"It Is That Declaration," Said The Gentleman, "Which Has Caused A Panic
Among Those Of The Irish Protestants Who Were Well-Affected To The Cause
Of Repeal.
If the Union should be repealed, they fear that O'Connell,
whose devotion to the Catholic Church appears to grow
Stronger and
stronger, and whose influence over the Catholic population is almost
without limit, will so direct the legislation of the Irish Parliament as
only to change the religious oppression that exists from one party to the
other. There is much greater liberality at present among the Catholics
than among their adversaries in Ireland, but I can not say how much of it
is owing to the oppression they endure. The fact that O'Connell has been
backward to assist in any church reforms in Ireland has given occasion to
the suspicion that he only desires to see the revenues and the legal
authority of the Episcopal Church transferred to the Catholic Church. If
that should happen, and if the principle avowed by John O'Connell should
be the rule of legislation, scarcely any body but a Catholic will be able
to live in Ireland."
Mr. Wall, to whom our country is indebted for the Hudson River Portfolio,
and who resided in the United States for twenty-two years, is here, and
is, I should think, quite successful in his profession. Some of his later
landscapes are superior to any of his productions that I remember. Among
them is a view on Lough Corrib, in which the ruined castle on the island
of that lake is a conspicuous object. It is an oil painting, and is a work
of great merit. The Dublin Art Union made it their first purchase from the
exhibition in which it appeared. Mr. Wall remembers America with much
pleasure, and nothing can exceed his kindness to such of the Americans as
he meets in Ireland.
He took us to the exhibition of the Royal Hibernian Society. Among its
pictures is a portrait of a lady by Burton, in water-colors, most
surprising for its perfection of execution and expression, its strength of
coloring and absolute nature. Burton is a native of Dublin, and is but
twenty-five years old. The Irish connoisseurs claim for him the praise of
being the first artist in water-colors in the world. He paints with the
left hand. There are several other fine things by him in the exhibition.
Maclise, another Irish artist, has a picture in the exhibition,
representing a dramatic author offering his piece to an actor. The story
is told in Gil Blas. It is a miracle of execution, though it has the fault
of hardness and too equal a distribution of light. I have no time to speak
more at large of this exhibition, and my letter is already too long.
This afternoon we sail for Liverpool.
Letter XXVI.
The Lunatic Asylum at Hanwell.
London, _July_ 28, 1845.
Since we came to England we have visited the Lunatic Asylum at Hanwell, in
the neighborhood of London.
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