"It was designed to tell ministers, in a language which should no longer be misunderstood, that wherever the Association chose to call, that there were the people ready to follow; that obedience to the Association was the paramount principle in the heart of every peasant in the country; that the power of the Association, therefore, was absolute and universal; that it could not be got rid of by law, for it never infringed the law; that it could not be got rid of by brute force, for it never rendered brute force necessary; that it was, therefore, unattackable and enduring; that, unattackable itself, it could attack others; that without injuring established institutions, it might make use of these very institutions for every purpose of injury: that it could wield the constitution against the constitution; introduce a sullen perpetual war into the bosom of peace; disturb every relation of society, without violating a single enactment on which such relations repose; and, finally, produce such an order of things as to compel the minister to choose between coercion or conciliation-between justice or tyrannybetween war or peace-between equalization or revolution. It was intended to tell him that the crisis had come, and there was no longer any time left him for pause or deliberation."-(Ibid. pp. 392-393.)

There are some descriptions of the historian so accurate and graphic, as to set comment and elucidation at defiance. This is one of those descriptions. It is the current history of Ireland; it is as true at this hour as it was in 1828. The "wielding of the constitution against the constitution; the sullen perpetuity of war maintained in the bosom of peace; the subversion of all the relations of social existence; the production of a state of things to make it imperative to yield to the demands of Popery, whatever Popery chose to demand," may be denominated the standing history of Ireland.

Now, let me ask one question. When this vast array is thus paraded before us-when this Association issued its orders for a levee én masse of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, who received the orders? Who were the officers? Where did they assemble? Who marshalled the array? Who were the captains, the commanders of these thousands and tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, who could meet on a given hour with arms, if it were necessary? They were the doctors, the propagators of Dens's Theology and McNamara's Bible.

The authority of this historian is conclusive on the subject. He tells us in another place the fact; and it is important to submit it fully to your consideration. He describes the Association thus:

"The Catholic Association was a confederacy which had a thousand arms. At the period of its dissolution, upwards of fourteen thousand members qualified to vote at its sittings, had enrolled themselves in this great national convention. Amongst its members were included one thousand four hundred non-Catholics, four Catholic archbishops, twenty Catholic bishops, and two thousand six hundred Catholic clergymen."

Here you have at once the members of this vast confederacy. You see, on the authority of their own historian, their numbers and their movements. You see the army that could rise in a moment at their command. Recollect it was not the vain boast of a Pompey, who vaunted he could stamp with his foot to raise a host. No: it was the wild signal of your own Highland chieftain-it was the blast of Clanalpineit was the whistle of Roderick Dhu-it was the vision of your poet actually presented to the eye, but multiplied by hundreds of thousands three times told over,—

"That whistle garrison'd the glen

With fifteen hundred thousand men ;
Seemed as if mother earth had given
A subterranean host to heaven."

Here you see the organization of the priests and demagogues of Popery. Now, let me ask, is this confederacy dissolved or weakened since that day? Is the Association at St. Stephen's less powerful than it was at the Corn-Exchange in Dublin? Is hostility to Protestantsare the doctrines and principles of Dens's Theology-is resistance to law, and power of resistance to law, less formidable, less organized, less rampant, than it was before?

What are the facts? Are not the efforts to put down the Protestant religion by the arm of the law borne up upon the shoulders of the priests of Ireland? I hold here in my hand, taken from a Roman Catholic paper in Dublin, the return of Mr. O'Connell's annuity, for the year 1834. I presume not to interfere with that gentleman's property-I merely state a fact-the amount is thirteen thousand four hundred and eighty-five pounds. The number of contributions, from different places, which make up that sum, is six hundred and five; and allowing one priest for each chapel in Dublin, where the chapels are given, but the name of the priest not, the contributions include three Roman Catholic archbishops, ten bishops, and six hundred and twelve priests.

Here is another return, taken from another of their own papers, which is called a record of documents and proceedings connected with the O'Connell Tribute for 1835; it gives the divisions of the spheres of contribution, and what is that division? It organizes Ireland into parochial divisions; the number given is one thousand two hundred and seventy-seven parishes. Every movement connected with Mr. O'Connell is a movement of priests for the domination of papal tyranny. Let us now consider what is the agency in which these reverend theologians are occupied? Is it only in replenishing the purse of their parliamentary puppets?

Here is a specimen of their invaluable political exertions-no less than a sermon—a sermon taken down in short-hand from the lips of the pirest who delivered it, and proved before a Committee of Parliament. Extract from Father Kehoe's address to his Congregation, from the altar of the chapel at Leighlin-Bridge, on Sunday, June 14, 1835.

"The Conservatives say a large number of soldiers are come to Carlow, but they have received strict orders not to escort the voters; so you have all in your own hands. Besides, the government has sent down three magistrates, who are to have the entire command of the army, to the exclusion of all the county magistrates; so, good people, all is in your own power, and this government, too, is very different from the last. But the Conservative landlords threaten to deprive you of your leases; that they can't do. Why so? They dare not, though they are most anxious to wallow up to their knees in human blood-in your blood, good people-and to bring about the rebellion of 1798; and their object is, to bring your daughters to prostitution, and your sons to beggary. But they dare not. Why? Because, before the end of this Session of Parliament, a body of poor laws will be in force, and every tenant that every landlord ejects, that same landlord will be obliged to support. And who are these bloody landlords-these tyrannical despots? Why, they are fellows whose names were not known when your ancestors possessed the land they now possess; but a time will soon come that will oblige them to prove what right and title they have to their possessions.* Well, good people, will you now be true to your religion, your country, and your God, in spite of the tyranny of your landlords?

"Is there any man will tell me that agitation has done nothing for Ireland. Where are tithes now? Although Catholics are still kept

First Appendix, IX.

out of office or emolument, still there is no such thing as tithes now-I mean, you no longer have to pay tithes, but a pitiful land-tax, and we'll soon put an end to that too. The Protestant clergy are now very different from what they were-they are no longer the fine gentlemen they were, but are in a sad hobble, and we'll make them in a greater hobble; for, instead of bringing up their sons and daughters to be gentlemen and ladies, they will be glad to bring them up to be farmers and tradesmen like yourselves, good people."

This is a sermon-a priest's sermon. I hope you are not in the habit of hearing such sermons in the Kirk of Scotland-but let me call your attention to consider for a moment what must be the state of a poor misguided population, stimulated by the instructions of such infallible guides as these-and whose agent was this priest? in whose service was this harangue delivered?-the place is that very county, the county of Carlow, which Mr. O'Connell is reported in the public papers to have sold as a rotten borough.*

Is this tender union, then—this sacred tie of their religion between demagogues and priests which Mr. Sheil so eloquently described-is this abolished? Mr. Sheil shall answer for himself. Here is an appeal of his own to these divines, bearing date only the 15th of last month. The circumstance to which he alludes, and on which he makes this pathetic appeal is, that Dr. Murray was not admitted when balloted for as a member of the Dublin Society. Mr. Sheil's letter is addressed to the people of Tipperary, and contains the following passage :

Mr. Sheil's appeal to the people of Tipperary, December 15, 1835: "I appeal to all, but above all, to the clergy. Priests of Tipperary, if the Conservatives, when out of office, exhibited the feeling by which they are actuated, in the ignominious rejection of an archbishop of your church from a literary establishment supported by the public money, what will they do if, unhappily, they shall be restored to their domination? Has not every one of you felt it as an insult to himself? Does not every emotion of virtuous anger glow in your bosoms at this outrage offered in the person of that admirable prelate, to the people and to the clergy? On you I call at this juncture. Invoke your flocks, and tell them that at this great crisis every thing is at stake. Let them pour in their notices-let them appear in hundreds at the quarter sessions, and let the Conservatives see that the virtue of the people of Tipperary is not to be corrupted-that their courage is not to be daunted—and that their strength can never be subdued.”

• First Appendix, X. ·

You perceive with what dutiful affection these gentlemen cling to their priests-let me now show you one or two specimens of the spirit by which these priests are actuated.

First, towards the clergy-I have here in my hand a letter of Dr. M'Hale, addressed to the Bishop of London. I shall read you a single passage.

Extract from Dr. M'Hale's Letter to the Bishop of London.

"Already the parsons are commencing the practices of the Catholic religion, and there is no longer any clamorous controversy about communion under both kinds, since vestries cannot tax the heterodox parishioners for the wine which would administer comfort to the faithful. Nay, hateful as celibacy appeared to the Protestant churchmen, they are beginning to agree with Malthus, that it would be unjust to be burdening society with an unprovided offspring."

Mark now, I beseech you, the cold-blooded atrocity of this persecutor. He holds up the sufferings of the Protestant clergy, which he and his coadjutors, in violation of their most solemn oaths, had occasioned. He holds up their starvation, the privation of the means of providing for the sacrament of their church, or of procuring necessaries for a family-he holds this up in triumph in the true spirit of Dens, as the means of compelling them to return to the superstitions of the Church of Rome, while there-there is his name subscribed to the declaration on his oath, which I have read, that he would never attempt to disturb or weaken the Protestant Church or Protestant Government in the country.

But what, again, are their principles with respect to the government of this empire? I shall read you another specimen from this same author. Here is a letter addressed by him to the Duke of Wellington. I pray you hear his language:

Dr. McHale's Letter to the Duke of Wellington.

"Your Grace is not, I trust, one of those persons who imagine that the mere will of a sovereign, or his ministers, imposes the obligation of law; nor is it, I trust, your impression, that every enactment brings with it that solemn sanction, provided it is passed by a majority of the senate. No, my lord, all the united authorities of the sovereign and the senate can never annex the conscientious obligations of law to enactments that are contrary to right reason and justice; and hence the

First Appendix, XI.