rey, as the friend and
pupil of Fox, who had always been the friend of Ireland, must have
acquired, as a part of his early political training, the knowledge that
Ireland's grievances were not all {207} sentimental, and that if they
were to be dealt with by Acts of Parliament these Acts must take the
part of relief and not of repression. It may well be questioned
whether any population is disturbed for very long by mere sentimental
grievances, and it may be doubted also whether the true instinct of
statesmanship does not always regard the existence of what is called a
sentimental grievance as the best reason for trying to find out whether
there is not some practical evil at the root of the complaint.
Certainly, in Lord Grey's time, the grievances were open and palpable
enough to have attracted the attention of any man whose mind was not as
well contented with the wisdom of his ancestors as that of King William
himself.

Just at this time, as we have seen, a school of Englishmen was
springing up: Englishmen whose minds were filled with new ideas, and
who thoroughly understood the tendencies of the reforming age to which
they belonged. The Irish tithe question had come up for settlement.
The Irish tithe question was only a part of the Irish State Church
question. The Irish State Church was an institution bestowed upon
Ireland by her conquerors. Five-sixths, at least, of the population of
Ireland belonged to the Church of Rome and were devoted to the religion
of that Church. The island was nevertheless compelled to maintain the
State Church, which did not even represent the religious belief of the
one-sixth of the population that was not Roman Catholic. One of the
privileges of the State Church was to exact tithes from all the farmers
of the country for the maintenance of its clergymen. Ireland was
almost altogether an agricultural country, and had but little to do
with manufacturing industry, and in three out of the four provinces of
Ireland the farmers, almost to a man, held to the religion of their
Catholic forefathers and worshipped only at the altars of their faith.
It would be seen, therefore, that the imposition of tithes for the
support of the State Church ministers was not merely a sentimental
grievance, but a very practical grievance as well. It was practical
because it exacted the payment of a tribute which the farmer believed
he ought not to be called {208} upon to pay, and it was sentimental
because, w