FEARS FOR THE LOYALTY OF CATHOLICS IN THE ARMY. A.D. 1828.] family connection, local preferences, the fear of worldly injury, the hope of worldly advantage, subordinate to the all-absorbing sense of religious obligation and public dutywhether, I say, it might not be possible that the contagion of that feverish excitement might spread beyond the barriers which, under ordinary circumstances, the habits of military obedience and the strictness of military discipline opposed to all such external influences." The chief governor of Ireland, at that time, was no timid civilian. He was a brave and distinguished soldier -a man of chivalrous honour himself, and therefore not 121 and commanded the force at Clare during the election. He testified, as the result of his observation there, that, even in the constabulary and the army, the sympathies of a common cause, political and religious, could not be altogether repressed, and that implicit reliance could not long be placed on the effect of discipline and the duty of obedience. On the 20th of July lord Anglesea wrote as follows:-"We hear occasionally of the catholic soldiers being ill-disposed, and entirely under the influence of the priests. One regiment of infantry is said to be divided into Orange and catholic factions. It is certain that, on prone to entertain doubts injurious to the honour of the, the 12th of July, the guard at the castle had Orange lilies profession of which he was an ornament. But lord Anglesea was also capable of estimating the force of popular contagious influences on military discipline and fidelity in an extraordinary national crisis; and he was so alarmed at the state of things developed by the Clare election, that he wrote confidentially to Mr. Peel, cautioning him against supposing that Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, from vexation and disappointment, should exaggerate the danger of the crisis, and telling him that he would send major Warburton on a secret mission, known only to his private secretary, to explain to the government in London the state of affairs. Major Warburton, a very intelligent and trustworthy officer, was at the head of the constabulary, 115.-NEW SERIES. about them." On the 26th of July the viceroy wrote another letter, from which the following is an extract :"The priests are using very inflammatory language, and are certainly working upon the catholics of the army. I think it important that the depôts of Irish recruits should be gradually removed, under the appearance of being required to join their regiments, and that whatever regiments are sent here should be those of Scotland, or, at all events, of men not recruited from the south of Ireland. I desired Sir John Byng to convey this opinion to lord Hill." In the meantime, Mr. Peel had, in the previous month, communicated with the duke of Wellington, and inti mated his wish to retire from the cabinet, and from the leadership of the house of commons, in consequence of his being in the minority upon a question which, of all others, most deeply affected the condition and prospects of Ireland, with the government of which he was charged as home secretary. The duke of Wellington's sentiments did not differ from his as to the embarrassment that must arise from divided counsels in the cabinet. The duke also acted upon the earnest advice of Mr. Peel not to take a course which would preclude an early settlement of the question. In the debate on lord Lansdowne's motion, on the 9th of June, that the lords should concur in the resolution passed by the house of commons, the duke and lord chancellor Lyndhurst took part in the debate, and, though they did not concur in the resolution, which was rejected by a majority of 44, the general tenor of their speeches and of those of the bishops led lord Lansdowne to observe, in reply, that he thought the noble lord on the woolsack and the noble duke must have had the intention of conceding the catholic claims, for no one knew better than they did the danger of holding out expectations which could not be realised. The session of 1828 was closed by a speech from the throne on the 28th of July. As only three weeks of the session had to elapse after the Clare election, Mr. O'Connell did not offer to take his seat, preferring to make the most of the "M.P." in the work of agitation till the meeting of parliament in the spring. And, besides, he was probably aware that he would have no opportunity of making a speech. If he appeared, the speaker would desire him to take the oaths required by law; and if he declined, he would treat him as a stranger and intruder, and listen to nothing he had to say. He could not be summoned to the house, and compelled to attend, because he was not returned at a general election; and it was thought better to let him enjoy his senatorial honours unmolested for six months, than to enter, at the close of the session, into an irritating and protracted contest. On the 2nd of July, in a letter to lord Francis Leveson Gower, the viceroy gave his deliberate opinion of the state of Ireland in the following remarkable terms :-" I begin by premising that I hold in abhorrence the association, the agitators, the priests, and their religion; and I believe that not many, but that some, of the bishops, are mild, moderate, and anxious to come to a fair and liberal compromise for the adjustment of the points at issue. I think that these latter have very little, influence with the lower clergy and the population. "Such is the extraordinary power of the association, or, rather, of the agitators, of whom there are many of high ability, of ardent mind, of great daring (and if there was no association, these men are now too well known not to maintain their power under the existing order of exclusion), that I am quite certain they could lead on the people to open rebellion at a moment's notice; and their organisation is such that, in the hands of desperate and intelligent leaders, they would be extremely formidable. The hope, and indeed the probability, of present tranquillity rests upon the forbearance and the not very determined courage of O'Connell, and on his belief, as well as that of the principal men amongst them, that they will carry their if any, cause by unceasing agitation, and by intimidation, without coming to blows. I believe their success inevitable; that no power under heaven can arrest its progress. There may be rebellion-you may put to death thousands—you may suppress it, but it will only be to put off the day of compromise; and, in the meantime, the country is still more impoverished, and the minds of the people are, if possible, still more alienated, and ruinous expense is entailed upon the empire. But supposing that the whole evil was concentred in the association, and that, if that was suppressed, all would go smoothly, where is the man who can tell me how to suppress it? Many cry out that the nuisance must be abated-that the government is supine-that the insolence of the demagogues is intolerable; but I have not yet found one person capable of pointing out a remedy. All are mute when you ask them to define their proposition. All that even the most determined opposers to emancipation say is, that it is better to leave things as they are than to risk any change. But will things remain as they are? Certainly not. They are bad; they must get worse; and I see no possible means of improving them but by depriving the demagogues of the power of directing the people; and by taking Messrs. O'Connell, Sheil, and the rest of them, from the association, and placing them in the house of commons, this desirable object would be at once accomplished. "The present order of things must not, cannot last. There are three modes of proceeding: first, that of trying to go on as we have done; secondly, to adjust the question by concession, and such guards as may be deemed indispensable; thirdly, to put down the association, and to crush the power of the priests. The first I hold to be impossible. The second is practicable and advisable. The third is only possible by supposing that you can reconstruct the house of commons, and to suppose that is to suppose that you can totally alter the feelings of those who send them there. I believe nothing short of the suspension of the habeas corpus act and martial law will effect the third proposition. This would effect it during their operation, and, perhaps, for a short time after they had ceased, and then every evil would return with accumulated weight. But no house of commons would consent to these measures until there is open rebellion, and therefore till that occurs it is useless to think of them. The second mode of proceeding is, then, I conceive, the only practicable one; but the present is not propitious to effect even this. I abhor the idea of truckling to the overbearing catholic demagogues. To make any movement towards conciliation under the present excitement and system of terror would revolt me; but I do most conscientiously, and, after the most earnest consideration of the subject, give it as my conviction that the first moment of tranquillity should be seized to signify the intention of adjusting the question, lest another period of calm should not present itself." Lord Anglesea had expressed himself so strongly in his communications with the government, that he was afraid of being regarded by them as a partisan. He deprecated giving the executive any additional powers, though not without apprehensions of a rebellion, which he believed he had sufficient force to quell, even in the improbable event A.D. 1828.] THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S REFLECTIONS ON THE STATE OF IRELAND 123 of foreign aid, upon which some of the Irish people might, however rashly, rely for success. On the 20th of July he wrote: "It appears not improbable there may be an attempt to introduce arms, and finally insurrection. I am quite sure the disaffected are amply organised for the undertaking. They are partially but ill-armed. Pikes, however, to any amount, and at very short notice, would be easily manufactured, if they are not already made and secreted. Still, I cannot bring myself to believe that the ruling characters are at all inclined to put their cause to the test of arms; and if they do, I cannot imagine how, without foreign aid—of which there appears no fear-they can calculate upon success." The priests had become all silent and reserved, even towards those with whom they had hitherto maintained confidential intercourse. No money would tempt them to make a single disclosure, and there was a general impression among them that some great event was at hand. The law officers of the crown had been consulted as to the expediency of prosecuting some of the agitators for the most violent of their speeches; but their advice was, that it could not be done with any prospect of success, because their most exciting stimulants were accompanied by declarations that they wished only to guard the government against insurrection, which only concession could prevent. Such being the condition of Ireland, the position of the government was in the highest degree perplexing. The house of commons was for emancipation; the lords were opposed to it; the king was opposed to it. The strength of political parties was nicely balanced in parliament, and strong political excite-manently unrepresented in parliament. Was it possible, ment prevailed on both sides of the channel. Sir Robert Peel, in view of this state of affairs, says: "I maturely and anxiously considered every point which required consideration, and I formed a decision as to the obligation of public duty, of which I may say with truth that it was wholly at variance with that which the regard for my own personal interests or private feelings would have dictated." His intention was to relinquish office; but he resolved not to do so without placing on record his opinion that a complete change of policy was necessary, that the catholic question should no longer be an open question, and that the whole condition of Ireland, political and social, should be taken into consideration by the cabinet, precisely in the same manner in which every other question of grave importance was considered, and with the same power to offer advice upon it to the sovereign. He also gave it as his decided opinion that there was less evil and less danger in conceding the catholic claims than in persevering in the policy of resistance. He left London for Brighton soon after the close of the session, having made a previous arrangement with the duke of Wellington that he should send him a memorandum explanatory of his views on the state of Ireland and on the catholic question, and that he should write to the duke fully in reply. On the 9th of August the duke wrote to him as follows:-"I now send you the memorandum which I sent to the king on the state of Ireland, a letter which I sent to him at the same time, his answer, a memorandum upon the Roman catholic question which I have since drawn up, and a letter which I wrote yesterday to the lord chancellor." The result of the duke's deliberations upon the crisis, and the duty of government respecting it, were stated at length in an unpublished manuscript, which he left in his own handwriting, and is probably a copy of the memorandum sent to the king. The substance of this document is given by Mr. Gleig, in his "Life of Wellington." It is not less interesting than the reflections of Mr. Peel. Both show the workings of anxious and honest minds-the minds of great statesmen, influenced solely by a sense of public duty. The following is the substance of the duke's reflections: "The government, if it should determine under existing circumstances to maintain the statutes excluding Roman catholics from power must ask for new laws, the old having quite broken down. They must bring in a bill requiring candidates for seats in parliament to take at the hustings the oaths of supremacy and allegiance; otherwise they could not prevent Roman catholics from contesting every vacant county and borough in the United Kingdom, and from becoming ipso facto members of parliament, should constituencies see fit to elect them. Practically speaking, there might be small risk that either in England or Scotland this result would follow-at least, to any extent. But what was to be expected in Ireland? That every constituency, with the exception, perhaps, of the university and city of Dublin, and of the counties and boroughs of the north, would, whenever the opportunity offered, return Roman catholics; and that the members so returned being prevented from taking their seats, threefourths, at least, of the Irish people must remain per looking to the state of parties in the house of commons, that such a measure, if proposed, could be carried? For many years back the majorities in favour of repeal had gone on increasing, session after session. Even the present parliament, elected as it had been under a strong protestant pressure, had swerved from its faithfulness. The small majority which threw out lord John Russell's bill in 1827 had been converted, in 1828, into a minority; and among those who voted on that occasion with Mr. Peel, many gave him warning that hereafter they should consider themselves free to follow a different course. "But perhaps it might be possible to get a bill passed to disfranchise the Irish forty shilling freeholders—a class of voters who, as they had been created for acknowledged purposes of corruption in the Irish parliament, would have nobody to stand up for them in high places, now that they refused to play their patrons' game. This was quite as improbable an issue as the other. The disfranchisement of forty shilling freeholders had, indeed, been talked of in former years; but, if effected at all, it was to be in connection with a measure of catholic emancipation. To propose it now for the avowed purpose of rendering catholic emancipation impossible would be to insure the rejection of the bill. That plan, therefore, fell at once to the ground; and there remained but two others. "The minister might ask parliament for power to suspend the habeas corpus act, and to place all Ireland under military law. To ask for less would be ridiculous; because the act against unlawful assemblies had failed, and, on account of its helplessness, was suffered to expire. Now, would parliament grant such extensive powers to any government merely that the government might be enabled to debar his majesty's Roman catholic subjects a little longer from enjoying equal political privileges with protestants? The issue was very doubtful-perhaps it was not doubtful at all. Parliament would never grant such powers. But, assuming that the powers were given, what must follow?-a general insurrection, to be put down after much bloodshed and suffering, and then a return to that state of sullen discontent which would render Ireland ten times more than she had ever been, a millstone round the neck of Great Britain; and by-and-by, when military law ceased, and the same measure of personal liberty was granted to Irishmen which the natives of England and Scotland enjoyed, a renewal of agitation, only in a more hostile spirit, and the necessity of either reverting again and again to measures of coercion, or of yielding at last what, upon every principle of humanity and common sense, ought not to have been thus far withheld. But the minister, if the existing parliament refused to give him the powers which he asked, might dissolve, and go to the country with a strong protestant cry; and this cry might serve his purpose in England and Scotland. Doubtless; but what would occur in Ireland?--the return of Roman catholic members in the proportion of four to one over protestants, and the virtual disfranchisement thereby of four-fifths of the Irish people. Would Ireland submit quietly to any law carried against herself in a house of commons so constituted? Was it not much more probable that a dissolution would only lead to the same results which had been shown to be inevitable in the event of the existing parliament acquiescing in the ministers' views? And was there not, at all events, a chance that the electors, even, of England and Scotland, might refuse to abet a policy so pregnant with danger to themselves and to the commonwealth? But why move at all? Mr. O'Connell had been elected by the priests and rabble of Clare to reprosent them in parliament. Let him retain this empty honour; or, better still, let him be summoned by a call of the house to the bar, and, on his refusal to take the oaths, issue a new writ, and go to a new election. In the first place, Mr. O'Connell could not be forced to attend to a call of the house, such call being obligatory only on members chosen at a general election; and in the next, if he did attend, what then? As soon as the new writ was issued, he would take the field again as a candidate, and again be elected; and so the game would continue to be played, till a dissolution occurred, when all those consequences of which we have elsewhere spoken would inevitably come to pass." the aid of the duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel in opposition-could overcome the repugnance of the sovereign and the resistance of the house of lords. It was their decided conviction that they could not, especially with due regard to the safety of the established church. But being convinced that the time had come when the question ought to be settled, the duke examined the second course that was open to him, and embraced it. It was this: that postponing all other considerations to what he believed to be a great public duty, he should himself, as prime minister, endeavour to settle the question. Sir Robert Peel has been even more severely censured than the duke of Wellington for the part he took on this memorable occasion. He wrote a long letter to the duke, in which he earnestly protested against taking charge of the Emancipation Bill in the house of commons, offering, at the same time, to give it his earnest support. He had also offered to resign, as a means of removing one obstacle to the adjustment which the interests of the country demanded. The letter concluded as follows: “I do not merely volunteer my retirement at whatever may be the most convenient time, I do not merely give you the premise that out of office (be the sacrifices that I foresee, private and public, what they may) I will cordially cooperate with you in the settlement of this question, and cordially support your government; but I add to this my decided and deliberate opinion that it will tend to the satisfactory adjustment of the question if the originating of it in the house of commons and the general superintendence of its progress be committed to other hands than mine." And in his " Memoirs" he remarks: "Twenty years have elapsed since the above letter was written. I read it now with the full testimony of my own heart and conscience to the perfect sincerity of the advice which I then gave, and the declarations which I then made; with the same testimony, also, to the fact that that letter was written with a clear foresight of the penalties to which the course I resolved to take would expose me--the rage of party, the rejection by the university of Oxford, the alienation of private friends, the interruption of family affections. Other penalties, such as the loss of office and of royal favour, I would not condescend to notice if they were not the heaviest in the estimation of vulgar and lowminded men, incapable of appreciating higher motives of public conduct. My judgment may be erroneous. From the deep interest I have in the result (though now only so far as future fame is concerned), it cannot be impartial; yet, surely, I do not err in believing that when the various circumstances on which my decision was taken are calmly and dispassionately considered-the state of political parties the recent discussions in parliament-the result of the Clare election, and the prospects which it opened-the earnest representations and emphatic warnings of the chief governor of Ireland-the evils, rapidly increasing, of divided counsels in the cabinet, and of conflicting deci sions in the two houses of parliament-the necessity for some systematic and vigorous course of policy in respect Two courses were now open to the duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel-to resign, in order that emancipation might be carried by the statesmen who had always been its advocates, and who might therefore carry it without any violation of consistency or of their own political principles. It was for not adopting this course that they were exposed to all the odium which they so long endured. But the question was, whether lord Grey or lord Lans-to downe could have carried catholic emancipation even with "Life of Wellington," pp. 434-436. Ireland-the impossibility, even if it were wise, that that policy should be one of coercion-surely, I do not err in believing that I shall not hereafter be condemned for A.D. 1828.] FORMATION OF BRUNSWICK CLUBS. having heedlessly and precipitously, still less for having dishonestly and treacherously, counselled the attempt to adjust the long litigated question, that had for so many years precluded the cordial co-operation of public men, and had left Ireland the arena for fierce political conflicts, annually renewed, without the means of authoritative interposition on the part of the crown. The following memorandum, which accompanied my letter of the 11th of August, is the commentary upon that which had been sent by the duke and returned by me. The latter has no doubt been preserved by the duke. The general tenor of the suggestions which it contained may be inferred from my remarks upon them." Such was the stern logic of facts, such the imperative requirements of events, which compelled one of the most firm-minded and courageous men of his age, and one of the most decided and strong-willed of conservative statesmen, to succumb to the power of popular agitation. The Clare election was the harsh prelude to catholic emancipation and civil equality. CHAPTER XIV. sions of Rebellion-Mr. O'Connell's Moral Force"-Rationale of 125 northward at the head of 10,000 Roman catholics. In the county of Monaghan, the Orangemen, apprised of their approach, took possession of the town of Ballyhay in large numbers, prepared to encounter the southern invaders of Ulster. As the Orangemen were well armed, and excited to the utmost, a bloody battle would have ensued, had not Lawless beaten a timely retreat. Getting out of his carriage, and mounting a swift horse, he galloped off, amidst the indignant shouts of his followers. The formidable organisation of the Roman catholics led to a counter organisation of the protestants, in the form of Brunswick clubs. This organisation embraced the whole of the protestant peasantry, north and south, the protestant farmers, and many of the gentry. They, too, held their regular meetings, had their exciting oratory, and passed strong resolutions, condemnatory of the inaction of the government, which was charged with neglecting its first and most imperative duty-the protection of society from lawless violence. The Brunswickers, as well as the emancipators, had their "rent," to bear the expenses of the agitation. They alleged that they were obliged to organise in self-defence, and in defence of the constitution. In Disturbed State of Ireland-Military Organisation of the Peasantry-John Ulster, the country was divided into two camps, catholic Lawless at Ballyhay-The Brunswick Clubs-Protestants of Ulster and protestant. Notwithstanding the difference in numPerplexity of the Government-Conduct of Lord Anglesea-Apprehen- bers, the protestants of Ulster were eager to encounter Agitation-The Order of "Liberators"-Exclusive Dealing-Celtic their antagonists in the field, and had not the slightest Organisation-Mr. Dawson, of Derry, counsels "Surrender;" he is doubt of being able to beat them. They had all the proud burnt in Effigy The Brunswickers eager for War-The Penenden confidence of a dominant race, and regarded the military Heath Meeting-Mr. Sheil's Speech-The Catholic Association-The Leinster Declaration-Weakness of the Moderate Party in Ireland pretensions of their antagonists as scornfully as the Turks Banquet to Lord Morpeth on his Visit to Dublin-The Duke of Welling-would regard similar pretensions on the part of the Greeks. ton's Letter to Primate Curtis-Reply of the Viceroy; difference The state of feeling on both sides was such, that an aggresbetween him and the Premier-Complaints of the latter regarding the sion upon the protestants in the south would have called forth 100,000 armed men in the north; and an aggression upon the catholics in Ulster would have produced a similar effect The number of the catholics at Munster. among protestants in favour of emancipation constituted but a small minority. The great mass were against concession. They believed that an insurrection would be the most satisfactory solution of the difficulty. With the aid of the army, they felt that they were able to crush the "papists," as they had been crushed in 1798, and then they hoped they would be quiet, for at least another generation, resuming what they considered their proper position as "sole-leather." They forgot, however, the increase in their numbers, their property, and their intelligence. They forgot the growth of a middle class amongst them; the increased power and influence of the hierarchy, and the formidable band of agitators supplied by the Roman catholic bar, whose members, many of them men of commanding abilities and large practice, were excluded by their creed from the bench; which exclusion filled the minds of the ambitious with a burning sense of wrong, and made it their interest to devise all possible modes of evading the law, while keeping the country on the verge of insurrection. Irish Administration-Lord Anglesea's spirited Defence; his Recall; his parting Advice to the Roman Catholics-Lord Eldon's Account of the King's Distress about Emancipation-The English Bishops hostile to Catholic Emancipation-Sir Robert Peel's Statement of the Difficulties in the Way-The King consents to have Emancipation made a Cabinet Question. THE state of Ireland continued to excite the greatest alarm from the prorogation of parliament to the end of the year. The language of the speakers in the association became more violent, and the harangues of the priests more inflammatory. In the counties of Tipperary and Limerick large bodies of men were accustomed to assemble on Sundays, and to parade in military order, carrying banners. These bands were regularly organised and admirably commanded. The Irish government, from time to time, reported the progress of this formidable organisation. In one place as many as 700" cavalry" would assemble, with thousands of infantry, and go through military evolutions. These were surrounded by thousands of the peasantry. Amongst the persons thus paraded were some of the most abandoned characters in the country, men who had notoriously been concerned in the perpetration of murder, and for the apprehension of whom large rewards had been offered in vain by the government. These demonstrations, as might be expected, excited the greatest alarm among the protestants of the south, as well as the peaceably disposed Roman catholics. One ominous circumstance connected with them was the fact that the dissuasions of the priests against the meetings in military array were disregarded. Mr. Lawless, an active member of the association, marched So successful were they in this endeavour, that the government was in a state of the greatest possible perplexity. Lord Anglesea, the viceroy, and lord Leveson Gower, the chief secretary, were in continual correspondence with the home secretary, as to the propriety of adopting |