ving that the
letter was used merely for the party purpose of forestalling the
opposition by an appeal to the Protestant feeling which then seemed
irresistible. The immediate effect of the letter upon the country was
to stimulate afresh the indignation which had been so keenly felt and
warmly expressed. Public addresses were presented to the Queen, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and other notable persons, by the clergy of
the various dioceses, the universities, the corporations of cities,
and voluntary assemblies, pledging those who presented them to the
most loyal support of her majesty and the legislature in resisting the
pretensions of popery. On the 5th of November, the anniversary of the
gunpowder plot, there was a burst of anti-popish feeling all over the
kingdom, such as had not been witnessed since the glorious revolution
of 1688. The pope, Cardinal Wiseman, the new bishops, members of the
conclave at Rome, and various other persons, offensive by their popery,
were burnt in effigy, and "Guys" were carried about through London
and the provincial cities in mockery of their assumed dignity and
pretensions.

These events produced very opposite effects upon the Roman Catholics
themselves. Cardinal Wiseman manifested some alarm, and endeavoured
to appease the popular wrath by directing his emissaries to speak
slightingly of the importance of the matter, and to represent it as
an ecclesiastical arrangement only of any interest to Roman Catholics
themselves. Lord Beaumont, and other members of the Latin church, who
were men of culture and enlightenment, deprecated the whole proceeding
of the court of Rome, and the haughty spirit in which its English agents
proclaimed them. In Ireland the Roman Catholic party were stirred up
to perfect fury, and "Conciliation Hall" echoed with blustering attacks
upon the government, and upon Protestantism. The following extract of
a speech of John O'Connell's depicts the spirit of the Irish sympathies
with Cardinal Wiseman and his English coadjutors:--"If a cry be
raised against the Catholic Church, cannot a cry be raised against
the Protestant Church? In Ireland, at least, we shall do so. Does the
Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster send tax-gatherers and bring the
force of law to bear upon Protestants to compel them to contribute to
the support of his dignity? No; he will be supported by the voluntary
contributions of the Catholics; he will receive no money under false
pretences; he wil