Columbia (Hntoersftp mttjeCttptjfUfttigork THE LIBRARIES :yft/w - ■*■ > HISTORIC RECORDS AND SECRET MEMOIRS OF THE LEGISLATIVE UNION BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. BY SIR JONAH BARRINGTON, MEMBER OF THE LATE IRISH PARLIAMENT. £ Uth) dttt'on. ILLUSTRATED WITH FORTH \TTS/, HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1844. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Ireland at an early period. — Misgovernment and oppression of England. — Irish statistics. — -Climate. — Geographical advantages. — Internal resources. — Population. — Her depressed condition in 1779. — Causes of it. — Poyning's law. — Usurpation by England to bind Ireland by British Statutes. — The penal statutes against Catholics. — Fatal consequences to Ireland. — Ireland roused by the example of America. — Success of America. — Its effect on the Irish people. — Origin of the Irish Volunteers. — Character of Lord Clare. — His intolerance. — His political inconsistency. — His fall. CHAP. H. State of the Irish Parliament previous to 1779. — Previous to 1780, occasional contests arose in the Irish Parliaments. — The Absentees. — The Irish Bar. — Its influence and independence. — Mr. Burgh Prime-Sergeant. — The Attorney-General. — France assists America against England. — France the champion of Liberty ; England of Slavery. — France threatens to invade Ireland. — Eng- land prostrate and incapable of assisting Ireland. — Moderation and patriotism of the Catholics. — Character of the Irish people misrepre- sented and misunderstood in England. — Irish character defamed by English writers. — Character of the Irish peasant. — Their indompt- able courage. — Attachment to their country. — The Gentrv. — Romantic Chivalry of the Irish gentry. — Suicide unknown in Ire- land. — Irish Peerage. — ■ Protestant Clergy. — Catholic Clergy. — Their conduct and manners. CHAP. m. Ireland awakened to a sense of her slavery. — The Irish Parlia- ment totally independent of England. — The King acknowledged in Ireland through his Irish crown , and not through the crown of Eng- a ij CONTENTS. | ;II1( 1 # — Perilous position of England. — Moderation and attachment of Ireland. — Ireland determined to demand her jusl rights. — Conspiracy against the manufactures of Ireland. — The non-consump- tion agreement adopted throughout all Ireland. — Progress of the \ olunleers. — Their principal Leaders. — Sir John Parnel. — His character. — General effects of volunteering upon the people of Ire- land. CHAP. IV. Unexpected events in the Irish House of Commons. — Mr. Grat- fan's Amendment to the Address. — His puhlic character and vicissi- , lu les. — The Amendment. — Its effects. — Sir Henry Cavendish. — His character. — Mr. Hussey Burgh (the Prime-Sergeant) secedes from Government and substitutes an Amendment for Mr. Grattan's. The Amendment passed. — First step towards Irish independ- ence. The English Parliament callous to the wrongs of Ireland. — Lord Shelburne and Lord Ossory propose resolutions. — The Irish nation determined to assert its rights. — Resolution for a free trade carried unanimously. — This circumstance one of the remote causes of the Union. — Rapid progress of the Volunteers. — Extra- ordinary military honours paid to the Duke of Leinster. — Attempts to seduce the Volunteers. — Earl of Charlemont. — His character. CHAP. V. Spirit of the Irish and humiliation of the English Government. — Preparation for hostilities. — Lord North's emharrassmenl. — King's conciliatory speech and the consecpient proceedings. — Duplicity of Ministers. — The people alarmed. — Volunteer Organization pro- ceeds Mutiny Pill. — Alarming rencontre of the Volunteers and Regular Army. — Intolerance of England. — Further Grievances of freland — Proceedings in the Irish Parliament. — O'Neill of Shane's Castle. His character and influence. — Address to the Volunteers. — Its results. CHAP. VI. Observations as to the strength of a people. — German mercena- ries Further subject of discontent in Ireland. — Dispute between Ireland and Portugal. — Portugal encouraged in her hostility towards CONTENTS. iij Ireland by the British Minister. — Perseverance of Portugal. — Mr. Fitzgibbon's motion. — Sir Lucius O'Brien — Proposes that Ireland in her own right should declare war against Portugal. — Sir J. Blaquiere. — Effects of Sir Lucius O'Brien's Amendment. — Distinctness of Ireland proved. — Federative compact. — Arguments for and against prompt proceedings. — Spirited reasoning of the Irish. — No Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland. — Determination of the Volunteers. — Origin and progress of delegated assemblies. — The Northern Irish. — Dungannon meeting. — ■ Mr. Dobbs. — Extraor- dinary mind. — His eccentricity. — Theories. — Colonel Irwin. — Account of the Dungannon meeting continued. — Dungannon reso- lutions. CHAP. VII. The Earl of Bristol , Bishop of Derry , declares for Irish Inde- pendence. — Sketch of his character. — Besistance to English Laws unanimously decided on. — Declaration of the Irish Volunteers dis- claiming all British authority. — The Irish judges dependent on the English Government. — Numerical force of the Irish Volunteers. — Dissenting Clergymen. — Their Leaders. — State of the Irish Par- liament. — Members divided into Classes. — The leading members. — Mr. Thomas Connolly. — Mr. Yelverton — His character. CHAP. VIH. The alarm in England increases. — The Earl of Carlisle recalled. — The Duke of Portland appointed Lord Lieutenant. — Duke of Portland's character. — He attempts to procrastinate. — Bemarks on the policy of a Union at that juncture. — Mr. Grattan refuses to delay his proceedings. — Especial call of the house. — Comparison of the English and Irish houses of Parliament. — Character of Mr. Sexton Perry. — Embarrassment of the patriots. — Mr. Hut- chinson , Secretary of State, unexpectedly declares the assent of Go- vernment. — Mr. Ponsonby moves an address considered insufficient. — Dangerous dilemma of Parliament. > CHAP. IX. :laration of rig liament. — Mr. Brownlow. — Mr. George Ponsonby. — Mr. Flood Mr. Grattan moves a declaration of rights and grievances in Par- iv CONTENTS. — Mr. Fitzgibbon's conduct. — His Declaration of I ndependence. — Enthusiastic rejoicings. CHAP. X. Design of tin- British Government to recall the independence of Ireland. — Singular conduct of the Attorney-General. — His speech. — Its powerful effect. — Palpable dread of an Insurrection. — Effect on England. — Duke of Portland's duplicity. — Attains an ascendency over Earl Charlemont. — Embarrassment of the Eng- lish Cabinet. — The Volunteers prepare for actual service. — Imbe- cilitv of England. — Insidious designs of the English Government. — Mr. Fox. — Mr. Pitt. — Important meeting of Parliament. — The Volunteer Regiments occupy the avenues to the House of Com- mons. — Designs of the Duke of Portland. — Duke of Portland's speech. — Mr. Grattan. — Mr. Brownlow. — The Recorder and Mr. Walshe oppose Mr. Grattan's address. — Mr. Flood neutral. — Mr. Walshe. — Mr. Yelverton. — The Secretary. — Division. — Consequent embarrassment. CHAP. XI. Temporary credulity of the Irish Parliament. — Country Gentle- men. — Singular character of Mr. Bagenal. — His Exploits. — Po- pularity. — His patriotism. — Commanded many Volunteer Corps. — Gives notice of a motion to reward Mr. Grattan. — Anti-prophetic observation. — Mr. Grattan's increasing popularity. — Hasty repeal of the declaratory act 6th Geo. III. — And transmitted by the Viceroy to the Volunteers. — Doctrine of Blackstone declared un- constitutional. — Mr. Bagenal's motion to grant 100,000/. to Mr. Grattan. — Mistaken pride of his friends. — Extraordinary oc- currence. — Insidious conduct of Government. — Mr. Thomas Co- nolly makes a mosl unprecedented motion. — Viceroy offers the Palace to Mr. Grattan and his heirs as a reward for his services. — Objects of the Government in making the offer. — Discovered by the indiscretion of the Secretary, Col. Fitzpalrick. — His character. — Real objects developed. — Mr. Grattan's friends decline so large a j, ran t. — Their mistaken principle. - Effects of the Calumnies against Inland. — False arguments. — Comparison of the conduct of Eng- land and Ireland. — Comparative loyalty. CONTENTS. v CHAP. XII. Epitome of Irish History. — Treacherous system of the English Government. — First Irish Union. — Second Union compared with the first. — King Henry's Acts in Ireland. — His plan to decimate the Nation. — He relinquished his dominion over Ireland. — Abor- tive attempts to Colonize — Totally failed. CHAP. XIII. Ireland kept in a state of oppression and turbulence. — Elizabeth becomes Queen. — Character public and private of Queen Elizabeth. — Henry the VIII. — Fanaticism of the English. — True principles ot tolerance. — Union of Religion and political fanaticism. — Reli- gious schisms excited through Luther. — Violent dissentions. — The Irish roused. — Cruel tyranny of Elizabeth. — Earl of Tyrone ex- cites the Irish. — Extract from his speech. — General rising of the Irish and old English colonists. — Immense slaughter. — Confisca- tion of whole provinces to Elizabeth. — Accession of James the First. — Comparison with Elizabeth. — His wise maxims. — Conciliatory principles. — Its full success. — Charles the First. — Disloyalty of the English. — Ireland desolated by Cromwell. CHAP. XIV. Restoration of the Stuart dynasty. — Usurpation of William. — Ireland remained loyal. — Comparison of the people. — The revo- lutionary principle undefined. — Irish treated as rebels by William for their loyalty to their King. — Character of William the Third. Continued oppression and malgovernment of Ireland. — The Scotch and English rebelled. — Ireland remained tranquil. — Comparison of the English and Irish as to their Kings. — Ireland first infected by the Scotch and English rebellions. — Mr. Pitt suppressed the spirit of insurrection in England promptly. — Suffered it to increase in Ireland. CHAP. XV. Catholic relaxation Bills opposed by Mr. Rowley. — Sir Edward Newenham. — Doctor Patrick Duigenan. — His character. — vj CONTENTS. Mr. Ogle. — Bills passed. — Unjust Doctrine. — Change in the Irish Parliament. — Mr. Fox's candour. — His speech. — Deception of the British Cabinet developed. — Marquis of Rockingham. — Total absence of energy. — Mr. Burke. — Inactive as to Ireland. — New debates. — Embarrassing consequences of Mr. Grattan's ad- dress. — Mr. Grattan's motion objectionable. — Mr. Flood's reply. — Unfortunate collision of Grattan and Flood. — Mr. Grattan's fal- lacious motion. — Mr. Flood's reply. — Mr. Montgomery moves to build an Irish Navy. — Negatived. — Parliament prorogued. — Most important session. — Moderation of Ireland. — Duke of Portland's hypocritical speech. CHAP. XVI. Insufficiency of Mr. Grattan's measures. — Death of the Marquis of Rockingham and its consequences. — Earl Temple Lord Lieute- nant. — Mr. Grenville Secretary. — His Character. — Lord Temple. < — Not unpopular. — Mr. Corry a principal instrument of Lord Temple. — Proceedings of the Volunteers. — Strong resolutions to oppose English Laws. — Bad effects of the dissention between Grat- tan and Flood. — Sir George Young. — Effect of Sir George Young's speech. — Lord Mansfield's conduct accounted for. — Consequence of these speeches. — British Parliament belie their own Act. — Lord Abingdon denies the King's right to pass the Bill. — England by Statute admitted her usurpation , and relinquished for ever her right to legislate for Ireland. — Renunciation Act. — Mr. Grattan still perversely opposes Mr. Flood. — The renunciation Act confirmed Mr. Flood's doctrine. CHAP. XVII. Lord Chai lemonl's courtly propensities. — Comparison of Grattan and Flood. — Consequences of their jealousy to the country. — The people enlightened, learn the true slate of their situation. — Discus- sion — And Arguments. — Inefficiency of the measures as a future security. — A Reform of Parliament indispensable to public security. — Mr. Pitt. — His duplicity and corruption. — Constitutional reasons for a reform of Parliament. — Deduction. — Conclusion drawn by the Volunteers. - — Proved by incontrovertible fact. — CONSENTS. vij Stale ol' Electors and Representatives compared. — Mi. Curran. — His Charaeter. CHAP. XVIII. Volunteers i-eceived by the King. — Happy stale of Ireland. — Progressively prosperous. — Untoward consequences of the collision between Flood and Grattan. — A second Dungannon meeting of delegated Volunteers. — Mr. Flood gains ground. — Arguments. — A National Convention decided on. — Their first meeting. — In- teresting procession of the Delegates described. — Entrance of the Delegates. — Extraordinary coincidence of localities. — Embarrassing situation. — The Delegates meet at the Rotunda. CHAP. XIX. The Bishop of Derry takes his seat at the Convention. — His splendor — And pageantry — Procession — Popularity — Ex- traordinary Visit to the House of Lords. — A Guard of Honour mounted at his house. — Entirely devoted to the Irish people. — His great qualities and acquirements. — Opposes Charlemont and Grattan. — First treacherous Scheme of the British Government again to enslave Ireland. — The spirit of the Irish Parliament de- clines. — Reasons for Reform in Parliament. — Absolutely essential to her prosperity. — Further traits of Lord Charlemont's Character. — His inefficiency. — His views. — Opposes the Bishop of Derry's Election for the Presidency of the National Convention. — Many Members of Parliament attend the Convention also. — Earl Charle- mont's dilemma. — Proceedings of the Convention. — The Bishop and M. Flood acquired the ascendency. — The Parliament ami Convention. — Desperate step of Government. — Fitzgibbon's Phi- lippic. — Most violent Debates. — Bill rejected. — Extraordinary coincidence of facts. — Mr. Conolly's motion. — Feeble and insidious resolution of Lord Charlemont. — Fatal adjournment. — Called a meeting of his partisans. — Breaks his trust. — Inexcusable conduct. — False statement. — Virtually dissolves the Convention before the full meeting. — Lord Charlemont justly reprobated. — Volunteers beat to arms. — Lord Charlemont's intolerance. — Opposed by the Bishop of Deny. viij CONTENTS. CHAP. XX. Celebrated Address of the Volunteers to the Bishop. — Reply of the Bishop. — Some thought the Bishops answer too strong. — A new Bill suggested. — New measures of Earl Charlemont. — Decline of the Volunteers. — Insincerity of the concessions. — Cupidity of English traders. — Sordid interest absorbed her justice. — Com- mercial treaty and tariff proposed. — Commercial propositions. — Mr. Pitt's duplicity. — Magnificence of the Irish Court. — The Propositions rejected. — Mr. Brownlow opposes the eleven propo- sitions. — ■ Passed the Commons. — Mr. Pitt proposes twenty propo- sitions. — Embarrassment of the Secretary. — Most violent Debates in the Irish Parliament. — The Minister virtually defeated. — The treaty ended. — Defeat of the treaty effected by the country gentle- men. — Mr. Forbes a leading member of the House of Commons. Mr. Hardy. — Mr. Carleton Solicitor-General. — His singular Cha- racter. CILVP. XXI. Death of the Duke of Rutland. — Marquis of Buckingham's second Government. — The question of a Regency. — Mr. Pitt's conduct. — The Prince submitted to the restraints. — The Irish resisted, and refused to restrain him. — Unprecedented case. — Collision between the two Parliaments. — Round Robin. — Iri.sh address to the Prince. — Sketch of the Arguments on the Regency question in Ireland. — Constitutional state of both Nations. — Conduct of the Nations contrasted. — Reasons for the Irish Parliament proceeding by ad- dress, and not by Statute, to appoint a Regent. — Question whether the Parliaments of England or Ireland had committed ;i breach "I the Constitution. — Threats of the Viceroy. — The Round Robin. — Viccro\ determined to retire. — Reception of the Irish Delegates by the Prince. — Address of the Irish Parliament to the Prince. — Reply of the Prince, eulogizing the Irish legislature. — Afterwards neglected. CHAP. XXII. Ireland acted on her independence. — Prosperous stale of Ireland ;ii fhat period. — The Rise of the Irish Nation consummated by the CONTENTS. ix withdrawal of the Viceroy. — Particularly important observation. — Lord Westmoreland. — Major Hobart. — His character. — State of Ireland on his accession to office. — ■ Concessions by Government. — Delusion and negligence of the Opposition. — Catholic emanci- pation commenced. — Arguments of the Catholics. — Catholic petition rejected by a great majority. — Deep designs of Mr. Pitt. — Mr. Pitt proceeds with his measures to promote a union. — Lord Fitzwilliam appointed Lord Lieutenant. — His character. — Deceived and calum- niated by Mr. Pitt. — Great popularity of the Lord Lieutenant. — Earl Fitzwilliam recalled. — Fatal consequences. — Ireland given up to Lord Clare , and insurrection excited. — Lord Camden. — United Irishmen. — Unprecedented Organization. — Lord Camden's character. — Despotic conduct of Lord Clare. — Earl Carhampton commander in chief. — Disobeys Lord Camden. — Again disoheys. — The King's sign-manual orders him to obey. — He resigns. CHAP. XXIII. Insurrection. — Topography of Wexford county. — Persecutions and cruelties of the Wexford Gentry. — Commencement of Hosti- lities. — State of the Insurgents — And their number. — Expected attack on Dublin. — Excellent plan of the Insurgents. — Executions in cold blood, and barbarous exhibition in the Castle-yard. — Major Bacon executed without trial. — Major Foot defeated. — Col. Wal- pole defeated and killed. — General Fawcett defeated. — General Dundas and the Cavalry defeated by the Pikemen. — Captain Armstrong's treachery. — Henry and John Sheares. — The execution of the two brothers. — Progress of the insurrection. — Different Battles. — Important Battle of Arklow. — Spirited reply of Colonel Skerritt. — Battle of Ross. — Bagenal Harvey. — Death of Lord Mountjoy. — Unprecedented instance of heroism in a boy. — The Royal Army driven out of the town. — Description of Vinegar-Hill. — Details of the Engagement. — General Lake's horse shot under him. — Enniscorthy twice stormed. — Wounded Peasants burned. — Mr. Grogan tried by Court Martial. — His witness shot by the military. — Bill of attainder. — Ten thousand pounds costs to the Attorney -General. — Barbarous execution of Sir Edward Crosby and Mr. Grogan, under colour of a Court Martial. x CONTENTS. CHAP. XXIV. Appointment of Lord Cornwallis. — His crafty conduct. — French invade Ireland in a small number. — British troops totally defeated, their artillery all taken. — Races of Casllebar. — Ninety militia men hanged by Lord Cornwallis. — French outwit Lord Cornwallis. — Lord Jocelyn taken prisoner. — French surrendered. — Mr. Pitt proceeds in his projects of a Union. — The subserviency of the Lords. — The Bishops. — Bishops of Waterford and Down. — Political characters of Lord Cornwallis and Lord Casllereagh. — Unfortunate results of Lord Cornwallis's conduct in every quarter of the world. — Lord Castlereagh. — Union proposed. — Great splendour of the Chancellor. — Celebrated Bar meeting. — Mr. Saurin. — Mr. Saint George Daly. — Mr. Thomas Grady. — Mr. Grady's curious ha- rangue. — Mr. Thomas Goold's speech. — Thirty-two county judges appointed by Lord Clare. — Lord Clare opposes the Bar. — Opening of the session of i 799- — Lord Clare's great power. — Lord Tyrone's character. — Seconded by Mr. Fitzgerald. — Mr. John Ball. — Bis character. CHAP. XXV. The three leading arguments used in Parliament in favor of a Union. — Arguments of the Anti-Unionists. — Not England which quelled the insurrection. — English Militia never acted in Ireland. — Second ground for Union equally fallacious. — Ireland could gain no commercial advantages by Union. — She Mould lose more by absentees than she could gain by English capital. — Deceptive argu nients as to British capitalists. — The comparison between Scotland and Ireland in all points fallacious. — Scotland no precedent in mai- lers of fact. — Fir^l relative situation. — Constant wars. — Mary. — Union of the crowns in James I. — Conduct of William III. — Reign of Anne. — Union effected. — Without the Union the Scottish crown would have gone to another dynasty. — ■ Act of " separation " by the Scottish Parliament termed 1>\ them the act of" security." — Scot- land and England must have been severed without Union ; therefore it was necessary. — Ireland and England had been united ; therefore unnecessary. — International compact with Ireland. — Violated b) England. — Comparison of the state <>| Scotland and Ireland con- CONTENTS. vj tinued. — Probable collision of Scotland and England. — The in- competence of the Irish Parliament to enact a Union. — Opinion of the ablest Lawyers. — The Union void ab initio. — Mr. William Smith supports the Union. — Corrupt conduct of Mr. Trench and Mr. Fox. — Mr. Trench palpably gained over. — Mr. Trench re- canted what he had a few moments before declared , and said he had changed his mind and would vote for Government. — ■ The Place Bill and its unfortunate effects. — Mr. Fox created a Judge of the Com- mon Pleas for his tergiversation. — Originally a Whig. — Made a false declaration to avoid being counted. — Effect of the Place Bill. — His second deception. — Great joy of the people. — Difficult con- dition of both parties. — Active preparations for next debate. — Conduct of Mr. Cooke and Admiral Pakenham. — Mr. Marshall's disgraceful conduct. — Debate commenced. — Great popularity of the Speaker. — Lord Castlereagh's policy. — Sir John Parnell denied the competence of both the King and the Parliament to enact a Union. — Mr. Tighe the same. — Mr. George Ponsonby. — Great effect of Mr. Ponsonby's speech. — Remarkable agitation. — Descrip- tion of the scene. — Lord Castlereagh's violent speech. — Attack on Mr. Ponsonby. — Mr Ponsonby's sarcastic reply. — Lord Castle- reagh's desperation. — Mr. John Egan attacks Mr. William Smith. — Sir Laurence Parsons made a most able and eloquent speech. — Mr. Frederic Falkiner nothing could corrupt. — Prime-Serjeant Fitzgerald dismissed. — Mr. Plunket's speech. — Spirited speech of Col. O'Donnell. — Second shameful ter- giversation of Mr. Trench, created Lord AshtOAvn. — Mr. Pon- sonby's important motion. — Lord Castlereagh's reply. — Question put ; only two negatives. — Most important incident in the Annals of Ireland. — State of the House of Commons. — Mr. Fortescue's fatal speech. — Mr. French and Lord Cole seceded. — John Clau- dius Beresford. — Critical situation of the Opposition. — Mr. Pon- sonby withdraws his motion. — Extraordinary change in the feelings of the House. — Sarcastic remark of Sir Henry Cavendish. — Great popularity of the Speaker. — Joy and exultation of the people. — Singular anecdote of Mr. Martin. — Meeting of the Lords. — Their infatuation. — Conduct of Lord Clare. — Unpopularity of the Irish Peers. — Two Bishops , Down and Limerick , opposed him. — Cha- racter of the Bishop of Down. — Commission of Compensation. — xij CONTENTS. Events after the withdrawal of Mr. Ponsonby's motion. — Lord Cur- ry's motion , similar in principle to Mr. Ponsonby's, negatived. — Subsequent proceedings of the Viceroj and Lord Castlereagh. — Ruinous consequence of Mr. Forlescue's conduct. — Mistaken con- duct of the Anii-l nionists. — Their embarrassment. — Bad effects of Mr. Fortescue's conduct. — The Catholics. — Stale of parties. CHAP. XXVI. The different views of the Opposition. — Opposition not sufficiently organized or connected. — Disunion in consequence of the Catholic question. — Catholics duped. — Alternately oppressed and fostered. — Lord Clare's great influence. — Very important dispatch from Mr. Pitt to Lord Cornwallis. — Unprecedented plan of Lord Castle- reagh. — Remarkable dinner. — The plan or conspiracy — Acceded to. — Rewards in perspective. — Meeting of Anti-Unionists at Lord Charlemont's. — Opposition Lords meet. — Lord Castlcreagh's plan laid before them. — Counter-plan proposed — Rejected. — Earl Rebnore. — His motion to the same effect as Mr. Ponsonby's — Rejected. — Very numerous addresses against the Union. — Parti- cularly Dublin. — A Privy Council. — Lord Clare's violence. — Military execution. — People killed and wounded. — Inefficiently brought liefore Parliament. — Anti-Union dinner. — Mr. llandcock, of Athlone, a conspicuous patriot. — Corrupt state of the British Parliament — Compared with that of Ireland at the Union. — Mr. Handcock bribed. CHAP. XXVII. Felons in the gaols induced, by promise of pardon , to sign peti- tions in favor of the Union. — Every means of corruption resorted to by llie Viceroy. — Viceroy doubtful of future support. — Resorted to Place Bill. — Unpararelled measure of public bribery avowed by Lord Castlereagh. — Bill to raise i,5oo,ooo/. for bribes. — Grave reflection on the King's assenting to an avowed act of corruption. — A few bribes called Compensation. — The British Parliament had anticipated the proposal. — Lord Cornwallis's speech peculiarly artful. — -Lord Loftus moves the address. — Lord Castlcreagh's rea- son. — Sir Laurence Parsons's important motion and speech. — CONTENTS. liij Debate continue J all night. — Lord Castlereagh's plan put into execution. — Mr. Bushe. — Mr. Plunket. — Mr. St. George Daly — His character. — His attack on Mr. Bushe — On Mr. Plunket. — Replied to by Mr. Barringlon. — Mr. Peter Burrows. — Affecting appearance of Mr. Grattan in the House of Commons. — Returned for Wicklow the preceding evening. — The impediment laid by Government. — Returned at midnight. — Entered the House at seven in the morning in a debilitated state. — Description of his entry. — Powerful sensation caused by his splendid oration. — Mr. Corry induced to reply. — No effect on the House. — The three Bagwells seceded from Government. — Lord Ormond changed to the minister. — Mr. Arthur Browne's tergiversation. — Division. — Mr. Foster's speech. — Important incident. — Bad conduct of the Clergy. — Very singular circumstance. — Mr. Annesley chair- man of the committee on the Union. — Bishop of Clogher returns Mr. Annesley to Parliament. — Messrs. Ball and King petition — ■ Succeed. — Mr. Annesjey declared not duly elected ; left the chair and quitted the House. — Not a legal chairman. — Shameful and palpable act of corruption by Sir William Gladowe Newcomen. — Bribe proved. — Bribery of Mr. Knox and Mr. Crowe. — Their speeches against the Union. — The Earl of Belvidere most palpably bribed to change sides. — His resolutions. — Mr. Knox and Mr. Crowe bribed. — Mr. Usher bribed to secrecy. — The corrupt agreement of Mr. Crowe and Mr. Knox to vacate their seats for Union members, in presence of Mr. Usher, a parson. — The terms with Lord Castlereagh. — Mr. Charles Ball's affecting conduct. — The Anti-Union members , despairing , withdraw in a body. — Last sitting of the Irish Parliament. — The House surrounded by mili- tary. — Most affecting scene. — Bad consequences to England. — Unhappiness of the Speaker. — Ireland extinguished. RISE AND FALL OF THE IRISH NATION CHAPTER I. I. More than six cenluries fc^J passed away, since Ire- Ireland at land had first acknowledged a subordinate connexion with ^a*" 1 ' pe " the English monarchy — her voluntary but partial submission to the sceptres of Henry and of Richard had been construed by their successors into the right of conquest — and the same spirit of turbulence and discord , which had generated the treachery and treasons of M'Morrough , was carefully culti- vated by every English potentate , as the most effectual bar- rier against the struggles of a restless and semiconquered people — and Ireland , helpless and distracted , groaned for ages in obscurity under the accumulated pressure of internal strife and external tyranny. The apathy produced by this habitual oppression had long benumbed the best energies of Ireland ; — her national spi- rit , depressed by the heavy hand of arbitrary restraint , almost forgot it's own existence 5 and the proudest language of her constitution could only boast , that she was the annexed dependant of a greater and a freer country. It was not until an advanced stage of the American revolt had attracted the attention of enlightened Europe to the first principles of civil liberty, that Ireland began steadily to 2 RISE AND FALL reflect on her own deprivations. — Commerce and constitu- tion had been withdrawn from her grasp, and the usurped supremacy ' of the British Parliament gave a death blow to every struggle of Irish independence. Misgovern- II. But in whatever relative situation the two nations really Bient and op- , 1 , i i i • ■ 1 • 1 . l pression of sto °d , the same jealous and narrow principle might he KDgiand. perceived uniformly attending every measure enacted as to the Irish people. — If at any lime a cheering ray of com- mercial advantage chanced for a moment to illuminate the dreary prospects of Ireland, the sordid spirit of monopoly instantly arose in England , and rendered every effort to pro- mote a beneficial trade , or advance a rival manufacture, vain and abortive. Commercial jealousy and arbitrary government united, therefore, to suppress eve* 3 'struggle of the Irish nation, and root up every seed of prosperity and civilization. Alarmed at the increasing population , the unsubdued spirit, and the inexhaustible resources of that strong and fertile is- land; a dread of her growing power excited a fallacious jea- lousy of her future importance. In her timidity or her avarice England lost sight of her truest interests, and of her nobler feelings; and kings, usurpers, and viceroys, as thev respec- tively exercised the powers of government , all acted towards Ireland upon the same blind and arbitrary principles, which they bad imbibed from their education , or inherited from their predecessors. This desperate policy , so repugnant to the attachment , and fatal to the repose of the two countries, excited the spirit of eternal warfare: — an enthusiastic love of national indepen- dence sharpened the sword , and the zealots of religious fana- ticism threw away the scabbard — the septs fought against 1 The claim of ike British Parliament to bind Ireland l>\ Britis/i statutes ■was at length mosl ably refuted by Mr. William WLolym n\ , representative for Dublin University , in his ee'ebrat'd work published in i(jt|tf , entitled " The Case of lit! itul. OF TITE IRISH NATION. 3 each oilier, the English against all — the population was thinned, hut the survivors became inveterate; and though the wars and the massacres of Elizabeth and of Cromwell , by depopulating, appeared to have subjugated , the nation — the triumph was not glorious — and the conquest was not complete. Direct persecution against principles only adds fuel to a con- flagration — the persons of men may be coerced — but it is beyond the reach of human power, to subdue the rooted , hereditary passions and prejudices of a persevering, ardent , and patriotic people : — such a nation may be gained over by address, or seduced by dissimulation , but can never be re- claimed by force , or overcome by persecution — yet from the very first intercourse between the two countries, that de- structive system of force and of dissension , which so palpably led to the miseries of Ireland , had been sedulously cultivated , and unremittingly persevered in. Thus grievously oppressed, and ruinously disunited, Ireland struggled often , but she struggled in vain : the weight of her chains was too heavy for the feebleness of her constitution , and every effort to enlarge her liberty only gave a new pretext to the conqueror , to circumscribe it within a still narrower compass. On the same false principle of government this oppressed nation was also systematically retained in a state of the utmost obscurity, and represented to the world as an insignificant and remote island , remarkable only for her turbulence and sterility : and so perfectly did this misrepresentation succeed, that, while every republic and minor nation of Europe had become the theme of travellers , and the subject of historians, Ireland was visited only to be despised , and spoken of only to be calumniated. — In truth , she is as yet but little known by the rest of Europe , and but partially even to the people of England. But when the extraordinary capabilities, the re- sources , and the powers of Ireland are fullv developed . an 4 RISE and fall interest must arise in every breast , which reflects on her mis fortunes — il is lime that the curtain , which has been so long interposed between Ireland and the rest of Europe , should be drawn aside for ever — and a just judgment formed of the impolicy of measures , which have been adopted nomi- nally to govern , but substantially to suppress her power and prosperity. I«sli III. The position of Ireland upon the face of the globe pecu- liarly formed her for universal intercourse, and adapted her in every respect for legislative independence. Separated by a great sea from England , — the Irish people , dissimilar in customs, more than equal in talent , and vastly superior in energy , possess an island about 900 miles in circumference; with a climate, for the general mildness of temperature and moderation of seasons, unrivalled in the universe — the parching heals, or piercing colds, the deep snows, the torrent, and the hurricane, which other countries so fatally experience, ai e here unknown. — Though her great exposure to the spray of the Atlantic increases the humidity of the atmosphere, il adds to the fecundity of the soil, and distinguishes her fer- tile fields by the productions of an almost perpetual vege- tation. The geographical situation of Ireland is not less favourable, to commerce , than her climate is to agriculture — her position on the western extremity of Europe would enable her to inter- cept the trade of the new world from all other nations — the merchandise of London , of lirislol , and of Liverpool, skirt her shores , before it arrives at it's own destination ; and some of the finest harbours in the world invite the inhabitants of ibis gifted island lo accept the trade of India , and form the emporium of Europe. Internal re- ' ' lC internal and natural advantages of Ireland are great sourr^ an( ] inexhaustible — rich mines arc found in almost every quarter of the island; gold is discovered in the beds of streams, and washed from the sands of rivulets — the mountains are OF THE IRISH NATION. 5 generally arable to their summits — the vallies exceed in fertility the most prolific soils of England — ■ the rivulets , which flow along the declivities , adapt the country most pe- culiarly to the improvement of irrigation ; and the hogs and mosses of Ireland, utterly unlike the fens and marshes of England , emit no damp or noxious exhalations ; and give a plentiful and cheering fuel to the surrounding peasantry •, or , when reclaimed , become the most luxuriant pastures. The population of Ireland is great and progressive. — Populai Above five ' millions of a brave and hardy race of men are seen scattered through the fields, or swarming in the villages — a vast redundancy of grain , and innumerable flocks and herds , should furnish to them not only the source of trade , but every means of comfort. Dublin, the second city in the British empire , though it yields in extent , yields not in architectural beauties to the metropolis of England. — For some years previous to the Union, it's progress was excessive — the locality of the par- liament — the constant residence of the nobility and com- mons — the magnificent establishments of the viceregal court — the indefatigable hospitality of the people — and the increas- ing commerce of the port , all together gave a brilliant pro- sperity to that splendid and luxurious capital. Ireland a possessing the strongest features of a powerful slate, though labouring under every disadvantage, which a restricted commerce and a jealous ally could inflict upon her prosperity, might still have regarded with contempt the com- paratively unequal resources and inferior powers of half the monarchies of Europe : — her insular situation — her great ' Now nearly eight millions. 1 The relative size of Ireland , compared to England and Wales , is about 18 to 3o — it contains about eighteen millions of acres : is about 285 miles long , and above 160 broad. — In time of war she lends more than one hundred thousand soldiers and sailors to the English fleet and army — and retains at home above one million of hardy men from 1 47 years of age , lit to bear arms. RISE AND FALL fertility — the character of her people — the amount of her revenues — and the extent of her population , gave her a de- cided superiority over other nations, and rendered her crown, it accompanied by her affections, not only ' a brilliant but a most substantial ornament to the British empire. However, though gifted, and enriched by the hand of ^Nature, the fomented dissensions of her own natives had wedded Ireland to poverty, and adapted her to subjugation, — her innate capacities lay dormant and inactive — her dea- rest interests were forgotten by herself, or resisted by her ally 5 and the gifts and bounties of a favouring Providence, though lavished , were lost on a divided people. ikrdeprcs- IV. By the paralyzing system thus adopted towards Ireland , in 1779. ll ° U she was at length reduced to the lowest ebb — her poverty and distresses, almost at their extent, were advancing fast to their final consummation , — her commerce had almost ceas- ed — her manufactures extinguished — her constitution with- drawn — the people absolutely desponding, — while public and individual bankruptcy finished a picture of the deepest misery a ; and the year 1779 found Ireland almost every In the very words of the highest authority iu Great Britain this day , " ij well governed, Ireland would he the brightest jewel in the king's crown. " 1 This wretched period cannot he more pathetically described , than by .1 most able and just statement of Irish grievances, published in the year r779, by Mr. Hely Hutchinson (father of the present Lords Donoughmore and Hutchinson), then Provost of the Dublin University, an eloquent and vei \ distinguished member of the Irish Parliament. — In his book entitled ' Commercial Restraints' — Mr. Hutchinson gives a pathetic description of the state to which Ireland was reduced by the je;ilous and narrow policy of England. This book acquired so much character, and spoke so many plain truths that for many years it was quoted as an authority in the Irish Parliament. — Mr. Flood often declared , that, if there were but two copies of it in print, he would give a thousand pounds for one of them. — It will he in- teresting to compare the miserable state of Ireland in 1779 with her pro- sperity in 170 i, when she had enjoyed only twelve years ol constitutional independence and unrestricted commerce OF THE IRISH NATION. 7 thing, bul what such a country and such a people ought to have been. This lamentable stale of the Irish nation was not the result Causes ofit. of any one distinct cause : a combination of depressing cir- cumstances united, to bear down every progressive effort of that injured people. Immured in a labyrinth of difficulties and embarrassments, no clew was found to lead them through the mazes of their prison; and, helpless and desponding, they sunk into a doze of torpid inactivity, while their humi- liated and inefficient parliaments, restrained by foreign and arbitrary laws, subjected to the dictation of the British Coun- cil , and obstructed in the performance of it's constitutional functions, retained scarcely the shadow of an independent legislature. A statute of Henry the Seventh of England, framed by his I'oyniug's. Altorney General , sir Edward Poyning , restrained the Irish Parliament from originating any law whatever either in the Lords or Commons. Before any statute could be finally dis- cussed , it was previously to be submitted to the Lord Lieu- tenant of Ireland and his Privy Council , for their conside- ration , who might at their pleasure reject it, or transmit it to England. — If transmitted to England, the British Attor- ney General and Privy Council were invested with a power either to suppress it altogether , or model it at their own will, and then return it to Ireland , with permission to the Irish Parliament to pass it into a law , but without any alteration , though it frequently returned from England so changed , as to retain hardly a trace of it's original features, or a point of it's original object. Yet , as if this arbitrary law were insufficient to secure Usurpation Great Britain from the effect of those rival advantages, which ,,y , . E "S 1 * nd • -' to bind ire- Ireland might in process of time eventually acquire; and as land by Bri- . r> i . • 1 1 ■ 1 T^< 1 1 I 1 ■ 1 tisli Statutes. 11 that counteracting power, with which England had invested herself by the law of Poyning, were unequal to the task of effectually suppressing all rivalship of the Irish people , and 8 KISE AND FALL independence of the Irish Parliament ; it was thought advis- able by,Grcat Britain, to usurp a positive right to legislate for Ireland, without her own consent, or the interference of lier Parliament : and a law was accordingly enacted at West- minster in the sixth year ol' the reign of George the First, hy (Hit' >\\ceping clause of which England assumed a despotic power, and declared her inherent right to hind Ireland by every British statute , in which she should he expressly desi- gnated : and thus , by the authority of the British Council on llif one hand, and the positive right assumed by the British Parliament upon the other, Ireland retained no more the attributes of an independent nation , than a monarch , attend- ed in a dungeon with all the state and trappings of royalty, and bound hand and foot in golden shackles, could be justly >tvled an independent potentate. The effect of this tyrannical and ruinous system fell most heavily on the trade of Ireland. — It's influence was expe- ; ienoed not merely by any particular branch of commerce , hut in every stage of manufacture , of arts, of trade , and of ■culture. In every struggle of the Irish Parliament to pro- mole the commerce or the manufactures of their country, the British monopolizers wen; perpetually victorious \ and even the speculative jealousy of a manufacturing village of Great Britain was of sufficient weight to negative any measure, however beneficial to the general prosperity of the sister . onntry. The same jealousy and the same system, which operated -i fatally against the advancement of her commerce , operated h strongly against the improvement of her constitution. England was will aware , that the acquirement of an inde- pendent Parliament would he the sure forerunner of com- mercial liberty •, and , possessed of the means to counteract these objects, she seemed determined never to relax the strength of that power, \>\ the despotic exercise of which i'l had been so long continued in a state of thraldom. OF THE IRISH NATION. 9 But, exclusive of these slavish restraints (the necessary consequence of a dependent legislature ) , another system , not less adverse to the general prosperity of the whole island , than repugnant to the principles of natural justice and of sound policy, had been long acted upon with every severity, that bigotry could suggest , or intolerance could dictate. V. The penal statutes , under the tyrannical pressure of The po- which the Catholics had so long and so grievously laboured , gainst catho- though in some instances softened down , still bore heavily hcs - upon four fifths of the Irish population ■ — a code , which would have dishonored even the sanguinary pen of Draco , had inflicted every pain and penalty, every restriction and oppression , under which a people could linger out a miserable existence. — By these statutes , the exercise of religion had been held a crime, the education of children a high misdemeanour — the son was encouraged to betray his father — the child rewarded for the ruin of his parent — the house of God declared a public nuisance — the officiating pastor proclaimed an outlaw — the acquirement of property absolutely prohibited — the exercise of trades restrained — plunder legalized in courts of law, and breach of trust rewarded in courts of equity — the Irish Catholic excluded from the possession of any office or occupation in the state , the law , the army, the navy, the municipal bodies , and the chartered corporations — and the mild doctrines of the christian faith perverted , even in the pulpit , to the worst purposes of religious persecution. Yet under this galling yoke the Irish for near eighty years remained tranquil and submissive : — the ignorance , into which poverty and wretchedness had plunged that people , prevented them from perceiving the whole extent of the op- pression,- and these penal laws, while they operated as an insuperable bar to the advancement of the Catholic , deeply affected the general interest of the Protestant — the impo- verished tenant — the needy landlord — the unenterprising io RISE A.ND TALL Fatal con- merchant — the idle artisan , could all trace the origin of sequences to ^ • wants l0 y\ i0 enactment of these statutes. — Profession Ireland. was not permitted to engage the mind of youth , or education to cultivate his understanding — dissolute hahits , the certain result of idleness and illiterateness , were consequently making a rapid progress in almost every class of society. — The gentry were not exempt from the hahits of the peasant ; the spirit of industry took her flight altogether from the island; and, as the loss of commerce and constitution had no counteracting advantages , every thing comhined to reduce Ireland to a slate of the most general and unqualified depression. Ireland rous- \1. It was about this period , when the short-sighted po- exa n Jc 'of l' c Y °f lne 3riti$h Government had by it's own arbitrary pro- America, ceedings planted the seeds of that political philosophy , after- wards so fatal to the most powerful monarchies of Europe , that Ireland began to feel herself affected by the struggles of America : — the spirit of independence had crossed the At- lantic , and the Irish people, awakened from a trance, be- held with anxiety the contest , in which they now began to feel an interest. — They regarded with admiration the exer- tions of a colony combating for the first principles of civil liberty , and giving to the world an instructive lesson of for- titude and perseverance. Success of Spread over a vast expanse of region, America, without wealth — without resources — without population — without fortresses — without allies — had every thing to contend with, and every thing to conquer : — but freedom was her call and as if she had been designated by Providence for an exam- ple to the universe of what even powerless states can achieve by enthusiasm and unanimity , her strength increased with her deprivations , and the firmness of one great and good man converted the feebleness of a colony into the power of ■in empire. — The defeats of Washington augmented his ar- mies — .his wants and necessities called forth his intellect — while his wisdom , firmness , and moderation , procured him OF THE IRISH NATION. 1 1 powerful friends, and secured him ultimate victory. — The strength of Great Britain at length yielded to the vigor of his mind, and the unflinching fortitude of his people; and Lord Cornwallis ( the chosen instrument for oppressing heroic na- tions), hy his defeat, and his captivity, established the in- dependence of America. The arrogance of England bowed its proud head to the shrine of liberty and her favorite general led back the relics of his conquered army, to commemorate in the mother country the impotence of her power, and eman- cipation of her colonies. AVhile these great events were gradually proceeding to- itseffecton wards their final completion , Ireland became every day a ple< nb more anxious spectator of the arduous conflict — every inci- dent in America began to communicate a sympathetic im- pulse to the Irish people : — the moment was critical : — the nation became enlightened — a patriotic ardor look possession of her whole frame , and , before she had well considered the object of her solicitude, the spark of constitutional liberty had found it's way into her bosom. The disposition of Ireland to avail herself of the circum- stances of those times , so favourable to the attainment of her rights , now openly avowed itself. — Her determination to Origin d claim her constitution from the British Government became lunteers . unequivocal , and she began to assume the attitude and lan- guage of a nation " entitled to independence." — The sound of arms and the voice of freedom echoed from every quarter of the island — distinctions were forgotten, or disregarded — every rank , every religion , alike caught the general feeling , — but firmness and discretion characterised her proceedings : — she gradually arose from torpor and obscurity — her na- tive spirit drew aside the curtain , that had so long concealed her from the world ; and exhibited an armed and animated people, claiming their natural rights, and demanding their constitutional liberty. When the dawn of political liberty begins to diffuse itself 12 RISE AND FALL over a nation , great and gifted characters suddenly spring up from among the people — animated by new subjects , their various talents and principles become developed — they in- terweave themselves with the events of their country, be- come inseparable from it's misfortunes , or identified with it's prosperity. Ireland , at this era , possessed many men of superior ca- pacities — some distinguished by their pure attachment to constitutional liberty — others by their slavish deference to ruling powers and patronizing authorities. — Among those whom the spirit of these times called forth to public notice was seen one of the most bold and energetic leaders of mo- dern days an anticipated knowledge of whose marked and restless character is a necessary preface to a recital of Irish occurrences , in which the effects of his passions will be every where traced , and the mischievous errors of his judgment be perceived and lamented. Character of VII. This person was John Fitzgibbon , afterwards Earl of Clare — Attorney General , and Lord High Chancellor of Ireland. — His ascertained pedigree was short, though his name bespoke an early respectability. His grandfather was obscure — his father, intended for the profession of a catho- lic pastor , but possessing a mind superior to the habits of monkish seclusion , procured himself to be called to the Irish bar, where his talents raised him to the highest estimation , and finally established him in fame and fortune. John Fitzgibbon , the second son of this man , was called lo the bar in 1772. — Naturally dissipated , he for some time attended but little to the duties of his profession •, but , on the death of his elder brother , and his father , he found himself in possession of all those advantages , which led him rapidly forward to the extremity of his objects. — Considerable fortune — professional talents — extensive connexions — and undismayed confidence , elevated him to those stations , on which he afterwards appeared so conspicuously seated •, while OF THE IRISH NATION. ,3 (lie historic eye , as it follows his career, perceives him lightlv hounding over every obstacle , which checked his course , to that goal where all the trophies and thorns of power were collected for his reception. In the Earl of Clare we find a man eminently gifted with talents adapted either for a blessing or a curse to the nation he inhabited ; but early enveloped in high and dazzling au- thority, he lost his way; and considering his power as a vic- tory , he ruled his country as a conquest : ■ — indiscriminate in his friendships — and implacable in his animosities — he carried to the grave all the passions of his childhood. He hated powerful talents , because he feared them ; and trampled on modest merit , because it was incapable of re- sistance. Authoritative and peremptory in his address 5 com- manding, able f and arrogant, in his language; a daring contempt for public opinion was the fatal principle, which misguided his conduct : and Ireland became divided between the friends of his patronage — the slaves of his power — and the enemies to his tyranny. His character had no medium , his manners no medio- crity — the example of his extremes was adopted by his in- timates , and excited in those who knew him feelings either of warm attachment, or of rivetled aversion. While he held the seals in Ireland , he united a vigorous capacity with the most striking errors : — as a judge, he collected facts with a rapid precision , and decided on them with a prompt asperity : — but he hated precedent, and despied the highest judicial authorities , because they were not his own. As a politician and a statesman, the character of Lord Clare is too well known , and it's effects too generally experienced, to be mistaken or misrepresented — the era of his reign was the downfal of his country — his councils accelerated what his policy might have suppressed, and have marked the annals of Ireland with stains and miseries, unequalled and indelible. ,/, RISE AND FAlX In council. — rapid, peremptory, and overhearing — he regarded promptness of execution . rather than discretion ol arrangement , and piqued himself more on cxperlness ol thought than sobriety of judgment. Through all the calamities of Ireland , the mild voice of conciliation never escaped his lips-, and when the torrent of civil war had subsided in his country, he held out no olive, to show that the deluge had receded. His inioier- Acting upon a conviction , that his power was but coexisl- '"'"• ent with the order of public establishments , and the tenure of his office limited to the continuance of administration , he supported both with less prudence , and more desperation, than sound policy or an enlightened mind should permit or dictate ; his extravagant doctrines of religious intolerance created the most mischievous pretexts for liis intemperance in upholding them •, and , under colour of defending the principles of one revolution , he had nearly plunged the nation into all the miseries of another. ins poiiti- His political conduct has been accounted uniform , — but stiliKv" 00 " ' i n detail it will be found to have been miserably inconsist- ent : — In T781 , he took up arms to obtain a declaration of Irish independence , — in 1800 , he recommended the introduction of a military force, to assist in it's extinguish- ment-, — he proclaimed Ireland a free nation in 1783, — and argued that it should be a province in 17995 — in 1782 he called the acts of the British Legislature towards Ireland " a daring usurpation on the rights oj a free people ' , " — and in 1800 he transferred Ireland to the usurper. On all oc- casions his ambition as despotically governed his politics , as his reason invariahly sunk before his prejudice. Though he intrinsically hated a Legislative Union , his 1 1 n his Lordship's answer to the address of Dublin University* oh the 14th of April 1782, upon the declaration of rights, lie used thesevrords ind added, thai "he l>nf Povning's law, the parlia- OF THE IRISH NATION. 17 mentary discussions were generally restricted to local subjects Previous to • 1 • • 1 ,• p nSo . occa- and domestic arrangements — yet constitutional questions 01 siona i C on- a vital tendency incidentally occurred : and the exercise of tests * T ° S * m J - ... the Irish Par- controling powers , assumed by the British Cabinet over thciiameuts. concerns of Ireland , often afforded matter of serious contro- versy between the viceroy and the nation , and bad , in some instances , been resisted by the Parliament with a warmth and a pertinacity which foretold a certainty of more important contests. ' These struggles , however, although frequent , were fruit- less. The country was not yet ripe for independence : — ' On many occasions previous to 1779, the Irish Commons asserted their independent rights and privileges with great warmth , though some- times without success. In 1749 > a redundancy of 53, 000 /. remaining in the Irish treasury — an un-appropriated balance in favor of the nation, after paying all the establishments — the King sent over his letter, to draw that sum to England, as a part of his hereditary revenue. But the Irish Parlia- ment resisted the authority of his Majesty's letter, as an encroachment on the distinctness and independence of Ireland ; a part of that sum having arisen from additional duties imposed by her Parliament. The King con- sulted the English judges, who were of opinion that the King's previous consent was necessary to it's appropriation : but the Irish Commons insisted on their right of appropriation, and asserted that his Majesty's subsequent assent only was necessary. — This contest was warmly maintained until the year 1753, when the Irish Commons succeeded in establishing their prin- ciple. The principles of Mr. Molyneux's " Case of Ireland, " published in 1698, had never ceased to make a strong impression on the minds of the Irish people. The British Parliament ordered it to be burned by the hands of the common executioner : but that measure defeated it's own object, by greatly increasing its celebrity and circulation. — The same principles were strongly inculcated , in several publications , by a very able writer, Doctor Charles Lucas, member for Dublin. For those writings , he was expelled from the house : but he afterward resumed bis seat with increased cha-, racter and influence ; and, to this dav, his statue, in white marble, stands eminently conspicuous in the Royal Exchange at Dublin, as a monument of his steady patriotism.— Before him, Dean Swift, whose name is still adored by the Irish , had employed his masterly pen with powerful effect in fostering the spirit of independence. ,8 RISE AND FALL constitutional freedom had been so long obsolete, that i vt it's first principles were nearly forgo I ten; and ihe people were again to learn the rudiments, before they could speak the language of liberty But the fortitude, the wisdom , and the perseverance of the Anglo-American colonies — the feeble- ness , ihe impolicy, and the divisions of Great Britain — soon taught Ireland the importance of the crisis; and, by a firm- ness, a moderation, and a unanimity , unparalleled in the annals of revolution , (lie Irish Volunteers acquired for their country a civic crown , which nothing but the insanity of rebellion , and the artifices and frauds of Union , could ever have torn from the brow of the Irish people. The \l)scu- 1JJ- Absentees ■ who have ever been and ever will remain tees an obstacle to the substantial prosperity of Ireland, exerted themselves more particularly at this period , in giving a stre- nuous and weighty opposition to every measure of innova- tion : — ihey knew their Irish demesnes only by name and by income — they felt no interest but for their rents, and no pa- triotism but for the territory — alarmed at any legislative measure originating in Ireland. They showed themselves equally ignorant and regardless of her constitution and ever proved themselves the steady adherents of the Minister for the time being : their proxies in the Lords, and their in- fluence in the Commons, were transferred to him on a card or in a letter, and, on every division in both houses, almost invariably formed a phalanx against the true and genuine in- terest of the country. The lri>l> IV. However zealous and determined the incipient exer- tions of the Irish nation might have been, they would probably have been crushed and extinguished , had not a class of men , possessing the first talents in the senate and the highest confi- 1 The absentees of the present day annually draw from Ireland above ilirre millions sterling-, to In- expended in Great Britain. Some of the lam - offices <>l the greatest emolument , connected "'tli the Iri'-li courts of [u , u w field by i onstant absentees OF THE IRISH NATION. 19 dence of the country, stepped boldly forward to support the people. In those days, the Irish bar — a body equally for- midable to the Government by their character and their ca- Its Influence pacity- — too independent to be restrained, and too proud p"|, ( , m cpcn to be corrupted — comprised many sons of the resident no- blemen and commoners of Ireland. The legal science was at that time considered as part of an Irish gentleman's educa- tion : the practice was then not a trade , but a profession. Eloquence was cultivated by it's votaries, as a preparation for the higher duties of the senate : and, as almost every peer and every commoner had a relative enrolled among their number, so they had an interest in the conduct and the honor of that department of society. The influence therefore of the bar as a body — increased by the general respect for the con- nexions and cultivated talents of it's members — gave them an ascendency both in and out of Parliament, which could scarcely be counteracted : and , on certain trying occasions , the conduct of some of the law-officiers afforded experi- mental proof, that even they considered their offices as no longer tenable with advantage to the King, if the Minister should attempt to use them as instruments against the people. The rank and station of the law-officers of Ireland in those days were peculiarly dignified, and conveyed an impression of importance, which the modern degeneracy of talent and relaxation of wholesome forms and of distinctions has alto- gether done away with. — The office of Prime Sergeant, then the first law-officer of Ireland , was filled at this period by one of the most amiable and eloquent men that ever appeared on the stage of politics — by Walter Hussy Burgh, whose conduct in a subsequent transaction rendered him justly ce- lebrated and illustrious. This gentleman was then represen- tative for Dublin University; in which office , he and M. Fitz- gibbon were colleagues — men, in whose public characters scarcely a trail of similarity can be discovered. Mild , mode- ao RISE AND TALL Mr. nnr^ii rate, and patriotic , Mr. Burgh was proud without arrogam ■<. 5er and dignified without effort : equally attentive to public con- cerns and careless of his own , he. had neither avarice to ac- quire wealth, nor parsimonv to hoard it : — liheral , even to profusion' — friendly, to a fault — and disinterested, to a weakness — lie was honest without affluence, and ambitious without corruption : — bis eloquence was of the highest order — figurative, splendid, and convincing : — at the bar, in the Parliament, and among the people, be was equally admired , and universally respected. But , when we compare Mr. Burgh with the then Attorney ( icneral of Ireland , who bad been selected by Lord Townscnd lo hear down, if possible , the spirit of the country, the contrast may give a strong view of that policy, which falling ministers frequently and perhaps judiciously adopt, of en- deavouring, if practicable, lo enlist and seat upon their benches some popular and elevated personage of opposition , who, by bis character, may give strength to the parly which surrounds him , or at least may for ever proslrale bis own reputation by the unpopularity of the connexion. The Atior- Mr. John Scolt ■ — then Attorney General , and afterwards created Earl of Clonmell , and Chief Justice of Ireland — exhibited the most striking contrast to the character of the Prime Sergeant. Sprung from the humbler order of society, be adventured upon the world without any advantage, save the strength of his intellect and ihe versatility of bis talents. He held his head high-his boldness was his first introduction — bis policy, bis ultimate preferment. — Courageous ' , humorous, artificial, be knew the world well, and he pro- filed by that knowledge : — he cultivated the powerful; he bullied the timid •, he fought the brave ; he flattered the vain ; be duped the credulous; and he amused the convivial. Half 1 His Lordship fought several duels before he was Chief Justice of the King's Bench. — The late Earl of Landaff , and the present Lord Tvrawlv. were two of his antagonists. OF THE IRISH NATION. ?i liked, half reprobated , h J e was too high to be despised, and too low to be respected. His Language was coarse, and his principles arbitrary : but his passions were his slaves , and his cunning was bis instrument. He recollected favors received in his obscurity, and, in some instances, had gratitude to requite the obligation : but his avarice and bis ostentation contended for the ascendency : their strife was perpetual , and their victories alternate. In public and in private, be was the same character; and, though a most fortunate man and a successful courtier, he had scarcely a sincere friend, or a disinterested adherent. This marked contrariety in character and disposition , which distinguished those chief law-officers of government , was equally discernible in almost every other department : the virtues and the talents of Grattan , of Flood , of Yelvcrton , of Daly, found their contrasts on the same benches; and these two distinguished characters are thus brought forward, by an- ticipation to show in the strongest point of view how powerful and insinuating the public feeling of that day must have been, that could finally draw together, in one common cause , personages so opposite and so adverse on almost every political object, and in every national principle. The crisis , however, now approached , when Ireland was for a moment to rear her bead among imperial nations : — strange and unforeseen events began to crowd the annals of the world , — the established axioms of general polity began to lose their weight among nations; and governments , widely wandering from the fundamental principles of their own con- stitutions, seemed carelessly travelling the road to anarchy and revolution. The rival powers of England and of France — ever jealous, Fiance as- 11? i ,• ,-,• i /» n Mats America ever insincere — concluding deceptious negotiations by lalla- a „ aiast £„,„. cious treaties — doubtful of each other's honor, and drca- land - ding each other's prowess — had long stood cautiously at bay — each watching for an unguarded open to give a mortal 22 RISE AND FALL wound lo her adversary — yet each dreading the consequences of an unsuccessful effort. However, the perseverance and successes of America com- municated a stimulating impulse to the councils of the French King; and that ill-fated monarch, urged on to his destiny, de- termined to strike a deadly hlow at the pride and the commerce of England, hy giving an effectual aid to her revolted colonics. The question soon came to a speedy issue : — an undecisive engagement with the French fleet in the Channel alarmed and irritated England : every prospect of accommodation vanished; and a declaration of war was issued hy the French Govern- ment, with a pompous manifesto proclaiming the wanton in- juries they had sustained from Great Britain. France the Plunged into destructive warfare, each nation used their champion of . . «» ., ,. - -. . . __, Liberty; Eug- utmost ellorts to accomplish their respective purposes. France, land of Sla- determined to establish the independence of America : while very. I England , sought to reduce her colonies to the most decisive slavery. A transposition of national principles seemed to have been adopted by the Governments of both countries — de- spotic France combating, to establish the rights of civil liberty — and England exerting all her energies, to enforce a system of tyrannic government — the one marshalling the slaves of her arbitrary power to battle in the cause of pure democracy — the other rallying round an English standard the hired mercenaries of German avarice , to suppress the principles of British freedom — and both Governments soliciting the aid of sanguinary savages , to aggravate the horrors of a Christian war by the scalping-knife and the tomahawk of heathen mur- derers. Europe beheld with amazement a combat so unnatural and disgusting : but it would have required a prophetic spirit, to h i ve then foretold that the French throne would he eventually overturned by the principles of those new allies, and would, by the mighty shock of its fall , shake even the foundations of the British constitution j though the total prostration of the OF THE IRISH NATION. s3 one, ami llio ministerial inroads upon the other, would since have fully justified the hazard of that prediction, V. Amidst the confusion incident to those great events, Ireland yet remained unheeded and unthought of: her mise- ries and her oppressions had hardly engaged the consideration of the British minister. Meanwhile, the Irish people, with a dignified anxiety, contemplated the prohahle termination of a contest , hy the result of which their own destiny must be determined. The subjugation of America might confirm the dependence of Ireland ; and she was soon convinced, — that she could obtain her own constitutional rights from Great Britain only by the complete success and triumph of her colon v. Awaiting therefore the decrees of Providence, Ireland steadily surveyed the distant prospect of great and rival em- pires wantonly lavishing the blood and treasures of their peo- ple in a contest fundamentally repugnant to their established principles : but — cautious, moderate, and firm in her con- duct — though she wisely determined to avail herself of the crisis to promote the establishment of her independence, — she fed the flame of liberty, she kindled not the blaze of li- centiousness : while America fought to obtain a separation from Great Britain , Ireland took up arms only to obtain a jusr participation of her constitution. To embarrass the offensive measures of England, and France threa- make a formidable diversion in favor of America, France ,cu , s '", "V 7 vade Ireland. manifested an intention of invading Ireland. — In this alar- ming emergency, Great Britain , from the dispersions of her military force, scattered into many distant stations of the world, and so numerously employed on the continent of Ame- rica , found it impossible to afford a body of regular troops sufficient to protect Ireland in case of such invasion. Here let us for a moment pause, and dispassionately reflect upon the situation of Great Britain and the conduct of Ireland at this most trying moment : let us survey the increasing imbecililv a.', RISE AND FALL of the one , and the rising energies of the other ; and we must — do justice to the moderation and generosity of a people, whose long and grievous oppressions , if they could not have justified, would at least have palliated, a very different pro- ceeding. England pro- The state of England during this war hecame every day el" ?abie'o d f «" more difficult and distressing. A discontented people , and an sistiug ire- unpopular ministry — an empty treasury , and a grievous taxation — a continental war, and a colonial reheilion — to- gether formed an accumulation of embarrassment , such as Great Britain had never before experienced. Her forces in America were captured or defeated : her fleets , had not yet attained that irresistible superiority which has since proved the only protection of the Britis hislands. — Ireland , without money , militia, or standing army — without ordnance or for- tifications — almost abandoned by England, had to depend solely on the spirit and resources of her own natives : and this critical state of Ireland , which the misconduct of Great Britain herself had occasioned , gave the first rise to those celebrated associations, the immediate means of obtaining Irish independence. Many inducements prevailed , to fill the ranks of these associations. The warlike propensities of the Irish people , so long restrained — and personal attachment to their chiefs and leaders , were with them the first excitements : but the blen- ding of ranks , and more intimate connexion of the people , which was the immediate consequence of a general military system , quickly effected an extensive and marked revolution in the minds and manners of the entire nation — an impor- tant and extraordinary change , of which the gradations became every day more conspicuously discernible. The pri- mary stimulus of the Irish farmer was only that which he felt in common with every other animated being — the desire (»f self-preservation : — he associated against invasion , be- rausc he heard that it would be his ruin : but his intercourse OF THE IRISH NATION. a5 with llic higher ranks opened the road to better information. Thus he soon learned that the Irish people were deprived of political rights, and that his country had endured political injuries : his ideas became enlarged , and quickly embraced more numerous and prouder objects : he began, for the first time , to know his own importance to the state ; and , as knowledge advanced , the principles of constitutional inde- pendence were better understood , and more sedulously cultivated. The Irish peasant now assumed a different rank , and a higher character : — familiarised with arms , and more intimate with his superiors, he every day felt his love of liberty increased : the spirit at length became general and enthusiastic } and , in less time than could have been supposed from the commencement of these associations, the whole surface of the island was seen covered with a self-raised host of patriot soldiers. VI. In the formation of those armed associations, the long- Moderation established distinctions between the Protestant and the Catholic *. ^f 1 "?' (imii nt the could not be altogether forgotten. Many of the penal law were Catholics. still in full force : Catholics were prohibited by statute from bearing arms in Ireland; and, from the rooted prejudices against allowing to that body any civil or military power whate- ver, strong objections arose to their admission into those armed bodies. The Catholics , however , neither took offence nor even showed any jealousy at this want of confidence : on the contrary , with their money and their exhortations , they zea- lously assisted in forwarding those very associations , into which they themselves had not admission. Their calmness and their patriotism gained them many friends 5 and a rela- xation of intolerance appeared rapidly to be gaining ground : but it was not until the volunteers had assumed a deliberative capacity , and met , as armed citizens , to discuss political questions, that the necessity of uniting the whole population of the country in the cause of independence became distinctly obvious. Those who foresaw that a general associa- Ki.SE AINU FALL lion of the Irish people was essential to the attainment of their constitutional objects , endeavoured to reconcile the schisms of sectarian jealousy hv calm and rational observations: they argued , thai religious feuds had, in all countries, proved subversive of national prosperity, but to none more decidedly fatal than to modern Ireland ; — that the true interest of the Catholic and of the Protestant was substantially the same; they breathed the same air , tilled the same soil, and had equal rights and claims to the participation of liberty • — that thev were endowed by nature with equal powers and faculties, intellectual and corporeal; — that they worshipped the same God — the truths and doctrines of revealed religion equally constituting the basis of their social duties, and the foundation of ther religious tenets; and the principles of virtue and of morality being equally inculcated from their pulpits , and propagated at their altars. " "Why, then, " they asked, "should a few theological subtilties, whose mysterious uncertainties lay far bevond the reach of human determination , and were altogether unnecessary to the arrangements of municipal insti- tutions — why should they distract a nation , which , to become free , should become unajiimous? why should they excite controversies so strongly tainted with fanatic phrensy, that no personal insult or aggravated injury, no breach of moral lie or of honorable contract, could rouse rancor more acrimonious, or animosity more unrelenting, than that which originated solely from theoretic distinctions upon inexplicable mbjects? as if Irishmen were bound to promote the happiness of their neighbours in a future stale, by destroying their comforts and disturbing ther tranquillity in the present ! " It was also observed, that, although this strange insanity might have existed in remote and dark ages, when the disciples of evcrvnew sect proclaimed themselves the meritorious mur- derers of the old — when Christian chiefs availed the pagan power, only to make new proselytes to their own errors , and victims to (heir own intolerance — and though, in such OF THE IRISH NATION. a 7 unhappy times , Ireland might have partaken of the general madness, and, without peculiar disgrace, have participated in the infirmities of Europe — yet , when the progress of civilisation had opened the eves and enlarged the understand- ing of the people — when the voice of rational liberty loudly called for the unanimous exertion of every sect in the com- mon cause of independence — it was full lime to discard those destructive prejudices, which had so long and so effec- tually restrained the rights and retarded the prosperity of the Irish nation. Nor can any historic incident more clearly illustrate the inestimable value of unanimity to an oppressed people , than a contrasted exhibition of the independent spirit displayed by the Catholics in 1^82 , when they acquired a constitution by their firmness , and of their degenerate conduct in 1800 , when they lost that constitution through their divisions and their servility. VII. Before the progress of the Irish Volunteers is particu- character of larlv detailed , or the ultimate objects which thev had in view, ' ! e " s ' I)C0 * J J J ' pie misiejire- the genuine character of the people among whom so extraor- sented aud !• .. ••11111 ill i 1 misuudcrslood uinary an association originated, should be clearly developed i a Eugiaud, and perfectly understood; as many important events in Irish history would appear obscure and un-accounlable , without a due knowledge of the national character — a character, ever misconceived or misrepresented in England , because the persons by whom the picture was drawn , were generally either too ignorant or too interested to draw it with fidelity •, and so little of intimate intercourse had subsisted between the two countries, that the people of England were in general as un-acquainted with the real dispositions and habits of the Irish , as with those of any nation upon the European con- tinent. It was therefore impossible that England should judiciously ,o\crn a people with whose feelings she was wont to trifle, and with whose natural character she was so imperfectly 28 RISE AND 1 ALL acquainted : nor can she ever effectually acquire that know- ledge, untill she is convinced that Ireland , though formed by nature for her sister , was never intended for her servant — and that , within her own bosom , she possesses powers , treasures , and resources , yet un-explored by England , hut which , if kindly cultivated and liberally encouraged , would contribute more strength and benefit to both than Great Bri- tain has ever heretofore derived , or ever yet merited , from the connexion. To attain a just conception of the remote causes of two great and repugnant revolutions in Ireland within eighteen years , we must view the ranks of which society is there com- posed, as well as their proportions and their influence on each other 5 and , in the peculiarities and ardency of that character, will be clearly discovered the true sources of many extraordinary events : it will evidently appear , that , to the foibles of that unfortunate nation , worked upon by art, and imposed upon by policy — and not to native crimes or pecu- liar views — are attributable the frequency of her miseries and the consummation of her misfortune. Irish eha- MIL The Trish people have been as little known , as they ed ' i'v Kn'iilh ,Klve l JCen S'O^ly defamed to the rest of Europe. writers. The lengths , to which English writers have proceeded in pursuit of this object, would surpass all belief, were not the facts proved by histories written under the immediate eye and sanction of Irish Governments — histories replete with false- hood , which, combined with the still more mischievous mis- representations of modern writers, form all together a mass of the most cruel calumnies that ever weighed down the cha- racter of a meritorious people. This system however was not without it's meaning. From the reign of Elizabeth , the policy of England has been to keep Ireland in a state of internal division : perfect unani- mity among her inhabitants has been considered as likely to give her a population and a power incompatible with subjec- OF THE IRISH NATION. 9.9 lion : and there arc not wanting natives of Ireland, who, impressed with that erroneous idea, zealously plunge into the same doctrine , as if they could hest prove their loyalty to the King by vilifying their country." IX. The Irish peasantry, who necessarily composed the Character great body of the population , combined in their character peasant. many of those singular and repugnant qualities which pecu- liarly designate the people of different nations-, and this remarkable contrariety of characteristic trails pervaded almost the whole current of their natural dispositions. Laborious , — domestic , — accustomed to wants in the midst of plenty -»- they submit to hardships without repining , and bear the severest privations with stoic forti- tude. The sharpest wit, and the shrewdest subtilty, which abound in the character of the Irish peasant , generally lie concealed under the semblance of dulness , or the appearance of simplicity; and his language, replete with the keenest humour, possesses an idiom of equivocation, which never fails successfully to evade a direct answer to an unwelcome question . Inquisitive , artful , and penetrating , the Irish peasant learns mankind without extensive intercourse, and has an instinctive knowledge of the world , without mingling in it's societies : and never, in any other instance <, did there exist a people who could display so much address and so much talent in the ordinary transactions of life , as the Irish peasantry. The Irish peasant has , at all periods , been peculiarly distinguished for unbounded but indiscriminate hospitality, which , though naturally devoted to the necessities of a friend , is never denied by him even to the distresses of an enemy '. ' It has been remarked that the English and Irish people form their jud- gement of strangers very differently : — an Englishman suspects a stranger to be a rogue , till he finds that he is an honest man : the Irishman con- ceives every person to be an honest man , till he finds him out to be a rogue : and ibis accounts for the very striking difference in their conduct and hospitality to strangers. RISE AND TALL To be in want or in misery, is the best recommendation to hi- disinleresled protection : his food , his bed , his raiment , arc equally the stranger's and his own; and, the deeper the distress, the more welcome 1s the sufferer to the peasant's cottage. His attachments to his kindred are of the strongest nature. The social duties are intimately blended with the natural disposition of an Irish peasant ; though covered with rags , oppressed with poverty, and perhaps with hunger, the finest specimens of generosity and heroism are to be found in his un-equalled character. A martial spirit and a love of desultory warfare is indi- genous to the Irish people. Battle is their pastime : ■ — ■ whole parishes and districts form themselves into parties, which they denominate factions : — they meet, by appointment, at their country fairs : there they quarrel without a cause , and light without an object; and, having indulged their propensity and hound up their wounds , they return satisfied to their own homes , generally without anger, and frequently in perfect friendship with each other '. — It is a melancholy ' Natural cruelty ha* been imputed to the Irish peasant by persons who either are un-acquainted with his character, or wish to misrepresent it. — National character can never be drawn with justice from incidents which take place amidst all the rage and violence of civil war or religious phrensy. The barbarities, committed in Ireland during the insurrection of J708. were not all on the one side : and at least as many persons were sacri- ficed in cold blood by the musket or sabre of the soldiery, as by the pike or blunderbuss of the insurgent. But all those enormities are incidental to civil wars, and should never be brought up as a criterion, whereby to judge of the national character of any people. In England , during a peace- able year ( 1794 ), two hundred and eighteen persons received sentence of death, of whom forty-four were for murder. In Ireland, during a trouble- some year ( 1797 ) , eighty-seven received sentence of death , of whom onij eighteen were for murder : so that England committed her foil proportion "I Crimea, and more than her proportion of murders; which does not sub- stantiate the charge of cruelty, with which the Irish character has been exclusively aspersed. The murders in Ireland, moreover, are very diffc- OF THE IRISH NATION. 3c reflexion , that the successive Governments of Ireland should have been so long and so obstinately blind to the real interest of the country, as to conceive it more expedient to attempt the fruitless task of suppressing the national spirit by Legal severity, and penal enactments than to adopt a system of national instruction and general industry, which , by affording employment to their faculties , might give lo the minds of the people a proper tendencv, and a useful and peaceable direction. In general, the Irish are rather impetuously brave, than Their in- steadily persevering : their onsets are furious, and their C o^ace. * retreats precipitate : but even death has for them no terrors , when they firmly believe that their cause is meritorious. Though exquisitely artful in the stratagems of warfare , yet , when actually in battle, their discretion vanishes before their impetuosity ; and — the most gregarious people under heaven — they rush forward in a crowd with tumultuous ardor, and without foresight or reflexion whether they are advancing to destruction or to victory. An enthusiastic attachment to the place of their nativity is Attacbmeut another striking trait of the Irish character, which neither^. 1 cir coun " time nor absence, prosperity nor adversity, can obliterate or diminish. Wherever an Irish peasant was born , there he wishes to die ; and , however successful in acquiring wealth or rank in distant places, he returns with fond affection to renew his intercourse with the friends and companions of his youth and his obscurity. An innate spirit of insubordination to the laws has been strongly charged upon the Irish peasantry : but a people — to whom the punishment of crimes appears rather as a sacrifice to revenge than a measure of prevention — can never have the same deference to the law, as those who are instructed in rent from those in England : many murders in Ireland occur in the heat of their hattles : most of those in England are perpetrated in cold blood and OB women. 3a RISE AND FALL the principles of justice , and taught to recognise it's equality. It lias, however, been uniformly admitted by every impartial writer on the affairs of Ireland, that a spirit of strict justice has ever characterised the Irish peasant ' . Convince him , by plain and impartial reasoning, that he is wrong-, and he withdraws from the judgement-seal , if not with cheerfulness, at least with submission : but , to make him respect the laws, he must be satisfied that they are impartial ; and , with that conviction on his mind , the Irish peasant is as perfectly tractable, as the native of any other country in the workl. An attachment to , and a respect for females is another mar- ked characteristic of the Irish peasant. The wile partakes of all her husband's vicissitudes : she shares his labor and his miseries , with constancy and with affection. At all the sports and meetings of the Irish peasantry, the women are always of the company : they have a great influence ; and , in his smoky cottage , the Irish peasant , surrounded by his family, seems to forget all his privations. The natural cheerfulness of his dispo- sition banishes reflexion ; and he experiences a simple happi- ness , which even \he highest ranks of society might justly envy. TiicCentry. X. The middle class of gentry, interspersed throughout the country parts of the kingdom , possessed as much of the pea- sant character as accorded with more liberal minds and supe- rior society. With less necessity for exertion than the peasant, and an equal inclination for the indulgence of indolence, their habits were altogether devoid of industry, and adverse to re- flexion : — the morning chase and evening conviviality com- posed the diary of their lives, cherished the thoughtlessness of their nature , and banished the cares and solicitudes of fore- sight. They uniformlv lived beyond their means , and aspired ' Sir John Davis, Attorney General of Ireland, who, in the reign o( James the First , was employed by the King to establish the English laws throughout Ireland, and who made himself perfectly acquainted with the character of the inhabitants, admits that " there were no people undci " heaven , who loved equal and impartial justice better than the Irish. OF THE IRISH NATION. 33 beyond their resources : pecuniary embarrassment only gave a new zest to the dissipation which created it ; and the gentry of Ireland at this period had more troubles and fewer cares than any gentry in the universe. These habits, however, while they contracted the distance between the lower and the superior order, had also the effect of promoting their mutual good-will and attachment to each other. The peasant looked up to and admired, in the country gentleman, those propensities which he himself possessed : — actuated by a native sympathy of disposition , he loved old customs : he liked to follow the track and example of his fo- refathers, and adhered to the fortunes of some ancient family, with a zealous sincerity; and, in every matter of party or of faction , he obeyed the orders of his landlord , and even anti- cipated his wishes , with cheerfulness and humility. The Irish country gentleman , without either the ties of Romantic blood or the weight of feudal authority, found himself sur- : iev T a ! r f ° f o j ' the Irish gen- rounded by followers and adherents ever ready to adopt his 1 '}. cause , and risk their lives for his purposes , with as warm devotion as those of the Scottish laird or the highland chief- tain; and this disposition , cultivated by family pride on the one side, and confirmed by immemorial habit on the other, greatly promoted the formation , the progress , and the zeal , of those armed associations which soon afterwards covered the face of the country, and for a moment placed the name of Ireland on the very highest pinnacle of affective patriotism. It was the fashion of those days to cast upon the Irish gentry an imputation — it would be uncandid not to admit that there was some partial ground for it — that they showed a disposition to decide petty differences by the sword, and too fastidious a construction of what they termed the " point of honor. " This practice certainly continued to prevail in many parts of Ireland, where time and general intercourse had not yet succeeded in extinguishing the romantic but honorable spirit of Milesian chivalry . and, when we reflect on the natural warlike dispo- 34 RISE AND FALL sitiou of llif Irish people — thai indigenous impetuosity and love of battle which so eminently distinguished their abori- ginal character — it is not surprising that hasty and unneces- sary encounters should occasionally occur among a people perpetually actuated by the pride of ancestry and the theories of honor. But, even in these contests, the Irish gentleman forgave his adversary with as much readiness as he fought him : he respected the courage which aimed at his own life; and the strongest friendships were sometimes formed , and frequently regenerated , on the field of hattle. It is natural to suppose that this practice should have heen exaggerated , hy the English people , whom nature had endowed with less punctilious and much more discreet propensities. Suicide on- The cowardly crime of suicide , which prevailed and pre- known in ire y a y s j n England, was scarcely ever known amonq the Irish. hud. -' a Circumstances, which would plunge an Englishman into a slate of mortal despondency, would only rouse ihe energies of an Irishman to hound over his misfortunes ■ : — under every pressure , in every station, and in every climate, a lightness of heart and openness of disposition distinguishes him from the inhabitants of every other country. On the whole of their characters, the Irish gentry, though far from being faultless, had many noble qualities : — gene- rous , hospitable , friendly, brave — but careless, prodigal , and indiscreet — they possessed the materials of distinguished nun with the propensities of obscure ones, and, by their openness and sincerity, too frequently became the dupes of artifice, and the victims of dissimulation. ' The Irish people have heen accused of frequently committing what are termed blunders, or perverted phraseology : hut many sayings, which have acquired that name j are in fact the aphorisms of sound sense, and strongwitted observation. The Irishman's remark, that " he would rather commit suicide on onj one than himself, " woidd puzzle the ingenuity of a moral casuist, and places the crime ol self-murder in a very uncertain rank of homicide. OF THE IRISH NATION. 35 Among the highest orders of the Irish people, the distin- guishing features of national character had hcen long wearing away, and becoming less prominent and remarkable. The man- ners of the nobility, in almost every European country, verge to one common centre : by the similarity of their education and society, they acquire similar habits-, and a constant in- tercourse with courts clothes their address and language , as it does their persons, in one peculiar garb — disguising the strong points, and concealing the native traits, of their ori- ginal characters. The unprecedented expenses of the American war, which first familiarised the English people to empty their purses for the support of unnecessary and inglorious warfare (in which they have since become such extraordinary proficients ) , called every day for new resources 5 and the minister con- ceived and executed the artful project of increasing his finan- cial means and parliamentary power by erecting a banking and commercial interest on the site and ruins of the landed re- presentation. Money-brokers — began to constitute a new order in the state, and to form, if not an integral part, at least a necessary appendage to every subsequent administra- tion of Great Britain. Experience has proved the mischiefs of that fatal policy to the whole of the empire. Though the greater number of the Irish noblemen had been Irish Peer- of remote creations — a few had not been long enough remo- age * ved from the mass of the community, to have acquired very high ideas of hereditary pride , or to have emblazoned the shield of very ancient or illustrious pedigrees. As a body, the Irish lords were not peculiarly prominent in the affairs of their country : but they were dignified. Their debates (until the accession of Lord Clare) were calm and temperate ; and , though, like the members of all other poli- tical assemblies, they were individually various in talent and in character, the appearance of the whole was grand ; and 36 RISE AND FALL their conduct , if not spirited , was firm, respectable and deco- rous. Protestant The protestant church had great weight in the community : Clergy. ■ i • 1 ....,,.. ,, . ■ , the hierarchy , participating in the dignity ot an independent parliament, possessed the united influence of spiritual rank and legislative importance : the parochial clergy, though well affected to the state, still adhered to the interests of their country, and, assuming a deportment decorous and characteristic , were , at that time, generally esteemed, and deservedly respected. The provision of the inferior Protestant clergy was then (as at present) quite disproportioned to their duties and their profession. Many of that meritorious class of men — the offi- ciating curates , whose precepts and example were to direct the morals and guide the conduct of the people — had be- come grey in poverty — and, laboring under the pressure of severe necessities , effectually preached up to their congre- gations the exercise of that charily, which would have been aptly and benevolently applied to their own persons. The general conduct of these men had at all limes remained un-exceptionable. From them the character of the Irish clergy was best to be collected : — the luxurious possessor of sinecure and plurality , enjoying ease and abundance without care or solicitude , must form a very inferior criterion of experienced merit, when compared to the distressed pastor, whose conduct remains exemplary, while his indigence and necessities might have tempted him into errors. The extremes of income among the Protestant clergy were loo distant : their wealth and their poverty formed too strong a contrast. Catholic The Catholic clergy had then an unlimited influence over Clcr ey- the people of their own persuasion. — Though the cruel im- policy of the penal statutes had not been altogether set aside , they remained dutiful and obedient to the sovereign power, cheerfully submissive to the existing laws, and friendly and affectionate to their Protestant fellow subjects. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3 7 Candidates for Catholic ordination were sent to France for spiritual instruction, and returned to their own country, though learned , still retaining many of the propensities of their origin ; they showed that their respect to superior rank , and submission to the constituted authorities, were rather increased than diminished by their foreign education. The monarchy of France — despotic, splendid, and power- ful' — was at that lime regarded with devotion by the French people, as a structure which neither time could destroy , nor tempests endanger. It's broad base covered every portion of the people : it's stupendous height was surveyed with awe, and it's colossal strength beheld with admiration. The eccle- siastical communities , fostered under it's shelter, experienced the protection of despotic power, and , by their doctrines and their practice , endeavoured to increase it's strength, and secure it's permanence. The Irish student , early imbibing those monastic princi- , The " cou , , r , duct and man- pies, was taught at Saint Omer the advantages 01 undefined ners. power in a king, and of passive obedience in a subject : he was there instructed to worship a throne , and to mingle his de- » votion to heaven and to monarchy. The restoration of a Ca- tholic king over Ireland had long ceased to be practicable : such projects therefore were hopeless, and relinquished 5 and the Irish Catholic clergyman , however he might naturally have wished for the regal supremacy of his own sect , had long since abandoned every view of an object altogether un- attainable. British supremacy had then no overt enemies , save it's own ministers — nor any conspiracies against it's power, but the arbitrary determinations of it's own cabinet. Thus returning from his noviciate , and educated with all the dispositions of a submissive subject , he found his native country in a state of profound tranquillity. His views were contracted : his ambition extended no further than the affec- tions of his flock , and the enjoyments of society. The closest 38 RISE AND FALL intimacy subsisted between bim and his parishioners : he mingled in all their pastimes, and consoled them in their mi- series : but the most convivial among them knew how to dis- tinguish clearly between the occasional familiarities of personal intercourse , and a dutiful respect for his religious fonctions-, and , even though their companion might have been condem- ned , their priest was always sure to be respected. The Catholic and the Protestant at the same lime lived in habits of great harmony : they harboured no animosities or indisposition toward each other : the one governed without opposition — the other submitted without resistance } and the Catholic clergy had every inclination to retain their flock within proper limits and found no difficulty in effecting that object. The severity, with which the agents of the Protestant clergy in some parishes collected their tithes — and the exactions and oppressions , which the middle-man exercised over the occupant of the land — occasionally- excited partial distur- bances : but , in these , there was nothing of a revolutionary * nature : they were only the nocturnal riots of some oppressed and mismanaged districts , which the civil power in general found no difficultv in suppressing. CHAP. III. Ireland a- I. The population of Ireland , distributed into those classes "■'' '""'' ,*? a — endowed with those qualities — and borne down bv an ae- st-Dse of her * fciavery. cumulation of impolitic and ungenerous restraints — at length awakened as it were from a deep trance. — The pulse of that nation, torpid through habitual oppression , began to throb 5 her blood, stimulated by the stings of injustice , which she had so long and so patiently endured , circulated with a new rapidity; — her heart , re-animated , sent motion and energy through her whole frame, and from a cold and almost lifeless corse , Ireland was seen majestically arising from the tomb of OF THE IRISH NATION. '<:> obscurity, and paying the first tribute of her devotion at the shrine of liberty. Roused to a sense of her miserable situation , she cast her eyes around on the independent Stales of Europe, and com- pared their strength, their capacity, and their resources, with her own. Encouraged by the view of her comparative superiority , she soon perceived that she had strength , and means, and opportunity to redress herself from the wrongs and degradations she was suffering; — and that so long as she to- lerated the authority of the British Legislature over her con- cerns , so long her commerce , her constitution , and her li- berties must lie prostrate at the foot of every British Minister. The political situations of both nations at that critical pe- riod , afforded a more than common scope for political con- templation; — even the coldest politicians of that day were led involuntarily to reflect on the nature of the federative compact between the two countries, and could not avoid per- ceiving the total absence of that reciprocal good faith and con- fidence which alone could ensure the integrity of the empire , or the permanence of the connection. — In theory the two nations were linked together by the strongest ties of mutual interest and mutual security; — but in practice those inte- rests were separated; — ■ and that conjunction of strength , on which the security of empires must at all times depend was too frequently disregarded; as if England had forgotten that she owed a great proportion of stability to the co-operation of the Irish people; — and that if one hundred thousand Irish sub- jects , who fought her battles in her armies and in her navy, became even neutralized, by insults or by injuries , to their country , the English nation might too late discover the fatal impolicy of her system. II. The fundamental principles upon which the connection between the two nations was intrinsically founded, soon be- came a subject of general inquirv and universal discussion amongst every rank and class of society; and it required but 40 RISE AND FALL little difficulty to convey to the quick conception of a natu- rally acute and intelligent people, a comprehensive view of their rights and of their deprivations; — nor was Ireland, at that period , destitute of able and active partisans , anxious and competent to instruct her people , in language best adap- ted to impress upon the poignancy of their national feelings , and enlarge the scope of their political understandings. The Irish They were told by those instructors , that Ireland was con- | ';;;;' JJJJJ^ stitutionally connected with Great Britain , upon the basis of a .leut of Eng- complete equality of rights , — that she possessed a resident Parliament of her own — competent , in all points , to legis- late on her own concerns , in no point connected with or sub- ordinate to that of Great Britain. That their King was bound to govern Ireland , not through his crown of England , but through Ids crown of Ireland — conferred upon him by the Irish nation, and worn by him, in conjunction with that of Great Britain , as the chief magistrate of both, — but to govern each country severally by their respective laws and their distinct legislatures , and not the one through the other ; — and though the Irish crown was , by the constitution of that country, placed for ever on the head of the same legitimate monarch who should wear that of England , — yet the Irish people were not legally bound to obey any laws but those enacted by their own Legislature ■ — to transfer the sceptre of their realm lo any usurped aulho- The King rily , — or submit lo the hostile or corrupt policy of any Mi- i'n " "iniaM.i n ' ster w ' 10 m 'S Ml occasionually occupy the seat of power in through his England ; — that their oath of allegiance was taken to the Irish crown , . ' •» r j j 1 ■ t\ i« C /-i i> • • and not King ot Ireland, and not to the Parliament ol (.real Britain ; through the — t | ial t | )(> establishment yf tl,j s principle was indispensable to i row n ol I ng- I I I land. their existence as a nation — and tli.it every violation of il was a direct deviation from the duly of the Irish Grown , and a virtual dereliction of the compact between the two coun- tries; — and that I he Kings ministers of either country advi- sing unconstitutional measures, to violate the constitutional OF THE IRISH NATION. /, i independence of Ireland , must be considered as Irailors to the Irish Crown , and enemies to the British Empire. It was also observed , that this assumption of authority to legislate for Ireland, whatever colouring it might have received by the dissimulation or ingenuity of it's supporters, had , in fact , for it's real object the restraint of her commerce and the suppression of her manufactures — so far as they might inter- fere with the interests of England; because the management of the mere local concerns of Ireland by her own Parliament , was altogether immaterial to Great Britain , unless where a commercial rivalship might be the probable consequence of successful industry and legislative encouragement. From this reasoning , it was obvious that the redress of these grievances could not depend solely upon any exertions of the Irish Legislature. The Peers — from the causes herein before assigned — were influenced at that time by a very small portion of public feeling $ — the measures of the Com- mons might be suppressed , by an act of the Privy Council ; and it became manifest , that an universal and determined co-operation of the whole people with their representatives , to rescue their representation , by vigorous measures , could alone operate with sufficient effect upon the policy and fears of England 5 — and that a general appeal to the people would be justified by the soundest axioms of civil Government, — as long experience had fully ascertained , that nothing was to be gained by the forbearance of the one nation , or to be expected from the voluntary justice of the other. The Irish people being thus apprized of the real source of all their grievances, the subject quickly engrossed their whole thoughts , and became familiar to their understandings 5 a new and broad field of reflection was opened to the middle orders , — political discussions necessarily followed , from dav to day ; — at every public and private meeting , and in every district, these discussions turned on the principles of liberty, — and as the subject expanded , their ideas became enlarged ; — those who could read, liberally instructed the illiterate, ',2 RISE AND FALL as to the rudiments of their history and the rights of theii constitution, — and, by familiar deductions, the misery of the peasant was without difficulty brought home lo the cor- ruption of the Ministers. — All ranks of the community began to mingle and converse at their public meetings, — the in- fluence of that general communication diffused itself rapidly amongst every class of society, — and the people , after having perfectly ascertained the hardships of their situation , natu- rally proceeded to discuss the most decisive means of redres- sing their grievances. III. The circumstances of public affairs in America, and on the continent of Europe , hut more especially in England herself, were every moment becoming more and more propi- tious to the political emancipation of Ireland ; — a dark cloud appeared collecting over the head of Great Britain — the rays of her setting sun could scarcely penetrate the obscurity of the gloom which surrounded her, — and though she faced the impending hurricane with magnanimity and perseverance , she experienced a most anxious solicitude at the awful crisis which was rapidly approaching her. Periiouspo- Her situation was terrific. — The States of America, colo- lami" of E "k'" nised by her industry, and peopled by her convicts — tearing themselves away from the mother country — and appealing to the whole world against the tyranny which at. once had causal and justified her disobedience ; — British armies wandering through boundless deserts, and associating with the savage tribes for savage purposes, dwindling by their victories, and diminishing by their conquests, — surrendering their swords lo those whom they had recently vanquished — and lowe- ring the flag of England , with all the courtesies of continen- tal warfare, lo those very men whom the preceding moment they had proclaimed as traitors lo their King and to their country. ' 1 The very different line of conduit adopted by England towards Ame- rica and Ireland, when respectively in a state of insurrection, is \>-i\ remarkable. The Americans (a mere colony), united with French troops . OF THE IRISH NATION. 43 However, the wise and deliberate measures which Ireland , Moderation on this occasion , adopted , proved not only her unshaken meat ^, f Ire _ fidelity, but her moderation and her unaffected attachment laml - to Great Britain. — She saw the perilous situation of her sis- ter country ; and though she determined to profit by the crisis, in justly reclaiming her commerce, and her constitution, she also determined to stand or fall with the British Empire, and to share the fate of England in the tremendous confederacies which were formed and were forming against her. The Irish people , felt that they had a double duty to per- form — to themselves — and to their posterity: — England herself had given them a precedent; — she had- proved , by the experience of centuries, that when she had an object to achieve in Ireland , she had never been restrained by the stood in open rebellion, for the avowed purpose of final separation from the mother country, and were proclaimed traitors and rebels by the King and the Parliament ; — yet they uniformly experienced from the British military commanders the most decorous and respectful treatment. — Their generals were addressed by their appropriate official titles — their military rank was recognized by the British army — their officers , when taken , were admitted on their parol of honor — and their prisoners were treated with humanity and attention. The Irish experienced a very different conduct in 1798, — when im- mediate execution was generally the gentlest punishment inflicted upon the insurgents of every rank , office , and description ; — and the laws of reta- liation giving rise to a competition of barbarities , deluged the whole country in blood — extinguished it's spirit — divided it's people — and destroyed it's reputation. To persons unacquainted with the true history of those transactions , and the project of the British Minister , the ambiguous conduct of Lord Cornwallis will appear altogether inconsistent and unaccountable. But the difficulty will be solved, when it becomes evident, from historic facts, that , without that general horror, — depression , — and dismay, which the extent and continuance of those mutual barbarities had excited throughout all ranks and classes of people , the measure of a Legislative Union never durst have been proposed to Ireland , — and that this terrific sensation was critically made use of, as the strongest instrument , to impose that measure on a people, sunk under the lassitude of civil war, and while in search of peace, forgetting liberty. 44 MSE AND FALL punctilious dictates cither of honor or humanity. — and had never failed to take advantage of the feebleness of Ireland to impose the grievous weight of her arbitrary restrictions , — she had , at all periods , systematically encouraged the inter- nal dissensions of that people, the better to humble them for the yoke which she had always been ready to place upon their country, — Ireland , therefore , felt that she would be justi- fied by British precedent to take advantage of this important Ireland dc- crisis — and that even the practical principles of the British demand be" constitution had declared and justified the right of popular just rights, resistance; — England had, upon the same principle of resi- stance to arbitrary power, attempted to justify the murder of one King, and the deposition of another, — whilst Ireland, pre- ferring her allegiance to her policy, remained faithful to both, and was rewarded for her loyally bv massacre and confiscation. However, a hasty or impetuous resistance of the Irish peo- ple , even to the most arbitrary acts of their King or of their Government , was by no means a principle congenial to their political character 5 whilst it was obvious to the whole world, that England had adopted those violent and outrageous pro- ceedings against her own monarchs, upon principles and pre- tences far less constitutional and more inconsistent with her liberties than the measures and conduct which had been wan- tonly and systematically practised by British ministers against Irish freedom. With this useful and awful lesson before her eves , Ireland wisely considered that she would best raise and establish her national character, and effect her just objects, by a gradual reassumption of her rights, and a temperate and fair demand of constitutional liberty 5 — that her mode- ration would form an edifying contrast to the violence and intemperance of England, whenever her liberties were inva- ded, — and that the advantage which the embarrassed state of ('.real Britain had now thrown into the hands of Ireland, would be most honorably exercised by a calm and loyal, but resolute and effectual proceeding: — she perceived, however. OF THE IRISH NATION. /,5 that the moment most favourable to her objects had arrived-, which, if suffered to pass by, without effort, might never recur ; — and it therefore only remained to Ireland to ascer- tain the means most moderate but most likely to call Great Britain to a sense of reason and of justice, and to secure to herself the attainment of her rights , without the danger of hostile convulsion, or the horrors of civil conflict. England, notwithstanding she had in some instances sus- conspiracy pended, and in others prohibited, the exportation of frisk manufactures manufactures, inundated the Irish markets with every species ofrrelaml of her own ; — and with a view effectually to destroy all po- wer of competition in Ireland, the great capitalists of England determined , even at any loss , to undersell the Irish in their own markets , — a loss , however, which they thought would be eventually and amply repaid by the monopoly which must necessarily succeed the utter destruction of the Irish manu- facture. This system it was impossible for the Irish manufacturer to resist or counteract 5 — his capital was too small to bear the losses of competition; resistance would have been vain; — he had therefore no alternative, but to change his trade — or submit, and famish. It depended on the exertions of the people at large to resist The non- every vicious and destructive project-, — and they lost no ^pe™*^ 11 time in adopting incipient measures of resistance. — With adopted . ' ill • 1 1 • throughout this view, they resolutely determined to adopt a non-impor- a il Ireland. tationand non-consumption agreement throughout the whole kingdom; and by excluding not only the importation, but the consumption of any British manufacture in Ireland , visi- ted back upon the English combinators the ruin of their own treachery. No sooner was this measure publicly proposed , than it was universally adopted ; — it flew quicker than the wind throughout the whole nation : — the manufacturing bodies — the corporate, towns — the small retailers — the general merchants — at once universally adopted this vigo- teers. /,6 RISE AND FALL rous determination — and the great body of the people , by general resolutions, and universal acclamations, avowed their firm determination to support the measure , till they should acquire a restoration of their political rights. Progress of IV. Mean-while , the armed associations hourly gained lllIU " strength in numbers ; — they began to acquire the appendages and establishments of a regular army — discipline and con- fidence; and gradually consolidated themselves into regiments and brigades ; some procured cannon and field equipages , and formed companies of artillery ; the completion of one corps stimulated the formation of another, and at length almost every independent Protestant of Ireland was enrolled as a patriot soldier ; and the whole body of the Catholics declared themselves the decided auxiliaries of their armed countrymen. This extraordinary armament — the recollection of which will for ever excite in Ireland a devotion to the cause of liberty, which neither time can efface nor misfortunes extin- guish — actuated solely by the pure spirit of incorruptible patriotism , and signalized by a conduct more temperate and more judicious , than had ever controlled the acts and objects of any military body in the history of the world. The modern military corps, which have been skilfully, and perhaps wisely, imbodied , to preclude any recurrence to the measure of volunteering , possess no analogy to these celebrated associations , save that the loyalty of the volun- teers was to their country and their King — the loyall\ of the yeomen , to the King of England and to his Mini- sters. Self-formed , and self-governed , the volunteers accepted no commissions whatever from the Crown, and acknowledged no connection whatever with the Government: — the private men appointed their <>\\n officers, and occasionally cashier- ed them for misconduct or incapacity ; — they accepted no pay , — the more wealthy soldier cheerfully shared his funds OF THE IRISH NATION. / l7 with his poorer comrade — and the officers contributed their proportions to the general stockpurse. Yet notwithstanding this perverted stale of all military establishments, their subordination was complete-, — the soldier obeyed , from the instinctive impulse of honor to himself and duty to his country — the officer commanded , upon the same principle — and very few instances occurred , where either were found to deviate from the straightest line of military rectitude. The rules of discipline were adopted by general assent — and that passive obedience which , in regu- lar armies, is enforced by punishment, amongst the Volun- teers of Ireland was effected by honor. They assumed various uniforms; — green , white , scarlet, or blue, were the prevailing colours '. Their line, therefore, appeared variegated , and peculiarly striking. Their arms were at first provided by themselves ; but the extraordinary increase of their numbers rendered them at length unable to procure a sufficient supply by purchase : — they had then but one course — they confidently required arms from the Government ; — the Government , whatever reluctance they might have felt to arm men who acknowledged no supremacy, yet did not think it safe to refuse their demand 5 and with an averted eye handed out to the Volunteers twenty thousand stand of arms from the Castle of Dublin. V. Being completely equipped, the acquirement of persons ■ The Lawyers' regiment of volunteers adopted exactly the uniform of the King's guards — their motto, " Pro aris et focis." The Kilkenny regiment (the late Earl of Ormond's ) , and the regiments of Irish Brigades, etc., wore green, — the motto of the latter, " Vox populi supremo, lex est. " — During the continuance of the Volunteer corps, no other police whatever was necessary throughout the whole nation — no public delinquent could possibly escape apprehension — and the most perfect peace and tranquility prevailed throughout every county and district in Ireland ; — the Volunteers exerted themselves in every depart- ment, as the preservers of public peace, and with an effect never known at any former or later period in that country. /,8 RISE AND FA.I.I capable of instructing so large a body in military tactics appeared a matter of tbc greatest difficulty; — but tbe same events which bad first inspired tbc Irish with a determination to arm , furnished them with the means not only of acquiring discipline , but of increasing their ardor. The disasters of the American war had restored to the bosom of Ireland many brave men , whose health had sunk under the conserjuences of wounds and sufferings , and who having witnessed the successful struggles of America for li- berty , had returned to Ireland at that moment when she was critically preparing to assert her own. The association of these experienced veterans was sedulously courted by the Irish Vo- lunteers-, — their orders were obeyed with confidence and alacrity, — and amongst the country corps the effect of their instructions became suddenly conspicuous ; — and , under their experience, discipline advanced with a rapid progress. The intercourse and conversation of those persons also had a powerful effect , by transfusing into their pupils thai military mind which a veteran soldier can never relinquish. In their convivial hours, the Serjeant, surrounded by his company, expatiating on the events of actual service , and introducing episodes of individual bravery , perhaps of his own undauntedness and sagacity, gradually banished every other topic from their conversation at those meetings; — the successful perseverance of America had impressed even the soldier himself who had fought against her , with an invo- luntary respect for the principles of his enemies ; — a con- stant intercourse with his Irish associates soon excited in him congenial feelings-, — and he began to listen with pleasure to their interesting question — " Why should not bis own brave countrymen possess as much constitutional liberty as those foreign colonists who had conquered him ? Tt is difficult to conceive the fascination which seized upon the heretofore contracted intellect of the military farmer , l>\ a repetition of these novel and warlike subjects ; — the mar- OF THE IRISH NATION. /,<> tial propensity of his innate character hud already rendered him peculiarly susceptible of these animating impressions , and he now almost imperceptibly imbibed a military mind , and acquired a soldier's feeling. In a word , the whole nation became enamoured of arms; and those who were not per- mitted to bear them , considered themselves as honored by being employed to carry the food and ammunition of the soldier. The chief commanders of these armed bodies were men of Their prin- the highest and most distinguished characters , and each corps cipa ed ers ' was in general headed by persons of the first respectability in their respective districts, selecte4 generally for their popu- larity and independence ; — but all these corps were, for a considerable time, totally distinct and unconnected ; nor was it until they had formed inso a consolidated column , under the command of the amiable and the illustrious Char- lemon t , that they acquired the irresistible impulse of a co- operating power. The mild , but determined patriotism of that respected nobleman , gave a new tint of character to the whole army which he commanded, and chased away the tongue of slander from their objects and their conduct. In the number of those who , at this moment , were laun- ched, for the first time, into public observation, there appeared a person , who , without possessing the highest repu- tation for public talent , or the moslundeviating line of public principle , by the honest and spirited termination of his poli- tical life, has been justly raised upon the elevated pedestal of national gratitude; a person , whose early appointment to the first financial department of Ireland , and whose official con- duct, from that day to the catastrophe oflrishParliaments, will necessarily be the subject of frequent and important observa- tions, and authorizes an introduction of his name and charac- ter , at an earlier stage of this history , than would otherwise be consistent with the regular detail of a progressive nar- rative. 4 Parud 5o RISK AM) I All. \1. Sir John Parnel, ihe commandant of a Volunteer asso- ciation ', was tlic son of a crafty and prudent minor politician Sir John (Sir John Parnel, of Rathlegue , in the Queen's county), and was educated with a view to a diplomatic situation 5 — hut on his return from the Continent , was found by his father too deficient in the necessary attainments of evasion and duplicity, to qualify him for the high departments of foreign diplomacy' — his talents, therefore, became destined for home consumption — and by the intrigues of hi slather, and a forced exertion of his own abilities, he was soon noticed in the Irish Parliament as a person of more than ordinary capa- city , — and after a veering course of local politics , he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. — In that situation he continued, till the project of a Union called forth the public virtues of every man who possessed any , and too late opened the eyes of the nation to it's steady friends, and to it's temporizing enemies, lis ci.a- Sir John Parnel had an eminent capacity for public business, but a lamentable deficiency of system in it's arran- gement. — His strong mind and cultivated understanding lo>l much of their effect by the flurry of his manner, which frequently impeded the perspicuity of his language. His intellect was clear — his memory retentive — and his conception just; — he possessed esteem, without an effort to obtain it, and preserved his friends, without exercising hi> patronage; — he supported the Ministry, without offending the Opposition, — and all parlies united in calling him an honorable man. Plain — frank — cheerful and convivial — he generally preferred society to trouble, and seemed to have rid himself of a weight , when he had executed a duly. — As a financier. lie was not perfect, — as a statesman , he was not deep, — as a courtier , he was not polished . - — but as an officer - he was nol corrupt : — and though manv years in possession of ' The Maryborough Volunteers. ractcr. OF TI1K IRISH NATION. 5i high office, and extensive patronage, lie showed a disinte- restedness almost unparalleled ; and the name of a relative , or of a dependant , of his own , scarcely in a single instance increased the place or the pension lists of Ireland. Though his education and habits were ministerial , his mind was intrinsically palriolic, and a sentiment of indepen- dent spirit not unfrequcnliy hurst out from under the pressure of that official restriction which the duties of his station had necessary imposed upon him ; hut his appointment as a Minister never induced him to forget his birth as an Irish- man ; and his attachment to the Sovereign , never diminished his philanthropy to the subject. After an honest , faithful , and zealous service of his King , for seventeen years — as Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer — he was called upon by the Minister to sacrifice his princi- ples , and betray his country — to efface the impressions of his youth — and tarnish the honor of his maturity — to violate his faith — and falsify his conviction; — but the fetters of office could not restrain the spirit of it's captive — he lost his station, but he retained his integrity, and was compensated for the consequences of an undeserved dismissal, by the ap- probation of his conscience and the affection of his country. The Volunteer corps which he commanded , early and zea- lously adopted the cause of Irish independence ■ — a cause he strenuously adhered to , to the last moment of his existence — and in that noble firmness with which he resisted a legis- lative Union , and disobeyed the mandates of a crafty and vindictive Viceroy — he has left to the present age a brilliant and a rare example of a Minister , honest enough to prefer his character to his office — and proud enough to postpone Geuemi ef his interest to his honor. fects of ™'"n- teering upon VII. The Volunteer system now becoming universal in Ire- the people of land , effected an important and visible change in the minds and manners of the middle and lower orders of the people; by the occurrence of new events, and the promulgation of novel principles, their natural character became affected in all it's 5a RISK AND FALh bearings , and acquired , or rather disclosed , new points which at that period tended to promote their prosperity, hut eventually formed the grand pretence for the extinguishment of their independence. The familiar association of all ranks , which the nature ol their new military connection necessarily occasioned , every day lessened that wide distinction , which had theretofore separated the higher and lower orders of society ; — the Landlord and the tenant — the nohleman and the artisan — the general and the soldier — now, for the first lime , sal down at the same board — shared the same fare — ■ and en- joyed the same conviviality ; — the lower order learned ihcir own weight in the community — the higher were taught their dependence upon the people — and those whose illiterate minds had never before conceived or thought on the nature of polilieal constitutions . or the fundamental principles of civil government , now learned , from the intercourse and conversation of their superiors, the rudiments of that com- plicated hut noble science ; the misconception and the abuse ni' which , has since become the severest scourge that ever afflicted the Slates of Europe. A visible alteration was also soon observable in the genera! appearance of the people ; — the squalid garb and carc!cs> dress of the Irish farmer was now exchanged for the minute cleanliness and regularity of the soldier ; — a striking revo- lution look place not only in the minds , but also in the ex- ternal appearance of the Irish; — their intellect acquired strength by exercise and information — their address was im- proved by intercourse and discipline — and ihcir general ap- pearance by dress and regularity ; — and had not the same causes , which led to the concessions of 17^3, induced the British Government to recal that constitution which had been wrested from it's feebleness, these unparalleled associations would have conferred advantages on the country , beyond all measures which human wisdom could have suggested, for it's improvement, OF TBI HUSH NATION fc CHAP, IV. 1. While those transactions were taking place throughout the country, a memorable and Unexpected event occurred in the Irish Parliament. The sessions of 17 79-80 commenced with a scene which , Unexpected while it elevated the Irish people to the height of expectation, Ir j*,° s H ' (iu ^ and inspired them with a new confidence, paralysed the Rii- of Commons, tish Government , — and , for the first moment, made known decidedly to the councils of that country, that they had no longer to deal with a timid, dispirited, and unprotected nation. The adoption of non-importation and non-consumption agreements, had already created considerable anxiety in the British Minister as to the probable result of the ensuing Ses- sion , — and the Lord Lieutenant was directed to open the Parliament with a speech , remotely alluding to his Majesty's sentiments of liberality, but without specifying any measure of concession — and so cautiously guarded, as neither to alarm the Public, nor commit the Government : ■ — but the days of insipidity had now passed away 5 — the Viceroy's spee- ches from the throne, for almost a century, had been com- posed nearly in the same common-place language and trite observation , — and the addresses of both Houses, in reply to those speeches, had been almost invariably mere echoes of the speech itself, with general assurances of liberal supplies and increasing loyalty. On the opening of this Session , however, there appeared a more than common sensation amongst the leading members of Parliament — the strong and animated declarations of pu- blic sentiment which had been published during the proroga- tion, made an extraordinary impression , — but the extent or consequences of that impression could not be ascertained , until the proceedings of the House of Commons gave an op- 54 RISE AND FALL portunity of observing what effect the new spirit of the pee pie would now have upon the conduct of their representa- tives. At length the Parliament assembled-, — the anxious and inquisitive eye of the Secretary and of the steady partisans of Government passed rapidly throughout the whole House — alarmed — by the appearance of some unusual resistance, they endeavoured, from the looks — the suggestions — the manner of the members, to prejudge the result of the first night's debate, which had generally decided the complexion of the ensuing session — but no sagacity could have antici- pated the turn which Irish affairs were to receive on that night — no human foresight could have predicted that blow which the system of the British cabinet was about to receive by one single sentence — or have foreseen that that single sentence would the be composition of the first law officer of the Irish Government. The Lord Lieutenant's speech was delivered by him, in the House of Lords, in the accustomed tone of confidence, ambiguity , and frivolous recommendations ; and in the Commons, the usual echo and adulatory address was moved by Sir Robert Deane — a person completely devoted to the views of Government. — A pause succeeded , and an unusual communication was perceivable between several members on the Government and the Opposition sides of the House. A de- rided resistance to the usual qualified address now became certain: — the Secretary, moving irresolutely from place to place, was seen endeavouring to collect the individual opi- nions of the members — and the law officers of the Crown evinced a diffidence never before observable in their depart- ment 5 throughout the whole House a new sense of expectation and anxiety was evident. Mr Crat . II. At length Mr. Henry Grattan arose, with a somewhat ■• '" 'moil (ban usual solemnity; — he seemed labouring with his ripciif In the "....... I i- Address. own ihoui l>i>. > n< I preparing bis mind lor a more than orai- OF THE IRISH NATION. 55 nary exerlion. — The address and the language of this ex- traordinary man were perfectly original : from his first essay in Parliament, a strong sensation had been excited by the point and eccentricity of his powerful eloquence; — nor was it long until those transcendent talents — which afterwards distinguished this celebrated personage — were perceived rising above ordinary capacities, and , as a charm, commu- nicating to his countrymen that energy, that patriotism, and that perseverance, for which he himself became so eminently distinguished : — his action — his lone — his elocution in public speaking, bore no resemblance to that of any other person 5 — the flights of genius — the arrangements of com- position — and the solid strength of connected reasoning, were singularly blended in his fiery, yet deliberative language-, — he thought in logic , and he spoke in antithesis 5 his irony and his satire, rapid and epigrammatic, bore down all opposition, and left him no rival in the broad field of eloquent invective ; — his ungraceful action , however, and the hesitating tardi- ness of his first sentences, conveyed no favorable impression to those who listened only to his exordium — but the progress of his brilliant and manly eloquence soon absorbed every idea, but that of admiration at the overpowering extent of his intellectual faculties. This was Mr. Henry Gratlan of 1779 , — in the vicissitudes His public of whose subsequent life will be remarked three distinct eras d,ara . f '''' and T vicissitudes. of public character, and disgusting proofs of popular incon- sistency — the era of his glory — the era of his calumny — and the era of his resurrection ; — in the first , elevated to a pilch of unbounded gratification, by the attachment, the gratitude , and the munificence of his countrymen : — m the second , despoiled of health, of happiness, and of cha- racter, by the artifices of a powerful enemy; — and in the third , rising from the bed of sickness — re-embarking a shat- tered frame in the service of his country. — In Parliament, lie taught the doctrines of Molvueux and of Lucas — lej 56 RISE AND FALE drew the true constitutional distinctions between the. Crown and the Government — the magistrate and the function — the individual and the sceptre. — But the partiality of the friend may possibly hias the pen of the historian ; — his puhlie principles will he hest ascertained by tracing the undevialing line of his public conduct. The career of this extraordinary man is finished. — Hut he survived his country — he lived to view the demolition of that noble fabric raised by the exertion of his own virtue and perseverance — and the catastrophe of that constitution , which — "as he watched over it in it's cradle , so he attended it to it's grave. " — TheAmend- III. After an oration , replete with the most luminous reaso- eut ' ning — the severest censure — pathetic and irresistible elo- quence — Mr. Grattan moved an amendment to the address. Viz. "That we beseech your Majesty to believe, that it is " with the utmost reluctance we are constrained to approach " you on the present occasion ;■ — but the constant drain to " supply absentees , and the unfortunate prohibition of our " trade, have caused such calamity, that the natural sup- " port of our country has decayed, and our manufacturers " are dying for want; — famine stalks hand in hand with " hopeless wretchedness, — and the only means left to sup- " port the expiring trade of this miserable part of your iMa- " jesty's dominions , is to open a free export trade , and let " your Irish subjects enjoy their natural birthright, " its effects. His arguments had been so conclusive — his positions so self-evident — his language so vigorous and determined — his predictions so alarming — and the impression which those combined qualities made 'upon the Bouse was so deep, and so extensive, that the supporters of Government, paralyzed and passive, seemed almost ready to resign the victory, before they had even attempted a resistance. The confusion which now appeared on the Ti easui v bi nch was very remarkable, because very unusuah The Secretary OF THE IRISH NATION. 5 7 (Sir Richard Heron), for the first lime, showed a painful mislrusl in the steadiness of his followers-, he perceived that the spirit of the House was rising into a storm , which all the influence of his office would not be able to allay — direct opposition would be injudicious , if not fatal — ■ palpable eva- sion would be altogether impracticable — the temporizing system was almost worn out — and procrastination seemed to yield no belter prospect of a favorable issue ; — the officers of Government sat sullenly on their benches, awaiting their cus- tomary cue from the lips of the Minister — but he was too skilful to commit himself to a labyrinth , from whence return was so difficult and precarious, — and all was silent. — At length Sir Henry Cavendish hesitatingly arose, to declare his dissent to this first decided effort of the Irish Parliament to assert it's liberties. IV. Sir Henry Cavendish was one of those persons who are Sir Heury generally found in the front of a popular assembly, and ac- quire notoriety by becoming the oracle of some insulated de- partment. — Though possessed of a plain , shrewd under- standing — abundance of craft — a convenient temper — and imposing plausibility ; — after unavailing effort to acquire the fame of a rhetorician , Sir Henry contented himself with the reputation of profound knowledge in parliamentary pre- cedents and points of order. He was ever prepared with a string of parliamentary prece- dents, appropriate to every question, and adapted to every circumstance, which he skilfully contrived to substitute for reasoning, and oppose to argument — and should his prolific memory chance to fail him in the quotation of his documents, his inventive genius never let the subject fail for want of an auxiliary. On points of order he was at least as garrulous as orthodox , nis Cha- and peculiarly expert at critical interruption 5 under colour IdCtei " of keeping order, he assumed a license for transgressing it , — and in affecting to check the disgression of others, he fre- 58 RISE AND TALI, quenlly made it the first figure of his own rhetoric ; — he was admirably calculated for desultory debate -7- when be was right, he was concise — when he was wrong, he was pertina- cious, sarcastic, obstinate, plausible, persevering — he gained time when he could not make proselytes , and became the very essence and soul of procrastination. Sir Henry was well aware that he durst not venture an unqualified negative , and endeavoured craftily to administer his panacea of precedents, and to propose what he termed " something more orderly in the House , and more gracious to the Sovereign. " He said he would vole against the amendment — that the business would he better effected by following a precedent in the year il>()i , when the Lords and Commons of Ireland appointed commis- sioners to attend the King — to " supplicate the redress of grievances. V. The die was now cast — and a resistance to the measure was announced and proceeded on. Mr. Scott (Attorney Ge- neral ) affected to support Sir Henry — hut as if conscious of his ultimate failure , he appeared almost a new character; — the bold audacity of his address degenerated into an insidious plausibility — his arrogance fled without an effort — and for once in his life he was tame, vapid, and equivocal; — an ardent spirit now burst forth from every quarter of the House. Mr. Henry Flood , a most prominent personage in Irish history, whose endowments were great, and whose character was distinguished' — the Provost — Mr. Ogle — Sir Edward Newnhara — and many others — declared their coincidence with the amendment. But though it staled , in true and pathetic language , the miseries Ireland was subject to , by reason of her absentees, it pressed loo strongly on the lenderest spot of the interest of Britons, lo admit of their concurrence: while, on the other side, it was conceived not lo be thoroughly explicit — and not sufficiently peremptory; — the object was most important — the moment was most OF THE HUSH NATION. 5y critical — and the amendment was exceptionable. These dif- ficulties had been foreseen. VI. Mr. Hussey Burgh (the Prime Sergeant) at length arose Mr. Hussey from the Treasury bench, with that proud dignity so conge- P J^ e ser- nial to his character, and declared, that he never would sup- geantWcedes port any Government, in fraudulently concealing from the ment and sub- King the right of his people ; — that the high office which he ^"p'ujmcnt possessed could hold no competition with his principles and ( " T , Mr - Grat " his conscience , and he should consider the relinquishment of his gown only as a just sacrifice upon the altar of his coun- try ; — that strong statement , rather than pathetic supplica- tion , was adapted to the crisis ; and he proposed to Mr. Grat- lan to substitute for his amendment the following words — " That it is not by temporary expedients, that this nation is now to be saved from impending ruin. " The effect of his speech J was altogether indescribable , nor is it easily to be conceived by those who were not witnesses of that remarkable transaction •, the House, quick in it's con- ception , and rapidly susceptible of every impression , felt the whole force of this unexpected and important secession. The TheAmcnd- character — the talents — the eloquence of this great man , ujent i ,asi,e bore down every symptom of further resistance; — many of the usual supporters of Government , and some of the Vice- roy's immediate connections, instantly followed his example, and in a moment the victory was decisive , - — not a single 1 The author of this memoir was present at that memorable debate (if debate it can be called), and the impression it then made upon his mind can never be effaced. The depression on the one side — the exulta- tion on the other — the new sensation on both — the obvious feeling which this unexpected event excited in the galleries , crowded by six or seven hundred of the most respectable persons out of Parliament , and a great number of ladies of high rank — the general congratulation on the spirit of the Parliament , was a scene so remarkable , as never to be for- gotten ; but is attended by the sad reflection , that Mr. Burgh did not long survive the service he did his country — nor did his country long survive 'lie service which he rendered it. Go RISE AND FALL negative could the Minister procure,- — and Mr. Burgh's amendment passed unanimously, amidst a lumull ol 'joy and exultation • First step This triumph of Irish patriotism, made an instantaneous J° J arJs , h and powerful impression on the minds of the people; — it was their first victory, and the ministers' first discomfiture. The volunteers atlrihuled this unexpected success to the im- pressions which their spirit had diffused throughout the country, and they determined to adopt this measure, as if it had been their own offspring — and thereby identify the vir- tues of the Parliament with the energies of the people. On the circumstance being announced, the drums beat to arms — the Volunteer associations collected in every part of the me- tropolis — and they resolved to line the streets , and ac- company to the gales of the Castle that part of the legislative body which moved in solemn procession , to present their wholesome warning into the hands of the \ iceroy. The secession of Mr. Burgh from the Government, was not more important than that of M. Connolly, brother-in-law to the Viceroy, and Mr. Burton Cunningham, a constant suppor- ter of ministerial measures — men in high estimation and ol large fortunes — which gave Mr. Graltan an opportunity for observing, that " the people were thus getting landed seen/ if) for the attainment of their liberties. " The effect of this measure, though in it's nature incon- clusive , appeared to lay the first stone of Irish independence, and grcatlv increased both the numbers and confidence of the Volunteer associations. ■ ' The secret history of this celebrated amendment is worthy ol re cording ; it proves that the measures adopted bj [reland , al thai period , were not the work of pnrt\ or of faction , bm the result of the secret and deliberate consideration of the most able and virtuous men of the Irish nation. Mr. Dennis Daly, a m.i:i ol great abilities, large fortune, exquisii eloquence, and high character, together with Mr. Grattan, withdrew themselves to Bray ( a village ten miles from the metropolis), there t< OF THE IRISH NATION. Gi Several attempts had been previously made lo fix the atten- tion of ihe British Legislature on the distressed and dange- rous situation of Ireland ; but every such effort had proved totally abortive. Although the critical stale of that country had been discussed in both Houses of Parliament , and ad- dresses had been voted to the King requesting his immediate attention lo the affairs of Ireland , to which favorable ans- wers had been returned by his Majesty; and though the Irish Commons had also framed a resolution , in the language of more than common expostulation; yet the subject passed away from the attention of the Ministers, and even this session closed, affording only further and decided proofs of their temporizing duplicity. \ II. Great Britain was not as yet sufficiently alarmed , to be- The English come iust: — she could not as vet be persuaded that the Irish P arliament J J 1 callous to the people were competent to the redress of their own grievances 5 wrongsof Ire- and she considered the warmth of their public declarations only as the brilliant flashes of a temporary patriotism. Her egotism blinded her to her state and she fancied that deliberate privately on the most effectual means of attaining the just rights of their country ; - — previous confidential communications had taken place between them and Mr. Perry, then Speaker of the House of Commons , who recommended a strong and comprehensive amendment to the address of the ensuing session , as the first step to be taken on the occasion. Mr. Gratlan drew up one amendment — Mr. Daly another — and Mr. Daly's, in his own hand-writing, formed that which Mr. Grattan moved in the Commons. At the same time similar communications had taken place between Mr. Hussey Burgh and Mr. Henry Flood , which gave rise to the amend- ment moved by Mr. Burgh. That proposed by Mr. Grattan leaning heavily on absentees, the friends of that body did not , from the complexion of the House , wish to hazard any division respecting them ; and therefore, to avoid such discussion , acceded to Mr. Burgh's amendment, which did not allude to absentees, to avoid Mr. Grattan's which did ; — and to this circumstance is to bo attributed the unaccountable unanimity with which the measure passed both Houses of Parliament — and the extraordinary secession of Mr. Con- nolly, and other weighty supporters of Administration. C,2 RISE AND TALL the same revolution which had confirmed her Liberties, had subjected to her power the liberties of her sister; and still paramount to justice and to policy, she felt too proud as yet to bend her attention to the grievances which she had herself inflicted. Some powerful friends of Ireland at length began zealously to espouse her interests. The good Earl Nugent , whose memory and character is still revered by those who recollect the sincerity of his attachment to that country in 1778, made an effort in the British Lords to call their attention to the distresses of Ireland •, hut his efforts were ineffectual. The same Nobleman soon after repeated the same effort, but his weight and abilities were not equal lo bis zeal and integrity. His motion was treated with an unbecoming superciliousness by Lord North' — and death unfortunately soon after deprived his country of one of it's truest friends and most dignified and honest advocates, lord siiei- ^HI- Xhe Earl of Shelhurne, in the Lords , and the Earl hume and of Upper Ossory , in the Commons , also proposed strong propose reso- resolutions in both Houses , declaratory of the dangerous lutions. slale f that country '. But though the motion was well timed, the motives of the noble movers did not proceed from the same feeling which actuated the resident inhabitants of Ire- land-, — neither of those Noblemen had been habitual friends 1 The following resolution was moved, by the Earl of Shelhurne, in the British House of Lords , on the 1st day of December, i~7<> : " Resolved , That it is highly criminal in his Majesty's Ministers to h.i\ < neglected taking effectual measures for the relief of the kingdom "I Ireland; and to have suffered the discontents of that country to rise to such a height, as evidently to endanger the constitutional connection between the two kingdoms, and to create new embarrassments to the public councils, through division and diffidence, in a moment when real unanimity, grounded upon mutual confidence and affection, is confessed!) essential to the preservation of the British empire. " After a short debate , this motion was rejected. For the motion , 37 Lords. Against it, 82. OF THE IRISH NATION. G3 to live general interests of that country — both of them were total absentees — they possessed large estates in Ireland, and trembled for their properties — they acted in general oppo- sition to the Government , and wished to register the culpa- bility of their adversaries. Their motions were, after very sharp debates , rejected in both Houses, and Ireland became fully and finally convinced, that it was not through the occasional exertion of Irish emigrants, in a foreign Legislature, that she was to seek for the recovery of her rights, and alle- viation of her miseries. Applications to the Government — petitions to the Parlia- ment — and supplications to the Crown , had all been tried in vain; neither the bold remonstrances of right, nor the piercing cries of necessity , could reach the royal ear , or penetrate the circle of Ministers which surrounded the British Throne , and concealed from the Irish King a distinct view of his Irish people 5 — humble and pathetic language had failed — the voice of the nation was exhausted by unavailing sup- plication — and it now became full time to act in the cause of liberty. Such being the ascertained disposition of the whole body The Irish of the people , not a moment was to be lost in the adoption ^°° ( £ et ^ of some measure , too strong to be despised by Ministers , and sertit'srights. too moderate to be dangerous to the connection ; — delay might now terminate all the hopes of Ireland — the crisis might pass away — the public spirit might cool — and the moment so auspicious to the interests of the nation might be lost for ever. Though this determination quickly circulated throughout the whole country, the people still acted with that deliberate firmness , which , of all conduct , is the most fatal to a political adversary, and adds most strength and cha- racter to popular proceedings. IX. The personages who then led Ireland forward to her bloodless victory , well knew the inestimable value of that prudent principle; they were men of great abilities— profound 64 RISE AND FALL wisdom — and thai effective patriotism,, which considers acti- vity it's necessary friend, but precipitation it's most dangerous enemy. They instructed the people, that while they acted with undeviating firmness, they should also act with prudential moderation — that the suspended liberties of a people were most likely to be recovered from a powerful oppressor , by a determined but cool and progressive perseverance — that by deliberate system none would be alarmed — wise men would be attended to — the impetuous be restrained — the waver- ing confirmed — and the people steadied — patriotism and confidence would grow up together . and become more inti- mately blended , and the whole nation , without alarm , be imperceptibly led to one common centre — and become com- petent to achieve the strongest measures, before they were well aware that they had commenced the preparation for them. They were instructed that , on the other hand , undigested and impetuous proceedings , if not successful, by the first ra- pidity of their execution , in general defeat their own object , and rivet the chains of that country which they were intended to emancipate — that it is more practicable to advance on gradual claims, than recede from extravagant determinations — and that the inevitable miseries of civil war , however justifiable upon the principles and precedent of constitutional resistance , established at the revolution , should be the last resource even of an enslaved people — and that though the Irish were armed-, and might demand concession , in the al- titude and tone of confidence , it would be much wiser to give their incipient proceedings the weight and eharactcrof citizens, and reserve for the last extremity the threat of soldiers; — ibat England . by this means , would be sufficiently informed of the determination of Ireland , without feeling her pride too much hurt, to propose a negociation , or so much alarmed , as to prepare for resistance. This discreet reasoning bad it's full effect upon the gene- OF THE IRISH NATION. 65 ralityof the nation; and though the ebullitions of public feel- ing occasionally broke forth in ardent resolutions of the Vo- lunteer associations — the temperate system was generally adopted ; and it was only upon fully experiencing it's final fail- ure , that the exhilarating shouts of an embattled people were heard reverberating from every quarter of a military country. X. As before mentioned, public resolutions neither to im- port, purchase, or consume any British manufacture or com- modity whatever, had been universally but peaceably adopted throughout the whole island — a measure at all times justifi- able by any people, who may have been deprived of their com- merce and their constitution by the power or the machina- tions of an insidious neighbour. Inundated as Ireland had been with every species of British manufacture , there could be no step so just — so moderate , or which promised so many beneficial consequen- ces , as the total exclusion from the Irish markets of every commodity which she was herself competent to manufacture, or of which she could possibly dispense with the immediate consumption. However , it was not until after the grievances of Ireland could be no longer endured , and she found that nothing but propositions , without sufficient latitude to be beneficial , or security to be permanent, were offered for her acceptance , that these resolutions became almost universal — spread themselves , like a rapid flame , throughout every village of the island, and were zealously promoted by almost every individual in the country. At length, a general meeting was convened by the High Sheriffs of the city of Dublin , and resolutions 1 then entered into by the whole metropolis; ■ THOLSEL, DUBLIN. At a general meeting of the Freemen and Freeholders of the City of Dublin , con- vened by public notice , William James and John Exshaw High Sheriffs , in the chair , The following Resolutions, amongst others , were unanimously agreed to : That we will not, from the date hereof, until the grievances of this 66 RISE AND FALL Resolution which finally confirmed and consummated that judicious through every stage of the regency , and the rebellion — to the com- pletion of that measure entitled a legislative Union between the two countries. Rapid pro- XI. The Volunteer associations of the Metropolis soon gress of the • 1 1 i 1 • r 1 Volunteers, perceived, that however numerous llicir iorce and extensive their popularity, it required some strong link of connection to unite military bodies, so entirely distinct and independent of each other — who acknowledged no superior to their res- pective commanders — and no control but voluntary obe- dience. To secure their unanimity, perhaps even their perma- nence, it required some consolidating authority, whose weight might restrain within proper limits the uncontrolled spirits of a body, assuming the double capacity of a soldier and of a citizen. This essential object could only be attained by the selec- tion of some high and dignified personage, whose rank and character, rising beyond the reach of common competition , might unite together, under one common chief, that diver- sity of views and objects which must ever distract the procee- dings of detached associations. The Volunteers of Dublin saw clearly, that military bodies , however laudable their views, must be more than commonly subject to the fallibility of human institutions-, and that to have the effect and impetus of an army, they must submit themselves fully to it's control and organization. They did not, however, long hesitate in their choice of a commander-, — every eye seemed to turn, by general instinct, on William Duke of Leinsler. — His family, from the earliest periods , had been favorites of the people — he bad himself, when Marquis of Kildarc , been the popular representative for Dublin — he was the only Duke of Ireland — his disposition and his address combined almost every quality which could OF THE IRISH NATION. 69 endear him to the nation. The honesty of his heart might occasionally mislead the accuracy of his judgment — but he always intended right — and his political errors usually sprung from the principle of moderation. This amiable JNobleman was therefore unanimously elected , Extraordin- by the armed bodies of the metropolis, their General, and i, {llwurb pa id was immediately invested with all the honors of so high a si- to f T tlie f Du e J -- 1 of Leiustei. tuation • a guard of Volunteers was mounted at his door — a body guard appointed to attend him on public occasions — and sentinels placed on his box when he honored the theatre ; — he was followed with acclamations whenever he appeared ; and something approaching to regal honors attended his in- vestiture. ' This was the first measure of the Volunteers towards the formation of a regular army ; — it's novelty and splendor added greatly to it's importance , and led the way to the sub- sequent appointments which soon after completed their orga- nization. The mild and unassuming disposition of the Duke , tending , by it's example , to restrain the over zeal of an armed and irritated nation , did not contribute much to increase ■ A -whimsical circumstance took place on this occasion , which shows the extreme credulity with which every intelligence respecting Ireland was then swallowed in Great Britain. — The appointment of the Duke, as General in Chief, was celebrated by the Volunteers in College-green , with great solemnity. Their artillery was ordered out, and a vast concourse of people were assembled. — The Captain of a Whitehaven collier, who had just landed, and come unexpectedly to the spot, on enquiring the reason of such rejoicing, was jocularly informed, that the people were crowning the Duke King of Ireland. He waited for no further information — got back with all expedition to his vessel in the bay , and sailed instantly for Liverpool ; where he made an affidavit, before the Mayor , that he was present , and saw the Duke of Leinster crowned King of Ireland the pre- ceding day. An express was instantly dispatched to London with the affi- davit to the British Ministers — a cabinet council was immediately sum- moned, to deliberate on this alarming intelligence, when the arrival of the regular mail dissipated their consternation, by stating the real causes of the rejoicing. 70 RISE AND FALL the energy of their proceedings, and at no distant period de- privedhim, lor a moment, of a portion of that popularity which his conduct (with but little deviation) entitled him to , down to the last moments of his existence. A new scene now presented itself to the view of the British Minister, and embarrassed, to an unparalleled degree, every measure of the Irish administration. — A regular army, com- posed of every rank of society — raised — armed — and disci- plined in the midst of the metropolis — independent of the Crown, and unconnected with the Government — disdaining all authority of either over their military concerns — and , under the eye of the Viceroy, appointing a commander in chief , and avowing the determination to free their country, or perish in its ruins ' — the standing army tame spectators of this extraordinary spectacle — and almost participating the flame which they might be called upon to extinguish; — the Government , irresolute , and shrinking within the Castle , not only tolerated , but even affected to countenance, this unparalleled procedure. The new commander of the Volun- teers was received and recognised by the public authorities , aud the regular soldiery at length involuntarily paid him the same military attentions as their own eommanders. Attempts to But though the Government, from policy, affected to bear luu'rJcVs 1 eV "' lne s 'S nt AV 'i tn complacency and patience , they reflected , with the deepest solicitude , on the situation of the country , and secretly made every effort to divide or weaken the mili- tary associations. — Every device was used to seduce the sol- dier from his officers , or to detach the most popular officers from the command of the soldiers. The one was offered com- missions and pay from the Crown , the other offices in the public departments. No scheme was left untried ■ — no means were forgotten, to achieve this object; but it was all in vain ' The following label was affixed over the mouth of the Volunteer can- ::"!) - " A Free Trade or — " OF THE IRISH NATION. 71 — the spirit of the people was then too high , and their pa- triotism too ardent, lo admit of such ncgociation — and every attempt became not only futile, hut also gave an additional strength to the measures and declarations of the people. The appointment of the Duke of Leinster to the command of the Volunteers of the metropolis , was quickly followed by that of other district generals; and the organization of four provincial armies was regularly proceeded on; the country gentlemen , of the highest consideration and largest fortune , vied with each other in their efforts lo promote it; — many leading members of the Irish Parliament were individually active in promoting the common object — and from single corps were soon collected county regiments and provincial armies, ready to take the field at the command of their offi- cers , and to sacrifice their lives and their properties for the emancipation of their country. Still , however, something was wanting to complete their organization; provincial armies had been formed and disci- plined , but still these armies were independent of each other — there was no general head, to put the whole in motion — no individual to whom all would own obedience — and such an appointment seemed indispensably essential, to secure their co-operation. But this was a task more serious and more difficult than had yet occurred. Where could be found the man , whose integrity was incorruptible — whose wisdom was profound — whose courage was invincible — yet whose moderation was conspicuous, and whose popularity was extensive ? — Ireland could not boast a Washington , yet so critical was her situa- tion at that moment, that a combination of all these qualities seemed to be requisite in the person to whom should he en- trusted the guidance of eighty thousand patriot soldiers. Such a personage was not to be discovered; and it was only left lo the Volunteers lo select the purest character of that day. 7 ;a RISE AND FALL and leave his guidance to the councils less of the concurring than of the counteracting qualities of the inferior comman- ders. Fari of XII. Puhlic affairs in Ireland now hegan to wear a serious Charlemout. . rrll _ . . , , and alarming aspect. — Ihe Leinster army appointed the Earl of Charlemont it's commander in chief — the other ar- mies proceeded rapidly in their organization. Provincial re- views were adopted •, and every thing assumed the appearance of systematic movement. The elevation of Lord Charlemont to that high command, though it formed a more decided military establishment for the Volunteer army, was probably the very means of preserv- ing the connection between the two countries-, — had the same confidence and command been entrusted to a more ar- dent or ambitious character, it might have been difficult to calculate on the result of combining an intemperate leader with an impatient army; — but the moderation of Lord Char- lemont gave a tone and a steadiness to the proceedings of the people , which might otherwise have pointed to a distinct in- dependence. — His character had long preceded his elevation; — in the North , his influence was unlimited — and though the Southern and AVestern Volunteers had not as yet consoli- dated their force with the other provinces , they were in a high stale of discipline and preparation, and soon adopted the same principles, which the appointment of the Earl of Charlemont had now diffused through the other parts of the Nation. His Cha- From the first moment that James Earl of Charlemont em- barked in Irish politics, he proved himself to be one of the most honest and dignified personages that can be traced in the annals of Irish history, — the love of his country was inter- woven with his existence — their union was complete — their separation impossible; but his talents were rather of the con- ducting class, and his wisdom of a deliberative nature — his mind was more pure than vigorous — more elegant than OF THE IRISH NATION. 7 3 powerful — and his capacity seemed better adapted to counsel in peace , than to command in war. Though he was not devoid of ambition , and was proud of his popularity, his principles were calm , and his moderation predominant ; — for some years at the head of a great army in the heart of a powerful people — in the hand of an injured nation — during the most critical epocha that a kingdom ever experienced — he conducted the Irish nation with incredibile temperance — and , in the midst of tempests , he flowed on , in an unruffled stream , fertilizing the plain of liberty, and enlarging the channel of independence — but too smooth and too gentle to turn the vast machinery of revolution. His view of political objects, though always honest was frequently erroneous 5 — small objects sometimes appeared too important , and great ones too hazardous 5 — though he would not actually temporize , he could be seduced to hesi- tate — yet even when his decision was found wandering from the point of it's destination, it was invariably discoverable that discretion was the seducer. Had the unwise pertinacity of England persisted in her errors , and plunged his country into more active contest, his mildness — his constitution — and his love of order — would have unadapted him to the vicissitudes of civil commo- tion , or the energetic promptitude of military tactics-, — but fortunately the adoption of his counsels rendered his sword unnecessary ; and by the selection of one man , to combat for the liberties of Ireland , he raised a youthful champion for his country , whose sling soon levelled the giant of usurpa- tion , and he wound a laurel round the bust of the deliverer, which will remain unfaded, till the very name of Ireland shall be obliterated from amongst nations. His indisposition to the extent of Catholic liberty — nou- rished by the prejudice of the times — was diminished by the patriotism of the people ; — the Catholics of 1780 preferred their country to their claims, as those of 1800 preferred their 74 RISE AND FALL claims to their country — and amongst that people he gained hy his honesty , what he lost hy his intolerance, and lived just long enough to experience and to mourn the fallibility of his predictions. Around this Nobleman the Irish Volunteers flocked as around a fortress ; — the standard of liberty was supported by his character — the unity of the Empire was protected by his wisdom 5 and as if Providence had attached him to the destinies of Ireland , he arose — he flourished — and he sunk with his country. CHAP. V. Spirit of the !• The British Government at length awakened from their insh and •'"- slumbers — their dreams of power and security- now vanished initiation of ■ J tiie English before the view of their increasing dangers-, — a reliance on the omnipotence of English power — at all times chimerical — would now have been presumptuous ; — the Irish nation , to whose bravery and whose blood the victories and conquests of Britain had been so eminently indebted , now called impe- ratively for their own rights, and demanded a full participa- tion of that constitution , in support of which they had daily sacrificed so great a proportion of their treasure and their population. The Irish soldier and the Irish seaman could never be sup- posed to remain unfeeling spectators, whilst their own country was struggling for it's dearest liberties, or become the merce- nary instruments of their own subjugation. Even their indis- position to the British service would have reduced the armies and navy to debility ; but their defections would have been fatal to the power of Great Britain, and have enabled Ireland irresistibly to effect her total independence. The balance of Rurope was likely to undergo a great change; — the impro- vident attachment to continental politics — almost exclusively engrossed the attention of England-, and the completion oi OF THE IRISH NATION. 76 a mercenary league with a petty potentate of a Germanic principality, inferior even to one Irish county was considered of more importance by the British Cabinet , than all the miseries , the dangers, and the oppressions of Ireland. But the British Government now perceived their error, when it was too late to temporize — and that arrogance , which , for centuries, had hardly condescended to hear her groans, was now started into attention. II. Affairs now approached fast towards a crisis 5 the free- Preparation dom of commerce being the subject most familiar and compre- hensible to the ideas of the people, was the first object of their solicitude. — "A free Trade "became the watchword of the Volunteers, and the cry of the Nation; — the Dublin Volunteer Artillery appeared on parade , commanded by James Napper Tandy, with labels on the mouths of their cannon — " Free Trade or speedy Revolution ,• — placards were pasted up in every part of the city, to the same effect, until the determined proceedings of all ranks and classes of the people , connected with the operation of the non-importation agreements, left no further room for ministerial procrastination. The British Minister now became alarmed, and trembled for the consequences of his political intolerance ; — he had no passage to retreat by — and after every struggle which circumstances could admit of, the British Cabinet at length came to a resolution, that " something must be done to tranquilize Ireland. " The King was informed of their deter- mination , and was prevailed upon to accede to it. His Majesty had received a severe shock, bv the unexpected events of the American contest — and the additional mortification of compulsory concessions to Ireland , was little calculated to tranquilize his feelings; however, absolute necessity required his acquiescence ; and it was finally determined , by the executive Power of Great Britain, to adopt means, if not altogether to satisfy , at least to conciliate and to concede considerably to Ireland. 76 1USE AND FALL From this determination , the affairs in the British Empire began to wear a new aspect ; — the day was fast approaching when England , for the first time , must condescend to acknowledge her own errors , and , in the face of Europe, to humble herself before a people , who had , for six centuries , been the slaves of her power rather than the subjects of her affection. lord Norths Lord North had now a more difficult task to perform than ment' 1 " *" he at first conceived — to recant his avowed principles — to humble the pride of his own country , and submit to the justice of another — and above all, to justify his own con- duct , which had reduced both countries to that slate which required those concessions : ■ — an awful lesson to all Govern- ments , how cautiously they should arrogate to themselves a dominion , of which the basis was power and the super- structure injustice. King's con- III. But all subterfuge had ended , and on the 24th of No- specchandthc vember 1782 , his Majesty ascended the throne, to proclaim consequent n j s fl rs( substantial act of grace to the Irish nation — and to proceedings. _ # ° call the immediate attention of his British Parliament to the situation of that country l — but his Majesty obviously 1 That clause of his Majesty's speech, which related to Ireland, ran as follows : '* In the midst of my care and solicitude for the safety and welfare of " this country, I have not heen inattentive to the state of my loyal and '•'■faithful kingdom of Ireland. I have (in consequence of your addresses, " presented to me in the last session) ordered such papers to he collected " and laid before you, as may assist your deliberations on this important " business ; and I recommend it to you to consider what further benefits "and advantages may be extended to that kingdom, by such regulations '• and such methods , as niav most effectually promote the common strength, •' wealth , and interest of all my dominions. " This was quickly followed up by resolutions — giving the lie direct to King William , and to the assertions of their own ancestors — and by passing bills, distinctly repealing all the acts which their predecessors had declared absolutely essential to secure the prosperity of England from th« dangerous industry of the Irish. OF THE IRISH NATION. 77 insinuated , that his attention to Ireland was attracted by a consideration for the safety of Great Britain — and that the benefits to be extended to Ireland should be only such as would be for the common interest , not of Ireland abstract- edly , but of all his dominions- — and by that very act of conceding to Ireland , he virtually asserted the supremacy of the British Parliament. This speech was immediately attended to by the British Parliament 5 — the Opposition received it as a triumph over the Minister, and gladly acceded to a declaration which proclaimed the imbecilitv and misconduct of the Cabinet. ■ — An actual insurrection in Ireland — the certain consequence of further inattention — would have certainly deprived the Minister of his station, and perhaps eventually of his head. — A coincidence of events thus united two hostile interests in one honest object; and Ireland was destined to receive, through the ambition of one party , and the terror of another , those rights which she had so long in vain solicited from their justice. This speech was immediately followed by the measures re- commended by his Majesty — and the same Parliament which had so repeatedly withheld the just rights of Ireland, now thought they could not too hastily accede to her claims ; and hardly a day was omitted , till the proposed arrangement was proceeded on. ' Messages were sent over to Ireland , to announce the happy tidings to the people — and emissaries were dispersed over every part of the kingdom , to blazon the liberality and jus- tice of Great Britain. IV. The Minister, however, justly suspecting, that so „ .. 7 ,» , . Duplicity of soon as the paroxysms of Irish gratitude, for thisunaccustom- Ministers. ' The British Parliament met the 25th of Novemher, and the first bills of concession received the Royal assent the 21st December. 7 8 RISE AND FALL cd condescension , should subside, and give way to calm reflection, that nation could not avoid perceiving, that until their constitution became independent, and the usurpation of England should be altogether acknowledged , these fa- vours could have no stability , and might be revoked , at a more favorable opportunity , by the same authority which originally conceded them. To obviate these feelings, the Minister continued the Committee on Irish affairs open from time to time , now and then passing a resolution in favor of that country, and thus endeavouring to wear out the session , which he , no doubt , intended should terminate his favors. The people The whole Nation at length perceived the duplicitv of pro- ceeding which , while they purported to extend benefits to Ireland , asserted the paramount authority of Great Britain — and converted it's acts of concession into declaratory statutes of it's own supremacy . Reasoning of this nature soon made a deep impression on the public mind — and meetings were held throughout the kingdom, to declare the national feeling on this important subject; — fourteen counties at once avowed their determi- nation to tear down these barriers which excluded them from a full participation of the British constitution , and to esta- blish , at the risque of their lives and fortunes , the indepen- dence of the Irish Legislature , beyon dthe power of British re-assumption. ' 1 As the genius and disposition of a people are often discoverable, Dot only by trivial but ludicrous circumstances, so their national poetry and music have a very considerable effect in rousing the spirit , and disclosing the character. At this period the press teemed with publications of every quality, in prose and verse, on the subject of fresh grievances. A stanza from one of the popular songs of that day, shows the pointed humour and whimsical lightness which characterize that people even upon the most important subjects. In alluding to the Irish being deprived of the woollen trade by England OF THE IRISH NATION. 79 This spirit and this determination spread themselves uni- versally amongst the people ; — the cry of " Free Trade" was now accompanied with that of " Free Parliament , " — and that patriotic enthusiasm which had so effectually asserted the commerce of Ireland , now arose with double vigour to assert it's constitution. V. The Volunteer army, in the mean time, rapidly advan- Volunteer ced in discipline and numbers : — the success which had at- proceeds! " tended this first effort of their steadiness, acted as a powerful incitement to the continuation of their exertion ; thev felt , with exultation , that at the very time they were in arms , without the authority of the Crown , or control of their So- vereign, his Majesty , from his throne, condescended to pass unqualified eulogiuras on the loyalty and fidelity of the peo- ple — expressions , which , if considered with reference to the King , were gracious — but with reference to the Govern- ment , which framed them , were clearly intended as an ano- dyne to lull that spirit which durst not be encountered. Provincial reviews of theVolunteer armies were now adopt- ed, and a more regular staff appointed to the general Offi- cers \ — new trains of artillery were formed — that of Belfast was brought to considerable perfection. Earl Charlemont was called on to review the Northern army 5 on his tour he was — and the military associations of Ireland to assert her liberties — the stanza runs thus : " Was she not a fool , " When she took of our wool , '' To leave us so much of the leather, the leather? " It ne'er entered her pate , " That a sheep's shin, well beat, " JVould draw a whole nation, TOGETHER, TOGETHER. ". These words were adapted to a popular air, and became a favorite march of the Volunteers, and a patriotic song amongst the peasantry throughout the kingdom. 80 RISE AND FALL attended by many persons of the highest distinction , and his suit had all the appearance of military dignity and national importance. His Lordship returned to review the Leinster corps in Duhlin. His aid-de-camps were men of the highest character and of the first ability- — Barry Yelverton , Hussey Burgh (both of whom were afterwards Chief Barons of the Exchequer) , and Mr. Grattan , were on his staff. The Volunteer army had acquired the discipline of an effi- cient force , and at that period amounted to above eighty thousand soldiers , ready for actual service — aided by the zeal, the prayers, and the co-operation, of nearly five millions unarmed inhabitants. The British Government, which had vainly supposed that enough had been done if not to satisfy , at least somewhat to disunite the Irish people , now perceived how ill they had cal- culated on the character of that nation , and felt , with pain and disappointment, the futility of their designs, and the fee- bleness of their authority. The dilemma of the Minister was difficult and distressing ; — any effort to seduce the Volunteers would have roused — any attempt to dupe them would but inflame and to resist them would have been impossible : — distracted , therefore, by every species of embarrassment , he suffered the Irish na- tion to pursue it's course without direct opposition, and trusted to the chance of events for the preservation of the Empire. Grave and most important circumstances, now opened to the public view , and imperatively concurred to put the con- stitutional claims of Ireland directly in issue with the British Legislature. Mutiny Bill. The army in Ireland had been under the regulations of a British statute ; and the hereditary revenue of the Crown , with the aid of a perpetual mutiny bill, enabled the British Government to command at all times a standing army in Ire- land, without the authority or the control of it's Parliament. This unconstitutional powci 1 , hitherto almost unnoticed in OF THE IRISH NATION. Sr Ireland, now that the principles of liberty had been dissemi- nated amongst the people, and that an independent army of Irishmen had been organized , became a subject of general dissatisfaction. — ■ Some patriotic Magistrates determined to make a stand upon that point , and to bring the legality of British statutes, as operating in Ireland, into issue, through the medium of their own conduct , in refusing to obey them. To effect this measure, they determined to resist the autho- rity of the British mutiny act , and by refusing to billet sol- diers, under the provisions of that statute, solicited complaints against themselves, for the purpose of trying the question. This measure would at once have put Ireland and the usurpation of Great Britain in direct issue-, — but the Irish Judges were then dependent upon the Crown 5 — they held their offices during pleasure only •, — Judges might differ with the Juries — ■ the People with both 5 — and the result of a trial of such a question , in such a way, was considered by all parties as too precarious , to hazard the experiment. The career of independence however proceeded with irre- sistible impetuosity ; a general feeling arose that a crisis was fast approaching , when the true principles of the Irish con- stitution must be decisively determined. Though the regular forces and the volunteer army were on the most amicable terms , yet jealousies might eventually be widened into a breach, pregnant with the most disastrous consequences. — This was an extremity the Viceroy determin- ed to avoid ; and orders were issued to the army, to show every possible mark of respect to the Volunteers 5 their officers received the usual military salute from the regular soldiers, and at the request of the volunteers a few troops of cavalry were ordered by the Lord Lieutenant to assist in keeping the Volunteer lines at a review in the Phoenix Park. But an accidental circumstance some time afterwards occurred , which showed the necessity of cultivating that cordialilv, on 8i RISE AND FALL the continuation u( which the tranquility of the nation so entirely depended. Alarming VI. Lieutenant Doync, of the second regiment of Horse , l"('nc< i jj f ye of the Volunteers naarching to relieve the guards in Dublin Castle, at the head and Regular Q f lnc cavalry, came accidentally, on Essex Bridge, directly at right angles with a line of Volunteer infantry, commanded by Lord Altamont. An instant embarrassment took place — one party must halt, or the other could not pass — neither would recede — etiquette seemed likely to get the better of prudence — the cavalry advanced — the Volunteers conti- nued their progress , till they were nearly in contact — never did a more critical moment exist in Ireland. — Had one drop of blood been shed , through the impetuosity of either offi- cer, even in that silly question of precedence , the Irish Vo- lunteers would have beat to arms, from north to south, in every part of the kingdom — and British connection would certainly have been shaken to it's very foundation. As the cavalry advanced , Lord Altamont commanded his corps to continue their march, and incline their bayonets, so as to be ready to defend their line. — 'The cavalry officer, wisely reflecting, that by the pause even of a single moment , every possibility of disagreement would be obviated, baited his men for an instant — the Volunteers passed on — and the affair ended without further difficulty. This circumstance, however trivial , was quickly circula- ted , and increased the public clamour. — Resolutions were entered into bv almost every military corps , and every cor- porate body, that they would no longer obey any laws , su\. those enacted by the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland ; and this spirit gradually embraced the whole population, till at length it ended in the celebrated resolutions of Dung. m- non , which established ihc short lived independence of that nation. \ II. William Duke of Leinstcr had long been the favourite and the patron of the Irish people, and never did the physio- OF THE IRISH NATION. 83 gnomist enjoy a more fortunate elucidation of his science. : — the softeness of philanthropy — the placidity of temper — the openness of sincerity — the sympathy of friendship — and the ease of integrity — stamped corresponding impressions on his artless countenance, and left but little to conjecture, as to the composition of his character. His elevated rank and extensive connections gave him a paramount leadinlrish politics, which his naked talents would not otherwise have justified; — though his capacity was respectable, it was not brilliant, and his abilities were not adapted to the highest class of political pre-eminence. ' On public subjects, his conduct sometimes wanted energy, and his pursuits perseverance •, in some points he was weak , and in some instances erroneous — but in all he was honest ; — from the day of his maturity to the moment of his dissolution, he was the undeviating friend of the Irish Nation — he con- sidered it's interests and his own indissolubly connected — alive to the oppressions and miseries of the people , his feel- ing heart participated in their misfortunes , and felt the smart of every lash which the scourge of power inflicted on his country. — As a soldier, and as a patriot, he performed his duties ; and in his plain and honorable disposition , was found collected a happy specimen of those qualities which best compose the character of an Irish Gentleman. Ho took an early and active part in promoting the forma- tion and Discipline of the Volunteer associations — he raised many corps and commanded the Dublin Army. The ancient celebrity of his family — the vast extent of his possessions — and his affability in private intercourse , co-operated with his ow T n popularity in extending his influence — and few persons ever enjoyed a more general and merited influence amongst the Irish people. 1 The political abilities of his Grace were likened , by a Gentleman of great public talent, to " a fair fertile field, without either a weed or a wild flower in it. " 84 RISE AND FALL The Irish Catholics, at this period , wore much attached to the Geraldines , and pursued a conduct so meritorious , llial even the hillerest enemies of that body acknowledged the uncommon merit of their conduct ; — their open friends multiplied — their secret enemies diminished — and they gradually worked themselves into the favor and confidence of their Protestant countrymen — though loaded with severe restrictions — though put out of the pale of the British consti- tution — and groaning under the most cruel and unjust op- pression — they were active and patriotic — they forgot the tyranny under which they groaned — and only felt the chains which fettered and oppressed their country ; • — a general union of all seels seemed to he cementing — the animosity <>i ages was sinking into oblivion — and it was reserved for the incendiaries af a later period to revive that barbarous sec- tarial discord — a weapon, without which the British Go- vernment would have ever found Ireland loo proud for the influence of power , and loo strong for the grasp of an- nexation. The doctrine of pure democracy was then but a weak exotic , to which the heat of civil war in America had given the principle of vegetation. — In Ireland , it was uncongenial to the minds, and unadapted to the character of the people ; and during the whole progressof those events, which preceded the attainment of Irish independence, it's progress was only observable in ihe intimate association of the distant ranks in military bodies — and the idea of revolution never extended further, than to attain the undisturbed enjoyment of a free Parliament , and to remove for ever the ascendancy of the British Government over the Crown of Ireland. intolerance Villi A olwithslanding all these occurrences , the British <,fEij b 'ia.jd. people ? in their nature jealous and egotistical, slill remained obstinately blind to the true slate of Ireland enjoying the blessings of independence , under a resident Monarch and an unfettered Parliament — they fell interested only in their OF THE IRISH NATION. 86 own aggrandizement — their solicitude exlende&solely to their own concerns — and without reflecting that the same-advantages which they so liberally possessed , were denied to Ireland, they attributed the uneasiness of that nation rather to innate principles of disaffection , than the natural result of misery and oppression. Every element of a free constitution had been torn away by the rough band of a foreign Legislature — enacting laws, to which the representatives of the Irish people were utter strangers. Yet , this usurpation had been sanctioned by the dictum of a British Judge , who added to his reputation , by giving an unqualified opinion for Irish slavery '. IX.Thesalariesof the Judges of Ireland werethenbarelysuf- Further licient to keep them above want — and they held their offices i re iaud. only daring She will of the British Minister — -who might remove them at his pleasure; — all Irish justice, therefore , was at his control. — In all questions between the Crown and the People , the purity of the Judge was consequently suspected 5 — if he could not be corrupted , be might be cashiered — the dignity of his office was lost in his dependance - — and he was reduced to the sad alternative of poverty or dishonor •, nor was this grievance lessened , by many of the Judges being sent over from England , prejudiced against the Irish , and unacquainted with their customs. The Irish Parliament , at this period , met but once in two years , and in the British Attorney General was vested the 1 It is painful to see a British Judge and commentator — whose tint v it was at least to respect the vital principles of that constitution under which he acted — giving a decisive opinion for " legislation without representatives , : ' — and, in the case of Ireland , condemning that sentinel, by whose vigilance alone the property, the liberty, and the lives of Englishmen are protected. His zeal to support this arbitrary principle over Ireland, blinded him to it's operation as to the rest of the world, disentitled him rather to the character of a constitutional lawyer, and stamped him with that of a miserable statesman. 86 RISE AND FALL superintendence of their proceedings — and the British Privy Council the alteration and rejection of their statutes 5 and the declination , or ruin , of her commerce was at least a matter of indifference , if not of triumph , to the British mono- polists. These grievances — in themselves almost intolerable — were greatly aggravated by the abuses which had been creep- ing into the executive and legislative department of the British Government, and infected every proceeding adopted as to Ireland. Proceedings X. However, the British Government found that resistance Parliament, bad now become impossible , and something more must be done. — The Irish Viceroy , therefore , was instructed to act according to the best of his judgment. Accordingly, on the 9th of October, 1781, he, for the first time, met the Irish Parliament, with a speech from the throne; which , though received with great cordiality by the House , upon a close investigation, appears a composition of the most Jesuitical sophistry : — it complimented the country on a prosperity which it never enjoyed — expressed a solicitude for it's inte- rest, which was never experienced — and promised future favours , which were never intended to be conceded — and was mingled , at the same time , with recommendations the most vague , and observations the most frivolous. The good temper of the House , however , was so excited by the cordial assurances it contained , it was received with general appro- bation — and Mr. John O'iNeill, of Shane's Castle, the first Commoner of Ireland , was very wisely prevailed upon , by the Secretary, to move an address of thanks to his Majesty, for this gracious communication of his minister — with a view that the weight and character of this gentleman might excite that unanimity, at the pi esenl crisis so very desirable , and which must be so highly advantageous to the Irish Govern- ment. O'Neill of Mr. John O'iNeill , descended from ihe most celebrated OF THE IRISH NATION. 87 chiefs of ancient Ireland, bore in his porlly and graceful mien Shanes indications of a proud and illustrious pedigree : — the gene- '' rous openness of his countenance — the grandeur of his person — and the affability of his address , marked the dignity of his character , and , blending with the benevolence of his disposi- tion , formed him one of the first Commoners of the Irish na- tion — a rank, from which he so unfortunately sunk, by humbling his name to the level of purchased Peerages, and descending from the highest bench of the Commons to the lowest amongst the Nobles. In public and in private life Mr. O'Neill was equally cal- His cir- culated to command respect , and conciliate affection ; — high fl„euc e au minded — open — and well educated — he cloathed the sen- timents of a patriot in the language of a gentleman ; — his abilities were moderate , but his understanding was sound — unsuspecting , because he was himself incapable of deception, he too frequently trusted to the judgment of others that con- duct which would have been far more respectably regulated by his own 5 — though he did not shrink from the approbation of the Court , he preferred the applauses of his country , and formed one of the most perfect models of an aristocratic patriot. This step, however, was instantly succeeded by a measure, which did honor to the patriotic spirit of Mr. O'Neill , and preserved his character in that station , from which it might have sunk, had he concluded his observations, by the fulsome and indecisive address which he had so injudiciously patron- ized. As soon as the Address to his Majesty had passed, Address to Mr. O'Neill moved a resolution of thanks to " all the Vo- the Vohl "- lunteersof Ireland, for their exertions and continuance.'' This motion was received with exultation by the Opposition , and created a new embarrassment to the Minister. — To return thanks to an independent army for their exertions and conti- nuance , which acknowledged no military superiority , and 88 RISE AND FALL called , with arms in their hands, upon their Irish King to restore their civil rights and plundered constitution — was a step , undoubtedly , not warranted hy precedent ; — but prompt decision was necessary ; — and the then Mr. John Fitzgibbon , in one of the first efforts of that decided but inconsiderate impetuosity which distinguished him throughout life , harshly opposed Mr. O'Neill's motion-, — but by endea- vouring to support the Government , he deeply embarrassed it ; — and Mr. Scott, the Attorney General , on that occasion showed, in it's strongest colours, the advantages of well- regulated policy. He instantly acceded to what he could not oppose , and gave an appeareance of full approbation on the part of the Government , to an address of thanks to those men , whom nothing but that political duplicity which he so amply possessed , could have induced him to consent to. All opposition to the motion, therefore, fell to the ground. — Mr. Fitzgibbon, who, however, never relinquished an object, from a conviction of its impropriety, though he persisted in his opposition , was reluctantly necessitated to give way: and an Address to the armed Volunteers of Ireland was una- nimously voted — and directed to be circulated throughout all Ireland , and to be communicated bv- the Sheriffs of the Counties to the corps within their bailiwicks. it's results. Never had a measure been adopted , which gave so sudden and singular a change to the aspect of affairs in Ireland. — It seemed to reverse all the maxims of former Governments — and gave to the people an ascendancy they had never expected — Jl legalized a military levy, independent of the Sovereign ■ — and obliged the Ministers to applaud the exertions, and court the continuance of an army, whose dispersion was the leading object of all their councils. This resolution made a considerable progress towards the actual emancipation of the Irish people; — it brought down the British Government to the feel of the Volunteers, ami raised the Volunteers above the supremacy of Britain — by OF THE IRISH NATION. 89 a direct Parliamentary approbation of self-armed — self-go- verned — and self-disciplined associations — whose motto ' bespoke the fundamental principle of revolution of which England had given the precedent. It also taught the people the strength of their own arms and the timidity of their opponents — they perceived , by the unanimous adoption of this resolution , that the people had only to march , and as certainly to conquer. — It was, in fact, a flag of truce from the minister — and proved to the world, that, unable to contend, he was preparing to capitulate. In reflecting on the circumstances which led the Govern- ment to this concession , observations on the moral and phy- sical strength of the nation must naturally occur. The Irish nation , saturated with patriotic spirit, by a union of it's ment- al and corporeal energies , had united in it's narrow focus all the moral and physical powers of which a people are sus- ceptible. chap, vi. I. When the physical strength only of a nation is employed obscrva- in the accomplishment of it's objects, however great it's bo- 1 ^"" 8 sl rength dily force , it loses the advantages of it's dead weight , by the of a people, absence of that animating fire of intellect, which alone gives real vigour to bodily exertion ; — clumsy powers ■ — mechanical discipline, — and compulsory obedience — must ever yield to the force of an opposing body, where both the moral and the physical powers of the people are blended and inseparable. It is only, therefore , by a union of those qualities, that a 1 The motto of the Barristers' corps of Volunteers, which always took the lead of, and, in most instances, gave the precedent to, all the other corps, was — " Vox Populi suprema Lex est, " — a maxim which , whilst it gives the widest latitude of construction to the first principles of the constitution, would open too wide a door to democratic authority, unless guarded against by the system of delegated representation . 9 o RISE AiND I- ALL limited population becomes invincible. — The vigour of the body receives inexbausliblc subsistence from tbe energy of tbe mind, and bids defiance to any power where these quali- ties are not united. Thus circumstanced were tbe Irish people, at tbe moment of this resolution < — and perhaps in no former period of mo- dern history, has any nation been discovered in so powerful and commanding a position. It was a triumphant moment. A population above five millions , whose moral and phy- sical powers were so intimately united , that the whole nation seemed one great and active giant, endowed with all the war- like qualities of the human race — one heart — one soul — and one object. Though prejudice and intolerance had limited the pos- session of arms to a comparatively very small proportion of the people, yet it was difficult to determine whether the ar- med or disarmed were most zealous for their country's liber- lies. The armed and disciplined Volunteers by this time exceeded in numbers the whole regular military force of the British empire, while those, who, in case of action, would pant to supply the ranks of their fallen countrymen , nume- rically surpassed the whole organized military power of the European continent. — This great force also , from the small- ness of the island, was collected in a narrow space — it's powers were concentrated — it's resources were always within it's grasp — the sound of the horn could reach from one vil- lage to the other — every man was ready to obey it's call — and the whole population was prepared to rush to every sta- tion where it would he most likely to attain it's liberty and independence. German mer- ][ was impossible for a reflecting mind not to contrast the ;euaries. . . n .. .. , . , . . . , noble lire and voluntary spirit , which at that tunc raised , and imbodied in patriotic bands , an entire people , for the sole purpose of supporting, with their lives and property, the purest principles of constitutional freedom — with these troops OF THE IRISH NATION. 91 of foreign principalities , who , at the same moment , were employed, not as fair auxiliaries, by treaty, on principles, but as mere mercenary automata , collected to suppress the natural liberties of America, and who, had they been suc- cessful there, would have attempted their next triumph over the independence of Ireland — vassals , purchased from the avarice of petty German princes, who filled their narrow treasuries, by measuring out the blood of their peasantry to the highest bidder, and transporting their wretched subjects, to put down the eternal rights of civilized society; — men, who had no object but their pay — no enthusiasm but for plunder — bought by mercenary treaty from the potentates of the old world, to butcher the inhabitants of the new — sold like the oxen of the field, for like profit and like slaugh- ter- — and, as the combatants of the brute creation, fighting only through a vicious instinct , and seeking no higher glory than to gore their fellow animals. II. Notwithstanding the avowed disposition of the British Further sui>- Legislature , to concede full commercial liberty to Ireland , Content iu ire- intrigues were soon fomented, by monopolists, to render land * abortive, or diminish , as much as possible, the advantages of the concessions; and, amongst other circumstances of that nature, one, of the greatest importance, in every point of view, constitutional as well as commercial, occurred , which excited throughout Ireland well-founded suspicions as to the sincerity of Great Britain. By the resolutions of the British Legislature, Ireland had Dispute be- been admitted to export her linen and woollen manufactures tw t e ° Ireland r and Portugal. to Portugal , agreeable to the provisions of the treaty of Me- thuen •, from which liberty she had been previously and ex- plicitly prohibited , by express statutes. The Irish merchant , taking advantage of this concession — liberated from these commercial restrictions, and left freely to wing his way to all the amicable ports of Europe — immediately exported a considerable quantity of Irish manufactures to Portugal 5 but, 92 HISE AND 1 MI. to the surprise of the Irish people, the Portuguese Ministry peremptorily refused to receive Irish manufactures into their ports — and not only absolutely prohibited their importation, but seized on the property of the Irish merchants ! Portugal This strong and unaccountable proceeding being adopted encouraged iu i .• , „ . . . „ ,, . tier hostility "Y a nation , not only in profound peace with Great Britain , lmd'h 'the ^ Ut ^ a P eo P^ e ^ways dependant upon her for protection — Lrit; s h Mini- subservient to her views, and obedient to her wishes — and by a Court where a British Minister resided — and in ports where British Consuls were resident — it was palpable , that such a step never durst have been adopted by the Court of Portugal, without at least the connivance of the British Ca- binet. It was incredibile that a Nation, almost dependant upon the will of England , would presume to insult a federa- tive portion of the British King's dominions — and it became necessary to investigate the grounds of so unwarrantable a proceeding. No doubt could exist that the aelive jealousy of the British manufacturers had been roused by the resolutions in favour of Ireland , and that the trade of England might be somewhat affected by these resolutions. The avarice of the British mo- nopolists would naturally take every secret method of counteracting advantages, the possession of which by Ireland would certainly operate somewhat as a drawback upon their own ; and the British Minister durst not displease the British trade. The Irish merchants soon felt the effects of their exclusion . — their new spirit of enterprise was damped — the earliest commercial exertions of Ireland were paralyzed — their spe- culations extinguished — and the whole transaction appa- 1 eared to be of the most suspicious character. The Irish, as a nation , now felt themselves not only ag- grieved, but sorelv insulted; — the merchants of Dublin through their Recorder , Sir Samuel Broadstreet , presented .i petition to Parliament , expressive of their sufferings. — OF THE IRISH NATION. 9 3 Mr. Eden , the Chief Secretary for Ireland , who generally affected to be well disposed towards that country, had re- course to the usual diplomatic plausibility — arguing on the impolicy of precipitation — and the disinterested feelings of the British ■ — he resisted any immediate resolution on the subject, but moved that this transaction , — and the fair and just petition of the first commercial body in Ireland should lie on the table , and wait for the result of negociations , the commencement of which was uncertain , and the termination of which would certainly be protracted. This proceeding , however, did not satisfy the Irish nation — and, as is generally the case of impolitic, short-sighted evasion , that line of conduct , which was intended to quiet the subject, and evade the investigation, served to raise it into greater notice — and excited a latitude of discussion , which the Irish Government had never dreamed of, and which ultimately became highly serviceable to the cause of liberty. Some negociations were certainly carried on , by the British Ministers, with the Court of Portugal upon the subject, but without that sincerity which could effect their purposes. Por- tugal could have no just cause to resist the admission of Irish manufactures into her ports — she had no distinct treaties with Ireland , and no foreign treaties hostile to the interests of the British empire — she relied on the good will of England and of Ireland for the reception of her own wines , on which so great a proportion of her commerce depend- ed — yet yielding to the secret machinations of interested English merchants , she depended on the feebleness and incapacity of Ireland to resist her determination , and on the disposition of England to favour her monopolists — nor was she deceived in her expectation — the deceptive remon- strances of the British Ministry ended in the perseverance p er sever- of Portugal 5 and , at the commencement of the ensuing ses- ancc (,f 1>,,r - sion , Mr. Eden found Ireland in a state of general agitation "° a ' and it became absolutely necessary to retreat from his mean 94 RISK AND FALL system of procrastination — a line of conduct now too palpa- ble , and which the Irish nation would no longer submit to — and feeling it impossible any further to evade the discussion , Mr. Eden with an address and skill highly useful , on many occasions, to a Minister, determined to anticipate a subject, which he knew must come forward , and , as a Minister, unex- pectedly snatch from the Opposition the merit of the enquiry. Mr. Eden, on this occasion , with all the symptoms of since- rity , commenced his statement , by representing the strong and unavailing efforts of England to bring the Court of Por- tugal to a due sense of it's impropriety — and concluded by declaring, that, notwithstanding every effort, the Minister of Portugal had given a final and adverse answer to the rightful claims of Ireland. This statement , however plausible , could not escape the sagacious penetration of many Members — and it appeared clearlv that Mr. Eden had determined, by this means, to rid himself of responsibility, by employing a person of less com- punction than himself. Mr. Fitz- r f lie person who was thus selected for the purpose of again gibbon's mo- .,,..,.. e •• 1 t\tx tiou. sacrificing the rights or his country, was the same Mr. J. Fitzgibbon who , in the arrogant and able manner so peculiar to himself, seemed rather to command than to move an address to bis Majesty, as if it was of his own composition , though in fact it was the production of the Secretary. In this address, he praved " His Majesty to take into his considera- " tion the subject (already discussed ) , and to apply for a re- " dress "( already decidedly negatived — ) and the whole address was couched in terms feeble , fulsome , and indeci- sive — unbecoming the dignity and the importance of any independent Nation. This vapid and insidious measure was warmly opposed by the real friends of Ireland — and Sir Lucius O'Brien , with a spirit and language which spoke his real attachment to the interests of his country, and a perfect knowledge of it's com- OF THE IRISH NATION. o5 mercial rights , moved an amendment to Mr. Fitzgibbon's address — the terms of which form a very remarkable circum- stance of Irish history — and by it's peremptory and indepen- dent language, led directly to the consideration of national rights, and constitutional distinctness, which, till that pe- riod , had never been so strongly expressed or so decisively put in issue. III. Sir Lucius O'Brien was descended from one of the sir Lucius most ancient and illustrious of the aboriginal Irish families , a large part of whose fortune he still retained — and by means of a rational understanding , and very extensive and accurate commercial information , he acquired a considerable degree of public reputation ; though his language was bad — his address miserable — and his figure and action unmeaning and whimsical — yet, as his matter was good, his reasoning sound, and his conduct spirited and independent, he was attended to with respect ; and , in return , always conveyed considerable information. Sir Lucius was always strong and decisive ; he carried with him at least a portion of that weight which justly appertained to his information , his family, and his character. M. Fitzgibbon's motion was most strongly reprobated by sir Proposes Lucius; but aware that he could not completely defeat th* her ownrigkt measure, he moved an amendment of a grand and novel na- sl,oulddec ! are war against lure which , if adopted , would have placed Ireland on a Portugal. pinnacle. This amendment called upon his Majesty, as King of Ireland, to assert the rights of that kingdom , by hostility ■with Portugal — and concluding with these remarkable ex- pressions — " we doubt not that this nation has vigour and resources sufficient to maintain all her rights , and astonish all her enemies I " — at once manfully asserting the consti- tutional independence, and publishing the military power, of his country — and giving to England herself a wholesome hint of her spirit and determination. The boldness of this motion — it's promptitude — it's vigour 96 RISE AND FALL — it's consequences — made an instantaneous and visible impression on the whole House ; — it was at once a declaration of war — a declaration of rights — and a declaration of supe- riority *, — it gave a new character to the Irish Parliament , and a new existence to the Irish people. But they were not yet sufficiently prepared to receive the impression with con- clusive effect — their chains were not yet loosened — they had not been enlarged from their prison — and however disposed to adopt this spirited and vigorous proceeding, their keepers were vet too numerousand too strong to permit their liberation. The motion of Mr. Fitzgibbon was, however, opposed by many of the first characters in Ireland ; and even some friends of Government, ashamed of it's imbecility, refused to support Sir j. Bia- it. — Sir John Blaquiere , an habitual supporter of the Mi- qu.crc. nister, holding offices and pensions, and who had been himself a Minister, spiritedly, amongst others, gave it his decided negative. — However, after a warm and animated debate, the Secretary succeeded , and Mr. Fitzgibbon added a new thorn to that goad with which he endeavoured to drive , but which he finally found had only the effect of irritating , his country. Si. Lucius. ^ T ' SirLucius O'Brien's amendment gave the keenest spur to the cause of national independence. The King oi Ireland, required by an Irish Parliament, and his Irish subjects, to take hostilities on behalf of Ireland, against a foreign nation, with which England had no quarrel , exhibited a new scene to an enlightened people — and soon excited thoughts and enqui- ries, which led to the important discussion that soon followed, and at length attained their emancipation. An enquiry into the nature of the federativecompaclbelwecn England and Ireland was now excited and occupied every think- ing mind throughout the latter country ; — it was a subject which the depressed slate of Ireland had heretofore suspended 5 • — so desperate had been it's situation — so desponding Un- people — so hopeless it's redress — that the nalureof that connec- tion had been hardly considered worthy of discussion ; — and OF THE IRISH NATION. 97 though its ahuses had been frequently resisted , its principles had never hecn defined. So soon , however, as the people learned that their con- Distinctness section with England was strictly federative — that the King ' )r , )VOtl " of Ireland might, in right of his Irish crown , make war with a foreign Power — without the King of England (as such) hcing a principal in the contest — that Ireland was , in fact , an independent nalion , connected with England only by the identity of the Monarch — and that the King governed Ireland only in right of his Irish crown, and not as a part of the realm of Great Britain — the features of the Irish constitution soon became familiar to the people , a distinctness perfectly apparent , and unequivocally proved , by the language and the conduct of British Ministers themselves, who calmly per- mitted Portugal to insult and injure Ireland, without treating it as an insult to , or aggression against the Crown of Great Britain. This unanswerable reasoning, and these indisputable facls, Federative now engrossed almost the exclusive consideration of all the coin P acC - armed associations. It was manifest that , in every point of view, Ireland had been denied the rights of a free constitu- tion , though , in every point of view , she was entitled to enjoy it •, — if she was to be considered merely as a partner of the British empire , she was then entitled to the full rights and advantages of the whole British constitution — but if , on the other hand , she was connected with England solely as a federative state — she was then decidedly entitled to enjoy the distinct rights and advantages of a distinct constitution ; — but, in fact, she enjoyed neither the one nor the other — and that usurpation of Government, though sanctioned by the statutes of the usurping Power , could never bind the constitutional rights and prerogatives of the suffering Nation, longer than until it could mature the power of resistance. V. The reason and the justice of these considerations pene- Arguments trated the understanding of the people, in every quarter of for auJ u8 RISE AND FALL agaiosi l l ie nation. — The Volunteers reflected , that the remedy was prompt pro- xx - 1 1 1 1 themselves — their grievances were heavy — their means feeding-,. ° J amuie — their determination decisive — and their redress attainable. — If the Parliament would not act, the people would — if the representatives were corrupt , the constituents were honest. — Nothing was necessary hut a declaration of the rights of the Nation, and of the will of the People — and England, already humbled, disgraced, and dispirited by America, had lost the means and the spirit of opposition — and would concede, however reluctantly, to the just claims of a free and defined constitution to Ireland. On the other hand , it was suggested , by those whose irre- solution , timidity, or corruption , still endeavoured to damp the spirit and curb the impetuosity of the nation, that, cir- cumstanced as England was, it would be ungenerous to lake advantage of her feeble moment — to enforce, by threat, those claims which her late conduct evidently showed a dispo- sition to concede without force or reluctance ^ that it would be more magnanimous to wail till (ireat Britain had recovered from her panic , and from her dangers — to give her time to breathe — and receive from her friendship and generosity those certain and amicable concessions, which would be more gratifying and more permanent, than those acquired by humbling her pride , and taking advantage of her weakness. But this reasoning, peculiarly adapted to the open and gene- rous character of the Irish people, was, in this instance, too feeble to be attended to , and recourse was had to another line of argument. Spirited rea- Jt was stated that Ireland bad no navv to protect her com- soning of the . , i r Irish. mcrce — no wealth to support a contest — and, alter a destructive effort, might ultimately fall into the trammels of England, with lost claims and diminished importance. Bui this reasoning only added to the spirit of the nation — it's pride was roused — it's jealousy excited — arguments ill adapted to a people, who had lately acquired a thorough knowledge OF THE IRISH NATION. 99 of it's own powers and resources — who were now unani- mously leagued against usurpation — and who, after an inac- tivity of almost a century, had once more been roused to that pastime of arms , which had ever been the favorite and predominant passion of the Irish people ., from the moment their island had been peopled. — They said , that it was neither ungenerous nor dishonorable to catch the favorable moment of rescuing, from an usurping power, those liber- ties which had been wrested from the weakness of their an- cestors, and theretofore retained from them through the feebleness of themselves — that it is never necessary for the. plundered to await the awahening of plunderers to tale bach their property — that the favorable moment might never recur — and that the laws of God , of Man , and of Nature , prescribe no peculiar moment to assert the liberties of a peo- ple, or arrest the oppression of an usurper. Those grievances which Irishmen so loudly complained of, and those constitutional rights which they so resolutely de- manded , were numerous and indispensable to the libertY not only of the nation , but of the individual. — Ireland had then no security for either 5 — the Judges dependant on the Crown — the army independent of the Parliament — her Legislature at the feet of the British Attorney- General — and the people bound by the laws of Scotch and English delegates — altogether formed the means and basis of a despotism , which the caprice or displeasure of England might at any time put in practice, if she were strong enough. VI. The precarious state of personal liberty in Ireland , No Habeas was one of the most glaring grievances — the want of a [ re ^^ ci '" Habeas Corpus statute gave absolute power to any Govern- ment which might venture experiments of a despotic nature — and enabled the Minister to suppress, in the very first in- stance, the liberty of the press — the ablest advocate of re- form — the most powerful auxiliary of freedom. — But it was now too late — the people were united — and their divisions roo RISE AM) FALL suspended or forgotten; — il would have been desperate to have resorted to the hand of power, and in vain to attempt an\ measure bat conciliation. — England was reduced to the singular and humiliating situation of stooping to the dictates of an inferior country- — and beholding her arrogant and arbitrary Ministers treating, with all the courtesy of fawning courtiers, a people armed in defiance of their authority — and conceding to the peremptory demands of the Irish nation, those rights which had been refused , not only by themselves, but by everv former Government of Great Britain. betermina- \ repeal of the English statute of the 6th of George the Iiou ot the . * i/i l ■ il l Volunteers. First, was the first and most indispensable measure lobe effected — and il required no logical deductions to prove to the armed Volunteers, that the attainment even of all their objects would probably, at a future day, become void and nugatory, unless they lore up by the root that standard of usurpation. — The effects and operation of this statute be- came perfectly understood, and formed one of the mosl insufferable of those grievances, which the Volunteers , at every risk, were determined to abolish. ' ' Nothing can more clearly speak the determined spirit of the Volunteers — than the following Resolutions, entered into about this time by the Volunteer corps of the city of Dirblin , published in all the News-papers, and circulated throughout every part of the kingdom. The same language was generally adopted by the whole nation — and the Lord Lieutenant , immediately after the publication of these Resolutions, permitted the military bands of the regular army to attend a review of the very same corps in the Phenix Park ■ — to which they marched , playing tin- Volunteer's march, under the windows of the Castle, and in the view ot' his Excellency. — " At a meeting of the Corps of Dublin Volunteers , on Friday, the 1st of March, 1782, his Grace the Duke of Leinster in the chair : " Resolved, That the King , Lords, and Commons ot Ireland pnl) are competent to make laws , binding the subjects of this realm ; and that we will not oiiEy, or give operation to &B\ laws, save only those enacted by tin- King, Lords, and Commons pf Ireland, whose rights and privileges OF THE IRISH NATION. 101 VII. An explicit and detailed declaration of the people's rights was now demanded in every part of the nation — the press teemed with publications on the subjects best calculated to call patriotism into activity : — the doctrines of Swift, of Molyneux , and of Lucas , were re-published in abstract pamphlets, and placed in the hands of every man who could read them — their principles were recognized and dissemi- nated — the Irish mind became enlightened — and a revo- lution in literature was made auxiliary to a revolution in liberty. Delegates from all the armed bodies of the people were origin and regularly appointed by their respective corps — and met , for {JX^ted a"- the purpose of giving additional weight and importance to scmLUes. their resolves , by conjointly declaring their sentiments and their determination. These meetings, first confined to districts, soon multiplied , and extended themselves to the counties — thence to provinces — and at length to the united nation ; — their deliberations became regular and public , and their resolutions decisive — and at length the celebrated convention at Dungannon was convoked , which formed a most remark- able incident of Irish history, and one of the wisest and most temperate measures , that ever signalized the good sense , good conduct , and the spirit of a people. The northern counties of Ireland , — though not more Tl,c Norl1 '- erii Irish. jointly and severally, we are determined to support with our lives and fortunes. " " At a meeting of the Corps of Independent Dublin Volunteers , ou Tuesday, March the 5 th, 178a : " Resolved, That we do not acknowledge the jurisdiction of any Par- liament , save only the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland. " Resolved, That we will, in every capacity, oppose the execution (il .my statute , imposed upon us by the pretended authority of a British Parliament. " More than 200 resolutions to the same effect (many stronger ) were quickly published by corps and regiments of Volunteers throughout Ireland. io2 RISE AND FALL spirited, more regular and more intelligent than the other provinces — took the lead in this celchrated meeting. The armed associations of Ulster first appointed delegates , to declare the sentiments of their province, in a general assem- bly; — and, on the i5th day of February, 1782, one of the most solemn and impressive scenes which Ireland had ever witnessed, took place in the inconsiderable town of Dungannon. There were comparatively but few Roman Catholics in the northern counties of Ireland, and still fewer of the strictly Protestant religion. The population of Ulster were principally Dissenters — a people differing in character from the abori- ginal inhabitants — fond of reform , and not hostile to equality — examining the constitution by its theory, and se 'king a recurrence to original principles ■ — - prone to into- lerancy, without being absolutely inloleranls — and disposed to republicanism , without being absolutely republicans ; — of Scottish origin , they partook of many of the peculiarities of that hardy people • penetrating — harsh minded — perse- vering — selfish — frugal, by their industry they acquired individual, and by individual political independence r, as bi ave , though less impetuous than the western and southern Irish , they are more invariably formidable ; — less slaves to their passions than to their interest, their habits are gene- rallv temperate — their address quaint, blunt, and ungra- cious — their dialect harsh and disagreeable — their persons hardy and vigorous. With these qualities , the Northern Irish convoked delegates from twenty-five thousand soldiers , to proclaim the sentiments of the Irish people. This celebrated meeting was conducted with a decorum , firmness, and discretion unknown to the popular meetings of other times and of other countries. — Steady, silent, and.de-> termined — two hundred delegated Volunteers, cloalhed in the uniform and armed with the arms of their respective re- giments , marched , two and two , to the Church of Dungan- OF THE HUSH NATION. io3 non — a place selected for the sanctity of its nature •, to give the greater solemnity to this memorahle proceeding. The entrance of the Delegates into that sacred place , was Dnngannon succeeded by an awful silence , which pervaded the whole assembly ; — the glittering arms of two hundred patriots , for the first lime selected by their countrymen, to proclaim the wrongs and grievances of the people , was in itself a scene so uncommon and so interesting , that many of those men , who were ready in a moment to shed the last drop of their blood in the cause of their country, as soldiers, were softened into tears , while contemplatively they surveyed that assembly, in which they were about to pledge themselves to measures ir- revocably committing Ireland with her sister nation — the result of which must determine the future fate of themselves — their children — and their country. \ 111. This memorable assemblage of patriotism and discre- tion , whose proceedings soon became a theme of eulogium throughout every nation of Europe , was composed of men not of an ordinary description — they were generally persons of much consideration — selected for character and abilities ■ — many of them persons of high rank and large fortune — some of them Members of Parliament — and all of them actuated by one heart — filled with one spirit , and determined upon one procedure. Amongst those who , at this meeting , first distinguished Mr. Dobbs. themselves, was Mr. Francis Dobbs, who afterwards became a person of singular reputation — the mere incidents of whose life have nothing to engage diffusely the pen of an historian : — no great transitions of rank — no deep depressions — no unexpected elevation — no blaze of genius — no acts of he- roism — distinguished his moderate and peaceable progress through the world — but the exlraordinarv bent of his under- standing , and the whimsical, though splendid, extravagances of his eccentric mind, introduced him into a notice , which the common exercises of his talent would never have effected. io4 RISE AND FALL Kstraordm- Francis Dobbs was a gentleman of respectable family, but aiy iiiind. ' of moderate fortune — be had been educated for tbe bar , where he afterwards acquired some reputation as a constitu- tional lawyer, and much as a zealous advocate — but his in- tellect was of an extraordinary description ; — he seemed to possess two distinct minds — the one adapted to the duties of his profession , and the usual offices of society — the other, diverging from its natural centre, led him through wilds and ways, rarely frequented by the human understanding — en- tangled him in a maze of contemplative deduction from reve- lation to futurity — and frequently decoyed his judgment beyond the frontiers of reason. His singularities, however, seemed so separate from his sober judgment, that each fol- lowed its appropriate occupation without interruption from the other, and left the Theologist and the Prophet sufficiently distinct from the Lawyer and the Gentleman. There were but few virtues be did not , in some degree, par- take of — nor were there any vices discernible in his dispo- sition ; — though obstinate and headstrong , he was gentle and philanthropic — and, with an ardent temper, he was inoffensive as an infant. His eccen- ^Y nature a patriot and an enthusiast — by science a lawyer lllli, - v and an historian — on common topics he was not singular, and on subjects of literature was informed and instructive; — but there is sometimes a key in the human mind , which cannot be touched without sounding those wild chords which never fail to interrupt the harmony of reason — and when expatiating on the subjects of antichrist and tbe millennium , his whole nature seemed to undergo a change — his counte- nance brightened up as if by the complacent dignity of a prophetic spirit — his language became earnest — sometimes sublime — always extraordinary — and not unfrequenlly ex- travagant. Tijcoric These doctrines, however, he made auxiliaries to his view f politics — and persuaded himself oi its application to Jrc- OF THE IRISH NATION. jo5 land and the infallibility of his reasoning. Mankind has an eternal propensity to be seduced by the lure of new sects, and entangled in th£ trammels of inexplicable mysteries ; — and problems of theology, in their nature incapable of demonstra- tion , are received with avidity by the greediness of super- stition. Yet on these mysterious subjects Mr. Dobbs seemed to feel no difficulties — he devoted a great proportion of his time to the developement of revelation — and attempted to throw strange and novel lights on divine prophecy. — This was the string on which his reason seemed often to vibrate — and his positions all tended to one extraordinary conclusion : " That Ireland was decreed by Heaven to remain for ever an independent state, and was destined to the supernatural honour of receiving the Antichrist : " — and this he laboured to prove from passages of Pievelation. At the Dungannon meeting, Mr. Dobbs first appeared as a delegate from a northern Volunteer corps — he was after- wards appointed a member of the national convention of Ireland for the province of Ulster — and will be found , throughout the whole course of Irish events during his life , a distinguished and ardent advocate for the constitutional rights of his country. The deliberations of the Dungannon meeting were conti- nued for several days without interruption or intermission : — its discussions were calm and dignified — its resolutions firm , moderate , and patriotic. — Every member of that as- sembly, on taking his seat in the awful hall , felt the great importance and novelty of his delegation — as the elected representative of united civil and military bodies — blending the distinct functions of the armed soldier and of the delibe- rative citizen , to protect his country against the still more unconstitutional coalescence of a mercenary army and an external legislature, Colonel Irwin , a northern gentleman of the highest respec-Coioudirwi iu6 RINK AND FALL lability — of a discreet, moderate , and judicious, though active' , steady, and spirited character — was called to the chair by the unanimous voice of the assembly,* and conducted himself in that most important presidency, throughout the whole of the business, with a moderation and decorum , which aid the cause, and never fail to give weight to the claims of a people. At length, on the i5th of February 1782, this assembly finally framed and agreed upon that celebrated declaration of rights and of grievances, under which the Irish nation had so long been languishing — - and announced to the world the substantial causes by which its commerce had been so long restrained , and every trace of a free constitution almost obliterated. Account of To give the complexion of constitutional legality to tfae Dungan- t | )e un p recci { en ted organization of this meeting — it was noii mcetiDg i ° ** continued, thought judicious to refer pointedly to the first principle of popular freedom, universally admitted, established, and acted upon in England by the Revolution, namely, "the people's right of preparatory resistance to unconstitutional oppression. " — The assembly therefore plainly recognized that principle by its first resolution : — " That citizens , by learning the use of arms , abandon none of their civil rights" — thereby asserting the otherwise questionable legality of a self-created military body, exercising also the deliberative functions of a civil delegation — and boldly bottoming the assertion of that right upon the very same principle which the prince of Orange had used to usurp the throne of Ei 1 gland — ** the popular expulsion of a tyrannical monarch. " This resolution was also wisely adapted to check all legal proceedings, or even ministerial cavil, as to the constitution- ality of their meeting, by putting in direct issue with the British Government a previous question of right, which, if contested . must have drawn into public discussion and con- OF THE IRISH NATION. 107 troversy the principles of the Revolution , and the very te- nure of the crown of England ; for the English nation had hy that revolution exploded the doctrine of passive ohediencc, and, acting on that ground, had armed against their own sovereign , and put the sword of popular resistance into the hand of William , to cut away the allegiance of the Irish peo- ple even to his own father. The Dungannon meeting next proceeded to denounce , by subsequent resolutions , as altogether unconstitutional , ille- gal , and grievances — all British legislation over Ireland — the law of Poyning — the restraint of Irish commerce — a permanent standing army in Ireland — the dependence of the superior judges on the crown, and consequently on the minister: and the assembly finally resolved to seek a redress of all those grievances — and invited the armed bodies of the other provinces of Ireland to unite with them in the glo- rious cause of constitutional regeneration. The most weighty grievances and claims of Ireland were by these means , in the mildest and simplest language , without argument or unnecessary observation , consolidated into one plain and intelligible body of resolutions — entered into by delegates from twenty-five thousand Ulster soldiers , and backed by the voice of above a million of inhabitants of that province , — combining together the moral and physical strength of one of the strongest quarters of Ireland — all actuated by a fixed and avowed determination to attain redress at every risk of life and fortune — > and headed by the highest and most opulent gentlemen of tha-t province, feeling the claims to be equally just and irresistible — and therefore not speculating on success without substantial grounds , or de- nouncing grievances without solid and just foundation. " Whereas it has been asserted that Volunteers, as such , cannot with propriety debate or give their opinions on poli- tical subjects, or the conduct of parliaments or public men ; io8 RISE AND FALL Dungannoo '< Resolved unanimously, That a citizen , by learning the use of arms , does not abandon any of his civil rights. " That a claim of any body of men , other than the kiisc. , lords , and commons of Ireland , to make laws to bind this kingdom, is unconstitutional, illegal, and a grievance. " That the power exercised by the privy council of both kingdoms , under pretence of the law of Poyning , is uncon- stitutional and a grievance. " That the ports of this country are by right open to alt foreign countries , not at war with the king , and that any burthens thereupon , or obstruction thereto , save only by the parliament of Ireland, are unconstitutional , illegal , and grievances. "That a mutiny bill, not limited in point of duration from session to session, is unconstitutional and a grievance. " That the independence of judges is equally essential to the impartial administration of justice in Ireland, as in Eng- land ; and that the refusal or delay of this right to Ireland , makes a distinction where there should be no distinction , may excite jealousy where perfect union should prevail ; and is in itself unconstitutional and a grievance. 11 That it is our decided and unalterable determination to seek a redress of these grievances \ and we pledge ourselves to each other, and to our country, as freeholders, fcllow-cilizcns, and men of honour, that we will , at every ensuing election , support those only who have supported us therein , and that we will use every constitutional means to make such our pursuit of redress, speedy and effectual. '* That as men , and as Irishmen, as christians, and as prolestants , we rejoice in the relaxation of the penal laws against our Roman-Catholic fellow-subjects •, and that we conceive the measure to be fraught with the happiest conse- (picnees to the union and prosperity of the inhabitants oi Ireland. " That four members from each county of the province of OF THE IRISH NATION. rag Ulster (eleven to be a quorum) be, and bereby are appointed, a committee till next general meeting, to act for tbe Volunteer corps here represented , and , as occasion sball require , to call general meetings of the province. " That the said committee do appoint nine of their mem- bers to be a committee in Dublin , in order to communicate with such other Volunteer associations in the other provinces, as may think proper to come to similar resolutions-, and to deli- berate with them on the most constitutional means of carry- ing them into effect. The truth and simplicity of these resolutions — whilst they defied every imputation of party faction or of revolutionary disloyalty — yet convinced the minister that the Irish people would be no longer trifled with. — By the firmness that was observed respecting them , the wavering were steadied , the too moderate , roused — and the too ardent , moderated — while the adverse were deterred by an anticipation of their success. — Adapted to almost every class , and to the disposi- tion of almost every character , their effect through all Ireland was electric, and the consequence fully answered the most san- guine hopes , nay wishes , of their framers. Having passed these resolutions, the assembly adjourned , committing the further procedure to the coincidence and zeal of the other provinces of the nation; and, with a discretion almost unparalleled , a body of patriots — who might in one week have collected a military force , which all the power of England could not then have coped with , and , at the head of an irresistible armv in a triumphant attitude, might have dic- tated their own terms to a trembling government • — by their wise and temperate conduct avoided the horrors of a civil commotion — proved to the world the genuine attachment of Ireland to her sister country — and deliberately represented to Great Britain the grievances, which , by more hostile pro- ceedings , they could by their own power have redressed in a moment. no RISE AND FALL CHAP. VII. This transaction , which , with reference to all its circum- stances, may he ranked as one of the most extraordinary incidents that have marked the page of modern history, Drought The Earl into notice a most singular personage — Frederick Earl of Hie Bishop of Bristol — an Englishman hy birth , a British peer and bishop Derry deda- f Derry — who altogether adopted ihc views, and avowed res for Irish J . ' , . _ . [ndependen- himself a partisan for the rights of Ireland. — Like many others of his profession , not content with ecclesiastical au- thority, he became ambitious of political power , and sought, by patriotic professions and decisive conduct, to place himself at the head of the Irish nation. Possessed of an immense revenue — by rank a temporal peer — bv consecration a spi- ritual one — with powerful patronage — and extensive con- nexions — he united most of the qualities best calculated to promote his objects — and in particular, had acquired a vast popularity amongst the Irish , by the phenomenon of an En- glish nobleman identifying himself with the Irish nation , and appearing inferior lo none in a zealous assertion of their rights against his own countrymen. — It was a circumstance too novel and too important to escape their marked observation, and a conduct too generous and magnanimous not to excite the love and call forth the admiration of a grateful people. The bishop, at one time, assumed nearly a royal stale. Dressed in purple, he appeared in the streets of Dublin in a coach drawn by six horses — and attended by a troop of light- dragoons as a life-guard — which had been raised , and was commanded, by his nephew, the unfortunate and guilty George Robert Fitzgerald. Sketch of He was a man of elegant erudition — extensive learning i, l; , character. — an( i an enlightened and classical, but eccentric mind : — bold , ardent, and versatile — he dazzled the vulgar by os- OF THE IRISH NA.TION. in lentatious slale , and worked upon the gentry by ease and condescension : — he affected public candor, and practised private cabal : — without the profound dissimulation of Rec- ket , or the powerful abilities of Wolsey, he was little inferior to either of them in their minor qualities — and altogether formed an accomplished , active , and splendid nobleman — a plausible and powerful prelate — and a seemingly disinterested and zealous patriot : he was admirably calculated to lead on an inflamed and injured people ; and had there been no coun- teracting discretion in the country — at a crisis too , when almost any measure could have been carried by boldness, po- pularity , and perseverance — it is more than probable bis views might have extended to the total separation of the two nations. II. Hut though the voice of the people had decided unani- mously upon two points, namely, national independence and a redress of grievances — yet many different shades of opinion existed among some of the leading characters, as to the precise time and modes of proceeding to attain those objects. The moderate and cautious party in general followed the indeci- sive , and feeble counsels of Earl Charlemont — whilst the more bold , decisive , and straight - forward conduct of the bishop of Derry , appeared far more congenial to the critical and proud position of the Irish nation , and better adapted to hasten the attainment of their rights , than the slow and al- most courtly approaches of the Charlemont system. The duke of Leinster also , as well as Mr. Brownlow , and many of those who had occasionally been in the habit of sup- porting the Irish government, leaned to the moderate and regular course of proceeding recommended by Earl Charle- mont — whilst fewer of the leaders , but more of the people , followed the fascinating boldness of the military prelate , who wished to take instant advantage of a crisis , the continuance of which might be uncertain ; — and the conduct of those two noblemen becoming decidedly dissimilar , if not alto- ii2 RISE AND FALL pother .adverse , it was soon apparent that one or the other of them must necessarily sink in public estimation. This contest for pre-eminence , however, was carried on onlv al a distance — and in no respect impeded the general cause : — the partisans of each never came into decisive col- lision , until a contest for the presidency of the general na- tional convention decided that important point in favour of EarlCharlemont — and the rough dissolution of that assembh through the imhecility of his Lordship soon after put a final conclusion to the power and controversies of both those per- sonages. However , on one point , no difference of opinion existed between them — all the leading characters were unanimous as to giving immediate and full effect to the Dungannon re- solutions, hv calling upon every military association in the kingdom forthwith to declare their puhlic sentiments on all the important suhjects discussed by that assembly. — An im- mense number of publications immediately issued from the press , auxiliary to this determination — an increased activity as well as spirit pervaded the whole kingdom — meetings were called in every county, city, town, and village — the muni- cipal as well as military bodies held public meetings — the determination of all coincided with those of Dungannon — no important difference of opinion existed — all appeared una- Rcsistance nimous in the common cause — and Poyning's Law, the true to English p aren t f qW Jii s h grievances , became the pass-word of li- Laws unam- I . mousiy de-bertv. — A particular word has frequently had an extraordi- nary effect in exciting the enthusiasm — and rousing the passions of the Irish people. " Povnings Law," therefore, acquired by repetition almost the power of a talisman — it operated on all occasions as a reviving stimulant against the usurpation of England — and became the most obnoxious and reprobated of all their grievances. III. The statute of George the First, declaratory of the le- gislative supremacy of the British Parliament over Ireland — OF THE IRISH NATION. 1 1 3 though a more modern , was a still more decisive grievance ; as , without its abolition , the redress of all other grievances would be vain and precarious. The statutes had originally been enacted upon principles the most unjust, and for objects the most tyrannical — the first , to reduce the Irish house of commons to a mere instru- ment of the privy council of both nations, and consequently of the British cabinet — the second , to neutralize the Irish legislature altogether, and to establish an appellant jurisdic- tion to the British lords , whereby every decree and judgment of the Irish superior courts , which could tend to affect or disturb the questionable or bad titles of the British adventur- ers and absentees to Irish slates or Irish property , might be reversed or rendered abortive in Great Britain by a vote of the Scotch and English nobility. ' Many British peers and com- moners, through whose influence the latter statute had been enacted, had themselves been deeply interested in effecting that measure, to secure their own grants of Irish estates — and some British judges were led to disgrace their judicial character by giving decisive opinions on the justice of a sta- tute unequivocally illegal and unconstitutional. It was there- Declaration fore unanimously agreed upon by all the armed associations volunteers of Ireland , to publish , on their own behalf, and that of the ^JS? nation in general , a counter-declaration to that of the British authority. judges , renouncing all future obedience to that statute — by one bold and decisive step to throw off the weight of that usurped authority altogether; — and, by actual unanimous resistance to its operation , for ever extinguish the most ex- travagant and illegal assumption of power, which one free country and limited monarchy ever yet attempted to impose upon a people , supposed to wear even the tattered garb of freedom. The Volunteers reasoned — ■ and reasoned unanswerably — 1 This rcenaclctl bv the Union. , I/, RISE \M» I ILL that an attempt lo legislate lor a nation , not represented in ihe acting legislature , was the very acme of despotic power — the practical ground of tyrannic polity — and , whether exer- cised by a king, a parliament , or a privy council, was unna- tural to the governed — it was still a subjection to foreign ju- risdiction, which nothing hut the rights of conquest and the superiority of power could justify or perpetuate. It was upon the same principle, though differently modi- fied , that Pagan princes had eslahlishcd Christian slavery : — it was upon the same principle , that so large a portion ol the Eastern world was suhjuga'.ed to the domination of a few British merchants 5 — and it was the success of that vicious precedent , the 6th of George the Third, which had encou- raged the British parliament fatally to attempt to legislate for America : — hut it was a species of usurpation which the re- novating principles of the British constitution itself never could extend lo a sister nation — and which the immutable laws of nature gave her the right of resisting , the very first opportunity which occurred to render that resistance effectual. IV. It was now perfectly understood by the Irish people , that the British statute in question , having passed only in England , could have received the royal assent by (ieorgc the First only as king of Great Britain' — in which distinct capa- city the Irish nation altogether denied his power or authority over Ireland — because the federative principle , though ii placed the two distinct crowns of the two distinct nations for ever in one dynasty, yet acted in the name of two distinct lations, and if it authorized the legislature of cither na- tion to counter-legislate for the other — it must have recipro- cally authorized hoth — > and would equally have enabled the Irish parliament, and George the First , as king of Ireland , lo pass a similar statute, declaratory of their legislative su- premacy over the kingdom of Great Britain. The truth of this position admitted of no argument : — hut even if it did, the physical strength of Ireland was now loo much OF THE IRISH NATION. n5 alive to its own power to admit of any prolonged discussion upon so clear a subject : — all diplomatic evasions were now useless — the Irish people were right , and they were per- emptory — the British government was wrong, and it was intimidated — the English fleets and armies, crowded with Irishmen , could not he supposed to remain indifferent spect- ators to such a contest with their own country — the claim of rights was upon a principle so plain and so comprehens- ive , that soldiers and sailors could not be supposed to be ignorant of what the simplest peasant was capable of under- standing. The Irish judges (though some of them, as before remarked, The Irish were very respectable men ) were at this time but little to be J p u en de U t on trusted on subjects respecting which England appeared to be the E D g ,ish deeply involved , or the Minister much interested — the precarious tenure of their offices almost obliged them to be partisans for British supremacy' — • and, being totally depend- ent on the government for their bread , were prepared to discountenance, and , if possible , by judicial dictums to put down the military associations. — It was therefore obviously necessary, that the public declaration of positive resistance to all British statutes and legislation should be universal, pro- ceeding from all ranks , and all bodies , civil and military — magistrates and people — that by its generality every attempt to check it by judicial interference, or individual prosecution, might be rendered impracticable and desperate. V. The armed associations, therefore, assembled in every quarter of the kingdom, and, by corps and regiments, dis- tinctly adopted the resolutions of the Dungannon meeting, and explicitly declared — " that no earthlv authority, save the king , lords, and commons of Ireland ,had power to make laws for their country — and that they would resist , with their lives and fortunes, the execution of all British sta- tutes, affecting to bind the independent kingdom of Ire- land. " ii6 RISK AND FALL Tliese resolutions ' were unanimously adopted by lite \ olun- teer corps in every province of Ireland, some in more cool, others in warmer language, but all to same effect — all in terms equally decisive — ■ explicit — and patriotic. The necessity of adopting the Dungannon resolutions dis- tinctly as to all their points , was manifest 5 for they were so congenial in their nature, and so closelv allied, as to be in- separable. That respecting the independence of Irish judges seemed quite indispensable to the security of individuals, perhaps to the success of any of their other measures. Unless judges were totally independent of the king and his govern- ment, their purity never could be confidently relied on, in any case where the crown and the subject might be at issue on questions of English legislation. ' The author's father and brothers commanded four Volunteer regiments — viz. the Cullenagh Rangers — Durrow Light-dragoons — Kilkenney Horse — and Ballyroom Cavalry. — The first essay of the author's political pen was the following resolutions , adopted by the first of those corps ; and proves that an attachment to the constitutional independence of Ireland had been the earliest, as it was the last , of his political pre- dilections. " At a meeting of the Cullenagh Rangers , 22d of May 1802 — Colonel Barrington in the chair — The following resolutions were unanimously agreed to : — " Resolved , That , as citizens armed in defence of the laws and constitu- tion of our country, and disclaiming every political jurisdiction, save the king, lords, and commons of Ireland — we are determined to resist, with our lives and fortunes, every statute which the usurped authority of the British parliament have heretofore enacted , or may hereafter attempt to impose on a country determined to be irkk. "Resolved, That we heartily coincide in all the resolutions of the Dungannon meeting , as the surest step towards redressing those grievances, which it was as impolitic in England to adopt , as it would be pusillanimous in Ireland to submit to. Signed , by order of the corps, Geobgb Rmily, Secretary. " Resolutions to the same effect were entered into by almost every r< ginx fat in Ireland. OF THE IRISH NATION. 117 To preserve, in legal decisions , as much as possible the ap- pearance of consistency, judges generally consider themselves as bound to follow the precedents of their predecessors — and when imperative justice and their own conviction oblige them to over-rule any of those precedents , they do so delicately , upon some actual or supposed shade of distinction between the cases , authorizing an alteration of rule , without a change of principle — which alteration would otherwise prove that wrong had been done to cither the former or the latter suitor — and the repugnant decisions would appear to form a code of legal incongruitY — changing its rules as often as it chang- ed its interpreters, and exhibiting justice as obscure, and decision as inconclusive. But as to Ireland, the decided opinion of the celebrated British judge Blackstone , that " she was by right, as well as law, bound by all British statutes specially naming her, " would have been a precedent permanently imperative on dependent Irish judges. The total independence of the Irish judges on the crown was therefore indispensable to the Irish people , and was peremptorily demanded by the whole nation. VI. The Volunteers also perceived , that , though their exertions for national independence might by their then power and unanimity, be entirely successful, yet England, when she recovered her strength , might re-assume her power , punish the champions of Irish liberty, and again plunge Ire- land into its former stale of dependence and imbecility. ' They therefore saw the necessity of a mutiny bill , enacted 1 The Irish parliament took the most quiet, constitutional, anil effectual means of carrying their point, that could possibly he suggested. Their sessions were biennial , and consequently their grants to government were lor two years at once — and till more money war. required , their legislative was inactive. — They now determined on granting supplies to the crown for six months only, as a hint that they would grant no more till their grievances were redressed : — this had its effect. 718 RISE AND FALL by their own parliament , and limited in its duration , as in England , only from session to session ; by which the Irish parliaments would constitutionally acquire the power of pro- tecting their national independence , as their refusing to re- enact the mutiny bill would at any time operate as a discharge of the whole standing army of the Irish establishment. — This and nothing less than this could effectually preserve the na- tion from future shackles, should any minister of Great Bri- tain be bold enough again to attempt the subjugation of the country. — Accordingly, this resolution of the Dungannon meeting was also unanimously decided on throughout all Ire- land , and formed one of those demands from which the Volunteers determined never to recede , — and never to lay down their arms until they had unequivocally obtained it. Reasons, equally cogent and conclusive, induced the Vo- lunteers to adopt and peremptorily to insist upon each of the other resolutions of the Dungannon meeting — whilst the old habits of domination — the pride of national superiority — the prejudices of a mistaken policy — the avarice of mono- polizing commerce — and the principles of an arbitrary ministry — equally operated against such concessions. But England felt that she had neither pretences to justify, nor means nor strength to support , a direct refusal of the claims of Ireland. VII. — When a people are bold enough to throw off op- pression , strong enough to resist it , and wise enough to be unanimous , they must succeed. — Oppression , though clothed in all the haughtiness of arbitrary power, is ever accompanied by the timidity of guilt. On the contrary, a just resistance to tyranny, however feeble in its commencement, acquires strength in its progress — the stimulants of rising liberty, like the paroxysms of fever, often communicating a supernatural strength to a debilitated body. — Ireland had u lived at that crisis — her natural vigor was rapidly sur- mounting the malignancy of her disorder — and her dormant OF TI1K HUSH NATION. 119 powers at once burst forth on an astonished empire and an embarrassed administration. By this time the national armed force had greatly increa- sed , not only in numbers, but in respectability — and had improved, not only in discipline, but in all the military requisites for a regular and active army. About that period there were nearly ninety thousand sol- Numerical ,,.... . , , . force ol the diers ready, armed, disciplined, and regimented — burning Irish Voluu- with impatience for the enjoyment of their Liberties — not tc< acting on a wild enthusiastic impulse, but guided by reason , and depending upon justice. ' — The conduct of the British parliament had taught them the necessity of national una- nimity' — the whole population therefore were ready to be embodied if necessity required it — and in one month five hundred thousand active soldiers might have been enrolled for service. They saw clearly, that Great Britain , by the consolidation of her strength , had risen to that height of power, which alone protected her from her ambitious neigh- bours , and that , whilst she kept all her liberty al home , for her own consumption , she was able to exercise despotic authority over every other quarter of the world , which she governed. — It was therefore only by the same unanimity 1 It is impossible with precision to compute the number of effectivi Volunteers who had taken up arms in Ireland — because many weic enrolled who were incapable of duty. The number on paper therefore exceeded the effective force : nor is it probable thai more than eighty thousand effective disciplined troops could at that time have been brought into the field — until the arming became general — and the numbers increased by the admission of Catholics — when, had there been arms in the kingdom for all who were anxious to bear them, above four hundred thousand effective men certainly would have come forward. — In the in- Mineclion of 1798, the county of Kildare alone had more than twenty thousand insurgents in arms, and the county of Wexford above thirty thousand — and had the other counties furnished in proportion to (heir population , the amount would have exceeded a million but tin-, comprised the Catholics , who were in very scanty numbers enrolled as Volunteers in 1782. iao RISE AND FALL that Ireland could counteract her ; and all the capacities and talents which the Irish people possessed , seemed to collect their united strength for the cause of their independence. Thev had now, by the constant discussions of political subjects in every rank of society, acquired a capacity of acute reasoning on constitutional controversies — their native eloquence, breaking forth at every meeting , nourished their native ardor, and almost everyMpeasant became a public orator. ' — " Kings" (said a private volunteer at one of those provincial assemblies in Leinster) " are , we now per- " ceive , but human institutions — ■ Parliaments are but hu- " man institutions — Ministers are but human institutions ; " but Liberty is a right Divine — 'tis the earliest gift from " Heaven — the charter of our birth-right, which human " institutions can never cancel, without tearing down the " first and best decree of the Omnipotent Creator. " The pulpit too, from which fanaticism was expelled, did Dissenting not fail to become auxiliary to the general cause. Some dis- Clergymeu. senting clergymen in the north of Ireland were particularly eloquent : a passage in one of their sermons deserves to be recorded. "My brethren and brother-soldiers," said the pastor, " let us, by prayer and by humiliation , supplicate Heaven " to grant our attainment of that liberty, without which life " is but a prison , and society a place of bondage. Our tulel- 1 Eloquence was at that period highly estimated and universally culti- vated in Ireland: The number of able men , who at that period Oiled the bar and the senate, had never been equalled at any former period. The flame of liberty seemed to communicate a glow to the language even of the humblest orator. The bar was not a trade; it was a profession, from which servility was excluded. The senate was nut a bank ; it wis a Ivceum ■ eloquence flourished in both : the students of the university had fret access to the gallery of the commons; their v>ung minds became enlarged and enlightened In whal thej daiij heard and admired, and were thus trained, by their patriotism and theii imitative powers , t<> sup|>l^ the 'place of declining veterans. — The change has been greal and lamentable. OF THE IRISH NATION. .21 " ary providence has permitted that blessing to be so long " withheld from us by the corrupt and the unworthy, only as " a punishment for our past offences , and a trial for our " future fortitude and perseverance. But the time of our ex- " piation seems now to have been completed : a bright flame " has blazed up amongst the people, and , in the hands of " Justice , lights them to the plains of Virtue and of Victory. " The justice of our cause has drawn down that flame from a " superior Power, and we may well anticipate , that , through " it's fire, the priests of Baal will soon perish before the " altars of the Almighty. " Almost every Irish gentleman had now either raised a mi- litary corps, or had enlisted himself in that of his neighbour. — Some Roman Catholic gentlemen also took to arms, and raised corps composed solely of persons of that persuasion — ■ whilst many Protestants , relinquishing their prejudices , received their Catholic fellow-subjects into their ranks with cordiality, and the whole nation became almost as a single family. — The most profound peace and good conduct signa- lized the lowest peasantry — the most perfect and effectual police was established — hardly a public crime of any kind was committed without instant detection — and every man of every rank seemed to have adopted one prominent and permanent principle — that of uniting good order — patrio- tism — and firmness. The love of liberty, however, is often palled by enjoyment : — the miseries of former oppression are sometimes forgotten in the views of avarice , or the pursuits of ambition — and there are too many instances in history, of sanguinary con- tests for the attainment of independence , and voluntary re- lapses into the fangs of tyranny. Human nature is subject to in- consistencies , and man cannot counteract the errors of his original formation : but when that inconsistency is the volun- tary result of depraved or corrupted principles, the weakness becomes a vice , and the object disgusting. Nor can there be dci 122 RISE AM) FALL a stronger elucidation of this posilion, or a more painful com- parison of times and persoirs , than that which will occur in the progress of this Narrative , where we shall discover the very same men, who in 1^82 were foremost in offering their lives and fortunes to attain the independence of their country, metamorphosed on the Union, eighteen years afterwards , into the veriest slaves of direct and shame- less corruption — and puhliely selling themselves, their connexions , and their country, for money — for office* or for title. The individual proofs of this are numerous — indisputable and easily produced ; and the comparison will afford a wholesome lesson for stales and nations to look with more caution and less confidence on the professions of public men — who too frequently remain no longer honest , than till public opinion may safely he encountered hy plausible pretences. The shouts of popularity only gratify the momentary vanity of man — whilst successful ambition rewards more substantially his pride — or fills the measure of his avarice. The instances are rare , and therefore more precious , of perfect purity attending public character, without deviation, through the whole course of its career, riieir Ua- VIII. Of those who led the volunteer associations in Lein- ster — Lord Charlemont, the Duke of Leinsler, Mr. Grattan, andMr. Henry Flood, had the greatest weight and authority: their popularity was extreme — and it was merited. To this list may he added the names of many others, par- ticularly Archdall — Stewart — and Browniow — names that will for ever remain engraved on the tablet of Irish gratitude — - as belonging to men who remained steady during all the subsequent ordeals through which their unfortunate country was doomed to pass , and formed a striking and melancholy contrast to Altamont and Belvidere — Shannon and Clanri- card — Longfield and Nevib — and the crowd of those, whos< upostasv, in 1800, has stained the records of Irish history and tarnished the character of Irish patriotism. — A dere- OF THE IRISH NATION. ja'i liction of public principle can only be accounted for by re- flecting, that the accomplished politician and the polished patriot are no less susceptible of the debasing passions of the human mind , than the most humble and illiterate amongst uncultivated society. High rank and influence oftener expose the dormant errors , than multiply the virtues of a public character. As soon as the Dungannon volunteers had received the concurrence of the armed associations , the commons house of parliament assumed a new aspect. Its former submission and unqualified adulation to the minister and the lord lieu- tenant had departed. The old supporters of the government seemed only solicitous how they could diminish their obe- dience without sacrificing their connexion — and every suc- cessive debate showed evident symptoms of an approaching and decisive crisis. The proceedings of the people without-doors , now , began State of the to have their due weight on their representatives within : — ^ t the whole house appeared forming into parties , accordingly as they were operated on by different degrees of caution — of timidity — of patriotism — and of interest — the leaders of each party became more conspicuous — and every question , however trivial , confessed the unsteadiness of the govern- ment , and betrayed the embarrassment of its supporters. Fitzgibbon pursued an unvaried course. His haughty and inflexible mind despised the country which he hoped one day to govern. Her release from British domination might also liberate her from his own grasp — and, so long as he could, he uniformly opposed every measure which might tend to her emancipation — save in a few instances , which , by exposing his duplicity , confirmed his character. — Perfectly indiffer- ent as to the public , he every day gave fresh proofs of that arbitrary and impetuous talent, which so strongly contributed to bring the nation to its end — and himself to his conclusion — and he often embarrassed the government more by the 124 MSE AND FALL intemperance of his support , than their opponents hy the steadiness of their opposition. Members A variety of causes contributed to add both numbers and Classes? weight to the opposition , and gained it the accession of many country gentlemen , whom the excitation of the moment had aroused from their lethargy , and who found it no longer possible indolently to temporize on those ministerial mea- sures , which even their own tenantry in arms had resolved to resist. Several on this principle united with the opposition. The flame reached even those, who from office or connexion were necessitated to adhere to the measures of government — lowering their usual tone of arrogance and of triumph — they condescended to give reasons for their conduct , and appeared almost to court a supposition , that this adherence was compulsalory , and their conviction open ; while the number was small of those who , looking to the possibility of a termination favourable to government , and their future interests , still gave them a support , the more acceptable , because now more necessary. But it was too late — negotiation was at an end — the mine was charged — the train laid — the match was burning — the summons was peremptory — and either surrender or explosion was inevitable. — At this mo- ment the leading characters all stalled from their ranks : — every parly had its chief — and every chief turned his eyes, by almost unanimous assent, to the eloquence and energy of the ardent Gratlan. The favourite of the parliament — the terror of the minister — the intimate friend of the ablest men — and the indefatigable advocate of his country — he seemed most peculiarly calculated to bring forward some great or decisive measure, which should at once terminate the dan- gerous paroxvsm to which the minds of the whole nation were now worked up, and by it's decision inform them, whether they were to receive their rights from the justice, or to enforce them by the humiliation of Great Britain. The period , however, had not quite arrived for this step. OF THE IRISH NATION. ia5 Extensive as the abilities of Mr. Grattan were, they had many competitors : jealousies intrude themselves even into the high- est minds •, ■ — the spirit of rivalship is inseparable from great talents ; — Mr. Grattan's importance was merely individual — and he was then only advancing to that pre-eminence , which he soon after acquired over all competitors. Though it was approaching fast , it was evident that it had not indisput- ably arrived : — it was essential that all those parties in the house should be a little more approximated , before a measure was announced on which unanimity was of vital importance. IX. So much talent never had before appeared in the Irish senate as at that particular moment-, — rank and fortune also were in higher estimation there than in England , where both are more common , and consequently less imposing. — Elo- quence and talents have always had their appropriate weight in a popular assembly; — but several members of the Irish parliament, in addition to splendid talents, having great for- tune and distinguished rank to recommend them — the com- mons house was not as yet fully prepared to give so splendid a lead to any individual , who , devoid of these , had nothing to recommend him but his talents and his character. Those who led their respective parties were all men of The leading ..... r . . -r-,1 . .-, . members. eminent abilities or or extensive connexions, rlood — Grat- tan — Brownlow — Burgh — Daly — Yelverton — appeared the most respected or efficient leaders of the opposition; — Scott ( the attorney-general ) and Fit/gibbon were the most active and efficient supporters of government; — while Daly — Ba- genall — Sir Edward Newenham — Mr. Joseph Dean and a number of country gentlemen , all dissimilar in habits , and heterogeneous in principles, were grouped together without any particular leader — but always paid a marked deference to the opinions of Mr. Brownlow, whose good sense — large fortune — and reasonable efficiency, constantly ensured him a merited attention. A few of these country gentlemen had a sort of exclusive iaG RISE AND FALL privilege of speaking without interruption — whether ihey spoke good sense or folly — with reason or without — as suit- ed iheir whims, or accorded with their capacities. — Of this Mr. Tim- class was Mr. Thomas Connolly, who appeared to have the mas Connolly. . . . J . ., ' . largest personal connexion ol any individual in the commons house of parliament. He took a principal lead amongst the country gentlemen, because he spoke more than any of them, though probably his influence would have been greater, if he had remained totally silent. — He was a person of very high family — ample fortune — powerful connexions — and splen- did establishments; — friendly — sincere — honourable — and munificent in disposition, — but whimsical — wrong- headed , and positive — his ideas of politics were limited and confused; — he mistook obstinacy for independence- — and singularity for patriotism — and fancied he was a Whig, because he was not professedly a Tory. Full of aristocracy — he was used by the patriots, when they could catch him, to give weight to their resolutions — and courted by the government , to lake advantage of his whimsicality, and embarrass the opposition. — He was bad as a statesman — worse as an orator. — In parliament he gave his opinions at the close of a debate , without having listened to it's progress ; and attacked measures with a sort of blunt point , which generally bruised both his friends and his oppon- ents. His qualities were curiously mixed , and his principles as singularly blended ; — and if he had not been distinguished by birth and fortune , he certainly would have remained all his life in obscurity. This gentleman had an extensive circle of adherents. On Mime questions he was led away by their persuasions — on others , they submitted to his prejudices, as a bait to fix him on more important occasions •, and sometimes he differed unexpectedly from all of them. He was nearly allied to the Irish minister at the discussion of the union — and he follow- ed his lordship's fortunes — surrendered bis country — lost OF THE IRISH NATION. 19.7 his own importance — died in comparative obscurity — and in his person ended the pedigree of one of the most respect- able English families ever resident in Ireland. X. Many other persons, who distinguished themselves at this period of public trial, will be subjects of observation in the course of this memoir : — but scarcely any of them more justly deserve notice than Mr. Yelverton , who was, Mr. Yd™ r- perhaps , the only public character of those days , whose ton- every act could be with ease accounted for — his motives for the acj being as palpable as the act was public ; — and whe- ther his. conduct was right or wrong made no difference in this respect — it's causes could be traced with equal facility — and he generally struggled as little against the propensities of his nature as any man that ever existed. In this narrative of the concerns of Ireland his name will frequently occur ; and as so extraordinary a character can never be forgotten in the minds of his countrymen , it may properlv be anticipated. Barry Yelverton , of humble origin , afterwards Lord Avon- more , and successor to Hussey Burgh , as chief baron of the exchequer, had acquired great celebrity as an advocate at the Irish bar, and was at this time rapidly winging his way to the highest pinnacle of honourable notoriety and forensic advan- cement. He had been elected member of parliament for the town of Carrickfergus , and became a zealous partizan for the claims of Ireland. It would be difficult to do justice to thelofty]and overwhelm- His ciia- ing elocution of this distinguished man, during the early racter * periods of his political exertions. — To the profound — logical — and conclusive reasoning of Flood ; — the brilliant — sti- mulating — epigrammatic antithesis of Gratlan ; — the sweet- toned — captivating — convincing rhetoric of Burgh; — or the wild fascinating imagery and varied pathos of the extraor- dinary Curran , he was respectively inferior ; — but in power- ful , nervous language, he excelled them all. A vigorous — commanding — undaunted eloquence burst in rolling tor- 19.8 RISE AND FALL rents from his lips — no I a word was lost. — Though fiery, yet weighty and distinct , the authoritative rapidity of his language, relieved by the beauty of his luxuriant fancy, sub- dued the auditor without the power of resistance , and left him in doubt , whether it was to argument or to eloquence that he surrendered his conviction. His talents were alike adapted to public purposes, as his private qualities to domestic society. — In the common trans- actions of the world he was an infant ; — in the varieties of right and wrong , of propriety and error, a frail mortal ; — in the senate and at the bar, a mighty giant : — it was on the bench that, unconscious of his errors, and in his home uncon- scious of his virtues , both were most conspicuous. That deep-seated vice, which with equal power freezes the mi- ser's heart, and inflames the ruffian's passions, was to him a stranger ; — he was always rich — rand always poor ; — like his great predecessor, frugality fled before the carelessness of his mind — and left him the victim of his liberality, and of course in many instances a monument of ingratitude. His character was entirely transparent — it had no opaque quali- ties ; — his passions were open — his prepossessions palpable — his failings obvious > — and he took as little pains to conceal his faults as to publish his perfections. In politics he was more steady to parly, than to principle — but evinced no immutable consistency in either : — a pa- triot by nature, yet susceptible of seduction — a partizan by temper, yet capable of instability — the commencement aod the conclusion of his political conduct were as distinct as the poles, and as dissimilar as the elements. Amply qualified for the bench by profound legal and con- stitutional learning — extensive professional practice — strong logical powers — a classical and wide-ranging capacity — equitable propensities , and a philanthropic disposition — he possessed all the positive qualifications for a great judge : — but he could not temporize ; — the total absence of skilful OF THE IRISH NATION. 129 or even accessary caution — and the indulgence of a few feeble counteracting habits — greatly diminished that high reputation , which a cold phlegmatic mien — or a solemn — imposing — vulgar plausibility- — • confers on miserably infe- rior judges. But even with all his faults Lord Avon more was vastly superior to all his judicial contemporaries. If he was impe- tuous , it was an impetuosity in which his heart had no con- cern 5 — he was never unkind, that he was not also repentant; — and ever thinking that he acted with rectitude , the cause of his greatest errors seemed to be a careless ignorance of his lesser imperfections. He had a species of intermitting ambition , which either led him too far, or forsook him altogether. His pursuits, of course , were unequal, and his ways irregular. Elevated solelv by his own talents — he acquired new habits without altoge- ther divesting himself of the old ones. — A scholar — a poet — a statesman — a lawyer, — in elevated society be was a brilliant wit — at lower tables , a vulgar humourist ; — he had appropriate anecdote and conviviality for all — and , whether in the one or in the other, he seldom failed to be either entertaining or instructive. He was a friend , ardent , but indiscriminate even to blindness — an enemy, warm, but forgiving even to folly •, — he lost his dignity by the injudiciousness of bis selections — and sunk his consequence in the pliability of his nature ; — to the first he was a dupe — ■ to the latter an instrument : • — on the whole , he was a more enlightened than efficient statesman — a more able , than unexceptionable judge , — and more honest in the theory, than the practice , of his po- lities. His rising-sun was brilliant — his meridian , cloudy — his setting , obscure : crosses at length ruffled his temper — deceptions abated his confidence — time tore down his talents — he became depressed and indifferent — and after a long life of chequered incidents and inconsistent conduct , he died, 9 : So RISE AND FAIL leaving behind him few men who possessed so much talent so much heart — or so much weakness. This distinguished man , at the critical period of Ireland's emancipation , hurst forth as a meteor in the Irish senate : his career in the commons was not long — hut it was busy and important; — he had connected himself with the duke of Portland, and continued that connexion uninterrupted till the day of his dissolution. But through the influence of thai nobleman, and the absolute necessity of a family provision — on the question of the Union the radiance of his public character was obscured for ever — the laurels of his eaiU achievements fell withered from his brow — and after having with zeal and sincerity laboured to attain independence for his country in 1782 — he became one of its sale-masters in 1800 — and mingling in a motley crowd, uncongenial to his native character — and beneath bis natural superiority — he surrendered the rights — the franchises — and the honours of that peerage , to which , by his great talents and his earl} virtues , he had been so justly elevated. Except upon the bench, his person was devoid of dignity, and his appearance ordinary, and mean — yet there was something in the strong, marked lines of his rough unfinished features , which bespoke a character of no common descrip- tion; ■ — powerful talent was its first trait — fire and philan- thropy contended for the next 5 — his countenance, wrought up and varied by the strong impressions of his labouring mind , could be belter termed indicatory than expressive ; and in the midst of his greatest errors and most reprehensi- ble moments, it was difficult not to respect, and impossible not to regard him. OF THE IRISH NATION. 1^1 CHAP. VIII. I. As the proceedings of the Volunteers and municipal The alarm i ,. i i l l • • A inEnglandin- nodies became every day more serious and decisive — ana crcas>e s. the Irish house of commons , on the subserviency of which the Bristish ministers had been so long accustomed to rely, assumed an unusual tone of independence — and evinced strong svmptoms of an approaching revolution of sentiment — the British cabinet were alarmed for the consequences of further neglect, and at length reluctantly gave up all hopes of effectually resisting or evading the demands of Ireland ; — they now only sought how- they could best gain time for deli- beration , so as to moderate the extent of their concessions — and adopt a mode of conduct the least likely to humiliate the pride, or alarm the jealousies of Great Britain, But lord North's administration had been disgraced, and ruined through their proceedings towards America , and were, of course , equallv unfit to negotiate with Ireland, as thev must feel the same repugnance , as in the American case , to concede independence. With these ministers, therefore, it was found impracticable to proceed to such a measure — and they were at length necessarily displaced. — But though the administration was changed individually, they were still a British government , with the appropriate characteristics of iho old leaven , — and could not so suddenly and radically alter the fundamental system of their predecessors , or conceal from the world the true motives which caused the change of senti- ment in the English councils : in other words, it was altoge- ther impossible effectually to mask the reluctance with which England must at length retract her favourite political doc- trines — and the ill grace with which she must strike the flag of usurpation to what she considered an inferior na- tion. In this state of things, as the earl of Carlisle could not act Tho Earl i3a RISE \\h FALL of Carlisle r< mi measures which had been resisted by his colleagues — it became absolutely necessary, lor the safety of the empire, to change the ministers of boll) nations, — and the appointment of ihe marquis of Rockingham and Mr. Fox , by calling lo his majesty's councils as much honesty and talent as could reasonably be expected, gave a new impulse lo the machine of government, and increased the hopes, as it raised the spi- rits , of the Irish people. The members of the new cabinet were well aware that ike situation of Ireland was too critical to be for a moment neg- lected ; — the great responsibility which that critical stale imposed on their heads, impressed them with a full sense ol the difficulties and the dangers they had undertaken to en- counter 5 and whatever their private opinions might have been on the affairs of Ireland, they wisely adopted a full lone of pacific conciliation, and, professing the true Whig doctrines of constitutional liberty, they assumed the eccentric character of patriot-ministers : — an attribute but little known , and seldom found in any country. These ministers were certainly disposed to act liberal I \ though probably to a narrower extent than what they soon found was indispensable to the integrity of the empire; — for even Mr. Fox had never proved himself lo be a very atta- ched friend to the interests of Ireland, further than he was led by his general principles of toleration and liberty; — and so inattentive had he been to the concerns of that nation in the abstract, that a few days after his appoinlemenl, he fairly acknowledged himself ignorant ' of its true state, and unin- formed as lo its real circumstances. ' Mr. Fox, on the 4 tli of April 1782 , wrote to Lord Chaiietnont in these words : — " With regard to the particular points between the two countries — I am really not master of them, sufficiently to discuss litem : but I can say in general, the new ministry have no other wish than t<> settle them in the way that niav he most for the real advantage of both countries , whose interests cannot he distinct. " OF THR IRISH NATION. 1 33 Their firsl step , however, was politic and laudable : — lliey The Dnl determined lo send over lo Ireland a nobleman of high rank , ° appointed 1 whose character was popular, and whose principles were con- Lord L»eute- ciliatory — and thereby skilfully give the colouring of generous consideration to measures , which, in fact, were substantially requisite : — for there was not a British minister, if his real sentiments had been known — whatever his affected language might have been — who did not consider the intended con- cessions as the necessary result of an imperious necessity ; — existing circumstances had left them no choice — and the duke of Portland was properly selected lord lieutenant for Ire- land •, as a fair — honest — moderate whig — too temperate and discreet to irritate faction, and sufficiently plausible to soften down the asperity of parties, by insinuating on every occasion the friendly views of the new cabinet, and the kind condescension of his majesty himself, in acceding to claims , which, in more prosperous days , his ministers had uniformly and haughtily rejected. II. On the 1 4th of April , 1783, the duke of Portland ar- rived to take upon himself the government of Ireland , lo the great satisfaction of that nation — and the earl of Carlisle de- parted , leaving behind him strong impressions both of indi- vidual respect and popular disapprobation. — However friendly and honourable the earl's disposition towards the Irish nation might have been , his administration had effected nothing permanently advantageous, either to the country — to the minister — or to his own reputation. The Portugal business bad lost him the confidence of the people , and he left Ireland alive to all her grievances — completely awakened from her slumber — and no longer amenable to that narrow and mistaken policy, by which she had been so long kept down , rather than governed — and in the exercise of which the earl's administration had been by no means defi- cient. The duke of Portland , on his arrival , found the nation in 1 34 RISE AND FALL ;i stale ia which neither procrastination nor evasion was an\ longer practicable. The spirit of independence had arisen to it's highest pitcli ; — the parliament , no longer the vassals of the British government or of their own , stood boldly deter- mined to support the people : — to reclaim them to their eld subjection was impossible — to corrupt them anew was impracticable — and a dissolution would have increased the numbers, and added tenfold strength to the power, of the patriots. Duke of The duke therefore had but one course to take — to pro- Cbaracter* cceo ' as calmly, deliberately, and slowly, as circumstances would admit of — and endeavour, if possible, to contract the number of concessions which the Irish nation were dis- posed to insist on. But to effect this object he was incompe- tent ; — he was not a man of talent — and though not alto- gether deficient in that species of ambiguity, and equivocation, which arc supposed to constitute a necessary part of a modern minister's education — ■ he had not enough of those qua- lifications to carry difficult objects , by dissimulation — or ingenuity to defeat , by negotiation , measures which he had not the power of openly resisting. — He was accounted a plain — fair — well-meaning and rather high-minded man — and had the peculiar advantage of being the first credible messenger of intended justice from the British government to the Irish people. The courtesy of the Irish house of peers to so elevated a nobleman , combined with their courtly habits to all former chief governors , procured him a considerable strength in that assembly, — but he found the house of commons quite beyond his grasp. — The yoke , on their part, was completely thrown off — nor could all his influence rally around his government a sufficient number of that house to support him in any one measure of delay or equivocation, lie, therefore , pursuant to his instructions from the British cabinet, en- deavoured, by personal application and interviews with tin of Tin; iRisii nation. 135 leading members of parliament and country gentlemen of the greatest influence , to gain a little time for deliberation : — but lie found the determination of Ireland already so very general , and so far matured — and the volunteer determina- tions so unalterably decided on — that there appeared lo bo hardly an alternative , between immediate acquiescence, or inevitable revolution. >\hilst the duke remained in this painful dilemma , irreso- lute as to bis conduct, the important crisis was rapidly ap- proaching, and the very first day of the meeting of parlia- ment portended extraordinary events , not likely lo diminish the extent of bis embarrassment. Exclusive of the distinguished personages already mentio- ned, many other eminent men were daily emerging from the general body of the commons, whose talents and eloquence, eatehing the flame which surrounded them , soon added to that brilliant light, which illuminated the whole nation. — But the public eye still kept steadfastly fixed on Mr. Grattan, as the person best qualified to take the lead in asserting the lights and independence of his country. The style and lire ot his eloquence — the integrity of his character — his indefa- tigable perseverance — and intrepid fortitude of spirit which had always great weight with the Irish — procured him a consideration far above his contemporaries—- in none of whom were these grand qualities so generally united ; — whilst a kind heart — and the mild , unassuming , playful manners of a gentleman , secured to him that sort of private esteem , which banishes the feelings of rivalship even from the most zealous partisans. — Thus, as if by general assent, at the time of the duke of Portland's assuming the government, was Mr. Grallan considered by all ranks as the chosen champion for the independence of Ireland — distinguished by the most elevated characters — admired by the parliament — and ido- lized by the people. 111. Immediately before the duke of Portland's ui rival ? ate i36 RISE AND FALL to procrastio- ]\f r . Grallan had prepared, and determined to move, a general declaration of rights in the house of commons-, and it must have heen an object of the utmost importance to the duke , either to prevent that measure altogether, or obtain at least its postponement until he became better acquainted with the disposition of the principal persons of the country — the full extent of their views — and how far he might be able to assuage the general irritation , without going the full length of their extensive requisitions. It was also of importance to the credit of his administration , that, if possible, he should have the substance of whatever he was authorised to accede to , made known by anticipation , as the liberal act of his government , through his English secretary — rather than brought forward , as the demand of the people , through their Irish advocate. Under these circumstances, an adjourn- ment of parliament was a most desirable object, and he de- termined to attempt it through the negotiation of Mr. 1'ilz- patrick , who was at least as sincere a man as his noble employer, and had always expressed himself strongly in favour of the interest of Ireland. The duke also felt the great importance of a little breathing- time after his arrival ; and both Mr. Fox and lord Rockingham exerted themselves to obtain that object from the Irish pa- triots; and under the circumstances in which his grace stood, it might have supposed that it would have been granted with- out much hesitation; — and in common times and cases it certainly would have been but just, and even in the existing one did not seem altogether unreasonable; — for, in fact . did not everv thing promise a harvest of benefits from the n< w administration? — The avowed and proved enemies of Ire- land had retired from office. In their stead, at the head of I he government, was the marquis of Rockingham — as a man , most excellent — as a statesman , constitutional — honest — liberal : — as secretary of slate , Mr. Fox , on the admirable nature of whose public principles eulogium would be surplus- OF THE IRISH NATION. <3; ago : — and for the management of the affairs of Ireland , the duke of Portland , aceompanied hy colonel Fitzpalrick. — A more propitious prospectus could hardly he expected ; — nor could England furnish many men, on whose tolerating dispo- sitions the Irish nation had more reason to repose. But still it could not be forgotten , that they were all Englishmen — and though nalurally munificent , honourable , and conciliatory •, yet necessarily partaking in some degree of those inherent prejudices, which education favours and habits confirm in English minds, unacquainted with the state of their sisler- country ■ — and of course cautious of committing themselves with the one country, by loo precipitate and favourable a change of system towards the other. — Men the most enlight- ened on general principles are frequently found feeble on abstract subjects ; — and Mr. Fox was excusable in his wa- riness of adopting sudden determinations , repugnant to the theories and practice of all former ministers and former parlia- ments of Great Britain. Every proper preliminary therefore was adopted by the new ministry , to prepare their nation for measures towards Ire- land which never were, and never could be, popular in England ; and with a view to anticipate the expected procee- dings of the Irish parliament, a message was delivered from the king to the British parliament on the 18th of April, 1782, stating. " That mistrusts and jealousies had arisen in Ireland , and that it was highly necessary to take the same into imme- diate consideration , in order to a final adjustment. '• — This message from the king, when coupled with the address of the. British parliament to his majesty in reply, expressive of " their entire and cheerful concurrence in his majesty's views of -a final adjustment " — if they are to be understood in the plain and unequivocal meaning of words , and con- struction of sentences , clearly import — the conjoint senti- ments of both the British king and British parliament to proceed to a final adjustment of all differences between the i "38 RISE AND FALL two countries •, — and this message and reply arc here nine particularly alluded to, because they form one of the principal points , afterwards relied upon in the Irish parliament , as decisive against any agitation of the question of a Union. — r lhe words , final adjust meat , so unequivocally expressed by his majesty, were immediately acted upon by the parliaments of both nations 5 and the adjustment, which took place in consequence of the message , was considered by the contract- ing parties as decisively conclusive nn&Jinal — as intended to be an indissoluble compact, mutually and definitively ratified by the two nations. The measure of a Union , therefore , being proposed , and afterwards carried against the will of the people — by the power and through the corruption of the executive authority — after the complete ratification of that contract , and after it had been acted upon for seventeen years , was clearly a direct infringement of that final adjustment — a breach of national faith — an infraction of that constitutional federative compact solemnly enacted by the mutual concurrence of the king, lords, and commons, of Great Britain — and the king , lords, and commons, of Ireland, in their joint and several legislative capacities. This message , therefore , forms a predominant circum- stance , as applying to the most important subsequent occur- rences between the two nations ; — and as such should bo kept in mind through every event detailed in this memoir. — It also leads to some considerations , which , though they mav be considered as a digression from the transactions which immediately took place in consequence of the message, are yet of considerable utility in elucidating the respective situa- tion of the two countries , at the time this final adjustment was proposed by the king — and the sense that his 'majesty's ministers , eighteen years afterwards , were pleased to give to the word final — when they conceived it necessary to argue that it bore , not a positive , but an inconclusive import , and OF THE IRISH NATION. i3o could only he construed as giving an indefinite scope for fiuture negotiation. IV. Previous to the year 1780 , the distressed state of Ire- Remark!, on land — the law of Poyning — the 6th of George the First — tt *Unio^ at the standing army under a permanent mutiny bill — the de- t!,at J uuclure - pendance of the judges — the absence of the Habeas Corpus act — the restraints on commerce , and the deprivation of a constitution, had often suggested, to some of the best friends of Ireland , the idea of a complete incorporation of that country with Great Britain , as the only remedy for its accu- mulated and accumulating grievances and oppressions — as the most advantageous measure which could be obtained for Ireland under its then deplorable circumstances ; — and about the year 1753, and subsequently several pamphlets of considerable merit were published on the subject , detailing the advantages which Ireland must necessarily have derived from so close and beneficial a connexion. As Ireland was then — trampled upon — oppressed — and put down without the power of resistance — or any probable chance of ever obtaining justice — there can be no doubt that almost any change must have been beneficial ; and , in that point of view, a complete union of the two nations would then have been , in many respects , extremely fortunate for that ruined country. — The British parliament had declared itself paramount to that of Ireland. The Irish parliament , tired of ineffectual struggles for even the name of independ- ence , had become indifferent to its fate , and sunk into a state of lassitude and debility , from which , though it was occasionally roused by the sharp stings of oppression, it soon relapsed into its old apathy — partly through despair and partly through corruption — while the people , kept system- atically ignorant , and of course having but little public mind , and less public information , were naturally indiffer- ent to the existence of a representative assembly, of which they neither felt the honour nor experienced the utility. i/,o RISE AM) FALL Bui at that period England was loo powerful, loo jealous, and loo haughty, to equalize her constitution and her com- merce , with what she considered as a conquered country. She had then no object to obtain from a captive, who lav groaning at her feet — picking up the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. — The prejudiced , contracted , and fal- lacious views which England then took of the slate of Ireland, deceived her as to her own interests , connected with the general strength and prosperity of the whole empire. — and every idea of an incorporate union with Ireland was rejected with disdain by the British nation.- — England had united herself with Scotland to avoid the chance of a total separation — which it was more than probable might otherwise have been the consequence of distinct dynasties : — but the state of Ireland and the nature of her federal connexion with Eng- land occasioned no risque of such an event — and therefore created no such uneasiness or necessity' — and the idea seemed to have been totally relinquished by both countries-, — by the one, because she was loo haughty and avaricious to grant — by the other, because she was too poor and too dejected to obtain so advantageous an arrangement. But when Ireland, by the causes heretofore detailed, bad been awakened to a sense of her own strength — and a know- ledge of her own resources ; — when America had shown her the example of perseverance , and the possibility of obtaining justice — every idea of annexation to England vanished like the passing wind-, — liberty was attainable — prosperity must follow liberty • — and, in 1782, there was scarcely an Irish- man, who would not have sooner sunk under the ruins of his country, than submit to a measure, which , a few years be- fore, was an object, at least of indifference. — England tint late perceived it's error — a union in 17 53 would have effec tuallv ended' all claims of an independent constitution, b\ Ireland, in 17N?. — and would have been an object of the highest importance to Great Britain : — hut how it was ;i OF TIIK IRISH NATION. r*l word she durst nol even articulate — the very sound of it would have been equal to a declaration of hostility — and however Indisposed the new ministers of England might have been to admit all the claims of Ireland , the words '■ final adjustment" — so emphatically used by his majesty — left no room to suppose that a union could be in contemplation, or ever afterwards be insisted on : ■ — and yet it is singular, that the very same words — "final adjustment" — were repeated — by the Irish minister, when a union was proposed to the Irish parliament in 1800 for its consideration. So many arguments afterwards arose from that expression — so many sophistical constructions were placed on bis ma- jesty's message — so much duplicity did bis ministers attri- bute to his language — that it is impossible to believe that all the ministers of that day were unreservedly sincere, as to the finality of the arrangement made with Ireland under its then commanding attitude — and it reminds us of one very remark- able truism of Irish history , that no compact had ever be- fore been entered into between the two countries, that had not been infringed or attempted to be infringed by England — when her power enabled her, or her interest seduced her, to withdraw' from her engagements. V. Nothing can more clearly elucidate the public conduct of the duke of Portland. In 1782, he came to Ireland to con- summate dijinal adjustment between the two nations, and , in pursuance of such proposal, a final adjustment was appa- rentlv effected — passed by the parliaments of both nations — confirmed by the honor of Great Britain — and sanctified by the faith of majesty. — The duke of Portland was the ac- credited agent of that final adjustment — the responsible mi- nister of both nations — the official voucher of its perpetuity — and therefore should have been the guardian of that inde- pendence , which was effected through himself, and declared bv him . as viceroy, to be final and conclusive. Yet, in 1800, the same duke of Portland is found retrac- t/,2 RISE AND FALL ing all li is former stops — decanting his Irish creed — demo- lishing {hat independence of which he was the guardian — falsifying his own words , and equivocating on those of his so- vereign to both parliaments — and arguing upon an incon- gruity, never yet paralleled , namely, that the words " final " and "inconclusive" were synonymous in politics: — for upon no other principle could his grace's first and latter con- duct be explained or justified. It is impossible therefore to give the duke the merit of sin- cerity towards Ireland in 178?.. The altered slate of Ireland in 1800, was made the solitary hut fallacious pretence for dis- solving a solemn bond — breaking the ties of national faith — and diminishing the character of royal integrity. Mr.Grattan The duke was obliged to meet the Irish parliament within refuses to arh:i " lie penny by the earliest reports of good speeches made bad, and bad speeches made better — indifferent as to subjects 10 i/,6 RISK A.ND FALL and careless as lo misrepresentation — yet the principal medium of commiiDication between the sentiments of ihe representative and the curiosity of the represented — can form no idea of the interesting appearance of the Irish house of commons. The cheerful magnificence of its splen- did architecture — the Dumber — the decorum and brilliancy of the anxious auditory — the vital question that night to he determined , and the solemn dignity which clothed the pro- ceedings of that awful moment — collectively produced im- pressions , even on disinterested strangers , which perhaps had never heen so strongly or so justly excited by the appear- ance and proceedings of any house of legislature. Character \II. Mr. Sexton Perry ' then occupied the speaker's chair; ,' Vll y' — a person in whose integrity the house, the nation , and the government reposed the greatest confidence-, — a m;m in whose pure character, spirit, dignity, independence of mind , and honesty of principle, were eminently conspicuous; — decisive, — constitutional — patriotic. — discreet — ■ he was every thing that became his office , and every thing that became himself. He had been a barrister in extensive practice at the time of his elevation , — and lo the moment of his death he never departed from the line of rectitude , which marked every step of his progress through life, whether in a public or private station. — Mr. Perry took the chair at four o'clock. The singular wording of the summonses had its com- plete effect , and procured the attendance of almost every member resident within the kingdom. A calm but deep soli- 1 Mr. Perry was the son of a gentleman of business in Limerick, and had been called to the Irish bar, where he practised with considerable reputation and success. He was not a distinguished orator in parliament, hut few men ever sat in that house more personally respected by all parties. Ho was chosen speaker on Mr. PonsDnby's resignation , and bis brother appointed a bishop some time after. Mr Perry was uncle to the present earl <>l Limerick, on whom his estates have descended; — and it has been remarked, that there seldom appeared two public personages more dissi- milar than the nude and nephew. OF THE IRISH NATION. i/, 7 cilude was apparent on almost every countenance , when Mr. Grattan entered , aceompanied by Mr. Brownlow and several otliers , the determined and important advocates for the declaration of Irish independence. — Mr. Grattan's pre- ceding exertions and anxiety had manifestly injured his health ; — his tottering frame seemed barelv sufficient to sus- tain his labouring mind , replete with the unprecedented importance and responsibility of the measure he was about to bring forward. He was unacquainted with the reception it would obtain from the connexions of the government ; — he was that day irretrievably to commit his country with Great Britain — and through him Ireland was either to assert her liberty ■ — or start from the connexion. His own situation was tremendous — that of the members attached to the adminis- tration embarrassing — that of the people anxious to palpita- Embarass- tion. — For a short time a profound silence ensued : — it patriots, was expected that Mr. Grattan would immediately rise — when the wisdom and discretion of the government gave a turn to the proceedings, which in a moment eased the parlia- ment of its solicitude — Mr. Grattan of the weight that op- pressed him — and the people of their anxiety. Mr. Hely Hut- chinson (then secretary of state in Ireland) rose. — He said, that his excellency the lieutenant had ordered him to deliver a message from the king, importing , that — " His majesty, being concerned to find that discontents and jealousies were prevailing amongst his loyal subjects of Ireland , upon mat- ters of great weight and importance , recommended to the house to take the same into their most serious consideration , in order to effect such a final adjustment as might give satis- faction to both kingdoms. " — And Mr. Hutchinson accom- panied this message with a statement of his own views on the subject — and his determination to support a declaration of Irish, rights — and constitutional independence. "VIII. Notwithstanding this official communication , the go- vernment members were still greatly perplexed how to act. i/,8 RISE AND FALL Mr. Grattan's intended declaration of independence was too strong, decisive, and prompt, to be relished as the measure of any government : — it could neither be wholly resisted, nor generally approved of, bv the viceroy. — His secretary, colonel Fitzpatrick, was not vet in parliament; — all modi- fication whatsoever had been rejected bv Mr. Grattan and his friends; — and it is generally believed, that the members of the government went to parliament that day without any decided plan or system — but determined to regulate their own individual conduct by the circumstances which might occur, and the general disposition indicated by the majority of the bouse in the course of the proceedings. IX. Thus, on the sixteenth of April, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two — after nearly seven hundred years of subjugation , oppression, and misery — after centuries of unavailing complaint, and neglected remonstrance" — did the Mr. lint- king of Ireland , through his Irish secretary of slate , at length se ' e himself propose to redress those grievances through his Irish rrctary ot I I ° a state m.ex- parliament-, — an authority which, as king of England, his ciares fiie as- minister had never before recognised or admitted. — In a sent of °°- m oment the whole scene was completely changed : — those ▼ eminent. _ 11. 1 miserable prospects which had so long disgusted , and at length so completely agitated the Irish people, vanished from their view, — the phenomenon of such a message had an instantaneous and astonishing effect — and pointed out such a line of conduct to every party and to every individual . as left it almost impossible for any but the most mischievous characters , to obstruct the happy unanimity which now became the gratifying result of this prudent and wise pro- ceeding. Mr. Hutchinson , however, observed in his speech , that he was not officially authorised to say more , — than simply to deliver the message : — he was therefore silent as to all details — and pledged the government to none ; — the parliament would act upon the message as to themselves might OF THE HUSH NATION. 149 seem advisable. — Another solemn pause now ensued — Mr. Grattan remained silent — when Mr. George Ponsonby Mr . Pon . rose — and, after euloeisiner the king, the British minister, soub ^ ',"."" s 00 ° 7 an address and the Irish government, simply proposed an humble address considered in reply, " thanking the king for his goodness and con- ID descension, and assuring his majesty that his faithful com- moners would immediately proceed upon the great objects he had recommended to their consideration. " X. This uncircumslantial reply, however, fell very short of the expectation of the house, or the intentions of Mr. Grattan. On common occasions it would have answered the usual pur- poses of incipient investigation 5 — hut the subject of Irish grievances required no committee to investigate — no pro- tracted debates for further discussion. The claims of Ireland were already well known to the king and to his ministers 5 they had been recorded by the Dungannon convention ; and now only required a parliamentary adoption in terms too expli- cit to be misconstrued — and too peremptory to be rejected. It is true , the good intentions of his majesty were announced — the favourable disposition of his cabinet communicated — a redress of discontents and jealousies suggested ; — but no- thing specific was vouched , or even alluded to; — the present favourable government might be displaced , and the king's conceding intentions changed by a change of ministers — and Ireland thus be again committed with Great Britain under circumstances of diminished strength , and more difficult adjustment — every man perceived the crisis — but no man could foresee the result — some decisive step appeared inevit- able •> — but without great prudence that step might be de- structive — popular impetuosity frequently defeats its own objects — the examples of European history in all ages have proved, that rash or premature efforts to shake off oppression, generally confirmed it — or rent the chains of despotism from the grasp of one ruler, only to transfer them with stronger rivets to the power of a successor. — It is less difficult to i jo RISE AND FALL ihrow off the trammels of an usurping government, than to secure the preservation of a new-gained constitution — and in cold and phlegmatic nations (where the suhlime prin- ciples of political freedom were less investigated or less va- lued than in Ireland at that enlightened epoch), more com- prehensive powers might he entrusted to the prudence of the people, or delegated to the guardianship of selected chief- Dangerous tains — hut in an ardent nation , distinguished more for its dilemma ot t a l en t s anc j { ts enthusiasm , than for its steadiness or its fore- i'arliaiuent. sight — where every man fostered his healed feelings, and the appetite for liberty was whetted even to voracity by the slavery of ages — hasty or violent proceedings , however they might for a moment appear to promote a rescue of the country from existing evils , would probably plunge it still deeper into unforeseen and more deplorable misfortunes — visionary men and visionary measures are never absent from such political struggles — but if the phrensy of Eulopian spe- culations gels wing amongst a people, it becomes the most plausible pretext to oppressive rulers, and the most destruct- ive enemy to the attainment of constitutional liberty : and at this important crisis, had one rash step prematurely com- mitted Ireland and Great Britain in hostile struggle , the contest would have ended in the ruin of one country, if not of both. These considerations had great weight , and excited great embarrassments amongst the leading members in the Irish parliament — different characters of course look different views of this intricate subject — strength of intellect — cou- rage — cowardice — interest — ignorance — or information — naturally communicated their correspondent impressions — and but few persons seemed entirely to coincide on the specific limits to which these popular proceedings might advance with safety. OF THE IRISH NATION. i5r <:iiap. ix. J. Mr. Craltan bad long declared the absolute necessity of gratifying the people by a legislative declaration of Jrish rights and constitutional independence — marking out by an inde- lible record that sacred Rubicon past which the British government should never more advance, and beyond which the Irish nation should never wander. — On that point the fate of Ireland vibrated as on a pivot — it must rise or it must fall — it could no longer remain stationary — and the great landed proprietors strongly felt that they must necessarily par- ticipate in its vicissitudes — the court had totally lost its in- fluence — the people had entirely acquired theirs — the old system of Irish government was annihilated — and the British cabinet had neither the wisdom nor the disposition to take a decisive lead in more popular arrangements — the parliament and the people were gradually drawing together — an in- stinctive sense of the common difficulty called all men towards some common centre — and as that centre , all parties — all sects — and all factions looked to the talents and the honesty of Mr. Graltan — they knew that he had no object but his country, and no party but its supporters — the-y knew that his energetic mind could neither be restrained by resistance nor neutralised by subterfuge — he possessed all those intel- lectual qualities best calculated to lead the Irish people to the true standard of freedom. II. It is an observation not unworthy of remark, that in describing the events of that important evening, the struc- ture of the Irish House of Commons (as before mentioned) at the period of these debates was particularly adapted to convey to the people an impression of dignity and of splen- dor in their legislative assembly — the interior of the Com- mons House was a rotunda of great architectural magnificence; an immense gallery, supported by Tuscan pillars, surrounded 1 52 RISK AND FALL the inner base of a grand and lofty dome — in that gallery, on every important debate , nearly seven hundred auditors heard the sentiments and learned the characters of their Irish representatives; the gallery was never cleared on a division; the rising generation acquired a love of eloquence and of liberty — the principles of a just and proud ambition — the details of public business — and the rudiments of constitu- tional legislation. The front rows of this gallery were generally occupied by females of the highest rank and fashion , whose presence gave an animating and brilliant splendor to the entire scene — and in a nation such as Ireland then was — from which the gallant principles of chivalry had not been altogether banished — contributed not a little to the preservation of that decorum so indispensable to the dignity and weight of deliberative assemblies. This entire gallery had been crowded at an early hour by personages of the first respectability of both sexes — it would be difficult to describe the interesting appearance of the whole assemblage at this awful moment •, — after the speech of Mr. Hutchinson — which in fact decided nothing — a low confidential whisper ran through the house , and every mem- ber seemed to court the sentiments of his neighbour without venturing to express his own ■ — the anxious spectators, inqui- sitively leaning forward , awaited with palpitating expectation Mr.Grattan the developement of some measure likelv to decide the fate of .laration of lne ' r country — themselves — and their posterity — no rights a,ul middle course could possibly be adopted — immediate con- gnevances in * t - ' Parliament, cilialion and tranquillity, or revolt and revolution, was the dilemma which floated on every thinking mind — a solemn pause ensued — at length Mr. Grattan, slowly rising from his seat, commenced the most luminous — brilliant — and effect- ive oration ever delivered in the Irish parliament. This speech, ranking in the very first class of effective elo- quence, rising in its progress, applied equally to the sense — OF THE IRISH NATION. i53 the pride and the spirit of the nation — every succeeding sentence increased the interest which his exordium had excit- ed — trampling upon the arrogant claims and unconstitu- tional usurpations of the British government, he reasoned on the enlightened principle of a federative compact, and urged irresistibly the necessity — the justice — and the policy of immediately and unequivocally declaring the constitutional independence of the Irish nation, and the supremacy of the Irish parliament , as the only effectual means of preserving the connexion between the two nations.— His arguments were powerful and conclusive, but they were not original ' — it was the very same course of argument which that great Irish statesman, Molyneux, had published near a century before — the same principles on which Swift , the ablest of Irish pa- triots, had defended his country, and the same which that less able, but not less sincere and honest friend to Ireland, Dr. Lucas , had continually maintained , frequently in oppo- sition to the doctrines of Mr. Grattan's own father. Some ■ It is a circumstance worthy of observation , that the principal arguments of Mr. Grattan went to establish the same doctrines , and were expressed partly in the very same words , as those of Mr. Molyneux and Dr. Lucas — and that Mr. Grattan's speech was received with universal approbation by parliament, and these principles of Irish independence acceded to by the King's government , and even supported by his law officers , whilst the celebrated book published by Mr. Molyneux, containing the same" claims of Ireland " had been voted a treasonable libel by the Irish parliament , when under the influence of the English government , and was ordered to be burned by the hands of the common hangman , which sentence was accordingly executed before the door of the House of Lords; and that Dr. Lucas , for publishing the same principles at a later period , had been voted an enemy to his country , and necessitated to fly from Ireland for his safety. Nothing can more strongly exemplify the dreadful vassalage into which the Irish nation had sunk , or prove the inestimable value of national independence, than the fact that Mr. Grattan gained immortal honour and substantial rewards for the same acts for which his illustrious predecessors bad been declared enemies to their country — such are the resulting distinctions of slavery and of freedom. i5/, RISK AND FALL passages of this oration were particularly characteristic ol Air. Grallan's energetic manner. — " He admired thai steady L k progressive virtue which had at length awakened Ireland to " her rights, and roused her to her liberties — he was not " yet old , but he remembered her a child — he had watched " her growth — from childhood she grew to arms , from arms " she grew to liberty; — whenever historic annals tell of great " revolutions in favour of freedom , they were owing to the " quick feelings of an irritated populace excited by some "strong object presented to their senses — such was the " daughter of \ irginius sacrificed to virtue — such were the " meagre and haggard looks of the seven Bishops sacrificed to •• liberty. But it was not the sudden impulse of irritated feel- " ings which had animated Ireland — she had calmly mused " for centuries on her oppressions, and as deliberately rose " to rescue the land from her oppressors. " For a people to acquire liberty they must have a lofty " conception of themselves — what sets one nation above " another, but the soul that dwells within her? — deprive it " of its soul, it may still retain a strong arm , but from that " moment ceases to be a nation — of what avail the exer lions " of lords and commons if unsupported by the soul and the " exertions of the people? — the Dungannon meeting bad " spoken this language with the calm and steady voice of an " injured country — that meeting had been considered as "an alarming measure, because it was unprecedented — " but it was an original transaction, and all original trans- " actions must be unprecedented ; — the attainment of Magna " Charta had no precedent , it was a great original trans- " action ,' not obtained by votes in parliament, but by Barons " in the field — to that great original transaction England " owes her liberlv — and to the great original transaction " at Dungannon, Ireland will he indebted for hers — the "Irish Volunteers, had associated to support the laws and " the constitution — the usurpations of England have vio- OF THE IRISH NATION. if>5 " laled both, and Ireland has therefore armed to defend the " principles of the British constitution against the viola- " tions of the British government. — Let other nations " basely suppose that people were made for governments , " Ireland has declared that governments were made for the " people — and even crowns, those great luminaries whose " brightness they all reflect , can receive their cheering fire " only from the pure flame of a free constitution. — England " has the plea of necessity for acknowledging the independence " of America — for admitting Irish independence she has the " plea of justice 5 — America has shed much English blood, " and America is to be free: — ■ Ireland has shed her own " blood for England , and is Ireland to remain in fetters ? — " is Ireland to be the only nation whose liberty England will " not acknowledge , and whose affections she cannot subdue ? w we have received the civic crown from our people, and shall " we like slaves lay it down at the feet of British supremacv ?" Proceeding in the same glow of language and of reasoning, and amidst an universal cry of approbation , Mr. Grattan went fully into a detail of Irish rights and grievances , and con- cluded his statement by moving, as an amendment to Mr. Pon- sonby's motion — " That an humble address be presented to " his Majesty, to return his Majesty the thanks of this house " for his most gracious message to this house , delivered by " his Grace the Lord Lieutenant. " To assure his Majesty of our unshaken attachment to his " Majesty's person and government, and of our lively sense " of his paternal care in thus taking the lead to administer " content to his Majesty's subjects of Ireland. " That thus encouraged by his royal interposition , we " shall beg leave , with all duty and submission , to lay before " his Majesty the cause of all our discontents and jealousies; " to assure his Majesty that his subjects of Ireland are a free " people — that the crown of Ireland is an imperial crown — " inseparably connected with the crown of Great Britain, on i56 RISE AND FALL " which connexion the interests and happiness of bolh nations " essentially depend — hul that the kingdom of Ireland is a " distinct kingdom , with a parliament of her own the sole " legislature thereof — that there is no body of men com- " pelent to make laws to bind the nation hul the King, Lords tk and Commons of Ireland — nor any parliament which hath " anv authority or power of any sort whatever in this coun- " try, save only the parliament of Ireland — to assure his " Majesty that we humbly conceive that in this right the " very essence of our liberty exists — a right which we on " the part of all the people of Ireland do claim as their birlh- " right, AND WHICH WE CANNOT YIELD BUT WITH OUR LIVES. The effect of this speech, and the concluding amendment , was instantaneous and decisive — a legislative declaration of independence at once placed the rights and determinations of Ireland on a fooling too high to he relinquished without an exterminating contest — the circumstances of bolh nations were imperative — Ireland was committed and must persist, and Great Britain bad lavished in America her powers of re- sistance. — That haughty government, which in all the ar- rogance of superior force had for so many centuries lorded over the natural rights and scoffed at the groans of her sister country, at length reached the highest climax of oppression and intolerance — and was necessitated to acknowledge the wrongs and the virtues of that people , and peaceably capitu- late to a nation which, by honest means, it might at any time have conciliated — the whole house in a moment caught the patriotic flame — which seemed to issue from every bench of the entire assembly. ' ■ The author of this work then a student in the university of Dublin , was present at this important scene as a spectator, and the impression il made ou his youtliful mind, years have not been able in an] degree •<> efface — and he is therefore enabled t'> delineate the circumstances attending that important event whh more than ordinary accuracy. In truth time lias not left manv contemporaries to tell the Btory. OF THE IRISH NATION. ,5 7 III. Mr. Grattan had selected, to second and support his declaration , a person who gave it as much influence as character and independence could possihly communicate-, well aware of the great importance which was attributed to the accession of the landed interest in parliamentary measures, he judiciously selected Mr. Brownlow, member for the county of Armagh , as one of the first of the country gentlemen in point of wealth and reputation. No man could be better adapted to obtain the concurrence Mr. Br of the landed interest than Mr. Brownlow — his own stake in low the country was too great to be risqued on giddy speculations — his interests were entirely identified with those of the country, — and having no courtly connexions to detract from his independence, or aristocratic taints to trifle with his purity — every thing he said , and every measure he supported , carried a certain portion of influence amongst the country gentlemen — and they often followed his example solely because they could not suspect its honesty. The great body of the landed proprietors in parliament, though intrinsically honest, were simple, prejudiced, refractory and gregarious — the government , on ordinary occasions found it not difficult to delude or disunite them : — • and even on this day, without such a leader as Mr. Brownlow, the entire unanimity of their opinion or their conduct could by no means be depended on. After Mr. Grattan had concluded, Mr. Brownlow instantly rose — a general symptom of approbation ran through the house at perceiving so weighty an auxiliary to so decisive a declaration — his example gave countenance to many, and confidence to all — his speech was short , but it was decided , and expressed in such terms as at once determined the country gentlemen to adopt the measure in its fullest extent without further delay, and to pledge their lives and fortunes to the support and establishment of Irish independence 5 — he said . " as he had the honour to second the mover in adversity, he i58 RISE AND FALL " could not avoid maintaining the same honour at a moment " of triumph — he had long seen that things must come to " this — llic people had learned their rights , and they would " have them — an end has been proclaimed to temporising " expedients — to artful delay, and to political junctions — the " people have demanded their rights, and the Irish parlia- " merit will support them with their lives and fortunes — he " would leave the other side of the house to discuss the sub- " ject, and if they were anxious to alone for their past con- " duct , he would not check the ardor of their patriotism — " which, after being so long restrained, seemed ready to " burst forth, and he should rejoice in the explosion. — As "to the declaration of rights , the Honourable Gentleman " would have the eternal gratification of having reared this " infant child — his (Mr. Brownlow's) onlv merit would be, "that, though he could not maintain it with ability, his " utmost zeal should be exerted to support it " On the conclusion of Mr. Brownlow's speech, another short pause ensued — but it was not a pause of doubt — the measure was obviously decided — the victory was complete' — nothing remained in suspense but through whom , and by what species of declaration , the government could submit to so strong a measure — some of the officers of the crown had been the servants of the last administration , and the short period from the arrival of the Duke of Portland had given no time to his cabinet for consideration or concert — the dynasty of diplo- matic evasion had ceased to reign — and for the first lime in the annals of British history, ihe officers and ministers of go- vernment appeared to be let loose upon the parliament , to recant their principles and capitulate for their characters: — the first they performed , the latter thev failed in. — Men ninv pily the feelings of a vanquished enemy, but they can never securely trust to his compulsory repentance, and they who had expended every day of their political life in upholding the principle of British supremacy , could hardly expect to receive OF THE IRISH NATION. i5g more confidence from the nation than thai which belongs to the character of defeated apostates. IV. Mr. George Ponsonby, on the part of the Lord Lieule- Mr. George nanl, submitted with as good a grace as the circumstances OUSOIJ '> would admit of , to a proceeding which it was impossible could be pleasing to any English ministry — Mr. Ponsonby had been generally in opposition since the time of his father's disagreement with Lord Townsend , and his family being entirely attached to the Whig interests of England , the change of ministry naturally brought to the Marquis of Rockingham's administration and aid, the persons who had been so long in opposition to his predecessor. — Mr. Ponsonby's family, of course , connected itself in Ireland with the Duke of Portland, and it was expected that he would have been placed high in confidence under his Grace's administration. Blending an aristocratic mind with patriotic feelings , and connected w ilh a Viceroy who could himself hardly guess the road he might have to travel, Mr. Ponsonby could not at such a moment be expected to play the full game of popular expec- tation — extensive and high family connexions , whatever party they espouse in public transactions, ever communicate some lints of their own colouring , and impose some portion of voluntary restraint upon the free agency of public cha- racters — and had Mr. Ponsonby been an isolated man he would have been a more distinguished personage — a nation may sometimes look with confidence to individuals, but ihey are a credulous people who look with confidence to party — individuals may be honest — but gregarious integrity would be a phenomenon in politics. — It is the collisions of party, not their visionary virtue , that is advantageous to a people who frequently acquire their rights not through the political purity, but through the rancourous recrimination of ambi- tious factions. • On this occasion, howcver,*Mr. Ponsonby's steady, judi- i6o RISK AND FALL i ious , and plausible address, exactly corresponded with the exigencies of the Viceroy — and gave a tinge of generous concession to his Grace's accedence , which the volatile grati- tude of the Irish nation for a moment mistook for genuine sincerity. — Mr. Ponsonby sought to be considered at the same moment as faithful to his country and faithful to its go- vernment — a union which the bad policy of England had taught the Irish people to consider as incompatible ; — his manner and his speech , however, had the effect intended — his fair and discreet reputation gave great weight to so grati- fying a declaration , and no impression could be more favour- able to the Duke of Portland than that which he derived from the short conciliating observations of Mr. Ponsonby — he stated, " that he most willingly consented to the proposed " amendment, and would answer that the noble Lord who " presided in the government of Ireland, wished to do every " thing in his power for the satisfaction of the nation , and he " knew that the noble Duke would not lose one moment in " forwarding this remonstrance of parliament to the Throne, " and he would use his utmost influence in obtaining the " rights of Ireland, an object on which he had fixed his " heart. " ' This declaration was received with the loudest cheers by a great majority of the house, but there existed men whose wise scepticism still retained their doubts of his Excellency's unso- phisticated sincerity — they reflected justly , that the irresi- stible position of Ireland alone had at length induced the Bri- tish government to this magnanimous declaration — past 1 Mr. Ponsonby soon after this period acquired the highest legal estima- tion , and in public affairs connected himself with Mr. Grattan, which connexion has continued without interruption. Mr. Ponsonby was one of the leading and distinguished opponents of Lord Castlereagh , on the questio#of the Irish Union , and always carried a great and just weight in the Irish Parliament. — OF TTTR IRISH NATION. 161 events had indisputably decided , that whether cabinets of Whigs or cabinets of Tories had ruled the British councils, the system of its government had remained invariably adverse to the rights of Ireland ; — high British supremacy had been the principle and the practice of all its administrations and of all its princes — and amidst all the changes and revolutions of England, Ireland had never yet experienced one friendly ministry. V. On this subject Mr. Flood (one of the ablest men that Mr. Flood. Ireland ever produced) was this night silent — he saw fur- ther, and thought deeper than any of his contemporaries — he knew the world , and of course was sceptical — as a popular orator, he was inferior to Mr. Grattan , but as a deliberate se- nator, he was vastly his superior — he knew thai all precedent of British cabinets gave just reason to attribute this sudden transition of English policy, not to the feelings of her libera- lity, but to the extent of her embarrassments 5 and that the Duke of Portland's having " set his heart" upon obtaining the rights of Ireland , was only giving the gloss of voluntary merit to a concession which was in fact a matter of absolute necessity, and without which his Grace foresaw that all Bri- tish authority in Ireland would be extinguished for ever — Mr. Flood's confidence, therefore, never was implicit. — Mr. Grattan , on the contrary, was deceived by his own zeal , and duped by hjs own honesty, and his friend Lord Charle- mont was too courtly a nobleman to suspect his Grace of such consummate insincerity ' — But Mr. Flood even at that mo- ment did not stand alone in this ungracious incredulity — and 1 The following Resolutions passed immediately before the meeting of parliament, and being followed by the same, or still stronger, from every armed association in Ireland ( at that period nearly one hundred thousand disciplined men) taught the Duke of Portland the total impracticability of postponing the claims of Ireland one hour. The iirst of these Resolutions were those of the Irish bar i JkmIv al that time of the greatest weight in point of latent , respectability, and iBi RISE AND FALL ensuing events have fully confirmed the wisdom of his seep- lieism. ' This speech of IMr. Ponsonby's is the more remarkable patriotism — it gave the tone to the Resolutions of the whole Irish nation. — Those Resolutions were unanimously adopted, some in stronger terms, In ill the armed associations. — LAWYER'S CORPS. ■ft a full Meeting of the Lawyer's Corps, the 28th February, 1782, pursuant to notice , Colonel EDWARD WESTRY in the Chair : Resolved , Thai the Members of the House of Commons are the repre- sentatives of, and derive their power solely from , the people ; and that a denial of this position by them would be to abdicate the representation. Resolved unanimously, That the people of this country are now called upon to declare that the King , Lords and Commons of Ireland are the only power competenl to make laws to hind this kingdom. Resolved unanimously, That we do expect such declaration of right from our representatives, and that we will support them with our lives and fortunes in whatever measures may be necessary to render such declaration an effectual security. Resolved, That the above Resolutions be printed. Signed by order , SAMUEL ADAMS , Secretary. At a Meeting of the Corps of Dublin Volunteers , Friday, \st March , 1782, His Grace the DUKE OF LEINSTER in the Chair : Resolved, That the King, Lords and Commons of Ireland only are competent to make laws to bind the subjects of this realm, and that we will not obey or give operation to rmjlaws, save only those enacted by the King, Lords ami Commons of Ireland, whose rights and privileges , jointly and severally, we arc determined to support with our Ikes and fortunes. Signed by order, JOHN WILLIAMS, Secretary. 1 The doubts of Mr. blood, and the intentions of the Irish Volunteers, seem i<> he ItilU exemplified in the following Resolutions, passed TUB OF THE IRISH NATION. i63 because it was reserved for the same Mr. Ponsonhy, seventeen years afterwards , to expose , in the clearest and most able language, this very duplicity of the same Duke of Portland; and the open avowal of his Grace in seventeen hundred and ninety-nine , that he had " never" considered that this con- cession of England , in seventeen hundred and eighty-two , should he a '•''final " adjustment between the two nations, leaves no room to doubt his Grace's mental reservation , and the existence of a diplomatic sophistry which the Irish par- liament , gulled by their own credulity, and enveloped in a very day after this celebrated declaration of rights had passed in parliament. At a Meeting of the delegates from oxv. hundred and thirty-nine Corps of tlte Volunteers of the Province of Leinsier, at Dublin , lytli April, 1782 , Colonel HENRY FLOOD in the Chair : Resolved unanimously, That we feel ourselves called upon to declare our satisfaction in the unanimous sense of the House of Commons expressed in favour of the rights of Ireland, in their address to the King yesterday, as amended by Colonel Grattan , and that we will support them therein with our lives and fortunes. Resolved unanimously, That the thanks of this Meeting be given to Colonel Grattan , for his extraordinary exertions and perseverance in asserting the rights of Ireland. Resolved unanimously , That the following thirteen Commanders of Corps be appointed a Standing Committee of Delegates from this province , to correspond and commune with all the other provincial Committees or Delegates of Ireland , to wit : Earl of GRANARD , Colonel PARNELL , Earl of ALDBOROUGH , Captain R. NEVILLE , Sir W. PARSONS , Captain GORGE , Colonel GRATTAN , Colonel BURTON, Colonel TALBOT , Colonel M . LYONS , Lieut.-Colonel LEE , Captain SMYTH. Colonel FLOOD, Resolved unanimously, that an officer's guard from each Corps of Volunteers in the city and county of Dublin be mounted at Lor extremely illustrative of their temper and firmness, and made a very deep impression on the public mind. " My Lords and Gentlemen, "We thank you for your noble and spirited, though hitherto ineffectual , efforts in defence of the great constitutional rights of your country. — Co on — go on — the almost unanimous voice of your country is witli you — and in a free country the voice of the people must prevail. — We know our duty to our Sovereign, and are loyal. — We know our duty to ourselves, and are resohed to be free. — We seek for our rights, and no more than our rights— and in so just a pursuit we should doubt the being of a Providence, if wc doubled of success. " 1 68 RISK AND FALL tempting those insidious measures which soon afterwards characterized anew the disposition of the British cabinet. The parliament , and the people , when the paroxysm of their joy had subsided, waited with some solicitude for the King's reply to the Declaration of their Independence , and a general suspension of public business took place until its arrival. — It was, however, the first pause of confidence and tranquillity that Ireland had experienced since her connexion with Great Britain ; — little could she then foresee that her new prosperity was but the precursor of future evils and of scenes as cruel and as destructive as any she had ever before experienced. — The seeds of the Irish Union were sown by the very same event which had procured her independence — so eariy as seventeen hundred and eighty-four that independ- ence was insidiously assailed by a despotic minister under colour of a commercial tariff — in seventeen hundred and eighty-nine events connected with the malady of the Monarch and the firm adherence of the Irish parliaments to the consti- tutional rights of the Heir Apparent determined the same minister in the fatal project of extinguishing the Irish legisla- ture — and in seventeen hundred and ninety-eight a rebellion artificially permitted, to terrify the country — and followed by acts and scenes of unparalleled corruption — for a moment warped away the minds of men from the exercise of common reason, and gave power and pretence to the British cabinet to effect that extinguishment at a moment of national derange- ment. CHAP. X. Design of I« Thk foundation of Irish independence had now been the British Go. j a jj jj lne - ril Q r t j ic p ar iifc men t an d the unanimity of the vernment to J » J recall the in- people ; and the stately structure of Irish liberty seemed likeh Ireland! 110 lo r i sc with solidity and magnificence. The labourers wen numerous and indefatigable ^ and nothing was to be dreaded OF THE IRISH NATION. i<6g but contrariety in the plans, or jealousy among the architects : — dangers which are proved, by the sequel of her history, to be the true and substantial cause of Ireland's annexation. It is demonstrated by facts , beyond the power of refutation , that from the moment the British Ministry found it impera- tively necessary to submit to this declaration of Irish indepen- dence , no consideration was paramount in their councils to the desire of counteracting it. In furtherance of that object, from the period of the Duke of Portland's administration to that of Lord Cornwall is, the old system of dividing the Irish against each other, and profiting by their dissensions, was artfully pursued by the English Ministry, to re-establish their own supremacv, and from that moment they resolved to achieve, at any risk or price, that disastrous measure, which, at one blow, has prostrated the pride, the power, and the legislature of Ireland, and reduced her from the rank of a nation to the level of a department. But the people had now no leisure for suspicious forethought , or mature reflection 5 and the interval between the declaration of independence , and the reply of His Majesty to that declaration, though a period of deep anxiety, neither awakened serious doubts, nor produced implicit confidence. An adjournment for three weeks was now proposed in the Commons , to give time for the arrival of His Majesty's Answer to their Address and Declaration. This motion , though it gave rise to a conversation rather than a debate , produced one of the most singular political phenomenons that had ever appeared in the history of any nation. Mr. John Scott, then Attorney -General , afterwards singuiarcou- Lord Clonmell, whose despotic conduct had previously given ^ ru ° f ^ rise to many and severe animadversions, took advantage ofucrai. this occasion to recant his former and favourite political principle , that " might constitutes right. " He now declared his firm and unqualified adherence to the claims of Ireland , in terms which , a week before , be would have prosecuted 170 RISE AND FALL for as a seditious libel • and tendered his large fortune towards a general fund , to enforce from Great Britain the rights of his country , if force should become necessary. His speech. He said, that 44 he now felt it indispensable for him to 44 throw off all equivocal and mysterious silence, and declared, " as his unchangeable opinion , that Great Britain never had W any right whatever to bind his country ; and that any acts ' ' she had ever done for that purpose were decided usurpations. 1,4 That if the tenure of his office of Attorney-General de- *' pended upon the maintenance of doctrines injurious to the 14 rights and independence of Ireland, it was an infamous '.* tenure-, and if the Parliament of Great Britain were detcr- 44 mined to lord it over Ireland, he was resolved not to be ',' their villain in executing their tyranny '. That if matters •• should proceed to the extremity to which he feared they 44 were verging , he should not be an insignificant subscriber M to the fund for defending their common rights. That a life 44 of much labour, together with the blessing of Providence , "• and what is commonly called good luck, had given him a 44 landed property of 5, 000/. per year, and an office of great 44 emolument, — all which should certainly be devoted to the ' It is a very curious fact, that Mr. Attorney-General Scott's declaration ol resisting the usurpation of England in ij8a , was repeated in 1800, l>\ two other successive Attorney -Generals of Ireland , though under different circumstances. Mr. William Sauriu , in his place in Parliament, declared tliat lie considered the Irish Representatives incompetent to enact a legislat- ive union; and tliat any statutes, made hy a Parliament SO constituted , would not he constitutionally hinding on the Irish people. That gentleman , some time after, became Attorney-General of Ireland himself , and nevei afterwards repeated his scepticism. Mr. Plunkett made the same declaration, hut in rather stronger terms, as he vouched for his son as well as himself; and soon after became Attorney-General. Mr. Forster, and numerous able lawyers , some of them junior judges, and many country magistrates, united in those sentiments. No Member of the Irish Parliament opposed the Union more strenuously than the Author of this Work, anil he united with those gentlemen in llicir opinion as to the incompetence of the Irish Parliament. OF THE IRISH NATION. 171 " service of his country. Thai it would he disgraceful, for " the paltry emoluments of an office , to stand watching the " vibrations of the balance , when he had determined to " throw his life and his fortune into the scale. — I know, " concluded the Attorney-General , f ' that the public mind is " on fire : I know that the determination of the people is to " be free; and I adopt their determination. " A speech of so strong and stormy a nature, never having its powerful before been uttered by any Minister or Law Officer of the effect - British Empire, nor even by any Member of the Irish Par- liament , created a sensation which it is scarcely possible to describe. ' One sentence conveyed a volume of information. " If matters proceed to the extremities to which I fear they '? are verging " — was a direct declaration of mistrust in the Government he served : and such a speech , made in Par- liament by the first confidential executive Law Officer of the Crown , possessed a character of mystery and great importance. The dread of an insurrection in Ireland was thus , in direct Palpable terms, announced by the King's Attorney-General 5 and by r^j r ^ > t i on an his intrepid determination to risk his life and fortune to sup- port its objects, he afforded good reason to apprehend that His Majesty's reply was not likely to be such as would cultivate tranquillity, and left no doubt that the Attorney-General foreboded an unwise reluctance in the British Cabinet , to a measure so vital to the peace , perhaps to the integrity, of the British Empire. This conduct of Mr. Scott , coupled with the previous secession of Mr. Fitzgibbon , must be looked on as ' The author was present at all these important Debates. On Mr. Scott's recantation , the sensation of the House was so striking and singular, that he can never recollect it without emotion. For a moment, there was a profound silence — gradually, the murmur of astonishment was heard , spreading from bench to bench — till one loud and general cry of ap- probation burst from every quarter of the House, and, in rapid and continued plaudits, evinced the enthusiasm of that era, and the importance of that secession. 17a 1USE AND FALL among the most extraordinary occurrences of these , or any other limes in Ireland. In the history of Nations and of Parliaments, there is not another instance of two such men , publicly professing and practising the principles of arbitrary power, being so humbled , and reduced to the abject condescension of feigning a public virtue they had theretofore but ridiculed, and assuming a fictitious patriotism , the result , at best , of their fears or of their policy. Effect on However, be the motive what it might , that most unpre- cedented conduct taught the British Government that they could no longer trifle with Ireland. Their power was then extinct 5 and no course remained but that of instantly relin- quishing their long-vaunted supremacy, and surrendering at discretion to the just demands of a determined and potent people : and the splendid , though temporary triumph achieved by Ireland , affords a glorious precedent for oppressed nations, and an instructive lesson for arrogant usurpation. Duke of II. Immediately on this unexpected turn, the Duke of niicity" " Portland sent off two despatches to England ; one to the Cabinet as a public document , and the other, a private and confidential note to Mr. Fox. The latter document explained his reasons for the necessity he felt of acceding , without any appearance of reluctance , to any demands which might at that moment be made by the Irish Parliament ^ but intimated , " that so strong a difference of opinion appeared to exist " between some gentlemen of weight , that arrangements " more favourable to England might possibly be effected Li through their controversies , although he could not venture " to propose such , were they perfectly unanimous. lie stated, " in conclusion , that he would omit no opportunity of " cultivating his connexion with the Earl of Charlemont , " who appeared entirely disposed to place confidence in his " administration., and to give a proper tone to tin; armed " bodies over whom he bad the most considerable influence. OF THE IRISH NATION. I7 3 So skilfully did lie act upon these suggestions, that he Attains an inveigled the good hut feeble Earl Charlcmont entirely into "X' u Earl his trammels; and as long as his Grace remained in the Irish Chariemom. Government, he not only much influenced that nobleman, but kept him at arm's length from some of the ablest statesmen of the country, without their perceiving the insidious power I hat caused the separation. The other Ministers adopted the same principles, and they did not despair , by plausible conduct , according to the Duke of Portland's policy, to temporize with all parties , — play off the people and the' Parliament imperceptibly against each other*, and, by gradually diminishing their mutual confidence, bring both to a dependence upon the good faith of the British Ministry , and so indispose the Irish Parlia- ment from insisting upon any measures which might humble the pride , or alarm the interests , of the British nation. III. The British Cabinet had certainly great embarrass- Embarrass- ment to encounter. They had the difficult step to take of ™^[ is ,° f £„! gratifying the claims of Ireland, without affecting the egotism kinet. of Great Britain. But , the relative interests of the two coun- tries being in many points fundamentally repugnant , the dilemma of Ministers was extremely embarrassing. It was doubly increased by a declaration of rights , and a positive demand , which anticipated the credit of a spontaneous ge- nerosity — an advantage which was now lost to them for ever. Their voluntary favours would now be changed to compulsory grants , the extent of which they could neither foresee nor control. While the British Cabinet and the Irish Viceroy actively corresponded , the Irish nation was not idle. No relaxation was permitted in the warlike preparations of the Volunteer army. Reviews and discipline were continued with uninter- mitting ardour and emulation. Their artillery was daily exer- The Voiuu- ciscd in the Phoenix Park , near Dublin. Camp equipage was f or actual^er- preparing for actual service 5 and on the day to which the v!ee 1 7 4 RISE AND FALL Parliament adjourned , the whole of the volunteer force o I the metropolis was under arms , and fully prepared for the alternative (which the decision of His Majesty's Cahinel , through the speech of its Viceroy , might impose upon the pmple) either to return to their homes for the peaceful en- joyment of their rights, or instantly to take the field. Musters had been ordered , to ascertain the probable numbers of volunteers ready for immediate and active service. The returns had increased from the former census to about 1^4,000 officers and soldiers, of whom upwards of 100,000 effectives , well armed and disciplined , and owning no supe- riors but God and their country , would , on the first sound of an hostile trumpet , have rushed with enthusiasm to the standards of independence. The volunteer regiments and corps were commanded by gentlemen of rank, and conside- ration in the country , and disciplined by retired officers of the British army 5 the Serjeants being chiefly veteran sol- diers , who had fought in the American campaigns, and learned, from their own defeats, the powers of a people imbecility determined to obtain their freedom. The whole disposable of England, military force of Great Britain was at that period inadequate to combat one week with the Volunteers of Ireland , com- posing an army which could be increased , at a call , by a million of enthusiasts-, and which, in case a contest had aris- en , would have also been liberally recruited by tbe desertion of the Irish soldiers from the British army — and nearly one third of that army was composed of Irishmen. The British Navy, too , was then also manned by what were generally de- nominated British tars ' ; but a large proportion of whom were in fact sailors of Irish birth and Irish feelings , ready ' The mutiny at the Nore, in the channel fleet , confirms this observation. Had the mutineers at that time chosen to carry the British ships into an Irish port, no power could have prevented them; and had there been a strong insurrection in Ireland, it is more than probable they would have delivered one half of die English fleet into the hands of their countrymen. OF THE IRISH NATION. i 7 5 to shod their blood in the service of Great Britain whilst she remained the friend of Ireland , hut as ready to seize and to steer the British navy into Irish ports , if she declared against their country , and thus it ever will be. The safety of England was then clearly in the hands of Ire- land, and one hostile step, at that perilous crisis of the two nations, must have terminated their unity, and of course the power of the British Empire. But the Cabinet at length con- sidered that resistance to the just demands of Ireland would he unavailing; and that she was then too powerful for Eng- land to hazard an insurrection , which , if once excited , it would have been impossible to suppress. Too cautious to risk a danger so imminent , they yielded to existing circumstances , and determined to concede : a system of conduct, which is called perfidy in private life and policy by Governments, has been very generally and very suc- cessfully resorted to in important political dilemmas, and they adopted the low and cunning course of yielding with affected candour, and counteracting with deep duplicity. IV. The Cabinet reflected , also , that times and circum- insidious stances cannot always remain unchanged , and that the poli- EnefCk^G 1 ! lical vicissitudes to which every State is subject frequently veruuj ent. enable conceding powers to re-assume usurpation ; and , when restored to strength and vigour, again to forget the law of nations and of justice, and explain away or deny the spirit of those engagements which their feebleness had contracted. The events which have since occurred in Ireland, and the conduct and equivocation of the British Ministers in 1799 and 1800, proved to the world , that such were the premeditated and ulterior views of the British Cabinet, in 1782 ; and that the Duke of Portland was well aware of its objects , and freely lent himself to their perpetration. Mr. Fox never had any especial predilection for Ireland. He Mr. Fox. was ignorant equally of her rights , ' and her localities ; and ' See Mr. Fox's Letter lo Earl Chailemont, April 1782. — Hardy's Life of Charlemont. i 7 6 RISE AND FALL he considered her only as the segment of a great circle, which he laboured to encompass. He wielded the grievances of Ireland only as a weapon of offence against the ministry, lie was a great man , with a popular ambition , and assumed the hereditary title of Whig , when its purest principles had Mr. Pitt, nearly hecome obsolete. Mr. Pitt had in view the very same object — to rule; and they only differed in the means of effecting it. The one wished to rise upon the shoulders of the people 5 the other, to be elevated upon those of the aristo- cracy. But the ambition of both was to govern the Empire. Their rivalry was of parly, and their struggle was for power ; but the internal prosperity of Ireland , as a distinct abstract consideration , gave not one hour's solicitude to either the one or the other of those celebrated Ministers , though its resources were in part an object to both. The Duke of Portland was not of sufficient talent or weight to lead the Ministry; but he had enough of both to be an effi- cient accessary. A man of plain, fair, undistinguished repu- tation , can effect important acts of duplicity , with less sus- picion and more facility than more prominent and energetic personages •, and when the moment of developcment arrives , he can plead the honesty of his character , and the error of his judgment : or, at the worst, he may gain a great point, and can only lose a narrow reputation. These observations maybe interesting, as decidedly applic- able to the administration of the duke of Portland. His (irace's conduct and speeches on the question of the Union , in 1800, leave no doubt that the whole tenour of his conduct , in 1782, must have been a premeditated tissue of dissimu- lation. important V. The Irish House met , pursuant to the adjournment , Parliament "' on 1 ' 1C 2 7 ln ^Y 1782, — a ''''Y teeming with importance to the fate of Ireland and the character of Great Britain. It is not easy to imagine the solicitude and impatience with which the people awaited the decision of Great Britain on ils claims. OF THE IRISH NATION. i 77 On the morning of that memorable clay, the Volunteers TheVolun- were under arms at an early hour. Their artillery, under the teei \ "'" .' ' meats occupy orders of James Napper Tandy , was stationed on the quays, the avenues and commanded all the bridges leading from the Military Bar- f commons. racks to the House of Parliament. The other corps, horse and foot, were posted at different stations of communication in the city; while some regular troops, formed in treble files , lined the streets for the passage of the Lord Lieutenant. But, though neither party knew what would be the result of that day's proceedings , nor whether war or peace would be pro- claimed by the British Ministry, not a symptom of hostile feeling appeared on any side. The Volunteers and the regular troops saluted each other as they passed , and reciprocally shewed every mark of military courtesy. The strictest order prevailed; and the whole, by a combination most interesting and extraordinary, formed a scene to which history affords no parallel. The Duke of Portland had not a very dignified demeanour, Designs of but, unfortunately, everybody then considered him as a man the Duke of c l- • l • . n , . J . Portland. or political integrity. His time, during the recess, had been skilfully employed , to gain upon the country gentlemen by flattering attention and courtly blandishment. His Grace had learned , from Earl Charlemont , the cha- racter of Mr. Grattan , before he saw him. He was fully ap- prised of his spirit and patriotism, and knew well that nei- ther could be conquered ; but he conceived that by operating on the moderation and generous confidence of that virtuous Irishman , he might eventually divide the parliament ; chill the general enthusiasm of the people, and effect the objects of the British Government; and, before the meeting of Par- liament , his Grace had made great progress in exciting shades of difference in the opinions of those who should have been unanimous. A premature gratitude , and credulous con- fidence, had already prepared the House for his reception ; and he delivered the speech from the Throne , with a well- Portland's 178 RISE AM) I ALL affected honesty of emphasis, and an imposing appearance of individual gratification. The \ ieeroy's speech gave rise to a debate of the very highest importance, not onlv as affecting the interests and fee- lings of that day, but as influencing the subsequent events and destiny of the Irish nation. n.ike of " My Lords and Gentlemen. — It gives me the utmost sa- " tisfaction , that the first time I have occasion to address "' you, I find myself enabled, by the magnanimilv of the King, w ' and the wisdom of the Parliament of. Great Britain, to as- " sure vou that immediate attention has been paid to your " representations, and that the British Legislature have con- u curred in a resolution to remove the causes of your discon- " tents and jealousies , and are united in a desire to gratify " every wish expressed in your late Addresses to the • u Throne. " If any thing could add to the pleasure I feel in giving you " those assurances, it is that I can accompany them with my " congratulations on the important and decisive victory gain- " ed by the fleets of His Majesty over those of the common " enemy in the West Indies , and on the signal advantage " obtained by His Majesty's arms in the Island of Ceylon, li and on I he Coast of Coromandel. " By the papers which , in obedience to His Majesty's com- " mands, I have directed to be laid before you, you will receive " the most convincing testimonv of the cordial reception " which your representations have met with from the Legisla- " ture of Great Britain : but His Majesty, whose first and most " anxious wish is to exercise His Royal Prerogative in such " a manner as may be most conducive to tin- welfare of His " faithful subjects, has further given it me in command to '■■ assure you of His gracious disposition lo give His Royal " Assent to Acts lo prevent the suppression of Bills in the • Privy Council of ibis Kingdom , and the alteration of them ■'• anv Where; and to limit the duration of the Art for the OF THE IRISH NATION. i 7 g '.' better Regulation and Accommodation of His Majesty's " forces in this Kingdom , to the term of two years. 11 These benevolent intentions of His Majesty, and the wil- " lingness of His Parliament of Great Britain to second his " gracious purposes, are unaccompanied by any stipulation " or condition whatever. • " The good faith, the generosity, an J the honour of this " nation , afford them the surest pledge or a corresponding " disposition , on your part , to promote and perpetuate the " harmony, the stability, and the glory of the Empire. " On my own part, I entertain not the least doubt, but " that the same spirit which urged you to share the freedom " of Great Britain, will confirm you in your determination " to share her fate also, standing and falling with the British " Empire. " Mr. Grattan immediately rose. His unsuspecting and grate- Mr.Grattau, Jul mind, though congenial to the honest liberality of a pa- triot , was quite too conceding and inexperienced to meet the ways and wiles of deceptious statesmen. Misled by the appar- ent sincerity of that speech, and the plain and plausible de- meanour of the Duke of Portland , he lost sight of every thing but confidence and gratitude , and left to deeper politicians to discover the snare that lay concealed amidst the soothing and honourable language of the Viceroy. He said , — "That as Great Britain had given up ever^ " claim to authority over Ireland, be had not the least idea " that she should be also bound to make any declaration that " she had formerly usurped that power. This would be a foo- " lish caution , a dishonourable condition. ' The nation that " insists upon the humiliation of another, is a foolish nation - This was a juvenile syllogism , where there were neither premises urn conclusion to support the argument. Credulity and wisdom are nearly incompatible. Ireland was a credulous nation ; ergo — she could not have been a wise one. Had Ireland been more sceptical in 1782 , she would have been less unfortunate in 1 8<<< • .So RISK AND FAT.T. " and Ireland is not a foolish nation. 1 move you , to assure " His Majesty of our unfeigned affection to His Royal Person " and Government; that we feel, most sensibly, the atten- " tion our representations have received from the magnani- " mitv of His Majesty , and the wisdom of the Parliament of " Great Britain ; 4o assure His Majesty , that we conceive the " resolution for an unqualified, unconditional repeal of the " 6th George the First to he a measure of consummate wisdom " and justice , suitable to the dignity and eminence of both "Nations, exalting the character of both, and furnishing "a perpetual pledge of mutual amity; to assure His Ma- jesty, that we are sensibly affected by his virtuous de- " termination to accede to the wishes of His faithful suh- " jects, and to exercise His Royal prerogative in the man- " ner most conducive to their welfare. That, gratified in " those particulars, we do assure His Majesty, that no con- " sjtitutional question between the two nations will any Ion.' " ger exist, to interrupt their harmony; and that Great Bri- " tain , as she approved of our firmness, may rely on our " affection ; and that we remember, and do repeat our dcter- " minalion , to stand or fall with the British Nation. " Mr. Brown- When Mr. Grattan concluded the Address, which was se- conded by Mr. Brownlow , a most animated and interesting , though desultory debate , immediately ensued; a debate too much connected with the subsequent transactions on the Union , not to be particulary noticed in this stage of the history. The Re- The Recorder of, and Member for, Dublin , Sir Samuel mnirr a,1<1 Rradstreet , a strong-minded, public-spirited man, an able Mr- AY a 1 si if? oppose Mr. lawyer, and independent Member of Parliament ; of a rough , (.rati.,.., a,1 c | ec | s i ve5 f irm deportment, was the first who ventured to insinuate bis dissent from the Address, and bis suspicions of the Duke's sincerity. He entirely objected to that sweeping clause of Mr. Gratlan's Address — "That all constitutional questions between the two countries were at an end. " He stated that many were not yet touched upon , — manv that t r oi ° J I J the Irish 1'ar- during this important discussion, than upon any former occa- lament, sion. A generous, ardent, credulous, unstatesmanlike sensi- bility, appeared to have seized upon the whole assembly; and even the natural quickness of perception and acuteness of intellect which the Members of that House displayed on ordi- nary and trivial subjects , seemed totally to have forsaken them during this memorable debate — of more vital im- 184 RISE AND FALL portance to the nation than any oilier that had ever taken place in the Irish Parliament. Country jj r pi )e Country Gentlemen of Ireland , at all times bad Gentlemen. J casuists , and worse lawyers , appeared on this occasion to close both their ears and eyes, and to resign, with one accord, all exercise of judgment and discrimination. The word " una- nimity " operated as a talisman amongst them , and si- lenced all objections. The yery important observations of Sir Samuel Bradstreet and of Mr. Walshe were hardly listened to with patience. Mr. Flood himself seemed to be overwhelmed and manacled : and those axioms and that reasoning which were ultimately acceded to and adopted even by the British Ministers themselves , were on this night considered as a species of treason against the purity of the British Government , and the sincerity of the Irish \icerov. JNo voice but that of congratulation , joy, and confidence, could make itself heard. No suspicions durst be suggested , — no murmurs durst be uttered. The scene was new to Ireland ; and exultation took precedence for a lime of both reason and reflection. Singular Beauchamp Bagenal , representative for Carlow County, so MnBaUnal soon as lne *l urr y °f mutual congratulations had a little sub- sided in the House , proposed a measure well adapted to the circumstances of that moment , and most happpily coincident with the sentiments of the people. How far it had been pre- meditated, or arose from the impulse of the moment no person acquainted with the character and eccentricities of Mr. Bage- nal could possibly determine. He was one of those persons, who, born to a large inherit- ance , and having no profession to interrupt their propensi- ties, generally made in those times the grand tour of Europe , as the finishing part of a gentleman's education. Mr. Bagenal followed the general course; and on that tour had made him- self very conspicuous. He had visited every capital of Europe, and had exhibited the native original character of the Irish OF THE IRISH NATION. 1*5 gentleman at every place he visited. In the splendour of his travelling establishment, he quite eclipsed the petty potent- ates with whom Germany was garnished. His person was fine — his manners open and generous — his spirit high — • and his liberality profuse. During his tour, he had performed a His Exploits, variety of feats which were emblazoned in Ireland , and en- deared him to his countrymen. He had fought a prince — jilted a princess — intoxicated the Doge of Venice — carried off a duchess from Madrid — scaled the walls of a convent in Italy — narrowly escaped the Inquisition at Lisbon — con- cluded his exploits by a celebrated fencing match at Paris ; and he returned to Ireland , with a sovereign contempt for all continental men and manners , and an inveterate antipa- thy to all despotic kings and arbitrary governments. Domesticated in his own mansion at Dunleckny — sur- Popularity. rounded by a numerous and devoted tenantry — and possessed of a great territory , Mr. Bagenal determined to spend the residue of his days on his native soil , according to the usages and customs of country gentlemen — and he was shortly after- wards returned a representative to Parliament for the county of Carlow , by universal acclamation. Though Mr. Bagenal did not take any active part in the general business of the Irish Parliament , he at least gave it a good example of public spirit and high-minded independence. His natural talents were far above mediocrity, but his singu- larities , in themselves extravagant , were increased by the in- temperance of those limes-, and an excellent capacity was neutralized by inordinate dissipation. Prodigally hospitable, irregular , extravagant , uncertain , vivacious ; the chace, the turf, the sod , and the bottle , divided a great portion of his intellects between them, and generally left, for the use of Parliament , only so much as he could spare from his other occupations. However , in supporting the independence and prosperity of Hb patriot- Ireland j he always stood in the foremost ranks. 1 86 RISE AND FALL Liberal and friendly, but obstinate and refractory, above all bis contemporaries, be bad a perfect indifference for tbe opinions of tbe world , when they at all differed from bis own ; and be never failed to perform whatever came uppermost in bis thoughts , witb tbe most perfect contempt as to tbe notions wbich migbt be formed eilber of bis rectitude or impropriety. Commanded He was one of the first country gentlemen who raised a teerCorps"" volunteer regiment in the county of Gar low. He commanded several military corps , and was one of the last volunteer co- lonels in Ireland who could be prevailed upon to discontinue tbe reviews of their regiments ; or to relinquish that noble , patriotic, ?nd unprecedented institution. However, be was, on this occasion , as politically short-sighted as he was nation- ally credulous. He could see nothing but sincerity in the \ icerov, honour in the British Cabinet , and an eternal cor- dialitv between the two nations ; and before the constitutional arrangement was well begun , he fancied it was completely concluded. His admiration of Mr. Graltan was unqualified and extravagant ; and it was with an honest zeal and pure sin- cerity be rose to propose a measure , at that period the most popular and gratifying to the Irish nation. Gives no- III. Having passed many eulogiums on Mr. Grattan's ser- tion to reward v 'ces to Ireland, he gave notice of an intended motion, "• lhaia Mr. Grattau. a Committee should be appointed , to consider and report wbal " sum the Irish Parliament should grant, to build a suitable " mansion and purchase an estate for their great deliverer. " In prefacing this notice , Mr. Bagenal , full of candour and credulity, used some expressions, so unfortunately anli-pro- phetic , as to render them worthy of marked observation, lie said, that Mr. Gratlan had saved the empire from an iron age, and unequivocally restored a golden one to his own country for ever. " By our affectionate alliance with Great AntUpropJie- " Britain, we shall not only be benefited OUT selves hut shall tic obMrra- tf scc a helmed sister revive from her misfortunes. This " great man has crowned tbe work for ever: under bis au- OF THE IRISH NATION. 187 " spices ihe throne of freedom is fixed on a basis so firm, and " which will always be so well supported by the influence the " people must acquire under his system, that , with the help " of God, there is no danger, even of Parliament itself ever " being able to shake it ; nor shall any Parliament be ever " again profanely styled omnipotent. " Mr. Grattan attempted to make some observations , but his voice was drowned in the general applause 5 and the House adjourned without further observations. IV. He alone now occupied the entire hearts of the people. Mr. Grat- They had no room for any other individual. Almost frantic !™' s ™J2£ with gratitude to their deliverer , they cried out , that the ity. doctrines of Molyneux had triumphed in the same place where they had before been consigned to infamy. But the day of those pure and lofty feelings has passed away. A broken- down constitution seldom recovers its pristine elasticity •, and that enthusiastic , proud , patriotic spirit which signalized the Irish nation in 1782 , driven to its tomb by misrule and by misfortune, can never rise again but on some congenial crisis. V. The British Ministry and Parliament now began to Hasty re- feel their own weakness. Their intolerance degenerated into declaratory* fear ; and responsibility beEran to stare them in the face. The act Gth • , Geo. III. loss of America had been got over by their predecessors without an impeachment 5 but that of Ireland would not have passed over with the same impunity. The British Cabinet had already signed the capitulation , and thought it impossible to carry it too soon into execution. Bills to enact the con- cessions demanded by Ireland were therefore prepared with an expedition nearly bordering on precipitancy. The 6th of George the First , declaratory of, and establishing the su- premacy of England , and the eternal dependence of Ireland on the Parliament and Cabinet of Great Britain , was now hastily repealed , without debate , or any qualification by the British Legislature. This repeal received the royal assent AuJ traui- i88 RISK AND FALL uitted by tbe and a copy was instantly transmitted to the Irish Viceroy, Viceroyto the , • 1 1 • 1 i •» - 1 Voiuuteers. antl communicated by circulars to the Volunteer commanders. CHAP. L1II. An Act , to repeal an Act made in the sixth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the First, intituled , An Act for the better securing the Dependency of the Kingdom of Ireland upon the Crown of Great Britain. Whereas, an Act was passed in the sixth year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the First , intituled: An Act for the better securing the Dependency of the Kingdom of Ireland upon the Crown of Great Britain ; May it please Your Most Excellent Majesty, that it may be enacted , and be it enacted, by the King's Most Excellent Majesty , by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Tem- poral, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same , that from and after the passing of this Act , the above - mentioned Act , and the several Matters and Things therein contained, shall be , and is , and are hereby repealed. Doctrine of Thus, the doctrine of Blackstone, that venerated Druid Blackstone declared un- of English jurisprudence, who by his dictum had tried to seal 10na ' the slavery of the Irish people, was surrendered as unconsti- tutional , and renounced by the very same Legislature that had enacted it. As England drooped, Ireland raised her head; and for a moment she was arrayed with all the exterior insignia of an independent nation. Mr. Ba g e- VI. On the 3oth of May, 1782, Mr. Bagenal resumed the cal, motion to , . „ , , " grant subject ol the reward to Mr. Graltan 5 and alter a short, but Mr 'Grattau° animaUHl s l ,ecch > BtoWj that " ioo, oo<»/. should be granted " by Parliament, to purchase an estate, and build a suitable " mansion, as the reward of gratitude by the Irish nation, " for his eminent services to his country. " jNo Member could directly oppose a measure so merited , so popular, and so honourable to the nation. ]No absolute murmur was heard; but the magnitude of the sum gave rise to many incidental observations; and some friends of Mr. Grallan endeavoured OF THE IRISH NATION. 189 to impress the House with the idea that ho was altogether adverse to the measure, and conceived that his honours and gratification would be greater by the feeling of having served his country, without other reward than that arising from its pure and unsophisticated enjoyment. This idea in modern times, and under Mr. Grattan's pe- Mistaken ... • 1 1 1 1 1 r pride <>l Ins culiar circumstances, was considered less the result 01 a true f r i en ,i s . pride than of a patriotic vanity. Roman precedents were not applicable to Ireland } and his paternal estates were not suffi- ciently ample to support so distinguished a man in the dignity of his station. And the wisest friends of Mr. Grattan consi- dered such a grant not as a mercenary recompense , but the reward of patriotic virtue, conferred by the gratitude of a nation to elevate a deliverer. YII. While the House seemed to hesitate as to the wisest Extraordin- course of carrying the proposed grant into immediate execu- ary *><-cui- tion , a most unexpected circumstance took place, which, though in its results of no important consequence, forms one of the most interesting anecdotes of Irish events, developes the insidious artifices to which the Government resorted, and forms insidious an episode without a precedent in ancient or modern annals, conduct of I 1 Government. Mr. Thomas Conolly, who, as a leading member of the Mr. Tho- Whiff Party, had entirely connected himself with the Duke of ma , s Couoll > D J j J makes a most Portland; and though not holding any ministerial office, was unprecedcnt- a Privy Councillor, and considered to be particularly confi- dential in the councils of the Viceroy, after many euiogiums upon Mr. Grattan's unparalleled services to Ireland , stated , " That the Duke of Portland felt equally with the Irish peo- " pie , the high value of those services ; and that he was "authorized by the Lord Lieutenant to express, in the " strongest terms, the sense he entertained of the public " virtue of Mr. Grattan , and of his eminent and important " services to Ireland : and as the highest proof he could give " of his admiration and respect for that distinguished per- " sonage, he (the Lord Lieutenant) begged to offer, as a part " of the intended grant to Mr. Grattan , the Viceregal Palace Viceroy of- i 9 o RISE AND FALL lers the Pa- " in the Phoenix Park , to be settled on Mr. Grattan and his lace to Mr it heirs f or ever, as a suitable residence for so meritorious a Grattau aud liis Leirs as a " person. services. "' Mil. The Viceroy of His Britannic Majesty, offering to a private individual a grant for ever of the Ring's best palace in Ireland , was repugnant to the principle of Monarchical Governments; while Mr. Bagenal's proposal of a grant by the House of Commons, as a reward for the public services of one of their own independent Members , appeared to the Viceroy as making the People every thing and the Adminis- objects of tration nothing. He saw clearly, that the public spirit was the 9 ovcr "- irresistible , and that the grant must pass; and the Viceroy inrnt id male- ' ° . . . ing the offer, determined, at any sacrifice, to give it a tinge of ministerial generosity, and thereby deaden, as much as possible, the brilliancy and effect of a popular proceeding. He knew that if his proposal through Mr. Conolly should be accepted, the grant would have very considerably changed its democratic complexion , — the Prerogative would be somewhat preserv- ed , and Mr. Grattan no longer considered as deriving his reward exclusively from the gratitude of his countrymen : — the Crown would have its share in a claim to his acknow- ledgments-, and thus the merit of the favour be divided be- tween the people and the minister. This magnificent and unexampled offer , at first view, appeared flattering and showy; at the second, it appeared deceptious; and at the third, inadmissible. Delicacy prevented any debate on the subject; and it would have died awa\ without remark or observation, and have been rejected by a Discovered judicious silence, had not the indiscretion of Colonel I'il/.- b y the i.uiis- lr - c j. betrayed the whole feeling and duplicity of the cretion of the r - . • i Secretary col. Government, and opened the eyes ol many to the jealousy Ktzpatrick. a ^j d es io Ils f His Grace's administration. Though the Se- eretary was extremely disposed to serve Mr. Grattan hjdivi dually, the entire failure of the plan, and the frigid mannei in which lb;' Royal oiler bad been received on every side hurl his official pride, and affected him extremely. He re OF THE IRISH NATION. lyi collected his ministry, but forgot his discretion; and ne could no longer restrain himself from some observations equally ill-timed and injudicious. Colonel Fitzpatrick was the brother of the Earl of Upper His ciurracter. Ossory. Though not an expert diplomatist , he was well selected to make his way amongst the Irish gentry, and con- sequently carry into effect the objects of the British ministers, and the deceptions of the Duke of Portland. He was ingenuous and convivial;, friendly and familiar 5 and theoretically honest, even in politics. His name was musical to the ear of that short- sighted community (the Irish gentry), and his casual in- discretions in Parliament were kindly attributed to his un- designing nature; and of all qualities, an appearance of unguarded openness is most imposing upon the Irish people. But the office of a Minister or of a Secretary is too well adapted to alter, if not the nature, at least the habits of a private gentleman; and, as a matter of course, he relinquishes his candour when he commences his diplomacy. Whatever his individual feelings might have been as Colo- nel Fitzpatrick , it is impossible that in his capacity of Secre- tary, Mr. Bagenal's motion could have given him any gratifi- cation. He declared , that " he conceived the power of reward- " ing eminent men was one of the noblest of the Royal " Prerogatives, which were certainly a part of the Constitu- " lion. He did not wish to be considered as giving a sullen " acquiescence, but he conceived that marks of favour of " this nature always appertained to the Crown alone, and he " should have wished that this grant had come from the " Royal hand-, but, as the man was unprecedented, so was " the grant-, and he hoped this would not be considered as a " precedent on future occasions. IX. By these few, but comprehensive observations of the R ea iobjects Secretary, the apparently magnificent liberality of the Viceroy (1( ' VPlo i' Pi1 appeared in its real character, and dwindled into a narrow subterfuge of ministerial jealousy. Mr. Conolly appeared to Myi RISE AND KALL have travelled out of his station , and officiously to have assumed the office of a Minister, for a deceptive purpose, and lent himself to a little artifice, to trepan the Parliament and humiliate the people. Bv this iejecled tender the Whig Administration gained no credit; they evinced a disposition to humble the Crown without elevating the people, and to wind the laurels of both around their own temples. The \iceroy considered a grant bv the Commons too de- mocratic, and the parliament considered the \iceroy's tender too ministerial. Mr. Grattan was a servant of the Irish people, and was utterly unconnected with the British Government. In everv point of view , therefore , the ^ ieeroy's offer, at that moment, was improper, and derogatory alike to the Crown and the individual. The Viceroy of Ireland proposing, on behalf of the King of England , to Ireland's great patriot to reward his services for having emancipated his country from the domination of Great Britain , was an incident as extraor- dinary as had ever occurred in any government , and, ema- nating from that of England, told, in a single sentence, the whole history of her terrors , her jealousy, her shallow arti- fice and humbled arrogance. This proposal was linked with many other insidious objects, but they were too obvious to be successful, and only disclosed that shallow cunning. His Excellency had perceived in Ireland the phenomena of a governing people , without a ruling demo- cracy , — an armed and unrestrained population , possessing, without abusing, the powers of Sovereignty, and turning their authority, not to the purposes of turbulence or sedition, but to those of Constitution, order, and tranquillity. These armed Associations, however irreproachable in their con- duct, were unprecedented in their formation, and were fairly considered by His Grace with a lively jealousy, as tending to establish a species of popular aristocracy, dangerous to the very nature of the British Constitution. OF THE IRISH NATION. i 9 3 X. Many friends of Mi\ Graltan, or those who professed to Mr. Grat- 1111 11 r l i tau ' s frienJs be so , declared lie would not accept ot so large a sum as that deciiue so proposed by Mr. Bagenal ; but this was a mistaken , or an large a 8 ™ aU affected view of that subject. In fact the grant itself, not its amount, was the only point for dignified consideration. How- ever , after a considerable discussion, it was diminished, by Mr. Grattan's friends, to the sum of fifty thousand pounds, which was unanimously voted to him ; and never had a re- ward, more merited or more honourable, been conferred on any patriot by any nation. The times when civic crowns conferred honours no longer Their mis- , ill • l c ' takeii princi- existed ; property had become essential tor importance in p i e . society. The Irish Parliament had before them a sad and recent example of the necessity of such a reward, in the fate of Dr. Lucas , one of the best friends of Ireland , who had sacrificed himself to support his principles : a man who had , so far as his talents admitted , propagated and applied the doctrines of the great Molyneux ; and , like him , was ban- ished — and , like him , declared a traitor ; — who had sat a Representative for the Metropolis of Ireland ; and whose statue still adorns the Royal Exchange of Dublin : a venerable Se- nator, sinking under the pressure of years and of infirmity, carried into their House to support its liberties , — sickening in their cause, and expiring in their service ; a rare example of patriotism and independence; yet suffered to die in indi- gence , and leave an orphan offspring to become the prey of famine. With such a reproachful warning before the nation, it was for the people, not for the Crown, to take care that they never should be again disgraced by similar ingratitude. In these degenerate times, honours give no sustenance; and in the perverted practices of modern policy , it is not the pro- vince of the Monarch to reward the patriot. And this event leads the historian to others still more important. Upon every important debate on the claims of Ireland, in the British and Imperial Parliaments, the native character i3 uj\ RISE AND FALL and political propensities of the Irish people had been uni- formly made a subject of animated discussion; and the loyally of that Nation to her Kings had been put directly in issue, by both her friends and her enemies-, — by the latter, as a pretext for having abrogated her Constitution •, by the former, as a defence against libel and exaggeration : each party asserting, that the past events of Irish history justify their reasoning, and afford evidence of their respective alle- gations. XI. It is , therefore , at this important epoch highly expe- dient that this controversy of opinions, as to the loyalty of the Irish people, though probably digressive, should be decided by unequivocal historic matters of fact , undeniable by either parly; and thereby, that the true principles of a long per- secuted and calumniated people, should be no longer mistak- en nor misrepresented. Effects <>f A reference to the authentic Annals and Records of Irish the Calumnies -.. . ,. . . , . . . . . gainst ire- History, inclispulablv proves that the unrelenting cruellies and misrule of their British Governors in early nges , goading the wretched natives to insurrection , formed the first pretext for afterwards branding them with an imputation of indigen- ous disloyalty , thereby exciting an inveterate prejudice against the Irish people ; which , becoming hereditary , has descended, though with diminished virulence, from father to son throughout the English nation. False argu- These calumnies had their full and fatal operation, as menu. an argument in urging the necessity of a Legislative Union ; an argument at once refuted by reference even to the modern events of 178^, and to the unexampled moderation, for- bearance, and loyalty of the Irish nation , who sought only a full participation in the British Constitution , though the moral and physical powers of that ardent people were then consolidated by their patriotism , and rendered irresistible by their numbers , their discipline , and their energy. \ll. At that awful crisis of the British Empire, the lii:.b OF THE IRISH NATION. tq5 were an armed and triumphant people ; England a defeated and trembling nation. Ireland was in the bloom of energy and of vigour-, England on the couch of discomfiture and malady. And if the spirit of indigenous disaffection, so falsely imputed to the Irish Nation , had, in reality, existed, she had then full scope , and ample powers , to pursue and effect all its dispositions for an eternal separation. It is not, however , by modern or isolated events alone, Comparison that a fair judgment can be formed of the characteristic attri-V ie " nruct JO ot J*.nglaiiu butesjof any nation ; still less so of a worried and misgoverned and Ireland. people. It is only by recurring to remoter periods , thence tracing , step by step , the conduct of Ireland throughout all her provocations , her miseries , and her persecutions , and then comparing the extent of her sufferings, her endurance, and her loyalty , with those of her sister countries during the same periods , that the comparative character of both can be justly appreciated , and those calumnies which have weighed so heavily on her reputation be effectually refuted. It is a matter of indisputable fact , that during the twenty reigns which succeeded the first submission of the Irish prin- ces , the fidelity of Ireland to the British monarchs was but seldom interrupted , and that Irish soldiers were not unfre- quently brought over to England , to defend their English sovereigns against the insurrections of English rebels. But when we peruse the authenticated facts of British annals Comparative during the same twenty reigns, we find an unextinguishable yalty ' spirit of disaffection to their princes, and that an insatiable thirst for rebellion and disloyalty signalized every reign , and almost every year of British history , during the same period ; that above thirty civil wars raged within the English nation; — four of their monarchs were dethroned ; three of their kings were murdered — and during four centuries , the stan- dard of rebellion scarcely ever ceased to wave over some por- tion of that distracted island; and so deeply had disloyaltv been engrafted in the very nature of the British nobles and 196 RISE AND FALL British people , that insurrection and regicide, if not the certain , were the expected consequences of every coronation. Through these observations , the eyes of England will at length he directed to these events. They will then be convinced that there lurked within the bosom of Great Britain herself the germs of a disquietude more unremitting' — a licentious- ness more inflammatory — a fanaticism more intolerant — and a political agitation more dangerous and unjustifiable, than any which even her most inveterate foes can justly ex- tract from an impartial history of the libelled country. This short digression must have the advantage of illustrat- ing the principles which led to the transactions of 1798 and 1800 , those gloomy epochs of Irish calamity ; it may enlighten that dark and profound ignorance of Irish History and trans- actions which still obscure the intellect of the English people, and even leads members of the united Parliament to avow that utter ignorance of the very country and people as to whom they were at the same moment so severely legislating. Those men are surelv the most injurious to the general tran- quillity of a state — the collective power of united nations — and the safety of the common weal — whose prejudices ignor- ance and bigotry lead them by wanton irritation to engender uncongenial feelings in eight millions of so powerful , ardent , and generous a portion of the empire. CHAP. XII. ,1. The Irish annals, though more imperfect, can be traced f-intomc of ' ' Irish History, by tradition farther back than those of England. Ancient re- cords , and other evidence also of a mosl indisputable nature , of the eighth and preceding centuries, prove that in the earliest ages Ireland had been the seat of literature, arts, and refinement ; and scarcely a year passes without discover- ing strong proofs of her former wealth , skill , and magnifi- OF THE IRISH NATION 197 cence. ' She first degenerated under the invasion of northern barbarians ; and while England profiled by the intercourse or her great and accomplished conquerors , Ireland had retro- graded under the ignorance and brutality of hers. By the great battle of Howth , her Danish tyrants were at length exterminated, and Ireland was gradually recovering her original prosperity , when she found that she had only changed the name , not the nature of her slavery. It was at this commencement of her convalescence, and be- fore the Irish Monarch had as yet been able to reform the chiefs or re-establish his authority , that a band of British adventurers , headed by Sliguel Strongbow , a British noble- man , abetted by the subtlety and practices of a vicious native chieftain , the treacherous Mac Murrough , landed in Ireland , with a view to mend their fortunes by conquest , and by plunder. Earl Strongbow found in Ireland a powerful but a disjointed people , who , though they had regained their independence , were still divided by jealous factions, — enfeebled by civil warfare , and dispirited by the dread of recurring contests. ' Some English writers, of the best authority, acknowledge the high state of learning and civilization , which existed in Ireland during the early ages; and numerous works and manuscripts now in the Vatican and the Roval Library at Paris, put the truth of that fact beyond all question. The variety and exquisite workmanship of ornaments and weapons of solid gold, still occasionally found buried in the bogs of Ireland, leave no doubt that great metallic wealth and superior skill once existed in that country, and that some of the arts were cultivated there to an almost unexampled perfection. The author has seen a solid piece of virgin gold, found in one of the Wicklow gold mines , — about twenty-eight miles from Dublin , — larger than a racket ball , and a great quantity of smaller dimensions. The mines extend many miles up the bed of a shallow stream, springing from the cliffs in the mountains. And an Irish statute in the reign of Henry the Fourth , prohibiting the native Irish from using gold stirrups and bridles, is a convincing proof that , even since the English invasion , sumptuary laws were judged proper to restrain the remaining tendency to profuse splen- dour, among the Irish chieftains. 198 RISE AND FALL He found it a worn down , palsied nation , well adapted to become a prey to the impression of arms , or the wiles of treachery. He was lavish in the use of both. She struggled much with these disciplined adventurers ; but her vigour had been exhausted by her civil contests-, and, — though occa- sionally victorious, — her energy had declined, and her powers were but intermitting. As her strength failed , her terrors augmented ; and she was finally induced to listen to the deceptious representations of Slronghow and Mac Mur- rough ; and after an ineffectual resistance she fell beneath the mingled pressure of arms and of seduction. At a conference in 1 170, her Chieftains were told — nearly in the same words which disgraced her Parliament in 1800 , — that there could be no remission of her internal feuds, no protection against future massacres , but by a voluntary sacrifice of that mischievous and agitating independence, which she had so uselessly enjoyed, and was so unavailingly contending for : but that, if united to the flourishing and powerful realm of Britain, its benevolent and potent Monarch would then find it to be the interest of His Empire to arrest all her feuds, and promote her prosperity. Treacher- H. Though the spirit of national independence still lingered ous system of . . , . 11 1 111 1 the English *u the country, her heart was broken ; the melancholy recol- Gorernment. lection of feuds , of defeats, and misfortunes, made a powerful impression on the jealous and divided leaders. Mac Murrough's treachery had destroyed all confidence amongst the Princes — discord had torn the Royal Standard of the Irish Monarch — the Chieftains had no general rallying station to collect their powers — they submitted to the invaders, and each stipulated for himself, and influenced his Kernes ' to a reluctant capitulation. 1 Kernes were a species of followers who attended the Irish Chieftains , ready to execute any business to which their patrons might order them. The Chief generally gained importance with the King in proportion to the number of Kernes he could produce , when the Kin;; had occasion for First Irish Union. OF THE IRISH NATION. J 99 The choice of difficulties and dangers, or of rewards and honours, was held oul to the most obdurate opponents of British annexation. Some leaders were gained by specious promises of territory 5 many were beguiled by the assurance of future protection , and a large portion of the chieftains at length yielded to the sway of a British sceptre. But this submission never was unanimous. Many who would have resisted it to the last extremity , were dismayed and scattered; — many who retained the power to resist it , were terrified or corrupted : — and though the acquisition of the entire island appeared to have been effected by the adventurers, the appearance was fallacious. However, the English Strongbow gained great honours for his achieve- ment , —the Irish Mac Murrough obtained great rewards for his treachery, — the adventurers were compensated at the expense of the natives : and the First Union of Ireland with Britain , in the year 1 1^3 , received a royal assent and con- summation from the Second Henry. It is verv remarkable, that though the occurrences were so Second . , . . Union com- different — - the persons so dissimilar — and the periods so 1>are d with remote , — the circumstances attending this first annexation of Ireland cannot be reflected on without the memory also recurring to the circumstances of the last. Though Cornwallis was not Strongbow — though Castlereagh was not Mac Mur- rough — though the Peers were not Princes , — and the Com- mons were not Kernes \ — and though nearly seven centuries their assistance ; and whenever a Chief made terms for himself, he generally stipulated for his Kernes into the hargain. They despised any independent mode of livelihood ; and often lived in a state of expectation on their Chief , or by the public. This race seems not to have been totally extinct in Ireland, in 1800, though they then existed under the denomination of Gentlefolks. See the Fac simile o/.l/r. Robert Crowe's Letter, annexed to this 'volume, respecting Lord Castlcreagh's treaty with th« Earl cf Belvidere, to purchase Messrs. Knox and Crowe ( two of his Lordship's members) : Witnessed by the IUv "Mr. Usher, his Lordship's chaplain,. — littcra scripta manet. aoo RISE AND FALL had intervened between the accomplishment of these union- it is impossible not to recognise in their features a strong family resemblance. King Hen- Henry lost no time in repairing to the Irish metropolis , Ireland! * " where , in great state , he received the allegiance of his new but reluctant subjects; and feasted the Irish Princes in a style of magnificence and splendour unusual in those times. But his banquets were those of policy — his splendours were founded on contempt — and before the games and rejoicings which accompanied those celebrated feasts were yet entirely terminated , the beards of Irish Kings had been pulled by the vassals of the English monarch. ■ His plan to III. Henry, on his return to England, soon perceived thai Nation tC e tne submission of such a people , — effected by such means, — could never be permanent ; that his Irish sovereignty , if not actually precarious , must be inevitably embarrassing. He found that his narrow revenues were inadequate to the expenses of perpetual and desultory warfare ; and truly con- ceived , that the most certain , — cheap , and feasible mode of retaining his new subjects in due subjection , would be bv fomenting the jealousies which had reduced them to his au- thority, — and aggravating those feuds which he had promised to extinguish •, and thus , by alternately fostering and de- pressing the contending factions , to embroil them in eternal contests, and leave them no strength to regain their independ- ence when they returned to their reason. ' Henry had a temporary palace erected on Hogliill (now St. Andrew Street ) , Dublin , where he entertained such Irish princes as acknowledged him for their liege lord. The singularity of their dress and manners were subjects of amusement and ridicule to Henry's courtiers. He entertained them on a feast of storks , a bird never eaten in Ireland. These banquets, which lasted nincdavs , ended without any permanent advantage to Hem \ Most of the princes and chiefs considered themselves insulted bv the familiarity of his followers , and returned home with a full determination tore-assert their independence and resist his authority on the first fayout able opportunity. OF THE IRISH N/VTION. :>.oi This system of misrule , connecting a decrease of their resources with an increase of their ignorance , had then a powerful operation in keeping down the people-, and this same fundamental and favourite principle of governing Ireland has been effectively adopted by every king , — usurper, — and minister of England, for seven distracted centuries. Henry having dicovered — by experience — that his no- He reiin- ied his over minal kingdom of Ireland was likely to afford him, in the ,i om ; aion end, little more than a fertile desert, sprinkled over with Ire and inveterate enemies •, and thai neither peace, nor strength, nor honour , — nor what to him was more important , — tribute, — was likely to be the produce of his newly-acquired territory, became indifferent to its state , and left it 10 its destiny. The successors of Henry also perceiving that they possessed Abortive at- but a naked and consuming power, equally unprofitable andj*™^ 5 '° ° precarious, formed the design of colonizing Ireland by English settlers ; who , connecting themselves by affinity with the uncultivated natives, would improve their habits and gra- dually introduce a growing attachment to the English people. IV. This theory was plausible and meritorious; but the Totally failed. propensities of human nature were not calculated on in the execution', the project was merely abstract, unconnected with any general system of wise or conciliatory government : and the attempt at colonization , instead of producing in the Irish a more congenial feeling , only confirmed their hatred — in- creased their powers, and became one of the keenest thorns that ever pierced the side of British governments. There is something cordial , — open , and joyous , in the native Irish character, which never fails to attract, and sel- dom to attach, strangers who reside amongst that people. Even their errors become contagious by protracted intercourse j and the habits and propensities of the host and of the domi- ciliated foreigner become quickly and almost imperceptibly assimilated. This maladv became almost epidemic amongst the colonists, 202 RISE AND FALL whom the policy of England had vainly sent over to improve, the people. On all important occasions, the new race evinced a more than ordinary attachment to the place of their settle- ment , and vied with the Irish in an inveterate hostility lo the domination of their own compatriots ; and in the direct descendants of those British colonists, England has since found many of the most able , distinguished , and persevering of her political opponents. CHAP. XIII. Ireland kept I. The English monarchs , disappointed in this plausible "oppression P ro j ect > perceived that colonization was a hopeless expedient, and tnrbul- ant | became more inveterate against " the degenerate English ence. Eliza- . ° ... Leth becomes of the Pale , " than against the aboriginal natives ; and for ^ ueea ' some centuries , in every contest of the two nations, a full proportion of the British settlers , or of their descendants , fell by the executioner , or under the sword of their own countrymen. Through the same vicious policy, by which Ire- land had been kept in perpetual warfare, it remained in a state of ignorance, misery, and turbulence , when Elizabeth , one of the most sagacious of rulers, and the most unprincipled of women , succeeded to the throne , and to the vices of her lather. Compared with later periods, Elizabeth's sphere of action was contracted. — Compared with modern limes , her reign was a reign in miniature. But at all times it would have been considered a reign of talent , and in all countries a reign of tyranny. character II. She was well adapted to rule over a nation , where , P n °"f a "' f if she governed with success , she might govern despotically. Qneeo Eliza- The uncontrolled tyranny of her father, — had prepared her subjects to admire any thing on their throne superior to a monster. The imbecility of her brother was contrasted with the vigour of her own intellect 5 and she assumed the British OF THE IRISH NATION. 2o3 sceptre , with all the advantages which experience and expec- tation could excite in a worried people. Her reign is celebrated as the most glorious and admired era of British history ; but , with all its merits , it owed much of its celebrity to the darkness of the limes , — the habitual slavery of the people , — the sex of the monarch , — ■ and the talents of the ministry. And Charles afterwards lost his head, and James his throne, for assuming a small portion of that despotic rule which is eulogized by the biographers of their female predecessor. The wisdom of Elizabeth was not the wisdom of philoso- phy. It was a penetrating sagacity, — prompt , vigilant, — and inflexible. The energy of her resolution, and her pro- found dissimulation , surmounted what her physical powers would have been unable to accomplish ; at home , she was despotic — abroad , she was victorious 5 — by sea , — by land , ■ — by negotiation , she was every way successful. The external glory of England arose under her administration. Pro- vidence seemed to pardon her disregard of moral principles , — and to smile even upon the vices of this celebrated female. The people admired her, because she was a successful queen ; and she liked the people , because they were submissive vas- sals. By the acuteness of her discrimination , she chose able ministers. They served her with fidelity , because they feared her anger, — and they flattered her vanities, because it pro- longed her favour. But they served her at their peril ; and she selected and sacrificed them with ecpial policy and indif- ference. She affected learning, and she professed religion. ■ — In the one she was a pedant without depth ; — and in the other, she was a bigot without devotion. — She plundered her people, to be independent of her parliaments; — ■ and she bullied the parliaments to be independent of the people. She was frugal of their money, where she had no passion for expending it; and she was generous to her favourites for her own gratification. so/, RISE AND FALL Magna Charta had been trampled on by a succession ol tyrants. The principles of civil liberty bad been forgot- ten in tbe country 5 and, throughout the whole course of her reign , Elizabeth assiduously laboured lo retain her people in the most profound ignorance of constitutional freedom. The word mercy was banished from her vocabulary. Her administration as to Ireland , where she experienced no restraint, gave the strongest proofs that she felt no compunc- tions. Jn her nature there was no feminine softness to mode- rate her cruelties ; — no moral scruples to arrest her con- science ; — no elevated generosity lo contract her dissimula- tion. — Though she was mistress of the great qualities , she was a slave to the little ones ' •, and though the strength of 1 Mr. Hume's life and character of Queen Elizabeth appear altogethci irreconcileable to each other. In his delineation of her character, he stati s her to he a princess of the most *' magnanimous virtues." In the anecdotes of her life , he states tier to have been guilty of as tyrannic , ■ — cruel , — and treacherous actions as any crowned head (Richard excepted) that ever filled the throne of England. Amongst numerous other examples of her " magnanimous virtues , " Mr. Hume details her interview with tbe Lord Chancellor Bacon , when Her Majesty declared, with vehemence , that she would order Mr. Hayward , an innocent , inoffensive man , to be put upon the rack and tortured, solely because he had translated some passages of Tacitus, which Her Majesty's ignorance of that author permitted her to suppose were Hay ward's own composition, — and were intended to reflect upon herself. Mr. Hume's attempt to apologise for the despotic conduct of Elisabeth certainly requires a very ample apology for himself. He says, "She did not always do what was best, but she did what was usual: " — the most tyrannic political principle ever avowed by any modern historian. What was " vest," was her imperative duly as a Sovereign , what was "usual" (after the reigns of her father and her sister) must be tbe apology of a tyrant , sheltering the commission of crime under the protection a£ precedent. Mr. Hume might as justly excuse her errors by the precedent of tbe Emperor of Morocco, who makes the same apology for shooting one ol his subjects every morning as a matter of amusement, because if was usual. Had some of Mr. Hume's antitheological essays been published in the n rgn of his favourite Elizabeth, the author certainly would have retracted, OF THE IRISH NATION. ao5 her judgment somewhat restrained the progress of her vices, she was intrepid hut harsh, treacherous, and decisive; even the spirit of murdered Mary could not appal her fortitude. The eyes of the people were closed hy the brilliancy of her successes, and the crimes of the woman were merged in the popularity of the monarch. Such was the British princess, who first projected an extirpation of the aboriginal Irish; and she soon discovered and put into action the most deadly weapon to effect her purposes. III. Her father, Henry, the Nero of British history, had t] f e e ° r IU - assumed , as a pastime, the trade of a theologist ; and chang- ing his religion as often as he decapitated his consorts, at length settled his veering faith , by declaring himself a Re- formist, with the most unqualified intolerance. Theological disputes, after this important auxiliary to the Fanaticism Reformation, altogether divested the minds of men of the { shi ' e attributes of common reason ; and the blackest enormities were considered as the most holy virtues, if they correspond- ed with the fanaticism of deluded imaginations. Henry's sectarial versatility had extended not only to his subjects, but to his children. Mary and Elizabeth had embra- ced adverse tenets with equal pertinacity ; and the whole po- pulation of England plunged at once , under the cloak of religion , into the commission of the very crimes which were prohibited by its precepts. One moment of calm unbigotted reflection must convince True pria- either on the rack , or among the faggots , every euloglum on her " magnanimous virtues. " As a further exemplification of Elizabeth's "magnanimous virtues, " Mr. Hume states also (vol. v. page 449) > a letter of that Queen, to the Earl of Sussex, expressing her displeasure, that proper severity had uot been exercised against some English insurgents, although it appeared, that his Lordship had previously hanged above eight hundred of them to gratify his mistress. However, this was merciful , in comparison with her orders to Carew and Mountjoy, as to the Irish. 2o6 RISE AND FALL r'ipios of to- every man , not only of the folly, but of the impiety of such controversies. The point is plain , — the dogma simple — that no human authority should eontrol man, as to his choice of what words he may utter, — what language he may adopt , — what posture he may choose , or what ceremonies he may practise , in the abstract act of piously supplicating the mercy of his Creator. Common sense, however, had taken its flight from Eng- land; and the doctrines of Martin Luther — not a founder, but a fanatical Reformist, soon became the greatest scourge that had ever been laid in chastisement upon a sinful people. His doctrines, which professed only to simplify the exer- cises of Divine worship, — ■ to purify religion from the dross with which it had amalgamated through priestcraft, to dimi- nish the mysteries of Revelation, and reconcile the inconsis- tencies of Christian theories, failed in its professed end, and instantly kindled a fanatic fire which enveloped in its flames the reason of mankind-, and which, daily supplied with new fuel , has continued to the present day alternately smothering and blazing, and consuming, wilh an uncxtinguishablc violence. IV. The incendiaries of modern times have preserved this Union of destructive fire for their own purposes. They perceived that Reigion an j return of reason must be the death of fanaticism, and political lana- ticism. that discord amongst a people would not long survive the extinction of religious prejudice, without the aid of some new excitement ; — political feuds have been therefore cultivated, as theological ones w T ere losing ground 5 and a novel and complicated system of discord has been invented, which, by artfully entangling the theory of politics with the theories of religion , and fallaciously affecting to render their combi- nation inseparable } has perpetuated animosities which were declining with rapidity. And this culpable and insidious policy appears to have been most sedulously and successfully culti- vated in Ireland. OF THE IRISH NATION. 9.07 Elizabeth , even in those early times , well knew the effi- cacy of this species of weapon, to inflame — to divide — and to conquer. The Reformation (now fully established in England ) fur- nished her with a weapon for the general subjugation of Ire- land, more fatal and effective than the keenest sword which had been whetted by any of her predecessors for the same purpose. V. The later of the English settlers in Ireland had embraced Religions 1 11 • r t mi • 11 1 schisms excit- the novel doctrines ol Luther. The natives and the old Eng- e d through lish colonists adhered to the original faith. — This portion Lutlier ' of the people , therefore , persecuted and stigmatised , sunk into ignorance-, and, hunted down as outlaws, finding no protection but with their chiefs , and no instruction but from their clergy, naturally attached themselves to both with a sa- vage fidelity. Elizabeth took advantage of every circumstance to attain her objects. The reformation was not only pro- claimed , but enforced in Ireland with unexampled rigor. — A few adopted , — ■ most rejected , ■ — but. none comprehended it. Elizabeth having lighted the firebrand at both ends, tossed it amongst the people. The sects fought around it , and Eliza- vioientdis- beth's officers gave out — " Reform " — as the watch- word sensious ' of the combatants, and the pretext for extermination. The contending factions massacred each other without mercy or compunction , and without any intelligible reason for their individual animosities. The famished , harassed people , in the midst of blood The Irish and flame , naturally became alive to every feeling , and sus- rouse ceptible to every argument , which could shew them the way to even a prospect of alleviation. Their chiefs and their clergy were their only instructors , who in the wild , — strong , — persuasive language of their country, impressed in glowing figures on the shivering multitude , the excesses of their mi- sery, — fired their irritable minds by a distant prospect of deliverance, and harrowed up all the feelings of haired to their Cruel ran 208 RISE AND FALL oppressors, which torture and famine had implanted in their bosoms. >uei ty- Elizabeth proceeded systematically in her projects. She beih. fi rst ordered the performance of the Catholic worship to he forcibly prohibited in Ireland. She ordered the rack to be employed , and directed her officers to torture the suspected Irish. She ordered free quarters on the peasantry to gratify her soldiers , and rouse the naliyes to premature insurrec- tions. Her executioners were ordered to butcher them without mercy. Religion was abolished by martial law , and Divine worship prohibited under pain of death. This curious order of Queen Elizabeth remains still on re- cord. — By her instructions to the Deputy of Munster (Carew) in 1598-9, on his going over to carry her exterminating schemes into execution in that country, she authorises her officers to " put suspected Irish to the rack, and to torture " them when they should find it convenient. " — Carew ful- filled her Majesty's instructions to their full extent, and at the conclusion of his government she had the satisfaction of finding that Munster was nearly depopulated. It is here well worthy of reflection , that the exercise of free quarters and martial law , — the suspension of all municipal courts of justice — the discretional application of the torture to suspected persons — executions in cold blood, and the various measures which Mounljoy and Carew, and the other officers of Elizabeth practised in Ireland by her authority in 1598-9, were again judged to be expedient, and were again resorted to with vigour in the years 1798-9, two hundred years after they had been practised by the ministers of Eliza- beth. The ruinous misrule of Ireland for nearly two centuries — and the errors of Elizabeth's barbarous policy , are proved beyond all controversy by the extent of improvement in Ire- land , and in the habits of the Irish people, in a very few years, under the mild and benevolent administration of James the First . her successor. — and the adoption by him of a OF TI1E IRISH NATION. 9.09 system of government diametrically the reverse of that which had been practised by Elizabeth , proves that Ireland advanced more in loyalty, prosperity, and civilization , under a temper- ate and conciliating administration in a few* years, than in four centuries of coercion and severity : a precedent which should never have been lost sight of by British ministers, but to which they seemed too long to have been either entirely blind , or criminally inattentive. Ireland never was governed, nor ever can be ruled, by any coercive system , — and those who think otherwise know little of her character. Harassed by every mode that the ingenuity of oppression could inflict or dictate , the natives , already barbarised by servitude , became savage by irritation ; and at length the whole population , wrought up to frenzy, flew into resistance, and have been libelled as traitors to the British crown for asserting the indefeasible rights of human nature , and claim- ing the enjoyments of civil liberty , for which their alle- giance to Elizabeth was only a " condition subsequent. • " VI. The Earl of Tyrone , an Irish chieftain , was a man of Earl of Ty- great talents , and for those days a powerful leader. Skilful , the Irish* - — courageous , — and persevering, — he raised the standard of insurrection against the government of Elizabeth. He re- presented to the wretched natives in the animating colours of uncultivated eloquence : •' The miseries they had been endur- " ing under the tyranny of their oppressors. " He presented to their view the proclamation of Elizabeth Extract from to extinguish for ever the religion of their ancestors. He told " ss P eec1, them 5 " that the power of endurance had arrived at its final " limits — that an attempt for their liberation, though unsuc- " cessful , could not even by its failure aggravate their mise- " ries. That death would be the worst they could experience " by battle, and that death was preferable to the slow tortures ' This principle has since become an acknowledged maxim, and com- ponent part of the British constitution — yet was violated in Ire/and by William , the same prince through whose usurpation it was established. «4 aio RISK AND FALL * ; they were enduring, — the famine under which they lan- '" guished , — and the desolation of their families. " He impressed upon their heated minds, that " their lands " were overrun hy foreign soldiers; their homes plundered " or enjoyed by the butchering bands of an English female ; " that their race of princes had become a family of slaves, k ' and their clergy had been executed as the guiltiest felons : " and he invoked them, " in the name of their country, by " the memory of their ancestors , and the holiness of their " religion, to rise as one man, and liberate all from their k< tyrants. " Nor can an impartial reader of Irish and Eng- lish history deny that there was great crime in Elizabeth's government, — and much justice in Tyrone's representations. General ri- The event was a general insurrection of the aboriginal irlfii ami old nal * ves > ait,e d by a great number of the English settlers, who English colon- had become connected by affinity with the Irish chieftains. Hut in all such contests , a multitude of naked insurgents, without arms,' — without officers, ■ — without any discipline or much subordination , without any of the necessary requi- sites, except courage and numbers, which could resist a trained and accoutred army, must naturally be defeated, — and , if defeated , have seldom reason to expect mercy from the conquerors 5 — such was the fate of Tyrone and his fol- lowers, immense VII. At the conclusion of these dreadful campaigns, though slaughter. ^ y^ p eo pj c [ ia j Decn diminished by nearly a moiety, and Confiscation though the entire of Ulster, and a great proportion of the other °. fw,,ole PI?." provinces, were confiscated to her Majesty '.Elizabeth had not vinces to hh- r . zabeth. sated the voracity of her rancour. The chiefs had been re- duced to beggary, — the clergy had been cxe-ukd , — the 1 A circumstantial account of this most sanguinary insurrection was afterward published under the immediate authority of the Queen. Though the Peccata Hi/xriiia , as a history, cannot he an impartial one, yet there is 1 species of horrid candour runs through the pages of that work which gives it altogether strong claims to a partial authenticity . OF THE IRISH NATION. 21 1 people slaughtered , — their towns destroyed — their castles razed 5 yet still she felt that Ireland was not extinguished. Though under the weight of such an enormous pressure , the chiefs still breathed, but it was the breath of vengeance. The clergy were recruited from inveterate sources: and even the very name of England and Reformation was rendered detest- able by the savage cruelties of Elizabeth's Reformers. Similar efforts of that determined and indefatigable Prin- cess to crush the Irish people were renewed , resisted , and persevered in during her long reign. Ireland appeared to Elizabeth as a country of Hydras-, every head she severed produced a number of new enemies : she slaughtered and she burned, but she could not exterminate-, and, at length , she expired, leaving Ireland to her successor, more depopulated, impoverished, desolated, ignorant, and feeble, but in prin- ciple more inveterate and not more subdued , than the day on which she received its sceptre. VIII. James the First, unfortunately for his own fame, Accessionof succeeded to so gaudv a reign as that of Elizabeth. A jrreat Jamcs tl,e • i i • • First - proportion or his better qualities was thrown away upon the English Nation. — -Intoxicated by the renown and splendour of Elizabeth's successes , they undervalued the advantages of tranquillity and of improvement. — An English Queen of Comparison powerful talents, and a Scottish King of moderate capacity ; ^h ' l7a ~ — a woman of undaunted fortitude , and a man of personal imbecility :, — a proud, magnificent, and dignified female •, — an awkward , shambling, unaffected Monarch , — drew down the sarcasms of superficial ridicule upon one of the best reigns for the internal and prospective happiness of the people. James's system of government was as distinct as possible from that of his predecessor's. While the reign of Elizabeth abounded in wars abroad and despotism at home, that of James was tranquillity every where; the rudiments of civil liberty slowly and gradually advancing, at length became very visible in the results of his mild and pacific, though 2i2 RISE AND FALL whimsical administration. But it was in Ireland that the go- vernment of James was most remarkable and most fortunate \ for the sword, the torture, the executioner, and desola- tion , he substituted improvement and well-regulated justice, lie sent not a Mountjoy nor a Carew to inflame and massa- cre ; he sent Davies and Pettv to investigate and to instruct , to reform and tranquillize. They sought to convince the na- tives, by examples and by reasoning, that their ancient laws ;uid customs were less just than the laws of England 5 and by practising, as far as circumstances could admit, those prin- ciples of justice which they so earnestlv recommended , gave the people the very best proofs of the integrity of their inten- tions. His wise James had been taught, by experience, that loyalty to Monarchs never can be compulsory; it is not loyalty if it be not principle, and it cannot be principle if it be not volun- tary : — past events in Scotland and in England bad proved to James, that the loyally of force is but the lucid interval of insurrection. He therefore sought to persuade, not to subdue, his Irish subjects; and, to moderate their feelings, and to render them susceptible of persuasion , he thought it neces- sary to give them overt acts of his own moderation. ' conciliatory Himself a bigot of the first order, be vet knew how to make allowances for the same vice in others 5 he knew thai religious persecution is the assassin of morality , and he substituted his pen for his sword to reform his subjects. Thus James, a most bigoted Protestant Monarch, by tranquillity and mode- ration , by wise measures and wholesome instruction, conci- ' It cannot be controverted that many acts of civil injustice were com- muted by Chichester and oilier officers of James in Inland, under colour of tlie Commission of Escheats, and <>l <1> fe< live titles , which can only be palliated by a comparison with the reign be succeeded to, and the times he lived in ; at all events, thereign of James the first was the only truly paternal Government ever experienced by Ireland, from its first annexation to tl" jut sent day. Mir- OF THE IRISH NATION. i I Hated, and governed in peace and improvement, a nation of rude and exasperated Catholics, still bleeding from the scourge and the sword of his predecessor; and by that con- duct James laid the basis of whatever civilization that country afterwards attained to. The reign of James amply demonstrates that Irish loya/h Its full was fully commensurate with royal tolerance; and that whilst plots against his life, and conspiracies against his throne, abounded in England, and debased the British character, a Catholic population in Ireland remained faithful to abigoltcd Protestant of England; and by their conduct, during this reign , unequivocally disproved the charge of native disloyally. Their advancement in civilization amply repayed both the people and the monarch ; and it is deeply to be regretted , that no government of England followed the same course , to tranquillize a country, whose turbulence has ever been a theme for their calumnies and their severity. However, Providence had decreed that , with the exception Or James the First, whether kings, or queens, or usurpers, were the rulers of Great Britain , the same destructive and desolating system should be adopted as to Ireland; all nations, save her, had sonic intervals of tranquillity ; she had none; and the more she suffered in the cause of royally, the more she was branded with the charge of disaffection. IX. When Charles the First succeeded to the throne, the charkstLe doclrines of Luther were yielding fast to new seels in England. " '' The united standard of bigotry and of treason was now ele- vated by the Puritans far above the sphere of all former sectaries; and the British Constitution (such as it was in those limes) was, at once, demolished even to ils foundation. Rebellion and hypocrisy marched hand in hand triumphantly over its ruins; and the intolerance of Mary and of Elizabeth only changed its garb, but retained its principles, in the practice of Cromwell. The English Commons House of Parliamen renounced il- Disloyalty 2i/, KISE AND FALL of the Eng- allegiance, cashiered the Lords, extinguished the episcopacy, and dethroned their King. The English Rebels suhdued him ; the Scots betrayed him; conjointly they beheaded him-, hut Ireland upheld him. She combated his murderers, and , as the reward of loyalty, she met the fate of Rebels '. The wrecks Ireland de- of Cromwell's desolation still appear scattered over every part Cromwell. J of Ireland; blood that had escaped the massacres of Elizabeth was only reserved to flow under the sword of usurpation ; and Cromwell has the credit of having done his business more effectually than any of his predecessors, He cooped up the surviving Irish in a contracted district , confined the clergy nearly to one county, confiscated two thirds of Irish territory, and stained his sanguinary career by indiscriminate massacres in every fortress that resisted him. Never was any Rebel so triumphant as he was in Ireland 5 yet it is impossible to deny, that perhaps a less decisive or less cruel general than that splendid usurper, might, by lenity, have increased the misery, in prolonging the warfare, and have lengthened out the sanguinary scenes of an unavailing resistance. Rut it is remarkable that Charles, the graceless son of the decapitated monarch, on his restoration , confirmed under his seal the confiscations against the Irish royalists, and actually regranted their estates and territories to the heirs and descendants of his father's murderers. ' So great a hatred did the English Parliamentarians entertain against the Irish Royalists, that they ordered " No quarter to be given by their troops to Irish soldiers. " This order was , for a short time, strictly adhered to ; hut Prince Rupert, on the King's part, making retaliation , this most sanguinary measure was quickly rescinded. OK THE IRISH NATION. 2i5 CHAP. XIV. I. Ireland had now been weary of bleeding and begging in the cause of legitimate monarchy ; however, a new and not less ruinous opportunity soon occurred of again proving the loyally, the perseverance, the fidelity, but the folly of the Irish people. The Puritans had got out of fashion , and the Stuarts had Restoration been restored to the British sceptre. Charles the Second , dynasty. after a long and shameless reign , had , by his death , ceased to disgrace the throne and stigmatise the nation-, and England j, i • i i t i / • • Usurpation swore allegiance to his brother James, as her legitimate mon- f William. arch, — so did Ireland. His English subjects soon became disgusted with his administration , and privately negotiated with & foreign prince to invade their country and dethrone their king. Heedless of their obligation , they renounced their allegiance, recanted their oaths; and, without a trial, drove James from his palace, and then proclaimed his throne empty, as if vacated by an act of voluntary abdication. At the head of his foreign guards , William , unequivocally Ircland an usurper, marched into the metropolis of Great Britain , mained Loyal, seized on the throne , and occupied the royal palaces. The unnatural desertion of Mary and of Anne to the prince who had dethroned their parent , exhibited to the world (whatever might have been the political errors of their father) the most disgusting example of filial ingratitude, and nearly of parricide. Ireland had not as yet learned those deep political refine- ments, the adoption of which now gives constitutional sanc- tion to the principle of revolution. That great precedent was to come from England herself. Ireland experienced not , or at least had not felt , James's attempts at despotism , which the English Commons had proclaimed to be a forfeiture of his sceptre. ai6 RISE AND FALL The pretence, of his voluntary abdication , on which Eng- land had proceeded to dethrone her king, had not extended its operation to Ireland, nor even been notified to that people. On the contrary, James, a monarch de jure and de facto , expelled from one portion of his empire , threw himself for protection upon the faith and the loyalty of another } and Ireland did not shrink from affording that protection. She defended her legitimate monarch against the usurpation of a foreigner; and whilst a Dutch guard possessed themselves of the British capital , the Irish people remained firm and faithful to their king, and fought against the invader. In strict matter of fact , therefore , England hecame a na- tion of decided rebels \ and Ireland remained a country of de- cided royalists. Historic records leave that point beyond the power of refutation. Comparison At the period of James's expulsion , even in England the right of popular resistance , and the deposition of a British monarch , by a simple vote of the Commons House of Parlia- ment , though exemplified by Cromwell , had no acknowled- ged place in the existing constitution of the British empire. It was then an unsanctioned principle of political polity ; and though , in theory, according with the original nature and essence of the social compact between the governor and the governed , yet of the utmost difficulty in its constructions , and dangerous in its execution. Even now, the quantity or qua- lity of arbitrary acts and unconstitutional practices which may be deemed sufficient to put that revolutionary principle into operation, remains still undefined, and must, therefore, be a matter of conflicting opinions , and of most dangerous inves- tigation 5 but it is an open argument. riicrevoiu- II. The representatives of ihe people in the Commons House c'i'i.ic'uiKieiin- °f Parliament are incompetent solely to enact the most unim- t<1 - porlant local statute ; it is therefore not easy to designate the cause and crisis which may legally invest that one branch of OF THE IRISH NATION. 217 the Legislature with a dispensing power as to the others , or enable it to ereet itself into an arbitrary tribunal , to decide , by its sole authority , questions of revolution. ' As to James , this difficulty was exemplified. — The British Commons , and the Irish people , both subjects of the same king, entirely differed in their opinions as to what acts, regal or despotic, could be construed into voluntary abdication, — a point of great importance as to subsequent events which took place in Ireland. IIL James was the hereditary king of both countries , jointly and severally. The third constitutional estate , only, of owe of them (England), had deposed him by their own simple vote : but Ireland had never been consulted upon that subject; and the deposition of the King of lrelandhy the ' Though the English Commons House of Parliament had taken upon themselves to dethrone and decapitate Charles the First, on their own sole authority, it will scarcely be contended , that Bradshaw and Cromwell established any constitutional precedent for a similar proceeding. Yet the proceedings of the Commons, in James's case, though more peaceable , were not more legal. The vacancy of the English throne, and consequently the deposition of James , was strongly contested and negatived by the House of Peers of England. The questions and divisions of the House of Lords were as follows : — For the election of a new king 5r Against the election of any king 4g Majority, . . a The next debate came more to the point — "whether James had broken " the original compact , and thereby made the throne vacant?" This was negatived by a majority of 2. It therefore appears, that the Irish people and the English Peers were of the same way of thinking. Even after James had quitted Ireland in despair, the Irish did not relinquish his cause, which was finally terminated by the gallant defence aud ultimate capitulation of Limerick for the whole of Ireland. ii 8 RISE AND FALL Commons of England could have «o paramount authority in Ireland, or supersede the rights, and dispense with the loyalt) , Irish treated of the Irish Parliament. The Irish people had held no treason- Wiliiam S fl have entirely retrograded to the iron age. But even during this state of depression , it was destined that Ireland should still have new touchstones and trials to assay her nature; and again be placed in situations where her loyalty should he proved , and again found preponderating in the balance with the loyally of Great Britain. In 1715, and in 174^, the British and Scotch people again forgot their oaths and their allegiance , and again revolted in favor of that very prince whom Ireland had been so ruined and stigmatised for defending against themselves. The Scotch The Stuarts again claimed the aid of Ireland. But Ireland , rebelled? 6 i? 1 tne interval, had sworn fealty to the House of Brunswick ; and Ireland, though groaning under slavery, remained faith- ful to her obligation. Neither oppression, nor politics, nor religion, swayed her from the line of her allegiance. The noblest blood of Scotland was poured upon the scaffold ; the heads of Scottish Peers were elevated upon the gates of Lon- don ; Britons, in crowds, expiated their disloyally by the cord of the executioner: the anger of offended Brunswick fell with desolating weight upon Great Britain ; bul through all those bloody scenes , English ingenuity could not find a single trai- ireiand re- tor to execute in Ireland. She preserved her loyalty and her in;unc.i tran- oa( ^ _ t \ lir i ia g t w0 rebellions , but she gained neither favour nor character by that preservation ; and her laudable fidelity was only rewarded by new oppressions, and by the incessant calumnies of lhal same people who had seldom lost an oppor- tunity of being themselves dislojal. Tranquil and submis- sive , though in absolute servitude , nearly one hundred years passed over Ireland. The great population of the Irish nation continued to be deprived of every attribute of liberty , civil , political , and religious. \ few of the Penal Acts then in force , or since enacted OF THE IRISH NATION. y>.i against Catholics, were — " By nth William III. " no Pro- testant in Ireland was allowed to instruct any Papist. " By " 8th of Anne , " no Papist was allowed to instruct any other Papist. " By nth Williams 111. " no Papist was permitted to be sent out of Ireland to receive instructions. By these statutes, as the great body of the Irish people were Roman Catholics, more than nine-tenths of the inhabit- ants of Ireland were legislatively prohibited from receiving any instruction whatever, either from a Protestant or a Ca- tholic , either at home or abroad, or from going out of Ire- land to be instructed; consequently, the darkest and most profound ignorance was enforced under the severest penalties in Ireland. How then can the Irish Catholics admire the me- mory of that prince who debased them to the level of brutes, that he might retain them in a state of slavery ? Even so late as the 12th George I. any Catholic clergyman marrying a Protestant and Catholic, was to be hanged. " By " nth George II. " any barrister or attorney marrying a Ca- tholic, to be disbarred. " By ind Anne , " Papist clergymen coming into Ireland, and performing religious exercises, to be hanged. " By 8th Anne , " Fifty pounds reward for all informers against Catholic archbishops , and vicars-general. But the most extraordinary of these Penal Statutes , is that of 7th William III. No Papist to ride any horse worth more than 5/. And bv gth George II. Papists residing in Ireland, shall make good to Protestants all losses sustained by the privateers of any Catholic king ravaging the coasts of Ire- land. 29th George II. barristers and attornies obliged to waive their privilege , and betray their clients , if Papists. Literally outlaws in their own country — labourers on their own territory — they quarried on their own demesnes, to raise palaces for the descendants of those canting hypo- crites who had massacred their monarch , or of the foreign ill RISE AND FALL soldiers of that gloomv and ambitious prince, who had sedu- ced away the loyally of the children from their parents, and had occupied the throne of their banished father. V. If the future is to be judged by the past, it will probably continue to be alleged , that the adherence of Ireland to her kings has been rather the result of her religion than of her loyally. That observation could not in any degree be applic- able to any reign but that of James, — an imputation, how- ever, which in its true construction, general or especial, goes to assert , that a connexion of loyalty and religion so cultivated and extolled in England, under the title of " Church and State," was a crime of the most heinous culpability Comparison when found in Ireland. But when historic facts are resorted La' Irish as to » lnat cnar S e is retorted ; and it will hardly be contended , to their Kings. t] ia t it was more loyal and meritorious for Protestant subjects to murder their Protestant king , as they did in England . than for Catholic subjects to defend their Catholic king, as they did in Ireland. And it will be as difficult to defend the rebellions of 171 5 and i;45) raised by British Protestant subjects against their Protestant king, as it will be to calum- niate the undeviating, unshaken loyalty of Catholic Ireland to her Protestant monarchs, and the House of Brunswick, during the same periods. But, unfortunately, these indis- putable facts will form this miserable precedent for future ages, that in England the reward of rebellion was liberty ; while in Ireland, the reward of loyalty was bondage. The Irish insurrection of 1798, which afforded to the British minister the fatal and premeditated pretext lor anni- hilating the Irish legislature, differed but little in its ordi- nary events from those numerous civil wars , which the history of England, and of every nation , so liberally abounds with; and more especially with those which desolated some of the finest countries of Europe about the same period, the contagion of which had been imported from Englandker- OF THE IRISH NATION. %%% self, where the overthrow of the constitution had been plan- ned , and the murder of the King attempted , before Ireland had been injected. But it was reserved for the recorders of that sanguinary contest in Ireland, — with motives not less mischievous than those of the insurgents — to raise by their misrepresentation a permanent standard of enmity between the two nations, and endeavour to persuade one portion of the empire , that its safely was altogether incompatible with the independence and. prosperity of the other. Were the leading authors of these absurd and dangerous doctrines, confined solely to the hired traducers or factionists of that country, their histories and their fabrications would sink , together with their names , into obscurity. But when persons of the superior orders in Great Britain lent their weight, their zeal , and their reason to the purposes of their bigotry and their prejudices, and attempted to impose upon the credulity of their countrymen with the same facility that they had been imposed upon themselves, as to the native dis- loyalty of the Irish people, it becomes just, if not necessary, to recall their recollection to the affairs and records of their own country at the same epoch : — a reference to which, if it cannot check the fanaticism, may at least diminish the authority, of the fanatics. Though in fact a digression , it may be here not improper to follow up that subject a little further, by anticipating some observations more connected with a subsequent part of this memoir. VI. When it pleased Heaven , during the French Revolu- tion , to inflict a temporary derangement on the reason of mankind, a spirit of wild democracy, under the mask of liberty, appeared in fanciful forms to seduce away or destroy the peace, the morality, the order, and the allegiance of every European people. It would have been more than a pheno- Ireland first ill, RISE AND FALL infected J.y menon , if too sensitive and ardent Ireland had escaped that English rebel- general fever, from which the boasted constitution of Eng- lions. land, and the steady character of Scotland, had been unable to protect them. The Catholic in the South, — the Presbyter in the jNorth — the Protestant in the metropolis of Ireland, and the professors of every religion in England and in Scot- land , became more or less infuriated by the general delirium. That contagion which so vitally affected the nations of Eu- rope, originating in France, soon displayed its svmptoms in every part of Great Britain \ and when in progress to full maturity, and not before, was carried into Ireland by collision with the English and Scots republicans . * Religion could have but little influence on the projects and politics of that era , — for the total extinction of all religion was a fundamental principle of that foreign revolution , which pave birth to a democracy that sought to overturn every throne and constitution of Europe. Yet the calumniators of Ireland place that spirit of insurrection almost exclusively to the credit of religion amongst the Irish people , because the population of Ireland was chiefly composed of Catholics whom they stigmatised. At that period , Ireland had a resident Legislature and a ■ See the State Trials and the Reports of the Secret Committee of England, in the year 1794- By these Reports of the Secret Committee , it appears that Edinburgh , and various other places in England and Scotland , were infected long before Ireland ; and Mr. Secretary Dundas illustrated these Reports , by annexing accurate drawings of the different forms and species of pikes , battle-axes, etc., which were fabricated in Scotland, his own country, for the purposes of treason and murder. Ireland did not appear to Mr. Pitt forward enough in treason with the kingdom under his more immediate management, and therefore sent over Lord Eitzwilliam to Ireland, to ensure tranquillity ; and when his Lordship was on the point of doing so, ordered him back again to excite insurrection'. — See Lord FitzwilMam'i Letters to Lord Carlisle. OF THE IRISH NATION. aa5 free constitution. She was in profound tranquillity, and the most progressive stale of national prosperity ' , when the emissaries of the English and Scotch societies quickly pro- ceeded to pervert her reason , as their own had heen pervert- ed. The original societies of Ireland had no such principles as designated the latter ones. The Minister, Mr. Pitt, had made his entrance into public life in the domino of a Re- former. The first and most loyal noblemen and commoners in Ireland were Reformers ; but it was through the prospective policy of that great Minister, that the seeds of insurrection were permitted to take root in Ireland : — without it a union had never been accomplished. VII. In England, the Government took prompt and vigorous ^ e j llls "}^ measures to stop the progress of that dangerous and de- spirit of in- structive principle; but in Ireland they coolly saw the weed " England '" springing up , and artfully forced it to premature maturity, promptly. They watched its growth till it had covered sufficient of the country to bewilder the residue. Its vegetation was cautiously Suffered it permitted to proceed , whilst there remained within their own \° ; ncrease m r I ' Ireland. reach sufficient means of suppressing it at their discretion 5 * When Lord Westmorland was removed from Ireland, in 1795 , Ireland was in a most unexampled and progressive state of general prospe- rity. In that year, Mr. Curran informed the Author, of his intention to suggest an impeachment against the Earl of Westmorland , for having permitted a part of 12,000 troops (which, according to stipulation, should always remain in Ireland ) to be drafted out of that kingdom for foreign service. Mr. Curran laughed at his own project, when the author asked him what plausible reason he could give for saying that any troops were necessary. The day Lord Westmorland departed , no army was necessary in Ireland ; and if Earl Fitzwilliam had not been removed , doubtless insur- rection might have been prevented. But tranquillity would not have effected Mr. Pitt's purposes ; and Earl Fitzwilliam , one of the best and honestest of the British peerage , was appointed , duped , and deposed by the policy of the Minister : the reason was obvious. i5 aa6 RISE AND FALL and I his deep and treacherous experiment was risked to effect the greatest object of Mr. Pitt's administration , — a final extinguishment of Irish independence. With that view, it was expedient to suffer that country to plunge itself into a state of sanguinary civil warfare , of ter- rors and of animosities ; whilst England should hold the reins which could check its progress , and might fallaciously induce it , hy the hopes of English protection , to exchange a consti- tutional independence for a speculative tranquillity, or render it so feeble and so divided by a continuation of internal con- tests, that if it could not be seduced , it might be compelled , to annexation. And here lies the secret spring which regulated the insur - rection of 1798 , and the machinery which moved the Union in 1800, — a measure which , for the thirty-two years suc- ceeding its accomplishment , has only operated as a ruin to the annexed, and a torment to the annexing nation. Recorded abstracts of Irish and of British history thus form an incon- trovertible exposition of Irish principles , and of English mis- conception. The character of the Irish people has been always calumniated — their independence has been torn away, but their indigenous loyally is unaffected — their nation is mon- archical — they naturally love kings — the tradition of their old monarchs keeps up the attachment; and never was a greater injustice done to any people , than to call them democratic. But immortality of power is not an attribute of nations — like man , they flourish ; hut like man , they must decay. Rome had her glory and her power , hut , subdued by lime , she yielded up her empire ; and should some Gibbon of future ages record the decline and fall of British greatness, the his- torian will probably do justice to Ireland; and tell posterity, that when some gigantic foreign power, nurtured by British folly , for British subjugation , had paralyz.ed her resources, and decolonized her empire, England , in the last struggles of OF THE IRISH NATION. 227 her superiority , had not a faithful ally left to cover her re- mains , hut her calumniated ' sister. CHAP. XV. I. We now return to the measures which were taken to rock Ireland into a slumber more fatal to her existence than the trance she had awakened from. Bills to ameliorate by partial concession the depressed slate of the Catholics, as some reward for their zeal and patriotism , were introduced , and had ar- rived at their last stages in the House of Commons without any effective opposition ; intolerance , however, even to the extent of fanaticism , had so identified itself with the minds of some members of both Houses of Parliament , that these Bills of partial relief to their enslaved countrymen were stre- nuously opposed, in their latter stages, by statements so exag- gerated , and language so aggravating , that a cry of " Danger " to Church and State ! " was raised and circulated , and ac- tually bewildered the intellect of many , who were on other occasions of reasonable judgment. These Bills were clamorously opposed in Parliament by Catholic re- several country gentlemen of high local consideration , and laxation ri 'Hs principally by Mr. Rowley, member for Mealh County, one MiTiiowie/ of the best landlords and best men in Ireland , a downright , honest, headstrong country gentleman. His information was ' This observation will not be considered altogether visionary, when men reflect upon the modern events of Europe , and the possible consequences of that extravagant and ruinous system which had been adopted , of blindly subsidizing and strengthening every foreign Power at the expense of the British Treasury. Russia — Prussia — Austria — Portugal ; but above all, Spain, owe their present independent political existence to the blood and the treasures of Great Britain and of Ireland, levied for their use, and lavished for their protection. And miserably is England requited for her protection , her money, and her sacrifices; and miserablv has Ireland been requited for her par- ticipation. 228 RISE AND FALL - uit, and his abilities were less than moderate; but he was of large fortune, splendid establishments, unbounded hospi- tality, and full of philanthropy •, yel so perverted was his mind by legendary tales , and hereditary prejudices , that though he most generously affoz'ded to his Catholic tenantry, and to in- dividual Catholics, every service and kindness in his power, he considered and represented them , collectively , as a body of demons •, their chapels, temples of idolatry 5 their schools, seminaries of rebellion , and their clergy as a gang of necro- mancers. So infatuated was he by these prepossessions, that he saw , or rather fancied that he saw , in any relaxation of the penal statutes, nothing but a total overthrow of the entire Protes- tant establishment, and an immediate revolution in favour of some Popish monarch. Sir Edward Those Hills were also pertinaciously opposed by Sir Edward weni.ani. ]y ewcn ] iam j member for Dublin County, a weak , busy , narrow-minded , but not ill-informed , nor ill-intentioned person. He was very defective in talent, but very confident that he possessed much of it •, he fancied he was a great patriot , and was disposed to imagine himself a distinguished person- age. He had drawn general Washington into a short literary correspondence with himself as to Ireland, on the strength of which , he affected , with great importance , to be an importer of the most early and authentic information from America. He was an active officer of the Volunteer Artillery, and a good Irishman j but a busy, buzzing, useless, intermeddling member of Parliament , and one of the most credulous, feeble , and fanatical of all the Irish inlolerants. Many inveterate opponents of any concessions to the Ca- tholics made their appearance in the Irish Parliament •, and as the concerns of that body must form a prominent topic in the progress of this memoir, it may be interesting and useful to introduce, even b\ anticipation, the most distinguished of all its opponents. OF THE IRISH NATION. "!) This celebrated antagonist of the Irish Catholics , so far us invective and declamation could affect their interests , was Doctor Patrick Duigenan , Judge of the Prerogative Court of Doctor Pa- " , i tuck Duige- Ireland ; ■ — a man whose name must survive so long as tne uau feuds of Ireland shall be remembered , and whose singular conduct, on many points, was of a nature so inconsistent and irregular that , even now , when his race is run , and no iur- ther traits of his character can ever be developed , it is yet Hi* Clia- . . racter. impossible to decide with certainty as to his genuine princi- ples , if such he possessed , upon any one subject , religious or political. His father was parish-clerk of St. Werburgh's Church, Dublin , but in what part of Ireland he originated, is still un- certain ; he was educated in the Parish School , and ( as he told the Author himself) was humourously christened Paddj , having been born on St. Patrick's day. He signalized himself as a scholar in the University of Dublin , of which he was chosen a fellow, he soon afterwards quarrelled with the Pro- vost, Mr. Hutchinson , and every person who did not coincide with his humours, and wrote a number of severe pamphlets , of which " Lachrymce Academicce" and " Pranceriana" arc the most notable ; the first , personally against the con- duct of the Provost and Sir John lilaquiere ; the second , on a proposal of the Provost's to establish a riding house for the students. He was always at open war with some person , dur- ing the whole course of his public life. He left the University , retaining the office of Law Pro- fessor ; was shortly afterwards appointed King's Counsel ; Judge of the Prerogative and Consistory Courts-, King's Ad- vocate to the High Court of Admiralty 5 one of Lord Castle- reagh's Commissioners for bribing Members of Parliament j (Post) 5 and to many other public offices, most of which he retained to his death. His income was very large, and he must have privately done many liberal and charitable acts , o.3o RISE AND FALL because he was not extravagant , and left no considerable fortune behind him. Dr. Duigenan having been King's Advocate to the High Court of Admiralty, where the Author presided; and the author being a Doctor of Laws, and Advocate in the Court of Prerogative, of which Dr. Duigenan was Judge, their in- tercourse was constant and very intimate for many years , and the author had daily private opportunities of observing the curious habits of this most eccentric character; — the most outrageous , and at the same time one of the best- natured men in the world , to those whom he regarded. This eccentric person , whose celebritv originated from his crusades for Protestant supremacy, would probably have been a conspicuous character in whatever station he might have been placed , or in whatever profession he might have adopted. Incapable of moderation upon any subject, he possessed too much vigorous and active intellect to have passed through life an unsignalized spectator; and if he had not at an early period enlisted as a champion of Luther, it is more than prob- able he would , with equal zeal and courage , have borne the standard for St. Peter's followers. A hot , rough , intrepid , obstinate mind , strengthened by very considerable erudition , and armed by a memory of the most extraordinary retention , contributed their attributes equally to his pen , and his speeches. He considered invective as the first , detail as the second , and decorum as the last quality of a public orator; and he never failed to exemplify these principles. A partisan in his very nature, every act of his life was in- fluenced by invincible prepossessions; a strong guard of inve- terate prejudices were sure, on all subjects, to keep mode- ration at a distance, and occasionally prevented even com- mon reason from obtruding on bis dogmas, or interruptinj his speeches. OF THE IRISH NATION. 23 i A mingled strain of boisterous invective, unlimited asser- tion, rhapsody and reasoning, erudition and ignorance, were alike perceptible in his writings and orations; yet there were few of either, from which a dispassionate compiler might not have selected ample materials for an able production. He persuaded himself that he was a true fanatic; but though the world gave him full credit for his practical into- lerance , there were many exceptions to the consistency of his professions, and many who doubted his theoretic since- rity. His intolerance was loo outrageous to be honest , and too unreasonable to be sincere •, and whenever his Protestant extravagance appeared to have even one moment of a lucid interval , it was immediately predicted that he would die a Catholic. His politics could not be termed either uniform or co- herent, lie had a latents park of independent spirit in his com- position , which the minister sometimes found it difficult to extinguish , and dangerous to explode. He bad the same respect for a Protestant bishop that he would probably have had for a Catholic cardinal. Episcopacy was bis standard; and when lie shewed symptoms of running restive to the Govern- ment, the primate of Ireland was called in to be the pacifi- cator. He held a multiplicity of public offices at the same time . unconnected with Government '. He was Vicar General to 1 On the Union, he accepted the office of Commissioner for paying the bribes to Members of Parliament ( under the name of Compensation for the loss of their Seats or Patronage. ) — ( Vide Post ). The Doctor, the late Lord Annesley, and a Mr. Jameson , an Englishman , under this commission, distributed, by Lord Cast'.ereagh's appointment, one million five HUNDRED THOUSAND pounds of the Irish money, amongst Members of the Houses of Lords and Commons ; without which bribes and gifts of peerages, there would have been a vast majority against the Union. The Doctor told the Author that he accepted that office, solely that lie might he able to take care of the bishops; and the Author believes at least half his assertion. — But the bishops were outwitted. — 2 32 RISE AND FALL most of the bishops - , and whenever he conceived the rights of the Church were threatened , his bristles instantly arose , as it were , by instinct •, his tusks were bared for combat ; he moved forward for battle ; and would have shewn no more mercy to the Government than lie would have done to the patriots. He injured the reputation of Protestant ascendancy by his extravagant support of the most untenable of its principles. He served the Catholics by the excess of his calumnies, and aided their claims to amelioration , by personifying that virulent sectarian intolerance which was the very subject of their grievances. He had , however, other traits , which frequently disclosed qualities of a very superior description. His tongue and his actions were constantly at variance ; he was hospitable and surly; sour and beneficent; prejudiced and liberal ; friendly and inveterate. His bad qualities he exposed without reserve- to the public; his good ones he husbanded for private inter- course. Many of the former were fictitious ; all the latter were natural. He was an honest man , with an outrageous temper and perverted judgment; and, as if he conceived that right was wrong , he sedulously endeavoured to conceal his philanthropy under the garb of a misanthrope. In private society, he was often the first in conviviality; and when his memory, his classic reading, and his miscellan- eous information were turned to the purposes of humour or of anecdote, ihey gave a quaint, joyous, eccentric cast to his conversation, highly entertaining to strangers , and still more so to those accustomed to the display of his versatilities. The most striking singularity of this most singular man , was bis unaccountable inconsistency in words and actions toward the Catholic community. He alternately fostered and abused , caressed and calumniated , many intimates of that persuasion ; — an inconsistency, however, which his last ma- trimonial connexion was supposed to have redeemed ; and he OF THE IRISH NATION. 233 died at a very advanced age, upon a short notice, retaining all his strength and faculties , and in the full vigour of all his prejudices. His strong , sturdy person , and coarse , obstinate , dogma- tic, intelligent countenance, indicated many of his charac- teristic qualities. He was loo rough and too unaccommodating to have had many partisans; and after the Union, which he vigorously supported , his public importance and reputation dwindled away to nothing ; and his death , afforded no great cause of regret to his friends, or of gratification to his enemies. Mr. George Ogle , and many other decided opponents of Mr. Ogle. the Catholic claims, were also prominent characters in the general affairs and politics of the country, and will appear in most of the miscellaneous transactions of the Irish Parliament. But the whole bent and efforts of the Doctor's mind and ac- tions were concentrated and publickly arrayed against the Catholic community, some members of which were in private his chief associates , and his nearest connexions •, and the early introduction of such a personage may tend to illustrate the singular situation of that body, and that inconsistency which from first to last has signalised the conduct both of their friends and their enemies. Those Bills relaxing the severity of the penal code , passed, Bills passed. however, through both Houses, without any considerable dif- ficulty 5 and, though the concessions were very limited , thev afforded great satisfaction to the Catholic body, as the first growth of a tolerating principle, which they vainly imagined was a sure precursor of that general religious and political freedom , without which , in an ardent and divided popula- tion , peace and security must ever be precarious. Some men , however, saw in those incipient concessions the germ of discord and extravagant expectation. The most unrelenting of their opponents , in the full zeal of unqualified fanaticism, used arguments so cruel and unjust in principle. 234 RISE AND FALL that the distorted mind . or crooked policy of legislators aloiu could have resorted to. They argued, that the nearly insupportable oppressions under which the Irish Catholics had so long laboured, were rapidly disgusting them with their own tenets, which had entailed upon them all the attributes of slavery and depriva- tion ; — that , worn down by penal codes , under the pressure of which they could neither rise nor prosper, they were daily recanting those disqualifying tenets , and embracing that re- ligion , under which their wants and their ambition could be fully gratified-, — that noblemen, gentlemen, peasants, and even their priests, were rapidly embracing the Protestant profession ; and that if the same propensity to recantation was still kept in progress, by a full and strict continuance of that same penal code, the severity of which had originally caused it, Ireland would gradually acquire a Protestant population, — 1 if not a majority of the people , at least more than a pro- portion of all whose propcrtv, rank, and interest would lead them to preserve the peace of the nation , and the connexion with Great Britain. Unjust Doc- II. This was a barbarous doctrine, which could never be supported by any principle either of justice or of policy. The principle of concession which actuated the Parliament in these relaxations, proved that the light of justice and reason had broken in upon them , and excited reasonable expectations of further grants and general toleration. The wealth of the Catholics multiplied, — their numbers increased. The first chain of intolerance was loosened , and permitted them to lake a view of that total emancipation which by unremitting struggles they were certain of attaining. Change in HI. The paroxysms of ardent patriotism having somewhat liameni. abated in the Irish Parliament — distinctions and shades of distinctions were rising and rc-opening into party, and into jealousies. Some men conceived that Ireland had obtained every thing — others argued that she had acquired no secu- tnue OF THE IRISH NATION. a35 r i t i es } — that enthusiastic unanimity which had so proudly signalized their first movements was gradually degenerating; the old courtiers, who had wandered from their standards , seized greedily upon every pretence to re-assume their stations; and many of that body, who a moment before had been unanimous, and supposed to be incorruptible, now began to remember them- selves, and forget their country, but the people were staunch — their spirit was invincible — the voice of the volunteers was raised — it was loud and clear, and echoed through the Parliament. The Government was arrested in its corrupting progress ; many were recalled to a sense of duty by a sense of danger ; and the situation of the country seemed approaching to another crisis. Mr. Grattan acted on the purest patriotic principles , but they were over-moderated by Earl Charlemont , and occa- sionally neutralized by an honourable confidence in Whig sincerity. He still contended (because such was his conviction) that the Irish Nation should rest satisfied , and confide in the sincerity of the British Ministry, and the existing guarantees, for the permanence of their constitution. He was devoted to the Whigs, because they professed the purest principles of well-regulated liberty; and he would not doubt the integrity of those whose principles he had adopted, till at length Mr. Fox himself, wearied bv a protracted course of slow Mr. Fox's , t • p candour. deception, uncongenial either to the proud impetuosity ot his great mind , or the natural feelings of his open temper , at once confirmed the opinions of the Irish people , and openly proclaimed to Ireland the inadequacy of all the measures that had theretofore been adopted. He took occasion in the British Parliament , on the repeal of the sixth of George the First , being there alluded to, to state, "that the repeal of that His speech. " Statute could not stand alone, but must be accompanied by " a final adjustment , and by a solid basis of permanent con- " nexion. " He said , " that some plans of that nature would " be laid before the Irish Parliament bv the Irish Ministers, il6 RISE AND I ALL " and a treaty entered upon , which treaty , when proceeded "on, might he adopted hv hoth Parliaments, and finally " hecome an irrevocable arrangement between the two " countries. " Dcccptiouof By that short, but most important speech , the Irish delu- tlio British . „ ,. , ,. . ,. . , , Cabinet devc- S10n °* a "iial adjustment was in a moment dissipated-, the loped. Viceroy's duplicity became indisputably proved ; His Majesty's reply to the Irish Parliament was renounced by the very Mi- nister who had written it. The Irish address to the Duke of Portland appeared to have been premature and inconsiderate; and his reply could no longer be defended on the grounds either of its truth or its sincerity. Mr. Fox himself, with the true candour of an able statesman , avowed the insufficiency of the existing arrangement ; and thus , by easy inferences , decided against the adequacy of the simple repeal for general purposes. His declaration , that " a further treaty was in con- templation , " was prospective and ambiguous, and gave not only plausible, but justifiable grounds, for an alarming un- easiness amongst the Irish people. Notwithstanding this avowal , Mr. Flood was still but feebly supported in the House of Commons. The volunteers, rather than the Parliament, had now the preponderance in public estimation , and their activity increased as difficulties aug- mented. Marquis of In England, public matters were sinking into a slate of Rocklu S" am - languor and torpidity. The Marquis of Rockingham, in a fatally declining slate of health , and his friend Lord Gharle- mont , in an habitually complaining one, carried on a well- bred, superficial, whining correspondence, as to the affairs of Ireland, every thing that was courteous, but nothing that was statesmanlike; and even if death had not, unfortunately for the Whigs, snatched away Lord Rockingham , he and the Earl of Charlemont were not likely to effect the consumma- tion of the political arrangements between the two nati The latter nobleman could see wide, but he could not K OF THE IRISH NATION. a3 7 deep. The former could neither sec very wide nor very decD. r " tal r ab ~ l j "^^j senceofener- bul he could see very distinctly : in cultivating moderation , SI- they lost sight of energy, and their conduct at this moment was shallow and insipid. Mr. Burke might have been sincere towards Ireland ; but Mr- Barke. he had a game to play for himself; and his talents, however great in their extent , were not found so consistent in their application. And though his fame never can be eclipsed — his abilities never depreciated ; though his lessons will be ever instructive , and the vigour of his intellect could not be vanquished — still he had his trances, his visions, and his inactive as theories; and though always in the first line of general admi- t0 IrclanJ ' ration, he stood not in the front rank of public confidence. He took no distinguished part in those transactions, appearing as if he were repugnant to commit himself in an imperfect treaty. AVhilst affairs remained in this precarious state , a debate New debates. occurred , more embarrassing than any that had preceded it, and which gave new features to the close of this , the most remarkable session of Irish Parliaments. IV. The question of simple repeal had now been so often canvassed , so often argued , and had caught so strong a hold of the Irish people , that it was obvious it could not rest where it was , and that something further must be done to satisfy the Irish Nation ; but what that something should be, was more embarrassing to the Government of both countries than any consideration which had theretofore occurred to them. After the address of the Irish Commons to His Majesty, Embairass- moved by Mr. Grattan , England could not be again so strongly ia u s ences cons ^ applied to for further concession. She had promptly acceded Mr - ^rattan's to every thing that was then required of her, and was told by * that address, that nothing remained further to be done as to a constitution between the two countries; she might, therefore, plausibly decline further demands upon the same subject. 238 RISE AND FALL That address had , in plain language , renounced all further constitutional claims by the Irish Parliament; and Mr. Grat- tan could not recede from such his own reiterated declara- tions. Mr. Flood , however, remained unshaken and firm in his opinion of the insufficiency of the arrangement , and de- termined to increase their security, through an unequivocal act of the Irish Legislature; and on the twenty-ninth day of July, he moved for leave to bring in a Bill, " to affirm the 1 ' sole exclusive right of the Irish Parliament to make laws " affecting that country, in all concerns external and internal " whatsoever. " A most animated , and even virulent debate, took place on that motion. It was debated with great ability, but ill-placed confidence or ill-timed moderation still guided the majority of the Commons; and even the introduction of the Bill was negatived without a division. Mr. Grat- Mr. Grattan , heated by the language of his rival , blinded objectionable! by an unlimited confidence in the integrity of the Whig Mi- nistry, and for a moment losing sight of the first principle of constitutional liberty, then proposed a motion, equally singular for the language of its exordium , and the extravag- ance of its matter. He moved, " That the Legislature of " Ireland was independent; and that any person who should " propagate in writing 3 or otherwise , an opinion that any " right whatsoever, whether external or internal , existed in " any other Parliament , or could he revived, was inimical " to both kingdoms. " The ingenuity of man could scarcely have formed a more objectionable precedent or dangerous resolution. It was too great an opportunity not to be taken immediate advantage of Mr. Flood's by Mr. Flood ; his reply was equally severe and able ; he re- rq>iy. presented the resolution as " placing Ireland in a state of " tvranny worse than Russia; prohibiting both the Lords and " Commons of Ireland , under a denunciation of being ene- " mies to their country, from the common rights ofeyerj OF THE IRISH NATION. a3q " British citizen , to discuss the same constitutional question " which had heen so often before, and was at that very mo- " meat, debating in the House of Parliament — depriving '• every Irish subject of his natural liberty, either of speech " or of writing : — a proscription against all who differed with " the honourable gentleman on a vital question respecting his " own country, or who should presume to publish or even to "whisper that difference- — a resolution which would be " scoffed at in Ireland, ridiculed in Great Britain, and be " contemptible in both — a resolution which could have no " operation as a law, no justification as a principle, and which " could have no character to support it, but those of folly " and of tyranny. " He therefore moved an adjournment. The tide , however , flowed too strong against Mr. Flood Unfortunate personally. It was the great object of the Government to con- g^'™ °[ quer him first , and then neutralize his adversary 5 and even Flood, those who were determined to negative Mr. Grattan's motion, also determined to negative the motion of adjournment, be- cause it was Mr. Flood's 5 and a considerable majority decided against it '. Mr. Grattan then proposed another declaratory resolution , stretching away from the real facts as to any po- litical application of those that existed, but unaccompanied by most of the former objections-, and, at all events, leaving both his own and Mr ..Flood's principles nearly where it found them 1 The division was ninety-nine to thirteen against Mr. Flood's motion , though the whole House saw clearly that 3Ir. Grattan's resolution could not possibly pass ; yet so strong was the opposition to any thing proposed by Mr. Flood , that an adjournment was rejected. This debate, so near the termination of the session , appeared at first very disagreeable ; but in the event it had great effect ; and the embarrassments which Mr. Grattan's resolution, if carried, must necessarily have created, was a very strong jngredient amongst those considerations which induced the British Par- pament voluntarily to pass an Act of Renunciation , which Mr. Grattan had thought unnecessary, before the Irish Parliament could meet again to disciiss the subject, when the accumulating dissatisfaction of the nation might have given rise to more distracting measures. 2/,o RISE AND FALL Mr Grat- a t the commencement of the altercation. Mr. Grattan mo\ ed cions motion. that leave was " refused to bring in the (Mr. Flood's) Bill. '■'• because the sole and exclusive right to legislate for Ireland " in all cases whatsoever, internally and externally, had been " asserted by the Parliament of Ireland , and had been fully, " finally , and irrevocably acknowledged by the British Par- " liament. " This resolution obviously stated some facts which did not exist. No final irrevocable acknowledgment ever bad been made by the British Parliament. On the contrary, acts had been done , and declarations made by the Minister himself, that a future treaty would be necessary to render the arrangement full , final , or irrevocable. Mr. Flood's Mr. Flood saw the weak point, and he possessed himself of it. He altered his language , became satiric , and ridiculed the resolution as the " innocent child of fiction and of fancy." He congratulated Mr. Grattan on changing his lone , and de- clared " that he would willingly leave him in the full en- " joyment of this new production of his lively imagination." Mr. Grattan's motion then passed without further observa- tion , and the House adjourned. Mr. Moat- V. IS'o further proceedings of importance look place in fo^bJiiT'an lne House of Commons during the session , except two rao- irisii Navy, tions f ]yj r# Montgomery, of Cavan County, for leave to brinjr Ncatived. in a Bill to build Irish men of war for the protection of the trade of Ireland. This motion appeared loo distinct, and was of course negatived. He also moved for an address to the King, to reinstate Mr. Flood in his office of \ ice-Treasurer, from which he had been dismissed for supporting his country. This would have been just, but it was not eligible. Mr. Fitzpa- trick received it with civility, but it was also negatived, as encroaching on the prerogative; and on the 27th of July, the Parliament Duke of Portland prorogued the Parliament, with a speech prorogue . ^jailing all the advantages Ireland had received under his paternal administration; and thus ended the public trans- i ra- ses- OF THE IRISH NATION. aiji actions of his Grace the Duke of Portland's first viceroyally to the Irish nation. VI. This session of the Irish Parliamen t was the most interest- Most ing and important ils history records; important , not to Ire- 1 P^ ant land only, but to the best interests of Great Britain; illustrat- ive of the first and finest principles of civil liberty ; and a lecture on the rights and foundations of rights, by the esta- blishment of which alone the independence of nations can be attainable, or, being attained, — preserved. It displayed a scene of loyalty and of forbearance in the Irish nation, un- equalled in the history of any armed people. It proved the pos- sibility of an irresistible democratic power, roused without commotion ; the entire population of an extensive country converted into a disciplined and independent army, to assert its liberties, yet , in the pursuit of that most animating of all objects, preserving perfect peace and substantial loyalty. It shewed an independent and patriotic army, able in one day to crush or to drive every relic of usurpation from ils shores for ever, with a moderation almost incredible; accepting, as a Moderation kind concession , those natural rights which it had the power ofIreknd - of commanding; and , with a liberal and generous confidence, peculiar to its character, honourably, but fatally, insisting on no further guarantee for her constitution , than the faith of a government which had never before omitted an opportunity of deceiving her. The Duke of Portland's proroguing speech to the Irish Par- Duke of liament , July 27 , 1782 , is in itself the most unsophisticated i, .',!,', i'l,,^ tissue of hypocrisy on record, totally unparalleled in the his- speech, tory of the British Empire, or of any Minister who regarded either the law of nations, or the character of the sovereign. It was emphatically delivered by a Viceroy, who , a few years afterwards, in 1800, in his place in Parliament, unblushingly declared , that he never considered the treaty between Eng- land and Ireland (consummated by himself) as final. His Grace's speech , addressed , in the name of the King, to the as- */i'a RISE AND FALL sembled Peers and Commons of Ireland, on llie prorogation of thai Parliament, is of the greatest importance, as con- nected with the events of 1799 and 1800 •, and when that speech is compared with a subsequent speech of the same no- bleman in the Peers of England , not only an Irish subject, but even a disinterested citizen of the world , would draw con- clusions in no way favourable to bis Grace's political intc- grily. It was, however a useful lesson to all people, to trust their statesmen just so far and so long as their interest or their party called for their consistence, — His Grace was pleased to speak as follows : — • The great and constitutional advantages you have se- " cured to your country, and the wise and magnanimous con- tc duct of Great Britain , in contributing to the success of your •■steady and temperate exertions, call for my congratula- " lions, on the close of a session which must ever reflect the 1 highest honour on ihc national character of both kingdoms. •■ It must be a most pleasing consideration to you, to re- elect, that in the advances you made towards the seltle- " ment of your constitution, no acts of violence or impa- iC lienee have marked their progress. A religious adherence " to the laws, confined your endeavours within the strictest " bounds of loyally and good order-, jour claims were di- " reeled by the same spirit that gave rise and stability to the " liberty of Great Britain , and could not fail of success, as "'■ soon as the councils of that kingdom were influenced by " the avowed friends of the constitution. li Many, and great national objects, must present them- " selves to your consideration during the recess from parlia- " mentary business; but what I would most earnestly press ' ; upon you , as that on which your domestic peace and hap- '• piness, and the prosperity of the Empire at this moment , " most immediately depend , is to cultivate and diffuse those •nlimenls of affection and confidence which are now liap- " pily restored between the two kingdoms; convince the OF THE IRISH NATION. 2/,3 •' people in your several districts, as you are yourselves con- " vinced , that every cause of past jealousies and discontents ;c is finally retrieved; that both countries have pledged their " good faith to each other, and that their best security will %; be an inviolable adherence to that compact; that the im- " plicil reliance which Great Britain has reposed on the ho- '? nour, generosity, and candour of Ireland, engages your " national character to a return of sentiments equally liberal " and enlarged •, convince them that the two kingdoms are now " one, indissoluhly connected in unity of constitution , and " unity of interests-, and that the danger and security, the " prosperity and calamity of the one , must equally affect the " other — that they must stand and fall together. " CHAP. XVI. I. Bills to carry into effect the concessions of England had insufficiency been passed through the British Parliament with unusual ex- pedition. The sixth of George the First, declaratory of the dependence of Ireland, had been repealed; and the arbitrary dictum of Blackstone, that favourite Druid of modern Britain, had been abandoned by his countrymen. But it quickly be- came obvious , that though Mr. Grattan's declaration of griev- ances had left to the Irish Parliament a certain latitude for reclaiming their constitutional rights in detail, he had not foreseen to what lengths those details might extend , or the danger of attempting to conclude or narrow discussions on that intricate subject. His address to the Ring now appeared to have so contracted in its tenour the claims which the de- claration of grievances, if not specifically, had virtually al- luded to, that many of the most important of Irish constitu- tional rights had been thereby altogether passed over; and concessions of England had been accepted of, without those guarantees which the invariable practices and principles of Bii- tau s sures , i RISE \ND FALL tish government theretofore, rendered absolutely indispens- able to the permanence and security of Irish independence. Had the constitutional arrangement been complete and final, and the concessions of Great Britain as sincere as they appeared to be liberal , and without any view to ulterior re- vocation , never would two nations have been placed in an attitude more powerful and imposing, or pregnant with hap- pier consequences to the interests and prosperity of both \ — they would have been firmly united by indissoluble ties, and bound to each other by a Gordian knot, which nothing but the scythe of time could have divided. But unfortunately, England was not sincere. Her cabinet remained mentally in- tolerant-, and Ireland , after ten years of unexampled prosper- ity-, was again destined to future miseries, equally unforeseen and unmerited. Jl was for a moment supposed that commercial jealousies towards Ireland , those eternal enemies to every thing gener- ous or cordial , bad been at least partially excluded from British councils, to make room for a more just, liberal, and enlightened policy. Had it been so, the interests of both na- tions would have found their common level in their mutual prosperity ; the moral and physical powers of both would have been invigorated and embarked in the same cause, attract- ing and consolidating their united strength into one impenetr- able mass, which would have defied all the enmities, the machinations, and the powers of united Europe. Arrangements of such a nature, founded on so strong and broad a basis, might have been durable as the ancient towers of Ireland, of which even tradition cannot trace the origin, but which neither time nor the elements have as yet had the power to dilapidate. Ireland was disposed, for a time, to be contented with her Parliament : — suspicion is not one of her characteristic feelings; — she looked at every object through the sunny medium of her own bright and warm generosity : and threw herself at once into the arms of her sister countrv OF TIJE IRISH NATION. 2/,5 She did not, or she would not, till forced l>v its glare upon her vision , see the false and fatal artifices by which her inde- pendence was surrounded* She disdained to suspect those on whom she had already lavished a nohle confidence-, and she fancied she beheld all her better fortunes circling, like a glory, round the brow of her new-horn freedom. A phenomenon so novel and captivating, absorbed for a time the reflection of the people, and concealed from them that treacherous reservation, which subsequent events have proved to have then lurked behind the faithless, but specious language cf the Yielding country. However, the matter was suddenly brought to a decisive issue. After a lingering indisposition , the Marquis of Rock- ingham , the only link which bound the Whig ministry together, ceased to exist. This loss was irreparable : — the cabinet became incomplete, and could not be recruited; — its members suspected each other, — and the nation suspected them : — and , but a short period had elapsed , when the most unnatural and corrupt ministerial coalition in the annals of British government, between Mr. Fox and Lord North, jus- tified the suspicions of both the people and the parties, and taught Ireland what she might expect from the consistency of British ministers. II. A temporary confusion was the consequence of the Death at Marquis of Rockingham's death. However, an entire new ^ e R ™^,"! ministry was formed, and public affairs in England appeared ham aud its •, .. , ,, c .1-I-, consequences. to be acquiring at least a semblance ot some stability. In Ireland, the scene entirely changed. The Marquis of Rockingham, no more, — the administration of England re- modelled without being improved ; and Earl Temple sent over to supersede the Duke of Portland, and to take his chance of governing and tranquillizing the Irish people , as circumstances might warrant. His Excellency was accompanied to Ireland by his brother, Earl Tem- Mr. (now Lord) Grenville, in the office of Chief Secretary 5 Li * Lord ieutenant. RISE AND FALL a person not adapted to the habits of that people, the tempi i til the times, or the circumstances of the country ; — a proud English gentleman, deficient in that modulation and flexibility of character so useful to a minister, at times when he cannot control , and so peculiarly serviceable at all periods to the temporary rulers of the Irish nation ; and as he and his family assumed a leading part, eighteen years afterwards, in the suppression of that constitution which he then came over professedly to complete, it becomes necessary to allude to some of those public qualities which have distinguished that personage in his political capacities on both occasions. Mr. Gren- Mr. Grenville had improved , by unremitting assiduity, ary. whatever talents nature had entrusted him with ; and so far as they could be extended, he worked them up into very consider- able reputation ; and never failed to exercise them with firmness , though not always with discretion , and occasion- ally with inconsistency. 11. s ciia- He commenced his public course in an Irish office, and he pursued it till he arrived at the British Cabinet. — In both he was efficient: but in the first he was mistaken , and in the latter he was overrated. Too unbending for the crown, and too aristocratic for the people, he sought influence from both, without attaching himself to either-, and, like the coffin of Mahomet, he was suspended between attractions. The popu- larity of the man was circumscribed by the austerity of the courtier-, and the ambition of the courtier, counteracted by the inflexibility of the statesman. His powers were inferior to domination , but his pride superior to subserviency; his party therefore have been placed in a long abeyance, but which certainly could not be well justified , cither by the policy of the stale , or by the gratitude of the ruler. i.„, I Tern- The Viceroy, though ;i grander personage, was a very in- i 1, ferior statesman. He was a man of business; not less proud - yet rather more accessible than his brother, and would have worked his way heller had he been aided by a more elastic ract< Ol THE IRISH NATION ?. t7 secretary. They both mistook their course; thej began where they should have concluded ; and acted upon the vain idea of diverting away the attention of an ardent people from an animating object , by the novel purity of pecuniary retrench- ments. On this erroneous principle , they passed over more important concerns, and proceeded to the detection of offi- cial peculations with unprecedented activity: they even sa- crificed to this delusive, and comparatively frivolous object . one of the highest officers, and one of the most extensive political connexions in Ireland. Earl Temple and his brollker thus selling to work steadily, as men of business , laboured Id gain a confidence amongst the people by financial reforms , before they had established a foundation for deserving it by constitutional services. III. However, few acts of the first Temple administration gave the Irish nation any important grounds for complain I or for suspicion. Every day discovered and exposed some new official delinquency, and every day brought its dismissals or iLs punishments. In other times, and under other cir- cumstances, this meritorious exertion would have had its lull weight, and received adequate approbation; but that momen! was not an ordinary one 5 a financial reform was but a second- ary object , and was soon considered rather as an interrup- tion to the view of constitutional arrangement, and leading away the attention of the nation from great measures, by those of comparatively unimportant consequence. This system failed in all its objects ; the nation saw and despised the prin- ciple — they were not in a humour to relish naked financial arrangements — the idea of national independence had filled iheir minds, and popular tranquillity should have preceded financial retrenchment — then it would have been grateful . now it was contemptible. The Viceroy, however, persevered in ids official reforma- tions-, and though he obtained no credit from the bodv of the 248 RISK AND FALL people . he appeared lo make considerable progress amongst the aristocracy of the patriots. Amongst those whom Lord Temple selected to aid him in this plausible reformation of public abuses, was a person, who, from that period , continued an active, and on some occasions, a distinguished member of the Irish Parliament. On the question of a Union , he made himself particularly remarkable, and had nearly ended his mortal career in sup- porting the Minister. Mr. Corry .Mr. Isaac Corrv, the son of an eminent merchant in New- a principal . , , , J , _ . . „ . . instrument of'ry , had been elected representative in Parliament for his Lord Temple. na i' ivc town , and commenced his public life under the pa- tronage of that dignified Irishman , Mr. John O'Neil , with great advantages. His figure and address were those of a gen- tleman, rather graceful and prepossessing-, and though not regularly educated , he was not badly informed. He was a man of business , and a man of pleasure •, he had glided over the surface of general politics, and collected the idioms of superficial literature; he possessed about a third rate public talent; — his class of elocution in Parliament was sometimes useful , and always agreeable; but on momentous subjects he was not efficient. In facing great questions, he frequenllv shrunk back — in facing great men , he was sufficiently assum- ing. His public principles were naturally patriotic ; but his interest lost no lime in adapting them to his purposes. He sought to acquire the character of an accomplished financier, but he was totally unequal lo the mazes of financial specula- tion ; and there he altogether failed. His private habits and qualities were friendly and engaging, — his public ones as correct as his interest would admit of. \> a reward for his fidelity lo the Irish Minister of 1799 , he succeeded in the firsl object of his life — the supplanting of Sir John Parnell in the Chancellorship of the Irish Exche- quer. Bui il added little to his emolument, and nothing to OF TIIK IRISH NATION. a/, his reputation. He wrangled through the Irish Union as a ministerial partisan, and exposed himself as a financier in the Imperial Parliament. His influence was neutralized when he lost his country — his pride was extinguished when he lost his office; and he was defeated at Newry, in which he thought himself established. Like others of his repenting countrymen , he withdrew from public life , upon the purchase of his inte- grity, regretting past scenes , and disgusted with the passing ones. He lingered out his latter days in an inglorious retirement , the prey of chagrin , and the victim of un- importance. As a private friend, it is impossible but to regret him; as a public character, he has left but little of celebrity. Lord Charlemont and Mr. Grattan , dazzled by specious appearances, placed much confidence in , and formed some- what of a political connexion with, the new Lord Lieutenant. But they soon found that it had become imperatively necessa- ry to change the tone of their representations to Government-, and during the recess of Parliament , they adopted language very different from , and much stronger than that which they had conceived to be sufficient during the last administration. The interval between the prorogation and the meeting of a new Parliament, comprised a period of great importance in Irish history, and merits considerable attention , as bearing strongly on the subsequent transactions which extinguished its constitution. IV. The armed Volunteers had now assumed a deliberative Proceedings capacity. Political subjects became topics of regular organized of the Vo1lq - discussion , in every district of Ireland, and amongst cvery class and description of its population. They paraded as soldiers, and they debated as citizens; and but few days passed over, in which they did not exercise in both capacities. More than 1 5o,ooo Volunteers now appeared upon their regimental muster-rolls; prepared to join their standards the moment their counlrv demanded their exertions; — an army so con- i$o RISK AND FALL slilulcd, must have been strong — an army so animated, musl have been invincible. The Catholics now became also practically active in the same cause — considerable bodies of that body now took up arms, — formed regiments in several districts , and placed them- selves entirely under the command and control of their Protestant officers and fellow-subjects. All was unanimity iu the armed bodies ; but a general discontent and suspicion, as to the conduct of Great Britain, appeared in rapid progress; and proceedings more than usually alarming were occurring every moment throughout the whole nation. Many collateral and important constitutional points now successively appeared to have been omitted in the claim of rights-, and many remained unaffected by the repeal of the I iiglish statute , but which sooner or later must necessarily give rise to new and great collisions. The debates of the last Session , inconclusive in their results , had , without re- medying these difficulties , inflamed the people ; and a new paroxysm of discontent actually seized upon the entire popu- Strong re-lalion. The Volunteers, however, soon placed the matter oppose Eng- beyond all doubt or argument; they again entered into deci- hsix Laws. s j ve resolutions , no longer to obey, or suffer to be obeyed , any statute or law theretofore enacted in England, and to oppose their execution with their lives and fortunes '. The magistrates refused to act under them — the judges wen greatlv embarrassed — -no legal causes could be proceeded on under the authority of any of the British statutes 3 , though ' A few resolutions of the Volunteer cor|is will serve to shew the spirit and temper of the whole : — the most important will he detailed in the Appendix. ' Resolutions, County o/Monaghan. — " H'c , the High Sn f.riff , Foreman . and Guano Juky of the County of Monaghan , assembled , Lent As- sizes 1782 : — " Thinking it now peculiarly necessary to declare our sentiment 1 ■ respecting the fundamental and unduuhted rights of this nation, We u< OF THE IRISH NATION. iSi naming Ireland — no counsel would plead them — no juries would find for them — the operation of many important laws, theretofore in force , was necessarily suspended ; and matters seemed verging towards great perplexity. The general dissa- tisfaction made rapid progress , assumed a more decisive attitude, and every discreet person became alarmed for the consequences. The discussion and arrangement of those numerous consti- tutional and legal difficulties, though complicated and irritat- ing, appeared absolutely indispensable. It became impossible longer to support the terms of the address to His Majesty, or to argue that " all constitutional questions between the two " unanimously declare , that we will, in every situation of life, and with " all the means in our power, assert and maintain the constitutional rights " of this kingdom , to be governed by such laws only as are enacted by the " King , Lords , and Commons of Ireland , — and that we will , in every " instance , uniformly and strenuously oppose the execution of any statutes , *' except such as derive authority from said Parliament , pledging ourselves " to our country, and to each other, to support, with our lives and fortunes , " this our solemn declaration ; and further, we bind ourselves , that we " will yearly renew this necessary vindication of our rights , until such " time as they shall be explicitly acknowledged, and firmly established. " Thomas Corry, Sheriff, "Samuel Madden, Foreman, and Fellows. " Resolutions entered into by the Corps of Dublin Volunteers , on Friday , the ist of March , 1782 , — His Grace the Duke of Leinster in the Chair : "Resolved, That Great Rritain and Ireland are, and ought to be, " inseparably connected, by being under the dominion of the same King, " and enjoying equal liberty and similar constitutions. " That the King, Lords, and Commons, of Ireland only, are com- " petent to make laws, binding the subjects of this realm; and that we " will not obey, or give operation to any laws , save only those enacted " by the King, Lords, and Commons of Ire/and, whose rights and priyi- " leges , jointly and severally, we are determined to support with our lives " and fortunes. u Signed (by order) "John Williams, Sec. " ■x5i RISE AMD f ALL " nations were at an end for ever ; " — the fact was practi- cally negatived , and all reasoning on the sufficiency of the simple repeal , daily lost its weight amongst the people. Bad effect* V. ^Vhilst these important subjects were in agitation , and sion^etwee man Y mens opinions remained undecided in Ireland , the Grattan ilu d conduct of the British Parliament and of the British Ministry justly confirmed all the suspicions which had been entertained as to the sincerity of Great Britain. Every day during the ses- sion of Parliament discord had been augmenting : Mr. Flood was frequently victorious in the argument; but Mr. Grattan was always victorious in the majority. Their contests were, at first , moderate ; but, at length, discretion was abandoned on both sides, and gave way to altercations, abounding in eloquence , but too personal and too acrimonious to be re- corded in these memoirs. This violent difference of opinion between those two great men , of course communicated its effects , more or less , amongst all their supporters, and became injurious to the general cause of the country. Mr. Grattan firmly believed that he was right ; and he would not recede. His pertinacity formed a rallying station for some of the old courtiers, who hated both men , but Mr. Flood most, and gave them a pretence for their re-embodying against the country. Strong parlies in Parliament had assailed Mr. Flood : be stood at bay, and no local statesman ever shewed more talent, more judgment , more constitutional knowledge, and effective firmness, than he did in this memorable contest. This divided stale of the Irish nation was exactly what the Ministry were desirous to bring about. It somewhat discre- dited all the Irish parlies, gave breathing lime to tin* British Cabinet; and if disunion had extended itself materially to the people, it would have given the Government an opportunity of making arrangements entirely conformable to their own objects. This dividing system , however, became entirely de- feated by the injudicious conduct of sonic Members of the OF THE IRISH NATION. i53 British Parliament , who could not restrain their chagrin at concessions which they disapproved of; but carried by their zeal beyond their discretion , their injudicious conduct united parties in Ireland , as against a common enemy. Events now rapidly succeeded each other , to impress the Irish nation with a thorough conviction that they had to deal with a Government, from whom , neither political sincerity nor cordial concession could be further expected. VI. Sir Geonie Younsr, a member of the British Parlia- Sir George ° ° 7 louug. ment, neither a native nor a resident of Ireland, had been placed in the office of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland , as a sine- cure reward for his Parliamentary support of the British Go- vernment. It was an office during pleasure only •, and therefore no person holding that office could act contrary to the desire of the Government which appointed him. Yet so circum- stanced , Sir George Young, in his place in Parliament, did oppose the Bills of Concession to Ireland, and the repeal of 6th George I. which had been brought in by the British Ministers themselves ; he also protested against the power of passing such Bills by the English Parliament, and disclaim- ed the power of the King himself to relinquish the inhe- rent rights of the British Legislature to legislate for Ireland. No person , therefore , could suppose , that Sir George Young , a dependent placeman , and partisan of the British Ministers , durst have so acted, or have ostensibly opposed the King and his Government , without the express desire or implied concurrence of the Ministers themselves. The effect of such a speech, by such a person , at such a Effect of moment, was almost electrical ; but a much weightier autho- "young's rity against the independence of Ireland soon succeeded it. speech. Lord Mansfield ( though one of the greatest , was an arbi- trary, and , in some points , one of the most mischievous judges that ever sat upon the English Bench), notwithstand- ing the repeal of the 6th of George the First by the British 254 RISE AND FALL Parliament , proceeded to entertain ; in the Court of Ring - Reneh , at Westminster, an Appeal from the Court of King's Bench of Ireland 3 observing, dial "■' be knew of no law dc- " Driving the British Court of its vested jurisdiction.' LerdMans- The interest of money in England was bialy five per cent. . ';;'; l ;;;;";^ t in Ireland it was 5Lr ? - and Lord .Mansfield had placed very large sums on Irish mortgages , to gain the additional one per cent. His Lordship well knew that such Irish investments were, in their nature, a troublesome species of security; but that thev were not likelv to gain any additional facilities by the ap- pellant's jurisdiction being taken from the British Courts and transferred to Ireland herself : — hence his Lordship's reluc- tance to part with it. These considerations were not concealed by his Lordship. He was forced however to yield to circumstances: but he never did it with a good grace. Conseqoen- ^ II. The effect of this proceeding was sufficiently alarming : Ipcaches! *** ^ )Ut anotncr exciting circumstance immediately took place , of still higher order. The English Parliament passed an Act, re- gulating the importation of sugars from St. Domingo to all His Majesty's dominions in Europe. Ireland was a part of His Majesty's dominions in Europe \ and this statute was construed as of course embracing Ireland , and thereby con- stituting an act of external legislation over Irish concerns , r.iitishPar-by the King of England, and Parliament of Great Britain , theh-ownlct without the concurrence of the Irish legislature. This, bow- ever , was rather a refinement of construction 3 but the conduct of Lord Abingdon , in the British Lords , rendered all further confidence in the slate of the arrangement between the two countries , as it then stood, totally inadmissible : — it was loo explicit to be mistaken. LordAbing- Lord Abingdon, equally adverse to the rights of Ireland , B^gWhtto Allowed , in ihe House of Peers, the example of Sir G«8»ge passtheBill. Young in the House of Commons ; and totally denying th< authority of the Ki tie and ihe Parliament of England to enlan- OF THE IRISH NATION. *5S cipate Ireland , he moved for leave to bring in a declaratory Hill to rc-asserl the right of England to legislate externally in the concerns of Ireland. This remarkable Bill staled , " that wt the Kings of England being masters of the British Seas for " eighteen centuries , and the Western Sea , which sur- •' rounded Ireland, belonging to the Kings of England , the " British Parliament had the sole right to make laws to re- " gulate the commerce of Ireland, etc. It was impossible now for the Irish nation longer to re- main silent. The aggregate of all these circumstances went clearly to a simultaneous attack upon the new independence of Ireland , and a decisive proof of what might occur when Great Britain acquired sufficient vigour to reassert , with any prospect of enforcing, her supremacy. Lord Abingdon's attempt was candid and direct , and , above all others, alarmed the Irish people. The Volunteers beat to arms throughout the whole kingdom \ above 120,000 paraded. The Volunteers March was played by every band, and sung by every voice the war hymn of Ireland. All confi- dence in the sincerity of the British Ministry — its Cabinet — > its Officers — its Parliament, was dissipated; and there were not wanting persons who believed and disseminated their opinion , that the rights of Ireland were actually betrayed. The danger and confusion of the times hourly increased ; Mr. Flood preserved his firmness and his dignity, and gained much ground amongst the people. The repeal of the 6th George I. could no longer be urged by Mr. Grattan as a gua- rantee 5 the sincerity of England could no longer be relied upon 5 the people began to act for themselves ; and the Anglo- Irish Government was driven back to its old practices , and endeavoured , bv every means within its power, to diminish the number and overwhelming weight of their Parliamentary opponents. But the Volunteers were in line : the People cried to arms; the British Cabinet now trembled for the conse- quences of their own duplicity; yet they had neither honor 256 RISE AND FALL to relinquish their system , nor courage to support it : they reluctantly perceived it was totally inoperative-, and at length became sensible to the imminent dangers of their own situa- Engiandbv tion . They felt the impossibility of either evasion or resist- mitted her ance ; and early in the ensuing Session the British Ministry and usurpation t j ie 15 r i tish Parliament, without any stimulating debate, and and relin- _ t - ° quished for without wailing for further and peremptory remonstrances tT^ leffiskte ^ rom Ireland , passed the most important statute that ever for Ireland. } ia j been enacted as to the affairs of Ireland, — a statute unequivocally and explicitly renouncing all future right to legislate for Ireland. They thereby appeared to have abrogat- ed for ever that principle of legislative usurpation which they had for so many ages pertinaciously and unjustly exercised. Anno vicesimo tertio GEORGII III REGIS. Remincla- CAP. XXVIII. — An Act for removing and preventing all doubts which have arisen , or might arise, concerning the exclusive Plights of the Parliament and Courts of Ireland , in matters of legislation and judicature ; and for preventing any writ of error or appeal from any of His Majesty's Courts in that kingdom from being received, heard, and adjudg- ed in any of His Majesty's Courts in the Kingdom of Great Britain. — Whereas, by an Act of the last Session of this present Parliament, ( intituled An Act to repeal an Act , made in the Sixth Year of the Reign of his Late Majesty King George the First , intituled An Act for the better se- curing the Dependency of the Kingdom of Ireland upon the Crown of Great Britain), it was enacted, that the said last mentioned Act, and all mailers and things therein con- tained, should be repealed: And whereas, doubts have arisen whether the provisions of the said y\cl are sufficient to secure to the people of Ireland the Rights claimed by ihem , to OF THE IRfSH NATION. 2^7 he bound only by laws enacted by His Majesty and the Par- liament oftliat Kingdom, in all cases whatever, and to have all actions and suits at law, or in equity, which may be insti- tuted in that Kingdom , decided in His Majesty's Courts there- in finally, and without appeal from thence. Therefore, for removing all doubts respecting the same , may it please your Majesty that it may be declared and enacted , and be it de- clared and enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal , and Commons, in this present Parliament assembl- ed, and by the authority of the same, that the said right claimed by the people of Ireland, to be bound only by laws enacted by His Majesty and the Parliament of thai Kingdom , in all cases whatever , and to have all actions and suits at law or in equity, which may be instituted in that Kingdom , decided in His Majesty's Courts therein finally, and without appeal from thence , shall be, and it is hereby declared to be established and ascertained for ever, and shall, at no time hereafter, be questioned or questionable. ind. — And be it further enacted, by the authority afore- said, that no writ of error or appeal shall be received or adjudged, or any other proceeding be had by or in any of His Majesty's Courts in this Kingdom , in any action or suit at law or in equity, instituted in any of His Majesty's Courts in the Kingdom of Ireland; and that all such writs, appeals, or pro- ceedings shall be , and they are hereby declared null and void to all intents and purposes; and that all records, transcripts of records, or proceedings, which have been transmitted from Ireland to Great Britain , by virtue of any writ of error or appeal, and upon which no judgment has been given or de- cree pronounced , before the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two , shall , upon application made by or in behalf of the party in whose favour judgment was given , or decree pronounced in Ireland, be delivered to such l 7 258 RISK AND FALL party, or any person by him authorised to apply for and re- ceive the same. VII. This most important measure was brought into the Bri- tish House of Commons by Mr. Townshend, — passed through botli Houses, and received the Royal assent without debate and with very little observation. In England it was cautiously held out neither in the light of a new concession to Ireland, nor of a relinquishment of any then existing supremacy of Great Britain-, but as a consequential declaratory part of a general constitutional arrangement entered into between the two nations. In Ireland it was represented as not presuming to create a new, but merely to define a pre-existing constitution. These were wise constructions, and in these points of view gave no alarm nor jealousy to either country; while it seemed to consummalc the desires and objects of the Irish nation. Eng- land had now surrendered all the interests and concerns, constitutional and commercial, external and internal, which Ireland claimed , into the hands and guardianship of her own legislature. To many, this great and finishing concession ap- peared a conclusive, magnanimous, and sapient measure of the British Ministry. Irish freedom appeared complete; her independence as a nation legislatively acknowledged for ever. The great outline of her constitution appeared to have been drawn irrevocably, the possibility of reassumplion was regard- ed as chimerical , — and nothing but commercial arrange- ments remained to be adjusted by the mutual good will, and according to the reciprocal interests of the two nations. For a moment, general happiness, great cordiality, and invincible strength , seemed to be in store for the British Empire, as the result and reward of this wise and honourable confederacy of two independent nations. A union of powers and of interests more dignified , substantial, and invigorating to a people , and more ennobling to an empire, never had existed. And it is griev- ous to contrast that moment of pride and strength wilb the dfi OF THE IRISH NATION. 25o, solating measure which in eighteen years afterwards sacrifi- ced the pledged honour and good faith of one nation, to annihi- late the independence and paralyse die prosperity of another.' Mil. This legislative renunciation of British supremacy , Mr.Grattan . ,. rr • . f • sti " perver- however, appeared to some in a different point of view. sely op p OSCS Mr. Grattan , and many persons of great talent , considered Mr> Flood - that statute rather a confirmation than a relinquishment of British supremacy, and still adhered more strongly to the ad- equacy of simple repeal in preference to such a renunciation j and many considered that it did not go far enough. The ar- guments on both sides were carried on with great warmth and pertinacity ; and the doubtful security of Irish independ- ence was debated upon the construction of that very statute which was enacted to confirm it. This Act of Renunciation , however, appeared to have a The remm- • t -li . i , .1 • ciation Act conclusive operation.lt was conceived by many , that nothing con firmedMr. further was necessary to be done , but such as the Irish Pat- F1 . ood ' s doc - liament was now in itself competent to enact. But though the measure tended to give a strong confidence in the good inten- tions of the British Parliament, it came too late to satisfy the Irish people as to the purity of their own. On the contrary, it convinced them of either its inefficiency or its corruption , or the Renunciation Act of the British Parliament would have been totally unnecessary. Mr. Flood's argument now appeared not only triumphant in Ireland, but fully acknowledged , and legislatively acted upon , even by Great Britain herself. The unfortunate opposition in the Irish Commons, and the still more unfortunate majorities of that House, which had scouted doctrines and measures thus subsequently admitted to be just and necessary, by the voluntary acts of England herself , made a deep impression on the Volunteers of Ireland. It was true they had acquired their liberties , they had gained 1 A full experience of thirty-two years has proved unanswerably the truth of this observation. 2 6o RISE AND FALL their independence ; but they still had to secure it. The Re- nunciation Act of England had discredited the Irish Parlia- ment with the Irish people. But it had its apology. It had been so long enfeebled and corrupted, — so long within the iron trammels of usurpation , that the chain had become habitual, and therefore it was more to be dreaded that its broken links might be rivetted anew , and Ireland , in lapse of time, sink again under the same power which had originally enslaved it. The Irish Declaration of Rights had been one of those sudden events which ages might not again produce; it was the power- ful struggle of an enslaved people, and the irresistible energy of an extraordinary man, uniting to command the acquies- cence of a corrupt legislature. Without the people , the Parliament would have been neu- tralized ; and without the man , the people would have been unsupported : and it was indisputable, that whilst the work remained as yet unfinished, the Irish Parliament had slackened in its duties, and relapsed into its old habits of a corrupt and indolent confidence, contrary to every principle of prudence and foresight, and the opinion of the nation : — the Irish people, therefore, as they gave credit to the British Parlia- ment for voluntarily conceding what their own Parliament had refused , naturally lost all confidence in the future con- duct and purity of their own legislature ; — a suspicion but too justly founded , and which has given rise to consequences deeply interesting to the fate of that country. CHAP. XVII. LordCharie- I. These historic incidents have been anticipated, to give a mom's courtly i earer i ns j„| lt into the interesting and important debates propensities. ° . which immediately succeeded them. During the Marquis of Rockingham's lifetime , Earl Charlemont , always virtuous but often feeble , had found something most congenial to him- self in the refined habits and mild plaintive disposition of that OF THE IRISH NATION. 261 nobleman ; and was led , by his love of order , to conceive a visionary amalgamation of popular rights and ministerial ge- nerosity ; and the fundamental object of all British Cabinets — disunion amongst Patriots , seemed likely to gain much ground through so debilitating a doctrine. Those who were guided by Lord Charlemont's tranquil credulity and courtly moderation, had been disposed to be content with simple re- peal. But Mr. Flood had seen the crisis , and had boldly thrown down the gauntlet. Mr. Grattan had as boldly taken it up , direct hostilities commenced ; and the same Parliament , which for a moment had been all confidence and unani- mity, arrayed itself for combat under two powerful leaders. Mr. Flood had become most prominent amongst the Irish pa- Comparison triots ; he was a man of profound abilities , high manners , and Flood. great experience in the affairs of Ireland. He had deep infor- mation , an extensive capacity, and a solid judgment. His experience made him sceptical — Mr. Gra Han's honesty made him credulous. — Mr. Grattan was a great patriot — Mr. Flood was a great statesman. The first was qualified to achieve the liberties of a country — the latter to untangle a complicated constitution. Grattan was the more brilliant man ■ — Flood the abler senator. Flood was the wiser politician — Grattan was the purer. The one used more logic — the other made more proselytes. Unrivalled, save by each other, they were equal in their fortitude ; but Grattan was the more impetuous. Flood had qualities for a great Prince — Grattan for a virtuous one •, and a combination of both would have made a glorious Mon- arch. They were great enough to be in contest ■ — but they were not great enough to be in harmony, both were too proud , but neither had sufficient magnanimity to merge his jealousies in the cause of his country. It was deeply lamented that at a moment , critical and vital to Ireland beyond all former precedent , an inveterate and almost vulgar hostility should have prevented the co-operation of men , whose counsels and talents would have secured its 262 RISE AND FALL Conse( i ucn - independence. But that jealous lust for undivided honour. ces of tlieir ' , J jealousy to the the eternal enemy of patriots and of liberty, led them away even beyond the ordinary limits of Parliamentary decorum. The old courtiers fanned theflame — the new ones added fuel to it — and the independence of Ireland was eventually lost hv the distract- ing result of their animosities , which in a few years was used as an instrument to annihilate that very legislature, the preservation of which had been the theme of their hostilities. This irreconcileable difference of opinion between two of the ablest men of Ireland , generated the most ruinous con- sequences for that ill-fated country. Both had their adherents, as pertinacious as themselves. The simple repeal had contented Mr. Grattan and Earl Charlemont ; the Benuncialion Act was enforced by the perseverance of Mr. Flood and the people , and still considered inconclusive. Both parties adhered to their own conviction — nothing could warp the opinions of either — and to the days of their deaths, their opinions remained unaltered ; and events proved that both were mistaken. riie people jj g those two statutes, — bv daily political discussions enlightened , J J J I learn the true amongst the Volunteers, — and by a multitude of literary situation. ' r publications , circulated with activity , the people were at length informed of the plain , true facts of their own case and situation. They were reminded , as at their first formation , that Great Britain had long usurped the power of binding Ire- land by acts of their own Parliament , and that Ireland had thereby been reduced to a state of constitutional slavery ; that the British Government , intending to carry its usual usurpation to an extraordinary length , had passed an Act in " the British Parliament ," during the reign of George the First ," binding Ireland by British statutes ," cutting offal once every branch of Irish liberty' ; — tbal this statute did not ' When the Author uses the term liberty, as connected \yith Ireland, lest his application of that term might be misconceived, lie thinks M right to state that he applies the term ** liberty, " previous to 1782, in conti.i- OF THE IRISH NATION. a63 affect lo originate any new power by England ; but declared peremptorily tbat such a right had always existed in the Eng- lish Parliament , and always would be acted upon when it suited the convenience of the British Ministry. They were re- minded, that when the Irish nation became too wise and too powerful to be longer retained in subjection, England (in order to pacify the Irish nation ) had herself voluntarily repealed that statute declaratory of her pre-existing power ; but did not, by tbat repeal, renounce the right which she had so long exercised, nor did she in any way declare that she would never re-enact it; — that the same right remained, in abeyance ; nor had England admitted, in any way, that she had been originally erroneous in enacting it. III. These being the plain and undisputed facts of the case, Discussion. it was thence argued that the mere repeal of the declaratory statute , so far from definitively renouncing the existing right of legislation over Ireland , confirmed it \ and , by repealing, only enacted the expediency of discontinuing its exercise under existing circumstances. The statute which bad declared that there existed such a pre-existing right in England lo bind Ireland , was indeed repealed by England ; but still , though the declaration was repealed , the right was not renounced , distinction to the then existing constitutional subserviency of that country. From 1782 to 1800 , he uses it as a constitutional quality, actually and fully enjoyed by Ireland; and after 1800, as a constitutional quality actually relinquished ; because he thinks , and always has thought, and that in unison with the avowed opinion of many of the King's present law-officers and judges of Ireland, that no detached distinct nation can be said to possess the attributes of a constitutional liberty without a resident legislature of her own, to regulate her own concerns ; and because he conceives the Union between Great Britain and Ireland , considered abstractedly as a union , has too much of the " imperium in imperio'''' remaining , to be a perfect union of two nations; and too little of it to be a federal compact ; and he considers that the tie of connexion between England and Ireland , as it stood on the 1st day of January, 1800, was the most perfect, firm, and advantageous union (illustrating the term "liberty"), that human wisdom could have devised. 264 KlSE AND FALL and remained only dormant till it might be advisable , under a change of circumstances , to re-declare it by a new statute. And Argu- The simple repeal of any statute certainly leaves the origi- nal jurisdiction untouched , exactly in the same situation as before the repeal of it, and with an undiminished right to re-enact it as might be convenient : and the 6th of George the First, its enactment and repeal , stood exactly in the same situation as any enactment and repeal of any ordinary statute of the same monarch. It was therefore argued, that it had become indispensably necessary, for the security of Ireland , that the British Parliament should , by statutes of their own , not only repeal the Act declaratory of Irish dependence, but also expressly and for ever renounce the existence of any such legislative authority over Ireland , or future renewal of such usurpation, without which renunciation Ireland had no guarantee for her constitution. Had the slatule of George the First been an assumption of a new authority to legislate for Ireland , its simple repeal would have at once admitted the usurpation of such modern assumption ; but as that statute was ihe recognition and decla- ration of pre-existing authority, coeval with the British Par- liament itself, a repeal could not be binding on any future Parliament, which might, at any future time, be disposed to re-enact it. But a statute of the British Parliament and the King of England, by his royal assent, directly renouncing the pre- existence of such assumed right by England , pledged all future Parliaments (as far as Parliaments can be pledged) , to the same principle, and also definitively pledged all future Kings of England against any future re-assumption or exercise of such power over the Kingdom of Ireland ; and though the Kings of England and Ireland must always be the same indi- vidual, the realms were totally distinct, their crowns were distinct , though on the same head ; and Ireland , possessing her own independent legislature, anj such future attempt by OF THE IRISH NATION. z65 a King of England would then be a direct breach of the law of nations, and a dereliction of his Irish office by the King of Ireland. These arguments ' became a universal subject of discussion ; and were rendered of still greater interest by debates , which every day arose on other points interwoven with the arrange- ments. ZSumerous British statutes had been enacted, expressly naming and legislating for Ireland , as if enacted by its own parliaments. All these remained still in activity, and great inconvenience must necessarily have arisen from an imme- diate and indiscriminate suspension of their operation. None were enacted in Ireland to supply their places ; and great difficulties were occurring. Modern England could not be humiliated by generously declaring that her ancestors had exceeded their constitutional authority as to Ireland. On the contrary-, it should have been her proudest boast to have done justice by avowing it. This was not humiliation , — it was true glory ; and when England , shortly afterwards , actually renounced for ever, by the act of her own legislature , her domination over Ireland , she could not have been much gratified by the temporizing complaisance of the Irish Par- liament. IV. It is also very remarkable , that though Mr. Walshe and the Recorder alone divided against the address of Mr. Grat- «&« ' The arguments used by Mr. Flood and Mr. Grattan on this intricate point, and which finally decided the fate of Ireland , branched out into so many parts , — were debated with such ability by both parties, that though the arguments may be compressed, the strength and beauty of the language never can be given in any publication. At all events, those arguments have been published by a number of persons, and partly appear in Mr. Grattan's speeches, published by his son. The Author, however, never being on that point of the same opinion as Mr. Grattan , mentioned to him his dissent and his difficulty as to the terms in which he should publish the points and issue of those arguments ; and the Author has no mode so authentic as by Mr. Grattan's letter to himself on that subject, obviously not a private one, but rather intended , in point of subject, to lie made public- 266 RISE AND FALL tan , in a very short time afterwards there was scarcely a Member of Parliament , or a man in Ireland , who did not concur decidedly in their opinions; and even the British ministry and the British legislature , by their own voluntary act, confirmed their doctrine. Public discussions on one great subject seldom fail to involve reflections upon others, and these naturally brought the Irish people to discuss the imper- fections of their own Commons House of Parliament , and to perceive that , without a comprehensive reform of that depart- ment, there was no security against the instability of events and the duplicity of England. The following letter, however, from Mr. Grattan to the Author, appears to throw new and material light upon the subject, and to developc the individual views and politics of Mr. Grattan himself, more clearly than any speech or docu- ment heretofore published. This letter also proves, more than volumes, the insincerity of the Duke of Portland and the English Government : their distinction between the words " recognised " and " establish- ed, " leaves their political reservation beyond the reach of scepticism. This letter shews palpably the ruin that a want of co-opera- tion between two great men brought upon the country, and , above all , it incidentally exposes the courtly, credulous, and feeble politics of Earl Charlemont, so injurious to the public cause, and so depressing to the vigour and energies of its greatest advocate. To Mr. Ponsonby's chance remissness on a future crisis , is attributable the ultimate loss of the Irish legislature, as Lord Charlemont's political courtesy was, on this, fatal to its secu- rity : — patriots without energy, as bees without stings, may buzz in sunshine, but can neither defend their hive, n/ '//;;<-/// 4 i ■ OF THE IRISH NATION. 277 of Filzgibbon seldom hazarded an attack, being certain of discomfiture. ' Mr. Curran was appointed Master of the Rolls (Mr. Pon- sonby then Lord Chancellor). He was disappointed in not obtaining a legal situation more adapted to his description of talents. He was also chagrined at not having obtained a seat in the Imperial Parliament , and at length resigned his office , upon a pension of 2,700/. per annum. He died at Brompton , on the iZfth of October, 1817, after a short illness, and now "not a stone tells where he lies." His funeral was private, and he was buried in the yard of Paddington Church. The Author knew him well. He had loo much talent to last — every thing is worn out by incessant action. He was never fond of show, and in his latter days he both sought and obtained obscurity. Of the close of his life I have heard much, and credit little. CHAP. XVIII. I. That unparalleled army, the Irish Volunteers, had now Volume ceived e King. ascended to the zenith of their character and prosperity. " They had liberated their country from a thraldom of seven centuries — their numbers, their altitude, and respectability, had conquered their independence from a more powerful nation , without bloodshed. The King received at his court , and his levees, with apparent cordiality, Volunteer officers and soldiers who without his authority, formed an army un- connected with his Crown , and independent of his Govern- ment : they acted without pay, and submitted to discipline without coercion. 1 Mr. Curran and Lord Clare, whilst the latter was Attorney-General , had on one occasion a controversy which could only be terminated by ;> personal battle. The combatants fired two cases of very long pistols at each other, hut certainly with very bad success and very little eclat ; for they were neither killed, wounded, satisfied, nor reconciled; nor did cither of them express the slightest disposition to continue the engagement. 278 RISE AND FALL The regular forces paid them military honours; the Par- liament repeatedly thanked them for supporting a constitution upon which their establishment had undoubtedly encroached. They were adored by the people , dreaded bv the Minister, honoured by the King, and celebrated through Europe. They had raised their country from slavery, and they supported their Monarch against his enemies. They were loyal — but determined to be free; and if their Parliament had been honest, Ireland would have kept her rank, and the nation preserved its tranquillity. The rise and progress of that insti- tution have been already traced; its decline and fall must now be recorded. Happ) -state At this period, Ireland appeared to have nothing to desire but capital and industry. She was free, she was independent, populous , powerful and patriotic 5 her debt did not exceed her means of pavment ; but of trading capital she had insuffi- cient means , and her industry was cramped by the narrowness of her resources. All the materials and elements of industry were within her own realm , and the freedom of trade she had acquired , now promised a stimulus to her commerce which she had never before experienced. The people were united 5 Catholic and Protestant were on the most cordial terms ; the voice of patriotism had exorcised the spirit of discord — the Catholic for the moment forgot his chains, and the Protestant no longer recollected his ascendancy — peace, order, and security, extended over the whole Island-, no army Progress!- was required , to defend the coasts — no police was wanted, vcly prosper- l(J p reserve tranquillity — neither foreign nor domestic enemies could succeed against a prospering and united people. Had the ardent nature of Ireland been then tempered by calm and persevering judgment — had ordinary foresight controlled or guided her zeal — and had rational scepticism moderated her enthusiasm , one short session of her own Parliament might have intrenched her independence, and OF THE IRISH NATION. 279 established her constitution , beyond the power or the in- fluence of all her enemies. Untoward destiny, however, had decreed that unfortunate and ever mal-governed Island to fall into the error by which individuals so often meet their ruin. Having obtained successes beyond their expectation , a mist obscures their vision ; they know not where to stop, they rush blindly to the dangers that surround them , and lose by indiscretion what they had achieved by fortitude. It was justly feared that the too sensitive, credulous , and enthusiastic Irish, in a fallacious paroxysm of gratitude, might raise the drawbridge of their fortress for the admission of their enemies , and , amidst the dissensions of the most able and honest of their warders ' , those who sought their over- throw might again penetrate into her citadel. II. The unfortunate difference of sentiments between Untoward Mr. Flood and Mr. Grattan , by enfeebling the authority of f t i, e coiii- both , had diminished the securitY of the nation. Mr. Flood's " on bttvTee, J ■I Flood aud diffidence of government was most congenial to the prospec- Grattan. live interests of a people long enslaved. The energy of patriots had achieved , but it required the wisdom of statesmen to secure, their newly-acquired constitution. Both, however, united in opinion as to the necessity of a free and independent Parliament to protect that constitution,- but no unanimity existed between them or throughout the country, as to the details of that measure. By this unfortunate collision , the old courtiers obtained breathing time, and the Minister acquired hope. The hundred eyes of the British Argus were keen to discover the failings and frailties of the Irish patriots ; nor did they watch long in ' The jealousies, the adverse feelings, and discordant proceedings of Mr. Flood and Mr. Grattan, and their partisans, prevented the adoption of measures which might have secured the country against any attempt at union or annexation. — See the Speech of Lord Castlereagh , on i5th Jan nary, 1800. 280 RISE AND KALL vain; for a measure, which forms one of the most remarkable incidents of Irish History, soon gave the English Government an opportunity of resuming its operations against that devoted country. a second The line of reasoning alreadv described , as to the state of meeting 1 " 10 of lne Parliament , and the necessity for its reform, made a deep delegated Vo- an( J general impression, and was indefatigably circulated throughout the whole nation. Discontent quickly sprang up amongst the people , and their meetings increased. At length delegates from several Volunteer regiments again assembled at Dungannon , to consider the expediency and means of an immediate reform of Parliament. Hence originated one of the most extraordinary scenes in the annals of any country. Air. Flood III. Mr. Flood was now considered the most able leader of eains S round - the Irish patriots. Those who supported his opinions, still pertinaciously contended , that the measures already conceded were not, in themselves, guarantees for the constitution which had been acquired , or in any respect sufficient for the pre- servation of independence ; that confidence in the existing state of her Parliament , would lull the nation into a fatal slumber, from which she might be awakened only by a new assault upon her freedom ; and that no arrangement , without an explicit, formal, and unequivocal recantation by England, of her original usurpations, ought to have been accepted. Arguments. They argued that such an avowal w r ould certainly have been obtained , if the Parliament had not been corrupted or deceived. They contended, that if England should refuse such a declaration, that, in itself, would be positive proof of her general insincerity ; and that if she haughtily persisted in retaining the theory of her usurpation , alter the practice of it had been relinquished , it was evident she would watch the first favourable moment to impose still stronger chains than those that she had Loosened, This strong language had already been freely used to rouse the friends of Ireland to a conviction of the versatility which OF THE IRISH NATION. -28 1 her Representatives had given such practical proofs of. It was most assiduously disseminated , and not without founda- tion, that the Irish Parliament, in its recent proceedings, had clearly evinced more talent than prudence , and less wisdom than declamation ; that whilst patriots were debating in the House , the Secretary was negociating in the corridor ; and therefore it was necessary to the public safety to strangle corruption in its cradle, and give the people a due confidence in the integrity of their Representatives. It was considered , by many men of influence and fortune, that a reform of the Commons House of Parliament was attainable , and should be then attained. The national arran- gements daily appeared more imperfect , for they had not been conducted with the sound principles of cautious states- men , nor had satisfactory guarantees been established for their future security. As Parliament was then returned , no well-founded confidence could be placed in its permanent protection \ and it was most judiciously stated by Mr. Flood , that " the speech of a puzzled Minister, put into the mouth " of an embarrassed Monarch," was at that moment the only security for the continuance of Ireland as an independent nation 5 — that such independence might rest solely upon a single word of two syllables ', on which every future Minister might found fallacious reasoning , and place his own equivo- cal construction. This was, in truth , prophetic. It was also more than insinuated , by men of clear and dis- passionate judgment, that the struggles in Parliament were becoming rather for the supremacy of men and party, than for the preservation of the Constitution ; that they were blind, rancorous, and ill-timed individual contests, dangerous to the State , and irritating to the people. They argued , that the piercing eye of the British Minister would not fail to watch for the moment when , the Irish being enfeebled by their 1 The word Final. 282 RISE AND FALL dissensions , he might destroy that independence which the architects of 1782 had attempted to establish, without guard- ing against the insecurity of the foundation. So far these arguments were true, but men stopped not here. It was sug- gested that a requisition to the Parliament, to reform itself, urged by the people , in their civil capacities only, might not have sufficient weight to command attention. If, however, 3oo delegates were chosen by Volunteer regiments, from men of fortune, influence, and character, it would prove to the Parliament that a reform was required by those who had a right to require it, and could enforce it. They might send the heads of a Bill to Parliament through the hands of their own memb- ers $ such a mode of presentation could create no cavil ; and , above all , the very same men who would deliberate as volun- teer delegates, and prepare such a bill , would be , in a great measure, those who, in their civil capacities, composed the several grand juries of the nation , many of them being memb- ers of the Legislature. The measure was almost unani- mously determined upon. A Natiopal \\ . Three hundred delegates were now chosen by dille- Convention *J J decided on. rent corps , and the iolh of November (i^B3) was proclaim- ed for the first sitting of the Grand National Convention of Ireland , within the precincts of the two Houses of Parlia- Their first ment, the members of which were at the same period exer- ineetiug. . . , . , . . r . _ T cising their legislative lunctions. Never was any country placed in a more extraordinary or critical situation. This state of affairs in Ireland was then seriously felt by the English Cabinet — it became alarmed. — Ireland now stood in a high station — No longer ( in the language of Mr. Gibbon) a remote and obscure Island, she formed a new feature on the face of Europe , and might assert her rank amongst the second order of European nations. In constitution and in laws, municipal and international, she was funda- mentally the same as England ; her legislature was, in theory, allogether independent. The individuality of their joint Mon- OF THE IRISH NATION. a83 arch constituted the indefeasible basis of their federative connexion ; but their respective Parliaments alone could make laws to bind their respective people , to regulate their own commerce , and to pay their own armies. Ireland had wisely and magnanimously recorded her loyalty, and proclaim- ed her determination, that" whilst she shared the liberty, " she would share the fate of the British nation ; " — but the compact was reciprocal, and she had bound herself 710 fur- ther. England could not with apathy regard a military Conven- tion, meeting and operating on political subjects, in the cen- tre of the Irish Metropolis. The attention of England was by the adoption of these extraordinary proceedings naturally roused to a more detailed review of the statistical circumstances of Ireland. By the ac- quisition of a free commerce, and of unshackled manufac- tures , the revenue and resources of Ireland consequently be- came susceptible of extraordinary improvement , and might soon have equalled those of many continental nations — and solely at her own disposal and appropriation. In the capability of military power also she had few rivals \ at that period she contained ( and continues to contain ) more fighting men , or men who love fighting , and who might be collected in a week, than any other stale in Europe. The powerful and elevated position she was then about to occupy, and the unprecedented steps by which she had mounted to that eminence , could not be regarded without strong feelings of solicitude by the sister country. The example of Ireland had afforded a grave and instructive lesson to all oppressed and vassal people, and a wholesome lecture to griping and monopolising Governments. Of all the extraordinary circumstances which the state of Ireland then displayed , none was beheld, at that critical period, with such mingled wonder and alarm by England , as the rapid progress of the Volunteer associations. And the bold step of a dele- iS.' t RISK A.!N1> FALL gated convention the increasing numbers, discipline, and energy of that military institution , had no precedent , nor. in the changed state of Europe, can the phenomenon ever appear in any country. The Volunteers, now actually armed and disciplined , and whose delegates were now to he assembled were said to exceed i5o,ooo organized men. But whatever the force then was, the Volunteer recruits, if called on, would have comprised the male inhabitants of nearly the whole island , including every rank , religion , and occupation. Such a force , though self-levied , self-officered, and utterly independent of any control or subjection, save to their own chosen chiefs, still remained in perfect harmony amongst themselves, in entire obedience to the municipal laws of the country, holding the most friendly and intimate intercourse with tin 1 regular forces , and , by their activity and local know- ledge, preserving their country in a state of general and un- precedented tranquillity. This extraordinary military body, equally ready to shed their blood in opposing a foreign enemy, supporting their own liberties, or, defending those of England — combining the moral and physical powers, and nearly the entire wealth, of an immense population — nothing could have resisted \ and whatever ground of alarm the British Government might then have felt , had Ministers been mad enough , at that period, to have attempted its direct or compulsory suppression , instead of its attachment to the sister country, the result would inevit- ably have been a prompt separation of the two islands. Ireland was in this slate at the first meeting of the National Convention , and the Parliament assembled about the same time. — The Volunteer elections were quickly ended without tumult or opposition-, and their 3oo delegates, each escorted by small detachments of "Volunteers from their respective counties, entered the metropolis, and were universally re- ceived with a respect and cordiality impossible to be depicted: OF THE IRISH NATION. a85 — yet, all was harmony and peace. Many men of large for- tune , many of great talent , and many members of the Lords and Commons , had been elected delegates by the Volunteers, and took upon themselves the double functions of Parliament and of the Convention. The Royal Exchange of Dublin was first selected for the meeting of the Volunteer delegates. Whoever has seen the metropolis of Ireland , must admire the external architecture of that building ; but it was found inadequate to the accom- modation of a very large deliberative assembly. It was there- fore determined that the Rotunda (being then the finest room in Ireland) was best adapted for the meeting of the JNalional Convention. This was, and continues to be, the great assem- bly-room of Dublin. It consists of a circular saloon of very large dimensions, connected with numerous and very spacious chambers , and terminates Sackville Street , the finest of the Irish metropolis. It is surmounted by a dome, exceeding in diameter the Irish House of Commons, and was perfectly adapted to the accommodation of a popular assembly. This saloon, and the connected chambers, had been fitted up for the important purpose to which they were to be appro- priated. Rut little did the Irish people conceive, that what they then considered as the proudest day their nation had ever seen , only preceded a little time her national dissolution, and even prepared the grave in which her new-gained inde- pendence was to be inhumated. Every measure, however, had been previously taken to prepare that splendid chamber for this unparalleled assembly, and to receive the delegates and their escorts with every possible mark of respect and dignity. Volunteer grenadiers were ordered to attend on the Convention as a guard of honour during their sittings , and to mount an officer's guard at the house of the President; whilst volunteer dragoons patrolled during the sittings, in the utmost tranquillity, throughout the entire city. The detach- ments of countrv corps, who had escorted their delegates, 286 RISE AND FALL having a great emulation as to their appearance and equip- ments on this grand occasion , had new dresses and accoutre- ments, and it was agreeable to sec the noble hunters on which a great proportion of the cavalry were mounted. The horse had entered Dublin in very small detachments, from exceed- ingly numerous corps, and, when occasionally formed into line, the great variety of their dresses, ensigns, and equip- ments, presented a splendid, but very striking and singular appearance. ' The citizens of Dublin excelled in their hospitality -, they appeared in crowds every where, forcing their invitations on the country Volunteers; every soldier had numerous billets pressed into his hand ; every householder, who could afford it , vied in entertaining his guests with zeal and cordiality. Everv thing was secure and tranquil ; but when it was consi- dered that 3oo members bad virtually proclaimed a concur- rent Parliament , under the title of a National Convention , and were about to lead a splendid procession through the body of the city, to hold its sittings within view of the Houses of Legislature, the affairs of Ireland seemed drawing fast to some decisive catastrophe. But it was also considered , that the Convention was an assembly of men of rank , of fortune , and of talent. The Convention, therefore, possessed an importance and a consistence that seemed to render some momentous consequence absolutely inevitable : the crisis did arrive, but it was unfortunate ; Ireland tottered, retrograded , and has fallen. ' The author had heen sent to town with a detachment of his father's caVftlry corps, the " Cullenagh Hangers ; " their undress was white, wilh lilack velvet facings; the full-dress, scarlet. At the head of these few men , the author felt prouder than an Emperor; it made an impression on his youthful mind, which, even in the chill of age, is still vivid and ani- mating ; — a glowing patriotism, a military feeling, and an instinctive , though a senseless lust /or actual service , arose within him — a sensation which is certainly inherent in a great proportion of the Irish people, and which seldom forsakes tlicin hut wilh their lives. OF THE IRISH NATION. 287 The firing of Iwenty-one cannon announced the first mo- vement of the delegates from the Royal Exchange to the Ro- tunda ; a troop of the Rathdown cavalry , commanded by Colonel Edwards, of Old Court , County of Wicklow, com- menced the procession; the Liberty Brigade of artillery ', 1 Some of the musicians of Dublin, in 1780, had been employed to compose a march for the general adoption of the Volunteer corps throughout the kingdom, that all might be accustomed to march to the same air at their reviews , etc. They composed the following simple-noted march , now obsolete, but of which the author retained a copy, still interesting, ns connected with a recollection of the times , and of that unparalleled Institution. IRISH VOLUNTEERS' MARCH. [rTriiTr..>tl ■%gj 1 r 1 ** ^s^m^m^ -=? ?=llilliillli=gp§ip£pfip zz=*_=*=i iem mmmm It appears ( as a composition) to claim no merit whatever, being neither grand , nor martial; but it was universally adopted by the Volunteers , and was played at all public places, theatres, and in the streets, etc. , by every sort of performer, and on all instruments : at public dinners and meetings it invariably accompanied u St, Patrick's Day in the Morning." — 288 RISE AND FALL Il,, " r . estJ ' l, s commanded by Napper Tandy, witha band, succeeded. Acorn- procession <>l " . ' "*«•»•• the Delegates pany of the Barristers' grenadiers, headed by Colonel Pedder, wilh a national standard for Ireland, borne by a captain of grenadiers , and surrounded by a company of the finest men of the regiment came after, their muskets slung, and bright battle-axes borne on their shoulders. A battalion of infantry, with a band , followed , and then the delegates, two and two, with side-arms, carrying banners wilh motto and in their re- spective uniforms- — broad green ribands were worn across their shoulders. Another band followed playing the special national air alluded to. The chaplains of the different regi- ments, in their cassocks, marched each with his respective corps , giving solemnity to the procession , and as if invoking the blessing of Heaven on their efforts , which had a won- derful effect on the surrounding multitude. Several standards and colours were borne by the different corps of horse and foot; and another brigade of artillery, commanded by Coun- sellor Calbeck , wilh labels on the cannons' mouths ', was escorted by the Barristers' corps in scarlet and gold ( the full dress uniform of the King's Guards); the motto on their but- tons being " Vox populi supremo, lex est. " The procession in itself was interesting, but the surround- ing scene was still more affecting. Their line of march , from the Exchange to the Rotunda , was through the most spacious streets and quays of the city, open on both sides to the river, and capable of containing a vastly larger assemblage of people than any part of the metropolis of England. An immense body of spectators , crowding every window and house-top , would be but an ordinary occurrence, and might be seen and described without novelty or interest; but, on this oc- casion, every countenance spoke zeal, every eye expressed solicitude , and every action proclaimed triumph : green ri- ' Their motto was : — u Oh Lord , open thou our lips , and our mouths shall sound forth thy praise ! " OF THE IRISH NATION. 289 bands and handkerchiefs were waved from every window by the enthusiasm of its fair occupants ; crowds seemed to move on the house-lops ; ribands were flung upon the delegates as they passed ; yet it was not a loud or a boisterous, but a firm enthusiasm. It was not the effervescence of a heated crowd — it was not the fiery ebullition of a glowing people ■ — it was not se- dition — it was liberty that inspired them : the heart bounded , though the tongue was motionless — those who did not see, or who do not recollect that splendid day, must have the mortifi- cation of reflecting , that (under all its circumstances) no man did before , and no man ever will " behold its like again." V. The entrance of the delegates into the Rotunda was Entrance of more than interesting, it was awful. Each doffed his helmet or his hat , as if he felt the influence of that sacred place where he was about to sacrifice at the Shrine of Freedom. Every man knew he was , in some respect , overstepping the boun- daries of the Constitution , but he considered that his tres- pass was for the purpose only of adding security to that Consti- tution which he seemed to transgress. Such a state of things never existed in any other country , consistent with perfect tranquillity. Ireland, however, proved on that occasion her superior loyalty, and gave the retort courteous to all her calumniators. It was a matter of fact that the independence of Ireland had been achieved — that it had been proclaimed in Ireland and in England — that it had been solemnly ratified and confirmed for ever by His Majesty from his throne, as Monarch of both Countries. That compact was therefore firm , because it was federal , and final, and the delegates sought what their own Parliament alone was competent to discuss , and over which England had no control. A partial reform of the representation was a mea- sure which the British Minister himself had the duplicity of proposing in England , yet of undermining in the sister coun- try, even in the face of his own renunciation of all innovation and acknowledgment of the former usurpation.. l 9 ago RISE AND FALL 'Efffaordi- VI. These would, at any other time, have heen subjects r couicid-j- deliberate consideration; but it was too late to reflect; cuce or loca- lities. th e Jig was thrown, and, as if every thing conspired to in- crease the peculiarity of the scene , even the site of the Rotunda , where the Convention assembled , exactly termi- nated the street and fronted the river, on the other side of which , in a direct line , was seen the magnificent dome of the Commons House of Parliament, where 3oo members, returned as representatives of the Irish people, according to the practice of the Constitution , were also deliberating. Those localities excited, in every rational mind , something like a dread of possible collision; it was also a grave and rurious consideration , that the avowed object of the "\ olunteer delegation was, in fact, to degrade the character of the Par- liamentary delegates, and, under the name of reform , convict them of corruption. Embarrass- It was impossible not to perceive, that both were placed in mg situatiou. a situation, which must necessarily terminate in the humi- liation of one of them. It was also remarkable that the Volunteers, who had thus sent their delegates to reform the Commons House of Par- liament , had been themselves solemnly thanked the preceding Session , for their support of the Constitution , by the very- same House of Commons which they now determined to re- organize and reform. It is impossible not to contrast this national convention of Ireland with the democratic assemblies, which, in later days, overwhelmed so many thrones and countries. With what pride must an Irishman call to his recollection the concentration of rank and fortune, and patriotism and Loyalty, which composed that convention of the Irish people! With what pride must the few survivors remember the 600 Irish nobles and gentle- men, assembling peaceably and loyally to demand a reform — an object of all others the nearest to their hearts, and the most necessary to their independence ! OF THE IRISH NATION. 291 Yet the recollection of lhal assembly must also cast a dark shade over the History of Ireland , by transferring a reflection on its proud birth to its humble termination. A delineation of those scenes may appear, to modern readers , an exaggerated episode. That generation which beheld , or acted in those days , is drawing fast to a close ; and whilst a few contemporaries exist , it would be unpardonable to leave the scenes altogether to future historians , who could convey but an imperfect recital of' actions they had never seen , and frigid ideas of feelings they had never experienced. The results of that extraordinary measure may enable poste- rity to do some justice to calumniated Ireland , where loyalty- appears to have wonderfully retained its influence over a powerful, proud , and patriotic assembly, and over an armed and irresistible population , under circumstances the most dangerous and irritating that had ever terminated with tran- quillity in any nation. The Artillery had scarcely announced the entry of the The Deic- delegates into the P«.otunda , when that silent respect which f^R™^/' had pervaded the entire population , during the procession , yielded to more lively feelings 5 — no longer could the people restrain their joy. At first , a low murmur seemed to proceed from different quarters , which , soon increasing in its fervour, at length burst into a universal cheer of triumph , like distant thunder, gradually rolling on , till one great and continued peal burst upon the senses ; — the loud and incessant cheering of the people soon reverberated from street to street , con- tributing the whole powers of acclamation to glorify an assembly which they vainly conceived must be omnipotent — it was an acclamation, long, sincere, and unanimous, and occasionally died away, only to be renewed with redoubled energy- The vivid interest excited by this extraordinary and affecting scene can never be conceived , save by those who were present , and participated in its feelings — nor can time or aee obliterate it from the memory . 29a RISK \TSI) FALL It is not unworthy of remark, that a wonderful proportion of female voices was distinguishable amidst these plaudits. A general illumination took place throughout the city, bands of music were heard everywhere, and never did a day and night of rejoicing so truly express the unsophisticated gratification of an entire population. The Government was astounded, the Privy Council had sat, but were far from unanimous, and had separated without decision. The old courtiers called the scene frantic — but it was not the frenzy of a mob , it was the triumph of a nation , incomprehensible to the vulgar meetings of another country. The scene within was still more novel and impressive. The varied uniforms of the delegates had a very singular ap- pearance; sent from different regiments, no two of them were dressed or armed alike ; cavalry, infantry, grenadiers, artil- lery, generals, colonels, Serjeants, privates ; in fine, all possible varieties of military dress and rank were collect- ed in one general body, destined to act solely in a civil capacity. The cheers, the cannon , the music, the musketry, com- bined to prevent any procedure that day, save that of the Members giving in their delegations , and nominating some officers to act during the Session. CHAP. XIX. The Bishop I. Previous to the meeting of the delegates, the Bishop of ?P err >' tak , ts Derrv had determined to convince the Irish people, that he his si it at the J t ... Couvtntion. was no lukewarm professor of adherence to their interest; his character, already given, is confirmed by every act of his life when in Ireland. He took his seat amongst the Irish delegates , at the Rotunda , with the greatest splendor 5 and , to prove that he preferred the claims of the Irish Volunteers to both bis English rank as Karl of Bristol and his Irish rank as OF THE IRISH NATION. a 9 3 a spiritual noble , he entered Dublin in royal stale , drew up his equipage at the entrance to the House of Lords , as if he hailed to teach the Peers their duly lo their country , and then moved forward to take his seat at the Pvotunda , as an Irish Delegate in the National Convention. Such a circum- stance can be scarcely credited in England: but had not Lord Charlemont's temporizing neutralized his spirit , it is probable that the Convention might have succeeded in its object. It is His splen- not , therefore , wonderful , that a British Peer, an English- man , and above all , a Bishop , taking so decided a part in the cause of Ireland, should gain a popularity that few before him ever had so fully, or perhaps, more justly, experienced. He certainly was sincere; — his proceedings on this occasion were extraordinary, and not unworthy of a special notice. The Lords had taken their seats in the House of Peers, Audpageau- when the Bishop of Derry began his procession to take his try " seat in the Convention. He had several carriages in his suite , and sat in an open landau , drawn by six beautiful horses , ca- parisoned with purple ribands. He was dressed in purple , his horses , equipages , and servants being in the most splendid trappings , and liveries. He had brought to Dublin , as his escort, a troop of light cavalry, raised by his unfortunate and guilty nephew, George Robert Fitzgerald •, ihey were splendidly Processiou. dressed and accoutred, and were mounted on the finest charg- ers that the Bishop or their Commander could procure. A part of these dragoons led the procession , another closed it , and some rode on each side of his Lordship's carriage. Trum- pets announced his approach , and detachments from several \ olunteer corps of Dublin joined his Lordship's cavalcade. He Popularity, never ceased making dignified obeisances to the multitude : his salutations were enthusiastically returned on every side — "Long live the Bishop, " echoed from every window, yet all was peace and harmony , and never did there appear so ex- traordinary a procession within the realm of Ireland. This cavalcade marched slowly through the different streets, 294 RISE AND FALL Extraordi- till it arrived at the portico of the House of Lords , which the House of adjoined that of the Commons. A short halt was then made, the trumpets sounded , the sudden and unexpected clangor of which echoed throughout the long corridors. Both Houses had just finished prayers , and were proceeding to business, and, totally unconscious of the cause , several members rushed to the entrance. The Bishop saluted all with royal dignity, the \ olunteers presented arms , and the bands played the \ olunteers' march. Of a sudden another clangor of trumpets was heard •, the astonished Lords and Commons , unable to divine what was to ensue, or the reason of the extraordinary appearance of the Bishop, retired to their respective chambers, and with great solicitude awaited the result. The Bishop, however, had done what he intended; he had astonished both Houses, and had proved to them his principles and his determination-, — amidst the shouts and cheers of thousands, he proceeded to the Rotunda , where , in point of dignity and importance, he certainly appeared to surpass the whole of his brother delegates. He entered the chamber in the greatest form , presented his credentials, took his seat , conversed a few moments with all the ceremonv of a temporal prince , and then , with the excess of that digni- fied courtesy of which he was a perfect master, he retired as he had entered, and drove away in the same majestic :->lyle , and amidst reiterated applauses, to his house, where A. Guard of the Volunteers had previously mounted a guard of honour. ,",', | lis He entertained a great number of persons of rank at a magni- tude, ficent dinner , and the ensuing day began his course amongst tbe Delegates , as an ordinary man of business. The personal appearance of the Bishop was extremely pre- possessing — rather under the middle size , he was peculiarly well made — his countenance fair, handsome, and intelligent, but rather expressive of a rapidity of thought than of the deliberation of judgment — his hair, receding from his fore- head, gav< a peculiar trait of respectability to bis appearance. OF THE IRISH NATION. ao,5 His manner appeared zealous and earnest, and rather more quick than is consistent with perfect dignity ; but he seemed to be particularly well bred and courteous •, and , altogether, he could not be viewed without an impression that he was a person of talent and of eminence. He appeared always dressed with peculiar care and neatness 5 in general , entirely in purple, and he wore diamond knee and shoe buckles. But what I most observed in his dress was , that he wore white gloves , with gold fringe round the wrists, and large gold tassels hanging from them. The Author was then too young, and too unimportant, to have the honour of any personal accjuaintance with that dis- tinguished prelate-, but the singularity of his habits, his patriotic conduct, popular character, and impressive appear- ance , excited a satisfaction in beholding him , and impressed him strongly on my recollection. The Bishop , in devoting himself to the service of the Emireiyde- Irish people , could have no personal object but popularity. ™*^ d *° the He could be no greater in title ; he was rich , and in health , vigour, and spirits ; his learning was rare , his talents very considerable — in all respects he was an able man. From the moment he became an Irish Bishop he adopted Ireland, built an immense palace in a remote and singular situation , and did numerous acts which nobody could account for. He had His greai many of those qualities , in an eminent degree, which Q» r acqu£emen*f more ancient histories have attributed to the proudest church- men ; but they were in him so blended with liberality , so tempered by enlightened principles , that they excited a very different mode of conduct from his episcopal predeces- sors. However , his ambition for popularity obviously knew no bounds , and his efforts to gain that popularity found no limits. His great failing was a portion of natural versatility , which frequently enfeebled the confidence of his adherents. It was supposed that the gentle , lambent flame of Charle- mont, would soon be quenched in the rolling , rapid torrent 296 RISE AND FALL opposes of the Bishop's popularity, and that the epigrammatic elo- and*Grattan. q uence of Gratlan, cramped or overpowered by the influence of his splendor, would probably be withdrawn from the scene of action. The Bishop soon adopted his course; he paid his whole attention to Mr. Flood. In this he was right. It is not too much to say, that Mr. Flood was, at least, the best educated and deepest statesman , and the most able partisan , in the Irish Senate. First trca- II. Whilst these extraordinary and brilliant scenes were pro- cherousSche- cee Ji nC r j n Ireland, the embarrassment of the British Ministers me oi the lin- ° ' tilth Govern- m u S t necessarily have been on the increase, if possible. They ment again to ,. . . ' .„ , „ . 1 1 ■ r • 1 enslave ire- well knew, that it the Convention succeeded in relorming the Commons House of Parliament, the British Government would lose the use of the only instrument through which they ever could hope to regain their ascendancy, and with this view, and at this critical period, the plot was suggested and the conspiracy formed , to replace Ireland within the tram- mels of the sister country, whenever a feasible opportunity should offer. The sequence of Irish events leaves no doubt of the truth of this observation. These collisions were, to England, a golden opportunity : plans against the Volunteer Associations were deeply laid , and with considerable prospect of eventually succeeding , first ])V working upon the courtly moderation and courteous fee- bleness of the short-sighted Charlemonl, and credulity of Graltan , to dismiss the Convention, and thereby divide and dispirit the Volunteers. And next, by corrupting Parliament and seducing the Irish gentlemen , under pretence of uphold- ing the British Constitution , to recapture the Irish indepen- dence. Whoever reads the political history of these realms from 1782 to 1800, cannot doubt that this object, from that period to the completion of the legislative Union, was never lost Sight of. The British Minister had also reasons nearer home for de- termining to undermine the reforming spirit of the Irish Vo- OF THE IRISH NATION. 297 lunlcers. He knew that if a Reform of Parliament were effec- ted in Ireland, though the same reasons did not exist, yet the same measure could not be long withheld from the English nation ; and as the Parliament of England was at lhat era sup- posed to be ruled absolutely by the influence of the Crown , the control of the Minister would receive a vital blow, which it never could recover. The commercial system of England also, whilst without external rivalship , had no necessity for a special protection. But now she had a rival in the free trade of Ireland , a subject which soon after came under full discussion. The jealousy of England was proved by her commercial propositions , and the Irish Parliament had yet sufficient honestv to resist that inroad. But as a body that had laboured long and much, a lassitude The spirit and relaxation were obviously commencing in the Irish Senate Parliament ' — how long that spirit, which had acquired their rights, declmes - might retain its vigour to protect them , depended on the purity of the representatives — and this was the true reason for considering a reform imperative in Ireland. Whilst , therefore, the subject of Reform is under discus- ReasonsfW ■1 1 r .1 1 • a Reform iu sion , it may be proper to see how tar the then existing state parliament. of Ireland substantially required that measure, or warranted lhat conclusion. She was to commence as a trading country, and her situation on the map of the world seemed to combine many defects and many advantages. She appears partiallv secluded from lhat general intercourse which other Stales of Europe enjoy from their localities. England, on the east, in- tervenes between her and the British Channel and German Ocean ; Scotland intercepts the Northern Seas ; and though the most western point of Europe, and of course well situated for the western commerce , the enterprise and great capital , or jealousy, of England, could have excluded her at pleasure, if unprotected by her own Parliament, from any proportional •»y8 RISE AND FALL participation in the colonial trade '. On a view of the whole, her position might have entitled her to have become a consi- derable emporium; hut jealousy is natural to commercial na- tions, and Ireland would probably have possessed the same lust for monopoly, had she been circumstanced as Great Britain. But the non-importation resolutions of Ireland had alarmed Great Britain, and proved to her to what a zeal of retaliation the Irish people might be urged by any future measures of injustice. The situation of Ireland places her comparatively out of the pale of busy Europe , by the absence of that political interest which the Powers of Europe take in the commerce of other and inferior countries. This was a deprivation which nothing could ever remedy or counteract, but a local legislature, con- stantly resident, and constantly alive to the foreign and do- mestic interests of their country. a Absolutely These were some of the causes which rendered a pure and her^prosper' independent Parliament more necessary to Ireland than loher ,ty " sister country. Ireland never had been a nation of extensive commerce, yet even the narrow channels of her trade were ever contracted by the jealousies and monopoly of England ; and this, in public opinion, rendered a pure Parliament indispensable , as the only ample security against such interference. j 1 It could not be very gratifying to the Irish traders or people, to see the immense colonial and general trade of Liverpool necessarily pass by tin- ports of Waterford and Dublin. Tlie Author has seen a fleet of seventy West Indiamen sail proudly down the Irish Channel to the merchants at Liverpool, and one solitary vessel separate from the Ileet, and steer into the port of Dublin, with SHgar and molasses, for home consumption. " See ante Sir Lucius O'Brien's Speech on the conduct of Portugal, He proposed merely a declaration of war by Ireland against her, and in the end Portugal was obliged to redress her, notwithstanding the duplicity of the British Minister and Mr. Eden. i ride King William's reply to the British Parliament: and in 1 7 rc>i- Perry , before he was aware that there would be any effectual National Con- opposition to himself, found Lord Charlemont actually placed vcotiou. | n t j iat s j fual i on ? w here he might restrain , if not counteract the ultra energies of the reforming parly. This was the very step the Government desired ; Earl Charlemont might be ma- naged, but the Bishop of Derry would have been intractable. Lord Charlemont involuntarily became the tool of Govern- ment , whilst he fancied he was labouring in the service of the people. From this moment the neutralizing system by which its President wished to conduct that Assembly became ob- vious. Every body might foresee that not only theConvention , but perhaps the Volunteer Associations, were likely to droop. Many sensible men had apprehended that the Bishop's po- litics might be too strong ; the very act of his attaching him- self to Ireland proved at once their vigour and eccentricity ; and hence the Presidency of the Convention , in every point of view, became a measure of extreme importance. Man) Memb IV. A few of I he .Members of the House of Commons had en uf ParIia - declined their election to the Convention ' , but some of the « The state of Parliament may be imagined from Mr. George Mfolineux's OF THE IRISH NATION. 3oi ablest and most respectable Members performed their duties ment attend alternately in both assemblies. The Lord Lieutenant and his tion also. Privy Council at the same time held their sittings at the Castle , exactly midway between the two Parliaments — they received alternate reports from each , and, undecided whether the strong or the passive system were least, or rather most, fraught with danger, they at length wisely adopted their ac- customed course , and determined to take advantage of the chances of division, and of the moderation, ductility, and pride of Lord Charlemont. It was artfully insinuated to Lord Charlemont , by the friends of Government , that the peace of the countrY was considered to be in his hands — that he had accepted a situa- tion of the most responsible nature — and that if he did not possess sufficient influence to curb the Convention , he ought at once to resign the trust, and thereby give the Parliament a ground of requiring the immediate dissolution of its unconsti- tutional rival. Lord Charlemont found himself in a situation of great embarrassment. If he held the Presidency, he was responsible for its proceedings ; if he resigned it , he would still be re- sponsible for having countenanced the organization of the assembly — the Bishop would succeed him in his chair — and he would still be considered the inceptive promoter of what- ever might be adopted by his successor. Lord Charlemont's E ar i char- pride resisted his resignation. He was too high to be com-! emouts dl ~ 10 ° lemma. manded — he was too feeble to control , and he found himself in a stale of great perplexity. After much deliberation , he apologizing to the House of Commons for being unable to bring forward a motion of which he had given notice — " As the close attention he had " been obliged to give to the National Convention , did not leave him time " to prepare himself on Parliamentary subjects. " The Members trying the Petition on the Cork Election, adjourned the trial , though the expense was daily very great , as there were some of the Committee who were obliged to attend their duty in the National Convention. 302 RISE AND FALL adopted the suggestions of the courtiers, and was led blindfold to that dceeplious course , which might answer his tranquil objects for the moment, but was beneath his character, and which must eventually have extinguished all the popular influence of the Volunteers, and have destroyed that of the country. In fine, he lost himself ; he sacrificed his country, and determined on a line of proceeding entirely unworthy of his former conduct : — if he could not govern , he resolved to temporize, divide, neutralize, and dissolve the assembly, This fatal system was eventually successful , and his Lord- ship effected the dissolution of that body whose confidence had raised him to so glorious an eminence — by which the British Government now foresaw the possibility of recapturing Irish independence. Lord Charlemont had been seized with a nervous dread of that very institution he had originally been so active in creating*, and entirely, though unconsciously, surrendered himself to the darling objects of a deep and treacherous administration. And here let it be remarked , that the independence of Ireland, which certainly was first achieved by the exertions of the Whigs, was now left unguarded , and afterwards destroy- ed , by the corrupt tergiversation of many members of that same party . The inconsistent conduct of some of the Whigs, and their Place Bill in 1794 ' ■> were the proximate means through which the Union was ultimately effected. Proceedings V. The proceedings of the Convention were carried on for oftheConTen- gome time with the utmost regularity. The rules and orders, and customs of Parliament were adopted, and the meetings 1 The Place Bill, perse veringlv forced by the Whigs upon the Govern- ment , by admitting the vacating of seats 1>\ nominal <>!ii< es ( Escbeatorship of Munster ), enabled I. 'id Gastlereagh to pack the ParliaiJaejat in 1800, with a degree <>l undisguised effrontery never before attempted by any .Minister. See hereafter, Mr. ('row's Letter to lord Belvidere, in which the high crimes ind misdemeanours of Lord (iastlereagh ;ire apparent beyond the power of rcfu'al. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3o'3 were held and continued without any material interruption. Hut when such an assembly had been delegated for the pur- pose of requiring the Parliament to purify itself, and remodel its constitution , it could not be expected that every member could possess similar views or similar feelings, or perhaps observe the most uninterrupted order and discipline in dis- cussions. But the decorum and regularity of the Convention may be best exemplified by observing, that there was not any meeting or discussion of the National Convention of Ireland, from its first to its last silting, more confused or boisterous than what has very frequently been witnessed in the Commons House of the Imperial Parliament. A strong opposition soon arose to the imbecile system of Lord Charlemont. Superior public characters at length as- sumed their stations, and effectively overwhelmed that child- ish affectation of delicacy, so utterly incompatible with the circumstances of the times, and the spirit of the patriots. Yet unfortunately Lord Charlemont was elected, and look the chair as President. The Bishop , disappointed of the chair, lost no time in rendering it a seat of thorns. He look to his council, the man of all others best adapted to give weight and dignity to the measure of parliamentary reform. Lord Charlemont support- ed reform most sincerely. Mr. Grattan was also a sincere and honest friend to a purification of Parliament ; but his favourite scheme , as he said, to begin with , was an internal reform . He partially accomplished that object by the Place Bill, whilst , by one of its clauses, he most certainly lost both the Parliament and the constitution. ' VI. The Bishop and Mr. Flood soon gained a full ascend- The Bishop 1 The Author, when a Member of the Irish Parliament , clearly foresaw the use that any Minister might make of the vacating clause , and strongly opposed that clause in his place, though conceded by Government. The title of a Place Bill was so agreeable to the Opposition , that very few of them ever gave themselves the trouble of considering the details of it. 3o4 RISE AND FALL ami Mr. Flood ancy in the Convention, and many men of* the very first aMendancy. ' ran ^ ' f° rlunc j an ^ influence , took part in its deliberations. Numerous plans were proposed . and reform , of all others the most difficult of political measures , was sought to be too promptly decided in a heated and impatient assembly. Ti.cPariia- By the imprudence of both parlies, the Convention and meutandcon- j ie p ar i; ament wer e driven into a direct collision. After renaon, much deliberation , a plan of reform , framed by Mr. Flood , and approved by the Convention , was directed by them to be presented to Parliament forthwith , and the sittings of the Convention were made permanent till Parliament had decided the question. Mr. Flood obeyed his instructions, and moved for leave to bring in a Bill to reform the Parliament. The Government felt that a collision of the two assemblies was unavoidable. The crisis, however, afforded no opportunity for mature consideration , and it was not long before the danger of so hasty a proceeding was fatally experienced. Government had yielded to the Volunteers when it could not resist them ; but it was not probable that the Parliament would quietly capitulate to the Convention-, whilst the triumph of the Parliament implied not only the destruction of the Con- vention but of the Volunteers. The measure of reform , patriotic and noble , blinded the nation to every consideration but its attainment, actual and prompt-, yet so many persons of character, fortune, and in- fluence, were in both assemblies , thai a discreet and prudent deliberation might possibly have devised means of averting so dangerous a crisis. Desperate The Government resolved to risk a direct assault upon the ',7,',,,,,!,,/'" Volunteers, by refusing leave to bring in Mr. Flood's Bill , because it had originated from their deliberations. Strong lan- guage was used, but with some precaution , even by Mr.Yel- verton , who had been a zealous Volunteer , but was now the Attorney-General. His eloquence was splendid 5 but the hold, restless, arrogant spirit of Fitzgibbon , ever prone to offend, OF THE IRISH NATION. 3o5 to irritate , and to pervert , in a speech replete with the most unnecessary invective , unwarrantable fury and abuse , assailed the Convention , the Volunteers , and the Bill, with Fjtzgibboa's every epithet and allusion that could bring the Government and the Volunteers into a stale of direct hostility. Had his ef- forts been crowned with success, British connexion would pro- bably not have been of three months' duration. The House felt the danger of his conduct , and he was not Most vio- supporled in his philippics. Mr.Curran called Mr. Fitzgibbon a maniac and an incendiary; Mr. D. Daley termed Mr. Flood a demagogue. The debate became quite unprecedented in point of violence and party recrimination , but the good sense of some members endeavoured to moderate the partisans. The Bill, after a dreadful uproar, was rejected by i58 to 49 ' : Bill rejected. i38 of the majority were placemen, and the very persons on whom the reform was intended to operate. It is very Extraordi- remarkable, that it was i38 placemen that rejected the Re- "uce of facts. form Bill in i^83 , and that it was the same number of pla- cemen who carried the Union Bill in 1800 , which , if the reform had succeeded , never could have been passed. Upon this very decision ultimately depended the existence of Irish independence. The Volunteers were insulted — their Bill was rejected without a hearing — their intentions were calumniated — -even their name was reprobated 5 their services were forgotten , and that very corruption which they sought to reform thus had its full revenge. Mr. Conolly — that weak , obstinate, and most inconsistent Mr. Conoi- of the Irish Whigs , whom family and fortune alone could y s have raised from obscurity — endeavoured to give a finishing blow to that virtuous Association 2 , which, in the same place, ' Ninety-three members were absent. 2 After the division , Mr. Conolly moved " That an humble address be " presented to his Majesty, to declare the perfect satisfaction we feel, and " the blessings wc enjoy under his Majesty's most auspicious Government, " and our present happy constitution. " — " And that, at this time, we feel 20 3oG RISE AND FALL he had so often eulogised. He now explicitly denounced the Volunteers as enemies to that Constitution which they had obtained for their country, and which he afterwards surren- dered to the Ministers , against whose measures he had arrayed himself on every important occasion. This too great confidence of the Volunteers, in the success of their measures, had thus led them too rapidly into a pro- ceeding that required the most deliberate consideration. The refusal of Parliament to receive their Bill created a sensation which , for a moment, left the peace of Ireland on the very brink of a precipice. Lord Charlcmont mistook his fears for his prudence $ the\ olunteers mistook their resentment for their patriotism : both were disposed to extremities , and some de- cisive crisis appeared absolutely inevitable. That great and patriotic army, which had the year before received the una- nimous thanks of the Parliament , were, by the motion of a \\ lug , nearly denounced as rebels; and little less than a decla- ration of war against them was voted, even without a division in the Parliament. VII. By this fatal dilemma, resistance or dissolution alone remained to the Convention. The most intelligent of that body determined that a day or two should be taken to reflect on Feeble and the best course of proceeding. But Lord Charlemont dreaded insidious re- , ne ronse nuence of discussion , and decided rather to betray S Ml t 1 ■ .II Of » J Lord ciiarie- his lr List than hazard insurrection , and to adopt the safer step of dissolving the Convention. It is not easy to describe the uneasiness and deep solicitude of the Convention pending that debate. Reporters were per- petually passing and repassing between ilic two assemblies ; the impatience of the Volunteers was rising into a storm-, Earl Charlemont , overwhelmed by his apprehension , saw no course but to induce them to adjourn ; they, however, wailed M it peculiarly incumbent on us to declare our resolution to support tbe same " with our lifts and fortunes. " This was an unequivocal attack Upon the Volunteers ; it was carried. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3o 7 till long after midnight , in a state between anger and anxiety. Lord Charlemont did not oppose, but he duped them. He re- ceived a note from the House of Commons , which he said left no hopes of a speedy decision ; and he had the address and influence to induce the Convention to adjourn till Monday Fatal ad- morning, at the usual hour — -then to decide upon ulterior i ournment - measures, if their Billshould be rejected. Buthis Lordship had secretly determined that they should meet no more ; the death of the Convention was pronounced by their adjournment : and the honest , patriotic , but feeble Charlemont , on the monday morning began to extinguish that institution to which he owed his celebrity, and to paralyse that proud popular spirit to which alone Ireland was indebted for its constitution and in- dependence. VJQL Sunday was passed between his indecision and his ti- midity. In his weak and virtuous mind, pride and patriotism were ranged on the one side-, but imbecility and a sense of in- capacity to meet the crisis , blinded him to the nature of that insidious conduct, which on this, and perhaps the onlv, oc- casion of his life , he meditated against his benefactors. He had a meeting of a few of his friends, most of whom Called a had the same sensations as himself. The Bishop of Derry and meetin g of Mr. Flood appeared like daring spectres to his imagination ; . par he dreaded to meet them at the Convention : and after much deliberation , he decided on a course which detracted from his reputation , and for which even the critical situation of the country could not allow him one point of justification. On the monday morning he repaired to the Rotunda , be- Brcaks his fore the usual hour of sitting. None but his own immediate par- tr "st. tisans were aware of his intention : the meeting was expected to be most important , and the Delegates had no suspicion of his Lordship's early attendance. On his taking the chair, a Delegate immediately arose to T . ° J Iuexcusablc expatiate on the insults which the Convention had received conduct, during the debate of Saturday. His Lordship became alarmed : 3o8 RISE AND FALL ;i protracted statement might give time for the arrival of De- legates , when all his objects would surely he frustrated. H< at once took a step which had scarcely a parallel for dupli- city, and which , though of the shallowest nature, proved the most effectual, btate He instantly silenced the member, as being out of order, on the ground that one House of Parliament never could take notice of what passed in another ; and that the Convention had adopted the rules and orders of Parliament. Thus, by collecting every ray of feebleness and absurdity into one focus, he prevented any continuation of the subject; and whilst he declared the Convention a House of Parlia- ment, resolved to terminate its existence, virtually IX. After some conversation , a farewell address was ra- ti,,,, pidly passed to his Majesty, and his Lordship boldly adjourned fore the full j^g Convention — sine die. The Rotunda was quickly vacated, meeting. l J and when the residue of the Delegates, the ardent friends of the Volunteer body, came to take their places, they found the doors closed, the Chairman withdrawn, and that body, upon which the nation relied for its independence , dissolved for ever. Lord Char- The Delegates , mortified and abashed, returned to their reprobated. y homes ; many friends of Earl Charlemont were soon ashamed of their conduct ; and his Lordship's want of sincerity, for the first lime, was indisputably proved, and underwent well- merited animadversions. The \ olunteer Delegates, having returned to their consti- tuents, could give but a puerile account cither of their pro- ceedings or of their chairman. Every eye now turned on the Earl of Bristol , who became the idol of the people. Whilst Lord Charlemont gently descended into the placid ranks of order and of courtesy, the Bishop rose like a phoenix from the "ashes of the Convention. The Volunteer Corps, in many dis- tricts, beat to arms ; they paraded • — they deliberated — but their bond of union was enfeebled or dissevered. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3o 9 Amongst the weaknesses of Lord Charlemont, he had an Lord Char- odious tinge of bigotry, and was decidedly opposed to the tX^ncc. ™ admission of Catholics to the full enjoyment of the Constitu- tion. The Bishop , with more zeal and much greater abilities, was their warmest advocate. Exclusion on the one side , and toleration on the other , Opposed by became the theme of both. The dispute ran high-, partisans D ' eiry IS 101 ' were not wanting ; the people began to separate •, and this unfortunate controversy gradually terminated in that fatal dissension which never ceased to divide the Irish nation , and at length effected all the objects of mischief that the most ruthless enemies of the Irish could have expected , or have even wished. 3io RISE AND FALL CHAP. XX. Celebrated I. After this fatal event, the Volunteers became less calm vofuntee^-s^to anc * more un S uar ded. The address of one regiment to the the Bishop. Bishop of Derry forms an interesting feature of Irish history, and it gave rise to a reply, such as had not been ventured upon by any public character in either country. A northern corps , of considerable strength , had adopted the patriotic title of the " Bill of Rights Battalion , " and had entered into resolutions to " support their constitution, or be buried under its ruins. " A large detachment of that corps marched from their county, determined to uphold the Bishop's principles , and support his measures, with their lives and fortunes. The address and the answer are strongly illustrative of the spirit of the times, and the embarrassment of the Cabinet. This declaration ran like wild fire throughout the nation. The last sentence was the boldest and most unequivocal , the most daring and decisive , used in Ireland. A British Earl and Irish Bishop, of great wealth, learning, abilities, and of unbounded popular influence , risking his fortune , and perhaps his life , in support of Ireland , was in every respect a phenomenon. His Lordship's desire to put himself at the head of the Irish nation was no longer doubtful , and well was he calculated to lead it to every extremity. All men were now convinced that , had his Lordship been President of the National Con- vention , the moderate and courtly Charlcmont must either have submitted to his standard, or have sunk into nihility. BILL OF RIGHTS BATTALION. Resolved — "That the following Address be presented " from this Battalion , under arms , to the Earl of Bristol , OF THE IRISH NATION 3n '* Lord Bishop of Derry, for his truly patriotic exertions in " support of our rights and liberties. " To the Right Honourable the Earl of Bristol, Lord Bishop " of Deny. The Address of the Bill of Rights Battalion " of Volunteers . " My Loud, — Having, with the eye of silent approbation, ' viewed your conduct, in every stage of its progress, at the ' Grand National Convention of Volunteer Delegates, we ' are impelled, by those generous sentiments that actuate ' the breasts of Irishmen, to offer your Lordship this Address, ' as a mark of affection and of gratitude. " We see, with indignation and concern, the treatment ' which the wise , spirited , and salutary Resolutions of the ' Volunteer Convention have received; but, we trust, the ' virtuous efforts of a united people , under the auspices of ' your Lordship , will cleanse the Augean stable — the noi- ' some stalls of venality and corruption. " The gloomy clouds of superstition and bigotry, those ' engines of disunion , being fled the realm , the interests ' of Ireland can no longer suffer by a diversity of religious ' persuasions . All are united in the pursuit of one great ' object — the extermination of corruption from our Consli- ' tution 5 nor can your Lordship and your virtuous eoadju- ' tors, in promoting civil and religious liberty, be destitute ' of the aid of all professions. " Permit us to assure you , that, as freemen , freeholders, ' and as volunteers, our exertions to effectuate the grand ' work of reformation , shall be as strenuous as the aim is ' important : and that we are , with unfeigned gratitude ' and attachment, your Lordship's most faithful friends. " Signed , by order of the Battalion , " John Oku , Sec. " Reply of the Bishop. 3 1 2 RISE AND FALL A detachment from the Battalion , consisting of eighty rank and file, headed by their lieutenant-colonel, wailed on his Lordship, on the i.\lh instant, at Downhill , and presented, under arms , their address, to which his Lordship was pleased to give the subsequent reply : — " Gentlemen , — When you acknowledged the services of ' your fellow-citizens, in the eounty of Antrim, in the late ' struggle for liberty, you rewarded their toils in that coin ' most valuable to virtuous men •, and your approbation of ' their efforts , in some measure , consoled them for their ' want of success. " But, when you step forth from your own county, to hail : the individual of another, unknown to you but by his ho- ' nest endeavours, and unconnected, except by that kindred ' spirit which seems now, at length , to pervade the whole ' body of Irishmen , and, like a Promethean fire , to ani- ' male an hitherto lifeless mass, the satisfaction excited in ' his mind , by the applauses of men who have a right ' to approve what ihey dare to support, can be known ' only to those who are conscious of deserving what they arc ' fortunate enough to receive. " When the conscience of a patriot bears testimony to ' the truth of the panegyric, and the sincerity of the pane- ' gyrists' praise ceases to be adulation , then they become ' the wholesome food of a manly mind , and nourish that ' virtue they were , at first, intended only to approve. " But, Gentlemen, those who dare assert their own ' rights , should rise above the mean policy of violating the ' rights of others. " There is, in this island, a class of citizens equally re- ' speclable, and infinitely more numerous than those who ' have hitherto oppressed them : — " Men who have long crouched under the iron rod of their " oppressors , not from any dastardly insensibility to their OF THE IRISH NATION. 3i3 " shackles — not from any unmanly indifference lo the in- " alienable rights of men — but from a pious dread of " wounding our common country through the sides of its " tyrants : — " Men , in whose hearts beats at this instant as high a pulse " for liberty, and through whose veins pours a tide of as " pure blood, and as noble too, as any that animates the " proudest citizen in Ireland : — " Men, whose ancestors, at the hazard of their property, " and with the loss of their lives, obtained the first great " Bill of Rights, and upon which every other must be found- " ed — the Magna Charta of Ireland : — " Men, whose ancestors, in the midst of ignorance, could " discriminate between the duties of a religionist and the " rights of a citizen, and who enacted those elementary and " never obsolete statutes of praemunire, which, for centu- " ries, have been an irrefragable monument of their sagacity " in distinguishing, and their fortitude in severing, their " duty to the church of Rome from their dependence on its " court : — " Men, the undegenerate progeny of such virtuous an- " cestors, who , with a firmness worthy of our imitation , and " still more worthy of our gratitude, have endured those " very outrages from their country which their forefathers " spurned at from its sovereign, and who , under a series of " accumulated wrongs, which would heighten the disgrace " of human policy if they could be paralleled in its annals , " have, with a fortitude as unexampled as their oppression , " allowed every thing dear to the human heart to be wrecked, " except their religion and their patriotism — except their " acquiescence to the will of an inscrutable God, and their " affection for a mistaken and deluded country. " But, Gentlemen, the hour is now come, when sound " policy, as well as irresistible justice will compel those who 3 1/ ( RISE AND FALL " demand their own rights, to support their claim by a resti- " tution of those of their fellow citizens : — " When Ireland must necessarily avail herself of her whole " internal force to w T ard off foreign encroachments, or once " more acquiesce under those encroachments , the better to " exercise anew the tyranny of a part, of the community " over the dearest and inalienable rights of others. " For one million of divided Protestants can never, in the "scale of human government, be a counterpoise against " three millions of united Catholics. But, Gentlemen of the " Bill of Rights Battalion, I appeal to y ourselves , and sum- " rnon you to consistency — ' Tyranny is not Government , " and Allegiance is due only to Protection. ' " BRISTOL. " " l^th January, 1784. " II. The Government now became seriously alarmed. Never was any government in greater difficulty. \ ariouswere its advisers at this important moment : those in council, whose arrogance and arbitrary feelings generally outweighed their prudence , strongly enforced the most dangerous of all mea- sures — the immediate arrest of the Bishop. They contended that, by such energy, and by at once depriving the Volunteers of so enthusiastic a partisan , they might check their progress ; but they never reflected on the u.tter inability of Government to enforce that resolution. The daring and dangerous strength of the Bishop's language — the glaring light which , by the last sentence , was thrown upon the conditional terms of allegiance, as settled under the precedent of 1680, though totally inapplicable to the Irish nation , or to the state of its connection with Great Britain, astounded all men. But the Government soon perceived the inevitable convulsion which must have attended so violent a OF THE IRTSII NATION. 3i5 step asFitzgibbon had recommended. It would have been the signal for 100,000 Volunteers rushing to the rescue , and one week would have produced an insurrection : — the smallest spark would now have inflamed the nation. The Government resolved to watch the progress of events over which control might be impossible. This course fully corresponded with their utmost expectations. Many of the most patriotic Volunteers thought the address Some of the Bishop true in principle, but too strong in terms, par- B )°i"o I)S 3 q! ticularlv as it was addressed to an armed corps, in the centre swer t0 ° P strong. of thousands, who could not fail to kindle at the Promethean fire with which his Lordship had so classically animated his oration. The idea of coercing the Parliament very rapidly lost ground , and in a short time it became the general opinion , that Mr. Flood's Reform Bill had been opposed by many upon the principle, that it was rather a command than a solicitation ; and that it would be prudent to give the Parlia- ment a fair trial before they absolutely condemned them. It was thought that the objection being removed, by the dis- solution of the National Convention, a new bill should be a new Bill presented in the ordinary course of parliamentary proceed- sll SS este ings, by members solely in their civil character, and the disposition of the House and the resolves of Government be thus fairly ascertained. The people were severed , but the Government remained compact ; the Parliament was corrupted , the Volunteers were paralyzed , and the high spirit of the nation exhibited a rapid declension. The jealousy of patriots is always destructive of liberty. III. A new event, however, soon proved the weak delusions New mea- of Earl Charlemont. At the dissolution of the Convention , ^lemon" 1 he recommended a reform bill to be presented to Parliament, as emanating solely from civil bodies , unconnected with 3i6 RISE AND FALL military character ' . Every experiment is silly, where ils failure can ho clearly anticipated ; and almost every man in Ireland well knew, that such a bill would be lost in such a Parliament. Mr. Flood, however, tried the experiment, and it failed ; he attempted it without spirit , because he was without confidence. Mr. Gratlan supported it with languor, because it was the measure of his rival. The military hill had been scouted, because it was military, and the civil bill was rejected because it was popular. A corrupt senate never wants a vicious apology. Decline of The Volunteers now drooped, yet their resolutions were teers ° " n " published , their meetings were not suspended, and their reviews continued 5 but these appeared only as boyish shows, to amuse the languid vanity of their deluded general. He passed their lines in military state-, he received their salutes with grace and condescension , and recommended them to be tranquil and obedient ; and , after a peaceable campaign of four hours' duration , composed bis mild and grammatical dispatches, and returned to bis Marino, and to the enjoyment of the more congenial elegancies of literature and of private friendships. The temperate system now gained ground \ some patriots lost their energy, others lost their influence, and the Govern- ment experienced the wisdom of their negative measures. That noble institution, the Volunteers of Ireland, surviv- ed , however, these blows some years. This only luminary of her sphere was, by the devices of the Government, gradually obscured , and , at length , extinguished ! ! Insincerity IV. It was not supposed that the concessions to Ireland had gjojug c 5 "been voluntary on the part of Great Britain. They were only a sacrifice to circumstances , with the mental reservation of 1 The decided opinion of the whole liar , after a long and solemn discus- sion , was that the Volunteers , ^ an armed hodv , had nut divested thems< ] \< of any civil right, political or personal. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3i 7 acting upon ihe original principle, as often as events might facilitate such a proceeding. The egotistical character of the English trader, the avarice inseparable from mercantile education , and the national impatience, under even an ideal rivalship, united in exciting every effort to neutralize the concessions; and it soon became palpable to both nations, that the free trade of Ireland might prove a sore impediment to the gratifications of the English monopoly. England could not so suddenly renounce the force of ancient habit , and of en- grafted prejudices, and become, at onc"e, liberal , enlightened x and magnanimous. No person conversant with the ruling principles of mankind , could suppose that her very nature could change in a day, and that she could be sincere towards Ireland , as long as it was imagined that the two countries had repugnant interests. The insatiable cupidity of British capitalists, and theneces- Cupidity of sities of the British Government , had commenced their coali- J n S lish tra - uers. tion even against the prosperity of England. The extravagance of the Government was supplied with facility , by the usuries of the monied interest , and a rein was given to that bound- less waste of public money, which terminated in an overwhelm- ing debt, and which nearly exhausted financial ingenuity, having not unfrequently assailed the principles and safeguards of her own Constitution. These concessions were likewise rendered peculiarly unpa- latable , by political circumstances. England , at that gloomy epoch , had not been able to retain one disinterested friend or sincere ally in Europe. She had subsidized German men- dicants , and she had purchased human blood; she had hired military slaves from beggarly principalities : but these were not alliances for the honour of Great Britain. The character which England had justly acquired, previously Sordid to the year 1780 , had raised her reputation above that of all te , r t 5t al,sorb P l eunerjustice the powers of Europe. The new attempt on Ireland , pro- ni- 3i8 RISE AND FALL claimed that her sordid interests now absorbed every other consideration. V. The minister's only excuse for his schemes, was the pe- cuniary wants of Government. Rut Mr. Pitt feared that Ire- land would murmur at paying her portion of his profuse ex- travagance. Taxation commenced on luxuries , proceeded to comforts, to necessaries, and , at length, extended its grasp to justice and morality. A treaty for a commercial tariff be- tween the two nations was now proceeded on , and exposed that duplicity which had been scarcely suspected. The Irish , unaccustomed to receive any concession or favour, and Utile versed in the schemes of commercial polity, gave a giddy con- fidence to the dignified terms in which their claims had been acknowledged. Some able men, however, reasoned that the very composition of British Cabinets, the means of getting into power, and of keeping it 5 their private interests, and public object, were decidedly adverse to any liberal partici- Commerc'iai pation of commercial advantages with Ireland. Upon the riff l ?ro"osed "English monopolists alone, ministers could depend for reple- nishing their Exchequer, and for their retaining their power. Men also reasoned, that, if England and Ireland should clash on any point of commerce, aBritish Parliament could not serve two conflicting interests , and an Irish Parliament was not likely to surrender rights she had obtained with so much dif- ficulty and danger. It was, therefore , palpable (as Mr. Fox had mysteriously declared ) that some further international measures were ab- solutely necessary; and as Ireland could now legislate for her own commerce with all the world , it seemed advisable , that a commercial treaty should be contracted by the two countries, which might provide against any collision , and secure to both nations the advantages of the federal compact. Nothing could be more plausible than the theory of this measure , and few things more difficult to carry into execution. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3 19 VI. The detailed debates on these commercial propositions Commercial />!• .. xt' , t» • • propositions. are beyond the range 01 this compact History ■ . nut it is essen- tial to remark upon them with reference to the conduct of (ireat Britain , and it may be proper to allude to the state of Ireland, at the moment selected by the minister for making the first indirect attempt to recapture the independence of that devoted country. The Irish nation was rapidly advancing to eminence and prosperity — her commerce improving — her debt light — the taxes inconsiderable — emigration had ceased , and popu- lation was augmenting : nearly two hundred nobles , and nearly all the commoners, resided on their demesnes and expended their rents amidst those who paid them. — The Parliament seemed to have been awakened to a more sedulous attention to the wishes of the people. Mr. Pitt took advantage Mr. Pitt's of the moment he saw that the nation was in good humour and grateful, and he determined , whilst he flattered their va- nity, to invade their constitution. The state of the Irish court and aristocracy, at this period , seemed particularly favour- able to the experiment. The constant residence of the landed proprietors was an incalculable benefit ; and their influence , in mitigating the avarice of the clergy and the irritating tyranny of the tithing system , was most grateful to the people. The vice-regal establishment was at that period much more Magniffi- brilliant and hospitable than that of the monarch : the utmost r r i s hCourt magnificence signalized the entertainments of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland , and their luxury gave a powerful im- 1 The debates of the Irish Parliament , upon these propositions , were taken with very considerable accuracy by Woodfall, and published by Byrne , in Dublin. They are valuable for disclosing the political characters and talents of nearly all the men of note , then members of the Irish Commons. Scarcely any other document better depicts the arrogant and decided character of Mr. Fitzgibbon, which distinguished him through all the subsequent concerns of Ireland , until , in a characteristic attempt to lord it over the British Peerage , he was politically slain by the Duke of Bedford. 3ao RISE AND FALL pulse to manufactures and industry. It was to be regretted however, that this magnificence was accompanied by circum- stances which formed a new epoch in the habits of Irish so- ciety : a laxity of decorum , in both sexes of the fashionable aristocracy, had commenced , and though the voluptuous brilliancy of the Court was dazzling to the country, it was defi- cient in that proud , elevated dignity which bad generally distinguished that society in former vice-royalties. INothing could be more honourable than the conduct of the Duke of Rutland-, but the sudden relaxation of manners at his Court, was by no means gratifying to those who had been accustom- ed to the undeviating strictness of decorum amongst the Irish ladies. ' This paroxysm of joy throughout the country — confid- ence amongst the gentry — and absence of suspicion in the Parliament , was judged by the British Government the oppor- tunity most favourable , under colour of her commerce to undermine her Constitution. This proposition for a treaty of commerce between England and Ireland , as two independent countries, necessarily required a deeper consideration than any other event of her history. — ]No decisive international overt act had, as yet, taken place between the two countries. But Mr. Pitt, in his anxiety to encroach upon the independ- ent spirit of the compact, unintentionally confirmed it upon a clear international principle. ThePropo. Mr. Orde , the Secretary of the Viceroy, on the ^th of Fe- sitions re J ect_ by uary, ir85 , proposed to the Irish Parliament eleven reso- lutions, as a distinct commercial treaty between two indepen- dent stales. As such they were received , but the treaty was at length utterly rejected by the Irish Parliament. 1 Before lliis period , there bad been but two actions of trim. con. in Ireland, In both of which noblemen were the plaintiffs: — Lord Belvidert against bis brother captain Rochfort, and Lord Lisle against Dennis M'Carthy, bis own postillion. — There had, however, been several hundreds tried in England. OF THE IRISH NATION. 'iuf Mr. Brownlow, one of the first country gentlemen of Ire- MnBroim- land, most zealously opposed it, as a badge of slavery, and the eleven pro- an attempt to encroach on the independence of his country. i ,osltlons - It was, however, conditionally accepted , after much discus- sion ; during which a manoeuvre was practised by the Secre- tary, which would have disgraced the lowest trader. Mr. Orde expatiated with great plausibility upon the kind concessions of the English Government, and the extraordinary advantages likely to result to Ireland ; and urged the House to come to a hasty decision in their favour, " lest the English monopolist " should pour in applications to the English Parliament to *' stop their progress, as too partial to Ireland. " The bait Passed die took, and the resolutions were approved, and sent back with some alterations. His artifice, however, was defeated, and Mr. Orde was left in a situation of excessive embarrassment, and appeared equally ridiculous to both countries. Mr. Pitt having gained his first point , conceived it possible to assail more openly the independence of Ireland , by attaching her finances and commerce to Great Britain , so that her own Parliament should become , if not impotent , at least contemptible. Instead , therefore , of rediscussing the eleven resolutions Mr. Pitt pro- as approved by Ireland, he brought twenty propositions [^positions? before the English Parliament , incorporated in a Bill, framed with such consummate artifice , that it affected to confer fa- vours whilst it rendered the Irish Parliament only the register of all English statutes relating to commerce ; and , by a per- petual money bill , appropriated a proportion of her heredi- tary revenue to the uses of the British Navy. VII. Mr. Orde l himself was utterly uncertain how to pro- Embarrass- 1 Mr. Orde, the Secretary — a cold, cautious, slow, and sententious man, tolerably well informed , but not at all talented — bad a mind neither powerful nor feeble ; — as a public man be could not be despised , — as an English Factor, be could plausibly enhance the property he was entrusted to dispose of, (hough he well knew there was many a rent within its folds. '.10* 3ao* RISE AND FALL mem of the ceed , and. after many adjournments , on the i^tli ol August, 1785, he moved for leave tohring in a Bill pursuant to Mr. Pitt's twenty propositions. The country gentlemen of Ireland, though they did not understand the commercial details of the subject , perceived the design of the minister. A storm arose in Parliament — the landed interests of the country were alarmed — the country gentlemen grew bois- terous — the law officers were arrogant — the patriots re- torted , and rendered the debate one of the most inflam- Most vio-matory that had for some years been witnessed. Long and lent Debates f . 111 n , ... , in the Irish iunous was that remarkable contest, f ltzgibbon , the Attorney- Parliament. General , exhibited an arrogance which more than equalled any of his former exhibitions ; he insulted many, and used the most overbearing language to all who opposed him. The debate continued the entire night, and, at nine o'clock next morning , the violence was undiminished , and it was difficult to put the question ; at length a division at once announced The Mini- the equivocal victory of theMinister. The numbers forGovern- deXatrr™ 117 ment were I2 7 — against the Minister 108, leaving only a majority of 19. As the motion was only for leave to bring in the Bill , it was obvious that on a second reading it would have been disgracefully rejected. Mr. Flood then moved a declaration of rights 5 another division still less favourable to The treaty tin; Minister succeeded 5 an adjournment, therefore, and a prorogation took place, and the subject was never renewed. Mr. Pitt never would have brought in his Bill, bad he not been assured of success by the Irish Secretary ; this defeat , therefore, was the more galling, and it confirmed, in his persevering and inflexible mind , a determination , if he could not rule the Irish Parliament, to annihilate the independence of Ireland. Mr. Pitt never was scrupulous as to means, and a much more important point shortly confirmed his determi- - Up had much to gain, for of political reputation lie had nothing to he deprived. He certainly did as much as could he effected on the subject , and a British peerage consoled him for his Irish discomfiture. OF THE IRISH NATION 3?.r nation , by proving that , upon vital subjects , be bad not yet sufficiently bumbled the people, or been able sufficiently to seduce their representatives. These propositions were in fact defeated by the honest Defeat <.f obstinacy of the country gentlemen , and by the influence and fJcu'a i/v the talents of Mr. Grattan and Mr. Flood, who, upon this subject r """ tr y g ea - alone, were perfectly in unison. It is worthy of observation , that the zeal and honesty of Mr. Conolly, in supporting the independence of his country against the agency of Mr. Orde , were utterly reversed by his subsequently supporting the still more destructive measures of his corrupt and unfortunate relative. VIII. During these scenes , some men , who , though not of the highest order of talent, were in considerable reputation and of untainted integrity, exerted themselves in defence of their country ; — amongst them , the most active was Mr. Forbes, the Member for Drogheda. Without any very Mr. Forbes distinguished natural abilities, and but moderatelv acquainted a , ,ea < | "'g with literature, by his zealous attachment to Mr. Grattan , House of Com- his public principles , and attention to business, he received much respect , and acquired some influence in the House of Commons. He had practised at the bar with a probabi- lity of success, but he mistook his course ; and became a statesman , as which he never could rise to any great dis- tinction. As a lawyer, he undervalued himself and was modest; as a statesman, he over-rated himself, and was presumptuous. He benefitted his party by his indefatigable zeal , and reflected honour upon it by his character-, he was a good Irishman , and , to the last , undeviating in his public principles. He died in honourable exile, as Governor of the Bahama Isles, In a class lower as a politician, but higher as a man of Mr.HarJy. letters, and equal in integrity, stood Mr. Hardy, the bio- grapher of Earl Charlemont. He had been returned to Par- liament by the interest of Earl Granard , and faithfully 21 322 RISK AND FALL followed ihe fortunes of ilia t nobleman and his relative, Karl Moira . throughout all the political vicissitudes of Ire- land. His mind was too calm . and his habits too refined , for I ho rugged drudgery of (he bar — he was not sufficiently profound for a statesman , and was too mild for a political wrangler — his ambition was languid, and he had no love of lucre — he therefore was not eminent either as a politician or a lawyer. Like many other modest and accomplished men, he was universally esteemed; ■ — he had sufficient talents, had he possessed energy, and his interest was always the last of his considerations ; his means were narrow, and his exer- tions inconsiderable. ' arlc- IX. Mr. (afterwards Viscount) Carleton, was, during a part ,i. of this important period } Solicitor-General of Ireland , and no man was less adequate to the parliamentary duties of that office. He was , of course, hut little noticed hy the recorders of that epoch , and is almost a dead letter in the memoirs of Ireland. His conduct on the Union, however, was remarkable. Hissincular Viscount Carleton was the son of a respectable merchant Character. f C or k ^ au d was created Solicitor-deneral when the superior law offices were considered as stations of very considerable weight, and of much official dignity. At the bar he was effi- cient; on the bench he was exemplary. With a plain and exclusively forensic talent , cultivated by an assiduity nothing could surpass, he. attained very considerable professional eminence : his whole capacity seemed to have been formed into points of law, regularlv numbered, and always ready for use. His limited genius seldom wandered beyond the natural boundary ; but whenever it chanced to stray to general sub- jects , it appeared always to return to its symmetrical techni- calities with great gratification. Habit and application had made him a singular proficient in that methodical hair-splitting of legal distinctions, and in reconciling the incongruity of conflicting precedents, which OF THE IRISH NATION. 3*3 generally beget the reputation of an able lawyer. Tbe Go- vernment were glad to get him out of Parliament , and , without intending it , did an essential service to the due administration of justice. As Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, his naturally gentle manners and affability , his legal knowledge , and the rectitude of his decisions, procured him the unanimous approbation of his profession. He had no enemies. But, even in his prime, he was a most feeble and inefficient legislator and statesman ; his capacity was not sufficiently comprehensive to embrace subjects of constitutional polity. He brought the attributes of his trade into Parliament, and appeared either blind or in- different to those varied and luxuriant labyrinths which the principles of civil liberty eternally diselose, and which the enlightened legislator never fails to discover, and never ceases to enjoy. "When men shall read the childish , contemptible , and strained attempts at reasoning, which were pronounced by him upon the discussion of the Union , and reflect upon the du- plicity of his professions , and his predetermined emigration , it must be regretted , that a judge so competent and independ- ent , and a man so respected, should have yielded his conn- try against his conviction , and lent his fair fame to the cor- rupting Minister. ' CHAP. XXI* I. The British Government , for a short time , affected to relinquish the idea of opposing the commercial interests of Ireland. It was determined to let the Irish take their own 1 After Lord Cailetoii had supported the Union , he was suffered to retire, on tlic ground of declining health y on a magnificent pension. He immediately emigrated to London , and lived in excellent health and spirits for Jour-and- Uventy years. 324 RISE AND FALL course , and patiently to await, till circumstances might enable them to act more decisively against their independence. Death of ^ r - P l11 Avas obliged to rest upon his oars; his own bark the Duke of was lempest tossed, whilst that of Ireland was running rapidly itutlaiui. J m ° ' before a prosperous wind. This was the slate of Ireland after the proposition-tempest had subsided , when the Duke of Rut- land's incessant conviviality deprived (October, 1787) the British Peerage of an honourable, generous, and high-minded nobleman , and Ireland of a Viceroy, whose Government did nothing, or worse than nothing, for the Irish people. AN ilh the aristocracy, the Duke was singularly popular , and he was not disliked by any class of the community 5 — but his advisers were profligate and his measures were corrupt. His Grace and the Duchess were reckoned the handsomest couple in Ireland. Marquis of The Marquis of Buckingham was sent , a second lime , to Buckingham* g 0vern I rc land. As a moderate, hard-working Viceroy, with M-c ond Co- ° o 1 7 rerament. a Catholic wife, he was selected, as not unlikely to be agree- able to the Irish. Little , however, was it supposed , that the most important and embarrassing of all constitutional questions between the two countries was likely to occur during his administration. Unfortunately, however, such did arise, through the necessity of appointing a Regent during the Monarch's aberration of intellect. ti.p que*- This great question , and its influence on the federative eency. * *" compact of the two nations, now entirely occupied (he attention of both Parliaments. The Prince , at that period , held a line of politics, and employed a class of servants , different from Mr. pitf« those he afterwards adopted. Mr. Pitt well knew that his own conduct. reign ? and that of the Cabinet he commanded , were in danger — that they could endure no longer than some tatters of the royal prerogative and restraints on the Regent should remain in his hands as minister, by which he could curb the Regency , which might otherwise be fatal to his ambition , and his cabinet. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3a5 He therefore resisted , wiih all his energy, the hcii-appa- rent's right to the prerogatives of his father, and struggled to restrain the Prince from many of those essential powers of the executive authority. The Prince acted with that dignity of which he was so The Pripce J . i-i submitted to much a master, but, through a stale necessity, submitted re^ the restraints. luctantly to the restraints prescribed by his own servants; and , from a delicacy to the feeling of his mother, retained in his service a minister whom , on every other ground, he would have been more than justified in dismissing with in- dignation. The Irish nation had nothing to do with this private cir< ? ,,e J''* 1 ' ' . . resisted, aud cumstance , and the Parliament would not obey the minister, refused to or submit to the mandates of the British Government. They restram im decided that the Prince was their Regent , in virtue of the federative compact ; and they also determined that he should have all the regal prerogatives connected with the monarchy of Ireland. Upon this subject debates arose, more embarrassing than any that had ever taken place in the Irish Parliament. — It was a casus omissus , both in the British Revolution of 1688 , and in the Irish Constitution of 1^82. The question was , whether the Parliament of Ireland were competent, by address or otherwise, to invest the Regent with more extensive privileges, as to Ireland, than the Bri- tish Parliament had thought fit to entrust to him in England. II. This point was without precedent; but it was argued , Unprece- thal if an Act of Parliament were necessary , no Regent could be appointed , for an Act implied the existence of the Third Estate, and the proper proceeding was , therefore , by address. The probability of His Majesty's recovery had a powerful influence on placemen and official connections. The Marquis of Buckingham took a decisive part against the Prince , and made bold and hazardous attempts upon the rights of the Irish Parliament. That body was indignant at his presumption , and 3 2 G RISE AND FALL he found it impossible to govern or control even the habitual supporters of every administration. Fit/gibbon, the Attorney- Collmon General, was promised the seals, if he succeeded for Mr. Pitt , ! ' '" ""'ai-ii'a- anc * ne evcn announ ced that every opponent should be made mcnts. the victim of his suffrage. Lord Buckingham even threatened those who would not coincide with the British Parliament; the then powerful family of Ponsonby, decided supporters of Government, on this occasion seceded from the Marquis, KouudRubin. and which gave rise to the famous and spirited Round Robin. Many, however, may be induced to ask , why it was expedient to be honest in a circle. After long and ardent debates, an address of the Irish Par. liament was voted to the Prince , declaring him Regent of the Kingdom of Ireland , in as full, ample, and unqualified a man- ner as was enjoyed by his Royal Father. The words, though simple, were as comprehensive as the English language could make them. The terms are : "Under the " style and title of Prince Regent of Ireland , in the name " and on behalf of 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 Government thereof belonging. In the Commons , the Address was moved by Mr. Grat- tan , and was carried without a division. It was moved in the Lords by the Earl of Charlcmont , and was carried by a ma- jority of only 19. Contents /\5 — Non-Contents 16. In the Commons, the number upon Mr. Gratlan's Motion , for thus transmitting the Address , were — for the Motion , i3o; against it , ^[\. Irish address The Address having passed both the Lords and Commons , "'""' ,,,luce it was sent to the Viceroy to be transmitted to Uis Royal Highness. The Marquis of Buckingham peremptorily refused ' That Round Robin w.i:. go decisive, that it was hiouyht forward in l8bo , as the most powerful argument in favour of a union. OF THE IRISH NATION. $27 acquiescence , and an embassy of two Lords and lour Com- moners ' was immediately appointed to humbly present the Address , in the name of the nation , to the Prince. A severe resolution of censure was then moved against the Lord Lieutenant, for a breach of official duly. It passed both Hou- ses , and obliged him to quit the country. Though his ex- tensive patronage was craftily applied , and had procured him many adherents, he never afterwards could make any head in the Irish Parliament. The Address was the boldest step yet taken by the Irish nation, and it brought the inde- pendence of Ireland to a practical issue. III. The vital importance of the Regency Question , in con- solidating the independence of the Irish Nation, and the fallacious influence which it afterwards afforded to the argu- ments for extinguishing that independence, offer considera- tions more grave and more comprehensive than any that have occurred since England, by the Renunciation Act, admitted her usurpation. The facts and reasoning on that subject are beyond the sketch oi . . . , , 1 1 •! the Arguments range or this volume — they are therefore here necessarily OI1 t | ieRe „ en . epitomised. However somewhat more than superficial delail ^- v ;i lie f 10 " 1U ... . . . . Ireland. is indispensable , to dispel that mist of mingled prejudice and ignorance of the English people , which has never ceased to obscure from their view every clear prospect of the true slate of Ireland , when she evinced her unqualified adherence tothe gen uine spirit of the constitution. — In 1789 two branches of the legislature , the Peers and the Commons of Great Britain and of Ireland, were by common law originally, and by statute law, subsequently , as distinct as those of any other independent nation. — The third estate, the king, was common Monarch of bofh ; the two crowns placed on the same brow were, bv ihe common constitution , 1 The Lords were, the Duke of Leinster and l orcl Charleinont. — The Commons, Messrs. Conolly, J. O'Neil , W. H. Ponsonbv. and J. Stewart. 328 RISE AND FALL entailed for ever on the same dynasty : the executive power was united ; the other branches utterly separate. Constitu- IV. The King of both countries having become incapable both Nations. °^ executing his functions for either — his eldest son and heir apparent to the throne, in the full vigour of health and intellect, by the incapacity of his father, became the proper guardian of those two realms to the throne of which he was constitutionally to succeed. So circumstanced, the British minister who as such had no constitutional right to interfere with Ireland, thought proper, through the British Parliament, to shackle the Regency with restrictions , that deprived the executive power in Eng- land of its constitutional prerogatives : such a measure, if adopted by Ireland , would have left her king incompetent, and her Regency imperfect, during the necessary suspension of the monarch's capacity to govern. The Viceroy of Ireland , under the dictation of the British minister , resisted the legislature of Ireland, in its own course Conduct of of appointing the same Regent; and a collision ensued : the contrasted. Irish supporting , and the English curtailing, the constitutional prerogative of the executive branch of the constitution , in the office of Regent. V. In this stale of things, the session was opened on the 5th February by the Marquis of Buckingham, who, in his speech from the throne, informed the two houses of the severe indisposition with which the King was afflicted , and at the same time, acquainted them that he had directed all the documents respecting his Majesty's health which could assist their deliberations to be laid before them. Mr. Fitzherbert the secretary then moved the house, that it should resolve itself into a committee on the mondaj sen* night, to lake into consideration the state of his Majesty's health. As the evident design of ibis delay was to prevent the Irish Parliament from coming to any resolutions relative lo a OF THE IRISH NATION. 3a 9 Regency before the determinations of the British Parliament could be proposed to them for their concurrence, it was opposed as derogatory to the independence of that Kingdom , and to the dignity and credit of its Parliament. Mr. Gratlan therefore proposed that — " the House should meet on the " next Wednesday. " His amendment, after a long and warm debate, was carried by a majority of 1 38 to 74 • A motion made by the Chancellor of the exchequer for proceeding immedia- tely upon the business of supply, was negatived. VI. On Wednesday the 1 ith Mr. Connolly moved — that " an address should be presented to the Prince of Wales, requesting him to take on himself the Government of Ireland, as Regent thereof during his Majesty's incapacity" • — (without any restriction). This motion gave rise to a long and violent debate, in which the Attorney-General Mr. Filzgibbon (afterwards Chancellor of Ireland) eminently distinguished himself in opposition to the motion. It was supported by Mr. Grattan, Mr. Ponsonby , Mr. Curran, and other eminent speakers, and was ultimately carried without a division. On monday the iGth , the House of Lords being met , the Earl of Charlemont moved for an address to the Prince of Wales similar to that voted by the Commons , which , after some debate, was carried by a majority of nineteen. A protest was entered, signed by seventeen Lords. On thursday the 19th , both houses waited upon the Lord Lieutenant with their address, and requested him to transmit the same ; with this request his Excellency refused to comply, returning for answer — that under the impressions he felt of his official duty and of the oath he had taken, he did not consider himself warranted to lay before the Prince an address , pur- porting to invest his Royal Highness with powers to take upon him the Government of the realm , before he should be enabled by law so to do; — and therefore he declined transmitting their address to Great Britain. 33a RISK AND FALL Upon the return of the Commons to their own House, and the answer of the Lord Lieutenant being reported to them, Mr. Grattan observed — that in a ease so extremely new it would be highly improper to proceed with hurry or precipi- tation : the House was called upon to act with dignity, firm- ness and decision; and therefore, that due time might be had for deliberation, he would move the question of adjournment to the following day. The question was put and carried without opposition. VII. On the next day he moved — That bis Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, having thought proper to decline to transmit to his Royal Highness George, prince of Wales, the address of both Houses of Parliament, a competent number of members be appointed to present the said address to his Royal High- ness. Mr. Graltan's motion was passed without any division, where upon be moved, " That Mr. Conolly do attend the Lords l - with the said resolution, and acquaint them that this House " requests them to appoint members of their own body to join " with the members of the Commons in presenting the said " address. " This also passed without any division and Mr. Conolly went up to the Lords accordingly. — The mes- sage received in reply was — that the Lords had concurred in the resolution of the Commons, and had appointed his Grace the duke of Leinster, and the Earl of Charlemont, to join with such members as the Commons should appoint to present the address of both Houses to his Royal Highness, the prince of Wales. Mr. Grattan then moved that the right honorable Thomas Conolly, right honorable. T. O'iVeil , right honorable W. Pon- sonby, and J. Stewart, Esq. should be appointed commission- ers on the part of the Commons, for the purpose of present- ing the Address to hi-. Royal Highness, the prince of Wales , and they were appointed accordingly. These motions having passed, Mr. Grattan then moved — OF TIIK IRISH NATION. 33 1 that the two Houses of Parliament had discharged an indispens- able duly in providing for the third estate of the Irish Con- stitution (rendered ineomplete through the Ring's incapacity) hy appointing the Prince of Wales, Regent of Ireland. — This motion was carried after a long debate. — Ayes 1 5o, Noes 7 1 . — Mr. Graltan then moved that it is the opinion of this House : — " That the answer of his Excellency the LordLieu- " tenant to both Houses, in refusing to transmit the said " address, is ill advised , and tends to convey an unwarrant- " able and unconstitutional censure on the conduct of both 1 ' Houses. Mr. Graltan's motion of censure was then put, on which the House divided, and there appeared for the motion 1 15, against it 83. On the 25th , resolutions of the committee of supply (which provides for the payment of the interest of the national debt, the annuities and establishments) being read , Mr. Graltan moved, " That the words for two months , only ending the " 26th of May 1789, be added. " — On the question being " put, there appeared, Ayes io4 , Noes 85. Mr. Grattan then moved that the army be provided for to the 25th May only, which motion was carried. — Ayes 10a , Noes 7 7 . VIII. This determination of the Irish legislature in assert- Reasons for • • tnc Xnsli Pur— ing their constitutional independence , and their entire rejec- i iameut I)ro . tion of all subserviency to the views or dictates of the British ceed,n S h \ J address, and Parliament, was founded not only on the nature of their fede- notLyStatuie, ■ 1 • 1 r 1 , . •. .• '<> appoint a rative compact , but on the very principles or that constitution Re „ eut- which it was their mutual duty to preserve in its full in- tegrity. By that constitution it was indispensable that every statute should receive its consummation only by the express assent of the King, as the third estate of that constitution. In this case no third sstatc existed in a capacity to assent to or consummate any statute, and no express provision had 332 RISE AND FALL been made by the constitution for such an emergency. Tlir Irish legislature therefore, having no compete/it third estate to consummate a statute, adopted the next step admitted by the Constitution, of proceeding by address, far which they had the English precedent of 1 (588. The British minister however determined to proceed hy statute, and this difference therefore arose between the two legislatures — England proceeded bv means which could not be constitutionally consummated , Ireland proceeded by means which constitutionally could. — The Viceroy surrendered himself to the minister-, the Irish legislature adhered to the Prince — and asserted their independence by an overt act, which England never since forgave-, and, on the union, used that act of Irish constitutionality as an argument for annihilating that legislature which had dared to support the rights of their Prince against the ambition of his mi- nister. IX. International controversies are frequently referred to the arbitration of foreign stales, disinterested on the subject , Question and had the question been submitted to such an arbitrator, whether the -..,., , . _ . . . . . , . . . . Parliaments of Whether the nritish legislature abetting the conspiracy England »r f Mr. Pitt . to abridge the executive power of its inherent Ireland nad ' ° ' committed a rights , or that of Ireland supporting the royal prerogatives of Constitution, their common Regent, and had committed a crime , should be extinguished for its inroad on the constitution " • — the awful sentence must have been pronounced against Great Britain; and even the dignified language of the Prince him- self, evinced nothing adverse to the principle of so just a condemnation '. iircats of Previous to the departure of the Delegates to present the address to the Prince of Wales, a declaration by the \ iceroy had been made public , which threatened to visit with bis displeasure, or reward by his favors, every member of the lc- ' See Iiis letter to Mr. Phi and hit replies lo the addresses. Ilic Vireiov OF THE IRISH NATION. 333 gislaturc who could cither be deprived of* office for his resist- ance , or induced to accept one for his desertion. This declaration gave rise to the then celebrated Round The Ronud Robin , which was subscribed by a great number of the highest and most leading characters of both Houses of Parliament, pledging themselves, as a body and as individuals , against every attempt by Government either to seduce or to intimidate them. This was a fatal blow to all further struggles of the A iceroy. The tide ran loo strongly to be resisted ; the rank and influence of those who signed that document could no longer be opposed, and proved to the Viceroy the impossibility of viceroy de- his continuing the Government of Ireland, upon such a prin- retire. ciple, and of course he determined to retire from the Vice- royallv. X. The Delegates now proceeded to London to deliver to the Reception Prince the joint address of both Houses of the Irish Parlia- Delegates 'by merit. The first nobles and commoners of that kingdom in- the l ' riDce - vesting him with all those royal rights and prerogatives which had been refused to him by his British subjects, was too grand and gratifying an embassy not to receive the highest honours and attention his Royal Highness and his friends could bestow. jNothing could exceed the dignified cordiality and splendor with which they were received by the Regent on that occa- sion. He felt all the importance of such a grant, and if grati- tude has any permanent station in the hearts of Monarchs , the Irish people had reason to expect every favor that future power could confer, on a nation whose firmness and fidelity had given him so imperishable a proof of their attachment. The words of the address bespeak the independence and loyally of the Irish legislature, and fix the constitutional li- mitation to the power conferred by them-, they prayed : " We, his Majesty's most dutifuland loyal subjects, the lords Address of " spiritual and temporal and the Commons of Ireland in Par- J^nutTthe " liament assembled, beg leave to approach Your Royal High- 1>riuce - il ness with hearts full of the most loyal and affectionate at- 334 KISE AND FALL '■* lachmenl to the person and government of Your Royal " Father, to express the deepest and most grateful sense of " the numerous blessings which we have enjoyed under " his illustrious House, and at the same time to condole " with ^our Royal Highness upon the grievous malady with " which it has pleased Heaven to afflict the best of sove- " reigns. " Webeg leave humblvto request that YourRovalHighness " will be pleased to take upon you the government of this " realm, during the continuance of his Majesty's present in- " disposition, and no longer; and under the style and title of " Prince Regent of Ireland, in the name and on behalf of his "Majesty, to exercise and administer, according to the " laws and constitution of this kingdom, ail regal powers, "jurisdictions, and prerogatives to the crown and govern- " menl thereof belonging. " Reply of XI. The reply of his Royal Highness to this Embassy from Hie Prince, } re l an( j j s a document of most intrinsic value to the character, ealogiziug the Irish le- and ought to have been so to the interests of that calumniated g.s a ure. and ruined Island. That royal document expressly upheld and for ever records the loyal, consistent, and constitutional principles, and con- duct, which guided the Irish legislature in that unprecedented proceeding, therein, not only explicitly, but most ardently eulogized by the heir apparent. — Itet, it is unfortunate for the character and consistency of British Governments, to find seated high in the cabinet of George the fourth, the very minister who, in the Irish Parlia- ment, in 1799, gave the retort courteous to every word so littered by that monarch, as Regent in 1789 — and stigmatised as treason that just culogium uttered but ten years before upon their loyally. Posterity, however, will read with disgust that, within so short a period, the very act which elicited those just and flo- rid praises of devoted Ireland, was converted into a libel, and OF THE IRISH NATION. 335 made a leading argument to effect the annihilation of the very legislature they had so ardently applauded. It is a remarkable coincidence in Irish annals, that Provi- dence was pleased to diminish her visitation on the King's capacity on the very day first appointed by the Prince to receive his investiture as Regent of Ireland, through the hands of the Irish Delegates; the object of this mission therefore could have no ulterior operation , and they returned to their country with every public honour and private estimation which their Embassy and their characters so justly merited. • — The Prince therefore had no power previous to the Union of exemplifying his declaration of gratitude to Ireland. — After the Union, when Imperial Regent, his British ministers shewed no disposition to give His Royal Highness that power or opportunity •, his energies seemed to retire as his powers were advancing, and when he became actual monarch of both Afterwards countries, events proved that the Regencies were forgotten, ne8tct and that gratitude was not a record. CHAP. XXII. I. Upon the return of the delegates to Ireland, the first epocha which gives a title to this Epitome of her History was consummated : her Rise. — She had arisen from servitude to freedom, from a subservient to an independent Nation; the acquirement of that independence was. a revolution , but it was a revolution without bloodshed. It was rather a regeneration, accomplished by the almost unanimous exertion of all the rank, the wealth, the character and the ho- nesty of a vast population •, the highest of the Aristocracy, and the humblest of the people joined hand in hand to regain their independence •, and it may well be termed a loyal revolution , because the English legislature , by their own voluntary act , admitted their own previous usur- pation , and renounced all further pretensions to dominate over Ireland; and the King of Great Britain on his Throne, 336 RISE AND FALL received and acknowledged his Irish subjects altogether legislatively unconnected with the rest of England. From that day Ireland rose in wealth , in trade and in manu- factures, agriculture, and every branch of industry that could enhance her value or render a people rich and pros- perous. She bad acquired her seat amongst the Nations of Ireland act- the world — she had asserted her independence against the dependence, insolence of Portugal — she had suggested an Irish navy to protect her shores — she had declared a perpetual league of mutual amity and aid with Great Britain. The court of her Prosperous Viceroy appeared as splendid as her monarch's. Her Nobles laud at that rcs '^ e( ^ an( l expended their great fortunes amongst the Irish period. people — the Commons all resided on their own demesnes , supported and fostered a laborious and tranquil tenantry. The peace of the country was perfect — no standing army — no militia — no police'were wanting for its preservation-, the activity of the Volunteers had suppressed crime in every district, religious prejudices were gradually diminishing ; every means of amelioration were in contemplation or in progress. — The distinctness of Ireland had been proclaimed to the world by overt acts of herself, and of her monarch and the king of England — The Irish sceptre in the hands of her king had touched the Charter of her independence ; on the faith of Nations, before God and man its eternal freedom had been declared , and should have been inviolable. But by some inscrutable will of Heaven , it was decreed that she should soon be again erased from the list of nations , punished without a crime, and laid prostrate at the feet of a jealous ally. II. The spirit and independence of the conjoint Peers and Commonsof Ireland, and their reception by the heir apparent, convinced the Viceroy of the impossibility of his retaining office ; his declaration of departure being again repealed, was greeted in Dublin as a measure of the highest gratification to the Whigs and Patriots, and of the deepest regret lo the adherents of the minister. OF THE IRISH NATION. 33; However, though the recovery of the king rendered the The. Rise oi appointment of their Regent, at the lime , unnecessary, it suf- t i on consum- ficientlv asserted their constitutional and national independ- raatC(l l,v ''"' J r withdrawal <>l ence, and, as we have already mentioned, consummated that the Viceroy, Epoch which is termed the Rise of Ireland. One ohservation is here not out of place , and it is rather Particularly a remarkable occurrence, that it was during the short interval Nation. ° which occurred between the first and second announcement of the entire incapacity of Ring George the Third, that he was induced by ihe same ministers who had resisted the regent , to forego his own Royal acts — rescind his own constitu- tional assent — melt down his Irish Crown , and place his Irish subjects under the guardianship of a mutilated and absent representation. — - It is therefore not easy to reconcile to or- dinary reason the probability that a conscientious and moral monarch, during the interval of a disease so deep-seated and enfeebling to the human intellect, could calmly or judicially reflect on a measure so comprehensive in its results, and so corrupt in its attainment, as the legislative Union. It was under all these circumstances, and the departure of Lord West- Ihe Vicsroy , that the Earl of Westmoreland came over as his morelaml - successor. But the line of his politics or government had not preceded him. III. Mr. Pitt felt that he had made but slight progress towards his scheme of a union with Ireland ; his projects had turned against himself •, and the Irish Parliament, on the subject of the Regency, had taught him a lesson he had had but little expectation of learning. However, the spirit of the Irish confirmed that austere and pertinacious statesman in his resolution to rule Ireland in Great Britain , and to leave her no power to impede the course of his ambition. The Earl of Westmoreland was by no means ill adapted to the Irish people. He was sufficiently reserved to command respect , and dignified enough to uphold his station. His splendid conviviality procured him many rational partisans 22 hart raetcr. 338 RISE AND FALL and his extreme hospitality engendered , al least , temporary friendships. He was honourable and good-natured , and , among the higher orders and his intimate assoeiates , he was a popular Viceroy. Major Ho- His Secretary, Major Hobart (Lord Buckinghamshire), was more a man of the world , and was admirably calculated for the higher classes of the Irish. His cha- A perfect gentleman 5 cheerful , convivial , and conciliat- ing, though decided ; liberal , yet crafty ; kind-hearted, but cautious 5 and with a mixture of pride and affability in his manner , he particularly adapted himself to his official pur- poses by occasionally altering the proportion of each , as persons or circumstances required their application. With an open , prepossessing countenance , he gained wonderfully upon every gentleman with whom he associated. ' The period of Lord Westmoreland's government was certainly the summit of Irish prosperity. From the epoch of his departure she may date the commencement of her downfall. Lord Westmore- land's was charged with being a jobbing Government , but it was less so than that of any of his predecessors ; and if he did not diminish , he certainly did not aggravate the burthens of the people. Stateofire- IV. When Lord Westmoreland arrived, Ireland was in a loesbioa to state of great prosperity. He met a strong opposition in Parlia- office. ment, but it was an honest opposition — the guardian of public liberty, and not a fiction. It was constitutional in principle, 1 The Board of Green Cloth ( the Lord Lieutenant's second table), never was supported with more splendor than during Lord Westmoreland's Government. It was, at least, as ^ood as liis own the class of society the same — the conviviality superior. Ecpnomr had not crept into that depart- ment, and every shilling thai was granted to thai establishment was expended upon it. Major Hobart saved nothing in Ireland; he expended in the metropolis all he received; and the entire of the grants, then made by the Irish Par- liament to support the Vice-regal establishment, was actually laid out on it, and die citizens of Dublin, in fact, reaped the profits of their taxation. OF THE IRISH NATION. 33o, and formidable in talent •, it was rather a party to effect wholesome measures , than a systematic opposition to the Government. Only two subjects of vital importance were introduced during his administration ; most of the others being plausible demands , calculated rather to gratify the people, than to produce any radical change in the system of the Government. A Place Bill, a Pension Bill , and a Respon- sibility Bill, an inquiry into the sale of Peerages, and into the Police of Dublin , were amongst the most material mea- sures pressed by the opposition during his vice -loyalty. The Place Bill, however, supposed to be remedial, eventually became the most important that had ever been passed by an independent Irish Parliament. The perseverance of the able men who formed the oppo- Concessions sition , at length gave a pretence to the Minister to purchase by Govern- ment. an armistice, by conceding some of the measures they had so long and pertinaciously resisted. It could not have been flattering , however , to the warm supporters of Government , to be required by the Secretary to become absolutely inconsistent , and to change their lan- guage without a change of circumstances, and recant opinions they had so frequently declared in conjunction with the minister. Some of the most active supporters of Government , there- Delusion and fore , determined not to interfere in these concessions , and ^° ^oTiosi- tbe Opposition , on the other hand, was so keen at the chase , tiou ' and so gratified at the concession of their long-sought mea- sures, that they but superficially regarded the details or the mode of conceding , and never reflected , as legislators or as statesmen , that one of those measures might prove a deadly- weapon , by which the executive Government might destroy the Parliament under pretence of purifying it. A Bill was brought in to vacate the seats of members accepting offices under Government, omitting the term of bona fide offices; thereby leaving the minister a power of packing the Parliament. 34o RISE AND FALL The Opposition , blinded by their honest zeal , considered this ruinous Bill a species of reform, and were astonished at the concession of a measure at once so popular , and which they conceived to be so destructive of ministerial corrup- tion. The sagacity of Mr. Pitt , however, clearly showed him , that measure would put the Irish Parliament eventually into his hands : and the sequel proved , that, without that Hill , worded as it was, the corruption by the Ministers, the rebellion, force , and terror combined , could not have effected the Union. The Place , Pension , and Responsibility Hills , were pro- posed by Mr. Grattan , acceded to by the. Viceroy , passed into laws , and considered as a triumph of the Opposition over the venality of the Government. ' Mr. Grattan was certainly the most incorruptible public character on the records of the Irish Parliament. He wor- shipped popularity •, yet there was a tinge of aristocracy in his devotion , which , whilst it qualified its enthusiasm, still added to its purity. Such men may occasionally err in judgment, or may be misled by their ardour; and this was the case with Mr. Grat- tan , on this armistice with the Government. Mr. Grattan did not always foresee the remote operation of his projects. He was little adapted to labour on the details of measures; he had laid the broad foundation of the constitution, but sometimes regarded lightly the out-buildings that were occa- sionally attached to it. On this occasion , the Ministers w r cre 1 The Author was requested by Government to give his assent, in the House, to the Place Bill; hut he had, at their original request, as well as on his own opinion, for 60nic years opposed it : he therefore positively refused, and stood nearly alone in his opposition. Mr. Neuenh.ui) "id Sir John M'Cartnev only supported him. He foresaw its possible opera- tion. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3 /, i too subtle for him , and lie heeded not that fatal clause which made no distinction between real and nominal offices. He con- sidered not, that though offices of real emolument could not be so frequently vacated and transferred , as to give the Mi- nister any very important advantage, those of nominal value might he daily given and resigned, without observation , and that, as the House was then constituted, the Minister might almost form the Commons at his pleasure. ' By comparing the Irish Parliament at the epochs of the Proposition and the Regency Bills, and at that of 1800, the fatal operation of the Place Bill can be no longer question- able. In one word — it carried the Union. a Catholic V. During the administration of Lord Westmoreland, the emaiici P at 7 o • ' commenced. first question (which so deeply affected the subsequent events of Ireland) was the partial EmancipaHion of the Irish Catholics. Though the question did not , when introduced , appear to involve the consideration of a legislative union , its results communicated a powerful influence to that measure. The national annihilation of Ireland was, in a considerable degree, promoted by the impolitic mismanagement of the Ca- tholic population. Though many of the penal and restrictive statutes, by which the Catholics had been so long excluded from all the most valuable rights, not only of British subjects, but of freemen , were repealed 5 and though the power of taking freeholds, and possessing landed property, was restored to them , these concessions were but a stimulus to further 1 There arc four nominal offices in Ireland — the Eseheatorships of Lcinster, Minister, Connaught , and Ulster, which are absolute : their emoluments are 3os. per annum. By means of these offices , Lord Castlereagh packed the parliament in 1800. The Chiltern Hundreds in England are of the same nature ; but the large number of the British Commons renders any thing like packing Parliament for occasional purposes, by that means, impossible. Nor durst a British Minister practise that artifice, except to a very limited extent. y See hereafter Mr. Crow's Letter to Lord Belvidere. 342 RISE AND FALL claims, and for which thev created a most rational expecta- tion. Arguments The Catholics argued , that if they were allowed to pur- i°ics. e ° chase freeholds, and to receive , by descent , lands in fee , it must consequently be an injustice , an absurdity, and an in- sult , to debar them from the elective Franchise , and the privileges which were by law attached to the possession of the same species of property by their Protestant fellow-subjects. They said, that Noblemen and Commoners of great for- tune, of their persuasion, who had been deprived of their rights by their attachment to hereditary monarchy, notwith- standing those partial concessions, still remained loaded with many attributes of actual slavery, in the midst of a free peo- ple ; that after a century of loyal and peaceable demeanour towards a Protestant dynafty, thev were still to be stigmatised, as neither trustworthy nor loyal. Their language , firm and decided , was rational , and eventually successful. Govern- ment were now alarmed , and affected to take a liberal view of the subject; but were by no means unanimous as to the extent of the concessions. They conceived that tranquillity might be attained by mere religious toleration. This may be true , where but a small portion of the people arc the claim- ants : far different, however, where those excluded form the bulk, and the exclusionists a small minority, of the peo- ple. However, the concessions were important, and greater than could have been credible before Lord Westmoreland's administration. The grant to Catholics of the elective Fran- chise was the act more of Major Hobart and of his Govern- ment than of himself. — The Forty-Shilling Franchise was then granted to the poorest and most dependent peasantry of Europe , who might one day be influenced !>\ one motive, and the next by its reverse. It is easier to grant than to re- call , and strong doubts were fairly entertained as to the wisdom of thai part of it. The first important debates, on granting the elective Fran- OF THE IRISH NATION. 3/,3 chise to Irish Calholics, were in 1793, on a petition , present- Catholiepe- ed in their favour. It was then looked upon as a most daring byagreatma- step ; intolerance was then in full vigor, and Mr. Latouche J orit y- moved to reject the petition without entering on its merits. The prejudice against the Catholics was then so powerful that their petition was rejected, with indignation , by a divi- sion of 208 to s3. The Government, hy this majority, hoped to render similar applications hopeless ; but, a few months after, it was found necessary that the measure should he recommended from the Throne, and supported by Government , and wns carried in the same House by a large majority. The strange proceeding of the Irish Parliament, on this subject, may be accounted for by their dread of reclamation by the Catholics (should they be admitted to power) of their for- feited estates, held by Peers and Commoners, by grants of Elizabeth , Cromwell , and William 5 but which, on more ma- ture reflection , they found to be chimerical. The Legislature , however, by granting the Elective Fran- chise to the Irish Catholics, conceded to them the very essence of the British Constitution. Mr. Pitt's ulterior views as to Ireland solve the enigma, Deepdesigns that the virulent enemies of the Catholics , -who opposed the '" ' ltt ' slightest cojicession , should directly after vote them the elec- tive Franchise. Mr. Pitt's object was to reciprocally exaspe- rate the two parties against each other. The indignant rejec- tion of the Petition of 1792, inflamed the Catholic with resentment, and elated the Protestant with triumph. The concession of 1793 reversed these passions; and both parties fell equally disgusted. — The Minister took every advantage of the unpopularity of the Parliament. A very remarkable incident of inconsistency occurred in the House of Lords upon this occasion. Lord Clare, the most unqualified enemy the Catholics ever had , and the most virulent against them , on the debate in 1793 spoke and voted mi RISE AND FALL for giving them the elective Franchise , which he had pre- viously asserted would he a breach oi' the Coronation Oath, and destructive to the Church and Stale. — On the other hand, Lord Charlemont, always the most zealous friend of the Irish people, and the most distinguished of the gentle breed of patriots, on the same debate, spoke in favour of the Catho- lics, yet voted against any concession whatsoever. Lord Clare wished to do mischief on Mr. Pitt's system, even at his own expense. Lord Charlemont wished to do good , but was too shallow to see the designs of the Chancellor, or even to mix policy with his candour. l Mr. Pitt Though Lord Westmoreland was powerfully opposed in Par- proceeds with | • , . . .. _ , . ■ j i r his measures llament ) during the whole of his government, the country to promote a was j n peace and he was zealously supported. Had he not been recalled , under pretence of making way for a general pacification , the nation had no reason to suppose his place would be much belter filled. His recall , and the appointment and deposition of Lord Fitzwilliam, his successor, within three months, completed the train which Mr. Pitt had laid for the explosion. Having divided the country, and obtained the means of packing the Parliament , through the place Bill , he suffered some men to disseminate the French revolution- ary mania ; and having proceeded so far, recalled Lord West- moreland, and encouraged others to raise their loyalty into the region o(' madness. His Lordship had not completed the usual term of resid- ence, nor had he failed in his duties-, and his appearing not to feel hurl at his abrupt recall was mysterious, and seemed to forebode some important scheme or deception. 1 The ablest of the Catholic leaders, at that time, was Mr. Keough ; he possessed a verj strong intellect , and had more intelligence and more influence with that body than any man of that persuasion — he was a leader at all their early meetings, and of \<*r\ great use in forwarding their lures. After their attainment of the elective Franchise, he still urged theii claims with talent, vigour, and perseverance. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3/,5 VI. The appointment of Lord Fitzwilliam , who had pre- Lord Fitz- 11 ... i william ap- viously opposed the administration , was, perhaps, the mostp i ute d Lord deep and treacherous design ever contemplated by any mi- Lieutenaut - nisler. But Mr. Pitt had never been in Ireland, and expe- rienced difficulties he did not anticipate 5 — he fancied he might excite and suppress commotion at his convenience ; but, in deciding upon forcing a premature insurrection for a particular object, he did not calculate on the torrent of blood that would be shed, and the inveterate hatred that might be perpetuated against the British Government. His resolution was taken , and he prevailed upon one of the most pure and respected of the whig leaders to become Viceroy of Ireland , His tUa ' 1 " . . ' ' 1 racter. under a supposition that he was selected to tranquillize and to foster that country. The minister wanted only a high-minded victim, as an instrument to agitate the Irish. His Lordship had great estates in Ireland — was one of its most kind and indulgent landlords, and was extremely popular. His manners were, perhaps, loo mild, but he had enlarged principles of political liberty and of religious toleration. Mr. Pitt had as- Deceived and . n • calumuiated sured him he should have the gratification of fully emancipat- by Mr. Pitt, ing the Irish Catholics. Lord Fitzwilliam accepted the office only on that consideration , and with this entire conviction he repaired to Dublin, to carry into immediate execution what he conceived would for ever tranquillize that country. Mr. Pitt intended to inflame the country — throw upon the Viceroy the insinuation of disobedience — and openly charge him with a precipitancy, of which he himself was the real author. Never was a scheme conducted with more address and se- Great po - crecy. Lord Fitzwilliam was received with open arms by the JJJ 1 Lilut^ people — he immediately commenced his arrangements — n ant - and Mr. Pitt began as closely to counteract them : — in every act of his government, Lord Fitzwilliam was either deceived or circumvented. Mr. Pitt's end was thus answered : he thus raised the Catho- 3*6 RISE AND FALL lies to the height of expectation , and , by suddenly recalling their favourite Viceroy, he inflamed them to the degree of ge- nerating the commotions he meditated , which would throw the Protestants into the arms of England for protection , whilst (he horrors would be aggravated bv the mingled con- flicts of parties, royalists and republicans. Karl Fitz- By this measure, too, Mr. Pitt had the gratification of burn- ed, bling Earl Fitzwilliam — disgracing the Whigs — overwhelm- ing the Opposition — turning the Irish into fanatics — and thereby of preparing the gentrv of that country for the pro- ject that was immediately to succeed it. The conduct of the Duke of Portland must have been either culpable or imbecile — he must either have betraved Lord Fitzwilliam to Mr. Pitt , or Mr. Pitt must have made him a blind instrument of treachery to his friend : — the first is most probable, as he remained in office after his friend had been disgraced , and , in direct contradiction to bis own decla- ration , aided in the fatal project which was effected by that trcacherv. The limits of this volume do not admit of slating in detail all the important facts which constituted the treachery of the Premier and the fraud on Earl Fitzwilliam. His Lordship's letters to Lord Carlisle cannot be abridged-, every line is mate- rial ; in those letters onlv can the deception practised on that nobleman be found , with that weight and accuracy which so remarkable an incident in both English and Irish history requires. In those letters will be found as in a glare of light, on the one side, that high-minded, pure, virtuous dignity of mind and action , and on the other, that intrepid , able, crafty, inflexible and unprincipled conduct , which marked indelibly the cha- racters of those remarkable personages. Mr. Pitt having sent Lord Fitzwilliam to Ireland with un- limited powers to satisfy the nation , permitted him to proceed until he bad unavoidably Committed himsell both OF THE IRISH NATION. 347 to the Catholics and country, when he suddenly recalled him , leaving it in a state of excitation and dismay. The day Lord Fitzwilliam arrived , peace was proclaimed throughout all Ireland. The day he quitted it , she prepared for insurrection. The Beresfords and the Ponsonbys were arrayed against Fatal con- each other — and , in one week more , the Beresfords would e(lue ' have been prostrate. — Mr. Pitt, however, terminated the question, by dethroning Lord Fitzwilliam — the Whigs were defeated — and Ireland was surrendered at discretion to Lord Ireland given y-,i 1 1 • • • 1 r t J U P to I J ° r " Clare and his connexion. Within three months after Lord ciare, and in- Fitzwilliam's dismissal , Lord Clare had got the nation into *""" loa full training for military execution. VII. The arrival of Lord Camden to succeed Earl Fitzwilliam Lord Cam- was attended by almost insurrectionary dutrage. The Beres- cu - fords were the ostensible cause of the people's favourite being overthrown : on that family , therefore , they conceived they should signalize their vengeance 5 and their determination was nearly carried into execution. The Chancellor , in his carriage , was assailed ; he received the blow of a stone on his forehead , which , with somewhat more force, would have rid the people of their enemy. His house was attacked -, the populace were determined to destroy him , and were proceeding to execute their intentions. At that moment their rage was , most fortunately, diverted by the address of his sister , Mrs. Jeffries , who , unknown and at great risk , had mingled in the crowd : — she misled them as to the place of his concealment. Disappointed of their object, they then attacked the Custom House , where Mr. Be- resford, first commissioner of the revenue resided. Dreadful results were with reason apprehended. Such was the inauspicious beginning of Lord Camden's Government. From the day of his arrival, the spirit of insur- rection increased , and , in a short period, during his Lord- ship's Government, more blood was shed, as much of outrage rieii. 3 4 8 IUSi: AND FALL ;u)d cruelly was perpetrated on both sides , and as many mi- litary executions took place , as in ten times the same period during the sanguinary reign of Elizabeth , or the usurpations of Cromwell or King William. ' UnitcdiriiU- \ HI. The conspiracy of united Irishmen — never profoundly secret^ — soon became public ; itsmembersavowed themselves; but the extent of its objects was unknown, and its civil arrange- ments and military organization far exceeded those of any asso- ciation in history. Constituents knew not their representatives, and the soldiers knew not the names of those by whom they were to be commanded. Even the members of their executive Directory were utterly uuknown to some hundred thousand men , who had sworn obedience to their orders. Mr. Pitt was surprised, and found the conspiracy becoming rather too ex- tensive and dangerous for his purposes 5 — for a moment be felt he might possibly get beyond his depth , and he conceived inprece- the necessity of forcing a premature explosion , by which be nizadon. ' 6 * "^"S^ 1 exc i le sufficient horrors throughout the country to serve his purpose , and be able to suppress the conspiracy in the bud , which might be beyond his power should it arrive at its maturity. Individually Lord Camden was an excellent man , and , in ordinary times, would have been an accpiisilion to the country; but he was made a cruel instrument in the bands of Mr. Pitt, and seemed to have no will of his own. Lord Cam- Earl Camden was of a high mind , and of unblemished re- 1 I have always considered, and still consider William the Third as an usurper in Ireland, until the flight of James, and the Articles of Limerick, capitulated for the whole nation; after that, he was to he considered king dr. facto — by conquest: at all events, it was the result of a rebellion hi England and of loyalty in Ireland; and it should be recollected that the Irish people, after tliat capitulation , never did rise or rebel against liis government, or that of his successors, as they did in Scotland twice, and partially in England. Tlie insurrection of 1798 mts excited by the artifices <>f Mr. 1'itl to promote a Union. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3/, greater effusion of blood, more ferocity, and more devastation than were ever witnessed in Ireland within an equal period. Partial battles and skirmishes were incessant , but general engagements were not numerous. It was generally in small bodies that the insurgents were Different successful. The principal battles were those of Arklow , Gorey, and Vinegar Hill, and the storming of Enniscorthy and Ross by the peasantry. At Arklow, in a regular line , the peasantry assailed a disciplined army in the field , and the result was a drawn battle. At Ross , after storming and gaining the town , after ten hours' incessant fighting, they surrendered themselves to drunkenness and plunder, and were slaughtered in their inebriety. At Vinegar Hill , the entrenchments were defended for se- veral hours, though attacked by twenty thousand regular troops , with ordnance , and the loss of the insurgents was dis- proportionately small. They retired unpursued, and soon formed another army, and marched to the very heart of Ire- land. At Gorey, Carnew, the Three Rocks, and numerous places , where they fought in ambuscades , they always succeeded ; and had they confined themselves to desultory attacks and par- tisan warfare , they might soon have destroyed their local enemies , the yeomen , and wearied and exhausted the regular troops. After the storming of Gorey, had they succeeded in 366 RISE AND FALL laking Arklow, they might have marched to the metropolis in one day. Important \IL To protect Arklow , therefore , was imperatively ne- BattleofArk- ., , . , . , , „ i„ u cessary, yet it was but poorly garrisoned , and totally unpro- vided with ammunition or provisions. The garrison were con- siderably less than one thousand men , principally irregular troops, and not a field-work, or other preparation, had been made to defend the place. An old barrack , incapable of defence , was their only fortification , four pieces of field ar- tillery their only ordnance, and a parly of the Ancient Britons, commanded by Sir W. W. Wynn in person, and a few yeomen, their only cavalry. The insurgents had collected nearU thirty thousand men at the ruined town of Gorey, within a few miles of Arklow , which they boldly but indiscreetly declared they would storm the ensuing morning. The alarm of the metropolis , at this intelligence , may be easily conceiv- ed. An immediate reinforcement of the garrison of Arklow eould alone prevent an attack on Dublin , and an insurrection ef the populace. The Cavan militia, commanded by the pre- sent Lord Farnham, were instantly dispatched to succour General jNeedham, but the distance being more than thirty miles, they were hurried oft' in every sort of vehicle 5 and even the carriages of the nobility and gentry were seized or tendered for the occasion. This was the most regular engagement throughout the whole of the insurrection. The pikemen amounted to many thou- sands — the king's troops were under fifteen hundred — the fire-arms, on each side, were nearly equal in number, but those of the insurgents were of every calibre and description, whilst their powder was carried in horns or in the pocket , and was but scantily supplied. The Cavan regiment arrived at the critical minute. The conflict was in a level field at the extremity of the town; the royal infantry being in a line on open ground, with two pieces of cannon at each wing; the peasantry, with fire-arms., OF THE IRISH NATION. 36j were drawn up in a line exactly parallel , wilh a very low diuli in front, and two pieces of artillery on each flank; small flags of green and yellow waved in every part of their position. — The fire began as regularly as between disciplined armies — no movements were made on either side — the pikemen formed a crescent on a range of hills just over the royalists, and wailed for any disorder lo rush down and exter- minate them. An uninterrupted fire was kept up by both par- ties for some hours, without any manoeuvre and wilh very little comparative execution. At length, the insurgents dismounted one of the royal cannon, killed the gunners, and the battle was becoming doubtful. The left flank of the royal army was protected by some cavalry and houses, and the right by their barracks, and a piece of artillery which commanded the road. The peasantry had no pre-arranged plan of attack, and their immense body of pikemen remained inactive on the emi- nence, a few hundred yards from the scene of action. The royal officers became alarmed : had the insurgents' ammuni- tion lasted and the pikemen charged, the danger would have been realised. General JN'eedham and most of the officers were disposed to retire, as a matter of necessity; but Colonel Spiritedre- Skerritt , of the Dumbarton fencibles, resolutely deelared , skL° ritt " °" e that his regiment never should retreat. A retrograde move- ment would have given an opportunity for a rush of the pikemen , which must have ended in the annihilation of the royal force : no quarter was expected upon either side : had the royal troops advanced, they might have been easily sur- rounded; their alternative was, to succeed or perish. The ammunition of the royal army began to fail \ but fortunately, that of the peasantry was first exhausted : the firing gradually slaekened, and, at length, a very ferocious attack was made on the right wing, by a large body of pikemen, led by Father Murphy : a four-pounder opened its fire, and Father Murphy received a ball which tore him to pieces. The insurgents, thus dispirited, advanced no farther; and after an effort on Ross 368 RISE AND FALL the left, repulsed by some Ancient Britons, they began to retreat, but without precipitation. The royal army did not think it prudent to pursue, hut retired to their barracks, whilst the peasantry fell back, unmolested, to Gorey. Thus concluded a battle by no means the most sanguinary, but , certainly, one of the most important of the insurrection. Had the peasantry succeeded, they would have been reinforced, every mile of their march to Dublin , by the excited popu- lation of Wexford and Wicklow. Kildare, Meath , and West- mealh were in arms, and the capital itself had more than 3o, ooo organized United Irishmen within its walls ; and, how- ever intrepidly defended , must have yielded in a river of blood to the innumerable hosts of its enthusiastic assailants. Their failure, however, in the principal attacks in Kildare and Wicklow, had dispirited and disorganized a multitude without officers to direct them , and Ireland was thus saved. More than 3o,ooo peasantry were actually present at the bat- tles of Ross and Arklow ; and Wexford and Wicklow are by no means the most populous counties. At a very moderate compu- tation, there were, in Wexford and Wicklow, at least 5o,ooo effective insurgents , either under arms or prepared to take arms, had their measures continued to be successful. Their courage and perseverance may be estimated by the extraor- dinary incidents of the battle of Ross , which lasted ten hours with alternate success , and in which they were finally con- quered , only by their insubordination , and the incapacity of their leaders. Battle of VIII. The battle of Ross, with respect to its incidents and extensive results, was one of the most important of the insur- rection. Ross is surrounded , on three sides by steep hills, and on the fourth by a river dividing it from the southern coun- ties, and having a long wooden bridge. The possession of Ross, therefore, would open a communication with the south- ern insurgents, who were prepared to rise, en masse, the moment their friends should occupy that town ; and the City OF THE IRISH NATION. 369 of Waterford , and probably the whole of the western and southern counties , would have risen in their favor. Nearly 3o,ooo insurgents assembled on Corbet-Hill, near the town of Ross. Their general, Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, was, of all men, probably the most unfit for so desperate an enter- prise-, his figure diminutive, his voice tremulous. He was a Protestant barrister of fortune ; good tempered , Bagenat and of good private character; and was selected , from being arvcy * lord of Bargay Castle , and of considerable demesnes in the county of Wexford. Of individual courage he had sufficient, but of that manly heroic intrepidity which converts danger into enthusiasm, and is indispensable to the leader of such an army and such a cause, he was altogether unsusceptible. The other officers were little better than himself; and an army of 3o,ooo intrepid , persevering insurgents could not produce one leader of sufficient tact or influence to guide and secure to them certain victory. Harvey and his aide-de-camp, Mr. Gray, a Protestant attorney, remained upon a neighbouring hill , inactive spectators during ten hours' incessant Jighting. The first attack commenced at six o'clock in the morning, on only one entrance to the town , and that the most defens- ible by the garrison ; all the others were neglected , other- wise , the garrison not being sufficiently numerous to defend all , the town must have been entered from several quarters. A regiment of infantry and one of cavalry sallied out to dis- tract the insurgents, and prevent their attack upon the other entrances. Both regiments were driven back with great loss ■ — the cavalry by a charge of bullocks ' and pikemen , the infan- ■ At this battle the insurgents practised a ruse de guerre used originally by the Romans. A regiment of heavy cavalry had marched out, to charge them on their first approach : they suspected the attack , and were prepared to receive them by a very unexpected salutation. They had cooped up in a field near two hundred bullocks. When these beasts are urged , and rush on in a body, nothing can stop them : a wall , or even a house, they have been known to dash against , in their blind fury. When the heavy cavalry 2 4 3 7 o RISE AND FALL i), all ■ t try bv ambuscade and irregular attacks. Lord Mounljoy fell joy. at the head ofhis regiment, the Dublin Militia, immediately at the gale; and the royalists and the peasantry entered Ross almost intermingled. The main street became the scene of a most sanguinary and protracted conflict; the royalists were forced back, and their artillery taken and turned on them- selves. The market-house alone remained in possession of the troops; and after a long and bloody contest they retreated to Use bridge, prepared, if necessary, to pass to the other side, and destroy the communication. Had they done this, they must have marched through the very heart of an insurgent country, and all would have been cut to pieces. There is scarce- ly a trait of individual courage which was not examplified during that contest-, ' the battle occasionally slackened — but never ceased for a moment. The peasantry, certain of victory, lost all subordination; and, in their turn, were attacked by such of the garrison as had lime to rally. Many were killed , almost without resistance; the town was set on fire, and in were in a proper position on the load, the rebels, with their pikes, goaded the bullocks; maddened by the smart, they rushed to the openings of the enclosure , which had been purposely made for them : nothing could withstand them; the cavalry were overwhelmed; man and horse wen- overthrown and trampled upon. Of such as could retreat through the gate , several met their death from the pikemen. 1 The account of this battle I have had from many, but from none so accurately or circumstantially as from a gentleman I have been long acquainted with — Counsellor Lundyfoot, son of the eminent person of that name. He had some property there, and curiosity led him to Ross, to sec what was going forward ; just as he got there he found be could not net away again , and was obliged to remain , and run his chance during the battle. He was a member of the banisters' infantry, and conceived that no soldier should on such occasions be inactive; he therefore armed, acted as a Volunteer, and was in the verj midst of the battle during the ten hours it continued. He described to me the desperate valour of the peasantry, and confirmed to me a story, nearly incredible, of their ignorance ; namely, an old man thrusting a wig into the mouth of an adverse cannon , to prevent its explosion. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3 7 i the midst of the flames the battle raged for hours most violently. The royalists recovered the main street. The insurgents were on the point of being finally repulsed, when a young gentleman of thirteen years of age, from the town of Wexford, of the respectable family of Lett, in that town, had stolen away from his mother, and joined General Harvey on Corbet-Hill. The boy saw the disorder of the men , and the incapacity of Unprece- their leaders, and with a boyish impulse he snatched up a stancc fhe- standard , and calling out " Follow me who dare!" rushed l" olsm '" a down the hill; two or three thousand pikemen rapidly fol- lowed him , in a tumultuous crowd, and uttering the most ap- palling cries. In a moment he was at the gate — rallied his parly — and with his reinforcement rushed upon the garrison, who , fatigued and astonished at the renewed vigour of their enemy, were again borne down , and compelled with much loss, fighting step by step, to retire towards the bridge. For The Royal many hours the firing in the streets and houses was incessant; A r ™ y f "the" and the peasantry were very nearly in possession of the entire tovru - place, when again all subordination vanished, and again fortune forsook them. Some hundred houses were in a blaze : — the horror was indescribable. The remaining body of the garrison , overcome by fatigue, became nearly unable to continue the contest. The firing , however , continued till towards night , when the insurgents who had not entered the houses , having no officers to command them , retreated , through the gate by which they had entered, half a mile to Corbet-Hill , leaving some thousands of their comrades asleep in different houses , or in the streets , to which the flames had not communicated. Of these , the garrison put hundreds to the sword , without any resistance; and more than 5ooo were either killed, or con- sumed by the conflagration. The garrison, greatly dimi- nished and exhausted by ten hours' incessant fighting, without refreshments, lay down in the streets, slumbering amongst the dead ; and had Harvey, at any hour before morning, re- 372 RISE AND FALL turned with even iooo fresh men , every soldier might have been slaughtered ; resistance would have been impossible. Description IX. Vinegar-Hill is a beautiful, verdant, low mountain: of Vinegar- ° Hill. the river Slaney rolls smoothly at its foot on the one side , and the large town of Enniscorthy lies immediately under its base upon another; at one point the ascent is rather steep — on the others , gradual ; the top is crowned bv a dilapidated stone building. The hill is extensive, and completely commands the town and most of the approaches to it; the country around it is rich , sufficiently wooded , and studded with country seats and lodges. Few spots in Ireland , under all its circum- stances, can at this moment be more interesting to a traveller. On the summit of this hill the insurgents had collected the remains of their Wexford army : the number may be conjec- tured , from General Lake deciding that 20,000 regular troops were necessary for the attack. The 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 situation was desperate ; and General Lake considered that two thousand fire-arms , in the hands of infuriated and courageous men, supported by a multitude of pikemen, might 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 shells. The circumstantial details of that baltle, however interest- ing , are too numerous for this volume; a few, however, are necessary. Detail* of General Lake, at the break of day, disposed his attack in the Engage- r our columns , whilst his cavalry were prepared to do exe- ment. . ' ' ' cution on the fugitives. One of tbe columns (whether by accident or design is strongly debated) did not arrive in time at its station , by which tbe insurgents were enabled to retreat to Wexford, through a country where they could not be pur- OF THE IRISH NATION. 3 7 3 sued by cavalry or cannon. It was astonishing with what for- titude 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 everv shell that broke amongst the crowd was followed by shouts of defiance. General Lake's horse was shot — many General officers wounded — some killed — and a few eentlemen bo- La . ke ' s h ? rse a shot under came invisible during the heat of the battle. The troops ad- i'>m. vanced gradually but steadilv up the hill; the peasantry kept up their fire, and maintained their ground — their cannon was nearly useless — their powder deficient — but they died fight- ing 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 little execution; they retreated to Wexford , and that night occu- pied the town. During the battle , the pike and blunderbuss were in Enniscorthy constant exercise : both parties had committed great atrocities ^ ice s orm " in cold blood, under the milder term of retaliation. Previous to that battle, Enniscorthy had been twice stormed*, every street in it had streamed with blood; many hundred houses had been burned ; and the combats had been hand to hand in the midst of flames and falling edifices. It is asserted that Wounded eighty-seven wounded peasants, whom the king's army h a d^« asautsburn - found on taking the town , in the market-house , used as an hospital , had been burned alive ; and that in retaliation the insurgents burned above a hundred royalists in a barn at Scullabogue. Amongst the remarkable and melancholy examples of the abuse of martial law , and the discretionary power given to military officers in Ireland , one which occurred on the taking of Wexford is a peculiarly fit subject for observation : Mr. Gro- gan , of Johnstown-Castle, a man past seventy years of age , i;4 RISE AND FALL of very large fortune, irreproachable reputation, with the address, manners, and feelings of a gentleman, Overstreet and John, his two brothers, commanded yeomanry corps. — The first of them was killed at the head of his corps ( the Castletown Cavalry), at the battle of Arklow. — The other was wounded at the head of his troop ( the Heathfield Light Horse) during Major Maxwell's retreat from Wexford, and upon the recapture of Wexford. — The semblance of a trial was thought expedient by General Lake , before he could . Mr ; c,r,, s an execute a gentleman of so much importance and fortune. His trie ! h\ Court ' Martial, case was afterwards brought before Parliament upon a Bill of attainder, and argued for three successive days, and nearly nights, and evidence was produced clearly exonerating him from any voluntary error. The only charge the Government (to excuse the culpability of General Lake) could prove, was his having been surrounded by the insurgent army — which placed him under surveillance, and who, to give importance to themselves , forced him one day into the town of Wexford , on horseback, a peasant of the name of Savage attending him , with a blunderbuss, and orders to shoot him if he refused to obey their commands; — against his will, they nominated him a commissary, knowing that his numerous tenantry would be more willing in consequence to supply them. He used no weapon of any description , loo feeble even to hold ■ lie in his hand. A lady, of the name of Segrave, gave evidence that her lamilv in the town were in want of food, and that she sent to Mr. Grogan , to give her an order for some bread, which re- quest, losaveherfamilv from starving, he reluctantly complied with. Through that order, she procured some loaves, and sup- plied her children; and for that act of benevolence, and on that ladv's evidence , Mr. < irogan was sentenced to die as a traitor, and was immediately hanged and beheaded — when unable to walk to the place of execution , and alrcadv almost lifeless from aiie . imprisonment, pain and brutal treatment. Jl ap- OF THE IRISH NATION. 3 7 5 peared before Parliament, upon interrogating the President His witness of the Court, that the members of the Court Martial which military. tried him had not been sworn — thai they were only seven instead of thirteen , the usual number — that his material witness was shot by the military, while on the road, between Johnstown-Castle and Wexford, to give evidence of Mr. Gro- gan's entire innocence ; and that, while General Lake was mak- ing merry at dinner (with his staff and some members of the Court that condemned him ) , one of the first gentlemen in the county (in every point far his superior), was hanged and mutilated almost before his windows. The author's inti- mate knowledge of Mr. Cornelius Grogan for many years enables him to assert most unequivocally, and it is but justice to his memory to do so, that, though a person of independent mind as well as fortune, and an opposition member of the Irish Parliament, he was no more a rebel than his brothers, who had signalized themselves in battle as royalists , and the survivor of whom was rewarded by the same Government, by an unprecedented Bill of attainder against that unfortunate Bill f at- gentleman , long after he was dead, by which his great estates a ' were confiscated to the crown. This Attainder Bill was one of the most illegal and un- Tun thous- i i /-i i ant t pounds constitutional acts ever promoted by any Government-, but, costs to t | ie after much more than ten thousand pounds, costs to crown Altf,lue y Gi - officers and to Lord Norbury, as Attorney-General , had been extracted from the property, the estates were restored to the surviving brother. X. These transactions are dreadful, even to the recollection; they were the ruin of the nation and its character, but are only mentioned to give some idea of that worst of all scourges — civil war, and of the most cruel of all tribunals, courls martial — a situation into which Mr. Pitt craftily permitted the Irish nation to fall , in order to promote his purpose of a union. — The subsequent administration of Lord Cornwallis leaves no ground of scepticism upon ibis subject. ^76 RISK AND FALL Barbarous The infliction of torture was incessant , and acts of retalia- execution of .• r ■. /~> 1 1 • ■ Sir Edward l,on ^' ere as frequent. Gentlemen were executed — some with Crosby and i,i a | s others with worse than none. The execution of Sir Mr. Grogau , under colour Edward Crosby , was a murder; that of Mr. Grogan , a hut- Martial. °' r chery. The\ iceroyhad signed no warrants for their executions; he was seldom consulted respecting the prisoners , till their fate had heen decided ; his conduct was considerate , where he was not governed by his council. The insurrection had been nearly exhausted , and Lord Camden , who was considered by Mr. Pitt an unfit person lo employ for his ulterior objects , was recalled. CHAP. XXIV. Appointment I« Lord Cornwallis was now selected to complete the pro- Jib Corn 'j ect °f a union , and Lord Castlereagh was continued as Chief His crafty Secretary. His system was , of all others , the most artful and insidious : he affected impartiality, whilst he was deceiving both parties; he encouraged the United Irishman, and he roused the royalist ; one day he destroyed — the next day he was merciful. His system , however , had not exactly the anticipated effect. Every thing gave reason to expect a resto- ration of tranquillity ; it was through the impression of horror alone that a union could be effected, and he had no time to lose, lesl the country might recover its reason. French in- A portion of an armament , destined by France to aid the ™ u e a s r ^|" Irish insurgents , had escaped our cruisers , and landed about number, a thousand troops at Killala Bay. They entered Killala without opposition , surprising the bishop and a company of parsons who were on their visitation. Nothing could be heller than their conduct , and the bishop , in a publication on this event, did them ample justice , at ihe expense of his own translation. They were joined by a considerable number of peasantry, unarmed, unclothed , and undisciplined. But the French did OF THE IRISH NATION. 3 77 the best they could to render them efficient. After some stay at Killala , they determined to march into the country, and , even with that small force , they expressed hut little doubt of reaching the metropolis. Lord Hutchinson commanded the garrison of Castlebar, a few miles from Killala. His force being pretty numerous , with a good train of artillery, he had no suspicion that a handful of French would presume to attack him. II. General Lake with his staff had just arrived , and taken the command ( as an older officer), as Lord Hutchinson had determined to march the ensuing day, and end the question , by a capture of the French detachment. The repose of the generals was of short duration. Early in the morning they were roused by an account that the French and peasantry were in full march upon them. They immediately beat to arms , and the troops were moved to a position , about a mile from Castlebar, which , to an unskilled person , seemed unas- sailable. They had scarcely been posted , with nine pieces of cannon , when the French appeared on the opposite side of a small lake , descending a hill in columns, directly in front of the English. Our artillery played on them with effect. The British French kept up a scattered fire of musquetry, and took up the J°°Pf \ ot ^ r attention of our army by irregular movements. In half an artillery all hour, however, our troops were alarmed by a movement of a small bodies to turn their left , which , being covered by walls, they had never apprehended. The orders given were either mistaken or misdelivered-, 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 French as could get horses to carry them. Races Castlebar Cornwallis. J78 RISE AND I All. About nine hundred French and some peasants took pos- session of Castlebar without resistance , except from a few Highlanders stationed in the town , who were soon destroyed. ' of This battle has been generally called the Races oj'Casllebai-. 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 to join the victors, which they immediately did, and in one hour were completely equipped Ninety Mi- as French riflemen. About ninety of these men were hanged cd by lord by Lord Cornwallis afterwards at Ballynamuck. One of them defended himself by insisting , " that it was the army and not " be who were deserters; that whilst he was fighting hard 4i they all ran away, and left him to be murdered." Lord Jocelyn got him saved. The defeat of Castlebar, however, was a victory to the Viceroy; it revived all the horrors of the rebellion which had been subsiding , and the desertion of the militia regiments tended to impress the gentry with an idea , that England alone could protect the country. Lord Cornwallis was supine , and the insurgents were active in profiting by this victory; 4o,ooo of them were preparing to assemble at the Crooked Wood , in Weslmealh , only forty- two miles from Dublin , ready to join the French and march upon the metropolis. III. The French continued too long at Castlebar, and Lord Cornwallis at length collected 20,000 troops, with which he considered himself pretty certain of conquering 900 men. With above twenty thousand men, he marched directly to the Shannon to prevent their passage, but he was out-manoeu- Frcncli ont- ivit Lord Cornwall!;,. ' The native character of the French never showed itself more strongly tlin after this action. When in full possession of the large town of Castlehar, they immediately set ahont putting their persons in the In xt order, and the officers advertised a hill and supper that night, for the ladies of the town; this, it i;; said , was well attended ; decorum in all points was strictly preserved; they paid ready money for every thing; in fact, tin- i rench army established the French character wherever they occupied. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3 79 vred ; the insurgents had led the French to the source of that river, and it was ten davs hefore his Lordship, by the slowest possible marches, (which he did purposely to increase the public terror), reached his enemy. But he overdid the matter, and had not Colonel Vereker (Lord Gort) delayed them in a rather sanguinary skirmish , in which he was defeated , it was possible they might have slipped by his Lordship, and have been revelling in Dublin, whilst he was roaming about the Shannon : however, he at length overtook the enemy. Lord Jocelyn's fox-hunters Lord Joce- were determined to retrieve their character, lost at Castlebar, s } ^ and a squadron , led by his Lordship , made a bold charge upon the French 5 but the French opened, then closed on them , and they were beaten , and his Lordship was made prisoner. The French corps, however, saw that ultimate success was French sur- impossible , having not more than nine hundred French re troops, and they afterwards surrendered prisoners of war without further resistance, after having penetrated to the heart of the kingdom. They were sent to Dublin , and after- wards to France. Horrors now were everywhere recommenced ; executions were multiplied. ' Lord Cornwallis marched against the peasantry, still masters of Killala : and after a sanguinary conflict in the streets , the town was taken : some were slaughtered , many hanged , and the whole district was on the point of being reduced to subjection, when Lord Corn- wallis most unexpecledlv proclaimed an armistice, and without any terms permitted the insurgents freely to disperse , and gave them thirty days, either to surrender their arms or be prepared for slaughter-, leaving them to act as they thought proper in the interval. This interval was terrific to the loyalists ^ the thirty days of armistice were thirty days of new horror, 1 His Lordship ordered above ninety of ihe militia to be immediately executed. 38o RISE AND FALL and the Government had now achieved the very climax of public terror, on which thev so much counted for inducing Ireland to throw herself into the arms of the protecting country. And the first step of Mr. Pitt's project was fully consummated. Mr. Pitt IV. Mr. Pitt now conceived that the moment had arrived LUprojects of to try the effect of his previous measures to promote a legis- a Uuiou. Jative Union , and annihilate the Irish legislature. He conceived that he had already prepared inducements to suit every temper amongst the Irish Commons : in that he was partially mistaken. He believed that he had prepared the Irish Peers to accede to all his projects : in that he was successful. The sub- The able, arrogant, ruthless hearing of Lord Clare upon the servjency of W00 l s;ic L had rendered him almost despotic in that imbecile the Lords. _ 1 assembly, forgetting their high rank, their country, and them- selves, they yielded unresisting to the spell of his dictation, and, as the fascinated bird, only watched his eye and dropt one by one into the power of the serpent. The Bishops. The lure of translation neutralized the scruples of the Epis- copacy. The Bishops yielded up their conscience to their inter- ests , and but two of the spiritual Peers could be found to uphold the independence of their counlr\ r , which had been r.ishops of so nobly attained, and so corruptly extinguished. Marly, bishop Waterford c \\ a t er f' rd, and Dixon, bishop of Down, immortalized their amlDowu. • • 1 i« name, and their characters — they dared to oppose the dic- tator, and supported the rights of Ireland till she ceased to breathe longer under the title of a Nation. This measure, of more vital importance than any that has ever yet been enacted by the British legislature, the fatal con- sequences of which are every day displaying, and still range far bevond the vision of short-sighted statesmen , was first pro- posed indirectly by a speech from the throne , on the 2^d January, 1799. The insidious object of that speech to entrap the House into a conciliating reply was seen through, and resisted witli a OF THE IRISH NATION. 38 1 vigour which neither the English nor Irish Governments had eversuspected. — The horrors of civil war, theharbarilies prac- tised on the one side, and sanctioned on the other, and the uni- versal consternation of the whole kingdom, had, fortunately for Mr. Pitt, excited in many the fallacious idea that in the arms of England only Ireland could regain and secure tranquillity. This shallow principle influenced or deluded manv, but afforded to a greater number a specious pretence for support- ing a measure which their individual or corrupt objects only induced them to sanction. To do justice to or detail the speeches on this great subject , comprising as much eloquence as ever yet appeared in any legislative assembly, would be far too extensive a task for this volume. Short abstracts only can now be given here, and the leading arguments condensed, so as to bring the subject and all its important bearings before the capacity of every reader. V. Ireland was now reduced to a state filled to receive Political propositions for a Union. The loyalists were still struggling Lor(1 Corn . through the embers of a rebellion, scarcely extinguished by™' 1 '* and ° _ 7 J ° Lord Castle- the torrents of blood which had been poured upon, them 5 the reagh. insurgents were artfully distracted between the hopes of mercy and the fear of punishment ; the Viceroy had seduced the Catholics by delusive hopes of emancipation , whilst the Protestants were equally assured of their ascendancy, and every encouragement was held out to the sectarians. Lord Corn- wallis and Lord Castlereagh seemed to have been created for such a crisis and for each other \ an unremitting perseverance, an absence of all political compunctions, an unqualified con- tempt of public opinion , and a disregard of every constitu- tional principle , were common to both. They held that " the object justifies the means 5 " and, unfortunately, their priv- ate characters were calculated to screen their public conduct from popular suspicion. Lord Cornwallis , with the exception of the Union , which 1 "ufortun- 382 RISE AND FALL ate results <>f renders him the most prominent person in Irish history, had LordCorawal- succeeded in any of his public measures. His failure in lis s conuur t J I iu every quar- America had deprived England of her colonics, and her army ter of the „ . • , . ' , -, , .,., world. or its reputation-, — Ins catastrophe at i oik- 1 own gave a shock to the King's mind , from which it is supposed he never entirely recovered. In India, he defeated Tippoo Saib , but concluded a peace which only increased the necessity of future wars. Weary of the sword, he was sent as a diploma- tist to conclude the peace of Amiens; hut, out-manoeuvred by Lucien Bonaparte, his Lordship's treaty involved all Europe in a war against England. He had thought to conciliate Lucien , by complimenting the First Consul , and sacrificed his sovereign's honorary title as King of France , which had been borne since the conquests of the Edwards and the Henries , while he retained the title of Defender of the Faith — corruptly be- stowed by a pope on a tvrant. ' — ■ This was the instrument now employed by Mr. Pitt to effect the Union. Lord Castle- \ I. Lord Castlereagh had been more than seven years in the Irish Parliament, but was undistinguished. In private life , his honorable conduct, gentlemanly habits , and engag- ing demeanour, were exemplary. Of his public life, the com- mencement was patriotic , the progress corrupt , and the ter- mination criminal. His first public essay was a motion to reform the Irish Parliament , and his last to annihilate it. It is impossible to deny a fact so notorious. History, tradition , or the fictions of romance , contain no instance of any mi- nister who so fearlessly deviated from all the principles which ought to characterize the servant of a constitutional monarch, ' The title of the King of England then was: " George III. King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, and so forth. " — It is very observable, thai so distinct did the Kings of England consider the two Nations, that in three Royal tides France was made to intervene therein between England and Ireland. It was owing to the a< t ofsetllemenf , and hot through any gift ol Heaven, that the House of Hanover mounted the throne of Great Britain. re.!"li. OF THE IRISH NATION. 383 or the citizen of a free country. Incontestable facts prove the justice of this observation. The rebellion had commenced on the 2?»d of May, 1798, Union pro- and on the 2 ad of January, 1799 , a union was proposed. 10 " The commercial propositions had taught Mr. Pitt that, in a period of tranquillity, nothing could be effected with the Irish Parliament by fraud or delusion. But for the terrors of the rebellion, the proposal of a Union might have united all parlies against the Government-, and Lord Cornwallis's un- exampled warfare against nine hundred Frenchmen, was evidently intended more for terror than for victory. Mr. Pitt's project was first decidedly announced by a pamphlet, written by Mr. Edward Cooke, the Under-Secretary, entitled " Arguments for and against a Union considered." It was plausibly written , and it roused the people from their confidence that no English Minister dared propose, or Irish- man abet, a destruction of that independence which Ireland had possessed less than eighteen years. Mr. Cooke was promptly replied to, by a pamphlet entitled "Cease your Funning; " — a masterpiece of its kind, which, in the garb of wit and irony, conveyed the most skilful reasoning, and rendered Mr. Cooke's publication perfectly ridiculous. The author was then most deservedly high at the Irish bar , and is now its first law dignitary. It was sent to press five days after the first line was written. Above a hundred pamphlets were published on both sides of the question ; but it was some time before the whole nation could believe such a measure durst be attempted. MI. The Bar in Ireland was formerly not a working trade, but a proud profession , filled by gentlemen of birth and fortune, who were then residents in their country. The Government, the Parliament, every municipality then felt the influence of that profession , whose principal pride it always was to defend the Constitution. The number of offices connected with the law were then comparatively few. The 384 RISE AND FALL estimable Lord Lifford , at his death , was succeeded on the woolsack by Lord Clare, who immediately gave the utmost latitude to his arbitrary temper and despotic principles as Chancellor. Great spieu- He commenced his office with a splendour far exceeding all chancellor, precedent. He expended four thousand guineas for a stale carriage; his establishment was splendid, and his entertain- ments magnificent. His family connexions absorbed the pa- tronage of the State, and he became the most absolute subject that modern times had seen in the British Islands. His only check was the Bar, which he resolved to corrupt. He doubled the number of the bankrupt commissioners-, he revived some offices — created others — and, under pretence of furnishing each county with a local judge, in two months he established thirty-two new offices, of about six or seven hundred pounds per annum each. His arrogance in court intimidated many whom his patronage could not corrupt-, and he had no doubt of overpowering the whole profession. Celebrated A meeting of the Bar, however, to discuss the Union , was Bar meeting. ea ll ec l on y\ ie ^ih of December, 1799, at the Exhibition Room, William-Street , and Mr. Smith, as the father of the Bar, was voted in the chair. Among those who had called the meeting were fourteen of the king's counsel — E.Mavne, W. Saurin , W. C. Plunket , C. Bushe , W. Sankey, B. Burton , J. Bar- ringlon, A. M'Cartney, G. O'Farrell, J. O'Driscoll, J. Lloyd, P. Burrowes, R. Jebb , and H. Joy, Esquires. Mr. Saurin. Mr. Saurin opened the debate. His speech was vapid, and his resolution unpointed; but he had great influence in his profession. He was a moderate Huguenot, and grandson of the great preacher at the Hague-, he was an excellent lawyer, and an amiable pious christian. He was followed bv Captain Spencer, of the barristers' cavalry. Mr. Saint Mr. Saint George Daly, a briefless barrister, was the fust Ceorge Daly. SU p portcr f t } ie Union. Of all men he was the least thought of for preferment; but it was wittily observed, " that the OF THE IRISH NATION. 38 r » Union was the first brief Mr. Daly had spoken from." He moved an adjournment. Mr. Thomas Grady was the Fitzgibbon spokesman : a gen- Mr. Thomas tleman of independent property, a tolerable lawyer, an ama- tory poet , a severe satirist , and an indefatigable quality- hunter. He had writteri the " Flesh-Brush " for Lady Clare ; the " West Briton ,"' for the Union ; the " Barrister," for the Bar; and the " Nosegay, " for a banker at Limerick, who sued him successfully for a libel. " The Irish ," said Mr. Grady, " are only the rump of an Mr. Gra- " aristocracy. Shall I visit posterity with a system of war, iLrau^ueT " pestilence, and famine? ' JNo ! 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, attorneys-general in perspective, and animalcula " sei'jeants. ylllvhc 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 ware- " houses : the people are Catholics, and they are all for " it," etc. etc. etc. Such an oration as Mr. Grady's had never before been heard at a meeting of lawyers of 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 succeeded, by turning it on himself. Mr. Beresford afterwards became a parson , and is now Lord Decies. Mr. Gooldsaid : " There are 4o,ooo British Mr. tl " troops in Ireland, and with 4o,ooo bayonets at my breast, " the minister shall not plant another Sicily in the bosom of ' Nothing could be more unfortunate than this crude observation of Mr. Grady, as the very three evils, war, pestilence, and famine, which he declared a Union would avert , have since visited and are still visiting the unioned country ; which has received aid from England , to avert depopulation by that famine which the result of that Union was a leading cause of; and, inoculated with the late plague from Great Britain, they are now declared in a slate of war by the British legislature. om.is Goold's speech. 386 RISE AND FALL '• the Atlantic. I want not the assistance, of divine inspiration " to foretell, for I am enabled by tbe visible and unerring " demonstrations of nature to assert , thai Ireland was des- " lined to be a free and independent nation. Our patent " to be a state, not a shire , comes direct from heaves. The " Almighty has, in majestic characters, signed the great " charter of our independence. The great Creator of the " world has given our beloved country the gigantic out- " lines of a kingdom. The God of nature never intended " that Ireland should be a province , and bj G — she never "shall." The assembly burst into a tumult of applause ; a repeti- tion of the words came from many mouths, and many an able lawyer swore hard upon the subject : the division was — Against I lie Union 166 In favour of it 32 Majority 1 34 Thirty-two VIII. Thirty-two was the precise number of the county ^poSted by judges, and of this minority the following persons were Lordciaic afterwards rewarded for their adherence to Lord Clare : — List of Barristers who supported the Union, and their respective rewards. Per Annum i. Mr. Charles Osborn , appointed a Judge of the King's Bench L. 3,3oo 2. Mr. Saint John Daly, appointed a Judge of the King's Bench 3,3oo 3. Mr. William Smith , appointed Baron of the Exche- quer 3,3oo i Mr. M'Cleland , appointed Baron of the Exchequer . . 3,3oo OF THE IRISH NATION. 38-/ I'ii \nnum. 5. Mr. Robert Johnson , appointed Judge of llie Common Pleas L. 3,3oo 6. Mr. William Johnson , appointed Judge of the Com- mon Pleas 3,3oo n. Mr. Torrens , appointed Judge of the Common Pleas. 3,3oo 8. Mr. Vandeleur, appointed Judge of the King's Bench. 3,3oo g. Mr. Thomas Maunsell , a County Judge 6oo io. Mr. William Turner, a County Judge 6oo 1 1 . Mr. John Scholes , a County Judge 6oo i 2. Mr. Thomas Vickers , a County Judge 6oo i3. Mr. J. Homan , a County Judge 600 i4- Mr. Thomas Grady , a County Judge 600 1 5. Mr. John Dwycr, a County Judge 600 16. Mr. George Leslie , a County Judge 600 17. Mr. Thomas Scott , a County Judge 600 18. Mr. Henry Brook , a County Judge 600 IQ. Mr. James Geraghty , a County Judge 600 20. Mr. Richard Sharkey, a County Judge 600 21. Mr. William Stokes , a County Judge. . „ 600 22. Mr. William Roper, a County Judge 600 23. Mr. C. Garnet , a County Judge 600 24. Mr. Jemison , a Commissioner for the distribution of one million and a half Union compensation 1,200 25. Mr. Filzgibbon Henchy, Commissioner of Bankrupts. . 4°° 26. Mr. J. Keller, Officer in the Court of Chancery 5oo 27. Mr. P. W. Fortescue , M. P. a secret pension 4o° 28. Mr. W. Longfield, an Officer in the Custom House . . 5oo 20. Mr. Arthur Brown , Commission of Inspector 800 3o. Mr. Edmund Stanley, Commission of Inspector 800 3i. Mr. Charles Ormshy , Council to Commissioners Value. 5, 000 32. Mr. William Knott, M. P. Commission of Appeals. . 800 33. Mr. Henry Deane Grady, Council to Commissioners Value 5,ooo 34. Mr. John Beresford , his father a title Soon after this decision , Sir Jonah Harrington resigned ",88 RISE EWD FALL his commission as an officer of llie Barristers' Cavalry, and the corps shortly after ceased to act. " Letter from Sir Jonah Harrington to Captain Saurin, " Barristers' Cavalry. " Merrion Square , January, aotli 170;). " Permit me to resign, through you, the commission which " I hold in the Lawyers' Cavalry : — I resign it with the " regret of a soldier , who knows his duty to his King , yet " feels his duly to his Country, and will depart from neither " but with his life. " That blind and fatal measure proposed by the Irish Go- "vernmenl, to extinguish the political existence of Ireland " — to surrender its legislature , its trade, its dearest rights , " and proudest prerogatives , into the hands of a British mi- " nister, and a British council , savours too much of that ,l foreign principle , against the prevailing influence of which " the united powers of Great Britain and Ireland arc this " moment combating — and as evidently throws open to the " British empire the gate of that seductive political innovdtion, " which has already proved the grave of half the governments " of Europe. " Consistent therefore with my loyally and my oath , I can " no longer continue subject to the indefinite and unforeseen " commands of a military government, which so madly ha- " zards the integrity of the British empire, and existence of " the British constitution , to crush a rising nation , and ' ; aggrandize a despotic minister. " Blinded by my zealous and hereditary attachment to the " established government and British connexion, I saw not " the absolute necessity of national unanimity , to secure " constitutional freedom — 1 see it now , and trust it is not " vi l too late to establish both. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3S 9 " I never will abet a now developed system, treacherous and • ungrateful — stimulating two sects against eacli other , to ' enfeeble both, and then making religious feuds a pretext 1 for political slavery : " Rejecting the experiment of a reform , and recommend- ' ing the experiment of a revolution : " Kindling catholic expectation to a blaze — and then exliu- ' guishing it for ever : ** Alternately disgusting the rebel and the royalist, by in- ' discriminate pardon , and indiscriminate punishment : " Suspending one code of laws, and adjudging by another, ' without authority to do either 5 and when the. country, ' wearied by her struggles for her King , slumbers to refresh '" and to regain her vigour — her liberty is treacherously at- ' templed to be hound — and her pride , her security, and 4 her independence , are to be buried alive in the tomb of ' national annihilation. ''Mechanical obedience is the duty of a soldier — but ' active uninfluenced integrity the indispensable attribute of v a legislator, when the preservation of his country is in ' question — and as the same frantic authority, which me- ' dilates our civil annihilation , might in the same frenzy ' meditate military projects from which my feelings — my ' principles — and my honor might revolt — I feel it right ' to separate my civil and military functions; and , to secure ' the honest uninterrupted exercise of the one, I relinquish ' the indefinite subjection of the other. " I return the arms I received from government — I re- ' ceived them pure, and restore them not dishonored. " I shall now resume mY civil duties with zeal and with ' energy — elevated bv the hope, that the Irish Parliament, ' true to itself, and honest toils country, will never assume ' a power extrinsic of its delegation — and will convince : ibe British nation, that we are a people equally impreg- °>f)o RISE AM) FALL " nable to the attacks of intimidation , or the shameless prac- " tice of corruption. '• Yours , etc. " JONAH BARRINGTON , " Lieut. L. Cavalry. " " To WILLIAM SAURIN, Esq. " Commandant Lawyers' Corps. " The Right Honourable James Fitzgerald , then prime-ser- jeant, was dismissed from office, having peremptorily refused to vote for the Union. The office of prime-serjeant, unknown in England , in Ireland took precedence of the Attorney and Solicitor-General. The emoluments were very great-, — Mr. Saint George Daly was immediately rewarded by that office, to the duties of which he was totally incompetent, never having been in any considerable practice at the bar. A meeting was then called , to express to Mr. Fitzgerald the thanks of his profession for his disinterested patriotism; never was there a more just and honourable tribute paid to Lord Clare an honest public character. oppose the rpj ie k ar j w( j a j SQ (j elerm i ne( i ? t ] iat the precedence in the courts should be continued to Mr. Fitzgerald ; to this Lord Clare would not accede, and he treated the subject with great arrogance in his court. That session concluded without any other meeting of the profession. The day after that debate, Mr. Saint George Daly drew up a protest of the minority, some of whom refused to sign it : he got some substitutes, so as to keep up his number of thirty- two , but not one person of professional eminence , of public character, or independence appeared in the whole number : it was universally ridiculed , but Mr. Daly carried his object — his own promotion. 01 THE IRISH NATION. 3$i Five of the debates on the Union in llie Irish Commons comprised every thing of the first importance upon the subject; of these, three took place in January, 1799, whilst men were impressed with the horrors of the rebellion and the fears of a French invasion. The debates of 1800 were after the Parliament had been packed through the Place Bill. The competence of Parliament to relinquish the Constitution, and their own existence, was discussed with extraordinary ability. Opcuiug of IX. The first debate took place on the 2.2nd January, 1799 , \l^ m and lasted till eleven o'clock in the morning of the 23rd , or twenty-two hours. The Government obtained a majority of only one , and that by the palpable seduction of Mr. Fox. The second debate commenced at five o'clock on the same day, and continued till late in the morning of the 24th, when, the country being roused , the Treasury Bench was , unexpectedly, defeated. The speech from the Viceroy, delivered on the open- ing of the session , which gave rise to the debate of 22nd January, recommended — "the unremitting industry with " which our enemies persevere in their avowed design of " endeavouring to effect a separation of this kingdom 14 from Great Britain, must have engaged your particu- lar attention, and His Majesty commands me to ex- "• press his anxious hope that this consideration, joined - 1 - to the sentiment of mutual affection and common in- "lerest, may dispose the Parliaments in both kingdoms " to provide the most effectual means of maintaining " and improving a connexion essential to their common ""security, and of consolidating as far as possible into " one firm and lasting fabric, the strength, the power and " the resources of the British empire. " The address to that speech, almost an echo, was moved by Lord Tyrone, who thus stamped for himself an eternal impression on the annals of Ireland. — He was the eldest son of the Marquis of Water- >ga f RISE AND FALL ford, a keen and haughty nobleman, possessed of thai local influence which rank , extensive connexions , unlimited patronage , and oslentatious establishments are almost certain to acquire : inflated with aristocratic pride and blinded by egotism , he became a powerful instrument of Lord Clare's ambition , whilst he conceived that he was only gratifying his Lord Clare's own. Lord Clare, at that period, had covered the surface of great power. . . . , * the nation with the partisans of the Beresfords and himself, and no family ever possessed so many high and lucrative employments; they had no talent, no public services, no political honesty, which should have entitled them to the authority they exercised over their sovereign and country. Lord Ty- Lord Tyrone , an automaton of Lord Clare, possessed plain rone's clia- ! l racter. manners , an open countenance , a slothful uncultivated mind , unsusceptible of any refined impressions , or patriotic feelings ; the example of his relatives gave him no stimulus beyond that of lucrative patronage. Whatever were his indi- vidual opinions upon the Union, his vapid, disingenuous, and arrogant speech evinced that he was not calculated to give weight to his family : his speech had been written by 1 1 is friends, and, concealing it in the crown of his hat, he look a glance at it when at a loss : the exhibition , on such a subject, was too disgusting to be ridiculous : Lord Clare , on this occasion , exhibited the voracity of his ambition. The ancient and proud house of Heresford were, on that night, cringing as the vassals of an arrogant and splendid upstart. Seconded by The address was seconded by Mr. Robert Fitzgerald , of Mr. Fit/.ge- .-, , , 111 1 1111 raid. Cork beg, an elderly country gentleman; he had an honest character, blunt, candid manners-, and though he had not talent, he could deliver himself with some strength , and with the appearance of sincerity. His speech on this occasion was short and feeble, lie had been artfully seduced as a lure to the count rv gentlemen, bv Lord ( -urn wall is's assuring him that, in the event of the Union , a royal dock-yard would be built near Cork , which would double the value of his estates. OF THE IRISH NATION. 3 9 3 In every debate upon that measure , it was insisted upon that the Parliament was incompetent, even to entertain the question of the Union; — such was the opinion of Mr. Saurin , since At- torney-General-, Mr. Plunket, now Lord Chancellor; Serjeant Ball, the ablest lawyer of Ireland ; Mr. Fitzgerald, Prime- Serjeant of Ireland; Mr. Moore, now a Judge; Sir John Parnell , then Chancellor of the Exchequer ; Mr. Bush-e , now Chief Justice; and Lord Oriel , the then Speaker of the House of Commons. — Nearly every unbribed or uninfluenced mem- ber of the learned. profession adopted the doctrine of which these learned and able men were the unqualified organs. Lord Glenbervie, in his famous speech in favour of the Union, in the English House of Commons, in 1800, expressed his surprise that Messrs. Saurin , Plunket, and Barrington , could reason upon so untenable a position. He admitted their sincerity, but considered them not very clear in their intellects. His own speech was splendidly printed, but was miserably heavy. The Irish Union materially changed the representation of England , and altered the letter and spirit of the Scotch treaty — Ireland , however, was alone disfranchised. Mr. John Ball , Member for Drogheda , who gave his un- Mr. Joim qualified opinion as to the legal and constitutional incapacity of the Commons to enact a Union , was the ablest lawyer His dia- of his day, and one of the purest characters, public and ia private, that had ever flourished in Ireland; amiable and consistent in every station and in every capacity, combining spirit and mildness, fortitude and moderation; — he was cast in one of the finest moulds of firmness and patriotism. During his progress from comparative obscurity to the at- tachment and highest esteem of his profession , and of the public, he evinced an independence above all temptation. Though the ablest lawver of his day, he was passed over in all Lord Clare's promotions. 3 9 4 (USE AIND 1 ALL CHAP. XXV. I. It would be impossible to do justice to tbe brilliant elo- quence , and unanswerable reasoning , by which this measure was combated. — Even a short abstract of the speeches deli- vered on that momentous question would swell this volume beyond its intended limits; — those speeches will be the subject of a future publication. The three At present , it must suffice to state the abstract points on ments^used in which the arguments of Government for annexation were r-ariiameut iu founded , and those by which they were so ably, and un- favor of a J . Union. answerably refuted. — First, the distracted state of the Irish Nation , its religious dissensions , and the consequent danger of a separation , unless protected from so imminent a peril , by the incorporation with Great Britain , and tbe incapacity of the Irish legislature alone to avert the dangers of tbe country , and preserve tbe constitution. Secondly, tbe great commercial advantages of a Union which must eventually enrich Ireland , by an extension of its commerce , the influx of British capital , and the confidence of England in the stability of its institutions, when guaranteed by the Union. Thirdly, the Government pressed with great zeal the example of Scotland, which had so improved , and become so rich and prosperous , after its annexation •, a precedent which must convince the Irish of the incalculable advantages, which must ensue from a similar incorporation. Many other arguments, but of a minor description , were urged by the purchased partisans of Government. — But the leading points which elicited the splendid eloquence, tbe reasoning and the high spirit of its opponents, were exemplified by the argument of Mr. ( ieorge Ponsonby. II. Sir Laurence Parsons, and many others in reply, not only animated, but convinced the assembly; the facts were OF THE IRISH NATION. 3$5 too strong to be refuted , that the country had been work- Arguments ed up by the English minister to terrify the Irish gentry unionists, into a resubmission to those shackles from which the spirit of the Volunteers, and of the nation, had but a few years before released them. They asked what could the Union do, which could not be done without it ? That there was no species of aid , no auxiliary power which England could afford to Ireland , either to restore or secure her tranquillity , that Ireland had not fully within her own reach and power. — She had men — she had means — she had arms — she had spirit — she had loyalty — all in her do- mestic circle sufficient to restore her to peace, which had, for a moment , been interrupted by the machinations of those who would now take advantage of their own treachery. — The Irish Parliament had within her own walls the power of reconciling religious differences, restoring peace or putting down insurrection , far more effectually than the English Government could pretend to possess. It was argued that the insurrection , first organised and fostered by Mr. Pitt, and protracted by Lord Cornwallis, had been suppressed by the active zeal and measures of the Irish Parliament ; and that the introduction of foreign and mercenary Germans, to immolate the Irish, instead of tending to extinguish , added fuel to the conflagration , and excited the strongest feelings of retaliation ; nor could the people of Independent Ireland brook the idea of being cut down by Welshmen. III. It was not to the arms of England, but to the distin- NotEng- guished loyally of the Irish Commons, and the prompt and ^j^ 1 , 1 ^ vigorous measures of the Irish Parliament, that the speedy surrectiou. termination of that insurrection was to be attributed. — The English Mi- English Militia were brought over, after the contest had ed in i rc i am ]. nearly ended, and never fired a shot in Ireland. They con- ducted themselves with decorum and due discipline, and re- turned to England with at least as good a character as they 3 9 6 RISE AND' FALL left it. — The German mercenaries who were wantonly im- ported , as if to teach barbarity to the Irish insurgents, amply experienced by their own hlood the expertness of their pupils, and only aggravated that people whom they had heen brought to conquer. The argument therefore , that the Irish legislature had not sufficient power to protect itself, was unfounded and fallacious, and only invented to keep up and augment the ter- rors of the Irish gentry. Second The second ground of argument used by the supporters of Umone aH ^ ie ^ n ' on ' S reat commercial advantages, appeared still fallacious. more fallacious •, its deception was too palpable to deceive the most ignorant of the people. Ireland could IV. The proposers of the Union were asked, what were , "a'j* the commercial advantages which Ireland could possibly gain vantages by by a Union, that she might not equally attain through her own Parliament without one? She was an independent na- tion <, — she had an independent legislature, — she might regulate her own tariffs and conduct her commerce by her own statutes; — the reciprocal connexion of the two countries was an equal object to the commercial interests of both. The non-importation and non-consumption resolutions of Ireland had once brought back the English monopolists to their reason ; the same power remained with the Irish people. If she could resist commercial restraints in 1782, with tenfold more facility she could resist them in 1800 ; she could trade with more success, because she had since learned the rudi- ments of commerce , from a participation in which the avarice of monopolists and the unjust jealousies of Great Britain had theretofore excluded her. She would The crafty prediction that English capital would flow into .i.^.iiT. iJti.i,, Ireland , when a Union was effected, was a visionary deccp- »be could gain tj on. — For more capital would be annually withdrawn pital. from Ireland by the emigration <>i the lauded proprietors in consequence of Union, than could be gained l>\ any OF THE IRISH NATION. 3 97 accession of British capital. — Ireland was an agricultural Deceptive . „ ... . , , | arguments as country; her natural fertility pointed out to her the true to ,, rilLs!l ca _ source of her internal employment and the proper subjects of i ,i?alists - her external commerce; and when the famine which the slightest stagnation of trade causes amongst the manufacturers of the first towns of England, the decrepitude of their meagre operatives, the wretched enervating slavery to which the necessity of the parents and the brutality of the manufacturer condemn the infants of that nation , are considered , it would make a sufficient reply to either the certainty or the conse- quence of British capital. V. The third and most deceptions argument of the Union The com- i i i'ii i 1 f parison " be- supporlers, because the most plausihle , was the precedent ot tween s cot _ Scolland, and the great advantages derived by her in conse- jj n J "gj 1 ^ quence of her Union. points faiia- Of all the false reasoning, misstated facts, fallacious C10us ' premises , and unfounded conclusions , that any position ever was attempted to be supported on , the arguments founded on the Scottish precedent were the most erro- Scotland™ . 1 111 P rec edent in neous , and no deception ever was more completely and matters of fully defected than by the speeches made in the Irish facU Parliament in 1799 and 1800, and by several able pam- phlets, which, at that period, flowed in full tide upon the public. ' These replies , being founded on matters of fact and attested by incontrovertible records, put at once a decisive conclu- sion to every argument deduced by the advocates of Union, from that subject. First , as to matter of fact , Scotland and Ireland , in their First reia- relation with England , stood on grounds diametrically oppo- site to each other on every point that could warrant a Union on the one side , or reject it on the other. ' Two pamphlets, and a speech of Mr. Goold at the Bar meeting, publish- ed in 1799 , go very ably into all those subjects. 3 9 8 RISE AND TALL Constaut Scotland and England forming only one Island , divided liv a frontier, many parts of which a man could step over, had ever been in a state of sanguinary warfare. — The facility of invasion on both sides, left no moment of a certain undis- turbed tranquillity to either. Their inroads were incessant, — their reconciliations, only the forerunner of new contests, — interrupted by short intervals of peace, until the accession of Mary. Mary. She had been Queen of France, and on her return to her native country introduced a French connexion with Scot- land — which added to the excitement of both nations, and naturally increased the apprehensions of England from the power of a neighbour, so supported as Scotland then must have been. Unkm oF the The two crowns were united in the person of James the 'jTiucs i. U l' nst i ar, d ni lnc reign of Charles, the Scottish army renoun- ced their allegiance and sold their King, and surrendered him to his enemies , and eventually to the executioner. — It was Conduct of considered bv King William III , when he usurped the British William m. ^, ronC) t i iat if t^ey so acted by one King, they might do so by another, and his sanguinary conduct towards that country, Reign of still widened tlie breach between the two nations. At length effected. ° ° D tne re 'S n °f Anne brought the question of Union forward, not as in Ireland , a mere voluntary discussion , — but one of ab- solute necessity. Without the M- Had Anne died childless, the crowns must have been ^Tttish' 6 severet U an< l lnat of Scotland, by descent, would have gone crown would to the Scottish Duke of Hamilton, as Hanover will, on the another dy- tlcmise of his present Majesty, be separated from England. na>ty. Tliis important fact puts an end to all comparisons between the relative state of the two countries. Actof"se- The Scottish Parliament , to put an end to all doubts on the t^^ScottUh SUD j ec * of separation, passed an Act entitled the Act oj'secu- Parliament ritj . By that statute, the Scottish Parliament enacted that the termed by rciiiii i 77 nr tliriu tlic art ut considering that question in another point of view, it is the invariable principle of all international law, that the infraction of a solemn treaty, on the one side, dispenses with any adherence to the same treaty by the other; of course, annuls both , and leaves the contracting parlies in statu quo, OF THE IRISH NATION. /,o3 as they respectively stood before the treaty — and it was there- fore argued by those able men , that the renunciation act or' the ^3d George 111., " recognizing the unqualified independ- ence of Ireland , and expressly stipulating and contracting, that it should enure for ever," was the very essence , and consideration, of the international and federative treaty, and through its infraction by England, both countries stood in the very same state as at the period when England repeal- ed her own statute of George I., and admitted its unconsti- tutionality, and her own usurpation' — Ireland, of course, remained in the same position as she stood at that period. X. From all these considerations it inevitably follows, that if through force , or fraud , or fear, or corruption , in enact- ing it, the Union was null, then any act of the Imperial Parliament, repealing the Act of Union, would be in fact only repealing a nullity, and restoring to Ireland a legislature she never had been constitutionally deprived of. — It was admit-, ted that , had the infraction of the federative treaty been the act of Ireland , then this reasoning would have lost its validity; — but the contrary is direct, and indisputable. The Union propositions came from England herself, they were rejected ; she returned to the charge , and forced them upon Ireland , though at the same lime the English Parliament had solemnly pledged the honor, both of themselves, and their sovereign , for the eternal support of its independence , and the federative treaty. These arguments, and many more, were used both in and out of Parliament , to arrest the progress of that destructive and faithless measure, but in vain •, however, two great events, so long and so violently resisted for more than a century, have lately been accomplished; which give rise to constitutional questions , and have materially changed the state both of the people and the legislature , roused Ireland from her torpor, and brought forward claims which had so long lain dormant. And it is by the late measures of England herself, /jo.', RISE \ND FALL tliat the Irish people hare been led to consider that the nation was onlv in a slumber, and her legislature only in abrn ance. Mr. William XI. These grave and embarrassing points of constitutional ports' * "lie l ;uv i were by various speeches and pamphlets combated by Union. ]\] r William Smith (the present Baron ) , who lent the whole power of his able , and indefatigable genius , to prove the omnipotence of Parliament , and combat all the reasoning of those distinguished men . who have been heretofore alluded to : particularly Mr. Foster, against whose doctrine he wrote a long and laboured pamphlet. Baron Smith's ideas and reasoning are so metaphysically plaited and interwoven , that facts are lost sight of in the multiplicity and minuteness of theories and distinctions; and ordinary auditors , after a most learned , eloquent , and argumentative charge , or argument , are seldom able to recollect a single sentence of either (the dogmas excepted) , after ihey are out of the Court House. — In all his arguments, as to the omnipotence of the Irish Parliament to surrender its legislature , he manufactures his theories, as if the Irish Commons submitted willingly to prostitution , and argued in principle, that if members were purchased , it was in a market overt, and that the unconstitutionality of the sale merged in the omnipotent majority of the purchaser. It is to be regretted that the learned Baron , who is always able, and frequently four days in the week patriotic , should in 1800 have accepted a seal on the Bench, as a premium for his share of the omnipotence — The English people would have considered the Baron's reasoning , for the extinction of the Irish Parliament, in a very different point of view , if it had been used by him to prove the expediency of removing the British Parliament , lo legislate in Dublin, o.rruptron- XII. A very remarkable incident during the first night's debate iVoodlawn, afterwards created Lord Ashtown. Inese were the most palpable, undisguised acts of public tcrgiveisa- OF THE IRISH NATION. /,o5 tion and seduction ever exhibited in a popular assembly. Tbcv afterwards became the subject of many speeches and of many publications; and their consequences turned the majority of one in favor of the Minister. It was suspected that Mr. Trench had been long in nego- ciation with Lord Castlereagh , but it did not in the early part of that night appear to have been brought to any conclu- sion — his conditions were supposed to be too extravagant. Mr. Trench, after some preliminary observations, declared, in a speech, that he would vote against the Minister, and sup- port Mr. Ponsonby's amendment. This appeared a stunning blow to Mr. Cooke, who had been previously in conversation with Mr. Trench. He was immediately observed sideling from his scat nearer to Lord Castlereagh. Thev whispered earnestly, and , as if restless and undecided , both looked wistfully to- wards Mr. Trench. — At length the matter seemed to be determined on. Mr. Cooke retired to a back seat, and was obviously endeavouring 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 Mr. Trench — again looked most affectionately at Mr. Trench, who ^jj^ 18 "^" seemed unconscious that he was the subject of their conside- ration. But there was no time to lose — the question was ap- proaching ■ — all shame was banished — they decided on the terms, and a significant and certain glance, obvious to every body, 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 com- pletely told the house that Mr. Trench was that moment sa- tisfied. These surmises were soon verified. Mr. Cooke went hack to Lord Castlereagh — a congratulatory nod announced his satisfaction. Hut could any man for one moment suppose that a Member of Parliament, a man of very large fortune, of respectable family, and good character , could be publicly, and without shame or compunction , actually seduced by 4o6 RISE AND FALL Lord Castlereagh , in the very body of the house, and under the eye of two hundred .and twenty gentlemen ? Yet this was Mr. Trench the fact. In a few minutes Mr. Trench rose, to apologize for he had a few having indiscreetly declared he would support the amend- moments be- ment u e a( Jded , that he had thought better of the subject lore declared, J and said be since he had unguardedly expressed himself; that he had been his mind and convinced he was wrong , and would support the Minister. ^ouidvotefor Scarcely was there a member of any party who was not Government. _ J # J I J disgusted ; it had , however, the effect intended by the despe- rate purchaser, of proving that Ministers would stop at no- thing to effect their objects, however 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 The Place Bill, so long and so pertinaciously sought for, unfortunate and so indiscreetly framed by Mr. Gratlan and the W bigs of effects. Ireland, now, for the first time, proved the very engine by which the Minister upset the opposition, and annihilated the Constitution. That bill enacted, that members accepting offices , places, or pensions, during the pleasure of the Crown, should not sit ia Parliament unless re-elected; — but, unfortunately, the Bill made no distinction between valuable offices which might influence, and nominal offices, which might job, — and the Chillern Hundreds of England were, under the title of the Escheatorhips of Munster, Leinster, Connaught, etc., ■ Had Mr. Fox and Mr. Trench voted as they professed , .1 majority of three would Live appeared in favour of Mr. Ponsonhy's amendment; and Englishmen will scarcely credit that anj Government could, with a majo- rity again I them, have presumed to persevere in their subversion of tin: Constitution. OF THE HUSH N/VTiON. 407 transferred lo Ireland, with salaries of forty shillings, to In used at pleasure by the Secretary. Occasional and temporary seats were thus bartered for by Government, and by the ensuing session, made the compleat and fatal instrument of packing the Parliament and effecting a Union. Mr. Luke Fox, a barrister of very humble origin, of vulgar Mr. r..\ manners, and of a coarse, harsh appearance, was endued Ju d ge f tiic with a clear, strong, and acute mind, and was possessed ofp" mm " u ,. * © > ' r pi eas f or his much cunning. He had acquired very considerable legal in- tergiversation. formation, and was an obstinate and persevering advocate; he had been the usher of a school, and a sizer in Dublin University; but neither 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 profes- Originally a sed what was called whiggism , merely, as people supposed , because his name was Fox. His progress was impeded by no political principles , but he kept his own secrets well , and being a man of no importance , it was perfectly indifferent to every-body what side he took. Lord Ely, perceiving he was manageable, returned him to Parliament as one of his auto- mata •, and Mr. Fox played his part very much to the satisfac- tion of his manager. When the Union was announced, Lord Ely had not made Madeafalsc his terms, and remained long in abeyance; and as his Lord- avoid^'beia'' ship had not issued his orders lo Mr. Fox, he was very un-c°«nted. willing 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 scarcely locked , when he became alarmed , and slunk , unperceived, into one of the dark corridors, where he con- cealed himself : he was , however, discovered , and the ser- jeant-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 4o8 RISE AND FALL had taken advantage of the Place Bill : had actually accepted the Escheatorship of Munster, and bad thereby vacated his seat , and could not vote. The fact was doubted, but, after much discussion, his excuse , upon his honour, was admitted , and he was allowed to return into the corridor. On the numbers being counted, there was a majority of o>e for Lord Castlereagh , and , ex- clusive of Mr. Trench's conduct; but for that of Mr. Fox the numbers would have been equal; the measure would have been negatived by the Speaker's vote, and the renewal of it , the next day, have been prevented : this would have been a most important victory. Effect of the XIII. The mischief of the Place Bill now stared its framers in the face, and gave the Secretary a code of instruction how to arrange a Parliament against the ensuing session. His second To render the circumstance still more extraordinary and ecep ic unfortunate for Mr. Fox's reputation , it was subsequently discovered, bv the public records, that Mr. Fox's assertion was false ; but the following day Lord Castlereagh purchased him outright; and then , and riot before , appointed him to the nominal office of Eschealor 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 com- mitted during the discussion, but because it was the primary cause of the measure being persisted in. Great joy The exultations of the public on this disappointment of the of the people. ^jj n j sler y inev nQ } J0Unf ] s . tne y reflected not, that, next day , a new debate must endanger their ambiguous triumph. The national character of the Irish , during both the 23rd and 2.{th, displayed itself in full vigour. 1 This did not conclude the remaikahlc acts of Mr. Fox : — after his seat bad heen so vacated, lie got himself re-clecteel for a Borough under the influence of the Earl of Granard , a zealous Anti-Unionist ; here he once more helraNcel the country, and was appointed a Judge when the suhject was decided. OF THE IRISH NATION. f t og The debate upon the report of the address , and the perti- nacity which urged the Government to a second combat, soon roused them from their dream of security. Both parties now stood in a difficult and precarious predi- Difficult con- cament : the Minister had not time to gain ground by the „„&,. usual practices of the Secretary ; and the question must have been either totally relinquished or again discussed. The Op- position were, as yet, uncertain how far the last debate might cause any numerical alteration in their favour ; each party calculated on a small majority, and it was considered that a defeat would be equally ruinous to either. It was supposed that the Minister would , according to all former precedent , withdraw from his situation , if left in a minority, whilst an increased majority, however small , against the Anti-Unionists, might give plausible grounds for future discussions. The next day the people collected in vast multitudes around the House ; a strong sensation was everywhere per- ceptible •, immense numbers of ladies of distinction crowded, at an early hour, into the galleries, and by their presence and their gestures animated that patriotic spirit, upon the prompt energy of which alone depended the fate of Ireland. Secret messengers were dispatched in every direction , to Active pre- bring in loitering or reluctant members — every emissary parat '°" s for that Government could rely upon was busily employed the entire morning; and five-and-lhirty minutes after four o'clock, in the afternoon of the 2/|th of January, 1799, the House met to decide, by the adoption or rejection of the Address , the question of national independence or annihilation. Within the corridors of the House, a shameless and unprecedented alacrity appeared among the friends of Government. Mr. Cooke, the Under Secretary, who, throughout all the Conduct of subsequent stages of the question, was the private and effl- am j Admiral cient actuary of the Parliamentary seduction, on this night Pakenham ' exceeded even himself, both in his public and private exer- /,io RISK AND FALL lions lo gain over the wavering members. — Admiral Thomas Pakenham, a naturally friendly and good- hearted gentle- man, that night acted like the captain of a press-gang , and actually hauled in some members who were desirous of retir- ing, lie had declared that he would act in any capacity, according to the exigencies ol'his parly; and he did not shrink from his task. Mr. Mar- A Mr. Marshall , of the Secretary's office (not a memher), cefidcondwTt "forfeit all decorum , and disgraced the cause by his exploits about the entrances of the House. Others acted as keepers in the coffee-room; and no member who could he seduced, in- timidated, or deceived, could possibly escape the nets that were extended to secure him. Nor did the leaders of Opposition remain inactive; hut the attendance of their friends being voluntary, was, of course, precarious. The exertions of Mr. Bowes Daly and others were, however, strenuous. At length , a hot and open canvass, by the friends of Go- vernment , was perceived , wherever an uncertain or reluctant member could be found, or his connexions discovered. Debatecom- XIV. The debate commenced about seven o'clock. Silence prevailed in the galleries; but an indecent confusion and noise ran through the corridors, and frequently excited sur- prise and alarm at its continuance : it was the momentous canvass — ■ it was rude, sometimes boisterous and altogether unusual. Great po- The Speaker at length took his chair, and his cry of Han* of the „ rder! order! " obtained a profound silence. Dignified and Speaker. i "-" peremptory, he was seldom disobeyed ; and a chairman more despotic, from his wisdom and the respeel and affection of the members of every side , never presided over a popular assembly. "W hen prayers commenced — all was in a moment gloomy and decorous, and a deep solemnity corresponded with the filal importance of the subject they wire lo determine. OF THE IRISH NATION. .',n This debate, in point of warmth, much exceeded the former. — Lord Casllereagh was siient; his eye ran round the assembly, as if to ascertain his situation , and was often with- drawn with a look of uncertainty and disappointment. The numbers had a little increased since the last division , princi- pally by members who had not declared themselves , and of whose opinions the Secretary was ignorant. Lord Casllereagh, however, wincing under his negative Lord Cas- castigation of the former evening, had now determined to act y^* 5 &v ° upon the offensive, and give, by his example, more spirit and zeal to his followers than they had hitherto exhibited. It was his only course, and though inoperative, it was ably attempted. The debate, however, had hardly commenced, when he was assailed as if by a storm. Several members rose at once to tell the Secretary their opinions of his merits — a personal hostility appeared palpable between the parties-, the subject and arguments were the same as those of the preceding night, but they were accompanied much more by individual allusions. Sir John Parnell , late Chancellor of the Exchequer , who sir Jo!m had been dismissed for refusing to support a Union, opened P aruelldenied the debate. He spoke with great ability, he plainly avowed tea ^ of both ,...,. ,. ", r i s~> • the King and his opinion that it was a revolutionary change or the Consti- t i, e p ar ii.i- tution , which the Parliament had no power to enact , and to n, « ! ] ,t . t0 enact 1 ' a Lnion. which the King could not, consistently with his Coronation Oath, give the royal assent. Mr. Tighe, of Wicklow, followed, and delivered his sen- Mr. Tighe timents against the measure in the same terms , and with equal the same - decision. Mr. George Ponsonby arose to move an amend- ment, negativing the address as far as it alluded to a Union. AVhen Mr. George Ponsonby was roused, he had great Mr. George debating powers : on minor subjects he was often vapid , but on this occasion he far exceeded himself in argument , elocu- tion , and in fortitude. He was sincere — his blood warmed — 412 RISE AND FALL he reasoned with a force , a boldness, and with an absence of all reserve, which he never before had so energetically exhibited. As a lawyer, a statesman , and a loyal Irish subject, he denied that either the Lords or the Commons, or the King of Ireland, had the power of passing or assenting to a Legislative Union. He avowed his opinion that the measure was revolutionary, and would run the destructive lengths of endangering the compact between the crown and the subjects, and the connexion of the two nations. Grcateffect It is scarcely to be imagined what an effect such a speech , of Mr. Pou- p li" ill • • 1 1 ruin's irom a calm , discreet , and loyal man , a constitutional lawyer, speech. an( i representative of a high aristocratic family, produced in that House. It was, in point of extent and powers, unexpected from so calm a character; and the impression , therefore, was proportionally greater. The words , as he spoke them , were imbibed by every man who was a free agent in Parliament. In the course of his speech , he assailed Lord Castlereagh with a strength and un- reserved severity which greatly exceeded the usual bounds of his philippics. Cool and deliberate irony, ten times more piercing than the sharpest satire, flowed from his lips, in a slow rolling flood of indignant denunciation. His calm language never for one moment yielded to his warm impressions ; and it was doubly formidable, from being restrained by prudence and dictated by conviction. Remarkable During Mr. Ponsonby's oration , a very impressive scene aviation. was exhibiting on the Treasury Bench. Lord Castlereagh had been anticipated — he seemed to be astounded — he moved restlessly on his seal — he became obviously disconcerted, whispered to those who sat near him, and appeared more sensitive than he had ever been on any public occasion. Description As Mr. Ponsonby advanced, the Secretary became more of tl.c scene. a g ecte< j . occasionally he rose to interrupt ; and when Mr. Pon- sonbv ceased , lie appeared to be struggling with violent cmo- tr* ;.#f , ; /,,/sfL.-. /I Z ^ OF THE IRISH NATION. /, 1 3 tions : hut he was unable to suppress the poignancy of his feelings, and he writhed under the castigation. His face flushed — his eyes kindled — and, for the first time in that House, he appeared to he rising into a high state of agitation. Mr. Ponsonby , who stood directly before him , formed an admirable contrast : not a feature moved ■ — ■ not a muscle was disturbed-, his small grey eyes, riveted upon his adversary, expressed contempt and superiority more eloquently than language; and with these cool and scornful glances, which are altogether indescribable , Mr. Ponsonby, unperturbed , listened to a reply which raised Lord Casllereagh in the esti- mation of his adherents. He had that morning decided on a course which the expe- rience of the former evening had induced him to think might affect the debate in favour of the Government. He had re- solved to act on the offensive, and, by an extravagant invec- tive against the principles of the Anti-Unionists, to blind and detach some of the dullest of the country gentlemen from a party which he intended to represent as an anarchial fac- tion ; and by holding up to his supporters an exemplary contempt for all public opinion, diminish the effect of patriotic declamation , from the powerful effect of which the opponents of a Union acquired so much strength and im- portance. — On these grounds he had decided to act boldly himself, and to encourage and excite a simultaneous attack upon the principles and conduct of the leading members who opposed him. XV. For this species of conflict the youthful Minister was Lord Cas- admirablv adapted. He had sufficient firmness to advance , tiereagh'svio- "... . . . lent speech. and sufficient pertinacity to persist in any assertion. Never had he more occasion to exert all his powers 5 nor did he fail in his efforts. He had no qualms or compunction to arrest his progress. In his reply there was no assertion he did not risk — no circumstance he did not vouch for — no aspersion he did not cast : and he even went lengths which he afterwards /,!.; RISK AND FALL repented. To ihe Bar, he applied the term •• pettifoggers; to the Opposition , " cabal — combinators — desperate fac- v - t ion : 'and to the nation itself, L - barbarism — ignorance," and " insensibility to the protection and paternal regards she ' : had ever experienced from the British nation." His speech was severe beyond any thing he had ever uttered within the walls of Parliament . and far exceeded the powers he was sup- Attack on posed to possess. He raked up every act of Mr. Ponsonby's by. political career, and handled it with a masterly severity; but it was in the tone and in the manner of an angry gentleman. He had flown at the highest game , and his opponent (never off his guard) attended to his Lordship with a contemptuous and imperturbable placidity, which frequently gave Mr. Pon- sonby a great advantage over warmer debaters. On this occa- sion he seemed not at all to feel the language of Lord Castle- reagh \ he knew that he had provoked it, and he saw that he had spoken effectually by the irritation of his opponent. Mr. Pon- Lord Castlereagh was greatly exhausted , and Mr. Ponsonby, l° ai ill r S e pi" r ' turning round , audibly observed, with a frigid smile and an air of utter indifference: — " the ravings of an irritated youth — it was very natural." Lord Castle- This was one of the most important personal conflicts dur- perftlon. " i°S lne discussions of the Union , and it had a very powerful effect , at least, on the spirit of his Lordship's followers. Truth was unimportant to him : on personal attacks, his misrepre- sentation might honourably be retracted at convenient oppor- tunities. He had no public character to forfeit-, and a majority of his supporters were similarly circumstanced. Prompt per- sonal hostility, therefore, was the line he had that morning decided on ; and it was the most politic step a minister so desperately circumstanced could adopt. When vicious mea- sures are irrevocably adopted, obtrusive compunction must instantly be banished. He determined to reject every consi- deration, but that of increasing \\\> majority : but be was routed by the very course he bad calculated on to ensure a victor) OF THE IRISH NATION. /,i5 The foresight of Mr. Ponsonhy had penetrated through his policy, and showed him that, to counteract the enemy, he should hecome the assailant , seize the very position his ad- versary had selected, and anticipate the very line on which he had determined to try the hattle. — This line Mr. Ponsonhy had acted upon , and in this he had succeeded. The discussion now proceeded with extraordinary asperity ; hut the influence of the Speaker, with a few exceptions, pre- served the Memhcrs in tolerahle order : it was often difficult to determine which side transgressed the most. Mr. Arthur Moore on this night took a decided part: and Mr. Eean tram- Mr Jo,m . . . . . Egau attacks pled down the metaphorical sophistries of Mr. William Smith, Mr. William as to the competence of Parliament $ — such reasoning he called rubbish , and such reasoners were scavengers — like a dray horse he galloped over all his opponents , plunging and kicking, and overthrowing all before him. No member on that night pronounced a more sincere, clumsy, powerful oration — of matter he had abundance — of language he made no selection ; and he was aptly compared to the Trojan horse, sounding as if he had armed men within him. Never was there a more unfortunate quotation for the Go- vernment than one made by Mr. Serjeant Stanly from Judge Blackslone. The dictum of a puisne Judge, in a British court of law , was cited , to influence the opinion of 3oo members in the Irish Parliament , on the subject of their own annihilation. The debate continued with undiminished animation and Sir Laurence , ... ., > 1 1 1 • r 1 / i 1 Parsons made hostility until ten o clock on the morning or the 24th , when a most a i,i e Sir Laurence Parsons ( Lord Rosse ) supported Mr. Ponsonby * nd jkKpent in a speech luminous, and in some parts almost sublime. He had caught the flame which his colleague had but kindled, and blazed with an eloquence of which he had shown but few examples — the impression was powerful. Mr. Frederic Falkiner, member for Dublin County, who Mr. Frcde- 1 6 RISE AND FALL ric Faikiner immediately followed, was one of the most remarkable in- notliiug < corrupt. stances of indexible public integrity in Ireland : be would have been a valuable acquisition to the (Government , but nothing could corrupt him. Week after week he was ineffec- tuallv templed, through his friends, by a peerage or aught he might desire-, he replied : "I am poor, 'tis true ; but no " human power, no reward, no torture, no elevation , shall " ever tempt me to betray my country — never mention to " me again so infamous a proposal. " He was, however, af- terwards treated ungralefullv by the very constituents whom he had obeyed, and died a victim to poverty and patriotism. Prime-Ser- Mr. James Fitzgerald had been dismissed from the office rai.T dii'mfss- ^ Prime-Serjeant, the highest at the bar, for refusing to re- ed - linquish his independence. He scorned to retain it under circumstances of dishonour, and on this night spoke at great length, and with a train of reasoning which must have been decisive in an uncorrupted assembly : he refused every offer, and never returned to office. ' Colonel Maxwell (Lord Farnham) , Mr. Lee(Walerford), Mr. Barrington , Judge of the High Court of Admiraltv, and many others , pressed forward to deliver their sentiments against so fatal a project. Every moment the debate grew warmer, and the determination to oppose it became more ob- vious — the members of Government were staggered — the Lord Cas- storm increased, but Lord Castlereagh was calm ; he rose and ureag tam- sr)0 k e w jjjj a confident assurance peculiar to himself-, and particularly disavowed all corruption , though he had dis- 1 No man in Inland was more sincere in his opposition to a Union than Mr. Fitzgerald ; lie was the first who declared his intention of writing its history. He afterwards relinquished the design, and urged me to commence it — he handed me the prospectus of what he intended, and no man in Ireland knew the occult details of that proceeding hitter than he. He is the father of Mr. Vcsey Fitzgerald ; had a very good fortune , and was one of the most successful and persevering lawyei . that ever practised in Ireland. OF THE IRISH NATION. /,i 7 missed every man who would not promise to support him , and had near seventy subservient placemen at that moment on his side. XVI. At length Mr. Plunket arose , and , in the ablest Mr. Piun- speech ever heard by any member in that Parliament, went e ssi>eec • at once to the grand and decisive point — the incompetence of Parliament : he could go no further on principle than Mr. Ponsonby, but his language was irresistible, and he left nothing to be urged. It was perfect in eloquence, and unan- swerable in reasoning. Its effect was indescribable 5 and , for the first time, LordCastlereagh, whom he personally assailed, seemed to shrink from the encounter. That speech was of great weight , and it proved the eloquence , the sincerity and the fortitude of the speaker. But a short speech on that night , which gave a new sensa- Spirited tion , and excited novel observations, was a maiden speech q.q ' 1 ofCo1 - by Colonel O'Donnell, of Mayo County, the eldest son of Sir Neil O'Donnell, a man of very large fortune in that county 5 he was Colonel of the Mayo regiment. He was a brave officer, and a well-bred gentleman 5 and in all the situations of life he showed excellent qualities. On this night , roused by Lord Castlereagh's invectives, he could not contain his indignation; and by anticipation " disclaimed all future al- " legiance , if a Union were effected : he held it as a vicious " revolution, and avowed that he would take the field at " the head of his regiment to oppose its execution, and would " resist rebels in rich clothes as he had done the rebels in " rags. "■ — And for his speech in Parliament he was dis- missed his regiment without further notice. As a contrast to the language of Colonel O'Donnell , it is Second curious to observe the new exhibition of Mr. Trench , of shamefu . 1 ter ; giversatiou of ♦ v oodlawn . He was not satisfied with the disgusting exhibition Mr. Trench, of the preceding night , but again introduced himself to a nb^S t o Wn . ° rd tice which common modesty would have avoided. He now entered into a defence of his former tergiversation, and. 418 RISE AND FALL most unfortunately for himself, contradicted distinctly the substance of both his former speeches. He thus solved all the doubts which might have arisen as to his former conduct , closed the mouth of every friend from any possibility of de- fending him , and delivered himself, without reserve, into the hands of his seducers. He said, " he had, since the night " before , been fully convinced of the advantages of a Union, " and would certainly support it. " The Irish Peerage was soon honoured by his addition , as Lord Ashlown. After the most stormy debate remembered in the Irish Par- liament, the question was loudly called for by the Opposition, who were now tolerably secure of a majority : never did so much solicitude appear in any public assembly ; — at length above sixty members had spoken , the subject was exhausted, and all parties seemed impatient. The House divided, and the Opposition withdrew to the Court of Requests. — It is not easy to conceive , still less to describe , the anxiety of that moment : — a considerable delay took place. Mr. Ponsonby and Sir Laurence Parsons were at length named tellers for the amendment; Mr. W. Smith and Lord Tyrone for the ad- dress. — One hundred and eleven members had declared against the Union , and when the doors were opened, one hun- dred and five was discovered to be the total number of the Minister's adherents. — The gratification of the Anti-Unionists was unbounded; and as they walked deliberately in, one by one, to be counted, the eager spectators, ladies as well as gentlemen, 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 Serjeant's box, palpitating for her husband's fate. The desponding appearance and fallen crests of the Ministerial benches, and the exulting air of tbe opposition members as they entered, were intelligi- ble '. The murmurs of suppressed anxiety would have excited 1 Mr. Egan , CHairtnan <>f Dublin Counts , a coarse, large, bluff", reel- OF THE IRISH NATION. /, 1 9 an interest even in the most unconnected stranger, who had known the objects and importance of the contest. How much more, therefore , must every Irish breast which panted in the galleries have experienced that thrilling enthusiasm which accompanies the achievement of patriotic actions, when the Minister's defeat was announced from the chair ! A due sense of respect and decorum restrained the galleries within proper bounds-, but a low T cry of satisfaction from the female au- dience could not be prevented , and no sooner was the event made known out of doors , than the crowds that had waited during the entire night, with increasing impatience , for the vote which was to decide upon the independence of their country , sent forth loud and reiterated shouts of exultation , which, resounding through the corridors and penetrating to the body of the House, added to the triumph of the conquerors, and to the misery of the adherents of the conquered Minister. The numbers on this division were — For Mr. Ponsonby's amendment ; . . . 1 1 1 For Lord Tyrone's address 1 o5 Majority against Government 6 On this debate , the members who voted were circum- stanced as follows : — faced Irishman, was the last who entered. His exultation knew no hounds; as No. 110 was announced, he stopped a moment at the Bar, flourished a great stick which he had in his hand over his head, and with the voice of a Stentor cried out — " And I'm a hundred and eleven .' " He then sat quietly down , and burst out into an immoderate and almost con- vulsive fit of laughter; — it was all heart. Never was there a finer picture of genuine patriotism. He was very far from being rich, and had an offer to be made a Baron of the Exchequer, with 3,5oo/. a year, if he would support the Union ; but refused it with indignation. On any other subject he would have supported the Government. RISE AXD PALL MEembei liolding ofijces during pleasure <><( Members rewarded In offices for their votes 19 Member openly -(-(lurrd in the bodj of the House. . 1 Gbmmoners created peers, or their wives peeresses, for their votes 1 3 1 it • Supposed to be uninfluenced 3 The House composed of. 3oo Voted that night 216 Absent Members 84 Of these eighty-four absent members, twenty-four were kepi away by absolute neeessity, and of the residue there can he no doubt they were not friends to the Union , from this plain reason — that the Government had the power of inforcing the attendance of all the dependent members — and the Op- position had no power, they had nunc but voluntary supporters; — of which number Lord Castlereagh was enabled to seduce forty-three during the prorogation ; and by that acquisition out-voted the Anti-Unionists on the 5th of February, 1800. Mr. Pon- XVII. The members assembled in the lobby were preparing "" to separate, when Mr. Ponsonhy requested they would return irUnt mo- I ' . « • ' 1 1 i into the House and continue a very lew minutes, as he had business of the utmost importance for their consideration : this produced a profound silence; Mr. Ponsonby then, in a few words, " congratulated the House and the country on the " honest and patriotic assertion of their liberties; but declar- " cd, that he considered there would he 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 soul P turn. OF THE IRISH NATION. ( { ii " people, through their Parliament; and he, therefore, with- " out further preface, moved, ' That this House will ever lu ' maintain the undoubted birthright of Irishmen, In pre- (,(p ' serving an independent Parliament of Lords and Com- " ' niojis resident in this Kingdom, as staled and approved " ' by His Majesty and the British Parliament in 1782. ' Lord Casllercagh, conceiving that further resistance was LordCastie- unavailing, only said, " that he considered such a motion qf* 6 * 8 " the most dangerous tendency; however, if the House were tC 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 opposition was made by Government; and the Speaker putting the question, Question put; a loud cry of approbation followed, with but two negatives , °" t f vc "" 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 accu- rately; he, accordingly, walked to the table to write it down. This delay of a few moments, unimportant as it might seem in Most im- the common course of human occurrences, was an incident 1 ! "™- llJC ,'~ 7 deut 111 the which, ultimately, deranged the constitution of an empire, Annals of Irc- and annihilated the legislature of an independent nation — a single moment, the most critical that ever occurred in history; and, of all the events of Ireland, the most fatal and irretrievable. This may teach posterity, that the destinies of nations are governed by the same chances , subject to the same fatalities , and affected by the same misfortunes, as those of the humblest individual. X\ III. W hilst Mr. Ponsonby was writing his motion, every Sta(e of the member, in profound silence, was observing the sensations HouseofCom or the opposite party, and conjecturing the feelings and anti- cipating the conduct of the adversaries. This motion involved, in one sentence , every thing which 422 RISE AND FALL was sought after by the one party and dreaded by the othei ; ils adoption must have ruined the Minister and dismissed the Irish Government. The Treasury Bench held a mournful silence — the Attorney-General , Mr. Toler, alone appeared to bear his impending misfortune with a portion of that ease and playfulness which never forsook him. On Mr. Ponsonhy's handing up his motion , he stood firm and collected, and looked around him with the honest confi- dence of a man who had performed his duty and saved his countrv — ■ the silence of death prevailed in the galleries, and the whole assembly displayed a spectacle as solemn and im- portant as any countrv or any era had ever exhibited. The Speaker repeated the question — " the ayes" burst forth into a loud peal — the gallery was in immediate motion — all was congratulation. On the question being put the se- cond lime ( as was usual ), a still louder and more reiterated < ty of" aye, aye, " resounded from every quarter : only the same two negatives were heard , feebly, from the ministerial side — Government had given up the contest, and the inde- pendence of Ireland was on the very verge of permanent security, when Mr. William Charles Forlescue , member for Louth County, requested to be heard before the final decision was announced. M , For . He said, " that he was adverse to the measure of a legis- fataltt lative Union, and had given his decided vole against it, '• but he did not wish to bind himself for ever; possible cir- " cumstances might hereafter occur, which might render " thai measure expedient for the empire, and he did not " approve of any determination which for ever closed the ■ doors against ;mv possibility of future discussion. " I he Opposition were paralyzed — the Government were mused — ;i single sentence plausibly conceived , and (without reflecting on its destructive consequence) moderately ul- lered, by a respectable man , and an avowed Anti-Unionist , eenluallv decided the fate of the Irish nation. It offered a OF THE IRISH NATION. 4*3 pretext for timidity, a precedent for caution , and u subterfuge for wavering venality. XIX. Mr. French, of Roscommon , a country gentleman Mr. Fmxii of high character, and Lord Cole , a young nobleman of an seC eded. honest, inconsiderate mind, who had, on the last division, voted sincerely against the Minister, now, without a moment's reflection on the ruin which must necessarily attend every diversity of sentiment in a party associated by only one tie, and bound together only upon one subject , declared them- selves of Mr. Forlescue's opinion. Mr. John Claudius Beres- John ciau- ford ' , who bad only been restrained from adhesion to the f< J^ Clare connexion by being representative of the metropolis, avowed himself of the same determination ; and thus that constitutional security, which a direct and peremptory de- claration of indefeasible rights , one moment before , was on the point of permanently establishing, was, by the incon- siderate and temporising words of one feebleminded member, lost for ever. It is impossible to express the surprise and dis- appointment of the Anti-Unionists. To be defeated by the effort of an enemy was to be borne, but to fall by the secession of a friend was insupportable. The narrow jealousies and unconnected materials of the Anti- Unionists were no longer to be concealed , either from friends or enemies. Mr. Ponsonby felt the critical situation of the Critical si- country — the Opposition had but a majority of five on the '°° ° on ie first division ; three seceders would have given a majority to Government , and a division could not be risked. Mr. Ponsonby's presence of mind instantly suggested the Mr. Pon- only remaining alternative. He lamented " that the smallest ^J s i^mo- " contrariety of opinion should have arisen amongst men who tiou. 1 Mr. John Claudius Bercsford , though he could not vote against the instructions of the City, took every opportunity of expressing , incident- ally, his entire confidence in the fair intentions of Lord Castlereagh's govern- ment ; and never appeared to be really sincere in his opposition toa Union- His speech is a line specimen ol temporising. 4*4 RISE AND FALL " ought lo be united by the most powerful of all inducements, " the salvation of their independence. He perceived, how- " ever, a wisli that he should not press the motion , founded , " he supposed , on a mistaken confidence in the engagements " of the Noble Lord (Lord Castlcreagh), that he would not tl again bring forward that ruinous measure without the " decided approbation of the people and of the Parliament. ''' Though he must doubt the sincerity of the Ministers engage- " ments, he could not hesitate to acquiesce in the wishes of " his friends , and he would therefore withdraw his motion." Extraordi- XX. The sudden transition from exultation to despondency ilf tL feelings became iustanlly apparent, by the dead silence which followed of the House. j\T r> Ponsonhy's declaration — the change was so rapid and so unexpected, that from the galleries, which a moment be- fore were full of congratulation and of pleasure, not a single word was heard — crest-fallen and humbled, many instantly withdrew from the scene, and though the people without knew of nothing but their victory, the retreat was a subject of the most serious solicitude lo every friend of Irish independ- ence. Such an advantage could not escape the anxious eye of Government ; chagrin and disappointment had changed sides , and the friends of the Union , who a moment before had con- sidered their measure as nearly extinguished, rose upon their success, retorted in their turn, and opposed its being with- drawn. It was, however, loo lender a ground for either party to insist upon a division — a debate was equally lo be avoided, Sarcastic and tbc motion was suffered to be withdrawn. Sir Henry ' l ! ,m: "\" f, ' r Cavendish keenly and sarcastically remarked, lhat " it was a Henry Lavcn- J .' dW». retreat after a victory. " After a day's and a night's debate without intermission, the House adjourned at eleven o'clock ilie ensuing morning. I pon the rising of the House, the populace became tumultuous, and a violent disposition against those who had supported the Union was manifest, not only amongst tin OF THE IRISH NATION. 4*5 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 Great P o- 1 -ill P ulant y ofthe taken from his carriage, and he was drawn in triumph through s pea ker. the streets by the people , who conceived the whimsical idea of tackling the Lord Chancellor to the coach , and (as a cap- tive general in a Roman triumph) forcing him to tug at the chariot of his conqueror. Had it been effected , it would have been a signal anecdote , and would , at least , have immortalized the classic genius of the Irish. The populace closely pursued his Lordship for that extraor- dinary purpose ; he escaped with great difficulty, and fled , with a pistol in his hand , to a receding door-way in Clarendon- Street. But the people , who pursued him in sport , set up a loud laugh at him , as he stood terrified against the door ; they offered him no personal violence , and returned in high glee to their more innocent amusement of drawing the Speaker. XXI. A scene of joy and triumph appeared universal — Joy aud every countenance had a smile , throughout all ranks and the peop f ei ° classes of the people — men shook their neighbours heartily by the hand , as if the Minister's defeat was an event of indi- vidual good fortune — ■ the mob seemed as well disposed to joy as mischief, and that was saying much for a Dublin as- semblage. But a view of their enemies , as they came skulking from behind the corridors , occasionally roused them to no very tranquil temperature. Some members had to try their speed, and others their intrepidity. Mr. Richard Martin, unable singular to get clear, turned on his hunters , and boldly faced a mob ^jj^" of many thousands , with a small pocket pistol in his hand. He swore most vehemently, that , if they advanced six inches on him, he would immediately " shoot every mothers babe of them as dead as that paving stone" — (kicking one.) The united spirit and fun of his declaration , and his little t%$ RISE AND i ALL pocket pistol , aimed at ten thousand men , women, and child- 1 ren , were so entirely to the laste of our Irish populaee , that all symptoms of hostility ceased ; they gave him three cheers , and he regained his home without further molesta- tion. Air. O'Driseol , a gentleman of the Irish Bar, one of the most sincere and active Anti-Unionists, used great and suc- cessful efforts to tranquillize the people ; and to his persuasions was chiefly to he attributed their peaceable dispersion. In one particular instance , he certainly prevented a most atrocious mischief, if not a great crime, by his prompt and spirited interference. Meeting of The House of Lords met on the 22nd of January, 1799, the same day as the Commons , to receive the speech of the \ iceroy. Though the nation was not unprepared for any instance of its subserviency, some patriotic spirits might reasonably have been expected on so momentous a subject as the Union ; in this expectation , however, it was but feebly -ratified. -Never did a body of hereditary nobles, many of ancient family, and several of splendid fortune, so disgrace their ancestry. 1 heir iu- After an ineffectual resistance by some , whose integrity was invincible, the Irish Lords recorded their own humiliation , and, in a state of absolute infatuation, perpetrated the most extraordinary act of legislative suicide which ever stained the records of a nation. The reply of the Irish Lords , to the speech of the British Viceroy, coincided in his recommendation, and virtually consented to prostrate themselves and their posterity for ever. The prerogatives of rank, the pride of ancestry, the glory of the peerage, and the rights of the country, were equally sacrificed. The facility with which the Irish Lords re-echoed their sentence of extinction was quite unexampled. iatuatioa OF THE IRISH NATION. :,?-: That stultified facility can only be elucidated by taking a Conduct oi brief statistical view of what was once considered an august or ' aic assembly, but which the over-bearing influence of the abso- lute and vindictive Chancellor had for some years reduced to a mere instrument of his ambition. In the hands of the Chancellor, Lord Clare , the House was powerless — his mere automalon or puppet , which he coerced or humoured, according to his ambition or caprice. There were, however, amongst the Irish nobility, a few men of spirit , pride , talent , and integrity , but they were too few for resistance. The education of the Irish noblemen of that day was little Unpopuiari- calculated for debate or Parliamentary duties-, they veryp e °. s tlc seldom took any active part in Parliamentary discussions , and more rarely attained to that confidence in public speaking, without which no effect can be produced. They could argue, or might declaim , but were unequal to what is termed debate ; and being confirmed in their torpidity by an habitual abstin- ence from Parliamentary discussions , when the day of danger came, they were unequal to the contest. Lord Clare, on the contrary, from his forensic habits , his dogmatic arrogance, and unrestrained invective, had an incalculable advantage over less practised reasoners. The modest were overwhelmed by flights of astounding rhapsody — the patriotic borne down by calumny — the diffident si- lenced by contemptuous ironv, and nearly the whole of the Peerage , without being able to account for their pusillani- mity, were either trampled under his feet , or were mere pup- pets in the grasp of this all-powerful Chancellor. Such was the state of the Irish Lords in 1799. The extent of Lord Clare's connexions, and the energy of his conduct during the last insurrection, had contributed to render him nearly despotic over both the Government and the country. Dickson , Bishop two Bishops, of Down , and Marlav, Bishop of Limerick, were the only D " un 1 and Li J 1 J merick , op- spiritual peers that ventured to oppose him — both were of posed him. 4*8 RISE AND FALL invincible integrity and undeviating patriotism' — his Grace of Limerick was the uncle of Mr. Graltan; and the Bishop of Down was the intimate friend of Mr. Fox : unfortunately, both were too mild, unassuming, and dignified, to contend successfully against so haughty and remorseless an oppo- nent. Characterof XXII. The Bishop of Down was a prelate of the most DoJn* faultless character — the extreme beauty of his countenance, the gentleness of his manners, and the patriarchal dignity of his figure, rendered him one of the most interesting persons in society. His talents were considerable, but they were neutralized t>\ his modesty, and he seldom could be prevailed upon to rise in the House of Peers upon political subjects. On this night, however, slung to the quick by the invectives, and indignant at the designs of the Chancellor, he made a reply to him of which he was supposed incapable. Severity from the Bishop of Down was likewise so unusual, that the few sentences he pronounced, stunned the champion more than all the speeches of his more disciplined opponents. Nothing, however, could overcome the influence of Lord Clare. The Irish Lords lay prostrate before the Government, but the leaders were not inattentive to their own interests. The defeat of Government in the Commons gave them an importance they hud not expected. The debates and conduct of the Irish peers bear a compa- ratively unimportant share in the transactions of that epoch , and have hut little interest in the memoirs of those times; but the accounts of Lord Anneslev, etc. , record their cor- ruption. ' 1 It is supposed that tlic important parts <>f those records bave been sup- pressed at court; the writer could onlj trace them i<> the bureau of Lord Annesley, but never could procure authenticated extracts. Ii is therefore only from the paj ments at the Treasury , and the admission of tbc pa'i tie i , that the corrupt payments eon be substantiated. One volume of the reports OF THE IRISH NATION. .\i 9 It is not the object , therefore, of these anecdotes, to dilate more upon the proceedings of that degraded assembly, than incidentally to introduce, as episodes, their individual ac- tions, and to state that a great proportion of the million and a half levied upon Ireland , and distributed by Lord Castle- Commission reagh's Commissioners of Compensation , went into the pockets tion. of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of Ireland. XXIII. From the hour that Mr. Ponsonby's motion was Eventsaftea withdrawn, Government gained strength — the standard of a io7Mr.Pon- visionary honours and of corrupt emoluments was raised for son!> - vs mo " recruits — a congratulatory, instead of a consolatory dispatch, had been instantly forwarded to Mr. Pitt, and another to the Duke of Portland ; and it was not difficult to foresee, that the result of that night, though apparently a victory over the proposition for a Union , afforded a strong point for the Mi- nister in the subsequent negotiations, by which he had deter- mined to achieve his measure. The arguments and divisions on succeeding debates proved , beyond the possibility of ques- tion , the overwhelming advantage which Mr. Fortescue's precedent had given to those who were determined to dispose of their consistency under colour of their moderation. The bad consequences which were likely to result from this event, did not at first occur to many of the Opposition. Some of the leading members of that party, highly elated at the success of the last division , could see nothing but the prospect of an increasing majority and an ultimate triumph — these were numerous but short-sighted. Others regarded , with a wise solicitude, the palpable want of political con- nexion in the party that opposed the Minister. However, Lord Castlereagh , who had so confidently pressed forward a measure which Parliament had decidedly rejected, and the public universally reprobated , found his situation the most made by the commissioners of compensation and distribution of i,5oo,ooo/. ■was given to the author by Mr. Vcsey Fitzgerald ; sonic extracts are given from it ; the rest have been suppressed. V'h) RISE AND FALL difficult imaginable. He had no just reason to expect support !u minor measures, who had proved himself utterly unworthy of the confidence of Parliament on one of the first magnitude. His pride was humbled, hut his firmness and perseverance overcame his difficulties, and the next important division on Lord Cor- Lord Corry's motion clearly proved the consummate address similar iu ' with which he had trafficked with the members during the principle to interval. p x \[ ij ie weapons of seduction were in his hands; and, Air. I'onsou- I by's, negate- to acquire a majority, lie had only to overcome the wavering and feeble. A motion of Lord Corry's, made a few days after- wards, in order to prevent any future scheme of a Union , after a long dehate, was also negatived (by a majority of fifty- eight), and thus concluded all discussion on the Union for that session. The session, however, had scarcely closed, when his Lordship recommenced his warfare against his country. — The treasury was in his hands, patronage in his note-book , and all the influence which the scourge or the pardon, reward or punishment, could possibly produce on S Jueqaent the trembling rebels, was openly resorted to. Lord Cornwallis !!! ii7'vi<."i,, v determined to put Irish honesty to the test , and set out on an and Lord experimental tour through those parts of the country where '..ibtlereagh. , , •■• i i-ii the nobilitv and gentry were most likely to entertain him. He artfully selected 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 gaol was converted to a hustings. In reflecting, therefore, on the extraordinary fate of .Air. Ponsonby's declaratory motion, just and not inconsider- able alarm must have been excited in the mind of every man v In) had determined boldly and unequivocally to support the freedom of his counlrv. ■Ruinous It was not now difficult to perceive, that, to the cool and ofMr^Fortes naM) "'"^ r | ,; "'t of the nation, melancholy forebodings must induct. naturallv arise, from the decided absence of that cordial. OF THE IRISH NATION. /,3 i unqualified co-operation amongst the Members of the Opposi- tion , by whose undevialing unanimity alone the revival of the project, and the probable ruin of the country, could be resisted. It was evident that, by the thoughtless conduct of Mr. For- tescue, Lord Cole , and Mr. French , the conclusive rejection of the proposal was prevented — had they been even one moment silent , Ireland would have been a proud, prosperous, free, tranquil, and productive member of the British Em- pire. — But their puerile inconsistency lost their country — gave a clue to the Secretary, and the Government, before plunged in a hopeless perplexity — and opened a wide door for future discussion , which Mr. Ponsonby's motion would have for ever prevented. In a body composed as the Parliament of Ireland, though this misfortune must ever be deplored, and those gentlemen for ever censured, yet such an event was not a subject for astonishment. A great number of those who composed the House were most inexperienced statesmen — they meddled but little individually in any arrangement of debates, and voted according to their party or their sentiments, without the habit of any previous consultation. Such men, therefore, after the last division against the Mistaken Minister, could not suppose he would asrain revive the question, "™*" !t . oft,,e and they partook of the general satisfaction. Moderation wasists- now recommended, as the proper course for a loyal opposi- tion , and the proposal for a Union having been virtually ne- gatived, it was observed by the courtly oppositionists to be at least unkind, if not indiscreet, to push Government further at a " moment like the present. " On the other hand, those who wished to complete the vic- tory, could not shut their eyes to the hazard of moderate pro- ceedings, and their zeal led them to wish to improve their advantage, and, if possible, to remove Lord Cornwallis from the Government , as a finishing stroke to the measure. Rut / } 3a RISE AND FALL the conduct of .Mr. Forlcscue and his supporters had misera- bly deceived them, and had convinced the leaders of the Op- position that they were about to tread very uncertain ground, and that their first consideration should he, how far the pos- Thcir cm- sihility of attaining their ultimate object should be weighed against the probable event of losing their majority by another trial of strength. Reasoning people, without doors, saw the danger still more clearlv than those who had individually to encounter it. Regardless of the solemn engagements he had made in the House, and by which he had imposed on many of the Oppo- sition, the Minister and his agents lost no opportunity, nor omitted anv means , of making good their party amongst the Members who had not publicly declared themselves, and of endeavouring to pervert the principles and corrupt the con- sistency of those who had. Lord Castlereagh's ulterior efforts were extensive and indefatigable, his spirit revived and every hour gained ground on his opponents. He clearly perceived that the ranks of the Opposition were too open to be strong, and too mixed to be unanimous. The extraordinary fate of Mr. Ponsonby's declaration of rights , and the debate on a si- milar motion by Lord Corry, which so shortly afterwards met a more serious negative, proved the truth of these observa- tions, and identified the persons through whom that truth was to be afterwards exemplified. r.ad effects The disheartening effects of Mr. Fortescue's conduct (not- , ' " " withstanding the general exultation of the country), appeared tesruc s con- ""»•" DO J/' I I duct. to make a very powerful impression on the public mind — it was assiduously circulated by ( Government as a triumph , and on all occasions reluctantly alluded to by the Anti-Unionists — it became apparent that the increasing majority against the Minister, on the second division, if unaccompanied 1>\ that fatal circumstance, would have effectually established the progressive power of the Opposition, and rapidly hastened OF THE IRISH NATION. 433 the upset of Government. ■ But the advantage of that majo- rity was lost , and the possibility of exeiting division amongst the Anti-Unionists could no longer be questioned. This con- sideration had an immediate and extensive effect — the timid recommenced their fears — the wavering began to think of consequences — the venal to negotiate ; and the public mind, particularly amongst the Catholics , who still smarted from the The Catho- scourge , became so deeply affecled , and so timorously doubt- ful , that some of the persons , assuming to themselves the title of Catholic Leaders , s sought an audience, in order to inquire from Marquis Cornwallis, "What would be the advantage to the Catholics, if a Union should happen to be effected in Ireland ? " However, great confidence in an ultimate crushing of the stateofpar- project kept its place in the Opposition. The Parliament, ies * unaccustomed to see the Minister with a majority of only o/ze, considered him as totally defeated. A rising party is sure to gain proselytes. Government , therefore , lost ground as the Opposition gained it; and for a few days it was generally sup- posed that the Viceroy and Secretary must resign. Many of their adherents shrunk from them. A large proportion of Parliament was far beyond the power either of fear or cor- ruption, yet the impartial history of these times must throw a partial shade over the consistency of Ireland, and exhibit some of the once leading characters in both Houses in a course of ' It is observable, tbat in all debates of Parliament, " a moment like the present " — or, " this is not t/ie time " — or, " it would be highly inconvenient at this time , " etc. — are invariably used as arguments by Ministers when they have no substantial reasons to give for their refusals — it is a sweeping species of reply of great utility, as it answers all subjects and all reasoning. a Mr. Bellew (brother to Sir Patrick Bellew), Mr. Lynch, and some others, had several audiences with the Viceroy ; — the Catholic Bishops were generally deceived into the most disgusting subservience — rewards were not withheld — Mr. Bellew was to be appointed a County Judge, but that being found impracticable, he got a secret pension , which he has now enjoyed for thirty-two years. a 8 4V, RISK AND FAIL the most humiliating, corrupt, and disgusting servility; contra- dicting by the last act of their political lives, the whole tenor of their former principles, from the first moment they had the power of declaring them to the nation. In another quar- ter, those who formed an Opposition to the Minister on the question of a Union, had been, and wished to continue, his avowed supporters on every other. The custom of the times, the venality of the Court , even the excessive habits of convi- vial luxury, had combined gradually to blunt the poignancy of public spirit, and the activity of patriotic exertions, on ordi- nary subjects. The terrors of the rebellion, scarcely yet extin- guished , had induced many to cling for protection round a government whose principles they had condemned , and whose politics they had resisted. The subtle Viceroy knew full well how to make his advantage of the moment, and by keep- ing up the delusion, under the name of loyalty and discre- tion, he restrained within narrow limits the spirit of consti- tutional independence wherever he found he could not other- wise subdue it. ' CHAP. XXVI. 1 1„. aufer. I. The Members of the old Opposition , who had been re- ent views of t urm >d [ \\ xc new Parliament in 1707 , did not exceed fifty ; ihe Opposi- jvj ? jt (ion but several others , who had been connected ( and some of them closely) with Government , showed a tendency, on the Union alone , to sever themselves from their old attachment; accustomed to support administration, they formed no cordial ' Mr. Curran, Mr. Grattan, and some other members of the Opposition, seceded from the new Parliament. Never was any step more indiscreet — more ill timed , or to themselves more injurious — that the cause of Ireland should lose two such advocates, at the very moment she most required them , was truly unfortunate. Mr. Graftal] n turned to Parliament when too late — Mr. Curran , never ; and his fine talents were lost to himself and his country for ever. OF THE IRISH NATION. 435 co-operation with those who had professed a more extensive principle of opposition 5 and though they wished to oppose the Union, they did not wish to oppose the Minister, and they acted without decisive effect , because they wrought on too contracted a foundation. The Opposition to Union were, in fact, united on no one question hut that of the Union — even in the measure of that Opposition they were not agreed , much less in the mode of securing a retreat or of profiting by a victory. But still the opposition to annexation brought them closely together. A view of the House at this period was quite unprecedented ; the friends of Catholic Emancipation were seen on the same benches with those of Protestant ascendancy — the support- ers of reform divided with the borough influence — a sense of common danger drew men together upon this topic who were dissimilar in sentiment , adverse in opinion , jealous in interest , and antagonists in principle. They conjointly pre- sented a formidable front to the enemy, but possessed within themselves neither subordination nor unqualified unanimity, qualities which were essentially necessary to preserve so he- terogeneous a body from the destructive weapons which were provided for their overthrow. There was no great leader whom they could collectively Opposition Ui .• 1 c . , „ not sufficient- or obey — no systematic course determined on for ] y organized their conduct — no pre-arranged plan of proceeding without or connecte(1 - doors , or practical arrangement for internal debate ; their energies were personal, their enthusiasm graduated , and their exertions not gregarious. Every man formed his own line of procedure : the battle was hand to hand , the movements desultory •, whether they clashed with the general interest , or injured the general cause, was hardly contemplated, and seldom perceived until the injury had happened. II. The talent of Parliament principally existed amongst the members who had formed the general opposition to the Union. Some habitual friends of administration , therefore, V><> RISE AND FALL who had on this single question seceded from the Court , and who wished to resume their old habits on the Union being disposed of, obviously fell a portion of narrow jealousy at being led by those whom they had been accustomed lo 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 farther against the Minister. Many, upon this temporizing and ineffective principle, cautiously avoided any discussion , save upon the direct proposition ; and this was remarkable, and felt to be ruinous in the succeeding session. ' Disunion in But the strongest and most fatal cause of division amongst "("r\'r\ "!Z,- '' ie Members of the Opposition, was certainly their radical Lie question, difference of opinion on the Catholic question. Those who had determined to support the Catholic cause, as the surest mode of preventing any future attempts to attain a Union , were obliged to dissemble their intentions of proposing eman- cipation, lest they should disgust the Catholic opponents who acted with them solely against the Union. Those who were • in inics to Catholic relaxation were also obliged to conceal their wishes, lest their determination to resist that measure should disgust the advocates of emancipation , who had united with them on the present occasion. The Viceroy knew mankind too well to dismiss the Ca- tholics without a comfortable conviction of their certain emancipation ; he turned to them the honest side of his countenance : the priests bowed before the soldierly conde- scensions of a starred veteran. The titular Archbishop was led to believe he would instantly become a real prelate ; and before the negociation concluded, T)r. Troy was consecrated a de- cided Unionist, and was directed to send pastoral letters to ' It is worlliv of observation, that I.orrl Castlcreagh was so awareoftIi.it feeling amongst those who opposed the Union, that, in 1800, Lord Corn- wallis's speech flirt not even hint at .1 revival of that measure. Hence the di- minished minority on Sir I anrence Pareonn's motion Ol THE 1K1S1I NATION. /,3 7 his colleagues to promote it. Never yet did any clergy so re- trograde as the Catholic hierarchy, etc., on that occasion. It Catholics is true that they were deceived; but it was a corrupt decep- U1>e tion , and they felt it during eight and twenty years. Most of them have since sojourned to the grave simple, titulars, and have left a double lesson to the world , that Priests and Go- vernments can rely but little on each other, and that the people should in general be very sceptical in relying upon cither. Nothing could be more culpable than the conduct of a con- Alternately siderable portion of the Catholic clergy •, — the Catholic body f^ered! were misled , or neutralised , throughout the entire of that unfortunate era. In 1798 they were hanged; in 1799 they were caressed; in 1800 they were cajoled ; in 1801 they were discarded; and, after a lapse of twenty-six years, they were complaining louder than when thev were in slavery. Nothing can now keep pace with their population but their poverty ; and no body of men ever gave a more helping hand to their own degradation and misery. Lord Casllereagh , in his nature decided and persevering , was stimulated still more by the spirit and arrogance of the restless and indefatigable Chancellor. Lord Clare had professed Lord Clare's himself an enemy to the Union ; but , deluded by his ambi-^* in u " tion , he conceived he might rule the British councils , as he had governed those of Ireland. The Union rejected , his power would be extinguished; if it were carried, his influence might be transferred to a larger field ; he therefore determined that the measure should be achieved — whether by fraud , or force, or corruption , was to him a matter, if not of indiffer- ence , at least of no perplexing solicitude. Lord Castlereagh enlisted him willingly under his banners, whilst the Marquis Cornwallis, pertinacious yet plausible , cajoled men , whom the address of Filzgibbon would have irritated , or the undisguised corruption of Castlereagh have disgusted or alarmed. 438 RISE AND FALL Very im- III. Mr. Pitt had, by a private despatch to Lord Coinwallis, pat'ck' 1 from ^ es ' re d that the measure should not he then pressed , unless Mr. Pitt to he could he certain of a majority of fifty. ' The Chancellor, Lord Corn- . r. i i i waiiis. on learning the import of that despatch , expostulated in the strongest terms at so pusillanimous a decision. His Lordship never knew the meaning of the word moderation in any puhlie pursuit, and he cared not whether the Union were carried by a majority of one or one hundred. Lord Castlereagh , though practically unskilled, was intui- tively artful — he was cool , whilst Lord Clare was inflamed ; and Lord Cornwallis , as a soldier, preferred stratagem to assault , and cautiously opened his trenches before every assailable Member. Lord Castlereagh had reflected on an un- favourable circumstance, which he had the spirit and policy, as far as possible, to counteract. Unprece- In the former session, the Opposition had derived consider- ed c, 3 "]',!. able advantage from the spirit with which many of the party r eag". \ Vd( \ inclined towards personal hostilities ; this, in the ensuing session , was to he retaliated with interest } but many of Lord Castlereagh's adherents, though engaged to vote, might not be so well inclined to combat for a Union. He was naturally of high spirit , but this was not to be imparted to others, nor could he, prudently, exhibit it himself : lie had the command 1 The oiiginal despatch I saw and read ; it was brought from Mr. Cooke's office secretly , and shown to me for a particular purpose — and completely deceived me — hut I could not obtain possession of it. I after- wards discovered that it had not been replaced in the office. It was sub- scribed by Mr. Pitt himself, and the name of Mr. liankes occurred more than once in it; it did not compliment him. I have reason to believe that that despatch , with some other important papers, was afterwards accidentally dropped in College Green , and found by Doctor Kearny, then Provost of Dublin University. He told me he had found such papers, and promised to show them to meat a future day when the question was decided, but never did. Doctor Kearny was a grotesque ligure , wonderfully short and droll , but a man of learning and of excellent character in every respect. He was afterwards made Bishop of Ossoi v — he was an And- Unionist. OF THE IRISH NATION 4i 9 of money, but not Hie creation of courage, and his cause was nol calculated to generate that feeling ; he therefore devised a plan, unprecedented, and which never could have been thought of in any other country than Ireland : it has not been the subject of any publication. ' IV. He invited to dinner, at his house in Merion Square, Remarkable above twenty of his most staunch 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 honour with the cause of Government. This dinner was sumptuous •, the Champagne and Madeira had their due effect : no man could be more condescending than the noble host. After due pre- paration , the point was skilfully introduced by Sir John Hlaquierc (since created Lord de Blaquiere), who, of all men , was best calculated to promote a gentlemanly, convivial , fighting conspiracy 5 he was of the old school, an able diplo- matist-, and with the most polished manners and imposing address, he combined a friendly heart and decided spirit- in polite conviviality he was unrivalled. Having sent round many loyal, mingled with joyous and exhilarating toasts, he stated, that he understood the Oppo- sition were disposed to personal unkindness, or even incivi- lities , 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 since- rity — the subject was discussed with great glee , and some of the company began to feel a zeal for " actual service." Lord Casllereagh affected some coquetry, lest this idea 1 It was communicated to me on the morning after its development , by a Member of Parliament , who was himself present and engaged in the entei - prise , but whose real principles were decidedly averse to a Uniou, to which he had been induced to give his insincere support; bHt though he had ample spirit, he had too much good sense to quarrel on the subject. ',4<» RISK AND FALL should appear to have originated with him-, hut, when he perceived that many had made up their minds to act even on the offensive, he calmly observed, that some mode should , at all events, he taken to secure the constant presence of a suffi- cient number of the Government friends during the discus- sion, as subjects of the utmost importance were often totally lost for want of due attendance. Never did a sleight-of-hand man juggle more expertly. Tkeplanor One of his Lordship's prepared accessories (as if it were a conspiracy. , , . , , , . ,. „ new thought) proposed, humorously, to have a dinner lor 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 emergency which should call for an unexpected re- inforcement, during any part of the discussion. Acceded to. 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 bottle; Mr. Cooke , the Secretary, then, with significant nods and p.. wnr.!s in smirking innuendos, began to circulate his official rewards to the 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 — compensation pensioners — placemen at chance — and commissioners in assortments — all revelled in the anticipation of something substantial to be given to every Member who would do the Secretary the honour of accepting it. The scheme was unanimously adopted — SirJohn Blaquiere pleasantly observed that , at all events, they would be sure of a good cook at their dinners. After much wit, and many flashes of convivial bravery, the meeting separated after midnight, fully resolved to eat, drink, speak, and fight for Lord Casllereagh. They so far kept their words, that the supporters of the Union indisputably showed more personal ipiril ill. in their opponents during the session. OF THE IRISH NATION. 441 The house of Lord Charlemont was the place of meeting Meeting ol for the leading Members, opponents of the Union; the here- at Loril ctiar . ditary patriotism and honour of his son , the present Earl , leuionts - pointed him out for general confidence. The next morning after Lord Castlereagh's extraordinary colerie, a meeting was held at Charlemont House, to consider of the best system to be pursued in the House of Commons, to preserve the country from the impending ruin. No man in Ireland was more sincere than Lord Charlemont. Opposition Lord Corry was by far more ardent , and Lord Leitrim more reserved , in their manners : the Commoners who attended , were alike honest and honourable : their objects were the same , but their temperature was unequal •, and this meeting , with very few exceptions, was exactly the reverse of that of the Minister : patriotic, disinterested, independent, and ta- lented; but of a calm, gentle, and reflective character. Lord Castlereagh's project against their courage was com- LordCastie- i ri 11 i • •■ l / • reach's plan municated to most or them; and three distinct proposals (ili a id before would, perhaps, be improper to state them now) were made them - on that occasion. In the judgment of the proposer (who still retains the same Counter-plan opinion), either of them , if adopted with spirit and adhered to with perseverance , would have defeated the Minister; but the great body of the meeting disapproved of them. Mr. Grat- tan , Lord Corry, Mr. John Ball , Colonel O'Donnell , Mr. O'Donnell , Mr. Egan , and some other gentlemen , zealously approved of by far the most decisive and spirited of the three expedients. The proposer well knew that no ordinary measures could be successful against the Government, and that by nothing but extremes could the Union be even suspend- ed. The residue of the meeting were , perhaps, more discreet; Rejected, and never was there seen a more decided predisposition to tranquillity, than in the majority of the distinguished men at that important assembly of Irish patriots. However, on the very first debate, in 1800, it appeared in- Uldlf 44» RISE AND TALL dispulablv that Lord Castlereagh had diffused his own spirit into many of his adherents, and it became equally apparent, that it was not met with corresponding ardour by the Oppo- sition : to this, however, there was one memorable exception — to Mr. G rattan alone was it reserved to support the spirit of his party, and to exemplify the gallantry he so strongly recommended to others. Roused bvMr. Gorry, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he gave him no time for repentance; and , considering the temper of the times, the propensily of the people , and the intense agitation upon the subject , it is mar- vellous, that this was the only instance of bloodshed during the contest. Mr. Grattan had shot him at day-break, and the intelligence arrived whilst the House was yet sitting — its effect was singular. The project at Lord Casllereagh's well warranted reprisals. l Kail Bel- V. Lord Corrv, now Earl Belmore, was one of the most zealous , unflinching, and respectable of the Anli-Unionisls; a young nobleman of considerable talent and integrity, he fell sorely the ruin which ihe flippant imbecility and short vision of Mr. Fortescue and Lord Cole had brought upon the coun- try. — He could not believe but that all those who had com- posed the majority against the Union , would, on recovering His motiou their recollection, see the necessity of Mr. Ponsonby's motion, effect as*M^ ant ^ ^ c determined , by a declaration of a similar purport , to PousoDi.y's ; give them an opportunity of recovering from that error which they inadvertently fell into. Rejected. In this, however, his Lordship was mistaken — the extreme impolicy of any pledge of eternal enmity to Union bad, from the last day, been sedulously inculcated by the friends of Government, upon every feeble-minded or wavering mem- ber; and Lord Corry's motion, after an animated, long, and high-blooded debate, was definitively negatived by a consider - ' Two of tlic three expedients proposed, at first view, might appeal extravagant, and were culled impracticable; one was certain!) easy, all were loyal, and cither of them wonld have been effective. OF THE IRISH NATION. 4/,3 able majority, and gave another handle to the Viceroy for ulterior efforts. Though the fate of Lord Corry's motion was of a most dis- tracting nature , it made hut little impression on the confi- dence of the Anti-Unionists ; they could not hring themselves to suppose that a measure so vital , so conclusive and so ge- nerally detested , being once negatived , could again be pro- posed by the (defeated ministers) to the same Parliament. Thousands of addresses were presented, and resolutions pas- Very uu- sed against any further discussion , and , for a time , rejoicing j r e e r s ° us ses the and confidence were the general subiects throughout the a «-T st . J Uuiou. whole nation. VI. The rejoicings, in the metropolis, exceeded all others. Particularly Dublin was more than any other place interested in defeating a measure which must , by the consequent emigration of the Nobles and Commoners , deprive it of every advantage which their splendour and luxury of society, their grand and nu- merous establishments — influx of strangers — and expendi- ture of great fortunes amongst its citizens, must confer upon a city which was not commercial. These ebullitions of joy and gratitude to their deliver- ers, and hostility to the Unionists, were excessive. Lord Castlereagh was hung in effigy and burnt facing the door of the author, in Merrion Square ; but no disturbance occurred that could possibly justify military execution. The violent spirit , however , of the Chancellor , anticipated some attack on his partisans , which conscious culpability, a heated imagination , and his own terrors had raised up as a spectre before him , and led him to countenance one of the most unjustifiable. — On the universality of the rejoicings and rather boisterous demonstrations of joy, at the defeat of Go- vernment, his alarmed Lordship, under colour of taking precautions to preserve the peace, called a Privy Council to a lvivy the Castle, which might screen himself under the authority Cuu " cl of that body , from the individual imputation of those mea- ', .-,.', 1USE AND FALL Lorddare'ssures of severity, which be determined to pui in force against llic rejoicing population , should any feasible opportunity be given for the interference of the military. — This is a matter of fact , — but care was taken that any order which might be given, or the proximate authority through which any wanton violence might be committed amongst the people , should not be made public. Military About nine at night , a party of the military stationed in execution. the old Cuslom H ouse ^ near Essex Bridge, silently sallied out with trailed arms, without any civil magistrate, and only a serjeant to command them ; on arriving at Capel Street the populace were in the act of violently huzzaing for their friends, and, of course, with equal vehemence execrat- ing their enemies ; — but no riot act was read, — no magistrate appeared, and no disturbance or tumult existed to warrant mi- litary interference. The soldiers, however, having taken a position a short way down the street, without being in any way assailed, fired a People kill- vol lev of balls amongst the people; — of course a few were edandwoun - j. j|| (;c | am | some W ounded • amongst the former were a woman and a boy, — a man fell dead at the feet of Mr. P. Hamilton , the King's proctor of the Admiralty, who, 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 tvrannic means which were resorted to to ter- rify the people from testifying their zeal at their deliverance, as they fancied , from the proposed annexation, in.nicicntiy This outrage was made a subject of complaint to Parlia- for""' 'parUa nlc ' nl ' nut so we ^ wcrc lne aclors concealed , that nothing wan. could be developed to lead to punishment. — The rejoicings however were neither ended nor checked by military execu- tion , — and , at the conclusion of the session , the same spirit of hostility to the Union remained not only as unsubdued , but still more decided than at its commencement. \ most remarkable proof of the shameless lengths , at that OF THE IRISH NATION. y,j period, resorted to by the Viceroy and Minister to gain over a sufficient number of tbe Anti-Unionists against the ensuing sessions , occurred immediately after tbe close of the session of 1799. VII. A public dinner of all tbe patriotic members was had Anti-Union in Dublin, to commemorate the rescue of their country from so imminent a danger. One hundred and ten members of Parlia- ment sat down to that splendid and triumphant entertainment. Never was a more cordial, happy assemblage of men of rank, consideration and of proven integrity, collected in one chamber, than upon that remarkable occasion. Every man's tried and avowed principles were supposed to be untaintable , and pledged to his own honor and his country's safety; and amongst others, Mr.Handcock, member forAlhlone, appeared Mr. Hand- ..... . cock, of Ath- to be conspicuous; he spoke strongly, gave numerous Anti- i on e, a conspi Union toasts, vowed his eternal hostility to so infamous a cuous i ,atriot - measure, pledged himself to God and man to resist il to extremities, and , to finish and record his sentiments, he had composed an Anti-Union song of many stanzas , which he sung himself with a general chorus, to celebrate the spirit, the cause, and the patriotism of the meeting; — this was encored more than once by the company, and he withdrew towards day with the reputation of being , in 1799 , the most pure, unflinching opponent of the measure he so cordially resisted. From that day , Lords Cornwallis and Castlereagh wuscly marked him out as one of their opponents who should be gained over on any terms. Human nature is the same in every part of the globe; wherever ambition, vanity or avarice take root , and become ruling passions, their vegetation maybe checked for a day, but the root is perennial ; and Ireland had no reason to suppose nature would favour her by an unqualified exemption of her representatives from those alluring vices which she had so prnfuselv lavished on and exemplified in the British Par- Corrnptstate Mtli and 6th February, 1800, on the Union, will remain an eternal record of the unrivalled incorruptible purity of n5 members of that Parliament. — This observation is matter of absolute fact 5 it maybe proper to give it, even by anticipation, as an illustration , and a fact of which the English people seem to have been totally ignorant. — For her own sake probably England will soon recur to Irish history, where she will find her long sufferings — and more unshaken loyalty to her English kings tban in any other country or portion of her people. ' This not misplaced digression will be considered as a pre- lude to the sequel of Mr. Handcock , being a sample and a warning to England of what might be also the fate of their own representation. The blandishments of the crafty Viceroy were now unspar- Mr. Hand ingly lavished on Mr. Handcock 5 simple money would not cock ,,ribed - do — they endeavoured to persuade him that his principles were disloyal , his song was sedition , and that further oppo- sition might end in treason 5 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. He wavered, but he yielded: his vows, his declara- tion, his song, all vanished before vanity, and the year 1800 saw Mr. Handcock of Athlone Lord Castlemaine. — But the reputation of a renegade was embodied with the honors of his family, and pecuniary compensation for a Parliamentary return could do no mischief to his public reputation 5 — he became a strong supporter of the Union. ■ Vide ante, page 222. 4/,8 RISK AND FALL CHAP. XXVII. I. It is not possible to comprise in a single volume a tithe of the means, and measures of every description, resorted to by the Viceroy, and Secretary, not only to seduce the mem- bers, but to procure addresses favorable to their views, from every or any rank , or description of people , from the first rank to the very lowest order: beggars, cottagers, trades- men , every individual who could be influenced , were tempt- ed to put their names or marks to addresses, not one word of which they understood the intent, still less the ruinous Felons in result of. Even public instances were adduced, some men- doced, byprcK tSoned in Parliament, and not denied , of felons in the gaols mice of i> ar - purchasing pardon , or transmutation, by signatures, or by petitions in forging names , to Union eulogiums. Union. English generals , who , at a moment when martial law existed , or a recollection of its execution was still fresh in every memory, could not fail to have their own influence over proclaimed districts and bleeding peasantry; of course, their success in procuring addresses to Parliament , was not limited either by their power, their disposition, or their instructions. The Anti-Union addresses, innumerable and fervid, in their verv nature voluntary, and the signatures of high con- sideration , were stigmatised by the title of seditious and disloyal; whilst those of the compelled, the bribed, and the culprit were printed , and circulated by every means that the treasury, or the influence of the (iovernment, could effect. Mr. Darby, high sheriff of King's County, and Major Ro- gers of the Artillery, had gone so far as to place two six-pounders towards the doors of the Court House , where the gentlemen and freeholders of the county were assembling to address as A.nti-1 nionists; and il is not to be wondered at, that the dread of grape-shot not only stopped those, but numerous OF THE IRISH NATION. Mg meetings for similar purposes; yet this was one of the means taken to prevent the expression of public meetings without , and formed a proper comparison for the measures resorted to within , the walls of Parliament. As this volume cannot detail the innumerable circum- stances and episodes which a perfect history of those times would embody, it may be enough to say, that if the English readers of this work will imagine any act that an indefatigable, and, on this subject, the most corrupt of Governments could by possibility resort to , to carry a measure they had deter- mined on •, such readers cannot imagine acts more illegal , unconstitutional, and corrupt, than those of the Yiceroy of Ireland, his secretary and under-secretary, employed, from the close of the session of 1799 to that of 1800 •, in the last of the Irish Parliaments every thing therefore is passed over, or but slightly touched on , till the opening of the last session. II. Lords Cornwallis and Castlereagh, having made good Every means , . , t i 1 11 1 of corruption progress during the recess , now discarded all secrecy ana re- res ortedtoLy serve. To recite the various acts of simple metallic cor- the Vicer °y- ruption which were practised without any reserve, during the summer of 1799, are too numerous for this volume. It will be sufficient to describe the proceedings , without particula- rising the individuals. Many of the Peers, and several of the Commoners, had the patronage of boroughs, the control of which was essential to the success of the Minister's project. These patrons Lord Castlereagh assailed by every means which his power and situation afforded. Lord Cornwallis 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 several other Peers com- manding votes , after much coquetry, had been secured during the first session ; but the defeat of Government rendered their future support uncertain. The parliamentary patrons had viceroy breathing time after the preceding session , and began to trem- f t ° ublful of ble for their patronage and importance; and some desperate port. 2 9 j io RISE 4ND FALL step became necessary to Government lo insure a continaance of the support of these personages. This object gave rise to a measure which the British nation will scarcely believe possi- ble ; its enormity is without parallel. Resorted to Lord Casllereagh's first object was to introduce into the Place Bill. H OUS e , by means of the Place Rill, a sufficient number of dependants to balance all opposition. He then boldly announ- ced his intention to turn the scale, by bribes toall who would accept them, under the name of compensation for the loss of Unparareli- patronage and interest. He publicly declared , first, that every pnbKcMberr no ^* anan wno relurne ^ members to Parliament should he avowed l.y paid, in cash, i5,ooo/. for every member so returned-, Lord Castle- . . 11117? reagh. secondly, that every member who had purchased a seal in Parliament should have his purchase-money repaid to him, by the Treasury of Ireland; thirdly , that all members of Parliament , or others , who were losers by a Union , should be fullv recompensed for their losses , and that i,5oo,ooo/. should be devoted lo this service : — in other terms, all who supported his measure were, under some pretence or other, lo share in this bank of corruption. A declaration so flagitious and treasonable was never pub- licly made in any country; but it had a powerful effect in his favour; and, before the meeting of Parliament , he had secured a small majority, (as heretofore mentioned), of eight above a moiely of the members , and he courageously per- si>ied. Bill to raise After the debate on the Union in 1800 , he performed his j,5oo,ooo/. prom i se an d brought in a Bill to raise one million and a half 1 or bribe*. ' bf money upon the Irish people, nominally to compensate , but really lo bribe their representatives, for betraying their honour and selling iheir country. This Hill was but feebly resisted; the divisions of January and February (1800) had reduced the success of the (Government to a certainly, and all further Opposition was abandoned. It was unimportant to Lord Casttere&ghj who received the plunder of the nation; OF THE IRISH NATION. 45 1 the taxes were levied , and a vicious partiality was effected in the partition. The assent to the Bill hy his Majesty, as King of Ireland , gives rise to perhaps the most grave consideration suggested in these Memoirs. A king , bound hy the principles of the British Constitution , Grave re- giving his sacred and voluntary fiat to a Bill to levy taxes for ^g'Tassent the compensation of members of Parliament, for their loss of in s '° au . 1 t avowed act of the opportunities of selling what it was criminal to sell or corruption. purchase, could scarcely be believed by the British people. It may he curious to consider how the English would en- dure the proposal of such a measure in their own country — a British Premier who should advise his Majesty to give his assent to such a statute , would experience the utmost pu- nishment that the severest law of England could inflict for that enormity. Nor should the Irish people be blamed for refusing to acquiesce in a measure which was carried in direct violation of the law , and infraction of the statutes against bribery and corruption , and in defiance of every precept moral and political. There were times when Mr. Pitt would have lost his head for a tithe of his Government in Ireland : Strafford was an angel compared to that celebrated statesman. When the compensation statute had received the royal assent, the Viceroy appointed four commissioners to carry its provisions into execution. Three were Members of Par- liament , whose salaries of J200/. a year each (with probable advantages) were a tolerable consideration for their former services. The Honourable Mr. Annesley, secretary Hamilton , and Dr. Duigenan, were the principal commissioners of that extraordinary distribution. It is however 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 /,52 RISE AM) FALL private pensions, and occult compensations, have never been made public, further than by those who received them. ' It is known that L. i- d. \ fen l>ribos Lord Shannon received lor his patronage ca,lcJ > . ^ om - in the Commons 4^5°°° ° ° The Marquis of Ely 45>°oo o o Lord Clanmorris , besides a Peerage. . . 23,ooo o o Lord Belvidere, besides his douceur. . . . i5,ooo o o Sir Hercules Lanorishe i5,ooo o o III. At length, the Parliament being sufficiently arranged to give Government a reasonable assurance of success, Lord Castlereagb determined to feel the pulse of the House of Commons distinctly before he proposed the measure of the Union. The British The British Parliament had already framed the terms on Parliament w J x i c h il, e proposition was to he founded , giving to its own liati anticipat- • » . . id the pro- project the complexion of a favour, and triumphing by anti- cipation over the independence of Ireland. This was a masterpiece of arrogance; and it was determined to try the feelings of the Commons by a negative measure, before the insulting one should be substantially propounded to them. The 1 5th day of January, 1800 (the last session of the Irish Parliament) , gave rise to a debate of the most acrimonious nature, and of great importance. ' The extraordinary claims for compensation, and some extraordinary grants by the Commissioners, would, on any Other occasion, be a Gt sub- ject for ridicule. But the application of one mi/lion and a half sterling t to pur- poses so public and so vile, renders it an eternal blot on the Government in Ireland, rind on the minister and cabinet of England for permitting the King to give the royal assent to so indisputably corrupt a statute. Amongst other curious claims for Union Compensations, in the Report printed and circulated, appear, one from the Lord Lieutenant's rat-catcher at the Castle, for decrease of employment; another from the necessary «•«»/'/// of the Pi ivy Council bl England, for increased trouble in her department with numerous others ol the same quality. OF THE HUSH NATION. 453 The speech of Lord Gornwallis from the throne was ex- Lord Com- , pected to avow candidly the determination of the Minister to spe ecb propose, and if possible achieve, a Legislative Union. Every peculiarly ait man came prepared to hear that proposal ; but a more crafty course was taken by the Secretary. To the surprise of the Anti-Unionists, the Viceroy's speech did not even hint at the measure — the suggestion of a Union was sedulously avoided. Lord Viscount Loftus ( now Marquis of Ely ) ' moved the address , which was as vague as the speech was empty. Lord Loftus was another of those Lord Loftus young noblemen who were emitted by their connexions to ™ r ° ss * mark their politics : but neither the cause nor his Lordship's oration conferred any honour on the author ; and his speech would have answered any other subject just as well as that upon which it was uttered. There was not a point in the Viceroy's speech intended to be debated. Lord Castlcreagh , having judiciously collected LordCastie- his flock , was better enabled to decide on numbers ; and to ™ ag s rea count with sufficient certainty on the result of his labours since the preceding session , without any hasty or premature disclosure of his definitive measure. This negative and insidious mode of proceeding , however, could not be permitted by the Opposition •, and Sir Laurence sir Lament Parsons, after one of the most able and luminous speeches he p*™™ s s ^" " had ever uttered, moved an amendment, declaratory of the tion and spctcLi* resolution of Parliament to preserve the Constitution as established in 1782, and to support the freedom and inde- pendence of the nation. This motion was the touch-stone of the parties 5 the attendance of the Unionists in the House was compulsory — that of its opponents optional; and on counting the members, sixty-six (about a fifth of the whole) were 1 His Lordship, who took so prominent and invidious a part in tin- lians- action, had been christened Lee Loo by the humorous party of the House, and was only selected to show the Commons that his lather had been purchased. 454 RISE AND FALL absent — a most favourable circumstance for the Minister. Every mind was at its stretch — every talent was in its vigour : it was a momentous trial ; and never was so general and so deep a sensation felt in any country. Numerous British noble- men and commoners were present at that and the succeeding debate, and they expressed opinions of Irish eloquence which they had never before conceived, nor ever after had an op- portunity of appreciating. Every man on that night seemed to be inspired by the subject. Speeches more replete with talent and with energy, on both sides, never were heard in the Irish Senate — jjt was a vital subject. The sublime, the eloquent , the figurative orator — the plain, the connected, the meta- physical reasoner — the classical, the learned, and the solemn declaimer, in a succession of speeches so full of energy and enthusiasm — so interesting in their nature — so important in their consequence, created a variety of sensations even in the bosom of a stranger, and could scarcely fail of exciting some sympathy with a nation which was doomed to close for ever lhat school of eloquence which had so long given cha- racter and celebritv to Irish talent. Dtbateron- The debate proceeded with increasing heat and interest till dght. P a3t len °' c l° c k tbe ensuing morning (iGth). Many members on both sides signalized themselves to an extent that never < Mild have been expected. The result of the convivial reso- lution at Lord Casllereagh's house, already mentioned , was actually exemplified and clearly discernible; — an unexam- pled zeal , an uncongenial energy, an uncalled for rancour, and an unusual animalion broke out from several supporters of Government, to an extent which none but those who had LordCaMle known the .->\ Stem Lord C.asllereagh had skilfully suggested lohis i' la " followers, could in any wav account for. This excess of ardour j.ul into , , - J J ration. gave to this debate not only a new and extraordinary variety of language , but an acrimony of invective, and an absence of all moderation, never before so immoderately practised. This violence was in unison with the pugnacious project of OF THE IRISH NATION. 4^5 anticipating the Anti-Unionists in offensive operations — some remarkable instances of that project were actually put into practice , and arc not unworthy of being recorded in the Irish chronicles. Mr. Bushe , the present Chief Justice of Ireland , was as Mr. Bush. . nearly devoid of private and public enemies as any man. En- dowed with superior talents, he had met with a corresponding success in an ambitious profession and in a jealous country. His eloquence was of the purest kind ; but the more delicate the edge, the deeper cuts the irony, and his rebukes were of that description ; andwhenerabellishedby his ridicule, coarse minds might bear them , but the more sensitive, ones could not. Mr. Plunket's satire was of a different nature — hisweaponcut Mr. Piua- in every direction , and when once unsheathed , little quarter could be expected. His satire was, at times, of that corroding yet witty nature, that no patience could endure; yet, on this debate , both these gentlemen were assailed with intrepidity by a person whose talents were despised , and the price of whose seduction glared in an appointment to the highest office at the Irish bar — a barrister without professional practice or experience , and who was not considered susceptible of black letter. As a statesman he had no capacity ; and as an orator he was below even mediocrity , from an embarrassed pronunciation which seemed to render any attempt at elo- cution a most hopeless experiment. Such was Mr. St. George Mr. St. Daly, appointed Prime-Serjeant of Ireland in the place of eo,se Mr. Fitzgerald , raised over the heads of the Attorney and Solicitor-General , and , from a simple briefless advocate , ele- vated to the very highest rank of a talented and learned pro- fession. Mr. Daly, however , was a gentleman of excellent His d.a- family, and common sense, and, what was formerly highly' esteemed in Ireland , of a " fighting family." He was the brother of Mr. Dennis Daly, of so much talent , and of so much reputation amongst the patriots of eighty-two. He was proud enough for his pretensions , and sufficiently conceited 456 RISE AND FALL for his capacity ; and a private gentleman he would have remained , had not Lord Castlereagh and the Union placed him in puhlic situations, where he had himself too much good sense not to feel that he certainly was over-elevated. This gentleman is particularly noticed , as , on this night , he, in some points , overcame the public opinion of his incapacity , and he surprised the House by one of the most clever and severe philippics which had been pronounced during the discussions upon theUnion, more remarkable from being directed against two of the most pure and formidable orators in the country. His attack The contempt with which Mr. Daly conceived his capacity nu Mr. Buslie. • 1 i_ »i • 1 »■ . n ■ was viewed by the superior members ol his profession , the inap- titude he himself felt for the ostensible situation he was placed in , the cutting sarcasms liberally lavished on his inexperience and his infirmity , in lampoons and pamphlets , combined to excite an extraordinary exertion to extricate himself from the humiliating taunts that he had been so long experiencing. Mr. Daly's attack on Mr. Bushe was of a clever description , and had Mr. Bushe had one vulnerable point , his assailant Oh Mr. Plan- might have prevailed. He next attacked Mr. Plunket, who sat immediately before him ; but the materials of his vocabu- lary 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 defensive , was prepared for any enemy. No speech could equal his glance of contempt and ridicule — Mr. Daly re- ceived 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 a Union , and termed them a Replied to disaffected and dangerous faction. Here again he received a riogton. reply not calculated to please him, and at length he con- cluded one of the most remarkable speeches , because one of the most unexpected , that had been made during the OF THE IRISH NATION. 457 discussion. Every member who had been in the habit of addressing the House, new ones who had never spoken, on that night made warm , and several of them eloquent , ora- tions. Mr. Peter Burrows , a veteran advocate for the rights of Mr. Peter Ireland , — wherever and whenever he had the power of declaring himself, < — on this night made an able effort to uphold his principles. He was a gentleman of the bar who had many friends, and justly; — nothing could be more ungracious than the manner, nothing much better than the matter, of his orations. His mind had ever been too inde- pendent to cringe , and his opinions too intractable for an arbitrary minister ; — on this night he formed a noble and distinguished contrast to those of his own profession, who had sold themselves and the representation for a mess of pottage. The House had nearly exhausted itself and the subject, when , about seven o'clock in the morning, an incident the most affecting and unexpected, occurred, and which is too precious a relic of Irish Parliamentary chronicles, not to be recorded. IV. The animating presence of Mr. Grattan on this first Affecting night of the debate was considered of the utmost importance m/. Grattan to the patriots — it was once more raising the standard of li- iu „ tl,e House r u ofC3Uimous. berty in Parliament. He had achieved the independence of his country in 1782, and was the champion best calculated at this crisis to defend it — a union of spirit, of talent, and of honesty, gave him an influence above all his cotemporaries. He had been ungratefully defamed by the people he had li- berated, and taking the calumny to heart, his spirit had sunk within him , his health had declined , and he had most un- wisely seceded in disgust from Parliament , at the very mo- ment when he was most required to defend both himself and his country. He seemed fast approaching to the termination of all earthly objects, when he was induced once more to shed his influence over the political crisis. 458 RISE AND FALL Returned At thai lime Mr, Tighe returned the members for lite close tile preceding borough of Wicklow, and a vacancy having occurred, it was eveamg. tendered to Mr. Grattan , who would willingly have declined it but for the importunities of his friends. The impe- The Lord Lieutenant and Lord Casllereagh, justly appre- Government? ciating the effect his presence might have on the first debate, had withheld the writ of election till the last moment the law allowed, and till they conceived it might be too late to return Mr. Grattan in time for the discussion. It was not until the day of the meeting of Parliament that the writ was delivered to the returning officer. By extraordinary exertions, and perhaps by following the example of government in overstrain- ing the law, the election was held immediately on the arrival of the writ — a sufficient number of voters were collected to Returned at return Mr. Grattan before midnight. By one o'clock the re- turn 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 gel 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 Ministe- rialists smiled with incredulous derision , and the Opposition thought the news too good to be Irue. F.uterediiic Mr. Egan was speaking strongly against the measure, when ''"X^rnTrn- Mr. George Ponsonby and Mr. Arthur Moore ( now Judge of ingina dehi- tli e Common Pleas) walked out, and immediately returned, litated state. ... , - , . _ , . . leading, or rather helping, Mr. Grattan, in a state ol total Descriptiou feebleness and debility. The effect was electric. Mr. Grattan's of Lis entry. jH ncssanc l deep chagrin had reduced a form, never symme- trical, and a visage 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 In the table; Ins languid countenance seemed to revive as he took those oalhs that restored him to his pre-eminent station; OF THE IRISH NATION. /,5g the smile of inward satisfaction obviously illuminated his features, and reanimation and energy seemed to kindle by the labour of his mind. The House was silent — Mr. Egan did not resume his speech — Mr. Gratlan , almost breathless, as if bv instinct , attempted to rise , but was unable to stand — he paused , and with difficulty requested permission of the House to deliver his sentiments without moving from his seat. This was acceded to by acclamation , and he who had left his bed of sickness to record , as he thought, his last words in the Parliament of his country, kindled gradually till his language glowed with an energy and feeling which he had seldom sur- passed. After nearly two hours of the most powerful elo- quence, he concluded with an undiminished vigour, mira- culous to those who were unacquainted with his intellect. Never did a speech make a more affecting impression , but Powerful it came too late. Fate had decreed the fall of Ireland, and her ca ^ a b '" u hii patriot came only to witness her overthrow. For two hours he splendid ora- r J tion. recapitulated all the pledges that England had made and had broken — he went through the great events from 1780 to 1800, proved the more than treachery which had been practised towards the Irish people. He had concluded , and the question was loudly called for, when Lord Castlereagh was perceived earnestly to whisper to Mr. Corry — they Mr. Con-y for an instant looked round the House — whispered again "^ ucedtore " — Mr. Corry nodded assent, and, amidst the cries of ques- tion, he began a speech, which, as far as it regarded Mr. Grat- tan , few persons in the House could have prevailed upon themselves to utter. Lord Castlereagh was not clear what im- pression Mr. Grattan's speech might have made upon a fevy hesitating members; he had, in the course of the debate, moved the question of adjournment; he did not like to meet Sir Laurence Parsons on his motion , and Mr. Corry com- menced certainly an able, but, towards Mr. Grattan , an un- generous and an unfeeling personal assault — it was useless — it was like an act of a cruel disposition , and he knew it 4Go RISE AND FALL No effect on could not he replied to. At length the impatience of the Housi rendered ;i division necessary-, and in half an hour the fate of Ireland was decided. The numbers were — For an Adjournment, Lord Gastlereagh had 1 38 For the Amendment 96 Majority 4 2 * This decision , undoubtedly , gave a death wound to the Irish nation. Many, however, still fostered the hope of success in the Opposition ; and Lord Castlereagh did not one moment relax his efforts to bribe, to seduce, and to terrify hisopponents. The three The Anti-Unionists, also, lost no opportunity of improving .ede-d' from their minority ; and the next division proved that they had Government. no t. The adjournment was to the 5th day of February ; — the Union propositions , as passed by the British Parliament , were , after a long speech, laid before the House of Commons by Lord Castlereagh : on that day Mr. Bagwell, of Tipperary Lord Onnond County , seceded from Government — the present Marquis .« . 1 * One of the mod unexpected and flagitious acts of public corruption \\.i^ Browne's ter- that of Mr. Arthur Brown , member for the University of Dublin. He was giversation. by birth an American, of most gentlemanly manners, excellent character, and very considerable talents. He had by his learning become a senior fellow of the University, and was the law professor. From his entrance into Par- I iament he had been a steady, zealous , and able supporter of the rights of Ireland — he had never deviated; he would accept no office; he had at- tached himself to Mr. Fonsonby, and was supposed to be one of the truest .aid most unassailable supporters of Ireland. fn the session of 1799 he had taken a most unequivocal, decisive , and ardent part against the Union , and had spoken against it as a crime and as the ruin of the country : lie was believed to be incorruptible. On this night lie rose , but crest-fallen and abashed at bis own tergiversation ; he recanted every word he had ever uttered — deserted from the country — supported the Union — accepted a bribe from the Minister — was afterwards placed in of/ice, but shame haunted him he hated himself: an amiable man fell r\ victim to corruption, lie rankled , and pined and died ofa wretched mind •ii' I .1 luoken constitution. OF THE IRISH NATION. /,6i of Ormond had also divided from it ; and ihe minority ap- changed t.. peared lo have received numerous acquisitions. — Mr. Saurin, ' c minont y- Mr. Peter Burrows, and other eminent gentlemen of the bar, now appeared to make the last effort to rescue their countrv. V. Lord Castlereagh , upheld by his last majority , now kept no bounds in his assertions and in his arrogance •, and , after a debate of the entire night , at eleven the ensuing mor- ning the division took place. It appeared that the Anti-Union- ists had gained ground since the former session , and that there existed ii5 Members of the Irish Parliament, whom neither promotion , nor office , nor fear , nor reward , nor ambition , could procure to vote against the independence of their country — though nations fall , that opposition will re- main immortal. Lord Castlereagh's motion was artful in the extreme — he did not move expressly for any adoption of the propositions , but that they should be printed and circulated , with a view to their ultimate adoption. This was opposed as a virtual acceptation of the subject ; Division on this point the issue was joined , and the Irish nation was, on that night , laid prostrate. The division was — Number of Members 3oo For Lord Castlereagh's Motion i58 Against it 1 15 Of Members present , majority Zp Absent 27 By jhis division , it appears that the Government had a ma- jority of the House of only eight, by their utmost efforts. 27 were absent , of whom every man refused to vote for a Union , but did not vote at all , being kept away by different causes 5 and of consequence eight above a moiety carried the Union; and of the i58 who voted for it in 1800, 28 were notoriously bribed or influenced corruptly. 462 RISE AND FALL Although this was ominous to the ultimate fate of the nation, the contest still proceeded with unremitting ardour — nu- merous dehates and numerous divisions took place before the final catastrophe — in numbers, Government made no pro- gress, and never could or did obtain a majority of fifty on the principle of a Union. Mr. Foster's The details of the subsequent proceedings are not within the range of this desultory memoir. The speech of Mr. Foster, the Speaker, against the measure, occupied four hours : a deference to his opinion, and a respect for his true patriotism, caused a dead silence throughout the entire of his oration — on any other occasion , that oration would have been over- whelming; but the question was, in fact , decided before he had , in the committee , any opportunity of declaring his opinion-, and his speech was little more than recording his sentiments. important Some very serious facts occurred during the progress of the discussion which may be worth reciting. The House was surrounded by military, under pretence of keeping the peace, which was not in danger, but, in fact, to excite terror ; Lord Castlereagh also threatened to remove the Parliament to Cork , if its proceedings were interrupted. — But, unfortun- ately, the Anti-Unionists had no efficient organization, no decided leader; scattered and desponding, they' did not excite 1 The fulsome address from the catholic clergy and Bishop Lnnigan from Kilkenny to marquis Cornwallis, in favour of the Union, fortunately rendered the addresses perfectly ridiculous. One of his excellency's eyes, by some na- tural defect, appeared considerably diminished, and, like the pendulum of a clock, was generally in a slate of million. The Right Reverend Bishop and clergy having never before seen the marquis, unfortunately commenced their address with the most mul a propos exordium of '' your excellency has '•' always kept a steady rye on the interests of Ireland. " — The address was presented at Levee. His excellency howerer was graciously pleased not to return any answer to that part of then compliment. Mr. Curran, on seeing the addiess, said the only match for it he bad ever read was the mayor of Coventry's speech to Queen Elizabeln : "When the Spanish Armada at- OF THE IRISH NATION. 463 sufficient external exertion : destiny seemed to resign the nation to its fate; their own brethren forsook them. — The Bad conduct Bis! ops Troy, Lanigan and others, deluded by the Viceroy, sold ° their county, and basely betrayed their flocks , by promoting the Union — the great body of Catholics were true to their coun- try, but the rebellion had terrified them from every overt act of opposition — all was confusion — nothing could be effected against Lord Castlereagh , who had one million and a half to bribe with , under pretence of compensation — besides , the secret service-money of England was at his command, and that was boundless. Had the proposal been made two years later, all the wealth and power of England could not have effected the annexation. The subject is now ended — posterity will appreciate the injuries of Ireland. The only security England has for the permanence of the Union , is a radical change in the nature and genius of the people; or a total change of system in the mode of governing. How blind must those Governments be which suppose that Ireland ever can be retained permanenlly by the coercive system! Eight millions of people, whose lives cannot be precious to them, never can be permanently yoked to any other nation , not much more physically power- full , and not near so warlike, save by a full participation of rights and industry : — with employment , protection , and any means of subsistence , the Irish might be the easiest ma- naged people on the face of Europe : naturally loyal — natu- rally tractable — naturally adapted to labour — it is a total ignorance of their character abroad, with a system of petty tyranny at home, that destroys this people; — governing by executions has the very opposite effect from that intended — death is too common to have much terrors for a desperate peasantry — hang 100,000 every year? it would make no " tacked your Majesty, ecod they got the wrong sow by the ear. " The Queen desired them to jjo home and she would send an answer. 464 RISE AND FALL sensible diminution of the Irish population , and certainly would add nothing to the tranquillity of the country 5 on the contrary, every execution increases the number of the dis- satisfied — who can be contented with the execution of his kindred? The only guardians of that devoted people , the only persons who could direct or guide them , are now, by the Union, for ever taken away from them : their landlords now reside in other countries-, no labourers are now employed on the old demesnes that supported them. What are they to subsist upon ? An idle population can never cease to be a disturbed one ; and , if it be possible to convince the English people that the stale of Ireland must soon influence their own condition , much will be effected 5 if England should be con- vinced that Ireland has been plundered , by a British Mi- nister, of the only certain means of ensuring her tranquillity ( a resident Parliament) — that the plunder has been without any beneficial operation to England herself — great progress will be made toward some better system. Half the lime of the Imperial Parliament is now occupied upon a subject of which nothing but local knowledge can give a competent idea; and it is the opinion of the wisest and most dispassionate people, that now reflect upon the state of the connexion , that either the Union must be rendered closer and more operative for its professed objects , interests must be more amalgamated , and the nations dovetailed together — or the Union be altoge- ther relinquished : the dilemma is momentous , but the al- ternative is inevitable. This digression arises from the circumstances which have been mentioned just preceding it. To a true-hearted Irishman, it must be a subject of solicitude; but a reflection on 1800 never can arise without exciting emotions of disgust and feel- ings of indignation. After a long, an ardent, but an ineffective struggle, the Anti-Unionists gave way entirely; and but little farther re- sistance* was offered to any thing. OF THE IRISH NATION. 465 During the progress of the Union Bill through the commit- very sin- tee , a circumstance took place, which , with reference to f t "nc C circum " analogous subjects, is of the utmost legal and constitutional importance. Mr. Richard Annesley (afterwards Lord Annesley) was Mr. An- called to the chair of the committee , on the motion of Lord ° e „ s „ ey „? 'Vf' ' 11)311 OI tilP Casllereagh , and sat as chairman nearly throughout the en- committee on ... tlie Union. tire discussion. Mr. R. Annesley and general Gardner had been returned members for the city of Clogher by the Bishop , whose pre- decessors had exercised that patronage through the votes of four or five of their own domestics, or, perhaps, of only their steward or chaplain , and in their own hall. On this occasion , however, the Bishop's nomination of Mr. Annesley and general Gardner was opposed by Mr. Charles Ball and colonel King , as an experiment , at the suggestion of Mr. Plunket. On the election , these candidates tendered a number of the resident inhabitants of the district as legal constituents of that ancient city, over which the Bishops had, in despotic times , assumed a patronage , not only contrary to the inherent rights of franchise , but altogether unconsti- tutional, it being merely a nomination of Members of the Commons by a spiritual Lord. The Bishop's returning officer n; s hop f had, of course, rejected all lav interference, and Mr. An- c,og1 '^ re ~ J J 7 turns Mr. An- il esley and general Gardner were returned by five or six do- nesiey to Par- mestics of the prelate. This election, however, was most vigorously contested by Mr. Ball and colonel King ; they canvassed the vicinity, in- formed the landholders of their inherent rights, and of the Bishops' usurpation. A great number appeared, and tendered their votes for the new candidates , who , in their turn , ob- jected to every voter received for those of the Bishop ; and, thus circumstanced , the return came back to Parliament. The Bishop's nominees took their seals , as lawful members of Parliament 5 and as such Mr. Annesley was named chair- 3o 466 HISE AND FALL man to the committee of the whole House , which voted all lbs. Ball and the details and articles of the Union. Mr. Ball and colonel " King, however, petitioned against that return. A committee was appointed to decide the question : every possible delay was contrived by the Government , and every influence was attempted , even over the Members of the committee ■ — no- thing was too shameful for the arrogance of the Chancellor ( who took a furious part ) and the corruption of the Se- cretary. Succeed. VI. After a month of arduous and minute investigation , an old document was traced to the Paper Office at the Castle, which the Viceroy endeavoured to have suppressed by the keeper of the records. On its production , the usurpation of the Bishops was proved beyond all possibility of argument, Mr. Auues- and Mr. Annesley, through whose voice every clause of the not duly elect- Union had been put and carried, was declared by the House ed; left the a usur p Cr and his election, and the return thereupon, was cliairaudquit- r ....... . i_ i « 1 ted the House, pronounced null and void. By this decision , the whole of the proceedings of the committee had been carried on , through the instrumentality and functions of a person not de jure a member of Parliament at the time he so acted. This point , if it had been then vigorously pushed , must have led to most serious and deep constitutional questions. Not a legal It was the lex P arliamentaria that, on an election for a Member of Parliament , all votes taken before a returning officer , not legally qualified as such, were null and void. l Mr. Charles Ball was excluded from voting against the Union the whole time of Mr. Annesley's so usurping the du- ties of a Member, and voting in its favour. Whether his acts could be construed to be legal was a point rendered useless . bv the certainty of the Union being effected. ■ It was contended by the constitutional lawyers, that the votes of a committee, taken by a chairman who was not a member of the House , the journals he signed , ami the reports lie brought up , were void , and , a for- tiori, every act of the committee. > h in man. OF THE IRISH NATION. /,6 7 Mr. Annesley was in his seat in the House when the report of the committee was read : the effect was considerable. Mr. Annesley and general Gardner instantly rose and left the House , and Mr. Charles Ball and colonel King were as quickly introduced , dressed in the Anti-Union uniform , and took their seats in the place of the discarded members. A new chairman was substituted for Mr. Annesley. Another curious instance of palpable corruption remains on shameful record. Sir William Gladowe Newcomen , Bart. , member for ™ f^^^ the county of Longford , in the course of the debate , declared tioQ . lj r Sir , j i tt • i • 11 William Gla- he supported the Union , as he was not instructed to the con- dowe Newco- trary by his constituents. This avowal surprised many, as it mea ' was known that the county was nearly unanimous against the measure, and that he was well acquainted with the fact. However, he voted for Lord Castlereagh , and he asserted that conviction alone was his guide : his veracity was doubted , and in a few months some of his bribes were published. His wife was also created a peeress. One of his bribes has been discovered , registered in the Rolls Office — a document which it was never supposed would be exposed , but which would have been grounds for impeach- ment against every Member of Government who thus con- tributed his aid to plunder the public and corrupt Parliament. The following is a 'Copy , from the Rolls Office of Ire- land : — " By the Lord Lieutenant and General Governor of Ireland, CORNWALLIS. " Whereas Sir William Gladowe Newcomen, Bart., hath, Bribe proved. " by his Memorial laid before us, represented that, on the " 25th day of June, i^85 , John , late Earl of Mayo, then " Lord Viscount Naas , Receiver-General of Stamp Duties, " together with Sir Thomas Newcomen , Bart., and Sir Barry " Denny, Bart. , both since deceased , as sureties for the said 468 RISE AND FALL " John , Earl of Mayo , executed a bond to his Majesty, con- • • ditioning to pay into the Treasury the Stamp Duties received • by him ; that the said Earl of Mayo continued in the said " office of Receiver-General until the 3oth day of July, 1786, '* when he resigned the same, at which time it is stated that " he was indebted to his Majesty in the sum of about five " thousand pounds, and died on the 7 th of April , 1792 ; that t: the said sureties are dead , and the said Sir Thomas JNew- H " comen , Bart. , did by his last will appoint the Memorialist " executor of his estate ; that the Memorialist proposed to " pay into his Majestv's Exchequer the sum of two thousand " pounds, as a composition for any money that might be " recovered thereon, upon the estate being released from " any further charge on account of the said debt due to his " Majesty. And the before-mentioned Memorial having been " referred to his Majesty's Attorney -General , for his opi- " nion what would be proper to be done in this matter, and " the said Attorney-General having by his report unto us , " dated the 20th day of August, 1800 , advised that , under " all the circumstances of the case, the sum of two thousand " pounds should be accepted of the Memorialist on the part " of Government ," etc., etc. "J. TOLER." Ry this abstract it now appears , even by the Memorial of Sir William Glad owe , that he was indebted at least five thousand pounds, from the year 1786, to the public Treasury and Revenue of Ireland ; that, with the interest thereon , it amounted in 1800 to ten thousand pounds j that Sir William had assets in his hands, as executor, to pay that debt ; and that, on the Union , when all such arrears must have been paid into the Treasury , the Attorney-General , under a reference of Lords Cornwallis and Castlereagh , was induced to sanction the transaction as reported ; viz. "under all its circum- " stances , " to forego the debt , except two thousand pounds. Or THK IRISH NATION. /,Go Every effort was made to find if any such sum as two thousand pounds was credited to the public , and none such was disco- vered. The fact is, that Lord Naas owed ten thousand pounds, consequently Sir William owed twenty thousand \ that he never bond fide paid to the public one shilling , which , with a peer- age, the patronage of his county, and the pecuniary pickings also received by himself, altogether formed a tolerably strong bribe, even for a more qualmish conscience than that of Sir William. But all the individual instances of the corrupt influencewhich seduced so many members of the Irish Parliament to betray their trusts, and transmit their names to posterity as the mosl fatal enemies of that island where they drew 7 their breath , would be a labour of too great an extent for a work of this description. But it will suffice to convince the British empire, that the Union between England and Ireland was the corrupt work of the very Minister who was afterwards called over , with his Irish flock , to become the shepherd of the British nation. VII. The few following authenticated examples of corrupt seduction , by Lords Cornwallis and Castlereagh individually , may give some slight idea of the general system : — Mr. Francis Knox and Mr. Crowe, two Irish barristers , Bribery of were returned to Parliament for the close borough of Philips- ^ r -^ noxa » d ° l Mr. Crowe. town, under the patronage of Lord Belvidere. In the session of 1799 they violently opposed the Union. Mr. Knox said : " I am satisfied that, in point of commerce , England has not Their speecii- '• anv thins to trive to this country ; but, were it otherwise, es a s aiUi>t tllL ' " I would not condescend to argue the subject-, for I would 1,4 not surrender the liberties of my country for the riches of -' the u?iiversel I cannot find words to express the horrorl feel " at a proposition so extremely degrading. It is insulting to " entertain it, even for a moment. What! -shall we deliber- " ate whether this kingdom shall cease to exist 5 whether tbi;> L ' land shall be struck from the scale of nations: whether its 4?o IUSE AND FALL " very name is to be erased from the map of the world for " ever? Shall it, I say, be a question , whether we surrender " to another separate country, and to another separate le- " gislature , the lives, liberties, and properties of five mil- k ' lions of people, who delegated us to defend, but not to " destroy, the constitution? It is a monstrous proposition, " and should be considered, merely in order to mingle our " disgust and execration with those of the people, and then " to dash it from us , never to be resumed ! " Mr. Crowe held similar language. TiieF.ariof The Earl of Belvidere then called a meeting of the county palpaWy bri- °^ Westmeath , to enter into resolutions against the Union; bed to change and his proposed resolutions, in his own hand-writing, de- claratory of his resistance to that measure , are here inserted. Mr. Crowe termed its supporters " flagitious culprits, " and boldly declaimed against the unexampled profligacy of the \ iceroy and his Irish Secretary. It is fortunate for history that irrefragable proofs exist of this statement, and that Great Britain may peruse the mode by which Ireland has been united to her. Every line of such documents might well form a ground of prosecution or impeachment, for high crimes and misdemeanours, against both the Viceroy and the Se- cretary. His rcsolu- The Earl of Belvidere and his two friends had expressed themselves too strongly against the Union , and were of too much importance to be left untempted. The Marquess, there- fore, undertook to manage the peer, whilst Lord Castlereagh engaged to seduce the Commoners. Mr. Usher, the Earl's chaplain , wise man , and adviser, was also enlisted to effect the seduction of his patron and of his accessories. The nego- tiation completely succeeded. Mr. Knox The English nation will scarcely believe the fact, that, j'^!,,.,'] ' within a few months, his Lordship, with Mr. Knox and .Mr. Crowe, were literally purchased-, and, in four months after publishing the resolutions against the Union , new reso- tious. OF THE IRISH NATION. 47 « lulions,in favour of the measure, were circulated by his Lordship among his tenantry. As soon as the bribe was fixed, as he conceived , the whole of his Lordship's former principles were recanted, and condemned as hasty, and against the ge- neral opinion of the people. Lord Cornwallis had now gained his point, and turned round on the apostates — they were disgraced traitors : they were now helpless — they durst not again recant. The terms had been munificent — nothing required by Lord Belvidere had been refused by the Marquess; but after he had made their defection public and irrevocable , he gave his Lordship to understand that there was a misconception as to the terms, which , being matters of delail , could be more properly ar- ranged by the Secretary, and thus he turned them over to the mercy of Lord Castlereagh. His Lordship , seeing they Mr. Usher , , , , ,. • • bribed to .sc- were entrapped beyond the power or escaping, soon convin- c _ ced them that he also knew how to despise the instruments he had corrupted. Mr. Usher, the chaplain, was to be remune- rated for soothing the conscience of Lord Belvidere — the clergy are seldom reluctant when good bargains are going forward : but a general dissatisfaction now arose among all the parlies. Usher, however, was contented ^ie got a cure of souls for his political guilt, and , after having aided in cor- ruption, went to preach purity to his parishioners ! VIII. The English people would scarcely credit the most accurate historian, did not the annexed letter prove the whole transaction , and leave them to ruminate upon the nefarious system to which ihey were themselves subject, under the same Minister. In England , an impeachment would have been the result of this disclosure ; but, in Ireland , it was the least of Lord Castlereagh's malpractices. 47* WISE AND FALL Mr. Crowe s letter, shortly after Lord Belvidere was purchased by Lord Cormvallis. October ^th, 1709. My Dear Lord, This moment yours of the 3d inst. has been delivered by the postman. — I am heartily concerned that I am obliged to differ with your Lordship (for the first time during a three and twenty years' friendship) in point of fact : as to what passed between you and Lord Cornwallis , it has nothing to do with the present question, which is simply, " whether the it agreement made by Mr. Knox with Lord Casllcreagh is to " be adhered to or violated." This agreement was two months subsequent to your conversation with Lord Cornwallis, and you will recollect you had two interviews with the Viceroy, the latter of which was , by no means , so flattering as the first , and was very far from holding out splendid expectations — but all prior discussions are always done away by a subse- quent agreement; for otherwise it would be absurd ever to think of making one , which would be always open to be de- parted from by any of the parties , on a suggestion that in a prior conversation this thing was said or the other thing was was offered. ■ — An agreement once made , nothing re- mains but to carry it into effect according to its terms as The corrupt fast as possible. — The business then comes to this, what agreement of . , Jf\ Mr. Crowe was the agreement made by Mr. Knox with Lord Castle- BndMr - ^"°*reagh , respecting the only point that has induced your Lofd- eau for ship to delay matters, all the rest being confessedly understood, bers in pre- name Wi " the vacating Mr. Knox's seat and mine, in order sence of Mr. c <. lo „[ ve f| ic return of the two members to Government in L slier, a par- ° ion " our places. This particular Mr. Knox stated distinctly and explicitly, ■• that Lord Castlereagh, at the outset of the negotiation, laid " it down as a sine qua 11011 , that we must vacate our seats •' in the present Parliament, and that he should have the •• nomination of the two new members. " But such a distinc- OF THE IRISH NATION. 473 tion as your Lordship conceives of vacating for the question of Union , and in case Government should he defeated on that measure , that those two new members should vacate, and that you should have a power of nominating in their stead for the remainder of the Parliament , never in the slightest degree was made by Mr. Knox , nor even hy your Lordship ; but , on the contrary , your Lordship assented to that part as well as to every other part of the treaty with Lord Castle- The terms reagh , and from the instant you thus gave your assent , a full , caltkreash' l compleat , and perfect agreement took place. Mr. Usher was present at all this , and it is his duty to come forward and declare the fact. On the 10th of July this negotiation commenced, and from that period to this , I have been kept in town from my con- cerns in law , in constant expectation of having it concluded , and now, nearly at the end of three months, to have it all upset is very severe. As to the engagement that your Lordship describes and that your burgesses signed , it is a direct contradiction to that part of the agreement it professes to he conformable to , and is so much trouble for nothing — but what appears extraordi- nary to me, along with all the rest of this extraordinary busi- ness is , that your Lordship should prepare or get this engage- ment signed after you were apprised , both by Mr. Knox's letters and mine to you and Mr. Usher, that any thing short of the identical paper sent down by Mr. Knox , would not answer. I have nothing more to add than to request your Lordship will bring Mr. Usher up with you directly. I am , my dear Lord , Your's most sincerely , ROB. CROWE. To the Earl of Belvidere , etc., etc., etc. [The Original of this Letter is in the Author's possession.] / )7 4 RISE AND FALL RESOLUTIONS In the hand-writing of the Earl of Bclvidere , prepared h) him for the Freeholders of the County of Westmeath , against a Legislative Union in 1799- His Lordship after- wards voted for and supported that measure warmly. Resolved, That the free and independent Legislature of Ire- land having heen unequivocally established , every measure that tends to encroach on it calls for our implicit disapproba- tion. The depending project of a Union with Great Britain , the appearance of being merely a transfer of the Parliament is , in fact, a complete extinction of it ; that it is the duty of Irishmen of every description to come forward, and by all constitutional means to resist a scheme so subversive of the real interest, prosperity, and dignity of their Country. That we entertain too high an opinion of the integrity of our representatives, to suppose them capable of voting away tne rights of the people , had a power of such a nature been ever vested in them. [The Original is in the Author's possession.] This transaction between Lords Cornwallis and Castle- rcagh, and Lord Belvidcrc and Messrs. Knox and Crowe, ou^ht to he one of the most useful lessons to the British nation-, there will be seen, in the sad fate of Ireland, the means by which their own liberties may be destroyed. Mr.c iiri.s Before the third reading of the Bill, when it was about to Bafl'a • lff " t "be reported, Mr. Charles Ball, Member for Clogher, rose, log conduct. ' t 1111 1 • • 1 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 hint, and turning hi-> eyes i<> Heaven OF THE IRISH NATION. 475 as if to invoke vengeance on the enemies of his country. His example was contagious. Those Anti-Unionists who were in The Anti- the House immediately followed his example, and never re- ber ' s , despair- turned into that Senate which had been the elorv, the guar- ing, withdraw s J ' D in a body. dian, and the protection of their country. There was but one scene more, and the curtain was to drop for ever. ' 1 One of those singular incidents which , though trivial , occasionally produce a great sensation, occurred in the progress of the Bill, on the debate respecting the local representation. From the nature of the subject and the strong feelings of every party, the slightest incident , the most im- material word , or unimportant action , was construed into an indication of something momentous. Mr. Charles Ball , the new Member for Clogher, was a most ardent , impetuous, and even furious opponent of a Union , on any terms or under any circumstances. He was a very large , eager, boisterous , and determined man ; he uttered whatever he thought , and there was no restraining his sentiments. In the midst of the crowded coffee-room he declared his astonishment , that whilst hundreds of wretched men every day sacrificed their lives in resisting those who openly attacked their liberty, there were none who did not at once rid their country of the monsters who were betraying it. "It could be easily done," said he, "by a few hand- grenades , or shells, thrown from the gallery when your ministerial gentle- men are locked up for a division. " The extravagance of the idea excited general merriment ; but there were some who actually conceived the practicability of the scheme. Mr. Ball , with affected gravity, added, that he had heard such a plan was intended ; and this only increased the previous merriment. The House presently com- menced its sitting, and Mr. Secretary Cooke had taken the chair of the Committee, when suddenly a voice like thunder burst from the gallery, which was crowded to excess : " Now " (roared the Stentor), "now let the " bloodiest assassin take the chair ! — let the bloodiest assassin take the chair ! " Any attempt at description of the scene would be unavailing — the shells and hand-grenades of Mr. Ball presented themselves to every man's imagi- nation. All was terror and confusion : many pressed towards the doors, but the door-keepers had fled , and turned the keys to prevent the escape of the culprit. A few hats fell by accident from the galleries , which were in a state of tumult. These appeared like bomb-shells to the terrified Members : pocket-pistols and swords were upon the point of being produced ; every man seemed to expect the bloody assassins to rush in hundreds from the galleries. No explosion , however, took place ; no assassins descended ; and a scuffle in the gallery was succeeded bv an exclamation , "We have se- cured him! We have secured him ! " which restored some confidence to the 476 RISE AND FALL Last sitting The day of extinguishing the liberties of Ireland had now Pariiameut. 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 Minister, to renounce her rank amongst the States of Europe — she was sentenced to cancel her constitution , to disband her Commons , and disfranchise her nobility — to proclaim her incapacity, and register her corruption in the records of the empire. On this fatal event, some, whose honesty the tempter could not de- stroy — some, whose honour he durst not assail — and many who could not control the useless language of indignation , prudently withdrew from a scene where they would have witnessed only the downfal of their country. Every precaution senators. The serjeant-at-arms now ascended, sword in hand, and was followed by many of the Members , whose courage had been quiescent till there was a certainty of no danger. Air. Denis Brown, as a forlorn hope, was the first to mount the gallery. After a valiant resistance, an Herculean gentleman was forced down into the body of the House , by a hundred hands. As soon as he was effectually secured , all the Members were most courageous; some pommelled, some kicked" him, and at length he was thrown flat upon the floor, and firmly pinioned. The whole power of Par- liament , however, could not protect them from his eloquence ; and most powerfully did he use his tongue. The gigantic appearance of the man struck everybody with awe, and none but the lawyers had the least conception lhat he was a Mr. Sinclair, one of the most quiet and well-behaved barris- ters of the whole profession. He was a respectable, independent, and idle member of the Irish Bar, but an enthusiast against a Union. He had dined with a parly of the fame opinions at the house of a friend , who was un- doubtedly a madman , but whose excellent wine and wild conversation bad elevated Mr. Sinclair so very far above all dread , that be declared he would himself, that night , in spite of all the traitors, make a speech in the House, and give them bis full opinion of the only measure that should be taken against them. He accordingly repaired to the gallery, and, on seeing the Secretary take the chair, be could no longer contain himself, and attempted to leap down among the Members; but being restrained by some friends who were with him , he determined to make bis speech , and commenced with the most appalling expression of what he conceived should be the fate of the Unionists. He was committed to Newgate bj the House , and remained there ill! the session ended'. OF THE IRISH NATION. 4-7 was taken by Lord Clare for the security, at least, of his own person. The Houses of Parliament were closely invested by ""' House .... , • c 1 */• l" surrounded bv the military — no demonstration ot popular ieeling was per- military. mitted — a British regiment, near the entrance, patrolled through the Ionic colonnades — the chaste architecture of that classic structure seemed as a monument to the falling Irish , to remind them of what they had been , and to tell them what they were. It was a heart-rending sight to those who Mostaffect- lii- • .• 1 ill- 1 ,u n scene. loved their country — it was a sting to those who sold it — and to those who purchased it , a victory — but to none has it been a triumph. Thirty-three years of miserable experience should now r convince the British people that they have gained neither strength , nor affection , nor tranquillity, by their acquisition 5 and that if population be the "wealth of nations," Ireland is getting by far too rich to be governed much longer as a pauper. The British people knew not the true history of the Union Bad conse- — that the brilliant promises , the predictions of rapid prospe- b'^j to rity, and " consolidating resources ', " were but chimerical. Whilst the finest principles of the constitution were sapped to effect the measure, England, by the subjugation of her sister kingdom, gained only an accumulation of debt — an accession of venality to her Parliament — an embarrassment in her councils , and , a prospective danger to the integrity of the empire. The name of Union has been acquired , but the attainment of the substance has been removed farther than ever. The Commons House of Parliament , on the last evening , afforded the most melancholy example of a fine independent people , betrayed , divided , sold , and , as a Stale , annihilat- ed. British clerks and officers were smuggled into her Par- ' " Consolidating the strength and resources of the Empire' 1 '' was Lord Castle- rengh's fundamental argument on proposing that measure : but he lived long enough to see that it had the very contrary operation. 47» RISE AND FALL liament to vote away the constitution of a country to which they were strangers, and in which they had neither interest nor connexion. They were employed to cancel the royal charter of the Irish nation , guaranteed hy the British Govern- ment , sanctioned hy the British legislature, and unequivo- cally confirmed hy the words, the signature, and the great seal of their monarch. Uuhappi- The situation of the Speaker, on that night , was of the most uess of the j- . • • i i n , Speaker. distressing nature ; a sincere and ardent enemy or 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 he pro- claimed and consummated. His only alternative (resignation ) would have heen unavailing, and could have added nothing to his character. His expressive countenance bespoke the in- quietude of his feelings 5 solicitude was perceptible in every glance , and his embarrassment was obvious in every word he uttered. The galleries were full, but the change was lamentable; they were no longer crowded with those who had been ac- customed 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 apparent — 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 "LegislativeUnion between Great Britain and Ireland," was moved by Lord Castlereagh — unvaried , tame , coldblooded , the words seemed frozen as they issued from his lips; and, as if a simple citizen of the world , he seemed to have no sensation on the subject OF THE IRISH NATION. 4?<) At that moment he had no country — no god hut his am- bition ; he made his motion , and resumed his seat , with the utmost composure and indifference. Confused murmurs again ran through the House — it was visibly affected — every character, in a moment , seemed involuntarily rushing to its index ; — some pale , some flushed, some agitated ; there were few countenances to which the heart did not despatch some messenger. Several Members withdrew before the question could be repeated , and an awful, momentary silence succeeded their departure. The Ireland ex- /-■ ••1111 j tm S u ' s ' ie "- Speaker rose slowly from that chair which had been the proud source of his honours and of his high character : for a moment he resumed his seat, but the strength of his mind sustained him in his duty, though his struggle was apparent. With that dignity which never failed to signalize his official actions, he held up the Bill for a moment in silence-, he looked steadily around him on the last agony of the expiring Parliament. He at length repeated , in an emphatic tone , " as many as are of opinion that this bill do pass , say aye. " The affirmative was languid but indisputable — another momentary pause ensued — again his lips seemed to decline their office : at length , with an eye averted from the object which he hated , he pro- claimed , with a subdued voice , " the ayes have it." The fatal sentence was now pronounced — for an instant he stood statue-like; then indignantly, and with disgust, flung the Bill upon the table, and sunk into his chair with an exhausted spirit. An independent country was thus degraded into a pro- vince — Ireland, as a nation , was extinguished. 480 RISE AND FALL 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 J, City Members; and those with a §, Borough Members; those in Italics chanced sides , and got cither Money or Offices. OBSERVATIONS. 1.* Honourable A. Acheson. . Son to Lord Gosford. 2.* William C. Alcock County Wexford. 5 - Mervyn Archdall County Fermanagh. 4.§ W. H. Armstrong Refused all terms from Government. 5.* Sir. Richard Butler Changed sides. — See Black List. 6.* John Bagwell Changed sides t^ ice. — Sec BlackLisl. t.§ Peter Burrowcs Now Judge of the Insolvent Court — a steady Anti-Unionist. 8.* John Bagwell, Jan. . . . Changed sides. — See Black List. o. I John Ball Member for Drogheda — incorruptible. 10. | Charles Ball Brother to the preceding. 1 1 .] Sir Jonah Barrington . . . King's Counsel — Judge of the Admi- ralty — refused all terms. i2.§ Charles Bushe Afterwards Solicitor - General , now Chief Justice of Ireland — incor- ruptible. Ti.t John Claudius Beresford. . Seceded from Mr. Ponsonby in 1799, on his declaration of Independence. That secession was fatal to Ireland. 14. Arthur Brown Member for the University, changed sides in 1800 — was appointed Prime-Serjeant by Lord Castlereagh, through Mr. Cooke : of all others the most open and palpable case. — See Black List. 1 ">.'", W illiam blakeiuv A Pensioner, but opposed Govern- ment. ili • William burton Sold his Borough, Carlow, to a Union ist (Lard Tullamoore), but remain- ed staunch himself. OF THE IRISH NATION. 481 OBSERVATIONS. 17.* H. V. Brooke. i8.§ Blaynev Balfour. 19. § David Babbington Connected with Lord Belmore. 2o.f Honourable James Butler. ( Now Marquis of Ormonde ) voted in 1800 against a Union, but with Go- vernment on Lord Corry's Motion. 21.* Colonel John Maxwell (Now Lord Farnham) nephew to the Barry Speaker. 22. § William Bagwell Changed sides twice, concluded as a Unionist. — See Black List. 23.* Viscount Corry ( Now Lord Belmore ) dismissed from his regiment by Lord Cornwallis — a zealous leader of the Opposition. 24. f Robert Crowe A Barrister, bribed by Lord Castle- reagh. — See his Letter to Lord Belvidere. 25.* Lord Clements (Now Lord Lei trim.) 26.* Lord Cole (Now Lord Enniskillen) unfortunately dissented from Mr. Ponsonby's Mo- tion for a declaration of independ- ence in 1799, 'whereby the Union was revived and carried. 27. § Honourable Lowry Cole. . A General — brother to Lord Cole. 28.* R. Shapland Carew. 294 Honourable A. Creighton. Changed sides, and became a Unionist. — See Black List. 5o.f Honourable J. Creighton. Changed sides. — See Black List. 5i.* Joseph Edward Cooper. 32.| James Cane Changed sides. — See Black List. 33.* Lord Caulfield (Now Earl Charlemont) son to Earl Charlemont , a principal Leader of the Opposition. 34. | Henry Coddington. 35. § George Crookshank. ... A son of the Judge of the Common Pleas. 56.* Dennis B. Daly Brother-in-law to Mr. Ponsonby — a most active Anti-Unionist. 57.1 Noah Dal way. 58.* Richard Dawson. 59/ Arthur Dawson Formerly a Banker, father to the late Under-Secretary . 4o.* Francis Dobbs Famous for his Doctrine on the Mil- 61 482 RISE AND FAfcL OBSKHVATIONS. lennium — an enthusiastic Anti- Unionist. 4 1 ."f John Egan King's Counsel, Chairman of Kilmain- hatn — offered a Judge's seal, but could not he purchased, though far from rich. 42. II. L. Edgevvorth. 45. t George Evans. 44-* Sir John Freke, Bart. . . (Now Lord Carherry.) 45/ Frederick Falkiner .... Though a distressed person, could not be purchased. 46. § Rt. Hon. James Fitzgerald. Prime-Serjeant of Ireland — could not be bought, and was dismissed from his high office by Lord Cornwallis — father to Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald. 47.* William Charles Fortescue One of the three who inconsiderately (poisoned by accident). opposed Mr. Ponsonby, and thereby- carried the Union. 48.* Rt. Hon. John Foster. . . Speaker, the chief of the Opposition throughout the whole contest. 49.* Honourable Thomas Fos- ter. 5o.* Sir T. Fetherston , Bart. . Changed sides. — Sec Black List 5i. ¥ Arthur French Unfortunately coincided with Mr. For- tescue in 1799, against Mr. Pon- sonby. 52. § Chichester Fortescue . . . King at Arms — brought ov er in 1 800 , by Lord Castlereagh — voted both sides — ended a Unionist. 55. § William Gore Bought by Lord Castlereagh in 1800. 5',/j Hamilton Georges A distressed man, but could not be purchased — falhcr-in-law to Secre- tary Cooke. 55.§ Rt. Hon. Henry Grattan. 56.§ Thomas Gold Now Serjeant, brought into Parlia- ment by the Anti-Unionists. 57.I Hans Hamilton Member for Dublin County. 58.J Edward Hardman City of Drogheda — the Speaker's friend . 59.5 Francis Hardy Author of ihe Life of Charlemont — brother-in-law to the Bishop of Dow n . OF THE IRISH NATION. /j83 OBSERVATIONS. 60. § Sir Joseph Hoare. 61.* William Hoare Hume. N . . Wicklow County. 62.§ Edward Hoare Though very old, and stone blind, attended all the debates, and sat up all the nights of debate. 65. § Bartholomew Hoare. . . . King's Coun p el. 64. § Alexander Hamilton. . . . King's Counsel — son to the Baron. 65. § Honourable A. C Hamil- ton. 66.§ Sir Francis Hopkins, Bart. Prevailed on to take money to va- cate, in 1800, and let in a Union- ist. 674 H. Irwin. 68.* Gilbert King. 69. f Charles King. 70.* Honourable Robert King . 71.* Lord Kingsborough. . . . ( Now Earl Kingston. ) 72. Honourable George Knox. Brother to Lord Northland — luke- warm. 73.1 Francis Knox Vacated his Seat for Lord Castlcreagh. — See Mr. Crowe's Letter. 74.* Right Hon. Henry King. 75.| Major King He opened the Bishop of Cloghcr's Borough in 1800. 76.5 Gustavus Lambert Brother to Countess Talbot. Banker. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. 77.* David Latouche, jun 78. § Robert Latouche . . 79. § John Latouche, sen. 80. § John Latouche, jun. 81.* Charles Powell Leslie 82.* Edward Lee. . . . . Member for the County of Watcrford — zealous. 85.| Sir Thomas Lighton, Bt. . A Banker. 84.* Lord Maxwell Died Lord Farnham. 85.* Alexander Montgomery. 86. § Sir John M'Cartney, Bart. Much distressed, but could not be bri- bed — nephew, by affinity, to the Speaker. 87. § William Thomas Mansel. Actually purchased by Lord Castlc- reagh. 88. § Stephen Moore Changed sides on Lord Corry's Motion. — See Debates. 484 RISE AND FALL OBSERVATIONS. 89.5 John Moore. 90. Arthur Moore Now a Judge of the Common Pleas — a staunch Anti-Unionist. gx.* Lord Mathew (Now Earl Llandaff)-Tipperary County. 92.5 Thomas Mahon. John Metge Brother to the Baron of the Exchequer. 94. § Richard Neville Had been a dismissed treasury officer; sold his vote to he reinstated — changed sides. — See Black List. 95. § Thomas Newcnham. . . . The Author of various Works on Ire- land — one of the steadiest Anti- Unionists. 96.* Charles O'Hara Sligo County. 97.* Sir Edward O'Brien. . . . Clare County. 98. § Colonel Hugh O'Donnel. . A most ardent Anti-Unionist — dis- missed from his regiment of Mayo militia. 99.5 James Moore O'Donnel. . Killed by Mr. Bingham in a duel. 100. '■ linn. \\ . OCallaghan. . . Brother to Lord Lismore. 101. Henry Osborn Could not be bribed — his brother was. 102.* Bight Hon. George Ogle. Wexford County. io3. § Joseph Preston An eccentric character — could not be purchased. 104.* John Preston Of Belliutor, wa9 purchased by a title ( Lord Tara ) , and his brother , a Parson, got a living of 700/. a year. io5*. Bt. Hon. Sir John Parnell. Chancellor of the Exchequer, dismis- sed by Lord Castlcreagh — incor- ruptible. Henrj Parnell'. ..... His son, now Sir Henry Parnell. 107. j YV. Conyrfgham Plunket.. Now Lord Plunket. — See his able speech. 108. " Rt. Hon. W. B. Ponsonby. Afterwards Lord Ponsonby. io(). ; J. B. Ponsonby Afterwards Lord Ponsonby iio.'j Major W. Ponsonby. . . . A General, killed at Waterloo. ' Si] John Pamelt was ouc of the ablest supporters of Government of liisd.u. Hm son has taken assiduously a more extensive and deeper field of business in finance, but in any other point, public or private, has uo advantage over his father. OF THE IRISH NATION. 485 OBSERVATIOHS. in.* lit. Hon. G. Ponsonby. . . Afterwards Lord Chancellor, died of apoplexy. 112.* Sir Laurence Parsons . . . King's County, now Earl of Rosse — made a remarkably fine speech. ii5.§ Richard Power Nephew to the Baron of the Exchequer. 114.* Abel Ram Changed sides. u5.* Gustavus Rochfort Counl\ Wtstmeath, seduced by Go- vernment, and changed sides in 1800. — See Black List 1 16. § John Staunton Rochfort. . Nephew to the Speaker. 1 17. Sir William Richardson. n8§ John Reily Changed sides. — See Black List. 1 19. William E. Reily. i2o.§ Charles Ruxton. i2i.§ AVilliam P. R.uxton. 122.* Clot worthy Rowley. . . . Changed sides. — See Black List. i23.§ William Rowley Changed sides . — See Ditto. 124.S /. Rowley Changed sides. — See Ditto. i25.* Francis Saunderson. 126.* William Smyth Westmeath. 127.* James Stewart. 128 § Hon. W. J. Skeffington. 129." Francis Savage. i3o.§ Francis Synge. i5i.§ Henry Stewart. i32.§ Sir Richard St. George, Bt. i55.§ Hon. Benjamin Stratford. Now Lord Aldborough , gained by Lord Castlereagh — changed sides. — See Black List. i34-* Nathaniel Sne\d- i35.* Thortuu Slannus CJtanged sides, Lord Portarlington's Member. — See Black List. i56.§ Robert Shaw A Banker. i37.§ Rt. Hon. William Saurin. Afterwards Attorney - General — a steady but calm Anti-Unionist. i58.§ William Tighe. i3g.§ Henry Tighe. i4o.§ John Taylor. i4i-§ Thomas Townshend. 142.* Hon. Richard Trench. . . Voted against the Union in 1799 — was gained by Lord Castlereagh , whose 486 RISE AND FALL OBSERVATIONS. 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. i45.* Hon. R.Taylor. 1 44-§ Charles Yereker (Now Lord Gort) City Limerick. i45.§ Owen Wynne. 1 46." John Waller. 147.S E. D. Willson. i48§ Thomas Walcy First voted against the Union — pur- chased by Lord Castlereagh — he was Lord Clare's brother-in-law. — See Black List. 149.* Nicholas Westby. i5o.* John Wolfe Member for the County Wicklow — Colonel of the Kildare Militia, refus- ed to vote for Government, and was cashiered —could not be purchased. By the Red and Black Lists (published at the time, the originals being now in the Author's possession) it is evident, beyond all contradiction, that of those who had, in 1799, successfully opposed the Union, or had declared against it, Lord Castlereagh palpably purchased twenty-fwc be- fore the second discussion in 1800, which made a difference of fifty votes in favour of Government; and it is therefore equally evident, that, by the public and actual bribery of those twenty-five members, and not by any change of opinion in the country, or any fair or honest majority, Mr. Pitt and his instruments carried the Union in the Commons House of Parlia- ment ; and it is proper the English nation should know accurately how they have acquired the incumbrance of Ireland in its present form, and what little importance was set on every principle of the British Consti- tution , in the mind of the same Minister whom they immediately af- terwards entrusted with their own liberties — their money — and their national reputation — every one of which was more or less sacrificed , or squandered, during his administration in England, and his negotia- tions at Vienna. The observations annexed to the names in liiese Lists were, at the time , either in actual proof, or sufficiently notorious to have been printed in various documents at tbat epoch. As to the Rouse of Lords, the servile — almost miraculous — submission with which they surren- OF THE IRISH NATION. 487 dered their hereditary prerogatives, honours, rights, and dignities, into the hands of the Lords Clare and Castlereagh , is a subject unpre- cedented. But this being announced for discussion by the Imporial Par- liament , in the ensuing session , through the interference of Lord Rossmore , etc. , etc. , no list of the Lords is here given , in order not to anticipate that parliamentary stricture , which will be no doubt more potent and elucidating than any which could with propriety be made in any other place than in that august assembly. As the capitulation was disgusting , the discussion must be severe. /,88 RISE AND FALL ORIGINAL BLACK LIST. OBSERVATIONS. i. R. Aldridge An English Clerk in the Secretary's Office — no connexion with Ireland. 2. Henry Alexander Chairman of Ways and Means; cousin of Lord Caledon ; his brother made a Bishop ; himself Colonial Secretary at the Cape of Good Hope. 5. Richard Archdall Commissioner of the Board of Works. 4- William Bailey Commissioner of Ditto. 5. Right Hon. John Beresford. First Commissioner of Revenue ; bro- ther-in-law to Lord Clare. 6. John Beresford , jun. . . . Then Purse-bearer to Lord Clare, after- wards a Parson, and now Lord Decies. 7. Marcus Beresford A Colonel in the Army, son to the Bishop, Lord Clare's nephew. 8. J. Bingham ' Created a Peer, got 8,000/. for two seats, and i5,ooo/. compensation for Tuam. This gentleman first offered himself for sale to the Anti-Unionists — Lord Clanmorris. g. Joseph H. Blake CreatedaPeer — Lord Wallscourt, etc. 10. Sir J. G. Blackwood. . . . CreatedaPeer — Lord Dufferin. 11. Sir John Blaquiere Numerous Offices and Pensions, and created a Peer — Lord De Blaquiere. 12. Anthony Botet Appointed Commissioner of the Bar- rack Board , 5oo/. a year. 1 5. Colonel Burton Brother to Lord Conyngham — a Co- lonel in the Army. 14. Sir Richard Butler Purchased and changed sides; voted against the Union in 1799, and for it in 1800. — Cash. i5. Lord Boyle Son to Lord Shannon ; they got an im- mense sum of money for their Seats ' The Author of this work was deputed to learii from Mr. Bingham what his expectations from Government for his scats were ; lie proposed to take from the Opposition 8,000/. for his two seats for Tuam , and oppose tiic Union. Government afterwards added a Peerage , aod i5,ooo/. for the Borough OF THE IRISH NATION. /,8 9 OBSERVATIONS. and Boroughs — at i5,ooo/. each Borough. 16. Right Hon. Dennis Brown. Brother to Lord Sligo. 17. Stewart Bruce Gentleman Usher at Dunlin Castle — now a Baronet. 18. George Burdet Commissioner of a Public Board, 5oo/. per annum. ig. George Bunbury Ditto. •20. Arthur Brown Changed sides and principles, and was appointed Serjeant — in 1799 opposed the Union , and supported it in 1 800 ; he was Senior Fellow of Dublin Uni- versity — lost his seat the ensuing election, and died. 21. Bagwell, sen Changed twice, got half the patronage of Tipperary, his son a Dean, etc. etc. 22. Bagwell, jun Ditto, got the Tipperary Regiment, etc. 23. William Bagwell His brother. 24. Lord Castlereagh The Irish Minister. 25. George Cavendish Secretary to the Treasury during pleasure — son to Sir Henry. 26. Sir Henry Cavendish. . . . Receiver - General during pleasure , deeply indebted to the Crown. 27. Sir Broderick Chinnery. . Placed in Office after the Union. 28. James Cane Renegaded, and got a pension. 29. Thomas Casey A Commission of Bankrupts under Lord Clare — made a City Magistrate. 30. Colonel C. Cope Renegaded, got a Regiment, and the patronage of his county. 3i. General Cradock Returned by Government — much mi- litary rank — now Lord Howden. 32. James Crosby A Regiment , and the patronage of Kerry, jointly; seconded the Ad- dress. 53. Edward Cooke Under Secretary at the Castle. 34. Charles Henry Coote, . . . Obtained a Regiment (which was taken from Colonel AA arburton), patronage of Queen's County, and a Peerage, (Lord Castlecoote) and7,5oo/. in cash for his interest at the Borough of Maryborough ; in which , in fact, if was proved before the Commission f,QO RISE AND FALL onSF.RVATIONS. ers that the author of this work had more interest than his Lordship. 55. Right lion. Isaac Cony. . Appointed Chancellor of the Exche- quer, on dismissal of Sir John Par- nell. 36. Sir J. Cotter Privately brought over by cash. 57. Richard Cotter. 58. Hon. II. Crcighton. . . . JRenegaded (see Red List ) privately 5g. Hon. J. Creighton. . . . ■ \ purchased. 4o. W. A. Crosbie Comptroller to the Lord Lieutenant's Household . 4.1. James Cufl'e Natural son to Mr. Cufie, of the Board of Works — his father created Lord Ty rawly. 42. General Dunne Returned for Maryborough by the uni- ted influence of Lord Castlecoote and Government, to keep out Mr. Bar- rington ; gained the election by only one. 43. William Elliot Secretary at the Castle. 44- General Eustace A Regiment. 45. Lord Charles Fitzgerald. . Duke of Leinster's brother — a Pension and a Peerage — a Sea Officer of no repute. 46. Right Hon. Wm. Fitzgerald. 47- Sir Christopher Fortescue. Renegaded ( see Red List ) Officer, King at Arms. 48. A. Fergusson Got a place at the Barrack Board, 5oo/. a year, and a Baronetcy. \q. Luke Fox Appointed Judge of Common Pleas — nephew by marriage to Lord Ely. jo. William Fortescue. . Got a .secret Pension , out of a fund ( 5,ooo/. a year ) entrusted by Parlia- ment to the Irish Government , solely to reward Mi. Reynolds, Cope , etc., etc., and those who in- formed against rebels. 5i. J. Galbraitb ...... Lord Abercorn's Attorney — got a 13a ronetage " Hum Deani Grady 1 First Counsel to the Commissioners. ' This gcutlcmaii tin Autli'n knew t" be entire!] indisposed to 1 1 oion, Iju: OF THE IRISH NATION. f,gt OBSERVATIONS. >5. Richard Hare Put two members into Parliament, and was created Lord Ennismore for their votes. 54. William Hare His son. 55. Colonel B. Henniker. ... A Regiment, and paid 5,5oo/. for his Seat by the Commissioners of Com- pensation. 56. Peter Holmes A Commissioner of Stamps. 5y. George Hatton Appointed Commissioner of Stamps. 58. Hon. John Hutchinson. . . A General — Lord Hutchinson. 5g. Hugh Howard Lord Wicklow's brother, made Post- master-General. 60. Will. Handcock (Athlone). An extraordinary instance; he made and sang songs against the Union in 1799, at a public dinner of the Opposition , and made and sang songs for it in 1800 : he got a Peer- age. 61. John Hobson Appointed Storekeeper at the Castle Ordnance. 62. Colonel George Jackson. . A Regiment. 65. Denham Jephson Master of Horse to the Lord Lieutenant. 64. Hon. George Jocelyn. . . . Promotion in the Army, and his brother consecrated Bishop of Lismore. 65. William Jones. 66. Theophilus Jones Collector of Dublin. 67. Major General Jackson. . . A Regiment- 68. William Johnson Returned to Parliament by Lord Castle- reagh, as he himself declared, "to put an end to it ; " appointed a Judge since. 69. Robert Johnson Seceded from his patron , Lord Down- shire, and was appointed a Judge. 70. John Keane A Renegade — got a Pension. — Sec Red List. 71. James Kearny Returned by Lord Clifton , being his Attorney — got an office. peculiar circumstances prevented liim imperatively but honorably from Following liis own impression. The Author commuuicated to Mr. George Pousonby these causes, as he thought it but justice to Mr. Grady , who , on some occasions , did not conceal his sentiments, and acted fairlv. /»92 RISE AND FALL OBSERVATIONS. 72 Henry Kemmis Son to the Crown Solicitor. 75. W illiam Knot Appointed a Commissioner of Ap- peals, 800/. a year. 74. Andrew Knox. -j. Colonel Keatinge. 76. Right Hon. Sir H. Lan- A Commissioner of the Revenue, rc- grishe ceived i5,ooo/. cash for his patron- nage at Knoctopher. 77. Thomas Lingray, sen. . . Commissioner of Stamps, paid i,5oo/. for his patronage. 78. Thomas Lindsay, jun. Usher at the Castle, paid i,5oo/. for his patronage. 71). .1. Longfield Created a Peer — Lord Longueville. «So. Captain J. Longfield. . . . Appointed to the office of Ship Entries of Uuhlin , taken from Sir Jonah Rarrington. 81. Lord Loftus Son to Lord Ely, Postmaster-General; got 5o,ooo/. for their horoughs, and created an English Marquess. 82. General Lake An Englishman (no connexion with Ireland ) ; returned hy Lord Castle- reagh solely to vote for the Union. 85. RightHon.DavidLatouche. 84- General Loftus A General — got a Regiment; cousin to Lord Ely. 8j. Francis M'JNamara Cash , and a private Pension , paid by Lord Castlereagh. 86. Ross Mahon Several appointments and places by Government. 87. Richard Martin Commissioner of Stamps. 88. Right Hon. Monk Mason. . A Commissioner of Revenue. 89. II. I). Sflassj Received 4,oooZ. cash. QO. Thomas Mahon. i)i. A. F. M'Naghten Appointed a Lord of the Treasury, etc. <)>.. Stephen Moore A Postmaster at will. g5. iN. M. Moore. i)'(. Right lion. Lodge Morris.. Created a Peer. 95. Sir Richard Musgrave. . . . Appointed Receiver of the Customs, 1,200/. a year. 96. .lames IVf'Cleland A Barrister — appointed Solicitor- General, and 1 lien a liaron of llic Exchequer. OF THE IRISH NATION. /, 9 3 OBSERVATIONS. 97. Colonel Charles M'Donnel. Commissioner of Imprest Accounts, 5oo/. per annum. 98. Richard Magenness Commissioner of Imprest Accounts, 5oo/. per annum. 99. Thomas Neshit A Pensioner at will. 100. Sir fV. G.Ncwcomen, Bart. Rought (see Memoir ante), and a Peerage for his wife. 101. Richard Neville. Renegaded — reinstated as Teller of the Exchequer. 102. William Odell A Regiment, and Lord of the Treasury. io3. Charles Osborne A Rarrister — . appointed a Judge of the King's Rench. 104. Charles M. Ormsby Appointed First Council Commis- sioner. io5. Admiral Packenham Master of the Ordnance. 106. Colonel Packenham A Regiment — killed at New Orleans. 107. H. S. Priltie A Peerage — Lord Dunalley. 108. R. Penefather. 109. Thomas Prendergast. ... An office in the Court of Chancery, 5oo/. a year ; his brother Crown Solicitor. no. Sir Richard Quin A Peerage. in. Sir Boyle Roche Gentleman Usher at the Castle. 1 12. R. Rutledge. n3. Hon. C. Rowley Renegaded, and appointed to office by Lord Castlereagh. 114. Hon. H. Skeffington. . . . Clerk of the Paper Office of the Castle, and 7,5oo/. for his patronage. n5. William Smith A Rarrister — appointed a Raron of Exchequer. 1 16. H. M. Sandford Created a Peer — Lord Mount-Sand- ford. 117. Edmond Stanley. . . .... Appointed^ Commjssipner of Accounts. 118. John Staples. .* • . ;"•*• t> » • ■ 119. John Stewart V. V Appointed Attorney-General , and cre- , • ', , .a tgd" a'Bcfrouot? 120. John Stratton. \ , ' ■ ' ':'•.' ''. ' 121. Hon. Benjamin Stratford.. .Renegaded to, get 7,5oo/., his half of J !th& ton/pen nation for Raltinglass. 122. Hon. John Stratford. .'-.-. Paymaster of "Foreign Forces, i,5oo/. a year, and j,5oot. for Ballinglass. 494 niSK AND FALL OF THE IRISH NATION OBSERVATIONS. 120. Richard Sharkey An obscure Barrister ; appointed a County Judge. 124. Thomas- St annus Renegaded. 125. J. Savage. 126. Right Hon. John Toler. . . Attorney-General — his wife, an old woman , created a Peeress ; himself made Chief Justice, and a Peer. 127. Frederick Trench Appointed a Commissioner of the Board of Works. 128. Hon. Richard Trench. . . . A Barrister — created a Peer, and made an Ambassador. (See Red List.) 129. Charles Trench His brother, appointed Commissioner of Inland Navigation — a new office, created by Lord Cornwallis , for rewards. i5o. Richard Talbot. 101. P.Tottenham. Compensation for patronage — cousin, and politically connected with Lord Ely. i32. Lord Tyrone. 104 Offices in the gift of his family — proposed the Union in Parliament by a speech written in the crown of his hat. i33. Charles Tottenham In office. 1 34. Townsend A Commissioner. 1 35. Robert Tighe Commissioner of Barracks. 1 36. Robert Uniack A Commissioner — connected with Lord Clare. 137. James Verner Called the Prince of Orange. i38. J. O. Vandeleur Commissioner of the Revenue; his bro- ther a Judge. 139. Colonel Wemyss Collector of Kilkenny. i4o. Henry Wcsternraw Father of Lord Rossmore, who is of Hit \cr\ reverse of his father's po- litics. - I in; I \l>. PRINTED BY CRAPELET , 9, mi' de Vaugirard , ParisI IT t \7T ^ ,^: \ & 5? 941. V Barriti& toia Historic re memoirs f^ At | D277 94137 "B277 :