chosen was when the people had assembled at church, and it not being then the custom for the military to carry arms into the sacred building, it was considered by the conspirators that those who would thus go unarmed could not offer much difficulty in the execution of the fearful plot. Had the intended rising taken place, the consequences would have been awful ; but happily, through the vigilance and prudence of Bishop O Donnell he had been appointed Vicar Apostolic in 1794 the conspiracy was defeated. Having been apprised of what was contemplated, he at once informed the General in command of the danger impending, urging him to deal with the soldiers, and undertaking himself to deal with the misguided civilians who had been involved in the guilty project. The necessary steps were taken, the contemplated rising was effectually prevented, and Newfoundland was saved from a scene of horror and bloodshed that would have formed a dark blot on the page of its history. The Protestants regarding Bishop O Donnell as their preserver, under Providence, naturally felt towards that prelate an intense feeling of gratitude ; and the British Government, whose representative but nine years before wrote him the miserable letter just quoted, recognised his great services by a pension a very small one it is true which was continued to his successors for some time. How often, remarks the friend to whom I am indebted for the recollection of this important incident in the life of the good Bishop, have the clergy of the Catholic Church, as in this instance, heaped coals of fire on the heads of their opponents, and rebuked the blind intolerance of the persecutors of their faith!
The days of systematic discouragement had passed for ever. The English Government, says Dr. Mullock, tacitly recognised the population of Newfoundland as having a right to live in the land they had chosen. But there was hard work in store for the zealous missionary;
