And is this the man who prosecutes for words? If the tables were turned; if Mr. O'Connell were Attorney-General, and Mr. Plunket were the great leader of the people; if Antony were Brutus, and Brutus Antony, how would the public mind have been inflamed; what exciting matter would have been flung amongst the people? What lava would have been poured forth! The very stones would rise in mutiny.' Would to Heaven, that not only Mr. Plunket, but every other Protestant that deplores our imprudence in the spirit of a fastidious patronage, would adopt the simple test of nature, and make our case his own, and he would confess that, if similarly situated, he would give vent to his emotions in phrases as exasperated, and participate in the feelings which agitate the great and disfranchised community to which it would be his misfortune to belong."

*Speech in Catholic Association, 8th January, 1825.

CHAPTER VII.

1825.

Deputation to England-Archibald Hamilton Rowan-Mr. Peel and Mr. Brougham-Act suppressing association-The wings -Dinner at Mr. Brougham's-Meeting at Freemasons' Hall -Lord F. L. Gower's proposition regarding the payment of the Catholic clergy-Mr. Littleton's motion-Speech at Carlow-Duke of York's speech-Relief Bill thrown out.

THE condition of things which existed in Ireland at the beginning of 1825 was too anomalous to last. To all who possessed, even in a moderate degree, the gifts of political insight and discernment, it was clear that either too much or too little had already been conceded to the Catholic community. Too little had been yielded to satisfy, too much to allow the hope and ambition to sleep of one day being able to extort the rest. In the progress of population, the favoured

sect had not maintained their proportion. At the Revolution their numbers were estimated as being 300,000 out of 1,100,000.* Under the operation of the penal laws, their relative strength is supposed to have become much greater. But, after the relaxations of 1783 and 1793, the Catholic population multiplied more rapidly, and at the period in question it was said to amount to upwards of 6,000,000.

"The Philistines took Samson and put out his eyes, and bound him with fetters of brass, and he did grind in the prison. Howbeit the hair of Samson began to grow after he was shaven.' They put out the eyes of Ireland; they made education illicit, and declared knowledge to be contraband; they knew that slavery and ignorance were companions; they quenched the intellectual vision of the people; they bound them in penalties that cut into the mind, and corroded the heart; they set them to grind in the prison; they declared them to be incapable of honourable occupation; they fixed a brand upon their labour, and to their industry they attached disgrace;-and yet, in despite of all this, notwithstanding the detestable ingenuity of this infernal process for the demoralization and debasement of man, the innate * Sir William Petty's Political Survey, chap. ii.

power of the country defeated the abominable scheme. Its original and native energy was insensibly restored; war, and massacre, and slavery, and exile had not stopped the progress of population. The law of nature was stronger than the law of the land. Shorn, as Ireland was, of her native strength, she imperceptibly regained her gigantic vigour. The hair of Samson began to grow upon his head.' What then was to be done with Samson ? Unlike the strong man, Ireland had recovered her sight, with the renovation of her strength.

The

Catholic now purchased the soil which he had once scarcely dared to tread; he had acquired power with the elective franchise; a career was thrown open to the intellect of the country in the professions. Popery had become rich, influential, active, restless, intelligent, and aspiring. They were more than six millions of British subjects. What was to be done with

more than six millions of men? The State must either re-enact the penal code, or make them wholly free."*

In the speech from the throne, at the opening of the session of 1825, Parliament was called on to take measures for the repression of political associations in Ireland, which were declared to be "calculated, by

*Speech of Mr. Sheil in the Association, 13th January, 1825.

exciting alarm and by exasperating animosities, to endanger the peace of society and to retard the cause of national improvement." The aim of this denunciation was not disguised. Though the language was general, the specialty of the purpose was plain. Political agitation had become organic, and its regulated action throughout society everywhere began to be felt. Agrarian disturbances had almost disappeared; the King's speech recognised the fact, and ascribed it to the efficacy of the late coercive statutes. The Catholic Association congratulated the country on its tranquillity, and boasted that it was attributable to their advice and admonitions. Every week increased revenues flowed spontaneously into the popular exchequer; the revenues of his Majesty were indeed augmented likewise, and the industrial progress of the country contributed, no doubt, to both results. But the Government viewed with jealousy and alarm the growth of a power they were unable to control, amid commercial prosperity and agrarian peace. It was time to grapple with the danger, and to crush this formidable conspiracy, as it was called, against the established order of things.

Accordingly on the 10th of February, Mr. Goulburn, then Secretary for Ireland, introduced a bill,