takes place in the public mind. It is at fuch times that the turbulent and ambitious have the wideft fcope for their machinations, and the best chance for fuccefs. Every scheme, however detrimental or abfurd, does then meet a speedy acceptance, and a hand is readily found to perpetrate any deed, however atrocious. Never has the state of the world been more propitious to perfons of this ftamp than it is at prefent, never have their numbers been so great, and at no time have their misdeeds more completely deftroyed the peace and happinefs of fociety. Stimulated by the fuccefs of the French regicides and anarchifts, and not appalled by the fate of many of them, demagogues have sprung up in all lands, eager like fo many Elifhas, to put on the mantle of those great Elijahs; and even in thefe kingdoms the family is too numerous, and has but too confpicuously signalized itself.

That Mr. Grattan (to whom what is called patriotifm has hitherto been fufficiently profitable) is a demagogue of this fpecies is what Dr. D. proposes to evince in the Answer" before us. We fhall endeavour, by a fhort analyfis, to enable our readers to form fome judgement of what they are to expect from this publication.

The Dr. fets out with putting Mr. G. in mind of his having contemptuously rejected the inftructions of his conftituents the citizens of Dublin, and of his reprobation of tythes, with a view to the fubverfion of the Proteftant eftablishment in Ireland. He then confiders Mr. G's project for reform, and maintains that it goes to a feparation of Ireland from Great Britain. His conduct in the business of the regency he fhews had plainly the fame tendency; for, that he and his party, by prevailing on the Irish parliament to elect a regent for Ireland, "Notwithstanding the unrepealed Irish law, that whoever was king or regent of England, was ipfo facto king or regent of Ireland," prefented-

"To the British parliament the mortifying and dangerous alternative, of nominating the pretended regent of the Irish crown, regent of the imperial crown of Great Britain; (and thereby, in fact, furrendering to the Irifh houfes of parliament the right of nominating a regent of England); or of compelling obedience in Ireland to the perfon to be nominated regent by the parliament of Britain, by a British army and a civil war, as England was under the neceffity of doing, to quell the ufurpation of James the Second in Ireland, after he had abdicated the crown of England; thus cutting asunder, as far as in you lay, the only bond which bound the two countries together, and laying deep the foundation of future contention, flaughter, and civil war, for thofe who have affumed the right of nominating a regent, will, on failure of iffue in the royal line, and

on

on other contingencies, affume the right of nominating a King, or of changing the monarchical government into a republican; and a dif ference of opinion on fuch great imperial queftions between the two nations will be the certain parent of civil war, and perhaps of mutual deftruction."

The Dr. next proceeds to notice his intrigues with the Irish Roman Catholics, and his activity in procuring a Romish Convention to be affembled in Dublin; not compofed of the noblemen and moft refpectable gentlemen of that religion, but of perfons whofe character and fituation rendered them the moft proper tools for producing the intended effect, viz. to diffeminate among the lower ranks the wild and dangerous principles which it had been determined to fpread abroad. This well difciplined and daring band is ftyled by Mr. G. "That part of the great body of the catholics the most popular and energetic."

The conduct of Mr. G. during the lieutenancy of Earl Fitzwilliam next paffes in review; together with his violent behaviour after the Earl's recall. His inflammatory answer to the Addrefs of the Romish Affembly at Francis Street chapel is particularly attended to in which, among other paffages of a fimilar tendency, the following does not escape without proper animadverfion. "My wifh is that you fhould be free now; there is no other policy which is not low and little let us at once inftantly embrace, and greatly emancipate!"

After ftating that Mr. G. juftifies the Irish maffacre of 1641, and difcuffing fome other topics, the Dr. proceeds to take into confideration this would-be Irish patriot's lift of grievances, and his views in exaggerating the power of France, and depreciating that of Great Britain; which leads to a difcuffion on the feparation of America from Britain, and to remark on the different fituations of America and Ireland, on their relative powers of defence, if in a state of hoftility with this country, and of their capabilities of felf-existence. Then follows fome account of the events of former rebellions in Ireland.

The writer next goes on to repel Mr. G.'s charge of corruption against the prefent Irish government, and expofes his inconfiftency in having firft afferted the independency of the Irish parliament, and afterwards violently oppofed every step to obtain an act of the British parliament, renouncing all power of legislation for Ireland, as alfo the propofed parliamentary answer on a libel publifhed in England, purporting to be a copy of a fpeech of Mr. Fox. He concludes this part of his pamphlet in the following words* And

D 4

"And now, Sir, fee how the account of political integrity and con. fiftency ftands with you. You received fifty thousand pounds for af ferting the independence of the Irish legislature on that of Britain : you immediately afterwards oppofed the neceffity of renunciation of the power of legiflating for Ireland on the part of Britain, the only meafure which could annihilate fuch power and establish and secure the independence of Irish legiflation. In your present addrefs you preach up the doctrine of the neceffity of felf-legiflation, as you have often done before; yet in the very laft feflion of parliament, you maintained with all your power, and with the utmost violence, the juftice and propriety of the English Houfe of Commons interfering in matters of internal legislation in Ireland, and dictating to the Irish parliament what meafures they fhould purfue, and what laws they hould enact, and that if the Irish parliament fhould decline, even unanimously, the adoption of fuch measures, and enaction of fuch laws, it was fit and proper that the English Houfe of Commons fhould exercife an appellatory jurifdiction over the decifions of the parliament of Ireland, reverse them at their pleasure, and take proper fteps to compel them to adopt meafures directly contrary to fuch decifions. Such has been in the laft feffion your fupport of the doctrine of felf-legiflation!"

Mr. G.'s arguments in favour of Emancipation next come under confideration. These are examined at great length, and forcibly confuted. Remarks on Mr. G.'s account of the creation of boroughs-On his plan of reform in reprefentation-An investigation of whether any, and what kind of reform in representation is neceffary-And confiderations on the objections against the prefent ftate of borough reprefentation, form the remainder of the contents. The whole concludes with what Dr. D. terms "my litany," which we infert as a specimen of the publication.

"May the prefent conftitution of the British empire be immortal; and may the King always enjoy that influence in both Houfes of Parliament, with which the conftitution has invested him, and which is indifpenfibly neceffary for the good government of the empire.

"May the parliamentary conftitution be immortal; and may it always be an operative part of the conftitution, confining the kingly power within conftitutional limits only; and may it never be able or inclined to encroach on the conftitutional authority of the crown, but may that authority be for ever able to maintain its own conftitutional rights!

"May the Houfe of Commons flourish; may it ever be elected by the opulent and moft refpectable part of the people only; and may the whole community, and the common intereft of the whole empire, be the only objects of its care!

"May the connection between Great Britain and Ireland be immortal; may the British empire be one and indivisible; and may the

traiterous

traiterous attempts, of all greedy, clamorous, sturdy beggars, `mendicant orators, ham patriots, defperate projectors, French agents and fpies, and Jacobin incendiaries, to feparate this nation from the British empire, be abortive!

"May all fuch traitors abjure the realm and depart (to use the phrafe of Mr. Henry Grattan) riding on the waves of the Atlan tic; or may they meet the fate of Macheath's gang in the opera, and be all either hanged or tranfported!

"May the Proteftant religion, as now established by law, continue to be the established religion of the state, and the Proteftant afcendency in church or ftate be immortal; may all its profeffors be infpired with true chriftian courage, piety, and charity; and may all diffenters from that chriftian communion, of whatfoever denomination, be reconciled and converted to it; and until it fhall please the Almighty fo to illuminate their understandings, as to work fuch a change in their opinions, may they enjoy perfect civil freedom in the fulleft and faireft fenfe; but may all fuch of them as erroneously maintain doctrines, fubverfive of the laws and conftitution of the state, as points of faith, be excluded from all functions, offices, and employments in the ftate, which would furnish them with opportunity and power to fubvert, or to attempt to fubvert, the conftitution of the empire! May the perfect civil freedom of the fubject, never be artfully confounded with the enjoyment, or capability of enjoyment, of the political power of the ftate; and may exclufion from fuch functions, offices, and employments, of all numbers of any fect of christians, which maintain as points of faith, doctrines fubversive of the laws and conftitution of the ftate, continue, as long as they fhall perfift in profeffing and maintaining fuch doctrines!"

The author, it will be perceived, goes over an extenfive field: a variety of matter eomes under confideration, which, in general, is treated with ability. The Dr. feems to write from the heart as well as from the head; hence a degree of warmth at times appears, which from fome may not meet with approbation. But, if the present state of Ireland be confidered, if the machinations which produced that state be attended to, the warmth of reprobation with which Dr. D. treats the inftigators of mifrule, devaftation, and maffacre, will not ftand in need of much apology.

In the portrait here exhibited of Mr. G. the reader will be at no lofs to difcover the predominant paffion of the fpecies to which he belongs. Power is the fole object of this fort of men, and this they fcruple not to contend for at the expence of confiftency, character, and morals, with refpect to themfelves, and at the infinitely higher expence of their fellow men. Such is the characteristic trait, the family likeness, which marks every demagogue, whether ancient or modern.

ART.

ART. VII. A Journal of the Occurrences at the Temple, during the Confinement of Louis XVI. King of France. By M. Cléry, the King's Valet de Chambre. Tranflated from the original Manufcript by R. C. Dallas, Efq. Author of Miscellaneous Writings, &c. 8vo. Pp. 255. Price 6s. Sold by the Author, No. 29, Great Pulteney Street, Golden Square, and by all the Bookfellers. 1798.

WE

fate down to the perufal of this book with feelings that, in a great degree, incapacitated us for the difcharge of our duty as critics. The extenfive fcene of carnage, the complicated fyftem of deftruction, the vast train of evils of every denomination, which, produced by the revolution in France, have already defolated two-thirds of Europe; and the infinite calamities which ftill threaten to overwhelm its remaining portion, all rushed on our mind with irresistible force. As we pursued our task, every page revived the most painful recollections, and again brought before our eyes the first actors on this black theatre of human vice and human mifery. Many of thefe, by the wife difpenfations of Providence, have fallen a prey to their own bafe arts, and paid, with their lives, the forfeit of their crimes. Others, the GARATS and the GROUVELLES, who played a confpicuous part in the bloody tragedy of their Sovereign's murder, are ftill permitted to live, and to punish, by their prefence, the degraded monarchs of Europe, for their pufillanimous defertion of a caufe, which had for its object the defence of religion and focial order, against the defperate attacks of atheists and anarchifts.

*

Fortunately, the publication before us requires no difplay of critical fkill, no exertion of critical judgement. It is "a plain unvarnifh'd tale." It is, in fhort, what it profeffes to be, a mere journal of occurrences, during the King of France's imprisonment, between the period of his depofition and the day of his murder. The author's defign, as he mo

*One of thefe regicides is the French republican Envoy at Naples; the other fills the fame office at Copenhagen. The bufinefs of both is to prepare the downfall of the two monarchies, by poifoning the minds of the people, and by reducing to practice the infernal theory of Lord LAUDERDALE's friend Briffot, "by exciting the governed against the governors, in exhibiting to the people the advantages of infur

rection."

deftly