against us: I then say that it would be madness in any
administration, not to throw 70,000 men into Ireland. I should be sorry,
with all the power of steam to convey troops from the continent, and all
the advantages which modern science has recently introduced into the art
of war, to see Ireland with so scanty a garrison in time of war, under
the exclusive laws. But, on the other hand, suppose this bill to be
passed into law by this day month; declare war if you like the next
day; and I assert that you will have no difficulty, within six weeks,
to raise in that country 50,000 able-bodied, and what is better,
willing-hearted, men, who will traverse the continent, or find their
way to any quarter of the globe to which you may choose to direct their
arms. The passing of this bill is worth to the British empire more, far
more, and I do not wish to exaggerate, than 100,000 bayonets."

The measure was strongly opposed by Lord Tenterden, the chief-justice
of England, the Duke of Richmond, and the Earls of Winchilsea, Harewood,
Mansfield, Falmouth, and Ermiskillen. Lord Tenter-den declared against
it, because he knew it to be a violation of the constitution, and
because he believed that it threatened ruin to the Protestant church,
which he valued, not only for the purity of its doctrines, but because,
of all churches that ever existed, it was most favourable to civil
liberty. The other noble lords said that the Protestants had derived
consolation from the declaration of the Duke of Wellington, at the
opening of the session, that the measure would be found to be one which
would satisfy the Protestants, give security to their institutions, and
check the growth of Popery. The measure, however, was the reverse of
what had been promised, and justified the worst apprehensions of those
who loved the constitution. Instead of being calculated to satisfy the
Protestants, the Protestant opinion of the country had already been
unequivocally expressed against it. The expression of that opinion,
had become louder and more general since the details of the measure had
become known; and the rallying sound throughout the country now was,
"Protestant ascendancy." The Protestants of Great Britain were called
on to bend before Irish rebels and seditious demagogues, and that too on
mere conjectural grounds of imagined expediency. It was said, "You are
to examine two dangers, and that the danger of disturbance was greater
than any that could flow fro