casion the alteration was not resisted; but when a second bill was sent back with the obnoxious consent added, it was rejected by the Irish parliament. The dispute on this occasion was long and violent; but finally, the greater part of the money was withdrawn from the kingdom by virtue of a king's letter. The public indignation against the government was alarming. Stone, however, persuaded the viceroy to persevere, and charged the opposition with being enemies to the king's government. James, Earl of Kildare, to counteract this insidious insinuation, presented a bold memorial to the king, declaring the loyalty of himself and his associates, and condemning the conduct of Stone and Dorset in no very measured terms. Ultimately, Dorset was removed from the government. He was forced to escape from Dublin under the escort of his guards, and a hired mob which one of his official underlings had collected and supplied with drink.

A. D. 1755.-The Duke of Devonshire being appointed viceroy, took the patriots into favour, and found that, when gratified by place and pension, they were willing to be the most devoted servants of government. The oligarchy had discovered that the existence of a surplus revenue made the crown inconveniently independent, and therefore resolved that there should be no surplus revenue for the future. They made large grants of money ostensibly for public works, but in reality for private jobs-jobs so flagrant that the most corrupt would have felt ashamed, only that such a feeling as shame was unknown to the Irish parliament. The popular voice denounced the former patriots, and they were universally named "the scrambling committee."

In the autumn of 1759, during the administration of the Duke of Bedford, a small French force under the command of Thurot escaped from Dunkirk, and after many misadventures, arrived at Carrickfergus in the beginning of the following year. As the for

tifications were in ruins, the town was taken after an obstinate defence.* But Thurot not receiving any reinforcements, and learning that the people in the neighbouring towns had taken up arms for his destruction, retired. He was overtaken in his retreat by a British squadron, and fell in the engagement.

The loyalty shown by the Catholics on this occasion, and the addresses breathing a devoted attachment to the British government sent from various parts of the kingdom by the leaders of the Catholic body, produced a favourable effect on the minds of the ministers, already disposed to look with favour on this persecuted body, in consequence of an able disclaimer of the obnoxious doctrines imputed to them, which had been previously published. It was seriously contemplated to repeal the most severe of the disqualifying laws, and to unite the legislatures of England and Ireland. The honourable John Ponsonby, the speaker of the House of Commons, was among the first of the Irish statesmen who felt sympathy in the wrongs that had been inflicted on his Catholic countrymen; and ever since that period the members of the Ponsonby family have been among the most active supporters of civil liberty and religious toleration in Ireland.

The news that such measures were in agitation produced the most violent commotions among the lower ranks of Protestants in Dublin. In general it will be found that virulence against those of an opposite creed will be found more fierce in the lower ranks than among the more respectable classes of society; and experience proves that, in Ireland, hatred of popery is more violent the lower we descend in the scale of rank, wealth, or intelligence. The fear of a union was a more justifiable cause of tumult, be

*During the conflict in the streets of Carrickfergus, a French soldier observing a child who had run playfully into the streets amid the fire of the contending parties, grounded his musket, carried the infant to a place of safety, and returning to his comrades resumed the combat,

cause it was manifest that the removal of the parlia ment would greatly injure the trade of the Dublin shopkeepers. The proceedings of the mob were very characteristic of the humour which distinguishes the Irish. They forced their way into the House of Lords, seated an old woman on the throne, and got up a mock debate on the expediency of introducing pipes and tobacco. They forced the members of both houses whom they met to swear that they would never consent to a union, nor give a vote against the interests of Ireland. They compelled the chief-justice of the King's Bench to administer this oath to the attorney-general, and laughed heartily at the circumstance of having the first law officer of the crown duly sworn by one of the king's judges. From these ludicrous scenes they proceeded to more violent acts of outrage; they broke the coaches of some obnoxious individuals, and erected a gibbet for one very obnoxious person, who fortunately escaped from their hands.

The scheme of a union, if at that time seriously meditated, was frustrated by the death of George II., and the changes made in the administration by his grandson and successor George III. In the new reign there were but few penal laws; and with a brief recital of their principal enactments we shall close this long and, to us, painful chapter. In the year 1776 an act was passed permitting magistrates to search the houses of papists for arms, and to examine on oath those suspected of concealment. By the 17th clause, papists refusing to deliver up their arms, or concealing them, or refusing to discover on oath, or neglecting to appear when summoned for that purpose, were made liable on conviction to fine or imprisonment, or to the corporal punishment of pillory, or whipping, at the discretion of the court.

In the year 1782, papists were excluded from the king's inns of court; and the law of William III., excluding them from parliament, was formally

enacted. This latter act attracted little notice at the time, for the Catholics had submitted to William's English act, and were thus practically, though not legally, excluded from the legislature.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Effects of the Penal Laws.

THE grants of extensive forfeitures to several English proprietors was the first great cause of absenteeism, which is usually reckoned one of the chief causes of misery in Ireland. It is certainly absurd to say that evil has not resulted from this system; but it is just as absurd to suppose, that compulsory residence would be a remedy. The inere fact of the landlord living in Ireland or England would make little difference, if the Irish still continued to export their raw produce, and import all manufactured articles; for there would be still the same impediment to the accumulation of capital, and the exercise of collective industry. Absenteeism is a part, and by no means the worst part, of a destructive system of land-letting, which arose from the joint operation of forfeitures and the penal laws. A great portion of Irish lands is held on leases of lives, renewable for ever, or on leases of extraordinary duration. These tenures arose from the uncertainty of property. The persons to whom estates were granted, eagerly embraced any offer made to them by persons residing on or near the lands. Many of them were English proprietors, and never intended to visit Ireland. Others had learned to dread the peasantry, and sought refuge in the towns. Both classes were glad to get a certain

rent, however disproportioned, when they considered the uncertainty of their possessions. In consequence of this, a regular subordination of landlords, sometimes six or seven, existed between_the_proprietor and the actual tiller of the ground. Thus, the non-productive classes were disproportionately increased; for each of them was, wholly or partly, supported by his profit-rent; and as the weight of maintaining all fell upon the producers, they derived no advantage from their labours beyond a sufficiency to protract a miserable existence. The numerous class of what was usually called "poor gentlemen," now fast disappearing, became a greater curse to the country than absenteeism ever has been, or could be, -men whose property ranged from one to five hundred a year, and who chose to live on that sum in idleness, deeming trade, commerce, and honourable industry a degradation. The support of these gentlemen being derived from some lease, or share in a lease, of course fell upon the peasant, and absorbed all the fruits of his industry. The country, therefore, became, and continued wretched; because the labourers had to provide for a greatly disproportioned number of consumers.

Forfeitures placed the greater part, indeed almost the whole, of the lands in the hands of the Protestants; and the penal laws continued them in exclusive possession. Having already described the Cromwellians and their descendants, who constituted the great mass of Irish proprietors, it is needless to show how unfit such men were to be trusted with the destinies of a country. Even if we had not the evidence of an impartial witness, common sense would lead us to conclude, that these men would, in the ordinary transactions of life, exhibit the same unprincipled tyranny and injustice which their representatives had displayed in parliament. Men who, as legislators, had unscrupulously violated a solemn treaty, and enacted persecuting laws sanctioning rob