148 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



the existeijce. The appenance of 

 a champion in their cause, so emi- 

 nent for his station, rallied all the 

 bigotry to be found among the pro- 

 te: t;r,its, and r'-ralled to this pha- 

 lanx many who were well disposed, 

 rather to seek the safety of their 

 country in the harmony and good 

 understanding of its inhabitant.-.. 

 The catholics of Ireland do not re- 

 ally feel very keenly the laws by 

 •which at present they are restri<5t.cd ; 

 hut, when they conceive themselves 

 ill treated, and when they are 

 out of temper, this grievance rises 

 before their minds, with every pos- 

 sible aggravation. Complaints in 

 Ireland against the laws v.hich inca- 

 pacitateRoman catholics, prove, not 

 60 ni'.ich the severity of these laws, 

 as the discontein of the country. 



From an early period in 1804, 

 the people began to muruiur, and 

 strcnMously challenged the investi- 

 gation of their condition ; still the 

 popular inclination was repressed 

 by partiality to the viceroy. As 

 the government was aXvare of insu- 

 perable obstacles, which must pre- 

 vent it from gratifyins the wishes of 

 the great body of the people, it na- 

 turally wasdesirou'^ that these wishes 

 should be repressed, and should 

 not arrive at that degree of eager- 

 ness, which might alienate the af- 

 fections of the one party among its 

 Subjects, and prove oft'ensive to the 

 other. Matters lluttuated 1)et\veen 

 these various inclinations ; the more 

 considerable catholics, wlllingtogra- 

 tify the viceroy, ♦he middle classes, 

 anxious to vent their indignation 

 against the chanceMor. At length, 

 about the month of September, some 

 inhabitants of Dublin, eager to place 

 themselves at the head of popular 

 proceedings, published a requisition 

 to the inhabitants of the Roniian ca- 



tholic communion, to asspmble, for 

 the purpose of cotisidcring the pro- 

 priety of an application to parlia- 

 ment, to relieve them from the seve* 

 ral incapacities by which they re- 

 mained attested. Even here, con- 

 trary to what might be expected 

 from assemblies, in their nature po- 

 pular, and composed of men not a 

 little uneasy and exasperated, thv? 

 proceedings were calm and delibe- 

 rate. 



The earl of Fingall, at the head 

 of the catholic nobility and gentry, 

 joined the meeting of the citizens. 

 It was probably ov.ing to this cir- 

 cumstance,'that so great a degree of 

 order was preserved, and the gene- 

 ral tendency of large and indiscri- 

 minate bodies torrsh measures, com- 

 pletely counteracted. The conduCt, 

 hideed, of this noble person, during 

 a period of some years, the most 

 critical and agitati'd of any in mo- 

 dern times, is deserving of the high- 

 est panegyric. Representing one of 

 the oldest peerages in the king's do- 

 minions, his rank gave him a most 

 decisive influence with a people ac- 

 customed highl)^ to reverence anci- 

 ent honours. He employed this ad- 

 vantage to soothe and compose the 

 angry passions of his countryjnen^ 

 and to divert the resentments of the 

 public irom dwelliuc; on privations, 

 in which he was himself the most 

 eminent sufferer, and some of which 

 were, with respeCt to him, his close 

 connections. Or his family, almost 

 personal injuries. He strongly re- 

 calls to our minds, in every step of 

 his political life, those eminent per- 

 sonages who were worthy to be im- 

 mortalized by the masterly pen of 

 lord Clarendon ; his conduCt pre- 

 sents to us, particularly, that of a 

 nobleman placed in circnmstances of 

 striking similarity, the great and 



good 



