Note 57 — Chapter XXVII

[When Lord Clarendon went to Ireland in 1847, he was animated by an earnest desire and hope to conciliate the Irish Catholic body. He invited their prelates and their leaders to the Viceregal Lodge, opened his mind to them freely, and expressed with perfect sincerity his liberal intentions towards them. But the experience of a year, and more especially the conduct of the Roman Catholics during the agitation which had prevailed in Ireland, convinced Lord Clarendon that no reliance at all could be placed on the loyalty of the Catholic population or of its chiefs. He arrived most reluctantly at this conclusion, but it never altered his determination to treat the Catholics with perfect courtesy and justice.]