Page:An address to the thinking independent part of the community.djvu/30

( 30 ) When I see Irish gentlemen pressing into the service of an English minister, and forgetful of the service they owe to Ireland. That they should arm to defend their country from foreign invasion, is suitable to their gallant spirit:—That they should arm to protect its internal peace, is becoming good citizens:—But that they should overlook, in the agitation of a temporary alarm, the lasting interests and dearest rights of an independent nation:—That they should express no wish, speak not one word for the security of Irish liberty, while they range themselves under the standard of ministers, whose attachment to it may well be suspected, appears altogether lamentable and surprizing. Can they, while acting thus, experience those pure unmixed sensations of generous pride, which animate and exalt the freeman, when he enters the ranks of his countrymen to protect his country's rights? Do no gloomy apprehensions at times come across their view and damp their exertions? Do they never feel suspicious of their cause and dissatisfied with themselves? When they have been led on step by step, till they are involved in an unnatural and odious contest; when they have been made the instruments for subduing the strength and humbling the spirit of the people, what means will they have left of protecting themselves against that authority they will have