“When the Life is reprinted, I can modify the passage which expresses an
essential difference of opinion upon religious subjects with Henry. That difference is certainly not now
what it was then, but it is still a wide one; though, had
Henry lived till this time, I believe there would
scarcely have been a shade of difference between us. I am perfectly sure
| 104 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 47. |
“You wrong the Government with regard to Ireland. They
neither now have, nor ever have had, a wish to keep the savages in that country
in their state of ignorance and barbarity; and it would surprise you to know
what funds have been established for their education. I know Dr. Bell was surprised at finding how large the
endowments were, and felt that on that score it was not means that were
wanting, but the just direction of them. How to set about enlightening such a
people as the wild Irish is one of the most difficult duties any government was
ever called upon to perform, obstructed as it is by such a body of priests, who
can effectually prevent any better instruction than they themselves bestow. I
want more information concerning certain parts of Irish history than I possess
at present; but in one or more of the works which I have in hand I shall trace
the evils of Ireland to their source. Meantime, this I may safely assert, as a
general deduction from all that I have learnt in the course of history, that
the more we know of preceding and coexisting circumstances and difficulties,
the more excuse we shall find for those men and measures which, with little
knowledge of those circumstances, we should condemn absolutely. This feeling
leads not to any thing like indifference concerning right and wrong, nor to any
lukewarmness or indecision in opinion; but certainly to a more
| Ætat. 47. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 105 |
“God bless you, my dear Neville!
