of being too much at their service, and have now
openly appro- priated it. The Repealers, with the sanction, it is alleged, of Father MATHEW, are to take "the pledge" against drinking spi- rituous liquors—until the Repeal of the Union I Also, the Re- pealers are to take a pledge against tobacco; and, after May 1845, against all exciseable articles. The purposes of this on the part of the incarcerated Arch-Repealer are obvious : by the close alliance with Father MATHEW, he enlists in his favour a prevalent fancy of the day, and that a fancy of the religious type ; he artfully, if not very consistently, associates Repeal of the Union with the prospect of renewed sensual gratifications, just as Mahomet associated with Ns doctrines the company of houris and other delights in Paradise; and, under cover of a virtuous moderation in diet, he begins a law- less attack on the revenue, already damaged by Father MATHEW'S pious successes. The only part of the matter for surprise and re- gret is the Father's consent to prostitute his mission to factious purposes, after he had so well shielded it from such suspicion. If O'CoNNELL gains by tacking his transient interests to more perma- nent interests, by just so much does Father MATHEW lose. Even if the Temperance movement appeared to be making lee-way, which is to be surmised, the mistake and weakness of resorting to such an expedient are not the less. Possibly, however, there may be a little pious fraud in the alliance : by allowing his flock to take ." the pledge" until "the Repeal," the priest may think that he las trapped them into taking it for ever, or, as the saying is, until .the Greek Kalends.
