SECTION I

WHOEVER would rightly understand

the actual State of IRELAND, Ought principally to inform himself of the peculiar condition of its Catholic Inhabitants.

the Irish Catholics.

In every point of view, they form a truly im- Importance of portant subject of inquiry and serious reflection. Strength, industry, energy, and all the characteristic virtues which bestow value upon a People, are theirs in an eminent degree. In Numbers Their Numbers they have prodigiously increased; and they are continually increasing beyond example in any other country. Already they compose the far greater part of the trading and manufacturing interests. The Agricultural class, so powerful and influential throughout Ireland,---the landholders, farmers, peasantry---are almost universally Catholic. They occupy the most valuable positions, Local advan whether for commercial or for military purposes; the boldest Coasts, most navigable Rivers, and most tenable passes; the most fertile Districts, the

B

tages.

SECT. I. richest supplies of forage, the readiest means of attack or defence. The Geographical advantages of Ireland are well known. Cork, Waterford, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, &c. &c. all Catholic Counties, attest the correctness of our assertions.

ten to one.

Ireland," pas

sim.

Their Numbers Numerically, the Catholics constitute full fivesixth parts of the Irish Population; and, compared with the Members of the Established Church, they are in the proportion of at least TEN TO ONE; a proportion, be it observed, rapidly advancing of See" Newen- late years. In every City, Town, and Village, "ham upon the "Population of their numbers more or less preponderate. The open Country is in their almost exclusive occupation. The gross population of Ireland, at this day, is moderately estimated by the most competent judges at Five Millions of Inhabitants. Of this number we may, without exaggeration, state the Catholics as amounting to 4,200,000; that is, equal to one-half of the united population of England and Wales.

4,200,000.

Their Crime.

In fine, the Catholics are emphatically the PEOPLE OF IRELAND.

2. Such is the class of Men, faithful, generous, and deserving,---suffering for the misfortunes of their Ancestors, yet nobly steadfast to their venerated Religion.---Such are the PEOPLE, to whom the British Laws deny Liberty of Conscience. Their sole Crime is that of adher

Constancy in

ing fondly to the Religion of their choice---of obey- SECT. I. ing the sacred dictates of private judgment: and this, not by overturning any established System, or by Faith. turbulent innovations---but by preserving, pure and inviolate, the holy doctrines handed down to them by their Forefathers, confirmed by ages of suffering and calamity, and now consecrated to their love and respect by an historical identity with the honour and fair fame of Ireland, during nearly fourteen Centuries.

ment.

For this crime---of worshipping their Creator, Their Punishin the form practised throughout the greater part of Christendom, the Catholics of Ireland are the prostrate victims of a teazing, intolerant Code of laws; rendering them, in effect, almost " Aliens" in their native Land.

cessary to be

3. To expose the nature and extent Their Case neof this Code, to develope its severe operation understood. upon the People of Ireland, is our present purpose. An acquaintance with this subject will, in fact, serve as the surest clue for investigating many local anomalies, for unravelling apparent difficulties, and tracing the true causes of the numerous Evils, which deform the condition, and impede the prosperity---of Ireland.

To misapprehensions of the real extent of this Mistakes of Code are attributable the errors and mistatements,

which have been so frequently adopted by public

public Men.

valent:

SECT. I. men of all parties, in discussing the case of the Irish Catholics. Hence, we have seen eminent Misapprehensions now pre- Statesmen, Orators and Writers, however favourably inclined towards the abstract principle of Catholic Freedom, occasionally mistaking the extent of this penal system, miscalculating its daily Catholic suffer- and necessary operation, and inadvertently underrating the degree of impatience and poignant anguish, universally suffered by the Irish People under its baneful influence. The truth of this observation every well-informed Catholic has had ample occasion to observe and deplore.

ings under-ra

ted.

Obstacles to publication.

Danger at tending it.

But these misapprehensions cease to excite surprise, when we consider, not merely the uncommon variety and multitude of these Penal enactments, which render an enumeration difficult, but also the heavy discouragements, existing against any publication of the "Case of the "Catholics of Ireland, under the existing Laws." 4. For he who would who would unfold, without reserve, the various grievances of this injured people, or publicly recommend their Case to the justice and good sense of their fellow subjects, undertakes but a cheerless and hazardous task. Not only no praise, or gratitude, or reward of any kind, awaits his performance,however arduous or correct'; not only is the door of advancement closed, and the path of honourable ambition interdicted to his

hopes; but he becomes instantly exposed to that SECT. I.

jealous irritability of power, and that unrelenting Dangers at

cation,

personal proscription, which necessarily flow from tending publis the very temper and inherent nature of this Penal Code. Such has been the experience of many years in Ireland. An unguarded phrase may be transplanted into the defamatory pages of some hireling or expectant Pamphleteer: an accidental ambiguity of expression may be wrested or misquoted, so as to make the "better Sense appear "the worse." It may be garbled and tortured into constructive disaffection, Sedition, or even Treason; and his very proscribers and persecutors may become, directly or mediately, the Judges of their own perverse constructions. In such a coun- A. D. 1811, try as Ireland is, under present circumstances, the iron arm of Power, if once uplifted against such a writer, must speedily and effectually crush him. A barren popularity may attend the victim; but its transient sound will neither rouse the zeal of friends, nor allay the vengeance of exulting Intolerance.

5. Such, partly, are the obstacles to a free and faithful Publication of this nature;---These may sufficiently account for the obscurity in which this subject has remained. Fully aware, however, as we are, of the extent and variety of these Discouragements, we shall proceed to the performance of