“Clement,” said he, “you amaze me—­that is a most exceedingly clear view of the matter.  Transfer them! no such thing, it would be a most dreadful calamity, unless church property were proportionately increased; but, could not that be done, Clement?  Yes,” said he, exulting at the idea, as one of which he ought to feel proud, “that could and would be done—­besides I relish the multiplication of the bishoprics, under any circumstances, and therefore we will proceed with the Reformation.  At all events, it would be a great blessing to get rid of Popery, which we would do, if we could accomplish this glorious project.”

“I must confess, sir,” replied Mr. Clement gravely, “that I have never been anxious for a mere change of speculative opinions in any man, unless when accompanied by a corresponding improvement in his life and morals.  With respect to the Reformation Society, I beg leave to observe that I think the plan for the present is unseasonable, and only calculated to fill the kingdom with religious dissention and hatred.  The people, sir, are not prepared to have their religion taken by storm; they are too shrewd for that; and I really think we have no just cause to feel anxious for the conversion of those who cannot appreciate the principles upon which they embrace our faith, as must be the case with ninety-nine out of every hundred of them.  I have ever been of opinion that the policy pursued by England towards this country has been the bane of its happiness.  She deprived the Irish Roman Catholics of the means of acquiring education, and then punished them for the crimes which proceeded from their ignorance.  They were a dissatisfied, a tumultuous, and an impracticable, because they were an oppressed, people; and where, by the way, is there a people, worthy to be named such, who will or ought to rest contented under penal and oppressive laws.  But there was a day when they would have been grateful for the relaxation of such laws.  Oppression, however, has its traditions, and so has revenge, and these can descend from father to son, without education.  If Roman Catholic disabilities had been removed at a proper time, they would long since have been forgotten, but they were not, and now they are remembered, and will be remembered.  The prejudices of the Roman Catholics, however, and their enmity towards those who oppressed them, increased with their numbers and their knowledge.  The religion of those who kept them down was Protestant; and think you, sir, that, be the merits of that religion what they may, these are the people to come over in large masses, without esteem for us, reflection, or any knowledge of its principles, and embrace the creed of the very men whom they look upon as their oppressors.  Sir, there is but one way of converting the Irish, and it this:—­Let them find the best arguments for Protestantism in the lives of its ministers, and of all who profess it.  Let the higher Protestant clergy move more among the humbler classes even of