may say at a venture, it is about three miles in circumference, though towards the S. S. W. the descent is much more abrupt, and the plain from which the cone springs not perceptible. The view from the summit is stupendous: we could plainly discover the whole form of the island, and we made out distinctly three or four of the islands, which together are called the Canaries; we could not however see Lancerotte or Fuerteventura, though we were told that other travellers had distinguished them all.

From this spot the central chain of mountains that runs from southwest to north-east is easily to be distinguished. These, with the succession of fertile and woody vallies, commencing from San Ursula and ending at Las Horcas, with the long line of precipitous lava rocks that lay on the right of our ascent, and which traverse that part of the island, running from east to west from their point of departure at the Canales to where they end in an abrupt headland on the coast, with their forests and villages and vineyards, the port with the shipping in the roads, the towers of Orotava with their spires glittering as the morning sun burst upon them, afforded a cheerful contrast to the streams of lava, the mounds of ash and pumice, and the sul phurated rock on which we had taken our seat. The sensation of extreme height was in fact one of the most extraordinary I ever felt; and though I did not find the pain in my chest arising from the rarity of the atmosphere, near so acute as on the mountains of Switzerland, yet there was a keenness in the air, independent of the cold, that

created no small uneasiness in the lungs. The respiration became short and quick, and repeated halts were found necessary. The idea also of extreme height was to me more determinate and precise than on the mountains of Switzerland; and though the immediate objects of vision were not so numerous, yet as the ascent is more rapid, the declivity sharper, and there is here. no mountain like Mount Blanc towering above you, the 12,000 feet above the level of the sea appeared considerably more than a similar elevation above the lake of Geneva. We remained at the summit about three quarters of an hour: our ascent had cost us a labour of four hours, as we left the Estancia at ten minutes before three, and reached the top of the peak before seven; many indeed of our halts were needless, and M. Escolar told me that he had twice ascended to the summit in somewhat less than three hours. Our thermometer, which was graduated to the scale of Fahrenheit, was during our ascent as follows: at Orotava, at eight in the morning, 74°; at six in the evening, at La Estancia, 50°; at one in the following morning 42°; at La Cueva, at half-past four 32°; at the bottom of the cone 36°; at the top of the Peak, one hour and a half after sun-rise, 38°. The descent down the cone is difficult from its extreme rapidity, and from the fall of large stones which loosen themselves from the beds of pumice.— Having at last scrambled to the bottom, we pursued our march down the other course of the lava, that is to say down its westerly side, having ascended its eastern. The ravines and rents in this

stream

stream of lava are deeper and more formidable; the descent into them was always painful and troublesome, often dangerous: in some places we let ourselves down from rock to rock. I can form no opinion why there should be these strange irregularities in the surface of this lava; in places it resembles what sailors term the trough of the sea, and I can compare it to nothing but as if the sea in a storm had by some force become on a sudden stationary, the waves retaing their swell. As we again approached La Cueva there is a singular steep valley, the depth of which from its two walls cannot be less than 100 to 150 feet, the lava lying in broken ridges one upon the other, similar to the masses of granite rock that time and decay have tumbled down from the top of the Alps; and, except from the scoria, or what Milton calls "the Fiery Surge," they in no degree bear the marks of having rolled as a stream of liquid matter. This current, like that of the eastward branch, has no resemblance to any lavas I have seen elsewhere; it it hardly at all decomposed, full of laminæ of feldspar, the fracture conchoidal,

and the texture porphyritic; the colour brown like that of the other branch; it is but slightly cellular, and contains no extraneous substances.

We descended the pumice hill with great rapidity almost at a run, and arrived at La Estancia in little more than two hours. We then mounted our mules, and following the track by which we had ascended the preceding day, we reached about four o'clock the country house of our hospitable friend Mr. Barry.

The difficulties of this enterprise bave been much exaggerated: the ascent on foot is not a labour of more than four hours at most, and the whole undertaking not to be compared in point of fatigue to what the traveller undergoes who visits the Alps. That the ascent must be hazardous in a storm of hail and snow there can be no doubt, but to cross Salisbury plain may sometimes be dangerous. Yet stripped of poetical terrors, and dis vested of the eloquent description of some writers, there is perhaps no mountain in Europe, the ascent of which does not farnish more difficulties than the Peak of Teneriffe.

MISCELLANIES

knowledge, which other men did not enjoy. For several years I conducted the prosecutions for the Crown at Wexford; and hence I derived an intimate knowledge of those transactions. Besides, I was connected with no party, I was indifferent about party. But here I stop, I willingly draw a veil over the events of those days, and their causes. God forbid! that I should tear asunder wounds, which, I hope, are completely and for ever closed.

I have now been absent from this county twelve years, (with the exception of one Assizes, when I came here in the King's Commission, but upon that occasion I did not sit, as I now do, in the Crown Court). I can say, however, with the greatest truth, that at no period from my earliest acquaintance with your county, down to the present time, do I remember to have seen it in more profound tranquillity, more perfect peace, more complete security than at present, a state of things indicating a due administration of the laws by Magistrates, neither over zealous and too active on the one hand, nor too negligent and supine on the other.

Such, I do hope, is the true and actual state of your county; for, Gentlemen, I have, I repeat it, no means of knowing the fact, except from the quantity of alleged crime, the number of persons charged, and the nature of those charges, as are set out in this calendar. But, why, gentlemen, have I entered into this detail? I answer, for these weighty and cogent reasons; because much exaggeration and misrepresentation have gone abroad, and the extent and causes

of disturbances have been much mis-stated. In what I now say, or shall say, I do not impute any thing to any individual of this county. I will not meddle with its internal politics; but this I know, that its situation has been variously represented. Several advertisements in newspapers now before me [The Wexford Journals of last March and April] describe this county as being in a most alarming state of disturbance. Other advertisements affirm, on the other hand, that the country has never enjoyed more profound tranquillity. These advertisements have been, I understand, republished in the prints of Dublin and London; and have naturally excited strong sensations. It is not for me to inquire into the motives of those opposite statements. I know them not. It is not my intention, it is not my duty, to impute any particular motives to any individuals: but it is within the sphere of my public duty to state, for your instruction, what I have observed as the origin and grounds of similar reports and misrepresentations in other counties, whither the discharge of my public duty has called me, and where I have had judicial knowledge of what had passed. It may be not uninstructive to state what appeared to me to be the causes of those disturbances, which have occasioned those misrepresentstions and exaggerations; together with the reasons which have impelled the Legislature to swell the Criminal Code, session after session, with new statutes, for vindicating the peace of this country.

In my circuits through other parts of the kingdom, I have seen

the

the lower orders of the people disturbed by many causes, not peculiar to any particular counties; operating with more effect in some, but to a greater or less extent in all. I have seen them operating with extended effect in the north west circuit, in the counties of Mayo, Donegal, Derry, Roscommon, &c. &c. These effects have made a deep impression on my mind. My observations, certainly, have been those of an individual; but of an individual seeing the same facts coming before him, judicially, time after time; and I do now publicly state, that never, during the entire period of my judicial experience (comprising sixteen circuits) have I discovered or observed any serious purpose, or settled scheme, of assailing his Majesty's Government, or any conspiracy connected with internal rebels or foreign foes. But various deep rooted and neglected causes, producing similar effects throughout this country, have conspired to create the evils which really and truly do exist.

First, the extraordinary rise of land, occasioned by the great and increasing demand for the necessaries of life, and by producing large profits to the possessors of farms, excited a proportionate avidity for acquiring or renting lands. Hence extravagant rents have been bid for lands, without any great consideration; and I have seen these two circumstances operating upon each other, like cause and effect, the cause producing the effect; and the effect, by reaction, producing the cause.

Next, we all know, that the country has been deluged by an enormous Paper Currency, which

has generated a new crime, now prominent upon the list, in every calendar, the crime of making and uttering forged Bank Notes. In every province, we have seen private banks failing, and ruining multitudes, and thus have fresh mischiefs flowed from this paper circulation, In the next place, the country has seen a magistracy, over-active in some instances, and quite supine in others. This circumstance has materially affected the administration of the laws in Ireland. In this respect I have found that those societies, called Orange Societies, have produced most mischievous effects; and particularly in the North of Ireland. They poison the very fountains of justice; and even some magistrates, under their influence, have, in too many instances, violated their duty and their oaths. I do not hesitate to say, that all Associations of every description, in this country, whether of Orangemen or Ribbonmen, whether distinguished by the colour of Orange or of Green, all combinations of persons, bound to each other (by the obligation of an Oath) in a league for a common purpose, endangering the peace of the country, I pronounce them to be contrary to law. And should it ever come before me to decide upon the question, I shall not hesitate to send up bills of indictment to a Grand Jury against the individuals, members of such an Association, wherever I can find the charge properly sustained. this I am certain, that, so long as those Associations are permitted to act in the lawless manner they do, there will be no tranquillity in this country; and particularly in

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