midnight
The peasant who feels , or believes himself to be treated with injustice , or cruelty , never pauses to reflect upon the religion of the man whom he looks upon as his oppressor . He will shoot a Catholic landlord or agent from behind a hedge , with as much good will as he would a Protestant . Indeed , in general , he will prefer a Protestant landlord to those of his own creed , knowing well , as he does , that the latter , where they are possessed of property , constitute the very worst class of landlords in the kingdom . As religion , therefore , is not at all necessarily mixed up with the Irishman 's prejudices as this subject -- it is consequently both dangerous and wicked to force it to an adhesion with so dreadful a principle as that which resorts to noon-day or midnight murder . This is unfortunately what such fellows as this M'Clutchy do . They find the Irish peasant with but one formidable prejudice in relation to property , and by a course of neglect , oppression , and rapacity , joined to all the malignant rancor of religious bigotry and party feeling , they leave him goaded by a hundred . I believe in my soul that there are many fire-brands like M'Clutchy in this country , who create the crime , in order to have the gratification of punishing it , and of wreaking a legal vengeance upon the unfortunate being who has been guilty of it , in order that they may recommend themselves as loyal men to the government of the day .