conciliated the goodwill of persons of all creeds ; and I know of no parochial clergy in the world whose practice of all the Christian virtues and zealous discharge of their clerical duties, is more universally admitted, and has been productive of more beneficial consequences. Possessed of incomes sufficient and even large, according to the notions entertained in the country, and enjoying the advantage of education, they have lived on terms of equality and kindness with the humblest and least instructed inhabitants of the rural districts. Intimately acquainted with the wants and characters of their neighbours they have been the promoters and dispensers of charity and the effectual guardians of the morals of the people ; and in the general absence of any permanent institutions of civil government, the Catholic Church has presented almost the only semblance of stability and organization, and furnished the only effectual sup-
