44 ARDENMOHR. 



" Nor ever will ; it sharpens them. Pity Cromwell 

 did not complete his Irish schemes." 



" Then, Ward," said the Major laughingly, " you 

 hardly expect much from the Irish Church doings ?" 



" Nothing : a single thought might prove that. All 

 other religions are content to let alone, and be let 

 alone Jews, Greeks, or Protestants ; but the whole 

 policy of Popery is absolutism over States and over 

 individuals: the idea of satisfying this grasping spirit 

 of rule with scraps from the Protestant larder is 

 beautifully absurd." 



" But what could the Legislature do, with Pro- 

 testants and Papists alike crying out injustice, and 

 politicians gambling on these alleged wrongs ? " 



" They might have said : ' Your religion is at 

 enmity with our whole policy, and yet we do not 

 persecute, we ignore, Popery. Protestants are the 

 wealth, strength, and enterprise of the country : 

 which could do as well, perhaps better, without 

 you." 



"But in Ireland Papists are a majority, and dis- 

 like Protestant rules." 



"Nor do Seven Dials and Clerkenwell like a 

 Protestant police, in these quiet and cleanly districts ; 

 but the police are for the decent subjects thereabouts, 



