e of Irish aid; at this moment
the defence of England is intrusted to the Irish militia; at this
moment, while the starving people are rising in the fierceness of
despair, the Irish are faithful to their trust. But till equal energy
is imparted throughout by the extension of freedom, you cannot enjoy
the full benefit of the strength which you are glad to interpose
between you and destruction. Ireland has done much, but will do more.
At this moment the only triumph obtained through long years of
continental disaster has been achieved by an Irish general: it is
true he is not a Catholic; had he been so, we should have been
deprived of his exertions: but I presume no one will assert that his
religion would have impaired his talents or diminished his
patriotism; though, in that case, he must have conquered in the
ranks, for he never could have commanded an army.

But he is fighting the battles of the Catholics abroad; his noble
brother has this night advocated their cause, with an eloquence which
I shall not depreciate by the humble tribute of my panegyric; whilst
a third of his kindred, as unlike as unequal, has been combating
against his Catholic brethren in Dublin, with circular letters,
edicts, proclamations, arrests, and dispersions;--all the vexatious
implements of petty warfare that could be wielded by the mercenary
guerillas of government, clad in the rusty armour of their obsolete
statutes. Your Lordships will, doubtless, divide new honours between
the Saviour of Portugal, and the Dispenser of Delegates. It is
singular, indeed, to observe the difference between our foreign and
domestic policy; if Catholic Spain, faithful Portugal, or the no less
Catholic and faithful king of the one Sicily, (of which, by the by,
you have lately deprived him,) stand in need of succour, away goes a
fleet and an army, an ambassador and a subsidy, sometimes to fight
pretty hardly, generally to negotiate very badly, and always to pay
very dearly for our Popish allies. But let four millions of
fellow-subjects pray for relief, who fight and pay and labour in your
behalf, they must be treated as aliens; and although their "father's
house has many mansions," there is no resting-place for them. Allow
me to ask, are you not fighting for the emancipation of Ferdinand
VII., who certainly is a fool, and, consequently, in all probability
a bigot? and have you more regard for a foreign sovereign than your
own fellow-subjects, who are not fools, f