Orange-men and Orange-lodges were the only instruments for the regeneration of Ireland."

"I said I had inspected the schools, talked with many of the priests, and with not a few of the clergy of our own church; that in the wildest parts of the south I had found the clergyman, if a man of exemplary character, was respected and attended to; and that I knew of more than one instance in which, when a priest had improperly interfered with the Church of England pastor, the people had expressed themselves decidedly against him. I did not of course deny the excesses of which the Irish had been guilty, nor palliate them; but owned my steady conviction that they had never till within a short period received a fair measure of even justice from the English.

"To all this my acquaintance only replied by anathemas against the Church of Rome, and all who supported her idolatrous and intolerant principles. I pointed out to him the intolerant passages which still disgrace our own canons, and asked him how he would like a stranger to form his opinion of the Church of England from them. Of these he appeared ignorant; and I found him so hopelessly bent on viewing every thing through a party medium alone, that I soon dropped the discourse."

A Mr. Mowbray and an Irish servant perambulate Leinster, this retainer being made the mouth-piece of the humour of the Irish peasantry. We do not think it necessary either as respects the information suggested or the descriptions characteristic of the author's manner and powers, to resort to any scenes or particulars for extract, belonging to this division of the volume. We hope, however, though we are not sure, that the character given to the people of Ireland, even the poorest beggar among them is correct when it is said, that they may be admitted into the finest pleasure grounds, without the proprietor having cause to fear that damage may be done to what is the source of his pride and delight. "There is none of that wanton spirit of destruction (says our tourist), which is so remarkable among the lower English. You will find the poorer Irishman doing mischief, no doubt, at times, when drink has made him irrational or quarrelsome; but the destructive acts of our poor, which are so much the more provoking, because they are often committed in the coolest and most sober manner imaginable, would, I am sure, excite nothing but indignation in Paddy's breast." say, we hope that all this is true, but we fear, that besides the madness which strong waters stir within the Irish peasant's breast, not to speak of the vagrant poor, there has been oft as much wanton cruelty as well as revengeful destruction of valuable property as ever disgraced a nation, arising, however, no doubt from the madness and malice of party feuds, political animosities, the rancour occasioned by difference of religious creeds, oppression, superstition, or culpable ignorance.

We

Towards the close of the volume, there is a succinct sketch given of the progress of English sway in Ireland, which is calculated to

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engage the mind of the reader in behalf of the Irish nation. Indeed, the whole of the work is so conceived and expressed as to awaken the minds of the young to inquire into the history of that country and to sympathise with its inhabitants; to lament over their sufferings, degradation, and crimes, and to strive for their amelioration and prosperity. We extract the outline historical sketch alluded to. A number of English families had at a very early period settled in Ireland, and, having become now naturalized, were Irish in all but descent, and shared the sufferings of the natives. The struggle between the Irish people and the crown, in fact, began in the time of Edward the Sixth. Henry the Eighth, when he brought in his schemes of reformation into England, wished to extend them to Ireland; and he was so far successful by means of conciliation and flattery to the most powerful of the chiefs, that they willingly adopted the king's measures; and some even of the Romish bishops accepted the reformed religion. But unfortunately Edward the Sixth adopted a harsher mode of treatment. Two of the chief families in Ireland having been engaged in a feud, their heads came over to England to prefer their complaint to the king, being farther encouraged to do so by his Lord Deputy Bellingham; but, instead of being kindly received, they were imprisoned, and their lands divided among Englishmen. This unhappy transaction became the model of many others; from this time it may be said that Irish dissensions were the meat and drink of needy Englishmen. is but too certain that the colonists in this unhappy country laboured to foment divisions among the inhabitants, that they might divide the spoils. Governed by the same rapacious spirit, they also too often made use of the sacred name of religion as a plea for oppression and confiscation. Little by little the English obtained lands and authority in the sister kingdom; but much more rapid was their progress in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The vigorous attempts of that queen to impose the Protestant religion on her Irish subjects, particularly an act obliging people of all persuasions to attend the service of the Church of England under severe penalties, alienated numbers; and the powerful Irish chieftains, who saw the predicament in which they stood, gathered up their strength, and kept watch for every opportunity of resisting the encroachments of their governors, till about the middle of the reign of Elizabeth, when they broke out into a rebellion which it cost a vast amount of blood and treasure to quell. At length, however, the Irish were subdued, and the flying chieftains left their paternal lands to the mercy of the conquerors, who divided or sold many of them among the English and Scotch. From this time the whole island was brought under the dominion of British laws, and the Irish lords who were inclined to a peaceable settlement were invited to surrender their chiefries, and take grants for their lands by patents from the crown. But it was in the provinces lately occupied by the insurgent chiefs that the materials for future strife were accumulating. The province of Ulster belonged in great part to two of these refugees, O'Neil and O'Donnel; and 500,000 acres of land were, by their flight, placed at the disposal of the crown. King James the First, finding himself thus endowed, eagerly seized the opportunity of making a Protestant plantation in Ulster, and accordingly contracted with the city of London for the sale and bestowment of these

lands, endeavouring, as far as possible, to exclude the original Irish tenants. In order to accomplish this end, innumerable tenants of the forfeited lands were forcibly driven from their occupations. A large proportion of these farmers were totally innocent of the offences of their chiefs; and the cruelty with which they were forced from their dwellings, and driven up into the mountains at the point of the pike, though it does not excuse their bloody revenge, renders their motive more natural and comprehensible. In the winter of 1641 their terrible rage had vent. They poured from their mountain holds, swept the new plantations from the face of the land, and obtained their lands again. The slaughter was great on both sides: it was begun under the command of Sir Phelim O'Neil; but he was soon superseded by Owen O'Neil, who repressed to the utmost of his power the violence of his followers; but no genius nor humanity can prevent the disastrous calamities of a civil war once entered into. Many excellent men on the English side were either compelled to leave a land they were labouring to civilize and improve, or died martyrs to the spirit of rapacity and dissension. Among the first were Archbishop Usher and Robert Boyle: among the last the excellent Bishop Bedell.

"The disorders were of longer continuance because of the unsettled state of England at this period. Charles the First was busied in his parliamentary wars, and both parties alternately appealed to the Irish, who alternately favoured one or other; but the Parliament having achieved the victory in England, Cromwell was sent over to finish the work in Ireland. Never was an enemy's land dealt with more summarily. His first march was upon Drogheda, a place of considerable strength and importance, which had been taken with considerable difficulty by the rebels. Hugh O'Neil had garrisoned it with care; and its governor, Sir Arthur Acton, a Catholic, was a man of undaunted courage and great judgment. The siege was sustained with great vigour, and Cromwell spared no pains to make himself master of the place. The garrison meantime fought for their lives, and held out till all except a remnant were destroyed: these submitted upon terms. But Cromwell, exasperated at their long defence, ordered them all to be put to the sword, except about thirty, who were sent to Barbadoes, and there sold as slaves, a fate worse than death, and one which Cromwell seemed to have a particular taste for bestowing on his captives. He then proceeded to Wexford, the garrison of which place shared the same cruel fate."

We think that enough has now been done by us to recommend this little volume to readers, both juvenile and of more advanced years. We might have quoted many descriptive sketches of scenery, antiquities, and local curiosities, all of which are delivered with the same ease and plainness that characterise the dialogues and narratives cited. The volume, in short, will form a very accurate and pleasant guide to the most interesting spots in the Emerald Isle, and be found extensively suggestive with regard to the engrossing subjects connected with the social, the moral, and the political condition of its numerous population.

380

ART. VI.-Remarks on Military Law and the Punishment of Flogging. By Major-General CHARLES J. NAPIER, C. B., Author of " Colonization in Australia." London: T. and W. Boone. 1837.

GENERAL NAPIER is a bold and trenchant writer. He strikes right and left whatever be the point he wishes to advance or defend. He is so discursive in the use of illustration, that no one can predict whither he may wander, or whom he may assail; and the consequence has been, that even when treating of a branch of law which might be presumed dry and full of technicalities, and of a practice that is revolting to humanity, he alternately instructs and amuses. His experience as a soldier, and the grasp of his mind have, indeed, enabled him to throw a great deal of light on the important subjects handled in the present volume; and, if we are not much mistaken, he will carry with him the convictions of many, as regards the subject of flogging, who have hitherto thought erroneously or loosely on it. This is the subject in the work to which we are about especially to direct the attention of our readers, although the chapters which the gallant author has devoted to Military Law as a general system, in reference to the British army are equally valuable, and, as respects doctrine, to no small extent novel. To this portion of the performance, we, therefore, first of all make some reference.

In his reasonings and opinions on Military Law, General Napier distinguishes it, both as regards its objects and its principles from all the other heads under which law is classed, such as National, Ecclesiastic, Civil, &c., which he embraces under the general designation of Social Law. Now, the object of all social law he holds to be the punishment of crime in its literal and moral sense; whereas, that of military law is to produce prompt and entire obedience. Obedience, no doubt, is demanded of the citizen, but it seldom calls for present exertion, and is indeed of a negative nature, so as rather to withhold men from doing that which is wrong, than to force them to perform the will of a superior, and when that will may be capricious or wrong. The objects being different, the principles, it may be presumed between these two classes of laws will also be at variance or independent of one another. Accordingly, while success in war depends upon two great principles; viz., to be in the right place, and at the right time, which requires, before such prompt and precise ends can be attained, that both body and mind should be disciplined to certain habits, many of which may seem trifling and useless in themselves, as if man was an automaton ready to obey whatever another orders to be performed,—in social life the habit of doing right in matters of importance is sufficient, of which, men who are their own masters, are competent to judge. Soldiers accustomed to obey in trifles, seldom disobey in matters of import

ance.

To regularity of habits they are trained, all the authority to regulate these terminating in the King. A gradual amelioration of moral habits, working generation after generation, is what all social laws should contemplate, and nothing but that which offers violence to the welfare of the community is cognizable by these laws. If then social and military laws be so distinct in point of object and the principles on which they are founded, is it right that in their administration they should be mixed up together. Is it right, for instance, that when a soldier has obeyed the command of his superior, he should be made subject to the social law, and be punished under its enactments, when, had he not obeyed his superior, he must have been punished according to martial law? And yet the statutes of parliament, while they have instituted courts martial upon the pretext that social courts are unfit to decide upon military cases, sanction an appeal to the latter from the former-to the incompetent from the competent tribunals. We quote a case as recorded by the author to show the hardship that may arise from this blending of incongruous laws.

"A corporal of the fiftieth regiment was, in 1806, escorting a deserter of desperate character. The prisoner, choosing his opportunity, slipped his hands out of the handcuffs and ran off. The corporal, unable to gain upon the fugitive, called out that he would fire. The deserter, confident in his swiftness of foot, defied his pursuer, who fired, and shot the runaway dead. The corporal was thrown into jail, where he remained a long time. He was finally tried for murder, and if my memory be correct, found guilty of manslaughter. At all events he suffered imprisonment and great anxiety of mind for doing that, which if he had not done, he would have been tried by military law, degraded, and possibly flogged! Had this soldier shot any non-military person, his being arrested and tried for murder by the social law, would have been just; because he commanded the guard and was responsible to the laws of the country for his conduct, under the protection of which laws the slain man considered himself to be placed. But when the corporal shot a soldier, a man of our own society, by the laws of which both the corporal and the slain man were bound to act, and which laws are given to us by the same authority that enacts the social laws, it was surely inconsistent and unjust, that his life should depend upon the opinion of twelve jurors; men ignorant of our military laws and customs: and although his conduct had, in the opinion of the jury, been so correct as to save his life, he nevertheless received severe punishment. And for what? for decided and meritorious conduct!"

In the case of riots the soldier's situation is particularly delicate and embarrassing: but to distinguish and clear up what are the duties of both civil and military authorities in such exigencies, the author suggests that they should not act together, on account of their different functions-that the civil magistrate should act with his constables under his own code, till he can act no longer-that