GRATTAN'S LEADERSHIP—"FREE TRADE," AND THE VOLUNTEERS.
The revolt of the American colonies against the oppressive legislation
of the British Parliament, was the next circumstance that deeply
affected the constitutional struggle, in which the Irish Parliament had
so long been engaged. The similarity in the grievances of Ireland and
the colonies, the close ties of kindred established between them, the
extent of colonial commerce involved in the result, contributed to give
the American Declaration of Independence more importance in men's eyes
at Dublin, than anywhere else out of the colonies, except, perhaps,
London.
The first mention made of American affairs to the Irish legislature,
was in Lord Townsend's message in 1775, calling for the despatch of
4,000 men from the Irish establishment, to America, and offering to
supply their place by as many foreign Protestant (German) troops. The
demand was warmly debated. The proposition to receive the proffered
foreign troops was rejected by a majority of thirty-eight, and the
contingent for America passed on a division, upon Flood's plea that
they would go out merely as "4,000 armed negotiators." This expression
of the great parliamentary leader was often afterwards quoted to his
prejudice, but we must remember, that, at the time it was employed, no
one on either side of the contest had abandoned all hopes of
accommodation, and that the significance of the phrase was rather
pointed against Lord North than against the colonies. The 4,000 men
went out, among them Lord Rawdon (afterwards Lord Moira), Lord Edward
Fitzgerald, and many others, both officers and men, who were certainly
no enemies of liberty, or the colonies.
Some slight relaxation of the commercial restrictions which operated so
severely against Irish industry were made during the same year, but
these were more than counterbalanced by the embargo on the export of
provisions to America, imposed in February, 1776. This arbitrary
measure—imposed by order in Council—was so near being censured by the
Parliament then sitting, that the House was dissolved a month
afterwards, and a new election ordered. To meet the new Parliament it
was thought advisable to send over a new Viceroy, and accordingly Lord
Buckinghamshire entered into office, with Sir Richard Heron as chief
secretary.
In the last session of the late Parliament, a young _protege_ of Lord
Charlemont—he was only in his twenty-ninth year—had taken his seat for
the borough of Charlemont. This was Henry Grattan, son of the Recorder
of Dublin, and grandson of one of those Grattans who, according to Dean
Swift, "could raise 10,000 men." The youth of Grattan had been neither
joyous nor robust; in early manhood he had offended his father's
conservatism; the profession of the law, to which he was bred, he found
irksome and unsuited to his tastes; society, as then constituted, was
repulsive to his over-sensitive spirit and high Spartan ideal of manly
duty; no letters are sadder to read than the early correspondence of
Grattan, till he had fairly found his inspiration in listening
enraptured to the eloquent utterances of Chatham, or comparing
political opinions with such a friend as Flood. At length he found a
seat in the House of Commons, where, during his first session, he spoke
on three or four occasions, briefly, modestly, and with good effect;
there had been no sitting during 1776, nor before October of the
following year; it was, therefore, in the sessions from '78 to '82
inclusive, that this young member raised himself to the head of the
most eloquent men, in one of the most eloquent assemblies the world has
ever seen.
The fact of Mr. Flood, after fourteen years of opposition, having
accepted office under Lord Harcourt's administration, and defended the
American expedition and the embargo, had greatly lessened the
popularity of that eminent man. There was indeed, no lack of ability
still left in the ranks of the opposition—for Burgh, Daly, and
Yelverton were there; but for a supreme spirit like Grattan—whose
burning tongue was ever fed from his heart of fire—there is always room
in a free senate, how many soever able and accomplished men may
surround him.
The fall of 1777 brought vital intelligence from America. General
Burgoyne had surrendered at Saratoga, and France had decided to ally
herself with the Americans. The effect in England and in Ireland was
immense. When the Irish Houses met, Mr. Grattan moved an address to the
King in favour of retrenchment, and against the pension list, and Mr.
Daly moved and carried an address deploring the continuance of the
American war, with a governmental amendment assuring his Majesty that
he might still rely on the services of his faithful Commons. The second
Catholic relief bill, authorizing Papists to loan money on mortgage, to
lease lands for any period not exceeding 999 years—to inherit and
bequeath real property, so limited, passed, not without some
difficulty, into law. The debate had been protracted, by adjournment
after adjournment, over the greatest part of three months; the main
motion had been further complicated by an amendment repealing the Test
Act in favour of Dissenters, which was, fortunately, engrafted on the
measure. The vote in the Commons, in favour of the bill so amended, was
127 _yeas_ to 89 _nays_, and in the Lords, 44 _Contents_ to 28
_Noncontents_.
In the English House of Commons, Lord Nugent moved, in April, a series
of resolutions raising the embargo on the Irish provision trade;
abolishing, so far as Ireland was concerned, the most restrictive
clauses of the Navigation Act, both as to exports and imports, with the
exception of the article of tobacco. Upon this the manufacturing and
shipping interest of England, taking the alarm, raised such a storm in
the towns and cities that the ministry of the day were compelled to
resist the proposed changes, with a few trifling exceptions. But
Grattan had caught up, in the other island, the cry of "free trade,"
and the people echoed it after their orator, until the whole empire
shook with the popular demand.
But what gave pith and power to the Irish demands was the enrolment and
arming of a numerous volunteer force, rendered absolutely necessary by
the defenceless state of the kingdom. Mr. Flood had long before
proposed a national militia, but being in opposition and in the
minority, he had failed. To him and to Mr. Perry, as much as to Lord
Charlemont and Mr. Grattan, the militia bill of 1778, and the noble
army of volunteers equipped under its provisions, owed their origin.
Whether this force was to be a regular militia, subject to martial law,
or composed of independent companies, was for some months a subject of
great anxiety at the castle; but necessity at length precipitated a
decision in favour of volunteer companies, to be supplied with arms by
the state, but drilled and clothed at their own expense, with power to
elect their own officers. The official announcement of this decision
once made, the organization spread rapidly over the whole kingdom. The
Ulster corps, first organized, chose as their commander the Earl of
Charlemont, while those of Leinster elected the Duke of Leinster.
Simultaneously, resolutions against the purchase of English goods and
wares were passed at public meetings, and by several of the corporate
bodies. Lists of the importers of such goods were obtained at the
custom houses, and printed in handbills, to the alarm of the importers.
Swift's sardonic maxim, "to burn everything coming from England,
_except the coals_," began to circulate as a toast in all societies,
and the consternation of the Castle, at this resurrection of the
redoubtable Dean, was almost equal to the apprehension entertained of
him while living.
While the Castle was temporizing with both the military and the
manufacture movement, in a vague expectation to defeat both, the press,
as is usual in such national crises, teemed with publications of great
fervour and ability. Dr. Jebb, Mr. (afterwards Judge) Johnson, Mr.
Pollock, Mr. Charles Sheridan, Father Arthur O'Leary, and Mr. Dobbs,
M.P., were the chief workers in this department of patriotic duty.
Cheered, instructed, restrained within due bounds by these writings and
the reported debates of Parliament, the independent companies proceeded
with their organization. In July, 1779, after all the resources of
prevarication had been exhausted, arms were issued to the several
recognized corps, and the Irish volunteers became in reality a national
army for domestic protection and defence.
When this point was reached, Mr. Grattan and his friends took anxious
council as to their future movements. Parliament was to meet on the
12th of October, and in that sweet autumnal month, Grattan, Burgh, and
Daly, met upon the sea-shore, near Bray, in view of one of the
loveliest landscapes on earth, to form their plan for the session. They
agreed on an amendment to the address in answer to the royal speech,
demanding in explicit terms "free export and import" for Irish
commerce. When Parliament met, and the address and amendment were
moved, it was found that Flood, Burgh, Hutchinson, and Gardiner, though
all holding offices of honour and emolument under government, would
vote for it. Flood suggested to substitute the simple term "free
trade," and with this and one other verbal alteration suggested by
Burgh, the amendment passed with a single dissenting voice.
The next day the Speaker, Mr. Perry, who was all along in the
confidence of the movers of the amendment, Daly, Grattan, Burgh, Flood,
Hutchinson, Ponsonby, Gardiner, and the whole House, went up with the
amended address to the castle. The streets were lined with volunteers,
commanded in person by the Duke of Leinster, who presented arms to the
patriotic Commons as they passed. Most of the leading members wore the
uniform of one or other of the national companies, and the people saw
themselves at the same moment under the protection of a patriotic
majority in the legislature, and a patriotic force in the field. No
wonder their enthusiastic cheers rang through the corridors of the
castle with a strangely jubilant and defiant emphasis. It was not
simply the spectacle of a nation recovering its spirit, but recovering
it with all military _éclat_ and pageantry. It was the disarmed armed
and triumphant—a revolution not only in national feeling, but in the
external manifestation of that feeling. A change so profound stirred
sentiments and purposes even deeper than itself, and suggested to the
ardent imagination of Grattan the establishment of entire national
independence, saving always the rights of the crown.
The next day, the Houses, not to be outdone in courtesy, voted their
thanks to the volunteers for "their just and necessary exertions in
defence of their country!"