry are guilty of thus recklessly plunging their own nation and ours into the murderous collision.

One way is indeed yet left, one noble way, and a hallelujah of praise might rise to heaven in place of the clash of arms and the groans of the dying. Let the Queen come with all the proud prerogatives of royalty. Let her unbar the prison-gates, restore the exiles to their homes, restore their rights to a nation. A woman can yet save thousands from destruction. If she will not, then amongst the miserable in the kingdom, there will be one more miserable than all. That Queen upon her throne-a crowned Medea-with the diamonds on her brow, but the blood of her people, her children, on her soul. Oh! let thy heart speak, young Queen, there is yet time; hesitate—and the page of history that

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