already adverted to, said, in 1810, that out of a list in his hand of 46 ships of the line, which, at two different periods, had belonged to the Plymouth division, the Catholics greatly exceeded the Protestants in the majority of the vessels. In some of the first and second rates, the Catholics amounted even to two thirds; while, in one or two first-rates, they formed nearly the whole; and, in the Naval Hospital, about four years before, (or the period of the publication of Dr. Mac Neven's book,) out of 476 sailors, no less than 363 were Catholics.31 And, from the excellent character, as seamen, assigned to the Irish by Lord Collingwood-the companion-in-arms of Nelson, and second in command at the battle of Trafalgar, from that character, and a remarkable proposal resulting from it, which his Lordship made to the Admiralty, it may be fairly assumed that the number of Irish in the British navy rather augmented than diminished, during the remainder of the war against Napoleon. His Lordship, in writing to the Earl of Mulgrave, on the 23rd of April, 1808, says, "One hundred IRISH boys came out two years since, and are Now the topmen of the fleet!"-and the editor of his Lordship's correspondence gives the following account of the proposal to the Admiralty, thus alluded to, and the honorable grounds, with respect to the Irish, in which that proposal originated. "He (Lord Collingwood) had found that IRISH boys, from 12 to 16 years of age, when 31 Speech, p. 51-2. mingled with English sailors, acquired rapidly the order, activity, and seamanlike spirit of their comrades; and that, in the climate of the Mediterranean, they often, in less than two years, became expert seamen...... He accordingly proposed to the Admirality to raise YEARLY 5,000 IRISH boys, and to send a large proportion of them to his command," for the purpose, continues the editor, of having them "taught and prepared in ships of the line, before they were sent into smaller vessels !" Here is an equally 66 32 Edinburgh Review, for May, 1828, (p. 405, 6, 7,& 17.) With only a Selection," from Lord Collingwood's writings before him, while his Lordship's relative, editor, and biographer, had a still greater portion or the whole of those writings in his possession, and, as having them, could of course, understand more of Lord C's opinions than any mere Edinburgh Reviewer-under such circumstances, I say, the self-opinionated scribbler on the Collingwood Correspondence in the Edinburgh Review, strives to dispute the propriety of the high encomium and proposal respecting the Irish, coming from Lord Collingwood, and particularly dwelt upon by his editor, as a sort of explanatory justification of his Lordship's praise. Yet this very Reviewer, while endeavouring, in the name of the English and Scotch, to dispute the just title of the Irish to such great praise as seamen, says, in arguing against the system of impressment, that it "can only be abolished with safety to the country by making the NAVY the nursery of seamen FOR the NAVY!" and that "good men-of-war sailors can ONLY be made IN men-of-war!" since "there only," he adds, can they learn to manage guns and to act in concert, which are the MOST essential parts of their business!" Well, and is it not to have THEM taught, and for THEIR great aptitude in acquiring those very tests of naval excellence, in the very way laid down by the Reviewer himself, that Lord Collingwood sought for and extolled the "IRISH boys?" and, if so, what becomes of the Reviewer's attempt to argue for a natural inferiority of the Irish in seamanship to the English and Scotch, in the teeth of such an authority as Lord Collingwood? The courage (that's not the word,) of such a mere "land-lubber" as this Reviewer, is really amusing. With respect to Lord Collingwood's remark as to the good trustworthy and creditable opinion of Irish seamanship from one of the most honest men, both in his private and public capacity, as well as by far the ablest admiral, from the time of Lord Nelson's to his own death, in the British service :—so much so, indeed, that when he wrote home to the government, on account of ill health, to be relieved from the Mediterranean station, then more important than any other, he was, nevertheless, requested to continue at his post-which he patriotically did till he died!-because the government, as they acknowledged, could find no adequate successor for him! If we may suppose his Lordship's suggestion respecting the "5000 IRISH boys" to have been complied with—and the supposition is not an improbable one, when we consider the source whence such 66 effects of mingling the Irish with English seamen, connect the following passage from Paine's "Common Sense," as tending to show that his Lordship's opinion is not to be taken as implying a superiority in the number of English over Irish seamen in the British navy. "In manning a fleet," says Mr. Paine, addressing the then navyless Americans, to make them set up for themselves" against England by sea as well as by land," people in general run into great errors; it is NOT necessary that ONE FOURTH part should be sailors. The TERRIBLE privateer, Captain Death, stood the hottest engagement of any ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her complement was upwards of TWO HUNDRED. A FEW able and social sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landmen in the common work of a ship!" For a short account of the noble engagement of Captain Death and his crew against a far superior force, consult Smollet (Continuation of Hume, Index, word Death.) and compare the above opinion of Paine, and the result of Lord Collingwood's experience, with the very small amount of but 10 English to 210 IRISH sailors in the vessel mentioned by Mr. Tone. advice emanated, and the superior facility of procuring sailors, as well as soldiers, in Ireland, owing both to the greater want of employment there than in Britain, and the evident expediency of avoiding, as much as possible, the unpopularity of a frequent infliction of impressment in England, when it could be imposed, with so much less cause for political apprehension, upon the less commercial, more warlike, and comparatively powerless or uninfluential, because religiously divided, population of Ireland— if, for such apparently strong reasons, we may suppose his Lordship's idea to have been acted upon every year from 1808 till the peace in 1814, Ireland, in addition to her previous numbers, would have contributed 35,000 seamen to the British fleets! So much for what the "British heart and the British arm" could effect, during the last half century, without Irish MEN; and the enormous amount hereafter stated, of the national debt, will show how much the greatness of England owes to Irish MONEY! A Union with England must, therefore, be made agreeable to the will of the Irish PEOPLE, emphatically speaking, or however party discord, the offspring of sectarian delusion, may occasion submission for time, a Union with England, through the Mameluke medium of a numerically-insignificant, contemptibly-bigotted, shamelessly-antinational, individually rapacious and politically-odious aristocracy, can not 33 and, what is more, ought not, to last.3 MAGNA est VERITAS et PRÆVALEBIT! As a nation, Ireland, in size, fertility, revenue, and population, even after the emaciating misrule of centuries, and comparatively unimproved as she is, wonld be surpassed in Christendom tomorrow by only six powers, France, Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia, and Spain; and, 33 THE VISION OF A PATRIOT. "I had a dream which was not all a dream.-BYRON." I. Methought I saw a numerous host, And every warrior's brow seemed bent II. As mine eye this phalanx noted, III. And they stretched for many a mile, Rank on rank, and file on file; The war-horse neighed not there for steep And wild the hills-the marshes deep. IV. And a shout was raised to Heaven, And the wrench of fetters riven, Seemed as if about to rattle Through the fiery ranks of battle! V. Gazing on this fixed array, Thus a voice was heard to say ('Twas not of the human race, |