o:: r-> _^^>» ^ s^j^ 13'>2-^ :.:>^>-':32i3E>?-^l>" .21 2^ "^ ^3!>2^:^ 3> 3^ -.4^ 2:>^ s* '^3SO "^ ^^^, i3^^r>2^ ^SMs !>.>:>• =^^ar ^:3> .i.^iEs>:> :>;3s>.-:3»' .:^^3J .^ ^^^*E> GMfe Rw^> 2^>;:lT>":^ s>:^£>..iai^^?:^& Z3» 3y ■^m> a? "Z3f- ^^. 23m^ -V :z:3^ .' - laii)' -^-1 IIS* ,■>:■ .. :2^> -.a^-^ :3^ -.- :^ »> -2 >> ?^ ^^852>? ;5^-:>>~a. i'^'%^ / -) ^<^l^t.i^i>/^fy' U'-i^^^i^.^^ ^^ H THE HISTORY OF IRELAID, FROM THB TREATY OF LIMERICK TO THE PRESENT TIME ; behto A CONTINUATION OF THB HISTORY OF THE ABBE MACGEOGHEGAN COMPILED BT JOHN MITCHEL. NEW YORK: D. & J. SADLIER & CO., 31 BARCLAY STREET. MOXTREAIit COKNEK NOTRE-DAMB AND ST. FRANCIS XAVIER STREETS. ME8. HICKET, 19 HIGH STREET, BOSTOIT. cuv> Entered according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1868, By D. & J. Sadlier & Co., In the Clerk's Office of 4lie District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. ntnotjfi by VINCENT DILL, ii & 91 New Chambera SI , N. T- BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY CHESTNUT HILL, MA 02187 INTRODUCTION. In preparing a Continuatiou of the valuable History of Ireland by the Abbe MacGeoghegan, the compiler has aimed only to reduce and condense into a co- herent narrative the materials which exist in abundance in a great number of publications of every date within the period included in the Continuation. That period of a century and a half embraces a series of deeply interesting events in the annals of our country — the deliberate Breach of the Treaty of Limerick — the long series of Penal Laws — the exile of the Irish soldiery to France — their achievements in the French and other services — the career of Dean Swift — the origin of a Colonial Nationality among the English of Ireland — the Agitations of Lucas — the Volunteering — the Declaration of Independence — the history of the Independent Irish Parliament — the Plot to bring about the Union — the United Irishmen — the Negotiations with France — the Insurrection of 1798 — the French Expeditions to Ireland — the " Union" (so called) — the decay of Trade — the fraudu- lent Imposition of Debt upon Ireland — the Orangemen — the beginning of O'Con- nell's power — the Veto Agitation — the Catholic Association — Clare Election — Emancipation — the series of Famines — the Eepeal Agitation — th« Monster Meet- ings — the State Trials — the Great Famine — the Death of O'Connell — the Irish Con- federation — the fate of Smith O'Brien and his comrades — the Legislation of the United Parliament for Ireland — Poor-Laws — National Education — the Tenant- Right Agitation — the present condition of the country, etc. The mere enumeration of these principal heads of the narrative will show how very wide a field has had to be traversed in this Continuation ; and what a large number of works — Memoirs, Correspondence — Parliamentary Debates — Speeches and local histories must have been collated, in order to produce a continuous story. There exist, indeed, some safe and useful guides, in the works of writers who have treated special parts or limited periods of the general History ; and the compiler has had no scruple in making very large use of the collections idiij IV INTRODUCrriON. of certain diligent writers who may be said to have almost exhausted their re* spective parts of the subject. It may aid the reader who desires to make a more minute examination of any part of the History, if we here set down the titles of the principal works which have been used in preparing the present : Doctor John Curry's " Historical Review of the Civil Wars," and " State of the Irish Catholics" — Mr. Francis Plowden's elaborate and conscientious " Historical Review of the State of Ireland," before the Union : — the same author's " History of Ireland" from the Union till 1810 — the Letters and Pamphlets of Dean Swift — Harris's " Life of William the Third" — Arthur Young's " Tour in Ireland" — the Irish " Parliamentary Debates" — Mr. Scul- ly's excellent " State of the Penal Laws" — Thomas MacNevin's " History of the Volunteers," in the " Library of Ireland" — Hardy's " Life of Lord Charlemont" — the Four Series of Dr. Madden's collections on the " Lives and Times of the United Irishmen" — Hay's " History of the Rebellion in Wexford" — the Rev. Mr. Gordon's " History of the Irish Rebellion" [the work of Sir Richard Musgrave, as being wholly untrustworthy, is purposely excluded] — The " Papers and Corre- spondence" of Lord Coinwallis — and of Lord Castlereagh ; — the " Memoirs of Miles Byrne, an Irish Exile in France," and a French oflScer of rank, lately deceased — the Lives and Speeches of Grattan and Curran — Sir Jonah Bai-rington's " Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation" — Memoirs and Journals of Theobald Wolfe Tone — Richard Lalor Shiel's " Sketches of the Irish Bar" — Wyse's " History of the Catho- lic Association" — O'Connell's Speeches and Debates in the United Parliament. These are the chief authorities for all the time previous to the Catholic Relief Act. As to the sketch which follows, of transactions still later, it would be obviously impossible to enumerate the multifarious authorities : but the speeches of O'Connell and of William Smith O'Brien are still, for the Irish history of their own time, what the orations of Grattan were for his ; and what the vivid writings of Swift were for the earlier part of the eighteenth century. The newspapers and Parliamentary Blue Books also come in, as essential materials (though sometimes questionable) for this later period : and for the Repeal Agitation, the State Trials, the terrible scenes of the Famine, and the consequent extirpation of millions of the Irish people, we have, without scruple, made use (along with other materials) of the facts contained in *' The Last Conquest of Ireland (perhaps)" — excluding gen- erally the inferences and opinions of the writer, and his estimate of his contempo- i-aries. Indeed, the reader will find in the present work very few opinions or theories put forward at all ; the genuine object of the writer being simply to INTRODUCTION. present a clear narrative of the events as they evolved themselves one out of the others. Neither does this History need comment; and indignant declamation would but weaken the effect of the dreadful facts we shall have to tell. If the writer has succeeded — as he has earnestly desired to do — in arranging those facts in good order, and exhibiting the naked truth concerning English domination since the Treaty of Limerick, as our fathers saw it, and felt it ; — if he has been enabled to picture, in some degree like life, the long agony of the Penal Days, when the pride of the ancient Irish race was stung by daily, hourly humiliations, and their passions goaded to madness by brutal oppression ; — and further to picture the still more destructive devastations perpetrated upon our country in this enlightened nine- teenth century ; then it is hoped that every reader will draw for himself such general conclusions as the facts will warrant, without any declamatory appeals to patriotic resentment, or promptings to patriotic aspiration : — the conclusion, in short, that, while England lives and flourishes, Ireland must die a daily death, and suflfer an endless martyrdom ; and that if Irishmen are ever to enjoy the rights of human beings, the British Empire must first perish. As the learned Abbe MacGeoghegan was for many years a chaplain to the Irish Brigade in France, and dedicated his work to that renowned corps of exiles, whose dearest wish and prayer was always to encounter and overthrow the British power upon any field, it is presumed that the venerable author would wish his work to be continued in the same thoroughly Irish spirit which actuated his noble warrior- congregation ; — and he would desire the dark record of English atrocity in Ire- land, which he left unfinished, to be duly brought down through all its subse- quent scenes of horror and slaughter, which have been still more terrible after his day than they were before. And this is what the present Continuation professes to do. J. M. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PROM THE TKEATY OF LIMERICK TO THE END OF 1691. PXO« Treaty of Limerick — ^Violated or not? — Arguments of Macaulay — Doctor Dopping, Bisihop of Meath — No faith to be kept with Papists — First act in violation of the treaty — Situation of thd Catholics — Chai'ge against Sarsfield 1 CHAPTER II. 1692—1693. ■William III. not bigoted — Practical toleration for four years— First Parliament in this reign — Catholics excluded by a resolution — Extinction of civil existence for Catholics — Irish Protes- tant Nationality — Massacre of Glencoe — Battle of Steinkirk — Court of St. Germains — "Dec- laration " — Battle of Landen, and death of Sarsfield 7 CHAPTER III. 1693—1698. Capel Lord-Lieutenant — War in the Netherlands — Capture of Namur — Grievances of the Protes- tant Colonisto — Act for disarming Papists — Laws against education — Against priests — Against intermarrying with Papists— Act to " confirm " Articles of Limerick— Irish on the Continent 13 CHAPTER lY. 1698—1702. Predominance of the English Parliament — Molyneux^ — Decisive action of the English Parliament — Court and country parties — Suppression of woolen manufacture — Commission of confiscated estates — Its revelations — Vexation of King "William — Peace of Eyswick — Act for establish- ing the Protestant succession — Death of William 17 CHAPTER V. 1702—1704. Queen Anne — Rochester Lord-Lieutenant — Ormond Lord-Lieutenant — War on the Continent — Successes under Marlborough — Second formal breach of the Treaty of Limerick — Bill to prevent the further growth of Popery — Clause against the Dissenters — Catholic lawyers heard against the bill — Pleading of Sir Toby Butler — Bill passed — Object of the Penal lawa — To get hold of the property of Catholics — Recall of the Edict of Nantes— Irish on the Continent — Cremona 22 CHAPTER VI. 1704—1714, Enforcement of the Penal Laws — Making informers honorable — Pembroke Lord-Lieutenant — Union of England and Scotland — Means by which it was carried — Irish House of Lords in favor of an Union — Laws against meeting at Holy Wells — Catholics excluded from Juries — Wharton Lord-Lieutenant — Second act to prevent growth of Popery — Rewards for " discov- erers " — Jonathan Swift — Nature of his Irish Patriotism — Papists the " common enemy " — The Dissenters — Colony of the Palatines — Disasters of the French, and Peace of Utrecht — The " Pretender " 34 CHAPTER VII. 1714^1723, George I. — James IH. — Perils of Dean Swift — Tories dismissed — Ormond, Oxford, and Boling- broke impeached — Insurrection in Scotland — Calm in Ireland — Arrests — Irish Parliament— "Loyalty" of the Catholics— "No Catholics exist in Ireland" — Priest-catchers — Bolton Lord- Lieutenant — Cause of Sherlock and Anuesley — Conflict of jurisdiction — Declaratory act establishing dependence of the Irish Parliament — Swift's pamphlet — State of the country — Qrafton Lord-Lieutenant — Courage of the priests — x\.trocious liill 41 Viii CONTENTS, CHAPTER VIII. 1723—1727. Paob. Swift and Wood's Copper — Drapier's Letters — Claim of Independence — Primate Boulter — Swift popular with the Catholics — His feeling towards Catholics — Desolation of the Country — Rack-rents — Absenteeism — Great Distress — Swift's modest proposal — Death of George I. . . . 49 CHAPTER IX. 1727—1741. Lord Carteret Lord-Lieutenant — Primate Boulter ruler of Ireland — His policy — Catholic Address — Not noticed — Papists deprived of elective franchise — Insolence of the "Ascendancy" — Famine — Emigration — Dorset Lord-Lieutenant — Agitation of Dissenters — Sacramental Test — Swift's virulence against the Dissenters — Boulter's policy to extirpate Papists — Rage against the Catholics — Debates on money bills — "Patriot Party" — Duke of Devonshire Lord-Lieutenant — Corruption — Another famine — Berkeley — English commercial policy in Ireland 54 CHAPTER X. 1741—1745. War on the Continent — Doctor Lucas — Primate Stone — Battle of Dettingen — Lally — Fontenoy — The Irish Brigade 61 CHAPTER XI. 1745—1753. Alarm in England — Expedition of Prince Charles Edward — "A Message of Peace to Ireland "^ Viceroyalty of Chesterfield — Temporary toleration of the Catholics — Berkeley — The Scottish Insurrection — Culloden — " Loyalty of the Irish — Lucas and the Patriots — Debates on the Supplies — Boyle and Malone — Population of Ireland 68 CHAPTER XII. 1753—1760. Unpopularity of the Duke of Dorset — Earl of Kildare — His address — Patriots in power — Pen- sion List — Duke of Bedford Lord-Lieutenant — Case of Saul — Catholic meeting in Dublin — Commencement of Catholic agitation — Address of the Catholics received — First recognition of the Catholics as subjects— Lucasian mobs — Project of Union — Thurot's expedition — Death of George II. — Population — Distress of the country — Operation of the Penal Laws — The Geoghehans — Catholic Petition — Berkeley's " Querist " 73 CHAPTER XIII. 1760—1762. George III. — Speech from the Throne — " Toleration " — France and England in India — Lally's campaign there — State of Ireland — The Revenue — Distress of Trade — Distress in the Coun- try — Oppression of the Farmers — White-Boys — Riots — "A Popish Conspiracy" — Steel-Boys and Oak-Boys — Emigration from Ulster — Halifax, Viceroy — Flood and the Patriots — Extra- vagance and Corruption — Agitation for Septennial Parliaments 85 CHAPTER XIV. 1762—1768. Tory Ministry — Failures of the Patriots — Northumberland, Viceroy. — Mr. Fitzgerald's speech on Pension List— Mr. Perry's address on same subject — -Effort for mitigation of the Penal Laws — Mr. Mason's argument for allowing Papists to take mortgages — Rejected — Death of Stone and Earl of Shannon — Lord Hartford, Viceroy — Lucas and the Patriots —Their continued failures — Increase of National Debt — Townshend, Viceroy — New system — The "Under- takers " — Septennial bill changed into Octennial — And passed — Joy of the people — Conse- quences of this measure — Ireland still "standing on her smaller end" — Newspapers of Dub- lin— Grattan 92 CHAPTER XV. 1762—1767. Reign of Terror in Munster — Murder of Father Sheehy — " Toleration," under the House of Han- over — Precarious condition of Catholic clergy — Primates in hiding — Working of the Penal Laws— Testimony of Arthur Young 99 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER XYI. 1767—1773. PAOB ToTVTishend, Viceroy — Augmentation of the army — Embezzlement — Parliament prorogued— Again prorogued — Townshend buys bis majority — Triurjph of the "English Interest" — New attempt to bribe the Priests — Townsbend's •* Golden Drops " — Bill to allow Papists to re- claim bogs — Townshend recalled — Ilarcourt, Viceroy — Proposal to tax absentees — Defeated — Degraded condition of the Irish Parliament — American revolution, and new era 107 CHAPTER XVII. 1774—1777. American affairs — Comparison between Ireland and the Colonies — Contagion of American opin- ions in Ireland — Paltry measure of relief to Catholics — Congress at Philadelphia — Address of Congress to Ireland — Encouragement to Fisheries — Four thousand " armed negotiators " —Financial distress — First Octennial Parliament dissolved — Grattan — Lord Buckingham, Viceroy — Successes of the Americans 114 CHAPTER XVIII. 1777—1779. Buckingham, Viceroy — Misery, and Decline of Trade — Discipline of Government Supporters — Lord North's first measure in favor of Catholics — Passed in England— Opposed in Ireland — "What it amounted to — Militia bill — The Volunteers — Defenceless state of the country — Loyalty of the Volunteers — Their uniforms — Volunteers Protestant at first — Catholics de- sirous to join — Volunteers get the Militia arms — Their aims— Military system — Numbers in 1780 120 CHAPTER XIX. 1779—1780. Free Trade and Free Parliament— Meaning of " Free Trade " — Non-importation agreements — Rage of the English — Grattan's motion for free trade — Hussey Burgh — Thanks to the Vol- unteers — Parade in Dublin — Lord North yields — Free Trade act — Next step — Mutiny bill — The lyth of April — Declaration of Right — Defeated in Parliament, but successful in the country — General determination — Organizing — Arming — Reviews — Charlemont — Briberies of Buckingham — Carlisle, Viceroy 128 CHAPTER XX. 1781—1782. Parliament — Thanks to the Volunteers— Habeas Corpus — Trade with Portugal — Grattan's finan- cial expose— Gardiner's measure for Catholic relief— Dungannon — The 15th of February, 1782 — Debates on Gardiner's bill — Grattan's speech — Details of this measure — Burke's opin- ion of it— Address to the King asserting Irish independence — England yields at once — Act repealing the 6th George I. — Repeal of Poynings' law — Irish independence 139 CHAPTER XXI. 1783—1784. Effects of independence — Settlement not final— English plots for the Union— Corruption of Irish Parliament — Enmity of Flood and Grattan — Question between them — Renunciation act — Second Dungannon Convention — Convention of delegates in Dublin — Catholics excluded from all civil rights — Lord Kenmare — Lord Kenmare disavowed — Lord Temple — Knights of St. Patrick — Portland, Viceroy — Judicature bill — Hapeas Corpus — Bank of Ireland — Repeal of Test act — Proceedings of Convention — Flood's Reform bill — Rejected — Convention dis- Bclved — End of the Volunteers — Militia 152 CHAPTER XXII. • 1784—1786. Improvement of the country — Political position anomalous — Rutland, Viceroy — Petitions for Parliamentary reform — Flood's motion — Rejected — Grattan's bill to regulate the revenue — • Protective duties demanded — National Congress — Dissensions as to rights of Catholics — Charlemont's intolerance — Orde's commercial propositions — New propositions of Mr. Pitt — Burke and Sheridan — Commercial propositions defeated Mr. Conolly — The national debt — General corruption — Court majorities — Patriots defeated — Ireland after five years of independence 16* CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIII. 1787—1789. PAoa Alarms and rumors of disturbances — Got up by Government — Act against illegal combinations — Mr. Grattau on tithes — Failure of his efforts — Death of Duke of Rutland — Marquis of Buckingham, Viceroy — Independence of Mr. Curran — Mr. Forbes and the Pension list — Fail- ure of his motion — Triumph of corruption— Troubles in Armagh County — '• Peep of Day Boys " — " Defenders "—Insanity of the King— The Regency 177 CHAPTER XXI Y. 1789. Unpopularity of Buckingham — Formation of an Irish character — Efforts of Patriots in Parlia- ment — All in vain — Purchasing votes — Corruption — Whig Club — Lord Clare on Whig Club — Buckingham leaves Ireland — Pension list — Peep of Day Boys and Defenders— Westmore- land, Viceroy — Unavailing efforts ag the Secciid." But it is probable that, placing more re- liance^on the good faith of King William than events afterwards justified, they be- lieved themselves secured by the remaining words of that article — "And their majesties, as soon as their affairs will permit them to summon a parliament in this kingdom, will endeavor to procure the said Roman Catho- lics such further security in that particular as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the account of their said religion." All which was duly ratified by their majes- ties' letters-patent. Sarsfield and Wauchop then, with their French brother-officers, in marching out of Limerick, thought that they were leaving, as a barrier against op- pression of the Catholics, at least the honor of a king. The whole history of Ireland, fiom that day until the year 1793, consists of one long and continual breach of this treaty. But as there has been, both among Irish and English political writers, a great deal of wild declamation and unwarranted state- ment on this subject, it seems needful to give a precise view of the real purport and limitations of the engagements taken to- wards the Irish Catholics upon this occa- sion. Independently, then, of the royal promise of future parliamentary relief to " protect Catholics from all disturbance," there was the general engagement for such privileges to Catholics in the exercise of their religion "as were consistent with the laws of Ireland ; o?*, as they did enjoy in the reign of Charles II." And also the ninth article of the treaty, that " The oath to be administered to such Roman Catholics as submit to their majesties' government shall be the oath above-mentioned (namely, the oath of allegiance), and no other." These provisions were applicable to all Catholics living in any part of Ireland. Other articles of the treaty, from the second to the eighth inclusive, related only, first, to the people of Limerick and other garri- sons then held by the Irish ; second, to offi- cers and soldiers then serving King James, in the counties of Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, and Mayo ; third, to " all such as were under their protection in the said counties," meaning all the inhabitants of FROM THE TREATY OF LUrERICK TO THE END OF 1601. those counties. These three chisses of per- sons were to be secured their properties and • their rights, privileges, and immunities (as in the reign of Charles the Second), and to be permitted to exercise their several call- ings as freely as Catholics were permitted to do in that reign. We need not, at this day, occupy ouiselves at great length with these latter specific stipulations ; but attend to the general proviso in favor of all Catho- lics. What, then, wei'e the rights of Cath- olics under King Charles the Second ? — for this seems to be what is meant by the other phrase, "consistent with the laws of Ire- land." Now it is true that penal laws against Catholic priests and Catholic worship did exist in Ireland during the reign of Charles the Second : Catholics, for example, could not be members of a corporation in Ireland, nor hold certain civil offices in that reign. But there was no law to prevent Catholic peers and commons from sitting in parlia- ment. There was also in practice so gen- eral a toleration as allowed Catholic lawyers and physicians to practice their professions. At the very lowest, therefore, this practical toleration must have been what the Catho- lics thought they were stipulating for in the Articles of Limerick. Neither did there ex- ist in the reign of Charles the Second that long and sanguinary series of enactments concerning education, the holding of land, the owning of horses, and the like, which were elaborated by the ingenuity of more modern chiefs of the Protestant Ascen- dency. The first distinct breach of the Articles of Limerick was perpetrated by King William and his parliament in Eng- land, just two months after those Articles were signed. King William was in the Netherlands when he heard of the sui render of Limerick, and at once hastened to London. Three days later he summoned a parliament. Very early in the session the English House of Commons, exercising its customary power of binding Ireland by acts passed in London, sent up to the House of Lords a bill providing that no person should sit in the Irish parliament, nor should hold any Irish office, civil, military, or ecclesiastical, Dor should practise law or medicine in Ire- land, till he had t;iken the oaths of allegi- ance and suprenwct/ and subscribed the de- claration against transubstantiation. The law was passed, only reserving the right of such lawyers and physicians as had been within the walls of Galway and Limerick when those towns capitulated. And so it received the royal assent. This law has given rise to keen debates ; especially during the Catholic Relief Agitation ; the Catholics insisting that disabilities imposed by law on account of religion, are an invasion of those privileges in the exercise of their religion, which purported to be secured by treaty ; the Ascendency Party arguing that the first article of the treaty meant only that Cath- olic worship should be tolerated. The Cath- olics pointed out that by Article Nine, onlv the oath of allegiance was to be imposed on them, while this new law required those who should practise law or sit in the House of Parliament, to take a certain other oath, which they could not do without peijuring themselves. The Ascendency Party replied that on taking the oath of allegiance alone. Catholics were tolerated in theij' worship, and that this was all they had stipulated for; that it still belonged to the Legislature to prescribe suitable formalities to be observed by those who aspired to exercise a public trust or a responsible profession. It is ap- parent that on this principle of interpreta- tion, parliament might require the oath of supremacy from a baker or a wine-merchant, as well as from a lawyer and doctor, and then it would be lawful for a Catholic to go and hear Mass, but it would be lawful for him to do nothing else. As might be expected, the Baron Macaulay takes the Ascendency view of the question, as will appear from this specimen of his reasoning: " The champions of Protestant ascendency were well pleased to see the debate diverted from a political question about which they were in the wrong, to a historical question about which they were in the right. They had no difficulty in proving that the first ar- ticle, as understood by all the contracting parties, meant only that the Roman Catholic worship should be tolerated as in time past. That article was drawn up by Ginkell ; and, jnst before he drew it up, he had declared that he would rather try the chance of arras HISTORY OF IRELAND. tban consent that Irish Papists should be capable of holding civil and military offices, of exercising liberal professions, and of be- coming members of municipal corporations. How is it possible to believe that he would, of his own accord, have promised that the House of Lords and the House of Commons should be open to men to whom he would not open a guild of skinners or a guild of cordwainers? How, again, is it possible to believe that the English peers would, while professing the most punctilious respect for public faith, while lecturing the Commons on the duty of observing public faith, while taking counsel with the most learned and upright jurist of the age as to the best mode of maintaining public faith, have committed a flagrant violation of public faith, and that not a single lord should have been so honest or so factious as to protest against an act of monstrous perfidy aggravated by hypocrisy?" Whereupon it may be remarked that mere toleration of Catholic worship was not under- stood, by all the contracting parties, as being all which was meant by the treaty, inasmuch as many Catholic peers and commoners did attend in their places in the Irish parliament the very next year after this law was passed in London ; and the slavish Irish parliament then, for the first time, excluded them by resolutions in obedience to the law enacted in the English Houses. As for the argument which seems intended to be conveyed in the string of questions contained in the above extract, we answer that " it is possible to be- lieve" almost any thing of the men and the times we are now discussing; and that this narrative will tell of many other things which will seem impossible to believe, and which any good man would wish it were impossible to believe. Macaulay, indeed, before quitting this question, does admit, as it were incidentally, and in the obscurity of a note, that although the Treaty of Limerick was not broken at that particular moment, nor by that particu- lar statute of the 3d Willium and Mary, c. 2, v^t, " The Irish Koman Catholics compliiined, and with but too much reason, that at a later period the Treaty of Limerick was violated." And it is remarkable that this historian en- deavors to sustain his position by the author- ity of the Abbe MacGeoghegan. He says. "The Abbe MacGeogliegan complains thiit the treaty was violated some years after it was made, but he does not pretend that it was violated by Statute 3d, William and Mary, c. 2." This is extremely uncandid. The Abb6 MacGeoghegan did not profess to continue his History of Ireland beyond the Treaty of Limerick ; before quitting his subject, however, the venerable author does incidentally mention that this treaty was afterwards violated by many statutes, which it was not his province to arrange in chro- nological order; and after noticing some of the hardships thus inflicted upon the Irish people, he adds : " By other acts, the Irish nobility were deprived of their arms and horses ; they were debarred from purchasing land, from becoming viemhers of the bar, or filling any public office ; and, contrary to the ninth article of the treaty, they were made subject to infamous oaths."* Notwithstanding the very slender conces- sions which were apparently granted to the Catholic people by tliis memorable treaty, however, the Protestant English colony in Ireland was immediately agitated by the bit- terest indignation against both the general and the lords-justices. They thought the Irish entitled to no articles or conditions but what would expose them to the severest rig- ors of war ; and the " Protestant Interest," and "Ascendency" thought themselves de- frauded of a legitimate vengeance, to say nothing of their natural expectations of plun- der ; a most unfounded apprehension, as will presently appear. After the conclusion of the treaty, the lords-justices returned to Dublin ; and on the following Sunday attended service in Christ Church Cathedral. The preacher was Doctor Dopping, bishop of Meath; and he took for the subject of his sermon the late important events at Limerick. He argued that no terms of peace ought to be observed with so perfidious a people ;f a fact which, if it were not notorious and well-attested, might seem incredible ; seeing that one of the worst charges brought against the Cath- olics at that period was that ^Aey taught that faith was not to be kept with heretics. The doctrine of the Bishop of Meath, however, * See page 613 of Sadlier's Edition, t Harris's Life of King William. FROM TIIK TREATY OF LIMERICK TO THE END OF 1691. Wiis not approved by all tlie divines of liis party, for on the next Sunday, in tlie same church, Doctor Moreton, bisliop of Kildare, demonstrated the obligation of keeping pub- lic faith. It seems that this important ques- tion greatly occupied men's minds at that time ; for it was judged necessary to settle and quiet public opinion ; and to this end, on the third Sunday, in the same church, Dean Synge preached a conciliatory sort of discourse, neither absolutely insisting on ob- serving the treatj', nor distinctly advising that it should be broken. His text was, "Keep peace with all men, if it be possible^' After this we hear no more of any discussions of the grand controversy in the pulpit; but in Parliament and in Council the difference subsisted, until tlie English Act of Resump- tion of Estates quieted the disputants, who then saw they lost nothing by the articles, as the Catholics gained nothing. While these debates were proceeding in Publin, the Pi'otestant magistrates and sher- iffs had no doubt upon the point, whether faith was to be kept with Catholics or not ; they universally decided in the negative; and in less than two months after the capit- ulation was confirmed by the king, as we learn on the authority of William's own par- tial biographer, Harris, " the justices of peace, sheriffs, and other magistrates, presuming on their power in the country, did, in an illegal manner, dispossess several of their majesties' subjects, not only of their goods and chattels, but of their lands and tenements, to the gieat disturbance of the peace of the king- dom, subversion of the law, and reproach of their majesties' government." It is a much heavier reproach to their majesties' govern- ment that no person appears to have been prosecuted, nor in any way brought to jus- tice for these outrageous oppressions. It ap- pears by a letter of the loids-justices of the 19lh November, 1691 (six weeks after the surrender of Limerick), "that their lordships had received complaints from all parts of Ireland of the ill-treatment of the Irish who Lad submitted, had their majesties' protec- tion, or were included in articles ; and that they were so extremely terrified with appre- hensions of the continuance of that usage, that some thousands of them who had quit- ted the Irish army, and had gone home with a resolution not to go for France, were then come back again [come back, it is presumed. to Cork, Limeiick, and other sea}»orts], ajid pressed earnestly to go thither, rather than stay in Ireland, where, contrary to the public faith (add these justices), as well as law and justice, they were robbed of their substance and abused in their persons." But, still no effectual means were used by the govern- ment for repressing such wrong ; so that we may well adopt the language of Dr. Curry, that these representations made by the lords- justices were only a "pretence." Indeed, Harris affirms, and every statement of this nature made by Harris is an unwilling ad- mission, that Capel, one of these very lords- justices, did, shortly after, proceed as far as it was in his power, to infringe the Articles of Limerick. The prospect which now opened before the Catholics of Ireland was gloomy indeed. Already they were made to feel in a thou- sand forms all the bitterness of subjugation, and to perceive that in this reign of King William, so vaunted for its liberality, the blessings and liberties of the British Consti- tution, if any such there were, existed not for them ; that they had no security for even such remnants of property as had been left them, no redress by the laws of the laud, and no refuge from their enemies even in the pledged faith of a solemn treaty. Yet we have only arrived at the beginning of the system of grinding oppression which was soon to be put in operation against them. This prelim- inary chapter is devoted to an account of the immediate breaches of the Articles of Lim- erick which were perpetrated within the three months after their signature. We are next to trace the development of that great code of Penal Laws, which Dr. Samuel Johnson described as more grievous than all the Ten Pagan persecutions of the Christians. Before finishing this chapter, it is proper to allude to one other instance of the deter- mined mendacity of Baron Macaulay. Re- specting the embarkation of Sarsfield and the Irish troops from Cork, that historian compiles from several sources the following narrative : " Sarsfield perceived that one chief cause ot the desertion which was thinning his army was the natural unwillingness of the men ic 6 HISTORY OF IRKLAXI). leave tlieir families in a state of destituliou. Cork and its neighborhood were filled with the kindred of those who were going abroad. Great numbers of women, many of them lead- ing, carrying, suckling their infants, cover- ed all the roads which led to the place of em- barkation. The Irish general, apprehensive of the effect which the entreaties and lamen- tations of these poor creatures could not fail to produce, put forth a proclamation, in which he assured his soldiers that they should be permitted to carry their wives and families to France. It would be injurious to the mem- ory of so brave and loyal agentleinan to sup- pose that when he made this promise he meant to break it. It is much more probable that he had formed an erroneous estimate of the number of those who would demand a pas- sage, and that he found himself, when it was too late to alter his ai'rangements, unable to keep his word. After the soldiers had em- barked, room was found for the families of many. But still there remained on the wa- ter-side a great multitude, clamoring piteously to be taken on board. As the last boats put off there was a rush into the surf. Some wo- men caught hold of the ropes, were dragged out of their depth, clung till their fingers were cut through, and perished in the waves. The ships began to move. A wild and terrible wail rose from the shore, and excited un- wonted compassion in hearts steeled by ha- tred of the Irish race and of the Eomish faith. Even the stern Cromwellian, now at length, after a desperate struggle of three years, left the undisputed lord of the blood-stained and devastated island, could not hear unmoved that bitter cry, in which was poured forth all the rage and all the sorrow of a conquered na- tion." The sad scene here related did really take place ; and in afier-times, when those Irish soldiers were in the armies of France, and saw before them the red ranks of King Wil- liam's soldiery, that long, terrible shriek rung in their ears, and made their hearts like fire and their nerves like steel. We know that when their officers sought to rouse their ardor for a charge, no recital of the wrongs their country had endured could kindle so fierce a flame of vengeful passion as the mention of " the women's parting cry." But the dishonesty of Lord Mac- aulay's account is in ascribing that cruel parting to the noble Sarsfield, and in dis- tinctly charging him with breaking his word to the soldiers, though he did not mean to break it when he gave it. , Now, by referring back to the "Military Articles" cf the Treaty, we see that it was not Saisfield, but General Ginkell, on the part of King William, who was to furnish shipping for the emigrants and their fami- lies — " all other persons belonging to them ;" — that it was not Sarsfield, but Ginkell, who was to "form an estimate" of the amount of shipping required ; and that it was not Sarsfield, therefore, but Ginkell, who could " alter the arrangements" at the last mo- ment. As to General Sarsfield's proclama- tion to the men, " that they should be per- mitted to carry their wives and families to France," he made that statement on the faith of the First and several succeeding articles of the treaty, not being yet aware of any design to violate it. But this is not all : the historian who could not let the hero go into his sorrowful exile without seeking to plunge this venomous sting into his reputa- tion, had before him the Life of King Wil- liam, by Harris, and also Curry's Historical Review of the Civil Wars, wherein he must have seen that the loids-justices and General Ginkell are charged with endeavoiing to defeat the execution of that First Article. For, says Harris, "as great numbers of the officers and soldiers had resolved to enter into the service of France, and to cany their families with them, Ginkell would not suft'er their wives and children to be shipped off with the men ; not doubting that by de- taining the former he would have prevented many of the latter from going into that ser- vice. This, I say, was confessedly an in- fringement of the Articles." To this we may add, that no Irish officer or soldier in France afterwards attributed the cruel parting at Cork to any fault of Sarsfield, but always and only to a breach of the Treaty of Limerick. And if he had deluded them in the manner represented by the English historian, they would not havo followed him so enthusiastically on tha fields of Steinkirk and Landen. 1692-1693. CHAPTER II. 1G9'2— 1693. William the Third not hitroted. — Practical toleration for four years. — First Parliament in this reign. — Catholics excluded by n resolution. — E.xtinction of civil existence for Catholics. — Irisii Protestant Nationality. — Massacre of Glencoe. — Battle of Steinkirk.— Court of St. Geni.aitis. — " Deelara- liou." — Battle of Landeu, and deatli of Sarstield. King "William the Third was not per- sonally fanatical or illiberal ; and never de- sired to punish or mulct bis subjects, whether in Ireland, in Enghmd, or in Holland, for mere differences of religion, about which this king cared little or nothing. But he was king by the support of the Protestant party ; was the recognized head of that party in Europe ; was obliged to sustain that party, and avenge it upon its enemies, or it would soon have deserted his interests and his cause. For the first four years of Lis reign in Ireland, we have even the too favorable testimony of some Irish writers to the leniency and beneficence of his admin- istration, which the reader will find hard to conciliate with the actual facts. Mr. Matthew O'Conor, a worthy member of the " Catholic Board," gives this very remarkable testi- mony : " In matters of religion, King William was liberal, enlightened, and philosophic. Equal- ly a friend to religious as to civil liberty, he granted toleration to dissenters of all de- scriptions, regardless of their speculative opinions. In the early part of his reign, the Irish Catholics enjoyed the full and free exercise of their religion. They were pro- tected in their persons and properties; their industry was encouraged ; and under his mild and fostering administration, the deso- lation of the late war began to disappear, and prosperity, peace, and confidence to smile once more on the country." To those who are disposed to be thankful for very small favors, the beginning of Wil- liam's reign in Ireland was certainly accept- able. There was a practical toleration of Catholic worship, though it was against the law ; priests were not hunted, though by law they were felons ; and for a short while it seemed as if "the Ascendency" would content itself with the forfeitures of rich estates, and the exclusion of Catholic gi-n'le- men from Parliament, from the Bar, and the practice of medicine, and Catholic tram before the 1st day of May, 1698." If any of them remained after that day, or re- turned, the delinquents were to be transport- ed, and if they returned again, " to be guilty of high treason, and to suffer accordingly." To pretend a toleration of the Catholic re- ligion, but to banish bishops, and thus pre- vent orders, can scarcely be considered a very liberal proceeding ; but there were still more minute provisions made, after banishing the clergy, for the continual torture of the laity. For example, this same parliament, in 1695, enacted a statute which imposed a fine of two shillings (and, in default of payment, • 4 Wm. and Mary, c. 4. whipping) upon "every common Uiborer, being hired, or other servant retained, who shall refuse to work at the usual and accus- tomed wages, upon any day except the days appointed by this statute to be kept holy ; namely, all Sundays in the year, and certain other days named therein." Another act was passed by this parlia- ment " to prevent Protestants intermarrying with Papists," in order to obviate the possible danger of the two nations becoming gradually amalgamated by affinities and family interests ; and as the Catholics, in some places, were associating together to place their interests in the hands of legal advisers, an act was passed " to prevent Papists being solicitors.". It must not be omitted to mention, that the parliament which violated, by so many ingenious laws, the conditions made at the capitulation of Limerick, did also gravely and solemnly pass an act "for the confirma- tion of Articles made at the surrender of the city of Limerick — or so much thereof," said the preamble, "as may consist with the safety and welfare of your Majesty's sub- jects in these kingdoms." The greater part, or almost the whole of the stipulations on behalf of the Catholics, contained in those articles, had been deliberately and avowedly violated by the very legislature which en- acted this hypocritical act. It passed almost unanimously in the Commons; but unex- pectedly met with vigorous resistance in the House of Lords ; where, on its final passage, a formal protest against it was entered by a number of the ancient nobility, and even by some Anglican bishops. The protest was signed by the lords Duncannon, London- derry and Tyrone, the barons of Limerick, Howth, Ossory, Killaloe, Kerry, Strabane and Kingston, and also by the bishops of Deny, Elphin, Clonfert, Kildare and Killala. It gave these reasons for the protest : " 1. Because the title did not agree with the body of the bill ; the title being an act for the confirmation of the Iiish articles, whereas no one of said articles was therein fully confirmed. 2. Because the articles were to be confirmed to them to whom they were granted ; but the confirmation of them by that bill was such, that it put them in a worse condition than they were in before. 3. Because the bill omitted the material 16 HISTOnY OF IRELAND. words, * and all such as are under their pro- tection in the said counties,' which were by his Majesty's titles patent, declared to be part of the second article ; and several per- sons had been adjudjn;ed within said articles who would, if the bill passed into a law, be entirely barred and excluded, so that the words omitted being so very material, and confirmed by his Majesty after a solemn debate in council, some express reason ought to be assigned in the bill, in order to satisfy the world in that omission. 4. Because several words were inserted in the bill which were not in the articles, and others omitted, which altered both the sense and meaning thereof. Lastly, because they apprehended that many Protestants might and would suffer by the bill in their just rights and pretensions, by reason of their having pur- chased, and lent money, upon the faith of said article," Of the proceedings of this parliament, it is only necessary to add one further detail : " A petition of Robert Cusack, gentleman. Captain Francis Segrave and Captain Mau- rice EustMce, in behalf of themselves and others, comprised under the Articles of Limerick, setting forth, that in the said bill [act to confirm, &c.] there were sevei-al clauses that would frustrate the petitioners of the benefit of the same, and if passed into a law would turn to the ruin of some, and the prejudice of all persons entitled to the benefit of the said articles, and praying to be heard by counsel to said matters, having been presented and read, it was unanimously resolved that said petition should be rejected^'' King William was all this while busily engaged in carrying on the war against Louis the Fourteenth, and his mind was profoundly occupied about the destinies of Europe. He seems to have definitively given up Ireland, to be dealt with by the Ascend- ency at its pleasure. Yet he had received the benefit of the capitulation of Limerick : — he had engaged his royal faith to its ob- servance; — he had further engaged that he would endeavor to procure said Fioman Catholics such further security as might preserve them from any disturbance upon the account of their said religion. And be not only did not endeavor to procure any such fni'ther security, but he gave his royal assent, without the least objection, to every one of these acts of Parliament, carefully depriving them of such securities as they had, and imposing new and grievous oppres- sions " upon the account of their said reli- gion." It is expressly on account of this shameful breach of faith on the part of the King that Orange squires and gentlemen, from that day to this, have been enthusi- astically toasting " the glorious, pious, and immortal memory of the great and good King William." The war was still raging all over Europe ; and multitudes of young Irishmen were quitting a land where they were henceforth strangers and outlaws on their own soil, to find under the banners of France an oppor- tunity for such distinction as exiles may hope to win. Brilliant reports of the achievements of the old regiments of Limer- ick on many a field, came to Ireland by stray travellers from the continent, and in- spired the high-spirited youth of the country with an ambition to enroll themselves in the ranks of the Irish brigade. They had heard, for example, of the great victories of Stein- kirk and of Landen ; and how at Marsiglia, on the Italian slope of the Alps, the Fiench marshal, Catinat, obtained a splendid victory over the army of the Duke of Savoy — a victory, says Voltaire, "so much the moi'e glorious as the Prince Eugene was one of the adverse generals ;" and how the conduct of the Irish troops, who served under Catinat on that occasion, gained the applause of Europe and the thanks of King Louis. It is no wonder^ therefore, seeing the depress- ing and humiliating condition to which they were reduced at home, that there was a large and continual emigration of the best blood of Ireland, at this time, and for a great part of the following century. These exiles were not confined to the people of the Celtic Irish clans ; for all the English settlers in Ire- land, down to the time of Henry the Eighth, had of course been Catholic, and these fam- ilies generally adhered to the old religion. Thus these old English found themselves in- cluded in all the severities of the penal laws, along with the primeval Scotic people, and they had now their full proportion in the ranks of the military adventurers who THE IRISH EXILES. 17 sought service on the continent. Accord- ingly, among the distinguished names of the Irish brigades, by the side of the Milesian Sarsfields, O'Briens, and O'Donnells, we find the Norman-descended Dillons, Roches, and Fitzgeralds. Of the amount of that great emigration it is difficult to procure any very exact idea ; but on this subject there is no better authority than the learned Abbe MacGeoghegan, who was chaplain in the brigade, and who devoted himself to the task of recording the history of his country, lie affirms that researches in the office of the French War Department show that from the arrival of the Irish troops in France, in 1691, to the year 1745 (the year of Fon- tenoy), more than four hundred and fifty thousand Irishmen died in the service of France. The statement may seem almost incredible ; especially as Spain and Austria bad also their share of our military exiles ; but, certain it is, the expatriation of the very best and choicest of the Irish people was now on a very large scale ; and the remain- ing population, deprived of their natural chiefs, became still more helpless in the hands of their enemies. Buron Macaulay, whose language is never too courteous in speaking of the Irish, takes evident delight in dwelling upon the abject condition of the great body of the nation at this time. He calls them "Pariahs ;" compares their posi- tion, in the disputes between the English and the Irish parliament, with that of "the Red Indians in the dispute between Old England and New England about the Stamp Act ;" mentions with complacency, that Dean Swift " no more considered himself as an Irishman than an Englishman born at Calcutta con- siders himself as a Hindoo ;" and says, veiy truly, though coarsely, that none of the " patriots" of the seventeenth century " ever thought of appealing to the native popula- tion — they would as soon have thought of appealing to the swineP The truth is, that most of the choicest intellect and energy of the Irish race were now to be looked for at the courts of Versailles, Madrid, and Vienna, or under the standards of France on every battle-field of Europe. The Catholics of Ireland may be said, at this date, to disap- pear from political liistory, and so remained till the era of the volunteering. Obscure and despised as they were, how- ever, they were not too humble to escape the curious eye of the lawyers and legislators of the "Ascendency." In fact, we have not yet advanced far beyond the threshold of the Penal Laws. CHAPTER IV. 1698—1702. Predominance of the Englisb Parliament. — Moly- neux. — Decisive action ot'theEnglisli Parliament. — Court and country parties. — Suppression of wool- len manufacture. — Comniis!>iou of confiscated es- tates. — Its revelations. — Vexation of King William. — Peace of Kyswick. — Act for establishing the Protestant succession. — Death of WUliiuu. While the ancient Irish nation lay in this miserable condition of uttei' ntillity, the Prot- estant colony continued its efforts to vindi- cate its independence of the Imperial Par- liament, but without miich success. Not only was its parliament compelled to send over to London the "heads" of its bills, to be ratified there, but the British Parliament still persisted in exercising an original juris- diction in Ireland, and to bind that kingdom by laws made in England, without any con- currence asked or obtained from the colonial legislature. It was always the firm resolve, both of the king and of the people of Eng- land, to deny and trample upon these assumed pretensions of their colony in Ireland to be an independent kingdom. The reader will suppose that the English governmentshould not have been very jealous of any power with which the Protestant As- cendency might be armed, when they 8o faithfully turned those arms against the civil and religious liberties of their Catholic coun- trymen. The Irish Parliament, however, presumed rather too much on its past ser- vices to England. Though they were so obedient as to forge chains for the Catholics, they should not flatter themselves with the liberty of making their own laws or regula- ting their own slaves. They were, for the future, to consider themselves as the hum- bled agents of an English Government, prompt at every call which national jealousy would give to inflict or to suspend the tor- ture. 18 HISTORY OF IRELAND. lu short, the Iiish Protestant Ascendency was soon to be taught that it was the mere agent of Enghsh empire, and must aspire to no other freedom than the freedom to op- press and trample upon the ancient Irish nation. " Your ancestors," said Mr. Curran to the Irish Parliament a hundred years af- ter— "Your ancestors thought themselves the oppressors of their fellow-subjects — but they were only their gaolers ; and the justice of Providence would have been frustrated if their own slavery had not been the punish- ment of their vice and of their folly." This appeared very plainly when Mr. William Molyneux, one of the members for Dublin University, published, in 1698, his work en- titled " The case of Ireland being bound by Acts of Parliament in England stated," a production which owes its fame rather to the indignant sensation it made in England, than to any peculiar merits of its own. It pro- fessed to discuss the principles of government and of human society, and was, in fact, more abstract and metaphysical than legal. It is said that Mr. Molyneux, who was an inti- mate friend of John Locke, had found his principles in the writings of that philosopher, and had even submitted his manuscript to Mr. Locke's approval. The essential part of the book, however, and the only practical part, was the distinct assertion of the inde- pendent power of the Irish Parliament, as the legislature of a sovereign state; and conse- quent denial of the right claimed and exer- cised by the English Parliament to bind Ire- land by its own enactments. The book at once attracted much attention, and was speed- ily replied to by two writers, named Carey and Atwood. A committee of the English Parliament was then appointed to examine the obnoxious pamphlet, and on the report of that committee, it was unanimously re- solved " that the said book was of dangerous consequence to the crown, and to the people of England," etc. The House, in a body, pre- sented an address to the king, setting forth what they called the bold and pernicious as- sertions contained in the aforesaid publica- tion, which they declared to have been "more fully and authentically affirmed by the votes and proceedings of the House of Commons in Ireland, during their late ses- eions, and more particularly by a bill trans- mitted under the great seal of Ireland, enti- tled 'An act for the better security of his majesty's person and government ;' whereby an act of parliament made in England was pretended to be re-enacted, and divers alter- ations therein made ; and they assuied his majesty of their ready concurrence and as- sistance to preserve and maintain the depen- dence and subordination of Ireland to the imperial crown of this realm ; and they hum- bly besought his majesty that he would dis- courage all things which might in any degree lessen or impair that dependence." The king promptly replied " that he would take care that what was complained of might be pre- vented and redressed as the Commons de- sired." Such was the extreme political depression of Ireland, that this haughty pio- cedure occasioned no visible resentment in her parliament, although the leaven of the doctrines of Molyneux was still working in men's minds; was afterwards improved by Swift and Lucas, and at length became irre- sistible, and ripened into an independent Irish Parliament in 1782. Meantime the proscribed Catholics took no interest in the controversy at all, and seemed insensible to its progiess. As the excellent Charles O'Con- or, of Belanagar, afterwards in the midst of the commotions excited by Lucas, wrote to a friend : " I am by no means interested, nor is any of our unfortunate population, in this affair of Lucas. A true patriot would not have betrayed such malice towards such un- fortunate slaves as we.'' And he truly adds, " These boasters, the Whigs, wish to have liberty all to themselves." In short, the two parties then existing in Ireland, and termed the court and country parties, were divided mainly upon this question : Is the conquered nation to be governed and exploited for the sole benefit of the colonial interest? or. Are all interests in Ireland, both colonial and na- tive, both Protestant and Catholic, to be sub- servient and tributary to England ? Candor requires it to be stated that of these two parlies, the court and the country, the for- mer was rather more favorable to the down- trodden Catholics ; a fact of which several examples will soon have to be related. At that moment the court party held the sway, and the English Parliament ruled all. The English were not disposed to let their LA"VA'S TO ANNIHILATE JUST TRADE. 19 predominance remain withont practical fruits, as appeared in the proceedings touching the woollen-trade of Ireland. During the few first years of William's reign, there being then abundance of sheep in Ireland, and also much cheap labor, considerable progress was made in the manufacture of woollen cloths ; these fabrics were exported in some quantity to foreign countries, and in many cases the Irish manufacturer was enabled to undersell the English. But England was then using great exertions to obtain the entire control of tliis gainful trade ; and the competition of Ireland gave great umbrage. It is true that the woollen-trade in Ireland, and all the profits of its export and sale, were in the hands of the English colonists, and that the colonial parliament in Dublin would fain have extended and protected it if they had been permitted. But here, again, the Eng- lish power stepped in, and. controlled every thing according to its own interest. The two liouses of Lords and Commons addressed -King William, urging that some immediate remedy must be found against the obnoxious trade in Ireland. The Lords, after detailing the intolerable oppression which was inflicted upon deserving industrious people in Eng- land, expressed themselves thus : " Where- fore, we most humbly beseech your most sacred majesty, that your majesty would be pleased in the most public and eftectual way that may be, to declare to all your subjects of Ireland, that the growth and increase of the woollen manufacture there hath long- been, and will be ever, looked upon with great jealousy by all your subjects of this kingdom, and if not timely remedied, may occasion very strict laws totally to prohibit and suppress the same." Probably no more shameless avowal of British greediness was ever made, even by the parliament of England. But the king replied at once that " he would do all that in him lay to dis- courage the woollen manufacture of Ireland ;" in other words, to ruin his subjects of that island. The Irish Parliament was now also assembled in Dublin. The Earl of Galway and two others were lords-justices ; and they, pursuant to their instructions, recommended to parliament to adopt means for putting a stop to the woollen manufacture and to en- courage the linen. The Commons, in their address, meekly replied, that *'they shall heartily endeavor" to encourage the linen trade ; and as to the woollen, they tamely express their hope to find such a tempera- ment that the same may not be injurious to England." The temperament they found was in the acts which were passed in the following year, 1699, which minutely regu- lated every thing relating to wool. In the first place, all export of Irish woollen cloths was priiliibited, except to England and Wales. The exception was delusive, because heavy duties, amounting to a prohibition, prevented Irish cloth from being imported into Eng- land or Wales. Irish wool, thereafter, had to be sent to England in a raw state, to be woven in Yorkshire ; and even this export was cramped by appointing one single Eng- lish port, Barnstable, as the only point where it could legally enter. All attempts at. for- eign commerce in Ireland were at this time impeded also by the " Navigation Laws," which had long prohibited all direct trade between Ireland and the colonies ; no colo- nial produce, under those laws, could be car- ried to Ireland until after it should have first entered an English port, and been unloaded there. The object eratiou, not only to put down the political 20 HISTORY OF IRELAND. pretensions, but to destroy the trade of Ire- land, and ail enforced directly by English statutes, it will be seen that the country party, which so proudly claimed national in- dependence, had but very slender chances at that time. Another event still further illus- trated this fact. The English Parliament, which was continually importuned by the king for grants of money to carry on his darling war against Louis XIV., found "that the immense amount of confiscated lands, forfeited by the "rebellion" (as the national war was called), had been squandered upon King William's favorites, or leased at insuf- ficient rents, also a small portion of it re- stored to its owners who had satisfied the government that they were innocent. That parliament therefore resolved, before making any more grants of money, to inquire how the forfeitures had been made available for the public service. A commission was ap- pointed by a vote of parliament for this pur- pose, and at the same time to provide for a grant of a million and a half sterling, for military and naval expenses. The form of this commission was itself an intimation that nothing less was contemplated than resump- tion of all the lands granted by special favor, of the king. This was very hard upon his majesty, and he regarded the proceeding with sour and silent displeasure ; for, in fact, he had granted out of these forfeitures im- mense estates to William Bentinck, whom he created Lord Woodstock, to Ginkell, Lord Athlone, and others of his Dutch friends ; — especially, he had bestowed over 95,600 acres on Mrs. Elizabeth Villiers, Countess of Orkney, a lady, who in the words of Lord Macaulay, " had inspired William with a pas- sion which had caused much scandal and unhappiness in the little court of the Hague" — where, in fact, his lawful wife resided. If the consideration of the grant was of the kind here intimated, it must be allowed that William paid the lady royally, out of others' estates. The commissioners fuither report great corruption and bribery in the matter of procuring pardons, and astonishing waste and destruction, especially of the fine woods, which had covered wide regions of the island. The drift of their report is, that the whole of the dealings with those confiscated lands were one foul and monstrous job. Here, it is to be remarked that this in- quiry and report were by no means in the interest of the plundered Catholics, the right owners of all those estates; on the contrary, one of the points dwelt on most bitterly by the commissioners was the resto- ration of a small portion of them to Catho- lic proprietors, under what the commission- ers considered delusive pretences ; and the resumption which they contemplated was to have the effect of again taking away those wrecks and remnants of the property of Catholics which had been redeemed out of the general ruirr. The English House of Commons, in a violent ferment, immediately resolved "that a bill be brought in to apply all the forfeited estates and interests in Ire- land, and all grants thereof, and of the rents and revenues belonging to the crown within that kingdom, since the 13th February, 1689, to the use of the public." Then a " Court of Delegates" was appointed to de- termine claims ; and it was resolved by the House "that they would not receive any petitions whatever against the provisions of this bill." The report of the commission had been signed only by four commissioners out of seven, namely, by Annesley, Trench- ard, Hamilton and Langford, the other three having dissented. The House, therefore, came to the resolution, " that Francis An- nesley, John Trenchard, James Hamilton, and Henry Langford, Esqs., had acquitted themselves with understanding, courage, and integrity ; which was an implied cen- sure on the Earl of Drogheda, Sir Francis Brewster, and Sir Richard Levinge, the three dissentient commissioners; and the House went so far as to vote Sir Richard Levinge to be the author of certain ground- less and scandalous aspersions respecting the commissioners who had signed the report, and to commit him, thereupon, prisoner to the Tower. There were long and acrimo- nious debates upon this question ; a sharp address to the king, in pursuance of the sense of the majority, and a submissive an- swer from his majesty, declaring that he was not led by inclination, but thought him- self obliged, in justice, to reward those who had served well, and particularly in the re- duction of Ireland, out of the estates forfeited to him by the rebellion there." And the THE FORFEn'ED IRISH ESTATES, 21 House resolved, in reply, " that whoever ad- vised his majesty's answer to the Address of the House has used his utmost endeavor to create a misunderstanding and jealousy between the king and his people." The "Bill of Resumption" of the forfeited estates finally passed, after vehement opposition, and re- ceived the reluctant royal assent, on the 11th of April, 1700, on which day his majesty prorogued the houses, without any speech, thinking there was no room for the usual expressions of satisfaction and gratitude ; and not choosing to give any public proof of discontent or resentment. In all these par- liamentary disputes, there was not the least question of the rights or claims of any Irish Catholic ; nor does it appear that thei'e would have been the slightest opposition to any scheme which concerned merely the resumption of lands restored to them. The biographer of William remarks, "that no transaction during the reign of this mon- arch so pressed upon his spirits, or so hum- bled his pride, as the resumption of the grants of the forfeited estates in Ireland by the English Parliament." This may be easily believed; but it is to be remarked, that we find no such opinion from King William's enthusiastic biographer when he was called on to set his seal to the legislative violations of the Treaty of Limerick. He could ill bear to deprive his Dutch courtiers of their Irish estates ; but it was of small moment to him to beggar and oppress millions of Irish- men in violation of his own plighted faith. In his private despatches to Lord Galway, shortly after the rising of parliament, the king says : " You may judge what vexation all their extraordinary proceedings gave me; and I assure you, your being depiived of what I gave you with so much pleasure is not the least of my griefs. I never had more occasion than at present for persons of your capacity and fidelity. I hope I shall find opportunities to give you marks of my esteem and friendship." The short remainder of William's reign was occupied chiefly with negotiations on tie continent; and with oscillations of his policy between the Whig and Tory parties ; according to the use which he thought he could make of those parties respectively in promoting his views against France — the only use which he could ever see in English parties, to say nothing of Irish ones. The peace of Ryswiek was signed in 1697; bui in 1701, King James died at St. Germains; and his son (afterwards c;illed the Pretender) was recognized as King James HI. of Eng- land by the king and court of France, who paid their visits of condolence and congratu- lation at the Court of St. Germains. King William immediately recalled his ambas- sador from Paris ; and again there was the evident and imminent necessity of a new war with France; which was all that King W^illiara lived for. He was not, however, to live much longer. The death of the young Duke of Glou- cester, son of the Piincess Anne, about the same time with that of King James II., gave occasion to the Act of Parliament — the last act of this reign — by which the crown of England was s^^ttled on the House of Hanover, after the demise of Anne. This act was repeated, as it were, mechanically, by the servile parliament of the Irish colony. But though a highly important settlement of the sovereign authority, it does not seem to have aroused the smallest interest in the mass of the Irish people. It seemed now to be their opinion, and indeed the opinion was just, that it mattered nothing to them fur the future whether Stuarts or Hano- verians should lule in England. They had had bitter experience of the one dynasty; and did not know that they were yet to have a more terrible experience of the other. King William had fallen into very bad health ; but still occupied himself in vast projects concerning his great concern, "the destinies of Europe.'' His speech, on the assembling of his last parliament, the last day of the year 1701, will show how his active mind was occupied to the last. " I persuade myself," said the king, " that you are met together, full of that just sense of the com- mon danger of Europe, and that resent- ment of the late proceedings of the French king, which has been so fully and univer- sally expressed in the loyal and seasonable addresses of my people. The eyes of all Europe are upon this parliament ; all mat;- ters are at a stand till your resolutions are known. Let me conjure you to disappoint 22 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the only hopes of our enemies by your unanimity. I have shown, and will always show, how desirous I am to be the common father of all my people. Do you, in like manner, lay aside parties and divisions. Let there be no other distinction heard of among us for the future, but of those who are for the Protestant religion and the present establishment, and of those who mean a popish priuce and a French govern- ment. If you do in good earnest desire to see England hold the balance of Europe, and to be indeed at the head of the Prot- estant interest, it will appear by your right improving the present opportunity." The king meant by voting large supplies for war with France. But King William was at the end of his wars; he was destined never to make any more of his famous reti'eats be- fore French marshals ; and he died in little more than two months after this speech, 8th of March, 1702, his death having been has- tened by a fall from his hoi'se in riding from Kensington to Hampton Court. His death was little regretted, save in Holland, by any- body ; even by the squires of the "Ascenden- cy" in Ireland, who long toasted in their cups his "glorious, pious, and immortal mem- ory." He had no personal quality that could endear him to any human being, unless the common quality of personal bravery may be so accounted. His religion was hatred to Papists ; his fair fame was stained by faith- lessness and cruelty, and he will be forever named in history the Treaty-breaker of Lim- erick and the assassin of Glencoe. CHAPTER V. 1702-1704. Queen Anne. — Rochester lord- lieutenant. — Orniond lord-lieutenaiit. — War on the continent. — Suc- cesses under Marlborough. — Second formal breach of the Treaty of Limerick. — Bill to prevent the further growth of Popery. — Clause against the Dissenters.— Catholic lawyers heard against the bill.— Pleading of Sir Toby Butler.— Bill passed. — Object of the Penal Laws. — To get hold of the property of Catholics. — Recall of the Edict of Nantes. — Irish on the Continent. — Cremona. The Princess Anne, generally called at that time Anne of Denmark, because she was the wife of the Prince of Denmark, suc- ceeded William on the throne of the three kingdoms. She was the daughter of King James II., in vindication of whoee rights the Irish nation had fought so desperately, and suffered so cruelly. She was acknowledged as queen, avowedly as the last of her race, by virtue of the act establishing the succes- sion in the House of Hanover ; and her broth- er was an attainted and proscribed outlaw. But if the Irish people had imagined that any Stuart, or indeed any English sovereign, could either be moved by gratitude for their loyal service, or stung by resentment against the dominant Whig party, which ruined and degraded the Stuart family, to the point of interposing or interceding on behalf of the oppressed Catholics, they would have been grossly deceived. In truth, they had no such hope or expectation. They were as indifferent to the Stuarts now as the Stuarts were to them ; and except some Irish officers on the continent, who still put their trust in a counter-revolution, noue of the Irish took the smallest interest in the new settlement of the throne, nor cared whether a descendant of the Stuarts or of the Electress of Hanover should reign over England. King W^illiara had died just at the mo- ment when his able policy had succeeded in uniting the power of the Germanic Em- pire with that of England and Holland, for another war agninst Louis. Three days after her accession, the queen repaired in person, with the usual pomp and solemnity, to the House of Peers, and made a speech from th* throne, expressing her fixed resolution to prosecute the measures concerted by the latf king, whom she styled " the great support, not only of these kingdoms, but of all Eu- rope." And she declared " that too much could not be done for the encouragement ol our allies, and to reduce the exorbitant pow- er of France." In the conclusion of her speech she took occasion to protest " that her heart was truly English," which was consid- ered a studied affront to the memory of the late king, whose heart was Dutch ; but the allusion probably only added to her popu- larity. Her most influential counsellors, at first, were the Earls of Marlborough and Go- dolphin, who were eager for the most vigor- ous prosecution of the war. Lord Godolphin LAWS TO TORTURE THE IRISH. 23 was appointed Lord HiQ;h Treasurer, and Marlborough Captain-General of the forces of England at home and abroad. War was de- clared against France simultaneously on the same day at London, Vienna, and the Hague. Lord Rochester was then Lord-Lieutenant of L'eland, He was of the Tory party, much averse to the war, and loud in his denuncia- tions of it. But his protests at the council- board having been disregarded, he retired in high indignation to his country-seat. Shortly afterwards a message from the queen was dis- patched to him, commanding him to repair to his government of Ireland, whereupon he insolently declared " that he would not go if the queen gave him the whole country." The earl then waited on her majesty and re- signed his office, which was immediately conferred upon the Duke of Ormond ; an evil omen for Ireland when one of the name of Butler was appointed to rule over her. But the duke did not come to Dublin for that year, as he was employed in military service abroad ; this island was therefore, as usual, placed under the government of three lords-justices, Lord Mount Alexander, Gen- eral Erie, and Mr. Knightley. The military operations began witli the siege of Kaisarswart, a strong place on the Rhine. The Prince of Nassau-Saarbruck conducted the siege, and Ginkell, now " Earl of Athlone," commanded the covering army. The place capitulated on the 15th of June. Shortly after, the Earl of Mai-lborough came over from England to take command of the allied army ; and entered upon that career of brilliant achievements which entitled him to rank as the first soldier of his time. Un- fortunately the English arms were successful in this campaign ; and the unfailing result followed — a new code of laws to still further beggar and torture the Irish. It is an irk- some and painful task to pursue the details of that terrible penal code ; but the penal code is the history of Ireland. The Duke of Or- mond, after an unsuccessful attempt upon Cadiz, and a prosperous one upon the Span- ish fleet in the harbor of Vigo, in Spain, came over to his government in Ireland, ■where the Irish Commons, in a body, pre- sented to him the first of the fi^mous bills "to prevent the further growth of Popery." The House, says Burnett, "pressed the duke with more than usual vehemence, to inter- cede so effectually that it might be returned back under the great seal of England." His grace was pleased to give his promise "that he would recommend it in the most effectual manner, and do every thing in his power to prevent the growth of Popery." One might indeed suppose that "Popery" had been already sufficiently discouraged ; seeing that the bishops and regular clergy had been banished ; that Catholics wei'e ex- cluded by law from all honorable or lucra^ tive employments; carefully disarmed and plundered of almost every acre of their an- cient inheritances. But enough had not yet been done to make the "Protestant interest" feel secure. The provisions of this bill " to prevent the further growth of Poperv," which were so warmly recommended by the Duke of Ormond, are shoitly these : the third clause enacts that if the son of a Papist shall at any time become a Piotestant, his father may not sell or mortgage his estate, or dis- pose of it, or any portion of it, bv will. The fourth clause provides that a Papist shall not be guardian to his own child ; and fur- ther, that if his child, no matter how young, conforms to the Protestant religion, he re- duces his father at once to a tenant for life ; the child is to be taken from its father, and placed under the guardianship of the nearest Protestant relation. The sixth clause ren- ders Papists incapable of purchasing any landed estates, or rents or profits arising out of land, or holding any lease of lives, or anv other lease for any term exceeding thirty-one years ; and even in such leases the reserved rent must be at least "one-third of the im- proved annual value ;" any Protestant who discovers being entitled to the interest in the lease. The seventh clause prohibits Papists from succeeding to the property of their Prot- estant relations. The tenth clause provides that the estate of a Papist who has no Prot- estant heir shall be gavelled^ that is, parcelled in equal shares between all his children. Other clauses impose on Catholics the oath of abjuration and the sacramental test, to qualify for any office or for voting at any election. After several further clauses rela- ting to qualifications for office, which were not of very great importance, as no Catholic then aspired to any office, come the loth, 24 HISTORY OP IRELAND. 16th, and 17th chiuses, which carefully de- prive the citizens of Limerick and Gahvay of the poor privilege promised them in the treaty, of living in their own towns and car- rying on their trade there, which, it will be remembered, was grievously complained of by the Protestant residents as a wrong and oppression upon them. When this bill was sent to England it somewhat embarrassed the court. Queen Anne was then in firm alliance with the great Catholic power of Austria, and the English Government, with its usual hypocrit- ical aflfectation of liberality, was ever pressing the emperor for certain indulgences to his Protestant subjects. Yet the bill was not objected to on the part of the crown ; it was, in fact, thought then, as it is thought now — and with justice — that what is done in Ireland is done in a corner; and that Eng- land might continue to play her part as champion of religious liberty in the world, while she herself went to the uttermost ex- tremities of intolerant atrocity in Ireland. The bill was sent back approved, in order that it might be passed by the Irish Parlia- ment ; and the only modification it received in England was actually an additional clause imposing still further penalties and disabil- ities. This clause was levelled against the Protestant Dissenters, who weie already a numerous and wealthy body, especially in Ulster ; and was to the effect that none in Ireland should be capable of any employ- ment, or of being in the magistracy of any city, who did not qualify by receiving the sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England ; according to the Test Act, which had 'till then been applicable only to that kingdom, and had never yet been imposed upon Ireland. It has been alleged by the friends of the Government of Queen Anne, that the Administration in- vented this plan, hoping that it would de- feat the bill altogether. Bishop Burnet, in his History of his own Times, says, " It was hoped, by those who got this clause added to the bill, that those in Ireland who pro- moted it most, would now be the less fond of it, when it had such a weight hung to it." If it be indeed true that the government in- tended to defeat the bill by this underhand method, the plan did not succeed. Nothing was too savage for the " Ascendency," pro- vided only that it was to aggrieve and op- press the Catholics ; and for the same great object, the Dissenters themselves, though they remonstrated at first by petition, soon meekly acquiesced in their own exclusion and dis- abilities. The law was to ruin the Catho- lics ; and that was enough for them. On the return of the bill to Ireland, and before its passage in Dublin, certain Catho- lics prayed to be heard by counsel in oppo- sition to it. They were Nicholas Viscount Kingsland, ColonelJ. Brown, Colonel Burke, Colonel Robert Nugent, Colonel Patrick Allen, Captain French, and other Catholics cvf Limerick and Galway. Their petition was granted ; and in pursuance of that or- der, three advocates for the Catholics ap- peared at the bar of the House of Com- mons. They were Sir Theobald Butler, Counsellor Malone, and Sir Stephen Rice ; the two first in their gowns, the third with- out a gown, as he appeared not for the pe- titioners in general, but for himself in his private capacity, as one of the aggrieved persons. It is to be observed that these Catholic lawyers were themselves "pro- tected persons," within the meaning of the Articles of Limerick ; and that they were pleading on that day not only for their clients, but for themselves — for their own liberty to plead in court and to wear their gowns. It was a very remarkable scene ; and as it forms an era in the history of Irish penal laws, we shall insert here the main part of the excellent argumentative appeal of Sir Theobald Butler, as it is abstracted in several histories of the time.* The speaker opens, of course, by laying great stress upon the Articles of Limerick ; he proceeds thus: "That since the said articles were thus under the most solemn ties, and for such valu- able considerations granted the petitioners, by nothing less than the general of the army, the lords-justices of the kingdom, the king, queen, and parliament, the public faith of the nation was therein concerned, obliged, bound, and engaged, as fully and firmly as was possible for one people to pledge faith to another ; that therefore this Parliament could not pass such a bill as that intituled An Act * It will be found at f\ill lens:th in Plowdeu's Ap- pendix and in Curry's Historical Keview. ACT TO PREVENT THB GROWTH OF POPERY. 25 to prevent the further g-rowth of Popery, then before the House, into a law, without infring- ing those articles, and a manifest breach of the public faith ; of which he hoped that House would be no less regardful and ten- der than their predecessors who made the act for confirming those articles had been. "That if he proved that the passing that act was such a manifest breach of tho^e ar- ticles, and consequently of the public faith, he hoped that honorable House would be very tender how they passed the said bill before them into a law ; to the apparent pi e- judiceofthe petitioners, and the hazard of bringing upon themselves and posterity such evils, reproach, and infamy as the doing the like had brought upon other nations and people. " Now, that the passing such a bill as that then before the House to prevent the further growth of Popery will be a breach of those articles, and consequently of the public faith, I prove (said he) by the following argument : " The argument then is (said he) whatever shall be enacted to the prejudice or destroy- ing of any obligation, covenant, or contract, in the most solemn manner, and for the most valuable consideration entered into, is a manifest violation and destruction of every such obligation, covenant, and contract : but the passing that bill into a law will evidently and absolutely destroy the Articles of Lim- erick and Galway, to all intents and pur- poses, and therefore the passing that bill into a law will be such a breach of those articles, and consequently of the public faith, plighted for performing those articles ; which re- mained to be proved. "The major is proved (said he), for that ■whatever destroys or violates any contract, or obligation, upon the most valuable con- siderations, most solemnly made and entered into, destroys and violates the end of every such contract or obligation : but the end and design of those articles was, that all those therein comprised, and every of their heirs, should hold, possess, and enjoy all and every of their estates of freehold and inheritance, and all the rights, titles, and interests, privi- leges, and immunities, which they and every of them held, enjoyed, or were rightfully in- tituled to, in the reign of King Charles the Second ; or at any time since, by the laws and statutes that were in force in the said reign in this realm : but that the design of this bill was to take away every such right, title, interest, &c., from every father being a Papist, and to make the Popish father, who, by the articles and laws aforesaid, had an undoubted right either to sell or otherwise at pleasure to dispose of his estate, at any time of his life, as he thought fit, only ten- ant for life : and consequently disabled from selling, or otherwise disposing thereof, after his son or other heir should become Protes- tant, though otherwise never so disobedient, profligate, or extravagant : ercfo, this act tends to the destroying the end for which those articles were made, and consequently the breaking of the public faith, plighted for their performance. "The minor is proved by the 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, Yth, 8th, 9th, loth, 16th, and 17th clauses of the said bill, all which (said he) I shall consider and speak to, in the order as they are placed in the bill. "By the first of these clauses (which is the third of the bill), I that am the Popish father, without committing any crime against the state, or the laws of the laud (by which only I ought to be governed), or any other fault ; but merely for being of the religion of my forefathers, and that which, till of late years, was the ancient -religion of these kingdoms, contrary to the express words of the second Article of Limerick, and the public faith, plighted as aforesaid for their performance, am deprived of my inheritance, freehold, &c., and of all other advantages which by those articles and the laws of the land I am entitled to enjoy, equally with every other of my fellow subjects, whether Protestant or Popish. And though such my estate be even the purchase of my own hard labor and industry, yet I shall not (though my occasions be never so pressing) have liberty (after my eldest son or other heir becomes a Protestant) to sell, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of, or charge it for pay- ment of my debts, or have leave out of my own estate to order portions for my other children ; or leave a legacy, though never so small, to my poor fatlier or mother, or other poor relations; but during my own life my estate shall be given to my son or other heir being a Protestant, though never so 26 HISTORY OF IRELAND. uiidutiful, prortigate, extravagant, or other- wise undeserving ; and I that am the pur- chasing father, shall become tenant for life only to my own purchase, inheritance and freehold, which I purchased with my own money ; and such my son or other heir, by this act, shall be at liberty to sell or other- wise at pleasure to dispose of my estate, the sweat of my brows, before my face ; and I that am the purchaser, shall not have liberty to raise one farthing upon the estate of my own purchase, either to pay my debts, or portion my daughters (if any I have), or make provisions for my other male children, though never so deserving and dutiful : but my estate, and the issues and profits of it, shall, before ray face, be at the disposal of another, who cannot possibly know how to distinguish between the dutiful and undutiful, deserving and undeserving. Is not this, gentlemen (said he), a hard case ? I beseech you, gentlemen, to consider, whether you would not think it so, if the scale was changed, and the case your own, as it is like to be ours, if this bill pass into a law. " It is natural for the father to love the child ; but we all know (says he) that children are but too apt and subject, with- out any such liberty as that bill gives, to slight and neglect their duty to their parents; and surely such an act as this will not be an instrument of restraint, but rather encourage them more to it. " It is but too common with the son who has a prospect of an estate, when once he arrives at the age of one-and-twenty, to think the old father too long in the way between him and it; and how much more will he be subject to it, when by this act he shall have liberty, before he comes to that age, to compel and force my estate from me, without asking my leave, or being liable to account with me for it, or out of his share thereof, to a moiety of the debts, portions, or other incumbrances, with which the estate might have been charged, before the passing this act. " Is not this against the laws of God and man ; against the rules of reason and justice, by which all men ought to be governed ? Is not this the only way in the world to make children become undutiful, and to bring the, gray head of the parent to the grave with grief and tears ? *' It would be hard from any man ; but from a son, a child, the fruit of my body, whom I have nursed in my bosom and tendered more dearly than my own life, to become my plunderer, to rob me of my estate, to cut my throat, and to take away my bread, is much more grievous than from any other ; and enough to make the most flinty of hearts to bleed to think on't. And yet this will be the case if this bill pass into a law ; which I hope this honorable assembly will not think of when they shall more seriously consider, and have weighed these matters. " For God's sake, gentlemen, will you consider Avhether this is according to the golden rule, to do as you would be done unto? And if not, surely you will not, nay you cannot, without being liable to be charged with the most manifest injustice imaginable, take from us our birthrights, and invest them in others before our faces, " By the 4th clause of the bill, the popish father is under the penalty of 500/. debarred from being guaidian to, or having the tuition or custody of his own child or children : but if the child pretends to be a Protestant, though never so young or incapable of judging of the principles of religion, it shall be taken from its own father, and put into the hands or care of a Protestant relation, if any there be qualified as this act directs, for tuition, though never so great an enemy to the popish parent; and for want of relations so qualified, into the hands and tuition of such Protestant stranger as the couit of chancery shall think fit to appoint; who perhaps may likewise be my enemy, and out of prejudice to me who am the popish fathei, shall infuse into my child not only such principles of religion as are wholly incon- sistent with my liking, but also against the duty which, by the laws of God and nature, is due from every child to its parents : and it shall not be in my power to remedy, or question him for it; and yet I shall be obliged to pay for such education, how perni- cious soever, -f^av, if a legacy or estate lia 1 to any of my children, being minors, I th^it am the popish father shall not have the liberty to take care of it, but it shall b(^ [nit into the hands of a stranger; and tlicugii I ACT TO PREVENT THB; GROWTH OP POPERY. 27 see it confounded before my face, it shall not be in my power to help it. Is not this a hard case, gentlemen ? I am sure you cannot but allow it to be a very hard case. "The 5th clause provides that no Protes- tant or Protestants, having any estate, real or personal, within this kingdom, shall at any time after the 24th of March, 1703, intermarry with any Papist, either in or out of this kingdom, under the penalties in an act made in the 9th of King William, inti- tuled, An Act to prevent Protestants inter- marrying with Papists; which penalties, see in the 5th clause of the act itself " Surely, gentlemen, this is such a law as was never heard of before, and against the law of right and the law of nations ; and therefore a law which is not in the power of mankind to make without breaking through the laws which our wise ancestors prudently provided for the security of posterity, and which you cannot infringe without hazard- ing the undermining the whole legislature, and encroaching upon the privileges of your neighboring nations, which it is not reason- able to believe they will allow. "It has indeed been known, that there hath been laws made in England that have been binding in Ireland : but surely it never was known that any law made in Ireland could affect England or any other country. But by this act, a person committing matri- mony (an ordinance of the Almighty) in England or any other part beyond the seas (where it is lawful both by the laws of God and man so to do), if ever they come to live in Ireland, and have an inheritance or title to any interest to the value of 500/., they shall be punished for a fact consonant with the lav/s of the land where it was com- mitted. But, gentlemen, by your favor, this is what, with submission, is not in your power to do : for no law that either now is, or that hereafter shall be in force in this kingdom, shall be able to take cognizance of any fact committed in another nation ; nor can any one nation make laws for any other nation, but what is subordinate to it, as Ireland is to England ; but no other nation is subordinate to Ireland ; and therefore any laws made in Ireland, cannot punish me for any fact committed in any other nation, but more especially England, to whom Ireland is subordinate: and the reason is, eveiy free nation, such as all our neighboring nations are, by the great law of nature, and the universal privileges of all nations, have an undoubted right to make, and be ruled and governed by the laws of their own making : for that to subnet to any other, would be to give away their own birthright and native freedom, and becon)e suboidinate to their neighbors, as we of this kingdom, since the making of Poyning's Act, have been and are to England. A right which England would never so much as endure to hear of, much less submit to. "We see how careful our forefathers have been to provide that no man should be pun- ished in one country (even of the same nation) for crimes committed in another country; and surely it would be highly unreasonable, and contrary to the laws of all nations in the whole world, to punish me in this kingdom for a fact committed in England, or any other nation, which was not against, but consistent with the laws of the nation where it was committed. I am sure there is not any law in any other na- tion of the world that would do it. '•The 6th clause of this bill is likewise a manifest breach of the second of Limerick Articles, fir by that article all per.-^ons com- prised under those articles, were to enjoy and have the full benefit of all the rights, titles, privileges, and immunities whatsoever, which they enjoyed, or by the laws of the land then in force, were entitled to enjoy, in the reign of King Charles II, And by the laws then in force, all the Papists of Ireland had the same liberty that any of their fellow-subjects had to purchase any manors, lands, tenements, hereditaments, leases of lives, or for years, rents, or any other thing of profit whatsoever: but by this clause of this bill, every Papist or person pro- fessing the popish religion, after the 24th of March, 1703, is made incapable of purchasing any manors^ lands, tenements, hereditaments, or any rents, or profits out of the same ; or holding any lease of lives, or any other lease whatsoever, for any terra exceeding thirty- one years; wherein a rent, not less than two-thirds of the improved yearly value, shall be reserved, and made payable, during the whole term: and therefore this clause of 28 HISTORY OP IRELAND. this bill, if made into a law, will be a man- ifest breach of those articles. "The 7th clause is yet of much more general consequence, and not only a like breach of those articles, but also a manifest robbing of all the Roman Catholics of the kingdom of their birthright : for by those articles all those therein comprised were (said he) pardoned all misdemeanors what- soever, of which they had in any manner of way been guilty ; and restored to all the rights, liberties, privileges, and immunities ■whatever, which, by the laws of the land, and customs, constitutions and native birth- right, they, any, and every of them, were, equally with every other of their fellow- subjects intituled unto. And by the laws of nature and nations, as well as by the laws of the land, every native of any country has an undoubted right and just title to all the privileges and advantages which such their native country affords : and surely no man but will allow, that by such a native right every one born in any country hath an undoubted right to the inheritance of his father, or any other to whom he or they may be heir at law ; but if this bill pass into a law, every native of this kingdom that is and shall remain a Papist is, ipso facto, dur- ing life, or his or their continuing a Papist, deprived of such inheritance, devise, gift, remainder, or trust of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, of which any Protestant now is, or hereafter shall be seized in fee- simple-absolute, or fee-tail, which by the death of such Protestant, or his wife, ought to descend immediately to his son or sons, or other issue in tail, being such Papists, and eighteen years of age ; or, if under that age, within six months after coming to that age, shall not conform to the Church of Ireland, as by law established ; and every such de- vise, gift, remainder, or trust which, accord- ing to the laws of the land, and such native right, ought to descend to such Papist, shall, during the life of such Papist (unless he for- sake his religion), descend to the nearest relation that is a Protestant, and his heirs being and continuing Protestants, as though the said popish heir and all other popish relations were dead ; without being account- able for the same : which is nothing less than robbing such popish heir of such his birth- right ; for no other reason, but his being and continuing of that religion, which by the first of Limerick Articles, the Roman Catholics of this kingdom were to enjoy, as they did in the reign of King Charles II., and then there was no law in force that deprived any Roman Catholic of this kingdom of any such their native birthright, or any other thing whicV, by the laws of the land then in force, any other fellow-subjects were intituled unto. "The 8th clause of this bill is to erect in this kingdom a law oi gavel-kind, a law in itself so monstrous and strange, that I dare say this is the first time it was ever heard of in the world ; a law so pernicious and destructive to the well-being of families and societies, that in an age or two there will hardly be any remembrance of any of the ancient Roman Catholic families ktiown in the kingdom ; a law which, therefore, I may again venture to say, was never before known or heard of in the universe. " There is, indeed, in Kent, a custom call- ed the custom of gavel-kind ; but I never heard of any law for it till now ; and that custom is far different from what by this bill is intended to be made a law ; for there, and by that custom, the father or other per- son, dying possessed of any estate of his own acquisition, or not entailed (let him be of what persuasion he will), may by will be- queath it at pleasure : or if he dies without will, the estate shall not be divided, if there be any male heir to inherit it ; but for want of male heir, then it shall descend in gavel- kind among the daughters and not otherwise. But by this act, for want of a Protestant heir, enrolled as such within three months after the death of such Papist, to be divided, share and share abke, among all his sons ; for want of sons, among his daughters ; for want of such, among the collateral kindred of his father ; and for want of such, among those of his mother ; and this is to take place of any grant, settlement, &c., other than sale, for valuable consideration of money, really, bona fide, paid. And shall I not call this a strange law ? Surely it is a strange law, which, contrary to the laws of all nations, thus confounds all settlements, how ancient soever, or otherwise wairautable by all the laws heretofore in force in this or any other kingdom. • ACT TO PREVENT THE GROWTH OF POPERY. 29 "The 9tli clause of this act is another manifest breach of the Articles of Limerick; for by the 9th of those articles, no oath is to be adraitiistered to, nor imposed upon such Roman Catholics as should submit to the Government, but the oath of allegiance appointed by an act of parliament made in England in the first year of the reign of their late majesties King William and Queen Mary (which is the same with the first of those appointed by the 10th clause of this act) : but by this clause, none shall have the benefit of this act, that shall not con- form to the Church of Ireland, subscribe the declaration, and take and subscribe the oath of abjuration, appointed by the 9th clause of this act ; and therefore this act is a manifest breach of those articles, ^ib!y be depressed lower, unless they had been actually bought RECALL OF THE EDICT OF NANTES. 31 and sold as slaves. Forbidden to teach or to be taught, whether at home or abroad, deprived of necessary arms for self-defence, or even for the chase ; disabled from being- so much as game-keepers, lest any of them should learn the use of firearms ; and pro- vision being made for gradually impoverish- ing the Catholic families who still owned any thing, and preventing the industrious from makinir themselves independent by their labor — it would be hard to point out any people of ancient or modern times who groaned under a more ingenious, torturing, and humiliating oppression. Yet one pecu- liarity is to be remarked in the administration of these laws : — they were so applied, for gen- erations, as to allow a bare toleration to Cath- olic worship, provided that worship were prac- tised in mean and obscure places, provided there were no clergy in the kingdom but simple secular priests ; who were also com- pelled to register their names and the paiishes " of which they pretended to be popish priests" — the penalty for saying mass out of those registered parishes being transportation, and in case of return, death. On these terms, then, it was practically permitted to Catholics to attend at the service of their religion, al- though this was contrary to an express law, namely, to the " Act of Uniformity," which required all persons not having lawful excuse to attend on the services of the Established Church. But throughout all this reign of Anne, and the two succeeding reigns, there was no such relaxation as this allowed in any matter relating to property, privilege, or trade : in all these matters the code was exe- cuted with the most rigorous severity. So that it is plain the object of the Ascen- dency was not so much to convert Catholics to Protestantism, as to convei't the goods of Catholics to Protestant use. This is the main difference between the Catholic perse- cutions on the continent at that period and the Protestant persecutions in Ireland : and it fully justifies the reflection of a late writer — "It maybe a circumstance in favor of the Protestant code (or it may not), that whereas Catholics have really persecuted for religion, ' enlightened' Protestants only made a pretext of religion ; taking no thought what became of Catholic souls, if only they could get pos- session of Catholic lands and jroods. Also we may remark, that Catholic governments in their persecutions always really desired the conversion of misbelievers (albeit their methods were rough) ; but in Ireland, if the people had universally turned Catholic, it would have defeated the whole scheme." The recall of the Edict of Nantes, whicli edict had secured toleration for Protestant- ism in France, is bitterly dwelt upon by English writers as the heaviest reproach which weighs on the memory of King Louis the Fourteenth. The recall of the edict had taken place in 1685, only a few j'ears before the passage of this Irish " Act to prevent the further growth of Popery." The differences between the two transactions are mainly these two : first, that the French Protestants had not been guaranteed their civil and religious rights by any treaty, as the Irish Catholics, thought they held theirs by the Treaty of Lim- erick ; necond, that the penalties denounced against French Protestants by the recallinfj edict bore entirely upon their religious service itself, and were truly intended to induce and force the Huguenots to become Catholics; there being no confiscations except in cases of relapse, and in cases of quitting the king- dom ; but there was nothing of all the com- plicated machinery above described, for beg- garing one portion of the population, and giv- ing its spoils to the other part. We may add, that the penalties and disabilities in France lasted a much shorter time than in Ireland ; and that French Protestants were restored to perfect civil and religious equality with their countrymen in every respect forty years before the "Catholic Relief Act" pur- poiled to emancipate the Irish Catholics, who are not, indeed, emancipated yet. Mr. Burke, in his excellent tract on the penal laws, com- paring the recall of the Nantes Edict with our Irish system, says with great force — "This act of injustice, which let loose on that monarch such a torrent of invective and reproach, and which threw so dark a cloud over all the splendor of a most illustrious reign, falls far short of the case in Ireland. The privileges which the Protestants of that kingdom enjoyed antecedent to this revoca- tion, were far greater than the Roman Catho- lics of Ireland ever aspired to under a con- trary establishment. The number of th«ir sufferers, if considered absolutely, is not the 82 HISTORY OF IRELAND. half of ours ; if considered relatively to the body of each community, it is not perhaps a twentieth part ; and then the penalties and incapacities which grew from that rev- ocation are not so grievous in their nature, nor so certain in their execution, nor so ruin- ous by a great deal to the civil prosperity of the state, as those which were established for a perpetual law in our unhappy country." Readers will turn with pleasure from the gloomy and painful scene presented by Ire- land in that dismal time, to the other half of Ireland, the choicest of the whole nation ; which was to be found in all the camps and fields of Europe, wherever gallant feats of arms were to be done. The gallant Justin MacCarthy, Lord Mountcashel, had long been dead, having fallen on the field of Siaffardo under Marshal Catinat, in 1790; where a brigade of Irish troops had been serving in the French army before the surrender of Limerick. The arrival of Sarsfield, with so many distinguished officers and veteran troops, gave occasion to the formation of the " New Irish Brigade ;" and we have seen with how much distinction that corps had fought against England on so many fields of the Netherlands. In the new war which followed the accession of Queen Anne, bodies of the Irish forces served in each of the great French armies. There were four regi- ments of cavalry, Galway's, Kilmallock's, Sheldon's, and Clare's — -the last commanded by O'Brien, Lord Clare, constantly employed in these wars — and at least seven regiments of infantry. All these corps were kept more than full by new arrivals of exiles and emi- grants. It will afford a relief from the irksome tale of oppression at home, to tell how some of these exiles acquitted themselves when they liad the good luck to meet on some foreign field either Englishmen or the allies of England. About the time when the law- yers of the " Ascendency" were elaborating in Dublin their bill for the plunder of Catho- lic widows and orphans, it happened that there were two regiments, Dillon's (one of Mountcashel's old brigade) and Burke's, called the Athlone regiment, which formed part of the garrison of Cremona on the bank of the Po. The French commander was the Duke de Villeroy, who had just brought his whole army into Cremona, after an unsuc- cessful affair with Prince Eugene at Chiari. Cremona was then, as it is now, a very strong fortified town ; and the duke intended to rest his forces there for a time, as it was the depth of winter. The enterprising Prince Eugene planned a surprise : he had procured for himself some traitorous intelligence in the town, and some of his grenadiers had already been introduced by a clever strata- gem. Large bodies of troops had appioached close to the town by various routes ; and all was ready for the grand operation on the night of the 2d of February, 1702. Villeroy and his subordinates were of course much to blame for having suffered all the prepara- tions for so grand a military operation to be brought to perfection up to the very moment of execution. The marshal was peacefully sleeping : he was awalied by volleys of musketry. He dressed and mounted in great haste ; and the first thing he met in tlie streets was a squadron of Imperial cav- alry, who made him prisoner, his captor being an Austrian officer named MacDonnell. Prince Eugene, with Count Stahremberg, Commerci, and seven thousand men, were already in the heart of the town, and occu- pying the great square. It was four o'clock on a February morning, when all this had been accomplished ; and Prince Eugene thought the place already won, when the French troops only began to turn out of their beds, and dress. Alarm was soon given. The regiment des Vaisseaux and the two Irish regiments are the only corps mentioned, by M. de Voltaire as having distinguished themselves in turning the fortune of that terrible morning ; and as Voltaire is not usually favoiable, nor even just to the Irish, it is well to transcribe first his narrative of the affair. "The Chevalier d'Entragues was to hold a review that day in the town of the regiment des Vaisseaux, of which he was colonel ; and already the soldiers were assembling at four o'clock at one extremity of the town just as Prince Eugene was en- tering by the other. D'Entragues begins to run through the streets with the soldiers; resists such Germans as he encounters, and gives time to the rest of the gairison to hurry up. Officers and soldiers, pell-mell, some half-armed, others almost naked, with- BRTr,T,IA^^^ AcniEVEMExr of the Irish. 33 out diroction, without order, till the streets and public places. They figlit in confusion, intrench themselves from street to street, from place to place. Two Irish regiments, who made part of the garrison, arrest the advance of the Imperialists, Never town was surprised with more skill, nor defended with so much valor. The garrison consisted of about five thousand men : Prince Eugene had not yet brought in more than four thousand. A large detachment of his army was to arrive by the Po bridge: the measures were well taken ; but another chance deranged all. This bridge over the Po, insufficiently guarded by about a hundred French soldiers, was to have been seized by a body of German cui- rassiers, who, at the moment Prince Eugene was entering the town, were commanded to go and take possession of it. For this pur- pose it was necessary that having first en- tered by the southern gate, they should in- stantly go outside of the city in a northern direction by the Po gate, and then hasten to the bridge. But in going thither the guide who led them was killed by a musket-ball fired from a window. The cuirassiers take one street for another. In this short inter- val, the Irish spring forward to the gate of the Po : they fight and repulse the cuirassiers. The Marquis de Praslin profits by the mo- ment to cut down the bridge. The succor which the enemy counted on did not arrive, and the town was saved."* But the fighting was by no means over with the repulse of Count Merci's reinforcements : a furious com- bat raged all the morning in the streets ; and Mahony and Burke had still much to do. At last the whole Imperialist force was finally repulsed ; and the soldiers then got time to put on their jackets. Colonel Burke lost of his regiment seven oflBcers and forty-two soldiers killed, and nine offi- cers and fifty soldiers wounded. Dillon's regiment, commanded that day by Major Mahony, lost one officer and forty-nine soldiers killed, and twelve officers and sev- enty-nine soldiers wounded. * Some of tlie Irish accounts of this achievement are too glowinjr, perhaps, as is natural. Even ae- cordinsr to Voltaire's narration, tlie Irish soldiers really did every tliiner which he says was done at all; beat Prince Eugene's troops in the city itself, and saved the I'o Gate from the other detachment under the Count Merci. 6 King Louis sent formal thanks to the two Irish regiments, and raised their pay from that day. In the campaigns of 1703 the Irish had at least their full share of employment and of honor. Under Vendome, they made their mark in Italy, on the fields of Vittoria, Luz- zara, Cassano, and Calcinato. On the Rhine, they were still more distinguished ; especially at Freidlingen and Spires, in which latter battle a splendid charge of Nugent's horse saved the fortune of the day. After this year the military fortune of France declined ; but, whether in victory or defeat, the Brigade was still fighting by their side ; nor is there any record of an Irish regiment having be- haved badly on any field. At the battle of Hochstet or Blenheim, in 1704, Marshal Tallard was defeated and taken prisoner by Marlborough and Eugene. The French and Bavarians lost 10,000 killed, 13,000 prisoners, and 90 pieces of cannon. Yet amid this mon- strous disaster, Clare's dragoons were vic- torious over a portion of Eugene's famous cavalry, and took two standards. And in the battle of Ramillies, in 1706, where Villeroy was utterly routed, Clare's dra- goons attempted to cover the wreck of the retreating French, broke through an Eng- lish regiment, and followed them into the thronging van of the Allies. Mr. Forman' states that they were generously assisted out of this predicament by an Italian regi- ment, and succeeded in carrying otf the English colors they had taken. At the sad days of Oudenarde and Mal- plaquet, some of them were ako present ; but to the victories which brightened this time, so dark to France, the Brigade contributed materially. At the battle of Almanza (13th March, 1707,) several Irish regiments served under Berwick. In the early part of the day the Portuguese and Spanish auxiliaries of England were broken, but the English and Dutch fought successfully for a long time ; nor was it till repeatedly charged by the elite of Berwick's army, including the Irish, that they were forced to retreat. 3,000 killed, 10,000 prison- ers, and 120 standards, attested the mag- nitude of the victory. It put King Philip on the throne of Spain. In the siego 34 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of Barcelona, Dillon's regiment fought with great etfect. In their ranks w;is a boy of twelve years old ; lie was the son of a Galway gentle- man, Mr. Lally orO'Lally,of Tnlloch na Daly, and his uncle had sat in James's Parliament of 1689. This boy, so early trained, was after- wards the famous Count Lally de Tollendal, whose services in every part of the globe make his execution a stain upon thehonoras well as upon the justice of Louis XVL When Villars swept off the whole of Albe- marle's battalions at Denain, in 1712, the Irish were in bis van. The tieaty of Utrecht and tbe dismissal of Marlborough put an end to the war in Flanders, but still many of the Irish contin- ued to serve in Italy and Germany, and thus ibught at Paima, Guastalla, and Philipsburg. It was not alone in the French service that our military exiles won renown. The O'Don- nells, O'Neills, and O'Reillys, with the relics of their Ulster clans, preferred to fight under the Spanish flag : and in the war of the "Spanisb Succession," Spain had five Irish regiments in her army ; whose commanders were O'Reillys, O'Gaias, Lacys, Wogans, and Lawlesses. For several generations a suc- cession of Irish soldiers of rank and distinc- tion were always to be found under the Spanish standard ; and in that kingdom those who had been chiefs in their own l.ind were always recognized as "gran- dees," the equals of the proudest nobles of Castile. Hence the many noble families of Irish race and name still to be found in Spain at this day. The Peninsular War, in the beginning of the present century, found a Blake generalissimo of the Spanish armies ; while an O'Neill commanded the troops of Aragon ; and O'Donnells and O'Reillys held high grades as general officers. All these true Irishmen were lost to their own coun- try, and were forced to shed their blood for the stranger, while their kindred at home so much needed their counsels and their swords : but it was the settled policy of England, and the English colony, now and for long after, to make it impossible for men of spirit and ambition to live in Ireland, so that the re- maining masses of abject people might be the more helpless in the hands of their enemies. But it is time to turn away from those stii ring scenes of glory on the continent, at least for the present, and look back upon the sombre picture presented by one unvarying record of misery and oppression at home. CHAPTER VL 1704—1714. Enforcement of the Penal Law? — Making informers honorable — Pembroke lord-lieutenant — Union of England and Scotland — Means by which it was carried — Iri.sh House of Lords in favor of an Union — Laws asainst meetino^ at Holy Wells — Catholics excluded from Juries— Wharton lord- lieutenant — Second Act to prevent growth of Popery — Rewards for " discoverers"' — Jonathan Swift — Nature of his Irish Patriotism — Papists the " common enemy." The Dissenters — Colony of the Palatines — Disasters of the French, and • Peace of Utrecht — The " Pretender." During all the rest of the reign of Anne, the law for preventing the growth of Popery was as rigorously executed all over the island, as it was possible for such laws to be : and there was the keen personal interest of the Protestant inhabitants of every town and district, always excited and kept on the stretch to discover and inform upon such unfortunate Catholics as had contrived to remain in possession of some of those estates, leaseholds, or other interests which were now by law capable of being held by Prot- estants alone. Every Catholic suspected his Protestant neighbor of prying into his affairs and dealings for the purpose of plundering him. Every Protestant suspected his Catho- lic neighbor of conceahng some property, or privately receiving the revenue of some trust, and thus keeping him, the Protestant, out of his own. Mutual hatred and distrust kept the two races apart; and there was no social intercourse or good neighborhood between them. Informers of course were busy, and well rewarded ; yet there were many of the Catholic families who cheated their enemies out of their prey, by real or pretended con- versions to the Established Church, or else by secret trusts vested legally in some friendly Protestant ; who ran, however, very heavy risks by this kind proceeding. For on the l7th of March, a few days after the passage of the Act of 1704, the MAKING INTOKMERS HONORABLE. 35 Commons passed unanimously a resolution, "that all magistrates and otiior persons wliat=5oever, who neglected or omitted to put it in due execution, were betniyers of the liberties of the kingdom." Again, in June, 1705, they "resolved, that the saying or hearing of Mass, by persons who had not taken the oath of abjuration, tended to advance the interest of the Pretender^'' although it was tlien very well known that tlie Irish Catholics were not thinking in the ](^ast of the Pretender, or of placing their hopes in a counter-revolutiOn to bring in the Stuarts. This resolution, therefore, was sim- plv intended to make Papists odious and to stimulate the zeal of informers, against those who said or heard Mass in any other manner, or under any other condition than those pre- scribed for registering " the pretended Popish priests." But as it was still difficult to in- duce men to discover and inform upon un- offending neighbors, and as in fact the trade of infoimer was held infamous by all fair- -minded men, the Commons took care also to resolve unanimously, "that the prosecu- ting and informing against Papists was an honorable service to the Government," The informers being now, therefore, honorable by law, and taken under the special favor of the Government, gave such new and ex- tensive development to their peculiar in- dustry as made it for long after the most profitable branch of business in this impover- ished country, and afforded some compensa- tion for the ruin of the woollen manufacture and other honest trades. The Earl of Pembroke, lord-lieutenant in the year 1706, made a speech to the Parlia- ment, in which he endeavored to soothe the feelings of the Dissenters disabled by the Sacramental Test, and to combine all Prot- estants in a cordial union against the hated Papists. He recommended them to provide for the security of the realm against their foreign and domestic enemies — by which latter phrase he meant Catholics — and added "that he was commanded by her majesty to inform them that her majesty, consider- ing the number of Papists in Ireland, would be glad of an expedient for the stiengthen- ing the interest of her Protestant subjects in that kingdom." Fear of the "common enemy" — the established parliamentary term to describe (Catholics, was often urged as an inducement to mitigate the disabilities of Dissenters ; and this controversy contin- ued many years. The Established Church party was resolved not to relax any part of their code of exclusion ; and had per- fect confidence that the Dissenters, though pressed themselves by one portion of the pe- nal code, would never, under any provocation, make common cause with Catholics. And this confidence was well-founded. The Dis- senters pi'eferred to endure exclusion by the Test, rather than weaken in any way the great Protestant interest; and the few rep- resentatives whom the Ulster Presbyterians had in the Commons never, in a single in- stance, gave a voice against any new ligor or penalty imposed upon the " common enemy." It was in the year 1707 that the English Government at length accomplished its long desired project of an Union between Eng- land and Scotland. There was much indig- nant resistance against the measure by patriotic Scotsmen ; and it needed much intrigue and no little bribery, judiciously distributed (as in Ireland ninety-three years later), to overcome the opposition. An Eng- lish historian* gives this simple account of the matter: "Exclusive of the methods used to allay the popular resentment and the sacrifices made to national prejudice, other means were adopted to facilitate the final passing of the Act of Union. By the re- port of the Commissioners of Public Ac- counts, delivered in some years after this time, it appears that the sum of twenty thousand pounds, and upwards, was remitted at the present juncture to Scotland, which was distributed so judiciously that the rage of opposition suddenly subsided ; and the treaty, as originally framed, received, with- out any material alteration, the solemn sanction of the Scottish Parliament — the general question being carried by a majority of 110 votes." In vain the patriots fought against the influence of the Court. In vain did Fletcher of Saltoun earnestly declare in his place in Parliament, "that the country was betrayed by the Commissioners. In * Beleham. History of Great Britain from th« Revolution. Book V. 86 HISTORY OF IRELAND. vain did Lord Belliaven, in a speech yet famous in Scotland, pathetically describe Caledonia as sitting in the midst of the Senate, looking indignantly around and coveriuor herself with her royal robe, attend- ■ 1 ing the fatal blow, breathing out with pas- sionate emotion Et tu quoque, mi fill! The measure was carried, and Scotland became a province. How similar all this to the Scenes enacted in our own country, almost a century later ! But for the name of Lord Somers, the great engineer of the Scottish Union, we must substitute Castlereagh, make the bribery larger, and the intrigues darker. It is worth noting that the Irish House of Lords, when the Union with Scotland was in agitation four years before, in 1703, addressed the queen in favor of a similar measure for Ireland. They now, in 1707, did so again, beseeching her majesty to ex- tend the benefits of her royal protection equally over all her kingdoms. The House of Commons did not favor this proceeding ; nor was it at that time regarded with com- placency in England. Nothing further, therefore, was done upon the suggestion made by their lordships, who had probably got scent of bribery going on in Scotland, and naturally bethought them that they had a country to sell as well as other people. They were disappointed for that time; but many of their great-grandsons in 1800 derived benefit by the delay in concluding that transaction, and received a price for their services, twenty times more princely than what could have been commanded in the time of Lord Somers. The agitation in Scotland arising from the Act of Union, although entirely con- fined to the Presbyterian people of that kingdom, furnished a new excuse for out- rage upon Irish Catholics. There was in truth a plot, extending through the south- west of Scotland, for raising an army, in- viting the " Pretender" (Anne's brother), and so getting rid of the Union by establishing again the dynasty of their ancient kings. On the first discovery of this project in 1808, forty-one Catholic gentlemen were at once arrested and imprisoned in Dublin Castle, without any charge against them whatso- ever, but, as it appeared, only to provoke and humble them. It is indeed wonderful to read of the ingenious malignity with which occasions were sought out to torment harm- less country people by interdicting their innocent recreations and simple, obscure devotions. In the County Meath, as in many other places in Ireland, is a holy well, named the " Well of St. John." From time immemorial, multitudes of infirm peo- ple, men, women, and children, had frequent- ed this well, to perform penances and to pray for relief from their maladies. Those invalids who had been relieved of their in- firmities at these holy wells, either by faith or by the use of cold water, frequently re- sorted, in the summer-time, to the same spot, with their friends and relations ; so that there was sometimes a considerable concourse of people on the annual festival of the Patron Saint to whom the wells were dedicated. Such had been the origin of " Patrons" in Ireland. On these occasions the young and the old met together. A little fair was sometimes held, of toys or other articles of small value, and the day was passed by some in religious exercises, by others in harmless society and amuse- ment. But amusement, or recreation, pro- tection of saints, or benefit of prayers, was not presumed to exist for Catholics ; and these innocent meetings were naturally as- sumed to have some connection with " bring- ing in the Pretender," and overthrowing the glorious Constitution in Church and State. They were, therefore, strictly forbid- den by a statute of this reign,* which im- posed a fine of ten shillings (and in default of payment, whipping) upon every person " who shall attend or be present at any pilgrimage, or meeting held at any holy well, or imputed holy well." The same act inflicts a fine of £20 (and imprisonment until payment) upon every person who shall build a booth, or sell ale, victuals, or other commodities at such pilgrimages or meet- ings. It further "requires all magistrates to demolish all crosses, pictures, and inscrip- tions that are anywhere publicly set up, and are the occasions of Popish superstitions" — that is, objects of reverence and respect to the Catholics. Thus, in Ireland, were made penal and suppressed those Patron fairs, * 2d Anne, c 6. SECOND ACT TO PREVENT THE GROWTH OF POPERY. 37 which indeed have been the orii>-iii of tlie most ancient and celebrated fairs of p]iirope, as tliose of Lyons, Frankfort, Leipzig, and many others. One other enactment of 1708 will show what kind of chance Catholics had in courts of justice ; and will bring us down to the ]ieriod of the second Act " to prevent the further growth of Popery." This law en- acted, "That from the first of Michaelmas Term, 1708, no Papist shall serve, or be returned to serve, on any grand-jury in the Queen's Bench, or before Justices of Assize, oyer and terminer, or gaol-delivery or Quarter Sessions, unless it appear to the court that a sufficient number of Protestants cannot then be had for the service : and in all trials of issues [that is, by petty juries] on any presentment, indictment, or information, or action on any statute, for any offence com- mitted by Papists, in breach of such laws, the plaintiff or prosecutor may challenge any Papist returned as juror, and assign as a cause -that he is a Papist, which chal- lenge shall he allowed.'''' The spirit of this enactment, and the practice it introduced, have continued till the present moment ; and at this very time, on trials for political of- fences, Catholics who have been summoned are usually challenged and set aside. In May, 1709, Thomas Earl of Wharton being then lord-lieutenant, with Addison, of the Spectator, as secretary, there was intro- duced into the House of Commons a "Bill to explain and amend an Act intituled an Act to pievent the further growth of Po- pery." It was introduced by Mr. Sergeant Caulfield : was duly transmitted to England \}j Wharton, was approved at once, and on its return was passed, of course. Its intention was cliiefly to close up any loophole of es- cape from the penalties of former statutes, and guard every possible access by which " Papists" might still attain to independence or a quiet life. Some, for example, had se- cretly purchased annuities — by this statute, therefore, a Papist is declared incapable of holding or enjoying an annuity for life. It had been found, also, that paternal authority or filial affection had prevented from its full operation that former act of 1704 which au- thorized a child, on conforming, to reduce his father to a tenant for life. Further en- couragement to children seemed desirable : therefore by this new law, upon the conver- sion of the child of any Catholic, the chan- cellor was to compel the father to discover upon oath the full value of his estate, real and personal ; and thereupon make an order for the independent support of such conform- ing child, and for securing to him, after hi> father's death, such share of the property as to the court should seem fit : — also to secure jointures to popish wives who should desert their husbands' faith. Thus distrust and discoid and heartburning in every family were well provided for. One clause of the Act prohibits a Papist from teaching, as tutor or usher, even as assistant to a Piotestant schoolmaster; and another offers a salary of £30 to such popish priests as should con- form. But one thing was still wanting : it was known that, notwithstanding the pre- vious banishment of Catholic archbishops, bishops, &c., there were still men in the king- dom exercising those functions, coming from France and from Spain and braving the ter- rible penalties of transportation and death, in order to keep up the indispensable connec- tion of the Catholic flock with the Head of the Church. It was known that this was indeed an absolute necessity, at whatsoever risk ; and that to pretend a toleration of Catholic worship while the hierarchy was banished, was as reasonable as to talk of toler- ating Presbyterianism without Presbyterians, or courts without judges, or laws or juries. Therefore, this Act for "explaining and amending," assigned stated rewards to inform- ers for the discoveiy of an archbishop, bishop, vicar-general, or other person exercising eccle- siastical jurisdiction. For such a prize the informer was to have £50 : for discovering any monk or friar, or any secular clergyman not duly registered, £20 : for discovering a popish school-teacher or tutor, £10. Any two justices are also empowered to summon before them any Papist over eighteen years, and examine him upon oath as to the time and place he last heard Mass, and the names of the parties present, as well as concerning the residence of any Papist priest or school- master; and in case of the witness refusing to testify there was a penalty of £20, or twelve months' imprisonment. The inform- ers were expected, after this, to be more dili- 38 HISTOKY OF lUELAND. geut and devoted than ever; and a procl.i- ination of the same year ordering all registered priests to take the abjuration oath before the 25lh of March, IVIO, under the penalty of prcemunire, gave additional stira- ulns and opportunity to the discoverers. The trade of " priest-hunting" now became a distinct branch of the profession ; and many a venerable clergyman was dogged by these bloodhounds, through various disguises, and waylaid by night on his way to baptize or confiiin or visit the dying. The captured clergy were sometimes brought in by batches of four and five ; and the laws were rigorously put in force : if it was a first offence they were transported ; but if any bishop who had once been transported was caught in Ireland again, he was hanged. Such is the main substance of the act for "explaining and amending,'' generally called the Second Act " to prevent the further growth of Popery." Lord Wharton, by commission, gave it the royal assent; and for the zeal he had shown in recommending and hastening the Act, the House ui Commons voted his lordship an address, "gratefully acknowledging her maj- esty's most particular care of them in ap- pointing his excellency their chief governor, and earnestly wishing his long continuance in the government," (fee. His excellency desired the speaker to inform them " that he was extremely well pleased and satisfied." Than this Lord Wharton no more profligate politician, no more detestable man, had ever been sent over to rule in Ireland. It is true that the well-known character given of him by Dean Swift must be taken with some allowance; because Wharton was a W'hig, had been a Dissenter, and was still favorable to relaxation of the code against Dissenters. These circumstances were quite enough to rouse all the furious ire of the Dean of St. Patrick's, and draw from him a torrent of his foulest abuse. Besides, if the dean was enraged against Lord Wharton, it certainly was not for his tyranny to the Catholics, but rather for his partiality to the Dissenters : whereby, indeed, as we shall see, Wharton soon got into great disfavor with that very Parliainent which had lately praised him so highly. Jonathan Swift had already lived many years in Ireland, first as Vicar of Kilroot near Carrickfergus, and afterwards (in 1699) as Rector of Agher and Rector of Laracoi and Ralhbeggan, in the diocese of Meath. He did not become Dean of St. Patrick's till 1713 ; nor much concern himself with Irish politics till several years later: but he was a country clergyman in Ireland during all the period of the enactment of the whole penal code, both in William's reign and iu Anne's ; he was himself witness to the fe- rocious execution of those laws, and the bitter suffering and humiliation of the Catho- lic people under them ; yet neither then, nor at any later time, not even when in the full tide of his fame and popularity as a " pa- triot," did he ever breathe one syllable of remonstrance, or of censure against those laws. Swift is called an Irish patriot, and he was so, if zealous vindication of the claim of the English colony to rule the nation, and to be the nation, together with utter and acrimonious disdain of the great mass of the people and total indifference to their grievous wrongs, can constitute a patriot. But in truth the history of this extraordinary genius is a signal illustration of the position already stated — that in Ireland were two nations, and that to be a patriot for the one was to be a mortal enemy to the other. The period of Dean Swift's leadership in Irish (Colonial) politics had not yet arrived ; and all his writings upon Irish affairs are dated after his appointment to the deanery : but it may be stated once for all, that this " Irish patriot" never once, in his voluminous works and correspondence, called himself an Irishman, but always an Englishman ; that he sought preferment only in England, where he wished to live with the " wits" at Button's coffee-house ; that when named to the Dublin deanery he quitted London with a heavy heart, to come over to his " exile in Ireland," over which he mourned in his letters as pathetically as Ovid exiled to Tomi ; that he never, in all the numerous publications he issued on Irish affairs, gave one word or hint betraying the least consciousness or sus- picion of any injustice being done to the Catholics; and lastly, that far from feeling any community of race or of interest with the Irish, we find him thus expressing him- self in a letter to his friend Mr. Pope, in 1737: "Some of those who highly esteem DEAN SWIFT : NATURE OF HIS IRISH PATRIOTISM. 39 you are g-rieveJ to find you make no distiiic- tiou between tlie English gentry of ihis king- dom and tile savage old Iri>h (who are only the vulgar, and some gentlemen who live in the Irish parts of the kingdom), hut the Eng- h'sh colonies, who are three parts in four, are much more civilized than many counties in England," &c. Much will have to be said concerning Swift and his labors, a few years hiter in the narrative. For the present it is enougli to point out that his furious denun- ciation of Lord Wharton and his administra- tion iu Ireland was by no means on account of that nobleman's urging on the bill for crushing Papists. Lord Wharton liad been brought up a Dissenter ; though he had long ceased to regard any form of religion, or any lie of morality. lie was, however, a Whig, and by party connections in England, was favora- ble to some relaxation of penal laws against the Irish Presbyterians. In his speech pro- roguing this Parliament of 1709, he said to the Houses that " he made no question but they understood too well the true interest of the Protestant religion iu that kingdom not to endeavoi' to make all Protestants as easy as they could, who were willing to contribute what they could to defend the whole against the common enemij^ But the majority of the Iri^h Commons belonged to the Tory party ; and very soon dissensions and jealousies aro>e between them and the lord-lieutenant, on account of his obvious bias in favor of the Dissenlei's. The government of England also soon came into the hands of the Tory paity through a series of intrigues regarding foreign politics, which are not necessary to be here detailed : and on the "Zth Nov., 1811, the English Lords and Commons made a long- address to the queen, complaining of Whar- ton for " having abused her majesty's name, in ordering «o//e j9/-0S('5?n, with a great number of untitled gentlemen, were suddenly seized upon and shut up in Dublin Castle, " on suspicion." They were released when the insurrection was over. In the mean time the Irish Parliament met, and was opened by lords-justices. The Hou.ses, especially the Commons, were filled with the most fiery zeal for the Protestant succession, and most desirous of ingratiating themselves with the new dynasty. They passed acts for recognizing the king's title — for the security of his person and govern- ment — for attainting the Pretender, and offering a reward of £50,000 for his appre- hension. The Commons also presented an address to the new king, entreating his maj- esty, for the security of the Government and for the Protestant interest, to remove the Earl of Anglesea from all offices of honor and trust. Lord Anglesea was a member of the Council, and one of the vice-treasurers of the kingdom : he was a Tory, was sus- pected of being a Jacobite ; and the reasons assigned in the address for removing him were, that he had caused or procured the disbanding of great part of the army in Ireland ; and that he had connived at the enrolment of Irish Catholics for foreign ser- vice. "They had information," they said, " that many Irish Papists had been, and continued to be, shipped off from Dublin and other ports for the service of the Pre- tender." As usual, the main business of the Parliament was taking further precau- tions against the " common enemy," for which the Pretender's insurrection in Scot- laud served as a false pretence. The lords- justices, in their speech to this Parliament, bear complacent testimony to the calmness and tranquillity in which Ireland had re- mained during the troubles, which Mr. Plowden, with great simplicity, takes as a compliment to the " loyalty" of the Catholics — instead of being (what it was) a congrat- ulation upon the Catholics being so effect- ually crushed and trodden down that they could not rise. This amiable writer cannot conceal his surprise at what be terms " the inconsistency of rendering solemn homage to the exemplary loyalty of the Irish nation in the most perilous crisis, and punishing 44 HISTORY OF IRELAND. them, at the same time, for a disposition to treachery, turbulence, and treason." Nay, he is still more astonished at finding that " this very speech, which bore such honor- able testimony to the tried loyalty of the Irish Catholics, bespoke the disgraceful policy of keeping and treating thera, not- withstanding, as a separate people — ' We must recommend to you,' said the lords-jus- tices, *in the present conjuncture, such unanimity in your resolutions as may once more put an end to all other distinctions in Ireland than that of Protestant and Papist.' " It may here be observed, once for all, to put an end to this delusion about Catholic loyalty in Ireland, that the Catholics would not have been permitted to be loyal, even if they had been base enough to desire it — that some abject attempts by some of them to testify their loyalty were repulsed, as will be hereafter seen — that when a viceroy or loid- justice speaks of " the nation," at the period in question, he means the Protestant nation exclusively — nay, that the law was, that no Catholics existed in Ireland at all. It was long a favorit<* fiction of Irish law,* "that all the effective inhabitants of Iieland are to be pfesumed to be Protestants — and that, therefoie, the Catholics, their clergy, worship, &c., are not to be supposed to exist, save for reprehension and punishment." Indeed, in the time of George II., Lord-Chancellor Bowes declared from the bench, " that the law does not suppose any such person to ex- ist as an Irish Roman Catholic;" and Chief- Justice Robinson made a similar declara- tion.j- It, appears plain, then, that the "loy- alty" of the Catholics towards the House of Hanover, if indeed there has ever been any such loyalty, could not have sprung up in their hearts in the reign of George I., or of George 11. No new enactments were made in this session of Parliament in aggravation of the Penal Code ; but a resolution was passed recommending to magistrates the indispen- sable duty to put the existing laws into im- mediate and rigorous execution, and de- nouncing those who neglected to do so as "enemies of the Constitution;" no slight nor * See " Scully's State of the Penal Laws," p. 333. + Ibid., p. 334. harmless" imputation at that period, nor one which any magistrate would willingly incur. In fact, the penal laws against Catholics were put in force at this time, and during all the remainder of the reign of George I., with even more than the customary ferocity, as a design to bring in the Pretender was supposed to lurk in every Mass. In many places chapels were shut up, priests were dragged from their hiding-places, sometimes from the very altars, in the midst of divine service, hurried into the most loathsome dungeons, and from thence banished forever from their native country.* *' To the credit of those times," however, observes Brenan, the ecclesiastical historian, "it must be re- marked, that the description of miscreants usually iQvxn&A prient-catchers were generally Jews who pretended to be converts to the Christian religion, and some of them as- sumed even the character of the priesthood, for the purpose of insinuating themselves more readily into the confidence of the clergy. The most notorious among thera was a Portuguese Jew, named Gorzia (or Garcia). By means of this wretch seven priests had been apprehended in Dublin, and banished the kingdom. Of this number, two were Jesuits, one was a Dominican, one a Franciscan, and three were secular priests." These last were probably " unregistered" priests; or else had not taken the abjuration oath, which was then legally obligatory upon them all, under cruel penalties. In- deed, by means of the various statutes made against them, it may be affirmed generally that every priest in Ireland, whether regular or secular, was now liable to transportation and to death ; because out of one thousand and eighty " registered" priests, only thirty- three ever took the oath of abjuration. The remainder stood firm, and set at defiance the terrors which surrounded them."}" Although the rebellion of the Presbyte- rians in Scotland was the sole pretence for this severity, and the very same law which banishes popish priests prohibits also Dis- senters to accept of or act by a commission in the militia or array, yet so partial were the resolutions of that parliament, that, at the same time that they ordered the former • Curry's Review. Breiiaa's Eccl. Hist, of Ireland. + Hibernia Domiaicana. CAUSE OF SHERLOCK AND ANNESLEY. DECLARATORY ACT. 45 to be rigorously prosecuted, th^y resolved, unanimously, '' that any person wlio should commence a prosecution against any of the latter who bad accepted, or should accept of a commission in the array or militia, was an enemy to King George and the Protes- tant interest." Thus of the only two main objects of the same law, its execution as to one of them was judged highly meritorious, and it was deemed equally culpable even to attempt it against the other ; though the law itself makes no difference between them. Such was the justice and consistency of our legislators of that period. In the year 17 19, the Duke of Bolton being lord-lieutenant, occurred the famous case of Sherlock against Annesley, which provoked the Irish House of Lords into a faint and impotent assertion of their priv- ileges, opened up^ once more the whole question between English dominion and Irish national pretensions, and ended in settling that question in favor of England ; setting it, in fact, definitively at rest until the year 1782. That cause was tried in the Irish Court of Exchequer, between Esther Sherlock and Maurice Annesley, in which the latter obtain- ed a decree, which on an appeal to the Irish House of Lords was reversed. From this sentence Annesley appealed to the English House of Lords, who confirmed the judgment of the Irish Exchequer, and issued process to put him into possession of the litigated prop- erty. Esther Sherlock petitioned the Irish Lords against the usurped authority of Eng- land, and they, having taken the opinion of the judges, resolved that they would support their honor, jurisdiction, and privileges, by giving effectual relief to the petitioner. Sherlock was put into possession by the Sheriff of Kildare ; an injunction issued from the Court of Exchequer in Ireland, pur- suant to the decree of the English Lords, directing him to restore Annesley ; the sheriff (let his name be honored !), Alexan- der Burrowes, refused obedience. He was protected in a contumacy which so nobly contrasts the wonted servility of the judges, by the Irish Lords, who addressed a power- ful State paper to the throne, recapitulating the rights of Ireland, her independent parliament, and peculiar jurisdiction. They went further, for they sent the Irish barons to jail ; but the king having the address of the Irish Lords laid before the English House, the latter reaffirmed their proceedings, and supplicated the throne to confer some mark of special favor on the servile judges, who, in relinquishing their juiisdiction, had be- trayed the liberties of their country. An Act was at once passed in the English Par- liament, enacting and declaring that the king, with the advice of the Lords and Commons of England, " hath had of right, and ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the people and the kingdom of Ireland. " And be it further enacted and declared, by the authority aforesaid, that the House of Lords of Ireland have not, nor of right ought to have, any jurisdiction to judge, affirm, or reverse any judgment, sentence, or decree, given or made in any court within the same kingdom ; and that all proceedings before the said House of Lords, upon any such judgment, sentence, or decree, are, and are hereby declared to be, utterly null and void, to all intents and purposes whatever." This Declaratory Act is the last of the statutes claiming such a jurisdiction. The Irish Parliament had to submit for the time; but the principles of Molyneux, soon after enforced with far greater power by Swift, worked in men's minds, and at last brought forth Flood and Grattan, and caused the army of the Volunteers to spring out of the earth. Once more, however, it should be borne in mind that this constitutional ques- tion was a question between Protestant England and her Protestant colony alone ; and that the Catholic Irish nation had at that time no more favor or indulgence to hope for at the hands of a parliament in Dublin than of a parliament in London. The Declaratory Act did not pass the English Parliament without opposition, es- pecially in the Commons, where Mr. Pitt made himself conspicuous by his argument against it. It was finally carried by 140 votes against 88. The Duke of Leeds, in the Lords, made a powerful protest against the bill, but in vain. In the same year, 1 71 9, an act was passed in the Irish Parliament " for granting some 46 HISTOUY OF IRELAND. ease and indulgence to the Protestant Dis- vnfcrs in the exercise of their religion." The Duke of Bolton, in his speech, was pleased to couiniend this act most warmly, as a step towards consolidating the Protestant interest «gainst the common enemy. The duke earnestly pleads for the necessity of union : " in the words," he says, " of one of those excellent bills passed this day — I mean an union in interest and affection amongst all Lis majesty's subjects." The viceroy did not even feel it necessary to say " all his maj- esty's Protestant subjects," knowing that this would be understood ; so firmly established was the State maxim, that the law knows not of the existence of an Irisb Catholic. The year 1820 is memorable for the publication of Dean Swifi's first pamphlet on Irish affairs — his " P;-oposa/ /or the Use of Irish Manufactured He had now been for seven years Dean of St. Patrick's : he had witnessed the enactment of many a penal law against Catholics : within hearing of his own deanery-house the Protestant mob, led on by priest-catchers, had dragged clergymen in their vestments out of obscure chapels amidst the lamentations of their helpless flocks, but he had never, in any of his numerous writings, uttered a syllable of remonstrance against this tyranny. It might be supposed that in this first of his Tracts relating to an Irish subject, and a sulgect, too, in which people of all religions were deeply interested, he might delicately convey some hint that neither the manufac- turing nor any other material interest of a country could be promoted or developed while the great mass of its people were held in degrading slavery, disquieted in their property, and outraged in their persons by the extraordinary laws which he saw in operation around him. But not one word of all this does he write. He was well enough aware, however, of the growing misery and destitution of the country people ; and says in this tract, " Whoever travels this country, and observes the face of nature, or the faces, and habits, and dwellings of the natives, will hardly think himself in a land where either law, religion, or common humanity is professed." Again : "I would now expostulate a little with our country landlords, who, by un- measurable screwing and racking their ten- nants all over the kingdom, have already reduced the miserable people to a worse condition than the peasants in France, or the vassals in Germany and Poland ; so that the whole species of what we call substantial farmers will, in a very few years, be utterly at an end." It is very singular, also, that although he justly attributes the decay of manufactures to the greedy commercial policy of England in suppressing the woollen trade and other branches of industry — and although, at the moment he wrote, all the island was ringing with the Sherlock-and-Annesley case and the Declaratory Act, this future author of the Drapier's Letters never thinks of suggesting that laws for governing Ireland should be made in Ireland, in order that the English monopolists might no longer have the power of ruining our country by their own laws. It seems the time was not yet ripe for such a pretension on the part of Irish patiiots ; though, that the dean very well knew the nature of the grievances he complains of, is evident from his savage sar- casm about the fate of Arachne. Ireland was becoming covered with herds of sheep, to produce wool for the English market, while English laws prevented its manufac- ture at home. " The fable, in Ovid, of Arachne and Pallas, is to this purpose : The goddess had heard of one Arachne, a young virgin, very famous for spinning and weaving : they both met upon a trial of skill ; and Pallas finding herself almost equalled in her own art, stung with rage and envy, knocked her rival down, turned her into a spider, enjoin- ing her to spin and weave forever, out of her own bowels, and in a very narrow compass. I confess that, from a boy, I always pitied poor Arachne, and could never heartily love the goddess, on account of so cruel and unjust a sentence ; which, however, is fully executed upon us by England, with further additions of rigor and severity, for the greatest part of our bowels and vitals is extracted without allowing us the liberty of spinning and weaving them." Swift had not yet ventured to take the leading part which he soon after bore in Irish politics ; nor did he ever take any IRISH CATHOLICS " STERNLY LOYAL. 47 part in them with a broadly national aim. He Hved at that time very much with his friends Sheridan and Doctor Delany ; and his friends, as well as himself, wished to be considered Englishmen.* The Catholic people remained all these years perfectly quiet and subdued. In them, all national aspiration seemed dead ; so that the numerous enterprises projected all over Europe in favor of the Pretender, never counted upon them. One of these enter- prises was undertaken by the Spaniards, under the auspices of Cardinal Alberoni ; and the Duke of Ormond was placed iu command of a Spanish squadron, to effect a landing somewhere in the British Islands. The Irish Catholics remained quite unmoved : they were, in the words of Mr. Plowden, "sternly loyal," It would be more accurate to say they were utterly prostrate, hopeless, and indifferent; and if they had been other- wise, the name of the Duke of Ormond would have been enough to repel them from ^ny cause in which he was to be a leader. The Duke of Grafton, as lord-lieutenant, prorogued the session of Parliament, and in his speech was pleased particularly to recommend to them to keep a watchful eye upon the Papists; "since I have reason to believe," says he, " that the number of popish priests is daily increasing iu this kingdom, and already far exceeds what by the indul- gence of the law is allowed." The members of Parliament, in times of recess, and when they were at their country-seats, must have followed the viceroy's exhortation, and kept a watchful eye upon the Papists ; for the horror and alarm of the Protestant interest became more violent than ever before ; and when Parliament assembled, in 1723, it was in an excellent frame of mind to do battle with the common enemy. The Duke of Grafton, on meeting Parliament, recom- mended several new laws — " particularly for * In remonstrating with Mr. Pope on " having made no distinction in his letters between the Engr- lish gentry of this kingdom and the .savage old Irish," Swift adds, " Dr. Delany came to visit me three days ago on purpose to complain of those pas- sages of your letters." Delany was the son of a con- vert ; and thougli of pure Irish breed, at once took rank, in his own opinion, as an Englishman. There have always been many Englishmeu of this species in Ireland. preventing more effectually the eludimr ot those in being against popish priests," and the members had generally brought to town shocking tales illustrating the audacity of those outlawed ecclesiastics, in cclebratinnr their worship, sometimes even in the open day. It was full time, they said, to take decisive measures. And in truth the ardent zeal and con- stancy, utterly unknown to fear, of the Irish Catholic priests during that whole century, are as admirable in the eyes of all just and impartial men as they wore abominable and monstrous in the eyes of the Protestant in- terest. They often had to traverse the sea between Ireland and France, in fishing smacks, and disguised as fishermen, carrying communications to or from Rome, required by the laws of their church, though they knew that on their return, if discovered, the penalty was the penalty of high treason, that is death. When in Ireland, they had often to lurk in caves, and make fatiguing journeys, never sure that the priest-hunters were not on their trail ; yet all this they braved with a courage which, in any other cause, would have been reckless desperation. The English colonists could not comprehend such chivalrous devotion at all; and could devise no other theory to account for it than that these priests must be continually plot- ting with foreign Catholics to overthrow the Protestant interest and plunder them of their newly-gotten estates. This was the secret terror that always urged them upon fresh atrocities. Accordingly, a series of resolutions was agreed upon and reported by the Commons ; that Popery had increased, partly owing to the many shifts and devices the priests had for evading the laws, partly owing to the neglect of magistrates in not searching them out and punishing them — that "it is highly prejudicial to the Protestant interest that any person married to a popish wife should bear any office or employment under his majesty." This measure was thought need- ful, inasmuch as some magistrates, having married Catholics, were observed to be re- miss in taking informations against their wives' confessors, knowing that they would have no peace in their houses afterwards. The resolutions further recommended, that 48 niSTOKT OF IRELAND. no convert (to the Established Church) should be capable of any office, nor practise as a solicitor or attorney for seven years after his conversion, nor " unless he brings a certifi- cate of having received the sacrament tlirice in every year during the said term ;" fur- ther, that all converts should duly enroll tlieir certificates of conversion in the proper office. On the basis of these resolutions a bill was prepared ; and the language and behavior of Parliament on this occasion seems to have been even more vindictive and atrocious than had ever been witnessed before, even in an Irish legislature. One of the most zealous promoters of this bill, in a labored speech, informed the House, that of all countries wherein the reformed religion prevailed, Sweden was observed to be most free from those irreconcilable enemies to all Prot- estant governments, the Catholic priests; and that this happy exemption, so needful to the Protestant interest, was obtained by a wholesome practice which prevailed in that fortunate land, namely, the practice of custratinr/ all popish priests who were found there. A clause to this effect was intro- duced into the new bill.* It passed both Houses, and was presented on the 15th of November to the Duke of Grafton, with an earnest request that his Grace "would recom- mend the same in the most effectual manner to his majesty." His Grace was pleased to return this answer: "I have so much at heart a matter which I recommended to the consideration of Parliament, at the beginning of this session, that the House of Commons may depend upon a due regard, on my part, to what is desired." With the Duke's rec- ommendation the bill was, as usual, for- warded to Eugland. iSo objection to it had occurred either to his Grace, or to any peer or commoner in Ireland ; but an Irish agent in France presented a memorial on the subject to the Duke of Orleans, then regent. The two nations were at peace, and Cardinal Fleury, French prime minister, had consid- erable influence with Mr. Walpole. A strong representation was made by order of Fleury • Curry's Keview. Plowden. against the new bill.* As it has never suited British policy that its measures in Ireland should become the subject of discussion and notoriety amongst the civilized nations of the continent (where English reputation for liberality has to be maintained) ; the Coun- cil disapproved the bill ; and this was the first occasion on which any penal law against Catholics met with such an obstacle in Eng- land. Some writers on Irish history have been inclined to carry this failure of so atrocious a bill to the credit of human na- ture ; and Mr. Plowden, after narrating the French interposition, says, with his usual amiable credulity, "but surely it needed no Gallic interference," &c. At any rate, the bill was lost. The de- pendence of Ireland upon the crown of Eng- land saved the Catholics for once from at least one ignominious outrage. But there were already laws enough in existence to satisfy, it might be thought, the most san- guinary Protestantism. His Grace the lord-lieutenant, in his speech to that Parliament, at the close of the ses- sion, in order to console them for the loss of their favorite bill, gave them to understand, " that it miscarried merely by its not having been brought into the House before the ses- sion was so far advanced." And after earn- estly recommending to them, in their several stations, the care and preservation of the public peace, he added, " that, in his opinion, that would be greatly promoted by the vig- orous execution of the laws against popish priests ; and that he would contribute his part towards the prevention of that growing evil, by giving proper directions that such persons only should be put into the com- missions of the peace as had distinguished themselves by their steady adherence to the Protestant interestP Everybody knew what that meant — in- creased vigilance in hunting down clergy- men, and in discovering and appropriating the property of laymen ; nor is there any reason to think that his Grace's exhortations were addressed to unwilling ears. * Brenan, Eccl. Hist. Plowden. Cuny. SWIFT AND wood's COPPER. 49 CHAPTER VIII. 1723-1727. Swift and Wood's Copper — Drapier's Letters — Claim of Independence — I'riniate P.oulter — Swifi popular with the Cathofies— His feeling to- wanls CiUhoIios — Desolation of the Country — Rack-rents — Absenteeism — Great Distress — Swift's modest Proposal — Death of George I. While the Irish Parliament was so earn- estly engaged in their measures against popish priests, Dean Swift, who had lived in great quiet for three or four years, writing Gulliver's Travels in the country, suddenly plunged impetuously into the tumult of Irish politics. His indignation was inflamed to the highest pitch — not by the ferocity of the legislature against Catholics, but by Wood's copper halfpence. The country, he thought, was on the verge of ruin, not by reason of the tempest of intolerance, rapacity, fraud, and cruelty, which raged over it on every side, but by reason of a ceitain copper coin- age to the amount of £108,000, for which one William Wood had taken the contract and received the patent. Here was the cry- ing grievance of Ireland. It is necessary that the history of this transaction should be taken out of the do- main of rhetoric, and established upon a basis of fact. A great scarcity and need of copper money was. felt in Ireland ; and this is not denied by the dean. William Wood, whom Swift always calls " hardwareman and bankrupt," but who was, in fact, a large pro- prietor, and owner or renter of several ex- tensive iron works in England,* proposed to contract for the supply needed, and his pro- posal was accepted. The national, or rather colonial, jealousy was at once inflamed ; and already, long before Dean Swift's first letter on the subject, the two Houses had voted addresses to the crown, accusing the patentee of fraud, affirming that the terms of the patent had been infringed as to the quality of the coin, and that its circulation would be highly prejudicial to the revenue and comn)erce of the country. The Commons, with great exaggeration, declared that even had the terms of the patent been complied with, the nation would have suff"ered a loss Coxe. Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole. 7 of at least 150 per cent.; and indeed the whole cUnnor rested on partial or ignorant misrepresentation. Wood's coin was as good as any other copper coinage of that day; and the assertion of its opponents (re- peated by Swift), that the intrinsic was no more than one-eighth of the nominal value of the metal, must be taken with great cau- tion. If this assertion had even been true, the matter would have been of little conse- quence, because when coinage descends be- low gold and silver, it comes to be only a kind of counters for the convenience of ex- change, deriving its value from the sanction of the government which issues it ; and being receivable in payment of taxes, it has for all its purposes the whole value which it denotes on its face.* From the specimens, however, of Wood's halfpence preserved in the British Museum, and facsimiles of which are given in some editions of Swift's worLs, it is clear that the coins were of a goodly size, and with a fair iaipression ; and by au assay made at the mint, under Sir Isaac Newton and his two associates, it was proved that in weight and in fineness these coins rather exceeded than fell short of the con- ditions of the patent.f However, the clamor was so violent, that "the collectors of the king's customs very honestly refused to take them, and so did almost everybody else," says Swift in his first letter of '' M, B. Dra- pier." So that the crusade against Wood and bis halfpence was already in full prog- ress before the dean wrote a word on the subject. It is observable further, that this matter concerning Wood and his coinage did not really touch the great question of Irish na- tional independence, or the insolent claim of the English Parliament to make laws for Ireland ; because thematter of coining money belongs to the royal prerogative ; and not one man of the English colony in Ireland, not Swift himself,, pretended to- question the * The present ba-^e coiniige of cent and three-cent pieces in the United States is an GX:inii>le of tliis. It is intrinsically of no value at all, being conipoaed of ttie vilest of metal ; yet it answers ail the pur- poses of stnall change, without injury to anybody. + Report of the Committee of tlie I'rivy Council. Swift replied that Wood must liave furnished the committee with coins specially made for examina- tion ; which is quiie pofsible. 50 HISTOKY OF IRELAND. juithoiity of the King of England, lu short, no more trifliuT occasion ever produced so brilliant and memorable a result. It seemed to be but an occasion, no matter how silly, that Swift wanted. Any peg would do to hang his essays upon ; and he used the affair of Wood, as Rabelais had used the legend of Gargautua and Pantagvuel, to introduce under cover of much senseless ribaldry, the gravest opinions on politics and government. Eaiiy in 1724 appeared the first letter, writ- ten in the character of a L)ubliti shopkeeper. It was soon followed by six others, besides letters to William Wood himself, " Observa- tions on the Report of the Lords of the Council," " Letter to the whole People of li eland," and many ballads and songs which ■were calculated for the Dublin ballad-sing- ers. These productions were remarkable not only for their fierce sarcasm and denun^ ciation directed against Wood himself, but for the constantly insinuated, and sometimes plainly expressed, assertion of the national right of Ireland (namely, of the English colony in Ireland) to manage her own affairs. This, in fact, was always in his mind, "For my own part," observes M. B. Drapier, " who am but one man, of obscure origin, I do solemnly declare in the presence of Al- mighty God, that I will suffer the most iguo- iitinious and torturing death rather than submit to receive this accursed coin, or any other that is liable to the san)e objections, until they shall be forced upon me by a law of my own country; and if that shall even happen, I will tiansport myself into some foreign land, and eat the bread of poverty among a free people." Indeed, while he seems to be directing all the torrent of his indignation against the unlucky hardware- man, he very plainly personifies in him the relentless domination of England, and really labors to excite, not personal wrath against Wood, but patriotic resentment against the Biitish Government. A very admirable ex- ample, both of his style of denunciation, and of his exquisite art in insinuating his lead- ing idea amidst a perfect deluge of witty libaldry, is seen in this excellent passage: " I am > rw sensible," says the worthy Dra- pier, "that such a work as I have under- taken might have worthily employed a much better pen ; but when a house is attempted to be robbed, it often happens that the weak- est in the family runs first to stop the door. All my assistance was some informations from an eminent person, whereof I am afraid I have spoiled a few by endeavoring to make them of a piece with my own pro- ductions, and the rest I was not able to manage. I was in the case of David, who could not move in the armor of Saul ; and therefore chose to attack this uncircumcised Philistine (Wood 1 mean) with a sling and a stone. And 1 may say, for Wood's honor, as well as my own, that he resembles Go- liah in many circumstances very applicable to the present purpose. For Goliah had a helmet of brass- on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5000 shekels of brass ; and he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. In short, he was like Mr. Wood, all over brass, and he defied the armies of the living God. Goliah's conditions of combat were likewise the same with those of Mr, W^ood : if he prevail against us, then shall we be his ser- vants ; but if it happens that I prevail over him, I renounce the other part of the con- dition. He shall never be a servant of mine, for I do not think him fit to be trusted iu any honest man's shop." But in the fourth letter of " M. B. Dra- pier," Dean Swift disclosed and developed without reserve his real sentiments, which, he says, " have often swelled in my breast," on the absolute right of the Irish nation (that is, of the English colony there) to gov- ern itself independently of the English Par- liament. On this point he thoroughly adopts and maintains the whole doctrine of Mr. Molyneux (" an English gentleman born here"), and denounces the usurpation of the London Parliament in assuming to bind Ire- land by their laws. The proof that Swiit, in affirming the rights of the Irish nation^ meant only the English colony, is seen clearly enough in a passage of this very letter, ** One great merit I am sure we have which those of English birth can have no pretence to — that our ancestors reduced tiiis kingdom to the obedience of England, for which we have been rewarded with a worse climate — the privilege of being governed by PROSECITIOX OF HAKDING, THE PRINTER. 61 laws to which we do not consent — a ruined trade — a house of peers without jurisdiction ■— ahnost an incMp;icity for all employments, snid the dread of Wood's halfpence." Rising and vvarinipg as he proceeds, he at length fiirly declares, '' In this point we have iiothing to do with English ministers, and I should be sorry to leave it in their power to redress this grievance or to enforce it, for the report of the committee has given me a sur- feit. The remedy is wholly in your own liands ; and therefore 1 have digressed a lit- tle in order to refresh and continue that spir- it so seasonably raised among you, and to let you see that by the laws of God, of nature, of nations, and of your country, you are and ought to be as free a people as your breth- ren in England." For printing this letter, Harding, the printer, was prosecuted ; but when the iu- dictment against him was sent up to the Dublin grand-jury, every man of them had ill his hand a copy of another letter, entitled '* Seasonable Advice to the Grand-Jury," &c., which it seems they took to heart, for they threw out the bill. A proclamation was tlien issued from the Castle offering a re- ward for discovery of the author, and signed by Lord Carteret, then viceroy. Eveiybody knew the author ; but public spirit in Dub- lin was then so high and inflamed that the government could not venture to arrest the iJean. On the very day the proclamation was issued, he publicly taunted Carteret at the levee with thus persecuting a poor, hon- est tradesman, as he called " the Drapier ;" adding, "I suppose your lordship expects a statue in copper for this service you have done to Wood." In short, the cause of the lialfpence was utterly lost : nobody would take them or touch them ; the English gov- ernment had to withdraw the patent ; Wil- liam Wood turned his old copper to some other use in the hardware line ; but received from the English Government a compensa- tion in the shape of a pension of three thou- sand pounds for eight years.* From this time the Dean was the most popular man in Ireland; he became the idol of the shopkeepers and tradespeople. The Drapier was a sign over hundreds of shops ; • Coxe, Life of Walpole. the Drapier was an honored toast at all mer- ry-makings ; and precisely as he grew in popularity in Ireland, he became a more in- tolerable thorn in the side of the king's ser- vants in that country, and especially of Primate Boulter. Boulter was appointed Primate in this very year, and one of the earliest letters published in his elaborate cor- respondence shows the extreme uneasiness with which that devoted servant of the Eng- lish interest and doer of " the king's busi- ness" regarded the spirit aroused by the common resentment of all the people of all religions and races against the copper of Wood. He says in this letter: "I tind by ray own and others' inquiries that the peo- ple of every religion, country, and party here, are alike set against Wood's halfpence, and that their agreement in this has had a very unhappy influence on the state of this na- tion, by bringing on intimacies between Pa- pists and Jacobites and the Whigs, who be- fore had no correspondence with them : so that 'tis questionable whether, if there were occasion, justices of the peace could be found who would be strict in disarming Papists." For the next eighteen years this Primate Boulter was the real governor of Ireland. Thirteen times in that period he was one of the lords justices, and as he had the full con- fidence of W^'alpole, and was fully imbued with that minister's well-known principle (the principle, namely, that all could be done by intrigue and corruption), we find him really dictating to successive viceroys of Ire- land, and also warning the English Govern- ment fiom time to time who were the per- sons in Ireland that deserved encouragement and employment as the "king's servants," and who they were that merited reprobation as the '■ king's enemies," who obstructed him in doing the king's business. It is ueedlesa to observe that he became instantly a bitter enemy to Dean Swift, and more than once cautioned the ministry against whatever representations might come from that quar^ tor.* Whether Swift so intended or not, he be- came, in fact, highly popular with the Cath- olics of the kingdom. Not that he ever spoke of them without disdain and aversion. * Letter dated 10th Feb., 1725, from the Prirnat* to Duke of Newcastle. 52 HISTORY OF IRELAND. " The Popish priests," says he, " are all reg- istered, and without perrnissioa (which I hope will not be granted) they can have no successors." (^Letter concerning Sacramental Test.) In short, whenever he does alhide to them at all, it is always with a view of inti- mating that he has no appeal to make to them, not regarding them as a part of the nation. In the famous prosecuted letter it- self — although it is addressed " To' the Whole People of Ireland" — he takes occasion thus to repel one of the assertions of Wood : " That the Papists have entered into an as- sociation against his coin, although it be no- toriously known that the]/ never once offered to stir in the matter." In his address, then, to the " Whole People," he speaks of the Papists as " they." But notwithstanding this, Catholic farmers had wool and grain to sell ; they also had their daily traffic, and if the in- troduction of that perilous copper was to be 80 fatal to the Protestants, it could not be good for them. Moreover, the bold assertion of Ireland's right to independence pleased them well. They knew, it is true, that they were not for the present considered as active citizens ; yet being five to one,* they also felt that if the heavy pressure of British domination were once taken off, they or their children could not fail to assert for them- selves a recognized place in a new Irish na- tion. Up to the present date, the Irish Catholic freeholders voted at elections to Par- liament (though their suffrage was cramped by oaths, and they could only vote for a Protestant candidate), and they could still make their weight felt in the scale either of Whig or Tory, either in favor of the king's servants or the king's enemies, as Dr. Boul- ter called them respectively. No wonder, therefore, that the primate began to view with great alarm a community of feeling arising between the Catholics and either of the Protestant parties, and he soon cast about for a remedy, and found one. Dean Swift was never openly attacked by the primate, but he had been for some, years subjected to the spy-system, which is always so essential an arm of English goveinment * Primate Boulter wrjtes to the Archbishop of Canterbury : " There are probably in this kingdom five Papists at least to one Protestant." This was in the year 1727. , in Ireland, and had found it necessary to use great precautions in securing his manuscripts, as well as his ordinary letters, from the vigi- lant espionage of the government.* When Wood's patent was withdrawn, and all ap- prehensions were over concerning the half- pennies, he was desirous to withdraw for a while from the capital and from the neigh- borhood of Dr. Boulter's detectives, and went to the quiet retreat of Quilca, in the County Cavan, where his friend Dr. Sheri- dan had a house. Here he finished " Gul- liver," which had been suspended for a while, and prepared it for the press ; enjoying, by the shore of Lough Ramor, the conversatioa of Stella, and the " blessings of a country life," which he describes to be " Far from our debtors, No Dublin letters, Not fseen by your betters." The next year Swift went to England, but before he went Primate Boulter wrote to Sir Robert Walpole a letter which well illus- trates the vigilance of that prelate in the king's service, and also the estimation in which he held Dr. Swift. He says, "The general report is that Dean Swift designs for England in a little time, and we do not ques- tion his endeavors to misrepresent his maj- esty's friends here wherever he finds an op- portunity. But he is so well known, as well as the disturbances he has been the foment- er of in this kingdom, that we are under no fear of his being able to disserve any of his majesty's faithful servants by anything that is known to come from him ; but we could wish some eye were had to what shall be attempted on your side the water." No further political event of much conse- quence occurred in Ireland during the short remainder of the reign of George I. All ac- counts of that period represent the country as sinking lower in misery and distress. Swift's graphic tracts and letters give a pain- fully vivid picture of the desolation of the rural districts. He laments often the wanton and utter destruction of timber, which had left bare and hungry-looking great regions that had but lately waved with ancient woods. New proprietors, under the various * Koscoe's L-fe of Swift; Sir Walter Scott's Life, THE COUNTRY REDUCED TO TOTAL DESOLATION. 53 coiitiscations, had always felt, in those times ot" revoliuious, tliat their possessions were held by a precarious tenure ; there might at any moment be a new confiscation, or a new resumption ; therefore, as the woods would bring in their value at once they were felled r»-moiselessly, and often sold at a mere trifle for the sake of getting ready money. It has been already seen that " the commissioners of confiscated estates" in King William's time* speak of this destruction of the forests as a grievous loss to the nation. They esti- mate that on one estate in Kerry trees to the value of £20,000 had been cut down or de- stroyed ; on another estate £27,000 worth ;" and in some cases they say, '' Those on whom the confiscated estates have been bestowed, or their agents, have been so greedy to seize upon the most trifling profits that large trees have been cut down and sold for sixpence each." The consequence of all this wanton waste was soon lamentably observable in the nakedness of this once well-wooded island, where in Dean Swift's time it would have been impossible, as he tells us, to find timber either for ship-building or for the houses of the people. The condition of the farmers and laboring people was extremely hard in the latter years of this reign. As Catholics were subjected to severe restrictions if they lived in trading and manufacturing towns, their only resource was to become tenants for short terms, or at will, to an alien and hostile race of landlords, and this at most oppressive rents, "Another great calamity," says Swift,f "is the exorbi- tant raising of the rent of lands. Upon the determination of all leases made before the year 1G90, a gentleman thinks he has but in- difi'erently improved his estate if he has only doubled his rent-roll. Farms are screwed up to a rack-rent; leases granted but for a small term of years; tenants tied down to hard conditions, and discouiaged from culti- vating the lands they occupy to the best ad- vantage, by the certainty they have of the rent being raised on the expiration of their lease proportionably to the improvements they shall make. Thus it is that honest in- * See their report at the end of MacGeoghegan't History. t"'The present miserable state of Ireland." dustry is restrained ; the farmer is a slave to his landlord ; and it is well if he can cover his family with a coarse homespun frieze." Another of the evils complained of by the Dean is the prevalence of absenteeism, which carried over to England, according to his es- timate, half a million sterling of Irish money per annum, with no return. Another still was the propensity of proprietors to turn great tracts of land into sheep pastures, which, of couise, drove away tenants, in- creased the wretched competition for farms, and still more increased rents. It was this which made Swift exclaim, with his bitter humor, " Ajax was mad when he mistook a flock of sheep for' his enemies ; but we shall never be sober till we are of the same way of thinking." To all these miseries must be added tlie decay of tiade and commerce, caused directly by the jealous and greedy- commercial policy of England ; and this grievance pressed quite as heavily upon the Protestant as on tlie Catholic. So uniform has been the system of English rule in Ireland, that the description of it given a century and a halfy ago fits with great accuracy and with even heavier ag- gravations at this day. The absentee rents are now ten times as great in amount as they weie then ; and although the prohibition against exporting woollen cloth is now no longer in force, yet its effect has been per- petuated so tlioroughly that the Irish do not now, as they did then, even manufocture woollen cloth for home consumption. In the year 1*723 a petition was presented to Par- liament from the woollen drapers, clothiers and weavers of Dublin, setting ft)rth the de- cay and almost destruction of their industry, the sore distress and privations of thousands of families that had once lived comfortably by prosecuting these trades, and asking for inquiry and relief. But an Irish Parliament, absolutely controlled by an English Privy Council, was quite incapable of applying any remedy; so the aftairs of trade had fallen from bad to worse, until at the close of this reign there was imminent danger of a de- structive famine, that scourge which foreign domination has made so familiar to Ireland. It was in 1729 that Swift wrote and pub- lished his " Modest Proposal" for relieving the miseries of the people by cooking and 54 HISTORY OV IRELAND. eating the cliildren of the poor — a piece of the fiercest sarcasm, steeped in all the con- centrated bitterness of his soul ; which, how- ever — so ejrave is the irony — has been some- times taken by foieign writers as a serious project of relief. King George died on the 11th of June, 1127, just after setiling the preliminaries of a peace with the Emperor and Spain, which was shortly afterwards signed at Seville (but to the exclusion of the Emperor) by the ministers of France, England and Spain. Thus our exiles on the continent were de- prived for a time of the pleasure of meeting their hereditary enemies on the field. But further opportunities were happily to arise for them. CHAPTER IX. 1727-1741. Lord Carteret lord-lieutenant — Primate BonlteTuler of Ireland — His policy — Catholic Address — Not noticed — Papists deprived of elective franchise — Insolence of the " Ascendency"'— Famine — Emi- gration — Dorset lord-lieutenant — Ag'itation of Dissenters — Sacramental Test — Swift's virulence against the Dissenters — Boulter's policy to extir- pate Papists — Kajre against the Catholics — Debates on money bills — "Patriot Party" — Duke of Devonshire lord-lieutenant — Corruption — An- other famine — Berkeley — English commercial poli- cy in Ireland. The accession of George II. occasioned no great excitement in Ireland. Lord Carteret WHS continued as lord-lieutenant, but the corrupt and domineering churchman. Pri- mate Boulter, a fit instrument of the odious minister, Sir Robert Walpole, still directed the course of government, and always to the same end — the depression and discourage- ment of the Patriot party, as the assertors of Irish legislative independence began to be termed, the complete establishment of English sovereignty, and the eternal division of Irish and English, of Catholic and Prot- estant. The new king had acquired a reputation for a certain degree of liberality and toler- ance, as indeed the first George also had be- fore becoming king of England ; because, in the electoral dominions in Germany, the Catholic religion was freely tolerated, and not subjected to the savage penalties and humiliating oaths which made that worship almost impossible in Ireland. The Irish Catholics, therefore, when the young king mounted the throne, conceived certain de- lusive hopes of a relaxation in the Penal Code. They were still smarting under the lash of the Popery laws, which had never yet been so cruelly laid on as during the reign of George the First ; but as they re- membered that the two last and severest of these laws were said to have been enacted as a punishment for their neglect in not having addressed Queen Anne on her coming to the throne, they were now induced to think they should avoid giving the like of- fence on the present auspicious occasion. An humble congratulatory address was there fore prepared, testifying unalterable loyalty and attachment to the king and to his royal house ; and it met with the kind of reception which might have been expected. It was presented with all due respect to the lords justices at the Castle of Dublin, by Lord Delvin and other persons of the first quality among them ; but so little notice was then taken either of their address or themselves, that it is not yet known whether it was ever transmitted to be laid before his majesty, as it was humbly desired it should be ; or whether even an answer was returned by their excellencies that it should be so trans- mitted. In other words, they and their abject " loyalty" were wholly ignored ; and they received one additional lesson, if they still needed it, that they were to consider them- selves not his majesty's subjects, but the " common enemy." They were soon to have still another les- son. Primate Boulter, having observed with apprehension that the " Patriot" party waa popular with the Catholics, and afraid of the results of this influence upon the next elec- tions, took care to have a bill prepared, which was hurried through Parliament, for the en- tire disfranchisement of " Papists." Plow- den and other writers affirm that the dis- franchising clause was introduced into the bill by a kind of surprise or deception ; but, however that may be, it passed both Houses and received the royal assent, enacting that "No Papist shall be entitled or admitted to ENTIIIE DISFRANCHISEMENT OF PAPISTS. 55 vote at the election of ;iny member to serve in Parliament as a kiiiglit, citizen or burgess ; or at tlie election of any magistrate for any city or other town corporate, any law, statute or usage to tlie contrary notwithstanding,"* The Catholics were liy this law deprived of the very last vestige of civil right, and of tlie oi\lv poor means they possessed of mak- ing a friend or influencing any public meas- ure. They remained utterly disfranchised for sixty-six years ; and during all that period were as completely helpless as the beasts of the field. Another transaction of this year may be considered as a lesson not only to the Catho- lics, but to the new king, supposing that they should dream of receiving some indulgence, or that he should imagine his German lib- erality would do for Ireland. In the year 1727 application had been made by certain Catholics to the late king for the reversal of some outlawries incurred by several "rebel- lious," and which had been most iniquitous- Jy obtained, and had actually reduced some of the most ancient, noble, and opulent Roman Catholic families of the kingdom, with their numerous descendants, to absolute beggary. The Commons then sitting, and justly apprehending from his majesty's sup- posed equity and commiseration, that such application might meet with some success, lesolved upon a petition, wherein, among other things, they tell his majesty plainly, and even with a kind of menace, " that nothing could enable themio defend hisric/ht and title to his crown so effectually as the enjoyment of those estates, which have been the forfeitures of the rebellious Irish, and were then in the possession of his Protest- ant subjects; and therefore, that they were fnlhj assured that he would discourage all applications or attempts that should be made in favor of such traitors or their descendants, so dangerous to the Protestant interest of this kitigdotn." This petition produced the ■wished-for effect. The king, in his answer, assured the Commons " that he would for the future discourage all such applications and attempts." But the Commons, not content with this assurance, atid still fearing that those Popish * 1 Geo. II., cliap. 9, sec. 7. solicitors, who had been employed by the Catholics in their late unsucttessful attempt, might prevail upon their clients to renew their application at another more favorable juncture, brought in a bill absolutely dis- qualifying all Roman Catholics from prac- tising as solicitors, the only branch of the law profession whiuJi they were then permit- ted to practise. Lord Carteret, in proroguing that Parlia- ment, took occasion to congratulate it upon the several excellent laws which it bad passed, amongst others the law " for regula- tion of elec^tions." At this date, then, the Catholics of Ireland may be said to disap- pear from history. But it was impossible to extinguish, or to keep down everywhere and forever, the Irish race. An historian, who certainly shows no anxiety to say any thing soothing or flattering of our countrymen, observes well : "There were indeed Irish Roman Catho- lics of great ability, energy, and ambition : but they were to be found everywhere ex- cept in Ireland, at Versailles and at Saint Ildefonso, in the armies of Frederic and in the armies of Maria Theresa. One exile be- came a marshal of France. Another became prime minister of Spain.* If he had staid iu his native land he would have been regarded as an inferior by all the ignorant and worth- less squireens who drank the glorious and immortal memory. In his palace at Madrid he had the pleasure of being assiduously courted by the ambassador of George II. and of bidding defiance in high terms to the am- bassador of George III."f Carteret's administration, apart from the oppression of the Catholics, or perhai>s, in part, on account of that very oppression, is usually praised by English historians for its wisdom and humanity. He certainly pro- moted some few trifling measures tending to the improvement of trade ; but nothing touching, or in the slightest degree trench- ing upon, the domain of English monopoly, still less upon the absolute sovereign powei^ of the English Parliament over Ireland and all things Irish. The primate, in fact, maii- aged both the Irish Parliament and the Irish elections ; besides takijg great pains to fo- * Wall. t Macau lay's England. 66 HISTORY OF IRELAND. iiieiit quarrels and jealousies between Prot- estants and Protestants, between English and Irish, and even between the down-trodden Catholics. There had been differences of opinion amongst the latter on the policy of presenting their address of congratulation and loyalty; and the primate writes to Lord Carteret with great complacency on the 20th July: "I hear this day that the address yes- terday presented by some Roman Catholics occasions great heats and divisions amongst those of that religion here ;" which he inti- mates may produce a good effect. He had his agents in all the counties canvassing and intriguing for the king's friends ; and pre- vious to an election he once writes to assure the lord-lieutenant that " the elections will generally go well."* In short, by the dis- fianchisement of five-sixths of the people, by H judicious distribution of patronage and jilace amongst the rest, and by the ever- ready resource of the indefatigable primate, the Parliament had become perfectly man- ageable, and the " Patriot" party was effect- ually kept down. Swift has described the Irish Parliament at this time as being "Always firm in its vocation, For tlie Court, against the nation," So that Lord Carteret's administration was naturally considered in England as quite a success. But the famine that had been so greatly feared, now really visited the country with great severity, and slew its thousands for two years. No register, nor even approximate estimate of the amount of destruction of hu- man life caused by this famine was made at the time, but in many counties people fed on weeds and garbage. Ireland was then im- porting corn, and it is mentioned, as a re- markable fact, that between two and three hundred thousand pounds worth of grain was imported in one year during the dearth. The famine returned a few years later, in 1741 ; and, in fact, famine may be said to )iave become an established institution of the country and constant or periodical agent of British government from this time forth. There now began a very considerable emi- gration to America and the West Indies, * Boulter's Corretspoudunce. and this emigration was almost exclusively of Protestants from the North of Ireland. Primate Boulter, in one of his letters, com- plains of this circumstance, but takes care, at the same time, to libel the emigrating Dissenters, alleging that most of them were persons who, having contracted debts they could not or would not pay, were flying the country to avoid their creditois. He takes care not to tell his correspondent in England the true reasons of this movement : first, decline of trade and hunger and hardship; next, the oppression of the Test Act, and ot the "Schism" Act, a new law which had been very lately extended to Ireland by the sole authority of the British Parliament. The migration of Protestant Dissenters from Ulster, which commenced in Lord Carteret's administration, afterwards took large pro- portions, and Pennsylvania, Western Vir- ginia, North Carolina, and Georgia were in a great measure peopled by these " Scotch Irish," as they are called in the United States. Carteret was succeeded by the Duke of Dorset, in 1731, but the change made no alteration in the even tenor of the Govern- ment, seeing that Primate Boulter was still really and effectively the viceroy of the coun- try. The Catholics were now giving no trouble — too happy if they could avoid ob- servation ; but there arose a most vehe- ment agitation on the part of the Dissenters. These Presbyterians had contributed power- fully to the subjugation of Ulster under King William ; had fought at Deiry and at New- townbutler, as well as at the Boyne and Anghrim ; were devoted adherents to the Protestant succession and the House of Han- over, and had always aided and applauded the enactment of penal laws against the '• common enemy." Now, when the com- mon enemy was put down under foot, never, it was hoped, to rise again, the Dissenters naturally enough thought they should be entitled to the privilege of sitting in Parlia- ment and entering the municipal corpora- tions without taking the sacrament accord- ing to the rites of the Church of England, which was contrary to their conscience, but was imposed on them by law. They even made a merit of not having made common cause with the Catholics, although joined FAMINE — EMIGRATION AGITATION OF DISSENTERS. 57 with them iti a common injury on the pas- sasje of the "Act to prevent the further growtli of Popery ;" they had preferred to endure disahihties and insuhs themselves rather than in any way embarrass the Gov- ernment in its measures against the common enemy. For this base compliance they had their reward, and remained subject to the Test Act for three generations afterwards. In their attempts to obtain a relaxation of this code during Dorset's administration, the Catholics found, of course, the sternest and most uncompromising opponent in the pri- mate ; but — what they had not perhaps ex- pected — the most indefatigable, the most effi- cient, the most oflensive and disdainful enemy they had, was the Dean of St. Pat- rick's. For once the primate and the dean were on the same side. It does not appear, indeed, that there was the least chance at that time of breaking down in favor of Dissent- ers the strong barriers that fenced round the interest of the Established Church on every side ; but there was much discussion by po- litical pamphlets, and for two years Swift poured forth in very powerful papers his horror of Puritans and scorn of Scotchmen. The most remaikable of these productions is that entitled "Reasons; humbly otTered to the Parliament of Ireland, for repealing the Sacramental Test in favor of the Catho- lics." This, like his "Modest Proposal," is a master-piece of cold and biting irony ; in- tended to show that the Dissenters could not urge a single plea in favor of their own etnancipation which the very Papists could not bring forward with still greater force. The writer seems throughout to plead the cause of the Catholics, " called by their ill- willeis Papists," with so much earnestness, that very intelligent Catholic writers, as Plowden, Lawless, Curry, and others, have quoted it as a serious argument on their be- half. Indeed, it is not wonderful if straight- forward, unsophisticated minds that under- stand no joking on so grave a subject, have been sometimes mystified by passages like this : " And whereas another author among our brethren, the Dissenters, has very justly corn- plained that by this persecuting Test Act great numbers of true Protestants have been forced to leave the kingdom and fly to the plantations, rather than stay here branded with an incapacity for civil and military employment ; we do affirm that the Catho- lics can bring many more instances of th same kind ; some thousands of their religion have been forced by the Sacramental Test to retire into other countries rather than live here under the incapacity of wearing swords, sitting in Parliament, and getting that share of power and profit which belongs to them as fellow-Christians, whereof they are de- prived merely upon account of conscience, which would not allow them to take the sacrament after the manner prescribed in the liturgy. Hence it clearly follows, in the words of the same author, ' That if we [Cath- olics] are incapable of employment, we are punished for our dissent, that is, for our con- science,' " &c. It gives us a singular idea of the narrow- ness of this " Irish patriot's" idea of patriot- ism, that he could conceive no more effect- ual way of casting odium and i-idicule on the pretensions of Dissenters, than by show- ino- that even the Papists themselves might plausibly urge similar pretensions; and al- though he was aware of the effect of these penal laws in driving both Catholics and Dis- senters away from their native land, to carry their energy, their industry, and their resent- ments into foreign countries, he was yet earnestly in favor of retaining the whole sys- tem of penal laws unbroken against them both. The controversy soon died out, and was only occasionally and faintly renewed during the remainder of the century ; but it is impossible to refrain from the expression of a regret that the sovereign genius of Swift could not raise him up to a loftier and more generous idea of patriotism for the country of his adoption — or, as he always called it, oih\s exile — than this narrow and intolerant exclusiveness, which would drive from their native land both Catholics and Protestants who could not take the sacrament as he ad- ministered it. He opposed English domina- tion over Ireland, yet equally opposed the union of Irishmen to resist it. Therefore the verdict of history must forever be, that he was neither an English patriot nor an Irish one. As was said long afterwards of O'Connell, "he was a bad subject and a worse rebel." Yet the tone of independent 58 HISTOBT OF IRELAND. thought which rings through his inimitable essays, and the high and manly spirit with which he showed Irishmen how to confront unjust power, did not pass away ; they pen- etrated the character of the whole English Colony, and bore fruit long after that unquiet and haughty heart lay at rest in the aisle of St. Patrick's. Ubl sceva indignatio ulterius cor lacerare nequit. The disfranchised Catholics being now de- prived of their last and only means of gain- ing the favor and indulgence of their neigh- boring magistrates, by promising to vote for their party (all parlies being alike to the Catholics), were made to feel the full atrocity of the penal laws. It seems really to have been the design of Primate Boulter to wear down that population by ill-usage, to force them to fly the country, to get rid of them somehow altogether,, so that the island might lie open to be wholly peopled by English Protestants. Boulter was by no means the inventor of this policy; neither was he the last who acted upon it ; but none ever pursued it with more diabolical malignity. If any clergyman desired to win the primate's favor, he forthwith preached furious and foaming sermons against the execrated Papists. If any pamphleteer desired to make himself conspicuous as a "king's ser- vant," and so gain a profitable place, he set to work to prove that all Catholics are by nature and necessity murderers, perjurers, and adulterers. The resolutions passed so frequently in both Houses of Parliament, ex- horting magistrates to be active in enforcing the laws against the common enemy, had sometimes been only partially effective, be- cause the Catholics had a way of influencing country gentlemen to a certain extent. But now, under the primate's auspices, it was not intended that such resolutions should be a dead letter. On the 9th of March, 1731, it was "Re- solved unanimously that it is the indispens- able duty of all magistrates and officers to put the laws made to prevent the further growth of Popery in Ireland in due execu- tion." It was also at the same time resolved, nem. con. (being the end of the session), " that the members of that house, in their respective counties and stations, would u.se their utmost endeavors to put the sev- eral laws against Popery in due execu- tion." These frequent resolutions of the Com- mons, aided by inflammatory anniversary sermons and equally inflammatory pam- phlets, occasionally preached and published, diff^used such a spirit of rancor and ani- mosity against Catholics, among their Prot- estant neighbors, as made the generality of them believe that the woi'ds Popery, rebel- lion, and massacre really signified the same thing, and thereby excited such real terrors in these latter as often brought the liberties and sometimes the lives of the former into imminent danger. The most shocking fables that had been invented concerning the Irish insurrection in 1641, and of the Englisli gun- powder treason in 1605, were studiously re- vived and aggravated in these seimons and pamphlets, with a degree of virulence and exaggeration which surpassed the most ex- travagant fictions of romance or poetry, and possessed their uninformed, though often well-meaning, hearers and readers with last- ing and general abhorrence of these people. The crimes, real or supposed, of Catholics dead more than a century before, were im- puted, intentionally, to all those who sur- vived them, however innocent, of the same religious persuasion. Doctor Curry affirms that by all these means the popular passion was so fiercely in- censed against Papists as to suggest to some Protestants the project of destroying them by massacre at once ; and that " an ancient nobleman and privy councillor," whom the author, however, does not name, ** in the year 1743, on the threatened invasion of England by the French, under the command of Marshal Saxe, openly declared in council 'that as the Papists had begun the massacre on them, about a hundred years before, so he thought it both reasonable and lawful, on their parts, to prevent them, at that dangerous juncture, by first falling upon them.' " The same respectable author, who was a contemporary of the events he relates, states that "so entirely were some of the lower northern Dissenters possessed and influenced by this prevailing prepossession and rancor against Catholics, that in the same 3'ear, and HORRIBLE SCHEME FOR THE MASSACRE OF CATHOLICS. 59 for the same declared purpose of prevention, a conspiracy was actually formed by some of the inhabitants of Lurgan to rise in the night-time and destroy all their neighbors of tliat denomination in their beds. But this inhuman purpose was also frustrated by an information of the honest Protestant publi- can in whose house the conspirators had met to setile the execution of their scheme, sworn before the Rev. Mr. Ford, a justice of the peace in that district, wlio received it with horror, and with difficulty put a stop to the intended massacre."* The Irish House of Commons, during Lord Doiset's administration, was chiefly oc- cupied by debates on money and finances. The latter years of Carteret's term had been much disquieted on account of an attempt, made by the king's servants, to get a vote of £274,000 to the crown. The country party resisted vigorously ; and then began a series of acrimonious debates on monetary aflfairs, which "the Patriots" treated with a view to assert, as often and as strongly as possible, the right of the Irish Legislature to control at least the matter of Irish finances. In this first session, held in the Duke of Dor- set's government, the question came up ao-ain under another form on the vote for the supplies. The national debt, on Lady Day, 1733, was £371,312 13s. 2d.,f and for the payment of the principal and interest the supplies were voted from session to session. A gross attempt was now made to grant the supplies, set aside to pay the debt and the interest, to the king and his successors forever. This proposition was violently resisted by the Patriots, who asserted that it was uncon- stitutional to vote the sum for a longer period than from session to session. The Govern- ment, defeated in this attempt, sought to giant it lor twenty-one years, and a warm debate ensued. Just as the division was about taking place, the Ministeiialists and Patriots being nearly equal, Colonel Totten- ham, an Oppositionist, entered. He was dressed in boots, contrary to the etiquette of the House, which piescribed full dress, llis vote gave the majority to the Patriots, and the Government was defeated by Totlenham ' Curry's Historical Eeview. t Plowden. in his boots. This became one of the toasts of patriotism, and was given in all the social meetings. But such triumphs of the country party were rai'e, and their eftects were precarious. Every such event as this, however, stimu- lated and kept alive the aspiration after inde- pendent nationality ; and the same Duke of Dorset, when he was iu Iieland as viceroy for the second time, had an opportunity to verify and measure the progress of that na- tional spirit. In 1737 Dorset was recalled, and was suc- ceeded by the Duke of Devonshire, a noble- man of great wealth, who kept a splendid court in Dublin, and by the expenditures thereby occasioned made himself extremely popular amongst the tradesmen of that city.* In fact, the English Government and its crafty chief, Sir Robert Walpole, saw the necessity of counteracting the perilous doctrines of the "Patriots," by all the arts of seduction, by the charm of personal popularity, an.d especially by corruption — an art which, un- der Sir Robert Walpole, reached, both in England and in Ireland, a degree of high development, which it had never before at- tained in any country. As it was that min- ister's avowed maxim that "every man has his price," he saw no reason to except Irish patriots from that general law ; and Primate Boulter was precisely the man to test its accuracy in practice. All the influence of the Government was now needed to over- come the resolute bearing of the Opposition upon the grand subject of "supplies." The Patriots were determined, if the Irish Par- liament was to be politically subordinate to that of England, that they would at least endeavor to maintain its privilege of voting its own money. It is in these debates we first find amongst tlie Patriot party the names of Sir Edward O'Brien, of Clare, and his son. Sir Lucius O'Brien, an illustrious name then, both at home and abroad, des- tined to be more illustrious still before the close of that century, and to shine with a yet purer fame in the present age. Henry Boyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, and afterwards Earl of Shannon, and Antony Malone, son of that Malone who had pleaded ♦He also built Devonshire Quay, at his own ex- pense, and presented it to the city. 60 HISTORY OP IRELAND. along with Sir Toby Butler against the penal laws of Qr.een Anne's time, were also leading members of the Opposition. In 1 741 there was another dreadful famine. It is irksome to record, or to read the de- tails of this chronic misery ; but in the His- toiy of Ireland the gaunt spectre of Famine must be a prominent figure of the picture, while English connection continues. The learned ;ind amiable Dr. George Berkeley was then Bishop of Cloyne. A season of starvation first, and then, in due rotation, a season of pestilence, thinned the people miserably ; and the good bishop's sympathies were strongly moved. In a letter to Mr. Thomas Prior, of Dublin, he writes thus, under date the 19tli May, 1741:— "The distresses of the sick and poor are endless. The havoc of mankind in the counties of Cork, Limerick, and some adjacent places, hath been incredible. The nation, probably, will not recover this loss in a century. The other day I heard one from the county of Limeri(!k say that whole villages were en- tirely dispeopled. About two months since I heard Sir Richard Cox say that five hun- dred were dead in the parish, though in a county, I believe, not very populous. It were to be wished people of condition were at their seats in the country during these calamitous times, which might provide relief and employment for the poor. Certainly, if these perish, the rich must be sufferers in the end." It was while under the impression of these terrible scenes of suffering that Berkeley wrote his celebrated pamphlet, entitled "The Querist," which sets forth, under the form of questions, without answers, the bishop's views of the evils and requirements of his country ; for Berkeley', unlike Swift, called himself an Irishman. Two or three of his queries will show the drift of the work. " Whether a great quantity of sheepwalk be not ruinous to a countiy, rendering it waste and thinly inhabited?" "Whether it be a crime to inquire how far we may do without foreign trade, and what would fol- low on such a supposition ?" " Whether, if there were a wall of brass a thousand cubits high round this kingdom, our natives might not, nevertheless, live cleanly and comfort- ably, till the land, and reap the fruits of it ?" Such queries as these, though very cautiously expressed, showed plainly enough that the excellent bishop attributed all the evils of Ireland to the greedy commercial policy of England ; and accordingly this pamphlet was quite enough to stop his promotion. The next year there was a vacancy for the primacy ; and as Berkeley was the most learned and famous man in the Irish Church (Swift being then in his sad dotage), the friends of the Bishop of Cloyne naturally thought him entitled to the place, especially since Sir Robert Walpole owed him some compensation for having broketi faith with him in the matter of his Bermuda mission- ary college. But Berkeley himself expected no such favors. He writes to Mr. Prior with a touching simplicity : "For myself, though his excellency the lord-lieutenant might have a better opinion of me than I de- served, yet it was not likely that he would make an Irishtiian primate." And assuredly, Berkeley was not the kind of man needed to "do the king's business" in Ireland. Dr. Hoadley was the person appointed, and was soon succeeded by the notorious George Stone. It would require a large volume to detail the numberless and minutely elaborated measures by which the English Government has at all times contrived to regulate the trade and industry of Ireland in all their parts with a view to her own profit; a svs- tem whereby periodical famines are insured in an island endowed by natuie with such boundless capacity for wealth. We have seen that both Swift and Berkeley attacked the extensive "sheepwalks" In those years, corn was brought from England to Ireland because it suited the interest of England then to discourage agriculture here, and to encourage sheep-farms, all her efforts being directed to secure the woollen trade to her- self. Accordingly it was forbidden the Irish to export black cattle to England, and, therefore, sheep became the more profitable stock ; but as the Irish could make nothing of the wool, they had to send it in the fleece, and thus Yorkshire was supplied with the raw material of its staple manufacture. But afterwards, when England had full pos- session of the woollen manufacture, and that of Ireland was utterly destroyed, it became apparent to the English, that the best use ■WAR ON THE CONTINENT — DR. LUCAS. 61 tlu^y could tn;ike of Ireland would be to turn it into a general store farm for agricul- tural produce of all kinds. Anderson [His- tory/ of Conunerce) explains tlie matter thus : " Concerning these laws, many think them liurtful, and that it would be wiser to sufter the Irish to be employed in breeding and fattening their black cattle for us, than to turn their lands into sheepwalks as at pres- ent; in consequence of which, in spite of all the laws, they supply foreign nations with their wool." It is observable that this English writer, when he says many think the laws regulat- ing Irish commerce " hurtful," means hurt- ful to the English. Therefore, the system was afterwards so far changed, that England was willing to take any kind of agricultural produce from us, and to give us, in return, manufactured articles made either of our own or of foreign materials. So it has happened that. Irishmen have been per- mitted ever since to sow, to reap,' and to feed cattle for them, as Anderson recom- mended. But which of the systems bred more Irish famines we shall have other and too many opportunities of inquiring. CHAPTER X. 1741—1745. War on the Continent — Dr. Lucas — Primate Stone — Buttle of Dettingen — Lally — Fonteuoy — The Irish Brigade. King George II., like his predecessor, felt much more personal interest in German politics and the "balance of power" on the Continent, than in any domestic affairs of the English nation. He had adhered to the " Pragmatic sanction," that favorite measure of the Austrian Emperor Charles VI., for se- curing the succession of the possessions of the House of Austria to the Archduchess Maria Theresa, queen of Hungary. On the 20th of October, 1740, the Emperor Charles died, and all Europe was almost immediately plunged into general war. King Frederick, styled the Great, was then king of Prussia ; and as the Austrian army and finances were then in great disorder, and he could expect no very serious opposition, he suddenly set up his claim to the Austrian duchy of Si- lesia, and marched an army into it, in pur- suance of that usual policy of Prussia, which elaborately prepares and carefully conceals plans of aggression until the moment of putting them in execution, and then makes the stealthy spring of a tiger. France em- braced the cause of the Elector of Bavaria and candidate for the imperial throne ; sent an army into Germany under Marshal Brog- lie, and after some successes over the Aus- trians, caused the elector to be proclaimed emperor at Prague. In April, 1741, King George II. delivered a speech to both Houses of his Parliament, informing them that the Queen of Hungary had made a requisition for the aid of England in asserting her title to the throne, pursuant to the Pragmatic sanction ; and thereupon he demanded war supplies. Some honest and uncorrupted members of Parliament protested against this new Continental war ; but Sir Robert Wal- pole still ruled the country with almost ab- solute sway ; and to hold his place he sup- ported the policy of the king. So began that long and bloody war: a war in which Ireland had no concern, save in so far as it was an occasion for larger exactions from the Irish Parliament; and also gave to her exiled sons some further opportunities of meeting their enemies in battle. It was in 1741 that the famous Dr. Lucaa first appeared in the political arena. He was a man of great energy and honesty ; fully imbued with the opinions of Swift on the rights and wrongs of his country, that is of the English colony. He was even more oftensively intolerant than Swift to- waids the Catholics; but within the sacred limits of the "Protestant interest" he sup- ported the principles of freedom ; and if he fell very far short of his great model in genius, he perhaps equalled him in courage. Charles Lucas was born in 1713, and his family was of the farming class in Clare county. He established himself as an apothe- cary in Dublin, where he was elected a mem- ber of the Common Council. He there found abuses to correct. The appointment of aldermen had been a privilege usurped by the board of aldermen, while the right appertained to the whole corporate body. Having agitated this subject for a while, he 62 HISTORY OF IRELAND. p;ri'W holder with his increasing popularity, ;nicl ptiblishc'l some political tracts on the ;<)vt'reig-n right of the Irish Parliament. This attracted attention and excited alarm ; for, " to make any man popular in Ireland," as the primate bitterly remarks, "it is only necessary to set up the Irish against the English interest." Henceforward Dr. Lucas pursued, in his own way, an active career of patriotism, as he understood patriotism; and the reader will hear of him again. In 1742 the primacy of the Irish Church being vacant, by the death of Dr. Boulter, lloadley was first appointed to the See of Armagh, but vpas soon after succeeded by tliat extraordinary prelate, George Stone, bishop of Derry. It had long been Sir Robert Walpole's policy to govern Ireland mainly through the chief of the Irish Es- tablished Church, and Stone was a man al- together after his own heart. He was English by birth, and the son of a keeper of a jail ; was never remarkable for learning, and his character was the worst possible; but he had qualities which, in the minister's judg- ment, peculiaily fitted him to hold that wealthy and powerful see — that is to say, he would scruple at no corruption, would re- volt at no infamy, to gain adherents "for the court against the nation ;" and would make it the single aim of his life to main- tain the English interest in Ireland; and this not only by careful distribution of the immense patronage of Government, but by still baser acts of seduction. Memoirs and satires of that time have made but too no- torious the mysteries of his house near Dub- lin, where wine in profusion and bevies of beautiful harlots baited the trap to catch the light youth of the metropolis. Primate Stone was a very handsome man, of very dignified presence and demeanor; and with such a man for lord-justice and privy coun- cillor, the Duke of Dorset was able to pre- vent any dangerous assertion of indepen- dence during his viceroyalty. There were, however, continual debates over the ques- tion of supplies, the rapidly increased ex- penses of the public establishments, and the notorious corruption practised by Govern- ment. So long as the common interest of the Protestants was kept secure against the mass of the people, all was well ; but during the Devonshire administration alarm was taken about that vital point, on account of a bill to reverse an attainder which Lord Clancarty had succeeded in having presented to the Irish Parliament during the preceding vice- royalty, and which there seemed to be some danger might be passed. The Clancarty estate, which would have been restored by this attainder, was valued at £60,000 per annum ; and it was then in the hands of many new proprietors who had purchased under the confiscation titles, and who now, of course, besieged and threatened Parlia- ment with their claims and outcries. It was also found that other persons, whose lands had been confiscated (unjustly as they said they were ready to prove), had instituted proceedings for the recovery of certain pieces of land or houses. In short, there were eighty-seven suits commenced ; and the House . felt that it was time to set at least that afi"air at rest. If Papists were to be allowed to disquiet Protestant possessors by alleging injustice and illegality in the pro- ceedings by which they had been despoiled, it was clearly perceived that there would be an end of the Protestant interest, which, in fact, reposed upon injustice and illegality from the beginning. Therefore, a series of very violent resolutions was passed by the Commons, denouncing all these proceedings as a disturbance of the public weal, and de- claring all those who instituted any such suits, or acted in them as lawyer or attorney, to be public enemies. It may be remem- bered that not only were Catholic barristers debarred from practice, but, by a late act, Catholic solicitors too ; so that after these resolutions there could not be much chance of success in any lawsuit for a Catholic. Thus the Pjotestant interest was quieted for that time. Meanwhile, war was raging over the Con- tinent, and King George II., with liis son, the Duke of Cumberland, had gone over to take command of the British and Hanoverian troops, operating on the French frontier, while Central Germany was fiei'cely debated between the Empress Queen, allied with England, and Frederick of Prussia, allied with France. The first considerable battle after the king took command was at Detlingen BATTLE OF DETTINGEN — COUNT DE LALLT. 63 tilt! 27111 of June, 1743. This place is on the Mein or Mayn river, and very near tlie citv of Frankfort. The French were corn- n landed by the Marechal de Noailles; the allies by King George ostensibly, but really by the Earl of S;air. The day went against the French, and ended in almost a rout of their army, which would have become a to- tal rout but for the exertions of the Count do Lally, then acting as aide-major-general to Noailles, The marechal himsf^lf gives him this very high testimony : " He three several times rallied the army in its rout, and saved it in its retreat by his advice given to the council of war after the action."* As this celebrated soldier will reappear in the nar- rative, and especially on one far greater and more terrible day, it may be well to give some account of him. His father was Sir Gerard Lally (properly O'MulIally), of Tul- lindal ; and had been one of the defenders of Limerick, and one of those who volun- teered for France with Sarsfield. Sir Gerard bt^came immediately an officer in the French service, and his son, the Count Lally, was I'orn at Romans, in Dauphine, when his father was there in garrison. He first mounted a trench at the siege of Barcelona, in Spain, when he was twelve years of age, but already a captain in Dillon's regiment. This was in 1714. We next hear of him planning a new descent upon some point of England or Scotland, in order to retrieve the fortunes of " the Pretender," and had actual- ly a commission for this purpose from King James HL To conceal his plans, he an- nounced that he was preparing to make a campaign as volunteer under his near rela- tive Marechal de Lascy (De Lacy), who then commanded the Russian army against the Turks. Cardinal Fleury induced him to lay aside every other design and to go to Rus- sia, not in a military but in a civil capacity; in short, as a diplomatist with special mis- sion. As this mission was to endeavor to de'ach Russia from English alliance, aud so weaken England in the war, he gladly ac- cepted, for the great object of Lally's life, to the very last, was to strike a mortal blow at England in any part of the earth or sea. He * Letter of Marechal de Noailles, quoted in Biog. Univ., art. LaUy. did not succeed in his Russian embassv, and left St. Petersburg in a fit of impatience, for which the cardinal rebuked him ; then served under Noailles in the Netherlands, who par- ticularly requested him to act as the chief of his stafl". It is tlius we find him at the disas- trous battle of Dettingen ; but for the re- pulse that day both Lally and the French were soon to have a choice revenge. After the, battle, a regiment of Lish infantry was created for him, and attached to the L'ish brigade. The brigade consisted now of seven regiments, and it saw much service that year and the next under the Count de Saxe, who took the various towns of Menin, Ypres, and Furnes, in the Netherlands, all which the Duke of Cumberland endeavored to prevent without avail, and without com- ing to a battle. In this year, 1744, however, great prep- aration was made on both sides for a de- cisive campaign. The French army was incieased in the Netherlands, and on the other side the English court had at length prevailed on the States-General of Holland to join the alliance against France. In Sep- tember of that year, the allies, then in camp at Spire, were reinforced by 20,000 Dutch, who were time enough, unluckily for them, to take a share in the great and crowning battle of Fontenoy. It might be supposed that the incidents of this famous battle have been sufficiently discussed and described to make them gen- erally known ; but, in fact, the plain truth of that aftair (especially as it affects the Irish engaged) is very difficult to ascertain with precision, and for the very reason that there are so many accounts of it handed down to us by French, Irish, and English authorities, all with different national prejudices and predilections. Reading the usual English accounts of the battle, one is surprised to find in general no mention of Irishmen hav ing been at Fontenoy at all ; the English naturally dislike to acknowledge th:'.t they owed that mortal disaster in great part to the Irish exiles whom the faithlessness and oppression of their own Government had driven from their homes and filled with the most intense passion of vengeance : the French, with a sentiment of national pride equally natural, wish to appropriate to 64 HISTORY OF IRELAND. French soldiers, as far as possible, the honor of one of their proudest victories; but if we read certain enthusiastic Irish narratives of Fontenoy, we miglit be led to suppose that it was the Irish brigade alone which saved the French army and ruined the redoubt- able column of English and Hanoverians. It is well, then, to endeavor to establish the simple facts by reference to such authorities as are beyond suspicion. In the end of April, 1V45, the Marechal de Saxe, now famous for his successful sieges in the Netherlands, opened trenches before Tournay, on the Scheldt river, which, in this place, runs nearly from south to north. King Louis, with the young dauphin, " not to speak of mistresses, play-actors, and cookei'y- Mpparatus (in wagons innumerable) hastens to be there," says Carlyle.* Tournay was very strongly fortified, and defended by a Dutch garrison of nine thousand men, and Saxe appeared before it with an army of about seventy thousand men. The allies de- termined at all hazards to raise the siege, and King George's son, the Duke of Cum- berland, liastened over from England to take command of the allied forces — English, Dutch, Hanoverian, and Austrian — destined for that service. Count Konigseck com- manded the Austrian quota, and the Prince of Waldeck the Dutch. The army was mustered near Brussels on the 4th of May, and thence set forth, sixty thousand sti'ong, for Tournay, passing near the field of Stein- kirk — a name remembered in the English army. On Suuday, the 9ih of May [neiv style), the duke reached the village of Vazon, six or seven miles from Tournay, in a low, undulating country, with some wood and a few streams and peaceable villages. The ground which was to be the field of battle lies all between the Brussels road and the river Scheldt. Tournay lay to the north-west, closely beleaguered by the French, and the Marechal de Saxe, aware of the approach of the allies, had thrown up some works, to bar their line of advance, with strong bat- teries in the villages of Antoine and Fon- * Life of Frederick. Mr. Carlyle, who devotes many pages to a niinnte account of the battle of Fontenoy, dues not seem to have been made aware, in the course of his reading, of the presence of any Irish troops at all on that field. tenoy, and on the edge of a small wood, called Bois de JSarri, which spreads out to- wards the east, but narrows nearly to a point in the direction of Tournay. In these works, connected by redans and abatis, and mount- ed with probably a hundred guns, the Mare- chal took his position with fifty-five thou- sand men, leaving part of his force around Tournay and in neighboring garrisons. Near the point of the wood is a redoubt called "redoubt of Eu," so called from the title of the Norman regiment which occupied it that day. On a hill a liitle farther within the French lines the king and the dauphin took their post. And now Saxe only feared that the allies might not venture to assail him in so strono; a place ; and the old Austrian, Konigseck, was strongly of opinion that the attempt ought not to be made ; but the Duke of Cumberland and Waldeck, the Dutch com- mander, were of a different opinion, and, iu short, it was determined to go in. Early in the morning of the 11th the dispositions were made. The Dutch and Austrians were on the enemy's left, opposite the French right, and destined to carry St. Antoine and its works; the English and Hanoverians in the centre, with their infantry in front and cavalry in the rear, close by the wood of Barri. The map contained in the " Meinoiis of Marechal Saxe" gives the disposition of the various corps on the French side ; and we there find the place of the Irish brigade marked on the left of the French line, but not the extreme left, and nearly opposite the salient point of the wood of Barri. The brigade was not at its full strength ; and we know not on what authority Mr. Davis* slates that all the seven regiments were on the ground. There were probably four regi- ments ; certainly three — Clare's, Dillon's, and Lally's — Lord Clare being in chief command. Neither Clare, nor Dillon, nor Lally was Irish by birth, but all were sons of Limerick exiles. Of their troops ranked that day under the green flag, probably not one had fought at Limerick fifty-four years before. They were either the sons of the original " Wild-geese," or Irishmen who had migra- ted since, to fly from the degradation of the * Note to his splendid ballad of " Fontenoy." THK BATTLK OP FONTKNOT. 65 penal laws, and seek revenge upon theii' country's enemies. Judging from the space which the brigade is made to occupy on the map, it appears likely that its effective force at Fontenoy did not exceed five thousand men, or the tenth part of the French army. The various attacks ordered by the Duke of Cumbeiland on tlie seveial parts of the French line were made in due form, after sows preliminary cannonading. None of them succeeded. The Dutch and Austrinns were to have stormed St. Antoine, their right wing at the same time joining hands with the English and Hanoverians opposite Fontenoy. But they ftnind the fire from Antoine too heavy, and, besides, a battery they were not aware of opened upon them from the opposite bank of tlie Scheldt, and cut them up so effectually that after two gallant assaults they were fain to retire to their original position. Of course the Eng- lish have complained ever since that it was the Dutch and Austrians who lost them Fontenoy. In the mean time the English and Hanoverians were furiously attacking the village of Fontenoy itself, but had no better success. Before the attack a certain Brigadier- General Ingoldsby had been de- tHched with a Hig-hlaud regiment, " Semple's Highlanders," and some other force, to si- lence the redoubt of Eu, on the edge of the wood, which seriously incommoded the Eng- lish right. Ingoldsby tried, but could not do it (on which account he underwent a court-martial in England afterwards). So the duke had to make his attack on Fon- tenoy with the guns of that redoubt ham- mering his right flank. The attack was made, however, and made with gallantry and persistency, three times, but completely repulsed each time with considerable loss. Nothing but repulse everywhere — right, left and centre ; but now the Duke of Cumber- land perceived that between Fontenoy and the wood of Barri, with its redoubt of Eu, there was a passage practicable, though with great peril and loss from the cross-fire. "Sire,*' said Saxe to the king on the even- ing of that triumphant day, "I have one fault to reproach myself with — I ought to have put one more redoubt between the wood and Fontenoy; but I thought there was no general bold enough to hazard a pas- 9 sage in that place."* In fact, no gener.il ought to have done so. However, as C;ir- lyle describes this advance, ''His Royal High ness blazes into resplendent Platt-Deutacl rage, what we may call spiritual white heat, a man sans ^-icur at any rate, and pretty much Sana avia — decides that he must and will be through those lines, if it pleaso God; that he will not be repulsed at his part of the attack — not he, for one ; but will plunge through by what gap there is (nine hundred yards Voltaire measures it), between Fontenoy and that ledoubt, with its laggaid Ingoldsby, and see what the French interior is like."f In fact, he did come through the lines, and saw the interior. He retired for a space, rearranged his Eno-lish and Hanoverians in three thin col- umns, which, in the advance, under heavv fire from both sides, were gradually crowded into one column of great depth, full sixteen thousand strong.^ They had with theia twelve field-pieces — six in front and six in the middle of their lines.§ The column had to pass through a kind of hollow, where they were somewhat sheltered from the fire on each flank, di'aggiug their cannon by hand, and then mounted a rising giound, and found themselves nearly out of direct range from the guns both of Fontenoy and the redoubt of Eu — fiirly in sight of the Fiench position. In front of them, as it chanced, were four battalions of the Gardes Fran^aises, with two battalions of Swiss guards on their left, and two other French regiments on their right. The French offi- cers seem to have been greatly surprised when they saw the English battery of can- non taking piosition on the summit of the rising gi'ound. " English cannon !" they cried ; " let us go and trdce them." They mounted the hill with their grenadiers, but were astonislied to find an army in their front. A heavy discharge, both of artillery * Voltaire. Louis XV. His account oftlie battle is in general very clear andpreci>c; but Voltaire, both in tills work and in his poem of P"iiriteno>v though he (.•annot altocrt'tlier avoid M nn-ntion of the Irisi) troops, takes care to t-siy as little about them us possible. + Life of Frederick. X Davis, both in his ballad and his note on this battle, by some unaccountable oversight, states it at six thousand. § Voltaire. C6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. jind musketry, made them quickly recoil witli heavy loss. The English column con- tinued to advance steadily, and the French guards, with the regiment of Courten, sup- ported by other troops, having re-formed, came up to meet them. It is at this point that the ceremonious salutes are said to have passed between Lord Charles Hay, who com- manded the advance of the English, and the Conite d'Auteroche, an officer of the French grenadiers — the former taking off his hat and politely requesting Messieurs of the French Guards to fiie — the latter, also, vfhh }iat off, replying', " After you, Messieurs." D'Espagnac and Voltaire both record this })iece of stage - courtesy. But Carlyle, though he says it is a pity, disturbs the course of history by means of "a small ii- refiiigable document which has come to him," namely, an oiiginal letter from Lord Uay to. bis brother, of vi^hich this is an exceipt : " It was our regiment that attacked the French Guards ; and when we came within twenty or thirty paces of them, I advanced before our regiment, drank to them (to the French), and told them that we were the English Guards, and hoped they would stand till we came quite up to tliem, and not swim the Scheldt, as they did the Mayn at Dettingen ; upon which I immediately turned aV)Out to our own regiment, speeched them, and made tliem huzzah. An officer (d'Auteroche) came out of the ranks, and tried to make his men liuzzah. However, there were not above three or four in their brigade that did," &c. Ill fact, it appears that the French, who, ac- cording to that chivalrous legend, " never fired first," did fire first on this occasion; but both Gardes Franfaises and Swiss Guards Were driven off the field with considerable slaughter. And still the English column ad- vanced, witli a terrible steadiness, pouring forth a tremendous fire of musketry and ar- tillery, sufieiing grievously by repeated at- tacks, both in tVont and flank, but still closing up its gapped ranks, and showing a resolute face on both sides. There was some con- fusion in the French army, owing to the surprise at this most audacious advance, and the resistance at first was unconcerted and desultory. Regiment after regiment, both foot and horse, was -hurled against the re- doubtable colunin, but all were repulsed by an admirably sustained fire, which the French called feu d^enfer. Voltaire states that among the forces which made these ineffec- tual attacks were certain Irish battalions, and that it was in this charge that the Colo- nel Count Dillon was killed. And still the formidable column steadily and slowly ad- vanced, cahnly loading and firing, " as if on parade," says Voltaire, and were now full thiee hundred paces beyond the line of fire from Fontenoy and the redoubt of the wood, resolutely marching on towards the French headquarters. By this time Count Saxe found that his batteries at Fontenoy had used all their balls and were only answering the guns of the enemy with discharges of powder. He believed the battle to be lost, and sent two several times to entreat the king to cross the Scheldt, and get out of danger, which the king, however, steadily refused to do. Military critics have said that at this crisis of the battle, if the English had been sup- poited by cavalry, and due force of artillery, to complete the disorder of the French — or, if the Dutch, under Waldeck, had at that moment resolutely repeated their assault upon St. Antoiue, the victory was to the Duke of Cumberland, and the whole French army must have been flung into the Scheldt river. Count Saxe was now in mortal anxi- ety, and thought the battle really lost, when the Duke de Richelieu ro7 its right flank. There was also in the same quarter the French regiment of Normnndie, and vseveral other corps which had already . \reen repulsed and broken in several inef- fectual assaults on the impregnable column.* A French authority f informs us that "this last decisive charge was determined upon, in the very crisis of the day, in a conversation rapid and sharp as lightning between Riche- lieu, galloping from rank to rank, and Lally, who was out of patience at the thought that the devoted ardor of the Irish brigade was not to be made use of." He had his wish, and at the moment when the battery opened on the front of the column, the brigade had orders to assail its right flank and to go in with the bavonet. The English mass was now stationary, but still unshaken, and never doubting to finish the business, but looking wistfully back for the cavalry, and longing for the Dutch. Suddenly four guns opened at short range straight into the head of their column ; and at the same moment the Irish regiments plunged into their right flank with bayonets levelled and a hoarse roar that rose above all the din of battle. The words were in an unknown tongue ; but if the English had understood it, they would have known that it meant '■''Remember Limerick f' That fierce charge broke the steady ranks, and made the vast column waver and reel. It was seconded by the regiment of Normandie with equal gallantry, while on the other flank the cavalry burst in impetuously, and the four guns in front were ploughing long lanes through the dense ranks. It was too much. The English resisted for a little with stub- born bravery, but at length tumbled into utter confusion and fled from the field, leav- ing it covered thickly with their own dead and their enemies'. They were not pursued fir, for, once outside of the lines, their cav- * The Marquis d'Argensoii, miniBter of Foreigrn Atfairs, was present in tlie battle, and immtdiately alter wrote a narrative of it, which he addressed to }>\. lie Voltaire, then " Historiot(riipher to the Kiiicr." lie savK : " A false corps de reserve was then brouiirlit up ; it consisted of tiie same cavalry which had nt first charged ineffectually, the liousehold troops of tlie kintr, tlie carbineers of the French euards, who liad not yet been engraved, and a boity of Irish troops, which were excellent, especially when opposed to the Entrli^h an plicable to public works within the island. Primate Stone, however, who was now in possession of all the influence of l^oulter, and imbued with the same thoroughly British principles, contended that all the surplus revenue of Ireland, as a dependent kingdom, belonged of light to the Crown. The Pft- triot party were led chiefly by two men — Henry Boyle, the Speaker of the House, and the Prime Sergeant Antony Malone — the former an ambitious and intriguing politi- cian, the latter an eloquent debater and most able constitutional lawyer. Outside of the House the patriotic spirit of the people — that is, the Protestant, people — was inflamed by the writings of Dr. Charles Lucas, who had now, from petty corporation politics, risen to the height of the great argument of na- tional independence. But it soon appeared that the Irish House of Commons was not yet prepared for the reception of such bold doctrines. Lucas and his writings weie made the subject of a resolutiDU in the House of Commons ; he was but faintly de- fended by his own partisans, and the resolu- tion passed, declaiing him as " an enemy to his country," even for asserting the rightful independence of that very Parliament which proscribed him. This event befell in 1749; a reward was offered for the apprehension of Lucas, and he fled from the kingdom. As usual in such cases, the persecution directed against him attracted more attention to his writings and bred more sympathy with his principles ; so that when he returned a few years after, he became for a time the most popular man in the kingdom. To interna- tional questions thus narrowed down to the mere right of voting or withholding money, it was impossible to give any high constitutional interest, and, in fact, during this administra- tion not a single step in advance was gained by the " Patriot" party. The struggle for power and influence between Primate Stone and Speaker Boyle " was no more," says Mac LUCAS AND THE PATRIOTS — DEBATES ON THE SUPPLIlss, IS Nevin, ''ihan the straggle of two ambitions and powerful men for their own etids." In iVol Lord Harrington was recalled. The Duke of Dorset, for the second time, came to Ireland as lord-lieutenant, and the question of Irish parliamentary control over tlio revenues of the country came at last to a crisis, and received a solution very little to the comfort of the Patriots. In the last session under Harrington's vieeroyalty, as there was a considerable surplus in the Irish Exchequer, the House of Commons deter- mined to applv it towards the discharge of the national debt. A bill had been accord- ingly prepared and transmitted to England ■with this view, to which was affixed the pre- amble : '* Whereas, on the 25th of March last a considerable balance remained in the hands of the vice-treasurers or receivers- geneial of the kingdom, or their deputy or deputies, unapplied ; and it will be for your majesty's service, and for the ease of your faithful subjects in this kingdom, that so much thereof as can be conveniently spaied should be paid, agreeably to your majesty's most gracious intention, in discharge of part of the national debt," &c. On the trans- mission of this bill to London (Mr. Pelham being then prime minister), it was urged by the warm partisans of prerogative in the council that the Commons of Ireland had no right to ap[)ly any part of the unappro- jiriated revenue, nor even to take into con- sideration the propriety of such appropria- tion, without the previous consent of the crown f )rmally declared. When the Duke of Dorset came over, and opened the session of iTol, he informed the two Houses that he was commanded by the king to acquaint them that his majesty, ever thoughtful of the welfare and happiness of his subjects, would graciously consent and recommend it to them that such part of the money then remaining in his treasury, as should be thought con- sisteiit with the public service, be applied towards the fiuther reduction of the na- tional debt. " Consent" involved a principle, and the Commons took fire at the word. They flamed the bill, appropriating £120,000 for the purpose already stated, and omitted in its preamble all mention of the consent. But ministers returned it with an alteration in the preamble signifving the consent and ' 10 containing the indispensable word. And the House, unwilling to drive the matter to extremities, passed the bill without further notice. Thus was established a precedent for the King of England consenting to the Irish Parliament voting their own money. So far had the differences proceeded, when Mr. Pelham died, and the Duke of New- castle, who succeeded him as prime minister, zealous to uphold the prerogative, to improve upon the precedent, and to repeat the lesson just given to the aspiring colonists of Ireland, sent positive directions to Dorset, in open- ing the session of 1753, to repeat the ex- pression of his majesty's gracious consent in mentioning the application of surplus reve- nue. The House, in their Address, not only again omitted all reference to that gracious consent, but even the former expressions of grateful acknowledgment; and the bill of supplies was actually transmitted to England without the usual complimentary preamble. The ministers of the (-rown in England, in their great wisdom, thought fit to supply it thus : "And your majesty, ever attentive to the ease and happiness of your faithful subjects, has been graciously pleased to sig- nify that you would consent,''^ and so forth. When the bill came over thus amended there was much excitement both in Parlia- ment and in society. Mah^ne was learned and convincing. Boyle, by his extensive influence and connections in Parliament, powerfully seconded, or rather led, the opposi- tion. And, notwithstanding the utmost ex- ertioui of the king's servants to do the king's business, the spiiit of independence was sufficiently roused to cause the entire defeat of the amended bill, though only by a ma- jority of five votes. The Conmions wished to appropriate the money — the king con- sented, and insisted u]ion consenting; and then the Commons would not appropriate it at all, because the king consented. 'J'he de- feat of the bill was considered as a victory uf Patriotism, and was celebrated with universal rejoicings — even the Catholics joining in the general joy, for they felt instinctively that it was the weight of English predominance which kept tliem in their degraded position, and necessarily sympathized with every struggle against that. Yet, after all, this spirited conduct of the Commons was but u HISTORY OP IRELAND. an impotent protest; for the public ser- vice was now left wholly unprovided for, the circulation of money almost ceased, trade and business suflfered, and a clamor soon arose, not more against the Government than against the Patriots. Thus the Court party had its revenge. The lord-lieutenant took the whole surplus revenue out of the treas- ury by virtue of a " royal letter" ; so the kino-, after all, not only consented to the act, but did the act wholly himself; and Speaker Boyle was removed from his seat at the Privy Council, and Malone's patent of precedence as prime sergeant was annulled. The vice- loy and the primate took care to put some mark of royal displeasure upon every one who had voted down the Supply Bill ; and it may be doubted whether the English in- terest did not gain a more decisive victory by thus trampling with impunity upon all constitutional forms, than if the Irish Parlia- ment had quietly submitted to the servile form prescribed to it. There was no visible remedy ; the mob of Dublin might hoot the viceroy when his coach appeared in the streets ; they could threaten and mob the piimate or Hutchinson, or others who were conspicuous in asseiting the obnoxious royal prerogative ; yet they had no alternative but to submit. In the discussion of this question we might repeat the words of Swift when speaking of the case of Molyneux : ''The love and torrent of power prevailed. Indeed, the arguments on both sides were in- vincible. For, in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery ; but, in fact, eleven men well armed will certainly subdue one single man in his shirt." Up to this period we have invariably found the struggles of the colony to take rank as a nation — of its Parliament to as- sert its independence — successfully resisted and triumphantly crushed down. The as- sertion of the jurisdiction of the Irish lords in the case of " Sherlock and Annesley" was instantly followed by the Declaratory Act, which enacted that the Irish lords had no jurisdiction at all. The more anxiously our Irish Parliament affirmed its sovereign right, the more systematically were acts passed by the English Parliament to bind Ireland. And now the attempted vindication by the Irish Legislature of its right to vote, or not vote, its own money, was only the occasion of a high-handed royal outrage, trampling upon every pretence of constitutional law ; and Irish " Patriots," if unanswerable in their arguments, were impotent to make them good in fact ; for " the arguments on both sides were invincible." It is, in truth, impossible to avoid assent to the conclusions of Lord Clare (not O'Brien, King James's Lord Clare, but Fitzgibbon, King George's Lord Clare), in his often-quoted speech fifty years later, in so far as he demonstrated the anomalous and untenable relation between the two Parliaments of England and of Ire- land. This English Protestant colony in Ireland, which aspired to be a nation, amounted to something under half a million of souls in 1754.* It was out of the ques- tion that it should be united on a footing of equality with its potent mother country, by " the golden hnk of the crown," because the wearer of that crown was sure to be guided in his policy by English ministers, in accordance with English interests ; and as the army was tlie king's army, he could al- ways enforce that policy. The fatal weak- ness of the colony was, that it would not amalgamate with the mass of the Irish people, so as to form a true nation, but set up the vain pretension to hold down a M'hole disfianchised people with one hand, and defy all England with the other. Still the colonists were multiplying and growing rich ; and happily for them, Eng- land was on the eve of disaster and humilia- tion ; and a quarter of a century later a gracious oppoitunity was to arise which gave them real independence for at least a few years. * We take the estimate of the entire population for tliat year from the taijles in Tlioin's official Al- manac and Directory. For 1754 it is estimated at 2,372,634 men, women, and ciiildren. At the rate of five Catholics to one Protestant (which is Dr. Boulter's estimate), the active part oi' l\\e population was under half a million. The rest was assumed by law not to exist in the world. EARL OF KILDARE: HIS ADDRESS, 75 CHAPTER XII. 1753—1760. Unpopnlnrity of the Duke of Dorset — Earl of Kil- dare — His Address — Patriots in power — Pension List — Duke of Bedford lord-lieutenant — Case of Saul— Catholic meeting in Dublin — Commence- ment of Catholic agitation — Address of the Catho- lics received — First recognition of the (Catholics as subjects — Lucasian mobs — Project of Union — Tliiirot's expedition — Death of George II. — Popu- lation — Distress of the country — Opci'ation of the Penal Laws — The Geoghegans — Catholic Petition — Berkeley's "Querist." After these high-handed measures of the English ministry, of which Dorset was but the instrument, he became iutolerabLe to the people of Dublin, as well as his son, Lord George Sackville, the primate, and every one professing " to do the king's business in Ireland." The duke, even before being re- called, found it necessary to go over to England, partly to avoid the odium of the Irish, but chielly to take care of his interests and those of his family at the court. The Colonial patriotism ran high ; the mob of Dublin became '" Lucasian." The primate durst not appear on the streets ; and the luanner was then first introduced of express- ing, by toasts, at private supper parties, some stirring patrioiic sentiment or keen in- vective against the administration, in terse language, which would pass from mouth to mouth, and thence get into the newspapers. One of these toasts was, "May all Secretary- Dashaws and lordly high-priests be kept to their tackle, the sword and the Bible." An- other was, " May the importation of Gany- medes into Ireland be discontinued," which was an allusion to unnamable vices attrib- uted to Primate Stone. However, the chief interest of the struggle between court and country was now, for the moment, transferred to the cabinets and antechambers of ministers at London. The Earl of Kildare, afterwards Duke of Lein- ster, a high-spirited nobleman, as became his Geraldine blood, was moved with indigna- tion at the late proceedings in his country ; fqr the Geraldines had always considered themselves Irish, and long before these Cromwellian and Williamite colonists had appeared iu the island his ancestors were not only Irish and chiefs of Clan-Geralt, but were even reproached as being actually more Irish tliau the Irish. Of course, the family had long ago " conformed," like most of the O'Briens and De Burghos, and many other ancient tribes of French and Irish stock; otherwise the earl could not have sat iu Parliament, nor taken the bold step which so much astonished British courtiers at this period. He went over to London, had an audience of the king, and presented him with his own hand an address of remon- strance from himself against the whole course of the Irish Goveinment under Lord Dorset. This document spoke very plainly to the king; told him "his loyal kingdom of Ire- land wore a face of discontent;" that this discontent proceeded not from faction, but from the malfeasance of ministers ; it com- plained of the odious duumvirate of the primate and the viceroy ; compared the lat- ter with Strafford, the foi iner with Laud and Wolsey, and especially exposed the insolent behavior of Dorset's son. Lord George Sack- ville, iu mischievously meddling with all the public atiaiis of the kingdom. Ministers were surprised at what they considered the boldness of this proceeding. The Earl of Holderness writes to the Irish Chancellor Jocelyn, " My good lord chan- cellor — I am not a little concerned that the noble Earl of Kildare should take so bold a step as he may repent hereafter. * * He was but ill received, and very coolly dis- missed, as, indeed, the presumption well merited; for why should his majesty re- ceive any reuioustrances concerning his kingdom or government, but from the proper ministers, or through the usual channels, namely, both Houses of Parliament ? I de- sire my compliments may attend his grace, my lord primate, and wish hira success in all laudable endeavors for poor Ireland.''^ But, in fact, although the earl's address was spoken of generally as an act of temeri- ty " which nothing but the extreme mild- ness of government cotild allow to remain unpunished," yet it appears he felt extreme- ly easy about these hiftts of danger to him- self. If it be true that he was " coolly dis- missed" from the royal audience, yet the government of Ireland was very quickly modelled upon his views, or almost placed 73 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Rubstantially in his hands. Dorset was soon recalK-d, and was succeeded by the Lord Uartington, a personal and political ally of Kildare. Mr. Plowden alleges, and the re- sult seems to confirm it, that this viceroy came over to Ireland leagued by a secret treaty with the Patriot party, tlirough the intermediation of Lord Kildaie, and in es- pecial had a clear understanding with Boyle and Malone. Stone was removed from the privv council ; Boyle was made Earl of Shan- non, and entered the U[>per Hou«e, accept- ing at the same time a pension of £'2,000 fur thirty-one years. Ponsonby was elected Speaker in his place. The system of the English Court was now to buy up the Pa- tiiots wiih place and patronage. Even Malone was promised the succession to Boyle as Chancellor of the Exchequer; but the public, and his own respectable family, raised such an outcry against this that he was ashamed to accept it, and declined. Boyle continued nominal chancellor, and Malone condescended to receive the profits of the place. We hear but little more of any trouble given to English rule by this band of Lish Patriot?, and the bitter reflection of Thomas MacNevin upon the whole transac- tion seems well justified. " Despotism, with- out corruption, was not considered as a fit exemplar of government, and the matter for the present terminated by a title and a pen- sion conf-rred on the greatest Patriot of the day. Henry Boyle bore about the blushing honoi's of his public virtue, emblazoned on the coronet of the Earl of Shannon. The piimate did not fare so well ; he was re- moved from the privy council. The rest of the Patriots found comfortable retreats in various lucrative offices, and the most sub- staniial compliments were paid to those who were noisiest in their patriotism and fiercest in their opposition." In 1756 the lord-lieutenant, now Duke of Devonshire, after having thus gratified the " Patriots," returned to England in delicate health — leaving as lords-justices, Jocelyn, lord chancellor, and the Earls of Kildare and Bes>boroiigli. It is painful to be obliged to admit that the transferrence of the power and patronage of the Irish Government into the hands of the Patriots was not productive of any whole- some effect whatsoever — neither in favor of the Catholic masses (for the Patriots were their mortal enemies), nor in favor of pub- lic virtue and morality, for nobody demands to be bought at so high a price as a patriot. Accordingly, we soon find the whole atten- tion of Parliament and of the country ab- sorbed by inquiries into the enormously in- creased pension list upon the Irish Estab- lishment. In March, 1756, some member (unpensioned) of the Commons, introduced a bill to vacate the seats of such members of the House of Commons as should accept any pension or civil office of profit from the Crown. It was voted down by a vote of eighty-five to fifty-nine — a fatal and ominous waining to the nation. On the day when that measure was debated, a return of pen- sions was brought in and read. Many of the fii'st names in Ireland appear upon the shameful list; many foreigners or English- men; few or no meritorious servants of the state. The Countess of Yarmouth stood upon that return for £4,000 ; Mr. Belling- ham Boyle, a near relative of the illustrious "Patriot," for £800 "during pleasure" (that is, so long as he should make himself gener- ally useful), and the Patriot himself, now Earl of" Shannon, closed up the list with his pension of £2,000 a year. Although the bill to vacate the seats of pensioners was lost, the revelations of pre- vailing corruption were so gross that certain other members of Pai'liament, not yet pen- sioned, again returned to the charge upon this popular grievance. A series of resolu- tions was, in fact, reported by the committee on public accounts, not, indeed, making per- sonal and ungracious reference to the {)rivate concerns of members of Parliament, but stating in general terms that the pension list had become altogether too enormous ; that it had been increased since the 23d of March, 1755 — that is, within one year — by no less than £28,103 fer annum; that these pensions were hivished upon foreigners^ and upon people not resident in Ireland ; and that all this was a loss and injury to the nation and to his majesty's service. Upon these I'esolutions, which did not touch too closely the Patriots' own private arrange- ments, there was a patriotic struggle, and even a patriotic triumph. The resolutions CASE OF SAUL CATHOLIC MEETING IN DUBLIN. 77 weie passeil, and were presented by Speaker Ponsonby to the viceroy, with the usual re- quest that they should be transmitted to the king. He only replied that the matter was of too high a nature for him to promise at once that he would forward such resolutions. Thereupon the Speaker returned to the House and reported his reception. It was determined to make a stand, and next day a motion was made that all orders not yet pro- ceeded on should be adjourned, the House not having yet received any answer from the lord-lieutenant as to the transmission of their resolutions. This, of course, meant that they would vote no supplies until they should be satisfied on that point. The motion to adjourn every thing was carried, by a strict party vote — those in favor of the resolu- tivms voting for the adjournment, and those opposed to them voting against it. The lord-lieutenant immediately sent a message that he would transmit the resolutions with- out delay. Thus a small patriotic victory was gained without any one being injured, for nothing whatsoever came of these reso- lutions. In September, 1757, the Duke of Bed- ford came ovej as lord-lieutenant — specially instructed by Mr. Pitt to go upon the con- ciliatory policy. He was to employ all soft- ening and healing arts of government. In fact, it is to the Duke of Bedford's adminis- tration we are to go back for the commence- ment of that well-known Whig policiy, of making use of the Patriotic Irish party, and even of the Catholics themselves, in support of the Whig party in England. There had been lately a considerable aggravation of the suffeiings of the Catholics under the penal laws ; the gentleness and forbearance exer- cised towards them during Chesterfield's viceroyalty had no longer a sufficient reason and motive ; the halcyon days of connivance and extra-legal toleration were over, and the Catholics were once more under the full pressure of the laws ''for preventing the growth of Popery." A remarkable example of this low condi- tion of the Catholics occurred the year fol- lowing. A young Catholic girl named O'Toole was importuned by some of her friends to conform to the Established Church ; to avoid this persecution, she took refuge in the house of another friend and relative, a Catholic merchant in Dublin, named Saul. Legal proceedings were at once taken against Mr. Saul, in the name of a Protestant con- nection of the young lady. Of course, the trial went against Saul ; and on this occasion he was assured from the bench tliat Papists had no rights, inasmuch as " the law did not presume a Papist to exist in the kingdom ; nor could they so much as breathe there with- out the connivance of Government^'' And the court was right, for such was actually the " Law," or what passed for law in Ireland at that time. On the arrival of the Duke of Bedford there had even been prepared, by some mem- bers of Parliament, the ''heads of a bill" for a new and more stringent penal law regula- ting the registration of priests, and intended to put an eftectual end, by dreadful penalties, to the regular course of hierarchical church government, which had, up to that time, been carried on regularly, though clandes- tinely and against the law. The menace of this new law and the late proceedings re- specting Mr. Saul, caused a good deal of agi- tation and excitement among the Catholics, and the leading people of that religion in Dublin even ventured to hold small meetings in an obscure manner, to consult on the best way of meeting the fresh atrocities which were now threatened. In these preliminary meetiuos two factions at once developed themselves ; the long period of unacquaint- ance with all political and civil life had ren- dered the Catliolic people almost incapable of efficient organization and co-operaiion ; and so they divided forthwith into two par- ties — the one led by Loid Trimbleston, the other by Dr. Fitzsimon. At length certain of the more rational and moderate leaders of the Catholics, Chailes O'Conor, of Bel- anagar; Dr. Curry, author of the Historical Review of the Civil Wars ; Mr. Wyse, a Wateiford merchant, together with Lords Fingal, Taaffe, and Delvin, originated a new movement by a meeting in Dublin, which established the first "Catholic Committee," and commenced that career of " agitation" which has since been carried to such great lengths. The first performances of tliis Catholic Committee have been, and will al- ways be, very variously appreciated by Irish- "8 niSTORT OF IRELAND. infill, in accorilance with tlieir different ideas vs to tlie policy and diitj' of a nation held "n so deg-radiiig a bondage. It became known, during the administration of Lord Bedford, that the Jacobites in France were preparing anotlier ex{>edition for a descent somewhere on the British coast, or Ireland ; and on the 29th of October, 1759, the lord- lieutenant delivered a message to Parlia- ment, in which be stated that he had re- ceived a letter fiom Mr. Secretary Pitt, written by the king's express command, in- forming him that France was preparing a new invasion, and desiring him to exhort the Irish people to show on this occasion their tiied loyalty and attachment to the House of Hanover. Immediately an ad- dress, testifying the most devoted "loyalty," was prepared by the Catholic Committee. It was written by Charles O'Conor, and signed by three hundred of the most respect- able Catholic inhabitants of Dublin. But here a difficulty arose ; Catholics were not citizens, nor subjects ; they were not sup- posed to exist at all; other attempts they had made to testify their " loyalty" had been repulsed with the most insolent disdain ; and they knew well they were exposing themselves to another huiniliation of the same kind on the present occasion. How- ever, two bold Papists undertook to present the address to Ponsonby, Speaker of the House of Commons. These were Antony McDeiniott and John Crump. They wait- ed on the Speaker and read him the loyal manifesto. Mr. Ponsonby, a Whig and a " Patriot," took the document, laid it on the tabk?, said not one word, and bowed the delegates out. There were a few days of agitated suspense; and then, on the 10th of December, the lord-lieutenant sent a gra- cious answer. He did more ; he caused his answer to be printed in the Dublin Gazette, thereby officially recognizing the existence (though humble) of persons call- ing themselves Catholics, in Ireland. The Speaker then sent for the two gentlemen who had presented the address, and ordered Mr. McDermott to read it to the House. Mr. McDermott read it, and then thanked the Speaker, in the name of the Irish Catho- lics, for his condescension. Mr. Ponsonby most graciously replied " that he counted it a favor'to be put in the way of serving so respectable a body as the gentlemen who had signed that address." The Catholics, then, for the first time since the Treaty of Limerick, were publicly and officially ad- mitted to be in a species of existence. Here was a triumph ! In fact, this recognition of Irish Catholics as a part of the King of England's subjects was a kind of admission of that body over the threshold of the temple of civil and constitutional freedom. We may feel in- dignant at the extreme humility of the pro- ceedings of the committee, and lament that the low condition of our countrymen at that time left them no alternative but that of professing a hypocritical "loyalty" to their oppressors ; for the only other alternative was secret oi'ganization to prepare an insur- rection for the total extirpation of the Eng- lish colony in Ireland, and, carefully disarmed as the Catholics were, they doubtless felt this to be an impossible project. Yet, for the honor of human nature, it is necessary to state the fact that this profession of loyal- ty to a king of England was in realitv in- sincere. Hypocrisy, in such a case, is less disgraceful than would have been a genuine canine attachment to the hand that smote and to the foot that kicked. The real object of the conciliatory policy which the Duke of Bedford was instructed to pursue towards the Catholics was not only to give additional strength to the Whig party in England, but also to prepare the way for a legislative union between the two countries ; in other words, a complete ab- sorption and extinguishment of the shadowy nationality of Ireland in the more real and potent nationality of her "sister country," and even so early as the time of Bedford's admin- istration the English ministry had begun to count upon the Catholics as an anti-Irish element which might be used to crush the rising aspirations of colonial nationality. Rumors began to be current in Dublin that a project was on foot to destroy the Irish Parliament and effect a union with Great Britain, similar to that which had been made with Scotland ; and the people of the metropolis became violently excited. On the 3d of December, in this year (1759), the mob rose and surrounded the Houses of LUCASIAN MOBS — PROJECT OP UNION. 19 r'ariianient with loud outcries. When any irieinber was seen arriving they stopped liiin, iv.<\ obl'ged him to swear that he would op- p)se a union. The lord chancellor and some of the bishops were hustled and mal- treatei], and one member of the privy coun- cil w;is flung into the Liftey. The tumult became so dangerous that at length Mr. Speaker Ponsonby, and Mr. Rigby, the sec- retary, were obliged to make their appear- ance in the portico of tiie House, and sol- emnly assure the people that no union was in contemplation, and that, if such a meas- ure were proposed, they would resist it to the last extremity. The riot, however, was not suppressed without military aid, and, for the first time, zealous patriotic Protestants of the English colony were ridden down by the king's troops. The anti-union demon- stration was essentially and exclusively Prot- estant, and the Catholics of Dublin made haste to clear themselves of all complicity in it. An inquirv was instituted in Parliament to ascertain who were the authors and pro- moters of the disturbance ; and on that oc- casion, as some of the very persons guiltv in that respect did, by their interest in both Houses, endeavor to fix the odium of it on the obnoxious Papists (to which conscious untruth and calumny the war then carrying on against France gave some kind of color), the Catholics thought it high time publicly to vindicate their characters from that and every other vile suspicion of disloyalty, by an address to his grace the lord-lieiitenant, testifying their warmest gratitude for the lenity they experienced under his majesty's Government, and their readiness to concur with the faithfulest and most zealous of his majesty's other subjects, in opposing, by every means in their power, all, both foreign and domestic, enemies.* On the same occasion Prime Sergeant S;annard, of the "Patriot" party, a gentle- man of high honor and probity, in his speech in the House of Commons, contrast- ing the riotous conduct of the Lucasians (as they were then called after their chief), with the quiet and dutiful behavior of the Roman Cathcjlics, in that and other dangerous con- junctures, gave the following testimony in * Curry's Review. favor of these latter: "We have lived amicably and in harmony among ourselves, and without any material party distinctions, for several years past, till within these few months; and during the late wicked rebellion in Scotland, we had the comfort and satisfac- tion to see that all was quiet here. And to the honor of the Roman Catholics be it re- membered, that not a man of them moved tongue, pen, or sword, upon the then or the present occasion ; and I am glad to find that they have a grateful and proper sense of the mildness and moderation of our Gov- ernment. For my part, while they behave with duty and allegiance to the present es- tablishment, I shall hold them as men in equal esteem with others in every point but one ; and while their private opinion inter- feres not with public tranquillity, I think their industry and allegiance ought to be en- couraged." It deserves remark, then, that on this first occasion when a project of legislative union was really entertained by an English min- istry, the " Patiioi" pat ty, which opposed it, was wholly and exclusively of the Protest- ant colony, and that the Catholics of Ireland were totally indifferent; and, indeed, they could not rationally be otherwise, as it was quite impossible for them to feel an attach- ment to a national legislature in which they were not represented, and for wliose mem- bers they could not even cast a vote. The French naval expedition was in prep- aration at the ports of Brest and Dunkirk, and the enthusiastic Franco-Irish ofliceis did not doubt that if it could once land in Ireland, and obtain a first success, the whole Catholic nation would rise to support it.. The anticipation would have been realized, if the two squadrons could have united, and then entered a southern or western port. But now, as in other instances, the fortune of war and weather on the sea befi'iended England. The Brest squadron was a pow- erful one, and was placed under command of Admiral Conflans ; that fitted out at Dun- kirk was intrusted to Thurot, who had giuned distinction as commander of a pi'i- vateer, sweeping the Channel and German Ocean of British commerce. In the year 1759, our excellent and conscientious his- torian, Plowden, was a boy, and in com- 80 HISTOKY OF IRELAND, pany with some other Catholic boys, was on board a vessel bound for France, to obtain the education which was by law debarred them at home. Their ship was chased, boarded and captured, between Ostend and Dunkirk, by a French vessel of war, which turned out to be no other than Thurot's ship, the Belle Isle, commanded by that re- doubtable sea-rover. The boys, along with the rest of the crew, were carried as prisoners to Flushing, where they remained some weeks, guarded on board the Belle Isle while she was undergoing repairs. Plowden de- scribes here a desperate mutiny of the wild crew of the Belle Isle, which, however, was fiercely suppressed by the officers — Thurot himself killing two of the ringleaders and cutting off the cheek of another. The young prisoners were shortly after exchanged. This rude but gallant seaman was placed, in command of the squadron of five ships then being fitted out at Dunkirk, to co- operate with Conflans. In the autumn of 1759 they both sailed ; their rendezvous was to be in the Irish Sea. Conflans was en- countered by the English Hawke and en- tirely defeated, while Thurot, after long cruising around the islands, and winteiingin Norway, at last, in February, 1760, entered Lough Foyle with only three of his five vessels. One had been lost, and one had been sent back to France. He did not think fit to come up to Derry, which he probably imagined to be a stronger place than it leally was, but coasted round the shores of Antiim, and suddenly appeared be- fore Carrickfergus Castle, on Belfast Lough, upon the 21st of February. He summoned the castle to surrender ; it was defended by a small garrison, commanded by a Colonel Jennings; and on Jennings' refusal to capitu- late, the cannonade began. The peaceable Piotestant citizens of Belfast could now, fnjui their own streets, see the flash and hear the roar of the guns. They did not yet know the force of the invading squadron, and for a time believed that here were at last the French "bringing in the Pretender," overthrowing the " Ascendency," and taking back the forfeited estates. After a gallant resistance, the castle and town of Carrick- fergus were taken, but with the loss of a considerable number of French soldiers, and Clobert, the brigadier-general of their lr,iid force, was wounded. The French kept pos- session of the town and castle for five days, and levied some contributions in Carrick- fergus of such things as they needed after their long cruise. The town of Belfast con- tained at that time less than nine thousand inhabitants, but it was a prosperous trading place, and entirely Protestant. Alarm was instantly sent out through the counties of Down, Antrim, and Armagh, the most popu- lous Protestant districts of the island, and within this interval of five days two thou- sand two hundred and twenty volunteers were thronging towards Belfast, badly armed, indeed, and not disciplined at all, but zealous for the " Ascendency " and the House of Hanover. Thurot had little more than five hundred soldiers left, besides his sailors ; he knew also that English men-of-war would very soon appear at the mouth of Belfast Lough ; therefore he did not venture upon Belfast, especially as there was no sign of a Catholic rising anywhere to support him. He re-embarked on the 26lh, and was en- countered in the Irish Sea by three Engli^h ships of superior force. He gave battle, and fought with the utmost desperation ; but at last his three vessels were captured, after Thurot himself was killed, with thiee hun- dred of his men. His shattered ships were towed into a port of the Isle of Man, Tes- timonies to the humanity and gallantry of this brave officer are freely accorded by his enemies. King George the Second died this year, after a long and eventful reign. His pei- sonal character and dispositions were wholly immaterial to the course of events in this kingdom. Although his English subjects disliked him as a Gyrmau, to Ireland he was a thorough Englishman — bound by his policy, as Well as compelled by his advisers, to maintain the " English Interest," in op- position to that of Ireland. And this point was successfully and triumphantly carried, at every period of his reign, sometimes by strengthening the Court party, sometimes by buying up the "Patriots." There had been (over and above the usual suflering from poverty) two famines ; also a consid- erable emigration of Presbyterians from the northern counties, to escape from the pay- THK GKOGHEGANS. 81 ment of tithes aud from the disabilities created b}' the Test Act. The population of the island remained nearly stationary during the whole reio-n. In 1726 it was 2,309,106, and in 1754 it was 2,372,634— an increase of little more than sixty thou- sand in twenty eight years.* The manufac- ture of woollen cloth had almost disappeared, bnt in the eastern part of Ulster the linen trade had taken a considerable extension. It is impossible to exaggei-ate, and hard to conceive in all its horror, the misery and degradation of the Catholic people, through- out this whole period, although active per- secution ceased during the year of the battle of Fontenoy and the Scottish insurrection. On the whole, this was the era of priest- hunting, of "discoveries," and of an universal phmder of such pioperty as remained in the liands of Catholics. In this pitiful struggle the wild humor of the race would sometimes break out; and often desperate deeds were done by beggared men. The story of two of the Geoghegans, of Meath, is so character- istic of the time as to deserve a place here. It is related by the author of "The Irish Abroad and at Home;" a very desultory and chaotic, but generally both authentic and entertaining, work. " Seventy or eighty years ago, there re- sided in Soho Square, London, an Irish Ro- man Catholic gentleman, known among his friends as 'Geoghegan, of London.' Pre- tending to be, or being really, alarmed, lest a relative ( Mr. Geoghegan, of Jamestown ) should conform to the Piotestant religion, and possess himself of a considerable prop- erty, situate in Westmeath, he resolved upon a proceeding to which the reader will attach any epithet it may seem to warrant. "He repaiied to Dublin, reported himself to the ne(-essary authorities, aud professed in all its required legal forms, the Protestant religion on a Sunday, sold his estates on ilondav, and relapsed into Popery on Tues- day. "He did not effect these changes unosten- tatiously ; for ' He saw no reason for muu- vaise honte^ as he called it. He expressed * There was no census taken in either of tliose TearK. The estimntes of the popiihition given in Thoni's Directory are founded upon such returns, parocliial registers, und tlie like, as were accessible. 11 admiration of the same princi|)le of conve- nient apostasy, which governed Henri IV.'s acceptance of the French crown. ' Paris vaut bien une messe,' said that gay, chival- rous, but somewhat unscrupulous monarch. Thus, when asked the motive of his abjura- tion of Catholicism, Geoghegan replied : ' I would rather trust my soul to God for a dav, than my property to the fiend forever,' "This somewhat impious speech was in keeping with his conduct at Christ-Church when he made his religious profession : the sacramental wine being presented to him, he drank off the entire contents of the cup. The officiating clergyman rebuked his inde- corum. ' You need not grudge it me,' said the neophyte: 'it's the dearest glass of wine I ever diank.' " In the afternoon of the same day he entered the Globe Coffee Room, Essex Street, then frequented by the niost respectable of the citizens of Dublin. The room was crowded. Putting his hand to his sword, and throwing a glance of defiance around, Geoghegan said, " ' I have read my recantation to-day, and any man who says I did light is a rascal.' "A Protestant with whom he was con- versing the moment before he left home to read his recantation, said to him : ' For nil your assumed Protestantism, Geoghegan, you will die a Papist.' "' Fi done, mon ami !' replied he. * That is the last thing of which I am capable.' "One more specimen of the operation of the penal laws may be given. "Mr. Geoghegan had a relative, ^Ir. Ke- dagh Geoghegan, of Donower, in the county of Westmeath, who, though remaining faith- ful to the creed of his forefathers, enjoyed the esteetn and respect of the Protestant resident gentry of his county. Notwith- standing that his profession of the Roman Catholic religion piecluded his performing the functions of a grand juror, he attended the assizes at Mullingar regularly, in com- mon with other gentlemen of Westmeath, and dined with the grand jui'ors. '• On one of those occasioijs, a Mr. Stepney, a man of considerable fortuni! in the county, approached him and remarbid : ' Geoghegan, that is a capital team to your carriage. 1 have rarely seen four finer horses — nor bel- 82 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ter matched. Here, Geogliegan, are twenty pounds,' tendering him a sum of money in gold. ' You understand me. They are mine.' And he moved towards the door, apparently with the intention of taking pos- session of his purchase. The horses, not yet detached from Mr. Geoghegan's carriage, were still in the yard of the inn close by. " ' Hold, Stepney !' said Geogliegan. ' Wait one moment. I shall not be absent more than that time.' He then quitted the room Hbiuptly, and w?^ seen lunning in great haste towards the inn at which he always put up. There was something in the scene which had just occurred which shocked the feel- ings of the witnesses of it, and something in the manner of Geogliegan, that produced among them a dead silence and a conviction that it was not to end there. Not a word was yet spoken, when the reports of four pistol shots struck their ears, and in a few seconds afterwards Geoghegan was perceiv- ed coming from the direction of the inn, laden with fire-arms. He mounted to the room in which the party were assembled, holding by their barrels a brace of pistols in each hand. Walking directly up to Step- ney, he said: 'Stepney, you cannot have the horses for which you bid just now.' "'I can, and will have them.' " ' You can't. I have shot them ; and Stepney, unless you be as great a coward as Tou are a scoundrel, I will do my best to shoot you. Here, choose your weapon, and take your ground. Gentlemen, open if you please and see fair play.' " He then advanced upon Stepney, offering him the choice of either pair of pistols. Stepney, however, declined the combat and quitted the room, leaving Geoghegan the oliject of the unanimous condoletnents of the rest of the parly, and overwhelmed with their expressions of sympathy and of regret for the perversion of the law of which Mr. Stepney had just sought to render him the object. "In tendering twenty pounds foi- horses that were worth twenty times that sum, Slepney was only availing himself of one of the enactments of the Penal Code, which forbade a Papist the possession of a horse of greater value than five pounds. "Notwithstanding this incident, old Ke- dagh Geoghegan continued to visit Mullingar during the assizes for many years afterwards ; but to avoid a similar outrage, and to keep in recollection the cruel nature of the Po- pery laws, his cattle thenceforward consisted of four oxen." Another and a graver illustration of the general condition of the Catholics is the "Petition and Remonstrance" addressed to King George H. by some members of that body. It is found at length in Dr. Curry's excellent collection, and although it presents no new facts in addition to those already mentioned in the narration, it is interesting as an example of the tone and attitude which Catholics then thought it necessary to assume in addressing their master. TO THE king's most EXCELLENT MAJESTY. The Jiunible Petition and Remonstrance of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. Most Gracious Soverkign : — We your majesty's dutiful and faithful subjects, the Roman Catholics of the kingdom of Ireland, beg leave to lay at your majesty's feet this humble remonstrance of some of those grievances and restraints under which we have long labored without murmuring or complaint; and we presume to make this submissive application, from a sense of your Majesty's great and universal clemency, of your gracious and merciful regard to tender consciences, and from a consciousness of our own loyalty, affection, and gratitude to your majesty's person and government, as duties incumbent upon us, which it is our unalter- able resolution to pay in all events during the remainder of our lives. And we are the more emboldened to pre- sent this our humble remonstrance, because it appeareth unto us, that the laws by which such grievances are occasioned, and such penalties inflicted upon us, have taken rise rather from private views of expediency and self-interest, or from mistaken jealousies and mistrusts, than from any truly public-spirited motives ; inasmuch as they seemed to have infringed certain privileges, rights, and im- munities, which had been freely and sol- emnly granted, together with a promise of further favor and indulgence to the Roman Catholics of Iieland, upon the most valuable CATHOLIC PETITIOX. 8.3 coiisidenitions. For we most humbly offer to vour majesty's just and generous consid- • eration, that on the 3d day of October, 1691, the Roman Catholic nobility and gentry of this kingdom, under the late King James, entered into articles of capitulation at Lim- erick, whereby, among other things, it was stipulated and agreed, that "the Roman Catholics of Ireland should enjoy such priv- ilege in the exercise of their religion as they did enjoy in the reign of King Charles 11. and that their majesties as soon as their af- fairs would permit them, would summon a parliament in Ireland, and endeavor to pro- cure the said Roman Catholics such further st^curity in that particular, as might preserve them from any disturbance on account of their said religion." Whereupon these noblemen and gentlemen laid down their arms, and immediately submitted to their majestie^i' government; at the same time that tliey had offers of poweiful assistance from France, which might, if accepted, have greatly obstructed the success of their maj- esties' arras in the war then carrying on abroad against that kingdom. And although these articles were duly ratified and confirmed, first by the com- mander-in-chief of their majesties' forces in Ireland in conjunction with the then lords justices thereof, and afterwards by an act of the Irish parliament, in the ninth year of his majesty King William's reign, by which they became the public faith of the nation, plighted and engaged to these people in as full, firm, and solemn manner, as ever pub- lic faiih was plighted to any people ; yet so far were the Roman Catholics of Ireland from receiving the just benefit thereof; so far from seeing any steps taken, or means used in the Irish parliament, to procure them such promised security, as might preserve them from any disturbance on account of their religion, that, on the contrary, several laws have been since enacted in that parlia- ment, by which the exercise of their religion is made penal, and themselves and their lieirs forever have forfeited those rights, iin- nmnilies, and titles to their estates and prop- erties, which in the reign of King Charles II. they were by law entitled to, and enjoyed in common with the rest of their fellow-sub- jects. And such is the evil tendency of these laws to create jealousy and disgust between parents and their children, and especially to stifle in the breasts of the latter those pious sentiments of filial duty and obedience which reason dictates, good policy requires, and which the Almighty so strictly enjoins, that in virtue of them, a son, however un- dutiful or profligate in other respects, shall merely by the merit of conforming to the established religion, not only deprive the Roman Catholic father of that free and full possession of his estate, that power to mort- gage or otherwise dispose of it, as the exi- gencies of his affairs may require, but also shall himself have full liberty to mortgage, sell, or otherwise alienate that estate from his family forever; a liberty most gracious sovereign, the frequent use of which has en- tailed poverty and despair on some of the most ancient and opulent families in this kingdom, and brought many a parent's gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. And although very few estates at present remain in the hands of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, and therefore little or no matter appears to be left for these hiws to operate upon, nevertheless, we are so far from being secure in the possession of personal property, so far from being preserved from »ny dis- turbance on account of our religion, even in that respect, that new and forced construc- tions have been of late years put upon these laws (for we cannot think that such con- structions were ever originally intended), by which, on the sole account of our reli- gion, we are in many case?, stripped of that personal pmperty by discoverers and inform- eis ; a set of men, most gracious sovereign, once generally and jnstly despised amongst us, but of late grown into some repute, by the increase of their numbers, and by the frequency, encouragement, and success of their practices. These and many other cruel restrictions (such as no Christian people under heaven but ourselves are made liable to) are and have long been greatly detrimental, not only to us in particular, but also to the commerce, culture, and every other improvement of this kingdom in general ; and what is sure- ly a melancholy consideration, are chiefly beneficial to the discoveiers and informers 84 HISTORY OF IRELAND. before mentioned ; who under color of these laws, plunder indiscriminately, parents, brethren, kinsmen, and friends, in despite of all the ties of blood, of affection and confi- dence, in breach of the divine laws, of all former human laws, enacted in this or per- haps in any other kingdom, for the security of property, since the creation of the world. The necessity of continuing laws in their full force for so gi-eat a number of years, which are attended with such shameful and pernicious consequences, ought, we humbly conceive, to be extremely manifest, pressing, and permanent ; but so far is this from being the case with respect to these disqualifying laws, that even the pretended grounds for those jealousies and mistrusts, which are said to have given birth to them, have long since disappeared; it being a well-known and undeniable truth, that your majesty's distressed, but faithful subjects, the Roman Catholics of Ireland, have neither the inclina- tion nur the power to disturb yo\ir majesty's goveMimcnt; nor can (we humbly presume) that only pretext now left for continuing them in force, viz. their tendency to make proselytes to the established religion, in any degree justify the manifold severities and injuries occasioned by them. For, alas! most gracious sovereign, there is but too much reason to believe, that proselytes so made are, for the most part, such in appear- ance only in order to become in reality, what all sincere Christians condemn and detest, un- dutiful children, unnatural brethren, or per- fidious friends ; and we submit it to your maj- esty's great wisdom and goodness, whether motives so repugnant to the public interest, and to all social, moral, and religious duties, are fit to be confided in or longer encour- aged. And because we are sensible, most gra- cious sovereign, that our professions of loy- alty have been often cruelly misrepresented, even by those who were thoroughly ac- quainted with the candor and uprightness of our dealings in all other respects, we must humbly oifer it to your princely and generous consideration, that we rest not the proof of our sincerity in such professions or words, but on things known and attested by ail the world, on our dutiful, peaceable, and submissive behavior under such pressures, j for more than half a century ; a conduct, may it please your niajest}^ that clearly evinces the reality of that religious principle, which withholds us from sacrificing con- science or honor to any worldly interest whatever; since rather than violate either by hypocritical professions, we have all our lives, patiently suflfered so many restrictions and losses in our temporal concerns ; and we most submissively beseech your majesty to look down on such trials of our integrity, not only as a proof of our sincerity in this declaration, but also as an earnest anil surety of our future good behavior ; and to give us leave to indulge the pleasing hope, that the continuance of that behavior, enforced by our religious principles, and of your mMJ(_'S- ty's great and inherent goodness towards us, which it will be the business of our lives to endeavor to merit, may at length be the happy means of our deliverance from some part of that burden, which we have so long and so patiently endured. That this act of truly royal commiseration, beneficence and justice, may be addi-^d to your majesty's many other heroic virtues, and that such our deliverance may be one of those distinguished blessings of your reign, which shall transmit its jnemory to the love, gratitude, and veneration of our latest posterity, is the humble prayer of, oys— Einiirration from Ulster— Halifax, Viceroy — Flood aiih society was so sensible, superadded as many personal favors, as the fiscal stores could even promise to answer, which in a people of quick and warm sensibility creates a something very like momentary gratitude ; and in order the more completely to seat himself in that effective power, which was requisite for his purpose, he judiciously fixed upon a favorite object of the wishes and atiempts of the Patriots to sanction with his counienance and support. Tliis was the long-wished-for Septennial Bill. • l.)r. Lucas had several times failed in his endeavors to procure a bill for limiting the 13 duration of Parliament. Now, however, a Si'pteimial Bill \va^ transmitted, and was re- turned with an alteration in point of time, having been changed into an Octennial one. There appears to have been some unfair manoeuviing in the British cabinet, in order by a side wind to deprive the Irish of that, which they dared not openly refuse them. At the same time a transmission was made of another popular bill for the independence of the judges, in which they had also inserted some alteration. It was expected that the violent tenaciousness of the Irish Commons for the piivilege of not having their heads of bills altered by the English ministers, would have induced them to reject any bill, into which such an alteration had been in- troduced. In this the English cabinet was deceived : the Irish Commons waived the objection as to the limitation bill, in ordtr to make sure at last of what they had so long tried in vain to procure, but objected on this very account to the judges' bill, which was transmitted at the same time with al- terations : for although this latter bill had been particulai ly recommended in the speech of the lord-lieutenant, it was, on account of an alteration inserted in it in England, unan- imously rejected. No sooner was the Octennial Bill return- ed, than the Commons voted a respectful and grateful address to the throne, beseeching his majesty to accept their unfeigned and grateful acknowledgments for the conde- scension, so signally manifested to his sub- jects of that kingdom, in returning the bill for limiting the duration of Pailiaments which they considered not (jnly as a gracious mark of paternal benevolence, but as a wise result of royal deliberation. And wlien the royal assent had been given, the action was so grateful to the people, that they took the horses from the viceroy's coach, and drew him from the parliament house with the most enthusiastic raptures of applause and exultation. But his lordship's popularity did not last long. By divertitig the channel of favor, or rather by dividing it into a mul- titude of little streams, the gentlemen of the House of Commo)is were taught to look up to him, not oidy as the source, but as the dispenser of every gratification. Not even a commission in the revenue, worth above 98 HISTORY OF IRELAND. £40 a year, could be disposed of, without liis approbation. Tlius were the old uiider- lakers o-iven to understand, that there was another Wfiy of doing business than through tliem. It was not, however, without much violence on both sides, that he at length ef- fected his purpose. The immediate suffer- trs did not fail to call this alteration in the pystem of governing, an innovation, which they artfully taught the people to resent as a national grievance. It will be seen that although the Patriots liad now gained their famous measure, not indeed as a Septennial, but at least as an Octennial Bill, vvliich was to have been a j)anaeea for all the Qvils of the State; its t'ffticts were far from answering their ex- jiectations. Extravagance and corruption Mill grew and spread under Lord Towns- hend's administration. Proprietors of bor-. oughs found their property much eiihanced in value, because thcie was a market for it ♦■very eight years. The reflections of Thomas McNevin on this subject are very just: — '■ Some doubts arose as to the ben- efits produced by this bill in the way de- signed by its fiamers; but no one doubted that the spirit discovered by the Patriot party in the House produced effects at the time and somewhat later, which cannot be overstated or overvalued. It may, indeed, be doubted whether any measure, however beneficial in itself, could in those days of venality and oppression, with a constitution so full of blemishes, and a spirit of intoler- ance influencing the best and ablest men of the day, surh as Lucas for example, could be productive of any striking or permanent advantage. We must not be astonished then that the Octennial Bill was found in- fommensurate with the expectations of the Paniots, who might have looked for the ri-asons of this and similar disappointments in their own venality, intolerance, fickleness, ;iiid shortcomings, if they had chosen to re- flect on themselves and their motives. The r-al advantages are to be found in the prin- ciples propounded and the spirit displayed in the debates.* In short, no mere reforms in parliamentary elections or procedure could avail to create * McNeviu's History of the Volunlecrs. in this- English colony, either a national spirit or national proportions, or to stay the corruption and venality so carefully organ- ized by English governors for the exjiress purpose of keeping it down, so long as the colony did not associate with itself the mul- titudinous masses of the Catholic people — so long as half a million had to hold down and coerce over two millions of dis- armed and disfranchised people, and at the same time to contend with the insolence and rapacity of Great Britain. Nationality in Ireland was necessarily fated to be delu- sive and evanescent. " So loug: as Ireland did pretend, Like sii£f!ir-loaf turned upside down, To stand upon its smaller end."* In the year 1767, the whole population of the island was estimated, or in part calcula- ted, at 2,544,276, and of these less than half a million were Protestants of the two sects. It must, however, be acknowledged that in this oppressive minority there began to be developed a very strong political vitality, chiefly owing to the strong personal interest which every one had in public aft'aiis, and to the spiead of political information, through newspapers and pamphlets, and the very able speeches which now began to give the Irish Parliament a just celebrity. Di'. Lucas conducted the Freeman's Journal, which was established very soon after the accession of George III. This journal was soon followed by anoiher called the Hibernian Journal. Flood, Hussey, Burgh, Yelverton, and above all, Grat an, contributed to these papers. In the administration of Lord Townshend ap- peared the Dublin Mercury, a satirical sheet avowedly patronized by Government. It was intended to turn Patriots and Patriotism into ridicule: but the Government had not all the laughers on its side. A witty warfare was carried on against Lord Townshend in a collection of letters on the aflfairs and history of Barataria, by which was intended Ireland. The letters of Pos- thumus and Pericles, and the dedication, were written by Ileniy Grattan, at the time of the publication a very young man. The principal papers, and all the history of Ba- rataria, the latter being an account of Lord » Moore. Memoir of Captain Rock. CASE OF FATHER SHEEHY. 99 TowDshend's administration, his protest, and his prorogation, were the composition of Sir Hercules Langrishe. Two of his wit- ticisms are still remembered, as being, in fact, short essays on I lie politics of Ireland. Riding in the park with the lord-heutenaiit, his excellency complained of his predeces- sors having left it so damp and marshy ; Sir Hercules observed, " they were too much engaged iu drainiuq the rest of the king- dom." Being asked where was the best and truest history of Ireland to be found ? he answered: "In the continuation of CHAPTER XV. 1762—1767. Eeign of Terror in Miinster — Murder of Father Slieehy — '• Tolenitioii," uiidur tlie House of Han- over — Precarious condition of Catliolic Clergy — Primates in liiilins; — Working of the Penal Laws — Testimony of Arthur Young. Contemporaneously with the parliament- ary struggles for the Octennial Act, and for arresting, if possible, the public extravagance and corruption,' there was going on in an ob- scure parish of Tipperary, one of those dark transactions which were so common in Ire- land during all this century as to excite no attention, and leave scarcelv a record — the judicial murder of Father Nicholas Sheehy. His story is a true and striking epitome of the history of the Catholic nation iu those davs, and the notoriety of the facts at the time, and the character of the principal vic- tim, have cau-sed the full details to be handed down to us, minutely and with the clearest evidence. The bitter distresses of the people of Mun.-ter, occasioned by rack rents, by the merciless exactions of the established clergy and their tithe-proctors, and by the inclosure of commons, had gone on increasing and growing more intense from the year 1760, until despair and misery drove the people into secret associations, and in 1762, as we have seen, the VVliiteboys had in some places broken out into unconnected riots to pull down the fences that inclosed their com- mons, or to resist the collection of church- rates. These disturbances were greatly ex- aggerated in the reports made to Government by the neighboring Protestant proprietors, squires of the Cromwellian brood, who rep- resented that wretched Jacquerie as noth- ing less than a Popish rebellion, instigated by France, supported by French money, and designed to bring in the Pretender. The village of Clogheen lies in the vallev between the Galtees and the range of Knockraaoldown, in Tipperary, near the borders of Waterford and of Cork counties. Its parish priest was the Reverend Nicholas Sheehy : he was of a good Irish family, and well educated, having, as usual at that pe- riod, gone to France — contrary to "law" — for the instruction denied liimathome. On the Continent he had probably mingled much with the high-spirited Irish exiles, who made the name of Ireland famous in all the courts and camps of Europe, and on his perilous return (for that too was against the law), to engage in the labors of his still more perilous mission, his soul wasj'Stirred within him at the sight of the degradution and abject wretchedness of the once proud clans of the south. With a noble impru- dence, which the moderate Dr. Curry terms "a quixotic cast of mind towards relieving all those within his district whom he fan- cied to be injured or oppressed ;" he spoke out against some of the enormities which he daily witnessed. In the neighboring parish of Newcastle, where there were no Pro:est- ant parishii.*ners, he had ventured to say that there should be no church-rates, and the people had refused to pay them. About the same time, the tithes of two Protestant clergymen in the vicinity of Ballyporeen, Messrs Fonlkes and Stilton, were farmed to a tithe-proctor of the name of Dobbyn. This proctor forthwith instituted a new claim upon the Catholic peo[)le of his district, of five shillings for every marriage celebrated by a priest.* This new impost was resisted by the people, and as it fell heavily on the parishioners of Mr. Sheehy, he denounced it publicly ; in fact he diil not even conceal that, he questioned altogether the divine right of a clergy to the tenth part of the * These details and a great mass of otliers bearing on the case of Mr. Sliediy, are given by Dr. Mad- den in his First Series (United Irishmen). He has carefully sifted the whole of the proceedings, and thrown much light upon tliem. 100 HISTORY 01" IRELAND. produce of a half-starved people, of whose souls they had uo cure. How these doctrines were relished by the Cromwellian magis- tiiites and Anglican rectors in his neighbor- hood, may well be conceived. It was not to be tolerated that the Catholic people should begin to suppose that they had any rights. The legislation of the Ascendency had strictly provided that there should be no Catholic lawyers; it had. also carefully pro- hibited education; nothing had been omitted to stifle within the hearts of the peasantry every sentiment of human dignity, and when they found that here was a man amongst the peasantry who could both read and write, and who could tell them how human beings lived in other lands, and what freedom and right were, it is not to be wondered at that his powerful neighbors resolved they would have his blood. When in 1762, the troubles in the south were first supposed to call for military co- ercion, it was precisely in this village of Clogheen that the Marquis of Drogheda, commanding a considerable military force, fixed his headquarters. On that same night an assemblage of Whiteboys took place in the neighborhood, with the intention as was believed, of attacking the town, but a clergy- man named Doyle, parish priest of Ardfinuan, on learning of their intention (as one of the informers states in his depositions), went amongst them and succeeded in preventing any offensive movement. His purpose, how- ever, in so doing was as usual represented to be insidious. From this time the Earl of Drogheda made several incursions into the adjacent country, "and great numbers of the insurgents," as we are informed by Sir Richard Musgrave, " were killed by his lordship's regiment, and French money was found in the pockets of some of them." We are not informed what the "insurgents" were doing when they were killed, nor in what this insurrection consisted, but we may here present the judgment of Edmund Burke upon those transactions: — " I was three times in Ireland, from the year 1760 to the year 1767, where I had sufl^- cient means of information concerning the inhuman proceedings (among which were many cruel murders, besides an infinity of outrages and oppressions unknown befoie in a civilized age) which prevailed during that period, in consequence of a pretended con- spiracy among Roman Catholics against the king's government." In short, there was no such conspiracy, and if the statement of Sir Richard Musgrave be true, which is highly improbable, that any coins of French money were found in the pockets of the slain, " that may be accounted for," says Mr. Matthew O'Connor, "as the natural result of a smuggling intercourse with France, and in particular of the clandestine export of wool to that country."* While the troops were established at Clogheen they were constantly employed iii this well-known method of pacifying iho country, and they were seconded with san- guinary zeal by several neighboring gentle- men, especially Sir Thomas Maude, William Bagnell, and John Bagnell, Esquires; many arrests were made as well as murders com- mitted, and active preparation was made for what in Ireland is called " trial " of those of- fenders — that is indictment before juries of their mortal enemies. Diligent in the ar- rangement of the panels for these trials, we find Daniel Toler, high sheriff of the county, who was either father or uncle of that other Toler, the bloody judge, afterwards known under the execrated title of Norbury. Amidst all this we are not to suppose that Father Sheehy was forgotten. In the course of the disturbances he was several times ar- rested, indicted, and even tried as a " Popish priest,", not being duly registered, or not having taken the abjuration oath : but so privately did the priests celebrate mass in those days that it was found impossible to procure any evidence against him. We find also that he was indicted at Clonrael assizes, in 1763, as having been present at a White- boy assemblage, and as having foi'ced one Ross to swear that he never would testily against Whiteboys. At this same assizes, a true bill was found against Miehael Quiiilan, a Popish priest, for having at Aughuacarty and other places, exercised the office and functions of a Popish priest, against the peace of our lord the king and the statute, &c. To make conviction doubly sure, as ia Sheehy's case, a second information was sent * M. O'Connor. "History of the Irish Catholics." MURDKR *OP FATHER SHEEHY. 101 np on the same occasion, charging Father Quinhm with a riotous assemblage at Augh- nacarty, so that if it was not a riot it was a mass, and if it was not a mass it was a riot — criminal in either case. It is net'dless to state the details of all tliese multifarious legal proceedings extend- ing through several years. To pursue the Btory of Father Sheehy : he was acquitted on the charge of being a Popish priest, " to his own great misfortune," says poor Dr. Curry, ''for had he been convicted, his pun- ishment, which would be only transporta- tion, might have prevented his ignominious death, which soon atler followed." Can there be conceived a more touching illu-^tra- tion of the abject situation of ihe Catholics, than that such should be the reflection which suggested itself on such an occasion to the worthy Dr. Curry. It also deserves to be noted in passing, that no public man in Ireland was more ferocious in denouncing the unhappy Whiteboys and calling for their blood, than the celebrated Patriot, Henry Flood. On the 13ih of October, 1763, in moving for an instruction to the committee to inquire into the causes of the "insurrections" (wliit-,h he would have to be a Popish rebel- lion and nothing less), he expressed his amazement that the indictments in the south were only laid for a riot and breach of the peace, and animadverted severely on the le- nient conduct of the judges. The solicitor- general had actually to modify the wrath of the bloodthirsty Patriot, and to assure him *' that whenever lenity had been shown, it was only where reason and huinanity required it,"* which we may be very sure was true. But whosoever might be allowed to es- cape, that lot was not reserved for Father Sheehv.f For two whole years, while the gibbets were groaning and the jails bursting ■with his poor parishioners, he was enabled to baflie ;dl prosecution; sometimes escaping out of the very toils of the attorney-general by default of evidence, sometimes concealing liimself in the glens of the mountains, until in the year 1765 the Government Avas pre- vailed upon by his powerful enemies to issue * " Irish Debates." Year 1763. t The remainder of the story of Father Sheehy is Bubi>tuntially ttie uarrativc of Curry, a proclamation against him, as a person guilty of high treason, oft'ering a reward of three hundred pounds for taking him, which Sheehy in his retreat happening to hear of, immediately wrote up to Secretary Waite, "that as he was not conscious of any such crime, as he was charged with in the procla- mation, he was ready to save to the Gov- ernment the money ofTered for taking him, by surrendering himself out of hand, to be tried for th.at or any other crine he might be accused of; not at Cloninel, where he feared that the power and malice of his enemies were too prevalent for justice (as they soon after indeed proved to be), but at the court of King's Ben^h in Dublin." Ilis proposal having been accepted, he was ac- cordingly brought up to Dublin and tried there for rebellion, of which, however, after a severe scrrutiny of fourteen hours, he was again acquitted ; no evidence having ap- peared against him but a blackguard boy, a common prostitute, and an impeached thief, all brought out of Clonmel jail, and bribed for the pjurpose of witnessing against him. But his inveterate enemies, who, like so many blood-hounds, had pursued him to Dublin, finding themselves disappointed there, resolved upon his destruction at all events. One Bridge, an infamous informer against some of those who had been executed for these riots, was said to have been murdered by their associates, in revenge (although his body could never be found),* and a con- siderable reward was oft'ered for discovering and convicting the murderer. Sheehy, im- mediately after his acquittal in Dublin for rebellion, was indicted by his pursuers for this murder, and notwithstanding the pio- mise given him by those in office on sur- rendering himself, he was transmitted to Clonmel, to be tried there for this new crime, and, upon the sole evidence of the same infamous witnesses, whose testimony had been so justly i-eprobated in Dublin, was there condemned to be hanged and quartered for the murder of a man who was never murdered at all. * It was positively swnrii, by two une.xeeptionable witnesses, that lie privately left tlie kingdom some sliort time before he whs paid to have been mur- dered. !jee notes of the trial taken l)y one of the jury, in " Kxshaw's Miigtizine " for June, 17(5C. 102 IIISTOKY OF IKKLAND. What barefaced iiijustii--e and inhumanity were shown to this ur.foitunate man on that occasion,* is known and testified by many thousands of credible peisons, who were present and eye-wituesses on the day of his trial. A party of horse surrounded the court, admitting and excluding wliomsoever they thought p:oper, while others of them, with Sir Thomas Maude at their head, scampered the streets in a formidable man- ner, breaking into inns and private lodgings in the town, challenging and questioning all new-comers, menacing the prisoner's frietids, and encouraging his enemies : even after sentence of death was pronounced against him (which one would think might have satisfied the malice of his enemies), his attorney found it neces- sary for his safety, to steal out of the town by night, and with all possible speed make his escape to Dublin. The head of the brarv'e murdered priest was spiked over the gates of Clonmel jail, and there remained twenty yeai's. At la>t his sister was allowed to bury it where his body lies, in the old churchyaid of Shandraghan. The night before bis execution, which was but the second after his sentence, he * To mention only one instance out of many. Durinor his trial, Mr. Keatins:, a person of known property and credit in that country, having given the clearest and fullest evidence, th;it, dnring the whole night of the supposed murder of Bridge, the prisoner, Nicholas Slieehy, had lain in his lionse, that he could not have left it in the night-time witliont his hnowledge, and consequently that lie oould not have been even present at the murder; the Reverend Mr. Hewetson, an active manager in these trials, stood up, and after looking on a paper that he held iti his hand, informed the court that he had Mr. Keating's name on his list as one of those tliat were concerned in the killing of a corporal and sergeiint, in a former rescue of ^ome of these level- lers. Upon which he was immediately hurried away to Kilkenny jail, where he lay for some tii7ie, loaded with irons, in a dark and loathsome dungeon : by this proceeding, not only his evidence was rendered useless to Sheehy, but also that of many others was prevented, who came on purpose to testify the same thing, hut instantly withdrew themselves, for fear of meeting with the same treatment. Mr. Keating Was afterward* tried for this pretended murder at the assizes of Kilkenny, but wns honorably acquit- ted ; too late, however, to be of any service to poor Sheehy, who was hanged and quartered some time before Mr. Keating's acquittal. The very same evi- dence which was looked upon at Clotunel as gool and snflicient to condl^.lun Mr. Sheehy, having been afterwards rejected at Kilkenny, as prevaricatinij and contradictory witii re.-pcct to Mr. Keating. wrote a letter to Major Sirr, wherein he de- clared his innocence of the crime for which he was next day to suffer death ; and on the morning of that day, just before he was brought forth to execution, he, in the pres- ence of the sub-sherifl" and a clergyman who attended him, again declared his innocence of the murder; solemidy protesting at the same time, as he was a dying man, just going to appear before the most awful of tribunals, that he never had engaged any of the rioters in the service of the French king, by tendering them oaths, or other- wise ; that he never had distributed money among them on that account, nor had ever received money from France, or any other foreign court, either directly or indirectly, for any such purpose ; that he never knew of any French or other foreign officers being among these rioters; or of any Roman Cath- olics of property or note, being concerned with them. At the place of execution he solemnly averred the same things, adding, "that he never heard an oath of allegiance to any foreign prince proposed or admin- istered in his lifetime ; nor ever knew any thing of the murder of Bridge, until he heard it publicly talked of; nor did he know that there ever was any such design on foot." Everybody knew, that this clergyman might, if he pleased, have easily made his escape to France, when he first heard of the proclamation for apprehending him ; and as he was all along accused of having been agent for the French king, in raising and fomenting these tumults, he could not doubt of finding a safe retreat, and suitable recompense for such services, in any part of that kingdom. Tt seems, therefore, absurd in the highest degree, to imagine that he, or any man, being at the same time conscious of the com- plicated guilt of rebellion and murder, would have wilfully neglected the double oppor- tunity of escaping punishment and of living at his ease and safety in another kingdom ; or that any person, so criminally circum- stanced as he was thought to be, would have at all surrendered himself to a public tri;d, without friends, money, or faniilv connec- tions ; and, above all, without that conscious- ness of his innocence, on which, and the protection of the Almighty, he might pos- siblv have relied for his deliverance. SUBORNATION OF WITNESSES AND APPROVERS. 103 Emboldened by tliis success, Si'r Thomas Maude published an advertisement, some- what in the nature of a manifesto, wherein, after having- presumcxi to censure the admin- istration for not punishing, with greater and unjustifiable severity, these wretched rioters, he named a certain day, on which the fol- lowing persons of credit and substance in that country, viz. : Edmund Sheehy, James Buxton, James Farrel, and others, were to be tried by commission at Clonmel, as prin- cipals or accomplices in the aforesaid mur- der of Bridge. And, as if he meant by dint of numbers, to intimidate even the judges into lawless rigor and severity, he sent forth a sort of authoritative summons ''to every gentleman in the county to attend that commissiuu." His summons was punctually obeyed by his immeruus and powerful ad- herents; and these men, innocent (as will appear hereafter), weie sentenced to be hanged and quartered by that commission. It will naturally be asked, upon what new evidence* this sentence was passed, as it * James Prendergnst, Esq., a witness for Mr. E'limuid Slieeliy, perfectly miexocptionuble in point of fortune, cluiraeter, and religion, which was that of the established* elinrcii, deposed, that on the day mid hour on which the murder of Bridge was sworn to liave been comrnitted, viz. : about or between the hours often and eleven o'clock, on the night of the 28th of October, 1764, Edmund Sheehy, the prison- er, was with him and otiieis, in a di>tant part of tlie country ; that they and their wives had, on the aforesaid 28th of October, dined at the house of Mr. Tcnison, near Ardtinan, in the county of Tipperary, wiiere they continued until after supper ; that it was about eleven o'clock when he and the prisoner left the house of Mr. Tenison, and rode a considerable way together on tlieir return to their respective homes ; that the prisoner liad his wife behind him ; that wlien he (Mr. Prendergast) got lioiiie, he looked at the clock, and found it w.is the hour of twelve exactly." Tliis testimony was confirmed Vjy several corroborating circuinst.lnces, sworn to by two other witnesses, ajrainst wliom no exception appears to liave been taken. And yet, because Mr. Tenison, althougli lie confessed in liis deposition, that the prisoner had dined with him in October, 1764, and does not expressly deny that it was on the 2Sth of that month ; but says, eonjectnrally, that he was inclined to think that it was earlier than the 28th. tiie prisoner was brought in guilty. Thus positive and particular proof, produced by Mr. Prendergast, with the circumstances of the day and the hour, at- tested Ujion oath by two other witnesses, whose veracity seems not to have been questioned, was overruled and set aside by the vague and indeter- minate surmise of Mr. Tenison. See "Exshaw's Gentletiiaii's and London iMagazine," for April, and June, ITtiti." may well be supposed, that no use was made of the former reprobated witnesses on this occasion. But use was made of them, and a principal use too, in the trial and con- viction of these devoted men. The managers, however, for the crown, as they impudently called themselves, being afraid, or ashamed, to trust the success of their sanguinary pur- poses to the now enfeebled, because gener- ally e.xploded, testimony of these miscreants, looked out for certain props, under the name oi approvers, to strengthen and support their tottering evidence. These they soon found in the persons of Herbert and Bier, two prisoners, accused, like the re.st, of the mtir- der of Bridge; and who, thotigh absolutely strangers to it (as they themselves had often sworn in the jail) were nevertheless ia equal danger of being hanged for it, if they did not purchase their pardon by becoming approvers of the former false witnesses. Herbert was so conscious of his innocence in respect to Bridge's murder, that he had come to the assizes of Clonmel, in order to give evidence in favor of the priest Sheehv ; but his arrival and business being soon made known, effectual meastires were taken to prevent his giving such evidence. Accord- ingly bills of high treason were found against him, upon the information of one of these reprobate witnesses, and a party of light horse sent to take him prisoner. Bier, upon his removal afterwards to Nev/gate, iu Dublin, declared, in a dangerous fit of sick- ness, to the ordinary of that prison, with evident marks of sincere repentance, "that for any thing he knew to the contrary, the before-mentioned Edmund Sheehy, Jamt-s Buxton, and James Farrel, were entirely in- nocent of the fact for which thev had suf- fered death; and that nothing in this world, but the preservation of his own life, which he saw was in the most imminent danger, should have tempted him to be guilty of the complicated crimes of perjuiy and Miur- der, as he then confessed he was, when he swore away the lives of those innocent men." On Saturday morning, May 3d, 1760,1116 convi(-ts were hanged and quartered at Clogheen. Titeir behavior at the place of execution was ciieerful, but devout; not content to forgive, they prayed for and 104 HISTORY OF IRELAND. blessed their prosecutors, jurlges, and juries. x\ft,er they were tied up, each of them, in liis turn, read a paper aloud, without tremor, hesitation, or other visible emotion, wherein thoy solemnly protested, as dying Christians, M'ho were quickly to . appear before the judgment-sent of Gi)d, "that they had no share either by act, counsel, or knowledge ill the murder of Bridge ; that they never heard an oath of allegiance to any foreign prince pioposed or administered amongst them ; tliat they never heard that any «chetne of rebellion, high treason, or a mas- sacre, was intended, offered, or even thouglit of, by any of them ; that they never knew of any commissions, or French or Spanish officeis being sent, or of any money being ]>aid to these rioters. After this, they sev- erally declared, in the same solemn manner, that certain gentlemen, whose names they then mentioned, had tampered with them Ht different times, pressing them to make, vhat they called useful discoveries, by giving in examinations against numbers of Ruman Catholics of fortune in that province (some of whom they particularly named) as actual- ly concerned in a conspiracy, and intended massacre, which were never once thought of. But above all, that they uiged them to swear, that the priest, Nicholas Sheehy, died with a lie in his mouth ; without doing which, they said, no other discovery would avail ihem. Upon these conditions, they promised, and undertook to procui'e their pardons, ac- quainting them at the same time, that they phould ceitainly be hanged, if they did not c-umply with them." All that has since come to light with re- gard to these black tiansactions — the testi- mony of Burke (ah-eady cited) that there was no conspiracy for insurrection at all — the failuie to produce the body of Bridge, 1 hough it was carefully searched for in the tield where a witness swore it had been buried — the hatred notoriously cherished figainst Father Sheehy and all his friends, on ace.ount of his bold conduct in standing lip tor his poor parishioners — and we must add the wliole course of Irish "justice " from tiiat day to this — all compel us to ciedit tlie dying declaration of these men, who were also of unblemished character; and force us to the concbision that the whole of these military- executions and judicial trials in Munster, extending over four years, were themselves the result of a most foul consj)i- racy on the part of the Ascendency factioji, with its government, its judges, its magis- trates and its juries — based upon carefully organized perjury and carried through by brute force, to "strike terror'' in Tipperary (a measure often found needful since), to destroy all the leading Catholics of that troublesome neighborhood ; and above and before all things, to hang and quarter the body, and to spike the head, of the generous and kindly priest who told his people that they were human beings and had rights and wrongs. Dr. Curry winds up his account of the transaction with these I'eflections : — " Such, during the space of thiee or four years, was the fearful and pitiable state of the Roman Catholics of Munster, and so general did the panic at length become, so many of the lower sort were already hanged, in jail, or on the informers' lists, that the greatest part of the rest fled through fear; so that the land lay untilled, for want or hands to cultivate it, and a famine was with reason apprehended. As for the better soi t, who had something to lose (and who, for that reason, weie the persons chiefly aimed at by the managers of the prosecution), tliey were at the utmost loss how to dispose of themselves. If they left the country, their absence was construed into a proof of their guilt: if they remained in it, they were in im- minent danger of having their lives sworn away by informers and approvers ; for the suborning and corrupting of witnesses on that occasion, was frequent and barefaced, to a degiee almost beyond belief. The very stews were raked, and the jails rummaged in search of evidence ; and the most noto- riously profligate in both were selected and tampered with, to give information of the private transactions and designs of reputable men, with whom they never had any deal- ing, intercourse, or acquaintance; nay, to whose very persons they were often found to be strangers, when confronted at their tiial. " In short, so exactly did these prose- cutions in Ireland resemble, in every partii;- ular, those which were formerly set on fuot TOLERATION UNDER THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 105. in En<;-Iaml, for that villanoiis fiction of Oates's plot, that the former seem to have been planned and carried on entirely on the model of the latter ; and tlie same just ob- servation that hath been made on the Eng- lish sano-uinary proceedings, is perfectly ap- plicable to those which I have now, in part, related, viz.: 'that for the credit of the nation, it were indeed better to bury them in eter- nal oblivion, but that it is necessary to per- pt^uate tlie rei'^-embrance of them, as well to maintain the truth of history, as to warn, if possible, our posetrity, and all mankind, never again to fall into so shameful and so barbarous a delusion.' " All now seemed quiet in Munster : but it ■was the quietude of despair and exhaustion. The Whiteboy spirit was not really sup- pressed, because the oppressions which bad occasioned it were not relaxed, but rather aggravated. Many hearths were now cold that had been the centre of a humble family circle four years before ; and the sur- viving parishioners of Clogheen, when they saw the blackening skull of their revered priest upon its spike withering away in the wind, could read the fate that, on the first muimur of revolt, was in store for them- selves or any who should take their part. The next year (lYG7), some further arrests were made, and the Ascendency party tried hard to get up an alarm about another '•.Popish rebellion." No executions followed on this occasion, as several benevolent per- sons coniributed money to procure tlfe pris- oners the benefit of the best legal defence. It is with pleasure one reads among the names of the friends of an oppressed race who contributed to this fund, the name of Edmund Buike. One of the persons ar- rested on this last occasion, but afterwards discharged wiih(.)ut trial, was Dr. McKenna, Catholic bishop of Cloyne. He, as well as all other ecclesiastics of his order, was, of course, at all times subject to the penalties of law, to transportation under the acts "for preventing the growth of Popery " in Queen Anne's time ; and also to the penalty of preniunire under earlier laws : yet these bishops continued to exercise their office, to confirm and confer orders under a species of connivance, which passed for toleration. But their situaliou, as well as that of all 14 their clergy, in these first years of King George III. was still as precarious and ano- malous as it had been during all the reign of George II. Sometimes they were toler- ated, sometimes persecuted. It depended upon the administration which happened to be in power; upon the temporary alarms to which the " Ascendency " was always sub- ject; and upon the disposition of local pro- prietors and magistrates, who were occasion- ally men of liberal education, and relished the society of the neighboring priests who had graduated at Lisbon, or Salamanca, or Lou- vain, and who were then frequently far superior in cultivation and social refinement to the Protestant rectors, of whom Dean Swift sometimes betrays his low estimate. Even the regular clergy, alihough the rage and suspicion of the Ascendency were yet more bitter against them than the secular priests, were always to be found in Ireland. They ran more cruel risks, how«vei', than the pjarish priest. If any blind or self-in- terested bigot desired to show his zeal in trampling on the right of conscience, or to raise the fenjcious old cry of " No Popery !" the regular clergy formed an inexhaustil»le subject for his vociferations : if the legis- lature of the day wished to indulge the popular frenzy by the exhibition of new fash- ioned enactments, or of a new series of tra- gedies — monks, Jesuits, and friars were sure to pay the cost of the entertainment. It has often been affirmed, even by the timid Catholic writers of the last century, that the accession of the House of Hanover inau- gurated an era of more liberal toleration. It is to be feared that this kind of admission on their part was but a courtly device to conciliate, if not to flatter, that odious House and its partisans; for the priest-hunters were never more active than in the reign of George I., when Garcia brought in his batches of captured clergymen, and received a good price out of the treasnry upon each head of game. In the whole leign oi George II., until the administration of Ches- teifield, Catholic worship bad to be cele. brated with the utmost caution and secrecy. •In this reign, Bernard MacMahon, Catholic Primate, " resided in a retired place named Bailymascanlou in the County of Louth ; his habitation was little superior to a farm- 106 HISTORY OF IRELAND. house, Hud for many years he was known through the country hy the name of Mr. Ennis. In this disguise, which personal safety so strongly prompted, he was accus- tomed to travel over his diocese, make his visitations, exhort his people, and administer the saciainents."* In tlie same way, Mi- chael CR"- Uy, another primate, "lived in a humble dwelling at Turfegin, near Drogheda, and died here about the year I'ZSS,"! just two years before the accession of George III. In the reign of George III. himself, we have seen Fathers Sheehy and Quinlan regularly indicted at assizes, for that they had, at such times and ])laces, not having the fear of God before their eyes, but moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, said mass and did other functions of a Popish })riest, against the peace of our lord the king, and contrary to the statutes in that case made and provided. We must, there- fore, take these grateful acknowledgments of the liberal dispositions of the House of Hanover, with considerable qualifii;ation, remembering that the writers in question were laboring in the cause of Catholic Emancipation, under that royal House, and felt obliged to pay it, some compliments upon its noble generosity. As for the C itholic laity, their disabilities continued all this time in full force, and while a contemptuous connivance was shown to their religious woisldp, good care was taken to debar thein from all profitable occu- pation, and to seize the poor remnants of their jjroperty. Indeed, the toleration of their worship was for the better securing of these la'ter objects; it was known that men who Went, regular!}^ to mass would never take an oath that the King of England is head of the church, or that the mass is a damnable idolatry ; and these oaths formed the very barrier which fenced in all the rich and fat things of the land for the Pnjtest- anis, and shut the rapi-ts out. Tbat observ- ant and honest English traveller, Aithur Young, was so powerfully struck with this true character of the Penal Laws, that in his account of his tour he more than once * Brinnaii's Eco!. Hist., p. 57;5. t lb. dwells -upon it with righteous indignation. He says : — " But it seems to be the meaning, wish, and intent of the discovery laws, that none of them (the Irish Catholics) slnnild ever be rich. It is the principle of that system, that wealthy subjects would be nui- sances ; and therefore every means is taken to reduce, and keep them to a state of pov- erty. If this is not the intention of these laws, they are the most abominable heap of self-contradictions that ever were issued iu the world. They are framed in such a manner that no Catholic shall have the in- ducement t(^ become rich. . . .Take the laws and their execution into one view, and this state of the case is so true, that they actual- ly do not seem to be so much levelled at the religion, as at the property that is found in it. . . .The domineering aristocracy of five hundred thousand Protestants, feel the sweets of having two millions of slaves; they have not the least objection to the tenets of that religion which keeps them by the law of the land in subjection ; but property and slavery are too incompatible to live together: hence the special care taken that no such thing should arise among them." — Young's Turn- ill Ire!., vol. ii., p. 48. In another place Mr. Young repeats ; — • "I have conversed on the subject with some of the most distinguished characters in the kingdom, and I cannot after all but declare that the scope, purport, and aim of the laws of discovery, as executed, are not against the Catholjc religion, which increases under them, but against the industry and property of whoever professes that religion. In vain has it been said, that consequence and pow- er follow property, and that the attack is made in oider to wound the doctrine through its property. If such was the in- tention, I reply, that seventy years' experi- ence prove the folly and futility of it. Those laws have crushed all the indusir}', and wrested most of the property from the Cath- olics; but the religion triumphs; it is thought to increase." Readers may now understand the nature and extent of that vaunted "toleration," and the true intent and purpose of it, such as it was — namely, plunder. AUGMKNTATION OF THE ARMT. 107 CHAPTER XVI. 1767—1773. Townshend, Viceroy— Augmentation of the amir— Embezzlement — Purliiuneiit prorogued — Again prorogued— Townsheri'l buys liis majority — Tri- umpli of the " Englisli Interest "—New attempt to bribe tlie Priests— Townsliend's "Golden Drops " — Bill to allow Papists to reclaim bogs— Townshend recalled — Harconrt, Viceroy — Pro- posal to tax aV)sentces — Defeated — Degraded con- dition of the Irish Parliament — American Kevolu- tion, and new era. The history of Lord Townslieml's admin- istration, and of the two which followed, is unhappily little more than a history of the most shameless corruption and servility on the part of the Irish Parliament, relieved, however, by some examples of a rising na- tional spirit in the assertion of constitutional riofht. Very early in the same session of Parliament, which had finally passed the Oc- tennial Bill, the attention of the House of Commons was especially called to the con- sideration of the army upon the Irish estab- lishment. A message from the lord-lieuten- ant was sent to the House by the hands of the Right Hon. Sir George Macartney, in which he informed the Commons "that it is his majesty's judgment, that not less than 12,000 men should be constantly kept in the island for service, and that his majesty finding, that, consistently with the general public service, the number before meniioiieil cannot always be continued in Ireland, unless his army upon the Irish establishment be augmented to 15,235 men in the whole, commissioned and non-commissioned officers included, his majesty is of opinion, that, such augmentation should be immediately made, and earnestly recommends it to his faithful Commons to concur in providing for a mea- sure which his majesty has extremely at heart, as necessary not only for the honor of his crown, but for the peace and security of his kingdom." The message was ordered to be entered on the journals, and at the same time a committee was appointed to inquire into the state of the military estab- lishment, and also into the application of the money granted for its support from the 25th March, 1751. The result of this inqui- ry showed manifest misconduct, as appeals frum the report at large, and the returns thereunto annexed: part of the report is to the following effect : "Your committee beg leave to take notice that the entiie reduction of the army, afiei the conclusion of the peace, did not take place till the latter end of the year ITG-I; and that it appears from the return of the quarter-master-geiieral, that there were great deficiencies in the several regiments iheu upon the establishment, at the several quar- terly musters comprised in the said paper, wdiich precede the month of Januaiy, 1765; the full pay of such vacancies must amount to a ("ery large sum, and ought, as your committee apprehends, to have been return- ed as a saving to the ])ublic, especially as it appeared to your committee, that orders were issued by government, not to recruit the regiments intended to be reduced." Upon the whole, it was resolved that an ad- dress should be presented to his majesty, to lay before him the report of the said com- mittee, to acknowledge his constant atten- tion to the welfare of the people, to express the utmost confidence in his majesty's wis- dom, that if upon such representation any reformation in the said establishment should appear necessary to his majesty, such altera tion would be made therein as would better provide for the securitj' of the kingdnm, and at the same time reduce the expense of the establishment, in such a manner ;;b mio-ht be more suitable to the circumstances of the nation. The Government, however, was able to secure a majority for their mea- sure. As Mr. Plowden expresses it, " Vainly did the efforts of patriotism encounter the exertions of the new syfitem to keep individ- uals steady to their post on the Treasury- bench. The Parliament was now dissolved; and the first Octennial Parliament was to be elected. There was an unusually long in- terval of sixteen months from the dissolu- tion of the old to the meeting of this new Parliament. This interval was used by the Court in establishing the "new system;" which system was neither more nor less than buying the peoph^'s representatives iti detail, bv direct negoiiaiion with individu- als, instead of contracting for them by wholesale with the four or five noble "Un- dertakers," who owned many boroughs, and 108 HISTORY OF IRELAND. influenced the owners of many others. Lord lownshend hoped to render the concession of the Octennial Act worse than nugatory, and to create a new junta in support of the £Jn(jlish interest, independent of their former leaders. But he had not yet so matured his plan as to have insured the whole game. He had not altered the nature, but only raised the price, of accommodation ; and, lavish as the Irish have generally been of their voices in Parliament to the highest bidder, there ever appear to have been some cases reserved out of the bargain. Such had been the reservation of light to vote for limited Parliaments, in some of the most obsequious devotees to the measures of the Castle; and such now was a similar excep- tion in some cf these pensioned supporters to resist the right of the English Council to make money bills originate with them, and. not with the Commons of Ireland. On this point the British Cabinet and the Irish House of Commons came fairly to issue. The former determined to test the question in the most direct way, by the origination of a money bill in the Privy Council; and the latter resolved fairly to meet the issue. Accordingly, it was moved in the House of Commons, that a bill, entitled *'An Act for granting to His Majesty the several Duties, Kates, Impositions, and Taxes, therein par- ticularly expressed, to be applied to the Payment of the Interest of the Sums there- in provided for and towards the Discharge of the said principal Sums," should be read a second time on the day following. This motion was negatived; and it was resolved that such bill was rejected, because it did not take its rise in that House. The lord-lieutenant, though he thought proper to allow the Irish Parliament to grant their own money in their own way, ])rotcsted against the right claimed by the House of Commons, and endeavored, but in vain, to enter his protest upon their jour- nals. The House would not submit to this encroachment upon their privileges: the Lord^ were less inflexible, and after much opposition and debate, his excellency's pro- test was solemnly recorded on the jour- HaJs of the House of Peers. But before that was done, it having been generally sus- pected that such was his intention, the fol- lowing, motion was made in the House of Peers: "That the Speaker of this H>use be desired that no protest of any person whom- soever, who is not a lord of Parliament, and a member of this House, and which doth not respect a matter which had been previously in question before this House, and wherein the lord protesting had taken pait with the minority, either in person or by proxy, V>e entered on the Journals of the House." After a warm debate upon this motion, the question was negatived upon a division of 30 against 5. The 21st of November, 1*7059, was a day fixed for the trial of strength upon the English Privy Council's money bill. The motion being made that this bill be read a fiist time, it was carried in the affirmative; and the bill being accordingly read, a mo- tion w.'is made, and the question put, that the bill be read a second time to-morrow morning: the House divided: ayes, sixty- eight; noes, eighty-seven. Then the motion, that the bill be rejected, was put and car- ried by ninety-four against seventy -one; and it was resolved that the said bill was rejected, because it did not take its rise in that House. The lord-lieutenant took this defeat in the Commons so much to heart, that he re- solved to bring no more Government ques- tions befjre them during that session : or until he could, as the Castle phrase then was, make more sure of the king's busi- ness. The representations which were made of this transaction in England soon found their way into the newspapers, and the light in which Mr. Wootlfall placed the majority of the Iiish House of Commons on that important division in the Public Ad- vertiser, fidly proved the general sentiment entertained at the time in England upon the whole system of the Irish Government.* On the 18th day of December, 1769, a motion was made and carried, without op- position, that a paper entitled the Public Advertiser, by H. S. Woodfall, London, December the 9th, 1709, might be read. It contained the following words : "Hiber- nian patriotism is a transcript of that filthy idol worshipped at the London Tavern; in- solence, assumed from an opinion of impu- • Journ. Com., vol. 8, p. 844. PARLIAMENT PROROGUED. 109 nity, usurps tlie place wliicli boldness against real injuries ought to hold. The refusal of the late bill, because it was not brought iu contrary to the practice of ages, in violation of the constitution, and to the certain ruin of the dependence of Ireland upon Great Britain, is a behavior more suiting an arniy of Whitebuys than the grave representa- tives of a nation. This is the most daring insult that has been offered to Government. It must be counteracted with firmness, or else tlie state is ruined. Let the refractory House be dissolved; should the next copy their example, let it also be dissolved; and if the same spirit of seditious obstinacy should continue, I know no remedy but one, and it is extremely obvious. The Parlia- ment of Great Britain is supreme over its conquests, as well' as colonies, and the ser- vice of the nation must not be left undone, on account of the factious obstinacy of a provincial assembly. Let our legislature, Cor they have an undoubted right, vote the Irish supplies; and so save a nation, that their own obstinate representatives endeavor to ruin." The perfect identity in tone and temper of this article with those of the Times at tlie present day (when any mani- festation of spirit in Ireland irritates the British public) makes it well worth pre- serving, to show how very little the English feeling towards Ireland has varied or changed in a hundred years. These para- graphs having been read, it was resolved, thai they were a false and infamous libel upon the proceedings of that House, a dar- ing invasion of the Parliament, and calcu- lated to create groundless jealousies be- tween His Majesty's faithful subjects of Great Britain and Ireland : it was therefore ordert'cl, that the said paper should be burnt by the hands of the common hangman. And on the Wednesday following, viz., the 20th of December, the said paper was burn- ed before the gate of the House of Com- mons by the hands of the common hang- man, in the piesence of the sheriffs of Dublin, amidst the indignant shouts of an immense crowd of spectators, who loudly, though without outrage, resented the insult offered to their representatives. It was evident that Lord Townshend's new system of government had not yet been suflSciently perfected. There was a new assault in preparation during the month o December in this year, IVGO, against the enormous pension-list, and although he knew he could command a majority upon that (ninety-eight being against the agita- tion of the pension-list at that time, and eighty-nine for it), still the majority was too trifling to trust to, and a victory on such terms would have been a moral defeat. Ha determined to prorogue the House. This became known to the Commons and the country, and the House, in an address, re- quested that his excellency would inform the House whether he liad any instructions or had any intention to prorogue the Par- liament sooner than usual. Here again the lord-lieutenant found his deficiency in doing the king''s business : for upon a division on the main question the minister was left once more in a greater minority than ever, there being lOG or his excellency's making the declaration, and seventy-three only against it. On the very next day, however, Sir George Macartney, the secretary, reported to the House, that his excellency had returned the following answer : " Gentlemen — I shall always be desir- ous of complying with your request when I can do it with propriety. I do not think myself authorized to disclose his majesty's instructions to me upon any subject, without having received his majesty's commands for so doing. With regard to my intentions, they will be regulated by his majesty's in- structions and future events^'' In fact, on the day after Christmas, Lord Townshend prorogued the Parliament, at first only till the 20th of March following. The lord-lieu- tenant having experienced so much inflexi- bility and difficulty in the management of the Commons in the first session, fully resolved to meet them no more in Parliament, till they were properly marshalled, and thor- oughly broken in to every manoeuvre of the new tactics. His excelluncy accordingly by proclamation on the 12th (;f March, 1770, prorogued them to Tuesday, the 1st of May following; on the 20th of April, 1770, he further prorogued them to the 28th of Au- gust, and by three other successive proclama- tions he further prorogued them to different periods, and finally to the 26th of February, 110 HISTORY OF IRKLAND. 1771, llicii to i-it for dispatch of bu.siness. lu the iiiraii time afi'airs were falling into .sf'ine cdiiuiisiou; several tenipcirary acts tvhich required leiievval had expired ; the contest in Ireland excited the sympathies of the whig party in England, and in May, iVVO, the Hon. Boyle Walsinghani brought up in Parliament at Westminster the whole sub- ject of the late extraordinary prorogations in Dublin, and moved for papers connected thertrwith. Lord North, the minister, of course defended the prorogations, which he said he had liimself advised ; and declared the con- duct, of the Irish Parliament to be contrary to J*oynings' Law, " the grand bond of the dependence of Ireland upon England." The House divided upon the motion for papers, when G6 voted for it, but 178 voted against all inquiry. Lord Townshend and his creatures weie not idle during the long Parliamentary in- terregnum. It is painful to be obliged to record that his system of personal individ- ual corruption made good progress. "Pa- triots" were won over to the administration, among whom appeared conspicuously, Mr. Saxtou Perry, member for Limerick, who first received the support of the Govern- ment in being elecied as Speaker of the House, with a promise of a peerage. Many others had been secured, sume with money, some with honors, and in Februaiy, 1771, Jiis excellency faced the Parliament with full confidence, which it soon appeared was not misplaced. The first division was on an address of the Commons to his majesty in answer to the lord-lieutenant's speech ; in this address they returned their most humble thanks to his majesty, for graciously contin iiing his excellency. Lord Townshend, in the government of the kingdom. The sla- vish address was 0[)posed, but was carried bv 132 against 107. Lord Townshend never bad any further tiouble in managing Pailia- nient and doing the king's business. Mr. Ponsonby, the Speaker of the House, how- ever, refused to be the official medium of presenting the servile address ; he resigned at once, requesting the Ilouse "to elect an- oiner Speaker who may not think such con- duct inconsistent with his honor." Mr. Perry was thereupon elected. "And the conduct and speech of Mr. Perry on this occasion bespoke the forward zeal of a new proselyte."* Having now secured his majority in Par- liament, the grand policy of Lord Towns- hend was to do away with the effects of the Patriotic rotes in the last session, and justify his own conduct in the prorogations. He was to make this Irish Parliament stult'fy itself and eat its own words, and in all this he was eminently successful. Nothing w.ms permitted to pass without a division, so as to parade continually before the eyes of the people of Iieland, and of his employ- ers in England the thorough training in which the viceroy had his Parliament at last. The Commons, however — that is the remaining Patriots in the House — made one last eflfoit, by moving an address to the king, containing some pitiful remonstrances: — as that "his faithful Commons did confidently hope that a law for securing the indepen- dence of the judges of this kingdom would have passed ; such a law having been rec- ommended and promised by his excellen<;v the lord-lieutenant, in a speech from the throne in the first session of his excellency's government," and several other remonstran- ces of alike kind. The address was ordered to be opposed, and it was lost by a vote of 123 against 68. Yet once more the viceroy's well-drilled ranks were to be paraded. In the address of the Commons to the lord-lieutenant, which was moved fur and carried on the 16th of May, two days only before the pro- rogation, the Patriots objected to the thanks contained in it for his excellency's just and prudent administration; but on a division they were outvoted by 106 against 51 ; this address together with the king's answer to the address of the Commons to the throne, was considered, by the Casde, to have completely counteracted the whole effect of the successful efforts of the Patiiots in the last session, and to have given the express royal sanction to every part of the viceroy's conduct. The address of the lords to the kino- con- * Plowden. It should be remarkcl tlint this his- tci-ian wrote his tir^t series in a spirit fiivonilile to the Union, and, therefore, lias some propensity to disparage the *' Patriots " of tlie colony, and to poin out their helplessness or venality. TRIUMPH OF THE ENGLISH I^rTEREST. 111 tfiitiocl the following paragraph: "We have the truest sense of many instances, which yo'.ir majesty lias been pleased to afford us of your paternal care, and particularly your continuing the Lord Viscount Townshend in the government of this kingdom, of which, as his experience enables hitn to form the truest judgment, so his candor and in- tegiity will, we doubt not, move him to make the justest representation." A warm debate took place upon the question being put, that the said paragraph do stand part of the address, which was carried by thirty against fifteen. A maidy protest was en- tered by sixteen peers, whose titles deserve to be recorded. They were Leinster (by proxy), Baltinglass, Westmeath, Mount-Cashell, Lanesborougli, Moira (by proxy), Shannon, Longford, Mornington, Louth, Lisle, Bective, Powerscourt, Molesworth, Charlemont, Beliamont. In this session Lord Townshend proved, by his two-thirds majority on no fewer than seventeen divisions, that he could now make that Parli:imejit vote anything he ordered, whether in matter of opinion or matter of fact. He chose that there should be no parliamentary inquiry, this time, into finan- ces and pensions, and acn-ordingly there was not. It appeals evident, from the arguments of the still uncorrupted Patriots of the Hou-e of Commons, from the pi'otest of the sixteen peers, from the state of the national accounts still upon record, and from other InVtoric.il documents, that the national debt of Ireland very heavily accumulated during the administration of Lord Townshend; yet we find, that after the experience, which two years and a quarter had given him of the inadequacy of the fiscal resources of that kingtioin to answer his new plan of keeping up the EiKjliiih interest^ he refrained fi'om calling on the Commons for any supplies, alleging in his speech to Parliauient, on the 26ili of February, 1771, that with very strict economy, the duties granted last ses- sion would be sufficient to answer the ex- penses of his majesty's government; and therefore he would a'^k no further supply. The confidence with which Lord Towns- hend met the Parliament in Octobei', 1771, was strongly displayed in his speech. " Mv experience," said his ex(;ellency, " of vour attachment to his majesty's person, and of your zeal for the public service, afibrds me the best-grounded hopes, that nothing will be wanting on your part to co-operate with his inajesty's gracious intentions to ])roinote the welfare and happiness of this kingdom, and when to this consideration I add my remembrance of your kind regard for the ease and honor of my administration, I feel the most sensible pleasure in the present opportunity, which his majesty has given me, of meeting you a fourth time in Parlia- ment." Notwithstanding his boasted econ- omy, which prevented his application to the Commons for any further supply last session, he now told them " that it was with concern that he must ask a sum of money to dis- (diarge the arrears already incurred on his majesty's establishments, but that they would find they had been unavoidable; for that the strictest economy had been used." etc. Another part of the lord-lieutenant's speech on the opening of this Pailiament, referred to the illegal associations and out- rages of the " Hearts of Steel " in the north of Ireland. The violence of these people had greatly increased and extended to other countries than those in vidiich the society had first appeared. They exacted o;iths by force, maltreated obnoxious individuals, and destroyed houses. Some of them were taken and tried at Carrickfergus ; but wheth- er from want of evidence, from fear of in- curring the resentment of the populace, or from partialitv in the witnesses and the jury, they were acquitted. On this account the legislature p;issed an act, by which all per- sons indicted of such offen^-es were ordered to be tried in counties different from those in which the excesses were committed. In consequence, several of the Steel Boys against whom examinations had been taken, were carried to Dublin and put upon their trial. But so strong was the prejudice con- ceived against this new law, that no jury there would find any of them guilty. It will be remembered that these rioters weie all Protestants, as were also all the jurors who tried ihetn. If they had been Catho- lics, there would have been no difficulty in 112 HISTORY OF IRELAND. viiuHcatiiig the law. The obnoxious act, however, was repealed, and after tliat many convictions and executions took place. The effects, not of the riots, but of the oppres- sions which produced them, were for a long time prejudicial to the country, and the emigration to America was renewed to a greater extent than ever before. The session passed in an unbroken series of servile divisions in favor of everything the Castle wished ; against every thing the Castle disliked. In the address to the king occurred these words, " We are fully persua- ded that the support of your majesty's gov- ernment is the great and firm basis of the freedom and happiness of this country." A Patriot ventured on an arnendment, that before tlie word sujyporf, the word constitu- tional should be inserted ; it was negatived by a vote of eighty-eight against thirty-six. During this administration we find by the journals mentioning the tellers upon the different divisions, that three of the most forward and constant supporters of every government question were Mr. Monk Mason, Mr. Foster, and Mr. Fitzgibbou ; and the truth or falsity of the propositions little availed, piovided it were made a Govern- ment question. Thus besides the instances already adduced, we find upon the journals (8 vol. iii.) the following resolution nega- t.ved on tlie 8th of March, 1766 : "That it be resolved, that the office of a commissioner of his majesty's revenue would be better executed by a person resident in this king- dom, than by an absentee." During this session of 1*771, died Dr. Lucas, whom, from h^s first entrance into political life, no prom- ises or oft'ers could seduce from untainted j>atriot.ism. The citizens of Dublin erected his statue in the exchange. The remainder of Lord Townshend's administration passed over without any notable incident. No legishitive measure was adopted either for or against tlie Catholics, but his lordship could not retire from a situation which he had held in Ireland for five years without giving some proof of his attachment to the Protestant religion. A provision had been made by the 8th of Anne, that every Popish priest, who should become Protestant, and be approved of as a convert, should have £30 yearly for his maintenance, until provided for bj some ecclesiastical preferment beyond that amount. But by an act of this session it wai recited, that it had been found by experience, that the former act had not answered the purposes intended, especially as the provi- sion made as aforesaid /or such Popish priests is in no respect a suffi,cient encouragement for Popish priests to become converts ; it was therefore enacted, that £,iQ should in future be allowed annually, in lieu of £30 to every Popish priest converted. The multiplica- tion of these allowances up to the height of the most proselytizing zeal could not inter- fere with the civil list of pensioners, as these spiritual douceurs were to be levied on the inhabitants of the district, wherein the convert last resided. These additional pit- tances of £10 were called by the Irish, Townshend's golden drops. They were not found more efficacious than the former pre- scription. This act for the encouragement of converts to the Protestant religiou was also in some measure deemed necessary to counterbalance the effects of another act made in the same session, supposed to be very favorable to the Catholics, and which in times of less liberal- ity had been repeatedly thrown out of Par- liament, as tending to encourage Popery lo the detriment and prejudice of the Protest- ant religion. This was An, Act to encourage the reclaiming of unprofituble Bogs, and re- cites that there were large tracts of deep bogs in several counties of the kingdom, which in their then state were not only un- profitable, but by their damps rendered the air unwholesome; and it had been fouh'il by experience, that such bogs were capable of improvement, and of being converted into arable or pasture land, if encourage- ment were given to the lower class of peo- ple to apply their industry to the reclaiming of them. It therefore enacted, that not- withstanding the laws then in force, anv Catholic might be at liberty to take a lease of fifty plantation acres of such bog, and one half an acre of arable land adjoining thereto, as a site for a house, or for the pur- pose of delving for gravel or limestone, for manure, at such rent as should be agreed upon between him and the owner of the soil, as also from ecclesiastical or bodies cor- BILL TO ALLOW PAPISTS TO RECLAIM BOGS. 113 piinite; and for further encoura^Pineiit, the tenant was to be free for the fiist seven years from all tithes and cesses; but it was provided, that if half of the bog demised were not reclaimed at the end of twenty- one years, the lease should be void ; and no hofr was. to be considered unprofitable, unless the depth of it from the surface, when re- claimed, were four feet at least; and no person was to be entitled to the benefit of the act, unless he reclaimed ten plantation acres; and the act was not to extend to any bog within one mile of a city or market town. The provisions of this act give us a clear- er idea than any labored disquisition could do, of the depressed condition of the Cath- olics of that day, and of the manner in which they were regarded by the colonists — "Pa- triots" and all. Lord Townshend's administration was drawing to a close; and he had done his British errand well. No viceroy had yet succeeded in establishing in Ireland such profound demoralization and debasement. The baneful example of the chief gover- nor's marshallino" the ranks of Parliament encouraged the already too deeply rooted principle of despotism throughout the nation. Not oidy the great lords and real owners of land exercised in general a most ferocious rule over their inferiors ; but that obnoxious race of self-created gentlemen, whose conse- quence and virtue consisted in not being Papists, and whose loyalty was mere lust for persecuting and oppressing them, were uncontrollable in their petty tyranny. Even tlie lord-lieutenant was so sensible of it, that being resolved to pardon a Catholic gentle- man unjustly found guilty, he withdrew the hand of mercy, with this reflection : " I see them resolved upon his blood, so he may as well go now." In his farewell speech to Parliament, this able British agent sarcastically complimented the miserable crew, over whom he had so often sliaken his whip — "I have upon every occasion endeavored, to the utmost of my power, to promote the public service, and I feel the most perfect satisfaction in now re- pealing to you my acknowledgments for the very honorable manner in which (after a residence of near five years amongst yon) 15 you have declared your entire approbation of my conduct. Be assured that I shall always entertain the most ardent wishes for your welfare, and shall make a faithful rep resentation to his majesty of your loyalty and attachment to his royal person and gov- ernment." On the whole, we cannot but acquiesce in the cruel judgment passed upon the Irish Parliament by the worthy Dr. Campbell,* at the moment when Lord Townshend re- tired, and gave place to his successor, Lord Harcourt — " Lord Harcourt then found the Parliament of Ireland as obsequious an that of Great Britain^'' It would be impossible to use a stronger expression. When Lord Harcourt assumed the gov- ernment, in October, 1772, he had little to do but to continue the system which his predecessor had with so much perseveranc-e, difficulty, and charge to the fitiance, regu- larly established, according to his instruc- tions from the British cabinet. In order, therefore, to give continuance and stability to the new English interest, which had been raised upon the partial destruction of the Irish oligarchy, as Lord Clare observed, a man was chosen of amiable charactei', easy dis- position, and of no other ambition than to move by the direction, and thus acquire the approbation of his immediate employer.-^. With the active labor of office, he considered that he also threw the buiden of responsi- bility upon his secretary. lie had been nearly twelve months in the government of Ireland before he met the Parliament, on the 12th of October, 1773. The first stand made by the Patriots was upon an alarm at the intention of Govern- ment, in laying the public accounts before the House, to hold back some of tlie docu- ments which would too palpably bring to light the means used by the last viceroy for insuring a majority to do the kinfx business. After the House had ordered the different accounts and estimates to be laid before it, an amendment was proposed to add these words: "As far as there are materials for that purpose." A division took place, and * " Pliilosopliical Survey of the Soiitli of Irelatid.''* Tli'm is the work of an honest and liberal man, thouffh not »o valuable as the Tour of Arthur Younjj. lU HISTORY OF IRELAND. the amendment was carried by 88 against 62. Thus it was left in the discretion of the clerks, or rather of the Government, to bring forward or hold back what materials tiiey chose. Lord Harcourt's administration is remark- nble for the first proposal to impose an «ibsentee4ax on non-resident Irish landlords. This proposal came from the crown ; and it ■was to the effect that a tax of two shillings in the poniid should be laid on the net rental of landed property in Ireland, to be paid by all persons who should not reside in that kingdom for six months in each year, from Christmas, 1773, to Christmas, 1775. The proposal being against the interest of Eng- land, was evidently not sincere on the part of Government : all officials were left at per- fect liberty to support it or not : the interest of the great landlords was against it; and the only wonder was that it was defeated by so small a majority, 122 against 102. But we have now arrived at an epoch in tli-e history of the world, from which many (hings in modern history take their departure. It has been thought needful to go into some detail to show the miserable and abject con- dition of Ireland at this precise period, in order to make more apparent the wonderful change soon produced by the reflection and reverberation of the great American revolu- tion. CHAPTER XVII. 1774—1777. American affairB — Comparison between Ireland and ihe Colonies — Contagion of American opinions in Ireland — Paltry measure of relief to Catholics — Congress at I'hiladelpliia — Address of (.'on^ress to Ireland — Eiicuurageinerit to Fisheries — 4,000 "armed negotiators" — Financial distress — Fiist Octennial Parliament dissolved — Grattan — Lord Buckingham, Viceroy — Successes of the Ameri- cans. The American "Stamp Act" had beeti pai^sed in 1765. just while the Irish Parlia- ment was in the midst of its struggle for limited Parliaments and against the pension list. The next year the Stamp Act had been repealed, but had been soon followed by the attempt to impose "port duties." The steady organizet' WiUium tiie Third, that certain fish- ermen in Folkestone and Aldboroujrli, ia the south of England, presented mournful petitions to Parlia- ment, slating tliat they sutf-ired '' fr'^-m Ireland, by the lri>h catching lierrings at Waterford and Wex- ford! and sending them to the Straits, and thereby forestalling and ruining tlie petitioners' markets." Tliesc impudent tisliermen had, as Hutchinson says, the hard lot of having motions which were made in their favor, rejected. See the Goininereial Ke- litraints, p. 1'A^. A part of the policy of this petty measure was to give to Ireland some portion of the ben- efits of which the war would deprive America. Mr. Burke, on this occasion, while he thanked Lord North for the trifling boon to his coun- try, took occasion to say "that however desirous he might be to promote any scheme for the advantage of Ireland, he would be much better pleased that the bene- fits thus held out should never be realized, than that Ireland should profit at the expense of a country which was, if possible, more oppressed than herself." But, strong as was the sympathy between Ireland and America, and earnestly as the mass of the people — both Catholic and Pro- testant — wished success to the patriotic colonists, the Government was determined to place the two oppressed countries as far as possible in a position of, at least, apparent antagonism. With this view, Lord Har- court, in the year 1775 — ^just as hostilities had commenced at Lexington — demanded the services of four thousand men, out of the twelve thousand which then constituted the effective force of regular troops in Ireland, to be dispatched to America, for duty there. At the same time, the lord-lieutenant said it was his gracious Majesty's intention to supply the place of the four thousand raeo with foreign Protestant soldiers — in short, with Hessians. The Court party, which was now, on most questions, irresistible (though there were reseroed questions, as the origina- tion of money-bills), carried the measure for granting the four thousand men, on the terms that they should not be a charge to the Irish revenue while serving abroad. There was much objection made by the Patriots, to sending these troops " to cut the throats of the Americans ; " and there were many expressions of sympathy and respect towards the colonists, in the course of the debate ; but the measure was carried. Mr. Flood, indeed, whose conduct is not clear of the imputation of corruption, voted to send the four thousand men " as armed negotia- tors " — such was his cold and cruel expres- sion.* ■* In the tremendous philippic pronounced by Grattan against Flood, in 1783, he thus deals witli Mr. Flood's vote of 1775 : " With regard to the lib- erties of America, which were inseparable from ours, 118 HISTORY OP IRELAND. But although the Irish Parliament gave these troops, it would not accept the Hes- sians. Much to the surprise and embarrass- ment of Government, the second proposition for introducing foreign troops into that king- dom was negatived by nearly as large a majority as the first was carried; namely, by 106 against 68. The House accordingly voted an address to his excellency, expressive of their sense and resolution upon this sub- ject, and stating " that, with the assistance of the Government, his majesty's loyal peo- ple of Ireland may be able so to exert them- selves as to make such aid at this juncture unnecessary." This conduct of the Irish Conmions is of singular impoitance in the history of Ireland, inasmuch as it was the first patriotic step taken by the representa- tives of the people towards attaining that state of civil liberty which was obtained by the nation in what Mr. Burke called " their revolution cJf 1782." In truth, the address to Lord Harcourt, in which the legislature promised for the people that they would exert themselves, and make foreign soldiers unnecessary, already distinctly foreshadowed the volunteering. When the four thousand troops were des- ignated for this American service, an honor- able action deserves to be recorded : the Earl of Effingham, finding that the regi- ment in which he served was destined to act against the colonies, thought it inconsistent with his character and unbecoming his dig- nity to enforce measures with his sword, which lie had condemned in his legislative capacity. He therefore wrote a letter to the Secretary at War, resigning his com- mand in the army, and stating his reasons for it. This conduct rendered that noble- man extremely popular, and the city of I will suppose this gentleman to have been an ene- my decided and unreserved ; and that he voted florainst her liberty, and voted, moreover, for an address to send four tliousand Irish troops to cut the threats of the Americans ; tliat ho called these butchers ' armed negotiators ; ' and stood, witii a metaphor in his mouth and a bribe in liis pocket, a champion against the rights of America, the only hope of Ireland, and tiie only refuge of tlie liberties of mankind." (Select Speeches of Grattan, DutFy's edition, p. 104.) The allusion to the "bribe" meant that Flood had lately accepted an office under Lord Harcourt's admiuistratioQ. Dublin, -at the Midsummer quarter assem- bly, voted public thanks to Lord Effingham, "for having, consistently with the principles of a true Englishman, refused to draw his sword against the lives and liberties of his fellow-subjects in America." Soon after an address of thanks, in fuller terms, was pie- sented to him from the guild of merchants of Dublin: the latter also presented an ad- dress of thanks to the several peers, who (as they said) ''in support of the constitu- tion, and in opposition to a weak and wick- ed administration, protested against the American Restraining Bills." This address, with the several answers of the lords to whom it was presented, appeared at that time in the public papers, and produced a very strong sensation throughout the na- tion. But on the other hand, we find that great Irish Whig, Lord Rawdon, afterwards Lord Moira, serving zealously in America against the rebels : and it is not without a feeling of shame that Irishmen can ever read on that same list the name of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. The remainder of Lord Harcourt's admin- istration was occupied mainly with parlia- mentary troubles about money bills. Heads of a bill were sent to England granting cer- tain duties for the public service. The bill was altered by the Privy Council, and when it came back it was rejected on that express ground. The Patriotic party, then, finding themselves supported on these financial questions by several members on the. oppo- site side of the House, determined to try their strength upon a motion for an address to the king, setting forth in candid and striking terms the unhappy state of the na- tion. This motion was made two days be- fore the end of the session. The address, after the usual preamble declaring loyal duty und devotion, stated that at the close of the last war the debt of the nation did not exceed ie5 2 1,1 6 1 16s. 6rf.: that after a peace of ten years the debt was found to be £994,890 10s. \0d. — "a circumstance so alarming and insupportable to his people, that they determined with one voice to put an end to the pernicious practice of accu- mulating debts, and they thought it their duty to accomplish that necessary end by first endeavoring to raise the revenue of the FIRST OCTENNIAL PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED. 119 kingdom to an equ;ilit,y with the establish- ment." They said th;it economy w^s prom- ised; that there had been no economy, but a continual increase in the expenses. They added, that could they neglect the most es- sential interests of themselves, their constit- uents, and their posterity, still their duty to his majesty would prevent them from suf- fering the resources of his majesty's power and dignity to dwindle and decay; and that they were the more necessitated to make that earnest application, because the evils they suifered were not temporary or occa- sional ; because thev could not attribute them to any physical evil, or proud national exertion, but to a silent, wasting, and invisi- ble cause, which had injured the people, without adding strength to the crown. That they therefore performed that indispensable duty of laying tlieir distresses at the foot of the throne, that history might not report them a nation which in the midst of peace, and under a gracious king, equally ready to warn and relieve, proceeded deliberately to their own ruin, without one appeal to the wisdom which would have redressed them. And so they appealed from the tempo- rary expedients of his majesty's ministers, to his own wisdom and virtues, and to that permanent interest which his majesty had, and ever would have, in the welfare of his people. This address was extremely respectful, even to servility. But though it did not mention the exorbitant pension-list, nor the universal corruption and bribery which then Were carried on by means of the public money ; it told too much truth, and was too undeniable to be endured. Therefore the Government made a point of defeating it, and succeeded. An addiess was carried in its place, thanking the lord-lieutenant "for bis prudent, just, and wise administration." The first Octennial Parliament had scarce- Iv lived four years, when the Biitish cabinet found it expedient that it should be dissolved. This Parliament had, during the last session, in two instances opposed their mandates, and when summoned to attend the House of Peers, the Commons, through their Speaker, made a just but ungracious and in- effectual represen-tation of the state of that nation These symptoms of independence alarmed the Government, and created a diffidence in the steadiness of those who had enlisted under their banners. They looked to more steady submission in a future Par- liament, and dissolved the present. Mr. Perry was re-elected Speaker by a majority of 141 to 93. The lord-lieutenant did not meet the new Parliament, which was con- vened in June, 1776, pro forma, and by several prorogations went over to the 14th of October, 1777. This Parliament now dissolved is memorable forever in the his- tory of Ireland, for the first appearance of one of the greatest patriots who ever arose for the salvation of any people, and the word patriot is not here used in its merely colonial sense. This was Henry Grattan. He was the descendant of a powerful and influential family, of whom Dean Swift had said, "the Grattans can raise ten thousand men." His father was recorder of Dublin. Henry Grattan entered Parliament as mem- ber for Lord Charlemont's borough of Char- lemont, on the borders of Armagh and Ty- rone; he was then under thirty years of age, and in his first Parliament had been modest and retiring, acquainting himself with the details of public business, and with the forms of the House. It was not until the meeting of the new Parliament, under the adminis- tration of Lord Buckinghamshire, that Grattan's lofty character and splendid genius became known to his countrymen and to the world. The British cabinet was little satisfied with the administration of Lord Haicourt ; the easy and delicate turn of his mind ill qualified him to support, much less to im- prove upon the system of his predecessor, but by which alone, to the infamy and mis fortune of Ireland, the legislators of that kingdom were to be kept steady in their ranks under command of the Castle. Although Government upon the whole still retained a considerable majority, yet several of their adherents had occasionally, during the last session, proved recreant from their instruc- tions ; some had deserted their ranks, many amongst them wavered, menaced, and com- plained of the terms of their engagements. It was therefore resolved to invigorate the new system by the election of a new Parli;i- ment. For this purpose an iinusual, and till 120 HISTORY OF IRELAND. that time unprecedented, number of promo- tions in the peerage took place iu one day. It far exceeded the famous promotion of twelve in the days of Queen Aime. Five viscounts were advanced to earldoms, seven barons to be viscounts, and eighteen new barons were created in the same day. The usual teims of such modern peerages are Well understood to be an engagement to sup- port the cause of their promoters by their individual votes iu the House of Peers, and by those of their substitutes iu the House of Commons, whose seats are usually settled and ananged before they vacate them upon their promotions. In short every possible precaution was adopted to secure a subser- vient Irish Parliament in the crisis which Iiad been created by the American war. But in the very month of October, in which the new viceroy, Lord Buckinghamshire, met the new Parliament, General Burgoyne was surrendering his army of 7,000 men to the Auiericaiis at Saratoga. The next year France declared for America. The admin- istration, therefore, of this new lord-lieuten- ant dates a new era in the history of Ireland Knd of the earth. The English colony iu Ireland suddenly, and for a short time, takes the proportions of a nation. CHAPTER XVni. 1777—1779. Buckingham, Viceroy— Misery, and Decline of Trah mutiny bill, which was per- petual, by a majcjrity of 52. In short, it was plain that this Parliament, so extensive- ly corrupted and so well disciplined by the Castle influence (that is, by the corrupt ex- penditure of the people's money), could not be relied upon to realize the lofty aspiration 18 of the nation. Absolute national indepen- dence was now their fixed purpose. The year 1V80 was one of incessant organization ; reviews took place thioughout all Ireland; and a great provincial meeting was appointed for the November of that year, previous to which in all parts of the country the Volunteer corps were reviewed by the commanding officers in each district. The Earl of Belvidere reviewed the tioops of Westraeath ; the Limerick and Clare Volunteers were reviewed by Lord Kings- borough ; the Londonderry by Lord Eine; the Volunteers of the South by Lord Shan- non; those of Wicklow by Lord Kings- borough; and the Volunteers of Dublin countv and city, who had formed themselves into associated corps, by Lord Carysfort, Sir Edward Newenham, and other men of rank, patriotism, and fortune. These reviews were attended with every circumstance of brilliancy. There was no absence of the pomp of war. The Volunteers had supplied themselves with artillery, tents, and all the requisites of the field. They had received many presents of ordnance ; numerous stands of colors had been presented to them, with no absence of ceremony and splendor, by women of the highest station and figure in the country, whose pride it was to attend the reviews in their handsomest equipages and clothed in their gayest attire. Until the middle of the year 1*780, the Volunteers had acted in independent troops and companies, otdy linked together by their community of feeling and design ; but it was apparent that for any general movement, for any grand military measure (which every day seemed to render more imminent), they needed a closer organization and a commander-in-chief Their choice fell upon James Caulfield, earl of Charlemont, the de- scendant of one of the adventurers who had come over in Queen Elizabeth's reign, and had been rewarded for his exertions in help- ing to crush O'Neill by large grants ot confiscated estates. This E;irl of Charle- mont was a man of limited capacity, but of much cultivation. He had travelled much, had written Italian sonnets, and collected busts and intaglios. He had been nine years absent from Ireland, and retuined just as the contest between Primate Stone and 138 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Ilenvy Boyle was calming down into the disgrace of one and the corruption of the other. Lord Charlemont's first Irish services were neither splendid nor honorable. He was chosen as the negotiator between Boyle and the lord-lieutenant. His duty was to strike a balance between what the Irish Patriot Avanted and the English official would give ; and he was eminently successful in eliciting harmony from the jarrings of sordid ambi- tion and Castle economy. But he soon left the Castle sphere — though well fitted by taste and feeling to be a courtier, it should be with honor — and that was an impossi- ble fact in Ireland. It is said by Hardy, that Lord Charleinont was ignorant of the bargain struck between Boyle and the lord- lieutenant, by which the former got a pension ;* but there was enough of profli- gacy in the concessions made by both parties, even though money had never changed hands between them, to take all glory fi ora the office of negotiator. As commander-in-chief, however, of the Volunteers, he made not only a dignified and ornamental standard-bearer, but a very active military organizer. He was great iu reviews; and on the whole did his official duty well ; but he never could expand his mind wide enough to grasp the idea of associating in the new nation the two mil- lions of Catholics. In replying to the address communicating to him his election as commander-in-chief, he states with so much clearness and per- spicuity the position occupied by the V^olun- teers, the seivices they had rendered, and the spirit which animated them, that the ivply is here presented in full as a perfect vindication of "that illustrious, adored, and abused body of men." Gentlemen, — You have conferred on ine an honor of a very new and distinguished nature,— to be appointed, williout any .solicitation on mj part, tlie rev iuwing-creneral of an independent army, raised by vAi other call than that uf public virtue; an army wliicli costs nothing to the Iritate, and has produced every thing to tlie nation, is what no otiier country lias it in lier power to bestow. Honored by such a delegation 1 obeyeit it with cheerfulness. The in- ducement was irresistible; I felt it the duty of every subject to forget impediments which would * Life of Charleinont, vol. i., p. 93. have stood in the way of a similar attempt iu any other cause. I see with unspeakable pleasure the progress ot your discipline, and the incieaseof your associations; the indefatigable, steady, and extraordinary ex- ertions, to wliieh I have been a witness, afford a sufficient proof, that, in tiie formation of an army, public spirit, a shame of being outdone, and the ambition to excel, will supply the place of reward and punishment — can levy an army, and bring it to perflction. The pleasure I feel is increased, when I reflect that your associations are not the fashion of a day, but the settled purpose and durable princijile of the people ; from whence I foresee, that the advantages lately acquired will be ascertained and established, and that solid and permanent strength will be added to the empire. I entirely agree in the sentiment you express with regard to the exclusive authority of the leurislaturo of this kingdom. I agree also iu the expediency of making the assertion ; it is no more than the law will warrant, and the real friends of both uations subscribe. 1 have the honor to be, Gentlemen, Your most obliged, faithful, and obedieut humble servant, July 15, 1780. Charlemont. The provincial reviews which followed the election of Lord Charlemont, were intended to convey significantly to the minister the readiness of an armed nation to second the jiropositions of their leaders in Parliament. Lord Charlemont visited Belfast to review the Ulster regiments, and was attended by Sir Annesley Stewart and Grattan as his aides. He was met at Hillsborough by Mr. Dobbs, Mr. Hamilton, and Mr. Stewart, afterwards the Marquis of Londonderry. His arrival at Belfast on the 11th of July was announced by a salute of seven guns from the artillery, which was answered by the ships in the harbor; and there followed a biilliant review of three thousand men. The dispatches of Lord Buckinghamshire to Lord North at this period, are evidences of a system of downright bribery — for the purpose of retaining and insuring his parlia- mentary majority — so general and so profuse, that nothing could bear comparison with it, but the worse corruption by which the Union was carried. Between September 8th, 1780, and November 19th of the same year, the lord-lieutenant forwarded several dispatches to the English minister, in which he recom- mends over one hundred men of rank and fortune, and some of their wives, to rewards for past services, or to bribes for prospective. BRIBERIES OF BUCKIXGHAM. 139 Bervices. Sir Robert De;uie, an uniform and laborious drudge, impeded by no conscience and burdened by no principle, who, as his viceregal eulogist remarks, always with Jirvi friends supported government and never siiggested a difficulty^ was recommended for a peerage. Several other men with similar services to parade, with just the same degree of conscience or principle, had their claims for a degraded honor allowed by the lord- lieutenant.* The dispatches of this viceroy in these two months (September and October, 1780) are extant, and should be rendered familiar reading to all those who are disposed to trust in the integrity and the promises of English * The sources of palriolan honors in Ireland, it is much to he regretted, are very impure and tainted. From tliis censure must of course be excepted the ancient aristocracy of the land, iu whose veins still runs an honorable stream, nncontaniinated by the impurity of the Williamite, or Union creation. Tiie successive creations in CromweH's and William's time, and at the Union, deepen in infamy as tlicy approach our own days. The parties recommended for honors in Lord Buckingham's protiifjate dis- patches, some of whose names are inserted in this note, have different qualifications ; one is poor, another who is rich has poor relations ; there is no political profligiite, however wealthy or embarrassed, that is not recommended for promotion or pay, in his own person or in that of some convenient relative. Amongrst the rest. Lords Mountcashel, Enniskillen, Cariow, and Farnliam, are recom- mended for earldoms. In the general recommenda- tions are the names of James Ca^i^ue Ponsonhy, Charles Henry Cooke, Francis Bernard Beamisli, Ponsonby Tottenham, James Sonierville, William Caulfield, Thomas Nesbitt, Sir Boyle Eoche, Dame Jane Heron, and other honorable persons. The fol- lowing is curious; it is in a letter to Lord ilills- bcrough from the lord-lientenant : " With respect to the noblemen and gentlemen whose requests have not succeeded, I must say that no man can see the inconvenience of inereasin? tlie number of peers more forcibly than myself, hut the recommeii.datian. af many of thuSf. persons liulimitted to Itis majedy for that honor, arose fkom kngagements TAKEN UP AT THE PlStSS OF THK MOMENT, TO SEOUKE QUESTIONS OPON WHICH THE ENGLISH GOVEUNMKNT WERE VERY FAKTiouLARLY ANXIOUS. Mv sentiments cannot but be tlie same witii respect to the Privy Council and pensions, and I had not cuntvacted any absolute engagements of recommendation either to peerage or pension, till diffkjulties ahose which iieces.-arily occasioned so much and so fnrcibly com- municated anxiety in his majesty's cabinet, tliat 1 mitsi have been culpable in neglecting any possible MEANS of securing A MAJOKITY IN THE HoUSE OK Commons. Mr. Townshend was particularly rceom- incndeii to me by Lord Shannon for a seat in the Privy Council, and 1 have reason to think Ids lord- bhip is extremely anxious for ins success." statesmen.* In the Houses, both of Lords and Commons, his management was too suc- cessful, and the people now looked upon Par- liament as their worst enemy. On the 2d of September, 1780, Lord Buckinghauishirtj prorogued the servile Parliament with one of those speeches, half cant and half sarcasm, which were then, and are now, the usual kind of viceregal addresses in Ireland. He thanked the House for their "liberal sup- plies" (for which the people cursed them), and added, "your cheerfulness in giving them, and your attention to the ease of the subject iu the mode of raising them, must be very acceptable to his majesty ; on my part, I assure you they shall be faithfully appliedy To both Houses he said that "the heart of every Irishman must e.xult at the fair scene of prosperity now opening to his country," congratulated tliem on the commercial relaxations, which he called "the diffusive indulgence of his majesty;" and so took his leave both of that Parliament and of Ireland. Fortunately, the cause of Ireland at that day rested neither upon him nor upon them. He was recalled soon after ; and on the 23d of December, 1780, Lord Carlisle was appointed iu his place. CHAPTER XX. 1781— 17S2. Parliament — Thanks to the Volunteers — Habeas Corpus — Trade with Portugal — Grattan's tinaneial expose — Gardiner's measure for Catholic Itelief — Dungannon — The loth of Feiiruary, 1782 — De- bates on Gardiner's Bill — Grattan's Speech — De- tails of this measure — Burke's opinion of it — Address to the King asserting Irish Independence — England yields at once — Act repealing tlie fith George I.— Repeal of Poynings' Law — Irish la- dependence. There is small interest in following the details of parliamentary business during the first year of Lord Carlisle's viceroyalty ; because it was every day more evident that the power which would decide the destinies of the country lay outside the walls of Par- liament. Indeed, on the discussion of tha perpetual Mutiny Bill for Ireland, Grattan had declared that if it passed into law hti would secede, and appeal to the people, a * They are to be found in Gra)n of Parliament sliould not exceed the term of ilnvc years." FTvOODS KEFORM BILL. 1C3 fifuise their rage and amnzement — but vented their wrath against the Volunteers in furious terms. And Yelverton, who combined an unmeasured regard for self-interest with a cautious and measured love of liberty, and who had been a Volunteer, denounced the idea of a bill introduced into Parliament at the point of the bayonet. " If this, as it is notorious it does, origin- sites from an armed body of men, I reject it. Shall we sit here to be dictated to at the point of the bayonet? I honor the Volun- teers ; they have eminently served their country ; but when they turn into a debat- ing society, to reform the Parliament, and regulate the nation ; when, with the rude point of the bayonet, they would probe the wounds of the constitution, that require the rhost skilful hand and delicate instrument; it reduces the question to this : Is the Con- vention or the Parliament of Ireland to de- liberate on the affairs of the nation ? What have we lately seen ? even during the sit- ting of Parliament, and in the metropolis of the kingdom, armed men lining the streets for armed men going in fastidious show to that pantheon of divinities, the Rotunda; and there sitting in all the parade, and in the mockery of Parliament! Shall we sub- mit to this ? " I ask every man who regards that free constitution established by the blood of our fathers, is such an infringement upon it to be sutlered ? If it is, and one step more is advanced, it will be too late to retreat. If you have slept, it is high time to awake!" This was the logic of an attorney-general, who never deals a harder blow to liberty than when he professes himself her most obedient servant. But this transparent hypocrisy was rudely dealt with by Flood : "I have not introduced the Volunteers, but if they are aspersed, I will defend their character against afl the world. By whom were the commerce and the constitution of this country recovered ? — By the Volunteers! " Why did not the right honorable gen- tlemen make a declaration against thein when they lined our streets — when Parlia- ment passed through the ranks of those virtuous armed men to demand the rights of an insulted nation ? Are they diflerent men at this day, or is the right honorable gentleman different? He was then one of tlieir body ; he is now their accuser ! He, who saw the streets lined — who rejoiced — who partook in their glory, is now their ac- cuser ! Are they less wise, less brave, less ardent in their country's cause, or has their admirable conduct made him their enemy ? May they not say, we have not changed, but you have changed. The right honorable gentleman cannot bear to hear of Volun- teers; but I will ask him, and I will have a STARLING TAUGHT TO HOLLO IN HIS EAR Who gave you the free trade ? who got you the free constitution ? who made you a 7ia- tion ? — The Volunteers ! * "If they were the men you now describe them, why did you accept of their service, why did you not then accuse them ? If they were so dangerous why did you pass through their ranks with your Speaker at your head to demand a constitution — why did you not then fear the ills you now ap- prehend ? " Grattan supported the bill. He said he loved to blend the idea of Parliament and the Volunteers. Tliey had concurred in es- tablishing the constitution in the last Parlia- ment; he hoped that they would do it in the present. But altogether it must be said that his support was feeble — it wanted heart, it wanted the fire, the inspiration, the genius which carried the Declaration of Rights with triumph through that ineffably corrupt assembly. And yet reform was the only security for his own work — it would have rendered the constitution immortal, and erected an enduring memorial of his glory, f * Declaration of the Volunteer army of Ulster, "That tlie tiignifieil conduct of the army lately re- stored to the imperial crown of Ireland its original splendor — to nobility, its ancient privilesres — and to the nation at large, its inherent rights as a sovereitrn independent state." Such was the assumed power of the Volunteers, in 1782. Tlie Parliament was considered then almost anti-national. + " It was proposed by Government to meet this question in the most decided manner, and to bring to issue the contest between the Government and this motley assembly usurping its rights. This idi'u met with very considerable support. A great hearti- ness showed itself among the principal Tnen of con- sequence and fortune, and a decided spirit of oppo- sition to the unreasonable encroachments appeared with every man attached to the Administration. The idea stated was to oppose tlie leave to bring in u bill for the reform of Parliament in the first stage 164 HISTORY OP IRELAND. But if Grattan lacked bis ancient fire, the opposition which was given by the vile brood of faction was not deficient in spirit ; it was furious and fieice. The coarsest in- vectives and the vulgarest ribaldry were heaped upon the Voluriteers — the question of Parliamentary Reform was lost sight of in the rancorous malignity of the hour, and the debate became a chaos of vituperation, misrepresentation, and personality. At length the question was put, and Flood's motion was lost. The numbers were, for the mDtion 77, against it 157. After the result had been ascertained, it was thought fit by the attorney-general (Yelverton) to move, " That it has now become indispensably ne- cessary to declare that the House will main- tain its just rights and privileges against all encroachments whatsoever." This was a declaration of war, less against Reform, than against the Volunteers. The gauntlet was thrown down to them — did they dare to take it up ? For awhile the Convention awaited a mes- sage from the Commons — but no message of triumph came to crown their hopes. The scene was embarrassing — lassitude had succeeded excitement — silence crept slowly on the noisy anticipations of victory. At last, adjournment was suggested — the dra- matic effect was lost, the dramatic spirit had passed away. The Convention broke up, to await, without the theatric pomp of full as- sembly, the details of discomfiture, insult, and defeat. on the ground of the petition originatine: in an as- sembly unconstitutional and illegal, and meant to awe and control the legislature. This bold mode of treating it was certainly most proper ; at the same time it was bubject to the defections of those who had been instructed on this idea of reform, and those who were still anxious to retain a small degree of popularity amongst the Volunteers. To have put it with a resolution would have given us at least fourteen votes. Grattan, having pledged himself to the idea of reform of Parliament, could not see ttie distinction between the refusal of leave on the ground of its having come from an exceptionable body, and the absolute denial of receiving any plan of reform. He voted against us, and spoke ; but his tpeech evidently showed that he meant vs no harm^ and on the question of the resolution to support Parliament he voted with us. The resolutions are gone to the Lords, who will concur in them, except, it is said, Lord Mountmorris, Lord Aidborough, and Lord Charleniont." — Letter of the Lord-Lieutenant to Charles James Fox, 30th Nov., 1783. The interval was well used by those who secretly trembled at the issue of a direct collision between Government and the Vol- unteers, or who had not the boldness to guide the storm which they had had the te- merity to raise. Rumors there were of secret conclaves where cowardly counsels took the place of manly foresight and sagacious boldness — of discussions with closed doors, where the men who .had led the national army in the whole campaign of freedom, canvassed the propriety of sacrificing to their own fears, that body, whose virtue and renown had conferred on them a reflected glory;* whilst some writers have represent- ed the adjournment of the Convention, and the extinction of the Volunteers, or as it was called by Grattan, " their retirement to cultivate the blessings of peace," as the just and natural issue to their useful and brilliant career. f As well might it be said that the Union was the just and natural result of the constitution of 1782. And they who aban- doned the Volunteers, and allowed their or- ganization to crumble and decline, are an- swerable to their country for the conse- quences of that fatal measure of political tergiversation. A large meeting of "par- ticular friends" assembled at Lord Charle- mont's on the Sunday. J It was unani- mously agreed that the public peace — which did not appear in any particular danger at the time — was the first object to be consid- ered. It is to be regretted that Hardy is not more explicit on the subject of this meeting. It would have been fortunate had he informed us who were the parties con- cerned in this transaction ; for it might have furnished a key to the subsequent con- duct of many men, whose proceedings were considered inexplicable at the time. The result of their deliberations was important. The Volunteers were to receive their rebuff quietly ; they were to separate in peace and good will to all men ; meekly to digest the contumelies of the Government retainers ; and following the advice of some of their oflScers, to hang up their arms in the Tem- * Barrington's Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation, c. 10, p. 877. + Grattan's Life by Henry Grattan, c. 5. X Hardy's Life of Charlemont, vol. ii., p. 138. CONVENTION DISSOLVKD. 165 pie of Liberty. The advice was good, if the temple h;id been built. On Monday the 1st of December, the Convention met. Captain Moore, one of the delegates, was about to comment on the re- ception of their Reform Bill by Parliament, when Lord Charlemont called him to order. Upon which, in a very dignified way, Henry Flood detailed the insulting reception of their bill by the legislature ; and well aware of the temper of some of the most influen- tial men in the Convention, he counselled moderation. But what other policy than submission was on their cards? They had put themselves in antagonism to Parliament — they had been treated with contempt and defiance — their plan had not been even dis- cussed, but coutumeliously rejected because it was the suggestion of men with arms in their hands — arms which they dared not use. There were only two courses open — war or submission. They adopted the latter course, not without some rebellious pride, and a flash of the old spirit that had burned so brightly at Dungannon. Looking back over these events, one can- not resist the conclusion that if the Conven- tion had gi^nerously and at once thrown open the door of the Constitution to the Catholics, Lord Charlemont might at this juncture have marched down to that den of corruption in College Green, cleared it out, locked the door, and thereafter dictated his Reform Bill by way of general orders : but Charlemont was not the man to strike such a blow ; and besides, he and the Convention had alienated, or, at least, left in a state of indifference, the great body of the nation "which would else have borne thera trium- phantly to the goal of perfect and perma- nent freedom. The Convention adjourned, to meet next day. Mr. Flood moved a tame address to the House, declaring that seeking parlia- mentary reform " was not to be imputed to any spirit of innovation in them." They adjourned again ; but next morning Lord Charlemont repaired somewhat earlier than usual to the Rotunda, with several of his friends, and, after some formal resolutions, pronounced the Convention dissolved. "From this time," says Dr. Madden, "the power of the Volunteers was broken. The Government resolved to let the iiistittitinn die a natural death ; at least, to aim no blow at it in public : but when it is known that the Hon. Col. Robert Stewart (father of Lord Castlereagh) was not only a member of the Convention — a delegate from the County Down — but chairinan of a sub-com- mittee, and that he was the intimate friend of Lord Charlemont, the nature of the hos- tility that Government put in practice against the institution will be easily under- stood. While the Volunteers were parad- ing before Lord Charlemont, or manifesting their patriotism in /ieclarations of resistance to the Parliament, perfidy was stalking in their camp, and it rested not till it had trampled on the ashes of their institution. The Volunteers through the country re- ceived the accounts of their delegates with indignant amazement. They beat to arms — they met — and resolved. But the bind- ing principle was relaxed ; doubt, suspicion, and alarm pervaded the ranks that had been so firmly knit; their resolutions, though still warmed with the spirit of fiery elo- quence, were but sounding words, unheeded by a government which had planted too se- curely the seeds of disunion, to fear the threats of men without leaders, without mutual confidence, without reliance on themselves. The Bishop of Derry became their idol ; but it was beyond his power to restore them to their commanding position. Flood had gone lo England, either fired with new ambition, or in despair of effecting his great objects at home. The bishop was a bad adviser, too bold and unguarded, and the Government amazed at an extraordinary reply which he gave to an address of the Bill of Rights' Battalion, a northern corps, seriously canvassed the propriety of his ar- rest. His reply concluded with a memor- able political aphorism, "Tyranny is not government, and allegiance is due only to protection." But he was not prosecuted, nor arrested. It would have been a rash, it was a useless step. The natural progress of events effected what a measure of severity would probably have retarded, or rendered impossible — the destruction of the Volun- teers. Division of opinion gained ground amongst them, yet they continued their re- views, they published their proceedings, 166 HISTORY OF IRELAND. they passed their resolutious. But, month by month, and year by year, their numbers diminished, their mihtary gatherings became less splendid, their exposition of poHtical opinion was less regarded by the nation, or feared by the Government. The Reform bill presented by the Con- vention having failed, Flood, after his return from England, determined to test the sincer- ity of the Parliament in the alleged cause of its rejection. The legislature declared that they had spurned the bill because it emanated from a military body. In March, 1784, he introduced another measure of par- liamentary reform, backed by numerous pe- titions from the counties. The bill was read a second time, but was rejected on the motion for its committal, by a majority of seventy-four. Grattan gave a cold support. It became now clear, that the opposition was given to reform, not because it was the demand of a military body, but because the principle was odious to a corrupt Parliament. A meeting of the representatives of thirty- one corps took place at Belfast, to make preparations for a review, and they adopted a resolution that they would not associate with any regiment at the ensuing demon- stration, which should continue under the command of officers who opposed parlia- mentary reform.* However natuial was their indignation at the coolness of some, and the hostility of other professing Patiiots to the great measure of constitutional change, the effect of this resolution was un- fortunate. It yielded a plausible excuse to many of the officers to secede from the Volunteer body — it worked out wonderfully the policy of division which Government was in every way pursuing — it defined the distinctions which existed in the Volunteer associations, and widened the fatal breach. We may here anticipate a little in order to close the stoiy of the Volunteers. The rejection of the Reform bill was followed bv an attempt to get up a national congress by Flood, Napper Tandy, and others. They ad- dressed requisitions to the sherifi"s of the counties, calling on them to summon their bailiwicks for the purpose of electing repre- sentatives. Some few complied with the * Historical Collections relative to Btlfust, p. 200. requisition — most of them refused. The attorney-general (Fitzgibbon) threatened to proceed by attachment against those who had obeyed the mandate, and by a mixture of personal daring and ability, succeeded in preventing Mr. Reilly, the sherift* of Dub- lin, from taking the chair of an intended electoral meeting. Delegates were, how- ever, selected in some quarters, and in Octo- ber, a few individuals assembled in William Street, to hold the congress. The debate was with closed doors ; the Bishop of Derry was not present; Flood attended, and de- tailed his plan of reform, in which the Catholics were not included. The omissioa gave offence to the Congress, and Flood, in- dignant at the want of support, retired. After three days' sitting, the Congress ad- journed. It vanished as if it were the mel- ancholy ghost of the National Convention. These proceedings were alluded to in the speech which opened the session, Januaiy, 1785. They were characterized as " lawless outrages, and unconstitutional proceedings." The address in reply applied the same ternis to the transactions in connection with the National Congress ; and this drew from Grattan a memorable speech, and one which with reference to the Volunteers is historic. It marks the transition point when the old Volunteers ceased, and a new body com- posed of a different class of men, and ruled by politicians with very different views, com- menced a career which terminated only in the establishment of the United Irishmen. Grattan, in the debate on the address, after defending the reform party and principles generally, from the attacks contained in the viceroy's speech, said,* " I would now wish to draw the attention of the House to the alarming measure of drilling the lowest classes of the populace, by which a stain had been put on the character of the Volun- teers. The old, the original Volunteers had become respectable, because they represented the pioperty of the nation ; but attempts had been made to arm the poverty of the kingdom. They had originally been the armed property — were they to become the armed begyary?'" To the Congress — to the parties who had presented petitions for re- * Grattau's Speeches, vol. i., p. 212. END OF THE VOLUNTEERS. 167 form lie ac'.dressed indignant reproof. They had, he said, been guilty of the wildest in- discretion ; they had gone much too far, and, if they went on, they would overturn the laws of their country. It was an unfortunate period for the in- terests of Irish liberty, which Grattan se- lected, thus to dissever the ties between the Volunteers and him. They had begun to perceive that without the co-operation of the Catholics, it would be unreasonable to ex- pect to obtain a reformed Parliament, inde- pendent of England. The men of the Ulster Plantation wei'e the first to i-ecognize and act upon this obvious truth. They car- ried their toleration so far as to march to the chapel, and to attend mass. Had prop- er advantage been taken of these disposi- tions of the people, the result would have been the acquisition of a measure of parlia- mentary reform, which would have insured the stability of the settlement of 1782. But they were left without guides, when most a ruling mind was required; nor is it surprising that ulterior views began to influ- ence the ardent temperament, and to excite the angry passions of a disappointed people. But these considerations belong to the his- tory of a later period, when the Volunteers had merged into that great and wonderful confederacy, which, within a few years, threatened the stability of the English do- minion in Ireland. The regular army had been increased to fifteen thousand men, with the approbation of the most distinguished founders of the constitution of 1782 — the next act of hos- tility was one in which Gardiner, who had been an active ofiicer in the Volunteers, took the leading part. On the 14th of February, 1785, he moved that £20,000 be granted to his majesty for the purpose of clothing the militia. This was intended to be a fatal blow. It was aimed by a treach- erous hand. The motion was supported by Langrishe, Denis Daly, Arthur Wolfe, and Grattan. Fitzgibbon assailed the Volun- teers with official bitterness. He reiterated the charges of Grattan, that they had ad- mitted into their ranks a low description of men — tlieir constitution was changed — they had degenerated into practices inimical to the peace of the country. They were, how- ever, not left undefended. Curran, Hardy and Newenham stepped forward to their vin- dication. These men pointed out the bene- fits of the institution — the Volunteers in time of war had protected the country, and preserved internal quiet — no militia was then needed — why was it required in peace ? The proposition was a censure on the Volun- teers. Grattan replied: — "the Volunteers had no right whatsoever to be displeased at the establishment of a militia ; and if they had expressed displeasure, the dictate of armed men ought to be disregarded by Parliament. "The right honoiable member had intro- duced the resolution upon the most consti- tutional ground. To establish a militia — he could not see how that affected the Volun- teers ; and it would be a hard case, indeed, if members of Parliament should be afraid to urge such measures as they deemed prop- er, for fear of giving offence to the Volun- teers. The situation of the House would be truly unfortunate if the name of the Volun- teers could intimidate it. I am ready to allow that the great and honorable body of men — the primitive Volunteers, deserved much of their country ; but I am free to say, that they who now assume the name have much degenerated. It is said that they rescued the constitution, that they forced Parliament to assert its rights, and therefore Parliament should surrender the constitution into their hands. But it is a mistake to say they forced Parliament : they stood at the back of Parliament, and supported its au- thority ; and when they thus acted with Parliament, they acted to their own glory ; but when they attempted to dictate, they became nothing. When Parliament repelled the mandate of the Convention, they went back, and they acted with propriety; and it will ever happen so when Parliament has spirit to assert its own authority. " Gentlemen are mistaken if they iungine that the Volunteers are the same as they formerly were, when they committed them- selves in support of the state, and the exclu- sive authority of the Parliament of Ireland, at the Dungannon meeting. The resolutions published of late hold forth a very different language. " Gentlemen talk of ingratitude. I can- 168 HISTORY OF IRELAND, not see how voting a militia for the defence of the country is ingratitude to the Volun- teers. The House has been very far from ungrateful to them. While they acted with Parliament, Parliament thanked and applauded them ; but in attempting to act against Parliament, they lost their conse- quence. Ungrateful ! Where is the in- stance ? It cannot be meant, that because the House rejected the mandate which vile incendiaries had urged the Convention to issue; because, when such a wound was threatened to the constitution, the House declared that it was necessary to maintain the authority of Parliament, that therefore the House was ungrateful ! " The Volunteers lingered some years after this. They held annual reviews — they pass- ed addresses and resolutions — but, hencefor- ward, their proceedings were without eft'ect. The details of their decay do not belong to the history of the Volunteers of 1782. That body practically expired with the Con- vention of Dublin. Their old leaders fell away — the men of wealth abandoned them, and new men — men, not without generous qualities and high ambition, but with peril- ous and revolutiouary views — succeeded to the control. And when, at length, the Vol- unteers having come into direct collision with the regular army, and wisely declined the contest, the Government issued its mandate, that every assemblage of the body should be dispersed by force, even the phantom of the aimy of Ireland had passed away from the scene forever.* CHAPTER XXII. 1784—1786. Improvement of tlie country— Political position anomalous — Rulland, viceroy — Petitions for Par- liamentary Reform — Flood's motion. — Rejected — Griittan's bill to regulate the revenue — Protective duties demanded — National Congress— Dissen- sions as to rigflits of Catholics — Cliarlemont's intol- erance — Orde's Commercial Propositions — New propositions of Mr. Pitt — Burke and Sheridan- Commercial propositions defeated— Mr. Conolly — The national debt — General corruption — Court majorities— Patriots defeated — Ireland after five years of independence. Ireland was now in many respects an in- dependent nation. Enjoying for the first * A few country corps had fixed upon holdino' a review at Doah, in the county of Antrim. The time in, her history an unrestricted trade, a sovereign judiciary, the writ of Habeas Cor- pus, and a Parliament acknowledged to be the sovereign legislature free from the dic- tation of an English privy council, the coun- try did certainly begin almost immediately to make a rapid advance in material prosper- ity. Many absentees returned and spent their incomes at home: the revival of other branches of industry retrieved in some de- gree the unwholesome competition for farms, which had left the unfortunate and friendless peasantry at the absolute mercy of their landlords. Besides all this, the very proud feeling of national independence seems to have kindled a sort of vital energy through- out the farthest extremities of the land. On the whole, although there was still much distress among the poor, and appeals to Parliament for their relief, there was soon visible a dawn of prosperity in Ireland. Yet the political situation was evidently anomalous and insecure. Ireland had not like England a responsible body of cabinet- ministers accountable to her own Parliament. The lord-lieutenant and Irish secretary ruled as before ; and although they were appointed, it was said, by the King of Ire- land, they really held their offices and re- ceived their instructions from the ministers of England; and their whole care was ex- pected to be, and was, in fact, to n.aintain by every possible means the paramount as- cendency of that more powerful kingdom. This could only be accomplished by the creation of more and more places, the still greater extension of the pension list, and more direct and shameless bribery. In short we shall soon see that organized cor- ruption developed itself during the era of " independence" with more deadly power than ever before, until it swelled at last to that deluge of corruption, that perfect par- oxysm of plunder, vkhich bore down every- thing before it at the era of the " Union." Lord Noithington, on a change of minis- try in England, resigned his viceroyalty on the 7th of January, 1784; and on the 24th of February was succeeded by the Duke of army marched to the spot to disperse them ; but the Volunteers avoided assembling, and thus gave up tlie ghost. — Br. MacA^evin's Pieusof Irish His- tory, p. 58. PETITIOXS FOR PARLIAMKNTAUT RKFORM. IGO Rutl.iiid. Just before this cliangp, tlie rev- enue of Ireland being again, as usual, inad- equate to the expenditure, £300,000 was ordered to be borrowed to meet the de- ficiency. On the 26tli of February, Parliament met. Mr. Gardiner moved tlie address to tlie Duke of Rutland ; and then tliere came pouring ifito the House thirteen petitions for a "Reform in Parliament." It was on this measure the people's minds were now chiefly bent. They were iiritated and dis- appointed at the manner in which the House of Commons had flung out the Re- form bill introduced by Mr. Flood in the name of the Volunteer Convention. They began to peiceive that with a Parliara'^nt so constituted Ireland could not really be uid to control her own destinies: and they did not yet suflaciently comprehend that for tliis precise reason England would always steadily oppose all reform — and would be able to oppose it with success because the very corruption of Parliament which was an injury and scandal to Ireland was the great arm and agent of British domination here. It was now on the 13th of M.arch, that Mr. Flood made his renewed motion for a parliamentary reform ; not now as a mem- ber of the dictatoiial Volunteer Convention, but as an individual member. A few sen- tences of his speech may be given to show the notoriety of the rotten borough system ; and how audaciously it was defended as a right of property. He admitted, it would be thought by certain gentlemen injurious to their private interest, if the constitution ■were restored to its original security ; but thev must also admit, that it was contrary to every principle of right and justice, that individuals should be permitted to send into that house, two, four, or six members of Parliament, to make a traffic of venal bor- oughs, as if they were household utensils. It seemed a point agreed upon in England, that a parliamentary reform was necessary; lie should mention, he said, the opinion given by Lord Chatham, upon whose pos- thumous fame the present administration so firndy stood defended by the tiation, though that great and illustrious man had been neg- lected for ten years by the public, and so 22 large a portion of his valuable life was suf- fered to be lost to the community. What were his sentiments on that important mat- ter ? His words nu)st strongly enforced its necessity; in his answer to the address of the city of London, in which he said, that a reform in Parliament was absolutely neces- sary, in order to infuse fresh vigor into ihe constitution, and that rotten boroughs ought to be stricken otf. This measure, opening the franchise to Protestant freeholders, was by several mem- bers opposed as being oppressive to the Catholics. Sir Boyle Roche, the very man who had but lately hurried to the Conven- tion to carry Lord Kenmare's slavish self- denying message, refusing all electoral rights for the Catholics — this Sir Boyle, only anx- ious to defeat the reform by any means, used this argument against it: — Sir Boyle Roche said, the design of the bill was to transfer the franchise of election from the few to the many ; or, in other words, to deprive the present possessors of the patronage of boroughs, and give it to another set of men ; while they were en- deavoring to gratify one set of men, they should not act as tyrants to another. This bill would be a proscriptive act against the Roman Catholics, who would be all turned out of their farms to make room fur forty- shilling freeholders. There was an animated debate ; but its issue could not be one mo- ment doubtful at the Castle. At four o'clock on Sunday morning the division took place: ayes, 85; noes, 159. It was clear that the Government had still its steady woiking majority in that corrupt as- sembly, on all questions which were not left open questions, and that there was no meas- ure so little likely to be left an open question as parliamentary reform. Two other subjects of great national im- portance were brought before Parliament in this session ; a bill for regulation of the rev- enue by Mr. Grattan, and a bill to lay pro- tective duties on the importation of manu- factured goods. This latter measure seems to have been greatly needed; and the anx- iety of the public for its success is a still further proof of the real meaning which in the Volunteering times was attached to the cry '-Free itrade, or else ," that is to ITO HISTORY OF IKELi^ND. say, fieodorn for the legislature of Ireland to regulate, protect, tax, admit, or prohibit all branches of Irish trade for Ireland's own benefit. In view of the continual rejection of. all projects of reform, it is no wonder that men's minds turned away from Parliament; and that plans of a revolutionary character began to be agitated. Such was the idea of a National Congress. The sheriffs of Dublin were requested to convene a prepar- atory meeting: they did so, for the 7th of June, 1784: but as this project eventuated in nothing important, we might omit all mention of it, were it not that the resolu- tions at this meeting, while denouncing the venality of Parliament introduced into their resolutions and their addresses to the king- very strong expressions of their desire to emancipate the Catholics. In the resolu- tions we read : " We call upon you there- fore, and thus conjure you, that in this im- portant work you join with us as fellow-sub- jects, countrymen, and friends, as men em- barked in the general cause, to remove a general calamity ; and for this we propose, that five persons be elected from each coun- ty, city, and great town in this kingdom, to meet in National Congress at some conve- nient place in this city, on Monday, the 25th day of October next, there to deliberate, digest, and determine on such measures, as may seem to them most conducive to re- establish the constitution on a pure and permanent basis, and secure to the inhabit- ants of this kingdom, peace, liberty, and safety. " And while we thus contend, as far as in us lies, for our constitutional rights and privileges, we recommend to your consider- ation the state of our suft'ering fellow-subjects, the Roman Catholics of this kingdom, whose emanc^ipation from the restraints, under which tliey still labor, we consider not only as equitable, but essentially conductive to the general union and prosperity of the kingdom." And in the addi'ess to the king, they say : " We farther entreat your majesty's permis- sion to condemn that remnant of the penal code of laws, which still oppresses our Ro- man Catholic fellow-subjects ; laws which lend to prohibit education and liberality, restrain certain privileges, and proscribe in- dustrjf, love of liberty, and patriotism." The very introduction of these liberal and tolerant ideas into the preliminary proceed- ings frightened off the leading men of the old Volunteers. In an address presented by the Ulster corps to their general, the Earl of Cliarle- mont, after some strong expressions of their detestation of aristocratic tvrannv, they hinted at the necessity of calling in the ait decided wishes of the people of Ireland ; they 'were clear, and had been so from the first, that His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales ought, and must be the regent ; but they were also clear, that he should be invested with the full regal power; plenitude of royal power. The limitations, which a certain member proposed to impose, were suggested with a view to preserve a servile imitation of the proceedings of anoth- er country, not in the choice of a regent, which was a common concern, but in the particular provisions and limitations, which were not a common concern, but in the particular circumstances of the difierent countries. The bill, or instrument which he called a bill, was suggested on an opinion, that an Irish act of Parliauient might pass ■without a king in a situation to give the royal assent, and without a regent appoint- ed by the Irish Houses of Parliament to supply his place. The idea of limitation, he conceived to be an attack on the neces- sary power of Government ; the idea of his bill was an attack on the King of Ireland. They had heard the Castle dissenting from their suofrt-stion. It remained for them to 24 take the business out of their hands, and confide the custody of the great and impor- tant matter to men more constitutional and respectable. The Lords and Conmions of Ireland, and not the Castle, should take the leading part in this great duty. The coun- try gentlemen, who procured tlie constitu- tion, should nominate the regetit. He should submit to them the proceedings they intended in the discharge of that great and necessary duty. Mr. Grattan contended that the proper course was not a bill, but an ad- dress, citing the authority of the address to the Prince of Orange on the abdication of King James. Mr. Conolly then rose and said, that on that melancholy occasion, which every gen- tleman in and out of office lamented, and none more sincerely than he did, it had fallen to the lot of the two Houses to put into the kingly office a substitute for their beloved sovereign ; and there seemed to be but one mind, which was to make that sub- stitute the illustrious person wlio had, of all others, the greatest interest in preserving the prerogative of the crown, and the constitu- tion of the realm. He er^tirely coincided in the plan Mr. Grattan had proposed, because he was con- vinced it was consonant to the constitution, and such as his royal highness, to whom he should then move an address, must neces- sarily approve. He hoped they would be unanimous on the occasion. He therefore moved the following resolution : *■' Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that a humble address be pre- sented to his royal highness to take upon himself the government of this realm, during the continuation of his majesty's present in- disposition, and no longer, and under the style and title of Prince Regent of Ireland, in the name of his majesty to exercise and administer, according to the laws and con- stitution of this kingdom, all regal powers, jurisdiction, and prerogatives to the ci'own and government thereof belonging." The motion was seconded by Mr. George Ponsonby. Several of the former friends of tlie Castle supported the address, when Mr. Fitzgibboa (who was still attorney-general, afterwards Earl of Clare) rose to oppose it. He made 186 HISTORY OP IRELAND. this question, as he made eveiy question, an occasion to inculcate the idea of a legishi- tive union, which was even then his great political aim, and continued to be so until he attained it. He maintained, that the crown of Ireland and the crown of England were inseparably and indissolubly united ; and that the Irish Parliament was perfectly and totally inde- pendent of the British Parliament. The first position was their security ; the second was their freedom ; and when gen- tlemen talked any other language than that, they either tended to the separation of the crowns, or to the subjugation of their Parlia- ment; they invaded either their security or their liberty ; in fact, the only security of their liberty was their connection with Great Britain, and gentlemen who risked breaking the connection, must make up their minds to a union. God forbid he should ever see that day ; but if ever the day on which a Separation should be attempted, should come, he should not hesitate to embrace a union rather than a separation. Under the Duke of Portland's government the grievances of Ireland were stated to be : The alarming usurpation of the British Parliament; A perpetual mutiny bill ; And the powers assumed by the privy council. These grievances were redressed, and in redressing them they passed a law repealing part of Poynings'. By their new law they enacted, that all bills, which should pass the two Houses in Ireland, should be certified into England, and returned under the great sea! of England, without any addition, dimi- nution, or alteration whatsoever, should pass into law, and no other. By this they made the gTe;it seal of England essentially and in- dispensably necessary on the passing of laws in Ireland : they could pacs no act without first certifying it into England, and having it returned under the great seal in that kingdom, insomuch that were the King of England and Ireland to come in person, and to reside in Ireland, he could not pass a bill without its being first certified to his regent in England, who must return it under the seal of that kingdom before his majesty could even in person assent to it. That if the House should by force of an address^ upon the 'instant, and without any commu- nication with England, invest a regent with powers undefined, when the moment of re- flection came, it would startle the boldest adventurers in England ; and then he reminded gentlemen of the language thev held with England in the day they asserted their freedom: "Perpetual connection ; com- mon fortune ; we will rise or fall with Eng- land ; we will share her liberty, and we will share her ftite." Did gentlemen recollect the arguments used in England to justify the fourth proposition of the commercial treaty ? Ireland, said they, having a Parliament of her own, may think fit to carry on a com- merce, and regulate her trade by laws differ- ent from, perhaps contradictory to, the laws of Great Britain. How well founded that observation was, they would prove, if they seized the first opportunity that offered of difleriug from Great Britain on a great im- perial question ; certainly if it be the scheme to differ on all imperial questions, and if that bp abetted by men of great authority, they meant to drive them to a ttnion, and the method they took was certainly more effect- ual to sweep away opposition, than if all the sluices of corruption were opened together, and deluged the country's representatives : for it was certain nothing less than the alter- native of separation could ever force a union. Suppose the prince did not accept the regency in England ; suppose their address should reach him before he was actually invested with royal powers in England, in what situation would you put him ? They would call on him, in defiance of two acts of Parliament, which made the crowns in- separable, to dethrone the king his father. They would call upon him to do an act now, at which hereafter his nature would revolt. They were false friends of the Prince of Wales, who should advise him to receive an address, that might give him cause to curse the hand which presented it. He knew that liberties indecent in the extreme had been taken with the name of that august personage. He knew it had been whispered, that every man who should vote against the address, would be considered as voting afrainst him and treating^ him with disre- spect; but if any man had bad the guilt FITZGIBBON S SPEECH ON THE KEGENCY. 187 and folly to poison his mind with such an insinuation, lie trusted to his good sense to distinguish liis friends ; he would trust to his good sense to determine, whether they were his friends who wished to guard the imperial rights of the British crown, or they who would stake them upon the momentary and impotent triumph of an English party. What matter to tlie prince, whether he re- ceived royal authority by bill or by address? Was tliere a man who would presume to libel him, and to assert, that the success of that measure would be a triumph to him ? Tliere was a feature in the proceeding which, independent of every other objection to it, did in liis mind make it highly repre- hensible, and that was, that he considered it as a formal appeal from the Parliament of England to that of Ireland. Respecting the parties who made that appeal he should say nothing : but ahhough there might be much dignity on their part in receiving the appeal, he could not see any strong symptoms of wisdom in it ; because by so doing he should conceive we must inevitably sow the seeds of jealousy and disunion between the Parlia- ments of the two countries ; and though he did not by any.means desire of the Parlia- ment of that country implicitly to follow the Parliament of England, he should suppose it rather a wise maxim for Ireland always to concur with the Parliament of Gieat Britain, imless for very strong reasons indeed they were obliged to differ from it. If it were to be a point of Irish dignity to differ with the Parliament of England to show their inde- pendence, he very much feared that sober men in that country, who had estates to lose, would soon become sick of independence. Tlie fact was, that constituted as it was, the Government of that country, never could go on, unless they followed Great Britain im- plicitly in all regulations of imperial policy. The independence of their Parliament was their freedom ; their dependence on the crown of England was their security for that freedom ; and gentlemen, who professed themselves, that night, advocates for the in- dependence of the Irish ciown, were advo- cates for its separation from England, They should agree with England in three points : — one king, one law, one religion. They should keep these great objects stead- ily in view, and act like wise men : if iliev made the Prince of Wahis their regent, and granted him the plenitude of power, in God's name let it be done by bill ; otherwise he saw such danger, that he deprecated the measure proposed. He called upon the country gen- tlemen of Ireland ; that that was not a time to think of every twopenny grievance, every paltry disappointment sustained at the Castle of Dublin ; if any man had been aggrieved by the viceroy, and chose to compose a philippic on the occasion, let liim give it on the debate of a turnpike bill, where it would not be so disgraceful to the man who uttered it, and to those who would not listen to him, as it would be on the present occasion. On the l7th the address was agreed upon by both Houses. Its principal clause was in these words : — " We therefore beg leave humbly to re- quest, that your royal highness will be pleased to take upon you the government of this realm during the continuation of his majesty's present indisposition, and no long- er ; and under the style and title of Prince Regent of Ireland, i-n the name and on be- half his majesty, to exercise and administer, according to the laws and constitution of this kingdom, all regal powers, jurisdiction, and prerogatives to the crown and govern- ment thereof belonging." On the 19th both Houses waited on the lord-lieutenant, requesting him to transmit it to the prince. He refused to do so. On the day following Mr. Grattan moved in the House " that his excellency the lord-lieuten- ant having thought proper to decline to trans- mit to His Ro3'al Highness George Prince of Wales, the address of both Houses of Parlia- ment, a competent number of members be appointed by this House, to present the said address to his royal highness." This was carried by a large majority ; was sent up to the Lords, who concurred, and named the Duke of Leinster and the Earl of Charlemont to accompany the members of the other House who should be appointed, to join them in presenting the address. Mr. Grattan then moved, "that it be Re- solved, That his excellency the lord-lieuten- ant's answer to both Houses of Pailiament, requesting him to transmit their address to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, is 188 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ill advised, contains an unwarrantable and unconstitutiunal censure on the proceedings of both Houses of Parliament, and attempts to question the undoubted rights and priv- ileges of the Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons of Ireland." Ou the 25th of February the committee 'of the two Houses of Parliament, having arrived in London, proceeded to Carlton Hsuse and presented the address. They were most graciously received : but two days before, the king had riecovered from his malady. It was thus unnecessary for the prince cither to accept or reject the offer made to hira by the Irish Parliament. He congratulated them on the happy change in his majesty's health, and assured them of the " gratitude and affection to the loyal and generous people of Ireland which he felt indelibly imprinted on his heart." This dangerous dispute was thus ended for that time. Its dangers were twofold. First, the prince might have refused the regency with limited powers — in that case the Eng- lish Parliament would certainly have made the queen regent : and the prince might have accepted the Irish regency with un- limited powers : there would then have been two regents, and two separate kingdoms. Secondly, the prince might have accepted the regency precisely on the terms offered him in each country : he would then have been a regent with limited powers in Eng- land, and with full royal prerogative in Ire- land ; UTiable to create a peer in England, but with power to swamp the House with new peerages in Ireland ; unable to reward his friends with certain grants, pensions, and ofRces in England, but able to quarter them all upon the revenue of Ireland. The peril of such a condition of things was fully ap- preciated both by Mr. Pitt, and by his able coadjutor in Ireland, Mr. Fitzgibbon. They drew from it an argument for the total an- nihilation of Ireland by a legislative union. Others who watched events with equal attention, found in it a still sounder argu- ment for total separation. CHAPTER XXIV. 1789. Unpopularity of Buckingham — Formation of an Irish clmracter — Efforts of Patriots in Parliament — All in vain — Purchasing votes — Corruption — Wiiig Club — Lord Clare on Wliig Club — Buckingliaui leaves Ireland — Pension List — Peep-of-Day Boys and Defenders — Westmoreland, Viceroy — Unavail- ing efforts against corruption — Material prosperity — King William's Birthday — French Uevolution. Ireland may possibly have had worse viceroys than the Marquis of Buckingham ; but scarcely one so intensely unpopular. He was parsimonious and extravagant — that is, he saved pennies, and squandered thousands of pounds ; yet did not squander them on the right persons. He talked ec^onomy and practised the most reckless profusion, vet in an underhand, indirect manner which made him no friends and many enemies. In manner he was extremely reserved, whether from pride or from a natural coldness of disposition. In short, he was in every way unsuited to the Irish temperament : for there had lately been formed gradually a marked Irish character, even amongst the Protestant colonists before the era of In- dependence, and still more notably since that time. Gentlemen born in this coun- try, and all whose interests and associa- tions were here, no longer called themselves Englishmen born in Ireland, as Swift had done. The same powerful assimilating in- fluence which had formerly made the Nor- man settlers, Geraldines and De Burghs " more Irish than the Iiish " after two or three generations, had now also acted more or less upon the verj' Cromwellians and Williamites ; and there was recognizable in the whole character and bearing even of the Protestants a certain dash of that gen- erosity, levity, impetuosity, and recklessness which have marked the Celtic race since the beginning. They were capable of the most outrageous depravity and of the high- est honor and rectitude ; of the most inso- lent, ostentatious venality and corruption, as well as of the noblest, proudest independ- ence. The formation of this modern com- posite Irish character is of course attribu- table to the gradual amalgamation of the privileged Protestant colonists with the con- FOKMATION OF AX lEIgH CnARACTER. 189 verted Irisli, who had from time to time l5onformed to the established church, to save their estates, or to possess themselves of the property of non-conforming neighbors. This was a large and increasing element in the Protestant colony ever since the time of Elizabeth; and of such families came the Cnrrans, Dalys, Doyles, Conollys, as well as the higher nam^s O'Neil, O'Brien, Burke, Roche, Fitzpatrick. The ancestors of these families, in abandoning their Catholic faith, could not let out all their Celtic blood, and that blood permeated the whole mass of the population, and often broke out and showed its origin, even in men partly of English descent, or at least of English names. Grat- tan, for example, in the character of his in- tellect and temperament, was as purely Celtic as Curran himself. In truth it had become very difficult to determine the eth- nological distinction between the inhabitants of this island ; and surnames had long ceas- ed to be a safe guide : because ever since the "Statutes of Kilkenny" in the 15th century, thousands of Irish families, espe- cially of those residing near or in the Eng- lish Pale had changed their names in obe- dience to those statutes, that they might have the benefit of the English law in their dealings with the people of the Pale. They had assumed surnames, as prescribed by the statute, either from some trade or calling, as Miller, Taylor, Smith, — or from some place, as Trim, Slane, Galway, — or from some color, as Gray, Green, White, Brown. Gradually their original clan-names were lost; and it soon became thiiir interest to keep up no tradition even of their Irish de- scent. Of one of the families in this cate- gory, undoubtedly came Oliver Goldsmith, whose intensely Irish nature is a much surer guide to his origin than the trade-surname of Goldsmith adopted under the statute. It has been said that surnames were no sure guide to origin : but in one direction surnames were, and are, nearly infallible : — a Celtic surname is a sure indication of Celtic blood, because nobody ever had any interest in assuming or retaining such a patronymic, all the interests and temptations being the other way. But an English sur- name is no indication at all of English de- scent, because for several centuries — first under the Statutes of Kilkenny, afterwards under the more grievous pressure of the Penal Code, all po'^sible worldly induce- ments were held out to Irishmen to take English names and forget their own.* From so large a mingling of the Celtic ele- ment even in the exclusive Protfstant colony had resulted the very marked Irish charac- ter which was noticed, though not with complacency, by English writers of that period : — and to this character the cold, dry, and narrow Marquis of Buckingham was altogether abhorrent. During the agitation of the regency question, he had succeedfd in creating two new offi(;es of great emolu- ment : one by the separation of the excise and revenue board, which provided a place for a Beresford ; another by appointing an additional commissioner to the Stamp-office. "About this time also," as Mr. Plowden savs maliciously, " his excellency found it neces- sary to restore to the officers in barracks their wonted allowance of firing, which in a former fit of subaltern economy he had stopped from them. This pitiful stoppage had been laid on to the great discontent of the army, and being very ungraciously re- moved the alleviation was received without gratitude." Mr. Grattan, in a debate on this administration, says: — " His great objection to the Maiquis of Buckingham, was not merely that he had been a jobber, but a jobber in a mask ! his objection was not merely, that his admin- istration had been expensive, but that his expenses were accompanied with hypociisy : it was the aff"ectation of economy, attended with a great deal of good, comfortable, sub- stantial jobbing for himself and his friends., That led to another measure of the Marquis of Buckingham, which was the least cere- monious, and the most sordid and scandahtns act of self interest, attended with the sac- rifice of all public decorum ; he meant the disposal of the reversion of the place of the chief remembrancer to his brother, one of * It wonld be a curions study to trace the history of Irish family names. For the first three centuries after the Norman invasion under Henry II., tlio movement was quite in an opposite direction : and De Burglis became Mac Williams, De Bermincrhnms Mac Feoriiis, the Fitzurses, Mac Mahons ; and Nor- man barons became chiefs of clans, forgot both French and English, rode without stirrups, and kept the upper lip unshaven. 190 niSTOr.T OF IRELAND. the bi.'st, if not the very best office in the kiiio-doin, given in reversion to an absentee, with a gre;it patronage and a compensation annexed. That most sordid and shameless act was committed exactly about the time when the kingdom was charged with great pensions for tUe bring'ing home, as it was termed, absentee employments. That bring- ing home absentee employments was a monstrous job ; the kingdom paid the value of the employment, and perhaps more; she paid the vahie of the tax also. The pension- er so paid was tlien suffered to sell both to a resident, who was free from the tax : he was then permitted to substitute new and young lives in the place of his own, and then permitted to make a new account ag.iinst the country, and to receive a further compensation, which he was suflfered in the same manner to dispose of." It was undoubtedly, in part, owing to the excessive unpopularity of this viceroy that the short remainder of his government was so little satisfactory to himself and his em- ployers in London; and that the Patriots were able to gain some trifling advantages; not indeed to such an extent as to accom- plish a single reform or abate a single abuse, but at least to shake the regular venal par- liamentary majorities and alarm the Govern- ment. As the late gloomy prospect of a change in the Irish adu)inistration had driven many gentlemen to the opposition benches, Mr. Grattan was willing to avail himself of the earliest fruits of their con- version ; accordingly, on the third of March, 1*189, he offered to the House a resolution which he thought absolutely necessary, from a transaction which had lately taken place. He thought it necessary to call the attention of the House to certain principles, which the gentlemen, with whom he had generally the honor to coincide, considered as the indispensable condition, without which no government could expect their support, and which the present G troller of the pipe, though £.53 10s. has for years been considered as an adequate com- pensation for the discharge of the duties of That office. That an addition of £ 150 per annum has also been lately granted to the barrack-master of Dublin. That the persons to whom those additional salaries have been granted, are all members of this Housed And so forth ; things which the king and Mr. Pitt, his minister, kne\V very well; which they intended ; in which they meant to persevere ; and Avhich they called governing tlie country. Of course the address to the king was negatived by a large majority : the "comptroller of the pipe" and the cus- tomer of Kinsale were not likely to vote for a measure which would deprive their little families of bread. Mr. Grattan spoke on this motion of Forbes : but perhaps the most notable passage in the debate is the short, nervous speech of Mr. O'Neil, which plainly showed that he, too, despaired of effecting anv thing in Parliament, and foresaw anoth- er kind of struggle. Mr. O'Neil said " he thought it wholly unnecessary for gentlemen on the other side to adduce a single argu- ment upon any question, while they had an omnipotent number of 140 to support them. On the subject of influence, the denial of it, he said, was ridiculous, as there was not a lady then sitting at tea in Dublin, who, if she Were told that there were 120 men in that House, composed of placemen and pension- ers, would not be able to say how the ques- tion would be decided, as well as the tellers on the division. He said the very first act in every session of Parliament, which was the bill of supply, went to raise the interest for a milHon and a half of money for minis- ters to divide amongst themselves. I do sav, and I said it propheticallv," continued he, "that the people will resist it. The mem- bers of this House bear but a small propor- tion to the pcojile at large. There are gentlemen outside these doors, of as good education and of as much judgment of the relative duties of representation, as any man within doors, and matters are evidently ripening, and will shortly come to a crisis." Mr. O'Neil was right: but he and Mr. Grattan, and others who acted with them, are never to be forgiven, that they did not help matters to come to a crisis, and did not preside over and guide that crisis when it came. The remainder of this shameful Parliament is little worthy of commemoration. Mr. Geoige Ponsonby moved a resolution against places and pensions; defeated by a large majority. Mr. Grattan, filled with the same sceva indignatio which once gnawed the heart of Swift, astonished the House by a speech calling for impeachment of ministers, concluding with this motion, "that a select committee be appointed to inquire, in the most solemn manner, whether the late or present administration have entered into any corrupt agreement with any person or per- sons, to recommend such person or persons to his majesty as fit and proper to be by him made peers of this realm, in considera- tion of such person or persons giving cer- tain sums of money to be laid out in pro- cuiing the return of members to serve in Pailiament, contrary to the rights of the people, inconsistent with the independence of Parliament, and in violation of the funda- mental laws of the land." It was defeated by the usual majority; 144 against, and 82 for the motion. A few days after, Mr. Grat- tan was provoked to utter one of his auda- cious speeches in the House. It was in one of the debates on Mr. Forbes' motion : — "Sir, I have been told it was said, that I should have been stopped, should have been expelled the Commons, should have been delivered up to the bar of tlie Lords for the expressions delivered that day. " I will repeat what I said on that day : I said that his majesty's ministers had sold the peerages, for which offence they were 198 HISTORY OF IRELAND. jmpeaoliahle. I said they had applied the money for the purpose of purchasing seats in the House of Commons for the servants or followers of the Castle, f>r which offence I said they were impeachable. I said they had done this, not in one or two, but in several instances, for^liich complication of offences I said his majesty's ministers were impeachable, as public malefactors, who had conspired against the common weal, the in- dependence of Parliament, and the funda- mental laws of the land ; and I offered, and dared them to put this matter in a cour:«e of inqniiy. I added, that I considered them as public malefactors, whom we were ready to bring to justice, I repeat these charges now, and if any thing more severe were on a former occasion expressed, I beg to be reminded of it, and I will again repeat it. "Why do you not expel me now? Why not send me to the bar of the Lords ? Where is your adviser? Going out of the House I shall repeat my sentiments, that his ma- jesty's ministers are guilty of impeachable offences; and advancing to the bar of the the Lords, I shall repeat those sentiments, or if the Tower is to be my habitation, I will there meditate the impeachment of these ministers, and return not to capitulate, but to punish. Sir, I think I know myself well enough to say, that if called forth to suffer in a public cause, I will go farther than my prosecutors, both in virtue and in danger." All similar efforts failed in the same man- ner; effecting nothing but an occasional opportunity of discharging a torrent of in- dignant invective against the solid phalanx of Castle members, equally insensible to in- vective, to sarcasm, to shame, and to con- science ; and the Parliament was prorogued on the 5th of April, 1790; the viceroy assuring tliem in his speech from the throne that " he had great pleasure in signifyino- his majesty's approbation of the zeal they had shown for tlie public interest, and the dispatch with which they had concluded the national business." Three days after the Parliament was dissolved. But although the Parliament of the "in- dependent" kingdom of Ireland was in so wofuUy corrupt a condition, yet we find that m material prosperity the country continued to advance. The population had increased very rapidly, and it is estimated, for the year 1 788, at 4,040,000, an increase of a million and a half in twenty years. This is a sure sign of general ease and abundance of the necessaries of life. The revenue was also increasing fully in proportion to the in- crease of people; and the Catholics, being now empowered to hold longer leases, and to take mortgages on money lent, had well improved their limited opportunities, and were become in all the towns an opulent and influential portion of the people. Yet the Catholics, while personally they were respect- ed, were as a body both oppressed and in- sulted. Of the four millions, they were more than three ; yet this great mass of people, the original and rightful owners of all the land, were still a proscribed race, still under the full operation of the most odious of the penal laws, excluded from Par- liament, from the franchise, from the profes- sions, from the corporations, from the juries, from the magistiacy, fiom all civil and military employment. Public ceremonials were calculated and devised with the special design to humiliate them, and remind them of the high national estate from which they had fallen ; and even in those proud days of the Volunteering, the anniversaries of their fatal defeats were regularly celebrated in Dublin by the high officers of state with all possible civic and military pomp. The author of the " Irish Abroad and at Home " tells us, from his own recollections: — "King William's birth -day (the 4th of November) was observed with great ceremony. Within m}' own recollection, and even till the period of the Union, on each 4th of November, the troops composing the garrison of Dublin marched from their respective barra(;ks to the Royal Exchange, and there turning to the right up to the Castle, and to the left to the college, lined the streets, Cork Hill, Dame Street, and College Green, on each side the way. "At the same time the lord-lieutenant would be holding a levee ; a drawing-room wound up the observances, at which the nobility, the bishops, the members of the House of Commons (the Speaker at their head), the judges, the bar, the provost, vice- provost, and fellows of Trinity College, thei lord mayor, aldermen, and other public rnENcn reyolution. — new et.ection'. 100 fuMctioiiaries were present. The levee over, the lord-lieutenant issut^d in his state-carriage find with wreat pomp from the Castle, passed down the line of streets, and round the statue of King William, and then returned to the Castle ; followed also in carriages by the great officers of state, the bishops, the Houses of Lords and Commons, and those of the gentry who had been present at the levee." But as the Catholics advanced in prosper- ity and increased in numbers, this condition of inferiority in their own native land be- came more and more intolerable to them : the complete failure of the constitutional "independence" of '82 was creating amongst the more rational Protestants a desire of uniting themselves with the powerful Cath- olic masses; a " Catholic Committee " had now been for some years in existence, con- nived at by Government, and on the whole there was a considerable ferment in the pub- lic mind at the moment when, on the 14th of July, 1789, all Europe rang and shook with the downfall of the Bastile. Within three weeks after, on the memorable 4th of August, feudality and privilege were sudden- ly struck down and swept away : in that most aristocratic of countries all men be- came suddenly equal in one night ; and the great French Revolution was in full career. CHAPTER XXV. 1790—1791. New election — New peers — Sale of peerages- ngainst Police Bill — Continual defents of — Insolenee of the Castle — Profrress of Revolution — Horror of French principles — Divisions amongst Irish Catholics — Wol — General Committee of Catholics — Tone Belfast — Establishes first United Irish Dublin United Irish Club — Parliamentary avoid them — Progress of Catholic Com Project of a Convention — Troubles in Armagh. -Motion Patriots French —Burke fe Tone goes to Club- Patriots mittee — County Notwithstanding the progress which liad been made by the people in political knowledge and spirit, stimulated by the mighty events then going forward in France, yet the influence of the Castle prevented any great change in the return of members to the new Parliament. The dissolution took place on the Slh of April, 1790, and the new Parliament was siunmont^d to moit at Dublin on the 20th of May, but before that time, was further prorogued to the 10th of July, when it met for dispatch of bnsitiess. Such of the constituencies as were really free to elect, of course took care to send to Parliament all the most piominent reform- ers. Grattan, Forbes, Curran, Ponsonbv, Lord Henry Fitzgerald, occupied tlu-ir old places on the opposition bench. We find among the new members several noted names. A certain young Major Wellesley was returned for the boiough of Trim, after- wards called to high destinies under the title of Duke of Wellington. Jonah Bar- rington was member for Tnam : he had seen the rise, and was destined to ' hronicle the Rise and Fall, of the Irish nation. Arlhur O'Connor came as member for Philipstown : his name will appear again in this narrative. Robert Stewart came as one of the members for Down County ; and had an opportunity of studying the modes of buying and selling in that great mart of votes and influences ; opportunities which he improved with the zeal of a clerk in a commercial house learn- ing his business. We shall see that he spent the season of his apprenticeship profitably. In the mean time, it is interesting to record that this gentleman sought his election, and was returned, expressly as an avowed re- former and patriot; and that on the hust- ings at Downpatrick he took the following pledge: — "That he would in and out of the House, with all his ability and influence, promote the success of a bill for amending the representation of the people; a bill for preventing pensioners from sitting in Par- liament, or such placemen as cannot sit in the British House of Commons; a bill for limiting the numbers of placemen and pen- sioners and the amount of pensions; a bill for preventing revenue-officers from voting at elections; a bill for rendering the servants of the crown in Ireland responsible for the expenditure of the public money," etc., — in short, all the measures of reform which were at that time the ostensible objects of the opposition. The purpose of convening the Parliament was to obtain a vote of credit: accordinglv the chancellor of the exchequer moved for a vote of credit for £200,000, to be ap- 200 niSTORT OF IRELAND. plied l)V the lord-lieutenant towards the expense of Government. On the 24th of the month his majesty's answer to the address of the Commons was communicated to the House, which was strongly expressive of his satisfaction at their determination to support the honor of his <-rown, and the common interest of the empire, at that important crisis : the Par- liament was then prorogued, and did not meet for the dispatch of business till the 20th of January, 1791. In the autumn, Mr. Se(;retary Hobart went over to England, as it was generally presumed, to concert the plan of the next parliamentary campaign with the British cabinet. It was also ru- mored, that the Irish government having in the widest plenitude adopted the principles and system of Lord Buckingham's adminis- tration, the right honorable secretary had also much consultation with that nobleman. Lord Westmoreland in the mean time was not inattentive to the means of acquiring popularity, the want of which in his pre- decessor he felt very strongly operating upon his own government. In a country excur- sion for nearly nine months he visited most of the nobility through the kingdom : his excellency and his lady on all solemn occa- Mons appeared clad in Irish manufactures : just as in our own day an ameliorative vice- roy has sometimes condescended to wear a " poplin waistcoat." We are even told that Lord Westmoreland further increased his popularity by giving permission to represent "The Beggar's Opera," which was then a favorite of the Dublin people, but the rep- jes'intation of which had been prohibited in Lord Buckingham's time. The business of this session differed very little from that of the last before the dissolu- tion. The Patriots appeared rather to have lost, than acquired, strength by the new elec- tion. Their number did not at any time during the course of this session exceed fourscore. But their resolution to press all the questions which they had brought for- ward in the last Pailiament, appeared more violently determined than ever; insomuch, that Mr. George Ponsonby in replying to Mr. Cook, assured him, that the hope he had expressed of gentlemen on his side of the Ilouse not bringing forward those meas- ures, which they had done for some ses- sions past, was a lost hope, for that nothing but the hand of death or success should ever induce them to give up their pursuit. Ac- cordingly Mr. Ponsonby, on the 3d of February, moved as usual for a select com- mittee to inquire into the pension list. It was got rid of by a motion for adjourn meut. Then Mr. Grattan, supported by Mr. Currai;, renewed the charge upon its practice of selling peerages : it was rejected by 135 against 85. Mr. Curran then moved the following res- olution, in which he was seconded by Mr. Grattan, viz. : "That a committee be ap- pointed, consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament, who do not hold any employment or enjoy any pension under the crown, to inquire in the most solemn manner, whether the \i^e or present ad- ministration have, directly or indirectly, entered into any corrupt agreement with any person or persons, to recommend such person or persons to his majesty for the purpose of being created peers of this king- dom, in consideration of their paying certain sums of money, to be laid out in the pur- chase of seats for members to serve in Par- liament, contrary to the rights of the people, inconsistent with the independence of Par- liament, and in direct violation of the funda- mental laws of the land." Tlie ministerial members on all these oc- casions loudly complained of the reiteration of the old charges even without new argu- ments to support them ; they strongly in- sisted that no particular facts were alleged, much less proved ; and that general frime, surmise, and assertion, were no grounds for parliamentary impeachments, or any other solemn proceedings in that House. Mr. Grattan, before answering the objections advanced against the motion, atlverted to the geneial dull and empty declamation uttered by the advocates of a corrupt gov- ernment against the defenders of an injured people. Four times, had those advocates told them, they had brought this grievance forth, as if grievances were only to be matter of public debate when they were matters of novelty ; or as if grievances were trading questions tor a party or a person to press, to sell, and PROGRESS OF THE FREXOH RKVOLUTION. 201 to abandon ; or as if they caine thither to act farces to please the appetite of the pub- lic, and did not sit tliere to persevere in the redress of grievances, pledged as they were, and covenanted to tlie people on these im- portant subjects. Under these continual defeats of every generous effort to abate a single evil or in- justice, it seems to have been some satisfac- tion to the members of the opposition to in- dulge at least in violent philippics. Mr. Grattan, for instance, in making a renewed effort against the unconstitutional police system : — Ministers had, he said, resorted to a place army and a pensioned magistracy: the one was to give boldness to corruption in Parliament, and tlie other to give the minister's influence patronage in the city. Their means were, this police establishment: the plan they did not entirely frame : they found it. A bill had shown its face in the British House of Commons for a moment, and had been turned out of the doors im- mediately : a scavenger would have found it in the streets of London : the groping hands of the Irish ministry picked it up, and made it the law of the land. The motion against the police was nega- tived by what Mr. Grattan called the dead majority. Next the opposition tried an- other favorite measure — to prevent place- men and pensioners from having seats in Parliament; in other words, that the "dead niHJority" should be turned out-of-doors and deprived of their daily bread. This meas- ure was supported as usual by Mr. Forbes, and of course by the same arguments: there was nothing new to say : there was the evil visible before them ; or rather the 104 evils, each with its bribe in its pocket, wrung from the earnings of those people whose legislature they poisoned. But the Castle members were utterly disgusted with these threadbare topics ; they called for something new ; and so Mr. Mason had the cool audacity to say, that having opposed this bill every session for thirty years, he ■would not weary the House with fresh argu- ments against it: his decided opinion wa'^, that the influence of the crown was barely suflicient to preserve the constitution, and to prevent it from degenerating into the worst of all possible governments, a democracy. Indeed, the terror of this dernocracv, and the manifest peril to oligarchical government both in England and in Ireland, arisijig from the thundering French revolution and its reverberations through many millions of hearts in the two islands — these were the considerations that rendered the supporters of Government more sternly resolute to maintain every part of their system as it stood. Reformers of any abuse began about this time to be called "Jacobins," and tli-e " Mountain ;" and it was intended for tbe most ribald abuse, to charge a person with advocating the Rights of Man. Equally violent and equally unsuccessful were the four remaining attacks made by the gentlemen of the opposition : viz., Mr. Grattan's motion for the encouragement of the reclaiming of barren land ; on the first reading of the pension bill ; the second reading of the responsibility bill ; and Mr. George Ponsonby's motion respecting fiats for levying unassessed damages upon the parties' affidavits of their own imaginary losses. We must now turn away for a time from these eloquent futilities in Parliament. It is difficult now to analyze the strong politi- cal passion which seized upon all the public, as the mighty drama of French Revolution swept upon its way. The year 1791 stimu- lated that passion to the greatest height. The great theatrical performance of the federation of all mankind in the Champ de Mars, had taken place on the 14th of July of the last year, when the King of France had sworn to maintain the constitution. The church lands had been sold for the use of the public : Mirabeau, the great tribune, was dead, and the last hope of conciliation between the people and the crown, died with him. Then the great coalition of Eu- rope against France was formed ; and the king attempted his flight beyond the Rhine. Every thing betokened both war and invasion coming from abroad, and the approaching triumph at home of the Jacobin Republi- cans, with the usual violence and slaughter which attend such immense changes. It was impossible to look on at these things unmoved. Two fierce parties were at once formed in Ireland, the one Republican, the other anti-Gallican. 202 HISTORY OF IRELAND. The sympathy which several of the firmed corps and other public bodies exult- ingly expressed with the assertors of civil freeiiora in those countries, was obnoxious to Government, and it became the system of the Cistle to affix a marked stigma upon everv person who countenanced or spoke in favor of any measure that bore the sem- blance of reform or revolution. Even the ardor for commemorating the era of 1688, was attempted to be damped; the word liberty always carried with it suspicion, often reprobation. In proportion to the progress of the French revolution to those scenes, which at la^t outraged humanity, were some eftbrts in favor of the most con- st;itutional liberty resisted in Parliament, as attempts to introduce a system of French equality. Such was the general panic, such the real or assumed execration of every thing that had a tendency to democracy, that comparatively few of the higher oiders through the kingdom retained, or avowed, those general Whig principles, which two years before that man was not deemed loyal, who did not profess. Mr. Burke by his book on the French revolution, published in the year 1790, had worked a great change in the public mind, and the few in the upper walks of life, who did not become his proselytes, merely retaining their former principles, were astonished to find their ranks thinned and their standard fallen. The Catholics also could not possibly re- main insensible to the great events of the time : but the effect produced upon them was a strangely complex kind. As a griev- ously oppressed race they could not but sympathize with the oppressed peasantry and middle classes of France as they struck off link after link of the feudal chain: but on the other hand the Irish Catholics, not like the French, had remained deeply attached to their religion, the only consolation they had : and the French "Civil Constitution" for the clergy, and sale of church lands, were represented to them as anti-religious, and dangerous to faith and morals. Pub- lications were circulated upon the conserv- ative tendencies of the Catholic religion * to * One of the most noted of these publications was one culled " The Case Stated," by Mr. riowdeu. render its followers loval, peaceable, and duti- ful subjects. Pastoral instructions were pub- lished by the Catholic bishops in their re- spective dioceses, in favor of loyal subordina- tion and against "French principles." On the other hand, the trading Catholics in the towns, and such of the country population as were readers of books, were very generally indoctrinated with sentiments of extreme liberalism. It was not to be expected, they thought, that they could be " loyal " to a Government which they knew only by its oppressions and its insults: it was not likely that they would be indignant against the French for abolishing tithes, nor for selling out in small farms the vast domains of the emigrant nobles. On the whole therefore a very lai'ge proportion of the Catholics look- ed to the proceedings of the French with admiration and with hope. As for the Irish Dissenters, who were much more numerous than the Protestants of the established church, they were GalUcan and republican to a man. Considering that the only real enemy of Ireland, both then and ever since, was the English Government, it was very unfortunate that the divisions among.-t the Catholics themselves, and the hereditary estrangement and aversion between them and the Presby- terians, made it next to impossible to create a united Irish nation, with one sole bond, and one single aim, the destruction of British government in this island. This, however, was precisely the great task undertaken by Theobald Wolfe Tone, a young Protestant lawyer of Dublin; of English descent by both the father's side and the mother's, a graduate of Trinity College, and who at the time when he first flung himself into the grand revolutionary scheme of associating the Catholics to the body of the nation, was not personally a<'quaintcd with a single in- dividual of that creed. It is needless to say that Tone had been a democrat from tho very commencement — that is from the com- mencement of the French revolution. In his narrative of his own life, Tone has given so clear an account of the dissensions which broke up the Catholic Committee, the cir- cnmstances which led to his own alliance with the Catholic body, and the first forma- tion of the clubs of '' United Iiishmeu," that CATHOLIC GENERAL COIIMITTEE. 203 it m;iy here be presented in his own words, in a slio-litly abridged form : — " The General Committee of the Catholics, which, since the year 1792, has made a dis- ting-uished feature in the politics of Ireland, was a body composed of their bishops, their country gentlemen, and of a certain number of merchants and traders, all resident in Dublin, but named by the Catholics in the different towns corporate to represent them. The original object of this institution was to obtain the repeal of a partial and oppressive tax called quarterage, which was levied on the Catholics only, and the Government, which found the committee at first a con- venient instrument on some occasions, con- nived at its existence. So degraded was the Catholic mind at the period of the formation of their committee, about 1770, and long after, that they were happy to be allowed to go up to the Castle with an abominable slavish address to each succes- sive viceroy, of which, moreover, until the accession of the Duke of Portland, in 1782, so little notice was taken that his grace was the first who condescended to give them an answer; and, indeed, for above twenty years, the sole business of the General Committee was to prepare and deliver in those records of their depression. The etlbrt which an honest indignation had called forth at the time of the Volunteer Convention, in 1783, seemed to have exhausted tlieir strength, and they sunk back into their primitive nullity. Under this appearance of apathy, however, a new spirit was giadually arising in the body, owing, principally, to the exer- tions and the example of one man, John Keogh, to whose services his country, and more especially the Catholics, are singulaily indebted. In fact, the downfall of feudal tvrannv was acted in little on the theatre of the General Committee. The influence of their clergy and of their barons was gradually undermined, and the third estate, the commercial interest, rising in wealth and power, was preparing, by degrees to throw otf the yoke, in the imposing, oi', at least, the continuing of which the leaders of the body, I mean the prelates and aristoc- racy, to their disgrace be it spoken, were ready to concur. Alreaily had those leaders, actinor in obedience to the orders of the Government which held them in fetters, suffered one or two signal defeats in the committee, owing principally to the talents and address of John Keogh ; the parties began to be defined, and a sturdy democracy of new men, with bolder views and stronger talents, soon superseded the timid counsels and slavish measures of the ancient aristoc- racy. Every thing seemed tending to a better order of things among the Catholics and an occasion soon offered to call the energy of their new leaders into action. "The Dissenters of the North, and more especially of the town of Belfast, are from the genius of their religion and from the superior diffusion of political information among them, sincere and enlightened Re- publicans. They had ever been foremost in the pursuit of parliamentary reform, and I have already mentioned the early wisdom and virtue of the town of Belfast, in pro- posing the emancipation of the Cathohcs so far back as the year 1783. "The Catholics, on their part, were rapid- ly advancing in political spirit and informa- tion. Every month, every day, as the rev- olution in France went prosperously forward, added to their courage and their force, and the hour seemed at last arrived, when, after a dreary oppression of about one hundred years, they were once more to appear on the political theatre of their country. They saw the brilliant prospect of success which events in France opened to their view, and they de- termined to avail themselves with prompti- tude of that opportunity, which never re- turns to those who omit it. For this, the active members of the General Committee resolved to set on foot an immediate appli- cation to Parliament, praying for a repeal of the penal laws. The first diflSculty they had to surmount, arose in their own body ; their peers, their gentry (as they affected to call themselves), and their prelates, either seduced or intimidated by Government, gave the measure all possible opposition ; and, at length, after a long contest, in which both parties strained every nerve, and produced the whole of their strength, the question was decided on a division in the committee,, by a majority of at least six to one, in favor of the intended application. The triumph of the young democracy was complete; 204 HISTORY OF IRELAND. but, lliuiioli the aristocracy was defeated, it was not yet entirely broken down. By the insligHtiraughall, whose goodness of heart is equal to his courage, and no man is braver, began by abusing the postillion for his treachery and ended by giving him half a crown. 1 wanted to break the rascal's bones, but ho would not suffer me, and this was the end of our adventure. " All parties were now fully employed preparing for the ensuing session of Par- liament. The Government, through the organ of the corporations and grand juries, opened a heavy fire upon us of manifestoes and resolutions. At first we were like yoiSng soldiers, a little stunned with the noise, but after a few rounds we began to look about us, and seeing nobody drop with all this furious cannonade, we took courage and determined to return the fire. In con- sequence, wherever there was a meeting of the Protestant Ascendency, which was the title assumed by th;it party (and a very impudent one it was), we took care it should be followed by a meeting of the Catholics, who spoke as loud, and louder than their adversaries, and, as we had the riiiht clearly on our side, we found no great difficulty in silencing the enemy on this quarter. The Catholics likewise took care, at the same time that they branded their enemies, to mark their gratitude to their friends, who were daily increasing, and es- pecially to the people of Belfast, between whom and the Catholics the union was now completely established. Among the various attacks made on us this summer, the most remarkable for their virulence, were those of the grand jury of Louth, headed by the Speaker of the House of Commons; of Limerick, at which the Lord Chancellor assisted ; and of the corporation of the city of Dublin ; which last published a most furious manife>to, threatening us, in so many words with a resistance by force. In con- sequence, a meeting was held of the Cath- olics of Dublin at large, which was attended by several thousands, where the manifesto of the corporation was read and most ably commented upon by John Keogh, Dr. Ryan, Dr. McNeven, and several others, and a counter-manifesto being proposed, which was written by my friend Emmet, and in- comparably well done, it was carried unan- 210 HISTORY OF IRELAND. iiiiously, and published in all the papers, together with the speeches above mention- ed ; and both speeches and the manifesto bad such an infinite superiority over those of the corporation, which were also publish- ed and diligently circulated by the Govern- ment, that it put an end, effectually, to this warfare of resolutions. "The people of Belfast were not idle on their part ; they spared neither pains nor expense to propagate the new doctrine of the union of Irishmen, through the whole North of Ireland, and they had the satisfac- tion to see their proselytes rapidly extend- ing in all directions. In order more eft'ec- tually to spread their principles, twelve of the most active and intelliofent amonjr them subscribed i2250 each, in order to set on foot a paper, whose object should be to give a fair statement of all that passed in France, whither every one turned their eyes ; to in- culcate the necessity of union amongst Irishmen of all religious persuasions; to support the emancipation of the Catholics; and, finally, as the necessary, though not avowed, consequence of all this, to erect Ireland into a republic, independent of Eng- land. This paper, which they called, very appositely, the Northern Star, was conduct- ed by my friend Samuel Neilson, who was unanimously chosen editor, and it could not be delivered into abler hands. It is, in truth, a most incomparable paper, and it rose, instantly, on its appearance, with a most rapid and extensive sale. The Cath- olics everywhere through Ireland (I mean the leading Catholics) were, of course, sub- scribers, and the Northern Star was one great means of effectually accomplishing the union of the two great sects, by the simple process of making their mutual sentiments better known to each other. "It was determined by the people of Bel- fast to commemorate this year the anniver- sary of the taking of the Bastile with great ceremony. For this purpose they planned a review of the Volunteers of the town and neighborhood, to be followed by a grand })rocession, with emblematical devices, etc. They also determined to avail themselves of this opportunity to bring forward the Cath- olic question m force, and, in consequence, they resolved to publish two addresses, one to the people of France, and one to the peo- ple of Ireland. They gave instructions to Dr. Brennau to prepare the former, and the latter fell to my lot. Breunan executed his task admirably, and I made my address, for my part, as good as I knew how. We were invited to assist at the ceremonv, and a great number of the leading members of the Cath- olic Committee determined to avail them- selves of this opportunity to show their zeal for the success of the cause of liberty in France, as well as their respect and grati- tude to their friends in Belfast. In conse- quence, a grand assembly took place on the 14th of July. After the review, the Volun- teers and inhabitants, to the number of about 6,000, assembled in the Linen-Hall, and voted the address to the French people unanimously. The address to the people of Ireland followed, and, as it was directly and unequivocally in favor of the Catholic claims, we expected some opposition, but we were soon relieved from our anxiety, for the address passed, I may say, unanimously : a few ventured to oppose it indirectly, but their arguments were exposed and overset by the friends to Catholic emancipation, amongst the foremost of whom we had the pleasure to see several Dissenting clergymen of great popularity in that county." It will be seen that on the whole some progress was already made, and much more was soon to be expected in harmonizing the Catholics and Dissenters, at least in the towns. A harder task revnained — to make peace between them in the country. In the County Armagh, Peep-of-Day Boys were growing more ferocious, and of course, the Defenders more strongly organized for resist- ance. As before, the country gentlemen of that county, as ignorant and savage a race of squires as any in Ireland, took part with the aggressors. At an assizes, in 1791, the grand jury passed a resolution declaring that there had sprung up among the Papists "-a passion for arming themselves, contrary ti> law " — and that this was matter of serious alarm, etc. As the tisual pretext of the visits of the Protestant Boys, " Wreckers,'' and other such banditti was to search for arms, such a resolution of the grand jury was neither more nor less than an invitation to continue such visits, and an assurance of PKINCrrLES OF THE UNITED IRISHMEN'. 211 protection to tlie " Wreckers." These troub- les had now extended considerably into Tyrone, Down, and Monaghan Counties : 'and it stirs indignation even at this day to think of so many wretched families always kept in wakeful terror; lying down in fear and rising up with a heavy heart, or perhaps flying to the desolate mountains by the light of their own burning cabins. CHAPTER XXVI. 1791—1792. Principles of United Irisli Society — Test — Addresses — Meeting of Parliaiiient — Ciitholic relief — Trifling meiisiire of that kind — Petition of the Catholics — Rejected — Steady majority of two-thirds for the Castle — Place!) olding members — Violent agitation upon the Catiiolic claims — Questions put to Catho- lic Dniversities of the Continent — Their answers — Opposition to project of Convention — Catholic question in the Whig Club — Catholic Convention in Dublin — National Guard. The first clubs of "United Irishmen" were perfectly legal and constitutional in their structure, in their action, and in their aims ; and so continued until the new or- ganization was adopted in 1795. They con- sisted, both in Belfast and in Dublin, of Protestants chiefly, though many eminent Catholics joined them from the first. The first sentence of the constitution of the first club, at Belfast, is in these plain and moder- ate words. " 1st. This society is constituted for the purpose of forwarding a brotherhood of affection, a communion of rights, and a union of power among Irishmen of every religious persuasion, and thereby to obtain a complete reform in the legislature, founded on the principles of civil, political, and reli- gious liberty." Recollecting the hopeless character of the Iiish Parliament of that day, one can scarcely pretend that it did not need " re- form ;" and as it most certainly would never reform itself, unless acted upon strongly by an external pressure, the idea seems to have been reasonable to endeavor to procure a union of power amongst Irishmen of every religious persuasion for that end. It was too clear also that a Parliament so constituted never would emancipate the Catholics — that is, never would tolerate a *' brotherhood of affection" or a " communion of rights." It was therefore extremely natural for patriotic Protestants, who felt that Ireland was their country, and no longer a colony but a nation, to take some means of assuring their fellow countrymen, the Catholics, that they at least did not wish to perpetuate the degradation and exclusion of three millions of Irishmen ; and thereupon to concert with them some common action for getting rid of this incu- rable oligarchy, which was the common enemy of them all. This was the whole meaning and purpose of the society for more than three years ; and its means and agencies were as fair, open, and ratioufd as its objects. Addresses, namely, to the people of Ireland, and sometimes to Reform clubs in England and in Scotland ; articles in the newspapers, particularly in the Northern Star; and the promotion of an enlarged personal intercourse between the two sects who had hved in such deadly estrangement for two centuries. When they met one another face to face, worked together in clubs and meetings, visited one another's houses, fondled one another's children, there could not but grow up somewhat of that feeling of "Brotherhood" which is the first word of their constitution, the very cardinal principle of their society. But this " Brotherhood" — what was it but the French fraternite! And their "Civil, political, and religious liberty " was a phrase which to the ear of Government sounded of egalite and the Champ-de-Mars. The whole of the programme given above, which looks to day so just and sensible, was then felt to be reeking all over with "French principles." The Government therefore kept an eye steadily on these societies, as will soon ap- pear in the sequel. The Dublin club, which was formed in November of the same year, 1Y91, adopted the same declaration of principles, or consti- tution; but added a "test," which wa^ nothing but a solemn engagement to be taken by each new member — "that he would persevere in endeavoring to form :i brotherhood of affection amongst Irishmen of every religious persuasion," etc., and "that he would never inform on or give evidence against any member of this or similar societies for any act or expression of theirs done or made collectively or indi- 212 HISTORY OF IRELAND. vidually, in or out of this society, in pur- suance of the spirit of this obligation," — in other words, that if brotlierhood amongst Irishmen, and the claim of civil and religious liberty should be made a crime by lavv (as it was but too likely) he would not inform upon his comrades for their complicity in those crimes. From this time active correspondence was carried on. A strong address, written by Dr. Drennan, was sent by the Society of United Irishmen in Dublin to the delegates for promoting a reform in Scotland, in which this sentence occurs — one of many similar suggestions which were undoubtedly in- tended to lead the way to something more and better than a reform in Parliament. *' If Government has a sincere regard for the safety of the constitution, let them coin- cide with the people in the speedy reform of its abuses, and not, by an obstinate ad- herence to them, drive that people into Eepublicanism.'" There was another ad- dress from the same body, to "the Volun- teers of Ireland" (for the wreck of that organization still existed in some places), adopted at a meeting of which Drennan was chairman, and Archibald Hamilton llovvan, secretary, and containing still strong- er expressions. This document became in 1794 the subject of a prosecutiou for se- ditious libel against Rowan the secretary, who was convicted by a carefully packed jury of his enemies, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a fine of five hun- dred pounds. In the mean time, parliamentary proceed- ings were going forward, much in their usual way. A session opened on the 19th of January, 1792 ; but it is impossible now to take much interest in following the futile efi'orts of the opposition. Mr. Grattan, who carefully avoided the United Irishmen, could still at least abuse the Government in terms of eloquent scurrility, and did not fail to do so, in moving an amendment to the address: — "By this trade of Parliament the king was absolute : his will was signified by both Houses of Parliament, who were then as much an instrument in his hand as a bayonet in the hands of a regiment. Like a regiment they had their adjutant, who sent 10 the infirmary for the old, and to the brothel for the young; and men thus carted as it were into that House to vote for the minister, were called the representatives of the people," The country, as well as the ministers had heard all this abuse before, and had begun altnost to regard it as a discharge of blank cartridge. Yet the session is in some meas- ure notable for a trifling Catholic Relief measure, introduced by Sir Hercules Lang- rishe, and rather unexpectedly supported by the Government. In fact it was evident to the English Government that the Catholics were becoming a real element for good or for evil in this Irish nation : they had re- fused to be extirpated ; refused to be brutal- ized by ignorance, for they would fly to the ends of the earth for education ; they had so well profited also by the petty and grudg- ing relaxations already granted them, that a large proportion of them were rich and in- fluential ; they were, in short, a power to be conciliated if that could be cheaply done, and so detached from " French principles" and made grateful to the Government. It is not, therefore, surprising to find Mr. Secre- tary Hobart (of course by orders from Eng- land) seconding the motion of Langrishe for leave to bring in this bill. Sir Hercules thus defines the objects of his bill for the Catholics : — 1st. He would give them the practice and profession of the law, as a reasonable pro- vision, and application of their talents to their own country. 2dly. He would restore to them education, entire aud unrestrained, because a state of ignorance was a state of barbarity. That would be accomplished by taking off" the ne- cessity for a license, as enjoined by the act of 1782. 3dly. He would draw closer the bonds of intercourse and affection, by allowing inter- marriage, repealing that cruel statute which served to betray female credulity, and bas- tardize the children of a virtuous mother. 4!hly. He would remove those obstruc- tions to arts and manufactures, that limited the number of apprentices, which were so necessary to assist and promote trade. He then moved, " That leave be given to bring in a bill for removing certain restraints and disabilities under which his majesty's Roman TRIFLING MEASURE OF CATHOLIC RELIEF. 213 Csitholic subjects labor, from statutes at present in force." This bill was prepared and concerted by Us author in concert with Edmund Burke ; and was perhaps as liberal in its provisions as any bill which could at that moment be presented with any chance of success : yet, meagre as it was, it called forth a storm of bigoted and brutal opposition. The General Committee of the Catholics — Edward Byrne, Esq. in the chair — held a meeting and passed some resolutions, which it is some- what humiliating to read, but which were certainly politic in the circumstances. Here is the document : — "Dublin, February Uh, 1793. "General Committee of Roman Catho- lics. Edward Btrne, Esq, in the Chair. ^''Resolved, That this committee has been informed, that reports have been circulated, that the application of the Catholics for re- lief, extends to unlimited arid total emanci- pation ; and that attempts have been made, wickedly and falsely, to instil into the minds of the Protestants of this kingdom an opin- ion, that our applications were preferred in a tone of menace.^ " Resolved, That several Protestant gen- tlemen have expressed great satisfaction on being individually informed of the real ex- tent and respectful manner of the applica- tions for relief; have assured us, that nothing could have excited jealousy, or apparent op- position to us, from our Protestant country- men, but the above-mentioned misapprehen- sions. " Resolved, That we therefore deem it ne- cessary to declare, that the whole of our late applications, whether to his majesty's ministers, to men in power, or to private members of the legislature, as well as our intended petition, neither did, nor does con- lain any thing, or extend further, either in substance or in principle, than the four fol- lowing objects : " 1st. Admission to the profession and practice of the law. " 2d. Capacity to serve in county magis- tracies. " 3d. A right to be summoned, and to serve on grand and petty juries. " 4th. The ri"ht of voting in counties only for Protestant members of Parliament ; in such a manner, however, as that a Roman Catholic freeholder should not vote, unless he either rented and cultivated a farm of twenty pounds per annum, in addition to his forty shillings freehold ; or else possessed a freehold to the amount of twenty pounds a year." That is to say, the Catholic Committee found itself obliged earnestly to disavow the sacrilegious thought of being allowed to vote on the same qualification as the Piotes- tant forty-shilling freeholders ; disclaimed with horror the idea of voting for Catholic members of Parliament ; and publicly de- clared to Parliament and to all mankind that they did not presume to aspire to " total emancipation." But humble and scanty as their claim was, it was more than the Langrishe bill proposed to grant them. There was no provision in it for admitting them to the elective franchise upon any terms whatever. The comnjiltee prepared a petition, which was signed by some of the most respectable mercantile men of Dublin, and while the bill was in progress, the peti- tion was presented by Mr. Egan. This gave rise to a conversation on the following Mon- day (20th February). On that day Mr. David La Touche moved, that the petition of the Roman Catholic committee, presented to the House on the preceding Saturday, should be read by the clerk : it was read, and he then moved, that it should be re- jected. The motion was seconded by Mr. Ogle, The greater part of the House was very violent for the rejection of the petition. Some few, who were against the prayer of the petition, objected to the harsh measure of rejection. Several of the opposition members supported Mr. La Touche's motion. Even Mr. G. Ponsonby, on this occasion voted against his friend Mr. Grattan. The solicitor-general attempted to soften the re- fusal to the Catholics by moving, that the prayer of the petition, as far as it related to a participation of the elective franchise should not then be complied with. The jittorney-geneial and some other stanch supporters of Government, had spoken simi- lar language; that they hoped quickly to see all relio-ious distinctions and restrictions 214 HISTORY OF IRELAND. done away, but that the fulness of time was not yet come. Mr. Forbes, the Hon. F. Hutchinson, Colonel (nowLoid) Hutchinson, Mr. Smith, Mr. Haidy, and Mr. Grattan spoke strongly against the motion and in favor of admitting the Catholics to a share in the elective franchise. Much virulent abuse Was heaped upon that part of the body of llomau Catholics which was sup- posed to be represented by the Catholic Committee. At a very late hour the House divided, 208 for rejecting the petition, and 23 only against it. Then Mr, La Touche moved, that the petition from the society of the United Irishmen of Belfast, should be also rejected : and the question being put was carried with two or three negatives. The bill itself passed quietly through the committee; and on the third reading. Sir Hercules Langrishe congratulated the coun- try on the growth of the spirit of liberality. The growth was slow, and the liberality was rather narrow : nor would this measure deserve mention — as it was soon superseded by a much larger one — but to show the very humble and unpretending position taken by the only body then representing the Cath- olics. It must be remembered, too, that war in Europe was by this time imminent and certain ; and though England had not yet formally joined the coalition against France, that event was becoming daily more inevitable ; and the Government was very desirous, as usual in such moments of danger, to send a message of peace to Ireland, and to show the three millions of Catholics that their real friends were, not those "fraternal" United Irishmen, but Mr. Pitt and the Earl of Westmoreland. Upon all other questions, the state of parties in Parliament continued nearly the same that it had been for many years; that is, the Castle was always certain of more than a two-thirds majority. Mr. G. Pon- sonby, after an elaborate argument, moved for leave to bring in a bill repealing every law which prohibited a trade from Ireland with the countries lying eastward of the Cape of Good Hope ; which was lost by 156 votes against 70. On the same dav, Mr. Forbes, faithful to his special mission, brouglit forward his regular Place and Pen- sion bills : they were both put off to a distant day, without a division, though not without some debate. Indeed these attacks on the places and pensions were now mora intolerable to the Government and its sup- porters than ever before; and they were louder than ever in their reprobation of such Jacobin movements, as a manifest attempt to diminish the royal prerogative and bring in French principles. A singular motion was made this session, which merits notice as an illustration of tho shameless and desperate corruption of the times. Mr. Browne moved to bring in a bill to repeal an act of the last session touch- ing the "weighing of butter, hides, and tallow" in the city of Cork, and the ap- pointment of a weighmaster in that city. This office had long been in the gift of the corporation of the city, and the corporation had always found one weighmaster more than enough : but the Government, in pur- suance, said Mr. Browne, of their settled policy of " creating influence," had taken the appointment, split it into three parts, and bestowed it on three rnembers of Par- liament. Mr. Grattan seconded the motion. It was opposed by the chancellor of the exchequer on the express ground that it was an " insult to the crown," and therefore a manifest piece of French democracy and infidelity, intended to overthrow the throne and the altar. There was a sharp debate, in which Patriots said many cutting things; and at half-past two in the morning the motion was negatived without a division. Is it wonderful that the minds of honest people were now altogether turned away from such a Parliament ? It was prorogued on the 18th of April. The Speaker, in his address to the viceroy, speaks of one gratify- ing fact, "the extension of trade, agriculture, and manufactures, which has with a rapid and uninteriupted progress raised this king- dom to a state of prosperity and wealth never before experienced in it." But at the same time he let his excellency know, that this prosperity " would soon cease " if they did not carefully cherish the blessed consti- tution in church and state. "Its preserva- tion, therefore," he continued, " must ever be the great object of their care, and there is no principle on which it is founded so essential to its preservation, nor more justly AGITATIOX UPON THK CATHOLIC CLAIMS. 215 dear to their patriotic and loyal feelings, than that which has settled the throne of these realms on his majesty's illustrious lioiuse ; on it, and on the provisions for securing a Frotestant Parliament, depends the Protestant Ascendency, and with it the continuance of the many blessings we now enjoy." It appears from the studied allusions to the Protestant Ascendency, which in the speech of the Speaker were evidently aimed against the petition of the Catholics for a participation in the elective franchise, that Mr. Foster wished to raise a strong and general opposition to that measure through- out the country : but the speech of the lord- lieutenant imported, that the Government, moved by the impulse of the British coun- cils, was disposed rather to extend than contract the indulgences to the Roman Catholics. His majesty approved of their wis«iom in the liberal indulgences that had been granted, but suggested no apprehen- sions of danger to the Protestant interest, which had been almost a matter of course in all viceregal speeches, to the great com- fort of the "Ascendency." This year was a season of most vehement agitation and discussion upon the Catholic claims. That body, was, of course, greatly dissatisfied with the miserable measure of relief granted by the shabby bill of Sir Her- cules Langrishe. Mr. Simon Butler, chair- man of the Dublin society of United Irish- men, published, by order of that society, a •• Digest of the Popery Laws," bringing into one view the whole body of penalties and disabilities to which Catholics still remaTned subject after all the small and nibbling at- tempts or pretences of relief. The pamphlet thus truly sums up the actual condition of the Catholics at that moment, after Sir Her- cules Langrishe's Act : — '■ Such is the situation of three millions of good and faithful subjects in their native land ! Excluded from every trust, power, or emolument of the state, civil or mili- tary; excluded from all the benefits of the constiiution in all its parts; excluded from all cur[)orate rights and immunities; ex- pelled from grand juries, restrained in petit juries; excluded fiom every direction, from eveiy trust, from every incorporated society, from every establishment, occasional or fix.-d, instituted for public defence, public police, public morals, or public convenience; firm the bench, from the bank, from the ex- change, from the university, from the c(j1- lege of physicians : from what are tliev not excluded? There is no institution which the wit of man has invented or the progress of society produced, which private charity or public munificence has founded for the advancement of education, learning, and good arts, for the permanent relief of age, infirmity, or misfortune, from the super- intendence of which, and in all cases where common charity would permit, from the en- joyment of which the legislature has not taken care to exclude the Catholics of Ire- land. Such is the state which the corpora- tion of Dublin have thought proper to assert, 'differs in no respect from that of the Protestants, save only in the exercise of po- litical power;' and the host of grand juries consider 'as essential to the existence of the constitution, to the permanency of the con- nection with England, and the continuation of the throne in his majesty's royal house.' A greater libel on the constitution, the con- nection, or the succession, could not be pro- nounced, nor one more pregnant with dan- gerotrs and destructive consequences, than this, which asserts, that they are only to be maintained and continued by the slavery and oppression of three millions of good and loyal subjects." At the same time the General Committee prepared a " Declaration," of Catholic tenet* on certain points with regard to which peo- ple of that creed had long been wantonly belied : such as keeping of faith with her- etics ; the alleged pretension of the Pope to absolve subjects from their allegiance ; of clergymen to dispense them from oaths, and the like. All these alleged doctrines the Declaration indignantly and contemptuous- ly denied; and it was signed universally throughout Ireland by clergy and laity. To the Declaration was added a republication of the well-known "Answers of six Cath- olic Universities abroad to the queries which ; had been propounded to them, at the re- ! quest of Mr. Pitt, thiee years before, on be- half of the English Catholics." The uni- versities Were tliose of Paris, Louva'n, A^cala. 216 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Douay, Salainanca, and Valladolid. The queries and the answers form a higlily im- portant ilocument for the history of the time. We give the queries in full, and an extract or two from the answers — onlv pre- mising that Mr. Pitt sought lliese dechira- tions, not to satisfy Uis own mind, because he was too well informed to need this, but only to stop the mouths of benighted country g-entlemen and greedy Ascendency politicians, who would be sure to bawl out against the concessions to Catholics which he in that })enlous time and for political reasons was determined to grant. THE QUERIES. 1. Has the Pope, or cardinals, or any body of men, or any individual of the Church of Rome, any civil authority, power, jurisdic- tion, or pre-eminence whatsoever, within the realm of England ? 2. Can the Pope or cardinals, or any body of men, or any individual of the Church of Rome, absolve or dispense his majesty's subjects, from their oath of alle- giance, upon any pretext whatsoever. 3. Is there any principle in the tenets of the Catholic faith, by which Catholics ate justified in not keeping faith with heretics, or other persons difi'ering from them in religious opinions, in any transaction, either of a public or a private nature ? And the six universities responded unani- mously and simultaneously in the negative upon all the three points. The answers are all exceedingly distinct and categorical. That of the university of Alcala, in Spain, may serve as a specimen : — " To the first question it is answered — That none of the persons mentioned in the proposed question, either individually, or col- lectively in council assembled, have any light in civil matters; but that all civil power, jurisdiction, and pre-eminence are de- rived from inheritance, election, the consent of the people, and other such titles of that liature. •'To the second it is answered, in like man- ner—That none of the persons above-men- tioned have a power to absolve the subjects of his Britannic majesty from their oaths of allegiauco. "To the third question it is answered — That I he doctrine which would exempt Catholics from the obligation of keeping faith with heretics, or with any other peisons who dis- sent from them in matters of religion, in- stead of being an article of Catholic faith, is entiiely repugnant to its tenets. "Signed in the usual form. March l7th, 1789." The learned doctors of some of theso universities could not refrain, while they gave their answers, from admini.-teiing a rebuke to those who asked such questions. For instance, the Faculty of Divinity at Louvain, "Having been requested to give an opinion upon the questions above stated, does it with readiness — but is struck with astonishment that such questions should, at the end of this 18th centurj-, be pi'oposed to any learned body, by inhabitants of a king- dom [England] that glories iu the talents and discernment of its natives." The publication of the Catholic Declara- tion, with the opinions of the universities, was very far indeed from satisfying the theo logians of the Piotestant interest ; especiaHj as there came forth at the same time the detailed plan for electing delegates this year to the Convention of Catholics which had already been decided upon. These Papi-^ts were evidently preparing to rise a little out of their abject humility. The Protestant theologians thought themselves too acute to be imposed upon by all those fine protesta- tions of Papists, and professions made by Popish universities. Since when, they de- sired to know, was it held that the declara- tion of persons charged with systematic per- fidy — that they were persons who keep faith — was held to be evidence of their good character? They also cited examples of the Pope having actually, in former ages, absolved, or attempted to absolve subjects from their allegiance. Besides, was it not well known that those universities in France and Spain were full of Popish doctors, who would desire nothing better than to delude the minds of unsuspecting Irish Protestants, and so pave the way for the overthrow of the Protestant Church, resumption of for- feited estates, and fulfilment of Pastorini's prophecies ! It seems to have been more especially the "plan'' for election of dele- OPINIONS OF THE GRAND JUPaES ON THE CONVENTION. 217 gates to the Catholic Cunvention that excited the alarm and wrath of the "Ascendency." Iiumediatcly on the appearance of this plan, a general outcry was raised against it; sedition, tuinult, con>piracy, and treason, were echoed from county to county, from grand jury to grand jury. Some legislators, higli in the confidtMice of their sovereign, smd armed with the influence of station and office, presided at those meetings, and were foremost in arraigning measures, upon the merits of which in anoiher place and in an- other function they were finally to deter- mine. The exaggerated and alarming language of most of The grand juries imported, that the Catholics of Ireland were on the eve of a general insurrection, ready to hurl the king from his throne, and tear the whole frame of the constitntion to pieces. The Leitrim grand jury denominated the plan " An inflammatory and dangerous pub- lication,'' aiwJ stated, "that they feU ii ne- cessaiy to come forward at that period to declare, that they were ready to support, with their lives and fortunes, their present most valuable constitution in church and state ; anil thajt they would resist, to the ut- most of their power, the attempts of any body of men, however numerous, who should presume to threaten innovation in either." The gi'and jury of the county of Cork deuominated the plan " An unconstitutional pioceeding, of the most alarming, dangeious, and seditious tendency ; an attempt to over- awe Parliament;" tliey stated their deter- mination to "protect and defend, with their lives and property, the present constitution in church and state." That of Roscommon, after the usual epithets of "alarming, dan- gerous, and seditious," asserted that the plan called upon the whole body of the Roman Catholics of Ireland to associate themselves in the metropolis of that king- dom, upon the model of the national assem- bly of France, which had already plunged that devoted country into a state of anarchy and tumult unexampled in any civilized na- tion : they Slated it to be "an attempt to over-awe Parliament;" they mentioned their serious and sensible alarms for the existence of their present happy establish- 28 ment in church and state; and their deter- mination, "at the hazard of every thing dear to them, to uphold and maintain the Pro-t- estant interest of Ireland." The grand jury of Sligo Resolved., "that they would, at all times, and by every con-, stitutional means in their power, resist and oppose every attempt then making, or there* after to be made, by the Roman Catholics, t<> obtain their elective franchise, or any par- ticipation in the government of the country.'' And that of Donegal declared, that though " they regarded the Catholics with tender^ ness, they would maintain, at the hazard ot* every thing dear to them, the Protestant in- terest of Ireland." The grand jury of Fermanagh, profess- ing also " the warmest attachment to their Roman Catholic brethien," felt it, however, necessary to come forward at that period to declare, that they were " ready with their lives and fortunes to support their present invaluable constitution in church and state." And that of the County of Derry, after ex- pressing their apprehensions lest that pro- ceeding " might lead to the formation of a hierarchy (consisting partly of laity) which would destroy the Protestant Ascendency, the freedom of the elective franchise, and the established constitution of this country," tendered their lives and fortunes to support the happy constitution as established at the revolution of 1688. A very great majority of the loading signatures affixed to those resolutions, were tiiose of men either high in the government of the country, or enjoy- ing lucrative places under it, or possessing extensive borough interest. The grand jury of the county of Louth, with the Speaker of the House of Commons at their head, declared, "that the allowing to Roman Catholics the right of voting for members to Serve in Parliament, or admit- ting them to any participation in the gov- ernment of the kingdom, was incompatible with the safety of the Protestant establish- ment, the continuance of the succession to the crown in the illustrious House of Hano- ver, and finally tended to shake, if not de- stroy, their connection with Great Britain, on the continuance and inseparability of which depended the happiness and pri.sper- ity of that kingdom ; that they would op- 218 IIISTOliY or IKELAND. pose everv attempt towanls sncli :i fiaiiger- oiis innovation, and that they would support with their lives and fortunes the present constitution, and the settlement of the throne on liis majesty's Protestant house." The freeholders of ttie county of Limerick charged the Catholi&- Committee with an intention to over-awe the legislature, to force a repeal of the penal laws, and to create a Popish democracy for their government and direction in pursuit of whatever objects might be holden out to them by turbulent and seditious men. They then instructed their representatives in Parliament, " at all events, to oppose any proposition which might be made for extending to Cath- olics the I'ight of elective franchise:" at this meeting the chancellor was present. The corporation of Dublin in strong terms denied the competency of Parliament to extend the right of franchise to the Cath- olics, which they called "alienating their most valuable inheritance;" and roundly asserted against the fact, that " the last ses- sion of Parliament left the Roman Catholics in no wise different fi-oin their Protestant fellow-subjects, save only in the exercise of political power." Some of the grand juries indignantly re- jected the proposals made to them of com- ing to any resolutions injurious to their Cath- olic brethren. Agents had been employed to tamper with every grand jury that met during; the summer assizes. Nothing could tend more directly than this measure of pre- eng;iging the sentiments of the country against three millions of its inhabitants, to raise and foment discord and disunion be- tween Protestants and Catholics. Counter- resolutions, answers and replies, addresses and pro;estations, were published and circulated in the public papers from some grand jury- men, and from many different bodies of Catholics ; several bold and severe pubhca- tions appeared during tlie course of the summer, not only from individuals of the Catholic body, but from the friends of their cause aiTiongst the Protestants. It is scarcely questionable but that the virulent and acir monious opposition raised against the Cath- olic petition for a very limited participation in the elective franchise, enlivened the sense of their grievances, opened their views, and united their energies into a common effort to procure a general repeal of the whole Penal Code. The General Committee of the Catholics, and the United Irish Society were unavoid- ably coming closer together. In a debate of the committee, Mr. Keogh, a gentleman of great manliness of character as well as power of intellect, fairly said that for a late publication (Digest of the Popery Law>), the United Irishmen and their respected chairman, Mr. Simon Butler, demanded their warmest gratitude.* At that time the United Irish Society was the only association of any kind which even admitted a Catholic into its ranks. No Catholic could be in the Whig Club; nor would it even permit the Catholic question to be agitated there. This point was de- cided in a singular debate of the Whig Club in November, 1792, when Mr. Huband, hav- ing proposed that the sense of the meeting should be taken upon the course to be pur- sued by members with respect to Catholic claims — Some gentlemen decidedly asserted, that they did not think the Catholic question ought to be mentioned or discussed in the Whig Club. They were averse to their having any concern in it, and one went so far as to say, that if it were admitted to be debated in that society, he would with his own hand strike his name out of the list of the members. * Mr. Plowden, in an i\polocretic sort of way, says upon this occasion, "It was natural for persons stag- gering under oppression cordially to grasp every hand that held out relief." Nothing can be more provoking than the affectation of "loyalty" to tiie House of Hanover which certain Catholic writers, pre- vious to emancipation, thought it needful to make. Plowden, in another place, speaking of the same publication made by the United Irishmen, says : — " It would be unfair, if the historian were to repre- sent the transactions of a particular period from consequences that appeared at a distant interval of time, and the subsequent fate of many of the actors in the scenes. It is his duty faithfully to represent them as tliey really pa.ssed at the time. Merit and demerit can only attach from previous or co-e.xisting circumstances; not from the posthumous issue en- gendered in the womb of time by future base and unavowed connections. It was not because an in- dividual was guilty of treason in tiie year 179S, that every previ)u» act or transaction in which that in- dividual was concerned for tlie twenty, ten, or five preceding years, was atfected with the venom of hia latter crime." CATHOLIC CONVKNTIuN IN DUHMN'. 219 On which Mr. A. Ham. Rowjin observed, that lie would be as tenacious as any other gentleman, of remaining in any society where improper subjects were proposed for discussion ; but that for his part, he would not liesitate to strip off his Whig Club uni- form, and throw it to the waiter, if the Catholic question were deemed an unfit sub- je<'t for their discussion. Mr. W, Brown called the attention of gentlemen to the purpose of their associa- tion. They placed themselves in the front of the public cause, to' further it, not to stop its further progress; the second principle of their declaration was, a solemn engagement to support the rights of the people, etc. Who, said he, are the people ? I dare any gentleman to name the people of Ireland without including the Roman Catholics. What ! is it a question, shall three millions of Irishmen continue slaves or obtain their freedom ! Is it a question to be deserted by men professing patriotism, professing to re- dress the public oppression, pledged to stand together in defence of their country's liber- ties? No ; it is not. To desert the cause of tlie Catholics, would be to desert the principles of their in- stitution, it would be to deserve the calumny thrown against them by their enemies, that they were an opposition strugglirg tor power, not a band of patriots for the public weal; it would rob their names of honor, their rank and wealth of consequence, and it would finally sink them from a station of political importance, down to the obscurity and insignificance of au interested and im- potent party. On the question being put, whether the Catholic question should be taken into con- sideration or not on Wednesday fortnight, it was negatived on a division by thirteen. The long-talked-of Convention of the Catholics was actually held in December of this year: the elections of delegates had been regularly and quietly held, in pursuance of the "plan," and the fii'st meeting of the delegates assembled at Tailors' Hall, Dub- lin, on the 2d of December, 1792; two hundi'fid delegates being present. While this peaceable convention was holding its meetings, another phenomemm appeared in Dublin, which gave still greater uneasiness both to the " Ascf'ndeticy " and to the Castle. The National Guard, a new military body, was arrayeii and disciplined in Dublin. They wore green uniforms, with buttons engraved with a harp, under a cap of liberty, instead of a crown. Tlieir lead- ers were A. H. Rowan and James Napper Tandy ; they affected to address each other by the appellation of citizen, in imitation of the French. This corps was in high favor with the populace, and was always cordi.d- ly greeted as they appeared in the street or on parade. Government really felt al^rm : a general insurrection was apprehended : they pretended to have information of the particular nights fixed for that purpose. The magistrates, by order of Government, patrolled the streets with bodies of horse each night. It was given out from the Castle, that the custom-house, the post-office, and the jail, were the first places to be at- tacked ; and that the signal for rising was to have been the pulling down of the statue of King William in College Green with ropes. Many other false rumors of conspiracies and assassinations were set afloat. In the mean while the National Guards, and all the Vol- unteer corps of Dutlin, were summoned to assembl^e on Sunday, the Uth of December, 1792, to celebrate the victory of the French, and the triumph of universal liberty. The summons began with an affectation of Gal- licism, " Citizen Soldier^'' However, the meeting was prevented ; and Government issued a proclamation, on the 8th of Decem- ber, against their assembling. The National Guards did not assemble; and the only per- sons who appeared on parade were, A. H. Rowan, J. N. Tandy, and Carey the printer. This Catholic Convention, and this Na- tional Guard appeared dangerous in the eves of Fitzgibbon (now Earl of Clare) — the object of his life was the legislative union , and he foresaw that unless conventions of delegates and associations of armed citizens were prohibited and prevented by law, that great measure never could be carried. Ac- cordingly his busy brain was already busy in maturing a series of measures to dt-prive all Irishmen, whether Protestant or Catholic, of every means of expressing their wishes by delegates, and every means of asserting their rights by arms. 220 HISTORY OF IRELAND. CHAPTER XXVIL 1792— 179 ;i The Ciitholic Convention — Keconciliation of differ- ences iimoiigst tlie C;itli<>rR's — Their deputation to I the kin i<— Successes of tiie French fortunate for the Catholics — Duniouriez and Jemappes— Gra- cious reception of the Catholic deputation— Bel- fast mob draw tlie carriatrc of Calhnlic delegates- Secret Comniittcc of the Lords — Report on Dc- fenderft and United Irishmen— Attempt of com- mittee to connect the two — Lord Clare creates "alarm amonfj the better classes'" — Proclamation against unlawful assemblies— Lord Edward Fitz- gerald — French Re(>nblio declares war against England — Large measure of Catholic relief innnc- diately proposed — Moved by Secretary Hoburt — Act carried — Its provisions — What it yields, and what it w^ithholds — Arms and gunpowder act — Act against conventions — Lord Clare the real author of British policy in Ireland as now estal> ished — Effect and intcntifui of the " Convention act" — No such law in Enjrland — Militia bill — Cath- olic Committee — No reform — Close of session. The Catholic Convention met under rather favorable auspices. In the course of the summer a reconciliation or coalition had been generally effected between the commit- tee and several of the sixty-four addressers, including bishops. Convinced that his ma. jesty's ministers in England were disposed to favor their pretensions, it was found politi- cal in the body to act in concert ; and to this accommodating disposition and desii-e of internal union, is to be attributed the modera- tion of the pubHc acts of that convention Tht-y framed a petition to the king, which was a firm though modest representatioii of their grievances: it was signed by Dr, Troy and Dr. Moylan on behalf of them- selves and the other Roman Catholic prel- ates and clergy of Ireland, and by the sev- eral delegates for the different districts which they respectively represented. They then proceeded to choose five delegates to present it to his majesty : the choice fell upon Sir Thomas French, Mr. Byrne, Mr. Keogh, Mr, Devereux, and Mr. Bel lew. These gentlemen went by short seas : in tlieir road to Donaghadee they passed through Belfast in the morning, and some of the most respectable inhabitants waited upon them at the Donegal Arms, where they remained about two houis : upon their departure, the populace took their horses from their carriages and dragged them through the town amidst the liveliest shouts of joy and wishes for their success.* The delegates returned these expressions of af- fection and sympathy, by the most grateful acknowledgements and assurances of their determination to maintain that union which formed the strength of Ireland. On the 2d of January, 1793, the gentlemen delegated by the Catholics of Ireland attended the levee at St, James's, were introduced to his majesty by Mr. Dundas, secretary of state for the home department, and had the honor of presenting their humble petition to his majesty, who was pleased most graciously to receive it. His majesty liad his reasons. Fortunately for the Catholics, England was at this moment in a condition of extreme diflBculty and peril. She was already engaged in the coalition of Euiopean powers to crush the new-born Hercules of France, The French, under Dumouriez, had happily driven back the Prussian invaders from the passes of the Ar- gonne. Dumouriez had followed up his successes, entered Belgium and gained over the Austrians the glorious victory of Je- mappes. The King of France had already been removed from his throne to the Tem- ple prison ; and on the very day when the King of England was so graciously re(teiving the Catholic delegates, that uidiappy French monarch was awaiting his trial, sentence, and execution at the hands of his people : all of which took place a few days after- wards. This event was to be the signal for England to enter actively into the war. Ever since August of last year the British Court had refused all communication with M. Cliauvelin, the French envoy, an-d he was finally dismissed from England imtnediately on the arrival of news of King Louis' exe- • Of this extraordinary demonstration, never ex- ainpled before, and never imitated since, Wolfe Tone says ; — " Wliatever effect it might have on the negotiation in England, it certainly tended to rai.^o and confirm the hopes of the Catholics at home, ' Let our delegates,' said they, ' if tiiey are refused, return by tlie same route.' To those who look be- yond the surface it was an interesting spcclaalc, and pregmnit with material consequences, to see the Dissenter of the North drawing, witli his own hands, the Catholic of the South in triumph, through wliat may be denominated the capital of Presbyterianism, However repugnant it might be to the wishes of the British n)inister, it was a wholesome suggestion to his prudence, and when he scanned the wliole busi- ness in Ids i|iind, was probably not dismissed from his conlemplatiou." REPOIIT OX PEFEXDEIIS AXI) UNITED UlISHMEN. 221 cution. War, tlieretbiv, was now inevitable, and war on such a scale and against such a foe as would tax the utmost energies and resources of Great Britain. It was deler- mined accordingly to endeavor to purchase the three millions of Irish Catholics, who make such excellent recruiting material; so that instead of having Irish brigades against them, they might have Irish regiments for them. It was also a part of this policy to detach the Catholics from the United Irish- men, to disgust them with " French prin- ciples," and predispose them to loolc favor- ably on the Legislative Union. The dele- gates returned from London, in the compla- cent language of Mr. Plowden : — " the wel- come heralds of the benign countenance and reception they had received from the father of his people." On the 10th of January, lT92, the Irish Parliament met. The speech from the throne recommended attention to the claims of the Catholics. The House of Lords very early in the session appointed a secret com- mittee to inquire into the state of the nation, with special reference to the troubles in the North between Peep-of-Day Boys and De- fenders. Th§ Secret Committee made a most extraordinary report; in which thev appear to find no criminal rioters in the North except the poor Defenders. "All, so far as the committee could discover, of the Roman Catholic persuasion, poor ignorant laboring men, sworn to secrecy, and im- pressed with an opinion that they were as- sisting the Catholic cause." The committee further endeavored to connect in some wav with those agrarian distuibers, the political demonstrations of the United Irishmen at Belfast and other towns. They report with high indignation : — "That an unusual ferment had for some months past disturbed several parts of the North, particularly the town of Belfast and the county of Antrim ; it was kept up and encouraged by seditious papers and pamph- lets of the most dangerous tendency, printed at very cheap and inconsiderable rates in Dublin and Belfast, which issued almost daily from certain societies of men or clubs in both those places, calling themselves committees under various descriptions, and carrying on a constant correspondence with each other. These publications were circulated amongst the people with the utmost industry, and ap- peared to be calculated to defame the Gov- ernment and Parliament, and to render the people dissatisfied with their condition and with their laws. The conduct of the French was shaynpfulh/ extolled, and recommended to the public view as an example for imita- tion ; hopes and expectations had been held up of their assistance by a descent upon that kingdom, and prayers had been offered up at Belfast from the pulpit, for the success of their arms, in the presence of military asso- ciations, which had been newly levied and arrayed in that town. A body of men asso- ciated themselves in Dublin, under the title of the First National Battalion : their uniform was copied from the French, green turned up with white, white waistcoats and striped trou- sers, gilt buttons, impressed with a harp and letters importing ' First National Battal- ion,' no crown, but a device over the harp of a cap of liberty upon a pike; two patteru coats had been left at two shops in Dublin. Several bodies of men had been collected in different parts of the North, armed and dis- ciplined under officers chosen by themselves, and composed mostly of the lowest classes of the people. These bodies were daily increas- ing in numbers and force, they liad exerted their best endeavors to procure military men of experience to act as their officers, some of them having expressly stated, that there were men enough to be had, but that officers were what thev wanted. Stands of armsand gun- powder to a very large amount, much above the common consumption, had been sent with- in the last few months to Bt-lfast and New- ry, and orders given for a much greater quan- titv, which it appeared could be wanted on- ly for military operations. At Belfast, bod- ies of men in arms were drilled and exercised for several hours almost every night by can- dle-light, and attempts had been made to se- duce the soldiery, which, much to the hon- or of the king's forces, had proved ineifL^ct- ual. The declared object of these military bodies was to procure a reform of Parliament ; but the obvious intention of most of them appeared to be to over-awe the Parliament and the Government, and to dictate to both. The committee forbore mentioning the names of several persons, lest it should in any man- 222 HISTORY OF IRELAND. uer affect any criiuinal prosecution, or involve llic peisonal safety of any inau who Imd come forward to give lliein infornj.ition. The re- sult of their inquiries was, that in tlieir opin- ion it was incoujpatible with tlie public safety and tranquillity of that kingdom, to permit bodies of men in arms to assemble when they pleased without any legal authority : and that the existence of a self-created repre- sentative body of any description of the king's subjects, taking upon itself the government of them, and levying taxes or subscriptions^ eti'.," ought not to be permitted. It is very easy to see the object of this report : it was simply Lord Clare's method of preparing the way for his coercion acts, which were to apply not only to the Defend- ers but also to the United Irishmen and to the Catholic Convention itself. The policy adopted towards the Catholics at that time took the form which it has worn ever since, and which may be described in ;four words — to conciliate the rich and to co- erce the poor. This extravagant report of the Lords' committee, giving so overcharged a picture of the insurrectionary spirit of. the North, was in order to create "alarm among the better classes,'' the uniform preparative for coercion and oppression in Iieland. On the 31st of January the House of Com- mons took into consideration a proclamation of the lord-lieutenant and privy couuc-il, da- ted the 8th December last, for dispersing all unlawful assemblies : and Lord Ileadfort moved a vote of thanks to the viceroy for this proclamation " to preserve domestic tranquillity from those whose declared objects were tumult^ disaffection, and sedition" This occasioned some debate ; but the address passed without a division. This proceed- ing of the House proves that the gieat Gov- ernment majority in the House, as well as the Lords, were in full concurrence with the Government in favor of coercion. It is fur- ther interesting from an incident which be- fell at the close of the debate — Lord Edward Fitzgerald, in a very vehement tone, declar- ed, "I give my most hearty disapprobation to that address, for I do think that the lord- lieutenant and the majority of this House, are the worst subjects the king has." A loud cry of "to the bar," and "take down his words,'' immediately echoed from every part of the House. The House was cleared in an instant, and strangers were not re-ad- mitted for neaily three hours. He was admitted to explain himself, and on his explaining, the House ^''Resolved, nem. con., That the excuse of- fered by the Right Hon. Edward Fitzgerald, commonly called Lord Edward Fitzgerald, for the said words so spoken, is unsatisfac- tory and insufficient:" and he was ordered to attend at tlie bar on the next day, when his apology was received, though not with- out a division upon its sufBciency : for receiv- ing it, 135; against it, 66. — (12 Par. Deb., p.^82.) Mr. Grattan also expressed himself with some indignation in this debate, on the classing up the remnant of his old Volun- teers along with such seditious company as United Irishmen and National Guards : for Mr. Secretary Ilobart had read to the House, as part of the outrageous proceed- ings which had dictated the strong meas- ure of the proclamation, a certain summons of the corps of goldsmiths, calling on the delegates of that corps to assemble and celebrate the retreat of the Duke of Bruns- wick (from Valmy), and the French victory in the Low Countries (Jemappes). Mr. Grattan was soon to learn that in the appli- cation of the new laws which were now to be enacted the remnant of the classic old Volunteers was to be held no more sacred than the most republican United Irish club, or the poorest lodge of Defenders. On the 1st of February the French Re- public declared war against England (which was now known to be the very head and heart of the coalition against France) : and on the 14th of that month the Irish secretar}-, Mr. Ht)bart, presented a petition from some Cath- olics, and described at length the measure which he intended to introduce. A few days after, he brought in his " Relief Bill," and had it read a first time. It was opposed by Mr. Ogle, and by the famous Dr. Duigenan. Throughout its passage it was supported by the Court party, because it was a Court measure; and Mr. Grattan, Mr. Curran, and most of the opposition supported it, of course. Dr. Duigenan raked up several times all the most hideous accusations that ever bigotiy had invented and ignorance pnovTSioxs OF xnE catholic kklikf bill. J23 lirlievcd against Papists, in order to oppose the aslant of any relief to sncli iniscreants. On the second reading, Mr. G. Ponsonby and Mr. Latouche spoke against it. When the bill was in committee, Mr. George Knox, in a liberal and able speech moved, that the committee might be empowered to receive a clause to admit Roman Catlu>lics to sit and vote in the House of Commons. Major Doyle seconded the motion, which was strongly supported by Mr. Daly, Col. Hutch- inson, Mr. M, Smith, Mr. John O'Neil, Mr. Hardy, and some other gentlemen friendly to Catholic emancipation ; it was, however, rejf'cted upon a division by 163 against 69. The bill finally passed both Houses and received the royal assent, on the 9th of April. This act, which was received with so nuich gratitude, and was extolled as such a triumph of liberality, enables Catholics to vote for members of Parliament — that is, for Protestant members and none other — admits them to the bar, that is, the outer bar — all the honors and high places of the pi-ofession being reserved for Protestants — enables them to vote for municipal officers — that is, Protestant officers exclusively — per- mits them to, possess arms, provided tliey possess a certain freehold and personal es- tate, and take certain oaths, neither of which conditions applied to Protestants ; allows them to serve on juries, but not to sit on parish vestries ; admits them, under certain lestiictions, to hold military and naval com- missions, certain of the higher grades being e.xcepted — and it subjects the exercise of most of these new privileges to the taking of a most insulting and humiliating oath. As this act (33 Geo. HI., c. 21.) settled for thirty-six years the whole condition and re- lations of the Catholics, it is here given in full :— "33 Geo. HI., c. xxi. ^ An Act. for the Belief of His Majesty's Popish or Roman Catholic Subjects of Ireland. " Whereas, various acts of Parliament h;ive been passed, imposing on his majesty's subje(;ts professing the Roman Catholic re- ligi(m, many restraints and disabilities, to which other subjects of this realm are not liable; and from the peaceable and loyal de- meanor of his majesty'.s Popish or Roman Catholic subjects, it is fit that such restiaints and disabilities shall be discontinued : Be it therefore enacted, by the king's most excel- lent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, spiritual and temporal, and Conmions in this present Parliament as- sembled, and by the authority of the same, That his majesty's subjects, being Papists, or persons professing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion, or married to Papists or persons professing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion, or educating any of their children in that religion, shall not be liable or subject to any penalties, forfeitures, dis- abilities, or incapacities, or to any laws for the limitation, charging, or discovering of their estates and property, real and personal, or touching the acquiring of property or securities affecting property; save such as his majesty's subjects of the Protestant re- ligion are liable and subject to ; and that such parts of all oaths as are required to be taken by persons in order to qualify them- selves for voting at elections of members to serve in Parliament; and also such parts of all oaths required to be taken by persona voting at elections for members to serve in Parliament, as import to deny that the per- son taking the same is a Papist or married to a Papist, or educates his children in the Popish religion, shall not hereafter be re- quired to be taken by any voter, but shall be omitted by the person administering the same ; and that it shall not be necessary, in order to entitle a Papist, or person profess- ing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion to vote at an election of members to serve in Parliament, that he should at, or previous to his voting, take the oaths of allegiance and abjuration, any statute now in force to the contrary of any of the said matters in any wise notwithstanding. " n. Provided always, and be it farther enacted, That all Papists or persons profess- ing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion, who may claim to have a right of voting for members to serve in Parliament, or of vot- ing for magistrates in any city, town corpo- rate, or borough, within this kingdom, be hereby required to perforin all qualifications, registries, and other requisites, which are now required of his majesty's Protestaut 21? 4 HISTORY OF lUELAXD. suujects, in like cases, by any law or laws uuw of force in this kiiigLloni, save and ex- cept such oatlis and parts of oaths as are heiein before excepted. '•III. And provided always, That nothing hereiiibefure contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to repeal or alter any law or act of railiainent now in force, by which certain qualifications are required to be performed by persons enjoying any offices or places of trust under his majesty, his heirs and successors, other than as herein- after is enacted. '•IV. Provided also. That nothing herein contained, shall extend, or be construed to extend to give Papists, or persons professing the Pupish religion, a right to vote at any parish ves;ry for levying of money to re- build or repair any pari^sh church, or respect- ing the demising or disposal of the income of any estate belonging to any church or parish, or for the salary of the parish clerk, or at the election uf any churchwarden. "V. Provided always. That nothing con- tained in this act shall extend to, or be con- strued to affect any action or suit now de- pending, which shall have been brought or instituted previous to the commencement of this session of Parliament. " VI. Provided also, That nothing herein contained, shall extend to authorize any Pa- pist, or person professing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion, to have or keep in his hands or possession, any arms, armor, ammunition, or any warlike stores, sword- blades, barrels, locks, or stocks of guns, or fire-arms, or to exempt such person from any forfeiture, or penalty inflicted by any act respecting arms, armor, or ammunition, in the hands or possession of any Papist, or respecting Papists having or keeping such warlike stores, save and except Papists, or persons of the Roman Catholic religion, seized of a freehold estate of one hundred pounds a year, or possessed of a personal estate of one thousand pounds or upwards, who are hereby authorized to keep arms and ammunition as Protestants now by law may ; and also, save and except Papists or Roman Catholics possessing a freehold estate of ten pounds yearly value, and less than one hun- dred pounds, or a personal estate of three hun- dred, and less than one thousand pounds, who shall have at the session of the peace in the county in which they reside, taken the oath of allegiance prescribed to be taken by au act passed in the thirteenth and fourteenth years of his present majesty's reign, entitled, 'Art act to enable his majesty^s subjects, of ivhatever persuasion, to testify their alley ianre to him ;' and also in open court, swear and subscribe an affidavit, that they are possessed of a freehold estate yielding a clear yearly profit to the person making the same of ten pounds, or a personal property of three hun- dred pounds above his just debts, specifying thei'ein the name and nature of such free- hold, and nature of such personal property, which affidavits shall be carefully preserved by the clerk of the peace, who shall have for his trouble a fee of sixpence, and no more, for every such affidavit ; and the per- son making such affidavit, and possessing such propeity, may keep and use arms and ammunition as Protestants may, so long as they shall respectively possess a property of the annual value of ten pounds and up- wards, if freehold, or the value of threw hundred pounds if personal, any statute to the contrary notwithstanding. "VII. And be it enacted. That it shall and may be lawful for Papists, or persons professing the Popish or Roman Catholic, religion, to hold, exercise, and enjoy all civil and military offices, or places of trust or profit under his majesty, his heirs and suc- cessors, in this kingdom; and to hold or take degrees, or any professorship in, or be masters or fellows of any college, to be hereafter founded in this kingdom, provided that such college shall be a member of the University of Dublin, and shall not be founded exclusively for the education of Papists, or persons professing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion, nor consist exclu- sively of masters, fellows, or other persons to be named or elected on the foundation of such college, being persons professing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion ; or to hold any office or place of trust in, and to be a member of any lay-body corporate, ex- cept the College of the holy and undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth, near Dublin, without taking and subscribing the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, or abjuration, or makiuof or subscribinsf the declaration re* PUOVISIOXS OF THE CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL. 221 quired to be taken, made, and subscribed, to enable any such person to bold and enjoy any of such places, and without reccivintr the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, accord- inj^ to the rights and ceremonies of the Church of Iiehuid, any law, statute, or by- law of any ooiporation to the contrary not- withstanding ; provided that every such per- son shall take and subscribe the oath ap- pointed by the said act passed in the thir- teenth and fourteenth years of his majesty's reign, entitled, ' An act to enable liis ma- jesty's subjects, of whatever persuasion, to testify their allegiance to him ;' and also the oath and declaratiou following, that is to say: •"I, A. B., do hereby declare, that I do profess the Roman Catholic religion. I, A., B., do swear, that I do abjure, condemn, and detest, as unchristian and impious, the prin- ciple that it is lawful to murder, destroy, or any ways injure any person whatsoever, for, or under the pretence of being a heretic; and I do declare solemnly befoie God, that I believe, that no act in itself unjust, im- moral, or wicked, can ever bo justified or excused by, or under pretence, or color, that it was done either for the good of the church, or in obedience to any ecclesiastical power whatsoever. I also declare, that it is not an article of the Catholic faith, neither am I thereby required to believe or profess, that the Pope is infallible, or that I am bound to obey an order in its own nature immoral, though the Pope or any ecclesias- tical power should issue or direct such order, but, on the contrary, I hold, that it would be sinfid in me to pay any respect or obedi- ence thereto; I further declare, that I do not believe that any sin whatsoever commit- ted by me can be forgiven at the mere will of any Pope, or any priest, or of any person whatsoever ; but that sincere soirow for past sins, a firm and sincere resolution to avoid future guilt, and to atone to God, are pre- vious and indispensable requisites to estab- lish a well-founded expectation of forgive- ness, and that any person who leceives ab- solution without these previous requisites, so far from obtaining thereby any remission of his sins, incurs the additional guilt of viola- ting a sacrament; and I do swear, that I will defend to the utmost of mv power the set- 29 tiement and arrangement of pioperty in this country as established by the laws now in being; I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and soleintdy abjure any intention to subvert the present church establishment for the purpose of substituting a Catholic establish- ment in its stead ; and I do solemnly swear, that I will not exercise any privilege, to which I am or may become entitled, to dis- turb and weaken the Protestant religion and Protestant government in this kingdom. So help me God.' "VIII. And be it enacted, That Papists, or persons professing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion, may be capable of being elected professors of medicine, upon the foundation of Sir Patrick Dunn, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding. " IX. Provided altva;/s, and be it enacted^ That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to enable any person to .sit or vote in either House of Par- liament, or to hold, exeicise, or enjoy t\m office of lord-lieutenant, lord-deputy, or other chief governor or governois of this kingdom, lord high chancellor or keeper, or commissioner of the great seal of this kingdom, lord high treasure)', chancellor of the exchequer, chief justice of the Court of King's Bench, or Common Pleas, lord chief baron of the Court of Exchequer, justice of the Court of King's Bench or Common Plea^, or baron of the Court of Exchequer, judge of the High Court of Ad- miralty, master or keeper of the rolls, secre- tary of state, keeper of the privy seal, vice- treasurer, or deputy vice-tieasurer, teller and cashier of the Exchequer, or auditor general, lieutenant or governor, or custom rotulorum of counties, secretary to the lord- lieutenant, lord-deputy, or other chief gov- ernor or governors of this kingdom, member of his majesty's most honorable privy coun- cil, prime sergeant, attorney-general, solicitor- general, second and third sergeants at law, or king's council, masters in chancery, provost or fellow of the College of the holy and un- divided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth, near Dublin; postmaster-general, master, and lieutenant-general of his majesty's ordnance, commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces, generals on the staff, and sheriffs and sub- sherifts of any county in this kingdom ; or 226 HISTORY OF IRELAND. any office contraiy to the rules, orders, and directiiais made and established by the lord- lieutenant and council in pursuance of the act passed in the seventeenth and eighteenth years of King Charles the Second, entitled, 'An act for the explaining of some doubts arising upon an act entitled. An act for the better execution of his majesty's gracious declaration for the settlement of this king- dom of Ireland, and satisfaction of the sev- eral interests of adventurers, soldiers, and other his subjects there, and for making some alteiations of, and additions unto the suid act, for the more speedy and efiectual settlement of this kingdom,' unless he shall have taken, made, and subscribed the oaths and declarations, and performed the several requisites, -which by any law heretofore made, and now of force, are required to en- able any person to sit or vote, or to hold, ex- ercise, and enjoy the said offices respectively. "X. Provided also, and be it enacted. That nothing in this act contained shall enable any Papist, or person professing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion, to exercise any right of presentation to any ecclesiastical benefice whatsoever. " XL And be it enacted, That no Papist, or person professing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion, shall be liable or subject to any penalty for not attending divine service on the Sabbath day, called Sunday, in his or her parish church. " XII. Provided also, and be it enacted. That nothing herein contained, shall be con- strued to extend to authorize any Popish priest, or reputed Popish priest, to celebrate marriage between Protestant and Protestant, or between any person, who hath been or professed himself or herself to be a Protes- tant at any time within twelve months before such celebration of marriage, and a Papist, unless such Protestant and Papist shall have been first married by a clergyman of the Protestant religion, and that every Popish priest, or reputed Popish priest, who shall celebrate any marriage bet wen two Protes- tants, or between any such Protestant and Papist, uuless such Protestant and Papist shall have been first married by a clergyman of the Protestant religion, shall forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds to his majesty, upon conviction thereof. '' XIII. And whereas it may be expedient, in case his majesty, his heiis and successors, shall be pleased so to alter the statutes of the College of the holy and undivided Trinity near Dublin, and of the University of Dub- lin, as to enable persons professing the Ro- man C ttholic religion to enter into or to take degrees in the said university, to remove any obstacle, which now exists by statute law ; be it enacted, That from and after the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, it shall not be necessary for any person upon taking any of the degrees usually conferred by the said university, to make or subscribe any declaration, or to take any oath, save the oaths of allegiance and abjuration, any law or statute to the contrary notwithstanding. " XIV. Provided always. That no Papist or Roman Catholic, or person professing the Roman Catholic or Popish religion, shall take any benefit by or under this act, unless he shall have first taken and subscribed the oath and declaration in this act contained and set forth, and also the said oath appointed by the said act passed in the thirteenth and four- teenth years of his majesty's reign, entitled, 'An act to enable his majesty's subjects, of whatever persuasion, to testify their allegiance to him,' in some one of his majesty's four courts in Dublin, or at the general sessions of the peace, or at any adjournment thereof to be holden for the county, city, or borough wherein such Papist or Roman Catholic, or person professing the Roman Catholic or Popish religion, doth inhabit or dwell, or be- fore the going judge or judges of assize in the county wherein such Papist or Roman Catholic, or person professing the Roman Catholic or Popish religion, doth inhabit and dvvell, in open court. "XV. Provided always, and belt enacted, That the names of such persons as shall so take and subscribe the said oath and dec- laration, with their titles and additious, shall be entered upon the rolls, for that purpose to be appointed by said respective courts; and that the said rolls once in every year shall be transmitted to, and deposited in the Rolls Office in this kingdom, to remain among>t the records thereof, and the masters or keepers of the rolls in this kingdom, or their lawful deputy or deputies, are hereby em- ARMS AND GUNPOWDER AND CONVKNTION ACTS. 227 powered and required to give and deliver to such person or persons so taking and sub- scribing the said oaths and declaration, a cer- tificate or certificates of such person or per- sons having taken and subscribed the said oaths and declaration, for each of which cer- tificates the sum of one shilling and uo more shall be paid. "XVI. And be it further provided and enacted, That from and after the first day of April, one thousand seven hundred and ninety -three, no freeholder, burgess, freeman, or inhabitant of this kingdom, being a Pa- pist or Roman Catholic, or person professing the Roman Catholic or Popish religion, shall at anytime be capable of giving his vote for the electing of any knight or knights of any shire or county within this kingdom, or citi- zen or burgess to serve in any Parliament, until he shall have first produced and shown to the high sherifl;" of the said county, or his deputy or deputies, at any election of a knight or knights of the said shire, and to the re- spective chief officer or officers of any city, borough, or town-corporate, to whom the return of any citizen or burgess to serve in Parliament doth or shall respectively belong, at the election of any citizen or bur- gess to serve in Parliament, such certificate of his having' taken and subscribed the said oath and declaration, either from the Rolls Office, or from the proper officer of the court in which the said oaths and declaration shall be taken and subscribed ; and such person being a freeholder, freeman, burgess, or in- habitant so producing and showing such cer- tificate, shall be then permitted to vote, as amply and fully as any Protestant freeholder, freeman, burgees, or inhabitant of such coun- ty, city, borough, or town-corporate, but not otherwise." This law, it may be thought, saved toler- ably well the main privileges of the odious '•Ascendency;" and still left the two sects, or two nations- in the relative position of a su- perior and an inferior cas^e ; but the require- ments of English policy at this time were ab- solute and undeniable. It was however felt by the thoroughgoing Protestants of Iieland to be a sore humiliation thus at last to have to acknowledge the civil existence of Papists at all, and that Papists no longer breathed altogether by "connivance." But the iriila- tion of the Protestant interest was soothed by certain oth^r measures which the Govern- ment carried through this session — the Gun- powder Act and the Convention Act. The Gunpowder Act, entitled "An act to prevent the importation of Arms Gunpowder, and Ammunition into this Kingdom, and the re- moving and keeping of Gunpowder, Arms, and Ammunition without license," contained very oppressive provisions, authorizing ma- gistrates and police to make searches for arms ; and may be called the first of the reg- ular series of "Arms Acts," with which Ire- land is so familiar down to the present day. It was not at all opposed in Parliament : in- deed, like all the other Arms Acts, it purported to be a temporary measure, to be in force oidy until the 1st of January, 1V94, and the end of then next session of Parliament. The Government pretended that it was needed just at that time to defeat and suppress the seditious conspiracy which Lord Clare and the Committee of the Lords had discov- ered ; but which did not then exist at all ; and which afterwards was occasioned, or in- deed rendered necessary, by the atrocious abuse of the very coercive laws which were said to be intended to defeat it. But the second of these two acts, the Convention Act, Lord Clare's special and favorite measure, stamps that nobleman as the true author and creator of British policy in Ireland, from his own tiirie until this hour. The bill was introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Clare himself. Its real and plain object was to prevent the prevalence of the successful example of the Catholic Con- vention, and to anticipate a Convention which it was alleged that the United L'ish Society was about to convene at Athlone. This act (33 Geo. III., c. 29) to prevent the election or appointment of unlawful assem- blies, under pretence of preparing or present- ing public petitions or other addresses to his majesty or the Parliament, recites, that the election or appoiulment of assemblies, pur- porting to represent the people, or any de- sciiption of the p' oplf, under pretence of pre- paring or presenting petitions, complaints, re- monstrances, and declarations, and other addresses to the king, or to both or either Houses of Parliament, for alteration of mat- >28 niSTORY OF IRELAND. ters e.-t;iljlis!ied by law, for redress of alleged grievances in church and state, may be made use of to serve the ends of factions and sedi- tious persons, to the violation of the public peace, and the iiTeat and manifest encouragre- ment of riot, tumult, and disorder : and it enacts, that all such assemblies, committees, or olhev bodies of persons elected, or other- wise constituted or appointed are unlawful as- semblies, and that all persons giving or pub- lishiu'T notice of tlie election to be made of such persons or delegates, or attending, or voting or acting therein by any means, are guilty of a high misdemeanor. The act con- cludes with a declaration, "that nothing in it shall impede the undoubted right of his maj- esty's subjects to petition the king or Parlia- ment for redress of any public or private grievance." This measure srave rise to long and acri- monious debates. When it was in commit- tee, Mr. Grattan made a vigorous speech against it: his chief objection to it was, that it was a false declaration of law, and deprived the subject of his constitutional right of pe- titioning effectually against grievances by rendering the previous measure of consulta- tion and deliberation criminal. Especially he was indignant that it by implication con- demned all previous conventions of delegates which had ever been held, including his own Volunteer Convention. He said — " This bill is said to be an expedient to restore peace ; ■why then is it a reflection ? Why do the preamble and declaration pronounce every man who has been a delegate, all the Volun- teers, the delegates at Dungannon, the dele- gates of the convention, the committee of the lawyers' corps, and the corps that appointed that committee ; the committee of the Cath- olics, their late conventions, and all the Catholics who appointed that convention — that is the whole Catholic body — offenders, men guilty of an unlawful assembly, and this moment liable to be prosecuted ! For so much has the bill in object : not the peace of the country, but reflection on great bodies, the gratification of spleen at the expense of the constitution, by voting false doctrine into law, and the brightest passages of your history into unlawful assemblies. Gentle- irien have conceived this bill an expedient to quell insurgents : let them read the bill. It is not a riot act ; it does not go against riots that are, but conventions that are not. The title of the bill, as first brought in, was to prevent riots and tumults arising from con- ventions; but as the bill had nothing to say to riots, and no riots appeared to have arisen from conventions, such title was in decency dropped, and the object of the bill was now professed to be an act against conventions. Gentlemen said a national convention at Athlone was intended. He did believe that such a one had been intended some time ago, but that then it was not so ; or if then intended, that it would be trifling and con- temptible. His objection to the bill was, that it was a trick, making a supposed National Convention at Athlone, in 1793, a pretext for preventing delegation forever." All opposition was vain. The Govern- ment had fabricated an alar-m^ purposely to get this act passed. Mr. Secretary Hobart's remarks on occasion of this debate, expose clearly enough the whole policy of the Gov- ernment : — • Mr. Hobart declared, nothing gave him more pain, than that the debate on this bill should have extended to such length, or that it should, on the close of the session, create any thing like a disunion of sentiment. He declared that nothing but the very alarming state to which the country had been reduced by a spirit of popular commotion, excited by conventions, usurping the privileges of rep- resentation, and assuming to control Parlia- ment, could have induced him to consent to the introduction of this bill; and even the nobleman, who had brought it into the other House, before he had done so, had considered it over and over again, and did not bring it forward until absolute necessity called for some effectual measure to stem the torrent of sedition, at a time when writs had been is- sued by the society called United Irishmen, for the purpose of assembling the convention at Athlone, and under a conviction, that if Parliament should break up without adopt- ing the bill, which in his idea never did, nor never was intended to meddle with the con- stitutional rights of the people, the constitu- tion itself might be subverted before Parlia- ment could be assembled. The act passed : on the final division, the teller in favor of the passage was Arthur MILITIA BILL CATHOLIC COMMITTEE. 229 Wellcsk-y. Tliere is not, and never was, any f^uch law in England, From that day to tins, it has efl'ectuall}' prevented the people of Ireland from deliberating in an orderly and authoritative manner, by means of accredited delegates, upon their own affairs. It was af- terwards the rock ahead which confronted O'Connell in all his agitation. This law it was which prevented his calling together the promised '"Council of Three Hundred," and left him only the alternative of inorganic "Monster meetings" — which latter indeed were also made criminal by a prudent inter- pretation of law. In this same session of Parliament, and be- fore the passage of the Catholic Relief bill, there was passed a new Militia bill, intro- duced by Lord Hillsborough, to establish the militia, as his lordship said, "as neaily as cir- cumstances would permit, on the same plan as that of England." The whole number of men he proposed to be 16,000, upon a lougli estimate 500 for each county. The new Mibtia law was one of the mo^t efficient of that Series of measures now secured by the Government to enable them at any time to crush down every popular raovemeut which was not to their own taste. The General Committee of the Catholics had adjourne'd after dispatching their dele- gates to the king, and they liad left a sub- committee sitting in Dublin, with power to act for them between their rising and their next meeting ; but they made a material alteration in its constitution, by associating to the twelve members who then formed it, the whole of the country delegates, each of whom was henceforward to be, ipso facto^ a member thereof. They then resolved, unan- imously, that they would reassemble when duly summoned by the sub-committee, who were invested with powers for that pui-pose. " We will attend," cried a member from a remote county [O' Gorman, of Mayo), "if we are summoned to meet across the Atlantic." The sub-committee had entered into a series of negotiations with Mr, Secretary Ho- bart respecting the details of their Relief bill. But although the original demand in the address to the king was for (/eneral relief, including admission to both Houses of Par- liament, it soon became evident to the min- ister that they would take much less. Wolfe Tone, in Ids indignant narrative of these proceedings, says: — " In the first interview with the Irish minister, the two Houses of Parliament were at once given up, and the question began to be, not how much must be conceded, but how much might be withheld. So striking a chav.ge did not escape the vigilance of the administration; they instantly recovered from the panic which had led them into such indiscreet, and, as it now appeared, unnecessary concessions at the opening of Parliament ; they dexterously seduced the Catholics into the strong ground of negotia- tion, so well known to themselves, so little to their adversaries ; they procrastinated, and they distinguished, they started doubts, they pleaded difficulties ; the measure of relief was gradually curtailed, and, daring the tedious and anxious progress of discus- sion, whilst the Catholic mind, their hopes and fears, were unremittingly intent on the progress of their bill, which was obviously and designedly suspended, the acts already commemorated (Militia, Gunpowder, and Convention Acts) were driven through both Houses with the utmost impetuosity, and, with the most cordial and unanimous con- currence of all parties, received the royal assent." In fact, the leading Catholics, wliether prelates or landed proprietors, seemed to be, or atiected to be, quite satisfied with the poor relief they had obtained : and we find henceforth less and less disposition on their part to join in, or to countenance, the ultra- liberal views of the United Irishmen.* In truth, there was no body of men in the three kingdoms more naturally disposed to abhor " French principles" than the Catholic peers, gentry, and bishops, who thought their own interests safer under the British Government than in the liberty and equality of a republic * One of tlie most strikiiii,' indications of tiie snc- oess which iittended the policy of Government to attach to thein the leading Catliolies, and esipecially tlie bishops, and so keep the Catholic body out of tlie United Irish ranks, appears in the tone of the pastoml letters of various prelates to tlieir flocks, in whieli they warned them aorainst " nefarious designs" and lawless persons. From this moment, also, the laborious Mr. Plowden, in his useful Historical Re- vieiD, never has a good word for the unfortunate Defenders, oraiiy other Irishmen who did not choose to submit quietly and patiently to the very uttermost extremities of tyranny. 230 HISTOKY OF IRELAND. on the French model. The ablest workers, it is true, on the General Committee, John Keogh, McNcven, and Richard McCormick. joined the United Irish Society, which had not yet become revolutionary, republican, and separatist, but which was soon to be forced into that extreme position. The same session of Parliament of 1793, saw the passage of some measures which had been amongst the favorite objects of the opposition for years. It seemed, indeed, at the commencement of that session as if the principle of Parliamentary Pteforui were to be admitted and fully carried out. The several great objects which had been urged by the opposition, ever since the last Parlia- ment, with great perseverance and ability, were the Responsibility bill, the Place and the Pension bill. There were also other meas- ures of great consequence, but of less gen- eral importance ; such as the disqualifying of revenue officers from sitting in Parliament, and the repeal of the Police act. By the Re- sponsibility bill, no money could be disposed of by the sole order from the king, as was before the case; for Irish officers were to sign all warrants; and every warrant and officer came before Parliament. The neces- sary consequence of such a bill was, that the hereditary revenue was given up, and, like the additional supply, voted annually. The great effect and consequence of such a meas- ure, any man who understood government, must see at a glance. By the Pension bill all pensioners for years or during pleasure were excluded ; and the sura, which then was near one hundred and twenty thousand poun is a year, was reduced to eighty thousand. By the Place bill, all new places from the date of the bill were disqualified. Officers of revenue, whose duty required their absence from Dublin, were excluded : and the prin- ciple of excluding them all was carried. Besides the acts already mentioned, the following popular acts were passed in the session of 1793, viz. (33 Geo. III., c. xxv.) : " An Act to encoui'age the Improvement of Barren Land ;" (xxxi.) "An Act for regula- ting the Trade of Ireland to and from the East Indies, under certain conditions and provisions for a time therein mentioned ;" (33 Geo. Ill,, c. xxxiv.) "An Act for the support of the Honor and Dignity of Ilis Majesty's Crown in Ireland, and for granting to His Majesty a Civil List Establishment, under certain Provisions and Regulations;" (33 Geo. III., c. xli.) "An Act for securing the Freedom and Independence of the House of Commons, by excluding therefrom Per- sons holding any Offices under the Crown, to be hereafter created, or holding certain Offices therein enumerated, or Pensions for Term of Years, or during His Majesty's Pleas- ure ;" (33 Geo. HI., c. xlviii.) "An Act to remove Doubts respecting the Functions of Juries in Cases of Libel ;" (33 Geo. HI., c. lii.) *'An Act for the Advancement of Trade and Manufactures, by granting the Suras therein mentioned for the Support of Commercial Credit.'' But no general measure of reform could be carried. The conciliatory disposition of the Government abated sensibly in propor tion as the French successes on the Continen seemed more doubtful. In fact, Dumouriez lost the Low Countries as quickly as he had won them : rather indeed he had given up his conquests to the Allies ; having, as is well known, become a traitor to his countiyt The miserable wretch subsisted for many years on a pension from the English Govern- ment, and died in Buckinghamshire, in 1823. It was believed for a time in England that the French Revolution was going back, and that the danger was in a great measure past. They resolved therefore to rely on the tri- fling concessions they had already made to conciliate the opposition party and the upper classes of the Catholics, and to make relent' less use of their new coercion acts in "stamp- ing out" United Irishmen. The session was closed on the 16th of August, 1793. TRIALS OF DEFKNDERS — PACKING JtJRIKS. 2.'31 CHAPTER XXYIir. 1793— 17 yf). Small results of Catholic Relief Hill— distinctions still kept up — Exeiteiiieiit atraiiist the (.''atlioiioa— Trials of Defenders — Faokiiij^ Juries — Pros^ress of United Irishism — Opposed by Catliolie bishops— Arrests of Bond find Butler — Prosecution of A. Hamilton Kowiiii — Last effort for Parliikuientary Reform — Defeated — United Irish MeetiuiT in Diil^lin disper- sed by the Police— Rev. \\'\n. Jackson and Wolfe Tone — Rowan charsrcd with Treason — Rowan es- capes — Tone allowed to quit the country — Vow of the Cave Hill — Fitzwilliain's Administration — Fitzwilliani deceived by Pitt — Dismissal of Mr. B*tresford — Plan of Mr. Pitt — Insurrection first — " Union " afterwards — Fitzwilliani recalled — Great Despondency — The " Orangemen " -»- Beginning of Coercion and Auarcliy. The limited and grudging measure for relief (if the Catholics had by no means had the effect of destroying the odious distinc- tions which had so long divided Irishmen of different religious persuasions. The law indeed was changed, but the insolent and exclusive spirit which had inspired the Penal Code ; the very marked and offen- sive disabilities which still left the Catholic people in a condition of legal inferiority, gave the " Ascendency " ample opportunity to make them feel daily and hourly that they were still a proscribed and oppressed race. Great difficulbies at first prevailed in raising the different regiments of militia; for al- though Catholics were rendered capable of serving in them, no Catholic officers were appointed ; this marked reprobation of all gentlemen of that communion so directly in the teeth of the act, diifused a general dif- fidence amidst the lower orders, and it was found necessary to appoint several Catholic officers, before the militia corps could be completed. Catholics were not yet eligible as mayors or sherilis, but there was now no legal ex- clusion of them from the guilds of mer- chants. Accordingly, thirty highly respect- able Catholic merchants of Dublin applied for admission into their guild, but were rejected on the mere ground of their re- ligion. In every part of the kingdom con- tinual efforts were made to traduce and vilify the whole Catholic body, in order to defeat and annul the measures which the legislature had passed in their favor. Never, perhaps, in all the history of the country, had the viiulent malignity of the bigot? been so busy in chai-ging upon Catholic? all manner of evil principles and practices Their indignant denials of these imputations were utterly unheeded. Every town cor- poration followed the example of that of Dublin, and excluded Catholics even from the poor privilege of belonging to the guild of their trades. The growth and progress of Defenderism, particularly in the countv of Meath, afforded fuel to the enemies of the Catholic body, which they studied to im- plicate in the outrages which were some- limes committed. Painful industry was employed to work up the imaginations of the inhabitants into the expectation of a general massacre of all the Protestants throughout that countv. No arts wei-e left, untried to criminate the Catholic body ; every exceptionable word or action of an in- dividual, however contem|)lible, was charged on the whole ; and the object was now, not so much to suppress the Defenders, as to fasten their enormities on the Catholic body. On several trials which took place at the assizes for Meath County in prosecuting men charged with being Defenders, the juries were comj)Osed exclusively of Prot- estants. Catholics, it is true, were legally competent to sit on juries, but in every case of prosecution by the crown, the Protestant sheriff took care to show them that they were not regarded as "good and lawful men." Irritated and humiliated by such continued oppression, it is not wonderful if many of the Catholics began to despair of being ever allowed to live in peace and honor in their native land without such a revolution as would destroy both the "As- cendency " and the English connection along with it. Great numbers of them about this time joined the United Irish Society, which was not yet indeed a revolutionary or re- publican body in form, although its princi- pal leaders were revolutionists in piinciple, and already foresaw the necessity which shortly after drove them into armed insur- rection. The Catholic bishops, it must be admitted (if it be any credit to them), most vehemently opposed the United Irishmen, and omitted no occasion of protesting their "loyalty," and pouring execration upon 232 HISTORY OF IKELAIO). " Freiicli iiriiiciplcs." In tlie humble ad- dress to the Khig fmra nine Catholic bishops, we find these strong expressions, which prove a spirit of the most determined submissive- iiess under oppression : — "Whilst we lament the necessity that in- flicts the calamities of war upon any, even the most depraved of our fellow-creatures, we incessantly supplicate the Almiglity Dis- poser of events, that, blessing your Majesty's arms with success. He may crown you with the glory of stopping the progress of that atheistical faction, which aims at the sub- version of every religious and moral prin- ciple. " We look towards that unhappy nation, which is the object of hostility, and aclvnowl- edge with humble thanksgiving the goodness of Divine Providence, which, under the best of constitutions, has bestowed on the land we live in, freedom exempt from anarchy, protection guarded against oppression, and a prince calculated by his wisdom and virtue to preserve tliat happy condition of society." It is a part of the history of our country that these four archbishops and five bishops did actually bear this high testimony to the freedom and happiness of Ireland, at a time when every accused Catholic was tried be- fore a packed jury of his enemies — when no Catholic could be a magistrate or sheriff, and therefore no Catholic had the least chance of justice in any court — when the un- fortunate flocks of these prelates were having their stacks of grain sold to pay tithes to cler- gymen they never saw, and church-rates to support churches which they never entered. Tlie government now began a system of active operations against tlie United Irish- men. Two of their chiefs, Simon Butler and Oliver Bond, the first a barrister, the second a Dublin merchant, had already, in 1792, been summoned to the bar of the House of Lords, charged with having acted as chairman and secretary of one of the meet- ings in Taylor's Hall, at which an address to the people was adopted, very strongly denouncing the corrupt composition of Par- liament. This was construed as an offence against the privilege of Parliament ; and Butler and Bond were condemned to be imprisoned for six months, and to pay each a fine of £500. The next leader marked for vengeance was the famous Archibald Hamilton Rowan, the friend of Tone, and one of the boldest of the early chiefs of the Society. It was determined to prosecute him ou a charge of sedition, on account of an address " to the Volunteers," adopted at a meeting where he acted as secretary. The address had been adopted and ptib- lished two years before ; yet the govern- ment had hesitated all this while to bring him to trial. In fact, arrangements had first to be perfected to ensure the packing of the jury. This was done by making Jolm Giffard, one of the most unscrupulous and indefatigable partizans of the "Ascen- dancy," one of the Sheriffs of Dublin ; he knew precisely on what jurors the Castle could depend. It was on occasion of this trial that the system of jury-packing was thoroughly organized and reduced to an art ; it has since that time formed the chief .instrument of British government in Ire- land. The prosecuted address was written by Drennan ; and its first paragraph will show the nature of the " sedition : " — " Citizen-soldiers, you first took up arms to protect your country from foreign ene- mies and from domestic disturbance ; for the same purposes it now becomes necessary, that you should resume them ; a proclama- tion has been issued in England for em- bodying the militia, and a proclamation has been issued by the Lord- Lieutenant and Council in Ireland for repressing all seditious associations ; in consequence of both these proclamations, it is reasonable to apprehend danger from abroad and danger at home, from whence but from apprehended danger are these menacing preparations for war drawn through the streets of this capital, or whence if not to create that iuternal com- motion which was not found, to sliake that credit which was not affected, to blast that volunteer honor which was hitherto inviolate, are those terrible suggestions and rumors and whispers that meet us at every corner, and agitate at least our old men, our women, and children ; whatever be the motive, or from whatever quarter it arises, alarm has arisen, and you volunteers of Ireland are therefore summoned to arms at the instance of government as well as "by the respoasi« LAST EFFORT OF PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 233 bility attached to your character, and the permanent obligations of your constitution. We will not at this day condescend to quote authorities for the right of having and of using arms, but we will cry aloud, even amidst the storm raised by the witchcraft of a proclamation, that to your formation was owing the peace and protection of this island, to your relaxation has been owing its relapse into impotence and insignificance, to your reuovatiou must be owing its future freedom and its present tranquillity ; you are therefore summoned to arms, in order to preserve your country in that guarded quiet, which may secure it from external hostility, and to maintain that internal regimen throughout the land, which, superseding a notorious police, or a suspected militia, may preserve the blessings of peace by a vigilant preparation for war." The address went on to recommend a civil and military convention, which was not against the law at that time, though in the next year the " Convention Act" was passed to prevent all such assemblies. Upon this the Attorney-General filed an ex-oficio information. The trial came on the Syth of January, 1194:, though the informa- tion had been filed as far back as the 8th of the preceding June. Upon calling over the jury one of them was objected against, as holding a place under the crown, but the Attorney-General insisted upon the illegality of the objection, and observed, that it went against all that was honorable and respect- able in the land. It was, therefore, overruled by the court. After a trial of about ten hours, the jury found Rowan guilty. This was very unexpected by Mr. Rowan's party. A motion was afterwards made in court to set aside the verdict, and grant a new trial grounded on several affidavits. The motion was argued for six days, and was at last discharged. The grounds upon which the defendant's counsel rested their case were, 1. Upon the declaration of a juror against Mr. Rowan, viz., that the country would never be quiet till lie was hanged or banished. 2. Upon the partiality of Mr. Giffard, the sheriff, who had so arrayed the panel as to have him tried by an unfair jury. 3. Upon the incredibility of one LisLer, the chief and only witness agaiuat him ; and 4. The mis- 30 direction of the court. The sentence of the court upon Mr. Rowan was to pay to His Majesty a fine of £500 and be imprisoned two years, to be computed from the 29th of January, 1794, and until the fine were paid, and to find security for his good be- havior for seven years, himself in £2,000, and two su.)-elies in £1,000 each. The ver- dict and judgment of the court gave great dissatisfaction to the popular party. Theif disapprobation of the verdict was expressed in court by groans and hisses. Parliament met on the 21st of January; and in March, Mr. Wm. Brabazon Ponsonby presented his bill for amending the state of the representation of the people in Parlia- ment. Mr. Grattan and Sir Lawrence Parsons supported the bill ; the government party does not seem to have even taken the trouble to debate the question, being quite sure of the result. On motion of Sir Her- cules Langrishe it was ordered to be read a second time that day six months ; and so ended all efforts for reform in the Irish Par- liament. The Houses were prorogued ou the 25th of March. In the meantime, Hamilton Rowan was lying in Newgate, according to his sentence. The United Irish Society of Dublin voted him an address in his prison, vehemently denouncing the packing of juries, and prom- ising " inflexible determination to pursue the great ol)ject of our association — a?i equal and impartial representation of the people in Farliament." But the government was now determined to treat these extra-parliamen- tary reformers without ceremony. On the 4 th of May, their ordinary place of meeting, the Taylor's Hall in Back lane, was invaded by the police, the meeting dispersed and the papers seized. After this event many of the more timid, or prudent members, fell off altogether from the society ; but the njore resolute and indignant, especially the re- publican portion of the body, made up their minds from this moment to re-orgunizo the society upon a distinctly revolutionary and military basis, which they effected in the course of the next year. Tlieir reasons for taking this extreme resolution were — that as the people were not fairly represented in Parliament, and had no hope of being so represented — as the Convention Act had 234 HISTOEY OF IRELAND. deprived them of the right to consult on their coraraon affairs pubUcly, by means of delegates appointed for that purpose — and as even trial by jury was now virtually abolished, so that no man's life or liberty had any longer the slightest protection from the laws, they were thrown back upon their original rights and remedies as human beings — that is to say, the right and remedy of revolution, A few days before the attack of the police upon Taylor's Hall, a certain Rev. William Jackson, a clergyman of the Church of England, was arrested in Dublin on a charge of high treason. He had come from France, with instructions from the govern- ment of the republic to have an emissary appointed by the United Irish leaders who should go to Paris and negotiate for French aid in a revolutionary movement. He had come by way of London ; and there Mr. Pitt, who was perfectly aware of his errand and his every movement, contrived that he should be provided with a companion upon his mission. This was one Cockayne, an attorney, who came to Dublin with Mr. Jackson, and affected great zeal in the cause of liberty and of Ireland. Jackson had letters of introduction to Lord Edward Fitzgerald, who refused, however, to hold any communication with him. He was in- troduced, however, to Wolfe Tone, and had several interviews with Rowan in prison. Tone at first entered into his views, and undertook to be himself the agent who should go to France ; but at the nest in- terview, having conceived suspicions of Cockayne, if not of Jackson himself, he drew back, and declined further negotiation. Rowan, however, was less cautions, and had many interviews with Jackson and Cockayne, in which he endeavored first to secure Tone's services as the French agent, and on his re- fusal. Dr. Reynolds'. All this while Mr. Pitt and the government were kept fully apprised of all that was going forward ; and at length, when it was supposed there was evidence enough to involve Jackson, Tone, Rowan and Reynolds in a charge of high treason, Jackson was arrested, brought to trial the next year, convicted on the tes- timony of Cockayne, and about to be sen- tenced to death, when he dropped dead in court, having swallowed arsenic for that purpose. On the 1st of May, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, now certain of being tried, convicted and executed for high treason, escaped from Newgate prison, arrived in France, and thence proceeded to America. Reynolds avoided arrest by timely flight. Tone was not apprehended ; but he was given to un- derstand that the accusation was hangrin": over him ; and was left the option of quitting the country, but without any promise being exacted on his part as to his course for the future. Before going away, he wrote a narrative of the two conversations he had with Jackson. Tone's son, in his memoir of his father, says : " When my father de- livered this paper, the prevalent opinion, which he then shared, was, that Jackson was a secret emissary employed by the British Government. It required the un- fortunate man's voluntary death to clear his character of such a foul imputation. What renders this transaction the more odious, is, that, before his arrival in Ireland, the life of Jackson was completely in the power of the British Government. His evil genius was already pinned upon bim ; his mission from France, his every thought and his views, were known. He was allowed to proceed, not in order to detect an existing conspiracy in Ireland, but to form one, and thus increase the number of victims. A more atrocious instance of perfidious, and gratuitous cruelty is scarcely to be found in the history of any country but Ireland." In May, 1765, Tone proceeded to Belfast with his family, met there some of his early associates in the formation of the first United Irish Club, and made some agreeable excursions with them. One of the scenes which he describes in his memoirs is im- pressive, seen in the light of subsequent events : " I remember, particularly, two days that we passed on the Cave hill. On the first, Russell, Neilson, Simms, M'Crackeu and one or two more of us, on the summit of MArt's fort, took a solemn obligation, which, I think I may say, I have on my part endeavored to fulfill — never to desist in our efforts, until we had subverted the authority of England over our country, and asserted her independence." FITZWILLIAM S ADMINISTRATIOX. 235 Tone had already solemnly promised his friends in Dublin, that if he now retired to the United States, it would only be to pro- ceed thence to France, and labor to form the alliance which he regarded as the grand mission of his life between the French Re- public and a republic in Ireland. In the beginning of the year 1795, owing to certain arrangements between the Eng- lish ministers and those lately " coalized " Whigs who had been admitted to a share in the administration, Lord Westmoreland was recalled from Ireland, and Lord Fitzvvilliam was sent over as Lord-Lieutenant. Tliis gave great hope and satisfaction to the Irish Catholics and their friends in Parlia- ment. Lord Fitzwilliam was a Whig of the Burke school, a close friend of the Duke of Portland ; and it was universally under- stood that he had not undertaken the gov- ernment of Ireland save on the express terms that complete Catholic Emancipation would be made a government measure. In- deed, this was well known ; for before con- senting to come to Ireland he had induced Mr. G rattan to go over and confer with him on the policy to be pursued. Mr. Grat- tan, of course, made the emancipation of the Catholics the main and indispensable point ; and the Duke- of Portland and Lord Fitz- william fully concurred, with the distinct assent also of Mr. Pitt. For the due un- derstanding of the cruel fraud which that minister was now meditating upon the Irish nation, it is needful that this previous ar- rangement of policy should be made clear ; and, fortunately, we have the evidence, both of Mr. Grattan and Lord Fitzwilliam him- self, in full contradiction to the reckless as- sertions of Fitzgibbon. Mr. Grattan, in his Answer to Lord Clare, says : " In summer, on a change being made in the British Cabinet, being informed by some of the learned persons therein, that the admin- istration of the Irish Department was to be- long to them, and that they sent for us to adopt our measures, I stated the Catholic Emancipation to be one of them." And Lord Fitzwilliam, in his letters to Lord Carlisle, makes this explicit statement : " From the very beginning, as well as through the whole progress of that fatal business, for fatal I fear I must call it, I acted in perfect conformity witli the original outline settled between me and His Majesty's ministry, previous to my departure from London. From a full consideration of the real merits of the case, as well as from every information I had been able to collect of the state and temper of Ireland, from the year 1790, I was decidedly of opinion, that not only sound policy, but justice, required, on the part of Great Britain, that the work, which was left imperfect at that period, ought to be completed, and the Catholics relieved from every remaining disqualifica- tion. In this opinion the Duke of Portland uniformly concurred with me, and when this question came under discussion, previous to my departure for Ireland, I found the Cab- inet, with Mr. Pitt at their head, strongly impressed with the same conviction. Had I found it otiierwise, I never would have undertaken the government. I at first pro- posed that the additional indulgences should be offered from the throne ; the very best effects would be secured by this act of un- solicited graciousness ; and the embarrass- ing consequences which it was natural to foresee must result from the measures being left open for any volunteer to bring forward, would be. timely and happily avoided. But to this proposal objections were started, that appeared of sufficient weight to induce the- adoption of another plan. I consented not to bring the question forward on the part of government, but rather to en- deavor to keep it back, until a period of more generrfi tranquillity, when so many material objects might not press upon the government, but as the principle was agreed on, and the necessity of its being brought into full effect was universally allowed, it was at the same time resolved, that if the Catholics should appear determined to stir the business, and bring it before Parliament, I was to give it a handsome support on the part of the government. " I was no sooner landed, and informed of the real state of things here, than I found that question would forc'e itself upon my immediate consideration. Faithful to the system that had been agreed on, and anxious to attain the object that had been commit- ted to my discretion, I lost not a moment in gaining every necessary information, or 23G HISTORY OF IRELAND. in triuismitiing the result to the British Cabinet. As early as the 8th of January, I wrote to the Secretary of State on the sub- ject ; I told him that I trembled about the Komau Catholics ; that I had great fears about keeping them quiet for the session ; that I found the question already in agita- tion ; that a committee was appointed to bring forward a petition to Parliament, praying for a repeal of all remaining dis- qualifications. I mentioned my intentions of immediately using what efforts I could to stop the progress of it, and to bring the Catholics back to a confidence in govern- ment. I stated the substance of some con- versations I had on the subject with some of the principal persons of the country. It was the opinion of one of these, that if the postponing of the question could be nego- tiated on grounds of expediency, it ought not to be resisted by government. That it should be put off for some time, was al- lowed by another to be a desirable thing, but the principle of extension was at the same time strongly insisted on, and forcibly in- culcated, as a matter of the most urgent necessity." Lord Fitzwilliam took possession of his government on the 4th of January, 1795. Parliament stood prorogued until the 22d of January. He occupied the intervening time in making some dismissals from office, which created great dismay and resentment in tlie Castle circles, and proportional joy in the minds of the people. Mr. Grattan was in- vited to accept the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, but declined. Mr. Ponsonby and Mr. Curran were to be made Attorney and Solicitor-Greneral ; and these appointments in themselves were significant of a marked change in the Irish policy. But nothing struck the country with such surprise and pleasure, mingled with a|)prehension, as the dismissal of Mr. Beresford from the Revenue Board. The Beresford family was at that time the most powerful of the aristocracy of Ire- land ; had the two peerages of Waterford and Tyrone, and had also been so successful in its constant efforts to create for itself a controlling influence by means of patronage and boroughmongering, that it was thought no viceroy could dare to displace a Beres- ford. lu the letter cited before, addressed to Lord Carlisle, Fitzwilliam says : "And now for the grand question about Mr. Beresford. In a letter of mine to Mr. Pitt on this subject, I reminded him of a conver- sation, in which I had expressed to him (in answer to the question put to him by me,) my apprehensions, that it would be necessary to remove that gentleman, and that he did not offer the slightest objection, or say a single word in favor of Mr. Beresford. Tliis alone would have made me suppose that I should be exempt from every imputation of breach of agreement if I determined to re- move him ; but when, on my arrival here, I found all those apprehensions of his danger- ous power, w^hich Mr. Pitt admits I had often represented to him, were fully justified ; when he was filling a situation greater than that of the Lord-Lieutenant ; and I clearly saw, that if I had connected myself with him, it would have been connecting myself with a person under universal heavy suspicions, and suVyecting my government to all the opprobrium and unpopularity at- tendant upou his mal-administration." This bold step, as it was then felt to be, still further confirmed the joyful expectation, that an ample Catholic Relief bill would suon be brought in and sustained by the government. All the Catholics and liberal Protestants were highly pleased at the pros- pect. The Northern Star, organ of the United Irishmen, published in Belfast, had triumphantly announced Catholic Emanci- pation as a matter settled. The Catholics generally agreed to put their case into the hands of Mr. Grattan, their old and warm advocate; and it seems highly probable that if the compact made with Lord Fitzwil- liam bad been observed, and all the remain- ing disabilities of Catholics frankly removed at once, the insurrection would never have taken place, and infinite misery and atrocity saved to the country. But Mr. Pitt knew well that if there were no insurrection there would also be no union. He had his plans already almost matured; and his chief ad- viser for Irish affairs was the thorough Lord Clare. Mr. Beresford, the dismissed Commission- er of the Revenue, at once went to England, laid his complaints before Mr. Pitt, and even had an audience of the King. Lord INSUREECTION FIRST UNION AFTERWARDS. 237 ritzwilliaiu very sooa found, from the tenor of the letters he received from Pitt, that the minister was dissatisfied with some of his measures ; and disquieting rumors prevailed that he would not long remain in Ireland. In the meantime, Catholic petitions poured into the House. Mr. Grattan moved for leave to bring in his Catholic Relief bill; and leave was given with only three dissentient voices. This was of itself a very remarkable feature in Irish politics ; and what was even more notable was the fact that no counter-petitions of Protestants were sent in. The nation was in good hu- mor; and the House voted larger supplies in men and money for carrying on the war than had ever been voted in Ireland before. Now the unpleasant rumors became more positive, and assumed more consistence. On the 28th of February, Sir Lawrence Par- sons, in his place in Parliament, asked the members opposite if the rumors were true; but received no answer. Sir Lawrence added, "he was sorry to be obliged to con- strue the silence of the right honorable and honorable gentlemen into a confirmation of this rumor; and he deplored most deeply the event, which, at the present time, must tend to throw alarming doubts on the promises, which had been held out to the people, of measures to be adopted for tlie promotion of their happiness, the concilia- tion of their minds, and the common at- tachment of every class of his majesty's faithful subjects of Ireland, in support of the same happy constitution. If those measures were now to be relinquished, which gentlemen had promised with so much confidence to the country, and on the faith of which, the House had been called on to vote the enormous sum of one million seven hundred thousand pounds, he must consider his country as brought to the most awful and alarming crisis she had ever known in any period of her history." He then moved an address to His Excel- lency, entreating him to remain in his gov- ernment; Mr. Duquery seconded the mo- tion, and used very strong language with respect to the conduct of Mr. Pitt, " who, not satisfied," he said, "with having in- volved the country in a disastrous war, in- tended to complete the mischief by risking the internal peace of Ireland, making that country the dupe of his fraud and artifice, in order to swindle the. nation out of £1, 700,000 to support the war on the faith of measures which it now seemed were to be refu,sed." And now all proceedings on the Catho- lic Relief bill were suspended, by positive orders from England; and as Mr. Grattaa had acted in bringing it forward as a min- isterial supporter he could only acquiesce, though with the gloomiest forebodings. Again, on the 2d of March, Sir Law- rence Parsons made a very violent speech, severely reprobating the bad faith of the British Cabinet with regard to Lord Fitz- william. "But the great object," he said, " of the motion he was about to make was to calm the public mind, to give the people an assurance that the measures which were proposed would not bo abandoned; that the Parliament would keep the means in their hands until they were accomplished; and that they would not be prorogued un- til they were fairly and fully discussed. He did not pretend to say specifically what these measures were. The first he believed to be the Catholic bill; and if a resistance to any one measure more than another was likely to promote dreadful consequences it was this. He said nothing as to the orig- inal propriety of the measure; but tliis much he would say, that if the Irish admin- istration had countenanced the Catholics in this expectation, without the concurrence of the British Cabinet, they had much to an- swer for. On the other hand, if the Brit- ish Cabinet had held out an assent, and had afterwards retracted; if the daemon of dark- ness should come from the Infernal regions upon earth, and throw a fire-brand amongst the people, he could not do more to pro- mote mischief. Tiie hopes of the public were raised, and in one instant they were blasted. If the House did not resent that insult to the nation and to themselves, they would in his mind be most contemptible; for although a majority of the people might submit to be mocked in so barefaced a man- ner, the case was not as formerly, when all the Parliament of Ireland was against the Catholics; and to back them, the force 238 HISTOEY OF lEELAND. of England." Now, although the claim of the Catholics was well known and under- stood, not one petition controverting it had been presented from Protestants in any part of Ireland. No remonstrance ap- peared, no county meeting had been held. What was to be inferred from all this, but that the sentiments of the Protestants were for the emancipation of the Catholics ? A meeting was held on Saturday last at the Royal Exchange of the merchants and traders of the metropolis, which was as nu- merously attended as the limits of that building would admit. The Governor of the Bank of Ireland was in the chair. An address was resolved on to His Excellency Lord Fitzwilliam, full of affection, and re- solutions strong as they could be in counte- nance of the Catholic claim. He would ask them, was the British minister to con- trol all the interests, talents, and inclina- tions in that country ? He protested to God, that in all the history he had read, he 'had never met with a parallel of such omin- ous infatuation as that by which he ap- peared to be led. " Let them persevere," said he, " and you must increase your army to myriads; every man must have five or six dragoons in his house." Sir Lawrence ended with a motion to limit the Money bill; but this motion was voted down by a large majority. Members could hardly yet believe that so great a villany was intend- ed, Mr. Conolly, however, remarked "that he would vote for it if he did not hear something satisfactory " — namely about the retention of I;ord Fitzwilliam. "Within a few days after Lord Fitzwilliam was re- called from Ireland. No more was heard about Catholic Relief for nearly forty years. Lord Camden succeeded as viceroy, and the country was delivered over to its now inev- itable ordeal of slaughter and desolation ; an ordeal which, in Mr. Pitt's opinion, was needful to pave the way for the Legislative Union. Mr. Plowden has very truly de- scribed the effect of these transactions upon the nation: — "The report of Earl Fitzwilliam's intended removal was no sooner credited, than an universal despondency, in some instances bordering on desperation, seized the whole nation. Meetino-s were formed throughout the kingdom, in order to convey to their beloved and respected Governor, their high sense of his virtue and patriotism, and their just indignation at his and their country's enemies. The deep and settled spirit of discontent which at this time pervaded all ranks of people, was not confined to the Catholics. The Dissenters and as many of the Protestants of the establishment, as had not an interest in that monopoly of power and influence, which Earl Fitzwilliam had so openly attacked and so fearfully alarmed, felt the irresistible effect : all good Irishmen beheld with sorrow and indignation, the re- conciliation of all parties, interests, and relig- ions defeated, the cup of national union dashed from their eager lips, and the spirit of discord let loose upon the kingdom with an enlarged commission to inflame, aggra- vate, and destroy. Such were the feelings, and such the language of those who de- plored the removal of that nobleman, in the critical moment of giving peace, strength, and prosperity to their country. And how large a part of the Irish nation lamented the loss of their truly patriotic Governor, may be read in the numberless addresses and resolutions that poured in ilpon him both before and after his actual departure, expressive of their grief, despair, and indig- nation at that ominous event. They came from every description of persons, but from Right Boys, Defenders, and the old de- pendants upon the castle." The people of Ireland, of all sects and classes seemed seized with a sudden undefined horror at the prospects before them. They saw that a great opportunity was lost. And they had no mortal quarrel with one another, save the quarrel always made for them, always forced on them, by an English min- ister sitting safe in his Cabinet at Westmin- ster. Many on both sides who were des- tined soon to meet in deadly struggle could have prayed that this cup might pass. On the 25th of March, 1795, Lord Fitzwilliam took his departure from Ireland, when the resentment, grief, and indignation of the public were most strongly marked. It was a day of general gloom : the shops were shut; no business of any kind was transact- ed, and the whole city put on mourning. His coach was drawn to the water side by GREAT DESPONDENCY — THE "ORANGEMEN. 239 some of the most respectable citizens, and cordial sorrow appeared ou every counte- nance. The reception of Earl Camden, who arrived in Dublin five days after, wore a very different complexion ; displeasure appeared generally : many strong traits of disapprobation were exhibited, and some of the populace were so outrageous, that it became necessary to call out a military force in order to quell the disturbances that ensued. Still the rage for meetings and addresses continued. On the 9th of April a most numerous and respectable meeting of the Catholics was had in their chapel in Francis street, to receive the report of their dele- gates, who had presented their petition at St. James' : when Mr. Keogh reported, that in execution of their mission, they had on the 13th of March presented their peti- tion to His Majesty, and had received what ■was generally termed a gracious reception. That they had afterwards felt it their .duty to request an audience with the Duke of Portland, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, to receive such informa- tion as he should think fit to impart rela- tive to His Miijesty's determination on the subject of their address. That his grace declined givrng any information whatever, save that His Majesty had imparted his pleasure thereon to the Lord-Lieutenant, and that he was the proper channel through which that information should pass. Here their mission was determined. Mr. Keogh continued to deliver his sentiments upon the critical situation of affairs, and amongst many strong things, which fell from him, one observation gave particular offence to government. He was not, he said, sorry that the measure had been attempted, though it had been defeated : for it pointed out one fact at least, in which the feelings of every Irishman were interested, and by which the Irish Legislature would be roused to a sense of its own dignity. It showed that the internal regulations of Ireland, to which alone an Irish Parliament was competent, were to be previously ad- justed by a British Cabinet. Whilst this debate was going on, a very large party of the young men of the college came into the chapel, and were most honorably received. Some of them joined in the debate. They came that hour from presenting an address to Mr. Grattan, to thank and congratulate i him upon his patriotic efforts in the cause I of Catholic Emancipation, and the reform i of those abuses, which had inflamed public indignation, to which Mr. Grattan made an ^ appropriate answer. Every patriotic Irish- man must look back with unavailing regret to the lost opportunity, or rather to the cruel deception, of Lord Fitzwilliam's short administration. There was really at that moment a disposition to bury the hatchet of strife. At no subsequent period, down to this day, were the two nations which make up the Irish population, so well dis- posed to amalgamate and unite. But that did not suit the exigencies of British policy. There was to be an insurrection, in order that there might be a Legislative Union. la this same eventful year of 1795, British policy was materially aided by a new and portentous institution — the Orange Society. The recall of Lord Fitzwilliam, and the abso- lute and most inevitable despair of obtain- ing either Reform of Parliament or Catho- lic Emancipation under the existing order of things, had driven vast numbers of the people, of both religions, into the United Irish Society. A spirit of union and frater- nity was spreading fast. " Then," says Mr. Plowden, " the gentlemen in place became frightfully alarmed for their situations ; ac- tive agents were sent down to Armagh, to turn the ferocity and fanaticism of the Peep of Day Boys into a religious contest with the Catholics, under the specious appear- ance of zeal for Church and King. Personal animosity was artfully converted into relig- ious rancor ; and for the specious purpose of taking off the stigma of delinquency, the appellation of Peep of Day Boys was changed into that of Orangemen." It was in the northern part of Armagh County that this bloody association originated, and Mr. Thomas Veruer enjoyed the bad emi- nence of being its first " Grand Master." Tlieir test is said to have been : " In the awful presence of Almighty God, I, A. B., do solemnly swear, that I will, to the utmost of my power, support the King and the present government; and I do further swear, that I will use my utmost exertions 240 HISTORY OP IRELAND. to exterminate all the Catholics of the king- dom of Ireland." But this oath, being secret, has latterly been denied by the Orangemen of respectability and conse- quence. It has been generally credited, that it was taken by all the original lodges, and continued afterwards to be taken by the lower classes. The Orange oath is given in the above terms in a pamphlet published in 1197, called " A View of the Present State of Ireland," which is attrib- uted to Arthur O'Connor. But whatever may have been the original form of engage- ment, or however it may have since been changed by more politic " Grand Masters," nothing is more certain than that the Orange Society did immediately and most seriously apply themselves to the task of exterminating the Catholics. There is quite as little doubt that this shocking society was encouraged by the government, and by most of the mngistrates and country gentle- men to keep alive religions animosity, and prevent the spread of the United Irish or- ganization. An union of Irishmen, upon the just, liberal, and fraternal basis of this organization, would have rendered impossi- ble that other " Union " on which Mr. Pitt had set his heart — the Union of Ireland with England. The recall of Lord Fitzwil- liam and the arrival of Lord Camden gave the signal for the bloody anarchy, through which Ireland was doomed to pass for the next four years, and which, it was deliber- ately calculated, was to end in her extinc- tion as a nation. CHAPTER XXIX. 1795—1797. "To Hell or Connaught" — "Vigor beyond the Law " — Lord Carhampton's Vigor — Insurrection Act — Indemnity Act — Tiie latter an invitation to Magistrates to break the law — Mr. Grattan on the Orangemen — His Resolution — The Acts Passed — Opposed by Grattan, Parsons, and Lord Edward Fitzgerald — Insurrection Act destroys Liberty of the Press — Suspension of Habeas Corpus — TJ. I. Society — New Members — Lord E. Fitzgerald — Mac Neven — Emmet — Wolf Tone at Paris— His Journal —Clarke— Carnot—Hoche—Bantry Bay Expedi- tion — Account of, in Tone's Journal — Fleet An- chors in Bantry Bay— Account of the affair by Secret Committee of the Lords— Government fully Informed of all the Projects. The chief object of the government and its agents was now to invent and dissemi- nate fearful rumors of intended massacres of all the Protestant people by the Catho- lice. Dr. Madden says : " Efforts were made to infuse into the mind of the Pro- testant feelings of distrust to his Catholic fellow-countrymen. Popish plots and con- spiracies were fabricated with a practical facility, which some influential authorities conceived it no degradation to stoop to ; and alarming reports of these dark confed- erations were circulated with a restless assiduity." The effects were soon apparent in the atrocities committed by the Orange- men in Armagh, and by the magistrates and military in other countries. The per secuted " Defenders" of Armagh made some feeble attempts to protect themselves, though almost without arras. This resist- ance led to the transaction called " Battle of the Diamond," near the village of that name, on the 2 1st of September, 1795. Several writers have alleged that the Cath- olics invited this conflict by a challenge sent to the Orangemen. Of course, the lat- ter, having abundance of arras, and being sure of the protection of the magistrates, were not slow to accept such an invitation ; but nothing can be more absurd than to term the affair a battle. Not one of the Orange party was killed or wounded. Four or five Defenders were killed, and a propor- tionate number wounded ; and this is the glorious battle that has been toasted at Orange banquets from that day to the present. Mr. Eraraet* thus describes the transaction: "The Defenders were speed- ily defeated with the loss of some few killed and left on the field of battle, besides the wounded, whom they carried away. * * The Catholics, after this, never attempted to make a stand, but the Orangemen com- menced a persecution of the blackest dye. They would no longer permit a Catholic to exist in the country. They posted up on the cabins of these unfortunate victims tliis pithy notice, "To Hell or Connaught;" and appointed a limited time in which the necessary removal of persons and property was to be made. If, after the expiration of that period, the notice had not been complied with, the Orangemen assembled, destroyed the furniture, burned the habitations, and • Pieces of Irish History. 'VIGOR BEYOND THE LAW. 241 forced the ruined families to fly elsewhere for shelter." Mr. Emmet adds, " While the?e outrages were going on, the resident magis- trates were not found to resist them, and in some instances were even more than inactive spectators." Dr. Madden has preserved and printed a number of the " notices," ill- spelled, but sufiBciently intelligible, which were posted on the cabin doors. But the Orangemen by no means confined them- selves to mere forcible ejectment of their enemies. Many fearful murders were com- mitted on the unresisting people ; and what gives perhaps the clearest idea of the persecution is the fact that senen thousand persons were estimated in the next year to have been either killed or driven from their homes in that one small county alone.* But the unhappy outcasts, even when they escaped with their lives, had no shelter to fly to. In most cases they could only wan- der on the mountains until either death re- lieved them, or they were arrested and im- prisoned ; while the younger men were sent, without ceremony, to one of the " tenders," then lying in various seaports, and thence transferred on board British men-of-war. This was the device originally of Lord Car- harapton, then commanding in Ireland. It was called a "-vigor beyond the law;" a del- icate phrase which has since come very much into use to describe outrages commit- ted by magistrates against the law. Dur- ing all the rest of this year the greater part of Leiuster, with portions of Ulster and Munster, were in the utmost terror and agony; the Orange magistrates, aided by the troops, arresting and imprisoning, with- out any charge, multitudes of unoffending people, under one pretext or another. It is right to present a sample of the story as told by " loyal men." Thus, then, the mat- ter is represented by Sir Richard Musgrave, p. 145: "Lord Carhampton, finding that the laws were silent and inoperative in the counties which he visited, and that they did not afford protection to the loyal and peace- able subjects, who in most places were obliged to Jly from their habitations, resolved to re- ♦ Mr. Plowden, who is as hostile to the Defenders as any Orangeman, saya from ttve to seven thousand. O'Connor, Emmet and MacNeven, in their Memoirs of tlie Union, say " seven thoasand driven from their homes." 3t store them to their usual energy, by the following salutary system of severity : ' In each county he assembled the most respectable gentlemen and landholders in it, and having, in concert with them, exam- ined the charges against the leaders of this banditti, who were in prison, but defied jus- tice, he, wilh the concurrence of these gen- tlemen, sent the most nefarious of them on board a tender, stationed at Sligo, to serve in His Majesty's navy.' " There is no doubt that great numbers of people were obliged to fly from their habitations ; but then these were the very people whom Lord Carhampton and the magistrates called banditti, and sent to the tender as " nefa- rious." Such is, however, a specimen of the history of these times as told upon Orange authority. In the midst of these painful scenes. Parliament assembled on the 2 1 st of Janu- ary, 1796. Lord Camden, in his speech from the throne, congratulated them ou " the brilliant successes of the Austrian armies upon the Rhine;" and then, alluding to dangerous secret societies, he intimated that certain additional powers would be called for ; in other words, martial law. The Attorney-General lost no time in bring- ing forward an Insurrection Act and an Indemnity Act — the latter being for the puipose of indemnifying magistrates and military officers against the consequences of any of their illegal outrages upon the people. Mr. Curran wished to know the extent and nature of that delinquency, which it was intended to indemnify ; when Mr. M. Beresford observed, the word delinquency was not applicable to the persons intended; a part of the country was alarmingly dis- turbed; the magistrates and others invested with power had, in order to prevent the necessity of proclaiming martial law univer- sally, acted in that particular district, as if martial law were proclaimed : this conduct, so far from being delinquency, was justifi* able and laudable, and of happy conse- quence in the event. On the 28th of the month, the Attorney- General adverted to the notice he had given on the first night of the session, of his intention of bringing in two bills : the 242 HISTORY OP IBELAND. object of one of them was, for preventing in future insurrections, and tumults, and riots in this kingdom ; and the object of the other bill was, to indemnify certain magistrates and others, who, in tlieir exertions for the preservation of the public tranquillity, might have acted against the forms and rules of iaw ; he stated that the bill for the more effectually preventing of insurrections, tu- mults, and riots, by persons styling them- selves Defenders, and other disorderly per- sons, was, however repugnant to his feel- ings. He said, that the act then in force for administering unlawful oaths was not suffi- ciently strong, and the administering of un- lawful oaths was the source of all the trea- sonable actions which had taken place in the country: the bill proposed, that the ad- ministering of unlawful oaths should be felony of death; but he would propose, that that bill should be but a tempo- rary law ; there was also a clause in the bill to enable the magistrates, at the quarter sessions, to take up all idle vagrants and persons who had no visible means of earning a livelihood, and send them to serve on board the fleet ; he said he did not propose to hurry this bill through the House, but give time for the considera- tion, as it might be necessary to add much, and make several alterations. He then moved for leave " to bring in a bill for the more effectual prevention of insurrections, tumults, and riots, by persons styling them- selves Defenders, and other disorderly per- sons;" and leave was given to bring in the bill. Then he moved for leave " to bring in a bill for indemnifying such magistrates and others, who might have, since the 1st of January, 1795, exceeded the ordinary forms and rules of law for the preservation of the public peace, and suppression of in- surrection prevailing in some parts of this kingdom." There was earnest opposition against these two bills, but without effect : they were both passed into laws ; and they had the effect, which they were certainly intended to have, of exciting, or at least hastening, tlie insurrection of 1798. It is observable that the motive assigned by the govern- ment officials for passing these laws was always the outrages and alleged secret asso- ciations of Defenders. Not a word was said about the real outrages and extermina- ting oaths of Orangemen. Indeed, the measures in question were really directed not against either Defenders or Orangemen, but against the United Irishmen, the only association of which the government had the slightest fear. Besides the two bills, the Attorney-General proposed four supplement- al resolutions asserting the necessity of giving enlarged powers to magistrates to search for arras and to make arrests. On the reading of these resolutions, Mr. Grattau observed, that he had heard the right honor- able gentleman's statement, and did not suppose it to be inflamed ; but he must ob- serve at the same time it was partial ; he did, indeed, expatiate very fully and justly on the offences of the Defenders ; but with respect to another description of insurgents, whose barbarities had excited general ab- horrence, he had observed a complete silence; that he had proceeded to enumerate the counties that were afflicted by disturbances, and he had omitted Armagh ; — of that, neither had he comprehended the out- rages in his general description, nor in his particular enumeration : of those outrages, he had received the most dreadful accounts ; that their object was the extermination of all the Catholics of that county ; it was a persecution conceived in the bitterness of bigotry, carried on with the most ferocious barbarity, by a banditti, who being of the religion of the state, had committed with the greater audacity and confidence, the most horrid murders, and had proceeded from robbery and massacre to extermina- tion ; that they had repealed, by their own authority, all the laws lately passed in fa- vor of the Catholics, had established in the place of those laws, the inquisition of a mob, resembling Lord George Gordon's fanatics, equaling them in outrage, and surpassing them far in perseverance and success. That their modes of outrage were as various as they were atrocious ; they some- times forced, by terror, the masters of fami- lies to dismiss their Catholic servants — they sometimes forced landlords, by terror, to dismiss their Catholic tenantry — they seized as deserters, numbers of Catholic weavers-— ME. GEATTAN ON THE OEANGEMEN — HIS BESOLUTION. 243 sent them to the county jail, transmitted them to Dublin, where they remained in close prison, until some lawyers, from com- passion, pleaded their cause, and procured their enlargement, nothing appearing against them of any kind whatsoever. Those in- surgents, who called themselves Orange Boys, or Protestant Boys, that is, a ban- ditti of murderers, committing massacre in the name of God, and exercising despotic power in the name of liberty — those insur- gents had organized their rebellion, and formed themselves into a committee, who sat and tried the Catholic weavers and inhabi- tants, when apprehended falsely and illegally as deserters. That rebellions committtee, they called the committee of elders, who, when the unfortunate Catholic was torn from his family and his loom, and brought before them, in judgment upon his case — if he gave them liquor or money, they sometimes dis- charged him — otherwise they sent him to a recruiting office as a deserter. They had very generally given the Catholics notice to quit their farms and dwellings, which notice was plastered on the house, and conceived in these short but plain words : " Go to Hell, Connaught won't receive you — fire and faggot. Will Tresham and John Thrust- out." That they followed these notices by a faithful and punctual execution of the horrid threat — soon after visited the house, robbed the family, and destroyed what they did not take, and finally completed the atrocious persecutions by forcing the unfor- tunate inhabitants to leave their land, their dwellings, and their trade, and to travel with their miserable family, and with what- ever their miserable family could save from the wreck of their houses and tenements, and take refuge in villages, as fortifications against invaders, where they described themselves, as he had seen in their affida- vits, in the following manner: "We, (men- tioning their names,) formerly of Armagh, weavers, now of no fixed place of abode or means of living, &c." In many instances this banditti of persecution threw down the houses of the tenantry, or what they called racked the house, so that the family must fly or be buried in the grave of their own cabin. The extent of the murders that had been committed by that atrocious and rebellious banditti he had heard, but had not heard them so ascertained as to state them to that house ; but from all the inquiries he could make he collected, that the Catholic inhabi- tants of Armagh had beeai actually put out of the protection of the law ; that the magistrates had been supine or partial, and that the horrid banditti had met with com- plete success and, from the magistracy, with very little discouragement. This horrid persecution, this abominaljle barbarity, and this general extermination had been acknowl- edged by the magistrates, who found the evil had now proceeded to so shameful an excess, that it had at length obliged them to cry out against it. On the 28tli of De- cember, thirty of the magistrates had come to the following resolution, which was evi- dence of the designs of the insurgents, and of their success : " Resolved, That it ap- pears to this meeting, that the County of Armagh is at this moment in a state of un- common disorder ; that the Roman Cath- olic inhabitants are grievously oppressed by lawless persons unknown, who attack and plunder their houses by night, and threaten them with instant destruction, unless they abandon immediately their lands and habi- tations." The " Insurrection act " was intended to give magistrates most unlimited powers to arrest and imprison, and search houses for arms ; the other act, called of " Indemnity," was an actual invitation to break the law. Mr. Grattan, whose speeches, more than any records or documents, illustrate this period of the history of his country, com- menting on this latter act, says : "A bill of indemnity went to secure the ofi'ending magistrates against the consequences of their outrages and illegalities ; that is to say, in our humble conception, the poor were stricken out of the protection of the law, and the rich out of its penalties ; and then another bill was passed to give such lawless proceedings against His Majesty's subjects continuation, namely, a bill to enable the magistrates to perpetrate by law, those of- fences which they had before committed against it ; a bill to legalize outrage, to bar- barize law, and to give the law itself the cast and color of outrage. By such a bill, tiie magistrates were enabled, without legal 244 HISTORY OF IRELAND. process, to send on board a tender His Majesty's subjects, and the country was divided into two classes, or formed into two distinct nations, living under the same King, and inhabiting the same island ; one con- sisting of the King's magistrates, and the other of the King's subjects ; the former without restraint, and the latter without privilege/' Both the bills passed; but amongst those who opposed them to the. last in the House of Commons, by the side of Mr. Grattan and Sir Lawrence Parsons, it is with pleasure that one finds the honored name of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. The debates on these bills and resolutions furnish perhaps the most authen- tic documents for the history of the time, and especially for the lawless outrages which were then devastating the north of Ireland. One of the Attorney-General's resolutions spoke of the necessity of punishing persons who " seized by force the arms of His Majesty's subjects." Mr. Grattan moved an amendment, to add " and also the per- sons of His Majesty's subjects, and to force them to abandon their lands and habita- tions ; " and in the third resolution, after the words " murdering those who had spirit to give information," to add, " also attempting to seize the persons, and obliging His Majesty's subjects, by force, to abandon their lands and habitations." But the amendment, as it evidently con- templated the protection of the unhappy Catholics of Armagh County, was opposed by the Attorney-General, and rejected as a matter of course. One of the clauses of the " Insurrection act " was vehemently, but vainly, opposed by Sir Lawrence Parsons : it was to em- power any two magistrates to seize upon persons who should publish or sell a news- paper or pamphlet which they, the two magistrates, should deem seditious, and without any form of trial to send them on board the fleet. This was a total annihila- tion of the Press, saving only the Castle Press. When it is recollected that the magis- tracy and Protestant country gentlemen of Ireland were at that time inflamed with the most furious rage against their Catholic countrymen, sind were besides purposely ex- cited by rumors of intended Popish risings for the extirpation of Protestants, (which many of them, in their ignorance, believed,) it will be seen what a terrible power these acts conferred upon them. They naturally conceived, and very justly, that the law now made it a merit on their part to hreak the law, provided it were done to the op- pression and ruin of the Catholic people; and felt that they were turned loose with a full commission to burn, slay, rob, and ravish. It will be seen that they largely availed themselves of these privileges. There was but one thing now wanted ; and this was the suspension of the Habeas Cor- pus act. This was supplied in the next ses- sion of Parliament, which took place on the 13th of October; and from that moment Ireland stood utterly stripped naked of all law and government. In the meantime the United Irish Soci- ety had been steadily increasing and busily laboring and negotiating. Some valuable members had lately joined it,. in despair of any peaceable or constitutional remedy. The chief of these was the generous and gallant Lord Edward Fitzgerald, brother to the then Duke of Leinster, formerly a Major in the British army, and who had served under Cornwallis against the Amer- icans. Since his return to Europe he had several times visited the Continent, and mingled much with revolutionary society in France. Having seen so much of the world, he was not so ignorant and stupid as were most of the Irish gentry at that pe- riod ; and his natural nobility of soul was revolted by the brutal usage to which he saw his countrymen subjected at the hands of the " Ascendancy." It is probable, too, that he, the descendant of an ancient Gallo- Hibernian house, settled in Ireland more than six centuries, which had given chiefs to the ancient Clan-Geralt, and had been called " more Irish than the Irish," had far more sympathy with the Irish race than the mob of Cromwellian and Williaraite gran- dees who then ruled the country. Arthur O'Connor was another valuable accession to the ranks of the United Irishmen. He was also highly connected, though by no means equally so with Lord Edward ; but he was nephew of Lord Longueville, had sat in ST7SPENSI0N OF HABEAS CORPUS. 245 Parliament for Philipstown, and had la- bored zealously for a time on the forlorn hope of the opposition, by the side of G rat- tan and Curran. Another was Thomas Addis Emmet, a barrister, a Tvarm friend of Wolf Tone, who had been long intimate- ly associated in principle with the leaders of the United Irish Association, and had been privy to the design of Tone, to negoti- ate a French alliance ; a fourth was Dr. William James Mac Neven, a physician in Dublin, originally of Galway County, but who had been educated on the Continent, as most of the young professional men among the Catholics then were. These four became members of the " Executive Directory " of the United Irish Society ; and Lord Edward Fitzgerald, when its military organization was formed, was made Commander-in-Chief. It was after the pas- sage of the Insurrection and Indemnity acts, and in the recess between the two ses- sions of Parliament of 1796, that the United Irishmen began to make definitive preparations for armed resistance.* Theobald Wolfe Tone was now in Paris, having arrived at Havre the 1st of Febru- ary, 1796, bearing a letter of introduction to Charles De la Croix, Minister for For- eign Affairs, -from the French Envoy at Philadelphia. He hud another letter to James Monroe, then the representative of the United States in Paris, who very kindly guided him in his proceedings to gain the ear of the French authorities. He had several interviews with De la Croix, with Clarke (who was afterwards Due de Fel- tre,) and, what was of more importance, with the illustrious Caruot, Chief of the Executive Directory, who really himself controlled at that moment the movements of all the French armies. The journal kept by Tone during the remainder of that year, is at times very entertaining, and again ex- tremely affecting — especially where he re- cords the few pieces of intelligence which reached him from Ireland in those days of interrupted communications. For example, one day at Rennes, he writes : " October * See examination of Arthur O'Connor before the Secret Committee of the House of Lords : Com. — When did the military organizati(m begin? O'Con- nor — Shortly after the Executive had resolved on re- sistance to the Irish Government, and on an alliance with France in May, ITUG. I^th. — This morning before we set out. Gen- eral Harty sent for me, and showed me an English paper that he had just borrowed, the Morning Post, of September 24th, in which was an article copied from the North- ern Star of the 16th precedent. By this unfortunate article, I see that what I have long expected, with the greatest anxiety, is come to pass. My dear friends, Russell and Sam. Neilson, were arrested for high treason on that day, together with Rowley Osborne, Haslett, and a person, whom I do not know, of the name of Shanaghan. The persons who arrested them were the Marquis of Downshire, the Earl of West- meath, and Lord Londonderry, together with that most infamous of all scoundrels, John Pollock. It is impossible to conceive the effect this heavy misfortune has upon my mind. If we are not in Ireland time enough to extricate them, they are gone ; for the Government will move heaven, earth, and hell to insure their condemna- tion. Good God ! If they fall—" His progress in negotiating for substan- tial aid from France had at first been slow, and sometimes looked discouraging. He was required to draw up two " memorials " upon the state and resources of Ireland, for the Government ; and in these memorials, and in the conversations which he records with Clarke and Carnot, it is chiefly impor- tant to remark, that he always pressed ur- gently for a large force, such as would en. able the chiefs of the United Irishmen at once to establish a provisional governmeut, and prevent anarchy; that he strenuously opposed a recommendatiou of Clarke, for exciting both in England and Ireland a species of chouannerie, or mere peasant in- surrection, with no other object than to cre- ate confusion, and operate as a diversion. Tone admitted that it might be natural and justifiable for the French to retaliate in this way, what the English had done to- them in La Vendee; but his own object was the independence of his country, which, he rightly thought, would not be served by mere riot and confusion. We find also in these notes that Clarke and Carnot several times questioned him about the dispositions of the Catholic clergy, and how they might be expected to act iu case of a landing, 246 HISTORY OF IRELAND. He always replied that uo reliance could be placed upon the clergy at first, especially if the expedition were not in sufficient force to put down quickly all resistance; that they were opposed to republicanism and revolu- tion, but if the French went in sufficient force the clergy neither would nor could give serious opposition to the liberation of his country. While Tone was laboring through these summer months to get those ministers im- pressed with his own ideas, and wondering at their hesitation, when it was in their power to deal a mortal blow upon English power, another negotiation was going on, which at the time was unknown to him. It is stated in the Report of the Lords' Secret Committee, hereafter to be cited, that the agent of the United Irishmen in this second negotiation was Edward John Lewins, an attorney in Dublin ; but this is probably an error. At all events, it is certain that the French Directory was at that moment in correspondence with the Irish chiefs through other channels than Wolfe Tone; and that Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Arthur O'Connor had come to Switzerland by way of Hamburg to meet agents of the Direc- tory; and General Hoche had repaired to Basle, just over the French frontier, to con- fer with those gentlemen. In deciding upon so vast an armament, the Ministers of the French Republic were certainly justified in procuring all possible authentic informa- tion about Ireland ; and in checking the memorials of Tone by the reports of other well-known leaders of the United Irishmen. They had incautiously opened their negotia- tions with the Directory through the medi- um of M. Barthelemi, of whose integrity they had no suspicion; and Dr. Madden in- forms us that by this error " they at once placed the secret of their mission in the sympathizing bosom of Mr. William Pitt."* The Secret Committee of the Lords, indeed, in 1798, details the negotiation with perfect correctness, and hints at the means by which the expedition was frustrated. How- soever that may be, it is evident that the reports of Lord E. Fitzgerald and Arthur O'Connor respecting their friend Wolfe Tone were in all respects satisfactory. The next * Madden's United Irislimen, 2d series, p. 3'JO. time he was in the Cabinet of General Clarke, on his expressing a wish to be en- abled to write to his friends, to tell them he was alive and well at Paris, Clarke, says the journal, answered, " * As to that, your friends know it already.' I replied, ' Not that I knew of.' He answered, 'Aye, but I know it, but cannot tell you at present how.' He then went on to tell me he did not know how to explain himself further, 'for,' added he, 'if I tell you ever so little, you will guess the rest.' So it seems I am a cunning fox without knowing it. He gave me, however, to understand that he had a communication open with Ireland, and showed me a paper, asking me did I know the handwriting. I did not. He then read a good deal. It stated very briefly, that fourteen of the counties, in- cluding the entire North, were completely organized for the purpose of throwing olT the English yoke and establishing our inde- pendence; that, in the remaining eighteen, the organization was advancing rapidly, and that it was so arranged that the inferi- ors obeyed their leaders, without examining their orders, or even knowing who they were, as every one knew only the person immediately above him. That the militia were about 20,000 men, 17,000 of whom might be relied on, that there were about 12,000 regular troops, wretched bad ones, who would soon be settled in case the busi- ness were attempted. Clarke was goiug on, but stopped here suddenly, and said, laugh- ing, ' There is something there which I cannot read to you, or you will guess.' I begged him to use his discretion without ceremony. He then asked me, did I know of this organization ? I replied that I could not, with truth, say positively I kuew it, but that I had no manner of doubt of it; that it was now twelve months exactly since I left Ireland, in which time, I was satisfied, much must have been done in that country, and that he would find in my memorials that such an organization was then begun, was rapidly spreading, and, I had no doubt, would soon embrace the whole people. It is curious, the coincidence between the paper he read me and those I have given here, though, upon second thought, as truth is uniform, it would be still more extraordi- "WOLFE TONE AT PARIS. 247 nary if they should vary. I am delighted beyond measure with the progress which has been made in Ireland since my banish- ment. I see they are advancing rapidly and safely, and, personally, nothing can be more agreeable to me than this coincidence between what I have said and written, and the accounts which I see they receive here. The paper also stated, as I had done, that we wanted arms, ammunition, and artillery; in short, it was as exact, in all particulars, as if the same person had written all. This ascertains my credit in France beyond a doubt. Clarke then said, as to my busi- ness, he was only waiting for letters from General Hoche, in order to settle it finally; that I should have a regiment of cavalry, and, it was probable, it might be fixed that day; that the arrangement of the forces in- tended for the expedition was intrusted to Hoche, by which I see we shall go from Brittany instead of Holland. All's one for that, provided we go at all." A few days after this, and just when poor Tone was almost in his last straits for money, he was sent for to the Luxembourg Palace, and there, in the Cabinet of M. Fleury, a very handsome young man came np to him very warmly, seemed to have known him alL his life, and introduced him- self as General Hoche — the most rising man at that moment among the young military chiefs of the republic. It was he who had had the honor of defending Dunkirk success-, fully against the English, and afterwards of defeating utterly the Vendean force, equip- ped and armed by the same English, and landed at Quiberon under the guns of Ad- miral Warren's fleet. In short, it was against the English he had done most of his service, and he coveted the privilege of commanding the formidable expedition which was now fully resolved on for the liberation of Ire- land, He informed Tone that the latter was, to be attached to his personal staff, with the grade of Chef de-Brigade. At last, then, the grand object of Wolfe Tone's life and labors seemed on the point of being at- tained. He was delighted with Hoche, who quite agreed with him in his views of the scale on 'which the expedition should be made, and of the necessity of proceeding by the laws of regular warfare, not of clwuan- nerie. For the due comprehension of the true intent and aims of this celebrated ex- pedition we may here give a passage from Tone's record of his conference with its chief : — " He asked me in case of a landing being effectuated, might he rely on finding pro- visions, and particularly bread ? I said it would be impossible to make any arrange- ments in Ireland, previous to the landing, 'because of the surveillance of the Govern- ment, but if that were once accomplished, there would be no want of provisions ; that Ireland abounded in cattle, and, as for bread, I saw by the Gazette that there was not only no deficiency of corn, but that she was able to supply England, in a great de- gree, during the late alarming scarcity in that country, and I assured him, that if the French were once in Ireland, he might rely that, whoever wanted bread, they should not want it. He seemed satisfied with this, and proceeded to ask me, might we count upon being able to form a provisory govern- ment, either of the Catholic Committee, men- tioned in my memorials, or of the chiefs of the Defenders ? I thought I saw an open here, to come at the number of troops in- tended for us, and replied, that that would depend on the force whicii might be landed ; if that force were but trifling, I could not pretend to say how they might act, but if it was considerable, I had no doubt of their co-operation. ' Undoubtedly,' replied be, ' men will not sacrifice themselves, when they do not see a reasonable prospect of support ; but, if I go, you may be sure I will go in sufficient force.' He then asked, did I think ten thousand men would decide them? I answered, undoubt- edly, but that early in the business the Minister had spoken to me of two thousand, and that I had replied that such a number could effect nothing. No, replied he, they would be overwhelmed before any one could join them. I replied, I was glad to hear him give that opinion, as it was precisely what I had stated to the Minister, and I repeated that, with the force he mentioned, I could have no doubt of support and co- operation sufficient to form a provisory gov- ernment. He then asked me what I thought of the priests, or was it likely they would 248 HISTORY OF IBELANI). give us any trouble ? I replied I certainly did not calculate on their assistance, but neither did I think they would be able to give us any effectual opposition ; that their influence over the minds of the common peo- ple was exceedingly diminished of late, and I Instanced the case of the Defenders, so often mentioned in my memorials, and in these memorandums. I explained all this, at some length, to him, and concluded by saying, that, in prudence, we should avoid as much as possible shocking their prejudices unnecessarily, and that, with common dis- cretion, I thought we might seaure their neutrality at least, if not their support. I mentioned this merely as my opinion, but added that, in the contrary event, I was sat- isfied it would be absolutely impossible for them to take the people out of our hands. We then came to the army. He asked me how I thought they would act ? I replied, for the regulars I could not pretend to say, but that they were wretched bad troojxs ; for the militia, I hoped and believed that when we were once organized, they would not only not oppose us, but come over to the cause of their country en masse ; neverthe- less, I desired him to calculate on their oi> positiou, and make his arrangements accord- ingly ; that it was the safe policy, and if it become necessary, it was so much gained. He said he would, undoubtedly, make his arrangements so as to leave nothing to cliance that could be guarded against ; that he would come in force, and bring great quantities of arms, ammunition, stores, and artillery, and, for his own reputation, see that all the arrangements were made on a proper scale. I was very glad to hear him speak thus ; it sets my mind at ease on diverse points. He then said there was one important point remaining, on which he de- sired to be satisfied, and that was what form of government we would adopt on the event of our success ? I was going to answer him with great earnestness, when General Clarke entered, to request we would come to dinner with citizen Carnot. We, accordingly, adjourned the conversation to the apartment of the President, where we • found Carnot, and one or two more. Hoche, after some time, took me aside and repeated his question, I replied, ' Most undoubtedly. a republic' He asked again, ' Was I sure ? ' I said, as sure as I could be of any- thing ; that I knew nobody iu Ireland who thought of any other system, nor did I be- lieve there was anybody who dreamt of monarchy. He asked me was there no danger of the Catholics setting up one of their chiefs for King? I replied, ' Not the smallest,' and that there were no chiefs amongst them of that kind of eminence. This is the old business again, but I believe I satisfied Hoche ; it looks well to see him so anxious on that topic, on which he pressed me more than on all the others." From this time preparations were pushed forward with more or less activity; but by no means fast enough to satisfy the ardent spirit of Tone. The rendezvous for the troops was appointed at Hennes, the old capital of Bretagne ; while the fleet, con sisting of ships of war and transports, was getting ready at Brest. During the several months which intervened, as news occasion- ally came in from Ireland, telling of the systematic outrages on the country people, and new arrests and measures of " vigor be- yond the law," his anxiety and impatience redoubled. On the 2Sth of July he writes : "I see the Orange Boys are playing the devil in Ireland. 1 have no doubt it. is the work of the Government. Please God, if I get safe into that country, I will settle those gentlemen, and their instigators also more especially." Again, late in August, he writes : — " The news, at least the report of to day, is, that Richery and the Spaniards are be- fore Lisbon, and that a French army is in full march across Spain, in order to enter Portugal ; that would be a blow to Master John Bull fifty times worse than the affair of Leghorn. Why the unhappy Portuguese did not make their peace at the same time with Spain, I cannot conceive, except, as was most probably the case, they durst not consult their own safety for fear of offending the English. What an execrable nation that is, and how cordially I hate them. If this affair of Portugal is true, there will not remain one port friendly to England from Hamburg to Trieste, and probably much further both ways. It is impossible she can stand this long. Well, if the visitation of BANTRY BAY EXPEDITION. 249 Providence be sometimes slow, it is always sure. If our expedition succeeds, I think we will give her the amp de grace, and make her pay dear for the rivers of blood she has made to flow in our poor country, her mas- sacres, her pillages, and her frauds ; 'Alors, ce sera notre lour J We shall see ! We shall see ! Oh that I were, this fine morn- ing, at the head of my regiment ou the Cave Hill ! Well, all in good time." And still the time flew, while innumerable causes of delay interfered with the dispatch of tlie fleet. And in the meantime Camden and Carhampton's reign of terror was iu full sway, goading the people to desperation ; and the fiery Chef -de- Brigade gnawing his own heart in Paris, or in Rennes. At last, but not until the 15th of Decem- ber, all was on board. The troops were to have amounted to 15,000 men, but they were actually 13,975 men, with abundance of artillery and ammunition, and arms for 45,000 men. Tone was on board the liiie- of-battle ship Indomptahh, of 80 guns. There were on the whole 17 sail of the line, 13 frigates, 5 corvettes, making, with trans- ports, 43 sail. General Hoche and the Ad- miral in command of the fleet were on board a frigate ; and the second General in com- mand, of the latid forces was, unfortunately — Grouchy — of unlucky memory. A wretched fatality was upon this fine expedition from the very start. The first night it was at sea it lost both its chiefs ; as the Fraternite frigate was separated from the others, and they never saw more of it until after they had returned to France. An extract, some- what condensed, from Wolfe Tone's diary, may form the most interesting account of the fortunes and fates of the Bautry Bay Expedition : — " Admiral Morand de Galles, General Hoche, General Debelle, and Colonel Shee, are aboard the Fraternite, and God knows what has become of them. The wind, too, coutiuues against us, and, altogether, I am in terrible low spirits. How if these damned English should catch us at last, after hav- ing gone on successfully thus far. Our force leaving Brest water was as follows : Indomptable, 80 guns ; Nestor, Cassard, Droits de I'Hommo, Tourville, Eole, Fou- gueux, Mucius, Redoutable, Patriote, Plu- 32 ton, Constitution, Trajan, Watigny, Pegase, Revolution, and the unfortunate Seduisant, of 74 guns ( 1 7 sail of the line) ; La Cocarde, Bravoure, ImmortalittJ, Bellone, Coquille, Romaine, Sirene, Impatiente, Surveillante, Charente, Resolue, Tartare, and Fraternity, frigates of 36 guns (13 frigates) ; Scevola and Fidele amies en flutes, Mutine, Renard, Atalaute, Voltigeur, and Affronteur, cor- vettes, and Nicodeme, Justine, Yille d'Orient, Su0"ren, Experiment, and Alegre, transports, making in all 4 3 sail. Of these there are missing this day, at three o'clock, the Nestor aud Seduisant, of 74; the Fraternity, Cocarde, and Romaine, frigates ; the Mutine and Voltigeur, corvettes ; and three other transports. ^'Dece/nber 20/h. — Last night, in moderate weather, we contrived to separate again, and this morning, at eight o'clock, we are but fifteen sail in company, with a foul wind, and hazy. We shall lie beating about here, within thirty leagues of Cape Clear, until the English come and catch us, which will be truly agreeable. At ten, several sail in sight to windward ; I suppose they are our stray sheep. It is scandalous to part com- pany twice iu four days in such moderate weather as we have had, but sea affairs I see are not our forte. Captain Bedout is a seaman, which I fancy is more than can be said for nine-tenths of his confreres. "Dei'£'mber 2lst. — Last night, just at sunset, signal for seven sail iu the offing ; all iu high spirits, in hopes that it is our comrades ; stark calm all the fore part of the night ; at length a breeze sprung up, and this morn- ing, at daybreak, we are under Cape Clear, distant about four leagues, so I have, at all events, once more seen my country ; but the pleasure I should otherwise feel at this, is totally destroyed by the absence of the General who has not joined us, and of whom we know nothing. The sails we saw last night have disappeared, and we are all iu uucertainty. It is most delicious weather, with a favorable wind, and everything, in short, that we can desire, except our absent comrades. At the moment I write tins we are under easy sail, within three leagues, at most, of the coast, so that I can discover, here aud there, patches of snow on the mouutaius. What if the Geueral should 250 HISTOET OF lEELAND, not join us. If we cruise here five days, according? to our instructions, the EngHsh will be upon us, and then all is over. We are thirty-five sail in company, and seven or eight absent. Is that such a sepai'ation of our force, as, under all the circumstances, will warrant our following the letter of our orders, to the certain failure of the expedi- tion ? If Grouchy and Bouvet be men of spirit and decision, they will land imme- diately, and trust to their success for justi- fication. If they be not, and if this day passes without our seeing the General, I much fear the game is up. I am in un- describable anxiety, and Cherin, who com- mands aboard, is a poor creature, to whom it is vain to speak ; not but I believe he is brave enough, but he has a little mind. There cannot be imagined a situation more provokingly tantalizing than mine at this moment, within view, almost within reach of my native land, and uncertain whether I shall ever set my foot on it. We are now, nine o'clock, at the rendezvous appointed; stood in for the coast till twelve, when we were near enough to toss a biscuit ashore; at twelve, tacked and stood out again, so now we have begun our cruise of five days in all its forms, and shall, in obedience to the letter of our instructions, ruin the expe- dition, and destroy the remnant of the French navy, with a precision and punctual- ity which will be truly edifying. We opened Bantry Bay, and, in all my life, rage never entered so deeply into my heart as when we turned our backs on the coast. At half after one, the Atalante, one of our missing corvettes, hove in sight, so now again we are in hopes to see the General. Oh ! if he were in Grouchy's place, he would not hesi- tate one moment. Continue making short boards ; the wind foul. "December 22d. — This morning, at eight, we have neared Bantry Bay considerably, but the fleet is terribly scattered; no news of the Fraternite ; I believe it is the first instance of an Admiral in a clean frigate, with moderate weather, and moonlight nights, parting company with his fleet. Ca])tain Grammont, our First Lieutenant, told me his opinion is that she is either taken or lost, and, in either event, it is a terrible blow to us. All rests now upon Grouchy, and I hope he may turn out well ; he has a glorious game in his hands, if he has spirit and talent to play it. If he succeeds, it will immortalize him. I do not at all like the countenance of the Etat Major in this crisis. When they speak of the expedition, it is in a style of despondency, and, when they are not speaking of it, they are playing cards and laughing ; they are every one of them brave of their persons, but I see nothing of that spirit of enterprise, combined with a steady resolution, which our present situa- tion demands. They stared at me this morning, when I said that Grouchy was the man in the whole army who had least rea- son to regret the absence of the General, and began to talk of responsibility and dif- ficulties, as if any great enterprise was without responsibility and difficulties. I was burning with rage, however I said nothing, and will say nothing until I get ashore, if ever I am so happy as to arrive there. We are gaining the Bay by slow degrees, with a head wind at east, where it has hung these five weeks. To night we hope, if nothing extraordinary happens, to cast anchor in the mouth of the Bay, and work up to-morrow morning; these delays are dreadful to my impatience. I am now so near the shore that I can see, distinctly, two old castles, yet I am utterly uncertain whether I shall ever set foot on it. Ac- cording to appearances, Bouvet and Grouchy are resolved to proceed; that is a great point gained, however. Two o'clock; we have been tacking ever since eight this morning, and I am sure we have not gained one hundred yards; the wind is right ahead, and the fleet dispersed, several being far to leeward. I have been looking over the schedule of our arms, artillery, and ammuni- tion ; we are well provided : we have 41,160 stand of arms, twenty pieces of field artillery, and nine of siege, including mortars and howitzers ; 61,200 barrels of powder, 1,000,000 musket cartridges, and 700,000 flints, besides an infinite variety of articles belonging to the train, but we have neither sabres nor pistols for the cavalry; however, we have nearly three regiments of hussars embarked, so that we can dispense with them. I continue very discreetly to say little or nothing, as my situation just now is ACCOUNT OF, IN TONES JOURNAL. 251 rather a delicate one ; if we were once asliore, and things turn out to my mind, I shall soon be out of my trammels, and, perhaps, in that respect, I may be better off with Grouchy than with Heche. If the people act with spirit, as I hope they will, it is no matter who is General, and, if they do not, all the talents of Hoche would not save us; so it comes to the same thing at last. At half-past six, cast anchor off Beer Island, being still four leagues from our landing place: at work with General Clicrin, writing and translating proclamations, &e., all our printed papers, including my two pamplilets, being on board the Fraternite, which is pleasant. "December 23fZ. — Last night it blew a heavy gale from the eastward, with snow, so that the mountains are covered this morning, which will render our bivouacs ex- tremely amusing. It is to be observed, that of the thirty-two points of the com- pass, the E. is precisely the most unfavor- able to us. In consequence, we are this morning separated for the fourth time; sixteen sail, inclnding nine or ten of the line, with Bouvet and Grouchy, are at anchor with us, and about twenty are blown to sea; luckily the gale set from the shore, so I am in hopes no mischief will ensue. The wind is still high, and, as usual, right ahead; and I dread a visit from the Eng- lish, and altogether I am in great uneasi- ness. Oh 1 that we were once ashore, let what might ensue after; I am sick to the very soul of this suspense. It is curious to see how things are managed in this best of all possible worlds. Wo are here, sixteen sail, great and small, scattered up and down in a noble bay, and so dispersed that there are not two together in any spot, save one, and there they are now so close, that if it blows to-night as it did last night, they will inevitably run foul of each other, unless one of them prefers driving on shore. We lie in this disorder, expecting a visit from the English every hour, without taking a single step for our defense, even to the common one of having a frigate in the harbor's mouth, to give us notice of their approach; to judge by appearances, we have less to dread here than in Brest water, for when we were there, we had four cor- vettes stationed off the goulet, besides the signal posts. I confess this degree of se- curity passes my comprehension. The day has passed without the appearance of one vessel, friend or enemy, the wind rather more moderate, but still ahead. To-night, on examining the returns with Waudre, Chef d'Etat Major of the Artillery, I Gnd our means so reduced by the absence of the miss- ing, that I thiid< it hardly possible to make an attempt here, vvith any prospect of suc- cess; in consequence, I look Cherin into the Captain's room, and told him frankly my opinion of our actual state, and that I thought it our duty, since we must look upon the main object as now unattainable, un- less the whole of our friends returned to-mor- row, and the English gave us our own time, which was hardly to be expected, to see what could be best done for the honor and interest of the republic, with the force which remained in our hands, and I proposed to him to give me the Legion des Francs, a company of the Artilkrie legere, and as many officers as desired to come volunteers in the expedition, with what arms and store re- mained, which are now reduced, by our sepa- ration, to four field pieces, 20,000 firelocks at most, ],000 lbs. of powder, and 3,000,000 cartridges, and to land us in Sligo Bay, and let us make the best of our way; if we suc- ceeded, the republic would gain infinitely in reputation and interest, and, if we failed, the loss would be trifling, as the expense was already incurred, and as for the legion, he knew what kind of desperadoes it was com- posed of, and for what purpose ; conse- quently, in the worst event, the republic would be well rid of them; finally, I added, that though I asked the command, it was on the supposition that none of the Gen- erals would risk their reputation on such a desperate enterprise, and that if another was found, I would be content to go as a simple volunteer. This was the outline of ray pro- posal, which I pressed on him with such arguments as occurred to me, concluding by observing that, as a foreigner in the French service, my situation was a delicate one, and if I were simply an officer, I would obey in silence the orders of superiors, but, from my connections in Ireland, having ob- tained the confidence of the Directory, so 252 HISTORY OF IRELAND. far as to induce them to appoint me to the rank of Chef -de-Brigade, and of General Hoche, who had nominated me Adjutant- General, I thought it my duty, both to France and Ireland, to speak on this occa- sion, and that I only offered my plan as a fis aller, in case nothing better suggested itself Cherin answered that I did very right to give ray opinion, and that as he expected a council of war would be called to-morrow, he would bring me with him, and I should have an opportunity to press it. The discourse rested there, and to-mor- row we shall see more, if we are not agree- ably surprised, early in the morning, by a visit from the English, which is highly prob- able. I am now so near the shore, that I can in a manner touch the sides of Bantry Bay with my right and left hand, yet God knows whether I shall ever tread again on Irish ground. Another thing, we are now three dnys in Bantry Bay; if we do not laud immediately, the enemy will collect a su- perior force, and, perhaps, repay us our vic- tory of Quiberon, In an enterprise like ours, everything depends upon the prompti- tude and audacity of our first movements, and we are here, I am sorry to say it, most pitifully languid. It is mortifying, but that is too poor a word; I could tear my flesh with rage and vexation, but that advances liothiug, and so I hold my tongue in gen- eral, and devour my melancholy as I can. To come so near, and then to fail, if we are to fail 1 And every one aboard seems now to have given up all hopes. "Decejnber lilh. — This morning the whole Etat Major has been miraculously con- verted, and it was agreed, in full council, that General Cherin, Colonel Waudrd, Chef d'Etat Major of the Artillery, and myself, should go aboard the Immortality, and press General Grouchy in the strongest manner to proceed on the expedition, with the ruins of our scattered army. Accord- ingly, we made a signal to speak with the Admiral, and in about an hour we were aboard. I must do Grouchy the justice to say, that the moment we gave our opinion in favor of proceeding, he took his part de- cidedly, and like a man of spirit; he instantly set about preparing the ordre de batailk, and we finished it without delay. We are not more than 6,500 strong, but they are tried soldiers, who have seen fire, and I have the strongest hopes that, after all, we shall bring our enterprise to a glorious termina- tion. It is a bold attempt, and truly original. All the time we were preparing the ordre de batailk, we were laughing most immoderately at the poverty of our means, and 1 believe, under the circumstances, it was the merriest council of war that was ever held; but 'Des Chevaliers francais tel est le caradere.'' Grouchy, the Commander-in- Chief, never had so few men under his orders since he was Adjutant-General; Waudre, who is Lieutenant-Colonel, finds himself now at the head of the artillery, which is a furious park, consisting of one piece of eight, one of four, and two six-inch howit- zers; when he was a Captain, he never commanded fewer than ten pieces, but now that he is in fact General of the Artillery, he prefers taking the field with four. He is a gallant felluw, and offered, on my proposal last night, to remain with me and command his company, in case General Grouchy had agreed to tlie proposal I made to Cherin. It is altogether an enterprise truly unique; we have not one guinea; we have not a tent; we have not a horse to draw our four pieces of artillery; the General-in-Chief marches on foot; we leave all our baggage behind us; we have nothing but the arms in our hands, the clothes on our backs, and a good courage, but that is sufficient. With all these original circumstances, such as I be- lieve never were found united in an expedi- tion of such magnitude as that we are about to attempt, we are all as gay as larks. I never saw the French character better ex- emplified, than in this morning's business. Weil, at last I believe we are about to disem- bark; God knows how I long for it. But this infernal easterly wind continues without remorse, and though we have been under way three or four hours, and made I be- lieve three hundred tacks, we do not seem to my eyes to have gained one hundred yards in a straight line. One hour and a half of good wind would carry us up, and, pirhaps, we may be yet two days. My enemy, the wind, seems just now, at eight o'clock, to relent a little, so we may reach Bantry by to-morrow. The enemy has now FLEET ANCHORED IX BANTRT BAT. 253 had four days to recover from his panic, and prepare to receive us ; so much the worse, but I do not mind it. We purpose to make a race for Cork, as if the devil were in our bodies, and when we are fairly there, we will stop for a day or two to take breath, and look about us. From Bantry to Cork is about forty-Gve miles, which, with all our efforts, will take us three days, and I suppose we may have a brush by the way, but I think we are able to deal with any force that can, at a week's notice, be broug:ht against us. " Beamier 25fk. — These memorandums are a strange mixture. Sometimes I am in pre- posterously high spirits, and at other times I am as dejected, according to the posture of our affairs. Last night I had the strongest expectations that to-day we should debark, but at two this morning 1 was awakened by the wind. I rose immediately, and, wrap- ping myself in my great coat, walked for an hour in the gallery, devoured by the most gloomy reflections. The wind continues right ahead, so that it is absolutely impos- sible to work up to the landing place, and God knows when it will change. The same wind is exactly favorable to bring the Eng- lish upon us, and these cruel delays give the enemy time to assemble his entire force in this neighborhood, and perhaps (it is, un- fortunately, more than perhaps,) by his superiority in numbers, in cavalry, in artil- lery, in money, in provisions, in short in every- thing we want, to crush us, supposing we are even able to effectuate a landing at last, at the same time that the fleet will be caught as in a trap. Had we been able to land the first day and march directly to Cork, we should have infallibly carried it by a coup de mam; and then we should have a footing in the country, but as it is — if we are taken, my fate will not be a mild one; the best I can expect is to be shot as an emigre rentre, ijnless I have the good fortune to be killed in the action; for most assuredly if the enemy will have us, he must fight for us. Perhaps I may be reserved for a trial, for the sake of striking terror into others, in which case I shall be hanged as a traitor, and emboweled, &c. As to the embowel- ing, 'je m^enfiche ' if ever they hang me, they are welcome to embowel me if they please. These are pleasant prospects! Nothing on earth could sustain me now, but the con- sciousness that I am engaged in a just and righteous cause. For my family, I have, by a desperate effort, surmounted my natural feelings so far, that I do not think of them at this moment. This day, at twelve, the wind blows a gale, still from the east, and our situation is now as critical as possible, for it is morally certain that this day or to- morrow on the morning, the English fleet will be in the harbor's mouth, and then adieu to everything. In this desperate state of affairs, I proposed to Cherin to sally out with all our forces, to mount to the Shan- non, and, disembarking the troops, make a forced march to Limerick, which is probably unguarded, the garrison being, I am pretty certain, on its march to oppose us here; to pass the river at Limerick, and, by forced marches, push to the North. I detailed all this on a paper which I will keep, and showed it to Captain Bedout, and all the Generals on board, Cherin, Simon, and Chasseloup. They all agreed as to the ad- vantages of the plan, but after settling it, we find it impossible to communicate with the General and Admiral, who are in the Tmmortalite, nearly two leagues ahead, and the wind is now so high and foul, and the sea so rough, that no boat can live, so all communication is impracticable, and to- morrow morning it will, most probably, be too late; and on this circumstance, perhaps, the fate of the expedition and the liberty of Ireland depends. I cannot conceive for what reason the two Commanders-in-Chief are shut up together in a frigate. Surely they should be on board the flag-ship. But that is not the first misfortune resulting from this arrangement. Had General Hoche remained, as he ought, on board the In- doraptable, with his Etat Major, he would not have been separated and taken by the English, as he most probably is; nor should we be in the difficulties we now find ourselves in, and which most probably to-morrow will render insurmountable. "Well, it does not signify complaining. Our first capital error was in setting sail too late from the Bay of Camaret, by which means we were obliged to pass the Raz in the night, which caused the loss of the Seduisant, the separation of 254 mSTORT OF lEEIiAOT). the fleet, tlie capture of tlie General, and ftbove all, the loss of time resulting from all tliis, and which is never to be recovered. Our second error was in losing an entire day iu cniis'ng off the Bay, when we might have entered and effected a landing with thirty- five sail, which would have secured every- thing, and now our thii'd error is having our Commander-in-Chief separated from the Etat Major, which renders all communication utterly impossible. My prospects at this hour are as gloomy as possible. I see noth- ing before me, unless a miracle be wrought in our favor, but the ruin of the expedition, the shivery of my country, and my own de- struction. Well, if I am to fall, at least I will sell my life as dear as individual re- sistance can make it. So now I have made up my mind. I have a merry Christmas of it to-day. December 26t as locum lenens) was Lord Castlereagh — afterwards Lord Londonderry — perhaps the ablest, and cer taiidy the worst, man who ever "did the King's business" in Ireland. He was not gazetted as Secretary till the next year. General Lake was placed provisionally iu command of the forces ; and the way waa now open for the full development of the bloody conspiracy of the Government against the people. Tliere was now concen- trated in Ireland a force of at least 1:)0,000 men, including regular troops, English and Scottish fencible regiments and Irish militia. But even this was not enough. On the 23d of April, the new Secretary announced to the House of Commons that two regi- ments of "foreign troops" had been ordered to Ireland. These were the Hessians, Ger- man mercenaries from Hesse Darmstadt and Hesse Cassel, who had been for some time favorite instruments of the British Govern- ment for dragooning any refractory popula- tion. On the 30 th of March, the whole country was placed under martial law by proclama- tion. It was the first time that the County of Wexford had been proclaimed under the " Insurrection act ;" and " from that mo- ment," says Miles Byrne, " every one con- sidered himself walking on a mine, ready to be blown up ; and all sighed for orders to begin." Orders were at once issued from the Castle that the military should proceed at their own absolute discretion in all meas- ures which any officer should judge needful for suppressing that rebellion which did not yet exist, but which it was fully determined should immediately break out. A favorite measure of Lord Castlereagh was the sys- tem of " free quarters." His lordship knew thoroughly the people of his country ; and was aware that nothing could so certainly and promptly goad them into desperate re- .sistance as the quartering of an insolent and licentious soldiery iu their houses and amongst their lamilies. " Free quarters," therefore, were at onee ordei'ed ; the magis- trates of the "Ascendancy " were at the same time assured that wiiatever they should think fit to do against the people should be considered well duue. Tuey had already 290 HISTORY OF IRELAND. (by the "Indemnity act") carte blanche, at any rate ; and now, under the new impul- sion given by the new Secretary, they vied with one another in atrocity. In the Coun- ties of Kildare, Meath, Dublin, Carlow, Wicklow, and Wexford, the horrors of th'S oppression were especially grievous. The good Miles Byrne, every word of whose nar- ration is thoroughly worthy of implicit trust, siiys : "The military placed on free quar- ters with tlie inhabitants were mo-tly fur- nished by the Ancient Britons ; a cruel regiment, which became obnoxious from the many outrages they committed, wherever they were stationed ; being quartered in houses where the meu had to absent them- selves, the unfortunate females who re- mained had to suffer all sorts of brutality from these ferocious monsters. What hard- ships, what calamities and miseries had not the wretched people to suffer, on whom were let loose such a body of soldiery as were then in Ireland 1 " This gallant old Miles Byrne, writing from hie notes sixty years afterwards, (he was but eighteen years old in 1798,) thus details some few of the scenes which passed in his county, and within his own knowledge : — " Many of the low-bred magistrates availed them.selves of the martial law, to prove their vast devotion to Government, by persecuting, and often torturing, the in- offensive country-people, Archibald Ham- ilton Jacob and the Enniscorthy yeomen cavalry never marched out of the town with- out being accompanied by a regular execu- tioner, with his ropes, cat o' nine tails, &c. " Hawtry White, Solomon Richards, and a Protestant minister of the name of Owens, were all notorious for their cruelty and perse- cuting spirit ; the latter particularly so, put- ting on pitch caps, and exercising other tor- ments. To the credit of some of his victims, when the vile fellow himself was in their power, and was brought a prisoner to the in- fcurgent camp at Gorey, they sought no other revenge than that of putting a pitch cap on him. I had often difficulty in preventing the others, who bad suffered so much at his liands, from tearing him to pieces. He, in tlie end, escaped, with many other prisoners, being escorted and guarded by men who did not consider that z'evenge, or retaliation of any kind, would forward the sacred cause they were embarked in ; particularly, as they were desirous it should not be thought that it was a religious war they were en- gaged in. Although several of the principal chiefs of the United Irishmen were Protes- tants, the Orange magistrates did all they could to spread the belief, that the Catholics had no other object in view but to kill their Protestant fellow-subjects, and to give weight to this opinion, they did what they could to provoke the unfortunate people to commit outrages and reprisals, by killing some and burning their houses. " In short, the state of the country pre- vious to the insurrection, is not to be imagined ; except by those who witnessed the atrocities of every description committed by the military and the Orangemen, who were let loose on the unfortunate, defence- less population. "The infamous Hunter Gowan* now sighed for an opportunity to vent his fero- cious propensity of murdering his Catholic neighbors in cold blood. When the yeo- manry corps was first formed, he was not considered sufficiently respectable to be charged with the command of one ; but in consequence of the proclamation of martial law, he soon obtained a commission of the peace and was created a captain, and was commissioned to raise a cavalry corps ; in a short time he succeeded in getting about thirty or forty low Orangemen, badly mounted ; but they soon procured better horses, at the expense of the unfortunate farmers, who were plundered without redress. This corps went by the name of the black mob ; their first campaign was, to arrest all the Catholic blacksmiths, and to burn their houses. Poor William Butter, James Hay- don, and Dalton, smiths whom we employed to shoe our horses and do other work, for many years before, were condemned to be transported, according to the recent law enacted, that magistrates upon their own authority could sentence to transportation. * This Hunter Gowan had been horsewhipped by one of the Byrnes, old Garrett Byrne, of Ballymanus. Miles Byrne says, " Gowan took the law of Garrett Byrne, and ran him into great expense." He soon, however, found out even a more etlectual metljod of having his revenge upon the Byrnes. HORKIBLE ATROCITIES IS WEXFORD. 291 But the monster Hunter Govvan, thiiikinj; this kind of punishment too slight, wished to give his young men an opportunity to prove they were staunch blood-hounds. Poor Garrett FenneH, who had just landed from ICngland, and was on his way to see his father and family, was met by this corps, and tied by his two hands up to a tree ; they then stood at a certain distance and each man lodged the contents of his carabine in the body of poor Fennell, at their captain's command. "They then went to a house close by, where they shor. James Daroy, a poor inoffensive man, the father of five children. The bodies of these two murdered victims were waked that night in the chapel of Monaseed, where tlie unhappy women and children as- sembled to lament their slaughtered rela- tives. This chapel was afterwards burned. Poor Fennell left a young widow and two children. This cruel deed took place on the road between our house and the chapel. The day after, the 25th of May, 1798, dis- tant about three miles from our place, one of the most bloody deeds took place that was ever recorded in Irish history since the days of Cromwell. Twenty-eight fathers of families, prisoners, were shot and massacred in the Ball Alley of Carnew, without trial. Mr. Cope, the Protestant minister, was one of the principal magistrates who presided at this execution. I knew several of the mur- dered men ; particularly, Pat Murphy, of Knockbrandon, at whose wedding I was two j'ears before ; he was a brave and most worthy man, and much esteemed. Wil- liam Young, a Protestant, was amongst the elanghtered. "At Dunlavin, County of Wicklow, pre- vious to the rising, thirty-four men were shot without any trial ; officers, to their disgrace, presiding and sanctioning these proceedings. But it is useless to enumerate or ('ontiime the list of cruelties perpetrated ; it will suffice to say, that where the military wei"e placed on free quarters, and where all kinds of crime were committed, the people were not worse off than those living where no soldiers were quartered ; for in the latter instance, the inhabitants were generally called to their doors, and shot without cere- numy ; their houses being immediately burned or plundered. "This was the miserable state our part of the country was in at the beginning of May, 1798. All were obliged to quit their houses and hide themselves the best way they could. Ned Fennell, Nicholas Murphy and I, agreed, the last time we met, previous to the insurrection, that through the means of our female friends, we should do every- thing in our power to keep the people from desponding, for we had every reason to hope, that ere long, there would be orders received for a general rising from the Directory. We also promised to endeavor to get news from Dublin, if possible, and at lea^t from Arklow, through Phil Neill and young Gar- rett Graham, of that town ; both of them very active and well-known to the principal men in Dublin, and through them and Anthony Perry, we expected shortly to re- ceive instructions for what was best to be done, under the critical circumstances in which we were placed. I was daily in hopes of getting some information from my step- brother Kennedy (at Dublin), and on this account I remained as long as I could in the neighborhood of our place, keeping away, however, from ray mother's house ; sleeping at night in the fields, watching in the day- time from the hills and high grounds, to see if the military or yeomen were ap- proaching." It was a needful part of the general plan of Government to extend and encourage the Orange societies, and to exasperate them against their Catholic neighbors. Of the precise connection between the Castle and the Orange lodges, it is not, of course, easy to ascertain the precise terms and extent. It is, however, notorious, that while the Irish and English Government has always pro- fessed to disapprove the sanguinary princi- ples of the Orangemen, they have always re- lied upon that body in seasons of threatened revolt, as a willing force to crush the ma.ss of the people ; and that even so late as 184 8, arms were secretly issued to the lodges from Dublin Castle. We have al- ready seen Mr. Grattan's distinct that " the Ministry was in league with the abettors of the Orange Boys, and at war with the peo- ple." In the examination of Mr. Arthur O'Connor before the Secret Committee, we find O'Connor describing the proceedings of the Government in thise terms : — 292 HISTORY OF IRELAND. " Finding bow necessary it was to have some part of the population on their side, Ihey had recourse to the old religious feuds, and set an organization of Protestants, whose fiinaticism would not permit them to see they were enlisted under the banners of religion, to fight for a political usurpation they abhorred. No-<3oubt, by these means you have gained a temporary aid, but by destroying the organization of the Union, and exasperating the great body of the peo- ple, you will one day pay dearly for the aid you have derived from this temporary shift. " Committee. — Government had nothing to do with the Orange system, nor their extermi- nation. ' O'Cowior. — You, my lord, (Castle- reagh) from the station you fill, must be sensible that the executive of any country has in its power to collect a vast mass of in- formation, and you must know from the secret nature, and the zeal of the Union, that its executive must have the most minute information of every act of the Irish Gov- ernment. As one of the executive it came to my knowledge, that considerable sums of money were expended throughout the na- tion in endeavoring to extend the Orange system, and that the oath of extermuiation was administered. When these facts are coupled, not only with general impunity, which has been uniformly extended towards the acts of this infernal association, but the marked encouragement its members have re- ceived from Government, I find it impossible to exculpate the Government from being the parent and protector of these sworn extir- pators." In common fairness, we must give the Orange body the benefit of whatever credit can possibly be accorded to their own denial of their alleged oath of extermination. Early in this year, while the Government was scourging the people into revolt, certain Grand Masters of the Orangemen met in Dublin, and published the following docu- ment : — " To the Loyal Subjects of Ireland : " From the various attempts that have been made to poison the public mind, and slander those who have had the spirit to adhere to their King and Constitution, and to maintain the laws, " We, the Protestants of Dublin, assuming the name of Orangemen, feel ourselves called upon," not to vindicate our principles, for we know that our honor and loyalty bid de- fiance to the shafts of malevolence and dis- affection, but openly to disavow these prin- ciples and declare to the world the objects of our institution. " We have long observed with indigna- tion, the efforts that have been made to foment rebellion in this kingdom, by the seditious, who have formed themselves into societies under the specious name of United Irishmen. " We have seen with pain the lower or- ders of our fellow-subjects forced or seduced from their allegiance, by the threats and machinations of traitors. "And we have viewed with horror the successful exertions of miscreants to en- courage a foreign enemy to invade this happy land, in hopes of rising into conse- quence, on the downfall of their country. " We, therefore, thought it high time to rally round the Constitution, and pledge ourselves to each other to maintain the laws and support our good King against all his enemies, whether rebels to their God or to their country, and by so doing, show to the world that there is a body of men in this island who are ready in the hour of danger to stand forward in the defence of that grand palladium of our liberty, the Constitution of Great Britain and Ireland, obtained and established by the courage and loyalty of our ancestors, under the great King William. " Fellow-subjects, we are accused of being an institution founded on principles too shocking to repeat, and bound together by oaths at which human nature would shudder ; but we caution you not to be led away by such malevolent falsehoods, for we solemnly assure you, in the presence of tiie Almighty God, that the idea of injuring any one on account of his religious ojpinions never en- tered into onr hearts! We regard every loyal subject as our friend, be his religion what it may, we have no enmity but to the enemies of our country. " We further declare, that we are ready at all times to submit ourselves to the or- ders of those in authority under His Majesty, and that we will cheerfully undertake any ARRESTS OF U. 1. CHIEFS IN DUBLIN. 293 duty which they should think proper to poiut out for us, in case either a foreign enemy shall dare to invade our coasts, or that a domestic foe should presume to raise the standard of rebellion in the land ; to these principles we are pledged, and in sup- port of them we are ready to shed the last drop of our blood. " Sig-ned by order of the several lodges in Dublin, for selves and other Masters. " Thomas Yerner, " Edward Ball, "John Claudius Beresford, " WiLUAM James, " Isaac Dejoncourt. The credit which can be given to this profession of principlts is much diminished, or reduced to nothing, by the fact already recorded, that immediately on the establish- ment of the first Orange Lodges in Armagh County, (the first of the above addressers being the founder and first Grand Master) the members of those lodges did forthwith si't themselves to tlie task of extirpating all their Catholic neighbors ; solely because they were Catholics ; and that in one year they had slain, or driven from their homes, fourteen hundred families, or seven thousand individuals. It is further notorious that the Orange yeomanry serving in Leinster, were amongst the most furious and savage torturers of the people. CHAPTER XXXIII. 1798. Reynolds, the Informer — Arrests of U. I. Chiefs in iJublin — The Brothers Sheares — Their Efforts to Delay Explosion — Clare and Custlereagh Resolve to Hurry it — Advance of the Military — Half-Hang- ing — Pitch Caps — Scourging — Judkin Fitzgerald — Sir John Moore's Testimony — His Disgust at the Atrocities — General Napier's Testimony — Catholic Bishops and Peers Profess their " Loyalty " — Arni- Btrong, Informer — Arrest of the Sheares — Arrest and Death of Lord Edward — Mr. Emmet's Evidence before Secret Committee — Insurrection Breaks Out — Tlie '23d of May— Naas— Prosperous — Kilcul- len — Proclamation of Lake— Of the Lord Mayor of Dublin — Skirmishes at Carlow — Hacketstown, &c. — Insurgents have the Advantage at Dunboyne— Attack on Carlow— Executions — Sir E. Crosbie — Massacre at Gibbet Rath of Kildare — Slaughter on Tara Hill — Suppression of Insurrection in Kildare, Dublin . and Meath. The Government was now preparing its master-stroke, which was both to cause a premature explosion of the insurrection, and to deprive the people at one blow of their leaders, both civil and military. There ex- isted, unfortunately, at that period, one Thomas Reynolds, a silk mercer of Dublin, who had purchased an estate in the County of Kildare, called Kilkea Castle, and from the fortune he had acquired, commanded considerable influence with his Catholic brethren. Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Oliver Bond, two leaders in the conspiracy, having, for these reasons, considered him a proper person to assist in forwarding their revolutionary designs, easily attached him to their cause ; and having succeeded, he was soon after sworn an United Irish- man, at the house of Oliver Bond, in Dublin ; in the year 1797, he accepted the commission of colonel, the offices of treasurer and representative of the Coun- ty of Kildare, and at last that of delegate for the province of Leinster. He had mon- ey dealings about a mortgage "of some lands at Castle Jordan with a Mr. Cope, a Dublin merchant, who having lamented to him, in the course of conversation, the undoubted symptoms of an approaching rebellion, Mr. R.eynolds said that he knew a person con- nected with the United Irishmen, who, he believed, would defeat their nefarious pro- jects, by communicating them to Govern- ment, in order to make an atonement for the crime he had committed in joining them. Mr. Cope assured him that such a person would obtain the highest honors and pecu- niary rewards that administration could confer. In short, after making his condi- tions, and receiving in hand five hundred guineas as a first payment on account, he told Mr. Cope that the Leinster delegates were to meet at Oliver Bond's on the 12lh of March, to concert measures for an insur- rection which was shortly to take place, but did not at that time acknowledge that the information came directly from iiim, but insinuated that it was imparted by a third person. In consequence of this, Justice Swan, at- tended by twelve sergeants in colored clothes, arrested the Leinster delegates, thirteen in number, while sitting in council in the house of Oliver Bond, in Bridge street, on the 12th of March, 1798, and 294 histohy or ikei-and. seized several of tbeir papers, which led to the discovery of all their plans ; and on the same day Messrs. Emmet, M'Neven, Bond, Sweetraaii, Henry Jackson, and Hugh Jack- son were arrested and taken into custody ; and warrants were granted against Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Messrs. M'Cormick and Sampson, who, having notice thereof, made their escape.* Tiie leaders did not intend to make an insurrection till the French came to their assistance ; and they meant in the mean- time to continue to increase their numbers, and to add to their stock of arms. On the removal of so many valuable lead- ers everything was done that could be done to repair the loss, and to keep the United Irishmen quiet ; for it was now very well understood that the design of the Govern- ment was to provoke a premature explosion. The two brothers Sheares, Henry and John, both barristers, and gentlemen of high character and excellent education, took charge of the government of the Leinster Societies. A handbill was immediately circulated, to keep up the spirits of the people, cautioning them against being either " goaded into untimely violence or sunk into pusillanimous despondency." The hand- bill concluded thus : " Be firm. Irishmen ; but be cool and cautious. Be patient yet awhile. Trust to no unauthorized commu- nication; and above all, we warn you — again and again we warn you — against doing the work of your tyrants by premature, by par- tial or divided exertion. If Ireland shall be forced to throw away the scabbard, let it be at her own time, not theirs." But Lords Camden, Clare, and Castle- reagh were determined that it should be at their time. Universal military executions and "free quarters" were at once pro- claimed all over the country. It is difficult to detail with due historic coolness the horrors which followed the proclamation of the 30th of March; nor can we wonder that Dr. Madden expresses him- * A few days after these arrests there was a meet- ing of the Provincial Committee at the " Brazen Head Hotel." It was there proposed, by a man named Reynolds, a distant relative of the traitor, that Thom- as Reynolds should be put out of the way — that is, a.ssassinated. The proposal was rejected unani- mously. Madden, 1st Series. self thus upon the occasion : " Tiie rebel- lion did not break out till May, 1798, and, to use the memorable words of Lord Castle- reagh, even then ' measures were taken by Government to cause its premature exph> sion ; ' words which include the craft, cru- elty, and cold-blooded, deliberate wicked- ness of the politics of a Machiavelli, the principles of a Thug, and the perverted tastes and feelings of a eunuch in the exer- cise of power and authority, displayed in acts of sly malignity and stealthy, vindictive turpitude, perpetrated on pretence of serving purposes of state." Besides, Lord Castlereagh, if he was really the chief adviser of those measures to cause a premature explosion, was not the only per- son who approved of them. The same Se- cret Committee whose report is so often cited, states, " that it appears, from a va- riety of evidence laid before your committee, that the rebellion would not have broken out as soon as it did had it not been for the wdl-timed measures adopted by Government subsequent to the proclamation of the Lord- Lieutenant and Council, bearing date 30th of March, 1798." It is necessary to ascer- tain what these well-timed measures were. On the examination of the state prisoners before this committee in August, 1798, the Lord-Chancellor put the following question to Mr. Emmet : " Pray, Mr. Emmet, what caused the late insurrection?" To which Mr. Emmet replied : " The free quarters, house-burnings, tortures, and the military executions in the counties of Kildare, Car- low, and Wicklow!" Messrs. M'Xeven and O'Connor gave similar replies to the same query. However that may be, it remains now to give something like a connected narrative of what was actually done, and how the pre- mature explosion did burst out.* The proclamation, which was published on the 30th of March, declared that a trai- torous conspiracy, existing 'within the king- dom for the destruction of tlie established government, had been considerably extend- * The authorities for this period are numerous — Sir Richard Musgrave, Hay, Gordon, Miles Byrne, &c., — for County Wexford. In the text, we adopt in the main the narrative of Plowden, checking it where needful by the documents assembled together by Madden, Lord Camden's dispatches, chapel of Boolavogue smoking in ruins, and his poor parishioners crowding round him in wild affright, not daring to go even to the neighborhood of their ruined homes, "for fear of being whipped, burned, or exterminated by the Orangemen, hearing of the number of people that were put to death uiuu-med and unoffending through the country " — one would be curious to know what that doctor of divinity would have done upon such an emergency. Probably very much as Father John did. A certain Captain Armstrong, an officer of the Kildare militia, a man of some landed property and decent position in society, was the person who now undertook to act the part of Reynolds, and serve as a spy upon the brothers John and Henry Sheaves. Armstrong gained access to the confidence, and even intimacy, of the Sheares, not only by his agreeuljle social qualities, but by his pretended zeal in the cause to which they were devoted. He dined with the two brothers, at their house in Baggot street, on the 20th of May : the next morning they were both arrested. Doctor Madden says of this transaction: "Captain Armstrong, in his evidence on the trial of the Sheares, did not thitdv it necessary to state that at his Sunday's interview (May 20th, 1798,) he shared the hospitality of his victims ; that he dined with them, sat in the company of their aged mother and affectionate sister, enjoyed the society of the accomplished wife of one of them, caressed his infant chil- dren, and on another occasion — referred to by Mi.ss Steele — was entertained with music — the wife of the unfortunate man, whose children he was to leave in a few days fath- erless, playing on the harp for his entertain- ment ! These things are almost too horri- ble to think on. " Armstrong, after dining with his victims on Sunday, returned to their house no more. This was the last time the cloven foot of treacheiy passed the threshold of the Sheares. On the following morning they were arrested and committed to Kilmaiu- ham jail. The terrible iniquity of Arm- strong's conduct on that Sunday — when he dined with his victims, sat in social inter- course with their families a few hours only 298 HISTORY OF IRELAND. before he was aware his treachery would have brought ruiu on that household, — is unparalleled." We may mention liere, parenthetically, that Captain Armstrong, after having hanged his hospitable eiitertainers of Bag- got street, lived himself to a good old age (he died in 1858) ;, but in his interview with Dr. Madden, touching some alleged inaccuracies in the work of the latter, he denied having caressed any children at Sheares'. He said " lie never recollected having seen the children at all ; but there was a young lady of about fifteen there, whom he met at dinner. The day he dined there (and he dined there only once) he was urged by Lord Castlereagh to do so. It was wrong to do so, and he (Captain Arm- strong) was sorry for it ; but he was per- suaded by Lord Castlereagh to go there to dine, for the purpose of getting further in- formation." Perhaps the history of no other country can show us an example of the first minister of state personally exhorting his spies to go to a gentleman's house and mingle with his family in social intercourse, in order to pro- cure eviden(!e to hang him. However, his lordship did procure the information he wanted. He found that the leaders of tlie United Irishmen, being at length convinced of the impossibility of restraining the people and keeping them quiet under such intolera- ble tyranny, had decided on a general rising for the 23d of May. The whole of the United Irishmen throughout the kingdom, or at least throughont the province of Leinster, were to act at once in concert ; and it was their intention to seize the camp of Loughlins- tovvn, the artillery of Chapel-izod, and the CasUe of Dublin, in one night — the 23d of May. One hour was to be allowed between seizing the camp of Loughlinstown and the artillery at Chapel izud ; and one hour and a half between seizing the artillery and sur- prising the Castle ; and the parties who ex- ecuted both of the external plans were to enter the city of Dublin at the same mo- ment. The stopping of the mail coaches was to be the signal for the insurgents every- where to cwmuunce their operations. It was also planned that a great insurrection should take place at Cork at the same time. The united men were, however, at that pe- riod, not exactly agreed as to the nature of the insurrection Mr. Samuel Neilson, with some other of the leaders, were bent upon attacking first the county jail of Kilnininhara and the jail of Newgate, in order to set their comrades at liberty ; and the project for attacking the latter was also fixed for the 23d of May, the night of the general insur- rection. The Sheares, however, and others were of a contrary opinion, and they wished to defer the attack on the jails till after the general iusurrection had taken place. Although the Government had been long in possession, through the communications of Reynolds, Armstrong, and other inform- ers, of all the particulars of the conspiracy, they had hitherto permitted or encouraged its progress, in order, as it has been alleged, that the suppression of it might be effected with more eclat and terror. As the ex- pected explosion, however, now drew so near, it was found to be necessary to arrest several of the principal leaders, who might give direction, energy, and effect to the in- surrection. Lord Edward Fitzgerald had concealed himself since the 12th of March ; and, on the 18th of May, Major Sirr having received information that he would pass through Watling street that night, and be preceded by a chosen band of traitors as au advanced guard, and that he would be ac- companied by another, repaired thither, at- tended by Captain Ryan, Mr. Emerson, of the attorneys' corps, and a few soldiers in colored clothes. They met the party which preceded him, and had a skirmish with them on the quay at the end of Watling street, in which some shots were exchanged ; and they took one of them prisoner, who called himself at one time Jameson, at another time Brand. The arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald was effected next day, the 19th of May. Government having received information that he had arrived in Dublin, and was lodged in the house of one Murphy, a feath- erman in Thomas street, sent Major Sirr to arrest him. He, attended by Captain Swan, of the revenue corps, and Cuptain Ryan, of the Sepulchre's, and eiglit soldiers disguised, about five o'clock in the evening repaired in ARREST AND DEATH OF LORD EDWARD. 209 coaches to Murphy's house. While they were posting the soldiers in such a manner as to prevent the possibility of au escape, Captain Swan perceiving a woman running hastily up stairs, for the purpose, as he sup- posed, of alarming I;ord Edward, followed ber with the utmost speed ; and, on enter- ing an apartment, found Lord Edward lying on a bed, in his dressing jacket. He ap- proached the bed and informed his lordship that he had a warrant against him, and that resistance would be vain ; assuring him at the same time that he would treat him with the utmost respect. Lord Edward sprang from the bed and snapped a pistol, which missed fire, at Cap- tain Swan ; he then closed with him, drew a dagger, gave him a wound in the hand, and ditferent wounds in his body ; one of them, under the ribs, was deep and danger- ous, and bled most copiously. At that moment, Captain Ryan entered, and missed fire at Lord Edward with a pocket pistol ; on which he made a lunge at him with a sword cane, which bent on his ribs, but affected him so much that he threw himself on the bed ; and. Captain Ryan having thrown himself on him, a violent scuffle ensued, during which Lord Edward drew a dagger and plunged it into his side. They then fell on the ground, where Cap- tain Ryan received many desperate wounds ; one of which, in the lower part of his belly, was so large that his bowels fell out on the floor. Major Sirr, having entered the room, saw Captain Swan bleeding, and Lord Edward advancing towards the door, while Captain Ryan, weltering in blood on the floor, was holding him by one leg and Swan by the other. He, therefore, fired his pistol at Lord Edward, wounding him in the shoulder. His lordsliip then, quite overpowered, surrendered himself. He was conveyed at once to the Castle. This was two days before the arrest of the Sheares. In their house in Baggot street was found a rough draft of a proclamation, which seems to have been intended for publication on the morning after taking possession of Dublin. It is violent and vindictive, though not approaching in atrocity to the actual scenes which were then daily enacted under the auspices uf Goverumeat. Still, having been published by the Government, and being authentic, (at least as a rough draft,) it forms a part of the history of the times. It is in these words : — " Irishmen, your country is free, and you are about to be avenged. That vile Gov- ernment, which has so long and so cruelly oppressed you, is no more. Some of its most atrocious monsters have already paid the forfeit of their lives, and the rest are in our hands. The national flag — the sacred green — is at this moment flying over the ruins of despotism ; and that capital, which a few hours past had witnessed the de- bauchery, the plots, and the crimes of your tyrants, is now the citadel of triumphant patriotism and virtue. Arise then, united sons of Ireland — arise iike a great and pow- erful people, to live free, or die. Arm your- selves by every means in your power, and rush like lions on your foes. Consider, that for every enemy you disarm you arm a friend, and thus become doubly powerful. In the cause of liberty, inaction is coward- ice, and the coward shall forfeit the property he has not the courage to protect. Let his arms be secured and transferred to those gallant spirits who want and will use them. Yes, Irishmen, we swear by that eternal justice, in whose cause you tight, that the brave patriot who survives the present glo- rious struggle, and the family of him who has fallen, or hereafter shall fall in it, shall receive from the hands of the grateful nation an ample recompense out of that property which the crimes of our enemies have for- feited into its hands ; and his name shall be inscribed on the great national record of Irish revolution, as a glorious example to all posterity ; but we likewise swear to punish robbery with death and infamy. We also swear that we will never sheath the sword till every being in the country is restored to those equal rights which the God of nature has given to all men ; until an order of things shall be established in which no supe- riority shall be acknowledged among the citizens of Erin but that of virtue and tal- ents. As for those degenerate wretches who turn their swords against their native country, the national vengeance awaits them. Let them find no quarter, unless they shall prove their repentance by speedily exchaug- 300 HISTORY OF IRELAND. iiig the standa''d of slavery for that of free flora, under which their former errors may be buried, and they may sliare the glory and advantages tliat are due to the patriot bands of Ireland. Many of the military feel the love of liberty glow within their breasts, and have joined the national standard. Re- ceive with open arras^^such as shall follow so glorious an example. They can render sig- nal service to the cause of freedom, and shall be rewarded according to their deserts. But, for the wretch who turns his sword against his native country, let the national vengeance be visited on him ; let him find 110 quarter. Two other crimes demand Rouse all energies of your souls ; call forth all the merits and abilities which a vicious government consigned to obscurity ; and, under the conduct of your chosen leaders, march with a steady step to victory. Heed not the glare of hired sol- diery, or aristocratic yeomanry ; they can- not stand the vigorous shock of freedom. Their trappings and their arras will soon be yours ; and the detested Government of England, to which we vow eternal hatred, shall learn that the treasures it exhausts on its accoutred slaves, for the purpose of butchering Irishmen, shall but further ena- ble us to turn their swords on its devoted head. Attack them in every direction, by day and by night. Avail yourselves of the natural advantages of your country, which are innumerable, and with which you are better acquainted than they. Where you caimot oppose them in full force, constantly harass their rear and their flanlvs. Cut off their provisions and magazines, and prevent them as much as possible from uniting their forces. Let whatever moments you cannot devote to fighting for your country be passed in learning how to fight for it, or preparing the means of war ; for war, war alone must occupy every mind and every hand in Ire- land, until its long-oppressed soil be purged of all its enemies. Vengeance, Irishmen ! Vengeance on your oppressors ! Remember what thousands of your dearest friends have perished by their merciless orders. Remera- ber their burnings, their rackings, their tor- turings, their military massacres, and their legal murders. Remember Orr!" In this proclamation— if it really was intended to be issued as it was drawn up — we have at least the evidence that the United Irishmen were banded together to procure " equal rights for all," and contem- plated no oppression of any sect or class of their countrymen. However, such as it was, it must be considered to have been dis- avowed by other leaders of the United Irish- men, thcu in prison. In the examiiuition before the Secret Committee of the Lords, as we learn by the memoir of Emmet, Mac- Neven, and O'Connor, the following examin- ation is found : — "Lord Kilwarden — You seem averse to insurrection ; I suppose it was because yea thought it impolitic. " Emmet — Unquestionably ; for if I im- agined an insurrection could have succeeded, without a great waste of blood and time, I should have preferred it to invasion, as it would not have exposed us to the chance of contributions being required by a foreign force ; but as I did not think so, and as I was certain an invasion would succeed speedily, and without much struggle, I pre- ferred it even at the hazard of that incon- venience, which we took every means to prevent. " Lord Dillon — Mr. Emmet, you have stated the views of the executive to be very liberal and very enlightened, and I believe yours were so ; but let me ask you whether it was not intended to cut off (in the begin- ning of the contest) the leaders of the oppo- sition party, by a summary mode, such as assassination. My reason for asking you is, John Sheares' proclamation, the most terri- ble paper that ever appeared in any country. It says that ' many of your tyrants have bled, and others must bleed,' &c. " Emmet — My lords, as to Mr. Sheares' proclamation, he was not of the executive when 1 was. " Lord Chancellor — He was of the new executive. " Emmet— I do not know he was of any executive, except from what your lordsliip says ; but I bflieve he was joined with some others in framing a particular plan of insur- rection for Dublin and its neighborhood ; neither do I know what value he annexed to those words in his proclamation ; but I can answer that, while I was of the executive, INSURRECTION BREAKS OUT. 301 tliere was no such design, but the contrary ; for we conceived when one of you lost your lives we lost an hostage. Our intention was to seize you all, and keep you as hos- tages for the conduct of England ; and, after the revolution w^as over, if you could not live under the new government, to send you out of the country. 1 will add one thing more, which, though it is not an answer to your question, you may have a curiosity to hear. In such a struggle it was natural to expect confiscations. Our intention was, that every wife who had not instigated her husband to resistance should be provided for out of the property, notwithstanding confiscations ; and every child who was too young to be his own master, or form his own opinion, was to have a child's portion. Your lordships will now judge how far we intend- ed to be cruel. ''Lord Chancellor— Vvay, Mr. Emmet, what caused the late insurrection ? ''Emmet — The free quarters, the house- burnings, the tortures, and the military exe- cutions in the Counties of Kildare, Carlow, and Wicklow. "Lord Chancellor — Don't you think the arrests of the 12th of March caused it ? "Emmet — No ; but I believe if it had not been for those arrests it would not have taken place ; for the people, irritated by what they suffered, had been long pressing the executive to consent to an insurrection ; but they had resisted or eluded it, and even determined to persevere in the same line. After these arrests, however, other persons came forward, who were irritated, and thought differently, who consented to let that partial insurrection take place." On the 21st of May, Lord Castlereagh, by direction of the Lord-Lieutenant, wrote to the Lord-Mayor of Dublin, to inform him that there was a plan f(jr seizing the city, and recommending precautions. The next day, his lordship presented a message to the Uouse of Commons to the same effect, and a loyal address was presented in reply. Great preparations for defence were now made in Dublin. Various civic bodies armed themselves in haste, and placed them- selves at the service of the authorities. Among these was the lawyers' corps, which showed great zeal on the occasion : and amongst the members of that body we find the name of a young lawyer who had very lately been called to the bar — Daniel O'Connell. It was now impossible to prevent the rising. The United Irishmen of Leinstcr, though thus left without leaders, had got their instructions for action on tiie 23d of May ; and, besides, they felt that no re- verse of fortune in the open field could hn worse than what they were already suffer- ing. It appears that the plan of attack formed by Lord Edward Fitzgerald had been com- municated to most of the insurgents ; for their first open acts of hostility, though ap- parently fortuitous, irregular, and confused, bore evident marks of a deep-laid scheme for surprising the military by separate, though simultaneous attacks, to surround in a cordon the city of Dublin, and cut off all succors and resources from without. On that day, (May 2od,) Mr. Neilson * and some others of the leaders were arrested ; and the City and County of Dublin were proclaimed by the Lord-Lieutenant and Council in a state of insurrection ; the guards at the Castle and all the great ob- jects of attack were trebled ; and, in fact, the whole city was converted into a be- sieged garrison. Thus the insurgents were unable to effect .anything by surprise. Without leaders, and almost without arms or ammunition, they ventured on the bloody- contest. Notwithstanding the ap[)arent forwardness of the North, the first conuno- tions appeared in different parts of Leinster. The Northern and Coimaught mail coaches were stopped by parties of the insurgents on the night of the 23d of May ; and, at about twelve o'clock on the morning of the 24th, a large body of insurgents attacked the town and jail of Naas, about fourteen miles from Dublin, where Lord Gosford commanded. As the y-uard had been sea- * Mr. Neilson was seized between nine and ten in the evening, by Gregg, the keeper of Newgate, as he was reconnoitering the prison. A scuffle ensued, and Neilson sna[)ped a pistol at him ; by the interven- tion of two yeomen he was secured and comwitted. It is reported, and appears probable, that a large number of the conspirators who were awaiting hia orders, having lost their leader, dispersed for that night. 802 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Boiiiibly iiicrciised, in expectation of such an attack, the assaihints were repulsed and driven into a narrow avenue, where, with- out order or disciphne, tliey sustained for Rome time the attack of the Armagh militia, and of the fencible corps, raised by Sir Wat- kin William Wynne, and known by the name of the Ancient Britons. The King's troops lost two officers and about thirty men ; and the insurgents, as was reported, lost HO in the contest and their flight. They were completely dispersed, and several of them taken prisoners. On the same day, a small divison of His Majesty's forces were surprised at the town of Prosperous ; and a detachment at the village of Clane cut their way through to Naas, with considera- ble loss. About the same time, General Dnndas encountered a large body of insur- gents on the hills near Kilcullen, and 130 of them were left dead upon the field. On the following day, a body of about 400 insurgents, under the 'Command of two gentlemen of the names of Ledwich and Keougli, marched from Rathfarnham, in the neighborhood of Dublin, along the foot of the mountain towards Belgatt and Clondal- kin. In their progress, they were met by a party of thirty-five dragoons, under the command of Lord Roden. After some re- sistance, the insurgents were defeated, great numbers were killed .and wounded, and their leaders — Ledwich and Keough — were taken. They were immediately tried by a court-martial, and executed. Although the first effort of the insurgents had been thus defeated, still they entertained tiie most sanguine hopes of succeeding in another attempt. General Lake, who, upon the resignation of Sir Ralph Abercrorabie, had been appointed Commander-in-Chief, published the following notice on the morn- ing of the 24th of May : — "Lieutenant-General Lake, commandinor Ilis Majesty's forces in this kingdom, having received from His Excellency the Lord- Lieutenant, full powers to put down the rebellion, and to punish rebels in the most summary manner by martial law," &c. On the same morning, the Lord-Mayor of Dublin issued a proclamation to this effect :— " Whereas, the circumstances of the present crisis demand every possiI)le pre- caution, these are, therefore, to desire all persons who have registered arms, forthwith to give in (in writing) an exact list or inven- tory of such arms at the Town Clerk's office, who will file and enter the same in a book to be kept for that purpose ; and all per- sons who have not registered their arms are hereby required forthwith to deliver up to me, or some other of the magistrates of this city, all arms and ammunition of every kind in their possession ; and if, after this proclamation, any person having registered their arras shall be found not to have given in a true list or inventory of such arms ; or if any person who has not registered shall be found to have in their power or possession any arms or ammunition what- ever, such person or persons will, on such arms being discovered, be fortliwith sent on board His Majesty's navy, as by law di- rected. "And I do hereby desire that all house- keepers do place upon the outside of their doors a list of all persons in their respective houses, distinguishing such as are strangers from those who actually make part of their family ; but as there may happen to be persons who, from pecuniary embarrass- ments, are obliged to conceal themselves, I do not require such names to be placed on the outside of the door, provided their names are sent to me. And I hereby call upon all His Majesty's suly'ects within the County of the City of Dublin immediately to com- ply with this regulation, as calculated for the public security ; as those persons who shall willfully neglect a regulation so easy and salutary, as well as persons giving false statements of the inmates of their houses, must, in the present crisis, abide the conse- quences of such neglect." Parliament, being then in session, met as usual, and Lord Castlereagh presented to the House of Commons a message from the Lord-Lieutenant, that he thought it his in- dispensable duty, with the advice of the Privy Council, under the present cir- cimistances of the kingdom, to issue a proclamation, which lie had ordered to be laid before the House of Commons, to whom he remarked, the time for speaking was now gone by, and that period at last come when INSUBRECTION BREAKS OUT. 303 deeds and not words were to show the dis- positions of members of that House, and of every man who truly vahied tlie Constitution of the hind, or wished to maintain the Uiws, and protect the lives and properties of His Majesty's subjects. Everything which cour- age, honor, fortune, could offer in the com- mon cause was now called for. The rebels liad openly tlu-owu off the mask, &c., &c. Open war having now been fairly com- nlenced, the Government proceeded to the strongest measures of coercion. Although by no public official act were the picquet- ings, stranglings, floggings, and torturings, to extort confessions, justified or sanctioned, yet it is universally known, that under the very eye of Government, and with more than their tacit permission, were these outrages practiced. In mentioning the Irish Gov- ernment, it is not meant that this system proceeded from its Chief Governor ; it was boasted to have been extorted from him. And to this hour it is not only defended and justified, but panegyrized by the advocates and creatures of tiie furious drivers of that .system of terrorism. So far from there being any doubt of the existence of any such practices a short time previous to and during the rebellion, Sir Richard Musgrave has, in an additional appendix to his memoirs of the different re- bellions in Ireland, given to the public his observations upon whipping and free quar- ters. He admits, indeed, that whosoever considers it abstractedly, must, of course, con- demn it as obviously repugnant to the letter of the law, the benign principles of our Con- stitution, and those of justice and humanity; but he was convinced, that such persons as dispassionately considered the existing cir- cumstances, and the pressure of the occasion under which it was adopted, would readily admit them to be, if not an excuse, at least an ample extenuation of that practice. " Suppose," says he, " the fullest information could have been obtained of the guilt of every individual, it would have been imprac- ticable to arrest and commit the niuliitude. Some men of discernment and fortitude per- ceived that some new expedient must be adopted to prevent the subversion of Gov- ernment, and the destruction of society ; and whipping was resorted to. "As to the violation of the forms of the law by this practice, it should be recollected the law of nature, which suggested the ne- i cessity of it, supersedes all positive institu- \ tions, as it is imprinted on the hea^t of man for the preservation of his creatures, as it speaks strongly and instinctively, and as its end will be baffled by the slowness of de- liberation. "When the sword of civil war is drawn, the laws are silent. As to the violation of humanity, it should be recollected, that nothing could exceed the cruelty of this banditti ; that their oV)ject was the extirpa- tion of the loyalists ; that of the whippers, the preservation of the community at large. " This practice was never sanctioned by Government, as they, on the contrary, used their utmost exertions to prevent it ; an(i the evidence extorted from the person whipped never was used to convict any per- son, and was employed for no other reason but to discover concealed arms, and to de- feat the deleterious schemes of the traitors. Free quarters were confined merely to the province of Leinster. " When Government was possessed of the evidence that the inhabitants of a village or a town, who had taken the usual oaths to lull and deceive the magistrates, were possessed of concealed arms, and meditated an insurrection and massacre, they sent amongst them a certain number of troops, whom they were obliged to maintain by contributions levied on themselves. This took place a few days before the rebellion broke out. " It has been universally allowed, that the military severities practiced in the County of Kildare occasioned a premature explosion of the plot, which the Directory intended to have deferred till the French effected a landing ; and one of them, Mr Emmet, declared in his evidence, upon oath, before the Secret Committee of the Lords, that, but for the salutary effects of those military severities, there would have been a very general and formidable insurrection in every part of the country." Tills warm advo.-ate for the torture has not with his usual minuteness favored his reader with any instances of iiniocent per- sons havins: undergone this severe trial from 304 HISTORY OF IRELAND. wanton suspicion, personal revenge, or male- volent crnelty. Yet many such there were ; as must necessarily be the case, where the very cast of a countenance that displeased a corporal or common yeoman sufficed to sub- ject the unfortunate passenger to this mili- tary ordeal. No man can give credit to the assertion, that Government used their utm-ost exertions to prevent it, who knows anything of the state of Ireland at that disastrous pe- riod. In Bercsford's Riding House, Sandys' Prevot, the Old Custom House, the Royal f]xchange, some of the barracks, and other places in Dublin, there were daily, hourly notorious exhibitions of these torturings, as there also were in almost every town, village, or hamlet throughout the kingdom, in which troops were quartered.* Many attacks were made by the rebels on the second day of the rebellion, (the 24th of May,) generally with ill-success; the chief of which were those of Carlow, Hack- etstown, and Monastereven. There were also several skirmishes near Rathfarnham, Tallagh, Lucan, Luske, Duuboyne, Barrets- town, Collon, and Baltinglass. At Duu- boyne and Barretstowfi the insurgents are allowed to have had the advantage. But in all the other encounters, though greatly superior in numbers, they were defeated, with incredible loss of their men. The non-arrival of the mail-coach at the usual hour of eight o'clock in the morning at Carlow, was to be the signal for rising- there and its vicinity. This town lies about forty miles southwest of Dublin. Of the in- tended attack the garrison was apprised by an intercepted letter, and from Lieutenant Roe, of the North Cork militia, who had observed the peasants assembling in the vicinity late in the evening of the 24th of May. The garrison consisted in the whole of about four hundred and fifty men, com- manded by Colonel Mahon, of the Ninth Dragoons, and they were very judiciously posted for the reception of the assailants. * It is too large a credit to be allowed to this author's assertion, that the evidence extorted from the person, whipped never was used to convict any person. If the security of the monarch be to be found in the affectionate hearts of his people, it is matter of important consideration how far these prac- tices tended more to unite or separate the two kingdoms. A body, perhaps amounting to a thousand or fifteen hundred, having assembled before the house of Sir Edward Crosbie, a mile and a half distant from Carlow, marched into the town at two o'clock in the morning on the 25th of May, in a very unguarded and tumultuary manner, shouting as they rushed into TuUow street, with vain confidence, that the town was their own : they received so destructive a fire from the garrison, that they recoiled and endeavored to retreat ; but finding their flight intercepted, numbers took refuge in the houses, which were imme- diately fired by the soldiery. About eighty houses, with some hundred men, were con- sumed in this conflagration. As about half this column of assailants had arrived witiiin the town, and few escaped from that situa- tion, their loss can hardly be estimated at less than four hundred ; while not a man was even wounded on the side of the King's troops. After the defeat, executions commenced here, as they did elsewhere in this calami- tous period, and about two hundred, in a short time, were hanged or shot, according to martial law. Among the earliest vic- tims was Sir Edward Crosbie, before whose house the rebel column had assembled, but who certainly had not accompanied tliera in their march ; he was condemned and sliot as an United Irishman. Sir Edward Cros- bie had no further connection with the rebels than that they exercised on a lawn before the house, which of course Sir Ed- ward could not prevent. In the attack upon Slane, a mere hand- ful of troops, about seventeen yeomen and forty of the Armagh militia, although sur- prised in the houses on which they were bil- letted, fought their way separately to their rallying post, and then made a vigorous a stand, that some hundreds of the people were with considerable slaughter repulsed. Sev- eral of the assailants of this small town appeared dressed in the uniforms of the Cork militia and Ancient Britons ; which appear- ance, in this and several other instances, proved a fatal deceit to the King's troops. They were the spoils taken at Prosperous ; at which place the success of the insurgents, amongst other causes, was owing to their having been headed or led on to the attack MASSACRE AT GIBBET RATH OF KILDARE. 3D5 by an officer ; as their defeats in most other places, with immense superiority of nmnbers, were to be attributed to the want of some intellig'ent person to control and direct them. Their discomfitures in general were not the effect of fear or cowardice, but of want of discipline and organization. Kildare County w%as not favorable to the insurgents, because it is generally a flat, grassy plain, where regular cavalry can act with terrible effect. Two weeks were suf- ficient to crush all insurrectionary move- ments in that county, and in Meatli and Cariow. Yet in that short campaign splen- did feats of gallantry were achieved by the half-armed peasantry. At Monastereven, the insurgents were repulsed with some loss, the defenders of the phice being in part "loyal" Catholics, commanded by one Cus- sidy. At Old Kilcullen the insurgents de- feated and drove back the advance-guard of General Dundas, with the loss of twenty- two regular soldiers, including a Captain Erskine. Bnt after the first few days, there was in reality no insurrection at all in Kil- dare County ; and the operations of the troops there, though called sometimes "battles," were nothing but onslaughts on disarmed fugitives — in other words, mas- sacres. These proceedings w^ere hailed with triumph in Dublin, as great military achieve- ments. For example, tlie slaughter of the unresisting, capitulated people at the Gibbet Pvath of Kildare, was regarded as a vigor- ous measure which the emergencies of the time retjuired. The rebels, according to Sir R. Musgrave, amounted to about 3,000 in number ; they had entered into terms with General Dundas, and were assembled at a place that had been a Danish fort, called the Gil)bet Rath. Having offered terms of submission to General Dundas on the 26th of May, that General dispatched General AVelford to receive their arms and grant them protection. Before the arrival of the latter, however, on the 3d of June, the mul- titude of unresisting people were suddenly attacked by Sir James Duff, who, having galloped into the plain, disposed his army in order of battle, and with the assistance of Lord Rodeu's Fencible Cavalry, fell upon the astonished multitude, as Sir Richard Musgrave states, " pell mell." Three hun- dred and fifty men, under terms of capitula- tion, admitted into the King's petice am. promised his protection, were mowed down in cold blood, at a place known to every peasant in Kildare as " the Place of Slaugh- ter." as well remembered as Mullaghmast itself, the Gibbet Rath of the Curragh of Kildare. The massacre took place on the 3d of June ; the terms of surrender were made by one Perkins, a rebel leader, on the part of the insurgents, and General Dundas, on the part of the Govermnent, and with its ex- press sanction and permission for them, on delivering up their arras, to return to their homes. Their leader and his brother were to be likewise pardoned and set at liberty. It was when the people were assembled at the appointed place, to comply with these conditions, that Sir James Duff, at the head of 600 men, then on his march from Limerick, proceeded to the place to procure the surrendered weapons. One of the in- surgents, before giving up his musket, dis- charged it in the air, barrel upwards ; this simple act was immediately construed into a hostile proceeding, and the troops fell on the astonished multitutie, and the latter fled with the utmost precipitation, and were pursued and slaughtered without mercy by a party of Fencible Cavalry, called " Lord Jocelyn's Foxhunters." According to the Rev. James Gordon, upwards of 200 fell ou this occasion ; Sir R. Musgrave states 350. " No part of the infamy of this proceed- ing," says Dr. Madden, " attaches to Gen- eral Dundas. The massacre took place without his knowledge or his sanction. His conduct throughout the rebellion was that of a humane and brave man." The brutal massacre on the Curragh is thus described by Lord Camden, the Lord- Lieutenant, in his dispatch to the Duke of Portland : — " Dublin Castle, May 29ih. " My Lord : — I have only time to inform your grace, that 1 learn from General Dun- das tliat the rebels in the Curragh of Kildare have laid down their arms, and delivered up a number of their leaders. " By a dispatch I have this instant re- ceived, I have the further pleasure of ac- quainting your grace that Sir James Duff, 806 HISTORY OF IRELAND. will), with infinite ahicrity and address, lijis opened the cumnmnication with Lim- erick, (that with Cork beinu; ah'eady open,) had arrived at Kildare whilst the rebels had possession of it, completely routed them and taken the place. " I have the honor to be, &c., ".Camden." The same transaction is thus described by the chief actor : — Extract of a letler from Mnjor-General Sir James Duff to LietUenant- General Lake, dated Monastereven. " I marched from Limerick on Snnday mnrnino: with sixty dragoons, Dublin militia, three field pieces, and two curricle guns, to open the communication with Dublin, wliich I judged of tlie utmost importance to Gov- ernment. By means of cars for the in- fantry, I reached this place in forty-eight hours. I am now, at seven o'clock this morning, (Tuesday, ; marching to surround the town of Kildare, the headquarters of the rebels, with seven pieces of artillery, 150 dragoons, and 350 infantry, determined to make a dreadful example of the rebels. I have left the whole country behind me per- fectly quiet, and well protected by means of tlie troops and yeomanry corps. " I hope to be able to forward this to you by the mail coach, which I will escort to Naas. I am sufficiently strong. You may depend on my prudence and success. My guiis are well manned, and all the troops in high spirits. The cruelties the rebels have couutiitted on some of the officers and men- have exasperated them to a great degree. Of uiy future operations I will endeavor to inform you. '' P. S — Kildare, two o'clock, p. m. — We found the rebels retiring from the town on our arrival, armed ; we followed them with the dragoons. I sent on some of the yeo- men to tell them, on laying down their arms, they should not be liurt. Unfortunately, eoine of them fired on the troops ; * from that moment they were attacked on all sides — nothing could stop the rage of the troops. I believe from two to three hun- * Plowden describes the afl'air thus : As the troops advanced near the insurgents to receive their surren- dered weapons, one of tlie latter, foolishly swearing that he would not deliver his gun otherwise than empty, discharged it with the muzzle upwards. dred of the rebels were killed. We have three men killed and several wounded. I am too-much fatigued to enlarge." There is no need to recount in detail the various slaughters done by the troops, some- times upon armed insurgents, vSometimes upon mere masses of unarmed people. These were all commemorated indifferently by Lord Camden in his dispatches as "battles," " defeats of the rebels," and the like. One of his dispatches describes the most serious part of the rising in Wicklow County : — '* Dublin Casti.e, May 26th, 10 a. m. " My Lord : — I have detained a packet, in order to transmit to your grace the in- formation received this morning. " I have stated in a private letter to your grace, that a party of the rebels, to the amount of several hundreds, were attacked by a detachment of the A.ntrim militia, a small party of cavalry, and Captain Strat- ford's yeomanry; and lliat, being driven into the town of Baltinglass, they lost about 150 men. " This morning an account has been re- ceived from Major Hardy,, that yesterday a body of between 3,000 and 4,000 had col- lected near Dunlavin, when they were en- tirely defeated, with the loss of 300»men, by Lieutenant Gardner, at the head of a de- tachment of Antrim militia, and Captain Hardy's and Captain Hume's yeomanry. " The troops and yeomanry behaved with the utmost gallantry in both actions." On the same 26th of May another slaugh- ter took place on Tara Hill, in Meath. Some chiefs of the Leinster insurgents had assembled at that point, where they expect- ed to be joined by a force coming from the North. They were here attacked, and after an obstinate defence, killing thirty-two of the soldiers and yeomanry, they were again overpowered, by discipline and superior arms. The issue is told in this dispatch : — Extract of a letter from Captain Sc^bie, of ike Reay Fencibles, to Lieutenant- General Lake, dated Dimshaughlin, Sunday morn- ing, May 21th, 1798. " The division, consisting of five com- panies of His Majesty's Reay Regiment of Fencible Lifantry, which I have the honor to command, arrived here yesterday morn- ing according to route, accompanied by •WEXFORD A PEACEABLE COUNTY. 307 Lord Fingal's troop of yeomen cavalry, Captain Preston's and Lower Kclls' trooj) of cavalry, and Captain MoUoy's company of yeomen infantry. " At half-past three, p m., I was informed that a considerable force of the rebel insur- gents had taken station on Tara Hill. 1 instantly detached three companies of our division, with one field-piece, and the above corps of yeomanry, to the spot, under the command of Captain M'Lean, of the Reay's, the issue of whicli has answered my most sanguine expectation. " The rebels fled in all directions ; 350 were found dead on the field this morning, among whom is their commander, in full uni- form ; many more were killed and wounded. " Our loss is inconsiderable, being nine rank and file killed, sixteen rank and file •wounded." On the whole, it mnst be admitted that the troops found but little difficulty in crush- ing the insurgent peasants of Kildare, Dub- lin, and Meath. The slaughter of the people was out of all proportion with the resistance. The number of deaths arising from torture or massacre, where no resistance was offered, during the year 179"^, forms the far greater portion of the total number slain in this con- test. The words of Mr. Gordon are: "I have reason to think, more men than fell in battle were slain in cold blood. No quarter ■was given to persons taken prisoners as rebels, with or uilhout arms." * hi the meantime, events still more serious were taking phice iu Wexford County. CHAPTER XXXIY. ]7!I8. Wexford a Peaceable County — Lord Castlereagh's Judicious Measures— Catliolics Driven out of Yeo- manry Corps — Treatment of Mr. Fitzgerald — United Irish in Wexford — The Priests Oppose that Society — How they were Requited — Miles Byrne. — Torture in We.xlord— Uraiigenieu in Wexford — North Cork Militia — Hay's Account of the Ferocity of the Magistrates — Massacre of Carnew — Father John Murphy — Burning of his Chapel — Miles Ej'rae's Account of First Rising — Oulard — Storm of Enniscorthy — Wexford Evacuated by the King's Troops — Occupied by Insurgents — All the Count}' now in Insurrection — Estimated Numbers of Insur- gents — Population of the County. Wf.xford was one of the most peaceable counties in Ir;'land. Protestants and Catli- * Gordon's HLstory of the Rebellion. olics lived there in greater harniouy than elsewhere ; and had united in forming yeo- manry corps for defence of the country afivr the attempted invasion under Hoche. The United L'ish organization extended to that county as we know from Miles Byrne ; but not with such power as in Meath and Kil- dare, for the very reason that the people were not, up to that time, subjected to such intolerable oppression. In the first months of 1798, however, everj^hing was changed. Orders were given from the Caslle to purify the yeomanry corps, by expelling those who should not take an oath that they w 're nt t United Irishmen. The oath was to the ef- fect that they were neither United Irishmen nor Orangemen ; but practically, the meas- ure was so executed as to disarm none but Catholics, or such Protestants as were known to be liberal iu their opinions, like Antony Perry, of Inch. Miles Byrne (the personal memoir of this gallant officer was published only in 1SG3) gives several ex- amples : — " White, of Bally-Ellis, raised a foot corps, and got great praise from the Gov- ernment, as he had it equipped and armed when Hoche's expedition came to Bantry Bay in 1796. " If this corps was one of the first that was ready to march, it was also one of the first to be disbanded . and disarmed, for it was composed princii)ally of Catholics, though the officers were Protestants. "The corps of yeonuinry cavalry, com- manded by Beaumont, of Hyde P.vrk, in which Antony Perry, of Incn, or I'erry Mount, and Ford, of Ballyfad, were officers, refused to take any oath respecting their being Orangemen, or United Irishmen ; at the same time they resolved not to resign, but to continue th^ir service as usual. Soon after, the corps was ordeied to as.-emble, when a regiment uf miiilia was iii wai iujr, and the suspected members were surn»i.u ii d and disarmed ; that is to say, all the Calh- oiics, which were about one-half of the corps, with Perry and one or two dther Protestants, being considered too libeial to make part ot a corps that was henceforv\ard to be upon the true Protestant, ur Orange .system." Edward Fitzgerald, of New Park, gives 308 HISTORY OF IRELAND. a sample of the proceedings which were carried on througliout the county from the moment of the formidable proclamation of martial law. He writes -.—{See Madden.) "Upon the 28th of April, 1798, my house, offices, and grounds, which are very (•onsidcrable, were taken possession of by 120 cavalry and infantry, and 12 officers, who possessed themselves of all kinds of property within and without, and what they could not consuiitc sent to Atliy barracks. They continued in possession about thirty (lays, until the press of the times obliged them to change their position. Upon the approach of the military, my wife and fami- ly, of course, were obliged to fly my habita- tion, without the shortest previous intimation, uud I was sent, under a military escort, to Dublin, where, after an arrest of ninety-one days, I was liberated, without the slightest specific charge of any kind. At the time of my arrest, I commanded as respectable a corps of cavalry as any in the kingdom, con- taining fifty-six in number, and not the slightest impropriety was ever attached to any of its members. From the time the military possessed themselves of my resi- dence, the most iniquitous enormities were everywhere practiced upon the people of the country ; their houses plundered, their stock of all kinds seized, driven to the barracks, and sold by auction ; their persons arrested, and sentenced to be flogged, at the arbitrary will of the most despicable wretches of the community. A man of the name of Thomas James Rawson, of the lowest order, the of- fal of a dunghill, had every person tortured and stripped, as his cannibal will directed. He would seh,t himself in a chair in the cen- tre of a ring formed around the triangles, tJie miserable v'ldims kneeling under the tri- angle until they would he spotted over with the blood of the others. People of the name of Croniu were thus treated. He made the father kneel under the son while flogging, the son under the father, &c." Why such a demoniac system was intro- duced amongst a peaceful people — save to goad them into revolt — it is quite impos- Bible to comprehend. Thousands of men who had avoided the United Irish Society before, now began to join it. The priests were still counselling patience and submis- sion, and doing all in their power to make the people deliver up their pikes and otlier weapons. Miles Byrne says : "The priests did everything in their power to stop the progress of the association of United Irish- men ; particularly poor Father John Red- nioud, who refused to hear the confession of any of the United Irish, and turned them away from his knees. He was ill-requited afterwards for his great zeal and devotion to the enemies of his country ; for after tlie insurrection was all over, Earl Mountnorris brought him in a prisoner to the British camp at Gorey, with a rope about his neck, hung him up to a tree, and fired a brace of bullets through his body. Lord Mountnor- ris availed himself of this opportunity to show his ' loyalty,* for he was rather sus- pected on account of not being at the head of his corps when the insurrection broke out in his neighborhood. Both Redmond and the parish priest. Father Frank Cava- nagh, were on the best terms with Eari Mountnorris, dining frequently with him at his seat, Camolen Park; which place Father Redmond prevented being plundered during the insurrection. This was the only part he had taken in the struggle." Various kinds of torture were now habit- ually applied by the magistrates to extort confession of the two great crimes — having arms, or being United Irish ; and the merest suspicion, or pretence of suspicion, was quite enough to cause a man to be half- hanged, flogged almost to death, or fitted with a pitch cap. Edward Hay gives a good general account of the methods by which the Wexford people were at last maddened to I'evolt : — " The Orange system made no public appearance in the County of Wexford uutil the beginning of April, on the arrival there of the North Cork militia, commanded by Lord Kingsborough. In this regiment there were a great number of Orangemen, who were zealous in making proselytes and displaying their devices — having medals and Orange ribbons triumphantly pendant from their bosoms. It is believed that previous to this period there were but few actual Orangemen in the county ; but soon after, those whose principles inclined that way, finding themselves supported by the mill' TORTURE IK WEXFORD. 509 tiiry, joined the association, and publicly avowed themselves by assuming the devices of the fraternity. " It is said that the North Cork regiment were ahso the inventors (but they certainly were the introducers) of pitch-cap torture into the County of Wexford. Any person having his hair cut short, (and, therefore, called a croppy, by which appellation the RoUliery designated an United Irishman,) on being {)ointed out by some loyal neigh- bor, was immediately seized and brought into a guard-house, where caps, either of coarse linen or strong brown paper, be- smeared inside with pitch, were always kept ready for service. The unforttuiate victim had one of these, well heated, compressed on his head, and when judged of a proper degree of coolness, so that it could not be easily pulled off, the sufferer was turned out amidst the horrid acclamations of the merci- less torturers ; and to the view of vast num- bers of people, who generally crowded about the guard-house door, attracted by the cries of the tormented. Many of those j)ersecutcd in this manner experienced addi- tional anguish from the melted pitch trick- ling into their eyes. This afforded a rare addition of enjoyment to these keen sports- men, who reiterate'd their horrid yells of ex- ultation on the repetition of tlie several acci- dents to which their game was liable from being turned out ; for, in the confusion and hurry of escaping from the ferocious hands of these more than savage barbarians, the blinded victims frequently fell, or inadver- tently dashed their heads against the walls in their way. The pain of disengaging this pitched cap from the head must be next to intolerable. The hair was often torn out by the roots, and not unfrequently parts of the skin were so scalded or blistered as to ad- here and come off along with it. The terror and dismay that these outrages occasioned are inconceivable. A sergeant of the Korlh Cork, nicknamed Tom the. Devil, was most ingenious in devising new methods of tor- ture. Moistened gunpowder was frequently rubbed iuto the hair cut close, and tiieu set on fire. Some, while shearing for this pur- pose, had the tips of their ears snipped off. Sometimes an entire ear, and often both ears were completely cut off ; and many lost part of their noses during the like prepara- tion. But, strange to tell, these atrocities were publicly practiced without the least reserve, in open day ; and no magistrate or officer ever interfered, but shamefully con- nived at this extraordinary mode of quieting the people 1 Some of the miserable suffer- ers on these shocking occasions, or some of their relations or friends, actuated by a prin- ciple of retaliation, if not of revenge, cut sliort the hair of several persons, whom they either considered as enemies, or suspected of having pointed them out as objects for such desperate treatment. "This was done with a view that those active citizens should fall in for a little ex- perience of the like disci[)liue, or to make the fashion of short hair so general that it might no longer be a mark of party distinc- tion. Females were also exposed to the grossest insults from these military ruffians. Many women had their petticoats, handker- chiefs, caps, ribbons, and all parts of their dress that exhibited a shade of green, (con- sidered the national color of Ireland,) torn off, and their ears assailed by the most vile and indecent ribaldry. This was a circum- stance so unforeseen, ayd, of course, so little provided against, that many women of en- thusiastic loyalty suffered outrage in this manner (I r 'The proclamation of the County of Wexford having given greater scope to the ingenuity of magistrates to devise means of quelling all symptoms of rebelbon, as well as of using every exertion to procure discov- eries, they soon fell to the burning of houses wherein pikes, or other offensive weapons, were discovered, no matter how brought there ; but they did not stop here, for the dwellings of suspected persons, and those from which any of the inhabitants were found to be absent at night, were also con- sumed. The circumstance of absence from the houses very generally prevailed through- out the country, although there were the strictest orders forbidding it. This was occasioned at first, as was before observed, from apprehension of the Orangemen, but afterwards proceeded from the actual expe- rience of torture by the people from the yeomen and magistrates. Some, too, aban- doned their houses for fear of being wliipped, 310 HISTORT OF IRELAND. if, Oil being apprehended, confession satisfac- tory to the magistrates could neither be given or extorted ; and tliis infliction many persons seemed to fear more than death itself. Maiiy unfortunate men, who were taken in their houses, were strung up, as it were to be hanged, but were let down now and then to try if strangulation would oblige them to become informers. After these and the like experiments, several persons lan- guished for some time, and at length per- ished in consequence of them. Smiths and carpenters, whose assistance was considered indispensable in the fabrication of pikes, were pointed out on evidence of their trades as the first and fittest objects of torture. But the sagacity of some magistrates be- came at length so acute, from iiabit and ex- ercise, that they discerned an United Irish- man even at the first glance 1 And their zeal never suffered any person whom they designed to honor with such distinction to pass off without convincing proof of their attention " Mr. Hunter Gowan had for many years distinguished himself by his activity in ap- prehending robbers, for which he was re- warded with a pension of £100 per annum. Now exalted to the rank of a magistrate, and promoted to be captain of a corps of yeomanry, he was zealous in his exertions to inspire the people about Gorey with dutiful submission to the magistracy and a respect- ful awe of the yeomanry. On a public day in the week preceding the insurrection, the town of Gorey beheld the triumphal entry of Mr. Gowan, at the head of his corps, with his sword drawn and a human finger stuck on the point of it. " With this trophy he marched into the town, parading up and down the streets several limes, so that there was not a per- son in Gorey who did not witness this exhi- bition ; while in the meantime the triumph- ant corps displayed all the devices of Orange- men. After the labor and fatigue of the day, Mr. Gowan and his men retired to a public house to refresh themselves, and. like true blades of game, their punch was stirred about with the finger that had graced their ovation, in imitation of keen fjx hunters, who wkisk a bowi of punch with the brush of a fox before their boozing comuieiices. This captain and magistrate afterwards went to the bouse of Mr. Jones, where his daughters were, and while taking a snack that was set before him, he bragged of hav- ing blooded his corps that day, and that they were as staunch blood-hounds as any in the world. The daughters begged of their father to show them the croppy finger, which he deliberately took from his pocket and handed to them. Misses dandled it about with senseless exultation, at which a young lady in the room was so shocked that she turned about to a window, holding her hand to her face to avoid the horrid sight. Mr. Gowan, perceiving this, took the finger from his daughters, and archly dropped it into the disgusted lady's bosom. She instantly fainted, and thus the scene ended 11! " Having spent Friday, the 25th of May, with Mr. Turner, a magistrate of the coun- ty, at New fort, he requested me to attend him next day at Newpark, the seat of Mr. Fitzgerald, where, as the most central place, he had appointed to meet the people of the neighborhood. I accordingly met him there on Saturday, the 26th, where he continued the whole day administering the oath of allegiance to vast numbers of people. A certificate was given to every person who took the oath and surrendered any offensive weapon. Many attended who offered to take the oath, and also to depose that they were not United Irishmen, and that they possessed no arms of any kind whatever, aud earnestly asked for certificates. But so great was the concourse of these, that, con- sidering the trouble of writing them out, it was found impossible to supply them all with such testimonials at that time. Mr. Turner, therefore, continued to receive surrendered arms, desiring such as had none to await a more convenient opportunity. Numbers, however, still conceiving that they would not be secure without a written protection, offered ten times their intrinsic value to such as had brought pike blades to surrender ; but these being unwilling to forego tlie benefit of a written protection for the mo- ment, refused to part with their weapons ou any other condition. Among the great numbers assembled on this occasion were some men from the village of Ballaglikeeu, FATHER JOHN MTJRPHY. 311 who liad the appearance of being more dead thtfti alive, from the apprehensions they were under of having t'^ 'r hou-ses burned or themselves whipped should they return Lome. These apprehensions luid been ex- cited to this degree because tliat, on the night of Timrsday, the 24th, tlie Enniscor- thy cavalry, conducted by Mr. Arcliibald Hamilton Jacob, had come to Ballaghkeen; but, on hearing the iipproaching noise, the inhabitants ran out of tlieir bouses, and fled into large brakes of furze on a hill imme- diately above the village, from whence they could hear the cries of oue of their neigh- bors, who was dragged out of his house, tied up to a thorn tree, and while one yeomau continued flogging him, another was throwing water on his back. The groans of the unfortuuate sufferer, from the stillness of the night, reverberated widely through the appalled neigiiborhood ; and the spot of execution these men represented to have appeared next morning 'as if a j?i^- had beeu killed.'"* On the 25th of May was perpetrated the massacre of Carnew. A large number of prisoners had beeu shut up in the jail of that place, on suspicion of being guilty of pos- sessing arms, or of knowing some oue who possessed arms. ' These prisoners were all taken out of the jail and deliberately shot in the ball alley, by tlie yeomen aud a party of the Antrim militia, in presence of their officer s.f Father John Murphy was curate of Monageer aud Boolevogue, He was a gen- tleman of leirning and accomplishments, liaving studied in the University of Seville. He had now been resident several years, quietly doing the sacred duties of his calling, enjoying the esteem of all his neighbors, and little dreaming that it was to fall to his lot to head an insurrection. Miles Byrne, who knew him well, narrates with much simplicity the story of the good priest's first act (if war : — " 'lliH Reverend John Murphy, of the parish of Monageer and Boolevogue, was a wuriiiy, simple, pious man, and one of those Roman Caiiiolic priests who used the great- est t-xerlions and exhortations to obhge the people to surreiuler tlieir |'ik< s ami lirL-arnis * Edward Haj. t Huy, Madden. of every description. As soon as the cow- ardly yeomanry thought that all the arms were given up, and that there was no tui"' ther risk, they took courage, and set out, on Whit Saturday, the 26th of May, 1798, burning and destroying all before thein. Poor Father John, seeing his chapel and his house, and many others of the parish, all on fire, and in several of them the inhabitants consumed in the flames, and that no man seen in colored clothes could escape the fury of the yeomanry, betook himself to the next wood, where he was soon surrounded by the unfortuuate people who had escaped ; all came beseeching his reverence to tell tin m what was to become of them and their poor families. He answered them abruptly, that they had better die courageously in the field than be butchered in tlieir houses ; that, ior his own part, if he had any brave men to join him, he was resolved to sell his life dearly, and prove to those cruel monsters that they should not continue their murdera and devastations with impunity. All an- swered and cried out that they were deter- mined to follow his advice, and to do what- ever he ordered. ' Well, then,' he replied, ' we must, when night comes, get armed the best way we can, with pitch-forks and other weapons, and attack the Camoleu yeo- mau cavalry on their way back to Earl Mountnorris, where they will return to pass the night, after satisfying their savage rage on the defenceless country people.' " Father Johu's plan was soon put in ex- ecution. He went to the high road by which the corps was to return, left a few men near a house, with instructions to place tW'O cars across the road the moment the last of the cavalry had passed, and at a short distance from thence, half a quarter of a mile, he made a complete barricade across the highway, and then placed all those i)rave fellows who followed him behind a hedge along the road-side; and in thisposition he waited to receive this famous yeomanry cavalry, returning from being glutted with all manner of crimes during tiiis memorable day, the 26th of May, nilS. "About nine o'clock at night, this corps, riding in great sjieed, encounieivu tlie al>ove- nunlioned o'o^t.icle on the road, and were at llie same moment attacked lioai iVont to 812 HISTORY OF IRELAKD. rear by Father John and Itis brave men, with their pitcli-forks. The cavahy, after dischargino- their pistols, got no time to re- load them, or to nialie much use of tlieir 8abres. In short, they were Hierally lifted out of tlieir saddles, and fell dead under their horses' feet. Lieutenant Booky, who had the command iji the absence of Earl Monntnorris, was one of the first killed ; he was a sanguinary villain, and it seemed a just jiulgmont that befell tliera all. But, be that as it may, Fattier John and his men were much elated with their victory, and gett'ng arms, ammunition, and horses by it, considered themselves formidable, and able at least to beat the cruel yeomanry in every encounter. They marched at onne to Ca- raoleu Park, the residence of Lord Mount Dorris, where they got a great quantity of arms of every description, and which had been taken from the country people for months before ; and even the carabines be- longing to the corps, and which had not been distributed, waiting the arrival of the Earl from Dublin. "Dm-ing the night, and the next day, Whit Sunday, the 27th of May, the people flocked in to join Father John's standard, on hearing of his success ; and as soon as the news was known in Gorey, the troops took flight and abandoned the town, letting the prisoners go where they pleased ; but finding that Father John had marched in another direction, they returned and re- sumed their persecutions as befure ; they again arrested great numljers and had them placed in the market-house loft, ready to be butchered the moment the insurgents made their appearance before the town. Poor Perry was amongst the prisoners, and in a dreadful slate, having the skin as well as the hair burned off his head. Esmond Cane was arrested that day and made a pris- oner." Father John might now have marched -.Into Wicklow County without much opposi- tion, " but," continues Miles Byrne, " he thought it would be more advisable to raise the whole County of Wexford first, and get possession of the principal towns. In conse- queivce of this decision, on Whit Sunday, the 21 th of May, he marched with all hisj fOi'Ccs, then amounting to four or five thou- 1 sand men, to Onlard Hill, a distance of ten miles from Wexford, and five from Einfis- corthy. He encamped on this hill for the purpose of giving an opportunity to the un- fortunate people who were hiding to come and join him. He soon perceived several corps of yeomanry cavaliy in si-^ht, but all keeping at a certain distance from the hill, waiting until the infantry from Wexford arrived to make the first attack. " Shortly after, he saw a large force on the march, flanked by some cavalry, and aa soon as they began to mount the hill. Father John assembled his men and showed them the different corps of cavalry that were waiting, he said, ' to see us dispersed by the foot troops, to fall on us and to cut us in pieces ; but let us remain firm together and we shall surely defeat the infantry, and then we shall have nothing to dread from the cavalry, as they are too great cowards to venture into the action.' AH promised to conform to his instructions. 'Well, then/ he rejoined, ' we must march against the troops that are mounting the hill, and wheu they are deployed and ready to begin the attack, we must retreat precipitately back to where we are, and then throw ourselves down behhid this old ditch,' pointing to a boundary on the top of the hill. All his instructions were executed as he had or- dered. "The King's troops were commanded by Colonel Foote and Miijor liombard, and as soon as they came within about two musket- shots of the insurgents, they deployed and prepared for action, but became enraged when they saw the insurgents retreating back to the top of the hill ; however, they followed quickly, knowing that the hill was completely surrounded by the several corps of yeomanry cavalry, and that it was impossible for the insurgents to escape be- fore they came in with them. "Father John allowed the infantry to come within half musket-shot of the ditch, and then a few men on each flank and in the centre stood up, at the sight of which the whole line of infantry fired a volley, In- stanth'^, Father John and all his men sallied out and attacked the soldiers, who were in the act of re-charging their arms; and although they made the best fight they OCLARD —STORM OF ENNISCOETHY. 313 could with tlieir nmskets and bayonets, tliey •were soon overpowered and completely de- feated by tlie pikerneu, or rather by the men with pitch-forks and other weapons ; for very few had pikes at this battle, on ac- coniit of naviiig houLing and exhibiiing all the marks of extravagant and victorious exultation. They first proceeded to the jad, iviea.scd ad ine [jristJiu-rs, and insisted tiiai Mr. liarvey saouia Ltccome tueir com- 316 HISTORY OP IRELAND. mander. All the houses in town, not aban- doned by the inhabitants, now became decorated witli green bonghs, and other em- blematic symbols. The doors were univer- sally thrown open, and the most liberal offers made of spirits and drink, which, how- ever, were not as freely accepted, until the persons offering them had first drank them- selves, as a proof that the liquor was not poisoned — a report having prevailed to that effect. The insurgents being in possession of the .town, several of the yeomen, having thrown off their uniforms, affected, with all the signs and emblems of the United Irishmen, to convince them of their unfeigned cordial- ity and friendship ; those who did not throw open their doors with offers of refreshment and accommodation to the insurgents, suf- fered by plunder, their substance being con- sidered as enemy's property. The house of Captain Boyd was a singular exception. It was, though not deserted, pillaged. Tlio.-e troops who had fled from Wexford signalized themselves in their retreat by plundering and devastating the country ; by burning the cabins and sliooting the peas- ants in their progress ; and thus they aug- mented the number and rage of the insur- gents. These excesses were seen from the insurgents' station at the Tliree Rocks, and it was with extreme diflicnlty that the en- raged multitude were hindered by their chiel's from rushing down upon Wexford, and taking sunnnary vengeance of the town and its inhabitants. Tiie wliole County of Wexford was now in open insurrection. Perhap.s, it would be more correct to say that the people had taken to the field because their houses were mostly burned down, and had collected themselves into masses, with such poor arms as they had for their common protec- tion. The aggregate numbers of persons, whether insurgents or fugitives, with their crowds of women and children, far exceeded the numbers of fighting men that the county could furnish. The population of Wexford at that time did not much, if at all, exceed one hundred and fifty thousand persons.* * In 1841, it was 202,033. In 1851, it was 180,159.— If horn's Almanac. The men who were properly of fighting age, tlierefore, were not more than thirty thou- sand. Sir Jonah Barrington has estimated the whole number of those who rose in this county at thirty-five thousand ; but even to attain this amount, there must have been counted many thousands of old men, women, and children, besides many thousands more who were unarmed, or only half-armed. These straggling multitudes, then, without camp equipage, or accoutrements, or artil- lery, (except a few ship-guns, not mounted, and some captured field-pieces,) were now committed to a desperate struggle as:ainst the force of a powerful empire, well supplied with everything, and led by veteran gen- erals. The only wonder, to those who read this narration, will be, not that tliey were finally overpowered, but that they achieved such successes, as for a time they certainly did. If the other thirty-one counties had ■Jouc as well as Wexford, there would have ijcen that year an end to British douiiuion. CHAPTER XXXV. 1798. Camp on Vinegar Hill — Actions at Ballycannoo — At Newtownbarry— Tubberneering— Fall of Walpole — Two Columns — Bagenal Harvey Commands Insur- gents—Summons New Ross to Surrender— Battle of New Ross— Slaughter of Prisoners— Retaliation — Scullabogue— Bagenal Harvey Shocked by Affair of Scullabogue — Resigns Command— Father Philip Roche General— Fight at Arklow— Claimed as a Victory by King's Troops — Account of it by Milea Byrne — The Insurgents Execute some Loyalists in Wexford Town — Dixon — Retaliation — Proclamation by "People of Wexford" — Lord Kingsborough a Prisoner — Troops Concentrated round Vinegar Hill — Battle of Vinegar Hill — Enniscorthy and Wexford Recovered— Military Executions — Ravage of the Country — Chiefs Executed in Wexford— Treatment of Women — Outrages in the North of the County — Fate of Father John Murphy's Column— Of Antony Perry's — Combat at Ballyollis — Miles Byrne's Ac- count of it — Extermination of Ancient Britons — Character of Wexford Insurrection — Got up by the Government. While the insurgents were hohling the town of Wexford, two large "encampments" of them were five, and completely commands the town and most of the approaches to it ; the country around it is rich, and sufBcientiy wooded, and studded with country-seats and lodges. Few spots in Ireland, under all its circumstances, can be more inter- esting to a traveler. On the summit of the hill the insurgents had collected the. remains of their Wexford army ; its num- ber may be conjectured from General Lake deciding that twenty thousand reg- ular troops were necessary for the at- tack ; but, in fact, the effective of his army amounted, on the day of battle, to little more than thirteen thousand. Tlie peasantry had dug a slight ditch around a large extent of the base ; they had a very few pieces of small half-disabled cannon, some swivels, and not above two thousand fire-arms of all descriptions. But their sit- uation was desperate ; and General liake considered that two thousand fire-arms, in the bauds of infuriated and courageous men, supported by multitudes of pikemeu, luight be equal to ten times the number under other circumstances, A great many women mingled with their relatives, and fought with fury ; several were found dead amongst the men, who had fallen in crowds by the bursting of the shells. General Lake, at the break of day, dis- posed his attack in four cohuuns, whilst his cavalry were prepared to do execution on the fugitives. One of the columns (whether by accident or design is strongly debated) did not arrive in time at its station, by .which the insurgents were enabled to re- * Hay's History. Plowden says that report car- ried llic uuuiber of victims as liigli as four liuudred. treat to Wexford, through a country where they could not be pursued by cavalry or cannon. It was astonishing with what fortitude the peasantry, uncovered, stood the tremendous fire opened upon the four sides of their position; a stream of shells and grape was poured on the multitude ; the leaders encouraged them by exhortations, the women by their cries, and every shell that broke amongst them was followed by shouts of defiance. General Lake's horse was shot, many officers wounded, some killed, and a few gentlemen became invisible during the heat of the battle. The troops advanced gradually, but steadily, up the hill ; the peasantry kept up their fire, and maintained their ground ; their cannon was nearly use- less, their powder deficient, but they died fighting at their post. At length, enveloped in a torrent of fire, they broke, and sought their safety through the space that General Needham had left by the non-arrival of his column. They were partially charged by some cavalry, but with httle execution ; they retreated to Wexford, and that night occupied the town. The insurgents left behind them a great quantity of plunder, together with all their cannon, amounting to thirteen in number, of which three were six-pounders. The loss on the side of the King's forces was very in- considerable, though one officer. Lieutenant Sandys, of the Longford militia, was killed, and four others slightly wounded — Colonel King, of the Sligo regiment; Colonel Vesey, of the County of Duljlin regiment ; Lord Blauey, and Lieutenant-Colonel Cole. Euniscorthy being thus recovered after having been above three weeks in the hands of the insurgents, excesses, as must be expected in such a state of affairs, were com- mitted by the soldiery, particularly by the Hessian troops, who made no distinction be- tween loyalist; and insurgent. The most diabolical act of this kind was the firing of a house, which had been used as a hospital by the insurgents, in which numbers of sick and wounded, who were unable to escape from the flames, were burned to ashes f f The Rev. Mr. Gordon says, he was informed by a surgeon, that the burning was accidental, the bed- clothes having been set on tire by the wadding of the soldiers' guns, who were shooting the patients in theix' beds. CHIEFS EXECUTED IN WEXFORD. 327 The town of Wexford was relieved on the same day with Enniscorthy, Brii,^adier-Gen- e»al Moore, according to the ph^n formed by General Lake, having made a movement towards that quarter from the side of Ross, on the 19th, with a body of twelve hundred troops, furnished with artillery ; and having directed his march to Taghmon, in his in- tended way to Enniscorthy, on the 20th, was, on his way thither, between one and two o'clock in the afternoon, attacked by a large force of the people from Wexford, jK'riiaps five or six thousand, near a place called Guff's Bridge, not far from Hore Town. After an action, which continued till near eight, the insurgents were repulsed with some loss ; yet the fate of the day was long doubtful, and many of the King's troops were killed. Wexford, which bad been taken by the insurgents on the 30th of May, was surren- dered to the King's troops on the 23d of June. " Relying on the faith of Lord Kings- borough's promises of complete protection of persons and properties," we are told by Hay, "several remained in the town of Wexford, unconscious of any reason to ap- prehend danger ; but they were soon taken up and commit'ted to jail. The Rev. Philip Roach had such confidence in these assur- ances, and was so certain of obtaining simi- lar terms for those under his conmiand, that lie left his force at Sledagh, in full hopes of being permitted t3 return in peace to their homes, and was on his way to Wexford unarmed, coming, as he thought, to receive a confirmation of the conditions, and so lit- tle apprehensive of danger that he advanced within the lines before he was recognized, when all possibility of escape was at an end. He was instantly dragged from his horse, and in the most ignominious manner taken up to the camp on the Windmill Hills, pulled by the hair, kicked, buffeted, and at length hauled down to the jail in such a condition as scarcely to be known. The people whom he left in expectation of being permitted to return quietly home, waited his arrival ; but af last being informed of his fate, they abandoned all idea of peace, and set off, under the command of the Rev. John Murphy, to Fook's Mill, and so ou through Scollaghgap into the County of Carlow " From the encampment at Ballenkeele, commanded by General Needham, detach- ments were sent out to scour the country. They burned the Catholic chapel of Belle- murriu, situate on the demesne of Ballen- keele, on which they were encamped, besides several houses in tlie neighboi-hood." It is not clear that Lord Kingsborough, who was in Wexford as a prisoner, had power to " promise protection of person and property," in case of surrender. At all events, no attention was paid to those nego- tiations. Two of the insurgent chiefs, Clo- ney and O'Hea, repaired to Eimiscortliy, to make proposals for capitulation " Lieutenant-General Lake cannot attend to any terms by rebels in arras against their sovereign. While they continue so, he must use the force entrusted to him with tiie ut- most energy for their destruction. To the deluded multitude he promises pardon on their delivering into his hands their leaders, surrendering their arms, and returning with sincerity to their allegiance. "(Signed) G, Lake. "EXNISCORTHY, Juiic 22, 1798." Lord Lake established his headquarters in the house of Captain Keogh, the late commandajnt of the post — Keogh being now lodged in jail. Cornelius Grogan sur- rendered, relying ou the protection. Messrs. Colclough and Harvey attempted to escape, and concealed themselves in a cave upon the Great Saltee Island, off the coas't. Here they were discovered ; were brought to Wexford ; and, a [q\v days after, all these gentlemen, with many others, were tried by martial law and executed. Their heads were cut off and spiked iu a row in frout of the court-house.* * * Bagenal Harvey was proved, on the trial, to have constantly opposed deeds of blood, and endeavored to prevent the wanton destruction of loyalist prop- erty. It was so much the worse for him. The Rev. Mr. Gordon tells us a remarkable trait of the times : " The display of humanity by a rebel was, in general, in the trials by court-martial, by no means regarded as a circumstance in favor of the accused. Strange as it may seem, in times of cool reflection, it was very frequently urged as a proof of guilt. Whoever could be proved to have saved a loyalist from assas- sination, his house from burning, or his property from plunder, was cont^idcred as Imving influence among the rebels— cousciiuoutly a commander. Tiiij 328 HISTORY OF IBELAND. As for the unfortunate country people, now left to the mercy of a savage soldiery, they were hunted down iu all directions by the yeomanry cavalry. A detail of these horrors would be revolting. We must take a summary from the testimony of those who saw it. "la short," says Mr. Edward Hay, " death and desolation were spread through- out the country, which was searched and hunted so severely that scarcely a man es- caped. The old and harmless suffered, whilst they who had the use of their limbs, and were guilty, had previously made off with the main body of the people. The dead bodies scattered about, with their throats cut across, and mangled in the most shocking manner, exhibited scenes exceeding the usual horrors of war. The soldiery on this occasion, particularly the dragoons of General Ferdinand Hompesch, were per- mitted to indulge iu such ferocity and brutal lust to the sex as must perpetuate hatred and horror of the army to generations." The treatment of women by these Hes- sians and the yeomanry cowards was truly horrible; and the less capable of any excuse, as, in this matter at least, there could be no pretence for retaliation. " It is a singular fact," says Sir Jonah Barrington, " that in all the ferocity of the conflict, the storming of towns and of vil- lages, uiome.li were uniformly respected by the insurgents. Though numerous ladies fell occasionally into their power, they never experienaed any incivility or misconduct. But the foreign troops in our service (Hom- pesch's) not only brutally ill-treated, but occasionally shot gentlewomen. A very re- spectable married woman in Euniscorthy (Mrs. Stringer, the wife of an attorney,) was wantonly, shot at her own window by a German, in cold blood. The rebels (though her husband was a royalist) a short time seems to have arisen fi-om a rage of prosecution, by which the crime of rebellion was regarded as too great to admit any circumstances of extenuation in favor of the person guilty of it, and by which every mode of conviction against such a person was deemed justifiable." He makes mention of the notoriety of this practice having drawn the following extraordinary exclama- tion from a Roman Catholic gentleman who had been one of the insurgents: " 1 thank my God that no person can prove me guilty of saving the life or property of any one!" after took some of those foreign soldiers prisoners, and piked them all, as they told i\\Gm-r-' jihst to teach them how to shoot ladies.^ Martial law always affects both sides. Re- taliation becomes the law of nature wherever municipal laws are not in operation. It is a remedy that should never be resorted to but in extremist On the same shocking subject Mr. Plow- den observes : — " As to this species of outrage, which rests not in proof, it is univers-illy allowed to have been on the side of the military. It produced an indignant horror in the country which went beyond, but prevented retalia- tion. It is a characteristic mark of the Irish nation neither to forget nor forgive an insult or injury done to the honor of their female relatives. It has been boasted of by officers of rank that, within certain large districts, a woman had not been left unde- filed; and upon observation, in answer, that the sex must then have been very coraph''- ing, the reply was, that the bayonet removed all squeamishness. A lady of fashion, hnv- ing in conversation been questioned us to this difference of conduct towards the sex in the military and the rebels, attributed it, in disgust, to a want of gallantry in Iht crop- pies. By these general remarks it is not meant to verify or justify the saying of a fie'd- officer, or a lady of quality, both of whom could be named ; but merely to show the prevalence of the general feelings and pro- fessions at that time upon these horrid sub- jects ; and, consequently, what effects must naturally have flowed from them. In all matters of irritation and revenge, it is the conviction that the injury exists which pro- duces the bad effect. Even Sir Richard Musgrave admits (p. 428) that, "on most occasions, they did not offer any violence to the tender sex." There was little more fighting in the county. Separate bands of the insurgents were making their way either into Wicklow on the north, a country of mountains, glens, and lakes, or westward into Ciirlow by way of ScoUaghgap, between Mount Leinster and Blackstairs Mountain. The northern part of the County of Wex- ford had been almost totally deserted by all the male inhabitants on the 19th, at the ap- OTTTKAGES IN THE NOKTH OF THE COITNTT. 329 proach of tlie army uikUt General Need- ham. Some of the yeomanry, wlio Iiad for- merly deserted it, returned to.Gorey on the 21st, and, on finding no officer of the army, as was expected, to command there, they, wilh many others, who returned along with them, scoured the country round, and killed great numbers in their houses, besides all the stragglers they met, most of whom were making the best of their way home unarmed from the insurgents, who were tlien believed to be totnlly disconilited. These transac- tions being made known to a body of tlie insurgents encamped at Peppard's Castle, on the 22d, they resolved to retaliate, and directly marched for Gorey, whither they had otherwise no intention of proceeding. The yeomen and their associates, upon the near approach of the insurgents, fled back with precipitation ; and thence, accompa- nied by matiy otliers, hastened toward Ark- low, but were pursued as far as Coolgreney, with the loss of forty-seven men. The day was called bloody Friday. The insurgents had been exasperated to this vengeance by discovering through the country as they came along, several dead men with their skulls split asunder, their bowels ripped open, and their throats cut across, besides some dead woftien and children. They even saw the dead bodies of two women, about which their surviving children were creeping and bewailing tliera ! These sights hastened the insurgent force to Gorey, where their exasperation was considerably augmented by discovering the pigs in the streets de- vouring the- bodies of nine men, who had been hanged the day before, with several others recently shot, and some still expiring. After the return of the insurgents from the pursuit, several persons were found lurk- ing in the town, and brought before Mr, Fitzgerald, particularly iNlr. Peppard, sov- ereign of Gorey ; but, from this gentleman's age and respectability, he was considered incapable of being accessory to the perpe- tration of the horrid cruelty which provoked and prompted this sudden revenge, and he and ottiers were saved, protected, and set at liberty. At this critical time, the news of the burning of Mr. Fitzgerald's house, still further maddened the people ; but, for- getful of such great personal injury, he ex- 42 erted his utmost endeavors to restrain th-e insurgents, who vociferated hourly for ven- geance for their favorites, and succeeded ia leading them off from Gorey; when, after a slight repast, they resumed their intended route, rested that night at the White Heaps, on Croghan Mountain, and on the 2Bd set off for the mountains of Wicklow. Such Wexford men as still remained in arms, having no longer any homes, and afraid to go to their homes if they had, were endeavoring to join the insurgents in other counties. One of these bodies, com* mauded by the Rev. John Murphy, (with whom was Miles Byrne,) proceeded through the County of Carlow ; and, having ai-rived before the little town of Goresliridge, in the County of Kilkenny, a show of defence was made at a bridge on the river Barrow, by a party of Wexford militia ; but they were quickly repulsed, driven back into the vil- lage, and nearly all either killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. The prisoners were conveyed with the insurgents until they ar- rived on a ridge of hills which divides the Counties of Carlow and Kilkenny from the Queen's County, Here they put some of the unfortunate prisoners to death, and buried their bodies on the hill. Others es- caped and joined their friends. In justice to the memory of the Rev. John Murphy it must here be stated that these murders were done contrary to his solemn injunc- tions, and that they were the result of long- felt and deadly hatred, entertained by some of the insurgents towards the militia-men. The example of murdering in cold blood was, no doubt, constantly set them by their enemies. If a war of partial extermination had not been proclaimed, no justification whatever could be offered for this atrocity ; but it is well known that, although the prac- tice was not avowedly sanctioned by the constituted authorities, it was in almost all cases unblushingly advised by the under- lings of power in Ireland. " Having rested for the night of the 23d of June on the Ridge, as those hills are called, they proceeded early next morning to Cas- tlecomer, and commenced a furious attack on the town at ten o'clock. The principal re- sistance offered to their progress was from a party stationed in a house at the foot of 330 mSTOKY OF IRELAND. the bridge, which was ably defended, and opposite to which raauy brave men fell, by rashly exposing themselves in front of so strong a position ; for the town could have been attacked and carried with very little loss, from another quarter. In fact, every other position was speedily abandoned by the military and yeomanry, who retreated and took up a position on a hill at a respect- ful distance from the town. Here, as well as in most other places where the insurgents had been engaged, skill alone was wanting to insure success. The people had numbers and courage enough to overthrow any force whicli had been sent against them, if they liad been skilfully commanded. The attack on the well-defeuded house was fruitlessly kept up for four hours, from which they finally retreated with severe loss, and marched in a northwest direction about five miles, into the Queen's County.* Soon after, finding themselves hard pressed by bodies of troops on three sides, they were obliged to retreat once more in the direction of the Carlow mountains. At Kilcomney they were forced to fight, but without any chance of success. They were entirely rout- ed. Father Murphy was taken three days later, brought to General Duff's headquar- ters at TuUow, tried by martial law, and, after being first cruelly scourged, was exe cuted. His head, as usual, was spiked in the market-place of the town. Another of the scattered bands, led by •Antony Perry, of Inch, and Father Kearns, penetrated into Kildare, and joining with the Kildare insurgents, attempted to march upon Athlone. They were beaten, however, at Clonard ; Perry and Father Kearns were both taken prisoners, and met the usual doom.f Edward Fitzgerald, Miles Byrne and some other chiefs, still kept a considerable band on foot in the mountains on the bor- der of Wicklow, from whence they occa- sionally made descents, and attacked some bodies of troops with success. One of these affairs was the assault upon the barracks at Hacketstown ; and another was the memo rable extirpation of that hated regiment, the "Ancient Britons," at Ballyellis. Be- Cloney's Memoir. t Madden's Lives. fore Miles Byrne finally retired into the fastnesses of Wicklow, to join Holt, he had the satisfaction to bear a hand in that bloody piece of work. We let Mm tell it in his own words : — " Early in the morning of the 29th of June, it was resolved to march aud attack the town of Caruew. The column was halted at Monaseed to repose and take some kind of refreshments, which were indeed dif- ficult to be had, as every house had been plundered by the English troops on their way to Vinegar Hill a few days before. " The Irish column resumed its march on the high road to Carnew, and in less than half an hour after its departure, a large div- ision of English cavalry, sent from Gorey by General !Needham, marched into Mona- seed. This division consisted of the noto- I'ious Ancient Britons, a cavalry regiment which had committed all sorts of crimes when placed on free quarters with the un- fortunate inhabitants previous to the rising. This infernal regiment was accompanied by all the yeomen cavalry corps from Arklow, Gorey, Coolgreeny, &c., and the chiefs of those corps, such as Hunter Gowan, Beau- mont, of Hyde Park, Earl Mountnorris, Earl Courtown, Ram, Hawtry White, &c., could boast as well as the Ancient Britons of having committed cold-blooded murders on an unarmed country people. But they never had the courage to meet us on the field of battle, as will be seen by the das- tardly way they abandoned the Ancient Britons at Ballyellis. "The officers of the Ancient Britons, as well as those of the yeomen corps, learned that the Irish forces had just marched off on the road to Carnew, and were informed at a public house, that the insurgents who had been there were complaining how they were fatigued to death by the continual marching and countermarching, and that although they had fire-arms, their ammuni- tion was completely exhausted, and scarce a ball-cartridge remained in their army. The truth of this information could not be doubt- ed. All the information coming through so sure a cliannel, encouraged the English troops to pursue without delay the insurgents, aud to cut them down and exterminate them to the last man, for they could not resist EXTEKMINATION OF ANCIENT BRITONS. 331 -f- withoiit ammunition. The Ancient Britons were to charge on the road, whilst the yeo- men cavah-y, being so well-mounted, were to cover the flanks and to march through the field ; and those fox-hunters promised that not one croppy should escape their ven- geance. "All being thus settled and plenty of whisky distributed to the English soldiers, the march to overtake the insurgents com- menced, and when about two miles from Monaseed, at Ballyellis, one mile from Car- uew, the Ancient Britons being in full gal- lop, charging, and as they thought, driving all before them, to their great surprise, were suddenly stopped by a barricade of cars thrown across the road, and at the same moment that the head of the column was thus stopped, the rear was attacked by a mass of pikenien, who sallied out from behind a wall, and completely shut up the road, as soon as the last of the cavalry had passed. The remains or ruins of an old deer-park wall, on the right-hand side of the road, ran along for about half a mile ; in many parts it was not more than three or four feet high. All along the inside of this our guusmen and pikemen were placed. On the left-hand side of the road there was an immense ditch, with swampy ground, which few horses could be found to leap. In this advantageous situation, for our men, the battle began; the gunsmen, half covered, firing from behind the wall, whilst the Eng- lish cavalry, though well mounted, could only make use of their carabines and pistols, for with their sabres they were unable to ward off the thrusts of our pikemen, who sallied out on them in the most determined manner. "Thus, in less than an hour, this infamous regiment, which had been the horror of the country, was slaiu to the last man, as well as the few yeomen cavalry who had the courtige to take part iu the action. For all those who quit their horses and got into the fields were followed and piked on the marshy ground. The greater part of the numerous cavalry corps which accompanied the Ancient Britons kept on a rising ground, to ihe right side of the road, at some distance, during the battle, and as soon as the result of it was known, they fled iu the most cowardly way in every direction, both dismayed and disappointed that they had no 0()portunity ou this memorable day of murdering the stragglers, as was their custom on such oc- casions. I say ' memorable,' for during the war, no action occurred which made so great a sensation in the country ; as it proved to the enemy, that whenever our pikemen weru well commanded and kept in close order, they were invulnerable. And, besides, it served to elate the courage and desire of our men to be led forthwith to new combats. " The English troops that marched out from Carnew retreated back on the town in great haste, when they heard of the defeat of the Ancient Britons at Ballyellis. The infantry, fitiduig that they were closely pur- sued by our men, barricaded themselves iu a large malt house belonging to Bob Blancy. This malt house was spared at the time of the first attack on Carnew, when the great est part of the town was burned, on ac- count of the upright and humane conduct of the owner, Mr. Blaney. Kow it had be- come a formidable and well-fortified barrack, capable of holding out a long time, particu- larly as our army had no cannon to bring to bear against it. However, it was in- stantly attacked, and great efforts made to dislodge the enemy, who kept up a con- tinual fire from all the windows ; and, as at Hacketstown, every means were taken to approach the doors under cover of beds, straw, m those foul imputations which had been industriously ascribed to it — the pursuit of the most unjust objects by means of the most flagitious crime. "If our couutry has not actually bene- fited to the extent of our wishes and of our stipulations, let it be remembered that this has not been owing to the compact, but to the breach of the compact — the gross and flagrant breach of it, both as to the letter and spirit, in violation of every principle of plighted faith and honor. " Having beeu called upon to fulfill our part of the compact, a stop being put to all further trials and executions, a memoir was drawn up and signed by two of the under- signed, together with another of the body, (they being selected by Government for that purpose,) and was presented to Mr. Cooke ou the 4th of Augusts It was very hastily prepared in a prison, and, of course, not so complete and accurate as it might otherwise have been ; but sufficiently so to draw from Mr. Cooke an acknowledgment that it was a complete fulfillment of the agreement ; though he said the Lord-Lieu- tenajit wished to have it so altered as not to be a justification of the United Irishmen, which, he said, it manifestly was. " Upon the refusal to alter it. Govern- ment thought proper to suppress it altogeth- er, and adopted a plan which they had al- ready found convenient for promulgating, not the entire truth, but so much of the truth as accorded with their views, and whatever else they wished to have passed upon man- kind under color of authority for tne truth. This was no other tlian examination before the secret committees of Parliament. I3y these committees several of us were exam- ined ; and, to our astonishment, we soon after saw in the newspapers, and have since seen in printed reports of these committees, misrepresented and garbled, and, as far as relates to some of us, very untrue au'l falla- cious statements of our testimony — even in some cases, the very reverse of what was given. That no suspicion may attach to this assertion from its vagueness, sucli of us as were examined will, without delay, state the precise substance of our evidence on that occasion. " The Irish Parliament thought fit, about the month of September in the same year, to pass an act to be founded expressly ou this agreement. To the provisions of that law we do not think it worth while to al- lude, because their severity and injustice are lost in comparison with the enormous false- hood of its preamble. In answer to that we most distinctly and formally deny that any of us did ever publicly or privately, directly or indirectly, acknoivkdge crn/ies, retract opinions, or implore pardon, as is therein most falsely stated. A full and ex- plicit declaration to this effect would have been made public at the time, had it not been prevented by a message from Lord Cornwallis, delivered to one of the subscrib- ers, ou the 12th of that month. Notwith- standing we bad expressly stipulated at the time of the negotiation for the entire liberty of publication, in case we should find our conduct or motives misrepresented, yet this perfidious and inhuman message threatened that such declaration would be considered as a breach of the agreement ou our part, and in that case the executions in genial should go on as formerly. "Tims was the truth stifled at the time ; and we believe firmly that to prevent its publication has been one of the principal reasons why, in violation of the most sol- emn engagements, we were kept in close custody ever since, and transported from our native country against our consent. "We conceive that to ourselves, to our cause, and to our country, and to posterity, we owe this brief statement of facts, iu which we have suppressed everything that is not of a Tiature strictly vindicatory ; be- cause our object in this publication is not to criminate, but to defend. As to their truth, we positively aver them, each for himself, as far as they fall within his knowl- edge, and we firmly believe the otliers to be the truth, and nothing but the truth." The following part of the statement is in the handwriting of John Sweetman : — ■ "Ou the 12ih of March, 1798, the depu- TKITE ACCOUNT OF THE COIIPACT. 345 I'es from several coiitities having met in Dublin, to deliberate upon some general trseasiires for Union, were arrested in a body ftt Mr. Bond's, as were also many other of its principal agents, and put into a state of eolitary confinement. Some of those persons were examined by the Privy Council pre- vious to their committal to prison ; when it appeared, beyond a possibility of doubt, that the negotiations of the United Irish- men with France had been betrayed to the 13riti,-li Government. On the oOtli, the kingdom was ofScially declared in a state of rebellion, and put under uuirtial law. A proclamation from the Lord-Lieutenant had directed the military to use the most sum- Inary methods for repressing disturbances ; and it was publicly notified by the com- manders ill some counties that, unless the l)eople brought in their arms within ten days from the period of publication, large bodies of troops would be quartered on them, who should be licensed to live at free-quarters, and that other severities would be exercised to enforce acquiescence. In the latter end of May, the united armed men of the Coun- ty Kildare felt themselves obliged to take the field, and hostilities commenced between them and the' King's forces on the 24th. About this time the Counties of Wexford and Wicklow were generally up, and those of Down, Derry, Antrim, Carlow, and Meath were preparing to rise. The appeal to arms in these counties was attended with various success on both sides, and the mili- tary were invested with fnrther powers by a proclanuitiou, issued by the Lord- Lieutenant and Conncil, directing the generals to punish all attacks upon the ■ King's forces, according to martial-law, either by death or otherwise, as to them should seem expedient. For some time the people had the advantage in the field ; but the defeat at New E,oss on the 5th of June, at Antrim on the 7th, that of Arklow on the 9th, of Ballinahinch on the 12th, of Vinegar Hill on the 21st, and Kilconnell on the 26ih, with the evacuation of Wex- ford, and some unsuccessful skirmishes which afterwards took place in the Comity of Wicklow, removed all hope of maintain- ing the contest for i/ie present with any probability of success. In the interim troops Avere arriving fiom England, and several regiments of English militia had volunteered their services for Ireland. About the end of June, a proclamation was issued, promising pardon and protec- tion to all persons, except the leaders, who should retnrn to their allegiance and deliver up their arms, which, it was said, had a very general efiect. A large body of the Kildare men had already surrendered to General Dundas, and on the 21st of July another party, with its leaders, capitulated to General Wilford. The King's troops by this time were victorious in every quar- ter ; and the park of artillery which had been employed in the south had returned to the capital. " It was now upwards of two months since the war broke out, during which time no attempt had been made by the French to land a force upon the coast, nor was there any satisfactory account then received that such a design was in contemplation. The expedition of Buonaparte and the forces un- der his command were already ascertained to have some part of the Mediterranean for their object. No other diversion was made by the French to distract the British power during this period. Military tribunals, com- posed of officers who, in many instances, as it was publicly admitted, had not ex- ceeded the inconsiderate age of boyhood, were everywhere instituted, and a vast num- ber of executions had been the consequence. The yeomen and soldiery, licensed to in- dulge their rancor and revenge, were com- mitting those atrocious cruelties which unfortunately distinguish the character of civil warfare. The shooting of innocent peasants at their work was occasionally re- sorted to by them as a sjiecies of recreation — a practice so inhuman that unless we had incontestible evidence of the fact we never should have given it the slightest cre- dence. During these transactions, a special commission, under an act of Parliament, passed for the occasion, was sitting in the capital ; and the trials having commenced, it was declared from the bench that to be proved an United Irishman was sufficient to subject the party to the penalty of death, and that any memlier of a baronial or other committee was accountable for every act 846 HISTORY OF IRELAND. done by the body to which he respectively belonged in its collective capacity, whether it was done withont his cognizance in his absence, or even at the extremity of the land. As it was openly avowed that con- victions would be sought for only through the medium of informers, the Government used every influence to dignify the charac- ter of this wretched class of beings in the eyes of those who were selected to decide on the lives of the accused ; and they so ef- fectually succeeded as to secure implicit re- spect to whatever any of them chose to swear, from juries so appointed, so prepos- sessed. It was made a point by the first con- nections of Government to flatter those wretches, and some peers of the realm were known to have hailed the arch-apostate Reynolds with the title of ' Saviour of his country.'" The following part of the statement is in the handwriting of William James Mac- Iseven : — "In the case of Mr. Bond, the jury, with an mdeceut precipitation, returned a verdict of guilty, on the 23d of July, and on the 25th he was sentenced to die. -Byrne was also ordered for execution. In this sit- uation of our affairs a negotiation was opened with Government, and proceeded in through the medium of Mr. Dobbs. An agreement was in consequence concluded and signed, which among other things stipu- lated for the lives of Byrne and Bond ; but Government thought fit to annul this by the execution of Byrne. As, however, the main object, the putting a stop to the useless effusion of blood, was still attainable, it was deemed right to open a second negotiation. In its progress. Government having insisted on some dishonorable requisitions, which were rejected with indignation, occasioned the failure of this also. It was, however, pro- posed by them to renew it again, and depu- ties from the jails were appointed to confer with the official servants of the Crown. A meeting, accordingly, took place at the Castle on the 29th of July, when the final agreement was concluded and exchanged. " In addition to the fulJiUment to the letter of this agreement, the official servants of the Crown pledged the faith of Government for two thhigs— one that the result and end of that measure should be the putting a stop to the effusion of blood, and that all execu- tions should cease, except in cases of willful murder ; the other was, that the conditions of the agreement should be liberally inter- preted. The agreement was, in the course of a day or two, generally signed by the prisoners. " Having thus stated the facts, we pro- ceed to declare our reasons for entering into and ratifying this agreement : First. Be- cause we had seen, with great affliction, that in the course of the appeal to arms, while four or five counties out of the thirty- two were making head against the whole of the King's forces, no effectual disposition was manifested to assist them, owing, as we believe, to the extreme difficulty of assem- bling, and the want of authentic informa- tion as to the real state of affairs. Second. Because the concurring or quiescent spirit of the English people enabled their Govern- ment to send not only a considerable addi- tional regular force, but also many regiments of English militia into Ireland. Third. Be- cause it was evident that in many instances the want of military knowledge in the lend- ers had rendered the signal valor of the people fruitless. Fourth. Because, not- withstanding it was well known in France that the revolution had commenced in Ire- land — an event that they were previously taught to expect — no attempt whatever was made by them to land any force during the two months which the contest had lasted, nor was ajiy account received that it was their intention even shortly to do so. Fifth. Becanse, that by the arrest of many of the deputies and chief agents of the Union, and by the absence of others, the funds necessary for the undertaking were obstructed or un- collected, and hence arose insurmountable difficulties. Sixth. Because, from the sev- eral defeats at New Ross and We.xford, no doubt remained on our minds that further resistance, for the present, was not only vain, but nearly abandoned. Seventh. Be- cause we were well assured that the procla- mation of amnesty issued on the 29th of June had caused great numbers to surrender their arms, and take the oath of allegiance. Eighth. Because juries were so packed, jus- tice so perverted, and the testimony of the basest informers so respected, that trial was TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE "COMPACT." 347 but a mockery, and arraignment b'.it the tocsin for exccntion. 2sinlh. Because we were con%-inced by tlie official servants of the Crown, and by tiie evidence given on the trials, that Government was ah-eady in pos- session of our external and internal transac- tions — the former they obtained, as we be- lieve, throngli the perlidy of some agents of the French Government at Hamburg ; the latter through informers who had been more or less confidential in all our affairs. Tenth, and final. Every day accounts of the mur- ders of our most virtuous and energetic countrymen assailed our ears ; many were perishing on the scaffold, under pretext of martial or other law, but many more the victims of individu.il Orange hatred and re- venge. To stop tliis torrent of calamity, to preserve to Ireland her best blood . . , we determined to make a sacrifice of no trivial value — we agreed to abandon our country, our families, and our friends. " And now we feel ourselves further called upon to declare that an act, passed in Ireland during the autumn of 1198, re- citing our names, and asserting that we had * retracted our opinions, acknowledged our crimes, and implored pardon,' is founded upon a gross and flagrant calumu}' — neither we, the undersigned, nor any of our fellow- prisoners, so far as we know or believe, hav- ing ever done either the one or the other ; and we solemnly assert that we never were consulted about that act, its provisions, or prciinible, and that no copy of it was ever sent tu us by any servant of the Crown — though repeatedly promised by the Under- Secretary — nor by any other person. On tlie the contrary, it had, unknown to us, passed the House of Commons, when one of us, (Samuel Xeilson,) having seen by mere ac- cident an abstract of it in an English news- paper, remonstrated with the servants of the Crown on the falsity of the preamble, and was silenced only by a message from the Lord-Lieutenant, that it was his posi- tive determination to annul the agreement and proceed with the executions, &c., if any further notice whatever was taken of the preamble, or if one word was published on the subject. We did not conceive ourselves warranted, situated as things tiien vi^ere, in being iustruiLCutal to a renewal of blood- shed. We have ever since been constrained to silence, for, in violation of a solemn agreement, we have been kept close prisoners, "To our country and to our posterity, we felt that we owed this declaration ; and to their judgment u})on our conduct and mo- tives we bow with respectful submission." These gentlemen were all still kept close prisoners. Three of them, Thomas Addia Emmet, Arthur O'Connor, and Dj". Mac- Neven, were twice, in the course of the year 1798, brought up and examined, as already described, before secret committees of both Houses, and in April, 1799, were sent to Fort George, a strong place near Inverness, in the Highlands of Scotland, where they were kept prisoners until the peace of Amiens. The names of the Fort George prisoners were : — Thomas Addis Emmet. Arthur O'Coxxor, Roger O'Conxor, William James MacXeven, johx swektmax, Matthew Dowling, John Chambers, Edward Hudsov, George Cummixg, Samuel Neilsox, Thomas Russell, Robert Simms, William Tennent, Robert Hunter, Hugh Wilson, John Sweeny, Joseph Cuthbert, William Steele Dixon, Joseph Cormick. "We were selected," says Dr. Steele Dixon, in his narrative, " from the three provinces of Ulster, Leinster, and Munster, but principally from the city of Dublin and town of Belfast ; we comprehended in our body three magistrates, three barristers, two physicians, one attorney, one apothecary,, one printer and bookseller, one printer and proprietor of a newspaper, one dentist, one military captain, one runner to a bank, one merchant tailor, and one Presbyterian min- ister, with an eminent porter brewer, two wholesale merchants, one broker, and two young gentlemen without profession, trade, or calling. ... I should have added, S48 HISTOFvY OF IRELAND. a clerjryniiin of the Church of England, as Artlnu' O'Connor was ordained as such pre- vious to Iiis being called to the bar ; and as Episcopal ordination impresses an indelible character, he not only then was, and now is, but ever must be, a clergyman. Of our cir- cumstances, I sh.ill only say, that we had all been independent, most of us respectable, m our professions, some possessed of large capitals in trade, and others of considerable landed property. Perhaps it may not be amiss to mention here that, as we were se- lected from the three principal provinces of Ireland, we were respectively members of the three principal Churches in the kingdom, and wliicli alone Government has yet ac- knowledged an Churches. Nor is it un- worthy of notice that the number of Catho- lics, Protestants, and Presbyterians in our little colony, was in an inverse ratio of the number of each denomination in Ireland at large. Perhaps the proportion may be stated as follov>'s, though not correctly : — Catholics, (two-tliirds of the people,) prisoners. . . 4 Presbyteriaus, (more than one-tifth of the people,) prisoners G Protestants, (less than one-seventh of the people,) prisoners 10 CnAPTEIl XXX YIL 1798. Parliament— The Acts of Attainder — French Landing under Humbert— Killala— Conduct of the little Fi'euch Army — Ballina— The Races of Castlebar — Panic and Rout of the British Force — French give a Ball — Lord Cornwallis Collects a Great Army — Marches to meet the Frcncli — Encounters them at Ballinamuck — Defeat and Capture of the French — Recovery of Ballina — Slaughter — Courts-Martial, &c. — End of the Insurrections of 1798 — New French Expedition — Commodore Bompart— T. W. Tone — Encounter British Fleet at Mouth of Lough Swilly — Battle — the Hoche Captured — Tone a Pris- oner—Recognized by Sir George Hill— Carried to Dublin in Irons — Tried by Court-Martial — Con- demned to be Hanged — Ilis Address to the Court — Asks as a Favor to he Shot — Refused by Cornwal- lis — Suicide in Prison. Ix the midst of this reign of terror and of vengeance, Parliament continued to sit from time to time. Lord Castlereagh's majority in Parliament had its functions to discharge, as well as the " Major's People," in the gen- eral s^'stem of operations which were all to lead towards, and end in, the one grand point — a Legislative Union. On the 18th of July, Lord Castlereagh, after a long speech on the rebellion in general, and its atrocities, (which were all, according to him, on the part of the people,) proposed that a measure should be brought in to grant compensation to such of His Majesty's loyal subjects as had sustained losses in their property during the insurrection. This bill was brought in, was passed, and commis- sioners were appointed for carrying it into effect. On the 27th, the Attorney-General brought in a bill for the attainder of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Cornelius Grogan, and Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, in order that their estates might be forfeited. All efforts in opposition to this new procedure against men who were all dead and had never been convicted of any crime, proved quite fruit- less. It was the informer Reynolds, who had been implicitly trusted by the unsus- pecting Lord Edward, that proved the case against him, to the satisfaction of the Com- mittee. Curran was heard in defence, on the part of Lady Pamela Fitzgerald and her children, and made a very strong argu- ment. On the unheard-of nature of this species of proceeding, he said : " Upon the previous and important question, namely, the guilt of Lord Edward, (without the full proof of which no punishment can be just,) I have been asked by the Committee if I have any defence to go into. . . . Sir, I now answer the question : I have no de- fensive evidence — it is impossible that I should. I iiave often of late gone to the dungeon of tiie captive, but never have I gone to the grave of the dead, to receive in- structions for his defence — nor, in truth, have I ever before been at the trial of a dead man." It was all in vain ; that Par- liament was quite ready to make a new pre- cedent, in order to starve the widows and children of dead rebels. The bills of At- tainder passed.* Besides these, the Parlia- ment was busy with its " Fugitive bill,"' and its '" Banishment bill," excepting from all * A remnant of Lord Edward's property was saved for his widow by Mr. Ogilvie, Lord Edward's step- father, who bought it when sold in Chancery to sat- isfy a mortgage. But what was saved was a trifle ; and Lady Pamela died in poverty. As to Mr. Grogan, wlio possessed a large estate, Sir Jonah Barringtou says : — " This Attainder bill was one of the most illegal FRENCH LANDING UNDER HUMBERT. 349 amnesty certain United Irishmen not then in the country, and certain others who were to be allowed to exile themselves. These two lists comprehend one hundred and forty names, including Napper Tandy, Wolfe Tone, Richard MoCormick, Dean Swift, Lewins, Emmet, ]S^eilson, O'Connor, <&c.; and all the names may be found in one of the appendixes of Madden. The last-named gentlemen, indeed, before their banishment, had some years to pass in the dreary fort- ress of Fort George. The whole country was still under mar- tial-law ; many were suffering the extreme penalty, and that wholesome feeling, called by Barrington " an impression of horror," was sufiBciently prevalent for all the purposes of Mr. Pitt, when his policy was materially served by a new and most pitiful Trench in- vasion, which came too late to serve Ireland, but was in admirable time to help England. Fortunately for England, and, therefore, unhappily for Ireland, the French Republic was, during the year 1798, in its most help- less and chaotic condition. Napoleon was in Egypt ; and the miserable Directory, with neither money nor credit, was lamenta- bly unequal to the exigencies of the time. Wolfe Tone vi^is still in France. As the news of each arrest, and of each action, successively reached France, he urged the generals and Government to assist the gal- lant and desperate struggle of his country- men, and pressed on tliem the necessity of availing themselves of the favorable oppor- tunity whicli flew so rapidly by. They be- gan their preparations without delay ; but money, arms, ammunition, and ships, all were wanting. By the close of June, tlie insurrection was nearly crushed, and it was not till the beginning of July that Tone was called up to Paris, to consult with the Min- isters of the War and Navy Departments on the organization of a new expedition. At this period his journal closes, and the subsequent events are elsewhere recorded. The plan of the new expedition was to and unconstitutional acts ever promoted by any gov- ernment ; but after much more than £10,000 costs to Crown officers, and to Lord Norbury, as Attorney- Uenei'al, had been extracted from the property, the estates were restored to the surviving brother." The surviving brother had fought on the royalist biJe during the inaurrectiuu. dispatch small detatchments from several ports, in the hope of keeping up the insur- rection, and distracting the attention of the enemy, until some favorable opportunity should occur for landing the main body, under General Kilmaine. General Hum- bert, with about one thousand men, was quartered for this purpose at Roehelle ; General Hardy, with three thousand, at Brest ; and Kilmaine, with nine thousand, remained in reserve. This plan was judi- cious enough, if it had been taken up in time. But, long before the first of these expeditions was ready to sail, the insurrec- tion was subdued in every quarter. The indignation of the unfortunate Irish was just and extreme against that French Government, which had so repeatedly promised them aid, and now appeared to desert them in their utmost need. A miserable expedition, at the instance of Napper Tandy, was at length fitted out, of which Tone's son thus speaks : — " The final ruin of the expedition was hurried by the precipitancy and indis- cretion of a brave but ignorant and impru- dent officer. This anecdote, which is not generally known, is a striking instance of the disorder, indiscipline, and disorganiza- tion which began to prevail in the French army. Humbert, a gallant soldier of for- tune, but whose heart was better than his head, impatient of the delays of his Gov- ernment, and fired by the recitals of the Irish refugees, determined to begin the en- terprise on his own responsibility, and thus oblige the Directory to second or to abandon him." With three or four ships, about one thou- sand men, and a small force of artillery — without instructions, and without any as- surance of being supported, he compelled the captains to select for the most desperate at- tempt which is, perhaps, recorded in history. Three Irishmen accompanied him, Mat- thew Tone, Bartholomew Teeling, of Lis- burn, and Sullivan, nephew to Madgett, whose name is often mentioned in Tone's memoirs. On the 22(1 of August they ujade the coast of Counaught, and landing in the Bay of Killala, immediately stormed and occupied that little town. The Protestant Bishop of Killala was 350 HISTOBY OF IRELAND. then at liis house, called the Castle, and there was with him a company of parsons, holdino- a visitation. It is from his narra- tive that we learn the details ; and he especially bears witness to tlie excellent con- duet of the French, both officers and men ; aithongh his testimony to this effect was "at the expense of his own translation"* The French entered the bay under Eng- lish colors ; and the feint succeeded so well that two of the bishop's sons, with the Port- Siirveyor, took a fishing-boat and went out with the intention of going on board one of the ships ; they were presently surprised to find tlieraselves prisoners, Between seven and eight, a terriQed messenger came and told the bisliop that the French were landed, and that near three hundred of them were withia a mile of the town. The cavalry of- ficers rode off directly, in full speed, with the intelligence to Ballina. The yeomanry and fencibles drew up before the castle-gate, and resolutely advanced into the main street to meet the French advance-guard. Borne down by numbers, and seeing two of their corps fall, they were seized with a panic, and fled. Kirkwood and nineteen yeomen were taken, and ordered into close custody at the castle. All oppositiou being now at an end, the French General marched into the castle-yard at the head of his offi- cers, and demanded to see the bishop, who, fortunately, was conversant with the French language. Humbert desired him to be un- der no apprehension for himself or his peo- ple ; they should be treated with respectful attention, and nothing should be taken by the French troops but what was absolutely necessary for their support ; a promise which, as long as those troops continued iu Killala, was most religiously observed. Mr. Kirkwood was examined, as to the supplies that could be drawn from the town and neighborhood to assist the progress of the invaders. The queries were interpreted by some Irish officers, who came with the French, to which he answered with such an appearance of frankness and candor, that he gained the esteem of the French General, who told him he was on his parole, and should have full permission to return to his * Sir J. Barriiigton. Else and FaU, &c. family, and attend to his private affairs. The conjugal affection of this gentleman on the next day made him forget his parole, and go to attend his sick wife, who, from the dread of the enemy, had secreted her- self in the mountains. Enraged at this breach of parole, the French took every- thing they wanted out of his stores — oats, saU, and iron, to a considerable amount; nor had they been careful to prevent depreda- tions by the rebels in his dwelling-house, as they would have done if he had not fled ; so that when he returned he found it a wreck. The bishop's castle was made the head- quarters of the French General. But such excellent discipline was constantly main- tained by these invaders while they re- mained in Killala, that with every tempta- tion to plunder, which the time and the number of valuable articles within their reach, presented to them — a side-board of plate and glasses, a hall filled with hats, whips, and great-coats, as well of the guests as of the family — not one single article of private property was carried away. On the morning after his arrival, Hum- bert began his military operations by push- ing forward to Ballina a detachment of a hundred men, forty of whom he had mount- ed on the best horses he could seize. A green flag was mounted over the castle-gate, witli the inscription Erhi go Bragh, import- ing to invite the country people to join the French. Their cause was to be forwarded by the immediate delivery of arms, ammu- nition, and clothing to the new levies of the country. Property was to be inviolable. Ready money was to come over in the ships expected every day from France. In the meantime, whatever was bought was paid for in drafts on the future Directory. Though cash was wanting, the promise of clothing and arms to the recruits was made good to a considerable extent. The first that offered their service received com- plete clothing to the amount of about a thousand. The next comers, at least as many, received arms and clothing, but no shoes and stockings. To the hist, arms only were given. And of arms. Colonel Charost assured the bishop, five thousand and five hundred stand were delivered. THE RACES AT CASTLEBAB. 351 The Rijrlit Rov. narrator thus describes the little army of invaders : — " Iiitellij^ence, activity, temperance, pa- tience, to a surprising degree, appeared to be combined in the soldiery that came over with Humbert, together with the exactest obedience to discipline ; yet, if you except the grenadiers, they had nothing to catch the eye. Tiieir stature for the most part was low, their complexion pule and sallow, their clothes much the worse for the wear ; to a superficial observer they would have appear- ed almost incapable of enduring any hard- sliip. These were the men, however, of whom it was presently observed that they could be well content to live on bread or potatoes, to drink water, to make the stones of the street their bed, and to sleep in their clothes, with no cover but the canopy of heaven. One half of their number had served in Italy, under Buonaparte, the rest were from the Army of the Rhine." T!ie French, and the Irish officers who accom^)auied them, did not find the Con- naught people so well prepared to receive them, nor so well organized, as they had hoped and expected. The general insurrec- tion which was just suppressed had not pene- trated into Mayo at all ; yet the bishop mentions some circumstances to show that the landing was not unexpected by the peas- antry of those parts. At any rate, a French flag displayed anywhere in Ireland, was sure to attract the fighting part of the popula- tion around it — as, indeed, the same pheno- menon would do at this day. The bishop, whose professional prejudices may lead him to exaggerate a little, gives a curious ac- count of the astonishment of the French when they found their Irish allies were de- vout Catholics — as if they had not known this before ; he says : — " The contrast with regard to religious sentiments between the French and their Irish allies was extremely curious. The atheist despised and affronted the bigot ; but the wonder was, how the zealous papist should come to any terms of agreement with a set of men who boasted openly in our hearing, that they had just driven Mr. Pope out of Italy, and did not expect to find him again so suddeidy in Ireland. It astonished the French officers to hear the recruits, when they offi;red their services, declare, that they were come to take arms for France and the Blessed Virgin." Humbert left Killala with a quantity of ammunition in the possession of two hundred men and six officers, and on the 25th, about seven o'clock in the evening, took possession of Ballina, from whence the garrison fled on his approach. Here he left behind him an officer named True, with a very small part of the French and several of the Irish re- cruits. Humbert was sensible of the ad- vantage of pushing forward with vigor, and a rapid progress into the interior could alone bring the natives to his standard. At Ballina many hundred peasants repaired to the French standard, and with eagerness re- ceived arms and uniforms. The French commander determined to attack the forces at Castlebar, and began his march on the morning of the 26th, with eight hundred of his own men, and less than fifteen hundred Irish. There was then in Castlebar an army of six thousand men, under command of Gen- eral Lake, including some fine militia regi- ments, with the Marquis of Ormond, Gen- eral Lord Hutchinson, the Earls of Long- ford and Granard, and Lord Roden, with his boasted regiment of cavalry, called the " Foxhunters," who had shown themselves capable of at least riding down flying and disarmed peasants in Meath and Kildare. It was a force with which General Lake reasonably enough thought he should give a good account of eight hundred French and some raw levies of Connaught men. The English commander expected the French to advance by the high road leading to Castle- bar ; but Humbert, having good guides, took the way over the pass of Barnagee, westward, and so appeared, early in the morning, not precisely at the point where he was looked for. General Lake with his stafi" had just ar- rived and taken command, (as an elder of- ficer,) as Iiord Hutchinson had determined to march the ensuing day and end the ques- tion, by a capture of the French detachment. The change of commanders had occasioned discontent and demoralization amongst the troops ; at least that, is one of the reasons or excuses which loyalist writers have been 852 HISTORY OF IRELAND. fiiiu to allege for the shameful conduct of the British force ia the action which fol- lowed. Plowden says, on this subject : — "There is no question but that a very serious difference happened previous to the disgraceful action at Castlebar, between General (now Lord) Hutchinson and Gen- eral Lake; and that the army in general was strongly affected by the former's hav- ing been superseded in his command by tlie latter. General Hutchinson was acquainted with every inch of the country, and had prepared an able and efficient plan for stop- ping the progress of the enemy ; he com- nuiuded alike the confidence of the army and the affections of the natives. As cruelty and cowardice are ever inseparable, it was unlikely that troops, which had debased themselves by massacring the fugitive, sur- rendered or unoffending, by burning their houses and destroying their property, by torturing, strangling, and flogging the sus- pected to extort confessions, should, when left to themselves, or under the command of the promoter of that savage warfare, bravely face an enemy, upon whom they dared not exercise their wonted atrocities." However that might be, on the appear- ance of the French and L'ish deploying from the pass of Baruagee, Sir Jonah Barrington describes thus the singular action that fol- lowed : — "The troops were moved to a position, about a mile from Castlebar, which, to an unskilled person, seemed unassailable. They had scarcely been posted, with nine pieces of cannon, when the French appeared on the opposite side of a small lake, descending the hill in columns, directly in front of the English. Our artillery played on them with effect. The French kept up a scattered fire of musketry, and took up the attention of our army by irregular movements. In half an hour, however, our troops were alarmed by a movement of small bodies to turn their left, which, being covered by walls, they had never apprehended. The orders given were either mistaken or misbelieved ; the line wavered, and, in a few minutes, the whole of the royal army was completely routed ; the flight of the infantry was as that of a mob, all the royal artillery was taken, our army fled to Castlebar, the heavy cavalry galloped amongst the infantry and Lord Jocelyn's Light Dragoons, and made the best of their way, through thick and thin, to Castlebar, and towards Tuam, pursued by such of the Fre4ich as could get horses to carry them. "About nine hundred French and some peasants took possession of Castlebar, with- out resistance, except from a few Highland- ers, stationed in the town, who were soon destroyed." So violent was the panic of the British, that they never halted till they reached Tuam, forty miles from the field of battle. They lost the wiiole of their artillery — four- teen pieces — five stand of colors, and in killed, wounded, and prisoners, eighteen officers and three hundred and fifty men — but the French calculated the loss of the enemy at six hun- dred. The fugitives renewed their march, or rather flight, from Tuam on tlie same night, and proceeded to Athlone, where an officer of Carbineers with sixty of his men arrived at one o'clock, on Tuesday, the 29th, ■ leaving performed a march of above seventy English miles — the distance of Athlone fi-oni Castlebar — in twenty-seven hours. Tlie whole battle and rout are familiarly known to this day in Connaught, as the " Races of Castlebar." The French having thus easily possessed themselves of the county town of Mayo, immediately gave a ball and supper. Sir Jonah Barrington says : — " The native character of the French never showed itself more strongly than after this action. When in full possession of the large town of Castlebar, they immediately set about putting their persons in the best order, and the officers advertised a ball and supper that night, for the ladies of the town ; this, it is said, was well attended ; decorum in all points was strictly preserved ; they paid ready money for everything ; in fact, the French army established tlie French character wherever they occupied." But they thought of something else be- sides amusement. With that love of order which is a distinguishing trait of their na- tion, they established districts, each under its own elected magistrate ; they repressed any disposition which showed itself on the part of the people to maltreat the loyalist inhabitants, if, indeed, such disposition ex- LOKD COENTVALLIS COLLECTS A GRKVT ARMY. 353 isted, as the bishop affirms. . A provincial government was at once established, with Mr. Moore, of Moore Hall, as President, and proclamations were issued in the name of the " Irish Republic." From the terror whicli this handful of French troops inspired, we may form some idea of the effects which might have fol- lowed the landing of even Humbert's little force anywhere in the south of Ireland, while the Wexford men were gallantly hold- ing their own county ; or we may conjecture what might have been the result if Humbert had brought with him ten thousand men in- stead of one thousand, even, in that month of August, crushed as the people had been by the savage suppression of their insurrec- tion ; — or, if Grouchy had marclied inland with his six thousand men, at the moment when the people were eager to begin the rising, and the English had but three thou- sand regular troops in the island. It seemed as if England were destined to have all the luck, and either by favor of the elements or the miscalculations of her enemies, to escape, one after another, the deadly perilst hat for- ever beset her empire. As it was, this arrival of Humbert, even followed by so brilliant a victory, was really so much profit 'to the British Government. Barrington truly remarks : — " The defeat of Castlebar, however, was H victory to the Viceroy ; it revived all the horrors of the rebellion which had been sub- siding, and the desertion of the militia regi- ments tended to impress tlie gentry with an idea that England alone could protect the country." The Marquis Cornwallis determined to collect a great army, and march in imposing force ; but he did not hasten his movements so much as it was thought he might have done ; and, in the meantime, tiie French and insurgents were profiting by the delay. It was said that forty thousand of the West- meath people were preparing to assemble at the Crooked Wood, in that county, so as to join the French on their passnge, and march ou the metropolis. At length, the Marquis was ready ; and Laving assured himself of the presence of twenty thousand men on his line of march, he thought himself strong enough to eu- 45 counter the eight hundred audacious French- men and their Irish allies. These latter were by no means increasing, but rather dim- inishing since the day of Castlebar ; and in- deed, at no time exceeded two thousand men — a circumstance which greatly surprised and disgusted the French. The Marquis proceeded on the 30th of August on the road to Castlebar, and ar- rived on the 4th of September at Holly- mount, fourteen miles distant from Castle- bar ; in the evening of that day he received intelligence, that the enemy had abandoned his post, and marched to Foxford. The advanced guard of the French hav- ing arrived at Coloony, was opposed on the 5th by Colonel Vereker, of the city of Lim- erick militia, who had marched from Sligo for the purpose, with about two hundred infantry, thirty of the Twenty-fourth Regi- ment of Light Dragoons, and two curricle guns. After a smart action of about an hour's continuance, he was obliged to re- treat, with the loss of his artillery, to Sligo. This opposition, though attended with defeat to tiie opposers, is supposed to have caused the French General to relinquish his design on Sligo. He directed his march by Drumnahair towards Manorhamilton, iu the County of Leitrim, leaving on the road, for the sake of expedition, three six-pouad- ers dismounted, and throwing five pieces more of artillery over the bridge at Drum- nahair, into the river. In approaching Manorhamilton he suddenly wheeled to the right, taking his way by Drumkerin, per- haps with design of attempting, if possible, to reach Granard, in the County of Long- ford, where an insurrection had taken place. Crawford's troops hung so close on the rear- guard of the French, as to come to action with it on the 7th, between Drumshambo and Ballynamore, in which action they were re- pulsed with some loss, and admonished to observe more caution in the pursuit. The French army passing the Shannon at Ballintra, and halting some hours in the night at Claone, arrived at Ballinamuck, County Longford, on tlie 8th of September, so closely followed by the troops of Colonel Crawford and General Lake, that its rear- guard was unable to break the bridge at Ballintra, to impede the pursuit j while ^54: HISTORY OF IRELAND, Lord Cornwallis, with the grand array, crossed the same river at Carrick-on-Shan- iion, marched by Mohill to Saint-Johnstown, in ihe County of Longford, in order to in- tercept tlie enemy in front, on his way to Granard; or, should he proceed, to surround liira with an army of thirty thousand men. In this desperate situation, Humbert ar- ranged his forces, with no other object, as it must be presumed, tlian to maintain the lionor of the French arms. The rear-guard liaving been attacked by Colonel Crawford, about two hundred of the French infantry surrendered. Tlie rest continued to defend tiiemselves for above lialf an liour, when, on tlie appearance of the main body of General Lake's army, they also surrendered, after they had made Lord Roden, with a body of dragoons, a prisoner. His lordship had precipitately advanced into the French lines to obtain tiieir surrender. Tlie Irish insur- gents who had accompanied the French to this fatal field, being excluded from quar- ter, tied in all directions, and were pursued with the slaughter of about five hundred men, which seems much less to exceed the truth than the returns of slain in the south- eastern parts of the island. About one thousand five hundred insurgents were with the French army at Ballinamuck, at the time of the surrender of Humbert. The loss of the King's troops was officially stated at three privates killed, twelve wounded, three missing, and one officer v/ounded. The troops of General Humbert were found, when prisoners, to consist of seven hundred and forty-six privates, and ninety -six officers, having sustained a loss of about two hun- dred men since their landing at Killala on the 22d of August. Vengeful executions began on the field of battle. It appears that, on the day of the "Races of Castlebar," a considerable part of the Louth and Kilkenny regiments, not finding it convenient to retreat, thought the next best thing they could do would be lo join the victors, which they immediately did, and in one hour were completely equipped as Fiench riflemen. About ninety of those men were hung by Lord Cornwallis at Bal llnamuck. One of them defended himself by insisting " that it was the army, and not he, who were deserters ; that whilst he was fighting hard .they all ran away, and left him to be murdered." A Mr. Blake, who had been an officer in the British array, was also executed on the field. Bartholoraew Teeling and Matthew- Tone (brother of Theobald Wolfe Tone) were among the prisoners, and were both exe- cuted within a few days in Dublin. Mr. Moore, President of the Provincial Govern- ment, which had been instituted at Castle- bar, was one of the prisoners at Ballina- muck, and was sentenced to banishment. Roger Maguire, one of the leaders of the Irish insurgents, was transported, and his father, a brewer, was hung. The small French garrison which had been left in Killala still occupied that place, and great part of North Connaught contin- ued in insurrection. On the 22d of September, thirty-two days after the landing of the French army, and fifteen after its capture at Ballinamuck, a large body of troops arrived at Killala, under the command of Major-General Trench, who would have been still some days later in his arrival, had he not been hastened by a message from the bishop, to aimounce the fearful apprehensions his lord- ship's family and the other loyalists were under. The bishop's narrative of what followed indicates that the recovery of this place by the British forces was a scene rather of in- discriminate massacre than of combat. He describes how "a troop of fugitives in full race from Ballina, women and children, tum- bled over one another to get into the castle, or into any house in the town where they might hope for a momentary shelter, contin- ued for a painful length of time to give no- tice of the approach of an army." There was, however, a momentary re- sistance. The insurgents quitted their camp to oc- cupy the rising ground close by the town, on the road to Ballina, and posted them- selves under the low stone-walls on each side, in such a manner as enabled them with great advantage to take aim at the King's troops. They had a strong guard also on the other side of the town towards Foxford, havii'g probably received intelli- gence, which was true, that General Trench DEFEAT AND CAPTURE OF THE FRENCH. 35f had divided his forces at Crosmolina, and sent one part of them by a detour of three .'miles to intercept the fngltives that might 'take that course in their flight. This last detachment consisted chiefly of the Kerry militia, under the orders of Lieutenant-Col- onel Crosbie and Maurice Fitzgerald, the Knight of Kerry, their Colonel, the Earl of Glandore, attending the General. The two divisions of the royal army were supposed to make up about twelve hundred men, and they had five pieces of cannon. The number of the insurgents could not be ascertained. Many ran away before the engagement, while a very considerable num- ber flocked into the town in the very heat of it, passing nndcr the castle wind(»ws in view of the French ofiBcers on horseback, and running upon death with as little ap- pearance of reflection or concern as if they were hastening to a show. About four hun- dred of these people fell in the battle, and immediately after it. Whence it may be con- jectured that their entire number scarcely exceeded eight or nine hundred. The whole scene passed in sight of the castle, and so near it that the family could distinctly hear the balls whistling by their ears. The attempt at resistance lasted twenty minutes, when the insurgents scattered in two directions, some into the town where they were shot down in the streets, some along the shore of the bay, where they were enfiladed by a gun placed in position for that purpose. The court-martial began the day after, and sat in the house of Mr. Morrison. They liad to try not less than seventy-five prison- ers at Killala, and a hundred and ten at Ballina, besides those who might be brought in daily. Tlie two first persons tried at this tribunal were General Bellew and Mr. Rich- ard Bourke. The trial of these two gentle- men wai short. They were found guilty on Monday evening, and hung the next morn- ing in the park behind the castle. So ended the last of the series of partial insurrections in Ireland in the year 1798. Little I'eliance is to be placed on the oflicial accounts of the killed, wounded, and missing, in the several engagements and encounters. According to the most prubable accounts to be had from the War Office, the number of the army lost in this rebellion amounts iu the whole to nineteen thousand seven hundred men ; and according to the general Government accounts of the total loss of the insurgents, it exceeded fifty thousand, with- out including women and children, great numbers of whom were shot down by the yeomanry, or burned in their own houses. The mere loss of life, too, gives but a faint idea of the sufferings endured by the poor people. Many hundreds had been put to the torture, and lacerated by cruel scourg- ing to extort information. Never, perhaps, was any national insurrection in the world so savagely crushed ; never was insui-rection so thoroughly justified by the oppression which provoked it ; and never were chiefs of any insurrection more pure in their mo- tives, more gallant, honorable, and self- sacrificing, than those whose bodies were now swinging upon gibbets, whose heads were grinning upon si)ike8, or who were languishing in various prisons, to expiate the crime of loving their couutry and hating its oppressors. The policy of Mr. Pitt was now in full operation; and the "impression of horror" was strong and deep ; indeed, the plans of the Minister were rather aided by the drift- less and helpless French expeditions, which the imbecile government of the Directory sent to help the insurgents, but which came too late, and arrived at the wrong places. Before narrating the measures of the Gov- ernment with a view to the Legislative Union, it is necessary to tell how it fared with Theobald Wolfe Tone. The founder of the United Irish Society was not a man to evade the consequences and responsibili- ties of his own acts, nor to take his ease ia France, where he held a high commission in the army, while his comrades were perishing on the field or on the gallows. He never for one moment relaxed his efforts to eflfect the great task of his life ; which was to bring an adequate force of Frenchmen into Ireland, and so to stop and to punish the shocking atrocities, of which every new re- port tortured his soul. The news of Humbert's attempt, as may well be imagined, threw the Directory into the greatest perplexity. They instantly de- 356 HISTORY OF IRELAND. teruiiiied, however, to hurry all their prepa- rations, aud send off at least the division of General Hardy, to second his efforts, as soon as possible. The report of his first advan- tages, which shortly reached them, aug- mented their ardor and accelerated th^ir movements. But such was the state of the French navy and arsenals, that it was not until the 20th of September that this small expcLVition, consisting of one sail of the line aud eight frigates, under Commodore Bom- part, and three thousand men, under Gen- eral Hardy, was ready for sailing. The Kevvs of Humbert's defeat bad not yet reached France. Paris was then crowded with Irish emi- grants, eager for action. Some Irishmen embarked before Bompart, in a small and fast-sailing vessel, with Napper Tandy at their head. They reached, on the 16th of September, the Isle of Raghlin, on the north coast of Ireland, where they heard of Hum- bert's disaster ; they merely spread some . proclamations, and escaped to Norway. Three Irishmen only accompanied Tone in Hardy's flotilla ; he alone was embarked in the Admiral's vessel, the Hoche, the others were on board the frigates. These were Mr. T. Corbett, and MacGuire, two brave officers, who afterwards died iu the French service, and a third gentleman, con- nected by marriage with his friend Russell. At the period of this expedition, Tone was hopeless of its success, and iu the deep- est despondency at the prospect of Irish affairs. Such was the wretched indiscretion of the Government, that before his departure, he read himself, in the Bien Informe, a Faris newspaper, a detailed account of the whole armament, where his own name was mentioned in full letters, with the circum- stance of his being on board the Hoche. There was, therefore, no hope of secresy. He had all along deprecated the idea of those attempts on a small scale. But he had also declared, repeatedly, that, if the Government sent only a corporal's guard, be felt it his duty to go along with them ; he saw no chance of Kilmaine's large expedi- tion being ready in any reasonable time, and, therefore, determined to accompany Hardy. His resolution was, however, deliberately taken, in case be fell into the hands of the enemy, never to suffer the indignity of a public -execution. And his son, William Theobald Wolfe Tone, informs us that he had expressed himself to this effect " at din- ner, in our own bouse, and in my mother's presence, a little before leaving Paris." * At length, about the 20tb cf September, 1798, that fatal expedition set sail from the Bay de Camaret. It consisted of the Hoche, seventy-four ; Loire, Resolue, Bel- lone, Coquille, Embuscade, Immortalite, Romaine, aud Semillante, frigates ; and Biche, schooner, and aviso. To avoid the British fleets, Bompart, an excellent sea- man, took a large sweep to the westward, and then to the northeast, in order to bear down on the northern coast of Ireland, from the quarter whence a French force would be least expected. He met, however, with contrary winds, aud it appears that bis flotilla was scattered ; for, on the lOtb of October, after twenty days' cruise, he ar- rived off the entry of Loch Swilly, with tlie Hoche, the Loire, the Resolue, and the Biche. He was instantly signalled, and, on the break of day, next morning, 11th of October, before be could enter the bay or land his troops, he perceived the squadron of Sir John Borlase Warren, consisting of six sail of the line, one razee of sixty guns, and two frigates, bearing down upon him. There was no chance of escape for the large and heavy man-of-war. Bompart ^gave in- stant signals to the frigates and schooner to retreat through shallow water, and prepared alone to honor the flag of bis country and liberty, by a desperate but hopeless defence. At that moment, a boat came from the Biche for his last orders. That ship had the best chance to get off. The French ofiicers all supplicated Tone to embark on board of her. " Our contest is hopeless," they ob- served, " we will be prisoners of war, but what will become of you?" "Shall it be said," replied he, " that I fled, whilst the French were fighting the battles of my country ? " He refused their offers, and de- termined to stand and fall with the ship. The Biche accomplished her escape. The British Admiral dispatched two men- * Memoirs of Wolfe Tone ; by his son. Pub- lished in W^ashiugton. The English edition ia much , , mutilated. TONE A PRISONER CARRIED TO DUBLIN IN IRONS. 367 ot-\var, the razee and a frij^ate, after the Loire and Resolue, and the Hoche was soon Siirroundod by four sail of the line and a fi%ate, and bej^an one of the most obstinate and desperate engaj^ements which have ever l)eea fought on the ocean. During six hours, she sustained the fire of a whole fleet, till her masts and rigging were swept away, hor scnpp.ers flowed with blood, her wound- ed filled the cock-pit, her shattered ribs yawned at each new stroke, and let in five feet of water in the hold, her rudder was carried ofl", and she floated a dismantled wreck on the waters ; her sails and cordage hung in shreds, nor could she reply with a single gun from her dismounted batteries to the unabating cannonade of the enemy. At length, she struck. The Resolue and Loire were soon reached by the English fleet ; the former was in a sinking condi- tion ; she made, however, an honorable de- fence ; the Loire sustained three attacks, drove oflf the English frigates, and had almost efi'ected her escape ; at length, en- gaged by the Anson, razee of sixty guns, she struck, after an action of three hours, entirely dismasted. Of the other frigates, pursued in all directions, the Bellone, Im- inortalite, Coquille, and Embuscade were taken, and the Roraaine and Semillante, through a thousand dangers, reached sepa- rate ports in France. During the action, Tone commanded one of the batteries, and, according to the re- port of the officers who returned to France, fought with the utmost desperation, and as if he was courting death. When the ship struck, confounded with the other officers, he was not recognized for some time ; for he had completely acquired the language and appearance of a Frenchman. The two fleets were dispersed in every direction, nor was it till some days later that the Hoche was brought into Loch Swilly, and the prisoners landed and marched to Letter- kei.ny. Yet rumors of his being on board must have been circulated, for the fact was public at Paris. But it was thought he had been killed in the action. It was, at length, a gentleman well-known in the County Derry as a leader of the Orange party, and one of the chief magistrates in that neighborhood, Sir George Hill, who had been his fellow-student in Trinity Col- lege, and knew his person, who undertook the task of discovering him. It is known that in Spain, grandees and noblemen of the first rank pride themselves in the functions of familiars, spies, and informers of the Holy Inquisition ; it remained for Ireland to ofi'er a similar exanii)le. The French officers were invited to breakfast with the Earl of Cavan, who commanded in that dis- trict. Tone sat undistinguished amongst them, when Sir George Hill entered the room, followed by police officers. Looking narrowly at the company, he singled out the object of his search, and, stepping up to him, said, " Mr. Tone, I am very happy to see you," Instantly rising, with the utmost composure, he replied, " Sir Geortje, I am happy to see you ; how is Lady Hill and your family?" * Beckoned into the next room by the police officers, an unexpected indignity awaited him. It was tilled with military, and one General Lavau, who com- manded them, ordered him to be ironed, de- claring that, as on leaving Ireland, to enter the French service, he had not renounced his oath of allegiance, he remained a subject of Britain, and should be punished as a trai- tor. Seized with a momentary burst of in- dignation at such unworthy treatment and cowardly cruelty to a prisoner of war, he flung ofl" his uniform, and cried, " These fet- ters shall never degrade the revered insignia of the free nation which I have served." Resuming then his usual calm, he offered his limbs to the irons, and 'when they were fixed, he exclaimed, " For the cause which I have embraced, I feel prouder to wear these chains than if I were decorated with the star and garter of England," From Letterkenny he was hurried to Dublin wthout delay. Contrary to usual custom, he was conveyed, during the whole route, fettered and on horseback, under an escort of dragoons. The escort was com- posed of Cambridgeshire yeomanry cavalry, and commanded by a Captain Thackeray, af- * Dr, Madden points out that this Sir George Hill was a regular secret agent of the Government, and quotes several payments made to him — and tlirough him to otlier agents — out of the Secret Service money. See accounts of Secret Service money ia Madden's work. 358 HISTORY OP IKELAKD. terwards a clergyman and Rector of Dun- dallj. He often, long afterwards, described this journey, and said that Tone was the most delightful companion he ever traveled with. Thougli the reign of terror was drawing to a close, and Lord Cornwallis had re- stored some appearance of legal order and regular administration in the kingdom, a prisoner of such importance to the Irish Protestant Ascendancy party, as the founder and leader of the United Irish Society, and the most formidable of their adversaries, was not to be trusted to the delays and common forms of law. Though the Court of King's Bench was then sitting, prepara- tions were instantly made for trying him summarily before a court-martial. It has been erroneously stated that Tone imagined his French commission would be a protec- tion to him, and that he pleaded it on his trial He never, indeed, was legally con- demned ; for, though a sul)ject of the Crown, (not of Britain, but of Ireland,) he was not a military man iu that kingdom ; he had taken no military oath, and, of course, the court-martial which tried him liad no power to pronounce on his case, which belonged to the regular criminal tri- bunals. But his heart was sunk in despair at the total failure of his hopes, and he did not wish to survive them. To die with lionor was his only wish, and his only re- quest to be shot like a soldier. For this purpose he preferred himself to be tried by a court-martial, and proffered his French commission, not to defend his life, but as a proof of his rank, as he stated himself on his trial. If further proof were required that he was perfectly aware of his fate, according to the English law, his own journals, written during tlie Bantry Bay expedition, afford an incontestible one. ( See Journal of Decem- ber 26, 1796.) "If we are taken, my fate will not be a mild one ; the best I can expect is to be shot as an emigre rentre, unless I have the good fortune to be killed in the action ; for, most assuredly, if the enemy will have us, he must fight for us. Perhaps I may be reserved for a trial, for the sake of striking- terror into others, in which case I shall be hanged as a traitor, and emboweled, &c. | As to the emboweling, ' Je m''en fiche.^ If ever they hang me, they are welcome to em- bowel me if they please. These are pleasant prospects ! Nothing on earth could sustain me now but the consciousness that I am en- gaged in a just and righteous cause." Tone appeared before this Court in the uniform of a Chef de Brigade (Colonel.) The firmness and cool serenity of his whole deportment gave to the awe-struck assembly the measure of his soul. Nor could his bitterest enemies, whatever they deemed of his political principles, and of the necessity of striking a great example, deny him the praise of determination and magnanimity. The members of the Court having taken the usual oath, the Judge Advocate pro- ceeded to inform the prisoner that the court- martial, before which he stood, was ap- pointed by the Lord-Lieutenant of the king- dom, to try whether he had or had not acted traitorously against His Majesty, to whom, as a natural-born subject, he owed all allegiance, from the very fact of his being born in the kingdom. And, according to the usual form, he called upon him to plead guilty or not guilty. The prisoner admitted all the facts, " stripping the charge of its technical word traitoroiislyy He would make no defence, and give no trouble, but asked leave to read an address, giving his own account of his conduct. This address is given at full length in his son's memoir, and is iu these words : — " Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Court-martial — I mean not to give you the trouble of bringing judicial proof to convict me legally of having acted in hostility to the Government of His Britannic Majesty in Ireland. I admit the fact. From my earliest youth, I have regarded the connection be- tween Ireland and Great Britain as the curse of the Irish nation ; and felt convinced that, whilst it lasted, this country could never be free nor happy. My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the ex- perience of every succeeding year, and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes. In consequence, I de- termined to apply all the powers which my individual efforts could move, in order to sep- arate the two countries. TRIED BY COURT-MARTIAL. 359 " That Irehiiid was not able, of herself, to throw ofT the yoke, I knew, I, therefore, souijht for aid wherever it was to be found, la honorable poverty I rejected offers, which, to a man in my circumstances, might be con- sidered highly advantageous. I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country, and souglit in the French Repub- lic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen, from — " The President here interrupted the pris- oner, observing, that this language was neither relevant to the charge, nor such as ought to be delivered in a public court. One member said, it seemed calculated only to inflame the minds of a certain descrip- tion of people, (the United Irishmen,) many of whom might probably be present ; and that, therefore, the Court ought not to suffer it. The Judge Advocate said, he thought, that if Mr. Tone meant this paper to be laid before His Excellency, in way of aicirn- ation, it must have quite a contrary effect, if any of the foregoing part was suffered to re- main. Tone — " I shall urge this topic no further, since it seems disagreeable to the Court ; but shall proceed to read the few words which remain." . General Loftus — " If the remainder of your address, Mr, Tone, is of the same com- plexion with what you have already read, will you not hesitate for a moment in pro- ceeding, since you have learned the opinion of the Court?" Tone — "I believe there is nothing in what remains for me to say, which can give any offence. I mean to express my feelings and gratitude towards the Catholic body, in whose cause I was engaged." General Loftua — " That seems to have nothing to say to the charge against you, to which only you are to speak. If you have anything to offer in defence or extenuation of that charge, the Court will hear you ; but they beg that you will confine yourself to that subject." Tone — "I shall, then, confine myself to some points relative to my connection with the French army. Attached to no party in the French Re[)ul)lic, without interest, with- out money, without intrigue, the openness and integrity of my views raised me to a , high and confidential rank in its armies. I ol)tained the confidence of the Executive Directory, the approbation of my generals, and, I venture to add, the esteem and afflic- tion of my brave comrades. When I re- view these circumstances, I feel a secret and internal consolation which no reverse of for- tune, no sentence in the power of this Court to inflict can ever deprive me of, or weaken in, any degree. Under the flag of the French Republic I originally engaged, with a view to save and liberate my own country. For that purpose, I have encountered the chances of war amongst strangers ; for that purpose, I have repeatedly braved the terrors of tho ocean, covered, as I knew it to be, with the triumphant fleets of that power, which it was my glory and my duty to oppose. I have sacrificed all my views in life ; I have courted poverty ; I have left a beloved wife unprotected, and children, whom I adored, fatherless. After such sacrifices, in a cause which I have always conscientiously consid- ered as the cause of justice and freedom — it is no great effort at this day, to add, ' the sacrifice of my life.' " But I hear it said, that this unfortunate country has been a prey to all sorts of hor- rors. I sincerely lament it. I beg, how- ever, it may be remembered, that I have been absent four years from Ireland. To me, these sufferings can never be attributed. I designed, by fair and open war, to pro- cure the separation of the two countries. For open war I was prepared ; but if, in- stead of that, a system of private assassin- ation has taken place, I repeat, while I de- plore it, that it is not chargeable on me. Atrocities, it seems, have been committed on both sides. I do not less deplore them ; 1 detest them from my heart ; and to those who know my character and sentiments, I may safely appeal for the truth of this as- sertion. With them, I need no justifica- tion, " In a cause like this, success is everything. Success, in the eyes of the vulgar, fixes its merits, Washington succeeded, and Kos- ciusko failed, "After a combat nobly sustained, a com- bat which would have excited the respect and sympathy of a generous enemy, ray fate was to become a prisoner. To the eternal SCO HISTORY OF IRELAND. disgrace of those who gave the order, I was brought hither in irons, like a felon. I men- tion tliis for the sake of otliers ; for me, I am indifferent to it ; I am aware of the fate which awaits me, and scorn equally the tone of complaint and that of supplication. " As to the connection between this coun- try and Grrat Britain, I repeat it, all that has been imputed to me, words, writings, and actions, I here deliberately avow. I have spoken and acted with reflection, and on principle, and am ready to meet the con- sequences. Whatever be the sentence of this Court, I am prepared for it. Its mem- bers will surely discharge their duty ; I shall take care not to be wanting to mine." This speech was pronounced in a tone so magnanimous, so fall of noble and calm se- renity, as seemed deeply and visibly to affect all its hearers, the members of the Court not excepted. A pause ensued of some continu- ance, and silence reigned in the hall, till in- terrupted by Tone himself, who inquired, whether it was not usual to assign an inter- val between the sentence and execution ? The Judge Advocate answered, that the voices of the Court would be collected without delay, and the result transmitted forthwith to the Lord-Lieutenant. If the prisoner, therefore, had any observations to make, now was the moment. Tone — "I wish to offer a few words rela- tive to one single point — to the mode of pun- ishment. In France, our Emigres, who stand nearly in the same situation in which I sup- pose I now stand before you, are condemned to be shot. I a.sk, that the Court should ad- judge me the death of a soldier, and let me be shot by a platoon of grenadiers. I re- quest this indulgence, rather in consideration of the uniform which I wear, the uniform of a Chef de Brigade in the French army, than from any personal regard to myself. In or- der to evince my claim to this favor, I beg that the Court may take the trouble to per- use my commi.ssiou and letters of service in the French army. It will appear from these jjapers, that I have not received them as a mask to cover me, but that I have been long and bona Jide an o^cGY \n the French service. Judge Advocate — " You must feel that the papers you allude to, will serve as undeni- able proofs against you." Tone — " Oh ! — / know it well — I have already admitted tlie facts, and I now ad- mit the papers as full proofs of conviction." The papers were then examined ; they consisted of a brevet of Chef de Brigade, from the Directory, signed by the Minister of War ; of a letter of service, granting him the rank of Adjutant-General ; and of a passport. General Loftus — " In these papers you are designated as serving in the Army of England." Tone— "I did serve in that army, when it was commanded by Buonaparte, by De- saix, and by Kilmaine, who is, as I am, an Irishman. But I have served elsewhere." General Loftus observed, that the Court would, undoubtedly, submit to the Lord-Lieu- tenant the address which he had read to them, and, also, the subject of his last de- mand. In transmitting the address, he, however, took care to efface all that part of it which he would not allow to be read. Lord Cornwallis refused the last demand of the prisoner, and he was sentenced to die the death of a traitor, in forty-eight hours, on the 12th of November. This cruelty he had foreseen ; for England, from the days of Llewellyn of Wales, and Wallace of Scot- land, to those of Tone and Napoleon, has never shown mercy or generosity to a fallen enemy. He, then, in perfect coolness and self-possession, determined to execute hia purpose, and anticipate their sentence. The sentence upon Tone, pronounced by a court-martial, was obviously illegal ; and so every lawyer knew it to be. But the people looked on as if in stupor. Tiie son of Tone has truly described the condition of Dublin at that moment : — " No man dared to trust his next neigh- bor, nor one of the pale citizens to betray, by look or word, his feelings or sympathy. The terror which prevailed in Paris, under the rule of the Jacobins, or in Pi.orae, dur- ing the proscriptions of Marius, Sylla, and the Triumviri, and under the reigns of Tib- erius, Nero, Caligula, and Domitian, was never deeper or more universal than that of Ireland, at this fatal and shameful period. It was, in sliort, the feeling which made the people, soon after, passively acquiesce in .the Union, and in the extinction of their STTICIDE rN PRISON. 361 name as a nation. Of tlie numerous friends of my fatlier, and of those who had shared in his pohtical principles and career, some had perished on the scaffold, others rotted in dungeons, and the remainder dreaded, by tlie slii,^htest marlc of recognition, to be in- volved in his fate." But there was one friend of the gallant prisoner who was determined that the law of the land should at least be invoked, and one effort made to rescue this noble Irish- man from the jaws of death. Tiie friend was John Philpot Curran. He believed that by moving the Court of King's Bench to assert its jurisdiction some delay might be interposed — the French Government might threaten to retaliate upon some im- portant prisoner of war — the case might thus become a political and not a criminal one, and, in the end, either through threats of retaliation, or by an arrangement with the British Government, Tone might be saved. On the next day, November 12th, (the day fixed for his execution,) the scene in the Court of King's Bench was awful and impressive to the highest degree. As soon as it opened, Curran advanced, leading the aged father of -Tone, who produced his aflS- davit that his son had been brought before a bench of officers, calling itself a court- martial, and sentenced to death. " I do not pretend," said Curran, " that Mr. Tone is not guilty of the charges of which he is ac- cused. I presume the officers were honor- able men. But it is stated in this affidavit, as a solemn fact, that Mr. Tone had no commission under His Majesty ; and, there- fore, no court-martial could have cognizance of any crime imputed to lum whilst the Court of King's Bench sat in the capacity of the great Criminnl Court of the land. In times when war was ruging, when man was opposed to man in the field, courts- martial might be endured ; but every law authority is with me whilst I stand upon this sacred and immutable principle of the Constitution— tliat martial law and civil law are incompatible, and that the former must cease with the existence of the latter. This is not, however, the time for arguing this momentous question. My client must ap- pear in this Court. He is cast for death 46 this very dny. He may be ordered for exe- cution whilst i andress you. I call on the Court to sujjport the law, and move for a habeas a>rj)v.$, to be directed to the Provost- Marshal of the barracks of Dublin and Major Sandys, to bring up the body of Tone." Chief -Justice — " Have a writ instantly prepared," Curran — " My client may die whilst the writ is preparing." Chief-Justice — " Mr. Sheriff, proceed to the barracks and acquaint the Provost- Marshal that a writ is preparing to suspend Mr. Tone's execution, and see that he be not executed." The Court awaited, in a state of the ut- most agitation and suspense, the return of the Sheriff. He speedily appeared, and said: "My lord, I have been to the bar- racks, in pursuance of your order. The Provost-Marshal says he must obey Major Sandys. Miijor Sandys says he must obey Lord Cornwallis." Mr. Curran announced, at the same time, that Mr. Tone (the father , was just returned, after serving the habeas corpus, and that General Craig would not obey it. Tiie Chief-Justice exclaimed : "Mr. Sheriff, take the body of Tone into custody • take the Provost-Marshal and Major San- dys into custody, and show the order of the Court to General Craig." The general impression Avas now that the prisoner would be led out to execution, in defiance of the Court. This apprehension was legible in the countenance of Lord Kil- warden, a man who, in the worst of times, preserved a religious respect for the laws, and who, besides, I may add, felt every personal feeling of pity and respect for the prisoner, whom he had formerly contributed to shield from the vengeance of Government on an occasion almost as perilous. His agitation, according to the expression of aa eye-witness, was magnificent. The Sheriff returned at length with the fatal news. He had been refused admit- tance in the barracks ; but was informed that Mr. Tone, who had wounded him.self dangerously in the neck the night before, was not in a condition to be removed, Li short, on the night before, after writing u letter to the French Directory, and a touch 3C2 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ing adieu to his wife, wiiile the soldiers were erecting a gibbet for him in the yard before his window, he cut his throat with a knife. But it was not effectually done, aud he lin- gered in that dungeon, stretched on his bloody pallet, in the extremity of agony, seven days and niglits. Xo friend was allowed access to him ; and nobody saw him but the prison surgeon, a French emi- grant, and, therefore, his natural enemy. At length he died.* The Government allowed the body to be carried away by a relative named Duubavin, and it was buried in the little churchyard of Bodenstown, County Kildare, where Thomas Davis caused a monumental slab to be erected in his memory. "Thus passed away," says Madden, "one of the master spirits of his time. Tlie curse of Swift was upon this man — he Avas an Irishman. Had he been a native of any other European country, his noble qualities, his brilliant talents, would have raised him to the first honors in the state, and to the highest place in the esteem of his fellow- citizens. His name lives, however, and his memory is probably destined to survive as long as his country has a history. Peace be to his ashes !" The expenses incurred in first exciting the insurrection, next in suppressing it, and afterwards in carrying out its real object — a Legislative Union, are estimated moderately by Dr. Maddtu, as follows : — From 1797 to 1802, the cost of the large military force that was kept up in Ire- land, estimated at £4,000,000 per an- num £16,000,000 Purchase of the Irish Parliament . . 1,500,000 Payment of claims of suffering loyalists . 1,500,000 secret Service money, from 17'J7 to 1804, (from official reports,) 63,547 Secret Service money previous to Au- gust 21, 1797, date of first entry in pre- * Madden states that one friend of Tone, a Mr. Fitzpatrick, of Capel street, was admitted to see him once. This is a matter on which Tone's son, who was then far away, might easily have been misin- formed. Madden further testifies that the surgeon, a Dr. Lentaigne, was a very good aud humane man. ceding account— say from date of Jack- son's mission in 1794, estimated at . . 20,000 Probable" amount of pensions paid for bervices in suppressi(m of the rebellion and the promotion of the Union, to the present time 1,200,000 Increased expense of legal proceedings and judicial tribunals 500,000 Additional expenditure in public offices, consequent on increased duties in 1798, and alterations in establishments at- tendant on the Union, the removal of Parliamentary archives, and compensa- tion of officers, servants, &c 800,000 Total £21,573,547 The whole of which was the next year, in the arrangement of the terms of "Union," carried to the account of Ireland, and made part of her national debt — as if it were Ireland that profited by tiiese transactions. The military force, in Ireland during and immediately after, the insurrection, was : — FROM PARLIAMENTARY RETiniNS. The Regulars 32,281 The Militia 2G,634 The Yeomanry 51,274 The English Militia 24,201 Artillery 1,500 Commissariat 1,700 Total 137,590 These figures are taken from a report of the Parliamentary proceedings of the 18th of February, 1799. They are introduced in a speech of Lord Castlcreagh, prefacing a motion on military estimates. He did not think that one man could be then spared of the 131,590, though the rebellion was com- pletely over, and though he had to deal with a population only one-half of the pres- ent. We have not at hand the means of ascertaining the force of 1800, bnt there is ground for concluding that it was over tiiat of 1799, though the time of the rebellion was still further off by a year. Bnt, in fact. Ministers had in reserve still another ordeal which our country had to pass through — the Union; and this im- mense military force was still thought need- ful, "as good lookers-on" — to use Lord Strafford's phrase of a century and a half earlier. EXAMINATION OF O CONNOR, EMMET, AND MACNE\T;N. 363 CHAPTER XXXTIII. 1798—1799. Examination of O'Connor, Emmet, and MacNeven — Lord Enuiskillen and his Court-Martial — Project of Union — Bar Meeting — Speecli from tlie Throne — Union Proposed — Reception in the Lords — In the Commons — Ponsonby— Fitzgerald— Sir Jonah Bar- rington — Castlereagli's Explanation — Speech of Plunket— First Division on the Union — Majority of One — Mr. Trench and Mr. Fox — Methods of Con- version to Unionism — First Contest a drawn Bat- tle — Excitement in Dublin. Paruamemt continued sitting. In Au- gust and September, 1798, the examination of Thomas Addis Emmet, Arthur O'Connor, tiud Dr. MacNeven, proceeded before the secret conmiittees. Wliile the report of these examinations was still secret, the Dub- lin newspapers under the control of the Gov- erument, published some very garbled and falsified accounts of them, calculated not only to criminate and degrade those gen- tlemen themselves, but to hold them forth as betraying their comrades and associates. The object of this was very plain. They thought it necessary to protest against it by a published card. Thereupon, they were examined again ; were asked whether they meant to retract anything ; were shown the minutes of their evidence as taken down, and interrogated as to its correctness and fidelity. They answered that they found it correct, so far as it went ; but Emmet de- clared that very much of their evidence was omitted. On the whole, they admitted that the report shown to t/iem was substan- tially correct, (except the omissions,) and that they had only meant to protest against the false newspaper accounts. Their new examination was triumphantly paraded as a complete exculpation of the committees from all charge of garbling ; but, in fact, the newspiipers could not have come by even their partial and carefully-distorted accounts of this evidence, except through some one connected with the Government or secret committees ; and so the intended effect was in part produced, without the Government seeming to be a party to it. This affair is obscure ; but, in justice to the unfortunate gentlemen then in the hands of most unscru- pulous enemies, it is right to throw all tlie light possible upon it. Arthur O'Connor, in a letter to Lord Castlereagh, gives this account of the misunderstanding : — " At the instance of Government, En^raet, MacNeven, and I, drew up a memoir con- taining thirty-six pages, giving an account of the origin, principles, conduct, and views of the Union, which we signed and delivered to you on the 4Lh of August last. On the Gth, Mr. Cook came to our prison, and after acknowledging that the memoir was a perfect performance of our agreement, he told us that Lord Cornwallis had read it, but, as it was a vindication of the Union, and a condemnation of the Ministers, the Government, and Legislature of Ireland, he could not receive it ; and, therefore, he wished we would alter it. We declared we would not chauge one letter — it was all true, and it was the truth we stood pledged to deliver. He then asked us if Govern- ment should publish such parts only as might suit them, whether we would refrain from publishing the memoir entire. We answered that, having stipulated for the liberty of publication, we would use that right when and as we should feel ourselves called ou. To which he added that, if we published, he would have to hire persons to answer us; that then he supposed we would reply, by which a paper war would be carried ou without end between us and the Govern- ment. Finding that we would not suffer the memoir to be garbled, and that tlie literary contest between us and these hire- lings was not likely to turn out to your credit, it was determined to examine us be- fore the secret committees, whereby a more complete selection might be made out of the memoir, and all the objectionable truths — with which it was observed it abounded — might be suppressed. For the present I shall only remark tliat, of one hundred pages, to which the whole of the informa- tion I gave to the Government and to the secret committees amounts, only one page has been published." On the 6th of October, Parliament was prorogued with a highly congratulatory speech from the Throne, on the suppression of the " dangerous and wicked rebellion," and on the glorious victory obtained by " Sir Horatio Nelson over the French fleet in the Mediterranean." 864 HISTORY OF IRELAKD. About the same time occurred a certain Bhara court-martial, under the presidency of the Earl of Euniskillen, a Colonel in the army — a great favorite with the Orange- men, and probably an Orangeman himself. A man named Wollaghan, a yeoman, had brutally shot a poor, peaceable man in his own house. The affair is not otherwise de- serving of notice than that the evidence on this trial shows the horrid state of the coun- try. A corporal of the corps deposed that a certain Cnptain Armstrong, who com- manded at Mount Kennedy before and after the murder, had given orders " that any body of yeomanry going out, (he would not wish them less than nine or ten for their own safety,) and, if they should meet with any rebels, whom they knew or suspected to be such, they need not be at the trouble of bringing them in, but were to shoot them on the spot ; that he (the witness) communi- cated this to the corps, and, is very certain, iu the hearing of the prisoner Wollaghan, who was a sober, faithful, and loyal yeoman, and not degrading the rest of the corps — one of the best in it ; that it was the prac- tice of the corps to go out upon scouring parties without orders," &c. The affair, however, made a noise — be- came notorious ; and Lord Coruvvallis thought himself obliged to disapprove the judgment of the court-martial, (which ac- quitted Wollaghan,) and to rebuke Lord Euniskillen. The murderer, however, was only dismissed the service. The Orange- men were highly disgusted with Lord Corn- wallis, and called him " Cropjjy . Corny." But the cases of local tyranny and brutality exercised upon the people were very seldom, indeed, brought into any court. Seldomer still were they punished. The juryman who should have ventured to hesitate about ac- quitting an Orangeman would have been himself hunted down as a "croppy." The moment was come to propose the Union as the only way of putting a stop to these hor- rors, and to all the other woes of Ireland. Even before the fury of rebelliou had subsided, had the British Ministry recom- mended preparatory steps to enable the Irish Government to introduce the proposal of a Legi.>lative Union with plausibility and effect upon the lirst favorable opening. In pursuance of this recommendation, a pam- phlet was written, or procured to be writ- ten, by Mr. Edward Cooke, the under-Sec- retary of the Civil Department. It was pub- lished anonymously, but was well under- stood to speak the sentiments of the British Administration, and the Chief-Governor, and those of the Irish Administration who went with his excellency upon the question of union. It was circulated with incredible industry and profusion throughout every part of the nation, and certainly was pro- ductive of many conversations on the ques- tion under the then existing circumstances of that nation ; the most prominent of which were — the still unallayed horrors of blood and carnage, the excessive cruelty and vindictive ferocity of the Irish yeomanry towards their countrymen, compared with the pacific, orderly, and humane conduct of the English militia, of which about eighteen regiments were still iu the country, and, above all, the confidence which the concili- atory conduct of the Chief Governor in- spired. This pamphlet was considered as a kind of official proclamation of the senti- ments of. Government upon the question, and had no sooner appeared than it pro- duced a general warfare of the press, and threw the whole nation into a new division of parties. No sooner was the intention of Govern- ment unequivocally known, than most of the leading characters took their ranks according to their respective views and sentiments, the Earl of Clare at the head of the Unionists, and the Right Honorable Mr. Foster, his late zealous colleague in the extorted system of coercion and terror, put himself at the head of the Anti-Union- ists. Amongst the first dismissals for op- posing the Union were those of Sir John Parnell, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr. Fitzgerald, the Prime-Sergeant. The must interesting public meeting upon the subject of the Union was that of the gentlemen of the Irish bar. It has before been observed, that in Ireland the bar was the great road that led to preferment, and few were the families in the nation which looked up to it; that did not furnish one member or more to that profession. Tho bar, consequently, commanded a very pow- PRCoECT OF UNION — BAR MEETING. 365 erful influence over the public mind, even independently of the weij,'ht of respectability attending the opinions of that learned body. Ill pursuance of a requisition signed by twenty-seven lawyers of the first respecta- bility and character in the profession, a meeting of the Irish bar took place on the 9th of December, at the Exhibition House in William street, to deliberate on the ques- tion of Legislative Union. The meeting was very numerous. It must be observed that the bar of Ire- land was the only great body in the state or in society that Lords Clare and Castle- reagh feared, as a serious obstruction to their plans. In its ranks were the most accomplished statesmen and most formida- ble debaters of the country, and the most earnest opponents of Union to the last were barristers. Lord Clare, therefore, had ta- ken measures to corrupt the bar, by creating a great many new legal offices, which they were expected to solicit, and for which they would sell themselves to the Castle. He doubled the number of the bankrupt com- missioners ; he revived some offices, created others, and, under pretence of furnishing each county with a local judge, in twu months he estabjished thirty-two new offices, of about six or seven hundred pounds per annum each. His arrogance in court intimi- dated many whom his patronage could not corrupt ; and he had no doubt of overpow- ering the whole profession. There was much interest, therefore, felt in the result of this preliminary meeting of the bar. Among those who had called the meeting were fourteen of the King's coun- sel : E. Mayne, W. Saurin, W. C. Plunket, C. Bushe, W. Sankey, B. Burton, J. Bar- rington, A. M'Cartney, G. O'Farrell, J. O'DriscoU, J. Lloyd, P. Burrowes, R. Jcbb, and H. Joy, Esquires, — a very distinguished list of names ; some of which will be met with again and again, before the final catas- trophe of the nation. Saurin spoke against the Union project. " He was a moderate Huguenot," says Sir Jonah Barrington, " and grandson of the great preacher at Tlie Hague — an excellent lawyer and a stead- fast and pious Cliristian." Sir Jonah goes on to describe this important meeting : — ** Mr. Saint George Daly, a briefless barrister, was the first supporter of the Union. Of all men he was the least thought of for preferment ; but it was wittily ob- served, ' that the Union was the first brief Mr. Daly had spoken from.' He moved an adjournment. " Mr. Thomas Grady was the Fitzgibbon spokesman — a gentleman of independent property, a tolerable lawyer, an amatory poet, a severe satirist, and an indefatigable quality-hunter. He had written the ' F/esh Brush,' for Lady Clare ; the 'West Briton,' for the Union; the 'Barrister,' for the bar; and the 'Nosegay,' for a banker at Limer- ick — wlio sued him successfully for a libel. "'The Irish,' said Mr. Grady, 'are only the rump of an aristocracy. Shall I visit posterity with a system of war, pesiilenre, and famine?* No I no ! give me a Union, Unite me to that country where all is peace, and order, and prosperity. Without a Union we shall see embryo chief judges, attorney- generals in perspective, and animalcula ser- geants. All the cities of the south and west are on the Atlantic Ocean, between the rest of the world and Great Britain ; they are all for it — they must all become warehouses ; the people are Catholics, and they are all for it,' &c., &c., &c. Such an oration as Mr. Grady's had never before been heard at a meeting of lawyers in Europe. " Mr. John Beresford, Lord Clare's nephew and purse-bearer, followed, as if for the charitable purpose of taking the laugh from Mr. Grady, in which he perfectly suc- ceeded, by turning it on himself. Mr. Beres* ford afterwards became a parson, and is now Lord Decies. " Mr. Goold said : ' There are forty thousand British troops in Ireland, and with forty thousand bayonets at my breast the Minister shall not plant another Sicily in the bosom of the Atlantic. I want not the assistance of divine inspiration to foretell, for I am enabled by the visible and unerr- * Nothing could be more nnfortnnate than this crude observation of Mr. Grady, as the very three evils — war, pestilence, and famine, — which he de- clared a union would avert, have since visited, and are still visiting, the unioned country; which has, since the connection with England, been depopulated by the famine which that Union caused ; and, in- oculated with the late plague from Great Britain, they are now declared in a state of war by the British Legislature. 3G6 HISTORY OF rREL.\ND. iiig demonstrations of Uiiture to assert, that Ireland was destined to be a free and inde- pendent nation. Our patent to be a state, not a sliire, comes direct from heaven. The Almighty lias, in majestic characters, signed the great charter of our independence. The great Creator of the world has g'lvpn our beloved country the gigantic outlines of a lingdora. The God of nature never intended that Ireland should be a province, and, bt/ G , she never shall ! ' "The assembly burst into a tumult of applause. A repetition of the words came from many mouths, and many an able law- yer swore hard upon the subject. The di- vision was — Against the Union 166 In favor of it 32 Majority 134 "Thirty-two," continues Sir Jonah Bar- rington, " was the precise number of the county judges, and of this minority the fol- lowing persons were afterwards rewarded for their adherence to Lord Clare : — ■ ^^ List of Barristers who Supported the Union, and their Respedice Rewards. Per Annum. 1. Charles Osborn, appointed a Judge of the King's Bench £3,300 2. Saint John Daly, appointed a Judge of the King's Bench 3,300 3. William Smith, appointed Baron of the Ex- chequer 3,300 4. Mr. M'Cleland, appointed Baron of the Ex- chequer 3,300 5. Robert Johnson, appointed Judge of the Common Pleas 3,300 6. William Johnson, appointed Judge of the Common Pleas 3,300 7. Mr. Torrens, appointed Judge of the Com- mon Pleas 3,300 8. Mr. Vandeleur, appointed a Judge of the King's Bench 3,800 9. Thomas Mauusell, a County Judge . . . 600 10. William Turner, a County Judge .... 600 11. Jolin Scholes, a County Judge .... 600 12. Thomas Vickers, a County Judge . . . 600 13. J. Homan, a County Judge 600 14. Thomas Grady, a Countj' Judge .... 600 15. John Dwyer, a County Judge 600 16. George Leslie, a County Judge .... 600 17. Thomas Scott, a County Judge .... 600 18. Henry Brook, a County Judge .... 600 19. James (-leraghty, a County Judge . . . 600 20. Richard Sharkey, a County Judge . . . 600 21. William Stokes, a County Judge .... 600 22. William Roper, a County Judge .... 600 23. C. Garnet, a County Judge 600 24. Mr. Jenison, a Commissioner for the dis- tribution of one million and a half Union compensation 1,200 Per Anunm. 25. Mr. Fitzgibbon Henchy, Commissioner of -Bankrupts £400 26. J. Keller, Officer in the Court of Chancery . 500 27. P. W. Fortescuo, M. P., a secret pension . 400 28. W. Longfield, an officer in the Custom House 600 20. Arthur Brown, Commission of Inspector . 800 30. Edmund Stanley, Commission of Inspector. 800 31. Charles Ormsby, Counsel to Commission- ers Value 5,000 32. William Knott, M. P., Commission of Ap- peals 800 33. Henry Deane Grady, Counsel to Commis- missioners Value 5,000 34. John Beresford, his father a title." It was already so notorious, during this winter, that a Union was to be immediately proposed that the measure was already warmly discussed, in anticipation of the approaching meeting of Parliament. Mr. Cooke's pamphlet called forth scores of other pamphlets, for and against. Before the end of December no less than thirty appeared, of which Plowden records the titles. The city of Dublin, which it was natural to suppose would be more prejudiced by the Union than any other parj; of the kingdom, inasmuch as it would lose ranch of the ad- vantages of a metropolis by the abolition of the Parliament, was also prominently for- ward in its opposition to that measure. A post-assembly of the Lord-Mayor, sheriffs, commons, and citizens of the city of Dublin was convened on the 17th of December; who, referring to a variety of rumors that were then in circulation, of an intended union of Ireland with Great Britain, came to resolutions strongly denouncing any such project ; which certainly, whatever it might be supposed to do for other parts of the kingdom, was sure to ruin Dublin at all events. Kext came a very numerous and respect- able meeting of the merchants and bankers of the city, who resolved — " That they look- ed with abhorrence on any attempt to deprive the people of Ireland of their Parliament, and thereby of their constitutional right, and immediate power to legislate for themselves. That, impressed with every sentiment of loyalty to their King, and affectionate attach- ment to British connection, they conceived that to agitate in Parliament a question of the Legislative Union between that kingdom UKION PEOPOSED. 367 and Groat Britain, would be highly diiiiger- oiis and impolitic." Even the fellows and scholars of Trinity Colleji:e held their meeting, and passed a resolution calling on their representatives in Parliament to oppose the Union. Similar resolutions of county and borough meetings appeared nearly every day ; so that when Lord Cornwallis, on the 22d of January, ] 799, came down, along with his trusty coun- selors, Lords Clare and Castlereagh, to open the session of Parliament, it was very evident that there was a considerable mass of opposition to be broken down. On that day there was a great concourse in Dublin streets ; and College Greeu was filled with anxious multitudes ; not gay and jubilant, as they had been when once before they had crowded those avenues to witness the parade of the volunteers, but with a gloomy feeling of the miseries then actually upon the country, and foreboding of some- thing worse to come. The Viceroy came from the Castle to the House with a strong guard, and duly delivered his speech from the throne ; of which these two portentous paragraphs were listened to with breathless attention : — " The zeal of His Majesty's regular and militia forces, the gallantry of the yeomanry, the honorable cooperation of the Britisii feucibles and militia, and the activity, skill, and valor of His Majesty's fleets, will, I doubt not, defeat every future effort of the enemy. But the more I have reflected ou the situation and circumstances of this king- dom, considering on the one hand the strength and stability of Great Britain, and on the other those divisions, which have shaken L-eland to its foundations, the more anxious I am for some permanent adjust- ment which may extend the advantages en- joyed by our sister kingdom to every part of this island. "The unremitting industry with which our enemies persevere in their avowed de- sign of endeavoring to effect a separation of this kingdom from Great Britain, must have engaged your particular attention ; and His Majesty commands me to express his anxious hope that this consideration, joined to the sentiment of mutual affection and common interest, may dispose the Parlia- ments in both kingdoms to provide the most effectual means of maintaining and improv- ing a connection, essential to their common security, and of consolidating, as far as pos- sible, into one firm and lasting fabric, tlie strength, the power, and the resources of the British empire." Here, then, was the dreaded Union dis- tinctly enough raised up before Parliament and the country, and avowed as the policy of the Administration. At once began the tumult of debate on the address. la the Lords, an address was proposed which was almost an echo of the speech, promising to "give tiie fullest attention to measures of such importance." Upon which it was proposed by Lord Powerscourt to amend the said motion, by inserting after the word importance, the fol- lowing words : — " That it is our most earn- est desire to strengthen the connection be- tween the two countries by every possible means, but the measure of a Legislative Union we apprehend is not within the limit of our power ; we beg leave also to repre- sent to your Majesty, that although this House were competent to adopt such a mea- sure, we conceive that it would be highly impolitic so to do, as it would tend, in our opinion, more than any other cause, ulti- mately to a separation of this kingdom from that of Great Britain." A motion was then made for leave to withdraw the amendment. A debate arose thereupon, and the question being put, the House divided, and the Earl of Glandore reported, that the contents below the bar were nineteen, and the non-contents in the House were forty-six. A motion was then made, that after the word "security," in the same paragraph, the following words be expunged, "and of consolidating as far as possible into one firm and lasting fabric, the strength, the power, and the resources of the British empire," which also passed in the negative. Another motion was then made by the Earl of Bel- lamont, that after the said word "import- ance," the following words be inserted : " so far as maybe consistent with the permanent enjoyment, exercise, and tutelary vigilance of our resident and independent Parliament, as established, acknowledged, aed rec«)g» 368 HISTORY OP IRELAND. nized." This motion was also negatived by a division of forty-nine against sixteen. Fourteen of the lords in the minority pro- tested.* In the House of Commons were many anxious faces and gloomy brows. It had already been sufficiently indicated that Gov- ernment, to carry this measure, would stop at nothing. Immediately after the bar meeting the Right Honorable James Fitz- gerald, Prime Sergeant, was dismissed from office, and deprived of his precedency at the bar. It was known, also, that unlimited funds would be used by Government, with- out scruple, both in buying up boroughs (which were then treated as the private property of their patrons,) and in direct bribery, to pay for votes. The innumerable methods which a powerful government has at its disposal both to reward and to pun- ish — all these considerations rose up before the anxious minds of the members occupy- ing those benches. It must be confessed, too, that the previous history of the Irish Parliament, as recorded in these pages, was not calculated to make the country expect any exhibition of stern patriotism. " I have now seen," said Theobald Wolfe Tone, " the Parliament of Ireland, the Parliament of England, the Congress of the United States of America, the Corps Legislatif of France, and the Convention of Batavia ; I have likewise seen our shabby Volunteer Convention in 1783, and the General Com- mittee of the Catholics in 1793 ; so that I have seen, in the way of deliberate bodies, as many I believe as most men, and of all those I have mentioned, beyond all com- parison the most shamelessly profligate and abandoned by all sense of virtue, principle, or even common decency, was the Legislature of ray own unfortunate country ; the scoun- drels 1 " But when we read so harsh a judgment upon the Legislature of our country, it must not be forgotten that it did not repre- sent the country ; did not even represent * Viz., Leinster, Granard, Belvidere, Arran, Charlemont, Bellamont, Kilkenny, Belmore, Powerscourt, De Vesci, Dunsany, Lismore. Mountcashel, Wm. Down and Connor, the Protestant minority of the country ; represented nothing (as to its vast majority,) save a few noble families, great proprietors, and the enormous "interest" of place and pension. Considering all this, it is rather surprising, and was, indeed, very surprising to Lord Castlereagh, that on the present vital occasion, the policy of the Castle met with so hearty an opposition. The address in the Commons was moved by Lord Tyrone, eldest son of the Marquis of Waterford. The address, he said, did not pledge him in any manner to support the measure of an union ; let that question of policy stand upon its own merits ; let it be adopted or rejected as the interests of Ireland and *the prosperity of the empire should dictate. Colonel Fitzgerald, (member for the County of Cork,) seconded the address, expressing a zealous desire that any step likely to cement and strengthen the connec- tion between the two countries should be adopted. After several speeches, opposing the mea- sure of a union, in a vague and hypotheti- cal sort of way, as if there were really no such question before the House, Lord Castle- reagh, whose fault was certainly not lack of boldness, ruse to say, that although there were not in the address any specific pledge to a measure of union, yet it was clearly implied in the wish to strengthen the re- sources of the empire ; for he had ao diffi- culty in saying, that he thought the only means of settling that unhappy country in permanent tranquillity and connection with Britain, were to be found in a Legislative Union ; and on that subject he did intend at an early day to submit a specific motion to the House.* Mr. G. Ponsonby entered on an able at- tack and exposure of the general principle of an union, by boldly avowing the princi- ple, that neither the Legislature, nor any power on earth, had a right or authority to * On occasion of this first and most remarkable of the debates on the Union, it has been judged expe- dient to go somewhat further into detail than ui^ual. It was now that Members of Parliament took their positions on that great question ; from which posi- tions many of them afterwards retreated and changed sides ; from motives, unhappily, too well known, as will soon appear. RECEPTION IN THE LOEDS — IN THE COMMONS. 369 annihilate tlie Irish Parliumeut, and deprive people forever of their rights to the bene- fits of the Constitution, and civil liberty. The Minister had told them they ou<:!;ht to discuss this measure with coolness ; but wheu the Minister himself would not leave men to the free exercise of their understand- ing, but turned out of ofSce tlie best and oldest servants of the Crown, because tliey would not prostitute their conscience, when the terror of dismissal was thus holden out to deter men in ofiSce from a fair exercise of their private judgment, how could he talk of cool discussion ? He concluded by mov- ing an amendment, which would give every gentleman, who did not wish to pledge him- self to a surrender of the rights of the country, an opportunity of speaking his mind. The amendment was — that after the passage which declared the willingness of the House to enter on a consideration of what measures might best tend to confirm the common strength of the empire, should be inserted, " maintaining, however, the un- doubted birth-right of the people of Ireland to have a resident and independent legisla- ture, such as was recognized by the British Legislature in 1782, and was finally settled at the adjustment of all differences between the two counti'ies." Sir L. Parsons seconded the amendment. Many gentlemen warmly supported Pon- sonby's amendment ; amongst others, Mr. Fitzgerald, ex-Prirae-Sergeant, who raised the vital Constitutional question—" It w-as not, in his opinion, within the moral compe- tence of Parliament, to destroy and extin- guish itself, and with it the rights and lib- erties of those who created it. The consti- tuent parts of a state are obliged to hold their public faith with each otiier, and with all those who derive any serious interest un- der their engagements ; such a compact may, with respect to Great Britain, be an union ; but with respect to Ireland, it will be a re- volution, and a revolution of a most alarm- ing nature." Mr. Fitzgerald also quoted Dr. Johnson's remark to an Irishman, on the subject of an union : " Don't unite with us," said he, "we shall unite with you only to rob you ; we should have robbed the Scots, if they had anything to be robbed of." The debate proceeded, warming as it went. Sir Boyle Roche, in his blundering way, stumbled upon a niDSt accurate descrijv tion of the real Castle policy. He said " he was for an union to put an end to uniting between Presbyterians, Protest- ants, and Catholics, to overturn the Consti- tution." One of the most patriotic speeches made in the course of this historic argument was by Sir Jonah Bfirrington, then a Judge of the Admiralty Court. He strongly deprecated this plan to subject irrevocably one in- dependent country to the will of another, and both to the will of a Minister already stronger than the Crown, and more power- ful than the people ; and this great and im- portant usurpation stolen into Parliament through the fulsome paragraphs of an echo- ing congratulation, pledging the House to the discu.ssion of a principle subversive of their liberties, and in tlie hour of convales- cence calling on it to commit suicide. Ire- land (he said) had not fair play ; her Par- liament had not fair play ; the foulest and most unconstitutional means, he believed, had been used to intimidate and corrupt it, and either to force or to seduce a suffrage, when nothing but general, independent, un- influenced opinion could warrant for a mo- ment the most distant view of so ruinous a subject. He had good reason to believe, that corrupt and unconstitutional means had been used by the noble lord to individuals of the Irish Parliament. Some of those means were open and avowed ; two of the oldest, most respectable, and most beloved officers of the Crown had been displaced, because they presumed to hint an opinion adverse to the stripling's dictates, on a subject where their country was at stake ; their re- movals crowned them with glory, and. the Minister with contempt. He asserted,^ that other gentlemen in office, whose opinions were decidedly adverse to the measure, but whose circumstances could not bear similar sacrifices, were dragged to the altar of pollution, and forced, against their will, to vote against their country ; he had good reason to believe, that unconstitutional in- terference had been used with the executive power with the legislative body ; one gentle- man refused the instructions of his constitu- 370 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ents, and had been promoted. Peerages (iis was rumored) were bartered for the risihts of minors, and every effort used to destroy the free agency of Parliament ; if this were true, it encroached on tlie Consti- tution, and if the executive power overstep- ped its bounds, the people were warranted to do the same on their part, and between both it might be anuiiiilated, and leave a wondering world in amazement how the same people could have been wise enough to frame the best constitution on earth, and foolish enough to destroy it. One king and two kingdoms was the cry of the people of Ireland. Sir John Blaquiere, on the side of the Government, remonstrated against " the cliarges of undue influence and corruption ;" and then proceeded to use an argument in behalf of the Union, which may serve as a sample of the means by which so many of the Catholics were "induced to favor that measure. Sir John said, " the honorable member who proposed amendment, with a flow of such transcendant eloquence as had seldom been heard in that House, had ex- pressly stated, that the Roman Catholics must oppose tlie Union. He knew not the mind of Catholics upon the subject ; but he should speak his own — that the Ro- luiin Catholics, under the present order of things, could never be accommodated, as he feared, with what they aslced, without im- minent danger to the Protestant establish- ment, both in church and state ; but if once an unicn should be adopted, all those dif- ficnliies would vanish, and he should see none in graritivg lliem everything they desired.''^ Mr. Knox and Mr. Hans Hamilton made violent attacks upon the Union and upon the Government. Mr. Knox (member for Philipstown) la- mented that that accursed measure had long been the favorite object of that Minister of England, whose wild ambition had already led to the destruction of empires ; and which then sought to annihilate that nation. In order to forward that wicked scheme, great pains had been tiken by those who man- aged the affairs of Government nnder his guidance, to promote and keep alive among the people every d sunct'ou of party and religion, all differences of opinion, whether in politics or religion, had been industriously fomented and encouraged, and every means taken to distract and divide the inhabitants of that land. If that fatal measure should ever be carried, henceforth that insulted, de- graded, debased country would be made a barrack, a depot from whence to draw the means of enslaving Great Britain, and no resource left to save either country but a revolution. Mr. Hans Hamilton declared that an union was a measure he should very firmly oppose within those walls with his vote, with- out them with his life ; but he foresaw that the hour was at hand which would prove this to be the most glorious day that Ireland had ever beheld, and enable the members to go forth to their constituents, and as- sure them they were represented by an Irish Parliament, and never would betray their independence. Lord Castlereagh felt that the day was going against him. He rose to state his reasons for favoring the measure of a Legis- lative Union ; and spoke, as he well knew how, with a noble air of candor. It is al- most incredible, however, that in tlie ab- stract of his speech which has come down to us, actually appear the following words : — • " His lordship trusted, that no man would decide on a measure of such importance as that in part before the House, on private or personal motives ; for if a decision were thus to be influenced, it would be the most unfor- tunate that could ever affect the country.'' His reasons for supporting the mea- sure were, of course, of the purest descrip- tion ; if the means he used to support it had been as fi;ee from taint as his personal conduct, his lordship's name and fame would now be much higher than they are. " Dis- sensions" and "divisions" unhappily exist- ing in Ireland (which Mr. Knox said the Government had " industriously fomented, ") formed the chief motive, in his mind, for our country to fling itself |into the arms of tlie English, who had carefully created and kept alive those dissensions and divisions in Ire- land for centuries ! One passage in his lord- ship's argument reads strangely in the light of subsequent history : — " Absentees (he said) formed another ob- jection. They would be somewhat increased, CASTLEKEAGHS EXPLANATION SPEECH OF PLTJNKET. 371 no doubt, by an union ; but the evil would be compensated by other advantages, and among them by the growth of an intenne- diaU class of men between the landlord and the pe/isanl ; a class of men whose loss was felt in Ireland, to train the mind of the lower class. These an union would bring over from England. They would also have capital from thence. At all events, these in- conveniences would be but a grain of sand compared with the advantages which would be derived from internal security, and their growing together in habits of amity and af- fection." The next powerful speech on the debate was that of William Conynghara Plunket, then in the prime of life ; he had been the warm friend of Tone and of Emmet, and was now fast rising into high eminence, both as a barrister and a member of Parliament. It is his famous Hamilcar speech, in which he assails the Government, as he had promised to do, more daringly than Sir Jonah Bar- rington. He spoke of the apparently bluff, downright old soldier (Cornwallis) " who, as an additional evidence of tlie directness and purity of his views, had chosen for his sec- retary a simple and modest youth {Puer ingenui vuUas ivgenuique fudoris) whose in- experience was the voucher of his innocence ; yet, was he bold to say, that during the Vice-royalty of that unspotted veteran, and during the adminstration of that unassum- ing stripling, within the last six weeks, a system of black corruption had been carried on within the wails of the Castle, which would disgrace the annals of the worst period of the history of either country. Did they choose to take down his words ? lie needed to call no witnesses to their bar to prove them. He saw two right honorable gentle- men sitting within those walls, who had long and faithfully served the Crown, and who had been dismissed, because tliey dared to express a sentiment in favor of the freedom of their country. He saw another honor- able gentleman, who had been forced to re- sign his place, as Commissioner of the Re- venue, because he refused to cooperate in that dirty job of a dirty Adminislrution ; did they dare to deny this? I say, (he continued,) that at this moment, the threat of dismissal from office is suspended over the heads of the members who now sit around me, in order to inBuence their votes on the (juestion of this niglit, involving everything that can be sacred or dear to man ; do you desire to take down my words ? Utter the desire, and I will prove the truth of them at your bar. Sir, I wotdd warn you against the consequences of carrying this measure by such means as this, but that I see the necessary defeat of it in the honest and uni- versal indignation which the adoption of such means excites ; I see the protection against the wickedness of the plan in the imbecility of its execution, and I congratu- late my country that when a design was formed against their liberties, the prosecu- tion of it was entrusted to such hands as it is now placed in." Mr. Plunket then dealt with the Consti- tutional grounds of opposition to a union, and especially to the time of its being pro- posed. It is impossible, within our limits, to give more than a mere abstract of such a speech : — " At a moment," he said, "when Ireland was filled with British troops, when the loyal men were fatigued and exhausted by their efforts to subdue rebellion — efforts in which they had succeeded before those troops ari-ived ; whilst their habeas corpus act was suspended, whilst trials by court- martial were carrying on in many parts of the kingdom, whilst the people were taught to think that they had no right to meet or to deliberate, and whilst the great body of them were so palsied by their fears and worn dovrn by their exertions that even the vital question was scarcely able to ronse them from their lethargy; at a moment when they were distracted by domestic dissensions — dissensions artfully kept alive as the pre- text for their present subjugation, and the instrument of their future thraldom. He thanked Administration for the measure. They were, without intending it, putting an end to Irish dissensions. Through that black cloud, which they had collected over them, he saw the light breaking in upon their unfortunate country. They had com- posed dissensions, not by fomenting the em- bers of a lingering and subdued rebellion ; not by hallooing the Protestant against the Catholic and the Catholic against the Pro- 372 HISTORY OF IRELAIO). testuiit; not by committing the North against the South ; not by inconsistent appeals to local or party prejudices. No ! but by the avowal of that atrocious conspiracy against the liberties of Ireland they had subdued every petty feeling and subordinate distinc- tion, They had united every rank and de- scription of men by the pressure of that grand and momentous subject ; and he told them that they would see every honest and independent man in Ireland rally round her Constitution, and merge every other consid- eration in his opjiosition to that ungenerous und odious measure. For his own part, he would resist it to the last gasp of his exist- ence, and with the last drop of his blood ; and when he felt the hour of his dissolution approaching, he would, like the father of Hannibal, take his children to the altar, and swear them to eternal hostility against the in- vaders of their country's freedom^'' This gallant speech was often cited after- wards against Plunket ; and it was re- marked that Hamilcar, after that swearing scene, never helped the Romans to govern Carthage as a province. Strange to say, of all the Beresfords, John Claudius Beresford (of the Riding-House and the pitch-caps) opposed the Govern- ment measure, and supported Mr. Ponson- by's amendment. Some of the strongest Irish nationalists of that day were Orange- men, and bitter persecutors of Catholics. At length, after twenty-two hours' de- bate, at ten o'clock on the morning of the 24th, the House divided, and the vote stood — for Mr. Ponsonby's amendment, 105 ; against it, 106. Majority for the Govern- ment, 1. It was held by both sides of the House to be substantially a defeat for the Govern- ment, and the multitudes who had been thronging the corridors, the porticos, and the streets all around, burst into acclama- tions of joy. The mob waited for members as they came out, and hooted or cheered, as they heard each member had voted for the Castle or the nation. As to the method by which Castlereagh had gained even that apparent and most unsatisfactory victory. Sir Jonah Barring- ton, an eye-witness, gives us this detail, which illustrates the whole mode and ma- chinery whereby the Union was finally car- ried :— " A very remarkable incident," says Sir Jonah, "during the first night's debate oc- curred in the conduct of Mr. Luke Fox and Mr. Trench, of Woodlawn, afterwards cre- ated Lord Ashtown. These were the most palpable, undisguised acts of public tergiver- sation and seduction ever exhibited in a popu- lar assembly. They afterwards became the subject of many speeches and of many pub- lications ; and their consequences turned the majority of one in favor of the Minister. " It was suspected that Mr. Trench had been long in negotiation with Lord Castle- reagh ; but it did not, in the early part of that night, appear to have been brought to any conclusion — his conditions were supposed to be too extravagant. Mr. Trench, after some preliminary observations, declared, in a speech, that he would vote against the Min- ister, and support Mr. Ponsonby's amend- ment. This appeared a stunning blow to Mr. Cooke, who had been previously in con- versation with Mr. Trench. He was imme- diately observed sideling from his seat nearer to Lord Castlereagh. They whispered ear- nestly, and, as if restless and undecided, both looked wistfully towards Mr. Trench. At length, the matter seemed to be determined on. Mr. Cooke retired to a back seat, and was obviously endeavoring to count the House, probably to guess if they could that night dispense with Mr. Trench's services, He returned to Lord Castlereagh — they whispered, again looked most aflfectionately at Mr. Trench, who seemed unconscious that he was the subject of their considera- tion. But there was no time to lose — the question was approaching — all shame was banished — they decided on the terms ; and a significant and certain glance, obvious to everybody, convinced Mr. Trench that his conditions were agreed to. Mr. Cooke then went and sat down by his side ; an earnest but very short conversation took place ; a parting smile completely told the House that Mr. Trench was that moment satisfied. These surmises were soon verified. Mr. Cooke went back to Lord Castlereagh ; a congratulatory nod announced his satisfac- tion. But could any man for one moment suppose that a member of Parliament, a man METHODS OF CONVERSION TO UNIONISM. 373 of very larg-e fortune, of respectable family, and good character, could be publicly, and without shame or compunction, actually se- duced by Lord Castlereagh, in the very body of the House, and under the eye of two hundred and twenty gentlemen ? Yet this was the fact. In a few minutes Mr. Trench rose, to apologize for having indiscreetly declared he would support the amendment. He added, that he had thought better of the pubject since he had unguardedly expressed himself ; that he had been convinced he was wrong, and would support the Minister. " Scarcely was there a member of any party who was not disgusted. It had, how- ever, the effect intended by the desperate purchaser, of proving that ministers would fctop at nothing to effect their objects, how- ever shameless or corrupt. This purchase of Mr. Trench had a much more fatal effect upon the destinies of Ireland. His change of sides, and the majority of one. to which it contributed, were probably the remote causes of persevering in a Union. Mr. Trench's venality excited indignation in every friend of Ireland.* " Another circumstance that night proved by what means Lord Castlereagh's majority of even one was acquired. " The Place Bill, so long and so pertina- ciously sought for, and so indiscreetly framed by Mr. Grattan and the Whigs of Ireland, now, for the first time, proved the very en- gine by which the Minister upset the oppo- sition, and annihilated the Constitution. "Tliat bill enacted, that members accept- ing offices, places, or pensions, during the pleasure of the Crown, should not sit in Parliament unless reelected ; but, unfortu- nately, the bill made no distinction between valuable offices which might influence, and nominal offices, which might job ; and the Chikern Hundreds of England were, under the title of the Escheatorships of Munster, Leinster, Conuaught, &c., transferred to Ireland, with salaries of forty shillings, to be used at pleasure by the Secretary. Oc- casional and temporary seats were thus bar- tered for by Government, and by the ensu- * No fewer than three Trenches are found in the " Black List," as voting for the Union. They were all appointed to valuable ofiBces for it, and one was made a peer and an ambassador. ing session made the complete and fatal in- strument of packing the Parliament, and effecting a union. " Mr. Luke Fox, a barrister of very hum- ble origin, of vulgar manners, and of a coarse, harsh appearance, was indued with a clear, strong, and acute mind, and was possessed of much cunning. He had ac- quired very considerable legal information, and was an obstinate and persevering advo cate. He had been the usher of a school, and a sizer in Dublin University ; but nei- ther politics nor the belles-lettres were his pursuit. On acquiring eminence at the bar, he married an obscure niece of the Earl of Ely's. He had originally professed what was called wbiggism, merely, as people sup- posed, because his name was Fox. His progress was impeded by no pcjlitical princi- ples ; but he kept his own secrets well, and, being a man of no importance, it was per- fectly indifferent to everybody what side he took. Lord Ely, perceiving he was man- ageable, returned him to Parliament as one of his automata; and Mr. Fox played his part very much to the satisfaction of his manager. "When the Union was announced, Lord Ely had not made his terms, and remained long in abeyance ; * and, as his lordship had not issued his orders to Mr. Fox, he was very unwilling to commit himself until he could dive deeper into probabilities ; but rather believing the Opposition would have the majority, he remained in the body of the House, with the Anti-Unionists, when the division took place. The doors were scarce- ly locked, when he became alarmed, and slunk, unperceived, into one of the dark cor- ridors, where he concealed himself. He was, however, discovered, and the Sergeant-at- Arms was ordered to bring him forth, to be counted amongst the Anti-Unionists. His confusion was very great, and he seemed at his wit's end. At length, he declared he had taken advantage of the Place Bill ; had actually accepted the Escheatorship of Muns- ter, and had thereby vacated his seat, and could not vote. * He " made his terms," however, in due time. We afterwards tind bim in receipt of a sum of £45,000, the price of his three boroughs, which he sold to Govern- ment that it might put its own creatures into the representation. 374 HISTORY OF lEELAND. "The fact was doubted ; but, after much discussion, his excuse, ujpon his hoTwr, was admitted, and he was allowed to return into the corridor. On the numbers being count- ed, there was a majority of oxe for I-ord Castlereag-h, and exclusive of Mr. Trench's conduct ; but for that of Mr. Fox the num- bers would have been equal. The measure would have been negatived by the Speaker's vote, and the renewal of it the next day would have been prevented. This would have been a most important victory. " The mischief of the Place Bill now stared its framers in the face, and gave the Secre- tary a code of instruction how to arrange a Parliament against the ensuing session. " To render the circumstance still more extraordinary and unfortunate for Mr. Fox's reputation, it was subsequently discovered, by the public records, that Mr. Fox's asser- tion was false. But the following day, Lord Castlereagh purchased him outright ; and then, and not before, appointed him to the nominal office of Escheator of Munster, and left the seat of Lord Ely for another of his creatures.* This is mentioned, not only as one of the most reprehensible public acts committed during the discussion, but be- cause it was the primary cause of the mea- sure being persisted in." Thus the preliminary contest on the very threshold of the Union question may be said to have ended in a drawn battle. It was known, however, that it was to be renewed on that very evening. It was an exciting day for the people of Dublin ; and to those who know into what a dismal condition the Union has since dragged down the once proud metropolis of our island, there is something pathetic in the passionate anxiety with which its thronging people then crowd- ed round their Parliament House, hanging on the momentous vote ; watching with beating hearts, the progress of a struggle which was to decide the destinies of their city and their nation. * This did not conclude the remarkable acts of Mr. Fox. After his seat had been so vacated, he got himself reelected for a borough under the influence of the Earl of Granard, a zealous Anti-Unionist; here he once more betrayed the country, and was ap- pointed a Judge when the subject was decided. . CHAPTER XXXIX I7;i9 Sacond Debate on Union — Sir Lawrence Parsons- Mr. Smith — Ponsonby and Plunket — Division — Ma- jority against Government— Posonby's Resolutioa for Perpetual Independence — Defection of ForLes- cue and Otherd — Resolution Lost — " Possible Cir- cumstances "--Tumult — Danger of Lord Chire — Second Debate in the Lords — Lord Clare Triumph- ant — "Loyalists' Claim-Bill" — "Rebels Disqualifi- cation Bill "—" Flogging Fitzgerald" — Asks In- demnity — Regency Act — Opposed by Castlereagh. It was naturally supposed that if the Minister was left in a minority on the sec- ond debate upon the reception of the ad- dress, he would, according to all precedents, resign his situation ; whilst an increased ma- jority, however small, in favor of his mea- sure might give plausible grounds for pressing it forward at all hazards. No wonder, then, that the excitement and anxiety were intense on that day. Sir Jonah Barrington de- scribes the scene : — " The people collected in vast multitudes around the House ; a strong sensation was everywhere perceptible ; immense numbers of ladies of distinction crowded at an early hour, into the galleries, and by their pres- ence and their gestures animated that patri- otic spirit, upon the prompt energy of which alone depended the fate of Ireland. " Secret messengers were dispatched ia every direction, to bring in loitering or re- luctant members — every emissary that Gov- ernment could rely upon was busily employ- ed the entire morning ; and five and thirty minutes after four o'clock, in the afternoon of the 24th of January, 1799, the House met to decide, by the adoption or rejection of the address — the question of national in- dependence or annihilation. Within the cor- ridors of the House, a shameless and un- precedented alacrity appeared among the fi'iends of the Government. " Mr. Cooke, the under-Secretary, who, througliout all the subsequent strtges of the question, was the private and efficient actu- ary of the Parliamentary seduction, on this night exceeded even himself, both in his public and private exertions to gain over the wavering members. Admiral Pakenhara, a naturally friendly and good-natured gentle- man, that night acted like the captain of a press-gang, and actually hauled in some SECOND DEBATE ON CTNION. 375 nien;bers who were desirous of retirinj^. He had deelared that he would act in any capacity, according to the exigencies of his part}' ; and he did not shrink from his task. " This debate, in point of warmth, much exceeded the former. Lord Castlereagh sat long silent ; his e}'e ran round tiie assembly, as if to ascertain his situation, and was often withdrawn, with a look of uncertainty and disappointment. The members had a little iiici'eased since the last division, principally by members who had not declared them- selves, and of whose opinions the Secretary was ignorant.'' "When the address was reported, on the reading of that part of it which related to the Union, Sir Lawrence Parsons offered an amendment, objecting to the paragraph which "pledged the House, under a meta- phorical expression (' maintaining and im- ploring a connection,' &c.,) to admit the principle of the Legislative Union." Two short passages of his long speech are enough to sliow its spirit : — " Were the Union ever so good a measure, why bring it forward at that time ? Was it not evidently to take advantage of Eng- land's strength ihere, and their own internal weakness ? It was always in times of di- vision and disaster that a nation availed it- self of the infirmities of its neiglibor, to obtain an unjust dominion. That Great Britain should desire to do so, he did not much wonder ; for what nation did not de- sire to rule another ? Nor was he surprised that there should be some among them base enough to conspire with her in doing so ; for no country could expect to be so fortu- nate as not to have betrayers and parricides among its citizens." '.' Annihilate the Parliament of Ireland ; that is the cry that came across the water. Now is the time — Ireland is weak — Ireland is divided — Ireland is appalled by civil war — Ireland is covered with troops, martial law brandishes its sword throughout the land • — now is the time to put down Ireland for- ever — now strike the blow. JVho? — is it you ? Will you obey that voice ? AVill you betray your country?" On the second debate, the most important speech in favor of union (tliougli Castlereagh spoke strongly,) was that -)f Mr. William Smith, a barrister — afterwards rewarded with the place of a Baron of the Exchequer. He addressed himself principally to the re- futation of the main Constitutional objection to an union, decreed by Parliament — namely, the objection that Parliament had been " elected to make law.s, and not legisla- tures " — that it had no powers to divest it- self of its legislative capacity to give itself away to another people, still less to sell it- self, and sell its constituents along with it- self. Mr. Smith said : — "Of the comi)etency of Parliament to the enactment of such reform he had never heard any doubts expressed ; and the argu- ments which, he thought, might be offered against the alleged right were inconclusive, yet, perhaps, as plausible as any that could be urged against the competency of the Leg- islature to a decree of union. That the authority of the Parliament had this extent, he had not the slightest doubt. His opinion, he said, was founded on precedent, on tlie mischiefs which would result from a contrary doctrine, on the express authority of Con- stitutional writers, and on the genuine prin- ciples of the Constitution itself. By enact- ing an union. Parliament would do no more than change (it would not surrender or sub- vert) the Constitution. Ireland, after a Leg- islative incorporation, would still be etov- erned by three estates ; and her inhaljitant.s would enjoy all their privileges unimpaired. If the Legislature could new-model the suc- cession of the Crown, or change the estal>- lished religion, it might certainly ordain those alterations which an union would in- volve. To controvert its right, would be to deny the validity of the act for the incor- poration of Scotland with England and Wales. But (he added) that, if he con- ceived that the measure would be a surren- der of national independence, he would by no means agree to it ; but it would merely be an incorporation of national distinctions ; nor would he promote the scheme, if he thought that it would not insure an iden- tity or community of iterests." Between Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Pon- sonby, the debate took a very bitter per- sonal turn. The Secretary was .provoked out of his usual cuol indifference. To the 5J76 HISTORY OF IRELAND. bar he applied tlie term " pettifoggers ;" to the Opposition, "cabal — combinatoi's — des- perate faction ; " and to the nation itself, " barbarism — ignorance," and " insensibility to protexlion and paternal regards she had ever experienced from the British nation." His speech was severe beyond anything he had ever uttered witliin the walls of Parlia- ment, and far exceeded the powers he was supposed to possess. After many speeches on each side, Mr. Pluiiket arose ; and, in what Sir Jonah Bar- rington calls " the ablest speech ever heard from any member in that Parliament," went at once to the grand and decisive point, the incompetence of Parliament ; he could go no further on principle than i\Ir. Ponsonby, but liis language was irresistible, and he left noth- ing to be urged. It was perfect in eloquence, and unanswerable in reasoning. Its effect was indescribable ; and, for the first time, Lord Castlereagh, whom he personally as- gailed, seemed to shrink from the encounter. That speech was of great weight, and it proved the eloquence, and the fortitude of the speaker. But a short speech, on that night, which gave a new sensation, and excited novel ob- servations, was a maiden speech by Colonel O'Donnell, of Mayo County, the eldest son of Sir Xeil O'Donnell, a man of very larga fortune in that county ; he was Colonel of a Mayo regiment. He was a brave officer, and a well-bred gentleman ; and in all the situations of life he showed excellent quali- ties. On this night, roused by Lord Castle- reagh's invectives, he could not contain his indignation ; and by anticipation, "disclaim- ed all future allegiance ; if a union were ef- fected, he held it as a vicious revolution, and avowed that he would take the field at the head of his regiment to oppose its exe- cution, and would resist rebels in rich clothes as he had done the rebels in rags." And fur tl1is speech in Parliament, he was dis- missed his regiment without further notice. On a division being called for, there ap- peared a majority of six against the Union. The gratification of the Anti-Unionists was unbounded ; and as they walked in one by one to be counted, " the eager spectators," says Sir Jonah, " ladies as well as gentle- men, leaning over the galleries, ignorant of the result, were panting with expectation. Lady- Castlereagh, then one of the finest women of the Court, appeared in the Ser- geant's box, palpitating for her husband's fate. The desponding appearance and fallen crests of the Ministerial benches, and the exulting air of the Opposition members, as they entered, were intelligible. Mr. Egan, Chairman of Dublin County, a large, bluff, red-faced gentleman, was the last who en- tered. As Ko. 110 was announced, he stopped a moment at the bar, fionrished a stick which he held in his hand over his head, and, with the voice of a stentor, cried out : * Avd Pm a hundred and eleren ! ' " The same writer has thus analyzed for us this celebrated division : — For Mr. Ponsonby's amendment Ill For Lord Tyrone's address 105 Majority against Government On this debate, the members who voted were circumstanced as follows : — Members holding offices during pleasure ... 69 Members rewarded by offices for their votes . . 19 Memberopenly seduced in the body of the House . 1 Commoners created peers, or their wives peer- esses, for their votes 18 Total 102 Supposed to be uninfluenced 3 The House composed of 300 Voted that night 216 Absent members 84 Of these eighty-four absent members, twenty-four were kept away by absolute ne- cessity, and of the residue there can be no doubt they were not friends to the Union, from this plain reason, that the Govern- ment had the power of enforcing the attend- ance of all dependent members. Thus the moral effect of this victory — to those who knew the composition of the House — was much greater than was indicated by the mere numerical majority. It was hoped that "Union" was defeated forever. But now, in the very moment of triumph, and even by the means taken to make that triumph definitive and irreversible, the tide was turned. The members assembled in the lobby were preparing to separate, when Mr. Ponsonby ponsonby's kesolution for perpetual independence. 377 requested tliey would return into tlie House and continue a very few minutes, as he had business of tlie utmost importance for their consideration. This produced a profound silence. Mr. Ponsonby then, in a few words, " cong-ratuhited the House and the country on the honest and patriotic assertion of their liberties ; but dechired that he considered there would be no security against future attempts to overthrow their independence but by a direct and absolute declaration of the rights of Irishmen, recorded upon their journals, as the decided sense of the people, through their Parliament ; and he, there- fore, without further preface, moved — *That this House will ever maintain the undoubted birthright of Irishmen, by ^preserving an in- dependent Parliament of Lords and Com- mons residing in this kingdom, as stated and approved by His Majesty and the British Parliament in 1782.'" Lord Castlereagh, conceiving that fur- ther resistance was unavailing, only said, "that he considered such a motion of the most dangerous tendency ; however, if the House were determined on it, he begged to declare his entire dissent, and on their own heads be the consequences of so wrong and inconsiderate a; measure." No further op- position was made by Government ; and the Speaker putting the question, a loud cry of api)robation followed, with but two negatives — those of Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Toler (Lord Norbury); the motion was carried, and the members were rising to withdraw, when the Speaker, wishing to be strictly correct, called to Mr. Ponsonby to write down his motion accurately. He, ac- cordingly, walked to the table to write it down. During this short delay, the Ministerialists and Opposition regarded one another in si- lence. Some members who had voted with Mr. Ponsonby did not wish the Govern- ment to be finally defeated. They had heard of the determination of the Castle to buy a miijority, and that at very high prices ; and these patriots, though they would uot give themselves away, desired to sell them- selves. Accordingly, when Mr. Ponsonby's absolute resolution was put in writing, and the Speaker had read it, and put the ques- tion, and a loud cry of "yli/e" burst forth, 48 Mr. Chichester Fortescue, of Louth County, desired to be heard before the resolution should finally pass. He said he was "advf-r.se to the Union — had voted against it, — but did not wish to bind h'\mse\f forerer ; possi- ble circumstances might occur which should render that measure expedient for the em- pire," &c. This was caught at by some moderate and hesitating members of Parlia- ment — by some from honest and by others from dishonest motives — amongst others by John Claudius Beresford (of the Riding- House) ; and the motion was not pressed by Mr. Ponsonby, for fear of a defeat.* This created great despondency and alarm amongst the honest Anti-Unionists. But for this incident Cornwallis and Castlereagh must probably have resigned ; but now cha- grin and disappointment had changed sides, and the friends of the Union, who a moment before had considered their measure as near- ly extinguished, rose upon their success, re- torted in their turn, and opposed its being withdrawn. It was, however, too tender a ground for either party to insist upon a di- vision ; a debate was equally to be avoided, and the motion was suffered to be withdrawn. Sir Henry Cavendish keenly and sarcastical- ly remarked, that "it was a retreat after a victory." After a day's and a night's de- bate, without intermission, the House ad- journed at eleven o'clock the ensuing morn- ing. Upon the rising of the House, the popu- lace became tumultuous, and a violent dis- position against those who had supported the Union was manifest, not only amongst the common people, but amongst those of a much higher class, who had been mingling with them. On the Speaker's coming out of the House, the horses were taken from his carriage, and he was drawn in triumph through the streets by the people, who conceived the whimsical idea of tackling the Lord-Chancellor to the coach, and (as a captive general in a Roman triumph) forcing him to tug at the chariot of his conqueror. The populace closely pursued his lordship * Those "possible circumstances" did occur — and very soon. Both Mr. Fortescue and others who had voted with Ponsonby voted for the Uniou ou its pas- sage in the next session. 378 mSTORY OF IRELAND. for that extraordinary purpose ; he escaped with great di£Qculty, and fled, with a pistol iu his hand, to a receding doorway in Claren- don street. But the people, who pursued him in sport, set up a loud laugh at him, as be stood terrified against the door. They offered him no personal violence, and re- turned in high glee to their more innocent amusement of drawing the Speaker. Formally, however, and for the moment, the division of that day was a triumph. A Bcene of joy and triumph appeared universal — every countenance had a smile, through- out all ranks and classes of the people — men shook their neighbors heartily by the hand, as if the Minister's defeat was an event of individual good fortune, the mob seemed as well disposed to joy as mischief, and tlmt was saying much for a Dublin as- semblage. But a view of their enemies, as they came skulking from behind the corri- dors, occasionally roused them to no very tranquil temperature. Some members had to try their speed, and others their intre- pidity. Sir Jonah Barrington, who looked on at all these jiroceediugs with the eye rather of a humorist than of a statesman, tells us that Mr. Richard Martin, unable to get clear, turned on his hunters, and boldly faced a mob of many thousands, with a small pocket pistol in his hand. lie swore most vehe- mently that, if they advanced six inches on him, he would immediately "shoot every moi/ier^s bale of them as dead as that paving stone" (kicking one). The united spirit and fun of his declaration, and his little pocket pistol, aimed at ten thousand men, women, and children, were so entirely to the taste of our Irish populace, that all symptoms of hostility ceased. They gave him three cheers, and he regained his home without further molestation. In the House of Lords, on the same ques- tion, upon the reception of this aidress. Lord Clare carried everything with a higli hand. The same handful of spirited peers who had voted against Union on the former division agaiu opposed it; and it is remarked that Dr. Dickson, Bishop of Down, and Marlay, Bishop of Limerick, were the only two spiritual peers who ventured to stand up against the stern and haughty Chancel- lor. The Bishop of Limerick was Grattan's uncle, -and the Bishop of Down was an inti- mate friend of Mr. Fox. That degraded assemblage, the Irish House of Peers, many of whom had bought their titles within the past few years for money, or for the Castle- . votes of tlieir borough members, and others of whom were promised a noble price for those boroughs to promote the Union, lay helplessly prostrate at the feet of Govern- ment, and the low-boru but audacious Chancellor cracked his whip over the coro- netted slaves. Kot mnch business of great national im- portance was transacted in the remainder of that session ; the Government had re- solved to employ all its resources in favor of union during the recess. The Loyalist Claim bill, however, was passed ; under which bill the country was afterwards charged more than a million sterling, to compensate " loyalists " who had suffered loss by the insurrection. An attempt was made to pass also a "Rebel Disqualitication bill ;" the title was " A Bill for preventing persons who have ever taken the Oath of the United Irishmen from voting for members to serve in Parliament." On the second reading this bill of disfranchisement was opposed by Sir Hercules Langrishe, sup- ported vehemently, of course, by Dr. Dui- genan, John Claudius Beresford, and Mr. Ogle ; but was defeated. A very singular discussion took place in the House of Commons this session, on the presentation of a petition from Mr. Thomas Judkiu Fitzgerald, known as the " flogging sheriff" of Tipperary. It seems that he had been so wanton and indiscriminate in his flagellations, that he thought even the "Indemnity act" not sufficient to screen him from the legal consequences of such a raging loyalty ; and this petition was to ask a special indemnity for himself. " Many actions," the petition said," had been brought, and many more threatened." Several mem- bers of Parliament from Munster, bore the warmest testimony to the zeal and activity of tliis monster in dealing with rebels. The Attorney-General " bore testimony from of- ficial information, as well as from local knowledge, to the very spirited and meritori- ous conduct of Mr. Fitzgerald, and he ■FLOGGING FITZGEEALD ASKS INDEMNITY. 379 trusted the House would cheerfully accede to the prayer of the petition." Uv. Yelver- tou then read to the House the sworn testi- mony of witnesses in one case — that of Mr. Wright, (which has been already mention- ed.) "The action (he said) brought by Mr. Wright was for assault and battery. It appeared that Mr. Wright was a teacher of the French language, of which he was employed as professor by two eminent board- ing-schools at Clonrael, and in the families of several respectable gentlemen in the town and neighborhood. " Mr. Wright had heard that Mr. Fitz- jrerald had received some charges of a sedi- tious nature against him, and with a prompti- tude not very characteristic of conscious guilt, he immediately went to the house of Mr. Fitzgerald, whom be did not find at home, and afterwards to that of another magistrate, who was also out, for the pur- pose of surrendering himself for trial ; he went again the same day, accompanied by a gentleman, to the house of Mr. Fitzgerald, and being shown into his presence, explained the purpose of his coming, when Mr. Fitz- gerald drawing his sword, said, ' down on your knees, you nebellious scoundrel, and re- ceive your sentence.' In vain did the poor uian protest his innocence ; in vain did he implore trial, on his knees. Mr. Fitzgerald sentenced him first to be flogged, and then shot. The unfortunate man surrendered his keys to have his papers searched, and ex- pressed his readiness to suffer any punish- ment the proof of guilt could justify ; but no — this was not agreeable to Mr. Fitzgerald's principles of jurisdiction ; his mode was first to sentence, then punish, and afterwards in- vestigate. His answer to the unfortunate man was, ' What, you Carmelite rascal, do you dare to speak after sentence V and then struck him, and ordered him to prison. " Next day this unhappy man was dragged to a ladder in Clonmei street, to undergo his sentence. He knelt down in prayer with his hat before his face. Mr. Fitzgerald came up, dragged his hat from him and trampled on it, seized the man by the hair, dragged him to the earth, kicked him, and cut him across the forehead with his sword, and then had him stripped naked, lied up to the ladder, and ordered liim fifty lashes. " Major Rial, an officer in the town, came up as the fifty laslies were completed, and asked Mr. F. the cause. Mr. F. handed the major a note, written in French, saying, he did not himself understand French, though he understood Irish, but he (Major Rial) would find in that letter, what would justify him in flogging the scoundrel to death. " Major Rial read the letter. He found it to be a note addressed for the viclim, translated in these words : — " ' Sir, — / am extremely sorry I camiot wait on you at the hour appointed, being unavoidably obliged to attend Sir Lawrence Parsons. Yours, " ' Baron de Clues.' " Notwithstanding this translation, which Major Rial read to Mr. Fitzgerald, he or- dered fifty lashes more to be inflicted, and with such peculiar severity, that, horrid to relate, the bowels of the bleeding victim could be perceived to be convulsed and working through his wounds ! Mr. Fitz- gerald finding he could not continue the ap- plication of his cat-o'nine-tails on that part without cutting his way into his body, or- dered the waistband of his breeches to be cut open and fifty more lashes to be inflicted there. He then left the unfortunate man bleeding and suspended, while he went to the barrack to demand a file of men to come and shoot him ; but being refused by the commanding officer, he came back and sought for a rope to hang him, but could not get one. He then ordered him to be cut down and sent back to prison, where he was confined in a dark, small room, with no other furniture than a wretched pallet of straw, without covering, and there he re- mained six or seven days, without medical assistance 1 * * Mr. Plowden records another case, almost pre- cisely alike, in which Fitzgerald's victim was a young man, named Doyle, a respectable tradesman of ('ar- rick. The action was tried at Clonmei Spring Assizes, in 1801. Mr, Plowden says: " The plaintiff, who was a young man of excellent character and iintaiiited loyalty, was seized in the street by the defendant ia order to be flagellated. In vain did he protest his iu- nocence, which was also supi)ortcd by some of the most respectable ivihabitauts of the place. He beg- ged to have Captain Jcphson seut for, the commaudel 380 HISTORY OF IREIAND. The Attorney-General, in reply, said : " Tlie petitioner, whose exertions had been prodnetive of the happiest consequences, only complained of the persecutions to which he was exposed. His property, and what was of infinitely more important to an honora- ble man, his character, was at stake." He also censured Mr. Yelverton, and said that gentleman would have acted more becoming- ly by awaiting in discreet patience the testi- mony offered by the petitioner, &c. The petition was at length referred to a commit- tee, then to a secret committee. Nothing seems to have been done upon it ; but Mr. Judkin Fitzgerald afterwards received a considerable pension, " for his active ser- vices in quelling the rebellion." * Before the adjournment of Parliament, the Anti-Unionists conceived they might preclude the possibility of any conflict be- tween the two Parliaments — and thus lake one main argument away from the Unionists — by the simple measure of a Regency act, euacth>g that the Regency in Ireland should forever be exercised by the same person who should be Regent of England. Lord Cas- tlereagh opposed the measure, being unwil- ling to lose any of his arguments, and main- tained that such an act would not meet the difficulty. His lordship's opinion was, that it would not prove a remedy for the inconvenience complained of. It went, in his mind, only to a part of the evil, namely, the effect — but left the cause of the evil untouched. Thus the great malady still remained, and the connection between both countries would in no instance be better secured. Two Parlia- ments, perfectly equal in point of rights, might, at any future period, differ respecting their choice of a regent ; and, therefore, the bill could not effect that unity of the execu- of the jeomanry, of whicli he was a member ; that was refased. He oflered to go to instant execution if the Itast trace of guilt appeared against him on inquiry ; that was also refused. Bail was offered to any amount for his appearance. ' No,' says the sher- ifl', ' I know by his face that he is a traitor — a Carme- lite scoundrel.' The plaintiff was tied to the whip- ping-post; lie received one hundred lashes, till his ribs appeared. The young man's innocence was afterwards fully established. He applied to a court of law for redress ; the action was tried at Clonmel As- bizes ; these facts fully proved ; an Orange jury acquit- ed the defendant." * Piowden's Hist. Review, 5th vol. five which the measure proposed to estab- lish. - Circumstanced as the countries were, the questions of peace and war, of treaties with foreign powers, of different religions, might, at some future period, lead to a difference of decision between their Parliaments ; and such an occurrence would shake the connec- tion, and, in consequence, the empire, to its foundations. If questions of comparative advantage between countries might arise, how could a Regency bill operate as a remedy for the evil? His lordship wished to be informed how a bill, which went to establish the unity of the regal powers, could identify the necessary powers of a regent for other countries. Might not the particular circumstances of one country differ so materially from the other that the Regency for both kingdoms could not conveniently be exercised by the same person ? Or, did not the bill go to oblige the monarch to appoint one and the same Regent, which, in fact, went to restrict the regal authority ? Thus, either the regal powers were curtailed, or the Regency bill was inefficient to remove the inconvenience it went to remedy. The Regent was, to all intents and purposes, a deputy ; and could a Regent in tiiat case appoint a Lord-Lieu- tenant? Could a deputy appoint a deputy ? He presumed he could not ; and should a Regent send over a Lord-Lieutenant to that country, he was satisfied that the Council could object to his authority. His lordship read part of a speech of Mr. Fox, to show that the adjustment of 1782 was not considered as a final one ; that it went merely to quiet the political struggle which then existed ; and that it was indis- pensably necessary to give up something for that imperial purpose. His lordship concluded by saying that the measure was inefficient to the purpose it held forth ; calculated to blind the country, and. disgrace the Legislature. It ranst be acknowledged that these argu- ments of Lord Castlereagh have considera- ble weight, and that the only possibility of Ireland's real and effective independence lies in complete separation from Enghmd. It was on the discussion of the Regency bill UNION PROPOSED IN BRITISH PARLIAMENT. 381 that Mr. Foster, the Speaker, took occa sion to express his sentiments with great weiijlit and earnestness against the project of Union ; contending tliat the settlement of 1782 was a final settlement, and that the pending Regency bill would remove the last remaining difficulty in the way of harmonious action between the two independent coun- tries. The Regency bill, however, was not acted upon. That, with all other legislation having reference to the Union, was thrown over till the ne.xt session ; by which time. Lord Castlereagh hoped to have his votes ready to carry his grand measure. He vio- lently opposed the Regency bill, and got rid of it by moving an adjournment of the House, which was carried. In the meantime, the English Lords and Commons were also busy upon the Union ; and we must now turn from College Green to Westminster for a time. CHAPTER XL. 1790. Union Proposed in British Parliament— Opposed by Slieridan — Supported by Canning — Great Speech of Mr. Pitt — Ireland to be Assured of English Pro- tection — Of English Capital— Promises to the Cath- olics—Mr. Pittas Resolutions for Union — Sheridan — Dundas — Resolutions Passed — In the House of Lords— Labors of Cornwallis and Castlereagh — Corruption — Intimidation — Onslaught of Troops in Dublin — Lord Cornwallis Makes a Tour — Lord Downshire Disgraced— Handcock of Athlone — His Song and Palinode — Opposition Inorganic — The Orangemen — The Catholics — Arts to Delude Them — Dublin Catholics Against Union — O'Connell — System of Terror — County Meeting Dispersed by Troops — Castlereagh's Announcement of "Com- pensation." On the same day, (January 22, 1799,) on which the Union was proposed to the L'ish Parliament in the speech of Lord Corn- wallis, the same business was brought be- fore both Houses in England. Mr. Pitt was 80 confident of his power to carry that measure that he did not think it advisable to await the result of the deliberations of the Irish Senate upon it; but, presuming on his strength in the Irish as much as in the British Houses of Parliament, he opened his plan of operations in both on the same day. Accordingly, on the 22d of January, 1799, a message from the Sovereign was delivered to the British Peers by Lord Greuville, re- commending a Union in the following terms : " His Majesty is persuaded that the un- remitting industry with which our enemies persevere in their avowed design of efTectiiig the separation of Ireland from this kingdom cannot fail to engage the particular atten- tion of Parliament ; and His INIajesty recom- mends it to this House to consider of the most effectual means of counteracting and finally defeating this design ; and he trusts that a review of all the circumstances which have recently occurred (joined to the senti- ments of mutual affection and common in- terests) will dispose the Parliaments of both kingdoms to provide, in the manner which they shall judge most expedient, for settling such a complete and final adjustment as may best tend to improve and perpetuate a con- nection." The same day a similar message was pre- sented to the Commons by Mr. Dundas, who moved that it should be taken into consid- eration on the morrow. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, though a member for an English borough, did not forget that he was an Irishman. He immediately rose, and while he declared his concurrence in the general sentiments which the message conveyed, he thought it but fair thus to give early notice that he viewed the bringing forward of tliat question at tliat time as a measure replete with so much miscliief, that he held it his duty to take the first opportunity to do everything in his power to arrest the fur- ther progress of it. Mr. Pitt, in reply, said he was at a loss to guess on what grounds the honorable gen- tleman would attempt to satisfy the House they ought not to proceed to the considera- tion of the important measure, which Ilis Majesty, from his paternal regard to the in- terests of the empire, had thought proper to recommend to their consideration ; at the same time, he informed the House that his intention was only to propose an address to His Majesty on the next day ; and then, after a sufficient interval, (about ten days,) to proceed to the further discussion of tlie subject. When the address, accordingly, was pro- posed the next day, Mr. Slieridan made a long and able speech against the whole pro- ject. " He thought it incumbent," he said, 382 HISTORY OF IRELAND. "upon Ministers to offer some explanations witli regard to the failure of the hist solemn adjustment between the eonntries, wliieh had been generally deemed final. There was the stronger reason to expect this mode of pro- ceeding, when the declaration of the Irish Parliament in 1782* was recollected. The British Legislature having acquiesced in this declaration, no other basis of connection ought to be adopted " He then spoke of the injustice of attempt- ing to consummate this union by intimida- tion and corruption. He contended that the adjustment proposed would only unite two wretched bodies ; that the minds would still be distinct ; and that eventually it might lead to separation. " Let uo suspicion," he continued, " be entertained that we gained our object by intimidation or corruption. Let our Union oe an union of affection and attachment, of plain-dealing and free-will. Let it be an union of mind and spirit, as well as of interest and power. Let it not resemble those Irish marriages which commenced in fraud and were consummated by force. Let us not 20mmit a brutal rape on the independence cf Ireland, when, by tenderness of behavior, ^f,e may have her the willing partner of our fate. The state of Ireland did not admit such a marriage. Her bans ought not to be published to the sound of the trumpet, with an army of forty thousand men. She was not qualified for hymeneal rites, when the grave and the prison held so large a 5hare of her population." Sheridan was answered by George Can- ning ; who spoke earnestly in favor of an Un- ion. Canning is sometimes claimed as an Irishman, but he was born in London, and never in all his life allowed the claim, no * "We beg leave to represent to His Majesty that the subjects of Ireland are entitled to a free Consti- tution ; that the Imperial Crown of Ireland is insepa- rably annexed to the Crown of Great Britain, on which connection the happiness of both nations es- Bontially depends ; but that the kingdom of Ireland is a distinct dominion, having a Parli;xment of her o\% ^, the sole Legif^lature thereof; that there is no power whatsoever competent to make laws to bind this nation, except the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland. Upon which exclusive right of legislation •we conoider the very essence of our liberties to de- pend — a riglit which we claim as the birthright of the people of h-eland, and which we are determined, iu every situation of life, to assert and maintain.'' more than Swift, who said it was too hard if he was to be considered an Irishman, although he had the misfortune to be " drop- ped " in that island. At any rate, Mr. Can- ning, never, in his whole career, showed the slightest Irish feeling ; and on this occasion he viewed the question wholly as an Eng- lishman, as he was. Here is an extract from his speech : — " It had been said, that for the space of three hundred years we had oppressed Ire- land ; but for the last twenty years, the conduct of England had been a series of concessio7is. The Irish wanted an octennial parliament — it v/as granted. They wished for an independent legislature — they had their wish. They desired a free trade — it was given to them. A very large body of the people of Ireland desired a repeal of a part of the Penal Code which they deemed oppressive — the repeal was granted. The honorable gentleman had spoken as if noth- ing had been done for Ireland but what she extorted, and what she had a right to demand — he seemed to think that past favors were no proofs of kindness. It was, undoubtedly, expedient that these advanta- ges should be given to Ireland, because her prosperity was the prosperity of England ; but they were not privileges which she could claim as matters of rights It was on the 31st, after the message had been again read, that Mr. Pitt made his great speech, fully developing the view which the British Ministry desired to be re- ceived on the question of Union. In jus- tice to the Unionists it is necessary to give an abstract of what this able statesman urged on his own part : — "The nature of the existing connection," he said, "evidently did not afford that de- gree of security, which, even in times less dangerous and less critical, was necessary to enable the empire to avail itself of its strength and resources. " The settlement of 1182, far from deserv- ing the name of a final adjustment, was one that left the connection between Great Brit- ain and Ireland ex|)0sed to all the attacks of parry and all the effects of accident. That settlement consisted in the demolition of the system which before held the two countries together. A system unworthy of MR. PITTS GREAT SPEECH. 583 tlie liberality of Great Britain, and injurious to the interests of Ireland. Hut to call that a system in itself — to call that a glo- rious fabric of human wisdom, which was no more than the mere demolition of an- other system — was a perversion of terms." Mr, Pitt then quoted the Parliamentary joiu-uals, to prove that the repiuil of the Declaratory act was not considered by the Minister of the day as precluding endea- vours for the formation of an ulterior settle- ment between the kingdoms. Mr Pitt was good enough to add, that Great Britain had always felt a common in- terest in the safety of Ireland ; but that in- terest was never so obvious and urgent as when the common enemy made her attack npon Britain through the medium of Ire- land, and when the attack upon Ireland tended to deprive her of her connection with Britain, and to substitute in lieu of it the new government of the French Republic. When that danger threatened Ireland, the purse of Great Britain was opened for the wants of Ireland, as for the necessities of England. To those who know how Ireland has been drained of her wealth and crushed in her in- dustry since, the Union, and by tb« Union, the following paragraph of Mr. Pitt's speech will seem strange : — " Among the great and known defects of Ireland, one of the most prominent features was its want of industry and of capital. How were those wants to be supplied, but by blending more closely with Ireland the industry and capital of Great Britain ? " The Minister enlarged very much upon the benefit which Ireland would derive from the certainty of being defended by England against foreign enemies, and upon her ina- bility to protect herself. Of course, he did not advert to the fact (which he well knew) that the great majority of the Irish people, Protestants as well as Catholics, knew of no other foreign enemy than England ; that in resisting French invasions of Ireland, England was defending not Ireland but her- self ; and that in capturing Frenchmen at Ballinarauck, or in Lojgh Swilly, the Eng- lish forces were not capLuring Ireland's ene- mies, bnt Ireland's friends. He drew a glowing picture of the great advantages which the lesser country would draw from her uiu'on with the greater, tlie protection which she would secure to herself in the hour of danger ; the most effectual means of increasing her commerce and improving her agriculture, the command of English capital, the infusion of English manners and , English industry, necessarily tending to meliorate her condition, to accelerate the progress of internal civilization, and to ter- minate those feuds and dissensions, which distracted the country, and which she did not possess within herself the power either to control or to extinguish. She would see the avenue to honors, to distinctions, and exalted situations in the general seat of em- pire, opened to all those, whose abilities and talents enabled them to indulge an honora- ble and laudable ambition. He did not forget to make his bid for the Catholics ; and without giving, in this speech, any distinct pledge of emancipation liy the Imperial Parliament, he intimated very clearly that the principal difficulty in the way of that measure would be removed by the Union. "No man could say," he re- marked, " that, in the present state of things, and while Ireland remained a separate king- dom, full concessions could be made to the Catholics, without endangering the State, and shaking the Constitution of Ireland to its centre. On the other hand, when the conduct of the Catholics should be such as to make it safe for the Government to ad- mit them to the participation of the priv- ileges granted to those of the established religion, and when the temper of the times should be favorable to such a measure, it was obvious that this question might be agitated in an United Imperial Parliament, with much greater safety than it could be in a separate Legislature." The Minister dwelt much upon the weak- ness of Ireland, which was not, he said, able to protect herself — he had not said so in the days of the volunteers ; npon the confusions and atrocities which prevailed at that mo- ment throughout the coiuitr}' — but he did not say that it was he. who had ordered and organized those horrors; upon "the hos'ile division of sects in Ireland, and the animosi- ties between ancient settlers and original in habitants" — l)ut -without saying that Eng- 384 HISTORY OF IRELAND. lish policy had created and perpetuated those evils ; upon the " ignorance and want of civilization which," he was pleased to say, "marked that country more than any in Europe " — but he forgot to say that for a cen- tury it had been a penal offence for any Catholic to go to school, or to teach a school. For all this, he insisted there was no cure but in the formation of a General Imperial Legislature, free alike from terror and from resentment, removed from the danger and agitation, uninfluenced by the prejudices, and uninflamed by the passions of that dis- tracted country. Ireland, Mr. Pitt admitted, might suffer somewhat " by the absence of the chief nobility and gentry who would flock to the huperial metropolis ;" but this disadvantage would be far more than counterbalanced by the beneficial results of the system in other respects. And as to the idea that the pro- ject of union with England meant subject- ing Ireland to a foreign yoke, Mr. Pitt met that with a quotation from Virgil — Nee Teucris Italos parere jubebo, Nee nova regna peto : paribus se legibus ambce Invictse gentes sterna in fajdera mittant." All this looks to-day like cruel and deadly irony. It was with the most severe gravity, however, that Mr. Pitt enumerated all the great blessings which would flow from the Union to Ireland ; — if England was to benefit by it, he did not seem to be aware of that circumstance, did not think of it ap- parently at all ; so much absorbed was he by the generons thought of binding up the bleeding wounds of Ireland, and whispering peace to her distracted spirit. He ended by moving his eight resolutions, to serve as a basis for the proposed Union. As these preliminary resolutions were greatly en- larged in the subsequent " Articles " and "Act of Union," they need not be here given at length. They were to the effect that it was fit to propose an union of the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. That the succession to the Crown should re- main settled as it was. That the United Kingdom should be represented in one Par- liament, in proportions afterwards to be agreed upon. That the two Churches of England and Ireland should be preserved. That the people of the two kingdoms should stand on the same footing, as to trade and navigation, and no duties should be imposed on e.\'port or import between the two islands. That the charge for the debts of the two kingdoms should be s(!parately defrayed ; the [)roportioiis of future expenses to be set- tled by the two Parliaments previous to the Union. That all laws and courts should re- main as they were then established, subject to future modifications by the United Par- liament. Mr. Sheridan opposed these reso- lutions from first to last. " If the condition of Ireland," he said, " were really as deplorable as it was stated to be, the House ought to be informed from what misconceptions such evils had arisen, amidst the advantages which God and na- ture had bestowed upon her. It might be concluded, indeed, that her poverty was chiefly occasioned by the narrow, unwise policy of Britain, a policy which, he was glad to find, the Minister now disapproved. Her weakness, perhaps, was not so great as it was supposed to be ; and, if it were, it was ungenerous to insult her. Such an in- sult would not have been offered to her while her volunteers were in arms." In the course of the several debates which took place, Sheridan was supported by sev- eral eminent members of the House ; by Mr. Grey, (afterwards Lord Grey,) by General Fitzpatrick, (who had been Irish Secretary under Lord Portland,) Mr. Tier- ney, the Honorable Mr. St. John, Mr. Hob- house, and others ; most of whom oj)posed the measure on account of the time being improper for its discussion. Of those who supported it may be named Sir John Mit- ford, Mr, Perceval, Mr, Dudley Ryder, Mr. Secretary Dundas, afterwards Lord Mel- ville, (a Scotchman,) spoke warmly for the Union ; and in his speech took occasion to throw out again the bait which was to catch the Catholics ; and as he was a member of the administration, his words were supposed to have weight. He said " that, after union, the Protestants would lay aside their jeal- ousies and distrust, being certain that against any attempt to endanger their establishment the whole strength of the United Legislature would be exerted ; and, on the other hand, the Catholics would expect that their cause would be candidly and impartially considered LABORS OF CORXWALUS AND CASTLi; RE-IGH. 385 by a general Parliament, the great body of which would be relieved from the apprehen- sions and animosities interwoven with the Constitution of the exi.sting Legislature." Mr. Dnndas further vaunted the excellent effects which, he said, had followed the union of Scotland with England, and re- ferred to a letter of Queen Anne to the Northern Parliament, predicting the various blessings, with respect to religion, liberty, and property, which would result from the scheme of incorporation ; and, he said, that not one syllable of her predictions had failed. It is observable that, throughout the wjiole of these debates in the English Par- liament, not one of the advocates of Union ever seems to have thought of the interest or honor of his own country. It was for Ireland tliey were all conerned. At length, on the 12th of February, came the division on bringing up the report. Tiie ayes were 120 ; nays, 16. This was followed by a con- ference between the Lords and Commons ; and the House of Peers ordered a month's interval before entering upon the discussion in their House. On the 19th of March, the matter was brought before the British House of Peers by Lord Grenville. He went through all the common arguments for the Union, and re- peated the usual carefully-calculated phrases intended to win the Irish Catholics without any distinct ministerial pledge for emancipa- tion. He said : — " The good consequences of union would quickly appear, in the progress of civiliza- tion, the prevalence of order, the increase of industry and wealth, and the improvement of moral habits. The Hibernian Protestants would feel themselves secure under the pro- tection of a Protestant Imperial Parliament ; and the anxiety of the Catholics would be allayed by the hope of a more candid exam- ination of their claims from a Parliament not iuOuenced by the prejudices of a local legislature." Tiie Union was opposed by Earl Fitzwil- liam, advocated by the Marquis of Town- shend, Lord Clifton, Lord Minto, the Bish op of Llandaff, and many others. Lord Moira o|)posed it. Lord Camden (the re- bellion Viceroy) supported it, Tliis noble- man took occasion to enter ou a defence of 49 his own administration in Ireland, which seemed indeed to need defence. He denied that the recall of Earl Filzwilliam was pro- ductive of disorder or disaffection, and af- firmed that the rigorous proceedings of the Government were rendered neces.sary by that seditious spirit which existed independently of the Catholic question. He declared that all the severities imputed to his administra- tion were preceded by acts of outrage, of in- surrection, or of rebellion. He allowed that his conduct, ia adopting active and vigorous measures, and apprehending some of the leaders, did accelerate the rebellion ; but, as the same steps facilitated its suppression, he did not think that he could justly be blamed. Lord Minto advised the insertion of a dis- tinct clause in the articles or act of Union, providing for the "just claims of the Catholic Irish ;" but he did not insist on this, and Ministers took care that no such clause should be inserted. Tlieir policy at that moment, with regard to Catholics, was only to whisper hopes and private promises into the ear of bishops and })eers of that persua- sion, as will be seen more fully hereafter. At the end of a long debate the address was finally adopted, embracing Mr, Pitt's pro- posals ; and so the matter rested until the next session. The remainder of the year 1199 was a busy time for Lord Cornwallis, Lord Clare, Lord Castlereagh, and under-Secretary Cooke. They were all excessively mortified at the temporary failure of this measure ; but if certain too credulous and generous Irishmen fondly imagined that the danger was over, they were signally mistaken. Nei- ther Clare nor Castlereagh was the man to be so easily discouraged at a crisis on which their own future political honors and exist- ence depended. They had it in command from London to carry the Union through. Mr Pitt, by a "private dispatch to Lord Corn- wallis, desired that the measure should not be pressed unless he could be certain of a majority of fifty ;* and his lordship knew wiiat that meant, coming from Mr. Pitt. Lord Cornwallis seems to have been quite a willing agent in the system of corruption and * "This original dispatch 1 saw and read.'"— iSi/ /. Barrington. 886 HISTORY OF IRELAND. iutiDiidalion now to be inaugurated on a grander scale than ever before ; and, indeed, to an extent never viitnessed, either before or since, in any conntry of the globe. And never had a government two more efficient officers for such a purpose than Clare, the Lord-Chancellor, and Castlereagh, the Sec- retary. The Chancellor, in fact, was too violent and arrogant to be politic. He called that a pusillanimous idea ; and could have been well content for his part to carry the Union with a majority of one, and then dra- goon the island into submission. In his rage ut the first check in Parliament, and at the somewhat tumultuous rejoicings of the Dub- lin mob, (who, however, hurt nobody,) he hastily had the Privy Council called togeth- er, and urged the necessity of making what in Ireland is called a salutary example. Ac- cordingly, about nine at night, a party of the military stationed in the old Custom House, near Essex Bridge, silently sallied out, with trailed arms, without any civil magistrate, and only a sergeant to command them ; arriving at Capel street, the populace were in the act of violently huzzaing for their friends, and, of course, witli equal vehemence execratiug their enemies ; but no riot act was read, no magistrate appeared, and no disturbance or tumult existed to warrant military interference. The soldiers, however, having taken a position a short way down the street, with- out being in any way assailed, fired a volley of balls amongst the people. Of course, a few were killed and some wounded ; amongst the former, were a woman and a boy. A man fell dead at the feet of Mr. P. Hamil- toy, the King's Proctor of the Admiralty, w^bo, as a mere spectator, was viewing the illumination. This is only mentioned to evince the violent spirit which guided the Government of that day, and the tyrannic means which were employed to terrify the people from testifying their joy at their de- liverance, as they fancied, from the proposed annexation.* Lord Castlereagh, however, knew a bet- ter way of going to work : The session had scarcely closed, when his lordship recom- menced his warfare against his country. The treasury was in his hands, pati'onage in ♦ Sir J. Barrington. his note-book, and all the influence vviiich the scourge or the pardon, reward or pun- ishment, could possibly produce on the tremb- ling rebels, was openly resorted to. Lord Cornwallis determined to put Irish honesty to the test, and set out upon an experiment- al tour through those parts of the country where the nobility and gentry were most likely to entertain him. He artfully select- ed those places where he could best make his way with corporations at public dinners, and with the aristocracy, country-gentlemen, and farmers, by visiting their mansions and cottages. Ireland was thus canvassed, and every jail was converted to a hustings, at which prisoners of various grades of crime were asked 1o sign petitions for the Union, by the promise of pardon. f Lord Castle- reagh's ulterior efforts were extensive and in- defatigable, his sj)irit revived and every hour gained ground on his opponents. He clear- ly perceived that the ranks of the Opposi- tion were too open to be strong, and too mixed to be unanimous. The extraordi- nary fate of Mr. Ponsouby's declaration of rights, and the debate on a similar motion by Lord Corry, which so shortly afterwards met a more serious negative, proved the truth of these observations, and identified the persons through whom that truth was to be afterwards exemplified. It was soon perceived by the Anti-Union- ists, that Government was recruiting and marshalling its forces to carry its measure with n high hand in the next session ; and that they also must do somewhat on their side, to maintain the high national spirit in resistance to the hated measure. The Mar- quis of Downshire, the Earl of Charlemont, and William Brabazon Ponsouby, member for the county of Kilkenny, sent circular letters to the Irish gentry and yeomanry, to the following effect. They were authorized, they said, by a number of gentlemen (;f both houses of Parliament — thirty eight of whom were representatives of counties — to Intimate their opinion, that petitions to Par- liament, declaring the real sense of the free- holders on the subject of a Legislative Union, would at that time be highly expedient. t This fact, that felons in the jails were thus induc- ed to sign Union petitions, was mentioned in Parlia- mentary debate, and not contradicted. Sir J. Bar' ringten. HANDCOCK OF ATHLONE mS SOKG XXO PALINODE. 387 Tlie Mnrquis of Downsliire was at once dismissed from the g^overnment of his conn- ,ty — the colonelcy of tlie Royal Downshire ^regiment of twelve hundred men, and his name was erased from the list of Privy Councillors.* All the resources of Govern- ment, either for reward or punishnient, were to be used, and that without reserve. The management of Mr. Handeock, mem- ber for Athlone, is an example of the system of treatment opposite to that pursued to- wards Lord Downshire. Immediately after the close of the session of 1799, a public din- ner of the patriotic members was had in Dub- lin, to commemorate the rescue of their coun- try from so imminent a datiger. One hundred and ten members of Parliament sat down to that splendid and triumphant entertainment. Never was a more cordial, happy assem- blage of men of rank, consideration, and frove.n integrity, collected in one chamber, than upon that remarkable occasion. Every man's tried and avowed principles were sup- posed to be untaintable, and pledged to his own honor and his country's safety ; and amongst others, Mr. Handeock, member for Athlone, appeared to be conspicuous. He t^poke strongly, gave numerous Anti-Union toasts, vowed, his eternal hostility to so in- famous a measure, pledged himself to God and man to resist it to the utmost, and, to finish and record his sentiments, he had composed an Anti-Union song of many stan- zas, which he sung himself with a general chorus. In short, he was the life of the party. Lord Castlereagh marked him as a man to be won upon any terms. Before Parliament assembled in the next session, Mr. Handeock was composing and singing Union songs. He received a large bribe in money ; " but," says Sir Jonah Barrington, " still he held out until title was added to the bribe, his own conscience was not strong enough to resist the charge, the vanity of his family lusted for nobility. lie wavered, but he yielded ; his vows, his declaration, his song, all vanished before vanity, and the year 1800, saw Mr. Handeock of Athlone, Lord Castlemaine." It is uimecessary to say that he voted for the Union. The very heterogeneous nature of the Opposition which had rejected the Union in * Plowdea. the last session, gave Lord Castlereagh great facilities in breaking it down. In that for- tuitous concourse of members, were to be found old reformers, and those who had always opposed reform, Catholic .Emanci- pators, as well as the most violent and bit- ter of the Orangemen. Indeed, the most Altai cause of division amongst them, was their radical difl'erence of opinion on the Catholic question. Those wlio had deter- mined to support the Catholic cause, as the surest mode of preventing any future attempts to attain a Union, were obliged to dissemble their intentinus of proposing eman- cipation, lest they shuuld disgust the A.s- cendancy party who acted with them solely against the Union. Those who were ene- mies to Catholic relaxation, were also oblig- ed to conceal their wishes, lest their deter- mination to resist that measure should dis- gust the advocates of emancipation, who had united with them on the present occasion. The talent of Parliament principally exist- ed amongst the members who had formed the general opposition to the Union. Some habitual friends of administration, tiierefore, who had on this .single question seceded from the Court, and who wished to resume tlieir old habits on the Union being disposed of, obviously felt a portion of narrow jealousy at being led by those they had been accu.s- tomed to oppose, and reluctantly joined in any liberal opposition to a Court which they had been in the habit of supporting. They desired to vote against the Union in the abstract, but to commit themselves no fur- ther against the Minister. Many, upon tliis temporizing and inefl'ective principle, caii- tiou.sly avoided any discussion, save upon the direct proposition ; and this was remarkable, and felt to be ruinous in the succeeding ses- sion. In the meetings and discussions which took place during that anxious interval be- tween the two sessions, and in the first days of the new one, the Orange body held aloof from the question as Orangemen ; and in the first days of the new session, a circular was issued signed by the " Grand Master," and " Grand Secretary," and dated " Grand Orange Iiodge," exhorting Orangemen " to avoid, as injurious to the institution, all con- troversy npoD subjects not connected with 388 HISTORY OF IREL,VXD. their principles." There is no doubt, how- ever, that most of the Orangemen were for the Union ; and both the Grand Master and Grand Secretary, being members of Parliament, voted for it in 1800. To the countless petitions which were poured in, almost all (igainst the Union, were signed the names of Catholics and Protestants indiscriminately ; but the Cath- olic Bishops certainly used their influence in many cases to dissuade the people of their flocks from coming forward against the mea- sure. " It may, indeed, be said with truth," says Mr. Plowdcn, " that a very great pre- ponderancy in favor of the Union existed in the Catholic body, particularly in their nobility, gentry, and clergy." The same authority accounts for this by " the severities and indignities practiced upon them after the rebellion by many of the Orange party, and the offensive, affected confusion, in the use of the terms, papist and rebel, producing fresh soreness in the minds of many." But this is not a satisfactory account of the in- different or hostile position assumed at that time of peril, by many leading Catholics towards the Legislature of their country. If they did see some Orangemen sitting upon the Opposition benches, they also saw there all their own old and tried friends and advocates ; and their attitude is rather to be ascribed to the impression produced by the underhand half-promises made by people connected with the Government. Sir Jonah Barrington says : — "The Viceroy knew mankind too well to dismiss the Catholics without a comfortable conviction of their certain emancipation ; he turned to them the honest side of his coun- tenance ; the priests bowed before the sol- dierly condescensions of a starred veteran. The titular archbishop was led to believe he would instantly become a real pre- late ; and before the negotiation conclud- ed. Dr. Troy was consecrated a decided Unionist, and was directed to send pas- toral letters to his colleagues to promote it." Sir Jonah tells us, further, that "some of the persons, assuming to themselves the title of Catholic, leaders, sought an audience, in order to inquire from Marquis Cornwallis, 'What would be the advantage to the Catholics, if a union should happen to bd effected in Ireland ? ' " Mr. Bellew, (brother to Sir Patrick Bel- lew,) Mr. Lynch, and some others, had sev- eral audiences with the Viceroy ; the Catho- lic Bishops were generally deceived into the most disgusting subservience, rewards were not withheld, Mr. Bellew was to be appoint- ed a County Judge, but that being found im- practicable, he got a secret pension, which he has now enjoyed for thirty-two years." But, undoubtedly, the main motive of the anti-national conduct of leading Catholics is to be sought in those uniform declarations of Ministers, both in England and in Ire- land, that the Union, and the Union alone, would remove all impediments to a fair set- tlement of the demands of the Catholics. There were, however, some Catholics not to be so easily deluded. The trading and com- mercial class of Catholics in Dublin was ve- hemently opposed to union ; and, immediately before the opening of the session, a meeting of these people was held at the Royal Ex- change, to deliver their opinions upon it. It was proposed to prevent this meeting from assembling, by military force — such was always Lord Clare's first thought ; but better counsels prevailed, and the meet- ing was held, Mr. Ambrose Moore iu the chair. Ko less a person than Daniel O'Connell, then a rising young barrister, took the lead- ing part at this meeting ; and it is interest- ing to see with what patriotic earnestness he then protested against the perpetration of that Union which, near half a century later, he laid down his life in the effort to repeal. He said : — "That under the circumstances of tlie present day, and the systematic calumnies flung at the Catholic character, it was more than once determined by the Roman Catho- lics of Dublin to stand entirely aloof, as a mere sect, from all political discussion, at the same time that they were ready, as forming generally a part of the people of Ireland, to confer with and express their opinions in conjunction with their Protest- ant fellow-subjects. This resolution, which they had entered into, gave rise to an extensive and injurious misrepresentation, and it was asserted by the advocates of COUNTY MEETING DISPERSED BY TROOPS. 389 TJiuon, darinirly and insolently asserted, that the Roman Catholics of Ireland were friends to the measure of Union, and silent allies to that conspiracy formed against the name, the interests, and the liberties of Ireland. This libel on the Catholic character was etrengthened by the partial declarations of some mean and degenerate members of the commnnion, wrought upon by corruption or by fear, and, unfortunately, it was received with a too general credulity. Every Union pamphlet, every Union speech imprudently put forth the Catholic name as sanctioning a measure which would annihilate the name of the country, and there was none to re- fute the calumny. In the speeches and pamphlets of Anti-Unionists, it was rather admitted than denied, and, at length, the Catholics themselves were obliged to break through a resolution which they had formed, in order to guard against misrepresentation, for the purpose of repelling this worst of misrepresentations. To refute a calumny di- rected against them, as a sect, they were obliged to come forward as a sect, and in the face of their country to disavow the base conduct imputed to them, and to declare that the assertion of their being favorably inclined to the' measure of a legislative in- corporation with Great Britain, was a slan- der the most vile ; a libel the most false, scandalous, and wicked, that ever was di- rected against the character of an individual or a people. " Sir," continued Mr. O'Connell, " it is my sentiment, and I am satisfied it is the sentiment, not only of every gentleman who now hears me, but of the Catholic people of Ireland, that if our opposition to this in- jurious, insulting, and hated measure of Union were to draw upon us the revival of the penal laws, we would boldly meet a pro- scription and oppression, which would be the testimonies of our virtue, and sooner throw ourselves once more on the mercy of our Protestant brethren, than give our assent to the political murder of our country ; yes, 1 know — I do know, that although exclu- sive advantages may be ambigiicmsly held fortk to the Irish Catholic, to seduce him from the sacred duty which he owes his country ; I know that the Catholics of Ireland still re- member that they have a country, and that they will never accept of any advantages, as a sect, which would debase and destroy them as a people.'' After which Mr. O'Connell moved cer- tain resolutions which were unanimously agreed to. The first of these resolutions was — " Resolved, Tliat we are of opinion that the proposed incorporate Union of the Leg- islature of Great Britain and Ireland, is, in fact, an extinction of the liberty of this country, which would be reduced to the ab- ject condition of a province, surrendered to the mercy of the Minister and Legislature of another country, to be bound by their absolute will, and taxed at their pleasure by laws, in the makit)g of which this country could have no efficient participation what- ever." As the decisive moment approached for. the trial of this great issue, men's minds be- came more and more excited on both sides of the question. The patriotic leaders did what was possible to evoke a respectable body of public opinion by way of meetings, petitions, and resolutions ; but this was a service of danger, as Lord Dovvnshire had found, A far more extraordinary example of the determination of Government to crush down all legitimate expression of pub- lic feeling occurred at a proposed county meeting in Kings County. The circum- stances were thus related by Sir Lawrence Parsons, in his place in Parliament, and were never denied : — " Some time ago. Major Rogers, who com- mands at Birr, having been told that there was an intention of assembling the freehold- ers and inhabitants to deliberate on the pro- priety of petitioning against a Legislative Union, the Major replied that he would dis- pei-se them by force if they attempted any such thing ; that the Major, however, ap- plied to Government for direction. What answer or directions he received could only be judged of by his immediate conduct. On Sunday last, several magistrates and respec- table inhabitants assembled in the session house, when the Iligh-Slieriif (Mr. Derby) went to tliera and ordered them to disperse, or he would compel them. Tiiey were about to depart, when a gentleman came and told them the array was approaching. The As* 390 HISTORY OF IliELAND. sembly had but just time to vote tlie resolu- tions, but not to sign them. They broke up, and as they went out of the session honse they saw moving towards it a column of troops with four pieces of cannon in front, matches lighted, and every disposition for an attack upon the session house — a building so constructed that if a cannon had been fired it inust have fallen on the magistrates and the people, and buried them in its I'uins. A gentleman spoke to Major Rogers on the subject of his approaching in tiiat hostile manner. His answer was that he waited but for one word from the Sheriff that he might blow them to atoms 1 These were the dreadful measures. Sir Lawrence said, by which Government endeavored to force the Union upon the people of Ireland, by stifling their sentiments and dragooning them into submission." Sir Jonah Barrington states positively that many other meetings throughout the counties were thus prevented by simple "dread of grape-shot." English generals then quartered in various parts of the island, at a moment when either martial law still existed or the horrible memory of it was fresh, could not fail to have their own influ- ence over proclaimed districts and a bleeding peasantry. To them nothing could be easier than to pi-eveut any political meetings, under pretence that they might endanger the pub- lic peace. The Anti-TJnioQ addresses, innumerable and ardent, in their very nature voluntary, and with signatures of high consideration, were stigmatized by Government journals as seditious and disloyal ; " while those of the compelled, the bribed, and the culprit, were i)rinted and circulated by every means that the Treasury or the influence of the Government could effect." * There were a gocd many new elections held this summer ; because members were persuaded to resign their seats " upon terms," says Mr. Plowden ; but he does not tell us what those terms were. In fact, tliey sirap'y * Sir Jonah Barrington. He states, and O'Connell has affirmed ttie same, that, notwithstanding all ob- stacles and intimidations, seven hundred thousand persons petitioned against union; and, notwithstand- ing ail inducements, only three thousand petitioned lor it^-the most of these being Government officials and prisoners ia the jails. accepted one of the " Escheatorships," a species of " Chiltern Hundreds," to vacate their seats, that those seats might be filled by creatures of the Castle. In this way a small majority had already been secured be- fore the opening of the session. Lords Cornwallis and Castlereagh, having made so good progress during the recess, now discarded all secrecy and reserve. Many of the peers and several of the commoners had the patronage of boroughs, the control of which was essential to the success of th© Minister's project. These patrons Lord Cas- tlereagh assailed by every means which his power and situation afforded. Lord Corn- wallis was the remote, Lord Castlereagh the intermediate, and Mr. Secretary Cooke, the immediate agents on many of these bargains. Lord Shannon, the Marquis of Ely, and sev- eral other peers commanding votes, after much coquetry had been secured during th© first session ; but the defeat of Government rendered their future support uncertain. The Parliamentary patrons had breathing time after the preceding session, and began to tremble for their patronage and importance ; and some desperate step became necessary to Government, to insure a continuance of the support of these personages. Accordingly, Lord Castlereagh boldly an- nounced his intention to turn the scale, by bribes to all who would accept them, under the name of compensation for the loss of pa- tronage and interest. He publicly declared, first, that every nobleman who returned members to Parliament should be paid, in cash, £15,000 for every member so returned; secondly, that every member who had purchased a seat in Parliament should have his purchase- money repaid to him out of the Treasury of Ireland ; thirdly, that all members of Par^ liament, or others, who were losers by the Union should be fully recompensed for their losses, and that £1,500,000 should be devot- ed to this service. In other words, all who should affectionately support his measure were, under some pretext or other, to share in this " bank of corruption." A declaration so desperately and reckless- ly flagitious was never made in any country on eartli by the Minister of any Sovereign. It was treating the elective franchise of the country as the private property of those pro* PROGRESS OF UNION CONSPIRACY. 391 pi-ietors who returned the ineinbors by means of tlieir unconstitutional influence. It was acknowledging and consecrating the practice of tliose members themselves in treating their seats also as a property, from which, during their tenure, they drew profit in bribes, or plnce, or some substantial Court favor. And it was charging the whole expense of this nefarious transaction to the Irish tax-payers themselves, the very people who were thus to be sold by their representatives, and pur- chased with their own money by their ene- mies. But the declaration had a powerful efifect in favor of the Castle ; and before the meet- ing of Parliament in Jainiary he found, through the infallible information of the Under-Secretary, ISIr. Cooke, that he could count upon a small majority of about eight. This he hoped to increase. CHAPTER XLI. 1799—1800. Progress of Union Conspiracy— Grand Scale of Brib- ery — Castlereagti Organizes " Fighting Men '' — Din- ner at his House — Last Session of the Irish Parlia- ment — Warm Debate the First Day — Daly Attacks Bushe and Plunket — Reappearance of Grattau — His Speech — Curry. Attacks Him — Division — Majority for Government — Castlereagh Proposes "Articles" of Union — His Speech — Promises Great Gain to Ireland from Union — Ii-elaud to "Save a Million a Year" — Proposed Constitution of United Parlia- ment — Irish Peerage — Ponsonby — G rattan — Again a Majority for the Castle — Lord Clare's Famous Speech — Duel of Grattan and Corry— Torpor and Gloom in Dublin — The Catholics^" Articles " final- ly Adopted — By Commons — By Lords. In the cool, calculating head of the Irish Secretary, the whole project was now ma- tured, and its accomplishment provided for. Things were, he thought, in a good train. County meetings of freeholders were pre- vented by "dread of grape-shot ; " the Cath- olic Bishops and gentry were lulled asleep by what Mr. O'Connell had well described as " riopes of advantage amljiguously held forth ;" the people were crushed, disarmed, bleeding ; there were one hundred and fifty thousand armed men in the country, one- third regular troops, the other two-thirds of- ficered and controlled by Government ; and above all, and beyond all, Mr. Cooke was successfully driving his bargains with the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Com- mons of the Parliament of Ireland. Yet his lordship evidently dreaded the meeting of Parliament. He loved not that inevitable encounter with so many honest, ardent, and able men, who all knew and would proclaim the villanies he was practising. In fact, he felt, with uneasiness, that the genius and elo- quence of the land, as well as its integrity, were full against him ; and no kgislaiive body ever yet sitting in one house has pos- sessed so large a proportion of grand orators, learned lawyers, and accomplished gentle- men. It may be fearlessly added, that no Parliament has ever had so large a propor- tion of honorable men. Had it not been so, the splendid bribes then ready to be thrust into every man's hand would have insured to the Castle a much greater majority, and we should not have seen the noble ranks of un- purchasable patriots thronging so thifk on the Opposition benches to the last. What Parliament or Congress has ever been tempt- ed so?* There is no need to make invidi- ous or disparaging reflections ; but English- men, and Frenchmen, and Americans, should pray that their respective Legislatures may never be subjected to such an ordeal. But still, Castlereagh disliked this meetr ing with the Irish Parliament ; and, as his party fell so far short of their opponents in point of talent and oratory, he bethought him of a singular expedient to make sure of an effective corps of fighting men amongst his supporters in the House. He was him- self a man of most reckless courage ; but he saw the necessity of infusing a little of tliat spirit into his party. Sir Jonah Barriugton describes his system of procedure in this * It must be remembered that the compensation fund of £1,500,000 represents a small part of the bribery. Vast sums were also paid for votes out of the Secret Service money. O'Connell, in his Corporation Speech, estimates these latter bribes at "more than a million." Then there were about forty new peer- ages created, and conferred as bribes. The tariff of prices for Union votes was familiarly known— £S,000, or an office worth £2,000 a year if the member did not like to touch the ready-money. Ten bishoprics, one chief-justiceship, six puisne-jndgesliips, besidea regiments and ships given to officers of the army and navy. On the whole, the amount of all this in money must have been, at least, Jive millions sterling— $25,- 000,000. If bribery upon the same scale, say, $100,- 000,000, were now judiciously administered in the En- glish Parliament, a majority could be f btained which would annex the Three Kingdoms to the United States. 392 HISTORY OP IRELAND. matter, wliicli is too characteristic of tlie time and of the country to be iiere omitted : "He invited to dinner, at his house in Merrion Square, about twenty of his most etaunch supporters, consisting of ' tried men,' and men of ' fighting families,' who might feel an individual pride in resenting every personality of the Opposition, and in identifying their own honor with the cause of Government. This, dinner was sump- tuous ; the champagne and Madeira had their full effect ; no man could be more con- descending than the noble host. After due preparation, the point was skillfully intro- duced by Sir John Blaquiere, (since created Lord de Blaquiere,) who, of all men, was best calculated to promote a gentlemanly, convivial, fighting conspiracy ; he was of the old school, an able diplomatist, and with the most polished manners and imposing ad- dress, he combined a friendly heart, and de- cided spirit ; iu polite conviviality he was unrivaled. " Having sent round many loyal, mingled with joyous and exhilarating, toasts, he stated that he understood the Opposition were disposed to personal unkindness, or even incivilities, towards His Majesty's best friends — the Unionists of Ireland. He was determined that no man should advance upon him by degrading the party he had adopted, and the measures he was pledged to support. A full bumper proved his sin- cerity, the subject was discussed with great glee, and some of the company began to feel a zeal for ' adual service.^ " Lord Castlereagh affected some coquetry, lest this idea should appear to have origina- ted with him ; but, when he perceived that many had made up their minds to act even on tlie offensive, he calmly observed, that some mode should, at all events, be taken to secure the constant presence of a sufficient number of the Government friends during the discussion, as subjects of the utmost im- portance were often totally lost for want of due attendance. Never did a sleight-of-hand man juggle more expertly. " One of his lordship's prepared accessor- ies (as if it were a new thought) proposed, humorously, to have a dinner for twenty or thirty every day, in one of the committee- chambers, where they could be always at hand to make up a House, or for any emer- gency which should call for an unexpected reinforcement, during any part of the dis- cussion. "The novel idea of such a detachment of legislators, was considered whimsical and humorous, and, of course, was not rejected. Wit and puns began to accompany the bot- tle. Mr. Cooke, the Secretary, then, with significant nods and smirking iimendos, be- gan to circulate his official rewards to tho company. The hints and the claret, united to raise visions of the most gratifying nature, every man became in a prosperous state of official pregnancy — embryo judges, counsel to boards, envoys to foreign courts, com- pensation pensioners, placemen and com- missioners in assortments, all revelled in the anticipation of something substantial to be given to every member who would do the Secretary the honor of accepting it. " The scheme was unanimously adopted. Sir John Blaquiere pleasantly observed that, at all events, they would be sure of a good cook at their dinners. After much wit, and many flasiies of convivial bravery, the meet- ing separated after midnight, fully resolved to eat, drink, speak, awA fight for Lord Cas- tlereagh." It was not long before one of these gen- tlemen found an opportunity of proving his mettle. On the L5th of January, the last session of the Parliament of Ireland assembled. Every member expected that the speech from the Throne would have again introduc- ed the subject of an Union, the basis for which, was now firmly laid by the action of the British Parliament in adopting the Ar- ticles of Union. There was deep and ex- pectant attention, as the Viceroy congratu- lated Parliament upon " victories of the combined imperial armies " over France ; upon good understanding with Naples ; upon the failure of the plans of " the enemy " in India ; upon the check given to Buona- parte's Egyptian successes ; and he went on to demand supplies as usual, and to promise economy ; — and earnestly recom- mended to their care and patronage agri- culture, manufactures, and the "Protestant Charter Schools ; " — but he ended without saying one word of Union. WAKM DEBATE THE FIRST DAT. 393 Lord Viscount Loftiis (afterwards Marquis of Ely) moved the address, wiiicli was as vague as the speccli was empt}'. It was this p;eiitleman's father, Marquis of Ely, wlio had been promised £45,000 for his tlirce Ijoroughs. Sir Jouaii Barriugton says tiiis youtig nobleman " had been chris- tened Lee-hoo, by the humorons party of the House, and was only selected to show the Coniinous that his father had been purchas- ed " — in other words, poii,r tncowragcr les autres. Tiicre was not a point in the Yiceroy's speech intended to be debated. Lord Cas- tlereagli, having judiciously collected his flock, was better enabled to decide on num- bers, and to count with sufficient certainty on the result of his labors since the pre- ceding session, without any hasty or pre- mature disclosure of his definitive measure. Tliis negative and insidious mode of pro- ceeding, however, could not be permitted by the Opposition, and Sir Lawrence Parsons, after one of the most able and luminous speeches he had ever uttered, moved an amendment, declaratory of the resolution of Parliament, to preserve the Constitution as established in 1782, and to support the free- dom and independence of the nation. This motion occasioned a warm debate on the very first day of the session. Lord Castle- reagh, in pursuance of the bullying policy which had been agreed upon, spoke con- temptuously of the arguments of Sir Law- rence. Tlie silence of the Lord-Lieutenant on the subject, did not arise from any con- viction of the impolicy of prosecuting the scheme. The question had been witlidrawn, when the House of Commons seemed unwil- ling to entertain it, but, as a great majority of the people now approved the measure, and as there was reason to believe, that many of its late Parliamentary opponents had re- nounced their ideas of its demerits. His Majesty's counselors had resolved to give it a new chance of regular investigation. The reason of its not having been mentioned in the Viceroy's speech, was merely that it was to be made a subject of distinct communi- cation to Parliament. There ensued a vehement debate on the whole question of Union. Many members now ventured to show their hands. After 60 Mr. Ponsonl)y had spoken strongly and earn- estly in favor of Sir L. Parsons' amendment, up rose Dr. Brown, member for the Univer- sity, who had voted against the Union in the preceding session. He said " he had become more inclined to the Union than he had been in the preceding session, because he thought it more necessary from inlervie- diate circumstances P Unhappily, we know what those circumstances were. He had been promised the place of Prime-Sergeant, and got it for his vote, and for that alone, as he had no other merit.* Charles Kendal Bushe made a vigorous speech in this debate. He said : — " You are called upon to give up your in- dependence, and to whom are you to give it up ? To a nation which for six hundred years has treated you with uniform oppres- sion and injustice. The Treasury Bench startles at the assertion — Non mens hie scrmo est. If the Treasury Bench scold me, Mr. Pitt will scold them, it is his assertion in so many words in his speech. Ireland, says he, has always been treated with injustice and illiberality. Ireland, says Junius, has been uniformly plundered and oppress- ed. This is not the slander of Junius, or the candor of Mr. Pitt, it is history. For centuries has the British nation and Parlia- ment kept you down, shackled your com- merce, paralyzed your exertions, despised your character, and ridiculed your preten- sions to any privileges, commercial or con- stitutional. She never conceded a point to vou which she could avoid, or granted a favor which was not reluctantly distilled. They have been all wrung from her, like drops of her heart's blood, and you are not in possession of a single blessing, except those which yon derive from God, that has not been either purchased or extorted by the virtue of your own Parliament from the il- liberality of England." Mr. Plunket al.so had spoken with his usual force against the project of Union, when Mr. St. George Daly, a very thii'd-rate barrister, who had been appointed Prime- Sergeant on the dismissal of Mr. Fitzgerald, rose and began to put in practice the bully- ing policy which had been settled upon at * This gentleman was by birth an American. 394 HISTORY OP IRELAND. Lord Castlereagli's. " He was a gentle- man," says Sir Jonah Bari-ington, " of ex- cellent family, and, what was formerly high- ly esteemed in Ireland, of a ' fighting fami- ly.' He was proud enongh for his preten- sions, and sufficiently conceited for his capac- ity, and a private geutlenum he would have remained, had not Lord Castlereagh and the Union plnced him in public situations where he had himself too much sense not to feel that he certainly was over-elevated." This JMr. Daly ventured upon the system of per- sonal insolence. Barrington describes the scene : " Mr. Daly's attack on Mr. Bushe, was of a clever description, and had Mr. Bu^he had one vulnerable point, his assailant might have prevailed. He next attacked Mr. Plunket, who sat immediately before him, but the materials of his vocabulary had been nearly exhausted ; however, he was making some progress, when the keen visage of Mr. Plunket was seen to assume a curled sneer, which, like a legion offensive and de- fensive, was prepared for an enemy. No speech could equal his glance of contempt and ridicule. Mr. Daly received it like an arrow, it pierced him, he faltered like a wounded man, his vocal infirmity became more manifest, and after an embarrassed pause, he yielded, changed his ground, and attacked by wholesale every member of his own profession who had opposed an Union, and termed them a disaffected and danger- ous faction" But the House had nearly wearied itself out, and exhausted the subject, when, about seven o'clock in the morning, a sudden ap- parition broke upon the House, which caus- ed men to hold their breath for a time. It was the entrance of Henry G rattan. Since bis "secession" from Parliament, more than two years before, along with Curran, Fitz- gerald and others, Grattan had been an in- valid, trying to recruit his shattered consti- tution, by change of scene and climate. He had spent some time in the mild air of the Isle of Wight, then among the moun- tains of Wales, and had but lately return- ed to his house of Tinnehinch, near Bray, when this momentous session of Parliament opened. At that time, Mr. Tighe returned the mem- bers ibr the close borough of Wicklow, and a vacancy having occurred, it was tendered to Mr Grattan, who would willingly have declined it but for the importunities of his fi lends. The Lord-Lieutenant and Lord Castle- reagh, justly appreciating the effect his pres- ence might have on the first debate, had withheld the writ of election till the last moment the law allowed, and till tliey con- ceived it might be too late to return Mr. Grattan in time for the discussion. It was not until tiie day of the meeting of Parlia- ment that the writ was delivered to the re- turning officer. By extraordinary exertions, and, perhaps, by following the example of Government in overstraining the law, the election was held immediately on the arrival of the writ, .a sufficient number of voters were collected to return Mr. Grattan before midnight. By one o'clock, the return was on its road to Dublin ; it arrived by five ; a party of Mr. Grattan's friends repaired to the private house of the proper officer, and making him get out of bed, compelled him to present the writ to Parliament before seven in the morning, when the House was in warm debate on the Union. A whisper ran through every party that Mr. Grattan was elected, and would immediately take his seat. The Ministerialists smiled with incred- ulous derision, and the Opposition thought the news too good to be true. Mr. Egan was speaking strongly against the measure, when Mr. George Ponsonby and Mr. Arthur Moore, (afterwards Judge of the Common Pleas,) walked out, and im- mediately returned, leading, or rather help- ing, Mr. Grattan, in a state of total feeble- ness and debility. The effect was electric. Mr. Grattan's illness and deep chagrin had reduced a form, never symmetrical, and a vis- age at all times thin, nearly to the appearance of a spectre. As he feebly tottered into the House, every member simultaneously rose from his seat. He moved slowly to the table ; his languid countenance seemed to revive as he took those oaths that restored him to his preeminent station ; the smile of inward satisfaction obviously illuminated his features, and reanimation and energy seemed to kindle by the labor of his mind. The Hou>e was silent. Mr. Egan did not resume his speech, Mr. Grattan, almost breathless, DIVISION MAJORITY fOR GOVERNMENT. 395 attempted to rise, but foiiiul himself unable at first to stand, and asked permission to address the House from his seat. Never was a finer illustration of the sovereignty of mind over matter. G rattan spoke two hours, with all his usual vehemence and fire, a2:ainst the Union, and in favor of the amendment of Sir Lawrence Parsons. The . Treasury Bench was at first disquieted ; then became savage ; and it was resolved to bully, or to kill Mr. Grattan. Sir Jonah Barrington describes the scene : — " He had concluded, and the question was loudly called for, when Lord Castlereagh was perceived earnestly to whisper to Mr. Corry, they for an instant looked round the House, whispered again, ]\Ir. Corry nodded assent, and, amidst the cries of ' question,' began a speech, which, as far as it regarded Mr. Grattan, few persons in the House could have [)revailed upon themselves to utter. Lord Castlereagh was not clear what im- pression Mr. Grattan's speech might have made upon a few hesitating members ; he had, in the course of the debate, moved the question of adjoui-nment ; he did not like to meet Sir Lawrence Parsons on his mo- tion, and Mr. Corry commenced certainly an able, but, towards Mr. Grattan, au un- generous and an unfeeling personal assault." For that time the Castle bravo carried the matter with a high hand ; the exhaust- ed invalid was too feeble to attend to him ; perhaps, did not even hear him. At ten o'clock in the morning, a. division was called for. Ninety-six voted for the amendment of Sir Lawrence Parsons ; one hundred and thirty-eight against it ; a majority of forty- two for the Castle. This majority of forty- two exceeded the warmest expectations of Government ; and the Viceroy hoped to in- crease it by allowing an interval of some weeks to pass, before he sent to either House a copy of the resolutions of the Par- liament of Great Britain. The defeat of the Anti-Unionists by a majority of forty-two, flushed the Minister wirh confidence. The members were now so far marshaled into their ranks, that con- siderable clianges or conversions were not to be expected on either side. Some solitary instances of conversions did appear. A hot and open canvass was carried on in the House itself, by the friends of Government, wherever au uncertain or reluctant member was observed, or his convictions, interests, and aspirations could be discovered. What effect attended this canvass is seen in the subsequent divisions, and iu the Black List. It was on the 15th of February that Lord Castlereagh, for the first time, formally brought the project of Union before the House, by reading a message from Lord Cornwallis, recommending that measure to the earnest attention of Parliament. His lordship then delivered a long speech, set- ting forth the several articles of Union, as agreed upon by the British Houses. He affirmed, without scruple, that public opin- ion was now favorable to Union. With re- gard to the multitudinously-signed petitions which had poured in against it, he remarked : " That had also been the case in the Scot- tish Union. The table of the Parliament was day after day, for the space of three months, covered with such petitions ; but the Scottish legislators acted as, he trusted, the Irish Parliament would act ; they con- sidered only the public advantage ; and, steadily pursuing that object, neither misled by artifices nor intimidated by tumult, they received, in the gratitude of their country, that reward which amply compensated their arduous labors in the great work so haj)- pily accomplished." * As to the principle of the measure — the competency of the Parliament of Ireland to extinguish itself — his lordship affirmed that this had been so firmly established by a speech, (that of Mr. Smith,) which had been published, "that he considered it as placed beyond question or doubt." He then de- scribed the articles in succession. He at- tempted to show that the contemplated financial arrangement, making the two coun- tries bear separately the charge of their re- spective debts, and requiring Ireland to pay in the proportion of one to seven and a half, towards the general expenses of the United Kingdom, for twenty years — the propor- tions to be afterwards modified, according to the respective abilities of the twocounlries — * The reader will recollect that the Scottish Union also was accomplished by purchasing a majority with money and office. 896 HISTORY OF IRELAND. was an arranirement by which Ireland would sai'f a million fer annum. The proposed commercial regnlaLioiis also he discussed, most elaborately, and showed to the satis- faction of his friends, that in this article, also, Ireland would be the gainer. His lordship then spoke of the article to con- .solidate the Church of England and Church of Ireland. In this place he took care to introduce the regular ministerial phrase, in- tended to comfort the Catholics : — " The cause of distrust must vanish with the removal of w"eakness ; strength and con- fidence would produce liberality ; and the claims of the Catholics might be temperately discussed and impartially decided before an Imperial Parliament, divested of those local circumstances, which would ever produce ir- ritation and jealousy." With respect to the composition of the United Parliament, his lordship observed, that, while the population of Great Britain exceeded ten millions, that of Ireland was only three million five hundred thousand or four millions ; * and while Ireland's share in the general expenses of the empire was to be only one, against Great Britain's seven and a half, she was to have a hundred members in the Imperial Parliament. Lord Castlereagh next approached the delicate question — what was to be done with the Irisli Peerages ? According to the ar- ticles of Union, Irish Peers w^ere not to sit in any House of Lords by their own right ; yet, they were not to be altogether degraded to Commoners, (which would have been re- publican, and savoring of " French princi- ples.") So the awkward compromise which was adopted caused his lordship some trouble to explain, in a plausible manner. They were to be represented in the Imperial House of Lords by four spiritual Peers, elected by their order, and twenty-eight temporal Peers, elected by theirs, and hold- ing their seats for life. Peers of Ireland * It was at least five millions. Mr. Plowden, though he does not like to contradict Lord Castlereagh, says, '" there are many strong reasons for believing that it amounted to near five millions. Six years later, it was live million three hundred and ninety-five thousand four hundred and-fifty-six, according to the estimate for that year, (1805,) given in the official Irish Direc- tory. But as there was then no census. Lord Castle- reagh felt limself at liberty to give his own esti- mate. were to be capable of holding seats in the House- of Commons, but not for an Irish constituency ; only for a county or borough in England. In describing the apportionment of the re- presentation between counties and boroughs, giving sixty-four to the former and thirty- six to the latter, his lordship said this would necessarily disfranchise many boroughs ; and here he took occasion formally to promise "compensation" — not to the disfranchised electors, but to the landed proprietors who were the " patrons " of those boroughs, and were supposed to own the franchise of those electors. This intended purchase of the "pocket boroughs," and the immense prices to be paid for them, had been known be- fore ; but this was the first time the stupend- ous bribe had been mentioned in Parlia- ment. Lord Castlereagh coolly said : — " As the disfranchisement of many bor- oughs would diminish the influence and privileges of those gentlemen whose prop- erty was connectjed with such places of election, he endeavored to obviate their com- plaints by promising that, if the plan sub- mitted to the House should be finally ap- proved, he would ofi"er some measure of compensation to those individuals whose pe- culiar interests should sufi'er in the arrange- ment. " Much and deep objection might be stated to sucli a measure ; but it surely was conso- nant with the privileges of private justice ; it was calculated to meet the feelings of the moderate ; and it was better to resort to such a measure, however objectionable, than adhere to the present system, and keep afloat, forever, the dangerous question of Parliamentary reform. If this were a mea- sure of purchase, it should be recollected that it would be the purchase of peacf\ and the expense of it would be redeemed by one yearns saving of the Union." Lord Castlereagh did not feel it neces- sary to mention any of the other classes of bribes which were to reward those patriots who would consent to enrich Ireland by all these gains and savings. He knew that the faithful Mr. Cooke was arranging those matters of business in the* lobbies, in the corriders, on the very floor of the House. Mr. George Ponsouby made a violent at- LABORS OF CORXWALLIS AND CASTLEEEAGH. 397 tack upon the Minister and his whole scheme. He treated as visionary all the proffered ad- vantages of Union. In the ecclesiastical establishment, Union would produce but one solid effect, which would be to translate the Irish into Eiiu;lish bishops. He then summed up the effects of the Union in these terms : " Your peerage is to be disgraced; your Commons purchased ; no additional advantage in commerce ; for twenty years a little saving in contributions, but if the Cabinet of England think that we contribute more than we should, why not correct that extravagance now ? If any- thing should be conceded in the wny of trade, why is it not conceded now ? Are any of those benefits incompatible with our present state ? No 1 but the Minister wants to carry his union, and no favor, however trifling, can be yielded to us, unless we are willing to purchase it with the existence of Parliament and the liberties of tlae coun- try." Sir John Parnell, Mr. Dobbs, Mr. Sau- rin, Mr. Peter Burrowes, all attacked the measure, and exposed the fallacies of Lord Castlereagh ; and amongst the opponents of the Minister, we still find the name of John Claudius Berasford, of the " Riding-House," Grand Secretary of the Orangemen. His time for being converted had not yet come. Mr. Grattan spoke at considerable length. He said : " In this proposition, the Minister had gigantic difficulties to encounter. It was incumbent upon him to explain away the tyrannical acts of a century ; to apolo- gize for the lawless and oppressive proceed- ings of England, for a system which had countei'acted the kindness of providence to- wards Ireland, and had kept her in a state of thraldom and misery ; to prove that the British Parliament had undergone a great change of disposition ; to disprove two consequences, which were portended by the odium of the Union, and the increased expen- ses of the empire, namely, a military govern- ment for a considerable time, and at no very distant period, an augmentation of taxes ; to deny or dispute the growth of the prosper- ity of Ireland, under the maternal wing of her own Parliament ; to controvert the suf- ficiency of that Legislature for imperial pur- poses or commercial objects, though facts were against him ; and to explode or recall his repeated declarations in its favor. In short, he had to prove many points, which he could by uo means demonstrate ; and to disprove many, which might be forcibly maintained against him. It was, moreover, singular to behold the man, who denied the right of France to alter her government, maintaining the omnipotence of the Parlia- ment of Ireland to annul her Constitution." He then urged the very serious importance of the question. It was not such as had formerly occupied their attention ; not old Poynings, not peculation, nor an embargo, not a Catholic bill, not a Reform bill — it was their being — it was more, it was their life to come — whether they would go to the tomb of Charlemont and the volunteers, and erase his epitaph, or whether their children should go to their graves, saying, "A venal, a military court attacked the liberties of the Irish, and here lie the bones of the honora- ble men who saved their country." Such an epitaph, was a nobility which the King could not give to his Slaves; it was a glory which the Crown could not give to the King. On a division, there appeared for the printing of the articles, one hundred and fifty-eight ; against it, one hundred and fif- teen ; giving the Minister a majority of forty-three.* Even the staunch Unionist, Mr. Plowden, is honest enough to say on this occssion : — " When the number of the placemen, pensioners, and otlier influenced members, who had voted on the late division is con- sidered, the Minister had but slender grounds for triumphing in his majority of forty-three, if from tliem were to be collected the genu- ine sense of the independent part of that House, and of the people of Ireland, whom they represented." And he adds in a note : — " Many, it is to be feared, in both Houses, sacrificed their convictions. Twenty-seven new titles were added to the Peerage ; promotions, grants, cou'jessions, arrange- ments, promises were lavished with a profu- sion never before known in that country. Pity for both sides, that so great and impor- tant a political measure should owe any part * For the Articles of Union at full length, see ap- pendix, No. I. 898 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of its success, to other than the means of temperate reason and persuasion." Triumphantly Lord Castlereagh sent up his articles to the Lords ; where Lord Clare was ready for his part of the work. It was on this occasion, that he made that lono; and able discourse, which has been so ofton re- printed ; and from" which many extracts liave been already given in these pages. Great part of it consists of a historical dis- quisition upon the whole career of the Eng- lish colony, its connection on one hand with the mass of the Irish nation, and on the other, with the English Crown and Parliament ; and whilst it contains many truths, powerful- ly expressed, the general effect of the whole is to traduce all the classes, sects, and par- ties of Ireland for several centuries. Grat- taa afterwards wrote an answer to this speech, charging the Chancellor with many deliberate misrepresentations and falsehoods, " His idea," said Mr. Grattan, was to make the Irish histoi'y a calumny against their ancestors, in order to disfranchise their pos- terity." Tne measure was opposed in the House of Peers by the Earl of Charlemont, the Mar- quis of Dovvnshire, the Earl of Bellamont, Lord Powerscourt, Lord Dillon, and others, supported by Lord Glentworth, Lord Glen- dure, and the Archbishop of Cashel. How- ever, on the first division there was a large majority for the Government — 75 for, and 26 against. The general principles of the Uniuu were thus propounded and accepted iu both Houses of the Irish Legislature. In the next debate in the House of Com- mons, the Honorable Isaac Corry, who seemed to have taken special charge of replying to Mr. Grattan, again made a coarse personal attack on that gentleman. Grattan replied with such studied and contemptuous insult as to throw upon Mr. Corry the onus of re- sentment. The House saw the inevitable conse- quences. The Speaker (the House was in committee) sent for Mr. Grattan into his chamber, and pressed his interposition for an amicable adjustment, which Mr. Grattan positively refused, saying, he saw, and had been for some time aware of, a set made at him. to j}islnf kh/i off on that question ; there- fore, it was as well that the experiment were tried then as at any other time. Both par- ties instantly left the House upon Mr. Grat- tan's finishing his philippic. They met with- out delay in a field on the Ball's Bridge road ; and, after an exchange of two shots, Mr. Corry received a wound in the hand. So the affair ended. The populace, amongst whom the certainty of a duel was noised abroad, followed the parties to the ground ; and there was reason to fear that if Mr. Grattan had fallen his antagonist would have been sacrificed on the spot. On the 21st of February, Lord Castle- reagh took his next step. This was to move the adoption in the Commons of the articles, one by one. It is unnecessary to analyze the speeches made at the various debates which intervened before the final scene of the Irish Parliament. They generally dealt with the same facts and the same principles ; but on one of these occasions there were two efforts to obtain at least some delay in the re- morseless progress of the Minister. On the 4th of March, Mr. G. Ponsonby alleging that the Sovereign would not have persisted in recommending the present measure unless he had firmly believed that the sentiments of the public on the subject had undergone a great change, urged the House to remove so injurious a delusion by an intimation of the truth. A knowledge of the number of Anti-Union petitions would, he said, correct that error ; and he, therefore, proposed an address, stating that, in conformity with the constitutional rights of the people, petitions against a Legislative Union had been pre- sented to the Parliament from twenty-si.x counties, and from various cities and towns. The reply of Lord Castlereagh to this moderate proposal was highly characteristic. He contented himself with affirming that the public opinion had really undergone a change friendly to the measure, and that seventy- four declarations, nineteen of which were of those counties, had been presented in its fa- vor. Even if this were not the case, he would oppose a motion which derogated from the deliberative power of Parliament, and tended to encourage a popular interference pregnant, in these critical times, with danger and alarm. In another debate, Mr. Speaker Foster look occasion to point out and denounce the manifest object of the Government in their TORPOR AND GLOOM IN DUBLIN. 399 article relatirij^ to the Irish peerage. He p:ii(l it ci-Ccated a sort of raong-rel peer, half lord, half commoner, neither the one nor the other complete, and yet enough of each to remind you of the motley mixture. It would depress the spirit and enervate the exertions of all the rising nobility of the land. Fur- ther, by a strange sort of absurdity, the measure, in suffering a peer, as a commoner, to take a British seat, and refusing to allow him an Irish one, admitted this monstrous position, that in the country where his prop- erty, his connections, and residence were, he should not be chosen a legislator, but where he was wholly a stranger he might. The certain consequence of which was, that it would induce a residence of the Irish nobili- ty in Britain, where they might be elected commoners, and must, of course, solicit in- terest ; thereby increasing the number of Irish absentees, and gradually weaning the men of largest fortune from an acquaintance or a connection with their native country. Mr. Saurin and Sir John Parnell then severally proposed an appeal to the people, by a dissolution of Parliament ; but this pro- ject was scouted by the triumphant Castle party. If that present Parliament, they ar- gued, had no fjower to do the deed — neither would any other ; besides, that very Parlia- ment was already bought up by the Castle ; and the Castle would have value for its money, or rather the nation's money — for the peculiar and exquisite villany of this transaction was, that the peo[)le of Ireland were to pay the purchase-money of their own sale to their enemies. While these last struggles of a perishing ration were taking place within the walls of Parliament, there was deep gloom hanging over Dublin and the country. The Houses were now always surrounded by military ju- diciously posted in College Green, Dame and "Westmoreland streets, ostensibly to keep the peace, but really to strike terror, and pre- vent any manifestation of po[)nlar feeling by the fear of a sudden onslaught. Lord Cas- tlereagh also threatened to remove the Par- liament to Cork, if its proceedings were at gU troubled by the populace. Unfortunately, the An^i-TJnionists had no efficient organiza- tion, and no acknowledged leader. " Con- versions" to Unionism were every day taking place, through the earnest persuasions of Mr. Cooke. Some of the cheated and de- luded Catholic Bishops began to send ad- dresses to the Castle favorable to the Union. Bishop Lanigan, of Kilkenny, and his clergy, addressed Lord Cornwallis in this sense ; a proceeding which bitterly hurt and grieved the mass of the Catholic laity, although in the address itself occurred a ludicrous appli- cation of a phrase, which made the people laugh, as they are at all times willing to do. One of his excellency's eyes, by some natu- ral defect, appeared considerably diminished, and, like the pendulum of a clock, was gen- erally in a state of motion. The Right Rev- erend Bishop and clersry having never before seen the Marquis, unfortunately commenced their address with the most vial a propos ex- ordium of — "Your excellency has always kept a steady eye on the interests of Ireland." The address was presented at levee. His excellency, however, was graciously pleased not to return any answer to that part of their compliment. It must be admitted, injustice to the Cath- olic Bishops, that they were really deceived by the continual representations of Ministers ; and, indeed, we may be sure that in private conference with Archbishop Troy, Lord Cornwallis did not confine himself to the stereotyped formula always repeated in Par- liament, with regard to the claims of the Catholics, but plainly promised that Catho- lic Emancipation would be immediately made a Cabinet question.* However that may * Mr. Plowden, who could not think of supposing that British Ministers did not mean what they said, gives wliat he considers a clear proof of their sinceri- ty and devotion to the cause of the Catholics : — " Tliat the British Ministers were sincere in their inlentions of bringing forward, and confident in their expectations of carrying, the question of Catholic Emancipation in an Imperial Parliamennt, is manifest from certain written communications made by them to some of the leading persons of the Catholic body, about the time of their retiring from office, which were to the following effect: — " The leading part of His Majesty's Ministers find- ing insurmountable obstacles to the bringing forward measures of concession to the Catholic body, whilst in ofBce, have felt it impossible to continue in admin- istration under the inability to propose it with the cir- cumstances necessary to carrying the measure wiih all its advantages, and they have retired from His Majesty's service, considering this line of conduct as most likely to contribute to its ultimate success. The Catholic body will, therefore, see how much their fu- ture hopes must depend upon strengtheiuug their 400 HISTORY OF IRELAND. be, it is certain that the friends of indepen- dence, while they were struggling against the Union in Parliament were discouraged on finding their efforts not only not ap- preciated, but actually thwarted by cer- tain of the Catholic prelates who exer- cised necessarily so large an influence in the country. Thus, all was gloom and despondency, while the several "articles" were sepa- rately argued and assented to. This was finished on the 22d of March. A message was then sent to the House of Lords, importing that the Commons had agreed to the articles of the Union ; and on the 27th, the Peers intimated to the oth- er House, that they had adopted them with some alterations and additions. Two amend- ments had been proposed by the Earl of Clare, and adopted, importing that on the extinctiou of tliree. Irish peerages one might be created, till the number should be re- duced to one hundred, and afterwards one for every failure ; and that the qualifications of the Irish for the Imperial Parliament should be the same in point of property with those of the British members. These araend- caiise by good conduct in the meantime. They will prudently consider their prospects as arising from the persons who now espouse their interests, and compare them with those which they could look to from any other quarter. They may with confidence rely on the zealous support of all those who retire, and of many who remain in ofBce, when it can be given with a prospect of success, they may be as- sured that Mr. Pitt will do his utmost to establish their cause in the public favor, and prepare the way for their finally attaining their objects; and the Cath- olics will feel that, as Mr. Pitt could not concur in a hopeless attempt to force it now, he must at all times repress, with the same decision as if he held an adverse opinion, any unconstitutional conduct in the Catholic body. "Under these circumstances, it cannot be doubted that the Catholics will take the most loyal, dutiful, and patient line of conduct ; that they will not suffer themselves to be led into measures which can, by any construction, give a handle to the opposers of their wishes, either to misinterpret their principles or to raise an argument for resisting their claims ; but that by their prudent and exemplary demeanor they will afford additional grounds to the growing number of their advocates to enforce their claims on proper oc- •asions, until their objects can be finally and advan- taigeoasly attained. ments were readily approved by the Com- mons \ and Lord Castlereagh immediately proposed an address to His Majesty, in which both Houses concurred. In this address they declared that they cordially embraced the principle of incorporating Great Britain and Ireland into one kingdom, by a complete and entire union of their Legislatures ; that they considered the resolutions of the British Parliament as wisely calculated to form the basis of such a settlement ; that by those propositions they had been guided in their proceedings ; and that the resolutions now offered were those articles which, if approved by the Lords and Commons of Great Britain, they were ready to confirm and ratify, in or- der that the same might be established forever by the mutual consent of both Parliaments. At this stage of the business, the matter rested in Ireland ; and the British Parlia- ment had next to do its part, a matter which might be supposed somewhat doubtful, if all tlie advantages of the proposed Union were to be, as Lord Castlereagh said, on tiie side of Ireland ; but we shall find that this con- sideration did not act upon the Lords and Commons of England. "Tlie Sentiments of a Sincere Friend (i. e., Marquis Cornxoallis) to the Catholic Claims. " ' If the Catholics should now proceed to violence, or entertain any ideas of gaining tlieir object by con- vulsive measures, or forming associations with men of Jacobinical princijjles, they must, of course, lose the support and aid of those who have sacrificed their own situations in their cause, but who would, at the same time, feel it to be their indispensable duty to oppose everything tending to confusion. " ' On the other lumd, should the Catholics be sensi- ble of the benefit they possess by having so many characters of eminence pledged not to embark in the service of Government, except on the terms of the Catholic privileges being obtained, it is to be hoped that, on balancing the advantages and disadvantages of their situation, they would prefe r a quiet and peace- able demeanor to any line of conduct of an opposite description.' "The originals of these two declarations were handed to Dr. Troy, and afterwards to Lord Fingall on the same day, by Marquis Cornwallis, in the pres- ence of Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales, in the begin- ning of May, 1801, shortly before his departure from the Government of Ireland, and before the arrival of Lord Hardwicke, his successor. His excellency de- sired they should be disc7-eetly communicated to the Bishops and principal Catholics, but not inserted in the neiospapeis." THE mflON IN ENGLISH PARLIAMENT. 401 CHAPTER XLII. ISOO. The Union in English Parliament — Opposed by Lord Holland— Jfr. Grey— Sheridan — Irish Act for Elec- tors—Distribution of Seats^Castlcreagh brings in Bill for the Union — Warm Debates — Union de- nounced by Plunket, Bushe, Saurin, Grattan — Their Earnest Language — Last Days of the Parliament — Last Scene — Passes the Lords— The Protesting Peers — The Compensation Act — The King Congra- tulates the British Parliament — Lord Cornwallis — The Irish — Union to date from January 1, 1801 — Irish Debt — History of it. In the Parliament of Engliind, there was no daiijrer that any time would be lost. The articles of Union passed through the Irish Parliament as they had been origin- ally framed by the British Ministry, having received no other alterations in their pro- gress than such as were dictated by the Court. They were now brought forward as terms proposed by the Lords and Commons of Ireland, in the form of resolutions. And on April 2, 1800, the Duke of Portland communicated .to the House of Lords a mes- sage from the King, and at the same time presented to them, as documents, a copy of the Irish address, with the resolutions. Lord Holland in vain opposed the ap- pointment of a committee ; he objected to the whole project of Union. " It was evi- dently offensive to the great body of the Irish ; and, if it should be carried into ef- fect against the sense of the people, it would endanger the connection between the countries, and might produce irreparable mischief. He should oppose the motion for a committee." All remonstrance was useless. Ministers felt that their arrangements were perfect, and the result sure ; they would never, per- haps, hold Ireland so thoroughly in hand as they held her now — thanks to Lord Castlereagh. On a division, only three Peers (the Earl of Derby, and the Lords Holland and King,) voted against, and eighty-two sup- ported the motion for going into a commit- tee. The three first articles were then pro- posed to the committee, and received the as- sent of the Peers. The motion for a committee was made in the House of Commons bv Mr. Pitt. On 51 the House resolving itself into a committee, Mr. Pitt entered at great lengtli into the whole question, going in general over the same well-beaten ground. In closing hi.'i speech, this Minister, (knowing well the sys- tem of management of the Irish Parliament — and knowing, also, that everybody else knew it,) was not ashamed to say : — " The amjjle discussion which every part of this subject has met with, (so ample that nothing like its deliberation was ever known before in any legislature) has silenced clam- or, has rooted out prejudice, has overruled objections, has ansiccral all arguments, has refuted nil cavils, and caused the flan fa be entirely esteemed. Both branches of the Leg- islature, after long discussion, mature delil)- eration, and laborious inquiry, have expres- sed themselves clearly and decidedly in its favor. The opinion of the people, who, from their means of information, were most likely, because best enabled to form a correct judg- ment, is decidedly in its favor." Mr Grey, (afterwards Lord Grey,) still opposed the Union. Referring to Mr. Pitt's last assertions, he permitted himself to doubt their accuracy : — " It was said thnt the public voice was in its favor, after a fair appeal to the unbiassed sense of the nation. Kineteen counties were said to have signified a wish for its adop- tion ; and he believed that addresses had really been presented from that number of shires ; but by whom they were signed he did not exactly know, though it had been understood they were procured at meetings not regularly convened, and promoted by the personal exertions of a governor, who, to the powerful influence of the Crown, ad- ded the terrors of martial law. To speak of the uncontrolled opinion of the commu- nity, in such a case, reminded him of the Duke of Buckingham's account to Richard III. of the manner in which the citizens of London had agreed, to liis daim of the Crown — " Some followers of mine-owji- At lowest end o' ttle hall hurl'd np their caps, And some ten voices cried, God save King Rich- ard. And thus I took the 'vantage of those few Thanks, gentle citizens and friends, quoth I ; This general applause and cheerful shout, Argues your wisdom and your love to Richard." 402 HISTORY OF IRELAIfD. Mr. Grey proceeded further. He iiidig- iiaully exposed a portion of the infamies then perpetrated in Ireland ; and in such a manner as to show tliat he had fully in- formed himself. He said : — " He did not mean to speak disrespect- fully of the Irish Parliament. But the facts were notorious. Tliere are three hundred members in all, and one hundred and twenty of these strenuously opposed the measure ; among whom were two-thirds of the county members, tlie representatives of the city of Dublin, and almost all the towns which it is proposed shall send memV)ers to the Imperial Parliament. One hundred and sixty-two voted in favor of the Union — of those, one liundred and sixteen were placemen, some of them were English Generals on the Staff, without one foot of ground in Ireland, and completely dependent upon Government. Is there any ground, then, to presume that even the Parliament of Ireland thinks as the right honorable gentleman supposes ; or that, acting only from a regard to the good of their country, the members would not have reprobated the measure as strongly and unanimously as the rest of the people ? But this is not all ; let us reflect upon the arts which have been used since the last ses- f erty than their adversaries, in the Lords ten to one, and that the judging portion of the people approved the project. Mr. Pitt, how- ever, indignantly scouted the idea of ap- pealing to a community so influenced by fac- tious leaders ; he was satisfied with the con stitutional assent of Parliament. OPPOSED BY LORD HOLLAND ^MR. GEET — SHERIDAN. 403 In short, Mr. Grey's tiiotioii to ''suspend proceedings on the Union, till the sentiments I of the people of Ireland should be ascer- tained," wiis net^atived by a vote of two hun- dred and thirty-six, against thirty. And the three first articles were adopted by the com- mittee. Other debates upon varions parts of the articles, had uniformly tl>e same result, vast mnjorities for the Minister. Two in- cidents only of these discussions, merit no- tice. On the 30th of April, a debate arose upon a motion of Lord Holland, tending to give the Catholics a pledge or prospect of the abolition of the disabilities, to which they were still subject both in Ireland and Great Britain. This M'as opposed on the part of Government as " unseasonable.'' Ministers, in fact, intended that the Catholic Bishops and influential leaders, should con- tent themselves witii the vague promises al- ready so often mentioned. The Government was practically receiving support for their measure, from many of those prelates and gentlemen, on the faith of the treacherous promises of Lord Cornwallis and his under- lings ; and had no idea of pledging the Brit- ish Parliament- to emancipation. I^ord Grenville " was of opinion that these ques- tions would be best determined by an United Parliament." So the subject dropped. The other incident arose from the alarm of the woollen-manufacturers. It will be remembered how this class of manufactur- ers, in the reign of William III, had been able to procure express acts of the English Parliament for the destruction of that kind of industry in Ireland, and to en- sure to themselves the full monopoly of Irish wool in fleece. They were now very natur- ally of opinion that the Commercial " Ar- ticle," in the articles of Union permitting the free mutnal import and export between ihe two islands, was a gross infringement upon tiieir vested rights. They, accorditigly, petitioned the Honse of Commons against the " Article." Their demand was too mon- strous, but it was sustained in the House by Mr. Peel and Mr. Will)erforce. Mr. Pitt,. however, who knew that the English monop- oly of tlie woollen manufacture was now practically safe enongli, maintained, that, if any transfer of mannfactr.re should result from the permission of exporting wool, it would be gradual and inconsiderable ; that any void, which it might occasion, would be nuich more than filled up by the great in- crease of our trade in this article ; that we had no reason to apprehend a scarcity of the commodity, or dread the rivalry of the Irish in the manufacture ; and that his friend's proposal would be an unnecessary deviation from that liberal principle of a free intercourse, wliich was the intended basis of the Union. The article, therefore, was adopted as it stood, to the deep indig- nation of the good people of Leeds and all Yorkshire. All the articles had been adopted before the 9th of May. A joint address was on that day presented to the King, importing that they were now ready to conclude an Union with the Irish Parliament upon the basis of the articles. This address, in a tone which resembles a cold and solemn sneer, expresses the "unspeakable satisfac- tion " of Parliament at " the general conform- ity of the articles transmitted from Ireland with those which they had voted in the pre- ceding year." The next thing in order, was that each Parliament was to frame the articles into a bill, and so pass the Ad of Union. As an Irish act for regulating elections was to be incorporated in the general bill of Union, Lord Castlereagh at once, in the Irish House of Commons, .brought in that parliamentary measure. It passed the House of ConmiDus on the 20th of May. This measure arranged the representation as it remained from tlie Union until the " Re- form act." It gave one member of Parlia- ment to each of the following towns : — Waterford, Limerick, Belfast, Drogheda, Carrickfergns, Newry, Kilkenny, London- derry, Galway, Clonmell, Wexford, Armagh, Youghall, Bandon, Dundalk, Kinsale, Lis- bnrne, Sligo, Catherlogh, Emu's, Dungar- van, Down-Patrick, Coleraine, Mallow, Ath- lone. New- Ross, Tralee, Ca^h(■l, Dimgannou, Portarlington, and p]nniskillen. One mem- ber for each of these towns, with four for Dublin and Cork, one for the University, and sixty-four representatives of the thirty- two count 'es. 404 HISTOKT OF IRELANl). The act then made its singular provision to allow present Irish members of Parlia- ment, to sit in a Parliament they had never been elected to serve in. It provided, that if the King should authorize the present lords and commons of Great Britain to form a part of the first Impe'rial Legislature, the sitting members for Dublin and Cork, and for the thirty-two counties of Ireland, should represent the same cities and shires in that Parliament ; that the written names of the members for the college of the Holy Trini- ty, for the cities of Waterford and Limer- ick, and the other towns before-mentioned, should be put into a glass, and successively drawn out by the clerk of the Crown, and that, of the tvvo representatives of each of those places, the individual whose name should be first drawn, should serve for the same place in the first United Legislature ; and that, when a new Parliament should.be convoked, writs should be sent to the Irish counties, to the University, and to the cities and boroughs above specified, for the elec- tion of members in the usual mode, accord- ing to the number then adjusted. The act also arranged the rotation in which the four Irish bishops should sit in the House of Peers, and also the election of the twenty-eight Irish Peers by their own order. On the very next day — for Ministers were in hot haste — Castlereagh moved for leave to bring in his bill for the Legislative Union. Leave was given by a vote of one hundred and sixty, against one hundred. It was at once presented, read, and ordered to be printed. On the 25th, it was read again. The uncorrupted members of the House looked on with impotent indigna- tion. Mr. Grattan proposed a delay until the first of August, to allow the measure to be more fully canvassed. He proceeded also to argue very warmly against the whole principle of it. He said it was " a breach of a solemn covenant, an innovation promo- ted by martial law, an unauthorized assump- tion of a competency to destroy the inde- pendence of the realm : an unjustifiable at- tempt to injure the piosperity of the coun- try. The bill would be, quoad the constitu- tion, equivalent to a murder, and, quoad the government, to a separation. If it should be carried into effect, he foretold its want of permanence, and intimated his apprehensions, that popular discontent, perhaps dangerous commotions, might result from its enforce- ment." Lord Castlereagh defended the bill, and censured the inflammatory language of Mr. Grattan. "But he defied," he said, " their incentives to treason, and had no doubt of the energy of the Government in defend- ing the Constitution against every attack." Such was the insolent and half-menacing tone adopted upon system by the adminis- tration. Several earnest debates followed. The faithful representatives of the people, whom money, and place, and title, could not buy, did their sad duty to the end. Tiie ablest lawyers in the country, and some of the purest patriots of whom history makes mention, could at least protest against this parricide and suicide, and their solemn and well-weigh- ed words of warning and expostulation, if they could not save the country, for that time remain on record as a protest, as a continual claim, and perpetual muniment of title, on behalf of the independence of the Irish nation. As several passages of these Anti-Union pleadings have been often cited by Mr. O'Connell, and others, who have never ceased to demand the repeal of that evil act, they have become classical, and must always be held an essential part of any history of Ireland. William Conyngham Plunket, afterwards Lord-Chancellor, said : — " Sir, I, in the most express terms, deny the competency of Parliament to do this act. I warn you, do not dare to lay your hands upon the Constitution. I tell you, that if, circumstanced as you are, you pass this act, it will be a mere nullity, and no man in Ireland will be bound to obey it. I make the assertion deliberately. I repeat it, I call on any man who hears me to take down my words. You have not been elect- ed for this purpose. You are appointed to make laws, and not legislatures. You are appointed to exercise the function of legis- lators, and not to transfer them. " You are appointed to act under the Constitution, and not to alter it ; and if you do so, y(mr act is a dissolution of the LAST DATS OF PARLIAMEKT LAST SCEKE. 405 povernraent — you resolve society into its original elements, and no man in the land is hound to obey you. Sir, I state doctrines that are not merely founded on the immut- able laws of truth and reason ; 1 state not merely the opinions of the ablest and wisest men who have written on the science of government ; but I state the practice of our Constitution, as settled at the era of the revolution ; and J state the doctrine under which the House of Hanover derives its title to the Throne. " For me, I do not hesitate to declare, that if the madness of the revolutionists were to tell me, ' You must sacrifice British connection,' I would adhere to that coimec- tion in preference to the independence of my country. But 1 have as li/tle hesitation in saying, that if the loanton ambition of a Mim ister shauld assail the freedom of Ireland, and comjpel me to the alternative, I would fling the connection to the winds, and clasp the in- dependence of my country to my hnrl^ Mr. Bnshe, (subsequently Chief Justice of Ireland,) spoke these words: — " I strip this formidable measure of all its pretensions and all its aggravations ; I look on it nakedly and abstractedly, and I see nothing in it but one question — will you give up the country ? I forget for a mo- ment the unprincipled means by which it has been promoted ; I pass by for a mo- ment the unseasonable time at which it has been introduced, and the contempt of Parliament upon which it is bottomed, and I look upon it simply as England reclaim- ing in a moment of your weakness that do- minion which you extorted from her in a moment of your virtue — a dominion which she uniformly abused, which invariably op- pressed and impoverished you, and from the cessation of which you date all your pros- perity " Odious as this measure is in my eyes, and disgusting to my feelings, if I see it is carried by the free and uninfluenced sense of the Irish Parliament, I shall not only de- fer and submit, but I will cheerfully obey. It will be the first duty of every good sub- ject. But fraud, and oppression, and un- constitutional practice may, possibly, he another question. If this be factious language, Lord Isomers was factious, the founders of the revolution were factious, Wiiliam III. was an usurper, and the revolution was a re- bellion." Mr. Saurin, (subsequently a Privy Coun- cillor and an Attorney-General,) spoke these words : — " You make the Union binding, as a law, but you cannot make it obligatory on conscience. It will be obeyed so long as England is strong — but resistance to it will be in the abstract a duty ; and the exhibi- tion of that resistance will be a mere ques- tion of prudence." Mr. Grattan, who was afterwards deemed worthy of a resting-place in Westminster Abbey, spoke these words in the Irish House of Commons, in one of the debates on Union : — " !Many honorable gentlemen thought dif- ferently from me. I respect their opinions, but I keep ray own ; and I think now as I thought then, tho.t the treason of the. Minis- ter against the liberties of the people was •in- finitely worse than the rebellion of the people against the Minister "The cry of the connection (the Union measure) will not in the end avail against the principles of liberty. . . . " The cry of disaffection will not in the end avail against the principle of liberty. "Yet I do not give up the country. I see her in a swoon ; but she is not dead. Though iu her tomb she lies helpless and motionless, still there is on her lips a spirit of life, and on her cheek a glow of beauty, " Thou art not conquered ; beauty's en- sign yet is crimson on thy lips and in thy cheek, and death's pale flag is not ad- vanced there." * Eloquence and constitutional law-learn- ing were alike vain. The bill was hurried to its third reading ; and when it was seen that the evil deed was inevitable, most of the they might not witness the division by which * It is true that several of these Anti-Uuion ora- tors subsequently acted as if they had not been alto- gether sincere in so strongly denouncing the Union, pronouncing it a nullity, and proclaiming, as T.ord Plunket and Mr. Saurin did, that no man would be bound to obey it — that is, to obey laws enacted in the Imperial Parliament. Yet the speakers were sincere at the time ; and even if their own personal position afterwards seem inconsistent with the principle* then laid down, yet the principles are not to sufl'er, nor is the law less sound on that account. 406 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Anti-Unionists rose and left the House, that it vvns to be carried. This was on the 7th of June. There was, if we are to credit Sir Jonah Barrington, a certain theatrical solemnity in some of these last scenes of our national life. For example : — " Before the third reading of the bill, when it was about to be reported, Mr. Charles Ball, member for Clogher, rose, and, without speaking one word, looked round impressively, every eye was directed to him, he only pointed his hand significantly to the bar, and immediately walked forth, casting a parting look behind him, and turning his eyes to heaven, as if to invoke vengeance on the enemies of his country. His example was contagious. Tiiose Anti-Unionists who were in the House immediately followed his example, and never returned into that Sen- ate, which had been the glory, the guardian, and the protection of their country. There was but one scene more, and the curtain was to drop forever." On these last days of the Irish Parlia- ment there was an ostentatious display of u)ilitary force. Troops were drawn up un- der the Ionic colonnades of the superb Par- liament House ; and the citizens of Dublin knew that batteries of field artillery were ready at convenient spots to sweep their streets at a moment's notice — an arrange- ment to which they have been long accus- tomed. Sir Jonah, who was present and i;aw all, and who, though not in all respects an estimable man, at least stood by his coun- try in this crisis to the last, describes the scene ibr us : — "Tile day of extinguishing the liberties of Ireland had now arrived, and the sun took his last view of independent Ireland ; he rose no more over a proud and prosperous nation. She was now condemned, by the British Min- ister, to renounce her rank amongst the states of Europe ; she was sentenced to can- cel her Constitution, to disband her Com- mons and disfranchise her nobility, to pro- claim her incapacity, and register her cor- ruption in the records of the empire. " The Commons House of Parliament, on the last evening, afforded the most melan- choly example of a fine, independent people, "betrayed, divided, sold, and, as a state, aiini- iiilated. British clerks and officers were smuggled into her Parliament to vote away the Constitution of a country to which they were strangers, and in which they had nei- ther interest nor connection. They were em- ployed to cancel the royal charter of the Irish nation, guaranteed by the British Gov- ernment, sanctioned by the British Legisla- ture, and unequivocally confirmed by the words, the signature, and the great seal of their monarch. " The situation of the Speaker on that night was of the most distressing nature ; a sincere and arde.it enemy of the measure, he headed its opponents ; he resisted it with all the power of his mind, the resources of his experience, his influence, and his eloquence. " It was, however, through his voice that it was to be proclaimed and consummated. His only alternative (resignation) would have been unavailing, and could have added nothing to his character. His expressive countenance bespoke the inquietude of his feeling ; solicitude was perceptible in every glance, and his embarrassment was obvious in every word he uttered. " Tlie galleries were full, but the change was lamentable ; they were no longer crowd- ed with those who had been accustomed to witness the eloquence and to animate the debates of that devoted assembly. A monotonous and melancholy murmur ran through the benches ; scarcely a word was exchanged amongst the members ; nobody seemed at ease ; no cheerfulness was appa- rent, and the ordinary business, for a short time, proceeded in the usual manner. "At length, the expected moment arrived. The order of the day — for the third reading of the bill for a 'Legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland ' — was moved by Lord Castlereagh. Unvaried, tame, cold- blooded, the words seemed frozen as they issued from his lips ; and, as if a simple citi- zen of the world, he seemed to have no sen- sation on the subject. " The Speaker, Mr. Foster, who was one of the most vehement opponents of tlie Union from first to last, would have risen and left the House with his friends, if he could. But this would have availed nothina:. With grave dignity he presided over ' the last agony of the expiring Parliament.' Tie held up the bill for a moment in silence, THE PROTESTIXa PEERS THE COMPENSATION ACT. 401 then asked the usual question, to which the rt'sponse, ' aye,^ was hin!:;ni(l, but unmistak- able. Another momentnry pause ensued. Again his lips seemed to decline tlieir office. At length, with an eye averted from the ob- ject which he hated, he proclaimed, with a subdued voice, ^The ayes hate, ii.' For an instant he stood statue-like ; then, indig- nantly and in disgust, flung the bill upon the table, and sunk into his chair with an ex- hausted spirit." * So far, the picturesque historian of the "Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation ;" and, doubtless, to many readers this closing per- formance will appear somewhat histrionic and melodramatic. Yet in sad and bitter earnest, that scene was deep tragedy ; and its catastrophe is here with us at this day — in thousands upon thousands of ruined cab- ins, and pining prisoners, and outlawed reb- els, and the poverty and hunger that move and scandalize the world. A few details will fitly close up this subject. The bill was carried up to the House of Peers by Lord Casllereagh, but the consid- eration of it was postrioned. On its second reading, the Earls of Farnham and Bella- mont offered some clauses, which were nega- tived, and the bill was committed. It passed the committee without amendment, was re- ported in due form, and, after an uninterest- ing debate, was read a third time. on the 13th of June. A protest was entered by the Duke of Leinster and the other dissenting Peers. This protest is given at full length * It is well to preserve the record of those Irish- men who voted against tlie extinction of their coun- try. As for the names of those persona, phicemen, pensioners, and bribe-takers, who voted on the other side, it were better to forget them But their names and crime are also a portion of history ; and many readers may be interested to know the manner in which some great families in Ireland obtained their titles and laid the foundation of their fortunes. Candor also requires it to be stated that some few members did vote for the Union without either bribe or pension, without being influenced either by inter- est or intimidation; and, therefore, it is presumable, from a sincere conviction that this measure would benefit the two countries. There was published soon after the Union a "Red List" and a "Black List," giving the names of those who were for and against the measure. The lists have often been reprinted, ■fhey may be found in Plowden's Appendix and in Sir Jonah Barrington's liixe and Fall. But as the latter has added some observations to manj' of the names, either from his own personal knowledge, or from common notoriety at tlie time, we adopt his edition oi the lists. — See Appendix, No. II. in the Lords' journals ; but it will be enungh in this place to record its Inst parii!.i:r!iph and summing up, with the names of the dis- sentient Peers. It concludes in these words : " Because the argument made use of in favor of the Union, namely, that the sense of the people of Irehind is in its favor, we know to be untrue ; and as the Ministers have declared that they would not pre-s the measure against the sense of the people, and as the people have pronounced decidedly, and under all difficulties, their judgment against it, we have, together with the sense of the country, the authority of the Minister to en- ter our protest against the project of Union, against the yoke which it imposes, the dis- honor which it inflicts, the disqualification passed upon the peernge, the stigma thciehy branded on the realm, the disproportionate principle of expense it introduces, the means employed to effect it, the dis<'ontents it has excited, and must continue to excite. Against all these, and the fatal consequences the}' may produce, we have endeavored to inter- pose our votes, and failing, we transmit to after-titnes our names, in solemn protest on behalf of the Parliamentary Constitution of this realm, the liberty which it secured, the trade which it protected, the connection which it preserved, and the Constitution which it supplied and fortified. This we feel ourselves called upon to do in support of our characters, our honor, and whatever is left to us worthy to be transmitted to our posterity. Lein'ster, Arkan, Mount Cashel, Farnham, Beiaiore, by proxy, Massy, by proxy, Strang FORD, Granard, Ludlow, by proxy, MoiRA, by proxy. Rev. Waterford and Lismore. PoWERSCOURT, Dr Yksci, Charlfmont, Kingston, by proxy, Rivefjsdale, by proxy, Meath, LisMOKE, by proxy, Sun'derlin." 408 HISTORY OP IRELAND. No part of the plan now remained for the Secretary to bring forward, but the scheme of compensation. This he phui-ibly ushered in upon a principle of justice. He proposed a grant of iBl,260,000 for those who should suffer a loss of patronage, and be deprived of a source of wealth, by the disfrauchise- ment of eighty-four boroughs — at the rate of £15,000 to each. Mr. Saurin, Mr. J. Clau- dius Beresford, and Mr. Dawson, maintained that the grant of compensation to those who had no right to hold such a species of prop- erty, would be an insult to the public and an infringement of the Ccnstitution. Mr. Pren- dergast defended the proposition, alleging that, though such possessions might have been vicious in their origin, yet, from pre- scriptive usage, and from having been the subject of contracts and family settlements, they could not be confiscated without a breach of honor and propriety. In the House of Peers, this bill was chiefly opposed by the Earl of Farnham ; but it passed into law with little oppusitiou in either House, the Anti-Unionists having now given up tlie question as lost.* Soon after the Union bill had passed through both Houses of the Irish Parlia- ment, Mr. Pitt brought a bill in the same form into the British House- of Commons. It proceeded through the usrfal stages, without occasioning any important debate ; and was sent, on the 24th of June, to the Peers. On the 30th, Lord Grenviile moved for its third * When the compensation statute had received the royal assent, the Viceroy appointed four commission- ers to carry its provisions into execution. Three were members of Parliament, whose salaries of £1,'200 a year each (with probable advantages) were a tolerable consideration for their former services. The Honorable Mr. Aunesley, Secretary Hamilton, and Dr. Duigenan, were the principal commissioners of that extraordinary distribution. Unfortunately, we have not full details and accounts of this scandalous pecuniary transaction. Sir Jonah Barrington says :— "It is to be lamented that the records of the pro- ceedings have been unaccountably disposed of. A voluminous copy of claims, accepted and rejected, was published, and partially circulated ; but the great and important grants, the private pensions, and oc- ouU compensations, have never been made public, further than by those who received them. It is linown that — *• Lord Shannon received for his patronage in the Commons £45,000 " The Marquis of Ely 45,000 " Lord Clanmorris (besides a peerage) . 2.3,000 " Lord Belvidere (besides his douceur) , 15,000 " Sir Hercules Langrishe 15,000 " reading, declaring that he ro.se for that pur- pose with greater pleasure than he had ever felt before in making any proposition to their lordships. Tlie Marquis of Downshire merely said that his opinion of the measure remained unaltered, and that he would, therefore, give the bill his decided negative. It passed without a division ; and, on the 2d of July, it received the royal assent. On the 29th of July, in proroguing the last separate Parliament of Great Britain, the King felicitated his Parliament, as he well might : — " With peculiar satisfaction I congratu- late you on .the success of the steps, which you have taken for effecting an entire Union between ray kingdoms. This great measure, on wiiich my wishes have been long earnest- ly bent, I shall ever consider as the happi- est event of my reign." The royal assent was given in Ireland to the Union bill on the 1st of August, the anniversary of the accession of the House of Brunswick to the thrones of these realms. The ne.xt day, the Lord-Lieutenant put an end to the session, -with an ai)propriate speech from the Throne. Lord Cornwallis said, amongst other fine things — speaking to the legislators whom he had bribed : — "The whole business of this important session being at length happily concluded, it is with the most sincere satisfaction that I communicate to you by His Majesty's ex- press command, his warmest acknowledg- ments for that ardent zeal and unshaken perseverance which you have so conspicu- ously manifested in maturing and completing the great measure of Legislative Union be- tween this kingdom and Great Britain. "The proofs you have given on this occa- sion of your uniform attachment to the real welfare of your country, inseparably con- nected with the security and prosperity of the empire at large, not only entitle you to the full approbation of your Sovereign, and to the applause of your fellow-subjects, but must afford you the surest claim to the grati- tude of posterity. "You will regret, with His Majesty, the reverse which His Majesty's allies have ex- perienced on the Continent ; but His Majes- ty is persuaded that the firmness and public spirit of his subjects will enable him to per- IRISH DEBT HISTORY OF IT. 409 severe in the line of conduct which will best provide for the honor, and the essential in- terests of his dominions, whose means and resources have now, by your wisdom, been more closely and intimately combined." Iniincdiatcly after piissinjij the Knjrlish Act of Union, early in July, the British Par- liament was prorogued ; and the " Union," in so far as parchment can make an union, was complete. It was to take effect from the 1st of January, 1801. Pursuant to proclamation, a new Imperial Standard was on that day displayed on the Tower of Lon- don, and on the Castles of Edinburgh and Dublin. It was the same Royal Standard now in use; being "quartered, first and fourth, England ; second, Scotland ; third, Ireland." So, since that day, the Harp of Ireland has its place in the corner of the great Banner of England. The " Union Jack " was also ordained and described by the same proclamation — " And it is our will and pleasure tiiat the Union flag shall be azure, the crosses, sal- tires of St. Andrew and St. Patrick, quar- terly per saltire, counterchanged, argent and gules ; the latter inibriated of the second, surmounted by the Cross of St. George of the third, as the saltire." As for the Public Debt of Ireland, which was to remain a separate charge on the rev- enues of that country, tliat debt had been less than four millions just before the insur- rection. At the Union, that debt was de- clared to be i£'26,84l,219, being increased nearly sevenfold in three years. Tliat is to say, the whole of the expenses incurred in pro- voking that insurrection — then in maintain- ing a great army to crush it — tiie cost of keeping English and Scotch militia regiments in the country — the pay of the Hessians — the bribes and pensions to spies, informers, and meml)ers of Parliament — the Conipen- sation-fnnd to owners of boroughs — all was charged to Irish account. O'Conuell said, " it was strange that Ire- land was not afterwards made to pay for tlie knife with which Lord Castlereagh, twenty- two years later, cut his own throat." This enormous debt was to remain separ- ate from the English Debt, according to the Act of Union,* until tliese two conditions ♦ See the act in the Appendix, No. III. 52 should occur : First. That the two debts should como to bear to each other the pro- pt)rtion of fifteen i)arts for Great Britain to two parts for Ireland, and. Second. That the respective circumstances of the two countries should admit of uniform taxation. After that, they were to be consolidated. Since that day, an English Chancellor of the Exchequer has "kept the books" of the two islands ; so that while the debt of England went on increasing rapidly, owing to the war, and subsidies to all enemies of France, the debt of Ireland was somehow found to increase more than twice as fast as that of England — as if Ireland had a double interest in crushing France. " Woe to the land on whose judgment- seats a stranger sits — at whose gates a stranger watclic^ I " We may add — " whose books a stranger keeps ! " f The two debts were consolidated in ISIt. According to Lord Castlereagh's report to Parliament, the military force in Ireland at the time of the Union amounted to one hundred and twenty six thousand five huiv- dred men — viz., forty-five thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine regulars, twenty- seven thousand one hundred and four militia, and filty-tiiree thousand five hundred and fifty-seven yeomanry. f Mr. O'Neill Daunt, in his excellent paper en- titled, "Financial Grievances of Ireland," extracts from ParliameiUary I'aper No. 35, of 1819, this table : — TEAR. BRITISH DEBT. AN. CHARGE. IRISH DEBT.j ^j,^;\^ 6th Jan. 1801. 450,504,984 £ 17,7]8,851 £ 28,545,134 £ 1,244,463 5th Jau. 1817. 734,522,104 28,238,416 112,704,773 4,104,5U The difference between the statement of the Irish Debt given in this table, and that given in the text, (from another Parliamentary paper of the same year,) is made up by adding a small amount of unfunded debt. Thus, while the Imperial Government less than doubled the British Debt, they quadrupled the Irish Debt By this management the Iri.sh Debt, which in ISOl had been to the British as one to sixteen and a half, was forced up to bear to the British Debt the ratio of one to seven and a lialf This was the pro- portion required by the Act of Union, as a condition of subjecting Ireland to indiscriminate taxation with Great Britain Ireland was to be loaded with inordi- nate debt ; and tlion this debt was to be made the pretext for raising her taxation to the high British standard, and thereby rendering her liable to the pre- union debt of Great Britain ! 4fia HISTORY OF IRELAND. CHAPTER XLIII. 1800—1803. The Catholics Duped — Resignation of Pitt — Mj'stery of this Resignation^ — First Measure of United Par- liament— Suspension of Habeas Corpus — Report of Secret Coiumittee^Pate of Lord Clare — Lord Hardwieke Viceroy — Peace of Amiens — Treaty Violated by England — Malta— War again Declared by England— Mr. Pitt resumes Oflace — Coalition against France. The Ur.iou luid scnrcely been accomplisli- ed, wlien those Irish Catholics who had sup- ported the measure found they had been cheated, as usual, by the British Govern- ment. They had been told that Catholic Emancipation would at once be made a Ministerial measure ; and in so far as the distinct pledges of Mr. Pitt and of Lord Cornwallis could avail them, they were as- sured of their liberties. The Orst United Parliament met on the 22d of January. It inuiiediately began to be rumored that Mr. Pitt and his Ministry were about to resign. The reason falsely alleged for the resignation was that King Geoi'ge III. would not toleiate the idea of Catholic Emancipation, which he imagined to be contrary to his Coronation oath ; and as Mr. Pitt pretended to be pledged to that measure, he made this difference the pretext for a temporary resignation, which he found expedient at this time for other reasons. Mr. Pitt had been the all-powerful Min- ister who had governed England for seven- teen years. It was he who had recalled Lord Fitzwilliam from the Irish Vice-royalty, because that nobleman favored Catholic Emancipation. It was he who had sent over Lord Camdeu with express instruc- tions to prevent such emancipation by the Irish Parliament ; and in desiring Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh to prom- ise Catholic relief after the Union, he in- tended to delude the Catholics into a sup- port of his measure, and to deceive them afterwards. He knew the King's opinion upon that question — if anything that passed in the mind of George III can be called an opinion — and that the obstinate and stupid old man would never suffer any pro- ject of Catholic Emancipation to be made a Ministerial measure. No human being acquainted with public affairs ever believed that Mr. Pitt resigned office at that time on account of the Catho- lic question, or any other Irish qnesiiou whatever. The truth was, simply, that Mr. Pitt's continental policy had failed, and that the English people, devoured by taxes, and wearied out with the still unfulfilled predic- tions of the total rain of their French enemy, were crying aloud for peace. Mr. Pitt saw that peace must be made, at least for a little while ; but his sullen pride could not submit to negotiate that peace himself. Mr. Plowden * says : — " The only transaction which furnished him with a plausible or popular ground for resignation, vi'as the Catholic question, \\\\\ch that crafty Minister and his followers have so frequently used as a most powerful engine for the worst of political purposes. "With- in very few days after the meeting of Par- liament, he made no secret of his I'esigna- tion. Great were the surprise and conster- nation which attended the report. Few, indeed, gave credit to the alleged cause of resignation — namely, his inability to carry the Catholic question, which was imperiously necessary for the safety of the state. He was too fond of power, his influence in the country was too imposing, Ireland was too insigniticant to have caused such an im- portant change in all the departments of the state. Abstracting from the merits and justice of the question, and from the expe- diency or necessity of its being then pro- pounded and carried, neither Mr. Pitt's friends nor opponents could bring their minds to believe that an administration, which had established itself in spite of the House of Commons ; which had baffled, and at last subdued, a most formidable opposi- tion ; which had maintained itself upon new courtly principles for seventeen years, and still commanded a decided majority in the Cabinet and Senate, should have been thna broken up from the Premier's inability to carry so simple and just a measure as that * Worthy Mr. Plowden, who had rather supported the Union, as many other leading Catholics had done, when he wrote, ten years later, the second series of his Historical Collections, says, in its first page : " They (the Catholics) now beheld the baleful mea- sure of Union in its full deformity." But tlicy beheld it too late RESIGNATION OF MR. PITT. 411 of an equal participation of Constitutional rights amongst all the King's subjects." " Simple and just a measure " as this uaturally appeared to the Catholic histo- rian, it was steadily refused and resisted, both by Mr. Pitt and by his whole party for twenty-nine years longer, and then only carried on account of the imminent danger of civil war, as its ^Ministerial supporters alleged. There was an air of mystery about the retirement of Ministers at this crisis. No- body gave credit to tlie ostensible motives of it; and several distinct reasons were alleged and discussed. In fact, every con- ceivable reason, except the true one, was assigned by the friends of Mr. Pitt. One was a serious difference which had sprung up between the Minister and the Duke of York,* partly with respect to military ar- rangements and operations ; partly, because certain " unconstitutional influence in a high quarter counteracted and embarrassed the important duties of Ills Majesty's offi- cial and responsible advisers; " and partly, it was also alleged, because the Duke of York, as the special patron of the Orange Society, was resolutely opposed to the project of Catholic Emancipation. His Pv-oyal Uigh- aess might have spared his uneasiness. No Grand Master of Orangemen was ever more violently opposed to all claims and rights of Catholics than Mr. Pitt himself. Innocent Catholics had been expecting that the King's speech, on opening this ses- sion, would have recommended a measure * From the year 1797 the Orange Societies were so tenderly cherished and zealously promoted by the Duke of York, that almost every regiment, even of militia in Ireland, received from the office of the Com- mander-in-Chief, encouragement, authority, or orders for establishing Orange Lodges in their respective regiments. The person delegated for this niiasion was generally the Sergeant Major, or some other iion-commissioued ofBcer, signalized for his zeal Against the Catholics. In some instances, the institu- tion of Orange Lodges, under this high and official sanction has produced ferment and dissension, which compelled the commanding officer to investigate and punish both those who gave rise to, and those who perpetrated, the consequent outrages. When often, to the astonishment of the corps, and in defiance of tnilitary discipline and subordination, the conduct of the Sergeant has been justified by the production of the official document or warrant, most irregularly superseding that immediate authority, upon which alone the subordination and union of a regiment de- pend. for their em;!ncipation. Tlie suljject was not once alluded to. The address was moved in the House of Commons by Sir Watkin William Wynne, (commander of the Ancient Britons). Mr. Grey moved an amendment, and made some pointed ob- servations upon Ireland and the Union. " If any good effect," he said, "could result from a measure so brought forward, and so sup- ported, he hoped it would be the extension of the British Constitution to the Catholics of Ireland, and their restoration to all the rights of British subjects. This they had been taught to expect, and this was the least they were entitled to in return for that measure having been forced upon them by England." Mr. Pitt, in replying to Mr. Grey, studiously avoided even remote refer- ence to Ireland. Ireland had served his turn ; she was now safe under British law and government ; and he desired to hear of her no more. But he had much to say in denunciation of "Jacobinism," which was the name then given to any assertion of any kind of right or liberty, concluding hia speech with a warm appeal to the majority of the House, whether all the public calam- ities of this, and all tlie nations of the Con- tinent, were not occasioned by those princi- ples, which the gentleman opposite to him had uniformly supported, and which he and the gentlemen on his side of the House had as uniformly combated. Before quitting the subject of Mr. Pitt's deliberate deception upon the Irish Catho- lics, it must be mentioned that the paper which had been delivered by Lord Cornwal- lis to Doctor Troy, Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, and Lord Fingal, soon became pub- lic ; although Lord Cornwallis had prudent- ly stipulated that it should be " dixcncUy communicated to the Bisliops, and should not find its way into the newspapers,"'}* When Mr. Grey, on the 25th of March, moved the House of Commons to resolve it- self into a Committee of the Whole House to take into consideration the state of the na- tion, he referred to these written pledges, and roundly charged them with having been given witliout sincerity and without author- ity. " If Catholic freedom were offered to f This is the document which is printed in a note to the last chapter. 412 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the Irish as the price of tlieir support of the TJnioii, if the faith of the Government were pledged on that occasion, it forms tlie higli- est species of crimiuality in Ministers, be- cause I am confident, said he, if such were the case, it was so pledged without the author- ity of the King ; for I know His Majesty is superior to the idea of swerving in the slight- est degree from the observance of his word. This, then, was a crime of the highest de- nomination in Ministers, and calls for inqui- ry. I ask, if such promise were made, was Lord Clare and the Protestant Ascendancy Party made acquainted with it ? If so, they were a party to the delusion that was in- tended to be practiced on the unhappy Catholic." Mr. Pitt, though no longer in office, sat ou the Ministerial side of the House — in fact, he was virtually Prime Minister all the while ; — he replied to Mr. Grey, and touched as lightly as possible upon that part of his speech which referred to Ireland. Concerning the famous written pledge, he said, " he had no part in the uwrdivg of tlnit paper. It was drawn up by Lord Castle- reag/i. To the sentiments it contained, wheu ■prvjierhj interpreted, he, however, sul)- scribed — further, he would neither avow nor explain." He added : " As to the particular expressions in the paper, he knew nothing of them, having never seen it before it was published. He denied that any pledge had been given to the Catholics, either by himself, Lord Cornwallis, or the Noble Lord near him (Castlereagh). The Catholics might very naturally have con- ceived a hope, and he himself had always thought, that in time that measure would be a consequence of the Union, because the dif- ficulties would be fewer than before." Mr. Plowden wrote to Lord Cornwallis upon the subject ; and his lordship, in his reply, stated that the paper (which has been called the pledge to llie Catholics,) "was hastily given by him to Dr. Troy to be cir- culated amongst his friends with the view of preventing any immediate disturbances, or other bad effects." In short, the Catholics very soon per- ceived that they had been deluded, and un- derstood very well tiiat their cause had been turned into a convenient pretext by Mr. Pitt for abandoning office in order to throwr upon other men the business of making the peace of Amiens.* Thus within six weeks after carrying the Union, Mr. Pitt, Lord Grenville, Mr. Dun- das, (Lord Melville,) Lord Cornwallis, and Lord Castlereagh, all went out of office. Mr. Addington, Speaker of the House of Commons, was the new Prime Minister ; and Lord Hardwicke was sent over as Lord- Ijieutenant of Ireland. Mr. Pitt and his colleagues resigned, pledging themselves to support their successors, (who declined to accept office without that supjjort,) in an administration avowedly placed on im- placable hostility to that identical measure, which he scrupled not to declare essential to the safety of the empire. The first measure which the Imperial Par- liament bestowed upon Ireland, was not an act of emancipation, but an act for suspend- ing the writ of Habeas Corpus and estab- lishing martial law. Lord Castlereagh had for some time been preparing the materials for the fabrication of a report of a secret committee, to prove (contrary to the fact,) that rebellion still existed in Ireland, and, therefore, that there was a necessity for re- newing the act for suspending the Habeas Corpus, which was abvout to expire on the 25th of March. Accordingly, he had fixed the 20th of February for moving for a bill to enable the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland to put martial law in fV)rce in such parts of Ireland as he should think proper. Tlie first act for this purpose was passed in the beginning of April, and was to expire in three months. Shortly after its passage, the Chancellor of the p]xchequer, by com- mand of His Majesty, laid before the House of Commous copies and extracts of papers, containing secret information received by His Majesty's government, relative to the state of Ireland, and proceedings of certain disaffected persons in both parts of the * It has always been considered by Englisb states- men a small and easy matter to cheat the Irish. More than two hundred years before, Sir Francis Bacon, (afterwards Lord Bacon,) in his " Considera- tions Touching the Queen's Service in Ireland," said : " Nothing can be more fit than a treaty, or a shadow of a treaty, of a peace with Spain, vrhich, niethinks, should be in our power to fasten, at least rumore teuas, to the deluding of as wise a people as the Irish." REPORT OF SECRET COMMITTEE. 413 United Kingdom, which, upon his motion, were referred to a committee. This was a preconcerted plan for representing Ireland, and collaterally the whole United Kingdom, as overrun with the spirit of Jacobinism. On no occasion was Mr. Pitt more vehement in his declamation against Jacobinism, appa- rently with a view of drawing ofif the public attention from the real authors of the na- tional disasters, by directing its indignation against the Jacobins, whose cause they es- sentially tended to strengthen. " It was," said he, "the inherent spirit of Jacobinism to ally itself with every disaster, to press into its service every evil of the state, to wed itself to every misfortune of the country it inhabits, and to make them forerunners of its ruin." The report of this secret committee was well got up to effect Mr. Pitt's favorite pol- icy — that of " exciting alarm." It repre- sented the three kingdoms as infested with the spirit of rebellion, French principles, or "Jacobinism." It recited with great em- phasis certain songs and toasts, which were alleged to-be favorites with the seditious rabble. It reported the formation of new societies of Millenariaiis, New Jerusalemites, Spenson- ians, and other fanatics, whom it traced from London into Yorkshire, Lancashire, Nottingham, Scotland, and other neighbor- ing places ; but it extended them not to Ireland. Yet Ireland was not to be wholly omitted, where the report was incidentally, at least, calculated to justify the coercive measures intended for that part of the United Kingdom ; and the committee add- ed to their own surmises of the workings of these fanatics, that they borrowed their ideas from the Irish rebellion. " They saw in Ire- land the example of such a rebellion as they wished to promote here." They further pro- duced a printed address, signed Ilybernicus, directed to Britons and fellow-citizens. The committee said, " they had thus detailed the proceedings of the disaffected, carried on in the metropolis, and as directed principally to its disturbance, but these would afford a very inadequate representation of the extent of the confederacy, yet in proceeding to ad- vert to the state of the other parts of the country, and even of Ireland, they omitted to notice the concert which in some measure pervaded the whole." In other parts of the report, they lay stress upon the exaggerated statements of some men, of the number ol the confederates, all trained to military exer- cise, which, including Ireland, amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand. They added that the principal of these emissaries were represented as delegated from London, York, Birmingham, Bristol, Sheffield, and other considerable towns, as %oell as from Ire/and. The Committee added, that a new revolu- tionary association had been formed in Ire- land ; that a " Committee of Rebellion," composed of certain Irishmen, existed in Paris, and was negotiating with the French Government on the best mode of abolishing the British Constitution. This astounding report was received by Parliament as ample proof of all tliat it afSrmed. When Lord Hobart, as Secretary of State for Ireland, introduced to the Lords the bill for continuing martial law in Ire- land, he observed, that he had not attempted to use any arguments to prove the necessity for passing the bill, because, " the report on the face of it proved the necessity, and he thought their lordships would be more impressed with the arguments contaiued in the report than by any he could add." All the restrictive and coercive bills touching Ireland were passed under the still prevail- ing influence of Mr. Pitt and Lord Greu- ville ; the opposition to them was numeri- cally insignificant. During the first session of tlie Imperial Parliament, no question re- specting Ireland caused any difference be- tween the seceders and their successors. They both equally deprecated the very men- tion of Catholic Emancipation, and emulated each other in zeal for curbing and coercing the Irish people. The bill passed both Houses by immense majorities ; and the British Constitution was suspended, so far as respected Ireland. The Lord-Lieutenant was empovi'ered to proclaim any part, or the whole, of the island under martial law ; the act professed to be only temporary, as these coercion laws for Ireland are always said to be ; but they are almost always renewed before they ex- pire ; and thus, under one name or another, 414 HISTORY OF IKELAND. "Insurrection Act," "Crime and Outrage Act," and the like, tliis coercive code has been substantially the law of Ireland from that day to the present. Another Irish measure, passed abont the same time, was an act to regulate the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Before the Union, this office was a mere sinecure, holdea at the pleasure of the Crown by two Peers. (Lords Glandore and Carysfort,) with consideral)le salaries. These had been promised a large compensation for the loss of their places, in case the Union should be carried. Henceforward it was to be an ef- ficient legal office, to be holdcn for life, with a suitable salary, in order to give the Irish Chancellor an opportunity of attending his Legislative duties in the House of Peers. It v/as warmly contended that, as the Com- missioners for the Rolls were removable at pleasure from the sinecures, they were en- titled to no compensation, as the Chancel- lor of the Exchequer and Prime-Sergeant had been. Mr. Pitt and Lord Castlereagh justified the compensation ; because it had been promised by the Irish Parliament, and they were bounden in honor to make it good. " In fact," as Mr. Plowdcn bitterly ob- serves, " none but the Catholic supporters of the Union had to complain of Ministerial infidelity in the observance of previous stipu- lations and promises." There was one other who thought he had reason to complain. This was Lord Clare. The Irish Chancellor had for many years made himself the instrument — and a most able and thorough-going instrument of Mr. Pitt's policy in Ireland. Scarcely had Lord Castlereagh himself been more efficient in accomplishing the Union ; and his lordship, who was naturally arrogant and presumptu- ous, evidently imagined that he was only promoting himself from a narrow provincial stage to the wide imperial theatre, where Ills audacity and powerful will would soon enable him to predominate in London, as he had done in Dublin. In the discussion of this bill to complete the great job of the Rolls Court, Mr. Pitt said, " it was highly desirable that the House of Jjords should enjoy the benefit of that great luminary of the law, who hud rendered such eminent ser- vices to his country." Mr. Grey replied, that much had been said that night in praise of the Irish Chancellor. " He only knew his politics ; and those he highly disapprov- ed of. It had been already shown that night, that the noble lord vindicated the use of torture to extort confessions." Lord Clare, from his first arrival in England, put himself at the head of the opponents of the Catholic claims. Foreseeing that the new administration was to consist of men as- suming the arrogant appellation of the Kir)g\6 nate enough to come in contact with it." It then only remained for honor- able members to express a hope that " tlie only man in the empire qualified to conduct the war to a successful issue " should be re- called to the Councils of his Sovereign. Mr. Pitt resumed in May, 1804, the su- preme direction of public affairs as Prime Minister. He made no stipulation with the King concerning the Catholic claims ; nor did lie ever again offend his Sovereign's 'ear upon this subject, nor urge him to "violate his coronation oath " by emancipating four millions of his subjects. Mr. Pitt's first great task now was to form that gigantic coalition of European Powers against France ; and occupied by these mighty projects he thought no more of Ireland unless when she seemed to need more coercion. CHAPTER XLIY. 1802—1803. First Year of the Union — Distress in Ireland— Eiot in Dublin — Irisli Exiles in France — Renewed Hopes of French Aid — The two Emmets, MacNeven and O'Connor in France^Apprehensions of Invasion in England- Robert Emmet comes from France to Ireland — His Associates — His Plans — Miles Byrne — Despard's Conspiracy in England — Emmet's Prepa- rations— E.xplosion in Patrick Street — The 23d of July— Failure — Bloody Riot — Murder of Lord Kil- warden — Emmet sends Miles Byrne to France- Retires to Wicklow — Returns to Dublin— Arrested — Tried — Convicted — Hanged — Fate of Russell. The first year of the Union was, for Ire- land, a year of severe distress. The crops of 1801, had in great measure failed ; and as the people then depended or snbsistance chiefly upon agriculture, as they do still, the usual results ensued. Hunger and hardship produced discontent, and in some places dis- order also. The fair promises of immediate prosperity which was to have followed the Union, were not realized. Even trade and commerce were languishing. Mr. Foster, late Speaker, stated, in his place in the Im- perial Parliament, that in I SO I, the decrease of exported linen was five million yards. The taxes were increasing, as the means of paying them diminished ; for Ireland had now to provide for the charges of that im- mense debt which had been contracted for 418 HISTORI OP IRELAND. Rlaui^hteriiig her people and purchasing her Pailiainent. Mr. Foster, in the same speech iueuLioned — that, although it had been acknowledged that the expenses of the current year would be considerably less than they had been in the preceding y«ar, yet a million more was borrowed for the present than for the last year. The infer- ence to be drawn from that measure, (for various Union purposes,) was too obvious to mention. The revenue was then collected at a much lighter rate of expense, than it had been in 1182, when it was at £11 125. id. per cent. The revenues of the Post Office were, at the time be was speaking, collected at the enormous expenditure of .£224 per cent. In ISOO, the amount of grants, pensions, e English Government, is equally certain. A.fter the declaration of war, a number of intercepted letters, found on board the East Indiaman, Admiral Aplin, captured by the French, and published in the Monif.eur, by the Government, afford abundant proof of the panic which prevailed in England, and of the expectation of invasion that was general at that period. Very serious ap- prehensions were expressed in those letters of the results of an invasion in Ireland It was stated, in a letter of Lord Chai-les Ben- linckto his brother, Lord William Bentinck, Governor of Madras: "If Ireland be not attended to, it will be lost ; these rascals, (^an endearhig, familiar, geutlcraanlike-way 420 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of describing the people of Ireland,) " are as ripe as ever for rebellion." In an extract of a letter to General Clin- ton, of the 2d of June, we find the follow- ing passage : " I have learned from them, (Irish people in England,) with regret, that the lower classes of the men in Ireland were more disaffected than ever, even more than during the last rebellion, and that if the French could escape from our fleet, and land their troops in the north of Ireland, they would be received with satisfaction, and joined by a great number." In a letter of Lord Grenville to the Mar- quis of Wellesley, dated the 12th of July, 1803, we find the following passage : "I am not certain whether the event of the war, which our wise Ministers have at last declared, may not have induced them to beg you to continue your stay in India some time longer. I hope nothing, however, will pre- vent me from having the pleasure of seeing you next year, supposing at that period that you have still a country to revisit." Letter from Mr. Finers to General Lake, July 14th : " The invasion, which has been so long the favorite project of the First Con- sul, will certainly take place." Letter from one of the Directors of the East India Company, Thomas Faulder, to Mr. J. Ferguson Smith, Calcutta, August 3d : "I have heard from the first authority, that if the French can land in Ireland with some troops, they will be immediately joined by one hundred thousand Irish." * Robert Emmet set out for Ireland in the beginning of October, 1802, and arrived in Dublin in the course of the same month. His brother, Thomas Addis, was then in Brussels. His father, the worthy Doctor Emmet, and his mother were then residing at Casino, near Milltown ; and here Robert remained some weeks in seclusion. Gradu- ally and cautiously he put himself in com- munication with those whom he knew to be favorable to his enterprise — especially the old United Irishmen of '98. The principal per- sons concerned with him were — Thomas Rus- sell, formerly Lieutenant of the Sixty fourth Regiment of footj John Allen, of the firm of Allen & HicksoD, woolen-drapers. Dame • The above extracts are given by Dr. Madden. — U. I. Third Series, p. 315. street, Dublin ; Philip Long, a general raer« chant; residing at No. 4 Crow street ; Henry William Hamilton, (married to Russell's niece,) of Enniskillen, barrister-at-law ; Wil- liam Dowdall, of Mullingar, (natural soa of Hussey Burgh, (formerly Secretary to the Dublin Whig Club ;) Miles Byrne, of Wex- ford ; Colonel Lumm, of the County Kil- dare ; Carthy, a gentleman farmer, of Kildare ; Malachy Delany, the son of a landed proprietor. County Wicklow ; the Messrs. Perrot, farmers. County Kildare ; Thomas Wylde, cotton manufacturer, Cork street ; Thomas Lenahan, a farmer, of Crew Hill, County Kildare ; John Hevey, a tobac- conist, of Thomas street ; Denis Lambert Redmond, a coal factor, of Dublin ; Branagan, of Irishtown, timber merchant ; Joseph Aliburn, of Kilmacud, Windy Har- bor, a small landholder ; Thomas Frayne, a farmer, of Boven, County of Kildare ; Nicholas Gray, of Wexford. f Some other persons of more humble rank, tradesmen, whose services would be required in the preparations, are enumerated by Doctur Madden : James Hope, of County Antrim ; Michael Quigley, a master bricklayer, of Rathcoffy, in the County Kildare ; Henry Howley, a master carpenter, who had been engaged in the former rebellion ; Felix Rourke, of Rathcoole, a clerk in a brewery in Dublin, who had been engaged in the former rebellion ; Nicholas Stafford, a baker, of James street ; Bernard Duggan, a work- ing cotton manufacturer, of the County Tyrone, who had been engaged in the for- mer rebellion ; Michael Dwyer, the well- known Wicklow insurgent, who, along with Holt and Miles Byrne, had kept up their resistance amidst the glens and mountains of Wicklow. The plan of Robert Emmet's insurrection was, while agents were quietly organizing both the city and county, to make secret preparations in the city of Dublin itself ; — then, when all was ready, to make one spring at the Castle, to seize upon the authorities, and give the signal for a general insurrec'.ion from Dublin Castle. There is good military auiliority for approving this t Dr Madden adds the names of Lord Wycombe and John Keogh, as favorable to the enterprise, not actually concerned in it. BOBERT EMMET COMES FROM FRANCE TO IRELAND. 421 plan of a rising iu Ireland ; and it certainly iniglit well have succeeded, but for one fatal accident. The gallant Miles Byrne, after many a campaign, as a French officer, in every quarter of Europe, deliberately, in his latter days, avowed his preference for Em- met's scheme to every other that could be devised in the circumstances of Ireland. lie says, in closing his owu nartative of that part of his career : — " I shall ever feel proud of the part I took with the lamented Robert Emmet. I have often asked myself, how could I have acted otherwise, seeing all his views and plans for the independence of my country so much superior to anything ever imagined before on the subject? They were only frustrated by accident, and the explosion of a depot, and, as I have always said, when- ever Irishmen think of obtaining freedom, Robert Emmet's plans will be their best guide. First, to take the capital, and then the provinces will burst out and raise the same standard immediately." * Miles Byrne himself, after being much sought after by the Government, on account of his part in the Wexford insurrection, and after many escapes, was, in 1^02, under a feigned name^ employing himself as a mea- surer of timber, in the timber-yard of his step-brother, Kennedy ; but still keeping up his connections with the remrumt of Wex- ford rebels, and hoping for better times. Here, while he was one day measuring logs, news came of the Peace of Amiens. " I felt," he says, " unnerved and disappointed at the news of the peace. I had been liv- ing iu hopes that ere the war terminated, something good would be done for poor Ireland." Soon after the arrival of Robert Emmet, we find him in close communication with Mr. Byrne. In reporting their first conversation, Mr. Byrne gives his unimpeachable testimony with regard to the real views of Emmet, and his motives for engaging in the enter- prise, and his anxious care to avcjid French domination as well as to abolish that of England, The Memoir says : — "Mr, Emmet soon told rae his plans; he * Memoirs of Miles Byrne. Paris. said he wished to be acquainted with all those who had escaped in the war of '98, and who continued still to enjoy the conlidencre of the people ; that he had been inquiring since his return, and even at Paris ; he was pleased to add that he had heard my name mentioned amongst them, &c. lie entered into many details of what Ireland had to expect from France, in the way of assistance, now that that country was so energetically governed by the First Consul, Buonaparte, who feared (he, Buonaparte,) that the Irish people might be changed, and careless about their independence, in conse- quence of the union with England. It be- came ohvious, therefore, that this impression should be removed as soon as possible. Ro- bert Emmet told me the station his brother held in Paris, and that the different mem- bers of the Government there frequently consulted him ; all of them were of opinion that a demonstration should be made by the Irish patriots to prove that they were as ready as ever to shake off the English yoke. To which Mr. Thomas Addis Emmet re- plied, it would be cruel to commit the poor Irish people again, and to drive them into another rebellion before they received assist- ance from France, but at the same time, he could assure the French Governmeut, that a secret organization was then going on throughout Ireland, but more particularly in the city of Dublin, where large depots of arms, and of every kind of ammunition were preparing with the greatest secrecy, as none but the tried men of 1198 were intrusted with the management of those stores and depots. " After giving me this explanation, Mr. Robert Emmet added, ' if the brave and unfortunate Lord Edward Fitzgerald and his associates felt themselves justified in seeking to redress Ireland's grievances by taking the field, what must not be our just- ification, now that not a vestige of self- government exists, in consequence of t4ie accursed Union ; that until this most bar- barous, fraudulent transaction took place, from time to time, in spite of corruption, use- ful local laws were enacted for Ireland. Now, seven-eighths of the population have no right to send a member of their body to represent them, even in a foreign parlies i22 HISTORY OP IRELAND. rnent, and the other ei • ernmeut, usually so vigilant and suspicious, seems to have had no knowledge of tliese for- midable arrangement. This was not for want of warnings, and reports of spies ; but the Government did not believe them. And it is no wonder that the executive was so incredu- lous^ because there had not, probably, beea one week, for the past half century when the Government had not received some alarming intelligence of tliis nature. Plainly, also, tlie information was not so precise as to indicate persons and places ; so that no interruption * Madden discovers this fact in " Sirr's Papers," deposited in Trimty College Library. EXPLOSION IN PATRICK STREET. 423 was given to the arrangements ; and the 23d of July, 1803, was fixed for the out- break. Before that day arrived a circumstance occurred which threatened to ruin all : — On *he Saturday night week previous to the turnout, an explos-ion of son;e combusti- bles took place in the depot of Patrick street, which gave some alarm in the neigh- borhood. Major Sirr came to examine the house — previous to his coming, some one removed the remaining powder, arms, &c., and all matters which were movable in the place, notwithstanding some obstruction given by the watchman. Other arms were secreted on the premises, and were not dis- covered until some time afterwards. It was concluded that the aflfair was only some chemical process, which bad accidently caused the explosion. The accident does not seem to have placed any serious obstacle in tlie way of the enter- prise. Miles Byrne says : — " Now the final plan to be executed, con- sisted principally in taking the Castle, whilst the Pigeon House, Island Bridge, the Royal Barracks, and the old Custom House Bar- racks were to be attacked, and if not sur- prised and taken, they were to be blockaded, and intrenchments thrown up before them. Obstacles of every kind to be created through the streets, to prevent tiie English cavalry from charging. Tiie Castle once taken, undaunted men, materials, implements of every description, would be easily found in all the streets in the city, not only to impede the cavalry, but to prevent infantry from passing through them. " As I was to be one of these persons de- signed to cooperate with Robert Emmet in taking the Castle of Dublin, I shall here re- late precisely, the part which was allotted to me in this daring enterprise : I was to have assembled early in the evening of Satur- day, the 23d of July, 1803, at the house of Denis Lambert Redmond, on the Coal Quay, the Wexford and Wicklow men, to whom I was to distribute pikes, arms and ammunition, and then a little before dusk, I was to send one of the men, well known to Mr, Emmet, to toll him that we were at our post, armed and ready to follow him ; men were placed iu the house in Ship street, ready \u seize on the entrance to the Castle on that side, at the same moment the princi[)al gate would be taken. "Mr. Emmet was to leave the depot at Thomas street at dusk, with six hackney coaches, in each of which, six men were to be placed, armed with jointed pikes and blunderbusses, concealed under their coats. The moment the last of these coaches had passed Redmond's house where we were to be assembled, we were to sally forth and follow them quickly Into the Castle courtyard, and there to seize and disarm all the sentries, and to replace them instantly with our own men, &c. Emmet, after the explosion iu Patrick street, took up his abode in the depot in Marshalsea lane. There he lay at night on a mattrass, surrounded by all the implements of death, devising plans, turning over in his mind all the fearful chances of the intended struggle, well knowing that his life was at the mercy of upwards of forty individuals, who had been, or still were employed in the depots ; yet confident of success, exaggerat- ing its prospects, extenuating the difficulties which beset him, judging of others by him- self, thinking associates honest who seemed to be so, confiding in their promises, and animated, or rather inflamed by a burning sense of the wrongs of his country, and an enthusiasm in his devotion to what he con- sidered its rightful cause The morning of the 23d of July, found Emmet and the leaders in whom he confided not of one mind ; there was division in their councils, confusion in the depots, consterna- tion among the citizens who were cognizant of what was going on, and treachery track- ing Robert Emmet's footsteps, dogging him ■ from place to place, unseen, unsuspected, but perfidy nevertheless, embodied in the form of patriotism, employed in deluding its victim, making the most of its foul means of betraying its unwary victims, and counting already on the ultimate rewards of its treachery. Portion after portion of each plan of Robert Emmet was defeated, as he imagined, by accident, or ignorance, or neg- lect, on the part of his agents. " But it never occurred to him," says Madden, " that he was betrayed, that every design of his was frustrated, every project neutralized, aa 424 HISTORY OF IRELAND. pffoctiiiilly as if an enemy liud stolen into ibe oarap.'" There is, however, no sutisfiictory evi- dence of treason, on the part of iiny of those whom he trusted. The rest of this sad tale is soon told : — Yarions consultations were held on the 23d, at the depot, in Thomas street, at Mr. Long's, in Crow steeet, and Mr. Allen's, in College Green, and great niversity of opinion prevailed with respect to the propriety of an immediate rising, or a postponement of the attempt. Emmet and Allen were in favor of the foi'mer, and, indeed, in the posture of iheir affairs, no other course was left, except the total abandonment of their project, which it is only surprising had not been determined on. The Wickhnv men, under Dwyer, on whom great dependence was placed, had not arrived ; the man who bore the order to him from Emmet neglected his duty, and remained at Ratlifarnham. The Kiidiire men came in, and were informed, evidently by a traitor, that Emmet liad postponed his attempt, and they went back at hve o'clock in the afternoon. The Wex- ford men came in, and, to tlie number of two hundred or three hundred, remained in town the early part of the night to take the part assigned to them, but they received no orders. A large body of men were assembled at tiie Broadstone, ready to act when the rocket signal agreed upon should be given, but no such signal was made. It was evident that Emmet, to the last, counted on large bodies of men at his dis- posal, and that he was deceived. At eiijht o'clock in the evening, he had eighty men nominally under his command, collected in the depot in Marshalsea lane. A man rushed in to announce that troops were at that moment marching upon them, which was not true ; yet it seems to liave been believed by Emmet and the rest. It was then he resolved to sally out, with such poor following as he had, march upon the Castle, and, if necessary, meet death by the way. Even this happiness — of dying witli arms in his hands — was not reserved for tlie unfortunate gentleman. The motley assembly of armed men, some of them intoxicated, marched along Thomas Street, with their unhappy leader at their liead, who was endeavoi'ing to miiiiitain some X)rder, with the assistance of Stafford, a mnn who remained dose by hiin through* out tills scene, and faithful to the last. It was now al)0ut half-past nine, and quite dark. The sequel is painful to tell ; yet it must be told. Doctor Madden says : — " The stragglers in the rear soon com- menced acts of pillage and assassination. The first murderous attack committed in Thomas street was not that made on Lord Kilwarden, as we find by the following ac- count in a newspaper of the day : — " ' A Mr. Leech, of the Custom House, was passing through Thomas street in a hackney coach, when he was stoppi'd by the rabble ; they dragged him out of the coach, without any inquiry, it seemed enough that he was a respectable man ; he fell on his knees, implored their mercy, but all in vain ; they began the work of blood, and gave him a frightful pike #wound in the groin. Their attention was then diverted from their humbler victim by the approach of Lord Kilwarden's coach. Mr. Leech then suc- ceeded in creeping to Vicar street watch- house, where he lay a considerable time ap- parently dead from loss of blood, but hap- pily recovered from his wound.'" Now, of all the judges, and other high official persons in Ireland, in those days, not one was so estimable, so good, and humane, as Lord Kilwarden, Chief Justice of the King's Bench. He had often stood between an innocent prisoner and the death to which his enemies had already doomed him. Most; unfortunately, just as the mad mob of riot- ers had got beyond the control of their leader, and had already dipped their hands in blood, a private carriage was seen moving along tiiat part of Thomas street which leads to Yicar street. It was stopp'^d and attacked ; Lord Kilwarden, who was inside, with his daughter and his nephew, the Rev. Richard Wolfe, cried out : " It is I, Kil- warden. Chief Justice of the King's Bench." A man, whose name is said to have beea Shannon, rushed forward, jilunged his pike into his lordship, crying out : " You are the man I want." A portmanteau was then taken out of the carriage, broken open, and rifled of its contents ; then his lordship, mortally wounded, was dragged out of the BLOODY RIOT MUEDER OF LORD KILWARDEN. 425 carriage, and sevenil additional wounds in- flicted on him. His nephew endf'iivored to miike his esciipe, hut w;is talccn, jind put. to death. The nnrDrtuiiute yonng hidy re- mnined in the carriage, till one of the lead- ers rushed forward, took her from the car- ^ riage, and led her throngh the rabble to an adjoining house; and it is worthy of observ- ation, that in the raidst of this scene of sanguinary tumult, no injury or insult was oflered to her, or attempted to be offered to her, by the infuriated rabble. Mv. Fitzger- ald states that the person who rescued her from her dreadful situation was Robert Emmet. ^liss Wolfe, after remaining some time in the ]>lace of refuge she was placed in, pro- ceeded on foot to the Castle, and entered the Secretary's office, in a distracted state, and is said to have been the first bearer of the intelligence of her father's murder. Lord Kihvarden was*- found lying on the pavement, dreadfully and mortally wounded. When the street was cleared of the iu'-nr- gents he was carried almost lifeless to the watch-house in Yicar street. This foul murder was an atrocity really horrible. Reasons have been assigned or suggested for it"; as that the man who first attacked him had had a relative sentenced to death by him ; that he was mistaken for Lord Carleton, a very different kind of judge, &c. ; but the odious deed stands out in all its bloody horror ; no better — but also no worse — than many of the outrages done upon the people in '98, by Orange yeomanry and Ascendancy magistrates. Doctor Madden thus narrates th.e close of this dreadful affair : — "Emmet halted his party at the market house, with the view of restoring order, but tumult and insubordination prevailed. During his ineffectual efforts, word was brouglit that Lord Kihvarden was murder- ed ; he retraced his steps, proceeal towns in that county. Euunet, to his credit, being then convinced of the hopelessness of the struggle, had deter- mined to withhold his sanction from any further effort ; convinced, as he then was, 426 HISTORY OF IRELAND. that it could only lead to the effusion of blood, but to no successful issue. His friends pressed him to take immediate mea- sures for effecting his escape, but unfortu- natel}' he resisted their solicitations ; he had resolved on seeing' one person before he could make up his mind to leave the countrjj and that person was dearer to him than life — Sarah Curran, the youngest daughter of the celebrated advocate, Jolin Philpot Curran. With the hope of obtaining an interview with her, if possible, before his intended departure — of corresponding with her — and of seeing her pass by Harold's Cross, which was the road from her fath- er's country-house, near Rathfarnham, to Dublin, he returned to his old lodgings at Mrs. Palmer's, Harold's Cross. Here, pn the 25th of August, he was arrested, at about seven o'clock in the evening, by Major Sirr, who, according to the newspaper ac- counts, " did not know his person till he was brought to tlie Castle, where he was identified by a gentleman of the College.''^* On Monday, September 19, 1803, at a special commission, before Lord Is'orbury, Mr. Baron George, and Mr. Baron Daly, Robert Emmet was put on his trial, on a charge of high treason, under 25th Edward III. The counsel assigned him were Messrs. Ball, Burrowes, and M'Nally. Tlie counsel for the prosecution were Mr. Standish O'Grady, Attorney-General, and William Conyngham Pluuket, King's Coun- sel. There is nothing specially worthy of remark on the trial, except the very bit- ter and superfluous speech of Mr. Plunket. Mr. Plunket had been the friend of Emmet's father. It was the political doctrine so loudly announced by Mr. Plunket in his Anti-Union speeches — that the Union would leave Ireland without any constitution or law which men wuuld be bound to obey — it was this, and other eloquent denunciations, which had so deeply sunk into Emmet's mind, that heat length resolved to put those doctrines in practice, at the risk of his life. This could only be done by expelling the British authorities from his country. It is true that Mr. Plunket, if he prac- ticed his profession at all, was bound to *• Madden says \liis was Doctor Elrington, Provost of tho College. take the brief for the Crown ; but he was not bound to display a furious and vindictive zeal in prosecuting his friend's son, especial- ly as the prisoner made no defence. When the witnesses for the prosecution had all been examined, Mr. M'Nally said, as Mr. Emmet did not intend to call any witness, or to take up the time of the Court by his counsel stating any case or making any ob- servations on the evidence, he presumed the trial was now closed on both sides. Mr. Plunket declined following the exam- ple of the prisoner's counsel, and launched into a most violent and needless philippic, ending with this passionate imprecation : — " They imbrue their hands in the most sacred blood of the country, and yet they call upon God to prosper their cause as it is just 1 But as it is atrocious, wicked, and abominable, I must devoutly invoke that God to confound and overwhelm it." How nobly Emmet asserted himself and his cause, in his last speech, is known to all who read our language. There e.xist at least ten editions of that speech, some of thera varying materially from others. The latest and probably most correct version of it, is that contained in Doctor Madden's " Me- moir of Emmet," in the Third Series of his collections. Tiiomas Moore, in his diary, February 15, 1831, mentions Burrowes having remarked to him, on the subject of Plunket's conduct in Emmet's case, " Plun- ket could not have refused the brief of Gov- ernment, though he might have avoided, per- haps, speaking to evidence. It was not true, I think he said, that Plunket had been ac- quainted with ycnng Emmet. The passage iu a printed speech of Emmet, where he is made to call Plunket ' that viper,' &c., was never spoken by Emmet " On the 20th of September, he was exe- cuted. The same morning the death of his mother was announced to Wm in his prison. Early in the afternoon he was removed, at- tended by a strong guard, both of cavalry and infantry, to Thomas street, where a scaffold and gibbet had been erected. He died with the utmost calnmess and forti- tude. it is said that Robert Emmet had beea made acquainted with a design tiiat was ia contemplation to effect his escape at the time 'STIKINQ TERROR -MARTIAL LAW. 427 and place appointed for execution. Of that design, Government appears to have had in- forinatiou, and had taken precautionary mea- sures, which had probably led to its being abandoned. The avowed object of Thomas Ilussell's going to Dublin, after his failure in the North, was to adopt plans for this pur- pose. Russell, the close friend and associate both of Tone and Emmet, was himself soon after arrested, and executed at Down- patrick ; and this was the end of the United Irishmen, at least for that generation. Rus- sell's burial slab is to be seen in a church- yard of Downpatrick, with no word on it but the simple name " Thomas Russell." Robert Emmet's tomb is still uuinscribed. CHAPTER XLT. 1803—1804. Eeason to Believe that Government was all the time aware of the Conspiracy — " Striking Terror " — Martial Law — Catholic Address — Arrests — Inform- ers — Vigorous Measures— In Cork— In Belfast- Hundreds of Men Inipi-isoned without Charge — Brutal Treatment of Prisoners — Special Couimis- siuu — Eighteen Persons Hung— Debate in Parlia- ment — Irish Exiles in France — First Consul Plans a New Expedition' to Ireland — Formation of the " Irish Legion " — Irish Legion in Bretagne — Official Eepl3^ of the First Consul to T. A. Emmet— Designs of the French Government — Buonaparte's Mistake — French Fleet again ordered Elsewhere — The Legion goes to the Rhine, and to Walcheren— End of the Addington Ministry — Mr. Pitt Returns to Office- Condition of Ireland — Decay of Dublin — Decline of Trade — Increase of Debt — Ruinous Eflects of the Union — Presbyterian Clergy Pensioned, and the Eeason. A LARGE number of the bravest and purest men whom Ireland ever produced, liaving now within three or four years been either hung or banished, it was hoped that the Protestant Ascendancy and British connection, the Tithes, the Oligar- chical Government, the packed juries, in short our Constitution in church and state, were at last secure against "Jacobins," and ull manner of French principles. Although the government of Lord Hard- wicke had seemed to shut its eyes and see nothing of the preparations for Ennuet's insurrection, there is reason to believe that most of its details were well known at the Castle. In the collection of papers of Major Sirr, in the volume for 1803, and a succeeding volume containing miscellaneous letters, of dates from 1798 to 1803, are found various letters of spies and informers, of the old battalion of testimony of 1798, giving infor- mation to the Major of treasonable proceed- ings, meetings, preparing pikes, &c., being in existence in the three months preceding the outl)reak of the insurrection of the July 23, 1803. In the latter volume are many similar letters from a Roman Catholic gentleman in Monastereven, suggesting ar- rests to the Major, and, amongst others, the arrest of a gentleman of some standing in society, a Brigadier-Major Fitzgerald. It is also plain that Government knew of Emmet's having come from France to Dub- lin, and knew his errand, and at least some of his movements ; for in October, 1802, Robert Emmet dined at Mr. John Keogh's, of Mount Jerome, shortly after his arrival in Dublin, in the company of John Philpot Curran. The conversation turned on the political state of the country — on the di.>po- sition of the people with respect to a renewal of the struggle. Piobert Emmet spoke with great vehemence and energy in favor of the probability of success, in the event of another effort being made. John Keogh asked, in case it were, how many counties did he think would rise ? The question was one of facts and iigures. Robert Emmet replied that nineteen counties could be relied on. This dinner party was immediately known to Government ; and, next day, a well-known magistrate, with two attendants, waited on Mr. Keogh, demanded and carried off his papers.* Mr. Plowden does not hesitate to speak of the Government on this occasion as hav- ing "made the full experiment of their favorite tactic of not urging lh.e rebels to postpone their attempts by any appearance of too muck precaution a7id preparation of invit- ing rebellion, in order to ascei'taiu its extent, and of forcing premature explosion for the purpose of radiail cure." After the danger was past, however, and after it was known how very wretched and impotent the whole attempt had turned out, ♦Madden. Memoir of Eujuiet. Ihircl Series. 428 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Biiporabiiudant precautions were taken with the tisual ol>jects of "creating alarm," and striking terror. A Privy Council sat for several hours, and a proclamation was ■prepared and issued immediately, order- ing tiic army to disperse all assemblies of ai'med rebels, and to do military execu- tion upon all such found in arms. Barriers were erected in Dublin, and strong detach- ments stationed with cannon upon the bridges, and in the most frequented avenues and passes in the city. On the 28tli of July, the King sent a message to both Houses of Parliament, asking for additional powers in Ireland — that is, a renewed suspension of the writ of Habeas Corpus. The act was passed at once. In Ireland, the judges went circuit that summer with strong escorts of troops. We now again find the Catholics of rank and title coming forvt'ard to prufess their loyalty ; and, indeed, the brutal murder of the excellent Kilwarden, and others, on that ill-omened night, appeared but loo well to justify good citizens in treating the whole movement as a mere riot for pillage and as- sassination. On the 4th of August, an ad- dress, signed by the most respectable Roman Catholics in and about Dublin, was present- ed to the Lord-Lieutenant, by a deputation consisting of the Earl of Fingal and Lord Viscount Gornianstown, and the Catholic Archbishops of Armagh and DubHu. It expiessed their utmost horror and detestation of the late atrocious proceedings, their at- tachment to the King, and admiration of the Constitution. It contained a special declaration, that, however ardent their wish might 1)6 to participate in the full enjoyment of its benefits, they never should be brought to seek for such participation through any other medium than that of the free, unbias- sed determination of the Legislature. In Lord Hardvvicke's reply he made not the slightest allusion to the wish those gentlemen had expressed, that they might be admitted within the pale of that Consti- tution they so much admired. A system of suspicious repression was now once more enforced. Even before the suspension of the Habeas Corpus act. Many persons, who had been obnoxious to Government, or to the agents or fa- vorites of the Castle, were apprehended, without any charge or ostensible cause of detention.* And, as it usually happens, when strong measures are resorted to by a weak government, the subalterns, who advis- ed against reason, executed the.se ■ measures without discretion. On this occasion, most of those who, upon the Secretary's warrants, were thrown into jail, under color of the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, were treat- ed with a rigorous inhumanity, which the law neither intended nor warranted. The system of espionage was extended, and the wages of information raised. Not only rewards of £1,000 were offered for the information of any of the murderers of Lord Kilwarden, or his nephew, Mr. Wolfe, and for the apprehension of Mr. Russell, but a reward of £r)0 for each of the first one hundred rebels, who might be discovered, that were of the number who appeared under arms in Thomas street, on Saturday night, the 23d of July. The whole of the yeomanry of Ireland was put upon permanent duty, at the en- ormous expense of £100,000 per month. In Cork, too, precautionary measures were adopted, viz., that no one should quit the county without a passport, and that every householder should affix a list of the fam- ily and inmates on their doors, by order of General Myers, who conmianded in tliat district. The Sovereign of Belfast issued an order, for the inhabitants to remain with- in their houses after eight o'clock iu the evening, and for several other regulations of strict observance. In Dul)liu, the magis- trates convened a meeting, at the suggestion of Government, at which they determined that the city should be divided into forty- eight sections, each section to be divided by a chevaux de frise, to prevent a surprise from the pikemen, which would not at the same time prevent the fire of the musketry of the troops and yeomanry. From the moment of the passage of mar- tial law, the arrests became much more nu- merous ; and any one pointed out as suspic- ious, generally by a personal enemy, was at * Some of these were William ToddJones, at Cork, who was .irrested on the 20th of .luly, and altej- him Messrs. Drennan, Donovan, and others ; Mr. Hose M'Cann, Bernard Coile, Mr. James Tandy, and others, at Dublin. HUNDREDS OF PERSONS IMPRISONED WITHOUT CHARGE. 429 once thrown into a dungeon. The horrors of these Irish dungeons came out, years afterwards, on an inquiry before Parliament. Mr. Plowden cautiously and timidly alludes to them in this manner * : — " SensiJble, that general charge and invec- tive come not within the province of the historian, the author felt it his duty to in- form the reader, that at this time commenc- ed a new system of gradual inquisitorial tor- ture in pi'ison. Suffice it here to observe, that there are many surviving victims of these inhuman and unwarrantable confinements, who, without having been charged witii any crime, or tried for any offence, have from this period, undergone years of confinement, and incredible afflictions and sufferings, un- der the full conviction that they were in- flicted from motives of personal resentment, and for the purpose of depriving them of life." In fact, although only eighty men bad turned out with Robert Emmet, and very few of these were ever found, the jails were, ia the autumn of this year, crowded with many hnmdreds of persons ; and all the hor- rors of the Prevot prison were repeated upon their unfortunate victims. Tiiis was the more unaccountable as Emmet never al- lowed any of his followers to be sworn in; there was no pretext — as in '98 — fur charg- ing suspected persons with having taken " unlawful oaths," nor for torturing men in order to wring out information of such an offence having been committed. The sys- tem of Government, then, has no assignable motive, save one — to strike terror and wreak vengeance. Every house in the city and neigliborhood of Dublin was searched for arms ; and the names of the inmates of each house were once more required to be posted on the outer door. Thus the entire system of Irish coercion, to which our country is so well accustomed, was in full operation within a few days after Emmet's attempt. On the 11th of August, the day before Parliament was prorogued, Mr. Hutchinson made one effort to draw attention to these atrocities. He moved an address to the King, praying to have papers laid before the House preparatory to an inquiry into • Plowden. History of Ireland suice the Union. the state of Ireland. The motion was op- posed by Ministers on the ground, that it was more than useless to demand informa- tion from Government upon the state of Ire- land, without having proposed any specific measure to be based upon such informa- tion when received, and that on the very eve of a prorogation. They roundly as- serted that the Irish Government had not been surprised on the 2-3d of July, and that the prevention of what did happen would have taught wisdom and given strength to the rebel cause. The motion was negatived without a division. At the "special commission" which tried Emmet, twenty persons were tried for their lives. Of these, one was acquitted and one respited ; the rest were hung. Parliament met again on the 22d of November. Charles James Fox originated a short debate on the state of Ireland. He charged the Government with want of can- dor, in endeavoring to convey an idea that it was the intention of the rebels in Ireland to put that country into the hands of France, when such a design had been so strongly disavowed by their leaders. " It was not," he added, " to be hoped or ex- pected, that as long as grievances existed, Ireland could become loyal, and he sincerely hoped that the House would not, by confid- ing in words, leave her exposed to a re[)e- tition of those sctiies that had lately oc- curred. Mr. Addington insisted that some leaders of the United Irishmen "were really dispos- ed to subserve tlie purposes of Prance. From the close intercourse now carried on between the two countries, he concluded that the people of Ireland would be led to compare tlie different principles of the two governments, by which they vvould learn to appreciate Ike blessings of their own Consti- lution, and to foresee the miseries which any change would bi'ing upon them." Fur- ther, Mr. Addington and Mr. Yorke vehe- mently urged tlie House to give them cretlit in assuring them, that thongii the leaders of the late insurrection were not immediately connected with tlie French Government, they were yet connected with Irish traitors abroad, who held immediate intercourse with that Government. 430 HISTORY OF IRELAND. This last statomciit was true at any rate — omitting the word " traitors." Tliomas Addis Emmet, Doctor MacNeven, and Ar- tlmr O'Connor, were then in close communi- cation with the French Government, and eagerly awaiting the determinations of Buo- naparte with regard . to a descent upon Ire- land. Miles Byrne had safely arrived at Paris, and ooramunicated with Thomas Ad- dis Emmet ; but almost immediately news came of Robert's capture, of the certainty of his execution, and of the total prostration of Ireland under the iron heel of military pow- er. There was then in France a large number of Irish exiles ; and Mr. Emmet in- formed the First Consul that they were ready to go as volunteers in any expedition ■which had for its oliject the emancipation of their country. It was in the month of November, 180.3, that the decree was issued for the formation of the Irish Legion. Miles Byrne, who was himself afterwards a distinguished officer of the Legion, gives this account of its origin : " The First Con- sul eagerly entered into all the details re- lated in the report on the state of Ireland, given to him by Mr. Thomas Addis Emmet, on the arrival at Paris of the confidential agent sent from Dublin in August, 1803 ; and, in consequence, it was stipulated that a French army should be sent to assist the Irish to get rid of the English yoke ; the First Consul understanding from Mr. Em- met that Augereau was a favorite with the Irish nation, had him appointed General-in- Chief to command the expedition ; and im- mediately ordered the formation of an Ii'ish Legion in the service of France. He gave to all those, who volunteered to enter the Irish Legion, commission as French offi- cers, so that in the event of their fall- ing into the hands of the English they should be protected ; or, should any violence be offered them, he should have the right to re- taliate on the English prisoners in France. "The decree of the First Consul for the formation of this Irish Legion was dated November, 1803 ; by it, the officers were all to be Irishmen, or Irishmen's sons born ill France. Tne pay was to be the same as that given to officers and soldiers of the line of the French army. No rank was to be given higiier than capiaiii till they should land with the expedition in Ireland." " It was, however, stipulated that on leav- Brest, a certain number of captains were to get the rank of colonel, and also a certain number of lieutenants that of lieutenant- colonel ; which rank was to be confirmed to them even in the event of the expedi- tion failing, and their getting back to France. In naming these captains and lieutenants, the preference was to be given to those who had been obliged to expatriate themselves for their exertions in Ireland to effect its independence." Adjutant-General MacSheehy, an Irish- man by birth, but in the French service, was charged with the organization of the legion, and for that purpose was commanded to re- pair to Morlaix vrhere the Irish exiles were assembled. Adjutant-General MacSheehy, received unlimited powers at Morlaix to propose officers for advancement up to the rank of captain ; all he named were confirmed by the Minister of War, General Berthier. The greatest exertions were made to have the officers splendidly equipped and ready for sailing. They received tlie same outfit given to French officers entering on cam- paign ; no expense being spared by the French Government. Three months later. General Augereau was at Brest ; having attached to his staff Arthur O'Connor, then made a General of Division in the service of France. Morlaix is a seaport town in Bretagne, not far from Brest, but more to the north, and looking straight over towards Cork and Waterford harbors. It was here that a large number of gallant and generous young Irishmen, many of thera of good position in society and great accomplishments, were flocking together in those days, full of spirit and hardihood, and eagerly gazing over the blue water, as if they could already see the crests of the Cummeragh mountains. Amongst these men we find many names of officers who afterwards distinguished them- selves in Germany, in Holland, and in Spain. O'Reilly, Allen, Corbet, Burgess, O'Morin, O'Mara, Ware, Barker, Fitzhenry, Master- son, St. I/eger, Murray, and MacMahon. " We were haj)py and united," says Miles Bvrne, DESIGNS OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT. 431 " Tlie Legiou assembled at Morhiix was marched to Qnimper ia March, 1804, where all those officers who had been proposed for advancement by Adjutant-General Mac- sheehy received their brevets. From Qnim- per the Legion was ordered to Carhai.x, in Fiiiistere, a small town (the native place of Latonr d' Anvergue, premier grenadier de France), which from being more inland and less frequented, was better suited for manoeu- vring, and where the best results were ob- tained. Two officers. Captain Tennant and Captain William Corbet, were deputed from thence by the Legion to go to Paris, to be present at the coronation of the Emperor, (May, 1804,) who on that occasion present- ed it, as well as the French regiments, with colors and an eagle. On one side of the colors was written ' Napoleon I, Empereur des Frangois, a la legion Irlandaise ;' on the reverse was, a harj) (without a crown), with the inscription : ' L'inddpendance d'Irlande.' The Irish Legion was the only foreign corps in the French service to whom Napo- leon ever intrusted an eagle. Rejoicings took place at Carhaix, as in the other towns of France, in honor of the coronation, by order of the authorities. It was while ^tlie Legion was yet at Mor- laix, that Thomas Addis Emmet, who had remained in Paris, obtained from the First Consul, what seemed a definitive and posi- tive assurance, both as to the certainty of the expedition parting for Ireland, and as to the fair terms to be observed with that country in leaving to it its cherished inde- pendence. In this document, Buonaparte, (not yet Emperor,) assures the Irish Envoy, that his intention is to assure the independ- ence of Ireland, and to give suffii'ient pro- tection to such as may join the French army ; that in case of being joined by a considerable corps of Irish, he will never make a peace with England without stipulat- ing for Ireland's independence ; that Ireland hihall be treated in all respects as America was in the last war ; that every one emljark- iiig with the French army, shall be considered a French soldier ; and if any of these be ar- rested and not treated as a prisoner of war, retaliation shall follow ; that every corps of United Irishmen shall be considered a part of the French army ; and that in case of the expedition being unsuccessful, France will keep on foot, a number of Irish Brigades, on the same footing as French troops. The First Consul sngesgts the formation of a committee, to frame proclamations and to prepare narratives of English oppressions in Ireland, to be published in the Monileiir* This official paper, not only proves what ex- cellent foundation then existed for the sangu- ine hope of the exiles that something effec- tual was at last to be done for Ireland, but proves also how carefully those exiles stipu- lated, always that the interposition of a * Here is the original, which was instantly commu- nicated by Emmet to MacNeven, then at Morlaix : — " COPY OP THE FIRST CONSUL'S ANSWER TO MY ME- MOIRE OF 13th NIVOSE, DELIVERED TO ME 27tH NI- VOSE : — " Le Premier Consul a lu avec la plus grande at- tention, la memoire qui lui a ete addressee par M. Emmet le 13 Nivose. " II desire que les Irlandais Unis soyent bien con- vaiucus que son intention est d'assurer l"iudepeudence de riiiaude, et de donner protection eutiere et effi- cace a. tons ceux d'entre eux, qui prendront part a I'expedition, ou qui se joindront aux armees Fran- gaises. " Le Gouvernement Fran^ais ne pent faire ancnne proclamation avant d'avoir touche le territoire Irland- ais. Mais le general qui comraandera I'expefiition sera muni de lettres scellces, par lesquelles le Premier Con- sul declarera qu'il ne fera point la paix avec 1' Angle- terre, sans stipuler pour I'independance de I'Irlande, dans le cas, cependant, ou I'armee aurait ete joiute par un corps considerable d'Irlandais Unis. " L'Irlande sera en tout traitee, comma I'a ete I'Amerique, dans la guerre passee. " Tout individu qui s'embarquera avec Parmee Frangaise destinee pour I'expedition, sera commis- sione comme FranQais : s'il etait arrete, et qu'il ne fut pas traite comme prisounier de guerre la repre- saille s'exercera sur les prisonniers Anglais. " Tout corps forme au nom des Irlandais Unis sera considere coaime faisant partie de I'armee Fran^aise Enfin, si I'expedition ne reussissait pas et que les Irlandais fussent obliges de revenir en France, la France entretiendra un certain nombre de brigades Jrlandaises, et fera des pensions, a tout individu qui aurait fait partie du gouvernement ou des autoriies du pays. "Les pensions pourraient ete assimilees a celles qui sont accordees en France aux titulaires de grade ou d'emploi correspoudaut, qui ne sout pas en ac- tivite. " Le Premier Consul desire qu'il se forme un com- ite d'Irlandais Unis. II ne voit pas d'inconveuant, a ce que les membres de ce coniite fassent des procla- mations, et instruissent leurs compatriotes de i'etat de choses. " Ces proclamations seront inserees dans L'' Argun et dans les differens journaux de I'Europe, a fin d'eclairer les irlandais, sur la parti qu"ils ont a suivre, et sur les esi)erances qu'ils doivcnt con^evoir Si la comite veut faire uiie relation des actes de tyrannic exercees contre I'Irlande par la Gouvernement .Ang- lais, on I'inserera dans Le Moniteur.'" 4B2 HISTORY OP UiELAND. French army should be onl}'^ on the footinj^ of anxiharies, like that of Rochnmbean in America. It is a sufficient answer to those constant accusations made in Enii;land, that Irish revolutionists sought to throw their country under the dominion of France. And it must be said, once for all, in the nego- tiations :ind projectsTor French aid, whether with Tone, Lewis, or Emmet, there was no reason to doubt that the single o'yect of tlie successive French Governments was to aid Ireland, in good faith, to win a real inde- pendence — not, perhaps, so much from a love and sympathy for Ireland, as from a desire to weaken England, whose intrigues and subsidies were stirring up the whole conti- nent to effect the ruin of France. Yet, after all, those enthusiastic Irish- men of the Legion, were not destined to see Ireland. Other urgent necessities arose ; and most of the fleet at Brest was with- drawn for different destinations. It was the greatest mistake that Buonaj)arte ever made, and the noblest opportunity lost. The Legion was ordered to the Rhine, and from thence to Holland where they had at least the satisfaction of meeting their enemies at Walcheren, and aiding in the destruction of that imposing armament of England. Thomas Addis Emmet, despairing of effecting any- thing through French agency, emigrated at last to America, where he took the first rank at the bar of New York, and lived long hon- ored and beloved. Meanwhile, the imbecile administration of Mr. Addington came to an end. Mr. Pitt had put him into office to serve a temporary purpose, and was now ready to resume the reins himself. It has already been stated, by anticipation, that on returning to power, this treacherous Minister made no condition in favor of Catholic relief, which is in itself a sufficient proof that his former resignation, ostensibly on that question, had been made on a false pretext. In the new administra- tion (gazetted May 14, 1804,) he was Chan- cellor of the Exchequer and First Lord of the Treasury. The Secretary of War was Lord Camden — a name associated in Ireland with torture and "free-quarters." Tiie President of the Board of Control, was Lord Castlereagh. No Government more hostile to Ireland ever ruled in the Three Kingdoms. The King's mental malady had grown more alarming about the time of Mr. Pitt's return ; and his advisers could by no means tliink of troubling the conscience of the invalid by any suggestion tending to emancipation of Catholics, and " breach of his Coronation oath." Ireland had now had more than three years' experience of Legislative Union ; and already began to experience the wasting and draining effects of that odious and fatal t ransaction. Trade was declining, debt and taxes increasing ; but the debt much faster than the produce of the taxes. The absen- teeism of proprietors, as had been expected, and indeed intended, occasioned year by year a greater and greater depletion of wealth. The fine country-seats of wealthy proprietors were generally deserted, and their estates were managed by agents. Dublin, which in the eighteen years of independence (even such partial independence as it was) had grown to the rank of a fine metropolitan city, had been adorned by many sumptuous palaces of a resident nol)ility, and enriclied by the ex penditure of a luxurious society, was now sunk into a provincial town. The centre of political interest, of intellectual activity and of fashionable life, had been transferred to London. The fine mansions of Irish Peers and wealthy Commoners, after laying long va- cant, were gradually turned to otlier uses.* It is true that Ireland might well afford to do without those great Peers and feudal pro- prietors, as France has done ; but the differ- ence is, that in Ireland's case, they still draw away in rent, the produce of the laud ; they are sponges, which are filled in Ireland to be squeezed in England ; they are clouds, formed by sucking up all the juices of our island, and which then float off, " to rain down in London or dissipate at Chelten- ham." Thus it was found, very soou after Union, that the exports of Ireland greatly increased ; but they were exports of corn, cattle, and raw material for manufactures, to pay the absentee rent; while our imports were chiefly of manufactured articles and colonial produce, from England — England * The Duke of Leinster's palace, accomodates a museum of Natural Histor}'; Powevscourt House is a warehouse of lineu drapers. The mansiou of the Earls of Tyrone is a school house ; Belvedere House is a convent ; Aldborough House is a barrack, to. ETJINOUS EFFECTS OF THE UXION. 433 thus deriving the profit both from our exports and from our imports. Tiien there was the enormous cost of the war in Europe, to put down French principles, to which ex- pense Ireland was made to contribute in a much greater ratio than England. Mr Foster, in a speech in Parliament, on the Irish budget, immediately after Pitt's return to office, said he lamented to find tlie predic- tions, which he had ventured to urge on the probable state of Ireland, during the dis- cussions upon the Union, but too forcibly verified by the then deplorable state of her finances, as compared with her public debt and expenditure. Within the last ten years, the public debt of Ireland had made an alarming progress. It stood in 1193, at £2,400,000, hi 1800, at £25,400,000. On January 5, 1804, at £43,000,000, and in that year there had then added to it no less a sum than £9,500,000. This formed a quota far exceeding the ratio establislied by the Union compact to be paid by Ireland. This ruinous race, in which Ireland was so far ex- ceeding her means by her expenditure, would shortly equalize her debt in proportion to that of England, and entitle England to call for a Parliamentary decision, and con- solidation of accounts and equalization of taxes. He then stated to the House the corresponding produce of the Irish revenue. In the year 1800, which immediately preced- ed the Union, the net produce of the reve- nue was £2,800,000, when she owed £25,- 000,000, in the last year it was only £2,- 189,000, whilst the debt amounted to £53,- 000,000. There was every reason to believe, that for the running year, the produce of the Irish revenue would not yield one shilling towards Ireland's quota in the common ex- penditure of the empire. Such was the situation of Ireland in the summer of 1801, as depicted by Mr. Foster, with an enor- mous and growing increase of debt, a rapid falling off of revenue, and a decay in com- merce and manufactures. It may, of course, be alleged, that as the Act of Union places, or purports to place, the two countries on a footing of perfect equality a-nd reciprocity, in respect to trade and commerce, there has been nothing to prevent Ireland, if its inhabitants had energy and enterprize, like Englishmen, to manufac- 65 ttire for themselves and so keep at home a great portiun of the wealth which is annually drained from them. The fallacy of this sug- gestion is now well understood ; it is true, the laws regulating trade are the same in the two islands ; Ireland may export even woollen cloth to England ; she may import, in her own ships, tea from China, and sugar from Barbadoes ; the laws which made those acts penal offences no longer exist, they are no longer needed ; England is fully in pos- session ; and by the operation of those old laws Ireland was utterly ruined. England has the commercial marine — Ireland lias it to create. England has the manufacturing machinery and skill, of v/hich Ireland was deprived, by express laws for that pm'pose. England has the current of trade establish- ed, setting strongly in her own channel ; while Ireland is left dry. To create or re- cover at this day these great industrial and commercial resources, and that in the face of wealthy rivals already in full possession, is manifestly impossible, without one or other of these two conditions — either im- mense command of capital, or effectual pro- tective duties. But by the Union our capi- tal is drained away to England ; and by the Union we are deprived of the power of imposing protective duties. It was to this very end that the Union was forced upon Ireland, through " intolerance of Irish pros- perity." " Do not unite with us, sir," said Samuel Johnson ; "icc shall rob you." It was in the year I'^Oo, that the British Government bethought itself of making the Presbyterians of Ulster more " loyal," and weaning them the better from "French prin- ciples," by largely increasing the scanty means of the Dissenting clergy. The Ministers had been previously aided, in a very grudging and shabby manner, by a sort of bribe, the Regium Donnm, or royal gift, first granted in 1672, by Cliarles II, who gave £600 of " Secret Service money " to be distributed in equal portions among them annually. The grant was discontinued towards the close of his reign, and during that of James II, but was renewed by William III, who augmented it to £1,200 a year. In 1784, the amount was increased to £2,200 ; iu 1792, to £5,000. Still this was a most paltry pittance for so large a body of clergy- 434 HISTORY OP IRELAND. men, and rather degraded than enriched tliose who received it ; while the Anglican Church, with a smaller proportion of the population, was so munificently endowed with lauds and tithes. The Government toolc alarm on finding that the Presbyterians of Ulster, both clergy and laity, had been generally Republicans and United Irishmen in 1798. Overtures were soon after made to them through their must influential pastors, especially Doctor Black, of Londonderry, giving them a pros- pect of great increase to their grant, if they would not oppose the Union. This Doctor Black had been a delegate to the Dungan- uon Convention, in 1772, and had appeared amongst the other delegates in his uniform, as a volunteer officer. These overtures had the desired success ; and, therefore, in 1803, the Rcgium Donum was quintupled. The total yearly grant to nori-confurming Ministers in Ireland amounted, in 1852, to £38,561. {Thomas Ojjidal Directory.) Doctor Black had a good place ; he was agent and distributor of this disgraceful Donum, and some years afterwards ho very naturally, (like Castlereagh,) committed sui- cide, by throwing himself otf the bridge of Derry into the River Foyle. CHAPTER XLYI. 1S04— 1805, Mr. Pitt in OflRce— Royal Speech — No Mention of Ire- laud — Alarm about Invasion — Martello Towers — Reliance of the Irish Catholics on Mr. Pitt — Treat- ment of the Prisoners — Mr. James Tandy — Mr. Pitt Raises a Storm against the Catholics— Catholic Meeting in Dublin — Habeas Corpus Act again Sus- pended — Ireland " Loyal "— Duplicity of Lord Hardwicke — Catholic Deputies go to Mr. Pitt — A "Sincere Friend" — Mr. Pitt Refuses to Present Catholic Petition— Declares he will Resist Emanci- pation—Lord Grenville and Mr. Fox Present it — Debate in the Lords — In the Commons — Speeches of Fox, Doctor Duigenan, Grattan— Perceval, Pitt, Sir John Newport — Emancipation Refused, both by Lords and Commons — Great Majorities. When Mr. Pitt returned to office in 1804, he did not find himself so omnipotent in the country, as he had been during his former administration, or even during that of his locum-tenem. Although Mr. Addington had affected not to control the late elections by any treasury influence, he now exerted his personal influence upon all the members, who owed their seats to his patronage or fa- vor, to join him in opposing Mr. Pitt. Though he could brook the injury of being displaced, in order to readmit Mr. Pitt to power, he could neither forgive nor forget the insult of being expelled for incapacity and weakness. Mr. Pitt expected to regain more of his lost power by negotiation during the recess, than by his oratory in the Senate ; but was reluctantly constrained to prolong the session to the 31st of July. Under the combination of great external and internal difficulties, it became an object of peculiar anxiety with the Minister to give the nation some open and unequivocal proof of the complete recovery of His Majesty's health. When the King went to prorogue the Par- liament, the House of Peers was attended l3y an unusual crowd, and particularly by the few foreign Ministers then resident in London. In no part of the speech was there even an indirect reference to Ireland. Ireland, indeed, was completely removed into the back-ground by the Union ; and while the Government felt it had her safe under the coercion of a great army, and the exhaustion and terrorism, which now formed the single British policy for that island. Ministers evidently thought the less said about Ireland the better. The apparent alarm about invasion was carefully kept up during the whole summer. The Government prints sedulously warned the public against the machinations of the French party, which then prevailed through- out the country. Upon this assumption they inveighed against French tyranny and in- justice, and decried the loyalty of the native Irish. Thus they justified the expense of their public measures of defence, and affec- ted to sanction the necessity of internal coercion. The encampment of fifteen thousand men near the Curragh of Kildare, consisted of regular militia, artillery, British horse artillery, and a vast commissariat and driver's corps. Everything bore the appear ance of active service. The Martello Towers and other defensive works on the coast, were forwarded with unusual energy. Many ad- ditional persons were taken into custody under the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, and the ALARM ABOUT INVASION, 435 rigorous treatment of the state prisoners, who had been for several months in confine- ment, was sharpened without any visible or ' known cause.* The Catholics, whom Pitt had insidiously deluded by prospects of emancipation, were BOW so simple as to anticipate on his return to place, some efficient steps for carrying that object, for which he professed to have aban- doned his official situation. They now publicly rejoiced in the hencfit of having so many characters of eminence pledged not to embark in the service of Government, except on the terms of Catholic privileges heing ob- tained." Frequent Catholic meetings were holden in Dublin, in which the general sense of the body to petition Parliament for their total emancipation, was unanimously resolved. Mr. Pitt dreaded nothing so much, as to have the sincerity of his pledges brought under discussion. As Lord Fingal from his rank in life, and more from the amiable qualities of his mind, was known to possess the confidence of many of his Catholic countrymen. Sir Evan Ncpean was directed to attempt through his lordship * Mr. James Tandy, and thirteen other of the prin- cipal state prisoners of the first class, as they were Btiled at the Castle, petitioned the Lord-Lieutenant Julj' 11, 1804 ; and after having specified many of the acts of barbarous cruelty inflicted upon them, as Bworn to in the King's Bench, they concluded in these words : In short we experience a treatment rather calculated for untamed beasts, than men. They assured his excellency, that to the pressing and repeated remonstrances, which they bad present- ed to Doctor Trevor, (the inspector of the prisons,) against the harshness of their treatment, they had re- ceived a formal answer ; that it had not only the sanction, but its origin in the express directions of Lord Hardwicke's government. The first petition having not been attended to, was followed by a second on August I'ith, which again complained, that Doctor Trevor executed his oflBce in a manner at once mean and malicious : and pleaded orders from Government for their rigorous treatment. They com- plained, that they were so reduced by their sufferings (uot merited by them, nor necessary for sale custo- dy',) that their lives were become of no value and literally a burden to them, and that; there was not one of the petitioners, who from many concurring circumstances, could not on oath declare a firm belief of an intention to deprive them of life by un- derhand means. These appeals recived not the smallest attention, and great numbers of the prisoners, without a charge against them, were kept in various prisons for years. Mr. J. Tandy, indeed, was liberated before the end of the year; having first promised not to Bog Mr. S<;cretary Marsden, as he saya he had threatened to do. every means to hold back the petition. He was invited to dinner, frequently closeted at the Castle, and more sedulously courted, thnn on any former occasion. However, his lordship may have been personally disposed to hold back, few or none of the body could be induced to postpone their petition. In proportion to the failure of the Minis- ter's Continental plans, did the Catholic body of Ireland feel their own weight in the Imperial scale. The aggrandizement of Napoleon had been the unvarying result of Mr. Pitt's vehement exertions to crush him. He was quietly and solemnly crowned Em- peror of the French at Paris by Po])e Pius the Yll ; a circumstance, which Mr. Pitt with his usual craft attempted to convert iuto an engine of obloquy on the Catholic body, and an opportune and plausible ob- jection to their petition, which in spite of his secret manoeuvres, through Sir Evan Nepean, he now forsaw would be brought forward. The Government papers industri- ously published, and severely commented upon a memorial, said to have been written by MacXeven at Paris, addressed to the Irish officers of the several Continental Powers, particularly to those in the Austrian service, encouraging them to join in the then intended attempts to liberate Ireland from the thraldom of England ; and promJsing to give them timely notice of the sailing of the expedition. These Ministerial journals vied also with one another in republishing and commenting on the Papal allocution, addressed by His Holiness to a secret consistory at Rome, on October 28, 1804, immediately before his de- parture for Paris to perform the ceremony of the Iniperinl coronation. It referred to the gratitude due to Napaleon for having re- established the Catholic reliiiion in France by the concordat ; since whicli lie had put forth all his authority to cause it to be fr^'cly professed and publicly exercised throughout that renowned nation, and had again re- cently shown himself most anxious for the prosperity of that religion. It also con- tained confident assurance that a personal interview with the Emperor, would be for the good of the Catholic Church, which is the only ark of salvation. Here was a dreadful thing ! they ex- 436 HISTORY OF IRELAND. claimed ; as if all the world had uot known before that Catholics believed their Church to be the only ark of salvation. Editors, preachers, and pamphleteers, shrieked out in all the tones of alarm and horror, that this meant burning heretics. Here was ex- treme danger, they insisted, to a " Protestant state ;"— in this ominous reconciliation of the Emperor with the Church ; as it would give him greater influence in Ireland when he should land there to overthrow Church and State, throne and altar. These topics were enlarged on with so much apparent sincerity of terroR, that an enlightened public really began to fancy the dungeons of the Inqui- sition were already yawning before them. Tiiose scribes, indeed, did not mention the fact, that along with the Catholic Church, the Emperor had also reestablished the Protestant Church in France. They forgot to state, that in France, the Protestants had long been eviancipated ; and stood, then and thenceforth, on a footing of perfect equality with their Catholic neighbors. The Irish Catholics did uot yet know the meaning of this new outbreak of foaming rage against them and their religion ; and at any rate thought Mr. Pitt must be above all the storm of stupid malice which they saw ragii»g ; as, in fact, he was, but he was not above exciting it and directing it to his own ends. The leading part of the Irish Catholics, most of whom had supported the Union in plenary confidence of the professions made by Mr. Pitt and Lord Cornwallis that emanci- pation would immediately follow it, held frequent meetings in Dublin, in order to concert the most efficient means of render- ing available Mr. Pitt's disposition to favor their cause, which they fondly assumed had returned with him into power. The general precipitancy of the body to bring the Minis- terial sincerity to the test, was with difficulty repressed by those, who were considered to be most directly under the influence of the Castle. Au adjournment was carried from December 31st to February 16th. Parliament met again January 15, 1805 ; and again His Majesty's speech contained not one word in reference to Ireland. It mentioned the prompt and decisive steps which he had been obliged to take in order to guard against the effects of hostility from Spain;* The speech also denounced the " violence and outrage " of the French Government, and spoke vaguely of the European coalition against France which Mr. Pitt was engaged in negotiating. Several interesting debates passed in the Commons upon Sir Evan Nepeau's motion for suspending the Habeas Corpus act in Ireland, which he proposed to extend to six weeks after the commencement of the next session of Parliament. He and Mr. Pitt urged as the grounds for that harsh mea- sure, that there were then at Paris com- mittees of United Irishmen, who communi- cated vrith traitors in Ireland upon the most efficient means of effecting the invasion of that country ; and when the House con- sidered the humane and just diarader of Lord Hardwidie, they would with plenitude of confidence deposit that extraordinary power in his hands. Mr. Fox, on the other hand, warmly replied, that the character of the Lord-Lieutenant was immaterial. The Constitution taught him to be jealous of granting extraordinary powers to any man ; and if there were a possibility of their being abused, the mild character of the man, in whom they were to be vested was the worst of arguments. fif the powers were not necessary, they ought not to be granted ; and if necessary, and the Lord-Lieutenant were not fit to be entrusted with them, he ought to be removed. Mr. Fox added that it was universally admitted that Ire- land was at that moment as tranquil as any county in England ; why not as well, then, propose to suspend the Constitution in England ? But the bill passed — out of two hundred and thirteen members, only fifty-four voted against it. A respectable Catholic writerf speaking of this debate says, " Ireland in the mean- time was loyal and tranquil, in spite of the aspersions and calumnies of the hired writers, and the unsupported charges of some of the Ministerialists in Parliament." Now Ice- * This meant the sudden attack upon a Spanish fleet in harbor, previous to a declaration of war ; one of those feats of arms (like the seizure of the Danish fleet under similar circumstances,) by which Great Britain at length was enabled to boast that she "ruled the seas." t Plowden's Post-Union History. DUPLICITY OF LOED HARDWICKE. 437 land was, indeed, " tranquil " at that uiomeut, but not "loyal," if loyalty means attacli- niont to the Kini^ of England. Irish Catho- lics of that day who could be loyal, must have beeu something more, or a good deal less, than men. Tranquil they were ; but had never been better disposed to rise around the standards of a French army ; and, indeed, the English Government knew then, as they know now, that tranquillity is a bad omen for loyalty ; and that the Irish people are never so eager to shake off the British yoke, as when sheriffs present judges with white gloves. On the 16th of February, pursuant to adjournment, a numerous meeting of Catho- lic noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants, was held in Dublin, at which they unanimously entered into the following resolutions : First. That the Earl of Fingal, the Honorable Sir Thomas (now Lord) French, Sir Ed- ward Bellew, Counselor Denys Scully, and Mr. Ryan, should be appointed as a deputa- tion, to carry into effect the under-mentioned instructions ; and that the other Roman Catholic Peers, (of whom Lords Gormans- town and Southwell were then present,) sliould be requested to accede to the depu- tation. Second. That the petition prepared by the Catholic committee, and reported by Lord Fingal to that meeting, should be then signed by Lord Fingal and the other Catholic gentlemen, a.nd that the above- mentioned deputies should present it to Mr. Pitt, with a request, that he would bring it into Parliament. Now was seen the excessive duplicity of Lord Hardwicke. He had been selected from the mass of peerage, as the best quali- fied to resist the emancipation of Ireland, under the insidious mission of reconciling her to thraldom. The ordinary manoeuvres of the Castle upon Lord Fingal, and other leading men of the Catholic body, to induce them to hold back their petition had failed. His lordship could not consistently with his duty to his employers back, countenance, or recommend their petition, however just the claims, however worthy the claimants. But now, under the British Minister's assuranve of a decided majority against the question, the Irish Viceroy affected to favor the Catho- lics' application by discountenancing counter- petitions, as encroaching upon the freedom of Parliamentary debate. He even did one act, which was intended as a proof of his sincerity : he dismissed the notorious Mr. John GifTard from a lucrative post for having proposed and carried, in the Dublin corpora- tion, some violent resolutions against Catho- lic Emancipation. He thought the sacrifice of one man was a trifle ; and so punished Giffard for opposing a measure which he himself was doubly pledged to resist. The Catholic Deputies proceeded to Lon- don, and had their conference with Mr. Pitt, on the 12th of Marcli. Eight deputies attended the conference, viz., the Earl of Shrewsbury, (Watcrford and We.xford in Ireland,) Earl of Fingal, Viscount Gor- manstown, Lord Southwell, Lord Trimbles- town, Sir Edward Bellew, Counselor Denys Scully, and Mr. Ryan. They told Mr. Pitt they regarded him as their " sincere friend ;" that they hoped everything from his liberality and justice, and so urged him to present their petition to Parliament. Mr. Pitt declared " that the confidence of so very respectable a body as the CaMio- lics of Ireland was highly gratifying to iiim ;" but he added that the time had not come ; there were obstacles ; that, in short, he would not present their petition at all. After many arguments and much urgency, they at last entreated him only to lay it on the table of the House of Commons, they would autlio- rize him to state to the House, that they did not press the immediate adojdion of the viea- sure frayed for. Mr. Plowdeu, who had the best means of knowing what passed at this conference, says, with asperity, that Mr. Pitt "drily repeated his negative ;" and then adds : "He neither threw out a suggestion for their applying to any other channel, nor gave any ground for presuming, that the introduction of the petition through any Mini.'^terial member would be likely to soften his opposition. For he very explicitly declared, that he should feelit his duty to resist it. The only advice he condescended to offer, was to withdraw their petition altogether, or at all events to postpone it." * * Mr Pitt might on this occasion have candidly aclvuowlci^eJ what Lcird Hawlvcsbury publicly and officially declared in the House of Lords, March 26, 438 HISTORY OF IRELAND. The " leading Catholics" foimd tiiemselves now completely in the position of dupes ; aud they richly deserved it, for having as- sented to the destruction of their country's national independence, seduced by the pro- fessions of an English Minister. At .all events, the time was not yet come ; nor the man. But a more vigorous race of Catho- lics was growing up ; and in especial one bold, blue-eyed yoUng man, who was then carrying his bag in the hall of the Four Courts — destined one day to hold the great leading brief in the mighty cause of six millions of his countrymen. O'Connell was not yet a leading Catholic ; but was fast becoming well known in his own profession ; and an Orange judge, in a party case, pre- ferred to see any other advocate pleading before him. The Catholic Delegates next applied to Mr. Fox and Lord Grenville, who agreed to present the petition — one in the Lords, the other in the Commons. This was done on the 25th of March. When Lord Gren- ville moved in the House of Lords, that it should lie on the table, Lord Auckland rose with precipitancy, and observed with some warmth, that as far as his ears could catch the tenor of it, it went to overthrow the whole system of Church and State ; and if the prayer of it were to be granted, he should soon see a Protestant Church without ii Protestant congregation, and a Protestant King with a Popish Legislature. He ex- pressed great anxiety, that the question should be calmly and fully discussed, sum- moned the Reverend Bench to arm them- selves for the combat, &c. The venerable Lord Eldon, objected even to the formal motion, that the petition should be printed. After Mr. Fox presented it in the House of Commons, the matter stood over for early days in May, in both Houses of Parliament. Petitions against it were presented from the IJniversities of Oxford and Cambridge, from the cities of London and Dublin, the County Fermanagh, and other corporations and public bodies. 1807, in debating the grounds of the Grenville ad- rainistratiou's retiring from office ; that, although Mr. i^itt had in ISO I gone out of office ou that queotiou, yet on iiis returnlie toluntarilij eu-jagedytltat he )u't:er xcoald again bri/ig the sabjeci under the considera- tion of Ilia Majesty. Lord Fitzwilliam, who was still a friend to the .Catholics, and well remembered how Mr. Pitt had cheated him also upon that question, conceived the idea of bringing Mr, Grattan hito the debate ; and, accordingly, induced the Honorable C. L. Dundas to va- cate his seat for the borough of Malton, aud Mr. Grattan was returned for it. On the appointed day, the discussion in the Lords arose, on motion to commit the bill. After some other Peers had been heard, His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, (an Orangeman,) gave his de- cided opposition to the motion before the House, and urged every resistance in his power to a " measure subversive of all the principles which placed the House of Bruns- wick upon the throne of these realms." Lord Camden found full reason for op- posing the motion in the grounds upon which the Irish Parliament had negatived the question, whilst he had the honor of being placed at the head of the Irish Govern- ment. The Bishop of Durham, the wealthiest prelate in Europe, and who naturally valued that Constitution in Church and State which had made him so, urged that the motion could not be acceded to without danger to the Church and State. It would be a direct surrender of the security of the best consti- tution in the world. Lord Redesdale made a very violent speech against the motion. He said, " to pass such a measure would be to take the titles and lands from the Protestant hierarchy, and give them to the Catholic Bishops." He said, further, " If the Catholic hier- archy were abolished, something might be done to conciliate the Catholic body ; and to the generality of that body, he was con- fident, the abolition of the hierarchy would be extremely grateful." Lord Caiieton, an Irish judge, ran over all the usual Protestant phrases, about the faith- lessness and crtielty of Catholics. He laid much stress upon certain " maps of the for- feited estates," which, he said, had been prepared, in order to guide the proceedings oVresumplion* Lord Carleton added a * His lordship thus described a map of Ireland, prepared by the antiquary, Mr. Charles O'Conor, of Uulanagare, showing the situation of the tribc-hindij of the aujicut clans before the reigu of Elizabeih. DEBATE rN THE HOUSE OF LORDS IN THE COMMOISB. 439 singular leg^al opinion : " That the spiritual su|)remaL'y of the Church was by the law of this country vested in the Crown ; and surely it was a piece of the highest contu- macy in a sect of His Majesty's subjects to deny that supremacy, and to vest the control in a foreign potentate." Lord Buekinghamsliire, like all other op- posers of the motion, spoke much of his own disposition to liberality and concilia- tion ; denied that any such pledge for eman- cipation, as had been alluded to, was or conld have been given, and deemed it most inflammatory to allege, that the Catholics would be sore or irritated at the refusal of the prayer of the petition. After an astonishing mass of benighted spite and bigotry had been vented all night, at six in the morning a division was had. The motion to commit was rejected by a majority of one hundred and twenty-nine ; and so ended Emancipation in the Lords for that time. In the Commons, JMr. Fox introduced the same subject in a long and able speech. He gave a history of the Penal Code, and of its successive relaxations ; pointed out how useless and, at the same time, how irritating were the remuijiing links in the chain, which it was theu proposed to strike off ; proved that the Catholics had received assurances, on the part of Mr. Pitt, which induced them, as a body, to remain passive at the time of the Union ; and that now those pledges ought to be redeemed. Mr. Fox concluded an excellent address, by saying : "He relied on the affection and loyalty of the Pioman Catholics of Ireland ; but he would not press them too far ; he would not draw the cord too tight. It was surely too much to expect, that they would always fight for a constitution, in the benefits of which they were assured, they never should participate equally with their fellow-subjects. "Whatever was to be the fate of the peti- tion, he rejoiced at having had an opportun- ity of bringing it under their consideration, and moved to refer it to a committee of the whole House." The famous Doctor Duigenan had the courage to reply to Mr. Fox ; although he saw G rattan oppo.site, who already tlireat- eued him with his eye. He oppo.sed the mo tion in a long speech, which lasted above three hours ; the general spirit and sub- stance of which was to prove, that by the ancient councils of the Catholic Church, and her invariable doctrine, no Catholic could take an oath, from the obligations of which he could not at the will of the priest be released ; that the Catholics maintained no faith was to be kept with heretics, and such they con.sidered every denomination of Christians but themselves ; and that it was impossible for a Catholic to be truly loyal to a Protestant King. He contended that the ninety-one persons who had signed the Catholic petition, did not by any means represent the body of the Irish Catholics ; he assumed, that none of the clergy had signed, because they still maintained the obnoxious doctrines which the best in- formed of the laity wished to renounce. He contended that the oath of supremacy (swearing that the King is head of the Church,) was a mere sivifte oath of allegiance, and that it imported neither exclusion nor restriction to any but traitors. He com- mented largely upon the oath of canoni- cal obedience to the Pope taken by the Catholic 15ishops ; inveighed fiercely against Doctor Hussey, the late Catholic Bishop of Watcrford, for forbidding his flock to send their children to Protestant schools for educa- tion, and he drew the conclusion from Doctor Hussey's remark — that the lo.ss or abandon- ment of his religion by the Catholic soldier might be felt in the day of battle, that zw plain English, the Romish soldier might then turn upon and assassinate his officer or desert to the enemy. This measure would let in an uni- versal deluge of atheism, infidelity, and anar- chy. It would admit the Pope's supremacy over the Church of these realms ; it would violate the conditions of both Unions, with Scotland and with Ireland ; and to tender to His Majesty a bill of that import for his royal signature, would be to insult him, by supposing him capable of violating his Coronation oath. Mr. Grattan rose, and his rising was greeted with breathless attention. He had never appeared in that House before ; and his fame as a noble orator, and incorruptible patriot, impressed the English legislators more than they would have liked to own to tliemseives. 440 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Mr. G rattan said he rose to defend the Catholics from Doctor Duigenan's attack, and the Protestants from his defence. The question for their consideration, was not, as the learned member had stated, whether they should now qualify or still keep dis- qualified some few Roman Catholic gentle- men for seats in Parliament, or certain officers in the state ; but whether, they would impart to a fifth portion of the popu- lation of their European empire a commu- nity in that, which was their vital principle and strength, and thus confirm the integrity, and augment the power of the empire. That learned member had emphatically said, that the people of Ireland to be good Catholics must be bad subjects ; that the Irish Catholic is not, never was, and never can be, a faithful subject to a Protestant English King. Thus has he pronounced against his countrymen three curses — eternal war with each other ; eternal war with Eng- land; eternal peace with France. He fully an- swered the doctrinal parts of Doctor Duige- fian's speech, and concluded, that as the Catholic religion was professed by above two-thirds of all Christendom, it would follow, that Christianity was in general a curse ; but of his own countrymen he had added, that they were depraved by religion, and rendered perverse by nativity ; that is to say, according to him, blasted by their Creator, and damned by their Redeemer. Mr. G rattan closed an animated detail of the evils of the proscriptive system with observ- ing, that if they wished to strip rebellion of its hopes, and Prance of her expectations, they should reform their policy ; they would gain a conquest over their enemies when they had gained a victory over themselves. The Speaker entered into long detail, of all the dealings of the Irish Government v.'ith the Catholics on this question ; but it would be in vain with our limits to attempt even a full abstract of this remarkable speech. When the Parliament of Ireland (he said) rejected the Catholic petition, and assented to the calumnies uttered against the Catholic body, on that day she voted the Union ; and should they adopt a similar conduct, on that day they would vote the separation. lie was surprised to see them running about like growii-'-.p children in search of old prejudices, preferring to buy foreign allies by subsidies, rather than to subsidize fellow-sul)jfcts by privileges. He figured them then drawn up, sixteen against thirty-six millions, and paralyzing one-fifth of their own numbers, by excluding them from some of the principal benefits of their constitution, at the very time they said, all their numbers were inadequate, unless in- spired by those very privileges. Such a system could not last ; if the two islands re- nounced all national prejudices, they would form a strong empire in the west to check, and ultimately to confound the ambition of the enemy. Mr. Perceval, a pious man, and one Of the first of the race of "saints," (he was then Attorney-General,) opposed the motion, for the sort of reasons, and in the precise style of some conventicle preacher. "But," he said, " he remarked the indisposition of the House to listen to him ; which he was not surprised at ; for he was conscious that, after the blaze of Mr. Grattan's eloquence, everything that fell from him must appear vapid and uninteresting. Had he been in the Irish Parliament, he never would have consented to grant the elective franchise, nor the establishment of Maynooth for edu- cating the Catholic." Mr. Perceval knew that he could safely pay a tribute to Mr. Grattan's eloquence, and disparage himself with all the humility of a " saint." He felt that the grand cause of Ascendancy was safe in that House, and that though G rattan spoke with the tongue of men and angels, he conld not prevent or reverse the inevitable decision. The motion was supported by some lib- eral Englishmen, (for there is always a small minority of liberal Englishmen,) and warmly advocated by George Ponsonby ; when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Pitt, aiose. His speech was highly characteris- tic. He said : — " He was favorably disposed to the gener- al •principle of the question, but differing in many points from those who had introduced or supported the motion, he thought fit to observe, that he had never considered the question, as involving any claim of right. Right was totally independent of circum- stances ; expcditncy included the cousiderar EMANCIPATION KEFUSED, BOTH BY LORDS AND COMMONS. 441 tion of circumstances, and was wliolly depend- ent npon tliem. Upon the principle of ex- pediency he felt that, entertaining as he did, a wish for the repeal of the whole penal code, and a regret that it had not been ;,: abolished, he felt, that in no possible case "^ TDefore the Union, could those privileges have been granted to the Catholics with safety to the existing Protestant establish- ment in Church and State. After that measure, he saw the matter in a different light ; though certainly no pledge was ever given to the Catholics that their claims should be granted ; [nobody had ever said such a pledge had been given ; the pledge h(. had given was, that lie, Mr. Pitt, would support the measure, and would never hold ofEce without making it a Ministerial ques- tion.] But he said there were irresistible obstacles [which he had taken care to raise up,] and .should the question not be carried, and he saw no probability that it would, the only effect of agitating it would be to excite hopes that would never be gratified, and to give rise to expectations which were sure to terminate in disappointment." He next took another line of argument. They were anxious to conciliate the Cath- olics ; but let tiiem not, in so doing, irritate a nmch larger portion of their fellovv-sub- jects. Whilst they drew together the bonds which united one class of the population, let them not give offence to another part of it, whose loyalty and attachment [to their own interests] had long been undoubted. He should disguise the truth, if he did not say the prevailing opinion against the peti- tion was strong and rooted. He should, therefore, act contrary to all sense of his duty, and inconsistently with the original line he had marked for his conduct, were he to countenance that petition in any shape, or to withhold giving his negative to the proposition for going into the committee." Sir John Newport, of Waterford, rose with the special object of rebutting the as- sertions contained in the petition from the io-uorant Orange Corporation of Dublin. The corporators had asserted, (in utter ig- norance,) that the Irish Catholics were placed on a footing of political power, not enjoyed by any other dissenters from an es- tablished Church in Europe. Sir John Xew- 56 port said he would give one instance to the contrary — he might have given many : — "The States of Hungary," he said, "re- sembled our Constitution more closely than any other Continental establishment. They formed a population of above seven millions, and had for centuries suffered all the evils of being divided by religion, distracted V)y the difference of their tenets, and restric- tions on account of them. At length, in n91, at the most violent crisis of disturb- ance, a Diet was convened, at which a de- cree was passed, by which full freedom of religious faith, worship, and education, was secured to every sect, without exception. The tests and oaths were rendered unobjec- tionable to any native Hungarian, be his religion what it would ; and then came the clause which gave them precisely what these petitioners have in contemplation. Tliat ' the public offices and honors, whether high or low, great or small, should be given to natural-born Hungarians, who had deserved well of their country, and possessed the other requisite qualifications, without any re- sjped to their religion.' The Diet consisted of nearly four hundred members, with a splendid civil establishment for the Komaa Catholic religion. The measure was adopt- ed in a most critical moment, and it had suc- cessfully passed an ordeal of fourteen revo- lutionary years, equal, in fact, to the trial of a century less disturbed and agitated." Mr. Maurice Fitzgerald supported the motion, and solemnly declared, that when he voted for Union in the Irish Parlia- ment, it was in view and contemplation of that measure, for no man could deny, that the impression then made on the Catliolic mind was, that Ministers, as well as oppo- sition, were in favor of their claims. They expected, of course, that much more attention would be paid to them now. Colonel Archdall (a North of Ireland Orangeman,) asserted, that the bulk of the Roman Catholics were not anxious about the result of the question ; if the cause were a good one, it had been very ill-con- ducted ; aud he gave the motion his decided negative. Sir John Cox Hippesley supported the motion to commit the bill ; and in order, as he said, to obviate the o'jections of those 442 HISTORY OF IRELAND. who apprehended tlie supremacy of the Pope over Irish Catliolics, he suggested that the Catholic Church in Ireland, should be put upon the footing of the Galilean Church ; in other words, that the Crown should have a veto upon the appointment of Bishops by the Pope. This was the first distinct mention of the veto in Parliament ; a question which afterwards led to much grave dissension in Ireland.* Honorable H. Augustus Dillon denied, that the question involved a party measure. It affected the safety of Ireland, and the vitality of the empire. The hearts of the Irish people had been alienated by martial law, and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus act, and by other severities and oppressions. Were that measure allowed to pass, such expedients would cease to be necessary, and the mass of brave and grateful people would present a firm, an iron bulwark for the pro- tection of the country against the designs of - the enemy. On the whole, it was apparent in this famous debate, that all the lofty intellect, * But this was not the origin of the veto. It bad been a favorite scheme of Mr. Pitt's since 1799. In that year, au insidious proposal had been made to give a state endowment to Catholic Bishops in Ire- land, on certain conditions, amounting in principle to the veto. Mr. Piowdcn relates that the prelates did not then fully appreciate the object of this proposal ; which was no less than to buy them up, and make them a species of ecclesiastical police. Plowden tells us : — " It was admitted by a large number of the pre- lates, then convened in Dublin, that it ought to by thankfully accepted. " They went a step further, and signed the following resolution : ' That in the appointment of the prelates of the Roman Catholic religion, to vacant sees within the kingdom, such interference by the Government, as may enable it to be satisfied with the loyalty of the person appointed, is just, and ought to be agreed to.' And for the purpose of giving it effect, they further resolved, ' that after the usual canonical election, the president should transmit the name of the elected to Government, which in one month after such transmiss- ion, should return the name of the elected, (if unob- jectionable,) that he might be confirmed by the Holy See. If he should be objected to by Government, the president on such communication, should, after the month, convene the electors, in order to choose some other candidate.' Mr. Pitt uever lost sight of this insidious negotiation, into which he had seduced a certain number of the unsuspecting prelntes. This was the foundation-stone of that deep-laid plan of Mr. Pitt and his associates, to seduce or force the Iri.sh Catholics' into the same state of schism from the Church of Rome, as that which took place in En,"-- land in the reign of Henry VIII. This was the origin of that vital question of ■ueto." ■ " , and all the honest principles in the British Parliament were in favor of the measure of Catholic Emancipation. But that was a contemptible minority. The question, upon the motion of Mr. Fox, was negatived —ayes, 124 ; nays, 336 ; majority, 212. So Catholic Emancipation was set at rest in both Houses of the British Parliament ; and the "Protestant Interest," and the Constitution in Church and State, were saved, it was hoped, forever. CHAPTER XLYII. 1804—1806. Prosecution of Judge Fox — His Offence, Enforcing Law on Orangemen — Prosecution of Judge John- sou — His Offence, Censuring the Irish Government — Decline of Pitt's Power— Castlereagh Defeated in Down County — Successes of Buonaparte— Cry for Peace— Death of Mr. Pitt— Whig Ministry— Mr. Fox — His Opinion of the Union — First Whisper of "Repeal'' — Release of State Prisoners — Dismissal of Lord Redesdale as Chancellor — Duke of Bedford Viceroy — The Catholics Cheated Again — Equivo- cation of the Viceroy — Ponsonby — Curran's Pro- motion — The Armagh Orangemen — Mr. Wilson the Magistrate. Some very extraordinary proceedings took place in this and subsequent sessions of Parliament, with respect to two of the most irreproachable of the Irish judges — Mr, Justice Fox and Mr. Justice Johnson. In the summer of 1803, Judge Fox had gone the Northwest Circuit, a region which was then predominated over by a few great Orange magnates, and magistrates wlio were their very humble servants, and the savage tyrants of the poor country people, who were principally Catholics. As senior judge it was Judge Fox's duty to charge the Grand Juries ; and in Longford, at Enniskillen, and Lifford, he made them very paternal and loyal addresses ; intended, as usual, for the whole of the people of tliose counties. Endeavoring to awaken them to a high sense of the dangers, which hovered over them from external and inter- nal foes, he called upon the exertion of their best energies. He reminded them of the recent horrors of the 23d of July, and warned them of the dangers of the leaders of that rebellion still remaining at large. PROSECUTION OF JUDGE FOX HIS OFFENCE. un He strougly commented on t!ie nature and extent of that insurrection, aud on the origin and motives of the persons engaged iu it. He exhorted them to ^cnion amongst themselves — to forget their religious animosi- ties, by which the country had been so long wealxned and divided, aud to join in present- ing a dutiful aud loyal address to the throne, praying His Majesty to strengthen the exe- cutive government of the country, &c. "Now, if Judge Fox had done nothing more than utter iu the ears of an Orange Grand Jury the words above printed in italics, he could never have been forgiven. But he did worse. When he came to Ennis- killen, and proceeded as his duty was to deliver the jail there, the names of two prisoners were returned to him by the jailer, who had been committed by the Earl of Enuiskilleu, as a magistrate ; but without any offence being charged against them. Their names were Breslin and Maguire. Tlie committals were called for and pro- duced — they specified no offence ; but iu one of them was an order to keep poor Breslin iu solitary confinement. The judge, thereupon, ordered the prisoners to be brought to the bar, iu order to inquire of them, the facts iiUeged against them. The jailer then informed the judge, that those two prisoners were taken out of his custody on the 18th of August, (that is during the assizes,) by a military guard sent for the purpose.* The judge felt this to be a high indignity offered to His Majesty's commis- sion ; aud inquired, if Lord Enuiskilleu were iu town. Ou learning that he was at bis countiy seat, (Florence Court,) he de- sired a friend of his lordship's to go over to him with full instructions to relate the whole faithfully, make his compliments, and entreat his lordship's attendance in court on the next day, which was the last day of the assizes. The judge having waited iu court to as late an hour as he could, for the ap- pearance of Lord Enuiskilleu ; and having * Maguire never was heard of more. Breslin was hurried off' by soldiers to a rnilitar}' prison, where he ■was kept a longtime ; then tried by court-martial on the charge of trying to seduce a soldier to desert, convicted, and sentenced to be hung. He cut his throat to avoid the execution of the sentence, but the wound was not mortal; and he was hung near Enniskillen, with the rope forced into the bleeding gash. repeatedly inquired for him, he found it his duty upon his lordship's non-appearance to fine him iu each of those cases £100 — <£200 iu all. But the audacity of the judge iu looking into the doings of Orange magis- trates did not stop here. In the same county, Fermanngh, Mr. Stewart was fined £50 for committing one Neale Ford to the jail of Enniskillen without any charge on oath having been made against him, and releasing him on the eve of the assizes without taking bail for his appearance. Mr. Pallas was fined JE20 as well as Mr. Web- ster for releasing without bail a prisoner chai'ged with a caj)ital offence. But the prisoner was of the religiou of Mr. Pallas. When the judge came to Lifford, in Don- egal, amongst the presentments tendered by the Grand Jury to the judge for his Jiat was one for a very large sum to be levied upon occupiers of land, under pretence of repaying Government for money advanced to pay bounties to three hundred and fifty men, the quota of that county under the " Army of Reserve act." But not ono man of that force had been recruited ; although it was the duty of the Marquis of Abercorn, as governor of the county, to have caused that recruiting to be effected. The presentment of the Grand Jury then was a fraud upon the public. Judge John- son refused to put his^a^ on it, and publicly censured Lord Abercc^rn for neglect of duty — Lord Abercorn, the great patron aud favorite of the Orange Society of that region. Such a judge as this, it was evi- dent, was somehow to be got rid of. Many months after the occurrences above- mentioned, the Marquis of Abercorn, in a most malignant and vindictive speecli iu the House of Lords, brought the conduct of Judge Fox before their lordships. He said, " that he had grave and serious matters of complaint to bring before their lordships iigainst one of His Majesty's judges, in which the administration of justice was deeply concerned." There ensued one of the most extraor- dinary state prosecutions ever seen in any country — the House of Lords which had no original jurisdiction, undertaking to make itself a court to try a judge on a criminal charge. The distinct charges were uumer- 444 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ous, including many cases of " unjust fines," " excessive " fines, partiality, seeking to bring Lord Abercorn into contempt, casting censure on Lord Enniskillen, impeding the course of justice, and the like ; and the Pro- testant interest of the North of Ireland was filled with anxiety for the result. Lord Abercorn pressed these prosecutions with wonderful virulence ; Lord Hardwicke and the L'ish Government aided it.* The pub- lic purse was opened to pay for it. A great mass of evidence, (all ex-parte,) was pro- duced. The proceedings lasted three years ; and the excellent judge was ruined in health and fortune. At last, on motion of Lord Grenville, the House of Lords voted, by a small majority, that the proceedings should he. quashed. The cost to the public in the prosecution of this case amounted to i£30,- 000. On the division in the House of Lords, the old Lord Thurlow voted for getting rid of the whole matter, as unconstitutional and vexatious. He said it was a proceeding "to gratify the malignant resentments of indi- viduals who fancied themselves insulted and exposed by any instance of virtuous inde- pendence upon the Bench." Lord Eldon voted for continuing the pro- secution to the end ; and the Duke of Cum- berland, (Queen Victoria's uncle,) an Or- angeman, and special friend of Lord Aber- corn, strongly opposed Lord Grenville's mo- tion. " He trusted," he said, " and expected, that the matter would not be put off sine die." His Royal Highness was naturally of opinion that no justice could be done in Ireland if there were to be judges going- round checking the wholesome severities of the very masters of lodges. It is but justice towards the British House of Lords to admit, that after spending the pub- lic time and the public money for three years, in prosecuting a virtuous judge, because he was a virtuous judge, did at last grow ashamed of the foul transaction, and by a small majority, thrust it out of Court. The case of Mr. Justice Johnson, one of the Justices of the Common Pleas, was *■ The Marquis read, as a part of his speech be- fore the Lords, a letter from the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland to the British Minister, in which the judicial conduct of Mr. Justice Fox, on the Northwest Cir- cuit, was arraigned iu terms of marked reprobatiou. even more extraordintiry. Some anonymous Irishman, signing himself " Juvernn.," had, in November of 1803, immediately after Robert Emmet was executed, published a series of letters in Cobbett's Political Regis- ter, containing severe animadversions upon Lord Redesdale, Lord Hardwicke and his government, upon the public proceedings of Secretaries Wickham and Marsden, upon a charge delivered by Mr. Justice Osborne, and other matters. No government in Ire- land ever before had the press so thoroughly corrupted or intimidated as that of Lord Hardwicke ; and the first of the "Juveni/i" letters was sent to Mr. Cobbett avowedly because every printer in Dublin had refused to publish it. The sturdy William Cobbett, (who was then, and for many years after, a sharp thorn in the side of Pitt and Castle- reagh,) admitted the letter at once to his Register; and then several others. The.se letters excited much attention, and extreme- ly exasperated the Government, because they were evidently the production of some per- sonage highly placed, who knew the secret machinations of the Irish officials against the people. Great efforts were made to discover the audacious " Jibverna ; " but, in the meantime, as the next best thing, the Attorney-Gener- al prosecuted Cobbett himself for publish- ing the " libels." His trial took place on May 24, 1S04. Cobbett had an interval of repose from persecution of two days allowed him, when, at the suit of the Right Honorable W. C. Plunket, Solicitor-General of Ireland, he was again called on to sustain an action for libels contained in letters signed " Jitvenia," published in the Register, reflecting on Mr. Plunket's conduct on the occasion of Robert Emmet's trial. Cobbett was again con- victed, and damages were awarded to the plaintiff to the amount of £:)00. It was believed, by the Irish Government, that the letters in question, had been written by Judge Johnson. On the second trial of Mr. Cobbett, the manuscript of the letter relating to Lord Plunket, was produced ; and witnesses were easily found to swear that it was in the handwriting of the Judge. The Government, therefore, determined to prosecute him also, and to bring him over to DECLINE OF PITT S POWER. 445 Londou for trial, as the publication had been in the Conuty Middlesex. But there was a difficulty in the way ; there was no law then, no law in existence, givinj? power to remove offenders from Ireland to England, or vica versa, for trial. But Tarliament was in session, and a new law was quickly pro- cured, the two principal persons on the committee which framed it, being Mr. Per- ceval, brother-in-law of Lord Redesdale, and Mr. Yorke, brother of Lord Hardwicke, who were two of the persons complaining of being libelled. A warrant was issued to bring the judge to London, and he was arrested at his house near Dublin. Thus he was taken under an ex-jpost facto act, which his counsel contended could not operate retrospectively. Tiie matter was discussed, during six days, in the King's Bench in L'eland, in Janu- ary, 1805. The legality of the warrant was confirmed. In the meantime, the jperst- cuted judge procured a writ of Habeas Cor- pus from the Court of Exchequer, where the case was argued February 4th and Vth, and, subsequently, in the Court of Common Pleas ; and in both courts, the arrest was held good. The judge was then brought over to Lon- don, and put OQ. his trial before Lord EUeu- borough, November 23, 1806. Lord Ellenborough, staunch and consis- tent — always ready to lend the weight of his judicial character and position to the Government on any seditious libel case prose- cution, unjustly on this occasion threw dis- credit on the respectable witnesses produced by Judge Johnson, to prove that the MSS. ot the libel prosecuted, was not in the hand- writing of the defendant. But the jury, misdirected by Lord Ellenborough, brought in a verdict of " guilty ;" the Attorney- General, however, never applied for judg- ment. It was true, indeed, that Judge Johnson was the author of the letters of ''Juverua ; " which were a very just, necessary, and well- merited castigationof the Irish Government ; yet he was found guilty on bad evidence, for the manuscript was not his.* * " Tlie libel above-mentioned I know (on the authority of liord Cloncurry), though the production of Judge Johnson, was sent to Cobbett in the hand- writing of the judge's daughter." — Maddeiu The matter, however, was pressed no further. It was judged sufficient to dis- grace a judge of the land by a criminal con- viction, to ruin him by heavy expenses in- curred in his defence, and to render the jus- tice of "Westminster Hall auxiliary to the police of Dublin. But the prosecution had caused great/ scandal by its unusual features ; and in order to put as quiet a close to the matter as possible, the Attorney-General was directed, and he, accordingly, did enter a nolle prosequi on the record, as of Trinity Term 1806. The learned judge, whose health was much on the decline, was allowed to retire upon a pension for his life.f The treatment of these two honest judges was a significant warning to the judges of Ireland, first that they were not to embarrass Orange justice with t/ieir justice, and second, that they were not to presume to say that a Lord-Lieutenant, or Chancellor, or Secre- tary, could do wrong. In this year, Mr. Pitt's political power began to decline ; and many of his pariizans fell from him. Lord Sid mouth deserted him on the occasion of the impeachment of Lord Melville. Mr. Foster, the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer, had tendered his resignation ; and it was known that Lord Hardwicke was resolved to tender his. The star of the great Minister was growing pale ; his Continental combinations against Buonaparte, were all failures ; and men were already beginning to speculate upon their chances under Mr. Pitt's successor, about the time when Parliament was suddenly prorogued on July 12th. The defection of Lord Sidmouth, the im- peachment of Lord Melville and consequent shifiicgs in the Cabinet, created the necessity of Lord Castlereagh's vacating his seat for the County Down, in order to accept the office of Secretary of State for the Colo- nies and War Department. He souglit a re- election for Down ; but in that county, there was a very strong feeling against him, on ac- count of the outrage put upon the Marquis t This excellent judge, afterwards in his retirement in France, wrote a very excellent treatise on the "Military Defence of Ireland," under the name of Captain Philip Roche Fermoy. This work has speci- ally in view, a defence of the country by the inhabi- tants of it, against the English ; and has been much studied since that thue. 44^ HISTORY OP IRELAND. of Dowiisliire, by tlie Irish Government (when Castlereagh was Secretary) in dis- missing him from the command of his regi- ment, and from the rank of Lord-Lieutenant of the country, because he liad recommended petitions against the Union. Lord Castle- reagh, most unexpected!}', found himself at the foot of the polls, through the Dowushire influence ; and had to return to London and accept a seat for one of the " pocket- boroughs" of the Government. This defeat by Castlereagh is said to have been felt as a severe blow by Mr. Pitt in his already fail- ing fortunes. Mr. Plowden says it was a " triumph over political profligacy which was hailed by the nation at large ;" but in truth, the event had a much narrower significance; it was simply a triumph of the Downshire interest over the rival Stewart interest in the County Down. Political profligacy remained as before. But what really broke down Mr. Pitt, was the success of the French armies in Germany. The total failure of all his plans on the Con- tinent, and the vast ascendancy which Na- poleon had acquired by his late conquest and treaty, had filled the unbiassed part of the British nation with dissatisfaction and dismay. The campaign was only opened in Sep- tember, and Napoleon, with the velocity of the eagle, marched into the heart of Ger- many and took an Austrian army, under General Mack, prisoners, at Ulm. On the 2d of December, he gained the renowned victory of Austerlitz, which was followed by the treaty of Presburg, signed on the 26th of the same month j this dissolved the new confederacy, and blasted Mr. Pitt's last hopes on the Continent. All England cried out for peace, and for an administratiou which would give her peace. Austria was dismembered, Russia debilitated, Prussia neutralized, if not treach- erously gone over to the enemy ; Hanover lost to the King of England, and the Brit- ish forces were too late in the field even to make any important diversion against the triumphant legions of France, Lord Mel- ville, (the former Secretary Dundas,) was pleading to an impeachment before the House of Lords ; Lord Castlereagh had re- turned from his own country, baffled and dis- credited. All these things together preyed on Mr. Pitt's mind, and ruined his already-frail health. Parliament met on the 20th of Janu- ary, 1806 ; and three days after, William Pitt died. His last words were : " Oh ! my country''^ — meaning England alone ; to Ire- land he had ever been a bitter, and at last, a mortal enemy. Lord Hawkesbury was at first named First Lord of the Treasury, merely to sup- ply tl>e vacancy, without any change of Ministry. His lordsnip held that ofBce only long enough to hurry through the necessary forms of office to grant to himself the lucra- tive place of Warden of the Cinque Ports, and then resigned. At last, after some days' delay, and much reluctance on the part of the King, was formed the new Grenville-Fox Ministry, Lord Grenville be- ing First Lord of the Treasury, and Mr, Fox Secretary for Foreign Affairs. The Duke of Bedford was to be Lord-Lieuten- ant of Ireland, with the Right Honorable William Elliott, as Chief Secretary. Right Honorable George Ponsonby, as Lord Chan- cellor ; Mr. Pluuket, as Attorney-General ; and Mr. Bushe, as Solicitor-General. In short, it was not only a Whig, but was sup- posed to be also an Anti- Union administra- tion. Reform, Emancipation, Repeal of the Union even, anything in satisfaction of Ireland's just claims, was at first imagined to be possible under such a government. Amongst the earliest Parliamentary pro- ceedings on the change of the Ministry, which in any way related to Ireland, must be noticed jNIr. O'Hara's spirited objection to Lord Castlereagh's vote for monumental hon- ors to Marquis Cornwallis, who died iu India. He opposed the motion, because he could not with consistency vote funeral honors to a man who had brought about the Union between Great Britain and Ireland ; with regard to which, he trusted that, some time or other, it would come under the consid- eration of that House j and if it were not, as he hoped it would be, utterly rescinded, it would, at all events, be considerably mod- ified, and, if possible, ameliorated. Upon this interesting subject Mr. Fox declared, that he concurred with the motion ; for that the words iu which it was expressed did not, in imitation of a late precedent, assert that DEATH OF ME. PITT WHIG MIOTSTRT MR. FOX. 44T the object of it was an excdknt statesman. Altlioiigh, however, he supported the mo- tion, yet he agreed with Mr. O'Hara in cliaractcrizing the Union as one of the most disgraceful transactions in which the Govern- ment of any country had heen invoiced. In consonance with this marked reproba- tion of that fatal measure of Union by the most enlightened and irreproachable member of the new administration, several of the Cor- porations of Dublin formed meetings to pre- pare petitions to the Legislature for the Re- peal of the Union. Of these, the Com- pany of Stationers, at their hall in Capel street, gave the example, by appointing a respectable committee of nine to draw up a petition. At a siil)scquent meeting, how- ever, they resolved not at that moment to embarrass Ministers with their claims. A few days later, Mr. Fox was called upon in Parliament by Mr. Alexander, for an explanation of his words relative to the Union. ^Ir. Fox conceived he had spoken very intelligibly ; but he never refused explana- tion. He adhered to every syllable he had uttered relative to the Union, upon the mo- tion for funeral honors to Lord Cornwallis. But when he had reprobated a thing done, he said nothing prospectively. How- ever bad the measure had been, an at- tempt to repeal it without the most urgent solicitation from the parties interested should not be made, and hitherto none such had come within his knowledge. " The parties interested" are the English, the Scottish, and the Irish people ; so that in the apparently-explicit reply of Mr. Fox, there is a breadth of application sufficient to enable a prudent statesman to do as he pleases afterwards. Even so early did it i)ecorae apparent that neither English Tory nor English Whig would ever listen to any proposal for the undoing of that shameful deed. Gradually, as time has worn on, men of all parties in England have become willing to admit that the Union was a foul act, foully accomphshed ; yet no British Minister, of any party, would dare, for his head, to propose that it be undone. It was thus, in 1806, on the accession of Mr. Fox to office, that the first whisper was heard of that demand, which afterwards rang so loud — the Repeal of the Union. Two or three agreeable incidents at the same time happened in Ireland : The act for suspending the Habeas Corpus had been permitted to expire without any attempt by Government to continue or revive it. There- upon, the several jails in Ireland were clear- ed of all those state prisoners who could bear the expenses of Habeas Corpus, and who had been confined there for two or three years. The restoration to society of many respectable and popular characters, digni- fied by unmerited sufferings, spread a sym- pathetic glow of exultation through the people, which broke out into an eagerness to hail the new Governor as their deliverer, and stifled all efforts to procure valedictory addresses to the departing Viceroy, who had so long kept them in bondage. The in- stantaneous removal of Lord Redesdale from his situation, even before his successor had arrived in Ireland, created much satis- faction throughout every rank of the Catho- lic population, which he had so coarsely and unfoundedly insulted and traduced. This early, and marked removal of Lord Redes- dale was a seasonable atonement to the in- sulted feelings of the Irish Cat holies, and was received by them as an earnest of the new Minister's adopting a new system of measures, calculated to secure the internal peace, welfare, and prosperity of Ireland. As for Lord Hardwicke, after his five years' administration, not even the efforts of his paid press could succeed in procuring him those customary addresses of courtesy which are given to departing Yiceroys, The attendance even of his favored yeo- manry of Dublin was solicited to perfonu the last honor to the ex-Governor, and was refused in the first instance. Out of all Ireland, addresses on his departure came only from Dublin, the County Mayo, and the loyal Crossmolina Cavalry. He sailed from the Pigeon House on the 31st of March, 1806 ; and many a curse went after him. The Duke of Bedford came to Ireland, as was firmly and fondly believed, to carry out the liberal principles which Mr. Fox had always supported for the government of the country. But Mr. Fox had more important business to attend to, in his own estimation, tlian the affairs of Irt'laiid, which 448 HISTORY OF IBELAND. was, as usual, placed in the back-ground. He had upon his hands the difficult business of negotiating a peace with France ; and his fast-failing health did not permit him to go into the details of Irish appointments and Irish grievances. Yet, Charles James Fox was of a char- acter noble, open, and generous ; as oppo- site to Mr. Pitt, in personal qualities, as he was in his place in the House of Commons. If he had, at this juncture, accepted the po- sition of Viceroy — if he had seen with his own eyes the insolent and audacious cruelty of the Orange magistracy, which was now strong enough to brave both law and Gov- ernment — the too-patient suffering of the great mass of the people, and the decaying trade and industry of the towns — it would have been impossible to repress indignation in such a nature as his. But he had been specially brought into power for the purpose of negotiating a peace with France ; and this was enough for his diminished en- ergies. Lord Grenville, the Premier Min- ister, who had been an active agent in carrying the Union, was by no means so favorable to Ireland as the Foreign Secre- tary. Lord Sidmouth was the boasted and pledged opponent to Catholic concession, un- der every possible variation of political occur- rence. The friends and cooperators of Lord Redesdale, the Attorney and Solicitor-Gen- eral, retained their situations and confi- dence ; Mr. Alexander Marsden, the secret adviser and machinist of the late adminis- trations, was not displaced. The whole of the Orange magistracy remained undisturb- ed in the commission of the peace. Even Major Sirr was still seen, as the tutelary guardian of the Castle-yard. No floating patronage was removed from any promoter of the late, to countenance or encourage the supporters of the new, system. The name of Grattan, the friend and father of Irish liberty, was not seen on the list of changes, and Mr. Curran, the unwavering asserter of Ireland's rights and freedom, remained nearly five months unpromoted. As for the Catholics, they were deluded again. They soon found that there was no dis- position to disquiet the United Kingdom with an importunate insistanee upon any claims of theirs. But at the first moment of the ; change of Viceroys, they were so confident of their affairs being now in good hands, that they resolved not to press the matter too keenly. A newly-constituted Catholic Committee met in March, before the Duke of Bedford had yet arrived, at Mr. M'Don- nell's house, in Allen Court, and there re- solved, with the exception of two dissent- ing voices, that it was inexpedient to press a discussion of the Catholic question, during the present session of Parliament ; and that it would be proper to present an address, on belialf of the Catholics, to the Duke of Bedford, congratulating him on his appointment to the chief government of Ireland, and expressing their confidence in the wisdom and abilities of the illustrious personages who composed the present ad- ministration. Indeed, nothing can well be conceived more helpless than the management of the Catholic cause during the whole of the Bed- ford administration. A Mr. Ryan, a mer- chant, who had a large house in Marlborough street, threw his house open to informal meetings of active members of the Commit- tee, and entered into correspondence with Mr. Fox, as an authorized agent, or rather leader, amongst the Catholics. This pro- duced jealousies and discontents ; other meet- ings were held in various places ; where con- siderable diversity of opinion made itself manifest, chiefly on this question — should they press for emancipation at once, or await a more convenient season ? Many gather- ings of Catholic gentlemen and merchants took place in some of the counties, and strong resolutions were passed. It was manifest that a good share of public spirit had been roused amongst them ; but they lacked organization, and sage and bold counsel. The new Viceroy received their ultra-loyal and rather mealy-mouthed ad- dresses with courtesy ; but answered them with equivocation, For example, one ad- dress, from the Catholics of Dublin, signed by Lords Fingal, Southwell, Kenmare, Gormanstown, &c., was presented at tiie Castle on the 29th of April, 1806. It closes in this humble style : — " May your Grace permit us to conclude with the expression of those sentiments, in which all Irish Catholics can have but one EQinVOCATION OF THE VICEROY. 449 voice. Bound as we are to the fortunes of the empire, hy a remembrance of what is -past, and the hope of future benefits, by our pre- ference and by our oaths, should the wise generosity of our lawgivers vouchsafe to crown that hope which their justice inspires, it would no longer be our duty alone, but our pride, to appear the foremost against approaching danger ; and, if necessary, to remunerate our benefactors by the sacrifice of our lives." And the gracious reply ends with these words ; an admirable sample of the phrase- ology with which the Catholics were enter- tained for many years : — " In the high situation in which His Ma- jesty has been graciously pleased to place me, it is ray first wish, as it is my first duty, to secure to all classes and descriptions of His Majesty's subjects in this part of the TJnited Kingdom, the advantages of a mild and beneficent administration of the law. With this important object in view, I enter- tain no doubt that the Roman Catholic in- habitants of the city of Dublin will, by their loyalty to the King, their attachment to the Constitution, and their affection for their fellow-subjects, afford the strongest re- commendation t© a favorable consideration of their interestsP His Grace takes care to say their " in- terests ;" but it was not their interests they were pleading for ; it was their rights ; and of rights he said not a word. But while rival aspirants for leadership of the Catholics were addressing excited meetings, their dissensions were suddenly somewhat allayed by ostentatious warnings contained in tlie Government newspapers, that they were in danger of bringing them- selves within the penalties of the Con- vention act. It was a sore and embar- rassing suggestion for the struggling Cath- olics. Tlie Convention act, which passed in 1 793, was one of the baleful measures of the Pitt system, to muzzle the victim before the infliction of torture ; to render the voice of the subject equally poweiless for preven- tion and redress ; and, in truth, this formid- able act has remained ever since one of the surest safeguards of British domination in Ire- laud, as well as one of the conspicuous 57 badges of provincialism ; for there is no such law in England. Lord Chancellor Ponsonby, in whose hands was most of the patronage of Ireland, was not found to e.xercise that patronage as had been expected by his friends ; nor is it interesting, at this time, to enter into those personal and political claims which were either admitted or rejected. Yet there is one case which interests every reader, even at this late day, because it is the case of the illustrious John Pliilpot Curran. lie had been promised, and did expect, on a change of Ministry, a legal position commensurate with his services and standing at the bar. The new Lord-Chancellor neglected him for five months, and then offered him the place of Master of the Rolls, the second Judge in Equity. It was not satisfactory to Cur ran, for several reasons ; his practice had been more in law than in equity ; and, be- sides, this place carried with it no political influence. In his letter to Grattan, on this sul)ject, he says: "When the party with which I had acted so fairly had, after so long a proscription, come at hist to theii- na- tural place, I did not expect to have been stuck up into a window, a spectator of the procession." He took the place, however, for the sake of unanimity in the party. A sin- gular demonstration of party malignity was made on this occasion by some of Mr. Cur- ran's professional brethren, at a very numer- ous bar-meeting, convened to take into con- sideration an address to his honor on his late promotion. His talents were too trans- cendent, his spirit too independent, his prin- ciples too Irish, not to have enemies, who would openly oppo.se this just tribute to his splendid genius and unrivaled fame. The notice of the intended meeting had no sooner been published, than the prominent support- ers of the Ascendancy set every engine to work to prevent, embarrass, and defeat so critical an appeal to the virtue and inde- pendence of the Iriish bar upon the brightest ornament of tlieir profession, and the staunch and incorruptible^ friend of tiieir country. On the 7th of July, the meeting took ])lace, consisting of two hundred and fifty gentle- men of the bar, of wliom one hundred and eighty only chose to divide. Of these, one hundred and forty -six voted for the ad- 450 HISTORY or IRELAND. dress ; thirty-four opposed it. The question was wai'mly debated for several hours. In opposition to, and defiance of the professional powers and political influence of Messrs. Saurin and Bushe, the spirited independence of the bar was honorably asserted, and the talent, integrity, and virtue of the country triumphed over the jealousies and intrigues of the system and its abettors. Wiiile the Catholics found themselves once more thrust back from the threshold of that Constitution which they so much longed to euter, the Xortliern Orangemen, on their side, (who had been a little nervous at first about the advent of these Whigs,) soon found that they had no cause for alarui. A very singular correspondence passed tliis summer between Secretary Elliott and Mr. Wilson, a Tyrone magistrate, touching certain outrages perpetrated on Catholics in his neighborhood, and particularly, the burn- ing down the house of a man named O'Xeill, a hatter. Tliis outrage was done by night, without any provocation ; and was alleged to have been perpetrated in mere wanton- ness by a mob of Orangemen coming out of a lodge, and headed by two sons of Mr. Venier, a magistrate, and liimself a famous Orangeman. Mr. Vv^ilson's representations were so earnest, demanding inquiry and re- dress, that Mr. Sergeant Moore was sent down to the neighborhood, accompanied by a Crown Solicitor, to investigate tlie facts. Mr. Plowdeu affirms, on the authority of Mr. Wilson, probably, that Sergeant Moore, on his arrival, put himself in communication with the Messrs. Verner, the accused house- burners, to procure him evidence of what took place. " Tlie evidences were brought forward by the young Messrs. Ycrner ; but he could not get anything out of them, (after the most strict examination,) which could tend towards the crimination of these gcutiemen. Tiie house certainly was burn- ed ; but the incendiaries could not be iden- tified. It was true, the two young Messrs. Veruer were there, but only as spectators, after the house was destroyed ; but nothing appeared to justify an opinion that either of those gentlemen was concerned in the outrage." Of course, the learned Sergeant returned as wi.se as he came. Some days after Mr. Wilson was sum- moned to Dublin, and had an interview with Lord-Chancellor Ponsonby, who questioned him as to the outrage, and as to the in- quiry, Mr. Wilson attempted to make some comment upon the way which the Sergeant had taken for arriving at the Axcts — the Chancellor twice interrupted him with great energy to declare, that Mr. Sergeant Bloore's conduct entitled him to, and possessed the warmest approbation of Government. Mr. Wilson made some observations on the state of the magistracy in his part of the country, and the Chancellor asked, how he proposed to remedy the evil ? Mr. Wilson replied, that the only effectual mode would be, by issuing a general new commission. This would not give any partial offence ; and care afterw^ards should be taken not to ad- mit any improper persons into it. His lordship replied by a smile. This ended his personal communications with Grovern- ment ; but not his correspondence. He wrote several times again on the subject ; but without effect. He applied to have his own commission, as a magistrate, extended from Tyrone into Armagh, (as he dwelt on the border,) in order that he might have some power to protect the poor Catholics, who lived in daily and nightly terror under the shadow of the original Orange Lodge, and in that very neighborhood which had been the scene of the " Hell-or-Connaught" exterminations, ten years earlier ; but Mr. Wilson's application was refused. This af- fair would be in itself too trifling to occupy space in a general narrative like the present, but that it is, unfortunately, only one ex- ample of very much of the same kind of wanton oppression and official connivance wliich made the North of Ireland itself a hell for the Catholic people, during many a year since — and which is by no means over at this day. Poor Mr. Wilson, who w%as so Quixotic as to interest himself for the oppressed Catholics of Tyrone and Armagh, after the refusal of an Armagh commission to that gentleman came to be known, was himself subjected to the outrages of the Protestant " wreckers." His range of offices, filled with hay, was burned down one night ; and as he still contiinied to impoilune the Secre- tary and the Chancellor with applications ou KEVENXJE AND DEBT OF IRELAND. 451 behalf, not of himself, but of his persecuted neighbors, he was finally (3d of July, 1807,) deprived of the commission of the peace for Tyrone, by a regular writ of Supersedeas. CHAPTEK XT.YIII. 180G— 1807. Eevenue and Debt of Ireland— Enpid Increase of Debt— Drain of Wealth from Ireland— Character of the Imports and Exports — Rackrents, Tithes, k! > m d W > "^ f w !z! H 3 > 2! 23,833,381 3.796,285 149,513 22,711,224 6,413,.557 3,917,882 837,746 199,751 99,402,762 4,.551,336 298,981 152,366 84,287 295,234 3,606,074 2,224,6.55 2,122,932 00 O g 00 " O o 49,692,058 6,089,175 490,315 66,847,251 10,897,970 6,530,682 934,049 538,542 116,112,836 19,995,350 490,245 1,387,209 450,031 400,701 7,995,640 2,550,853 2,182,060 CO o W Linen Cloth . Butter . . . Pork . . . . Wheat . . . Barley . . . . Meal and Flour Candles . . . Pigs. . . . Oats. . . . Bacon . . . . Horned Cattle Spirits . . . . Lard . . . Soap . . . Copper Ore . Kelp . . . o CO O G. !Z1 H O w d I-H O 54 > W t» hi W % 1— « d JO > > CO CD d a CO > M i w "A w H . yds. . lbs barrels, bushels, bushels . cwts. . cwts. . No. barrels, flitches. . No. . galls. . cwts. . cwts. . tons. . cwts. . . tons. 678,798,721 5,777,566 2,164,608 1,3,34,.567 1,027,323 747,674 117,276 70,272 7,650,359 1,013,552 802,287 79,892 80,974 92,616 9,923 28,107 31,224 00 O V 00 "" o o > a a! 832,403,860 7,915,949 2,565,403 4,223,782 1,842,993 1,686,943 205,958 687,569 16,112,142 6,248,527 747,815 10,34!),752 313,867 219,506 30,243 106,307 64,731 00 o 1 o » t— 1 "^ 1 05"" 1 \^ The high " war prices," then, for agricul- tural produce, helped to establish a strong current of exportation in all that species of commodities, out of Ireland into England ; while at the same time the increasing ab- senteeism of Peers and landed-proprietors (who now preferred to drink their wine in England,) carried off also to that country more and more of the prices received in Ire- land for those commodities. Thus England was already gaining every way by the Union, and Ireland losing every way. Yet the system was not yet by any means perfect ; so long as voters for counties had to be created by small freeholds, there were large and increasing numbers of working farmers not wholly at the mercy of their landlords, nor liable to be turned out at the end of any six months. These people could live, and could even employ labor in im- DISTRESS OF THE PEOPLE THE " THRESHERS. 453 proveiiieiits ; so tliat there was a certain comparative prosperity ; although raaimfac- tiires (except linen) still continued to de- cline ; and the market was flooded with English fabrics. It was not till the peace brought low prices that the series of Irish famines recommenced ; and after that, the abolition of the "forty-shilling freeholders" — then the systematic refusal of leases — then the universal " tenancy-at-will" — and finally the Poor law, rendered the British .system as nearly perfect as any system of human invention can be, for reaping the full fruits of the Legislative Union. It was under great difficulties and oppres- sions that Irish farmers, at the period we have now arrived at, made out life even so well as they did. Their chief troubles arose from middlemen, rack-rents, titlies, church-rates, and the monstrous Grand Jury jobs by which gentlemen accommodated one another, at the expense of the county with roads and bridges, which were not useful to the county, but were convenient or ornamen- tal to the demesnes of those gentlemen them- selves. Those who knew Ireland in the ' early years of this century can well remem- ber the many cases of exasperating oppres- sion, the scenes of misery and despair wiiich were caused by each one of the plagues above enumerated. In some counties during this very year, 1806, the too-long suffering coun- try people were goaded into secret combina- tions and violent local resistance. In consequence of recent exactions by the tithe proctors in the counties of Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, and parts of Roscommon, formerly notable for their pacific and orderly demeanor, a body of people, styling themselves Thresh- ers {i. e. of tithe proctors' corn) had ap- peared in a sort of public confederacy. Up to that time, they had punctiliously confined their outrages and depredations to the col- lectors of tithes and their underlings. They frankly averred their reasons for their con- duct, viz., that from the late unprecedented rise in the tithes, beyond what had before been insisted upon, the profits of their crops centered almost entirely in the tithe proctor. They sent letters, signed Captain Thresher, to the growers of flax and oats, warning them, under severe pains, to leave their tithes in kind on the fields, but on no account to pay any moniod composition to their rectors and vicars, or their lessees or proctors. Had the managers of the Bedford administration in all things minutely followed the example of their predecessors, those counties would have been proclaimed, and probably a more gen- eral insurrection have existed in Ireland, than in the year 1798. Many of the task- drivers under the former Government (all found in place were retained, except Lord' Redesdale and Mr Foster, discharged by Mr. Fox,) urged the Government to procliiim the disturbed counties, and recommence tlie discipline and goadings of 1798. But there was then no motive for resort- ing to the system of Camden and Carhani})- tou ; there was no need now of provoking au insurrection, because the Union had been carried, and all was safe. Accordingly, it was resolved to meet the case of the poor "Threshers" by the usual Constitutional mea- sures, assizes, special commissions, packed juries, and the gallows. During the whole of the Bedford administration, not a single measure was adopted nor attempted for tlie redress or abatement of this curse of titlies ; the people were left at the mercy of the grind- ing proctors and rectors, * and if they com- mitted " outrage," they were hung. Twelve Threshers were executed in the autumn of this year in Mayo County alone ; and others suffered death in Gahvay, Roscommon, and Longford. There was not the smallest evi- dence that they had any political views ; or French principles. They were simply White- Boys under another name. During this summer, the anxious negotia- * Grinding was not the worst of it. Rectors dis- covered a practice of swindling farmers in the follow- ing manner : In order to encourage the labor and industry of husbandmen in improving their land*, many clergymen granted leases of tithes to the ten- ants during their incumbencies. The lessee specula- ting upon the life of the incumbent, would make ex- penditures in the improvement of his lauds propor- tionate to the probability of his own enjoymeut of the fruits of his improvements. When the improved lands began to yield increased crops, in order that the church should not lose the advantage of them (decima uhei-iores), the incumbent would effectuate au exchange of livings (often preconcerted), with some other lessor of his tithes for his incumbency; thus letting each other ciratis into the full benefit of the tenant's labor and expenditure, upon the specu- lation of a life interest, at least, in his improvenienls. In some instances, this fructifying process has beeu known in two or three years to have doubled, and iu others to have trebled the v «lue of the living. 454 HISTORY OF IRELAND. tions for peace with France, conducted by Lord Lauderdale failed ; and his lordship returned to Loudon. Tliis was the death of Charles James Fox — he died on the 13th of September, and relieved the admiuistratioD of tlie embarrassment of the presence of one honest man. Tlie death of Mr. Fox caused no alteration in the L'ish Government. In Enf the Irish brigades, inviting them to enter into the service of this country, on the prom- ise of making the Irish act of 1793 general, and farther, of opening the whole military career to them. In Ireland, these Ministerial clianges caus- ed a great commotion among the Catholics. Their committee had drawn up their petition for complete emancipation ; and had sent it to Mr. G rattan for presentation. He had consulted with the friends of their cause in London, particularly with Sheridan, and wrote to the committee that they had better withhold it. A Catholic meeting was then held, at which the venerable John Keogh moved the postponement — not abandonment — of further proceedings upon their petition. As to the paltry measure of conciliation which had been proposed by Govern- ment, and which the Catholics had not pe- titioned for at all, Mr. Keogh thus truly desci'ibed it : " The English Ministers re- solved to encoupage our Catholic gentlemen to enter into the array and navy, and through their influence to induce our peas- antry to enter the service in great imml)ers. One of tiieir objects, they admit to be, to lessen our ■population, and, on the whole, to change disorder and weakae.ss into subordi- nation and strength. But candor must com- pel us to allow, that this bill would not have given them any great claim for gratitude from the Catholics ; to relieve them teas not the object of the hill ; it did not profess to admit them to the privileges of their coun- try. It has been called a boon to the Cath- olics ; but, in truth, had it been carried into efifect, it would have been a boon given by the Catholics ; the boon of their blood, to defend a constitution from which they, and they only, were cautiously excluded." Yet Mr. Keogh jirai-ed warmly the Min- istry who had attempted to grant even this "boon ;" and proposed that from respect to them, and in deference to the advice of Mr. Grattan and other friends, their petition for emaneipalion should not then be pre- 58 sen ted. Tliis motion was opposed by Mr. O'Gorman, but sustained by the potent voice of Daniel O'Connell, who spoke on this occasion with a warm and filial regard of the veteran Catholic agitator, John Keogh, and his long services to the cause. The res- olution to jiostpone was carried ; the com- mittee was dissolved ; and Lord Fingal was deputed to present a respectful address to the Duke of Bedford ; although, how his grace merited any confidence or gratitude from the Irish Catholics it would now be difficult to explain. The whole policy of his administration had been directed to keep back their claim for emancipation, and to preserve the Orange Ascendancy in its op- pressive domination. Yet the Duke seemed to be removed from office upon a question which touched the Catholics, though never so little. The Or- ange men were excited against him ; party spirit had been roused ; and such zealous partisans are the Irish populace, and so grateful for any presumed kind intention, that the Dublin mob, absolutely took out the horses from the Duke's carriage, and from the Duchess' carriage, yoked some of themselves to the carriages, and drew thera to the water side, where they embarked for England on the 21st of A^vW, 1807. CHAPTER XLIX. 1807—1808. Dulce of Pviclimond Viceroy — Sir A. Wellesley, Secre- tary—Their System — Depression of Catholics — In- solence of Orangemen — Government Interference in Elections — Ireland Gets a New Insurrection Act — And an Arms Act — Grattan Advocates Coercion Acts — Sheridan Opposes Them — Acts Passed— Tlie Bishop of Quimper — Means Used to Create Exas- peration against Catholics—" Shanavests" and " Caravats " — " Church in Danger " — Catholic Pe- tition — Influence of O'Connell — Lore! Fingal — Growing Liberality amongst Protestants — May- nooth Grant Curtailed — Doctor Duigenan Privy- Councillor — Catholic Petition Presented — The " Feto" Offered — Mr. Ponsonby and Mr. (irattao — They Urge the Veto as a Security — Petition Re- jected — Controversies on the T'eto— Bishops' Reso- lutions—No Catholics in Bank of Ireland — Dublin Police. The Duke of Richmond had arrived ia Dublin, as Lord-Lieutenant, a few days be- fore his predecessor left it. 458 HISTORY OF lEELAND. As the new administration had accepted office immediately after the King had re- quired a pledge from his Ministers that no Catholic claims, or rights, or wrongs, should ever be mentioned to him again, this accept- ance of office was itself a pledge to that ef- fect by the new advisers of the Crown ; and, so fiir as they were concerned, they certainly redeemed the pledge. They were profess- edly a " No-Popery " Cabinet ; and the first principle of their policy was resist- ance to all- reform, and especially to all concession to Catholics. Such being their merits, the Viceroy and his Secretary, Sir Arthur Wellesley, were at once presented by the Dublin Corporation with the free- dom of the city in a gold and in a silver box, respectively. The vote was accom- panied by an enthusiastic speech of the no- torious Mr. John Giflfard, who said, this was not the mere compliment of custom, but a special recognition of their known deter- minalion "to maintain the Constitution in Church and State " — that is, the Protestant Ascendancy, and the exclusion and debase- ment of Catholics. It may well be understood that this event aggravated the insolence of Orange magis- trates and squires, all over the island, mak- ing the lot of the Catholic country-people still more bitter than before ; and that it caused despondency, irritation, and some de- gree of disorganization amongst the Catlio- lic leaders, who were striving in such hope- less circumstances for the civil rights of their countrymen. It would be difficult to con- ceive any political prospect more gloomy than that of the Catholic body at that mo- ment ; dreading the rigor of the new ad- ministration, with its ferocious Orange sup- porters, and reduced to be thankful to the out-going Ministers for attempting a paltry army-reform, avowedly intended to diminish the Catholic population. Tliis is the first time — seven years after the Union — that we first find British Ministers urging the depop- ulation of the island ; a policy which has since been prosecuted with such eminent success. The new Parliament opened in June. In the elections which preceded it, the Govern- ment made unusual exertions to secure a large niiijority. Of the nature of the influ- ences employed in Ireland for this purpose, one example may suffice : Soon after the House met, Mr. Wliitbread stated, from a paper which he produced, to the House, that Mr. Ormsby, the Solicitor for the For- feited Estates in Ireland, went down to the election for Wexford County, and person- ally waited on Mr. James Grogan, for the purpose of influencing him to support ths Ministerial candidates, by a promise of a restoration to the family of all the estates of his late brother, Cornelius Grogan, which had been forfeited Ministers neither de- nied nor blamed, nor offered to investigate the fact, or punish the delinquent. Mr. Perceval assured Lord Howick, that he had never before heard of it ; and Sir Arthur Wellesley declared, that the Government of Ireland had given no instructions to Mr. Ormsby on the subject ; and any improper use of such influence was unknown to Gov- ernment. Tlie actual abuse of the Govern- ment influence, the overt negotiation of their confidential servant, and his subse- quent impunity, tell the whole story plainly enough. Tlie first act passed for Ireland in this Parliament was a new " Insurrection act." The second was an " Arms act." Tliey were brought in by Sir Arthur Wellesley j and it appeared on the debates that they had been actually framed by the late Gren- ville administration, but there had not been time to pass them. The Duke of Bedford and Mr. Secretary Elliott had recommended, and now supported them ; — yet, the Dublin people had harnessed themselves to Lord Bedford's carriage ! So easily won by even pretended kindness are our generous-hearted countrymen — and so minute is the difference between Whigs and Tories. The " Insurrection act " renewed the pow- er of the Lord-Lieutenant to proclaim dis- turbed counties, and the authority of the magistrates to arrest persons who should be found out of their dwellings between sun- setting and sunrising. There was a clause enacting, " that magistrates might have the power to enter any houses, or authorize any persons, by warrant, to do so, at any time from after sunset, to sunrise, from which they should suspect the inhabitants, or auy of them to be tlien absent, and cause GRATTAN ADVOCATES COERCION ACTS SHERIDAN OPPOSES THEM. 459 absent persons to be apprehended, and deem- ed idle uud disorderly, nnless tliey could prove they were absent upon their lawful occasions." Many persons thought it singular to find Mr. G rat tan, then member for Dublin, sup- porting this coercion law ; but in truth, it was quite consistent with his former course ; he had supported the former Insurrection act, and Gunpowder act, in the Irish Parliament. Nobody could have a greater horror of re- volutionary movements, and of French prin- ciples than Grattan ; and Mr. Elliott, the late Secretary, assured him that the poor " Threshers " were at bottom no other than Jacobins. He said, on this occasion : — " He understood from his Right Honor- able friend beside him, (Mr. Elliott,) that there icere secret meetings of a dark and dan- gerous description in Ireland. This formed a ground for the bill. He was afraid of a French interest in Ireland, and he wished that Government should be furnished with the means not merely of resisting, but of extir- pating that interest, wherever and whenever it should appear," But his support of so cruel a measure greatly alienated his friends in Ireland. To do him justice, Jie vehemently objected to the clause authorizing magistrates to enter houses by night, on suspicion, or to give a warrant for that purpose to any one who might say he had a suspicion. " Cut who," he exclaimed, " were the persons to be vest- ed with the power ? Perhaps some lawless miscreant — some vagabond. Perhaps, the discretion of that reasonable time was to be lodged in the bosom of some convenient menial, some postillion, coachman, host- ler, or ploughboy, who, under the sanction of the law, was to judge wlien it would be a rea- sonable time for him to rush into the apart- ment of a female, while she was hastily throwing on her clothes, to open the door to this midnight visitor. Tliis would give a woiuid that would be felt long." Richard Brinsley Slieridan, to his honor be it said, went against his friend and most of his party upon this question. " His Right Honorable friend had said, that the mea- sure could only be justified by an imperious necessity ; now it was that necessity which he wi:bLied lo have cleavly made out Lu exist, before the measure was resorted to. It was no answer to liim, that the measure had been prepared by his friends. If it had, the Tlireshers were then engaged in their dis- turbances, and administering unlawful oaths. Ireland was now as loyally tranquil as any part of the empire. Would they state in the preamble of the bill, "Whereas, a very small part of Ireland was some time ago disturbed by the Threshers, and whereas, that disturbance has been completely put down by the ordinary course of the law, and Ire- land is now completely tranquil, be it, there- fore, enacted, &;c. That most extraordinary powers, &c." The bill passed into law, however, with all its clauses ; and by continual renewals (for it is always temporary, like the Mutiny act,) it has been substantially the law of Ireland even to this day. Next came the Arms bill. It was the needful complement of the other ; for if the people were not very carefully deprived of arms, it was known that they would not submit to the daily and nightly outrages which were intended to be perpetrated upon them under the " Insurrection act." But while the latter was to be contingent upon the Yiceroy's proclamation, the Arms act was universal and was to operate at once. Mr. Sheridan opposed this measure also. He said that if the former bill seemed odious in its form and substance, this was ten tliou- sand times more so ; it was really abomina- ble. But at the same time, as if it were meant to make the measure both odious and ridiculous, it was so constructed, as that it would plunder the people of their arms, and put down the trade of a blacksmith. Noth- ing like a blacksmith was to exist in Irehind, lest he might possibly form something like a pike. If ever there were an instance, in which the liberties of a loyal people were taken from them, and they were thereby tempted to become disloyal, it M'as the pres- ent. Indeed, from the general spirit, with which the bill was framed, he thought there only wanted a clause to make it high trea- son for any man to communicate either of these bills to Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor of the French, lest he should conceive them to be direct invitations to hfm to visit that part of His Miijesly's empire. 460 HISTORY OF IRELAND. On the 14th of August, Mr. Sheridan moved for a serious Parliamentary inquiry into the state of IrcU\nd. Mr. Perceval eagerly opposed the motion ; earnestly de- precated " the time and the spirit " of Mr. Sheridan's motion ; and got rid of it by the " previous question." Thus, at the moment when Catholics were told to despair of ever being admitted to the privileges of the Constitution, they were to be disarmed and coerced on suspicion and hearsay ; and all inquiry into the causes of their discontent was refused, because the right time had not come. And, in fact, it has never come. We have said the Catho- lics were to be disarmed and coerced ; for although no religious distinction is made in the acts, yet every one knew then, as now, that such laws are never enforced against a Protestant, unless it be, perhaps, some Pro- testant like Mr. Wilson, the Tyrone mag- istrate, who makes himself olnioxious by standing up for liis Catholic neighbors. The stern and eternal negative put upon Catholic claims soon reached France. A certain Bishop of Quimper, in a pastoral to his flock, very naturally drew a striking con- trast between the intolerance of England and the regard for religion and absolute tol- eration shown by the Emperor's Govern- ment.* These remarks were, in the eyes of the English Government, a development of the most infamous French principles, or rather a proof of a Franco-Irish conspiracy. Indeed, nothing ever has so bitterly provok- * The good Bishop of Quimper says amongst other things : " He (the Emperor) shall hear the acclama- tions of your gratitude and your love. They will prove to the eternal enemy of the glory and prosper- ity of France that all her perhdious intrigues will never be able to alienate from him your religious and faithful hearts. For a moment she had seduced you — at that unhappy epoch when anarchy ravaged this desolated laud, and when its impious furies overturned your temples and profaned your altars. She only af- fected concern for the reestablishment of your holy religion in order to rend and ravage your country. See the sufferings which England inflicts upon Ire- land, which is Catholic like you, and subject to her dominion. The three last ages present only the af- fecting picture of a people robbed of all their relig- ious and civil rights. In vaiu the most enlightened men of that nation have protested against the tyran- nical oppression. A new persecution has ravished from them even the hope of seeing an eud to their calamities. An inflamed and misled (the English) people, dares applaud such injustice. It insults with Bectarian fanaticism the Catholic religion, and its venerable chief; and it is that Government, which ed the British public and its Government, as when the eloquent tongue of some illus- trious French prelate proclaims aloud the shocking truth about Irish rule, and pours forth the hot torrent of sacred indignation upon the deliberate, cold-blooded atrocities of England. t Upon the slender foundation of the Bish- op of Quimper's Pastoral, Government un- derlings engrafted a most base fabrication, for the double purpose of raising indignation against the French, and of throwing odium upon the body of the Irish Catholics. The Government prints gave out, that a very important document, pregnant with danger to this country, signed by Napoleon and Talleyrand, had fallen into the hands of his Majesty's Ministers, together with a docu- ment of still more importance to the Catho- lic cause in Ireland, asserted to have been solemnly issued from the Vatican. It was falsely asserted, that the Pope had lately issued a Bull, addressed to the titular bish- ops of Ireland, exhorting them in the most forcible terms to excite in the minds of all people of the Roman Catholic persuasion under tlieir influence and direction, an ar- dent devotion to the views and objects of Buonaparte, and an expectation, that by his assistance and protection they might eventu- ally obtain an uncontrolled exercise of their rights, religious and political. It was also stated, that this address from the lloman Pontiff, was accompanied by another paper containing a solenui declaration on the part of the French ruler, that it was his firm de- knows not how to be just towards its own subjects, and dares to calumniate this, which has given us se- curity and honor. Whilst the Irish Catholics groan beneath laws so oppressive, our august Phnperor does not confine himself to the protection and establish- ment of that religion in his own states. He demand- ed in his treaty with Saxouy, that it should there en- joy the same liberty as other modes of worship." fltis buta very few years since Monsieur Dupanloup, the eloquent bishop of Orleans, having given out that he was about to preach a charity sermon, for the re- lief of the exterminated Irish, Lord Plunket, bishop of Tuam, wrote to Monsieuer d'Orleans that he knew he was going to libel ]dm, and fling foul sland- ers upon him. Efforts were even made through the English Embassy to induce the Emperor to forbid the sermon. It was preached, however, to a va.st as- semblage, and though his grace of Tuam was not slandered nor named in the discourse, yet it was a most scathing and touching expose of the whole course of British policy in Ireland. The English press was bitterly indignant. SHANA VESTS AND " CARAVATS " CHURCH IN DANGER. 461 termination to give the Roman Catholic religion the ascendancy in Ireland. By foul means snch as these the " No-Po- pery " cry was stimulated to its most savage pitch of blood-thirsty ferocity. Even the rural organizations, calling themselves " Shanavests," and " Caravats," which arose this year in Tipperary, and who were noth- ing in the world but White-Boys and Thresh- ers, under local names, were carefully given out to be secret political societies, which were going to bring in the French. In truth, those unhappy people had their thoughts much more occupied about the tithe-proctor than about the Emperor Na- poleon ; and knew more about County-cess than about French principles. Unfortuna- tely, however, the Shanavests and Caravats were not 07ie agrarian faction, but two ; and sometimes, when they ought to have been threshing the tithe-corn, they threshed each other at fair and market. Mr. Plowden says : — "Both parties seemed to be indiscrimina- tely sore at the payment of tithes ; both complained of the exorbitancy of the ad- vanced demands of rack-rents for lands out of lease. Both manifested symptoms of a natural and interested attachment to the soil they had occupied, by their undisguised hostility to every competitor for the farms of the old occupiers. They had not then begun (as they were afterwards charged,) to fix a general rate of tithe and rent, and to enforce the observance of it by threats of visiting those who should dare to exceed it. They assumed no appellation expressive of, or tippropriate to, any of those objects which they have since pursued to the disgrace and disturbance of the country. When the In- surrection and Arms bills passed into laws, it is no less true, than singular, that in all the counties, then said to be disturbed, not a xingle charge was to be found on the calen- dar, of sedition or insurgency, at the preced ing assizes. Widely as the Threshers had extended their outrages, they had been com- pletely put down and tranquillized by the arm of the common law, without recourse to the violent measure of suspending the Constitution. The objects of their outrages had been ascertained by the judges, who bad gone into the disturbed parts on the late special commission ; and not even a spurious whisper had reached their ears, that there was amongst them anything describa* ble as an existing French farty^ These miserable writhings of a crushed peasantry, under the heel of local tyrants, were, however, eagerly seized and dwelt upon, as both justifying the coercion bills, and exhibiting the unchangeable, ineradica- ble wickedness of Papists ; so that when Parliament met, on the 21st of January, 1808, No-Pofcry! and Church in Danger! rung fiercely through the Three Kingdoms. Two days before Parliament assembled, there was a large meeting of Catholics in Dublin, Lord Fingal in the Chair. On mo- tion of Count Dalton, it was resolved to petition Parliament for the repeal of the re- maining Penal laws. Some gentlemen, as Mr. O'Conor, of Belanagare, moved an adjournment of the meeting, as they de- spaired of any success, under the existing regime ; but O'Counell, who now constantly attended these meetings, and took a leading part in them, had already adopted his well- known maxim — Agitate ! Agitate ! He supported the resolution to petition ; so did John Byrne, of Mullinahack. The resolu- tion of adjournment was withdrawn, and that for a petition unanimously passed. O'Connell's influence was, even thus early, very powerful in softening down irritation, soothing jealousies, and inspiring self-abne- gation, for the sake of the common cause. It was this great quality, not less than his commanding ability, which made him, soon afterwards, the acknowledged head of the Catholic cause. The petition was intrusted to Lord Fin- gal, who went to London and asked Lord Grenville and Mr. G rattan, to present it, after the Duke of Portland, to whom it was first offered, had coldly refused to have anything to do with it. And humiliating enough it must have been, to that Peer of ancient race, to be obliged to hawk roui'd among "Liberal" members of both Mouses the humble petition of himself and his conn- ti-ymen, to be admitted to tlie common civil rights of human beings, and to see the re- presentative of one of King William's Dutch- men turn his back upon the importunity of the Irish Papist. Nothing came of this 462 HISTORY OF IRELAND. petition. It was hiid on tlie table of the Lui-(is ; but wlien Mr. Grattan offered it in tlie Comraon.s, the sharp eyes of Canning and Perceval detected an informality — seve- ral of the names appeared to be written in the same handwriting- — a fatal objection, as they insisted, and the 2:)etition was not re- ceived. Evidently, the right way had not yet been discovered, to command the atten- tion of that House to Catholic claims ; and it was not till twenty-one years later that the right way was suddenly found out by O'Connell. It is agreeable to have here to record, that the furious bigotry of the Ministry and the studied excitations to religious animos- ity, were not responded to by the Irish Pro- testants altogether as had been expected. The Duke of Cumberland had entirely failed to induce or intimidate the University of Dublin into petitioning against the Catholic claims, as Oxford had done. The Protest- ant' inhabitants of many of the counties in Ireland presented petitions in favor of the claims of the Catholics. There were nine counties that had shown the noble example of lil)erality and sound policy. The Counties of Clare and Galvvay had, at meetings con- vened by the sheriff, expressed their ardent wish for admitting their Catholic brethren to the benefits of the Constitution. In the Counties of Tipperary, Kilkenny, Roscom- mon, Waterford, and Meath, and in the town of !Nevvry, resolutions to the same ef- fect were entered into, as well by the Pro- testant gentry and inhabitants, as by the great bulk of Protestant proprietors of land. That recommendation was owing partly to the growing influence of liberality and confidence, partly to the absence of all suspicion of any real intention to invade the landed property of the county on a conve- nient occasion, but more particularly to the strong and immediate feeling of danger which a divided country would have to en- counter in case of hostile invasion. On that principle did wise Protestants deprecate the terrible privilege of an exclusive monopoly of Constit\itional right and political power. The Duke of Cumberland, indeed, had the gratification of presenting to the House of Lords one petition from the Orange Cor- poration of Dublin against the Catholics; but the example was not generally followed. One -reflection arises upon these facts: — That the most potent and unrelenting enemy to the Irish Catholics, at all times, was not the Irish Protestants, but the British imperi- al system. It was the English Parliament, in King William's time, then assuming to bind Ireland by its own acts, which first violated the treaty of Limerick, by excluding Cath- olic Peers and Commoners from Parliament. It was while the English Parliament com- pletely controlled the action of that of Ire- land, (by requiring the heads of bills to be sent over,) that the dreadful Penal Code was successively elaborated and maintained in force. But it was Ireland's frez Parlia- ment which, in 1793, gave the grand shock to that infamous code, admitting Catholics to the bar, to the corporations, to the juries, allowing them to go to school, and to teach school, to bear arms, to own horses, to hold lands in fee, to take degrees in the Univer- sity ; — in short, it was the Irish Protestant Parliament, once free, that swept away, in one day, five-sixths of the oppressions, pen- alties, and disabilities, accumulated and piled upon the Catholics, during a whole century, by the unappeasable hate of England. This accounts for O'ConnelFs frequent declaration, that, rather than remain in the Union, he would gladly take back the Irish Protestant Parliament — consent to repeal of Catholic Emancipation, and take his chance with his Irish fellow-countrymen. And O'Connell was right. Two of the first things recommended for Ireland by the Duke of Richmond were, the curtailment of the Maynooth Grant, and the appointment of Doctor Duigenan to a seat on the Irish Privy-Council. The whole spirit of the Perceval administration is ap- parent in these two examples. Doctor Duigenan had devoted his life to raking up all the vile, forgotten slanders that had ever been heaped upon Catholics since the days of Calvin ; and was never so much in his element as when pouring forth his foul col- lection, by the hour, in a full-foaming stream of ribald abuse. The appointment of such a man to such a place, was a public affront and a significant warning to Catholics, show- ing them in what estimation they and theii claims were held by the new Government. DOCTOR DUIGENAN PEIVY-COUNCrLLOR. 463 Tlie other pitiful niaiiifestation of No- Piipcry spite was cutting down the appro- priation fur jMayuooth College. This was evidently a sulyect of difference and discus- sion in tlie Cabinet. iNIr. Foster, Chancel- lor of the Irish E.xcliequer, in Committee on I'le Snpj)Iies, stated, that additional build- ings were in progress at Maynooth ; that the establishment was capable of accommo- dating two hundred and fifty students ; and that it was his intention to move that the Kinn of ^9,250 should be granted to that institution for the current year. Sir John Newport moved that it should be £13,000, whicli was the annual grant fixed by tlie late administration, as v.'ill be remembered, in their alarm lest the Irish College of Paris should again attract Irish pupils. A warm debate ensued. Mr. Perceval, as a matter of course, opposed the larger grant, upon strictly evangelical principles ; so did William Wilberforce, (a gentleman whose pyui[)atliies were strongly excited by the de- gradation of oppressed people, provided they were of a black color.) General Mathew, a good and generous Irishman, earnestly sup|)orted the proposal to grant the larger sum. He had been; within the last ten days, at Maynooth, and he could assure the House, that, unless the whole of the last year's grant should be voted, the buildings upon which former grants had been expended, w^ould fall. There was no lead on the roofs, and the rain penetrated through them. He al- luded to tlie offer made by order of Napo- leon, to induce Irish students to go for edu- cation to France frum Lisbon and Ireland, upon a promise of the restoration of all the Insh Bourses ; and read an extract from the answer of the Irish Catholic Bishops, stating their gratitude to the Government for the liberal support of Maynooth, and denouncing 8usj)ension against any functionaries, and exclusion from preferment in Ireland against any students, who should accept the offers of the enemy of their own country. Would any one say after that, that the Catholics were not to be confided in ? If they were not to be trusted, why not dismiss them from the army and navy ? Why allow them to vote at elections ? But this was not the act of Ministers. He was sorry to be obliged to allude to the conduct of any of the Royal family. But, however, it was rumored, that even Minis- ters were disposed to agree to the grant, till they went to St. James' Palace, and were closeted for several hours with a Royal Duke, after which they resorted to the pres- ent reductioi\. That Royal Duke was the Chancellor of the University of Dublin ; he was Chancellor of a Protestant school, and might wish to put down the education of the Catholics ; but no man, who knew or valued Ireland, as he did himself, could countenance such a project. Ministers, however, had a sure majority, and succeeded in cutting down the proposed grant to Maynooth. One can only wonder that the Catholic body, clergy and laity, persisted in such an obstinate " loyalty " to the British Government, and did not turn to France, and hearken to the liberal invitation of tlie Emperor Napoleon. Amongst the bitter opponents of the May- nooth Grant was I)octor Duigenan, the new Privy-Councillor, who was member for an Irish Borough. He vented some of the ven- om, of which he had plenty, upon his Cath- olic countrymen ; said they were always trai- tors in theory, and wanted but the opportu- dity to be traitors in action. This gave nse to some sharp debating. Mr. Barham could not contain his execra- tion of such scandalous and wicked senti- ments. This drew from Mr. Tierney the question to Mr. Perceval, whether the offi- cial order for making Doctor Duigenan a Privy-Councillor had been sent over to Ire- land. On a negative answer from the Chan- cellor of tlie Exchequer, Sir A. Wellesley apprised the House, that the Right Honor- able and learned gentleman had been speci- ally recommended by the Lord-Lienteiiant to be a Privy-Councillor, as from his knowl- edge of ecclesiastical bu.siness he could be of great service in Ireland in that situation. This induced Mr. Barham on a subsequent day to move the House, that an humble ad- dress be presented to His Majesty, praying that he would order to be laid before the House, copies of the extracts of the corres- pondence, which passed between the Lord- Lieutenant of Ireland and the Government of England, as to the appointment of iKx-tor 464 HISTOKT OF IRELAND. Patrick Duigeaaii to a seat iu the Privy- Coniic'il of Ireland, The question being put, Mr. W. Wynne said he was anxious to hear a vindication of so extraordinary an appoint- ment, and one which was so much hiraented. He then alluded to the dismissal and subse- quent advancement of Mr. Giffard, and con- sidered the present only as a fresh endeavor to irritate the feelings of the Catholics of Ireland. Sir A. Wellesley repeated, that applications had been made to Government here, to grant to the learned Doctor as Judge of the Prerogative Court, the office of member of the Privy-Council. Till the time of his predecessor this had been the uniform custom, and it was now resorted to again as a matter of convenience. He be- lieved, that the present session was the first time it had been attempted to be argued, that because a man was friendly to the Church, he ought not to be trusted. If the Honorable and learned Doctor had been indiscreet iu his language, why was it not taken down at the time, and complaint made to that House ? He did not care of what religion a man was. If he could be useful in any line, in that line, he was of opinion, he ought to be employed. There is no doubt that Sir Arthur Wel- lesley was quite sincere in these declarations ; he did not care of what religion a man was ; he was always a practical person ; he de- sired, in a privy-councillor, as in a staff-offi- cer or a commissary, precisely such quali- ties as were serviceable for the business in hand ; and as the business in hand at that moment was to trample down and humiliate the Catholics, he approved of Doctor Duig- enan for Privy-Councillor. The Catholic petition which had been re- jected by the House of Commons, on a point of form, had been sent back to Ire- land to be signed anew. In the meantime, Lord Fingal remained in London, and had frequent interviews with the friends of the Catholics, particularly with Mr. Ponsouby. It was now that the delicate subject of the veto first took a tangible shape. Lord Fin- gal was an amiable, high-minded, and un- suspicious man ; but a weak one. The success of the petition, he was assured by the friends of the Catholic cause, would be greatly forwarded by an admission of the royal veto in the nomination of the Irish prelacy. This negotiation, which has since produced effects of great national import- ance, tiiough then iniforseen, was of a pri- vate nature ; and the particulars of it would not have reached the public, had not subse- quent events induced the parties to it to make them public. Never was a point of polifico-t/ieological controversy so fiercely con- tested, and, consequently, so misconceived and misrepresented as this question of veto. Lord Fingal had certainly received no spe- cific instruction concerning it from the Cath- olic meeting, which voted him the sole dele- gate, guardian, and manager, of their peti- tion ; and the subject of a veto was not in contemplation of that meeting. The history of this affair proves, in a most striking manner, how dangerous it is for any national Church, in matters affecting its discipline, government, and independence, to take counsel of any one outside of itself. In the present case, Lord Fingal, only anxious for the emancipation of his coun- trymen, and credulous enough to believe that the English Parliament would grant it upon fair terms, without the strongest coercion, acted by the advice of Doctor Milner, an English Vicar-Apostolic, and author of a learned controversial work ; and as Doctor Milner was a kind of agent in England for the Irish Bishops, though not with any such purpose as. this, the two together took it upon them to authorize Mr. Ponsonby and Mr. Grattan (as both those gentlemen af- firmed,) to reinforce the prayer of tlie Catholic petition, by offering the veto power to the Crown. The petition having returned from Ire- land, duly signed, was presented by Mr. Grattan, on the 25th of May. The only remarkable passage in his speech, is that in which he proposes the veto. He said :— "Tlie influence of the Pope so far was purely spiritual, and did not extend even to the appointment of the members of his Cath- olic hierarchy. They nominated themselves, and looked to the Pope, but for his spirituid sanction of such nomination. But if it should be supposed, that there was the smallest danger in this course, he had a proposition to suggest, which he had autho- rity to state, which, indeed, he was instructed CATHOLIC PETITION PRESENTED. 465 to make ; namely, that Ilis Majesty may interfere upon any such occasion witli liis negative. This would have the effect of preventing any Catholic ecclesiastic being advanced to the government of that Church in Ireland, who was not politically approved of by the Government of that country." Mr. Ponsonby, in supporting the petition, made the same proposal ; and said he did so upon the authority of Doctor Milner, who was a Catholic Bishop in England, and who was authorized by the Catholic Bishops of Ireland to niako the proposition, in case the measure of Catholic Emancipation should be acceded to. The proposition, he said, was this : That the person to be nominated to a vacant Bishopric should be submitted to the King's approbation ; and that, if the approbation were refused, another person should be proposed, and so on, in succession, nntil His Majesty's approbation should be obtained, so that the appointment should finally rest with the King. Mr. Perceval, as might have been expect- ed, earnestly and prayerfully opposed Mr. Grattan's motion, and all other possible con- cessioti to Papists, whether on the condition of veto, or any other condition. Not that lie would be averse, he said, from giving contentment to bis Catholic brethren, whom he loved as a Christian, as much as any man ; and "should not conceive himself precluded from supporting their claims un- der different circumstances, in tlie event, for instance, of a chaynge taking place in the. Catholic relig7,on itself. ^^ On the division upon Mr. Grattan's motion, the Minister had a majority of one hundred and fifty- three — one hundred and twenty-eight having voted for going into committee, and two hundred and eighty-one against it. Lord Grenville presented the same peti- tion in the Lords ; made the same offer of the veto, and the petition met the same fate as in the Commons. These debates at once raised an immense controversy both in England and in Ireland ; which lasted many years, and produced iu- nnmerable books and pamphlets ; discuss- ing the limits between spiritual and tem- poral power ; the meaning of loyalty, and of the oath of supremacy, and the " liber- tius of Uie Galilean Church " — which ought an rather to be termed the " Slavery of the Galliean Church," because it means the subordination of the government of that Church to the civil power. That civil power, indeed, is native and not foreign ; but when it comes to be a question of subordin- ating the government of the Catholic Ciun-ch in Ireland to a Protestant King of Eng- land, one must only wonder that even the eagerness for civil emancipation could ever have made any Irish Catholic entertain such an idea for a moment. Into the merits of the question we do not here enter ; but it is matter of history that when Mr. Pitt and Lord Castlereagh were intriguing for sup- port to the Union, in 1799, they had deluded certain Irish Bishops into accepting the principle of the veto, by holding out to them the bait of immediate emancipation cfter the Union.* The alarm and indignation excited in Ire- land, both amongst clergy and laity^ by the veto project, were quite vehement. Che conscientious Catholic historian, Plow den, says : — " The prospective view of a national re ligion, preserved with a virtuous hierarchy, without any civil establishment or state in- terference, through three centuries of op- pression and persecution, produced alarm in * The Rev. Mr. Brenan, in his Ecdesiar.fical Eut )rg of Ireland, narrates the circumstances thus: — " During the course of that year, ten of the Irish Bishops, constituting the Board of Maynooth Col- lege, happened to be convened in Dublin, on the ar- rangement of some ecclesiastical business, when Lord Castlereagh, then Secretary for Ireland, availed himself of their presence, and submitted for their adoption two vitally momentous measures, originate ing from the British Ministry.* " By the first of these it was proposed, that His Majesty should be invested with the power of a veto in all future ecclesiastical promotions within this kingdom, and agreeably to the second, the Catholic clergy of Ireland were to receive a pension out of the treasury; at the same time, assurances were sol- emnly pledged by Government, that on the acquies- cence of the Irisli hierarchy in these state measure.% the fate of that great national question, Catholic Emancipation, entirely depended Thus beset by tke protiers of the Minister on the one hand, and by the alarming posture of the country on the other, the Bishops already alluded to agreed, 'that in the * The prelates composing the board were as follows : — Richard O'Keilly, K. C A. B.. Armagh ; J. T. Troy, K. 0. A B , Dublin ; l^dward Dilluu, R. C A. B , Tuam ; Thomas Bray, R. 0. A B , dshtl ; P. J Plunliett, K. C I) , Meath; F. Moylan, R. C. B., Cork ; Dani-l Delaney, R C. B., Kil- dare ; Kdmund French, U. C B. . Elphin ; James CanJ- field. B. C. B., Ferns ; Johij Cruise, R. C. B.. Aruairli. 4GG HISTORY OF IRELAND, evfiy reflecting mind. The proposed inno- vation of introducing Royal and Protestant connection, influence, and power into the convStitution and perpetuation of a Cathohc hierarcliy, to tlie utter exclusion of which tlie Irish Catholics ascribed that almost mi- I'aculous preservation, threw the public mind into unusual agitation. The laity abhorred the idea of the ministers of their religion becoming open to Court influence and in- trigue, and shuddered at the prospect of prostituting the sacred function of that apostolic mission and jurisdiction, to which they had hitherto submitted as of divine in- stitution, to its revilers, persecutors, and sworn enemies. At the same time, the whole Catholic clergy of Ireland were driven by a common electric impulse into more than or- dinary reflection upon the stupenduons efS- cacy of that evangelical purity and inde- pendence by which the spiritual pastors had so long, and under such temptations and dif- ficulties, preserved their flocks in the relig- ion of their Christian ancestors. "The general voice of the people crying out against religious reform, was an awful warning to the clergy ; and although the in- sidious concordat of 1799, was still clothed in darkness, the Irish Catholic prelates met appointment of Roman Catholic prelates to vacant 8ees within the kingdom, such interference of Gov- ernment as may enable it to be satisiied of the loy- alty of the person appointed is just, and ought to be agreed to ; ' this statement was accompanied with an admission, ' that a provision, through Government, for the Konian Catholic clergy of this kingdom, com- petent and secured, ought to be thankfully ac- cepted.' " This transaction remained a secret for many years. Mr. Plowden speaks of " the long and mysterious suppression from the knowledge of the Catholic body, of the resolutions of the Clerical Trustees of May- uooth College in 1799, which never came fully to light till IblO. It is notsiirprising," he adds, " that respect- able prelates should wish to conceal them from the eyes of the public, and particularly of such of their friends as they wished to engage in their cause, and whose esteem and confidence they subsequently courted. They were the base offspring of their un- guarded connection with Mr. Pitt, whilst he was niedit;iting the Union; which they have been sorely lamenting from the hour they found themselves swindled out of the stipulated price of their seduc- tion." It should be stated, in justice to Doctor Milner, that, after the use of his name in Parliament, as authoriz- ing the offer of a veXo, he published a statement that he had no authority to sanction such an offer; and that he had been misquoted. After the Irish Bishops passed their Synodical resolutions, there was no more ardent opponent of the xeio than Doctor Milner. in regular National Synod on the 14th and 15th of September, 1808, in Dublin, and came to the following resolutions : — " It is the decided opinion of the Roman Catholic Prelates of Ireland, that it is inex- pedient to introduce any alteration in the canonical mode hitherto observed in the nomination of the Irish Roman Catholic Bishops, which mode, long experience, has proved to be unexceptionable, wise, and salutary. " That the Roman Catholic prelates pledge themselves to adhere to the rules by which they have been hitherto uniformly guided ; namely, to recommend to His Ho- liness only such persons as are of unimpeach- able loyalty and peaceable conduct." These Synodical resolutions were signed by twenty- three prelates. Three only (they were three of those who had signed the resolu- tions of 1799,) dissented."* Immediately were held many meetings of Catholics throughout Ireland, who, by their resolutions and addresses, protested vehe- mently against the whole project of veto, and thanked the Bishops for their Arm reso- lutions. When the real nature of the pro- posal was explained, and fully known, the Catholics of Ireland indignantly resolved rather to remain uneraancipated, than suffer their Church to be enthralled. O'Connell was a strong opponent of the veto from the first ; the more active arxd educated of the laity repulsed the plan with scorn ; the press teemed with pamphlets, of which none made so much impression as the republication of Burke's letter to a peer in Ireland, in which he treats of a similar project, of giving the Crown a voice in the nomination of Catho- lic Bishops.f * Plowden. Post- Union History, p. 395, ei seq, t Edmund Burke, who was as warm a friend to his Catholic countrymen as Grattan, and a much wiser friend, says, in his letter to a Peer: " Never were the members of one religious sect fit to appoint pas- tors to another. Those, who have no regard for their welfare, reputation, or internal quiet, will not appoint such as are proper. The Seraglio of Con- stantinople is as equitable as we are, whether Catho- Ucs or Protestant; and where their own sect is concerned, full as religious; but the sport which they make of the miserable dignities of the Greek Church, the factions of the Harem, to which they make them subservient, the continual sale to which they expose and reexpose the same dignity, and by which they squeeze all the inferior orders of iha clergy is nearly equal to all the other oppressions to THE DUKE OF KICHMOKD S ANTI-CATHOLIC POLICY. 40'/ The project of enslaving the Irish Catho- lic Church to the English Protestant State, Iwas for that time defeated ; but it was l)rought forward again and again, during the struggle for emancipation, and for many years, greatly agitated the Catholic public. In the course of this session, Lord Gren- ville made his motion to make Catholic mer- chants admissible as Governor and Directors of the Bank of Ireland. Lord Westraore- hmd opposed the motion, on the general ground that no fur/her concessions whatever should, under the present circumstances, be granted to the Catholics. But to this not very intelligent argument, his lordship added a sensible observation. He said " he was surprised to see such motions so often brought forward by those who, when they were themselves in power, employed every exertion to deprecate and prevent such dis- cussions." This was true. Ireland and her grievances, the Catholics and their wrongs, bad become, in the Imperial Parliament, a stock-in-trade for Whigs out of place ; and have so remained ever since. When these politicians are in power, they still " depre- cate such discussions." Lord Redesdale, late Chancellor of Ireland, was alarmed at the danger to the Protestant interest which would arise, from allowing Catholics to be Bank Directors. He said he had only to re- peat his former objections to such claims "The more you were ready to grant them, the more power and pretensions you gave to the Catholics to come forward with fresh claims, and perhaps to insist upon them. His lordship then launched out into a general invective against the CathoUcs, and particu- larly the priests." gether, exercised by Musselmen over the unhappy liieiiibers of the Oriental Church. It is a great deal to suppose, that the present Castle would nominate Bishops for the Roman Church of Ireland, with a re- licjious regard for its welfare. Perhaps they cannot, perhaps dare not do it." And in another letter to l)octor Hussey, the Catholic Bishop of Waterford, he said: ''If j'ou (the Catholic Bishops,) have not wisdom enough to make common cause, they will cut you off. one by one. I am sure, that the constant meddling of j'our Bishops and Clergy with the Castle, atid the Caytle vnth ihem, will infallibly set them ill with their own body. All the weight, which the clergy have hitherto had to keep the people quiet wll be wholly lost, if this once should happen At best you will have a marked schism, and more than one kind, and I am greatly mistaken if this is not in- tended, and diligently and systematically pursued." This debate about the Bank of Irelimd, is not, by any means, worth recording (for the motion was rejected, as its mover knew it would be, ) save to illustrate the party tactics of the Whigs, and the cool and stu- pid insolence of the "Ascendancy." The Dublin Police bill was carried, crea- ting eighteen new places for police magis- trates ; and Parliament was prorogued ou the 8th of July, 1808. CHAPTER L. 1S08— 1809. The Duke of Richmond's Anti-Catholic Policy — The Orangemen Flourish — Their Outrages and Murders — Castlereagh and Perceval Charged with Selling Seats — Corruption — Sir Arthur Wellesley — Tithes — Catholic Committee Reorganized — John Keogh on Petitioning Parliament — O'Connell and the Con- vention Act — Orangemen also Reorganized — Or- ange Convention-— More Murders by Orangemen — Crooked Policy of the Castle — Defection of the Bandon Orangemen — Success of the Castle Policj in Preventing Union with Irishmen. The administration of the Duke of Rich- mond showed a venomous determination to keep down the Catholic people, and to rule the island most strictly through the Orange Ascendancy, and for its profit. The legislative rejection of the Catholic petition had been aggravated by the resto- ration of a certain Mr. Jacob, a notorious Orangeman, to the magistracy, the appoint- ment of Mr. Giffiird to a more valuable sit- uation than that from which he had been displaced, the admission of Doctor Duigenan to the Privy-Council, and the curtailed gnint to Maynooth College. A fostering counte- nance was given to the Orangemen, that tended more to foment and encourage, than to put down or punish their atrocities. It is certainly not an agreeable part of our duty to narrate and to dwell u})on the.e Orange outrages ; because this helps, more or less, to keep alive the religious animosities between the two religious sects ; which wms the very object of the English Government in encouraging those outrages. Much more pleasing would it be to draw a veil of obliv- ion over them, and to think of them no more. But for two reasons this cannot be : first, the modern history of Ireland would be al 468 HISTORY OF lEELANI). most a blank page without the vilhinies of Orange persecution, the complicity of Gov- ernment in those vilhinies, and their conse- quences upon the general well-being of the inland ; next, because however well-inclined to forget those horrors, we have not been permitted to do so for a moment down to the present day. It was as late as 1848 that Lord Clarendon secretly supplied the Orange Lodges with arras ; as late as '49, tliat a magistrate of Down County led a band of Orangemen and policemen to the wreck- ing and slaughter of a Catholic townland.* Later still, the records of assizes in the northern circuits show us the frequent pic- ture of an Orange murderer shielded from justice by his twelve brethren who have been carefully packed into the jury-box by a sheriff who is an officer of the Crown. All this odious condition of society being a direct product of British policy, and now flourish- ing and still bearing its poisonous fruit, a student of Irish history is bound to look at, and to study, the wretched details. i On the evening of the 23d of June, 1808, a considerable number of men, women, and children, were assembled round a bonfire at Corinshiga, within one mile and a half of the town of Newry. They had a garland, and were amusing themselves, some dancing, others sitting at the fire, perfectly unappre- hensive of danger, when in the midst of their mirth, eighteen yeomen, fully armed and ac- coutred, approached the place, where they were drawn up by their sergeant, who gave them the word of command to " present and fire," which they did several times, leveling at the crowd. One person was killed ; many were grievously wounded. The magis- trates of Newry, although far from being friendly to the Catholic people, were scan- dalized at this atrocity. They offered a reward for the discovery of the perpetrators ; inclosed a copy of their publication to the Duke of Richmond, and prayed him to take some measures for the protection of the Catholics, who they said were all unarmed, while the very lowest class of Protestants were well provided with fire-arms. The ♦ It is true that the magistrate was dismissed from the Commission. He had somewhat exceeded the intentions of the Castle in getting up a " loyal de- monstration." Yet the arras of that banditti had been furnished out of the Castle vaults. Duke made a civil, but unmeaning, reply, expressing his "regret" at the sad circum- stance. Some weeks elapsed ; and still no measures were adopted. In the meantime, one of the persons concerned in the outrage was apprehended, but was allowed to escape by the yeomen, to whose custody Lord Gos- ford had intrusted him ; and a number of the same corps, to which the murderers be- longed, so far from showing any shame or regret at the conduct of their comrades, one day returning from parade, fired a volley (by way of bravado) over the house of M'Keown, (father of the deceased,) the report of which threw his wife into convulsions. Several inhabitants of the townland of Corinshiga,- came to the magistrates and ma;de depositions as to the continual terror and danger of themselves and their families, and the atrocious threats of the Orange yeomen who lived near them. Mr. Waring, one of the magistrates, who appears to have exerted himself earnestly in this affair, sent to the Castle copies of these depositions, ai«i entreated the Government to issue a proclamation, offering a reward for the as- sassins, and to take some measures of repress- ing open outrage. Mr. Secretary Traill replied, coldly, that the Government declined to do anything in the matter. Mr. Waring again wrote, still more earnestly, " that the magistrates had expected that Government would have is- sued a proclamation offering a reward for prosecution, and pardon to some concern- ed for evidence against the others ; that if this had not the desired effect, still much good might be expected to arise from the marked disapprobation of Government of an outrage of so dangerous and alarming a tendency ; that it might appear not un- worthy the consideration of his grace, whether such a measure might not even then (the 3d of August, 1808,) be adopt- ed with propriety, and that this procedure so far from having a tendency to supersede the exertions of the local magistracy, could not but prove an efficient aid to them." This last letter was not answered, and so the business dropped.* The advertisement or proclamation of the Newry magistrates ♦ See abstract of the whole correspondence in Plowden's (Volume III,) Post- Union History, CASTLEEEAGH AND PERCEVAL CHAKGED WITH SELLING SEATS. 469 was sent to the Hue and Cry, but was not Inserted. Not the least notice was taken of it, or tlie letter accompanying it. Such was the unbhisliing tenderness of the Duke of Richmond for the band of eighteen Orange- men, each and every one of whom was guilty of open murder. Not one of them was ever brought to justice ; and to this day the inhabitants of that and many another Catholic neighborhood in Ulster, when the anniversaries of the 1st and 12th of July come round, either bar themselves up in their houses and put out all lights, or else prepare for defensive battle. . The foregoing incident is related in detail, because it is a characteristic example of many similar cases ; save, indeed, that the local magistrates, instead of seeking to bring offenders to justice, as in this case, have generally sought to screen them. If an atrocity like this had been at any time done by Catholics, troops would immediately have been sent down to quarter themselves upon their houses, and a special commission would have issued to hang at least eighteen, guilty or innocent. It was not merely in the way of direct encouragement to lawless Orangeism, that Lord Richmond's administration showed its settled design of trampling down the Catho- lics. We have seen that in Dublin, the wealthiest and most respectable merchants were insultingly kept out of the Bank Di- rection, because they were Catholics. In the counties, Catholic gentlemen, whose pro- perty and position entitled them to be called upon the Grand Juries, were studiously ex- cluded. If any High Sheriff of a county was not a supporter of the Ministerial policy, or was known to be favorable to his Catho- lic neighbors, his name was carefully ex- cluded from the next list. And in all these measures. Sir Arthur Wellesley was unusu- ally active and rigorous. The time, indeed, had almost come, when his services would be required in the Spanish Peninsula ; and his native country could well spare him. During this year, (1808,) corruption seems to have been almost as rife in Ireland as it had been immediately before the Union ; and seats in Parliament were bought and sold. Early in the session of 1809, Mr, Maddox brought forward a specific charge of this sort of corruption, criminating Lord Castlereagh and Mr, Spencer Perceval, stating, amongst other things, that at the last general election, a sura of money was paid by Mr. Quintin Dick to Lord Castle- reagh, through means of the Honorable Ilein'y Wellesley ; and that gentleman (Mr. Dick) was thereby returned member for Cashel, and Mr, Spencer Perceval was also a party to the transaction. Upon occasion of the late investigation as to the Duke of York, Mr. Quintin Dick waited upon Lord Castlereagh, and informed him of the vote he meant to give, and the noble lord not approving of that mode of voting, suggest- ed to him the propriety of relinquishing hia seat in Parliament, Mr. Perceval, indeed, refused to plead to the charge ; said it was an insidious plan to lay the foundation for a measure of Parlia- mentary reform — which it certainly was — and so bowed to the Speaker, and went out. Lord Castlereagh followed his example ; but it is quite evident the charge must have been true, otherwise, there would not have been, in a House of six hundred and fifteen, in the teeth of all Ministerial influence, the large minority of three hundred and ten for amotion to inquire. There is every reason to believe that Sir Arthur Wellesley, dur- ing his Secretaryship, took the largest share in all this traffic for seats and votes and in- fluence. He had a mind of the cliaracti-r usually termed "eminently practical ;" and thought he had a right, as he declared long after, speaking of his administration in Ire- land, "to turn the moral weakness of indi- viduals to good account ; " that is, to the account of his party. In the session of Parliament, in 1809, little or no attention was given to the af- fairs of Ireland. An attempt was made by Mr. Parnell, to carry a motion for inquiry into the mode of collecting tithes in this country. The grievances and oppressions connected with the Church establishment, and the irritating spoliation of the people, for support of clergymen whose ministrations were of no use to them, were but too well known already, and needed no Committee of Inquiry at all. On this very ground, the motion was opposed by Ministers, who, hav- ing no idea whatever of giving any relief, or 470 HISTORY OF IRELAND. redress, naturally enough refused the empty formality of an inquiry. The Chancellor of the Exchequer " did not think that the House was in ignorance, with respect to the subject of tithes in Ireland, but that the difficulty was, how to find out a practical mode of securing the property of the Church. He could not be persuaded, that any inquiry, either by commissiou or com- mittee, would do any good ; for they did not want information.'" In tlie short debate on this motion, Sir John Newport observed, that he thought Lord Castlereagh bound, by his former pro- fessions at the Union, to find out some mod- ifications to lighten the burdens of the poor, oppressed people of Ireland. Instead of doing so, that noble Lord appeared to for- get all his pledges for the public good, and merely to attend to those that went to pro- vide for individuals, whom he had taken care to seduce to his own standard. Lord Cas- tlereagh arrogantly asserted, that he knew of no pledge made, either by Mr. Pitt or himself, upon the subject of tithes, or the Catholic question. He most distinctly denied, that he had ever made any pledge whatever as to Ireland. Mr. C. Hutchinson deprecated the conduct of Lord Castlereagh as to Ire- land. He was the parent of the Union, and, in order to effect it, he had made many promises ; but whenever any question as to the araehoration of the situation of Ireland came to be agitated, he either put a nega- tive upon it, or moved the previous question. And, in fact, by the " previous question," the whole question was put aside upon this occasion also. On the24tb of May, was held in Dublin a numerous meeting of the Catholics, to consider what step they should take to fur- ther their claims. The requisition convening the meeting was signed by Lord Netter- ville. Sir Francis Goold, Daniel O'Connell, Richard O'Gorinan, Edward Hay, Denis Scully, Doctor Dromgoole, and many others, whose names hav« since been familiar, in connection with the Catholic cause. Mr. O'Gorraan opened the proceedings with a speech, in which he proposed to petition Parliament. This was opposed by the vete- ran John Keogh, who spoke with great bit- terness of the treachery practiced towards the Catholics in the matter of the Union, and deprecated petitioning altogether, at least while the existing Ministry remained in power. Mr. Keogh observed, that, with respect to the existence and oppressiveness of their grievances, they were unanimous 5 and differed only as to the means most likely to remove them. He was ready, on his part, to sacrifice, to burn, with his own hands, the resolution, which he was about to propose to the meeting, if any man could show him what was likely to be more effec- tual to promote the object of all their wish- es. A petition at the present moment, must, if presented, be presented to decided enemies, or lukewarm friends ; upon neither of whom could be placed any reliance for success. Mr. Perceval and his colleagues were admitted into office, upon the express condition of excluding the Catholic ckiims from the relief of the Legislature ; and their predecessors had very willingly con- sented to give up a bill, nominally only in favor of the Catholics, rather than resign their places. Mr. Keogh adverted in strong and pointed terms, to the double imposition practiced upon the Catholics at the time of the Union. He insisted, that the proposals for their support from the Unionists and the Anti-Unionists, were equally hollow, and equally insidious. Had it been otherwise ; had the Catholics been liberally treated by their Parliament, they would have raised a cry in its defence that would have been heard, and would have shaken the plan of Union to atoms. No man had a right to suppose, that he wished to relinquish the Catholic claims. With his dying breath, with his last words, as a testamentary be- quest to his countrymen, he would recom- mend to them never to relinquish, never even to relax, in the pursuit of their un- doubted rights. No man could expect suc- cess to the petition. Without that expec- tation, he saw nothing likely to accrue from the measure but mischievous and injurious consequences. He resisted the measure, not for the purpose of retarding, but of for- warding the Catholic claims. Mr. Keogh, therefore, moved a resolution in accordance with these views, which waa passed ; but the meeting then proceeded to organize a new Catholic Committee, consist* O'CONNELL AKD THE CONVENTION ACT. 411 insc of the Catholic Peers, and the survivors of the Ciitholic Delegates of 1793, together with certaiu gentlemen who had been lately appointed by the Catholics of Dublin to prepare an address. It was resolved that these persons " do possess the confidence of the Catholic body." This new committee was to be permanent ; and was to consider the expediency of pre- paring a petition, not to tlie then sitting, but to the next session of Parliament. The committee, undoubtedly, was capable of be- ing regarded as a virtual representation of the Irish Catholics, and, therefore, as com- ing under the penalties of the " Convention act ; " for which reason Mr. O'Connell, who knew that the Government was watching their proceedings with a jealous eye, endea- vored to guard against this legal peril by introducing a resolution which was carried unanimously : " That the noblemen and gen- tlemen aforesaid are not representatives of the Catholic body, or any portion thereof ; nor shall they assume or pretend to be rei> resentatives of the Catholic body, or any portion thereof." We thus find Mr. O'Connell, from the first of his long series of agitations, always anxiously steering clear of the rocks and shoals of law ; and find, also, that the most dangerous of those rocks and shoals was al- ways the same " Convention act." It em- barrassed the Catholic Committee in 1809 ; it stopped the " Council of Three Hundred," in 1845 — and, in fact, it had been passed for the very purpose of preventing all organized deliberation, and all effectual action, by Catholics for the attainment of their rights. There is no doubt that the Government might at any time have prosecuted to con- viction the members of this Catholic Com- mittee as delegates, (notwithstanding their disclaimer,) by means of a well-packed Castle jury ; but, in the meantime, the af- fairs of the Catholics seemed to acquire some consistency and strength from the permanent organization of the committee and the respectability of its members. Of course, this circumstance alarmed and in- furiated the Orangemen ; who are generally believed to have at the same time remodeled and improved their societies. It is not easy to arrive at the exact truth regarding all the secret tests and oaths and " degrees " of this mischievous body — tiie precise foruiH have been from time to time altered ; and their "Grand Masters" and their organs at the press have boldly denied what is alleged against the Society, although such allegation had been true very shortly before, and was substantially true when denied, even if some trifling form may have been altered, to jus- tify the denial. Mr. Plowden, writing in 1810, says, very distinctly, that "a renovation of the system (of Orangeism) actually prevailed in the year 1809," and that new oaths were intro- duced. He says, further : — " It was reported, believed, and not con- tradicted, that about the time, at which the Catholic Bishops of Ireland were assembled in National Synod to oppose the veto, the Orange associations met by deputation iu Dawson street, Dublin, in order, as may be naturally presumed, to counteract the pre- sumed resolutions of that Episcopal Synod, and to make head generally against the alarming growth of Popery. A deputy from the seventy-two English (almost all Lancastrian) Lodges came over iu unusual pomp of accredited diplomacy to the Irish Societies. Through the gloom of Orange darkness it would be presumption to ascer- tain the points of debate within their strict- ly-guarded sanctuary in Dawson street." The same writer observes : — " So much undeniable truth has lately been brought before the public concerning the Orange institution, so glaringly has the illegality and mischief of the system been ex- posed, such weighty and fatal objections urged against it, that it has become fashion- able with many Orangemen, of education and fortune, to affect to disclaim everything objectionable in the system, and to throw it exclusively upon the incorrigible ignorance and bigotry of the rabble, wiio are alike in every country, and of every persuasion. This was base artifice to disguise or conceal the countenance and support which the Or- ange societies have uniformly and unceasing- ly received from Government. If the obli- gations and oaths of Oi'angemen were of a virtuous and beneficial tendency, why not proclaim them aloud ? If illegal and dan- gerous, why criminally conceal them? Whilst 472 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the Orange aristocracy thus affects to dis- claim tlieir own institute, in detail, tlieir activity in keeping the evil on foot is super- eminently criminal. Nor can they redeem their guilt without revealing in detail the whole mischief of the system, by enabling others, or cooperating effectually themselves, fas far as they possess power,) to expose and effectually extinguish it." Upon the subject of the new and alarm- ing development of the Orange system which took place at this date, we may fur- ther cite the language of O'Connell, at an aggregate meeting, in May, 1811. He said : " From most respectable authority I have it, that Orange Lodges are increas- ing in different parts of the country, with the knowledge of those whose duty it is to suppress them. If I have been raisin- formed, I would wish that what I now say may be replied to by any one able to show that I am wrong. I hold in ray hand the certificate of an Orange purple man, (which he produced,) who was advanced to that degree as lately as the 24th of April, 1811, in a Lodge in Dublin. I have adduced this fact to show you, that this dreadful and abominable conspiracy is still in existence ; and I am well informed, and l)elieve it to be the fact, that the King's Ministry are well acquainted with this circumstance. I have been also assured, that the associations in the North are reorganized, and that a com- mittee of these delegates, in Belfast, have printed and distributed five hundred copies of their new constitution. This I have heard from excellent authority ; and I should not be surprised if the Attorney-General knows it. Yet there has been no attempt to dis- turb these conspirators ; no attempt to visit them with magisterial authority ; no attempt to rout this infamous banditti." In truth, the " banditti " were so useful and indispensable an agency of British domi- nation in Ireland, that they were perfectly safe from the law and the Attorney-General ; and that functionary was not in the least obliged to O'Connell for his information. It was against Catholics only that penal sta- tutes were made. Thus, altliough the Con- vention act makes no distinctions between Catholic and Protestant, the Orange Lodges were never at all embarrassed about sendino: delegates to a meeting in Dublin. And al- though the acts against administering secret oaths, especially apply to the oaths of Or- angemen, no Orangemen was ever prosecut- ed by the Crown under those laws. The oath which Government punished, was not an oath to extirpate one's neiglibors, but an oath to promote the union of Irishmen. It would be easy to accumulate examples of Orange outrages at this time in many parts of the country ; but these incidents have a wearisome sameness. On the 12th of August, 1808, fifty unarmed men of the King's County militia, who had volunteered into the line, marched from Strabane into Omagh, in Tyrone County, where fifty of their comrades occupied the barracks. As they came into the town, it happened that three hundred Orange yeomen had assem- bled, and were celebrating the battle of Aughrim. A yeoman began operations by knocking off and trampling upon the cap of one of the militiaraen, because it was bound wiih green, wiiich, though regimental, was not considered "loyal" enough for that oc- casion. The militiaman resented the out- rage by a blow. A general assault was made by the whole body of yeomanry upon the fifty unarmed men ; they retreated in good order to the barrack, where they were attacked again ; but as they were now sup- plied with arms, they defended theraselves to some purpose, and killed four of their as- sailants. Thomas Hogan, a corporal of the King's County militia, was tried for the , mtirder of those four men, and was actually found guilty of manslaughter. Again, at Mountrath, the annual return of the Orange festival, in July, 1808, had been disgraced by the most atrocious mur- der of the Rev. Mr. Duane, the Catholic priest of that parish ; and it was followed up in the succeeding year by the no less bar- barous murder of a Catholic of the name of Kavanagh, into whose house the armed yeomen rushed, and barbarously fractured his skull, in the presence of his wife and four infant children. On the first day of this same July, at Bailieborough, in the County Cavan, the Orange armed yeoman went in a body to the house of the parish priest, at whom they fired several shots, and left him for dead. They then wrecked BTJKB OF RI0HM0ND8 "CONCILIATION. 473 t!ie chiipel, and wounded and insulted every Catholic they met. None of the persons guilty of these out- rages, either at Mountrath or Bailieborough, was ever punished, or even questioned. But while the government of the Duke of Richmond thus encouraged Orange out- rage, and screened the perpetrators, his grace sometimes affected to deprecate vio- lent demonstrations of the Society, at least in his own presence. For example, he made a tour throngli Munster in the summer of this year, 1809 ; and as the object of his excursion was chiefly to conciliate the Cath- olics of that province, (many of whom were wealthy and influential,) and so to prevent them from joining in the agitation for their own rights, he issued orders that no distinct- ively Orange displays should take place on his line of route. The town of Bandon was in tliose days a great stronghold of Orange- ism, in the South, and possessed a " legion " of six hundred yeomanry, all brethren of the Order. On the first of July, the yeo- manry being assembled, according to cus- tom, to celebrate the battle of the Boyne, and to flaunt before the eyes of the op- pressed Catholics the emblems of their defeat, they were astonished at being ad- dressed by their Commander and Grand- Master, Lord Bandon, in a very unusual strain : He said, " those Orange emblems were calculated to keep up animosities, and his grace the Lord-Lieutenant did not wish anything of the sort on ike present oc- casion." The men suddenly dispersed in high indignation. The next parade-day was the 6th, and they again assembled ; but to show how they valued the homily of Lord Ban- don, every man of them appeared decorated with Orange lilies. The Earl of Bandon and Colonel Oriel, the inspecting officer of the district, observ- ed, tliat if they wished to be considered really obedient and loyal, they would at- tend to the orders of their officers, as Gov- ernment seemed particularly anxious to pre- vent the further wearing of any emblem of this kind. They then ordered them, either to fake these marks of distinction down, or else to ground their arms. The corps for some time remained undecisive, when at length, with the exception of twenty-five, 60 they indignantly threw down their arms and accoutrements, sooner than obey the com- mand of Government, delivered through their ofiScer. The whole yeomanry of Ban- don amounted to about six hundred men. On the 24th of July, 1809, the members composing the Boyne, Union, and True- Blues corps of yeomanry, under the denomi- nation of the Loyal Bandon Legion, openly declared the cause for which they laid down their arms.* This "defection of the Bandon Orange- men," as it was called, made the Govern- ment very cautious for long afterwards how it showed tlie least displeasure against these "loyal" displays, or the outrages which nearly always attended them. Indeed, Grand Masters and Ascendancy jgurnals often cool- ly reminded the successive Chief-Governors of Ireland that English dominion could not be maintained one day in Ireland without the Lodges, which was true ; so that Lords- Lieutenant and Ministers, while feeling them- selves bound in common decency to aflfi^ct, at least, to deprecate violence, and hypocritic- ally to advise concord and good feeling, have been exceedingly tender of wounding the sensibilities of those people, who were, and are, their only support in the country. So well had the Castle succeeded, during the administration of the Duke of Rich- mond, in undoing all that the volunteers and United Irishmen had done, and in mak- ing impossible that union of Irishmen, which was the only thing the Castle feared in the world. CHAPTER LL 1810—1812. Duke of Richmond's "Conciliation" — Orange Op- pression — Treatment of Catholic Soldiers — The Veto again — Debate on Veto iu Parliaments- Catholic Petition Presented by Grattan — Rejected — 0"Connell's Leadership — New Organization of Catholics — Repeal of the Union First Agitated — In- sanity of the King — Treacliery of the Regentr— Prosecution of tlie Catliolic Committee — Conven- tion Act — Suppression of tlie Committee — New Measures of O'Connell — 5Ir. Curran at Newry Election— Effects of the Union. The Duke of Richmond was one of our " conciliatory " Viceroys. In his tour through * For a fuller account of these transactions at Ban- don, see Plowden, Vol. Ill, of Post-Union History, 474 HISTORY OP IRELAND. the South, he rendered himself more than usually affable and urbane ; and having a frank and gracious manner, he was not with- out some success in soothing the Catholics, whom long oppression had rendered too credulously impressible by a few words of hollow and hypocritical kindness. At a mo- ment when it was notorious that he was acting as the zealous agent of a No-Popery administration ; that he was excluding Cath olic gentlemen from the Grand Juries, Cath- olic merchants from the bank, that Catholic soldiers were regularly punished by their officers for going to Mass, and that his grace's Orange banditti were killing and maiming their Catholic neighbors with a perfect certainty of impunity, we find that at the entertainment given by the Corpora- tion of Waterford to the Lord-Lieutenant, his grace's affability and attention to all were conspicuous. He took an opportunity of addressing Doctor Pou^r, the Catholic Bishop of Waterford, whom in a gracious and cordial style he thanked, for his and his flock's conduct in putting down the disturb- ances in their county. He openly and dis- tinctly assured him, that he had it in special instructions from His Majesty, to make no dis- tinction between Protestant and Catholic, which injunction he emphatically declared he had punctiliously complied with, ever since he had undertaken the government of the country, as far as the laws would allow of. Those laws, he lamented, it was not in liis power to deviate from. Such was the traveling style of the Vice-regal Court. At the dinner given to his grace by the Mayor and Corporation of Cork, at the Man- sion House, amongst the regular Corpora- tion toasts, was announced, in its order, the Protestant Ascendancy of Ireland, on which his grace arose and declared, he wished to see no ascendancy in Ireland but that of loyalty ; and strongly recommended the same line of conduct to be pursued by all good subjects. At another dinner in Cork, given by the mer- chants, traders, and bankers, his excellency had even the sanctimonious audacity to ex- press his wonder, that religion being only occupied with a great object of eternal con- cern, men should be excited to rancorous enmity because they sought the same great end by paths somewhat different. This kind of language, which has been the common style of Irish Viceroys ever since, was first brought into vogue by the No-Popery Duke of Richmond ; and what is very remark- able, it so far imposed upon many simple- minded Catholics, that they were afterwards but slow and reluctant in even coming for- ward to petition for their withheld rights and franchises. In the meantime, the daily and continual oppressions and humiliations which were in- flicted upon the Catholics, not only by Or- ange magistrates and yeomen, but by the Government itself, were too notorious and too galling to be soothed away by the fair words of a conciliatory Viceroy. The treatment of Catholic soldiers in the array (of which they already constituted nearly one-half,) excited the Strongest and bitterest feelings of discontent. At Enuiskillen, a Lieutenant Walsh turned a soldier's coat, in order to disgrace him, for refusing to attend the Protestant service ; others were effectu- ally prevented from attending the service of their own church, by an order not to quit the barracks till two o'clock on the Sunday, when the Catholic service was over, as at Newry. The case which acquired the most publicity, and produced the strongest effect upon Ireland, was that of Patrick Spence, a private in the County Dublin militia, who had been required (though known to be a Catholic,) to attend the divine service of the Established Church, and upon refusal, was thrown into the Black Hole. During his imprisonment, he wrote a letter to Major White, his commanding oBBcer, urging, that in obeying the paramount dictates of con- science, he had in no manner broken in upon military discipline. He was shortly after brought to a court-martial, upon a charge that his letter was disrespectful, and had a mutinous tendency. He was convicted, and sentenced to receive nine hundred and ninety-nine lashes. Upon being brought out to undergo that punishment, an offer was made to him to commute it for an engage- ment to enlist in a corps constantly serving abroad ; this he accepted, and was transmit- ted to the Isle of Wight, in order to be sent out of the kingdom. The case having been represented to the Lord-Lieutenant, by TREATMENT OF CATHOLIC SOLDIERS THE "VETO AGATX. 475 roelor Troy, the titular Archbishop of Dublin, Mr. W. Pole wrote him a letter, wliich stated, that the sentence had been passed upon Spence for writing the disre- spectful letter ; not denying (therefore ad- mitting,) that the committal to the "Black Hole " was for the refusal to attend the Protestant Church ; but that, under all the circumstances, the Commander-iu-Chief had considered the punishment excessive, and had ordered the man to be liberated, and to join his regiment. When Spence arrived in Dublin, he was confined several days, and then discharged altogether from the army. The copy of Spence's letter, which he vouched to be authentic, contained nothing in it either disrespectful or mutinous. The original letter was often called for, and al- ways refused by those who had it in their possession, and might, consequently, by its production determine the justice of the sen- tence of nine hundred and ninety-nine lashes. Many other examples of this kind of pet- ty tyranny occurred about the same time ; and as no officer was ever punished or repri- manded for any of them, they are sufficient to indicate the real feelings of the Govern- ment, and how much sincerity there was in the after-dinner liberality of the Duke of Rich- mond. In short, it was the settled design of the British Government, not only to break the promises made for carrying the Union (as it had formerly broken the treaty of Limerick,) but also to make the Catho- lics feel in their daily life the whole bitter- ness of their degradation. llioy had, of course, no representative in the British Parliament ; and it appeared, in the course of the year 1810, that such Protestant friends and advocates as they possessed in that Assembly, Mr. Grattan and Mr. Ponsonby for example, desired to effect their emancipation only on the terms of enslaving the Catholic Church to the State, by means of the veto. The subject of veto was now revived, both in Parliament and in the country. The English Catholics, jn their petitions for relief, offered to accept emancipation on such terms ; that is, on the terms of giving to a Protestant State a dis- cretion as to the appointment of their Bish- ops. In Ireland, that idea was now univer- sally repulsed, by the clergy and laity ; al- though, as before stated, it had once been favorably received by a few of the higher clergy. Late in January, 1810, was held a large meeting of the Catholics of Dublin. The Secretary, Mr. Hay, stated, tiiat the most Rev. Doctor Troy had received from an English member of Parliament (Sir John Cox Hippesley) a letter, accompanied by an explanatory printed copy of a sketch of pro- posed regulations, concurrent with the estab- lishment of a state provision, for the Roman Catholic clergy of Ireland.* It was the project of veto in all its naked- ness, but recommended both by the prospect of civil emancipation and by a state provis- ion for the clergy. To the credit of the whole Catholic body (for it must be admit- ted that the bribe was high,) all proposals of this nature were rejected, and rejected with indignation. A petition was prepared for presentation to Parliament asking for unconditional emancipation, intrusted to Lord Fingal, who carried it to London, and presented by Mr. Grattan. But, al- tliough he presented it, he said that it was merely iu order to have the claims of the Catholics put on record ; that he had hoped the Irish Catholics would be willing to al- low, on the appointment of their Bishops, a veto to the Crown ; "he was sorry to see that at present no such sentiment appeared to prevail." Mr. Grattan had still the same violent horror of "French influence," which had formerly prevented him from joining the United Irishmen. " The Pope," he said, " was almost certain now to be a sub- ject of France ; and a subject of France, or French citizen, could never be permitted to nominate the spiritual magistrates of the people of Ireland." In short, Mr. Grattan, * The Catholic historian, Plowden, says: "This deep-laid plan, suggested by Sir John Cox Hippesley, fathered by Mr. Pitt, adopted by Lord Grenville, palmed by Lord Castlereagh upon the duped or in- timidated trustees of Maynooth College, in contem- plation of the Union, was now brought forward with the privity and approbation of several of the leading members of the Board of British Catholics. The concluding sentence speaks in full its primary intent : " All conlirm the principle, that the sovereign power in every State, of whatever religious communion, has considered itself armed with legitimate authoiity in all matters of ecclesiastical arrangement within iU dominioa." 476 HISTORY OF IRELAND. iu both the speeches wliich he made hi this session, spoke against the petition which he had presented. It would be tedious to make even an abstract of the debate ; and it will be sufficient to say that on the motion for going into committee with the Catholic petition, Mr. Ponsonby, Mr. Grattan, and Sir John Cox Hippesley, were in favor of the motion, subject to veto ; Mr. Hutcheson, Mr. Parnell, and Sir John Newport, in fa- vor of it, without veto — Lord Castlereagh wholly against it in every shape ; so, of course, were Mr. Perceval, and all other members of the No-Pupery administration ; and the motion was lost by a majority against the Catholic claims of one hundred and four. In June, the petition was presented by Lord Donoughmore to the Lords, in a very fair and just speech. He said, speaking of the Catholic Church,: "No man was so ignorant as not to know, that its profess- ed unity in doctrine and in discipline, un- der one and the same declared head was the essential distinguishing characteristic of the Catholic Church, and yet they were told, that the Irish Catholics were the most un- reasonable of men, because they would not renounce, upon oath, this first tenet of their religion, and consent to recognize a new head of their Church in the person of a Protestant King. The Irish Catholic, under the existing tests, solemnly abjures the au- thority of the Pope in all temporal matters, pledges himself to be a faithful subject of the King, and to defend the succession of the Crown, and the arrangement of proper- ty as now established by law, and that he will not exercise any privil(?ge, to which he is, or may become, entitled, to disturb the Protestant religion or Protestant govern- ment. What possible ground of apprehen- sion could there be, which was not effectual- ly provided against by the terras of this oath. With respect to that ill-fated veto, the introduction of which, into the Catholic vocabulary, he witnessed with sincere re- gret ; he could only say for himself, that he wanted no additional security j but he was equally ready to acknowledge, that it was the bounden duty of the Catholic, whenever the happy moment of conciliation should ar- rive, to go the full length his religion would permit him, to quiet the scruples, however groundless and imaginary, of the Protestant Legislature." After a short debate, in which we find Lord Holland, Lord Erskine, the Duke of Norfolk, and Lord Grey, speaking in favor of going into committee on the petition ; against it. Lord Liverpool, Lord Clancarty, Lord Redesdale, and the Lord-Chancellor — there appeared on a division : for the mo- tion, sixty-eight ; non-contents, one hundred and fifty-four ; majority against the Catho- lics, eighty-six. It was now at last tolerably evident that there was no use in petitioning that Parlia- ment to acknowledge the rights of Catho- lics ; that the insidious promises made by Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh, for the purpose of carrying the Union, were to be deliberately disregarded ; and that the Catholic cause must be either abandoned al- together, or must be taken up by some more potent hand than any of those which had guided it up to that time. Daniel O'Con- nell was to be the new leader of the Irish Catholic cause, and may be said to date the commencement of his wonderful career of agitation from the Parliamentary defeat sus- tained by the petition of 1810. In a month after the rejection of that petition, the gen- eral committee of the Catholics, after pass- ing a vote of thanks to the worthy old John Keogh " for his long and faithful services to the cause of Catholic Emancipation," issued an address to all the Catholics of Ireland, urging upon them a new and more combined form of political action, and bearing the signature of "Daniel O'Connell, Chairman." The programme of action presented in tiiis address is substantially the same which was followed up by Mr. O'Connell, under sev- eral successive names, throughout all his agi- tations — local organizations holding frequent meetings, and corresponding with a central committee in Dublin. All proceedings were to be peaceful and legal ; yet there was the hint of a possibility that millions of peo})le steadily denied their rights, might in the end be driven to extort them with the strong hand. Here is an extract : — " Still, whilst time and opportunity yet re- main for peaceful counsels, the virtuous Catholic will deeply revolve in his mind the REPEAL OF THE UNTON FIRST AGITATED. 477 wisest course for liis redemption. He will prefer that success, which promises the greatest pernianeut enjoyment to himself and his family ; the most salutary to his country ; the most conformable to the best laws and dearest precepts of civil society. He will prefer to opposite courses — those of peace, of reason, and of temperate, but firm perseverance, in well-regulated efforts. • "The committee, sir, consulting not merely local, but general feelings, entertain every wish and hope, of calling into fair and free exercise the unbiased judgment and in- dependent opinions of the Catholics of Ire- land, thinking and acting for themselves throughout their respective counties, dis- tricts, cities, and towns, and deciding upon such measures as shall appear to them most eligible. " They hope that the Catholics will take frequent opportunities, and as early as pos- sible, of holding local meetings for these purposes ; and there, unfettered by external authority, and unaffected by dictation, ap- ply their most serious consideration, to sub- jects of common and weighty concern, with the candor and directness of mind, which appertain to the national character. " The establishment of permanent boards, liolding communication with the General Committee in Dublin, has been deemed in several counties highly useful to the interests of the Catholic cause. " Nothing is more necessary amongst us tlian self-agency. It will produce that sys- tem of coherence of conduct, which must insure success. " In the exercise of the elective franchise, for instance, what infinite good might not result from Catholic colierence? What painful examples are annually exhibited of the mischief flowing from the want of this coherence ? " The Catholic Committee have, there- fore, every reason to expect the most bene- ficial effects to the general cause, from local and frequent meetings." During this same summer, was heard the first loud cry for a Bspeal of the Union. In the Corporation of Dublin — then, of course, an exclusively Protestant body — Mr. Hut- ton, pursuant to notice, made an impressive Speech, in which he powerfully depicted the ruin, bankruptcy, despair, and famine, that were apparent in every street of Dublin — - pointed out that the debt of the nation was then above ninety millions ; that two millions sterling, wrung from the sweat of Irish peasants, were squandered in a foreign coun- try, by absentees,* and that iE2,500,000 more was drained away to pay the interest on that insupportable debt. He proposed resolutions to the effect, that the cure for all these evils was the repeal of the Union. Of course, he w^as vehemently opposed by Giffard and his party ; but the resolutions were carried by a majority of thirty. The next step was a requisition from the Grand Jurors of Dublin, to the two High Sheriffs, Sir Edward Stanley and Sir James Riddall, to call a meeting of' the freemen and freeholders, to consider "the. necessity that exists of presenting a petition to His Majesty and the Imperial Parliament, for a repeal of the act of Union." Stanley de- clined to call such a meeting ; he said it " would agitate the public mind." But Rid- dall called the meeting. On the 18th of September, at the Royal Exchange, was held this memorable meeting, at which both Protestants and Catholics were unanimous, not only in afiirming the universal misery and beggary of the country, but in attribu- ting the whole to that fatal and fraudulent measure called the Act of Uniou. O'Con- nell delivered, on this occasion, a speech of the most concentrated power and passion, which deeply impressed his audience, and the entire nation. It was at once printed on a broadside, surmounted with a portrait of the orator ; and O'Connell was from that moment the leader to whom all Catholics turned with pride and hope. The resolu- tions for the preparation of a petition for repeal of the Uniou, were adopted unani- mously. What we have to remark is, that in these first movements favoring repeal of the Union, all speakers concurred in represent- ing the material and financial effects of that measure as. disastrous in the extreme to Ire- * Dean Swift estimated the absentee rents in his time at half a million sterling, and thought that same a great grievance. In 1848, Mr. Smith O'Brien, always moderate in his statements, said the drain through this single channel amounted to five mil- lions. 478 HISTORY OF IRELAND, land ; vet those speakers do not appear to have bethought them that the impoverish- ment of Ireland was tlie exact measure of the profit to England ; that this was the speiific object for wliieh England had de- manded, contrived, and accomplished the Union ; and that the existing relation be- tween the two countries, was the accurate fulfillment of the prediction made by that honest Englishman, Samuel Johnson, to an Irish acquaintance — " Sir, we shall rob you." The Catholics of Ireland were by this time quite unanimous in favor of repealing that Union, the perpetration of which they had been induced to regard with indifference, or almost with complacency. At least, they knew how treacherously they had been dealt with on that occasion by the English Government and its agents, Cornwallis and Castlereagh ; and the natural soreness which they felt at being duped, aggravated the- sufferings which fell upon them, as well as upon the Protestants, in consequence of de- pressed trade and ruined manufactures. "Repeal" was, therefore, fairly before the country ; but it was too late for any peace- ful redress. When the shark has once made his union with his prey, he does not easily disgorge ; for this there needs, either a minicle, as in the case of Jonah's fish, or else that the shark be killed and cut up. Petitioning for restitution of that rich prey, is, perhaps, the most imbecile idea that ever possessed any public man since the begin- ning of the world. Catholic Emancipation, however, was another kind of question ; and one quite susceptible of a peaceful solution ; because to emancipate Catholics would cost England nothing ; but, on the contrary, would prob- ably win over many of the leading, educated, and professional Catholics, who might be in- duced, by the prospect of honors and emo- luments for themselves, to abandon their people to plunder and extirpation, and to sell the cause of their country to its ene- mies ; — an anticipation which we have un- happily seen realized on a large scale. Catholic Emanci|)ation, then, although a miiMU' question, was the immediately-prac- tical one for an Irish agitator ; and O'Con- nell saw that it was so, and devoted him- self to it accordingly. In October, King George III. fell into hig final and irremediable insanity ; and the Prince again became Regent ; this time with almost fidl regal powers. It was a matter of no interest whatsoever to Ireland ; save that many Catholics were simple enough to believe that it removed the only real ob- stacle to their emancipation ; namely, the stupid scruples of the idiot King as to hig Coronation oath. The Prince had made many professions, even distinct promises and pledges, afterwards minutely specified by O'Connell, that so soon as he should enjoy actual power, he would do all that in him lay to bring about Catholic Emancipation. In 1806, he had made such a pledge, through the Duke of Bedford, then Viceroy, in or- der to induce the Catholics to withhold their petitions ; his good friends, the Catholics, were to trust all to him, the Prince. Mr. Ponsonby, then Chancellor, had, in the same year, promulgated a similar promise in the Prince's name. He had himself given such a pledge to Lord Kenmare, at Cheltenham. Finally, he had given a formal verbal pledge to liord Fingal, in presence of Lord Petre and Lord Clifford, which was reduced to writing by those three noblemen, and signed by them soon after the interview ended. The Prince had now uncontrolled power ; and, as usual, the Catholics found them- selves cheated. He retained as his Prime Minister, the No-Popery Perceval, and was surrounded by advisers intensely hostile to the Catholic cause ; his mistress at that time was the wife of the Marquis of Hert- ford ; and the conscience of that lady could not reconcile itself to the thought of con- ceding any right to persons who believed in Seven Sacraments. Even the two Protest- ant Sacraments were one too many for her ladyship.* * Certain resolutions passed in the Catholic Com- mittee but too plainly referred to tliis woman, when they spoke of the " fatal witchery " which had led the Regent to form a Ministry hostile to liberty of conscience in Ireland. The enchantress was over fifty years of age ; and her husband and her son were the closest buon-cumpanions of the lover of the fath- er's wife and of the son's mother. These famous " witchery ■' resolutions were supposed to have so strongly aroused the Protestant feelings of the Prince as to adjourn all thought of Catholic Emancipation for many years, and to have been the .cause of the exceedingly bad grace with which King George IV. at last assented to that measure. MR. CURKAN AT NEWRY ELECTION. 479 Almost the first act of any consequence done in Ireland, after the Prince became Kegent, was a State prosecution, instituted against the Catholic Committee, in the per- sons of two of its members, Mr. Kirwan and Doctor Sheridan, who were charged to have been elected as delegates, in breach of the Convention act. The Government had been long watching for this chance, and now the Castle strained every nerve to insure a con- viction. Mr. Saurin, Attorney-General, com- menced his speech thus : " My Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury — I cannot but con- gratulate you and the public, that thedayof justice, has at last arrived ;" surely a most extraordinary expression, under the circnm- .«tances ; seeing that these Catholics were but peacefully claiming their manifest right ; and seeing that the crime of which they were now accused was unknown to the law of England. Mr. Bushe, then Solicitor- General, afterwards Chief Justice, speaking of the committee, constituted as it was, thus concluded his speech upon that trial : " Compare such a constitution with th^ es- tablished authorities of the land, all con- trolled, confined to their respective spheres, balancing and gravitating to each other — all .symmetry, .all order, all harmony. Be- hold, on the other band, this prodigy in the political hemisphere, with eccentric course and portentous glare, bound by no attrac- tion, disdaining any orbit, disturbing the system, and affrighting the world I " The remedy for this horrible comet was a packed jury ; which is one of those " established authorities — all symmetry and harmony — " spoken of by Mr. Bushe. -A conviction was obtained ; and the Catholic Committee, in that form, ceased to exist. Mr. Shell says : " A great blow had been struck at the cause, and a considerable time elapsed be- fore Ireland recovered from it." But although that organization was at an end, many angry meetings were held ; and the Catholic press assumed a tone of aggres- sion and defiance which had not been usual with it. Mr. O'Counell, in conjunction with Mr. Scully, a gentleman of large property and high talent, established a newspaper ; and both in the press and in public assem- blies there was manifested by the p(jpular leaders, so much boldness and activity, as assured all men that the cause of the nation was now in a fresh and vigorous hand. Mr. Wellesley Pole, had been appointed Irish Secretary of State, as successor to his brother. Lord Wellington ; and his admin- istration was chiefly noted for his circular letter against meeting in conventions, with a view to tiie suppression of the Catholic Com- mittee. Mr. Wellesley Pole was soon after succeeded by Mr, Robert Peel, who proved himself during many years after the most deadly, and, indeed, most fatal foe the Irish nation ever encountered. He was but twen- ty-four years of age ; and continued Chief Secretary for six years, during which he closely studied the character and wants of the people ; so that of all English statesmen, in modern times, Sir Robert Peel may be said to have understood Ireland best, to Ire- land's bitter cost. In 1812, Mr. Perceval, the "No-Po- pery " Prime Minister, M^as assassinated by a maniac, in the lobby of the House of Commons ; and a change of administration became necessary. But the new arrange- ments had little interest for Irishmen, and presented no hope of any approach to jus- tice, in the treatment of that country. Lord Liverpool was Prime Minister, and both Canning and Castlereagh were members of the Cabinet. A dissolution of Parliament and general election followed, at which sev- eral additional "Li'jerals" were returned from places in Ireland. ]Mr. Curran was persuaded by his friends, and invited by the Liberal electors of Newry, to permit him- self to be placed in nomination for that borough. He had never, since the Union, sought to enter the British Parliament ; and it v/as with no sanguine hope of being able to effect any good there for his coun- try, that he now essayed to enter public life once more. He was defeated at Newry ; defeated by General Needham, one of the military tyrants who had dragooned the peo- ple into insurrection, in 1798. But in Mr. Curran's speech, on that occasion, to tlie electors of Newry, though imperfectly re- ported, is found a pnssage most vividly de- picting the condition of Ireland twelve years after the Union, and Curran's esti- mate of the I'atnre and elTects of that mea- sure. He said : " The whole historv uf man- 480 HISTORY OF IRELAND. kind records uo iustaiice of any hostile Cab- inet, perhaps, even of any Cabinet, actuated by the principles of honor or of shame. The Irish Catholic was, therefore, tauglit to believe that if he surrendered his country he would cease to be a slave. The Irish Pro- testant was cajoled into the belief that, if he concurred in the surrender, he would be placed upon the neck of a hostile faction. Wretched dupe 1 you wight as well per- suade the jailer that he is less a prisoner than the captives he locks up, merely be- cause he carries the key in his pocket. By that reciprocal animosity, however, Ireland was surrendered — the guilt of the surrender was most atrocious — the consequences of the crime most tremendous and exemplary. We put ourselves into a condition of the most unqualified servitude ; we sold our country, and we levied upon ourselves the price of the purchase ; we gave up the right of disposing of our own property ; we yielded to a for- eign legislature, to decide whether the funds necessary to their projects, or their profiigacy, should be extracted from us, or be furnished by themselves. The conse- quence has been, that our scanty means liave been squandered in her internal corrup- tion, as profusely as our best blood has been wasted in the madness of her aggressions, or the feeble folly of her resistance. Our debt has, accordingly, been increased mon than ten-fold — the common comforts of life have been vanishing — we are sinking into beggary — our poor people have been wor- ried by cruel and unprincipled prosecutions ; and the instruments of our Government have been almost simplified into the tax- gatherer and the hangman." This dismal picture of the condition of his country, could not have been made in so public a manner, and by a man of Curran's charac- ter, unless it had been true. He could not have ventured to tell a large assembly of his countrymen, that they were ground down by taxes and sinking into beggary, if they could all have risen up and contradicted him on the spot. Besides, the evidence from other quarters is too clear and strong to al- low us to doubt of the accuracy of any one feature in the sombre scene he depicts. The country was during all those years, as usu- al, disturbed now and then by a vindictive murder of some bailiff, or agent, who had turned poor families adrift, and pulled down their houses ; or some tithe-proctor, who had seized on a widow's stack-yard. And all these acts of vengeance or despair were uniformly treated as seditious "insurrec- tions." Ireland, therefore, remained under an almost uninterrupted Insurrection ad The act of Habeas Corpus had been sus- pended in 1800 by the act for the suppres- sion of the rebellion ; that act had been con- tinued in 1801, and again in 1804 ; and had been replaced in 180T by another martial law (substantially the same law,) called Insurrection act, which was maintained un- til 1810. It will be seen hereafter, how steadily the same exceptional coercion laws — but with ingenious variations of name, have been continued down to this day. When Mr. Curran mentioned that the people were " worried by cruel and unprin- cipled prosecutions," he had in his thoughts the long series of "special commissions" sent down in state to tlie country, to hang up some scores of haggard wretches, and to terrify the rest ; he was thinking of the many fathers of poor families, who were of- ten dragged to jail, witliout a charge against them, and without tlie right to demand a trial ; he was thinking of the free course which suspension of the Habeas Corpus gave to the vindictive outrages of Orange magistrates, and to the fanatical rage of packed juries. So uniform has been the long passion of Ireland — generation after generation, wast- ing and withering under the very same atro- city which calls itself " Government ; " the children losing heart and hope, as their fathers had done, and begetting a progeny to pine way under the same miseries still — until they are tempted to doubt whether a just God reigns over the earth. GRATTAN's emancipation bill MOKE VETO. 481 CHAPTER LTI. 1813—1821. Grattan's Emancipation Bill— More Tfto- Quaran- totti— Unanimity in Ireland against Fpto— Mr. Peel and his New Police— Stipendiary Magistrates- Close of the War— Restoration of the Bourbons — Waterloo— Evil Effects on Ireland— The Irish t^iegion in France— Its Fate — Miles Byrne and his Friends — Eflfects of the Peace in Impoverishing the Irish — Cheap Ejectment Law Passed — Beginning of Extermination — "Surplus Population" — Catho- lic Claims Ruined by the Peace — O'Connell and Catholic Board — Board Suppressed — O'Connell in Court— His Audacity — His Scorn of the Dublin Corporation — Duel with D'Esterre — Distress in Ire- land — Famine of 1817— Coercion in Ireland — " Six Acts " in England — Mr. Plunket's Emancipation Bill — Peel and the Duke of York — Royal Visit to Ireland — Catholics Cheated Again. Mr. Grattan made his final effort to ef- fect tlie emancipation of the Catholics in the first session of the new Parliament, in 1813. The bill which he proposed was a very imper- fect and restricted one ; but it provided that Catholics should sit in Parliament, and hold certain offices — excepting those of Lord- Chancellor — either in England or in Ireland, and that of Lord-Lieutenant, or Lord-De- jmty, in Ireland. It did not include a pro- vision for the royal veto upon Catholic Bish- ops. The debate which ensued is scarce worth recording, inasmuch as after several amendments, providing for vef,o, and at last an amendment, striking out the clause ena- bling Catholics to sit and vote in Parlia- ment, the bill was withdrawn, and finally lost. The veto amendments proposed by Castle- reagh and Canning were tlie work of Sir John Hippesley, that indefatigable patron of veto. They proposed to constitute a Board of Commissioners, to examine into the loyalty of those proposed for Episcopal functions, and to exercise a surveillance and control over their official correspondence with Home. But the Irish Catholics were now fully alive to the insidious nature of this proposal ; and both clergy and people, •with great unanimity, rejected all idea of emancipation upon any such terms. But the English Catholics, not having any na- tional interest at stake in the matter, were quite favorable to the project, and used their utmost endeavors to liuve it accepted 61 at Rome, and reeonmiended from thence. I']nglish influence was then very strong at Rome ; the Pope was a prisoner in France ; and it was to the coalition of European sovereigns against Buonaparte, that the Court of Rome looked for. its reestublish- ment. A certain Monsignor Quurantotti exercised, in tlie year 1814, the official au- thority of the Pope ; and was induced, un- der English influence, to recommend submis- sion to the veto, in a letter, or rescript, to "the Right Rev. William Poynter," Vicar- Apostolic of the London District. As the question of veto at that period occupied so large a share of public attention, both in England ane wholesome tradition is handed down unbroken ; any and every foe of England is the Irish exile's friend ; and the power of Britain must be, indeed, broadly and deeply based, if it forever with- stand the long-gathering tempest of just wrath which has been laid up against the day of wrath. • The close of the great war on the Conti- nent had certain direct effects upon Ireland. The immense demand for agricultural pro- duce for victualing of armies and fortresses, had maintained high prices ; and as large numbers of the small farmers then possessed leases — granted by landlords in order to manufacture voting freeholders — the people generally lived with some approach to com- parative comfort. Immense contracts for the provisioning of the English navy were also made at Cork ; and thus the war-prices, one way and another, brought money into the country, which was not all immediately sent out again, but a-ctually circulated, to some extent, amongst the people. It is true, that landlords, wherever they had ten- ants from year to year, steadily raised the rents as prices advanced, but still the good- natured and kindly people helped one an- other ; and, on the whole, there was not very much of either extermination or emi- gration. In 1815, however, and the few following years, prices of grain, cattle, and other produce, fell very low, and rents were not reduced in proportion. The increase of population — for there were now six millions of people in Ireland — produced that deadly competition for small farms whicli has en- abled Irish landlords to wring the vitals out of a helpless peasantry, who had been left no other resource but labor on the land. Extermination may properly be said to have begun in good earnest, just after " French principles " were crushed at Waterloo ; and to facilitate this process for the landlords, by recommendation of Mr. Robert Peel, the first of the series of cheap ejectment laws was passed in this very year, 1815. It provided that, in all cases of holdings, the rent of which was under £20 — which in- cluded the whole class of small farms — the assistant barrister, at sessions, could make a decree, at the cost of a few shillings, to eject a man from house and farm. Two years after, the proceedings in ejectment were still further simplified and facilitated by an act making the sole evidence of a landlord or his agent sufficient testimony for ascertain- ing the amount of rent due. By these two acts it was rendered very easy to sweep out on the highways the whole population of a village or a townland ; and this was very often done towards tenants-at-will — a race of beings which exists in no country of Europe save Ireland. As for the possess- ors of a forty-shilling freehold, their leases and their voting capacity protected them for a time. It is about this date that we first meet with the expression, " surplus-popula- tion in Ireland ;" although, indeed, the idea itst'lf had been common enough nearly a O'CONNELL IN COTJllT HIS AUDACITT. 487 hundred years earlier, when Swift published his " ISJo'datt Proposal." At all events, it is evident that from tiiis moment, and for many years after, every English statesman, pub- licist and political economist, held it as the grand fundamental maxim, in treating of Irish affairs, that there was a surplus-popu- lation in that island ; and the steadiest and most earnest aim of every administra- tion, of every parly, has been to devise and execute some sure method of removing — that is, extirpating or killing the said sur- plus. The young Irish Secretary, Mr. Peel, who was destined to become one of Eng- land's greatest statesmen, had, of course, turned his attention to this momentous ob- ject, and had commenced operations, as we have seen, by laws providing for cheap and easy ejectment ; but he had yet other methods in his mind, which were not then matured, or for which the time was not yet come. The effect of the peace upon the pros- pects and claims of Catholics was altogether adverse and discouraging. England felt not only secure, but triumpliant ; and, according to the invariable rule, it fared ill with Ire- land. The English oligarchy, and. its de- pendant, the Irish Ascendancy, were abso- lutely drunken with an insolent and malig- nant pride. Concession of anything, was no longer to be thought of ; and if any person presumed to hint that there existed such a thing as human rights, he was set down as a Jacobin. A "Catholic Board" had main- tained its struggling existence until the mid- dle of summer, 1814. But whenever the news of the capitulation of Paris and im- prisoimient of Napoleon arrived in England, orders were at once sent to Lord Wiiitwortli, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, to suppress the board summarily by proclamation ; which was, accordingly, done upon the 3d of June, in that year. The board met no more ; but, under O'Conneil's direction, the agitation took the form of " Aggregate Meetings ;" thus avoiding all possibility of incurring the penalties of the Convention act ; vvhih? the meetings were even more use- ful than the board in arousing the people, dif- fusing sound information as to their rights and their wrongs, and keeping up a contin- ual public commentary upon current events. There ensued, however, differences and dis- sensions amongst the Catholic leaders, as to the most expedient policy to be pursued. The veto question had not yet entirely sub- sided ; and something of the old jealousy between the aristocratic Catholics and tlie mass of the people revived. Lord Fingal, in fact, together with some other Catholi<; gentlemen of rank, and others who courted rank and position, retired from all partici- pation in public aflairs for some years. On the other hand, O'Connell led and stirred the Democracy. But it must he confessed that it was a most arduous and difficult en- terprize for him, although then in the full vigor of his vast powers, to keep alive tiie cause of Catholic Emancipation at all in those days of triumphant bigotry and tyranny, Richard Lalor Shell, speaking of this gloomy period, scruples not to say : " The hopes of the Catholics fell with the peace. A long in- terval elapsed in which nothing very import- ant or deserving of record took place. A political lethargy spread itself over the great body of the people ; the assemblies of the Catholics became more unfrequent, and their language more despondent and hopeless than it had ever been." * And never be- fore, for half a century, had the " Protest- ant interest " shown itself so aggressive and so spiteful towards the Catholic people. O'Connell, by his activity and audacity, concentrated upon himself the greater part of this Protestant wrath. For he mado no scruple, whether in a public harangue to the people, or in a speech to a jury, (where the trial had anything of a political charao ter,) to denounce, with a rough and rasping tongue, all kinds of injustice and bigotry, packed juries, church-rates — in short, the most cherished principles and practices of "our glorious Constitution in Church and State." In the celebrated speech for John Magee, proprietor of the Evening Post, who was prosecuted for a seditious libel upon the Government, O'Connell had not only adopted and repeated the " libel," but aggravated it a thousand fold. With a fierce and vindictive energy he laid bare the whole atrocious system which in Ireland passes for government. Ho thundered into * Notice of " Catliolic T.eader.s and Associati ns," in Slietches of the Iri^h JJar. 488 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the ears of the judge, that he had Grst ad- vised this proseciitiun, which he was now pretending to try ; — and as for tlie twelve pious Protestants in the jury-box, (all " saints," and members of the "Society for the Suppression of Vice,") he told them, with cruel taunts, that they knew they were fraudulently padied, that they should find a man guilty (so help them God!) for stat- ing what they knew to be true. Mr. Shell, in his admirable sketch of O'Counell, says : " The admirers of King William have no mercy for a man who, in his seditious moods, is so provoking as to tell the world that their idol was ' a Dutch adventurer.' Then his intolerable success in a profession where many a staunch Protes- tant is condemned to starve, — and his fash- ionable house in Merrion .Square, — and a greater eyesore still, his dashing revolution- ary equipage, green carriage, green liveries, and turbulent. Popish steeds, prancing over a Protestant pavement, to the terror of Pro- testant passengers^ — these and other provo- cations of equal publicity, have exposed this learned culprit to the deep detestation of a numerous class of His Majesty's hating subjects in Ireland. And the feeling is duly communicated to the public ; the loyal press of Dublin teems with the most as- tounding imputations upon his character and motives." Tlie provocation of the " Popish liorst'S prancing over a Protestant pave- ment," rt'as more serious than it may now appear ; for the pavement was strictly Pro- testant ; and so were the street-lamps. No Catholic, though he might drive a coach- and-four, could be admitted npon any pav- ing or lighting board in that sacred strong- liold of the Ascendancy, the Corporation of Dublin.* O'Connell was in the habit of tvpeaking with supreme contempt of the lit- tle umnici{>al close-borough ; and in one of his sj)eeches of this year, 1815, lie termed it. " a beggarly Corporation." " One of its most needy members," says Sheil, " was Mr. D'Esierre"; and he, thinking the epithet * It was at the height of the Catholic agitation that a Town-Councillor, who was a tailor, said at a ( orporation Dinner: "My Lord, these Papists may get their emancipation — they may sit in Parlian»ent — they may preside upon the Bench— a Pajiist may become Lord Chancellor, or Privy Councillor; — but never, never shall one of them set foot in the an- cient and loyal guild of tailors. "beggarly" too scurrilous, and too closely j)ersoHal, at once sent a challenge to the speaker. O'Connell committed his conduct as to the reception of the challenge, to the decision of his friends. The parties met ; fought with pistols, and D'Esterre was killed, to the very great and lasting sorrow of his slayer. Mr. Shiel does not say ex- pressly — but says " it is understood" — that D'Esterre was induced to attempt O'Con- nell's life, by the expectation that if he should rid the Government of so formidaljle an agitator, he would be rewarded with a place ; and he adds : " His claims would probably not have been overlooked by the patrons of the time." On what precise evi- dence Mr. D'Esterre was charged with un- dertaking the base job of a mercenary as- sassin, we have not been able to satisfy our- selves. At any rate, no dishonorable prac- tice in the conduct of the affair was ever imputed. In the year 1816, Sir John Newport moved in Parliament for a connuiltee to in- quire into the state of Ireland, which was then suffering greatly from scarcity of food. Sir Robert Peel steadily and successfully resisted the proposed inquiry. That prudent statesman had not been several years Chief Secretary of Ireland for nothing. He had no need of inquiry, being quite well aware of what was passing in Ireland, where he knew that things were falling out exactly according to his calculations. If there was some extermination of starving wretches, it was because his cheap ejectment laws were working well. If there was some distur- bance, and " agrarian crime," he had his new police ready to repress it. Better than all, he had procured the renewal of the "Insurrection act" in 1814 — had caused it to be continued m 1815, and it was now (1816) in full vigor, filling the jails with persons who could not give a good account of themselves, and transporting men for pos- sessing a fowling-piece. He felt that an as- siduous Irish Secretary could do no more ; and naturally, resisted Sir John Newport's meddling motion for inquiry. But, in truth, the low price of produce had made thousands of farmers unable to pay the rent ; then t!iey had been ejected ; and then that lown'.'ss of price could not eu- DISTRESS IN IRELAND FAMINE OF 1817. 489 able tlicin f procure food, because they liad no money. Then there was an occasional murder, or attempt at murder. Mngistrates would meet, and write to the Castle for im- mediate proclamation of the county, under the Insurrection act. It is useless to go tlirough the unvarying detail of torturing oppression which has continued and repeated itself year after year, and will never end while the British Empire stands. But in 8ad earnest, this year, 1817, was a season of dreadful famine and suffering ; and, of course, the Coercion act of the year before was carefully renewed. Tiie potato-crop had failed ; and although Ireland was then largely exporting grain and cattle to Eng- land,* yet this good food was not supposed to be sent by Providence, for the nourish- ment of those who sowed and reaped it on their own soil. It is instructive to remark the constant similarity of the circumstances attending the series of Irish famines — the wholesale export of the Irish crops to Eng- land — the wholesale disappearance, also, of the money received as the price of those crops, in the shape of absentee rents, of " sur- plus revenue," &c. — and the never-failing Co- ercion acts. If in the famine of 1847-8, tliere was a much greater destruction of the people — and, at the same time, a much larger export of their food and their money to England, it is only because the British sys- tem was then more fully perfected in all its details, than in 1817. In that year, however, the suffering from famine and typhus fever was already dread- ful enough ; and in the most fertile counties of Ireland, multitudes of people fed upon weeds of various sorts — some boiled nettles ; others subsisted upon the wild kail, called in Irish, jprashagh. All political movement was suspended for several years, both in Ire- land and in England, and in 1819, Lord Sid- mouth introduced and carried his celebrated " Six acts," principally to quell the " sedi- tious" aspirations of the English people. These acts imposed heavy penalties upon the possession of arms, and upon " blasphemous and seditious libels" — meaning all plain and truthful comments upon the proceedings of * In this year, 1817, the export to England, of grain alone, was 695,651 quarters. — Tliom's Official Tables in Directory. 62 Government. A horrible military massacre was perpetrated this year at Peterloo, near Manchester, by the onslaught of a body of troops upon a perfectly peaceable mjeting of the people to demand reform. This bloody day was tlie 16th of August, 1819, and one of the " Six acts," passed immedi- ately after, prohibited, under cruel penalties, the assembling of more than fifty persons together, unless at a meeting called by the magistrates. In short, it was the British " Reign of Terror," not inaugurated, as in France, by the people, to rid themselves of their oppressors, but by the oppressors, to crush the people and their French principles into the earth. On the 2Sth of February, 1821, Mr. Plunket brought up in Parliament a bill for Catholic Emancipation. It was at an un- favorable time ; all the governing and con- trolling opinion of England was averse to any kind of claim for rights. The bill was veliemently opposed by the Tory party, and especially by Sir Robert Peel. In the House of Lords, the Duke of York, heir presumptive to the throne, made a furious speech against it ; saying, amongst other things, that " there is a great difference be- tween alloioing the free exercise of religion, ' and the granlivg of political power" — as if there could be any freedom without poli- tical power, or as if freedom and politi- cal power were things to bo allowed and granted, by persons who might lawfully withhold them. It was in the same year, in the month of August, that King George IV. condescended to make a triumphal visit to Ireland ; and that Mr. O'Connell, with certain views of " policy," which will not be universally appreciated, testified an enthu- siastic loyalty to that individual, and drank at a public dinner the "Orange Charter toast." Overpowered by the cordiality of his reception, the King quitted the soil of Ireland with tears of emotion in his eyes. On the spot where he embarked stands a granite monument, surmounted by a crown ; and Dunleary changed its name to Kings- town. It would be agreeable not to record these incidents ; but they form, unhappily, , part of the history of Ireland. Touching this royal visit — not to insist iu this place upon the savage comment of Lord 490 HISTORY OF IKELAND. Byron, we mny give the more moderate prose of Richard Lalor Sheil : " Sir Ben- jamin Bloorafield arrived in Dublin before liis master, and intimated the royal anx- iety that all differences and animosities should he laid aside. Accordingly, it was agreed that a pnblic dinner should be held at Mor- rison's, where the leaders of both parties should pledge each other in libations of ever- lasting amity. This national festivity took place ; and from the vehement protestations ou both sides, it was believed by many that a lasting reconciliation had been effected. Master Ellis and Mr. O'Connell almost em- braced each other. The King arrived ; the Catholics determined not to obtrude their grievances upon him. Accordingly, our gra- cious sovereign passed rather an agreeable time in Dublin. He was hailed with tumul- tuous hurrahs wherever he passed ; and in return for the enthusiastic reception which he had found, he directed Lord Sidmouth to write a letter recommending it to the people to he united. His Majesty shortly after- wards set sail, with tears in his eyes, from Kingstown. For a little while the Catholics continued under the miserable deception un- der which they had labored during the royal sojourn, but when they found that no inten- tion existed to introduce a change of system into Ireland — that the King's visit seemed an artifice, and Lord Sidmouth's epistle meant nothing — and that while men were changed, measures continued substantially unaltered, they began to perceive that some course more effective than a loyal solicitude not to disturb the repose of His Majesty should be adopted." In short, the Irish Catholics were once more cheated ; and it is not saying much for their perspicacity — for they were twice cheated by the same cheat. Neither can we ever look back with pleasure on the scenes of "loyal" servility enacted at that period by leading Irishmen — O'Connell toasting the glorious, pious, and immortal memory of the "Dutch adventurer," and presenting a huge bunch of shamrocks to the discreditable being who then represented the desolating British domination. Doubt- less these hypocritical demonstrations of " loyalty " to an enemy, were transacted with an idea that it was a cunning policy to conciliate tyrants in England, and to disarm animosities at home. In these views they failed utterly, and have their place in history only as a signal example of gratuitous crouching and crawling. The senseless gala of 1821 passed away ; the horrible famine of 1822 immediately fol- lowed.* CHAPTER LIII. 1822—1825. Famine of 1822— Its Causes — Financial Frauds upon Ireland — Horrors of the Famine — Extermination — Suspension of Habeas Corpus Act — Castlereagh Cuts his Throat — Marquis VVellesley Viceroy — Sir Harcourl Lees — The Bottle Riot — Catholic Associ- ation Formed— Dr. Doyle; "J. K. L.'" — Progress of Catholic Association — "Catholic Rent" — May- nooth Professors " Loyal " — Rage of the Orangemen — " O'Connell, the Pope, and the Devil " — Passive- ness of the Dissenters — O'Connell's Appeals to Them — Intellectual and Literary Power of the Movement — Act to Suppress " Unlawful Associa- tions" — First Attempt to Cheat the Catholics — A Relief Bill, with " Wings "—Defeated— Catholic De- putation in London — O'Connell and the Whigs — Strong Feeling in Ii-eland against "Wings." Before proceeding to the details of this dreadful famine of 1822, it is needful to consider the financial relations of the two islands since the period of the "Union." In 1816 was passed the act for consoli- dating tlie British and Irish E.xchequers — it is the 56th George III., chap. 98. It be- came operative on the 1st January, 1817. The meaning of this consolidation was, charging Ireland with the whole debt of England, pre-union and post-union ; and iu like manner charging England with the whole Irish debt. Now the enormous English national debt, both before and after the Union, was con tracted for purposes which Ireland had not only no interest in promoting, but a direct and vital interest iu contravening and resist- ing — that is, it had been contracted to crush American and French liberty, and to destroy those very powers which were the natural allies of Ireland. * John Philpot Curran died in 1817, on the 14th of October. His remains were buried first in London ; afterwards removed to the cemetery of Ulasnevin. Grattan died three years after, and had the very doubt- ful honor of a tomb in Westminster Abbey. These two great Irishmen left the country they loved in one of the gloomiest periods of her gloomy story FAMINE IN 1822 ITS CAUSES FINANCIAL FRAUDS UPON IRELAND 491 But this is not all : we have next to see the proportions vvliich the two debts bore to eacli other. It will be remembered that by the terms of the so-called " Union " I. Ireland was to be protected from any liability on account of the British National Debt contracted prior to the Union. II. The separate debt of each country being first provided for by a separate charge, Ireland was then to contribute two-seventeenths towards the joint or com- mon expenditure of the United Kingdom for twenty years ; after which her contribu- tion was to be made proportionate to her ability as ascertained at stated periods of revision by certain tests specified in the act. III. Ireland was not only promised that she never should have any concern with the then existing British Debt, but she was also assured that her taxation should not be raised to the standard of Great Britain un- til the following conditions should occur : — 1. That the two debts should come to bear to each other the proportion of fifteen parts for Great Britain to two parts for Ireland ; and, 2. That the respective circumstances of the two countries should admit of uniform taxation. It must be further borne in mind, that previous to the Union the National Debt of Ireland was a mere trifle. It had been enormously increased by charging to Ire- land's special account, first, the expenses of getting up the rebellion ; next, the expenses of suppressing it ; and, lastly, the expenses of bribing Irish noble lords and gentlemen to sell their country at this Union. Thus the Irish Debt, which before the Union had been less than three millions sterling, was set down by the act of Union at nearly twenty- seven millions. On the 20th of June, 1804, (four years after the Union had passed,) Mr. Foster, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, observ- ed, that, whereas, in 1794 the Irish debt did not exceed two millions and a half, it had in 1803 risen to forty-three millions; and that during the current year it was in- creased to nearly fiflythree millions. During the long and costly war against France, and the second American war, it happened, by some very extraordinary spe- cies of bookkeeping, that while the English debt was not quite doubled, the Irish debt was more than quiidru[)Ied ; as if Ireland had twice the interest which England had in forcing the Bourbons back upon France, and in destroying the commerce of America. Thus, in 18 I G, when the consolidation act was passed, the whole funded debt of Ire- land was found to be iEl 30,56 l.OoT. By this management the Irish debt, which in 1801 had been to the British as one to six- teen and a half, was forced up to bear to the British debt the ratio of one to seven and a half. This was the proportion re- quired by the Act of Union as a condition of subjecting Ireland to indiscriminate taxa- tion with Great Britain — a condition equally impudent and iniquitous. Ireland was to be loaded with inordinate debt ; and then this debt was to be made the pretext for raising her taxation to the high British standard, and thereby rendering her liable to the pre- union debt of Great Britain ! By way of softening down the glaring in- justice of such a proposition. Lord Castle- reagh said that the two debts might be brought to bear to each other the prescribed proportions, partly by the increase of the Irish debt, but partly also by the decrease of the British, To which Mr. Foster thus answered, on the 15th of March, 1800 : " The monstrous absurdity you would force down our throats, is that Ireland's increase of poverty, as shown by her increase of debt, and England's increase of wealth, as shown by diminution of debt, are to bring them to an equality of condition, so as to be able to bear an eqnality of taxation." But bad as this was, the former and worse alternative was what really bei'el. The given ratio was reached solely by the in- crease of the Irish debt, without any de- crease of the British. We take from the excellent pamphlet of Mr. O'Neill Daunt,* already quoted in a former chapter, a passage presenting a sum- mary of the financial dealings of England with Ireland : — " The following facts stand unshaken, and should become familiarly known to every man in Ireland : — * " Financial Grievances of Ireland." tious of the b-lsk National League. FuLlica* 492 HISTORY OF IRELAND. " 1. The British Debt in 1801 was about sixteen and a half times as large as the Irish Debt. " 2. It was promised bj^ the authors of the Union, and the promise was embodied in the Seventh Article, that as Ireland had no part in contracting that debt, so she should be forever preserved from all concern with the payment of its princii)al or interest. " 3. In order to give effect to this prom- ise, Great Britain was to be separately taxed to the extent of her separate pre- union debt-charge. But Great Britain is not thus separately taxed ; and Ireland is consequently made to contribute to the pay- ment of a purely British liability, from which she was promised perpetual exemption. " 4. Ii'eland has never received from Great Britain one farthing, by way of com- pensation or equivalent, for being thus sub- jected to the pre-uniou British Debt. " 5. By the fifth clause of the Seventh Article of the Union, Ireland was guaran- teed the benefit of her own surplus taxes. She has never, during the sixty-four years of Union, received one farthing in virtue of that clause. Her taxes, after defraying her public domestic expenses, have been uni- formly abstracted by England ; and tlie clause that professes to secure to Ireland the use of them has been rendered a dead let- ter by the Parliamentai'v management I have described. " (5. Tlie amount of Irish taxes annually drawn from this kingdom is a very large item in the general pecuniary drain. Mr. Dillon, in his able and carefully-compiled Report to the Dublin Corporation, shows that the Irish taxes expended out of Ire- land in the year ISfiO, amounted to £4,- 095,453 ; and that in 1861, they amounted to £3,970,715." But even this direct drain of Irish money into England, under pretence of paying interest on a debt, represents very small part of the systematic plunder of the coun- try. When to this is added the absentee rental, the interest paid out of incumbered estates to Jews in London, and the cost of tnaiuifactured articles and colonial produce V'hich Ireland ought to manufacture — or Import — for herself, we may begin to nnder- Btaud why the mass of the Irish people is always on the verge of starvation, and why the failure of the meanest kind of food throws them at once into the pangs of fa- mine. This is what befel in 1822. Alison, the Scotch historian of modern times, attributes the dreadful havoc of the Irish in this year entirely to " the contraction of the currency, and consequent fall of the prices of agri- cultural produce fifty per cent." But the Scotch historian does not mention that the grain-crop of 1821 had been carried oif to England, to the amount of nearly two mil- lion quarters, (1,822,816,) and that of 1822, to the amount of more than one million quarters,* not to speak of countless herds of cattle, sheep, and swine. No wonder, then, if we see in Ireland perennial misery and beggary, with occasional paroxysms of murderous famine. On the 27th of June, in this year, Sir John Newport, of Waterford, in his place in the House of Commons, endeavoring to awaken that assembly to some sense of the horrors which were to be seen in Ireland, described one parish in his neighborhood, where fifteen persons had already died of hunger ; twenty -eight more, he said, were past all hope of recovery, and one hundred and twenty (still in tlie same parish)' were prostrated by famine-fever ; — and the same speaker mentioned another parish where tlie priest had gone round and administered extreme unction to every man, woman, and child, all in articulo mortis by mere star- vation. f * Tliom's Official Directory, for 1853. fin Cobbett's "Register" we find tliat writer's contemporary comment upon the debate in the House. He says : " Mono^', it seems, is wanted in Ireland. Now, people do not eat money. No, but tiie money will buy them something to eat. What ? The food is there, then. Pray, observe this ; and let the parties get out of the concern if they can. Tli.e food is there ; but those who luive it in their posses- sion will not give it witliout the money. And we know that; the food is there ; for since this famine has been declared in Parliament, thousands of quar- ters of corn have been imported every week from Ireland to England."— iie^is^er, July, 1822. Mr. Cobbett, however, was not placing " the parties " ia so embarrassing a position as he imagined, when he defied them to get out of it if they could. It lias al- waj's been a matter of congratulation with Englisli Ministers, that whether the Irish be starving or not, England can still draw from the country her full tribute of grain and cattle. In reading of all these transactions of 1822, one might almost imagine that he is reading of what befel twenty-five years latci. CASTLEEEAGH CUTS HIS THROAT MARQUIS WELLESLET VICEROY. 493 A certain Colonel Patrickson was quar- tered that season in Galway, with his regiment. lie reports to his superior of- ficer : " Hundreds of half-faraislied wretch- es arrive almost daily from a distance of fifty miles, many of them so exhausted by want of food that the means taken to re- store them fail of effect, from the weakness of the digestive organs, occasioned by long fasting."* Official statistics were not then so much attended to as they have since been ; but certain returns, such as they were, stated, that in the month of June, there were in Clare County alone, 99,639 persons subsisting on daily charity, and in Cork, 122,000.t We have no record of the estimated number of deaths in this hid- eous famine ; and if we had any such esti- mate, compiled as it would be under the direction of the Irish authorities, by aid of their police, it would not be trustworthy. Neither are there any census-tables, show- ing the decrease of the population. In Thomas Official Directory, the population of the island in 1821, is given at 6,801,827; and there is no statement of the population afterwards for ten years. Of course, there was again a good deal of extermination of tenantry ; and some des- perate men did certainly kill here and there !in ejecting landlord or agent. It appears, also, that there were "nocturnal outrages ;" men with faces blackened, and wearing shirts more or less white, did come to some houses in search of anas, to defend their lives, or to avenge their wrongs ; but in all this there was no trace or tittle of political, seditions, or revolutionary movement. Nev- ertiieless, the first thing that occurred to the r>rilish Government, to meet tliis great cala- mity, was a new and improved Insurrection act. This new act, together with another, for the suspension of tlie writ of Habeas Corpus, was introduced and at once carried l)y Lord Castlereagh, then Marquis of Lon- donderry. It was almost tiie lastpul)lic act of his evil life. On the 12th of August, in that same year, he executed justice upon himself by cutting his own throat with a knife. Never lived a more deadly foe of the * Letter of Sir D. Baird to Sir H. Taylor, Memoirs of Lord Weliesley. VIII. t Alison Jlistory of l^urope, since 1815. human race, and especially of the country vvhieh gave him birth. He was almost as much hated in England as in Ireland ; for he had been a warm supporter of the " Six acts," and of every measure of despotism. The body of the suicide, instead of being staked at Cross-Roads, was borne in solenni pomp to Westminster Abbey (where tlie bones of Henry Grattan must have shrunk aside,) and the Duke of Wellington and the proudest Peers in England were his pall- bearers ; — but as the cofQn was removed from the hearse to be carried into the Ab- bey, the multitudes around could not re- press a hoot of execration, a long, loud and hideous yell of horror and hatred. Tiie Tory historian, Alison, reluctantly records that " savage miscreants raised a horrid shout ;" but future ages will probably pro- nounce, that in all the mob of London was no such dreadful miscreant as the man then borne to his grave. It must not be omitted to state, that the Parliament of 1822 — in addition to a Coer- cion act and Habeas Corpus Suspension act, voted an appropriation of £500,000 for re- lief of Irish distress, by employing destitute people on public works. It by no means amounted to one-tenth part of the Irish money annually drained from Ireland into England, and applied to English purposes ; and even this appropriation was, as usual, corruptly and absurdly expended by English officials, principally upon useless and unpro- ductive works, like the unmeaning obelisk upon Killiney Hill, The British press, and speakers in Parliament at that period, as at a later date, spoke of this appropria- tion out of the Consolidated Exchequer, as so much alms given by England, and as- sumed immense credit for the generosity of the gift. Under this form and color, the transaction has passed into history. Sir Ar- chibald Alison, of course, glorifies the mag- nanimity of England upon this occasion — "England nu longer remembered the crimes of Ireland — thought only of her sorrows," and so forth. The Marquis Weliesley was Lord-Lieutenant this year ; but although invested with terriljle powers for the sup- pression of outrage and insurrection, lie i.s not cliarged with exereising too savagely the extra legal authority with which the British 494 HISTORY OF lUELAND. PiiiTiament was so prompt to clothe liim. Indeed, the Marquis, from the coiiciHatory and mild way in which he spared the suffer- ing people, and from his courtesy towards the Catholic leaders, some of whom he en- tertained at the Castle, soon became unpop- ular with the Orange faction. The most prominent Orange agitator was then a cer- tain Sir Harcourt Lees. He was a clergy- man by profession, and held prefermeiit In the Church ; but occupied himself chiefly in discovering Popish plots for the massacre of Protestants, denouncing, in the newspapers, " O'Connell, the Pope, and the Devil," and sending petitions to Parliament, praying to "put down Popery," and send O'Connell to the Tower. Sir Harcourt was slightly in- sane ; but his morbid visions of Jesuit con- spiracies, and wild stories from " Fox's Book of Martyrs," were well enough suited to excite the ignorant Orangemen of Dublin. These pestilent people soon began to sus- pect that Lord Wellesley was in league with " O'Connell, the Pope, and the Devil ;" and the city resounded with their imprecations. At length, on the night of the 14th of De- cember, their rage broke out in the form of a riot at the theatre. Some ruffians threw a bottle and a piece of wood at the Vice-regal box, but failed to strike the Mar- quis. Three Dublin tradesmen were arrest- ed, cliarged with parlici[)ating in the riot, and indicted. The Grand Jury of Dublin, (all Orangemen,) ignored the bill. The Attorney-General, Mr. Plunket, then pro- ceeded, e.r officio, and sent them up for trial. As might have been anticipated, the jury would not convict ; and in short, no person was ever punished for the " bottle riot." The year 1823 is notable for the forma- tion of the " Catholic Association." Its foundations were laid by Mr. O'Connell, in conjunction with Mr. Shiel, then a very young barrister, but already remarkable for a certain kind of polished, figurative, and antithetical rhetoric. These two gentlemen met at the house of a common friend iu the Wicklow mountains; "and after exchang- ing their opinions," says Mr. Shiel, " on the deplorable state to which the Catholic mind had been reduced, and the utter want of or- giinization in the body, it was agreed that they should botii sign an address to the Irish Catholics," and inclose it to the prin- cipal -people of that religion. The result of this procedure was for a time not very en- couraging. " A very thin meeting," says Mr. Shell, "which did not consist of more than twenty individuals was held at a tavern in Sackville street ; and it was there deter- mined that something should be done." The work, in truth, was difficult. The old alienation between the Catholic Peers and the democratic masses still subsisted. Old Lord Fingal, Lord Gormanstown, and others of the highest rank and influence, who would have been glad to accept eman- cipation even on the terms of the veto, were somewhat scandalized at the violence with which O'Connell and the famous Dr. Drom- goole repudiated that project of enslaving the Church. Yet a combination of all the sections and elements of the Catholic com- munity, however difficult, was precisely the indispensable condition of effecting any very notable good to the cause. To this, then, O'Connell bent all the energies and resources of his mind. Happily the Earl of Fingal had a son. Lord Killeen, who not only did not share all the prejudices or apprehensions of his father, but longed to throw himself heart and soul into the movement by the side of O'Connell. Lord Killeen had good abilities, and was free from those habits of submission which the Catholic aristocracy had contracted at the period of their ex- treme depression. His exam[)le was soon followed by Lord Gormanstown, a Peer of ancient descent, and hitherto of retiring habits, so far as political agitation was con- cerned, lie conceived that the course of the aggressive agitators had the effect only of irritating enmity ; and, therefore, had very much secluded himself amongst his woods near Balbriggan. IVext came in the Earl of Kenraare ; who, though he did not formally join the association, (having an aversion to public appearance,) — sent in the authority of his name and his pecuniary contribution. From this time the union of the aristocracy with the rest of their coun- trymen was assured. Anotlier and still more powerful element in tiie confederacy was the Catholic priesthood. The celebrat- ed and very able and energetic Doctor Doyle, IJishop of Kildare and LeighHn, was DOCTOR DOYLE ; " J. K. L. 495 the first Prolate who open]y joined the as- sociation — his potent pen was devoted to its service ; and the whole world was long fa- miliar with the signature "el. K. L., (the initials of his E[)iscopal office,) signed to many a vigorous pamphlet and letter. Other Bishops and the great body of the clergy soon became members of the associa- tion, and the movement which had begnn so humbly swelled into a puissant and appar- ently-irresistible torrent of public opinion. O'Connell was at last in his element ; and al)ly supported by Shell and Wyse, labored continually to give a practical character to the meetings ; and to bring under calm and well-considered discussion all great questions arising in the state. In structure, the Catholic Association nuich resembled all the other political soci- eties instituted by Mr. O'Connell. It con- sisted of members paying a guinea each year, and of associates paying one shilling. Tlie executive consisted of a standing com- mittee. The regular meetings were weekly each Saturday ; and the proceedings con- sisted iu the reading of correspondence, per- fecting organization, the discussion of public questions which bore any relation to the canse, and deciding on petitions. There was little or no oratorical display at these weekly meetings ; the members rather ap- plying themselves to treat subjects of dis- cussion with a moderate and business-like calmness, so as to develope facts and diffuse sound information. Still the proceedinirs attracted little attention during the first year. Indeed, Mr. Shiel informs us that " the association in its origin was treated with contempt, not only by its open adver- saries, but Catholics themselves spoke of it with derision, and spurned at the walls of nnid which their brethren had rapidly thrown jip, wiiich were afterwards to become altae. vicenia Iloinoc.'''' It was only in the course of the following year, that Mr. O'Connell instituted the new system of monthly snb- .^cri[»tions of one penny (which he called " Catholic Rent,") when it became evident both to friends and enemies how deep a hold the cause had upon the hearts of the Catho- lic masses, and how wide-spread was their determination to achieve their liberties. The Ministry began to take some alarm. The Cabinet at that time was extremely Anti- Catholic ; liord Liverpool being still First Lord of the Treasury and Premier ; the Dnke of Wellington, Master-General of the Ordnance ; Lord Eldon, (an extreme ex- ample of the narrowest bigotry,) was Lord Chancellor ; and Mr. Peel, (not yet Sir , Robert,) was the Home Secretary. It is true that Canning, well understood to be a friend of the Catholic claims, was in the Ministry, but his place was that of Foreign Secretary, so that he could have little special influence upon that great question which was now agitating the three kingdoms, and at length disquieting seriously His Majesty's advisers ; for, in truth, no phenomenon like ttiis had ever been seen in Ireland before ; within two years after its origin, the penny subscriptions to the rent averaged £f)00 a week, which represented half a million of enroled associates, and produced a fund quite sufficient to pay the expenses of de- fending men unjustly accused, to prosecute Orange violators of the law, (but this was generally a hopeless enterprise,) — to pay the expenses of Parliamentary and election agents, and even to alTord considerable ai> propriations for the support of Catholic schools for the poor. But not even these evidences of imposing numbers and close organization so . much alarmed the Government, as the determined attitude taken by some of tiie clergy, and the bold writings of Doctor Doyle. He broached doctrines which not only startled the " Protestant Ascendancy," but even af- fected the nerves of some of the'Maynooth Professors. In his letter to Mr. Robertson, after speaking of the possibility of a rebel- lion and a French invasion, he says : " The Minister of PJngland cannot look to the exertions of the Catholic priesthood ; they have been ill-treated ; and they may yield for a moment to the inflnence of nature, tiiough it be opposed to grace. The clergy, with a few exceptions, are from tlie ranks of tiie people ; they iniierit their feelings ; they are not, as formerly, brought up under despotic governments ; and they have im- ; bibed the doctrines of Locke and Paley more deeply than those of Bellarmine, or even of Bossuet, en the divine right of kings. They know miicli more of the priuciplfs of 496 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the Constitution than they do of passive obedience. If a rebellion were raging from Carridfergus to Cape Clear, no sentence of exammunication would ever be fulminated by a Catholic Prelate y This announcement produced some con- sternation ; and to counteract the effect of such perilous declarations from a Bishop, Lord Wellesley, it was said, applied to May- iiooth ; and from ^laynooth (which receives money from the Treasury,) was, in fact, is- sued a protest ; from which it was known that the students and Doctor Crotty, the President, dissented altogether. It bore, however, the names of five professors of theology ; and the persons who were chiefly instrumental in getting it up were two old French doctors of the Sorbonne ; who had belonged, in their own country, to the old regime ; " and, with a good deal of learning, imported into Ireland a very strong relish for submission." * The publication of the five professors produced no effect whatever ; the people and clergy now saw the most eminent of their Prelates in the ranks of the association ; and Doctor Murray, Arch- bishop of Dublin, not only joined that body, but sometimes used very energetic language, tending to excite his people to be zealous in the cause. "The contemplation of the wrongs of my country," — he exclaimed, iu l)is stately cathedral in Marlborough street — " the contemplation of the wrongs of my country makes my soul burn within me." It is needless to say that the progress and power of the Catholic Association excited the Orafigemen of Ireland to frenzy ; Sir Harcourt Lees saw visions, and dreamed dreams ; and many petitions were sent to Parliament " to put down Popery," and save the Protestant State from O'Connell, the Pope, and the Devil. Ministers, indeed, be- gan to perceive that they must yield; and that emancipation could not be far off. It had, in its favor, not only the entire Catholic popu- lation of Ireland, but also in England, a small but very wealthy and influential group of nobles and gentry of that ancient faith, who, of course, expected their own restoration to ♦ Shell's Sketches : Catholic Leaders. Mr. Sheil gives at full length what he calls " the Sorbonne manifesto;"' and adds, that " it was laughed at by the Irish priesthood." civil rights from the success of the move- ment, then in such rapid progress. The Dissenting population of the North of Ire- land, it must be said, to their credit, were favorable to the claims of the Catholics, al- tliough their grandfathers had gladly sub- mitted to the Test and Corporation acts, which excluded Nonconformists from most offices, rather than make common cause with their fellow-sufferers, the Catholics, to shake ofi" the yoke of the Ascendancy. O'Con- nell had often appealed to them to give hira their moral aid in his struggle ; represent- ing to them that the great reform he sought was a breaking down of all barriers of ex- clusion under pretext of men's religious be- lief ; that if the last penal laws which op- pressed the Catholics were dashed to the earth, the last penal laws which injured and insulted Dissenters, must come down along with them ; and if the Catholics and Nonconformists of Ireland were once united in the assertion of their rights, there would soon be an end of tithes, and church-rates, and Minister's money, and every other paltry imposition which bolstered up the " Asicend ancy." Lan^^uage like this had its eQ"ect , !i large proportion — and that the most edu- cated and enlightened — of the Presbyteri- ans, gave their entire sympathy to the Cath- olic movement ; and if but few amongst them aided it actively, they at least remain- ed passive, and left all the fanatical howl- ing, all the pious imprecations and vaticin- ations of wrath to come, to the Orange Grand Masters, and raving rectors and curates. But amongst the forces which were now giving impetus to tlie Catholic cause, must also be classed the English Reformers, and their powerful organs at the press. Indeed, during this whole controversy, nothing was more observable than the great literary su- periority of the advocates of the Catholics, and the utter nullity of anything which was attempted on the other side, in tlie shape either of argument or satire. Most of the wisest and wittiest pens of the two islands, were wielded in favor of emancipation. Trenchant reasoning from Jeff"rey, in the Edinburgh Review — the piquant humor of Sidney Smith, in " Peter Plymley's Letters" — the brawny might of William Corbett, O CON>"ELL IN COURT HIS AUDACITY. 497 vlio wherever tyranny and intolerance show- ed their head smote it amain with his knot- ted club ; — the exqnisite satire of Moore, like a rapier of the finest edge, tliat cut clean and drew blood, and often witli the ligliiest and most graceful movement, as if in i)hiy, searched the very vitals of some villain in high places and made him howl ; • — Slieil's brilliant shafts of wit shot from the New Monthly Magazine; — all these were aimed at the monster called Protestant As- cendancy in Church and State ; and there was nothing of the kind to oppose them — nothing but the raving letters of Sir Har- court Lees and his friends, or the bitter spite of the Tories in Blackwood and Fraser and the Quarterly. However, if the Government had but little to say for itself in the literary way, it could still produce acts of Parliament and compose indictments. Early in 1825, Mr. Goulburn, then Secretary for Ireland, brought into Parliament and carried through both Houses a bill for suppression of "Un- lawful Associations in Ireland." This law- was, of course, aimed against the existing Catholic Association, which was not at all " unlawful." Immediately when it passed, the association^ under the legal advice of O'Connell, dissolved itself — it was no longer in existence — the law was satisfied — and then immediately constituted itself again, under the title of the New Catholic Asso- ciation. This was an usual expedient of O'Connell, through his loig series of agita- tions, in avoiding the penalties of penal enactments. He boasted that he could " drive a coach and six through an act of Parliament ;" and the practice of evading or practically annulling such tyrannous laws caimot certainly be condemned, seeing that the Irish people would at any time have been justified (if they had the needful force) in openly breaking, defying, and re- sisting them. This law against the Catholic Association was never in fact enforced, nor any enforcement attempted ; and it continued its proceedings precisely as before, until emancipation was secure. But while the Government thus made a show of coercion on the one hand, they had on the other prepared a bill for granting the Catholic claims in a certain stinted and very 68 guarded manner ; and the bill for this pur- pose — which happily never became law — is, indeed, an instructive sample of British statesmanship with respect to Irish affairs. It proposed to admit Catholics, both in Eng- laiul and in Ireland, to Parliament and to nnniicipal corporations ; but provided for Ii-eland two very important safeguards for the perpetuation of English supremacy in that island. In the first place, the entire class of county voters having freeholds worth forty shillings, were to be disfranchised. These made the great bulk of the rural voters. The other measure was to pension the Catholic clergy. The bill was prepared under the inspiration of Sir Robert Peel— this shrewd statesman had perceived when in Ireland, that the large increase of the Begium Donum to Presbyterian ministers had had the effect of quieting down the re- publican aspirations and quelling the "French principles" which had made those clergymen nearly all rebels in 1798 ; and that what- ever influence they exercised over their flocks was now exerted in favor of "loyalty," that is, of British dominion. And as for the Catholic clergy, we have in fact seen that the only members of that body who came to the rescue of British loyalty against Dr. Doyle's audacious declaration, were five professors of an institution endowed by the State. He prudently calculated that to salary thera all would buy them away from their people, and give England an efficient corps of clerical detectives in the interest of the British Gov- ernment. Accordingly, this bill provided, that they were to be paid out of the Trea- sury at the rate of £1,000 to each bishop ; £300 to a dean ; £200 to a parish-priest, and £60 to a curate. It was a scale some- what in proportion to the tariff of rewards which had been offered for the discocery of Catholic clergymen, and which had kept the " priest-hunters" in good business for many years. It may be thought that times had greatly altered for the better ;. yet the in- t.mtion, in the latter case, was quite as dead- ly hostile to the Irish people and their clergy as it had been in the former — and so they felt it ; for both priests and people were res- olutely opposed to this bribe, and most desirous for the defeat of the bill. It was defeated. xVlter i)assing the Lower House. 498 HISTORY OF IRELAND. it I'licouiitered most infuriated opposition in liie Lords ; and the Duke of York made a 8pecch of the intenseet malignity, which had the more serious effect, as he was heir pre- sumptive to the Crown of England. He declared in the most solemn manner that he never would consent to allow the claims of the Catholics — " never, so help him God ! " On the second reading in the House of Lords the bill was defeated. There was at this time in London a very imposing deputation of L'ish Catholics. O'Connell and Shell had been requested by the Catholic Association to go over and demdnd to be heard at the bar of the House of Commons against the bill for suppression of the " Unlawful Associations in Ireland." The motion that they should be heard was made by Mr. Brougham ; but was rejected; and that part of their mission failed. Sever- al distinguished gentlemen had been asso- ciated with the deputation ; amongst others, Mr. O'Gorman and Sir Thomas Esraonde. They were very warmly welcomed and courteously entertained by many leading Whigs, Brougham, Burdett, the Duke of Korfolk, and the Duke of Sussex, the " Lib- eral " member of the royal family. An incident occurred during the discussion npon Mr. Brougham's motion to hear O'Con- nell and Shell at the bar, which gave occa- sion to one of the very few imprudent things which Peel committed in his Parliamentary life. He was opposing the motion with much vehemence, and denouncing ihe asso- ciation as a treasonable body; alluding to a friendly address which it had presented to the venerable patriot Archibald Hamilton Rowan ; " he became heated with victory," says Mr. Shell, " and cheered, as he was re- peatedly, by his multitudinous partizans, turned suddenly towards the part of the House where the deputies were seated, and looking triumphantly at Mr. O'Connell, with whom he forgot for a moment that he had been once engaged in a personal quarrel, Rliook his hand with scornful exultation, and asked whether the House required any bet- ter evidence than the address of the associ- ation ' to an attainted traitor.' " This lan- guage was held to be in very bad taste ; and Mr. Brougham made a fierce and damaging reply. The incident, however, showed in very strong light the bitter feeling of Sir Robert Peel towards the Catholics. Before the deputation quitted London, the other bill for emancipation, with pay- ment of the clergy and disfranchisement of forty-shilling freeholders, was pending. These two conditions were called the " wings " of the bill ; and the deputies, especially Mr. O'Connell, had much conver- sation with leading Whig politicians upon the terms of the proposed measure, and upon the way in which it might, probably, be received in Ireland as a final settlement. Those Whig politicians were naturally de- sirous that the measure should pass, wings and all — for they cared nothing about the independence of the Church, or the rights of electors. What they thought of was, that some Irish Catholic members coming into Parliament would be an accession of force to their party, and might carry thera into office. Mr. O'Connell did not then, probably, so fully know as he afterwards came to know — that British Whigs regard all Irish questions solely with a view to the in- terests of the Whig party. The courtesies also, and the persuasive phraseology of those courtly "Liberals," and of the English Cath- olics, who were all for the bill, certainly im- posed somewhat upon O'Connell's mind ; insomuch that he is known to have signified to some principal Whig statesmen his wil- lingness to take the bill as it stood, with the two offensive "wings." The fortunate loss of the measure in the House of Lords prevented any evil consequences arising from this unaccountable weakness ; and when the deputation returned to Ireland, and found what was the state of feeling amongst the Catholics; and when O'Connell found that his complying disposition was very likely to injure his popularity and his power for good, he very promptly and frankly retracted, and took his position again with his countrymen. It had been well, indeed, if he had firmly held his ground against both those Wings to the last. , I ACTION OP THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION. 499 I CHAPTER LIV. 1825—1829. Action of the Catholic Association-— Waterford Elec- tion— Louth Election — Cliange of Ministry— Can- ning Premier — Lord Anglesea Viceroy — The "New Rel'orniatiou " — Pope and Maguire— Death of Can- ning — Cioderich Cabinet — Catliolic Petition for Re- peal of Test and Corporation Acts — Acts Repealed — Clare Election— O'Connell Returned — Its Results — Suppression of Catholic Association — Peel and Wellington Prepare Catholic Relief Bill— Rage of the Bigots — Reluctance of the King — O'Connell at the Bar of the House — Passage of the Emancipa- tion Act — Disfranchisement of the Forty-Shilling Freeliolders— Abstract of the Relief Act— The New Oath — Meaning and Spirit of the Relief Act. The Ciitholic Association continued its op- erations and extended its organization, with even greater vigor and success than before. It had a machinery which extended not only into every county but into every parish. Its funds were given to employ lawyers to protect the people in cases of extreme op- pression ; and in such cases as the wrecking of a chapel, or an Orange riot in the North — cases wiiich the magistrates at petty and quarter-sessions had been in the habit of treating upon the general principle tliat Pa- pists had no rights which Protestants were bound to respect, their worships were now sometimes thunderstruck by the apparition of clever barristers or attorneys from Dub- lin, who not only knew more law than the whole bench of justices, but were attended by newspaper reporters, sure to publisli abroad to the world any too-outrageous in- stance of magisterial partizanship. But the machinery of the association, both cen- tral and provincial, was capable of being employed with more striking effect in the elections of representatives in Parliament ; and its efficiency began to be proved in the general election of 1826. It was resolved in the association that all its efforts should be concentrated upon favoring the return of certaiti liberal Protestants (seeing that Catholics were not eligible,) for some coun- ties wliich had been up to that time con- trolled absolutely by a few great families of the old colonial aristocracy. The Beres- fords, for example, had lung represented Waterfurd in the person of some memljer of their family ; the idea of opposing the Beresford interest in that county seemed the wildest dream ; and the Beresford, who was Marquis of Waterford, naturally thought that he did not more clearly own the de- mesne of Curraghmore than he owned the representation of his county. At the elec- tion of 1826, Lord George Beresford was boldly opposed by Mr. Yilliers Stuart, an- other large proprietor of the county, and a friend to the Catholic claims. The latter was supported by the parochial organizers and by the Catholic clergy, and won his election, to the intense mortification of the house of Curraghmore, and perfect conster- nation of the whole Protestant interest. While society in Dublin was much agi- tated by the progress of this contest in the South, news arrived in that city of a still more stirring nature : Louth County was in like manner, held to be an apanage of the two noble houses of Foster and Jocelyn ; their titles were Oriel and Roden. Lord Oriel was that John Foster, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons at the time of the Union, with whom this history has already had much to do ; all his life a high place- holder, and bitter opponent of the Catholics. The politician of the family was now John Leslie Foster, who had long sat in Parlia- ment as one of the members for the county, and consistently on every occasion, resisted the slightest concession to the Catholics. The Jocelyns had as their nominee for the other seat, Mr. Fortescue, a politician of the same deep Orange hue. At the election in 1826, there presented himself to tlie peopla to ask their suffrages, a Mr. Dawson, a re- tired barrister of some }ort\ine, who was favorable to the enfranchisement of six mil- lions of his countrymen. He was attended to the pulls by immense multitudes of the worthy forty-shilling freeholders, who march- ed with him into Dundalk with green ban- ners flying in the wind. The contest was close ; for the influence of the great land- lords was nearly ii-resistible, unless at mortal peril. It needed all the energy of the local managers of the association to bring up the voters, and get them to defy those potent despots. Mr. Shell went down from Dublin as counsel for Dawson ; in short, at theclo.se of the poll, Dawson was declared duly elect- ed ; Mr. Foster was the second uiembeJ, 500 HISTORY or IRELAND. and Fortescue, nominee of Lord Roden, stood defeated. Some few other successes of a similar character, showed what the association could do. Tlie effect of such events upon the pub- lic mind in England was very great. As for the " Ascendancy " faction in Ireland, it was as usual in a foam of rage ; the great family interests — the mighty Orange houses which had been long a rock and strong tower to Protestant monopoly and religion, were now, as it seemed, to be assailed, not l)y sap or mine, but by open storm and esca- lade. The Protestant mind of that day could not help believing that there was some Jesuit conspiracy at work in this matter, sind that the Waterford election was won virtually by the Pope of Rome. Sir Har- court Lees demanded of Parliament whether his vaticinations would be at length listened to — Popery "put down," and O'Connell sent to the Tower. Early in the first session of the new Par- liament, Lord Liverpool, the Premier, was struck with paralysis. He was a helpless and timorous creature ; afraid to read his letters in the morning, lest they should bring news of an insurrection in some part of the country ; and his only idea of government was to disturb nothing, to reform nothing, (sufficient unto the day being the evil thereof,) and only praying that all mankind might remain precisely as it was, for his day. In short, he was a " Conservative " of the stu- pidest sort.* On his death, which followed very soon, Mr. Canning, who had been For- eign Secretary in his administration, was Bent for by the King, and received his com- mands to form a Cabinet. But Mr. Can- ning, only a month before, had made a pow- erful speech in favor of Catholic Emancipa- tion ; the King, therefore, must have known that in making this statesman his Prime Minister, he was taking an almost irrevoca- ble step towards that clearly-inevitable con- summation. Accordingly, Sir Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Eldon, and other Tory members of the outgoing Cabi- net, refused to serve with Mr. Canning ; * His order of Conservatism is admirably charac- terized by Paul Louis Courier, wlio, speaking of one ©f Lord Liverpool's character, said: " If he had been present on the morniup; of the creation he would bave cried : Mon JHeu .' consenons k chaos! who, thereupon, formed a Ministry which was genel'ally in favor of concession. Lord Wellesley was succeeded in the Yiceroyalty of Ireland by the Marquis of Anglesea, formerly Earl of Uxbridge, a very brilliant cavalry officer, but not much of a statesman. The Chief Secretary was Lord Francis Leveson Gower. When Lord Anglesea arrived in Ireland, he found the Ascendancy faction in high ex- citement. The very Orangemen began to perceive the ominous signs of the times. They were making preparations to celebrate with great pomp the grand Orange anniversary of the 12th of July ; being resolved, if they could not much longer trample on their fellow- countrymen, to insult them to the last. As the time approached, however, Lord An- glesea prohibited by proclamation the cus- tomary procession in Dublin, and the gar- landihg with Orange lihes the statue of King William in College Green. In Ulster, how- ever, the anniversary was celebrated with even more than the usual show of insolent triumph. In every town and village the brethren assembled in great numbers, march- ed from town to town, all flaunting with purple and orange sashes, generally halting in the midst of districts inhabited by Catho- lics, firing a volley over their houses, and playing " The Protestant Boys," and " Crop- pies Lie Down." The prohibition of the Dublin procession, and other alarming signs of an approaching compromise with Jezebel — for such was held to be the meaning of the threatened admis- sion of Papists to Parliament and the Cor- porations — aroused all the " No-Popery " an- imosities of their hereditary oppressors ; and the clerical agitators projected a " New Refarmation." If the Cathulics could but be convinced of their idolatry and supersti- tion, (which seemed so manifest to those clerical persons,) it was thought that they could no longer persist in their audacious pretensions. In general, this new scheme of proselytism was carried on by mere ribald abuse of everything held sacred in the an- cient religion, and by repeating the old stories out of " Fox's Martyrs ; " but certain of the new reformers challenged public dis- cussion with tlie most learned Catholic the- ologians iu every diocese ; and at first some THE NEW REFORMATION -POPE AND MAGUIRK 501 of tliese challenges were promptly met by Catholic clergymen, who thought, on their side that their religion could lose nothing, and might gain much by public exposition and defence of its tenets. Several oral dis- cussions took place accordingly, of which the most notable was that between a Rev. Mr. Pope, an English clergyman, and Father Maguire, a parish priest of Leitrim County. The bold acceptance of the challenge by " Father Tom," was thought by his own partizans rather unfortunate, as he had never debated in public, though known to be a learned theologian, while Mr, Pope was a practiced controversialist. The discussion was to take place in Dublin; each champion to defend three articles of his own and assail three of his adversary's faith. The occasion excited intense interest. Not only the pub- lic room where the meeting took place, but all Sackville street was thronged with eager Bympathizers. As the two disputants ar- gued within the building, thousands of minor " oral discussions" were taking place on the streets, and the talk of Dublin carmen was of Two Sacraments and of Seven. This scene lasted many days : the debate was carried on with sufficient courtesy : Father Maguire proved himself a master of theolo- gical learning, and Mr. Pope of controver- sial declamation : and the affair ended, as might have been expected — that is. Catho- lics were convinced that Mr. Maguire had demolished the Protestant religion, and Protestants were satisfied that Mr. Pope had not left Popery a leg to stand on. Nobody was converted on either side. Many other similar discussions, in which laymen sometimes bore a part, raged in each province of the island, and generally rather inflamed intolerance than advanced any good cause ; the Right Rev. Dr. Doyle dis- approved of them, and soon interdicted the clergy of his diocese from engaging in tliem. So did the Archbishop of Armagh, and then the other Bishops. Soon not a priest could be found to accept a challenge — and their opponents took this as a plain [)roof that the Catliolic religion was afraid of the light of day. They eagerly pressed their invitations, but in vain. Tliey urgcmtly offered to their Catholic friends to prove the Mass a plain sacrifice to idols, and Purgatory a lameu- table infringement on the prerogatives of Hell — the Catholic priests would no longer strip for this polemical prize-ring ; although still ready and willing to expound their faith by the old methods of theological argument. Tlie year 1827 was remarkable for the first great examj)le of the emigrant Irish in every foreign country, and iu every colony taking an active part in the struggle for liberty of their friends at home. And the sympathy and substantial aid were not con- fined to Irishmen alone ; nor even to Catho- lics alone. The bold attitude of O'Connell; the mighty power he had created and direct- ed ; the vigor and wisdom of that agitatiou now so evidently shaking the deep-rooted and broad-based structure of the British Empire, attracted the admiration of thu world. Tiie powerful French press occupied itself warmly in the struggle ; and from French Catholics, as well as from Americans of all religions, came addresses and subscrip- tions to the Catliolic Association. Multitu- dinous meetings of " Friends of Ireland " were held in all considerable American cities ; and a large part of the business of the association began to be reading foreign correspondence, and receiving addresses from not only France and America, but from va- rious German States, from Italy, from Spain, even from British India. All these things, while they violently irritated the national pride of the English, suggested to them at the same time the impossibility of continued resistance, in so very bad a cause. Mr. Canning died in August, after a very short tenure of office. He had to contend with a compact and very acrimonious oppo- sition, consisting not only of the Tories, but of the aristocratic party of the old Whigs, headed by Lord Grey — a party whicli was jealous of Canning, because it sincerely believed him an interloper upon the pre- scriptive right of a few great families to govern the country.* * Canning was a man of strong passions and higli spirit, with great talent for satire ; and of course had made many enemies— and without enemies, no maa is entitled to have friends. Ue had been a Tory too, and had written pungent squibs in th? " Anti-Jaco- bin " against " French i)rinciples ; "' for example the very clever satire of the " Needy Knife-Griuder " In one of these jc«x d' esprit, he liad contrasted the statesmanlike qualities of certain Tory Tiorda with " The temper of (Jrey And treasurer Shendau's promise to pay."' 502 HISTOBY OF IRELAND. But the head and the heart of this vea- omons opposition was Sir Robert Peel, who saw that Canning; was destined, if his gov- ernment lasted, to carry tlie great measiire of Catholic Emancii)ation, and who was determined, if possible, to supersede .him and carry that inevitable measure himself — a policy not unfamiliar to this prudent statesman, which he afterwards pursued in the other signal case of the repeal of the Corn laws. Mr. Canning, too, was in failing health, and had lost most of the original en- ergy of his nature. Peel, therefore, " hound- ed liim to death," as Lord George Bentinck long afterwards bitterly declared in Parlia- ment. Mr. Canning was succeeded by Lord Goderich, a statesman of little talent or in- fluence, who did not succeed in forming a Ministry which could hold together; and in January 1828, this feeble administration gave place to the Duke of Wellington aS Premier Minister, and Sir Robert Peel as Secretary for the Home Department — both of them avowed and inveterate enemies of the liberties of Catholics. The Duke, also, was still sincerely and consistently res- olute to refuse all concession ; while his prudent colleague had already determined to he converted at the right moment, and to have the credit of effecting a revolution which he saw to be inevitable. In this new Cabinet was Lord Palmerstou ; a man who never cared for Whig or Tory, Catholic or Protestant, or the rights or wrongs of any class, sect or nation, but was always ready to bear a hand, and that efficiently, in the current events which were for the time be- ing the order of the day. On the opening of the session of 1828, the Catholic Association was prepared with a petition, signed l)y 800,000 Catholics, pray- jjijr — not for any rights of their own or re- lief for themselves, — but for repeal of the Test act and Corporation act, which had excluded Protestant Dissenters from office for a century and a half. This idea was O'Connell's ; but the petition — as he long Afterwards delighted to proclaim — was drawn up by the hand of Father Tj'Estrange, ii Carmelite friar. This was an incident well It was generally belie red that T>orfI Ovey did not forget this ; and that it contributed very much to en- venom his opposition to Canning's Ministry. calculated to produce a fine dramatic effect — the proscribed and oppressed Catholics petitioning for the rights of the much less proscribed and oppressed Nonconformists ! but it is fair to add that many petitions poured in this session from Protestants of all sects in favor of the Catholic claims — so that there was, at least, an appearance of mutual good will, and an universal aspi- ration towards liberty, equality, and frater- nity. The picture was somewhat marred, however, by multitudes of petitions vehem- ently deprecating all concession to Catholics; and these latter came from the most influ- ential quarters in the three kingdoms of Ire- land, England, and Scotland. The British Universities were especially stirred by ap- prehension and alarm for the Protestant in- terest ; and the corporations, particularly that of Dublin, felt that all was lost if a man of Seven Sacraments became aldermaa or town comicillor. In that session the Test act and Corpo- ration act were in fact repealed. The measure was introduced by Lord John Rus- sell, a statesman who, then and always, pro- fessed "Liberal" principles, and aspired to lead the party of what is called " Progress," but being essentially narrow-minded has often shown himself actuated by the blind- est bigotry and intolerance. His measure was carried, chiefly on account of the lan- guid opposition made to it by Sir Robert Peel, who was then in a transition state, and was making up his mind to be convert- ed himself to Liberal principles, and even to snatch from Lord John Russell and the Whigs, the credit of carrying the grand Whig measure of that age. The act re- pealing the Test and Corporation acts be- came law in April ; and a few weeks after, on the secession of several members from the Cabinet, Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, then mem- ber for Clare County, was brought in to fill a vacancy in the administration, as Presi- dent of the Board of Trade. This vacated his seat for Clare, until he should be reelect- ed • and he immediately issued his address to the Clare electors, nothing doubting that he would be at once replaced in his seat ; having large influence in the county, and most of the larger landed-proprietors being his political and personal friends. Mr. Fitz- CLAEE ELECTION O CONNELL RETURNED. 5o:j gerald was a highly honorable and 4iberal gentleman, and a warm friend to Catholic Emancipation. He was, moreover, the sou of that steady Anti-Union patriot, Mr. Prime-Sergeant Fitzgerald, who had spoken at the bar meeting against the Union, and had been thereupon degraded from his office by the Government. He was, therefore, in some sort, a martyr to patriotism ; and his son had good rcuson to count not only on his own possessions and influence in his county, but also on his personal merit and the traditions of his family, for a warm sup- port in Clare. The celebrated Clare election followed ; one of the most momentous transactions in the modern history of Ireland, and, indeed, of the other island also. It was no merely local contest for one seat in Parliament ; it was the making up of a decisive issue be- tween the millions of oppressed Catholics, and that potent and insolent " Ascendancy," which had so long trampled upon them in their own land. At first, however, it was not foreseen what a sharp turning point this Clare election was destined to prove in history. The Catholics had passed a resolution at one of their ag- gregate meetings, to oppose the election of every candidate who should not pledge him- self against the Duke of Wellington's ad- ministration. Now here was a proven friend to those Catholics, who had always voted in their favor, actually a member of that ad- minijiratioii, and seeking election at the hands of an Irish constituency. The ques- tion was, should that worthy gentleman be opposed by the whole power of the associa- tion ? And whom could they hope to put in his place who would be a better friend to them than Yesey Fitzgerald ? An incident now occurred, which gave much additional importance to this question. Lord John Russell, charmed with his own success in repealing the Test and Corporation acts, swelling with self-confidence, as usual, and never doubting that he was about to be the great "Liberal" leader, wrote a letter to Mr. O'Connell, suggesting that the conduct of the Duke of Wellington in the case of the repeal of Test and Corporation acts, had been so fair and noble, as to entitle his grace to the gratitude of " Liberals ; " and that they, the said Liberals " would con- sider the reversal of the resolution whicii had been passed against his Government, as evidence of the interest which the Irish peo- ple felt, not only in the great question pecu- liarly applicable to that country, but in the assertion of religious freedom throughout the e?npire.^'* That is to say, the Whig pariy of the "empire" would take it very kind, if Mr. O'Connell and the Catholic Association would put aside the consideration of their own country and their own riglits, and use their power so as to benefit that parli/. This resembles extremely the many other occasions on which the Whigs of the " Em- pire "have endeavored to stifle Irish ques- tions, and turn Irish organizations for na- tional purposes to the service of an Englisii faction, which always courted the Catholics when out of office, and always spurned and oppressed them when in power. And Mr. O'Conaell's greatest weakness, (as we have seen in the last chapter,) both then and since, \ya^ his too-credulous reli- ance upon the fair professions of that treaclt- erous party, which he had so often occasion to describe as "the base, brutal, and bloody Whigs." On the present occasion, Mr. O'Connell can scarcely be censured for lend- ing an ear to the suggestion of the Whig — that Mr. Fitzgerald's election should go un- opposed ; for O'Connell himself did not yet foresee what a potent engine this Clare election would become in his hands. There- fore, he proposed in the association, that the resolution should be suspended. But O'Connell did not fully appreciate how deeply his countrymen abhorred both Wellington and Peel, of both of whom, in the capacity of Chief Secretary, Ireland had bitter experience. His motion was ve- hemently and successfully opposed. After some debate, the original resolution was left standing ; and the association remained committed to oppose the return of Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald. Mr. O'Connell had rea- son to rejoice in his failure to rescind that resolution. Clare, then, was to be contested ; and the next question was, wlio was to be put forward against Fitzgerald ? The associa- tion pitched upon Major Mac Namara, one *See Sliiel'a Sketclies— 27ie Clare Election, . 504 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of the proprietors of the county, a Protest- ant, of course, but descended of ancient Irish stock, very friendly to the Catholics ; a man of but little weight of character, whose principal care and ambition, seem to have been to dress and wig himself after the pattern of George IV., whom he personally resembled ; for the rest, a good landlord, an excellent magistrate, and pro- lector of the poor and oppressed. But this personage, though a friend to his Catholic countrymen, was still more a friend, as it turned out, to his jieighbor Yesey Fitzger- ald. He allowed many days to elapse, without sending an answer to the associa- tion ; and as Clare was at a great distance from Dublin, in those days of slow traveling, much anxious delay was thus created. Doubts and rumors began to prevail, not only as to the acceptance of the candidacy, but as to the disposition of the priests of Clare, to act warmly with the association against so estimable and popular a gentle- man. Mr, O'Gorman Mahon and JNIr. Steele were sent post to Clare, to inquire into the dispositions of priests and people, and to bring an answer, if possible, from Major Mac Naraara. O'Gorman Mahcjii came back in two days ; the Major's family lay under such obligations to Mr. Fitzger- ald, that he could not think of opposing him. Meanwhile, the " Ascendancy" party, as well as the Liberal Protestants of Clare, were actively engaged in working for the candi- date already in the field ; and boasting that no gentleman in the county would stoop so low as to accept the patronage of the Cath- i>lic Association. Those gentlemen of the county, was soon to receive a lesson. There was earnest consultation one night at O'Connell's house, in Merrion Square ; next day Dublin City was startled, and soon all Ireland was aroused, by an address from CConndl himself, to the electors of Clare, soliciting their suffrages, affirming that he was qualified to be elected and to serve them in Parliament, although he would lyever take the oath, (that the Mass is idol- atrous,) "for," continued he, " the author- ity whicli created those oaths, (the Parlia- ment,] can abrogate them ; and I entertain it coTifident hope that if you elect tne, the ciost bigoted of our enemies will see the ne- cessity of removing from the chosen repre- sentat^ive of the people, an obstacle, wliifh would prevent liiin from doing his duty to his King and to his country," At last all the world, friends and foes, saw in one moment what was to be the meaning of the Clare election. Several members of the association were at once sent down to Clare, in order to ex- cite the people, and prepare them for the great event ; also to arouse the spirit of the priests, and induce them to use their influ- ence with the tenantry. The great family " interests," the O'Briens, the Yandeleurs, the Fitzgeralds, the Mac Namaras had, as they thought, organized and drilled their numerous tenantry into proper discipline. They considered the peo|)le who lived ou their estates almost in the light of serfs ; and it was a principle then in Ireland, that if any gentleman interfered with another's tenants, by canvassing them, in order to in- duce them to vote against their landlords, tiie interference was to be resented as a personal affront. But a power was now moving these masses, on which those respect- able gentlemen had not calculated — the pro- found and sweeping passion of a highly im- pulsive and imaginative people, thoroughly aroused by every feeling that could appeal either to their manhood, or their religious enthusiasm — stimulated by the exhortations of priests whom they loved, and inspired by the name and renown of the redoubtable champion, who promised to deliver them. All this together, made up such a mass of concentrated power, as was sure to test sev- erely the discipline of the great estates, and the traditionary defereuce paid by tenants to their landlords. Mr. Steele and O'Gorman Mahon un- dertook to canvass the county ; and Steele intimated beforehand, his readiness to fight any landlord who shoidd feel himself ag- grieved by interference with his tenants. Then they traversed the county, making the most earnest and impetuous appeals to the people ; nddressing them at all hours, and in all places — in the chapels after Mass, on tiie hill-sides, in the village markets, by day and by night, until it was clear that the generous and gallant people, were fully resolved to brave this one good time, the ut- RAGE OF THE BIGOTS. 505 most vengeance of landlord-wrath, and carry the " Man of the People" triumphantly to the door of Parliament. The famous Father Maguire traveled all the way from Leitrim, that he might help to swell the excitement. John Lawless, (or as he was usually named honest Jack Law- less,) was then editor of a newspaper in Bel- fast, called the Irishman ; he left his news- paper to other hands, and hurried to Clare, to put his tiery leading articles, into the form of fiery speeches. The town of Ennis, whicli had a population of eight thousand, contained thirty thousand human beings, ou the day when O'Connell's green carriage was expected in that place. Green flags waved from the windows ; priests and agi- tators addressed multitudes from a balcony or a flight of steps ; and the excitement of expectation was at its highest. Yet there was not the slightest appearance of turbu- lence or disorder. On the contrary, through- out all the exciting canvass, and still more exciting days of the actual poll, eld family fends were suspended, or terminated forever. There was no drunkenness, no angi-y language, and no man ventured (so strong was public opinion) to raise a hand agaiiist anotlrer upon any provocation. O'Connell, at length, appeared, with two or three friends ; and there was one continu- ous shout from thirty thousand throats. Women cried and laughed ; strangers who had never seen one another, wrung each other's hands ; and from every window ladies (Mr. Shiel says, " of great beauty,") waved hands and handkerchiefs. No won- der that such a tempest of patriotic zeal, whirled away Mr. Fitzgerald's own tenants out of the hands of their marshaling bailiffs ; nor that one wave of O'Coimell's arm, left Mr. Vandcleur deserted by his whole army of freeliolders. Sir Edward O'Brien's feu- dal pride was mortally hurt by the defec- tion of his people, and he shed tears of vex- ation ; but his son, William Smith O'Brien, then member for Ennis, though his family pride may have been hurt by such a result, was not inconsolable, being, indeed, a con- tributor to the "Catholic Rent," and one who at all times, valued justice and fair dealing more highly than the broad acres and high towers of Drumoland. 61 The details of an election contest, even that of Clare in 1828, need not be related at length. Sir Edward O'Brien proposed Mr. Fitzgerald, who was seconded by Sir Augustus Fitzgerald. O'Connell was pro- posed by O'Gorman Mahon and Mr. Steele, both proprietors in the county. The speeches were made ; the poll proceeded ; and at its close the nnmbers stood, for O'Connell, two thousand and fifty-seven ; for Fitz- gerald, one thousand and seventy-five. After an argument before the assessor, Mr. Keat- ing, in which it was contended that a Catholic could not be legally returned, the objection was overruled, ou the ground that it rested with the Parliament itself, on the oath being tendered and refused, to exclude a representative, and O'Connell was pro- claimed duly elected. It is somewhat difficnlt, at this day, fully to comprehend the profound impression which this event produced throughout Ire- land, as well as in the other island. Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, though deeply mortified, took his defeat with a gentlemanlike calm- ness ; but the great proprietors of Clare County, who had supported him, could not con- ceal their ominous apprehensions. " Where is all this to end ?" was a question frequently put in his presence ; to which he replied only by looks of gloom and sorrow. In fact, the worthy Protestant " Liberals," dis- ciples and followers of Grattan and Pon- sonby, had accustomed themselves to regard the Catholic claims as their affair — they were the Parliamentary patrons of the Irish Catholics, and liad never dreamed of the possibility of their clients taking the case into their own hands ; not only throwing off all dependence upon them, but even flinging aside so decisively one of the most dis- tinguished of their advocates, and coming ia their proper person to thunder at the doors of Parliament. Still more fearful and ter- rible to them was the example of independ- ence now set by the voting tenantry — the hereditary family " interests " were no longer omnipotent ; and the end of the world seemed at hand. The exultation of the Catholic people of Ireland was unbounded. O'Connell traveled back to Dublin in the midst of one continued triumphal procession. Mr. Lawless, the Belfast editor, was escort- 606 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ed, on his return to Belfast, by enormous multitudes of the peasantry. Through the phiius of Meath they passed in peaceable triumph, and through the southern part of Monaghan ; but in this region the Orange- men were strong, armed, resolute, and infuriated ; and a vast concourse of armed Protestants, excited by the hai-angues of their preachers, and prayerfully determined to resist this triumph of "Jezebel," at least in their county, were assembled at Ballybay, and showed a stern purpose of opposing the passage of Mr. Lawless and his followers. It needed all the exertions of the Catholic clergy, and the friendly expostulations of General Thornton, military commandant of the district, to prevent a collision, and induce the multitudinous escort of Mr. Lawless to disperse and go to their homes. For a week or two there were serious apprehen- sions of collision, and of civil war ; and large cumbers of troops were hastily sent over from England. It was even formally pro- posed in the Catholic Association that a run should be made on the banks, with a view of disorganizing society and opening the way for armed revolution ; but these coun- sels were rejected. The actuul results of this election are well known, and may be shortly summarized. The Duke of Wellington, who had a few months before declared that " he could not comprehend the possibility of placing Roman Catholics in a Protestant Legislature with any kind of safety; as his personal kriowledge told him that no King, however Catholic, could govern his Catholic subjects without the aid of the Pope ;" this Duke, the consistent and conscientious opponent of Catholic liberties, and who had taken office expressly to defeat their claims, became suddenly converted, and felt that the choice lay between Catholic Emancipation and civil war. As for Sir Robert Peel, he had already divined the course of events — his policy was clear ; and his conscience pre- sented no serious difBculty. Lord Anglesea, the Lord-Lieutenant, though he had come over to Ireland with no friendly feeling towards the Catholics, had greatly altered liis views, and now made no secret of his opinion that the time was come to settle the vexed question in the only way it could be settled — for which expression of opinion he was summarily removed from his govern- ment. The Parliament met in February, 1829. The King's speech, prepared, no doubt, by Peel, recommended the suppression of the Catholic Association, and the subsequent consideration of Catholic disabilities, with a view to their adjustment and removal. As for the Catholic Association, there could be no difficulty about that ; it had done its work, and not waiting for the law to sup- press it, dissolved itself at once — that is, nominally, for substantially the organization still subsisted, and could easily resume its usual business in case of necessity. It was Sir Robert Peel who, on the 5th of March, moved for a Committee of the Whole House, "for consideration of the civil disabilities of His Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects ;" and the motion was carried, after warm debate, by a large majority. And now arose the most tremendous clamor of alarmed Protestantism that had been heard in the Three Kingdoms since the days of James II. — the last King who had ever dreamed of placing Catholics and Protestants on something like an ap- proach to equality. Multitudinous petitions, not only from Irish Protestants, but from Scottish Presbyteries, from English Univer- sities, from corporations of British towns, from private individuals, came pouring into Parliament, praying that the great and noble Protestant State of England should not be handed over as a prey to the Jesuits, the Inquisitors and the Propaganda. Never was such a jumble of various topics, sacred and profane, as in those petitions ; vested interests — idolatry of the Mass — principles of the Hanoverian succession — the Inquisition — eternal privileges of Protestant tailors, or Protestant lightermen — our holy religion — French principles — tithes — and the Beast of the Apocalypse — all were urged, with vehe- ment eloquence, upon the enlightened legis- lators of Britain. What may seem strange, one has to ad- mit that a great number of these frightened petitioners were truly sincere and conscien- tious. The amiable Dr. Jebb, Protestant Bishop of Limerick, for example, writes an earnest letter to Sir Robert Peel, on the 1 1th RELUCTANCE OF THE KING. 507 of February, 1829, (so soon as lie saw the course that matters were taking,) and says to him : " Infinitely more difficulties and dangers will attach to concession than to uncompromising resistance In defence of all that is dear to British Pro- testants, I am cheerfully prepared, if neces- sary, as many of my order have formerly done, to lay down life itself." On the other hand, the good Dr. Doyle, Catholic Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, had uttered this prayer for O'Connell when he started for the contest in Clare : " May the God of truth and justice protect and prosper you 1" What very different — what very opposite ideas of truth and justice had these two excellent Prelates ! Sir Robert Peel, however, had taken his part — the Catholics were to be emancipat- ed ; and by hi?}i. But the King would not yield, save at the last extremity. To assent to an act of justice, seemed to George IV., like the loss of his dearest heart's blood. He endeavored even to get rid of the Wellington Cabinet, and to form a new Ministry, which would pledge itself not to do justice. But in this he failed. Sir Robert Peel tells us : " At a late hour on the evening of the 4th of March, the King wrote a letter to the Duke of Wellington, informing him that His Majesty anticipated so much difficulty, in the attempt to form another administration, that he could not dispense with our services ; that he must, therefore, desire us to witlidrawour resigna- tion, and that we were at liberty to proceed with the measures, of which notice had been given in Parliament."* Mr. O'Connell, who had arrived in Lon- don, to claim his seat for Clare, as a Cath- olic, finding that there was now a Govern- ment pledged to emancipation, having carte blanche for that purpose, decided not to present himself for the present, lest it should embarrass the adraiuistration. The Emancipation act was forthwith in- troduced ; it was prepared by Sir Robert Peel ; it contained neither the provision for veto, nor that for bribing the priests ; but it * Memoirs. By the Right Honorable Sir Robert Peel, Bart. PublisboJ by the trustees of his papers, Lord Mahon ami Right Honorable Ed. Cardwell, M. p. London: 185G. was accompanied by a certain other act, as fatal, perhaps, as either of those, namely, for disfranciiisement of all the forty-shilling freeholders in Ireland. Sir Robert was de- termiued at least, not to yield this point. It was the forty-shilling freeholders, who had humbled the Beresford domination in Waterford, and destroyed the Foster mo- nopoly in Louth ; it was the forty-sliillino; freeholders who had carried O'Connell tri- umphantly to the head of the poll in Clare ; and by destroying that whole class of voters, Peel, hoped very reasonably, not only to render the remaining voters more amenable to corrupt influences, but also to take away the motive, which had heretofore existed, for granting leases to small farmers, and thus in good time, to turn those independent far- mers into tenauts-at-will. He had his own profound reasons for this — which will fully appear hereafter. The debates on the Relief bill were, as might have been expected, very violent and bitter. The fanatical section of English and Irish Protestantism, was deeply moved. In the mind of those people, all was lost ; and Sir Robert Peel and the Duke, were almost directly charged with being agents of the Pope of Rome. However, the bill passed through its two first readings in the Com- mons ; and the third reading was passed on the 30th of March, by a majority of thirty- six. Next day it was carried to the House of Lords ; and on the 2d of April, its sec- ond reading was moved by the Duke of Wellington, who made no scruple to urge its necessity, in order " to prevent civil war." Sir Robert Peel, in his argument for the law, had been less explicit and straiglitfor- ward than the Duke — he had only said the measure was needful, to prevent great dangers and "public calamity." f After violent debates in the House of Lords, lasting several days, the bill was passed a third time, and passed by a raajor- ■f Sir Robert Peel, in his letter to Doctor Jebb, Bishop of Limerick, in February, said : " It is easy to blame the conce.ssions that were made in 1782, and in 1793 ; but they were not made without an in- timate conviction of their absolute necessity in order to prevent greater dangers." Sir Robert says agaia : " I can with trutli affirm, that in advising and promot- ing the measures of 1829, I was swayed by no fear, except the fear of public calamity." — Memoirs, by Sir Robert Peel. 608 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ity of one hundred and four. It then re- ceived tlie royal assent ; and what is called Catholic Emancipation, was an accomplish- ed fact. O'Connell, in the meantime, presented himself at the bar of the House of Com- mons, claiming to take his seat as member for Clare. This was before the passage of the bill iiito a law. But an election petition was pending, sent forward by certain elec- tors of Clare, against the validity of his re- turn. The investigation of this petition con- sumed time ; but, at length, the committee reported INIr. O'Connell duly elected. The Emancipation act was now passed, and was the law of the land. O'Connell, thereupon, held himself entitled to go in and take his seat, subject only to the new oaths. For this purpose, he repaired to the House, on the 16th of May, was introduced in the usu- al form by Lords Ebrington and Duncan- non, and walked to the table to be sworn by the Clerk. But Sir Robert Peel, had pru- dently provided against this in the new law ; which admitted only those who should, " after the comimncement of that act be re- turned as members of the House of Com- mons," to take their seats under the new oaths. It was a mean piece of spite ; and its special object was, to give Sir Robert an opportunity of snubbing O'Connell one last time, before yielding finally to his im- perious demand. Accordingly, the Clerk of the House ten- dered to the new member the now-abrogated oaths — one being the oath of Supremacy, (namely, that the King of England is head of the Church,) and the other, "that the Sacrifice of the 'Mass is impious and idola- trous," and so forth. He refused to take these oaths : he was then heard at the bar of the House, where he claimed his right to sit and vote : his claim was dissallowed by a vote : the old oaths were once more ten- dered to him : he read over the stupid trash in an audible voice ; then said, raising his head, that he declined to take that oath, because " one part of it he knew to be false, and another he did not believe to be true." A new writ was then issued to hold an elec- tion for the County Clare. The series of measures called " Emanci- patiibL " consisted of three acts of Parlia- ment. The first, an act for suppression of the Catholic Association, as an illegal and dangerous society ; the second an act for the disfranchisement of the forty-shilling freeholders in Ireland (not in England, where that qualification was retained) — and third, the Relief act proper, abolishing the old oaths against transubstantiation, &c., and substituting another very long and in- genious oath (for Catholics only) testifying allegiance to the Crown ; promising to main- tain the Hanoverian settlement and succes- sion ; declaring that it is no article of the Catholic faith " that Princes excommuni- cated by the Pope may be deposed or mur- dered by their subjects ; that neither the Pope nor any other foreign prince has any temporal or civil jurisdiction within the realm ; promising to defend the settlement of property as established by law ; solemnly disclaiming, disavowing, and abjuring ' any intention to subvert the present church estab- lishment as settled by law;' and engaging never to exercise any privilege conferred by that act ' to disturb or weaken the Protes- tant religion or Protestant government.' " The act admitted Catholics, on taking this oath, to be members of any lay body- corporate, and to do corporate acts, and vote at corporate elections ; but not to join in a vote for presentation to a benefice in the gift of any corporation. The act further most formally affirmed and preserved the great principle of Protes- tant Ascendancy, by specially excluding Catholics from the high offices of Lord-Lieu- tenant and Lord Chancellor ; the former being the officer wlio makes nearly all ap- pointments in Ireland, and exercises the royal power to pardon — or not to pardon ; the latter being the person who decides on the guardianship of minors, and orders in what religion they are to be brought up, in the absence of express directions from their pa- rents. The Lord Chancellor also has con- trol over the commissions of magistrates, and cancels them at his pleasure, thus con- trolling, in a very great degree, the admin- istration of justice. Bearing in mind these important provis- ions and exceptions — and, further, that the Anglican Church still continued the estab- lished religion of the land, and still devoured ME-i^NING AND SPIRIT OF THE BELIEF ACT. 509 the Catholic people by its exactions — it is tolerably clear that by the Relief bill Catholics were not quite half emancipated. But the most fatal blow to the liberties of the Irish people was the contemporaneous act for disfranchisement of the forty-shillinc? freeholders ; and for raising the connty qualification to £10 a year — five times the qualification required in England. Only seventeen members of the House of Com- mons voted against this grievous injustice. It was introduced by Sir Robert Peel, on the ostensible ground that there was too great a disposition on the part of Irish landlords to divide their land into minute portions ; that the franchise was a mere in- strument with which the landed aristocracy e.xercised power and control over the elec- tions ; and that this control had lately passed into the hands of the priests, (which was worse,) and he cited as an example what had ktely taken place in Louth and Monaghan and Waterford. In other words, he would disfranchise those small farmers because they had shown themselves capable of defying landlord control and acting independently. Amongst those who opposed this measure were Lord Duncannon, Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Huskisson. Their argument was, " If the forty-shilling freeholders had been corrupt, like those of Penrhyn, their dis- franchisement might be defended ; but the only offence of the persons against whom the bill was directed had been that they exer- cisod their privilege honestly and independ- ently, according to their conscience."* It is singular that O'Connell said not a word at any meeting, nor wrote any letter, protesting against this wholesale abolition of the civil and political rights of those to whom he owed his election for Clare. He tlius consented by his silence to see cat away from under his own feet the very ground- work and material of all effective political action in Ireland; and often, afterwards, had occasion, as Ireland also had, to lament the impotence and futility of all patriotic effort for the real advancement of their country, in • Accoant of Debate in Annual Register for 1829. consequence of the destruction of the fortj'- shilling freeholders. Many thousands of these freeholders, and of their children, are now working on canals and railroads in America. The new and cheap ejectment laws were in full force ; and were soon to act with fatal effect. We can now appreciate in some measure the true sjpirit in which " Catholic Emanci- pation " was effected. It was "to avert civil war" said the Duke of Wellington ; it was " to avoid greater dangers " said Sir Robert Peel. It was emphatically not to do justice, nor to repair a wrong. In the words of an eminent French writer on Irish affairs "}" nothing is more certain, than that neither the King nor his Ministers intended to do an act of justice and reparation to- wards the Catholics ; the bill of 1S29 was nothing else than a concession wrested from them by circumstances ; which the King would never have consented to, if he had found Ministers decided — even at the cost of a civil war, to perpetuate an iniquity of three centuries, and which liis Ministers would never have proposed if they had not apprehended that civil war, in the interest of the Protest- ant establishment itself. Now when a con- cession has been extorted by force, and is not a spontaneous homage to truth and jus- tice, those who grant it may, perhaps, respect it as to its mere letter ; but certainly they will not loyally comply with its spirit. When we see their practical application of it, it is evident that they desire to hold back with one hand what they have been obliged to bestow with the other ; and that deeply re- gretting the necessity they have hud to obey, when that necessity becomes less ur- gent, they observe only so much of their engagement as is needful to save them from the charge of perjury. Hence comes it also that there is so little gratitude manifested for this concession — and in truth, those may dispense with gratitude who owe only to fear, " a Utile justice and a little freedom^ t Le Pere Perrand. Etudes sur VIrlande con- lemporaine. 510 HISTORY OF IRELAND. CHAPTER LY. 1829—1840. Hesults of the Relief Act— O'Conncll Reelected for Clare — Drain of Agricultural Produce — Educated Class of Catholics Bought- The Tithe War— Lord Anglesea Viceroy — O'Coimell's Associations — — Anglesea's Proclamations — Prosecution of 0'- Connell— National Education — Tithe-Tragedies — Newtownbarry — Carrickshock — Change of Dynasty in France— Reform Agitation in England— What Reform Meant in Ireland — Cholera— Resistance to Tithe — Lord's Grey's Coercion Act — Abolition of Negro Slavery— Church Temporalities Act — Re- peal Debate— Surplus Population — Surplus Pro- duce — Tithe-Carnage at Rathcormack — Queen Vic- toria's Accession — Three Measures Against Ireland Poor Law — Tithe Law — Mum;;ipal Reform — Castle Sheriffs. Lmperfect and stinted and guarded as the Catholic Emancipation act was, it was, nevertheless, felt in Ireland to be a great Iriuniph and noble achievement of O'Connell, who at once rose to the higliest pinnacle of popular favor. The Catholics almost wor- shipped him, as their Heaven-sent deliverer ; and the partizans of the good old tradition- ary Protestant Ascendancy thought the end of the world was at hand. The sword brandished in the hand of Walker's statue, standing upon a lofty column on a bastion of Derry walls, fell down with a crash, and was shivered to pieces, upon the very day when His Majesty, George lY., placed his signature on the Emancipation act ; which he did not do, however, without having first broken and trampled upon a pen which was handed to him for that pur- pose, in a highly dramatic manner, and with the most perfect mimicry of deep feeling. Sir Harcourt Lees, for his part, thought the time was now at last surely come to " put down Popery " by act of Parliament, and to send the " Arch-Agitator" to the Tower. As for O'Connell himself, and the more thoughtful amongst his friends and support- ers of the Catholic Association, they saw too well that little or nothing was gained. Not only was their civil and political in- feriority maintained and formally reasserted ; but the great body of brave farmers, who had frightened the " empire " by their inde- pendence, was swept out of civil existence at a blow. It at once became evident to O'Connell that there was no salvation for Ireland but in a repeal of the odious and fraudulent Union. On his return to Ireland, as if sensible that what bad been already effected for his country was rather apparent than real, he declared openly that the next victory to be achieved must be the repeal of the Union. Both at Ennis and at Youghal he made speeches enforcing the ne- cessity of this great measure, and promising never to rest until it should be accomplished; a pledge which, indeed, he labored all his life to redeem. On the passage of the law disfranchising the forty-shilling freeholders, orders had been at once sent to Ireland to commence a " registration " of those who still retained the franchise, possessing a freehold of iSlO yearly value. This haste was for the pur- pose of acting as soon as practicable upoa Irish elections, and, if possible, defeating O'Connell when he should again present himself in Clare under the new writ. He was not opposed, however, on his second election at Clare, and was again sent back to Parliament, with all the qualifications re- quired even by the new law. He did not at once take his seat, as Parliament was prorogued on the 24th of June. This year, Ireland was said to be in aa " alarming " state — there was " crime and outrage " in several counties, and especially in Tipperary. In fact, the old exaction of tithes not only continued to be enforced, but was pressed with even increased rigor, seeing that Papists had become so insolent. The consequence was the most natural in the world — some tithe-proctors were forced to eat their processes, and also had their ears cut off. The Tipperary magistrates as- sembled in great alarm, and demanded the immediate application of the " Insurrection act," for they could not understand how people should thus resist payment of their lawful tithes, unless there were a conspiracy to subvert the Protestant government and bring iti the Pope. In truth, there was throughout the is- land, a very unsettled and uneasy condition of the popular mind. Men were told that they were " relieved " and " emancipated," but they felt no advantage from it whatso- ever. They tried to feel pride in the vic- tory, which they were assured they had EDUCATED CLASSES OP CATHOLICS BOUGHT. 511 won over a British Ministry ; but in the uieaiitime, tliey found tliemselves very gen- erally disfranchised ; and what was worse — landlords were refusinp^ to make new leases of farms, and were breaking the existing leases wliere they could ; having no longer the motive to rear up a small freehold pop- ulation for the hustings. The chairmen of quarter-sessions, and the sheriffs and bailiffs, were busy with their ejectments ; and pauperism began extensively to prevail. The seasons, indeed, had been for some time rather favorable ; and grain and cattle were abundant ; but the British system had now been so well established in our island, that all this wealth of bounteous nature flowed off instantly to England, and the price of it also. All went the same way. The export of agricultural produce to Eng- land out of Ireland, had grown so enor- mous within the past few years, that it had been judged expedient in 1826, to place that trade " on the footing of a coasting- trade.''' In other words, no custom-house accounts were to be kept of it ; and the amonnt of it was thus concealed for many years. In that year, 1826, however, the exports to England, had been to the value of almost eight millions in corn and cattle. It was but small benefit to the Irish people to have favorable seasons and plenteous harvests ; their wealth not only made itself wings and flew to England ; but as tenancy- at-will now became the fashion, landlords increased rents in proportion to increased produce ; and then went to England — the centre of political action and fashionable life, to spend those improved rents. For all this there was no remedy in emancipa- tion. It soon became evident also, that the ef- fects of the Relief act would be disastrous in another respect. Parliament and the Judicial Bench being now opened, (always with the exception of the place of Lord Chancellor,) to aspiring Catholics of the educated class, their interests and sympathies became separ- ated from those of their countrymen. Un- doubtedly, this result had been calculated by the prudent statesman who accomplished the Relief measure ; and his plan succeeded but too well. That plan may by described in general terms, as a plan for corrupting the higher classes, and extirpating the lower ; and emancipation, disfranchising the latter, and offering bribes to the former, was admirably calculated to buy over to the British interests, such as aspired to the offices and emoluments dispensed by Eng- land, and to make them forget the duty , they owed to their own countrymen, and the honor and welfare of their native land. Since that day, therefore, we have seen constantly more and more of the higher class of Catholics, in various positions hdp- ing England to govern — that is to pillage and depopulate — this ill-fated island. Since that day, have been many Catholic members of Parliament ; — they have solicited places for useful constituents — Catholic Attorney- Generals — they have packed juries to " do the King's business." Catholic judges — they have sat complacently on the bench, and permitted those juries to be packed, and pretended to try their fellow-country- men before those packed juries, to glut the vengeance of a government, which caiuiot bear to be disquieted while clearing off its " surplus population." In other words, those members of Parliament, attorney- generals and judges, have sold themselves for money and station, to a Government which they know to be the mortal enemy of their countrymen and kinsmen, and have abandoned those countrymen and kinsmen to certain slaughter and extermination. Such have been the substantial results of the "Relief Measures" of 1829; and O'Connell had good reason for his conclu- sion, that no effectual service could be ren- dered to the country, short of annulling the union with England. The discontent and disappointment of the people, (who found that emancipation did not save them from starvation,) found vent in occasional deeds of violence ; and, always for the old reasons — ruthless seizures for tithe, and wholesale ejectment of tenants. Many thousands of farmers, now found themselves emancipated, but disfranchised, and in imminent danger of being ejected and thrown out on the highways. They were capable by law of holding high oRice, but exposed, in fact, to see their children perishing by hunger an0I)K LAW TITHE LAW MUNICIPAL KEFOKM. 521 Municipal lleform not. The Emancipalioii act had been quite inoperative iu giving to Catholic's tiieir rightful i)Iace in the corpora- tions, A Municipal Reform bill had been introduced into Parliament, in 1836, by O'Loglilcn, then Attorney-General. Tie bad stated in his speecii, that "although the whole number of corporators in Ire- land were thirteen thousand, and although since 1"92, the corporations had been nominally open to Catholics, not more than two hundred had been admitted." The municipal bodies also, being quite free from popular control, and all other control, liad become quite as conspicuous for corrup- tion as for Protestantism ; and independ- ently of the claims of the Catholics, some cleansing process was absolutely needful amongst those dens of iniquity. The prin- ciple of the new bill was to give to the in- habitants of the towns (subject to a qualifi- cation according to rating,) the power to elect town councillors, and thus infuse a popular element into the little close boroughs of municipal jurisdiction. A Municipal Reform bill had been within a few years enacted for England ; and an- other object of the Government was to assim- ilate, iis far a's was })rudent, the Irish insti- tutions of this kind with the English. One great difficulty, however, at once presented itself. Some of tlie functions of municipal officers were connected wilh the administra- tion of justice. The mayor is a magistrate. What is of still graver importance, the sheriff' of a corporate city is the officer wiio has charge of the list of qualified jurors in that city, and who summons a certain num- ber of them to serve at each assize or com- mission. If such sheriff should be a Cath- olic, there was reason to fear that he might not exercise due vigilance in kee[)ing Catho- lics off those juries which might have to try " political offences" — a large and essen- tial department of what is called " govern- ment " in Ireland. Violent opposition was made to the bill, on this and other grounds ; and it was thrown out by the House of Lords. The agitation, however, was quite vehement on the subject in Ireland ; and the demsind for corporate refoi-m grew loud. While the Marquis of Normauby was Lord-Lieutenant of' Ireland, he did not prevent and repress politi(!al meetings, us he was invested with power to do ; and the Whig Ministry soon found they could not calculate on Catholic su])port, (which they needed,) without some, measure of this character. During the three years, 1837-8-9, the bill underwent several modifications, and was several times passed by the Commons and thrown out by the Peers. At last, it took its final shape, and was introduced by Lord Morpeth, on the Uth of Fel)ruary, 1840. In his bill, the amount of rating fixed as the qualification for voters was £,i. When it was sent up to the Lords, they insisted upon the qualifica- tion of a iElO rating ; and with this change it was accepted by the Commons, and be- came law * The Municipal Reform act would have been indeed an invaluable concession of right and equity to Ireland ; and we should here be called upon to greatly modify or re- tract very much of the bitter reflections which have been made upon the deadly hostility shown by all British Governments against the Irish people, but for one circum- stance. A clause of the new act, not only renders all the rest comparatively worthless, but provides with deliberate malignity for the subversion of all law and justice in Ire- land. It enacts that the sheriff shall not be elected by the Town Councils, as in Eng- land, but appointed by the Lord-Lieute- nant. That is to say, the Town Councils were to be allowed to submit certain names to that functionary, amongst whom they should pray him to appoint their sheriff ; and if none of the names pleased him, the nomination was to rest with him — that is to say, the officer who had charge of the jury-lists, and whose special duty it is to take care that his fellow-citizens are fairly represented in the jury-box, was to be, not an elected servant of the people, but a crea- ture of the Castle and the Crown. There is no occasion for hesitation or delicacy in affirming, that the intention of this clause was to enable the Crown to pack its juries with the utmost certainty, and to destroy a political op[)onent at any time, under a false pretence of law. To what deadly use ♦ 3 and 4 Victoria, cap. 118. 522 mSTOKY OF IRELAND. this provision has been turned will be but too evident throughout the later history of the country. In the meantime, however, the Catholic townsmen of Ireland took their place in the municipal bodies, and in such municipal business as had no reference to tlie administration of justice. O'Connell was elected first Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin ; and took much state, in his scar- let cloak and gold chain ; but at the same moment was nominated a sheriff, whose business it was to secure a jury that would send this Lord Mayor to jail on the first occasion when the Castle might desire to imprison him as a criminal. These tliree measures were the first fruits of Whig legislation for L'eland, in the three first years of Queen Victoria. CHAPTER LYL ■ 1840—1813. Spirit of Legislation for Ireland — More Spying in the Post Office — Savings' Banks — "Precursor Society" Support to the Whigs— Whigs Go Out— Peel Comes In — Repeal Association — Export of Food — Exter- mination — The Repeal Year — Corporation Debate — The Younger Nationalists — New "Arms Bill" — O'Brien Movea for Inquiry — Preparations for Coer- cion—All Engla.nd against Repeal — Monster Meet- ings — Mallow — Tara— MuUaghmast — Clontarf — Proclamation. We can now appreciate, in some mea- sure, the spirit and motive of all the legisla- tion for Ireland after "Emancipation." Catholics having been admitted into Parlia- ment and into the Corporations, it became necessary, in the hiterest of British domin- ation, to take securities against the employ- ment of the new franchises for any Irish purpose. By the "National Education" system provision was made for stifling all national sentiment in the young. By the Poor law, the life or death of certain mil- lions of tlie people was placed at the dis- posal of British officials. By the Tithe law the impositions of the Established Church were rendered inevitable. By the Municipal law the perpetual packing of juries was made certain. Every enactment of the British Parliament was expressly designed and admirably calculated to nullify alto- gether the sentiments and aspirations of the Irish people, and to sultject their whole way of life to the will and the interests of Eng- land. ' The police force had been gradually converted into a standing army, under the absolute control of the Castle. The Port Office espionnage had been systematized and perfected. Government officers were trained .to open letters and re-seal them, without showing any trace of their manipulation ; and Her Majesty's Lords-Lieutenant read the correspondence of all suspected persons. In 1834, it was Mr. Secretary Littleton, (afterwards Lord Hatherton,) who inspect- ed men's letters. In 1835, it was Lord Mulgrave, (afterwards Marquis of Nor- manby,) who discharged this needful office. The next year it was the same noble mar- quis, and the Irish Secretary, Mr. Drum- mond — the man wlio scandalized the whole British interest in Ireland by a casual obser- vation of his, (which, however, he did not mean,) that "property had its duties as well as its rights." It was this Mr. Drummond who was the spy upon our correspondence both in 1836 and 1837. In the same year, 1837, it appears that both Lord Cliancellor Plunket, one of the Lords-Justices, and Doc- tor Whateley, Archbishop of Dublin, a member of the Privy Council, had a curios- ity to know what Mr. O'Connell and others might be writing about to their friends. They, therefore, gave directions that the let- ters to and from that gentleman, and all the other gentlemen named in their orders, (we are not told who they were,) should be opened in the Post Office, softening the seals, or envelopes, by a cunning application of steam, then copied for the study of those functionaries, and then sealed up again with great skill. In 1838, Lord Morpeth, (after- wards Lord Carlisle,) had the opening of our letters. In 1839, the Marquis of Nor- ma nby, Lord Ebrington, and General Sir T. Blakeney, one of the Lords-Justices. In 1840, Lord Ebrington again freely indulged his curiosity.* When to all these methods of inspection and control, we add the immense police force — about thirteen thousand men, well- armed and scientifically distributed over the whole island — with their complete code of * Parliamentary Return. Session of 1845. Papers relating to Mazziui. savings' banks THE " PRECUIiSOK SOCIETY." 523 signals for commiiiiieating from station to station, with blue lights, red lights, and other apparatus — when we add the numer- ous corps of detectives, (a sort of institution in which Great Britain is unmatched in all the world,) and when we remember the Disarming acts and Coercion acts always in force, * it is easy to understand how the unfortunate Irish nation, bound hand and foot, muzzled, disarmed, and half starved, could but writhe helplessly under the lash of its greedy tyrant. Yet the pictures of these engines of subjugation is not complete, without an account of the savings^ banks. These institutions were the only means left to industrious and frugal people by which they could safely invest their savings. Manufacturing industry was out of the question ; land in small lots was not to be had ; even leases for lives or years were no longer obtained, (for there was now no use for small freeholders at the hustings,) and those who could save a little money could do no better than deposit it in the savings' bank of the nearest town. The system of savings' banks had been introduced from Scotland into Ireland in IS 10. Soon after it had been made a Government institution, and the rate of interest was fixed by law : the depositors were allowed £o Os. lOd. per cent. ; and the savings' bank was bound to invest the whole of the money deposited with it in the Government funds. Thus the small savings of every industrious artizan and of every prudent maid-servant were in the hands of tlie Govertuneut ; and their value depended upon tlie value of the Government funds— that is, on the credit and stability of the existing British system. This was a substantial security against revo- lution — because every depositor felt that his little all depended on the tranquillity of the state : in other words, on the peaceful per- petuation of the hateful system, which was really making beggars of tiiem all. It must be admitted that in so very help- less a condition of the country, it was a difficult task for even the most powerful and popular agitator to produce any movement that would be really formidable to the * Lord Grey's Coercion act remained in force till 183[). It wud soon succeeclcd by auutker Coercion act. enemy's Government, or would exert any serious pressure upon their action. O'Con- nell was, for several years, in a state of manifiest perplexity and indecision. He always knew and felt, it is true, that the repeal of the Union — the destruction of the British Empire — was the only salvation for" his couutry. But that British Empire was now on its guard at all points. Besides, tho governing faction at that moment was Whig ; full of fine, liberal professions ; always employed in some fraudulent pretence of friendly legislation for Ii'ekind ; and even courting him and his influence for its own party purposes. It is not to be wondered at, then, that when the Liberal Lord Melbourne was I'rime Minister, and the more than Liberal Lord Normauby and Lord Ebrington were Viceroys of Ireland, who were willing to distribute a large share of the Government patronage on his re- commendation, (whilst they inspected his letters in the Post Office,) it cannot be thought strange that he held in abeyance for a time the real and rightful claims of Irish nationhood, and gave a certain quali- fied support to the " Liberal" administra-* tion, which bestowed profitable offices on his friends. It was at this period that tha Tories accused the Government of truckling to O'Conuell, and that the thorough-goiuaf nationalists of Ireland accused O'ConutjU of trafficking with the Whigs ; and, in fact, this was the most questionable part of his whole political career. Yet, O'Conuell was too much devoted to the cause of his country to sell it to any English party. He insisted no longer on the restoration of a native legislature, but loudly claimed "justice to Ireland," and affected to believe that these Whig statesmen would consent to such justice. Thereupon, he established a new agitatin- jected the delinquent to penalties. To have a pike or spear, " or instrument serving for a pike or spear," was an offence punishable by transportation for seven years. Domi- ciliary visits by the police might be ordered by any magistrate " on suspicion ;" wliere- upon, any man's house might be broken into by day or night, and his very bed searched for concealed arms. Blacksmiths NEW "AKM9 BILL. 529 were required to take out licenses, similar to those for keeping arms, and under the same penalties, in order that the workers in so dangerous a metal as iron might be known and approved persons. And lo crown the code, if any weapon should b" found in any house, or out-house, or stack-yard, the oc- cupier was to be convicted unless he could prove that it was there without his knowl- edge. Such had been " substantially the law of Ireland for half a century." The idea of arms had come to be associated in the people's minds with handcuffs, jails, petty- sessions, and transportation ; a good device for killing the manly spirit of a nation. The Disarming act passed into a law, of course, by large majorities. It was in vain that some Irish members resisted ; in vain Mr. Smith O'Brien, then member for Limer- ick, moved that instead of meeting the discontent of Ireland with a new Arms bill, the House should resolve itself into a com- mittee "to consider the cause of the discontent with a view to the redress of grievances." O'Brien, who was afterwards to play so conspicuous a part, was not yet a repealer — he had been for twenty years one of the rao&t industrious members of Parliament, and was attached, on most questions, to tlie Whig party. His speech, however, on this motion, showed that he regarded it as a last effort to obtain any approach to justice in a British Parliament ; and that if they still resolutely adhered to the policy of coercion, and nothing but coercion, he wouW very shortly be found by O'Connell's side. He pointed out the facts which justified discontent — that the Union made Ireland poor, and kept her poor — that it encouraged tlie absenteeism of landlords, and so caused a great rental to be spent in England — that nearly a million sterling of " surplus revenue," over what was expended in the government of Ireland, was annually re- mitted from the Irish to the Englisli exchequer — that Irish manufactures had ceased, and the profits on all the manufac- tured articles consumed in that island, came to England — that the tenantry had no permanent temire or security that they would derive benefit by. any improvements they might make — that Ireland had but H7 one hundred and five members of Parlia- ment, whereas, her population and revciue together entitled her to one hundred and seventy-five — that the municipal laws of the two coimtries were not the same — then the new " Poor law " was a failure, and waa increasing the wretchedness and hunger of the people — and the right honorable gentle- man (Sir R. Peel,) had now declared his idtimatum ; he declared that " conciliation had reached its limits ; and that the Irish should have an Arms bill, and nothing but an Arms bill." (Speech of July 4th, 1843.") His facts were not disputed. Nobody in Parliament pretended to say that anything in this long catalogue was overstated ; but the House refused the committee of inquiry ; would discuss no grievances ; and proceeded with their Arms bill. It has been said, indeed, that these ex- cessive precautions to keep arms out of the hands of the Irish people, testified the high esteem in which the military spirit of that people was held in England ; and in this point of view the long series of Arms acts may be regarded as a compliment. .In truth, the. English had some occasion to know that the Irish make good soldiers. In this very month of July, 1843, for example, a British general fouglit the decisive battle of Meeanee, by which the Ameers of Scinde were crushed. While the bill for disarming Ireland was pending, far off on the banks of the Indus, Napier went into action with less than three thousand troops against twenty-five thousand ; only four hundred of his men being " British " soldiers ; but those four hundred were a Tipperary regiment, the Twenty-second — and they did their work in such style as made the gray old warrior shout aloud, " magnificent Tipperary." Along with the new Arms act, several additional regiments, mostly of English and Scotch troops, were sent to Ireland ; and several war-steamers, with a fleet of gun- brigs, were sent to cruise round the coast. Barracks began to be fortified and loop- holed ; and police-stations were furnished with iron-grated windows. It was quite evident that the English Government in- tended, on the first pretext of provocation, to make a salutary slaughter. 530 HISTORY OP IRELAKD. Ill the meantime, the vast monster meet- iu'^s continued, with even iiiteuser enthusi- asm, but always with perfect peace and ordel*. " Whom are they going to fight ? " O'Connell would exclaim : " We are not going to fight them. We are unarmed ; we meet peacefully to demand our country's freedom. There is no bloodshed, no drunk- enness even, or ill-humor. Hurrah for the Queen, God bless her 1 " The speeches of O'Connell at these meet- ings, though not lieard by a fourth of the multitudes, were carefully reported, and flew over all Ireland, and England too, in hun- dreds of newspapers. So tliat probably no speeches ever delivered in the world had so wide an audience. The people began to ne- glect altogether the proceedings of Parlia- liament, and felt that their cause was to be tried at home. More and more of the Irish members of Parliament discontinued their attendance in London, and gathered round O'Connell. Many of those who still went to London, were called on by their consti- tuents to come home or resign. Sir Edward Sngdeu was then Lord Chan- cellor of Ireland ; and he began ofi'ensive operations on the British side, by depriving of the Commission of the Peace all magis- trates who joined the Repeal Association, or look the chair at a repeal meeting. He had dismissed in this way about twenty, in- cluding O'Connell and Lord French, usu- ally accompanying the announcemeut of the supersedeas with an insolent letter ; when Smith O'Brien wrote to him that he had been a magistrate for many years, that he was not a repealer, but could not consent to hold his commission on such humiliating- terms. Instantly his example was followed by many gentlemen ; who flung their com- missions in the Chancellor's face, sometimes with letters as insulting as his own. And now O'Connell brought forward one of his grand schemes. It was, to have all the dis- missed magistrates appointed " arbitrators," who should hold regular courts of arbitra- tion in their respective districts — all the people pledging themselves to make no re- Kort to the Queen's magistrates, but to set- tle every dispute by the award of their arbi- trators. This was put into operation in many places, and worked very well. In reply to questions in Parliament, as to what they were concentrating troops in Ire- land for. Peel and Wellington had said they did not mean to make war or attack any- body, but only to maintain the peace of the country. It was very obvious that all England, and men of all parties and creeds in England, were fully resolved to resist, at any cost of blood and havoc, the claim for a repeal of the Union ; and it must be admitted to have been a strange weakness on the part of O'Connell, if he really believed that the same sort of " agitation " which had extort- ed the Relief bill, could now coerce the prosperous and greedy British nation to yield up its hold upon Ireland. That Relief act, it must be remembered, was a measure for the consolidaiion of the "Brit- ish Empire ;" it opened high oEBcial position to the wealthier Catholics and educated Catholic gentlemen ; and thus separated their interest from that of the peasantry. But it was of the peasantry mainly that the Government had any apprehension ; and British Ministers felt that Catholic Emanci- pation would place tiiis peasantry more completely in their power than ever. Besides, emancipation had a strong party in its favor, both amongst Irish Protestants and in England ; and in yielding to it Eng- land made no sacrifice, except of her ancient grudge. To her it was positive gain. O'- Connell did not bethink him that when his agitation should be directly aimed at the " integrity of the empire," and the supre- macy of the British in Ireland, it would be a difi"erent matter. One fact showed very plainly that English- men, of all sorts, regarded this repeal move- ment as a mortal stab aimed at the heart of the empire — the English Catholics were as bitterly hostile to Ireland, on this question, as the highest " No-Popery " Tories. Thus, Lord Beaumont, an English Catkolic Peer, who owed his seat in the House to O'Con- nell, thought himself called upon to deuoauct.- the repeal agitation. " Do you know who this Beaumont is?" asked O'Connell, at his next meeting. " Why, the man's name is Martin Bree, though he calls himself Staple- ton. His grandfather married a Stapleton for her fortune, and then changed the name. O BRIEN MOVES FOR INQUIKY. 631 He was a Stapleton wlien I emancipated him. I beg your pardon for having eraan- Icipated such a fellow." For the last twenty years, the English press has mocked at the whole repeal move- ment ; and in Parliament it was never men- tioned save with a jeer. In the summer of 1843, they neither laughed nor jeered. Sir James Graham, earnestly appealing to the House, to refuse O'Brien's motion of inquiry, exclaimed : — " Any hesitation now, any delay and irre- solution, will multiply the danger an hun- dred-fold. If Parliament expresses its sense iu favor of the course pursued by Govern- ment, Ministers have every ho;pe that, with the confidence of the House, they will be enabled to triumph over all difficulties. I appeal, then, to both sides — not to one, but to both — I appeal to both sides, and say, if you falter now, if you hesitate now iu repressing the rebellious spirit which is at work in the struggle of repeal, the glory of the country is departed — the days of its pow- er are numbered ; and England, this all- conquering England, must be classed with those countries frovi whom power has dwin- dled away, and present the melancholy as- pect of a falling nation." To refuse a Committee of Inquiry was reasonable enough ; because Parliament, and all the people — men, women, and child- ren — already knew all. The sole and avow- ed idea of the Government was, that to ad- mit the idea of anything being wrong, would make the repeal movement altogether irre- sistible. The various projects now brought forward in England, showed the perplexity of that country. Lord John Russell made an elaborate speech for conciliation ; but the meaning of it seemed to be merely that it was no wonder Ireland was unquiet, seeing he was out of power. The grievance of Ireland, said he, in effect, is a Tory Ministry. Let her be ruled by us Whigs, and all will be well. Lord Brougham also gave it as his opinion, that " you must purchase, not prosecute, repeal." The Morn- ing Chronicle, (Whig organ,) in quite a friendly sjjirit, said : "Let us have a perfect Union ; let us know each other ; let the Irish judges come circuit in England ; and let the English judges occasionally take the same round in Ireland," and so forth. " la it absolutely certain," asked the Westmin ster Review, " that we can beat this people ? " And the Naval and Military Gazette, a high military authority, thus expresses its appre- hensions : — "There are now stationed in Ireland, thirty-five thousand men of all arms ; but widely scattered over the island. In the event of a rebellion — and who can say that we are not on the eve of one ? — we feel great solicitude fur the numerous small de- tachments of our gallant soldiers. . . . It is time to be up and doing. We have heard that the order and regularity of move- ment displayed by the divisions which pass- ed before !Mr. O'Connell, in review order, en route to Donnybrook, lately, surprised many veteran officers, and led them to think that some personal training, in private and iu small parties, must be practiced. The ready obedience to the word of command, the silence while moving, and the general combinations, all prove organization to have gone a considerable length. Iu these train- ed bands our soldiers, split up into detached parties, would find no ordinary opponents ; and we, therefore, hope, soon to learn that all small parties have been called in, and that our regiments iu Ireland are kept to- gether and complete. That day, we fear, is near when ' quite peaceably,^ every repealer will come armed to a meeting to be held simultaneously as to day and hour, a,Il over the island, and then try to cut off quite peaceably every detachment of Her Majes- ty's loyal army." What contributed to disquiet the British exceedingly was, that great and excited re- peal meetings were held every week in American cities ; meetings not only of Irish born citizens, but of natives also — and con- siderable funds were remitted from thence to O'Connell's repeal exchequer. " If something is not done," said Colonel Thomson, iu the Westminster, " a fleet of steamboats from the United States will, some fine morning, be the Euthanasia of the Irish struggle." We might cite many extracts from the press of France, exhibiting a powerful inter- est in what the French conceived to be an impending military struggle. 532 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Take one from the Paris Consiitutionnd : " When Ireland is agitated — when, at the 80und of the powerful voice of O'Connell, four hundred thousand Irish assemble to- gether in their meetings, and pronounce, as if it were by a single man, the same cry, and the same word, it is a grand spectacle, which fills the soul, and which, even at this distance, moves the very strongest feelings of the heart, for it is the spectacle 'of an entire people who demand justice — of a people who have been despoiled of every- thing, even of the means of sustenance, and yet who require, with calmness and with firmness, the untrammeled exercise of their J eligion, and some of the privileges of their ancient nationality." Now nobody, either in France or in the United States, would have given himself the trouble to watch that movement with interest, if they had not all believed that Connell and the Irish people meant to fight. Neither in America nor in France had men learned to appreciate " the ethical experiment of moral force." Clearly, also, the English expected a fight, and were pre- paring for it, and greatly preferred that mode of settling the difficulty, (having a powerful army and navy ready,) to O'- Brien's method — inquiry, discussion, and redress — seeing that they were wholly un- provided with arguments, and had no idea of giving redress. It is also quite as clear that the Irish people then expected, and longed, and burned for battle ; and never believed that O'ConneU would adhere to his " peace policy " even in the last extremity. Still, as he rose in apparent confidence, and be- came more defiant in his tone, the people rallied more ardently around him ; and thousands of quiet, resolute men, flocked into the repeal cause, who had hitherto held back from all the agitations, merely because they had always believed O'Connell insin- cere. They thought that the mighty move- ment which now surged up around him had whirled him into its own tempest at last ; and that " the time was come." No speech he ever uttered roused such a stormy tumult of applau.se as when, at Mallow " monster meeting," referring to the threats of coercion, and to an anxious Cabinet council which had just been held. He said : — " They spent Thursday in consulting whether they would deprive us of our rights, and I know not what the result of that council may be ; but this I know, there was not an Irishman in the council. I may be told that the Duke of Wellington was there. Who calls him an Irishman? If a tiger's cub was dropped in a fold, would it be a lamb ? But, perhaps, I am wrong in an- ticipating ; perhaps I am mistaken in warn- ing you. But is there reason to caution you ? The council sat for an entire day, and even then did not conclude its delibera- tions, but adjourned to the next day, while the business of the country was allowed to stand still. What had they to deliberate about ? The repealers were peaceable, loyal, and attached — aflfectionately attached — to the Queen, and determined to stand between her and her enemies. If they as- sailed us to-morrow, and that we conquered them — as conquer them we will one day — the first use of that victory which we would make would be, to place the sceptre in the hands of her who has ever shown us favor, and whose conduct has ever been full of sympathy and emotion for our sufl'erings. Suppose, then, for a moment, that England found the' act of Union to operate not for her benefit — if, instead of decreasing her debt, it added to her taxation and liabilities, and made her burden more onerous — and if she felt herself entitled to call for a repeal of that act, I ask Peel and Wellington, and let them deny it if they dare, and if they did they would be the scorn and by-word of the world, would she not have the right to call for a repeal of that act. And what are Irishmen that they should be denied the same privilege ? Have we not the ordi- nary courage of Englishmen ? Are we to be trampled under foot ? Oh, they shall never trample me, at least. I was wrong — they may trample me under foot — I say they may trample me, but it will be my dead body they will trample on, not the living man." And a roar, two hundred thousand Strong, rent the clouds. From that day, the meet- ings went on increasingly, in numbers, in regularity of training, and in highly-wrought ALL ENGLAND AGAINST BEPEAL MONSTEK MEETINGS. 533 excitement ; until at Tara, and at Mullagh- miist, the agitator shook with the passion of the scene, as the fiery eyes of three hun- dred thousand upturned faces seemed to crave the word. Whig newspapers and politicians in Eng- land, (the Whigs being then in opposition,) began now to suggest various conciliatory measures — talked of the anomaly of the " Established Church " — and generally jfave it to be understood, that if they were in power they would know how to deal with the repeal agitation. At every meeting O'Connell turned these professions into ridicule. It was too late, now, he said to offer to buy up repeal by concessions, or good measures. An Irish Parliament in Collage Green : this was his uUimalum. We approach the end of the monster meetings. Neither England nor Ireland could bear this excitement much longer. The two grandest and most imposing of these parades were at Tara and Mullagh- mast ; both in the Province of Leinster, within a short distance of Dublin ; both conspicuous, the one in glory, the other in gloom, through past centuries, and haunted by ghosts of kings and chiefs. On the great plain of Meath, not far from the Boyne river, rises a gentle eminence, in the midst of a luxuriant farming country. On and around its summit are still certain mouldering remains of earthen mounds and moats, the ruins of the " House of Cormac," and the " Mound of the Hostages," and the " Stone of Destiny." It is Temora of the Kings. On Tuesday morning, the 15th of August, most of the population of Meath, with many thousands from the four counties round, were pouring along every road leading to the hill. Numerous bands, ban- ners and green boughs, enlivened their march, or divided their ordered squadrons. Vehicles of all descriptions, from the hand- Eorae private chariot to the Irish jaunting- car, were continually arriving, and by the wardens duly disposed around the hill. In Dublin, tlie " Liberator," after a public breakfast, set forth at the head of a cortege, and his progress to Tara was a procession and a triumph. Under triumphal arches, and amidst a storm of music and acclama- tions, his carriage passed through the several little towns that lay in his way. At Tara, the multitudes assembled were esti- mated in the Nation at seven hundred and fifty thousand ; an exaggeration, certainly. But they were at least three hundred and fifty thousand. Their numbers were not so impressive as their order and discipline ; nor these so wonderful as the stifled en- thusiasm that uplifted them above the earth. They came, indeed, with naked hands ; but the agitator knew well that if he had in- vited them, they would have come still more gladly with extemporaneous pikes or spears, " or instruments serving for pikes and spears." He had been proclaiming from every hill-top in Ireland for six months that something was coming — that repeal was " ou the wild winds of Heaven," Expectation had grown intense, painful, almost intoler- able. He knew it ; and those who were close to him as he mounted the platform, noticed that his lip and hand visibly trembled, as he gazed over the boundless human ocean, and heard its thundering roar of welcome. He knew that every soul in that host de- manded its enfranchisement at his hand. O'Connell called this meeting " an august and triumphant meeting ; " and as if con- scious that he must at least seem to make another step in advance, he brought up at the next meeting of the Repeal Association, a detailed "plan for the renewed action of the Irish Parliament," which, he said, it only ueedefl the Queen's writs to put in op- eration. The new House of Commons was to consist of three hundred members, quite fairly apportioned to the several constituen- cies ; and, in the meantime, he aimounced that he would invite three hundred gentle- men to assemble in Dublin, early in Decem- ber, who were to come from every part of Ireland, and virtually represent their re- spective localities. This was t!ie " Council of Three Hundred," about which he had often talked before in a vague manner ; but had evidently great difficulty in bringing to pa.ss legally. For it would be a " Convention of Delegates," — and such an assembly, though legal enough in England, is illegal in Ire- land. Conventions, (like arms and ammu- nition,) are held to be unsuitable to the Irish character. For, in fact, it was a convention which proclaimed the independence of Ire- 534 HISTORY OP IRELAND. land in Dnngannon ; and the arms and am- munition of the volimteer army that made it good, in 1782. Two weeks after this, the London Par- liament was prorogued ; and the Queen's speech, (composed by Sir Robert Peel,) was occupied almost entirely by two sub- jects — the disturbances in "Wales, and the repeal agitation in Ireland. There had been some rioting and bloodshed in Wales, in resistance to oppressive turnpike dues, and the like — there was a quiet and legal expression of opinion in Ireland, unattended by the slightest outrage, demanding back the Parliament of the country. The Queen first dealt with Wales. She had taken mea- sures, she said, for the repression of violence — and, at the same time, directed an in- quii'y to be made into the circumstances which led to it. As to Ireland, Her Ma- jesty said, there was discontent and dis- jiffection, but uttered not a word about any inquiry into the causes of that, " It had ever been her earnest desire," Her Majesty i^aid, " to administer the government of that country in a spirit of strict justice and im- partiality " — and " she was firmly determin- ed, under the blessing of Divine Provi- dence to maintain the Union." The little principality of Wales was in open revolt — there Ministers would institute inquiry. Ireland was quiet, and stand- ing upon the law — there they would meet the case with horse, foot, and artillery ; for all knew that was what the Queen meant by " the blessing of Divine Providence." Again the agitator mustered all Con- naught, at three monster meetings — in Ros- common, Clifden, and Loughrea. Again he asked them if they were for the repeal ; and again the mountains and the sea-cliffs re- f^ounded with their acclaim. Yes ; they were for the repeal ; they had said so be- fore. What next? licinster, too, was summoned again to meet on the 1st of October, at Mullagh- mast, in Kildare County, near the road from Dublin to Carlow, and close on the borders of the Wicklow higlilands. This was the most imposing and efi'ective of all the meetings. The spot was noted as the scene of a massacre of some chiefs of Ofi'aly and Leix, with hundreds of their clansmen, in 1577, by the English of the Pale, who had invited them to a great feast, but had troops silently drawn around the banqueting-hall, who, at a signal, attacked the place and cut the throat of every was- sailer. The hill of MuUaghmast, like that of Tara, is crowned by a rath, or ancient earth- en rampart, inclosing about three acres. The members of the town corporations repaired to the rath, in their corporate robes. O'Connell took the chair, in his scarlet cloak of alderman ; and, amidst the breathless silence of the people, John Hogan, the first of Irish sculptors, came forward and placed on the Liberator's head a richly-embroider- ed cap, modeled after the ancient Irish Crown, saying : " Sir, I only regret this cap is not of gold," Then the deep roar of half a million voices, and the waving of at least a thousand banners, proclaimed the enthu- siasm of the people. Again O'Connell as- sured them that England could not long re- sist these demonstrations of their peaceful resolve — that the Union was a nullity — that he had already arranged his plan for the new Irish Parliaments — and that this was the repeal year. In truth, it was time for England either to yield with good grace, or to find or make some law applicable to this novel " political offence," or to provoke a fight and blow- away repeal with cannon. Many of the Pro- testants were joining O'Connell ; and even the troops in some Irish regiments had beeu known to throw up their caps with " hur- rah for repeal ! " It was high time to grap- ple with tlie " sedition," Accordingly, the Government was all this time watching for an occasion on which it could come to issue with the agitation, and on which all advantages would be on its side. The next week that occasion arose. A great metropolitan meeting was appointed to be held on the historic shore of Clontarf, two miles from Dublin, along the bay — ou Sunday, the 8th of October, The garrisoa of Dublin amounted then to about fonr thousand men, besides the one thousand police ; with abundance of field artillery. Late in the afternoon on Saturday, when it was already almost dusk, a proclamation was posted on the walls of Dublin, signed by the Irish Secretary aad Privy Council* WHY ENGLAND COULD NOT YIELD. 535 lors, and the Commander of the forces, forbidding the meeting ; and charging all magistrates and officers, " and others whom it might concern, to be aiding and assisting in the execution of the law, in preventing said meeting." "Let them not dare," O'Connell had ^often said, " to attack us ! " The challenge was now to be accepted. CHAPTER LYII. 1843—1844. Why England could not Yield — Cost to Her of Re- peal—Intention of Government at Clontarf— The " Projected Massacre " — Meeting Prevented — State Prosecution — O'Brien Declares for Repeal — Pack- ing of the Jury— Verdict of Guilty— BehsLtc in Parliament — Russell and Macaulay on Packing of Juries — O'Connell in Parliament — Speculation of the Whigs — Sentence and Imprisonment of " Con- Bpirators '' — Effects on Repeal Association — Ap- peal to the House of Lords — Whig Law Lords — Reversal of the Sentence — Enthusiasm of the People— Their Patience and Self-Denial— Decline of the Association. British Goverkment then closed with repeal ; and one or the other, it was plain, must go down. For this was, in truth, the alternative. The British Empire, as it stands, looks vast and strong ; but none know so well as the statesmen of that country how in- trinsically feeble it is ; and how entirely it depends for its existence upon prestige — tliat is, upon a superstitious belief in its power. England, in short, could by no means afford to part with her "sister island :" — both in money and in credit the cost would be too much. In this repeal year, for example, there was an export of provisions from Ireland to England of the value of dSl 6,000,000. And between surplus revenue remitted to Eng- land, and absentee-rents spent in England, Mr. O'Connell's frequent statement that £9,000,000 of Irish money was annually spent in England, is not over the truth. These were substantial advantages, not to be yielded up lightly. In point of national prestige, England could still less afford to repeal the Union, because all the world would know the con- cession had been wrung IVoui tier ugainst her will. AVhigs and Tories were of one mind upon this ; and nothing can be more bitter than the language of all sections of tho English press, after it was once determined to crush the agitatiou by force. "A repeal, (says the Times,) is not a matter to be argued on ; it is a blow which despoils the Queen's domestic territory- splinters her Crown — undermines, and then crushes, her Throne — exposes her to insult and outrage from all quarters of the earth and ocean ; a repeal of the Union leaves England stripped of her vitality. Whatever might be the inconvenience or disadvantage, therefore, or even unwholesome restraint upon Ireland — although the Union secures the reverse of all these — but even were it gall to Ireland, England must guard her own life's blood, and sternly tell the disaffected Irish : You shall have me for a sister or a subjugatrix ; that is my ultimatum." And the Mornivg Chronicle, speaking of the act of " Union," says : — " True, it was coarsely and badly done ; but stand it must. A Cromwell's violence, with Machiavelli's perfidy, may have been at work, but the treaty, after all is more than parchment." The first bolt launched, then, was the proclamation to prevent the meeting at Clontarf. The proclamation was posted iu Dublin only an hour before dusk on Satur- day. But long before that time thousands of people from Meath, Kildare, and Dublin Counties were already on their way to Clontarf. Tliey all had confidence in O'- Connell's knowledge of law ; and he had often told them, (and it was true,) that the meetings, and all the proceedings at them, were perfectly legal ; and that a proclama- tion could not make them illegal. Tlu-y would, therefore, have most certainly flocked to the rendezvous in the usual numbers, eveu if they had seen the procla- mation. Many persons did not at first understand the object of the Privy Council in keeping back the proclamation to so late an hour on Saturday, seeing that the meeting had been many days announced ; and tiiey might as well have issued their command earlier in the week. One may also be at a loss to understand why the proclamation called not only upon all magistrates, aud 536 HISTORY OF IRELAND. civil and military ofiBcers to assist in pre- venting the assembly ; but also, "all others whom it might concern." But the thing was simple enough : they meant to take O'Connell by surprise — so that he miglit be unable to prevent the assembly entirely, or to organize it, (if such were iiis policy,) for defence — and thus they hoped to create confusion and a pretext for an onslaught, or "salutary lesson." Be- sides, they had already made up their minds to arrest O'Connell and several others, and subject them to a state prosecution ; and the Crown lawyers were already hard at work arranging a case against him. It is quite possible that they intended, (shonld O'Connell go to Clontarf in the midst of such confusion and excitement,) to arrest him then and there ; wiiich would have been certainly resisted by the people ; and so there would have been a riot ; and every- thing would have been lawful then. As to the "others whom it might concern," thai meant the Orange Associations of Dublin, and everybody else who might take the invitation to himself. " Others whom it may concern 1" exclaimed O'Connell. " Why, this is intended for, and addressed to Tresham Gregg and his auditory." * Thus, the enemy had well provided for confusion, collision, and a salutary lesson. Lord Cloncurry made no scruple to term the whole of these Government arrangements "a projected massacre." For O'Connell and the committee of the Repeal Association, there were but two courses possible — one to prevent the meeting, and turn the people back from it, if there was *«till time ; the other was, for O'Connell to let the people of the country come to Clon- tarf — to meet them there himself as he had invited them — but, the troops being almost all drawn out of the city, to keep the Dublin repealers at home, and to give them a commission to take the Castle and all the barracks, and to break down the canal bridge, and barricade the streets leading to Clontarf. The whole garrison and police were live thousand. The city has a popula- tion of two hundred and fifty thousand. The multitudes coming in from the country * Rev. Tresham Gregg was then the Orange agitator, oa whom had fallen the mantle of Sir Harcourt Lees. would, probably, have amounted to almost as many ; and that handful of men between. There would have been a horrible slaughter of the unarmed people without, if the troops would fire on them — a very doubtful mat- ter — and O'Connell himself might have fallen. But those who have well considered the destinies of Ireland since that day, may reasonably enough be of the opinion that the death of five or ten thousand men at Clontarf, might have saved Ireland the slaughter by famine of an hundred times as many shortly afterwards. The first course was the one adopted. The committee issued another proclamation, and sent it off by parties of gentlemen known to the people, and on whom they would rely, to turn back the crowds upon all the roads by which they were likely to come in. AH that Saturday night their exertions were unremitting ; and the good Father Tyrrell, whose parishioners, swarm- ing in from Fingal, would have made a large part of the meeting, by his exertions and fatigue that night, fell sick and died. The meeting was prevented. The troops were marched out, and drawn up on the beach and on the hill ; the artillery was placed in a position to rake the place of meeting, and the cavalry ready to sweep it ; but they met no enemy. Within a week, O'Connell and eight others were held to bail to take their trial for " conspiracy and other misdemeanors." O'Connell, on his side, laughed both at the " Clontarf war " and at the state trials. He seemed well pleased with them both. The one proved how entirely under disci- pline were the virtuous, and sober, and loyal people, as he called them. The other would show how wisely he had steered the agita- tion through the rocks and shoals of law. In this he would have been perfectly right, his legal position would have been imj)reg- nable, but for two circumstances — first, "conspiracy" in Ireland, means anything the Castle judges wish ; second, the Castle sheriff was quite sure to pack a Castle-jury — so that whatever the Castle might desire, the jury would affirm on oath, " so help them God!" The jury system in Ireland we shall have occasion, more than once, to explain hereafter. THE " PROJECTED MASSACRE " MEETING PREVENTED. 537 For the next eijjht months, that is, until the end of May, 1844, the state prosecution was the grand concern around wliich all public interest in Ireland concentrated itself. The prosecuted "conspirators" were nine in number — Daniel O'Connell ; his son, John O'Connell, M. P , for Kilkenny ; Charles Gavan' Duffy, Editor of the Nation ; the Rev. Mr. Tyrrell, of Lusk, County Dublin, (he died while the prosecution was pendinsr ;) the Rev. ^Ir. Tiorney, of Clon- tibret. County Monnghan ; Richard Barret, Editor of the Pilot, Dublin ; Thomas Steele, " Head Pacificator of Ireland ;" ■Thomas M. Ray, Secretary of the Repeal Association ; and Dr. Gray, Editor of the Freemmi's Journal, Dublin. During all the eight months of these legal proceedings, the repeal agitation continued to gain strength and impetus. The open- air meetings, indeed, ceased — Clontarf was to have been the last of them, owing to the approach of winter. But the new hall, which had been built as a place of meeting for the association, was just finished ; and O'Connell, who had a peculiar taste in nomenclature, christened it " Conciliation Hall ;" intending to indicate the necessity for uniting all classes and religions in Ire- land in a common struggle for the inde- pendence of their common country. On the 22d of October the new hall was opened in great form, and amidst great en- thusiasm. The chair was taken by John Augustus O'Neill, of Bunowen Castle, a Protestant gentleman, who had been early in life a cavalry ofScer, and member of Parliament for Hull, in England. Letters from Lord French, Sir Charles Wolesley, Sir Richard Musgrave, and Mr. Caleb Powell, one of the members for Limerick County, were read and placed on the minutes — all breathing vehement indignation against the " Government," and pledging the warmest support. But this first meeting in the new hall was specially notable for the adhesion of Mr. Smith O'Brien. Nothing encouraged the people, nothing provoked and perplexed the enemy so much as this. For O'Brien was not only a member of the great and ancient House of Thoinond, but was further well-known as a man both tiii of calmness and resolution. The family had been Protestant for some generations ; and Smith O'Brien, though always zealous in promoting everything which might be use- ful to Ireland in Parliament, had remained attached to the Whig party, and was hardly expected to throw himself into the national cause so warmly, and at so dangerous a time. It has been already related how this ex- cellent and gallant Irishman had flung to the Lord Chancellor his Commission of the Peace, when that functionary began to dismiss magistrates for attending peace- ful meetings. He now saw that the British Government had commenced the deliberate task of crushing down a just na- tional claim in the blood of the Irish people. The letter in which he announced his adhe- sion was extremely moderate ; and it pro- duced the deeper impression upon that ac- count. One passage of it is highly charac- teristic of the writer. He says : — " Lest I should be led to form a precipi- tate decision, I availed myself of the interval which followed the close of the session to examine whether, among the Governments of Central Europe, there are any so indif- ferent to the interests of their subjects as England has been to the welfare and happi- ness of our population. After visiting Bel- gium, and all the principal capitals of Ger- many, I returned home impressed with the sad conviction tliat there is more human misery in one county in Ireland, than through- out all the populous cities and districts which I had visited. On landing in England, I learn that the Ministry, instead of applying themselves to remove the causes of com- plaint, have resolved to deprive us even of the liberty of discontent — that public meet- ings are to be suppressed — and that state prosecutions are to be carried on against Mr. O'Connell, and others, on some frivol- ous charges of sedition and conspiracy. " I should be unworthy to belong to a nation which may claim, at least as a char- acteristic virtue, tliat it exhibits increased fidelity in the hour of danger, if I were to' delay any longer to dedicate myself to the cause of my country. Slowly, reluctantly convinced that Ireland has nothing to hope from the sagacity, the justice, or the gene- 538 HISTORY OF IRELAITD. rosity of the English Parliament, my reli- ance shall henceforth be placed upon our own native energy and patriotism." This chivalrous example, set by a man so justly esteemed, of course, induced many other Protestants to follow his example. The weekly contributions to the revenue of the association became so great as to place in the hands of the committee a large trea- sury, to be used in spreading and organizing the movement ; arbitration courts decided the people's complaints, with general accept- ation ; and great meetings in American cities sent, by every steamship, their words of sympathy and bills of exchange. It is not very certain that the " Govern- ment " was at first resolutely bent on press- ing their prosecution to extremity. Prob- ably they rather hoped that the show of a determination to put down the agitation somehow would cool the ardor both of dema- gogues and people. Plainly it had no such effect ; and it was, therefore, resolved to pursue the " conspirators " to conviction and imprisonment, at any cost, and by any means. Tlie "state trials" then began on the 2d of November, 1843. These trials cannot be considered as really a legal proceeding, though invested with legal forms. It was a de facto government using its courts and tribunals and juries, and all the other appa- ratus of justice, to crush a political enemy, under the false and fraudulent pretence of a trial. Everybody understood from the first that there was here no question of pleading, or of evidence, or of forensic-rhetoric ; and that all depended upon the vote of the jury ; — which vote, however, was to be termed a " verdict." A revisal of the special jury-list took place before Mr, Shaw, Recorder of Dub- lin, with a special view to these trials. The names, when passed by the recorder, from day to day, were then sent to the sher- iff's ofiBce, to be placed on his book. Coun- sel were employed before the recorder to oppose, by every means, the admission of every Catholic gentleman against whom any color of objection could be thought of ; yet, with all this care, a large number of Catho- lics were placed on the list. As the names were transferred to the sheriff's office, it happened that the slip which contained the largest proportion of Catholic names missed its way, or was mislaid ; and the sixty- seven names it contained never appeared on the sheriff's book. This became immediately notorious, and excited what one of the judges called "grave suspicion." In striking a special jury in Ireland, forly- eight names are taken by ballot out of the the jurors' book, in the Crown office. Then each party, the Crown and tlie traverser, has the privilege of striking off twelve — leaving twent3'-four names. On the day of trial, the first twelve out of these twenty- four, who answer when called, are sworn as jurors. Now, so well had the sheriff dis- charged his duty in this case, that of the forty-eight names there were eleven Catho- lics. They were all struck off by the Crown, together with a great number of Protes- tants, whose British principles were not con- sidered sure at the Castle, and a "jury" was secured on whose patriotic vote Her Majesty could fully rely. These details respecting juries may not, perhaps, be very interesting to the general reader ; yet the history of our country can by no means be understood without them. Ever since the days of Queen Elizabeth, juries have been merely one of the arms of British domination in Ireland, just as the troops and police, the detectives and spies are. The jury may be said to be the one point at which the government and the people touch one another ; and if it be a real jury of the " neighborhood," as de- scribed in the law books, then can be easily appreciated that profound saying — " that the only use of a government is to make sure that there shall be twelve impartial men in the jury-box." But the Englisli Government has never been able to sustain itself in Ireland, witiiout making sure of the very opposite arrangement. And it has been said, with truth, that the real Palla- dium of the British Constitution in that land, is a packed jury and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus. If Ireland truly and effectively possessed those two institutions, as England possesses them, the British power would not exist in our island three months. The details of the trials are of small in- VERDICT OF ' GUILTY. 539 tercst. All knew how they would end. The Government, on this prosecution for " conspiracy," had not only its inevitable jury, but its Post Office spies at work, by whose means the "authorities" had spread out before them every morning all the corres- pondence of all the traversers, and of all their counsel and attorneys ; no small ad- vantage in dealing with conspiracy — if there had been a conspiracy. Early in February the trials ended ; and when the Chief Justice in his charge to the jury argued the case like one of the counsel for the prosecution, and so far forgot hira- sel as to term the traversers' counsel " the gentlemen on the other side," there was more laughter than indignation throughout the country. The jury brought in their ver- dict of GUILTY — of course. O'Connell ad- dressed a letter to the people of Ireland, informing them that " the repeal " was now sure ; that all he wanted was peace, patience, and perseverance ; and that if they would only " keep the peace for six, or at most, for twelve months, repeal was certain." In the meantime, he and his friends wwe appointed to come before the Court on a certain day in May, to receive sentence. Immediately on the verdict being known in London, there arose in Parliament a vio- lent debate on the state of Ireland. The Whig party, being then out of place, and who saw in this whole repeal movement noth- ing but a machinery by which they might raise themselves to power, affected great zeal for justice to Ireland, and even indignation at the conduct of the trials. It is almost incredible, but remains on record, that Lord John Russell used these words : — " Nominally, indeed, the two countries have the same laws. Trial by jury, for in- stance, exists in both countries ; but is it ad- ministered alike in both ? Sir, I remember on one occasion when an honorable gentle- man, Mr. Brougham, on bringing forward a motion, in 1823, on the administration of the law in Ireland, made use of these words : ' The law of England esteemed all men equal. It was sufficient to be born within the King's allegiance to be entitled to all the rights the loftiest subject of the laud enjoyed. None were disqualified ; the only distinction was be- tween natural-born subjects and aliens. Such, indeed, was the liberality of our system in the times which we called barbar- ous, but from which, in these enlightened days, it might be as well to take a hint, that if a man were even an alien-born, he was not deprived of the protection of the law. In Ireland, however, the law held a directly opposite doctrine. The sect to which a man belonged, the cast of his re- ligious opinions, the form in which he worshipped his Creator, were grounds on which the law separated him from his fel- lows, and bound him to the endurance of a system of the most cruel injustice.' Such was the statement of Mr. Brougham, when he was the advocate of the op- pressed. But, sir, let me ask, was what I have just now read the statement of a man who was ignorant of the country of which he spoke ? No ; the same language, or to the same effect, was used by Sir M. O'Loghlen, in his evidence before the House of Lords. That gentleman stated that he had been in the habit of going the Munster circuit for nineteen years, and on that circuit it was the general practice for the Crown, in criminal prosecutions, to set aside all Catholics and all the Liberal Protestants ; and he added, that he had been informed that on other circuits the practice was carried on in a more strict manner. Sir M. O'Loghlen also mentioned one case of tliis kind which took place in 1834, during the Lord-Lieutenancy of the Marquis of Welles- ley, and the Attorney-Generalship of Mr. Blackburne, the present Master of the Rolls, and in which, out of forty-three per- sons set aside (in a cause, too, which was not a political one,) there were thirty-six Catholics and seven Protestants, and all of them respectable men. This practice is so well known, and carried out so generally, that men known to be Liberals, whether Catholics or Protestants, have ceased to attend assizes, that they might not be ex- posed to these public insults. Now, I would ask, are these proofs of equal laws, or laws equally administered? Could the same, or similar cases, have happened in Yorkshire, or Sussex, or Kent ? Are these the fulOlliueiit of the promise made 540 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and engagements entered into at the Union ?" This sounds extremely fair. WTio would think that Lord John Russell was Prime Minister afterwards in '48 ? Mr. Macau lay said, in the same debate, February 19, 1844 : " I do say that on., this question, it is of the greatest importance that the proceedings which the Government have taken should be beyond impeachment, and that they should have obtained a victory in such a way that that victory should not be to them a greater disaster than a defeat. Has that been the result ? First, is it denied that Mr. O'Connell has sufiFered wrong ? Is it denied if the law had been carried into effect without those irregularities and that negligence which has attended the Irish trials, Mr. O'Connell's chance of acquittal would have been better ? — no person denied that. The afBdavit which has been pro- duced, and which has not been contradicted, states that twenty-seven Catholics were ex- cluded from the jury-list. I know that all the technicalities of the law were on the side of the Crown, but my great charge against the Government is, that they have merely regarded this question in a technical point of view. We know wliat the principle of the law is, in cases where prejudice is likely to arise against an alien, and who is to be tried de medietate lingua. Is he to be tried by twelve Englishmen ? No ; our ancestors knew that that was not the way in which justice could be obtained — they knew that the only proper way was to have one-half of the jurymen of the country in which the crime was committed, and the other half of the country to which the prisoner belonged. If any alien had been in the situation of Mr. O'Connell, that law would have been observed. You are ready enough to call the Catholics of Ireland ' aliens ' when it suits your purpose ; you are ready enough to treat them as aliens when it suits your purpose ; but the first privilege, the only advantage, of alienage, you practically deny them." This orator, also, was a member of the administration in 1848 ; and he did not utter any of his fine indignation at the gross packing of juries which was perpetrated tlien. In 1848, however, these "Liberals" were in, not out ; had resting upon them the responsibility of maintaining the British Empire ; and, therefore, desired to hear no more of "justice to Ireland." In the same debate, there was much fe- rocious language on the part of Tory mem- bers of the House : the infamous nature of the alleged conspiracy was dwelt upon, and the necessity of bringing to condign punish- ment that " Arch-Agitator," that " hoary criminal," who was endeavoring to over- throw the British Empire. In the midst of. all this, O'Connell himself, the " hoary criminal," strode into the House. In a discussion upon the state of Ireland, he had had somewhat to say. First, he listened to the debate for a whole week, and then, amidst breathless silence, arose. He did not confine himself to the narrow ground of the prosecution, but reviewed the whole career of British power in Ireland, with bitter and taunting comments. As to the prosecution, he treated it slightly and contemptuously. " I have, at greater length than I intend- ed, gone through the crimes of England since the Union — 1 will say tlie follies of England. I have but little more to say ; but I have, in the name of the people of Ireland — and I do it in their name — to pro- test against the late prosecution. And I protest, first, against the natui'e of that prosecution ; forty-three public meetings were held, and every one of them was ad- mitted to be legal ; not one was impeached as being against the law, and every one of them making on the calendar of crime a cypher ; but by multiplying cyphers, you come, by a species of legal witch-craft, to make it a number that shall be fatal. One meeting is legal, another meeting is legal, a third is the same, and three legal meetings, you say, make one illegal meeting. The peoj)Ie of Ireland understand that you may oppress them, but not laugh at them. That, sir, is my first objection Tiie second is the striking out all the Catholics from the jury panel. There is no duubt of the fact. Eleven Catholics were upon the jury panel, and everyone of them was struck out." All the world knew it. Nobody j)reteiid- ed to deny it, or pnl)lifly to excuse it ; l)ut what availed all this ? The ultimatum of SE>TENCE AND INPR^ONMENT OF "CONSPIRATORS. 541 England was, that the Union must be main- tained at any cost, and by all means. And O'Connell was to return to Dublin by a certain day for judgment and sentence. His taunts and invectives against the whole system of Irish government were very wel- come, and highly entertaining to English Whigs, who only looked to their own party chances. But no man in all England ever, for one moment, suffered the idea to enter his head, that Ireland was to be in any case permitted to govern herself. And British Whigs could well afford to let O'Connell have a legal triumph, to the damage of British Tories, so long as the real and substantial policy of England in Ireland was pursued without interruption. As to this point, there must be no mistake — no British Whig or British Tory regarded the Irish question in any other point of view than as a question on which might occur a change of Ministry. An army of fifty thousand men, includ- ing police, was all this while in full military occupation of the island. The Anns bill had become law ; and, in the registration of arms before magistrates under that act, those who were in favor of their country's independence'were refused the privilege of keeping so much as an old musket in their houses for purposes of self-defence. * The police-barracks were still further strengthened ; the detectives were multi- plied ; the regular troops were kept almost constantly under arms, and marched to and fro with a view of striking terror ; imyroved codes of signals were furnished to the police for use by day and niglit — to give warning of everything they might conceive suspicious. With so firm a hold upon the island, the * Of the proceedings upon these applications for registry of arms at all the petty sessions of Ireland, ■we have no record, but to the Cork Sautheni Re- porter we are indebted for the minute report of a session at llarcroom, in that county, which may be taken as a kind of sample. •' Maurice DuUea, Glaun — Applicant for leave to keep one gun. " Mr. Gillman. Magistrate — Are you a repeal warden ? 1 am not. •' Would you answer the question on your oath, if it Were put to you? I would. " Mr. Warren— The question should not be asked, unless it was known he had so acted. Admitted. " John M'Auliffe, Millstreet — One pistol. " Captain Wallace — Are you a repeal warden ? I am, sir. British Ministers might have thought them- selves in a condition to abandon their questionable prosecution ; but they had the idea that O'Conncll's power lay very much in the received opinion of his legal infalli- bility ; so they were resolved to imprison him, at any rate, for a short time — even though he should finally trample on their prosecution, and come forth in trimmph — as, in fact, he did. On the 30th May, the "conspirators" were called up for sentence ; and were im- prisoned in Richmond Penitentiary — a suburban prison at the south side of Dublin, with splendid gardens and handsome ac- commodations ; here they rusticated for three months, holding levees in an elegant marquee in the garden ; receiving daily deputations, and visits from Bishops, from Americans, and from ladies. O'Connell still wrote once a week to Conciliation Hall, that repeal never was so sure, never so im- minent, as now, if only the people would keep the peace. The great multitudinous people looked on in some amaze. " Peace " was still the or- der ; and they obeyed ; but they much mar- veled what it meant, and when it would end. Still it was doubtful whether the enemy's government had really gained much by their prosecution. Yery considerable indignation had been excited, even amongst the reason- able Protestants, by the means wliich had been used to snatch this conviction. The agitation had rather gained than lost ; and many gentlemen who had held back till now, sent in their names and subscriptions. Smith O'Brien was now a constant attend- ant at the association ; and by the boldness and pnrity of his character, and by his ex- tensive knowledge of public affairs, gave it both impetus and steadiness. "Mr. M'Carthy O'Leary, Attorney—The man bears a most unimpeachable character. " Mr. Warren — W'e cannot reject one repeal war- den, and admit anotlier. Rejected." At the same sessions was made manifest the fact that the Protestant "gentry" of the country were providing themselves with a sufficient armament. For e.xample, Mrs. Charlotte Stawell, of Kilbritton Castle, registers " six guns and six pistols," and Richard Quinn, of Skivanish, "nine guns, one pair pistols, two dirks, two bayonets, and one sword.'' No objection was offered against these persons keep- ing as many fire-arms as they chose ! So worked the Disarming act. 542 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Yet O'Connell and his friends were in prison, sentenced to an incarceration of one year ; and it would be vain to deny that there was humiliation in the fact. True, the jury had been notoriously packed ; the trial liad been but a sham ; and the sentence would probably be reversed by the House of Lords. Still there was Ireland represent- ed by her chosen men suffering the penalties of crime in a jail. The island was still fully and effectively occupied by troops, as a hostile country ; and all its resources were in clear possession of the enemy. Many began to doubt whether the " moral- force" principle of O'Connell would be found suflBcient, In truth, the repeal agitation, as a living and formidable power, was over from the day of imprisonment. The judgment of the Irish Court of Queen's Bench was brought up to the British House of Peers on Writ of Error ; and on the 2d and 4 th of Sep- tember, the opinions of nine English judges were delivered, and the decision pronounced. Eight of the judges gave their opinion that the jury was a good jury, the verdict good, and the judgment good. It appeared, how- ever, that Mr. Justice Coleridge dissented. Lord Lyudhurst, the Lord Chancellor, then delivered his decision ; — he agreed with the majority of the judges, and thought the judgment should stand, the packing of the jury being immaterial. He was followed by Lord Brougham — and nobody could doubt what would be the decision of that learned person — the jury was a good enough jury : Bome of the counts in the indictment might be bad ; but, bad or good, the judgment of the Irish Court was to stand, and O'Con- nell was to remain in prison. Lord Denman, Chief Justice of England, then arose. I have already told yon that tlie whole Irish question was regarded in the British Parliament solely with reference to its affording a chance of turning out the Tory Ministry, and conducting the Whigs into power and place. We have seen, ac- cordingly, the pretended indignation of Lord John Russell, and of Mr. Macaulay, against the packing of the juries. It may geem an atrocious charge to niiike upon judges and law lords — that tliey could be influeui-ed by any other considerations tlian the plain law and justice of the case. But the mere matter of fact was, that the ma- jority of the English judges were of the Tory party. Of the law lords, also, Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst was a violent Tory, and, moreover, an avowed enemy to Ireland. Lord Brougham was at that time a Tory, and, also, a well-known personal foe to O'Connell, having been often stung by the vicious taunts and sarcasms of that gentleman. But Lord Denman, Lord Cot- tenhara, and Lord Campbell were Whigs ; and Denman, Cottenham, and Campbell gave it as their opinion that the jury had been unfair and fraudulent — that no fair trial had taken place — and, therefore, that the judgment against the repeal conspirators should be reversed. Now, it is to be observed that the Brit- ish Government, by openly and ostentatious- ly striking off from the jury panel all Cath- olics, without exception, and all Protestants of moderate and liberal opinions, made pro- clamation that they knew the great mass of the people to be averse to them and their rule — avowed that they accounted that small remainder out of whom they selected their jurors, to be the only "good and lawful men." These were the vicinage contem- plated in the law books ; and the repeal conspirators being arraigned, not before their countrymen, not even before one sect of their countrymen, but before chosen men carefully selected by the Crown out of one section of one sect, were told to consider themselves on their trial pe?- pais. This, to be sure, amounted to an admission that nine-tenths of Irishmen desired the freedom of their country — but then it also amounted to a de- claration that the English meant to hold the country, whether Irishmen would or not. On the reversal of the judgment, iiowever, there was a show of high re- joicing in Dublin, and the prisoners were es- corted from the jail through the city by a vast and orderly procession, to O'Connell's house. The procession marched through College Green ;, and just as O'Connell's car- riage came in front of the Irish Parliament House, (the most superb building in Dub- lin,) the carriage stopped ; the whole pro- cession sro[)pcd ; and there was a deep silence as O'Connell rose to his full height ENTHUSIASM OF THE PEOPLE. 543 and, pointing with his finger to the portico, turned slowly round and gazed into the faces of the people, without a word. Again and again, he stretched forth his arm and pointed ; and a succession of pealing cheers seemed to shake the city. The state trials, then, were at an end ; and all the country, friends and enemies, Ireland and England, were now looking eag- erly and earnestly for O'Connell's first move- ment, as an indication of his future course. Never, at any moment in his life, did he hold the people so wholly in his hand. Dur- ing the imprisonment, both clergy and re- peal wardens had labored diligently in ex- tending and confirming the organization ; and the poor people proved their faith and trust by sending greater and greater con- tributions to the repeal treasury. They kept the " peace " as their Liberator bade them ; and the land was never so free from crime— lest they should give strength to the enemy. It is impossible to record, without pro- found admiration, the steady faith, patient zeal, self-denial, and disciplined enthusiasm, which the Irish people displayed for these two years. To many thousands of those peasants the struggle had been more severe than any war ; for they were expected to set at nought potent landlords, who had over them and their children power of life and death — with troops of insolent bailiifs, and ejecting attorneys, and the omnipresent police ; and they did set them at nought. Every vote they give at an election might cost them house and home, land and life. They were naturally ardent, impulsive, and impatient ; but their attitude was now cahn and steadfast. They were an essen- tially military people ; but the great " Lib- erator" told them that " no political ameli- oration was worth one drop of human blood." They did not believe the formula, and in assenting to it often winked their eyes ; yet steadily and trustfully, this one good time, they sought to liberate their country peace- fully, le<^ally, under the advice of counsel. Tiiey loyally obeyed that "man, and would obey no other. And when he walked in triumph out of his prison, at one word from liis mouth they would have marched upon Dublin from all the five ends of Ireland, and made short work with police and military barracks. But O'Connell was now old, approaching seventy ; and the fatal disease of which he was then really dying, had already begun to work upon his iron energies.* After his release he did not propose to hold the Clon- tarf meeting, as many hoped. He said nothing more about the " Council of Three Hundred," which the extreme section of nationalists were very desirous to see carried into effect ; and the more desirous because it would be illegal, according to what passes for law in Ireland. Yet the association all this time was becoming more powerful for good than ever. O'Brien had instituted a " Parliamentary Committee," and worked on it continually himself ; which, at all events, furnished the nation with careful and authentic memoirs on all Irish questions and interests, filled with accurate statistical de- tails. Many Protestant gentlemen, also, of high rank joined the association in 1844 and 1845 — being evidently unconscious how certainly and speedily that body was going to destruction. In short, the history of Ireland must henceforth be sought for elsewhere than in the Repeal Association. CHAPTER LVIIL 1844. Decadence of Repeal Association — Land Tenure Commission ^Necessity of Exterminatincr "Sur- plus Population" — Report of the "Landlord and Tenant Commission " — Tenant Riglit to be Disal- lowed — Farms to be Consolidated — People to be Extirpated — Methods of the Minister to Divide Re- pealers — Grant to Maynooth — Queen's Colleges — Secret Agent at Rome — American Slaverj' — Dis- traction in Repeal Ranks — Bill for " Compensation to Tenants " — Defeated — Death of Thomas Davis — The Famine — Commission of Chemists to Gain Time — Demands of Ireland — Of the Corporations — • Of O'Connell and O'Brien — Repudiation of Alms — Coercion Bill — Repeal of Corn Laws — Irish Har- vests go to England — "Relief Measures" — Delays — Fraud — Havoc of the People— Peel's System of Famine-Slaughter Fully Established — Peel Resigns Office During the two Inst years of the exist- ence of the Ivepeal Association, it made no * It was .softening of the brain ; and the physicians, after his death, pronounced that it had been in oper« ation for two years at least. BU HISTORY OF IKELAND. progress whatever towards the attauimerit of its great object ; which is equivalent to saying that it was going back. One of tlie first things proposed by Mr. O'Conuell, after his release, in a secret meeting of the coin- mittee, was a dissolution of the body, in or- der to its reconstruction on a somewhat more safe and legal basis. This was his old policy, whenever his agitations had come in conflict with what the Government called "law," and it had generiilly answered its purpose, whilst those agitations were direct- ed against penal laws, or tithes and church- rates, against something, in sliort, which was not vital to the existence of the Brit- ish Empire. But he now found himself at last in front of a castle wall, armed and garrisoned, totally unassailable by any "agi- tation" yet invented. He could not make a single step in advance, upon that line ; and he seemed to feel it. Yet the whole, country was earnestly expecting that step in advance. The proposal to dissolve was com- batted and was given up. He occupied his weekly speeches with collateral issues upon Parliamentary questions which were often arising — the " Bequests act," the " Colleges bill," the Papal Rescript negotiatiou, and the like ; — all matters which would have been of moment in any self-governing nation, but were of next to no moment in the circum- stances ; or he poured forth his fiery floods of eloquence in denunciation, not of the British Government, but of Aintrican slav- ery, with which he had nothing on earth to do. He praised too much, as many thought, the sublime integrity and justice of the three Whig law lords who had voted for revers- ing his judgment. But the most significant change in his behavior was in the querulous captiousness he showed towards the Nation, and those connected with it, whom he now frequently rebuked as "rash young men," who would goad the country into a danger- ous course. In the meantime, the English press and people ceased, in a great degree, to speak of the repeal movement with alarm and horror — they seemed satisfied now that there was no danger in it, at least while O'Con- nell lived. For, in fact, all this time, the steady policy of England towards her " sister -is- land," was proceeding on the even tenor of its way quite undisturbed. Four millions sterling of the rental of Ireland was, as usual, carried over every year, to be spent in England ; and the few remaining manu- factures which our island had struggled to retain, were growing gradually less and less. The very "frieze," (rough home-made woolen cloth, ) was driven out of the mar- ket by a far cheaper and far worse York- shire imitation of it. Some repeal artist had devised a " repeal button," displaying the ancient Irish Crown ; the very repeal button was mimicked in Birmingham, aud hogsheads of ancient Irish Crowns were poured into the market, to the utter ruin of the Dublin manufacturer. True, they were of the basest of metal and handiwork ; but they lasted as long as " the repeal " lasted. All great public expenditures were still confined to England ; and in the year 1844, there was, quite as usual, Irish produce to the value of about fifteen millions sterling exported to England. In 1843, the Government had sent forth the famous " Landlord and Tenant Com- mission," to travel through Ireland, collect evidence, and report on the relations of landlord and tenant in that country. The commissioners were all, without exception, Irish landlords. In '44, it traveled and in- vestigated ; and the next year its report came out, in four great volumes. The true function and object of this commission was to devise the best means of getting rid of what Englishmen called " the surplus popu- lation" of Ireland. Ever since the year 1829, the year of Catholic Emancipation, British policy had been directing itself to this end. About the time of emancipation, when the small farmers, by the abolition of their franchise, were left more absolutely at the mercy of their landlords, it happened that new theories of farming became fasiiionable. "High farming" was the word. There was to be more grazing, more green cropping ; there were to be larger farms ; and more labor was to be done by horses and by steam. But consolidation of many small farms into one large one could not be effected without clearing off the "surplus REPORT OF THE "LANDLORD AND TENANT COMMISSION. 545 population ;" and then, as tliere would be fewer mouths to be fed, so there would be more produce for export to England. The clearance system, then, had begun in 1829, and had proceeded with great activity ever after, but never with such remorseless fury as just after the year of the " monster meetings." The surplus population had ap- peared more than usually excessive and perilous in the form of those huge masses of powerful men, whom O'Connell's voice could call around him upon any hill in the island. Now, therefore, the "assistant barristers" were especially busy in decreeing ejectments, which they issued by whole sheaves. These formidable documents, once placed in the hands of sheriffs' ofiScers, often came down upon the people with a more sweep- ing desolation than an enemy's sword and torch. "Whole neighborhoods were often thrown out upon the highways in winter, and the homeless creatures lived for a while upon the charity of neighbors ; but this was dangerous ; for the neighbors were ofteu themselves ejected for harboring them. Some landlords contracted with emigration companies to carry them to America " for a lump sum," according to the advertisements cited before. Others did not care what became of them ; and hundreds and thou- sands perished every year of mere hardship. The new Poor law was now in full opera- tion, and workhouses, erected under that law, received many of the exterminated people ; but it is a strangely significant fact, that the deaths by starvation increased rapidly from the first year of the Poor law. The Report of the Census Commissioners, for 1851, declares that while in 1842 the deaths registered as deaths by famine amounted to one hundred and eighty-seven, they increased every year until the registered deaths in 1S45 were five hundred and sixteen. The "registered" deaths were, perhaps, one- tenth of the unregistered deaths by mere hunger. Such, then, was the condition of Ireland in 1844-5 ; and all this before the "Fa- mine " Now, the " Landlord and Temint Com- mission " began its labors in '44. The peoj)le v.'ere told to expect great beneOts 61) from it. The commissioners, it was diligent- ly given out, would inquire into the various acknowledged evils that were becoming proverbial throughout Europe and America — and there were to be Parliamentary "ameliorations." This "commission" looked like a deliberate fraud from the first. It was composed entirely of landlords ; the chairman, Lord Devon, being one of the Irish absentee-landlords. It was at all times quite certain that they would see no evi- dence of any evils to be redressed on the part of the tenants ; and that if they re- commended any measures, those measures would be such as should promote and make more sweeping the depopulation of the country. " You might as well," said 0'- Connell, " consult butchers about keepinjj Lent, as consult these men about the rights of farmers." The report of this set of commissioners would deserve no more especial notice than any of the other reports of innumerable commissions which the British Parliament was in the habit of issuing, when it pretend- ed to inquire into any Irish "grievance;" but that the report of this particular " Devon Commission " has become the very creed and gospel of British statesmen with regard to the Irish people from that day to this, and has often been cited by Secretaries for Ireland, as affording the fullest and most conclusive authority upon the relations of landlord and tenant in that island. It is the programme and scheme upon which the last conquest of Ireland was undertaken, in a business-like manner, twenty-four years ago ; and the completeness of than conquest is due to the exactitude with which the pro- gramme was observed. The problem to be solved was, how \o get rid of the Irish people. But, one of the strongest demands and most urgent needs of these people had. al- ways been permanence of tenure in their lands. O'Connell called it " fixity of tenure," and presented it prominently ia his speeches as one of the greatest benefits to be gained by repealing the Union. It was, indeed, tlie grand necessity of the nation — tJ!iat men should have some security — that they wlio sowed sliould reap — that la!jor aivJ capital ex[K?nded iu improving 546 HISTORY OF IRELAND. farms should, in part, at least, profit those wlio expended it. This would at once abol- ish pauperism, put an end to the necessity of emigration, supersede Poor laws, and prevent the periodical famines which had desolated the island ever since the Union. It is a measure wliich would have been sure to be recommended as the first, or, indeed, the only measure for Ireland by any other commission than a commission of Irish land- lords. In the northern Province of Ulster, there was, as before-mentioned, a kind of un- written law, or established custom, which in some counties gave the tenant such needful security. The "Tenant-Right of Ulster" was the name of it. By virtue of that tenant-right, a farmer, though his tenure might be nominally " at will," could not be ejected so long as he paid his rent ; and if he desired to remove to another part of the country, he could sell his "good-will" in the farm to an incoming tenant. Of course, the greater had been his improvements, the larger price would his tenant-right com- mand ; in other words, the improvements created by his own or his father's industry were his own. The same custom prevented rents from being arbitrarily raised in pro- portion to the improved value ; so that in many cases which came within the knowledge of all lawyers' lands held "at will" in Ulster, and subject to an ample rent, were sold by one tenant-at-will to another tenant-at-will at full half the fee- simple value of the land. Conveyances wore made of it. It was a valuable pro- perty, and any violent invasion of it, as a witness told Lord Devon's commission, would have " made Down another Tipperary." The custom was almost confined to Ulster. It was, by no means, (though this lias often been slated,) created or com- menced by the terms of the Plantation of Ulster, in the time of King James I., but was a relic of the ancient free social polity of the nation,* and had continued in Ulster longer tlian in the other three provinces, simply because Ulster had been the last part of the island brought under British * See an article on the True Origin of Tenant- Riglit, written by Samuel Ferguson, in the J}uhlin Unicersity Magazine for May, 1848. dominion, and forced to exchange the ancient system of tribe-lands for feudal tenures. Neither is " tenant-right" by any means peculiar to Ireland, but prevails in all countries formerly embraced by the feudal system, except Ireland alone. The people of Ireland are not idle. They anxiously sought opportunities of exertion on fields where their landlords could not sweep off all their earnings ; and many thousands of small farmers annually went to England and Scotland to reap the harvest, lived all the time on food that would sustain no other working men, and hoarded their earn- ings for their wives and children. If they had had tenant-right, they would have labored for themselves, and Tipperary would have been a peaceful and blooming garden. In this stage of our narrative, a difficulty arises. It is hard to conceive it possible that noble lords and gentlemen, the landlords and legislators of an ancient and noble people, should deliberately conspire to slay one out of every eight — men, women, and little children — to strip the remainder barer than they were — to uproot them from the soil where their mothers bore thera — to force thera to flee to all the ends of the earth — to destroy tliat tenant-right of Ulster where it was, and to cut off all chance and hope of it where it was not. There is nothing but a patient examination of the facts and documents which can makes this credible to mankind. First, then, for the Report of the Devon Commission. As first printed, it fills four stupendous Blue Books. But it contained too much valuable matter to be buried, like other reports, in the catacombs which yawn for that species of literature. The secre- tary of the commission, therefore, was employed to abstract and condense, and present the cream of it in an abridgement. This had the advantage not only of con- densation, but of selection ; the commission- ers could then give the pieces of evidence which they liked the best, together with their own recommendations. This portentous abstract is called a " Digest of the Evidence," &c.; is published by authority ; and has a preface signed " Devon." Much of the volume is occupied with dis- TEN ANT- RIGHT TO BE "DISALLOWED.* 547 sertittiims uud evideuce respecting " tenant- rij^lit," which the North had, and the Soiitli : demanded. The commissiouers are clearly ag-ainst it iu every shape. They terra it " unphilosophical ;" and in the preface they state that the Ulster landlords and tenants look upon it iu the light of a life insurance — that is, the landlord allows the sale of tenant-right, and the inconaing tenant buys it, lest they should both -be murdered by the out-going tenant. The following passage treats this tenant-right as injurious to the tenant himself: — " It is even questionable whether this growing practice of tenant-right, which would at the first view appear to be a valu,- able assumjption on the part of the tenant, be so iu reality ; as it gives to him, without any exertion on his own part, an apparent properly or security, by means of which he is enabled to incur future incumbrance, in order to avoid present inconvenience — a practice which frequently terminates in the utter destitution of his family, and in the sale of his farm, when the debts thus created at usurious interests amount to what its sale would produce." It appears^ then, that in the opinion of these landlords, it is injurious to the ten- ant to let him have anything on the security of which he can borrow money ; — a theory which the landlords would not relish if ap- plied to themselves. Further, the com- missioners declare, that this tenant-right is enjoyed without any exertion on the part of tenants. Yet they have, in all cases, either created the whole value of it by the sweat of their brows, or bought it from those who did so create it. The commissioners "foresee some danger to th€ jiist rights of property from the un- limited allowance of this tenant-right." But they suggest a substitute : " com- pensation for future improvements ; " sur- rounding, however, that suggestion with dif- ficulties which have prevented it from ever being realized. Speaking of the consolidation of farms, they say : — "When it is seen in the evidence, and in the return of the size of the farms, how small those holdings are, it cannot be denied that such a step is absolutely necessary.'^ And then, as to the people whom it is thus " necessary " to eject, they say : — "Emigration is considered by the com- mittee to be peculiarly applicable, as a re- medial measure." They refer to one of their tables, (No. 95, p. 564,) where — " The calculation is put forward showing that the consolidation of the small holdings up to eight acres, would require the removal of about one hundred and ninety-two thou- sand three hundred and sixty-eight families." That is, the removal of about one million of persons. Such was the Devon programme : Ten- ant-right to be disallowed ; — one million of people to be revwved — that is, swept out on the highways, where their choice would be America, the poor house, or the grave. We shall see with what accuracy the details were carried out in practice. Iu affirming that there was a conspiracy of landlords and legislators to destroy the people, it would be unjust, as it is unneces- sary, to charge all members of the Queen's Government, or all of the Devon Commis- sioners with a privity to that design. Sir Robert Peel knew how Irish landlords would inquire — and what report they would make — just as well as he knew what verdict a jury of Dublin Orangemen would give. Sir Robert Peel had been Irish Secretary. Tie knew Ireland well ; he had been Prime Minister at the time of Catholic Emancipa- tion ; and he had taken care to accompany that measure with another, disfranchising all the sra^dl farmers in Ireland. Tliis dis- franchisement, as before explained, had given a stimulus and impetus to the cleiimnce system. He had helped it by Clienp Eject- ment acts. It had not worked fast enough. The same Sir Robert Peel was now again Prime Minister in 1855, when the first of the reports was published by the Land Ten- ure Commission ; and it at once opened to him a plan for the faster clearing off of the " Irish enemy," under the pretext of " ameliorations." In the meantime, as the repeal movement was still considered formidable, and as Davis and the younger nationalists were earnestly laboring to give it more of a mili- tary urgani'zation, it became necessary to 548 HISTORY OF IBELAND. take some measures for the purpose of divid- ing and distracting the repealers. Danger was then threatening from the side of America, on the question of Oregon. True Irish nationalists, of course, hoped that this would end in a war ; and the Na- tion gave unmistakable notification that in case of war about Oregon, the Americans might count upon a diversion in Ireland. Suddenly Sir Robert Peel's Ministerial organs announced that there were "good measures," or what the English call " ame- lioration," in store for Ireland. And, in truth, three measures, having much show of liberality, were soon brought forward. They were all cunningly calculated to the great end — the breaking up of the Repeal organ- ization. On the 2d of April, then, Sir Robert Peel " sent a message of peace to Ireland " : — it was a proposed bill to give Bome additional thousands per annum to the Catholic College of Maynooth ; and in the House of Commons, the Premier thus urged his measures : — " I say this without hesitation, and re- collect that we have been responsible for the peace of Ireland ; you must, in some way or other, break up that formidable con- federacy which exists against the British Government and British connection. I do not believe you can break it up by force. You can do much to break it up by acting in a spirit of kindness and forbearance, and generosity." It was novel to hear these good words ; and all knew they meant fraud. But the Premier continued : — " There rises in the far western horizon a cloud, [Oregon,] small, indeed, but threat- ening future storms. It became my duty, on the part of the Government, on that day, in temperate but significant language, to de- part so far from the caution which is usu- ally observed by a Minister, as to declare publicly, that, while we were most anxious for the amicable adjustment of the differ- ences — while we would leave nothing un- done to effect that amicable adjustment — yet, if our rights were invaded, we were prepared and determined to maintain them. I own to you, that when I was called upon to make that declaration, I did recollect with satisfaction and consolation, that the day before / had sent a message of peace to IrdandP The object of the bill was to provide more largely for the endowment of Catholic pro fessors, and the education of young men for the Catholic Church ; and the Minister prudently calculated that it would cool the ardor of a portion of the Catholic clergy for repeal of the Union. It was forced through both Lords and Commons as a party question, though vehemently opposed by the intense bigotry and ignorance of the English nation. But the Premier put it to them iu that irresistible form — vote for our mea- sure, or we will not answer for the Union ! Another of the Premier's ameliorations was the College bill, for creating and endow- ing three purely secular colleges in Ireland, to give a good course of education without reference to religious belief. This also was sure to be regarded as a great boon by a portion of the Catholic clergy — while anoth- er portion was just as sure to object vio- lently to the whole scheme ; some, because it would place education too much under the control of the English Government ; and others, because the education was to be " mixed," — strict CathoHcs being much in favor of educating Catholic youth separate- ly. Here, then, was a fruitful source of quarrel amongst repealers ; and, in fact, it arrayed bishop against bishop, and O'Con- nell against " Young Ireland." The walls of Conciliation Hall rung with denuncia- tions, not of the Union, but of " Godless Colleges," and of tlie " young infidel party." But the Premier had anotlier plot in op- oration. Protestant England had for ages refused to recognize the Pope as a Sove- reign, or to send a Minister to the Vatican. It was still illegal to send an avowed Min- ister ; but Sir Robert Peel sent a secret one. He was to induce His Holiness to take some ordf'r with the Catholic bishops and priests of Ireland, to draw them off in some degree from the repeal agitation. By what motives and inducements that agent operated upon the Pope, we can only con- jecture ; and one conjecture is this — Italy was then, as now, in continual danger of rev- olution. Wiihin the year that had passed, England had demonstrated ttiat slie held in her hand the clew to all those Republican AMERICAN SLAVERY. 549 conspiracies by her Post Office espiannage ; and it was evident that the same Sir James Graham, who had copied the private cor- respondence of Mazziui and the Baudieras, and laid it before the King of Naples, could as eiisily have kept it all to himself. Highly desirable, surely, that " peace, law, and or- der," in Italy should secure so useful a friend. In short, the Sacred College sent a re- script to the Irish clergy, declaring that, whereas it had been reported to Ilis Holi- ness, that many of them devoted themselves too much to politics, and spoke too rashly in public concerning affairs of state — they were thereafter to attend to their religious duties. It was carefully given out in the English press, that the Pope had denounced Repeal ; if he had done so, nobody would have minded it, because Catholics do not admit his jurisdiction in temporal affairs ; and Quarantotti's interference about the veto, had been a significant warning. It was soon settled that the rescript had no such power, and presumed that it had no such intention, on the part of the Pope ; yet a certain prudent reserve began to be observable in the repeal speeches of the clergy. So far, the Premier's Roman policy had succeeded. The distraction in the repeal ranks was much aided at the same time by a certain well meaning James Haughton, a repealer himself, but one who concerned himself more about the wrongs and rights of American negroes, than about those of his own coun- trymen. In O'Connell's perplexity as to his course, in the necessity which was upon him to appear to do something, he took hold of this slavery question, made some vehement speeches upon it, and sent back, with contumelious words, some money re- mitted from a Southern State, in aid of his repeal exchequer. So far tlie Premier's plans were successful in breaking up the repeal movement. Re- ligious disputes were introduced by the Colleges bill ; and this held the Protes- tants aloof, and produced bitter altercation throughout the country. By the discussion on slavery, American alliance and coopera- tion were checked ; a great gain to the Pre- iiiier ; for the Americans, and the Irish in America, all looked forward to something stronger than moral force. The Minister thought he might proceed, under cover of this tumult of senseless debate, to take the first step in his plan for the de- population of Ireland, in pursuance of the " Devon Commission " report. Accordingly, his third measure for the " amelioration " of Ireland was a bill, ostensibly provid- ing for " Compensation of Tenants in Ire- land," but really calculated for the de- struction of the last relics of tenant-right. We need not go through the details of the proposed measure ; it is enough to observe, that Lord Stanley admitted that he contem- plated the "removal of a vast mass of la- bor" from its present field. "In justice to the colonies," he would not recommend, as the Devon Commissioners did, merely that the whole of this vast mass should be shot out naked and destitute upon their shores ; and his bill proposed the employment of a part of it on the waste lands of Ireland — of which waste lands there were four mil- lions of acres, capable of improvement. A portion of the "vast mass of labor" re- moved from other places was to be set to work, under certain conditions, to reclaim these lands for the landlords. The bill, though framed entirely for the landlords, did yet propose to interfere, in some degree, with their absolute rights of property. They did not choose that ten- ants should be presumed to have any right to " compensation," even nominally ; or any other riglit whatever ; and as for the waste lands, they wanted them for snipe-shooting. Accordingly, they resisted the bill with all their power ; and English landlords, on principle, supported them in that resistance. On the other hand, the Irish tenants, with one consent, exclaimed against the bill, as a bill for open robbery and slaughter. A meeting of County Down tenants resolved that it would rob their class, (in one pro- vince, Ulster alone,) of £1,500,000 ster- ling. The Nation commented upon it under the title of "Robbery of Tenants (Ireland) bill." The opposition of the tenant class, and of the Repeal newspapers, would have been of small avail, but for the resistance — upon other grounds— of the landlords. The bill was defeated ; Sir Robert Peel had to 550 HISTOKY OF IRELAND. devise some other method of getthig rid of the " surplus population." He w blessed her be kept for the peo[)le of IreUinil — and would not the Irish Parliament be more active even than tiie Belgian Parlia- ment to provide for the people food and employment ? The blessings that would re- sult from repeal — the necessity for repeal — the impossibility of the country enduring the want of repeal — and the utter hopeless- ness of nny other remedy — all those tilings powerfully urge you to join with me, and hurrah for the repeal." Still earlier, in November, O'Brien had used these words : — ."I congratulate you, that the universal sentiment hitherto erhibited upon this subject h^is Lee a that we will accept no English charity. The resources of this country are still abundantly adequate to maintain our popu- lation, and mitil tho.se resources shall have been utterly exhausted, I hope there is no man in Ireland who will so degrade himself as to ask the aid of a subscription from Knuland." And the sentiment was received with "loud cheers" O'Brien's speech is au earnest and vehement adjuration not to suf- fer promises of " relief," or vague ho[)es of English boons to divert the country one moment from the great business of putting an end to the Union. Take one other ex- tract from a speech of O'Conuell's : — " If we had a paternal government, I should be first to counsel the appropriation of a portion of the revenues of Ireland to the wants of the people, and this, too, with- out very strictly considering whether the whole should be repaid or not. We have an abstract claim to such application of the Irish revenues ; but were we to advocate such an arrangement now, we should be mocked and insulted. Therefore, I ajjproach the Government of England on equal terms. I say to the English people : You are the greatest money-lenders in Europe, and I will suppose you to be as determined aa Sliylock in the play. During the last ses- .^ion of Parliament, an act was passed for the encouragement of drainage in Eng- land and Ireland. According to the pro- visions of that act, any money advanced for the purpose of draining estates takes prior- ity over the other charges affecting those estates ; so that whatever amount of money may be bo applied becomes the first charge on the estate of the proprietors of Ireland, and thus is its repayment secured beyond all hazard. The Government can borrow as much money as they please on Exchequer bills at not more than three per cent. If they lend It out for the purposes of drainage, they can charge such proprietors as may chouse to borrow, interest at the rate of four per cent. They, therefore, will have a clear gain of one per cent., and we shall owe them nothing, but they will stand indebted to us for aflording them an oppor- tunity of obtaining an advantageous invest- ment of the capital at their disposal." All this while, until after the meeting of Parliament, there was no hint as to the in- tentions of Goveriuneut ; and all this while the new Irish harvest of 1845, (which was particularly abundant,) with immense herda of cattle, sheej), and hogs, quite as usual, was iloating otf on every tide, out of every one of our thirteen seaports, bound for IRISH HARVESTS GO TO ENGLAND. 553 Eiig-luud ; and the landlords were receivinjr their rents, and going to England to spend them ; and many hnndreds of poor })cople had lain down and died on the road-sides for want of food, even before Cliristmas ; and the famine not yet begun, but expected shortly.* All eyes were turned to Parliament. The commission of learned naturalists — the in- quiries and reports made by means of the constabulary — and various mysterious inti- mations in the Government newspapers — all tended to produce the belief that the Im- perial " Government " was about to charge itself with the whole care and administra- tion of the famine. And so it was — with a vengeance. Late in January, Parliament assembled. From the Queen's (that is. Sir Robert Peel's,) speech, one thing only was clear — that Ireland was to have a new " Coercion bill." Extermination of tenantry had been of late more extensive than ever, and, therefore, there had been a few murders of landlords and agents — the most natural and inevitable thing in the world. The Queen fcays :— " My Lords and Gentlemen : — I have ob- served with deep regret the very frequent- instances in which the crime of deliberate assassination has been of late committed in Ireland. " li will be your duty to consider whether any measure can be devised, calculated to give increased protection to life, and to bring to justice the perpetrators of so dreadful a crime." This meant more police, more police- taxes, police-surveillance, and a law that every one should keep at home after dark. The speech goes on to refer to the ap- proaching famine, and declares that Her Majesty had "adopted precautions" for its alleviation. Tiiis intimation served still further to make our people turn to " Gov- ernment" for counsel and for aid. Who *The Census Commissioners admit only five hun- dred aud sixteen "registered deaths,'' b}' starvation alone, up to January 1st. There was, at that time, no rejistry for them at all ; and thousands perished, registered by none but the Recording Angel. Be- Bides, the commissioners do not count the much greater numbers who died of typiius fever, the coa- sequeuce of insuflicieut nourishmeut. 70 can blame them? " Govenunent" had seized upon all our means and resources. It was confidently believed they intended to let us have the use of some part of our own money in this deadly emergency. It was even fondly imagined, by some sanguine persons, that the Government had it in con- templation to stop the export of provisions from Ireland — as the Belgian Legislature had done from Belgium, and the Portuguese from Portugal, until our own people should first be fed. It was not known, in short, what "Government" intended to do, or how far they would go ; all was mystery ; and this very mystery paralyzed such private and local efi'orts, by charitable persons, as might otherwise have been attempted iu Ireland. The two great leading measures proposed in this Parliament by the administratioo were, first, a Coercion bill for Ireland, and, second, repeal of the Corn laws. This repeal of the duties on foreign corn had long been demanded by the manufacturing and trading interests of England, and had been steadily opposed by the great landed-proprietors. Sir Robert Peel, as a Conservative states- man, had always hitherto vigorously op- posed the measure ; but early in this Parliament he suddenly announced himself a convert to free-trade in corn ; and even used the prettrJ of the famine in Ireland to justify himself and carry his measure. He further proposed to abolish the duties ou foreign beef, and mutton, and bacon. Shall we exclude any kind of food from our ports, he said, while the Irish are starving ? That is to say, the Premier proposed to cheapen those products which England bought, and which Ireland had to sell. Ire- land imported no corn or beef — she exported those commodities. Hitherto she had an advantage over American and other corn- growers in the English market, because tliere was a duty on foreign, but not on Irish, provisions. Henceforl,h, the agricul- tural produce of all the world was to be admitted on the same terms, duty-free ; and precisely to the extent that this wuuld clieapeu provisions to the English consumer, it wuuld impoverish the Irish producer. Tlie great ma.ss of the Irish people were ulmusl unacquainied with tlie laste of bread 554 HISTORY OF rRELAND. and meat ; they raised those articles, not to eat, but to sell and pay their rents with. Yet many of the Irish people, stupified by the desolation they saw around them, had cried out for " opening the ports," instead of closing them. The Irish ports were open enough; much too open; and an Irish Parliament, if there had been one, would instantly have closed them in this emergency. In looking over the melancholy records of those famine years, we find that usually the right view was seized, and the right word said, by William Smith O'Brien. He said, in the Repeal Association : — " With respect to the proposal before us, I have to remark that it professes to abro- gate all protection. It is, in my opinion, a proposal manifestly framed with a view to English rather than Irish interests. About two-thirds of the population of England (that, I believe, is the proportion,) are de- pendent on manufactures and commerce, directly or indirectly. In this country about nine-tenths of the population are dependent on agriculture, directly or indirectly. It is clearly the object of the English Minister to obtain the agricultural produce which the people of this country send to England, at the lowest possible price — tliat is to say, to give as httle as possible of English manufactures and of foreign commodities in return for the agricultural produce of Ireland." If this was the Minister's design, we may appreciate the spirit in which he ad- dressed himself to the "relief measures" for Ireland. The other measure was the Coercion hill. It authorized the Viceroy to proclaim any district in Ireland he might think proper, commanding the people to remain within doors (whether they had houses or not,) from sunset to sunrise ; — authorized him to quarter on such district any additional police force he might think i\eedful — to pay re- wards to informers and detectives — to pay compensation to the relatives of murdered or injured persons — and to levy the amount of all by distress npon the goods of the occupiers, as under the Poor law — with tliis difference, that whereas under the Poor-law the occupier could deduct a portion of the rate from his rent, under the new law he could not — and with this further difference, that whereas under tiie Poor law, house- holders whose cabins were valued under £i per annum were exempt from the rate, under this law they were not exempt. Thus, every man who had a house, no matter how wretched, was to pay the new- tax ; and every man was bound to have a house ; for if found out of doors after sun- set, and convicted of that offence, he was to be transported for fifteen years, or im- prisoned for three — the court to have the discretion of adding hard labor or solitary confinement. ]yovv, the first of these two laws, which abolished the preference of Irish grain in the English markets, would, as the Premier well knew, give a great additional stimulus to the consolidation of farms — that is, the ejectment of tenantry ; because " high- farming" — farming on a large scale, with the aid of horses and steam, and all the modern agricultural improvements — was what alone would enable Irish agriculturists to compete with all mankind. The second law would drive the survivors of the ejected people (those who did not die of hunger,) into the poor houses or to America ; because, being bound to be at home after the sun-set, and having neither house nor home, they would be all in the absolute power of the police, and in con- tinual peril of transportation to tlie colonies. By another act of this Parliament, the police force was increased, and taken more immediately into the service of the Crown ; tlie Irish counties were in part relieved fi'om their pay ; and they became, in all senses, a portion of the regular army. They amount- ed to twelve thousand chosen men, well armed and drilled. * *• No population was ever more peaceable than the Irish at this time ; but they were assumed to be in an unusually dangerous temper, and to require the especial vigilance of this terrible police-force. To show the pains taken by the authorities for re- pressing all disturbance, we may give a few sen- tences out of a manual published in this same year, 1846, by David Duff, Esq., an active police magistrate. It is entitled, " The Constable's Guide " :— " The great point towards efficiency is, that every man should know his duty and do it, and should have a thorough and perfect laiowledge of the neighbor- hood of his station ; and men should make them- selves not only ac(inainted with roads and passes, but the character of all, which, with a little trouble, RELIEF MEASUKES. 555 The police were always at the command of sheriffs for executing ejectments ; and if they were not in sufiBcicnt force, troops of the line could be had from the nearest giirrison. No wonder that the London Times, within less than three years after, was enabled to say : " Law has ridden roughshod through Ireland : it has been taught with bayonets, and interpreted with ruin. Townsliips leveled ^with the ground; straggling columns of exiles, work-houses multiplied and still crowded, express the determination of the Legislature to rescue Ireland from its slovenly old barbarism, and to plant the institutions of this more civilized land " — meaning England. These were the two principal measures for the prudent administration of the famine; but there was also another, purporting to aim more directly at relief. Mr. Secretary Labouchere making his Ministerial statement in Parliament this session, estimated the total money-loss ac- cruing by the potato-blight at sixteen mil- lions sterling. It was about the value of the Irish provisions consumed every year in England. The people likely to be affected by this dearth were always, in ordinary years, on the brink of destruction by famine, and many were every year starved to death. Now, to replace, in some measure, this ahsobUely necessary food by foreign corn, and to pay the higher price of grain over roots, (besides freight,) would have required an appropriation of twenty millions sterling — the same amount which had been devoted, witliout scruple, to turning of West India negroes wild. could be easily accomplished. A policeman cannot be considered j)e;ytici in his civil duty as a constable, who could not, when required, march direct to any house at night. ********* " Independent of regular night patrols, whose hours should vary, men should by day take post on hills commanding the houses of persons having registered arms, or supposed to be obnoxious. The men so posted will be within view of other parties, 80 as to cooperate in pursuit of offenders. ********* " Patrols hanging about ditches, plantations, and, above all, visiting the houses of suspicious charac- ters, are most essential. " The telescope to be taken always on day patrol, and rockets and blue-lights used, as pointed out in the confldentinl memorandum." The " confidential memorandum '' we have not been privileged to see. England had, for so many years, drawn so vast a tribute from Ireland, (prubably eight millions per annum, for forty years,) that now, when the consequence of our in- tercourse with the sister island turned out to be that she grew richer every year, while Ireland, on her side of the account, had ac- cumulated a famine, we claimed that there was something surely due to us. It is out of the question to enter here into these mul- tifarious accounts. England beats all man- kind in bookkeeping by double entry ; and as she has had the keeping of the books, as well as everything else, it has been very diffi- cult even to approximate to the truth. But to those who have followed the course of this narrative, and who call to mind the im- mense drain, first of provisions, and then of the money paid for tliose provisions steadily going on, from Ireland to England, since the Union, it will seem quite within bounds to affirm that, the value of one yeai'^s plun- der — or the loan of that amount, (if Ireland had had a legislature to effect such a loan,) would have amounted to the needful twenty millions sterling ; would have saved Ireland the first year's famine, and made the suc- ceeding famines impossible. Considering all these things, it was be- lieved not unreasonable, that the common Exchequer of the " Three Kingdoms " (so liberal when it was a question of turning ne- groes wild,) ought to devote at least as great a sum to the mitigation of so dread- ful a calamity as the famine. Accordingly, our people demanded such an appropriation, not as alms, but as a right. The Commit- tee of the Repeal Association for example, said : — " Your committee beg distinctly to dis- claim any participation in appeals to the bounty of England or of Englishmen. They demand, as a right, that a portion of the reveime which Ireland contriljutes to the state, may be rendered available for the mitigation of a great public calamity." Up to the meeting of Parliament, the enemy concealed their intentions in mystery ; tliey consulted nol)ody in Ireland about this Irish emergency, but prepared their plans in silence. In the meantime, the aburidant and mag- nificent crops of grain and herds of cuttle 556 HISTORY OF IRELAND. were goiii"^ over to England, both earlier in the season and in greater quantities than ever before, for speculators were anxious to real- ize, and the landlords were pressing for their rents ; and agents and bailifiFs were down upon the farmers' crops before they could even get them stacked. So the farm- ers sold them at a disadvantage, in a glut- ted market, or they were sold for them, by auction, and with costs. The great point was to put the English Channel between the people and the food which Providence had sent them, at the earliest possible moment. By New Year's Day, it was almost swept off. Up to that date, Ireland sent away and England received, of grain alone, of tlie crop of 1815 — three millions two hun- dred and fifty thousand quarters — besides innumerable cattle ; — making a value of at least seventeen millions sterling* Now, when Parliament met in January, the sole " remedial measure " proposed by Sir Robert Peel, (besides the Coercion bill, and the Corn bill, to cheapen bread in England,) was a grant of £.^0,000 for public works, and another grnnt of as much for drainage of estates ; — both these being grants, not to Ireland, but to the " Commissioners of Public Works ; " and to be administered not as Irishmen might suggest, but as to the said commissioners might seem good.f It was the two-hundredth part of what might probably have sufficed to stay the famine. It might have given sensible re- lief — if honestly administered — to the small- est of the thirty-two counties. How it was used, not for relief, but for aggravation of the misery, we shall see hereafter. For that season's limine it was at any rate too late, and before any part of it became available many thousands had died of hun- ger. The London newspapers complacently stated that the impression " in political * Thomas Official Birectory. It appears, even in that Government publication, that the export of grain from Ireland to England was considerably greater in this first famine year, (1845,) than it liad been in any 3'ear before. So that the famine is not at all a mysterious dispensation of Providence. t O'Connell pointed out that the Quit and Crown rents drawn from Ireland last year, and spent at that time in beautifying Trafalgar square and Windsor Caatle, amounted to more than £G0,000. circles" was, that two millions of the people must perish before the next harvest. January, February, and part of March passed away. Nothing was done for relief ; but much preparation was made in the way of appointing hosts of commissioners and commissioners' clerks, and preparing the voluminous stationery, schedules, specifica- tions, and red-tape to tie them up neatly, which so greatly tmbarrass all British offi- cial action — a very injurious sort of embar- rassment in such a case as the Crimean war, but the very thing that did best service (to the Government) on the present occasion. J O'Connell, O'Brien, and some other re- peal members, proceeded to London, in March, to endeavor to stir up Ministers, or at least discover what they were intending. In answer to Mr. O'Brien, Sir James Gra- ham enumerated the grants and loans I have above mentioned ; and added some- thing about other public moneys, which, he said, were also available for relief of dis- tress ; adding : — " Instructions have been given on the re- sponsibility of the Government, to meet every emergency. It would not be expe- dient for me to detail those instructions ; but I may state, generally, there is no por- tion of this distress, however wide-spread or lamentable, on which Government have not endeavored, on their own responsibility, to take the best precautions, to give the best directions of which circumstances could admit." O'Brien had just come from Ireland, where he had anxiously watched the pro- gress of the " relief measures," and of the famine ; he had seen that while the lat- ter was quick, the former were slow — in fact, they had not then appeared in Ireland at all ; but the very announcement that Government intended to interpose in some decisive manner, had greatly hastened col- lection of rents and ejectment of tenants ; and both hunger, and its sure attendant, the typhus, were sweeping them off rapidly. Briti.sh Ministers listened to all he could say, with a calm, incredulous smile. " Have i In April of next year, (1S46,) Jones, Twisleton, &c., were enabled to report that they had sent to Ire- land " ten thousand books— besides fourteen tons of paper." HAVOC OP THE PEOPLE. 557 we uot told you," they said, " we have sent persons — Englishmen, reliable men — to in- quire into all those mattere ? Are we uot goinp: to meet every emergency ? " " Mr. W. S. O'Brien was bound to say, with regard to the sums of money mention- ed by the right honorable baronet, as hav- ing been, on a former occasion, voted by the House for the relief of Ireland, that as far as his own information went, not one single guinea had ever been e.xpended from those sources. He was also bound to tell the right honorable baronet that one hundred thousand of his fellow-creatures in Ireland were famishing." And here the report adds : The honorable gentleman, who appeared to labor under deep emotion, paused for a short time. Doubtless, it was bitter to that haughty Bpirit to plead for his plundered people, as it were in forma pauperis, before the plun- derers ; and their vulgar pride was soothed ; but soon it was wounded again, for he added : — " Under such circumstances did it not become the House to consider of the way in which they could deal with the crisis ? He would tell them frankly — and it was a feeling participated in by the majority of Irishmen — that he was not disposed to ap- peal to their generosity in the matter. They had taken, and they had tied, the purse- strings of the Irish purse 1 " Whereupon the report records that there were cries of oh ! oh ! They were scandal- ized at the idea of Ireland having a purse. Notwithstanding this repeated repudia- tion of alms, all the appropriations of Parlia- ment, purporting to be for relief, but really calculated for aggravation of the Irish fa- mine, were persistently called alms by the English press. These Irish, they said, are never done craving alms. It is true, they did not answer our statement that we only de- manded a small part of what was due ; they chose to assume that the Exchequer was their E.xchequer ; — neither did they think it fit to remember that Mr. O'Brien, and such as he, were by no means suffering from famine themselves, but were retrench- ing the e.xpenses of their households at home to relieve those who were suffering. To the common English intellect it was enough to present this one idea — here are these starv- ing Irish coming over to beg from you. Thus, it will be easy to appreciate the feelings which then prevailed in the two islands — in Ireland, a vague and dim sense that we were somehow robbed — in England, a still more vague and blundering idea, that an impudent beggar was demanding their money, with a scowl in his eye and a threat upon his tongue. In truth, only a few, either in England or in Ireland, fully understood the bloody game on the board. The two cardinal principles of the British policy in this busi- ness seem to have been these two : First, strict adherence to the principles of " poli- tical economy ;" and, second, making the whole administration of the famine a Gov- ernment concern. "Political economy" be- came, about the time of the repeal of the Corn laws, a favorite study, or rather, in- deed, the creed and gospel of England. Women and young boys were learned in its saving doctrines ; one of the most funda- mental of which was, " there must be no interference with the natural course of trade." It was seen that this maxim would insure the transfer of the Irish wheat and beef to England ; for that was what they called the natural course of trade. More- over, this maxim would forbid the Govern- ment, or relief committees, to sell provis- ions in Ireland any lower than the market price — for this is an interference with the enterprize of private speculators ; it would forbid the employment of Government ships — for this troubles individual ship owners ; and further, and lastly, it was found, (tliis invaluable maxim,) to require that the pub- lic works to be executed by laborers em- ployed with borrowed public money, should be unproductive works ; that is, works which would create no fund to pay their own expenses. There were many railroad companies at that time in Ireland that had got their charters ; their roads have been made since ; but it was in vain they asked then for Government advances, whicli they could have well secured, and soon paid off; the thing could not be done. Lending mon- ey to Irish railroad companies would be a discrimination against English companies — > flat interference with private enterprize. 558 HISTORY OF IRELAND. The other great leading idea completed Sir Robert's policy. It was to make the fa- mine a strictly Government concern. The famine was to be administered strictly through officers of the Government, from high commissioners down to policemen. Even the Irish General Relief Committee, and other local committees of charitable persons who were exerting themselves to raise fnnds to give employment, were either induced to act in subordination to a Gov- ernment Relief Committee, which sat in Dublin Castle — or else were deterred from importation of food, by the announcement in Parliament that the Government had given orders somewhere for the purchase of for- eign corn. For instance, the Mayor of Cork, and some principal inhabitants of that city, hurried to Dublin, and waited on the Lord-Lieutenant, representing that the local committee had applied for some por- tion of the Parliamentary loans, but " were refused assistance on some points of official form — that the people of that county were already famishing, and both food and labor were urgently needed. Lord Heytesbury simply recommended that they should com- municate at once with the Government Re- lief Committee " — as for the rest, that they should consult the Board of Works. Thus every possible delay and official difficulty •was interposed against the efforts of local bodies — Government was to do all. These things, together with the new measure for an increase in the police force, (who were the main administrative agents throughout the country,) led many persons to the con- clusion that the enemy had resolved to avail themselves of the famine in order to in- crease Governmental supervision and esjpion- vage; so that every man, woman, and child in Ireland, with all their goings out and com- ings it, might be thoroughly known and re- gistered—that when the mass of the people began to starve, their sole resource mio-bt be the police barracks — that Govern- ment might be all hi all ; omnipotent to give food or withhold it, to relieve or to starve, according to their own ideas of po- licy and of good behavior in the people. It is needless to point out that Govern- ment patronage also was much extended by this system ; and by the middle of tlie next year, 1847, there were ten thousand men salaried out of Parliamentary loans and grants for relief of the poor — as com- missioners, inspectors, clerks, and so forth ; and some of them with salaries equal to that of an American Secretary of State. So many of the middle classes had been dragged down almost to insolvency by the ruin of the country, that they began to be eager for the smaller places, as clerks and inspectors ; for those ten thousand officers, then, it was estimated there were one hun- dred thousand applicants and canvassers — so much clear gain from " repeal." The Repeal Association continued its re- gular meetings and never ceased to repre- sent that the true remedies for Irish famine were tenant-right — the stoppage of export — and repeal of the Union ; — and as those were really the true and only remedies, it was clear they were the only expedients which an English Parliament would not try. The repeal members gained a kind of Parliamentary victory, however, this spring ; — they .nused the defeat of the Coercion bill, with the aid of the Whigs. Sir Rob- ert Peel had very cunningly, as he thought, made this bill precede the Corn Law Re- peal bill ; and as the English public was all now most eager for the cheapening of bread, he believed that all parties would make haste to pass his favorite measure first. The Irish members went to London, and knowing they could not influence legislation otherwise, organized a sort of mere mechan- ical resistance against the Coercion bill ; that is, they opposed first reading, second reading, third reading, opposed its being re- ferred to committee, moved endless amend- ments, made endless speeches, and insisted upon dividing the House on every clause. In vain it was represented to them that this was only delaying the Corn law repeal, which would "cheapen bread." O'Brien replied that it would only cheapen bread to Eng- lishmen, and enable them to devour more and more of the Irish bread, and give less for it. In vain Ministers told them they were stopping public business — they an- swered that English business was no busi- ness of theirs. In vain their courtesy was invoked. They could not afford to be courteous in such a case, and their sole PEEL RESIGNS OEFICE. 559 errand ia London was to resist an atrocious and torturing tyranny threatened against tlieir poor countrymen. Just before this famous debate, there had been very extensive clearing of tenantry in Connanght ; and, in particular, one case, in which a Mrs. Gerrard had, with the aid of the troops and police, destroyed a whole villnge, and thrown out two hundred and seventy persons on the high road. Tlie Nation thus improved the circumstances •with reference to the " Coercion bill " : — " Some Irish member, for instance, may point to the two hundred and seventy per- sons thrown out of house and home the other day in Galway, and in due form of law, (for it was all perfectly legal,) turned adrift in their desperation upon the wide world — and may ask the Minister, if any of these two hundred and seventy commit a robbery on the highway — if any of them murder the bailiff who, (in exer- cise of his duty,) flung out their naked children to perish in the winter's sleet — if any of them, maddened by wolfish famine, break into a dwelling-house, and forcibly take food to keep body and soul together, or arms for vengeance — what will you do ? How will yoir treat that district ? Will you, indeed, proclaim it ? Will you mulct the householders, (not yet ejected,) in a heavy fine, to compound for the crimes of those miserable outcasts, to afford food and shelter to whom they wrong their own children in this hard season ? Besides sharing with those wretches his last po- tato, is the poor cottier to be told that he is to pay for policemen to watch them day and night — that he is to make atone- ment in money, (though his spade and poor bedding should be auctioned to make it np,) for any outrage that may be done in the neighborhood ? — but that these Qer- RARDs are not to pay one farthing for nil this-— for, perhaps, their property is in- cumbered, and, it may be, they find it hard enough to pay their interest, and keep up such establishments, in town and coun- try, as befit their rank ? And will you, in- deed, issue your commands that those house- less and famishing two hundred and seventy — after their roof-trees were torn down, and the ploughshare run through the founda- tions of their miserable hovels — are to be at home from sunset to sunrise ? — that if found straying, the jails and the penal colonies are ready for their reception ?" It was precisely with a view to meet such cases that the Coercion bill had been de- vised. The English Whigs, and, at length, the indignant Protectionists, too, joined the repealers in this resistance — not to spare Ireland, but to defeat Sir Robert Peel, and get into his place. And they did defeat Sir Robert Peel, and get into his place. Whereupon, it was not long before Lord John Russell and the Whigs devised a new and more murderous Coercion bill for Ire- land themselves. It was on the 25th of May, that the Co- ercion bill for Ireland was defeated — tlie first Coercion bill for Ireland that was ever refused by a British Parliament ; and it was rejected, not by the exertions of Ire- land's friends, but by political combinations of her enemies. Sir Robert Peel immediately resigned office, and left the responsibility of dealing with the Irish affair to the Whigs. He knew he might do so safely. His system was inaugurated. His two great ideas — free trade and police administration — were fully recognized by the Whigs ; and Lord John Russell was even a blind bigot about what he imagined to be political economy. This " liberal" statesman never had an idea of his own ; and as the system of Sir Rob- ert Peel was really the true and only English method of dealing with the Irish difficulty, it was quite certain that the Whigs would not only adopt it, but improve upon it. 560 HISTORY OF IRELAND. CHAPTER LIX. 1846—1847. Progress of the Famine Carnage— Pretended Eelief Measures— Imprisonment of O'Brien— Dissensions in Repeal Association—Break up of that Body- Ravages of Famine — "Labor-Rate Act" — Useless Public Works — Extermination — Famine of 1847 — How they lived in England— Advances from the Treasury— Attempts of Foreign Countries to Re- lieve the Famine — Defeated by British Govern- ment — Vagrancy Act — Parish Coffins — Constant Repudiation of Alms — An Englishman's Petition for Alms to Ireland — " Ingratitude " of the Irish — Death of O'Connell— Preparations to Insure the Next Year's Famine — Emigration — British Famine Policy — New Coercion Act called for — Famine in Ireland. In the first year of the famine, then, we find that the measures proposed by the English Government were, first, repeal of the Corn laws, which depreciated Ireland's only article of export ; second, a new Coercion law, to torture and transport the people ; and, third, a grant of i^l 00,000 to certain clerks or commissioners, chiefly for their own profit, and from which the starving people derived no benefit whatever. Yet, Ireland was taunted with this grant, as if it were alms granted to her. Double the sum (£200,000,) was, in the. same session, appropriated for Battersea Park, a suburbaiT place of recreation much resorted to by Londoners. It is to be observed that all the employ- ment to be provided for the poor under this first " Relief act," was to be given under the order and control of English officials ; further, the professions of " Government '' — that they had taken all needful measures to guard against famine — had made people rely upon them for everything, and thus turned the minds of thousands upon thou- sands from work of their own, which they might have attempted if left to themselves. This sort of government spoou-feeding is highly demoralizing ; and for one who de- rived any relief from it, one thousand neg- lected their own industry in the pursuit of it. In truth, the amount of relief offered by these grants was infinitesimally small, when we consider the magnitude of the calamity, and had no other effect than to unsettle the minds of the peasantry, and make them more careless about holding on to their farms. It is true, also, that the Government did, to a certain small extent, speculate in Indian corn, and did send a good many cargoes of it to Ireland, and form depots of it at several points ; but as to this, also, their mysterious intimations had led all the world to believe they would provide very large quantities, whereas, in fact, the quantity imported by them was inadequate to supply tlie loss of the grain exported from any one county ; and a Government ship, sailing into any liarbor with Indian corn, was sure to meet half a dozen sailing out with Irish wheat and cattle. The effect of this, there- fore, was only to blind the people to the fact, that England was exacting her tribute as usual, famine or no famine. The effect of both combined was to engender a dependent and pauper spirit, and to free England from all anxiety about "repeal." A land- less, hungry patijper cannot afford to think of the honor of his country, and cares nothing about a national flag. How powerfully the whole of this system and procedure contributed to accomplisli the great end of uprooting the people from the soil, one can readily understand. Tiie ex- hibitiou and profession of public "relief" for the destitute, stifled compunction in the landlords ; and agents, bailiffs, and police swept whole districts with the besom of de- structiou. Another act had been done by Sir Robert Peel's Ministry, just before retiring, with a view of breaking up the Repeal Association. This was the imprisonment of Mr. Smith O'Brien several weeks in the celhir of the House of Commons. It grievously irritated the enemy tliat O'Connell, O'Brien, and the Repeal members, still continued to absent themselves from Parliament. The House, of Commons tried various methods of per- suading or coercing them to Loudon. Mr. Hume had written them a friendly letter, imploring them to come over to their legislative duties, and he would aid them in obtaining justice for Ireland. A "call of the House " was proposed ; but they de- clared beforehand, that if there were a call of the House they would not obey it, and the Sergeant-at-Arms must come to Ireland IMPEISONMENT OF O BRIEK. 561 for tliera — he would find tliem in Concilia- tion Hall. They were nominated on English Railroad Committees, and the proper officer had intimated to them the fact. They replied that they were attend- ing to more important business. Now, when they went over to oppose the Coercion bill, it was understood that this was to be their sole errand, and they were not to engage tliemselves in the ordinary details of legislation. But they were not long in Lon- don before the opportunity was seized to place their names on Railway Committees. O'Connell and his son both obeyed the call. O'Brien, of course, refused, and was im- prisoned in the cellar for " contempt." London and all England were highly pleased and entertained. The press was brilliant upon the great " Brian Boru " in a cellar ; and Mr. O'Brien was usually after- wards termed — with that fine sarcasm so characteristic of English genius — the " mar- tyr of the cellar." Instantly arose dissension in the Repeal Association. To approve and fully sustain O'Brien's action in refusing to serve, would be to censure O'Connell for serving. Li that body a sort of unsatisfactory compro- mise was ma'de, but the " Eighty-Two Club," where the young party was stronger, voted a warm address of full approval to O'Brien, (who was a member of the club,) and dispatched several members to present it to him in his dungeon. The divisions in O'Connell's association were soon brought to a crisis when the "Whigs came in. O'Connell instantly gave up all agitation of the Repeal question, and took measures to separate himself from those "juvenile members" who, as he de- clared, Lord John Russell had asserted were plotting not only to repeal the Union, but to sever the connection with England, ("the golden link of the Crown,") and that by jthysical force. All this famous contro- versy seems now of marvelously small moment ; but a very concise narrative of it may be found in Mr. O'Brien's words, which will be enough : — " Negotiations were opened between Mn O'Connell and the Whigs at Chesham Place. ' Young Ireland ' protested, in the strongest terms, against au alliance with the Whigs. 71 Mr. O'Connell took offence at the language used by Mr. Meagher and others. When I arrived in Dublin, after the resignation of Sir Robert Peel, I learned that he contem- plated a rupture with the writers of the Nation. Before I went to the County of Clare, I communicated, through Mr. Ray, a special message to Mr. O'Connell, who was then absent from Dublin, to the effect, that though I was most anxious to preserve a neutral position, I could not silently acquiesce in any attempt to expel the Nation or its party from the association. Next came the Dungarvan election, and the new " moral force " resolutions. I felt it my duty to protest against both at the Kilrush dinner. Upon my return to Dublin, I found a public letter from Mr. O'Connell, formally denouncing the Nation; and no alternative was left me but to declare, that if that letter were acted upon, I could not cooperate any longer with the Repeal Association. The celebrated two-day de- bate then took place. Mr. J. O'Connell opened an attack upon the Nation and upon its adherents. Mr. Mitchel and Mr, Meagher defended themselves in language which, it seemed to me, did not transgress the bounds of decorum or of legal safety. Mr. John O'Connell interrupted Mr. Meagher in his speech, and declared that he could not allow him to proceed with the line of argument necessary to sustain the principles which had been arraigned. I protested against this interruption. Mr. J. O'Connell tlien gave us to understand that unless Mr. Meagher desisted, he must leave the hall. I could not acquiesce in this attempt to stifle a fair discussion, and sooner than witness the departure of Mr. J. O'Coimell from an association founded by his father, I preferred to leave the assembly." * When O'Brien left the assembly, he was accompanied by his friends, and there was an end of the Ri'peal Association, save as a machinery of securing ufBces for O'Connell's dependents. Even for that purpose it was not efficient ; l)ecaiise it had too clearly become impotent and hollow ; there was no danger in it, and Ministers would not buy a patriot in that market, unless at a very low figure. * Mr. O'Brien's letter to Dr. Milcy December, ISiS. 562 HISTORY OF IRELAND. In the meantime, the famine and tlie fever raged ; many landlords regained possession without so much as an ejectment, because the tenant died of hunger ; and the county coroners, before the end of this year, were beginning to strike work — they were so often called to sit upon famine-slain corpses. Tlie verdict — " Death by starvation " — became so familiar tliat the county news- papers sometimes omitted to record it ; and travelers were often appalled when they came upon some lonely village by the western coast, with the people all skeletons upon their own hearths. Irish landlords are not all monsters of cruelty. Thousands of them, indeed, kept far away from the scene, collected their rents through agents iuid bailiffs, and spent them in England or in Paris, But the resident landlords and their families did, in many cases, devote themselves to the task of saving their poor people alive. Many remitted their rents, or half their rents ; and ladies kept their servants busy and their kitchens smoking with continual preiDaration of food for the poor. Local committees soon purchased all the corn in the Government depots, (at market price, however,) and distributed it gratuitously. Clergymen, both Protestant and Catholic, generally did their duty ; except those absentee clergymen, bishops, and wealthy rectors, who usually reside in England, their services being not needed in tile places from whence they draw their wealth. But many a poor rector and his curate shared their crust with their suffering iieiglibors ; and priests, after going round all day administering Extreme Unction to whole villages at once, all dying of mere starvation, often themselves went supperless to bed. The details of this frightful famine, as it ravaged those western districts, need not be narrated. It is enough to say that in this year, 1846, aot less than three hundred liiousaiid perished, either of mere hunger, or ('f typhus fever caused by hunger. But, as it has ever since been the main object of the British Government to conceal the amount of the carnage, (which, indeed, they ought to do if they can,) we find that the Census Commissioners, in their re- port for 1851, admit only two thousand and forty-one " registered" deaths by famine alone, A Whig Ministry, however, was now in power ; and the people were led to expect great efforts on the part of Government to stay the progress of ruin. In August, it became manifest that the potato-crop of '46 was also a total failure ; but the products otherwise were most abundant — much more than sufficient to feed all the people. Again, therefore, it became the urgent business of British policy to promise large " relief," so as to insure that the splendid harvest should be allowed peacefully to be shipped to England as before ; and the first important measure of the Whigs was to propose a renewal of the Disarming act, and a further increase in the police force. Apparently, the outcry raised against this had the effect of shaming Ministers, for they suddenly dropped the bill for this time. But the famine could not be correctly ad- ministered without a Coercion bill of some sort ; so the next year they devised a ma- chinery of this kind, the most stringent and destructive that had yet been prescribed for Ireland. In the meantime, for "relief" of the famine, they brought forward their famous Labor-Rate act. This was, in few words, an additional Poor-rate, payable by the same persons liable to the other Poor-rates ; the proceeds to be applied to the execution of such public works as the Government might choose; the control and superintendence to be in- trusted to Governineat officers. Money was to be, in the meantime, advanced from the Treasury, in order to set the people imme- diately to work ; and that advance was to be repaid in ten years by means of the in- creased rate. There was to be an appear- ance of local control, inasmuch as barony sessions of landlords and justices were to have power to meet, (under the Lord-Lieu- tenant's order,) and suggest any works they might think needful, provided these were strictly unproductive works ; but the con- trol of all was to be in the Government alone. Now, the class which suffered most from the potato-blight consisted of those small fanners who were barely able, in ordinary years, to keep themselves above starvation DISSENSIONS IN KEPEAL ASSOCIATIONS. 563 after paying their rents. These people, by .the Labor-Rate act, had an additional tax laid on them ; and not being able to pay it, could but quit their holdings, sink to the class of able-bodied paupers, and enrol themselves in a gang of Government navvys — tlius, throwing themselves for support upon those who still strove to maintain themselves by their own labor on their own land. In addition to the proceeds of the new Poor-rate, Parliament appropriated a further sum of £.50,000, to be applied in giving work in some absolutely pauper districts, where there was no hope of ever raising rates to repay it. iE50,000 was just the sum which was that same year voted out of tlie English and Irish revenue to improve the buildings of the British Museum. So there was to be more Poor law, more commissioners, (this time under the title of Additional Public Works Commissioners ;) innumerable officials in the public works, commissariat and constabulary departments; and no end of stationery and red tape — all to be paid out of the rates. On the whole, it was hoped that provision was made for stopping 'the "Irish howl" this one season. Irishmen of all classes had almost uni- versally condemned the Poor law at first ; so, as they did not like Poor law, they were to have more Poor law. Society in Ireland was to be reconstructed on the basis of Poor-rates, and a broad foundation of able- bodied pauperism. It did not occur to the English — and it never will occur to them — that the way to stop Irish destitution is to repeal the Union, so that Irishmen might make their own laws, use their own re- sources, regulate their own industry. It was in vain, however, that anybody in Ireland remonstrated. In vain that such journals as were of the popular party con- demned the whole scheme. The Nation of that date treats it thus : — " Unproductive work to be executed with borrowed money — a ten years' mortgage of a new tax, to pay for cutting down hills and filling them up again — a direct impost upon lanile(l-pri)prietors in the most ofifeusive form, to feed all the rest of tlie pupuliition, iiupuverisliing the rich without benefitting the poor — not creating, not developing, but merely transferring, and in the transfer wasting the means of all — perhaps human ingenuity, sharpened by intensest malignity, could contrive no more deadly and unerring method of arraying class against class in diabolical hatred, making them look on one another with wolfish eyes, as if to prepare the way for " arislocrates a la lanlenie'^ — killing individual enterprise — dis- couraging private im[)rovemeut — dragging down employers and employed, proprietors, farmers, mechanics, and cottiers, to one com- mon and irretrievable ruin." It may seem astonishing that the gentry of Ireland did not rouse themselves at this frightful prospect, and universally demand the repeal of the Union. They were the same class, sons of the same men, who had, in 1782, wrested the independence of Ireland from tiie English Government, and enjoyed the fruits of that independence in honor, wealth, and prosperity for eighteen years 1 Why not now ? It is because, in 1782 the Catholics of Ireland counted as nothing, now they are numerous, enfrain chised, exasperated ; and the Irish land- lords dare not trust themselves in Ireland without British support. They looked on tamely, therefore, and saw this deliberate scheme for the pauperization of a nation. They knew it would injure themselves ; but they took tlie injury, took insult along with it, and submitted to be reproached for begging alms, when they demanded restitu- tion of a part of tiieir own means. Over the whole island, for the next hw months, was a scene of confused and waste- ful attempts at relief — bewildered barony sessions striving to understand the volum- inous directions, schedules, and specifications, under which alone they could vote their own money to relieve the poor at their own doors ; but generally making mistakes, for the unassisted human faculties never could comprehend those ten thousand books and fourteen tons of paper ; insolent commis- sioners and inspectors and clerks snubbing them at every turn, and ordering them to study the documents ; efforts on the part of the proprietors to expend some of the rates at least on useful works, reclaiming land or the like, which eflorts were always met 564 HISTORY OF IRELAND. with fliit refusal and a lecture on political fcononiy, (for political economy, it seems, declared that the works must be strictly useless — as cutting down a road where there was no hill, or building a bridge where there was no water — until many good roads became impassable on account of pits and trenches ;) plenty of jobbing and peculation all this while ; and the laborers, having the example of a great public fraud before their eyes, themselves defrauding their fraudulent employers — quitting agricultural pursuits and crowding to the public works, where they pretended to be cutting down hills and filling up hollows, and with tongue in cheek received half wages for doing nothing. So the labor was M'asted ; the laborers were demoralized ; and the luxt year's famine was insured. Now began to be a rage for extermina- tion beyond any former time ; and many thou- sands of the peasants who could still scrape np the means, fled to the sea, as if pursued by wild beasts, and betook themselves to America. The British army, also, re- ceived numberless recruits this year, (for it is sound English policy to keep our people so low that a shilling a day would tempt them to fight for the Devil, not to say the Queen,) and insane mothers began to eat their yonng children, who died of famine before them — and still fleets of ships were sailing with every tide, carrying Irish cattle and corn to England. There was also a large importation of grain from England into Ireland, especially of Indian corn ; and the speculators and ship-owners had a good time. Much of the grain thus brought to Ireland had been previously exported from Ireland, and came back laden with mer- chants' profits, and double freights, and insurance, to the helpless people who had sowed and reaped it. This is what com- merce and free trade did for Ireland in those days. Two facts, however, are essential to be borne in mind — -first, that the nett result of this importation, exportation, and reim- portation (though many a ship-load was can-ied four times across the Irish Sea, as prices "invited" it,) was, that Enghind finally received the harvests to the same amount as before ; aud, second, that she gave Ireland — under free trade in corn — less for it than ' ever. In other words, it took more of the Irish produce to buy a piece of cloth from a Leeds manufacturer, or to buy a rent-receipt from an absentee proprietor. Farmers could do without the cloth, but as for the rent-receipts, these they must absolutely buy ; for the bailiff, with his police, was usually at the door, even before the fields were reaped ; and he, and the Poor- rate Collector, and the Additional Poor- rate Collector, and the County-cess Collector, and the Process-server with decrees, were all to be paid out of the first proceeds. If it took the farmer's whole crop to pay them, which it usually did, he had, at least, a pocketful of receipts, and might see lying in the next harbor, the very ship that was to carry his entire harvest and his last cow to England. What wonder that so many farmers gave up the effort in despair, and sunk to paupers ? Many Celts were cleared off this year, and the campaign was, so far, suc- cessful. The winter of 1846-T, and succeeding spring, were employed in a series of utterly unavailing attempts to use the " Labor-rate act," so as to afford some sensible relief to the famishing people. Sessions were held, as provided by the act, and the landed- proprietors liberally imposed rates to repay such Government advances as they thought needful ; but the unintelligible direetiuns constantly interrupted them, and, in the meantime, the peasantry, in the wild, blind hope of public relief, were abandoning their farms, and letting the land lie idle. Even the Tory or British party in Ire- land furnish ample testimony to this deplor- able state of things. From Limerick we learn, through the Dublin Evening Mail : — "Tliere is not a laborer employed in the county, except on public works ; and ther^ is every prospect of the lands remaining un- tilled and unsown for the next year." In Cork, vvrites the Cork Constitution : "The good intentions of the Government are frustrated by the worst regulations — I'c- gulations which, diverting labor from its le- gitimate channels, left the fields without hands to prepare them for the harvest." At a Presentment Session in Slianagold- RAVAGES OF FAMINE. 565 en, after a hopeless discussion as to what possible meaning could be lateut in the Castle " instructions," and " supplemental instructions," the Knight of Glin, a land- lord of those parts, said that, " While on tiie subject of mistakes," he might as well mention, "on the Glin road, some people are filling up the original cutting of a hill with the stuff they had taken out of it. That's another slice out of our iE450." Which he and the other proprietors of that barony had to pay. For you must bear in mind, that all the advances under this act were to be strictly loans, repayable by the rates, secured by the whole value of the land — and at higher interest than the Gov- ernment borrowed the money so advanced. The innocent Knight of Glin ascribed the perversions of labor to " mistake." But there was no mistake at all. Digging holes and filling them up again was precisely the kind of work prescribed in such case by the principles of political economy ; and then there were innumerable regulations to be at- tended to before even this kind of work could be given. The Board of Works would have the roads torn up with such tools as they approved of, and none other ; that is, with. picks and short shovels, and picks and short shovels were manufactured in England, and sent over by ship loads for that purpose, to the great profit of the hard- ware merchants in Birmingham. Often there were no adequate supply of these on the spot ; then the work was to be task- work, and the poor people, delving mac- adamized roads with spades and turf-cutters, could not earn as much as would keep them alive, though, luckily, they were thereby dis- abled from destroying so much good road. That all interests in the country were swiftly rushing to ruin was apparent to all. A committee of lords and gentlemen was formed, called " Reproductive Committee," to urge upon the Government that, if tlie country was to tax itself to supply public work, the labor ought, in some cases at least, to be employed upon tasks that might be of use. Tliis movement was so far suc- cessful that it elicited a letter from the Castle, authorizing such application, but with supplemental instructions, so intricate and occult, that this also was fruitless. And the people perished more rapidly than ever. The famine of 1847 was far raoro terrible and universal than that of the pre- vious year. The Whig Government, bound by political economy, absolutely refused to interfere with market prices, and the mer- chants and speculators were never so busy on both sides of the channel. In this year it was that tlie Irish famine began to be a world's wonder ; and men's hearts were moved in the uttermost ends of the earth by the recital of its horrors. The London Il- lustrated JVeios began to be adorned witli engravings of tottering windowless hovels in Skibbereen, and elsewhere, with naked wretches dying on a truss of wet straw ; and the constant language of English Ministers and members of Parliament created the impres- sion abroad that Ireland was in need of alms, and nothing but alms ; whereas, Irishmen themselves uniformly protested that what they required was a repeal of the Union, so that the English might cease to devour their substance. It may be interesting to know how the English people were faring all this while ; and whether " that portion of the United Kingdom," as it is called, suffered much by the famine in Ireland and in Europe. Au- thentic data upon this point are to be found in the financial statement of Sir Charles Wood, Chancellor of the E.xchequer, in Fel>- ruary, 1847. In that statement he de- clares — and he tells it, he says, with great satisfaction — that " the English people and working classes" were steadily growing more comfortable, nay, more luxurious in their style of living. He goes into particulars, even, to show how rapidly a taste for good things spreads amongst English laborers, and bids his hearers " recollect tiiat con- sumption could not be accounted for by at- tributing it to the higher and wealthier classes, but must have arisen from the con- sumption of the large body of the people and the working classes." In the matter of coffee, they had used nearly seven million pounds of it more than they did in 184 3 ; of butter and cheese, they devoured double as much witiiin the year as tiiey had done three years before within the same period. " I will next," says the Chancellor of the E.TChequer, " take cur- 566 HISTOBT OF IRELAND. rants, ''^ (for currauts are one of the neces- saries of life to an English laborer, who must have his pudding on Sunday at least ;) and we find tliat the quantity of currants used by the " body of the people and work- ing classes," had increased, in three years, from two hundred and fifty-four thousand hundred weight to three hundred and fifty- nine thousand hundred weight, by the year. Omitting other things, we come to the Chan- cellor's statement, that since 1843, the con- sumption of tea had increased by five million four hundred thousand pounds. It is unneces- sary to say they had as much beef and ba- con as they could eat, and bread a discre- tion — and beer 1 This statement was read by Sir Charles Wood, at the end of a long speech, in which he announced the necessity of raising an additional loan to keep life in some of the surviving Irish ; and he read it expressly in order " to dispel some portion of the gloom which had been cast over the minds of mem- bers," by being told that a portion of the surplus revenue must go to pay interest on a slight addition to the national debt. And the gloom was dispelled ; and honorable members comforted themselves with the re- flection, that whatever be the nominal debt of the country, after all, a man of the work- ing classes can ask no more than a good dinner every day, and a pudding on Sundays. One would not grudge the English labor- er his dinner, or his tea ; and we refer to his excellent table only to bid the reader re- mark that during those same three years, exactly as fast as the English people and working classes advanced to luxury, the Irish people and working classes sank to starvation ; and further, that the Irish people were still sowing and reaping what tliey of the sister island so contentedly de- voured, to the value of at least j£n,000,- 000 sterling. As an English farmer, artizan, or laborer, began to insist on tea in the morning as well as in the evening, an Irish farmer, arti- zan, or laborer, found it necessary to live on one meal a day ; for every Englishman who added to his domestic expenditure by a pud- ding thrice a week, an Irishman had to re- trench his to cabbage leaves and turnip tops ; as dyspepsia creeps into England, dysentery ravages Ireland ; " and the exact correliitive of a Sunday dinner in England is a coron- er's inquest in Ireland." Ireland, however, was to have " alms." The English would not see their useful drudges perish at their very door for want of a trifle of alms. So the Ministry an- nounced in this month of February, a new loan of ten millions, to be used from time to time for relief of Irish famine — the half of the advances to be repaid by rates — the other half to be a grant from the treasury to feed able-bodied paupers for doing useless work, or no work at all. As to this latter half of the ten millions, English newspapers and members of Parliament said that it was so much English money granted to Ireland. This, of course, was a falsehood. It was a loan raised by the Imperial Treasury, on a mortgage of the taxation of the Three Kingdoms ; and the principal of it, like the rest of the "national debt," was not intend- ed to be ever repaid ; and as for the interest, Ireland would have to pay her proportion of it, as a matter of course. This last act was the third of the "Re- lief measures" contrived by the British Par- liament, and the most destructive of all. It was to be put in operation as a system of out-door relief ; and the various local boards of Poor Law Guardians, if they could only understand the documents, were to have some apparent part in its administra- tiou, but all, as usual, under the absolute control of the Poor Law Commissioners, and of a new board — namely, Sir John Bur- goyne, an engineer ; Sir Randolph Routh, Commissary-Geueral ; Mr. Twisleton, a Poor Law Commissioner ; two Colonels, called Jones and M'Gregor, Police Inspectors ; and Mr. Redington, Under-Secretary. In the administration of this system there were to be many thousands of officials, great and small. The largest salaries were for Eng- lishmen ; but the smaller were held up as an object, of ambition to Irishmen ; and it is very humiliating to remember what eager and greedy multitudes were always canvass- ing and petitioning for these. lu the new act of the out-door relief, thei'e was one significant clause. It was, that if any farmer who held land should be forced to apply for aid under this act, for himself and CONSTANT REPUDIATION OF ALMS. 5G7 liis family, he should not have it until he had first given up all his land to the landlord — except one quarter of an acre. It was called the quarter-acre clause, and was found the most efficient and the cheapest of all the Ejectment acts. Farms were there- after daily f!!:iven up, without the formality of a notice to quit, or summons before Quar- ter Sessions. On the 6th of March, there were sev- en hundred and thirty thousand heads of families on the public works. Provision was made by the last recited act for dismissing these in batches. On the 10th of April, the number was reduced to five thousand seven hundred and twenty-three. Afterwards, batches of a hundred thousand or so were in like manner dismissed. Most of tliese had now neither house nor home ; and their only resource was in the out-door relief. For this they were ineligible, if they held but one rood of land. Under the new law it was able-bodied idlers only who were to be fed — to attempt to till even a rood of ground was death. Steadily, but surely, the "Government" was working out its calculation ; and the product anticipated by "political circles" was likely to come out about September, in round numbers — two millions of Irish corpses. That " Government " had at length got into its own hands all the means and mate- rials for working this problem, is now plain. There was no longer any danger of the ele- ments of the account being disturbed by ex- ternal interference of any kind. At one time, indeed, there were odds against the Government sum coming out right ; for charitable people in England and America, indignant at the thought of a nation perish- ing of political economy, did contribute generously, and did full surely believe that every pound they subscribed would give Irish famine twenty shillings worth of bread ; thoy thought so, and poured in their contri- butions, and their prayers and blessings with them. , In vain! "Government" and political economy got hold of the contributions, and disposed of them in such fashion as to pre- vent their deranging the calculations of po- litical circles. For example, the vast supplies of fooil purchased by the " British Relief Associa- tion," with the money of charitable Chris- tians in England, were everywhere locked up in Government stores. Government, it seems, contrived to influence or control tiie managers of that fund ; and thus, there were thousands of tons of food rotting with- in the stores of Haulbowline, at Cork Har- bor ; and tens of thousands rotting without. For the market must be followed, not led, (to the prejudice of Liverpool merchants !) — private speculation must not be disap- pointed, nor the calculations of political circles falsified ! All the nations of the earth might be defied to feed or relieve Ireland, beset by such a Government as this. America tried another plan ; — the ship Jamestown sailed into Cork Harbor, and discharged a large cargo, which actually began to come into consumption ; when lo ! Free Trade — anoth- er familiar demon of Government — Free Trade, that carried off our own harvests of tlie year before — comes in, freights another ship, and carries off from Cork to Liver- pool, a cargo against the American cargo. For the private speculators must be com- pensated ; the markets must not be led ; if these Americans will not give England their corn to lock up, then she defeats them by " the natural laws of trade ! " So many Briarean hands has Government — so surely do official persons work their account. Private charity, one might think, in a country like Ireland, would put out the cal- culating Government sadly ; but that, too, was brought in great measure under con- trol. The "Temporary Relief act," talking of eight millions of money, {to be used if needed,) — distributing, like Cuma^an Sybil, its mystic leaves by the myriad and the mil- lion — setting charitable people everywhere to con its pamphlets, and compare clause with clause — putting everybody in terror of its rates, and in horror of its inspectors — was likely to pass the summer bravely. It would begin to be partly understood about August, would expire in September ; — and in September, the " the persons connected with Government" expected their round two millions of carcasses. A further piece of the machinery, all 568 HISTORY OF IRELAND. working to tlie same great end, was the " Vagrancy act," for the punishment of va- grants — that is, of about four millions of the inhabitants — by hard labor, " for any time not exceedhig one month." Many poor people were escaping to Eng- land, as deck passengers, on board the nu- merous steamers, hoping to earn their living by labor there ; but " Government " took alarm about typhus fever — a disease not in- tended for England. Orders in Council were suddenly issued, subjecting all vessels having deck passengers to troublesome exam- ination and quarantine, thereby quite stop- ping up that way of escape ; — and, six days afterwards, four steamship companies, be- tween England and Ireland, on request of tlie Government, raised the rate of passage for deck passengers. Cabin passengers were not interfered with in any way ; for, in fact, it is the cabin passengers from Ireland who spend in England five millions sterling per annum. Whither now were the people to fly ? Where to hide themselves ? They had no money to emigrate ; no food, no land, no roof over them ; no hope before them. They began to envy the lot of those who had died in the first year's famine. The poor houses were all full, and much more than full. Each of them was an hospital for typhus fever : and it was very common for three fever patients to be in one bed, some dead, and others not yet dead. Par- ishes all over the country being exhausted by rates, refused to provide coffins for the dead paupers, and they were thrown coffin- less into holes, but in some parishes, (in or- der to have, at least, the look of decent in- terment,) a coffin was made with its bottom hinged at one side, and closed at the other by a latch — the uses of which are obvious. It would be easy to horrify the reader with details of this misery ; but let it be enough to give the results in round num- bers. Great efforts were this year made to give relief by private charity ; and sums contributed in that way by Irishmen them- selves far exceeded all that was sent from all other parts of the world beside. As for the ship-loads of corn generously sent over by Americans, it has been already shown how the benevolent object was defeated. The moment it appeared in any port, prices became a shade lower ; and so much the more grain was carried off from Ireland by " free trade." It was not foreign corn that Ireland wanted — it was the use of her own ; that is to say, it was repeal of the Union. The arrangements and operations of the Union had been such that Ireland was bleeding at every vein ; her life was rushing out at every pore ; so that the money sent to her for charity was only so much added to landlords' rents and Englishmen's profits. The American corn was only so much given as a handsome present to the merchants and speculators. That is, the English got it. But no Irishman begged the world for alms. The benevolence of Americans, and Australians, and Turks, and Negro slaves, was excited by the appeals of the English press and English members of Parliament ; and in Ireland, many a cheek burned with shame and indignation at our country being thus held up to the world, by the people who were feeding on our vitals, as abject beg- gars of broken victuals. The Repeal Asso- ciation, low as it had fallen, never sanction- ed this mendicancy. The true nationalists of Ireland, who had been forced to leave that association, and had formed another society, the "Irish Confederation," never ceased to expose the real nature of these British dealings — never ceased to repudiate and disavow the British beggarly appeals ; although they took care to express warm gratitude for the well-meant charity of for- eign nations ; and never ceased to proclaim that the sole and all-sufficient " relief mea- sure " for the country would be, that the English should let us alone. On the 16th of March, for example, a meeting of the citizens of Dublin asseml)led, by public requisition, at the Music Hall, presided over by tlie Lord Mayor, expressly to consider the peril of the country, and pe- tition Parliament for proper remedies. It was known that the conveners of the meet- ing contemplated nothing more than sug- gestions as to importing grain in ships of war, stopping distillation from grain, and other trifles. Richard O'Gorman was then a prominent member of the Irish Confeder- ation ; and, being a citizen of Dublin, he INGRATITUDE OP THE IRISH. 569 resolved to attend this meeting, and if nobody else should say the ripjht word, say it himself. After soiuc hfipless talk about the " mistakes" and "infatuation" of Par- liament, and sujrgestions for change in va- rious details, O'Gornian rose, and in a pow- erful and indignant speech, moved this res- olution : — "That for purposes of temporary relief, as well as permanent improvement, the one great want and demand of Ireland is, that foreign Legislators and foreign Minis- ters shall no longer interfere in the manage- ment of lier affairs." In this speech he charged the Government with being the "murderers of the people," and said : — " Mr. Fitzgibbon has suggested that the measures of Government may have been adopted under an infatuation. I believe there is no infatuation. I hold a very different opinion on the subject. I think the British Government are doing what they intend to do." Another citizen of Dublin seconded Mr. O'Gorman's resolution, and the report of bis observations has these sentences : — " I have listened with pain and disap- pointment to the proceedings of a meeting purporting to be a meeting of the citizens of Dublin, called at such a crisis, and to deliberate npon so grave a subject, yet at which the resolutions and speakers, as with one consent, have carefully avoided speaking out what nine-tenths of us feel to be the plain truth in this matter. But the truth, my lord, must be told — and the truth is, that Ireland starves and perishes, simply because the English have eaten us out of house and home. Moreover, that all the legislation of their Parliament is, and will be, directed to this one end — to enable them hereafter to eat us out of house and home as heretofore. It is for that sole end they have laid their grasp upon Ireland, and it is for that, and that alone, they will try to keep her." Greatly to the consternation of the quiet and submissive gentlemen who luul convened the meeting, O'Gorman's resolution was adopted by overwhelming acclnmation. Take another illustration of the spirit in which British charity was received by the Irish people. The harvest of Ireland was abundant and superabundant in 1847, as it had been the year before. The problem was, as before, to get it quietly and peacefully over to England. First, the Archbishop of Canterbury issued a form of thanksgiving for an " abundant harvest," to be read in all churches on Sunday, the ITth of Octo- ber. One Trevelyan, a Treasury Clerk, had been sent over to Ireland on some pretence of business, and the first thing he did when he landed was to transmit to England an humble entreaty that the Queen would deign to issue a Royal "Letter," asking alms in all the churches on the day of thanksgiving. The petition was complied with ; the Times grumbled against these eternal Irish beggars ; and the affair was thus treated in the Nation, which certainly spoke foi- the people more authentically thau any other journal : — " Cordially, eagerly, thankfully, we agree with the English Timex, in this one respect — there ought to he no alms for Ireland. "It is an impudent proposal, and ought to be rejected with scorn and contumely. We are sick of this eternal begging. If but one voice in Ireland should be raised against it, that voice shall be ours. To-morrow, to-morrow, over broad England, Scotland, and Wales, the people who devour our sub- stance from year to year, are to offer up their canting thanksgivings for our ' abundant harvest,' and fling us certain crumbs and crusts of it for charity. Now, if any church-going Englishman will heark- en to us, if we may be supposed in any de- gree to speak for our countrymen, we put up our petition thus : Keep your alms, ye canting robbers — button your pockets upon the Irish plunder that is in them — - and let the begging-box pass on. Neither as loans nor as alms will we take that which is our own. We spit upon the benevolence that robs us of a pound, and flings back a penny in charily. Contribute now if you will — these will be your thanks ! "But who has craved this charity? Why, the Queen of England, and her Privy Council, and two officers of her Govern- ment, named Trevelyan and Bnrgoyne ! No Irishman, that we know of, has begged alms from England. 570 HISTORY OF IRELAND. " But the English insist ou our remaining beggars. Charitable souls that they are, they like better to give us charity than let «s earn our bread. And consider the time when this talk of alms-giving begins : our ' abundant harvest,' for which they are to thank God to-morrow, is still here ; and there has been talk of keeping it here. So, they say to one another : 'Go to ; let us promise them charity and church subscrip- tions — they are a nation of beggars — they would rather have alms than honest earn- ings — let us talk of alms, and they will send us the bread from their tables, the cattle from their pastures, and the coats from their backs. " We charge the ' Government,' we charge the Cabinet Council at Osborne House, with this base plot. We tell our countrymen that a man, named Trevelyan, a Treasury Clerk— the man who advised and administered the Labor-Rate act — that this Trevelyan has been sent to Ireland that he, an Englishman, may send over from this side the channel a petition to the charitable in England. We are to be made to beg, whether we will or no. The Queen begs for us ; the Archbishop of Canterbury begs for us ; and they actually send a man to Ireland that a veritable Irish begging petition may not be a-wanting. " From Salt Hill Hotel, at Kingstown, this piteous cry goes forth to England. ' In justice,' Trevelyan says, * to those who have appointed a general collection in the churches on the 17 th, and still more in pity to the unhappy people in the western districts of Ireland,' he implores his country- nien to have mercy ; and gets his letter published in the London papers, (along with another from Sir John Burgoyne,) to stimulate the cliarity of those good and well-fed Christians who will enjoy the lux- ury of benevolence to-morrow. " Once more, then, we scorn, we repulse, we curse, all English alms ; and only wish these sentiments of ours could reach, before noon to-morrow, eveVy sanctimonious thanks- giver in England, Scotland, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed." In the same number the Nation took the pains to. collect and present statistics by which it appeared that every day, one day with another, twenty large steamships, not counting sailing vessels, left Ireland for England, all laden with that " abundant harvest " — for which the English, indeed, might well give- thanks in their churches. It must be acknowledged that if the English Government and people really and truly did endeavor to relieve the famine in their sister country, that generosity met a most ungrateful return, from a people, too, who are proverbially warm-hearted. For the famine of 1847, it is only needful to add that, during this year, coroners' juries in several counties repeatedly, on in- quests over famine-slain corpses, found, upon their oaths, verdicts of " Willful Murder against John Russell, commonly called Lord John Russell," he being then the Queen's Prime Minister, The verdict was perfectly justifiable, and the crime quite manifest ; but as there was no power to bring the criminal over to Ireland for trial, and as there would have been no use in arraigning him before an English jury, he was never brought to justice. It is essential that foreign nations should never believe, for the future, (what the English press has diligently inculcated,) that our people, when smitten by famine, fell a-begging, from England or from America. Let them never hereafter wonder when they meet with Irishmen ungrateful for the "relief measures" — and, above all, if Ire- land should again starve, (as she is most likely to do,) and should still be under British dominion, let them never send her a bushel of corn or a dollar of money. Neither bushel nor dollar will ever reach her. In February, 184T, and amidst the deep- est gloom and horror of the famine, O'Con- nell, old, sick, and heavy-laden, left Ireland, and left it forever. Physicians in London recommended a journey to the south of Europe, and O'Connell himself desired to see the Pope before he died, and to breathe out his soul at Rome, in the choicest odor of sanctity. By slow and painful stages he proceeded only as far as Genoa, and there died on the 15th of May. For those who were not close witnesses of Irish politics in that day — who did not seo DEATH OF O CONKELL. 571 how vast this giant figure loomed iu Ireland and in England for a generation and a half — it is not easy to understand the strong emotion caused by his death, both in friends and enemies. Yet, for a whole year before, he had sunk low, indeed. His power had depart- ed from him ; and in presence of the terrible apparition of his perishing country he had seemed to sliriuk and wither. Nothing can be conceived more helpless than his speeches in Conciliation Hall, and his appeals to the British Parliament during that time — yet, as I before said, he never bogged alms for Ireland, he never fell so low as that ; and the last sentences of the very last letter he ever penned to the association still proclaim the true doctrine : — " It will not be until after the deaths of hundreds of thousands that the regret will arise that more was not done to save a sinking nation. "How different would the scene be if we had our own Parliament — taking care of our own people — of our own resources. But, alas ! alas 1 it is scarcely permitted to think of these, the only sure preventatives of misery, and the only sure instruments of Irisli prosperity." To no Irishman can the wonderful life of O'Conuell fail to be impressive — from the day when, a fiery and thoughtful boy, he sought the cloisters of St. Omers for the education which penal laws denied him in his own laud, on through the manifold struggles and victories of his earlier career, as he broke and flung off, with a kind of haughty impatience, link after link of the social and political chain that six hundred years of steady British policy had woven around every limb and muscle of his country, down to that supreme moment of the blackness of darkness for himself and for Ireland, when he laid down his burden and closed his eyes. Beyond a doubt, his death was hastened by the misery of seeing his proud hopes dashed to the earth, and his well- beloved people perishing ; for there dwelt in that brawny frame tenderness and pity soft as woman's. To the last he labored on the "Belief Committees" of Dublin, and thought every hour lost unless employed in rescuing some of the doomed. O'Connell's body rests in Ireland, but without his heart. He gave orders that the heart should be removed from his body and sent to Rome. The funeral was a great and mournful procession through the streetsi of Dublin, and it will show how wide was the alienation wliich divided him from his former confederates, that when O'Brien signified a wish to attend the obsequies, a pubHc letter from John O'Conuell sullenly forbade him. In the year 184*1 great and successful exertions were used to make sure that the next year should be a year of famine, too. This was effected mainly by holding out the prospect of " out-door relief" — to obtain which tenants must abandon their lands and leave them untilled. A paragraph from a letter of Mr. Fitzpatrick, parish priest of Skibbereen, contains within it an epitome of the history of that year. It was pub- lished in the Free?nan, March r2th : — "The ground continues unsown and, un- cultivated. There is a mutual distrust between the landlord and the tenant. The landlord would wish, if possible, to gei up his land ; and the unfortunate tenant \i anxious to stick to it as long as he can. A good many, however, are giving it up, and preparing for America ; and these are the substantial farmers who have still a little means left." "A gentleman traveling from Borris-in- Ossory to Kilkenny, one bright spring morning, counts at both sides of the road, in a distance of twenty-four miles, ' nine men and four plouglis,' occupied in the fields ; but sees multitudes of wan laborers, ' beyond the power of computation by a mail-car passenger,' laboring to destroy the road he was traveling upon. It was a ' public-work.' " — {Dublin Evening- Mail.) In the same month of March — " The land," says the Mayo Consiitution, " is one vast waste : a soul is not to be seen working on the holdings of the poor farmers through- out the country, and those who have had the prudence to plough or dig tlie ground, are in fear of throwing in the seed." When the new " Out-door Relief act" began to be applied, with its memorable Quarter-acre clause, all this process went on with wonderful velocity, and millions of people were soon left landless and homeless. 572 HISTORY OF IRELAND. That they should be left landless and home- less was strictly in accordance with British policy ; but then there was danger of the millions of outcasts becoming robbers atid murderers. Accordingly, the next point was to clear the country of them, and di- minish the Poor-rates, by emigration. For, though they were perishing fast of Lunger and typhus, they were not perishing fast enough. It was inculcated by the English press that the temperament and disposition of the Irish people fitted them peculiarly for some remote country in the East, or in the West — in fact, for any country but their own — that Providence had committed some mistake in causing them to be born in Ireland. As usual, the Ti7nes was foremost iu finding out this singular freak of nature 1 Says the Times, (Feb- ruary 22, 1847,) :— " Remove Irishmen to the banks of the Ganges, or the Indus — to Delhi, Benares, or Trincomalee — and they would be far more in their element there than hi a ariintry to which an inexorable fate has con- fined them." Again, a Mr. Murray, a Scotch banker, ■writes a pamphlet upon the proper measures for Ireland. " The surplus population of Ireland," says Mr. Murray, " have been trained precisely for those pursuits which the unoccupied regions of North America re- quire." "Which might appear strange — a population expressly trained, and that precisely, to suit any country except their own ! But these are comparatively private and individual suggestions. Iu April of this year, however, six Peers and twelve Com- moners, who call themselves Irish, but who include amongst them such " Irishmen " as Dr. Whateley and ^Ir. Godley, laid a scheme before Lord John Russell, for the transportation of one million and a half of Irishmen to Canada, at a cost of nine millions sterling, to be charged on " Irish property," and to be paid by an income tax. Again, within the same year, a few months later, a " Select Committee," (and a very select one,) of the House of Lords brings up a report " On Colonization from Ireland." Their lordships report that all former committees on the state of Ireland (with one exception,) had agreed, at least, on this point — that it was neces- sary to remove the " excess of labor." They say :— " They have taken evidence respecting the state of Ireland, of the British North Amer- ican Colonies, (including Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland,) the West India Islands, New South Wales, Port Philip, South Australia, Yan Diemen's Land, and New Zealand. On some of these points it will be found that their inquiries have little more than commenced ; on others, that those inquiries have been carried somewhat nearer to completion, but in no case can it be considered that the subject is yet exhausted Tiie committee are fully aware that they have as yet examined into many points but superficially, and that some, as, for example, the state of the British possessions in Southern Africa, and in the Territory of Natal, have not yet been considered at all. Neither have they obtained adequate inform- ation respecting what we sincerely hope may hereafter be considered as the prospering settlement of Ne'.o Zealand. The important discoveries of Sir T. Mitchell in Australia, have also been but slightly noticed." It appears that any inquiry into the state of Ireland naturally called their lord- ships to a consideration distant of latitudes and longitudes. Their lordships further declare that the emigration which they recommend must be " voluntary " — and, also, that " there was a deep and pervading anxiety for emigration exhibited by the people them- selves." A deep and pervading anxiety to fly, to escape any whither I From whom ? Men pursued by wild beasts will show a pervad- ing anxiety to go anywhere out of reach. If a country be made too hot to hold its in- habitants, they will be willing even to throw themselves into the sea. All this while, that there were from four to five millions of acres of improv- able waste lands in Ireland — and even from the land in cultivation Ireland was exporting food enough every year to sus- tain eight millions of people in England. BRITISH FAMINE POLICY. 573 None of the vast public schemes of emi- gration was adopted by Parliament in its full extent ; though aid was, from time to time, given to minor projects for that end ; and landlords continued very busy all this year and the next, shipping all their " sur- plus tenantry " by their own private re- sources, thinking it cheaper than to maintain them by rates. The Poor Law Guardians, also, were authorized to transport paupers, and to appropriate part of the rates to that purpose. There has now been laid before the read- er a complete sketch, at least in outline, of the British famine policy — expectation of Government spoon-feeding at the point of police bayonets — shaking the farmers loose from their lands, employing them for a time on strictly useless public works — then disgorging them in crowds of one hundred thousand at a time, to beg, or rob, or perish — then, " out-door relief," administered in quantities altogether infinitesimal in pro- portion to the need — then that universal ejectment, the Quarter-acre law — then the corruption of the middle class by holding out the prize of ten thousand new Govern- ment situations — then the Vagrancy act, to make criminals T)f all houseless wanderers — then the "voluntary" emigration schemes — then the omnipresent police, hanging like a cloud over the houses of all "suspect- ed persons" — that is, all persons who still kept a house over their heads — then the quarantine regulations, and increased fare for dedc passengers to England, thus de- barring the doomed race from all escape at that side, and leaving them the sole al- ternative : America or the grave. This, gives something like a map or plan of tlic field as laid out and surveyed for the final conquest of the island. The Irish landlords were now in dire per- plexity. Many of them were good and just men ; but the vast majority were fully identified in interest with the British Gov- ernment, and desired nothing so much as to destroy the population. They would not consent to tenant-right ; they dared not trust themselves in Ireland without a Brit- ish army. They may have felt, indeed, that they were themselves both injured and insulted by the whole system of English legislation ; but they would submit to any- thing rather than fraternize with the injured Catholic Celts. A few landlords and other gentlemen met and formed an " Irish Coun- cil ;" but these were soon frightened into private life again by certain revolutionary proposals of some members, and especially by the very name of tenant-right. At last, about the end of this year, seeing that another season's famine was approaching, and knowing that violent counsels began to prevail amongst the extreme sjection of the national party, the landlords, in guilty and cowardly rage and fear, called on Parliament for a new Coercion act. From this moment all hope that the land- ed gentry would stand on the side of Ire- land against England utterly vanished. This deadly alliance between the landlords and the Government brought Irish affairs to a crisis ; broke up the " Irish Confederation," (com- posed of the extreme nationalists, who could no longer exist in the Repeal Associa- tion,) and provoked an attempt at insurrec- tion. Before going further, however, two facts should be mentioned : First, That by a care- ful census of the agricultural produce of Ireland for this year, 1847, made by Cap- tain Larcom, as a Government Commission- er, the total value of that produce was jE44,958,120 sterling ; which would have amply sustained double the entire people of the island.* This return is given in detail, and agrees generally with another estimate of the same, prepared by John Martin, of Loughorn, in the County Down — a gentle- mau whose name will be mentioned again in this narrative. Second, That at least five hundred thousand human beings perished this year of famine, and of famine-tvphus ; ■{" and two hundred thousand more fled beyond the sea, to escape famine and fever. Third, That the loans for relief given to the Public Works and Public Commissariat Departments, to be laid out as iht-y should *• In Thoin's Official Almanac and Directory, the Government lias taken care to suppress the state- ment of f^ross amount. t The deaths by famine of the year before, we may set down at three hundred thousand. There is no possibility of ascertaining the numbers ; and whea the Government Commissioners pretend to do so, they intend deception. 674 HISTORY OF IKELAND. think proper, and to be repaid by rates on Irish property, went in the first place to maintain ten thousand greedy officials ; and that the greater part of these funds never reached the people at all, or reached them hi such a way as to ruin and exterminate them. A kind of sacred wrath took possession of a few Irishmen at this period. They "-ould endure the horrible scene no longer, and resolved to cross the path of the Brit- ish car of conquest, though it should crush them to atoms. CHAPTER LX. 1847—1848. Lord Clarendon Viceroy — His Means of Insuring the Shipment to England of the Usual Tribute — Bribes the Baser Sort of Editors — Patronage for Catholic Lawyers — Another Coercion Act — Projects for Stopping Export of Grain — Arming — Alarm of Gov- ernment—Whigs Active in Coercion — French Re- volution of February — Confederate Clubs — Depu- tation from Dublin to Paris — O'Brien's Last Ap- pearance in Parliament — Trials of O'Brien and Meagher — Trial of Mitchel — Packing of the Jury —Reign of Terror in Dublin. In the summer of this year, 1847, Lord Clarendon was sent over, as Lord-Lieuten- ant, to finish the conquest of Ireland — just as Lord Mountjoy had been sent to bring to an end the wars of Queen Elizabeth's reign ; and by the same means substantially — that is, by corruption of the rich and starva- tion of the poor. The form of procedure, indeed, was somewhat different ; for Eng- lish statesmen of the sixteenth century had not learned to use the weapons of " amelior- ation" and "political economy;" neither had they yet established the policy of keeping Ireland as a store-farm to raise wealth for England. Lord Mountjoy's system, then, had somewhat of a rude character ; and he could think of nothing better than sending large bodies of troops to cut down the green corn, and burn the houses. In one expedi- tion into Leinster, his biographer, Moryson, estimates that he destroyed " ten thousand pounds worth of corn," that is, wheat ; an amount which might now be stated at £200,000 worth. In O'Cahan's country, in Ulster, as the same Moryson tells us, after u razzia of Mountjoy : " We have none left to give us opposition, nor of late have seen any but dead carcasses, merely starved for want of meat." So that Mountjoy could boast he had given Ireland to Elizabeth, "nothing but carcasses and ashes." Lord Clarendon's method was more in the spirit of the nineteenth century, though his slaughters were more terrible in the end than Mountjoy's. Again there was growing upon Irish soil a noble harvest ; but it had been more economical to carry it over to England by help of free trade, than to burn it on the ground. The problem then was, as it had been the last year, and the year before, how to insure its speedy and peaceful transmission. Accordingly, Lord Clarendon came over with concilia- tory speeches, and large professions of the desire of "Government" now, at last, to stay the famine. Sullen murmurs had been heard, and even open threats and urgent recommendations, that the Irish har- vest must not be suffered to go another year ; and there were rumors of risings in the harvest to break up the roads, to pull down the bridges, in every way to stop the tracks of this fatal " commerce ; " rumors, in short, of an insurrection. Some new meth- od, then, had to be adopted, to turn the thoughts and hopes of that too-credulous people once more towards the " Govern- ment." Lord Clarendon recommended a tour of agricultural "lectures,'' the expense to be provided for by the Royal Agricul- tural Society, aided by public money. The lecturers were to go upon every estate, call the people together, talk to them of the be- nevolent intentions of his excellency, and give them good advice. The poor people listened respectfully, but usually told the lecturers that there was no use in following that excellent agricultur- al advice, as they were all going to be turned out the next spring. These lecturers published tlieir report — a most amazing pic- ture of patient suffering on the one hand, and of official insolence on the other. One Fitzgerald, a most energetic lecturer, full of Liebig's Agricultural Chemistry, tells us : " They all agreed that what I said was just ; but they always had some excuse, that they could not get seed, or had nothing to live on in the meantime." LORD CLARENDON TICEROT. 575 And a Mr. Goode, who was also iustruct- iiig the West, says : — " The poor people here appeared to be in a most desponding state : they always met me with the argument that there was no use in tlieir working there, for they were going to be turned out in spring, and would liave their houses pulled down over them. I used to tell tliera that I had nothing to do with that ; that I was sent among them by some kind, intelligent gentlemen, barely to tell them what course to pursue.'" That was all. Lord Clarendon had not sent down Mr. Goode to lecture on leyiant- right ; and the people had no business to obtrude their Jacobin principles upon a Government " instructor." They might as well have prated to him about repeal of the Union. Another measure of Lord Clarendon was to buy support at the press with Secret- Service money. To the honor of the Dublin press, this was a somewhat difficult matter. The Government had, at that time, only one leading journal in ihe metropolis on which it could surely rely — the Evening Post — Lord Clarendon wanted another organ, and of lower species ; for be had work to do which the comparatively respectable Post might shrink from. He sought out a creature named Birch, editor of the World, a paper which was never named nor alluded to by any reputable journal in the city. This Birch lived by hush-money, or black- mail of the most infamous kind — that is, extorting money from private persons, men and women, by threats of inventing and publishing scandalous stories of their domestic circles. He had been tried more than once and convicted of this species of swindling. "I then offered him £100, if I remember rightly," says Lord Clarendon,* " for it did not make any great impression on me at the time. He said that would not be sufficient for his purpose, and I think it was then extended to about ^£350." On further examination, his lordship confessed tliat he had paid Birch "further sums" — in short, kept him regularly in pay ; and, finally, on Birch bringing suit against him for the balance due for " work and labor," had paid *See evidence on the trial, Birch against Sir T. Redincton. him in one sura iE2,000, at the same time taking up all the papers and Ittters, (as he thought,) which might bring the transaction to light. Everybody can guess the nature of Birch's work and labor, and quantum meruit. His duty was to make weekly attacks of a private and revolting nature upon Smith O'Brien, upon Mr. Meagher, upon Mr. Mitchel, and every one else who was prom- inent in resisting and exposing the Govern- ment measures. Further, the public money was employed in the gratuitous distribution of the World ; for otherwise, decent persons would never have seen it. It was long afterwards that the public learned how all this subterranean agency had come to light on the trial of one of the suits which Birch was forced to institute for recovery of his wages. A third measure of the Viceroy was — extreme liberality towards Catholic lawyers and gentlemen in the distribution of patron- age ; that so they might be the more effectually bought off from all common interest and sympathy with the " lower orders," and might stand patiently by and see their people slain or banished. Amongst others, Mr. Monahan, an industrious and successful Catholic barrister, was made Attorney-General for Ireland — from which the next step was to the bench. Mr. Monahan became a gratefid and useful ser- vant to the enemies of his country. The summer of '47 had worn through wearily and hopelessly. All endeavors to rouse the landlord class to exertion entirely failed, through their coward fear of an out- raged and plundered people ; and, at last, when out of the vast multitudes of men thrown from public works, houseless and famishing, a few committed murders and robberies, or shot a bailiff or an incoming tenant, the landlords in several counties besought for a new Coercion and Arms act ; so as to make that code more stringent and inevitable. Lord John Russell was but too happy to comply wilii the demand ; but the landlords were to give something in exchange for this security. Addresses of confidence were voted by Grand Juries and county meetings of land-! lords. Tlie Irish gentry almost uiianiinous- ly vuluutecrea addresses denuunciug repeal 576 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and repealers, and pledging themselves to maintain the Union. At the same time ejectment was more active than ever, and it is not to be denied that amongst the myriads of desperate men who then wandered house- less, there were some who would not die tamely. Before taking their last look at the sun, they could, at least, lie in wait for the agent who had pulled down their houses and turned their weeping children adrift ; him, at least, they could send to perdition before them. The crisis was come. The people no longer trusted the ameliorative professions of their enemies ; and there were some who zealously strove to rouse them now at last, to stand up for their own lives ; to keep the harvest of '47 within the four seas of Ire- land ; and by this one blow to prostrate Irish landlordism, and the British Empire along with it. This was a perilous, and, perhaps, an utterly desperate enterprize, while England was at peace with all the world, and at full liberty to hurl the whole mass of her mili- tary power upon a small island which she already held with so firm a grasp. Even those who counseled armed resistance were fully conscious of the desperation of that course, but honestly thought that any death — especially death in just war — was better than the death of a dog, by hunger. In the meantime, the beautiful metropolis of Ireland was extremely gay and brilliant. After two years' frightful famine — and when it was already apparent that the 7iext famine, of 1847-48, would be even more desolating — you may imagine that Dublin City would show some effect or symptom of such a national calamity. Singular to relate, that city had never before been so gay and luxurious ; splendid equipages had never before so crowded the streets ; and the theatres and concert-rooms had never been filled with such brilliant throngs. In truth, the rural gentry resorted in greater numbers to the metropolis at this time — some to avoid the sight and sound of the misery which surrounded their country seats, and which British laws almost ex- pressly enacted they should not relieve ; some to get out of reach of an exasperated and houseless peasantry. Any stranger, arri- ving in those days, guided by judicious friends only through fa:shionable streets and squares, introduced only to proper circles, would have said that Dublin must be the prosperous capital of some wealthy and happy country. The new Poor law was now on all hands admitted to be a failure ; — that is, a failure as to its ostensible purpose ; for its real pur- pose, reducing the body of the people to " able-bodied pauperism," it had been no failure at all, but a complete success. Near- ly ten millions sterling had now been ex- pended under the several relief acts ; — ex- pended mostly in salaries to officials ; the rest laid out in useless work, or in providing rations for a shoi't time to induce small farmers to give up their land ; which was the condition of such relief. Instead of ten millions in three years, if twenty millions had been advanced in the first year, and ex- pended on useful labor, (that being the sum which had been devoted promptly to turn- ing wild the West India negroes,) the whole famine-slaughter might have been averted, and the whole advance would have been easily repaid to the Truasury.* Long before the Government Commis- sioners had proclaimed their law a failure, the writers in the Nation had been endea- voring to turn the minds of the people towards the only real remedy for all their evils — that is, a combined movement to pre- vent the export of provisions, and to resist process of ejectment. This involved a de- nial of rent and refusal of rales ; involved, in otlier words, a root and branch revolu- tion, socially and politically. Such revolutionary ideas could only be justified by a desperate necessity, and by the unnatural and fatal sort of connection between Irish landlords and Irish tenants. The peasantry of England, of Scotland, and of Ireland, stand in three several rela- tions towards the lords of their soil. In England they are simply the emancipated serfs and villeins of the feudal system ; * Of the £10,000,000 advanced by the Treasury, three millions had been repaid by rates in 1854. What may have been refunded since, it is not easy to learn with any accuracy. The accounts between Ireland and the Lnperial Treasury are kept is England. PBOJECTS FOR STOPPINa EXPORT OF GRAIN. 577 never knew any other form of social polity, nor any other lords of the soil, since the Norman conquest. As England, however, prosecuted her conquests by degrees in the other two kingdoms, she found the free Celtic system of clanship ; and as rebellion after rebellion was crushed, her statesmen insisted upon regarding the chiefs of clans as feudal lords, and their clansmen as their vassals or tenants. In Scotland, the chiefs gladly assented to this view of the case, and the Mac Galium More became, nothing loath, Duke of Argyle, and owner of the territory which had been the tribe lands of his clan. Owing mainly to the fact that estates in Scotland were not so tempting a prey as the rich tracts of Ireland — and partly owing also to the Scottish people having generally become Protestants on the change of religion — there was but little change in the ruling families ; and the Scot- tish clansmen, now become "tenantry," paid their duties to the heads of their own kin- dred as before. So it has happened that to this day there is no alienation of feeling, or distinction of race, to exasperate the lot of the poor cultivators of the soil. In Ireland, wherever the chiefs turned Pro- testant, and chose to accept "grants" of their tribe-lands at the hands of British kings, (as the De Burghs and O'Briens,) much the same state of things took place for a while. But Ireland never submitted to English dominion as Scotland has done ; and there were continual " rebellions," (so the English termed our nationarl resistance,) followed by extensive confiscations. Many hundreds of great estates in Ireland have thus been confiscated twice, and three times ; and the new proprietors were Englishmen, and, in a portion of Ulster, Scotchmen. These, of course, had no common interest or sympathy with the people, whom they considered and called, " the Irish enemy." Still, while Ireland had her own Parliament, and the landlords resided at home, the state of affairs was tolerable ; but when the Act of "Union," in 1800, concentrated the pride and splendor of the empire at London, and made Englaiid the great field of ambition and distinction, most of our grandees re- sided out of Ireland, kept agents and bail- iffs there, wrung the utmost fartliiiig out 73 of the defenceless people, and spent it elsewhere. Now, it never would have entered the mind of any rational or just man, at this late date, to call in question the title to long-ago confiscated estates ; nor, suppos- ing those titles proved bad, would it have been possible to find the right owners. But when the system was found to work so fatally — when hundreds of thousands of people were lying down and perishing in the midst of abundance, and superabundance, which their own hands had created, society itself stood dissolved. That form of so- ciety was not only a failure, but an intoler- able oppression, and cried aloud to be cut up by the roots and swept away. Those who thought thus, had reconciled their minds to the needful means — that is, a revolution, as fundamental as the French revolution, and to the wars and horrors in- cident to that. The horrors of war, they knew, were by no means so terrible as the horrors of peace which their own eyes had seen ; they were ashamed to see their kins- men patiently submitting to be starved to death, and longed to see blood flow, if it were only to show that blood still flowed in Irish veins. The enemy began to take genuine alarm at these violent doctriiies — especially as they found that the people were taking them to heart ; and already, in Clare County, mobs were stopping the transport of grain towards the seaports. If rents should cease to be levied, it was clear that not only would England lose her five millions sterling j?er annum of absentee rents, but mortgagees, fundholders, insurance companies, and the like, would lose dividends, interests, bonus, and profits. There was then in England a gentleman who was in the habit of writing able but sanguinary exhortations to Minis- ters, with the signature " S. G. 0." His addresses appeared in the Times, and were believed to influence considerably the coun- sels of Government. In November, 1841, this " S. G. 0." raised tlie alarm, and call- ed for piompL coercion in Ireland. Here is one sentence from a letter of his reverence — for " S. G. 0." was a clergyman : — • " Lord John may safely believe me when I say that the prosperity — nay, almost the 57S HISTORY OF IRELAND. very existence of many insurance societies, the positive salvation from utter ruin of many, very many mortgagees, depends on some instant steps to make life ordinarily secure in Ireland ; of course, I only mean life in that class of it in which individuals effect insurances and give mortgages." In short, his reverence meant high life. Lord Clarendon, as Parliament was not then sitting, issued an admonitory address, wherein he announced that : — " The constabulary will be increased in all disturbed districts, (whereby an addi- tional burden will be thrown upon the rates,) military detachments will be stationed wher- ever necessary, and efficient patrols main- tained ; liberal rewards will be given for in- formation," &c. In the meantime, large forces were con- centrated at points where the spirit of re- sistance showed itself ; for a sample of which we take a paragraph from the Tipperary J^ree Press: — " A large military force, under the civil authority, has seized upon the produce of such farms in Boytonrath, as owed reut and arrears to the late landlord, Mr. Roe, and the same will be removed to Dublin, and sold there, if not redeemed within fourteen days. There are two hundred soldiers and their officers garrisoned in the mansion house at Rockwell." . Whereupon, the Nation urged the people to begin calculating whether ten times the whole British army would be enough to act as bailiffs and drivers everywhere at once ; OI-, whether, if they did, the proceeds of the distress miglit answer e.xpectation. In fact, it was obvious that if the enemy should be forced to employ their forces in this way over the island — to lift and carry the whole harvests of Ireland, and that over roads broken up and bridges broken down to ob- struct them, and with the daily risk of meet- ing bands of able-bodied paupers to dispute their passage — the service would soon have been wholly demoralized, and after three months of such employment, the remnant of the army might have been destroyed. Parliament was called hastily together. Her Majesty told the Houses that there were atrocious crimes in Ireland — a spirit of insubordination, an organized resistance to "legal rights ;" and, of course, that she re- quired " additional powers " for the protec- tion of life — that is, high life. The meaning of this was a new Coercion bill. It was carried without delay, and with unusual unanimity ; and it is instructive here to note the difference between a Whig in power, and a Whig out. When Sir Robert Peel had proposed his Coercion bill the year before, it had been vehemently op- posed by Lord John Russell and Lord Grey, It was time to have done with coercion, they had said ; Ireland had been " misgov- erned : " there had been too many Arms acts; it was "justice" that was wanted now, and they, the Whigs, were the men to dispense it. Earl Grey, speaking of the last Coercion bill, (it was brought in by the other party,) said, emphatically, {see delate in the Lords, March 23, 1846,) " that mea- sures of severity had been tried long enough ; " and repeated with abhorrence, the list of coercive measures passed since 1800, all without effect ; how, in 1800, the Habeas Corpus act was suspended, the act for the suppression of the rebellion being still in force ; how coercion was renewed in 1801 ; continued again in 1804 ; how the Insurrection act was passed in 1807, which gave the Lord-Lieutenant full and legal power to place any district under martial law, to suspend trial by jury, and make it a transportable offence to be out of doors from sunset to sunrise ; how this act remain- ed in force till 1810 ; how it was renewed in 1814 — continued in '15, '16, '17 — reviv- ed HI '22, and continued through 23, '24, and '25 ; — how another Insurrection act was needed in 1833, was renewed in '34, and expired but five years ago. " And again," continued this Whig, " again in 1846, we are called on to renew it 1" Hor- rible I — revolting to a Liberal out of place I "We must look further," continued Earl Grey — vociferating from the Opposition bench — " we must look to tlie root of the evil ; the state of law and the hal)its of the people, in respect to the occupation of land, are almost at the roots of the disorder ; — it was undeniable that the clearance system prevailed to a great extent in Ireland ; and that such things conld take place, he cared not how large a pojMilation might be suf« ■WHIGS ACTIVE IN COERCION. 579 fered to grow up in a particular district, was a disgrace to a civilized country." I And Lord John Russell in the Commons had said, on the same occasion: "If they were to deal with the question of the crimes, they were bound to consider also whether there were not measures that might be in- troduced which would reach the causes of those crimes" — and he horrified the House by an account he gave them of " a whole village containing two hundred and seventy persons, razed to the ground, and the entire of that large number of indviduals sent adrift on the high road, to sleep under the hedges, without even being permitted the privilege of boiling their potatoes, or ob- taining shelter among the walls of the houses." Disgusting ! — to a Whig states- man in opposition 1 Now, these very same men had had the en- tire control and government of Ireland for a year and a half. Not a single measure had been proposed by them in that time to reach " the cause of those crimes ; " not a single security had been given " in respect of the occupation of land ; " not one check to that terrible "clearance system," which was "a disgrace to a civilized country." On the contrary, every measure was carefully cal- culated to accelerate the clearance system ; and the Government had helped that sys- tem ruthlessly by the employment of their troops and police. They had literally swept the people off the laud by myriads upon myriads ; and now, when their relief acts were admittedly a failure, and when mul- titudes of homeless peasants, transformed into paupers, were at length making the landed men, and mortgagees, and Jews, and insurance officers, tremble for their gains — the Liberal Whig Ministry had nothing to propose but more jails, more handcuffs, more transportation. The new Coercion bill was in every re- spect like the rest of the series ; in Ireland, tiiese bills are all as much like one another as one policeman's carabine is like anotliei-. Disturbed districts were to be proclaimed by the Lord-Lieutenant. He might proclaim a whole county, or the whole thirty-two coun- ties. Once proclaimed, everybody in that district was to be within doors, (whether he hisd a house or not,) Irora dusk till morning. Any one found not at home, to be arrested and transported. If arms were found about any man's premises, and he coidd not prove that they were put there without his knowl- edge — arrest, imprisonment, and transport- ation. All the arms in the district to be brought in on proclamation to that efft^ct, and piled in the police offices. Lord-Lieu- tenant to quarter on the district as many ad- ditional police, inspectors, detectives, and sub-inspectors, as he might think fit ; — offer such rewards to informers as he might think fit ; — and charge all the expense upon the tenantry, to be levied by rates — no part of these rates to be charged to the landlords — constabulary to collect them at the point of the bayonet ; — and these rates to be in ad- dition to Poor-rates, cess, tithe, (rent-charge,) rent, and imperial taxes. The passage of the Coercion bill at the instance of the landlords, and the break-up of the Irish Confederation, occasioned the establishment of the United Irishman, an avowed organ of insurrection. Events for a time moved rapidly. Soon there burst in upon ns news of the February revolution in Paris, and the flight of King Louis Philippe ; for between the French people and the Irish there has always been an elec- tric telegraph, whose signals never fail ; and British statesmen had not forgotten that it was the first great French revolution which cost them the war of '9H. The February revolution, also, at once obliterated the feuds of the Irish Confederation. Nobody would now be listened to there, who proposed any other mode of redress for Irish grievances than the sword. A resolution was brought up, with the sanction of the committee, and passed with entluisiastic acclamation, that the confederate clubs should become armed and officered, so that each man should know his right-hand and his left-hand com- rade, and the man whose word he should obey. All the second-rate cities, as well as Dublin, and all the country towns, were now full of chibs, which assumed military and rev- olutionary names — the " Sarsfield Club," the " Emmet Club," and so forth ; and the business of arming proceeded with ccm- nieudable activity. Such young men as could afford it, provided themselves with rifles and bayonets ; those who had not the 580 HISTORY OF IBELAND. nieaus for this, got pike-heads made, and there was much request for ash poles. What was still more alarming to the enemy, the soldiers in several garrisons were giving unmistakable symptoms of sharing in the general excitement ; not Irish soldiers alone, but English and Scottish, who had Chartist ideas. A large part of the circulation of the Uniied Irishman, in spite of all the exertions of the officers, was in military barracks. Undoubtedly, it behooved the British Government, if it intended to hold Ireland, to adopt some energetic measures ; and, as it certainly did so intend, these measures were not wanting. New regiments were poured into Ireland, of course ; and Dublin held an army of ten thousand men, infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers. The barrack accommoda- tions being insufficient, many large buildings ■were taken as temporary barracks ; the deserted palaces of the Irish aristocracy — as Aldborough House on the northeast — the deserted halls of manufactures and trade in " The Liberty," and the Linen Hall, were occupied by detachments. The Bank of Ireland — our old Parliament House — had cannon mounted over the entablatures of its stately Ionic colonnades ; and the vast and splendid Custom House, not being now needed for trade, (our imports being all from the " sister country," and our exports all to the same,) was quite commodious as a barrack and arsenal. The quiet quadrangles of Trinity College were the scene of daily parades ; and the loyal board of that institution gave up the wing which commands Westmoreland street. College street, and Dame street, to be occupied by troops. Superb squadrons of hussars, of lancers, and of dragoons, rode continually through and around the city ; infantry practiced platoon-firing in the squares ; heavy guns, strongly guarded, were forever rolling along the pavement ; and parties of horse artillery showed all mankind how quickly and dexterously they could wheel and aim, and load and fire at the crossings of the streets. These military demonstrations, and the courts of "Law," constituted the open and avowed powers and ageni-ies of the But there was a secret and subterranean machinery. The editor of the World was now on full pay, and on terras of close intimacy at the Castle and Viceregal Lodge. His paper was gratuitously furnished to all hotels and public-houses by means of Secret Service money. Dublin swarmed with de- tectives ; they went at night to get their instructions at the Castle, from Colonel Brown, head of the police department ; and it was one of their regular duties to gain ad- mittance to the Clubs of the Confederation, where it afterwards appeared that they had been the most daring counselors of treason and riot. Frankly, and at once, the Confederation accepted the only policy thereafter possible, and acknowledged the meaning of the European Revolutions. On the 15th of March, O'Brien moved an Address of Con- gratulation to the victorious French people ; and ended his speech with these words : — " It would be recollected that a short time ago he thought it his duty to deprecate all attempts to turn the attention of the people to military affiiirs, because it seemed to him that, in the then condition of the country, the only efiect of leading the people's mind to what was called ' a guerrilla warfare,' would be to encourage some of the misguided peasantry to the commission of murder. Therefore, it was that he de- clared he should not be a party to giving such a recommendation ; but the state of affairs was totally different now, and he had no hesitation in declaring that he thought the minds of intelligent young men should be turned to the consideration of such questions as, how strong places can be captured, and weak ones defended — how supplies of food and ammunition can be cut off from an enemy — and how they can be secured to a friendly force. The time was also come when every lover of his country should come forward openly, and proclaim his willingness to be enrolled as a member of a national guard. No man, however, should tender his name as a member of that national guard unless he was prepared to do two things — one, to pre.serve the state from anarchy ; the other, to be ready to die for the defence of his country." Two days after this meeting was Saint O BEIEN S LAST APPEARANCE m PARLIAMENT. 581 Patrick's Day. A meeting of the citizens of Dublin was announced for that anniversary, to adopt an address, frona Dublin to Paris, but was adjourned for two or three days to allow time for negotiations to unite all repealers of the two parties in the demon- stration. Lord Clarendon, doubtless under the advice of his Privy-Councillor of the World, thought it would be a good oppor- tunity to strike terror by a military display. He pretended to apprehend that Saint Patrick's Day would be selected for the first day of Dublin barricades ; and the troops were kept under arms — the cavalry, •with horses ready saddled in all the bar- racks, waiting for the moment to crush the first movement in the blood of our citizens. The meeting was adjourned ; but there was no intention of abandoning it. O'Brien had offered, even in case of a Proclamation forbidding it, to attend and take the chair ; and what he promised, the enemy well knew he would perform. The meeting was held without interrup- tion ; but it was well known that the public buildings, and some private houses, were filled with detachments under arms. These addresses, both -from the Confederation and from the city, were to be presented in Paris to the President of the Provisional Govern- ment, M. de Lamartine ; and O'Brien, Meagher, and an intelligent tradesman, of high character and independence of mind, named Hollywood, were appointed a deputa- tion to Paris. All this, it was evident, could not go on long. The Clubs were, in the meantime, rapidly arming themselves with rifles ; and blacksmiths' forges were prolific of pike- heads. The Confederates hoped, and the Government feared, that no armed collision would be made necessary until September, when the harvest would be all cut, and when the commissariat of the people's war, the cause of the war, and the prize of the war, would be all bound up in a sheaf togeth- er. But the foe to be dealt with was no weak fool. The Government understood these views thoroughly, and resolved to pre- cipitate the issue somehow or other. One morning, after that meeting of Dublin citizens, three men, Smith O'Brien, Mr. Meagher, and Mr. Mitchel, were waited on by a police-magistrate and requested to give bail that they would stand their trial on a charge of sedition. The ground of prose- cution in the two former cases was the language held at the meeting of the Irish Confederation, (quoted above in part.) In the third case, there were two distinct indictments, for two articles in the United Irishman. Before the trials. O'Brien and Meagher went to France and presented their address to the Provisional Government.* On their return, O'Brien walked into the British Parliament, and found that august body engaged in discussing a new bill " for the further security of Her Majesty's Crown." Ministers, in fact, had determined to meet the difficulty by a new "law," the Treason-felony law, by which the writing and printing, or open and advised speak- ing, of incitements to insurrection in Ireland should be deemed " felony," punishable by transportation. The bill was introduced by the Whigs, and was warmly supported by the Tories ; Sir Robert Peel declaring that what Ireland needed was to make her national aspirations not only a crime, but an ignominious crime ; so as to put this species of offence on a footing with arson, or forgery, or waylaying with intent to murder. O'Brien rose to address the House, and never, since first Parliament met in Westminster, was heard such a chorus of frantic and obscene outcries. He persisted, however, and made himself heard ; and those to whom the name and fame of that good Iiishmnn are dear, will always remember with pride that his last * These were mere addresses of con.cjrfitnliition and of sympathy. De Lamartine made a liiglily poetic, but rather unmeaning reply to them. He lias since, in his history, violently misrepresented them ; beinjr, in fact, a mere Ans;lo-Frencliman. Mr O'Brien has already convicted him of these misrepresentations. We content ourselves here with pronouncing the two following sentences poetic fictions: " Les Irlandais, unis aux chartistes anglais, se precipitnient sur le continent et cherchaient des complicites insurrec- tionnelles en France, a la fois parmi les demagoguea an nom de la liberie, et parmi les chefs du parti Cath- olique au nom du Catholicisme." And again : " L'- Angleterre n"attendait pas avec moins do sollicitude la reception que ferait Laniarline aux insurges Ir- landais, partis de Dublin pou- venir demander dea enconragemeuU et des armei a la Rppubli«(ue fran- gaise." 682 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Utterance in the London Parliament was one of haughty defiance, in the name of liis oppressed and phindered country. He avowed that he had advised his country- men to arm, and fight for their right to live upon their own soil ; and he added, amidst the liorrible yells of the House : — " I conceive that it is the peculiar duty of the Irish people to obtain the possession of arms at a time when you tell them you are prepared to crush their expression of opinion, not by argument, but by brute force." The bill was passed into " Law," by im- mense majorities ; and, thereafter, an Irish repealer of the Union was to be a " felon." O'Brien returned to Dublin. The deputies were received by a multitudinous and en- thusiastic meeting in the Dublin Music Hall, and Meagher presented to the citizens of Dublin, with glowing words, a magnificent flag, the Irish Tricolor, of Green, White, and Orange, surmounted by a pike-head. The trials came on. They were to be before special juries, struck by the process before described. O'Brien and Meagher were first tried, and as their "sedition" had been so open and avowed — and as the Whig Ministers were extremely reluctant to pack juries if they could help it — the Crown officers left on each of the two juries cm repealer. It was enough. A true repealer knew that no Irishman could commit any offence against a foreign Queen ; and in each case the one repealer stood out, refused to convict, though he should be starved to death ; and the traversers, amidst cheering multitudes, were escorted triumphantly from the Four Courts to the Confederate Com- mittee Rooms, where they addressed the people, and promised to repeat and improve upon all their seditions. Tlie excitement of the country was intense. The defeat of the " Government" was celebrated all over the country by bonfires and illuminations, and the clubs became more diligent in arming themselves ; but Mr. Monahan, the Attorney-General, foamed and raged. Next came the two trials of Mr. Mitehel ; and it was very evident to the Government that there must be no possibility (jf mistake or miscarriage here. The time, indeed, was become exceedingly dangerous, and the people rapidly rising into that state of high excitement in which ordinary motives and calculations fail, and a single act of despera* tion may precipitate a revolution. As usual in such cases, the British Government had recourse to brutality, in order to strike terror. Police magistrates were ordered to arrest parties of young men practising at targets in the neighborhood of country towns, and march them in custody through the streets. Men in Dublin were seized upon and dragged to jail on the charge of saying " halt" to the clubmen marching to a public meeting — it was "training iu military evolutions " under the act ; and one young man was actually brought to trial, and transported for seven years, on an indictment charging him, for that he had, in a private room in Dublin, said to thirteen other young men, then and there ranged in line, these fatal words : " Right shoulders forward," contrary to the peace of our lady, the Queen, and so forth. On the two juries being struck for the trial of Mr. Mitehel, it was at once evident that upon each of them would be one or two men who desired the independence of their country ; and, perhaps, one or two others of whom the Castle could not be perfectly sure. But, as the new " Treason- felony" act had now become law, the Government suddenly abandoned the two prosecutions already commenced, and arrest- ed Mr. Mitehel on a charge of treason under the new act. On this occasion it was determined to pro- ceed, not by a special, but by a common jury ; which latter method, as was supposed, gave the sheriff more clear and unquestioned power of fraudulently packing the jury. For the jury was to be closely packed, of course. Lord John Russell and Mr. Macauley, who had been in opposition in 1844, and who had then so earnestly de- nounced the packing of juries in Ireland, were now in oSice ; were responsible for the government of the country, and understood perfectly that upon the careful packing of this jury depended the Queen's Government in Ireland. The judges had already appointed the day for holding the conmiission to try cases in Dublin ; and the sheriff had sum- moned his select hundred and fifty jurors TRIALS OF O BRIEN, MEAGHER, AND MITCHEL. 583 to try the cases ; but after the arrest of this new prisoner, and when the sherifif knew tliat important business was to be done, he altered his list, and summoned a new set, so tlrat all was ready for the trial. In the meantime, Lord Clarendon was bnsily getting up, through the Grand Masters of the Orangemen, loyal addresses, and declarations against " rebels " and " traitors." In fact, the Orange farmers and burghers of the North were fast be- coming diligent students of the United Irish- man, and although they and their Order bad been treated with some neglect of late both by England and by the Irish aristo- cracy they were now taken into high favor, and arms were very secretly issued to some of their lodges from Dublin Castle.* But this needed prudence ; for Protestant Repeal Associations had been formed in Dublin, in Drogheda, and even in Lurgan, a great centre of Orangeism. To counteract the pi'ogress we had made in this direction, the aristocracy and the clergy were incessant in their efforts, and the Protestants were assured tl]at if Ireland should throw off the dominion of Queen Victoria, we would all instantly become vassals to the woman who sitteth upon -Seven Hills. The Viceroy, at the same time, took care to frighten the moneyed citizens of Dublin and other towns by placards warning them against the atrocious designs of " Commun- ists " and "Jacobins," whose only object, his lordship intimated, was plunder.f Whether the Whigs and " Liberals " who then ruled the English Councils were really desirous to give a fair trial to their political enemy, or whether they only pretended this desire — or what communications took place on the subject between Downing street and the Castle — we cannot certainly know ; * This was quite unknown to the public at the time : one case of it only ever came clearly to light. It was a shipment of five hundred stand of arms to the Belfast Orangemen. t These placards may he attributed to Lord Claren- don, without scruple. They were printed by the Government printer, and paid for out of our taxes. But it is quite possible that the Viceroy, if charged with these things, would deny them, because they were done through a third party — perhaps, Birch. In like manner, he denied all knowledge of the Bhipment of muskets to the Belfast Orangemen— they were sent, however, from his Castle, and through a Bubordinate official of his household. but we find that only two days before this most foul pretence of a trial, Lord John Russell, in answer to questions in the House of Commons, declared that he had written to "his noble friend," (Lord Clarendon,) that " he trusted there would not arise any charge of any kind of unfairness, as to the composition of the juries ; as for his own part, he would rather see those parties acquitted, than that there should be any such unfairness." \ Lord Clarendon, however, informed him that for this once he could not adhere to the Whig maxims — that a conviction must be had, fer fas et nefas. The venerable Robert Holmes, brother- in-law of the Emmets, defended the prison- er ; but no defence could avail there. Of course, he challenged the array of jurors, on the ground of fraud ; but the Attorney- General's brother, Stephen Monahan, clerk in the Attorney-General's office, and also one Wheeler, clerk in the Sheriff's office, had been carefully sent out of the city to a dis- tant part of Ireland ; and Baron Lefroy was most happy to avail himself of the de- fect of evidence to give his opinion that the panel was a good and honest panel. The Crown used its privilege of peremptory challenge to the very uttermost ; every Cath- olic, and most Protestants, who answered to their names, were ordered to " stand by." There were thirty-nine challenges ; and of these but nineteen were Catholics, all the Catholics who answered to their names were promptly set aside, and twenty other gentle- men, who, although Protestants, were sus- pected of national feeling — that is to say, the Crown dared not go to trial before the people. Catholic or Protestant. The twelve men finally obtained by this sifting process had amongst them two or three Englismen ; the rest were faithful slaves of the Castle, and all Protestants, of the most Orange dye. Of course, there was a " verdict " of guilty ; and a sentence of fourteen years' transportation. The facts charged were easily proved ; they were patent, notorious, often repeated, and perfectly deliberate ; insomuch, that jurymen who felt themselves $ Debate of 23d May. 584 HISTORY OF IRELAND. to be subjects of the Queen of England, could not do otherwise than convict. On tl»e other hand, any Irish nationalist must acquit. Never before or since have the Government of the foreign enemy and the Irish people met on so plain an issue. Never before was it made so manifest that the enemy's Government maintains its suprem- acy over Ireland, by systematically break- ing the " law," even its own law, defiling its temples of justice, and turning the judges of the land into solemn actors in a most im- moral kind of play. An armed steamer waited in the river, on the day of Mr. Mitchel's sentence ; the whole garrison of Dublin was under arms, on pretence of a review in the Park ; a place was secretly designated for the prison- er's embarkation below the city, where bridges over a canal, and over the entrance to the Custom House docks could be raised, in order to prevent any concourse of the people in that direction ; and, two or three hours after the sentence, Mr. Mitchel was carried off, and never saw his country any more. The enemy were themselves somewhat surprised at the ease with which they had borne him out of the heart of Dublin, at noon-day, in chains ; and evidently thought they would have but small trouble in crush- ing any attempt at insurrection afterwards. The confederates waited until "the time" should come ; and some of them, indeed, were fully resolved to make an insurrection in the harvest ; yet, as might have been ex- pected, " the time" never came. The indi- vidual desperation of Dillon, Meagher, O'Gorman, Leyne, Reilly, could achieve nothing while the people were dispirited both by famine and by long submission to insolent oppression. " When will the time come ? " exclaimed Martin, " the time about which your orators so boldly vaunt, amid the fierce shouts of your applause ? If it come not when one of you, selected by your enemies as your cliampion, is sent to perish among thieves and murderers, for the crime of loving and defending his native land — then it will never come — veverj^ During the trial, Dublin was under a complete reign of terror. Reilly was ar- rested on the charge of saying to men of his club, when turning into their place of meeting — "left wheel.'' It was a term of military drilling, though the clubmen were without weapons. He was kept in a sta- tion-house all night ; and bail was refused in the morning. lu the course of the day he was fully committed for trial, and bail was taken. During the whole week, the whole large force of the city police had or- ders to stop all processions, to arrest citi- zens, on any or on no charge ; and gene- rally to " strike terror." In the meantime, every day was bringing in more terrible news of the devastation of the famine, and evictions of the tenantry. " On Friday," says the Tipperary Vindicator, (describing one of these scenes,) " the landlord appear- ed upon the ground, attended by the sheriff and a body of policemen, and commenced the process of ejectment," i&c. On that morning, and at that spot, thirty persons were dragged out of their houses, and the houses pulled down. One of the evicted tenants was a widow — " a solvent tenant comes and offers to pay the arrears due by the widow ; but a desire on Mr. Scully's part to consolidate, prevented the arrange- ment." The same week, a writer in the Cork Ex- aminer, writing from Skibbereen, says : — " Our town presents nothing but a mov- ing mass of military and police, conveying to and from the Court House crowds of fa- mine culprits. I attended the court for a few hours this day. The dock was crowded with the prisoners, not one of whom, when called up for trial, was able to support him- self iu front of the dock. The sentence of the court was received by each prisoner with apparent satisfaction. Even transport- ation appeared to many to be a relaxation from their sufferings." On Tuesday, of the same week — it being then well known that the Crown would pack their jury — a meeting of the citizens of Dub- lin was held at the Royal Exchange, to pro- test ; and Mr. John O'Connell went so far as to move this resolution : " Resolved, That' we consider the right of trial by a jury as a most sacred inheritance : in the security of person, property, and character." Tlie meeting then proceeded to protest against " the practice of arranging juries to obtaia EECONSTITUTION OF THE IRISH CONFEDERATION. 585 convictions " Diirinj^ the same week the poor houses, hospitals, jails, and many bijpild- ings taken temporarily for the purpose, were overflowing with starving wretches ; and fevered patients were occupying the same bed with famished corpses ; — but on every day of the same week large cargoes of grain and cattle were leaving every port for Eng- land. The Orangemen of the North were holding meetings to avow hostility to repeal- ers and to "Jezebel," and eagerly crying, " To hell with the Pope ! " Thus British policy was in full and successful operation at every point, on the day when the Government seized on its first victim, under a new law specially made for his case, and carried him off in fetters, under the false pretence of a trial and conviction. CHAPTER LXI. 1818—1849. Beconslitution of the Irish Confederation — New Na- tional Journals Established — The Tfihune — The Felon — New Suspension of Habeas Corpus — Numerous Arrests — O'Brien Attempts Insurrection — Ballingarry — -Arrest and Trial of O'Brien and Others — Conquest of the Island — Destruction of the People — Incumbered Estates Act — Its Effects — Xo Tenaut-Right — " Rate-in- Aid " — Queen's Visit to L'eland — Places Given to Catholics — Catholic Judges— Their Office and Duty — Ireland " Prosper- ous " — Statistics of the Famine Slaughter — De- struction ot Three Millions of Souls — Flying from "Prosperity." The fierce enthusiasm of the Irish Con- federates appeared to be redoubled after the removal of the first convicted " felon." They hoped, at least, that if they were re- strained from action then, it was to some good end, with some sure and well-defin- ed purpose ; and, assuredly, there were many thousands of men then in Ireland who longed and burned for that end and that purpose, to earn an honorable death. How the British system disappointed them even of an honorable death, remains still to be told. A man may die in Ireland of hunger, or of famine-typhus, or of a broken heart ; but to die for your country — the death dulce et decorum — to die on a fair field, fighting for freedom and honor — to die the death ever of a defeated soldier, as Hofer died ; or so much as to mount the 74 gallows, like Robert Emmet, to pay the penalty of a glorious " treason " — even this was an mthanasia which British policy conld no longer afford to an Irish Nationalist. Yet, with all odds against them — with the Irish gentry thoroughly corrupted or frightened out of their senses, and with the "Government" enemy obviously bent ou treating our national aspiration as an igno- minious crime, worthy to be ranked only with the offences of bnrglars or pickpockets — still, there were men resolved to dare the worst and uttermost for but one chance of rousing that down-trodden people to one manful effort of resistance against so grievous a tyranny. The Irish Confedera- tion reconstituted its council, and set itself more diligently than ever to the task of inducing the people to procure arras, with a view to a final struggle in the harvest. And as it was clear there was nothing the enemy dreaded so much as a bold and honest newspaper, which would expose their plots of slaughter, and turn their liberal pro- fessions inside out, it was, before all things, necessary to establish a newspaper to take the place of the United Irishman. It was a breach as deadly and imminent as ever yawned in a beleaguered wall ; but men were found prompt to stand in it. Within two weeks after Mitchel's trial, the Irish Tribune was issued, edited by O'Dogh- erty and Williams, with Antisell and Savage as contributors. In two weeks more, oa the 24th of June, came forth another, and, perhaps, the ablest of our revolutionary organs — the Irish Fdon. Its editor and proprietor was John Martin, a quiet country gentleman of the County Down, who had been for years connected with all national movements in Ireland — the Repeal Asso- ciation, the Irish Confederation — but who had never been roused to the pitch of desperate resistance till he saw the bold and dashing atrocity of the enemy on occasion of Mitchel's pretended trial and conviction. He came at last, along with many other quiet men, to the conclusion that the nation must now set its back to the wall. James Fintan Lalor, one of the most powerful writers of his day, came up from Kildare County to aid in conducting the Felon, and for five weeks thereafter, " Treason-felo ly " 586 HISTOKY OF IRELAND. continued to be taught and enforced with great boldness and ability. But six weeks would have been too much for the patience of the Government. The police were ordered to forcibly stop the sale of papers by vendors in the streets ; and warrants were issued for the arrest of all the editors — Martin, Dufiy, O'Dogherty, and Williams. The country was beginning to bristle with pikes ; men were praying for the whitening of the harvest ; and it was plain that, before the reign of "Law and Order" should begin, other terrible examples must be made ; other juries must be packed ; then, after that, a Whig "Government" M'ould surely begin to deal with Ireland in a conciliatory spirit ! Throughout all these scenes the horrible famine was raging as it had never raged before — the police and military, both in towns and in the country, were busily em- ployed in the service of ejecting tenants — pulling down their houses — searching out and seizing hidden weapons — and escorting convoys of grain and provisions to the sea- side, as through an enemy's country. Yet, rumors began to grow and spread, (much exaggerated rumors,) of a very general arming amongst the peasantry and the clubmen of the towns ; and the police had but small success in their searches for arms ; for, in fact, these were carefully built into stone walls, or carried to the grave-yards, with a mourning funeral escort, and buried in cofBns, shrouded in well-oiled flannel, " in hope of a happy resurrection." The enemy thought it wisest not to wait for the harvest, and resolved to bring matters to a head at once. Accordingly, they asked Parliament to suspend the Habeas Corpus act in Ireland, so as to enable them to seize upon any person or number of persons whom, they might think dangerous, and throw them into prison without any charge against them. Parliament passed the bill at once ; and, in truth, it is an ordinary procedure in Ireland. Instantly, numerous warrants were placed in the hands of the omnipresent police ; and in every town and village in Ireland sudden arrests were made. The enemy had taken care to inform themselves who were the leading and active confederates all over the island, the Presidents' and Secretaries of Clubs, and zealous organizers of drilling and pike exercise. These were seized from day to day, sometimes with circumstances of brutality, (which was useful to the enemy in "striking terror,") and thrust into dun- geons, or paraded before their fellow- citizens in chains. Martin and the other editors were in Newgate Prison, awaiting transportation as felons. Warrants were out against O'Brien and Meagher. Well, ike time had come at last. If Ire- land had one blow to strike, now was her day. Queen Victoria would not wait till the autumn should place in the people's hands the ample commissariat of their war, and decreed that if they would fight, they should, at least, fight fasting. O'Brien was at the house of a friend in Wexford County when he heard of the suspension of the Habeas Corpus, and that a warrant had been issued for his own arrest. He was quickly joined by Dillon and Meagher — Doheny and MacManus, with some others, betook themselves to the Tipperary hills, and " put themselves upon the country." O'Gorman hurried to Limerick and Clare, to see what preparation existed there for the struggle, and to give it a direction. Reilly and Smith ranged over Kilkenny and Tipperary, eagerly seeking for insurrection- ary fuel ready to be kindled, and sometimes in communication with O'Brien and his party, at other times alone. To O'Brien, an account of his character, his services, and his value to the cause, the leadership seemed to be assigned by common consent. It is very easy for those who sat at home in those days, to criticise the proceedings of O'Brien, and the brave men who sought, in his company, for an honorable chance of throwing their lives away. But, it must be obvious, from the narrative of the three years' previous famine, what a hopeless sort of material for spirited national resistance was then to be found in the rural districts of Ireland. Bauds of exterminated pea- sants, trooping to the already too full poor houses ; straggling columns of hunted wretches, with their old peoi)le, wives, and little ones, wending their way to Cork or Waterford, to take shipping for America ; O BKIEN ATTEMPTS INSURRECTION. 587 the people not yet ejected frightened and desponding, with no interest in the land they tilled, no property in the house above their heads, no food, no arms, with the slavish habits bred by long ages of oppression gronnd into their souls, and that momentary prond flush of passionate hope kindled by O'Connell's agitation, long since dimmed and darkened by bitter hunger and hardship. It was no easy task to rouse such a people as this. But there is in the Irish nature a wonderful spring and an in- tense vitality, insomuch that the chances of a successful insurrection in '48 may have been by no means desperate. At any rate, O'Brien and his comrades were resolute to give the people a chance, knowing full well that though they should be mown down in myriads by shot and steel, it would be a better lot than poor houses and famine- graves. It is needful, here, to speak of the Irish priesthood, and the part which they took in that last agony of our country. Hitherto, there has not been occasion to say much of the CathoKc Church, though it makes so potent an element in Irish life, for the reason that in all vehement popular move- ments it always follows the people, and never leads — unless the movement be strong and sweeping enough to command and coerce the clergy, the clergy keep aloof from it altogether. Instinctively the Church adheres to what is established, and opposes violent action. Thus, in O'Connell's Repeal agitation, several Bishops held themselves neutral ; and hundreds of priests, as was w^ell known, were zealous repealers against their will ; only because the popular passion was too strong for them to resist. After- wards, however, many of the Catholic clergy had come over to the " Young Ire- land " party. Some of them, indeed, being more Irishmen than Romans, did from the first fully sympathize with the na- tional aspirations of their island — did pro- foundly feel her wrongs, and burn to redress or avenge them. When the final scene opened, liowever, and the whole might of the empire was gatiiering itself to crush us, the clergy, as a body, were found on the side of the Government, and cannot be severely blamed for it, as they were convinced of the utter hopelessness of the struggle at that time. O'Brien, Dillon, and Meagher, with some few followers, and without arms or stores, taking the field against the potent monarchy of England, were, indeed, but a forlorn hope. They can scarcely be said to have had a plan. O'Brien resolutely refused to commence a struggle, which he felt to be for man's dearest rights, by attacking and plundering the estates and mansions of the gentry — who, however, were then generally fortified and barricaded in their own houses, to hold the country for the enemy. For several days he went from place to place, attended by his friends, followed sometimes by two or three hundred people, half-armed, always expecting to meet a party with a warrant for his arrest ; in which case it would be war, both defensive and offensive, to the last extremity. All around him were country mansions of nobles and gentle- men who had openly avowed themselves, (in their " Addresses of Confidence,") for the English, and against their own people, who had publicly branded him as a rebel, and offered their lives and fortunes for the work of crushing him ; and he, an outlaw, de- clined to exact contributions from thera to feed his followers and hold them together. All this was resolved and done from the purest and most conscientious motives, undoubtedly : but it was, perhaps, not the best mode of commencing a revolution. All this while, from day to day, crowds of stout men, many of them armed, flocked to O'Brien's company ; but they uniformly melted off, as usual — partly compelled by want of provisions, partly under the in- fluence of the clergy. The last time he had any considerable party together, was at Ballingarry, where forty-five armed police had barricaded themselves in a strong stone house, under the command of a certain Captain Trant, who certainly had the long- expected warrant to arrest O'Brien, but who was afraid to execute it until after the arrival of some further reinforcement. O'- Brien went to one of the front windows, and called on Captain Trant to surrender. Trant demanded half an hour to consider. During this half hour some of the crowd had thrown a few stones througli the 588 HISTOSr OP IKELAND. windows ; and Captain Trant, seeing that the people could not be controlled much lon;^er by O'Brien, gave orders to fire. O'Brien rushed between the people and the window, climbed on the window, and once more called upon the police to sur- render. At the first volley from the house two men fell dead, and others were wounded, and tlie crowd on that side fell back, leaving O'Brien almost alone in the garden before the house. Trant was shortly afterwards reinforced by the force he expected. Mr, O'Brien's followers were by this time scattered and gone. He scarce made an effort even to provide for his own safety, and was soon arrested. In fact, there was no insurrection. The people in those two or three counties did not believe that he meant to fight ; and nothing would persuade them of that but some desperate enterprise. Yet, they were all ready and willing ; and, indeed, are at all times ready and willing to fight against a dominion, which represents to them nearly all that they know of evil in this world. From the first moment that the repeal of the Habeas Corpus act placed the liberties of Irishmen at the disposal of Lord Clar- endon, the police received secret orders to arrest all leading confederates, both in town and country. A return was in the be- ginning of the next year, 1849, made to Parliament of the number of persons, and their names, who were imprisoned under that law. There were one hundred and eighteen of them ; including most of the very men on whom O'Brien might reason- ably have relied to sustain his movement. They were all imprisoned in various jails, without any charge, or one word of explan- ation ; removed in batches from one prison to some other, in a distant part of the island, with no other object, apparently, but to exhibit them in chains, and strike a wholesome terror into all spectators. To arrive at an accurate list and due selection of leading confederates, Lord Clarendon employed without scruple, both Post Office spying * and the regular service of detectives. * The return on this subject laid before Parliament ooly briags down the letter-spies as far as Lord De Certain " trials " ensued in the usual style. First, the editors were brought to trial under the new "Treason-felony" act; and O'Brien and his immediate comrades, under the Common Law, for the crime of " high treason," having appeared in arms against the " Government." The Govern- ment would gladly have dispensed with these trials, and removed their captives out of the way by a more summary process. But they must not forget that they were a " liberal " Government, and had a reputa- tion to support before the world. Ireland was not Naples, but, indeed, a far more mis- erable country, and political offenders could by no means be suffered to perish by long confinement in subterranean dungeons with- out trial. But, then, arose the question of juries ; and the " Government " knew full well that no jury in Ireland impartially em- paneled according to law, and really repre- senting the nation, would convict one of those men for any offence whatsoever. They could not refuse a trial ; but one thing they could do, which the King of Naples had not yet learned — they could pack the juries. No doubt it was painful to have to pack juries again. Whig repu- tation could ill endure it. But they hoped this would be the last time. They knew that in the eyes of Englishmen, the extreme urgency of the occasion would justify this one last tremendous fraud. When we say, " in the eyes of Englishmen," the reader will understand that we mean the ruling classes of Englishmen — namely, the landed interests, and the monied and mercantile in- terests ; in short, those Englishmen whose opinions and interests are alone consulted in the government of that country. To them it was an absolute necessity of their ex- istence that Irish national movements should be crushed down by any means and all means. The Whig Government, in fact, felt that if they satisfied the men of rank and money in England, they did the whole duty of Whigs ; and the men of rank and money were eagerly crying out to have the Grey, in 1843. But as the report on the occasion de- clared the Post Of6ce espionnage a needful branch of adniinistrati«n in Ireland, it may be assumed, without scruple, that it was resorted to not only by Lord Clarendon, but by every Viceroy since. ARREST AND TRIAL OF O BRIEN AND OTHERS. 589 last embers of that long uatioual struggle stamped out. O'Brien, Meagher, MacManus, and 0'- Donohoe were to have their trial before a special commissioa iu Clonrael, the capital of Tipperary. Oa the details of these trials we need uot dwell ; because they were on the same pattern with other scenes of this same kind already narrated. The officials of the Crown showed a stern, dog- ged determination to disregard every re- monstrance, to refuse every application, and to do the work intrusted to them in the most coarse, insolent, and thorough-going style. For example, Mr. Whiteside, O'- Brien's counsel, reminded the Court "that, in England, persons charged with high treason are allowed a copy of the jurors' panel, and a list of the witnesses to be examined on the part of the Crown." Here is one extract from the report of the "trial":— " Tlie learned counsel put it to the Court, whether Mr. O'Brien, under trial in a country said to be nnder the same Govern- ment and laws as England, should not have the same privilege which he would enjoy, as a matter of right, if he happened to be tried on the other side of the channel. "The Court decided that the prisoner was not entitled to the privilege." When the clerk read tlie names of the jury-panel, Mr. O'Brien, of course, chal- lenged the array, on tlie ground of fraud ; and, of course, the Court ruled against him. " Mr. Whiteside stated that it made little difference whether his client were tried by a jury selected from a panel thus consti- tuted, or taken and shot through the head on the high road. No less than one hun- dred Catholics had been struck off the panel, and so few left on, that Mr. O'- Brien's right to challenge was now little better than a farce. This objection was also overruled — Chief Justice Blackbnrne having decided that the panel was properly made out." O'Brien, whose mind was made up to meet any fate, stood in the dock during this nine days' trial, with a haughty calm- ness. What thoughts passed through that proud heart as the odious game proceeded, no human eye will ever read ; but of one thing we may be sure — his grief, shame, and indignation were not for himself, but for the down-trodden country where such a scene could be enacted in the open day, and against the will of nine-tenths of its in- habitants. There followed, in due course, the usual barbarous death-sentence : — "That sentence is, that you, William Smith O'Brien, be taken from hence to the place from whence you came, and be thence drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, and be there hanged by the neck until you are dead ; and that after- wards your head shall be severed from your body, and your body divided into four quarters, to be disposed of as Her Majesty shall think fit. And may the Lord have mercy on your soul." He hears it unmoved as a statue ; inclines his head in a stately bow ; politely takes leave of his counsel, and returns to bis prison. Again, and again, and again, the same process was performed in all its parts. MacManus was next tried, then O'Donohoe, then Meagher ; their juries were all carefully packed ; they were all sentenced to be hanged ; and they all met the announce- ment of their fate as men ought. For more than a month these trials went on, from day to day ; and it was the 23d of October when the last sentence was pro- nounced. A strong garrison of cavalry, in- fantry, and artillery occupied the town, and inclosed the scene with a hedge of steel. Outside, the people muttered deep curses, and chafed with impotent rage. A few daring spirits, headed by O'Mahony, once contemplated an attack and rescue ; but the people had been too grievously frightened, and too effectually starved by the Govern- ment, to be equal to so dashing an exploit ; and so that solemn and elaborate insult was once more put upon our name and nation ; and the four men who had sought to save their people from so abject a condition, lay undisturbed in Clonmel jail, sentenced to death. And whosoever has studied even the imperfect sketch given in these pages of the potent and minutely-elaborated system of oppression that pressed upon that nation at every point, and tied down every limb, 590 HISTOBT OF IRELAND. watching over every man, woman, and child, at their uprising and dowulying, so as to be enabled to foresee and to baffle even the slightest approach to combination for a na- tional purpose * — will assuredly not wonder at the ntter and abject helplessness of the nation, in presence of so cruel an outrage. The newspaper editors were still to be " tried." In the months of October and November, 1848, Duffy, of the Nation, Williams and O'Doherty, of the Tribune, and jNIartin, of the Felon, were successively brought up for trial in the City Court House, of Green street. Their newspapers liad been suppressed weeks before, their ofiQces broken up, their types, and presses, and books seized. O'Doherty and Martin were " convicted " by well-packed juries, con- taining not a single Catholic. In the cases of Duffy and Williams, the enemy ventured to leave one or two Catholics on the juries. Williams was acquitted ; Duffy's jury dis- agreed, and he was retained in prison till a more tractable jury could be manufactured. Again he was brought to trial, and again the jury disagreed. Still he was kept in custody, though his health was rapidly fail- ing ; and, at last, when all apprehension of trouble seemed to be over, and the more dangerous conspirators were disposed of, the " Government " yielded to a memorial on his behalf, and abandoned the prosecution. In the matter of those sentenced to death, Ministers, after much deliberation, decided on sparing their lives, and commuting their punishment to transportation for life. This was done under the false pretence of clem- ency ; but it was, in truth, the most refined cruelty ; it was, moreover, illegal — there being no law to authorize such a commuta- tion. The prisoners, therefore, objected through their counsel ; they had no use for life under such circumstances ; and demand- ed to have the extreme benefit of the law. Ministers, however, were resolved to be merciful — introduced an act into Parlia- ment, empowering the Queen to transport *■ We may once more refer to the memorable words of an Englisli Attorney-General's description of the British regime in Ireland : " Notice is taken of every person that is able to do either good or hurt. It is known not only now they live, and what they do, but it is foreseen what they purpose or intend to do." them — had it passed at once — and imme- diately shipped them off to herd with felons in the penal colony of Yan Diemen's Land. O'Doherty a-nd Martin having been origin- ally sentenced to ten years' transportation, were sent away at the same time, but in an- other ship ; and for more than five years, iu the most degrading bondage, they expia- ted the crime of " not having sold their country." A few unconcerted and desperate at- tempts were made in Munster, by O'Ma- hony and Savage, by Brennan and Gray, to draw the people together, and achieve some one daring act, which might awak- en the insurrectionary spirit. They all failed, or were easily suppressed. The clergy were now decidedly and actively in the interest of " law and order ; " that is, iu the interest of England ; and the more regular police were on the alert by day and night, and the island bristled with forty thousand bayonets. " Tranquillity reigned in Warsaw." John O'Connell, in Conciliation Hall, pointed to the sad fate of those who had disregarded the counsels of the "Liberator" — entreated the people to sustain him in his moral and peaceful appeals to Parliament ; and promised that Ireland should be, at some early day, " first flower of the earth and first gem of the sea." What to do now with this Ireland, thus fal- len under the full and peaceful possession of her " sister island," was the subject of seri- ous thought in England. The famine was still slaying its tens of thousands ; and the Government emigration scheme was draw- ing away many thousands more and shoot- ing them out naked and destitute on the shores of the St. Lawrence ; so that it was hoped the "Celts" would soon be thinned out to the proper point. The very danger so lately escaped, however, brought home to the British Government, and to the Irish landlords, the stern necessity of continued extermiuation. It was better, they felt, to have too few hands to till the ground, than too many for the security of law and order. A plan for a new " Plantation of Ire- land" was promulgated by Sir Robert Peel — that is, for rci)lucing the Irish with good INCUMBERED ESTATES ACT. 591 Anglo-Saxons. Tliis project for a new Plantation in Ireland was anxiously revolv- ed in the Councils of the Government. It be- gan to be believed that the peasant class, being now almost sufficiently thinned out — nnd the claim of tenants to some sort of right or title to the land they tilled, having been successfully resisted and defeated — that the structure of society in Ireland hav- ing been v?ell and firmly planted upon a basis of able-bodied pauperism, (which the English, however, called " independent la- bor,") the time was come to effect a trans- fer of the real estate of the island from Irish to English hands. This grand idea afterwards elaborated itself into the famous " Incumbered Estates act." The conquest of the island was now re- garded in England as effectually consum- mated — England, great, populous, and wealthy, with all the resources and vast patronage of an existing government in her hands — with a magnificent army and navy — with the established course and current of commerce steadily flowing in the precise direction that suited her interests — wltli a powerful party on her side in Ireland itself, \)Ound to her by lineage and by interest — and, above {ill, with her vast brute mass ly- ing between us and the rest of Europe, en- abling her to intercept the natural sympa- thies of other struggling nations, to inter- pret between us and the rest of mankind, and represent the troublesome sister island exactly in the light in which she wished to be regarded — England prosperous, potent, and at peace with all the earth besides — had succeeded, (to her immortal honor and glory,) in anticipating and crushing out of sight the last agonies of resistance in a small, poor, and divided island, which she had herself made poor and divided, care- fully disarmed, almost totally disfranchised, and almost totally deprived of the benefits of that very British " law " against which we revolted with such loathing and horror. England had done this ; and whatsoever credit and prestige, whatsoever profit and jiower could be gained by such a feat, she has them all. " Now, for the first time tliese six hundred years," said the London Tiims, " England has Ireland at her mercy, and can deal wiUi her as she pleases." It was an opportujiity not to be lost, for interests of British civilization. Parliamtnt met late in January, 1849. The Queen, in her " speech," lamented that ''another fail- ure of the potato crop had caused severe distress in Ireland ;" and, thereupon, asked Parliament to continue, " for a limited pe- , riod," the extraordinary powers ; that is-, the power of proclaiming any district under martial law, and of throwing suspected per- sons into prison, without any charge against them. The act was passed, of course. Then, as the famine of 1848 was fully as grievous and destructive as any of the pre- vious famines — as the rate-payers were im- poverished, and, in most of the unions, could not pay the rates already due — and were thus rapidly sinking into the condition of paupers ; giving up the hopeless effort to maintain themselves by honest industry, and throwing themselves on the earnings of others ; as the poor houses were all filled to overflowing, and the exterminated people were either lying down to die or crowding into the emigrant ships — as, in short, the Poor law, and the New Poor law, and the Improved Poor law, and the Supplementary Poor law, had all manifestly proved a " fail- ure." Lord John Russell's next step was to give Ireland more Poor laws. The expression failure must, however, be qualified as before. They were a failure for their professed purpose — that of relieving the famine ; but were a complete success for their real purpose — that of uprooting the people from the land, and casting them forth to perish. Irishmen have not much faith in the " Government " statistics of their country ; but as it is well to see how much the enemy was willing to admit, we give some details from a report furnished in '48 by Captain Larcom, luider the orders of Government, and founded on local reports of police inspectors. The main facts are epitomized thus, for one year : — "In the number of farms, of from one to five acres, the decrease has been twenty- four thousand one hundred and forty-seven ; from five to fifteen acres, twenty-seven tliousand three hundred and seventy-nine ; from fifteen to thirty acres, four thousand two hundred and seventy-four ; \\\\\\st of farms above thirty acres the increase has been 592 HISTORY OF IRELAND. three thousand six hundred and seventy. Seventy thousand occupiers, with their fami- lies, numbering about three hundred thou- sand, were rooted out of the land. " In Leinster, the decrease in the number of holdings not exceeding one acre, as com- pared with the decrease of '47, was three thousand seven hundred and forty-nine ; above one, and not exceeding five, was four thousand and twenty-six ; of five, and not exceeding fifteen, was two thousand five hun- dred and forty-six ; of fifteen to thirty, three hundred and ninety-one ; making a total of ten thousand six hundred and seventeen. " In Munster, the decrease in the hold- ings, under thirty acres, is stated at eighteen thousand eight hundred and fourteen ; the increase over thirty acres, one thousand three hundred and ninety-nine. " In Ulster, the decrease was one thousand five hundred and two ; the increase, one thousand one hundred and thirty-four. "In Connaught, where the labor of ex termination was least, the clearance has been most extensive. There, in particular, the roots of holders of the soil were never planted deep beneath the surface, and consequently were exposed to every ex- terminator's hand. There were in 1847, thirty-five thousand six hundred and thirty- four holders of from one to five acres. In the following year there were less by nine thou- sand seven hundred and three ; there were seventy-six thousand seven hundred and seven holders of from five to fifteen acres, less in one year by twelve thousand eight hundred and ninety-one ; those of from fifteen to thirty acres were reduced by two thousand one hundred and twenty-one ; a total depopula- tion of twenty-six thousand four hundred and ninety-nine holders of land, exclusive of their families, was effected in Connaught in one year." On this report it may be remarked that it was a list of killed and wounded in one year of carnage only — and of one class of people only. It takes no account of the dead in that multitudinous class thinned the most by famine, who had no land at all, but lived by the labor of their hands, and who were exposed before the others, as having nothing but life to lose. As for the land- lords, already incumbered by debt, the pressure of the Poor-rates was fast breaking them down. In most cases^ they were not so much as the receivers of their owa rents, and had no more control over the bailiffs, sheriffs, and police, who plundered and chased away the people, than one of the pillars of their own grand entrance- gates. The slaughter by famine was enormous this season. Here is one paragraph from amongst the commercial reports of the Irish papers, which will suggest more than any labored narrative could inculcate : — " Upwards of one hundred and fifty ass hides have been delivered in Dublin from the County Mayo, for exportation to Liverpool. The carcasses, owing to the scarcity of provisions, had been used as food 1" But those who could afford to dine upon famished jackasses were few, indeed. Dur- ing this winter of 1848-9, hundreds of thousands perished of hunger. During this same winter, the herds and harvests raised on Irish ground were floating off to England on every tide — and, during this same winter, ahuost every steamship from England daily carried Irish paupers, men, women, and children, away from Liverpool and Bristol to share the good cheer of tlieir kinsmen at home. It was in this state of things that Lord John Russell, having first secured a con- tinued suspension of the Habeas Corpus act, proposed an additional and novel sort of Poor-rate for Ireland. It was called the " Rate-in-Aid." That is to say. Poor Law Unions which were still solvent, and could still in some measure maintain their own local poor, were to be rated for relief of such unions as had sunk under the pressure. Assuming that Ireland and England aj'e two integral parts of an " United Kingdom," (as we are assured they are,) it seems hard to understand why a district in Leinster should be rated to relieve a pauper territoij in Mayo — and a district in Yorkshire not. Or to comprehend why old and spent Irish laborers, who had given the best of their health and strength to the service of Eng- land, should be shipped off to Ireland to increase and intensify the pauperism and despair. But so it was : the maxim was, INCtJMBEEED ESTATES ACT. 593 that " the property of Ireland must support the poverty of Ireland ; " without considera- tion of the fact that the property of Ireland was all this time supporting the luxury of England. The next measure passed in the same session of Parliament was the " Incumbered Estates act" — the act of Twelfth and Thirteenth Victoria, chap. 77. Under this, a royal commission was issued, consti- tuting a new court " for the sale of In- cumbered Estates ; " and the scope and intent of it were to give a short and sum- mary method of bringing such estates to sale, on petition either of creditors or of owners. Before that time the only mode of doing this was through the slow and ex- pensive proceedings of the Court of Chancery ; and the number of incumbered landlords had grown so very large since the famine began, their debts so overwhelming, and their rental so curtailed, that the Lon- don Jews, money-brokers, and insurance oflBces, required a speedier and cheaper method of bringing their property to, the hammer. What ought to be fully under- stood is, that this act was not intended to relieve, and did not relieve, anybody in Ireland ; but 'that, under pretence of facili- tating legal proceedings, it contemplated a sweeping confiscation and new plantation of the island. The English press was already complacently anticipating a peaceable trans- fer of Irish land to English and Scotch capitalists, and took pains to encourage them to invest their money under the new act. Ireland, it was now declared, had be- come tranquil ; "the Celts were gone; " and if any trouble should arise, there was the Habeas Cor-pus Suspension act ; and tlie horse, foot, and artillery, and the juries. Singular to relate, however, the new act did not operate satisfactorily in that direction. Ellgli^h capitalists had a wholesome terror of Tipperary, and of the precarious tenure by wiiieh an Irish landlord holds his life ; insonmch that the great bulk of the sales made by the commissioners were made to Irishmen 5 and in the official return of the operations of the Court, up to October, 1851, it appears that while the gross amount produced by the sales had been more than three and ii half millions sterliu":, 75 there had only been fii'ty-two Englisii and Scottish purchasers to the amount of £319,486.* Seeing this imperfect progress in the new plantation of Ireland, Ministers, in March, 1850, introduced a supplemental bill. The Solicitor-General who moved it was even so incautious as to admit the motive. " They had devised a plan," he said, " which, it was hoped, would induce capitalists from England to take an interest in these sales." The plan was a mere financial operation, creating a species of debentures chargeable on the land, and passing current like any other stock or scrip ; but it need not be de- scribed in detail ; for the plan was aban- doned, and it is only men1,ioned here to exhibit the policy of England as indicated by the Solicitor-General. Down to the 25th May, 1857, there had been given orders for sale to the number of three thousand one hundred and ninety- seven ; the property had been sold to seven thousand two hundred and sixteen pur- chasers, of whom six thousand nine hundred and two were Irish — the rest English, Scotch, or other foreigners. The estates already sold brought upwards of twenty millions sterling, which was almost all distributed to creditors and other parties Interested. The result to Ireland was simply this — about one-fifteenth part of the island had changed hands ; had gone from one landlord and come to another landlord ; the result to the great tenant class was simply nil. The new landlord came over them armed with the power of life and death, like his predecessor ; but he had no local or personal attachment which in some cases used to mitigate the severity of land- lord rule — and he was bound to make inter- est on his investment. The estates, there- fore, have been broken up, on an average, into one-half their former size, and this has been much dwelt upon as an "ameliora- tion ; " but we have yet to learn that small landlords are more mild and merciful than great ones. On the whole, the " Incum- bered Estates act " has benefitted only the money-lenders of England. As to " tenant-right," the salutary custom expl, lined before, and which did once prac- * Almanac und Directory, 1852. 594 HISTORY OF IRELAND. tically secure to the tenantry in some por- tions of Ulster, a permanency of tenure on payment of their rent, our Parliamentary patriots liave been agitating for it, begging for it, conferring with Ministers about it, eating public dinners, making speeches, and soliciting votes on account of it ; but they have never made, and are never likely to make, an approach by one hair's-breadth to its attainment. It is absolutely essential to the existence of the British Empire that the Irish peasant class be kept in a condition which will make them entirely manageable — easy to be thinned out when they grow too numerous, and an available materiel for armies. It is a necessity for the British commercial, social, and Governmental sys- tem — but this is not said by way of com- plaint. Those who are of opinion that Brit- ish civilization is a blessing, and a light to lighten the world, will easily reconcile themselves to the needful condition. Those who deem it the most base and horrible tyrainiy that has ever scandalized the earth, will probably wish that its indispensable prop • — Ireland — were knocked from under it. In the meantime, neither the Incumbered Estates act, noi' any other act, made or to be made by an English Parliament, has ilone or aimed to do anything towards giving the Irish tenant-at-will the smallest interest in the laud he tills ; but, on the contrary, the whole course of the famine- legislation was directed to the one end of shaking small lease-holders loose from the soil, and converting them into tenants- at-will, or into " independent laborers," or able-bodied paupers, or lean corpses. Un- derstand, further, that the condition of an Irish "tenant-at-will" is unique on the face of the globe,* is utterly unintelligible to most civilized Europeans, and is only to be found within the sway of that Constitution which is the envy of surrounding nations. The Gtruian, Yon Raumer, making a tour ill Irt'land, thus tries to explain the thing: — " IIow shall I translate tmanls-al-uill ? Wegjogbare ? Expellable ? Serfs ? But i;i the ancient days of vassalage, it consisted rather in keeping the vassals attached to . * Paralleled in some sort only by the ryots of India ^another people privileged to enjoy the blessings of British rul«. the soil, and by no means in driving them away. An ancient vassal is a lord com- pared with the present tenant-at-will, to whom the law affords no defence. Why not call them Jagahare [chaseable)? But this difference lessens the analogy — that for hares, stags, and deer, there is a season during which no one is allowed to hunt them — whereas tenants-at-will are hunted all the year round. And if any one would defend his farm, (as badgers and foxes are allowed to do,) it is here denominated rebel! ion y In 1849, it was still believed that the de- population had not proceeded far enough ; and the English Government was fully de- termined, having so gracious an opportu- nity, to make a clean sweep. One of the provisions of Lord John Russell's Rale-in- Aid bill was for imposing an additional rate of two shillings and sixpence in the pound, to promote emigration. During the two years, 1848-9, the Government Census Com- missioners admit nine thousand three hun- dred and ninety-five deaths by famine alone ; a number which would be about true if mul- tiplied by twenty five. In 1850, they were nearly seven thousand, as admitted by the same authorities ; and in the first quarter of 1851, six hundred and fifty-two deaths by hunger, they say, " are recorded." In the very midst of all this havoc, in Angust, 1849, Her Majesty's Ministers thought the coast was clear for a royal visit. The Queen had long wished, it was said, to visit her people of Ireland ; and the great army of persons, who, in Ireland, are paid to be loyal, were expected to get up the ap- pearance of rejoicing. Of course, there were crowds in the streets ; and the natural courtesy of the people prevented almost everything which could grate upon the lady's ear, or offend her eye. One Mr. O'Reilly, indeed, of South Great George's street, hoisted on the top of his house a large black banner, displaying the crownless harp ; and draped his windows with black curtains, showing the words famine and "pestilence ; but the police burst into his house, tore down the flag and the curtains, and thrust the proprietor into jail. On the whole, the Viceroy's precautions against any show of disaffection, were com- QUEENS TISIT TO IRELAND. 595 plete Hiul successful. Nine out of ten citi- zens of Dublin eagerly hoped that Her Ma- jesty would make this visit the occasion of a " pardon " to O'Brien and his comrades. Lord Clarendon's organs, therefore, and his thousand placemen, and agents of every grade, diligently whispered into the public ear, that the Queen would certainly pardon the state prisoners, if she were not insulted by repeal demonstrations — in short, if there was not one word said about those individu- als. Tlie consequence was, that no whisper was heard about repeal, nor about the state prisoners. Although there was no chance of tenant- right, no chance of Ireland being allowed to manage her own affairs — yet, towards Cath- olics, of the educated classes, there was nmch liberality. Mr. Wyse was sent as an ambassador to Greece ; Mr. More O'Ferrall was made Governor of Malta ; many bar- risters, once loud in their patriotic devotion at Conciliation Hall, were appointed to com- missionerships and other offices,* and Ire- land became " tranquil " enough. For result of the whole long struggle, England was left, for a time, more securely in possession than ever of the property, lives, and in- dustry of the Irish nation. She had not parted with a single atom of her plunder, nor in the slightest degree weakened any of her garrisons, either military, civil, or eccle- siastical. Her "Established Church" re- mained in full force — tlie wealthiest church in the world, quartered upon the poorest people, who abhor its doctrine, and regard its pastors as ravening wolves. It had, indeed, often been denounced in the London Parliament, by Whigs out of place ; Mr. * By degrees, considerable numbers of Catholic barristers have been admitted to the judicial bench, (ultliough never to the rank of Chancellor ) They usually earned this promotion by jiolitical services ; and they have proved, in fact, the most useful ser- vants to the English Government, in carrying on the infamous transactions which pass for trials of " poli- tical offenders " in Ireland. They sit by gravely and c(miplacently, and see juries packed for the destruc- tion of better and braver men than those judges ever were They know that the object of the odious fraud over which they preside, is to perpetuate Brit- i^h dominion over their unhappy country— uiihapp^' in nothing more than in having given birth to ihtni. They know, further, that the operation and intent of tbat British domination are to plunder and to exter- minate their countrymen, their kinsmen, their own flesh and blood. .Vnd they have deliberately elected Roebuck had called it " the greatest eccle- siastical enormity in Europe ; " Mr. Mac- auley had termed it " the most utterly ab- surd and indefensible of all the institutions now existing in the civilized world." But we have already learned what value there is in the liberal declarations of Whigs out of place. Once in place and power, they felt that the " enormity " of the Established Church, absurd and indefensible as it was, constituted one of their greatest and surest holds upon the Irish aristocracy, to whose younger sons and dependents, it affords a handsome and not too laborious livelihood. The Orangemen, also, were still maintain- ed in full force. They are all armed ; for no bench of magistrates will refuse a good Protestant the liberty of keeping a gun ; and, lest they might not have enough, the Gov- ernment sometimes supplies arms for distri- bution among the lodges. The police and detective system continued to be more high- ly organized than ever ; and the Government Board of " National " Education, more dili- gently than ever inculcated the folly and vice of national aspi.'-ations. Yet Ireland, we are told, has been, since the famine, improving and prosperous. Yes ; it cannot be denied, that two millions and a half of the people having been slain, or driven to seek safety by flight, the surviv- ors began to live better for a time. There was a smaller supply of labor, with the same demand for it — therefore, wages were higher. There was more cattle and grain to export to England, because there were fewer mouths to be fed ; and England, (in whose hands are the issues of life and death for Ireland,) can afford to let so many live. their side — against their countrymen and kinsmen, and with the mortal enemies of their countrymen. In other words, they have sold their country and themselves; and the special service which they ura expected to do — the job which they sit on that bench to put through— is precisely to countenance this very fraud and villany of jury-packing— to grace it witli their robes and ermine — to preside with dignified gravity while the Sheriff and Attorney-General do their wicked business — looking all the while as if it were a solemn inquest they are holding — and then, with feeling voice, and in a high moral tone, and with the solemn prate usual on such occasions, to sentence to death or exile, a man who has 7iot been tried ; a man, too, whom they are forced to respect, even in their own depraved hearts, while they hypo- critically lecture him upon his own enormous iniqui- ties. 596 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Upper classes, and lower classes, merchants, lawyers, state-officials, civil and military, are indebted for all that they have, for all that they are, or hope for, to the sufferance find forbearance of a foreii^ai and hostile na- tion. This being the case, the prosperity of Ireland, even such ignominious prosper- ity as it is, has no guarantee or security. A few statistics may fitly conclude this part of the subject. The census of Ireland in 1841 gave a population of eight millions one hundred and eeventy-five thousand one hundred and twenty-five. At the usual rate of increase, tliere must have been, in 1846, when the famine commenced, at least eight millions seven hundred and fifty thousand ; at the same rate of increase, there ought to have been, in 1851, (according to the estimate of the Census Commissioners,) nine millions eighteen thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine. But in that year, after five seasons of artificial fiimine, there were found alive only six millions five hundred and fifty-two thousand three hundred and eighty-five — a deficit of about two millions and a half. Now, what became of those two millions and a half ? The "Government" Census Commission- ers, and compilers of returns of all sorts, whose principal duty it has been, since that fatal time, to conceal the amount of the liavoc, attempt to account for nenrly the whole deficiency by emigation. In Thomas Official Almanac, we find set down on one side, the actual decrease from 1841 to 18.51, (that is, without taking into account the increase by births in that period,) one million six hundred and twenty-three thou- sand one hundred and fifty-four. Against this, they place their own estimate of the emigration during those same ten years, which they put down at one million five hundred and eighty-nine thousand one hundred and thirty-three. But, in the first place, the decrease did not begin till 1846 — there had been till then a rapid increase in the population — the Government returns, then, not only ignore the increase, but set the emigration of ten years against the de- population of five. This will not do ; we must reduce their emigrants by one-half, say to six hundred thousand — and add to the depopulation the estimated increase up to 1846, say half a million. This will give upwards of two millions, whose disappear- ance is to be accounted for — and six hundred thousand emigrants in the otl>er column. Balance unaccounted for, a million and a half. This is without computing those who were born in the five famine years ; whom we may leave to be balanced by the deaths from natural causes in the same period. Now, that million and a half of men, women, and children, were carefully pru- dently, and peacefully slam by the English Government. They died of hunger in the midst of abundance, which their own hands created ; and it is quite immaterial to distinguish those who perished iu the agonies of famine itself from those who died of typhus fever, which in Ireland is always caused by famine. Further, this was strictly an artificial famine — that is to say, it was a famine which desolated a rich and fertile island, that produced every year abundance and' superabundance to sustain all her people and many more. The English, indeed, call that famine a dispensation of Providence ; and ascribe it entirely, to the blight of the potatoes. But potatoes failed in like man- ner all over Europe, yet there was no famine save in Ireland. The British ac- count of the matter, then, is, first, a fraud ; second, a blasphemy. The Almighty, in- deed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the famine. And, lastly, it has been shown, in the course of this narrative, that the depopula- tion of the country was not only encouraged by artificial means, namely, the Out-door Relief act, the Labor-rate act, and the emigration schemes, but that extreme care and diligence were used to prevent relief coming to the doomed island from abroad ; and that the benevolent contributions of Americans and other foreigners were turned aside from their desired objects — not, let us say, in order that none should be saved alive, but that no interference should be made with the principles of political economy. The Census Commissioners close one of their late reports with these words : — DEPOPULATION — EMIGRATION, 6S7 " In conclusion, we feel it will be gratify- ing to yonr excellency to find that, although the population has been diminished in so remarkable a manner, by famine, disease, and emigration, and has been since decreas- ing, the results of the Irish census are, on the whole, satiafactoryP The commissioners mean to say that, although there are fewer men and women, there are more cattle and hogs for the English markets. But the depopulation of the country by no means ended with the famine. Between 1851 and 1861, during which period of ten years there was no officially-declared famine, but, on the contrary, Ireland was continually felicitated by English Viceroys and states- men upon her returning prosperity, we find that the diminution of the people steadily proceeded, so that, in 1861, the Census Commissioners found alive upon the Irish soil only five millions seven hundred and si.\ty-four thousand five hundred and forty- three individuals — less by three millions of souls than the population in 1845. This destruction of people is to be accounted for only in part by emigration, although eu]igration was very large in all those years. But, there is mo fact better established in social and economic science than that emi- gration never does thin the people of .any country to anything like its apparent amount ; because, in a healthy condition of society, the loss from this cause is compensated by the greater increase of ])eople at home. But the cruel truth is, that society in Ireland is in ruins ; it has no longer any recuperative energy. British civilization has taken so powerful and deadly a hold of it, that not only do the people fly in multitudes from the terrible " prosperity" of their country, but those who remain and strive to hold their ground are perishing where they stand. CHAPTER LXII. 1850—1851. Depopnlation— Emigration — " Plea for the Celtic Race" — Decay of the Irish Electoral Body — Act to Amend Kepreseutation — " Papal Aggression " — llage in England— Ecclesiastical Titles Bill — Never Enforced — And Why — Orange Outrage in Down County — "Dolly's Brae" — Style of Orange Processions— Condition of the Country — Further Emigration — Still more Extermination — Crime and Outrage — Plenty and Prosperity in England — Conclusion. In 1851 the island of Ireland still con- tained six and a half millions of people ; which was much too large a pophlation to be compatible with English policy. It has been seen, in an earlier page of this narrative, that the British Government and Parliament had been long anxiously occu- pied, even before the first symptom of the " famine," in devising the best, cheapest, and readiest mode of getting rid of what was constantly called the " surplus popula- tion " of Ireland. In fact and practice, the migration of the poorer people had beta proceeding on a considerable and still in- creasing scale for many years. I^o seasoa passed in which thousands of Irishmen, wearied and worn out by the struggle against remediless misery and hopeless ag- gression, did not bid adieu to tlieir dear native country, to seek a happier future in some distant land. The general use of steam in ocean navigation had also greatly facilitated the movement of emigration, by shortening distances and bringing continents nearer to one another. The whole amount of the emigration from Great Britain and Ireland for the year 1815, was but two thousand and eighty-one persons ; but in 1852 it amounted to one hundred and seventy-six times that number — namely, three hundred and sixty-eight thousand seven hundred and sixty four.* In 1835, a Parliamentary Commission reported that there were in Ireland two millions three hundred and eighty thousand persons always in danger of perisliing by hunger ; and the island (althougii the most fertile country in all the earth,) being even * General Report of the Emigration Commission- ers, 1861. Appendix. 598 HISTORY OF IRELAND. then periodically visited by terrible dearths and famine, it may have been natural to con- clude that it would be doing Ireland a signal service to multiply the means of emi- gration ; but in carrrying out this idea, the Government was resolved to bring the whole movement of emigration, as well ' as everything else that was Irish, under its own control, as far as possible. During the fifteen years which preceded the famine, (1831-1846,) Ireland alone had furnished more than eight hundred thovisand emigrants out of the total emigration from the three kingdoms. The exact numbers are eight hundred and nine thousand two hundred and forty-four, making an annual average of fifty-three thousand nine hundred and forty-nine ; and the number for all the three kingdoms during the same period was one million one hundred and seventy-one thousand four hundred and eighty-five.* Yet, the excess of births over both deaths and emigra- tions continued to make a sensible increase in the population ; and in the very same year (1841,) in which had occurred the largest ccodus during that period, the census showed that the population of the island was greater than it had ever been before, and greater than it has ever been since officially declared, namely, eight millions one hundred and seventy-five thousand one hundred and twenty-four. | Tliis result, showing the nullity of emigra- tion as all agency of depleting a population, might have been more surprising if it had not been long foreseen. Far from derang- ing the calculations of economic science, it ;;onfirmed the conclusions of the best econ- omists. No writer, native or foreign, who has treated of Irish affairs, has estimated with more sagacity the actual condition and necessities of our country than the illustri- ous Frencii publicist, M. Gustave de Beau- mont. Studying, in 1839, the condition * Reports of Commissioners of Emigration, in Thorn's Official Livectory. We often cite this sta- tistical annual, prepared by authority of the British Government. But (on that very account,) it is un- trustworthy, unless when it bears necessarily or unintentionally against the Government, and it is only for such evidence that we have recourse to it. t But, in 1845, (when no census was taken,) the ])opulation must have amounted almost to nine mil- lions. This fact is too often overlooked, and by tlie enemy's Government purposely ignored, for obvious reasous. of Ireland, and considering whether the favorite British prescription of emigration could in any great measure cure the miseries which he had witnessed in the country, M. de Beaumont applied himself to the solution of these questions : 1st. What should be the proportions of the emigration if it were to materially affect the situation of the people ? 2d. Would emigration upon such a scale be possible ? 3d. Supposing it possible, would it be a radical solution of the difficulty ? The advocates of wholesale emigration (all of them Englishmen,) answered the first question by estimating at two millioas — or from two to four millions — the number of persons who must quit Ire- land, in order to create at once so sensible a void in the population as should leave the rest at ease. The second question, then, was easy to answer — that on so vast a scale the project was simply impossible, for want of sufiieient means of transport. For sup- posing that each emigrant vessel carried a thousand passengers, there must be em- ployed in the operation two thousand ships. This would put in requisition the whole British merchant uavy, and withdraw it from the commerce of the world for a project iu itself chimerical ; for it would have been impossible to provide funds for the needful expenses ; and no country, not even the United States, could be expected to receive such an invasion en masse, and provide the unhappy invaders with the means and opportunity of earning their bread by their labor. But, assuming all these difficulties overcome, then arose M. de Beaumont's third question : Was it certain that, the system of land-tenure remaining the same, emigration would cure the evils of the country, and effect a social transforma- tion? On this point, our very intelligent foreign visitor found it easy to demonstrate that the removal of one-third, or even half, of the population would be no radical remedy. The difficulty for Ireland, as he plainly saw, was not to make the land pro- duce a sufficiency of food for all its people, but lay altogether in the system of land- tenure. " For," says the author, " if it be one of the settled principles of land pro- prietors, that the farmer should have no other profit out of his cultivation but just "plea rOR THfe CELTIC RACE." 599 what is strictly necessary for his siil)sistence; and if it be the g-eneral custom to apply this system rigorously, so that every improve- ment in the farmer's way of living brings with it necessarily a rise in his rent — on tills hypothesis, which, for those who know Ireland, is a sad reality, what would be the advantage of a diminution of the popula- tion ?" * "Thus," he continues, "after many thousands of the Irish shall have dis- appeared, the lot of the remainder will probably be no way altered — they still may remain as miserable as they were before It has been seeu, in the preceding in- quiry, that with but one-third of its present inhabitants, Ireland was a century ago as indigent as in our own day, being subjected then, as at present, to the same causes of misery, independent of numbers." M. de Beaumont here refers to the authority of Swift and of Berkeley, which sufficiently establishes the misery of Ireland in their days. In all this investfgation the singularity is, that M. de Beaumont, knowing the wealth and fertility of Ireland, and how she not only produced every year more than her people could consume, but also exported immense qna-iitities of her produce, did not come at once to the conclusion, and pro- claim his conclusion — that Ireland and the Irish are under the control of mortal ene- mies, whose single policy is to abolish the Irisli race off the face of the earth. Another calm and diligent inquirer,"|' after giving an account of the immense schemes of wholesale emigration, remarks : " It is in view of these sad teachings of the past that the most sincere and intelligent friends of Ireland counseled the British Government, rather to expend in vast works of drainage and cultivation, the suras esti- mated as required for the transport of emi- grants. Lord Devon's Commission calcul- ated that the emigration of one hundred thousand persons per annum, if effected at the public expense, and putting the cost at the moderate amount of six pounds sterling for each person, would cost £600,000 a year ; — a sum which, annually applied to the * M. de Beaumont H. 108. t The Abbe Perraud. Eludes sur V Irlandc con- temporaine. purchase and improvement of unproductive lands, would undoubtedly permit the Irish to live at home, and rescue them from the necessity of going into exile to save thoir lives." Here the Abbd Perraud also seems to misapprehend, or else shrinks from utter- ing the horrible fact— that the object of all British policy in Ireland is now, and ever has been, to make it impossible for the Irish to live at home. In the writings of foreigners, even the most acute, and most friendly to Ireland, there is a steady- almost stolid — persistence in assuming that British statesmen, if they only knew how, would hasten to redress the ills of Irelatid. For this reason, and for this alone, has the real history of Ireland remained a puzzle and a secret to even the most intelligent inquirers from other countries. They m;iv as well understand at once, that the key of the whole mystery is this one fundamental truth — the single policy of England towards Ireland is, as it always has been, to extir- pate the Irish nation. This maxim, well borne in mind, everything becomes simple enough. In 1841, the number of inhabited houses in all Ireland, according to the official cen- sus, J was one million three hundred and twenty-eight thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine. In 1851, it was one million forty- six thousand two hundred and ninety-four. But this decrease between those two periods of the census does not by any means repre- sent the actual amount of destruction ; be- cause from 1841, (the census year,) till 1845, the population had been rapidly in- creasing, (as has been observed in a former chapter.) When the " famine" commenced, in 1846, we may fairly assume that the in- habited houses amounted to one million and a half; the decrease, then, in 1851, must be set down at, almost half a mil/ion of houses or cabins, giving shelter on an aver- age to five human beings each. These figures are in themselves sufficient to give a ghastly idea of the agony of Ireland, and of the too cruel efficiency of the methods so steadily pursued for the extirpation of its native inhabitants. "The Celts were gone," i See Thorn's Official Almanac aiid Directory, 1861. 600 HISTORY OP IRELAND. or rapidly going ; and this not the result of (Mnigmtion, as we have seen, but of mere hunger and hardship. The system, and the motives and operation of the system became at length so clear and plain, that Mr. Isaac Butt, a Protestant barrister, (O'ConnelFs opponent in the famous Corporation Debate upon Repeal,) published some years later, (1866,) a work entitled "A Plea for the Celtic Race,^' ufghig the impolicy, even in the interest of England, of entirely abolish- ing the whole breed.* It is no way surprising, then, to find that the number of persons in all Ireland qualified" to vote for county representatives in Parlia- ment, had dwindled down on January 1, 1850, to considerably less than one thou- sand for each county ; or twenty-seven thousand one hundred and eighty for the thirty-two counties. The great County of Mayo had but two hundred electors ; and these almost all landed proi)rietors. This caimot be surprising to those who have fol- lowed the narrative of that long, wasting war systematically made on the race of small farmers — first by the abolition of the forty-shilling franchise ; then by the " con- solidation " of farms ; by the frequent eject- ment acts ; by the stimulus given to exter- mination and emigration ; finally, by the Poor laws and the famine. The condition of the county representa- tion, therefore, had become so scandalous, that Ministers, in 1850, judged it needful to extend, somehow or other, the numbers quMlified to vote. But here arose a difficulty — there were no more freeholders ; that cItrs had been too effectually shaken loose frctm the soil, impoverished, and extirpated. * We give two suggestive passages from this per- formance : " Whatever may be tlie difficulties that attend the discussion of the question, any man who can contribute ever so little to its investigation does fciome service to his country. To say that the land 'question is the most important part of all Irish pub- lic questions, but feebly expresses its magnitude. It would be nearer the truth to say, that it forms the whole, ^^^lile the "unsatisfactory relations" be- tween the owners and occupiers of the soil continue, ttiere can never be peace or prosperity in the land. Loi tliese relations be placed on a satisfactory basis, aid all other questions will very soon adjust them- s''ivefi. The question, however, is not exclusively of Irish intrrest It is true that, so far as Ireland is ooneerned, it involves nothing less than the contin- Tied existence in their own land of the old Irish race. Bot, in the face of troubles which are gathering and Many thousands of them who had escaped death, were by this time digging canals and railways in America. It was evident that nothing like an apparently adequate repre- sentation could be looked for, based upon the old and respectable condition of a free- hold estate in land. But it occurred to Lord John Russell to found the franchise upon the Poor-rates; thus connecting this ancient privilege of freemen with the odious and destructive sj-stem of pubhc pauperism, which had been forced upon the island against its will, and had been corroding its people so fatally ever since. Accordingly, a bill was introduced to " amend " the representation, both in coun- ties and in boroughs. The Irish Official Directory thus shortly states the facts : — " The number of electors under the Re- form act was, in 1832, ninety-eight thou- sand eight hundred and fifty-seven ; on January 1, 1850, the constituency had dim- inished to sixty-one thousand and thirty-six — twenty-seven thousand one hundred and eighty in the counties, and thirty-three thousand eight hundred and fifty-six in tlie cities and boroughs. The act 13th and 14th Yic, chap. 69, was passed in 1850, to amend the representation ; and in addition to those persons previously qualified to register and vote in county elections, occupiers of tene- ments rated in the last Poor-rate at a net an- nual value of £12 and upwards, are entitled to vote in elections for counties, subject to registration, in accordance with the act, and to certain limitations therein ; also owners of cetain estates of the rated net annual value of j£5. But no persons are to be entitled to vote in counties in respect of darkening over Europe, it is not too much to say, that the continuance of England's greatness may de- pend upon her being able to satisfy and conciliate that race in their native land. " English statesmen must ask themselves whether the British Empire can afford to lose the hardy and bold population, portion of which every month is now transferring itself to the other side of the Atlantic. They must seriously reflect on the danger which arises from sending a hostile and embittered Irish colony to the American continent. All the emigrants who are now leaving the country carry with them the most determined liatred of British power. Those whom they leave behind sympathize in their feelings, and whenever tlie opportunity occurs, the Irish abroad and a large portion of the Insh at home will be ready to aid any attempt that can strike a blow at that power. "PAPAI. AGGKESSION RAGE IN ENGLAND. 601 tenements in virtne of which they may be entitled to vote in boron<:^hs. In boroughs, occupiers rated in the hist Poor-rate at £8 and upwards are entitled to vote, subject to registration and certain limitations in the act. By the 13th and 14th Vic, chap. 68, the polling at contested elections is to con- tinue in counties for two days only, and in cities and boroughs for one day only ; the returning officer is to provide booths, so that not more than six himdred voters shall poll at each booth for a county, and two hundred for a city or borough. The num- ber of electors registered under the new act, on January 1, 1851, was one hundred and sixty-three thousand five hundred and forty- six, being one hundred and thirty-five thou- sand two hundred and forty-five in the coun- ties, and twenty-eight thousand three hun- dred and one in the cities and boroughs." This enlargement of the electoral basis was undoubtedly a seeming advantage — as- suming that the Irish representation in a British Parliament is a thing desirable. But it was not in the nature of the Whigs, nor, indeed, of the Tories, to concede to Ireland even an apparent advantage, and not ac- company the " boon " with an outrage. Lord John -Russell flung us the Franchise act with one hand, and with the other a new Coercion law, and the " Ecclesiastical Titles act." As for the former, it was only the usual atrocity ; this time under the title of an " Act for the better Prevention of Crime and Outrage in Ireland ; " with the customary powers, to proclaim districts, to quarter police on them, to search for arms, to keep everybody at home after sun- set, and to transport delinquents. There was nothing uncommon in this ; and the uncom- mon and exceptional thing for Irishmen would have been to find themselves living under the civil laws of the land. But the other measure, .(Ecclesiastical Titles bill,) needs further notice. In the summer of this year, 1850, arrived in England a most startling document ; nothing less than a Papal Brief, direct from Rome, directing the English Catholic " Vicars Apostolic " — who were Bishops, in fact, possessing all episcopal jurisdiction — to assume the true titles of their Sees, as Bishop of Hexham, Bishop of Birmingham, 76 and so forth ; and further appointing the il- lustrious Doctor Wiseman a Cardinal and first Archbishop of Westminster. The soil of Protestant England was thus mapped out by a foreign prince into separate governments, (dioceses,) and placed under the control of certain Popish priests ; in utter disdain of the exclusive rights of the Anglican Church and of the Queen as its Pope and head. Here was papal aggression ! Immediate- ly arose a vehement " No-popery " excite- ment throughout England. It is true, that the Pope herein exercised the un- doubted jurisdiction which he possessed in things spiritual over his Church ; and which he had long notoriously exercised under other names and forms. Still, it was against the "law" — that is, against some of the old penal laws, yet unrepealed, but always vio- lated, to introduce into Great Britain or Ireland any Papal Bull, Brief, Rescript, or writing whatsoever. And then the high tone assumed (necessarily) by the Pope, in his Brief, and by Cardinal Wiseman in promul- gating it, appeared to the enlightened mind of Protestant England, to amount to noth- ing less than Jezebel herself, formally enter- ing in and taking possession. At once there was a shout of alarm and wrath, from all the ends of England and Scotland, to which the Irish Orangemen, of course, contributed their best vociferation. County meetings were held, all over Eng- land, to denounce this audacious " Papal aggression ; " and platforms, pulpits, and press rung for months with the old and well- worn denunciations against Jezebel, the Sac- rifice of the Mass, and the whole mystery of iniquity generally. Lord John Russell, a statesman who hated Catholics and their religion, with all the venom of his small, shriveled, and spiteful soul, and who was distressed besides by the late concession of franchise to certain Catholics in Ireland, Lord John Russell, though Prime Min- ister of the Queen, was not above the paltry task of stimulating this ignoble rage. He selected the 4 th of November, the day be- fore the anniversary of the " Gunpowder Plot," to publish in the newspapers a letter to the Bishop of Durham, expressing alarm and indignation, " but less alarm than indig- nation," at the daring invasion of England 602 HISTORT OF IRELAND. by the Pope of Rome ; enlarging upon the enormity of Catholic doctrines, and terming Catholic worship " snperstitious mummery." His lordship, however, though he saw great cause for apprehension, assured the Bishop that the noble Protestant State of England should never, never be yielded up into the hands of a foreign priest. Next day was the fifth, when Guy Fawkes is always burned in effigy. This time there was in many towns of England, and especially in London, au astonishing uproar of " No-Popery " zeal ; multitudinous processions celebrated the occasion ; orators spouted out of Fox's Martyrs, (taking care to say nothing of the martyrs that Protestants had made,) and the ignorant masses were inflamed to mad- ness by pictures of the racks and pincers which they were assured were shortly to be introduced into England, under the new Papal Bull. Instead of Guy Fawkes, they burned effigies of the Pope, of the Yirgin, of Cardinal Wiseman ; and swore deep oaths, under the influence of deep potations, that they would all die, with the Bible on their bosoms, before they would submit to the tyranny of the Propaganda and the pincers of the Inquisition. It would have been an insane action, on the part of any Catholic priest, to allow himself to be seen in the streets upon that evening. The conclusion of this affair of " Papal Aggression " belongs to the following year, 1851 ; but we may here anticipate a little. Lord John Russell lost no time in availing himself of the stupid fanaticism of his countrymen. Parliament met again in February, 1851 ; he made the chief feature in the Queen's speech this very affair of the Pope's Bull ; and made her earnestly recom- mend to Parliament efficient action upon so important a subject. A bill was at once intro- duced by his lordship, absolutely prohibiting the assumption of the title of any existing See, or of any title whatsoever, from any 'place iu the United Kingdom, under a penalty of iClOO for each such offence. This was an extension of the provisions of the Catholic Relief act of 1829, which im- posed the same penalty on the assumption of the title to any existing See only. That prohibition in Ireland, and the penalty at- tached to it, had been always entirely neglected and ignored by the Catholic hier- archy ; and the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh signed himself Archbishop of Ar- magh and Primate of All Ireland, just as the other one did. In the new ecclesiastical division of England, however, care had been taken to avoid giving to Catholic Bishops the precise titles of Protestant Sees — except in one instance — and, therefore, it became necessary for the legislators against Papal Aggression to extend the prohibitiou and penalty to all territorial titles whatsoever, derived from any place in the three kingdoms. The new bill, which was intended to be highly stringent and menacing — a new and formidable bulwark to the Reformation in England — was only on its passage when Lord John Russell's Government went out, and the Tories, under Lord Derby, came in. It made no difference iu this case. The bill to repress " Papal Aggression " was not only taken up by the new administration, but was eventually passed, with amendments, extending the penalty to the introduction of any document or rescript from Rome, as well as the one lately arrived, and further empowering and inviting any common in- former to prosecute. The bill was carried through all its stages by immense majorities, English Whigs and English Tories being once more an unit on this vital matter ; and, thereafter, it was not only to be illegal for the Archbishop of Westminster to sign himself Archbishop of Westminster, but for the Archbishop of Armagh to take the title of his undoubted office, under the penalty of £100 for each offence. On the passage of this bill, it was really believed by ignorant Protestants, that a new and mighty bulwark had been set up against the Pope, and that the " Reforma- tion " was at length secured. Much to the surprise of these ignorant Protestants, no notice whatever was taken of the new law by English Bishops or by Irish Bisliops. Indeed, Doctor MacHale, the bold Arch- bishop of Tuani, who has the spirit of a patriot and, if need be, of a martyr, took an early occasion of publicly violating the new law, by reading in his cathedral the actual rescript of the Pope, and inviting any informer, or priest-hunter, who might wish ECCLESIASTICAL TITLES BILL "DOLLYS BRAE. G03 to earn a hundred pounds, to institute a prosecution against him. Tlie law was never executed in a single instance. Doctor Newman signed his name in public docu- ments as Cardinal Archbishop of West- minster, and the Archbishop of Armagh continued to style himself Primate of All Ireland. The "Law" stands on record upon the scandalous chronicle of English legislation as a mere impotent example of Ko-Popery spite. Why was this law, passed by immense majorities, and with every appearance of determination, never enforced in a single case ? Why were not the Catholic Bishops prosecuted under its provisions ? The answer is too obvious — the Irish Catholic bishops have been so useful to the British Government, ever since the Union, in pre- serving the " peace of the country ;" that is, its perpetual subjugation to England, that it was not safe to make enemies of them. Ou this subject we may trust the Rev. Father Perraud, who thus expresses himself in his able work ou Ireland. * " It is useless to conceal the fact ; it is not the regiments encamped in Ireland ; it is not the militia of twelve thousand peelers distributed over the whole of the surface of the land, which prevents revolt and preserves the peace. During a long period, especially in the last century, the excess of misery to which Ireland was reduced, had multiplied, even in the most Catholic counties, the secret societies of the peasantry. At this very moment, it is said, America is making great efforts to entice patriotic young men into those obscure associations in which men swear hatred to governmenls, in which are prepared the conspiracies* against public institutions, in which are silently organized social wars. , . But, who have ever been so energetic in resistance to secret societies as the Irish episcopacy ? Who have denounced these illegal associations with the most persevering, powerful, and formidable condemnation? On more than one occasion the Bishops have even hazarded their popularity in this way ; they could at a signal have armed a million * Etudes sur V Irland coniemporaine. Par le R. P. Adolphe Perraud. Paris : 18G2. combatants against a persecuting govern- ment ; and that signal Ihey refused to gireP Passing over the various singular mis- statements of the reverend writer — that secret societies in Ireland swear hatred to governments in general, instead of the Eng- lish Government alone — that they conspire against " public institutions " generally, instead of the institutions of famine and packed juries, and the rest of our British institutions — and that they organize " so- cial war," instead of war against the English troops — passing over these errors one thing is, at least, evident from the pages of the Fere Perraud — that the Catholic Bishops take credit to themsel- ves for preserving British institutions and British Government in Ireland. f It is possible that they are entitled to this credit, such as it is. And herein lies the reason why they were never prosecuted under the " Ecclesiastical Titles Bill." The English Government did not enforce its own law, because it dared not. | The Parliamentary session of 1850 is further notable as the occasion of a dis- cussion upon the Orange outrage at Dolly's Brae, near Castlewellan, in the County Down. The transaction had taken place in the July of the year before, at the usual celebration of the Orange anniversary. It happened in this manner : The Orangemen of various districts of that region had as- sembled, marching by various routes, at the splendid demesne called Tollymore Park, the seat of the Earl of Roden, one of the highest dignitaries of their Order. One of the parties had marched through an ex- clusively Catholic district, and in the true spirit of the anniversary, had insulted the peaceable people with the flaunting of their Orange banners and lilies, and by playing t M. Perraud had made two visits to Ireland, ia order to collect materials for his valuable work ; had communicated freely with the Catholic Bishops ; and must be supposed to speak for them in claiming merit for them on account of their loyal efforts. i It is observable that Father Perraud speaks of the Bishops as denouncing " illegal associations." But there is no society in Ireland so illegal as the Catholic I^piscopacy. No White-Boy, Young Ire- lander, or "Fenian," ever more deliberately broke the law than those Bishops habitually do, in taking the title of their Sees, and in reading Rescripts from Rome. 604 HISTORY OF IRELAND. before tlie poor cabins tlie tuue of " Croppies Lie Down." * After the muster at Tolly- more Park, a dinner, and some drink, and a speech from Lord Roden concerning the Mystery of Iniquity, and the duty of all good Protestants — if they were to be martyred for their faith— at least to die with their Bibles clasped to their bosoms, it was determined to march back by way of Dolly's Brae. One Beers, a very ignorant Orange magistrate, accompanied them. Violent proceedings were expected to occur upon the passage by Dolly's Brae, and might have been prevented by Lord Roden and other magistrates present at the banquet, if they had used their influence to prevent the march by that particular road ; but it was thought advisable to give the Papists a lesson ; and the Lodges started for Dolly's Brae. It appeared, on the subsequent in- vestigation, that so strong was the reason to apprehend disturbance as to induce some magistrates to send forward a strong force of police. On the arrival of the Orange- men in the townland, it was found that most of the inhabitants were gathered near the road.side, whether for mutual protection or for active resistance to the Orange march in that direction, did not clearly appear ; but the latter motive was unlikely, as the * The usual Orange style is thus described by one •who knew the North of Irehind well : " In some districts of tliat country, Protestants are tlie majority of the people ; the old policy of the " government"' has been to arm the Protestants and disarm the Cath- olics. The magistrates at all sessions are Orange- men or high British loyalists. In those districts, therefore, Catholics lead the lives of dogs — lie down in fear and rise up with foreboding ; their worship is insulted, and their very funerals are made an occas- ion of riot. One of tlie July anniversaries comes round— the days of Aughrim and tlie Boyne ; the pious Evangelicals must celebrate those disastrous but hard fought battles where William of Nassau, •with his army of French Huguenots, Danes, and Dutchmen, overthrew the power of Ireland, and made the noble old Celtic race hewers of wood and drawers of water even unto this day. Lodges as- semble at some central point, with drums and fifes plajing the " Protestant boys." At the rendezvous are the Grand Masters, with their sashes and aprons —a beautiful show. Procession formed, they walk in Lodges, each with its banner of orange or purple, and garlands of orange lilies borne high on poles. Most have arras, yeomanry-muskets or pistols, or aucient swords, wlietted for the occasion. Thej' ar- rive at some other town or village, dine in the pub- lic-houses, drink the " glorious, pious and immortal memory of King William," and "To Hell witli tlie Pope;" re-form their procession after dinner, and Catholics were quite unarmed, save with a few scythes and hayforks. An immediate collision took place, of course. The chief of police led his men at once into the scene of disorder, ascertaining to his own satis- faction, as usual, that the Catholics were solely to blame, and were the atrocious aggressors, he directed all the efforts of his force against them. In short, by the joint operations of the armed Orangemen and the armed police, the unarmed Papists were victoriously defeated ; several corpses were left upon the field, and most of the houses were burned or wrecked. Such was the day of Dolly's Brae. A lawyer was sent down from Dublin as a " Commissioner," on the usual pretence of examining into the facts, and collecting the evidence ; and it appears that his report was not so gro.ssly partial as had been ex- pected ; for Lord Clarendon could not avoid the plain necessity of dismissing from the Coramis.«ion of the Peace both Lord Roden and Beers. It was on this report that the debate arose in Parliament, and many severe judgments were expressed of the conduct of the Irish Government in en- couraging and arming such a banditti as the Orangemen. Lord Clarendon, who attend- ed in his place in the House of Peers upon then comes the time for Protestant action. They march through a Papist towuland : at every house they stop, and play " Croppies lie down !" and the Boyne Water, tiring a few shots over the house at the same time. The doors are shut— the family in terror — the father standing on the floor with knitted brows and teeth clenclied through the nether lip, grasping a pitchfork, (for the police long since found out and took away his gun.) Bitter memories of the feuds of ages darken his soul — Outside, with taunt- ing music, and brutal jests and laughter, stand iu their ranks the Protestant communicants. The old grandmother can endure no longer : she rushes out with gray hair streaming, and kneels on the road be- fore them, she clasps her old thin hands, and curses them in the name of God and his Holy Mother. Loud laughs are the answer, and a shot or two over the house, or in through the window. The old crone in frantic exasperation takes up a stone and hurls it with feeble hand against the insulting crew. There ; the first assault is committed ; everything is lawful now : smash go the unglazed windows and their frames ; zealous Protestants rush into the house rag- ing; the man is shot down at his own threshold ; the cabin is wrecked ; and the procession, playing " Croppies lie down!" proceeds to another Popish den. "So the Reformation is vindicated. The names of Ballyvarley and Tullyorier will rise to the lips of many a man who reads this description." CONDITION or THE COUNTRr. 605 this occasion, defended his proceedings as he best could ; and in particular, he most emphatically denied that in 1848 he had furnished arms to Orange Lodges. He snid that, in fact, a certain Captain Kennedy (at the time of the debate serving in India,) had given money out of his own pocket to provide arms for Lodges ; but be, Lord Clarendon, was quite innocent of any such proceedings. It is scarcely necessary to say that nobody believed his lordship. What had been charged vi-as, that not money, but arms, had been sent from Dublin Castle to Belfast for distribution amongst Orangemen ; and, besides, if the money given by Captain Kennedy came, in fact, out of the Secret Service fund, Lord Clarendon, as the distributor of that fund in Ireland, would have felt it his right and his duty to deny the fact when charged. It is an ofBeial necessity ; because, other- wise, there would be nothing secret nor sacred in Secret Service money. It only remains to be mentioned, that no person was ever brought to justice for the predetermined massacre of Dolly's Brae, At this point — the middle of the current century — tie present history closes. It leaves in full operation the whole system of British rule in Ireland. Every department of Irish life was brought under complete subordination to English interests ; and the arrangements seemed to be perfect for pre- venting national aspirations or national in- terests in Ireland from ever again becoming a disturbing element in the course of im- perial policy. The Celtic population was securely put in the way of steady diminu- tion.* The famine was past ; and the people were continually called on by the smooth-spoken Viceroy, to rejoice in the re- turn of prosperity ; yet there was still a multitudinous rush to the sea, in order to escape from such prosperity. The emigra- tion from Ireland, in 1851, amounted to two hundred and fifty-seven thousand three hundred and seventy-two. The number of paupers relieved in the poor houses in 1850, was eight hundred and five thousand seven hundred and two, without counting nearly * It is now, (1868,) considerably under six mil- lions. four hundred thousand who were receiving " out-door relief." No attempt had been made to secure to the tenant by just laws any right whatsoever in the improvements he might make on his farm. Extermination of peasantry was not only the practice but the fashion ; and ruthless consolidation of farms had come to be thought the criterion of high intelligence, and even philanthropy in an Irish proprietor ; because it proved that he had studied the " Devon Commis- sion" report, and appreciated the conclu- sions of the Commissioners. In the same year, 1850, the Government was holding in its own hands, by means of the Savings Banks, the earnings and sav- ings of poor Irish people to the amount of £1,291,798 ; so that every industrious ar- tizan and careful maid-servant who had made a deposit, was directly interested to the amount of such a deposit, in maintain- ing what is called " the peace of the coun- try," that is to say, submitting implicitly to the British system, and influencing others to submit. The Established Church and the police were flourishing ; the Orangemen were as insolent and ferocious as they had ever been ; and the Coercion act (for suppression of " Crime and Outrage,") was always ready in the Castle, to be launched at a moment's warning against any barony or county in the land. Yet the truth is, that Ireland was at that time remarkably free from crimes and outrages, (except those perpetrated against her people,) and it is in- structive to remark, that crimes and out- rages were at the same time steadily on the increase in England and Scotland. A speech in Parliament of Lord John Russell, contains a wonderful revelation upon this poiut.f His lordship stated, that in one year, (1857,) the convictions in Great Brit- ain were — for "shooting, stabbing, and wounding," two hundred and eight ; for highway robbery, three hundred and seven- ty-eight ; for burglary and housebreaking, one thousand and thirty.four ; for forgery, one hundred and eighty-four ; a catalogue which could by no means be matched in Ireland. However, those English and t It is cited by Sir Archibald Alison, in Chapter 66 of his History. 606 HISTORY OF IRELA^^). Scotch crimes and outrages were not done in assertion of public riglit, or resistance of public wrong ; that is to say, tliey were real crimes and outrages ; they did not alarm the higiier classes ; and had seldom any social, political, or religious character. Tlierefore, it never entered into the mind of Government or Parliament to apply their " Crime and Outrage act " to England or Scotland. In other words, the series of Coercion laws for Ireland have always been proposed and passed under a false pretence ; they are not to prevent crime, but to keep the people forever helpless in the hands of their mortal enemies. They are not mea- sures for reformation of society, but engines and arms for perpetuation of British rule in Ireland. While our country was so rapidly sinking to beggary, and diminishing in population, it may be useful to cast a glance at the progress of the other island. This cannot be done better than by quoting a passage from Alison, \chajp. 56,) in which he gives a general view of English affairs during a period of four years: "From 1848," he says, "to 1853, the effects of free-trade were displayed, undisturbed by any other or counteracting influences. Plenty had again returned, and spread its sunshine over the land. The harvest of 1847 had been so favorable, that at Lord John Russell's su"'- gestion, a public thanksgiving was offered up for it ;* and this blessing continued un- abated in a sensible degree throughout the period." The same historian proceeds to give statements exhibiting the enormous development of English commerce and wealth during the same period of four years, by reason of the gold discoveries in California and in Australia. But nothing of all that prosperity is for Ireland. Having scarcely any manufactures, she has no commerce, e.xcept her fatal commerce with England, under that "free-trade" which cheapens all which she has to sell, and makes dearer to that precise amount everything which she is forced to buy. It may, therefore, be affirmed that in or * The harvest of 1S47 was also very abundant in Ireland, and it was one of the deadliest years of famine The English oflered thanksgivings to God for the Irish harvests, and then devoured them. about the year 1850, Ireland became thor- oughly subjugated, without almost a hope of escape. Everything was fitted to the hand of her enemy, and that enemy made most unrelenting use of the advantage. The Catholic bishops counseled obedience and submission ; the formidable kind of "agitation" devised by O'Connell had be- come altogether impossible : because in the first place the very material for it, (the "surplus population,'') had been swept off the face of the earth, and besides the English Government had now so firm a hold of the poor, through " Crime and Outrage acts," police and poor-laws, that it w^as more diffi- cult than formerly to move the masses. Parliamentary efforts, or rather pretences of effort, were made from time to time, to obtain ameliorations of some grievance or other. Tliese pretences of effort, if they really tended to any good for Ireland, were always defeated, or rather indeed, spurned by Parliament with disdain and insult, as it was always known they would be : and the total result of those Parliamentary move- ments may be defined as consisting of a fevy places distributed to rhetorical patriots. Tims, far from the Irish representation in Parliament serving as means of asserting Irish rights or interests, it helps to rivet the chains of our unhappy island, by opening a market overt, where patriots may be pur- chased, (while still vociferating for justice to Ireland,) and so silenced forever. Whatever has been effected for the good of the Irish people, whether to promote their moral and intellectual culture, or even to aid them in saving their lives, has been done exclusively by themselves. Two wonderful examples of this nature must be mentioned: Jirst, the establishment of the Catholic Uni- versity ; and second, the immense fund which has been systematically contributed for some years by Irish people settled in the United States to aid their friends in escaping from British government. It has already been seen, in the course of this history, what rigorous means were used during the last century to prevent the Cath- olic people, under the heaviest penalties, from being educated at all ; and how the extraordinary eagerness for education on the part of those people had impelled them KATIONAL SCHOOLS — CATHOLIC tTNIVERSITY. 607 to seek in foreign scliools and universities the instruction wliich none dared to give them at home ; although there were both great risk and enormous expense incurred in tiiese efforts to obtain contraband learning. It was the true English horror of " French principles,'' about the time of the great French Revolution, which caused the penal laws against education to be relaxed ; but no measures were taken by the enemy's government to supply the place of that con- tinental education for many years after, and when at last the "National Schools" were established, and, later still, when the three "Queen's Colleges" were built and endow- ed, it was found that the National Schools were so constituted as to be extremely un- national, or anti-national ; and that the Queen's Colleges were still more adroitly arranged to wean Catholic students both from national sentiment, and from the faith and morals of their church. Such, at least, was the judgment of the majority of the Irish bishops and clergy ; and when we reflect upon the two chairs of history and moral philosophy, which must exist in every university, and on the effect of training up Catholic youth in the British principles upon these subjects, jand causing them to regard human life and mstory from a strictly British point of view, it cannot be matter of wonder if the Catholic hierarchy lifted its voice against the new plans of education imposed on us by a London Parliament. In short, there was a necessity to provide some other and better system for the collegiate educa- tion of Catholic youth, and therefore, in the year 1854, pursuant to a recommendation coming from Rome, the Irish bishops form- ally instituted a free Catholic University, destined, like the Church (whose offspring it was,) to subsist only upon the charity of the faithful, and to be completely independ- ent of the State. Yet all this while the wealthy Protestant Corporation of Trinity College was maintained in splendor by estates plundered from Catholic monasteries, and the "Queen's Colleges" were kept up at the public cost, to which the Catholics, as tax-payers, of course had to contribute their full share. There was nothing, in- deed, new in all this: they had been long used to maintain schools and churches for others, and to find the means of providing for their own religious services, and instruc- tion also, as best they could. The Board of the Catholic University of Dublin consists of the four archbishops, nnd two other prelates for each province. The institution comprises five faculties : those ot theology, law, medicine, belles-lettres, and. science. Its government is carried on by a committee of archbishops and bishops, meet- ing once a year. The immediate and ordi- nary administration is conducted by the "Senate" of the university, consisting of the rector and vice-rector, the secretary, the professors, the superiors of certain institu- tions dependent on the University, and the Fellows.* A yearly collection, made in every diocese, provides for the expenses of the foundation. The spirit and zeal with which this great national enterprize has been sustained, form an admirable illustration of the unselfish devoted ness of the Irish people to an object which they believe to be good, or in other words, anti-English. In the year 1859, they had already bestowed freely — and given their blessing along with it — the considerable sum of £80,000 sterling, for promotion of this noble object ; and every year, even in the poorest chapels among the mountains of remote parishes, the appeal of the parish priest in favor of an institution blessed by the Pope and the bishops, brings forth an offering even from the poorest. All this great work has been done, it is true, in contravention of the views and policy of the British Government, not only without its help, but under the frown of its displeasure. The Catholic University has no charter of incorporation, and no legal right to confer degrees in arts or laws. In the eyes of the Government, it is but a private association, tolerated but not recognized, as indeed the Catholic Church itself is. Another strange and admirable example of the generous zeal of the Irish people in resisting the utter destruction of their race, is seen in the regular and systemized aid furnished by Irish citizens: of the United * Rules and Jiegtdaiions. § 7. The institutions dependent on the Catholic University are those of St. Patricia, St. Lawrence, (Flarcourt street,) Carmel and Corpus Christi. 603 HISTORY OP IRELAND. States, to assist their friends and relatives in withdrawing themselves from the domi- nation of England, and establishing them- selves in a free country. The emigration of what is called the " surplus population " of Ireland, has been aided and furthered in several ways. The landed-proprietors, with a view to facilitate the consolidation of farms, and also to reduce the burden of poor-rates in their respective " unions," have largely contributed to help the emigration of the poor people whom they themselves exterminate ; but this is a matter of private arrangement, and no data exist for even approximating to the amount supplied from this source. In 1848 the Poor-Law Unions were invited by the Government to cooper- ate in the movement of deportation, in order to furnish a gratuitous passage to such poor persons as had no other resource than ex- patriation. But this was to be at the expense of the Irish rate-payers, and was, moreover, to be in strict accordance with the views of the British Government itself. The emigration, thus promoted, was, there- fore, to be almost entirely to the British Colonies, especially Australia. From 1847 to 1859 inclusive, the unions contributed about JBI 00,000 to the cost of emigration, removing from Ireland about 25,000 persons. But this was a trifle : the great rush of emigrants was to the United States, and the cost of the immense exodus was mainly provided for by the savings of Irish citizens already settled in that Republic. The Colonial Land and Emigration Com- missioners, in their twelfth report, state that tliey do not believe that "The emigration will be arrested by anything short of a great improvement in the position of the laboring population in Ireland; all those obstacles wiiich in ordinary cases would be opposed to so wholesale an emigration, appear in the case of the Irish to be smoothed away. The misery which they have for many years en- dured, has destroyed the attachment to their native soil, the numbers who have already emigrated and prospered, remove the appre- hension of going to a strange and untried country, while the want of means is rem- edied by the liberal contributions of their relations and friends who have preceded them. The contributions so made, either in ; the form of prepaid passages, or of money sent home, and which are almost exclusively provided by the Irish, were returned to us, as in 1848, upwards of. £4fi0,000 1849, " 640,000 1850, " 957,000 1851, " 990,000 And although it is probable that all the money included in these returns is not ex- pended in emigration, yet as we have reason to know that much is sent home of which these returns show no trace, it seems not unfair to assume that of the money expend- ed in Irish emigration in each of the last four years, a very large proportion was pro- vided from the other side of the Atlantic." The Abbe Perraud, in his Etudes sur V Irlande Coiitem.'poraine, says : " From the returns furnished by American bankers, the Emigration Commissioners give the precise amount of those remittnnces of money ; but for North America only. The total for thirteen years, (1848-61,) is JEll,674,596 sterling. These statistics apply, indeed, to the emigrants from the three kingdoms ; but as the Irish are in the immense majority, so it is the Irish who remit the far larger proportion of the money." It must be add- ed, that the reports made up by American bankers, can represent only a portion of the remittances from Irish citizens to their friends at home, because much money is sent through other channels, which cannot enter into those returns. On the whole, however, it is evident that the strong natural affection of the Irish for their parents and relatives, and their constant and ardent de- sire to deliver them from an odious bondage, have in this instance materially served the policy of the British Government, which is, to get rid of the Celtic enemy by any and by all means. And, for the present, the policy of that Govertmient seems to "be eminently success- ful. The Celtic Irish in Ireland have greatly diminished in numbers, and are still diminish- ing. Yet there is another aspect of this aflair : a vast mass of Irish power and Irish passion has been gathering and growing iu the United States, all of it cherishing a mortal hatred of the British Empire, and a fierce thirst of vengeance on their enemies, as well as a loving and generous desire to CONCLUSION. eo9 emancipate their native country from the bitter thraldom of so many ages. From the Celtic Irish on the American continent, arises one universal cry of execration against Englisli dominion and English ideas. With independent means, a fair career for industry, and an increased and still increasing acquaint- ance with the story of their native country, there has grown up in their hearts an intense desire to right the wrongs of centuries, to lift up their kinsfolk and ancient clansmen out of the abject misery in which British policy requires them to be kept, and to see their countrymen in fair and full possession of the lovely land where Providence has placed them. This is a dangerous matter for the British Empire. For the present, indeed, it may seem, that by the operation of all the well-devised ar- rangements for getting rid of the Irish people, what used to be called the " Irish Difficulty " has become more manageable ; the " Irish Enemy," if not wholly destroyed, is at least disarmed and bound. No way of redress is left open except a violent revolu- tion ; and for this the people of Ireland and their kinsmen in America only await the opportunity of a war which shall tax the strength of their enemy. A- tabular summary of the financial con- dition of the country, (as furnished by her enemy,) up to the year 1852, may fitly close this story. It is to be observed upon these official returns, that we have no means of cheeking them, because our books are kept in England. Yet one or two remarks are obvious :— Most Irishmen are of opinion that they do not receive value for the charge on ac- count of "Army, Navy, and Ordnance;" believing, in fact, that the money would be much better spent in destroying those British services [ Tabular Summary, see next page.^ CONCLUSION. The compiler of this continuation of the Abhd MacGeoghegan's History of Ireland, purposely stops short of the most recent events which have agitated that country, and disquieted and exasperated England The time for relating the history of those events has not yet arrived. It may be said, however, that a powerful illustration has been thereby given to the fact, that while England is at peace with other powerful nations, it is extremely difficult, if not im- possible, to make so much as a serious attempt at a national insurrection, in the face of a government so vigilant and so well prepared. The high patriotic enthusiasm that im- pelled many brave Irishmen in America to fly across the Atlantic and devote to the rescue of their country that art of war which they had learned chiefly to that end, their experience in training men, the gal- lantry of the peasants, their extensive secret organizations — all seemed to break and dis- solve away in the very hour of highest hope and resolve. All honor be to the men w^ho made the daring effort, and staked their lives upon it. Whatever judgment may be formed of others, they, at least, " stood the cast their rashness played," and the best of them are expiating in dungeons the crime of loving their country and striving to serve her — just as Irishmen have generally expiated that offence for many ages. Yet no cause is Utterly lost so long as it can inspire heroic devotion. No country is hope- lessly vanquished whose sons love her better than their lives. 77 610 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Account of the Income and Expenditure of Ireland, in the Years ending 5th January, from 1847 to 1852, inclusive ; showing the whole of the Ways and Means provided within the same period, together with the application thereof. — [House of Commons Papers, No. 628, 184:9 ; No. 600, 1850 i No. 477, 1851 ; No. 504, 1852.] . p m ;>> -^ p. Ordnance, . 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That in order to promote and se«- cure the essential interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and consolidate the strength, power, and resources of the British Empire, it will be advis- able to concur in such measures as may best tend to unite the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into one kingdom, in such manner, and on such terms and conditions as may be estab- lishf'd by the acts of tlie respective Parliaments of Grent Britain and Ireland. Resolved, 2. That for the purpose of establish- ing an Union upon the basis stated in the resolu- tion of the two Houses of Parliament of Great Britain, communicated by His Majesty's command in the message sent to this House by his excellen- cy tlie Lord-Lieutenant, it would be fit to propose as tlie first article of Union, that the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall upon the first day of January, which shall be in the year of Our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and one, and forever after, be united in one kingdom, by the name of the United Kingdom of Gieat Britain and Ireland, and that the royal style and titles appertaining to the Imperial Crown of the said United Kingdom and its dependencies, and also the ensigns, armorial flags, and banners thereof, shall be such as His Majesty by his royal proclam- ation, under the Great Seal of the United King- dom shall be pleased to appoint'. Resolved, i5. That for the same purpose, it would be tit to propose, that the succession to the Imperial Crown of the said United Kingdom, and of the dominions thereunto belonging, shall continue limited and settled in the same manner, as the s\iccession to the Imperial Crown of the said kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland now stands limited and settled, according to the e.xist- ing laws, and to the terms of the Union between England and Scotland. Resolved. 4. fhat for the same purpose, it would be fit to propose, that the said United Kingdom be represented in one and the same I'arliainent, to be styled the Parliament of the Uniied Kingdom <»f Great Britain and Ireland. Resolved. 5. That for the same purpose, it Would be fit to propose, that the charge arising from the payment of the interest and sinking fund, for the reduction of the principal of the del)t incurrt'd in either kingdom before the Union, shall continue to be separately defrayed by Great Biitain and Ireland respectively. 'I'hat fur the space of twenty years after the Union skall take place, the contribution of Great Britain and Ireland respectively, towards the ex- penditure of the United Kingdom in each year, shall be defrayed in the proportion of fifteen parts for Great Britain and two parts for Ireland, tiiat at the exi>iiation of the said twenty years. Uie future expenditure of ilie United Kingdom, other than the interest and charges of the debt to which either country sli;dl be separately liable. shall be defrayed in such proportion as the said United Parliament shall deem just and reason- able, upon a comparison of the real value of th^i exports and imports of the respective countries, upon an average of the three years next preced- ing the period of revision, or on a comparison of the value of the quantities of the following arti- cles consumed within the respective countries, on a similar average, viz.. beer, spirits, sugar, wine, tea, tobacco, luid malt ; or according to the aggre- gate proportion resulting from both these consid- erations combined, or on a comparison of the amount of income in each country, estimated from the produce for the same periods of a gen- eral tax. if such shall have been imposed on the same descriptions of income in both countries, and that the Parliament of the United Kingdoms shall afterwards proceed in like manner, to revise and fix the said proportions according to the same rules or any of them, at periods not more distant than twenty years, nor less than seven years from each other, unless previous to any siich period the United Parliament shall have declared as hereinafter provided, that the general expenses of the empire shall be defrayed indiscriminately by equal taxes, imposed on the like articles in both countries. Resolved, 6. That for defraying the said ex- penses, according to the rules above laid down, the revenues of Ireland shall hereafter constitute a consolidated fund, upon which charges equal to the interest of the debt and sinking fund, shall, in the fir.st instance be charged, and the remain- der shall be applied towards defraying the pro- portion of the general expense of the United Kingdom, to which Ireland may be liable in each year. That the proportion of contribution to which Great Britain and Ireland will by th-se articles be liable, shall be raised by such taxes in each kingdom respectively, as the Parliament of the United Kingdom shtiU from time to time deem tit, provided always, that in regulating the taxes in each country by which their respective proportion sliall be levied, no article in Ireland shall be lialile to be ta.xed to any amount exceeding that which will be thereafter payable in England on the like articles. Re.-iolved, 7. That if at the end of any year, any surplus shall accrue from the revenues of Ireland, after defraying the interest, sinking fund, and proportioned contribution, and separate charges to which the said country is liable, eith- er taxes shall be taken off the amount of such surplus, or the surplus shall be applied by the United Parliament to local purposes in Ireland, or to make gocjd atiy deficiency which may arise in her revenues in time of peace, or invested by the commissioners of the national debt of Ireland iu I lie funds, to uccuniulate for the benefit of Ire- land, at compound interest, in case of contribu- 612 APPENDIX. tioii in time of war. Prtn'idfd, The snrplnssoto accuiruilale. shiill at no future period be sutfered to exceed the .sum of tive millions. Besolvnl, 8. Tbat all monies hereafter to be raised by loan in peace or war. for the service of the United Kingdom by the Parliament thereof, 8hall be considered to be a joint debt, and the charges thereof shall be borne by the respective countries in the proportion of their respective contributions. Provided, Tiiat if at any time in raising the respective contributions hereby fixed for each kingdom, the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall judge it lit to raise a greater pro- jiortion of such respective contributions in one kingdom within the year than in the other, or to Het apart a greater proportion of sinking fund for the liquidation of the whole, or any part of the loan raised on account of the one country than tiiat raised on account of the other country, then such part of the .said loan for the liquidation of Tvhich different provisions have been made for the respective countries, .shall be kept distinct, and shall be borne by each separately, and only that part of the said loan be deemed joint and com- mon, for the reduction of which, the respective countries shall have made provision in the pro- portion of their respective contributions. Resolved, 9. That if at any future day, the sep- arate debt of each kingdom respectively shall Lave beeu liquidated, or the values of their re- spective debts (estimated according to the amount of the interest and annuities attending the same, of the sinking fund applicable to the reduction thereof, and the period within which the whole capital of such debt shall appear to be redeem- able by such .sinking fund.) shall be to each other, in the same proportion with the respective con- tributions of each kingdom respectively, or where the amount by which the value of the larger of tjuch debts shall vary from such proportion, shall not exceed one hundredth part of the said value ; and if it .shall appear to the United Parliament, that the respective circumstances of the two countries will thenceforth admit of their contri- buling*indiscriminately, by equal taxes impo.'ied on the same articles in each, to the future general expeu.se of the United Kingdom, it shall be com- petent to the said United Parliament to declare, that all future expense thenceforth to be incurred, together with the interest and charges of all joint debts contracted previous to such declaration, fchaii be defrayed indiscriminalely liy equal taxes imposed on the same articles in each country, and iLeucelorth from time to time as circumstances may require to impose and apply such taxes ac- cordingly, subject only to such j)urticular exemp- tions or abatements in Ireland, and that part of Great Britain called Scotland, as circumstances may appear from time to time to demand, that from the period of such declaration, it shall no longer be necessary to regulate the contribution of the two countries towards the future general expenses, according to any of the rules hereinbe- fore provided. Provided, nevertheless. That the interest or charges which may remain on account of any part of the separate debt with which either coi\n- try is chargeable, and which shall not be liquidat- ed or consolidated proportionately as above, shall, until extinguished, continue to be defrayed by separate taxes in each country. Resolved, 10. That a sum not less than the sum which has been granted by tlie I'arliauu'ut of Ire- land, on the average ot six years, as premiums for the internal encouragement of agriculture ot manufacture, or for the maintaining institutions for pious and charitable purposes, shall be ap- plied for the period of twenty years after the Un- ion to such local purpo.ses, in such manner as the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall direct. Resolved. 11. That from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and one, all public revenue arising from the territorial de- pendencies of the United Kingdom, shall be ap- plied to the general expenditure of the empire, in the proportions of the respective contributions of the two countries. ' Resolved, 12. That for the same purpose it would be fit to propose that lords spiritual of Ireland, and .... lords tem- poral of Ireland, shall be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and one hundred commoners (two for each county of Ireland, two for the city of Cork, one for the Uni- versity of Trinity College, and one for each of the thirty-one most considerable cities, towns, and boroughs,) be the number to sit and vote ou the part of Ireland, in the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Resolved, 13. Tbat such acts as shall be passed in the Parliament of Ireland previous to the Un- ion, to regulate the mode by which the lords spir- itual and temporal and the commons to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Ireland, shall be summoned or returned to the said Parliament, shall be considered as forming part of the treaty of Union, and shall be incorporated in the act ol the respective Parlia- ments, by which the said Union shall be ratified and established. Resolved, 14. That all questions touching the election of members to sit on the part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the United King- dom, shall be heard and decided in the same manner as questions touching such eh ctions in Great Britain now are, or at any time hereafter shall by law be, heard and decided, subject never- theless, to such particular regulations in respect of Ireland, as from local circumstances the Par- liament of the said United Kingdom may from time to time deem expedient. Resolved, lr>. Thai the qualifications in respect of property of the members elected on the part of Ireland to sit in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, shall be respectively the same as are now provided by law. in cases of elections lor counties, and cities, and boroughs. resj)ective- ly. in that part of Great Britain called England, unless any other provision shall hereafter be inaile in that respect by act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Resolved, IG. That when His Majesty, his heirs, or successors, shall declare his. her. or their plea- sure, Ibr holding the first or any subsequent Par- liament of the United Kingdom, a proclamation shall issue under the Great Seal of the Utiited Kingdom, to cause the lonls spiritual and tempo- ral and commons who are to serve in the ParJia- n;ent thereof on the part of Ireland, to be returned in such manner as by any act of this present session of the Parliament of Ireland shall be pro- vided ; and that the lords spiritual and temporal and Commons of Great Britain shall together with the lords spiritual and temporal and commons so returned as aforesaid, on the part of Ireland, con- stitute the two Houses of Parliament of the United Kingdom. APPENDIX. 613 Besolved, 17. That, if His Majesty on or before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and one. on which day the Union is to take place, shall declare, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, that it is expedient that the lords and commons of the present Parliament of Great Britain should be members of the re- spective Houses of tiie tirst Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Great Britain, then tiie .said lords and commons of the present Parliament of Great Britain shall accordingly be the members of the respective Houses of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom on the part of Great Britain, and they, together with the lords Kpiritnal and temporal and commons so summon- ed and returned as above on the part of Ireland, ehall be the lords spiritual and temporal and commons of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom ; and such first Parliament may, (in that case.) if not sooner dissolved, continue to sit so long as the present Parliament of Great Britain may now by law continue to sit, and that every one of the Lords of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and every meml)er of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in the tirst and all succeeding Parliaments, shall, until the Parlia- ment of the United Kingdom shall otherwise provide, take the oaths, and make and subscribe the declaration, which are at present by law en- joined to be taken, made and subscribed by the lords and commons of the Parliament of Great Britain. Eesolved. 18. That for the same purpose it would be tit to propose that the churches of that part of Great Britain called England, and of Ireland, should be united into one Church, and the arch- bishops, bishops, deans and clergy of the churches of England and Ireland shall, from time to time, be summoned to and entitled to sit in convocation of the United Church in the like manner, and subject to tht; same regulations as are at present by law established, with respect to the like orders of the Chtirch of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline and government of the United Church shall be preserved as now by law estab- lished for the Church of England; and the doctrine, worship, discipline and government of the Church of Scotland shall likewise be preserved as now by law established for the Church of Scotland. And that tije continuance and preservation forever of the said United Cburch, as the Established Church of that part of the United Kingdom called England and Ireland, shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental condition of the treaty of Union. Resolved, 19. That for the same purpose, all laws in force at the time of the Union, and all courts of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the respective kingdoms, shall remain as now by law established, subject only to such alterations and regulations, from time to time, as circumstances may appear to the Parliament of the United King- dom to require, provided that all writs of error and appeals depending at the time of the Union, or hereafter to be brought, and which might now be finally decided by the House o4 Lords of either kingdom, shall from and after the Union be finally decided by the House of Lords of the Uuiteil Kingdom ; and provided, that from and after the Union there shall remain in Ireland an instance Court of Admiralty, for the determination of causes, civil and maritime only ; and that all laws at present in furce in either kingdom, which shall be contrary to any of the" provisions whicli may be enacted by any act for carrying this article inte effect, be from and after the Union repealed. Resolved, 20. That for the same purpose it would be fit to propose that His Majesty's subjects of Great Britain and Ireland shall, from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and one. be entitled to the same privi- leges, and be on the same footing as to encourage- ment and bounties on the like articles, being the growth, produce or tnanufacture of either kingdom respectively and generally in respect of trade and navigation in all ports and place.s in the United Kingdom and its dependencies; and that in all treaties made by His Majesty, his heirs and successors, with any foreign power, His Majesty's subjects of Ireland shall have the same privileges, and be on the same footing as His Majesty's subjects of Great Britain. Resolved, 21. That froiu the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and one. all prohibi- tions and bounties on the export of articles, the growth or manufacture of either country to the other shall cease and determine ; and that the said articles shall thenceforth be exported from one country to the other without duty or bounty on such export. Resolved, 22. That all articles, the growth, pro- duce or manufacture of either Kingdom, not here- inafter enumerated as subject to specific duties, shall from henceforth be imported into each coun- try from the other free from duty, other than such countervailing duty as shall be annexed to the several articles contained in the Schedule No. 1 ;'^ and that the articles hereinafter enumerated sh;ill be subject for the period of twenty years from the Union, on importation into each country from the other, to the duties specified in tha Schedule No, II.* annexed to this article, viz. : Apparel, Millinery, Brass wrought, Paper, stained, Cabinet Ware, Pottery, Coaches and carriages, Saddlery, Copper, wrought, Silk, manufactured, Cottons, Stockings, Glass, Thread, bullion for lace, Haberdashery, pearl, and spangles. Hats, Tin plates, wrought iron. Lace, gold and silver ; and hardware. gold and silver threads And that the woolen manufacture shall pay on importation into each country, the duties now payable on importation into Ireland ; salt and hops on importation into Ireland, duties not ex- ceeding those which are now paid in Ireland ; and coals on importation to be subject to burdens not exceeding those to which they are now subject. That calicos and muslins be subject and liable to the duties now payable on the same, until the fifth day of January one thousand eight hundred and eight ; and from and after the said day, the said duties shall be annually reduced in such pro- portion, and at such periods as shall hereal'ter be enacted, so as that the said duties shall stand at ten per cent, from and after the fifth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen, until the fifth day of Januaiy, which shall be in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty one ; and that Cotton, yarn, and cotton twist, shall also bo subject and liable to the duties now payable upon the same, until the filth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eight, and from and after the said day. the said duties shall be annually reduced at such times, and in such proportions, as * Tbis refers to Scliedules annexed to the resolutioas, as orieiuul.j lutroduced. 614 APPENDIX. tixaW be hereafter enacted, so as that all duties shall cease on the said articles from and after the tifth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixteen. Resolved. 23. That any articles of the growth, produce or manufacture of either country, which are or may be subject to internal duty, or to duty on the materials of which they are composed, may be made subject on their importation into each country respectively from the other, to such couu- tervailinif duty as shall appear to be just and reasonable in respect to such internal duty or duties on the materials ; and that for the said pur- poses the articles specified in the said Schedule No. I. should, upon importation into Ireland, be subject to the duty which shall be set forth therein, liable to be taken otf, dimiuished or increased in the manner herein specified ; and that upon the like export of the like articles from each country to the other respectively, a drawback shall be given, equal in amouut to the countervailing duty, payable on the articles hereinbefore specified, on tbe import into the same country with the other; and that in like manner, in future, it .shall be com- petent to the United Parliament to impose any new or additional countervailing duties, or to take otf or dimiuish such existing.countervailing duties as may appear on like principles to be just and reasonable, in respect of any future or additional internal duty ou any article of the growth or manufacture of either country, or of any new additional duty on any materials of which such article may be composed, or any- abatement of the same ; and that when any such new or addi- tional countervailing duty shall be so imposed on the import of any article into either country from the other, a drawback equal in amount to such countervailing duty, shall be given in like manner on the export of every such article respectively from the same country. Uesolved, 24. That all articles, the growth, pro- duce or manufacture of either kingdom, when ex- ported through the other, shall in all cases be ex- ported subject to the same charges as if they had been exported directly from the country of which they were the growth, produce, or manufacture. Eesolved, 25. That all duty charged on the im- port of foreign or colonial goods into either country, shall, on their export to the other, be either drawn back, or the amount, if any be re- tained, shall be placed to the credit of the country to which they shall be so exported, so long as the general expenses of the empire shall be defrayed by proportional contributions. Provided, Nothing herein shall extend to take away any duty, bounty or prohibition which exists with respect to corn, meal, malt, flour, and biscuit, but that the same may be regulated, varied or repeated, from time to time, as the United Parliament shall deem ex- pedient. ORIGINAL RED LIST, Or the Members who voted against the Union in 1799, and 1800, with observations. Those names with a ( * ) affixed to them, are County Members ; those with a ( f ) City Members ; and those with a ( § ) Borough Members. Those in Italics chaacjkd sii/es, and got either Money or Offices. 1.* Honorable A. Acheson •Z.* William C. Alcock . . o.* Mervyu Archdall . . 4.§ W. II. Armstrong . . 5.* tSir Ricliard Butler . . 6.* John BagiceU . . . . 7.§ Peter liurrowes . . . 8.* Joint Baijicell, Jun. . . 9.t Jolm Ball lO.j Charles Ball . . . . ll.f Sir Jonah Barriugton . 12.§ Charles Bushe. . . . IS.f John C. Beresford . . 14. Arthur Brown . . . 15.§ William Blakeney . , It).* William Burton . . . 17.* H. V. Brooke. 18.§ Blayney Balfour. 19.1^ David Bubington . . 20.t Hon. James Butler . 21." Col. J. Maxwell Barry 22.§ William Ba^vodl . . OBSKKVATION. Son to Lord Gosford. County W'exford. County Fermanagh. Refused all terms from Government. " Changed sides. See Black List. Changed sides twick. See Black List. Now Judge of the Insolvent Court ; a steady Anti-Unionist Changed sides. See Black List. Member for Drogheda — incorruptible. Brother to the preceding. King's Counsel — Judge of the Admiralty — refused all terms. Afterwards Solicitor-General and Chief Justice of Ireland — incor- ruptible. Seceded from Mr. Ponsonby in 1799. on his declaration of indepen- dence. That secession was fatal to Ireland. Member for the University, changed sides in 1800; was appointed Prime Sergeant by Lord Castlereagh, through Mr. Under-Sec- retary Cooke — of all others the most open and palpable case. See Black List. A Pensioner, but opposed Government. Sold his Borough, Carlow, to a Unionist (Lord Tullamore,) but re- mained staunch himself. Connected with Lord Bel more. (Now Marquis of Ormonde.) voted in 1800 against a Union,hnt with Government on Lord Corry's motion. (Now Lord Farnham.) nephew to the Speaker. Changed sides twjck, concluded as a Unionist. See Black List. APPENDIX. 615 NAMKS. 23* Viscount Corry 24.t Robert Ci-owe 25.* Lord Clements 2^.* Lord Cole . . 27.§ Hon. Lowry Cole . . 28." K. Shapland Carew . . 29, t lion. A. Creighton . . SO.f Hon. J. Ore'ujhton . . '61.* Joseph Edward Cooper. 32. t Jamts Cune .... 83.* Lord Caulfield . . . 34. t Henry Codding;ton. 35. § George Crookshank , 36.* Denis B. Daly . . . 37.t Noah Dalway. 38.* Richard Dawson. 39.* Arthur Dawsou . . 40.* Franci.s Dobbs . . 41. t John Egan 42. R. L. Edgeworth. 43.t George Evans. 44.* Sir John Freke, Bart, . 45.* Frederick Falkiner . . 46.§ Rt. Hon. J. Fitzgerald . 47.* William C. Fortescue, (Poisoned by accident.) 48.* Rt. Hon. John Foster . 49.* Hon. Thomas Foster. 50.* Sir T. Fetherston, Bart. 51.* Arthur French . . . 62.§ Chichester Fortescue . . 53.§ William Gore .... 64.^ Hamilton Georges . . 5.5.5 Rt. Hon. Henry Grattan 5ii.§ Thomas Goold . . 57. t Hans Hamilton . . 68.1 Edward Hardman . 69. § Francis Hardy . . f.0.§ Sir Joseph Hoare . 61." William Hoare Hume 62. § Edward Hoare . . fi3.§ Bartholomew Hoare t)4.S Ale.xaiider Hamilton 65. § Hon. A. C Hamilton. 66.§ Sir F. Hopkins, Bart. 67.t H. Irwin. 68.* Gilbert King. 69 t Charles King. 70.* Hon. Robert King. 71.* Lord Kingsborough 72. Hon. George Knox . 7o.t Francis Knox . . . 74.* Rt. Hon. Henry King 7o.t Major King . . . 7().§ Giistavin Lambert . 77.* David Latouche, jun., 78. & Robert Latouche 79.§ John Latouche, sen., OBSERVATIONS. (Now Lord Belmore,) dismissed from his regiment by Lord Corn- wallis — a zealous leader of the Opposition. A Barrister, bribed by Lord Castlereagh. See his Letter to Lord Belvidere. (Now Lord Leitfim.) (Now Lord Enni.skillen,) wtforiunately dissented from Mr. Ponsoi*- by's motion for a declaration of independence in 1799, loJiertby the Union was revived and carried. A General ; brother to Lord Cole. Changed sides, and became a Unionist. See Black List. Changed sides. See Black List. Changed sides. See Black List. (Now Earl Charlemont,) son to Earl Charlemont, a principal leader of the Opposition. A son of the Judge of the Common Plea."?. Brother-in-law to Mr. Ponsonby ; a most active Anti-Unionist. Formerly a Banker, father to the late Under-Secretary. Famous for his Doctrine on the-Millennium ; an entudsia.stic Anti- Unionist. King's Council, Chairman of Kilmainham ; offered a Judge's seat, but could not be purchased, though far from rich. (Now Lord Carberry.) Though a distressed person, could not be purchased. Prime Sergeant of Ireland ; could not be bought, and was dismissed from his high ofiBce by Lord Cornwallis ; father to Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald. One of the three who inconsiderately opposed Mr. Ponsonby, and thereby carried the Union. Speaker ; the chief of the Opposition throughout the whole contest Changed sides. See Black List. Unfortunately coincided with Mr. Fortescue in 1799, against Mr. Ponsonby. King at Arms ; brmight over in 1800, by Lord Castlereagh ; voted both sides ; ended a Unionist. Bought by Lord Castlereagh in 1 800. A distressed man. but coidd not be purchased ; father-in-law to Un- der-Secretary Cooke. Now Sergeant, brought into Parliament by the Anti-Unionists. Member for Dublin County. City of Drogheda ; the Speaker's friend. Author of the Life of Charlemont ; brother-in-law to the Bishop of Down. Wicklow County. Though very old, and stone blind, attended all the debates, and sat up all the nights of debate. King's Counsel. King's Counsel ; son to the Baron. Prevailed on to take money to vacate, in 1800, and let in a Unionist. (Now Earl Kingston.) Brother to Lord Northland ; lukewarm. Vacated his seat for Lord Castlereagh. See Mr. Crowe's Letter. He opened the Bishop of Clogher's Borough in 1800. Brother to Countess Talbot. A Banker. Ditto. Ditto. 616 APPENDIX. OBSERVATIONS. 8&.§ John Latouche, jun.. . . 81.' Charles Powell Leslie. Hi* Edward Lee 83.t Sir Thomas Lighton, Bart., 84* Lord Maxwell .... B&.* Alexander Montgomery. 86.§ Sir J. M'Cartney, Bart., . 87.§ William Thomas Mansel . 88. 1 Sieplien Moore .... &'i.^ John Moore. 90. Arthur Moore .... 91.* Lord Mathew .... 92.§ Thomas Mahon. 93. § John Metge 94.^ Richard Neville .... 95.§ Thomas Neweuham . . 96.* Charles O'Hara .... 97.* Sir Edward O'Brien . . 98.§ Col. Hugh O'Douuel . . 99.6 James Moore O'Donnel . 10O.§ Hon. W. O'Callaghan . . 101. Henry Osborn .... 102.* Right Hon. Geo. Ogle . 103.§ Joseph Preston .... . 104." John Preston .... 105.* Rt. Hon. Sir J. Parnell . 106.6 Henry Parnell.* 107.6 W. C. Pluiiliet .... 108.* Rt. Hon. W. B. Ponsonby 109.§ J. B. Ponsonby .... 110.§ Major V/. Ponsonby . . 111.* Rt. Hon. G. Ponsonby . 112.* Sir Lawrence Parsons 113.§ Richard Power .... 114.* Ahal Earn 115.* Gustavus Rochfort . . •1164 John S Rochfort . . . 117. Sir Wm. Richardson. 1 1 8.§ John Reily 119. William E. Reily. 120.6 Charles Ruxton. 121.^ William P. Ruxton. 122.* Clot worthy Rowley . . . 123.6 William Rowley . , . 124.§ J. Rowley 125.* Francis Saunderson. 12H.* William Smyth .... 127.* James Stewart. ] 2a§ Hon. W. J. SlieffingtoQ. 129.' Francis Savage. 130.6 Francis Synge. 13K6 Henry Ste.wart. 132.§ Sir R. St. George. Bart. 133.^ Hon. Benj. Stratford . . 134.* Nathaniel Sneyd. 135.* Thomas Stannus . . . Robert Shaw Rt. Hon. Wm. Saurin . . William Tighe. Henry Tighe. John Taylor. Thomas Townshend. A Banker. Member for the County of Waterford ; zealous. A Banker. Died Lord Farnham. Much distressed, but could not be bribed ; nephew, by aflBnity, to the Speaker. Actually purcluised by Lord Castlereagh. Changed sides on Lord Corry's motion. Now Judge of the Common Pleas ; a staunch Anti-Unionist. (Now Earl Llaudaff,) Tipperary County. Brother to the Baron of the Exchequer. Had been a dismissed treasury officer ; sold his vote to be reinstated, changed sides. See Black List. The Author of various Works on Ireland; one of the steadiesJ Anti-Unionists. Sligo County. Clare County. A most ardent Anti-Unionist ; dismissed from his regiment of Mayo militia. Killed by Mr. Bingham in a duel. Brother to Lord Lismore. Could not be bribed; his brother was. We.xlord County. An eccentric character ; coutd not be purchased. Of Belintor, was purchased by a title, (Lord Tara,) and his brother, a Parson, got a living of £700 a year. Chancellor of the Exchequer, dismissed by Lord Castlereagh; in- corruptible. Now Lord Plunket. Afierwards Lord Ponsonby. Afterwards Lord Pon.sonliy. A General, killed at Waterloo. Afterwards Lord Chancellor; died of apoplexy. Kings County ; now Earlof Rosse ; made a remarkably fine speech. Nephew to the Baron of the Exchequer. Changed sides. County Westmeath ; seduced by Government, and changed sides in Ib'OO. See Black List. Nephew to the Speaker. Changed sides. See Black List. Changed sides. Changed sides. Changed sides. Westmeath. See Black List. See Black List. See Black List Now Lord Aldborough ; gained by Lord Castlereagh ; changed sides. See Black List. Changed sides. Lord Portarlington's Member. See Black List. A Banker. Afterwards Attorney-General ; a steady but calm Anti-Unionist. * Sir John Parnell was one of the ablest supporters of Government of his day. His son has taken assiduously a more extensive and deeper tield of business in liiiance, but in auj oUier point, public or private, has no advautago over hiB father. APPENDIX. 617 142.' NAMKS. Son. Bichard Trench. 1 13.* Hon. R. Taylor. Ii4.§ Charles Vereker 145.§ Owen Wynne. ]4t;.* John Waller. 147.^ E. D. Wilson. 148.* Thomas Whaley 149.' 150.* Nicholas Westby. John Wolfe . . OBSKKVATIONS. Voted against the Union in 1799 ; was gained by Lord Castlereagh, whose relative he married, and voted for it in 1800; was created an Earl, and made an Ambassador to Holland ; one of the Vienna Carvers ; and a Dutch Marquess. (Now Lord Gort,) City Limerick. First voted against the Union ; purchased by Lord Castlereagh ; he was Lord Clare's brother-in-law. See Black List Member for the County Wicklow ; Colonel of the Kildare Militia ; refused to vote for Government, and was cashiered ; could not be purchased. ORIGINAL BLACK LIST. 1. R. Aldridge . . 2. Henry Alexander 3. Richard Archdall , 4. William Bailey . , 5. Rt. Hon. J. Beresford 6. J. Beresford. jun., . 7. Marcus Beresford 8. J. Bingham* . . 9. Joseph H. Blake . 10. Sir J. G. Blackwood 11. Sir John "Blaquiere 12. Anthony Botet . . 13. Colonel Burton. . 14. Sir Eichard Butler 15. Lord Boyle 16. Rt. Hon. D. Brown 17. Stewart Bruce . . 18. George Burdet . . 19. George Bunbury . 20. Arthur Brown . . 21. 22. BagweU, sen., , Bagwell, jun., 23. William Bagwell 24. Lord Castlereagh 25. George Cavendish 2(5. Sir H. Cavendish 27. Sir R Chinnery 28. James Cane . . 29. Thomas Casey . 80. Colonel C. Pope 81. General Cradock 32. James Crosby . 33. Edward Cooke OBSERVATIONS. An English Clerk in the Secretary's oflSce ; no connection with Ireland. Chairman of Ways and Means ; cousin of Lord Caledon ; bis broth- er made a Bishop ; himself a Colonial Secretary at the Cape of Good Hope. Commissioner of the Board of Works. Commissioner of the Board of Works. First Commissioner of Revenue ; brother-in-law to Lord Clare. Then Purse-bearer to Lord Clare, afterwards a Parson, and now Lord Decies. A Colonel in the Army, son to the Bishop, Lord Clare's nephew. Created a Peer ; got £8,000 for two seats ; and £15.000 compensa- tion for Tuam. This gentleman first offered himself lor sale to the Anti-Uuionist : Lord Clanmorris. Created a Peer — Lord Wallscourt, &c. Created a Peer — Lord Dufferin. Numerous Offices and Pensions, and created a Peer — Lord De Bla- quiere. Appointed Commissioner of the Barrack Board, £500 a year. Brotiier to Lord Conyngham 5 a Colouel in the Army. Purchased and changed sides ; voted against the Union in 1799, and for it in 1800. Cash. Son to Lord Shannon ; they got an immense sum of money for their seats and Boroughs ; at £15,000 each Borough. Brother to Lord Sligo. Gentleman Usher at Dublin Castle ; now a Baronet. Commissioner of a Public Board. £500 per annum. Commissioner of a Public Board. £500 per annum. Changed sides and principles, and was appointed Sergeant ; in 1799 opposed the TJnion, and supported it in 1800; be was Senior Fellow of Dublin University ; lost his seat the ensuing election, and died. Changed twice ; got half the patronage of Tipperary ; his son a Dean, &c., &c. Changed twice ; got the Tipperary Regiment, &c. His brother. The Irish Minister. Secretary to the Treasury during pleasure ; son to Sir Henry. Receiver General during pleasure ; deeply indebted to the Crown. Placed in office after the Union. Renegaded. and got a pension. A Commission of Bankrupts under Lord Clare ; made a City Mag- istrate. Renegaded ; got a Regiment, and the patronage of his county Returned by Government ; much military rank ; now Lord Howden. A regiment and the patronage of Kerry, jointly ; seconded the Ad- dress. Under-Secretary at the Castle. * The Author of this work was deputed to learn from Mr. Bingham what his expectations from fiovernraent for his ■eats were ; he proposed to take from the (ippositiou £8,000 for his two Beats for Tuam, and oppose the Union. Gov* ernmeut afterwards added a Peerajie and £15,000 for the Borough. 78 618 APPENDIX. 31 NAMES. Charles H. Coote 35. Rt. Hon. I. Corry . 3(5. Sir J. Cotter . . . 37. Richard Cotter. 38. Hon. H. Creighton ) 39. Hon. J. Creighton J 40. W. A. Crosbie . . 41. James Cuffe • . . 42. General Dunne . 43. William Elliot . . . 44. General Eustace . . 45. Lord C. Fitzgerald 4fi. Rt. Hon. W. Fitzgerald. 47. Sir C. Fortescue . . 48. A. Fergusson . • . 49. Luke Fox .... 50. William Fortescue 51. J. Galbraith . . 52. Henry D. Grady* 63. Richard Hare . 54. William Hare . 55. Col. B. Henniker 56. Peter Holmes . 57. George Hatton . 58. Hon. J Hutchinson 59. Hugh Howard . . 60. Wm. Handcock, (Athlone.) . 61. John Hobson . 62. Col. G. Jackson 63. Denham Jephson 64. Hon. G. Jocelyn OBSERVATIONS. Obtained a Regiment (which was taken from Colonel Warburton,) patronage of Queens County, and a Peerage, (Lord Castle- coote.) and £7.500 in cash for his interest at the Borough of Maryborough, in which, in fact, it was proved before the Com- missioners that Sir Jonah Barrington had more interest than his Lordship. Appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, on dismissal of Sir John Parnell. Privately brought over by cash. Renegaded (see Red List) privately purchased. Comptroller to the Lord-Lieutenant's Household. Natural son to Mr. Cuffe of the Board of Works, his father created Lord Tyrawly. Returned for Maryborough by the united influence of Lord Castle- coote and Government, to keep out Mr. Barrington ; gained the election by only one. Secretary at the Castle. A Regiment. Duke of Leinster's brother ; a Pension and a Peerage ; a Sea Officer of no repute. Renegaded (see Red List) Officer, King at Arms. Got a place at the Barrack Board, £500 a year and a Baronetcy. Appointed Judge of Common Pleas; nephew by marriage to Lord Ely. Got a secret Pension, out of a fund (£3,000 a year.) intrusted by Parliament to the Irish Government, solely to reward Mr. Rey- nolds, Cope.