r people as much as
Darby--"it must proceed. Everything we do is by Lord Cumber's orders,
and strictly according to the law of the land. Every attempt at refusing
to give up peaceable possession, makes you liable to be punished; and
punished, by d--n you shall be."

"Do not swear, my dear friend," interposed M'Slime; "swear not at all;
but let thy yea be yea, and thy nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than
this cometh of evil. My good friends," he added, addressing himself to
the people, "I could not feel justified in losing this opportunity to
throw in a word in season for your sakes. I need scarcely tell you that
Mr. M'Clutchy, whose character for benevolence and humanity is perfectly
well known--and I would allude to his strong sense of religion, and its
practical influence on his conduct, were I not afraid of giving rise
to a feeling of spiritual pride in the heart of any fellow-creature,
however humble;--I need not tell you, I say, that he and I are here as
your true friends. I, a frail and unworthy sinner, avow myself as your
friend; at least, it is the most anxious and sincere wish of my heart
to do good to you; for, I trust I can honestly say, that I love my
Catholic--I mean my Roman Catholic friends, and desire to meet them in
the bonds of Christ. Yes, we are your friends. You know it is true
that God loveth whom he chasteneth, and that it is always good to
pass through the furnace of tribulation. What are we, then, but the
instruments of his chastisement of you, and of bringing you through that
furnace for your own good and for His honor! Be truly grateful, then,
for this instance of His interposition in your favor. It is only a
blessing in disguise; my friends--strongly disguised, I grant you--but
still a blessing. And now, my friends, to prove my own sincerity--my
affection, and, I trust, Christian interest in your welfare, I say unto
you, that if such among you as lack bread will come to me, when this
dispensation in your favor is concluded, I shall give them that which
will truly nourish them."

M'Clutohy could not stand this, but went down to the little squab
Dasher, who joined him in a loud fit of laughter at M'Slime's little
word in season; so that the poor dismayed people had the bitter
reflection to add to their other convictions, that their misery, their
cares, and their sorrows, were made a mockery of by those who were
actually inflicting them.

"When Darby, on whose face there was a heartless smir