Stirring and high-souled words, indeed! Yet the political student must not be led away even by the most stirring words, or by sentiments the most highsouled! "The affections and confidence of the people!" Aye, of a people. whose minds are not so warped from their earliest childhood, that the affections which they possess in so eminent a degree, and the confiding nature which is theirs to a fault, cannot possibly be counted on by their most faithful and devoted benefactors—the affections and confidence of a people who would bestow them on the Devil himself if exhorted so to do by their spiritual guides!

"Alas for this nation so hopelessly trustful,

So slow to judge what will be from what has been; Whose eyes, though so brilliant, are always so dustful, Whose fields, and whose people, are always so green!"

Whether the Government wished to goad the disaffected into rebellion or not, events were fast tending to this goal. On the throwing out of the Bill for the extension of the Franchise to Roman Catholics, disorders recommenced forthwith. In some counties, every gentleman was obliged to keep a constant military guard in his house as a protection against plunder and assassination.

We reserve for our next paper the incident of the Battle of the Diamond, and the institution of the loyal order of Orangemen.

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AFTER a preliminary skirmish at Tartaraghan in the County Armagh, a regular pitched battle was fought at "The Diamond," on the 21st of September 1795. The Roman Catholics of the neighbourhood, reinforced by contingents from the mountains of Pomeroy and Ballygawley, had attacked the Protestants. The latter raised the country, and beat the aggressive Defenders," inflicting on them a loss of 48 killed and a great number of wounded. The Protestants were so thoroughly exasperated, that the virtue of moderation, for the time being, disappeared from their calendar. The result of this was that the Roman Catholic population of this district thought it prudent to disappear bodily. They passed into Connaught, and established themselves in the Counties of Mayo and Sligo. It is no wonder, considering the manner in which old traditions are kept in Ireland, that the descendants of this migratory body did not relish the recent advent of an expedition from the North to Lough Mask for the relief of Captain Boycott. Knowing how their forefathers had been punished for an act of aggression, the grandsons doubtless expected to receive no gentle treatment for their conduct towards an isolated gentleman.

It was after the battle of the Diamond that the loyal Protestants saw the necessity which had arisen for the formation of permanent defensive associations, and assumed the title of ORANGEMEN. The object for which this order was formed was to support the government against all its enemies-Catholic Agita

tors, French Revolutionists, Catholic Committeemen, and United Irishmen. One of their earliest public declarations that of the Orangemen of Dublin-addressed to the loyal subjects of Ireland, "solemnly declared that, although accused of being an institution founded on principles too shocking to repeat, the idea of injuring anyone on account of his religious opinions never entered their hearts-they regarded every loyal subject as their friend, be his religion what it might; they had no enemy but the enemies of their country." They further declared their "readiness at all times to submit themselves to the orders of those in authority under his Majesty, and that they would cheerfully undertake anything which they should think proper to point out for them, in case either a foreign enemy should dare to invade these coasts, or a domestic foe should presume to raise the standard of rebellion in the land. To these principles they were pledged to the last drop of their blood."

It is impossible to conceive a more manly, healthy, or constitutional system than is indicated in these principles. Although it cannot be denied that the hot-headed imprudence of individuals has at times brought this invaluable order into disrepute, and furnished the enemies of the Constitution with a handle against it, which they have neither been slow or slack in using, it must be remembered that no human institution is so perfect in its organisation as to be able to restrain its adherents from occasional acts of folly. The writer, however, would venture to point out that there never was in the history of Ireland a period when the Orange institution had greater need than it has now for adherence to two precepts from that Book which it holds sacred. "Let your moderation be known unto all men." And "What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch!"

The test of the United Irishmen is given by the im partial historian from whose pages the matter in these papers has been mainly derived, as a voluntary and

solemn declaration to persevere in endeavouring to obtain an equal, full, and adequate representation of all the people in Ireland, with an additional obligation not to inform on, or give evidence, against any member of that or similar societies for any act in pursuance of the spirit of the obligation. But the narrative of Wolfe Tone tells a deeper story. Before he left Ireland for America, he and others, on the Cave Hill which looks down upon Belfast, took a solemn obligation-" which," he adds-"I think I have on my part endeavoured to fulfil-never to desist from our efforts till we have subverted the authority of England, over our country and asserted her independence." These and other personal disclosures made by Wolfe Tone distinctly show the real aims of the United Irishmen at this time; and they were more than suspected by the government. The Viceroy (Lord Camden) had already commenced State prosecutions on an unwontedly extensive scale, and the prisons were soon filled with political offenders. The magistrates in some of the disturbed districts began to act with more energy and severity against the Defenders. The formation of Orange clubs proceeded rapidly. Grattan recommended (kind amiable man as he always was) measures to improve the condition of the people, thinking, as many earnest men have since thought, that remedial legislation was the panacea for the cure of Hibernian sedition; but his supporters were greatly reduced in numbers by the alarm caused by the proceedings of the United Irishmen, and by the insurrectionary spirit so generally prevalent. The AttorneyGeneral brought in a Bill for the maintenance of the public peace. In the course of his speech he told the House that

"The defenders had their committee-men and their captains whom they were bound to obey, and that their object was to overthrow the established order of Government. Seditious emmisaries dispersed themselves among the people, in one place telling the labouring men that their wages would be raised, and

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in another enticing them to acts of insolence and outrage. To repress these disturbances the efforts of the Government had been exerted in 1790-2, and a great number had been brought to justice, and several transported. The disturbances continued, notwithstanding; and in three counties in Connaught this banditti, in open day, attacked the King's forces. In one engagement forty or fifty of them fell. To prevent witnesses appearing against them, they had adopted a system of assassination! The remedies he proposed were-more troops, summary seizing and sending to the Fleet all who at unreasonable hours could not give account of themselves, registration of arms, capital punishment for the administration of treasonable oaths, legalisation of the written testimony of a witness afterwards murdered."

Unfortunately the Orangemen now conducted themselves as if resolved to justify the imputations cast upon them by their enemies. They chafed, probably, at the apparent want of vigour shown by the Government in quelling the lawless spirit which was daily gaining ground. It is seldom that a Government acts with the vigour equal to occasions of this kind. The sense of responsibility for the proper observance of ordinary enactments not made to meet such emergencies, paralyses, to a certain extent, the hand of authority. There are moments when, by a bold straining of the law even beyond its utmost limits, the law may be most effectively vindicated. But very few of those whose business it is to carry out the law care to incur such a responsiblity. Whilst the legal authorities are faltering, other loyal men are feeling scandalised and waxing impatient. A moment comes when these same loyalists are provoked into passing all bounds, and what ensues? Their action is only taken advantage of by the able schemers who are opposed to them, and who, whilst all the while plotting against the law and the Constitution with might and main, do not hesitate, with contemptible hypocrisy, to appeal to the very laws which they would fain overturn in order to gain an advantage over the men who have strained those laws in order that they may be the better maintained. Nay more than this, they make the imprudent action of the loyalists a plea for further ebullitions of their