CHAPTER VIII

IRELAND UNDER GEORGE II. THE FIRST

PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION

Many of the Penal Laws Cease to be Enforced.-In 1727 George II succeeded his father. In England the change of rulers made little difference in Ireland it made none at all. Quite unconnected with it was the gradual diminution of hostility towards the Catholics. The generation which remembered the Williamite Wars had passed away; the schemes of France were no longer feared. The laws, indeed, remained unchanged, but there was scarcely even a pretence made of enforcing those which related to religious observances or to the clergy. "Titular " bishops exercised their functions openly. There were numerous Popish" schools, and boys were sent to study at Catholic colleges abroad, returning as ordained priests, with hardly an effort at concealment. The decrees which prohibited Catholics from holding lands on long leases or from entering professions were not suffered so easily to become dead letters, for the pecuniary interests of the Ascendancy were concerned in their enforcement.

The First Opposition.-The most notable representative of the English Government in Ireland at this time was the Primate, George Stone. With many of the prominent persons in Parliament he was most unpopular. It was mainly from a desire to thwart and embarrass him that some half-dozen of these formed the coalition, generally known as" the First Opposition," because it was the first party which had arisen in the Irish Parliament since the Revolution who were banded together with the avowed object of defeating the Government policy. The chief leaders of the movement were Henry Boyle, the Speaker; Antony Malone, the Prime Sergeant; John Ponsonby, and the Earl of Kildare. They styled themselves "the Patriots," but to such a title they had little claim.

The Surplus Dispute. Their first trial of strength took place in 1751, and was concerned with the surplus in that year's revenue. Of this surplus the Irish Parliament desired to apply the greater portion to the reduction of the Irish National Debt. Some members of the English

Privy Council considered that the Irish Houses, by even suggesting how they wished a part of their own money to be spent, had infringed on the royal prerogative, and Dorset, the Lord Lieutenant, was instructed to emphasise in his opening speech the King's absolute ownership of the sum " then remaining in his Treasury." He did so, but the Commons -urged on by Boyle and Malone-passed the Heads of a Bill by which, while no mention whatever was made of his Majesty's gracious consent of which they had just been assured, £120,000 of the surplus was appropriated to the reduction of the National Debt. When the Bill was returned from England the phrase "with his Majesty's previous assent was found to have been inserted. The Commons, afraid apparently to take any further step, passed the Bill.

Next Session (1753) there was again a surplus, and the same performance was repeated. The Royal Consent was given and ignored, and the Bill returned from England with the added phrase as before. The Irish House, however, after a debate of nine hours, rejected the altered Bill, though only by a small majority.

This display of independence created great alarm in England. Dire punishment was meted out, and Boyle, Malone, and some of the lesser "patriots" lost their offices and preferments. Then the surplus over which the dispute had arisen was taken out of the Treasury by Royal Letter, and applied as arranged. The Irish Parliament, unable to prevent this, resolved that there should never again be a surplus, but that expenses should be so arranged as to consume the entire revenue each year.

The "Patriots" Bribed.-Still, as long as the Opposition continued strong and united there was always, it was felt, a chance of their finding some new way to give trouble to the Government. An effective way of getting rid of this danger was found and applied with success. It was that of bribery. John Ponsonby was made Speaker; Boyle received a pension of £2,000 a year, and the title of Earl of Shannon; Kildare was raised to a Marquisate; Malone was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. They one and all "dismissed the woes of their country, for which they had no longer occasion." Boyle and Ponsonby united with Stone, and for the next seven years the three practically conducted the Government of Ireland.

The Catholic Committee.-In 1757 several Catholics of good position, of whom a Mr. Wyse of Waterford; Charles O'Connor of Bellanagar, a noted scholar and antiquary; Dr. Curry, a physician; Lord Fingal and Lord Delvin were the most noted; founded the Catholic Committee," the object of which was to press for a repeal of the laws which so oppressed their co-religionists and themselves. This

was the first attempt at organising the Catholics made since the Revolution, and its very existence proved that the worst of the Penal Days were passed.

Thurot's Expedition.-Since 1756 England had been at war with France, and in February 1760, a small French expedition, headed by Thurot, a naval commander, who was Irish and whose real name was O'Farrell, made a descent on the north of Ireland, and reached Carrickfergus, of which they took possession. So slender a force could achieve nothing without local assistance, and such assistance its evident inadequacy prevented it from obtaining. The neighbouring peasantry indeed, armed themselves with scythes and joined the militia in their attack on the French, who quickly re-embarked. They were encountered by three British ships of the line and defeated.

Distress in Ireland: New Men in Parliament: Attempts at Reform. In 1760 George II died, and was succeeded by his grandson, George III. The opening of the new reign found Ireland in a condition of great financial and economic distress. There had recently been two severe famines, and, owing to trade depression, a steady flow of emigration, especially of the Ulster Presbyterians, was yearly depriving the country of thousands of industrious and valuable citizens. Outrages were increasing in every part of the country. Whole districts were terrorized by the Whiteboys. Many banks had failed. The revenue had for some years been falling. In 1759 it had been found necessary to raise a loan of £150,000, and now it was announced that another, this time of £200,000, was required.

In Parliament new men, several of them destined to leave, by either their merits or demerits, a lasting name in Irish History, were coming into notice. The most prominent were Lord Charlemont, Henry Flood, John Hely Hutchinson, John Scott (afterwards Lord Clonmell), John Fitzgibbon (afterwards Lord Clare), and Edward Sexton Pery. Charlemont and Flood especially were sincere and disinterested Colonial patriots, but neither to them, nor even to most of the younger men who afterwards joined their ranks, did the state of political slavery, in which, on account of their creed, the vast majority of the Irish people were held, appear in itself a grievance or a violation of justice. At that time the connection of Church and State was held to be an almost indispensable condition of orderly government. From this, the right of the members of the Established Church to ascendancy in public life, and to a preponderating if not an absolutely exclusive voice in the administration of the government of the country, was considered to flow as a natural consequence.

In 1763, there was much agitation in Parliament regarding the

Pension List, and the excessive cost of the Irish Military Establishment which was declared to be in inverse proportion to its efficiency. The attack was led by members of what was beginning to be recognised as a new Opposition, but there was little result from their eloquence.

Much earlier than this Charles Lucas, a Dublin apothecary and subsequently a doctor, had made vigorous efforts to introduce reforms into the municipal administration of Dublin. He had now been elected as one of the representatives of Dublin in the Commons, and was continuing his campaign against corruption, both within Parliament and elsewhere, ably seconded by his friend, David La Touche.

In December, 1764, Primate Stone and Lord Shannon, the two great "Undertakers," died within a few days of each other.

CHAPTER IX

THE VICEROYALTY OF TOWNSHEND AND OF THE SECOND OPPOSITION

HARCOURT.

A New System Decided On: The Octennial Bill.-In 1767 Viscount Townshend came over as Lord Lieutenant. With his term of office the later phase of the history of the eighteenth-century Ireland is considered to begin. This period is marked, on one hand, by the gradual relaxation of the Penal Laws, and the consequent re-appearance, to some extent, of the Catholics in the public life of the country; and by the steady growth of the independence and power of the Irish Ascendancy Parliament, on the other.

George III had resolved on making considerable changes in the system of Irish Administration. The Viceroy was to reside continuously in the country, and the power of the Undertakers was to be crushed. Corruption would continue and even increase, but it should be managed directly by the Government, and no middleman should intervene to divert any portion of the profits from the Crown.

The three chief surviving Undertakers, Lord Shannon (son and successor of the first Earl), Ponsonby and Hely Hutchinson, quickly understood what the new policy was to be, and went into Opposition.

The excessive duration of Irish Parliaments had long been felt to be a serious grievance. Whereas in England a Septennial Act had been in force since 1715, in Ireland nothing save the decease of the Crown absolutely necessitated a dissolution. One Irish Parliament continued to sit during the entire reign of George II, a period of 33 years. It can easily be understood that an assembly of this kind was likely to grow quite out of touch with the public opinion of the country, and that its members would feel themselves little dependent on constituents, whose suffrages they might not have again to seek for twenty or more years.

The members themselves were naturally by no means anxious for a change which might force them to incur more frequently the expense and the risk of a contested election. Therefore, although in deference to the general desire they had passed the Heads of a Septennial Bill through the Commons, the delay in transmitting it to England, and the