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take three, or four, or five cases, I would
venture to assert, and I do assert it, to
amount to an impossibility. The for-
feited estates are now constituted the
properties of the Roman Catholics. I
do not know a Roman Catholic who ever
purchased any thing but a portion of a
forfeited estate, forfeited either by the
church or by private individuals;* so
that I can state with confidence to the
committee, that all the estates the Ca-
tholics have purchased since 1778 have
been forfeited estates. Then the Roman
Catholics have a number of leases for
lives renewable for ever; and leases of
lives and valuable terms of years; all
that I know, and I believe the proposi-
tion may be stated universally, are upon
Of course, if
the forfeited estates.
there was a re-assumption the Catholics
would lose those," &c.

As illustrations, Mr. O'Connell gave examples from his own family, in which there were many estates, and only one, of but little value, which had not been forfeited or confiscated. He concluded his argument thus :

"I mention these individual instances to show that the Catholic gentry are all interested in maintaining the present system of property-that the Catholic farmers are all interested in maintaining the present state of property that is derived under the acts of settlement and those patents; and I would venture to assert, that there is nothing that would be so likely to create a civil war in Ireland among the Roman Catholics, as any attempt to alter the acts of settlement, or look for the old heirs or successors to those properties; all the intelligence of the Catholics of the country, all its moral vigour, would certainly take as strong a part as prudence and conscience permitted them, to oppose such an alteration."

Such is the argument of Mr. O'Connell. Roman Catholics have become proprietors of, and tenants upon, forfeited estates, and accordingly have an interest in opposing the repeal of those acts of parliament by which their titles are assured. Much might be said against the truth of this argu

inent.

We will not dispute its correctness. We merely deny that it is applicable. To what does it amount? To this: the Roman Catholic landed proprietors, among whom some leaseholders may be classed, in Ireland, are

interested in maintaining the act of settlement so far as their own possessions are secured by it. A repeal of the act would invalidate the titles of Irish Roman Catholics to perhaps a twentieth of the rental, and would deprive Protestants of the remainder; that is to say, it would place nineteentwentieths of the property of Ireland, wrested from Protestants, at the disposal of the new government, to reward its more daring adherents, and to indemnify such dispossessed Romanists as had proved themselves worthy of consideration by their neutrality, or their secret services while the cause of repeal was in agi

tation.

As to the opinion expressed by Mr. O'Connell, that few Irish claimants could establish a legitimate title, even were it well grounded, it would be of little moment in the general argument. The matter of importance to actual proprietors is the security of their own titles; this lost, it concerns them little whether their lands are to be assigned to an individual or to be scrambled for by a tribe. There is little to comfort them in the thought that successors will not have title-deeds made out in due form. But the Irish are better genealogists than Mr. O'Connell seems to imagine, and they have had valuable auxiliaries in preserving their pedigrees in such a state as to furnish evidence not likely to be contested. Indeed, the interval through which descents are to be traced is not very extensive. Irish pedigrees were kept with much care, through written or traditional testimony, as long as it was customary for the Roman Catholic gentlemen of this country to seek military or civil Adappointments on the Continent. venturers very generally set out "to seek their fortune," furnished with credentials of this description, when no other letters of credit were attainable. To supply the hiatus between such times and the present is not a matter of the difficulty which has been imagined.

Evidence given by a witness of the highest respectability, Colonel Irwine, of Sligo, on the same subject but not to the same effect with that of Mr. O'Connell, affords useful infor

This may well be believed, especially if, as Mr. O'Connell has declared, there were no other than forfeited estates to be purchased,

mation. Mr. O'Connell's testimony ought to be compared with it.

"Has not a great part of the land in Ireland been forfeited at one time or other?—Yes; I conceive it must have been. In my own county there is but a small portion of property in the county that has not been either forfeited or religious land sequestered.

"Therefore, where that is the case you have very little choice in making purchases? Of course; I do not think there are above three properties in the county that have not been forfeited.

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Do you think that those who do make such purchases, or sell such estates, know the persons who originally forfeited those estates ?-I do not know that they exactly do; a gentleman resident in the country might know it, if he took the pains or trouble to inquire. I hear a good deal, being in the habit of riding without a servant, and getting into conversation with the people; and I do know several families who still hold forth claims to properties. It is very recently that a man overtaking me, I got into conversation with him; he told me of a family that I know, who live not far from me, who could advance a claim to some of your noble chairman's property, Lord Palmerston.

Do you know to what family your own estate belonged, before the forfeiture?—Yes; as far as I have taken the trouble to inquire, the immediate place that I reside at belonged to a family of the name of M'Sweeney, and there are some of that family now residing on the next denomination of ground to me-part of the same estate originally. Of another denomination I have recently discovered the claimant, as I conceive. Some years ago, when I let it to a respectable farmer, this man made himself troublesome: he was residing as a cottager, and I had a very great difficulty in getting him out. I had reason, within the last eight or ten years, to examine the title, and I found that the person who forfeited was of the same name with the individual I found such difficulty in evicting; and he has merely gone into the next townland, not my estate, where he now resides.

"Are you of opinion that the Roman Catholics who claim properties which have been forfeited, retain their desire to recover these properties, as a fixed governing principle of conduct?—No;

will not say as a fixed governing principle of conduct; I will not go to that extent; but that if there was such a convulsion as to give them any hopes of

success, I do not hesitate to say, because I believe it, that they would come forward and claim.

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"How do you know that they look to the Protestant property?—I will give a very strong instance of it. gentleman descended from a family that once possessed a great part of one barony in our county, and a large estate in an adjoining county (his ancestor left the country about the time of the treaty of Limerick, and entered into the Austrian service, and settled in those dominions). About 1788 or 1790, he returned, and took possession of his patrimonial property; he was received very cordially by the gentlemen of the county. I know from my own observation, both the Grand Juries of Mayo and Sligo promoted his views and wishes for laying out a new line of road-it was run through his estate. There had been a portion of the family estate left, as I have always understood, to his ancestors, in consequence of a female of the family having been with child at the time of the forfeiture. As soon as the French landed, he raised a corps of 2000 men, joined the French, took possession of a gentleman's house and property adjoining, which he alleged had been the property of his ancestor, adhered to the French, was taken in arms at the battle of Ballinamuck, convicted and executed. That is a matter of public notorietyit was in 1798."†

Colonel Irwine gave various other instances to the same effect; one we cannot abstain from noticing :

"Is there any other instance you can state? There is. The first man who was my private tutor, when I was a boy of ten years old, was a Roman Catholic; my father, at that time, had the accommodation of a house belonging to a nobleman of great rank, and in walking about the groves, that man has often said to me, I ought to be in possession of these walks that we are now amusing ourselves in ;' and within these two years that same individual, (he is now, I understand, dead,) but with one foot then in the grave, told me the same thing; and I suppose it was not to me alone that he told it; he most likely has told it to his son. I only tell the committee what is the feeling.

Such is the testimony of one of the most respectable and respected resident gentlemen of Ireland. It is testimony which, we are persuaded, could be corroborated by witnesses of equal

+ Com. Com. May 19, 1825. Dig. of Ev. vol. i. pp. 421, 422, &c.

rank in every part of the country, if the Irish gentry were generally as observant as Colonel Irwine. The distinction drawn by this valuable witness is very important; descendants of proprietors, who had forfeited, in times of quiet and order, when law is strong and treason is discouraged, will suffer their claims to sleep-but in times of convulsion, will find in them motives for daring exertion-the expectation of success will arouse them.

"Oh, give but a hope-let a vista but gleam."

We have observed that the objection which Roman Catholic proprietors may naturally feel to a repeal of the act of settlement, admits of being removed wherever there exist the means of giving them compensation for the properties of which they become dispossessed. The parliament which sat in Ireland during the brief reign of James II. seems to have adopted this principle of compensation.

By

one law the act of settlement was repealed by another, the properties of three thousand Protestants were confiscated. The repeal of the act of settlement would have possibly damaged friends-the act of attainder inflicted all its severity on enemies, and, at their cost, enabled the legislature or the crown to indemnify adherents for their losses. Dr. Burgh, Roman Catholic bishop of Ossory, has enabled us to anticipate the judgment which his church will pronounce on a repetition of such enactments as these, if "a parliament in College-green" be indulged with an opportunity to renew them. Nearly a hundred years after the passing of the act of attainder—an act, considering all the circumstances, pre-eminently iniquitous and cruelthat Roman Catholic bishop, chosen historiographer of the Dominican order, thus wrote of the parliament which was disgraced by it:

"There were passed in that parliament wholesome decrees, (salubria decreta,) thirty-five in number, of which nine, especially worthy of note, are as follows.

After the enumeration of these more remarkable decrees, which include the act of attainder and a repeal of the act

of settlement, the episcopal censor proceeds

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These, and the twenty-six other decrees, which will be too long to insert, were issued in that assembly of the ration, concerning which, though very just in themselves, whilst Protestants murmured, the orthodox might oppose the following words of the first book of Maccabees, chapter xv. verses 33 and 34, viz. "Neither have we taken the land of another, nor do we seize the property of another, but the inheritance of our fathers, which was unjustly possessed for a time by our enemies-but wE, HAVING AN OPPORTUNITY, CLAIM THE INHERITANCE OF OUR FATHERS."

Here, we confidently affirm, the strength of the repeal cause is disclosed. "We seek an opportunity to claim the inheritance of our fathers." The civil war of which Mr. O'Connell

speaks the war of titles-may follow in the train of repeal; massacre and mutual slaughter may thin the multitudes, maddened by success, and prepare the country for a re-conquestbut at this moment no such results are thought of by the masses impatient of the English yoke. They look to their own aggrandizement-to the country's independence-to the ascendancy of their religion, and to the delivering the "inheritance of their fa

thers" from the Saxon intruder. These are the influences that urge them on-influences that have the likeness of religion, patriotism, and pride of birth-influences that have the promise of wealth, ease, vengeance-it is madness to think that they can be counteracted by any such devices as the tactique of party would suggest concessions extorted from timidity, or hazarded by rashness, will only increase their authority, and apply new stimulants to the masses they are preparing for rebellion.

After having made these observations, it is needless for us to say that the policy of Sir Robert Peel, as compared with that which members or partisans of the late government have recommended, meets our full approval. It remains only that we consider his Fabian tactique in comparison with that which eager Conservatives would advise; or rather, inasmuch as the advisers are not unanimous or very defi

* See "By-ways of Irish History" in our number for December, 1838.

nite in their suggestions, by a reference to the perils and difficulties of our troubled times-difficulties which challenge, from the British minister, wisdom and decision of no ordinary stamp to meet them with success.

And here, when about to expose our views of the policy of the two governing parties-that which rules the repealers, that which guides the minister-we candidly express our hope that our knowledge of Sir Robert Peel's views is more defective and mistaken than that which we have attained of his adversary's. If we have divined the plans of the Conservative leader truly, they are impracticable; because they assume, as essential to their efficiency, an tlement which has no sensible existence in Ireland-a Roman Catholic aristocracy. There is no such thing. Let us not be thought to deny the claims of many a Roman Catholic to birth and breeding, and the sentiments and accomplishinents which bestow on rank and fortune their most attractive graces. We admit these claims as freely as they can be largely madebut blood, and education, and fortune, are not sufficient to create an order. To constitute an aristocracy there must be influence, and we have no hesitation to affirm that the Roman Catholic gentry, whatever their individual merits, are without influence in Ireland. Since the first dawn of enterprise among the Roman Catholics, the influence and authority of their aristocracy has been declining. There are elements in their body, out of which it is possible to shape an aristocracy, or perhaps it would be more just to say, that there is an inert organ of aristocracy which a very wise government could call into life, but no government can do so, which is not first persuaded that that organ has not life in it now.

The Roman Catholic body in Ireland consists of two orders or classes, a priesthood and a people-a priest hood and a people, it is now avowed, bent upon the accomplishment of a purpose which threatens, as all parties in the legislature acknowledge, utter ruin to the British empire. The measures hitherto adopted or devised by the Conservative ministry, in relation to this estranged or disaffected body, were measures calculated to increase their power or influence-the general policy of the government was shaped

in a spirit of confidence and kindliness towards them, and of severity or repulsion towards those whom they were taught to reckon among the adversaries of their party. This policy was not altogether without its effect. It afforded some gratification to individuals in the Roman Catholic body to see objects of their enmity slighted, if not mortified by the government, and they perhaps were influenced to observe a seeming neutrality, while they waited a fuller development of the minister's purposes and plans. The great body, however, was altogether unmoved, or moved only by a feeling of triumph at seeing disunion weakening the Conservative party, and, in one instance at least, moved by a feeling of generous sympathy, and by a sense not the less just or powerful, because instinctive and involuntary, of unfitness in a policy somewhat colder than had been looked or even wished for.

The explanation of this phenomenon is obvious. Concessions of political power, however extensive, are not likely to attach to the state any but those who believe that they have an interest in the public tranquillity and welfare. A prosperous condition in social life will guarantee the safe exercise of political privileges; but to augment the franchises of the poor and discontented is to make them only the more efficient instruments for disaffection, and to render it more plainly the interest of the disaffected to confirm them in discontent. Thus it has fared with the experiments of concesIsion which have been tried of late years. The transfer of political power to the Roman Catholic body in Ireland has aggrandized the party bent upon repeal, and has stripped the friends of British connection in that body of all influence and authority. The constituencies, so far as they may be considered Roman Catholic, are at the orders of their bishops and priests, or perhaps more generally, of the repeal executive; the Roman Catholic gentry who desire to represent such constituencies must speak their sentiments, or, where they cannot submit to such indignity, must be silent. Hence it has come to pass, that concession has not won good words for the British legislature or government from any portion of the Roman Catholics of Ireland.

We were not surprised that in the

outset of his official career, Sir Robert Peel's policy for Ireland should have been cautious almost to timidity. We remembered the circumstances of his failure in 1835, and that the necessity of his abdication was caused by the majority against him in Ireland. We knew how industriously it was spread abroad at the period of his resignation, that but for a display of ultra Protestantism in Ireland, many who were driven to embrace the Melbourne party would have sided with the Conservatives, and by their votes and influence determined many Irish elections; and although we saw little reason to place confidence in such reports, we knew that they were to some extent believed, and were not therefore surprised to see them, in the principle and practice of Lord de Grey's government, acted on. Circumstances, no doubt, were materially altered since the year 1835: Mr. O'Connell could not now impose a ministry on a divided empire; but a good government might still be embarrassed and rendered unpopular by disorder in Ireland. Even insurrection, desperate as such an attempt must seem, might be hazarded. Sir Robert Peel took his measures so warily, that disaffection was left without a single pretext of which bad men could avail themselves to cover a treasonable enterprise.

So far well. The new ministry was to be judged of by its official appointments. Roman Catholics in Ireland could not rise in rebellion against acts of which their Whig or Radical allies in parliament expressed warm approbation. There was accordingly a season of tranquillity. Nor was the tranquillity merely absence of external disorder. Not only had “praedial offences" been discontinued, but even religious controversy became hushed. The principles, practices, and designs of Romanism, viewed in its political character, had been plainly exposed; the country had been, through God's mercy, delivered from the sway of men who had made themselves the allies or the servants of that formidable power; all who desired only the public good acknowledged the desirableness of repose from the stimulants of controversies not absolutely necessary; and thus the policy of Sir Robert Peel coincided with the views and wishes of parties who might otherwise have counteracted or crossed it.

If the Roman Catholic gentry possessed the influence which might render them efficient as an order, the repose which Sir Robert Peel made considerable sacrifices to secure would have been attained. Their interests are the same with those of the country, and they know that rest from agitation and prosperity are connected in the relation of antecedent and consequent. But while the country demands repose as the first of earthly blessings, the party of most influence and authority among our people has an interest in agitation, and a grounded conviction that it could not maintain its sovereign ascendancy through a long continued period of national repose. The Ro

man Catholic priesthood in Ireland exercise their authority amid many and peculiar perils. The influence of the Catholic church, its scriptural character, its pure worship, its faithful teaching, notwithstanding all the opposition of Romanism, is felt and dreaded: the lives of the Catholic clergy recommend a religion which seems amiable in their good works; while the growing intelligence of the Roman Catholic people, and their improving acquaintance with the wonders of nature and art, are daily increasing the numbers over whom superstition is losing its power. Add to all this the altered relations in which Catholic and Roman Catholic clergy are now presented to themthe former, in matters of pecuniary concern, only known by their bounties; the latter imposing very heavy burdens upon them for the maintenance of a system which has lost much of its power over their affections. It is to be remembered too, that the efforts to impart scriptural instruction to them, through the medium of their native language as well as of the Scripture, have never been discontinued. The missionary zeal which the trials and afflictions of ten years of persecution had not quenched, may well have caused anxiety, and even alarm, to the Roman Catholic priesthood.

Events of a startling nature soon came to quicken their natural apprehensions. On one side they saw rising up in many a mind disbelief in their creed; on another, resistance to their pecuniary exactions; and they were not slow to discern that the opposition to their system, or their dominion

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