in order that he may the better understand the
nature and spirit of the almost universal assault which was, by at least
one party--the Roman Catholic--so furiously made upon it. At the present
period of our narrative, then, the population of the country, especially
of the South and West, had arrived at that state of agitation, which,
whether its object be legitimate or not, is certain, in a short time, to
brutalize the public mind and debauch the public morals, by removing all
the conscientious impediments which religion places against crime,
and consequently all scruple in committing it. Heretofore, those vile
societies of a secret nature, that disgrace the country and debase
the character of her people, existed frequently under separate
denominations, and for distinct objects. Now, however, they all
consented to abandon these peculiar purposes, and to coalesce into one
great conspiracy against the destruction of the Establishment. We do not
mean to assert, however, that this general outcry against the Church,
and its accompanying onslaught on her property, originated directly with
the people. No such thing; the people, as they always are, and, we fear,
ever will be, were mere instruments in the hands of a host of lay and
clerical agitators; and no argument was left unattempted or unurged to
hound them on to the destruction of the Establishment. From the Corn
Exchange down to the meanest and most obscure tribunal of agitation
throughout the kingdom, the virtues of passive resistance were
inculcated and preached, and the great champion of popular rights told
the people publicly and repeatedly that they might not be afraid
to follow his advice, for that it mattered little how oppressive or
stringent any act of parliament in defence of the Established Church
might be, he would undertake to drive a coach and six through the very
severest of its penalties. Nor were the Catholic priesthood idle during
these times of storm and commotion. At the head of them, and foremost
in both ability and hatred of tithes, stood the late Dr. Doyle, the
celebrated J.K.L. of that day, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin; a man to
whose great intellectual powers the country at large chiefly owes the
settlement of that most difficult and important question. This able
prelate assailed the system with a fiery vehemence that absolutely set
the country in a blaze, and reduced the wealthy Establishment to a
case of the most unprecedented distress. Who can