CHARLES BROWNLOW, ESQ.
M. P.
Dear Sir,
Your recent speech on the Catholic question, has been hailed as an event
favourable to the best interests of Ireland by all who in sympathising
with her sufferings, have sought for, and ascertained their master
cause.
All Irishmen are brave! it is scarce a national boast to say so! for the
courage of nerve and sinew is, after all, a quality of pretty general
distribution, “from Indus to the Pole.” Man is every where a pugnacious
animal; and _les heros de circonstance_--prompt to fight “for any God or
King”--are always to be had for hire, be the _cavalier pagante_ who he
may. But there is a quality of courage, which has been found rare in all
ages and in all regions, the peculiar endowment of high, free, and above
all, of _honest minds_. This is the courage that sets at nought
“The world’s dread sneer,
Which scarce the stern philosopher can scorn,”
which boldly opposes a startling truth to a received opinion, which
frankly recants the cherished error of early associations, and avows the
change operated by arduous inquiry and clear conviction, at the expense
of all worldly interests, and the sacrifice of all private feelings.
Such, Sir, is the courage which you have displayed upon a subject of
vital importance to Ireland. As an Irishwoman, I beg to offer my mite of
gratitude for the benefit conferred upon our common country--convinced
that whenever the spirit of those sentiments which you have avowed shall
govern the councils of the nation, Absenteeism will cease to be a
national malady.