114 



IRELAND (HISTORY.) 



posts in possession of the adherents of James, wore 

 surrendered, were in substance as follows : " That 

 the Catholics should enjoy such privileges in the 

 exercise of their religion, as were consistent with 

 law, or such as they had enjoyed in the reign of 

 Charles II.: That their Majesties, as soon as their 

 affairs would permit, should summon a parliament, 

 and endeavour to procure from it such further 

 security as might preserve them from being troubled 

 on account, of their religion: That all the Irish in 

 the kingdom in the service of James, should be par- 

 doned, and exempted from all actions for debt, on 

 account of plunder committed by tin-in in the course 

 of the war : That they should be reinstated in their 

 property, and in their rights and titles, as soon as 

 they took the oath of allegiance, enjoined by an act 

 of the English parliament in the first year of king 

 William's reign : That every lord and gentleman, 

 who was included in this capitulation, should be 

 allowed to carry arms for defence or amusement: 

 That the garrisons should march away with all the 

 honours of war : And that those who might choose to 

 leave Ireland, should be permitted to carry off their 

 effects to any country except Britain, ships being 

 provided for that purpose by the British government. 

 Fourteen thousand Irish availed themselves of this 

 article, and left their native country." 



As William was now completely master of Ire- 

 land, it was hoped and expected that he would 

 immediately summon an Irish parliament, but this he 

 did not do till 1692, when he wanted money. In the 

 mean time the English parliament legislated for 

 Ireland ; the most important of their acts was one 

 to substitute other oaths, instead of the oath of 

 supremacy, which, in fact, excluded Catholics from 

 both houses of parliament. In 1692, when the Irish 

 parliament met, it became evident that the commons 

 were disposed to stand up for the rights of their 

 country much more firmly than William wished or 

 expected ; they even went so far, as to contend that 

 Poyning's law did not extend to money bills, and 

 rejected one that was sent over to them from 

 England, expressly because it had not originated 

 with them. This parliament was therefore dissolved, 

 in the hopes that the next would be less sturdy in the 

 maintenance of their privileges. 



In 1695, a new parliament was assembled, which, 

 among other things, explained and confirmed the act 

 of settlement, and confirmed the articles of Limerick, 

 but not without such modifications and alterations as 

 were by no means consonant to their spirit, and there- 

 fore were not justifiable : this parliament also passed 

 some penal statutes against the Catholics. The great 

 majority of its members were by no means disposed 

 to question the authority of the English parliament ; 

 but some of the members of the commons stood reso- 

 lutely up, not merely for the independence of the 

 Irish upon the English parliament, but even for the 

 independence of the kingdom of Ireland upon the 

 kingdom of England. 



The reign of queen Anne, so far as it regards Ire- 

 land, was distinguished principally by the severe 

 penal statutes which were passed in the Irish parlia- 

 ment against the Catholics. It never seems to have 

 occurred, that excessive severity only tended to in- 

 crease the bigotry and ignorance against which 

 it was directed, and that mild measures, aided by en- 

 deavours to enlighten the Catholics, and adopted in 

 the spirit of charity, without a constant reference to 

 the state of Ireland as a conquered country, would 

 much more effectually have promoted the object 

 which the British government, and, under their in- 

 fluence, the Irish parliament, professed to have in 

 view. But, besides the irritation which was thus 

 produced among the Irish Catholics, the Irish nation 



in general were constantly reminded, in the most 

 galling and unnecessary manner, of the dependence 

 of their parliament upon that of England ; and the 

 violence of party always great in Ireland was 

 augmented by the English government, to serve the 

 paltry purposes of political intrigue. 



In 1724, dean Swift distinguished himself by the 

 Drapier's letters, the object of which wac to point 

 out the consequences that would result from a patent 

 granted to a man of the name of Wood, for supply- 

 ing Ireland with a copper coinage. Such was the 

 ferment occasioned by these letters, that the patent 

 was revoked next year. It is now pretty well ascer- 

 tained that Swift was not the patriot he, was then 

 considered, and that Wood's coinage (though the 

 granting him a monopoly was improper and unjust) 

 would by no means have been the source of profit to 

 himself, or so prejudicial to the people, as was repre- 

 sented in the Drapier's letters. But Ireland, at this 

 period, was admirably adapted to be the scene of 

 every kind of political imposture and intrigue. She 

 was miserably governed ; her interests were never 

 consulted, but always sacrificed either to the interests 

 of England, or, what was worse, and more provoking, 

 to the interests of such individuals as the British 

 ministry wished to oblige. The viceroy only came 

 over once in two years. The effective power was 

 with the lords justices, and their time and thoughts 

 were occupied in forwarding the plans of the British 

 cabinet, and promoting their own private interests. 



The privileges of the Catholics, already greatly 

 curtailed, were still further encroached upon, by an 

 act passed in 1727, by which they were totally de- 

 prived of the elective franchise. Such, however, was 

 their attachment to their native soil, that, though a 

 scarcity, reaching almost to a famine, drove thousands 

 of Protestants to America, scarcely any Catholics 

 emigrated. 



In 1745, when a rebellion raged in the heart of 

 Britain, and when the British ministry, conscious of 

 the harsh and unjust manner in which they had treated 

 Ireland, were apprehensive that she also would en- 

 courage the Pretender, they sent over the celebrated 

 earl of Chesterfield, who so well discharged his duty, 

 that he discountenanced all party distinctions ; gave 

 to the Catholics the full protection of the laws ; and, 

 by similar conduct in other respects, prevented the 

 Irish even from indulging a wish to support the Pre- 

 tender ; so that the unexpected and singular specta- 

 cle was exhibited, of Ireland tranquil and loyal, at a 

 time when Scotland, and even England, teemed with 

 favourers of the exiled family. 



In 1749, the power of the Irish parliament was 

 again brought under discussion, in consequence of 

 the intended application of the surplus of the here- 

 ditary revenue of the crown towards the payment of 

 the national debt. The question was, whether the 

 right of disposing of this surplus was vested in the 

 king or the Irish house of commons ; or, in other 

 words, whether his majesty's previous consent was 

 necessary. At this time the English party gained 

 their point ; but when the question was renewed in 

 1753, the patriots were victorious. 



In 1759, Britain and Ireland werealarmed with the 

 preparations for invasion making in the French ports; 

 but no landing took place, except that of Thurot 

 with 600 men at Carrickfergus, and he re-embarked 

 in the course of a few days. The conduct of the 

 Irish troops, as well as of the peasantry, on this oc- 

 casion, proved that they were much more loyal and 

 worthy of confidence than they were allowed to be 

 by those who calumniated them, for they were eager 

 to rush to the defence of their country; and such as 

 were engaged behaved with surprising Zealand intre- 

 pidity. 





