grossly maligned them, who said that their wishes: went further. The elective franchise was conceded even more fully than they requested it; and Roman Catholics were permitted to serve as well on grand as on petty juries. Since these concessions, has there been any diminution of party feeling and factious animosities? My belief is, that after they obtain those privileges which they seek, they will not cease in their endeavours, but will struggle for the pre-eminence of their religion:

"Still to new heights their restless wishes soar,
Claim leads to claim, as power advances more.

How justly may we apostrophise the Irish Catholics in the language of Mr. Townsend :"Since the solemn compact at the Revolution, we have rescinded many unjust laws against the members of your communion. What has been the consequence? When the government was severe, you gave us no disturbance. In the same proportion as we have repealed the ancient obnoxious and severe statutes, you have increased in presumption, till you now threaten, or cajole, or insult the legislature. With every concession, you have demanded more. You were oppressed, and you petitioned for relief. From relief you proceeded to demand toleration; from toleration you required a participation of the elective franchise, admission to the bar, honour in the army and the navy. You required pro

*

See Speech of Mr. Peel, in House of Commons, 1825.

tection for your religion, education for your clergy, the removal of proscription; all have been granted. You have obtained influence; you now demand power." (See Accusations of History against Church of Rome, page 343.)

II.

Real causes of the evils with which Ireland is afflicted, and absurdity of supposing that Catholic Emancipation could have any effect in removing them.

Catholic Emancipation is sometimes represented as the panacea for all the evils under which Ireland labours. Let us take a short view of the nature of those evils, as noticed in the speeches of Mr. Dawson, and the present Bishop of London, in the year 1825, and we shall see how little the withholding Catholic Emancipation has to do with inflicting these evils, how utterly unavailing it would be (if granted) in effecting their removal, and how very little it would be thought of by the Irish peasantry but for the Irish agitators.

"It is, I conceive," said Mr. Dawson, in his speech in the House of Commons, 1825, "a most fortunate circumstance, that the evidence

from the Committee appointed to inquire into the state of Ireland, is laid before the public at this particular time; it contains a volume of information respecting the condition of the people, their habits and circumstances; respecting the operations of the laws, both local and general; respecting the nature and effect of every institution, both public and private, such as never, up to this time, has been condensed together. In this evidence an impartial mind will discover, without difficulty, the condition of every class, Church-of-England men, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics, pourtrayed by those most qualified to give a description, from constant intercourse; it will lead you into the cabin of the peasant in every part of the country; into the house of the landlord; into the mysterious recesses of the land agent and the tithe proctor; into the halls of justice, whether at assize, quarter-sessions, petty-sessions, or manor courts; it will lead you into the Protestant church, the Presbyterian meeting-house, and the Roman Catholic chapel; it presents a view of the population in their domestic habits, as labourers, mechanics, and tenants; and details the obstacles against their improvement, arising not more from their own habits, than from the administration of the laws; it presents a view of the population as part of a political body, influenced by the disabilities which the law has imposed upon a great portion of the people; and it presents a view of

the characteristic marks of distinction which the profession of different creeds has stamped respectively upon Protestant and Roman Catholic. "With this mass of information, it will not be difficult to discover the exact effect which the Roman Catholic disabilities produce upon the Roman Catholic population; and I was greatly surprised to hear from such competent witnesses as Mr. O'Connell, Dr. Doyle, and Dr. Kelly, how very little the great body of the people is affected by the disqualifying laws. That the greatest wretchedness exists amongst them, is beyond doubt that poverty, that want of employment, insubordination, distrust in all the established institutions of the country, fraud, perjury, and immorality, arising from that distrust, exist to a frightful extent, is beyond all doubt; but that Roman Catholic emancipation is the cure for these evils, or one which is regarded by the peasantry in any other light than the gratification of religious bigotry, is what these gentlemen have not ventured to assert.

"Let us, for a moment, consider the picture which Mr. O'Connell has drawn of the Roman Catholic population in the counties of Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Clare. It is to be observ ed, first, that he describes the effect of the disqualifying laws of the Roman Catholics to be among the upper classes, discontent at being excluded from certain offices in the State, which

lead to honour or profit; and among the lower classes, a soreness and irritation on account of the spirit of superiority exhibited by the Protestants; let us contemplate, for an instant, the picture which he has given of the population in those four great counties, and see, according to his own statement, how insignificant the operation of such feelings must be, and how perfectly hopeless the repeal of all the disqualifying laws would be, in improving the condition of the people. We must recollect, that he describes the Roman Catholic population in the counties of Limerick, Clare, and Kerry, compared with the Protestants, as one hundred to one; he says, the Protestants are universally in favour of Catholic emancipation; it is evident, therefore, that in that part of the country, there can be no insolence or domination on the one side, or soreness or irritation on the other; it is, in fact, a Roman Catholic population, the habits and pursuits of the people are all Roman Catholic; the common business of life is carried on according to Roman Catholic maxims and Roman Catholic regulations, and unless Mr. O'Connell periodically came down to tell them that they were the most oppressed people in the world, because he cannot become a member of parliament or a judge, they would not trouble their heads about Roman Catholic emancipation, as long as they found the causes of their misery and degradation