nts. But a blow had been given the
Association from which it never recovered. The newspaper press, taken
under three distinct heads, first the blind and heedless echoers of Mr.
O'Connell's doctrines, secondly the Whig organs in Ireland, and thirdly
the papers in the English interest, gave way to unrestrained exultation.
The wisdom, the prudence, the holiness of the "great Liberator," were
extolled as unmatched in the annals of statesmanship. A few whose
self-interest constrained their subserviency, shrugged wisely and said
nothing, while several provincial journals stoutly maintained the
undoubted and enduring supremacy of the great national aim over every
weak expedient.

Whatever hopes may be entertained by Mr. O'Connell, his suggestions met
with no sustainment and no response, save the empty echoes of an
adulating press. Among the great party to whom he appealed, not one
voice was heard to suggest a practical step in the direction intimated.
The project fell, if indeed it were ever seriously entertained, leaving
no memory and no regret. The first place Mr. O'Connell afterwards
appeared in a public capacity, was at the Limerick banquet, given on'
the 20th of November. His speech on that occasion contained scarcely a
reference to Federalism, and both his sentiments and those of the other
speakers, including John, Archbishop of Tuam, as well as the Toasts and
Mottoes, were distinguished for loftiness of tone, unflinching purpose
and highest enthusiasm. But other elements were at work furtively
sapping that purpose and dimming that enthusiasm.

Prominent among these was the spirit of religious dissension already
under discussion, to which it is now time to recur.

At and after the period when the Roman Catholic prelates accepted the
functions of administering a law insulting and obnoxious to the
Catholics generally, much angry controversy prevailed. A report was rife
that the Government not alone succeeded in deluding the Irish Bishops,
but had accredited a minister plenipotentiary, whose mission was to
conciliate the Court of Rome to a "Concordat" with England. A rescript
said to be received by the Most Reverend Doctor Crolly, the Primate, was
adduced to prove not alone the existence of the intrigue, but its
partial success. The rescript contained an admonition to restrain the
intemperate violence of political priests, and an advice to confine
themselves more generally to the sacred functions of their holy office.
Th