So it is with human character
and integrity. Had Bryan M'Mahon belonged to a family of mere ordinary
reputation--to a family who had generally participated in all the good
and evil of life, as they act upon and shape the great mass of society,
his vote might certainly have created much annoyance to his party for
a very brief period--just as other votes given from the usual
motives--sometimes right and honorable--sometimes wrong and
corrupt--usually do. In his case, however, there was something
calculated to startle and alarm all those who knew and were capable of
appreciating the stainless honor and hereditary integrity of the family.
The M'Mahon's, though inoffensive and liberal in their intercourse with
the world, even upon matters of a polemical nature, were nevertheless
deeply and devotedly attached to their own religion, and to all those
who in any way labored or contributed to relieve it of its disabilities,
and restore those who professed it to that civil liberty which had been
so long denied them. This indeed was very natural on the part of the
M'Mahons, who would sooner have thought of taking to the highway, or
burning their neighbor's premises, than supporting the interests or
strengthening the hands of any public man placed, in a position to use
a hostile influence against them. There was only one other family in the
barony, who in all that the M'Mahon's felt respecting their religion and
civil liberty, Were far in advance of them.
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