POVERTY AND COERCION. We are now in the nineteenth century,
without any relief for the Irish peasantry. The rebellion of
’98, so cruelly crushed, left an abiding sense of terror in the
hearts of the Roman Catholic population. Their condition was one
of almost hopeless prostration. The Union was effected without
the promised relief from their religious disabilities which was
to be one of its essential conditions. The established church
was secured, the rights of property were secured, but there was
no security for the mass of the people. Domestic politics were
almost forgotten in the gigantic struggle with Napoleon, which
exhausted the energies of the empire. Any signs of political
life that showed themselves in Ireland were connected with
Catholic emancipation, and the visit of George IV., in 1820,
held forth promises of relief which excited unbounded joy. The
king loved his Irish subjects, and would never miss an
opportunity of realising the good wishes for their happiness
which he had so often and so ferven