Election of 1776. In the next year he was elected for Donegal, Belfast,
and Carrickfergus, and chose the last.--[_Ho. Co. Jour._]
It was as Recorder of Carrickfergus that Barry Yelverton presented Hussey
Burgh with an address and the freedom of that Corporation in a gold box
for resisting the Government on the question of Supplies while Prime
Serjeant, and losing his place thereby. [_Freeman's Journal_, Jan. 4,
1780.]
[48] _Walker's Hibernian Magazine_, _Freeman's Journal_, and _Exshaw's
Magazine_.
[49] "The case of the Borough of Trinity College, near Dublin, as heard
before a Select Committee of the House of Commons, A.D. 1791."
[50] Swift made an eager canvass for MacAulay, and wrote to Pope, asking
him to write to Lord George (then Mr.) Lyttleton, who was private
secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, the Chancellor of the University.
The prince complied with the request, and Tisdall's supporters sent over a
remonstrance.--["Swift's Letters."]
[51] This Francis Stoughton Sullivan got Scholarship, in 1744, at fifteen,
and was probably one of the youngest Scholars and the youngest Fellow in
the college records.
[52] He published, through the University Press, in 1797, a scholarly
Edition of "Longinus," and was the author of several other works. (See an
interesting sketch of his life prefixed to Bohn's edition of his
"Philosophy of History.")
[53] "About a month ago considerable sensation was created in Oxford by
the rumour that one of the University examiners, who is also a "coach,"
had prepared his private pupils in the precise questions set for
examination. This, we may observe, was one of the heavy charges brought
against Provost Hely Hutchinson, of Trinity College, about a century ago,
the Provost having had recourse to the unprincipled manoeuvre as an
electioneering dodge. The ever-memorable Counsellor Peter Burrowes, when
arraigning the Provost before a committee of the Irish House of Commons,
said that his trick "would have made a docile parrot appear superior to
Sir Isaac Newton;" but the committee condoned the Provost, against the
judgment and votes of Arthur Wesley (Duke of Wellington) and Lord Edward
Fitzgerald. The Oxford authorities seem not to be disposed to view so
leniently the action of Mr. Philip Aldred, D.C.L. When the matter was
reported to the Vice-Chancellor a substitute for the transgressing
examiner was at once appointed. We believe that a University committee has
been appointed to consider the expediency of taking away Mr. Aldred's
degrees--as was done in the Tractarian controversy days with Mr. Ward, the
author of the "Ideal;" and, meanwhile, Mr. Aldred is now about to bring
his case before the public, with the protest that he has been condemned
unheard, after challenging investigation, and that he is able and willing
to meet every charge brought against him."--[_Freeman's Journal_, Jan.
13th, 1882.]
[54] He was prevented from voting, not by any University or College
statute, but by the Penal Law of 1727, which took away the franchise from
Catholics. All the long past exclusiveness of the college, detrimental as
it was to the college and to the country, was enjoined by the foreign
power which cared little for the advancement of either. Down to this
period the English legislature did not recognise at all the existence of
Catholics in the college, believing them to be effectually excluded by the
statute enforcing attendance at Anglican worship and Sacrament, and by the
Supremacy and anti-Transubstantiation Declarations for Degrees, which were
swept away by the Act of 1792.
[55] In 1725, Primate Boulter estimated that Dr. Delany, a Senior Fellow,
and "the greatest pupil-monger," had from Fellowship and pupils six or
seven hundred pounds per annum.--[_Letters._]
Swift, in 1730, computed that Delany, "by the benefit of the pupils, and
his Senior Fellowship, with all its perquisites, received every year
between nine hundred and a thousand pounds."--[_Works_, vol. xiii., p.
82.]
Duigenan, in 1777, reckoned Dr. Leland's Senior Fellowship at "L800, one
year with another."--[_Lachrymae._]
In 1777, it was considered surprising that Dr. Leland refused the living
of Benburb, worth L1,000 a year, while his college income fell short of
L700 a year.--[_Exshaw's Magazine_, 1777.]
[56] In 1713, Swift wrote to Stella:--"I have been employed in
endeavouring to save one of your Junior Fellows (Mr. Charles Grattan) who
came over here for a dispensation from taking orders, and in soliciting it
has run out his time, and now his Fellowship is void if the College
pleases, unless the queen suspends the execution and gives him time to
take Orders. I spoke to all the ministers about it yesterday; but they
say, 'the queen is angry and thought it but a trick to deceive her;' and
she is positive, and so the man must be ruined, for I cannot help him. I
never saw him in my life, but the case was so hard, I could not forbear
interposing. Your Government recommended him to the Duke of Ormond, and he
thought they would grant it; and by the time it was refused, the
Fellowship by rigour is forfeited." The College Calendar has, "Charles
Grattan, Fellow, 1710--removed for not taking Holy Orders, May 25th,
1713--Master of Enniskillen School, 1714."--[_Journal_, Letter lxii.,
March 29th.]
[57] He got Scholarship along with his brother Robert, in 1775. The
brothers Roberts, the present Senior Fellows, did the same in 1836.
[58] Denis George's name does not appear in the list of scholars. He took
his B.A. in 1773. Neither does Tankerville Chamberlain's. He graduated in
1774.
[59] From the ranks of the Scholars have proceeded 13 Provosts, 199
Fellows; 1 Archbishop; 16 Bishops, of whom two held English sees; 4 Lord
Chancellors; 2 Lords Justices; 29 Judges; 27 M.P.'s; 4 Vice-Chancellors;
18 Deans; 14 Governors, &c., of British dependencies; renowned Professors
in all the Faculties, and nearly all the distinguished schoolmasters of
the country; 1 Poet Laureate, and several celebrated authors and editors,
besides numerous eminent clergymen and lawyers. This is exclusive of the
enumeration [page xxvi] of the dignities obtained by Scholar-Fellows.
[60] It is even more remarkable that this matter was not mentioned by
Duigenan.
[61] In the petition of 1778 one of the points set forth was that Scholars
and Fellows should be legal Protestants to entitle them to vote, whereas
the Provost had received for his son and Yelverton the votes of some who
were not Protestants at the time of their election.
[62] Catholics and Nonconformists were not excluded from Scholarship by
the statutes or by any oath. They were, however, designedly, and in the
main effectually, excluded by the statute that all scholars, students, and
sizars should attend chapel and partake of Holy Communion as often as it
was administered (see "History of University," _Coll. Cal._, 1876, vol.
ii. p. 9), and the "Heron Visitation" (Chartae and Statuta, vol. ii., p. 3,
1862). Attendance on the Anglican Chapel service and Communicating were of
course intended as tests and pledges of Conformity.
[63] Parliamentary Debates.
[64] William Conyngham, Lord, and Lord Chancellor Plunket was the son of
the Rev. Thomas Plunket, minister of the Strand-street Unitarian
Congregation, who died on the 18th Sept., 1776. There is a very eulogistic
notice of him in the _Freeman's Journal_ of the date.
[65] Down to the alterations made in the Statutes by the Queen's Letter of
1855, the words of the Lit. Pat. of Charles I. were:--"_in quem vel quos
major pars Sociorum Seniorum una cum Praeposito, vel eo absente, Vice
Praeposito consensisse deprehendetur, is, vel illi pro electo vel electis
habeantur, et mox pronunciabuntur a Praeposito. Quod si primo, vel Secundo
Scrutinio electorum major pars, cum Praeposito, vel eo absente, Vice
Praeposito non consenserint, eo casu in tertio Scrutinio, is, vel illi pro
electo, vel electis sunto, quem, vel quos, Praepositus, vel eo absente Vice
Praepositus, nominabit_." [Caput xxv. De Elect. form. et temp.]
[66] See also "An Enquiry how far the Provost of Trinity College is
invested with a negative on the Proceedings of the Senior Fellows" (1790),
by Dr. Young, Ex-Fellow and afterwards Bishop of Clonfert. It takes the
same view of the case as that put forward in Miller's
pamphlet.--[_Halliday Collection._]
[67] Note A.
[68] Hutchinson had to say to three of these affairs of honour, and
according to Duigenan he came badly out of all of them. Duigenan himself,
it should be observed, once had a sham duel, in which he did not figure at
all brilliantly, according to the orthodox interpretation of the code. He
had insulted Sir Richard Borough so grossly that a meeting could not be
evaded, and when the paces were measured Duigenan refused to take up the
pistols, which in due form were laid at his feet. He then shouted to the
"old rascal to fire away," and when Borough thereon left the field
Duigenan declined to fight with his second, because he "had too great a
regard for him to kill him."
[69] In George Faulkner's "Epistle to Howard" (1771), contained in the
Halliday Collection in the Royal Irish Academy, we have--
"Thou Hutchinson whom every muse
With winning grace and art endues,
Whose power 'gainst prejudice contends
And proves that law and wit are friends--
In that promiscuous page alone
By letters J. H. H. art known."
[70] ["Life of Lord Charlemont."]
[71] See Note C.
[72] "History of the University of Dublin," p. 253, &c.
[73] "Froude," vol. ii. p. 104.
[74] "Distinguished Irishmen," vol. v. p. 233, &c.
[75] "English in Ireland," _passim_.
[76] Barre was over here at that time as Vice-Treasurer, &c. He received
the Freedom of Dublin in 1776.
[77] The Bill was to raise the army in Ireland to 15,500 men. Pery and the
Nationalists saw that the object of the Crown was to have troops to send
to America to crush the Colonists, and this they would not have on any
terms. The Government, in reply, passed an Act through the English
Parliament, giving satisfactory security that the full force of 12,000
should be kept in Ireland. Nationalists now have not to complain of any
want of troops in this country, and we do not hear of their demanding any
"satisfactory assurance" of the permanence of the forces.
Nothing could exceed the eagerness of the English Ministry to have the
Army Augmentation Bill passed through the Irish Parliament. Lord
Shelbourne, the English Home Secretary, wrote to Lord Lieutenant Townshend
(March 1768) (_a_) that he would not hear of Malone's and Hutchinson's
suggestions of delay in bringing in the Bill. He further announced that
the English Parliament had passed an Act taking off the limitation of the
troops in Ireland, imposed by the 10th of William III., and pledging that
a full force of 12,000 men should be kept in Ireland. Sexten Pery led the
opposition, which defeated the Bill by a majority of four. The Irish
parliament was prorogued and dissolved, and did not meet for sixteen
months, when they again threw out the Army Bill. Eventually, in November,
1769, Townshend succeeded in having the clause carried in another Act,
whereby 3,235 men, in addition to the 12,000 to be kept here, were voted.
In 1775, Lord Lieutenant Harcourt asked for 4,000 men for the king out of
the Irish establishment to be despatched to America, and he offered to
supply their place by German Protestant troops. Anthony Malone was
chairman of the Parliamentary Committee which, after a warm debate,
granted the contingent as "armed negotiators," but rejected the Hessians.
Grattan afterwards fiercely, and not unfairly, assailed Flood for carrying
this discreditable measure. The troops were in time for the surrenders at
Saratoga and Yorktown. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, one regrets to read, served
on this expedition as aide-de-camp to Lord Moira. Lord Effingham, on the
other hand, resigned his regiment rather than serve against those who were
struggling for freedom, and he was twice publicly thanked by the people of
Dublin.--[_Plowden_ and _Mitchell_.]
In 1782, the king was allowed to draw 5,000 men out of the kingdom. In
1793, the Irish force was raised to 20,232. Most of these acts were for
one year.
(_a_) "Life of Shelbourne," vol. ii., p. 12.
[78] In the debate (1772) on the Altered Money Bill, Hutchinson seems to
have recovered his prudence.
[79] Another page shows how he was compensated for this "trifling profit"
of the Prime Serjeancy.
[80] _Baratariana_ says:--
"The Prime Serjeant, then, with a shuffling preamble
Like a nag that before he can canter must amble,
Betwixt right and wrong made a whimsical shamble,
Which nobody can deny.
'Twas important, he said, and availed not a groat;
But whether 'twas right or whether 'twas naught,
Or whether he'd vote for it, or whether he'd not
He'd neither assert nor deny."
[81] One of the rewards that Hutchinson demanded from the Government as
the price of his support was, that his wife should be made a baroness.
[Lord Lieutenant Townshend's letter, quoted by Froude, vol. ii., p. 67,
and by Lord Fitzmaurice, vol. ii., p. 102.]
[82] See note E.
[83] _Froude_, vol. ii., p. 50.
[84] [_Plowden._] In 1736 the Board granted an allowance of L100 a year to
Mr. Dunkin (who was Ball's predecessor in the Great Ship-street School),
on Swift's appeal.--[_See Swift's Letters._]
[85] Walk. _Hib. Mag._ 1777.
[86] Walk. _Hib. Mag._ 1791.
[87] In 1771, John Ponsonby resigned the Speakership rather than present
to Lord Townshend the adulatory Address of the House of Commons, and Pery
was, by Government influence, elected in his room.
[88] See Wellington's Correspondence.
[89] Grattan said Townsend was a corrupter, and Buckingham a jobber in a
mask.
[90] On this prorogation, "Baratariana" has--
"Our worthy Lieutenant comes down to the House,
Protests their proceedings are not worth a louse,
And leaving undone the affairs of the nation,
The session concludes with a d----d prorogation,
Derry down.
"Here mark, my dear friends, that our ruin's completed
Since a parliament's useless which thus can be treated;
While they served his foul purpose he'll fawn and collogue them,
But if once they do right he'll that instant prorogue them.
Derry down."
[91] In 1739 the English parliament passed an Act removing the duties on
some of the Irish Woollen Exports, and this was done for the benefit of
the English wool manufacturers.
[92] Out of 300 members 104 held places, and 120 were nominated by patrons
under the influence of Government. The civil establishment, with its
contingent expenses, amounted to over half a million sterling a year,
while the entire revenue of the kingdom was under a million and a
quarter.--[_Pery._] In 1789, Lord Jocelyn presented to the House, by
order, the list of pensions. The civil pensions amounted to L97,850, and
the military pensions to L5,827.
In Grattan's Life, vol. iv., p. 14, the placemen in parliament are
enumerated, and the list shows:--
In the military department 36
In the law do 38
In the revenue do 38
In state and miscellaneous do 9
Pensions 7
----
Total 109
_Lib. Mun._ vol. i. part 1, enumerates 389 patent offices in the
establishment of Ireland--amongst them are: Keeper of the Signet, Under
Secretary of State for the Civil Department, do. for Military Do.,
Pursuivant, Master of the Game, Interpreter of Irish tongue, Star Chamber,
with Commissioners, Marshals, clerks, &c., Courts of Wards and Liveries
with Masters; foedaries, &c., the Court of Palatines, the Lord Almoner,
the Vice-Treasurer, Transcriptor and Foreign Apposer, Summonister and
Clerk of Estreats, the Trustees of the Linen Manufacture, Commissioners of
Wide Streets, Commissioners of Array, Constables of Castles, Muster Master
General, Commissioners for Victualling, Provincial Provost Martials,
Alnager, Clerk of the Pells, Vice-treasurer, Clerk of the Lords, Clerk of
the Commons, six Clerks of Chancery, Principal Secretaries of State, Prime
Serjeant, Lord High Treasurer, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Auditor-General, Commissioners of Treasury, Commissioners of Accounts,
First Clerk, Second and Third Clerk to do.; Commissioner of Appeals,
Commissioners of Stamps, Hearth Money Collectors, Poll Tax Collectors,
Cursitors in Chancery, Register of Appeals Spiritual, Clerk of the Pipe,
Prothonotary, Philizer, or Filacer Clerk of Privy Council, Wine-taster,
Escheator, Searcher, Packers, Craners, Seneschals, Presidents of the Four
Provinces, Governors of Forts, Clerks of the First Fruits, Deputy Master
of the Rolls, Examinators, Master of the Revels, Clerk of the Nickells,
Exigenter, Clerk of the Outlawries, Clerk of the Essions, Chirographers,
Sirographers, &c., &c.
[93] The first real and important debate in the Irish Parliament was in
1753, on the Money Bill, on the Commons' power to dispose of surplus
revenue.
The beginning of useful practical legislation for the country was made in
1757 by Edmund Sexten Pery's Land Carriage Act, giving bounties on the
land carriage of corn to Dublin. In the same year he carried another Act
giving bounties on ship carriage of coal to Dublin.
[94] In the single year of 1782 (short parliaments and free trade having
been already secured)--
The Bank of Ireland was established.
Habeas Corpus was made law.
The Sacramental test for Protestant nonconformists was abolished.
Poyning's Act and 6th of George I. were repealed.
The perpetual Mutiny Act was repealed.
Judges appointed _quam diu_.
A great Catholic Relief Act, including education, was carried.
Parliamentary independence was achieved.
Grattan's parliament did not keep up to this high level of public spirit.
It sank and perished by its own unreformed corruption.
[95] "Free Trade for Ireland," in 1779, meant something quite distinct
from the political economy free trade of the present day. The latter means
an exemption from all duties to the State on exports and imports; whereas
the former meant a release from the restrictions on Irish trade imposed by
England for the benefit of England. The reform of 1779 continued the
duties, but enjoined that they should be imposed by the native parliament
for the benefit of the Irish kingdom. The Irish Free Trade Parliament was
Protectionist. In the November of 1779 Grattan's amendment on the Address,
supported by Hussey Burgh and the volunteers, demanding Free Trade, was
carried. In February 1780 the concession was made by England, and the
Provost's book had a large share in the triumph.--[See Mitchel.]
It was on the debate on the Short Supply in connection with this measure
that Hussey Burgh said, and lost the Prime Serjeancy for saying, "The
English have sowed their laws like serpents' teeth and they have sprung up
in armed men."
[96] One other provost, Archbishop Loftus; one chancellor, Lord Cairns;
two vice-chancellors, Bishop Jones and John Fitzgibbon; one fellow, Bishop
Howard; and three scholars, Yelverton, Wolfe, and Plunket, also founded
noble houses.
[97] See the summary of his speech in Plowden.
[98] See Note D.
[99] It is not said what either the real or the personal estate amounted
to. In De Burgh's "Landowners of Ireland," the Donoughmore property is set
down at 11,950 acres, with the Government valuation of L10,466. The
Tipperary portion is 4,711 acres, and L4,764. The other portions are
situate in Galway, Cork, Dublin, Kilkenny, Louth, Monahan, Waterford, and
Wexford.
[100] He does not say what price he paid for it, or from whom he purchased
it. Probably it was part of his place-traffic with Blaquiere.
[101] Doubtless this is the "A. Hely Hutchinson" whose autograph appears
in the Preacher's Book of S. Bride's, Dublin, in the year 1796. Under the
autograph there is written, in a different hand and in different ink, "Now
an officer in H.M.'s Service."
[102] This is the only mention of the College; in the Will. The Provost
left it no bequest, and did not even designate himself as Provost.
[103] This direction has never been carried out. The MS. is known to be in
existence; and would it not be seemly and desirable to have it deposited
in the College Manuscript Room?
[104] Duigenan's matriculation is--
1753--June. Patricius Duigenan, Siz., Filius ______ Annum agens 16.
Educatus sub ferula Mr. Sheill. Natus in Comtu Derri.
DR. LAWSON.
It would be a pity not to give the matriculation above his--
"Barry Yelverton, Siz. Filius Franc. Gen. Annum agens 17. Educatus sub.
fer. Mr. Egan. Natus in Comtu Cork.
MR. RADCLIFFE."
These two poor Sizar boys, one from the North and the other from the
South--meeting probably for the first time in the College hall and sitting
side by side--what careers the College opened to them! Probably, there is
not in all the matriculation books a more interesting page than the page
which contains these two consecutive entries.
[105] "Wellington Correspondence."
[106] For a full account of this school see "The Old Latin Schools of
Dublin," by the Editor.
[107] Fitzgibbon's father had been a Catholic, and was intended for the
priesthood. He and his wife Eleanor are buried in St. Bride's churchyard,
without any sort of monument or tombstone.
[108] Mr. Blackburne's "Causes of the Decadence of the Industries of
Ireland," p. 19.
There are two copies of the work in the College Library, both of which
have been recently obtained, and from one of them, by the obliging
indulgence of the Provost and Board, the present re-issue is taken.
[109] Froude--"English in Ireland," vol. ii., p. 228.
[110] See the State Papers of Henry VIII., and the official certificates
almost ever since. See also Lord O'Hagan's Address to the Social Science
Congress in Dublin, 1881. If any of these pronouncements were right, it
would be difficult to discover any room for future improvement. All of
these glowing congratulations were, however, invariably exposed and
exploded by sober contemporary historians and observers, and the O'Hagan
passage illustrates the process. His lordship said: "I have indicated to
you the results of honest effort by Irishmen of this generation in
obtaining for their country amended laws, cheap and facile
justice--education liberal, unconditioned, and available to all--...
increased provision for the national health and comfort--and security in
his possessions and encouragement to his industry for the tiller of the
soil. In the midst of many troubles and much discouragement, these have
been steps of real cheering progress--improvements, permanently conquered
from the past, and auspicious, as they will be fruitful, of a happier
future." Compare with this charming view the following versions.
In his speech in the adjourned debate on the Address in the House of
Commons, January, 1881, Mr. Shaw, M.P. for Cork County, showed the value
of this "real cheering progress," and of the "permanent improvements and
increased provisions for the national health and comfort." "Within three
or four months," said Mr. Shaw, "I have gone through various parts of the
country, and I must say this--I did not think it possible for human beings
to exist as I found tenant-farmers existing in the West of Ireland.... It
is a disgrace to the landlords, it is a disgrace to the Government, it is
a disgrace to every institution in the country to think of it that now for
years, for generations, this cry year after year has been coming up from
the people."
In the debate on the 28th of January MR. GLADSTONE said that "there are
still hundreds of thousands in Ireland who live more or less on the brink
of starvation, and that forty years ago that was the case not with
hundreds of thousands but with millions."
A writer in the current number of the _Quarterly Review_, after picturing
the maddened and disturbed state of the country, adds:--