12 Irish Parliaments, and [JuL\% 



subtlest work of popery. In those seminaries y outh are brought up with the 

 strictest discipline of superstition ; they are fitted for spiritual slavery by 

 the severest habitudes of bodily and mental subjection ; and their studies 

 are directed, unremittingly, to the supremacy of Rome. Aversion to 

 protestantism is the first tenet of the Jesuit in every corner of the earth ; 

 and if we are to judge of Jesuitism in Ireland by its conduct on the con- 

 tinent, that infamous and bloody process of intrigue and ambition, which 

 scarcely half a century ago occasioned its public banishment from every 

 kingdom, even of popish Europe ; we may congratulate ourselves even 

 on the brief respite that we have hithei'to obtained. 



The Forty-Shilling Freeholders have been abolished. And every man 

 who wishes well to what remains of the constitution, or whose feelings 

 shrink from the sight of boundless perjury, must rejoice at the abolition, 

 if it be an actual removal of either the influence or the perjury. But 

 we have seen that the Forty-Shilling Freeholders are now crowding 

 forward as Ten Pound Freeholders ; and though many must be driven 

 from the hustings by the law, yet the crime is but slightly diminished by 

 its own impotence, and unquestionably, in a vast number of instances, 

 the same contempt of an oath which qualified a peasant with a rack-rent 

 to be a freeholder at so many shillings, will qualify him to have a vote at 

 so many pounds. But, in the declared purport of the measure, it will 

 totally fail ; for that purport was to diminish the influence of the 

 priests at elections. That influence has not been diminished one iota. 

 They have long felt it with such confidence, that they openly 

 avow and boast of it. They outface the landlords, and publickly make 

 their claim upon the " rent," to enable the tenantry to resist their 

 landlords. The orators echo the cry. " The clergy," says Mr. O'Connell, 

 " from the most venerable and reverend prelates in the land, to the 

 youngest curate of the most remote parish, make common caase with the 

 people." [Fourteen Days' Meeting, 1828). " The aid of the Catholic 

 priesthood," says another, " and their intelligent and zealous co-operation, 

 will ever be necessary to the national cause ; and that we enjoy in an 

 unlimited degree." Another says, " We are, to a great extent, masters 

 of the representation of Ireland, and I trust that before long every 

 county member shall obey our bidding. Therefore I scarce care one jot 

 whether the Irish protestants are favourable to us or not." 



A few years will realize every syllable of those denunciations. But 

 we acknowledge that, whoever may have deceived us, the charge 

 cannot lie upon the heads of the popish leaders. They have told us 

 plainly that their determination is to have an Irish parliament, an Irish 

 church, and an Irish resumption of property : in other words — their own 

 words — a popish establishment, and a popish king ! They declared 

 this before the birth of the " atrocious bill.'^ They declared it during 

 its progress. Tliey now declare it with fiercer menaces, and with a more 

 authoritative confidence. At Mr. Peel, and the Duke of Wellington, 

 they absolutely laugh ; and, pointing to the spirit already working in 

 the shape of military feud, scoff at the miserable wisdom of the wise. 

 They bid the pro-popery advocates look to the exile which awaits 

 them ; and, feeling respect for their opponents alone, shew the sidlen 

 host of superstition and Rome drawn up to overwhelm the last defenders 

 of the last bulwark of the constitution. If there can be an aggravation 

 of this evil, it is, that it might have been extinguished by a word. But, 

 with the impulses of loyalty strong within us, we shall respect the dif- 



