All this was urged on Mr.O'Connell, and sometimes apparently with success, for he more than once consented to forego the discussion of the question in the Hall; and he would have strictly adhered to that engagement had he not been goaded by the intemperate counsels of others.
In the desultory history of this question, two facts have been stated requiring distinct proof.

They are:--First, that Mr.O'Connell was favourable to the principle of mixed education in the commencement.
And, secondly, that the Seceders--those who were afterwards so glibly denounced as infidels for their support of the Godless bill--were as much opposed to that bill as he was.
How Mr.O'Connell expressed himself when the bill was first announced has been already stated.

It is at once conceded that the writer's memory of a conversation, in its nature almost private, were he even above all suspicion, would not be a safe authority.

In this instance there is no need to rely on it--the statement is more than sustained by Mr.
O'Connell's recorded words.

From a number of occasions, equally available, I select one, because of its solemnity and importance.
In a prolonged and most earnest debate in the House of Commons, on motion for going into Committee on the Bill, June 2nd, Mr.O'Connell, after eulogising the Maynooth grant, says:-- "Take one step more, and consider whether this bill may not be made to accord with the feelings of the Catholic ecclesiastics of Ireland.