an War, when England had not enough troops for the
defence of Ireland. The principal Irish nobility and gentry enrolled
themselves, and the force at length increased, till it numbered
50,000 men, under the command of officers of their own choosing. The
Irish patriots now felt their power, and used it with prudence and
energy. They obtained the repeal of many noxious laws--one in
particular was a penal statute passed in the reign of William III.
against the Catholics ordaining forfeiture of inheritance against
those Catholics who had been educated abroad.' At the pleasure of
any informer, it confiscated their estates to the next Protestant
heir; that statute further deprived Papists of the power of
obtaining any legal property by purchase; and, simply for
officiating in the service of his religion, any Catholic priest was
liable to be imprisoned for life. Some of these penalties had fallen
into disuse; but, as Mr. Dunning stated to the English House of
Commons, "many respectable Catholics still lived in fear of them,
and some actually paid contributions to persons who, on the strength
of this act, threatened them with prosecutions." Lord Shelburne
stated in the House of Lords "that even the most odious part of this
statute had been recently acted upon in the case of one Moloury, an
Irish priest, who had been informed against, apprehended, convicted,
and committed to prison, by means of the lowest and most despicable
of mankind, a common informing constable. The Privy Council used
efforts in behalf of the prisoner; but, in consequence of the
written law, the King himself could not give a pardon, and the
prisoner must have died in jail if Lord Shelburne and his colleagues
had not released him at their own risk."'

This law was repealed by the English House of Commons without a
negative, and only one Bishop opposed its repeal in the House of
Lords.

Having won this victory, the Irish patriots continued their
campaign, and now sought to win general emancipation from the
legislative and commercial restrictions of England. It was in 1781
that the first convention of volunteer delegates met, and some
months after Mr. Grattan moved an address to the throne asserting
the legislative independence of Ireland. 'The address passed; the
repeal of a certain act, empowering England to legislate for
Ireland, followed; and the legislative independence of this country
was acknowledged.'

Edgeworth sympathised with the enthusiasm which