The English, as a nation, profess the most ardent veneration for liberty.

To be a patriot, to desire to free one's country, unless, indeed, that country happen to have some very close connexion with their own, is the surest way to obtain ovations and applause.

It is said that circumstances alter cases; they certainly alter opinions, but they do not alter facts.

An Englishman applauds and assists insurrection in countries where they profess to have for their object the freedom of the individual or of the nation; he imprisons and stifles it at home, where the motive is precisely similar, and the cause, in the eyes of the insurgents at least, incomparably more valid.
But I do not wish to raise a vexed question, or to enter on political discussions; my object in this Preface is simply to bring before the minds of Englishmen that they have a duty to perform towards Ireland--a duty which they cannot cast aside on others--a duty which it may be for their interest, as well as for their honour, to fulfil.

I wish to draw the attention of Englishmen to those Irish grievances which are generally admitted to exist, and which can only be fully understood by a careful and unprejudiced perusal of Irish history, past and present.
Until grievances are thoroughly understood, they are not likely to be thoroughly remedied.