The Irish Patriots

The political history of Ireland during the eighteenth century relates largely to the efforts of Irish patriots to obtain for their country some degree of political freedom. The Irish Parliament, composed as it was entirely of Protestants, and chosen by Protestant voters only, still remained entirely subject to English power. Poyning's Act, which had been passed centuries before, and by which every Irish measure had to be submitted to the English privy council, before it could even be considered in the Irish Parliament, still remained in force. To it was added another law, in the early part of the reign of George the First, by which it was declared that the English Parliament had power to make laws for the Irish people (1720). The Irish patriots wished to get rid of these restrictions; to obtain for the Irish Parliament the real power to make laws for Ireland without English interference; and to so reform the Irish Parliament itself, that it would better represent the Irish people.

Among the many grievances under which the Irish suffered, was the fact that large sums were taken from the Irish revenues, and given as pensions to the favorites, illegitimate children, and mistresses of the English kings. Ireland was poverty-stricken. Her trade and manufactures had, to a large extent, been crushed out by English selfishness: her woolen industry had been similarly crippled. Yet the taxes wrung from Irish toil were thus given to worthless people, who enjoyed the incomes thus derived in idle luxury. At one period (1733) the amount of pensions drawn from the Irish revenues amounted to seventy thousand pounds a year. Another abuse was the "charter schools," which were established throughout the country for the purpose of educating poor Catholic children to become Protestants. These schools were at first free: they then became boarding-schools, in which the poor children were starved and neglected, and which became merely a source of income to their managers.

The Irish patriots were, for the most part, Protestants, who devoted themselves to the removal of the unjust laws by which Ireland was burdened. They formed a political party which acted in Parliament in opposition to the government. The founders of this party were Dean Swift and a group of Irishmen who acted with him. The chief feature of their action, as has been said, was that, instead of trying to obtain for Ireland her rights by conspiracy and rebellion, they aimed to achieve that end by discussion and agitation in the public press, and within the walls of Parliament. They hoped to win their cause by peaceable and orderly methods. They were at first a small party, but they grew formidable in the flight of years. Some of the patriots proved corrupt, and were bribed by the English government with pensions and offices, to desert the cause of their country and turn against it. But in spite of such desertions, the party thrived and, in the end, prevailed. One of the earliest and most active of the patriots was Charles Lucas, a chemist in Dublin, who established the "Freeman's Journal," in which he vigorously advocated the right of the Irish to rule themselves. Lucas became a member of Parliament, and was long the leader of the little group of twenty-eight patriots who were battling, in the Irish House of Commons, for their country's liberties.

But in time there arose two leaders of the patriot party who were far above all the others in eloquence, energy, and fervor, and whose genius added great strength to the cause they had at heart. These were Henry Flood and Henry Grattan. Flood came of a good Protestant family, was well educated, and was endowed to a rare degree with the gift of oratory. He was brilliant and ambitious, and for some years led the patriots with a spirit and ardor which made him the idol of the people. He entered the Irish Parliament, where he attacked the tyrannical lord-justice, archbishop Stone, with fearless vigor, and persuaded the House to declare that it alone had the right to decide upon measures for taxing the people and spending the revenue. Side by side with Lucas, Burgh, Daly, and other patriots, Flood struggled, in the new Irish Parliament (which was chosen upon the accession of George the Third, 1760), to correct some of the abuses which existed in Ireland. The Irish Parliament had before had an indefinite life, and had only been called together once in two years. It had not been dissolved so long as its conduct suited the English king. But now, by the efforts of the patriots, a law was passed that the existence of an Irish Parliament should be limited to eight years. The patriots also succeeded in reducing the amount of the odious pension-list, and in doing away with some of the penal laws.

Flood's ambition, however, was not satisfied with leading the patriots. In an evil hour for his own fame, he accepted the office of vice-treasurer from the government. It is said that his reason for doing this was that he might the more effectively aid the patriot cause. But the result of his acceptance of the office was that he lost all influence with his former friends, and was looked upon by them as a traitor to Ireland. His place as chief of the patriots, however, was soon filled by a greater man than he. Of all Irishmen of the eighteenth century, the figure of Henry Grattan stands foremost and unapproached. Eloquent, pure, resolute, full of the most ardent and unflinching patriotism, the champion both of the Protestant patriots and of his oppressed Catholic fellow-countrymen; endowed, moreover, with brilliant talents as a legislator, debater, and statesman, Henry Grattan was, above all men, fitted to lead in the hard struggle for the liberation of Ireland. Grattan entered the Irish House of Commons, for the first time, at the early age of twenty-five (1775). It was a critical moment alike in Irish, English, and American history. The American Revolution was on the point of breaking out; and it was the events which speedily grew out of the American revolution which gave Ireland, under Grattan's leadership, her long-awaited chance to secure parliamentary independence.

Flood and Grattan had been friends, and had worked together in the patriot cause. But when Flood accepted an office, an open and bitter quarrel took place between them, and Grattan took Flood's place at the head of the patriot party. When the American Revolution broke out, the English government demanded that a force of four thousand troops should be raised in Ireland, and sent out to fight the American colonists. Grattan, who sympathized deeply with the Americans, opposed this with all the resources of his eloquence; but the troops were raised and sent in spite of his opposition. It was not long, however, before events occurred which enabled Grattan to resist English power with effect. The defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga (1777), and the alliance of France with the American colonies, completely changed the face of affairs. The immediate result of these events was to produce a great deal of distress in both Ireland and England. Thousands of laborers were deprived of work, and the taxes needed to carry on the war lay heavily upon the people.

Then there arose a new danger. The coasts and ports of Ireland were threatened by French cruisers, and by the depredations of the redoubtable American buccaneer, John Paul Jones. The defenses of the coast and ports were miserably weak. Belfast was protected by a little band of sixty soldiers. The peril of invasion and rapine inspired the Irish to raise a large force of "Volunteers," to protect the island from its assailants. Both Protestants and Catholics, without distinction of race or faith, swarmed into the ranks of this organization. The Orangeman of Ulster found himself side by side with the peasant of Connaught.

In every town and county, bodies of volunteers were quickly raised, drilled, and armed. Among the active organizers of the body were not only the leading patriots, like Grattan and Burgh, but also nobles, like the Duke of Leinster, the Earl of Charlemont, and the Earl of Bristol. In no long time the Irish Volunteers amounted to sixty thousand well-armed men, commanded by the patriotic Earl of Charlemont. They were provided with two hundred cannon, and soon formed a well-disciplined. army. In the face of such a force as this, the peril from French cruisers and American privateers vanished. But now Grattan had, in the Volunteers, a powerful instrument for extorting concessions from the English crown. The Volunteers were one and all fervent patriots. They were an armed and organized mass of men, who were resolved to obtain their country's rights. Thus supported, Grattan entered promptly upon the execution of his designs. He first demanded that Ireland should have the right to trade in perfect freedom with the colonies. The government, overawed by the Volunteers, yielded to the demand. Then Grattan took a bolder and far more important step. He proposed in the Irish House of Commons, that "the king, lords, and commons were the only powers competent to pass laws for Ireland." This meant that thenceforth the English Parliament should have no right to make any laws for Ireland, or in any way change the laws passed by the Irish Parliament. It was, in fact, a proposal to repeal the Act of George the First, which had made the English Parliament supreme in the making of Irish laws.

The formidable organized power of the Volunteers enabled Grattan, within a year, to achieve his great triumph, and to obtain a free and independent Parliament for the Irish. England was still involved in the American war, which was crippling her resources, and depriving her of the military strength which would be necessary to put down the Volunteers, and so recover her grasp upon Ireland. Grattan's bill was passed, and England was compelled to give full powers to the Irish Parliament (1782). But great as this triumph was, it was not yet complete. The Irish Parliament still consisted of Protestants only, and was elected by Protestants only. The Irish Catholics, although they comprised nearly five-sixths of the population, could neither sit as members nor vote for members. Yet it was a very important step to get rid of the English power of legislating for Ireland, and of dictating what laws the Irish Parliament should pass.