devoted heads of the Whigs. With their accustomed fickleness and
treachery of character they prepared to sacrifice, for the sake of
power, the man whom they conciliated and deceived in the same hope of
retaining it. If he foresaw that this would be the result of his
experiment, never was augury more fully realised. Whatever may be the
exact engagements of the Whigs, he was able to allege that not one was
fulfilled, while he was in a position to prove that he more than kept
his own: unless indeed, it could be assumed that for the few places
obtained by his friends, and others, some of them honourable men, he
surrendered the lofty and nearly impregnable position he occupied in
1834, and which, in one sense at least, he never afterwards attained.

From whatever cause, his influence over the Whigs visibly declined, and
his counsels no longer swayed their Irish policy. Once more they relied
on the false expedient of yielding to their enemies and allowing them to
wield the _power_, while they were themselves content with the spoils of
the country. Again the quarrel with Mr. O'Connell became bitter and
personal, and again had he recourse to Repeal.

From the time of the first Repeal Association to that of the Precursor
Society several other associations or societies were established, which
have left behind them scarcely the memory of their very names--that of
the second association alone excepted. Yet each had an ample treasury,
and was composed of the same or nearly the same elements, and the same
members. There is many an honest man and many a fool, whose boast it is
that they contributed a pound to each of them, and had their respective
cards.

At last the late Repeal Association was formed. Its birth was received
with sneers. Mr. O'Connell's sincerity was questioned, and his motives