than
everything else put together".[85]

The year 1821 marks a turning point in the history of the catholic
question, since the protestant cause, no longer safe in the house of
commons, was felt by its champions to depend on the crown and the house
of lords. But it would be an error to suppose that catholic relief was
ever a popular cry in this country, like retrenchment and reform. On the
contrary, the feelings of the masses in Great Britain were never roused
in regard to it, and, if roused at all, would probably have been
enlisted on the other side. It would be too much to say that the
controversy was merely academical, for it was keen enough to split up
parties and produce dualism in cabinets. But it was never a hustings
question. It filled a much larger space in the minds of statesmen than
in the minds of the people, and even among statesmen it was so far
secondary that it could be treated as an open question in Liverpool's
ministry for a period of fifteen years. No doubt the disturbed state of
Ireland, which ultimately supplied the motive power for carrying the
emancipation act, contributed at an earlier stage to damp the zeal of
its advocates. Whatever the merits of the union, it had failed to pacify
the country, thereby verifying the warning of Cornwallis, that, although
Ireland could not be saved without the union, "you must not take it for
granted that it will be saved by it".

In 1800, the very year of the union, the _habeas corpus_ act had been
suspended and another act passed for the suppression of rebellion.
Though repealed in the following year, these coercive measures were
renewed in 1803, after Emmet's abortive rising, and continued in 1804.
In 1805, when they expired, special commissions were appointed for the
repression of crime in the south and west of Ireland. In 1807 the
_habeas corpus_ act was again suspended and a rigorous insurrection act
passed which continued in force until 1810. In that year a Catholic
Committee was formed, anticipating the more notorious Catholic
Association. An essential part of the scheme was the formation of a
representative assembly in Dublin, to discuss and procure redress for
the wrongs of catholics. This project was put down by the Irish
government, which treated it as a breach of the convention act of 1793.
The next ten years seem to have been somewhat quieter in Ireland, and
the disturbances which followed the peace in Great Britain had no
counterpart in that count