classical Learning; oriental, antient, and modern Languages; Criticism,
sacred and profane History, Oratory, Logick, Ethicks, and Metaphysicks; in
natural and experimental Philosophy; Anatomy, Botany and Chymistry; the
mathematicks, in Theory and Practice; Civil and Canon Laws; Theology,
Controversy, and Ecclesiastical History: So that, with a good Capacity,
and regular Application, one may depart this University, as completely and
happily instituted for the honorary Professions of Life, as may be
reasonably expected from any Nursery of Learning extant. The obtaining a
Fellowship in this University, is a demonstrative Test of comprehensive
native Talents, thorough intellectual Cultivation, deep and various
learned Acquirements.
The _Newtonian_ Philosophy, the excellent _Boyle_’s experimental
Philosophy, and Mr. _Locke_’s Metaphysicks, prevail much in the College of
_Dublin_: Which, for Extent, Convenience, Magnificence, and a most
sumptuous elegant Library, exceeds any one College in _Europe_. The
beautiful Parks belonging to it, seem actually, on a serene Evening, the
delightful Vale of _Tempe_, or enchanting Recesses of _Parnassus_,
inhabited by all the Muses, all the Graces, with their charming Train.
The Trade of _Ireland_, however in former Times miserably restrained and
limited, hath in this happy Reign received considerable Enlargements; such
as, the opening several Wooll-Ports; the Bounty on _Irish_ Linens, now our
staple Commodity, imported into _Great-Britain_; and the Immunity lately
granted of importing thither Beef, Butter, Tallow, Candles, Pork, Hides,
live Cattle, _&c._ a Privilege that, in its Consequences, must prove of
signal Advantage to both Nations; to _this_ especially, as we shall hereby
be enabled, upon any occasional Exigency, to supply our protecting
Friends, and proportionably stint the Hands of our Enemies, who, (by the
Profusion of Wines and spirituous Liquors, annually exported from _France_
to Ireland, in Exchange for our Beef, Butter, _&c._ to pass over the Gluts
of Teas and Spirits, _&c._ smuggled thence by the _western_ Runners) have
constantly the Balance on their Side. Our Exports, with those already
mentioned, consist in a few Cheeses, Salmon and Kelp: But, as our Linens
are, without Question, become the vital Spring of _Irish_ Commerce, it is
Matter of great Concern and equal Surprize, that the other Provinces do
not more _universally_ and _effectually_ follow the lucrative Example of
the _North_! since, it is evident, nothing but _equal Industry_ can be
wanting to render them _equally flourishing_, The Over-growth of Graziers
and Stockmasters, is the strongest Indication that can be of national
Waste and Decay, in respect of Inhabitants. What could a Foreigner,
travelling among us, particularly in the _western_ Counties, some Summers
past, judge of our national Wisdom and Oeconomy? Would he not start even
at our Humanity, on seeing the best arable Grounds in the Kingdom, in
immense Tracts, wantonly enjoyed by the Cattle of a few petulant
Individuals; and at the same Juncture, our high Ways and Streets crowded
with Shoals of mendicant fellow-creatures! reduced, through Want of proper
Sustenance, to the utmost Distress? Would not a _Frenchman_ for Example,
give a Shrug extraordinary, at finding, in every little Inn, _Bourdeaux_
Claret and _Nantz_ Brandy, though, in all Likelihood, not a Morsel of
_Irish_ Bread?
It is much to be hoped, That, when the Spirit of Tillage should become
more general and active, our Farmers more attentive to the Growth of the
best Kinds of Grain, and our Brewers, more attentive to the Rules and
Precepts for that Purpose laid down by the Honourable the DUBLIN SOCIETY;
we shall have little or no Occasion for that Inundation of _London
Porter_; (an heavy, cloudy, intoxicating, ill-flavoured Liquor) that
annually overflows this City and other Parts of the Kingdom; as, in the
above Case, we may have a sufficient Plenty and Variety of Malt Liquors,
our own native Produce, far better than any imported; and, in Case of a
Redundancy of Grain, (a Matter not very likely to happen) may, with
moderate Care, have Spirituous Liquors of far a more wholesome Nature,
exquisite Taste, and delicate Flavour, than those imported at an
extraordinary Expence; and but too often adulterated, in the first
Concoction.
We have, in several Parts of this Kingdom, (in the Province of _Munster_
especially) a recy, spirituous, fine-flavoured Cyder, very little, if at
all, inferior to the best imported White Wines; and a moderate Plenty of
grateful Honey-Liquors, which, with our prime Beef, Mutton, Pork, Veal,
Lamb, Variety of Fowls, tame and wild; red and fallow Deer; Hares,
Rabbits, Pidgeons, Pheasants, Grouse; and Partridge; wild Duck, Plover,
Snipe, _&c._ Lake, River, Shell and Sea Fish, of all Kinds; the Produce of
the Garden, (Horticulture having of late Years so vastly improved among
us, that we now have many curious Plants, Fruits, and Flowers, not only
not _known_, but never even _heard of_, in former Times) and _all_ in such
Plenty and Perfection, as demonstrate _Ireland_ happier than most other
Countries, in regard of the Necessaries and even of the Delicacies of
Life; to which may be added, the great Number of our beautiful Lakes,
noble Rivers, pure Fountains, limpid Streams, and Health-restoring mineral
Wells.(4) In this Country are bred valuable Horses, for the Draught, Road,
and Chace; and for the Course, as high-formed ones, as in any Part of
_Europe_; and large horned Cattle, and Sheep in Abundance.
It must afford real Satisfaction to consider the universal and visible
Reformation in the Lives and Morals even of our common People, clearly
evinced in this, that (thank Heaven) fewer legal Punishments succeed an
entire Circuit, in our happy Days, than did a single Assize in former
Reigns: And, without Question, this Reformation must still rise higher, in
Proportion to the Lenity of our worthy Legislature, and wise Indulgence of
our landed Men, who must certainly find it more conducive to the Welfare
of the State, and to their own Strength, Honour, and Interest, to have
their Estates farmed and inhabited by a great Number of honest, laborious
improving Families, than wasted by a few Purse-proud Bullock-Brokers, who
rarely allow the wretched Herd of an hundred, as much Ground for his own
and poor Family’s Support, as is equal to that of two Bullocks.
Suppose a Gentleman was to let two thousand Acres of arable Ground to
farm; were it not demonstrably more conducive to all the foregoing
Motives, to dispose of these to twenty honest, industrious Families, at an
hundred Acres each, than to any one Beau-Grazier whatever? From the twenty
Tenures, the Landlord may, in any national Shock, raise a considerable
Number of effective Hands, and zealous Hearts, for the Service of the
Crown, or Defence of his Country; and reap many signal Advantages to the
public and private Concernments of Life, not possibly derivable from the
anti-social Monopolizers and Forestallers of Farms; who ever fondly
attribute their Growth to their own Sagacity and Cleverness, without any
the least Gratitude or Obligation to the Land-owner. These Sentiments, it
is hoped, will every Day gain more and more Consideration with our wise
and beneficent Legislature, Nobility and Gentry.
Many intelligent Persons, of all Ranks, complain much of the Want of some
Establishment in the Way of a national Bank, to secure popular Credit, and
the Kingdom from the various alarming Shocks it is so frequently incident
to, on Account of the Failure of particular Banks.
The Nobility and Gentry of _Ireland_, are Loyalists and Patriots by
Principle and Education: They are brave, without Arrogance; gay, without
Levity; polite, without Affectation; charitable, without Ostentation;
religious, without Formality; affable, without Meanness; generous, without
View; and hospitable, without Reserve: In their Converse, easy; in their
Dealings just; placable in their Resentments, in their Friendship
steady:—They have neither the volatile Airyness of the _Frenchman_, the
stated Gravity of the _Spaniard_; the supicious Jealousy of the _Italian_;
the forbidding Haughtiness of the _German_; the saturnine Gloominess of
the _Flandrican_, nor the sordid Parsimony of the _Dutchman_: In short,
they are neither whimsical, splenetic, sullen or capricious:—And, as for
Cunning, Craft, or Dissimulation, these are such sorry Guests as never
found Shelter in the generous Breast of an _Irish_ Noble or Gentleman; so
that, if we consider this Country, with regard to its military Fame,
constitutional Wisdom, Learning, Arts, Improvements, and natural
Advantages; and above all, the benevolent Temper, charitable and
hospitable Disposition of its Inhabitants; it is true, we may find many of
more popular Bustle and Eclat, more extensive Commerce, greater Opulence
and Pomp; but none of more general, solid, and intrinsick Worth, than
_Ireland_.
I shall conclude with the following Proposition to any one, who may
arrogate to himself Praise or Wit, by ridiculing _Ireland_.
_Si quid Novisti rectius istis—_
_Candidus imperti; Si non, his utere mecum._
THE FARMER’S CASE OF THE ROMAN-CATHOLICS OF _IRELAND_.
In a LETTER from a MEMBER of the PROTESTANT CHURCH.
DEAR SIR,
I think myself indebted to any Occasion that restores you to a Friend,
whom I feared you had long forgotten. But I confess, at the same Time,
that the Pleasure of hearing from you, after a Silence of Several Years,
is, in some Measure, damped by the Censure that seems to constitute the
chief Intent of your Letter.
You tell me that you lately happened upon some Papers that were entitled
The FARMER’s LETTERS, _&c._ which were imputed to me as the Author. And,
after some Compliments on Spirit, and Genius, and so forth, in order to
palliate, as I suppose, what you purpose to administer, you charge me, by
Implication, with Crimes, whose smallest Tendency I should abhor in
myself, as in any Man breathing.
You say, favourably enough for your own Disposition, that you have long
looked on the _Roman-Catholics_ of these Kingdoms as a discountenanced and
pitiable People. That you would choose to allow to others the same
Latitude of Conscience that you like for yourself. That it is not a Part
of Humanity to break a Reed already bruised. That such a Treatment would
be blameable respecting any Individual; how much more so, in Prejudice of
a whole People. That those Papers are pointed with a Keenness of Enmity,
for which the Talents, which you are pleased to ascribe, cannot
sufficiently apologize. And, that you did not think me capable of
exasperating Government and Power against a Set of Men who were already
under the Displeasure and Depression of the Law.
These, my dear Friend, are home and heavy Accusations, however tempered by
Expressions of Kindness and Affection from the Man whom I sincerely love
and respect.
But, if I know any-thing of myself, the Quality, called Ill-nature, is not
my Characteristic. I would not exchange one Grain of Good-heart for all
the Wit of a _C----d_ or Comprehension of a _P--tt_, independent of their
Virtue. And I may say, with great Truth, that an Excess of Humanity hath
occasioned all the Misfortunes and Distresses of my Life.
I most solemnly assure you, that when I wrote those Letters I was in
perfect Love and Charity with every _Roman Catholic_ in the Kingdom of
_Ireland_. I knew that they were a depressed People. I had long pitied
them as such. I was sensible that the Laws, under which they suffered, had
been enacted by our Ancestors, when the Impressions of Hostility were
fresh and warm, and when Passion, if I may venture to say so, co-operated,
in some Measure, with Utility and Reason. I will go a Step further. I
thought those Laws not severe enough to suppress them as Enemies, nor yet
sufficiently favourable to attach them to us as Friends. They were not so
cruel as, wholly, to serve for quelling; and yet they had a Poignancy that
might tend to provoke. And all this I imputed to the Resentment that was
blended with the Humanity of our Ancestors. Their Humanity left to Papists
a Power of hurting, while their Resentment abridged the Inducements that
might engage them to serve us.
Believe me, Sir, I never was of a cruel or persecuting Disposition. I was
grieved to see the Discouragements under which the _Roman Catholics_ of
this Kingdom laboured, but these very Discouragements made me fear them
the more.
Previous to the Letters, which you censure so warmly, a dangerous
Rebellion had broken out in _Scotland_, in consequence of a _French_
Invasion, that was headed by a Popish Pretender to the Throne. Be pleased
to remember, (if it is not too mortifying a Recollection for a free-born
_Briton_) the Pannic into which all _England_ was struck by a few _Scotch_
Vassals, undisciplined, and unactuated by any Motive of Liberty or Virtue,
save the Virtue of being attached to their _Laird_ or their _Leader_.
Millions of _English_, at that Time, sunk in the Down of a long Peace, and
enervated by ministerial Corruption and Venality, feared that a Handful of
_Highlanders_ would win their Way to _London_, and, at one Stroke, put a
Period to the boasted Strength and Grandeur of the _British_ Constitution.
I was astonished at the Apprehensions that _England_ was under from so
contemptible an Armament. But I deemed the Case of _Ireland_ to be highly
alarming. The _Roman-Catholics_, at that Time, outnumbered us Five to One.
They were disarmed, it is true, but I was not equally sure that they had
Reason to be reconciled. As they were not admitted to realize their
Fortune, it consisted of ready Money, and that gave ready Power. As they
were not permitted to purchase, or accept a Tenure of any valuable Length,
Loyalty, perhaps, might induce them to fight for their King; but where was
the Stake to impel them to fight for a Country in which they had no
_Inheritance_? Without an Interest in Lands, they had little to lose by
any Change of Estate. Without a Loan lodged with Government, they had the
less to lose by a Change of Constitution.
I cannot conceive how _Religion_, or mere Difference of Opinion, should
prove a real Cause of Quarrel among Men; though it often serves as a _Word
of War_, or a _Term_ whereby to give Notice for Onset. On the contrary, I
had observed that wherever People are united by _Interest_, though of a
thousand opposite Sects, Persuasions and Professions, they never fail to
join in the Maintenance and Defence of _common Rights_.
I, therefore, did not fear the _Roman Catholics_, as having a different
_Religion_, but as having an _Interest_ that was different from the
Interest of _Protestants_. Were they a Compound of all the Follies,
Absurdities, and Contradictions that ever were generated by
Monster-bearing Superstition, had their Interest bound them to us, I
should not have feared their _Fealty_.
But this was not the Case. The _French_ Invasion of _Great Britain_ was
headed by a Person who was, by Birth, Education, Principle, and Interest,
an Enemy to the Freedom and Rights of a Constitution that was established
on the Dispossession of his Ancestors; and he was, consequently, an Enemy
to the general Change of Privilege and Property, that ensued on the said
Establishment. The said Change, as we all know, was to the Disadvantage of
_Roman Catholics_. Had the Invader prevailed, a Change would again have
ensued, in their Favour. Men naturally with Success to an Event from
whence they propose Benefit; and it is as natural for them to act
conformable to those Wishes.
Had _Roman Catholics_ been possessed of an unrestrained Property, along
with the other Liberties, Blessings, and Enjoyments, which they derived,
in common with us, from the Establishment at the Revolution, no spiritual
or temporal Power on Earth could have tempted them to permit, much less to
wish, a Change of a Constitution whose Equal they could not find upon
Earth.
But as this was very far from being the Fact, I feared that _Interest_
might prove an Incentive to _Desire_; and Desire equally prove an
Incentive to _Action_; and, I am not ashamed to confess, that my
Expectations were greatly, though happily, disappointed, by the Steadiness
of their peaceful and loyal Demeanour on that trying Occasion.
Believe me, my Friend, at the Time that I wrote those Papers, which have
given you so much Offence, I looked upon the _Papists_ of this Kingdom, by
the Patronage of _France_ and _Spain_, by their Numbers, by their Wealth,
and by their Union with each other, to be vastly superior to _Irish
Protestants_, in Power; and my Spirit of Opposition rose, in Proportion to
my Idea of their Ability. But neither then, before, nor since, did I ever
mean to excite any Action, or Intention, against the Weak, or the
Oppressed, the Fallen, or the Afflicted.
When _Brutus_ unsheathed the reluctant Sword of Freedom against his
Friend, Humanity must suppose that his Heart was wrung with Compunction,
while his Country enjoined and impelled the Blow.
But further, Sir, there is a very wide Difference between a _Popish
Regency_ and a _Popish People_. The whole Intent and Virulence, as you
call it, of my Papers, is pointed and levelled against the _One_, but not
a Syllable uttered, from End to End, against the _Other_. A _Popish
Regency_, in Temporals alike as in Spirituals, I held to be, by Principle,
an arbitrary and oppressive Government; but I held a _Popish People_ to
be, of all People, the most amenable and submissive to Rulers, whatever
the Form or Nature of that State may be, under which they shall happen to
be subjected. And, on this very Account, I dreaded them the more, should
they become passive Instruments in the Hand of a Papal Dictator.
To apply a sure Test to the Propriety, or Impropriety, of my
Apprehensions, at the Period when I wrote the _Farmer’s Letters_, let us
suppose that no one of the Penal Laws, which were instituted during the
Reign of her Majesty Queen _Anne_, had yet passed into Form, but that
Matters had remained in the same Situation, in which the _Monarch_, of
_humane_, as well as _glorious Memory_, had left this unhappy People.
Well, what would have been the Consequence? Would _Papists_, in that Case,
have been less amenable to the Government, by which they had been
favoured, supported, and cherished? Would they have been the forwarder to
bring Damage and Destruction on a Country, because their own Interest was
connected therewith, and the Fortunes of their Posterity deposited
therein? Would they have been the readier to attempt the Overthrow of our
beneficent Constitution, because they enjoyed the Privileges and
Advantages thereof? No, Sir, no. The Absurdity of the Supposition is
inclusive of the Answer. Had this been the Case, the _Farmer’s Letters_
would not have existed to have caused the Renewal of our Acquaintance.
I have read and noted many Instances, in free States and Commonwealths,
where _Liberty_, when fermented into _Licentiousness_, hath occasioned
many partial Struggles for Power, many Broils and Factions, and much
Disturbance to the Community. But very few are the Instances of the
Insurrection of any People, who have not been goaded thereto by Severity
and Oppression. The inoffensive Stag grows formidable when _at __ Bay_.
The Worm turneth not, till it receiveth a Crush.
I forget the Book, though I remember the Passage, where a Prince demanded
of his favourite Minister, what he should do with a Number of the Commons
and Nobility, whom he had suppressed and taken Captive in the Act of
Rebellion? The Minister answered, _Put them, and their Adherents,
instantly to Death_. No, replied the Prince, that were an Act of such
Bloodshed and Barbarity, as neither Fear nor Revenge shall persuade me to
perpetrate. _Then, grant them all free Pardon_, rejoined the Minister.
How! said the Prince, must Rebellion go altogether unpunished? There is no
Medium that can assure your Safety, answered the Minister; you must either
pull this Party wholly up by the Root, so as to leave no Fibre from whence
future Enmity may grow; or else, you must change that Enmity into
Friendship, by binding their Gratitude to your Person and Interest, with
the kindliest of all Connections, that of your Goodness and Favour. _A
partial Punishment will be too little for your Safety; a partial Pardon
will not be enough._ You must either wholly annihilate their Power, by
their _Death_; or derive Strength to yourself, from that Power, by their
_Friendship_.
By disarming our Enemies, the utmost we can hope, is, to render them
impotent. The Diminution of _their_ Power adds nothing to our _own_.
Repentance is never so permanent or sincere, as when preceded by Pardon;
and Favour is, as the polar Attraction, to Inclination. Is there a Man
whose Love and Gratitude you desire to engage? Common Sense will direct
you to do him a Benefit. Would you bind him to your Service with Hoops of
Steel? You must make it his Interest, as well as his Duty, to befriend
you.
It is, by no means, my Intention to arraign either the Wisdom or good
Policy of our Forefathers. But all Men are, in some Degree, fallible, as
well in the congregate, as in the individual; and the Shrewd may err as
much, by over-reaching their Aim, as the Ignorant, by falling short, or
deviating from it.
But, had a hundred _Pitts_, and a hundred _Cecils_, composed the Senate of
our Ancestors, at the Time that those _Penal Laws_ were enacted; had those
Laws been ever so wise and so just, so wholesome and necessary, and well
suited to the Season; is that a Reason that they should _continue so_ to
the End of Time? In a World where nothing is permanent; where Modes,
Manners, Principles, and Practice are at a Flux; where Life is uncertain,
and all it contains changeable; Nature and Reason will conform to
Situation and Circumstance; and where _Causes_ have ceased, in any Degree,
the _Consequences_ ought to cease in the same Proportion.
It is not now with _Rome_ as it was in the Days when Princes held her
Steed, and Emperors her Stirrup. The Kings of the Earth have, pretty
clearly, resumed her Usurpations and Acquisitions of temporal Dominion. It
is not now, as it was when she cried Peace! and it became Peace; or when
the Breath of her Mandate kindled the Nations to Battle. Even his
_Holiness_ is, now, but a poor limited Prince, pent up within his little
_Italian_ Demesne. If some few still acknowledge to hold of his Authority,
it is a Homage of Words, and not of Facts; they will not acknowledge to
hold of his Power. He is restored to the quiet and unenvied Possession of
all the Lordship and Interest he can acquire in Heaven. But the Sceptre,
even of his spiritual Dominion upon Earth, is, of late, as I take it, most
wonderfully shortened.
Matters are much altered with the ecclesiastical World, even since I wrote
the Letters that have roused your Spleen. Whether it be through a Decline
of the _Romish_ Religion, in particular; or, possibly, through a Decline
of all Religion, in general; the pontifical and episcopal Dictatorship and
Authority are wofully fallen, from the Chair of Infallibility, where they
had been seated by Opinion. The Sons of the most bigotted Ancestors do now
perceive, that Piety and Immorality are not rightly consistent. And even
the vulgar and ignorant, among the _Roman_ Laity, would grumble at
departing from an Inch of their Property, though the Priest should advise,
and the Pope, himself, should enjoin it.
But, Sir, if the Change of Times, and Principles, Situation, and
Circumstances; if the Change of every Cause that produced those penal
Laws, have not availed for a Change of _Consequences_; for some Mitigation
or Abatement of their Rigour, toward these my unhappy Brethren, the _Roman
Catholics of Ireland_: If no Argument, I say, that is taken from Changes,
may avail for the Purpose, I will take one from Permanence and Duration
itself, that shall strike Light and Conviction to the Eye of every
Beholder; that Power may _gainsay_, but cannot _refute_; that Malevolence
may _dispute_, but never can _answer_.