which in prejudicing that kingdom, served only to favour the adventures of British contractors. This embargo, combined with other causes, which were invariable and permanent, produced the most melancholy effects. Wool and black cattle fell considerably in value, as did also land; and rents in many places could scarcely be collected, so much was public credit essentially injured. In short, it was again judged necessary, in presence of these exciting questions of America, "to do something for poor Ireland," as the phrase then ran. out of their power, but with grudging and regret. I have known men, to whom I am not uncharitable in saying, though they are dead, that they would become Papists in order to oppress Protestants, if being Protestants it was not in their power to oppress Papists." But whosoever has read the narrative of events down to the time at which we are now arrived, will scarcely resist the conclusion that the controlling idea in all the policy of the Ascendency was simple greediness. Meanwhile the dispute with America was very fast approaching the arbitrement of war. The first general Congress The nature of the benefit, however, was had been opened in Philadelphia on the to be considered, and nothing could seem 4th of September, 1774. All eyes in Ire- better adopted than a donation, which land were turned to this impending would be an advantage instead of a loss struggle, and the obvious community of to the giver. It was not itself very con-interest which Ireland had with those siderable, but it might be considered as a Transatlantic colonies, made their case beginning; and small benefits carry the theme of conversation in private weight with those who have not been circles, as well as of debates in Parlia- habituated to great favours. It had been ment. The attention of the country was shown to the British Parliament, that the still more strongly aroused when the Con-exports from England to Ireland amountinental Congress, amongst other forcible addresses issued at this time, directed one to the "People of Ireland." ted then to £2,400,000 annually; besides the latter supported a large standing army, at all times ready for the defence "We are desirous of the good opinion of the former; and immense sums of her of the virtuous and humane. We are pe-ready cash were spent in England by culiarly desirous of furnishing you with her numerous absentees, pensioners, and the true state of our motives and objects; placemen; yet by oppressive restrictions the better to enable you to judge of our in trade, Ireland was cut off from the conduct with accuracy and determine the benefit of her great natural staple commerits of the controversy with impar-modity, as well as excluded from the tiality and precision. Your Parliament advantage that she might derive from the had done us no wrong. You had ever peculiarity of her situation. been friendly to the rights of mankind; The British minister, on the 11th of and we acknowledge with pleasure and October, 1775, moved for a committee of gratitude that your nation has produced the whole House to consider the encourpatriots who have nobly distinguished agement proper to be given to the fisherthemselves in the cause of humanity ies of Great Britain and Ireland.* This and America." In fact, most of the lead-attention to Ireland was generally aping members of the opposition in both proved of, and after some conversation on countries (who afterwards composed that the hardships that country suffered, it administration which put an end to the was proposed by Mr. Burke to extend American war) opposed the war upon the motion, by adding the words "trade principle; they inveighed against the and commerce;" and thereby afford an unconstitutional exactions of the ministry, opportunity to grant such relief and and in their debates went very little short indulgence in those exports, as might be of formally justifying the American re-done without prejudice to Great Britain. bellion. The analogy between America The minister objected to this; however, and Ireland was too close to pass unnoticed; and the defection of the American colonies produced strong effects upon extremely cautious in approaching any measure for the encouragement of the Irish fisheries. It was Ireland. The exportation of Irish linen in the reign of William the Third that certain fishfor America had been very considerable; ermen in Folkestone and Aldborough, in the south but now this great source of national of England, presented mournful petitions to Parliawealth was totally shut up, by an extra-ment, stating that they suffered "from Ireland by the Irish catching herrings at Waterford and Wexordinary stretch of prerogative. Under ford! and sending them to the Straits, and thereby the pretext of preventing the Americans forestalling and ruining the petitioners' markets." from being supplied with provisions from These impudent fishermen had, as Hutchison says, this country, an embargo was laid on the the hard lot of having motions which were made in. their favour, rejected.-See the Commercial Reexportation of provisions from Ireland,straints, p. 126. *An English minister was always obliged to be the committee in its progress granted which was now, on most questions, irreseveral bounties to the ships of Great sistible (though there were reserved quesBritain and Ireland, for their encourage- tions, as the origination of money-bills), ment in prosecuting the Newfoundland carried the measure for granting the four fishery; and it was further resolved in thousand men, on the terms that they favour of Ireland, that it should be lawful should not be a charge to the Irish revenue to export from thence clothes and ac- while serving abroad. There was much coutrements for such regiments on the objection made by the Patriots, to sending Irish establishment as were employed these troops "to cut the throats of the abroad: and, also, that a bounty of five Americans;" and there were many exshillings per barrel should be allowed on pressions of sympathy and respect towards all flax seeds imported into Ireland. This the colonists, in the course of the debate; last resolution was passed to prevent the but the measure was carried. Mr. Flood, evils that were apprehended there, from indeed, whose conduct is not clear of the the cutting off their great American imputation of corruption, voted to send source of supply in that article. Another the four thousand men "as armed negotiaresolution was also passed, by which Ire-tors "-such was his cold and cruel exland was allowed to export provisions, pression.* : hooks, lines, nets, and tools for the But although the Irish Parliament gave implements of the fishery. The com- these troops, it would not accept the Hesmittee also agreed to the granting of sians. Much to the surprise and embounties for encouraging the whale fish-barrassment of Government, the second ery in those seas that were to the south- proposition for introducing foreign troops ward of Greenland and Davis's Straits into that kingdom was negatived by fisheries and, upon the same principle, nearly as large a majority as the first was took off the duties that were payable upon carried; namely, by 106 against 68. the importation of oil, blubber, and bone, The House, accordingly, voted an adfrom Newfoundland, etc. They also took dress to his excellency, expressive of their off the duty that was payable upon the sense and resolution upon this subject, importation of seal skins. and stating "that, with the assistance of the Government, his majesty's loyal people of Ireland may be able so to exert themselves as to make such aid at this juncture unnecessary." This conduct of the Irish Commons is of singular importance in the History of Ireland, inasmuch as it was the first patriotic step taken by the representatives of the people towards attaining that state of civil liberty which was obtained by the nation in what Mr. Burke called "their revolution of 1782." In truth, the address to Lord Harcourt, in which the legislature promised for the people that they would exert themselves, and make foreign soldiers unnecessary, already distinctly foreshadowed the volunteering. A part of the policy of this petty measure was to give to Ireland some portion of the benefits of which the war would deprive America. Mr. Burke, on this occasion, while he thanked Lord North for the trifling boon to his country, took occasion to say "that however desirous he might be to promote any scheme for the advantage of Ireland he would be much better pleased that the benefits thus held out should never be realized, than that Ireland should profit at the expense of a country which was, if possible, more oppressed than herself." But, strong as was the sympathy between Ireland and America, and earnestly as the mass of the people-both Catholic and Protestant-wished success to the patriotic colonists, the Government was determined to place the two oppressed countries as far as possible in a position of, at least, apparent antagonism. With this view, Lord Harcourt, in the year 1775 -just as hostilities had commenced at Lexington-demanded the services of four thousand men, out of the twelve thousand which then constituted the effective force of regular troops in Ireland, to be dispatched to America, for duty there. At the same time, the lord-lieutenant said it was his gracious Majesty's intention to supply the place of the four thousand men with foreign Protestant soldiers-in short, with Hessians. The Court party, When the four thousand troops were designated for this American service, an *In the tremendous phillipic pronounced by Grattan against Flood, in 1783, he thus deals with Mr. Flood's vote of 1775: " With regard to the liberties of America, which were inseparable from ours, I will suppose this gentleman to have been an enemy decided and unreserved; and that he voted against her liberty, and voted, moreover, for an address to send four thousand Irish troops to cut the throats of the Americans; that he called these butchers armed negotiators; and stood, with a metaphor in his mouth and a bribe in his pocket, a champion against the rights of America, the only hope of Ireland, and the only refuge of the liberties of mankind." (Select Speeches of Grattan, Duffy's edition, p. 104.) The allusion to the "bribe" meant that Flood had lately accepted an office under Lord Harcourt's administration. honourable action deserves to be recorded: with one voice to put an end to the perthe Earl of Effingham, finding that the nicious practice of accumulating debts, regiment in which he served was destined and they thought it their duty to accomto act against the colonies, thought it in-plish that necessary end by first endeaconsistent with his character and unbecom- voring to raise the revenue of the kingdom ing his dignity to enforce measures with to an equality with the establishment." his sword which he had condemned in his They said that economy was promised; legislative capacity. He therefore wrote that there had been no economy, but a a letter to the Secretary at War, resign- continual increase in the expenses. They ing his command in the army, and stating added, that could they neglect the most his reasons for it. This conduct rendered essential interests of themselves, their that nobleman extremely popular, and the constituents, and their posterity, still city of Dublin, at the Midsummer quarter their duty to his majesty would prevent assembly, voted public thanks to Lord them from suffering the resources of his Effingham, "for having, consistently with majesty's power and dignity to dwindle the principles of a true Englishman, and decay; and that they were the more refused to draw his sword against the necessitated to make that earnest applilives and liberties of his fellow-subjects cation, because the evils they suffered in America." Soon after, an address of were not temporary or occasional; because thanks, in fuller terms, was presented to they could not attribute them to any him from the guild of merchants of physical evil, or proud national exertion, Dublin: the latter also presented an but to a silent, wasting, and invisible address of thanks to the several peers, cause, which had injured the people, who (as they said) "in support of the without adding strength to the crown. constitution, and in opposition to a weak and wicked administration, protested against the American Restraining Bills." This address, with the several answers of the lords to whom it was presented, appeared at that time in the public papers, and produced a very strong sensation throughout the nation. But on the other hand, we find that great Irish Whig, Lord Rawdon, afterwards Lord Moira, serving zealously in America against the rebels; and it is not without a feeling of shame that Irishmen can ever read on that same list the name of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. The remainder of Lord Harcourt's administration was occupied mainly with parliamentary troubles about money bills. Heads of a bill were sent to England, granting certain duties for the public service. The bill was altered by the Privy Council, and when it came back it was rejected on that express ground. The Patriotic party, then, finding themselves supported on these financial questions by several members on the opposite side of the House, determined to try their strength upon a motion for an address to the king, setting forth in candid and striking terms the unhappy state of the nation. This motion was made two days before the end of the session. The address, after the usual preamble declaring loyal duty and devotion, stated that at the close of the last war the debt of the nation did not exceed £521,161, 16s. 6d. : that after a peace of ten years the debt was found to be £994,890, 10s. 10d.-" a circumstance so alarming and insupportable to his people, that they determined That they therefore performed that indispensable duty of laying their distresses at the foot of the throne, that history might not report them a nation which in the midst of peace, and under a gracious king, equally ready to warn and relieve, proceeded deliberately to their own ruin, without one to appeal to the wisdom which would have redressed them. And so they appealed from the temporary expedients of his majesty's ministers to his own wisdom and virtues, and to that permanent interest which his majesty had, and ever would have, in the welfare of his people. This address was extremely respectful, even to servility. But though it did not mention the exorbitant pension-list, nor the universal corruption and bribery which then were carried on by means of the public money, it told too much truth, and was too undeniable to be endured. Therefore the Government made a point of defeating it, and succeeded. An address was carried in its place, thanking the lord-lieutenant "for his prudent, just, and wise administration." The first Octennial Parliament had scarcely lived four years, when the British cabinet found it expedient that it should be dissolved. This Parliament had, during the last session, in two instances opposed their mandates, and when summoned to attend the House of Peers, the Commons, through their Speaker, made a just but ungracious and ineffectual representation of the state of that nation. These symptoms of independence alarmed the Government, and created a diffidence in the steadiness of those who in the House of Commons, whose seats are usually settled and arranged before they vacate them upon their promotions. In short, every possible precaution was adopted to secure a subservient Irish Parliament in the crisis which had been created by the American war. But in the very month of October, in which the new viceroy, Lord Buckinghamshire, met the new Parliament, General Burgoyne was surrrendering his army of 7,000 men to the Americans at Saratoga. The next year France declared for America. The administration, therefore, of this new lord-lieutenant dates a new era in the history of Ireland and of the earth. The English colony in Ireland suddenly, and for a short time, takes the proportions of a nation. had enlisted under their banners. They support the cause of their promoters by looked to more steady submission in a their individual votes in the House of future Parliament, and dissolved the Peers, and by those of their substitutes present. Mr. Perry was re-elected Speaker by a majority of 141 to 98. The lordlieutenant did not meet the new Parliament, which was convened in June, 1776, pro forma, and by several prorogations went over to the 14th of October, 1777. This Parliament now dissolved is memorable for ever in the history of Ireland for the first appearance of one of the greatest patriots who ever arose for the salvation of any people-and the word patriot is not here used in its merely colonial sense. This was Henry Grattan. He was the descendant of a powerful and influential family, of whom Dean Swift had said, "the Grattans can raise ten thousand men." His father was recorder of Dublin. Henry Grattan entered Parliament as member for Lord Charlemont's borough of Charlemont, on the borders of Armagh and Tyrone; he was then under thirty years of age, and in his first Parliament had been modest and retiring, acquainting himself with the details of public business, and with the forms of the House. It was not until the meeting of the new Parliament, under the administration of Lord Buckinghamshire, that Grattan's lofty character and splendid genius became known to his countrymen and to the world. The British cabinet was little satisfied with the administration of Lord Harcourt; the easy and delicate turn of his mind ill qualified him to support, much less to improve upon, the system of his predecessor, but by which alone, to the infamy and misfortune of Ireland, the legislators of that kingdom were to be kept steady in their ranks under the command of the Castle. Although Government, upon the whole, still retained a majority, yet several of their adherents had occasionally, during the last session, proved recreant from their instructions; some had deserted their ranks, many amongst them wavered, menaced, and complained of the terms of their engagements. It was therefore resolved to invigorate the new system by the election of a new Parliament. For this purpose an unusual, and till that time unprecedented, number of promotions in the peerage took place in one day. It far exceeded the famous promotion of twelve in the days of Queen Anne. Five viscounts were advanced to earldoms, seven barons to be viscounts, and eighteen new barons were created in the same day. The usual terms of such modern peerages are well understood to be an engagement to CHAPTER XVIII. 1777-1779. Buckingham, Viceroy.-Misery, and Decline of THE earlier years of Lord Buckingham's viceroyalty were not marked by any very striking event much different from the routine of parliamentary business during the preceding administrations. When this nobleman assumed the reins of government the country was still suffering the most poignant distress; while the national debt and all public charges were accumulating. Petitions now poured into both Houses, representing the sad facts with regard to declining trade. As these petitions certainly stated the truth, they are really valuable historical documents, illustrative of the period. Thus, a petition was presented to the House of Commons from the merchants and traders of Cork, setting forth that about the month of November, 1770, an embargo was laid on all ships laden with provisions, and bound from Ireland to foreign countries, which was still continued by Government, and had been very strictly enforced: that in consequence of that long embargo, an extensive not pay her forces abroad, and was obliged to borrow money from England to pay those at home. The Parliament was necessitated to raise money at an exorbitant interest; the expenses in 1777 having amounted to above £80,000 more than the revenue: £166,000 were therefore borrowed, and attempted to be raised in the old manner upon debentures at £4 per cent. So truly desperate was the financial state of Ireland, that, like desponding bankrupts, the Commons undertook to grant what they knew they had not the means of paying. Even the ministerial party could not be blind to their situation. They would not, however, permit any question to be brought forward on the state of the country in the Commons, lest too strong resolutions upon it should be carried, or their opposition to them should appear even too rank for their own system. They accordingly had again recourse to the half-measure of conveying their imperfect sense of the distressful state of the country through their Speaker, who, in presenting the first four money bills passed in that session, addressed himself to the lord-lieutenant in very general terms, expressing the unbounded confidence of the House in his majesty's wisdom, justice, and paternal care, and relying on the viceroy's "candour and humanity to make a faithful representation to his majesty of their unshaken loyalty, duty, and affection." beneficial trade, carried on for several years by that kingdom to France, Spain, Portugal, and Holland, for the supply of provisions, had been not only interrupted, but was in danger of being entirely lost; the petitioners being informed that the merchants of these countries were respectively stocked and provided from Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Hamburg, whereby the usual returns to that kingdom were discontinued, new enemies to our commerce were raised, and our commodities rendered useless and unprofitable. That great quantities of salt beef, not fit for the use of Government or the sugar colonies, being made up in that city, and also great quantities of beef and butter being annually brought to that market, these commodities of a perishable nature were there decaying for want of a free export, to the great injury of the proprietors in particular, and of the kingdom in general. That in support of these assertions, there then remained on hand, since the preceding year, a very considerable quantity of provisions, the property of several merchants in that city, not wanted by Government, and therefore without opportunity of sale; and although a considerable part of the season in which those articles were made up and exported had already elapsed, no demand whatsoever then existed for them, except for such quantities as were required by Government alone. That his majesty's revenue, which before had received large and constant supplies from the customs Thus the pitiful and hopeless contest of the city of Cork, had decreased in went on upon these questions of the proportion to the decay of their trade. money bills, the pension list, and general That the embargo, therefore, at that time extravagance of Government. The Patnot being warranted by any great sub-riots saw well that they could not now stantial necessity, but, on the contrary, hope to carry any really important restraining and preventing the diffusion measure, resolution, or address, that of trade, was pregnant with the most ruinous consequences, not only to the commercial, but also to the landed interests of the nation; and therefore the petitioners prayed redress. The Dublin manufacturers, in their petition, had a still sadder narrative to give. For example, they declared that there were at that moment no fewer than twenty thousand persons in that one city, artisans, out of work, together with their families, whom they, the petitioners, were supporting for charity by means of a relief association established among themselves; nor was Government able to make grants, either to promote industry or to relieve the national calamities. Every branch of the revenue failed, and such was the poverty of the nation, that the militia law could not be carried into effect. Ireland could should be distasteful to the Castle. Yet they resolved to put on record, at least once in each session, their own theory of the evils of the country. Therefore, after the speech of the lord-lieutenant, a motion was made for a humble address to his majesty, setting forth that the civil list had doubled in twenty years; that one great cause was "the rapid and astonishing growth of the pension list;" that ministers had repeatedly promised retrenchment, but had, on the contrary, continually increased their demands, and other the like topics. This address was negatived by a majority of 77-so well drilled were the ministerial members. The alarming news of the French alliance with the Americans was communicated to Parliament by the lordlieutenant, in a special message; and this was instantly followed by a demand of a |