"If Grenville then succeed the prize to gain, • Still let our marshall'd hosts the same appear, pretty logical but Mr. Windham should remember, that although he and his associates have already fallen to the lowest depth of disgrace, and it is of course impossible for them to sink lower, still the more shame they heap upon themselves in that situation, the more difficult will they find the effort to rise at any future period. It is not imagined that such an attempt will ever avail, but this consideration is merely offered to those who consider that their state cannot be made worse than it is. Defeat is always disgraceful, and to a desperate state in deed must those heroes be reduced, if they are become so callous that future ignominies can make no impression upon them. But, it is possible, that the honorable orator and his friends may have adopted the opinion of Hudibras, and consider defeat as not so inglorious : "If he that is in battle slain, "He that is beaten, may be said, Here Windham ceas'd; and GRATTAN, rising soon, A restless, turbulent, Hibernian loon, Full charg'd with Irish fury to the brim, And thus address'd the yawning, weary crew :- "Who sit with thoughtful brows and listening ears; "The greatest object that we ought to seek, "Is Erin's suffering children to befriend. 443 443 Is Erin's suffering children to befriend. This ardor to serve his countrymen is very natural in an Irishman, who is supposed to be so entirely swallowed up in the amor patriæ that he cannot find eyes nor opportunity to discover their faults; or to discriminate as to what would, or what would not, prove beneficial to their interests. By befriending the children of Erin, this gentleman evidently alludes to the emancipation of the Catholics, although we can aver, from the best authority, that there is scarcely a Protestant in Ireland who does not contemplate the probability of such a measure with emotions of the utmost horror and apprehension. In the northern parts of the country the proposition is held in univesral detestation; and the rancour and bigotry of the Irish G "For this, beneath your bannerols I range; "For this I fight and clamour after change; papists, generally speaking, are such, that we are ourselves acquainted with some families that have emigrated; and of many others who intend to follow the same step, from a wellfounded fear of the dreadful consequences which would ultimately ensue from this much wished-for emancipation. We challenge contradiction: let Mr. Grattan and my Lord Grenville controvert these facts before they presume to impose upon our credulity, with their tales of the unanimous wish of the people of Ireland to see their Catholic brethren unfettered by the salutary restraints which at present exist: let them establish the fact "that the Popery which prevails there is not of the most ab"surd and illiberal kind ;" and when they have done this to our satisfaction, it will be time enough for them to worry us with ideal complaints, and strive to GOAD US INTO A COMPLIANCE WITH WHAT REASON AND EXPERIENCE TELL US IS WRONG! When we feel a conviction that we can admit the disciples of Popery into our councils, without detriment to our own religion and liberties, we may be induced to listen to their petitions ; BUT NOT UNTIL THEN and the very nature of the Romish religion must be subverted, before the grand principle, the persecution of heretics, can be exterminated. Their advocates in parliament, men who cannot be ignorant of this fact, BUT WISH TO DESTROY the church and the throne, may talk of the cruelty and persecution displayed by those who refuse to grant their requests; but common sense overturns all their arguments by this simple position—IT IS BETTEr to prevent THAN TO CONTEST our owN DESTRUCTION! "Since change to me nor place nor pension brings, "My hope from no corrupted fountain springs! "No motives base, nor venal views I feel; "My only object is my country's weal! "And when I hail my much lov'd Erin free, "To make his lordship former vows retract; 462 462 Let not ambiguous deeds his name disgrace.-Mr. Grattan's fear seems to have been excited lest his lordship should become an apostate from the holy cause which he has undertaken to advocate. His suspicions have, perhaps, some foundation; but he appears not to have considered the policy of acting a hypocritical part, in order to render the election se ، But in the senate-house, friends, understand, i cure. Such appears to be the line of conduct which his lordship had sketched out for himself; and a letter from an Oxonian on the subject has appeared in a daily paper," which states, that "it was triumphantly boasted by Lord Grenville's friends, at the commencement of his canvass, that his lordship had written a long and satisfactory letter to explain his ،، views, with respect to the Roman Catholic claims. That "letter (continued the writer) I have never seen; I am, 66 ،، 66 7 ،، therefore, unable to say, whether the explanation was explicit, or whether the writer did not shelter himself under "the ambiguity of a general statement. But the late proceedings in Ireland have brought the matter to a point. If ،، the public are not permitted to see his lordship's long letter, "we have a right to expect that he, or his friends in his ،، 66 name, will answer this short question. Will he, in com pliment to his Oxford voters, renounce those opinions which "he so lately most emphatically avowed, and reject the Ro man Catholic petition? or does he intend, as the Chancellor ،، of Oxford, to present that petition, against the objects of "which our University so solemnly protested?" There cannot be a doubt that his lordship will, to his utmost, endeavour to play a deep character; and that his conduct, during the elec tion, as well as before, will display marks of duplicity, which will have their effect upon men of discernment and principle. He will, no doubt, strive to shelter himself under a general |