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Peter Plymley's Letters And Selected Essays by Sydney Smith
Primary source. And polemic. Smith writing on the treatment of Ireland and the laws against Catholics, and reviews of books on Ireland. Sometimes very skillfully:
"When I hear any man talk of an unalterable law, the only effect it produces upon me is to convince me that he is an unalterable fool."
It is useful as a view of the issues -- one notes he heartily assures everyone he shares their views of the terribleness of the Catholic Church -- and of the era in general. He quotes one author, who discusses how one explanation of Ireland's backwardness was its elective kings, but points out that Poland also suffered horribly from the kingship being elective but wasn't so backward. Ah, the views one wants to research, sometimes.
Primary source. And polemic. Smith writing on the treatment of Ireland and the laws against Catholics, and reviews of books on Ireland. Sometimes very skillfully:
"When I hear any man talk of an unalterable law, the only effect it produces upon me is to convince me that he is an unalterable fool."
It is useful as a view of the issues -- one notes he heartily assures everyone he shares their views of the terribleness of the Catholic Church -- and of the era in general. He quotes one author, who discusses how one explanation of Ireland's backwardness was its elective kings, but points out that Poland also suffered horribly from the kingship being elective but wasn't so backward. Ah, the views one wants to research, sometimes.
