'T^ILE'^JMIIYEI^Sinnf' THE ENGLISH IN IRELAND. VOLUME n. THE ENGLISH IN IRELAND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, M. A. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOLUME IL NEW YORK: SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG, AND CO. 1874. CONTENTS. BOOK V. CHAPTER I. THE REVIVAL OF THE CELTS. SECTION ^ PAGB I. Effects of English institutions iu Ireland ... 2 Irish finance ........ 4 The Oligarchy and its motives 6 The Septennial Bill 8 n. Growth of the Catholic population . . . .11 Revival of national spirit 12 Dr. Curry's history . . . . . . .13 Apparent Catholic loyalty '« . . . . . 15 Irish Catholic regiments raised for service in Portugal 18 HI. The landlords and the peasantry 20 Absenteeism 22 Whiteboys 24 ~ Father Sheehy 29 Connection of the Whiteboys with the Pretender 32 IV. Condition of the people ...... 35 The Pension List . . . . . . ,36 Scheme of George the Third for the better govern ment of Ireland ....... 40 Viceroyalty of Lord Townshend .... 45 V. Parties and persons 47 Henry Flood 50 Gftkttan and Fitzgibbon SI CHAPTER IL LORD TOWNSHEND's ADMINISTRATION. views on Reform ...... Parhamentary intrigues 59 I. Irish views on Reform 57 VL Contents. Principles of Irish politicians .... Dissolution of Parliament .... n. Material improvement of Ireland .... Townshend's difficulties Revenue frauds .....-¦ Rejection of Supply Bill Thoughts of governing Ireland without Parliament Dismissals from the Council .... Prorogation ....... III. Alternatives before Lord Townshend Purgation of tlie Board of Revenue and defeat of Oligarchy ....... Justice to Ireland Indiscipline of the army IV. Price of Townshend's victory Resignation of the Speaker . Justice to Ireland again . V. Corruption and its eifects Fresh difficulties Government reUeved by Lord Shannon VI. Irish grand juries The Oak Boys The Donegal evictions and the Hearts of Steel Emigration to America .... Irishmen out of Ireland ..... the CHAPTER m. LORD HARCOURT AND COLONEL BLAQUIERB. n. Irish Presbyterians ... English Colonial policy . American complaints ... Resolution of the English Parliament Lexington ...... Bunker's Hill Lord Harcourt as Viceroy . Introduction to Irish public life Responsibilities of an Irish Secretary Proposed Absentee Tax . Contents. vii SECTION PAGE III. Parliamentary manoeuvres 159 Breach of the woollen compact . . . .162 English injustice aad its effect on Irish character . 164 IV. Mr. Henry Flood 170 Lord Harcourt's difficulties 172 Sympathy between the Irish Protestants and America 1 74 Loyalty of the Irish Catholics 1 75 American tendencies of the Irish Parliament . . 178 Demands for justice ....... 182 English perversity 183 New Parliament 186 BOOK VI. CHAPTER L THE BEGINNINGS OF RETRIBUTION. I. Effects of misgovernment ...... 189 Irish landlords . . . . . . . .191 The Irish Church 194 England to be brought to a reckoning . . . .197 n. The American War 199 Surrender of General Burgoyne . . . . .203 War with France and Spain ..... 204 m. American privateers in St. George's Channel . . 206 Mr. Grattan in the Irish Parliament . . . 208 Catholic relief 209 The Volunteer movement . . . . .210 Paul Jones 211 Relaxation of the Trade Laws 213 Modification of the Penal Laws . . . . .215 Privateers 218 Debates on Ireland in the English Parliament . . 220 Woollen restrictions maintained .... 221 Opinions of leading Irishmen on the causes of Irish distress 223 Vlll Contents. Lord Lifford's opinion Mr. Pery Mr. Hussey Burgh . Mr. Hely Hutchinson . IV. Ireland undefended . Formation of Volunteer Companies Paul Jones again ... The Irish Parliament demands Free Volunteer demonstration . Riot in Dublin . . . • Speech of Hussey Burgh . V. Acknowledged wrongs of Ireland Relief of the Presbyterians VI. The embargo .... The Black Prince and Princess Grattan's resolutions . The Mutiny Act . . . The Patriot Army Demand for protection The hougliers .... Non-importation agreement The Viceroy's difficulties Trade . CHAPTER n. THE CONSTITUTION OF 1782. I. League against England ..... The Protestant Colony of Ireland Grattan and CathoUc Emancipation H. Progress of the war in America . Lord Cornwallis in the Southern States . Surrender at Yorktown .... III. Progress of revolutionary sentiment in Ireland Difficulties in managing the Irish Parliament The Volunteers Session of 1781 Mr. Flood Siege of Gibraltar Attack on Poynings' Act Contents. LX SEOTION The 6th of George I Concessions to the Catholics .... IV. Effects of the Penal Laws The Dungannon Resolutions .... Catholic education Proposed policy of Hely Hutchinson Mr. Grattan Change of Ministry in England V. The Rockingham Administration Duke of Portland Viceroy of Ireland Errors of the English Liberal party in Irish policy Demands of the patriots VI. Declaration of Rights ...... Ultimatum of Mr. Grattan .... Public principle of Flood Correspondence of Portland with Lord Shelburne Alternative of the abandonment of Ireland . England concedes Grattan's demands Constitution of '82 ...... Honors paid to Grattan ..... Dissatisfaction of Flood General reform Character of Flood rAQE 301303305 307 311 312 316 318319 320 323 324 327 330 332334 336 340 341 342 346 249 351 BOOK VII. CHAPTER I. THE CONVENTION. I. Anomalies in the New Constitution The Volunteers Scene at Dunleckny n. Fresh alarms of danger to Irish liberty Effects of the revolution . The Irish Parliament . . . . 854 355358 360 362 364 Contents. Two kinds of liberty . The Volunteer delegates . HI. Opinion of Fox Grattan supports the Government Grattan and Flood IV. The Convention George Robert Fitzgerald The Bishop of Derry The Convention Reform Bill Speech of Fitzgibbon The Convention dissolves V. Changes in the Administration Houghing of soldiers Defeat of Reform Bill in Parliament An appeal before the Irish House of Lords Necessary increase of English influence Political morality of the Irish Peers VI. Difficulty of Government in Ireland . Violence of the Dublin mob . Tarring and Feathering Committee . Irish patriots and Government detectives ; O'Leary ...... VH. Fitzgibbon and the Sheriff of Dublin . Pitt's views on Reform .... vm. Project for the improvement of Irish trade . The Commercial propositions ill received . IX. Speech of Fitzgibbon on the Volunteers Debate in Parliament .... Fresh schemes of Reform .... X. The Commercial propositions reintroduced Political tempest ...... Fitzgibbon on Ireland and Great Britain . PAGE 366 . 868372 . 375376 . 380 381 . 382386 . 389 392 . 395397 . 399 401 . 403 404 . 407409 . 411 Father . 413 418 . 420 422 . 424 429 . 433436 . 438 441 . 443 CHAPTER II. WHITEBOYS, HIGH AND LOW. I. Social state of Ireland The Bishops of the Establishment Failure of the Charter Schools 447 44945] Contents. xi SEOnON PAGE Tithe proctors 453 Whiteboys 455 n. The Pension List 462 A Police Bill 464 Opposed by the Patriots 466 The Tithe question 470 Repression of Whiteboys. Sir Richard Musgrave . 473 III. Conspiracy Bill 476 Debate on the state of Munster . . . .479 . 484 . 486 . 489 . 491 . 492 . 494 . 495 . 496 Measures for the preservation of peace IV. General corruption of public life Peep-of-day Boys V. Grattan and the Prince of Wales Illness of George the Third .... Irish and English views on the Regency . Expected change in the Irish Government . Irish views of Independence Speech of Fitzgibbon on the Regency question . . 498 Address of the Irish Houses to the Prince of Wales . 503 Second speech of Fitzgibbon 505 VI. The Round Robin 510 The King recovers . . . . . . .511 Quarrels in the Irish Parliament .... 512 Victory of the Government 515 The Duke of Leinster and the Ponsonbies deprived of office 517 Pohtical scandal and the formation of. the Whig Club . 519 THE ENGLISH IN IRELAND m THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. BOOK Y. CHAPTER I. THE BBVIVAL OI' THE CELTS. SECTION L A FREE government depends for its successful working on the loyal cooperation of the people. Where the people do not cooperate, the forms of liberty are either a mockery, or an instrument of dis union and anarchy. Had the Irish been regarded from the outset as a conquered people whom a stronger neighbor had forced, for its own convenience, into reluctant submission, Ireland would have escaped the worst of her calamities. Her clans would have been held in awe by an army; public order would have been preserved by a police : but her lands would have been left to their native owners ; her customs and her laws might have been untouched, and her religion need not have been interfered with. The nature of the English constitution forbade an experi ment which might have been dangerous to our own 2 The English in Ireland. [Bk. V. liberties. Ireland was in fact a foreign country ; we preferred to assume that she was an integral part of the empire. We imposed upon her our own modes of self-government; we gave her a parliament, we gave her our trial by jury and our common law ; we assiidilated the Irish dhureh to our own ; arid ^bhese magnificent institutions refused to root themselves in an uncongenial soil. The Parliament was forbidden to legislate till its decisions had been shaped for it be forehand. The rule of feudal tenure inflicted forfeit ure on rebellion; the na^tive owners were therefore dispossessed for asserting the liberties of their coun try; and their estates were bestowed upon ahens. The Irish preferred their own laWs to ours. They be came in consequence " Irish enemies " and outlaws, and might be wronged and killed with impunity. When we forced them at last to submit to our laws, trial by jury made the execution of them impossible ; -and with equal impunity the colonists could then be murdered, their cattle houghed, and their daughters ravished by the natives. The Church being an estate of the realm and a governing section of the constitu tion, the Church in the two countries had to be shaped on the same ipattern. At the conquest we forced the Irish Church into submission to the Papacy. At the Reformation we forced it to apostatize. As the Ref ormation pursued its course, the theory of our Church Establishment split the garrison of Protestants, whom we had planted in the island, into hostile camps. A free representative legislature which yet was not free and was not representative — a gentry who could not rule — a Church which could not teach — laws which could not be enforced — these were the consequences which resulted from the preference of unreality to Ch. I.] The Revival of the Celts. 3 fact. They might all have been avoided had the truth been acknow'ledged and acted on ; but England was unable to xecognize that constitutional liberty in our country might be constitutional slavery in an other. If the object was to absorb and extinguish the spirit of Irish nationality, it singularly failed of at tainment. Had the union been conceded for which the presentiments of the Irish Parliament led them to petition in 1704 ; had trade and manufactures been allowed to develop, and the stream of British Prot estant emigration been directed continuously into all parts of the island, the native population might have been overborne or driven out, and the mother coun try might have retained the affections of a people with whom she would then have been identified in in terest and sentiment. By a contemptible jealousy she flung them back upon themselves, a minority amidst a hostile population, and condemned them to idleness and impoverishment ; she left them to add their own grievances to the accumulated wrongs of the entire country ; while she left them at the same time their own Parliament, in which the national dis content could find a voice ; and taught them to look for allies among her own enemies. The Protestant revolt will form the subject of the present volume. It was an act of madness — mad ness in the colony which revolted — madness in the mother country which provoked the quarrel. The colonists were an army of occupation amidst a spoli ated nation who were sullenly brooding over their wrongs. By England's help alone they could hope to retain their ascendency. It was England's highest .^1^ interest to keep the garrison strong, if she was to es- 4 The English in Ireland. [Bk- V, cape a recurrence of the dangers which had abeady cost her so dear. The colonists in their own vanity and exasperation forgot or despised the peril from a race whom they regarded as slaves. England, half conscious of an injustice which she was too proud or too negligent to redress, attempted to hold the colony in check by patronizing and elevating the Catholic Celts. Before the story can proceed, the events men tioned at the close of the last chapter require to be described more particularly. Poisonous as were the laws in restraint of trade, unequal as was the executive government to the re pression of the most vulgar crimes, the administra tion of Ireland possessed a single merit. If it did nothing, it cost little. The taxation was light, and the finances, notwithstanding the infamy of the Pen sion List, were economically managed. At the mid dle of the century the annual revenue averaged eight hundred thousand pounds. Of the entbe sum, the fixed excise and customs duties, the quit rents, and the hearth money which had been settled upon the Crown, and were beyond control of Parliament, pro duced three quarters, which were supplemented by a biennial grant. A debt of a million incurred in the Spanish succession war was materially reduced on the reestajalishment of peace. In 1749 the income ex ceeded the expenditure, and it was agreed on all hands that the surplus should be appropriated to the dis charge of the little that remained. On the principle there was no difference. But whether the Irish House of Commons was to have the honor of suggesting the appropriation in compliance with their asserted privi lege of originating their own money bills, or whether it was to be recommended from England, according Cn. I.] The Revival of the Celts. 5 to the English construction of Poynings' Act, which forbade the introduction of bills into the Irish Parlia ment that had not been first submitted to the Eng lish Council, became a burning question. The self- respect of Ireland was held to depend on the right solution of it, and the two countries flung themselves into the struggle with a passion of political despera tion during three biennial sessions. In 1749, in 1751, and in 1763 the Viceroys informed the Commons in the speech from the throne that his majesty would rec ommend the application of the surplus to the payment of debt. The Commons took no notice of the recom mendation, drew the heads of their bills on their own initiation, and forwarded them to England. In Eng land the heads were altered by the Council, and the King's previous consent was reintroduced. Twice the Irish Parliament submitted with murmurs. In 1753, imder the viceroyalty of the Duke of Dorset, they threw out the altered bill by a majority of five. The additional duties were refused and the business of the country was brought to a stand-still. A majority in the House of Commons was at this time returned by four great families. The Fitz- geralds of Kildare, the Boyles, the Ponsonbys, and the Beresfords, by their county influence and their private boroughs, were the political sovereigns of Ireland. The government was carried on by their assistance, and they received in return the patronage of the State. The Viceroy understood the meaning of the vote. The great houses were affecting patri otism for objects of their own, and he found it necessary to capitulate. The terras were privately arranged ; Boyle, the Speaker of the House of Com mons, was made Earl of Shannon, with a pension of 6 The English in Ireland. [Bk. V. 2,000?. a year. John Ponsonby succeeded Boyle as Speaker. The patriot orators were silenced by pro motions. Anthony Malone became Chancellor of the Exchequer ; Stannard, Recorder of Dubhn, another eloquent exponent of the wrongs of Ireland, was made Prime Sergeant. The opposition to England's initiation of money bills was suspended till the great families were again hungry, and fresh expectants of promotion were in a position to be troublesome. The Parliament determined with the Sovereign. On the death of George the Second the House, which had been elected at his accession, came to its mature end, and in October, 1761, the first session was to open of the new representation. Anticipating a demand for a fine on the renewal of the lease, and resolved to resist at the outset the patriotic affectations which were used as a pretext for agitation, the English Council inserted in the first bill, which was sent over to be laid before the new Parliament, a clause for the application of a sum of money. The Earl of Halifax, who was now viceroy, was deafened with the clamors of the Irish servants of the Crown, and doubted the wisdom of his chiefs. The supporters of Government threatened apostacy. The ministers, Halifax thought, might be right in the abstract, but they were pressing an invidious claim in the face of a notorious prejudice. The supplies might be again challenged, and at the opening of a new reign it might be unwise to commence with a quarrel.i The Secretary of State ^ gave the Viceroy to understand that the insertion of the clause had been made deliberately, and was to be insisted on. 1 " Halifax to the Earl of Egremont, October 11, 1761." — S. P. 0. ' Wyndham, Earl of Egremont, who took office with Newcastle in 1761. Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 7 The right of Great Britain was indubitable. The assertion of it was considered indispensably necessary to, the King's honor and the vindication of the prerog ative. The bill must be laid before Parliament; in the form in which it had been sent over. If it failed, Halifax would not be held responsible.^ The storm which Halifax anticipated would have certainly risen but for peculiar conditions under which the new members had been returned. The corruption with which the Government had secured a, majority on the appropriation of the surplus had sug gested to the constituencies that they might them selves obtain a share in the plunder. Seats in Parliament had been hitherto virtually for life. More frequent elections would compel the representa tives to divide their spoils with their supporters. At the elections, to their general surprise, the candidates had been called on for a promise to support a Sep tennial Act ; pledges to that effect having been es pecially exacted from the servants of th,e Crown as the price of their return .^ Embarrassed with the prospect of a change which they secretly disliked, while they were theniselves afraid to oppose it, to the surprise of Halifax they dechned the challenge on the money bill. They passed the suppUes by a large majority. They ven tured a resolution that the Pension List had been in creased without sufficient reason,^ and seemed to threaten an attack upon it. The Viceroy lectured the Lords Justices. Egremont wrote that the King was amazed and offended at so extraordinary a dem.- 1 "Egremont to Halifax, October 20. " — S. P. 0. 2 "Halifax to Egremont, October 1761, and December 4, 1761." 8 The Civil Pension, List had grown from 54,497Z. in 1759, to 64,127^. in 1761. — Commons' Journals, Ireland, 1761. 8 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. onstration, and insisted that there should be no repeti tion of it.^ The excitement was unnecessary ; the real attention of the Commons was absorbed in the Septennial Bill. Dr. Lucas, the patriot member for Dublin, introduced the heads at the opening of the session. In December, when the Pension storm had abated, the subject came forward for discussion. Halifax had received no instructions. He expressed no opinion and offered no opposition. If the ministry considered the measure objectionable, he said he could stop it in Council, but he was evidently uncer tain in what light it would be regarded. Could the Commons have been assured that the bill would be rejected in England they would have passed it with acclamations. The neutral attitude of the Viceroy alarmed them. They were afraid to turn it out. They were afraid that if sent over it might be returned unopposed. They escaped from the difficulty by attaching to it a property qualifica tion as a condition of eligibihty so heavy, that so en cumbered the most ardent patriot could only desire that the bill might fail.^ It was presented to the Viceroy, but without the forms which were observed usually with popular measures. When the House desired to signify a special desire that a bill should be returned to them, the heads were carried to the Castle by the Speaker, attended by the entire body of members. A motion that the heads of the Sep tennial Act should be so presented was defeated by a majority of two to one, and no sooner had a private member placed the heads in Halifax's hands, than its 1 " Halifax and Egremont Correspondence, November 1761." S. P. 0. 2 For a county seat the qualification was to be an estate of 600t a year, for a borough seat 300?. Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 9 authors manoeuvred in secret to stop it in the Irish Council. Halifax reported that the change was " uniformily disliked by the most unprejudiced people of rank, influence, and fortune." " They were alarmed by secret, and, as they thought, au thentic information, that if transmitted it would cer tainly be returned to them ; " ^ and Shannon, Pon sonby, and the other prominent members of the Council of State, requested an assurance that their alarms were unfounded before they would consent to let it go. The ministry, playing with their fears, replied that the King could make no engagements beforehand, The Dublin merchants held a meeting to protest against " the clandestine arts " by which an important reform was obstructed. The heads were at last trans mitted, passing the Council only, however, by a ma jority of one. " The popularity of the Bill has dimin ished," wrote Halifax, " as the probability of its being carried into law has increased. Nobody wishes for it. It is unacceptable to those who seemed most sanguine in its favor. Unanimous as they were at first, they will now throw it out rather than pass it." With a curious consciousness that if the Irish Parliament be came a reality it would cease to exist, the patriot members began to fear that the agitation bad been set on foot by English treachery, " as a preliminary step towards a Union." ^ They might have spared their terrors. Either by design or accident, the draftsman had added a condi tion which made the bill into an absurdity, and re- 1 "Halifax to Egremont, December 11 and December 23, 1761." — S. P. 0. 2 "Halifax to Egremont, February 18, 1762." 10 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. heved the governnjent of the necessity of bestowing the most transient consideration on the subject. The heads of the Septennial Act were submitted as usual to the English law officers, of the Crown. They re turned it to the Lords of the Council with the follow ing report : — " We have examined the Act for limiting the dura tion of Parliament transmitted, from Ireland. So much thereof as limits the duration to a term of seven years, imports a most essential alteration in the constitution of Ireland. The fitness or unfitness of this provision is a matter of State of so high a nature that we submit the same entirely to the wisdom of yonr lordships. " For the qualification of members we doubt how f9,r such provisions are expedient for Ireland — whether the qualfficatioHj be not too high, and the ex ceptions too few. '* An amendment, however, is absolutely necessary. No member is to sit, according to the Act, till his qualification is proved, while a full House is sitting, with the Speaker in the chair. The law, therefore, can never be executed, nor any business at all, be cause no Speaker can be chosen before the members have a right to vote ; and no member can exercise his, right of voting till such Speaker is chosen." ^ I " Beport of the Attorney- and Solicitor-General of England to the Eight Honorable the Lords of a Committee of the Privy Council Appointed to Consider the Irish Bills. March 5, 1762." — S. P. 0. Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 11 SECTION n. The penal laws had failed to coerce the Catholics into conformity. The Charter schools had failed to, convert them. The penal laws had failed because the English Government had interposed to protect the Catholic clergy. The Charter schools had failed, having been choked in Irish society, as wholesome vegetables are choked in a garden when the weeds are allowed scope to spring.^ Celtic Ireland was re viving from the stupor into which she had been thrown by the Revolution. Exclusion from the land had driven the more energetic of the Catholics into trade. Protestants who had to seek their fortunes had gone to countries where they were more fairly dealt with, and had left the field open. A commer cial Catholic population, ambitious and wealthy, was springing up in Dublin, Limerick, and Cork ; and a time was visibly approaching when their relations to the soil would have to be reconsidered. Liberal I Within a few years of their establishment the Charter schools had ceased to grow. Private benefactions fell off ; and though Parliament made no difficulty in voting money, the annual grants were swallowed up by peculation. The industrial training, so excellent in conception, degen erated by negligence into a system in which the children became the slaves of the masters, and grew up in rags and starvation. As the numbers fell off, infant nurseries were established, the society observing that parents were more willing to part with their children when very young. These nurseries, from a report of one of the managers to the House of Commons, appear at last to have been merely foundling asylums, twenty infants, having been found at one of them " exposed among the carpenters' shav ings." — Commons^ Journals, November 10, 1761. 12 The English in Ireland. [Bk. t. English politicians were already looking to the Cath olics as a convenient counterpoise to the Protestant colonists, whom ill-usage was exasperating into dis affection. A section of the Catholics, in return — the educated men of business, the more temperate of the bishops, the noblemen of Norman-English blood, the Fingals, the Kenmares, the Trimlestons, who had preserved their estates and were allowed their titles by courtesy — were willing enough to meet advances to them with cordiality and gratitude. By the side of these, within the same communion, were the irreconcilable spirits who inherited the past traditions — the representatives of the dispossessed chiefs — who nursed in secret their vmappeased re sentment, and revenged their wrongs when oppor tunity offered, as ravishers of women, cattle-houghers, incendiaries, and agrarian assassins. To them Eng land was the cause of all the woes which they suffered, and was and should be to the end a loathed and execrated enemy. They were themselves the de scendants of the men who had fought at Aghrim, and been cheated at Limerick. In the French brigade they had still an army on the Continent, which they recruited annually from theb own ranks, and to which they looked as their future avenger. The first section accepted their situation, and made the best of it. The second brooded over their wrongs, and fed themselves with dreams of vengeance. Both, perhaps, were at bottom of the same nature, and were working towards the same end ; but their out ward attitude was markedly different. The English Government, accepting the distinction as real, made it the basis of its Irish policy, and the rule of the Castle statesmanship was to conciliate the more repu- Ch. L] Revival of the Celts. 13 table Catholics, and to assume that the Cathohc creed as such, no longer forbade or interfered with al legiance to a Protestant sovereign. The first open sign of the approaching change was in the viceroyalty of the Duke of Bedford, who, while in office in 1757, spoke in terms so unambiguous of a relaxation of the penal laws, that public thanks were bestowed on him from the altars of the Catholic chapels. It might have been well to relax the penal laws had the causes for which they were imposed been clearly asserted and admitted. Unhappily the desire of conciliation was pressed so far as to disfigure and conceal the facts of history. An annual sermon, preached before the House of Commons on the 23d of October, was de signed to keep alive the memory of the rebellion and massacres of 1641. Dr. Curry, a Catholic physician of eminence, ventured boldly on the same ground. In a memoir of the period he revived the plea which was alleged to Charles the Second in bar of the Act of Settlement, that the rebellion was no rebellion, but the innocent and cruelly misrepresented effort of a loyal people to defend the Crown against Puritan usurpation ; that half of the alleged cruelties were the invention of fanatical bigots ; that the rest were enormously exaggerated ; and that so far as blood had been shed at all, it was only in self-defence against a deliberate design to exterminate the Catholic popula tion. Dr. Curry's story wiU not bear examination, but it was well contrived to fall in with the growing senti ment that the past had better be forgotten ; and thus a legend was allowed to reestablish itself unreproved, which teaches the Irish Catholics to regard them selves as victims of an atrocious conspiracy — a con- 14 The English in Ireland. [Bk. t. spiracy to rob them of their lands, and to justify it by blackening their reputation. Bedford proposed to repeal the bill against the clergy, and to allow an adequate supply of priests, ordained abroad, to be systematically introduced and registered. The Catholics declined an offer which, in legalizing the presence of their clergy, would have deprived them of their bishops ; ^ but they were too shrewd to refuse to recognize the good intentions of the Government, and they made haste to display in other ways their willingness to meet them. The splendid triumphs of Chatham's foreign policy — the conquest of India, the expulsion of the French from the Canadas, and the victories of the English every where, as unexpected as they were brilliant, pro voked Louis XV. to aim a blow in return at Eng land's vulnerable side. The officers of the Irish brigade held out the usual hope that an invasion of Munster would be followed by a rising of the people. The intention becoming known, the Dublin Catho lics came forward with a demonstration of loyalty. Under Dr. Curry's guidance a declaration of alle giance, signed by three hundred Cathohc merchants, was presented to the Viceroy, received graciously, and published in the " Gazette." The supineness of I It seems, from a letter of Dr. O'Connor to Dr. Curry, that the offer was not refused without hesitation. " They offer us a Registry Bill," he writes, " which is calculated to extripate our very remains. Nothing can be better known than that our spiritual economy cannot be exercised without the spiritual jurisdiction of our bishops. Yet the jurisdiction of Catholic bishops is totally overturned by this blessed boon which is to destroy Popery by Popery itself I see now there is no remedy but emigration. I can never think of this legal annihilation of episcopal authority without alternate emotions of anger and dejection. I am told that after this Bill passes, the penal clauses shall be as little enforced aa those already existing. Tain presumption 1 This penal law is calculated to execute itself; and ourselves shall be the executioners." — Plowden, Appendix, No. 61. Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts, 15 the Protestants played into theb hands. The French fleet sailed. It was destroyed by Hawke at Belleisle,^ and the opportunity of proving the sincerity of their professions was not afforded them; but their out ward conduct Contrasted n6t a little to their advan tage with the languor of the Lords and Commons and the Irish Executive. The Catholics, though disarmed, were at least out wardly zealous. The colonists were snarling over the initiation of money bills, or dishonestly manoeuvring with Septennial Acts. Dr. Curry pursued his advan tage. He established a permanent committee in Dublin to watch over Catholic interests in communi cation with the Government. For some unexplained reason, Spanish influence was thought more powerful for evil in Ireland than the French, and when, in 1761, Spain was added to the number df England's enemies, the committee thought the time was come to sue for distinct recognition. " The conduct," wrote Lord Hahfax, in explaining the overture which was made to him,^ "which the Roman Catholics of this country are likely to observe in the course of the war with France and Spain is of great consequence. The French interest would, I believe, never have found any essential support ; but a different effect might be apprehended from the Spanish connection. I have, therefore, watched the Catholics carefully, and I have now the pleasure of transmitting professions which I trust wiU give as much satisfaction to you as to me. Lord Trimleston ^ is the most sensible man belonging to the Catholics 1 November 20, 1759. 2 "Halifax and Egremont Correspondence, 1762." — S. P. 0. 3 Robert Bamewalle, descended from Sir Robert Barnewalle, created L6rd Trimleston by Edward IV. 16 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. in this country. His weight with them is great, and he is most to be depended on. He assures me that all impressions in favor of the Stuart family are worn out with gentlemen of consequence and fortune in this country. The present war, he says, has oc casioned such a strain on England, as has suggested to his majesty's Roman Catholic subjects here, that means may possibly now be struck out, whereby they may give proof of their loyalty. They have nothing so much at heart. " I reminded him that no Roman Catholic officer, without which he seemed to think that no consider able body of men could be raised, could by law be admitted into his majesty's service. He answered that their best endeavors should be exerted for the King's service in any way he should be pleased to direct. On so general an opening many ideas crowded on me ; we are engaged in two wars when we were almost exhausted by one ; what men will be wanted your lordship best knows. I asked whether, if his majesty's allies, Prussia, Hesse, Portugal, or any other friendly powers wanted troops, they could be raised. He said that what the Roman Catholics of Ireland most wished, as they could not by law serve under his majesty as king, was that they might be taken into his service as Elector of Hanover. He added, the Irish brigade in France are so disgusted with that service, that if a door was opened to them by his majesty they would crowd to it. An offer of this sort, and at such a time, would be suspicious if those who made it were not ready to give every pledge of their sincerity. Such as it is I lay it before your lordship." Inclosed in this letter was an address signed " by the principal Catholic noblemen and gentlemen, pro- Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 17 fessing to contain the sentiments of all Papists of consequence," and a circular "sent by the Catholic bishops to the priests of every parish in the kingdom." The address expressed gratitude for past " clemency." It declared the eagerness of the Catholics of Ireland to exert themselves in their country's cause wherever they should be thought worthy to be employed ; and it dwelt on the regret felt by them that hitherto they had been unable to give more than passive proofs of the goodness of their disposition. The cin^ular was to remind the congregations of the duty of obedience to the Government, and of the lenity and indulgence with which they had been lately treated. It bade them recollect that the penal laws had been enacted in reigns anterior to the accession of the House of Hanover. The petition was well timed. It was modest in conception. It found England in a state of just and growing irritation with the Protestant Parliament and gentry. " His majesty," Egremont rephed, " receives with confidence and pleasure the assurances which Lord Trimleston has given, and you may signify as much to his lordship. Difficulties have been started as to the legality of the King's raising a body of Roman Catholics though for the service of the Elector of Hanover, but his majesty is desirous to give them an opportunity of exerting their loyalty. His majesty is about to send help to Portugal. It might be possible to induce a certain number of Catholics of Ireland to engage for a limited period in the Portuguese service. His majesty would count it as ah effectual assistance and an agreeable mark of zeal." ^ 1 " Egremont to Halifax, February 23, 1762." — S. P. 0. VOL. II. 2 18 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. The negotiation once opened ripened rapidly, Trimleston went to England to speak with the minis ters. Lord Kenmare undertook the raising of the troops. Seven regiments were to be collected, drilled, and armed in Ireland. They were to retain their privileges as British subjects. They were to be un der the protection and virtually under the command of their own sovereign. The time of service was ten years, at the end of which they were to return to theb country.! The people were enthusiastic ; recruits poured in. In a few weeks an Irish Catholic army would have been once more on foot. Unhappily the consent was needed of the Irish House of Commons, and a feelingj which Halifax regarded as ill-bred bigotry, blighted the promising experiment. Objections were raised that so many hands could not be spared from labor, objections of a hundred kinds, and from every party combined. The unexpressed but real ground of op position was an obstinate and fanatical dishke to see " favor or confidence shown to the Catholics." ^ Whether Irish Protestant bigotry or English hb- eralism had formed the more correct view of the situ ation wiU. be immediately seen. I Proposals for the Catholic regiments, March 14. — S. P. 0. 2 "Halifax to Egremont, April 17, 1762." — S. P. 0. Ch. 1.1 Revival of the Celts. 19 SECTION m. Lord Trimleston and the Dublin Committee in sisted that the Catholics of Ireland had been loyal to the British Government. Had the fact been as they represented it, Catholic loyalty would have furnished an unanswerable proof of the wisdom of the penal laws. The inveterate turbulence of the Irish race would have at last yielded, and the rude assertion of authority and the demonstrated hopelessness of re sistance would have broken a spirit which for six centuries had baffled any previous effort either to conciliate or subdue it. That the Catholic gentry who had retained part of their estates, and the leading Catholic clergy who understood the relative strength of the two countries, were unwilling to renew a strug gle which, if unsuccessful, would entail fresh forfeit ures and the execution of laws at present suspended, is doubtless perfectly true. That the other section of the Catholics, the heirs of the land which had been torn from their ancestors, and the dependants of the ruined famiUes whose interests were the interests of their chiefs ; that the poorer priests who identified their faith with their country, who looked to the un broken spirit of the old race to reconquer for them the supremacy of their Church, that these were either disheartened or reconciled, that under any circum stances, short of full restoration and expiation, these men would cease to regard England and the English 20 The English in Ireland. [Bk. V. connection with any feelings short of inveterate hatred, could be behoved only by persons who were wilfully blind to the unchangeableness of the Irish disposition. Had the new owners of the soil resided on their estates, had they' taught their unwilling ten ants that the rule of England meant the rule of jus tice, had colonies of Scots and Englishmen been scat tered over the land, had the Irish been able to learn by the contrast the material advantages of industry and energy, had they found in their conquerors benefi cent masters who would have put down wrong do ing and oppression of man by man, who would have erected schools for their children, who would have treated them as human beings and helped them to live in decency, they were nob framed so differently from the common posterity of Adam but that in time their prejudices would have given way. But to four fifths of the Irish peasantry the change of masters meant only a grinding tyranny, and tyranny the more unbearable because inflicted by aliens in blood and creed. Under their own chiefs they had been misera ble, but they were suffering at least at the hands of their natural sovereigns ; and the clansman who bore his lord's name, and if harshly used by his own master, was protected by him against others, could not feel himself utterly without a friend. But the oppression of the peasantry in the last century was not even the oppression of a living man — it was the oppression of a system. The peasant of Tipperary was in the grasp of a dead hand. The will of a master whom he never saw was enforced against him by a law irresistible as destiny. The absentee landlords of Ireland had neither community of interest with the people nor sympathy of race. They had no fear of provoking Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 21 their resentment, for they lived beyond their reach. They had no desire for their welfare, for as individ uals they were ignorant of their existence. They re-l garded their Irish estates as the sources of their in come ; their only desire was to extract the most out of them which the soil could be made to yield ; and they cared no more for the souls and bodies of those who were in fact committed to their charge than the owners of a West Indian plantation for the herds of slaves whose backs were blistering in the cane fields. Thus universally through the southern provinces there was settled and sullen discontent. The peas antry continued to regard the land as their own ; and with the general faith that wrong cannot last forever, they waited for the time when they would once more have possession of it. " The lineal de scendants of the old families," wrote Arthur Young, in 1774, " are now to be found all over the kingdom, working as cottiers on the lands which were once their own. In such great revolutions of property the ruined proprietors have usually been extirpated or banished. In Ireland the case was otherwise, and it is a fact that in most parts of the kingdom the de scendants of the old land-owners regularly transmit by testamentary deed the memorial of their right to those estates which once belonged to their families." ^ Acts of savage ferocity which burst out from time to time showed that the volcanic fires were unex tinguished, and might at any moment break out once more ; and all along there was a secret connection between local agrarian passion and pohtical disaffec tion. The Irish brigade served as an escape valve 1 Tour in Ireland, vol. ii- p. 133. 22 The English in Ireland. [Bk. V. for the fiercer enthusiasts. The clergy had been directed from Rome to support the claims of the Pretender, and the Pretender's cause was never popular with the indigenous Irish. They had not forgiven the Act of Settlement or the cowardice which had betrayed them on the Boyne. They were ready, however, if a chance offered itself, and if there was no better outlook, to take arms in his favor; and although Lord Trimleston might have said truly that the Catholic gentry had ceased to take an interest in the Stuart cause, he was de ceiving himself or deceiving the Viceroy when he undertook to speak for the Catholics as a whole. Coincidently with the intended invasion and the appearance on the coast of M. Thurot, began the celebrated Whiteboy disturbances in Tipperary. Many causes had combined at that moment to exas perate the normal irritation of the southern peasantry. With the growth of what was called civilization, ab senteeism, the worst disorder of the country, had increased. In Charles the Second's time the absentees were few or none. But the better Irish gentlemen were educated, and the more they knew of the rest of the world, the less agreeable they found Ireland and Irish manners ; while the more they separated them selves from their estates, the more they increased their rents to support the cost of Hving elsewhere. The rise in prices, the demand for salt beef and salt butter for exportation and for the fleets,^ were revolutionizing the agriculture of Munster. The great limestone pas tures of Limerick and Tipperary, the fertile meadow land universally, was falling into the hands of capi- 1 The war gave an enormous stimulus to the salt beef trade. Not only were the English fleets supplied from Cork, but the French and Spanish as well. Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 23 talist graziers, in whose favor the landlords, or the landlords' agents, were evicting the smaller tenants.^ They had the aims of EngHsh men of business with out the redeeming features of the English character. Their object was to make money, and they cared not at what cost to the people that object was attained ; while they combined with theb unscrupulousness the worst vices of the worst class of the lower Irish gentry, and were slovenly, extravagant, and dissi- pated.2 To the peasantry these men were a curse. Common lands, where their own cows had been fed, were inclosed and taken from them. The change from tillage to grazing destroyed theb employment. Their sole subsistence was from their potato gardens, the rents of which were heavily raised, while, by a curious mockery of justice, the grass lands were exempt from tithe, and the burden of maintaining the rectors and vicars of the Established Church was cast exclusively on the Catholic poor. Among a people who are suffering under a common wrong there is a sympathy of resentment which links them together without visible or discoverable bond. In the spring of 1760 Tipperary was suddenly over run by bands of midnight marauders. Who they were was a mystery. Rumors reached England of insurgent regiments drilUng in the moonlight; of French officers observed passing and repassing the 1 In Limerick, Tipperary, Clare, Meath, and Waterford there are to be found the greatest graziers and cowkeepers, perhaps, in the world ; some who rent and occupy from 3,000Z. to 10,000t a year Arthur Young, vol. ii. p. 102. 2 These graziers are too apt to attend to their claret as much as to their bullocks ; they live expensively; and being enabled from the nature of their business to pass nine tenths of the year without any exertion of industry, contract such a habit of ease that works of improvement would be mortifying to their sloth. — Ibid. 24 The English in Ireland. [Bk. t. Channel ; but no French officer could be detected in Munster. The most rigid search discovered no stands of arms, such as soldiers use or could use. This only was certain, that white figures were seen in vast numbers, Hke moving clouds, ffitting silently at night over field and moor, leaving behind them the tracks of where they had passed in leveUed fences and houghed and moaning cattle ; where the owners were specially hateful, in blazing homesteads, and the in mates' bodies blackening in the ashes. Arrests were generally useless. The country was sworn to secrecy. Through the entire central plains of Ireland the pleo- ple were bound by the most solemn oaths never to reveal the name of a confederate, or give evidence in a court of justice. When subpoenaed, forced to ap pear, and thus to perjure themselves on one side or the other, they preferred to keep the oath to theb friends. Thus it was long uncertain how the move ment originated, who were its leaders, and whether there was one or many. Letters signed by Captain Dwyer or Joanna Meskell were left at the doors of obnoxious persons, ordering lands to be abandoned under penalties. If the commands were uncomplied with, the penalties were inexorably inflicted. In one fortnight four innocent girls, who had the misfortune to be the children of wealthy parents on Captain Dwyer's black list, were carried off, violated, and forced into marriage with the ceremonies which have been described elsewhere. Torture usually being pre ferred to murder, male offenders against the White boys were houghed like their cattle, or their tongues were torn out by the roots. Another favorite amuse ment was to seize some poor wretch in his bed, carry him naked to a hiU-side, fling him into a pit Hned Ch. L] Revival of the Celts. 25 with thorns, and filling in the earth to his chin, leave him to Hve or die.^ 1 Many Whiteboy letters are preserved in Dublin Castle. On March 11, 1760, Captain Dwyer gave notice that a certain John Harden had taken the lands of a worthy gentleman He had promised on the Evan gelists to restore them, and the promise was still unfulfilled. John Harden was informed that unless the deed of surrender was signed by a particular day his house should be burnt, his cattle and his children should be houghed, his own tongue should be cut out, and he should then be shot dead and -be " sent to the shades below." Samuel Geylin, doubly obnoxious as a grazier and a revenue officer, who had been rash enough, like a notorious villain, to make a seizure of tobacco, was cautioned to behave with more lenity and mildness, or he should have a brace of bullets in his body, &c. Other manifestoes were more temperate, and are instructive, as showing the real grievances of which the people had to complain. Here is one of them for the year 1762 : — " We, levellers and avengers for the wrongs done to the poor, have unanimously assembled to raze walls and ditches that have been made to inclose the commons. Gentlemen now of late have learned to grind the face of the poor so that it is impossible for them to live. They can not even keep a pig or a hen at their doors. We warn them not to raise again either walls or ditches in the place of those we destroy, nor even to inquire about the destroyers of them. If they do, their cattle shall be houghed and their sheep laid open in the fields. Gentlemen, we beg you will consider the case of the poor nowadays. Tou that live on the fat of the land consider poor creatures whom you harass without means of proper subsistence. Use them better for the future, and do not imagine it is with a view of creating trouble for the. Government we do this thing, for we are as loyal to our king and country as you are." The most interesting of all the Whiteboy papers is a letter from Joanna Meskell to a gentleman who had called a county meeting to concert measures for restoring order, or, as Joanna expressed it, "for defeating the method I have taken to ward off an impending famine from my poor people which some persons erroneously call a rebellion." "Your Honor is sensible," she says, "that while of the land which their ancestors held at four or five shillings an acre they got a few acres at four pounds, to set potatoes in, they behaved peaceably and quietly. Your Honor is also sensible that the laws of the land have made no pro vision for them, and that the customs of the country seem to have been appointed for their total destruction and desolation ; upstarts supplanting my poor people on expiration of their leases, and stocking their lands with bullocks, a practice not known in any part of the world, Ireland only excepted. I have thought it incumbent on me to provide for the support of my people as inoffensively as I could, bj- ordering tliem to dig up a few fields, offering to occupiers treble rent for the same. As to the killing of cattle on a late occasion, it was intended as a scheme to awe some obsti- 26 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. It was necessary to repress these atrocities. In a country which is unfortunately governed by a ParHa- ment representing only the holders of property, the crimes of the poor receive more attention than the causes of them. The Irish gentry regarded the Whiteboy movement as an insurrection against the rights of property and the Protestant religion. The English Government, caring Httle for landlord or tenant, and less for Protestant ascendency, inquired only whether the leaders were in correspondence with France. Egremont declared, on information of his own, that " the grievances of the poor were a pre tence." " The inveterate enemies of England, driven to despair elsewhere, were taking to Ireland as a last resource." ^ Halifax, under the influence of Trimles ton and the Dublin committee, persuaded himself that the disturbances had been encouraged by the ultra- Protestant faction to revive the terrors of Popery, and prevent the formation of the Irish Catholic regi ments. Tipperary was proclaimed. Troops were sent to the baronies where the disorders had been most violent. Sb WiUiam Ashton, Chief Justice of nate and uncharitable stock-jobbers into compliance with the just and necessary demands of my poor afflicted people. The premises considered, I flatter myself you will please to commiserate the deplorable state of the poor by putting the Tillage Act* in force for them, for my army, which consists of no less than 500,000 effective men in this kingdom ready to take the field at a few hours' notice, cannot live on air. They shall be all entirely devoted to his majesty's service, provided they are used with lenity ; but if at the instance of a few self-interested persons you shall take any violent or rigorous steps against them, no gentleman having been hitherto molested, you maj' blame yourselves for the consequence. "Your Honor's obedient servant, Joanna Meskell." MSS. Dublin Castle. 1 " Egremont to Halifax, April 13, 1762." — S. P. 0. * Act ordering all landholders to keep five acres in tillage out of every huudied which they occupied." Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 27 the Common Pleas, went with a special commission to Clonmel, to try the prisoners with which the gaols were crowded. The result was the almost universal acquittal, which Halifax anticipated and desired. The prosecution broke down for want of evidence. The House of Commons had appointed a committee to inquire into the causes of " the Popish insurrection of Munster." ^ Halifax insisted that the most careful scrutiny had failed to discover any traces either of political or religious disaffection ; that the riots had been purposely exaggerated, and were completely ^t an end.2 Five Whiteboys were executed at Water ford, whose guilt, after all, was but half proved. A few more were sent on board the fleet. The rest of the prisoners were dismissed ; and so weU pleased were the peasantry with the Chief Justice, that when the commission was over, and he left Clonmel, the road was lined with women and children, imploring blessings on him, upon their knees. Yet Egremont, after all, had been partially right, and the House of Commons partially right; and of the three interpretations given of the Whiteboy ris ing, that of Halifax and Aston was the furthest from the truth. The acquittal might have been right if oppression be an excuse for crime. Yet, as in 1797, behind the defenders lay the schemes of the United Irishmen, so in 1762, behind the agrarian riots lay treason, poHtical and religious ; and the wrongs of the exasperated peasantry were only the instruments i Commons' Journal, April 12, 1762. 2 " I can assure you, if his majesty should accidentally lay aside the plan of the Eoman Catholic corps, he will hear nothing further of the rioters, who will be considered again what they always were, a rabble destitute of employment and wretched in their circumstances." — "Hali fax to Egremont, April 27, 1762." 28 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. of intriguing and more dangerous incendiaries. The most remarkable feature in the story is the success with which, though thousands were acquainted with the secret, an organized scheme of revolt, encouraged by some at least of the highest persons in the Catho lic Church, was concealed from the strictest investiga tion. Halifax, at the close of the session of 1762, congratulated Parliament on the restoration of order ; yet order was not restored. The nightly orgies of the Whiteboys, after Aston's return to Dublin, con tinued precisely as before. Emboldened by impunity, they became at length so terrible, that for three years they were the lawgivers and masters of Tipperary. The police had no existence. The parish constables were no match for the secret societies, and the scanty garrisons of soldiers were not allowed to be too active. The large landowners were absentees. The magis trates were the smaller gentry, the clergy, and the middlemen. They lived at a distance from each other, and with few servants ; and exposed to ven geance in detail, they were too prudent to bring Captain Dwyer's and Joanna's armies on them. Occasional arrests were attempted after some unusu ally audacious outrage ; but the signal vengeance always taken upon informers made legal convictions impossible. Prisoners were rescued from their escorts by armed and disciplined bodies, who attacked them on the roads, and from 1762 to 1765 the central plain of Ireland, from Mallow to Westmeath, was under Captain Dwyer's dictatorship. His rule had its merits. The graziers were brought to their bearings. The landlords, in fear of him, lowered theb rents. Unfortunately he had less innocent aims, on which the Whiteboy fortunes were shipwrecked. Presum- Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 29 ing on impunity, they attacked a village in Water ford, which was armed and prepared to receive them. They were beaten back, with a loss of thirty or forty men. The gentry recovered courage. Lord Currick and Lord Drogheda set themselves at the head of an active combination to restore the regular authority. Bodies were formed of armed volunteers. Where property was destroyed, the baronies were assessed for compensation, and were compelled to pay. High rewards were offered for information, and as law re asserted itself, the terrors by degrees wore away. It had been evident from the first, to those who knew the country, that more was at work than peasant dis content. As the dread of vengeance was removed, the mystery was at length revealed. Suspicion had many times been directed to thej parish priest of Clogheen, in Tipperary, Father Nicholas Sheehy. In patriotic histories this reverend person is described as of " Quixotic turn of mind," with a quick resentment against wrong, and eagerness to redress it. He had made himseK conspicuous in the defence of prisoners. His parish was notorious as a Whiteboy centre. It was assumed that he could not be ignorant of the secrets of his flock. More than once he was arrested and indicted under the Registration Act ; but the prosecution failed, and Father Nicholas was still at large. At length, after the affab in Waterford, when active measures were resumed, an informer named Bridges disappeared under cbcumstances which made it certain that he had been murdered. An escort of troops, carrying a prisoner to Clonmel gaol, was set upon near Sheehy's house, and several soldiers were killed. He was sus pected of being concerned in the rescue. He was 30 The English in Ireland. [Bk. V. charged with high treason, and a reward of 300Z. was offered for his capture. Secure of the fidelity of those whose evidence could alone convict him, Father Nich olas wrote to the Secretary, offering to surrender, if he could be tried, not at Clonmel, but in Dubhn. The condition was accepted. He was brought to the bar. The evidence was insufficient, and he was tri umphantly acquitted. The Lords Justices were cer tain of his guilt, though, as often happens in Ireland, they could not produce their proofs. There was a second charge, which they believed that they could bring home to him. He was charged with his brother Edmund — Buck Sheehy as the brother was called — with being concerned in the informer's mur der. The promise made to him had been observed in the letter, it was, perhaps, broken in the spirit when he was sent back, to be tried for murder, from Dublin to Clonmel. So great was the excitement, that at the time of the trial the court-house was surrounded by a party of cavalry. The body of Bridges had not been found, and witnesses came forward to swear that he had left the country. It was proved, however, that there had been a conspiracy to murder him, and that the Shee- hies knew it. A Mr. Keating, described as a gentle man of property in the county, offered to prove that Father Nicholas was at his house on the night when, if ever, the murder was committed ; but Mr. Hewet- son, a clergyman and an active magistrate, rose in court, and said that he had a charge against Keating for having been present at the killing of the soldiers. Keating's evidence was refused, and he was com mitted to the gaol at Kilkenny. The Sheehies were found guilty, and were both hanged. It was an ex- Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 31 treme measure. The breach of faith in returning him to Tipperary, the miHtary occupation of the town, the non-discovery of the body, and the refusal to hear his witness, led to an impression, even with moderate persons, that he had been unfairly dealt with. Both he and his brother protested their inno cence on the scaffold. The Crown counsel, acting on secret information, asked him if the Whiteboys were connected with France or the Pretender. He de clared that he had never heard of any such connec tion, and disbelieved in its existence. Then and afterwards, therefore, the Irish Catholics insisted that Father Sheehy was a murdered man. With a curious paralogism they regarded him as the victim of his love for Ireland, and, at the same time, as guiltless of having shown it ; and he was raised on the spot to an honored place in the Irish martyrology. His tomb became a place of pilgrimage — a scene at which the Catholic Celt could renew annually his vow of ven geance against the assassins of Ireland's saints. The stone which lay above his body was chipped in pieces by enthusiastic relic hunters. The execution is among the stereotyped enormities which justify an undying hatred against the English rule and connec tion. Yet the Government essentially was right ; and if treason and murder are crimes at aU in Ireland, Father Sheehy was as deep a criminal as ever swung from crossbeam. He died as others had died, keep ing the oath of secrecy which he had sworn as a Whiteboy, and going out of the world with a lie upon his lips, to leave a doubt of the justice of his sentence as a stain upon the law which had condemned him. Either to set at rest the misgivings which Sheehy's 32 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. words had caused, or relieved of their fears by the restored energy of the law. Father O'Brien, the co adjutor of the Archbishop of Cashel, and four other Catholic gentlemen, came forward and revealed, under oath, the inner history of Whiteboyism. Father O'Brien swore to having been told by the Archbishop of Cashel that the rising of the White boys was for the advancement of the Catholic faith and the extirpation of heresy ; that as there was but one God, there would soon be but one religion ; and that with the help of France the Vetus Hibernia should be restored. A fund had been regularly col lected by the Catholic priests in the diocese in support of the movement. The person by whom the money was distributed was Father Nicholas Sheehy. David Landregan swore that he had been made a WTiiteboy in 1762 ; that at his initiation he had sworn to be faithful to the King of France and Prince Charles. Many times he had gone on night expeditions with the Sheehies and their friend Keating. They had meant to murder Lord Carrick, Sir Thomas Maude, and Mr. Hewetson, and had been prevented only by the Sheehies' arrest. Five hundred of them had met one night on the race-course at Clogheen. Lord Drogheda with a detachment of troops was in the town. Father Sheehy had proposed to set it on fire, and destroy them. The priest of Ardfinnan, as they were about to do it, fell on his knees, and gave them his curse if they moved. " For," he said, " we are not yet ripe for such a blow, nor can we, till Prince Charles and his friends from France land for our assistance. If we attempt it before that time, every Protestant in Ireland will be in arms, and give no quarter to man, woman, or child of us." Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 33 Mr. Rawley, of Tipperary, professed to have been sworn a Whiteboy by the Archbishop himself. Again his oath had been to be faithful to France and Prince Charles. The French were coming, Avith the Prince at their head, and then Ireland was to rise. James French had been enlisted by Father Sheehy. He had a commission as major in the Pretender's service, and had received his pay regularly from Father Sheehy's hands. Their principal leaders were four Catholic prelates — the Archbishops of Cashel and Dublin, and the Bishops of Waterford and Cork. At a great meeting at Drumlannon he saw Father Sheehy produce a Bull, which came, as he said, from the Pope, granting pardon and indulgence to any Catholic who might pretend to be a Protestant, " the better to carry on their enterprise, and restore the Catholic religion." Finally, a woman named Mary Butler described the attack on the soldiers. Father Sheehy, she said, though the Dublin jury had acquitted him, was the contriver of the plot and the deviser of its method. The Whiteboys had coUected on the road, under pre tence of a sham funeral. A sham coffin had been made for them to follow. Sheehy saw them in their places, and then left them to theb work, hurrying off to say mass at his own chapel, that he might be able to prove an aHbi. These despositions were sworn to with the usual formalities before the Mayor of Kilkenny and other magistrates.^ They proved nothing against the sin cerity of the Catholic press and the CathoHc mer- 1 See them in the First Appendix to Musgrave's History of the Irish Rebellion. ^..-^ VOL. II. 3 34 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. chants of Dublin ; but they proved indisputably that there was a second CathoHc Ireland, unreconciled and unreconcilable, of the existence of which they were unconscious, and that to trust to these gentlemen as the expohents of the feelings of theb countrymen was fond and infatuated creduHty.^ 1 1 have told Father Sheehy's story at some length, on account of the prominence given to it by Irish historians. The celebrated Father O'Leary — the most plausible, and, perhaps, essentially the falsest of all Irish writers — asserted twenty years later that Bridges, for whose murder Sheehy had been hanged, was still alive. Mr. Daniel Toler brought O'Leary's statement before the House of Commons. " He was himself," he said, "High Sheriff of Tipperary when Sheehy suffered He had impanelled a most respectable jury. Sheehy had been convicted on the fullest and clearest evidence He had visited him afterwards in the goal, when he confessed that Bridges had been murdered, though he de nied that he had himself a hand in it. He had drawn attention to the matter," Mr. Toler said, " to detect such agitators as Mr. O'Leary in their falsehood. A cause that required such advocates and such means of de fence must be desperate indeed." — Irish Debates, vol. vii. p. 342. Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 35 SECTION IV. The war which was closed by the Peace of Paris, in -February, 1763, had cost England more than a hundred millions. Ireland had contributed in pro portion to her resources. She had increased her debt by five hundred thousand pounds. She had added fifty thousand a year while the fighting lasted to the half million which was annually expended on her military establishment. So great, and not greater, was the value of Ireland to the empire after six cen turies of occupation. The Irish brigade which turned the scale at Fontenoy furnished more than an equivalent on the other side, and reduced her weight to zero. England came out of the conflict with sin gular glory. Though Pitt resigned before it was over, his genius, as Horace Walpole said, shone still " like an annihilated star." The work had been too com pletely done foi*Bute and Grenville to spoil it. Ire land lay the while Hke some ill-kept back premises in the rear of the Imperial mansion, fit only to be con cealed, and as far as possible forgotten. She had been in distinct danger of invasion, yet she was left undefended. Forty-two regiments furnished her nominal army contingent. There were not troops enough in the island to keep the peace of Tipperary. The charge for the Ordinance Department was 45,000?. The whole artillery in the kingdom would not furnish out a thirty-gun frigate.^ The Hnen trade 1 Commons'' Journals, December 3, 1763. 36 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. had been crippled by French cruisers. The Dublin woolen weavers, once decent and well disposed, had taken to drink and oratory. They dropped theb work on Saturday afternoon ; they were unfit to re sume it till Tuesday morning, and they had formed unions to raise the wages rate to make good the lost day. " Decency in dwelling and apparel, which for merly obtained among them, was almost eradicated. In place of it were idleness, filth, nastiness, with un bounded licentiousness of manners." ^ The profits of smuggling had declined, through the substitution of horned cattle for sheep. The salt beef and salt but ter trade alone flourished, and in flourishing drove the peasantry into rebellion. The Viceroys so de tested their occupation, that for six months only in alternate years they could be induced to reside at the Castle. In the interval the country was governed by the Lords Justices, usually from the same famihes : a Boyle, a Beresford, a Ponsonby, and perhaps the Pri mate. The Lords Justices' object was to distribute the patronage among their relations, while England's chief concern appeared to be to quarter on the Irish Pension List such scandalous persons as could not de cently be provided for at home. Such was the beautiful condition of unlucky Ire land when Hahfax left it to take his place in Lord Bute's administration. The Earl of Northumberland was sent to Dublin instead of him. The Pension List was likely to be assailed as soon as ParHament met ; and the Cabinet thought it prudent to affect to in tend concession. Northumberland was directed to in form " the principal persons of both Houses that ex cept in cases of a particular nature, of which the King 1 lUd., Februaiy 28, 1764. Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 37 could be the only judge, his majesty did not intend to grant any more pensions either for life or a term of years, and that the King's servants in England did not mean for the future to recommend such grants." The intimation was designed to anticipate the intem perate action of Parliament. But the Viceroy was not to aUow interference. If the Commons brought addresses to him on the subject, he was not to notice them. The prerogative must not be encroached upon, nor any step be taken " which would cast a public re flection on the past." ^ Thus instructed, Northumberland arrived in Dublin in the autumn of 1763. In the speech from the throne he announced the Peace, a reduction of the ex penditure and a probable surplus in the revenue. The address in reply was cold, dictated, so Halifax be lieved, by the malevolence of Speaker Ponsonby. On the second day of the session the anticipated at tack was made. A motion was introduced for an ex amination of the list of persons in receipt of his maj esty's bounty. Northumberland, supposing that he was carrying out his orders, met it by the communi cation which he had been told to convey. He spoke warmly of the King's desire to comply with Ireland's wishes ; and the Council, supposing the Cabinet was in earnest, never dreaming that Bute and his fellow- ministers would condescend to trifle with them, sketched a form of grateful acknowledgment in which the House of Commons was to return its thanks.^ 1 " Halifax to ISTorthumberland, October 22, 1763'." — S. P. 0. 2 The Irish Parliament was to describe itself " as full of gratitude for those gracious intentions relating to grants of offices and pensions signified by your majesty to the Lord Lieutenant. Thus anticipating our desire by a provident and watchful care over the interests of your people, your maj esty will, in a peculiar manner, distinguish your reign," &c. Form inclosed by the Viceroy to Lord Halifax for approval. — S. P. 0. 38 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Prepared as he must be for any extremity of folly in the dealings of EngHsh Cabinets with the interests of Ireland, the reader will learn _ without surprise that Bute and his fellow-ministers had never seriously thought of surrendering the pensions at aU. The Viceroy sent over the draft for approval : he was informed in return that he had misconceived his directions. He had received a message which he was to have delivered in private to a few persons whose influence might have prevented discussion in the House of Commons. In making it public he had committed a fatal indiscretion. Angry with North umberland, angry with the Irish Council, angry with everything but their own scandalous and dishonest purpose, the Cabinet treated the proposed address as an insult to the Crown, " disgi'aceful to the chief governor of the kingdom, disrespectful and undutiful to his majesty." " The King's goodness," Halifax wrote, " required a more grateful return than that he should be compelled to pare and abridge the rights of the Crown by a declaration almost equivalent to an Act of Parliament." * The childish trifling irritated the growing discon tent. The mancEuvering with the Catholics assumed a more sinister complexion when accompanied with so evident a purpose of misappropriating the Irish revenues. The Parliament was unable to perceive in what the " goodness," which they were asked to ad mire, consisted, and the session was spent in a series of violent motions which the utmost efforts of Gov ernment were required to defeat. A resolution was passed in November condemning the increase of the Civil List. A committee was appointed to examine 1 " Halifax to Northumberland, October 27, 1763."— S. P. 0. Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 39 the claims of the various gentlemen and ladies for whom Ireland was made to provide, and the inquiry was too dangerous to be encountered. Northumberland, after so sharp a reprimand, ven tured nothing more on his own responsibility. What was he to do ? The Lords Justices, he said, promised to prevent the committee from sitting, but he could not trust the Lords Justices. The servants of the Crown were lukewarm. Men in office were found " dividing on the discontented side in all trying ques tions." " Am I," he asked, " to temporize with the present evil and make the best composition I can, or shaU I strenuously assert his majesty's prerogative,- dismiss these ungrateful servants, and reward others with their places who have deserved weU ? " ^ The alternative was between disgraceful humilia tion and persistence no less disgraceful in scandalous injustice. The ministry shuffled out of it as best they could. The Viceroy was allowed to conflrm the promise that for the present at least the pension given should be suspended. " His majesty," Halifax said (and never was king's name more abused by his ministers), " was extremely displeased, both with the Lords Justices and his other bad servants. The Cab inet, however, had decided on consideration "that it would be unwise to throw the pubhc business into confusion by depriving them of their offices." The Viceroy was left to his discretion, being warned only to avoid pledging the Government to engagements beyond the present session.^ Such was English Government in Ireland, such the occupation of the Irish Legislature, at a time when 1 " Northumberland to Halifax, November 10, 1763." — S. P. 0. a " Halifax to Northumberland, November 26." —S. P. 0. 40 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. even in the richest portion of the island the law was in suspense — when quiet people could not sleep in their beds without a miHtary guard, and the sole au thority recognized and obeyed was the Whiteboy Committee. At this moment, under the brief admin^ istration of liOrd Rockingham, but whether at Rock ingham's instance is more than questionable, a light breaks across the scene as if from the blue sky itself.. The triumvirate which had so long monopolized the power and patronage was broken in 1764 by death. Primate Stone died and went to the place appointed for him. Lord Shannon died. Ponsonby only was left. But Shannon's heir and successor was married to Ponsonby's. daughter. The faction was Hkely to reestablish itself under a new form, and to recom mence a compact of corruption. The young King appears now to have personally interposed, and tried the experiment whether Ireland might not be man aged by open recitude and real integrity. Northum berland retired after two years. Lord Weymouth was named in his place, but did not come over. Lord Hertford was the next actual Viceroy, and there remains addressed to Hertford and signed by George the Third, a paper of instructions so confidential, so^ full of references to himself, so entbely different from the ordinary official ambiguities, that they can scarcely be referred to any other source than the King's own mind. The new Lord Lieutenant was dbected to inform himself completely of the true condition of the coun try and to acquaint the King. He was to attend particularly to the Church ; as Crown liviugs fell vacant he was charged to appoint only pious and or thodox persons who would bind themselves to reside Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts', 41 on their benefices, to make other patrons do the same, and thus before all other reforms to see that God Almighty was well served. ^ The service of God being reformed, the next step was to put an end to fraud. Every public department in Ireland was sat urated with dishonesty. There were frauds in the revenue, frauds in the muster reports, frauds in the ordinance and the victualling stores; evasion, job bery, and peculation, where there was any public property to be stolen and official hand to steal it. These things were to be searched into, and so far as possible to be set upon a better foundation. — So far as possible. But even as the King wrote, it seemed to flash across him how deep the roots had gone of the true Upas-tree of corruption, penetrating below the bed of the channel and piercing to his own Cabinet, and even to his own person, if the sign manual could be taken as evidence against him. " When letters come from us," he said, " ordering money to be paid for public uses, and other private letters for the payment of money to particular persons, you will prefer the public letter before the private. Pay no attention to any letter from us granting money or lands, unless on petition previously sent through you, and examined and reported on by competent persons. Give no orders upon any letters of ours, either for pensions, moneys, lands, or titles of honor, 1 I cannot positively state that in the entire correspondence of the Home Government with Dublin Castle there is no other indication of a sense of responsibility on the part of English ministers as to the persons appointed to benefices in the reformed Church of Ireland. I can but say that in the many thousand Irish State Papers which I have examined, covering the connection between the two countries from the accession of Elizabeth to the Union, this is the only such paper which I have found. Was it for an English minister' to turn round upon the Establishment and speak of it as the branch of a Upas-tree ? Is the Irish Church to blame if it has failed of its mission ? 42 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. unless such letters have been entered at our signet office. If warrants come to you contrary to these instructions, do not execute them. Should the rev enue faU short of the cost of the establishment, you will take care that the same is not applied to. the payment of pensions till the rest is first paid. If there be not enough, you will abate tbe pensions." The remaining orders in this singular document are no less straightforward and characteristic. If genius means an eagerness for change, a wild rushing after new ideas, an enthusiasm for emancipation from restraint, George the Thbd was the most common place of sovereigns. If genius means a loyal recogni tion of the old and tried principles estabHshed by the experience of ages for the guidance of mankind, George the Third was a safer ruler of a great empbe than the most accomplished parliamentary rhetorician. He bade Hertford look to judges and magistrates, remove those who neglected their duty, and to fill their places with men of better merit. He gave him power over all officials, of all degrees, to appoint or dismiss. If any man was found to have paid money for an office, he was to be immediately discharged. A sharp eye was to be kept on Papists. The Viceroy must issue a proclamation, bidding them bring in theb arms, and deposit them in the arsenals, and he must see the order obeyed. All lawful encouragement was to be given to Protestant strangers resorting to Ire land ; if many wished to settle there, " report to us," the King said, " and they shaU have all the help we can give." The Articles of Limerick and Galway were to be strictly construed. Licenses to the Catholic gentry to have guns or powder must be conceded rarely, Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 43 and with special caution. Outlawries were not to be reversed without permission from the crown. The disorders had extended to the army. " Survey all the forts in the kingdom," the order went on. " Report to us on the defenses and on the stores. See that the troops are quartered so as to create least in convenience to our subjects. See that the soldiers' pay is not withheld by the officers, and that miscon duct, whether in high or low, does not pass unnoticed. If the officers fight duels, cashier them from time to time. Inform such officers as shall send or receive any challenge, or shall affront one another, that they shall never be employed in our service." Finally, as if he was conscious where the real diffi culty lay, though too young as yet to know it to be insurmountable, he concluded this singular paper with a last injunction : — " You will not summon a ParHament without our special command." ^ The King had struck the key-note of all Ireland's sorrows. How easy, had there been no Parliament, the task of governing Ireland ! How easy, with a moderate police, to have distributed equal justice, to have forced the landlords to do their duties ; to have forced the people, unexasperated by petty tyranny, to submit to a law which would have been their friend! How easy to have punished corruption, to have blown away the malaria which enveloped the public departments ; to have established schools ; to have dealt equal measure to loyal subjects of every creed ! The empire which the genius of Clive won for England presented a problem of government 1 " Instructions to the Earl of Hertford from the King, August 9, 1765," abridged. — S. P. 0. 44 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v, harder far than Ireland presented. Yet British faculty found means to solve it. What enchantment had condemned Ireland to be the victim, of a constitu tion of which chicanery, injustice, anarchy, and moral dissolution were the inevitable fruits ? Infinitely happier it would have been for Ireland — happier, better, even cheaper in the long run for England, could her ministers have adopted loyally the scheme of government sketched by the King, have dispensed with Parliament, fallen back on the hereditary rev enue, and made good the deficiency out of the Eng Hsh exchequer. But even this method, too, it is likely that parliamentary exigencies in England would soon have degraded to the old level. Reform, at any rate, was not attainable on the honest road which had been traced by the King; nor was Hertford, an absentee nobleman, and one of the unconscious instruments of the worst disorders of the country, a person to be trusted for such a pur pose. An attempt was to be made to crush the oligarchy of the Shannons and Ponsonbies. The old vicious circle was to be broken through, but by such means as were available under the constitution. Hertford retreated, after a brief ineffectual rule — the last of the Viceroys whose presence at the Castle was limited to the parliamentary session. Thus much was recognized, that thenceforward the representative of the Crown must be a permanent resident ; that the Lords Justices must be dispensed with, except for ac cidental exigencies, and the patronage be absorbed by the Lord Lieutenant. It was a nice operation, re quiring courage, dexterity, discretion, firmness, quali ties social and intellectual not often combined. Lord Bristol was first thought of. He accepted the office, Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 45 and prepared to enter on it ; but the longer he looked at what was expected from him, the less he liked the prospect. Lord Bristol's most important act of au thority was to appoint his brother Frederic to the Bishopric of Cloyne — of all misuses of Irish Church patronage the grossest instance. He died soon after, and the bishop succeeded to the earldom, to play a memorable part in the development of the coming drama. The nobleman finally selected to carry out the intended alterations in the Irish Government was Lord Townshend, distinguished hitherto as a soldier, grandson of Walpole's Townshend, and brother of Charles, who was now English Chancellor of the Ex chequer. 46 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. SECTION V. A FEW more words of prelude are necessary before we enter on the remarkable administration which waa to form an epoch in Irish history. It has been suf ficient so far to notice the general drift of the stream on the surface of which individuals are seen occupied in paltry schemes to improve their own fortunes, not one of them as yet, however, with sufficient power to infiuence materially the policy or the fate of the coun try. The practical force in the Parliament was in the hands of a few families, who nominated the ma jority of the representatives. No questions had as yet been stirred on which the people were passion ately interested ; and minor scandals had been made use of only as a means of embarrassing the Govern ment. On the edge of a great change, we pause for a moment to notice a few persons, some of whom had made themselves felt already as troublesome, and were about to pass to the front of the stage ; some still obscure and unheard of, but meditating in the enthusiasm of passionate youth on Ireland's miseries, and dreaming of coming revolutions. First in rank was the Duke of Leinster, and indi vidually the first in influence. The House of Kil dare was the most powerful in Ireland, and the head of it was the natural leader of the Irish people. But the Kildares, at all periods of their history, preferred to rule alone or not at all. Many times the Viceroys Ch. I.] Revival of the Celts. 47 had attempted to draw them into combination with other parties, but always without success. The Duke of Bedford labored hard with the reigning Earl, but the Earl refused to work with the Ponsonbies. Once only, for a few months, he tried the office of Lord Justice, and had retired, leaving the field to his rivals ; while his ambition had been gratified, and his mortification soothed, by special distinction in the peerage. In 1761 he was made a marquis. In 1766 he was created duke, being then about fifty-six years old, the one duke of which Ireland could boast. He was married to a daughter of the Duke of Richmond, and was the father of seventeen children, one of whom, born in 1763, and thus three years old when Lord Townshend came to Dublin, became known to the world thirty-five years later as Lord Edward Fitz gerald. Lord Shannon's father, the reader will remember as Henry Boyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, who, after heading the opposition to the Government, sold his patriotism for an earldom and a pension. His son Richard, who succeeded to the title in 1764, was a poHtician of his father's school, under forty, with his life still before him, married to Speaker Ponsonby's daughter, and aiming steadily with the Ponsonby alliance at controlling the Castle, and dis pensing the patronage of ministers. He had enor mous wealth, and in private made an honorable use of it. Arthur Young, who visited him at Castle Martyr in 1771, speaks with unusual enthusiasm of his merit as an Irish landlord. Next in consequence to Lord Shannon was the Speaker, the Right "Honorable John Ponsonby, second brother of the Earl of Bessborough. The Duke of 48 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. Devonshire had been twice Viceroy — in 1737 and 1743. Lord Hartington was Viceroy in 1755. The long presence of the Cavendish family at the Castle was favorably to the Ponsonby fortunes. Lord Bess- borough married one of the duke's daughters, and was Lord Justice in 1756. John Ponsonby married an other, became Speaker when Boyle was raised to the peerage, and was made Lord Justice also. The links of the family compact are easily visible. The virtual sovereigns of Ireland threatened to become hereditary. From this John Ponsonby came George, afterwards friend of his country and Lord Chancellor, who was now a boy of eleven. Of the House of Commons' orators who had made names must be mentioned — 1. Mr. Hely Hutchinson, a barrister of large prac tice, who had risen in his profession through a seat in Parliament, and had become known as a patriot orator. Speaking and voting against Government, less on principle than as the surest road to advance ment, on the appropriation of the surplus, the Pen sion and the Septennial Bills, Mr. Hutchinson had shown that he could be dangerous. In practical busi ness he had made himself really useful, so far as was compatible with attention to himself. 2. Mr Sexton Pery, a lawyer also, and the son of a Limerick clergyman, represented his native city. He, too, was a patriot, and had earned impatient notice in the letters of Viceroys and Secretaries. He had been tempted with the SoHcitar-Generalshlp, and had refused it. It was assumed that, like others, he was purchasable, but the Government had not yet dis covered at what price he could be secured. 3. A third barrister, remarkable in himself, and Ch. Ll Revival of the Celts. 49 remarkable as the father of a more celebrated son, was John Fitzgibbon. He, like Pery, came from Limerick, but from the cabin of a Catholic peasant. The Fitzgibbons were of Norman blood, once wealthy and powerful, but now reduced by forfeitures, and there remained of them only a few families, renting their few acres of potato garden on the estates of their ancestors. Young John, in defiance of the law, had been sent to Paris to be educated, and was in tended for a priest. He had no taste for the priestly calling. The Catholic religion itself became incredi ble to him. He went to London, found means of studying law, and brought himself into notice, while still keeping his terms, by publishing a volume of Re ports. Admitted to the Irish bar, he rose early into practice, reaHzed a considerable fortune, and bought a large estate at Mountshannon, in his native county. He sat in Parliament for Newcastle, in the county of DubHn, and he stood almost alone in desiring noth ing which Castle favor could give, aspiring to no rank, ¦and content with the wealth which he had earned. To a Government which had aimed at ruling Ireland by honest methods, the elder Fitzgibbon would have been an invaluable servant ; to the Halifaxes and Northumberlands, though he never stooped to fac tious opposition, he was an object of suspicion and dislike. John Fitzgibbon the yoimger, who grew to be Chancellor and Earl of Clare, was born in 1748, and was now gaining his early laurels at Trinity Col lege. Noticeable, however, beyond all his contempora^ ries already prominent in the House of Commons, already concentrating in himself the passionate hopes of all young generous-minded Irishmen, was the cele- 50 The English in Ireland. [Bk. y. brated Henry Flood. Like the younger Fitzgibbon, Flood was born into a position which secured him from the temptation of making politics a trade. His father. Warden Flood, was Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and as Attorney-General had amassed consid erable property. Henry, the eldest son, was born in 1732. He passed without particular distinction through the Irish University. From Dublin he went as a gentleman commoner to Oxford, where he be came noted rather as an ornamental youth of letters than as an aspirant for University honors. Irish genius runs naturally to words. Henry Flood was a student of Demosthenes, and his special ambition was to be an orator. His enslaved and unhappy country weighed upon his spirits. She was in bondage ; the chains cramped her limbs, and therefore she was mis erable. She pined for liberty, and liberty, as Flood understood it, " was the child of eloquence." Not by hard attention to the facts of life ; not by submission to the inflexible laws which must be obeyed before they will be our servants; not by patient undoing the triple stranded cord of idleness, extravagance, and anarchy, in which the object of his affection was truly held in servitude ; not by these, but on the short bright road of bounding oratory lay Ireland's path towards redemption. Let parliamentary eloquence breathe into the souls of her people, and the foul en chantment would disappear, and Ireland would, rise up in her native loveliness. With these ideas in him, and with an estate of 5,000Z. a year to fall to him on his father's death, Henry Flood, being then twenty- seven years old, entered Parliament as member for Kilkenny in 1759. He was reelected on the King's death for the same county, and, with a handsome fig- Cn. L] Revival of the Celts. 51 ure, a rich sonorous voice, and a mind stored with the phrases which milHons of young Irish hearts were then prepared to accept as the Open Sesame of Para dise, he became at once the idol of Irish patriotism, catching the torch which was dropping from the fail ing hand of Charles Lucas, and eclipsing alike the waning brilliancy of Anthony Malone and the me ridian splendor of Hely Hutchinson. Other eminent persons will be heard of in front places on the stage of Irish politics. For special reasons, those which have been mentioned must par ticularly be borne in mind ; and there must be added to the list the name of another young man, then the rival of John Fitzgibbon at Trinity College — as he was his rival afterwards on the broader platform of life. Grattan has been beatified by tradition as the saviour of his country. In his own land his memory is adored. His glittering declamations are studied as models of oratory wherever the English language is spoken. Fitzgibbon is the object of a no less intense national execration. He was foHowed to his grave with curses, and dead cats were flung upon his coffin. If undaunted courage, if the power to recognize and the will to act upon unpalatable truths, if the steady preference of fact to falsehood, if a resolution to oppose at all hazards those wild illu sions which have lain at all times at the root of Ire land's unhappiness, be the constituents of greatness in an Irish statesman, Grattan and Fitzgibbon are Hkely hereafter to change places in the final estimate of history. Grattan was the elder by two years. His father also was in Parliament. He was Recorder of Dublin and member for the city. John Fitzgibbon was born 62 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. I. in 1748, Henry Grattan in 1746. They Were at school together, and afterwards at college, where both carried off the highest prizes. From Trinity they went to London, to study law at the Temple, but here their paths divided. Grattan was left fatherless when he was under nineteen. He inherited Httle property, and had his own fortune to make for him- seU" ; but he disliked the bar, and remained for some time uncertain what career he should adopt. Fitz gibbon was heir to a large estate ; but he threw him- sely earnestly into his profession, and long before the Counsellor died was in the first flight of Irish law yers. The parHamentary Hfe of these two young men had yet to begin. Let it be understood that their manhood was maturing and their minds were form ing in the scenes about to be described. 1767.J Lord Townshend^s Administration. 53 CHAPTER IL LOED townshend's ADMINISTEATION". SECTION I. Geoege, third Viscount Townshend, was selected as Viceroy of Ireland in the summer of 1767, under the last administration of Lord Chatham, having just succeeded to the title by his father's death. His career in the army had been creditable, i£ not par ticularly brilliant. He was with Wolfe on the heights of Abraham, and General Mouckton, the second in command, having been carried off wounded early in the action, Townshend, when Wolfe fell, became superior officer, and signed the capitulation of Quebec. 1 His brother Charles died immediately after his nomination, and in the first sorrow for the loss of father and brother he entered upon his intricate office. In appearance the new Viceroy was a hon vivant ; in his manners easy ; in his conversation humorous, and seemingly frank and transparent. He was as ready with a proverb as Sancho Panza,^ and let fall, it was said, in half an hour, and as it were by accident, more 1 The popular leaders in Ireland charged Townshend with having cheated Monckton of his laurels, and stolen an honor to which he had no claim. Historj', in the hands of Irish writers, has often a tendency to become mythological. See Baratariana, p. 94. 2 This peculiarity was the occasion of the name Barataria being given to Ireland in the squibs and essays published by Flood and his friends. 64 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. h. good things than could be heard in a session even of the Irish Parliament, where wit was never wanting. Besides these quahties he had others undiscovered by the patriots whose object he defeated. He displays in his letters an unusually noble disposition, a con tempt approaching to loathing for the measures to which he was compelled to stoop, and for the men whom he was obliged to conciliate by the necessities of Parliamentary Government. The King adhered to the views expressed in his instructions to Hertford, and Townshend had come with a loyal intention to put an end, as far as possible, to Irish jobbery and Irish anarchy. Pitt's Government had resolved in sincerity to have done with pensions, sinecure offices, and bribery. The promise which Halifax had al lowed Northumberland to give dishonestly, Town shend was ready to act upon. The Irish politicians were to have an opportunity of showing whether their complaints had been sincere, whether they were pre pared to cooperate loyally and without the need of underhand influence in measures of genuine reform. The first necessity was to protect the public peace. The Whiteboys were scarcely quieted in the south : when the gentry relaxed their efforts, disturbances would inevitably recommence. Landlord exactiohs had provoked a convulsion, presently to be described, in Ulster, with which the magistrates were no less un able to cope. It had been determined, if Parliament would consent, to add three thousand men to the ordi nary garrison to do the work of police. Again, the Irish judges, like the judges in the colonies, had hitherto held office during pleasure. English minis ters had been peculiarly tenacious of the power to re move them at will. Townshend had come prepared 1767.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 55 to assimilate their tenure to that of their brethren on the EngHsh bench once more. The Irish Parliament had played fast and loose with the Septennial Bill, and in their hearts desired it should never more be heard of. The Cabinet had concluded that it was a measure which ought to be passed. Lord Hertford, before taking leave, had said that he should recom mend the change, and the new Viceroy had brought full powers to give it Government support. Here were three considerable reforms, the first of supreme importance, which the Irish patriots, if they were really anxious for their country's good, had an oppor tunity of securing with the fuH assent of England. There had been a difference of opinion about the lat ter, or at least how far the Government should take the initiative in proposing them. Townshend met ParHament with the impression that he had been in structed to commend the alteration of the judges' ten ure to immediate attention. The session began on the 20th of October. The speech from the throne was brief, but it contained a distinct mention of this particular point, and it promised generally and significally that the King would consent to any other measures which might promote the welfare and prosperity of the country. Chatham was too ill to attend to business, and even when the attention was good, Irish affairs were carelessly regarded by the rest of the Cabinet. Lord Shelburne considered that the subject had been opened too abruptly ; he would have preferred that the Viceroy should have felt his way more cautiously ; and he intimated, perhaps by an error of the pen, that the intention was to appoint the Irish judges, not during good behavior as in England, but for 56 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. n. Hfe.i The Septennial Bill, if introduced at all, was to be made octennial. Townshend warmly defended himself. In what he had said about the judges, he maintained that he had rather fallen short of his instructions than exceeded them ; and as to a life tenure, places held for life were openly bought and sold in Ireland. He regretted, not, as will be seen, without reason, that he had been unable to mention the Septennial Bill, but he was prepared to encourage it in its new form with all his powers. The Irish politicians were perplexed to know how to behave in their new situation. They had discovered that there were to be no more sinecures and pensions, and they had something real to complain of in the manner in which the lucrative offices of state had been hitherto disposed of out of the country. Their best preferments, treasurerships, vice-treasurerships, com- missionerships, were conferred by prime ministers upon their supporters in England, who took the salaries and left the duties to be discharged by dep uty,^ and of high patronage there was little left for them to expect. They had discovered that the point on which the King was most anxious was the augmen- 1 " We are all astonished to find mention in your speech of your having it in charge from his majestj- to recommend a provision to secure the judges in their offices during good behavior. We appro%'ed the measure, but advised you to use general words. You were instructed to talk confi dentially of the determination of Government to support the Septennial Bill, and the judges for life. . . . We must have the bill for limiting the duration of Parliament for eight years, instead ot seven, to avoid the con fusion of a general election in both kingdoms the same year. Shelbourne to Townshend, October 29 — Novembers." — S. P. 0. 2 At this time the Lord Treasurer of Ireland was the Duke of Devon shire ; Eigby and Welbore Ellis were Vice-Treasurers ; William Gerard Hamilton was Chancellor of the Exchequer ; Rigby — fortunate man ! — was also Irish Master of the Rolls. 1767.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 57 tation of the army. " Mankind," reported the Vice roy, " judge pretty weU how to time their requests." If members were not to be pensioned, if sinecures were to be abolished, and if their only prizes were to be bestowed in England, something or other must be found to make it worth their while to meet the King's wishes. They found difficulties. They discovered wrongs, real or imaginary, The tenure judges had been a foremost grievance so long as the change was refused. Now that their wish was complied with, it was treated as of no consequence. They themselves detested the Septennial Bill ; but when the speech was silent upon it, they discovered that England was purposely thwarting an important reform.^ The Chancellorship was vacant. Lord Bowes had been three months dead. The Cabinet was pausing over his successor. The Irish lawyers had a well-founded suspicion that the most brilliant prize of the profession was again to be given to a stranger. The Viceroy knew what they meant, and did not expect them to be angels. " As so large a share," he wrote to Shelburne, " of the principal offices and emoluments have not been disposed of in this country, your lordship may think it probable I should hear of these cbcumstances when the Crown has an object in view. It may prove expedient, when men of first-rate abilities are forming expectations, that I should transmit their wishes." ^ Townshend had brought with him the feelings of an Englishman who did not yet understand the country. He had supposed the Irish Parliament had 1 Baratariana, page 17. 2 "Townshend to Shelbourne, November 15. Secret and separate." — S.P. 0. 58 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. Cn.n. been sincere in their complaint of the Pension List. Their objection had been only to the disposition of a fund, which they would have preferred to share among themselves, in favor of royal bastards, mistresses, and favorites. They were about to open his eyes with some rudeness to their real views. He was in the act of recommending the claims of their leaders to Shelburne's consideration when Philip Tisdall, the Attorney-General, came into his room and abruptly told him " that besides an address on the vacancy of the Great Seal which would probably be carried, a motion would be made in the House of Commons, which could not be resisted, for a short Supply BiU." Here was a reception for a Viceroy who had come to end corruption and malpractices ! He called a meet ing of the council. The Lords Justices, the Earl of Shannon, and the. Speaker, with the most perfect coolness, confirmed Tisdall's words. " The discon tent was so great," they said, " that it was impossible to stem the torrent." The Commons " considered the refusal of the Money Bill to be the only certain method of obtaining those popular biUs which had been so often demanded and so constantly refused." The ground of action was more singular than the action itself. The Judges' Tenure Bill had been spontaneously offered. The Septennial Bill had been rather approved than disapproved. It had been post poned hitherto at the desire of the men who in Par liament had affected to demand it. They had but to ask now to have their wishes immediately gratified, and yet Malone, who was out of office, was the only member of council who would say that he thought the passing of a short Supply Bill would be an im proper measure. 1767.] Lord Townshends Administration. 59 " I cannot express my surprise," Townshend said in reporting the scene, " at finding myself in the midst of the King's servants, and hearing a question of this sort treated by a part of them in this manner, and a day pressed for the consideration of a measure which ought to have been rejected with indigna tion." 1 The real meaning of the opposition was of course evident. A Chancellor had been already, chosen, an Englishman as the Irish anticipated, and the Cabinet did not intend to reverse their selection. Hewett, one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench, was coming over with the title of Lord Lifford. " His known attachment to Revolution principles, great knowledge, and unspotted integrity," were considered his sufficient recommendation. Lord Shelburne re phed to Townshend's unpleasant news that the King could not but feel " amazement at such extraordinary behavior when he had meant so well." " A short Money Bill struck at the very being of Government." "The effect could only be the rejection of the Bills which were the pretended object." " The public," Shelburne hoped, " would soon see through the flimsy pretext of the contrivers and punish them as they deserved." " Altogether it was one of the meanest stratagems which low cunning, narrow parts, and in terested motives, could suggest to any set of men in public affairs." If the Parliament was to continue, however, the hungry expectants must be fed in some way. " The King," Shelburne said, ¦' did not think proper to recede from his resolution with regard to places, pensions, and reversions. Yet his majesty 1 " Townshend to Shelburne, November 15. Secret and separate." "S.P. 0. 60 The English in Ireland. [Bk. V.Ch.ii. would consider such other just marks of his counte nance and protection as at the end of the session might be recommended." There were still peerages, inferior commissionerships, and professional offices of various kinds for those who would support the Gov ernment against faction. ^ The Shannon-Ponsonby party in the Council had exhibited their strength ; and were satisfied for the moment with having shown that if Ireland was to be reformed it was not to be at their expense. The op position to the Money Bill was withdrawn. An ad verse motion by Flood on the appointment of Lord Lifford was rejected by a large majority; and the heads of a Septennial or Octennial Bill were passed for transmission to England. This time they were carried to the Castle by the Speaker in the usual form, with the entire House in attendance. An Absentee Tax was revived in the Money Bill — a tax of four shillings in the pound on all pensions, salaries, and profits of employments payable to per sons not resident in Ireland. Imposed originally under George the First, it had been accompanied with a power to the Crown to gi-ant exemptions un der the sign-manual. The exemptions had been so numerous, that the results had proved " very incon siderable." " The tax bore hard on individuals who most wanted favor, and had not interest to procure it," and had been allowed to fall through. It waa now replaced without the reservation ; the only ex ceptions permitted being in the case of pensions to the royal family, or to officers who had specially dis tinguished themselves. To a proposal so definitely just, Townshend offered no opposition, and in private 1 " Shelburne to Townshend, November 21, 1767. Secret." — S. P. 0. 1767.] Lord Townshends Administration. 61 gave it his full approval. The heads of the Judges' Tenure Bill were passed also, but international jeal ousy on both sides interfered with its success. It had been drawn on the English precedent, and con tained a clause for the possible removal of the Judges of Ireland " on the representation of the Privy Coun cil and the Houses of Lords and Commons." What did Lords and Commons mean ? The Irish Parlia ment claimed the power of removal to themselves ex clusively. The Council, who could alter bills before transmission, was induced with difficulty to allow joint authority to the Lords and Commons of England. Townshend, perhaps under instructions from Shel burne, who was still resenting the short Money Bill, desired to secure a separate power over the judges to the English ParHament, whether the Irish Parlia ment consented or refused. The Council begged him not to insist on an alteration which would be fatal to the measure, and the biU was allowed to go as the Council left it. Had the Irish ParHament behaved decently at the beginning of the session, they could have drawn the heads in their own form, and no difficulty would have been made. As matters stood, there was a probability that the heads of the bill might not be returned to them.^ The usual pause now followed. Heads of bills were discussed in the autumn, sent to England to be considered and revised, and on their return, at the beginning of the year, were re-debated, and either passed or rejected. The " servants of the Crown " took advantage of the recess to clear up their rela tions with the Viceroy. They had taught him, as 1 " Townshend to Shelbume, December 28, 1767. Secret and confi dential." 62 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. ii. they supposed, that he could not govern without them. They desired to make him finally understand the terms on which he might calculate on their sup port. Lord Shannon, the Speaker, and Mr. Hely Hutchinson requested a private interview, and de fined their expectations. Ignorant that the powers of the Lords Justices were henceforth to be no more real than they had become in England, Ponsonby and his son-in-law demanded to have their offices continued to them. Hely Hutchinson was for him self unambitious : he was Prime Sergeant ; he had a lucrative practice, and a private fortune independent of it ; he asked for some provision for his two sons,i either by place or pension, and " his wife, at the end of the session, to be created a viscountess." On these terms, and not otherwise, these distinguished persons were prepared to carry Townshend through his par liamentary difficulties, and to defend the supremely important measure which, in the critical temper of the House of Commons, had not yet been brought forward — the augmentation of the army. Ponsonby and Shannon together commanded a majority in the House. Hely Hutchinson, the Vice roy said, " was the most powerful man in Parliament, of great abilities to conduct a debate." ^ Whether a bargain thus unblushingly offered was to be submitted to, he referred to the consideration of the King. The negotiation could not wholly be kept secret. It was whispered in the poHtical circles of Dublin. The apostasy of the triumvirate would for a time destroy the party who called themselves the defenders 1 Richard, then eleven years old, created afterwards Earl of Donough more ; and Henry, a year younger, who, as Lord Hutchinson, succeeded Abercrombie in command of the army in Egypt. 2 " Townshend to Shelburne, December 2, 1767. Secret and separate." 1767.] Lord Townshends Administration. 63 of their country ; and Henry Flood and his friends, who as yet lay outside the lines of promotion, and were fired with patriotic indignation, commenced a series of letters in the Dublin journals, in which Ire land appears as Barataria, Townshend as Sancho, and the various members of the council as officers of his household. Of Ponsonby they had evidently good hopes. He was applauded for his past virtues, but made to understand that he was on his trial before the country. The Prime Sergeant Rufinus was re garded with deep, and, it must be allowed, deserved suspicion.^ When the mysteries of parliamentary government are hereafter revealed, it will be known how far such overtures form a sample of the methods in which in other countries besides Ireland free institutions can be made to work. Shelburne expressed less surprise than disgust. He complained of the Absentee Tax, but let it pass. The Judges' Tenure Bill was re jected. The chance had been thrown away. The augmentation of the army was the essential thing. " The internal state of Ireland " made an increase of force absolutely necessary ; yet it was unendurable to submit to dictation — dictation so gross and un principled. " We cannot recommend the King," Shel burne said, " to grant places and pensions for life or years. The leading persons in Ireland must act as they can answer to their consciences and as represent atives of their country. The King will certainly, at the end of the session, take into consideration the merits of those who shall have exerted themselves for the support of his Government and the good of Ire land. Nor can the conduct of those who shall have 1 Baratariana, letters 1, 2, 3. 64 The English in Ireland. [Bk. t. Ch. ii acted from motives of a less honorable nature escape his majesty's notice." ^ Townshend wholly agreed as to the duty of " the leading persons of Ireland." The increase of the army was required to keep the peace, and prevent murder and rape and cattle-houghing. The lords and gentlemen might have been expected to further it for their own sakes. " But being on the spot," Town shend said, " and seeing the general disposition of the House of Commons in its true light, I cannot be so sanguine as to hope that these sentiments are suffi cient grounds on which a measure of this sort is to be brought into Parliament, and carried through with success. I know his majesty did not mean to grant more pensions, nor could I give them hopes, though I could not help listening to their proposals. But when I observed how very weak this Government had be come, I thought it my duty to submit the matter again to his majesty, being convinced that until the system of government here can be totaUy changed, and the true weight and interest of the Crown brought back to its former channel, there must be some relaxation of this rule. I am sorry, therefore, you feel yourself precluded from recommending any thing of this sort to his majesty. I am afraid strict adherence to the rule will at this time be a great prej udice to his majesty's service." ^ The applicants for corruption received theb answer. They inquired whether the augmentation was to be pressed. They were informed that it would be pressed. Hutchinson, speaking for the others, de clared cooUy that Shannon and Ponsonby would 1 "Shelburne to Townshend, December, 1767." 2 " Townshend to Shelburne, January 3, 1768. Secret." 1768.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 65 oppose, that without them it could not be carried, and that every art would be used to prejudice the people against a measure which would be represented as a conspbacy against their liberties. Even yet unable to realize the character of Irish politicians, the Viceroy appealed to the Privy Council, and in the most serious language entreated them to remember their obligations. Ponsonby answered ambiguously. Hutch inson and the Attorney- General ^ showed that noth ing better was to be expected of them. On the re- assemblage of the Houses, a hostile motion was introduced by Pery for a committee to inqube into the state of the army, and was allowed to pass unre sisted. The Viceroy remonstrated again with Lord Shannon. Lord Shannon let him see that the pro posed conditions must be conceded. " You will see," Townshend wrote, " that those who offered to assist under such terms as upon due consideration were rejected, have gone into determined opposition to the King's Government itself. What shall I do ? ShaU I apply to those who are generally in opposition, and are called the independent gentry of this coun try ? Shall I prorogue ? I doubt whether any other course will prevent things from being carried to lengths that we shaU not hereafter be able to remedy." ^ The situation was too intricate to be decided from England. The true answer should have been the dismissal of a body in whom patriotic feeling was smothered in self-interest, and the restoration of order and security by a stringent police. It was an answer, however, which England, with her iniquitous trade laws, her scandalous misappropriation of Irish 1 Tisdall. 2 « Townshend to Shelbume, January 26. Secret." VOL. II. 5 66 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. n offices, her long contemptuous neglect of every duty which a ruling country owed to an annexed depend ency, was in no condition to give. Shelburne left Townshend to his own judgment, merely saying, that neither the King nor the Cabinet " had any pre dilection for any man or set of men, having nothing else in view than to conduct the King's affairs hon orably and safely. If the business could be carried on by the men at present in office they would prefer that there should be no change. If the King's ser vants refuse to give solid support, the Viceroy might send for the independent gentlemen. If the House of Cbmmons persisted in passing offensive measures, the Cabinet were unanimously of opinion that he should prorogue." ^ Meantime the Septennial BiU returned, changed only to Octennial, for the reasons given before by Lord Shelburne. The agitators, though they knew that the Bill was coming back to them, had professed to beheve that it would be again rejected. A motion had been proposed, which Flood noisily supported, that he, with Lucas and William Ponsonby ,2 should cross to England and demand it at the Council doors. Hutchinson, to clear himself of suspicion of want of patriotism, had spoken violently against the augmen tation of the army, and had proposed an Irish mUitia instead. Others, with characteristic impudence, re newed their clamors against the Pension List. The appearance of the Octennial BiU for the moment shamed these passionate gentlemen into something like silence. The Viceroy had taken advantage quietly of the feud between the Fitzgeralds and the 1 " Shelburne to Townshend, February 10, 1768." 2 The Speaker's eldest son. 1768.] Lord Townshend^s Administration. 67 Ponsonbies to pay court of the Duke of Leinster. The Duke came to his support, and carried with him many of the country gentlemen.^ The threatened committee of inquiry was dropped. The House voted an address of thanks for the Octennial BiU ; and if the army question could be got over, the ses sion, after all, might come to a quiet end. The passing of the Octennial Bill would be followed immediately by a general election. Suspicions had been deliberately excited among the people that the Government had sinister intentions in desiring to add to the troops ; and Townshend's best friends advised him to postpone so critical a subject as the augmen tation of the army to another session. Townshend himself was strongly of the same opinion. He sent his secretary, Lord Frederick Campbell, to London, to endeavor to persuade the Cabinet. As a matter of party management, he was probably right. But the shameful anarchy which ruled undisturbed in so many parts of the country had shocked the King too deeply to allow him to listen. Come what would, there should be an end to murder and brigandage. Shelbume ordered Townshend to persevere at all risks, and to assure the independent members that their services should be remembered, if they stood by him in beating down an opposition which was the I "Townshend to Shelburne, February 16." A curious fear had been expressed by the independent members that if they voted for the Army Bill, " the weight of the Crown would be exerted against them hereafter by those whose designs they would now defeat by the support of the Gov ernment." They feared, that is, that Lord Shannon and the Speaker w-ould continue Lords Justices when Townshend went back to England, and they would be left at their mercy. It was the same complaint, in an other form, which the loyal gentlemen of the Pale used to make to the ministers of Henry VIIL If they supported an English Viceroy against the Irish clans, the Government, sooner or later, would tire of its efforts, and leave them to be destroyed by the Geraldines. 68 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. il more abominable from the affectation of patriotism in which it was disguised.^ Townshend by this time understood Ireland. He complied, but he guessed what would follow. On the 19th of April a message was sent to the Commons m the name of the Crown, that three thousand ad ditional soldiers were required for the defence of the country ; the Absentee Tax would suffice to meet the expense, and no fresh burden would be thrown upon the people ; his majesty, therefore, confidently relied on the willing consent of the Irish legislature. The oligarchy had committed themselves too deeply to retract. If they yielded, their power was at an end. The usual cries were raised of Ireland's liberty being in danger. Shannon, Ponsonby, Tisdall, Hutchinson, in pubHc and private, by themselves and theb friends, played on the childish passions of the Irish people. In a full House, on the motion of the brUliant en thusiast, who aspired to be Ireland's champion, Mr. Flood, the Government was defeated. The struggle was for life and death. England was too apt to forget her Irish friends, especially when their efforts were usuccessful. Townshend thought it necessary to remind the Cabinet immediately that they must keep their promises to those who had stood by him, and who would otherwise be sacrificed to the resentment of the coalition. He considered for a week before he could decide on the course which it would now be desirable to follow. " When the King," he wrote at length to Shelburne, " comes to reflect on certain passages in my letters to your lordship, his majesty can be no stranger to the scandalous causes of the late miscarriage. It was 1 "Shelburne to Townshend, March 14." — S. P. 0. 1768.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 69 clearly made out that so far from any additional vote of credit being needed, the money already voted would be sufficient till ParHament should meet again to answer the whole expense of the estimates You must now be convinced on what grounds many of the leading interests of this kingdom have hitherto undertaken to carry on his majesty's affairs ; and why, when difficulties have arisen, or have been artificially created. Government has generally been defeated by its own strength The most effectual means to restore vigor to the Government would be to keep Ireland under the constant attention of a resident gov ernor in whose hands should be placed the absolute disposal of the several offices of revenue. The com missioners exercise great weight over the officers un der them, for whose conduct on this occasion I cannot otherwise account. As this will operate but slowly, however, I should v^sh to know whether, in the differ ent branches of his majesty's service, some persons ought not to be immediately marked as particular ob jects of displeasure. Many distinguished persons have supported us through the session without hinting at any consideration : though their judgment was against pressing the Augmentation Bill, they yet hazarded their elections in supporting it. I am not without hope that when it shall be observed that his majesty's disapprobation is strongly shown to the principal opposers of so salutary a measure, the tide of popular resentment will turn against those who have endeavored to direct it against Government." ^ The country was already preparing for a general election. " Every county and borough was a scene of dissipation and animosity." Candidates were flying 1 " Townshend to Shelbume, May 10, 1768." 70 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. Ch.il to and fro, bribing, treating, and spouting patriotism and Ireland's rights. French-Irish priests, officers of the Irish Brigade, apostles of anarchy of all sorts were scenting the approaching battle, coining over in dis guise, and " feeling the pulses of the community." On all grounds it was desirable to shorten the dangerous period. 1 The Viceroy demanded and obtained per mission to bring it to an immediate end. The biUs already passed through committee received the royal assent. Parliament was dissolved, and writs were instantly issued for a new election. Five serviceable members of the late House were recommended for peerages and obtained them.^ Lord Kingston received an earldom, the Viceroy insisting that striking evi dence of this kind was necessary to show that the King meant to proportion his rewards to public de sert. The Doneraile title was extinct. Two coUat- eral St. Legers were applying for it, both of whom were Hkely to be elected members of the House of Commons. They were put on their good behavior for the next session : whichever of them served the Government best should receive the prize. " This is now the crisis of Irish Government," wrote Townshend. "If a system is at this time wisely formed and steadUy pursued, his majesty's affairs may hereafter be carried on with ease, dignity, and safety ; but if only a few changes are made here and there, and this particular man is to be raised and another depressed, probably to be restored again in a few months, as in 1765,^ with double powers and 1 " Townshend to Shelburne, May 17, 1768." 2 Thomas Dawson was created Lord Dartiy ; W. H. Dawson, of Queen's County, Lord Portarlington ; Abraham Chrichton Lord Erne ; John Eyre, of Eyre Court, Lord Eyre ; and Mr. Corby, of Stradbally, Lord Corby. 3 When Lord Shannon got his peerage. 1768.] Lord Townshends Administration. 71 weight, it vnU only add fuel to the fire, and at last bring the King's authority in Ireland, low as it is, into stUl greater contempt. If the plan which I have proposed shall be adopted, and the King and his servants have that confidence in me as to think I am a fit person to carry it into execution, his majesty wiU, I hope, allow me by degrees and on proper oc casions to submit to him such changes as shall appear to me necessary." ^ 1 " Townshend to Shelburne, May 31, 1768." 72 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. n. SECTION n. Notwithstanding the dissoluteness of the Dublin workmen, the factiousness of the patriots, and the social disorders which had assumed so menacing an appearance, the material prosperity of Ireland had for twenty years been slowly increasing. The Peace of Ais-la-Chapelle was the turning point at which, in parts at least of the island, the people began to lay aside their dreams and turn to industry. Even the Whiteboy movement, caused as it had been by the increase of cattle and the rise of rents, was a result and symptom of the upward tendency. The linen manufacture was growing in Ulster. Intelligent country gentlemen were building houses, planting, draining, and raising green crops. Arthur Young, who travelled through the country in 1771, found universally the term of twenty years defined as that at which the upward movement had commenced which was still in progress. The year which fol lowed the dissolution of 1768 was the most produc tive which had been known for a century ; and had the state of public opinion permitted England to recognize that a Parliament was at all times a curse to Ireland and not a blessing ; could she have per ceived at the same time, without waiting to be taught by calamity, the folly and iniquity of her trade laws, the permanent regeneration of Ireland might have dated from that period. 1769.] Lord Townshends Administration. 73 It was not to be. A new Parliament was elected, but it was not caUed together before the usual period, in the autumn of the following year. The Viceroy used the interval to impress the lesson which he desired Irish poHticians to lay to heart. He hoped, though he was far from sanguine, that by straight forward open measures, by the suppression of jobs, by honest administration on the principles which had been laid down by the King, he might find sufficient backing when the legislature reassembled to carry on the business of the state vrithout reverting to the old methods. For a vigorous policy, however, he required the assistance of the Home Government, and the Home Government, as usual, wavered. " You are to have all the support," Lord Weymouth wrote to him in the summer of 1769, "that your known zeal en titles you to, and your own ideas shall be adopted as to the mode of that support, if there is a moral cer tainty that you will be successful in procuring a majority. Your sketches of the principal characters in this country are drawn with too much coolness and impartiality, and with too genuine an air of truth, to permit us to doubt theb correctness. His majesty arms you with full powers to act as you shall think desirable." ^ The Viceroy's " ideas " had been to make a clean sweep of the dishonest members of the Council, and to fiU their places with others of whose conscientious ness he had better expectations. To certainty of success he admitted frankly that he could not pre tend. He could not confer confidentially with indi vidual members; he could not canvass for support; he could only repeat his opinion, that if the disas- 1 " Weymouth to Townshend, June 9, 1769. Most secret." 74 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v.Ch.ii. trous habit of buying off opposition was fairly aban doned, and if Government was firm in showing that it would support honest men and honest measures, the Shannon and Ponsonby faction would be broken up. Had Chatham continued at the head of affairs, the bold course might have been adopted. But Chatham was gone, and without Chatham the Cabi net who were unwisely brave towards the American colonies, had no army to spare to encounter Irish fac tion. They advised half measures. The false " ser vants of the Crown " were, for the present at least, to remain in their places. They were worthless and un principled ; they were fishing in troubled waters for their own interest ; but they might oppose the sup plies if they were removed, and the Viceroy was di rected to make one more experiment of temporizing. Very unwillingly he submitted, pleading only to be allowed to show open countenance and favor to " the eminent gentlemen who had supported him in his last trial," if only to show his majesty's determina tion that though he was pleased to suffer his servants to remain, the power of the kingdom was not to re turn to its late channel. There had been, was, and ever would be, but one way of governing Ireland — by putting authority ex clusively into the hands of men of personal probity and tried loyalty to the British connection. Untaught by unvarying experience, England has persisted from the beginning in the opposite method. She has sought to rule with the support of men by whom it has been a disgrace to be supported, to sacrifice the known and obvious interests of the Irish people to the intrigues of demagogues for whom the horsewhip 1769.] Lord Townshends Administration. 75 would have been a fitter reward. From the days of the Earls of Kildare to the days of the modern Upas Tree she has walked in the same footsteps and always to the same goal. She has encouraged the hostility which she hoped to disarm. She has taught those whom she has wished to conciliate that they may defy and insult her with impunity. Townshend did not dispute his orders, but as the session approached he continued to repeat his opinion that bolder measures would answer better. " I know from the surest sources," he wrote to Weymouth in August, " that there are many gentlemen connected with the Speaker who are waiting only to see whether the English Government will or will not resume its authority." ^ Late in the month he went on progress in Munster, and paid Lord Shannon a visit at Castle- martyr. Ponsonby was staying there also. They were coldly polite, and evidently intended mischief. " I assure you," the Viceroy said, " there is noth ing popular or formidable in these persons or their party. It is the power they derive from the Crown and exercise so fully and largely over this kingdom which subjects the minds of people to them. Neither Lord Shannon nor Mr. Ponsonby could preserve even their common provincial influence without their offices. The Octennial Bill gave the first blow to the dominion of aristocracy in this kingdom. It rests vri th Government to second the good effects of it, and to reestablish its own authority by disarming those who have turned their arms against it. Only let us be firm and resolute, and aU right-minded people will come over to us." ^ 1 " Townshend to Weymouth, August 18." 2 " To Weymouth, Septeniber 13. Most secret and separate." 76 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. Cn.n. It was not only to reduce the • power of the aristoc racy in Parliament that the Viceroy was anxious for vigorous action. As Lords Justices, the Speaker and his son-in-law had the supervision of the revenue, and it was calculated that by various forms of peculation as much as 150,000?. a year was lost to the Govern ment out of the customs duties. Ponsonby had ap pointed his friends to the Customs offices from highest to lowest, and though never suspected of having him self condescended to fraud, it was thought possible that he had not endangered his political influence by too inconvenient inqnisitiveness. In some way or other at any rate large sums were unaccounted for. In this very summer time the Viceroy learnt that a large cargo of tobacco had been seen at a spot where it was deliberately overlooked, and that the cargo of an East Indiaman, on which the duties would have been 13,000?., had been landed surreptitiously at Cork, and that no inquiry had been made. Hertford had re ceived power from the King to remove all officers of all degrees if found unfit for their posts. These powers had not been renewed to Townshend. He could not punish the incompetent or dishonest. He could not re ward and encourage the good. To the members of Parliament who had been watching how the wind would blow, he could give none of the assurances which they expected, and which he had begged so earnestly to be allowed to hold out. Even Lord Drogheda and Lord Tyrone, who had supported him in the last session under promise of marquisates, had their ambition still ungratified, and were " threatening vengeance." ^ Thus it was that when the time came for the new Parliament to meet, the impression prevailed that 1 " Townshend to Weymouth, October 22." 1769.] Lord Townshends Administration. 77 England was afraid, and that opposition would remain as before — the surest road to promotion and patron age. The Government had been defied, and had ven tured a dissolution. But a dissolution had been inev itable, at all events. The insolent " servants of the Crown " were still in office, and on them and on Irish ideas it was alone safe for those who were making politics their profession to rely. Even the Viceroj'' himself had been obliged to affect politeness to them. " I declined coming to extremities," he sadly said, " because I have all along observed in your letters a reluctance to any measures that might be thought violent. Things remain, therefore, as they were, both as to men and measures." ^ The session began on the 17th of October. Pon sonby was reelected Speaker without opposition. The speech avoided doubtful subjects, but drew attention to frauds in public departments, which Ponsonby might take to himself, if he chose ; " to clandestine running of goods," which " had been carried to great lengths ; " and to the imperfect discharge of their du ties by the officers of the revenue.^ The patriots were eager to try their strength, or to show it in the new House. The Government must be informed, as speedily as possible, that they meant to be its masters, and to dictate their own terms. The question on which the Viceroy was most anxious was as before, of course, the augmentation of the army. A motion was made immediately in the com- 1 " To Weymouth, October 17." 2 Arthur Young says that in 1771 smuggling had much declined. It is one of the few instances in which this usually exact writer is mistaken. The contraband trade yielded perhaps less extravagant profits, but it was never more active, and ran in so smooth and deep a stream that little was heard of it. 78 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. Ch. u. mittee of supply to consider whether an increase was necessary, and the Government was again defeated by 104 to 72. The first blow was followed instantly by a second. The popular leaders brought up the Pension List, and examined its composition. There, it was but too true, scandalously, shamefully, inex cusably, stood the name of the Countess of Yarmouth, niece of her grace of Kendal, for 4,000Z. a year. There stood Lord Granthan, with 2,000Z. for his own life and his son's ; Lord Cholmondeley was there, whose merit was to have been Walpole's son-in-law, for 3,600?. ; Lord Bathurst had 2,000?. ; Lady Wal- degrave 800?. 81,000?. in aU was taken from the Irish revenues for these extraordinary personages by a virtuous Government, while honest national patriots were expected to shiver unrewarded ; and the highest offices in the Irish service were bestowed equally on English favorites, who did not trouble themselves even to reside and do their duty. The army ques tion came up again in another form. What use did the Crown make already of the sums voted for the defence of the kingdom ? Colonel Vallancey reported that all round the coast the fortifications were in ruins. Cork, Waterford, Belfast, Limerick, wealthy and growing cities, were utterly undefended ; the guns in the batteries were a hundred years old, and hardly useful as old iron.i This, too, was disgracefully cer tain ; and though the repairs would have commenced on Doomsday in the afternoon, if left to the patriots, though the Irish Lords Justices were the persons really responsible for the neglect, none the less it was a telling charge ; and the points of it were not lost in the handling. The committee of supply recom- 1 " Commons' Journals, November 16." 1769.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 79 mended, instead of an increase of the army, a local militia. The Duke of Leinster made up his quarrel with the Speaker, and threw his influence into the op position, which was now in overwhelming strength ; and Flood, Lucas, and Pery were chosen to draw up a Militia Bill. The stream of triumph still bore them on. They passed next to the field on which they had suffered their last reverses in their conflict with Eng land — the origination of theb Money Bills. Since their defeat on the appropriation of the surplus, the Money Bill had been presented to them by the Coun cil, and they had endured it as a perpetual affront. Their turn was come for revenge. On the 21st of November the motion for the usual supplies was re jected by a large majority, because it had not taken its rise in the House of Commons of Ireland. The Commons did not mean to refuse the grant. They proceeded immediately to draw a bill of their own. But they were resolved to vindicate their privilege ; and lest the Viceroy should attempt to make himself independent of them by falling back on the hereditary revenue, they thwarted measures which he had pro posed for a reduction of the expenditure, and they even introduced a motion the effect of which if carried into execution would have largely reduced the fixed and permanent duties.^ This last step was of so ex treme a kind, that the opposition was less unanimous. The friends of Government struggled hard to resist it, and had very nearly succeeded. But this, too, was carried by the casting vote of the Speaker, " who, to the astonishment of everybody, though himself at I " The sinking of the hereditary revenue is the great plan of some gen tlemen here, and was fought strongly by the servants of the Crown in com mittee, and afterwards in the House. — Townshend to Weymouth, Decem ber 6." 80 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. ii. the head of the revenue, divided against the Cas tle." 1 Nothing so violent as this had been seen in the Irish ParHament since the Viceroyalty of Lord Syd ney. On that occasion the Viceroy, without even waiting for orders from home, had repHed by a pro rogation. Lord Sydney's conduct had been fuUy approved by William's ministers. The Parliament which had defied him was not suffered to reassemble, and there had been serious thoughts of aboHshing the parliamentary constitution. Townshend had been too feebly supported by the Cabinet to venture on such summary measures on his own responsibility. He was confronted by a combi nation of all the great Irish houses — the Leinsters, the Shannons, the Ponsonbies, the Beresfords, the Loftuses — who had forgotten their jealousies in the common resolution to maintain the oHgarchical con stitution. The catastrophe had come which Townshend had foreseen. The noble lords, he said, " have unmasked their real sentiments ; " " they have shown they mean to acknowledge as Httle as possible the superiority of the mother country." " Such conduct as they have observed I should despise as a private man ; but when marked towards his Majesty's representative, it becomes an object of serious consideration." " The constant plan of these men is to possess the govern ment of this country, and to lower the authority of EngHsh Government, which must, in the end, destroy the dependence of this country on Great Britain." Conciliation had borne its natural fruits. The coercive method was now to be faUen back upon at . 1 " Townshend to Weymouth, December 6, 1769." — S. P. 0. 1769.] Lord Townshends Administration. 81 increased disadvantage. Much of the revenue had been wasted on public works or jobs. This might be saved at once. If, by good management and a more careful collection of the fixed customs and excise, the expenditure could be brought within the hereditary revenue, the Cabinet directed Townshend to dissolve the Parliament, and terminate the childish farce by governing without one. It appeared on examination, that if the expenses were pared down to the limits of what was barely necessary, there would remain an annual deficiency of no more than 34,000?. When the additional duties were no longer voted, prices would fall, con sumption would increase, smuggling and private dis tilling would cease to be profitable, and the hereditary revenue would probably rise. Even if the establish ment were carried on upon the present scale, with the Pension List included, the yearly excess need not be more than 260,000?. The experiment might at least be carried as far as to show the agitators that Eng land was not at their mercy. Townshend summoned the Council, in which Pon sonby, Shannon, and the Prime Sergeant continued to sit ; and he told them that after the last vote of the House of Commons, he should so far follow the precedent of Lord Sydney as to protest, and to insist on the entry of his protest in the journals. ^ I " The wrong which Ireland conceived itself to suffer about its Money Bills was only appreciable by the Nationalist imagination. The patriots did not deny that the Privy Council had a right to originate a Money Bill. They denied only that it fell within the provisions of Poynings' Act, and that the Council had the exclusive right. They claimed that the House of Commons had a right of origination also ; and they professed to mean no more than that, of two methods equally legal, they preferred their own. Their real aspiration probably was to be rid of Poynings' Act altogether; but this they could not venture to avow except under a veil of satire. In VOL. II. 6 82 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. u. By skilful diplomacy, by social attentions, by the brilHant hospitality of the Castle, by the combined powers of integrity of general purpose, and flexi- bihty of scruple, on the means by which that purpose was to be obtained, the adroit Lord-Lieutenant had in some degree overcome the opposition in the Council itself. Hely Hutchinson had been bought at a lower price than he had set upon his services, for his wife had still to wait for her peerage. Tisdall, the Attorney-General, had been gained over. Anthony Malone had taken the Viceroy's side from the first. the height of the tumult there appeared in the Freema/n's Journal ' The Hibernian Courtier's Creed,' signed by Athanasius Secundus: — " ' Whosoever would be an Hibernian Courtier, it is necessary, before all mental endowments, that he expound rightly the law of Poynings, as explained by the 4th and 5th chapters of Philip and Mary. "'Which law, unless he keeps pure and unmixed with any rational interpretation, he cannot enjoy place or pension, neither shall he receive coHcordatum in this kingdom. " 'Now, the true construction of Poynings' Act is that four different branches of the Legislature are always acknowledged in our Irish Privy Council, continually subsisting. " ' For in the enacting of every law the King hath a deliberative voice; the Lords have a deliberative, the Commons have a deliberative, and the Privy Council have a deliberative. "'The King hath a negative voice, the Lords have a negative, the Commons have a negative, and the Council a negative. " ' And yet there are not four deliberatives nor four negatives, but one deliberative and one negative, frequently exercised against King, Lords, and Commons, by his majesty's most honorable Privy Council. " ' Further, it is essential to the preservation of his present place, and to his further hopes of preferment, that he conceive just ideas of the orig ination of Money Bills. " ' His interest will thus ever oblige him to confess that all benevolences are free gifts from the people; constitutionally take their rise in au as sembly neither made, nor created by, nor proceeding from the people. " ' This is the Hibernian Courtier's political faith, to which whosoever inviolably adheres shall be rewarded with a masked pension for himself, and a fancy ball, without masks, for his wives and daughters. " ' And for all those who reject the foregoing liberal explanation, there Bhall be protests, prorogations, partial sheriffs, packed juries, and influ enced electors to their lives' end.' " — Baratariama, p. 99. 1769.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 83 These gentlemen were now prepared to a certain ex tent to support Government. They expressed proper regret at the behavior of the House of Commons. As the protest would be received with ill humor, they advised as a further step an immediate proroga tion. One thing, however, they would not do ; they refused unanimously to assist in reducing the expen diture to the level of the hereditary revenue. " They were all unwilHng," the Viceroy wrote, "that the hereditary revenue should be thought sufficient, and therefore said everything that could prevent that experiment from being tried." ^ That an attempt might be made to govern without a ParHament the House of Commons had already an ticipated. That it was deliberately in contemplation, being acknowledged in Council, was of course whis pered about. PubHc feeling caught alarm. Dublin fell into a fever fit of patriotic enthusiasm ; the House of Commons was the idol of the hour, the defender of Ireland's liberties ; the emotions may be conceived, therefore, with which at this crisis a paragraph was received which had just appeared in the " London Daily Advertiser," telling the patriots how they were regarded in that malignant country which was the cause of all their woes. On the 18th of December a motion was made in the House of Commons that a paragraph be read from Mr. Woodfall's Paper of the 9th, relating to the votes on the Money Bill. The Paper was produced. The clerk rose and read — " Hibernian patriotism is a transcript of that filthy idol which is worshipped at the London Tavern. Insolence assumed from an opinion of impunity 1 " Townshend to Weymouth, December 11." 84 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. ii. usurps the place which boldness against real injuries ought to hold. The refusal of the late Bill of Supply because it was not brought in contrary to the practice of ages, in violation of the constitution and to the cer tain ruin of the dependence of Ireland on Great Britain, is a kind of behavior more suiting to an army of Whiteboys than the grave representatives of a nation. This is the most daring insult that has been hitherto offered to Government. It must be counteracted with firmness, or else the State is ruined. Let the refractory House be dissolved. If the same spirit of seditious obstinacy should continue, I know no remedy but one. The Parliament of Great Britain is supreme over its conquests as well as its colonies, and the service of the nation must not be left undone on account of the factious obstinacy of a Provincial Assembly. Let our Legislature, for they have the undoubted right, vote the Irish supplies, and save a nation that their own obstinate representatives en deavor to ruin." It was come to this then. Not only were they to be governed without a Parliament, by the hereditary revenue, but taxes were to be imposed on them at the will and pleasure of the Legislature of Great Britain. Already from across the Atlantic were com ing sounds of the approaching battle for colonial free- 1 dom. The wrongs of which America had to complain were but mosquito bites by the side of the enormous injuries which had been inflicted by English selfish ness on the trade and manufactures of Ireland. Why was Ireland to submit when America was winning admiration by resistance ? Why, indeed ? save that America was in earnest. The Irish were not. America meant to fight. The Irish meant only to 1769.] Lord Townshends Administration. 85 clamor and to threaten to fight. The American leaders, rightly or wrongljr, were working for the benefit of the whole population of the colonies. The Irish leaders were using the wrongs of their country as a means of forcing England to bribe them into connivance. Had the Irish at any period of their history aspired to any noble freedom, they would have fought for it as the Scotch fought at far greater disadvantage. They expected to obtain the privileges which are the only prize of the brave and noble by eloquence and chicanery. They desired those priv- Ueges only to convert them into personal profit ; and when the hard truth was spoken to them, they screamed like hysterical girls. A resolution was carried instantly without a dis sentient voice, that the paragraph which they had heard " was a daring invasion of the rights of Par Hament," and " was calculated to create groundless jealousy between the subjects of the two kingdoms." The offending paper was burnt on College Green before the doors of the House by the hangman, the sheriff and javelin-men attending in state at the exe cution. Flood and Pery moved that the Viceroy be questioned on his intentions. The House agreed, and their temper was not mended by Townshend's answer. " He did not think himself authorized, he said, to dis close his majesty's instructions till he had received his majesty's commands for so doing." ^ A middle course was now impossible ; at all risks the servants of the Crown, who were the real insti gators of the action of the House, must be taught that they had passed the limits of forbearance. On the 23d the Viceroy wrote for permission to remove 1 Commons' Journals, December 21. 86 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v.Ch.h. Lord, Shannon, the Speaker, and five other lords and gentlemen from the Privy Council, and from the offices which they held under the Crown.^ A " most secret " letter of the same date reiterates his reasons for requesting it. " Mr. Ponsonby must be displaced from the head of the Revenue Board. I need not dwell upon his conduct while the marks are so recent and decisive. The authority of the Crown in this country can never be maintained while this gentleman holds his present powers. If we dissolve Parliament he wiU canvass for the chair of the next, with the whole power and authority of his office, and we must see to prevent him. Lord Lanesborough's friends have gone against us, and he was under the gravest obHgations to the Crown. Mr. Champneys was placed on the estab lishment for 1,000?. a year, to open a seat for his lordship at the Revenue Board. To make the revenue produce what it ought, one or two members of the board must be EngHshmen, always resident, regularly bred in the revenue of England, men of sense, spirit, and honor, who could be depended on to do their duty themselves and prevent others from abusing theirs. Lord Shannon must be removed from the Ordnance, and the inferior board must be changed also. The principal share of the power and influence of those parties which have so long embar rassed Government was owing to the favor as well as forbearance of the Crown under which they have been cherished ; while by a constant private understanding with its declared opponents, they have distressed one Lord-Lieutenant, compromised with another, always 1 The Earls ot Louth and Lanesborough, Sir William Mayne, Sir Hercules Langford Rowley, and Sir William Fownes. 1769.] Lord Townshends Administration. 87 gaining something for themselves, and paring away the authority and reputation of the English Govern ment until it has scarce ground left to stand upon. Members of the House of Commons have been watch ing to see where the power would finally reside. I earnestly recommend these changes, and such a regu lation of the revenue as shaU tend to its improvement and the support of the Government. Lose no time. The same cabals, the same demands, intrigues, and pretended patriotism wiU revive. Government must begin from this moment to extricate itself from this dilemma or must submit." ^ The ParHament was aUowed one more opportunity of repentance. HaK alarmed at their own audacity, the factious members had consented after all to the augmentation of the army. Part of the supplies had been voted under forms not included in the biU which they had thrown out. The necessary business was wound up at Christmas, and the royal assent was given to the Acts which had already been passed. The Viceroy, on the 26th, addressed the two Houses. He told them with painful plainness the Hght in. which he regarded them and their doings ; and then, as Lord Sydney had done, and as he had given notice that he himself intended to do, he submitted a distinct protest against the claims which they had advanced, and required them to enter it on the Journals. The Peers consented, five only objecting and recording the grounds of their disagreement.^ The Commons, too proud to yield further, and aware, Hke the Viceroy, that it was a crisis in the constitution, when to give way was to allow themselves defeated, posi- 1 "Townshend to Weymouth, December 23." Abridged. 2 Louth, Charlemont, Powerscourt, Longford, and Mountmorris. 88 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. u. tively refused. Townshend, on his side, was firm. Had they compHed, they would have separated for the fortnight's recess and have reassembled in Janu ary. They were prorogued nominally till the 20th of March, but in fact, as they all knew, for an indefinite time. 1770.] Lord Townshends Administration. 89 SECTION m. Two courses were now open to the Cabinet, aud two only. The behavior of the House of Commons, notoriously consequent as it was on the rejection of the first overtures of Lord Shannon and Mr. Pon sonby to the Viceroy, must have satisfied the most obstinate beHever in Parliamentary Government that Ireland in the existing cbcumstances was not fit for it. Free constitutions presuppose in the leading citizens of a country at least some degree of probity and patriotism. When the ambition of individuals never reaches beyond personal interest, when theb consciences recognize no obligation beyond duty to themselves and theb friends, the forms of liberty are travestied, and the sooner the truth is recognized and acted on the better for all parties concerned. Town shend had been sent to Ireland to put an end to job bery, to clear away the scandals of generations, and to begin a new era. He had been foiled by the in veterate dishonesty of the principal Irish poHticians, nor was there the slightest hope of finding in the Irish representatives the materials of an honorable party on whose support he could rely. The facts of the case being undeniably thus, the Viceroy might have been left to select a council from the many honest and loyal men who had held aloof hitherto from the unwholesome atmosphere of Parliament ; and with their help, and with economic management 90 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. CH.n, of the hereditary revenue, he might have enforced order, punished fraud and swindHng, and opened the way by a just administration towards a future union with Great Britain. The honest course would in the end have proved the safest. It would have involved sacrifices, however, on the part of England. If in tegrity and justice were to be the rule of Govern ment, precept would have to be attended by example. The Cabinet could not any longer abuse Irish patron age to purchase Parliamentary support at home, or quarter favorites on the Irish estabHshment whom elsewhere they dared not recommend. The EngHsh statesmen of the eighteenth century, the Graftons, the Weymouths, the Norths, the Shelburnes, had learnt in official routine to regard these resources as indispensable for the public service. They were in capable, perhaps, from habit and training, of break ing in upon established precedent. There was another way of governing Ireland : it was also pos sible to fall in with the national ideas, and to main tain the Parliament as a form ; but since corrupt it was, to manage it through and by the corruptions which it loved ; to dissolve the old parties, and to form instead a new combination which should be held to gether by dependence upon the Castle. Of the alternative policies this unhappUy was the one on which the Cabinet resolved, and Townshend remained in Ireland to become the most unwUling instrument in carrying it out. He set himseff to the work of seduction with all the arts which he pos sessed. The Dublin tradesmen had suffered by the premature dispersion of the Lords and Commons. The Viceroy restored them to good humor by the magnificence of the Castle hospitaHties. He gave 1770.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 91 masquerades ; he gave fancy balls, in which the cos tumes, with a skiKul compliment to Ireland, were made only of Irish manufacture. The members of the Opposition sneered, and would have stayed away ; the wives and daughters refused to exclude them selves from assemblies of which the capital of Ireland had never seen the equal, and forced their husbands and fathers into submission. The gentlemen could not resist the fascination of the Castle dinner parties where the wit was as sparkling as the champagne. Townshend laughed at everything — laughed at the Opposition, laughed at the friends of Government, laughed most of all at himself. With his light good humor he conquered popularity, while more subtly he secured important friends by working substantially upon them below the surface. Hely Hutchinson was attached by a pension ^ which was added to his salary as Prime Sergeant. Pery was disarmed by similar methods, and the links of the chain were strengthened which held TisdaU. Thus by the time March came, the Viceroy felt himself strong enough to begin the serious part of his business. To gentle seduction, terrors were to be added. The Cabinet had given him the permission which he desired, to deprive the Shannon party of their offices ; he had watched his opportunity to deliver the blow, and now it fell. They had believed that finding themselves in difficulties with America, the Cabinet would not ven ture to punish them. On the 6th of March, Shan- I Townshend insisted very strongly on the necessity of this pension. " Nothing," he said, " but the unrivalled application and abilities of this gentleman, who is so necessary for the King's service, and to be detached from the great interests in opposition to Government, could prevail on me to recommend this affair so strongly, by which I think the most useful man in this Pariiament will be fully secured." — " To Weymouth, March 7. Secret." 92 The English in Ireland. [Bk. t. Ch. n. non, Lanesborough, and Ponsonby were undeceived by learning from the Viceroy that the King had no longer occasion for their services. With the chiefs of the Ordnance Board and the Revenue Board were to follow all the subordinates and dependents. The entire departments were to be changed completely to the very last man. The effect was ludicrous. Lord Loftus, another, though less inveterate delinquent, and himseff the possessor of a lucrative office, waited in consternation on Townshend, and endeavored to make his peace. Townshend put him on his good behavior. If he tripped again into opposition, he was informed that he and all who belonged to him would have to make way for trustier men. All offices at the disposition of the Crown from highest to lowest were to be held thenceforward by persons who would. place their votes at the disposition of the Viceroy, and by no others. The revenue commission had been the scene of the grossest frauds ; not only was the whole staff to be replaced, but the number of commissioners was to be increased : Townshend had significantly said. that he must have Englishmen among them, men of integrity, ability, and experience unconnected with Ireland. 1 The patriots looked for an outbreak of indignation at the dismissal of their champions. They were astonished to find that Dublin cared noth ing after all for the oligarchy with whom they had identified themselves. The Opposition majority dis- I The addition to the number of revenue commissioners in Ireland by Townshend, striking as it did at the root of au established and lucrative form of speculation, was the subject for many years of the most passionate declamation in the Irish Parliament. . . . ' Bj' allowins the new commis sioners to sit in the House of Commons, he laid himself open to the charge of adding to the number of placemen. . . . But his private letters leave no doubt of the real motive for the increase. 1770.] Lord Townshends Administration. 93 integrated so rapidly, that the Viceroy almost con templated the recall of the Parliament. " No ser vants of the Crown," he said, " had ever fallen less regretted." But he preferred to prolong the suspense to make sure of his ground. " The consequences of the late measures had not had time to operate fully." Loftus had promised to behave well. Others would follow ff not pressed too hastily. Prorogation, there fore, followed prorogation. The submission of the same Parliament which had been so audaciously de fiant would be a greater triumph than the election of another by a dissolution. The noble lords and their friends, seeing the game go against them, lost their tempers. Flood's eloquence continued to stream through the press, but it fell flat upon Dublin society, which was basking in the sunshine of the Castle ; and his invectives read by the light of Townshend's cor respondence are absurd to childishness. Sir William Mayne, a favorite of the Duke of Leinster, was among those who had been removed from the Coun cil. He had been one of the most violent of the Opposition members, entirely in consequence of what he had regarded as a personal affront. On Town shend's arrival in Ireland " Mayne honored him with his wishes to be chief secretary," his qualifications being " that he was one of the most florid, perpetual, and inept orators that ever performed on the Irish or any other stage." ^ He had not the success which he expected. He then offered to vacate his seat, giving the Viceroy the nomination, if the Viceroy would recommend him for a peerage. " I own to your lordship," the Viceroy said in a letter to Weymouth, " the proposition rather shocked me ; it was a long I " Townshend to Weymouth, April 28."' 94 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. n. while before I could bring myself to answer it with temper." Mayne could not have his peerage. He had revenged himseK in the usual way, and had now been punished. The Duke of Leinster took his parasite's disgrace as personal to himself. He wrote to Townshend, begging that when the Viceroy erased the name of Sir William Mayne he would erase his own at the same time. Townshend answered cour teously that the Viceroy had no authority, as the duke must be aware, to remove a Privy Councillor by an act of his own. If the Duke was serious, he would, with great concern, " transmit his application." In a brief note, characteristic alike of the man, and of the elements in which the young Fitzgeralds were being educated, the duke repeated his demand. " You are so obliging as to say," he wrote, " that if I continue to desire it, you will transmit my letter to be laid before his majesty. It is the only favor I ever asked of your exceUency, and I flatter myself that your excellency will take such steps as are proper to have my request complied with, as it wUl save me the necessity of doing it myseff." ^ The duke, perhaps, expected Townshend to chal lenge him. He was disappointed. His letter was forwarded to St. James's. Sir George McCartney was instructed to communicate that the request had been compHed with ; and the duke closed the singu lar correspondence by thanking McCartney for the trouble which he had taken, " particularly as it had prevented him taking an unprecedented step, and perhaps attended with some consequences, which, however, he would have run, for the ease and satis faction which he now felt in his mind of being no I " The Duke of Leinster to Lord Townshend, April 23, 1770." — S. P. 0. 1770.] Lord Townshends Administration. 95 longer of a board which he once thought most honora- able." Swimming in a base and sordid element, Town shend, like Cornwallis after him, detested the work in which he was engaged of superseding a corrupt oli garchy by corrupt Prsetorians. If England could be persuaded to treat Ireland with real justice, bettei things might stiU be possible. " The general disposition of his majesty's subjects," he wrote to Lord Weymouth, " has been tried and found faithful at this crisis. Unagitated by the dis appointment of the leading interests, unprejudiced by the insinuations or example of other parts of his majesty's dominions, who solicit them to make a common cause to distress the Government, they appar ently remain at their homes, a distinguished example of loyalty and confidence. Therefore, my lord, I the more readily solicit such indulgences as may appear on better deliberation fitting to be granted to them. I am informed that there is a species of coarse, narrow woollen cloth manufactured in this country, proper for the Spanish and Portuguese markets, and that none of the same quality is manufactured in Great Britain. I submit whether the free exportation of that article might not be given to Ireland, as it would, in some measure, counteract a large bounty given by the French for the importation of wool from the west ern parts of this kingdom. " It seems also but fab to this country, which has been so encouraged to cultivate the linen manufact ure, to extend to them the bounty granted last ses sion of ParHament on the exportation of checks, and to take off the heavy duty of 30 per cent, which they now pay on importation, equal to a prohibition ; and 96 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Can. if a bounty on the exportation of printed linens be granted as a further encouragement to British linen, I should hope it may be thought proper that the same should be extended to Ireland. " Follow my advice, and then the sooner Parlia ment meets the better, lest the country, hitherto affectionate, and contemning the private views of our opponents, when it finds itself punished for its indis cretion, through disappointment should join those whom it at present rejects." ^ The favor so modestly requested was but a small instalment of the debt of justice which England really owed. Had it been freely conceded at this time, what mischief might not have been prevented ! Political sagacity may be baffled. Political conces sions may aggravate the evils they are meant to cure. Justice only never fails. A few years were to pass, and the entire fabric of commercial disabilities was to be swept away from its foundations. But the fall of it was to bring no gratitude, while the memory of the wrong was to remain forever uneffaced and unefface- able. The chain was allowed to remain till it was broken by the revolt of the American colonies, and Ireland was to learn the deadly lesson that her real wrongs would receive attention from England only when England was compelled to remember them by fear. North, Weymouth, Shelburne — any one of whom left to his own intelligence would have seen the fitness of instant consent — were deaf to advice. The manufacturing interests in Parliament were too powerful. Townshend's advice could not be followed. The bounties of which he spoke were violations even of the miserable compacts to which Ireland's woollen 1 " To Weymouth, September 25. Most private and secret." 1770.] Lord Townshends Administration. 97 trade had been sacrified. Ireland was denied the benefit of them ; the Viceroy was driven back on the only remedy which remained — of wholesale and sys tematic bribery ; while the essential interests of the island were contemptuously neglected or forgotten. ^ The seizure of the Falkland Isles by Spain, in the summer of 1770, created a sudden danger of war. Weymouth ordered Townshend to be on his guard. Townshend had to reply that the country was still de fenceless, and that if war came, he could not answer for the consequences. The Catholics infinitely ex ceeded the Protestants in numbers. They were mis erable, mutinous, and devoted to their priests. Inter nal peace depended on " the submission of the wealthy Roman Catholics to the Government." As to foreign enemies, " neither Waterford, Dungannon, nor Youghal could resist a frigate." " Cork, the finest harbor in the world, more important to Great Britain than Dublin, was defended only by a miserable bat- rery, called Cove Fort." ^ " Common sense and com mon justice " had been so long forgotten in Ireland, " that the powers of party obliged the Government I The rise in the price of farm produce had not remedied the poverty of the people, for the landowners and middlemen, when they were not held in check by the Whiteboys, had secured the profit to themselves. Town shend was no more of a sentimentalist than English statesmen are apt to be, yet he summed us one of his descriptive letters by saying: ¦ — " In short, my lord, the distress of this people is very great. I hope to be excused for representing to his majesty the miserable situation of the lower ranks of his subjects in this kingdom. What from the rapaciousness of their un feeling landlords and the restrictions on their trade, they are among the most wretched people on earth." — "To We^^mouth, November 23." 2 Townshend himself examined Cork. "It must," he says, "be a matter of curious speculation to whoever traces the old works about the harbor, to observe how much abler were the engineers in the years 1602 and 1644, when Lord Mountjoy and Prince Rupert commanded in this country. Dugnose and Ramhead were better positions than the job at the Cove." — "To Weymouth, October 16." VOL. II. 7 98 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. ii. to misapply the purses of the people to private pur poses." " An absurd terror had been inculcated, that every useful miHtary work, wherever placed, was in tended more against the liberties of the people than against the views of a restless enemy, in constant cor respondence with the restless and bigoted inhabitants of their own religion." ^ Every Government work was jobbed "to gratify individuals whose political power was irresistible." Barracks were placed where soldiers would be of least service. Outlymg posts had been destroyed which had held the peasantry in check, and the regiments removed to towns where the officers learnt or practised Irish vices, and the men forgot their discipline in whiskey shops. Of the condition of the army there had been re cently a very painful illustration. Major Wrixon, who was with a battalion at Limerick, had carried off a young lady from her parents' house by force, and had kept her with him in the barracks. He was tried by court-martial, and cashiered. The court, however, memorialized the Crown in his favor, on the ground that Major Wrixon's dismissal from the service would distress his sister ! At Rathdowney, in Queen's County, there had 1 Townshend confirms the evidence which came out on the late White boy trials as to the temper of the Catholics of the South—: " The remains of the old Popish clans keep up a constant correspondence with France and Spain, for smuggling, for recruits, and for our deserters. They are a very lawless people, mostly armed, frequently forming them selves into banditti, defying law and magistr-ites, and committing the greatest outrages. The troops are called for to secure common execution of criminals. French vessels frequent the coasts, and the great supply of foreign goods into the south of the kingdom is by means of these people. It is amazing that all the posts of troops which King William established in the country to civilize the people should have been i-emoved to the corpora tions in the interior, and those parts left in as uncivilized and dangerous a state as at that period. When the mountains are occupied the revenue will be increased forty or fifty thousand a year." — To Weymouth, October 16 1770.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 99 been a scene no less characteristic. The Viceroy had reported that "there was a wild ungovernable dis position in the people of many parts of the kingdom, which neither the common law nor the civil magis trates were able to restrain." The miHtary had to be called in at Rathdowney, but the military power was as little to be trusted as the civil power was inad equate. A sergeant's guard went into the town on market-day, apparently to buy provisions. Other privates of the regiment at the station followed them, and, with no discoverable provocation, " fell promis cuously on the inhabitants, wounding some and killing others." Not an officer was to be found in the place but the quartermaster. It was proved to be the practice of the officers everywhere to " appear in quarters for a day, sign the returns, and then absent themselves till the next return." Townshend hurried himself to the spot, and or dered the troops to be paraded without arms. Those of the rioters who could be identified were handed over to the civil authorities. The rest were marched to Dublin, and tried by a general court-martial. The officers were charged with being absent from duty without leave. They were found guilty, and dis missed the service ; but, like Major Wrixon, were recommended to mercy. With such troops, such officers, and such court-martials, the Viceroy did not find his task more easy of defending the augmenta tion of the army. He refused to listen to the memo rial. In both instances the sentence was carried out. But here, too, the evil could be traced to the common source of all the disorders in the country. " The necessity of yielding to powerful parHamentary inter ests had been the great source of the indiscipline of the army." 100 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v.Ch.e SECTION IV. The public departments had been reorganized. The dependents of the Boyles and the Ponsonbies had vanished with their chiefs. The Customs and Excise boards had been refilled by new members, who could be relied on to refuse to countenance dis honesty, and whose votes could be depended on in a parliamentary division. The great Loftus interest had been brought into obedience, and the support of the independent members, who had held aloof in the last session, had been secured by the only means which were capable of attaching them. It was said afterwards by Lord Clare, that half a million in all was the price which they had placed upon their ser vices. At length, in the spring of 1771, the Viceroy found himseff once- more prepared to meet the Parlia ment, without fear of the renewal of the scenes of the late session. The lowest calculation of the numbers at the disposition of Government anticipated a ma jority of at least twenty in the same House and among the same men who, eighteen months before, were half prepared to declare the independence of Ireland. Lord Townshend's instructions were not to reopen old sores, or to require a recall of the hostile resolu tion. His protest had sufficed. He was now to con ciliate, to hold out hopes that the King would " co operate " in relieving Irish distress ; and to show " that it would be owing solely to the rashness and 1771.] Lord Townshends Administration. 101 folly of the Opposition if they and their fellow- subjects were deprived of those advantages." ^ Once more, on the 24th of February, the Viceroy encountered the lords and gentlemen who had sworn to drive him from Ireland. Without referring to past differences, he told them that he had the truest satisfaction in obeying his majesty's commands to meet them again. Knowing something, perhaps, of what had happened in the interval, but ignorant how far the methods employed had been successful, the Opposition declared war upon the instant, and an address was moved by the younger Ponsonby, in which the usual compliments to the Lord-Lieutenant were pointedly omitted. An amendment was pro posed to replace the customary words.^ A debate followed, which lasted till midnight, and the fatal truth was theh revealed in the division, that the power of the Ponsonbies had passed from them. They were defeated by 132 to 107. Their own arms had been turned -against them. By the control of the public purse they had hitherto secured a monopoly of power. Place, pension, promotion, all pleasant things which Irish poHticians entered Parliament to gain, were thenceforward to be the reward of the faithful servants of the Castle, and of no others. Though recovered by the most questionable means, the au thority of the Crown was restored to its visible repre sentative. The defeated families had been adroit enough to represent their cause as the cause of Ireland. In return for the support of the patriots against the 1 "Lord Rochford to Townshend, February 9, 1771." 2 " To return our most humble thanks to his majesty for continuing his excellency Lord Townshend in the government of this kingdom." 102 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Cn.n. Viceroy they had themselves adopted the patriot cries; and when it was plain that Parliament had deserted them, they were taken up as martyrs by the people. A furious mob assembled the next day at College Green. Loftus was pelted and insulted; suspected members of the Lower House were caught, and oaths of fidehty to Ireland were thrust into their mouths. The troops were called out to disperse the rioters, and remained on guard at the gates when the business of the morning commenced. Flood started to his feet with a complaint that freedom was in danger from the presence of an armed force. He moved a resolution that the House was being over awed. Out of a hundred and fifty members, fifty- one only supported him. Still unable to realize what had happened, he returned to the subject on which before he had achieved so splendid a triumph. He moved that it was necessary to declare the undoubted privilege of the Commons to originate the Money BiUs. Here, too, his strength had" vanished. He forced a division, and Townshend's new allies were true to their engagements. Flood's motion was lost by 128 to 105. But humiliation so direct was naturaUy painful. The Viceroy had desired to spare his new supporters, and was willing to allow them to soothe their seK- respect by a show of consistency. Sexton Pery moved, as a paragraph in the address, that " while the Commons were incapable of attempting anything against the rights of the Crown, they were tenacious of the honor of being the first movers in granting supplies ; and they besought his majesty not to con strue their zeal into an invasion of his authority." To Townshend, Pery represented his motion as an 1771.] Lord Townshends Administration. 103 apology and admission of fault. Townshend saw that it was an indirect assertion of the disputed right. He did not himself quarrel with the words ; but the King, at his advice, made a marked allusion to them in his reply ; and the Commons, by inserting the reply in the Journals, without comment or objection, accepted and submitted to the implied reproof.^ The address to the Crown being agreed upon, there followed next the address to the Lord-Lieutenant, the double ceremony being invariably observed. The Opposition saw that it would be hopeless to resist. The address to Townshend was passed, and the duty of presenting it fell to Ponsonby as Speaker. It was too much for him. Driven off the field, utterly and finally defeated, he could not be the person to place the laurel-wreath on the brows of his conqueror. " He had desired," he said, in conveying to the House his resignation of the chair, " to preserve and transmit to his successor the rights and privileges of the Commons of Ireland. In the last session it had pleased the Lord-Lieutenant to accuse the Commons of a great crime. In the present session it had pleased the Com mons to take the first opportunity of testifying their approbation of his excellency by voting him an ad dress of thanks. Respect for their privileges pre vented him from being the instrument of delivering such address, and he must request them to elect an other Speaker." ^ He, perhaps, hoped his resignation would not be accepted. The Government, in fact, narrowly es- I " His majesty is well pleased with the assurance given by the House of Commons of their regard for his rights, and those of the Crown of Great Britain, which it is his indispensable duty to assert, and which he will ever think it incumbent on him to maintain." 2 Commons' Journal, March 4, 1771. 104 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. il caped defeat upon it. Sir George Macartney pro- prosed Sexton Pery. The elder Fitzgibbon seconded him. Pery's election in a full House was carried only by a majority of four.^ Ponsonby had a vote of thanks for his past services, and the House, its inter ests being no longer absorbed in quarelling with the Viceroy, addressed itself to practical business. Heads of bills were drawn for the encouragement of agricul ture, for the repression of trade combinations, for the determination of wages and hours of work. Drunk enness was increasing annually. A biU was devised to prevent corn from being wasted on whiskey-mak ing. While Townshend, eager on his side to en courage the Irish in any useful exertion, again pressed on the Home Government the unfairness of giving bounties to the Manchester manufacturers, in the teeth of the linen compact, and pleaded either that the bounty should be withdrawn, or Ireland be allowed to share it.^ It might have been expected by the least sanguine of Ireland's real friends, that when the Parliament had at last addressed itself to real business, England would have given it some encouragement. England had made herself responsible for Ireland by forcibly annexing it to the empire. She had just completely, if scandalously, recovered her constitutional authority. We find, with a feeling approaching indignation, 1 Lord Tyrone wanted his brother, Mr. John Beresford, to be chosen. Beresford had been already nominated chief of the new commissioners of the Revenue. "Tlie envy," said the Viceroy, " which would have fol lowed a young man so likely soon to be at the head of the Revenue, hold ing the chair at the same time, the eft'ect it would have had on the first families and friends to Govcrniuent, and tbe revival of an idea that Eng lish Government would again fall into the hands of contractors, was so strong that I was obliged to urge Lord Tyrone to withdraw his brother. He did so in the handsomest manner, and supported Mr. Pery." — Town shend to Rochford, March 11. 2 " To Rochford, March 24." 1771.] Lord Townshends Administration. 105 that she at once dismissed the wretched country out of her mind, and relapsed into selfish indifference. Not only was Townshend's caution on the linen com pact again neglected, the bounties maintained in favor of Manchester and refused to Belfast, but even the heads of the Agricultural BiU were rejected, because it would add to the expenditure. The Whiskey Bill was rejected, because the Treasury could not spare the few thousand pounds which were levied upon drunkenness.'- The alteration in the Judges' Tenure, which Townshend had promised, had been lost through faction and misunderstanding. The House expected that these matters would now receive atten tion, but they expected in vain. A prudent Govern ment would have remembered that corruption is as dishonorable to those who employ it as to those who yield to it ; would have endeavored to atone for its own share in that bad transaction, and to reconcile the purchased majority to their shame, by at least as sisting them to confer solid benefits on their country. The session did not end without a significant expres sion of regret for the lost opportunity. Thanks were proposed to the Viceroy for his just' and prudent ad ministration. A sarcastic substitute, proposed by a hot member of the Opposition, fell unseconded.^ An amendment to expunge the words " just and ptfudent " found fifty supporters. 1 The Viceroy was not to blame. In transmitting the heads of the pro posed Act, he said the whiskey shops were ruining the peasantry and the workmen. There was an earnest and general desire to limit them. " It will be a loss to the revenue," he admitted, " but it is a very popular bill, and will give general content and satisfaction throughout the kingdom." 2 " Proposed to give the Viceroy our special thanks for having obtained for this countr}' a law securing judges in their offices and appointments during good behavior, in pursuance of his excellency's promise ; for the returning of the law for the restraining of the distilleries ; for the ex pected alteration of other laws ; for the rise in the value of lands." — Commons' Journals, May 16, 1771. 106 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. il SECTION V. COEBUPTIOK unredeemed by integrity of purpose becomes an expensive process. The more complete the shame, the higher the price that must be paid for it. The Dublin press was free, and Loftus, Tyrone, TisdaU, Hutchinson, and the other apostates from the patriot band, were held up weekly in the " Freeman's Journal " to public scorn. Back stabs Castle scan dals, as false most of them as the general conception which the patriots had formed of Lord Townshend, were the daily amusement of the coffee houses. Had the recovered influence of Government shown itseff in active measures for the relief of the people, the ignominy would have been less bitter. When noth ing of this kind appeared, the Viceroy found himself beset with demands which he dared not refuse, lest he should imperil all that he had gained. Viscounts who had sons and nephews in the Lower House wanted earldoms. Barons wanted to be viscounts, CommQfas to be barons. Patrons of boroughs re quired promotions in the army for their friends ; sin ecures and offices in remainder for themselves and their families. The really important reform which had been carried out in the Ordnance and Revenue departments added to the difficulties. The Viceroy had made a deadly enemy of every man who had filled his pockets under the old system. The increase expected from the change in the hereditary revenue 1771.] Lord Townshends Administration. 107 had offended the old politicians, who desired to keep the Government dependent.-' Mr. Beresford, who was to succeed Ponsonby as head commissioner, was dis satisfied to find that he was not to succeed to Pon sonby's patronage. Sir William Osborne was dis pleased at being passed over in Beresford's favor. The Earl of Tyrone asked for a marquis's coronet, and could not have it. The promotion of his second brother was an inadequate compensation. Another brother, William Beresford, had married old Fitz- gibbon's daughter. Tyrone applied for a bishopric for him. He was but twenty-eight years old, and the request being refused, Fitzgibbon conceived himself affronted as well. The price of dishonor was raised so high that the income and patronage of England would not have satisfied all the claimants ; and as England would give nothing except rewards for po Htical service, the Viceroy was in a bad position. Money was wanted. No supplies had been asked for in the spring, and Parliament reassembled on the 8th of October. The patriots were in spirits again. The address was fought through once more, paragraph by paragraph. Lord Kildare moved that " we lament that we cannot enumerate among our blessings the continuance of Lord Townshend in the government of this kingdom." Flood stoutly seconded him, and at each division the Government majority diminished. The traffic with Ireland's conscience had been costly. The Money Bill of 1769 had been rejected, and the expenditure had not been reduced. On the 12th of November, Flood called scornful attention to the 1 " It is perceived that thereby an end would be put to those annual bar gains which Government at present is tmder the sad necessity of making with ungrateful servants or prostitute opponents." — Townshend to the Earl of Rochford, December 11. Secret. 108 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. ii. deficit, and was in a minority of not more than twentJ^ Following up his campaign, he attacked the alteration in the Revenue Board, on the ground of increase of English influence in the House of Com mons ; and on the 16th he carried his resolution by a majority of forty-six. He proposed to send it to the Viceroy by the Speaker's hand, and was success ful again. At the back of this came a job of Lord North's. Lord North, for reasons of his own, had ordered Townshend to place a certain Jerry Dyson and his three sons on the Irish Establishment for a pension of a thousand a year. In vain Townshend had protested against it as dangerous. The minister persisted, and the result was a vote of censure. " In spite of all that I could do," wrote the poor Viceroy, " those who were under verj^ high obligations to Government voted against us, and others went out." This time the supplies were not opposed, but to his disgust rather than surprise, the Viceroy found " that there was once more a general design to distress aud disgrace the English Government." ' In another year, unless the disorderly spirit could be controlled, the Money Bills would be again in danger. Sadly and wearily he detailed the history of his misfortunes. Tisdall and Hely Hutchinson had been languid. Malone had spoken for the Opposition, and divided with them. The new-made Privy Councillors, from whom so much help had been looked for, had been found wanting at the hour of trial. The Beresford faction generally had been vehement and violent; and of the rank and file of members who had either broken their engagements or had presented requests which had not been granted, and were revenging I " Townshend to Rochford, December 5. Most secret." 1771.] Lord Townshends Administration. 109 their disappointment, a black list was forwarded to London. 1 I The list, -with the attached remarks, is curiously instructive on the working Irish Parliamentary Government : — " Members considered as friends who have voted against Government. " Lord Dunluce. — His father (the Earl of Antrim) asks a marquisate. His lordship solicits a place for his tutor. " Hugh Skeffington. — Obtained through me a pension of 200?. for his brother's widow. " Wm. Skeffington. — Obtained a cornetcy and a company in two years. " Geo. Montgomery. — I gave a friend of his, on his request, an employ ment of 80?. a year. " Robert Birch. — Solicits a resignation of ten livings from the Crown. "John Creighton. — Has an appointment of 250?. a year. I solicited and obtained a peerage for his father, who promised every support, but is alw.ays, as well as his other sons, against Government. " Robert Scott. — I made him a commissioner of the Linen Board, and he has since asked for a place. "Sir Arthur Brooke. — I procured him the Privy Council, and like wise, very lately, a majority of dragoons, without purchase, for his brother. " Ric. Gorges. — Is connected with Lord Tyrone. He has asked for a place. "Edward Carey. — Brother-in-law to Lord Tyrone. I procured him the Privy Council, and several things have been done to oblige him. " James Fortescue. — Lord Clermont's brother. I procured him the Privy Council. He wants a peerage in remainder. " Colonel Cunningham. — I recommended him for the first regiment that falls during my administration. "Mr. Westenra. — Was brought in by Lord Clermont, and promised always to support Government. He asks for a place. " Colonel Pomeroy. — Obtained leave of absence from America to attend Parliament. He asks for a regiment. " Henry Pritty. — Asked and obtained a promise of Church preferment a few days before the division. " Th. Coghlan. — I made him commissioner of the Linen Board. He asks for a place. " Hugh Massey. — Solicits a peerage for himself, and an advance in the Revenue for his eldest son. " Ch. Smith. — I made his brother a judge. "Thos. Conolly. — A deanery was given to this gentleman's friend, a seat at the Revenue Board to his brother-in-law, and several other things in the army and revenue. " Colonel W. Bruton. — Wants to purchase the office of Quartermaster- General, and to sell his lieutenant-colonel's commission at an advanced pric?. 110 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v.Ch.ii So dark a second time appeared the prospects of the Government, that Ponsonby came again to the front. The new Revenue Board was naturally the object of his attack. He felt so confident of success, that he bet 500 to 3 that he would destroy it. He swore " that he would never quit the office of door-keeper in the House of Commons till he had driven Lord Town shend out of the country." ^ Lord To-wnshend re quired no driving ; he would have been heartily glad to be gone ; for the Cabinet left nothing undone to aggravate his difficulties. Of " justice to Ireland " he could obtain nothing, and for his real reform only a liikewarm support.^ Of wrong, and wrong inflicted in the most insulting form, there was as much as Ire land's worst enemy could desire. Notwithstanding their ill-humor, the ParHament had voted the suppHes. They had introduced a clause among the additional duties, protecting Irish linen from the importation of cotton manufacture from the Continent. It was a protection to which Ireland was strictly entitled. The Cabinet, free-traders when only Ireland's in terests were at stake, struck the paragraph out, and returned the Money Bill without it. There is no folly like that of giving an unreasonable antagonist a moral advantage. The Commons flung the BiU out in a rage ; they said distinctly they would never pass a Money Bill which had been altered in England. Heads of a new bill were drawn in which the clause was replaced, and were sent back without a moment's "Anthony Malone. —Has been obliged in everything that he has asked. " Mr. Malone. — Nephew to Anthony Malone, &c., &c." 1 "Townshend to Rochford, December 12." 2 " The Cabinet had begun to doubt ' whether, in the face of the opposi tion, it was prudent to carry out the new Revenue Board.' " —Rochford to Townshend, December 20. 1772.] Lord Townshends Administration. Ill delay. The Cabinet swaUowed the affront and yielded. The new bill was returned, compared care fully with the transmiss, and being found unchanged was passed. But the Revenue question had been reopened. Flood's resolution had been sent to the King for consideration, and Townshend had but small confidence in Lord North's resolution. Nothing had been allowed which ought to have been allowed. His hands were soiled with work which he detested, and which, after all, was turning out useless. He longed to be clear of it. " He had been fighting hard for four years," he said, " and he had now a right to ask for repose." He thought the Cabinet unwise in every way ; unwise in altering the Money Bill ; unwise in submitting when submission wore the complexion of cowardice. " Concessions to popular opinion," he said (and the history of Ireland is one long illustration of his words), " are seldom repaid with gratitude. They have been interpreted hitherto as foundations only for further claims. It is only by a determined resolution of adhering to system, and by constant perseverance, that the authority of the English Gov ernment can be maintained in this kingdom." Lord North proved firmer than Townshend ex pected. On the 5th of February the answer came, that notwithstanding the objections of the House of Commons, his majesty regarded it as his duty to maintain the changes which had been made in the Revenue department. The patriots, of course, pur sued the quarrel. Sir Charles Bingham, when the King's reply was delivered in the House, rose and moved that the resolution of the 16th of November should be read. He then declared that the mainte nance of the new commissioners was an indignity to 112 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v.Ch.ii. the Parliament. Ponsonby following him, proposed that the House should choose a committee to go to London and lay the sentiments of the Irish Commons before the King. The Cabinet, provoked into resolu tion, declined to be visited by " Irish Parliamentary Ambassadors." They bade Townshend prevent the accomplishment of such a piece of foolery at all haz ards. If nothing else would do, he must prorogue.^ It seemed as if once more the Viceroy would be driven to this alternative. One angry motion followed upon another. Flood carried a vote that the House should record its dissent, and followed it with a proposal that members of the House who had accepted seats at the new Board were guilty of contempt, and should neither sit nor vote till they had resigned. This was too violent, and was rejected. On the 19th of Feb ruary, however, the patent for the new commissioners was read aloud. A resolution less extreme was moved, that whoever had advised the increase in the number of commissioners had advised a measure con trary to the sense of the Irish legislature. The num bers on a division were equal — 106 in favor, 106 against. Again a question in which the Government was directly assailed turned on the casting vote of the Speaker, and Sexton Pery, who was perfectly well acquainted with the real reasons for the alterations of the Board, and was without the excuse of delusion, did as Ponsonby had done before him, and divided against the Government. Prorogation or dissolution! To one of these two the Viceroy's choice appeared to be limited, when suddenly the ranks of the Opposition wavered; a combination which had threatened to be irresistible 1 "Rochford to Townshend, February 12, 1772." 1772.] Lord Townshends Administration. 113 dissolved like a mist. Neither the Commons' Jourr nals nor the Irish Histories explain the change. So much only is visible, that from this time forward the Viceroy was worried with no more adverse resolu tions. The new Board went quietly about its work, and for the present no further effort was made to re duce its numbers or drive its members from the House. Once more an address was carried to the Viceroy, in which the Commons declared their entire satisfaction with his Excellency's administration, and an amendment conveying in every sentence the indig nation of a baffled faction conscious of defeat was re jected without a division.^ The interpretation implied in the language of the amendment is the increase in the army of placemen whose votes were at the Viceroy's disposition. But though the Viceroy had not again appointed to offices of trust men who had divided against him at the most critical moment, the Deus ex machinS, who rescued I Proposed amendment to the Address, May 27: "And we cannot sufficiently congratulate your excellency on your prudent disposition of lucrative offices among the members of this House, whereby your excel lency has been enabled to excite gratitude sufficient to induce this House to bear an honorable testimony to an administration which, were it not that it has been found so beneficial to individuals, must necessarily have been represented to his majesty as the most exceptionable and destructive to this kingdom of any that has ever been carried on in it. The carrying into execution the division of the Revenue Board, contrary to the sense of this House, we should have considered and represented as a high contempt of Parliament. But, from the distribution of the multiplied seats at the two boards now instituted among members of this House, we entertain a very different sense of that measure, and conceive that it was carried into exe cution, not from contempt, but the highest veneration of Parliament, the indignation of which you dreaded, and therefore thus averted. And we assure your excellency we are very much obliged to you for the offices which you have bestowed upon us. We also return you thanks for instituting offices for us at a new Board of Accounts, which, however unnecessary for the public service, we find very serviceable to ourselves." — Commons' Journals. 114 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch.ii. him from his difficulties was a penitent friend of the people, no less a person than Lord Shannon. When the storm was beginning there had come from that unlooked for quarter a partial gleam of hope. The earl, after recovering from his dismissal, had reflected that the English interest might in the long run prove the strongest. He had made private advances to Townshend. Townshend had placed him in commu nication with Lord North, and had been anxiously ex pecting the result. A few days after the Speaker's desertion he was able to write to Lord Rochford that Lord Shannon had come to DubHn, and though still appearing to keep aloof from the Castle, " would by and by support the Government upon any terms which his majesty should be pleased to approve." " I need not caution your lordship," he continued, " how extremely essential it is to the King's serrioe here that this transaction with Lord Shannon, so critical to Government at this period, should not transpire, as its enemies would not fail to take every advantage of it, and to revolt. Lord Shannon ap pears to wish to return as early as possible to the service of the Crown with the utmost propriety and effect. At the same time, in justice to the use we derive from his conduct, I must request your lord ship to lay the circumstances before his majesty, that it may have its due weight. It vrill account in great measure for the inaction of one desperate faction, and the disappointment of a shameful flying squadron, who have the greatest obligations to the Crown.^ 1 "Townshend to the Earl of Rochford, Feb. 29." Secret. 1772.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 115 SECTION VI. From the picture of this astonishing ParHament we turn to the people whom it represented. England in her better days had planted Ireland with Protestant colonists, who were designed to reclaim and civilize it. Of these colonists the natural leaders enjoyed a self- granted and perpetual leave of absence. The mother country having exchanged Puritan godliness for the commercial gospel, thought fit to paralyze those who remained and were industrious, for the benefit of the Scotch and EngHsh manufacturers. The settlers, finding selfishness and injustice the rule of the country, followed naturally so inviting an example. Before the Whiteboy agitation had abated in Tip perary, similar disturbances, rising from analogous causes, had appeared among the Presbyterian farmers of Ulster. In the south the especial grievances had been the tithing the potato gardens, the inclosure of commons, and the raising of rents. To these, which existed in equal force in the north, was added a form of extortion in the county cess. " Neither the laws," wrote Lord Townshend to the Home Secretary, " nor provincial justice, are adminis tered here as in England. Neither the quarter ses sions nor the grand juries give the counties the same speedy relief, nor maintain the like respect, as with us. The chief object of the grand juries is so to dis pose of the country cesses as best suits their party 116 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. ii. views and private convenience. The sums raised by these gentlemen throughout the kingdom amount to not less than 130,000Z. per annum, which is levied upon the tenantry, the lower classes of which are in a state of poverty not to be described. It may easily be imagined what the poor people feel when these charges are added to rents already stretched to the uttermost."^ The Ulster Protestants, being more patient and law-abiding than the Catholics of the south, had been peculiarly exposed to these exacting and oppressive cesses. " It is notorious," Captain Erskine reported, who was sent by Townshend to the north to examine into the complaints which were brought to him, " what use is made by grand juries of the powers ¦given them to lay cess for roads and bridges. Jobs upon jobs, one more infamous than another, serve to support the interests of some leading men in the country. I do not believe the roads in any part of the world are as bad as in these five counties ; ^ yet I am told they have, from time immemorial, been cessed by their grand juries at 5O,O00Z. a year." ^ In 1764 parties of the poorer tenants coUected under the name of Oak Boys, to bring the landlords into more moderate dealing with them. Cattle were houghed or slashed. Farmsteads were burnt. Com binations were formed to resist cess and rent and tithe. The Oak Boys, however, never became for midable, and the landlords had gone on in the high oppressive style which had become natural to them. The increase of the linen trade in the first years of 1 " To Rochford, March 18, 1772." 3 "Derry, Armagh, Tyrone, Down, and Antrim." 8 " Captain Erskine to Mr. Lee, April 10, 1772." — S. P. 0. 1772.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 117 Townshend's Government gave them fresh opportu nities. " The northern Protestants," in a " remon strance," which they sent up to the Government, drew an instructive picture of the treatment to which they had been subjected. During the first haff of the cen tury, they said, " the wise conduct and encourage ment of the nobility of Ulster" had so developed the flax manufacture, that the workpeople " had been enabled to make decent settlements and Hve com fortably." The arable lands were aU occupied and well cultivated. The inhabitants multiplied, the country prospered. " The landlords thirsted to share the- people's benefits by raising their rents, which would have been very reasonable in a moderate degree, but of late they had run to great excesses." " When the tenant's lease was ended they published in the newspapers that such a parcel of land was to be let, and that proposals in writing would be received for it. They invited every covetous, envious, and ma- Hcious person to offer for his neighbor's possessions and improvements. The tenant, knowing he must be the highest bidder or turn out, he knew not whither, would offer more than the value. If he complained to the landlord that it was too dear, the landlord an swered that he knew it was so, but as it was in a trading country, the tenant must make up the defi ciency by his industry. Those who possessed the greatest estates were now so rich that they could not find deHcacies in their own country to bestow their wealth on, but carried it abroad, to lavish there the entbe days' sweat of thousands of their poor people. They drained the country, and neglected their own duties. Nature assigned the landlord to be a father and coimseUor of his people, that he might keep peace 118 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. ii. and order among thenij and protect them and encour age industry. Though the order of things had made it necessary that the lower should serve under the higher, yet the charter of dominion had not said that the lower should suffer by the higher." ^ Political economy, though passing into practical Hfe, had not yet become the rule of administrations. George the Third ordered Townshend to do his ut most to convince the landlords of their " infatuation." ^ Townshend himself had already introduced a Ten ants' Protection BiU into the Irish Parliament, but " had been defeated by the popularity-hunting party in the House of Commons." ^ At length a flagrant and enormous act of tyranny set light to the fuel which was lying everywhere ready to kindle. Sir Arthur Chichester, the great Viceroy of be laud under James the First, was of aU EngHshmen who ever settled in the country the most useful to it. His descendant, the Lord Donegal of whom it has become necessary to speak, was, perhaps, the person who inflicted the greatest injury on it. Sir Arthur had been rewarded for his services by vast estates in the county Antrim. The fifth Earl and first Marquis of Donegal, already, by the growth of Belfast, by the fruits of other men's labors while he was sitting still, enormously rich, found his income stUl unequal to his yet more enormous expenditure. His name is looked for in vain among the nobles who, in return for their high places were found in the active service of their country. He was one of those habitual and splendid absentees who discharged 1 " Remonstrance of the Northern Protestants." — Irish MSS. 1772. — S. P. O. 2 " Rochford to Townshend, April 6, 1772." s " Townshend to Rochford, March 11." — S. P. 0. 1772.] Lord Townshends Administration. 119 his duties to the God who made him by consenting to existj and to the country which supported him by magnificently doing as he would with his own. Many of his Antrim leases having fallen in simul taneously, he demanded a hundred thousand pounds in fines for the" renewal of them. The tenants, all Protestants, offered the interest of the money in ad dition to the rent. It could not be. Speculative Beffast capitalists paid the fine, and took the lands over the heads of the tenants to sublet. A Mr. Up ton, another great Antrim proprietor, imitated' the example, and " at once a whole country side were driven from their habitations." The sturdy Scots, who in five generations had reclaimed Antrim from the wilderness, saw the farms which they and their fathers had made valuable let by auction to the highest bidder ; and when they refused to submit themselves to robbery, saw them let to others, and let in many instances to Catholics who would promise anything to recover their hold upon the soil.^ " The law may warrant these proceedings, but will not justify them," wrote Captain Erskine, when the evicted peasants and artisans were meeting to express theb sense of them. " Should- the causes of these riots be looked into, it vrill be found that few have had juster foundations. When the consequences of driving six or seven thousand manufacturing and la boring families out of Ireland come to be felt, I ques tion whether the rectitude of these gentlemen's inten tions wiU be held by the world a sufficient excuse for the irreparable damage they are doing." ^ 1 I am not ignorant that Arthur Young palliates these evictions. He -wrote before the consequences which extended from the Old World to the New had distinctly developed themselves. 2 " Captain Erskine to Mr. Lee, April 10, 1772." — S. P. 0. 120 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. Can The most substantial of the expelled tenantry gathered their effects together and sailed to join their countrymen in the New World, where the Scotch-Irish became known as the most bitter of the secessionists. Between those who were too poor to emigrate, and the Catholics who were in possession 'of their homes, there grew a protracted feud, which took form at last in the conspiracy of the Peep of Day Boys ; in the fierce and savage expulsion of the intruders, who were bidden go to hell or Connaught ; and in the Counter- organization of the CathoHc Defenders, which spread over the whole island, and made the army of insurrec tion in 1798. It is rare that two private persons have power to create effects so considerable as to assist in dismembering an empire, and provoking a civil war, Lord Donegal for his services was rewarded with a marquisate, and Mr. Upton with a viscountcy. If re wards were proportioned to deserts, a fitter retribu tion to both of them would have been forfeiture and Tower HiU. A precedent so tempting and so lucrative was nat urally followed. Other landlords finding the trade so profitable began to serve their tenants with notices to quit. The farmers and peasants combined to defend themselves. Where law was the servant of oppres sion, force was their one resource. They caUed themselves Hearts of Steel. Theb object was to pro tect themselves from universal robbery. Their re sistance was not against the Government — it was against the landlords and the landlords' agents, and nothing else. In the Viceroy they felt rightly that they had a friend, and they appealed to him in a modest petition. 1772.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 121 " Petition of those Persons known hy the name of Hearts of Steel. " That we are all Protestants and Protestant Dis senters, and bear unfeigned loyalty to his present majesty and the Hanoverian succession. " That we who are all groaning under oppression, and have no other possiblfe way of redress, are forced to join ourselves together to resist. By oversetting our lands we are reduced to poverty and distress, and by our rising we mean no more but to have our lands, that we could live thereon, and procure necessaries of life for ourselves and our starving families. " That some of us refusing to pay the extravagant rent demanded by our landlords have been turned out, and our lands given to Papists, who will promise any rent. " That we are sorely aggrieved with the county cesses, which, though heavy in themselves, are rendered more so by being applied to private pur poses. " Yet lest it should be said that by refusing to pay the cess we fly in the face of the law, which we do not intend, we will pay the present cess ; and we hope the gentlemen of the county of Down wiU in future have pity on the distressed inhabitants. " That it is not wanton folly that prompts us to be Hearts of Steel, but the weight of oppression. Were the cause removed the effects would cease, and our landlords as heretofore Hve in the affection of their tenants. " May it please you to inquire into the cause of our grievances, and lend your hand to eschew the evils which seem to threaten the Protestants of the North ; 122 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v.CH.n. and let not false suggestions of men partial to their own cause inflame your wrath against innocent and injured persons, who are far removed from the ear of Government and any other possible means of redress. Oh that the cry of the oppressed might reach the throne of Britain ! Our mild and gracious sovereign from his well-known goodness would extend his care to the suffering Protestants in the north of this king dom. " By the Hearts of Steel." i Unjust laws provoke and compel resistance. Vio lence follows, and crime and guUt ; but the guilt, when the account is made up, does not lie entbely with the poor wretch who is called the criminal. The Hearts of Steel destroyed the cattle and farmsteads of the intruding tenants. They attacked gentlemen's houses and lawyers' offices chiefly in search of deeds and leases ; of theft they were never accused. Mag istrates as usual would not act : they preferred to leave to the Government the odium of repressing riots of which they were themselves the cause. Juries, after the time-honored fashion, refused to convict, and witnesses to give evidence. The Presbyterian- clergy exerted themselves as no one else did, but they did not conceal their opinion that the people were in the right.2 I h-ish MSS. 1772. — S. P. O. 2 Address of the Presbytery of Temple Patrick, forwarded by Townshend to LQudon, with the following passage underlined : " Now though we, the members of the Presbytery, cannot but lament the heavy oppression that too many are under, from the excessive price of land, and the unfiiendly practices of many, who contribute to the oppression by proposing for their neighbors' possessions, by which meam they are too often deprived of the im- prmementsmade by their forefathers and themselves, which may be the oc casion of the present illegal measure — yet we are convinced that violence defeats its own ends," &c. 1772.] Lord Townshends Administration. 123 Townshend saw the phenomena with eyes un- jaundiced. " He was satisfied that the disturbances sprung from gross iniquity, and that they could be cured only by the lenity of the proprietors, who, if they refused to let their lands on more moderate terms, would compel their tenants to go to America, or to any part of the world where they could receive the reward which was honestly due to their labors." ^ The House of Commons thought differently. The gentry of the north petitioned for troops to defend them, and the House appointed a committee of in quiry. The facts were on the surface, and might have been comprehended without extreme effort of genius. The Protestants of Ireland were as one to four of the entbe population. They were, as has been often said, a garrison set to maintain the law and the EngHsh connection. The landlords in stupid selfishness were expelling their Protestant tenantry because Catholics promised them a larger rent. They were driving the very flower of their own army to a country which was already on the edge of rebellion, and miiting in sympathy with that rebellion their comrades who were left behind. An act of such ob vious insanity might have been expected to be con demned on the instant by the united voices of the empire. The King saw the infatuation of it ; the English Cabinet saw the inconveniences of it^ and the Viceroy the iniquity. The Irish Patriot House of Commons could see only an invasion of the rights of landlords. The Committee reported that the increase of rents demanded was not exorbitant. The Hearts of Steel by their resistance were dissolving the bonds of society. The disorders of Ulster required force to 1 " Townshend to the Eari of Suffolk, March 21." 124 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. n. check them ; and since the northern juries refused to do their duties, it was only necessary that prisoners charged with a share in the riots should be tried in counties where they were unknown. In this spirit an Act was carried through Parliament. The Vice roy was called on to employ the army to restore or der, and General Gisborne was sent down with as many regiments as could be spared. General Gisborne executed his orders with modera tion. He was received by the people as a friend. They had petitioned Parliament, they said, but Par liament would not answer them. " The supreme Judge himself " had at length looked upon their dis tresses and excited them to commotion, " to cause the landlords, on whom no mild means could prevail, to observe the pale faces and the thin clothing of the honest Protestant subjects who had enriched the country by their industry." They submitted not to their masters, but to the English commander : they invited him to restore peace, not by killing them, but by remedying their wrongs.^ Quiet was easily restored. The Hearts of Steel came of a race who had no love for riots ; and if redress was refused, they had a better resource than rebelHon. The ex actions had not been universal, and where attempted were not everywhere persevered in ; but mischief ir retrievable had been already done. The Hnen trade from other causes had entered on a period of stagna tion, and the consequent distress gave an impetus to the emigration to the land of promise, which assumed presently enormous proportions. Flights of Protestant settlers had been driven out 1 Remonstrance of the " Hearts of Steel," inclosed by Townshend to Lord Suffolk, 1772. 1772.] Lord Townshend's Administration. 125 earlier in the century by the idiotcy of the bishops. Fresh multitudes now winged their way to join them, and in no tender mood towards the institutions under which they had been so cruelly dealt with. The House of Commons had backed up the landlords. The next year they had to hear from the Linen Board that " many thousands of the best manufact urers and weavers with their families had gone to seek their bread in America, and that thousands were preparing to follow." Again a committee was ap pointed to inquire. This time the blame was laid on England which had broken the linen compact, given bounties to the Lancashire millowners which Beffast was not allowed to share, and " in jealousy of Irish manufactures " had laid duties on Irish sail-cloth, con trary to express stipulation. The accusation, as the reader knows, was true. Religious bigotry, com mercial jealousy, and modern landlordism had com bined to do their worst against the Ulster settlement. The emigration was not the whole of the mischief. Those who went carried theb arts and their tools along with them, and at the rate at which the stream was flo-wing the colonies would soon have no need of British and Irish imports. In the two years which foUowed the Antrim evictions, thirty thousand Prot estants left Ulster for a land where there was no legal robbery, and where those who sowed the seed could reap the harvest. They went with bitterness in their hearts, cursing and detesting the aristocratic system of which the ennobling qualities were lost, and only the worst retained. The south and west were caught by the same movement, and ships could not be found to carry the crowds who were eager to go. " The emigration was not only depriving Ireland of 126 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch.il its manufacturers, but of the sinews of its trade." " Rich yeomen with their old leases expbed " refuse^ to renew them in a country where they were to live at other men's mercy, and departed with their fam ilies and their capital. Protestant settlements which had lingered through the century now almost disapr peared. Bandon, TuUamore, Athlone, Kilbeggan, and many other places, once almost exclusively Engn Hsh and Scotch, were abandoned to the priests and the Celts.i Pitiable and absurd story, on the face of which was written madness ! Industry deliberately ruined by the commercial jealousy of England ; the country abandoned to an archy by the scandalous negligence of English states men ; idle absentee magnates forgetting that duty had a meaning, and driving their tenants into rebel Hon and exile ; resident gentry wasting their substance in extravagance, and feeding their riot by wringing the means of it out of the sweat of the poor ; a Par Hament led by patriots, whose love of country meant but the art to embarrass Government, and wrench from it the spoils of office ; Government escaping from its difficulties by lavishing gold which, like me tallic poison, destroyed the seff-respect and wrecked the character of those who stooped to take it ; the working members of the community, and the wor thiest part of it, flying from a soil where some fatal enchantment condemned to failure every effort made for its redemption — such was the fair condition of the Protestant colony planted in better days to show the Irish the fruits of a nobler behef than their own, and the industrial virtues of a nobler race ! Who can I " Report of the Committee of the House of Commons as to Emigra tion, 1774." — Commons' Journals. 1772.] Lord Townshends Administration. 12T wonder that EAglish rule in Ireland has become a byword ? Who can wonder that the Celts failed to recognize a superiority which had no better result to show for itself ? We lay the fault on the intractableness of the race. The modern Irishman is of no race, so blended now is the blood of Celt and Dane, Saxon and Nor man, Scot and Frenchman. The Irishman of the last century rose to his natural level whenever he was removed from his own unhappy country. In the Seven Years' War, Austria's best generals were Irish men. Brown was an Irishman ; Lacy was an Irish man ; O'Donnell's name speaks for him ; and Lally ToUendal, who punished England at Fontenoy, was O'MuUaUy of ToUendaUy. Strike the names of Irishmen out of our own pubHc service, and we lose the heroes of our proudest exploits — we lose the Wellesleys, the Pallisers, the Moores, the Eyres, the Cootes, the Napiers; we lose haff the officers and haff the privates who conquered India for us, and fought our battles in the Peninsula. What the Irish could do as enemies we were about to learn when the Ulster exiles crowded to the standard of Washington. What they can be even at home we know at this present hour, when, under exceptional discipline as police, they are at once the most sorely tempted and ' the most nobly faithful of aU subjects of the British . race. " Realms without justice," said Henry the Eighth long ago, writing of the same Ireland which is still an unsolved problem, " be but tyrannies and robories more consonaunt to beastly appetites than to the laudable Hff of reasonable creatures." ^ When Eng- l " Henry VEIL to the Eari of Surrey." — State Papers, vol. ii. p. 52. 128 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. CH.n. land learns to prefer reaHties to forms, when she rec ognizes once for all, that having taken possession of Ireland for her own purposes, she is bound before God and man to make the laws obeyed there, and to deal justly between man and man, disaffection and dis content will disappear, and Ireland wiU cease to be a reproach ; but the experiment remains to be tried. Ch. hi ] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 129 CHAPTER III. LOED HAKCOUET AND COLONEL BLAQUIERB. SECTION I. Lord Townshend had spoken of endeavors to unite the popular party in Ireland and America. There were good reasons why at that moment these two countries should be of peculiar interest to one another. Ireland was but a colony of longer stand ing, and the Americans saw a picture there of the condition to which an English colony could be reduced in which the mother country had her own way. Their trade was abeady exclusively in English hands. In a little while they too might have an estabHshed church, interfering with liberty of conscience ; their farms, which they had cleared and clothed with corn and orchards, might be claimed by landlords. The Scotch-Irish emigrants especially had their suspicions on the alert, whose grievances were more recent, and whose bitter feelings were kept alive by the continued arrivals from Ulster. None of the Transatlantic settlers had more cause to complain, for none had de served so well of the comitry from which they had been driven. The Protestant settlers in Ireland at the beginning of the 17th century were of the same metal with those who afterwards sailed in the " May Flower" — Presbyterians, Puritans, Independents, in 130 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. search of wider breathing space than was allowed them at home. By an unhappy perversity they had fallen under the same stigma and were exposed to the same inconveniences. The bishops had chafed them with persecutions. The noble lords and gentlemen of the Anglo-Irish communion looked askance at them as republicans. The common sufferings of all orders of Protestants in 1641 failed to teach the madness of divisions in so small a body ; the heroism with which the Scots held the northern province against the Kil kenny Parliament and Owen Roe O'Neil was an in sufficient offset against the sin of nonconformity. The conquest of Ireland was achieved finally by the armies of the Commonwealth, and Leinster and Mun ster were occupied by Cromwell's troopers as an armed industrial garrison. The shadow which fell on Puritanism at the Restoration once more blighted the new colonies. The soldiers of the Protector changed their swords into ploughshares, repaired the desolation of the civil war, and in a few years so changed the face of Ireland, that the growth of prosperity there stirred the jealousy of Lancashire. Nonconformity was still a stain for which no other excellence could atone. The persecutions were renewed, but did not cool Presbyterian loyalty. When the native race made their last effort under James the Second to re cover their lands, the Calvinists of Derry won immor tal honor for themselves, and flung over the -^vretched annals of their adopted country a solitary gleam of true glory. Even this passed for nothing. They were still Dissenters, still unconscious that they owed obedience to the hybrid successors of St. Patrick, the prelates of the Establishment ; and no sooner was peace reestabHshed than spleen and bigotry were Ch. IH.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 131 again at their old work. William had so far recog nized their merits as to bestow on their ministers a small annual grant. Vexed with suits in the eccle siastical courts, forbidden to educate their children in their own faith, treated as dangerous to a state which but for them would have had no existence, and asso ciated with Papists in an Act of Parliament which deprived them of their civil rights, the most earnest of them at length abandoned the unthankful service. They saw at last that the liberties for which they and their fathers had fought were not to be theirs in Ire land. If they intended to live as freemen, speaking no lies, and professing openly the creed of the Refor mation, they must seek a country where the long arm of prelacy was still too short to reach them. During the first half of the eighteenth century, Down, Antrim, Tyrone, Armagh, and Derry were emptied of Protestant inhabitants, who were of more value to Ireland than Californian gold mines ; while the scat tered colonies of the south, denied chapels of their own, and, if they did not wish to be atheists or Pa pists, offered the alternative of conformity or depart ure, took the Government at theb word and melted away. As the House of Hanover grew firmer in its seat, the High Church party declined in power, and dis sent as such ceased to be visited with active penal ties. The Test Act was not repealed. The municipal offices were still monopolized by members of the Establishment. The State continued to insist on conformity as a condition of employment, miHtary or civil. But the Ulster Presbyterians were saved by the exclusion from being tainted by the universal corruption. Their numbers were repaired with the 132 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. growth of the linen trade. They were frugal and industrious; their looms and their, flax fields pros pered with them. Emigration slackened, and the Protestant population had again become an impor tant feature in the community, when the absentee landlords cast their eyes on the wealth which had been silently created, and, in an evil hour, put out their hands to seize it. At once the outflow of Prot estants recommenced under changed and far more dangerous conditions. A large commerce had gro-wn up between Belfast and the American plantations. Relations long separated renewed their tjes. Inter course brought exchange of thought, comparison of grievances, and common schemes of redress. The pulses of the industrial classes in the two countries began to beat in perilously earnest sympathy. One lesson especially the mother country had never ceased to impress upon her colonies, that they existed not for their own sakes, but for hers. Overlooking the circumstances out of which they took theb real origin, she regarded them as created by herself, as outlets for her own productions. They were strictly forbidden to trade with any countries but England and Ireland, or ship their cargoes in any but English vessels. To these conditions the American colonies had hitherto submitted, as the price of English protec tion. Their ports were small, the population sparse and generally consisting of farmers, and the articles which they most needed England could best supply. Left to themselves, they might have been worried by Spain, and, perhaps, invaded and conquered by France. Lord Chatham had made an end of French rivalry. Ch. liL] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 133 The Americans shared the glory of a war of which the benefit was so largely theirs. Twenty-four thou sand colonists had assisted England to conquer Canada. Four hundred American privateers had driven the French from the coast and the lakes. The war had left England with a debt of 148 millions. It was suggested at the Peace of Paris that the colonies should contribute something towards the interest of it, and the colonists did not dispute their equitable liability. Had Pitt been still in power, some arrange ment might perhaps have been successfully attempted. Grenville's less delicate hand provoked the first dis pute. He suggested in 1764 the extension of the stamp duty to America, under the authority of the English Parliament. From authority to impose a tax the step to despotism was short, and, it was feared, certain. When once the consent of the taxpayer, through his representative, was held unnecessary, no second barrier remained. America remonstrated, not violently, for she offered to find a substitute; but she stood out upon the principle. Grenville and Charles Townshend stood upon principle as weU. In 1765, in spite of caution from wiser heads, the colonial stamp duty was im posed by Parliament; Charles Townshend, talking of " our American children planted by our care, nour ished by our indulgence, now fitly contributing to the necessities of the State." " They planted by your care ! " Colonel Barr^ repHed ; " your oppression planted them. They nourished by your indulgence ! they grew by your neglect of them." Both positions were true. But for Anglican bishops there would have been no Puritan exiles. But for Pitt, America would have been French. The remembrance of wrong 134 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. ni, is longer Hved than gratitude for benefits received, Virginia resisted. New England resisted. Congresses met, and drew declarations of colonial rights. The Stamp Act was disobeyed ; business went on as if the Act did not exist ; and in the following year, being obviously useless, it was abandoned. The Act re pealing it, however, reasserted the right of England to tax the colonies, if she pleased to exercise that right ; and the pro-vincial Legislature of New York, which had given special offence, was suspended, as an ad monition to the rest. America having secured the substance of the -vic tory, did not quarrel about words. So long as the claim was not enforced, it was harmless. The colo nists did not anticipate a renewal of the experiment; but England had been touched in her pride. In 1767 Charles Townshend brought the question to an issue once more. A Stamp Act could be evaded without serious inconvenience. Customs duties being levied at the ports could be evaded only by a refusal to consume the articles on which they were imposed. A small tax, just sufficient to try the principle, was laid on glass, paper, and tea. The Massachusetts Chambers passed a resolution that these duties should not be levied. Being required to rescind a vote which was held an act of rebellion, they reaffirmed it by a majority of 92 to 17. Ships of war were sent out, with a couple of regiments. Boston decided to arm in opposition ; and the colonies generally, foUowing Irish precedent, came to a common resolution that they would import nothing of any kind from England till the duties were abandoned. To the restriction of their commerce they had submitted. The sea might be part of the British dominions. Taxation they 1773.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 135 would not submit to while they were unrepresented in the British Parliament. Half alarmed, half exasperated, the English Gov ernment took a middle course, and the worst which they could have chosen. They abandoned the duties on glass and paper; they retained a nominal tea duty. Had they tried force at once, they might have crushed the colonies in detail, and for a time have broken them down. Had they made a frank surren der, the colonies for a time also would have refrained from raising the question of separation. They main tained the cause of the irritation ; they took no active steps to compel obedience. Ill-feeling grew rapidly. Bloody riots broke out in Boston between the garri son and the citizens. For four years, through the .thirteen colonies, in town and village, tea, which had become a necessary of life, disappeared from the breakfast-table. At length the decrease of consump tion having created a glut in the East Indian ware houses, and as it was supposed that by this time the colonists would be weary of the strife, it was deter mined to tempt their constancy with a supply of the coveted luxury at a price which, notwithstanding the duty, was still lower than Americans had ever paid for it before. The tea ships generally were prevented from mak ing their way into the American harbors, or else were sent back -without being allowed to unload. A ship which entered Boston harbor was less fortunate. A party of men, disguised as Mohawk Indians in their war-paint, stole on board one midnight, over powered the crew, burst the chests open, and emptied them into the sea. Struck thus in the face, England lost its temper 136 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. iu. and its prudence. The port of Boston was declared to be closed until the tea was paid for. The Massa chusetts charter was recalled, and, by a new consti tution, the colony was placed under the Government of Quebec. General Gage was sent out in haste with reinforcements, attended by a squadron, to take charge of the harbor. He landed on the 13th of May, took military possession of the town, and forti fied the peninsula to which it was then confined. The colonial Legislature, not recognizing the dissolu tion, assembled a few miles off at Concord, organized a separate administration, and called the settlers to arms. All down the seaboard to the Carolinas the alarm spread of danger to liberty^. If Massachusetts was overwhelmed, each State knew that its o-wn turn would follow. A Congress met at Philadelphia. The deputies of thirteen States agreed that they would pay no taxes, direct or indirect, to which their consent had not been asked. They stood by their non-importation agreement. They appealed to the British nation, and to Britain's Sovereign and theirs. To the British people they said, " Place us as we were when the war ended, and we shall be satisfied." To the King they said that in peace they cost Great Britain nothing ; in war they had contributed hith erto to the imperial expenses, and would continue to contribute ; they asked nothing but that their rights under the constitution should not be invaded. Dr. Franklin, who had been long in England, and was personally intimate with many of the chief Eng lish statesmen, took charge of the address to the Crown. He was leaning on the bar of the House of Lords when the question was debated in that assem bly whether he should be aUowed to present it. At 1775.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 137 * that great crisis in his country's future Chatham came once more to the front. Si Pergama dextra Defendi possent etiam hftc defensa f uissent. Chatham's name was honored in America beyond that of every other Englishman. He insisted on the madness or the wickedness of using force in an un natural quarrel. America was willing to admit the supremacy of the Imperial Parliament. America would not refuse to contribute of her own accord for the interest of the war debts. England must meet her vrith a frank confession that if she was to be taxed, her own consent was necessary ; that it was unlawful to employ the army to destroy the rights of the people ; the port at Boston must be thrown open again, and Gage and his troops must be recalled. So advised the greatest of living Englishmen, who had raised his country to the proudest eminence which she had attained since the death of the Pro tector. But Lord North and his Cabinet desired to be thought better patriots than Chatham. Lord Sandwich moved that Chatham's propositions could not be entertained. Glancing at Franklin, he said that he had in his eye the person by whom they had been drawn — the most mischievous and bitterest enemy the country had ever known. Franklin could not answer, but Chatham did. His words were his own, he said. He had given the House his own opinion ; but had he needed help, he would not have been ashamed of asking it "from one whom all Europe esteemed, who was an honor not to the English nation only, but to human nature." The House of Lords went -with Sandwich, and de termined by a great majority that the colonists should 138 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch.iii be taught their duties. The Cabinet felt more un certainty than they confessed. Private conferences were held with Franklin ; and Franklin, to whom, as to those by whom he was employed, a dismember ment of the empire was no trifling thing to be rushed after with foolish haste, was most earnest to suggest means by which the catastrophe could be averted. He undertook that the tea should be paid for ; and that the colonies should contribute to war expenses. If England would relinquish her monopolies and give them free trade, they would contribute in peace. On the other hand, as Chatham had said, the duties must be abandoned and the troops be withdrawn. The Imperial Parliament must disclaim a right to legis late for the internal regulation of the colonies, and the cancelled charter must be restored to Massachu setts. To most of these conditions Lord North was ready to agree. The negotiation went off upon a point of honor. All else might be conceded, but England could not humble herself before Massachusetts. At all risks the new Constitution must be upheld. For this feather terms infinitely more favorable than we now dare demand from our remaining dependencies were idly rejected. Franklin carried back the news that he had failed, and a new page was turned in the history of mankind. Both sides had paused upon their arms till the answer came. Debate was then over. It was now for action to decide between them. The Massachu setts Congress had employed the winter in collecting stores at Concord. Gage finding the issue to be war, resolved on dealing a vigorous blow. On the night of the 18th of April he dispatched Colonel Smith 1775.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 139 with 800 grenadiers to destroy the magazines. Con cord is twenty miles from Boston. Lexington is a vUlage on the road a few miles short of it. In Lex ington Street, at five in the morning of the 19th, a party of Massachusetts militia were assembled, un certain (as before the first blood is shed in a civil war, men always are uncertain) what they were precisely to do. The troops settled the question by firing on them. They scattered. Colonel Smith went on, accomplished his work, and was again returning on the same road when he found the houses in Lex ington, and the walls and hedges outside it, lined with riflemen. The soldiers, tired with a thirty-mile march and encumbered with their knapsacks, found themselves received with a close and deadly fire from practised marksmen. Their enemies were country farmers and farm servants, trained as hunters in the woods, and light of foot as they were skilful in aim. They would have been destroyed without a chance of defending themselves, had not Gage, who had heard of what had passed in the morning, sent forward reinforcements. Fresh troops arriving on the scene drove the Americans off, and the shattered grenadiers reached Boston at sunset vrith a loss of nearly haff their strength. The effect of the battle of Lexington was to in close the British within the lines of the city. The head-quarters of the Americans were pushed forward to Cambridge, four miles only outside aU the walls, and Gage's communications with the country were whoUy cut off. The inglorious investment it was thought could be but of short duration. Regiments were pouring in from England. General Howe ar rived at the beginning of the summer, and decided to 140 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Cn.in, give the colonists a decisive lesson without loss of time. The Peninsula of Charlestown is divided from that of Boston Proper by six hundred yards of water which are now bridged over. The Charlestown ridge ascends with a gentle slope from the shore, com manding the harbor and the city opposite. The highest points of it, known as Breed's HiU and- Bunker's HiU, are nearly two hundred feet above the sea. The Americans pushing forward from Cam bridge had entrenched themselves on the brow of this ridge. They had brought up cannon which distressed the ships in the harbor, and threw shot into the army quarters in the town. The entire American force amounted to no more than 1,500 men, and those only untrained militia. Such a body was thought unable to resist even for a moment a superior number of regular troops. On the 17th of June Sir WiUiam Howe crossed over with 3,000 men to di-ive them off. Covered by a heavy fire from the guns of the fleet, he advanced with easy confidence. The Americans waited till the EngHsh were close upon their Hues, and then poured in a fire so deadly that they reeled back wards down the hill in astonished confusion. They rallied rapidly, again charged, and again retired before the tremendous reception which they encoun tered. Determined to -win the hill or die, they rushed up a last time and plunged over the breastwork ; and then, but only then, and at leisure and in good order, the Massachusetts farmers withdrew. That one sum mer afternoon's work had cost the British army more than eleven hundred men, of whom ninety were officers. Sir William Howe might have said, like Pyrrhus, that a few more such victories would end the dream of the conquest of America. 1775.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 141 And who and what were these provincial militia who had given the soldiers of England so rude a lesson ? Most of them, no doubt, were descendants of the ancient Puritan stock, reinforced from the old country from time to time by men who had the same quarrel as their fathers with the constituted authori ties in Church and State. But throughout the revolted colonies, and, therefore, ) probably in the first to begin the struggle, all evidence shows that the foremost, the most irreconcilable, the most determined in pushing the quarrel to the last extremity, were the Scotch Irish whom the bishops and Lord Donegal and Company had been pleased to drive out of Ulster. " It is a fact beyond ques tion," says Plowden, " that most of the early suc cesses in America were immediately owing to the vigorous exertions and prowess of the Irish emigrants who bore arms in that cause." ^ Ramsay says the Irish in America were almost to a man on the side of Independence. " They had fled from oppression in theb native country, and could not brook the idea that it should follow them. Their national prepos sessions in favor of liberty were strengthened by their religious opinions. They were Presbyterians, and therefore mostly Whigs." ^ There is a Bunker's Hill^ close outside Beffast.' Massachusetts tradition has forgotten how the name came to the Charlesto-wn Peninsula. It is possible that the connection with Ireland is a coincidence. It is possible that the name of a spot so memorable I Plowden, vol. ii. p. 178. 2 History of the American Revolution, p. 597. " Bunker's Hill is supposed to be a corruption of Brunker's Hill. Cap tain Brunker was an officer who came to Ulster with Lord Essex in 1572, and received a grant of land in Antrim. 142 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. hi. in American history was brought over by one of those exiles, whose children saw there the beginning of the retribution that followed on the combination of follies which had destroyed the chance of making Ire land a Protestant country, and had filled Protestant Ulster with passionate sympathy foir the revolted colonists. 1772.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 143 SECTION II. George the Third had intended to end corrup tion in the Irish Parliament. The effect of Lord Townshend's efforts had been to make it more cor rupt than before. Where the laws by which -a country is to be governed depend on the voices of representatives, and where these representatives ac knowledge no motive but private interest, bribery is the only method by which the administration can be carried on. The House of Commons had been controlled hitherto by an oligarchy, who shared the patronage of Ireland among them as if it had been a famUy inheritance. The Viceroy, with the assist ance of the rank and file, had wrested the public offices out of the hands of the men who had preyed on the revenue so long and so systematically ; but he had bought his victory by borrowing his adver saries' weapons, making office the reward of Parlia mentary subserviency ; and when preferments could not be had to feed the voracity of his supporters, he had added further to the bloated Pension List. Suc cess so purchased can be continued only by the means by which it has been obtained. The interesting lords and gentlemen who constituted the two Houses of the Irish Legislature understood the value of their assistance from the Viceroy's eagerness to secure it. Those who had sold their votes for a single measure or group of measures were like the possessors of some 144 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v.Ch. m fatal secret, whom a person afraid of disclosure has been rash enough to bribe to silence. The claimants for Crown favor could not all be satisfied, but neg lect to satisfy them brought immediate retribution. Townshend's majorities dwindled, and at length dis appeared. With disgust he drew out the list of the traitors who had disowned their obHgations. He found he could rely on them no more, and in despair ing contempt he fell back on the most powerful of the aristocracy whom he had defeated. Lord Shan non returned with a smile to the assistance of a Vice roy who had been the victim of a delusion that Ire land could be honorably governed by a Parliament of its own. The Opposition was disarmed, and Pon sonby was obliged to part with his hope of driving the Viceroy in disgrace from the country. Townshend, however, was himseff disincHned to bear longer a burden which had become hateful to him. For four years he had been attempting a task which it was impossible to accompHsh. He petitioned to be aUowed to resign, and his request was granted. He retired with the thanks and compliments of the Parliament, his relations with which had undergone such strange vicissitudes. He left behind him one work, though one work only, of permanent improve ment. His new Revenue Board was soon abandoned to clamor. But the great families were no longer allowed to abuse the authority of the Crown under the name of Lords Justices. The Viceroy of Ireland was henceforth to be resident through his term of office, unless for brief intervals and on unforeseen occasions. Townshend's successor was a nobleman the very reverse of himself in every feature of intellect and 1772.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 145 temperament. Townshend was energetic, brilliant, and in the prime of his years, and Harcourt was over sixty, decorous, dignified, inured by habit to the inanities of Courts, with views generally honorable, but pursuing them with languor, with the smallest imaginable insight into Ireland and its conditions, and with an indolent cunning in the place of statesman ship. He had been for nine years tutor to the King before his accession. He had negotiated the alliance between his master and the Princess Charlotte. He would have passed as no more than an ornamental lay figure through a Iffe which he ended strangely by falling down a well at Nuneham, except for his Irish viceroyalty, which falling to him at an unlucky time brought his figure into distinct visibUity. With Lord Harcourt came a satellite very far more interesting than his primary, the Secretary, John de Blaquiere, himself a Colonel of Dragoons, descendant from a Huguenot family, who had come to England at the beginning of the century. De Blaquiere's character will reveal itself in the progress of the story. To Lord North he writes with a confiden tial familiarity which shows that they were on terms of closest intimacy. He describes himseff in one of his letters to Lord North as " your threadpaper friend," which, perhaps, sufficiently expresses his appearance. Like his predecessor, the new Viceroy was directed " absolutely to discourage all applications for pen sions, salaries, and offices, for new peerages, or ad vancement of peers abeady existing to higher titles ; " to prohibit " the sale of offices or employments, not withstanding the present proprietor may have pur- VOL. II. 10 146 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. Cn.in. chased the same." ^ The era of purity was at last to begin. Lord Harcourt landed at Ringsend on the 30th of November, 1772, with a year of quiet still before him. Parliament not meeting tiU the beginning of the following autumn. A week later Townshend left Dublin amidst general acclamations, Harcourt being, as he confessed, glad to be rid " of his rather overpowering presence." For himseff he described his prospects as most flattering. The Duke of Lein ster, to mark his delight at the change, wrote to him -most affectionately. Kildare stood at his side in the viceregal box the first evening on which he was at the play. Shannon was " most poHte." John Ponsonby had been at the lev^e, " perhaps determined by Lord Shannon." Flood had been there also, indicating that Tie was not unwilHng to be taken into service. It appeared that Flood, the most eloquent and passion ate of Townshend's opponents, had already been feel ing his way towards employment with Lord Frederick CampbeU, Townshend's secretary. Campbell had mocked him with promises which had been left un fulfilled. Like so many of his countrymen, his chief ambition was to hold office under the rule which he affected to execrate, but he was wary of being again deceived.^ The compliments of the reception being over, the realities followed. The noble lords were weU dis posed, but on their own conditions. A few days after I " Rochford to Lord Harcourt, October 26, 1772. Secret and confiden tial." 2 Harcourt, writing afterwards to Lord North, said that Flood told him " he had been determined never more to have any dealings -with the Cas tle, that paid so little regard to engagements. ¦ He had been treated ex tremely Ul by Lord Frederick Campbell in Lord Townshend's time." — " Harcourt to Lord North, July 8, 1774. Most private and confidential." 1772.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 147 the new Viceroy's arrival. Lord Shannon asked for a private interview, to submit as usual the terms on which the Government might have his support. Two of the St. Legers, it will be remembered, were claimants for the DoneraUe title. Townshend, after playing with both, had recommended one of them, though the decision had been postponed. Shannon recommended the other, who was his ovm cousin. Mr. St. Leger St. Leger must be created Lord Done raUe. Mr. Denham Jephson, of MaUow, must have a pension of 600Z. a year. Mr. Lysaght must be governor of Cork, with the rank of major-general. Mr. James Dennis, M. P. for Youghal, must be Prime Sergeant, or Attorney or Solicitor-General, whichever office should first fall vacant.^ Mr. Townshend, member for Cork, must be a Commissioner of the Revenue ; and the Dean of Cork must have a bish opric on the first opportunity. Lord Shannon, the Viceroy -wrote, " was extremely candid and expHcit." He went to the point without circumlocution. His ultimate attitude was to depend on the treatment which he received ; but he promised at any rate to stand by Government for one session. The Viceroy "pleaded hard" "for 400Z. a year for Mr. Jephson, but Lord Shannon said he could not prevail on Mr. Jephson to accept less than 600Z." " Lord Shannon," Harcourt concluded, " is very pow erful, and it may be well to secure his support." While the Viceroy was being introduced to the mysteries of corruption, his secretary, Colonel de Blaquiere, was passing through an ordeal of a more fiery kind. The secretary being the channel through which applications for favors generally passed, Irish 1 Dennis was made Prime Sergeant in 1774. 148 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. ni. society was anxious to learn the qualifications of the new arrival. Mr. Beauchamp Bagenal, member for Carlow, a notorious duellist, with a reputation almost European, wrote to De Blaquiere for leave of absence for a relation who was with his regiment in America. De Blaquiere replied poHtely that to give leave to officers on service did not lie within the Viceroy's province. To his extreme surprise, Bagenal instantly challenged him. When Irish gentlemen made requests they were to be granted. InabiHty was no answer. De Blaquiere understood the situation in a moment. He had no knowledge of his fire-eating antagonist, nor had he dreamt of offending him ; but in compli ance with the universal sentiment of the whole king dom, he saw that he must acquiesce. They met the next morning at the thorn-trees in the Phoenix, the usual trysting place. At Mr. Bagenal's request, they were placed " nearer than usual." De Blaquiere fired in the ab. His adversary took a deliberate aim ; his pistol missed fire ; he recocked it a second and again a third time, with the same result. De Bla- qiere advised him to look at his ffint. He rapped the edge of it with a key, and drew the trigger once more. but once more unsuccessfully. " At the colonel's request Mr. Bagenal then changed his flint." This time the pistol went off, the ball pass ing through the colonel's hat and grazing his temple. De Blaquiere took his second pistol, and was about to fire in the air again. Bagenal graciously insisted that he should aim at him. De Blaquiere said he had no quarrel with Mr. Bagenal, and could not think of it. Mr. Bagenal " behaved with great politeness and intrepidity," entreating that the colonel would not refuse him the honor of, &c., &c. It was in vain. 1773.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 149 De Blaquiere would not do him the honor at aU. Bagenal would have made a new quarrel of it, but the seconds interfered. It was agreed that De Bla quiere had behaved " astonishingly well," The affair ended, and the colonel was the most popular secre tary that had ever held office in Dublin. i Prehminaries over, it was now time for business. Townshend's operations in ParHament had been frightfully costly. The Treasury was 300,000Z. in arrear. The revenue was falling off, owing to the stoppage of the colonial trade. The expenditure seemed to admit of no reduction, except in the Pen sion List, but in this direction there. was small likeH- hood of reform. The King was alive to the impro priety of granting pensions ip Ireland, but was less scrupulous with his own relations. North, with ac knowledged reluctance, had to inform Lord Harcourt that the King had determined to place the Queen of Denmark on the Irish establishment.^ It had been found necessary to suspend all payments except to the army. Some provision must be made before the meeting of Parliament. From the earliest times Irish patriotism had clamored against the absentees. Pop ularity might be acquired, the revenue might be in creased, and a real injury brought in the way of re dress, ff the remarkable lords and gentlemen who had for generations been receiving their incomes for duties unperformed were to be made to choose be tween residence and parting with a tenth of their spoils to the State. The remaining nine tenths they might still keep to themselves. Lord North gave his cordial approval. The cen- 1 " Ix)rd Harcourt to the Eari of Rochford, March 4, 1773." " " Lord North to Harcourt, March 29, 1773. Most secret." 150 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. iii. ti^al fountain of Irish misery had been for the moment recognized by him. Those in whose behaff the land of Ireland had been taken from its owners to provide better government for the people, had forgotten as much as if it had never existed, that any such obhga- tion attached to them. A faint far off gUmmer of the truth had broken upon an English Prime Minis ter. As there was no land tax in Ireland, the ab sentees, in fact, contributed nothing for those vast possessions of theirs. It was time to caU upon them. The tax was to have been proposed as a Govern ment measure at the autumn Irish session. Unluckily the design leaked out prematurely, and was received in England with a shout of indignation. Great Eng lish noblemen conceived apparently that they did Ire land too much honor already in consenting to own part of her soil. The Duke of Devonshire, Lord Bessborough, Lord Rockingham, Lord Fitzwilliam, and Fitzpatrick of Upper Ossory, entered an ironical protest. " They had estates in England as well as in Ireland," they said. " They could not reside on both, and they were not to be punished for exercising their natural right to reside where they pleased." In days' when high offices of States were held as sinecures, when pluraHsm was permitted in the Church, and duties were held adequately discharged when one man did the work and another received the pay for it, landlords might naturally be surprised when brought to account so sharply. " I hear," wrote Lord North, " that Lord Shelburne and some others declare that a Minister deserves to be impeached who advises his majesty to return such a bill to Ire land. Lord Mansfield has told some of the Cabinet in confidence that he thinks we are in a scrape, from 1772.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 151 which he would advise us to get out as soon as possi ble. If way is given to this measure, we may ex pect similar proposals from aU our colonies, who will be earnest to load with impositions such of theb countrymen as prefer to reside in Great Britain." " Notwithstanding the clamor," Lord North said he was prepared to stand by his proposition on cer tain conditions. The Absentee Tax was part of a general scheme, by which Townshend's reforms were to be made permanent realities, and the Irish rev enue, especially the hereditary branch of it, was to be protected from peculation. This must be the work of the Irish Parliament, and if fairly taken up and carried through, would enable him to encounter Lord Shelburne and his friends' displeasure. But " nothing less," he said, " than consenting to the whole, can enable us to stand the odium of as senting to so Anti-British a measure. We must be able to say we found Ireland 400,000L in debt, and running annually 12O,000Z. in arrears ; that a plan was sent over by the Irish Parliament which would provide for the debt, and render the income for the future equal to the establishment ; that the tax on absentees was so blended with the rest of the plan, that whatever we might think of it separately, we could not resist it without risking the whole. If the Irish gentlemen adopt your proposals, I for one shall be ready to meet aU this noise and clamor." ^ Lord North was reaUy in earnest, bub neither his wishes nor his courage were shared by the rest of the Cabinet. Absenteeism had been for centuries the popular grievance of Ireland. Now at length, when it was about to be attacked, Ireland seemed scarcely 1 "Lord North to Harcourt, October 29, 1773." 152 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. hi, to know its own mind. The absentees were power ful through their property. Lord Bessborough, one of the five protesting lords, commanded the great Ponsonby interest. Worried by letters from Eng land, perplexed by the division among his Irish ad visers, and though himself in favor of the tax, with out resolution to stand by it, Harcourt considered he would best consult Lord North's comfort if he could quietly let the matter drop, and use the Irish Oppo sition to get rid of it. It was a deHcate manoeuvre. Constant in little else, Irish poHticians never varied in their jealousy and suspicion of England. Absen teeism had been valuable to them as a grievance while it could be used against the British connection — more useful, perhaps, for this object, whUe it flour ished unchecked, than if diminished or assaUed by England itseff. While England was ready to offer an Absentee Tax, they hesitated whether to receive it. If they were allowed to suppose that England was withdrawing it, their eagerness would infaUibly revive. The Viceroy opened the Parliament on the 26th of October. His speech was looked for with anxiety. Would or would not the Absentee Tax be mentioned in it? The speech was general — the subject was not touched on. " I admire your lordship's fortitude in supporting the tax," the Viceroy wrote to Lord North, "and value your kindness. The opinion of some of the wisest and most experienced men in this kingdom, the general wishes of the people for half a century past, and the exigencies of the Government, led me to press it on your lordship. This, however, Hke every other mode of taxation, must naturaUy irritate those 1773.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 163 whose hitherto untaxed estates would principally be affected by it, and be attended with inconveniences, though inadequate to the advantages it must produce. Not to embarrass your lordship, as soon as I saw how things were going, with the help of our friends here, I have obstructed the progress of the tax for the present. We mean to allow it to be moved in the House by a certain wild inconsistent gentleman,'^ who has signified such to be his intention. This vrill be sufficient to damn the measure, though no other means be employed against it." ^ " Other means," however, were not neglected. " The letter of the five lords," ^ Lord Harcourt said, he could have used with effect, ff he had wished the bill to pass, to create exasperation against the absen tees. " Having, or at least wishing, to give up that object," he had tried to spread a fear that an Absen tee Tax might be only a preHminary to a general Land Tax. And ff he could only appear neutral, if he could only persuade the House of Commons that he had no wishes save that they should decide en tirely for themselves, " such was their capricious in stability, that he imagined this much sought-for boon would die of itseff."* To create the desired impression some active steps were necessary. Though the measure was not yet formally before the House, it had been already touched upon. De Blaquiere, ready for any emer gency in field or council, rose to speak upon it. For himself he said he was a warm advocate of a proposal which he believed would be the salvation of Ireland, 1 The journals do not permit the identification of this gentleman. 2 "Harcourt to Lord North, November 9." * The protest of the Duke of Devonshire, &c. ^ Ibid. 154 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. Ch. m. but had been staggered by the variety of opinions which he had lately heard. They had not convinced him ; he adhered to his own impression ; but he de^ sired the House to understand that the administration would be guided entirely by the judgment of the Irish Parliament. They vrished not to lead but to follow. The wisdom of the House would alone in fluence the Government, and should determine his ovm personal conduct. He laid his heart upon thett table, and he placed himseff at theb disposition: " under the strange revolution of sentiment which the subject had undergone, it should surprise no one if he and his best friend divided on different sides of the House." Lord North meanwhile assisted the Ulusion. He had replied to the five protesting noblemen that the Absentee Tax was part of a scheme for the reorgan ization of Irish finance, and as such he intended to support it. The answer gave universal satisfaction in Dublin. Here at any rate was a really honest Eng Hsh minister. " The generality of people took an other turn." The fear of the Land Tax might per haps be chimerical. The tax after all was a desirable one, and England evidently desired to carry it. To wards the end of the month the Viceroy began to fear that his part had been overacted, and that he might be unable to prevent the bill from being carried " without betraying a degree of inconsistency which might be prejudicial to his majesty's affairs." ^ The Viceroy assumed in his letters that Lord North agreed with him in the desire that the measure should be checked. Lord North's own expressions show rather that his own personal wish was to see it successful, 1 " Lord Harcourt to Lord North, November 22. Private." 1773.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 155 and regretted sincerely the English opposition* He complained that the Irish were cutting their own throats by hesitating about it. " The lords and gen tlemen who had estates in Ireland and reside here," he wrote on the 23d of November, " have held a meeting and retained Mr. Dunning and Mr. Lee to plead before the Privy Council. The city of London are preparing their Recorder for the same purpose, I do not fear the eloquence of these gentlemen so much as the universal prejudice which prevails against the measure, and the want of argument to de fend it and reconcile people's minds to it." ^ Amidst cross purposes in which Lord North and a handful of the Irish members were alone honest, the question came directly before the House of Com mons on the 25th of November. " The wild incon sistent gentleman," to whom the conduct of the meas ure had been relegated that he might destroy it, moved in the usual language of vague vituperation that it was expedient that a tax should be imposed upon Absentee landowners. This was at once rejected as too indefinite. Mr. OHver, member for Limerick, proposed that a tax of two shiUings in the pound should be laid on all net rents and profits payable to persons who did not reside in Ireland six months in the year. On this the .debate was described as " very warm and able." The usual combinations were broken up. Pery, Flood, Tisdall, Bushe, Longfield, Dennis, the popular leaders of the Opposition, were strongly in favor of the motion. The patrician pseudo-patriots, the landed magnates, who were allied with the English aristocracy, John Ponsonby, Tom 1 "Lord North to the Earl of Harcourt, November 23. Most private and confidential." 156 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch.iii. Conolly, Sb Charles Bingham, and the members re turned by the Duke of Leinster spoke on the side of the party who were looked on generally as satel- Htes of the Castle. The equity of the tax was ad mitted universaUy. The opposition turned " on the impolicy of irritating against Ireland people of high rank in England," the probability that it would lower the value of land, that the absentees would throw their estates upon the market, and that Ireland would be invaded by flights of foreign purchasers. Lord Harcourt's treacherous suggestions too were not for gotten. " They did unanimously and in the most violent manner inveigh against the insiduous and deep designs of the English Government to introduce by these means a general Land Tax." Blaquiere spoke again to protest against so unjust a suspicion. Flood argued, and the Attorney-General with him, that if an Absentee Tax was adopted, other taxes could be taken off ; and that Ireland would he no loser by the sale of the absentees' estates. " They would be sold probably in small portions to Irish gen tlemen of moderate means, and produce that division of property and residence of proprietors which the legislature ought to desire." Pery, the Speaker, urged, with great justice, that the absentees, though paying ten per cent, on their income, would still con tribute less to the Irish revenue than the resident gentry who were burdened with the Customs and Excise. At two in the morning the House divided, and the motion was lost by 120 to 106 " Thus," wrote Lord Harcourt, "the long-expected measure which for ages has been the constant topic of their discourse, the vrarmest object of theb complaints and wishes, and till within these three months con- 1773.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 157 sidered as too important an acquisition ever to be hoped for by their country, has been rejected by a majority of fourteen." Had he been as eager for the success of 'the attempt as he avowedly had manoeuvred to defeat it, he could not have spoken more bitterly of a Parliament which, for once, and with a smaU effort, he might have persuaded to do right. " Such an instance," he said, " of caprice and instabiUty is, perhaps, hardly to be met with, and wiU mark the temper of the gen tlemen of this country which every Lord-Lieutenant has to encounter." ^ I "The Earl of Harcourt to Lord North, November 26." 158 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Cani. SECTION m. An act which would have induced the London Com panies to part with their estates, and have either com pelled the absentees to return or have led them to the same alternative, would, on many accounts, have been of priceless service. Not the least so, that as Catho- Hcs were still unable to hold real property in Ireland, it would have recruited the ranks of the Protestant gentry with new and wholesome elements. The House of Commons were not happy over their work, and many a gentleman who had voted in the majority would have gladly seen the measure passed in spite of him. The members reassembled the next day in Ul-temper with themselves and one another. Mr. O'Neil, of Shane Castle, Lord O'Neal afterwards, though he had been an active opponent, had now changed his mind, and moved that the question should be reconsidered. At once " a frenzj"- " in favor of a proposal which had been maturely debated and de- Hberately rejected " seemed suddenly to possess every member present." " Mr. Flood was violent and able in a degree surpassing everything which he had ut tered before. It appeared as if he meant to crush to destruction the Duke of Leinster's party and Mr. Ponsonby, against whom he made such a personal attack as the poor gentleman would never recover." ^ 1 " The Eari of Harcourt to Lord North, November 27." 1773.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 159 " With a satisfaction that he could iU express," the Viceroy was able to assure Lord North three days later than aU" was again over, and this time finally. He had discovered, or thought he had discovered, that sinister influences were at work under the sur face, and that the opposition to the bill and the effort to reinstate it was due rather to political faction than to any care for Ireland's welfare. There was again a nine hours' debate, and at the end of it the motion for reconsideration was rejected without a division. " We last night," reported the Viceroy on the 30th, " defeated the boldest and deepest attack made on the administration of both countries, and con ducted, surprised as you may be to hear it, by his majesty's Attorney-General. We labored with all our might to save appearances in the conduct of those faithful friends of the administration who were obliged to adopt to a certain extent the other side of the question." ^ Most brilHant and never sufficiently to be admired dexterity. A difficulty had been got rid of which might have raised differences between the cabinet and its EngHsh friends, while the Irish Government had gained the credit of seeming to favor an impor tant popular measure. Lord North's congratulations were warmer than might have been expected from his previous language. Ireland's great measure had been thrown out by Ireland herself, and still more satisfactorily, "without any promises of peerage or pension." "Your Excellency's campaign," said the premier, " has been most glorious and successful. The Irish Government wUl now be carried on with 1 " To Lord North, November 30." 160 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch.iii, credit and tranquillity. His majesty is extremely pleased with you." ^ His majesty probably knew as much about the matter as his ministers told him. The secret history, if any one cares to look further into so dirty a busi ness, appears to have been this. Lord Rockingham had supposed that Lord North really desired the Absentee Tax to be carried, and had, therefore, entirely irrespective of whether the measure was good or bad, advised his friends to oppose it. The truth had come to be suspected in Ireland, and a change of front had been attempted too late. " If," wrote the Viceroy, " the marquis and his friends pretend to suppose you are greatly hurt and disappointed at what has happened in Ireland, they ought not to be un deceived. The more that idea prevails, the greater credit and honor will be derived from it, and the shame and disgrace will fall to the share of others. On the whole, the late event, which could have no other object than thro-wing everything into confusion, has proved fortunate. It has strengthened the hands of the administration, and has afforded matter of caution against the machinations of restless and ambi tious men." ^ Successes dishonestly gained seldom come to much. PoHtical secrets known to many are never secrets long, and the Viceroy's expected tranquiUity for the rest of the session proved an illusion. Once more the House of Commons was set vibrating on the vital question of the initiation of money bills. Blackstone had just commended the jealousy with which the English Commons maintained their privileges when a I " Lord North to Lord Harcourt, December 9." 8 " The Eari of Harcourt to Lord North, December 15." 1773.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 161 grant was made to the Sovereign. That Ireland should be denied the same honor was a badge of de pendency ; and the meddling of the English Council with the Bills of Supply was intended and was felt as a perpetual reminder of their chains. The heads of the three Supply BiUs of 1773 had been voted and sent to England as usual. The substance was satis factory, for on the loss of the Absentee Act the Customs duties had been raised to cover the deficit. But to maintain the English assumption a few verbal changes were nevertheless again introduced by the English Council, and, either by accident or mere Ul- judged purpose, one of these changes was in the tea duties. Although the chests had not yet been emp tied into Boston Harbor, the ominous word acted as a trumpet call to patriotism. Here at least there was no uncertainty as to England's real intentions. The familiar scenes were again enacted. Two of the Bills were unanimously rejected. The Viceroy found that it was impossible to stem the torrent. The Duke of Leinster, to recover his credit for opposing the Ab sentee Tax, would have rested on the negative vote and given no supplies at all. The majority, less ex treme in their violence, drew the heads a second time, and sent them over. But, " soured and inflamed " as the House was, the Viceroy had to warn the Cab inet that if altered again they would certainly again be thrown out, and would not afterwards pass in any, shape whatever.! This was not all. The sour humor had other and juster causes which Harcourt was too ignorant to ap prehend. Lord Townshend understood Ireland's case. He recognized her wrongs. He had studied her dis,- l " The Eari of Harcourt to Lord Rochford, December 27.' VOL. II. 11 162 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. hi. orders, and he had thought about them with serious alarm. His letters contain the serious reflections of a high-minded and far-seeing statesman. Harcourt could look no further than the problem of the mo ment, the immediate measures necessary to rig an adequate majority. While bringing up for transmission the heads of the new Money Bill the Commons presented a second complaint, which would not have been heard of had the Cabinet listened to Townshend. From the first week of the session committees had been inquiring into the meaning of the torrent of emigration which was still streaming out of Ulster to the American plantations. They had excused and covered the landlords, but England as well as the landlords was to blame. The linen trade had alarmingly decreased. The best artisans were going now because there was no work for them, and one cause at least was the arti ficial encouragement given to rival English manufact ures, and the duties now levied on the coarse kinds of Irish linen fabrics in direct breach of the engage ment for which their woollen weaving had been sacri ficed. With a temperate good sense, which shows that the remonstrance had been drawn by rational men instead of by tempestuous orators, the House of Com mons, by the hands of the Speaker, presented their case to the Viceroy. They had been confined by law to the manufact ure of flax and hemp. They had submitted to their condition, and had manufactured those articles to such good purpose that at one time they had supplied sails for the whole British navy. Their EngHsh rivals had now crippled them by laying a disabhng duty on 1773.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 163 their saU cloths, in the hope of taking the trade out of theb hands; but they had injured Ireland -without benefiting themselves. The British market was now supplied from HoUand, and Germany, and Russia, while to the Empire the result was only the ruin of Ulster and the flight of the Protestant population to America. " If," they said in modest irony, " Great Britain reaped the fruits of this policy, the commons of Ireland would behold it without repining and sub mit to it without complaining ; but it aggravates the sense of their misfortunes to see the rivals, if not the enemies, of Great Britain in the undisturbed posses sion of those advantages to which they think them selves entitled on every principle of policy and justice. It is the expectation of being restored to some, if not all, of those rights, and that alone, which can justffy to the people the conduct of their representatives in laying additional burdens on them. No time can be more favorable to give effect to their wishes than the present, when the public councils are directed by a Minister who has the courage to pursue the common interest of the British Empire." ^ One more point of difference arose on another seri ous question. The whole country, the north espe cially, was still agitated. Taxes, hitherto irregularly paid, were now being collected more resolutely by the help of the increased military force ; the soldiers were doing the duty of police, and when work of this kind is done by soldiers it is done always roughly and sometimes unjustly. Ireland had many times petitioned for an extension thither of the Habeas Corpus Act. Many times the heads of such a Bill had been transmitted, but had never been returned. 1 Commons' Journals, Ireland, December 25, 1773." 164 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. iii. The Habeas Corpus Act " was held breconcilable with the idea of a dependency," and notice had been at last sent to the Irish Council " to transmit the Bill no more." ^ Under the pressure of outcries which had risen perhaps out of the Hearts of Steel move ment and the measures taken to repress it, the House of Commons made their demand once more, and un der the circumstances the Viceroy threw the respon sibility of the refusal on England. On the great Money Bill question the Cabinet had this time to yield. Where feeling ran so strong, a majority was too expensive an article to be purchased, except occasionally. Compliance even with Lord Shannon would not secure support in these excep tional cases. The trade complaints were doggedly dismissed, to add to the pile of wrong which was fast rising to a height when England would be com pelled to attend to it. The Habeas Corpus Act was refused, as Harcourt knew it must be, on grounds which light on the practical working of the Irish Constitution. It was held " a solecism in poHtics to make the constitution of a colony the same as that of the mother country." " The Catholics must either he admitted to the protection of it or be excluded." If they were admitt.ed the peace of the country could not be secured. If they were excluded four fifths of the people would be deprived of their constitutional rights. A power of suspension must exist some where to provide for emergencies. In England that power was in the Parliament. In Ireland, where Par liament met only in alternate years, it must vest in Government ; and if the " innovation " was sanctioned and the Act conceded, the Government would be in 1 " Lord Harcourt to Lord Rochford, March 6, 1774." 1774.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 165 continual danger, either of provoking the CathoHcs by suspending it or of provoking the Protestants by refusing to suspend it.^ The Commons acquiesced, but finding their other grievances unheeded, acquiesced with desponding dis approval. The usual thanks were given to the Vice roy at the end of the session, not however without the suggestion of an amendment, which, though it was rejected, expressed the thoughts of the better part of the country. "But although in compliance with the modern practice of Parliament, and from a veneration of your Excellency's private virtues, which we sincerely respect, we thus address your Excellency at the close of this session, yet we cannot but recollect with the deepest concern that under your Excellency's admin istration taxes have been imposed on our constituents in this time of profound peace more grievous in theb nature, and greater in their extent, than have been required or granted in this country for a century past, merely to support overloaded and, in many parts, unnecessary establishments, and particularly an odious and enormous list of absentee pensions and places ; so that this kingdom is now not only incapaci tated from contributing to the support of a war, but even debiHtated in peace by the impoverishment and consequent emigration of our people. A system of taxes the more intolerable to a' free people from the unconstitutional mode of levying them -with the assist ance of the military power, first attempted and finally effected in this kingdom under your Excellency's ad ministration." ^ 1 ' ' The Eari of Harcourt to the Eari of Rochford, March 6." — S. P. 0. 2 Commons' Journals, June 1, 1774. 166 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. hi. SECTION lY. The student of the Parliamentary records of Ire land still discovers two parties there — a party of noisy, self-called patriots, catching at imaginary ¦wrongs for factious or interested purposes; and a party of reasonable men, in each session unfortunately growing smaller, who understood what was amiss with their country, and were trying in vain to make the Government listen to them. It was not yet too late to stem the current of disaffection could England have been persuaded to act fairly. Lord North and Lord Harcourt knew that the Absentee BiU ought to have been passed. They could have passed it with ordinary courage. Every English administration was aware of the iniquity of the Pension List. Hardly any single Minister would have defended in private the prostitution of Irish patronage to buy correct sup port in the House of Commons. Could Cabinets have retained their conscience in their collective ca pacity, and determined resolutely to do what was right in Ireland and nothing else, they would have met even now with few serious difficulties. They might have gone for a year or two without the sup plies; but there yet remained in the Parliament there a knot of upright men who would have stood by any Government that was acting resolutely on true principles. Lord Townshend would have won his battle without bribery, and his reforms would have 1774.] Lord Harcourt a/nd Colonel Blaquiere. 167 remained, had he been aUowed to commence with re storing Free Trade. The worst effect of a vicious system is the difficulty of leaving it, the difficulty of seeing that it ought to be left. English statesmen were aUowing much which they knew to be wrong in Ireland. The worst wrongs of all — the restrictions on industry — had continued so long that their character could no longer be recognized. Both sections in the Parliament were giving trouble — English Cabinets thought unreason able trouble — and they did not care to look closely at the grounds of complaint. The better sort of men could be silenced only by abolishing commercial abuses and stbring hornets' nests at Bristol and Man chester. It was easier a great deal to lead patriots by the nose by the old methods which had never been known to fail. Not therefore to making crooked things straight, but, as usual, to the better organizing a majority, the labor of the Castle was addressed in the recess. Hely Hutchinson had continued faithful since Townshend had gained him over, but he was stUl fed of " the chameleon's dish." His wife was not yet ennobled. He himself was Prime Sergeant and Privy Councillor, and had obtained besides a sinecure of 1,800Z. a year, but his sons were unprovided for, and his claims were still waiting for adjustment. Mr. Flood had shown his capacity of being mischiev ous, but he had let the Viceroy know that he was willing to come to terms. He had supported the Government on the whole during the last session, and Harcourt had been looking out anxiously for means of providing for him.^ There were unusual 1 "Among the many embarrassments of my situation, I have found 168 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Cn.in. difficulties, for Flood was not at the bar, and the lines of the professions were therefore closed against him. In June 1774 Dr. Andrews, the Provost of Trinity College, died. By statute the office could be held only by an ecclesiastic. But a dispensing power lay in the Crown. The Viceroy saw in the vacancy an opportunity of satisfying one at least of the expect ants. From a disinterested desire, as he professed, to help the Viceroy out of his embarrassment with Flood, Hely Hutchinson, who had been himself ed ucated at Trinity, intimated that ff he might have the Provostship he would retire from the bar, and would place the offices which he already held at the Viceroy's disposition. He would lose a professional income of nearly 5,000L a year, " but his taste for literature and the possession of a considerable estate in the country disposed him to a sacrifice." He was Prime Sergeant, and he was Alnager besides,^ with a salary for doing nothing of 1,800L a year. Both these places would be vacated. Lord Shannon might be gratified by making his friend Mr. Dennis Prime Sergeant, Mr. Flood might be Alnager with a thou sand a year ; the Provost's place being worth but two thousand, Hely Hutchinson might himself rea sonably keep the other eight hundred, and his two sons, for whom he had been anxious before, being now boys of sixteen and seventeen, might be ap pointed to the office of " Searchers of the Port of Strangford, now vacant, with a salary of a thousand a year." By this little arrangement the Viceroy would be able to gratify three considerable members none more difficult than to make a proper provision for Mr. Flood." — "Lord Harcourt to Lord Rochford, June 19, 1774." 1 An officer whose duty, discharged by deputy, was to measure cloth bj the ell, and fix the assize. 1774.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 169 of the House of Commons, please Lord Shannon, and greatly strengthen the Administration. ^ The Viceroy was well contented. He discovered that " the situation of a university in the metropolis required more experience and knowledge of the world than was to be found in a clergyman." The parties interested were communicated with, and all were satisfied except one, the person in whose behalf the changes were professedly to be made. Flood could not conceal his indignant disappointment. That he, the first orator in Ireland, who had blazed for ten years as a star of the first magnitude, should be put off with the place of Alnager, shorn too of half its profits, approached to insult. Lord Frederick Camp bell had trifled with him. De Blaquiere had promised him, he said, " the first great office that should be vacant," and was now trifling with him also. He, too, had set his heart on the Provostship of Trinity. He, not Hutchinson, ought to have it. Harcourt, to whom he poured out his complaints, pointed out to him that Hutchinson was resigning two important offices in exchange. " And have I resigned nothing ? " whimpered Flood with pretty naivete. " Have not I made as great or a greater sacrifice, my popularity and reputation, which I have risked m support of a Government that now treats me with contempt ? " He flung away in a rage. He would have no more to do with the Castle, he said. His treatment would be a lesson to everybody. But for him Lord Harcourt would have been as badly treated as his predecessors. " For him self, he was now reduced to a most humiUating and perplexed state, either to become a humble suppliant 1 " Lord Harcourt to Lord Rochford, June 19, 1774." 170 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch.di. for favor, or give up all hopes of it, and submit tamely to every species of ridicule and contempt." For a politician to sell his services was not con temptible, it appeared, but to sell them and be cheated of the price. The Provostship was a situa tion for life. The object was to find something for Flood which could be taken away if he fell off, some thing which would be a security for his good behav ior. " To have made Mr. Flood Provost of Trin ity," Harcourt said, " would have placed him in a station of independence that might have made Mm extremely troublesome and formidable." Prudence, however, required that he should not be flung back into opposition. The Viceroy inquired what his own views were. Flood intimated, as a matter of favor, that he would consent to accept a Vice-Treasurership. The three Vice-Treasurerships were sinecure offices with salaries attached to them of 3,500L a year. They were reserved in general for special favorites ; unfortunately, for persons out of Ireland. Harcourt mildly remonstrated. ' Mr. Flood might be contented to begin at a lower level. Finding Flood immovable, he consented at last to recommend him. " It may be better," he said, in reporting the conversation, "to secure Mr. Flood almost at any expense than risk an opposition which may be most dangerous and mis chievous." 1 Lord North would have been wiUing, but he had England to care for as well as Ireland. " My ob jection," he repHed, " to Mr. Flood's having a Vice- Treasurership is that I fear much blame here,, and no small difficulty in carrying on the King's busi ness, if I consent to part with the disposal of these 1 " To Lord North, July 8. Most private and confidential." 1774.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere 111 offices, which have been so long and uniformly be stowed on members of the British Parliament. I acknowledge the Irish members had a right to com plain when two gentlemen who had no permanent connection with Ireland were appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer and Master of the Rolls for Hfe, but . . . ." In short, Harcourt was not to think of it. The Cabinet had great respect for Mr. Flood, but it could not be done.^ As a possible alternative Lord North suggested reviving the old office of President of Mun.ster, with a salary of 2,000L a year. Harcourt objected that if the Presidency was made a reality it would give Flood too much consequence. To revive it as a sinecure would be a job too gross even for Ireland. It would be less objectionable to raise the salary of some insignificant place already subsisting, or to give Flood a handsome pension. Mr. Flood denounced the pension system generally, but would doubtless accept one for himseff. A provision of one kind or another must be made for him " on mere grounds of econ omy." " Was it worth while to hazard the stamp and other duties so lately effected, and put an able and active man at the head of a numerous opposition to save a thousand a year for one life, and that per haps not a good one, besides the other mischief which a desperate and disappointed man might devise ? " ^ After much deliberation, the Cabinet at length consented that Flood should have his Vice-Treasurer ship; but now a difficulty rose with Flood himself. The Vice-Treasurership was held " during pleasure." Flood said he made no doubt of Lord Harcourt's good 1 " Lord North to the Eari of Harcourt, July 23." 2 " To Lord North, September 3." 172 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. CH.m. disposition towards him but Harcourt could not an swer for his successor, who might dismiss him -without' ceremony from an office of precarious tenure. He had been promised " the first great employment that should be vacant. He ought to have succeeded to the Provostship or to some situation which would have placed him on an equal footing with the great officers of the Crown." The Viceroy said that Flood had himseff named the Vice-Treasurership. He had done his best to oblige him, but he would go no further. Flood must accept what was now offered, " or the Castle would hold itself discharged of its promises." "When he saw that his arts and his arguments made no impression, he said that out of his considera tion for Lord Harcourt he would waive his claims to a more desbable situation." He would accept a Vice-Treasurership, provided it involved no charge on Ireland ; provided, i. e., his salary was paid bom the English Exchequer. This was too much. The Viceroy said he could not ask Lord North to relieve the Establishment at the expense of Great Britain. The negotiation was suspended. " Mr. Flood had so high an opinion of his Parliamentary abilities that he thought England must submit to anything." The vacant office was hung up as a prize for good behavior to keep the patriots in order for the next year. The Viceroy particularly begged that it might not be given away, " because it would deprive him of the means of mak ing arrangements that would remove any material difficulty that could arise in the ensuing session of Parliament." ^ 1 " To Lord North, September 3." 1775.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 173 Months now were allowed to pass. Flood believing that as the time of danger approached nearer the Viceroy would give way. It would have been a proud position for him could he have told his coun trymen that he had compelled England to engage his services without entaihng fresh burdens upon them, i Finding the Castle gave no sign, he reopened the cor respondence himself, and intimated his willingness to accept. He did not want money, but he was sensi tive of ridicule. He had offended his patriot allies by the course which he had abeady taken. It must not be said of him that he had been duped out of his reward. He consented to take his place when Par Hament next opened among the avowed " servants of the Crown." He had been so late in yielding, how ever, that the session had begun before the King's letter arrived confirmmg his appointment, and during the first few days he was obHged to be absent from his seat. " TUl the letter arrives, in fact," Lord Harcourt said, " his situation is awkward enough. Since I was born I never had to deal with so difficult a man, owing principally to his high-strained ideas of his own influence and popularity." ^ As the dispute with America threatened to take a ¦violent form, it was watched in Ireland with increas ing eagerness, and when the attempt at coercion was followed by the news of Lexington and Bunker's Hill, domestic differences were suspended in the passionate anxiety with which the evolution of the drama was observed. The question in both countries was sub- stantiaUy the same — whether the Mother Country had a right to utilize her dependencies for her own interests irrespective of their own consent ? The 1 "Harcourt to North, October 9, 1775." 174 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. iii. wrongs which America had taken arms to redress were trivial compared to the wrongs of Ireland. If America obtained free trade and self-government, the Irish might claim and hope for the same privileges, and the chains once broken in one colony might be broken in all. The Northern Presbyterians looked on the revolt as the revival of the conflict of the pre ceding century. They were personaUy interested in a struggle in which so many of theb own kindred were engaged ; while the Americans, aHve to the value of support and sympathy so near at home, had made untiring efforts to enlist Ireland in support of their cause. The Ireland of which the Americans were thinldng, the Ireland which alone as yet had a poHtical exist ence, was Protestant Ireland. The Catholics might have looked on with indifference, or perhaps with pleasure, at a contest in which their enemies were destroying one another. Of them few or none had as yet sought a Transatlantic home — when they emi grated it was to France, or Austria, or Spain. Amer ica was the creation of Nonconformity, and was as yet the chosJn home of principles which Cathohos held most in abhorrence. To them therefore it mat tered little in itself whether England got the better of her colonies or the colonies of England. But the friends of the Americans m Ireland were their own worst foes, who, but for England, would have put the penal laws in force against them. In the last war, in which their sympathies might have naturally been enHsted, part of the Catholic body had made dem onstrations of loyalty. The present was a fairer opportunity of earning favor at the Protestants' ex pense, perhaps emancipation from their chains. The 1775.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 175 Catholic gentry and clergy came forward with an offer of a subscription, and, when their money was de clined, with the earnest desire of " two million faith ful Irish hearts," to be allowed a chance of showing their devotion to their Sovereign by taking arras in his cause. 1 " The allegiance of the Papists," De Blaquiere 1 The petition of the Catholics in Ireland in 1775 has, I believe, never been published. When I mentioned it in America, I was met by a flat denial that any such petition had been presented. I therefore give this most curious and important document entire. It is addressed to Sir John de Blaquiere : — *'Sii', — We flatter ourselves that the occasion, the motives, and your goodness will engage you to excuse this trouble. As we are informed that an intended subscription among us, his majesty's affectionate, loyal, and dutiful Roman Catholic subjects of his kingdom of Ireland, to raise a fund among ourselves for encouraging recruits to enlist for H. M.'s service, was not judged necessary by Government, yet being desirous to give eveiy assistance in our power, and to give every proof of our sincere, affection ate, and grateful attachment to the most sacred person and government of the best of kings, aud justly abhorring the unnatural rebellion which has lately broken out a"mong some of his American subjects against H. M.'s most sacred person and government, impressed with a deep sense of our duty and allegiance, and feeling ourselves loudly called on by every motive and by every tie that can affect the hearts of good and loyal subjects, we take the liberty to make on this interesting occasion a humble tender of our duty, zeal, and affection to our good and gracious King ; and we humbly presume to lay at his feet two millions of loyal, faithful, and affec tionate hearts and hands, unarmed indeed, but zealous, ready and desirous to exert themselves strenuously in defence of H. M.'s most sacred person and government against all his enemies, of what denomination soever, in any part of the world where they may be ; and to exert in an active man ner a loyalty and an obedience which hitherto, though always unanimous and unalterable, from our particular circumstances and situation have been restrained within passive and inactive bounds — a loyalt}- which we may justly say is, and always was, as the dial to the sun, true though not shone upon. And we take the liberty to request, sir, that you will be so good as to represent to his Excellenc}' our Lord Lieutenant these our dis positions and sentiments, which we well know to be those also of "all our fellow Roman Catholic Irish subjects, with an humble request to his Ex cellency that, if he think proper, he may be so good as to lay them before his majesty. "Fingall, Trimleston, J. Barnewall, B. Barnewall, &c., &c., 121." Inclosed ina letter from Harcourt to Lord Rochford, September 30, 1775. 176 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. Ch.iii said, added nothing to the strength of Government in Parliament. The Catholic interest could command neither speech nor vote.^ Their demonstrations, and the gracious reception of them, inflamed rather than soothed the Puritans and Presbyterians ; and Har court, baffled after all his efforts by the effect of the American successes, looked forward to the session with great uneasiness. The Opposition were acting in concert with the English Whigs. He discovered that they meant to bring the subject of the colonies before Parliament, backed by the entire- body of the Northern Protestants.^ They were gaining strength rapidly, and his best chance was to press the subject to an immediate vote by introducing the subject into the speech. He complimented Ireland from the throne on her good behavior while America was in rebellion. A friend of the Castle in moving the ad dress invited the Commons in return to assure the King " that while his Government was disturbed by a rebellion, of which they heard with abhorrence and felt with indignation, they would themselves be ever ready to show the world their devoted attachment to his sacred person." ^ Ponsonby, who recovered his patriotism when the Absentee Rents were no longer in danger, rose im mediately to move an amendment. " The Commons of Ireland, confiding in his majesty's tenderness for 1 " Sir John Blaquiere to Lord North, October 11, 1775." 2 " The Presbyterians of the North, who in their hearts are Americans, were gaining strength every day ; and, by letters written by designing men, whom I could name, from j'our side of the water, have been repeatedly pressed to engage Ireland to take an adverse part in the contest, telling them the balance of the cause and the decision of the quarrel was on this side St. George's Channel. The subject would then have been pressed upon me with such advantage as I should have had difficulty in resisting." — " Lord Harcourt to Lord North, October 11, 1775." 8 Commons' Journals, 1775. 1775.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 177 his subjects, and relying on his vrisdom for bringing these difficult matters to a happy issue, had been silent hitherto during the agitation of a dispute which could not but deeply affect them. Finding the event not answerable to their wishes, they would be wanting to their own interests and the general welfare if they longer hesitated to express their hopes that a differ ence might be amicably terminated which they feared could not be ended otherwise." A debate followed which lasted till the next even ing. The Irish cause was openly identified with the American. Denis Daly said that if America was beaten, 30,000 English swords would impose the Irish taxes. Hussey Burgh, a rising orator, who will be heard of again, said England meant to reduce her dependencies to slavery. Flood luckily for him self was absent. Had he spoken he must have been false either to his principles or to his Castle engage ments. The weight of defence was thrown on De Blaquiere, the Viceroy being unable to trust " the independent persons " whom, he had bought, on a question where feeling ran so high. " Your thread- paper friend," De Blaquiere told Lord North, " lost flesh which he could not well spare " in the long pro tracted fight. It was uncertain to the last how the division would turn, but the first octennial Parlia ment was drawing near its end De Blaquiere hinted that an adverse vote might lead to an imme diate dissolution, and " the apprehension of rotten eggs and an approaching election " turned the scale in favor of the Castle. The Viceroy said he " never was so happy in his life as when the question was decided." In the first blush of triumph he flattered himseff that " his victory would give peace to Ireland, VOL. II. 12 178 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v.Ch.ih. carry terror to America, and despair to Chatham and the EngHsh malcontents." The keener-eyed De Blaquiere indulged in no such illusions. " Judging from the asperity of expression among the Outs and the avaricious coldness and jobbery among the Ins," he looked for a stormy ses sion, and saw rough water on all sides. He had reason for his fears. When the Irish Par liament consented to the increase of the army, they exacted a condition that not less than 12,000 men should always be kept in Ireland. The excuse for and motive of the augmentation was the better se curity of life and property, and a smaUer number had been proved to be unequal to the work. Lord North now required 4,000 of these troops for service m America. He offered, if Ireland wished it, to send 4,000 Hessians to take their place at the cost of England. Again, the army in America was to receive its sup plies from Ireland. To keep the prices of provisions down the Viceroy was told that he must lay an em bargo on the Irish ports, and shut off the farmers from other markets. It was a measure of direct spo liation, as the Viceroy acknowledged, yet it was to he imposed by sovereign authority, while he was to ap ply to Parliament to sanction the removal of the troops. If the removal was to be accompanied with an embargo, the Viceroy " confessed with shame and concern that there was not one of the confidential ser vants of the Crown whom he could trust in such a matter without the risk of having the measure de feated." 1 A dissolution would not mend matters. Forty Castle seats Were threatened. Every loose, 1 " Lord Harcourt to Lord North, October 17 and 23." 1775.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 179 unprincipled member was watching to make his bar gain when the Government should be in difficulties. Lord Massereene had a brother. Major Skeffington, in the House of Commons, and two nephews. Major Skeffington was a bad officer.^ Massereene had ap plied for a colonelcy for him, and had been refused. The three votes were in consequence given against the Government on the American question. After the division Skeffington renewed his request. It was understood that unless it was granted the process would be repeated through the session. With infinite disgust the Government was obliged to yield. " You must," wrote De Blaquiere — these details are essential to a comprehension of the working of the Irish legislature — " you must by pension or place sink a sum of not less than 9,000L per annum, exclu sive of the provision that may be found requisite for rewarding or indemnifying those who are connected by office with the Administration. There are no less than from thirty to forty members that if not assisted cannot secure their reelections. Many of them hold small employments or pensions of from two to three hundred pounds a year. Their seats in the new Par liament cannot be purchased at less than 2,000 guineas. Their past services entitle them to what they now hold, and an addition of pension or salary, as circumstances may require, is scarce an adequate compensation for the advance and loss of so large a sum. Other gentlemen have had promises made them which must be fulfilled in some way. Let it suffice that for carrying on the public business a charge not less than I have stated is indispensable. I " There is an appearance of inactivity in him which certainly ought not to be patronized." — " To Lord North, October 27." 180 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. hi. I have already been obliged, with ray Lord Lieuten ant's leave, to promise additional salaries or pensions to Messrs. Blakeney, Fitzgerald, Tighe, Sandford, Pennefather, O'Brien, Coghlen, Malone, Cane, and Fetherstone, most of whom were wavering in their faith." 1 With a horizon overcast and every moment grow ing darker, De Blaquiere, on the 23d of November, presented the request for the removal of the troops. The embargo had been declared ; the House was sullen. The American question was at once revived, Ponsonby protested. Fitzgibbon (the father) said that if Ireland refused consent the King would recon sider his course. Hussey Burgh said that Ireland ought not to help in cutting the throats of the Amer icans. If the principle of taxation was established against America there would be an end of Irish lib erty. Consent was given, but with extreme reluct ance. Hessians or Brunswickers the House flatly refused to admit, and the objection to receive them must have been serious, for Lord North had been at tacked at Westminster for having proposed to supply the garrison of Ireland at the cost of the British Treasury.^ Was Ireland safe vrith her garrison re duced so far ? That was a further question of which Lord North and the Viceroy were better able to feel the importance than the House of Commons. There it was believed that when the 4,000 men were sent away, 8,000 at least would remain. Those who were behind the scenes knew, unhappily, that the truth was far otherwise. The King had insisted on better order being observed in these matters. Nothing ever 1 " De Blaquiere to Lord North, November 1775." — S. P. 0. 2 " Lord North to Lord Harcourt, December!, 1775." 1775.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 181 remained in order in Ireland. On the 1st of Novem ber the actual number of soldiers there all told amounted but to 9,200. The directions given were to pick the best men from all the regiments for the American service. The force that would remain would be a shadow. Under these circumstances Lord North appeared to think that he might as well take aU the troops that could go. No sooner had he re ceived notice that the ParHament had consented, than he sent orders to embark eight regiments instead of the six which would have made up the aUotted num ber. Harcourt, who had endured much, replied that if eight regiments were to go, " he must request his majesty to appoint some other person to execute a command which would be fatal to the kingdom." He described his situation " as the most cruel and un merited that ever fell to the share of a man whose Hfe had been devoted to his prince." ^ Across this scandalous trifling came a fresh protest on the state of Irish trade. The Speaker before the Christmas recess presented one more remonstrance against the wrongs of the Irish manufacturers. Will you at last, the Commons said in substance, repent of your misdeeds to us while there is time ? We have parted -with our garrison at the hazard of our safety. We have granted supplies beyond the limit of our means. May we hope in return that the light will break at length through the cloud which has so long overshadowed us ? Will you understand now that the prosperity of Ireland is the strength, and not the weakness, of Ireland ? To have assented even then at the eleventh hour 1 " Lord Harcourt to Lord North, December and January, 1775 and 1776." 182 The English in Ireland. [Bk. v. Ch. iii. would have been worth more to England than aU the majorities which aU her wealth could purchase — but it was not to be. The Cabinet could never rise be yond the thought how with least difficulty to meet the trials of the current session. The comitry might continue t9 tread her miserable round from year to year, from century to century. They had bought Flood and they were satisfied. Unknown to them there had entered into this very Parliament, in this December, by a casual vacancy in the borough of Charlemont, a youth, who had come into notice as a contributor to " Baratariana," more dangerous than a thousand Floods, because alone of Irish patriots he was incorruptible. In five years Henry Grattan was to wrest out of England's hands the power which she had so long abused, to give back to his country her birthright of free trade, and to give her with it the fatal privileges of constitutional seff-government, which she wanted honestly to use, and which plunged her into a deeper abyss of ruin than she had escaped. His voice was first heard beside Hussey Burgh's de nouncing the iniquity of the embargo. But neither could the embargo be prevented nor any measure passed of real consequence, not even those which Eng land knew to be necessary and had confessed to be desirable. The first question after the vrinter recess was the defence of the country. England was at war. Ire land was denuded of troops, the defences of her harbors in ruins, and exposed to the attacks of pri vateers. In this situation the Parliament offered the national remedy of a militia, and drew the heads of a Bill for transmission. The important thing was to get a force of some kind that could be reUed on, 1776.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 183 and a mUitia at aU events would have been under the control of the Crown. Lord North had no objection, but acting on the old and fatal maxim of " divide et impera," he saw in the estabHshment of a militia an opportunity of gratifying the CathoHcs and rewarding the display of their loyalty. They were wiUing to be enrolled; and Lord North stipulated that their enlist ment must be accompanied with " indulgences in the exercise of their religion." Such indulgences would have followed as a matter of course, had there been no formal demand for them. But the prominent mention of a tender subject at once exasperated Prot estant prejudice. Harcourt felt his way, but found that the proposal to admit the Catholics would ruin a measure which was otherwise urgently desirable. " There was no point," he said, " on which gentlemen were so sensitive, or the country in general so jealous. Nothing more was needed to throw Ireland into a flame." ^ The heads of the Bill went on as they were first drawn, containing no mention of the CathoHcs. With an infatuation which brought rapid penalties after it the BiU was not returned, and instead of a militia which would be in the hands of the command er-in-chief, the Government were to reckon with the volunteers. The same perversity attended the revival of the Judges' Tenure Bill. Ireland was i;aturally anxious for the removal of the Bench from the influence of jobbery. Townshend had recommended the change from the throne, and in Townshend's time it had been prevented only by the introduction of a clause reserving a power of removal to the British Parlia ment. The Irish Commons, as a last act before the 1 "Lord Harcourt to Lord North, February 28, 1776." 184 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v.Ch.ie dissolution, made another attempt to bring it about. The heads of the Judges' Tenure Bill were brought to the Viceroy to be sent over. Lord Harcourt, un willing in his embarrassment to part with any influ ence by which he could work on the fears or hopes of the baser members of the Lower House, himself entreated the Cabinet to refuse consent. " The state of the country duly considered," he said, " I am persuaded it would be very undesirable to make the commission of judges to continue during good behavior. So many inconveniences would in fallibly result from such a bill, that I trust it wiU not be deemed proper to return it to Ireland." ^ These proceedings may be described as a very effective sowing the wind, the more so as the parties concerned were innocently unconscious of what they were doing. On the 5 th of April the session closed, and with it the Parliament. " Our business ended," De Blaquiere reported, " with temper and satisfac tion. We had a sharp debate on the address. Mr. Grattan, Mr. Bushe, and Mr. Yelverton were partic ularly violent ; but we shamed them even in argu ment, and in point of numbers were so strong that they dared not divide." ^ It would be curious to know what the " arguments" were. A case could be made on the Money Bill, on Irish rights, and the American war ; but the attack turned largely on the defences of the country, the increasing debt, the corrupt expenditure, the mon- 1 "Lord Harcourt to Lord Weymouth, February 5, 1776." The Ha> court correspondence in the State Paper Office is preserved in copies made and annotated by Sir John Blaquiere. To the present production of Ms chief he appends as a remark : "I was in the country when this extraor dinary letter was written. — J. B." 2 " To Lord North, April 7." 1776.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 185 strous Pension List, and the loading the Establish ment with sinecures as the price of poHtical support. On these points what answers could have been made which were not lies ? Harcourt's term of office was now running out. One duty only remained to him — to superintend the general election ; to see the new Parliament installed, and its composition tested by the election of a Speaker. It was then to be prorogued for fifteen months. The Viceroy was to go to England. His successor was not yet determined on. He might himself, perhaps, be asked to return, and if Lord North so wished it he was ready to sacrifice himself, or, as he put it, " he was not disposed to turn his face from the evil, or suffer the bitter cup to pass from his lips." De Blaquiere had already explained the steps which the election rendered necessary. The esti mate fell far short of the requirements. Eighteen members_of the Lower House insisted that they had earned peerages. If they received their coronets, they undertook to fill the seats which they had va cated with men on whom the Castle might rely. But they refused to be paid in promises. They must have theb price on the spot. Besides these, De Bla quiere recommended a long list of persons for pensions and places. He represented compliance as " indis pensable for the public service." And here again delay was unpermitted, for, as he observed, " Many of our grants are always mortgaged in part for the purchase-money of our seats." ^ "I have but three words for you," he wrote in a companion note to Secretary Robinson — "Dispatch, dispatch, dispatch, 1 " Sir John Blaquiere to Lord North, May 4." 186 The English in Ireland. [Bk.v. Ch.iii for the existence of your future views depends upon it." Under these influences the memorable Parliament. was chosen which was to revolutionize the Irish Con stitution. Little could its future career have been conjectured from its first performance. It assembled in force to choose its Speaker. Pery, as before, was the Government candidate. Ponsonby was again the choice of the patriots. It appeared, when the trial came, that Lord Shannon and the Elies had fallen off again. The Duke of Leinster had forgotten the old feud, and supported Ponsonby with all his weight. But corruption for the present proved too strong for aristocracy and patriotism combined. Pery was elected by 141 votes to 98, and the Castle won a glorious victory in its own imagination. Public confidence, which had been shaken, was re stored. Government debentures rose from 90 to 101. Lord Harcourt not being required to drink any deeper of his " bitter cup," resigned with an aureole about his head, and returned to England, to fall into the Nuneham well. De Blaquiere, who resigned with him, preferred to remain in a country where his com posure under fire had made him popular, and where he conceived that by his poHtical dexterity he had fixed the authority of Government on a basis of rook. " In retiring from my public station in this king dom," he wrote to Lord North, " permit me most sin cerely to congratulate your lordship on the unshaken loyalty and perfect tranquillity that have been pre served in it at a period when so much pains had been taken to lessen the one and disturb the other. 1 mention the situation of this kingdom with so much 1776.] Lord Harcourt and Colonel Blaquiere. 187 confidence and pleasure because there is not a part of his majesty's dominions where I would be so happy to spend the remainder of a private Hfe as in Ireland." i I " Sir John Blaquiere to Lord North, July 4, 1776." 188 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vlch.i. BOOK VL CHAPTER I. THE BEGINNINGS OE KBTKIBTJTION. SECTION I. Ninety teaes had passed since Aghrim and the sm'render of Limerick had laid the Irish race once more prostrate at the feet of England. The time had come, as it comes with all nations and with all men, when England was to be called to account for the trust which had been committed to her. She had sown with poison weeds the draggled island which lay in the rear of her imperial domain. The crop had sprung up and ripened, and now the harvest was to be gathered. When circumstances compel a strong nation to deprive a neighbor of poHtical independ ence that nation is bound to confer on the inferior country the only reparation in its power — to share with it to the utmost its o-wn material advantages — to justify its assumption of superiority by the eq uity and wisdom of its administration. England had discharged her sovereign duties to Ireland by leav ing her to anarchy masked behind a caricature of the forms of her own constitution. With an inso lent mockery she had refused her request for incor- 1776.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 189 poration in the empbe. She had left her the name of a separate kingdom and a separate nationality as her excuse for withholding from her the equal rights to which she was entitled. The nationality which she insisted on preserving was to become a thorn in England's side — the instrument of a merited humU- iation. The Protestant colonists implanted as her repre sentatives by James and Cromwell, finding that trans portation to Ireland impHed the sacrifice of theb rights as English citizens, became Irish in sentiment, and trod again, step for step, the same road which had been travelled by the Norman conquerors. They adopted Irish habits ; they adopted the Irish ani mosity against their oppressors. In the collapse of nobler purpose they had come to regard their position as an opportunity for plunder, and to consider the proceeds of the soU, whether in the shape of public revenue or private rent, as so much booty to be seized and divided. In the misappropriation of the revenue England herself set the ignoble example. The Irish Parlia ment became simply the arena for the partition of the spoil. The English Cabinet retained the Pension List for corruption or for questionable court favorites. They retained the high offices of State as sinecures, to keep in good humor their Parliamentary friends at home. As the price of connivance, they left to the Irish leaders aU else that could be coUected as cess or tax to be absorbed by themselves, or to be disposed of among their dependents or kinsmen. Public interests meanwhile went to ruin. The army was neglected, the poHce was unexistent. Smugglers, houghers, Whiteboys, and women ravishers pursued their call- 190 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi.Ch.i. ing unmolested, till familiarity with their atrocities raised them into the rank of national institutions. The harbor defences crumbled and disappeared, the military stores were stolen. From Dublin Castle to the lowest custom-house the public service was per vaded with peculation, the Viceroys themselves play- mg the first part in the disgraceful spectacle — su perior, doubtless, themselves to unworthy influences, but setting the example of buying the consciences of those who were nearest to them. The least evil of bad government is the immediate consequence. The worst curse of it is the effect upon the characters of the people who grow to manhood in so detestable an atmosphere. The attempts of George the Thbd to introduce reforms had only shown the hopelessness of the prob lem. Townshend and Harcourt had broken the power of the great nobles, but they had broken it only by more indiscriminate and lavish bribery. They had taught the so-caUed independent members that the service of the Castle was a safer road to fortune than the service of the Leinsters and Ponson bies. The discovery once made, the hunger grew by what it fed on, tiU corruption became a thing of course, and honor and principle were words which ceased to have a meaning, except in rounding the periods of some fluent orator who laughed at them in his sleeve. In their social relations, the Irish gentry were scarcely more satisfactory than in poHtics. Owner ship of soil had descended from a time when the lord ship of a manor was a miHtary command. Services due to the Crown, both in England and Ireland, had long been compounded for; and the distinction be- 1776.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 191 tween real and personal property, so far as positive duty was supposed to attach to one rather than the other, was fast disappearing. But in England the spirit of the old form sur-rived the letter of it. The great families remained objects of affectionate aUegiance to the tenantry. They administered jus tice ; they officered the army and militia ; they com manded the yeomanry ; they represented the counties, and in that capacity had been the guardians of public Hberty. Placed by station and fortune beyond vul gar temptation, they held in check the adventurers who took up politics as a road to personal preferment, and by the degree of genuine integrity and patriotism which they have carried into modern Parliaments they have alone made possible the wholesome work ing of the Constitution. In Ireland the form was the same ; the reality was essentially different. Of the resident noblemen and gentlemen a minority retained their English character, and acted, so far as circumstances would allow them, on English principles. To them was due such prog ress as Ireland had made. Their estates became oases in the general wilderness, and they and their families were regarded by the peasantry with a feel ing which went beyond allegiance — the passionate attachment with which the Celt never fails to reward the masters who treat him with kindness and justice. But men like these kept clear of public Iffe, or if they entered it can be traced only by ineffectual efforts to stem the general tide. At best they were but a handful of salt, to keep the mass from putrefying, and were never in sufficient numbers to influence ma- teriaUy the fortunes of the country. A thbd, at one time haff, of the Protestant owners of land in Ireland 192 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. i. were absentees. Their connection with their proper ties was the mercantile one merely. Theb duties were to send persons to coUect their rents. Their lands were leased to head tenants, whom the law com pelled to call themselves Protestants also ; but these persons were often of the old blood, ashamed of the names they bore, and, being without religion of any kind, were without moral sense. The idea of duty having disappeared, the idea which took its place was the desirableness of being an idle gentleman. To live without labor, to spend his time in hunting, shooting, drinking, gambling, and fighting duels, became the supreme object of an Irishman's ambition. The head tenant let to others like himseff, and they again to others, till the division fell at length below the line at which Catholics were excluded from holding farms. The Catholics would offer any rent, and thus gradually ousted such Protestant cultivators as had remained from earlier times. Over large tracts of the southern provinces the only Protestants were the agents of the gentry, or else tenants holding on lives and long leases. The cultivation fell exclusively to the CathoHc peas antry, to wretched cottiers, themselves starving on potatoes, who hi those above them saw nothing but a series of profligate extortioners, a reproach alike to the creed they professed and to the system of admin istration which they represented. The extremity of worthlessness was to be found on the estates of the absentees. Of the resident pro prietors, the smaller sorts, living most of them beyond their means, and buried in mortgages, nearly resem bled the middleman. The more considerable, with a few remarkable exceptions, formed the Irish gentle men of popular tradition, who, easy and good-natured, 1776.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 193 had accommodated themselves, like the Norman barons, to the ways of theb country. They, too, raced and rode ana drank. They were out at elbows. They were popular among theb tenants, and on the whole, kind to them. But it was the more necessary for them to find other means of replenishing their empty purses. In a land where industry was under a blight, they took up into themselves the genius of the nationality which theb fathers had been planted in Ireland to eradicate. Light>-hearted, reckless, and extravagant, they became like Irish chiefs of the six teenth century in modern costume, living from hand to mouth, and recognizing but one obligation which was always and unff ormly held sacred among them — to send or accept a challenge, with or without reason, at any place and at any time. These, for the most part, were the country magistrates, to whom the peace of Ireland was intrusted. The duties were Hght, for the crimes committed were of a sort which, till landlords began themselves to be murdered, opin ion did not severely condemn ; and those inclined to be more severe found themselves compelled to con form to the general tone. As a rule, the difficulty of obtaining evidence was a sufficient passive check. If a too enterprising magistrate went further, if he in sisted on punishing a ravisher, or preventing a duel, or arresting smugglers or whiskey distillers, or inter fering in short with any general right which custom sanctioned, he was encountered by a chaUenge to him self from one or other of the parties aggrieved, and he had to fight, or He under the ban of society. More unsuited than even the owners of the land for the work demanded of them, were the spiritual in structors which the Irish Constitution provided. VOL. II. 13 194 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch, l That the Irish Celts might be converted to Protest antism could not be caUed impossible after the ex ample of Wales and the Scotch Highlands. That they should be so converted was of incomparably more consequence, because it was only when ceasing to be Catholics that it was possible for them to become loyal subjects of the British Crown. British Minis ters dreamt of attaching them by standing between the priests and the execution of the penal laws. The priests affected gratitude, which they did not and could not feel. The Irishman, who was at once Celt and Catholic, received a legacy of bitterness from the past which he was forbidden to forget. The invaders were in possession of the land of his fathers. He had been stripped of his inheritance for his fidelity to his creed. He saw himself trodden down into serfdom on the soil which had been his own, and England — England only — he knew to be the cause of his sor rows. The edge of his animosity was blunted when he adopted the reform reHgion. The rebeUions which had occasioned the forfeiture were then no longer sa cred to him, and his point of sympathy with the con querors was stronger than his resentment. To gam him over therefore should have been the first ob ject of an English statesman, and the institutions of the country should have been studiously adapted to missionary purposes. No organization could have been invented, less adapted for such an end, than the E.stablished communion. It had divided Protestant ism in two, and had ostracized the most energetic section of it. It drove the Presbyterians into repub licanism and disaffection; and to the CathoHc, who boasted of his own unchanging and umform faith, it presented the contrast of wrangling creeds hating and 1776.] The Beginnings of Retribution, 195 denouncing each other more cordiaUy than either hated their common antagonist. The Irish Church, had it not been for English in fluence, would probably have drifted into a wiser poHcy and perhaps a more successful career. At the beginning of the last century the bishops and clergy were Jacobites and High Churchmen, and were dis abled for active work of any kind by worldiness and pluralities. The pluralities and worldiness continued, but the happy possessors of the richer benefices be came absentees like the laiidlords. The work was left to curates of simpler habits and more genuine piety. The visit of Wesley to Ireland and the prac tical conflict with Romanism of a violent type, had kindled and fostered in the parochial clergy an inter esting development of evangelical devotion ; and had they been left to themselves to choose their own prel ates and organize their own services, they would have found means perhaps of ending the schism which was paralyzing Protestant efficiency. Here too, however, as everywhere else, the Parliamentary sys tem made improvement impossible. The high offices in the Church, the bishoprics and deaneries, were utUized as the most effective instruments of political influence, and were reserved and distributed with scarcely an exception as the reward or inducement of party service. The celebrated passage in which Swift describes the nominees to the Irish sees as way laid and murdered by highwaymen on Hounslow Heath, who stole their letters patent, came to Dublin, and were consecrated in their place, is scarcely an exaggeration of the material out of which Ireland in the last century was provided with a spiritual hie rarchy. When men Hke Stone were Primates, and 196 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi.Ch.i, men Hke Harvey suffragans, the prelates of the Irish Establishment were perhaps more singular specimens of successors of the Apostles than Christendom under its various phases had ever witnessed or wiU witness again. The English Government might count itself inno cent, and doubtless was content so to regard its own conduct. If Irish landlords chose to neglect their obligations and their properties, ff the Parliament was corrupt and could be kept in working condition only by the prostitution of the secular and spiritual patronage ; if all classes preferred their own customs to the ordinary principles of order and morality, they were themselves the cause of their own miseries. They had the same institutions under which England was the envy of the world. If they misused their advantages, on them lay the. responsibiHty. The ex cuse falls in but too completely with the modem theories of liberty. It is identical with the defence presented long ago by Adam's eldest son, and, as in that first instance, was a cynical pretext to cover de liberate wickedness. If Ireland had fallen into sloth, England had first annihilated the most flourishing branch of her industry. She had left her the linen trade, and boasted of having given her exceptional ad vantages in the prosecution of it, but she was repent ing of her magnanimity, invading the compact, and by side measures, stealing it from her in favor of her own people. She had cut Ireland off from the sea by her Navigation Laws, and had forced her into a contra band trade which enlisted haff her population in or ganized resistance to the law. Even her wretched- agriculture had been discouraged, lest an increasing breadth of corn in Cork and Tipperary should lower 1776.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 197 the value of EngHsh land. Her salt meat and butter were laid under an embargo when England went to war, that the English fleets and armies might be vict ualled cheaply at the expense of Irish farmers. If the high persons at the head of the great British em pire had deliberately considered by what means they could condemn Ireland to remain the scandal of their rule, they could have chosen no measures better suited to their end than those which they had pursued unre lentingly through three quarters of a century. By definite acts of unjust legislation they were forcing the entire people to abandon themselves to the potato, and to sit down to brood over their wrongs in a" pa ralysis of anger and despair. Things had come to a point when if men had held their peace the very stones would have cried out. Legislatures may pass laws at their high pleasure, but if the laws are not in harmony vrith the order of nature, nature will refuse to recognize them. The discontent of the peasantry might have been kept down by force ; the oratory of the patriots could have been brought over ; but every sound and honorable mind in Ireland was now convinced of the necessity of a change. , The Americans were pointing the way to redress, setting the example of resistance, and creating an opportunity. A great occasion raises common men to a level above their own. Accident, or the circumstances of the country, had created in Ireland at this time a knot of gentlemen whose abili ties and whose character would anywhere have marked them for distinction. Indignation and hope had induced them to forego the temptations which under ordinary conditions would have carried them 198 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlch.l away to England. They remained at home to fight the battle of their country, to inflict on England a well-merited humiliation, and to try the experiment whether Ireland could or could not be safely trusted with the control of her own destinies. 1776.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 199 SECTION II. The fortunes of Ireland at this moment were con nected so intimately with the phases of war in Amer ica, that the student of the Irish revolution must keep himself reminded of the parallel events of the Transatlantic struggle. After the battle of Bunker's Hill the American Hues were drawn closer round Boston. The opening of the year 1776 found General Washington estab lished on Dorchester Heights, from which his cannon commanded the anchorage. Swarms of small priva teers from the mouths of the New England rivers in terrupted the provision ships coming in from the sea, and in March General Howe found it necessary to evacuate the city, and to remove his troops to some position where they could act with effect and be no longer straitened for suppHes. Sir Peter Parker was foiled in the summer in an attack on Charleston, and encouraged by their signal successes, the representa tives of the united colonies ventured their Declaration of Independence. These initial misfortunes hardened the spirit and roused the resolution of England. An attempt to enlist Canada in the revolt was a disas trous failure. Colonel Montgomery, who commanded the invading forces, was killed ; his army which ex pected to be welcomed with enthusiasm was cut in pieces by the colonists and the British garrison at Quebec ; and an American squadron on Lake Cham- 200 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Cu. i plain was taken or destroyed. Lord Howe came out with large reinforcements to the Bay of New York, where he was joined by his brother Sir William and by the troops withdrawn from Boston. Lord Howe had brought with him power to negotiate, and it is possible that after the disappointment in Canada, had substantial concessions been now offered, the Declara tion of Independence might have been reconsidered. The idea of separation was as yet unfamiHar, and the majority of the colonists were as loyal to the empire generally as they were tenacious of their liberties, and determined to assert them. Lord Howe, how ever, contented himself with offering pardon to those who would lay down their arms. General Washing ton held Long Island and the Island of New York itseff with 17,000 men. The British generals in tended if possible to take New York and use it from thenceforward as the base of their operations. Sir William Howe landed on Long Island a little to the north of Sandy Hook. He advanced along the har bor to Brooklyn, opposite the city, and on the 29th of August, on the ground where Brooklj^n Park and Cemetery now stand, he encountered Washington, defeated him, drove him across into New York, and out of New York over the Hudson, and thence in the month following forced him back over the Delaware into the forest, apparently broken into ruin. Now still more would have been the tirae for Lord Howe to produce his commission to treat. But care less through the ease of their success the English for got Lexington and Bunker's HUl. They regarded their work as done. They broke into separate divis ions. They were surprised in detail at Princeton and Trenton, and severely punished. Sir William 1777.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 201 Howe gathered his broken detachments together, re treated slowly through New Jersey to New York, manoeuvring va vain to draw Washington into an other general action, and the season being over, settled down in his winter-quarters to lay his plans for a decisive campaign in the coming spring. New England was the heart of the insurrection. As soon as the snow had gone and roads and rivers were again open. General Burgoyne was to move south from Canada by Lake Champlain, cross the water-shed, and descend the Hudson to Albany, where Sir Henry Clinton would meet him ascending the same river from New York. The New England States would thus be cut off from theb allies, and tamed perhaps into a separate peace. Meanwhile Howe himseff, whom the fleet enabled to select his own point of landing, could threaten Pennsylvania, and if he failed to reduce it could at least prevent Washington from operating against Burgoyne. Sir WilHam Howe conducted his own share of the campaign with perfect success ; he landed at the mouth of the Chesapeake, inflicted a destructive defeat on the Americans on the Brandyvrine, broke them again as fast as they recom- bined, finally drove the Congress out of Philadelphia, destroyed the forts which had been raised by Wash ington to prevent the entrance of the English ships into the Delaware, and sat down in the autumn with his fleet and army in full possession of the American capital. Far different was the fate of Burgoyne, whose task, to all appearance, was the easier of the two. Leaving Sir Guy Carleton in Canada vrith a force adequate for its defence, Burgoyne set out in the middle of June, with ten thousand of the best soldiers 202 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi.Ch.i. vrith which England could furnish him, a powerful train of field artillery, and a flying swarm of Indian allies, the warriors of the Six Nations who, useless for purposes of real fighting, it was hoped would terrify the American imagination, and instead of terror pro duced only resentment by their cruelties, and a cen sure on their employment from the conscience of civilized mankind. He advanced unresisted as far as the head of Lake Champlain. The Americans had a fort at Ticonderoga, but they at once evacuated it on his appearance, and stiU without seeing an enemy, Burgoyne struck into the forest to make his way to Fort Edward, on the Hudson. Here his difficulties began. Roads there were few or none. The settlers, driven to fury by the savages, took their rifles and hung upon his skirts, interrupting his communica tions and cutting off his foraging parties. They closed in between him and Lake Champlain, and stopped his supplies from the rear. The country was swept clean in his front. He found himseff depend ent entirely on the stores which he carried with him, and was obliged to push forward at the utmost speed. The utmost speed was very small. It was enough for the Americans if they could impede his march. Hunger would then do their work for them. On the 30th of June Burgoyne had left Lake Champlain. In the middle of September he was still fifty miles from Albany, hemmed in, with provisions failing and unable to move. On the 19th he was attacked by the Americans and fought a severe battle without being able to extricate himself. Clinton, whom he contrived to inform of his situation, came foi-ward up the river ; but instead of pushing on through Albany contented himseff with destroying villages and farm- 1777.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 203 houses in the expectation that he would draw the Americans off. They understood their advantage too well to lose it. They could rebuild their houses. They might wait long before they could catch in a net another English army. As October opened, Burgoyne made one more desperate plunge and struggled a few miles farther to Saratoga. There another battle followed, when he lost more of his guns. The Indians deserted him. His provisions gave out. He attempted to retreat, but it was too late. Half his force was sick or disabled, and on the 12th of October, with no alternative before him but destruction, he was compelled to lay down his arms. The impression produced by this catastrophe was of greater consequence by far than the material loss. It raised the Americans to the rank of a belligerent power, to be admired and recognized by the world. It decided France to revenge herseff for the loss of her Transatlantic provinces by assisting, since she could not keep them for herself, in tearing them from her rival. Franklin, to whom England would not Hsten, repaired to Paris, where he was received with open arms. Then, at last, when the opportunity was gone, Lord North began to realize the magnitude of his task. Stunned by the surrender at Saratoga and finding his old enemy preparing to strike in, he recog nized the necessity of a compromise, and a bill was hurried through Parliament, which six months pre viously the States would have accepted with grati tude. The pretension to tax the colonies directly or indirectly was totally and forever abandoned, and Lord Carlisle and Mr. Eden were sent out as commis sioners, with power to offer free trade, to offer seats in the English House of Commons if America wished 204 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlch.i, to be represented there, to offer, even in the name of England, to share the debt which the colonists had in curred in maintaining their rights by arms. It was too late. Anticipating the course which England would pursue, France, in consenting to an aUiance with the States, had made it a condition that they would forever renounce their connection with the mother country. La Fayette, who had joined the American army as a volunteer, when the news ar rived that the treaty was signed, had flung himself in tears into Washington's arms. Before Lord Carlisle landed the chances of reunion were gone, unless it could be achieved by force of arms. Congress replied to the EngHsh emissary that if Great Britian desbed to negotiate with America, she must withdraw her fleets and armies and recognize American Independ ence. Very gallantly England accepted the new conditions of the conflict. She declared war against France. Spain, in the hope of recovering Gibraltar and Jamaica, flung herself into the quarrel and made a thbd enemy. The little island, stripping herseff in earnest now for the large task which lay before her, prepared to encounter single-handed the two strongest powers in Europe, and still keep her hold on her re volted provinces. It was work for a giant, and never before in her history did England bear herself with finer spirit. A French squadron, under Count d'Es- taing, appeared at the mouth of the Delaware. Howe moved ^ from Philadephia and fell back to New York. But the English fleet, thus reinforced from home, came out and drove d'Estaing into Boston, where he was left helpless. At the outset the French brought no help to their allies, but only misfortune. Together 1 July, 1778. 1777.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 205 they attempted Rhode Island, but made nothing of it. A British force was landed in Georgia, defeated the American army there, and recovered the State. The summer following, 1779, an expeditionary force from New York laid waste Virginia. Reembarking and going north it attacked Connecticut, taking and plun dering New Haven and Fairfield. An American fleet was destroyed in August off Massachusetts. Savan nah was taken in the south, and a desperate attempt to recover it decisively failed. It seemed as if England, hitherto, had been play ing with her work, and was only now setting to it in earnest. The next year, 1780, brought the Ameri cans no better fortune. Sir Henry Clinton made a second attack on Charleston and this time successfully. Charleston surrendered, and five thousand of the sol diers of independence whom Washington could ill spare became prisoners of war. General Gates has tened with the heroes of Saratoga to the defence of Carolina. Lord Cornwallis met him at Camden, and the sharpest battle hitherto fought in the war, ended in a rout of the Americans. Gates lost his stores and his guns. CornwalHs, master of the field, was master of the Southern States, and proceeded to con fiscate estates, try and punish leading insurgents, and inflict on the Carolinas the sharpest consequences of unsuccessful rebellion. So far as appearances could promise, England was only threatened by another European coalition that she might play over again as proud a part as she had played under Chatham. Bearing with him this general outline of the events of the American War, the reader will now be pre pared to understand what was happening in Ireland. 206 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch.l SECTION m. CotTLD Lord North have foreseen the problem which was about to be presented to him, he would have chosen the ablest statesman to succeed Lord Harcourt whom he could have persuaded into under taking a post so detested as the Viceroyalty of Ire land. Encouraged, perhaps, by the apparent docility of the newly elected Parliament, he fixed on the Earl of Buckinghamshire, a nobleman whose qualifications were that he had discharged without discredit the office of minister at St. Petersburgh. Lord Buck inghamshire on entering on his office was encountered at once by a phenomenon at once novel and disagree able. The embargo had given a fresh impulse to the smuggling trade. Armed sloops and brigantines were again fitted out in the creeks of Cork and Kerry, which at sea and in unquiet times were not particu larly scrupulous, while by the side of them and in intimate correspondence with them there appeared on the coast three fast saUing and heavily armed privateers carrying American colors, come over to spend the summer in and about St. George's Channel, the " Lexington " and the " Reprisal," eighteen-gun sloops, and the " Dolphin," a ten-gun brig. Theu' crews were mixed, Americans, French, with a large admixture of Irish. They lay chiefly between Holy head and the Irish Coast, in the track of the Liver pool and Belfast traders. Their prizes as fast as they 1777.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 207 took them they sent away round the Land's End, to some French port, where they were sold. The prize crews it was easy to recruit from the smugglers and fishermen. Three ships of the line Avere sent from Portsmouth to destroy or drive off these mischievous hornets. The " Arethusa," a thirty-two-gun frigate, was ordered to find and capture them. They laughed at the liners. They evaded the " Arethusa." A fourth brigantine, the " Oliver Cromwell," was added to their number in the course of the summer, and they pHed their trade with impunity, the smugglers keep ing them furnished with fresh provisions, with pilots, and with information. The naval supremacy of Eng land, in reliance on which the Irish harbors were left undefended and Ireland was left bare of troops, was defied at her own doors, while the American flag was seen daily fluttering in insolence from the Irish coast anywhere between Londonderry and Cork.^ The Biennial Session came duly round in the autumn. The speech was colorless ; the address was unopposed. The political air was tranquil, for all parties were standing at gaze waiting for news from America. It was known that Howe had driven the Congress from Philadelphia. Had it fared equally well with Burgoyne, the majority so carefully secured by Harcourt would have remained true to the winning colors. But in December came the account that Bur goyne was taken, and then that Franklin was in Paris, and that a treaty was signed between the insurgent States and France. The next thing .that Ireland heard was that Lord Carlisle was going over to grant America more than Ireland had ever asked or dreamt of. This was to be the reward of rebelHon. America 1 See the Irish State Papers, for the spring and summer of 1777. 208 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. i. had taken arms. Ireland had sat passive under her wrongs. America was to be free and triumphant; Ireland was to wear her chains as the symbol of her loyalty. It was more than Irish blood could bear. Grattan, taking at once his natural place, became the voice of his people. On the 7th of February he moved an ad dress to the Crown that the condition of Ireland was no longer endurable. The military establishment was more costly than ever, yet the country was unde fended. The Civil List had grown Hke a rank weed. Sinecures were heaped on sinecures. The Pension List was so heavy in 1767 that the Commons had protested against it ; since that time it had doubled. The representatives of the people must speak out. Mr. Grattan did not prescribe the particular mode of redress, but he demanded a change of system, and ap pealed to the King. The motion was lost by a heavy majority,^ but the debate was long and well sustained. The supporters of the Government expressed their hope to the Vice roy after the division that the privUeges which were to be granted to the rebellious Americans would be extended to a country which had borne its wrongs without resistance, and that the restrictions on Irish trade would be relaxed or abolished.^ The Catholics had been demonstratively loyal at the outbreak of the rebeUion. They had been re warded with gracious words, and they too had come to think that they might receive something more substantial. In March, Mr. Talbot, on behaff of the 1 143 to 66. •2 " The Earl of Buckinghamshire to Lord Weymouth, rebmary 7. To Lord North, March 20, 1778." 1777.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 209 Catholic Committee, presented the Viceroy with a Hst of grievances, the redress of which, ff it satisfied the Committee's expectation, would amount "to a repeal of almost the whole of the Penal Laws." ^ Concession was the order of the day. The King had already resolved on doing something for the Catholics, and the rising tone in the Protestant House of Commons made the Government more anxious to strengthen themselves with the support of their rivals. Lord Buckinghamshire was directed to feel his way among the members of both Houses best inclined to the Catholics, and discover what degree of relief could be proposed with a chance of success. He met with a cold reception. " The unanimous, opinion " was that although a relaxation of the Penal Laws was desirable, "the time was unfavorable," and that to bring it forward at present " would set the country in a flame." 2 The Catholic Committee was satisfled to wait, but Mr. Talbot left a sketch of their views with the Vice roy. The preamble of it contained as an objection to the continuance of the Penal Laws the singular remark " that those laws had rather tended to create an aversion from and dislike to the Established Church, and thereby in a great measure prevented a great majority of the people from embracing the Protestant religion." It paid a compliment equally noticeable to Protestantism itseff, by appealing " to the doctrine and principles of the Reformation, and to the spirit of British laws against oppression or persecution on account of reHgious beHef." The sub stance of the CathoHc demands was, " that no person who had taken the oath of aUegiance in its latest form 1 "To Lord Weymouth, March 4." " Ibid. VOL. II. 14 210 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlch. i, should be counted a Papist according to the meaning of the Popery Acts." 1 " Divide et impera " was still Lord North's maxim. He hoped by humoring the Catholics to escape a struggle on the trade monopolies. But the art of governing by these time-honored methods was ceasing to answer its end. War had been declared against France, and the privateers of the past summer might now be supplemented by a fleet from Brest. The coast towns could no longer be left vrithout garri sons. ParHament voted 300,000L for the repairs of the fortresses. The country professed its wilHngness to provide for its own defence either by volunteer corps or by a militia. The Presbyterians especially, who had been hitherto devotedly American, were forward in offering their services.^ The idea of volunteers had not yet, perhaps, suggested itseff with any sinis ter object. It was mentioned only as an alternative. The Militia Bill of the last session which had been rejected in England in the interest of the Catholics was again sent over, and the Viceroy begged that it might this time be returned to him, that if necessary the militia might be embodied. The Parliament, however, he said, preferred volunteer corps, and for himself he was strongly of the same opinion. The cost of the miUtia would fall on the Treasury. If the lords and gentlemen of Ireland were willing to raise independent companies at their expense, it would be a pity to reject their Hberality. The Treasury was empty. Twenty thousand pounds had 1 " The Earl of Buckinghamshire to Lord Weymouth, March 4, 1778." ^ "The idea of the French war has not only altered the language but the disposition of the Presbyterians. — The Earl of Buckinghamshire to Lord Weymouth, March 29." 1778.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 211 been borrowed at interest from La Touche's bank, but that was already spent. There were pressing de mands for money for indispensable purposes, and a second application to Messrs. La Touche had been met by polite excuses.^ The necessity of prompt resolution was made more apparent by news which came in from the north. In the last year the privateers had not appeared before June. They had vanished at the equinox, and if they returned they were not looked for at an earlier part of the season. The " Arethusa " and her con sort had gone back to Portsmouth. The " Drake," a 20-gun brig or brigantine, lay at Carrickfergus, and is the only vessel mentioned as on the station. A seaman, meanwhile, had entered the service of Con gress who knew how to use an opportunity. Paul Jones was born at Kirkcudbright, in the year 1747, and was the son of a servant of Mr. Craik, of Arbigland. He was apprenticed when twelve years old to a merchant at Whitehaven, and after remain ing with him fourteen years emigrated to Virginia. There he found himself at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, and taking the American side he distinguished himseff so brilliantly in command of a privateer, that in the spring of 1778 he was appointed to the " Ranger," a fast 18-gun sloop, with a roving commission. Guessing that if he was early in the Irish waters he would find the coast clear, he sailed for St. George's Channel at the beginning of April. Every harbor was familiar to him, and the condition of every harbor battery. At midnight, on the 20th of April, an unknown armed vessel sailed into Carrickfergus Harbor, and brought up under the 1 " To Lord North, April 30, 1778." 212 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. l " Drake's" side. She had meant to board, but she swung astern too far in the tide. The "Drake" hailed her to know what she was and whence she came. A voice answered hastily that she was from St. Vincent's. A moment after she had cut her cable and was standing again out to sea. The "Drake" fired a shot and stood out in pursuit, but she had lost time in getting under weigh, and the mysterious stranger had disappeared in the darkness. It was the " Ranger," which had crossed the Atlantic in less than twenty days, and had already in the way up Channel taken a Waterford brig, a Dublin ship called the " Lord Chatham," and a sloop and schooner which she had pillaged and sunk. Having missed the " Drake," Jones stood across to Whitehaven to visit his old acquaintances there. His appearance was an absolute surprise. Before the inhabitants had recovered from their astonishment he had landed a couple of boats' crews, spiked the guns in the batteries, fired the shipping in the harbor, and was gone like a sky-rocket. Swiftness in such matters was the condition of suc cess. On the morning of the 22d Paul Jones was in Kirkcudbright Bay, the scene of his childhood ; he landed at St. Mary's Isle and plundered the house of Lord Selkirk. Thence on the instant he flew back' to the Irish coast to look for his friend the " Drake," and dispose of her whUe she was still alone. The " Drake " was at her old moorings in the Lougk Jones entered again this time in broad daylight at eight in the morning, sailed round her, and went out again. An English officer could not refuse so inso lent a challenge. The " Drake's " guns were four pounders, the " Ranger's " were sixes. Captain Bur- 1778.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 213 der, the " Drake's " commander, nevertheless in stantly weighed and went in pursuit. The " Ranger " led him a long chase. He did not overtake her tiU the evening. After an hour's sharp engagement, yard arm to yard arm, Captain Burder and his first officer were killed, haff the crew were dead or dis abled, and the " Drake " herself with shattered spars and leaking sides was obliged to strike. Another ship from Whitehaven captured the next morning completed the work of a single week, and the bold privateer, after landing his least valuable prisoners on the Antrim coast, made sail for Brest with his prizes. 1 The duUest pedant in the EngUsh Government could no longer resist such a rude awakening. Abeady the English Parliament had begun to think that Ireland must be attended to. A bill was brought in and carried for repeal of the Penal Laws against the Catholics at home of which the Irish Acts had been a copy. It was an example which Ireland might follow if it pleased. Lord Nugent had brought up the trade question, and after a hard fight had wrung out some few concessions. The embargo was taken off, and Ireland, as an extraordinary favor, was aUowed a free export of all her productions except woollens. The absenteeism of her men of genius was a worse wrong to Ireland than the absenteeism of her land lords. If Edmund Burke had remained in the country where Providence had placed him, he might have changed the current of its history. When he took up her cause at last in earnest it was with a I "Depositions taken before the Rev. E. Dobbs, co. Antrim, April 27, 1778." — S. P.O. 214 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi.Ch.i brain which the French revolution had deranged, and his interference became infinitely mischievous. In these preliminary questions, however, he exerted himself wisely and on the right side. The table of the House of Commons was covered with petitions from the EngHsh manufacturers -against further in dulgence. Ministers talked the usual cant that taxes in Ireland were low and Hviog cheap, and that she must be weighted in the race or England would be ruined. Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, were almost in insurrection. Burke had the courage to face the storm. He demanded for one thing the reextension to Ireland of the benefit of the Navigation Laws, and though he failed for the time and quarrelled to no effective purpose with his Bristol constituents, he forced English statesmen into a faint perception of the enormity of theb past policy, and famUiarized them with the necessity of a change. Not venturing to risk the stability of the Cabinet in a commercial tempest, yet aware that something must be done to bring Ireland mto a better mind, Lord North fell again upon the Catholic question. He had reason to fear in fact that the Catholics were less loyal than they pretended, and that unless he in sisted on concessions being made to them, he might have an Irish insurrection on his hands in addition to his other troubles.^ Ireland must do what England 1 " I have acquired apiece of information here, concerning a plot for a revolt in the west of Ireland among the Roman Catholics, with a view to overturn the present Government, by the aid of the French and Spaniards, and to establish such an one as prevails in this country, I mean the Can tons, by granting toleration to the Protestants. You may depend on its authenticity, and that at this moment many friars are going secretly from France to Ireland to set it going ; though the late Acts passed for the relief of the Roman Catholics will, it is to be hoped, prevent it from suc ceeding; the motive to revolt having proceeded from the intolerable hard- 1778.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 215 had done. The Viceroy was directed to urge the friends of Government to swallow their scruples, and forward immediately some measu]*e " of expedient relief." Something was better than nothing. Many intelligent Irishmen were aware that the Penal Laws had failed of their purpose and could no longer be retained. Others, not inclined to relaxation on the side of the Catholics, remembered that the Presby terian disabilities had been laid on in a side clause of the anti-Popery Act. The relief of the Catholics might be accompanied appropriately with the rehef of the Nonconformists. The Bill was intrusted to Luke Gardiner, the member for Dublin, who after wards, as Lord Mountjoy, was to learn the real mean ing of CathoHc emancipation when he was piked and hacked to death at New Ross. At present he was known only as a rising politician, one of the very small body in the House of Commons whose princi ples were above suspicion. His proposal was to re peal the gavelling clauses of the Act of Anne, to allow the property of Catholics to descend unbroken, to take from the eldest son the power of making his father tenant for Iffe by affecting conversion, to en able CathoHcs to purchase freehold property, and to relieve them from the vexatious limitations on theb leases, which had led so many of the larger tenants to ships they suffered. My intelligence comes from Rome, and I am pretty certain these Acts have been brought in, from the ministry receiving the same intelligence, which I know they have been in possession of for some time j as the measures for preventing the mischief proposed by the person who gives the information are exactly those that have been adopted. De- pendon its being true, and that all the Roman Catholics in the west of Ireland have been ripe for a revolt some time ; and that the plan was, and may be yet, a fixed purpose, that has been in agitation, and preparing to burst ever since France showed a disposition to break with England. — • Lord Amherst to Lord North, from Geneva, June 17, 1778." — S. P. 0. 216 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vlch. i affect to be Protestants. These suggestions fell far short of the committee's expectations, but short as they were they involved the final surrender of the policy which was designed to throw the whole soil of Ireland into Protestant hands. To part entirely with so cherished an expectation was more than the House was prepared for. An amendment still to withhold from Catholics the right of buying freeholds, and to enable them instead to take leases for 999 years, was carried, after a long debate, by a majority of three.' A member in favor of the Presbyterians then moved the repeal of the Test clause. There had been a time when English Ministers were aHve to this enor mous impolicy of alienating so powerful a section of the Protestant community, and had endeavored in vain to persuade the Irish ParHament to adopt a wiser attitude towards Dissent. Now, when the Irish Commons at least were wiUing, it was England that drew back. Lord North and the Viceroj', sharing the miserable prejudices of Churchmen against Dis senters, had determined that the Dissenters' disabili ties should be maintained as a punishment of the Presbyterians for their American tendencies; but their hope was to avoid ff possible the responsibility of the rejection, and throw the odium of it on the Irish Parliament. Very many members of the House of Commons, by the Viceroy's confession, were in its favor. Lord Buckinghamshire might have succeeded, however, in throwing out the clause by Castle influence, but for the tactics of some of the leaders of the ultra-Protestant party. Lord Shannon, Lord Ely, and other noblemen who were opposed to granting rehef to the CathoHcs supported it "as a I 111 to 108. 1778.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 217 clog to the rest of the Bill." They were aware of Lord North's resolution. They expected that if the Presbyterian claims formed part of the Bill as it was sent to England, one of two things would happen — either it would be struck out by the English Cabinet, and the party in the House which had supported Catholic relief only with a view of emancipating the Presbyterians would then reject it altogether, or the BiU would be returned entire, and then it would be thrown out by the bishops in the House of Lords.' Assisted by the nominees of these great persons, the clause was carried through the House of Commons. So intense, so childish, was stUl the animosity of the peers and prelates against the Nonconformists, that it passed the Council on its way to England, only from an assurance that it would be removed there. Lord North, as was anticipated, struck it out. The sacra mental test, which had done more harm in Ireland than aU the penal acts against the Papists ten times told, was persistently retained. The BiU came back a reUef to Papists only, and in this form nearly met the fate which Lord Shannon and its friends designed for it. It was earned through the Commons with extreme difficulty, but it was carried, and the first step was taken in the series of measures yet perhaps unended, which are called Justice to Ireland. The CathoHc Irish could once more acquire a hold on the soil of their fathers. The distinction between a ten ure of 999 years or a lease for five lives and a free hold was too arbitrary to be permanent. This feat ure in the Penal Laws, the harshest because the most difficult to evade, was aboHshed forever, and with it the ever demoralizing, ff not at the time when 1 "The Eari of Buckinghamshire to Lord Weymouth, June 20, 1778." 218 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vl Ch. i. it was enacted wholly unnecessary, power bestowed on a child who conformed to the EstabHshment to prevent his father from disinheriting him. With the Catholic Relief Bill was this time re turned also the Militia Bill, as the Viceroy had de sired; and 50,000Z. borrowed from the Bank of Eng-. land were sent over for greater security in a frigate to enable the Viceroy to protect the harbors.' As the summer wore on, privateers under French and Amer ican colors thickened in the Irish Channel, the fisher men and smugglers being still their constant friends. Two of them lay usually off Bray Head, others off Waterford and Cork, others at the Durseys or Cape Clear. Being built for speed they laughed at pursuit, and made prizes of any traders that passed them. Their occupation was so lively and so lucrative that it found imitators in the captains and owners of the contraband crafts, who went to Brest for letters of marque, and returned to theb haunts to plunder, as if engaged in honorable war. The Viceroy's 50,OOOZ. meanwhile melted away, yet no coast guard was es tablished and no militia. From piracy at sea the step would be a short one to pillage on shore, and the country gentlemen began in earnest to arm their ten ants and combine in corps for mutual protection. The state of the Channel was creating in England serious 1 "The Earl of Buckinghamshire to Weymouth, June 3, 1778. —It is painful to observe that at a time when Lord North appeared really alarmed about Ireland, Irish jobs were as rife as ever. Charles James Fox held a sinecure office of Clerk of the Pells in Ireland, with a salary of 2,3001 a year. In this year, 1778, North induced Fox to surrender it in return for 30,0001 in hand and a life pension of 1,700?. a year. The Clerkship of the Pells was then given to Mr. Jenkinson, afterwards Earl of Liverpool. The salary was raised from 2,300/. to 3,500/., and the Irish Exchequer was thus burdened in this one transaction with an additional 1,200/. on the ofiice which Fox had held, the pension of 1,700/. a year and the interest of 30,000/." 1778.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 219 inconvenience, and EngHsh attention already roused on the Irish problem began to direct itseff upon it in earnest. Lord Nugent again brought up the subject in Parliament. He was an absentee ; and it did not occur to him that his own duty was at once to return to his post. His patriotic perceptions had been quick ened by*the cessation of remittances. For two years he told the House of Commons that he had received no rents. The war had ruined the linen trade. The embargo had ruined the farmers. Artisan and peas ant were starving. Land was offered at fourteen years' purchase and found no buyers. By every ground of obHgation, by duty, by prudence, by com mon human feeling for the misery of their fellow sub jects, the EngHsh legislature was bound to interfere, and to remove at least the artificial hindrances which were shackling Irish enterprise. The Northern mill- owners clamored that the Irish were icUe, and were starving by their own indolence. These interested coteries began to be listened to with less patience as the progress of the rebellion in America created an evidence so palpable of the possible consequences of misgovernment. The King recommended that, in consequence of the undoubted distress in Ireland, the IShglish Treasury should undertake the cost of the Irish regiments which were serving in America. The message brought on debates in which both Houses agreed to demand an account of the entire condition of Irish trade. Lord Shelburne ventured to say that America had revolted on far less provocation than had been habitually endured by Ireland. Lord Town shend, who knew Ireland, and knew what ailed her better than any of his hearers, spoke with remarka ble feeling and eloquence, and implored the Peers to 220 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi, Ch.i. wake to a sense of the insolent cruelty with which the poor island had been so long afflicted. With keen antithesis he, too, like Shelburne, contrasted Ireland and America, the Irish patient under misery, which might have driven a wiser people into madness, the Americans rebellious in the midst of plenty and pros perity. Ireland, he said, perishing in the' fetters which chained her industry, had petitioned humbly for partial release, and England had answered inso lently. Break your chains if you can. The Americans had leagued themselves with England's inveterate enemy for her total destruction. To them England had said. You shall be free, you shall pay no taxes, we will interfere no more with you ; remain with us on your own terms. If these repHes were persisted in, the Irish when peace was made would emigrate to a land where honest labor would receive its due re ward. While the war continued they would require to be held down by force, and at any moment they might refuse after all either to buy EngHsh manufact ures or export their own produce, and fleets and ar mies would preach to them in vain. The Irish counties supported by petition the argu ments of their English friends. The grand juries rep resented that the flelds and highways are flUed witli crowds of wretched beings haff naked and starring. Foreign markets were closed to them. The home mar ket was destroyed by internal distress, and the poor artisans who had supported themselves by wearing were without work and without food. ' They had bought English goods as long as they had means to buy them. Now in their time of djire distress they had hoped the English Parliament would have been their friend. They learnt with pain and surprise that the 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 221 only boon which would give them relief was stUl withheld. They besought the King to interpose in theb favor, and procure them leave to export and sell at least the coarse frieze blankets and flannels which the peasants' vrives and children produced in their cabins.' Eloquence and entreaty were alike in vain. The EngHsh ParHament, though compeUed at last to hsten to the truth, could not yet bend itself to act upon it. The House of Commons still refused to open the woollen trade, in whole or in part ; and Ire land, now desperate and determined, and treading ominously in the steps of America, adopted the meas ures which Townshend had suggested, which long be fore had been recommended by Swift ; and resolved to exclude from the Irish market every article of British manufacture which could be produced at home.^ I "Humble petition of the High Sheriff and Grand Jury of Wicklow, Apriie, 1779."— S. P. O. 2 " Resolution taken at the Tholsel, in Dublin, April 26, 1779 : — " ' That at this time of universal calamity and distress, when, through a total stag nation of our trade, poverty and wretchedness are now become the portion of those to whom hitherto labor and industry afforded a competency ; when the emigration of thousands of our most useful manufacturers renders them acceptable and material acquisitions to other countries, and threatens ruin to our own; when, notwithstanding the most pathetic representations of our addresses, and our late humble petition to the throne, our sister country not only partially and unjustly still prevents us from benefiting by those advantages which the bountiful hand of Providence has bestowed on us, but even tantalizes us with imaginary schemes of improvement, and insults us with permission to cultivate our own soil : when the unjust, il liberal, and impolitic opposition of many self-interested people of Great Britain to the proposed encouragement of the trade and commerce of this kingdom originates in avarice and ingratitude. . . . We will not directly or indirectly import or use any wares, the produce or manufacture of Great Britain, which can be produced or manufactured in this kingdom, until an enlightened policy, founded on principles of justice, shall appear to actuate the inhabitants of certain manufacturing towns there, who have taken an active part in opposing the regulations proposed in favor of the trade of Ireland.' — Inclosed by the Karl of Buckinghamshire to Lord Weymouth." -S. P. 0. 222 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. i. The Viceroy, incapable of thought, and with a mind saturated with vulgar English prejudice, could see nothing in this movement but the secret action of French and American emissaries, and. was rash enough to dream of prosecution. The law officers, wiser than he, forbade a folly which might have caused immediate insuixection. Weymouth allowed the dangers of the merchants' resolution, but adrised Buckinghamshire to be quiet and concUiatory. He bade him tell the popular leaders that his majesty was deeply concerned for his Irish subjects, and was occupied in devising means to relieve their distress.' Meanwhile he desired the Viceroy to send him his own thoughts on the cause of the distress, and to col lect the private sentiments of such of the servants of the Crown and other gentlemen as he could best depend on. The Viceroy complied. He collected the opinions of Lord Lifford (the Chancellor), of Mr. Flood, of Sir Lucius O'Brien, Lord Annaly, Mr. Pery (the Speaker), of Hussey Burgh, and last and most im portant, of Hely Hutchinson ; and the papers drawn by these gentlemen, for the most part calm and well- reasoned, form the best exposition which exists of the poisonous forces which had so long been working in the country. For himself Lord Buckinghamshire admitted that his own view could be but superficial. In his opinion " the great leading mischief " had been the rise of rents. The absentees were most to blame, but the resident gentry were in fault almost as much. They lived beyond their incomes. They had hearily in cumbered their estates. Between absentee rents, the 1 " Lord Weymouth to the Earl of Buckinghamshire, May 7, 1779." 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 223 interest on mortgages, the interest on the now fast accumulating State debt, the profits of pensions and of the many lucrative offices held as sinecures by Englishmen, the aggregate sum sent annually out of the kingdom was out of all proportion to its re sources. The soil could not be cultivated, the mines and fisheries could not be developed without capital, and the drain prevented capital from accumulating. Here, so far as the Viceroy could see, was the chief seat of the disease ; of the manufacturing grievances others were fitter judges than himself.' Mr. Flood was hesitating and diffident, as became a patriot in bondage, who was unable to speak his real convictions. Sir Lucius O'Brien demanded free trade, pure and simple. Lord Annaly,^ an old-expe rienced lawyer, selected three special influences as working for evil in Ireland — the trade laws, ab senteeism, and lastly, " the idleness and licentiousness of the lower class of people, which had been greatly increased by the Octennial Bill " — a remark as preg nant as it was unexpected. The patent remedy for Irish evils then and since has been the extension of what is popularly called liberty and self-government. The Octennial BiU was the first move in that direc tion, and had begun already to bear its too familiar fruits. Lord Lifford was an Englishman, and was, perhaps, over partial to his own country. Like the Viceroy, he dwelt on the exhaustion caused by the remittances out of the country, the burden on the exchequer from so many useless nominal offices, the high rents, 1 "Buckinghamshire to Weymouth, May 28, 1779." 2 John Gore, created Baron Annaly in 1776, Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench. 224 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi.Ch.i. the enormous and unjust county cesses, which pressed so heavily on the peasantry, and the suspension of the linen trade, caused by the American war; the loss, " too, of the great clandestine woollen trade which had been opened with America," and had been the chief support of the spinners and weavers. The existence of such a clandestine trade, however, re quired to be accounted for, and Lifford, feeling him seff on dangerous ground, concluded cautiously: " The great cause, or some great cause, lies probably much deeper. The seeds of the decay which have brought us to our present state may have been sown long ago. I fear there may be some radical cause, not sufficiently understood." " For remedy of pres ent evils, nothing adequate can be found tUl the people of both kingdoms shaU be brought to that temper and liberality of mind that they can think on so great a subject as citizens of the world, and feel indifferent, as one people, under one king, one constitution, and with one religion,' whether the manufactures of the empire are carried on in Down or in York." Pery wrote as a cultivated and moderate Irish man. His country, he said, was either by dbect prohibition, or as a consequence of other restraining laws, cut off from trade either with the British colo nies or with the rest of the world. There could be no commerce without assortments of the various goods which were in demand in the country traded I This remarkable expression deserves to be attended to. Intellect, ada- cation, property, political power, everything that could make itself f eft as a constituent of national life, was still Protestant. To undo this, to restore Ireland to the condition in which it stood before the Cromwellian conquest, has been the sole result, almost wholly accomplished now, by England's penitence for past misgovernment. 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 225 with, and without free permission to bring back the produce of that country. Ireland's present produce was Hmitedv to linen and provisions. In the linen trade she had powerful rivals, and she was forbidden at present to send the most profitable branch of that manufacture to America, where there was the read iest market for it. Her provision trade had been violently destroyed by the recent embargo. Pery did not question the justice of the restraining laws, but he ventured to doubt the policy of them. It could not be England's interest to keep Ireland miser able. England was the centre of the empire. To England the wealth gained in the extremities must necessarily flow. She should be ashamed to confess that she dreaded Ireland's rivalry. Her policy should be to allow the Irish to exert themselves in whatever branch of industry best suited them, in common with their British fellow-subjects, and leave them to gather the harvest of their labors. This was all that they asked, and they ought not to be contented with less. Expedients might be tried, and probably would be tried, but they would fail of their object, and would only prolong the irritation. Let the restrictive laws be removed ; the Irish and English nations would then be united in affection as much as in interest, aud the power of malice would be unable to destroy their harmony ; but the seeds of discord had been sown, and if aUowed to spring up would soon overspread the land. All parties were represented on the Viceroy's list. Hussey Burgh was more advanced than Pery, though, perhaps, no truer a patriot. He was young, but just turned thirty, handsome, and with a large fortune. His expenses stiU exceeded his income. He drove VOL. II. 15 226 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi.Ch.i. six horses in the Phcemx Park, and he was attended everywhere by three outriders. He was indolent, but he had shown abilities in Parliament so consider able, that the Government had made him Prime Ser geant, rather to protect themselves against his hostil ity than in the hope of securing his support. He was called the Cicero of the Senate, and at happy mo ments he exceeded even Grattan in pregnant powers of expression. " It has come to this," Hussey Burgh repHed to the Viceroy's request for his sentiments on the Irish difficulty. " England must either support this king dom, or allow her to support herself. Her option is to give in trade or to give in money ; without one or the other the expenses cannot be suppHed. If she gives in money, she suffers a country of great extent and fertility to become a burden instead of a benefit. If she gives in trade, whatever wealth we may ac quire will flow back upon herseff. Were I asked what is for the benefit of Manchester, what is for the benefit of Glasgow, I should answer that monop olies, however destructive of the general weal, are beneficial to those who possess them. Were I asked what is the most effectual measure for promoting the common wealth and strength of his majesty's subjects of both kingdoms, I answer, an equal and perfect freedom of trade, without which one of those kingdoms has neither strength, wealth, nor commerce, and must become a burden on the other." The contribution of Mr. Hely Hutchinson was the first sketch of a book which he afterwards published on Ireland's commercial disabilities, and which earned his pardon from Irish patriotism for his subserriency to the Court and Lord Townshend. 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 227 " You ask my sentiments on the state of my coun try," he answered to the Viceroy's invitation. " I see ruin everywhere ; the rate of interest rising, the revenue falHng, between twenty and thirty thousand merchants and artisans in Dublin alone reduced to penury and supported by alms. The public debt exceeds a miUion, and the interest is remitted to England. Rents have risen, salaries have increased. Pensions, annuities, the American rebellion, the em bargo, aU in their several ways, have contributed to our distress. But the great and permanent cause of our misfortunes is the restraint of our commerce and the discouragement of our manufactures. The chief produce of our soU is wool, which we are forbidden to work ; our weavers starve, therefore, for want of employment. Our principal material is a drug, and we import our woollen goods from England at a cost of 360,000Z. a year. Your people are jealous of us. You say labor is cheaper here and taxes lower, and ff you leave our trade free, we shall undersell you in foreign markets. Why is our labor cheaper ? Our people live on potatoes and milk, or, more often, water. Why ? Because they can afford no better. Were trade free they would earn higher wages and demand better fare. Underpaid labor is dear labor in the end. You do your work cheaper in England than we can do, for you undersell us with your wool lens in our own market. Open our trade, and the prices of all things will then rise, labor included. Our wool wiU be manufactured at home with the help of English captal. The chief profit will pass to you, but our people will prosper too. They will learn industry and grow in numbers, and be of ser vice to the State. 228 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi.Ch.i. " Your exclusion of us from the wooUen trade has hurt you even more than it has hurt us. One pack of Irish wool works up two packs of French wool. The French supply themselves vrith smuggled wool from Ireland ; they are thus able to underseU you everywhere, and your loss is then double what it would be if we exported our wool manufactured by ourselves. You have forced us into an Ulicit com merce, and our very existence now depends upon it. Ireland has paid to Great Britain for eleven years past double the sum that she coUects from the whole world in all the trade which Great Britain allows her, a fact not to be paralleled in the history of the world. Whence did the money come ? But one answer is possible. It came from the contraband trade, and surely it is madness to suffer an important part of the empire to continue in such a condition. You defeat your own objects. You wished to secure a monopoly in foreign markets. You have not secured it. You wished to be the only purchasers of Irish wool, and the only sellers of woollen goods to Ireland. The quantity of wool exported from Ireland to Eng land in the last ten years has been almost nothing, and we are driven to consume our native goods our selves. As you have ordered it we can sell our wool and woollen goods only to you. We can buy woollen goods from you only. You impose a duty equal to a prohibition on our sale of woollen goods to you; you therefore in fact say to us that we shaU not seU to you, and that we shall buy from you only. If such a law related to two private men instead of two kingdoms, and enjoined that in buying or seUing the same goods, one individual should deal with one man only in exclusion of others, it would in effect ordain 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 229 that both as buyer and seUer that man should fix his own price and profit, and would refer to his discretion the loss and profit of the other dealer. You pro hibited us from exporting live cattle into England, at the time of the prohibition a grievous calamity to us. You thus forced us into breeding sheep, and by the restraint of our woollen manufactures drove us next into the practice of running wool. In vain you endeavored to prevent it by penalties and seizures. The world has become a great commercial society, and if you exclude trade from one channel it vriU make another for itself. " Your jealousies are of recent date ; not till the end of the seventeenth century was there ever an en deavor to interfere with Irish manufactures. Edward the Thbd, Edward the Fourth, Henry the Seventh specially favored Ireland. Neither of the Cecils discouraged us. Charles the First, the Protector, and Charles the Second desired especially to develop the woollen trade among us. Restrictive laws never answer. You maintain a corn law, and a corn law is only mischievous. The farmer pays dearly in all that he buys for the advanced prices which manu facturers pay for corn. Enlarge your policy, our people wUl then increase and will grow more pros perous along with it. Merchants, sailors, farmers, manufacturers will spring up in the place of spiritless, starving drones who are a burden and a reproach to the empire in which they live. " Try the experiment at all events. It is to be hoped that the enlightened spirit which led to this inquby will direct its progress, and that the repre sentations of interested individuals will not decide your resolutions. Commercial bodies are Hke other 230 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlch.i, corporations in desiring to be monopolists. The in terest of the dealer in any branch of trade or manu facture is always different from or opposite to that of the public. To widen the market and narrow the competition is the interest of the dealer. To widen the market may frequently be the interest of the pub lic, but to narrow the competition must always be against it." ' 1 " Opinions of Lord Lifford, Sir Lucius O'Brien, Mr. Flood, Lord Annaly, Mr. Hussey Burgh, Mr. Pery, and Mr. Hely Hutchinson, deUv ered to the Viceroy in June and July, 1779." — S. P. 0. Abridged. 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 231 SECTION IV. Meanwhile Ireland was arming, and arming in a form which, however convenient to an embarrassed treasury, might prove embarrassing should Lord North resolve, after all, on maintaining the restraining laws. After Paul Jones's visit to Carrickfergus, Belfast ap- pHed to the Viceroy for troops. The Viceroy sent down sixty dragoons as the most which he was able to spare. The Militia Act had been passed. On the part of the gentlemen there was no objection to the Viceroy's enrolling as many regiments as he pleased. Sir Lucius O'Brien among others most strongly urged him to lose not a moment in providing the country with its constitutional garrison.' A gov ernor, the most moderately qualified for his duties, should have known that if there was to be a military force in the kingdom he ought himseff to have the control and disposition of it. Lord Buckinghamshire unfortunately was embarrassed for money. The taxes could not be collected owing to the distress. The customs were yielding next to nothing owing to the coUapse of trade. To borrow was difficult, if not im possible, and to embody the militia would require a large sum. As matters stood, Beffast, Cork, Water-: ford. Limerick, Galway, were wholly unprotected. There were not soldiers enough in the country for the commonest police duties. The militia nevertheless 1 " The Viceroy to Lord Weymouth, June 30, 1779," 232 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi.Ch.i. could not be had for want of funds. The summer was coming back, and with the summer would return the pirates and privateers. Gentlemen who had prop erty to lose grew impatient, and insisted that ff Gov ernment could not protect them they must raise corps among themselves, for their own defence. Lord Buckinghamshire did not wholly like the complexion of the proposal. A few companies already raised had assumed a ^Masz-political complexion, but it was im possible to forbid men to take care of their own prop erty. If volunteer corps were formed they would be under the command of great peers and commoners who were men of property and were Protestants as well. The CathoHc Rehef made a difficulty in refus ing permission. " The Protestants," the Viceroy said, " might plausibly have murmured ff they had been forbidden to arm in their own defence when the Legislature was protecting men whom they had so long deemed their inveterate enemies." ' The Cabinet were clearer sighted than the Viceroy. They perceived at any rate that to allow an indis criminate arming of the Irish people, or even of the Protestant Irish, in their present humor, was exceed ingly ill-judged. Weymouth wrote in haste that Lord Buckinghamshire must prevent the corps from assembling, that he must take their arms from them, that he must insist on nominating the officers himself. To this there was but one answer, it was too late for such steps ; perhaps, in the absence of a militia, they were from the beginning impossible. The movement had spread as if the whole country had a purpose in it ready prepared. To interfere there must be a British 1 "The Eari of Buckinghamshire to Lord Weymouth, May 24, 1779." — S. P. 0. 1776.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 233 army, and there were not 3,000 British soldiers in the island ; while the executive was so feeble, and the population so iU affected, that even in the quietest times a convicted murderer could not be carried to the gallows without a miHtary guard f o prevent a rescue.' Every hour the problem became more abstruse. If the Protestants were to arm, the Catholics consid ered the example worth imitating. They, too, began to form into companies, and had they continued there would probably have been immediate bloodshed. Urgent representations, however, being made to their leaders in private, they desisted. Not so the country gentlemen. In vain Weymouth bade the Viceroy pour water on the fire. Corps was added to corps. The suspicion that the Government was alarmed in creased the rate at which they were multiplied, and as the volunteers gathered confidence from theb num bers they began naturally to consider what effect theb assembly might have on the public question about which the country was so anxious. It was said openly that in the presence of such a force England could no longer refuse Ireland free trade, and carried as they were off their feet by enthusiasm and excite ment, the chance for the present was gone of holding the Irish Parliament in leading strings by the old methods. " The occasional favor of Government would not induce men to incur the odium of their country at so critical a time." ^ The troubled Vice roy could find but one consolation. There were no symptoms of treason. The noble lords and gentlemen who were at the head of the movement were above 1 " To Lord Weymouth, May 24." 2 "The Earl of Buckinghamshire to Lord Weymouth, June 12." — S. P.O. 234 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vlch.i. suspicion of collusion with the enemy. The country was never in better spirit to resist invasion. It was still possible to call out the militia as a counterpoise, and if the country could be considered safe from invasion the volunteers might, perhaps, dis solve to escape expense. Buckinghamshire applied to Weymouth for money. Weymouth answered that there was none to send. The Viceroy must caU to gether the Parliament. The Viceroy said that if he was ordered to call the ParHament, and to caU it three months before the usual time, he would obey, but he would not be answerable for the consequences. Free trade would, in fact, have to be conceded at aU events. There was no escape from it.' A demand for money for the militia might lead to further pre tensions which it would be difficult to satisfy. In arming thus rapidly the country owed its escape from a dangerous adventure. The volunteer corps had been formed not an hour too soon. Encouraged by his exploits in the past summer, Paul Jones had collected a formidable squadron at L'Orient, a ship of the Hne, three powerful frigates, a sloop, and a heavy eighteen-gun cutter.^ His crews amounted to 2,000 men, and his intention was to land at Galway, Derry, and wherever else there was a prospect of plunder. He left L'Orient on the 12th of August. At the end of the month he was in Ballinskellig's Bay look ing out for prizes, and had Ireland been as unpre pared as in the previous years, he would have ven tured undoubtedljr a desperate exploit of some kind, and perhaps have roused the Western Irish into re- 1 " To Weymouth, July 12." —S. P. O. ^ The ship was " La Grande Ville," of 64 guns ; the frigates, " Le BoQ Homme Eichard," of 40, the "Alliance," 38, and the "Patrie," 32. 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 235 volt.' His many secret friends along the coast must have informed him that it was no longer safe to risk a landing. He bore away to the North Sea, where he fell in with the summer fleet from the Baltic, and after a desperate fight had the honor of capturing two English frigates, the " Serapis " and the " Countess of Scarborough," and carrying them as prizes into the Texel. It was no slight thing to have protected Ireland from an attack by a force capable of such an exploit. The fresh proof at once of the reality of the danger and of their own ability to encounter it, added new impulse to the volunteer movement which the Vice roy had been forbidden to encourage. He found himseff invited " by several most respectable noble men " who had formed companies, to issue muskets for them from the Government stores. He asked advice from the Irish Council. The Irish Council told him that he must comply, and the muskets were given out. By the end of September over forty thou sand men had been enrolled and armed, under no authority except what they might organize for them selves. Some had been raised by associations, some by the merchants' companies in the towns, most of them happily by the peers and country gentlemen. The result being that at a moment of national discontent when men of all creeds and parties were united to demand from England a repeal of her unjust legisla tion, Ireland suddenly found herseff in possession of an army of her own which there was no force in the country capable of resisting. Under these circumstances the Irish Parliament 1 " Depositions taken by Eev. Doctor Day, at Tralee, August, 1779." — MSS. Dublin Castle. 236 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vlch.l was about to meet, and the patroit leaders had deter mined that the occasion of their own strength and England's weakness should not pass from them un used. Notwithstanding the agitation which had been raised in England itself in favor of measures of relief to Ireland, the Cabinet were still unable to resolve on frank and free concessions. The Viceroy had been told at first that he was to evade the subject in the Speech from the Throne. He had objected humbly that to be entirely silent " would indicate a settled resolution " to concede nothing. It would be diffi cult, he admitted, to avoid creating expectations on one side or embarrassments on the other ; he proposed "to be wary in his language and inform the House merely that particulars would be laid before them which would enable the national wisdom " to derise measures for the relief of the kingdom ; ' but some thing or other it was necessary that he should say. Retouched, and rendered still more vague by Wey mouth's pen, the draft of a Speech, conceived in this spirit, had been returned from England. The Viceroy's secrets were ill kept. Half his council being in league with the patriots, the purport of the Speech was known some days before the open ing, and on a soft October afternoon, Henry Grattan, Denis Daly, and Hussey Burgh sat on the shingle beach at Bray, with the transparent water washing at their feet, to arrange the approaching campaign. Hussey Burgh being a servant of the Crown thought it indecent to take a leading part, and, after a general conversation, left his two friends to themselves. The address would naturally be an echo of the Speech. 1 "The Earl of Buckinghamshire to Lord Weymouth, September 26, 1779." 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 237 Grattan and Daly resolved on moving its rejection pure and simple. The session was to open on the 12th. As the day approached the Viceroy's uneasi ness did not diminish. The Council were called for a rehearsal of the Speech. Hussey Burgh and the Duke of Leinster, though they were both in Dublin, refused to attend. The plan of the Castle was, that if the address was opposed, John Foster ' should move for a committee to inquire into the state of the nation, and that a similar motion should be made in the Upper House. The intention was betrayed, and at the advice of Barry Yelverton,^ Grattan, when the time came, moved, instead ot a rejection, an equiva lent amendment, " That it was not by temporary expedients, but by a free export, that the nation was now to be saved from impending ruin." Hely Hutchinson, though no one in private had more effect ively pressed on the Government the necessity of a radical change of policy, exerted himself to protect them from a hostile vote. Scott, the Attorney-Gen eral, spoke powerfully on the same side ; but the cor ruption on which they had relied failed at the hour of trial, as it deserved to fail. The purchased " servants of the Crown " fell from their allegiance. Hussey Burgh suggested that for Free Trade, if the Govern ment disliked the word, might be read " opening of the ports." Flood seeing the patriot tide was rising again, returned to his old allegiance, snapped the cords which bound him to the Castle, and with a half 1 Son of Anthony Foster, Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer iu Ireland, afterwards Speaker of the House of Commons, and created Lord Oriel. 2 Then a distinguished barrister. Member for Carrickfergus, afterwards Chief Baron and Lord Avonmore. 238 The English in Ireland. [Bk, vt. Ch. i. apology for having ever taken office ' insisted that the amendment should go to Free Trade. " Ireland asked no more and would not be satisfied with less.'' In vain Sir Robert Heron, the Secretary, pleaded that such amendments could only produce ill conse quences ; the friends of Government, purchased so ex pensively at the elections, could not be expected to be more submissive than a Prime Sergeant and a Vice- Treasurer. The Castle did not venture a division, and the amendment to the address was carried unani mously. The next day, the 13th, the usual vote of thanks to the Viceroy was proposed. Against the Earl of Buckinghamshire, an innocent automaton, there was no quarrel, and it was allowed to pass. But Tom Conolly in the Commons, and the Duke of Leinster in the Lords, moved along with it a vote of thanks to the Volunteers of Ireland, and this was carried with enthusiasm. On the 14th, the Volun teer Corps of Dublin, with the Duke of Leinster at their head, lined the streets between College Green and the Castle, when the Speaker and the entire Lower House marched in procession to present the amended address. The Viceroy had appealed to Pery to prevent what could be intended only as a display of force. Pery said it was impossible, and advised the Viceroy to appear to sympathize.^ " In the present disposition of the House of Com mons," Lord Buckinghamshire wrote five days later, " it will be difficult to resist the motions now in con templation. Unless his majesty in his answer holds out strong hopes on the subject of commerce, motions 1 He allowed himself to say that " the Vice-Treasurership had been the unsolicited gift of his sovereign." 2 "The Eari of Buckinghamshire to Lord Weymouth, October 13 and 14, 1779." — S. P. 0. 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 239 wiU be strongly pressed to reduce the EstabHshment. The Money BiU will be Hmited to six months. The Duke of Leinster, Mr. Conolly, and the Prime Ser geant are decidedly hostile to us." There was but one hope. Even in the midst of the effervescence, base motives were still at work with the more experienced poHticians. " If some popular orator could be brought over " the apostate members might yet be recovered. " The Duke," he said, " has been with me this morn ing and presents his compHments ; his brother, the seaman, being promoted, is a point insisted on. " ' Unhappily, time pressed. The Duke's brother, the seaman, could not be made an admiral in a moment. Unless trade was opened ParHament would vote no more war taxes. It might even appropriate the ex isting duties to the payment of debt. Nay, having now a force of its own, it might abolish the military establishments. " You must give way," Heron wrote on the 25th to Sir Stanien Porter, " so far, at least, as to open to Ireland the Colonial trade ; theb woollens being legaUy exported cannot, to say the least of it, be more prejudicial to Great Britain than the smug gling them." A frank answer from England would not, perhaps, have checked the torrent which had now broken loose, but at least it might have made the stream flow in good humor. An answer came on the 1st of No vember, but enigmatic as an oracle from the Delphic priestess. The King was said to be sorry for the dis tresses of Ireland, to be attentive to her interests, and to be always ready to concur in measures which, on mature consideration, should be thought conducive " to the general welfare of all his subjects." " All his 1 " The Viceroy to Lord Weymouth, October 18. Most secret." — S. P. 0. 240 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlch.i. subjects " comprehended the monopolists of Liver pool : Irish suspicion flamed into a blaze ; and on King William's birthday, four days later, the volun teers, with the Duke of Leinster again at their head, paraded in front of the statue outside the Parlia ment house. Flags were displayed with impassioned blazonries — " Relief to Ireland," " The Volunteers of Ireland," " A Short Money BiU, " Fifty thousand of us ready to die for our country." More significantly still, two cannon were trailed round the pedestal, vrith an emblem, " Free Trade or this : " and amidst the roar of artillery, musketry voUeys, and the shouts of ten thousand voices, DubHn intimated that it must have its way, or England must be prepared for the consequences. For once Ireland had a definitely just cause, and was strong in virtue of it. " If the expectations of this kingdom are not re ceived with lenity," wrote the fluttered imbecUe who represented the majesty of the Crown, " every species of disorder may be apprehended. Rational men are seriously alarmed. Those who were principal pro moters of the volunteer companies feelingly lament their own achievements. You wiU pity the situa tion of a man Vho has labored uniformly to do his duty divested of every other consideration. What a reflection ! that in the present critical situation of the British empire, the kingdom under my care should contribute such an addition to the abeady almost insurmountable difficulties of EngHsh government. Oppressed with the reflection consequential to this idea, it is too much in addition to be fretted hourly with inadmissible soHcitations, and to be obHged to frequently combat suspicions of a duplicity to the 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 241 which my heart has ever been a stranger. Torn by a thousand conflicting passions, it is a necessary duty to assume a face of calmness, and I must not risk, however provoked by manifesting well justified re sentment, to lose any chance of support to his maj esty's service." ' The House of Commons had shown spirit, but its fervor was not equal to the temperature out of doors, and required to be stimulated. The Attorney-Gen eral, Scott,^ speaking of the demonstration on the 4th, had asked whether Parliament existed to register the pleasure of the volunteers. He had been heard with more favor than the populace approved ; and on the 15th, early in the morning, a drum beat in the Hberties behind St. Patrick's Cathedral. A vast body of artisans, armed with bludgeons, cutlasses, and pis tols, gathered at tiie call, and made their way to Scott's house, in Harcourt-place. Finding that he had gone to the Four Courts, part of them remained to break his windows ; part followed to the courts swearing they would have him out. He had been warned in time and had taken refuge in the Castle. The mob, not caring to encounter the cannon there, surged off to College Green, beset the doors of the House of Commons, and, as the members came up, made them alight from their carriages and swear to vote for Free Trade and a Short Money BUI. The Mayor was sent for to the Speaker's chamber. In the afternoon a squadron of dragoons was brought down to the barracks, and at the Speaker's requisition the Mayor went to the doors to give them orders to act. 1 "The Earl of Buckinghamshire to Lord Hillsborough, November 8, 1779." — S. P. 0. * Afterwards Lord Clonmell and Chief Justice. VOL. II. 16 242 The English in Ireland. [Bk. VLCn.l, The rioters had gathered within the railings out of reach of the horses. The unfortunate man no sooner appeared than cutlasses were flourished over his head ; and he was told that the first word that he uttered to the soldiers was to be the last that he should speak in this world. More discreet than valiant he shrank back into the passage. The dragoons, finding that they were to receive no orders, rode away as they carae, the House adjourned, and the people were left masters of the field.' The volunteers, who had charged them selves with the peace of the country, might have gained credit by interposing ; but they preferred to remain passive, and for an entire day Dublin was in possession of a band of ruffians. Yelverton, when the House reassembled the next morning with plumes somewhat ruffled, spoke in the people's favor. Scott, who had narrowly escaped with his life, called Yel verton a " seneschal of sedition." Yelverton replied with calling Scott " the uniform drudge of every Epg- lish administration." Grattan interposed between the angry combatants. The House asserted its dignity by a resolution condemning the assemblies of mobs to co erce the debates. The Mayor and Sheriff were called to the bar to be reprimanded for their cowardice. The Mayor said that if he had told the dragoons to act they would have used their sabres, and would have hurt some of the poor people. The House submitted to the explanation, the Speaker gravely saying that " the Mayor's unwillingness to endanger the lives of his fel low citizens might deserve commendation, but that if such violence was repeated, lenity to the guilty might prove fatal to the innocent." ^ 1 " The Earl of Buckinghamshire to Lord Weymouth, November 16." 2 " The Viceroy to Lord Weymouth, November 16." — Commons' Joti- nals, Ireland, November 17. 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 243 The tone assumed in the Parliament in England did not tend to smooth the Viceroy's course. Lord HiUsborough, an Irishman who preferred making his poHtical career in the more important country, had ventured to say, and say with apparent authority there, that Irish distress was a child of the imagina tion, or if real was due only to laziness. The war and the bankrupt state of the Irish treasury had made it necessary for the secretary to ask for additional taxa tion. Grattan moved at once that in the presence of so much general poverty it was inexpedient to grant new taxes, and carried his resolution by 170 votes to 47. The secretary then asked for the ordinary sup plies to be granted as usual for two years. The House, by this time thoroughly infected with the- spirit of the country, accepted the amendment which the Viceroy had dreaded, and passed a Six Months' Money Bill, by 138 to 100.' It was in these debates that Hussey Burgh made his reputation as an orator by the famous sentence so often quoted. Some one had said Ireland was at peace. " Talk not to me of peace," said Hussey Burgh ; " Ireland is not at peace ; it is smothered war. England has sown her laws as dragon's teeth, and they have sprung up as armed men." ^ Never yet had Grattan so moved the Irish House of Commons as it was moved at these words. From the floor the applause rose to the gallery. From the gaUery it was thundered to the crowd at the door. From the door it rung through the city. As the 1 A verj' full house for Ireland. The whole number of members was 300 ; but some had seats in the English Parliament ; some were in the army; some always were purposely absent, intimating that they were open to negotiation. 2 These words are sometimes quoted as referring to the Penal Laws. They had nothing to do with the Penal Laws, and related entirely to the restrictions on trade. 244 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlch.i. tumult calmed down Hussey Burgh rose again, and, amidst a renewed burst of cheers, declared that he resigned the office which he held under the Crown. " The gates of promotion are shut," exclaimed Grat tan, " and the gates of glory are opened." 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 245 SECTION Y. Lord North's Cabinet had to the last persuaded themselves that the storm would pass over. The King had recommended Ireland to the consideration of the English ParHament at the opening of the ses sion in November. The Ministers, however, had fought in both Houses for delay, till the news of the Short Money BUI opened their eyes at last. They had not now to reckon with miserable Celts, who could be trampled on with comparative impunity. The iniquitous legislation of past generations had roused aU ranks, both races and both creeds, to a common indignation. The resource of playing party against party would serve no longer. The flrst exas peration was vented upon the Viceroy. " You send us the opinions of others," Lord Hillsborough angrily wrote to him. " Why don't you send us your own ? The King desires that you will let us know your sen timents immediately." ' It was unjust to blame Lord Buckinghamshire ; he had already told Lord Weymouth, and he now again repeated to Lord HiUsborough, that ff Ireland was to be restored to tranquillity, the trade restrictions must be given up, and that the repeal must be imme diate and complete.^ The inteUigent part of England 1 " Lord Hillsborough to the Earl of Buckinghamshire, December 1.'' Substance of a long brusque letter. 2 " The Viceroy to Lord Hillsborough, December 9." 246 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlch.i, had arrived at the same conclusion. On the 1st of December Lord Shelburne spoke at length in the Upper House of the abominable system by which the affairs of Ireland had long been carried on. The Irish, he said, were now determined to have theb trade restored to them, and he moved a vote of censure on the Cabinet for having delayed concession so long. Lord Camden followed him, insisting on the impolicy of alienating the Irish people at a moment so critical in the fortunes of the empire. In the Commons, Mr. Burke, with even greater effectiveness, contrasted the terms offered to America with the obstinate persever ance in wrong towards his own long-suffering country men. The Irish, he said, had learnt at last that jus tice was to be had from England only when demanded at the sword's point. They were now in arms with a good cause, and they would either have redress, or they would end the connection between the two isl ands. Opinion was pronouncing itself so decisively that the Ministers escaped censure only by pleading that the laws complained of were none of thebs. They were inherited from the past century. They had been wrought into the constitution, and Parliament had always refused to reconsider them. Acquitted, how ever, of responsibility for the past, the Cabinet could only earn their full pardon by consenting to instant reparation. The repeal of the Restriction Acts was proposed on the spot, and swept through both Houses with extraordinary spirit. A copy was sent to Ire land before the forms were completed, to allay the tempest, ere it could swell into fresh acts of violence. " I congratulate your excellency," wrote Lord Hillsborough, as if the credit of what had been done 1779.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 247 belonged to the Cabinet, " on this important event. On its being proposed to his majesty that a commis sion should be prepared to pass this Act, his majesty declared that he would go to the House in person to give his assent to a measure conferring so considerable an advantage on his faithful subjects of Ireland." ' The Irish parliament meantime, while waiting for the resolution of England, had been usefully occu pied. The leaders of the Opposition, ff the Viceroy was to be believed, were as much as ever influenced by personal motives, and in a moment of success so sudden and unlooked for, were each aspiring to make capital out of it for his own advancement. " When," Lord Buckinghamshire said, " the bravery and deter mined spirit which personally distinguishes this na tion is considered, the little feminine jealousy and suspicion which they manifest in political business is scarcely credible. I have hardly ever met with the man who will believe that the whole truth is fairly told him. Every moment of attention which you show to an individual is measured, and a whisper is a mortal offence." ^ Perhaps experience of the whispers of viceroyalty might in some degree justify alarm. Only a few weeks before. Lord Buckingham shire had been looking for a road out of his difficul ties by " bringing over " a popular orator. Whether honestly or dishonestly, however, the Opposition were now addressing themselves to the removal of genuine mischiefs. On the 1st of December the Speaker presented the heads of a biU aimed specially at the object which had been attempted unsuccessfully in ' I " Lord Hillsborough to the Earl of Buckinghamshire, December 23, 1779." 2 " To Lord Hillsborough, December 15." 248 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi.Ch.i the Catholic Relief BUI — the repeal of the Test clause in the Act of Anne. It had been anticipated that a second effort would be made in the Presby terian interest during the session ; and the Cabinet had ordered the Viceroy to throw every obstruction in the way. But the House of Commons was no longer amenable to the usual influences. The Bill of Repeal was sent before the Irish CouncU for trans mission by a unanimous vote. If it went to England it was unlikely that under existing circumstances the Cabinet would risk a fresh quarrel on a secondary subject. If the measure was to be stopped at aU it must be stopped m Ireland, and the bishops in the Council, consistent to the last, desired to strain a power which it was doubtful if the Council constitu tionally possessed, and suppress the bill on their own responsibiHty. The Chancellor, the Attorney-Gen eral, and Mr. Foster warned them against so danger ous an experiment. The bill went over, and this time was returned, and the Presbyterians — the right- arm of Irish Protestantism, though never admitted to the privileges of the Establishment, and insuring by their exclusion its eventual fall — were no longer insulted by being declared unfit to hold office, ciril or miHtary, above the rank of a parish constable.' Another attempt was less successful. Nothing in the Irish administration was more scandalous than the tenure of judges during pleasure only. It de graded an office which ought to have been guarded most scrupulously from contact with parliamentary corruption into an instrument for controlling or in fluencing the Irish bar. It stood abeady condemned 1 " The Earl of Buckinghamshire to Lord Hillsborough, December 31." Secret. 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 249 in a speech from the throne. Yet it not only sur- rived, but Lord Harcourt had pointedly objected to a change, and every effort made by Parliament had faffed. Hoping that they might now find England more pliant, the Commons again sent on the heads of a biU to assimilate the Irish to the EngHsh tenure. Once more this bill was rejected, the Viceroy tacitly admitting the character of the objection to it in a passing allusion. " As the having the commissions of the Irish judges the same as in England has been a favorite wish in this country, it was never, as I understand, thought expedient to oppose the heads in the House of Com mons ; the reasons upon which those heads have been disapproved by his majesty's British servants not being of a nature to be agitated here even in quiet times." ' 111 pleased that the responsibility of rejection should be thrown on them, the Cabinet had blamed the Vice roy for not having stopped the bill in the House of Commons. Weighed, perhaps, in accurate balances, this measure was as important as free trade itself ; but it was a subject on which the Irish public had scarcely troubled themselves to think ; and whether it was allowed or rejected was comparatively of trifling moment beside the all-important, all-absorbing ques tion, Would or would not England abandon her com mercial monopoly ? The reports of the debates at Westminster had been read with passionate avidity, and had prepared men's minds to hear that England had yielded. Nevertheless, when the certainty ar rived, when the copy of the Act of repeal was deHv- ered and laid by the Viceroy before the two Houses, I " The Viceroy to Lord Hillsborough, January 26, 1780." 250 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. l the news seemed almost too good to be true. To these mischievous and wicked restrictive Acts the Irish had justly referred the wretchedness that weighed on them. In their impetuosity and eager ness they forgot that when an evU had been of long growth, time would be needed for recovery. They conceived that the repeal would be as the removal of a spell, that Ireland would at once blossom into abundance, and every bare back be clothed and every stomach be fiUed. In gratitude for the so intensely desired boon, the wrongs of a century were forgotten or forgiven. Dublin was illuminated. Addresses of gratitude were sent over from the two Houses. The happy Viceroy reported that his woes were over, and that " no peevish question was allowed to cloud the sunshine of the brightest day the kingdom ever knew." ' The dispositions of nations unfortunately do not change so easily. I " The Viceroy to Lord Hillsborough, Deeember 28." 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 251 SECTION VI. The worst effect of unjust legislation is the diffi culty of retiring from it without causing worse evils than those which are removed. Concessions necessary, because right in themselves, when yielded to menace, shake the principle of authority. The momentary gratitude is succeeded by the recollection that the wrong would have been continued had there been strength to continue it. The powers of State have been transferred for the time from the rulers to the ruled ; and the subject takes his own measure of the changed situation. He conceives that he has es tablished his claim to be a better judge of what is good for him than those who had confessedly abused theb superiority, and he proceeds at once to make fresh demands where justice is less clearly on his side. Hostile feelings and hostile lines of action begin again to manifest themselves. The superior power having sacrificed its pride and interest con siders itself entitled to reap an immediate reward in a return of good feeling, and resents the persistence in an attitude for which it conceives that there is no longer a reason. Thus measures which promise best for reconciliation are found only to have made the breach still wider. A peculiarly unlucky complication at this moment spoilt the effects of the repeal of the restrictive Acts, and made England repent of having given way. The 262 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch.l embargo had led to a clandestine trade in salt meat with France and Spain. The Irish farmer considered that he had a natural right to defend himself against robbery, and had found both pleasure and profit in opening a market with the enemies of his oppressors. The embargo had been taken off, but the connections which had been opened could not be immediately broken. At the beginning of January it was ascer tained that a Cork contractor was loading prorision cargoes in the harbor, which were intended for the French fleet. Coming so immediately on what the English Cabinet regarded as an act of sublime gen erosity, they sent orders to the Viceroy to seize the con tractor's vessels. The Viceroy was obliged to answer that if attempted any such measure there would be immediate violence. It was a practical Ulustration of the meaning of trusting the military power in Ireland out of the hands of the constituted Government. It was not enough that when England was fighting single- handed against her revolted colonies and a European coaUtion, Irish politicians should take advantage of her difficulties. They were choosing the moment when their requests had been granted to give active help to her enemies. " It appears," Lord HUlsborough wrote sarcastically to the unlucky Viceroy, "to be little short of a dec laration that Government in Ireland is dissolved. Dependent as we are for information upon your Ex cellency, we know not what to recommend, and in this dilemma we are left to lament the unhappy situation of affairs. It is impossible to reflect without concern and astonishment that, while his majesty is taking every step in his power to give satisfaction to his Irish subjects, there is apprehension of dangerous violence 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 253 if measures are taken to prevent his enemies from re ceiving supplies from them, without which they would find it difficult to carry on the war. We cannot bid you lay on an embargo in the face of possible con sequences, or send a message to Parliament which might compromise the prerogative. But is there no member who would have public spirit enough to stand up in the House of Commons, and move an ad dress to your exceUency to prevent the enemies' fleet from being victualled from Ireland ? I recommend your excellency to exert yourseff on this occasion. Stopping these provisions is equal to the gain of a battle at sea, and may go further towards giving his majesty superiority over his enemies." ' Lord Hillsborough should have known his country men better than to make extravagant suggestions. The Viceroy laid his letter before the Privy Council. The Privy Council told him that "for a private mem ber to move an address of such a kind would increase the general ill-feehng. There was but one course to be pursued. The Government must purchase the contractor's stores for the Crown." The Viceroy was helpless. The House of Commons was under the dictation of the mob. " The situation of England was well understood, and they meant to take advantage of it." He did not mean, he said, that " the indul gences lately granted would faU ultimately of being of useful consequences to the empire." " Barring in surrection or something nearly resembling it, he hoped to get through the remainder of the session with out fresh collision." But he could succeed only " by closet interviews with independent members." " I teU these gentlemen," he wTote, " that however 1 " Lord Hillsborough to the Earl of Buckinghamshire, February 6." 254 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. l distressing a quarrel between the two kingdoms might be to England, it would necessarily be subversive of the Protestant interest here, and ruinous to Ireland. As they are pleased to allow me more merit than be longs to me, I tell them this consideration should have some Httle weight with them in pressing meas ures which must render the remainder of my Hfe mis erable. I state myself as pledged to his majesty for the gratitude and full satisfaction of Ireland. I have not, indeed, in my dispatches risked such an assertion, but I thought in so particular an instance a slight de viation from fact meritorious." ' The Cork contract did not stand alone. The suc cesses of Paul Jones had fired the emulation of the Irish smugglers who had set up business on their own account. The visits of the American privateers were confined to the late spring and summer. The Irish were on the spot and could choose their own season. At the beginning of March two large cutters, the " Black Prince " and the " Black Princess," showed themselves under French colors in the Irish Channel. They were Irish built and manned by Irish sailors. They had taken out commissions at Dunkirk, and, armed to the teeth, occupied themselves in stopping the mail packets between Holyhead and Dublin, plundering the passengers, sinking the bags, and hold ing the vessels to ransom. The " Princess " was the largest cutter ever seen on the coast,^ long, black- sided, swift as a race-horse, and carrying eighteen nine- pounders. For four months these rovers remained masters of the Channel. Other minor craft started into similar activity. The Waterford and Milford 1 " The Viceroy to Lord Hillsborough, February 17." 2 She was commanded by a man named MacCarty, of Newry. 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 255 packet was taken, " our bishop's daughter on board," and ransomed for 160 guineas. Waterford Harbor was practically blockaded: the merchants inquired bonically whether England had given them back their tiade only to let it be destroyed by negHgence : if this was the meaning of English sovereignty of the seas, the sooner it came to an end the better.' The Viceroy described his situation as "beyond measure disagreeable." While affairs were going on thus fatuously out of doors, the Parliament was equally busy in adding to his sorrows. On the 1st of March the Irish Lords and Commons were invited to express by formal resolution their gratitude for the re peal of the trade laws. Mr. Grattan, supported by Yelverton, intimated that if much had been done more remained to be done. The spirit of Molyneux was awake again. Ireland was still in bondage, so long as she was bound by laws to which she had not her self consented. Poynings' Act must be modified. The Act passed in England in the sixth jq&v of George the First ^ must be repealed, and Ireland's bbthright as a free nation must be at once restored to her. The leap from regulations of trade to political in dependence was across a chasm too wide as yet for the nerves of the majority of the members. They could remember that England had just done what I Miscellaneous MSS. — S. P. 0., March, April, May, and June, 1780. 2 This Act, round which so severe a battle was now to be fought, had originated in the Irish House of Peers having presumed to act as a Court of Ultimate Appeal. The Act declared " that the King and Parliament of Great Britain had authority to bind the kingdom and people of Ireland; " and that the House of Lords in Ireland had no jurisdiction " to affirm or reverse" any judgment given in the King's Courts of law there. "All proceedings before the said House of Lords upon any such judgment were thereby declared to be null and void." 256 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch.i. was right and liberal. They could see that constitu tional questions ought not to be forced at the point of the bayonet. Even the Duke of Leinster thought the time improper for political agitation. Grattan had argued that Ireland was stUl at England's mercy, that what England had done England could undo, and as to the unsuitableness of the time, England's difficulty was Ireland's opportunity. The House could not at the moment rise to the level of these high reasonings. The address of thanks was passed with out an amendment. But the vision which Grattan had opened had set the Irish pulses tumultuously beating. He had led the country to its late rictory. He perhaps understood the condition under which the millennium would be realized, though as yet it delayed to appear. He had Lord Charlemont and Lord Ca- rysfort with him in the House of Peers. He had the Dublin mob with him outside the ParHament walls. His words were like the seeds sown by the Indian jugglers, which germinate in a night and are grown to fulness of stature on the morrow. Supported, as he believed, by the greater number of gentlemen of property, the Viceroy had perhaps not very judiciously confirmed Grattan's language by hinting that ff Ire land was so inveterately troublesome the late conces sions might be rescinded.' The Irish in vaporing 1 " The epidemic madness so assiduously circulated by Lord Charle mont, Mr. Grattan and Lord Carysfort, does not prevail everywhere. Even Mr. Stuart, of Down (the first Lord Londonderry), is inclined to reason more temperately. Very limited indeed is the number of men of property who are not anxious to stifle ill-humor ; but the temper of the in ferior orders is in unpleasant fermentation. The tenor of my language is that England begins to feel an honest indignation at the absurd ingrati tude of this kingdom ; and that the seditious ideas propagated here must, instead of obtaining unreasonable and ruinous concessions, tend ultimately to the rescinding of the favors conferred. — Lord Buckinghamshire to Lord Hillsborough, March 8." 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution, 257 about liberty were less unpractical than they seemed. They were not only determined to protect themselves against a reversal of the late legislation, but they as pired to independence, that they might hasten the re- rival of their manufactures by retaliating on England with protective duties. The orders of the Cabinet were to oppose constitutional changes with all the power of the Crown, and to prevent any proposition tending in that direction from bteing transmitted. The patriots had chosen their ground for the next attack. Grattan gave notice that on the 19th of April he would move " a declaration of Rights." Mr. Bushe moved on the 18th for leave at a later period to bring in a Mutiny BiU. Grattan's motion was to try the principle. Bushe's motion applied it in a signal in stance. In 1692 a Mutiny Bill had been offered by Lord Sidney to the first Parliament which met after the Revolution. It had been thrown out in a fit of ill-temper, and the Irish army had since been pro- rided for under the Annual Act of Great Britain. Mr. Bushe's object was to reclaim for the Irish Par liament its suspended privUeges. The Attorney-General opposed Bushe at the first stage. He protested against the imprudence of moot ing so dangerous a question. He moved the adjourn ment of the House to get rid of it, and failed. Leave was given, and the Viceroy had to report that when the measure came on, the friends of Government meant to support it. The day following Grattan opened his campaign in form, for the liberation of his country, and moved the two resolutions which became famous in Irish his tory. VOL. II. 17 258 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vi. Ch. i 1. The King, with the consent of the Parliament of Ireland, was alone competent to enact laws to bind Ireland. 2. Great Britain and Ireland were indissolubly united, but only under the tie of a coramon sovereign. He spoke for two hours, and " with the greatest warmth and enthusiasm." He denounced the 6th of George I. as a general attack on the rights and liber ties of Ireland. He appealed to the terms which had been offered to America, to Show how much might be extorted from England's fears if only demanded resolutely. The Attorney-General rose to reply at a disadvan tage in a House which Grattan had made drunk with enthusiasm. He pointed out that the titles of half the estates in Ireland depended on British Acts of Parliament, and must become invalid ff those Acts were declared unlawful. It was unnecessary, he said, it was inexpedient, ungrateful, even dangerous and injurious in a high degree, to agitate such questions. He moved the adjournment of the consideration of Grattan's resolution till September, equivalent to the English six months. The Attorney-General was supported by young Fitzgibbon,' who was now be ginning to take part in the business of the House. So long as there were real grievances to be redressed, Fitzgibbon, careless of his professional prospects, had gone with the popular party. But none knew better than he, bred as he was from the very heart of the Irish people, the meaning of the revival of an Irish nationality. It meant a nationality not of the Irish "Protestants, but of the Irish Catholic Celts. It , 1 Afterwards Lord Clare, and Chancellor. 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution, 259 meant, ff successful, the undoing of the work of Elizabeth and James and Cromwell. It meant the overthrow of the Irish Church, and in some shape or other a struggle for the recovery of the lands. Fitzgibbon's arguments sounded like foolishness. The House was in the humor of its predecessors in 1641, when analogous aspirations after liberty had been encouraged by England's embarrassment, but had issued in the massacre and the civil war. Very ominously a resolution of that Parliament was read out in the course of the debate, and was Hstened to with general applause.' Beyond the Attorney-Gen eral and Fitzgibbon not a member was found to de fend the legislative authority of England. Flood and Hely Hutchinson only prevented the resolution from being carried by appealing to Irish generosity not to bear too heavily on England in her distress. The House adjourned without a division, and agreed that the proceedings should be passed over without being entered in the Journals. It was " with the utmost concern " that the Vice roy sent over an account of the debate.^ There could no longer be a doubt that the Mutiny Bill would be carried. The English Act was indeed already treated as of no authority. Deserters from the army commit ted to prison under it were released by the magis trates. The Privy CouncU told the Viceroy that after the discussion of the 19th neither magistrates nor juries would enforce in Ireland a law passed by the British Parliament. The " Freeman's Journal " 1 " It is voted upon question, nvMo contradicente, that the subjects of this his majesty's kingdom are a free people, and to be governed only accord ing to the common law of England, and statutes made and established in this kingdom of Ireland, and according to the lawful customs used in the same." — Commons' Journals, July 26, 1641. 2 "The Viceroy to Lord Hillsborough, April 20, 1780." 260 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi. Ch.l announced that the inclusion of Ireland in the British Mutiny Act was a step towards establishing a tyr anny. The soldiers were invited to leave their colors, and the gentry were warned against arresting them at their own peril. Mr. Bushe's motion was fixed for the 8th of May. On the 7th the Viceroy summoned the Council ; he informed them that his orders from England were to resist, and asked their opinions. The attendance was larger than usual, and the answer was all bujt unani mous. Agar, the Archbishop of Cashel, was fpr standing out. All the rest, English-bom as weU as Irish-born, the Chancellor, and the Duke of Leinster, Foster, Pery, Hutchinson, agreed that the British Mutiny Act could not be enforced in Ireland, and that the army would fall to pieces unless the Govern ment consented to let Mr. Bushe's motion pass, Op position could have no effect but to show the weak ness of the English party. This was not all. Private Members of ParHament wrote to protest against opposing it on the ground of the consequences to themselves from the support which they had given to the Government already. British authority rested on the army. Th^ army without an Irish Mutiny BUI must disintegrate, and they would be sacrificed to the fury of the people.' Finding himself deserted on so vital a measure, the Viceroy could only ask for time to learn the Cabinet's pleasure. When the motion came on, the Attorney-General appHed to have it postponed for a I " ' We have resisted popular questions, and exposed ourselves to the indignation of the people at large by supporting Government j but who is to defend us against their resentment, if the army, from the doubts now circulated, should be dissolved ? ' — Extract of letter inclosed by the Vice- toy to Lord Hillsborough, May 8, 1780." 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 261 fortnight, and with difficulty obtained the House's consent, almost every one telling him that he would vote for it when finally brought in. Some mehibers even in theb places declared they would not, either as jurors or magistrates, " suffer the British mutiny law to be acted upon." " The whole tenor of the debate," Lord Bucking hamshire said, " leaves no room for doubt that few inferior magistrates will dare — ff they were so dis posed, as they are not — to act under that Mutiny law. Whether their opinion is right or wrong, the effect is the same, our best friends being of opinion that opposition wiU but rekindle the flame. We can offer in the House of Commons but a vain and em barrassing resistance. It wiU pass the Council also, and if rejected here it can only be by my refusing to certify." ' Past experience had led the Cabinet to believe that the Irish meant less than they said. They set down much of what the Viceroy reported to them as mere braggadocio. Their orders remained as before. If Mr. Bushe's motion was so framed as to imply that the British Act was not in force in Ireland, Lord Buckinghamshire was to oppose it at every stage. Being made of weak materials, however, and evi dently unwilling to interpose his sole authority, he was informed that if, in spite of his efforts, the Bill passed the Privy Council, " his majesty would spare him an unusual step," and that he might transmit it to England.^ The fortnight passed away. On the 21st of May the Council was again assembled. The Viceroy laid 1 "To Lord Hillsborough, May 8." 2 "Lord Hillsborough to the Viceroy, Alay 14." 262 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vlch.l before them the Cabinet's directions. He told them that if the heads of Mr. Bushe's Bill were carried, he apprehended they would be laid before the Parlia ment in England. He did not expect the servants of the Crown to vote against the motion. He did ex pect them not to vote against the Government. Finding the Cabinet more resolute than they ex pected, the Patriots modified their purpose. Having talked so loudly, they were forced to proceed ; but when Mr. Bushe produced his BiU, it was found to have been so drawn as to avoid a distinct affirmation that the British Act did not apply to Ireland. The language could be construed into an expression of anxiety, that the law existing already should be more efficiently executed. Even thus modified, the At torney-General said he must oppose the introduction of any Bill whatsoever upon the subject. A dirision was forced, and he was heavily defeated. The heads were passed rapidly through the two Houses. The progress through the Council was obstructed, but was accomplished at last, and the BUI was transmitted to England at the beginning of July. Again there was a pause, as there had been at the beginning of the session when the ultimatum was sent over on Free-trade. The excitement, however, was now far greater, the hopes entertained more am bitious, the general feeling more irritated. The army was a peculiarly sore subject. The towns on the coast, in fear real or pretended of the privateers, beset the Castle with demands for protection. An gry motions were made in the House of Lords. H Ireland was a part of the British Empire, Ireland it was said had a right to be defended ; while the hand ful of Government troops remaining in the country 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 263 were demoralized by the invitations to the soldiers to desert and the impunity allowed to desertion. To assist England in coming to a resolution, and to let the Cabinet understand what it was with which they would really have to reckon, the Volunteers be came confessed politicians. The Duke of Leinster took the chair while the Dublin corps passed resolu tions that Ireland should be free. Ireland would make her own laws in her own Parliament, and obey no others. The Volunteers as Ireland's champion army intended to have it so. As if to assert in the most distinct manner that they owed no obedience to the Castle, and would accept no orders from it, they elected their own commander-in-chief ; and'Lord Charlemont, the most amiable, the most enthusiastic, the most feeble of revolutionary heroes, allowed' him self to wear the title of General of the Patriot Army of Ireland. Their efforts at display were visibly connected with the plan too successfully pursued to weaken and de moralize the British regiments. As if to contrast theb own brilliant condition with the shrivelled num bers and shattered discipline of the regular troops, they proceeded, while the Mutiny Act was under consideration in England, to hold reviews in the North. Lord Charlemont went down accompanied by Grattan, who was now on every man's lip as the liberator of his country. The half Americanized ar tisans of Beffast and Newry, officered by attorneys and shopkeepers, glittered glorious in their new uni forms. Ireland was free ; Ireland was a nation. The strings long silent of the Irish harp were sounding in the breeze ; the green flag was blowing out with the emblem blazoned on its folds, " Hibernia tandem 264 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlch.i. libera," Ireland at length free : free vrith the help of the arms which had been begged at the gate of Dublin Castle ; free from the fell authority which, notwithstanding its stupid tyranny and stUl more stupid negligence, had given Ireland its laws and its language, had prevented its inhabitants from destroy ing each other like howling and hungry wolves, and ;u least enabled them to exist ; — fr^e from this, but not free from sloth and ignorance, from wild imagina tions, from political dishonesty which had saturated the tissue of her being, and required stronger med icine to purge it than the shouting of 50,000 vol unteers. No doubt, however, the spectacle was imposing. The English Whigs sent theb deputies to applaud and admire. Lord Camden, whose son was to learn by and by the real meaning of these fine doings, came over as Lord Charlemont's guest, to make speeches about America, to bid the Volunteers remember that England would never forgive them, to tell them that they must stand to their arms or they were lost. All was rapture — bearded men falHng into one another's arms as brothers, in radiant tears, swearing that they would be free or die ; bowing before Grattan as be fore a saviour newly sent from heaven ; and hearing from Grattan's lips the delightful assurance that theirs was the spirit which made liberty secure. But the last battle of the session had still to be fought, and the Liberator had to descend once more into the arena. August came, bringing with it the heads of Bills which had been sent to England. The Mutiny Bill was among them. Some concession even on this point the Cabinet had been driven to make, but it was returning in a form deemed as insulting 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution, 265 as it was injurious. The right of the Irish Parlia ment had been allowed, but allowed for once only. In England the Mutiny Bill was annual. The heads of Mr. Bushe's Bill made it biennial. The limitation of time had been struck out, and the duration as signed to it in the Bill as corrected by the Cabinet was perpetual. Rumor had been already busy with the report of the intended atrocity. Grattan, fresh from the tented field and the adulations of the Volunteers, gave notice that if the change had been made he would oppose the passing of the Bill in any shape ; the King should have no army in Ireland. When the House seemed to hesitate he threatened that if he was not supported he would secede from Parliament and appeal to the people. The fact proving true, he moved to restore the expunged clause — amotion equivalent to rejec tion, as the BUI must have been lost for the year. He was beaten by a large majority.' The Perpetual Mutiny Bill became law, and he did not secede. Irishmen sometimes say more on such matters than they mean. But in fact his assistance was required on another subject scarcely less important. The Supply Bill had returned also, and also, Hke its com panion, altered. No sooner had the Irish trade been opened than the forcing system was at once to be ap plied to it. Ireland had suffered for a century under EngHsh monopoHes. It was now Ireland's turn. She was aUowed, under the new regulations, to import raw sugar from the West Indies on the same terms as Great Britain. But free trade was to no purpose if England was allowed to conspire in another form against Ireland's prosperity by underselling the Irish 1 114 to 00. 266 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch.l sugar manufacturers in their own market. They had included in the Supply BiU a protection duty against British loaf-sugar, and this duty the EngHsh Council had refused to sanction. Had the Irish people been capable of reflection, they would have perceived that England was really protecting the Irish consumer from his own country men. In ordinary times even the cry of English treachery would not have betrayed them into an illusion so absurd as that under which they feU : but in the delirium of imagined liberty they had parted with their senses. They could see only that England, unable to encounter them by force, was insidiously stealing back from them their victory. Dissatisfied with the vote on the Mutiny Bill, dis trusting Parliament therefore, and responding, as it were, to Grattan's appeal, the Volunteers of Dublin assembled as supreme arbiters of Irish policy, and announced their pleasure and their sentiments. In a series- of resolutions they declared that the alteration of the Sugar Bill and the passing of the Mutiny Bill rendered the expectation of free trade delusive, and contradicted the sentiments which they had believed would actuate the representatives of the people to emancipate the kingdom from the insult of a foreign judicature. The army was to be made the instru ment of despotism to violate the Hberties of Ireland. The Irish House of Commons had adopted the sen timents of the British Privy Council in contradiction to their own sentiments. Such complaisance was unconstitutional ; and therefore they, the Volunteers of Dublin, announced that they would not support the interest or protect the property of any member who had voted with the, ministry on the late division ; 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 267 and that they would concur with the Volunteers of the rest of the kingdom in every effort which might tend to avert the dangers with which they were threatened. A committee was appointed to correspond with the different corps on the measures which it might be necessary to take, and delegates were invited to meet, " to animate the kingdom to rise in support of the violated rights of Ireland, and the privileges which theb treacherous representatives had basely sold to the infamous administration of Great Britain." This singular commentary on the political capacity of Ireland's new masters, and on the effects of conces sions, however just in themselves, to Irish agitation, was printed in the " Hibernian Journal," and as a practical consequence a spirit showed itseff of the most ferocious hostility to the British regiments who were quartered in the large towns. Patriot ruffians whose hands were practised in cattle houghing, used their knives in slitting the tendons of English soldiers who might be walking carelessly in the streets ; and the local juries adopted as their own these detestable atrocities by acquitting the perpetrators when taken in the act.' The soldiers, finding justice refused them in the courts, took the remedy into their own hands. In Dublin and Galway there were angry spurts of fighting. In Cashel one of these villains was killed on the spot by the comrade of a man whom he had maimed. On the members of Parliament, so rapid a devel opment of patriotism, coupled with the insults of the Volunteers to themselves, produced for a time 1 MSS. Ireland, 1780. S. P. 0. So far this practice was carried that an Act of Parliament was passed in the following session to repress it. 268 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vlch.l a sobering effect. Already alarmed by the rate at which Grattan was advancing, they were not re assured by the visible breaking loose of Irish derilry. The Supply Bill was passed notwithstanding the outcry on the Sugar duties. Mr. Peter La Touche, who had taken the chair at one of the Volunteer meetings, was called before the Privy CouncU and apologized. The pubHcations in the " Hibernian Journal " were brought before the House of Com mons, and the Volunteers' resolutions were condemned as false, scandalous, and Hbellous, and tending to raise sedition. Thus were the checkered days of the closing ses sion gilded with a show of loyalty. Lord HiUsbor ough described the doings of the Volunteers as " the convulsions of expiring faction ; " the Government was soothed into a belief that the worst was over ; and business being now completed, the harassed Vice roy had arrived in port, vrith the one duty left to the House and to himseff, to part with mutual congrat ulations. " The satisfaction of Ireland at the prospect open ing before it might equal," Lord Buckinghamshire said, " though it could not exceed, the glow of his private feelings. The commerce of the kingdom was now established on an extended and lasting basis, and future generations would look back to the present Parliament and the diffusive indulgence of his majesty with grateful veneration. The Lords and Commons, when they returned to their counties, would impress on all ranks of men the blessings of the situation, and would invite them to an industry without which the bounties of nature were lavished in vain." ' I Commons' Journals, September 2, 1780. 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 269 Platitude could scarcely have been carried further. The insincere iUusion disappeared before the closing speech of the Viceroy was in the columns of the weekly journals. Finding Parliament so unpatriotic as to sacrifice the Sugar duties, the freemen of Dublin met, with the High Sheriff in the chair, and resolved as before that " non-importation " was more bene ficial to them than a nominal free trade. They would, therefore, neither themselves import nor con sume, nor would deal vrith any tradesman who ven tured to import, manufactured goods from Great Britain. King WiUiam's statue was the scene of a new dem onstration on the 4th of November, not as in the year preceding, with cannon wheeled about its base and Volunteers parading, but now decorated with sad dened emblems — Hibernia weeping over the words Liberty and Commerce, and a scroll expressing a hope " that the vbtuous resistance of America might prove a lesson to the British Ministry." To Lord Buckinghamshire the autumn brought indisputable satisfaction. His own inglorious reign was brought to an end. Before his departure he had to wind up the accounts of his administration. It was not by appeals to manly or honorable motives that he had secured the majorities which saved his administration from disgrace and the British army from dissolution. The subHme impulses which had governed the opening months of the session had grown feeble at its close, and the usual detestable Hst of aspirants for rank or pension was forwarded for the Cabinet's consideration. " No man," the Viceroy said, in apology for the 270 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vl Ch. l numbers whom he was reluctantly obliged to rec ommend, " can see the inconveniences of increasing the number of peers more forcibly than myself ; but the recommendation of many of the persons submit ted to his majesty for that honor arose from engage ments taken up at the press- of the moment, to secure questions on which the English Government was very particularly anxious. I feel the same about Privy Council and pensions, and I had not contracted any absolute agreement of recommendation^ either to peerage or pension till difficulties arose that occa sioned so much anxiety in his majesty's Cabinet, that I must have been culpable in neglecting any possible means of securing a majority in the House of Commons." ' The applicants for favors ^ were so abundant that some of them after all were disappointed. The fond ness of the Irish for titles was like the fondness of women and savages for feathers and fine clothes, and the refusal was the more bitter because Irish opin ion was lenient with the apostate patriot who se cured a handsome price for his delinquency, but had no pardon for the dupe who aUowed himself to be cheated of his reward. Viceroys unable to redeem their engagements were thus liable, in their own persons or their secretaries', to be called to account by these exasperated politi cians. A promise given to secure a vote could not be formally pleaded, and was thus treated as a debt of honor. Lord Buckinghamshire had been tempted, 1 " The Earl of Buckinghamshire to Lord Hillsborough, November 19, 1780." 2 The names of some of them will be found in a letter from Lord Buck inghamshire to Lord North. Printed in Grattan's Life of Grattan, vol. ii. p. 166, &c. 1780.] The Beginnings of Retribution. 271 in a moment of embarrassment, into a negotiation with Sir Henry Cavendish, a noted free-lance in the House of Commons. Sir Henry had applied for a place on the Privy Council. Lord Buckinghamshire had answered that "the Privy Council was but a feather ; " " he would do better than that for him ; " and when reminded of his words, again promised to provide for his importunate suitor " before he left the kingdom." On the faith of these assurances Sir Henry had voted steadily with the Government. Time passed on ; the day of Lord Buckinghamshire's departure was approaching, and nothing had been done. Sir Henry wrote to say he would not insult his excellency by the suggestion that he meant to evade his engagement. He appealed to the Vice roy's honor. He reminded him of his exact expres sions. " Had any common prostitute in office made such declarations to him," he said, "his experience would have been an antidote to deception, but the word of the Earl of Buckinghamshire he regarded as truth itseff." To this letter the Viceroy sent no reply. Sir Henry waited till he was on the point of sailing and then addressed him again in the following words : — " My Loed, — On the 22d of last September I did myself the honor to write to your excellency, but have not had the honor of an answer. I am not conscious of haring merited that silent contempt. Your excellency, on perusing my letter, must have perceived that you have deceived and injured me. I earnestly entreat a satisfactory answer whilst your excellency shall continue in Ireland, that I majPnot 272 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi.eH.L be under the necessity of demanding one on the other side of the water. " I am, " Your Excellency's most obedient and humble servant, " To his Excellency " H. CAVENDISH." the Lord-Lieutenant." Lord Weymouth, to whom Lord Buckinghamshire forwarded this characteristic communication, sub mitted it to Wallace, the English Attorney-General, with a view to prosecution. The Attorney-General replied that Sir Henry at worst had been guilty only of a misdemeanor in Ireland, for which he could not be prosecuted in England. In Ireland the scandal of exposure would be certain — a conviction would be extremely uncertain. The matter dropped, and Sir Henry was left in possession of the field, with the satisfaction of having at least insulted the Lord-Lieutenant, though he lost his promised promo tion. 1780.] The Constitution of 1782. 273 CHAPTER II. THE CONSTITUTION OF 1781. SECTION I. The embarrassments of England presented an opportunity to the maritime nations of Europe too tempting to be resisted. She had affected the sov ereignty of the seas. She had asserted a supremacy which galled their pride and irritated their jealousy. Her enemies and her rivals chose the moment of the revolt of the American prorinces to humiliate her. It seemed as ff the whole world was about to com bine to disgrace and ruin the single island which on the map of the globe appears but a small appendage of the continent, divided from it by a thread of water. Spain was snatching at Gibraltar, and France at re venge for her own expulsion from Canada and India. The fame of England's difficulties had reached her Eastern empire, and she was threatened with a re bellion in Hindostan. At this crisis it pleased Cath erine of Russia to strike into the quarrel, and to inrite the sea powers which were not yet at war to form a league for the protection of the rights of neutrals — the right, among others, of supplying England's ene mies with munitions of war. Into this league Holland now entered. Russia confined herself to intrigue. Holland made her pos- VOL II. 18 274 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi. Ch.il sessions in the West Indies a depSt of supplies for the French and Spaniards and Americans. She became as actively mischievous as if she had directly taken part in the confiict ; and England, finding remon strances unheeded, and preferring an open foe to a treacherous neutral, declared war against the Dutch. Thus, without an ally left to her but Portugal, she found herself matched against the three most consid erable naval powers of the world next to herseff, who each, at one tirae or another, had encountered her single-handed, and whose combination was rendered doubly dangerous by the support of the American privateers. That the Protestant colony in Ireland should se lect this particular moment to threaten a rebeUion was not generous on their part, nor particularly glo rious ; but it was not unnatural, and ought not to have been unexpected. The commercial monopolies were unjust ; they had existed so long that their inherent iniquity was no longer perceived. In surrendering them the EngHsh had made a sacrifice of pride and interest which, they conceived, entitled them to grat itude ; but concessions extorted by agitation have never been followed by gratitude since the world be gan, and do not in fact deserve it. Under EngHsh rule Ireland had been demoralized and made misera ble. The colonists might naturally suppose that if left to manage their own affairs they would manage them better. To manage them worse might fably be thought impossible. And yet there were circumstances in their past history which, if they had reflected, might have taught them caution. They were aliens, planted by conquest among a people who, though in chains and 1780.] The Constitution of 1872. 275 outwardly submissive, had neither forgotten nor for given their subjection. Three times already their an cestors or their predecessors, tempted by analogous wrongs, had turned against the mother country, and had united with the Irish nation in a demand for seff- government. On each of these occasions their aspira tions had recoiled upon themselves, and the result had been a fresh conquest, with worse miseries at tending it than those which they had hoped to escape. The Norman families combined with the Celts to re sist the Reformation. Of the descendants of the Normans more than half perished in the wars of Eliz abeth, while the Celts, in the horrors of famine, were driven to feed on one another. The Scotch and Eng lish Protestants planted by James the First were pro voked by Strafford and the bishops into joining with the Irish when England's hands were tied by the quarrel between the King and the Parliament. The result was a furious attempt at their own extermina tion at the hands of their Irish allies, and they recov ered their estates and their homes only when Crom well and an English army reconquered the island for them. A. third time, in another form, the phenome non repeated itseff. In the reaction from Puritan as cendency the Anglo-Irish nobles and gentry became riolent Jacobites and High Churchmen. They pre ferred the Catholic Celts to the Presbyterian Scots, and by playing into the Catholics' hands enabled Tyrconnell to establish a Catholic Government. When the Celts were once more in the saddle they found themselves involved in the common proscrip tion which refused to make distinctions among Prot estants. A third time England was reluctantly driven to interfere in their behalf, and replace the supremacy 276 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vl Ch.il in their hands. She beat the Celts upon their knees, and flung them into chains ; but disgusted with the ungrateful service, she threw Celt and colonist alike under disabilities which would prevent them from giving further trouble, and left the country to its fate. This, too, was not to answer to England. Strong nations trusted with empire over their weaker neighbors are not aUowed to leave their duties un done. Anarchy and wretchedness had again pro duced mutiny and discontent, and the Protestant col onists were once more dreaming of separation and a revival of Irish nationaHty. The question what that nationality was to be in their present heat they scarcely cared to consider: but that it was a very serious question was obvious to all but themselves. Were some haff milHon Protes tants — for the Established Church contained no more, and Churchmen so far monopolized power and priv ilege — were haff a mUlion Protestants to remain a Spartan aristocracy, surrounded by a population of helots six times outnumbering them, whose lands they had occupied ? Lord Charlemont and many another enthusiastic patriot saw no difficulty in this. He would perhaps have levelled the distinction between Churchman and Nonconformist Protestant. The Catholics — though he was in favor of extending their ciril rights to the utmost — Charlemont never dreamt of admitting to political power, and believed it would be possible to keep them excluded. Grattan, farther sighted than Charlemont, saw early that an Irish nationality, from which the Irish themselves were shut out, was a paradox and an ab surdity. Experience of the ductile character of the 1780.] The Constitution of 1782. 277 existing Parliament showed him that, while its com position was unchanged, self-government would 'be no more than a name. He persuaded himseff that dis tinction of reHgion was worn out, that animosities of race could be extinguished in a common enthusiasm, that Celt and Saxon might stand side by side in the ranks, and present a common front to the British op pressor. Like other eager statesmen, he regarded the lessons of the past as no longer applicable. If it was hinted that when the Celt had his foot within the Constitution, when he saw the usurpers of his estates and the oppressors of his creed at the mercy of his superior numbers, he might revive the aspirations of 1690, Grattan replied only with disdain or with mis leading metaphors. The Celts, as he saw them, were spiritless and broken, the peasantry cringing before the Protestant squires, or, when they were kindly dealt with, loyal and affectionate. He saw the Cath olic clergy in appearance humbly grateful for the sus pension of laws which if executed would have forbid den them to exist. That in such a people as this, there would be danger to the Protestant gentry, who, besides other advantages, had now their own army of volunteers, was an idea too preposterous to be en tertained. " Are we," he asked, " to be a Protestant settlement or an Irish nation ? " and in his answer to his question he exposed the measure of his fore sight. " The Penal Code," he said, " is the shell in which the Protestant power has been hatched. It has be come a bird. It must burst the shell or perish in it. Indulgence to Catholics cannot injure the Protestant religion. That religion is the religion of the State, and will become the religion of Catholics if severity does not prevent them." 278 The English in Ireland. [Bk. VI. Ch. ir Piece by piece the shell has been broken off. Has the Ptotestant bird developed power of wing in con sequence ? Do the Catholics seem any more to ad mire it ? Let us look for answer in the Disestablished Church, in the obliteration of the Protestants in Ire land as a poHtical power in the country, in the re duction of the Viceroy into a registrar of the decrees of the Vatican, and the boast of a cardinal that Irish nationality is the Catholic reHgion. Mr. Grattan was dazzled by his own brUHancy.; He believed, or he affected to beheve, that Hberty, like the speU of an enchanter, could form a Legislar ture of pure and high-minded statesmen out of the Peers and Commons, with whose motives of action he was by this time familiar ; and that out of the dis cordant and motley elements which formed the pop ulation of Ireland he could create a united, noble, and self-reliant people. If, besides these high ffights, of imagination, any more earthly and practical thoughts presented themselves, he may have believed that the day of England's greatness was over, that her star was setting, and forever, and that his free Ireland might find an ally less dangerous to her liber ties and equally convenient for her protection either in France or in her sister colony across the Atlantic. 1780.] The Constitution of 1782. 279 SECTION n. So far as the realization of the hopes of the Irish patriots depended on the progress of the war, the events of the year 1780 were on the whole unfavora ble to them. Though the Irish Channel was the hunting-ground of privateers, and bishops' daughters were captured and held to ransom between Water ford and MUford, England still presented an un broken front to her many enemies. The Spaniards had blockaded Gibraltar in the belief that they could starve out the garrison. Sir George Rodney, with a reliering fleet, seized a convoy of Spanish provision- ships in the spring, and fed General Elliot and his troops out of the stores of the enemy. In July he encountered the Spanish Admiral Don Juan de Lan- gara at Cape St. Vincent, destroyed seven out of eleven of his ships, and carried Don Juan himseff a prisoner into the blockaded fortress. Nor had the alliance with France brought that immediate triumph to the American provinces which sanguine patriots anticipated. M. de Ternay arrived at Rhode Island in July with flfteen ships of the line, bringing vrith him the Count de Rochambeau and six thousand men as the vanguard of a larger force which was to follow. France was preparing to put out her utmost strength, yet M. de Ternay let Admbal Arbuthnot blockade him with an inferior 280 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vloh. n. fleet, and the French contingent lay locked-up and useless. The capture of Charleston had been followed by the complete submission of the CaroHnas. Sir Henry Clinton held New York in strength, against which Washington could do nothing ; and the unexpected protraction of the war, which had seemed as good as ended, brought despondency and mutiny into the American camp. General Arnold, who had headed the expedition into Canada, the most distingui^ed after Washington of the patriot commanders, believed the cause to be lost. He opened a correspondence with CHnton, proposed to betray West Point to him, and with West Point the control of the Hudson, The plot was discovered. Arnold escaped into the English lines. Major Andrd, Clinton's aid-de-camp, through whom the negotiation was carried on, was taken and, hanged. But the disappointment did not materially alter the prospects of the contending parties, Arnold published a defence of his deser tion, in which he pretended that England by her concessions had removed the occasion of the quarrel, and that under no circumstances would he be a party to the French alliance or assist in betraying the mother country to her hereditary enemy. Hav ing returned to his aUegiance, he took active service under Clinton, and led an expeditionary force into Virginia, which at first carried all before it. In January, 1781, the American army almost dissolved for want of pay, and but for the timely arrival of a subsidy from France, would have been unable to offer opposition in the field in any part of the Con tinent to the British divisions. The supply of money gave new spirit to the cause. Washington re- 1781.] The Constitution of 1782. 281 equipped his troops. La Fayette went down to Virginia with part of the French army to oppose Arnold. De Ternay broke the blockade, and made his way to the Chesapeake with the rest, intending to cooperate. Still the balance wavered. Arbuthnot pursued him and fought an action which, though in decisive, disabled him from proceeding. The French fleet returned to Rhode Island, General Phillips carried reinforcements to Arnold, and in Marchj 1781, Washington's own State, notwithstanding La Fayette, remained in possession of the British. The Dutch, too, were paying dear for having thrust themselves into a quarrel which was none of theirs. No sooner was war declared against them than Rodney seized St. Eustatius, the most important of their West India Islands, where they had accumulated enormous stores for shipment to America. Ships, factories, warehouses, aU were taken. Three miUions' worth of property was captured or destroyed. From India, too, came cheering news. Sir Eyre Coote twice defeated Hyder AH. Warren Hastings was triumphing in spite of France and Mysore, and passionate philanthropists at home. The French, finding the work less easy than they ex pected, began to hint at peace ; and it was felt pain fully by all parties that unless some combined and vigorous effort could be made, and made at once, Saratoga would be a barren triumph, and Bunker's HiU and Lexington would have been fought in vain. England, too, was strained to the utmost of her power. Lord George Germaine, her Minister at War, was incompetent beyond the average of Parliamentary administrators. The waste had been enormous. The national debt was piling up into a mountain, and the 282 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. n. simultaneous requirements of India, Gibraltar, and the Navy, rendered it a hard task to keep Clinton properly reinforced. One more attempt should be made, at any rate. In the summer of 1780 the united French and Spanish fleets — thirty-sis sail of the line in all — had sailed for the West Indies, with a view of taking Jamaica, and then of attacking Clin ton at New York. Heat and overcrowding had brought disease. They returned, haring done noth ing. In 1781 the two fleets sailed again under Count de Grasse. Jamaica, as before, was to be their first object ; but, whether successful at Jamaica or not, De Grasse was to assist Washington and De Rocham beau in a grand attack by sea and land upon New York. • If the attack was successful, it would conclude the war. If it failed, France would probably decline to pursue the adventure further, and fortune this time was more favorable than the most sanguine hopes could have anticipated. Lord Cornwallis, who had served in America from the beginning of the war, still commanded in the Carolinas, which he was endeavoring to bring to formal submission. The Americans, unable since the defeat at Camden to meet the British in the field, were able to harass theb marches, surprise isolated detachments, and maintain a spirited ff bregular re sistance. Cornwallis found himself unable, with all his exertions, to restore a regular government, or unite the loyal part of the inhabitants of those States. The defeat of General Tarleton at Cowpens was none the less a serious blow that it was due to care lessness and over confidence. The small number of troops engaged on both sides were lost in the enor mous teiTitory for which they were contending, and the 1781.] The Constitution of 1782. 283 soldiers wasted away in profitless marches and malaria. Finding it necessary to attempt something more effect ive, the EngHsh General determined, though with no very definite object, on a bold adventure. He pro posed to establish a communication with Arnold in Virginia, and place a Hne of miHtary posts between Charleston and Petersburg. He took the field at the beginning of March, 1781, with some misgiving, but on the whole sanguine. He infiicted a severe defeat on General Greene on the 15th at Guilcfford, and leaving Lord Rawdon' to keep oi'der in South CaroHna, he moved on himself to Wilmington. American armies recovered quickly from theb losses. Greene doubled back in his rear, and though again defeated on the 19th of April, forced Rawdon after wards into Charleston, and picked up the detach ments which Cornwallis had left to keep open his communications. As Burgoyne had been cut off from Lake Champlain, so CornwalHs was now sepa rated from his base of supplies in South Carolina, and was forced to push forward with his best speed into Vbginia. He reached Petersburg on the 20th of May, where he found Arnold. Clinton had sent him 1,500 men from New York, which raised his entbe numbers to 7,000." He was more than a match in the field for any power which La Fayette could then bring against him ; and as long as the sea was open and the EngHsh were masters of it, he was in no danger of a want of suppHes. But he confessed him seff " totaUy in the dark " as to what he was gen- eraUy to do ; he was " weary of marching about the country in quest of adventure," ^ and was anxious for I "Earl of Moira afterwards. 2 " Lord Cornwallis to Sir Henrj' Clinton, April 10, 1780." — Cornwallis Dispatches, vol. i. p. 87. 284 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. ii. orders from New York. " Orders " were what CHnton was just then unable to give ; he had just heard that De Grasse had sailed, and that he was himseff in dan ger of being attacked by sea and land. He had not another man to spare ; he therefore recommended CornwalHs to occupy some strong position on the coast, where he would be within reach, and hold him seff ready to embark for New York. Such vague dbections were not of happy omen. CornwaUis, how ever, obeyed, and intrenched himseff at Yorktown, in Vbginia, where the York river runs into the Chesapeake, waiting for the arrival of a promised English squadron. No English General can beheve himseff in dangef when he is touching the sea. For once, through a combination of accidents, England was found want ing in her own pecuUar domain. The EngHsh squad ron never reached the Chesapeake, but De Grasse and the French and Spaniards came instead of it. Rodney had gone to England with the spoUs of St. Eustatius, and had not returned to his station. De Grasse, when he arrived with the combined fieet of France and Spain, found himself stronger than any force which England could at that moment bring into Hne on the American coast. Admiral Graves came down with the ships lying at New York, and with a far inferior force ventured an engagement. He was not defeated, but he suffered heavUy, and was obliged to draw off, while De Grasse closed the mouth of the net in which CornwalHs was by this time inclosed.' Washington, joined by the French at Rhode Isl and, instead of attacking New York, had pushed I August 20. 1781.] The Constitution of 1782. 285 down by forced marches into Vbginia. Escape by sea was impossible. There were a few days in which, before the Hues of investment were drawn close about him, CornwalHs might have at least attempted to escape the fate impending on him. Before Wash ington arrived on the scene he was stiU superior to La Fayette. By an instant and rapid movement he might have broken through, perhaps have effected a retreat to Carolina, or even with exceptional daring have cut his way by land through Pennsylvania. But Cornwallis, though a brave and solid general, was •without the qualities of genius which are needed for sudden emergencies. Haff his men had sickened from the unhealthy vapors of the York river, and if he moved he must have left his sick behind him. Clinton misled him by cheering messages that help might be looked for, and he continued to wait for its coming till Washington had drawn his lines across the neck of the Peninsula on which the British were lying, and with 10,000 Americans and 7,000 French completed the hopeless blockade. Under these con ditions Lord Cornwallis did what might have been expected from an honorable man of sense and in tegrity. He held his ground till the enemies' trenches had been pushed close, and their cannon searched every comer of the British encampment. When further resistance was impossible, and the result of prolonging the struggle could have been only a use less sacrifice of brave men's lives, the American war was brought on the 19th of October to its vbtual close, by the second surrender of an EngHsh General and an English army. 286 The English in Ireland, [Bk.vi. Ch. n. SECTION m. The Earl of CarHsle and Mr. Eden,' the unsuc cessful commissioners to America, were selected to succeed Lord Buckinghamshire and Sir R. Heron, as Viceroy and Secretary at Dublin Castle. Four years of such ungrateful service tried the patience of the most enduring public servants, each Viceroy finding the post more difficult, and the shifts more detestable, by which alone the Government could be carried on. After Lord Buckinghamshire's departure the Volun teers, who now looked on themselves as the real rulers of the country, elected a second Legislature of their own. They passed resolutions condemning the House of Commons. They clamored against the re moval of the sugar duties. They saw in the Perpet ual Mutiny Bill a base surrender of the liberties of Ireland. The language in which they expressed their views was of the choicest Hibernian type, and the patriotic newspapers which reported theb proceed ings were filling their columns with outpourings of mere treason. Prosecutions wei:e talked of ; but the Leinster corps interspersing their politics with reriews and displays of force, prudence was stronger than valor. The aristocracy, many of whom had taken a lead at the beginning of the movement, were frightened at the power which they had created. " Wild notions of 1 Afterwards Lord Auckland. 1781.] The Constitution of 1782. 287 Republicanism " were abroad — borrowed from Amer ica ; vague ideas of rights of man, not yet thrown into shape by Tom Paine, but seething and fermenting in the Presbyterian blood in the north. Lord Carlisle, after a month's experience, reported a conviction growing " among a variety of men of the greatest weight in the kingdom," " that for their own security they must support the English Government," that " the power must be regained from the people which, ff it remained in their hands, would be the ruin of the state." ' Concession which was to have made Ireland eternaUy loyal, had resulted in "the obliteration of respect essential to Government from the minds of the people." Free trade was to have been " a horn of plenty." It occurred to no one that trade could not grow, Hke a mushroom, in a night. The expected plenty was stiU absent, and the people " were taught to believe " that it was still British legislation which forbade the fountain to flow.^ " The men of the greatest weight," too, though they feared what was coming and wished Government to exert itself, did not care to compromise themselves by public action. In revolutions the centre of gravity changes. The ' privileged orders feel dimly that their consequence is passing from them. They are in the presence of forces which they do not understand and fear to en counter. Lord CarHsle complained that " the higher classes stood aloof from him ; " while discontent grew louder, and the Volunteers, more and more disdain ing disguise, spoke of themselves as the defenders of the country " against foreign and domestic enemies " I " The Earl of Cariisle to Lord Hillsborough, January 29, 1781." — S. P.O. " " To Lord Hillsborough, March 29, 1782." A retrospective letter. 288 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi. Ch.h. — the domestic enemy "being the Parliament of Great Britain and the supporters of the Government in Ireland." ' If this state of things was scarcely tolerable in the recess, it would necessarly be inflnitely worse when the period arrived for the Irish Legislature to reas semble, which the usual leading-strings were now ob viously unable to guide. Repeal of Poynings' Act, repeal of the 6th of George the First, a bill of rights, and none could say how many more such bills, were preparing in Grattan's laboratory, and would have to be met in the midst of a universal hubbub, under the muskets of the Volunteers, now said to number a hundred thousand. HUlsborough, when the Viceroy consulted him, advised a free use of " secret serriee money." But where in Ireland did a subterranean Pactolus flow ? Lord CarHsle, or Mr. Eden for him, replied in sorrow, " that he could take no money from the Irish treasury without accounting for it." Ire land having no foreign relations " he had no constitu tional pretext of foreign service ; " " and the mis chief," he pathetically said, " which had long resulted from this was not to be described." " In the present state of the country the wise application of 3,000Z. a year might be of a degree of. importance to his maj esty's affairs beyond what words could estimate." There was in fact but one resource. He must be supplied from England. " Lord Carlisle must be permitted to draw on Mr. Robinson for sums to be applied to liis majesty's service and the effective con duct of Government : Lord North, in return, might expect an ample compensation to his majesty by grant or pension from Ireland at a proper time to 1 " To Lord HiUsborough, March 29, 1782." A retrospective letter. 1781.] The Constitution of 1782. 289 such persons as his majesty would otherwise provide for from his English revenue." ' As the summer advanced the aspect of things grew steadily darker. Every ship that England could spare from her home defences was in the West Indies or at New York, or reheving Gibraltar, or watching the Dutch. Ireland, so anxious to relieve England of her internal garrison, provided no volunteers upon the water. The mouth of Waterford Harbor was held by a fleet of privateers, who lay undisturbed there, preying upon the passing vessels. When it was rumored that the French meant to send an ex pedition against Cork, a few volunteers offered their services. The offer, it will be seen, came to nothing, though the Government received it as well meant, and as indicating feelings not utterly disloyal. By September the patriots had laid out the plan of their campaign. An attack was to be made on Poy nings' Act ; the biennial clause was to be restored to the Mutiny Bill ; and to counterbalance the declara tory Act of the 6th of George the First, Mr. Grattan meant to move a Declaration of ParHamentary Inde pendence. On Poynings' Act and the Mutiny BiU Lord Carlisle felt comparatively easy. The temper of the House had been tried on both subjects in the last session, with satisfactory results. The Declara tion of Independence had a charm for the ears of Irishmen which made the Constitution on this side far more vulnerable ; and he saw that his utmost efforts would be necessary if it was to be successfully re- I " In short, my dear lord," this singular letter concluded, " this matter is of extreme moment ; but if Lord North, whose dispositions towards us, both officially and personally, are not unkind, does not fully feel its im portance, we have only to meet this difficulty with others, and go on as we can." — " Mr. Eden to Lord Hillsborough, July 15, 1781. Most secret." VOL. II. 19 290 The English in Ireland. [Bk. VLCn.n. sisted. Whether Eden received the powers which he desired of drawing on the English exchequer is mi- certain. Other points, however, were looked for on which popular prejudices might be humored. The sugar duty question wou^ld certamly be rerived. If the Irish consumer -wished to pay an extra price for his sugar to benefit his country's trade, Lord Carlisle thought he might be indulged. A vote of thanks might be given graciously to the Volunteers ; and Ins hands would be strengthened, he said, ff he might consent at last to the change in the judges' tenure. There was no modern instance of a judge's dismissal, and it was hard to assign a producible reason for placing the Irish bench in a different position from that of their brethren in England.' To these suggestions the Cabinet had but one answer. With enemies on all sides of thera, they stood to their old policy of uncompromising resistance. It was a matter of course that the Viceroy should be instructed to oppose constitutional changes, to resist a Declaration of Independence, to resist attacks on the securities for the good behavior of the Irish Par liament. But the small acts of grace which Lord CarHsle recommended to soothe and satisfy the minds of moderate men were, it seemed, equally distasteful. The Volunteers might be thanked if it were insisted on, but there were to be no taxes on manufactured sugar ; and "as to giring the Irish judges the same position which the judges had in England," "the King's servants had to observe that nothing could be more dangerous and improper than such an act, with out the clauses which were inserted by the Pri-vy 1 " The Earl of Carlisle to Lord Weymouth, September 15. Most secret. " 1781.] The Constitution of 1782. 291 Council in the former bill, on which it was thrown out by the House of Commons in Ireland." ' The Viceroy was thus thrown on his own resources to meet the storm, of which the sounds of the ap proach were every moment becoming more audible. The Volunteers had continued their reviews through the summer into the autumn, to the infinite satisfac tion of admiring Ireland. The Ulster corps, with Lord Charlemont at theb head, paraded at Beffast in the presence of 6,000 spectators. The officers pre sented an address to the commander-in-chief, and Charlemont replied with corresponding flattery. " I behold," he said, " a powerful army, seff-raised, seff-clothed, self-paid ; disciplined by its own efforts, so that the most experienced veteran must admire. I behold my country, fearless of invasion, formidable to her enemies, respected by her sister kingdom, an object of veneration to all Europe ; constitutional freedom emerging from the dark abyss into which she had been plunged by folly and corruption, law less and absurd oppression." Whether Ireland was really at that moment the object of veneration which she supposed, it would be discourteous to inquire too curiously. That the veneration, ff it existed, would not have survived a trial of the Volunteers in the field, may be asserted with more* certainty. When the Government ac cepted their offer to defend Cork, three hundred men were all that came forward. They had courage in plenty, and, no doubt, good-will ; but " scarcely a corps had any camp equipage," or could be moved for more than two days out of reach of their homes. They were totaUy unprovided with everything neces- 1 " Lord Hillsborough to the Eari of Cariisle, September, 1781."- 292 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlGh.h sary to soldiers beyond a unfform and a musket. Not one of their officers " would accept a commission from the Crown or subject himseff to the Articles of War ; " and when their strength was at its highest the Duke of Portland gave it as his deliberate opinion that, unless they were assisted by an EngHsh division, " five thousand regular troops, who could effect a landing, would remain masters of whatever port they might choose to occupy," for all the resistance they would meet with from the Volunteers.' Nevertheless, ff not dangerous to the enemy, they were a formidable element of possible internal mis chief, and Lord Carlisle was justified in regarding the prospect before him -with serious apprehension. The opening of the session which was big with the fate of Ireland at length arrived. It was the 9th of October, ten days before the catastrophe at York- town. In default of money, or any substantial act of grace which might have served instead of it, Mr. Eden had been lavish of promises to be fulfiUed after good behavior, when the campaign was over. He stood in need, as he well knew, of all the friendship \ that he could make. The Irish debt, for one thing, was now nearly three millions, the annual deficit more than a quarter of a million, and trade stUl re fusing to rise, of course through the inridious mach inations of ever-guilty England. The speech was studiously humble. Lord CarHsle seeming as if he was awed by the crowd which fiUed every corner of the galleries. His majesty was said to be filled with the warmest wishes for Ireland's happiness, and in consideration for her sufferings I "The Duke of Portland to Thomas Townshend, July 18, 1782." - 8. P. 0. 1781.] The Constitution of 1782. 293 would, notwithstanding the war, make no extraordi nary demands upon her. Towards the Volunteers the Viceroy forced himseff into expressions of grati tude and an admbation neither of which it was pos sible for him to feel. The address was moved by Mr. O'Neil, who coupled with it the expected proposal for the thanks of the House to the Volunteers. After the Viceroy's fulsome language, opposition on this account was expected from no one. It appeared, however, that among the members present there was one at least who would neither speak any untrue word himseff, nor would Hsten in silence to the insincerity of others. Thirteen months only had passed since in that House the resolutions of these same Volunteers had been condemned as false, scandalous, and libellous ; since the editor of the Hibernian Journal had been rebuked for publishing them, and La Touche, the chairman of the Volunteer meeting, had been obliged to apolo gize. Mr. Fitzgibbon, member now for the University of DubHn, being without the admiration professed by others for the singular body who had taken on them selves to dictate to Parliament, moved that, before the thanks were voted to the Volunteers, the censures should be read which the House had passed on them at the close of the last session. Had a spectre appeared on the floor, the members could not have been more startled. On all sides they sprung to their feet to clamor down so incon venient a proposal. Tom Conolly, who had been the mover of the censure, deprecated the rerival of it. The Attorney-General, for the Government, professed his high respect " for a virtuous armed people." The 294 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. n. scandal was hushed up in the enthusiasm whUe the vote was passed, and men tried to forget that it had happened. None the less Fitzgibbon, in that daring action, had shown friend and foe the metal of which he was made. He, for himself, had declared war against insolent anarchy and factious imposture, and had struck his first blow. Pandora's box was now opened. Bradstreet, the Recorder of Dublin, came first wdth a Habeas Corpus Act, and a motion for a committee to inquire into the state of the kingdom. Yelverton followed with a notice that he would bring in a bUl to take from the Council, English and Irish, the powers which they exercised under Poynings' Act to alter bUls of the Irish Parliament. Then Grattan came to fulfil his threat of the preceding year, and gave notice that he would move to repeal the Mutiny Bill. The debates had become interesting to the public. The galleries were crammed with eager Hsteners, who occasionally joined in the debates. On the 1st of November there was an exchange of courtesies be tween the audience and the members. This was on Bradstreet's Habeas Corpus Act. The audience were dissatisfied at the tone of the speeches. The mem bers shouted " Order " from the floor, and caUed the strangers in the galleries ruffians. Floor and galleries were amusing themselves be fore the chief performers appeared on the stage. Another actor besides Fitzgibbon was to play an un- portant part there. Mr. Grattan had assumed tl^e place which his achievements in the past year seemed to have won for him ^s leader of the Opposition. He foimd, when he began to bring in his measures, that another claimant for pubhc favor was disputing pre- 1781.] The Constitution of 1782. 295 eminence with him. Ten years before, Mr. Flood had been what Grattan then was — the proud antag onist of English influence, the all-adored declaimer on the rights and the oppressions of Ireland. His eloquence and his influence had purchased for him the ordinary rewards of successful agitation. He had obtained the most lucrative office at the disposition of the Castle, with the immensely-coveted seat in the Privy Council ; and having achieved the highest ob jects of an Irish poHtician's ambition, his career as a patriot was assumed to be over. His services thence forward, except in extraordinary cases, had been cured to the Crown. The agitation with which he had played had unex pectedly changed its character. From being a mere avenue to public employment it had become a na tional power, threatening to change the face of the Constitution ; and unable to endure to see the place once so brilliantly occupied by himself snatched from him by a younger rival, impatient to hear another's name shouted by the million voices which had once rung with his own, while his mind was still in its maturity, and his power unimpaired, Mr. Flood be lieved that he could recover his lost position, and a second time become the champion of Irish liberty. In the debates of 1780 he had shown signs that he was re.stless in his chains. The growth of the move ment in the interval had deterrained him to break them. On the first occasion which offered, when Grattan brought up the Mutiny Bill, he rushed to the front, and in the old style poured out a stream of declamation on the profligacy of the Castle ex penditure, by which he had himself condescended to profit. 296 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vl Ch. ii. The returned prodigal was not very warmly re ceived. George Ponsonby congratulated him on the recovery of his voice, after seven years of silence, and hinting sarcastically at the probable consequences, applauded the public spirit which made him risk the loss of the best appointment which the Government had to bestow. His friends exclaimed at the enor mity of the supposition that he should lose his office for obeying his conscience. If he shared theb feelings and believed that the Government would not dare to punish him, he calculated too much upon the King's cowardice. He had tried the patience of the Cabinet already, when he boasted that the Vice-Treasurer ship had been the unsolicited gift of his sovereign. His sovereign remembered too accurately the history of that transaction ; he showed his sense of Mr. Flood's conduct by striking his name with his own hand from the list of Privy Coimcillors ; and Mr. Flood only escaped deprivation of the office, for which he had sued so ardently, by immediate voluntary res ignation. The coolness of his reception by the patriots, and the prompt action of the Crown, stimu lated him to more violent efforts. When Grattan's motion on the Mutiny BiU came to a division on the 13th of November, it was lost by a large majority. Mr. Flood desired to show that an experienced general could succeed where his younger rival had failed, and revived it under another form. The opportunity selected for these attacks on the Brit ish army was ungracious and uiffortunate. At the moment when the Irish popular leaders were clamor ing for measures which destroyed the discipHne and threatened the existence of the scanty regiments which formed, nevertheless, the sole effective defence of Ire- 1781.] The Constitution of 1782. 297 land against invasion ; when the cattle houghers, en couraged by parHamentary rhetoric, were hamstring ing British soldiers who were straying carelessly in the prorincial towns, the poor army of which they formed a part, in another quarter of the world, was crowning itseff with immortal glory. For a year past a never intermitting storm of shot and shell had rained into Gibraltar. The houses in the town were all destroyed. The inhabitants, gentle and simple, were crowded in the casemates. Enormous works had been throvni up at the neck of the Peninsula by the most accomplished engineers which the allied na tions could produce ; and from behind those works and under a fire before which no living thing could show itseff and escape destruction, the choicest troops of France and Spain were to advance and drive the English into the sea. AU was ready for the attack. Ten thousand tons of powder had been distributed among the magazines. On one of those very same November nights when Grattan was wreathing his brow with an aureole and Flood was fighting for the recovery of his patriotic laurels. General Ross stole out' in the darkness with two thousand men, stormed into the Spanish lines, swept the trenches, overthrew the paHsades, and laying trains into the magazines, sent the results of twelve months' toil and the pas sionate hopes of England's enemies, with one -wild roar into the air. It was not the Irish Volunteers just then which Europe was admbing, as Lord Charlemont supposed, but the British defence of the barren rock which stands sentinel at the gates of the Mediterranean. Mr. Flood's spbited endeavors, at that instant at 1 November 27. 298 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlch. ii least, were not allowed to succeed. To his extreme mortification, he failed more decisively than Grattan had failed. The patriot phalanx -declined to follow his call. He was defeated by 146 to 66. The Attorney- General improved the occasion. He observed with delicate irony that Mr. Flood's situa tion reminded him of a parish clerk whom he had known when he was at the Temple,- going by the name of Harry Plantagenet.' Harry had acquired his sobriquet as a king of sportsmen. When the hounds were at fault, no whip was so skilful as Harry in bringing them back to the trail. They followed no voice so readily as Harry's. The huntsman, see ing his influence over the dogs, took him into employ ment and dressed him in the royal uniform. In this situation his zeal languished, he became lazy and self- indulgent. Younger men outrode him and took his place in the favor both of dogs and field. He became jealous ; he quarrelled with his masters. He went back to hunt in opposition, but he found now that the spell was broken, that not a hound would obey him, not a rider would follow him, and he returned to the Temple Church to sing psalms and care for his soul. The story was told with a dramatic humor which sparkled the more brilliantly as the House showed itself the more intensely delighted. The arrow hung by the barb in Flood's side. In vain he tried to shake it from him, and capered like the bull in the arena when the chulos plant the banderiUa in his shoulders. The Irish gentry, for a time at least, were showing a nobler spirit than their chosen champions, 1 Flood's name was Henry. 1781.] The Constitution of. 1782. 299 Yelverton had given notice that on the 5th of Deeember he would move for the consideration of Poynings' Act. Before the day came the news ar rived of Lord Cornwallis's surrender. Struck at once with the unfitness of pressing a hostile motion at such a crisis, he proposed in place of it an address to the Crown of sunple and unaffected good feeling. He said, "it would ill become the loyalty of Ireland to remain in apathy, when Britain, surrounded with enemies, was struggling against a warring world, with the admiration of every generous mind." He was not expressing the sentiments either of the mob out of doors, or of Grattan, the representative of the mob in ParHament. The Irish, generally, could not be expected to feel regret at the disasters of their op pressors. Grattan storraed at Yelvertoii's weakness, and declared that Ireland would be mad ff she exerted herseff to save England from misfortune. The House was of a different opinion. The address of sympathy was carried by a very large majority.' The dirision showed Grattan that the Castle was stronger than he had hoped. So far he had made no progress in a campaign where he had looked for im mediate victory. He assumed that his defeat was owing (as perhaps in part it was) to the usual debas ing influences. He repeated the language of the Volunteers, and openly accused the Viceroy of spend ing the Irish revenue in corrupting the conscience of Parliament.^ Flood, snatching at any instiument 1 167 to 37. ^ "As to the appropriation of the money, I am ashamed to state it. Let the minister defend it. Let him defend the scandal of giving pensions, directly or indirectly, to the first of the nobility. Let him defend the minute corruption which, in small bribes and annuities, leaves honorable gentlemen poor while it makes them dependent." — /risA Debates, Decem ber 7, 1781. 300 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vi. Ch. n, which would give him back his place in the people's hearts, took up the subject which Yelverton had not dropped, but had laid aside out of good feeling for a fortnight only. Yelverton's motion was to come on again on the 18th. Flood dragged it forward in an altered shape on the 11th, and moved for a committee to consider the conditions under which heads of bills were certified with England. His cause was good. It has been seen in many instances how mischiev ously the Privy Council both in England and Ire land abused their powers to defeat good measures or forward bad ones. Mr. Flood explained with correctness that the modern practice was never con templated when the Act on which it was based be carae law. Sir Edward Poynings' Act had been passed when the coraraunication between the two countries was slow and difficult, and the object of it had been to prevent the Viceroys of Ireland from giving the Royal assent on theb own responsibiHty to measures of which England disapproved. By the ingenuity of James the First the Irish CouncU had been shaped after the pattern of the Scotch Lords of Articles ; and following that example they had been allowed to remodel, and even originate, heads of bills which were the property of ParHament. He spoke eloquently, as he always did. The House was, in principle, on his side, for there was scarcely a single member — not even Fitzgibbon — who did not desire to see the powers of the Council modified ; ' but they resented Flood's taking the question out of Yelver- 1 Hely Hutchinson was an exception. He had no belief in an independ ent regenerated Irish Parliament. He looked for reform in another direc tion, and quoted Pope's too little remembered lines : — " For modes of GrOverDtneat let fools contest ; -Wbate'er is best admiaistered is best." 1781.] The Constitution of 1782. 301 ton's hands, and he was beaten almost as severely as before. Flood being pushed aside, not without loud com plaints, Yelverton resumed charge of his own bill, the effect of which, if carried, would be to place the Irish Parliament in the same position as the Eng lish. The Irish ParHament was to frame its own measures as pleased itseff. The Crown was to be left with a veto as the constitutional symbol of sov ereignty. The 6th of George the First had been mentioned repeatedly in the debate. The sentiment of the House was distinct that the English Parlia ment had nothing to do with Ireland, and could pass no laws affecting it. At a calmer time many ques tions would have suggested themselves on. the rela tions m which the two countries would stand towards one another, and in which Ireland would stand to wards the Executive Government, ff the tie between them was reduced to the person of the sovereign. What was to happen if on points of public policy or general commerce the two Legislatures should be in collision ? — ff the Crown should -withhold its consent from a measure desired in Ireland, but disapproved in England ? Ireland's ambition was, in fact, to defy the laws of gravity ; bring the inferior country to be regarded and treated as an equal, and her slightest trade being dependent on the protection of the Eng lish navy, to be allowed to regulate the details of it after her own pleasure. Another more -rital difficulty there was too, such as had already occurred after the Revolution, when there was a King de facto on the throne, and a Pretender aspiring to it ! Was the English Parliament to decide who was to be Ireland's sovereign ; and if they differed in opinion, who was to judge between them ? 302 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vi. Ch. n. These objections could scarcely have escaped dis cussion had the temper of the time permitted; but enthusiasm will not believe in obstacles to the grati fication of its hopes. The heads of Yelverton's bill were brought in and passed for tiansmission ; and the heads of another bill were passed also, which being practical, was of more real importance. The concessions made in the last session to the Catholics were then supposed to be final, but the first removal of painful restrictions makes those which remain the more irksome. The principle has been abandoned, the outworks of the fortress have been carried ; and, as a matter of course, the attack is continued while anything is left to be done. Luke Gardiner, who had charge of the bill of 1780, now introduced a second. As the law stood the Catholics could take leases for 999 years ; they could not yet acquire free holds. Gardiner said his object was to raise the Catholics of Ireland to the same position in which they were now placed in England, and allow them to purchase, inherit, and hold property on the same terms as other subjects. When favors were asked for the Catholics, the English Government always responded. More than ever were the Catholics now valuable to them as a counterpoise to the Volunteers. The Cabinet, looking only to the present moment, had no doubts of the policy of concession. Opinions in Ireland, even in the patriot camp, were divided. Grattan, whose dream was of a rerived nationality, declared that Ireland would never prosper till its in habitants were " a people." Charlemont was hos tile. Flood, either from conviction or antagonism to Grattan, was prepared to resist to the utmost, on Protestant principles. On the first discussion on the 1781.] The Constitution of 1782. 303 introduction of the heads, Fitzgibbon was the most rational speaker. He admitted that the penal laws were an anachronism. He beheved, as most intelH- gent men in Europe then beheved, that Romanism had ceased to be dangerous as a political power. Toleration, he said, had become the rule of the world, and Ireland must not be left behind. The Irish Catholics had earned a restoration of their rights by their patience under protracted disabiUties. He ad rised only that the degree of concession intended should be carefully considered ; that what was to be done should be done completely, and that the subject should be finally disposed of. Leave was then given. The heads were introduced, to be debated after the Christmas recess. The supplies were voted. Yelver ton's biU was sent to England for approval. Compli mentary addresses were exchanged between the Vice roy and the Speaker, and the House separated till the 29th of January. The first part of the session had behed Lord Carlisle's fears. With judicious manage ment, and vrith the help, perhaps, of the Catholic Rehef Bill, the remainder of it he hoped might be got over, if not with brilliancy, yet -without misfort une. Though sorae constitutional changes raight be necessary, they raight be kept within liraits. Grat tan's following was evidently weak, and Flood carried no one with him but a handful of personal admirers. 304 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. n. SECTION IV. On the reassembling of Parliament the first subject which came on for consideration in the House of Com mons was the Catholic Relief Bill. The disagree ment in the popular party and the objections of the more serious politicians had become wider and deeper by reflection. Hely Hutchinson, who always spoke to the purpose, deprecated hasty legislation on a ticklish subject. He was opposed on principle to the continuance of pen alties on conscience, but he thought that the reintro- duction of the CathoHcs as a power in the State was beginning at the wrong end. He was in favor of the recognition and payment of the Catholic clergy by the State. He recommended the institution of a college for their home education, where they would escape the influences to which they were exposed in France and Spain. On the 15th, when the BiU came to be committed, Fitzgibbon spoke. He said that till that morning he had seen no danger in Mr. Gardiner's proposal, but on reading the Bill carefully he had discovered that, in the shape in which it was offered to the House, the first clause repealed the Act of Settlement and the Act of Forfeiture, would thus affect the titles on which four fifths of Irish land was held, and would throw the entire country into confusion. Of course there was a general panic, which was not 1782.] The Constitution .of 1782. 305 diminished by the warmth displayed by the Govern- "ment speakers in lauding the good humor with which the Catholics had endured their afflictions. The Attorney-General said that " he had seen at Monaghan at the same moment three large congre gations fiowing simultaneously out of a meeting-house, a church, and a mass-house, and the individuals which composed them mixing in the street with every mark of affection and good will." ' The Attorney-General might have found the expla nation in the laws which he was denouncing. When the Catholics were indulged they had attempted mas sacre and confiscation ; when they were bitted and bridled they were peaceable and good-humored. That this was the correct interpretation may be seen in the fruits of religious equaUty. When a Protestant prel ate of the disestablished Church walks through 'an Irish city the devout Celt displays his piety by spit ting on him as he passes.^ A truth which ha& become now so painfuUy evident was not wholly unperceived in 1782. Mr. Flood defended the original imposition of the Penal Laws. " Ninety years, ago," he said, "the question was whether Popery and arbitrary power should be established in the person of King James, or the Protestant religion, in, the person of King WilHam. Four fifths of Ireland! were for King James ; they were defeated. I rejoice in theb defeat. The laws that, followed were not laws of persecution, they were a poHtical necessity." " Are you," he asked, " prepared for a new government ? What wiU be the consequence ff you give Catholics equal I Irish Debates, February 15, 1782.' ^ Fact in one instance certainly. It was told to me by the bishop who was himself the sufferer, and he described the thing not as having hap pened to him once, but as since the disestablishment happening repeatedly. VOL. II. 20 306 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi. CH.n, powers with Protestants ? Can a Protestant Constitu tion survive ? The majority will attempt to alter the Constitution, and I believe they will be repelled by the minority. We will give all toleration to your re ligion ; we will not give you political power, and the free ownership of land will bring poHtical power in its rear." ' To this argument the obvious answer was that the objection was too late. The principle had been con- j ceded when the power of taking leases for 999 years had been granted. For the purpose of influencing elections a tenure for thirty generations was equiva lent to a freehold. Nor could the more ardent patri ots believe in the danger which Flood anticipated. The object was to raise the down-trodden Irish Cath oHc, to fit him for his place as the free citizen of an emancipated country, and already he was responding to the call. " Ireland," said Sir Boyle Roche, " is Hke the Phoenix rising from its ashes. The debates on these laws have electrified the mass of the people. Instead of looking down like slaves they throw up their heads like men." Still, on this, and on other measures on which the patriotic heart was set, the House was timid, and the feeble knees required to be strengthened. Mr. Grat tan fell back upon his friends in unfform, who in politics and in the field considered themselves Ire land's real sovereigns. To the Volunteers the disaster at Yorktown had been an Irish victory. Elate and confident, they at once in their clubs repeated the resolutions of 1780, and declared that Parliament was controlled by a 1 Irish Debates, February, 1782. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 307 majority corrupted by the Castle. Delegates from the Ulster corps had been invited to meet at Dungan non, at the beginning of February, to consider the condition of the country. The appeal which Grattan resolved to make to them had probably been precon certed when the delegates had arranged to assemble. Flood's opposition was troublesome. Like a skilful tactician Grattan invited Flood to share the honors of a campaign to most of the objects of which he was committed as deeply as Grattan himseff. Grattan, Flood, and Lord Charlemont met privately in Dub Hn to draw up resolutions which the Dungannon del egates were to adopt. The first, framed by Grattan himseff, was " That a claim of any body of men, other than the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland, to make laws by which Ireland was to be bound, was iUegal, unconsti tutional, and a grievance." ' The second, which was Flood's, declared, " That the powers exercised by the Pri-vy Council of both kingdoms under color of the law of Poynings were unconstitutional and a grievance." On these points the triumvirs were agreed. The second contained the principle of Yelverton's Bill, which had not yet been returned from England. Further than this Grattan knew that neither Flood nor Charlemont would go -with him. He, therefore, without consulting them, himseff added a thbd reso lution : " That we (the Volunteers) hold the right of pri vate judgment in matters of religion to be equaUy sacred in others as in ourselves ; that we rejoice in the relaxation of the penal laws against our Roman 1 Aimed at the 6th of George I. 308 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vl Ch. il CathoHc fellow-subjects, and that we conceive these measures to be fraught with the happiest consequences to the union and prosperity of the inhabitants of Ire land." ' A trusty messenger galloped down with these resolutions to Dungannon. Two hundred and forty representatives of the Ulster companies were in attendance on the day for which they were called. The streets of the to-wn were lined with Volunteer troops. The delegates assembled in the church, where they sat in consultation till nightfall. At eight o'clock the propositions were unanimously voted, and went out in Charlemont's name over aU quarters of Ireland, to be adopted by the brother delegates of the corps in the southern provinces. Inadvertence in England gave Grattan unexpected assistance. The universal soreness in Ireland on the subject of laws affecting them being passed in the British Parliament was so notorious that the practice had been avoided, as far as it conveniently cotild; and as long as no aggravated case was allowed to arise, there was a hope that the Irish Parliament might abstain from challenging the right, and bring ing the Legislatures into open collision. Unhappily, the narae of Ireland had been allowed to appear in four trifling measures which had just been passed at Westminster. Irish jealousy detected at once a ma- Hgnant purpose, and with these Acts in his hand and ¦with the Dungannon resolutions at his back, Grattan rose a week after the CathoHc debate to move the 1 long-threatened Declaration of the Independence of the Legislature of Ireland. He was a loyal subject 1 " This resolution was crammed by Grattan into the messenger's bag after he was mounted." — Life of Grattan, vol. ii. p. 205. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 309 of the King, he said. He professfed to prize the con nection with Great Britain second only to the Hber ties of his country, but he charged Lord North's Gov ernment with conspiring against the constitutional freedom of Ireland. With " Demosthenic thunder " he insisted that he would never submit to British leg islation, and, unlike Yelverton, he insisted that now was the moment, now, when Britain's hands were tied by a general war, for Ireland to break her intol erable chain. How much of Grattan's action was a sincere ema nation of patriotism, how much was due to concerted action with the English Whigs to embarrass and overthrow Lord North's tottering Administration, was known to Grattan himseff, and perhaps to no other person. The Whigs believed afterwards that he had played with them, and reproached him -with ingratitude. It is certain, at any rate, that without their assistance, even the Volunteers would not have enabled him to succeed. The Attorney-General opposed the motion as haz ardous, unreasonable, and unnecessary. Against Mr. Grattan's rhetoric he opposed the practical fact to which Fitzgibbon had alluded before, that the Act of Settlement rested on the Act of Forfeiture passed by the Long Parliament in the first year of the Irish Rebellion. A declaration that the Irish ParHament alone could pass laws to bind Ireland, would render the Act of Forfeiture invalid, would "loosen the bonds of society, and leave the whole island to be grappled for by the descendants of the old proprie tors." IUusion could not endure the contact of so serious a reaHty. The Provost, Gervase Bushe, even George Ponsonby, took the Government side, and Grattan was beaten on a division by 137 to 68. 310 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi. Can. One impression left by the debate was remarkable. Yelverton proposed to meet the legal difficulty by " a Bill for quieting possessions held under the Forfeit ure Act." Not a single speaker on either side, not even the Attorney-General, though challenged re peatedly to give his opinion, defended the principle of English Acts being of binding force in Ireland. " The majority by which the motion was post poned," Lord CarHsle wrote on the folio-wing day, " will satisfy his majesty's Ministers that Government can prevent the question being carried. But the principle, nevertheless, is universally insisted on. Every rank and order of this nation are possessed of it. I question whether any lawyer would adrise his client to bring his cause to an issue on the vaHdity of a British Act in this kingdom, or whether a jury would give a verdict on that foundation." ' Yet, again, it was the English conquest which alone had given to the existing owners the possession of Irish land. It reposed upon EngHsh authority. If the CathoHcs, according to the Dungannon resolu tions, were to secure their poHtical as weU as theb civil rights, even the English legislative authority it might be dangerous to part with. A Protestant House of Commons might pass a " quieting " BiU as Yelverton suggested ; but a House returned by a Catholic majority might repeal it. This unpleasant possibility was brought into view by a great debate hnmediately after Grattan's defeat on Mr. Gardiner's Catholic Relief BiU. Mr. Gardiner, carrying out the Dungannon spirit, proposed now to aboHsh all dis tinctions between Catholic and Protestant. The first clause of his Bill, as he had remodelled it, de- 1 " The Eari of Cariisle to Lord Hillsborough, February 23, 1782." 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 311 dared every Irish subject who would subscribe a simple oath of allegiance and the declaration against the jurisdiction of foreign Prince or Potentate, en titled to his full rights as a citizen. Fitzgibbon pointed out the consequences, and Gardiner accepted his help to change the form once more. The single BiU was divided into two. The first affected prop erty only. The Catholics were enabled to acquire freehold, to buy and sell, bequeath and inherit, like every one else. To this there was no opposition. Mr. Eden walked out of the House before the divis ion to indicate the impartiaUty of the Government, and the BUI was carried. The second affirmed and carried out the principle of complete reHgious toleration, repealed the laws which bore upon the priests, and restored to Catholic parents theb rights to educate their children whether at home or abroad. This BiU was postponed, not out of any hostile feeling, but from difference of opinion on the stiU unsettled question of mixed or separate education. On the right of Catholics to have their own schools no question was raised. On whether the Act should be repealed which forbade them to send theb children to be educated abroad, there arose a debate, remarkable as proving how far the harshness of the penal laws had been softened in practical application. Fitzgibbon declared that so far from consenting to the repeal of the foreign Education Act, he would himseff move for the introduction of such a law if it did not abeady exist. " He would not suffer the Catholics to resort to regions of bigotry and super stition, where they would imbibe ideas hostile to Hberty, neither did he mean that they should receive 312 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. n. no education." " The University of Dublin was already open to Catholics by connivance." " If they declined to receive an education there, it was not on account of religion, for no religious conformity was required, but only because CathoHcs feared their children would imbibe the principles there of a free constitution." ' Fitzgibbon spoke as Member for the University. The Provost (Hely Hutchinson) rose after him. Let those who can feel the ignominy of England's ill-suc cess in Ireland read in his language one more record of opportunity thrown away. " My opinion," the Provost said, " is against sending Catholics abroad for educa tion, nor would I establish Popish colleges at home. Our gracious Sovereign, who is legislator for the Uni versity, may, I think, with ease be prevailed on to pass a statute for admitting Catholics. They need not be obliged to attend the Divinity Professors. They may have one of their own. I would have part of the public money appHed to theb use, to the sup port of poor lads as sizars, and to provide premiums for persons of merit. I would have them go into ex aminations, and make no distinctions between them and the Protestants but such as merit might claim. If these people dare to worship God in their own way, why should not the academic badge they wear be a raark of spirit and a pledge of the union between them and the Protestants ? To prepare the Catholics for the University I would increase the number of diocesan schools, and have the Catholics instructed gratis in them. They should receive the best education in the EstabHshed University at the public expense, but by no means should Popish colleges be allowed, for by them we should again have the Press groaning with 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 31-3 theories of controversy, college against college, and subjects of religious disputation that have long slept would again awake, and awake with the worst pas sions of the mind." ' There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. The history of Ireland is a history of chances lost. Even now, at the eleventh hour, could England have laid hold with heartiness of a policy of which the Provost was shadowing out a part. Catholics and Protestants might still have been drawn together and towards the mother country ; and disabilities would have then died of themselves because they no longer rested on disunion of sentiment. Even a united Irish nationaHty might have been safely aUowed to revive, no more hostile to England than the nationalities of Wales or Scotland, but rising out of and resting upon an innocent and honorable pride. It was not to be. No spirit of wisdom was pre siding over the CouncUs of Great Britain, whether among-Whigs or Tories. It was with no desire to reconcile Irish Catholics to Protestantism and to the empire, that the Irish enthusiasts for reform were agitating to replace the Catholics in the Constitution, but to conjure into life the deluding phantom of Irish independence, to separate and not to reconcile, to snatch the moment of England's weakness to extract freedom for Ireland, which, being vrithout strength to preserve, she must see pass from her like a shadow of a dream. I Irish Debates, March, 1782. 314 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. n. Men Hke Fitzgibbon and the Provost might con tend within their own circle against the general madness, but every day the Viceroy found the atmos phere more heavily charged -with electricity. He had done his utmost, and his large majorities showed the strength of his influence in ParHament ; but out side the walls the patriots were using language which might at any moment change into open violence. In a most secret letter of the 3d of March Lord Carlisle explained the position to Lord Hillsborough. " Mr. Grattan, from a natural enthusiasm, and Mr. Flood, from a different motive, have concurred with great earnestness in bringing forward every question tending to assert an independent right of legislation in Ireland. I have in no case suffered the smallest diminution of the asserted rights of Great Britain. I have called forth the whole strength of Government to repel every such attempt, and have resisted some of the strongest questions which were ever pressed in an Irish Parliament. The consequence of this steadi ness has been great and unfform success. But I must now draw your Lordship's attention beyond the con sideration of parliamentary triumphs, which, ff made the sole object of attention, may produce calamitous consequences. The restless and reasoning disposition of the Volunteers, which do not fall short of 30,000 men actually in arms,' the jealousy with which the interference of British laws has long been considered, the approaching meeting of the corps at the opening of the spring, the instigation of the men who from different motives are opposing the Government, the resentment excited by the uniform success of my Government, are all circumstances which induce me 1 Grattan spoke of them as 100,000. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 315 to look forward with uneasiness. Your Lordship can not be ignorant that the actual exercise of the author ity of the British Parliament over Ireland was to taUy impracticable long before I arrived in the king dom.- There was not a magistrate or revenue officer, however dependent, who would venture to enforce an EngHsh law. There was not a jury in the king dom who would find a verdict under an English Act. I may infer that I can close the session without suffer ing a vote to be carried contrary to my -wishes ; but the support, and possibly the existence of a per manent good Government in this kingdom, depends on maintaining the many respectable friends of my administration in the fair opinion of their country men. Their weight is not only essential to my sup port in ParHament, but perhaps more materially among the Volunteer associations, from which they might be excluded if I should be compelled to close the session without quieting the ferment." ' Lord CarHsle's majorities were not entirely due to Mr. Eden's drafts on Mr. Robinson. Irish members would engage their services, and yet might be found wanting, as had been many times experienced at critical moments. But they had discovered that if they rushed along too fast on the patriotic career, they might blunder into positions where theb estates would be in danger. They had gone into raptures over the Volunteers, but the sense that the country was in the hands of armed politicians who were not under miHtary law was, on reflection, not particularly pleasant. " It was the unanimous sentiment of every able man in the kingdom," Lord Carlisle said, " that 1 " The Eari of Cariisle to Lord Hillsborough, March 3, 1782. Most secret"— S. P. 0. 316 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vi. Ch. ii. the question of legislation was tending to some seri ous issue." The Viceroy's earnest desire was to find a way out of the difficulty which moderate people would accept. It was not a question of mere na tional pride. Irish commerce was carried on under the British flag and protected by the British na-vy. Irish commercial interests abroad were under charge of British consuls. Laws must be passed from time to time in the British Parliament by which Ireland would be constructively affected. Yelverton, -with Lord Carlisle's full approval, advised that every Eng-- lish Act coraprehending Ireland should be reenacted in the Irish Parliament. Fitzgibbon and Hussey Burgh both agreed that this was the most rational solution. Grattan was not at first violently hostile. Flood only refused to listen to a compromise, and would hear of nothing but unconditional surrender of the English right. He saw an opportunity of re covering his supremacy as the incorruptible asserter of Irish liberties, and in such a mood it was as useless to reason with him as with the orators of the Volun teers and the multitude who repeated theb common places in every corner of the island. The situation was thus becoming really dangerous. Lord Carlisle sent the Cabinet for inspection a copy of papers about to be submitted for signature' to the grand juries at the approaching assizes. The country gentlemen were invited to accept the Dungannon resolutions ; to pledge themselves to the Irish nation and to one another to oppose the execution of any statute deriving its authority from England ; to sup port Ireland's rights with Iffe and fortune, and to promise annually to renew theb obligations tiU those rights had been definitely conceded.' 1 " The Earl of Carlisle to Lord Hillsborough, March 7. Most secret." 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 317 Yelverton's measure for the alteration of Poynings' Act was stUl waiting in England, Lord North's Cab inet, abeady at its last gasp, not knowing what to decide about it. Being one at least of the measures on which Ireland's patriotic heart was set. Lord Car Hsle thought that ff it was returned immediately, he could procure a compromise on the question' of legis lative authority, and induce the grand juries to with hold theb signatures. If Yelverton's bill was not re turned, he declared himseff ready to be guided by his majesty's commands and by the wisdom of his coun cils ; but so far as his own judgment went, he de clined to answer for the consequences. The friends of Government in both Houses were becoming fright ened. If the suspense was protracted, they might be " overawed by popular violence, and pass votes dis claiming British legislation." Mr. Grattan had more than once spoken of possible hostile resolutions of the bish Houses, " as parliamentary ordinances to be maintained by the armed associations." In dread of matters being forced into so dangerous an issue, the Viceroy said " he had welcomed the help of Yelver ton, Burgh, and Fitzgibbon." ' A ministerial crisis being now rapidly approaching m England, the Irish Parliament adjourned for a month on the 14th of March. Before the separation, Grattan moved and carried a call of the House of Commons for the 18th of April. On that day all members were invited to be in their places as they tendered the rights of Ireland. These trying ques tions would then be revived, perhaps, under more favorable auspices. Lord Carlisle could not but con fess that he had been in some degree infected by Irish 1 " The Earl of CarUsle to Lord Hillsborough, March 16." — S. P. 0. 318 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. il sentiment . in the judgment which he formed upon them. He had found, in common with every Vice roy who preceded him, that when he spoke to the Cabinet of wrongs done to Ireland, and recommended a measure or measures as tending to remedy them, he had been received either with insolent neglect or contemptuous refusal. English rule in Ireland had become so shameful a parody of all that is meant by righteous and legitimate authority, that nature her seff repudiated it. Ireland could not and would not be governed any longer by English laws. Lord Car Hsle thought, and avowed that he thought, that she might be governed well and happily by laws of her own ; while, ff England refused to consent to an ar rangement, he anticipated ine-ritable convulsions, the end of which no one could foresee.' Before the letter in which Lord CarHsle expressed these sentiments reached England, Lord North's ad ministration was at an end. Lord Rockingham had been sent for by the king, and the Opposition, who had condemned the entbe policy of the Government abroad and at home, in America and in Ireland, was about to pass to the dbection of the empbe. 1 " The Eari of Cariisle to Lord Hillsborough, March 19, 1782." 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 319 SECTION V. The surrender of Lord Cornwallis was the conclud ing scene of the efforts of England to recover her revolted colonies. The steady opposition of the Whigs had been ineffectual so long as apparent but useless rictories attended the English campaigns. A second capture of a complete army gave force to arguments to which the national pride had refused to listen. Motions made in the British ParHament to discon tinue the war in December and January were resisted by reduced majorities. On the 22d of February the majority was reduced to one. On the 27th the Opposition carried an address to the king, who ac quiesced in what was now unavoidable. Lord North resigned, and Rockingham, Fox, and Shelburne were caUed into office to wind up the quarrel. The battle had been fought along the entire line of ministerial poHcy. Both Fox and Rockingham had supported Grattan on the alteration of the Mutiny Bill, and Lord Carlisle's change of opinion did not save him from being involved in the fate of his friends. Ire land was no longer to be thwarted in developing her Constitution according to her own fancies, and the disgrace of Lord North's representative was made a peace-offering to the indignation of the patriots. Lord CarHsle was treated with singular discourtesy. The resignation of the Ministry was no sooner known m DubHn than Eden hastened over to place Lord 320 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vi. Can. Rockingham in possession of the exact situation of the country. Eden found, on arriving in London, that he had crossed a curt dispatch, informing Lord Carlisle that the king had no longer occasion for his services as Lord-Lieutenant of Yorkshbe. It was a peculiarly offensive method of informing him that he must resign the Viceroyalty. The Cabinet had al ready chosen a successor for him in the Duke of Port land. ' They would have acted less imprudently ff they had waited for the information,,- which Eden would have given them, for, as the event proved, they were entbely ignorant of the spbit which they were about to encounter. They had assumed that as soon as his friends were in power Grattan would at once work in harmony with them. Though they hated Tories and Tory principles, they had inherited the traditions of English statesmen. They were trained politicians, unable to believe that the. rash project of an Ireland really independent could be seriously entertained by a reasonable man ; stiU less, ff a few enthusiasts had formed so wild a dream, were they prepared to countenance it. They supposed that they had only to supersede Lord North's Viceroy by a nobleman of theb own school to find the stormy waters settle into repose. Lord Rockingham's eyes might have been opened had he read Lord Carlisle's last dispatch. Had that nobleman been continued in office the Yelverton compromise might have been accepted. But Eden found that his chief had been treated in a fashion "which amounted to personal insult." When he told Lord Shelburne that the hasty appointment of the Duke of Portland would work mischief, Shel- 1782.] The Constitution of 1872. 321 burne answered briefly that he did not agree with him ; and Eden, naturaUy indignant, " refused to hold further intercourse with the Ministry " on the Irish subject.' He rose instead, the day after this conversation, in his place in the House of Commons. He declared Ireland to be on the edge of civil war ; and to shield Lord Carlisle from the undeserved im putation of having caused so dangerous an excite ment by resistance to the wishes of the people, he moved himseff, on his own responsibility, the repeal of the 6th of George the First.^ It was a rash act on his part, rising out of violent resentment. The House showed such serious displeasure, that he with drew the motion almost as soon as it had been made. Colonel Luttrell (Lord Carhampton afterwards) in quired whether the repeal of that Act would satisfy Ireland. Eden could not say that it would, but de clared that peace could not be preserved without it. Fox rose very angry. " He," he said, " was now responsible for the honor of his country, and would not consent to see England humbled at the feet of Ireland." " The situation was worse than he had feared, and the persons to blame for it were Eden himseff and Lord CarHsle." The blame lay rather with Fox himseff and his Whig friends, who had en couraged Grattan for their own purposes. They had sown the seed, and they were to gather the harvest. Portland had sent Charles Sheridan over to learn Grattan's views. Sheridan wrote that Grattan told him that the Declaration of Independence would in- 1 "Mr. Eden to Lord Shelbume, April 5, 1782." — ii/e of Grattan, vol. ii. 2 The English Act, let the reader be once more reminded, which declared, tolidem verUs, the right of the English Pariiament to legislate for Ireland. VOL II. 21 322 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vlch.il fallibly be passed after the recess. The Volunteers had pledged Iffe and fortune to carry it, and nothing less would now satisfy the people. At the time of the adjournment they might have allowed the ques tion of right to sleep, ff they could have been assured that the power would not be exercised. But public sentiment had changed ; nothing short of the repeal of the offensive Act would now preserve the union between the two countries. It was true, then, that Independence was reaUy contemplated. The connection was to be reduced to the tie of a common sovereign. Ireland was to be as Hanover, or the alternative was to be total separa tion. If total separation was not rather to foUow as the consequence of such a wild arrangement, a thou sand delicate problems would have to be considered and provided for. The Cabinet was stiU incredulous that Grattan could mean to precipitate a resolution of such pregnant quality as ff it were on a question of coramon politics. Lord Charlemont at any rate must retain his senses, and Fox wrote to him to beg at least for a short delay. A Viceroy was going over whose sentiments were identical vrith Lord Charlemont's. Why should there be cHfferences be tween them ? The interests of Ireland and England could not be divided. Nothing more could be needed than the establishment of Whig principles in every part of the empire.' Rockingham wrote in the same tone. He was unable to believe, he said, that an adjournment of the House of Commons for a fort night or three weeks would not be consented to. Portland must have time to consult the leading members of the Patriot party. " He could not think 1 " C. J. Fox to Lord Charlemont, April 4." — Life of Grattan, vol. ii. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 323 it good policy in the House of Commons of Ireland to carry a measure of so onerous a character -with pre cipitancy." ' EngHsh Whig statesmen never have understood Ireland, and perhaps never will understand it. In the Irish people there is one serious aspiration nursed in their heart of hearts and never parted with, and that is separation from England. Whatever the pre text for immediate agitation, this is what they mean, and every concession is valued only as a step towards the one great end. Nothing else -will satisfy them, for nothing else meets their wishes. But as their object is one which reason declares to be unattainable, so they never pursue it by reasonable means. They wish passionately ; they are unable to propose delib erately ; their poHtics are the blind movements of impulsive enthusiasm, and English Liberals treat them as ff they were serious, and play with them, and lead them to form hopes, which as soon as those hopes take their natural shape they are obHged to disappoint. Had Grattan's theory of an Irish constitution been formed deliberately he would have avoided the ap pearance of haste. The more gravely the step which he desired was taken, the more surely it would have been irrevocable. But he knew too well the mate rials of which his followers were composed. He knew that ff once the Duke of Portland was allowed to talk in private vrith them, the patriot phalanx would dis solve into air. Men like Charlemont, and Hussey Burgh, and Yelverton had not parted with their senses, and ff a responsible statesman laid before them the difficulties which they would have to encounter 1 " The Marquis of Rockingham to Lord Charlemont, April 9." — Ibid. 324 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlCh.u. before they had committed themselves, they would recoil from their own schemes. Grattan, therefore, refused to allow a single hour for consideration. Portland hastened over to be in time for the caU of the House on the 16th of April. He carried -with him discretionary powers unusually large.' He still hoped that he might find Grattan less unmanageable than Sheridan reported. If he was disappointed, if matters came to the worst, and if conditions were in sisted on to which England could not submit -with dignity, he was permitted, as a last alternative, to throw up the Government, and to leave the Irish Protestant and Catholic face to face with an inde pendence even more complete than they had desired. On landing, he again tried to obtain a few days' adjournment. " Heat and passion," he was obHged to report, " had taken stronger hold than persons in England could be aware of ; and it was the unan imous opinion of every gentleman "with whom he conversed that the attempt would be ineffectual." He did not see Grattan, but continued to communi cate with him through Charles Sheridan. The pa triot demands had taken fuller shape in the recess. Ireland now requbed, 1, an independent Legislature; 2, a modification of Poynings' Act to abolish the power of the English and Irish Council in altering Bills ; 3, a Biennial Mutiny Bill ; and one more point now first introduced, a surrender of the right of appeal to England from the Irish Courts of Law. Grattan inquired whether on these points the Duke had come prepared to satisfy Ireland's expectations. I "Among others, a warrant to the Postmaster-General to detain and open suspicious letters. — Duke of Portland to the Earl of Shelbume, April 15, 1782." — S. P. 0. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 325 The Duke had brought a formal message to the Irish Parliament that he was sent to consider their wishes ; it would be answered by an address ; and if the Duke would allow him to mention these four subjects, and inform the House that they would be conceded, Grat tan declared himseff ready to move the address in the place of the Declaration of Rights. The Duke re qubed a copy of what Grattan intended to say. " On persual of it," he said, " I found the points contended for marked with such harshness and insisted on with such resolute pertbiacity that I did not hesitate to re turn the paper." ' The Speaker and the Provost appeared to unite in condemning Grattan's language, and undertook them selves to draw an address not liable to objection, which might equaUy prevent " the Declaration of Rights." This, too, when it was produced, the Duke found himseff unable to sanction, for it demanded the repeal of the 6th of George I. " In this dilemma," he wrote, " I found myself within haff an hour of the meeting of Parliament with only a choice of difficulties. I was certain that no effectual, and doubtful ff any, resistance could be made to the Declaration which Mr. Grattan was to move. I was Ul-informed of the strength of the Ad ministration. I had to apprehend the effects of dis appointment upon the minds of those who supported Lord Carlisle on condition of being recompensed at the end of the session." ^ Thus circumstanced, Portland himseff sketched a neutral address, which he gave to Ponsonby and Con- 1 " Duke of Portland to Lord Shelbume, April 16. Most secret." — S. P.O. 2 Ibid. 326 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vl Ch. n. oily to be used at their discretion. He told the Coun cil plainly that the Cabinet would consent to no specific measures till better informed of the wishes of the people. He found to his additional mortification that Lord Carlisle's recall was most unpopular, that the House meditated a vote of thanks to him and to Eden, with a recommendation of the lattpr to the King for some mark of distinguished favor. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 327 SECTION VI. Now at length the fateful hour had come when the sun of Ireland's glory was to break in meridian splen dor through the clouds which had so long overshad owed her. For a month every Irish heart had beat high with hope. On the 16th of April Mr. Grattan was to move a Declaration of Rights, which recalled America's Declaration of Independence ; and the House of Commons, schooled by the Volunteers, and itself in a brief dream of patriotic intoxication, was by its vote to tell England and the world that Ire land's thraldom was ended. A grand review on the 17th was to celebrate the national triumph. The Volunteers had poured into Dublin from every part of Leinster. They were marching in unfform along the stieets and quays, with the harp banners flying, and bands playing the national airs. Cavalry were prancing in a splendor which told for many a year on the estates of the noble lords who were theb colo nels and patrons. Artillery, served out of the Gov ernment stores, with the Woolwich stamp on them, were booming at intervals defiance of the foreign enemy. Great Britain being the foreigner. The na tion was showing herseff gloriously in arms for the occasion when her chosen hero was to announce her regeneration to an admiring world. Amidst these scenes Portland drove from the Cas tle to the ParHament House. 328 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. ii. The message was read by Hely Hutchinson. The King, it briefly said, being concerned to find that there was discontent among his loyal subjects of Ire land, recommended the Lords and Commons to take it into immediate consideration. Ponsonby followed with Portland's address, which was a mere echo of the message. Then Grattan rose. He had been ill. He looked worn and anxious, but in his opening sentence he assumed that his cause was won. " I am now," he said, " to address a free people. Ages have passed away, and this is the first moment in which you could be distinguished by that appella tion. I have spoken on the subject of your liberty so often that I have nothing to add, and have only to ad mire by what heaven-directed steps you have pro ceeded until the whole faculty of the nation is braced up to the act of her own deliverance. I found Ire land on her knees. I watched over her -with an eternal solicitude. I have traced her progress from injuries to arras, and from arms to liberty. Spirit of Swift, spirit of Molyneux, your genius has prevailed. Ireland is now a nation. In that new character I hail her, and bowing to her august presence I say, Esto Perpetua." Into what wild tumult of applause floors and gal leries burst at hearing these words it is needless to tell. Neither is it needed to follow further the stream of eloquence which has passed into the standard manuals of oratory araong the schoolbooks of two hemispheres. The brilliance of oratory is at aU times and from the very nature of the art in the inverse ratio of the truth contained in it ; and as there never was a more shining speech deUvered in the EngHsh 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 329 language, so never was there speech with less sub stance in it which would bear the test of time. Nations are not born on the floors of debating socie ties, nor on the parade-ground of volunteers. Free dom must be won on the battle-fleld or it is perisha ble as the breath that boasts of it. In truth and fact, Ireland, bound to England by situation, and inhabited by a people who would howl for liberty but never fight for it, had snatched from the embarrassments of her neighbor what she could neither keep nor use worthily while it was hers ; and this glorious outburst of Grattan's is the sharpest satire on the race whom he was flattering with his vain bombast. But the passing moment was his own. The Amer ican wound was unhealed. There had been enough of bloodshed, enough of coercion, coercion especiaUy of Ireland, which in her depression had been so scan dalously mishandled. England by injustice had trained the Irish into anarchy. Whether they would make better laws for themselves, and obey them, was an experiment at least worth the trying.' The rhetorical part of the performance being over, Mr. Grattan moved an amendment to the address to assure the King of the loyalty of the Irish, but to teU I " Whether Ireland was prepared to resist bj' force if Grattan's propo sitions had been rejected is a point on which there were differences of opinion. Grattan himself said. Yes. His friend, Mr. Day, says for him, Mr. Grattan was resolved to assist, even by arms, if driven to it, the liber ties of Ireland." —Life of Grattan, vol. ii. p. 272. "Lord Clare says. No, and implies that the Duke of Portland was deceived by idle bravado. 'I can assert with perfect confidence,' Clare said, in his speech on the Union, ' that no gentleman of Ireland would at that day have drawn his sword against Great Britain, and it certainly was the duty of the King's servants, in whom his representative reposed a confidence, to have ex plained this to the Duke.' " 330 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vl Ch.il him at the same time that " Ireland was a distinct kingdom with a separate Parliament, and that this Parliament alone had a right to pass laws for her." " In the maintenance of that right the liberties of Irishmen consisted, and they would only yield it with their Hves." The points were then rehearsed which England was required to concede, and the demonstra tion over, the House then consented to be adjourned while reference was made to the Cabinet. Irish vanity had been gratified, and Portland thought it possible that after the display some cooler thought might follow. He held private conferences with hopeful members. He talked of negotiation. If Ireland were to receive such large concessions she must give something in return, and he hinted at a land-tax. Language of this kind was premature. For the moraent the whole nation was delirious. Grattan desired a friend in London to tell Lord Shel burne that negotiation was impossible. Ireland de manded her rights, and did not mean to pay for them. The alternative he scarcely condescended to veil. " If our requests are refused," he said, " we retire within ourselves, preserring our allegiance, but not executing English laws or English judgments. We consume our own manufactures and keep on terms of amity with England, but with that diffidence which must exist if she is so infatuated as to take away our Hb erty." 1 To show the Duke the uselessness of intrigue, one of the earliest acts of the House of Commons on its reassembling was to pass a vote of thanks to Lord Carlisle, which he had deprecated as an insult to him seff. " It is no longer," Portland wrote to Shelburne 1 "H. Grattan to Mr. Day, April 22, 1782." — ii/e of Grattan, vol. ii. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 331 on the 26th of April,' " the Parliament of Ireland that is to be managed or attended to, it is the whole of this countiy. It is the Church, the law, the army (I fear when I consider how it is composed), the merchant, the tradesman, the manufacturer, the farmer, the laborer, the CathoHc, the Dissenter, the Protestant. All sects, all sorts and descriptions of men, unanimously call on Great Britian for a full and unequivocal satisfaction. They know and feel their strength. They know it is not in your power to send over such a force as will compel them to relinquish their claims ; and haring so recent an example of the fatal consequences of coercive measures they are in no fear that Great Britain will atterapt a second experi ment. For myseff, during the preservation of the remains of the British Empire, my opinion is that you should concede to this country the full enjoyment of a free and independent Legislature, but that a line should be drawn to prevent their interference in mat ters of state and external commerce. Modify Poyn ings' Act for them. The abuse of it by the Privy Council of this kingdom has been singularly offensive. As to the judicature, I know not what to advise. As I undertook this arduous employment with hopes which I had soon the mortification to be obliged to relinquish, but with views of which I shall never lose sight, I think it my duty to state shortly what I con ceive wiU be the consequences of rejecting or delaying to satisfy the wishes of this country. For that a few words will suffice. In either case there would be an end of all government." The Duke of Portland, in his inexperience of Ire land, believed all that was said to him. Shelburne I S. p. 0. — " Most secret and confidential." 332 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vlch.il understood his countrymen better, and was more skeptical. " In all such contentions," he replied, " men asked for more at the beginning than they expected to get. It was possible the Irish Parliament would recede in some degree from its extreme demands." If this was not so, and " if the ties which had hitherto sub sisted between the two countries were to be loosened or cut asunder," he inquired, " what plan had been thought of to preserve the remaining connection ; " " how confusion was to be prevented from the sep arate action of Parliament, with distinct and equal powers -without any operating centre ? " ' England was not required to answer by return of mail to questions affecting the integrity of the em pire. Time was allowed her to consider, and Port land meanwhile was continuing to feel his way under the surface, and beginning to find men ready to Hsten to him. He mentioned three or four persons who had been reraoved from the Privy Council for oppos ing the Government. He had ascertained, he said, that they could be depended on for the future, and he wished to replace these. It is instructive to find that Mr. Flood was one of them. Stung by his want of success among his old friends. Flood had given signs that he was once more marketable. The Viceroy ad mitted, however, that he was less certain of him than of the others. " I must ask a discretionary power," he wrote, " in carrying into effect the commands I solicit respecting IVIr. Flood. I would not restore him unless I was persuaded he would feel a just sense of the King's goodness to him." These gentlemen 1 " Lord Shelburne to the Duke of Portland, April 29. Secret." — S. P. 0. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 333 were not aU. The Lords and Commons recovering their presence of mind began to bid for favor again ¦with something like the old eagerness. Ireland was not yet independent, and while they had still some thing to give which England wanted they made the most of the opportunity. So pressing were they and so barefaced that, glad as he was to gain support, he could not quite restrain a solemn astonishment. "If his majesty's magnanimity and HberaHty," he said, " should influence the ParHament of Great Brit ain to concede with grace the material point, I be heve that the royal favor might be dispensed in this kingdom -with a more sparing and economical hand, and that the honor of serving the Crown would take precedence of the emoluments to which I fear the at tention of the King's servants in this kingdom has been of late too much directed." ' Not yet did Portland understand Ireland. He was to discover that so far from a loftier spirit being gen erated by an emancipated constitution, the shrewd Irish politicians most valued the rights on which they were insisting, as a lever by which to extort a larger price for their services. May came and England was still pausing on her reply. On the 4th, the Irish Parliament again ad journed for three weeks, and the Duke, presuming on Grattan's patience, tried to persuade him to be con tent with some " middle term," and, perhaps, refer matters to a commission. Assuming that Portland was acting under directions from the Cabinet, and possibly afraid that he might be too successful, Grat tan wrote directly to Fox to beg him not to delude I " To Lord Shelbume, private and confidential, April 21, 1782. " — S. P. 0. 334 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. n. himseff. Every point must be yielded. He and his friends had pledged theb Hves and fortunes, and could not and would not give way. " My country," he said haughtily, " must have been much misunderstood ff it is thought she has asked for a thing which she cannot give herself. I agree with you in wishing for a settle ment, but nothing less than what has been stated will satisfy Ireland. There must be no foreign legislation, no foreign judicature, no legislative council, no ne gotiation, no commissioners."' To the Viceroy, too, Grattan made it equally plain that " middle terms" need not be thought of. " There is still an appearance of Government," the Duke reported to Fox, on the 28th of April, " but if you delay or refuse to be liberal. Government can not exist here in its present form, and the sooner you recall your lieutenant and renounce all claim to this country the better." ^ Still raore eraphatically, and showing how clearly the alternative was before his own mind, and had been considered in the Cabinet before he left England, he -wrote on the 6th of May to Lord Shelburne : — " Every day's experience conrinces me not only of the impossibility of prevailing on this country to re cede from any one of the claims set forth in the ad dresses, but of the danger of new ones being started. The hope I expressed of reserving the final judicature, if not totaUy, at least by retaining a -writ of error, no longer exists." "It is in vain to argue on the disad vantages which I conceive the alteration of the Act of Henry VII.^ will produce in this country. The 1 " Grattan to Fox, May 6, 1782." —Life of Grattan, vol. ii. 2 " The Duke of Portland to Fox, April 28, 1782." —Life of Grattan, vol. ii. 3 Poynings' Act. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 335 -wishes of the people are fixed ; and reasoning among, ourselves as to what is for or against their interests, is as much too late as it has been fruitless and delusive in respect to other countries. I consider the question is carried. I shall proceed, therefore, to state the plan which I hope might lay the foundation for new relations and permanent friendship. I recommend the positive assurance to be given them of the altera tion of the Mutiny Bill, the modification of Poynings' Act, the repeal of the 6th of George I., writs of error to be no longer issued at our Court of King's Bench. England in return must insist on " a settlement of the precise limits of independence which is required," the consideration which should be given for the protec tion expended, and the share which Ireland must con tribute to the support of the empire. The regulation of tiade would very properly make a part of a treaty, and the dissatisfaction expressed by many commercial persons at the delusive advantages of free trade would be a fit subject for discussion." " In my apprehen sion," Portland went on, " proposals such as I have stated cannot be resisted in ParHament with any effect. The refusal to accede to them, or to appoint Commissioners for a final adjustment on the ground of theb o-wn address, when they are assured that per sons are properly authorized for that purpose, would le such an indication of sinister designs as would warrant your direction to me to throw up the Govern ment and leave them to that fate which their folly and treachery should deserve. If such should be the senti ments of the King's servants, after using every en deavor to bring them to a sense of theb condition, and of the consequences of such a refusal, I should hesitate as Httle to order the yacht and leave them to 336 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. ii. be the victims of their own insanity, as I should say that it would be useless to attempt to coerce them, and that the country on such terms would not be worth possessing." " I feel the strongest and most poignant reluctance in being obliged to recommend the mode of relation which I have taken the liberty to suggest. I see no other resource, for I am convinced that the spirit of this country is raised so high, that she would expose herself to any hazard rather than reHnquish or retract any of the claims she has insisted on." " It is my duty further to state to your lordship that unless it is determined that the knot which binds the two countries should be severed forever, it is necessary I should be authorized as soon as possible to assure the leaders of the Opposition of the intention of the English Ad ministration to exert their influence in convincing the ParHament of Great Britain of the propriety of con ceding the points required by the Irish Parliament, for -without assurance it is vain to ask theb assistance in any shape whatever." ' Could England have anticipated at this moment the splendid triumphs of her arms -with which the war which lost her America was about, not-withstand ing, to be closed, the Cabinet might, -perhaps, have decided to read Ireland the lesson which she so much needed, and to leave her, as Portland suggested, to be " the victim of her o-wn insanity." The United States were free, but the alHed powers were to gain little by haring espoused their quarrel. At the be ginning of the year no light had yet broken on the 1 "The Duke of Portland to Lord Shelburne. Secret. May 6." Abridged. I quote from the original letters of the Duke of Portland in the State Paper Office. Extracts from them were laid by Mr. Pitt before Parliament during the debates on the Union. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 337 gloomy prospect. An expedition against the Dutch at the Cape had failed. Minorca, after a defence only less gallant than Elliott's, had fallen on the 5th of February. Gibraltar held out, but the fate of Minorca was ominous that Gibraltar, too, might not resist forever. De Grasse had returned, after Corn- walHs's surrender, to the West Indies with the united fleets of France and Spain, and one after another the Leeward Islands had surrendered to their overwhelm ing strength. Jamaica's turn was next to follow. Jamaica, however, was not to be lost without an effort to save it, and Sb George Rodney returned to the West India station vrith all the force which Eng land could supply. With instinctive Irish dislike of distinguished Englishmen Burke had depreciated Rodney's ability, and on the change of ministry an Admiralty order had been issued for his recall. Be fore the messenger could sail vrith it the work had been gloriously finished. Rodney came up with De Grasse on the evening of the 11th of April, forced him into action in the morning, and before nightfall the enormous armament was taken, sunk, or scat tered. De Grasse himseff was a prisoner, Jamaica was saved, and France was paid home for her share in the capitulation of Yorktown. Beaten from the West Indies the French and Spaniards turned aU their efforts on Gibraltar. Forty thousand men were coUected for a land attack. The ruined trenches were repaired and remounted with 170 guns. The Due de Crillon, the conqueror of Minorca, took the command. The Comte d'Artois and the Due de Bourbon came to be present in per son at the crowning humiliation which was to fall on the ancient enemy. Enormous floating batteries, VOL. II. 22 338 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlch. u. bomb proof against such guns as had been hitherto in use, thronged with men and armed with the largest cannon which skiU could construct, were anchored under the batteries, with the combined fleets lying behind to support them. On the morning of the 13 th of September, the most terrible bombardment . ever borne by a single fortress was opened by sea and land on Elliott and his five thousand EngHsh. The rigid blockade now long unrelieved had reduced them to rice and bread, and to haff rations of those. The " roast potatoes " of Gibraltar were the red-hot shot with which Elliot replied to the hail of sheU which rained upon him. AU the forenoon the balls dropped hissing into the sea from off the impene trable armor of the floating platforms. As the sun began to slope to the west light columns of smoke were seen ascending from them, first here, then there, and then all along the line. Through telescopes the crews were observed leaving their guns and rushing to and fro with water-buckets, and stiU the smoke gained upon them, and through the smoke, clearer and brighter as daylight waned, came swirling tongues of flame. The doomed batteries lay incapable of motion, and fiercer yet flew the red-hot shot from the casemates upon them till they became a roaring bank of fire floating on the sea. No answering shell came any longer from their portholes. The seamen and artillerymen were seen leaping into the water to escape the flames, and struggling back into the flames to escape the water ; while at awful intervals maga zine after magazine exploded, and in a glare of lurid splendor, blazing timbers and torn limbs of men were shot as from a volcano into the sulphur loaded air. Boats went out frora the quay and saved aU that 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 339 could be found alive. The ships of the besiegers lay paralyzed by the appalling ruin, and after that awful night no raore attempts were made to drive the Eng lish from the rock which they had so magnificently defended. A few days later Lord Howe came with a fleet from England. The French and Spanish squadron, though superior in numbers, dared not face him, and slunk away into their o-wn harbors. The war was ended. The American colonies were lost ; but Great Britain still held fast grasped the sceptre which the greatest powers in Europe had in vain sought to tear from her, and sat down vrith the bloody laurels about her brow stiU sovereign of the seas. At such a moment she could have afforded with neither fear nor shame to have granted to Ireland the independence which Grattan threatened that if un- conceded Ireland would take for herseff. No foreign power could have penetrated the floating patrol "with which England could have surrounded her shores, and shut her up within her own limits. Protestant and Catholic, Dissenter and Churchman, Anglo-Irish man and Celt, would have enjoyed to the full the freedom for which they were so clamorous. A few . years of liberty on those terms would probably have satisfied Grattan. The mutinous colony would have discovered the meaning of the " Nationality " which they were so eager to revive, and such of the popu lation of both races as survived when another Mac Morrough re-invited England's interference, would have been contented to remain for the future mem bers of the British Empire on less uneasy terms. Circumstances forbade the experiment. The vic tory came too late, and Portland had to yield uncon- 340 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. il ditionally. On the 17th of May, before the news arrived of Rodney's victory. Lord Shelburne and Fox invited the two Houses of the British Parlia ment to do what Eden had been rebuked for propos ing a month before, and repeal the statute of George I. Fox spoke frankly, and, in the main, with truth. He admitted that Ireland had a right to distrust Brit- lish legislation " because it had hitherto been em ployed only to oppress and distress her." Had she never felt the EngHsh power over her as " a curse" she would never have complained of it. Fatally for the interests of both countries, England had used its strength to establish an impolitic monopoly in trade to enrich one at the expense of the other. So lately as but four years since, when the Irish asked to have their rights restored -to them. Parliament refused to listen. Demands were disregarded which were no less modest than just. The influence of ministers was exerted against them, perhaps for the purpose of preserving a few votes on other occasions, and the rights and distresses of Ireland were forgotten. Cir^ cumstances had changed. The Irish were now am bitious of larger concessions, and he advised that they should be granted. It was not that he was afraid^ but he would rather, he said, see Ireland totaUy sepa- _ rated than kept in obedience by force. -He undertook for them, like many an eager statesman before and since, that if they had what they now asked, " they would be attached to England even to bigotry." In neither House was there any opposition. The necessary measures could not be dispatched on the instant, but resolutions which would be received as binding were passed unanimously, and were, for warded at once by Lord Shelburne to Portland. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 341 The repeal of the Act of George I., Shelburne said, would remove what the Irish termed the principal cause of their discontent. The Writ of Error would be given up also ff they persisted in demanding it. Irish Bills should be no longer altered or suppressed in Council. The Mutiny Bill should be made bien nial, and no conditions should be insisted on. The Irish would be expected to make some suitable return, but what the return was to be should be left to theb honor, good faith, and generosity. On one point only, to prevent future differences, there must be a distinct understanding. The Cabinet must know what powers were to be reserved to the Crown.' AU was now over. The Irish Parliament came together again after the three weeks' adjournment,^ to hear from the Viceroy's lips that England had given way on the four points, and that they had obtained theb desire. The announcement was conveyed with the more dignity that it was accompanied with the accounts which had now come in from the West Indies. In the ecstacy of joy into which Ireland precipitated herself, it seemed as if Fox's anticipations were really to be fuffiUed. Sir Lucius O'Brien exclaimed that the strength of three millions of people was added to the British standard. Cordial now, as before he had been deterrained, Grattan grasped England's hand as of a recovered friend. Confidence in Ireland's honor should never be placed in vain. " We were pledged to recover our rights," he said. " We are now pledged to Great Britain, which, by acceding to our claims, has put an end to all further questions." 1 " Shelburne to Portland, May 18, 1782." —S. P. 0. 2 May 27. 342 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. ii. England's -rictories were now Ireland's. Ireland should have a share in all her future glories. Mr. Grattan concluded by moving for a grant, which was conceded instantly, of a hundred thousand pounds and twenty thousand seamen as a contribution to the navy of Great Britain. When the exultation over the political triumph was exhausted, the next thought was of the hero by whom it had been won. Mr. Bagenal, the same who fought De Blaquiere, moved for a comraittee to pur chase an estate and build a suitable mansion for Ire land's illustrious benefactor, Henry Grattan. " Far be it from me," said the enthusiastic gentle man, " to compare even the services of a Marlborough to those for which we stand indebted. We have no deductions to make from our gratitude. Without superstition, men may well record him among the most prosperous interpositions of Heaven." ' Grattan rose to protest, but his voice was dro-wned in shouts of " Adjourn." A day was appointed for a general thanksgiving. An address of gratitude was voted to the Crown, and addresses of thanks and congratulations to Portland and to Rodney. But the first thought of every one was, " What should a generous country do for Grattan?" The Duke was as bitter at the meditated profusion as if the revenue was a fund sacred to Parliamentary corruption. "• Such is the inattention to the distressed circum stances of the country," he said, " that some manage ment was necessary to keep this idea within bounds. I tried, but ineffectually, to have confined them to a recommendation of Mr. Grattan to the favor of the Crown, or at least to have got the quantum of reward 1 Irish Debates, May 27, 1782. 1782.]. The Constitution of 1782. 343 left to his majesty. I next endeavored for their own sakes to prevail on them to adopt the mode of an nuity to Mr. Grattan and his heirs, and on its being represented that a house was necessary as well as an income, I expressed my readiness to request his majesty to permit the Lodge lately contracted for in the Phoenix Park for the summer residence of the Lord-Lieutenant to be settled on Mr. Grattan. For this I was the more anxious as, . in addition to the very extravagant price which the public have agreed to pay for it, I am persuaded that it will require at least 10,000Z. more to make it fit for the reception of the chief governor. No argument, however, would avail, and nothing would have prevented the vote in favor of Mr. Grattan, amounting to as large a sum as, or possibly exceeding, that given towards raising seamen (100,000L) but the interposition and firmness of Mr. Grattan's own particular friends, who assured the House Mr. Grattan would certainly refuse so glaring a mark of profusion." ' Fifty thousand pounds was the sum at last agreed on, with a further grant for a house, many members, however, still raising their voices in protest. Mr. Ogle, of Wexford, hoped that Ireland was not imitat- bg Athens, which rewarded Miltiades with a picture. The Provost, flying into rhetoric in his old days, said that Chatham had received four thousand a year for his own life and his son's, and " great as were the abilities of Chatham he was less deserving than the object of the present motion." Grattan himself lent no countenance to this idle adulation. He accepted his 50,000Z. as a retaining fee, and declared that thenceforth his services were 1 " The Duke of Portland to Lord Shelbume, June 6, 1782." — S. P. 0. 344 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. ii. mortgaged to Ireland. He would accept no office and enter into no engagement which might embar rass him in his duty to his country. Nothing now remained but to celebrate in some fltting way the birthday of Irish nationaHty. Un happily, as an Irish patriotic -writer exclaims on the occasion, " it was written in the book of fate that the felicity of Ireland should be short-lived." Grattan had been modest in this -rictory, however unscrupu lous the means by which he obtained it ; and however worthless it was ultimately to prove, in the eyes of the Irish nation it was of inflnite value. Had he con sented to a compromise he could not have named a reward too high for Rockingham and Portland to have thrust upon him. Even patriots cannot subsist on ab, and in allowing a modest provision to be settled upon him, Mr. Grattan was rather conferring an honor than receiving a favor. So every rational person must have regarded the grant of the Parliament, but there were members of the House of Commons who were not rational. Was Grattan to have a splendid reward, and was the antagonist of Lord Townshend, who had fought for Ireland when Grattan was a child, was Henry Flood, the veteran warrior of Hberty, to have nothing ? Mr. Montgomery, of Donegal, rose to remind the House " of the best, the most able, the most indefatigable, the most sincere man that had ever sacrificed private interest to the advantage of his country. Mr. Flood had relinquished the most lucra tive office in the State rather than desert the constitu tion of Ireland." He moved an address to the King, to restore Flood to the Vice-Treasurership. " He would not move," he said, " for a pecuniary reward, as he knew the right hon. gentleman was above re ceiving an alms from his country." 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 345 The advocacy of Flood did not require an insult to Grattan, an insult the more uncalled for as Grattan was at once poor and profusely generous, and Flood had a large private fortune. The House listened with surprise and annoyance. Colonel Fitzpatrick, the Secretary, seeing how bad an effect Montgom ery had produced, replied coldly that the Vice-Treas urership was no longer vacant. Montgomery did not improve his friend's chances by his rejoinder. " He had indeed heard," he said, " that the place had been bestowed on a certain insignificant and Contemptible Sir George Yonge, whose ill-offices to Ireland might possibly at some time be properly rewarded," but at present Sir George Yonge might be required to give way. Fitzpatrick placed himself in the hands of the House. If the House pleased to vote an address to remove Sir George Yonge in Mr. Flood's favor, he said he could make no objection. But now up started Sir George Yonge's friends, among them Sir Henry Cavendish, a noted fire-eater, as the reader will remember. " The charges against that gentleman," Sir Henry said, " he would prove false, false, false, absolutely false verbatim et lit eratim." Following so immediately on the grand movement which was to give Ireland a renewal of life, this petty outburst of feeling was unlucky and unpromising. What followed was very much worse. Had Flood's pretensions been modestly put forward, the House would very likely have supported them. Introduced as they had been introduced by Montgomery, his claims were ignored and thrust aside. Those who had once hung upon his lips sHghted him. He had 346 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. n. lost the office for which he was so anxious. His ad vances to Portland had not recovered for him his seat in the Council, and he was chUdishly disap pointed. With a transparent jealousy he looked for flaws in Grattan's workmanship. He discovered that after all both Grattan and the House of Commons were the dupes of English cunning, and if within the walls of the House he counted but few followers, he found credulous listeners in the Volunteers and the mob, whose suspicions were ready to kindle at every word uttered against the hereditary oppressors. At Ireland's desire England had repealed the 6th of George I. Mr. Flood insisted that the repeal was nothing, because what England surrendered England might resume. He required, and the Volunteers echoed his demand, that the British Parliament should pass a special Act renouncing forever all pretence of legislating for Ireland. It was obvious folly, for one Parliament could not bind its successor. An Act which one Parliament passed another might re peal. Nay, the very appeal to Britain to renounce a right implied that it at present existed. " If the security which the honorable gentleman desires be a British statute," said Grattan, " I re ject it. I would reject Magna Charta under a Brit ish statute. We have not come to England for a charter but with a charter, and we have asked her to cancel all her declarations made in opposition to it. This is the true idea of the situation of Ire land. If we go on with a spirit of insatiety, sup posing ideal dangers, we may find food for perpetual discontent." Grattan, too, was hereafter to find food for dis content on equally imaginary grounds, but compared 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 347 with Flood he was sane. The sense and nonsense of the House of Commons alike condemned an absurd outburst, which was so plainly the creation of spleen and envy. The 6th of George I., said Yelverton, asserts the power of the British Legislature to bind Ireland. The repeal of the law is a renunciation as plain as words can make it. " Our asking a renunciation," said Bagenal, with an Ulustration too familiar to Irish experience, " would be the re"rival of the claim. A woman is violated. A man usurps the powers of a husband, gives out she is his wife, lavishes her fortune upon prostitutes, at last abandons her. Is it prudent of that woman to sue for a divorce ? Might not such a suit be pleaded in proof of a claim of which no other e-ridence can be produced ? " Nothing satisfied Flood. He replied with a tem pest of words which raged for hours and ended in a shriek. " Was the voice -with which I utter this," he said, " the last effort of expiring nature ; was the accent which conveys it to you the breath which was to waft me to that grave to which we all tend, and to which my footsteps rapidly accelerate, I would go on ; I would make my exit by a loud demand of your rights." Oratory is the saddest of efforts when the audience is out of sympathy with the speaker. The House knew Flood and knew his motives. They would not have the renunciation in any form. Leave was asked to bring in a Bill declaring the sole and exclusive right of the Irish ParHament to make laws in all cases whatever, internal or external, for the kingdom 348 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. ii of Ireland. Such a Bill, had it been passed, would have given Ireland separate foreign relations, and a complete separate code of commercial policy. The House rejected it without a division. But the House stultified itseff immediately after by resolring that leave had been refused because the exclusive right of legislation in the Irish Parliament in all cases, in ternal and external, had been already asserted by Ire land and fully, irrevocably, and finally acknowledged by England."' They had rushed in the wild haste of enthusiasm into what they called constitutional Hberty ; and ere it was a month old, they were quarrelling over its limits, and were unable to say clearly what rights they had gained, or in what their liberty consisted. In the midst of their differences, however, they had not neglected important work, and many meas ures — some fooHsh, sorae excellent, and too long delayed — were swept through by the impetuous torrent of this memorable session. Poynings' Act was shaken off. Heads of intended Bills were no longer submitted to the Privy Councils of England and Ireland to be amended or approved before they could take the form of laws, and as such be voted upon. The Irish ParHament drew its Bills, like the English Parliament, for the Crown to accept or reject. The process was simplified. A power, which had been abused, was abolished ; but a precaution, which for 300 years had prevented a direct collision between the Le^latures of the two countries, no longer ex isted. The Writs of Error, by which disputed causes might be transferred by 'appeal from the Irish to the EngHsh courts of law, ceased to be issued. The Irish 1 Irish Debates, June 19, 1782. Commons' Journals, Ibid. 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 349 House of Peers was made the final court of appeal in Irish cases, with a result which will be apparent on the first important question which came before the jurisdiction of that tribunal. The two Catholic Re hef BiUs, introduced by Mr. Gardiner, were carried Catholics might now purchase freeholds like other subjects, open schools, and educate their children when and how they pleased. Their stables were no longer open to inspection, or theb horses above the value of five pounds liable to be seized by the Gov ernment, or taken from them by informers.' A cheap and inonerous system of registration was adopted for the CathoHc priests ; and the Acts which in any shape interfered with the freedom of religious worship were repealed.^ The Habeas Corpus Act, so long withheld, was conceded. The tenure of the Irish judges was placed at last on the EngHsh level. Pres byterian marriages, so long and so bitterly disputed by the bishops, were made valid in law. The Per petual Mutiny Act, fought over with so much obsti nacy, became biennial, and the Irish Parliament ac- qubed constitutional control over the Irish military establishments. Now, at last, aU obstacles to the Irish miUennium were gone ; every measure had been granted which the people had demanded as necessary to their hap piness. The new era might now begin, and the business of the year was wound up by an address of congratulation to the Duke of Portland, drawn by Grattan himself. " We have seen," so the address said, " the judges I The horses of Mr. Wyse were once taken from him under the Penal Act, from a plea of some anticipated disturbance. Wyse the next day, like another Jason, drove his carriage into Waterford with four bulls. 2 21 & 22 George III. c. 24. s. 62. Irish stotutes. 350 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. il rendered independent of the Cro-wn ; the mutiny law abridged in duration ; the jurisdiction of the heredit ary judges of the land restored ; the ricious mode of passing laws in this land reformed ; the sole and ex clusive right of legislation, external as well as internal, in the Irish Parliament firmly asserted on the part of Ireland and unequivocally acknowledged on the part of Great Britaui. We have seen this great national arrangement established on a basis which secures the tranquillity of Ireland, and unites the affections as well as the interests of both kingdoms. The name of Bentinck will remain engraved on our hearts ; and whenever your Grace shall withdraw from the admin istration of the affairs of this country, you will be attended, not by forced and jaded benedictions, but by the manly and dignified love of a free people." A last effort was made by Flood to disturb the general harmony. He moved an amendment, that England's concessions were still insufficient, for the EngHsh ParHament had still power to revoke them ; and " that the people of Ireland were growing raore and more of that opinion." It was perfectly true, and the difficulty rose from the nature of the case, which nothing which Mr. Flood might do could remedy. So long as England was the stronger country, prudence and respect for her engagements could alone prevent her frora asserting her superior ity. The dead could not bind the Hving, and each generation would have its own view of its obHgations. It will be seen that the Parliament of Great Britain humored afterwards the nervous sensitiveness of Ire land so far as to paint the lily, and to confirm its acts by further words of assurance ; but no addi tional promises could add strength to the engagements 1782.] The Constitution of 1782. 351 to which the honor of the existing representation was pledged already. The Irish Parliament refused for the present to allow Mr. Flood to alarm it. His amendment was rejected. His atterapt to supplant Grattan in the confidence of the House of Coramons by affectation of superior discernment was a decisive failure ; and unable to endure the spectacle of his rival's triumph, and of the national exultation, which he had not been the instrument of producing, he left the country and went to England. " His objects," wrote Portland, " are to me, and I believe to every one else, a perfect secret. Although his character is so well known, I think it roy duty to apprise the Cabinet of his arrival, and to give it, as my opinion, that his ambition is so immeasurable that no dependence can be placed upon any engage ments which he may be induced to forra " ' Adoring friends took charge of his reputation in his absence. Beside the Duke's disparaging com ments may be placed a sketch of Flood presented to an ungrateful House of Commons by Martin, the member for James Town. "Mr. Flood is the greatest character tliat has ever adorned this country ; a character noti-to be profaned by the tongue of impious men ; wheee name will die only when our constitution expires, whose transcend ent abilities will be handed do-wn to posterity while the history of this planet shall be read ; the present adoration of this age, whose death will hereafter be lamented as the bitterest calamity with which an angry heaven has visited this island, whose transcend ent merit is such that its keeps the merit of every other man at an awful and respectful distance, whose 1 "Duke of Portland to Secretary Townshend, August 9." — S. P. O. 352 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vi. Ch. n. abiHties are of such a godlike nature, that I protest, ff ever I shall stand forward, the advocate of the pres ent era, I shall do it by telling my son, if God shaU ever bless me -with a child, that the period in which I existed was preferable to that in which he may Hve, because I lived in the same era and had the honor to be born in the same country with that great man." ' Mr. Flood had still nine years of public life before him, in which to show whether his adrabers or his detractors had formed the clearer estimate of his char acter. Meantime a chapter of Irish history had been closed, a fresh page turned, and the floor swept clean for the opening of a new era. In July Lord Rock ingham died. Fox and his immediate followers re tired from the Cabinet ; and Shelburne became Prime Minister, with WUliam Pitt for ChanceUor of the Exchequer. The Duke of Portland having done his work was glad to leave the scene of his eventful la bors, while the halcyon days of hope were stiU un clouded ; and Lord Temple, who had married the heiress of the Nugents, and was then the representa tive of a great Irish house, was chosen for the first Viceroy of the emancipated Ireland.^ 1 Irish Debates, 1782. 1782.] The Convention. 353 BOOK VIL CHAPTER I. THE CONVENTION. SECTION I. Me. Geattan had created a nation, but from the haste with which ^the infant had been brought to birth its Hmbs were half formed, and its constitution criti cal. The Catholics recovered their civil rights, but Ireland was still politically Protestant. The connec tion with England was reduced to the tie of the com mon sovereign. The. Irish ParHament claimed an in dependent power of legislation, external as well as internal. Was Ireland to have a separate foreign policy,' her own Ministers at foreign courts, her own consuls at the ports where she sold her merchandise ? Was she to create a navy of her own to defend her interests on the high seas? Was she to maintain cruisers to protect her coasts from smugglers ? Or if she was still to depend on the British navy, was she to contribute a specified sum to the support of it, ^ " The Irish Parliament was, in fact, ambitious of having a voice in matters of peace or war, and hinted as much at the time when peace was made. " If," Lord North properly replied, " the King was to take the advice of the Irish Parliament in matters relating to war and peace, the utmost confusion must be the consequence." — Lord North to the Earl of Northington, November 3, 1783." — S. P. 0. VOL. II. 23 354 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. i. or was she to be left always, as in the late session, to " her own generosity ? " Her incipient manufactures were said to require protection. Was she to be al lowed to lay prohibitive duties on competing English goods, and if so, was England to be bound under the terms of the Hnen compact to exclude the Hnens of Russia and Gerraany from her markets, while she admitted the produce of the Irish looms duty-free? Again, was Ireland to have a share in the close trade of Great Britain with her colonies, while she refused Great Britain a voice in the terms on which the trade was to be carried on ? These points and raany others lay within the legislative limits which had been chal lenged by the Irish patriots. The Constitution of 1782 would have possessed more vitality if the period of gestation had been prolonged till the statesmen of both countries had considered and provided for them. But the sanguine. Irish temperament was impatient of delay. The opportunity was seized when patriotism was at fever heat. The favorable moment, once lost, might never have returned. Nor was it only on the side of the relations with England that difficulties threatened to arise. The Dungannon resolutions had declared that the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland had alone a right to pass laws which Irishmen were bound to obey. Yet beside King, Lords, and Commons there existed still a rival authority, created by the Irish people them selves, whose function was to keep Parliament to its work. In the Phoenix Park were seen daily exercis ing the ArtiUei-y companies of an army which, being the representative of the national strength of Ireland, was, in its own opinion, the guardian of her Hberties, the ultimate expression of the national mind, and only responsible to itself. 1782.] The Convention. 355 With the peace the excuse had ceased for the ex istence of the Volunteers. But the Volunteers showed no disposition to disband. When the session of 1782 ended, the number on the rolls was 130,000. There were, perhaps, 50,000 -with the colors. The Volun teer army in theory was purely Protestant. Catholics were still forbidden to possess arms. But the Catho- Kcs had subscribed liberally, and in the general en thusiasm the opinions of the rank and file had not been looked into too curiously. Thus this singular body, which in the judgment of Irishmen was the wonder of mankind, and had raised their country to a level -with great military powers of Europe, had become what the Parliament was not — a substan tially national institution, and possessed and preserved alone the confidence of the people. The composition of the force deserves more partic ular notice. It had been raised by private subscrip tion, or at the expense of enthusiastic individuals. There was no system of general finance ; there were no stores, no arsenal, no commissariat. In the towns there were lawyers' corps, doctors' corps, shopkeepers' corps, merchants' corps, artisan corps. The cavaby companies were mounted, officered, and accoutred by the country gentlemen from their household servants, farm servants, and tenants, and the cost was provided by mortgages on their lands. It was said in Ireland that when the heir of an estate came of age money was raised to pay off incumbrances. The money was had and was spent, but from some caqse the incum brances remained. Light-hearted, extravagant, all liv ing beyond their means, the gentlemen of Ireland had " fewer cares than any people in the world." "Debt," saysSb Jonah Barrington, " gave new zest to the dis- 356 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vilch. l sipation which created it." Adored by their depend ents, so long as they practised no economy and did not vex them with improvements or increase of rents, they lived from hand to mouth, taking no thought for the morrow ; while the humblest peasant on the estate knew no law but the master's word, and was ready to defy in his name all the constables and baiHffs of the land. Out of such a following a Volunteer regiment was easily formed. A mortgage, more or less, mat tered little, and with the prospect of the boundless wealth wliich was to flow into Ireland with the at tainment of liberty, was regarded as a promising investment. Each gentleman vied vrith his neigh-, bor in the splendor with which he eould bring his corps to a review. Mounted squadrons wheeled and caracoled in all the hues of the birds of the tropics — green and scarlet, white and blue, gojd and sil ver. Too curious inquiry may, perhaps, trace the last effects of the effervescence in the disappearance of many names from the roll of the Iris^ gentry. The brief blaze of glory was extinguished in bank ruptcy. Lord Charlemont commanded in chief ; the Duke of Leinster in his own province. Guards were mounted at the gates of these two noblemen. Escorts followed them in the streets. Sentinels stood at the doors of their boxes when they visited the theatres. Yet, with all this magnificence, the regiments could not be moved two days' march from theb homes, and the functions which they combined of soldiers, audi poHticians necessitated the placing persons in high commands who were better in debating clubs than in the field. The colonel of the Phoenix Park Artillery Corps, for instance, was a DubHn bonmonger, named 1782.] The Convention. 357 Napper Tandy, who had piished himself into noto riety as the bullying demagogue of the corporation ; smaU, ugly, ill-shaped, with no talent but for speech ; & coward in action, a noisy fool in council. Homer had dra-wn Napper's portrait three thousand years before in " Th'ersites." The corps officered by the gentry, too, might have been found wanting in time of trial for other causes. Mr. Bagenal, an enthusiastic admirer of Grattan, had been among the most active promoters of the Volunteer movement. Beauchamp Bagenal was the " Admirable Crichton " of his day — the preceptor and shining example of the rising generation of aspb- ing bishmen.' He had inherited a large fortune. He had travelled in splendor on the Continent, had fought a prince, jUted a princess, run away with a Spanish duchess, broken into a tonvent in search of a nun, made the Doge of Venice drunk, and performed fifty other exploits no less extraordinary. When the Vol unteers began to arm, none were more forward -with help and encouragement than Beauchamp Bagenal. Jonah Barrington -was present when he re-viewed the Carlow aiid Kilkenny reginlents in his park at Dun leckny. He dtove between the lines in an open car- I He was the most notorious duellist of his day. He had called out De Blaquiere only to try his mettle. He occasionally submitted his younger friends to the "same test. His relation and godson, Bagenal Harvey, who wis hanged afterwards for treason, was once staying with him at his house at Dunleckny. The old gentleman took his guest out for a walk one morning in the park, fastened some absurd quarrel upon him, produced pistols, and forced him to fight. Bagenal Harvey, finding there was no escape, did the best that he could for himself, took a 'steady aim, and sent a ball through Beauchamp Bagenal's coat. Instead of shooting at him in return, old Bagenal exclaimed, ' You damned young villain ! you had hke to have killed your godfather ; yes, you dog, or your father, too, tor anything I know to the contrary. I only wanted to see if you were brave. Go in, and order breakfast. I shall be at home directly." 358 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. i. riage with six horses, a bottle of claret in one hand and a glass in the other, drinking the officers' healths. The officers were called up singly to the side of the ' carriage, and were made to drain a tumbler of claret in turn to the Volunteers of Ireland. In the evening there was a ball and supper at the house. The rank and file for whora there was no room under the roof camped out in the summer night with unlimited wine and whiskey ; and in the morning the park was like a field of battle, strewed over with prostrate bodies, unable to move — " the most curious exhibition," ob serves Sir Jonah, " which could be concei-fed by per sons not accustomed to those days of dissipation." The existence of a large force, so constructed and so discipHned, was an awkward feature in a young Constitution, not the less so that the political seff-con- fidence of the Volunteers was on a level -with their es timate of themselves as soldiers ; and that they were aware that, except for them, the Constitution would never have corae into being. Business was at a standstiU. The artisan had left his home, the farmer his fields, the lawyer his chambers — all to regenerate their country. They had no misgivings as to theb own capacity, and they did not mean to go back to their ordinary callings till the country was regener ated to their minds. As Denis Daly expressed him seff to Grattan — " The Volunteers are ready to determine any ques tion in the whole circle of the sciences which shall be proposed to them, and to burn any unfortunate per son that doubts their infalUbihty." 1782.] The Convention. 359 SECTION II. The armed guardians of Irish liberty had occasion to be watchful. The Irish ParHament, in its first exuberance of gratitude, had voted 20,000 men for the naval service. On the conclusion of peace, many ships were put out of commission. The additional seamen were unneeded, and it was suggested that 5,000 out of the whole number should be formed into regiments for service on land. The Argus-eyes of the Volunteers discovered in the proposal an insid ious purpose of restoring the regular array to its full complement, as a step towards dispensing with their serrices. Lord Temple, who arrived at the Castle to find himself sitting on a volcano, was obliged to deprecate with the most passionate earnestness so dangerous a scheme.' A people on the watch for treachery see malignant designs in the most innocent accidents. The first alarm had no sooner subsided, than a fresh aggression set the country in a flame. Irish causes, it had been agreed, were for the future to be decided in the Irish courts. An outstanding Irish case which had been long since carried by appeal to England, came on in the King's Bench in the Autumn Term of 1782, and ^ "I do not hesitate to assert that such a proposal, even if it was war ranted by tho terms of the vote — which, in fact, is not the case — would entirely annihiliate every chance of raising a further body of men for the Bea service. — Lord Temple to Secretary Townshend. Secret and private. September 21, 1872." — S. P. 0. 360 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. ch. i, Lord Mansfield gave judgment upon it. The Irish, who owed the recovery of their privileges to circum stances which no longer existed, were on the watch for symptoms that England meant again to enslave them. A people can afford to be calm who, in pos session of their natural rights, feel that if assaUed they can maintain them by force. The Irish had no such confidence. The Volunteers who had abeady taken Flood's side against Grattan on the insuffi ciency of the late concession, shrieked immediately that Ireland was betrayed. Temple, in despair, appeared to share their sus picions. " Having struggled," he said, " in resisting ideal grievances, I could not explain away this busi ness. I do not wonder at the ferment into which aU ranks of people are thrown. England is obliged by every tie of natural faith to complete a compact which is clearly incomplete." Something, he insisted, must be done, and done instantly, to compose the alarm, even if an Act of Parliament had to be passed to annul Lord Mansfield's decision.' Innocent of the faintest design to disturb Ireland's peace of mind. Lord Shelburne's Cabinet professed its willingness to do whatever she desired. The judgment had been given on a case already before the English Court. The situation could not recur, for -writs of error being no longer issued, no more cases could be referred. Yet whatever satisfaction Ireland demanded they were ready to give. The advanced patriots asked for Flood's Renunciation Bill. Flood's " Renunciation Bill " they should have, and Mr. Townshend intro duced a bill into the British ParHament for " remov- 1 "Lord Temple to Secretary Towshend, November 20. Most secret." — S. P. 0. 1783.] The Convention. •. 361 ing doubts " and affirming the final competence of the Irish Courts in all cases whatever,' William Gren- rille. Lord Temple's secretary, coming over to explain and support the Irish plea. In both Houses during the passage of this Bill the position in which Ireland was placing herself was naturally remarked upon. Lord Aberdeen inquired whether the Irish tie was to be no more than the Hanoverian, or whether the Irish people were still subjects of the British Cro-wn. If they were to be on the footing of the Hanoverians, they were aliens and could not sit in the British Legislature. A union was hinted at as the best solution of the problem, and though the Renunciation Bill was carried, it was carried against the opinions of Fox and of the Duke of Portland. To smooth the ruffled waters and gratify the na tional vanity, Lord Temple instituted in March the new order of the Knights of St. Patrick. On the 17th, St. Patrick's Day, the leading members of the Irish aristocracy were installed with becoming mag nificence. But the Volunteers were not to be caught with gilded chaff or compliments to the peerage. They had serious business still on hand. Lord Shel burne went out of office. The Coalition Government came in with Portland at its head, and Fox and North as joint Secretaries of State. The anomaly, in many ways absurd, was less mischievous as it affected Ire land, for Portland, who knew the secret history of the transactions of 1782, was resolute to give way no further. He saw that Temple was made of too soft material to deal successfuUy with an unreasonable people. He recalled him in spite of the outcry that 1 23 George III. cap. 28. 362 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. l he was taking away Ireland's friend, and Robert Henley, Earl of Northington, was sent in his place to open Parliament for the autumn session. Under the Octennial Act, the Parliament elected in 1776 had still a year's life in it, but the alteration of the constitution had changed the relations between the Legislature and the Castle. Their increased inde pendence enabled both Peers and Commoners to com mand higher terras for their support, and Lord Northington found on his arrival a general demand for a dissolution. The old system, it was very eri- dent, was not only to continue, but to flourish with added vigor. Larger liberty toward men who had not earned it by their own virtue meant what, under such circumstances, it must always mean, larger foUy and grosser corruption. No disguise was attempted, no affectation of turning away the eyes, while the bride was silently accepted. " I am met," Lord Northington wrote, " with preten sions and claims of various natures which I would gladly have had more time to consider, to arrange the interests, satisfy the expectations of the claimants, and acquire the strength which Government ought to have at the opening of a new ParHament. I have no reason to feel much anxiety with regard to the strength which is to be obtained by the support of considerable interests, as I have received flattering assurances of their good disposition." ' In one quarter only, and where he had least looked for it, the Viceroy encountered difficulties. The boroughs belonging to the bishops the Castle had always regarded as Crown property, " as proriding opportunities of bringing into Parliament persons con- 1 " The Eari of Northington to Lord North, July 1, 1783." 1783.] The Convention. 363 nected with the Government." The new ideas of liberty had reached the Right Reverend Bench. The Bishops of Fern and Ossory when applied to in the usual way answered " that theb seats were already disposed of." Was the EngHsh lion so dead that even the bench could spurn at it ? Northington wrote for instructions " in so extraordinary a case." " Was he to signify to those prelates his majesty's disapprobation of their conduct ? " " The King is unwilling to interfere," Lord North repHed, "but he agrees with your Excellency that it is extremely improper conduct." ' A Parliaraent elected under the influence of lords and gentlemen who were seeking visibly their per sonal interests, was not likely to be satisfactory to Ireland in its existing state of inflated excitement. There had been a bad harvest. The potato crop had faUed ; work of all kinds had been neglected in the mania for volunteering ; and instead of a millennium, in spite of the Renunciation Bill, there was a prospect of absolute famine. The most mischievous conse quence of a really unjust legislation, such as Ireland had suffered under before the removal of the trade restrictions, is that it teaches people to look to politi cal changes as a sure remedy for what is amiss -with them. Ireland had really no industrial grievance left. She needed only quiet and industry to become as prosperous as Scotland or England. Political agitation was an easier, and, as the Irish believed, a more certain road to renovation. Pitt had begun to speak in England of a reform of Parliament. Ireland, too, began to talk of reforming her ParHament. The 1 " The Eari of Northington to Lord North, July 1. Lord North to the Eari of Northington, July 11, 1783." — S. P. 0. 364 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. l Constitution of '82 had been believed to be the crest of the mountain till it was aclneved. From the brow of the ridge another peak had come into sight. All would not be well, indeed nothing would be well, ¦without a free legislature and a free constitution. The Irish House of Commons was undoubtedly an absurd caricature. If Ireland was to be governed by a Parliament at all, it could not be other than a cari cature, so long as the connection with England was maintained. The majority of the Irish people desired entire independence. An assembly which fably repre sented them would reflect wishes which could be real ized only by separation, and, therefore, any assembly calling itself representative must in a greater or less degree be an unreality so long as the connection with England continued. The privilege asserted and ob tained for the Irish Parliament in the late changes made the retention of political power in the hands of those who were amenable to influence more than ever a constitutional necessity. To reform the House of Commons was avowedly to give power to those classes who demanded objects incompatible with de pendence on the English Crown, to precipitate inter nal quarrels, and bring about either total separation or a forced incorporation in the Empire. The House as it stood was formed exclusively of Protestants. The experiment of an assembly composed of represent atives of both creeds had been tried and had failed. The House was formed also almost exclusively of Protestants of the EstabHshed Church. The Presby terians were not disfranchised, but their county in fluence was small, and in the boroughs the members were returned usually by the corporations from which they had been hitherto excluded by the Test Act 1783.] The Convention. 365 Two members sat for each of the 32 comities. The boroughs and cities returned 236. The county elect ors were free, subject only to the influence of the landowners. Sixty borough seats were partially free ; i. e, the electors, if careless of consequences, might, by an effort, make an independent choice. A hun dred and seventy-six seats out of the whole number of three hundred, were the property of bishops, peers, and commoners. They were bought and sold with out disguise. The perpetual advowson (if the phrase may be used) of a borough was worth eight or nine thousand pounds. A single seat in a single Parlia ment could be had for 2,000Z., and the purchaser avowedly intended to recoup himseff by the sale of his vote. Under such a system the Volunteers dis covered that the victory which they had achieved was valueless. The Castle, with its patronage and its pension list, would always be too much for them. Accident had enabled them to obtain free trade and the free constitution, but the conditions favorable to them might never recur. The net would again close round them and they would be slaves once more. The Volunteers saw the danger to their liberties; experience had painfully taught them that England, if she recovered her authority, might again abuse it. And they were possessed -with the flattering illusion which was pervading the air of Europe, that public virtue is not the parent of Hberty, but its child ; that to emancipate a people from control, and place the power of the State in theb hands, was to raise their character to a level vrith their new duties, and un lock all the gates to them which led to prosperity and happiness. iTiere is no word in human language which so 366 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vil Ch. l charms the ear as liberty. There is no word which so Httle pains have been taken to define, or which is used to express ideas more opposite. There is a liberty which is the liberty of a child or a savage, the liberty of animals, the vagrant liberty, which obeys. no restraint, for it is conscious of no obligation. There is a liberty which arises from the subjugation of self and the control of circumstances, which consists in knowledge of what ought to be done, and a power to do it obtained by patient labor and discipline. The artisan or the artist learns in an apprenticeship under the guidance of others to conquer the diBBcul- ties of his profession. When the conquest is com plete he is free. He has liberty — he commands his tools, he commands his own faculties. He has be come a master. It is with Hfe as a whole, as with the occupations into which life is divided. Those only are free men who have had patience to learn the conditions of a useful and honorable existence, who have overcome their own ignorance and their own selfishness, who have become masters of themselves. The fbst liberty is the liberty of anarchy, which to a man should be a supreme object of detestation. The second liberty is the liberty of law, which has made the name the symbol of honor, and has made the things the supreme object of desire. But the enthu siasm for true liberty has in these modern times been transferred to its opposite. With a singular inversion of cause and effect, men have seen in Hberty not the exercise and the reward of virtues which have been acquired under restraint, but some natural fountain, a draught from which is to operate as a spell for the regeneration of our nature. Freedom as they picture 1783.] The Convention. 367 it to themselves is like air and light, a condition in which the seeds of excellence are alone able to ger minate. Who is free ? asked the ancient sage, and he answered his own question. The wise man who is master of himself. Who is free ? asks the modern liberal politician, and he answers, the man who has a voice in making the laws which he is expected to obey. Does the freedom of a painter consist in his having himseff consented to the laws of perspective, and Hght and shade ? That nation is the most free where the laws, by whomsoever framed, correspond most nearly to the will of the Maker of the universe, by whom, and not by human suffrage, the code of rules is laid down for our obedience. That nation is most a slave which has ceased to believe that such divinely appointed laws exist, and wiU only be bound by the Acts which it places on its statute book. Considerations like these were too homely for the minds of practical politicians of the eighteenth cent ury. The world was growing weary of its aristocra cies. PoHtical reform was the cry of the hour, and it must be allowed for the Irish enthusiasts that there was no country in Europe in which the ruling fami hes had made a worse use of the power coraraitted to them. The further the secrets of Irish administra tion are. looked into the more uniform the spectacle ; noble lords and gentlemen recruiting the fortanes which they had ruined in idle extravagance by selling their poHtical influence, while their special duties as guardians of the law and rulers over their tenantry were not only undischarged, but not so much as known to exist. Pitt -was moving with his own ends. The Volun teers followed the example for theirs. Delegates 368 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vii. Ch. i. met throughout the summer at Beffast and Lisburn. Schemes were sent out, and outlines of them scattered for approval through the southern provinces. The first convention at Dungannon had succeeded so, brilliantly that a second was determined on, to be held at the same place on the 8th of September. As a preparation for this meeting an address was issued to the Volunteer army of Ulster. They were informed " that the Imperial Crown of Ireland had been restored by their efforts to its original splendor, and* the nation to its inherent rights as an independ ent state ; " " the distracted inhabitants had been united in an indissoluble bond through an unparal leled combination of the civil and military author ity : " " it now remained to aboHsh the courtly mer cenaries who preyed on the vitals of public vbtue, and prevent the return of venal majorities to support dishonorable measures." When September arrived the delegates came to gether, representatives of 270 companies ; and this time, unprompted by Grattan, they set out of their own accord the symbol or formula of theb new faith. 1. " Freedom," these philosophers had discovered " is the indefeasible right of Irishmen and Britons, derived from the Author of their being, of which no power on earth has a right to deprive them." They did^ot say in what freedom consisted, or where, or in what way, God Almighty had bestowed it on them. They merely insisted on the fact as a prelimi nary article of faith. 2. " Those only are free," they went on, " who are governed by no laws but those to which they assent either in person or by their representatives freely chosen." If this was true, minorities who protest 1783.] The Convention, 369 against laws passed by a majority are either entitled to disobey, or they are deprived of what the first resolution declared to be their inalienable right. 3. " The elective franchise shall extend to those, and those only, who avUI exercise it for the public good." The elective franchise, by the old laws of Europe, belonging to the freemen : to those who in some practical department of life had proved their competence as masters of their craft. Who, on the principles of the Dungannon delegates, could decide on the fitness of the electors, or the meaning of the words public good ? Yet these propositions appeared to the soldier statesmen at Dungannon to be axioms which could form the basis of a revolution. By the Hght of them they framed a list of reforms which were required in the representation. Till these reforms were granted, they insisted on a refusal of the supplies by the House of Commons ; and to hold the House of Com mons to its work they concluded to choose delegates from the Volunteers of every county in Ireland, who should meet and sit in Dublin simultaneously -with the ParHament — a second legislative assembly — to giiide and if necessary to control and overawe, the constitutional chambers. Characteristic as these resolutions were in them selves, they were the more noteworthy from the per sons -with whom they originated. The leading spirits of the second meeting at Dungannon were Lord Charlemont and Lord Farnham, Sir Capel Molyneux*, Colonel Steward of Down,' the Bishop of Terry, Tom ConoUy, and Colonel Montgomery. Noblemen and gentlemen of high character and station could delib- 1 Afterwards Marquis of Londonderry, and father of Lord Castlereagh. VOL. II. 24 370 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vh. Ch. l erately recommend the constitution of a military convention to meet at the capital, and dictate meas ures to an unwilling Parliament in the name of the national army. They could even persuade themselves that they were engaged in a sacred service,' and they closed their proceedings with an appeal to the Su preme Ruler of the Universe, and with special thanks to his minister, the Bishop of Derry, the steady friend of Ireland. 1 They described the convention "as a solemn act of the Volunteer army of Ireland to demand rights without which the unaniraated forms of a free government would be a curse, and existence cease to be a blessing." 1783.] The Convention. 371 SECTION m. Satisfied with the results of his communications with the patrons of the Irish boroughs, Lord North ington at first looked at the proceedings at Dungan non -with no serious alarm ; ' but he, too, Hke Temple, considered that concession of some kind must still be the rule. Annual Parliaments were desired, and, he thought, ought to be aUowed. An absentee tax would be again proposed. This he hoped to defeat, but it was important to secure the confidence of ParHament by acquiescence in reasonable demands. The Irish sugar refiners persisted in asking for protection, and to Northington the choice seemed only to He between moderate duties which would give them a fair profit, and duties so high as to exclude EngHsh competition. The sUk and woollen manufacturers also asked for protection, and had prowerful friends. The Viceroy hoped to be allowed to teU ParHament either that the Irish duties on EngHsh sUks and woollens would be increased, or that the English duties on Irish silks and wooUens would be lowered.^ These questions had been foreseen in England, and ought to have been provided for when the constitu- 1 " A Pariiamentary reform is the grand subject intended to be pro posed by the delegation of the Volunteer corps. There can be little room for apprehension -with regard to the fate of this question when the present constitution of the House of Commons in this country is referred to. — The Eari of Northington to Lord North, September 23, 1783." — S. P. 0. 2 Ibid. 372 The English in Ireland. [BK.vn.CH.L tion of '82 was conceded. Ireland meant to retaliate for the restrictive duties, and the covenant, of peace was to bear immediate fruits in fresh quarrels. Nor was an armed convention so light a thing as it ap peared to Lord Northington. Mr. Fox, when he agreed reluctantly to let Grattan have his way, had determined to yield no further, even ff the alternative was the abandonment of the island. In the prolonged existence of an armed force inter fering with the Legislature, and owing no obedience to the executive government, he saw an anomaly preg nant with danger. " The situation," he said, " in an elaborate and admirable letter to the Viceroy, " is most critical. Unless the Volunteers dissolve in a reasonable time, Government, and even the name of it, must be at an end, and on the event of the present session of your ParHament the question will entirely depend. If you show firmness and that firmness is seconded by the aristocracy and ParHament, their dissolution is a certain and not distant event ; otherwise I reckon their government, or rather anarchy, as firmly es tabHshed as such a thing is capable of being, but your government is certainly annihUated. I mean by firm ness the determination not to be swayed in the slight est degree by the Volunteers, nor to attend to any peti tion that may come from them. The concessions made in the Duke of Portland's time were declared sufficient. The account must be considered as closed, and must never again be opened on any pretence whatever. The firmness of the aristocracy will depend on the de gree of it sho-wn in the Castle. Peace is the natural period of Volunteers. If they are encouraged to enUst after this time, aU is gone, and our connection 1783.] The Convention. 373 ¦with Ireland is worse than none at aU. The Volun teers never were, depend upon it, so considerable as they were represented. If they are resisted, I am satisfied they -wUl be defeated. If they are suffered to carry their points by timidity or acquiescence, it is as much over -with English government in Ireland as ff they had carried them by force. Ireland has more to fear from us than we from her. Her linen trade, which is her staple, depends entirely on the protec tion of this country. We cannot go on acquiescing in something new for the sake of pleasing Ireland. But, situated as you are among Irishmen — who, next to a job for themselves, love nothing so weU as a job for their country — and hardly ever seeing any one who talks to you soundly on our side of the question, it is next to impossible but that you must faU in sensibly into Irish ideas." ' The regular force in Ireland had been quietly re stored to its normal complement. As there might be occasion for its service. Fox wrote at the same time to General Burgoyne, who was in command. " If," he said, " either the ParHamentary reform in any shape, however modified, or any other point claimed by the Volunteers be conceded, Ireland is irretrievably lost forever. The question is whether the constitu tion which the Irish patriots are so proud of having estabHshed shaU exist, or whether the Government shall be as purely miHtary as it was under the Prae torian bands. If the Volunteers are baffled they must, in the nature of things, dissolve, or bring it to an immediate crisis, on the event of which, supposing ParHament to be silent, I do not beHeve you can en- I " Mr. Fox to Lord Northington, November 1." — Abridged. Life of Grattan, vol. iii. p. 106 374 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vn. Ch. i. tertain a serious apprehension. If they petition in the most humble strain it should make no difference. There can be but one measure either for dignity or safety, and that measure, from Sergeant Adair's re ports, I am now led to hope could be taken. I mean a declaration against taking into consideration the request of persons met in arms in DubHn for the avowed purpose of obtaining theb ends by force. It is a crisis, you may depend upon it. I believe that a proper spirit exerted now is the only possible chance of saving us from total separation or ciril war, between which two evils I have not the firmness to choose." ' In 1780 free trade was to have bound the two coun tries together forever. In 1782 it was to be the repeal' of 6 th of George I. and the new constitution. Now, when the ink was scarcely dry upon the parchment on which the Acts of Liberation had been enrolled, England and Ireland were farther apart than before. The Irish Parliaraent had met before Fox's letter was written. The Viceroy had opened the session with a speech which said nothing. The address was carried ¦without opposition, and also a vote of thanks to the Volunteers, whose convention was still three weeks distant. The stUlness was not of very long dura tion. The question had to be tried in the new House of Commons which of the two competing champions for popular favor was the recognized leader of Irish patriotism. On the 28th Sir Henry Cavendish moved a resolution for a reduction of expenditure. Flood, whose mysterious mission to England had led to noth ing, sprung to the front, and violently advocated a diminution of the miHtary establishment. The mean- 1 " Mr. Fox to General Burgoyne, November 7." — Abridged. Life of Grattan, vol. iii. 1783.] The Convention. 375 ing was obrious. A colUsion was possible between the Volunteers and the regular army. There were now 12,000 British troops in the island, and the Government might rely upon them to resist the dicta tion intended to be exercised. Fox and Portland depended on Grattan to support them in their present difficulty. They had stood by him in his early struggles with Lord North. They had received distinct assurances from him that the concessions of '82 should not be foUowed by fresh demands, and had made themselves responsible to the British Parliament that Ireland would be satisfied. They expected him to assist them in resisting an alarming proposal pressed unconstitutionally by a body of men who had discovered their power, and were prepared to abuse it. Grattan knew their feel ings, and recognized his obligations. He had him seff once encouraged the Volunteers to interfere with Parliament. It was on him that the duty rested of now bringing theb presumption "within bounds. He was himseff an ardent reformer ; but, enthusiastic as he was, he did not conceal from himself that in a country Hke Ireland a redistribution of political power, precipitated by the bayonets of the Volunteers, would lead to the wildest confusion. In spite of his good nature, he had resented the attempt of Flood to steal from him the laurels of the last campaign. He dis trusted his rival's honesty. He did not respect his inteUect. Flood, whose manner was affected, had commenced his speech on the reduction of the army with an apol ogy for an illness which did not appear to be serious. Grattan rose after him to oppose this motion. He would not occupy the time of the House, he said, 376 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vilch.l with speaking of his personal infirmities. He re minded Flood that when he accepted office under Lord Harcourt, he had supported him in unbounded extravagance. At a time when England had acted justly and even generously towards Ireland, when she was still feeling the wounds of the late war, and comforting herself with the belief that she had se cured Ireland's friendship, he thought it inopportune, unbecoming, ungracious, to press upon her retrench ments in the army. Grattan's conduct was signally creditable to him, for it was certain to be unpopular. Flood saw his ad vantage. Now was the time to make himseff first in the affection of the Volunteers. " It requires but little candor," he said, " to make a nocturnal attack on my infirmity. I am not afraid of the right honorable gentleman. I vrill meet him anywhere on any ground, by night or day. I would Stand poorly in my own estimation and in my coun try's opinion if I did not stand far above him. I do not come dressed in a rich wardrobe of words to de lude the people. I am not one who, after saying Par liament was a ParHament of prostitutes, made theb voices subservient to my interest. I am not the men dicant patriot who was bought by my country for a sum of money, and then sold my country for prompt payment. I was never bought by the people, nor ever sold them. Give me leave to say if the gen tleman enters often into this kind of coUoquy he wiU not have much to boast of at the end of the session." The Speaker did not interfere with this harangue. The cries of " Order ! " ff such cries were raised, were drowned in the applause of the little band who had 1783.] The Convention. 377 resented the elevation of Grattan above theb own idol. Flood, who had sued for the Castle livery, even under Lord Townshend ; Flood, who had whined to Lord Harcourt that he had parted with his popu larity to please him ; Flood, whose vanity was dis satisfied with the best office in the Crown's gift, and now at last had only stepped to the front of the patriots when he found Portland would not be duped into restoring him to his seat in the Privy CouncU ; Flood, of all public men in Ireland, could least afford to chaUenge a retrospect into his political history. Grattan, though his sins were many, had not de served to be taunted with the name of mendicant patriot. If Grattan, in his reply, laid on the lash too hearily, never was chastisement more wantonly provoked. He rose among the cheers of his friends in the House, and cheers and gibes mingled from the galleries. " I will suppose," he said — affecting at the outset to put a hypothetical case, but speedily dropping the effort and speaking dbectly at his antagonist — "I will suppose a public character, a man not now in this House, but who formerly might have been. I wUl suppose it was his constant practice to abuse any man who differed from him, and to betray every man who trusted him. I will begin from his cradle, and divide his life into three stages. In the first he was intemperate, in the second corrupt, in the third sedi tious. Suppose him a great egotist, his honor equal to his oath, and I will stop him and say (here looking fuU at Flood) Sir, your talents are not so great as your Iffe is infamous. You were silent for years, and you were silent for money. When affairs of con sequence to the nation wero debating, you might be 378 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vii. Ch.l seen passing by these doors Hke a guilty spirit wait ing for the moment of putting the question that you might hop in, and give your venal vote ; or at times, ¦with a vulgar brogue, aping the manners and affecting the infirmities of Lord Chatham, or like a kettle- drummer lathering yourseff into popularity to catch the vulgar. Or you might be seen hovering over the dome like an ill-omened bird of night, with sepulchral note, a cadaverous aspect, and broken beak, ready to stoop and pounce upon your prey. You can be trusted by no man. The people cannot trust you. The Ministers cannot trust you. You deal out the most impartial treachery to both. You tell the na tion it is ruined by other men, while it is sold by you. You fled from the embargo ; you fled from the sugar Bill. I therefore tell you, in the face of the country, before all the world, aiid to youi' beard, you are not an honest man." Those who have witnessed an Irish row in its wildest form may imagine the scene which followed. Floor and galleries were full, and every Irishman was on fire. Flood sat for a moment, as ff stunned. He rose at last, stared about him, and stammered a few words which were lost in the tempest of noise. The Speaker, finally compelling some kind of silence, said that he had listened to the contest between two such distinguished men with inexpressible pain, and entreated Flood to sit down. Flood obeyed, and presently walked out. Grattan followed. Each con sulted their friends, and a duel was arranged for the next morning. The Sergeant-at-arms took them both into cu.stody, and they were bound over to keep the peace. The storm, as brief as it was furious, died 1783.] The Convention. 379 away ; but a Parliament in which two leading mem bers could rate each other like fish wo men was un likely to command authority in Ireland, or confidence in the sister country. 380 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vilch.l SECTION IV. The Cabinet had insisted that the Volunteer con vention should be encountered -with firmness. They had even recommended that it should be prevented from meeting by force, if nothing else would serve. Lord Northington was a coward, and he had cowards all about him. The Volunteers had been twice thanked by the House of Commons as saviours of theb country ; they had been courted by Temple and flattered by Colonel Fitzpatrick. Not one member of the Privy Council could be found " to advocate the idea of Government interfering to forbid the meeting." ' On the 10th of November Dublin was to witness the presence of two rival representative assembhes, sitting one on each side of the river, and dividing between them the allegiance of Ireland. Every prov ince had responded to the invitation to send deputies. Three hundred members had been chosen to match the number of the House of Commons, the moving spbit among thera being the Bishop of Derry, other wise known as Earl of Bristol, who had received the thanks of the Volunteers at Dungannon. Frederick Augustus Hervey was the most singular representative of the class of bishops who had been chosen to preside over the spiritual destinies of the Irish people. He had been appointed during the 1 " The Eari of Northington to Mr. Fox, November 17, 1783." 1783.] The Convention. 381 short viceroyalty of his brother, and as long as the late earl Hved he had been known only as an eccentric person of unepiscopal habits, who had built a vast palace in a ¦wild corner of his diocese. The earl dy ing childless, the bishop succeeded to the title and a large fortune, and rather from love of excitement and vanity than from personal interest in Ireland, he as sumed the character of a warHke prelate of the Middle Ages. He was connected with the -wildest blood in the country. George Robert Fitzgerald, of Turlow, near Castlebar, notorious, even in those reckless days, for his defiance of aU laws, human and divine, was his sister's son, and commanded a regiment of Volunteers whom the bishop had raised, -with a second regiment whom he had collected himseff out of his vagabond dependents at Turlow. George Robert had ruled as absolutely among the bogs and mountains of Mayo as the Mac WiUiams of the days of Elizabeth and James. Like many of his countrymen who essentially re sembled him, he showed Httle in his exterior of the real man. He was refined in manner, and soft and smooth of speech. He had travelled, and had rivaUed Beauchamp Bagenal in the variety of his exploits and adventures ; and he was so often in scrapes, from which only sword or pistol could extricate him, that he wore a chain-shirt under his clothes.' He had in- I Dick Martin was counsel for the prosecution when George Robert was tried for ill-treating his father. Dick said the wretched father had indeed committed many crimes, the worst of them being that he had begotten the prisoner. George Robert looked at him. " Martin !" he said, " you look very healthy. You take good care of your constitution ; but I tell you, you have this day taken very bad care of your life." A duel followed. Fitz gerald's flrst shot missed. Martin, to make sure of his man, walked up and touched his breast with his pistol before he fired. Fitzgerald stag gered, from the force of the blow; but to Martin's astonishment, turned 382 The English in Ireland. [Bk. "VIL Ch. i, herited his temper in his blood. His father had been a lawless ruffian. George Robert, thinking the father lived too long, shut him up for three years in a cave with a muzzled bear, and in this condition the old man was lying at the time of the Dublin conven tion.' These two — the bishop and his nephew — were the principal figures in the scene. When the day came the whole city was out ; the footways lined with armed Volunteers, the windows crowded -with spec tators. The Royal Exchange had been first thought of as the place of assembly. The Rotunda, at the top of Sackville Street, was substituted for the Ex change, as more central and convenient. Thither were streaming the deputies in unfform, the streets all ablaze with scarlet and green and gold and azure. Grenadier corps marched first, with Irish battle-axes and muskets slung across their shoulders. Behind the grenadiers came the delegates, two and two, in uniform, with side-arms, each wearing a green scarf. Then the barrister corps, brilliantly decked out -with buttons, carrying for a motto, " Vox populi suprema lex." In the rear carae Napper Tandy, -with the Dublin artillery, the guns dressed out in ribbons, each with a scroll about its muzzle, saying in conspicuous letters, " Open thou our mouths, O Lord, and our lips shall show forth thy praise." The bishop him seff entered Dublin with the state and manner of a round, drew his second pistol, fired at, and hit him. The chain shirt had stopped the ball. 1 George Robert was hanged a few years after at Castlebar. He had been sentenced to three years' imprisonment for some crime. The Mar quis of Buckinghamshire pardoned him, after a few month's detention. He went down to Turlow, and immediately afterwards murdered one of his own people. For this offence he was tried, convicted, and finally hanged. 1783.] The Convention. 383 monarch, as if he expected to be chosen King of Ireland. He sat in an open landau, drawn by six horses, magnificently apparelled in purple, with white gloves, gold-fringed, and gold tassels dangling from them, and buckles of diamonds on knee and shoe. His own mounted servants, in gorgeous liver ies, attended on either side of his carriage. Gegrge Robert rode in front, with a squadron of dragoons in gold and scarlet unfforms, on the finest horses which could be bought in the land. A second squadron brought up the rear in equal splendor, and thus, with slow and regal pace, the procession passed on. Volun teers falling in, with bands playing and colors flying, the crowd shouting " Long life to the bishop ! " the bishop bowing to tbe crowd. Passing through CoUege Green, the right reverend earl paused at the door of the ParHament House. The dragoons halted. The trumpets were blown. The Lords and Commons, who had just finished prayers, came out to pay their respects, and gaze on the extraordinary scene. The bishop saluted ; the bishop's guard presented arms ; the band struck up the Volunteers' march, and having thus, as he sup posed, produced a proper impression, the august be mg waved his hand. The horses again moved; the cavalcade swept on amidst screams and shouts, past King WiUiam's statue, over the river, and up the broad line of Sackville Street. As the carriage ap proached the Rotunda, the artillery opened, and be tween the guns pealed wild hurrahs ; the delegates were entering the haU. The bishop passed in after them, to show himself, scattered condescending smiles and patronizing words of encouragement, and then retiring, to give them an opportunity of electing him, 384 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vii. Ch.l as he expected, to the chair, drove to his house, -with the same state, to entertain the leading members of the assembly at a magnificent dinner. Lord Northington meanwhile had not been idle. Though afraid to encounter the Volunteers with open resistance, he had kno-wn how to sow divisions among them, and they had come together predisposed to quarrel on elementary principles. AU the delegates were for reform, all were members of the Established Church ; and among churchmen at least a moiety were determined Protestants. The Bishop of Deny and the extreme party were for Catholic emancipa tion and separation from England. Lord Charle mont and the country gentlemen who acted with him, though enthusiastic for 1782, and anxious for a more creditable Parliament, were not disposed to place themselves at the mercy of a numerical majority of Papists, or to run the risk of a repeal of the Act of Settlement. Both the Viceroy and Burgoyne had preferred diplomacy to force. They had discovered the line of division, and had judiciously operated on it ; and thus when, on the bishop's departure, the election of chairman came on, the choice was found to have faUen, not on the right reverend Engli^ nobleman, but on Lord Charlemont. Successful so far, the Viceroy still feared that ff the Catholic mil lions were roused to demand the suffrage, or if they were ever supposed to be anxious to obtain it, a ma jority in the Convention might yet press it upon Par Hament ; and he ventured on a manoeuvre highly characteristic of his cunning, feeble nature. "My plan," he said, " was, by means of our friends in the assembly, to perplex its proceedings and create con fusion." Sir Boyle Roche, one of the delegates, a 1783.] The Convention. 385 Hght, absurd person, declared in the convention on the second day of the meeting, that he was commissioned by Lord Kenmare to say that the Catholics did not wish to press their claims to the fr-anchise, and dis avowed a desire for an immediate alteration in their position. The support of the Catholics was vital to the success of the party of revolution. Sir Boyle's statement was received with confusion and astonish ment. The CathoHc committee in Dublin protested that he was not speaking for them. " They did not differ so widely from the rest of mankind as by their own act to prevent the removal of their shackles." The Bishop of Derry, their chief advocate and cham pion, was loud and fierce in his denials. A day or two later there came a letter from Lord Kenmare himself, declaring with equal distinctness that he had given no authority for the use of his name. Sir Boyle being called on to explain, gave a simple account of his performances. He had observed with concern, he said, the court paid to the Catholics by a knot of factious politicians. They had been led to beUeve that the resolutions of the Convention were to be law, and that its first act was to be Catholic emancipation. He conceived the time had corae when Lord Kenmare and the more respectable members of the Catholic communion should disavow these violent counsels. They were in the country, and could not be consulted ; and supposing himseff to be acquainted with their views, he had ventured to speak in their behaff. Though he assumed the responsibility, there can be little doubt that he acted at the instigation of the Viceroy ; and Northington may have felt justified by the deferential tone invariably adopted towards the VOL. n. 25 386 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. i. Castle by the Catholic nobility. In any other country such an extraordinary piece of audacity might have had fatal consequences. In Ireland, strange to say, it succeeded. In the interval of uncertainty the Anti- Catholic party in the Convention had time to organize themselves. The exposure came too late. A com mittee was chosen to draw up the intended Reform Bill. The Bishop of Derry was excluded from it. Flood, who, with all his violence, was still opposed to the Catholic claims, affected illness, appeared, when forced to come forward, swathed in flannels, and talked mysteriously in broken sentences. The cry of the Church in danger was still powerful, even among the hot spirits in the Rotunda ; and as the Reform BiU took shape, it became known that the admission of the Catholics to the franchise was not to form part of the scheme. The danger was not over, however. Beyond the Convention, there was still the Dublin mob. " The country was full of disorder, madness, and inconsis tency." ' The city swarmed with enthusiastic poHti cians, who unfortunately had muskets and cannon. The storm outside, ff it raged with sufficient violence, might yet carry the Convention off its feet, and the Parliament was hesitating and frightened. George Robert Fitzgerald gave Convention banquets. The Bishop of Derry rode abroad daily with his escort of dragoons amidst adoring crowds. He called one day on Lord Charlemont at Marino.^ " Things are going well, my Lord," he said, rubbing his hands. " We shall have blood, my Lord, 'we shaU have blood ! " George Robert tried hard to gain Grattan. Finding 1 " The Eari of Northington to Fox, November 17." 2 Lord Charlemont's villa outside Dublin. 1783.] The Convention. 387 Grattan cold, he invited him to dinner, and placed a band of ruffians in ambush to make short work of him. Grattan saved himself by dining that evening at the Castle. At length the crisis came. The Convention com mittee produced its bill, which Flood, who, like many other patriot members, had a seat both in the Ro tunda and the House of Commons, was to introduce to Parliament. The Irish Constitution was on its trial. No matter how limited the present demands of the Convention, the principle was at stake. In which of the two assemblies now sitting in DubHn lay the real power of legislating for Ireland ? Flood was now at the height of his glory. In him, and no longer in Grattan, were centred the hopes of Ire land's patriots. On the 29th of November he rose to discharge his task. The gaUeries were crowded -with the fiercest of the mob. Dangerous-looking groups of mf&ans lounged about the doors. Conscious of the danger of scattering fire in the midst of such com bustible material. Flood was in manner studiously quiet, and the matter of what he proposed was mod erate. The franchise in city or borough was to be confined to Protestant freeholders and leaseholders. The close boroughs, whose representatives were at present returned by the Corporations, were to be aboHshed; and members were to swear, on taking their seats, that they had used no corrupt means to obtain them. Colonel Brownlow seconded the mo tion, and then Yelverton, who was now Attorney- General, rose for the Government. No suspicion could rest on the patriotism of Yel verton, who had carried the modifications of Poyn- mgs' Act. He refused to enter into the merits of 388 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vn. Ch. i. the Bill. It was sufficient for him that it originated ¦with a body of armed men external to the House. " We sit not here," he said, "to register the edicts of another Assembly, or receive propositions at the point of the bayonet. When the Volunteers form themselves into a debating society, and with that rude instrument, the bayonet, probe and explore the Constitution, my respect for them is destroyed. It is vain, whatever be pretended, to shut our eyes to what every one has seen and heard — armed men walking bareheaded through the streets under a military escort, courting the smiles of the multitude, meeting in that Pantheon of dirinities the Rotunda, forming committees and sub-committees, receiring reports and petitions, and going through the mockery of a Parliament Is this a time to alter the Constitution ? Will the armed associations, wise as they may be, be able to form a better ? Before they have for a single Session entered on the enjoyment of it, like children they throw away the bauble for which, with the eagerness of infantine caprice, they have struggled. I say to the Volunteers, you shall not throw from you the blessings which you possess. Cultivate your prosperity. Enjoy the fruits of your ¦vbtue. Beat your swords into ploughshares. Re turn to your occupations. Leave legislation in those hands in which the laws have placed it Our preservation depends on the vote we shall now give. We are on a precipice. To recede a step more plunges us into ruin." The debate which followed was said to be the hottest ever heard -within the walls of the Irish House of Commons. Hely Hutchinson, Scott, Con olly, WiUiam Ponsonby, Bowes Daly, and Sb John 1783.] The Convention. 389 Parnell spoke for the Government. Grattan, not withstanding George Robert's designs on him, and though he was supporting Flood, remained true to his general principles. He approved of Reform, and he said so. Curran, who had just entered ParHa ment, and sat. with Flood for the borough of Kil beggan,' made his maiden speech on the same side. He said little ; but that little was clear, and to the purpose. Flood declared that "the honor of the peerage might be obtained by any ruffian who pos sessed borough interest." Bowes Daly told the Volunteers in rejoinder that they were rushing on destruction. " There was a turbulent demagogue among them who was urging them to their disgrace." As the storm raved louder, passion grew more care less in its language, and at last Flood exclaimed, that " ff the conduct of the House that night should create dissatisfaction in the Volunteers, that body and the Parliament might be committed against each other, and the public peace be disturbed." Here at last was a threat, and now Fitzgibbon rose to show for the first time of what stuff he was made. Once already he had startled the propriety of the House by moving, when they were flattering the Vol unteers, for the production of a censure which had been passed upon that body but a few months before. He had withdrawn his motion, and they had for gotten him. They were not Hkely to forget him any more. He was a small, delicately-made man, with a hand some oval face, a bold gray eye, a manner so haughty fliat patriot members complained of his intolerable I Nearly all the patriots in the Irish Parliament sat for close boroughs —so opposite was fact to theory. 390 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. l insolence. His father's death left him in possession of the estate in Limerick, with seven thousand a year, independent of his practice at the bar. He was the most just, as well as the most determined, of landlords ; and he was loved and trusted by his tenants as profoundly as he was afterwards hated by demagogues and agitators. His speech in this memo rable debate was a declaration of purpose, an intima tion clearly expressed to friend and foe of the part which he meant to play in the politics of Ireland. His father had trained him in an honorable contempt for the derices by which the Castle authority had been sustained.' He had supported the popular cause against England when he considered Ireland was asking her due, careless what Viceroys thought of him. He had fought on the other side against extrav agant demands, indifferent to the clamors of the patriots. He had sought for no preferment. Prefer ment was now seeking him. He was abeady named for Attorney-General on the approaching promotion of Yelverton to the place of Chief Baron, but he main tained his personal independence, and neither spoke nor voted but according to his own conviction. He rose at the close of the debate, and began by sketch ing the origin of the Reform movement, tiacing it to a democratic society in England, and thence to cor responding associations at Beffast. He alluded to the first resolutions at Dungannon, and pointed to the Rotunda convention as the result of having sub mitted to the Volunteers' dictation. Then, coming to the point, he said — " I do not oppose the introduction of this Bill I Old Fitzgibbon once said of the Pension List, " I have read that the wages of sin is death. Nowadays the wages of sin is Ireland." 1783.] The Convention. 391 because it is replete with absurdities. I oppose it because it comes to us under the mandate of a miHtary congress. Gentlemen say it is dangerous to commit the Parliament and the Volunteers. I know it is dangerous. I know the man that does it should answer for the crime with his head. But I know the force of the law is sufficient to crush them to atoms ; and for one, I say, I do not think life worth having at the will of an armed demagogue. If ever there was an occasion that called on every man possessing one sentiment of liberty to exert it in defence of the Constitution,' it is this, it is the present, which calls on us to spurn this Bill away. There is a circum stance of idle babble gone forth which only could have issued from the cells of Bedlam — that if this BiU is rejected some -wretched fool -will refuse to pay taxes. I have also heard that a House of Parliament is to be built at Dungannon, and that we are to have annual sessions of conventions to regulate the busi ness of the nation. Gentlemen may call this liberty if they please. I caU it the worst kind of tyranny. To put an end to it at once, I am for rejecting the motion for leave to introduce a Bill." Yelverton had spoken with dignity. Fitzgibbon spoke in a tone peculiar, and perhaps unexampled, in the country to which he belonged. There had gro^wn out of the Irish race by sorae freak of nature a man who had no personal object of his own which he wished to serve, who detested anarchy, who despised as well as detested the cant which passed under the name of patriotism, who combined with high intel lectual power the most dauntless personal courage. WeU Fitzgibbon knew that Irish sedition would never forgive his words. Amidst yells and sarcasms 392 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. i, from House and gallery the division was taken, and leave to introduce the Bill was refused by a majority of two to one.' FoUo-wing up his success, as a further lesson to the Prsetorians at the Rotunda, Yelverton then moved " that it is now necessary to declare that this House will maintain its rights and privileges against all en croachments." This, too, was carried by an equally large majority, and at once the danger was over. As invariably happens in Ireland, the spectre of rebel lion has but to be boldly confronted to fade and dis appear. General Burgoyne had taken precautions to preserve the peace of the city. The Volunteers did not care to measure strength with him. The Convention had reraained in session till the result of the first division was known. It was a Saturday night. Lord Charlemont, who was in the chair, moved that they should adjourn till Monday. On Monday morning the delegates reassembled, and a Captain Moore rose to complain of the insults which had been passed upon them by Fitzgibbon. Lord Charlemont at once flattered the assembly and stopped the discussion by telling Moore he was out of order in alluding to what had passed in another place. At the Bishop of Derry's request. Flood then described the reception and the fate of theb BUI in the House of Commons. Earnestly deprecatmg vio lence, he proposed that there should be an address from the Irish nation to the King, which he offered himself to present ; and then mildly and innocently the great Convention, ushered into existence amidst the thunders of cannon to command the destinies of Ireland, adjourned sine die and closed its vainglorious career. I 157 to 77. 1783.] The Convention. 393 The Bishop of Derry only was unable to sit down under his defeat. DeHvered from irresolute compan ions, and now unchallenged chief of the Volunteers, " the Bishop," it was said, " rose Hke a phoenix out of the ashes of the Convention." This absurd being stiU clung to the dream of a separate Ireland of which he was to be King, and his admbers in the North fooled him to the top of his bent. On his return to Ulster " the Bill of Rights Battalion " presented him with an address under arms. They said they had seen with indignation the treatment of their delegates. " They hoped stUl, under the auspices of his lordship, to cleanse the Augean stable, those noisome stalls of venality and corruption in Parliament." The Bishop replied that " the spirit of freedom, like a Promethean fire, was now animating the lifeless mass of Irishmen." He appealed to the Catholics. He appealed to the Americanized Presbyterians. " These respectable citizens," he said, " were far more numerous than theb oppressors." " They had crouched hitherto un der the bon rod from a dread of wounding their country through the side of their tyrants." " Gen tlemen of the BiU of Rights Battalion," he concluded, " I summon you to consistency. Tyranny is not Gov ernment, and allegiance is due only to protection." The BattaHon swore they would support the Con stitution, or be buried under its ruins. Last, strang est, and most grotesque feature in the history of the Irish Volunteers ! The emancipators of their country chose for theb favorite leader a British Earl and a Bishop of the Irish EstabHshed Church. 594 The English in Ireland, [Bk.vilch. l SECTION V. The shadowy giant of the Convention ha-ring faded into vapor, the Parliament, relieved of its presence, proceeded with its ordinary work. In December Mr. Molyneux moved once more the threatened Ab sentee Tax of four shillings in the pound on aU rents remitted out of the kingdom to non-resident landown ers. A free Irish Legislature, alive to the real causes of Ireland's misfortunes, would have welcomed a meas ure which had been almost carried in the days of its bondage. In the pursuit of imaginary triumphs her politicians had lost the power of recognizing their real foe. Northington had doubtless been at work under the surface. There was a cry that such a tax would lower the value of lands — that it WoiUd divide the countries now so happily united. Sir John Bla quiere reminded the House of the circumstances un der which an Absentee Tax had been proposed when he was himself Secretary. " Every voice had been at first in its favor. He went himself to England to soHcit it as a boon from Lord North's Cabinet. He urged his suit indecently, he said, and with unbecom ing importunity, and had -wrung from his chiefs a re luctant consent. He returned full of joy to propose it as a Government measure, and the gentlemen who had been so eager turned theb backs on him. He had divided in a minority of 14." It appeared that the Constitution of '82 had recon- 1783.] The Convention. 395 ciled the patriots to this theb deepest grievance. The minority of 14 became now a minority of 162. The House divided against Molyneux, and in 1783 the Absentee Tax was rejected by 184 votes to 22. The autumn session wound up with the passing of the Supply BiUs. The Coalition Ministry in Eng land was dissolved, and Pitt came to the helm to com pose the crisis which had been provoked by the Amer ican disaster. Northington, who had made himself popular in Ireland, was invited to remain, but de clined, and the young Duke of Rutland, then only 29 years old, who died too soon to display qualities in a larger sphere which might have given him a place in the history of the empire, came over to serve his political apprenticeship as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. The excitement of '82 was over. The Convention had alarmed the timidity and disgusted the intelligence of the higher classes, and with the Duke, " the enemies of Irish liberty," as they are termed in patriotic histories, came back into power. Yelverton was made Chief Baron and Lord Avon- more. Scott became Chief Justice and Earl of Clonmel. Fitzgibbon as Attorney-General was the ruling spirit in the practical Administration. The revenue was still short of the expenditure. Three hundred thousand pounds had been borrowed to meet the now constant deficit. A bad harvest and the Volunteer insanity had injured trade, and the arti sans of Dublin were out of work, starving and mutin ous. The exasperation against British soldiers had been aggravated by the failure of the Convention. General Luttrell had to inform the House of Com mons that " there was now practised in Ireland, in the 18th century, a cruelty that would have astonished 396 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. i. the barbarians of the 14th — the practice of houghing men for no reason but that they were soldiers, by ruffians whose qualities were a strong arm, a sharp knffe, and a hard heart." The soldiers had the pas sions of men. It was not yet understood that Ireland was to be ruled by conciliation, and that their busi ness was to submit. In sorae instances they had done justice to theraselves. So many men of the 49th had been harastrung that the regiment had been ordered out of Dublin, for fear they might inffict sorae fright ful retribution on the mob who were in league to protect their assailants. The Duke loitered in London after his appoint ment. The Christmas recess was prolonged, and members anxious to be busy complained of " the sus pension of Irish business on account of a squabble of gentlemen in England for places." The Viceroy came at last at the end of February. Corapliraentary ad dresses were presented by both Houses, not indeed without signs of opposition. The Duke of Leinster had told Lord Mornington that he would give no support to Mr. Pitt's Administration, but the opposir tion was merely the revival of the traditional system. The Viceroy hoped to have conciliated sufficient sup port by announcing that English politics were not to affect the conduct of Irish Government. But this was not what had been meant at all. He had to report " that Government influence would be reduced to nothing unless security could be given by very high terms indeed that particular persons should be benefited without being liable to disappointment in case of new changes of Administration." ' Mr. Orde,^ who came 1 "The Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, February 27. Secret." — S. P. 0. 2 Created afterwards Lord Bolton. 1784.] The Convention. 397 as Secretary, wrote that "he was almost distracted with the infuiite numbers and variety of applicants for favor, who had all long stories to tell. The pat ronage of Ireland would not suffice for one day's short allowance, ff all who crowded into the ship were to be fed." ' The hungry applicants were rationed so far as the Government resources extended. Those who we left out were soothed by promises. The crew at last fell into their places, and the vessel was once more under way. The Duke was able to mention as " one great cause of confidence the effect of what was passing out of doors upon the minds of almost every person of property and understanding who considered the stake they had to venture, and who could not look to any so sure protection as that of his majesty's Government." ^ The first business which came before Parliament was the " houghing." Luttrell, himseff a soldier, told the story. The perpetrators of these atrocious acts were protected by the public opinion of their class, and had not been brought to justice. He introduced and carried a biU, to oblige the barony where such a crime had been committed, to provide a pension of 20Z. a year for the maintenance of the disabled sol dier, so long as the criminal remained undetected. A second clause provided that, in case of conviction, these -wretches should be executed within two days of their sentence, and should be fed in the interval with bread and water.^ The phenomenon was repeating itseff which has appeared with invariable sequence in Irish history. 1 "Mr. Orde to , March 3, 1784." —S. P. O. 2 " The Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, February 27, 1784."— S. P. 0, a 23, 24 George III. cap. 56. 398 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. i. The hatred against England was increasing with each concession to popular demands, and fresh sever ity was required to prevent the mischievous conse quences of those healing measures, which had been represented as the certain grounds of future peace and good-will. The Reform question, though its back was broken, was not dead. The Bishop of Derry -was still ha ranguing the Ulster mobs. Flood had carried over and presented the address to the King. He had re ceived no answer, and was about to try his bill a sec ond time in Parliament. It had been rejected in November, on the ground that it was forced on the House by intimidation. The Convention being dis solved, it could be now received and debated on its merits. Flood himself was frightened at the spbit which was abroad, and was only anxious to be de cently quit of his responsibilities. Leave was given this tirae for the introduction of the biU, the Duke calculating on being able to defeat it by a hearier majority on a second reading than he could have com manded for a refusal of admission. Thus he hoped that by moderation " a question so unpleasant and distressing in the present circumstances of the king dom would be more effectually quashed ; and without unnecessary britation to the feelings and prejudices of certain persons who stood forward in support of the measure." ' The debate, when the second reading came on, was long and tedious. The fire had been expended in November. There was now only the smouldering of damp and ashes. Sir Boyle Roche said that the extension of the suffrage to Protestant leaseholders 1 " Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, March 17. Secret." 1784.] The Convention, 399 would lead to the expulsion of the Catholic tenantry to make room for them. Grattan spoke again for the principle of reform, and defended the Volunteers. The discussion dragged on till four in the morning, but with the languor attaching to a cause which was consciously lost. The division, when it came,' was decisive of the prospects of the question, so long as the present Parliament continued, or was protected from intimidation. Far away, not^withstanding, was the halcyon period which Rutland anticipated. Submission to the Dun gannon resolutions in '82 had been a fatal encourage ment to perseverance in sedition. Maddened at the defeat of the bill, which they had been taught to regard as the door that opened into Paradise, the Dublin populace howled and stormed. The Bishop of Derry set himself to raise new corps of Volunteers in the North. The Viceroy, at Fitz gibbon's advice, sent down officers in disguise to watch him, with a warrant in their pockets should an arrest be necessary .2 But there was a more immediate and more serious danger. The Reform Bill gone, the patri- ] ots stiuck upon a course more certain " to set Dublin in a flame, and introduced resolutions for the protection of Irish manufactures. Free trade they now called a mockery. The people were still starring in the stieets ; the country was as poor as before. Perfidious England, when it gave free trade to Ireland, knew well that it was giving her a useless bauble. It was I 159 to 85. 2 This singular prelate ran a near chance of ending his career on the gallows. "I shall be much concerned," the Duke wrote, "to find my self obliged to proceed to extremities, and take a step which may occasion any ferment ; but I think it essential that an example should be made among the abettors of sedition, if such there be." — " To Lord Sydney, March 17. Secret." 400 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vh.Ch.l like opening the veins of a wretch expiring -with hun ger. There was not on the face of the earth a race of men so abject as the Irish ; not the Esquimaux in North America, not the Hottentots at the Cape of Good Hope ; and the cause was the injustice of the laws. Irish manufactures required protection, and must have it." Such were the arguments — echoes of the cries out of doors — addressed to the Parliament. The Par liament for the present was not convinced, and the resolutions were heavily defeated. The vote fiUed the measure of popular indignation. Handbills were sent out to rally the friends of Irish liberty. The Mayor of Dublin was cj^ed on to take measures to preserve peace. The Mayor of Dublin, true to the traditions of his office, refused. The mob gathered at the doors of the Parliament House. They thronged the passages. They filled the bar and gal lery, and from the gallery they marked unpopular members, and threatened them with death. The pa triot newspapers preached assassination. The leading articles " were essays in praise of murder, investigat ing the different means by which it might be perpe- tiated, preferring the poignard as the most certain and least dangerous to the assassin." ' Fitzgibbon said he had a man arrested who had conspired -with others " to kill seven members of the House of Com mons, he himseff having the honor to be one." The murderers were to receive a hundred pounds apiece ; and it had been agreed that if either of the seven who had been named escaped, " any other of the majority who had voted against the protecting duties might be taken instead." ^ Even Grattan admitted that the 1 Speech of General Luttrell, April 12, 1784. — Irish Debates. 2 Irish Debates. Ibid. 1783.] The Convention. 401 Press teemed daily -with such atrocious matter as would not be suffered in any other country." Again the Mayor was called on to arrest the pub- Hshers and printers of these papers. He compHed so languidly, and handled the offenders so gently, that the Serjeant-at-Arms was sent ¦with a guard of soldiers to take them out of his hands. The soldiers went to work more roughly than the city officials, and the air rung ¦with shrieks of indignant patriots for the wrongs of their suffering comrades. In the midst of these scenes the unfortunate Con stitution was overtaken by a tragic calamity. The reader wiU remember the battle o-ver the Writs of Error and the Irish appeals, and the earnestness^ with which Ireland had insisted on her right to give final judgment in her o^wn causes. The value of the priv ilege was to be iUustrated in the very first appeal which was brought before the Irish House of Lordsi A large property was at stake. The suit lay between a member of the Loftus family and a Mr. Rochford. Judgment had been given in the Court of King's Bench for Mr. Loftus ; but the Judges were divided, and the case came on for hearing before the Peers. Opinion was so nicely balanced that votes were of consequence. Lord Strangford, a clergyman and Dean of Derry, who for forty years had been a pen sioner on the Irish Establishment, conceived that a court of justice was like the Legislature, and that a vote in one as well as the other was convertible into money. He appHed to Mr. Rochford in general terms for assistance in his distressed circumstances. Mr. Rochford excusing himseff, Lord Strangford wrote agam to him, saying that he was anxious to make himseff acquainted with the merits of the pending VOL. II. 26 402 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vilch.l cause, but was unable through poverty to attend at the House. Alluding to his first request for help, he said " that probably since that time Mr. Rochford's rents had been more punctually paid ; " and " he was encouraged by that consideration to renew a request which might be productive of too many advantages to enumerate." " Two hundred pounds would fix him in a most enviable situation. One hundred pounds would enable him, by daily appearance, to ex press his gratitude where he flattered himseff to see success cro-wn the undertaking." ' Rochford forwarded this remarkable production to the Chancellor. It was produced and read in the House of Lords, and their Lordships may have doubted whether they were whoUy worthy of the boon which Grattan had procured for them. " A general alarm was felt for the safety of property." ^ Stiangford was ordered to attend at the bar of the House, where the Viceroy hoped " he would be pro ceeded against with the rigor which so notorious an act of corruption and dishonor deserved." Not ap pearing, he was taken into custody by the Black Rod. He admitted his letter, though protesting that he had meant no harm. The Lords thought otherwise, and an Act was passed disabling the miserable old man from voting or sitting as a Peer of Parliament thence forward. It was a bad case, and Strangford had sinned in being found out. Yet he was but tainted a shade more deeply than his judges, and in the same series of letters which tell the story of his delinquency the Duke said that throughout the session the Govem- 1 " Lord Strangford to Mr. Rochford, January 10, 1784." — S. P. 0. 2 " The Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, April 12, 1784. — S. P. 0. 1784.] The Convention. 403 ment had been encountered by a petty embarrassing opposition in the House of Lords ; that the meaning of it " was to enhance their importance and make the Peers' pretensions the flrst object in the distribu tion of emoluments and honors." " The Peers," he wrote in a " most secret " dispatch of the 19th of AprU, " under the new Constitution have more power than before. Greater attention, therefore, and more expensive influence wiU be required if we mean to dbect its progress in the right way." " A share in the lucrative favors of Government must be set aside for the purpose of gaining attachments in that House, as the invention of mere external allurements will no longer maintain the influence which they may for the moment acqube." " I must observe also," the Duke continued in the same letter, "upon the scantiness of the pro-rision which is at the disposal of Government for the sup port of an increased and increasing number of claim ants. I must therefore represent the necessity of taking some measure as early as possible for the en largement of our means. It -will be absolutely in cumbent on me to endeavor to establish in the House of Lords the strongest and most immediate connec tion ¦with a certain number of powerful members who may be at aU times looked to, and may be depended upon for the fideHty and firmness with which they will execute their trust." ' Entering into further details, he said that the Duke of Leinster, though still in opposition to Pitt, was willing to come to terms. Lord Mornington ^ " was disposed to take a leading part in favor of administra- 1 " To Lord Sydney April 19, 1784." — S. P. 0. 2 " Afterwards Marquis Wellesley. 404 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vn. Ch. i, tion." Lord Hillsbcfrough promised well. Lord Shan non made " fair professions, which were not clogged so far "with unreasonable demands in favor of his friends and extensive ParHamentary connections." Lord' CHfden was ¦wilHng to support Government, " but not without a steady view to his object — an official establishment for his second son." His brother, the Archbishop of Cashel, acted on the same principles, and did not lose sight of the Primacy or the See of DubHn." To meet so m^ny pretensions, the Duke wished to create some new offices which might be objects of ambition to the great Peers — a Presidency of the CouncU ; a Pri^vy Seal, ¦with rank ; a Speakership of the House of Lords, distinct from the office of ChanceUor — ff salaries could be found for them without adding new burdens to the Estab lishment. Passing from Peers to Commoners, the Duke said that " the Provost, who had always some object in view, and whose objects were not generally marked ¦with the character of moderation and humUity," desbed that Mr. Rigby should be induced to retbe, and that he might have the Mastership of the Rolls. John Ponsonby would give his services, " provided his terms were acceded to." " He demanded the office of Secretary of State for Hfe for his son," " a thing not to be acquiesced in ; " but as his influence was great, the Duke was disposed to let his son have the Post Office, to give a Peerage to his son-in-law, Mr. O'Callaghan,' and " to make some inferior ar rangements to gratify his numerous dependents." Mr. Loftus, too, might be counted on. " His riews extended to a Peerage," and he had received a prom- I Created Lord Lismore. 1784.] The Convention. 405 ise of it on condition of his surrendering his pen sion. This pension, having lost his cause ¦with Mr. Rochford, " he was un^wilHng to relinquish," and it would be necessary to aUow him to keep it. ' 1 " The Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, March 26. Most secret." -S. P. 0. 406 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. i. SECTION VI. To Ifft the curtain which hides the working of the Irish Government is to see the condemnation of it ¦written as by a hand^writing on the wall. WeU might Irishmen demand Reform. Never did system satu rated with corruption need it more. But it did not occur to them that if Reform was to be effectual, each one of them must begin -with a reform of his own heart. The Parliament was corrupt because Lords and Commons were only influenced by base motives. If England had refused to bribe them, the same men would have foUowed theb interest in other ways, to theb own and their country's stUl more fatal injury. So long as they remained unworthy of freedom, the only reform which would have benefited them would have been the suspension of theb powers of seff-gov ernment. And yet the blame did not rest whoUy ¦with the Irish. The least heeded yet not the least mischievous effect of misgovernment is the character which it generates aHke in the rulers and the ruled. Centuries of injustice and neglect had divided the Irish nation into a proletariat, to whom law was sy nonymous with tyranny, and into an aristocracy and gentry who, deprived of the natural inducements to honorable energy, Hved only for idle amusement, and used poHtical power as a means of recruiting their exchequer. After the Revolution of 1688 Ire land was as a garden ¦with the soU newly turned, in 1784.] The Convention. 407 which England might have planted what herbs she pleased. She had let the opportunity pass. The native weeds had been aUowed once more to grow, and in this condition Irish politicians, who saw theb misery but were too vain to understand its causes, had been enabled by cbcumstances to snatch an in stalment of Home Rule. In this condition there were but two alternatives before the EngHsh Cabinet — either to buy the support of the aristocracy, who threatened other-wise to make government impossible, or else to fall back upon the people, to level the old barriers, lay open the imposthume, and appeal to a genuine representation freely chosen by the popular voice. Let those sanguine persons who believe most firmly in the regenerative virtues of ballot-boxes and poUing-booths reflect calmly on the condition of the country, and affirm afterwards, if they can, that the second experiment ought to have been ventured. A Protestant minority o^wned the soil. The Catholics, from whom it had been taken by force, still believed themselves to be its rightful possessors. The Prot estants were split into Churchmen and Dissenters. The Churchmen had the pride and passion of a long- privileged class. The Dissenters were repubUcans, inflamed by injury and kindled into fervor and en thusiasm by the successful revolt of America. The inflammable temperament of the people led them always to choose their leaders among demagogues and incendiaries. Over every province were scattered armed regiments owning no authority, and possessed with the conviction that the sole obstacle to Irish happiness was the connection with England ; while the entire population, whom it was sought to en franchise, was intoxicated vrith that most dangerous 408 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. i. of illusions, that the misery of the country was due entbely to political causes, and was deliberately caused by the persevering maHce of theb rulers. To have let loose the torrent must have precipi tated a furious revolution. To maintain order and authority by existing methods was to lend the coun tenance of the Crown to corruption of which the reaHty was probably worse than even the imagination of the patriots could conceive ; and that the choice now lay between two courses alike if not equally de testable was a disgrace to the superior country, whose neglect was the cause of the condition into which the Irish colony had fallen. England, of course, selected to drag on through the slough till circumstances might open some third way of escape. Corruption, however, was employed thenceforward, not to bolster up iniquitous laws, or resist measures which promised real advantage, but to bribe the Irish gentry to save their country from being dissolved in anarchy. Wrought as they had been by the Convention into vrild expectation, the mob, in Dublin especiaUy, were savage in their disappointment. The presence of a British garrison alone prevented insurrection. Par Hament was prorogued prematurely to leave the exe cutive freei and the executive needed all its courage for the work which it had to do. The distress in the city was real and frightful. Fifty thousand artisans were out of work and starving, and were taught to beHeve that the cause was the refusal of the protec tion duties. The Act of Parliament and the threat of miHtary law stopped the houghing of the soldiers, but other forms of outrage took its place, copied from a Transatlantic pattern. A tarring and feathering committee was established in Dublin, obnoxious 1784.] The Convention. 409 citizens were dragged from their beds, stripped naked, smeared ¦with pitch, and roUed in goose-down, and so turned into the streets. The Press, which had been checked for the moment by the prosecutions, became as riolent as before, and the Government discovered as a fresh and still more alarming sympton " that most of the abominable letters and paragraphs were written by Popish priests." The Catholic Bishops were " most earnest to express and manffest theb reprobation of such excesses," and offered assistance in detecting and con-ricting the writers.' Their serriee was accepted gladly, but little came of it. The corporation was governed by Napper Tandy, who continued at the h^ad of the Volunteer artillery, and had possession of their guns. The magistrates were cowardly, or themselves sympathized with the agitators. Reilly, the High Sheriff of DubHn, called a meeting of citizens on the 7th of June, where reso lutions were passed that the constitution of ParHa ment was unbearable, that the people must have a share in the representation, and that the CathoHcs must have the franchise ; that a venal and corrupt House of Commons had treated the demands of Ire land with indignity and contempt ; that under the Constitution of '82 any administration could have a majority, and that there was danger of absolute monarchy. A committee was chosen to consider the steps which ought to be taken. The committee reported, in the name of an injured and insulted kingdom, that their liberties were insecure, that their chartered rights had been infringed, and the freedom of the Press violated ; that the Commons were " a hbed instrument to pillage an already impoverished 1 " Mr. Orde to Mr. Evan Nepean, April 30. Most private." — S. P. 0. 410 The English in Ireland. [Bk.^vilch.i and distressed people ; " in fact, that there must be a new Convention. In the ensuing October a congress of 300 representatives, freely chosen by the Irish nation, must meet in DubHn. " The majesty of the people would then resume its proper influence, and Divine Providence, knowing the justice of theb cause, would assist them in obtaining their rights." Finally, the Corporation drew a petition to the King, complaining that the Reform Bill had been denied a hearing, that protection had been refused to their infant manufactures, that their newspapers had been confiscated and the publishers punished. They appealed for help to his majesty, and entreated him especially to abolish the remnant of the penal laws which oppressed their Catholic fellow-subjects. The High Sheriff carried the petition to the Vice roy, with a request that it might be transmitted to St. James's. " Gentlemen," replied the Duke of Rutland, " while I comply with your request in trans mitting this paper to his majesty, I shall not fail to convey ray entire disapprobation of it, as casting un just reflection on the laws and Parliament of Ire land, and as tending to weaken the authority of both." Belfast trod in the steps of Dublin, and prepared a similar petition, which was sent immediately to the King by a deputation from the to^wn. Pitt answered more courteously and with exact truth, that " he had been and was a zealous friend to Reform in Parlia ment, but on grounds different from theirs ; their plan was calculated to produce greater evils than those which the friends of Reform desired to rem edy." _ _ Petitions having failed, other methods were re- 1784.] The Convention. 411 sorted to which had succeeded too often. Another non-importation agreement was drawn and sent round, and largely signed — signed even by the Duke of Leinster. The tarring and feathering committee, growing bolder with impunity, " established an abso lute dominion over men's fears, so that Government in vain endeavored to prevail on those who had suf fered to make any depositions against theb torment ors." ' DubHn was patroUed nightly by cavalry and infantry, but the magistrates would lend no help ; and ff the soldiers were attacked and defended them selves, there was a clamor that innocent citizens were in danger of their lives from British savages.^ Every day there was risk of coUision between the regular troops and the Volunteers of the city. Every day the Press informed the people that the rights of Ireland were bought and sold, and the principles of liberty betrayed by venality and corruption. The summer did not pass -without actual bloodshed. At the end of August a conviction was at last ob tained for tarring and feathering. A man named Garrat Dignam was tried, found guilty, and sen tenced to be flogged through the streets. The city magistiates, against their -will, were forced to be present ; the offender, with a strong guard of soldiers about him, was duly fastened to the cart's tail, and the lashing commenced. The crowd was enormous. At each cut furious yells ran along the line. Before the punishment was half over stones were thro^wn at the guard. A shot came from a ¦window, by which a soldier was wounded. His comrades, ¦without waiting for orders, levelled their muskets and fired into the I " Mr. Orde to Mr. Evan Nepean, August 21." Most private. 2 Ibid. 412 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. i. howling mass. They had marked and succeeded in killing a conspicuous rioter, himseff a member of the tarring and feathering committee, who was flourishing a sword. Three or four more were wounded. The' crowd flew down the side lanes and disappeared, and the rest of the whipping was duly completed. " I am determined," wrote the Duke of Rutland, in reporting what had passed, '" that the execution of the law shall not be wantonly resisted, as far as my power can have influence." ' When Ireland was disturbed England's enemies on the Continent were on the alert. Irish officers in the French serriee scenting odors of rebelHon were re ported as coming over in disguise. The patriots had traitors in their camp, who reported to the Duke that the agitators were now meditating an open revolt while the Volunteer corps remained in arms. Napper Tandy and his friends were in the habit of holding secret meetings where French emissaries were present, especially one who had come to Ireland ¦with an inteo- duction which had been given to him by Lord Car marthen, at the request of the French Ambassador in London. At one of these meetings there was a sin gular scene. Ten years later the Irish patriots were red repubUcans, allies of Carnot and Hoche, anxious only to establish in Ireland the principles of Tom Paine. On this occasion Napper and his party " drank the health of Louis XVI. on their knees." " Their acknowledged object was separation from England and the establishment in Ireland of the Roman Cath olic religion." ^ 1 " To Lord Sydney, August 25, 1784." —S. P. 0. 2 " The Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, August 26, 1784. Most secret." — S. P. 0. 1784.] The Convention, 413 The state of the city had begun to alarm quiet citizens even of patriotic sympathies. They desired to mark their sense of " the late seditious proceedings " ¦with proper indignation, and two parishes released themselves from the non-iraportation agreement, the Duke of Leinster heading the Hst of signatures.' But other measures were now needed. If rebellion was meditated, the Government required fuller knowl edge ; and " a new plan of management " had to be adopted " to obtain exact information of the conduct and motives of the most suspected persons." " Use ful and confldential agents," whose silence andfldelity could be relied on, " who would write the daily history of a man's motions," -without betraying himself, ¦were not to be found in DubHn. The Irish Secretary applied to the English Cabinet to furnish him from their own staff of informers. Two valuable persons answering to Mr. Orde's description were sent, and the name of one of them will be an unpleasant surprise to those already interested in the history of the time. They were both Irishmen — one was a skilled de tective named Parker, an accomplished orator who could outmouth the noisiest patriot, and had already some knowledge of the leading agitators. Orde welcomed this man with a twinge of misgiving. " I hope he is discreet," he wrote, " for he must to a cer tain extent be possessed of the power of hurting us by garruHty or treachery." ^ The other was no less a person than the celebrated Father O'Leary, whose memory is worshipped by Irish CathoHc politicians with a devotion wlHch approaches idolatry. O'Leary, 1 "Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, August 26." — S. P. 0. " "Mr. Orde to Mr. Evan Nepean, September 8, 1784." — S. P. 0. 414 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. i. as he was known to the world, was the most fascinat ing preacher, the most distinguished controversialist of his time — a priest who had caught the language of toleration, who had mastered aU the chords of Lib eral philosophy, and played on them Hke a master; whose mission had been to plead against prejudice, to represent his country as the bleeding lamb, ma- Hgned, traduced, oppressed, but ever praying for her enemies ; as eager only to persuade England to offer its hand to the Catholic Church, and receive in re turn the affectionate homage of undying gratitude. O'Leary had won his way to the heart of Burke by his plausible eloquence. Pitt seemed to smile on him: it is easy now to conjecture why. When he appeared in the Convention at the Rotunda the whole assembly rose to receive him. Had such a man been sent over on an open errand of conciliation his antecedents would have made the choice inteffi- gible. But he was dispatched as a paid and secret instrument of treachery, in reply to a request for a trained informer. What the Government really thought of Father O'Leary may be gathered from Orde's language when told to expect him. " He could get to the bottom of aU secrets in which the Catholics were concerned," and Catholics were kno^wn to be the " chief promoters " of the agitation in Dub Hn. But he too was to be dealt ¦with cautiously, for he was a priest. " They are aU of them," Orde said, " designing knaves " — " the only good to be derived from them is perhaps to deceive them into an idea that they are beheved." ' Parker and O'Leary reached Dublin at the end of September, and were both at once set to work. 1 " Mr. Orde to Mr. Evan Nepean, October 17." — S. P. 0. 1734.] The Convention. 415 " Your experts have arrived safe," -wrote the Secre tary reporting their appearance. " At this moment we are about to make trial of O'Leary's sermons and Parker's rhapsodies. They may be both in their dif ferent caUings of very great use. The former, ff we can depend on him, has it in his power to discover to us the real designs of the Catholics, from which quar ter, after all, the real mischief is to spring. The other can scrape an acquaintance with the great leaders of sedition, particularly Napper Tandy, and perhaps dive to the bottom of his secrets." ' 1 "Mr. Orde to Mr. Evan Nepean, September 23, 1784. Private." — S. P. 0. 416 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vilch.i. SECTION VII. Anxiety was now concentrated on the intended Congress. It was not to consist, as before, of del egates from the Volunteers, but of professed repre sentatives of the Irish nation. If such a Congress was elected and was allowed to meet, an armed coUis ion between the people and the troops was antic ipated as certain to ensue. The Irish noblemen, and gentlemen, though in the utmost alarm, were too cowardly to appear in open opposition, and left the danger and the responsibility to the Government. ' The Government, seeing that there was a real crisis, and that hesitation would be fatal, screwed its courage to the sticking-point. Lord Northington would have interfered with tbe Convention had he dared. The Duke of Rutland was braver than Northington, and determined ' that this new Congress should neither meet nor, if possible, be elected. Napper Tandy had issued circulars to the sheriffs of every county in Ire land requiring thera to summon the King's lieges and invite them to choose representatives. The Duke sent official intimation to the sheriffs that such a pro ceeding would be countrary to the law and would not 1 " It is impossible to conceive any difficulty equal to that of prevailing on the principal persons here to take an active part to assist the Govern ment. They are not insensible to the danger of indifference, but they hope to lie concealed under the wing of the administration which is to expose itself to the whole attack. — Mr. Orde to Mr. Evan Nepean, Sep tember 23, 1784." S. P. 0. 1784.] The Convention. 417 be permitted. Most of them had the wisdom to accept the warning. The impetuous High Sheriff of Dublin, Mr. Stephen Reilly, dared to disobey. His office gave him authority to call out the strength of the county. He used it as a pretext to call a meeting of the free holders, for a purpose certainly not contemplated when the Sheriffs had their powers assigned to them. The county members. General Luttrell and Luke Gar diner, attended to enter protests against the illegality of the Sheriff's action. They were outvoted. A res olution was passed to meet again and choose members for the Congress ; another followed, that the Dublin citizens would support the Congress with their lives and fortunes. " The leading persons " in the country were hang ing back, but there was fortunately one member of the Administration who did not hang back — who under stood the country, and knew that Irish sedition was formidable only to those who were afraid of it. In this same lawless summer, when Fitzgibbon was re cruiting at Mount Shannon after the work of the session, a desperate ruffian was holding possession by force of a farm in the neighborhood, from which he had been legally ejected. The Sheriff of Limerick came to consult Fitzgibbon on the propriety of calling in the troops to enforce the law. Fitzgibbon said it would not be necessary. He mounted his horse, and took but a single servant with him. Usually when he went abroad he carried arms : this time he left his pistols behind. He rode to the farmhouse, called the man to the door, and ex postulated with him on his folly. He told him that if he did not surrender his holding in haff an hour, he would assemble the gentlemen of the county, and VOL. II. 27 418 The English in Ireland. [Bk. ¦vil Ch. i. not only dispossess him, but lay him in Limerick Gaol. The effect was instantaneous. The man was cowed and submitted. Precisely in the same spirit Fitzgibbon encountered the danger which was threat ened in Dublin. He addressed a letter to Reilly, informing him that in summoning the freeholders he had been guilty of a serious breach of duty. If he called them together again and proceeded to an elec tion, he would himseff, as Attorney-General, im mediately prosecute him. Reilly laughed at the threat, called his meeting, and was amusing his au dience with reading Fitzgibbon's admonitions, when Fitzgibbon himself walked into the room, and then and there, in the very lion's den, he repeated to these fiery patriots that he would call the Sheriff to account ff he took the chair and went further -with the busi ness in which he was engaged. Irishraen admire personal courage even more than they love agitation. Stephen ReUly was overawed. The meeting dispersed, and the county of DubHn was without its representatives. When the 25th of Oc tober came, the day appointed for the Congress to assemble, a contemptible handful of gentlemen alone presented themselves. They met at a house in Wiliara Street, where they debated ¦with closed doors. The Bishop of Derry had taken warning and stayed at horae. Flood attended, but was found unsatis factory on Catholic emancipation. The abortive effort to supplant the Parliament was extinguished in ridicule, and the Congress went the way of the Convention. From this moment tiU a new madness possessed the Legislature, the insubordination of Dublin was subdued. The punishment of one criminal and the 1784.] The Convention. 419 fire of the soldiers made an end of the tarring and feathering. Fitzgibbon, who had done the work, to estabhsh the principle, and to prevent forever the upgro^wth of rival representative assembhes, pro ceeded against ReiUy by attachment as an officer of the State who had abused his commission. Chal lenged on the point of law the Attorney-General was supported by the Judges. Reilly was sentenced to fine and imprisonment. He was pardoned on makuig his submission, but authority had successfully asserted itseff.' The Duke was able to report more cheerfully of his prospects. He could speak of " the late ferment " as something that was past. The gentry had recov ered theb courage. The agitation was now limited to " a RepubUcan Section at Beffast and to particular classes among the Catholics who were worked on by priests and French emissaries." Confined to these it had lost power to hurt. "Rather," he said, "the improper conduct of a few Catholics, and the pubH cations of a Catholic newspaper, the avowed disloyalty of some and the disloyalty of others, were likely so lln the foUowing February Flood attacked Fitzgibbon in Pariiament for the attachment of Reilly. Fitzgibbon replied, that in summoning the freeholders under cover of the _posse comitatus to elect representatives, the Sheriff had broken the law. The SherifiE's power was an emanation of Koyal authority, and was therefore punishable in a summary manner by the King's Bench, where the King was supposed personally to reside. Curran said this was the introduction of arbitrare power. He asked why the Attorney-General had not indicted Reilly before a jury. Fitzgibbon said the case would have come before a jury of the Sheriff's own choos ing. Flood again argued that attachments were an emanation from the Star Cliamber, and were not part of the law of the land. The Attorney-General insisted " that the election of representatives for a county under the nature of delegates, without the King's -writ, was a violation of the Constitution." The House of Commons supported Fitzgibbon's view by a majority of more than two to one. — Irish Debates, February, 1785. 420 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vilch. L to cement together the men of property that Govern ment would be stronger than ever." ' The Constitution of '82, after a near escape from destruction in the "riolent rolls which had f oUo^wed the launch, might now be considered fairly afloat. The composition of the House of Commons remained ab surd. The means by which it was kept in working condition were disgraceful to itseff and to England, and the demand at the sword's point for revolutionary changes having been successfully resisted, Mr. Pitt allowed himseff to think that some degree of Reform might now be ventured. The question would prob ably be revived in another form when ParHament re opened. He recommended the Duke of Rutland to establish a Protestant militia, which would of course be accompanied by the suppression of the Volunteers. He contemplated bringing an alteration of the Repre sentation at an early period before the Parliament of Great Britain. If the discussion could be postponed in Dublin till the subject had been settled in England, he implied, without positively stating, that the Gov ernment would consent to some necessary changes in Ireland also. " The delay," said the Cabinet letter, " vrill enable your Grace to discover more clearly what plan of reform, if the event should at last take that turn, would be agreeable to the greatest number, and meet least objection from those who have hitherto supported the connection between Great Britain and Ireland." ^ 1 "Edward Cooke to Mr. Evan Nepean, October 30. Private." — S. P.O. 2 Draft of a Cabinet letter to the Duke of Rutland, January 11, 1785. 1785.] The Convention. 421 SECTION vm. I Mb. Pitt's anxiety to restore Ireland to health and rigor was not confined to Parliamentary Reform. He desired to repair the injuries which had so long paralyzed her manufacturing industry ; and although he would not indulge her incHnation to rush into pro tective duties which would have enriched a few traders at the expense of the Irish consumers, he was -wilHng to risk unpopularity at home by giving Ireland a genuine participation in the commercial prosperity of England, and so to arrange the trade of the two countries that English capital and EngHsh skiU should be employed indiscriminately in both. The haste with which the Constitution of '82 had been hurried through had left the entire question untouched. Ire land had free trade, but who was to protect her trade, who was to represent her merchants abroad, under what system of duties were her exchanges with for eign countries to be regulated, and her manufactures or raw products allowed privilege in the markets, or passage through the ports, of the sister country ? All these matters, vital as they were to Ireland's in terests, remained open, and the settlement of them had hitherto been made impossible by the bondage of the Irish Parliament to the pretensions to which they had committed themselves. They had asserted theb right of legislating for Ireland, externaUy as well as internally. There was now no escape but through a commercial treaty. 422 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vh.Ch.l In the summer of 1784, Mr. Joshua Prim, a Dublin merchant, privately laid a scheme before Pitt, which in its commercial aspect was supremely favorable to Ireland — so favorable that his chief uncertainty was whether the English Parliament could be induced to listen to it. Divided into eleven propositions, it was based on the principle of the equalization of duties in both countries. The Irish linen manufacturers were to retain the protection which they enjoyed at present in the English markets. Retaining the pri-rilege of fixing their own scale of duties on theb own products, they were enabled by a special article to control the duties imposed on such articles in England. InteUi gent men of business both in England and Ireland were agreed that the effect of the arrangement would be to make the Irish harbors the depots of a large part of English commerce, and must operate as a proportionate encouragement to Irish domestic man ufacture.' In adopting Mr. Prim's proposals, Pitt's intention was to present Ireland -with a genial offering of na tional good will, to abolish the memory of ancient grievances, and to open a road to sound reconcUiation. The Irish Parliament met on the 20th of January. The speech from the throne recommended the com mercial relations of the two countries to the considera tion of the House of Commons. It treated the inter ests of England and Ireland as inseparable. Confident in her own sincerity. Great Britain hoped that Ire land would meet her in a conciUatory spirit. The beginning was unpropitious. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, now twenty-one years old, made his first appearance in Irish politics by opposing the address 1 See the articles in Plowden, vol. iii. p. 105, note. ir85,] The Convention. 423 on the ground of the Reilly prosecution. It came to nothing, however ; and on the 7th of February Mr. Orde, on behalf of Government, produced the eleven resolutions which were to form the basis of the new treaty. He went through the substantial part of his statement apparently with general approval. The Irish members were not generaUy skilled in commer cial details, but each of the first ten articles seemed either to be innocent or to contain specific concessions to Irish interests. He arrived at the eleventh, the last. In return for a free, full, and perfect partner ship ¦with England, for free commerce with the Eng Hsh colonies, to whose foundation she had contributed nothing, for exclusion of the linen of Russia and Ger many from the English markets in favor of the Ul ster looms, for the protection of the navy abroad and at home, and the assistance of the English Consular department in every part of the world, the Parlia ment of Great Britain expected Ireland to make some concession. The condition required was so mild that it would be inoperative until the Irish trade had be come vigorous, and in times of depression would cease to bind. It was simply this, that for the pro tection of trade, whenever the gross hereditary rev enue of Ireland should exceed 650,000^. the excess should be appHed to the support of the Imperial Fleet. The Secretary had no sooner sat down than Mr. Brownlow, the member for Armagh, who had been struggling to restrain his emotions, rose to deliver himself. " I was hardly able," he said, " to contain my in dignation while the honorable gentleman was speak ing. I am astonished at his hardiness in proposing a 424 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vii. Ch.l resolution tending to make Ireland a tributary nation to Great Britain. The same terms were held out to America. Ireland has equal spirit to reject them. It is happy for Mr. Orde that he is in a country re markable for humanity. Had he proposed such a measure in a Polish Diet, he would not have lived to carry back an answer to his master. The words of Virgil are often quoted, — " Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes." I for my part have no fear. If the gifts of Britain are to be accompanied ¦with the slavery of Ireland, I will never be a slave to pay tribute. I wiU hurl back her gifts with scorn." ' The note had been touched which always drove Ire land mad. Brownlow's extravagant language found no imitators. He himself indeed, apologized for it. Grattan spoke approvingly of the essential part of the propositions : but the eleventh article he, too, as well as every patriot in the House and out of it re fused to hear of. Orde remonstrated with Grattan in private. John Foster, the most accomplished master of finance in the House, " tried to convince him of the impolicy of opposition at so critical a tirae." Their arguments produced nothing but a letter in which the great leader declared his determination to resist on the point to the death. " You know Mr. Grattan's character," the Duke ¦wrote : " experience has shown to what effect he can exercise his abilities when a strong ground of popu larity is given him to stand upon." The national pride was touched, and Grattan would I Irish Debates February 7, 1785. " Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney. Mostsecret." — S. P. 0. 1T85.] The Convention. 425 have forfeited confidence forever had he hesitated. He took his ground ¦with skiU, and rested his oppo sition on economic grounds. He told Orde that " tiU the Government brought its expenditure within the revenue, he would not consent to the appropriation of a farthing of it. The system of carrying on the ad ministration by loans was ruinous." "He foresaw the violent resentment of an exasperated people, to whom Government, if it persevered, would become to the last degree obnoxious." The Irish Council, who knew the country, felt the hopelessness of resistance. The revenue leaking at a thousand pores through the inveteracy of the smug gling trade could never rise till the legitimate com merce was expanded. England was holding out what, under the existing circumstances of the world, might have proved to Ireland a very horn of plenty. Ire land would not have it. The Council warned Rut land that he would proceed at his peril. They rec ommended an alteration Hmiting the appropriation to years in which the revenue should not be exceeded, and the introduction of an additional resolution that the interests of Ireland required that the accumula tion of debt should be prevented and the revenue be made equal with the expenditure. The Viceroy consented against his judgment.' Grattan gave his support with the new condition at tached, and thus modified the resolutions were ac cepted by Ireland and transmitted. Doubtless it was well to equaUze income -with out goings. But the ParHament might have remedied what was amiss by a yet further resolution of seff- 1 " The Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, February 12. Most secret." — S. P. O. 426 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vh.Ch.l denial, a resolution 'to demand no more wages in future for abstaining from mutiny. The Cabinet well understood the meaning of the proceeding. They did not blame the Duke, but they insisted naturally enough that it was useless to propose the treaty to the Parliament of Great Britain, unless Ireland, if she was to be admitted to share the commercial advan tages of England, acknowledged her obligation to bear a proportional part of the expense.' The British Parliaraent showed rapidly its own opinion of the matter. Pitt introduced the resolu tions, modified as they were, in a speech in which he recommended Ireland to England's penitent gene rosity. He dwelt long on the tyranny by which for so many years the commerce of Ireland had been op pressed, and he inrited the House warmly, and as an act of justice, to atone for it by now extending to her, ¦without reserve, fuU rights of partnership ¦with Eng land and Scotland. It is remarkable that the opposition rose from the quarter where Grattan's first efforts to liberate Irish trade had met the warmest support. The Irish had shrieked at the propositions as a snare to rob them of their liberties. Fox thought they conceded far too much to Ireland. They appeared to him to constitute Ireland grand arbitress of the commercial interests of the empire. The great to-wns struck in with petitions and remonstrances, to which Ireland's refusal to bind herself to contribute to the general expenses gave irresistible point. The propositions in their original form were abandoned ; and an effort made in good faith to bring together the two countries, indissolubly 1 " Lord Sydney to the Duke of Rutland, February 24, February 28, and March 3, 1785." — S. P. 0. 1785.] The Convention. 427 united by nature, and for that reason, perhaps, so difficult to persuade into unity, was broken down by Ireland's passion for visionary and impossible in dependence. StUl Pitt per^vered. He took back his scheme, and set himseff to remodel it in a form under which it might have better fortune. 428 The English in Ireland. [Bk. "vilch.l SECTION IX. Meanwhile Ireland haring again gone wild, was finding food for fresh suspicion. WhUe it was fright ened by Conventions and Congresses, the Parliament had been reasonable. No sooner was the danger ended by Fitzgibbon's courage than, instead of the halcyon Adijs to which Rutland had looked forward, squalls came sweeping up from aU sides of the hori zon. Mr. Brownlow's speech had set the Irish blood boUing, and the passions which had been transferred to the Rotunda had migrated back to College Green. To supersede the Volunteers by a force responsible to the executive was indispensable to the return of order and the revival of industry. Most of the orig inal members had gone back to theb occupations, and the regiments had been replenished from discon tented artisans and aspiring and dangerous Catholics. The commercial propositions were to have smoothed the way towards the substitution for this question able body of an organized mUitia. The way was now rougher than before, yet it was absolutely necessary to make the attempt. The eleventh article had cre ated a suspicion that there was a Saxon plot on foot to undo the work of '82. The introduction of a Militia Bill turned the suspicion into certainty. Feared and condemned when the mad bishop was their hero, the Volunteers were again regarded as the saviours of Ireland. Eulogies were poured on 1T85.] The Convention. 429 them from all sides of the House. They were the sacred army of Ireland's Constitution. They had watched over its birth. They had guarded its in fancy. They, and only they, could be trusted to pro tect its maturing years against the treachery which threatened it. Truth was too cold an element to suit the Irish House of Commons. To speak truth there was to be a traitor. It was, perhaps, a greater effort of courage in Fitzgibbon to resist the patriot members when they had the Volunteer frenzy on them, than to face Mr. ReiUy's meeting or Napper . Tandy's Congress. He rose when the tempest was loudest, and spoke ¦with a clear, cold voice which compeUed sUence, cutting out his words as in a mould : — " Gentlemen have run into an odd strain of invec tive against Government, and eulogium on the Vol unteers, because it is proposed to establish a militia. It is a new idea that a militia is an unconstitutional force. In England it is held the only constitutional army that can be embodied. It is impossible that the Volunteers — be their intentions ever so good or theb loyalty ever so firm — can be of effectual service but under the command of the executive magistrate. When gentlemen say the contrary, they talk a lan guage that was never before heard from persons of understanding If the same men had contin ued Volunteers, ff they had not suffered their glory to be suUied, theb names to be blasphemed by ad mitting into their ranks the armed beggary of the soU, they woidd have still remained the ornament of theb country. But of the original Volunteers the great majority have hung up their arms, and are re- tbed to cultivate the arts of peace. Their station has 430 The English in Ireland. [Bk. -vtlCh.l been assumed by men who disgrace the name, and there is scarce a dishonorable action which such men have not committed. I have seen resolutions invit ing the French into the country. In the April of last year the Sons of the Shamrock voted every French man of character honorary member of their corps. I have seen publications in^riting Catholics, contiary to the law of the land, to arm themselves to reform the Constitution in Church and State. I have seen encomiums on Louis the Sixteenth, the friend of mankind and the asserter of American Hberty. I have seen invitations to the dregs of the people to go to drill and form into corps. I have seen a summons from a major, ordering his corps to attend, "with rounds of ball-cartridge, as there might be occasion for actual serriee. WiU any man tell me we should be overawed by people like these? Are the Com mons of Ireland to be told they shaU not have a militia till the dregs of the people who blast and disgrace the name of Volunteers shaU choose to per mit them ? Let no one threaten the Commons of Ireland with the displeasure of any body of men out of doors. No body of men out of doors shaU mtimi- date them. I desire again to distinguish between the gentlemen of Ireland, the original Volunteers, and the dregs of the people who, led on by vile incen diaries, dishonor the Volunteers' name ; and I say, if I had no other reason than to show those sons of sedition that Government had a power to blast them to atoms, I would vote for the estabHshment of a militia." ' Fierce as some band of devotees whose idol has suffered insult, the patriots in the House stormed 1 Irish Debates, Februaiy 14, 1785. 1785.] The Convention. 431 against the blasphemer of the Volunteers. Their shouts reached the streets, and were caught and echoed by the again delirious mob. For three days Dublin was in inarticulate frenzy. On the 18th it found words, and Mr. Brownlow renewed his motion that the Volunteers had deserved well of theb country. Luke Gardiner proposed as an amendment, that the House approves the conduct of those who since the war had gone back to their occupations. This was to repeat Fitzgibbon's insults. Mr. Todd Jones, an eminent disciple of Flood, cried out that he would hear no aspersions on the members of that noble body. They w^e accused of meddling in politics. He hoped they would continue to meddle tiU they had saved their country from a baneful aris tocracy. " The Volunteers," he said, " must aid the populace." Cries of " Order " rose from the Government benches. " Is a man to speak in this House," inquired Mr. Sergeant Fitzgerald, " of aiding the populace against the Constitution ? " Todd Jones refused to retract his words, " By populace he meant the magnanimous people of Ire land." He was forced at last to make a faint apology. Flood followed, however, in the same wUd strain. He said that to speak against the Volunteers was blasphemy; that the gathering of the Volunteers was the most glorious page in Irish history. He moved to add to the amendment of Luke Gardiner that it was not " to compromise the undoubted right of the freemen of Ireland to the possession and use of arms." Fitzgibbon, and only Fitzgibbon, could bring the 432 The English in Ireland. [Bk. 'Vli. Ch. i. Irish House of Commons to its senses. He Hked to remind them of their inconsistencies. He moved that the Clerk of the House should read from the journals the reception of the bill sent from the Vol unteer Convention. He then proceeded : — " Not a man in this House has opposed the resolu tions of thanks to the Volunteers for their conduct during the war. But there is scarce an injurious ex pression which has not been heaped on the ministry because an amendment is raoved conveying approba tion of such as retired on the return of peace. From the first I have ever reprobated the idea of appealing to the Volunteers, though I was confident Ireland was in no danger while they followed the counsel of the man whom I am proud to call ray most worthy and honorable friend (Mr. Grattan). Sb, I say, whUe the Volunteers continued under his influence, I feared no evil frora thera ; but I apprehended what has since come to pass, that when they should forsake him, designing incendiaries would make them the tools of faction and instruments of their vile ambition. The press has teemed with writings subversive of the Constitution in Church and State. Every man that has shown an attachment to the religion or Govern ment of his country has been libelled and calumni ated, and the dregs of the people whose birthright I shall show that it is not, have been invited to carry arms. Sir, I say they should be compelled to lay them down. As long as such a body of men exists with arms in their hands, ready, at the instigation of any wicked man who, by declamation and affected popularity, may gain an ascendancy over them, to destroy the Constitution in Church and State, I say Government is not safe. It has been said every 1785.] The Convention. 433 Protestant has a right to keep arms. It is not denied. But they have no right to flock to a stand ard except at the King's command and by his author ity. " I defy any man to refute me. Thia is the law. If there were any doubt of it, I would bring in a bill to declare it. "rhe gentleman (Mr. Flood) says we mean to divide the Volunteers. Does he mean to admit CathoHcs ? I am not a bigot, but I say the bish Protestant who would admit Catholics to the use of arms, if he does not do it out of folly, is a most dangerous enemy to the country. The gentle man has intimated that there is a general -disposition to resist the laws gone forth among the people, and therefore we should not coerce them. This is rea^ soning worthy of the cause. But it is not founded in fact. If it was, it would be the very reason for coercion. " Sb, there can never be a good government while a body of men independent of the State remains in arms. I would therefore wish to see them retire to cultivate the blessings of peace. Any man who does not array under lawful authority ought not to be trusted." The Patriots hooted, but the Attorney-General's courage was contagious. Members who had held high Volunteer commands agreed ¦with him that an armed force which refused obedience to the execu tive was virtuaUy a rebel force. Mr. Green, the mem ber for Dungarvan, saicj that a few evenings past he had seen a sergeant drUHng a company of ragged, dangerous-looking ruffians, in Marlborough Street. He asked him what he was about -with such men ; the sergeant said rough times were coming ; he was VOL. n. 28 434 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. i. driUing them, to have them ready, and, damn him, he would have them as complete a corps as was in Ireland. In another street Mr. Green had seen a second sergeant -with eighty recruits of similar aspect. He inquired to whom this corps belonged. "Be long ? " said the man. " They belong to nobody ; they are my corps, and by God I 'U have them the best in Ireland, for there is to be a rebelHon." " Were such men Volunteers ? " Green asked. "They were a desperate banditti, and ought to be disarmed." Mr. Brownlow's resolution was lost by 175 votes to 64. Luke Gardiner's amendment, commending the Volunteers who had returned to private Iffe to cultivate the blessings of peace, was carried by a yet larger majority. But the House was stiU haff- hearted. The Government was obliged to withdraw the Militia Bill, and to abandon for the present the hope of deaUng effectually vrith a dangerous body, who might at any moraent set the country in a flame.' 1 Lord Charlemont was still the nominal Commander-in-Chief of the Volunteers, whom he dreaded, yet was reluctant to break with. He had issued orders for a summer review, and the Newry regiment presented him, in answer, with an address, intended as a reply to Fitzgibbon and Luke Gardiner. It was hushed up as too strong for publication : — " My Lord, — Your Lordship's orders for a summer review, and our alacrity iu obeying them, are the best answer to the late indirect attack on the perpetuity of the Volunteer establishment. We shall endeavor to pro tect as well as cultivate the blessings of peace, by holding ourselves well prepared for war ; and conscious that those blessings are precarious when held at the discretion of others, we shall retain our arms, not only as proof of present possession, but as a seal of future security. " Peace, my Lord, is not the gloomy stillness of men brooding over the wrongs they have suffered. It is the stable tranquillity of undaunted free dom, fixing a firm footing on the rights of human nature, and leaning on the arms by which those rights are to be defended. " We will not lay down our arms. They are the pledges of peace, which is the object and end of our institution. They are dear to us on 1785.] The Convention. 435 The battle upon the Volunteers was thus practi cally a victory of the Patriots. To fill the time, tiU the commercial question should come on again, there were partial skbmishes on ParHamentary Reform. An mdependent member introduced a Bill to prevent the purchase of seats — one of those Bills so good in themselves which answer the purpose of no one. Mr. Brownlow was able to sho-w that the salable bor- 6ughs were the hope of the Radical party. " The most advanced Reformers, men of independent spirit, unconnected -with and uninfluenced by the persons by whom they were returned, thus found seats in Parli ament. If the patrons were forbidden to seU, they would return their o-wn creatures or would give the nomination to the ministers, and the public would pay the price of the seat to the person who misrepre sented them." A more comprehensive measure would alone answer many accounts — dear for what they have gained, dear for what they will StiU gain, and doubly dear, by cementing a union between us faithful Vol unteers arid you our honored commander. "We shall grasp hard, my Lord, what we thus hold dear. Should a time ever arrive when foreign tyranny shall give place to domestic usurpa- pation, -when law shall be put as it were on the rack to give evidence against the principles of the constitution, when juries shall be superseded i>y judges, and the summary jurisdiction of particular Courts be made an omnipotent and omnipresent instrument of ministerial vengeance, when every obstruction shall be thrmvn into the channels of public information and private correspondence, when the business of finance shall be the sole business of the State, when extension of trade shall be transformed into a severe system of taxation, and when Ireland shall be kept as a barrack for the empire — everl then, my Lord, we shall not deem ourselves totally stripped and despoiled while our arms are remaining. But if our enemies should ever express a desire to -wrench out of our hands this last hope, this solitary distinction left between a freeman and a slave, -what then, dear General, can we do but answer in laconic and soldierly lahguage, in a single word, in a single syllable, ' Try f " Inclosed by the Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, May 20, 1785. — S. P. O. 436 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. l the ends of anarchy. On the 28th of April Mr. Flood reintroduced the Bill of the last session. " Great Britain," he said, " had been destroyed by the corruption of her Parliament. Ireland's case was worse. He had wept for years over it. Even in the counties the elections were a farce ; the returns were controlled by manufactured votes. A landowner in Tyrone said to his neighbor in Armagh, ' I -will make forty or fifty freeholders in your county, if you wUl make as many in mine. They shaU go to you ff yours come to me.' In the towns, when a form of franchise remained, men were made honorary members of the corporations to swamp the votes of the genuine elect ors. Was it not childish, was it not an insult to the understanding to caU a House of Commons so chosen representative ? " The true answer was that a House of Commons which should be really representative would throw the country into convulsions, and was incompatible -with the maintenance of English authority. It was better, therefore, to leave unchanged a system which, ff ab surd in theory, at least made government possible. The bare truth would have been unpalatable. Un derstood by every one it could not be nakedly avowed. Fitzgibbon's heavy artillery was not needed when the object was to play ¦with fictions. The speaker for the Castle was Sb Hercules Lan- grishe, the witty favorite of the Duke of Rutland. " If," he said, " there could be such a mass of oddity in the human mind as that the people were in love beforehand with everything which calls itseff Reform, I could furnish a seraglio for their raptures. I have in my pocket seventeen different plans for Re form in ParHament, and I could collect as many more. 1785.] The Convention. 437 The honorable gentleman says the people demand Re form. The mob may demand it, but not the people. Peace and industry are ever sUent; discontent and disorder are ever clamorous, and ten men and ten women that are clamorous make more noise than ten thousand who are satisfied and silent. When a man talks of the voice of the people, he means the voice of those who echo his o-wn. Personal equality of repre sentation, the only equality that I can conceive, would be a pure democracy, and in a country Hke ours, where the democracy does not profess the religion of the State, a democracy subversive of the laws and the constitution." The Bill was again thro^wn out on the second read- mg by 112 to 60. 438 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vn. Ch. i. SECTION X. Had Ireland accepted the eleven propositions in the spirit in which they were offered, Mr. Pitt might have induced the British Parliament, perhaps with a bad grace, to swaUow them. Mr. Brownlow's burst of rhetoric and Grattan's support of him furnished the Opposition ¦with effective weapons, and it fared with the offers made to Ireland as with the books of the Sibyl. Redigested and extended to twenty, the articles now proposed for a treaty of commerce between the two kingdoms ¦withdrew privileges which the Irish might have retained, and interposed stipulations which encroached further on Irish independence than the obligation in the eleventh resolution, which had been the occasion of the storm. In deference to the wishes of Liverpool and London, it was now provided that, whatever Navigation laws were adopted by the British Parliament, the Irish Legislature must bind itseff to reenact. Under the terms first offered bish trade was unrestricted by local limitation, and the East and West Indies would have been aHke open to them. Though they might still trade freely for them selves with the Dutch, Spanish, and French Colonies in the West Indies, they were allowed to reimport into England only the produce of the English West Indian Colonies, and " they were debarred from countries east of the Cape of Good Hope " so 1785.] The Convention. 439 long as the Charter of the East India Company continued. The new resolutions were carried through the EngHsh House of Commons on the 20th of May, and through the House of Lords on the 19th of July. On the 12th of August Mr. Orde came once more before the Irish ParHament with his altered wares. The changes made were of course notorious. They had been debated up and down the country, and had been received with rage and disappointment. The Table of the House of Commons was covered with denunciatory petitions. The petitioners prided them selves on their discernment. It was not proved that, as they suspected, England had been laying a snare all along to deceive them. " A serpent was in the bowl which had been offered to theb lips," and simple, confiding Ireland had been all but bitten by iti The Government had anticipated an outcry, but had not been prepared for such utterly wild extrav agance. Characteristically the indignation turned less on the substantial advantages which had been withdrawn than on the imaginary menace to theb in dependence, which was now as they conceived more nakedly revealed. The serpent which they detected was hidden in the clause which bound, them to reenact England's Narigation laws. Grattan said that such a demand was a revocation of the Constitution. Sb La-wrence Parsons said that the resolutions meant at best that England had a right to extend the commerce of Ire land — an assertion of superiority which no Irish man should allow. There had been hints in the Eng- 440 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. i. lish papers of a possible Legislative Union. " Good God, sir," exclaimed Dennis Brown, " What union could we have with Great Britain but a union of debt and taxation ? " Then Flood came riding triumphant on the crest of the popular wave. He described the whole affab as the most infamous attack on Irish independence. " The Irish Parliament," he said, amidst salvoes of applause, " will not become the register of the Eng Hsh ParHament. Freedom of the Constitution is necessary to freedom of trade. Liberty is the nurse of commerce; I vrill not give up an atom of it. I say you have not a right to give it up ; but ff a ParHament could be so base, so profligate, as to at tempt it (" Hear, hear," from Fitzgibbon), I ask you may it not be attempted ? Was not every European country free once as yours ? Why are they now slaves but by the corruption of theb Senates ? Could you be so corrupt, I assure you the people wiU noti They must not. They shaU not. I ¦wiU raise my voice. I will be heard in the extremity of the land. I say ff you give leave to bring in a BUI you are no longer a Parliament. I -wiU no longer consider you so. Meet it boldly, and not Hke dastards fear ful to guard your rights, though you talk bravely to your -wives and children, trembUng at a foreign nation." The unfortunate Secretary protested mildly that the House was out of its vrits. England had no treacherous intentions. She wished only to attach Ireland closer to herseff, and to prevent a rivalry in trade which could only injure them both. The reso lutions as they stood removed the prohibitions which English jealousy had created to keep her trade to 1T85.] The Convention. 441 herseff. They could not fail to be infinitely bene ficial to Ireland, so beneficial that there had been the greatest difficulty in inducing England to consent to them. Orde's words were blo-wn to atoms as they left his Hps. All night long the howling gusts continued. Grattan said that ff ever the question was presented to them, whether the Empbe or the Constitution was to be sacrificed, he as an Irishman would say — Perish the Empbe. Curran spoke at six in the morning, " hoping his exhausted condition was not a symbol of the condition to which his country would be re duced ff the Bill became law." At nine in the morn ing ' the House divided. Leave was given to in- tioduce Mr. Orde's BiU, but only by a narrow ma jority of 19. Two days were aUowed, in the feeble hope that the delbium would abate. On the 15th the BiU was produced, and a second battle began over it. Flood moved, " That we hold ourselves bound not to enter into any engagements to give up the sole and exclusive right of Parliament to legislate for Ireland in all cases, externaUy, commerciaUy, or in ternally." On the top rank of fame once more, and first favorite of the populace, he treated the division of Saturday as equivalent to victory. He spoke in contemptuous pity of the supporters of Government who dared not show theb true convictions. He described them as hiding theb heads in shame, but undertook to spare them the disgrace of further in juring theb country's cause. Other orators foUowed in the stream of the popular frenzy. Then Fitzgibbon came to the front and took up Flood's chaUenge. 1 Saturday, August 13. 442 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. i. " The honorable member," said he, " wishes to pass the resolution as a vindication of gentlemen on this side of the House who now hide theb heads. For my part I never hid myseff from any public question, nor ever "will. The man who in office or out of office can stoop to hide from a public question is in my opin ion a despicable man. I "wUl never skulk from any measure. If I approve it, I will support it Hke a man. If not, I vrill oppose it like a man. I repeat before the House, I repeat in the face of the nation, that the BiU brought in this night is highly advan tageous to its commerce, and in no way incompatible with its free constitution. Gentlemen may triumph in theb opposition to this Bill. I -wUl defend it line by line and word by word. I -will meet theb whole array upon it. The clamor that has been raised is as unfounded and as little to be regarded as any that ever disturbed the deliberations of a -wise assembly. In every session since 1779, when you obtained the colony trade, you recite the conditions on which you possess it ¦: — you recite the British tax and you enact it. What is the difference here ? You are permitted to trade to every possession which Great Britain has, provided you adopt the laws by which she regulates her trade, pro^rided you trade as British subjects trade. Every advantage which British subjects enjoy is offered to your acceptance. I caU on every man living to tell me where there is an iota of difference. Therefore let no man talk to me of hiding my head. I support the Bill as highly advantageous to this country. The honorable gentieman says it is nec essary to answer the resolutions of England by his resolution which he has read. Let me tell gentlemen it is not very prudent upon every occasion to come 1785.] The Convention. 443 forward in terms of indignation against the sister kingdom, because we cannot exist one moment with out her protection. Let me tell them here that it ¦wiU not be perfectly prudent to rouse Great Britain. She is not easUy roused, but ff roused she is not easUy appeased ; and in this, perhaps, lies the differ ence between the two kingdoms. Ireland is easily roused, but then she is easUy appeased. " You say you may go on as you are. You have abeady a free trade, and that is aU you want. You have indeed a right to trade, but without the assists ance and protection of Great Britain you have not the means of trading with any nation on earth. There is not a single article in which you can trade ¦without the assistance of England, and I desire by this BUI to secure her protection and assistance. When the people of this country are restored to their sober senses they vriU see it. The Bill forever guarantees your linen trade, to promote which Eng land taxes her own consumption 450,000Z. yearly. On the German and Russian Hnens she lays a heavy duty, and is content to pay an advanced price for the Irish. Yet stUl the Russian and German manu facturers can in some degree meet Ireland in the EngHsh market. If the duty was taken off they would beat her out of it altogether, and therefore I say she is a besotted nation ff she seeks to quarrel •with England." Clamors rose on all sides. Eager members started to their feet, declaring that Ireland was insulted. No one in that House should say that Ireland could not exist vrithout England. Fitzgibbon continued : — "I am obHged for the opportunity of reflection, 444 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vh.Ch.l and I hope gentlemen who have been so hot on this occasion will reflect that the best manner in which I can show my sense of the obligation conferred on me is to repeat the words at which they have taken offence. I say ff Ireland seeks to quarrel with Eng land she is a besotted nation. I say she has not the means of trading ¦with any nation on earth without the assistance of Great Britain, and I -wish every man and every child through Ireland to hear me when I say it. I say Ireland cannot exist one hour ¦without the support of Great Britain. When the people re cover their senses, and awaken from the delusion and frenzy into which thay have been misled, ff the bene fits of this BiU are then, within theb reach, they ¦wiU grasp at them. In my mind we have taken a miU- stone from Mr. Pitt's neck and hung it about our own. " I love the Irish nation too well to insult her. Her solid interests are too near my heart, and there fore I will not flatter her. When she forgets her real situation I will remind her of it. I never wiU insult her, but I wiU speak to her freely of her faults, because I have no interest in flattering her ; and -with out regard to the gentleman's heat, or to his inter ruption, to which I can listen with great coolness, I shall on all occasions freely deliver my opinions to this assembly." ' Truer words had never been spoken in the Irish or any other Parliament, and in proportion to the truth of the language was Ireland's hatred of it. Curran insulted Fitzgibbon so grossly on his sitting down, that, according to the rules of the time, a duel had to follow.^ In the division the Government majority 1 Irish Debates, August 15, 1785. 2 The particulars of Curran's expressions are not preserved in the De- 1785.] The Convention, 445 was reduced even lower than before, and the Secre tary announced that the Bill would not be pressed further. Ireland was of course in ecstasies. Out of every county came addresses of congratulation from the grand juries. Dublin was illuminated. Non-impor tation agreements — the now invariable resource when England was to be punished — were adopted univer sally. The populace was so excited with alternate exultation and rage, that the peace of the city was only preserved by patrols of soldiers. The repres sion of the national sentiment by these rude means ¦was a fresh injury. The Duke of Rutland, on ap pearing in the theatre, was received ¦with the Volun teers' March. He was mobbed on leaving it, and narrowly escaped personal injury. bates. They were too discreditable, both to him and to the House which endured them. In the field, Curran fired first, and missed. Fitzgibbon was said to have aimed at him steadily ; perhaps to make sure of doing hun no serious harm. He also missed, and then left the ground. "It was not your fault, Mr. Attorney, if you missed me," Curran called after him. " Tou were deliberate enough." 446 The English in Ireland, [Bk.vh. Ch. n. CHAPTER II. WHITEBOYS, HIGH AND LO"W. SECTIOSr I. The Irish Parliament was lashing itself into mad ness over ideal grievances. The peasantry caught the contagion, and burst into similar fury over griev ances which unhappily were only too real. To escape the return of periodic rebellions, British authority had established in Ireland two institutions whose function was to control anarchy and to reclaim ignorance. It had established a ruling class and a teaching class, a landed gentry and a Protestant clergy of the Anglican Communion. The landlords had been endowed with the soU which had been taken forcibly from the natural o^wn- ers. The clergy had passed into possession of the ancient estates of the Church of Ireland, and of the tithes, which, inasmuch as nine tenths of the cultiva tors of the soil were either Catholics or Presbyterians, were -wrung from the earnings of the poor of an aUen faith, who were burdened besides ¦with the mainte nance of their own priests and ministers. The least that could have been expected from persons so favor ably conditioned would have been an endeavor to ful fil the ends of theb existence. The great persons of the Protestant laity and spirituaHty had contended, ¦with individual exceptions, in a dishonorable rivalry 1785.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 447 of neglect. The risings of the Whiteboys, the Oak Boys, and the Hearts of Steel, might have recaUed the gentry to the memory of their obligations. They had used the resources of the Government to drive these poor ¦wretches into exile or submission ; and while they were themselves agitating for what they caUed the liberties of their country, their own land had grown daily more hea^vy over the victims of their oppression. Haff-drowned already in extravagance, they had burdened more deeply their embarrassed estates in the Volunteer insanity. Their resource was to squeeze once more their miserable tenantry. In 1785, they had raised the rents of the potato gardens in the south and west to five and six pounds an acre. Their functions as magistrates were a jest. Duels were fought daily either by themselves or theb sons under their eyes. Men and boys fought and kiUed each other, and there was no punishment. Young girls, children of the few industrious men of business who had saved money, were still carried off and ravished and forced into marriage. The magis tiates looked on -with folded hands, and gentlemen of conscience and honor were at length driven to form organizations of their own independent of the law, to protect their families from these infernal outrages.' Their houses swarmed with younger brothers or cousins too proud to work, who called themselves gentlemen, and were entitled therefore to shoot or be 1 " Ireland," says Arthur Young in 1776, " is the only country in Europe where associations among men of fortune are necessary for apprehending ravishers. It is scarcely credible how many young women, even of late years, have been carried off and ravished, in order, as they have generally fortunes, to gain the appearance of a voluntary marriage. These actions are not committed by the class I am describing, but they are by them ac quitted." — Tour in Ireland, vol. ii. 448 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. il shot,' who spent their time loafing in the stables or kennels, breaking horses, or gambling on the race courses, or lounging in the tawdry profusion of the family mansion or castle. Supported by these mod ern Kerne, the landlord of an estate inhabited by Catholics was a despot who knew no law but his own will.^ Resistance he punished with a cane or a horsewhip. " The justices of the peace," says Arthur Young, " are the very worst class in the kingdom." Lawless themselves, they had an affinity for their own kind. Offenders of aU kinds found in them their natural protectors, and like the chiefs whom they succeeded, they sheltered themselves from the ven geance of their peasant tenants by the arm of theb ruffian dependents. Had Grattan been a true friend of Ireland, instead of clamoring for an absurd independence, he would have set himself to recall the gentry of Ireland to a recoUection of the word " duty." He would have appealed to the loyal and the worthy. He would have caUed on England to send back the absentees, and England could not have refused. Here was work for a very Hercules ; a labor worthy of a place beside the memorable twelve. To have achieved it I "A tradesman has not a right to the point of honor. Tou may refuse his challenge." — Tottr in Ireland, vol. ii. 2 Sir Jonah Barrington tells an anecdote of an event in his own family, which he cannot be supposed to have invented. " His grandmother, an O'Brien, had an ' antipathy ' to a neighbor, a Mr. Dennis Bodkin. One day, at the midday dinner, she launched into abuse of Dennis, concluding that ' she wished the fellow's ears were cutoff.' At supper that evening the old butler, Ned Regan, laid a snuffbox on the table before his mistress. She opened it, and there dropped out a pair of bloody ears. On a cry of horror rising, Regan said coolly, ' Sure, my lady, you wished Dennis Bod kin's ears were cut off, so I told old Gahagan, the gamekeeper, and he took a few boys with him, and brought them back, and I hope you are plased, my lady.' " —Memoirs of My Own Time, vol. i. p. 46. 1T85.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 449 would have been to have achieved an enterprise fit to be -written in letters of gold in the annals of the three kingdoms. But far from Grattan was a desbe to heal the real sores of the country for which he was so zealous. These wild disordered elements suited better for tl^^ campaign in which he engaged of renovating an Irish nationaHty. He let the landlords alone. He set himseff to assaU the second institution which England had planted at an enormous expense, and Hke an unthrffty husbandman had left to its fortunes. The sarcasm of Dean Swift on the constitution of the Episcopal Bench of Ireland was, perhaps, sharp ened by his own exclusion from it, and by the politi cal opinions of the rivals who were promoted over his head. Proper persons, he says, were appointed by the Government, but on crossing Hounslow Heath, on their way to Dublin, they were uniformly murdered by highwaymen, who stole theb letters patent, went over and were consecrated in their places. Even S-wfft would have allowed that King and Berkeley and Synge had done honor to the com munion to which they belonged. But as the serious spbit of the seventeenth century died away, the Church of Ireland lost the energy which once un doubtedly belonged to it. For an Archbishop Boul ter there was an Archbishop Stone, and Stone was unfortunately only the most developed type of the prelates who surrounded and succeeded him. The Irish sees were wealthy. The rise in the price of land had quadrupled, in many instances far more than quadrupled, the value of the old estates of the Church. They became thus objects of ambition to the relatives of EngHsh politicians, and were made the reward of political support. The Bishop of Derry vol.. II. 29 450 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vn. Ch. n. was a specimen, if a violent one, of the class of per sons to whom it pleased the rulers of England to in trust the spiritual charge of the most critical depart ment of the empire. The rich Hvings were given away on the same principle either by the Crown or by private patrons. Indefinite pluralities weret; per mitted to those who were so happy as to possess infiu ence at Court, and the absenteeism of landlords was imitated by wealthy Irish incumbents who preferred a wider field of usefulness in preaching to the fashion able congregations of London and Bath. " The Church of Ireland," said Curran, in the House of Commons,' "has been in the hands of strangers ad vanced to the mitre, not for theb vbtues or their knowledge, but quartered on this country through their own servility or the caprice of theb bene factors, and inclined naturally to oppress us, to hate us, and to defame us." The practical work of the Protestant religion, so far as it was done at all was left to native clergy of Irish birth, the smaUer incum bents whose benefices were too trifling to be a temp tation, or by curates who discharged the indispensa ble duties for a pittance of 40Z. or 50L a year ; and although of poor rectors and poor curates there was generally an honorable report, it was an expectation more sanguine than practical that by such means CathoHc Ireland could be evangelized. The first conspicuous and monstious failure was in the Charter Schools, founded by men of piety and intelligence. The Charter Schools were the best- conceived educational institutions which existed in the world. They were recommended annually to ParHament in the speech from the throne, and Par- 1 February 19, 1787. 1785.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 451 liament had responded Hberally by raising its grants from 2,000Z. to 20,000?. a year. Yet, after the first few years, the number of the boarding-schools was not increased. The affiliated day schools disappeared. The stagnation was assigned to the opposition of the priests. An examination of the state of the schools in 1787 showed that little remained to tempt the peasantry to resist the priests' warnings against them. The principle of the institution was industrial edu cation, -with the Church Catechism as its base. A farm was attached to each establishment for practical instruction in agriculture. Trades of aU kinds were, in theory, carried on within the walls. The children were to weave their o^wn clothes. The flax, out of which they made their shirts and shffts, was to be so-wn by themselves. The sheep which furnished the wool for their coats and petticoats were to be fed and sheared by their own hands. They were taught to raise their own food and prepare and dress it. They were furnished with knowledge and skill to enable them to lead useful lives. When their school teach ing was finished they were apprenticed at the cost of the society, and when they had served their time - they received further assistance to start them in Hfe. Ingenuity could have derised no better gfft to im poverished Ireland than a school of this kind in every barony. Such was the intention of the founders, and care and honesty might with ease have made the in tention into act. For care and honesty there was only neglect and jobbing, and therefore it was not carried into act. Institutions are nothing without efficient men to work them. The wreck of trade and the dis- 452 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. n. organiziation of labor destroyed the apprentice sys tem. The master and mistress plundered the funds, starved the children, and made the industrial system an excuse for using the pupils as slaves to fill their own pockets. In a country where, from highest to lowest, fprgetfulness of duty, was the rule of life, the managers of schools were not likely to be an excep tion. They only did what they saw all others doing. They took their level of obligation frora the scale gen erally acted on. The English ministers appropriated the Irish offices of state to their English political sup porters. The Viceroy appropriated the Irish revenues to bribe the patriots. Members of Parliament jobbed the taxes. Country gentlemen jobbed the county cesses, and all alike combined to plunder the poor. In such an atmosphere a generous conception like that of the Charter Schools could only wither Hke the rest. But the responsibility and therefore the blame rested with the bishops. They were the trustees. Their business it was to visit, to correct, to report if necessary to Parliament, to remove incompetent officers. They held that they discharged their obli gations sufficiently by mouthing sonorous platitudes in the House of Lords, and by preaching occasional sermons, while they divided their time between theb Irish palaces, or their London houses, varied with crusades in the House of Lords against a relaxation of Dissenters' disabilities. The bishops, like the Olympian gods, were set too high above the storms of inferior life to be assailed easily, either in their dignity or their income. The rank and file of the clergy were more accessible, and were more immediately objects of provocation. The 178S.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 453 bishops drew their incomes from land, ¦with which they were only connected through theb agents. The rectors and -ricars depended upon tithes, and on tithes which were raised in the north from Presbyterians, and in the rest of the island from Catholics. The thin attendance at the churches contrasted painfully with the crowds which thronged the chapels. In some districts the congregations had dwindled to noth ing. They could not be expected to reside when there was no work for them to do. As the absentee land lord had his middleman, the absentee incumbent had his tithe farmer and tithe proctor, perhaps of all the carrion birds who were preying on the carcass of the bish peasantry the vilest and most accursed. In his origin the tithe proctor was a parish officer, appointed and paid by the people, at a time when they were on a less painful footing with the Protestant clergyman, to compound with him for his general dues. As the century waned and life grew more extravagant, the tithe proctor, Hke his neighbors, became more grasp ing and avaricious. He exacted from the peasants the full pound of flesh. His trade was dangerous, and therefore he required to be highly paid. He handed to his employer perhaps half what he col lected. He fleeced the flock and he fleeced their shepherd. " The use of the tithe farmer," said Grat tan, " is to get from the parishioners what the clergy man would be ashamed to demand, and to enable the clergyman to absent himself from duty. His liveli hood is extortion. He is a woff left by the shepherd to take care of the flock in his absence." There were gradations of them, as ¦with the mid diemen, one below the other. A tithe farmer in ac tive practice of his profession held of another who 454 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vilch.il held of a proctor, who held of a clergyman who did not reside. He pursued his calling in a parish where there was neither dean, rector, "ricar, nor schoolmaster ; often he was an officer of the revenue besides, and would arrange his demands for his own advantage, overcharging the tithes and pocketing the surplus, and compensating the tithe-payer by undercharging his taxes. Like the Roman usurers in the early days of the Republic, he took his payments in the form of m- terest-bearing bonds, and when the bonds fell due the peasants became his slaves and ploughed his soil and carried his crops for him ¦with their own carts and horses, to escape execution. The burden was the more cruel because the poor were his only victims. The wealthy Protestant grass farmers ought to have been the first to bear the ex pense of the Protestant Church. They paid nothing at all. The cost of the Establishment fell in the south exclusively on the poorest of the Catholic tenantiy. The Munster cottier paid 7?. a year for his cabin and an acre of potato ground. The landlord took his rent from him in labor, at bd. or &d. a day ; the tithe farmer took from 12s. to 20s. from him besides, and took in addition from the very peat which he dug from the bog a tithe called in mockery " smoke money." These abominable extortions furnished a tempting opportunity to the apostles of anarchy. Patient themselves and naturally silent under suffering, the Irish peasants were ready instruments in the hands of scoundrels who played upon their real wrongs, to ex cite them to political insubordination. The Dublin and Belfast incendiaries were enraged at the threat of the suppression of the Volunteers, and created a di rision by kindling an agrarian insurrection in Munster. 1786.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 455 After fifteen years of quiet the Whiteboys reappeared in the spring and summer of 1786. The movement began in Kerry. The inhabitants of a couple of parishes met in a Catholic chapel, and took an oath to pay no more than a specified sum to the clergyman or his agent. They went, on successive Sundays, from chapel to chapel, swearing in the people everywhere, and binding them to obey at all times and occasions a phantom leader. Captain Right. The oath was generally taken with willing ness ; any one who dared to refuse was dragged from his bed at midnight ; his ears were sawn off, and he was flung into a pit lined with thorns, or set naked on horseback on a thorn saddle.' By these means Captain Right soon had aU Munster at his obedience. His army was scattered everywhere, appearing in daylight as harmless peasants, in the night as so many fiends. His first order was to dis arm the Protestants in the province. Midnight gangs appeared at every Protestant door, and with as much violence as might be necessary " thoroughly carried the order into execution." ^ The next step was to establish a system of finance. Regular con- tiibutions were leried to support Captain Right's government. The Whiteboy authority being thus weU estabHshed, the war with the tithe proctors com menced. The sentence on them was as the measure of theb guilt. If they had been definitely cruel they were condemned to die, and the sentence was promptly executed. If their offences had been only moderate they were " carded," that is to say they were stripped naked and tied with their faces down- 1 " Speech of Mr. Fitzgibbon." — Irish Debates, January 31, 1787. 2 "Speech of Mr. Brown, of the University, January 18, VJib." — Ibid. 456 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. h. wards, while a strong tom-cat was dragged up and down their backs by the tail. The tithe proctor knew the danger of his profession when he entered it, and charged for the risk in his biU. But the vengeance did not rest in punishing the instrument of tyranny, and fell in its bUnd fury upon others who were wholly innocent. The curate had not injured the people whom the pluralist or absentee rector had hbed at a servant's stipend. Of him the most eloquent declaimers on the wrongs of Ireland could find nothing to say but what was good. He had prayers in his church twice a day.' He baptized the children, married the adults, visited the sick, and buried the dead. He was a scholar and a gentleman, saved perhaps by poverty from follow ing the general road of worthlessness. Except for the poorer clergy the Church of Ireland must have perished of corruption before the century closed. So far as their means extended they had been distin guished for kindness and liberality. But they were the symbols of a tyrannical system ; they were de fenceless, they were at hand, and they were Prot estant ministers, and this was enough for theb con demnation. The landlords with peculiar baseness refused to exert themselves in their defence. " Men of the purest and most inoffensive manners were torn from their beds at midnight. Their -wives and children were driven naked out of doors, them selves rolled on dunghills, and hardly suffered to escape with life." ^ Lord Luttrell said in ParHament that a friend of his riding one morning out of Car- I So Grattan seems to say — " See the curate. He rises at six to morn ing prayer. He leaves company at six for evening prayer." 2 " Speech of Mr. Secretary Orde," March 29, 1786. —/risA Debates. 1786.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 457 Hngford overtook a clergyraan who seeraed in pain, with his head bound in a napkin. He asked if any thing was the matter. " Did you not see, sir," said the poor -wretch, " as you rode through the town two ears and a cheek nailed to a post ? They were mine." ' Throughout the south the churches were deserted. The clergy were flying from their glebe-houses to the cities, forced to leave theb duties by Captain Right and his followers. Could an example have been made of the non-resident rectors, who were gathering ad miring circles round them at the Bath tea-tables, the atrocity would have been relieved by the sense that justice was being done, however rudely. Irony could not have selected less appropriate victims than the curates and theb families. I " Speech of Lord LuttreU." — Ibid. 458 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vilCh. H. SECTION n. The Constitution of '82 had been the opening of the box of Pandora. Every one who was starving ex pected to be filled, every one who had been -wronged to have his wrongs redressed, every one who was robbing his neighbor to keep his spoils and escape punishment. Jack Cade's promises were moderate compared to what Irishmen of every degree were looking for as the fruit of that glorious rictory. The descendants of the Irish chiefs, among the rest, had dreamt of a good day coming to them, and as the good day was slow in appearing they took the matter into theb own hands. In the winter of 1785-6 Mr. Roderick O'Connor, caUing himseff the representative of the old lOngs of Connaught, entered forcibly on the lands of his an cestors in Roscommon. He established himseff in a fastness in the midst of bog and mountain. He had a cannon at his door and a thousand men scattered within sound of it ready to assemble at its call. The peasants gathered about him -with idolatrous devotion. Notices were served on the intruding landowners to be gone at their peril. Coupled ¦with the reap pearance of the Whiteboys, Mr. O'Connor's proceed ing was a startling surprise, and Parliament met in January somewhat sobered after the orgies of the past session. The English Cabinet had decided to make no im- 1786.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 459 mediate offer of another commercial treaty, but to leave the Irish time to recover their senses. The question of pressing importance was now the peace of the country. In the absence of a police, and with a local magistracy incapable or un-wiUing to act, the repression of crime was cast exclusively on the Eng lish army, which was thus in perpetual collision with the people. The Volunteers had degenerated into an armed mob. In the disturbed districts theb arms had passed surreptitiously into the hands of the Whiteboys. The southern province was covered with incendiaries, equipped with muskets, pikes, and pis tols, while the Protestants had been carefully stripped of every weapon which they possessed. If authority was to reassert itseff, the choice lay only between a mUitia and an organized constabulary. The attempt to estabhsh a militia had failed. The Cabinet, stiU dreaming of concUiation, were un-wiU- ing to renew a proposal which involved the disarming of the Volunteers. They had discovered on second thoughts that a militia must necessarily be Protestant, that the Catholics would be alarmed and offended, and that it was " extremely unadvisable to britate and mortffy them ; " whUe to suppress the Volunteers by force was serious and hazardous, and it seemed more prudent to leave them to decline by themselves.' The choice feU, therefore, on a constabulary, ff the consent of Parliament could be obtained for it, and the Viceroy was instructed to feel his way with ten tative and partial advances. To conciliate Irish disaffection was as hopeful a project as to concUiate the plague. To save imme- 1 " Cabinet dispatch to the Duke of Rutland, January 7, 1786. Most 460 ' The English in Ireland. [Bk.vilch.il diate trouble the Cabinet persuaded themselves that although conciliation had failed a thousand times it might succeed on the thousand and first. Rutland. agreed that ff they desired " to avoid measures calcu lated to stir political passions " they must leave the Volunteers alone ; the ugly feature in the leaving them alone, however, being that when a corps dis solved the arms were not given up, " but remained in the hands of the rabble of the country." ' Parliament opened calmly, as ff alive to the seri ousness of the situation, and addressed itseff to the duties which were waiting for it. Flood was in Eng land. Many of the Opposition members had re mained in the country, expecting that the session would be unpropitious to thera. Party politics being for the moment at rest, the attention of the House of Commons was drawn naturally to the various forms in which anarchy was showing itseff. Rod erick O'Connor must be taken in hand, or the ex ample would spread. Mr. Ogle, of Wexford, in quired why the Gazette was full every day of accounts of ravished women ? The Grand Jury of Dublin petitioned against the multitudes of whiskey shops, " hellish dens " where the artisans were driven to madness. Lord Luttrell said it was an insult to the under standing to talk of industry to a nation which had been drunk for a hundred years. Monk Mason en quired how gentlemen intended to stop drinking, when twelve or fffteen hundred private stills were at full work, protected and encouraged by the landlords on their own properties ? The blame was thrown of course on the Government. 1 " The Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, January 29. Secret." 1786.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 461 Fitzgibbon, speaking the truth always, however unpalatable it might be, told the House " that the disorders of Ireland were traceable, not' to Govern ment, but to the supineness of the country gentlemen. Government ought never to interfere save when the ordinary means of keeping the peace had been tried and found ineffectual. The Irish gentry, when any act of violence occurred, folded their hands and ap pHed to the Castle for a guard of soldiers." These preHminary debates we're comparatively ra tional. The Duke congratulated himseff on the re covered sanity of a now thoughtful and prudent Legislature. " Scarce a troubled wave," he said, " appeared on the political surface." ' The Duke was prematurely sanguine. The state of the South re qubed remedies more active than words. The Cath oHc bands, having disarmed the Protestants, were gro'wn so daring as to attack the soldiers. A party of the 20th Infantry, who were conducting a convoy of stores into Cork, were surprised on the road by a party of Whiteboys. They drove the assailants off at last, but only after a sharp skirmish. The ob rious and immediately necessary remedy was to hunt down and disarm these dangerous ruffians, but the magic shield of the defenders of Irish Hberty was extended even over the Whiteboys. " The Catholics being in possession of arms," the Duke said, " was a principle which struck at the vitals of the State. Yet every combination of men ¦with arms was so en tangled vrith the Volunteer system that to interfere anywhere dbectly and avowedly raised a stb in the entbe body." If Ireland was not to relapse into the anarchy of 1 " Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, February 27. Secret." 462 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vilch.il the sixteenth century, a poHce of some kind was im peratively necessary, but a police in the imagination of the patriots was only a miHtia in disguise. Fitzgibbon had given notice of his intention to introduce a BUI for the purpose. The patriots deter mined to oppose it- ; and to give time for their scat tered forces to raUy, Mr. Forbes,' in Flood's absence, brought on a preliminary skirmish on the old griev ance of the Pension List. A scandal the Pension List had always been. Under the new Constitution corruption had increased, for the Lords and Commons had larger powers of gi^ring trouble. This only was to be said in defence of so large a misappropriation of the Irish revenue, that to the general expenses of the empbe Ireland contributed nothing. She had re fused passionately to pay what she caUed tribute to the navy which protected her commerce. In the Pension List she was recei-ring, as a bribe to herseff, a portion of what ought to have been employed for more honorable purposes, to prevent her Constitution from becoming such a nuisance that at all risks it must have been broken into pieces.^ The principle was less at fault than the application. If spme pen sions might be applied with a show of reason to sUence parties in the Irish House of Commons, there were others which were still given as the reward of serrices which would not bear publicity. The entire Irish Hst amounted now to a hundred thousand pounds a year, and as Curran said — 1 Member for Ratoath, in Meath. 2 Arthur Toung has some judicious remarks on the Pension List. Lord Shelburne, he says, once suggested to him that Ireland might make a good bargain for herself if she would consent to pay 700,000?. a year into the Imperial treasury, as a final composition for the Pension List and the cost of her military establishment. But any such arrangement would have made her tributary. 1786.] Whiteboys, High and Loiv. 463 " This polyglot of wealth, this museum of curiosi ties, the Pension List, embraces every link in the human chain, every description of men, women, and chUdren, from the exalted excellence of a Hawke or a Rodney to the debased situation of the lady that humbleth herseff that she may be exalted." Such a blot on the escutcheon was an easy target for patriotic oratory. Mr. Forbes complained that the Irish pensions now exceeded the English. They were granted to overturn the independence of Parlia ment. Men were but men, and while ministers bribed, members of Parliament would be bribed. Grattan wound up a passionate speech by saying " that if he should affirm that the Pension List was not a grievance, he would affirm in the face of his country an impudent, insolent, and public lie." It occurred neither to Forbes nor Grattan that the real mischief lay in conferring free institutions on a people who were confessedly Hable to corrupt influences, and that if the members of the Irish Parliament had not been bribed by the ministers, they would have sold their votes to parties or purposes in methods more injurious to the State. Scorning alike the bait which governed the move ments of Irish politicians and the politicians them selves who railed at the system till their o-wn turn came to be fed, Fitzgibbon flung the baseness which made corruption necessary in the teeth of those who were clamoring at it. " Let me," he said, " ask gen tlemen who exclaim so loudly against pensions, is there no man among them who has ever thought his o-wn serrices deserving a pension? No. Not one. Is there no man who would accept a pension ? No. Not one. Was there a man of the 110 ' who would I The minorify which voted against the commercial propositions. 464 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. h. accept a pension ? No. Not one. When that BUI which threatened us with wealth and commerce was introduced was there a man of the said 110 that offered to desert for a pension? No. Not one. Is there now a person araong them that would come over and vote -with us for a pension ? Not one, I am certain. And therefore when gentlemen speak against the folly and wickedness of besto-wing pensions on raembers of Parliament, I am convinced they speak the genuine sentiments of their minds." ' The Attorney-General's language, however sarcas tically true, was not concUiatory. Forbes pressed his division, and though he was beaten, the large numbers who voted on both sides ^ showed that the patriots had by this time rallied to their posts. The vital question of the Police BUI now came on to try many things ; among them to try Mr. Grattan's title to the name of a statesman. The BUI in itseff was a small matter. If successful, the design was to extend its provisions, but for the present it applied only to Dublin, where the House of Commons had been half a dozen times invaded by the mob ; where a tarring and feathering committee had maintained a reign of terror of six months ; where the newspapers openly preached assassination, and where an Act of ParHament had been necessary to prevent enthusi astic patriots from slicing the tendons of British sol diers straying in the streets. In DubHn, ff nowhere else. Parliament might be expected to agree to the necessity of a more efficient protection of the peace. The mayor and aldermen of the city of late years had been unfformly found wanting. The Attorney- General's Bill superseded their authority ; it appointed 1 h-ish Debates, March 13, 1786. 2 134 to 78. 1786.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 465 instead seven paid magistrates to take the control of the local watchmen, and provided besides forty petty constables, mounted or on foot as need might reqube -with power to enter and search houses where there was reason to believe arms to be concealed. To repress savagery, to prevent armed ruffians from terrorizing over quiet citizens, is the first condi tion demanded of a Government which deserves the name. A country where gbls might be ravished, soldiers hamstrung, and statesmen who objected to such proceedings held up as marks for assassins' pon iards, was unfit for the habitation of human beings. Mr. Grattan, beyond all men, ought to have wel comed such a BiU, being himseff responsible for the Constitution, and insisting, as he had always insisted, that Ireland had only to be made free to show her seff worthy of freedom. Mr. Grattan estimated his duty differently. A state of anarchy had forwarded so materially Ireland's aspirations after emancipation, that he regarded measures for the preservation of order as an assault upon the national independence. The Bill was no sooner introduced than he declaimed against the two score constables as an army in dis guise, and the measure itseff as a covert attack on the Volunteers. He declared peremptorily that he would obstruct it at every turn. Fitzgibbon, who was earnestly anxious to get his BiU through, at first quietly remonstrated. After the riots which had disgraced Dublin, he said that he had not anticipated that the establishment of a police would be objected to. A prisoner could not be taken through the streets without a guard of soldiers. The House of Commons had been taken by storm, and the mayor, though he had notice of the intended riot VOL. II. 30 466 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vh. Ch.il had declared himseff unable to prevent it. There was not a drunken weaver in the city who had not arms concealed in his house. In the South the muskets of the Volunteers were in the hands of the CathoHc rabble. The Bill, so far from being dangerous to Hb erty, was necessary for the protection of liberty, and he expressed a ¦wish and hope to see a police estab lished universally throughout the island.' The opposition to the first reading, though loud and passionate, was not pressed to a division. When the Bill was brought on a second time, the battle be gan in earnest. " We are to have, then," said Grattan, " a merce nary army paid by the Ministers, and differing only from the military because they wiU come to those ¦meetings from which the soldiers ¦with decency woiUd letire. You knew the indignation of the House' would (be roused had you avowed the principles of your tu multuous army, your mercenary army, your ministe rial army, which you have tricked into your BUI in disguise. You destroy the ancient charter of our city. You introduce a BiU to debauch her magistrates and dragoon her subjects." " The clause," said another speaker, " which em powers the police to enter private houses to search for arms abolishes Magna Charter. If a man break into my house under this clause, and invade my pri vacy, I will meet him with Magna Charter in one hand and an instrument of death in the other. I declare before the living God no man shall enforce that clause in a house where I am master. One of us shaU faU." The city came to the aid of her Parliamentary 1 Irish Debates, March 22. X786.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 467 chiefs. Patriot actors^ thundered from a hundred platforms on the insidious design of introducing ar bitrary power. The Corporation petitioned to be heard in opposition at the bar. A Whiteboy com mittee might enter the curate's house, and the friends of Hberty saw nothing but a brave assertion of the indefeasible rights of man. For the poHce to enter the houses of conspirators and assassins was an out rage too intolerable to be endured. A motion was brought in to admit the Corporation's petition. Fitz gibbon rose to speak again, and this time not in a gentle mood. " If an argument was wanting," he said, " to prove the necessity of the BiU, it is the frequency of these tumultuous assembhes called aggregate meetings as sembled by persons inimical to it, because it wiU restrain Hcentiousness and teach these worthy consti tutional citizens to respect the laws of their country. They teU us they behold, with the deepest concern, the introduction of a Police BUI ! I doubt it not. If passed into law, it -wiU give additional influence to the Crown! I doubt it not. They think that it -will prevent an opposition to the law, that it will preserve the pubHc peace, and that there vrill be an end to that branch of the poHce the tarring and feathering committee. There -will be an end to that worshipful company of glass-blowers, ruffians hired and paid by those worthy constitutional gentlemen, to drag from his habitation any citizen that refuses to take such oaths as they are pleased to administer, or who is suspected of a due regard to the laws of his country, and torment them vrith whipping and other marks of ignominy. Therefore I doubt not the plan of a regular poHce has greatly alarmed the worthy gentle- 468 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vlLCH.n. men who promote these meetings, as it will end that kind of opposition which they are ready always to give to the law. The petitioners desire to be heard by theraselves or their counsel. I would rather hear themselves if I were to consider only my private amusement. The constitutional doctrines which I should hear would amply compensate my attention. For this House I have too rauch respect to consent that it be impeded in carrying on the national business." ' Forbes started up in fury to inquire if the Attor ney-General meant to arrest the High Sheriff who had signed the petition ? Grattan said the speech to which he had listened was a lampoon on the city. Mr. Brownlow was frightened at the disrespect which Fitzgibbon was showing to the Corporation. Fitzgibbon knew what he was doing. Irish sedition was dangerous only to those who were afraid of it. The petition was refused admission. The Bill itseff was passed. Mr. Orde, who took part in the debate, thus reported the result : — " We have carried our Police Bill for DubHn, which we may by and by extend to the countiy. Mr. Grattan thought flt very hastily to risk the trial of his ascendancy, and with most earnest soHcitude at tempted to create alarm. His success was so very bad, and so contrary to his expectation, that he appeared much mortified, and was at length entirely silenced by the Attorney-General, who rebuked him for the petulance and weakness of his opposition ¦with much dignity." ' The defeat disheartened the Opposition for the re- 1 Irish Debates, March 25, 1786. 1 " To Evan Nepean, March 30, 1786. Most private." 1786.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 469 mainder of the session. The new police were estab Hshed in Dublin, and pending further measures in the same direction the Secretary introduced a BUI for the better protection of the clergy in the South. Noth ing effective, however, was really possible without more rigorous action than the Administration could as yet venture upon. Mr. Rowley, M. P. for Meath, a Right Honorable and a person of some distinction, proposed that after the word clergy should be read "and aU other persons." Orde inquired ff this was meant as a jest? The clergy were weak, and were generaUy strangers to the country in which they were resident. The landlords, if it was to them that Mr. Rowley referred, were the parties themselves most to blame. The resident gentry, to their disgrace and shame, refused to give the clergy any help, in the hope that tithes might be abolished. Mr. Ogle (him self a large landowner), replying to the charge against the clergy of extortion, insisted that " the great ex tortioners were the landowners themselves." " There was hardly an estate which was not let to the highest penny or above its value." " The tenant felt the oppression, and not kno-wing where to turn for re hef, feU on the clergy as the weakest and least pro tected." On the other hand, the abuses from pluralist and absentee rectors were really flagrant and enormous. To pass a law which would assist the tithe-proctors was to perpetuate a frightful eril; and even Fitz gibbon, who hated injustice as heartUy as Grattan, was obliged to withhold his consent from the Govern ment proposal. He had himself, he said, known a hundred and twenty processes for tithes to be going on at once in the county of Limerick against poor 470 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vilch.il Catholic peasants. The clergy, he said, must be pro vided for by some less oppressive means. The tithes^ must be commuted into a charge upon the lands, and pending further consideration he adrised that the present Bill should be ¦withdrawn. Fitzgibbon was right in principle. The Secretary consented, and the session ended ; yet the effect was to leave the clergy exposed for another season to the Whiteboy's devilry. These gentry had been pru dently quiet while ParHament was sitting. The pro rogation was a signal that their victims were again in their hands, and the failure of the Protection Act was- taken as a confession that justice was on their side; Notices were posted on church and chapel doors, Hmiting the tithes which the peasantry were allowed to pay, and under pretence of impartiality they con^ nected with tithes the dues of the priests.' Threaten ing letters were addressed to the country gentlemen. Written evidently by men of education and ability* The war was carried on -with a regularity of move ment and purpose which showed that it was guided by organized authority. The few prisoners occa?- sionally taken refused, as usual, to betray their leaders. They pleaded that strangers had come to them at night, and had sworn them to their work with the raost horrible threats if they disobeyed; while " too many of the gentry and wealthy farmers, looking to their immediate interest in the reduction of tithes, if they did not encourage the Whiteboys, declined to take part against them." "It was Strange," as Lord Sydney observed, " that they should I " The manner in which the insurgents have connected in the general attack the Popish priests with the Protestant clergy is, I am persuaded, in tended to conceal their real drift. — The Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, August, 1786." 1786.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 471 not understand that by destroying the pro-rision for the Protestant clergy they were endangering the sta- bihty of the Protestant interest." ' So very serious was the aspect of Munster by the middle of the summer, that the Viceroy even thought of reassembUng ParHament. His special fear was that the movement against titlies should extend to Ulster, and produce the union between Protestant Dissenters and Catholics which the madness of eccle siastic legislation had made a too formidable probabil ity.^ The Pri-vy CouncU would give no advice. The Viceroy had no force to rely upon but the British regiments, and to employ British soldiers as poHce- men was to intensify the animosity between the two countries and to raise the Whiteboys into a patriot army. The outrages at length became so appalling that Lord LuttreU was sent down with a detachment of troops to see what he could do. His difficulty was to discover his enemy. The Whiteboys were everywhere and nowhere. The car driver on the road, or the peasant digging potatoes in the field at its side, the shopman behind the village counter, or the tiusted servant in the mansion or parsonage, were the same men who at night were carding tithe-proc tors and banishing sleep from the bedsides of the clergy and their fanulies. Prisoners were taken only to be dismissed for want of evidence. " The gentle men and farmers," reported LuttreU, "everywhere show a singular sympathy with them. Petty juries wiU not convict. Grand juries are strangely apa thetic, and wUling to receive the Whiteboys' peti tion." » I "Lord Sydney to the Duke of Rutland, September 6, 1786." 2 " Rutland to Sydney, August, 1786." 8 " Report of General Lord Luttrell, September 21, 1786." — S. P. O. 472 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vn. Ch.h. The spell was broken at last, by the same means which had ended the tarring and feathering in Dub lin. Lord Tyrone had arrested a couple of White boys in Waterford, and by great exertion had ob tained evidence to compel theb conviction. Their offence was not capital. One was sentenced to be imprisoned, the other to be publicly flogged. In a wholesome state of society neglect of duty would be punished as severely as crime. The com missioned officer who deserts his post or allows those under him to faU into disorder by want of discipHne is justly cashiered. The absentee landlords and clergy who drove the peasants mad by extortion, and gave them guidance in return neither for body nor soul, deserved probably, in nature's court of equity, a place at the cart's tail by the Whiteboy's side. The people were wronged. The law gave them no re dress ; and when they attempted wild justice for themselves, they were handed over to the execu tioner. An unequal balance always yields an un sound result ; and if justice cannot be distributed evenly — if the whip or gallows are reserved for the poor offender, while the rich is left to his fine houses and three courses a day — the social wound remains unhealed. In proportion as the resentment of the favored section of society is strong against the rude redressers of general injuries, so among their fellow sufferers the general sympathy -will be on their side, and will regard them as soldiers suffering for a popu lar cause. No State, however, can permit the -wUd justice to continue which never strikes the true crimi nals. Harmless curates and theb wives could not be allowed to be torn from their beds, sliced with knives, or torn ¦wit^ briars, Whiteboyism had to be 1786.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 473 put down. The convicted Whiteboy was therefore to be flogged. But who was to inflict the flogging? The common officers refused, though -with loss of place and salary. High rewards were offered. The debtors' prison was searched for some one who would do the work in return for liberty. Not a man eould be found. The High Sheriff was the person responsi ble for the execution of the sentence.' He determined that the law should not become a jest ; and, since none else would do it, he himseff with his own hand flogged the prisoner through the streets of Water ford. The effect was once more instantaneous. The reign of terror was over. Timid lords and gentlemen took courage from Musgrave's example. Well-meaning farmers and peasants, seeing that they might count upon protection, came forward -with information. Lord Kenmare, though himself a CathoHc, hunted down the insurgents of Kerry, " dragging them from the very altars of the Popish chapels to which they had flown for concealment and protection." ^ A com pany of soldiers, attacked by a gang of Whiteboys, in Clare, fired into them, and four were kUled. Others were betrayed and taken, and were sent in shiploads to Botany Bay. Luttiell, whose mission threatened at first to be a hopeless failure, returned to DubHn in October, leaving the country quieted, the clergy breathing freely again in their glebe houses, and the Whiteboys prepared to wait " tUl their complaints could be considered by Parliament." ^ A respite had been gained, but a respite only. 1 Sir Richard Musgrave, notorious afterwards as the historian of the Rebellion of 1798. 2 " The Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, September 26, 1786. Secret." 8 " Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, October 29, 1786. Secret." 474 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. ii Their arms were stiU in their hands, and commotions would infallibly break out again if Parliament faUed to find a remedy. The Viceroy declared himseff " unable to offer an opinion what was fittest to be done in so delicate and complicated a question." He rather hinted than advised the commutation system, to which Fitzgibbon had pointed as the fittest solu tion.' 1 " Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, October 29, 1786. Secret." 1787.1 Whiteboys, High and Low, 475 SECTION ni. The disorders were suspended in Munster only to break out in other places. The revolution of '82 and the establishment of political liberty had been the signal for the bursting loose of Irish ideas. An armed rising in Galway in January was with difficulty sup pressed by Colonel St. George, who seized the ring leader at the head of his gang. The Viceroy found that " ParHament only could put an absolute period to these disgraceful commotions," ' and reHnquishing reluctantly the system of biennial sessions which had aUowed hitherto a twelvemonth's respite from agita tion, he found himseff obliged to recall the Legisla ture to its functions at the opening of the new year. It was indispensable to show the Irish people that freedom (whatever its theoretic value to them) did not mean anarchy and midnight assassination, and the starvation of the clergy by the refusal of their lawful salaries. Remedial measures might be eventually necessary ; but the leading gentry, alive to the dis grace of the country, agreed that effective steps must be flrst adopted to restore respect for the law. They promised privately to support the duke in carrying a Conspiracy Act, and in pro^riding more effective of ficers to maintain peace than the supine and cowardly magistracy. ^ 1 "The Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, November 10, 1786." — S. P. 0. 2 " The Duke of Rutland to Lord Sydney, January 25, 1787." 476 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vh.Ch.il On the last of January Fitzgibbon laid before the House of Commons the outUnes of the measure which he intended to propose. Combinations to coramit capital crimes had been hitherto only misdemeanors until purpose became act. The Attorney-General's Bill made conspbacy into felony. It contained clauses enabling the Executive to disregard Constitutional forms in dealing with what was virtually rebellion. The Whiteboy Association had commenced in a Catholic chapel. Through the chapels it was propa gated. The chapel altars had been the sanctuary of the criminal when _the soldiers were on his track. It was proposed to empower the magistrates at theb discretion to destroy any Catholic " meeting-house," in which tumultuous assemblies had been held or un- la'wful oaths had been administered, and to forbid the reerection of any chapel so demoHshed ¦within three years. Fitzgibbon was Irish born — Irish of the very Irish. He knew the people. He knew the work ing of the popular creed. He knew that if the priests were not to command, they must be broken in and forced to obey. Though he was stern where sternness was imperative, no one was more conscious than he of the wrongs under which the country suf fered. No one ever described those wrongs more ef fectively, or laid the lash more hea-rily on the right shoulders. In the speech with which he introduced the Bill, he said : — " I am well acquainted with the Province of Mun ster, and I know that it is impossible for human wretchedness to exceed that of the miserable tenantry of that Province. I know that the unhappy tenantry are ground to powder by relentless landlords. I know 1787.] Whiteboys, High and Low, 477 that far from being able to give the clergy their just dues, they have not food and raiment for themselves ; the landlord grasps the whole. Sorry I am to add that, satisfied with their present extortion, some land lords have been so base as to instigate the insurgents to rob the clergy of their tithes, not in order to alle- riate the distresses of the tenantry, but that they might add the clergy's share to the cruel rackrents abeady paid. Sir, I fear it will require the utmost ability of Parliament to come to the root of these erils. The poor people of Munster live in a raore ab ject state of poverty than human nature can be sup posed able to bear. Their miseries are intolerable ; but they do not originate with the clergy, nor can the Legislature stand by and see them take the redress into their o^wn hands. Nothing can be done for theb benefit while the country remains in a state of anarchy." ' The introduction of Fitzgibbon's Bill was the oc casion of one of the most instructive debates which was ever heard in the Irish House of Commons. To the patiiots, who believed that more liberty was the remedy which Ireland required, it was naturally odi ous. Henry Flood was gone. He had forsaken his ungrateful country, and transferred his eloquence to a sphere where it was less appreciated than even at home. He was now a Member of the British Par Hament. But his place was adequately filled, so far as opposition was needed to every measure that could stierigthen authority. Mr. Burgh called the BiU a Hbel on the House and country and on human nature, infamous in principle and motive, and disgraceful to the community where it could 'find a moment's tol- 1 Irish Debates, January 31, 1787. 478 The English in Ireland. [Bk. "vii. Ch. ll. eration. Grattan outdid himseff in passion and brU Hancy of invective. " Ireland needed coercion, it was true, but it needed the coercion of tenderness, the coercion of justice, the coercion which should appeal to the generous, warm, and noble temperament of the Irish people. The Attorney-General's Bill breathed of nothing but blood. It was a leaf from the code of Draco. The clause for the destruction of the CathoHc chapels was a gross expression of insolent and gra tuitous intolerance." The chapel provision eridently found no favor. Country gentlemen were not prepared for a war of religion, and ff embodied in the Act it would be as inoperative as the repealed penal laws. Fitzgibbon yielded to the general sentiment. " If the Popish meeting-houses," he said, " were mere places of com bination to rob the Protestant clergy, they ought to be prostrated." But " as he desired his BiU to be passed unanimously, he consented to withdraw that feature." On the rest of the Bill the discussion went on flercely as before. Some members ¦wished to confine it to Cork, Limerick, and Tipperary. But it was not a measure intended only to affect the ignorant peas antry of the South. It was directed against the uni versal lawlessness of all ranks and creeds — against the Ulster Protestant peer as well as starving Catho lic cottier. Lashing out indiscriminately, Fitzgibbon caUed attention to a recent characteristic proceeding of the same nobleman who had sent so many Protestant re cruits to Washington's army.' " The North," he said, "has not been free from disorder. An outra- 1 Lord Donegal. 1787.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 479 geous attack has lately been made on the property of Baron Yelverton. Four hundred ruffians, headed by an engineer, who professed pubHcly that he was em ployed by a certain absentee peer, who perhaps has in jured this country more than any other man ever did, at midnight, near Beffast, made an irruption into the works which Baron Yelverton had erected to repel the tide, and where he had erected several houses and stores at a great expense. They destroyed the bar riers against the sea, and did damage which a large sum wiU not repab. For four hours they worked, and then, lest their ardor should be damped, their commander, the engineer, led them into the towm-of Beffast, where ha^ring dosed them ¦with whiskey, he led them to the charge again. The magistrates saw this, but did not disperse the mob ; and now that the injured man sues for redress, the offender avails him seff of the situation, skulks behind pririlege, and re fuses to plead." The discussion on the Insurrection Act spread into coUateral subjects, and the whole situation of Ireland, in its social relations, came up night after night for reriew. Mr. Browne, a native of America,' remarked on the nature of Irish tenures. " Elsewhere," he said, " landed title was purchase, in Ireland it was forfeit ure." " The old proprietor kept aHve the memory of his claim. Property in Ireland resembled the thin soU of volcanic countries spread Hghtly over subter ranean fires." 2 Religion was thus ritaUy connected I Member for the University. 2 Arthur Toung had just written: " It is a fact that in most pari;s ot Ire land the descendants of the old owners, the heirs of an estate, are always known. They regulariy transmit, by tesUmentary deed, the memorial of their right to those estates which once belonged to their famiUes.' 480 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vn. Ch. n. ¦with the land question ; and in Dr. Curry's history, which had just been published, the Protestant gentry were represented as invaders, usurpers, violators of treaties and public faith, the eldest born of per- fldy and ingratitude. It was no wonder that -with such impressions the Irish abhorred both landlord and parson." ' Grattan brought up the miseries of the tithe pay ers in two glittering speeches. He charged the clergy ¦with extortion, and with eloquent platitudes con trasted the modern well-paid incumbent with the barefooted Apostle. If fine speeches could have healed chronic wounds, Ireland would soon have taken leave of her sorrows. But the medium which she needed was truth ; and Grattan's impassioned sen tences might possess every other title to admiration, but true they were not. Fitzgibbon repeated that the Munster peasants were " in a state of oppression, abject poverty, sloth, dirt, and misery, not to be I Of all the varieties of negligence with which Irish interests have been treated, none has been more mischievous than the tacit indiflEerence with which Dr. Curry's legend has been allowed to pass into accepted history. Dr. Curry represents the rebellion of 1641 as having been instigated or al lowed by the Puritans, who wanted an excuse to rob the Irish of their es tates. He represents the massacre as a fiction, invented by fraud and supported by perjured witnesses. The truth being, according to him, that the Protestants began to murder the Catholics, and that the Catholics took arms in self-defence. Was this account a correct one ? If it was, the for feiture and the Act of Settlement were the most atrocious injuries ever in flicted on the weak by the strong. The resentment of the Irish would be as legitimate as it ought to be undying till the fullest reparation had been made. How vain, how mendacious, how absurd the story is, was shown long ago in the " Fiction Unmasked " of Dr. Harris. But Harris is for gotten, Temple and Boriase are unread or denounced as liars ; while Dr. Curry's version has possession of the field, and, being unquestioned, is ac cepted by the Irish Catholics as true. English statesmen themselves half believe it, and, forgetting the alternative, that if the Irish Catholics were not guilty in 1641 their estates ought to be restored to the nation from which they were violently taken, talk blandly of their regret for past oppres sion. 1787.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 481 equalled in the world." The tithes might be an ag gravation of their sufferings, but the real source of those sufferings lay in the middlemen, " who having no inheritance, no education, no profession, ground the people to powder." If tithes were abolished, as Grattan desired, the people would be no better off " while those harpies were allowed to prey on them." The landlords, who ought to have protected them, handed them over to middlemen, the middlemen sub let to annual tenants at a rack-rent ; and if the pro- rision for the clergy was taken away, the effect would only be that they would exact another pound an acre for the potato grounds. Mr. Browne vindicated the clergy from Grattan's personal charges. If they were guilty of extortion, they had no .benefit of clergy to screen them. The courts were open and they could be prosecuted ; the absence of attempt at legal rem edy, and the recourse to violence, proved their inno cence more than a thousand allegations. " I wish," he said, with the eloquence of truth, " I wish you had seen them as I have seen them, -with ruined hopes and broken hearts, despondently sitting amidst the blasted comforts of declining life. Is your pity con fined to the peasant ? Suspected pity whose hand maid is interest ! They embraced a profession on the pubHc faith plighted by you — pUghted by the Constitution. You enticed them to purchase educa tion, and -with it keener sensibUity. Is it safe to sport with property ? Is it policy to teach the mob logic ? You say the clergy do not reside to do their duty. It is not generaUy true. But do you do your duty ? Have you no duty to your country ? to your friends ? to yourselves ? Do you do your duty ? You say the clergy have too much. Did you ever hear of VOL. II. 31 482 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vii. Ch. ii. Agrarian laws ? Do you think it easy to persuade the famished beggars that it is right for one man to have ten thousand a year and another nothing ? " Fitzgibbon finally wound up the subject in words which, few as they were, contained the whole secret of Ireland's wretchedness. " The right hon. gentleman " (Mr. Grattan) " has said we do not know the people of the South. I ap prehend rather the right hon. gentleman does not know thera. I have lived among them almost my whole Iffe ; he but a few weeks. I am very closely and have been very closely attached to them. I -will again state what I mentioned before. It is the duty of the landlord to protect his tenants. If landlords would take the trouble to know theb tenants, and not leave them in the hands of rapacious agents and mid dlemen, we should hear no more of discontents. The great source of all these miseries arises from the neglect of those whose duty and interest it is to pro tect them." The perversity of history has stamped Fitzgib bon as the reviler of his country, and the enemy of the race from which he sprung. The Irish peasant never had a truer friend, nor Ireland a nobler pa triot. In debates on these questions, and in the practical legislation arising out of them, the entire session was busily consumed. Alarmed by the wild spirit which was abroad, the House of Commons abstained from obstucting the Government or making frequent dem onstrations in favor of Irish ideas. They listened to Grattan's rhetoric, but they allowed Fitzgibbon to guide them. Grattan himseff would perhaps have been less violent had he not been aware that the 1787-8.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 483 temper of the majority would be proof for the pres ent against mere declamation. Three BUls were passed of a character which showed that in ordinary cbcumstances the ParHament was fully equal to its responsibiHties. The Insurrection BiU, or Tumultu ous Assembhes Bill, as it finally became law, though it lacked the clause for the destruction of the chapels, was a formidable measure. It embodied in the first place the provisions of the Riot Act, hitherto un- kno-wn in Ireland. The magistrates had power to order every meeting of more than twelve persons to disperse. Persons so ordered, who disobeyed, were Hable to be shot. Attacks on clergymen, or on churches of the EstabHshment, were made felony. Conspbacies, terrorism, administering unla-wf ul oaths, seizure of arms, interfering to sUence -witnesses, aU these were made felony, -with death for a punishment. For combination to deprive clergy of theb tithes the penalties were fine, imprisonment, and the whip.' No plan could as yet be formed for the 'commuta tion of tithes. The clergy, who for a year had re ceived either nothing or so much only as the White boy Committee was pleased to sanction, were not to be aUowed to starve. A second Act was passed giv- mg them power to recover their dues by civil bill at the assizes, and an extremely significant provision was mserted, that " on the hearing of any civil biU under this Act no jury should be impaneUed nor should any appeal be received." ^ Laws were stUl nothing without force to execute them. A third measure gave power to the Vice roy for three years (should he see occasion) to extend to the whole country, or part of it, the provisions of 1 Irish Statutes, 1787, cap. 15. '^ nid. cap. 36. 484 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vh. Ch.il the Dublin Police Bill, to appoint a Protestant con stabulary in every barony in the kingdom, supersed ing the corrupt or incapable local officers, and a body of stipendiary magistrates to assist or take the place of the justices of the peace.' Had this last measure been carried fully out, it would have provided 3,000 policemen, 520 chief constables, and a trained and competent magistracy to direct them. Unfortunately, it was permissive only, intended only as a force in reserve, and in its permissive form was too weak to resist the storm of vituperation to which it was ex posed. It was called a conspiracy against liberty, a contrivance to increase the patronage of Govern ment and change the Constitution. Fitzgibbon's powerful intellect overbore the clamor. For the present session, and the session which followed it, the Irish representatives had the courage to emancipate themselves from the eloquent agitators, whose pana cea for misery was the cant of poHtical independence. For two years of their existence the Irish ParHament addressed themselves in earnest to the active sores of the Commonwealth, and the country gentlemen en dured to be told of their own shortcomings, in lan guage which even then if taken seriously to heart might have changed the face of the country. Si sic omnia ! It was but a lucid interval, and another mad fit was iraminent. Meanwhile the incendiary leaders discovered that further tumults would be dangerous. In the face of Grattan's resistance, an Act had been passed which made their occupation death, and means had been provided which, if they gave further provo cation, might perhaps turn the threat into reality. Irish disturbance is systematic. It proceeds on a 1 Irish Statutes, cap. 40. 1787.] Whiteboys, High and Low, 485 principle and is governed by word of command. The order went out for the Whiteboys to resume their character of quiet citizens tiU the Irish legislators should be again inflated with theb recurring delirium. The Duke of Rutland went on progress through Munster in the summer of 1787, where he was re- ceiyed with universal enthusiasm. Trade began to grow. The commercial relations between England and Ireland resolved themselves in detail without further con^vulsions ; and the Volunteers, the fountain of so much poisonous hope, the symbol of so much childish infatuation, flickered out and for a time dis appeared. In the October of the same year the Duke also who had brought the ship into harbor was attacked by fever in the Phoenix Park, and died after a few days' illness amidst universal mourning. 486 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vn. Ch. n. SECTION IV. The Rutland Administiation, taken as a whole, had been the most successful which Ireland had known for a century. For the first time the anarchic spirit had been encountered and beaten back, and the partial establishment of a police in the teeth of Grat tan's opposition had given his Constitution a chance of surviring the extravagances of its author. Success, unfortunately, had been bought at the usual price, and the measures essential to the very Iffe of the country had added 20,000L a year to the wonderful Pension List. Corruption in ParHament implied cor ruption everywhere. When Peers sold their influ ence and members of the Lower House their votes, subordinate officials were not likely to be more scru pulous than their superiors. The customs, the excise, the ordnance, the treasury, were still plundered with but faint disguise. The public stores were preyed upon in the open day ; suppHes were charged for goods which had never been received. The smug glers landed their cargoes whUe the revenue officers were conveniently absent. Government clerks in Dublin, with salaries of a hundred a year, had their town and country houses, and their shining estabhsh- ments of servants. Beautiful conditions, for which the one excuse was that Government could in no other way be carried on. Very evidently to an unprejudiced looker-on Fitzgibbon's measures were 1787.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 487 no more than sedatives. The quiet was but as Mr. Browne described it, a thin coat of ashes spread over subterranean fires. The Duke of Rutland's successor was the Marquis of Buckingham, who as Lord Temple abeady had ex perience of Ireland, and had been universally popular there. Temple, during his brief administration, had thrown himseff into the spirit of '82. He had been recalled as more inclined to yield to Irish sentiment than had been considered safe at a period of excite ment. Disorder ha^ring disappeared with the Tumult uous Assemblies Bill, and the dissolution of the Vol unteers, it was thought a gracious act to restore a Viceroy whose removal had been so much regretted. Lord Buckingham was received with enthusiasm. The horses were taken from his carriage when he landed, and he was drawn through the streets by the people amidst universal acclamation. They had mis taken his character, and his favor was as brief as the loss of it was honorable. The Duke of Rutland, while peremptory in action, had been gracious and generous. His expenditure had been lavish. The hospitalities of the Cascle had been magnificent. He had been personally briUiant and accomplished, and while bent chiefly on suppressing Whiteboys a,nd maintaining the public peace he had not troubled himseff to look too curiously into the methods by which pubHc officials maintained their fine appear ance in Dublin. The HberaHty of Lord Buckingham was confined to his politics. He cut down extrava gance at the Castle, and he was considered mean. He was reserved and distant in manner, whUe Rutland had been accessible to every one. He had an English man's contempt for meanness, and received the syc- 488 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. ii. ophants who pressed about him to ask for favors ¦with cold distaste. Worse than all, he instituted an immediate inquiiy into the departmental frauds. The clerks were called on suddenly to surrender their books and keys and produce the outstanding balances. The result was a tiagi-comedy. It was as ff the police had come unexpected upon a gang of forgers. Some fled out of the country, some cut their throats, some were dismissed ¦with ignominy. Lord Town shend, who had found the same practices on foot, had endeavored to make them impossible by altering the constitution of the Board of Revenue increasing the number of commissioners, and introducing English men among them. The patriotic reformers had re sented the inclosure of their favorite domain. They had never wearied of denouncing the change. They had succeeded before '82 in replacing the old system. Lord Buckingham, at the outset of his Administra tion, found himself obHged to revert to Townshend's principles, and at once made determined enemies of every patriot and every friend of corruption. He was unfortunate every way, for the lawlessness suppressed in the South was now breaking out in another forra in Ulster. The reader will remember the Antrim evictions, where so many thousand Prot estant families were expelled from their farms in favor of Catholics who outbid them in the market. The ill-feeUng against the intruders, which had ap peared flrst in the Hearts of Steel, had continued smouldering under the surface. The Presbyterian farmers resented the presence of the new comers in a country which, before their appearance, had been almost exclusively Protestant. Resentment had been embittered by the declaration of the Dungannon Vol- 1787.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 489 unteers in favor of CathoHc emancipation. The Vol unteers represented the Americanized liberalism of the manufacturing towns. The Calvinistic inhabit ants of the country districts retained the traditional abhorrence of Popery, and gloried in the recollection of the Defence of Derry. Quarrels had thus arisen and local fights. The CathoHcs, in spite of the law, were seen to possess arms, gathered from the stores of the disbanded Volunteer corps ; and when it be came known in Ulster that the Catholic Whiteboys had disarmed every Protestant in the South, and were robbing and ill-treating the Protestant clergy, a Prot estant Association formed itseff in Antrim under the name of Peep-of-day Boys, to search the Catholic houses in turn, and take away their weapons in re taliation. The Catholics, who were unable to rec ognize that ff they ill-treated others they might per haps be iU-treated themselves, made the air ring -with theb complaints. The popular party in Parliament, who had acquiesced patiently when the Whiteboys were disarming the Protestants, were indignant when Protestants deprived Catholics of pikes and muskets which they were not entitled to keep. The Northern Catholics, backed by DubHn patriotism, organized themselves into an antagonistic association of "De fenders ; " and Ulster on Temple's arrival was drift ing rapidly into a war of reHgion. In the -winter there were again symptoms that the mischief in the South was not extinguished. The permissive County PoHce BiU remained an unfrilfiUed threat ; and though the outrages were less flagrant, the help of ParHament had to be caUed in a second tune, to enable the clergy to recover theb arrears of tithe. 490 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. i. Lord Buckingham required all his vigor and all his intelligence to encounter the work which lay be fore him. He began well in attacking official swin dling. He was less careful to avoid giving the swindlers an opportunity of retaliating on himself. Soon after his arrival the most valuable sinecure in Ireland ' falHng vacant, he gave it to his brother, Mr. Grenville. The existence of such offices m so poor a country was inexcusable. The bestowal of them on English favorites and politicians was among the most mischievous of Irish abuses, and for a reforming Viceroy to set so gross a precedent was an imprudence amounting to a crime. Thus it was that before Lord Buckingham had been six months at the Castle he was as much de tested as he had been adored at his coming. The disasters in the country were charged to his inca pacity. The misuse of his patronage had aUenated the honest and gave the dishonest an occasion for misrepresenting him when he acted rightly ; and by the summer of 1788 the desire was universal that he would take himself away.^ At this moment there now rose, without warning, a fresh political hurricane. 1 The ofiice of " Cheif Remembrancer," whatever that might have been, worth in itself 4,000Z. a year, with extensive patronage attached. 2 No better illustration can be given, either of Lord Buckingham's un popularity or of the character of the Irish Parliament, than a description which Sir John Blaquiere was allowed to give, unrebuked, in the House of Commons of the representative of his sovereign : — " An imperious, reserved, supercilious man, with mean talents, but an abundant stock of self-sufficiency — who, like the Persian monarch, would hide his royalty to increase the veneration of the worid. A man whose disdainful meanness led him to be haughty to the humble, and humble to the stout ; who was so haughty and arrogant, so hateful to the people of the other countiy, as not to be able to procure the meanest office in the Cabinet, and who, to be got rid of was sent away from being the pest of his own country to be the scourge of this." — Irish Debates, 1789. 1788.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 491 SECTION Y. The summer of 1788 was spent by Mr. Grattan in England. He was introduced to the Prince of Wales, to the mutual satisfaction of both. The heir of the throne, though unbeloved at home, was esteemed greatly in the Sister Island. " The Irish," says Mr. Plowden, " admired prowess, generosity, and magnan imity, as they despised and detested everything mean, sordid, and suspicious." Therefore, by a sin gular process of reasoning, they bestowed their af fections on a person whose prowess had been shown in fields of dishonor, whose generosity was profligate extravagance, whose magnanimity was indifference to obligations. Mr. Grattan had been received also at the Whig clubs with the distinction due to the Emancipator of Ireland. He had listened to the com plaints of the Whig statesmen against Pitt and the King ; and the Whig statesmen, forgetting their o-wn experience in 1782, had been ready in turn to take up Irish discontent into the scope of their political campaign. From Paris came the inspiriting news of fast-approaching revolution, while the singular illness which was growing upon George the Third was excit ing hopes in the Whig heart to which loyalty forbade them to give utterance. The visit was over. Mr. Grattan was returning, at the beginning of October, to Ireland, and ¦ had reached Chester on his way, when he was overtaken by a message which recaUed 492 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. h. him instantly to London. The King's disorder was taking the form of settled delbium, and a Regency seemed all but inevitable. The Cro-wn only had kept Mr. Pitt in office. The assumption of the royal au thority by the Prince of Wales would imply a change of ministry and measures. Now at least there was a hope of shaking off Fitzgibbon and the corrupt majority which supported him, and of securing for Ireland those broad reforms which would make her independence at last into a fact. The EngHsh Parliament stood prorogued till the 20th of November. When the day arrived there was no longer a question of the King's condition. The Houses adjourned for a fortnight. The physicians were examined in the interval before the Privy Council, and declared that although Hkely to recover, his majesty was for the present incapable of discharg ing his functions. On the 4th of December Parlia ment met as a convention to consider the steps which were to be taken. A comraittee of both Houses was flrst appointed to reexamine the physicians. On the presentation of the report all parties agreed that there must be a Regency, and that the Prince of Wales was the person on whom the office must de volve. All parties were not agreed, however, on the conditions on which the Prince was to enter upon it. Fox asserted that he would succeed of natural right to all powers which his father exercised. Pitt in sisted that he would receive his powers at the hands of Parliament, under such limitations and restrictions as Parliament might be pleased to impose. Meeting at once Fox's claim of right, he proposed and carried a resolution that it was the duty of the Lords and Commons to provide a substitute pending the inca- 1788.] Whiteboys, High and Low, 493 pacity of the Sovereign. The Prince of Wales hav ing declined a personal interview, Pitt wrote formaUy to inform him of the Parliamentary resolutions, and to state that he was prepared to propose the nomina tion of his Royal Highness to the regency on certain terms which he specified. The Regent, though he was to have power to choose his ovm adrisers — power, therefore, to dismiss Pitt from his councils — was to be prevented from squandering the royal property, to be prohibited from granting offices for Hfe, and from creating new peers. He was to be thus disabled from rewarding and promoting his social and political favorites, while the care of the King's person and the manage ment of the household were to be wholly reserved to the Queen. The Prince's reply was said to have been written by Burke. It was in a tone of indignant resent ment, reproaching Pitt with creating divisions in the royal family, and taunting him with trying the ex periment whether royalty was a necessary feature in the executive government. He did not refuse to accept conditions, but he reserved his final assent till they were presented to him by Parliaraent. Pitt in troduced his Regency Bill, but the proceeding -with it was dilatory. The physicians were again examined in January. Though the King was then no better, they reported that he was certainly not worse, and the forms of Parliament continued to prolong the crisis. So matters went in England. In the Sister Island they were assuming a complexion singularly different. Irish animosity has misrepresented with its usual perverseness the conduct of Lord Buckingham. His letters fortunately survive to show that he was excep- 494 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vil Ch. il tionally studious of Ireland's supposed rights, and careful of her sUHest susceptibilities. The absurd haste with which the Constitution of '82 had been hurried through had left the contingency which had occurred, like many others, unprorided for. By the Constitution the Sovereign of England was to be Sovereign of Ireland. Whether if England changed her Sovereign Ireland was bound to follow the exam ple was a question which, in spite of the experience of 1689, was supposed to be left open. Ireland at all events conceived she had a right to elect her o-wn Regent on her own terms. She was anxious to do it quickly, that she might show her independence, by anticipating England. She was anxious also to show her spirit and gain the Prince's favor, by dispensing with the ignoble stipulations by which Pitt sought to restrict his generosity. Lord Buckingham had been accused of ha^ring ob structed the meeting of the Irish Parliament to the latest moment ; he, in fact, regretted that he had no constittitional power to caU it together before the time to which it was prorogued.' Immediately on hearing of the King's condition he warned the Cabi net of " the extreme jealousy which might be looked for in the most loyal Irish hearts ff England should appear to encroach on their Constitution by dictating their action." But so Httle was he prepared for the extravagant course on which they were about to en ter, that his chief anxiety was to leave them free, and he undertook for them that " any measures taken in England would be adopted -without difficulty." Had the Regency Bill been passed in England with the rapidity which was at first expected, the Irish 1 " The Marquis of Buckingham to Lord Sydney, November 23, 1789. Most secret." 1788.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 495 patriots would have lost an opportunity of display ing their independence, but the blame, whatever its first amount, would not have rested on the Viceroy. Lord Buckingham at any rate they had determined to drive from the country. Grattan reraained in London tiU January, when the establishment of the Regency was thought to be a question of days. The Whig leader, anticipating immediate accession to office, had promised him that Lord Buckingham should be recaUed, that Lord Spencer should take his place ; that he should have his Pension Bill, his Place Bill, and his Reform BiU, and be no longer obstriicted by the political janizaries of the Castle. He in turn had undertaken for Ireland that she would elect the Prince of Wales Regent, -vrith no idle restrictions, and that she would accept Fox's view of natural right. For himseff, perhaps, he meant further to loosen an other rivet in the chain of Ireland's dependency. With these promises and these views Grattan has tened back to Ireland, to be in time for the opening of ParHament on the 5th of February. The Speech from the Throne announced the King's illness, and promised attested copies of the examina tion of the physicians before the Committee of the British ParHament to explain the nature of it. On the lightest word the explosive material was ready to kuidle. George Ponsonby sprung instantly to his feet, and inquired by whom these copies were signed. Yells from the gallery drowned the answer. Dennis Brown and Mr. Griffiths throwing into words the meaning of the uproar, exclaimed that it was deroga tory to theb dignity, it undermined the foundations of their independence, to receive reports from the ParHament of another country on a subject relating to the rights of the King of Ireland. 496 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vn. Ch. il The patriot spirit was all that could be wished, but it was starting off upon a wrong scent. If the report was refused the royal physicians must be sent for to attend in person, and Grattan's object was to take time by the forelock and hurry on the action of the Irish Parliament before the English Act should be passed, to become their precedent. The huntsman caUed back the too eager hounds. " The evidence," he said, " was amply sufficient." " Such objections would result only in making the measures of another assembly the rule of their con duct." " They needed no model from Great Britain." He invited the Irish Legislature to proceed instantly in the nomination of their Regent. The meaning of this was of course transparent. Fitzgibbon protested against haste, "-which might dissolve the single tie which now connected Ireland -with Great Britain." Mr. Fitzherbert, the Secretary, insisted on the pro priety of Ireland follovring England's example in so serious a matter. Every packet might bring news of the passing of the Regency Bill, and he begged for a few days' delay. After an bregular debate, which degenerated into personal abuse of the Viceroy, George Ponsonby moved that the House resolve it self into a committee for instant action. The grounds qp which the Government desired delay were with the patriots grounds for precipitation. The Parlia ment was again wild with the vanity of nationality ; and though Fitzgibbon warned the House that who ever maintained that the proceedings on the Regency might differ in the two countries was a very bold man, Ponsonby's motion was carried. In the expec tation of Lord Spencer's arrival, the Government phalanx had already dissolved, and the flock of mera- 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 497 bers whose votes were at the disposition of the Vice roy had already transferred them by anticipation to Lord Buckingham's successor. On the 11th the committee was formed, with Sir Lucius O'Brien in the chair, and the Clerk of the House, not without a repetition of disorder in the galleries, read the doc uments on the King's health. Then Grattan rose. " The House had been informed by the Adminis tration," he said, " that the Prince of Wales was to be Regent, with limitations." " Limitation was an attack on the King of Ireland," and he would have none of it. " Ireland was of opinion that the Prince should be invested -with the plentitude of Royal power ; " " he must therefore take the business out of the hands of the Castle." He proposed that the Irish Parliament should vote an immediate address to the Prince, inviting him to an unrestricted Regency. It was but too plain that Grattan had the sense of the House with him. After two years of comparative sanitj', the madness which had rejected the commer cial propositions had returned. The Irish gentry- were again inflamed with national vanity, and a fresh convulsion was at hand. Close in front, too, lay to appearance a change of Ministry ; an enthusiastic Lord-Lieutenant ready to. make himself Grattan's tool ; and the control of the State in the hands of a party who beheved that the spbit which ravished Protestant girls, nailed the ears and cheeks of clergy to gateposts, houghed soldiers, and carded tithe-proc tors, was to be cured by additional liberty. Having opposed the Police Act in vain in all its stages, Grat tan's now most ardent hope was to repeal it, to arm the rabble with votes, and lay the country at theb mercy, without a force to Maintain the elements of VOL. II. 32 498 The English in Ireland. [Bk. ^vn. Ch. il order. And out of these constituents he dreamt that he could create a nation. The experiment, it was but too likely, would imme diately be tried, and the precipitate anxiety to antici pate England's action on the Regency was the flrst movement in the game. Already Dublin was on flre. The debate was interrupted at its commencement by a riot at the door of the House. The mob had as saulted the door-keepers in trying to force an en trance. A constable had been almost killed. As soon as business was resumed, Tom ConoUy, Charles Sheridan, and Lord Henry Fitzgerald spoke, amidst general applause, in favor of Grattan's motion. Alone — for none but he dared encounter the lunacy of his countrymen in its fbst paroxysm — Fitzgibbon came forward to oppose it. To hira the enthusiasm of Irish ¦nationality was a combination of knavery and foUy. To assume the pri-rileges of equaUty with England, to 'fly in England's face, and become a thorn in her side, could end only, as he weU knew, in the not distant annihilation of the phantom Constitution. Never, while they could help it, would any EngHsh Ministry, Whig or Tory, allow Ireland to be reaUy ;free. Then, as always, Fitzgibbon determined to make these oratorical senators, and the mob at theb 'backs, understand their real position. Even by the letter of the Constitution itseff they were not justified in what they were preparing to do. He first desired the Clerk of the House to read the 4th of WUHam and Mary, which " declares the king dom of Ireland to be annexed to the Imperial Cro-wn of England," and " the Sovereign of England, there fore, to be by undoubted right Sovereign of Ireland also." He then proceeded. 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 499 " I am perfectly conrinced that what I shall say ¦will have no effect on gentlemen on the other side of the House. Let them propose what address they please, it will certainly be voted ; and therefore I would not have risen to trouble the committee at all, ff I was not convinced that the measures proposed are contrary to the laws of the realm, and criminal in the extreme. The crown of Ireland and the crown of England are inseparably united, and the Irish Parliament is totally independent of the British Par Hament. The first of these positions is your security, the second your freedom ; and any other language tends to the separation of the crowns or the subjec tion of your Parliament. The only security of your Hberty is the connection with Great Britain ; and gentlemen who risk breaking the connection must make up their minds to a union. God forbid I should ever see that day ; but ff the day comes on which a separation shaU be attempted, I shaU not hesitate to embrace a union rather than a separation. " Under the Duke of Portland's Government the grievances of Ireland were stated to be the usurpa tion of the British ParHament, a perpetual Mutiny BUI, and the powers assumed by the Privy CouncU; They were redressed. In redressing them you passed a law by which you enact that aU BUls which pass the two Houses here, which shall be certified into England, and which shaU be returned under the G-reat Seal of England, without any addition, dimi nution, or alteration whatever, shaU pass into law, and no other. By this you make the Great Seal of Eng land essentiaUy and indispensably neccessary to the passing of laws in Ireland. You can pass no^ Act without certifying it into England, and having it re- 500 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vh.Ch. n. turned with the Great Seal of that kingdom ; inso much that were the King of England and Ireland to come here in person and to reside, he could not pass a Bill -without it being first certified to his Regent in England, who must return it under the Great Seal of that kingdom before his majesty could even in person assent to it. " Let rae suppose that we, in the dignity of our in dependence, appoint a Regent for Ireland, being a different person from the Regent of England — a case not utterly impossible, if you insist on our ap pointing the Prince of Wales before it is kno-wn whether he will accept the Regency of England ; and suppose we should go further, and desire him to give the Royal assent to our Bills, he would say, ' My good people of Ireland, you have by your law made the Great Seal of England essentiaUy necessary to be affixed to each BiU before it passes in Ireland. That Seal is in the hands of the ChanceUor of Eng land, who is a very sturdy fellow. That ChanceUor is an officer under the Regent of England. I have no authority over him, and so, my very good, people of Ireland, you had better apply to the Regent of England, and request that he -will order the Chancel lor to affix the Great Seal of England to your Bills, otherwise, my very good people of Ireland, I cannot pass thera.' Suppose you choose a Regent by address in the manner you suggest, and by fatality a different Regent be appointed for Great Britain, and your Regent chooses to come over here and exercise his au thority in person, the moment a Regent is appointed in Great Britain he may send a commission under the Great Seal appointing a Lord-Lieutenant, and to that commission your Regent is bound to pay obedi- 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 501 ence. If he refuses, he stakes his head on the ex periment. " There, is a feature in this proceeding which, in dependent of other objections to it, does in my mind make it so highly reprehensible, that I consider it a formal appeal from the Parliament of England to that of Ireland. We shaU sow the seeds of dissen sion between the Parliaments of the two countries ; and though I do not desire the Parliament of this country implicitly to follow the ParHament of Eng land, I should consider it a wise maxim for this coun tiy always to concur with that Parliament, unless for very strong reasons indeed we are obliged to differ from it. If it is to be a point of Irish dignity to differ from the ParHament of England to show our independence, I very much fear the sober men in this country who have estates to lose ¦will soon become sick of independence.' Constituted as it is, the Gov ernment of the country can never go on unless we follow Great Britain implicitly in all regulations of Imperial policy, and you who profess yourselves this night advocates for the independence of the Irish crown are advocates for its separation from England. Let us agree with England in these three points — one king, one law, one religion. Let us keep these objects steadUy in view, and we act like wise men. If you make the Prince of Wales your Regent, and grant him plenitude of power, let it be done by BiU ; ^ 1 Let the reader observe the turn given to these most sensible words by Mr. Henry Grattan, in the Life of his father. " Mr. Pitt was determined that the working of the free Constitution should be stopped; that the era of 1782 should exist merely in name; and, in the wicked words of his minister, Fitzgibbon, to maU the Irish gentry sick of their independence. (The Italics are Mr. Grattan's.) —ffra«an's ii/e, vol. iii. p. 415. 2 Because the Bill before it become law must pass under the Great Seal of England. 502 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vn. Ch. h. other^wise I see such dangers that I deprecate tjie measure proposed. I call on the country gentlemen of Ireland. This is not a time to think of every paltry disappointment sustained at the Castle of Dub lin. If any man has been aggrieved by the Viceroy and chooses to compose a phiHppic on the occasion, let him give it on the debates of a Turnpike BiU, when it ¦wiU not be disgraceful to the man who utters it, as on the present occasion." ' Not Shylock, when he heard Portia interpret the law of Venice, was more astounded than Grattan, when he learnt the value to Ireland of the Constitu tion of '82. Was the child of his enthusiasm, for which his country had magnificently rewarded him, for which the orators of ParHament had raised him higher than Lord Chatham, was it after all a miser able farce ? Was Ireland not independent, then ? No ; nor ever could be. There is no poHtical inde pendence save that which is won by the sword, and ff the dread appeal is insisted on can be maintained by the sword. Independence, save to those who can fight for it, is an illusion and a curse. The debate which followed the delivery of this ex traordinary speech was more Hke the screaming of macaws than the grave consultation of reasonable beings. If such was the meaning of the Act of '82, Grattan wildly asked, why had not the Attorney- General warned them of it ? Not for this would the patriot Commons part with theb inalienable rights. The Government attempted no dirision. The next day the address was carried by acclamation and sent to the Lords; while, as a fit adjunct to the scene within, the undergraduates of Trinity, armed with 1 Irish Debates, February 11, 1789. 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 503 swords and pistols, were fighting the poHce at the doors. The Peers were scarcely less insane than the Lower House. The Duke of Leinster and Lord Charle mont, the Archbishop of Cashel and Lord Perry, were agreed " on the duty of avaiHng themselves of the opportunity of asserting the total independence of Ireland." ' They carried -with them a large ma jority, and out of seventy-one Peers forty-five voted for the address, and returned it approved to the Commons. Though the struggle was hopeless for the moment, the Attorney-General repeated his objection. He said that he had consulted the ChanceUor and the Judges. They were unanimously of opinion that he had stated correctly the character of the Constitution, and that anterior to the passing of the Regency BiU in England the address was not only improper, but tieasonable. For the honor of the Irish nation, for the honor of the illustrious personage to whom it was to be presented, he besought the House to pause. He was speaking to the -winds. A chorus of shout ing voices gave him for an answer that the address should be carried to the Viceroy by the two Houses on the foUo^wing day, with a request for immediate transmission. Thus, on the 18th, 'the Lords and Commons of Ire land marched in state to the Castle, with the Chan cellor and Speaker at their head. In the Presence Chamber Lord Lifford read the invitation to the Prince, and presented it to the Viceroy. The next packet might bring Lord Spencer, and it might be his last official act. Lord Buckingham 1 " The Marquis of Buckingham to Lord Sydney, February 17, 1789." 604 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vn. Ch. u. declined to purchase a recovery of his popularity at the sacrifice of honor. He drew back, and refused to receive the roll. " Under the impression," he said, " which I feel of my official duty, and of the oath which I have taken as Chief Governor of Ireland, I am obliged to decHne transmitting this address into Great Britain. I can not consider myseff warranted to lay before the Prince of Wales an address purporting to invest his Royal Highness with power to take on him the government of this realm before he shaU be enabled by law so to do." ' Bubbling over with indignation, the senators re turned to their Houses. The Duke of Leinster in one place, and Grattan in the other, proposed a pres ent adjournment. They must act with dignity, Grattan said, and not allow themselves to appear to be swayed by temper. The first impression appears to have been that no more could be done till Lord Spencer arrived.^ But to wait for Spencer would be to wait till the Prince of Wales was English Regent, and therefore to miss the point of the opportunity. Braver counsels pre vailed. The Houses of Commons reassembled on 1 Lord Buckingham's conduct was fullj^ approved in England. " The Cabinet," Lord Sydney wrpte, "entirely concur in the propriety of your declining to transmit the address. His Ro3'al Highness cannot lawfully take upon him any part of the King's authority till he is enabled by Act of Parliament to do so; and no Act of the Irish Parliament for that, or any other purpose, can be passed except by the Royal assent, given under the Great Seal. — Lord Sydney to the Marquis of Buckingham, February 21,1789. Secret." — S.P. 0. 2 The Duke of Portland, writing on the 21st of February to Grattan, says: " I learn, by letters from Ireland, it is the intention of our friends to defer the consideration of all public business till after the departure or removal of the present Lord-Lieutenant." — Grattan's Life, vol. iii. p. 373. The letters referred to probably left Dublin on the evening of the 18th. 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low, 505 the 20th, the Viceroy expecting -riolent resolutions to be passed against himseff.' Mr. Todd Jones, the hottest and most fooHsh of the patriot chiefs, announced that "the Hfe of the country was at stake." " The Chief Governor had set himseff at issue with the Legislature, and there was a doubt whether by such desperate conduct he had not virtuaUy abdicated." " The situation," he said, "was awfful." "In silent anxiety Ireland con fided in her Parliament, and demanded an uuim peached Constitution." Mr. Grattan followed. He moved that, the Viceroy haring refused to transmit the address to the Prince, a deputation should be chosen from the Lords and Commons to carry it over ; and this being assented to, he proposed next a formal resolution that, in ad dressing his Royal Highness, the ParHament of Ire land-had exercised an undoubted right. On the first motion Fitzgibbon had been passive ; on the second he again came forward to confront the tempest. Though he was liable, as he weU knew, to be caUed out by every bello-wing patriot, and to be made to answer for his words to twenty champions of liberty at the pistol's mouth, he again cautioned the House " how it followed the honorable gentleman in his ill-advised and desperate speculation." " Let me tell the gentlemen of Ireland," he said, "that the only security by which they hold their property, the only security they have for the'present Constitution in Church and State, is the connection of the Irish Cro-wn with, and its dependence upon, the Crown of England. That connection and that de pendence have been sealed -with the best blood of this 1 " To Lord Sydney, February 19. Most secret." — S. P. 0. 506 The English in Ireland, [Bk. vii. Ch, u. country. If they are now duped into idle and fan tastical speculations under the pretence of asserting national dignity and independence, they will feel the effects to their sorrow. For give me leave to say, sir, that when we speak of the people of Ireland, it is a melancholy truth that we do not speak of the great body of the people. This is a subject on which it is painful to me to be obliged to touch in this assembly ; but when I see the right honorable member driving the gentlemen of Ireland to the verge of a precipice, it is time to speak out. . . . Sir, the ancient nobility and gentry of this kingdom have been hardly treated. The Act by which most of us hold our estates was an Act of violence — an Act subverting the first prin ciples of the Common Law in England and Ireland. I speak of the Act of Settlement ; and that gentlemen may know the extent to which that summary confisca tion has gone, I wiU teU them that every acre of land which pays quit-rent to the Crown is held by title derived under the Act of Settlement. So I trust gentlemen on the opposite benches will deem it worthy of consideration how far it may be prudent to pursue the successive claims of dignified and unequivocal in dependence made for Ireland by the right honorable gentleman. " So long as we remain satisfied -with the Con stitution as settled in '82, so long as we use our op portunities to cement the union of the Crowns and cultivate the affection and confidence of the British nation, we shall cultivate peace, good order, and prosperity in this country. " If in a moment of frenzy the two Houses of Par liament of this country are to sacrifice their connection with the Crown of England in pursuit of paradoxical 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 507 phantoms, perhaps we may live to see Ireland once more indebted to a British army for the restoration of her civil and religious liberty. Do you suppose the British nation will submit to the claim now set up by the Irish ParHament ? If the address of both Houses can invest the Prince of Wales with Royal power in this country, the same address could convey the same powers to Louis XVI., or to his Holiness the Pope, or to the right honorable mover of this resolution. " It is impossible the assertion of this claim will not again commit this country ¦with Great Britain, and ff by fataHty we are committed, what must be the event ? We are committing ourselves against the law and against the Constitution, and in such a con test Ireland must faU." ' Fitzgibbon's words might be remembered after wards. In the present humor of men they feU like rain-drops in water, and swelled the .volume of in sanity. Ireland bravely asserted by vote " her un doubted rights." Grattan moved and earned another resolution,^ that Lord Buckingham's refusal to submit his address was Ul advised and unconstitutional. The Duke of Leinster, Lord Charlemont, Tom ConoUy, Mr. O'NeU, and WiUiam Ponsonby, were selected as a deputation to wait personaUy on the Prince, and they would have sailed on the evening of the 21st but for a severe easterly gale.^ 1 Irish Debates, February 20, 1789. 2 By 119 votes to 78. 8 So childish was the stilted stage play, that the deputation were going, uncertain whether to present the address or not, if they found the Enghsh Regency still undetermined on their arrival. The opinion of the lawyers that they were committing treason had frightened them ; and Grattan, when they pressed for positive directions, had declined to decide. — Ihe Marquis of Buckingham to Lord Sydney, February 21. Secret. 508 -The English in Ireland. [Bk. vilch. n. The same wind which detained them in harbor brought over news which chilled the patriotic heart. The King was rapidly recovering. The Duke of Portland reported that the Opposition had bteen unable to prevent an adjournment of the Regency Bill. The Prince of Wales could not coraraand the Great Seal till it was passed, and Lord Spencer's departure for Ireland was therefore indefinitely post poned. 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 509 SECTION VI. Patmotio effervescences are often irrational. They are only occasionally vile. The sequel of the explosion on the Regency forms a characteristic epi sode in Irish Parliamentary history. The Duke of Leinster, Lord Shannon, Charles Sheridan, WilHam Ponsonby, and many other members of both Houses who had been enthusiastic promoters of the address, held at the same time lucrative offices under the Crown. The contingency of the King's recovery had not occurred to them. They had gone on fearlessly in the confident hope of Lord Spencer's coming, when they might rather look for fresh promotion than risk the loss of what they held abeady. If the Prince's father became again capable of discharging his func tions, the Marquis of Buckingham would remain at the Castle, and they saw -with horror impending over them immediate retribution for the part which they had played. The complete recovery was still only a possibUity, but it was necessary to be prepared for either alternative. Twenty Peers and thbty-seven Commoners were the number compromised — mem bers of one House or the other who had pledged their service to the Crown for valuable consideration, and were in danger for breach of contiact. They were aware that they could not trust one another, and that each ff left to himseff might seek to make his peace at the expense of his companions. With the Duke of Leinster and Lord Charlemont at their 510 The English in Ireland. [Bk. 'VLI. Ch. n. head, they set their names to a round-robin, in which they bound themselves as a body to make Govern ment impossible should the Viceroy venture to pun ish either of them for his late vote by loss of office or pension. Their fears having been thus secured, the deputa tion sailed for Holyhead, while Grattan determined, ff possible, to force Lord Buckingham to resign, and on the 25th of February moved a limitation of the supplies to two months. Mr. Brownlow, in seconding this motion, reminded the House that if the supplies were granted for the , usual time, the Viceroy might imitate Lord Town shend and prorogue. The situation had so closely re produced itself, that if the King's recovery became a fact, an attempt at a similar solution might be ex pected ¦with certainty. Fitzgibbon, aUuding scornfully to the round-robin and anticipating the consequences, said he was sorry to hear the spirit of Whiteboyism had penetiated Parliament. He had been informed of a combination among distinguished lords and gentlemen which, ff it had been proved against a tithe-proctor, would have made the combining parties liable to be whipped at the cart's tail. As to what Mr. Brownlow had said of Lord Townshend and the prorogation, " he remem bered it well. He remembered the same Parliament afterward voting Lord Townshend an address of thanks, and the majority which passed it had cost the nation half a million of money." " Mr. Grattan's mo tion," he added, with cool contempt, " might, if car ried, lead to a similar address, which would cost haff a milHon more, and he should therefore oppose it." Grattan's motion was carried, and Fitzgibbon's 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low, 511 prophecy proved nearly true. The farce was almost over. The same 25th of February the Duke of Lein ster and his companions reached London and pre sented their address. The Prince thanked Ireland warmly, but was obliged, he said, " to delay his final answer in consequence of the fortunate change which had taken place." On the 1st of March official in formation reached DubHn that the King's health was restored, and the necessity for a Regency at an end. If Lord Buckingham was to continue Viceroy, it was impossible for him to pass over the round-robin. " The object of it," be said himseff, " was to compel him to quit the kingdom." " The aristocracy, who had been broken once under his Majesty's direction, had again combined against English authority, and " must be broken a second time," but they could be broken only " by measures of the utmost decision and severity." ' Grattan, too, knew that he had gone too far to retire. He knew that his majority would melt from him ff the source of patronage was to remain unchanged. While the Viceroy was meditating when and how to strike, Grattan endeavored to drag the House of Commons vrith him, while its ranks were still unbroken, into a series of hostile resolutions, one aimed specially at Buckingham himseff, con demning the grant of high offices of state to absent ees ; another, striking at the Pension List ; a third, binding the House to repeal Fitzgibbon's PoHce BiU, which he hated vrith the instinct of a revolutionist. He had been prompt; for final news from England arrived only in the last days of February, and the resolutions were introduced on the 3d of March. But he was stiU too late. His most trusted foUowers 1 " To Lord Sydney, March 1, 1789." — S. P. 0. 512 'the English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. il were already meditating retreat. An article had ap peared in the " Freeman's Journal," written by a Mr. Higgins, reflecting on the '82 Constitution, and in sisting that for so imperfect a piece of legislation, as it now proved to be, the great liberator had been too precipitately rewarded. Mr. Parsons remarked in the House, in the same cynical strain, on Grattan's " bung ling." The house listened with toleration if not with favor ; Grattan could not bear it, and forgot himself. The honorable gentleman, he said, was not original. He was repeating a charge which had been expressed better elsewhere, but whether said better or said worse it was false. Mr. Higgins was a liar. The " Free man's Journal " was a Har. The authority from which Mr. Parsons drew his argument was a liar, a pitfful pubHc liar. He did not mean that the right honora ble gentleman was a liar, but the paper from which he took his accusation was a liar, a pitiful public liar. Parsons stepped across the floor and said a Jew words to Grattan, " not recorded for the honor of ParHament." Shouts rose on all sides of " Custody ! " The galleries were cleared, and for two hours the House was frantic' When order was restored, Mr. Corry, on behalf of the Government, moved an adjournment ; and a division of 115 to 106 in favor of the Castle informed the world that the crisis was over, and that the apos tate members had returned to theb duties. Both sides had exerted themselves to the utmost. Grattan, whose resolutions had been originally more violent, had modified them to concUiate support. " We were convinced," said the Viceroy, on the other hand, " that it was essential to the peace of Ireland I Plowden, vol. iii. pp. 236, 237. 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 613 and to the existence of the Government that the at tempt should be defeated."' Lord Townshend's precedent had been copied as Fbzgibbon foretold, and the usual .influences had been employed with the usual success. To the declaration against an increase of the Pen sion List, Lord Buckingham was not in principle opposed. Mr. Forbes had introduced an annual BiU on this subject. The Government had this year been neutral, the Viceroy was anxious to end a vexatious subject, and the Bill had been read a third time. It was a compromise, restricting the Civil Pensions to 80,000/. ; and by Hmiting the abuse, was understood to recognize them within the limit defined. It established the principle that no one holding a pension from the Cro^wn could sit in tlie House of Coramons ; and the Viceroy, who really hated the detestable process by which the Government major ity had been maintained, had congratulated himself on the prospect of being rid of it,^ and rejoiced in the I "The Marquis of Buckingham to Lord Sydnev, March 4, 1789." — S. P. 0. 2 " The Marquis of Buckingham to Lord Sydney, March 20. Secret." Lord Buckingham's words indicate that Government had all along been in favor of this provision, and that the diificulty had not been at the Castle, but in the Parliament, which was in love with its own corruption : — "Another principle," he said, "is established m this Bill, entirely novel in the Statute Book, though often attempted by different Governments, I mean the principle of vacating, by pensions or otherwise, the seats of mem bers of the House of Commons. I need not explain to your lordship the manifest advantages of such a power to be lodged in the Crown. His majesty's service has often suffered materially from the want of it, and the Opposition has always been particularly jealous on this subject, and I am inclined to believe they would not have passed this clause had they clearly seen the operation of it. I am not blind to the danger of suffering so material an innovation in the system by which the Government of this kingdom has been so long administered, nor would I have consented to the second reading, if I had not conceived the Government would be essen tially strengthened by it. " VOL. II. 33 514 The English in Ireland. [Bk.vh. Ch.il acquisition of a means of clearing the House of un principled and troublesome members. The promotion of a measure, however, so desir able in itself, had to yield at the present moment to the need of punishing the subscribers of the round- robin. The Leinster-Ponsonby cliques could not be allowed to defy the Crown ; and when this deHcate matter came to be discussed in CouncU, it was discov ered that " so violent and dangerous a combination could only be destroyed by a considerable increase in the Pension List." " It was unwise to close the door at a tirae when every exertion had to be made." ' To this view of the matter the Cabinet agreed. Mr. Forbes's measure was thrown out by order in its last stage in the House of Lords, and the means of cor ruption thus* reserved were freely lavished, prepara tory to inflicting the intended chastisement. Seeing how things were going, the guilty fifty- seven were now anxious to make terms. They first made, advances in a body. Lord Buckingham "re fused to treat with them collectively," though pro fessing himself " wilHng to consider the representa tions of individuals for themselves, if they would disclaim the written association." Too well they knew his meaning^; too weU they foresaw the sure effect of such invitation ; well aware that each, ff he could, would scramble on the other's back to save himself from drowning. The noble lords and gentle men who were lately so valiant thought only how each could save his own miserable skin. Those who felt most secure of being able to make terms clam ored that the round-robin should be burnt ; those of " less influence " clung desperately to it as to a raft o 1 " To Lord Sydney, March 20. Most secret." 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 615 on the waves. To Fitzgibbon, who had denounced them as Whiteboys who ought to be whipped, the penitent suppHants came now suing for forgiveness. They told him that the association was dissolved. They promised, that ff he insisted on it, the bond should be destroyed in his presence.' Lord Shannon, Lord Clifden, Lord Loftus, Hely Hutchinson, " and many other members of both Houses," begged him to assure the Viceroy " that they did not wish to oppose his majesty's Government." " They laid themselves at his majesty's feet with every expres sion of duty, and of their humble hopes, by their future support, to remove every unfavorable impres sion from his majesty's mind." The humiliation was held to be penalty sufficient. " Under these circumstances," Lord Buckingham wrote on the 23d of March, " I have not hesitated in authorizing the Attorney- General to declare that it was not my intention to recommend to his majesty the dismissal of any of those gentlemen with whom he had conversed, or that might accede immediately to the same declaration of submission. It is, how ever, expressly declared that the King's Government is under no engagements for future favor or counte nance, either in their counties or elections, to any of those noblemen and gentlemen; and it is equally stipulated that any engagements to those who have zealously and uniformly supported Government shall be maintained, though the arrangements may inter fere -with the former engagements which had been made to those members when supporting the Admin istration." 2 I Apparently, Fitzgibbon preferred that the round-robin should survive among the curiosities of the Irish Parliament. A fac-simile of it will be found in " Sir Jonah Barrington's Historical Memoirs." 2 ' To Lord Sydney, March 23." — S. P. 0. 516 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vil Ch. h. The great peers and commoners who were so ready to sacrifice honor and principle to save their pen sions and sinecures were most of them the owners of estates large enough to have enabled them to af ford the luxury of a political conscience. Familiarity with corruption had blunted the perception of its shamefulness. There were still found, however, a few leaders who, at the last moraent, refused to bend. The Duke of Leinster, the two Ponsonbies, and others who were connected with Fox and Portland, stood out alike against the entreaties of their companions and the menaces of the Castle. A Hngering rem nant of honor so far influenced the rest of the sub scribers that they affected to hesitate to make sepa rate terras. They insisted that Buckingham must grant " a general amnesty," but they allowed him to attach as a condition that the bond must be regarded as dissolved, and that the parties to it must promise, collectively and severally, to abstain from factious opposition to Lord Buckingham during the rest of his viceroyalty. The Viceroy's consent satisfied the consciences of the majority. Shannon,' Loftus, and Clffden authorized Fitzgibbon to say that the asso ciation was now really at an end, and if Lord Buck ingham would have accepted a general declaration, the irreconcilables would have probably been con tented to leave him undisturbed. The victory had been too expensive, however, to be left haff won. Lord Buckingham properly in sisted on receiving the promise from each of the sub scribers who held office. The Duke of Leinster was 1 Mr. Henry Grattan places Lord Shannon in the list of those who stood out and lost their offices. I know not what was Mr. Grattan's authority. The Viceroy's letters speak of him throughout as the most eager of the whole party to be restored to favor. 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low, 617 Master of the Rolls. George Ponsonby had a high place on the Board of Revenue. WiUiam Ponsonby was Postmaster-General. With the Duke and Wil Ham Ponsonby, who had gone on the deputation to England, it was especially necessary to be firm. The engagement which they were asked to give was but trifling, and their decision was not arrived at without effort. The Duke considered for three days before he gave his conclusive refusal. WiUiam Pon sonby pretended Ulness, but at last wrote an answer to the Secretary, which was equally expHcit.' Ponsonby was made the protomartyr, as Burke was not ashamed to call him. Never did victim of intrigue and vanity suffer in a cause more conterapti- ble.2 The Viceroy, sorry, as he described hiraseff, to dismiss a man from his majesty's service who stated his objections to be personal against hunseff, ordered Ponsonby's immediate removal. His friends attempted to make it " a casus foederis, on which the subscribers were bound to reunite." Some positively refused ; others were " cautiously indisposed." Tho Viceroy saw that he might proceed safelj^, and the Treasurer of the Post-office, Mr. Lodge Morris, was taken next in hand. He, too, repHed in -writing, and with deliberate insolence.^ The Viceroy inclosed it 1 " Sir, — I intend to support the usual supplies, and his majesty's Gov ernment in this country ; but I will not enter into any engagement what ever -with my Lord Buckingham. And as some misconceptions have arisen in consequence of verbal communications with his Excellency, I take the liberty of giving this answer in writing. "W. B. Ponsonby." 2 " I am charmed with what I hear of the Duke of Leinster. Ponsonby, it seems, is the protomartyr. I am not mistaken in the opinion I formed of him — a manly, decided character, with a clear, -vigorous understand ing." — Burke to Lord Chariemont, March 29, 1789. 3 Lodge Morris had private -wrongs to complain of. The Duke of Rut land bad promised him a seat in the Privy Council, and Buckingham had left the promise unfulfilled. " Lord Buckingham," he said in his letter, " has acted contemptuously 518 The English in Ireland. [Bk. ¦vn. Ch. n. to Lord Sydney, and the Cabinet answered -with a dismissal. Finally, the Duke of Leinster was de prived of the Mastership of the Rolls, an office of which his possession was an absurdity, and retired to Carton to digest his disgust, and encourage his broth ers in treason. So ended a business disgraceful to all concerned in it — disgraceful to the English Whigs, who had al lowed themselves for their own purposes to tiifle with the insanity of Ireland — disgraceful to the spu rious enthusiasts for independence, who had taken the pay of Government and turned against it, ex pecting a new Viceroy and a change of wind, and when they found themselves mistaken, broke the faith which they had sworn to one another ' — most dis graceful of all to the Government, which stooped again to gain its ends by dabbling in the filthy wa ters of ParHamentary corruption. Lord Buckingham might congratulate himseff on " havuig been able to vrithdraw the favor of Government from unprincipled politicians who, in critical movements, proved always false to their engagements." ^ But the band of mal contents was broken by bribery, by the gross and flagrant purchase of the so-called independent mem bers, and by promotion equally scandalous of persons whose fitter reward would have been the horsewhip. 13,000Z. a year was bestowed in the form of pensions. New offices were created of which the salaries were and unjustifiably towards Pariiament. He has broken the faith of the King's Government solemnly pledged for services performed, and has thereby disgraced tho memory of the Duke of Eutland, our late beloved Chief Governor. With these impressions on my mind, it cannot be ex pected that the Marquis should be the object of great personal respect from me." — MSS. Ireland, April 12, 1789. — S. P. 0. 1 It is interesting to find among the subscribers of the round-robin the unsuccessful Lord Rawdon, of the American war, now Earl of Moira. 2 " Buckingham to Lord Svdnev, March -30. Most secret." 1789.] Whiteboys, High and Low. 519 large and the duties small or none.' Nuie lords gained a step in the peerage, Loftus earning an earl dom by his timely desertion of the subscribers ; and seven commoners were translated into the lower stages of those celestial regions, to rise in turn by new services into the higher spheres. Some ascended by first descending ; some by genuine merit and proved fidelity. In this strange scandal began the noble house of Londonderry. Lord Lifford haring resigned the Great Seal, Fitzgibbon, the one person who had borne himseff throughout with scornful integrity, became on the same occasion Lord Chancellor. Mr. Grattan and his friends, after so signal a de feat, found their cause hopeless so long as the House of Commons was unreformed, and established a separate Assembly, through which they could make known their opinions. Borne on the rising tide of modern democracy, spirited into hope and daring by the storming of the Bastille, they formed themselves into the celebrated Whig Club, where the dinners were accompanied with speeches which became the ornament of the patriot newspapers. Their objects were to resist English encroachments, to reform the Constitution, and maintain the rights of the people. The aristocratic chiefs of the party held out their hands to the members of the secret societies, who, in meaner circles, had kept alive the sacred flame ; and the Club was composed of men part of whom were hanged or exiled for high treason ; the other part became Privy Councillors, Judges, or Cabinet Ministers. 1 A hundred and ten "servants of the Crown " were now in the House of Commons — disciplined into obedience by the punishment of the muti neers. 520 The English in Ireland. [Bk. vn. Ch. n. " Under this banner," said Fitzgibbon afterwards, " was ranged such a motley coUection of congenial characters as never before were assembled for the ref ormation of a State. Mr. Napper Tandy was re ceived by acclamation as a statesraan too important and Ulustrious to be committed to the hazard of a ballot. Mr. Hamilton Rowan repaired to the same flag. In the fury of political resentment noblemen and gentlemen of the first rank in this country stooped to associate with the refuse of the community, whose principles they abhorred, and whose manners must have excited their disgust." ' Lord Buckingham, brought into haven at last, de clined further experience of Irish government, and returned to England. Dublin proposed to illuminate on his departure. The mob designed him a rougher farewell. He disappointed the kind intentions of both city and populace by embarking quietly and un expectedly at Blackrock. The reins were passed to the Earl of Westmoreland, who landed on the 5th of January, Major Hobart, afterwards Earl of Bucking hamshire, being Secretary. 1 Lord Clare's speech on the Union. END OF THE SECOND VOLTIMK. 3 9002 08954 0935