ABSTRACT
That the Volunteers of Ireland have preserved and vindicated the rights of their country, is generally admitted: Whether their continuation be necessary to her happiness, is a question which admits of some difference of opinion. That after war, and grievances, and elections shall be over, they will decline and dissolve, is predicted by many, with affected sorrow, and secret satisfaction. I read with pleasure, spirited determinations to preserve the institution; determinations dictated by patriotism, but connected with no plan, and in general, followed by resolutions virtuous in themselves, but probably injurious to the cause. It / is a delicate and a thankless office to attack the favourite prejudices of my countrymen: But it is better to be guilty of an unpopular forwardness, than of a cold indifference to the public interest. We have obtained a free constitution, as free as England acquired at the Revolution;1 but the advantages of that freedom will depend on the use we make of it, and on the conduct we shall adopt, after being put into possession:– England, since the Revolution, has had her grievances.
