from among them living characters of whose brilliant genius we propose to exhibit some interesting specimens. They are Curran and Grattan: two orators of distinguished renown. Of the talents of their contemporaries and opponents, Flood, Burgh, Fitzgibbon, and others, many specimens have been given in the course of this work; nor have we been sparing of proofs of genius selected from the speeches of Curran and Grattan: but the following examples, arranged in a sort of systematic manner, and culled indifferently from the records of their fame, will be both pleasing and useful to the reader. We shall begin with the fervid eloquence of Curran, L9. DESCRIPTION OF THE SCOTTISH CHARACTER. A nation cast in the happy medium. between the spiritless acquiescence of submissive poverty, and the sturdy credulity of pamıpered wealth; cool and ardent; adventurous and persevering, winging her eagle flight against the blaze of every science, with an eye that never winks, and a wing that never tires; crowned as she is with the spoils of every art, and decked with the wreath of every muse, from the deep and scrutinizing researches of her Hume, to the sweet and simple, but not less sublime and pathetic morality of her Burns-how, from the bosom of a country like that, genius and character, and talents, should be banished to a distant, barbarous soil 10 condemned to pine under the horrid communion of vulgar vice and base-born profligacy, for twice the period that ordinary calculation gives to the continuance of human life? UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION, “Universal emancipation! No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced;→ no matter what complexion, incompatible with freedom, an Indian or African sun may have burnt upon him;-no matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down;no matter with what solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of slavery; the first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the god sink together in the dust; his soul walks abroad in her own majesty, his body swells beyond the measure of his chains that burst from around him, and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal emancipation!" Mr. Curran alludes to the sentence of transportation passed in Scotland upon Mr. Muir, &c. &c. 1 EXQUISITE IRONICAL HUMOUR. "Gentlemen, how then does Mr. O'Brien's tale hang together? Look to its commencement, He walks along Thomas Street in the open day, (al street not the least populous in this city), and is accosted by a man who, without any preface, tells him he'll be murdered before he goes half the street, unless he becomes an united Irishman! do you think this a probable story? Suppose any of you gentlemen, be a united Irishman, a free-mason, a friendly-brother, and that you met me walking innocently along, just like Mr. O'Brien, and meaning no harm, would you say, Stop, Mr. Curran, don't go further; you'll be murdered before you go half the street, if you do not become a united Irishman, a free-mason, or a friendly brother. Did you ever hear so coaxing an invitation to felony as this? Sweet Mr. James O'Brien! come in and save you precious life; come in and take an oath, or you'll be murdered before you go half the street! Do, sweetest, dearest, Mr. James O'Brien, come in and do not risk your valuable existence!' What a loss had he been to his king whom he loves so marvellously! Well, what does poor Mr. O'Brien do? Poor, dear, man, he stands petrified with the magnitude of his danger-all his members refuse their office he can neither run from the danger, nor call out for assistance; his tongue cleaves to his mouth, and his feet incorporate with the paving stones: it is in vain that his expressive eye silently implores protec, tion of the passengers; he yields at length, as greater men have done, and resignedly submits to his fate he then enters the house, and being led into a room, a parcel of men make faces at him but mark the metamorphosis-Well may it be said, that miracles will never cease-he who feared to resist in the open air, and in the face of the public; becomes a bravo when pent up in a room, and environed by sixteen men; and one is obliged to bar the door, while another Swears him, which, after some resistance, is accordingly done, and poor Mr. O'Brien becomes a united Irishman, for no earthly purpose, what ever, but merely to save his sweet life!but this is not all; the pill so bitter to the percipiency of his loyal palate must be washed down; and lest he should throw it off his stomach, he is filled up to the neck with beef and whisky. GUILT. "You find him coiling himself in the scaly eircles of his cautious perjury, making anticipated battle against any one who should appear against him; but you see him sink before the proof. FINE DESCRIPTION OF AN INFORMER. "This cannibal informer, this doemon. O'Brien, greedy after human gore, has fifteen other victims in reserve, if, from your verdict, he receives the unhappy man at this bar! Fifteen more of your fellow citizens are to be tried on his evidence 1 Be you, then, their saviours; let your/verdict snatch them from his ravening maw, and interpose bes tween yourselves and endless remorse! FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. "I do not pretend to be a mighty grammarian, or a formidable critic; but I would beg leave to suggest to you in serious humility, that a free press can be supported only by the ardour of men who feel the prompting sting of real or supposed capacity; who write from the enthusiasm of virtue, or the ambition of praise, and over whom, if you exercise the rigour of a grammatical cénsorship, you will inspire them with as mean an opinion of your integrity as your wisdom, and inevitably drive them from their post, and if you do, rely upon it you will reduce the spirit of publication and with it the press of this country, to what it for a long interval has been, the register of births, and fairs, and funerals, and the general abuse of the people and their friends, |