to a most alarming degree?

The late question concerning military rank did not individually
affect the lowest persons of the Catholic persuasion; but do you
imagine they do not sympathise with the honour and disgrace of their
superiors? Do you think that satisfaction and dissatisfaction do
not travel down from Lord Fingal to the most potato-less Catholic in
Ireland, and that the glory or shame of the sect is not felt by many
more than these conditions personally and corporeally affect? Do
you suppose that the detection of Sir Henry Mildmay, and the
disappointment of Mr. Perceval IN THE MATTER of the Duchy of
Lancaster, did not affect every dabbler in public property? Depend
upon it these things were felt through all the gradations of small
plunderers, down to him who filches a pound of tobacco from the
King's warehouses; while, on the contrary, the acquittal of any
noble and official thief would not fail to diffuse the most heart-
felt satisfaction over the larcenous and burglarious world.
Observe, I do not say because the lower Catholics are affected by
what concerns their superiors, that they are not affected by what
concerns themselves. There is no disguising the horrid truth, THERE
MUST BE SOME RELAXATION WITH RESPECT TO TITHE: this is the cruel
and heart-rending price which must be paid for national
preservation. I feel how little existence will be worth having, if
any alteration, however slight, is made in the property of Irish
rectors; I am conscious how much such changes must affect the daily
and hourly comforts of every Englishman; I shall feel too happy if
they leave Europe untouched, and are not ultimately fatal to the
destinies of America; but I am madly bent upon keeping foreign
enemies out of the British empire, and my limited understanding
presents me with no other means of effecting my object.