U5 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



olFending the prejudice, or exciting 

 the jealousy of the doniiuaiit party, 

 liis lordship, as far as the informa- 

 tion, or "vigilance of government, 

 could extend, aftbrded indiscrimi- 

 nate and efficient protection to all 

 the king's subjects. He repressed 

 intemperate zeal, the excesses of 

 authority, the arrogance of pros- 

 perous faction, the follies of the 

 ■\veak, and the vices of the wicked ; 

 ivhich, covering themselves for a 

 few years back under the cloak of 

 loyalty, seemed, in Ireland, to 

 throw disrepute upon that elevated 

 principle of action. The Catholics, 

 for the most part a money-making 

 and industrious people, with very 

 little of political pretention, were 

 well pleased at their condition tin- 

 der his auspices. The country be- 

 gan to feel the effects of this con- 

 du6t, in the return and diifusion of 

 harmony, and, what seldom has oc- 

 curred, and, perhaps would not in 

 the present instance, if the union had 

 not left the viceroy atliberty to pur- 

 sue the course suggested by his own 

 policy and feelings, the govfrn- 

 MENT 6f Ireland was greeted 



"WITH THE ni,ESSINGS OF THE PEOPLE. 



The faction to Avhich we have al- 

 luded, and whose adherents, as well 

 to distinguish themselves from the 

 protestants of n.ilderand more libe- 

 ral views, as from an arTerted reve- 

 rence for the memory of William the 

 3d. the jnodern conqueror of Ire- 

 land, were self-denominated, Orange- 

 men, and strenuously maintained the 

 policy of rendering the professors 

 oftheir religion a garrison of super- 

 intendance over the far more nume- 

 rous Roman catholic populaiiou. The 

 component jaris of this faction 

 ■were, a few gentlemen of feeble 

 minds, or narrow education ; some 

 others who sought an occasion to 



render their zeal conspicuous, in the 

 hope of profiting by the fears, or 

 from the reliance upon them, of 

 the English government ; of malig- 

 nant men fond of acting upon the 

 Aveak or wicked propCTisities of their 

 neighbours, and of the whole lower 

 classes of protestants, with inconsi- 

 derable exception. If the Roman 

 catholics are not to be reputed ene- 

 mies, they are not to be guarded 

 against or watched, and thus fall to 

 the ground all the pretensions, by 

 which so many active or interested 

 individuals pursue the game of am- 

 bition or avarice, and thus the 

 dream of personal importance ter- 

 minates for all the adherents of this 

 system. 



. The cntcrprize of Emmett, which 

 the melancholy but unpremeditated 

 murder of the chief justice had 

 swelled into a sort of affair of state, 

 occupying the thoughts, and reviv- 

 ing the apprehensions of the public, 

 was by these persons seized on with 

 avidity. Although the tumult was 

 obviously local, alarm and mistrust 

 were very generally extended. Not- 

 withstanding it was concerted and 

 conduced by prot'.'stants, the first fer- 

 vor of jealousy was made to include 

 the total of the catholic body ; and 

 rebellion and popery again became 

 a prevalent or fashionable combina- 

 tion of expression. 



On the breakintT out of the war 

 with France, in 1803, so far as pro- 

 perty extended, and as a deliberate 

 and reflecting mind was to be pre- 

 sumed among the catholics, so far an 

 ardent zeal in the ciuse of their 

 country was consijicuous. When 

 the peace of the metropolis was vio- 

 lated, and that the external enemy 

 seemed to combine his exertions 

 with those of partlzans at home, a 

 general and indiscriminate burst of 



indignatioa 



