had endeavoured to encourage planting by giving tenants for life or for years a partial or absolute property in the trees they planted. All this led to subletting (a tendency which was increased still more by the Catholic Relief Act of 1793), to fierce competition and to high rents, as well as to the system of "canting," or the putting up of farms to auction without regard to the claims of the old tenants. An increase of extravagance among the upper classes and larger tenants and a rise in the value of land had also lately become noticeable, and the raising of rents and greater subdivision of farms had followed as a natural consequence. Thus the last fifteen years of the eighteenth century witnessed a growing competition between landlord and tenant, although the salutary impetus which had been given to tillage by the Barren Land Act prevented evictions from increasing in the same proportion. On May 4, 1795, Grattan moved his Catholic Relief Bill in the Irish House of Commons, but it was rejected by 155 to 84. The policy of the Ascendency was now disclosed, and they began to direct their whole energies to exasperating the Catholics and rousing them to rebellion. This system of exacerbation was only too successful, and at the end of 1795 Catholic Defender Riots broke out in Armagh. Defenderism had become by this time strongly tinctured with political animus, and was associating itself more decidedly than ever with the United Irish movement into which it finally became absorbed in 1797. The original test of the United Irish Society, which bound them to unite to procure the fair representation of all the Irish people in Parliament, was changed in 1795 into an engagement to co-operate for the purpose of obtaining a fair representation of all the people-the words "in Parliament" being omitted from the formula. Thenceforward separation from England and a Republican Government was the deliberate aim of the principal leaders, but not the avowed object until a little later, when, at the conclusion of every United Irish meeting, the chairman had to inform the members of each society that "they had undertaken no light matter" and to ask every delegate present what were the views of his particular society, each individual being expected to reply "A republican government and a separation from England." The fear of fusion between the Defenders and United Irishmen led the same year to the formation of the celebrated Orange Society as an instrument of mutual defence against the members of the hostile faith, and a hot persecution of Catholics followed in Armagh, which was in reality a continuation of the old struggle between the Peep of Day Boys and Defenders and contrary to the policy of the United Irish Party, whose aim was to weld into co-operation the different sections of the two creeds. The latter, therefore, made haste to spread the report that the Government was conniving at Orange outrages, in order to exasperate the Catholics against the men in power; and this rumour was naturally swallowed very greedily both by Orangemen and friends of the Catholics, in the one case from a desire to lighten a load of dangerous responsibility by transferring it to the shoulders of official authority, in the other as an argument for the speedy disruption of the existing political system. In view of these disturbances a severe Insurrection Act was passed in 1796, which with a truly remarkable sense of doctrinal companionship was drawn up in such a manner as to exclude from the scope of its severity all the acts of outrage committed by Protestants. That these outrages were not imaginary is proved by the testimony of the thirty magistrates whom Lord Gosford, Governor of Armagh, called together on December 28, 1795, and who declared, with the mass of evidence at their disposal, that it was necessary to stay "the progress of the persecution now carried on by an ungovernable mob against the Roman Catholic inhabitants of this country." Lord Gosford in his written address stated that "neither age, nor sex, nor acknowledged innocence" obtained mercy. "Confiscation of all property and immediate banishment" were the doom of every Catholic. There was no parallel for the horrors and cruelty of a proscription by which "more than half the inhabitants of a populous county" were deprived at one blow of the means as well as the fruits of their industry," and driven out "in the midst of an inclement season." Colonel Craddock who was sent by the Government to Armagh endorsed Gosford's view of the matter, declaring that the Protestants were guilty of barbarous practices which ought to be put down. Posters with the words "To Hell or Connaught" were fixed upon the cabins of the Catholics, and if.the inmates declined to remove at the bidding of their persecutors they soon had to fly from their burning roofs and seek shelter elsewhere. As Edward Wakefield wrote "The enormities committed by the partisans of Government, at this time, were such as must disgrace our annals, tarnish the character, and stigmatize the memory of His Majesty's Ministers." An Indemnity Act was passed at the same time as the Insurrection Act in order to safeguard the magistrates and military officers in any steps they might think it advisable to take in pushing forward the persecution. There was no effort at concealment. A certain frank brutality always been the characteristic of dealings with the Irish race. A rebellion was had wanted, and it mattered little by what means it was kindled, or how extinguished. The chief point was that it should be sufficiently bloody. The Habeas Corpus Act was soon afterwards suspended, and the last plate inserted in the armour of Protestant ascendency. Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Arthur O'Connor had meanwhile joined the Society of the United Irishmen, as well as Thomas Addis Emmett and Dr. William James MacNeven, a Dublin physician. These four men became members of the "Executive Directory" of the Society, and the volatile Lord Edward Fitzgerald was soon afterwards placed at the head of the military forces which were organized for the purpose of a rising. These deliberate preparations for civil war-the last expedient of an exasperated people-took definite shape in May 1796, after the passage of the Insurrection and Indemnity Acts and between the two sessions of Parliament. Rumours now commenced to reach the ears of the Government that a French invasion, to be followed by an Irish rebellion, was waiting only for a fair wind, and the enrolment of Yeomanry began apace. The invasion came in 1796. A French fleet of forty-three ships and 15,000 troops, commanded by Hoche and accompanied by Wolfe Tone, left the French coast on the 15th of December to reap one more harvest for the rights of man; but through a series of misfortunes and the absence of its leader the expedition eventually terminated in a complete fiasco. Only sixteen sail arrived in Bantry Bay, where they lay for six days within five hundred yards of the shore. Grouchy was second in command, and refused to incur any responsibility, and thus, not for the last time in his life, threw the game away.2 During the crisis the vast majority of Irish Catholics did not betray the slightest desire to rid themselves of the English yoke, but, on the contrary, openly displayed their sympathies for Great Britain, a fact which ought to have disconcerted the assurance of their Protestant foes, who had attempted to palliate the cruel persecution of the Papists through the whole eighteenth century on the ground of their incurable disloyalty to the British flag.3 On the 14th of October, 1797, William Orr was executed for his alleged action in administering the United Irishmen's oath in his own house to a soldier of the name of Wheatly. He was the first victim under the Act which made that offence a capital 1 Appendix XIIIc, Biographical Sketch. 2 Napoleon said at St. Helena-"If Hoche had landed in Ireland, he would have succeeded. He possessed all the qualities necessary to insure success. He was accustomed to civil war, and knew how to conduct himself under such circumstances. He had pacified La Vendée, and was well adapted for Ireland. If Hoche had landed, Ireland was lost to you." 3 Appendix XIV, extract from speech by J. P. Curran, and quotations from Edmund Spencer and Goldwin Smith. felony, and there is practically no doubt whatever that he was convicted on perjured evidence and lowered into his grave a murdered man. The same year Finnerty was prosecuted for printing a letter on the 26th of October in the Press newspaper, signed Marcus, addressed to Lord Camden, and commenting on this travesty of justice. Curran, the famous advocate, who had stood up in Orr's defence, now defended Finnerty, and his speech on the occasion was universally considered one of the finest specimens of forensic pleading ever heard in a court of law.1 In 1797, amid growing anarchy in Ireland, the Absentee Tax Bill was introduced in the Irish Parliament, but through the influence of placemen summarily rejected. Another proposal made by Sir Lawrence Parsons shared the same fate. He moved for the creation of a force of Yeomanry or Militia to defend the country in view of the recent French attempt to land a body of troops in Ireland, but the Government had the dread of the Volunteers in their hearts, and the proposal was defeated. The condition of the country was now becoming very ominous, and with a view to meet any sudden danger a proclamation was issued by Lake placing Ireland under martial law, of which the Yeomanry in Ulster took immediate advantage by committing nameless outrages against the Catholics, burning down houses, and killing feeble old men and defenceless women.2 During the same year, Ponsonby, with that rare fortitude which refuses to bend before continually recurring defeat, introduced a series of resolutions in favour of the admission of Catholics to Parliament, as well as various franchise reforms. His proposals, however, were once more rejected on May 15, by 170 to 30 votes, and soon afterwards Parliament was adjourned. It was on this occasion that Henry Grattan, feeling the dull weight of despair at his heart, seeing the work to be done and the impossibility of doing it, left the incorrigible house and temporarily retired from Parliamentary life. Symptoms of disaffection now began to appear among the Militia which was composed mainly of Catholics. Cornwallis, who was offered the military command in Ireland, conscientiously declined it on grounds of policy, for, unlike his employers, he considered that a measure of emancipation should, in the presence of this imminent Catholic danger, be at once conceded to the Papists so as to wean them in time from co-operation with the Dissenters and their own treasonable desire for revenge. Rumours for the purpose of infuriating the Catholics continued to be spread by the United Irish Party to the effect that the outrages 1 Appendix XIV, extract from speech by J. P. Curran, and quotations from Edmund Spencer and Goldwin Smith. * Appendix XIVA, quotations from W. N. Massey. * Charles Cornwallis, first Marquis and second Earl Cornwallis (1738–1805), committed by Orangemen in Ulster were sanctioned by the Government in the hope of driving the Papists to frenzy and so to some desperate deed of vengeance, which might serve as an excuse for the annihilation of the whole Catholic community, and collisions occurred between the Yeomanry and Militia in consequence.1 Wolfe Tone had meanwhile been at The Hague planning with General Hoche a descent upon the Irish coast, and a Dutch expedition was preparing to sail to Ireland in order to feed the revolutionary flame. It was to have been commanded by Daendels. The naval force consisted of fifteen sail of the line, ten frigates, and many sloops and transports. The land force amounted to 13,500 men, with three months' pay and spare arms and ammunition. But during July and August 1797 it remained wind-bound in the Texel, and soon afterwards the Dutch fleet was shattered by Duncan at Camperdown and the expectations founded upon it sent to the bottom of the sea. Hoche, moreover, had also died, so that the hopes of the Irish foundered in two quarters at the same time. In the early part of 1797 Arthur O'Connor had been arrested on suspicion of treason, but liberated after a confinement of six months for want of sufficient evidence. In the beginning of 1798 he went with Binns, James Coigley, and Allen to England with the intention of sailing to France, but before they could effect their purpose they were arrested. All of them, however, were acquitted, except Coigley, who was executed on account of an incriminating document which was found upon him in the shape of an address from "the Secret Committee of England to the Executive Directory of France." By this time Sir Ralph Abercromby 2 had succeeded Carhampton as Commander-in-Chief, and on February 26, 1798, issued his celebrated general order reflecting upon the gross ill-discipline of the army, little dreaming how rude a blast can blow from a plain truth "The very disgraceful frequency of courts-martial, and the many complaints of the conduct of the troops in this kingdom, having too unfortunately proved the army to be in a state of licentiousness, which must render it formidable to every one but the enemy; the commanderin-chief thinks it necessary to demand from all generals commanding districts and brigades, as well as commanding officers of regiments, that they exert themselves, and compel, from all officers under their command, the strictest and most unremitting attention to the discipline, good order, and conduct of their men; such as may restore the high and distinguished reputation the British troops have been accustomed to enjoy in every part of the world. It becomes necessary to recur, and most pointedly to attend to the standing orders of the kingdom, which 1 Appendix XIVB, Declarations. |