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Untitled Article
is not calculated to allay animosity , or to smooth the way for that tuitot * of all the inhabitants of the British Isles in the bonds of fraternal love which is < so desirable . Yet we believe that he would not knowingly misrepresent ; and much as we differ from him , we are convinced that he is led astray by an honest indignation at measures which we cannot justify .
In taking up a new work on the subject , we are naturally led to inquire who is the author , and what pretensions he has to our confidence . Mr . O'Driscol is an Irish barrister and a native of Cork , a descendant , probably , of a family which had large possessions in the west of that county . Educated a Roman Catholic , it would appear that he has quietly dissented from at least some tenets of his ancestors , without , however , wishing to keep in political subjection those whose opinions were once his own . In short , though he is
not always consistent , ( and what mortal is so ?) we may consider him a friend of civil and religious liberty , anxious for the dissemination of knowledge , the progress of civilization , and the spread of happiness . His first appearance before the public was as the author of a pamphlet entitled , ** Thoughts and Suggestions on the Education of the Peasantry of Ireland , " to which his name was not , we believe , annexed , but which , haying been favourably
received , has been since acknowledged as his production . This pamphlet led to the formation of a society for establishing schools , of which Mr . O'Driscol became the secretary and active promoter . In these schools the Scriptures are read , and great care is taken in the selection of other books . In the year 1823 , he published , " Views of Ireland ; Moral , Political , and Religious . " This work was dedicated to the Marquis of Lansdowne , to whom our author appears to have become known , in consequence of his exertions to promote education on a liberal and rational plan . In this work Mr . O'Driscol appears to much advantage as an ardent friend of the liberty and happiness of
his country , without being carried away by a desire of effecting what is either impossible , or to be accomplished only by evils greater than the disease which requires remedy . If , in the course of perusing this publication , we are led to think that he has sometimes adopted incorrect information ; if we meet with passages which are scarcely consistent with his general impartiality ; we must still give him credit for good feelings , and acknowledge that his errors do not appear to be errors of the heart . His remarks on penal laws are excellent , and there is one in particular which cannot be too often urged while such laws are suffered to remain on the statute-book .
" It is not always in human nature to execute all the barbarities which the imagination can conceive , or ingenuity devise ; but this neither improves the condition of the' victim , nor relieves the character of the tyrant . It were better if had laws were strictly executed . They could not long subsist if deprived of the support which they derive from a managed lenity and affected moderation . He is not the less a tyrant who insists only on the power to persecute ,
if he shall think proper , and , furnished with this , abstains from persecution . Nor is he less a miserable slave , who holds his life and property at the will of his neighbour , though he incur no loss of either . It were more merciful to execute the sentence of the law in its utmost rigour , than condemn the wretched yictim to the unutterable torment of a perpetually-suspended condemnation . "
We shall add a short passage from the chapter on Religion . " If it be asked , What means are to be taken in order that religious truth may prevail ? we answer , that in this matter we would appl y the principle of the political economists ; we would leave truth to make its own way ; we
Untitled Article
Review . —B * Df&e ol * History of Ireland . 175
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1828, page 175, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2558/page/31/
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