security of the Church of Ireland. On the 2nd of April, referring to a clause of the Emancipation Bill, he said: "There is no man more convinced than I am of the absolute necessity of carrying into execution that part of the present measure which has for its object the extinction of monastic orders in this country." He declared that "the Union was proposed principally for the purpose of ensuring Catholic Emancipation, and that there was no remedy for the unhappy state of things then existing in Ireland but Emancipation. The words with which he urged his reluctant colleagues in the House of Lords finally to pass the Bill, though often quoted, must not here be omitted: "I am one of those who have probably passed a longer period of my life engaged in war than most men, and principally in civil war; and, I must say this, that if I could avoid, by any sacrifice whatever, even one month of civil war in the country to which I was attached, I would sacrifice my life in order to do it. … Yet, my lords, this is the resource to which we must have looked— these are the measures which we must have applied, in order to have put an end to this state of things, if we had not made the option of bringing forward the measures, for which, I say, I am responsible. … It is mainly to the Irish Catholics that we all owe our proud pre-eminence in our military career, and that I personally am indebted for the laurels with which you have been pleased to decorate my brow, for the honours which you have so bountifully lavished on me, and for the fair fame (I prize it above all other rewards) which my country, in its generous kindness, has bestowed upon me." He also said: "It is impossible, therefore, that any mischief can occur to the Church of Ireland, without a breach in the union of the two countries. … We propose regulations which will have the effect of destroying the influence of the Catholic priesthood in the election of members of Parliament." [For particulars of the Catholic Emancipation Act (10 Geo. IV. cap. 7), which received the royal assent 13th April 1829, see O'Connell, Daniel, p. 377.] Some further views of Wellington regarding Irish affairs may be given. (4th May 1822.) "If you glance at the history of Ireland during the last ten years, you will find that agitation really means something just short of rebellion." (2nd November 1830.) "We do not now stand on worse ground on the question of the repeal of the Union than we should have done had not the Catholic question been carried. … I gave way because I conceived the interests of the country would be best answered by doing so; I gave way on the ground of policy and expediency, and upon those grounds I am at this moment ready to justify what I did." The Duke's opinion of O'Connell is thus summarily expressed in a letter to the Right Hon. Maurice FitzGerald, of the 21st of May, 1831: "The truth is that O'Connell has become too powerful for a subject! It will be very difficult to bring him to the state in which his existence in Ireland will be consistent with that of the Government—that is to say, if the British government should continue to exist there or anywhere else, which I confess is, in my opinion, very doubtful." On the 30th of May, he wrote to Lord Melville: "I don't in general take a gloomy view of things; but I confess that, knowing all that I do, I cannot see what is to save Church, or property, or colonies, or union with Ireland, or eventually monarchy, if the Reform Bill passes. It will be what Mr. Hume calls 'a bloodless revolution.' There will be, there can be, no resistance. But we shall be destroyed, one after the other, very much in the order that I have mentioned, by due course of law. … Nothing that resistance (I mean in Parliament) can occasion will be worse than what must be the consequence of the Bill.… The ruin will be general. I am, therefore, for resistance in earnest, with as much strength as possible." (27th February 1832.) Tithes were the most sacred kind of property. (28th February) If the system of Irish education were to be abrogated, "I consider that it would be better, perhaps, to have separate schools for the Protestants and Roman Catholics. … I really cannot see the difference between public and private education." (3rd July 1833.) The state of Ireland was a conspiracy against law and government, (10th July.) He objected to the reduction in the number of Irish Bishops. On 28th April 1837 he made a speech principally on the necessity of conciliating the Protestants of Ireland. Upon this ground he objected to the "Irish Corporations Bill." Agrarian disturbance in Ireland was caused by political agitation. (9th May 1843.) The Union should at all costs and under all circumstances be maintained inviolate. Remedial measures were of no avail whilst agitation continued in Ireland. (8th August.) The military were in a state of perfect efficiency "to meet all misfortunes and consequences which may result from the violence of the passions of those men who unfortunately guide the multitude in Ireland." (18th March 1844.) The compact entered into for the mainten-
556
