I. 1724 fending against English authority, proved too strong CHAP. both for King and Viceroy. The Drapier having reconsidered his intention of declaring himself, the threatened prosecution was undertaken against the printer, a person named Harding. With characteristic audacity the Dean published an anonymous address to the grand jury, inviting them to throw out the bill. The worst that could be alleged against the Drapier, he said, had been but an unwary expression; otherwise he had deserved well of Ireland, and ought to be supported; the grand jury, being merchants and shopkeepers, had nothing to gain by returning the bill, and nothing to fear by rejecting it; they expected no employment in the state to make up in their own advantage for the destruction of their country.' This sarcastic stroke of insolence was received also with applauding clamour,' and the aspect 1 Swift at one time undoubtedly contemplated, if not avowing the authorship of the letters, yet taking up the Drapier's quarrel in his own name. At the height of the storm he addressed a letter to Lord Midleton from the deanery, which he evidently intended to publish. He assumed that the Chancellor agreed with him, and the Drapier having been silenced, he said that he must himself take up the pen. The English, he declared, knew no more of Ireland than of Mexico. They regarded it as a country subject to the King of England, full of bogs, inhabited by wild Irish Papists, and kept in awe by mercenary troops. They thought it would be better for them if Ireland were sunk in the sea; and if an Irishman came among them they crowded about him as if he were a wild beast. In reality, the Papists of Ireland were as inconsiderable as the women and children. Mr. He explained in detail, as he had Midleton, as Chancellor, objected probably to the appearance of a letter of such a character addressed to himself. It was kept back at the time, but appeared afterwards as No. 6 in the Drapier Series.-Swift's Works, vol. vii. BOOK 1724 เ of things was so unfavourable, that even Carteret's own mind began to misgive him. Grafton perhaps had been less to blame after all than he and Walpole had imagined. The rage,' he admitted, 'was universal.' A general hope was expressed, he said, 'that his majesty would recede and withdraw the patent;' and he confessed that he hesitated what to advise. "The Protestants having universally taken so unaccountable a turn, the Papists naturally followed suit to keep up the ferment. Commerce and credit suffered, and imaginary fears had become real evils. The troops were in good condition, and showed the best spirit, but they were weak in numbers."1 English soldiers were spared the disgrace of forcing light halfpence upon Ireland to fill the pockets of a King's mistress. The prosecution of the printer was pressed. The grand jury took Swift's advice, and threw out the bill. They were sent back with a reprimand. They divided, twenty-seven to eleven in favour of persisting. The judges sent for them, man by man, to expostulate. They had but one answer, that the presentment of the paper would bring in the halfpence. Even treason,' Carteret said, 'would not be found by an Irish jury if coloured over with popular invectives.' La Touche, the banker, who had voted with the minority, was all but ruined by his temerity. There was so violent a run upon him, that it was feared he would be obliged to stop payment."' Amidst universal execrations, contrary to precedent, and contrary, it was alleged, to law, the first grand jury was discharged, and another summoned. Fourteen of the new jurymen were notorious Jacobites. vember 22 and November 24, 1724' Ibid. 1 Carteret to Newcastle, November 14. MSS. Record Office. 2 Carteret to Newcastle, No Their humour was so confessed that the Chief Justice dared not press them to a decision. But being assembled, they refused to be passive. Instead of presenting the printer of the Drapier Letters, the grand jury of the county and city of Dublin presented all persons who had attempted, or should endeavour to impose, Wood's halfpence upon Ireland as enemies to his majesty's government and the welfare of the kingdom.' 1 1 Two alternatives only now lay before the Government. Either they must suspend the constitution, declare Ireland in a state of siege, and govern by the army, or they must accept their defeat. Walpole, already fearing that he might have gone too far, had sent an order to Carteret, 'not to exceed the law, whatever the provocation.' He had bidden him 'consult such persons as retained their reason,' and let him know their opinions.2 Carteret, with evident relief, replied that the matter must be ended; and that if the King could make up his mind to let the patent drop, a way of retreat would be opened to him. Men whose estates were in Ireland were shy of giving advice when public feeling was so violently agitated. Every one with whom he spoke, however, was of opinion, that something must be done before the Government could encounter the Parliament. So long as the patent was maintained, the public business could never be carried on. If the patent was cancelled, the House of Commons might be brought to vote some compensation to Wood, provided it was done indirectly, and his name did not appear.3 The dose was too nauseous to be swallowed with- 1 Carteret to Newcastle, De- 3 Carteret to Newcastle, December 16.' CHAP. I. 1724 BOOK IV. 1724 out reluctance and wry faces. Townshend was especially indignant. The King,' he said, 'was astonished to receive such advice. He had asked for the opinions of reasonable persons, and he was answered that the patent must be withdrawn, and that money would then be silently voted to hush up the quarrel. The King never asked, or accepted, money from Parliament without specifying the purpose for which it was needed. He could not bring himself to make a private bargain. He had never meant to force the copper on his people: he would never allow it to be forced on them, and an assurance so distinctly given ought to be sufficient.'1 Townshend's letter was read before the Irish Council. They were not satisfied. The country had made up its mind that the accursed thing should have no entrance there under any pretext whatsoever. Midleton resigned the seals, and the war seemed about to recommence; when Archbishop Boulter, then newly settled in the Primacy, interposed with judicious explanations, satisfied Walpole of the real danger of allowing the dispute to continue, and induced him to capitulate on the offered terms. 'All parties,' the Archbishop wrote, 'without distinction of party, country, or religion, are against the halfpence. Their agreement in this has had a very unhappy influence on the state of affairs here, bringing together Papists, Jacobites, and Whigs; so that 'tis questioned whether, if there were occasion, justices of the peace could be found that would with any strictness search and disarm Papists. The apprehension of the loss they will sustain in their estates if these halfpence are introduced has cooled the zeal 1 'Townshend to Carteret, December 29.' MSS. Record Office. I. 1724 of numbers that were before warmly affected. It CHAP. appears also, and may more appear, that the uneasiness is a protection to any sedition, uttered or published, that has anything about the halfpence intermixed with it. No witnesses against such delinquents would be safe from popular fury. Papists and Jacobites have been very industrious in this affair to bad ends. Foolish people have taken advantage of it to talk of independency. Men of sense, however, abhor any such notion. They take the safety of their lives and properties to lie in the connexion with England. I trust the folly of some and the wickedness of others will never provoke an English ministry to take angry steps to distress a nation where the title of every Protestant to his estate is inseparable from that of his majesty to the crown. Their affection will revive when the present heat is over; nor can this nation be hurt sensibly without great damage to England. But the uneasiness will remain till the patent is absolutely sunk. . . . I have asked them whether they would not admit ten thousand pounds worth or twenty thousand pounds worth of the copper. They say they will admit none. They are all determined, and you cannot venture to let Parliament sit till these heats are laid. I have told them that Wood must have been a great sufferer already, and must suffer more if his patent is revoked; that there is no doubt of its legality, or proof that he broke the terms of it. All here, however, are positive that his agents uttered a baser coin than those current at the Mint. He will not resign without compensation, and sedition may provoke his majesty to sustain him. We ought, therefore, to propose some amends to Mr. Wood to induce him to resign. Sensible people answer that |