V 2 6 2 M I N U T E S O F E V I D E N C E T A K E N B E F O R E T H E Rev. E. M'Gaver. from their Members being unseated in 1833 ; they neglected the registry, and then they got almost disheartened. i June 1838. 12720. But since then the clergy have taken it up more energetically .-— Yes, and the laity, both; all took it up, the laity as well as the clergy. 12721. And the result has been that they have been successful since ?— Yes. 12722'. Mr. Hogq.~] Did you state it was general in Longford that the Roman- catholic clergy addressed their flocks on Sundays on the subject of the repre- sentation ?— It is my belief they did do it. 12723. Your belief is it was done, and done frequently?— No, I do not think it was done frequently; it was done perhaps at one election, the election before the last. 12724. And upon that election it was done generally by the Catholic clergy throughout Longford ?— My belief is that the clergy did so, but not from the altar; from some other place they spoke to their flocks. 12725. But at that election they generally, or frequently, addressed their con- gregations from the altar ?— I do not say, from my own knowledge, they addressed them from the altar, but they spoke to them from the altar or elsewhere. 12726. Do you, of your own knowledge, know of any case in the county of Longford where upon any occasion the Roman- catholic clergy addressed their flocks from the altar ?— I do ; I myself addressed them. 12727. Did you yourself address your congregation from the altar on the subject of politics, or the selection of a particular representative ?— I did; to the best of my belief I did. 12728. And in so doing, you believed, I presume, or I ask you, did you believe, that in so doing you discharged your religious duties as the pastor of your flock?— I did. After discharging the religious duties of the day, before or after service, generally after, when I had the congregation assembled, I addressed them on the subject; and I believed then I was doing my duty, and I acted up to it. 12729. Do you believe now, that when so acting you were discharging your moral and religious duty as the pastor of your flock ?— I do. 12730. And you believe that every other clergyman in addressing his flock in like manner from the altar was actuated by the same feeling in discharge of his duty as a Roman- catholic clergyman ?— Yes, if they did it, they were acting according to my notions. 12731. They were acting in discharge of what, in your opinion, was their duty as Roman- catholic clergymen ?— Yes. 12732. You spoke of your interfering when you saw a man was warped; I gather from your answer you meant by the word " warped" every man who was disposed to vote for a Conservative candidate ?— No ; if I did not see or know there were any motives to induce him to vote contrary to his conscience. I had better perhaps, for the sake of the Committee, explain my meaning. We see reasons, when tenants have land perhaps from different landlords, a lease from one party and no lease from another, in the instances where they have no lease of the land, if the landlord be a Conservative, they may be in dread to vote against his wish, and in some cases they have declined voting and declined registering altogether. There are several instances of that in my own parish at present; they did not register, nor did we ask them to register, because it might be exposing them to persecution. 12733. Mr. Milnes- Gaskell^ You said in answer to a question put to you some time ago, that the Protestant clergy were as busy on their side as " the Catholic clergy on yours ?— Yes, as regards their feelings, because they voted against us; but they did not act in the manner we did, for I believe the reason was quite obvious. 12734. Did you ever know or hear of any instance in which a Protestant clergyman addressed his parishioners from the altar or the pulpit ?— I am not aware what they say from their pulpits; I never inquired, nor am I aware that any one told me. 12735. Y° u never heard of any such instance?— No. 12736. If you had you would not have thought it inconsistent with his duty as a clergyman ?— Of course I should not; acting upon my own principles, J should allow the same liberty to him that I took myself. 12737. Then