OUR attention has been called, by the publications referred to at the head of this article, to one of the most important subjects that have lately engaged the notice of the Public of these Islands. The REFORMATION IN IRELAND, as it has been called, and as we think it deserves to be called, is one of the most remarkable events of modern times. There was no part of the world where the religion of Rome had entrenched itself more strongly, than in Ireland. Its position in Italy itself did not appear half so secure. In the latter country, it was exposed to the danger of being crushed by the weight of the Establishment which was reared for its ornament and support, or of perishing of the corruptions and the moral malaria that infest Courts and Cabinets. In Ireland, the case was different. There, the languid and debilitated superstition of Rome acquired a considerable degree of strength and vigour : it wore a countenance of health and an appearance of robustness, derived from the political struggles in which it had been engaged for a scries of centuries.

The small mixture of Protestantism which existed in Ireland, served, not to impede or to check the growth of Popery in that country, but, by pruning the luxuriancy of superstition, and lopping off its rank and unsightly branches, to recommend it more strongly to the favour and affections of the people, and to extend and sustain its power. It is well known to those who have paid any attention to the features of Popery on the Continent and in the Sister Island, that, in the latter, the religion of Rome presents itself with a much more mitigated and decorous aspect. Its softened lineaments and subdued tone, we attribute to the mixture of Protestantism which has prevailed in that country; and, accordingly, we may observe, that, in the north of Ireland, where that mixture is greatest, the Roman religion assumes the least corrupt and least objectionable character, and preserves the most quiet and respectable demeanour.

It supplies matter of very curious speculation, but the fact is incontestable, that the Protestant Church of Ireland has, both in its political and its religious capacity, greatly cherished and promoted the growth of Popery in Ireland. The political persecution under the penal laws, served only to make the people cling more closely to their old forms of worship; as the traveller in the fable wrapped his cloak about him, and held it with a firmer grasp, when the wind puffed hardest, and exerted itself most to blow it away. People are

seldom induced to surrender their opini blows, or by injuries inflicted upon the perty or their privileges, as subjects o state. If the political machinery contr the conversion of the Catholics failed ther, the failure of the religious syst still more remarkable. So absolutely Protestant Establishment in Ireland its security upon the arm of the Sta upon the penal laws, that it neglected any religious effort whatever to defer against the encroachments of the Ch Rome. The decline of Protestantism

land seems to have commenced with th ment of the penal laws in the reign o or perhaps earlier, when William was led to an infraction of the treaty of L As the penal code swelled in the reig first and second George, Popery incre bulk, and Protestantism faded away; length, the flesh dropped from its bone appeared before the world the crowned a tered skeleton that astonishes the pres

In many parts of the South of Irel church-books inform us, that, about th we refer to, there were large Protesta gregations. The list of communicants ter are full and closely written; and th are the same as those of the present tants of the parishes, all of whom are n ous professors of the Romish relig some of the parishes we refer to, the clerk now enjoys the double office of c congregation.

The fatal support, if such it can be which the Protestant Church derived f penal laws, took away competition, an as a premium upon neglect of duty. W the Church to lose by the defection of its gations? Nothing. Was there any thing might gain? We answer, there was mu Church lost nothing of income by the d of its congregations: on the contrary, it income; and, what many churchmer more,-it gained leisure. The clergy no congregations, were able to attend own pursuits,-to the labours of the the refinements of literature, to the enjo of society, to the duties of the mag sometimes to the military discipline of manry; frequently to the construction perintendence of the roads; as well as sports, and to all the pleasing occupa the rich and idle.

This was no small gain to mere me world; but this was not all. It is well in Ireland, that the tithe is to be had in amount, and with more ease, from the Catholics, than from the Protestants fewer the Protestants in a parish, the m leisure, and the greater the income. gregation, moreover, will require a cu perhaps, more than one; and where to be done, the curate must be a man capacity, who will require a decent nance. A man kept only for form's sa be had cheap; but a man capable of business is often a dear article.

Protestant congregations sometimes p tithes grudgingly and with much gru They consider that they are entitled to value for what they pay; and where t

satisfied with the value received, they are uctant payers. The clergyman cannot disarge the transaction altogether, as far as rees to his own congregation, of this character quid pro quo; nor can he always proceed to tremities with men between whom and himif the relation of pastor and flock is to be aintained. He must yield frequently, and ke what he can get.

His position is different with respect to his atholic parishioners. He deals with them on the footing of the act of parliament. He as no argument but one, and that is a short e-he refers to the armed police. He colcts his tithe upon the high ground of a goernment tax, which saves a world of trouble, nd permits no diminution or defalcation. If arsh measures are to be proceeded to, the arson will not be placed, the next sabbath, nder the awkward necessity of expounding a aw of forgiveness, and of insisting upon maxms that require as indispensable the abandonment of right, and the relinquishment of proerty, for peace's sake.

In fact, we have known parishes in Ireland referred for having few or no Protestants. And we know that there are now clergymen a that country, who shudder at the thought of he increase of labour, and the diminution of ncome, which must be the effect of any great Extension of the Reformation.

The clergy of the Church of Ireland have been rendered unfit for their duties by the wealth of their livings. Before the ancient Church of Ireland had submitted to the yoke of Rome, the country was divided into very small parishes, so small as to prove the existence of a very high degree of advancement and population. After the Danish and British invasions, the country declined in civilization and population, and it became necessary to enlarge the parishes in order to furnish an adequate maintenance for the clergyman. The Reformation, mismanaged under Elizabeth, having produced a new series of wars, created a further necessity for enlarging the parishes, inasmuch as the country had suffered a still greater degree of impoverishment and depopulation.

For a considerable time after the Peace of Limerick, the Clergy of the Reformed Church had congregations, sometimes small ones, but generally enough to give them occupation. The country was poor, and the clergy were not over rich, and they performed the duties of their offices respectably. As the condition of the country improved, the clergy began to rise into an unsuitable degree of affluence. But, as the dominion of the law was, as yet, bat imperfectly established in Ireland, their incomes were still in a great degree dependent upon personal influence and character. It was necessary that they should be something more

The clergy were in danger of being too rich, and the congregations of becoming too numerous. As far as the former evil was concerned, it was checked by the agistment law. The act of agistment, passed by the Irish Parliament, has been much abused; but there is no doubt that, as far as it went, it was a substantial benefit to the country. It was a remedy for an evil, not well applied, nor directed exactly to the seat of the disease, but still, it was a remedy, and its effects were remedial. The law of agistment relieved grass-lands from the burden of tithe. It has been objected against this measure, that it was a relief to the rich, while it left the burden undiminished on the shoulders of the poor. Between the tithe of grass, and the tithe of corn and potatoes, we imagine that the Church would not elect to take the former; but the complaint was, that they had not all. It seems, indeed, that the title of the Church to the tithe of grass was never clearly settled in Ireland. There is reason to think, that the ancient Church of Ireland did not claim it, and that the agistment law was founded upon a tradition which denied the title to this tithe. The effect, at all events, was beneficial. It checked, in a small degree, the rapidly increasing wealth of the clergy on the one hand, and the more rapid increase of population on the other. The latter effect resulted from the restraint it imposed upon tillage, and the encouragement given to pasture.

But the astonishing improvement which took place in Ireland under Mr. Grattan's constitution of 1782, gave an impulse to tillage and population, which in spite of the law of agistment, doubled and trebled the incomes of the clergy. These were still further increased by the corn-laws, which laid open the trade in grain between the two British Islands. The effect of the latter law was immediate and surprising. It swept away the flocks and herds which had covered the country, and turned the green pastures into corn-fields. As tillage requires many hands, such a change necessarily operated as a premium upon population; and the free export of corn to Great Britain, accelerated very much the progress of population at that period in Ireland.

All these circumstances contributed to raise the condition of the Protestant Clergy,-to transform them from devout and laborious clergymen into a class of country gentlemen, possessing a taste for the elegancies and refinements of society. There was a double process going on,-that upon the land and population, and that upon the clergy; and the effect was, to separate and alienate the population from the Church. But, together with this double process, other changes were in operation. Tillage does not bring wealth into a country, unless the corn grown in it be consumed there also. The increase of tillage in Ireland

They rightly concluded, that no power of the State could long sustain an establishment which ad no basis in the population of the country. They saw that, sooner or later, the people would prevail against the Church, if they were suffered to continue in hostility to it. They were anxious, therefore, to reconcile the people to the Establishment, not because of any concern they felt for their spiritual well-being, but that they might become a bulwark to the temple, of which the class we allude to, like the silversmiths of Ephesus, made great profits. A third class did not regard the Church with much anxiety; and had they not viewed it as a pillar of the State, would have been inclined to think it a nuisance; and some of them were more disposed to look upon it as an unsightly incumbrance to the building, than as a support. This class were concerned for the safety of the State only. They saw that the popery-laws had placed the Roman religion in hostile opposition to the State; and not being able to accomplish the repeal of those laws, they dreaded the extension of that religion which carried in its bosom a deadly enmity to the political arrangements of the country.

All these several parties concurred in the necessity of making an effort to bring over the people, or some portion of them, to support the Establishment; but the first class were by far the most active and efficient in taking measures for the accomplishment of this important object. So much does genuine zeal surpass all secondary motives.

They commenced their proceedings wisely; by devising a double system of education, one for the children of the poor, and one for the aged. Several societies were formed for establishing schools throughout the country, some of which received assistance from the Government. Other societies were instituted, whose main object was to instruct the adult population in the foundations of the Christian faith, by making them acquainted with the Holy Scriptures. As the former societies proceeded by schools, the latter adopted the plan of sending out itinerant Readers, as they were called, because their employment was to travel through the country, visiting the cottages of the poor, and reading the Scriptures to them, in the evenings at the fireside, or, in the summer, under the hedges or at the cottage door.

For a time, this system of instruction went on without much opposition. Care was taken not to rouse the jealousies of the Church of Rome, by abstaining from any attempt at proselyting from her doctrines; and those societies which, in the outset, had made attempts of this nature, soon became convinced of its imprudence, and adopted the principle of a strict neutrality.

Under cover of this neutrality, often denounced as merely illusive, but very generally observed with great good faith, the education of the poor went on prospering and extending rapidly and widely. The London Hibernian Society was one of the first in the field. Its plan combined a very extraordinary degree of

received considerable aid from Government; but its plan of instruction does not appear to have been so good as that of the London Society, and it had to contend with the great disadvantage of being chiefly in the hands of persons who were in odium with the Catholics upon other grounds. The weight of unpopularity which those persons gathered in other fields of conflict and debate, fell heavily upon the system of education with which they were connected. Notwithstanding all these difficulties, the education of the people continued to make way, though its progress was slow and interrupted; and at every step it made, the opposition of the Romish clergy became more and more decided. In contending with this formidable opposition, however, and with the imperfections of its own constitution, the cause had one ally, which, though it could not save it from sustaining many partial defeats, insured it the ultimate victory. The people were on the side of the Educationists. They were eager for instruction, and willing to hear all that could be said on every side, especially where they had reason to be satisfied of the sincerity and good intentions of the party.

The leaning of the people to the Educationists, was an inert force, which the clergy of the Church of Rome have contended against with great vigour, and sometimes with great viofence, but never with complete success. Even where the Education party were defeated, the question had been raised; the debate between the two religions was henceforward to be decided by reason, and not, as heretofore, by authority; and the implicit submission which had been for so many ages the inheritance of the Church of Rome in Ireland, was shaken and almost overthrown.

There is no doubt that, so far as their own influence and authority was concerned, the opposition made by the Roman clergy to the Educationists, was injudicious. These persons came before the people, tendering the gift of education, and the gift of God's word; and when the people submitted to the order that compelled them to refuse both, they did so with some degree of surprise and amazement, and not without hesitation and reluctance. The surprise and reluctance that mingled with their obedience to their Church, laid the foundation of those doubts which have since ripened into "the reformation."

The Education societies had laid down the principle, that a knowledge of the Gospels, in the entire or in part, was indispensable in the education of the poor. It was upon this proposition, that the clergy of the Church of Rome declared war against them. They contended against making Bible-reading an indispensable part, and indeed against its forming any part of the education of the poor; and while they appealed to the numerous Catholic schools in Ireland as proof that they were not hostile to education, they accused the societies of intending more than they professed, and therefore of acting with insincerity. But the fact was, that the societies were not united as to intention.