MISCELLANIES. 



ol7 



lh«ir landlords,) from whose gra- 

 titude or good feelings they have 

 failed to win it) a kind of prefer- 

 ence for their ancient tenantrj'. 



Such, Gentlemen, have been 

 the causes which I have seen thus 

 operating in the north of Ireland, 

 and in part of the south and west. 

 I have observed, too, as the con- 

 sequences of those Orange combi- 

 nations and confederacies, men, 

 ferocious in their habits, unedu- 

 cated, not knowing what remedy- 

 to resort to, in their despair flying 

 in the face of the law ; enterintj 

 into dangerousandcnmmal counter 

 associations, and endeavouring to 

 procure arms, in order to meet, 

 upon equal terms, their Orange 

 assailants. 



To these several causes of dis- 

 turbance, we may add certain 

 moral causes. There has existed 

 an ancient connexion, solitary in 

 its nature, between the Catholic 

 pastor and his flock. This con- 

 nexion has been often, with very 

 little reflection, inveighed against, 

 by those who call themselves 

 friends to the constitution in 

 church and state. 1 have had ju- 

 dicial opportunities of knowing, 

 that this connexion between the 

 Catholic pastor and his flock, has 

 been, in some instances, weakened 

 and nearly destroyed ; the flock, 

 goaded by their wants, and flying 

 in the face of the pastor, with a 

 lamentable abandonment of all re- 

 ligious feeling, and a dereliction of 

 all regard to that pastoral superin- 

 tendance, which is so essential to 

 the tranquillity of the country. 

 For, if men have no prospect here, 

 but of a continued series of want, 

 and labour, and privation; and if 

 the hopes and fears of a future 

 state are withdrawn from them, 



by an utter separation from their 

 own pastor, what must be the 

 state of society ? The ties of reli- 

 gion and morality being thus loos- 

 ened, a frightful state of things 

 has ensued. Perjury has abounded. 

 The sanctity of oaths has ceased 

 to be binding, save where they ad- 

 minister to the passions of parties. 

 The oaths of the Orange Associa- 

 tions, or of the Ribbonraen, have, 

 indeed, continued to be obligatory. 

 As for oaths administered in a 

 court of justice, they have been 

 set at naught. 



Gentlemen, another deep-roofed 

 cause of immorality has been the 

 operation of the county present- 

 ment Code oflrehind: abused, as 

 it has been, for the purposes of 

 fraud and peculation, will you not 

 be astonished, when I assure you, 

 that I have had information judi- 

 cially, from an upright country 

 gentleman and Grand Juror of un- 

 questionable veracity in a western 

 county, that in the general prac- 

 tice, not one in ten of the account- 

 ing affidavits was actually sworn at 

 all ? Magistrates have signed, and 

 given away printed forms of such 

 affidavits in blank, to be filled up 

 at the pleasure of the party. This 

 abuse produced a strong represen- 

 tation from me to the Grand Jury ; 

 and had I known the fact in time, 

 I would have made an example of 

 those magistrates who were guilty 

 of so scandalous a dereliction of 

 duty. Another source of immo- 

 rality may be traced in the Regis- 

 try of Freeholds. Oaths of regis- 

 tration are taken, which, if not 

 perjury, are something very near 

 it. The tenantry are driven to 

 the hustings, and there, collected 

 like sheep in a pen, they must poll 

 for the great undertaker, who lias 



