of the fearful illiteracy of Donegal, as revealed by the
voting papers. Is it likely that in one quarter of Donegal--that is,
in one-fourth part of one county--there should be more illiterates
than in the whole of Scotland? Yet according to the election returns,
it was even so. The fact that the people declared themselves
illiterate at the orders of the priest, when they were not illiterate,
shows how degraded are the people, and how completely they are under
the thumb of the priests."

A Protestant clergyman on his holidays, and not belonging to these
parts, was very eloquent on the subject of political popery. In all my
journeyings I have never interviewed a Protestant parson, save and
except Dr. Kane, whom I met in the Royal Avenue, Belfast, along with
the Marquess of Londonderry and Colonel Saunderson, as recorded in an
early letter. I was disposed to believe that the English public might
regard their evidence as being prejudiced, and therefore of little
value. But my Raphoe acquaintance was a singularly modest and moderate
man, upon whose opinion you at once felt you could rely. He said:--"My
Catholic neighbours were friends until lately. Nobody could have been
more kind and obliging. There was no sensible difference between us,
except that they did not come to church. They would do anything for me
and my family; we would do anything for them. Lately they have changed
their manner. They have grown cold. Their children playing with mine
have let out the secret. Through them we learn that the days of the
Protestants are numbered. Father says this, and mother says that. My
land is disposed of among my Papist neighbours. All my congregation
have similar experiences. This makes things very unpleasant, and
nothing can ever bring back the kind, neighbourly feeling of old. The
Papist clergy are the cause of it all. Their church is nothing if not
absolute, and dominancy is their aim. The Protestant party will get no
quarter. I do not say we shall be murdered, or even personally
maltreated. But when the large majority of a district want to see the
back of you, with the idea of dividing your farm or your Church lands,
they have many ways of making things so unpleasant that you would soon
be glad to go. For my own part, I should endeavour to leave the
country at the earliest possible moment. And that is what 999
Protestants out of 1,000 would tell you. The clergy are inimical to
England. Here and there you find a Conservative