Here no man could hold office, or even earn his livelihood as a barrister or a schoolmaster, without previously taking the oath of supremacy, but in Ireland a public functionary was not held to be under the necessity of taking that oath unless it were formally tendered to him.

[149] It therefore did not exclude from employment any person whom the government wished to promote.

The sacramental test and the declaration against transubstantiation were unknown nor was either House of Parliament closed against any religious sect.
It might seem, therefore, that the Irish Roman Catholic was in a situation which his English and Scottish brethren in the faith might well envy.

In fact, however, his condition was more pitiable and irritating than theirs.

For, though not persecuted as a Roman Catholic, he was oppressed as an Irishman.