The Committee of the Association alone nearly escaped the influence of the fierce spirit of the times.  There the voice of reason for a while held sway.  The forbearance and respect for conflicting opinions which preserved its dignity were, with the one exception, extended to the proceedings in the Hall, where even the most unscrupulous were checked by a petition which recognised and welcomed the principle of united education, but strongly deprecated the objectionable provisions of the “Godless Bill.”  To this petition was affixed the signature of almost every educated lay Catholic in Dublin.  The number of Catholic barristers alone whose names are found among those signatures amounts to seventy-two.  At the same time, a remonstrance addressed personally to Mr. O’Connell was signed by the leading Catholics of the Association.  Its object was to preclude all discussion on the subject of the disputed principle in Conciliation Hall.  It was signed for the most part by men who theretofore had taken but little part in the dispute.  But against all these precautions passion by degrees prevailed, and when Mr. O’Connell was reminded by Mr. Barry, of Cork, that in reply to the remonstrance he had pledged himself to abstinence from the irritating discussion, his apology was, that he thought the document in question and all proceedings connected with it were strictly private; as if the privacy of a solemn pledge dispensed with its obligation.

An episode in this strife deserves specific notice.  At a meeting of the Association, held on the 26th of May, the question was incidentally introduced.  Mr. Michael George Conway, a man of considerable literary and oratorical powers, but not distinguished for any very rigid piety, introduced the subject, evidently with the view of exciting Mr. O’Connell’s impulsive character against the species of restraint under which his sinister friends were continually hinting he was held.  The speech breathed the most fervent spirit of Catholic piety, seasoned with bitter invectives against what Mr. Conway described as a baffled faction in the Association.  Mr. O’Connell took off his cap, waved it repeatedly over his head, and cheered vociferously.  Few, if any, of the Catholic gentlemen who were opposed to Mr. O’Connell, were present.  Mr. Davis rose, and commenced by saying:  “My Catholic friend, my very Catholic friend.”  The allusion was intelligible to almost every man in the assembly, but the practised and dexterous advocate saw and seized the advantage it presented for exciting the active prejudices of the audience.  He started up and exclaimed, “I hope it is no crime to be a Catholic.”  The whole meeting burst into a tumultuous shout which bespoke a triumph rather than admiration.  Mr. O’Connell did triumph, but not in the sense understood by his applauders.  He apprehended the effect of the honest, frank and manly exposure which, if he were not rudely interrupted, would be made by Mr. Davis, and he was too keen to