to each other, and their conduct be subject to the censorial check of all.

VI. Every person elected a member of this society shall, previous to his admission, take the following test; but, in order to diminish risk, it shall be taken in a separate apartment, in the presence of the persons who proposed and seconded him only, after which the new member shall be brought into the body of the society, and there vouched for by the same.

Test." In the awful presence of God, I, A. B. do voluntarily declare, that I will persevere in endeavouring to form a brotherhood of affection among Irishmen of every religious persuasion, and that I will also persevere in my endeavours to obtain an equal, full and adequate representation of all the people of Ireland. I do further declare, that neither hopes, fears, rewards or punishments shall ever induce me, directly or indirectly, to inform on or give evidence against any member or members of this or similar societies, for any act or expression of theirs, done or made, collectively or individually, in or out of this society, in pursuance of the spirit of this obligation.”

VII. No person, though he shall have taken the test, will be considered as an United Irishman until he has contributed to the funds of the institution, or longer than he shall continue to pay such contribution.

VIII. No communication relating to the business of the institution shall be made to any United Irishman on any pretence whatever, except in his own society or committee, or by some member of his own society or committee.

IX. When the society shall amount to the number of twelve members it shall be equally divided by lot, (societies in country places to divide, as may best suit their local situa tion,) that is, the names of all the members shall be put into a hat or box, the secretary or treasurer shall draw out six individually, which six shall be considered the senior society, and the remaining six the junior, who shall apply to the baronial committee, through the delegates of the senior society, for a number. This mode shall be pursued until the whole neighbourhood is organized.

Order of business at meetings.-I. New members read declaration and test, during which subscriptions to be col

lected. II. Reports of committees received.-IV. Candidates ballotted for.-V. Candidates proposed.

Constitution of committees.Baronial committees.— I. When any barony or other district shall contain from four to ten societies, the secretaries of these shall constitute a lower baronial committee; they should not exceed ten, and be numbered in the order of their formation.

II. An upper baronial to consist of ten secretaries from ten lower baronials.

III. Baronial committees shall receive delegates from societies of a contiguous barony, provided said barony did not contain four societies.

County committees.-I. When any county shall contain four or more upper baronial committees, their secretaries shall assemble and choose deputies to form a county com, mittee.

II. County committees shall receive delegates from baro. nial committees of adjacent counties, if said counties do not contain four baronial committees.

Provincial committees.-I. When two or more counties shall have county committees, two persons shall be elected by ballot from each, to form a provincial committee for three months.

II. Delegates from county committees in other provinces will be received, if such provinces do not contain two county eommittees.

National committee.-That when two provincial commit. tees are formed, they shall elect five persons each, by ballot, to form a national committee.

Society's first meetings in November, February, May and August, to be on or before the 5th; baronial committees on or before the 8th; county committees on or before the 25th of the above months.

Baronial, county and provincial committees shall meet at least once in every month, and report to their constituents. Names of committee men should not be known by any person but by those who elect them.

Test for secretaries of societies or committees." In the awful presence of God, I, A. B. do voluntarily declare, that as long as I shall hold the office of secretary to this I will, to the utmost of my abilities, faithfully discharge the

duties thereof. That all papers or documents received by me as secretary, I will in safety keep; I will not give any of them, or any copy or copies of them to any person or per sons, members or others, but by a vote of this and that I will, at the expiration of my secretaryship, deliver up to this all such papers as may be then in my posses

sion."

Recapitulation.-Societies to consist of not less than four, nor more than twelve, complete twelve; under baronials of not less than four secretaries of societies, nor more than ten, complete one hundred and twenty; upper baronials of not less than four baronial secretaries, nor more than ten, complete one thousand two hundred.

But an apparently fortunate change of men and measures, in the administration, nearly extinguished these revolutionary societies in their birth. The Duke of Portland and his friends entered into a coalition with Mr. Pitt's administration, under the idea that the general administration and management of Ireland should be vested in his grace. The superintendance of this country having been vested in the duke, he seems to have been seriously intent on remedying some of the vices in its government. The system of the government, he said, was execrable; so execrable as to threaten not only Ireland with the greatest misfortune, but ultimately the empire. So strong was this opinion on his mind, that he seemed determined on going himself to reform those manifold abuses; if he could not find some one in whom he might have the most uubounded confidence, to undertake the arduous task. Such a person he found in lord Fitzwilliam, his second self, his nearest and dearest friend. This nobleman was far from desirous of undertaking the

herculean office; but he was urgently pressed and persuaded by the duke of Portland. They both had connexions and political friends in Ireland, members of the opposition, whom they wished to consult on the future arrangements, and whose support lord Fitzwiliam conceived of indispensible importance. Mr. Grattan, Mr. William Ponsonby, Mr. Denis Bowes Daly, and other members of that party, were therefore invited to London. They had frequent consultations with the duke of Portland and lord Fitzwilliam, at which Mr. Edmund Burke also occasionally assisted.

These consultations lasted for some months; and when the opposition leaders had determined upon their project, it was communicated to the British cabinet, as containing the terms upon which they were willing to take a share in the Irish government. Mr. Pitt wished, and indeed tried to obtain, that some of those measures should be at least delayed in the execution for a season; but Mr. Grattan and his friends insisted that they should be brought forward the very first session, in order to give eclat to the commencement of their administration. In the propriety of this demand the duke of Portland uniformly concurred, and even Mr. Pitt himself, who had previously kept in the back ground, and avoided personal communication with lord Fitzwilliam's friends, was present at some of the latter interviews, and certainly did not prevent its being believed, that he acquiesced in those demands, with which it was impossible to doubt

his being acquainted. The members of opposition had no great experience of cabinets; they conceived, that they were entering into honourable engagements, in which every thing that was allowed to be understood, was equally binding with whatever was absolutely expressed. They rested satisfied that their stipulations were known and acceded to; they neglected to get them formally signed and ratified, or reduced to the shape of instructions from the British cabinet to the viceroy; they put them unsuspectingly in their pockets, and set off to become ministers in Ireland. Dr. Hussey too, an Irishman and a catholic ecclesiastic, who, it is said, had more than once been entrusted with important missions by English administrations, was sent over by the cabinet, to superintend and frame a plan for the education of the Irish clergy, in coincidence, it was supposed, with the other benefits intended for the members of that religion.

Mr. Grattan and his colleagues were scarcely arrived, when, finding that public expectation, particularly on the catholic question, had been awakened by the negociations in England, and by lord Fitzwilliam's appointment, they determined to begin without delay the system of conciliation, for which, as they conceived, they had received sufficient authority. It was therefore communicated so early as the 15th of December, to some of the most active members of the late catholic committee, that lord Fitzwilliam had full powers to consent to the removal of all remaining disabilities; but that, as opposition to