System of terrifying alarms. concealed the Machiavelian principle in the back ground. * It was a favourite tactic of Mr Pitt's to create by false false alarms, with a view of engrafting strong measures upon the timidity, which they created. Mr. Fitzgibbon in the first fervor of devotion to his patron outran his commission; and so far exceeded all the bounds of decency, as to retail officially in the House of Commons a most alarming report of the outrages of the Right Boys in 1787, as proceeding from a popish conspiracy. In this Mr. Orde, the secretary, as a man of honour and veracity, found it necessary to contradict his Majesty's Attorney General, in open Parliament, by declaring; that he not only did not believe it to be true, but in several places he knew it not to be true. And when this law officer of the Crown was shamed out of the clause he had introduced into the bill for preventing tumultuous risings, directing the magistrates to demolish the Roman Catholic chapels, in which any combination should have been formed, or an unlawful oath administered, Mr. Orde, with becoming dignity, declared, that he never would have concurred in such a clause. Mr. Grattan observed upon the extraofficial zeal of Mr. Fitzgibbon, that it was remedying disturbance by irreligion, and establishing it by Act of Parliament. * History of Ireland, by the Author, Vol. II. p. 208. In dissension In the year 1788, under the second adminis- Religious stration of the Marquis of Buckingham, whom fomented, Mr. Pitt had specially selected for effecting his in Armagh. views upon Ireland, on the death of the Duke of Rutland, the county of Armagh was the theatre, on which the managers of the ascendancy most prominently exhibited their newly delegated or usurped power. The county of Armagh is the most Protestant county of Ireland. It is in great part, a species of English colony. The primacy having been usually bestowed upon Englishmen, the consequence was, that whatever church lands could be beneficially demised, came to the hands of the English dependants and favourites of the Primates, as they fell in. The tenants moved not as their patrons died; but attached themselves to the soil, in which they had acquired a valuable interest. They had generally risen from menial situations, and retained a species of extraordinary gratitude for the Church, on the soil of which they lived and throve. They, like most religionists in their walks of life, manifested their forced zeal, more by their prominent abhorrence and persecu tion of others, than by the edifying exercise of the tolerant and mild precepts of their own religion. The ancient village feuds and dissensions of the Peep of Day boys and defenders, were renewed under the acrimonious distinction of Protestants and Catholics, for the wicked purposes of more lasting division. The Lord Jor. " The death of Chancellor Lifford in 1789 afmade forded Mr. Pitt an opportunity of rewarding the Chancel- extraordinary zeal and exertions of the Attorney Strength General, Mr. Fitzgibbon, in the management of of the As- the difficult question of the Regency in the precendancy party. ceding year. By appointing him Chancellor, (the, first Irishman, that ever filled that station) he assumed credit for being a friend to Ireland; and at the same time secured the house, of Lords, as far as the influence of Chancellor and Speaker could weigh. He commanded the Speaker's powers over the House of Commons in Mr. Foster, and he se cured in Mr. Beresford the judicious application of all the fiscal douceurs and benefits; of the, virtue and extent of which no other man was so cognizant. Mr. Pitt was naturally crafty, implacable and domineering. The disgust, which the aristocracy had shewn at the first mention of Union, roused his haughty soul into an indignant resolution to subjugate them to it by their own timidity and weakness. His lofty spirit had never brooked the independence, which the Irish forced the British senate to acknowledge in 1782. Unreftrained by sympathy, impregnable to friendship, unawed by advice, spurning his opponents, and confident of the profligacy of his adherents, this daring ftatesman seized the advantage of the disastrous times. In In 1791 the government was more alarmed at the Mr. Pitt's sympathies of the Presbyterians in the North with towards conduct the French revolutionists, than at the dread of the Catholics. Catholic emancipation, although the Presbyterians came cordially forward as the staunch advocates and supporters of that measure. Mr. Pitt's gene 4 ral nostrum was to weaken by dividing. Nothing could so effectually put the nation and Protestant ascendancy at issue, as the unequivocal determination of the representatives in Parliament not even to listen to their complaints. When, therefore, in 1792, the Catholic's petition was presented to the House of Commons by Mr. O'Hara, he 'desired not to be considered as its particular patron. Not a member stood forward to oppose its rejection by the House. The insulting outrage of not receiving their petition exasperated the Catholics, and filled their enemies with proportionate confidence. The animosity of each party was consequently sharpened, to the The triumph of the Protestant ascendancy was Mr. Pitt's of short duration. In the next session that conduct very Parliament was directed to grant almost the whole Protessubftance of the Petition, which but some months tant parties, and before they had been ordered to reject with insult- his view ing contumely. The weakness of the Protestant to Union. ascendancy was thus exposed, by convincing the nation, that they moved not by their own will or energy, energy, but in servile obeisance to foreign authority. It was Mr. Pitt's art to play off and balance the opposite powers against each other, that neither should make head against himself. Ministry and ascendancy became equally alarmed at the rising disposition of the people to enter into a National Union, without regard to religious distinction. Mr. Pitt availed himself of the critical moment, and from that time forward, never ceafed to press upon his creatures, the option of external or internal Union. In the latter the whole Protestant ascendancy would be lost: by the former its consequence and profits would be at least partially preserved. Under this system, each party continued for a time to strengthen itself. The Catholics having obtained more than they expected, though not all they looked to from Government, sought to acquire ftrength and consequence by uniting with the liberal Proteftants of every denomination, in their efforts to obtain the great national objects of every real Irishman's wishes. The Protestant ascendancy irritated at the concessions made by Government to the Catholics, entrenched itself within a formidable line of exclusion, and vowed eternal inveteracy against the Catholics, even to extermination. With the countenance, aid, and support of the monopolizing junto, it arrogated to itself exclusive loyalty, and by effecting to prop |