Transcriber’s Note: The Greek is transcribed as printed, although acorrect transcription has also been provided atthe end of the book!
THE IMPROVED
ANTIDOTE,
SUPPOSED TO BE MORE
Active in Expelling Poison,
THAN A LATE INVENTION,
BY THE
Rev. Sir Harcourt Lees, Bart.
IN WHICH THE
CATHOLICS ARE VINDICATED
FROM HIS ABUSE,
AND THEIR CLAIMS FOR
Unrestricted Emancipation,
CONSIDERED.
Addressed to the Public.
πασῃ φυλαχῃ την ψυχην τηρητεον, μη δια τησ των λορων ἡδονησ παραδεξαμενοι τι λαθωμεν των χειρονων ωσπεβ ὁι τα δηλητηρια μετα του μελιτοσ προσιεμενοι
BASIL.
DUBLIN:
PRINTED, AND SOLD BY THE BOOKSELLERS,
1820.
Should a great and commercial Peopleexperience an unlooked for reverse offortune; should a rapid decay of Trade, along protracted and ruinous War, an expenditureof the Public Money, at once lavishand unnecessary, should even all these causesconspire with an oppressive national debt,in reducing them from opulence and prosperityto the lowest ebb of distress, theconsequences must be melancholy and alarming:On one hand, the People, impatientof this calamitous change, will murmur againstGovernment, and proceed to disorderly andtumultuous Insurrections. On the other,Administration, foreseeing danger to its ownpermanence and safety, will perhaps, adoptcoercive measures, not altogether consistentwith the liberty of its subjects:—Under thesecircumstances, every well intentioned mindwill be deeply affected with concern, forthe welfare of his country; various meanswill be recommended of healing its disorders,or, at least, of mitigating their virulence; andno one can be reprehensible in proposing a[4]Remedy, or an alteration, even, though thesuccess be doubtful:—Influenced by suchconsiderations, we also appeal to the indulgenceof a generous Public, and should theapplication we offer prove beneficial, theutmost wish of our heart will be gratified,should it, on the contrary, be neglected orderided, the consciousness of an upright intention,must in some measure console us.
An Antidote has been already prescribedby a Revd. Baronet, we presume with thesame view; the application of which, however,in our opinion, would tend to cherishthe malignancy of the disease, rather thanto eradicate its cause:—Wherefore, alarmedfor the constitution of the patient, shouldit be adopted, and at the same time, thoughwe acknowledge and applaud the Revd.Author’s anxiety in this case, suspecting thathe would prefer a partial to a completeRestoration, we humbly beg leave to stateour reasons for differing in sentiment with aman of his consummate knowledge and experience,together with our objections to hisAntidote.
That the present crisis is an alarming one,every man capable of reflection, will readilyadmit, that, however, every artifice of audacityand craft has been exe