Page 268 - Demo

268 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
The harsh realities of conditions for Catholic worship in the Ireland of the eighteenth century are well illustrated by a tale told of a prominent Fermanangh family. The story concerns Sir John Caldwell, the local squire, and goes:
“...although a staunch Protestant, Sir John always treated the Roman Catholics with humanity and tenderness; in particular, one stormy day, when it rained very hard,
he discovered a priest, with his congregation, at mass under a hedge; and, instead
of taking that opportunity of blaming them for thus meeting so near his house, (and having the priest hung, as he might have done), he ordered his cows to be driven out
of a neighbouring cow-house, and signified to the priest and people that they might there take shelter from the weather, and there finish their devotions in peace.” Furthermore, it should be recalled also, that for one reason or another, most of the Catholic landlords-Viscount Fitzwilliam, in Dublin; Brown of the Neale, county Mayo; the Earl of Antrim, Martin of Ballinahinch, county Galway; French of Monivea, also in Gal- way; Lord Mountgarrett, Kilkenny; Lord Dunsany, in county Meath, as well as many other prominent Catholics converted to the Established Church, so that by 1778 scarcely 5% of
Irish land was left in Catholic hands.
It wasn’t until the time of the Volunteers, towards the close of the century, that there was a relaxation of the Penal Laws; and in 1793 many of them were repealed. The points of view of all those noble Protestants who had continued to help their persecuted Catholic neighbours and friends was genuinely made by the Protestant Bishop of Killala, Rev. John Law , when, in support of this Bill of 1793, he said:
“I look upon our Catholic brethren as fellow-christians, believers in the same God, and partners in the same redemption. They and I have but one religion-the religion of Christianity. Therefore, as children of the same Father-as travelers on the same road-and sekers of the same salvation, why not love each other as brothers?”
But it was the great agitation of Daniel O’Connell in the beginning of the nineteenth century, which finally and completely repealed the Penal Laws-this was achieved in 1829 by the introduction and passing of the act known as the Catholic Emancipation Act.
While the Seven Years’ War was in progress 1756-1763, the French planned a surprise attack on Britain. For this purpose, in 1759, a fleet was fitted out at the port of Brest under
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