find any more legitimate means of making themselves heard, they had,
since 1782, intrusted their interests to a central committee at Dublin,
consisting of some of the most important nobility and gentry of their
party, as well as of others of a more violent stamp. The temper of the
English Government was such, that fairly friendly relations subsisted
between it and the Bishops and more educated part of the Catholics. Pitt
was himself a friend to the Catholic claims in England. Many of the
restrictions had been already removed from the Catholics in England and
in Scotland, and neither Pitt nor the chief members of his Cabinet
thought it impossible that the emancipation of the Irish should proceed
by the same steps as in England. This feeling was rendered much stronger
by the French Revolution. It seemed impossible that the dogmatic and
highly organized Roman Church should become the champion of disorder and
atheism, and Pitt hoped by attaching them to himself to find in them a
support against the spread of the revolutionary principles which were
his great dread. The Catholics thus became an object of contention to
the extreme parties; on the one side the Nationalists and United
Irishmen sought to win them by holding out hopes of regaining their
supremacy by reform of Parliament, and of a consequent alienation from
English policy which might well involve a complete change in the Act of
Settlement, and the restoration of much property to its old Roman
Catholic owners; and on the other side the English Government attempted
to outbid its rivals, and to attach the Catholics more closely to the
English interests, by granting them immediately a large measure of
relief. As was natural, this auction terminated in a split among the
Catholics themselves. In 1791 a portion of the Committee sent up very
reasonable demands in a petition, signed by upwards of sixty names.
These petitioners represented the moderate and better part of the
Catholics, who would have been willing to accept the legitimate offers
of the English Government; but the majority, inspired by the
revolutionary feelings of the time, and eagerly desirous for the
complete restoration of their position, refused to acknowledge the
petition as their own, and drove the sixty signatories from the
Committee. They then proceeded to play directly into the hands of Wolfe
Tone, entering into close connection with the revolutionary society at
Belfast, which they no doubt intended to use as a cat's-paw only, until
they should attain that complete Catholic ascendancy, which could
scarcely fail to result from a thorough Reform Bill if connected with
the removal of religious disabilities.
[Sidenote: Mismanagement of the Government.]
It may excite surprise that the Government did not, in the presence of
the very obvious danger which had arisen, and when the country was full
of disturbance, act vigorously in support of the Protestant ascendancy,
or at least confine itself to giving such measures of relief as would
have satisfied the seceders of the Catholic committee. The Lord
Lieutenant, and those who had charge of the government in Ireland,
perpetually urged upon the English Cabinet the necessity of supporting
the English, declaring that the real contest would ultimately be between
the Irish nationalists and the English settlers. But Pitt could not give
up his idea that relief to the Catholics was necessary. He suffered
Richard Burke, a foolish young man, to act apparently in his name, and
to hold out hopes to the more advanced Catholic party. The Cabinet,
indeed, subsequently denied having given him any authority, but as
undoubtedly Pitt had given him a letter of introduction to the
Secretary, it was very hard to prove this disclaimer. Consequently, in
the session of 1792, both the Belfast republicans and the Catholic
committee sent up petitions to Parliament of a very strong description.
They were both rejected, and in their place a measure was introduced by
Sir Hercules Langrishe, apparently with the consent of Government,
admitting Catholics to the profession of the law, removing restrictions
on their education, and repealing the Inter-marriage Act. It was only
with considerable difficulty, and by Government influence, that this
Bill was passed through the House, for the Protestant feeling in
Parliament was very strong. Langrishe's measure was no doubt a righteous
one; but it is a question whether at the moment concession to the
Catholics was wise, especially when it was purchased by unpopularity
among the Protestants. It seems probable, however, that both now and in
his subsequent action, Pitt was influenced by a detestation of the
iniquitous means by which Ireland was governed. He did not care much
about shocking his majority of pensioners, or weakening English
ascendancy, being fully determined that before long that ascendancy
should give place to a wider and less provincial scheme of Government,
produced by a complete union.
[Sidenote: Increased demands of the Catholics.]
[Sidenote: Catholic Relief Bill passed. 1793.]
The effect of the measure at first was, however, certainly not salutary.
Signs of concession on the part of the Government, and the foolish
conduct of Richard Burke, excited the Catholics of the United Irish
party to raise still higher claims, and to attempt to insist upon them
by overawing the Government. Determined that there should be no mistake
as to the real wishes of their party, the committee contrived to summon
a general convention of Catholics in Dublin, each parish sending up its
representatives. This Parliament met in what was called the Back Lane,
under the presidency of Edward Burne, a well-known Catholic merchant of
extreme views. The members drew up a petition, demanding the franchise
for the Catholics, and sent it direct to England, attempting thus to
overrule their own Irish Government. At the same time, Tone and Napper
Tandy, the leader of the Dublin malcontents, attempted to arm their
threatening counter-parliament with military power, by raising, in
imitation of the old volunteers, a body whom they called the National
Guards. The vigour of Fitzgibbon nipped this plan in the bud. He issued
a proclamation against the assembling of men in arms, and as though to
prove how much a little vigour would effect, and how easily the movement
might at that time have been suppressed, the muster which should have
taken place the following day was attended by three men only, of whom
Napper Tandy was one. But the petition of the Convention had been well
received in England; the Government there persisted in overriding the
wishes of the Lord Lieutenant, and with every appearance of having
yielded to pressure, in 1793, Major Hobart, the Chief Secretary, in
accordance with instructions from London, introduced, and by Government
influence forced down the throat of an unwilling House of Commons, a
second Catholic Relief Bill, admitting Catholics to the grand juries,
magistracy, and, finally, to the franchise, at the same time repealing
the Act which prohibited the bearing of arms. The Government had now
gone as far as it intended to go. It had apparently made its concessions
with a bad grace, and to the wrong people. As Lawrence Parsons, a
singularly sensible member of the Irish Parliament, pointed out, the
Bill gave the franchise, but still refused to the Catholics the right of
sitting in Parliament. As the franchise was very low, it virtually threw
the power into the hands of the lower Catholics, while excluding the
Catholic gentry from their legitimate influence. It was, however, in
vain that he urged the admission of the Catholics to Parliament, and the
raising of the franchise. The United Irishmen were able to say, that as
long as they could vote for Protestants alone the franchise was of
little use; and further, that even had they been able to elect
Catholics, the Government influence was too strong to make the change of
any avail.
[Sidenote: Renewed agitation for reform of Parliament.]
It was then nominally with the cry of reform of Parliament that they
continued their agitation. And as the late concessions had been
apparently granted under a system of threats, the same system of
intimidation was pursued. Riots and outrages again broke out in all
parts of Ireland. The Defenders again became active. House after house
of the Protestants was robbed. Murders of all sorts were committed. In
this year alone there were 180 houses attacked in Munster; while the
success of the Convention had been such that the experiment was to be
repeated at Athlone. Fitzgibbon indeed postponed the immediate danger by
securing the passage of the Convention Bill, which forbade the
assembling of such illegal meetings; and in other respects the hands of
the executive were for the time so much strengthened, that although much
outrage continued, and discontent was smouldering throughout the
country, and the emissaries of the United Irishmen scarcely veiled their
revolutionary intentions, their hopes sunk low, and Tone was himself
thinking of joining the Government side. He even had an interview with
the Chief Secretary, and there was some thought of giving him employment
abroad. But just about this time, in 1794, the United Irishmen, losing
hope of carrying out their revolution singlehanded, began to think of
summoning the assistance of France. It was in this year that one Jackson
went as an emissary to France with undoubtedly traitorous designs. One
of his comrades, as so often happens in Irish treasons, turned informer;
Jackson was apprehended, and took poison, and died in the dock as the
sentence was being pronounced on him.
[Sidenote: Failure of Fitzwilliam's efforts at reform.]
Suddenly the hopes of the Irish party received an unexpected impulse. In
the year 1794 the Duke of Portland and the Whigs joined the Cabinet.
Their point of union was the war only, in other respects they clung to
their old traditions. Portland, their chief, had been Prime Minister
when the Act for legislative equality had been passed; and when, under
pressure from this section of his party, Pitt consented to send Lord
Fitzwilliam, the heir of Lord Rockingham, to Ireland as Viceroy, there
seemed a great probability that a complete change of policy was
intended. Such indeed was the view of Grattan, who had had a personal
interview with Pitt, and such no doubt was Fitzwilliam's own view. Such
in part was Pitt's view also, but he was half-hearted in the matter. He
was displeased at having to yield anything to the new members of his
Cabinet, and though desiring that the Catholic claims should be granted,
he was so pledged to repression that he scarcely thought the present a
desirable time for that measure; while his fidelity to personal friends,
and his strong view of personal claims, made him determined that none of
the existing officers or placemen should be removed. Besides this, the
only statesman of great ability among the Irish, and the only one who
possessed Pitt's ear, was Fitzgibbon the Chancellor, a bigoted upholder
of Protestant ascendancy. It was then with very different views that
Fitzwilliam and Pitt regarded the new appointment. How great this
difference was seems to be absolutely proved by a reference to
Grenville's letters. In fact, the way in which Pitt yielded can only be
explained by his intending ultimately to produce the Union.
Fitzwilliam's arrival was hailed with enthusiasm by the Irish, and
acting upon his own view of his commission, which he believed that Pitt
shared, he proceeded rapidly to introduce reforms. Fitzgibbon, it was
clearly understood, he was not to touch; but the Attorney and the
Solicitor-General, Wolfe and Toler, he removed, and replaced them by the
far better known lawyers, Ponsonby and Curran. A great outcry was raised
at this, but it was slight when compared with the opposition evoked when
the Viceroy proceeded to lay his hands on Mr. Beresford, Commissioner of
the Revenue. He was the head of one of those great families who obtained
their influence by managing the country for the Government interest,
without any claim on the score of talent. So great was his influence
that a quarter of the places in Ireland were said to be his gift, though
he himself occupied only the unimportant situation of Commissioner of
the Revenue. Every underling and jobber in the country felt his
position endangered, but it wanted more influence than theirs to remove
Fitzwilliam. His discomfiture was completed by his own rash rapidity of
action. A Bill was planned with the co-operation of Grattan for the
immediate granting of the Catholic claims. Fitzgibbon at once took
advantage of this, and well acquainted with the obstinacy and
over-scrupulousness of the King's character, found means to have it
suggested to him that to admit Roman Catholics to Parliament was a
breach of his Coronation Oath. The suggestion fell on willing ears; from
that time onward it became a fixed idea in the royal mind, from which no
effort could remove it.
[Sidenote: Fitzwilliam succeeded by Lord Camden.]
Fitzwilliam was recalled. Lord Camden, son of Chatham's friend Pratt,
succeeded him as Viceroy, with the avowed intention of restoring the
system of Government and the policy of Lord Westmoreland. His arrival
was marked by riots in Dublin, in which Fitzgibbon's life was with
difficulty saved. Grattan persisted in bringing in the Bill he had begun
under Lord Fitzwilliam, but when, after a debate which lasted all
through the night, it was finally rejected by a large majority, the
rejection was held to be final.
[Sidenote: An open rebellion begins.]
A change came over the spirit of Ireland, Even the more patriotic
members began to think that a complete separation from England was their
only hope. The Catholic committee, feeling that it was no longer of any
use, dissolved itself. The Catholics made common cause with the United
Irish, and the bolder spirits, scarcely hiding their revolutionary
intentions, sought assistance directly from France, whither Tone and
Lord Edward Fitzgerald betook themselves; and an insurrection was
planned, to be carried out in conjunction with a French army under
Hoche. One effect of this was the separation of the Protestants of the
North from the disaffected body. Among the townsmen of Belfast
revolutionary principles still kept their hold; but the eagerness of the
Catholic Defenders and their constant outrages to procure arms threw the
great mass of the northern Protestants, whether Churchmen or
Presbyterians, on to the Government side. The Orange Lodges were formed
and organized. The opposite parties were divided, as seems inevitable in
Ireland, by religion; and the first open fight between the two parties
took place at the little village of Diamond in Armagh, a skirmish spoken
of as the battle of the Diamond. At all events, interests now began to
clear themselves. The fight was between Catholic revolutionary Irish and
the Protestant upholders of English ascendancy.
[Sidenote: Character of the rebellion.]
This piece of Irish history has been, and will ever be, the subject of
the fiercest controversy. It is only by remembering that on one side the
accumulated wrath of a half-savage and badly governed country was making
itself terribly visible for an object which cannot be condemned, yet by
means which were utterly odious; and that on the other side the instinct
of self-defence, the stern necessity of upholding their rule at all
hazards, fear of the ever-threatening horrors of a triumphant and savage
foe, and revenge for the personal miseries already inflicted upon them,
were driving men to cruel though perhaps necessary actions, that this
period can be read in at all a judicial and unpartisan spirit.
With regard to the savage cruelty of the Irish, it can only be said, as
affording some excuse for their conduct, that they had suffered much,
that they had much to complain of. With regard to the real danger and
lengthened organization of the conspiracy there is abundant proof, and
was then abundant proof in the hands of the Irish Government, for as
usual all the secret committees were full of traitors. With regard to
the conduct of the Government--which, whatever may be said of it, did
not drive the people to rebellion, for they had long settled upon
that--it may be fairly asked what other means than severity could
possibly have been used. Lord Camden deserves the greatest credit for
his moderation, and for the care with which, through two years and
upwards, he avoided bringing on an open outbreak. The only real question
appears to be whether severity used much earlier might not have
altogether frustrated the rebellion. The reason why this severity was
not used is to be found in the conduct of the Whigs in England, and in
the views of Pitt and the Liberal part of his Government, who sat apart
from the scene and could not be brought completely to comprehend the
danger.
[Sidenote: Defensive measures of the Government.]
To the Irish Government the state of the country was well known. It was
known that Wolfe Tone had gone abroad, nominally to America, but with
the intention of visiting France, with the full approbation of the
United Committee at Belfast. It was known that in 1795 the plans of an
insurrection had been almost perfected, and that to meet that
insurrection there were in Ireland scarcely any English troops, about
10,000 invalids and fencibles, and a militia half of whom were among the
conspirators. It was also known that assassinations and the swearing-in
of conspirators were of constant occurrence. It is not surprising that
in the year 1796 it was found necessary to pass an Indemnity Act to
cover acts for the preservation of peace which broke the letter of the
law done by the army and magistrates, or that a Bill should have been
passed against assassination, or that an Insurrection Act, which allowed
suspected districts to be declared beyond the law, and to be placed in
military occupation and deprived of arms, should have been carried. The
danger became still more threatening when it was known that Lord Edward
Fitzgerald, the brother of Lord Leitrim, and Arthur O'Connor, the friend
of all the Whigs in England, had gone abroad, had seen General Hoche in
Switzerland, and arranged with him for a French invasion. At this time a
trustworthy informant told the Government that there were 200,000 men
ready officered, that there were pikes and muskets for 150,000, and that
the militia were almost to a man members of the United Irish Society. It
was then that it became absolutely necessary for security to raise a
trustworthy force. This force, principally consisting of Protestants,
who volunteered immediately to the number of 37,000, was the yeomanry.
It did not, however, consist entirely of Protestants; and Camden, in
spite of the pressure laid upon him by Parliament and by all who
surrounded him, refused to recognize the Orange Lodges, which would at
once have given him the power he wanted. As it was, the establishment of
the yeomanry certainly saved Ireland, and yet it is here probably that
the great error of the Government showed itself. English soldiers, if
possible, alone should have been used. The traditional hatred between
the religions was too fierce to allow the subjugation of the Catholics
to be left in the hands of the Protestant yeomen.
[Sidenote: Arrest of the revolutionary committee.]
The invasion which Hoche had planned, in accordance with the wishes of
Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Wolfe Tone, was a very formidable one; nor,
had it succeeded in landing, could it probably have been otherwise than
successful. Fortunately the energy of the Government had just then
struck a most damaging blow at the insurrectionary movement. Among the
other illegal actions of the army of the North, which had been under the
command of Luttrell, Lord Carhampton, had been the sudden apprehension
of the whole revolutionary committee in Belfast. Neilson, Ore, Russell,
and the two Sims, had been lodged in Dublin Castle. It was to allow of
such arrests as these that almost at the same time the Habeas Corpus was
suspended; for the Government was in the awkward position of knowing
the treasonable practices which were going on, and of knowing the
authors of them, but of yet being unable to produce proofs, as the
information had been received under the seal of secrecy. The importance
of this apprehension was much increased by the very complete
organization of the United Society. A series of little societies, none
of which exceeded eighteen, were linked together, and formed a complete
hierarchy through baronial committees, district committees, provincial
directories, up to a grand executive directory of five, elected
secretly, and known to none but the provincial secretaries, who examined
the votes. The military organization was almost as complete. The sudden
destruction of the executive committee, whom nobody knew, in fact cut
the head of the organization entirely away; till what had happened had
been discovered, and a fresh committee elected, there was no power to
issue any orders. It is probably to this that is to be traced, not only
the apathy, but the apparent goodwill of the people of the South at the
time of the French invasion.
[Sidenote: Failure of the French expedition to Bantry Bay.]
[Sidenote: General Lake's success in Ulster.]
The period during which the French expedition, thirty-eight ships of all
sorts, was lying in Bantry Bay was one of extreme danger. The strange
inactivity of the English navy would have allowed the French to complete
their plans at perfect leisure. Fortunately Hoche himself had been
separated from the expedition on its passage, and Grouchy, the second in
command, shrank from the responsibility of leading without his
superior's commands. A hurricane swept the bay, preventing landing, and
the ships returned uselessly to Brest. But the apathy of the people was
of very short duration. The evident possibility of assistance from
France raised their temper. The disturbances in the North were speedily
renewed; murder followed murder; Orange retributions followed in their
turn, and at last, in March 1797, General Lake was ordered to disarm the
conspirators of Ulster. He issued a proclamation ordering all persons to
bring in their arms and surrender them, threatening to use force if they
were refused. Well informed by his spies, Lake captured 50,000 muskets,
72 cannon, and 70,000 pikes, often, it must be confessed, with cruel
severity on the part of the yeomanry, who were his agents. Frequently,
but it is believed only when certain information had already been
obtained of the existence of arms, flogging and picketing (that is,
putting their feet upon sharp stakes) wrung from the wretched peasants
the knowledge of their place of concealment. Such conduct, though
cruel, had it been exercised throughout Ireland would probably have
prevented the worst of the insurrection.
[Sidenote: Increased difficulties of the Government.]