Documents read in the course of the Duke of Welling- Declaration, &c. of Protestants in favour of a final and Dissolution of the Catholic Association, and of the Society of Civil and Religious Freedom Meeting to prevent Illuminations in Dublin Wellington Testimonial Meeting Majorities and page ccxc cccii ccciv Bill Minorities on the Catholic Relief cccxvii A Tabular Digest of all the Proceedings that have taken place in Parliament on the subject of the General Laws affecting the Roman Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland, from the period of the first Act passed in 1778 to the present time; concluding with a View of the Progress of the Relief Bill through both Houses of the Legislacccxxvii ture Mr. O'Connell's Address to the Electors of the County of Clare cccxxxiv HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION, &c. CHAP. I. Protestant sympathy-Society for the Improvement of Ireland-Coalition of the liberal Protestants Protestant Declaration-Dinner of the friends of civil and religious liberty to Lord Morpeth-Recall of the Marquess of Anglesey-Meeting at the Rotunda-Petition to parliament Address to the King-The King's speech-The dissolution of the Association. WHILST the two contending parties were now closing more nearly upon each other, and the awful crisis which would soon have been beyond all human control seemed every day more visibly approaching, a third party appeared in the country, to whose consolidation (in concurrence with the preceding circumstances) the Catholics were mainly indebted for the success which at last terminated their eventful struggle. But it was by a series of very delicate measures, and gradual arrangements, VOL. II. A that this consolidation was brought about. The liberal Protestant for a long period was affected by the same habitual indifference to existing evils, which had formerly characterised the Catholic himself. The immediate pressure of danger did more than any sense of justice and fellow-feeling they might entertain for the calamities of their countrymen. But the time was fast approaching when Catholic or Protestant were no longer to be left a choice. The liberal Protestant stood in a very peculiar position. Whilst the anti-Catholic party had remained passive, he testified for the struggles of his Catholic countrymen but a feeble and modified interest. The relics of old prejudices; the little inclination actively to interfere in concerns which did not immediately affect himself; the disfavour which usually accompanies voluntary displays of devotion to the popular cause, were very powerful drawbacks upon his zeal and exertions. But there were other motives, arising out of existing circumstances, which had a far more direct and repulsive effect upon his sympathies. The Catholic Association generally, but especially the individuals who were supposed to have the greatest weight and influence in its proceedings, were accused of a very injudicious and inexcusable disregard, both in deed and language, to the feelings and opinions of others. It is quite true, that the provocation to such intemperance was great and frequent; that the excess has been far surpassed, especially in later times, by the excesses of their adversaries; and that much and reasonable apology may be made for such violations of public propriety, by the consideration of the usual habits of all popular assemblies. But these redeeming circumstances did not in the slightest degree palliate or neutralise the impressions which they conveyed to all classes of the Protestant community. The Catholic, separated by the anti-social influence of the penal laws from the Protestant, did not feel in its full force the result of these errors. He habitually and exclusively associated with men who were not only aggrieved in precisely the same manner with himself, but who, generally speaking, with very few exceptions, sought for relief from their grievances precisely by the same means. What other men would have regarded as violence, the Catholic considered as a natural and manly resistance to admitted wrong: he applauded the overflowings of more deep sources of indignation, which he felt equally in his own bosom: he looked with admiration on the man who took the fiercest tone, who barbed |