nother, in which
the Roman Catholics have an equality, and may under certain
circumstances have a majority;[7]--he found the mortmain laws in
existence, and he repealed them; now any man who wishes may endow the
Roman Catholic church to any extent he pleases. Yet these last
concessions have been denounced by priests and bishops as an
additional insult, as an unjustifiable and tyrannical interference
with their rights. And why? Because Sir Robert Peel clogged the
measure with the condition, that any testator so leaving property
should have his will made and registered three months before his
death. Because he wishes to protect the interests of the Roman
Catholic laity, by securing them against the interference of the
clergy when their relatives are at the point of death, he stirs the
bile and rouses the indignation of ravenous and pelf-seeking
ecclesiastics. He brought in a bill to remedy what was said to be the
great defect in the registration laws, and it was not his fault that
it was not carried; he proposed to extend the franchise, and he was
denounced for doing so by the advocates of universal suffrage; he has
promoted the formation of railways; he has issued a commission to
enquire into the oppressions said to be perpetrated on their tenantry
by the Irish landlords; and he has subjected Irish absentees to the
payment of the property tax.

Whig promises "in favour of Ireland" were used by Mr O'Connell as
arguments to procure the abatement of the Repeal agitation; although
no man knew better than he did, that if his "base, brutal, and bloody"
friends had even the inclination, they had not the power, to carry out
their intentions. Tory promises of a still more conciliatory nature
are used as a stimulus to its extension; although Mr O'Connell
equally well knows that what Sir Robert Peel promises, his influence
with the English people may probably enable him to accomplish. Ay, but
that is just what the sagacious demagogue wishes to prevent. If his
grievances were removed, the pretence for agitation would be
destroyed. If there be real grievances, and if Mr O'Connell wished to
have then redressed, why not attempt to do so? The ministry are
willing to assist him--the public feeling and the opinion of
Parliament are decidedly in his favour; yet what measures have he or
his followers proposed for the adoption of the legislature? The truth
is, nothing annoys him more than the desire manifested by the premier
and the Parlia