IRELAND. 
334 
aft of neceffity, not of choice, on the part of the Britiffi 
parliament. When that neceffity, therefore, no longer 
emitted, the fame parliament might recal the benefits it had 
granted, and again fetter the friffi trade by reftriftions 
perhaps more oppreffive than before. To fecure the ad¬ 
vantages they now pofTeffed, it was neceflary that the 
kingdom (hould enjoy the benefits of a free conftitution. 
For this the people looked up to the volunteer companies; 
and the idea of having fuch a glorious objeft in their 
power, augmented the numbers of thofe which had alfo 
been increafed from other caufes. They had now received 
the thanks of both houl'es of parliament, and thus had 
obtained the fanftion of the legiflature. Many who had 
formerly refufed to conneft themfelves with a lawlefs 
body, now made no fcruple to enter their lifts. Govern¬ 
ment alfo engaged feveral of their friends in the volunteer 
caufe. Sew companies were therefore raifed ; but, what¬ 
ever might be the political fentiments of the officers, the 
private men were univ.erfally attached to the popular caufe. 
The national fpirit was likewife kept up by feveral pa¬ 
triotic publications, particularly the letters iigned Owen 
Roe O’Nialv, which in an efpecial manner attracted the 
public attenfion ; nor was the pulpit backward in contri¬ 
buting its part in the fame caufe. 
Notwithftanding all this zeal, however, the reprefenta- 
tives of the people in Ireland feem yet to have behaved 
ip a very fupine and carelefs manner, and to have been 
entirely obedient to the diftates of government. In the 
houfe of commons, Mr. Grattan declared, in the month of 
April, 1780, that “no power on earth, excepting the king, 
lords, and commons, of Ireland, had aright to make laws 
to bind the people.” Every member in the houfe, (fays 
Mr. Crawford,) one excepted, acknowledged the truth of 
the propofition, either in exprefs terms, or by not oppof- 
ing it; and yet, however, aftoniffiing it may appear, it 
was evident, that, had the queftion been put, it would have 
been carried in the negative. The matter was compro- 
mifed. The queftion was not put 5 and nothing relating 
to it was entered on the journals. 
This inattention, or rather unwillingnefs, of the majo¬ 
rity to lerve their country, was more fully manifefted in 
the cafe of 3 mutiny-bill, which they allowed to be made 
perpetual in Ireland, though that in England had always 
been cautioufly palled only from year to year. After it 
•was palled, however, fome of the zealous patriots, parti¬ 
cularly Mr. Grattan, took great pains to fet forth the bad 
tendency of that aft. He obferved, that Itanding armies 
in the time of peace were contrary to the principles of 
the conftitution and the fafety of public liberty; they had 
fub verted the liberty of all nations, excepting in thofe 
cafes where their number was fmall, or the power ot the 
fovereign over them limited in fome refpeft or other; but 
it was in vain to think of fetting bounds to the power ot 
the chief magiftrate, if the people chofe by a ftatute to 
bind themfelves to give him a perpetual and irrefiftible 
force. The mutiny-bill, or martial law methodized, was 
directly oppofite to the common law of the land. It fet 
afide the trial by jury and all the ordinary fteps of law ; 
eftablilhing in their itead afummary proceeding, arbitrary 
crimes and puniffiments, a fecret fentence, and Hidden 
execution. The objeft of this was to bring thofe who 
were fubjeft to it to a Itate of implicit fubordination, 
and render the authority of the fovereign abfolute. The 
people of England, therefore, from a laudable jealoufy on 
all fubjefts in which their liberty was concerned, had in 
the matter of martial law exceeded their ul'ual caution. 
In the preamble to the mutiny-aft, they recited part of 
fhe Declaration of Right, “ That Handing armies and 
rpartift law in time of .peace, without the confent of par¬ 
liament, are illegal.” Having then ftated (he purity and 
fimplicity of thefr ancient conftitution, and fet forth the 
great principle of Magna Charta, they admitted a partial 
and temporary repeal of it; they admitted an army, and 
a law for its regulation, but at the fame time they li¬ 
mited the number of the former, and the duration of 
4 
both ; confining the exiftence of the troops themfelves, 
the law that regulated them, and the power that commanded 
them, to one year. Thus were the Handing forces of 
England rendered a parliamentary army, and the military 
rendered effeftually fubordinate to the civil magiftrate, 
becaufe dependent on parliament. Yet the people of 
England confidered the army, even thus limited, only as 
a neceilary evil, and would not admit even of barracks, 
left the foldier ffiould be Hill more alienated from the Hate 
of a fubjeft ; and in this Hate of alienation have a poft of 
ftrength, which would augment the danger arifing from 
his fituation. When the parliament of Ireland proceeded 
to regulate the army, therefore, they ought to have adopted 
the maxims of the Britifh conftitution, as well as the 
rules of Britiffi difcipliue. But they had totally departed 
from the maxims and example of the Englifh, and that 
in the moft inportant concern, the government of the 
fword. They had omitted the preamble which declared 
the great charter of liberty ; they had left the number of 
forces in the breaft of the king; and under thefe circum- 
ftances they had made the hill perpetual. 
It is probable that the bulk of the Irilh nation did not 
at firft perceive the dangerous tendency of the bill in 
queftion. The reprefentations of Mr. Grattan and others, 
however, foon opened their eyes, and a general diftatis- 
faftion took place. This was much increafed by two un- 
fuccefsful attempts in the houfe of commons ; one to ob¬ 
tain an aft for modifying Poyning’s law ; and the other 
for fecuring the independence of the judges. A11 univer- 
fal difguft againft the fpiritlefs conduft of parliament now 
took place ; and the hopes of the people were once more 
fixed on the volunteers. 
As it became now fomewhat probable that thefe com¬ 
panies might at laft be obliged to aflert the rights of their 
countrymen by force of arms, reviews were judged ne- 
cefi'ary to teach them how to aft in larger bodies, and to 
give them a more exaft knowledge of the ufe of arms.. 
Several of thefe reviews took plate in the courfe of the 
futnmerof the year 1780. The fpeftators in general were 
ftruck with the novelty and grandeur of the fight; the vo¬ 
lunteers became more than ever the objefts of efteem and 
admiration, and their numbers increafed accordingly. 
They lhowed their alacrity to ferve their country in the 
field, on a report having arifen that the kingdom was to 
be invaded by (he combined fleets of France and Spain ; 
and for their fpirited behaviour on this occafion they re¬ 
ceived a fecond time the thanks of both houfes of parlia¬ 
ment. 
Such prodigious military preparations could not but 
alarm the Britiffi miniftry in the higheft degree ; and it 
was feared that the Iriffi volunteers might come to the 
lame extremities as the Americans had done, unlefs their 
wifhes were complied with. Still, however, it was ima¬ 
gined poffible to fupprefs them, and it was fuppofed to be 
the duty of the lord-lieutenant to do fo. It was during 
the adminiftration of the earl of Buckinghamfliire that the 
volunteers had grown into fuch confequence ; he was 
therefore recalled, and the earl of Carlifle appointed in his 
place. Though it was impoffible for the new governor 
to fupprefs the fpirit of the nation, he found jt no diffi¬ 
cult matter to obtain a majority in parliament. Thus 
every redrefs was for the prefent effeftually denied. Nei¬ 
ther the modification of Foyning’s law, nor the repeal of 
the obnoxious* parts of the mutiny-bill, could be obtained. 
The volunteers, exafperated at this behaviour, refolved at 
once to fliow that they were determined to do themfelves 
jultice, and were confcious that they had power to do fo. 
At a meeting of the officers of the fouthern battalion of 
the Armagh regiment, commanded by the earl of Charle- 
mont, the following refolutions were entered into, Decem¬ 
ber 28, 1781. 1. That the moft vigorous and effeftnal 
methods ought to be purfued for rooting corruption out 
from the legiflative body. a. For this purpofe a meeting 
of delegates from all the volunteer aifociations was necel- 
lary ; and Dungannon, as the moft central town in the 
province 
