communicated with Dr. Curry and Mr. O'Conor; he met with their concurrence; but he carried his views far beyond either--he attempted to embrace the People. He conceived the project of a great representative body, formed on general and permanent principles, and which, far from affecting to limit its representation to the interests of the aristocratic class, or to that of the merchants only, should extend its delegation to every rank of the community. The plan, after having been matured in solitude, was finally submitted to the few gentlemen Mr. Wyse could collect together in Dublin, in March and April, 1760. The first meetings were held in the Elephant tavern, Essex Street. Not more than three or four were found willing to attend them. The walls of Rome were not yet built; a child could leap over the intrenchments. In how few years these three or four persons were destined to increase to hundreds, the hundreds to thousands, the thousands to millions, until they at last took in an entire people! At one of these meetings Mr. Wyse proposed his plan. It was adopted with some slight alterations. The reader will see later how far it formed the principle of the various associations, boards, and committees, which were afterwards successively adopted. It particularly suggested the improved

one of 1793. In the metropolis it was carried into immediate effect. Dr. Curry was elected delegate for one of the parishes, and men every way meriting the confidence of the body by their virtues and their talents were soon chosen for the others. But in the country, Mr. Wyse soon discovered he had calculated much too highly on the energy and intelligence of his countrymen. Secrecy was still requisite even in the metropolis. This, with the general apprehensions then prevalent in the island, from the invasion of Monsieur Thurot, rendered it extremely difficult to bring the project into general play. Mr. Wyse, however, and the few other country gentlemen who were elected for the counties, together with the representatives of Dublin, met at last in committee, and took upon themselves the management of Catholic affairs, in which they had been now so long, and so basely deserted by the rest of the aristocracy.

To Mr. Wyse, and to Dr. Curry in concurrence with him, the Catholics are thus indebted for the establishment of their first association; and "if the obstacles they had to encounter,' says a late writer, whose researches and patriotism are fully commensurate to the hereditary

• O'Conor.-History of the Irish Catholics, vol. i. p. 262.

honours of his name," and the dangers they had to risk, be fairly estimated by the circumstances of the times-the depression of the body-the opposition of the gentry-and the vigilance of their enemies-it will be acknowledged that their abilities, perseverance, and courage, are above all praise; and that their memories should be embalmed in the eternal gratitude of their countrymen."

71

CHAP. III.

Accession of George III.-Address of the Catholics of Ireland-Separate address of the Catholic Aristocracy and Clergy-The Remonstrance of grievances-Dissensions and divisions of the Catholic body-Remonstrants and Antiremonstrants-Lord Trimleston-Lord Taaffe-Failure of the Remonstrance-Despondency of the Catholics-Causes thereof Lord Halifax succeeded by Lord TownsendHopes of the Catholics-Efforts against the Quarterage, &c.- Establishment of a Catholic fund-Inertness of the first Committee or Association-Causes which produced it-Gradual dissolution-Renewal under Lord KenmareFirst concessions to the Catholics-Bill of 1776.

ON the accession of George III. new and brighter prospects opened to the Catholics: the sovereign, who professed himself "the friend of religious toleration, and the guardian of the civil and religious rights of his subjects," gave unquestionably just grounds for hope. The General Committee was indefatigable in its labours. Mr. O'Conor, in pursuance to their vote, drew up an "Address to the King," which was approved of, and signed in almost every part of the country. Not less than six hundred names were annexed; a number which then excited the ut

most astonishment, but which now can be furnished by any one county in Ireland. The addressers, emboldened by success, called it the Address of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. But the lords and clergy, particularly the nobility of Meath and Kildare, still inexorable, refused not merely their approbation but their concurrence. They held a separate meeting at Trim, and passed a separate address. Both were accepted, and both inserted in the Gazette. But other seeds of discord were soon cast amongst them. The history of the cele

* Mr. O'Conor was not a little affected by the conduct of both. "Despair, or pride, or indifference," said he, "or unmeaning motives," (the history of so many other refusals of the kind) "have arrested their hands, and with these we must bear as with the other moral evils of life. Will it be overlooked, that our ecclesiastics to a man have been entirely passive in the prosecution of this measure?" (Letter, Feb. 6th, 1761, to Dr. Curry.) Mr. O'Conor attributes their reluctance to the apprehension of Lord Clanbrasil's bill still hanging over them; but the coyness, evinced at that period and very often since, was a habit, originating rather from a long-continued series of suffering, than the result of any particular measure in the actual contemplation of parliament. For many years afterwards the clergy stood altogether aloof from the people. The late Association was the first to operate a perfect and entire consolidation of action as well as interest amongst all classes of the Catholic community.