For a century after the battle of the Boyne (S500) Ireland can hardly
be said to have had a history. The iron hand of English despotism had
crushed the spirit out of the inhabitants, and they suffered in
silence. During the first part of the eighteenth century the
destitution of the people was so great that Dean Swift, in bitter
mockery of the government's neglect, published what he called his
"Modest Proposal." He suggested that the misery of the half-starved
peasants might be relieved by allowing them to eat their own children
or else sell them to the butchers.
But a new attempt was now made to improve the political condition of
the wretched country. That distinguished statesman, Edmund Burke
(S550), had already tried to secure a fair measure of commercial
liberty for the island, but without success. Since the reign of Henry
VII the so-called "free Parliament" of Ireland had been bound hand and
foot by Poynings's Act (S329, note 1). The eminent Protestant Irish
orator, Henry Grattan, now urged the repeal of that law with all his
impassioned eloquence. He was seconded in his efforts by the powerful
influence of Fox in the English House of Commons. Finally, the
obnoxious act was repealed (1782), and a, so-called, independent Irish
Parliament, to which Grattan was elected, met in Dublin.
But although more than three quarters of the Irish people were
Catholics, no person of that faith was permitted to sit in the new
Parliament or to vote for the election of a member. This was not the
only injustice, for many Protestants in Belfast and the north of
Ireland had no right to be represented in it. Such a state of things
could not fail to excite angry protest, and Grattan, with other
Protestants in Parliament, labored for reform. The discontent finally
led to the organization of an association called the "Society of
United Irishmen." The leaders of that movement hoped to secure the
cooperation of Catholics and Protestants, and to obtain fair and full
representation for both in the Irish Parliament. A measure of
political reform was secured (1793), but it did not go far enough to
give the relief desired.
Eventually the Society of United Irishmen became a revolutionary
organization which sought, by the help of the French, to make Ireland
an independent republic. The sprigs of shamrock or shamrock-colored
badges displayed by these men gave a new significance to "the wearing
of the green."[1] By this time many Protestants had withdrawn from the
organization, and many Catholics refused to ask help from the French
revolutionary party, who were hostile to all churches and to all
religion.
[1] See a quotation from the famous Irish song, "The Wearin' o' the
Green," in the "Shan Van Vocht," in the "Heroic Ballads," published by
Ginn and Company.
Then a devoted band of Catholics in the south of Ireland resolved to
rise and, trusting to their own right arms, to strike for
independence. A frightful rebellion broke out (1798), marked by all
the intense hatred springing from rival races and rival creeds, and
aggravated by the peasants' hatred of oppressive landlords. Both
sides perpetuated horrible atrocities. The government employed a
large force of Orangemen,[2] or extreme Protestants, to help suppress
the insurrection. They did their work with remorseless cruelty.
[2] Orangemen: the Protestants of the north of Ireland, who had taken
the side of William of Orange in the Revolution of 1688-1689 (S499).
They wore an orange ribbon as their badge, to distinguish them from
the Catholic party, who wore green badges.