horrible than this? Our very blood sketched, and yet we may truly say→→→ runs cold in glancing at what we have "Look at the picture-deem it not o'er-charged, That this is produced by the Popish priesthood-that Ireland would present a perfectly different picture if this priesthood did not exist-may be proved, by comparing the North with the remainder of that ill-fated island. This liberty of the Popish Priest is decidedly condemned by the Scriptures, the Constitution, the spirit of the laws, civil liberty, religious liberty, the public weal, common sense,-in a word, by every imaginable thing that ought to sit in judgment upon it. Need we say what ought to be done? Bring down the liberty of this Priest to its proper point-equalise it with the liberty of your own Clergy-proportion it to the liberty of the rest of the community. This will enable your Clergy to discharge their duty, and it will give that religious liberty to the people which it is your imperious duty to give them. You cannot produce any conformity of doctrines, and you ought not to attempt it; but you can and ought to produce conformity in discipline so far as to prevent any other teachers from obtaining more direct authority over the people than your own Clergy. Is it not monstrous that a body unknown to the Constitution and laws should exist in these realms, to prevent the people, by terror and punishments, from entering the National Churches, becoming acquainted with the National religion, hearing the National Clergy, reading the Scriptures, sending their children to schools, and obtaining the instruction necessary to make them good men, and good subjects? Is it not monstrous that such a body should be permitted to issue proclamations to the people, commanding them to give up all their Bibles and religious tracts, and to enforce obedience by pains and penalties? Down, we say, with the detestable tyranny!-call all this no longer the worship of God and religious libertygive freedom to your own Clergy and the people-until you do this, boast no more of your love for your Constitution, laws, rights, and liberties. You have interfered with the discipline of of your own church again and again in defiance of the Clergy, you have in terfered with the Protestant dissenters, why then is the discipline of Catholicism to be spared when it is so destructive to religion and the public weal? It is not for us to say what the government may be disposed to do, or what it may be able to do: but we will say, that it is the sacred duty of the established Clergy of England and Ireland, to petition Parliament forthwith to restrain all other religious teachers from possessing means of controlling the people which are denied to them-and to render it highly penal for any man or body of men to prevent the people by threats and punishments from entering their Church, listening to their instructions, reading the Scriptures, &c. If they will not defend their own rights and liberties, who is to defend them? This will bring the question fully before the British Nation, and it will produce much benefit. It is the more necessary, because the Popish Priests are actually proselytizing in various parts of Great Britain, and no sooner do they make converts, than these are placed under that bondage where no other religion or religious teacher can reach them. Catholicism, in every part of Europe, is at this moment making offensive war on Protestantism-it is everywhere labouring with all its might to make proselytes-it is endeavouring to destroy old laws that tell against it, and to procure new ones of the most hateful description in its favour-it is putting forth all its old destructive principles-and it is in very high favour with nearly all the governments of Europe. We trust that our Clergy have marked this, and that they are aware that they stand at the head of Protestantism, that the battles of this religion must be fought here to be successful, and that if it fall here, it must fall in every other part of Europe. We cannot conclude without saying a word to the higher portion of our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects. You call yourselves the friends and lovers of the British constitution,-why then do you hold opinions touching religious supremacy, &c. which this constitution expressly forbids, and which, if generally entertained, would render it a tyranny? You call yourselves the friends and lovers of British liberty, civil and religious,-why then do you make yourselves the slaves of a priesthood, and deprive millions of your humble brethren of every vestige of such liberty, in spite of all that the constitution and laws can do to prevent you? You come to us in the double character of slaves and tyrants,-you are laden from head to foot with the chains of slavery; you grind millions of your countrymen to powder, by acting as the tools of your despots-and you beseech us to place in your hands our liberties! We shall not be so simple as to consent. Shake off your chainsgive freedom to your bondsmen-harmonise your religion with our constitution, laws, rights, and liberties, and we will receive you as brothers,-we will make you our rulers. If you refuse, you shall remain as you are for ever. You shall worship God as you please, but you shall not rule us as you please. You may call the pretended miracles and other nauseous jugglery of your priests the suppression of the Scriptures the punishment of the people for entering our churches, and reading our books-the depriving the people of liberty of conscience, &c. &c. the worship of God, but you will not persuade us that it is so. If you really believe all this to be the worship of God, you are too silly; and if you be lieve the contrary, and still insist that it is so, you are too knavish, to be our governors. As to the doctrine of ab stract right, it has been again and again abandoned by your champions; it was, many years since, abandoned by Brougham himself, in the Edinburgh Review. Ireland has no right to fill the legislative and executive of Protestant Britain with Papists. Our constitution stands, from beginning to end, upon the principle of qualification, and if you are not qualified to hold public trusts, you have no right to hold them. We do not ask you to change what can be fairly called the DOCTRINES, but we ask you to change the DISCIPLINE, of your religion; and, in asking this, we only ask you to do what we have ourselves again and again done towards our own religion. The British Protestants wish you to possess all that you ought to possess they wish you to enjoy all that themselves enjoy-they wish to make you their equals but until you separate religion from politics, render to God the things that are God's, and to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, make your priests your religious teachers only, instead of your religious and political tyrants-give religious freedom to the millions who follow youcease to war against Protestant freedom-break up the terrible tyranny which you have established in the land-and renounce those principles which are not less at variance with Christianity than with British rights and liberties-until you do all this, you must not expect to be the legislators and ministers of Great Britain. It is now something more than eleven years ago since the regiment of infantry, in which I bore a commission, began to muster one fine May morning, on the parade ground at Hythe. An order had reached us two days before, to prepare for immediate service in the Peninsula; and on the morning to which I allude, we were to commence our march for that purpose. The port of embarkation was Dover, a port only twelve miles distant from our cantonments, where a couple of transports, with a gun brig as convoy, were waiting to receive us. The short space of time which intervened between the arrival of the rout, and the eventful day which saw its directions carried into effect, was spent by myself, and by my brother officers, in making the best of preparations which circumstances would permit for a campaign. Sundry little pieces of furniture, by the help of which we had contrived to render our barrack-rooms somewhat habitable, were sold for one tenth part of their value; a selection was made from our respective wardrobes, of such articles of apparel, as, being in a state of tolerable preservation, promised to continue for the longest time serviceable; canteens were hastily fitted up, and stored with tea, sugar, and other luxuries; cloaks were purchased by those who possessed them not before, and put in a state of repair by those who did; in a word, everything was done which could be done by men similarly situated, not even forgetting the payment of debts, or the inditing of farewell letters in due form to absent friends and relations. Perhaps the reader may be curious to know with what stock of necessaries the generality of British officers were wont, in the stirring times of war, to be contented. I will tell him how much I myself packed up in two small portmanteaus, so formed as to be an equal balance to each other, when slung across the back of a mule; and as my kit was not remarkable, either for its bulk or its scantiness, he will not greatly err, if he esteem it a sort of medium 'for those of my comrades. In one of those portmanteaus, then, Gleig I deposited a regimental jacket, with all its appendages of wings, lace, &c.; two pair of grey trowsers, sundry waistcoats, white-coloured flannel, do. a few changes of flannel drawers; half a dozen pairs of worsted stockings, and as many of cotton. In the other were placed six shirts, two or three cravats, a dressing-case competently filled, one undress pelisse, three pairs of boots, two pairs of shoes, with night-caps, pocket-handkerchiefs, &c. &c. in proportion. Thus, whilst I was not encumbered by any useless quantity of apparel, I carried with me quite enough to load a mule, and to ensure myself against the danger of falling short, for at least a couple of years to come; and after providing these and all other necessary articles, I retained five-and-twenty pounds in my pocket. This sum, indeed, when converted into bullion, dwindled down to L.17, 18s.; for in those days we purchased dollars at the rate of six shillings apiece, and dobloons at five pounds; but even L.17, 18s. was no bad reserve for a subaltern officer in a marching regiment; at least I was contented with it, and that was enough. It will readily be imagined that I was a great deal too busy, both in body and mind, to devote to sleep many of the hours of the night which preceded the day of our intended departure. My bodily labours, indeed, which had consisted chiefly in packing my baggage, and bidding adieu to the few civilians with whom I had formed an acquaintance, came to a close two hours before midnight; but my body was no sooner at rest, than my mind began to bestir itself. "So," said I, "to-morrow I commence my military career in real earnest. Well, and has not this been my most ardent de-" sire from the first moment that I saw my name in the Gazette? Had it not been the most prominent petition in my daily prayers, for nearly a twelvemonth past, not to be kept idling away my youth in the various country-towns of England, but to be sent, as speedily as possible, where I might have an opportunity of acquiring a practical knowledge of the profession which I had embraced? The case is 20 even so." And without meaning to proclaim myself a fire-eater, I will venture to say, that no individual in the corps experienced greater satisfaction than I did at the prospect before me. But there were other thoughts which obtruded themselves upon me that night, and they savoured a good deal of the melancholy. I thought of home-of my father, my mother, and my sisters. I thought of the glorious mountains, and the fertile plains, of my native country, and could not help asking myself the question, whether it was probable that I should ever behold them again. The chances were, that I should not; and as my home had always been to me a scene of the purest and most perfect happiness, as I loved my relatives tenderly, and knew that I was tenderly beloved by them in return, it was impossible for me not to experience a pang of extreme bitterness at the idea, that in all human probability I should see their faces no more. On the other hand, curiosity, if I may call it by so feeble a term, was on full stretch respecting the future. Now at length I was about to learn what war really was; how hostile armies met, and battles were decided; and' the resolutions which I consequently formed as to my own proceedings, the eagerness with which I longed for an opportunity to distinguish myself, and the restlessness of my imagination, which persisted in drawing the most ridiculous pictures of events which never were, and never could be realized, created altogether such a fever in my brain, as rendered abortive every attempt to sleep. I went to bed at ten o'clock, for the purpose of securing a good night's rest, and of being fresh and vigorous in the morning; but eleven, twelve, and one, found me tossing about, and wide awake; nor could I have lain in a state of unconsciousness much above an hour, when the sound of the bugle restored me to my senses. At the first blast I sprang from my bed, and, drawing aside the curtain of my window, I looked out. The day was just beginning to break; the parade ground, into which I gazed, was as yet empty, only two or three figures, those of the trumpeters, who were puffing away with all their might, being discernible upon it; and not a sound could be distinguished, except that which their puffing produced. The moon was shining brightly overhead-not a breath of air was astirin short, it was just half past three o'clock, and the time of parade was four. I dropped the curtain again, and addressed myself to my toilette. Having completed this, I waited for the second summons, when I walked forth. Were I to live a hundred years, I shall never forget that morning. Day had dawned, that is to say, the light of the moon was overpowered by the increasing brilliancy of the twilight; but a thick haze, rising from the low grounds, rendered objects even more indistinct and obscure than they had been half an hour before. When I opened my door, therefore, though a confused hum of voices, a clattering of canteens, the tread of footsteps, and occasionally the clash of arms, struck upon my ear, I could see nothing. This did not, however, last long. The rising sun gradually dispelled the fog, and in a few moments I beheld companies mustering in all forms. Mingling in the ranks, I could likewise distinguish the dress of females; and as the noise of assembling gradually subsided into the stillness of order, the half-suppressed shriek, or the halfstifled sob, became more and more audible. There are not many scenes in human life more striking, or more harrowing to the feelings of him who regards it for the first time, than the departure of a regiment upon foreign service. By the customs of the army only six women for each company are allowed to follow their husbands, who are chosen by lot out of perhaps twenty or thirty. The casting of lots is usually deferred till, at least, the evening previous to the marching of the corps, probably with the humane design of leaving to each female, as long as it can be left, the enjoyment of that greatest of all earthly blessings, hope. The consequence then is, that, a full sense of her forlorn condition coming all at once upon the wretched creature who is to be abandoned, produces, in many instances, a violence of grief, the display of which, it is impossible to witness with any degree of indifference. Many were the agonizing scenes of the kind which it was my fortune this day to witness; but there was one so peculiarly distressing, so much more affecting in all its points, than the rest, that I am tempted to give you, Mr North, a detail of it, even at the risk of being thought the writer of a romance. I recollect having read in that amusing work, "The Hermit in the Country," an anecdote very similar in many respects, to the one which I am now going to relate. You are not, however, to suppose, that the two stories bore a common origin, namely the imaginations of those by whom they are told. The worthy Hermit's tale probably rests upon no better foundation; but mine is a true story, and its truth will no doubt be attested by several of your readers: that is, supposing you to have any readers in the regiment of foot. About three months previous to the day of embarkation, a batch of recruits had joined the regiment from Scotland. Among them was a remarkably fine young Highlander; a native, if I recollect right, of Balquidder, called Duncan Stewart. Duncan was in all respects a good soldier; he was clean, sober, orderly, and well beloved; but he seemed to be of a singularly melancholy temper; never mixing in the sports and amusements of his comrades, nor even speaking except when he was obliged to speak. It so happened that the pay-serjeant of Duncan's company was likewise a Highlander; and Highlanders, being of all description of persons the most national, he very soon began to interest himself about the fate of the young recruit. At first Duncan shrunk back even from his advances, but it is not natural for the human heart, especially during the season of youth, to continue long indifferent to acts of kindness; so Duncan gradually permitted honest M'Intyre to insinuate himself into his good graces; and they became, before long, bosom friends. When they had continued for some weeks on a tooting of intimacy, Duncan did not scruple to make his friend the serjeant acquainted with the cause of his dejection. It was simply this: Duncan was the son of a Highland farmer, who, like many of his countrymen in that situation, cultivated barley for the purpose of making whisky; in plain language, was a determined smuggler. Not far from the abode of Stewart, dwelt an exciseman of the name of Young, who being extremely active in the discharge of his duty, had on various occasions made seizure of his neighbours' kegs as they were on their march towards the low-countries. This was an offence which the Highlander of course could not forgive; and there accordingly subsisted between the smuggler and the gauger, a degree of antipathy far surpassing anything of which it is easy for us to form a conception. It must however be confessed, that the feeling of hatred was all on one side. Stewart hated Young for presuming to interfere with his honest calling; and despised him, because he had the misfortune to be born in the shire of Renfrew; whereas Young was disposed to behave civilly to his neighbour, on every occasion except when his whisky casks happened to come in the way. Gauger Young had an only and a very pretty daughter, a girl of eighteen years of age, with whom, Duncan, as a matter of course, fell in love. The maiden returned his love, at which I am by no means surprised, for a handsomer or more manly-looking youth one would not desire to see; but, alas, old Stewart would not hear of their union; absolutely commanding his son, under penalty of his heaviest malediction, not to think of her again. The authority of parents over their children, even after they have grown up to the age of manhood, is in Scotland very great, and so Duncan would not dispute his father's will; and finding all entreaty to alter it useless, he determined to sacrifice inclination to duty, and to meet his pretty Mary no more. In this resolution he adhered for several days, but, to use his own words, gang where I would, and do what.I liket, I aye saw her before me. I saw her once, to tell her what my father had said; indeed we were baith gay sure how it would be, before I spak to him ava; in troth the look she gae me, M'Intyre, I ne'er forgot it, and I never can forget it. It haunted me like a ghaist baith night and day." The consequence of constantly beholding such a vision may easily be imagined. Duncan forgot his determination and his duty, and found himself one evening, he scarce knew how, once more walking with Mary by the loch side. This occurred again and again. The meetings were the more sweet because they were secret, and they ended-as such stolen meetings generally end among persons of their station in life. Duncan was assured |