chial assessments by vestries be placed before the public, and we shall see whether this mighty Babylon can be suffered to exist; whether this enormous mass of wealth can remain untouched in a country which has no exchequer, which cannot pay the interest of her debt, which has no public institution that is not sectarian; a country where there is upwards of a million of paupers, and one half of the operative classes destitute of employment. We shall see whether this magnum latrocinium, as it was called by Burke, be compatible with the exigencies of the State, the interest of the proprietors, and the peace or prosperity of the empire.

We may hear in and out of parliament special pleading and electioneering harangues proving the utility and decorum of this monstrous Establishment; we may hear of her ministers being all saints, and their children without the comforts of life, but we can refer, in reply, to the thousands and hundreds of thousands which she wrenches from the hand of industry. We may be told that it is the proprietor alone who pays her income; but the proprietor, in self-defence, will argue for

the inviolability of his estate; and he will also plead for the seed, and sweat, and labour of his tenant, which are now overlooked, or entirely forgotten. The claim of property will be advanced; and some lawyer, from his brief, will support it against common sense and honesty, and without regard to the title by which it is held but he will be passed unheeded; whilst every man will see that the Establishment was created only for the good of the people, to provide them with religious teachers, to support their public worship, to clothe the naked, and to feed the poor,—and that it no longer fulfils those ends. The law will be advanced as the great safeguard of this mammon of iniquity in the hands of churchmen; but the wisdom of the law and its justice will be questioned, when, like other noxious laws, it operates not for the good, but to the detriment, of the commonwealth. The excess of the Establishment, to be ascertained by this Act, must be corrected. Religion must be rescued from the plague of riches, her ministers must divest themselves of all characters but their own; the absurd fiction, by which they are compared to proprietors, must cease, or the

real proprietors themselves must become vassals of the Church. For the commencement of this godly work we are indebted to the Irish government, and though it were their only merit, it should endear them to the people.

I have the honour, &c.

J. K. L.

LETTER II.

MY DEAR SIR,

THE object of this Letter is to give you some idea of the state of parties in Ireland, their composition, and ulterior views, and to throw some light on the character of our gentry.

When Cromwell was dying, instead of seeking to obtain mercy, he employed himself in mediating between the people and Almighty God. I have no disposition to imitate the presumptuous folly of this arch hypocrite. I shall therefore write nothing with a view of conciliating the conflicting parties amongst us; I shall only endeavour to con

sult for the country, by presenting them to your view. In doing so it is necessary to

despise the farce of state,

The sober follies of the wise and great,"

and to look with a simple eye at what is passing before us.

The country is divided into three great parties, the Orangemen, the Catholics, and the Government party, besides a vast mass of inert matter, or what Swift would call prudent men, who, solely intent on their own interest, whisper away the characters of all the others, pass judgment in secret upon whatever occurs, are never pleased with any thing, and are ready to pray with Cromwell, or cry with Charles, but not until the contest between them is decided.

The Government for a long time endeavoured to mediate; when it failed, an attitude of power was assumed: however it has been obliged to go down with its competitors into the arena, and fight for victory, if not for its existence. It refused to form an alliance with either of the other parties