Page:A letter to the Right Hon. Chichester Fortescue, M.P. on the state of Ireland.djvu/48

 measures,' the disaffected classes were irritated, goaded, spurred into insurrection; and when they had rebelled, were tortured, massacred, and shot, till the spirit of disloyalty, if not extirpated, was terrified and subdued.

Hence a state of government, which was described by Lord Redesdale as one law for the rich and another for the poor, and both equally ill administered.

It is worth while indeed to go back a little, in order to borrow the descriptions given by Burke, the Protestant statesman, and Dr. Doyle, the Roman Catholic bishop, of the system of government called Protestant Ascendancy.

Burke writes to his friend Windham, at a time when Lord Fitzwilliam, placing his confidence in Mr. Grattan, was disposed to govern Ireland by his counsels and with his support. Burke protested against the notion that such men as Grattan and Ponsonby were to be distrusted and kept at a distance:—