เ But the Tories were satisfied that they would have a majority. They had the Council with them,' they said, and the House of Lords with them;' thus supported, they had the House of Commons in their pocket,' and any one who cautioned them was 'upbraided with the odious name of Whig.' The Chancellor, when the elections were in progress, reported the success as beyond expectation. He was specially delighted with 'the good spirit of loyalty in the mob;' and assured Swift that, by the nicest calculations, the Castle would have a majority of three to two." 12 Sir Constantine's 'mob' specially distinguished themselves in Dublin. He had been advised to end the mayoralty quarrel before the election. Possibly he preferred to keep the fire smouldering, that it might be the easier blown into flame. Any way there was an Irish row of a genuine kind. The house of the Archbishop of Tuam, one of the few Liberals on the bench, was attacked. A watchman on duty there was knocked down, and, but for a reinforcement of police, the Archbishop himself would have been of an Irish judge.' Mr. Justice Nutley, that Swift might at this time have exchanged St. Patrick's, to which he had just been promoted, for an Irish bishopric. His Grace the Primate' (Narcissus Marsh), writes Sir R. Nutley,' died on the second instant at two in the morning. I am of opinion that the deanery of St. Patrick's is a fine preferment for a lord lieutenant's chaplain to jump into after one or two months' service; and if you can be tempted to part with your fine house in Dublin for an ill-contrived one on a country bishopric, I can easily cut out a scheme for advancing 1 Letters signed with a cypher 2 Sir Constantine Phipps to Dean Swift, November 9, 1713.' CHAP. II. 1713 II. 1713 BOOK dragged into the street 'for a Whig.' The election going in favour of the Opposition, young Cotter, Sir James Cotter's eldest son,2 led an attack on the Protestant voters as they were going to the poll. One man was killed; many were injured. The Castle guard turned out to disperse the rioters; but they were recalled by an instant order within the gates, and the too officious officers on duty were put under arrest. In the midst of wild uproar the Castle candidates were declared elected, and the Chancellor and the Council flattered themselves, that, by the free use of such means, they had secured such a House of Commons as was never known in Ireland.' They discovered that they had made a serious mistake. The first intimation of the truth was in the choice of a speaker. Sir Richard Levinge, the Castle candidate, was defeated in a close fight by Alan Brodrick. The Liberal majority increased rapidly as the elections were enquired into. The scenes at Dublin had been repeated at half the towns in the provinces, and Tory after Tory was unseated. 'We are threatened now with an unquiet session,' Sir John Stanley wrote to Bolingbroke. The Viceroy began to flatter and pay court to Brodrick to stave off a quarrel. The last hope was to get the money vote past quietly and end the session. But no such fortune was possible. The Nonconformists, on Shrewsbury's arrival, had 1 'The pretence, as well as the thing, was somewhat extraordinary,' wrote the Bishop of Kildare, in describing the scene to Swift, October 20, 1713. MSS. Record Office. 2 Sir James Cotter had been a distinguished supporter of King James. His son, on his father's death, had been placed by the Court of Chancery under a Protestant guardian. He had been stolen away, brought up a Catholic in England, and married as a minor to a Catholic lady. The career of this idol of young Catholic Ireland had a wild ending, as will be seen. 3 Long History of a Short Session. presented him with an address for the removal of the An untoward accident blew the fire into a fiercer flame. The two Houses of Convocation, having drawn an address of their own, had an audience in the presence chamber to present it to the Viceroy. Robert Molesworth, Lord Molesworth afterwards, the 1 'To complete your Grace's character, you have also, in a most eminent manner, been instrumental in bringing about the glorious Revolution in 1688, to which, under God, we owe the preservation of CHAP. II. 1713 BOOK II. 1713 member for Swords and a privy councillor, said in a whisper which was audible over the room: They that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.' Molesworth had long been noted as dangerous. He had been a friend of Asgill. He was suspected of intimacy with Toland. His opinions on religious matters were probably no worse than Bolingbroke's. But Bolingbroke's sins were mantled with the political robes of Toryism. Molesworth was a Whig and a Hanoverian. The clergy started as if stung by a snake. Church and State, God and man, they said, were insulted in such monstrous wickedness. Holy Scripture had been profaned and the Queen outraged in the person of the Viceroy, who was present when such shocking words were spoken. They laid their wrongs before the House of Lords. The Lords demanded a conference with the Commons. The whole Parliament, they said, must combine to do justice to that venerable body the Convocation,' and make the guilty person'sensible of the horrid crime laid to his charge, of impiously profaning the lively oracles of God." Molesworth's name was struck from the list of Privy Councillors. The Lords required the Commons to show the same zeal which they had shown when they removed Asgill, and expel him from their House. The Commons passed to the order of the day. They concerned themselves little with the wrongs of the clergy. They desired only to secure themselves and the country against the treachery of the secret 1 Commons' Journals, December 22, 1713. friends of the Pretender. A rumour spread that he was coming to Ireland: they brought in heads of a bill offering a reward for his capture alive or dead. Edward Forbes, the ex-fellow of Trinity College, had published a book advocating his claims. He was threatened with arrest. An indictment was drawn against him. He fled to England, and threw himself on Ormond's protection, and Phipps quashed the prosecution. A prologue had been spoken in the theatre on the Queen's birthday, which, from the high laudation of the 'immortal memory of William,' had been construed into an affront to the reigning sovereign, and the orator had been arrested by Phipps' order. Not wishing to be accused of faction, the Commons did not choose to refuse the supplies, but they made a statement of grievances a condition of their grant; and, when the Speaker presented the money bill in one hand, in the other he presented a list of complaints. The Commons again insisted that the Chancellor should be dismissed for the peace and safety of the Protestant inhabitants of the kingdom.' 'Distinctions of parties had been fostered' at a time when 'unanimity among Protestants' was more than ever necessary. 'Her majesty's loyal subjects had been traduced as enemies to her person and government,' exposed to the insults of Papists, and the vilest part of the people.' The persons who had been instrumental in these misrepresentations, they could not but suspect to have views directly opposite to her majesty's service and good of the kingdom.' เ Shrewsbury refused to accept a money bill so accompanied. He sent for the Opposition leaders. He told them that the Queen was dissatisfied with เ CHAP. II. 1713 |