Boyle Roche Quotes
There is no Levitical decree between nations, and on this occasion I can see neither sin nor shame in marrying our own sister.
“Levitical” refers to the Biblical Book of Leviticus which prohibited the marriage of brother and sister.
Boyle Roche, 1736 – 1807, Irish Member of Parliament, Statement Regarding the Union of England and Ireland
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Although the Irish members of Parliament were never sufficient to control Parliament on an “Irish question” pitting Irish against English, they were at times in sufficient numbers to hold the balance of power between English factions, thus “controlling England.”
Coping with the French and their Indian allies was a problem for all the American colonies and Franklin was the strongest voice for some kind of union or federation for not only mutual defense, but to facilitate commerce by having some uniform currency and basic laws of trade to promote the mutual economy. The 6 Iroquois tribes had years ago formed the Iroquois nation complete with a formal constitution that maintained tribal identity but also enabled unified action if any were attacked and provided mutual assistance on a number of economic areas. They became the strongest, wealthiest, healthiest and most sophisticated nation of North America before European colonization and unlike many other Indians with a few exceptions–see {21747} for an example–got along very well with the English colonists. Franklin was a great admirer and wanted to use some of their Constitutional provisions in the American Constitution 36 years later, but at the time tried to embarrass many American's into forming a union with language like this quote. Actually, he did not think of them as savages at all, but most Americans who knew little about them did, and Franklin was never above using people's prejudices to get them to buy into one of his political ideas.
This directive was a very enlightened improvement over the then exiting customs regarding menstruating women. The existing Jewish tradition, also observed by many others, was for men to shun a menstruating woman and banish her to a ritual bathhouse. While menstruating, a woman was not to touch anyone and could not even prepare food as she was regarded as “unclean”. While not a completely modern pronouncement—intercourse was still banned—it was a great reform where Islam led the world. It is hard for many in modern times to consider Islam as a modernizing force for reform given the archaic view of most things, but in its beginning, Islam was a great force of reform and progress. Later the religion went through a consolidation and intellectual closing and allowed no further reform. Indeed, it made reform a crime often punishable by death.
1st Earl of Beaconsfield
All members of Parliament were required to sign and publicly declare this oath. Two days later the Parliament ordered the oath—then called a “protestation”—printed and distributed throughout the realm. All minor officials and clerics were also required to make their “protestation.” It was excesses like this that created a negative attitude in England regarding loyalty oaths and the American Founding Fathers specifically knew of this—then relatively recent—example when they wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We have left the then English spelling as is.
unions and federations of two countries
He was particularly referring to the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and James I.
Anna Maria Fielding married Samuel Carter Hall but published her many works as S. C. Hall.
He also had harsh words for the American Fenians which he published and these attacks were answered with his murder in Montreal in 1868. The Fenians assumed that since he had been an Irish radical patriot he would support their cause. However their indiscriminate violence and terror against anything British including Canada turned McGee’s pen against them. The American Fenians actually tried to mount an invasion of Canada in 1868 and a pitched battle ensued. They dealt with McGee in their classic manner.
Great Britain however did join the European Common Market although it did not give up its own currency and adopt the Euro as most of the other European nations did.
There was an active secession movement by the Western States. New Orleans was then controlled by the Spanish who would not allow U.S. goods access to export from New Orleans. Some of the wealthier Western citizens thought that they would fare better as a vassal state of Spain rather than part of the newly formed United States. Jefferson, did not overreact and the movement for secession faded.
Sir Boyle Roche, 1st Baronet was an Irish politician. After a distinguished career in North America with the British Army, Roche became a member of the Irish House of Commons in 1775, generally acting in support of the viceregal government. He is better remembered for the language of his speeches than for his politics – they were riddled with mixed metaphors ("Mr Speaker, I smell a rat; I see him forming in the air and darkening the sky; but I'll nip him in the bud"), malapropisms and other unfortunate turns of phrase ("Why we should put ourselves out of our way to do anything for posterity, for what has posterity ever done for us?"). Roche may have been Richard Brinsley Sheridan's model for Mrs Malaprop. While arguing for a bill, Roche once said, "It would surely be better, Mr. Speaker, to give up not only a part, but, if necessary, even the whole, of our constitution, to preserve the remainder!"
