Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/486

 482 PONSONBY, Clonmell was damned for ever.” The question was put and negatived without a division; but the judicial character and mental feelings of the noble lord, never recovered the blow. He survived but a few years. We now revert to the period when the French Revolu tion was about to burst forth, to the astonishment and annoyance of a l l Europe. The effect produced b y the discussions that preceded and accompanied that dreadful event, was truly formidable, and excited considerable ferment i n the popular mind, i n Ireland a s well a s i n Eng land. The cry o f parliamentary reform b y the corres ponding societies i n England, was loudly resounded i n the sister country. The Society o f United Irishmen, originated about this time, b y a party o f junior barristers, for purposes declaredly liberal, temperate, and patriotic, s o rapidly increased i n numbers and popularity, a s t o excite some alarm i n the ruling party. Minor societies, a s scions from the original, sprung u p i n every part o f the kingdom, acknowledging that o f the metropolis a s their supreme head. Their professed objects were, the abolition o f a l l animosities o n the score o f religion, and the esta blishment of a brotherhood of affection and attachment between all classes o f Irishmen, for the common good of their country. The two leading measures which they avowed were, Catholic emancipation from a l l the remain ing proscriptions o f the penal laws; and a reform i n the representative House o f Parliament. Though many successive relaxations o f the penal laws had been gradually, but grudgingly, ceded t o the Catholics i n preceding years; still there were many important privi leges withheld. The Catholics considered that their tried loyalty, for above a century, had entitled them t o ex emption from a l l invidious distinctions between them and the rest o f their fellow-subjects, and t o a full admission t o a l l the advantages o f the constitution. But they had failed i n their repeated solicitations t o obtain this ultimate boon. The dissenters o f Ulster, although i n present possession o f the advantages o f their high-church fellow-subjects, still