every text in the New Testament that the pontiffs of this poor and humble religion are to be invested with political authority, and to stand upon a level with princes and nobles, and are to have their five, their en, their twenty thousands a-year-that the inferior clergy are in a regular gradation to be maintained at a corresponding cost-that the highest departments in the hierarchy and the priesthood are to be filled up by the sons of peers and boroughmongers, and that the whole business of religion is to be made subservient to the end of legislation, and even of court intrigue—that we should be told all this, and to make the matter worse, and more insulting to common decency and to common sense, that we should be told it by the very men who inform us that we are in damnable error, that we are misbelievers and idolaters, that our clergy are impostors, and that we are either infidels or foolsthat all this should be said by the very men who bid us search the Scriptures, and call themselves the servants and the delegates of a crucified God-this, I do honestly confess, provokes indignation; makes one stamp the foot, and cry out "monstrous!" at every word! The Church of Christ, it is said, should lift up its head in the midst of courts and palaces. When did Christ himself do so? But I am Wrong--He did he stood in a court where he was hailed as king-he was clothed in purple--he held the emblem of empire in his hand, and he had a crown-but it was a diadem of thorns, which was planted in his bleeding temples, and pierced his bursting head--and it is in his name that.........But I have done-I would to heaven that the advocates for reading the Scriptures without note or comment would give a little reflection to all this. I would that they considered whether in the bosom of Protestantism itself, there are not abuses which will afford scope for their zeal, before they set up as knight-errants against Popery, and put us all at variance with each other, by dint of their wild and fanatical speculations. Let them leave the people and their religion alone, and no longer molest us with the absurd jabber and the unintelligible jargon of their fantastical theology; and if they are still determined to persevere in their oratorical vocation, let them, in place of wandering through the country for the diffusion of acrimony and the dissemination of discord, endeavour to instruct the people in the great principles of morality; let them enforce the practical injunc tions, rather than contend about the mysterious tenets of religion; let them inculcate habits of industry, and sobriety, and subordination; let them reconcile the higher and lower classes by habituating the rich to mercy, and the poor to patience and submission; let them bind us together in the bonds of Christian brotherhood and natural affiliation, and never let them forget the "tidings of great joy" with which the coming of Christ was told to shepherds abiding in the mountains, in which, while the glory of God was celebrated, the angelic messengers proclaimed as among the results of the event which they were sent to announce from heaven, the peace, the tranquillity, and the happiness of mankind.

THE FORTY-SHILLING FREEHOLDERS.

SPEECH ON THE FORTY-SHILLING FREEHOLDERS, AT AN AGGREGATE MEETING, HELD ON THE 7TH SEPTEMBER, 1826.

THE principal object in calling this meeting, is to devise measures for the relief of the forty-shilling freeholders, and it is sufficient to state that object, in order to impress you with the importance of the occasion on which we are assembled. I rise at the very opening of the discussion, because I have been instrumental in summoning you together. Nothing excepting a conviction of its paramount necessity, would have induced me to exert myself for the purpose of procuring this meeting when so many of the persons who take an active share in our proceedings are absent from Dublin. But when the work of ruin and of oppression is going on-when the severest process of the law is in full and active operation-when from Waterford, from Louth, from Cavan, and from Westmeath, a call for succour is so earnestly made-when I feel that relief, in order to be effectual, must not only be prompt, but immediate; in one word, when the cries of the forty-shilling freeholders are in my ears, I cannot listen to any cold-hearted disquisitions upon the inexpediency of meeting at this particular season, nor do I require that the sun should be in any particular sign of the zodiac, in order to do an act of common humanity and justice. It is enough for me to know, that the high-minded peasants, who have bidden defiance to the ". "tyrants of their fields," are under the active infliction of calamity, to make me overlook every consideration of time and place-to dismiss all legal quibbles from my mind, and if I may so say, rush through every impediment to their relief. I cannot allow common humanity to be frustrated by a forensic disputation, and obvious justice to be delayed by legal sophistications. I will not take up an act of parliament, in order to determine whether it is safe to be honourable, and whether humanity is made a misdemeanour by the law. I will not ask, whether the application of the rent to the succour of the freeholders may be tortured into a violation of the statute, but I will inquire of my own heart, whether it would not be utterly base and abominable to have excited the forty-shilling freeholders into a revolt against their superiors, and then leave the wretches, whom we have brought into acts of desperate patriotism to the compassion of the landlords and of the winds. These, Sir, are my feelings, and I think that I may add, that there is not a mar in the Catholic body who does not participate in them. There is, in truth, no difference of opinion, respecting the propriety of doing everything in our power for the relief of the freeholders, and the only question relates to the means through which assistance ought to be afforded. I trust that the series of resolutions which will be proposed to-day, and which I have taken very great care in framing, will meet the views of the most adverse to the application of the old Catholic rent. I am very sensible that disunion amongst ourselves is to be avoided, and if once we separate upon a single topic, it is not improbable that our differences night

excite a spirit of acrimony and contention, which would extena to all our discussions, and ultimately render us, as it did before, the scorn of our enemies, and objects of compassion to those who wish us well. An intimation has been sent from Waterford, that the old rent should remain untouched. It is somewhat remarkable that nearly at the same time a demand for £400 should have been made by Waterford, in answering which, the whole of the new rent has been exhausted. Yet, I am the first to acknowledge that the greatest respect ought to be attached to any expression of their wishes, which may come from the citizens of Waterford; and we should endeavour to accommodate ourselves as much as possible to their views. The resolutions have been drawn in that spirit. The first of them recommends, IN CASE OF NECESSITY, (but not otherwise) an application of the old rent. It distinctly limits the application to a contingency. I think, that from these observations, it is scarcely possible that any man should dissent. Let me put this plain question, in order to illustrate the propriety of the measures in contemplation Suppose that the new rent should be inadequate to the effecual succour of the forty-shilling freeholders, and that we should be informed that a certain sum was necessary, in order to rescue them, in any particular district, from their landlords-will any man say that, rather than touch the old rent, we should abandon the freeholders? I am convinced that there is no man here with so bad a heart. If a deputation were to be sent from Monaghan to Dublin, and the delegates of the freeholders were to come forward and declare that a sum of £500 was requisite, and must be immediately advanced, what answer should be given to them? Should we say, that the old rent is inviolable; that it is the ark of our cause, and that no hand should be laid upon it? Should we answer, that the new rent was the only fund out of which an act of justice could be performed, and that the forty-shilling freeholders must wait until the public coffers shall be replenished? But, Sir, this is not mere hypothesis. There are actually in this assembly three priests from Monaghan, and two Presbyterians, who have been deputed to enforce the resolution which I propose. They will tell you, (I leave it to them who have had the ocular proof) how much calamity has been, and is still being inflicted on their county. I shall venture to illustratə my views of our situation by a comparison. What would you think i the governor of a besieged city, in which there was an old and abundant well, were to direct, in a time of great exigency and drought, that the chief fountain should be sealed up, and that until a new well was conplete, none of the soldiers should be allowed to drink? If the soldiers were to come hot from the thickest fire of the enemy, and exhausted by wounds and sufferings, what would you think of the governor who said, Go draw from the new shaft which has been sunk for water?" The soldiers might justly reply, "There is no water in it yet, and while it is sinking we shall die of thirst. Do, pray, good governor, give us a drop from the old fountain; enough only to save us from immediate deathit is all we require." Have I in this illustration presented a very unfair similitude. and are there not some amongst us who give a reply to the Forty-shilling freeholders of a very analogous kind? We tell them to

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resort to the new rent and to wait until it shall be collected. In the interval, their cattle are driven, they are ejected by civil bill, they are expelled from their houses, and they are reduced to starvation-what then is the proposition which I make? Dig the new well, make every effort to render it abundant, deep and full; don't unseal the old fountain as long as there is a drop in the new source. But if the latter is exhausted, or if there be any delay in the rising of the water, then open the old fountain, and give out an adequate supply. But let me abandon the language of parable, and in a case which hardly requires any enforcement, refrain from resorting to these elaborate arguments in order to satisfy your reason, or to awaken a just sense of duty in your minds. There is, however, one objection to the application of the old rent, which as it has (to my surprise I confess) made an impression on some good-meaning persous, deserves to be encountered. It is said that an aggregate meeting has no power to allocate the old rent to any such purpose. When people are anxious to avoid doing any particular thing, they are often a little too astute in devising reasons to justify their conduct. If no part of the old rent can be voted away, in order to assist the forty-shilling freeholders, how has it happened that so much of it has been disposed of upon other occacions, for other and very distinct purposes? How does it happen that when salaries are to be given to public officers-when large sums are to be paid for newspaper advertisements, and other expenses of a similar nature are to be defrayed, no objection is made to the plenitude of power vested in an aggregate meeting. But when an act, which wisdom and honour concur in recommending, is to be performed, the authority of an aggregate meeting is, for the first time, disputed-and we are told that for all other purposes such an assembly is omnipotent, but that the relief of the freeholders is an excepted case. Are not meetings of this description habitually designated as "the assemblies of the Catholics of Ireland ;" and have they not uniformly exercised the powers which that designation would imply? The truth is, that there cannot be any other organ of the national sentiment employed but an assembly of this nature, and it would be wholly impossible to carry on the public business, unless a meeting, which every individual is at liberty to attend, could act on behalf of the whole of Ireland. Do not the petitions of the Catholics emanate from aggregate meetingsand are not resolutions constantly passed at these assemblies, in which the same national authority is assumed? And wha. is to be done? Are the counties to be called together? What, in the mean time, is to become of the forty-shilling freeholders? I shall ask another question, which may be equally well applied to the suggestion that they should be relieved out of the new rent. What is to befal them if a deficiency should take place? Another argument has been urged which is refuted by fact. It is said that the collection of the new rent will be impeded by the application of the old. The answer which I shall give to that suggestion appears to me to be triumphant. The county of Louth has passed a resolution in favour of the application of the old rent, if necessary. But I hold in my hand a series of resolutions, passed on the 6th of this month, at a meeting in which Sir Edward Belew was in the

shair, by which committees have been named for seven parishes, ir order to raise the Catholic rent, and the priests of each parish ar placed at the head of their respective committees You thus perceive the same county calls for the application of the old rent, if necessary, and takes the most active measures in order to raise a new fund. And, observe, the money is only required by way of loan. I also received, this morning, a letter from a most respectable man, and who has a very large fortune in Louth, (Mr. Thomas Fitzgerald, of Fainvally) inclosing Te a considerable subscription of the new rent, but at the same time approving strongly, in the event of necessity, of the allocation of a part of the old furd to the freeholders' relief. The deputies from Monaghan will inform you that a resolution to the effect which I have mentioned,

inspire the people of that county with the strongest confidence, and will give a fresh zeal to their exertions in the collecting of the new fund.auth, the main object of the resolution is to impart a perfect trust to the people, and infuse into them a confidence in the integrity of those who are invested with the management of the national money A further objection has been urged, which, if it were found on fact, would deserve attention. It is grounded on the supposition that the persecution has ceased. This is certainly not the case. It has been stated, that in Monaghan tyranny had relaxed its energies. There cannot be a more eggregious mistake. I am authorised by the deputies from that county to state that oppression is in full activity. The series of miseries detailed to me would move the feelings of a man the least prone to sensibility. In Louth, the amiable and highly spiritualized Lord Koden has exhibited a practical exemplification of the effects of Bible reading upon his heart, and has commenced the work of retribution. It is to be wondered at, that a man whose mind should be " as smooth as the brow of Jesus," to use an expression of Jeremy Taylor, should have shown himself so susceptible to the worst passions by which our miserable nature is afflicted. I repeat it, then, the hand of oppression is yet uplifted in Louth. We must paralyse it before it descends-we must fly to the succour of the people. With respect to Waterford, the bare fact of that county having demanded £400, establishes beyond all question, that persecution is not at an end. I am assured that in Westmeath the rebellious tenantry are suffering the greatest hardships, and we are well aware of the measures of severity adopted in the county of Cavan. That election was remarkable for a disclosure of character in a person who was once notorious for his patriotism, (for he has been hurried by the impetuosity of youth into a dangerous extravagance of political virtue,) but has since given proof that a chivalrous love of country was not the domineering passion of his mind. His great wealth is the result of his own labour, and affords a proof how little intellect is required to take advantage of some fortunate accident, and to become a rich man. When he had acquired great wealth, he was told that liberalism in politics and in religion was a proof of mental superiority, and in order to pass for a philosopher, he continued patriot for some time. At length he purchased an estate in Caval and observed that all persons of the patrician class were addicted to