"Resolved, unanimously, That at an era so honourable to the spirit, wisdom, and loyalty of Ireland, a MORE EQUAL REPRESENTATION of the people in Parliament deserves the deliberate attention of every Irishman; as that alone which can perpetuate to future ages the inestimable possession of a free constitution. In this sentiment we are happy to coincide with a late decision of the much-respected Volunteer army of the Province of Munster; as well as with the opinion of that consummate statesman, the late Earl of Chatham-by whom it was held a favourite measure for checking venality, promoting public virtue, and restoring the native spirit of the constitution." 1783, a meeting of delegates from thirty-part in the proceedings. He was the son of eight corps of Volunteers assembled after of Lord Hervey, and made a considerable a review, and adopted the following reso- figure for a few years in the proceedings of lution:the Volunteers. There is no man of whom more opposite opinions are given. Whilst some represent him as a man of elegant erudition and extensive learning, others paint him as possessing parts more brilliant than solid, as being generous but uncertain; splendid but fantastic; an amateur without judgment and a critic without taste; engaging but licentious in conversation; polite but violent; in fact, possessing many of the qualities which the satirist attributes to another nobleman of his country, the fickle and profligate Villiers. There could be no greater contrasts in his character than in his conduct and position. He wore an English coronet and an Irish mitre; and some have thought that he was visionary enough to have assumed the port of the tribune only to obtain the power of a sovereign. He was indeed monarchial in his splendour-his retinue exceeded that of the most affluent nobleman-his equipages were magnificent-he delighted in the acclamations of the populace, and the military escort which surrounded his carriage.* He was a man who possessed princely qualities; he was costly, luxurious, munificent, and in the strange antithesis of his position— bishop, earl, demagogue-was formed to attract the nation amongst which he had cast his lot. But his qualities were not dangerous; Government was more afraid of him than they needed to be; and he effected little in the history of his day, more than playing a splendid part in a transitory pageant. Similar meetings were had, and similar resolutions adopted in every part of Ireland. If the spirit of the Volunteers had been wisely directed, and their exertions turned into the proper channel, there seems to be no reason to doubt that the constitution and liberties of Ireland would have been firmly secured on a basis that would have withstood the efforts of England. In the latter country, the question of Reform had met with the sanction of the Duke of Richmond and Mr. Pitt. Reform associations had been formed, two of which, the Yorkshire Association," and the "London Constitutional Knowledge Society," entered into correspondence with the Volunteers, applauded their spirit, and urged upon them the utility of holding a national convention of the delegates of the four provinces. It was a suggestion quite consonant to their spirit and to their views, and they lost no time in acting upon it. In the month of July, 1783, delegates from several corps in Ulster summoned a general assembly of delegates from the entire province for the 8th of September. Five hundred representatives met in pursuance of this requisition at Dungannon.* Flood travelled from Dublin to attend, but was detained on the road by illness. The Earl of Bristol was present, and took an active constitutional, nor justified by necessity, and might be dangerous to liberty-were adopted at several meetings. The Belfast company inet, protested against the measure, and addressed Flood. The plan was not then carried into execution. It was a manifest attempt to terrify and overawe the Volun tecrs. They were too strong as yet to submit. Mr. Grattan says this meeting took place at a meeting-house of dissenters in Belfast. The statement in the text is on the authority of the Historical Collections relating to Belfast, p. 255. and Belfast Politics, p. 245. See also a pamphlet, History of the Convention, published in 1784. The second Dungannon Convention elected for its president Mr. Jas. Stewart, afterwards Marquis of Londonderry. He was the friend of Lord Charlemont. They passed a number of resolutions, but the most important was the following: "That a committee of five persons be appointed to represent Ulster in a grand national Convention, to be held at noon, in the Royal Exchange of Dublin, on the 10th of November ther ensuing; to which they hoped that each of the other provinces would send delegates to digest and publish a plan of parliamentary reform, to pursue such measures as may appear most likely to render it effectual; to adjourn from time to time, and to convene proVincial meetings if found necessary." Addresses were issued to the Volunteers of the three provinces, filled with the *He was escorted to the Rotunda Convention by a troop of light dragoons, commanded by his nephew, George R. Fitzgerald.-Barrington's Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation, c. 7. noblest sentiments in favour of liberty, and abundant in the impassioned if not inflated eloquence in which the spirit of the day delighted to be clothed. There was, however, an anomaly in their proceedings, and a striking and painful contrast between their abstract theories of liberty and their practical manifestation. A proposition in favour of the Catholics was rejected. Here was a body of men, not endowed with the powers of legislation, but acting as a suggestive assembly, dictating to legislation the way in which it should go, and declaring that freedom should be made more diffusive in its enjoyment; yet they are found, on grave deliberation, rejecting from their scheme the vast body of the nation whom they professed to emancipate and raise. The practical absurdity was the rock on which they split. And it is said regretfully and without reproach, that the influence of this intolerant principle upon their counsels is attributable to Lord Charlemont and Henry Flood. These good men were the victims of a narrow religious antipathy, which prevented either of them from rendering permanent service to the cause of liberty. The interval between the Dungannon meeting and the Dublin Convention was stormy; yet the first Parliament in the viceroyalty of Lord Northington opened with a vote of thanks to the Volunteers. This vote was the work of Government. It is most probable that it was a deprecatory measure, and intended to guard against any violence in the Convention. This was the only measure of conciliation during the session. Sir Edward Newenham introduced the question of retrenchment in the public expenses, principally with reference to reduction in the army. It was taken up warmly by Sir H. Cavendish and Henry Flood; and it certainly did appear as if this enmity to the regular army was a Volunteer sentiment, so strongly did the principal parliamentary friends of that distinguished body persevere in the pressing upon the legislature the question of retrenchment. Grattan was opposed to any reduction in the regular forces-he said that it was a matter of compact that they remain at a certain standard settled in 1782, and he is accordingly found an opponent on all occasions of every proposition of retrenchment. The question was unfortunate; it led to that degrading personal discussion which displayed the two greatest men in the country in the discreditable attitude of virulent and vulgar personal animosity. On Sir H. Cavendish's motion for reduction in the expenses of the kingdom, Flood eagerly and eloquently supported the proposition But wandering beyond the necessities of his argument he indulged in some wanton reflections upon Grattan, and the result was an invective from the latter, so fierce, implacable, and merciless, that it leaves behind it at a great distance the finest specimens of recorded virulence. The estrangement of these illustrious men was complete. And the triumph of their passions was one, and not a very remote, cause of the downfall of their country. They could no longer unite to serve her; their views, which had differed so widely before thenceforward became principles of antagonism, to carry out which was a point of honour and an instinct of anger; and they whose combined wisdom would have rendered liberty secure, became unwittingly her most destructive enemies. The conservative policy of Grattan, and the progressive principles of Flood, in the acrimony of contest and the estrangement of parties, gave full opportunity to Government to perfect that scheme which ended in the Union. We have now arrived at what may well be called the last scene of the great political and military drama in which the Volunteers played such a distinguished part. At a time of great and pressing public peril, they sprung to arms and saved their country. Having dispelled the fears of foreign invasion and secured the integrity of Ireland, they found within her own system a greater enemy. They found trade restricted and legislation powerless. They emancipated industry and commerce; and they restored a constitution. But with their achievements their ambition increased, and concluding with reason that a constitution must be a nominal blessing where the Parliament was not freely chosen by the people,* they resolved upon employing their powerful organisation to procure a reform in Parliament. How far this was consistent with their original principle-how far they should have left to the Parliament itself the remodelling of its internal structure, and appealed to its wisdom in their civilian character, it is difficult to say. They had asserted at Dungannon-and the proposition had received the sanction of the legislature-that a citizen, by learning the use of arms, did not forfeit the right of discussing political affairs. Yet Grattan, in replying to Lord Clare's speech There were three hundred members; sixty-four were county members, and about the same number might be returned with great exertion by the people in the cities and towns. The remainder were the close borough members, the nominees of the aristocracy, and invariably the supporters of Government. on the Union, seems to have insisted that armed men might make declarations in favour of liberty, but having recovered it, they should retire to cultivate the blessings of peace.* The Volunteers, however, did not imagine that liberty was secured until the Parliament was free. Nor is it easy to understand why, if their declarations were of value in 1782 to recover a constitution, they should not be of equal importance in 1783 to reform the legislature. was worded in that spirit of exclusion which was the bane and the destruction of the Volunteers. It was " Resolved, That the Protestant inhabitants of this country are required by the statute law to carry arms, and to learn the use of them," etc. It seems difficult at this day to account for the narrow and perverse policy which prevailed in this Convention with regard to the Catholics. The delegates forming that body had it in their power to lay the Previous to the first meeting of the foundations of the newly liberated nation Dublin Convention, provincial assemblies deep in the hearts and interests of the were held in Leinster, Munster, and Con- whole people, and thus defy both the arts naught. They passed resolutions similar and arms of England to enslave a united to those adopted at Dungannon-delegates | Ireland. They perversely threw away were appointed-and the whole nation this noble opportunity: their work of rewas prepared for the great Congress on generating their country was but half which the fate of Ireland seemed to depend. done; English intrigue was soon busy on the large field thus left for its operation; and it cannot be thought wonderful if very many of the Catholics afterwards became reconciled to the fatal idea of a legislative union with England, as afforda better chance for their emancipation than living under the bitter and intolerant At length, amidst the hush of public expectation, the excited hopes of the nation, and the fears of Government, on Monday, the 10th of November, one hundred and sixty delegates of the Volunteers of Ireland met at the Royal Exchange. They elected Lord Charlemont, chairman, exclusiveness of the Irish Ascendency. and John Talbot Ashenhurst and Captain| Dawson, secretaries, and then adjourned to the Rotunda. Their progress was one of triumph. The city and county Volunteers lined the streets, and received the delegates, who marched two and two through their ranks, with drums beating and colours flying. Thousands of spectators watched with eyes of hopeful admiration the slow and solemn march of the armed representatives to their place of assembly; and the air was rent with the acclamations of the people. Vain noises -hapless enthusiasm! In a few weeks, the doors that opened to admit the delegates of one hundred thousand men, were closed upon them with inconsiderate haste; and the fate of the constitution they had restored was sealed amidst sullen gloom and angry discontent. But popular enthusiasm was not prophetic, or could only anticipate from a glorious pageantry a great result. The largest room of the Rotunda was arranged for the reception of the delegates. Semicircular seats, in the manner of an amphitheatre, were ranged around the chair. The appearance of the house was brilliant: the orchestra was filled with ladies; and the excitement of the moment was intense and general. Their first proceeding was to affirm the fundamental principle of Dungannon, that the right of political discussion was not lost by the assumption of arms; but the resolution Grattan's Miscellaneous Works, p. 98. A very shameful incident occurred on one of the early days of this Convention meeting. It was known that there were some members of it who strongly urged some measure of relief to the Catholics, especially the restoration of their elective franchise; when Sir Boyle Roche, a member of Parliament, chiefly known by his good bulls and bad jokes, appeared on the floor, and obtained permission, though not a member of the Convention, to make an announcement with which he said he had been charged by Lord Kenmare, a Catholic nobleman : That noble Lord," said Sir Boyle Roche," and others of his creed, disavowed any wish of being concerned in the business of elections, and fully sensible of the favours already bestowed upon them by Parliament felt but one desire, to enjoy them in peace, without seeking in the present distracted state of affairs to raise jealousies, and further embarass the nation by asking for more.” * This was on the 14th of November. But the mean-spirited proceeding of Lord Kenmare excited much indignation amongst the Catholics then in Dublin. They did not indeed hope much from the Convention; but at least they would not permit his lordship to disavow in their name every manly aspiration. Accordingly, in the afternoon of the same day the princely demagogue, the Earl-Bishop of Derry, rose to submit to the considera * Mr. Plowden speaks of this as a "pretended letter of Lord Kenniare." tion of the Convention "a paper of con- had succeeded the Duke of Portland as sequence, which referred to a class of men lord-lieutenant; and in his viceroyalty, it who were deserving of every privilege in was judged advisable to amuse the Irish common with their fellow-countrymen." with a bauble "to draw away the public He moved that the paper should be read. mind," says Mr. Plowden, "from specuIt was to this effect: Nov. 14th, 1783-lative questions," especially reform: and At a meeting of the General Committee accordingly letters patent were issued of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, Sir creating the order of Knights of St. Patrick Bellew, Bart., in the chair, it was Patrick;" and the new knights were inunanimously Resolved, That the message stalled with great pomp on the 17th of relating to us delivered this morning to March, the festival of the saint. Lord the National Convention was totally un- Temple's government lasted but a few known to and unauthorised by us. That months, he was succeeded by Lord Northwe do not so widely differ from the rest of ington who dissolved the Parliament; and mankind, as, by our own act, to prevent a general election had now resulted in the the removal of our shackles. That we House of Commons which was already in shall receive with gratitude every indul- session in College Green, when the Congence that may be extended to us by the vention of Volunteers, after first meeting legislature, and are thankful to our bene- in the Royal Exchange, transferred their volent countrymen for their generous meeting to the upper end of Sackville efforts on our behalf. Resolved, That Sir Street. The Convention and the ParliaP. Bellew be requested to present the ment stood in a very singular relation: foregoing resolutions to the Earl of Bristol the main object of the one was to reform as the act of the Roman Catholics of Ire- and to purge the other. Certainly Parlia land, and entreat that his lordship will ment greatly needed to be reformed and be pleased to communicate them to the purged; but when the medicine was offered National Convention." There were few at the sword's point, by a body clearly more remarkable men in Ireland in that extra-legal and unconstitutional, it was age of able men than this singular Bishop not very likely that they would swallow of Derry. He was a steady friend to the it. The House of Commons was not only Catholics, and supported every movement thorougly vicious in its constitution, in their favour, when Charlemont and being composed chiefly of nominees of Flood coldly repulsed and resisted every great proprietors, but also systematically suggestion of this kind. One cannot but corrupted by bribes, places, and promises; wish that the bold bishop had been com- for it was now more essential to English mander-in-chief of the Volunteers. A newly elected Parliament had met a few days before this Convention; and Dublin then presented the extraordinary spectacle of two deliberative bodies, seated in two houses, within sight of each other, treating of the same questions, and composed in part of the same persons; for many members both of the Lords and Commons were also members of the Convention; and they passed from one building to the other, as debates of importance were to arise in either. The year which was drawing to a close had been a very busy and stirring one in Ireland. The British ministry was that famous "coalition ministry" formed by Lord North and Mr Fox: the Irish Judicature Bill, one of the series of measures for establishing the independence of Ireland, had been passed by the English Parliament.* Lord Temple It is the act 23 George III., c. 28, entitled, "An Act for preventing and removing all doubts which have arisen, or may arise, concerning the exclusive rights of the Parliament and courts of Ireland, in matters of legislation and judicature; and for preventing any writ of error or appeal from any of his majesty's courts in that kingdom from being received, heard, and adjudged, in any of his majesty's courts in the kingdom of Great Britain." Amongst the several acts which received the royal assent under the Duke of Portland's administration, bank. This met with some opposition, but the measure was carried, and the bank opened the year following. By this act (21 and 22 Geo. III., c. 16), the Bank was established by the name of The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland. The subscribers to it were to pay in £600,000, eithe in cash or debentures, at 4 per cent., which were to be taken at par, and considered as money. This sum was to be the capital stock of the bank, and the debentures to that amount, when received, were to be cancelled by the vice-treasurers. For these an annuity of £24,000 was to be paid to the company, being equal to the interest payable upon these debentures; the stock was to be redeemable at any time, upon twelve months' notice, after the 1st of January, 1794. was Mr. Eden's act for establishing the national Ireland obtained likewise an im portant acquisition by a bill, for better securing the liberty of the subject," otherwise called the Habeas Corpus act, similar to that formerly passed in England. The sacramental test, by which the dissenting Protestants were excluded from offices of trust under the crown, was also repealed, and the nation was gratified by the repeal of the perpetual mutiny bill, and by that long-desired act for making the commission of the judges of that kingdom, to continue quamdiu se bene gesserint. An act was also passed to render the manner of conforming from the Popish to the Protestant religion more easy and expeditious. Another for sparing to his majesty, to be drawn out of this kingdom whenever he should think fit, a force not exceeding 50,000 men. Part of the troops appointed to be kept therein for its defence. ; policy than ever to "secure a parliamen- was adopted, and Flood was selected to tary majority" upon all questions. Such introduce a bill founded on its principles a Parliament, of which two-thirds were and suggestions into Parliament. They already placemen, pensioners, or recipi- imagined that they could terrify the legisents of secret service-money or else ex- lature, and they much miscalculated the pected soon to be in one of those categories, power of the Volunteers. That power could not long subsist by the side of a was already shaken; they had flung away dictatorial Convention of armed men, the sympathies of the people; they had which really represented the armed force by their conduct defined themselves as of the nation, and which called upon it to an armed oligarchy, whose limited nocome out from the slough of all that pro- tions of freedom extended no farther fitable corruption. One or the other Par- than their own privileges and claims: liament or Convention, it was plain would they were abhorred and feared by have to give way. Government and its parliamentary reWhen the excitement which followed tainers; they were not trusted by Lord Kenmare's singular disavowal of the great body of the nation. It was manhood had subsided, there was not under unfortunate auspices like these, in much further reference to Catholics or the midst of bitter hostility and more their claims; the Convention resolved dangerous indifference, that Flood, leavitself into committees, and appointed sub-ing the Rotunda, proceeded on the 29th committees, to prepare plans of parlia- of December to the House of Commons mentary reform, for the consideration of with a bill, every provision of which was the general body. "Then was displayed aimed at the parliamentary existence of a singular scene, and yet such a scene as two-thirds of the House. He had reany one, who considered the almost un-quested the delegates not to adjourn till varying disposition of an assembly of that its fate was ascertained. But fatigue and nature, and the particular object for which disappointment rendered compliance imit was convened, might justly have ex-possible. pected. From every quarter, and from Flood's plan embraced many of the every speculatist, great clerks or no clerks principles which have since become incorat all, was poured in such a multiplicity porated with the British constitutionof plans of reform, some of them ingeni- the destruction of borough influence, and ous, some which bespoke an exercised and the creation of a sound county franchise.* rational mind, but in general so utterly There was nothing revolutionary-noimpracticable, so rugged and so wild in thing of that spirit to which modern their attire, they looked not like the off- usages give the name of radical, in its spring of inhabitants of the earth and yet principles and details. It was only defecwere on it,' that language would sink in tive in its grand omission. The Catholics portraying this motley band of incon- obtained no boon, and acquired no liberty gruous fancies, of misshapen theories, by its provisions, and to its fate in the valuable only if inefficient, or execrable if legislature they were naturally indifferent. efficacious."* We have objected to Grattan that he did not go on with the popular movement-it may with equal justice be alleged against Lord Charlemont and Flood, that by their religious intolerance they impaired the 6 But the plan which after some weeks of discussion was eventually adopted, was the workmanship of the ablest head in the assembly. Flood had assumed, because he was able to grasp and resolute to maintain, a predominating superiority over the Convention. It was the ascendancy of a vigorous cloquence, a commanding pre-lings value, resident in any city or borough, should sence, and a resistless will. With him in all his views, and beyond him in many, was the Bishop of Derry. The plan of reform which these two men approved † Hardy's Life of Charlemont. Hardy was one of Lord Charlemont's coterie, and looked at men and things through the medium of Marino. His maiden speech was made in support of Food's plan of reform, brought up from the Convention. It should not be forgotten that Hardy-though poor. he was in orruptible-scorned the large offers which were made to him at the Union. He was a patriot not to be purchased, when corruption was most munifi cent. The bishop would have included the Catholics. *SCHEME OF REFORM.-" That every Protestant asehold for a certain term of years of forty shilfreeholder or leaseholder, possessing a freehold or be entitled to vote at the election of a member for the same. "That decayed boroughs should be entitled to return representatives by an extension of franchise to the neighbouring parishes. That suffrages of the electors should be taken by the sheriff or his deputies, on the same day, at the respective places of election. That pensioners of the crown receiving their pensions during pleasure, should be incapacitated from sitting in Parliament. That every member of Parliament accepting a pension for life, or any place under the crown, should vacate his seat each member should subscribe an oath that he had That neither directly nor indirectly given any pecuniary or other consideration with a view of obtaining that suffrage of an election. Finally, that the duration of Parliament ahould not exceed the term of three years." |