Look to the fury of political
faction and the torrents of human blood that stain the face of your
country, and of what materials is that man composed who will not
listen with patience and good will to any proposition that can be
made to him for composing the distractions and healing the wounds
and alleviating the miseries of this devoted nation?"
Lord Clare's words--unanswered and unanswerable then and now--constitute
a sufficient comment on the foolish fable of later invention, that
Ireland was a land of peace and harmony, of orderly government and
abounding prosperity, when a wicked English minister came and "stole
away the Parliament House"--since which all has been decay and
desolation. The halcyon period is generally made to coincide with that
of "Grattan's Parliament"--of the semi-independent and quite unworkable
Constitution of 1782, which had been extorted from England's weakness
when Ireland was denuded of regular troops, and at the mercy of a
Volunteer National Guard, when Cornwallis had just surrendered at
Yorktown, and Spain and France were once more leagued with half Europe
for the destruction of the British Empire.
Pages:
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85