organization extend over the whole island? Have not all the natural
bonds by which men are tied together been broken and burst asunder? Are
not all the relations of society which exist elsewhere gone? Has not
property lost its influence? Has not rank been stripped of the respect
which should belong to it? And has not an internal government grown
up, which, gradually superseding the legitimate authorities, has armed
itself with a complete domination? Is it nothing that the whole body of
the clergy are alienated from the state, and that the Catholic gentry,
and peasantry, and priesthood are all combined in one vast confederacy?
So much for Catholic indignation while we are at peace. And when England
shall be involved in war,--I pause; it is not necessary that I should
discuss that branch of the division, or point to the cloud which,
charged with thunder, is hanging over our heads." As the year advanced,
the state of the country of Ireland assumed a new and still more fearful
aspect. Irritated by the violence of the agitators, alarmed at the
menacing attitude of those who followed them, ready to do their bidding,
and provoked by the apparent apathy of the British government, the
Protestants began to unite in self-defence. The Orange-lodges which had
ceased to exist, were now revived, with the grand lodge in Dublin as the
centre of their operations: while new associations, under the title of
"Brunswick clubs," which included in their lists the most influential
classes, and contributed to break up society for the more extended
indulgence of mutual animosity. These Protestant clubs had an extensive
sway throughout the north, while the Catholic Association held the
dominant sway throughout the south. The Association, however, made
strenuous exertions to extend their sway even in the camp of the enemy.
One Mr. Lawless, an appropriate name for an agitator, was sent thither
as an apostle of agitation. This man traversed the different districts
from parish to parish, assembling the people in crowds in the Catholic
chapels, and addressed them with the usual incentives to steady
animosity against their fellow-countrymen. He entered the towns at
the head of immense multitudes; and though he was in the stronghold
of Protestantism, yet he never allowed himself to be deterred from his
mischievous enterprise by any apprehension of the consequences which
might arise from bringing into contact multitudes already bitterly
incensed against e