ted that the conspiracy was wide-spread and imminent, and he
was ready to take his part with the crown against those mock kings of
Munster of whom they had heard, and against those conspirators who
were working to substitute for the mild sway of her majesty a cruel
and sanguinary despotism. There was now no excuse for further delay in
coping with the Irish traitors, and he for one was prepared to consent
to the suspension of all the forms of the house in order to the speedy
passing of this bill; and if additional powers should be required, he
trusted the government would not hesitate a moment in bringing them
forward. Having referred to the results of revolution on the continent,
the right honourable gentleman concluded by reiterating his conviction
that the throne of this country was firmer than ever fixed in the hearts
and affections of the people."

The Roman Catholic clergy were never favourable to the Young Ireland
party. They desired the repeal of the union, and even the entire
separation of the two countries; but they had no confidence in the
ringleaders of the Confederation, because, in their opinion, some
were sceptics, and some heretics, and all men of a judgment below the
undertaking: of this a considerable body of the clergymen of the Romish
church in Ireland were well competent to judge; they knew the feelings
of the people better than any other class of men did, and in their own
ranks were numbered a great many men of high attainments and superior
intellect. Some of the very old clergymen in the south, who remembered
the great insurrection at the close of the last century, and the
sufferings which the people experienced, spared no efforts of persuasion
and moral influence to prevent a like occurrence, while some of the
younger and more active clergymen literally horsewhipped the people to
their homes who had turned out. But for these efforts of the priests,
there would have been an insurrection of some force; and had the priests
given it active encouragement, a wide-spread and sanguinary rebellion
must have ensued. Lord Glengall declared in his place in the House of
Lords that the country was much indebted to the Roman Catholic priests
for the preservation of the peace. The general discontent of the people,
and their disloyalty to the throne, had been, however, much perverted by
the bigoted spirit and inflammatory harangues of their teachers.

After vain attempts to rouse the people to turn out, Mr. O'Brie