broke out in several places. The people looked on the proposed loss of their parliament as an indignity Attitude of to the nation, and numerous petitions poured the people. in daily to parliament, condemning the contemplated Union in the strongest terms. It was feared by the authorities that the riots might once more extend, and become a rebellion, and English troops were landed to inspire fear. The men at the head of the Union movement were determined to carry their measure at all costs.

Excited

280. Union scheme presented to the Irish Parliament. The eventful day, January 22, 1799, arrived, and Lord Cornwallis delivered the speech from the throne in the Irish House of Lords. He announced his hopes that both parliaments would unite, and consolidate as far as possible the resources of the realm. Excitement ran high, and Cornwallis was immediately answered by patriotic Irishmen, who condemned any such scheme in the strongest terms. During the debate in the House of Commons, which lasted all night debate. long, Ponsonby delivered an address in which he appealed for support to national pride and independence. He closed with the words, "maintaining, however, the undoubted birthright of the people of Ireland to have a resident and independent legislature, such as it was recognized by the British legislature in 1782, and was finally settled at the adjustment of all differences between the two countries." (See section 257.) Plunket, with eloquence almost equal to that of Grattan, denounced the "system of black corruption" carried on to undermine the constitution and influence votes. The country gentlemen spoke warmly against the measure, and the result was that, on the evening of January 24, a motion was made to strike out the clause concerning

Union measure

lost.

the Union from the speech from the throne. When a division was taken, the votes numbered 106 for the government and III for the Irish constitution. The Speaker, John Foster, was carried home in triumph, and Dublin was illuminated by the enthusiastic people. But Sir John Parnell, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Fitzgerald, the Prime Sergeant, who had opposed the Union, were summarily dismissed from office.

281. More bribery. On January 31, 1799, Pitt brought forward the scheme of Union in the English House of Commons. In his speech he strove to prove that the settlement of 1782 (see section 257), when the Act of Repeal gave Ireland an independent parliament, was not final. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the dramatist, and Foster, the Speaker of the Irish House, vehemently opposed him.

Pitt and
Sheridan.

Both parties now did their utmost to gain adherents for the struggle in the next Irish session. The government employed every possible means to corrupt the representatives of the people, trying in all ways to bring round the most formidable leaders of the opposition, and spending freely the sum of £1,260,000, placed at its disposal, for purposes of bribery and corruption. The lord lieutenant made tours through different parts of the country to obtain declarations in favor of the Union. Eighty-four boroughs were bought outright. To secure a majority in the Irish House of Lords, twenty-eight new peers were created, and thirty-two received higher titles.

282. Attitude of the Catholics. The position of the Catholics during the struggle was well defined. The great majority of them opposed the Union altogether. There was, however, a small Catholic party which fa

vored the English connection, but they had no influence. The Catholics had nothing to gain from union with England, whose sovereign was opposed to them, and whose parliament excluded them. In Ireland, on the contrary, they had received the franchise, and the Irish Parliament. had removed a good many of their burdens. In Hostile to the beginning, Cornwallis had counted on Cath- Union. olic support, but as early as 1798 he was forced to change his opinion, as is shown by the following quotation from his letter to Major-General Ross: "The opposition to the Union increases daily, in and about Dublin, and I am afraid, from conversations which I have held with persons much connected with them, that I was too sanguine when I hoped for the good inclinations of the Catholics. Their disposition is so completely alienated from the British government that I believe they would be tempted to join with their bitterest enemies, the Protestants of Ireland, if they thought that measure would lead to a total separation of the two countries." This hostile attitude of the Catholics was confirmed at a great meeting held January 14, 1800, at which a new leader made his first speech. Daniel O'Connell said: "If emancipation be offered for our consent to the measure of Union even if emancipation after the Union were a gain — we would reject it with prompt indignation." He went so far as to add that he would prefer a renewal of the penal laws, and "would rather confide in the justice of my brethren the Protestants of Ireland, who have already liberated me, than lay my country at the feet of foreigners."

283. Daniel O'Connell. Daniel O'Connell was a young patriot, who now began to come into prominence and popularity, and prepared to continue the work Grattan had begun. He was born in 1775, at Carhan, near

Cahersiveen, on one of the Kerry promontories that stretch far into the Atlantic. O'Connell came of one of the oldest Gaelic families, and represented the pure native stock. He had been educated partly in Ireland, partly in France, whither so many Irish Catholics went to seek opportunities of learning which they were denied in Ireland. He was called to the bar in the year of the Rebellion, and at once began to make a reputation as a

brilliant lawyer, and an eloquent advocate, and later as spokesman of the Catholic party. A devout Catholic himself, and thoroughly Irish in every instinct and feeling, he was determined that the ancient church of his nation should no longer lie under the ban of the law. In his personal dealings he had gained a reputation for entire uprightness, and his fine legal training gave him an additional advantage. During the whole of the agitation which he led, he not only shunned all excesses, but even avoided the smallest irregularity, and thus gave his English opponents no opportunity to thwart his work by prosecution. His incessant watchfulness and legal keenness were wonderful.

284. Act of Union passed, August 1, 1800. Meanwhile, the government, ignoring every protest, was landing thousands of English soldiers, and increasing the

IRISH PARLIAMENT HOUSE, DUBLIN, 1800

practice of wholesale bribery and unfair dismissal from office. There was a call for more secret service money from England, early in 1800, and Cornwallis did not hesitate to tempt even the stanchest patriots.

seats.

The Irish Parliament met for the last time on January 15, 1800, with the newly purchased members in their The viceroy avoided mentioning the Union in the speech from the throne, but Parsons, Plunket, Ponsonby, Moore, and Bushe stated and upheld the case against the Union in succession. In the midst of the