in society which ought to be the right only of orthodox believers.

[Sidenote: 1828--The Catholic Association]

It is interesting to notice that a protest was entered {69} against the
introduction of the words "on the true faith of a Christian" by Lord
Holland, who represented the principles of Charles James Fox. The
peers, it should be said, enjoy the privilege, which is not allowed to
members of the representative chamber, of recording their formal
protest on the books of their House against any motion or measure which
has been carried in spite of their opposition, and of setting forth
reasons on which their objection is founded. Many of the protests thus
recorded form important contributions to political history. Lord
Holland vindicates his protest in words which are well worth quoting:
"Because the introduction of the words 'upon the true faith of a
Christian' implies an opinion in which I cannot conscientiously concur,
namely, that a particular faith in matters of religion is necessary to
the proper discharge of duties purely political or temporal." Lord
Eldon strongly condemned the action of the prelates who had voted in
favor of the measure, and he used some words which showed that, however
obtuse his bigotry may have been, he clearly saw what must inevitably
come from the concession to religious liberty which was made by the
passing of such a measure. "Sooner or later," he said, "perhaps in
this very year, almost certainly in the next, the concessions to the
Dissenters must be followed by the like concessions to the Roman
Catholics." The Roman Catholic claims were already asserting
themselves with a force which appealed irresistibly to the minds of all
enlightened men.

The Catholic Association had been formed in Ireland for the purpose of
advocating the claims of the vast majority of the Irish people, and it
had found for its leader a man who must have made a great figure in the
political life of any era, and who was especially qualified to take a
leading place in such an agitation. Daniel O'Connell was one of the
most remarkable men of his time. He was the first Irish political
leader of modern days who professed the faith which may be called the
national creed of his people. The leaders of great Irish movements
just before his time--the Fitzgeralds, the Tones, and the Emmets--had
{70} had been, like Grattan himself, members of the Established Church.
O'Connell had, moreover, no sympathy whatever wi