justifiable. The doctrine of St. Thomas of Aquin on this subject, in his Treatise upon Laws, is that adopted and approved of by all the theologians of the Catholic Church, without exception. Into an explication of that doctrine we shall not enter at any length—it would be superfluous and irrelevant. We shall only examine what he teaches on the subject of obedience to unjust laws.

According to this great doctor, whenever laws are unjust, (and he specifies many ways in which they can be so,) they are not binding on the conscience of the subject, unless for fear of creating scandal, or causing greater evils; that is to say, that, in certain cases, an unjust law may become obligatory, not by virtue of any duty it imposes, but from motives of prudence. His words are as follow, and are worthy of particular attention:-"Laws are unjust in two ways; either because they are opposed to the common weal, or on account of their aim, as is the case when à government imposes upon its subjects onerous laws, not for the good of the common weal, but for the sake of self-interest or ambition; or on account of their author, as when any one makes a law without being invested with proper faculties. Again, they may be unjust in form, as when the taxes are divided unequally among the multitude, although, in other respects, tending to the public good. Such laws are rather outrages than laws, since, as St. Augustine observes, (lib. i. de Lib. Arb. cap. 5,)—′ An unjust law does not appear to be a law.' Such laws,

therefore, are not binding in conscience, unless perhaps for the avoiding of scandal and trouble-a motive which ought to induce man to give up his right, as St. Matthew observes-And whosoever shall force thee to go one mile, go with him other two; and, if any man will go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.'

Laws may be also unjust in

another point of view, when they are contrary to the will of God; as the laws of tyrants enforcing idolatry, or anything else contrary to divine law. With respect to such laws, it is not allowable, under any circumstances, to obey them; for, as it is said in the Acts of the Apostles 'We must obey God rather than man.

Surely no one will say that this doctrine is inimical to liberty—that there is here any pandering to the civil power-any favoring of despotism. On the contrary, in these few words are distinctly pointed out the limits which the civil power must not transgress without having its laws denounced as outrages, and, therefore, not to be obeyed unless for the avoiding of scandal and trouble. Any mal-legislation, therefore, of the State, so far from justifying itself by the obedience shown to its dictates, must rather vindicate itself by the morality of the robber, who, on a highway, demands from the helpless traveller his coat, who, for peace sake, gives him his cloak also.

Such was the loyalty felt and preached by Father O'Leary and the clergy of his time: they denounced the injustice of the laws-such as required a violation of conscience they disregarded—such as required no such violation they obeyed, to avoid scandal, and to prevent any further enactments hurtful to the welfare of the people amongst whom they ministered.

But there was another reason why the clergy of those times preached loyalty to the throne, and preached it with so much earnestness and zeal; and it was this: They were, almost all, the students of French colleges ; full of French ideas, in love with French institutions, seeing their country and its people through a French medium. The monarchy of France, ancient, despotic, magnificent, and to all appearances imperishable, was,

*D. Th. de Legibus, 1. 2, quæst. 90, art. i.

at that time, regarded by the French people as the most splendid structure ever presented to human admiration. It spread its fostering protection over the whole country, and the greatest and least institutions of the land rose and flourished beneath its all-embracing care. The Church of France, and its innumerable communities, found shelter beneath the monarchy, and the clergy naturally upheld, by their preaching and general inculcation, respect and attachment to monarchical glory and power. We cannot say how far the observation of Sir Jonah Barrington* is correct, that "the Irish student, early imbibing those monastic principles, was taught at Saint Omer the advantages of undefined power in a king, and of passive obedience in a subject," or whether he "was there instructed to worship a throne, and to mingle his devotion to heaven and to monarchy." But we may be satisfied that the bias of the French-Irish clergyman was strongly in favor of monarchy, and that, when, on his return to his native land, he found himself in a relation similar to that he had abandoned, his feelings as a subject underwent no change, and he regarded allegiance to the sovereign, under all circumstances, as a sacred obligation, which it would be a political blasphemy to denounce, and a political suicide to reject.

These observations, we trust, will rescue Father O'Leary from the suspicion of preaching loyalty with unnecessary zeal, at a time when extreme persecution seemed to nullify the duty of allegiance.

* Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation, chap. ii.

A

CHAPTER III.

Father O'Leary's Address to the Common People of the Roman Catholic Religion, concerning the apprehended French Invasion.

O'LEARY'S next appearance before the public was as the author of an address to the common people of Ireland of the Roman Catholic religion, concerning the apprehended French invasion. This address was published on the 14th of August, 1779, and had its origin. in the following circumstances. England was at this period in a position of peculiar difficulty. She was at war with America, and on no friendly relations with France and Spain. The immense drain of soldiery from this country left it so utterly defenceless, that the inhabitants were, for their own protection, obliged to establish the celebrated and justly admired Volunteer Corps, the source of so many blessings, alas! too transient, to Ireland. A French invasion was every moment apprehended, and, in point of fact, the French and Spanish fleets rode menacingly in St. George's Channel. The fears of the Government were much increased by consideration of the fact already alluded to, that many of the Catholic party in Ireland had, by commercial success, arrived at a pitch of importance and influence in the country, which, if they did not prove loyal, would aggravate the difficulty exceedingly. These men had large and extensive continental connexions, which would greatly facilitate schemes of conspiracy; and it was well known that, in her hour of trouble, Ireland had always looked to France and Spain for consolation and support. Thus, to the English Government, matters looked very unpleasant on the political horizon. The Irish, how

ever, gave, by their faithful adhesion to the cause of the constitution, one other proof of that loyalty for which, in England's difficulties, they had been ever distinguished. The French invasion did not take place, but it is the unanimous conviction of all those who have ever bestowed a thought on the subject, that, had it taken place, it would have received no practical sympathy from the bulk of the nation. On this occasion, to stimulate still further the loyalty of the people, Father O'Leary published his address, which had immense influence in preserving them from any outbreak of disaffection, and from riveting once more the chains they would have essayed but in vain to break. We give the address in full:

"An Address to the Common People of the Roman Catholic Religion, concerning the apprehended French Invasion.

"Brethren, Countrymen, and Fellow-citizens,-Religion has always considered war as one of the scourges of heaven, and the source of numberless scourges and crimes. Men may arm their hands in defence of life and property, but their hearts shudder at the thoughts of a field of battle, which can scarce afford graves to the armies that dispute it, covered with the mangled bodies and scattered limbs of thousands of Christians, who never saw nor provoked each other before; and whose only fault was obedience to their princes-which obedience cannot be imputed to the soldier as a crime. The peaceful cottage deserted, at the sight of an approaching army! Famine and distress closing the scene, and filling up the measure of calamities! Such are the misfortunes inseparable from war-misfortunes which induced the great St. Paul to exhort the Christians in the following manner :-'I exhort, therefore, that, first