placed, had a natural tendency to produce this effect. And though this unhappy result is, I am persuaded, considerably removed already, yet it is in the power of our government to destroy it altogether. What a change in this respect was effected in the Highlands in the course of twenty years after the rebellion! Education, and that kind treatment which a liberal policy has dictated, have placed the inhabitants among the best friends to order, subordination, and government.* They are now proud to be ranked among the most faithful and efficient supporters of that illustrious house, with which is associated, in the mind of every Briton, those invaluable blessings, for which "our Hampdens and our Sidneys bled." These are the glorious consequences of conciliating measures, of an enlightened education, and of christian instruction. In less than thirty years the same result will take place in Ireland, if the same means be employed for its production; and the mil tions of our fellow subjects in that country will crowd around the standard of British freedom and maintain its honour in opposition to the whole world. This is not mere speculation;

* How greatly is the public indebted to that Christian society by whose benevolent exertions these happy effects have been produced!

for the experiment has already been tried on a small scale, and the effect is such as has now been described. A native Irishman in the county of when he read, for the first time in his life, a New Testament, which a benevolent gentleman put into his hands, exclaimed, "If I believe this, it is impossible for me to "remain a rebel." Behold the means which a beneficent providence has appointed to make good men and good citizens !

It is unnecessary to inform the people of this country, that in Ireland that in Ireland many of the natives have never heard of the Bible, and comparatively few of them have ever seen it. There was, indeed, a translation made of the scriptures into Irish, under the direction of Bedel, bishop of Lismore, about a hundred and forty years ago; but most of the edition then published was distributed in the Highlands, and it has for a long time been out of print.* Ignorance and superstition of the very grossest kind prevail; and these present a barrier to every species of improvement. Truth obliges me to acknowledge, that some of the popish priests of the present day have endeavoured to render permanent this melancholy state of degradation.

* The British and Foreign Bible Society have lately printed an edition of the New Testament of this translation, and is now in circulation. The people receive it with gratitude. See note G.

By this I do not mean merely to say, that they have resisted any casual attempt to make proselytes; for this is only that which consistency seems to require; but they have systematically opposed the instruction of their people in any possible form. Mr. in the parish of

when bibles were put into the hands of his parishioners ordered them, on the pain of excommunication, to commit them to the flames.The standard of morals among people who are placed in such unfavourable circumstances must necessarily be low. Accordingly, the lower order of Roman Catholics, form their judgment in many instances, of the merit or demerit of an action, either from its supposed connection with the prison and the gallows, or from its being deemed venial or deadly by their confessor.

and to such cha

I am far, however, from wishing to insinuate that all the priests are of the description to which I have now referred. Many of them, no doubt, are enlightened men, and are friends of knowledge and improvement; racters, whether papists or protestants, it is consoling to think, that no influence, however powerful, and no authority, however imposing, is able to repress that desire for information, which, in some parts of Ireland, has begun to awaken and animate the inhabitants. In the progress of society there is a period, at which all opposition to its advancement in civilization

and happiness, only tends to accelerate that motion which the impulse of concurring circumstances had originally communicated.

In adverting to the causes which have obstructed the progress of the reformation in Ireland, there is one, which though of less importance, is not unworthy of notice. Ever since the conquest, and especially between the reign of Elizabeth and William, many of the native chieftains had forfeited their estates: their property was distributed among strangers, who had no influence with the people, and whose opinions in religious matters must be totally disregarded. A few of the old families still remained; but most of these were strongly attached to popery. The people were, therefore, wholly resigned to the management of priests. The progress of the reformation in the Highlands, in the first instance, was very much owing to the power and influence of the chieftains. The first of these, in point of importance, the Duke of Argyle, was distinguished for his opposition to the hateful tyranny of the Stuart family. Others, possessed of the same patriarchal authority, imitated the example which this patriotic nobleman set before them, and like him, accustomed their vassals to regard the jurisdiction of the pope as usurped and antichristian. Their power

was in those days unlimited, and their influence, as the father, friend, and protector of their people, gave an importance to their opinions on any subject, which few would presume to controvert. Accordingly, when any chieftain professed himself of the reformed religion, almost the whole of his clan immediately rejected the papal authority. But very different was the case in Ireland: the people there, in many instances, were as sheep without a shepherd; and where there was an old chieftain remaining, his authority was unfortunately all directed to confirm his people in error and superstition.

Nor had the penal statutes, by which politicians intended to diminish popery, any influence in accomplishing this end. Let us only again recal to our recollection, the circumstances in which these laws were framed, the people by whom they were administered, and the inveterate irritation of those whose conversion they were designed to effect, and we shall be fully satisfied of their pernicious rather than their salutary tendency. But as I have assigned a chapter to the distinct consideration of this subject, it were improper to enter upon.it in this place.

Is it now asked what means are most likely to effect the reformation in Ireland? Those very means which ought more than a century

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