An Essay on the Antient and Modern State of Ireland

by Henry Brooke

But as this was very far from being the Fact, I feared that Interest might prove an Incentive [pg 073] to Desire; and Desire equally prove an Incentive to Action; and, I am not ashamed to confess, that my Expectations were greatly, though happily, disappointed, by the Steadiness of their peaceful and loyal Demeanour on that trying Occasion.

Believe me, my Friend, at the Time that I wrote those Papers, which have given you so much Offence, I looked upon the Papists of this Kingdom, by the Patronage of France and Spain, by their Numbers, by their Wealth, and by their Union with each other, to be vastly superior to Irish Protestants, in Power; and my Spirit of Opposition rose, in Proportion to my Idea of their Ability. But neither then, before, nor since, did I ever mean to excite any Action, or Intention, against the Weak, or the Oppressed, the Fallen, or the Afflicted.

When Brutus unsheathed the reluctant Sword of Freedom against his Friend, Humanity must suppose that his Heart was wrung with Compunction, while his Country enjoined and impelled the Blow.

But further, Sir, there is a very wide Difference between a Popish Regency and a Popish People. The whole Intent and Virulence, as you call it, of my Papers, is pointed and levelled against the One, but not a Syllable uttered, from End to End, against the Other. A Popish Regency, in Temporals alike as in Spirituals, I held to be, by Principle, an arbitrary and oppressive Government; but I held a Popish People to be, of all People, the most amenable and submissive to Rulers, whatever the Form or Nature of that State may be, under which they shall happen to be subjected. And, on this very Account, I dreaded them the more, should [pg 074] they become passive Instruments in the Hand of a Papal Dictator.

To apply a sure Test to the Propriety, or Impropriety, of my Apprehensions, at the Period when I wrote the Farmer's Letters, let us suppose that no one of the Penal Laws, which were instituted during the Reign of her Majesty Queen Anne, had yet passed into Form, but that Matters had remained in the same Situation, in which the Monarch, of humane, as well as glorious Memory, had left this unhappy People. Well, what would have been the Consequence? Would Papists, in that Case, have been less amenable to the Government, by which they had been favoured, supported, and cherished? Would they have been the forwarder to bring Damage and Destruction on a Country, because their own Interest was connected therewith, and the Fortunes of their Posterity deposited therein? Would they have been the readier to attempt the Overthrow of our beneficent Constitution, because they enjoyed the Privileges and Advantages thereof? No, Sir, no. The Absurdity of the Supposition is inclusive of the Answer. Had this been the Case, the Farmer's Letters would not have existed to have caused the Renewal of our Acquaintance.

I have read and noted many Instances, in free States and Commonwealths, where Liberty, when fermented into Licentiousness, hath occasioned many partial Struggles for Power, many Broils and Factions, and much Disturbance to the Community. But very few are the Instances of the Insurrection of any People, who have not been goaded thereto by Severity and Oppression. The inoffensive Stag grows formidable when at [pg 075] Bay. The Worm turneth not, till it receiveth a Crush.

I forget the Book, though I remember the Passage, where a Prince demanded of his favourite Minister, what he should do with a Number of the Commons and Nobility, whom he had suppressed and taken Captive in the Act of Rebellion? The Minister answered, Put them, and their Adherents, instantly to Death. No, replied the Prince, that were an Act of such Bloodshed and Barbarity, as neither Fear nor Revenge shall persuade me to perpetrate. Then, grant them all free Pardon, rejoined the Minister. How! said the Prince, must Rebellion go altogether unpunished? There is no Medium that can assure your Safety, answered the Minister; you must either pull this Party wholly up by the Root, so as to leave no Fibre from whence future Enmity may grow; or else, you must change that Enmity into Friendship, by binding their Gratitude to your Person and Interest, with the kindliest of all Connections, that of your Goodness and Favour. A partial Punishment will be too little for your Safety; a partial Pardon will not be enough. You must either wholly annihilate their Power, by their Death; or derive Strength to yourself, from that Power, by their Friendship.

By disarming our Enemies, the utmost we can hope, is, to render them impotent. The Diminution of their Power adds nothing to our own. Repentance is never so permanent or sincere, as when preceded by Pardon; and Favour is, as the polar Attraction, to Inclination. Is there a Man whose Love and Gratitude you desire to engage? Common Sense will direct you to do him a Benefit. Would you bind him [pg 076] to your Service with Hoops of Steel? You must make it his Interest, as well as his Duty, to befriend you.

It is, by no means, my Intention to arraign either the Wisdom or good Policy of our Forefathers. But all Men are, in some Degree, fallible, as well in the congregate, as in the individual; and the Shrewd may err as much, by over-reaching their Aim, as the Ignorant, by falling short, or deviating from it.

But, had a hundred Pitts, and a hundred Cecils, composed the Senate of our Ancestors, at the Time that those Penal Laws were enacted; had those Laws been ever so wise and so just, so wholesome and necessary, and well suited to the Season; is that a Reason that they should continue so to the End of Time? In a World where nothing is permanent; where Modes, Manners, Principles, and Practice are at a Flux; where Life is uncertain, and all it contains changeable; Nature and Reason will conform to Situation and Circumstance; and where Causes have ceased, in any Degree, the Consequences ought to cease in the same Proportion.