the privileges (if
privileges they were) thus offered by the Confederation. (Hear, hear.)
The safety of the association consisted entirely in keeping strictly
within the letter of the law, and he hoped none of its members would
directly or indirectly sanction or identify themselves with any of the
proceedings of the Confederation."

The Orangemen, as a body, also took active measures. They addressed a
memorial to the lord-lieutenant, protesting their loyalty, and offering
their support.. Their assistance was accepted, arms were distributed
to them, and there is no doubt they would have been bravely used on the
side of the government. A knowledge that the Orangemen were arming in
support of the crown, tended very much to depress the hopes and check
the actions of the seditious. The rifle clubs adopted ball-practice, it
is true, but they confined their shooting to the precincts of the clubs.
When a petty insurrection did break forth, not a shot was fired by the
clubs, after so much preparation on their part, and so much expenditure
of eloquence in boasting of their bravery, and eagerness for the field.

The transportation of John Mitchell did not extinguish the zeal of the
insurgent press. The _United Irishman_ was suppressed, to resume a
new life under the title of the _Felon_, which was as true to its
designation as treason could make it. A paper called the _Irish
Tribune_ vied with the _Felon_ and the _Nation_, in open incentives to
insurrection.

It was the policy of the leaders to wait until the harvest was gathered,
and this was openly proclaimed by them, which enabled the government
more effectually to frustrate their schemes. The editor of the _Felon_
counselled the people, however, to resist if their leaders were
arrested, even if the harvest were not reaped. "After harvest if we may;
before harvest if we must," was the counsel of this authority, and the
general tenour of the advice given by all the chiefs. The government,
upon these indications, took vigorous measures to enable the
lord-lieutenant by extraordinary power to suppress or prevent any
revolt; the _Habeas Corpus_ Act was suspended, and it was left to the
discretion of his lordship to call out the Protestant yeomanry of the
north of Ireland.

The House of Commons having assembled on Saturday, the 22nd of July, for
a sitting at noon, Lord John Russell rose, amidst profound silence, and
proposed a motion of the most important character: a relation of