THE volume before us contains a republication of six of the speeches delivered by Mr. O'Sullivan, during the latter part of the year 1834. It is of course in the recollection of our readers, that it was with the meeting at the Mansion-house, in the August of that year, that the impulse then happily given to Protestant exertion commenced. In the efforts of Protestant energy, consequent upon that impulse, the Rev. Gentleman has borne a distinguished part.—We do not know upon what grounds of preference the six addresses now presented to the public have been selected from the many eloquent and powerful appeals which their author has made to public meetings both in Ireland and England.We certainly are convinced that many of those omitted are even more worthy of preservation and attention, than any which the present publication con

tains.

It is not, however, for us to quarrel with the selection.-In the speeches before us there is quite enough of truth and power to entitle the volume to be regarded as the Statement of the Case of the Protestants of Ireland. Before any impartial tribunal we should be willing that our case should rest upon this statement, we would not desire an abler or a more disinterested advocate, or one more devoted to our cause.-Of him we may emphatically say, that his whole heart is

in the cause of Irish Protestantism,and the fervid eloquence of these addresses is but the outbreaking of the enthusiasm of the speaker's soul,-and surely never did enthusiasm kindle in a nobler cause, or one more calculated to call into high and elevated action every generous impulse and emotion of

our nature.

Our object is not now a critical examination of the character of these speeches.-The task of analyzing the merits of a living orator is never an easy, and not always a pleasant one; and although, in the present instance, we would feel less difficulty in approaching addresses upon which public approbation has been so eminently and so abundantly bestowed, and with respect to which our own judgment altogether coincides with that of the public, although we might feel less hesitation in commending, and perhaps also less delicacy in finding fault-(for critics must always find fault,) we have determined, upon consideration, that the time is not yet come when these addresses can, in any publication, be submitted to the cool sobriety of dispassionate criticism. Party feelings must die away, and party prejudices be forgotten before political productions can be divested of their party character, and be contemplated purely as the efforts of intellectual power.

It might not be an uninteresting matter of reflection to consider, with

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regard to present fame, the respective positions of the politician and the man of letters.-Regarding them both as candidates for intellectual distinction, they present some curious points of contrast. It may be a truth to be lamented, but nevertheless it is a truth, that no one is ready to allow intellectual power to a political opponent, on matters where men's passions are excited, it is impossible for them to judge impartially. It is natural for us to deny the powers of an argument that fails to convince our judgment, and to question the existence of talents which we imagine to be exerted on the wrong side. Hence it is that we find such a wonderful difference in the opinions expressed upon the speeches of politicians, by men who might be supposed equally capable of forming a correct estimate upon their purely literary merits.-The very speech which one man will tell you, in all sincerity, may take its place among the finest specimens of eloquence, another, equally competent to form an opinion, will denounce as not exhibiting a particle of genius,-and anomalous as it may appear, each may believe what he says.-The truth perhaps is, that while in every other department of mental exertion the aspirant after fame may look for the unbiassed suffrages of all who can appreciate his efforts, the man who brings the highest faculties to the contest of political strife, must wait until that strife has subsided, for the full tribute to his genius; and, in the meantime, be content with the admiration of a party. In times of great excitement, political parties will only acknowledge the intellectual powers of an opponent when they are forced to do so-and they will take the earliest opportunity of recalling the forced homage to his abilities.

For this reason, the man who struggles for intellectual eminence in the field of political strife, is engaged in a contest the most arduous, and in which success is the most difficult. Of those who are qualified to set a value upon ability, he might almost be said to exclude himself from the suffrages of one-half. For this reason, too, nothing will more tend to sustain a politician in public estimation, as a man of ability, than distinction acquired in

any other department of mental exertion, where prejudice is not the judge. Professional reputation has, in reality, been the sustaining power to many a one whose fame appears to rest altogether upon his political exertions.

We have been led into reflections which are perhaps irrelevant. We do not mean to apply these remarks particularly to the speeches before us. We believe that the merits of these speeches have been, in an unusual degree, acknowledged by all parties,their force has certainly been recognized in the obloquy with which their author has been visited by our opponents.- From what we have said, however, our readers will understand what we mean when we say, that the time is not yet come, when these addresses can be calmly contemplated merely as the productions of intellect. They are mixed up with all the exciting topics of the day; and it is not until these topics shall have ceased to possess such tremendous interest, and to involve so much of angry feeling, that the reader will regard them with the sobriety of feeling which is necessary to an impartial judgment. We confess, for ourselves, that we cannot read the burning description of the wrongs of Protestants, without remembering that we belong to the class upon whom those wrongs have been inflicted. We do not pretend to be cool or impartial judges of the eloquence that advocates our rights and yet, perhaps it is a high tribute to that eloquence to say, that while our hearts burn with the sense of the injuries heaped upon Irish Protestants, we are satisfied with the manner in which these injuries have been told.

We do not, then, intend to criticise these speeches. We say, honestly, we are not qualified for the impartial execution of the task. Neither are our opponents. Our party prejudices must slumber, and our party animosities be forgotten before strict and unbiassed judgment can be done to them. When men's feelings are no longer excited, either for or against the politician, they will then, and only then, set precisely the just value upon the orator. Renouncing, then, as far as may be, a task for which our circumstances unfit us, we will consider this volume as a political document,-as embodying

and advocating the principles of the course in which we are engaged. This certainly is the spirit in which these speeches are given to the world they are reprinted, not to secure the speaker's reputation, but to promote the cause in which they were originally spoken. Weapons prepared for conflict, we will employ them in the strife -when the battle is over, it will be

for others to examine their construc.

tion in the armoury where they will be laid up.

The first speech in the collection, is that delivered at the great meeting at the Mansion House on the 14th August. Nearly two years have passed since its delivery, but almost every word of it is strictly applicable at the present time. The object of it was to inculcate the necessity of Protestant union-a necessity which every hour is making more imperative. The sentence with which it opens, possesses at this moment a fearful truth.

"The circumstances under which we meet, and the animating addresses to which you have so fully responded, have taught you this stern but salutary truth, that now, for the protection of your dearest interests, for the maintenance of your religion, for defence of life, except in the resources which your own wisdom, and union, and resolution shall provide, you have no earthly dependence."

We will not attempt to preserve connection as to subjects. Our readers will, no doubt, recollect the circumstances attending the period of the delivery of each speech-and this will be sufficient to enable them to understand our extracts. The reverend gentleman had been urging the possibility of the question of repeal being carried. He argued, from the character of his Majesty's ministers, the improbability of their offering to it any effectual opposition. Several of these ministers had been in places in which they were well known to the Irish public. Let us begin with Lord Glenelg―

"The Right Hon. Charles Grant was a Secretary here, and tried his experiment of indulgence, as the true philosophy by which he could sway our fiery populace. What was his success? He conciliated the country into insurrection-an insurrection which extended its outrages to

I

the suburbs of the metropolis. Crime was encouraged by his indiscriminating forbearance; information was withheld from the government, because it was not unreasonably thought, he undervalued or neglected it; and when the natural result of mistaken indulgence and culpable remissness had been experienced, when evils, which Mr. Graut appears never to have anticipated, were fearfully realized, he made an imperfect, although melancholy compensation for the crippled gait at which his disabled justice had proceeded, by stimulating it into revenge. He assented to an act of parliament which suspended the constitution, and subjected the rural population to the rigor of an extreme, but unavoidable severity. remember well the days and the nights of his lax government, and of the rigid rule by which it was succeeded. I remember when it was described as the last business of the night, before retiring to repose, within a guarded and garrisoned town, to ascend to the house-tops, and count, over the unprotected lands, the flames in which, it might be, slumbering families were consumed, and to listen for shouts and shrieks which smote the stimulated sense, or disordered fancy created, but which the memory will retain for ever. I remember, too, when shrieks, more terrific than fancy ever heard, arose round the tribunals where the doom of sudden and life-long separation was pronounced-and at the gibbets, where conciliation suspended its sacrifices; and I can in all sincerity declare, that I do not know whether I thought the connivance of the supine Secretary more to be abhorred because of the foul atrocities it encouraged, or because it exacted from returning justice so terrible a retribution. Does your experience of Mr. Grant justify you in expecting that he will be a faithful and wise guardian of the legislative union ?"

There is in this passage the terrible eloquence of truth.' Conciliation!-—it has shed more blood-it has caused more misery in Ireland than years of peace and happiness could atone for. It means supineness-it means the suspension of the power of the law, until murder and outrage have swelled to massacre and insurrection-and peace can only be restored by a vengeance almost as terrible as the crimes which it suppresses. How much of bloodshed and crime can a little vigour in the commencement spare?