e education of young Irishmen destined for the
priesthood, and who were at this time deprived of the advantages of
foreign universities from the disordered state of the continent; and the
Catholics also obtained permission to study at the university of Dublin.
But these indulgences were not duly appreciated. From this time the
society of United Irishmen rapidly extended itself over the whole
kingdom. They formed, indeed, a new system, combining malcontents of
every class and of all religious persuasions against the government. The
leaders of the society began, in fact, to entertain dangerous designs,
and to form illegal and treasonable connexions with the government of
France. Towards the close of the year, disaffection became so general
that the existing laws were deemed insufficient to repress popular
violences, and the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, by which the agents
of government were enabled to imprison obnoxious or suspected persons
without any cause assigned, or any time of trial appointed. In the
western counties, government resorted to a measure which nothing but
stern necessity could justify. By an act which passed in January, the
lord-lieutenant and council were authorised, on a petition from seven
magistrates of a county assembled at a session of the peace, to proclaim
that county, or any section of it, to be in a state of disturbance, and
to empower the magistrates to treat all suspected persons as culprits,
and in default of bail to send them on board the fleet. This act also,
which was called the Insurrection Act, enacted that the administering
of treasonable oaths, which was a practice in the society of United
Irishmen, was a capital offence; and that in case a witness was
murdered, which frequently happened, before a trial, his written
testimony should be considered sufficient evidence. While government
was thus grappling with the disaffection which prevailed, a body of men
united under the name of Orangemen, for the purposes of security.
This was natural; but, unfortunately, it only increased the religious
animosities which already existed between the two parties. Government,
moreover, began to embody an armed yeomanry to assist the regular troops
and the militia. In the course of six months this force amounted to
37,000 men, and it was still increasing. But nothing could allay the
fury of the storm that was gathering over the country. The leaders of
the United Irishmen were as active as government;