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lodies, represents the demon of discord as annually appearing in the Boyne, and casting forth the burning arrows which were ignited by his breath; but the scene of the fiery fiend's operations might be well supposed as changed to "Conciliation Hall," and his arrows thence flung over the inflammable isle. However indifferent the loyalists might be to the conflicts between Old Ireland and Young Ireland, the government could not be so, for "O'Connell's tail" was, if no ornament, of some use on the ministerial benches. O'Connell denounced the Whigs, but intrigued to keep them in power, or help them to obtain it. The old Ireland party had votes in parliament, and gave them with more or less fidelity on the side of Lord John's administration; whereas the Young Irelanders had yet to gain the heart, if not the ear of their country, and were not recognised as a power, except so far as they constituted an _imperium in imperio_ within the circle of the Repeal Association. The bolder doctrines of this young party tended also to inspire a spirit of determined and organised revolt, which the government could not observe without concern, and the temper of the people was so embittered by the feuds of their leaders, as to be at least an unfavourable set-off against the probability that these contests would impair the moral influences of those who waged them. As a specimen of the state of feeling between these two parties, the proceedings of the Repeal Association for June 22nd may be adduced. At that time Sir Robert Peel was still in office, if not in power; but every one in Ireland believed that the Whigs would soon resume place, and that O'Connell would pass from the sphere of unqualified opposition to that of qualified support. The Young Irelanders took advantage of these impressions to weaken O'Connell's influence as a leader. This cut him to the heart: he received the tidings in London, and chafed under the vigilant restraint which this opposition in his own parliament placed him as to the policy he might adopt at St. Stephen's. He wrote to the association a letter, which showed his annoyance and apprehension; the following is an extract, the most pertinent to the purpose for which the reference is made:--"It is with the bitterest regret and deepest sorrow that I witness the efforts which are made by some of our juvenile members to create dissension and circulate distractions amongst the repealers. It is manifest that the great major
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