enouncing it as they did; and we cannot help looking at it as a moral
miracle, utterly without parallel in the history of man.

Now we are willing to give all possible credit, and praise, and honor to
Father Matthew; but we do not hesitate to say, that even he would have
failed in being, as he is, the great visible exponent of this admirable
principle, unless there had been other kindred principles in the
Irishman's heart, which recognized and clung to it. In other words it is
unquestionable, that had the religious and moral feelings of the Irish
people been neglected, the principle of temperance would never have
taken such deep root in the heart of the nation as it has done. Nay, it
could not; for does not every man of common sense know, that good moral
principles seldom grow in a bad moral soil, until it is cultivated for
their reception. It is, therefore, certainly a proof that the Roman
Catholic priesthood of Ireland had not neglected the religious
principles of the people. It may, I know, and it has been called a
superstitious contagion; but however that may be, so long as we have
such contagions among us, we will readily pardon the superstition. Let
superstition always assume a shape of such beneficence and virtue to
man, and we shall not quarrel with her for retaining the name. Such a
contagion could never be found among any people in whom there did not
exist predisposing qualities, ready to embrace and nurture the good
which came with it.

Our argument, we know, may be met by saying that its chief influence was
exerted on those whose habits of dissipation, immorality, and irreligion
kept, them aloof from the religious instruction of the priest. But to
those who know the Irish heart, it is not necessary to say that many
a man addicted to drink is far from being free from the impressions of
religion, or uninfluenced by many a generous and noble virtue. Neither
does it follow that every such man has been neglected by his priest, or
left unadmonished of the consequences which attended his evil habit.
But how did it happen, according to that argument, that it was this
very class of persons--the habitual, or the frequent, or the occasional
drunkard--that first welcomed the spirit of temperance, and availed
themselves of its blessings? If there had not been the buried seeds of
neglected instruction lying in their hearts, it is very improbable that
they would have welcomed and embraced the principle as they did. On the