Page:The Irish Parliament; what it was, and what it did.djvu/23

 a "most secret" despatch, dated 19th April, 1784, "under the new Constitution, have more power than before. Greater attention, therefore, and more expensive influence will be required, if we mean to direct its progress in the right way." " A share in the lucrative favours of Government must be set aside for the purpose of gaining attachments in that House, as the invention of mere external allurements will no longer maintain the influence which they may for the moment acquire. It will be absolutely incumbent on me to establish in the House of Lords the strongest and most immediate connection with a certain number of powerful members who may be at all times looked to, and may be depended upon, for the fidelity and firmness with which they will execute their trust."

The spiritual peers were the Bishops of the Protestant Church. In Ireland, down to the middle of the eighteenth century, the Bishops, by reason of the number of absentee noblemen, commanded half the working majority in the House of Lords. They were, however, entirely out of sympathy with the people. The hierarchy of Ireland, save in rare instances, were uniformly devoted to the Government, and "were supported by the lay peers, whom they moved as pawns on the chessboard." They were zealous in the passing