still more so when they found that the Association were preparing to return Catholic members all through Ireland. Wellington and Peel, forced by public opinion, gave way, being now convinced that emancipation was necessary to save the country from civil war or revolution. Peel, on account of his change of opinion, resigned his seat for the university of Oxford in order to test the opinion of his constituents; and having been defeated in seeking re-election, he was afterwards elected for Westbury. In 1829 he introduced into the commons a bill for the emancipation of the Catholics. After several days' stormy debate the third reading was carried on the 30th of March.

The debate in the lords was even more violent than in the commons. But Wellington ended the matter by declaring that they should choose either of the two alternatives, Emancipation or civil war. It passed the third reading, and received the royal assent on the 13th of April 1829.

947. After the bill had become law O'Connell presented himself at the bar of the house to claim his seat for the first time since his election; knowing well what was to come. According to the terms of the act it was only those elected after the 13th of April that came under the new oath this was designedly inserted by Peel in order to force O'Connell to seek re-election. The old oath was put into his hand; and looking at it for a few seconds he said: "I see here one assertion as to a matter of fact which I know to be untrue: I see a second as to a matter of opinion which I believe to be untrue. I therefore refuse to take this oath." He then withdrew; but he was afterwards allowed to make a speech of three hours. A new writ was issued for Clare, and he was returned unopposed.

948. By this Emancipation act a new oath was framed which Catholics might take. The act therefore admitted Catholics to the right of being members of parliament in either house. It admitted them also to all civil and military offices, with three exceptions:-those of regent, lord lieutenant, and lord chancellor.

A portion of the act was directed to the suppression of the Catholic Association: but this the association had anticipated by dissolving itself, after it had accomplished its main purpose.

949. The act contained one fatal provision which O'Connell had to agree to; it raised the franchise in Ireland to £10, though in England the qualification remained at the limit of forty shillings: this disfranchised all the fortyshilling freehold voters (869), who constituted the main strength of the Catholic party.

950. The credit of carrying emancipation is due to Daniel O'Connell; but he was very ably assisted by Richard Lalor Sheil.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE TITHE WAR.

951. I will sketch here, in a short chapter, the leading events of the reign of William IV., which are intimately connected with those of the period just concluded.

In 1830 George IV. died and was succeeded by his brother as William IV This brought on a general election; and O'Connell and several other Catholics were returned from Ireland.

952. In the end of 1830 Wellington resigned, and was succeeded as prime minister by earl Grey. The marquess of Anglesea became lord lieutenant for the second time; E. G. Stanley chief secretary; and William Plunket (940) lord chancellor.

953. O'Connell resumed his agitation for repeal, reviving, in this same year, the Catholic Association under the name of the Society of the Friends of Ireland. This was suppressed by proclamation; and he founded the Antiunion Association, which was also suppressed. In the

following year, 1831, for attending a meeting in defiance of the proclamation, he was tried and convicted: but it all went for nothing, for he was never called up for punishment.

954. In 1831 the chief secretary the Right Hon. E. G. Stanley, in a letter to the Duke of Leinster, announced the foundation of the system of National Education in Ireland. Its two fundamental principles were, and are still:-(1) Combined literary and separate religious instruction for children of different religions: (2) No interference with the religious principles of any child. Commissioners were appointed who were intrusted with government funds and in 1832 they began to give aid to schools. From that time to the present the National System has worked with uninterrupted success.

955. In 1832 was passed the great English Reform bill. In the same year another on similar lines for Ireland was introduced by Mr. Stanley and passed. Several small "rotten" or "pocket" boroughs were disfranchised; the representation was more evenly distributed; and the number of Irish members was increased to 105. Tenants of £50 a year and leaseholders of £10 a year were to have votes. O'Connell and Sheil fought hard but vainly to have the franchise restored to the forty-shilling freeholders.

956. The Catholic peasantry were still called on to pay tithes (758), and also the "Church-rate" or Church-cess, a tax to keep the Protestant churches in repair: and they continued to be harassed by the exactions of tithe-proctors (853) and others, who if the money were not forthcoming seized the poor people's cows, furniture, beds, blankets, kettles, or anything else they could lay hands on.

957. At last about 1830 there arose a general movement against tithes the people resisted all through the south of Ireland; and for many years there was a "Tithe war." The military and police were constantly called out to support the collectors in making their seizures: and almost daily there were conflicts, often with loss of life. At Newtownbarry in Wexford, in 1831, thirteen peasants were killed by the yeomanry and police; in 1832 eleven

police and several peasants were killed in a tithe-conflict at Carrickshock near Knocktopher in Kilkenny: and many other such fatal encounters took place.

958. There was determined resistance everywhere; and the cost of collection was far greater than the amount_collected. Hundreds of Protestant clergy got little or nothing and were reduced to poverty. To relieve these temporarily, government advanced a million on loan. Then there was a Coercion act: but still the people resisted. All this time O'Connell, seconded by Sheil, struggled both in and out of parliament for the total abolition of tithes.

959. In 1833 government passed the "Church Temporalities Bill"; which reduced the number of Protestant bishops from eighteen to ten; and of archbishops from four to two. It also abolished Church-rates (956). The money saved by this Act was left with the Church. The Tithe war went on till at last, some years later (in 1838) the tithes-reduced by 25 per cent.-were put on the landlord instead of the tenant. But the tenants had to pay still; for the landlords added the tithes to the rent.

960. On the 20th of June 1837 William IV. died and was succeeded by his niece the Princess Victoria who was then just over eighteen years of age.

PART VI.

THE MODERN PERIOD.

CHAPTER I.

TO THE DEATH OF O'CONNELL.

961. In 1838, the Rev. Theobald Mathew, a young priest belonging to the order of Capuchin Friars, joined a Temperance Society that had been started in Cork, by some Protestant gentlemen, chiefly Quakers. He took the total abstinence pledge, and soon became the leading spirit in the society. From that time forth he devoted himself almost exclusively to the cause of Temperance, going all through Ireland, preaching to immense congre gations, and administering the total abstinence pledge to vast numbers of people of all religious denominations. A wonderful change soon came over the country; for drunkenness with its attendant evils and miseries almost disappeared. The good effects were long felt, and are to some extent felt still. For though the practice of drinking has in a great measure returned, it is not nearly so general as formerly; and drunkenness, which before Father Mathew's time was generally looked upon with a certain degree of indulgence, and by some was considered a thing to boast of, is now universally regarded as discreditable. Through the earnest exertions of individuals and societies all over the country, the cause of Temperance has been lately making great advances, and on all hands it is admitted that the evil of drink is gradually but surely growing less and less as years go by.

962. O'Connell and other Irish leaders had all along hoped to have the Act of Union repealed, that is, to get