Ireland Within the Union 1800-1921

By Desmond Keenan

This book represents a summary of my five previous books on Ireland within the Union with Great Britain. The traditional distortions of nationalist propaganda are weeded out; a complete re-examination was made of the original sources, and conclusions broadly in line with recent scholarship drawn from them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 18, 2008
• ISBN: 9781465318725

Desmond Keenan

The author was born in Ireland, studied economics and sociology at The Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He completed a doctoral thesis on the Catholic Church in Ireland in the early nineteenth century. Afterwards, he continued his research in the British Library and British Newspaper Library, London (UK).

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Ireland Within The Union

1800-1921

Desmond Keenan

Copyright © 2008 by Desmond Keenan.

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Contents

PART I

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

PART II

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dedication

Multi committunt eadem diverso crimina fato; ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit, hic diadema (Juvenal)

Many commit the same crimes but with different results; this one gets hanged for his wickedness, that one gets a crown.

To The Queen’s University of Belfast which remained an oasis of sanity and civilization during thirty years of savagery in Northern Ireland.

PART I

POLITICAL HISTORY

INTRODUCTION

From 1800 to 1921 Ireland formed an integral part of the United Kingdom. It was not a colony, nor dominion, nor an occupied territory. It was governed exactly as the rest of the United Kingdom and formed an integral part of the Government of the Kingdom. Some people at the time disliked this and would have preferred if Ireland were an independent kingdom, and eventually they got their wish. The purpose of this book is not to rehash nationalist struggles but to describe in a complete and fair-minded way the history and society of Ireland when it was joined in a political union with Great Britain. It not a history of the whole of the United Kingdom during that period, but describes the impact of, and participation in, the great events of the period, the Napoleonic Wars, the growth of the Empire, the First World War, by the people of Ireland. It also recounts those events within Ireland which affected the Irish people as a whole. Everyone born in Ireland is regarded as an Irishman. Their ambitions, either for separatism or for union, for Protestantism or Catholicism, are regarded as equally legitimate.

An abiding concern was to provide a balanced coverage of each area of interest, for example by finding out what was important in each of the time periods of all the Government ministries from 1800 to 1921. History is rooted in chronology. Also the defect of most nationalist writers of skipping whole areas or even decades which were not relevant to their argument has been avoided. Some episodes, magnified in separatist mythology, actually involved small numbers of people. Rooting out the distortions of nationalist writers was an important objective. The book relies heavily on the newspapers of the period. This gives the perspective of those who were living through the events not the politically-distorted perspective of later generations. To get a perception of nationalist outlooks on history, and to get to know how history should not be written, one can do no better than to read Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler.

The book is divided into two parts, the first being a straightforward political history of the period. For most of the period politicians belonged to one or other of the two great parties, the Whigs and the Tories. Most Irish politicians belonged to one or others of these parties and some Irishmen found places in the various administrations as they were formed. One Irishman became Prime Minister. The second part describes the social and economic aspects of Irish society. Far from being a backward part of the United Kingdom Irish achievements often equalled or even surpassed those of other comparable regions of the Kingdom.

The history of Ireland closely resembles that of England and the United States and more generally other western European states of the time. In the seventeenth century the rulers in Europe agreed that the ruler of each country should decide what the official or established religion in each state should be. The Catholic and Protestant rulers passed various, more-or-less stringent, ‘penal laws’ against those of their subjects who did not conform. But in some countries like Ireland and France, large numbers did not conform, and that was to become an important issue during this period.

In Ireland, the great majority of the wealthier and more influential people conformed to the state church, while large numbers of the lower and poorer classes did not. The chief object of the penal laws in Ireland was to ensure that there were no Catholics left rich enough to enable them to raise regiments of cavalry or infantry against the crown. There was little attempt to enforce conformity among the poorer Catholics. Nor were priests persecuted. Little attempt was made to enforce the laws against the Catholic religion as such. So by the year 1800 there was a fully organised Catholic Church with free and open worship in every part of Ireland. It stood largely in the same relation to the laws as the Nonconformist Protestant denominations

But by 1800 almost all rich and influential persons in Ireland had conformed and were Protestants, as were almost all members of the learned classes, professors, attorneys, physicians, engineers, surveyors, artists, and scientists. Numerically, they composed about a quarter of the population. The Protestant ruling class matched those in Britain and in the United States. New developments in the sciences and the arts were adopted almost simultaneously in all three countries. Though Ireland and the United States were behind Britain, they were often far in advance of the most advanced European countries.

There are two major turning points in this period. The admission of Catholic gentlemen to Parliament in 1829 caused almost all Protestants to abandon the idea of an independent Ireland. By 1886, the extension of the franchise to the lower classes meant that Catholics could elect Catholic separatist M.P.s in most parts of Ireland. Catholic groups received powerful assistance from rich Irish Americans associated with Tammany Hall. Irish nationalism was no different from movements like National Socialism in Germany where Hitler got financial support from German industrialists.

This book is a summary of the other six books I have written on Ireland within the Union. It contains no references to sources, or tables or lists of who was who. For these the reader is referred to the original works. Treatment of individual topics had to be constrained by the need to include everything in a single volume. Again the reader is referred to the original works for more extensive treatment.

CHAPTER ONE

(January 1801)

IMMEDIATE CONSEQUENCES OF THE UNION

The Ministry Jan 1800

The Act of Union

The Act of Union (1800) (Fortieth of George III) came into force on the 1 January 1801. By it the separate kingdom and separate parliament of Ireland were merged with the United Kingdom of England and Scotland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The union between England and Scotland had taken place in 1707. The two unions were essentially unions of parliaments, the countries being already under a common monarch. The chief consequence was that the three peoples were no longer considered as foreigners, but members of the same country and kingdom. Previously, despite being under the same king, each separate parliament was free to pass laws such as the imposition of tariffs against the other two kingdoms.

The chief provisions and consequences of the Act of Union (1800) were:

1)      The two kingdoms of Great Britain and of Ireland became a single ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’, with the rights of succession to the throne remaining unchanged.

2)      The Irish were to be represented in the House of Lords at Westminster by four (Protestant) bishops or spiritual peers and twenty eight temporal peers or noblemen elected for life by the whole body of Irish peers from among themselves. They were to be represented in the House of Commons by one hundred Members of Parliament for the Irish constituencies. There were to be two county Members for each of the thirty two counties of Ireland, two Members each for the cities of Dublin and Cork, one Member each for thirty one other cities and towns, and one for the University of Dublin. Parliamentary boroughs up to the year l809 were regarded as a kind of personal property and so borough owners had to be paid compensation out of public funds for the other boroughs then suppressed.

3)      The same regulations concerning commerce were to apply in all parts of the United Kingdom, but time, not to exceed twenty years, was allowed for harmonisation. Until duties and excises were harmonised there was to be a system of compensatory rebates or drawbacks when commodities like whiskey or tobacco were shipped between Britain and Ireland.

4)      The Irish Protestant Church was to remain the State Church, or Church by law established; was to be united with the Established Church of England; and was to be called The Established Church of England and Ireland. The Church of Ireland was not consulted about its change of status.

5)      Ireland was to contribute two seventeenths of the revenue of the new United Kingdom, a figure based on the relative figures for customs duties and excises for the previous three years. A proviso was inserted that if ever the two national debts stood in similar relationship to each other, the two debts and the two exchequers could be amalgamated. This was done in 1817.

6)      Each country was to retain its own Lord Chancellor, judicial system, and existing laws, but final appeal was to be made to the joint House of Lords at Westminster. The consequence of this was that few new laws for a long time to come could be made for the whole of the United Kingdom. Separate legislation had normally to be passed, on a given issue, for Ireland as for Scotland. Irish law on most points was not very different from that in England, but there were differences in detail. The Common Law was the same.

7)      The constitution of the Irish Government or Executive, under a Lord Lieutenant, remained unchanged.

8)      The Irish Army, the Irish Artillery, and the Irish Sappers or Engineers, which hitherto had had a nominally separate existence from their British counterparts, were amalgamated with them. The Irish laws which permitted the recruitment and promotion of Catholic officers within the kingdom of Ireland were retained but were not extended to the rest of the United Kingdom.

9)      The Union, or national, flag of the United Kingdom of England and Scotland, the ‘Union Jack’, was altered by the addition of a red saltire cross on a white ground (the so-called Flag of St Patrick) to the existing Union flag. The harp and the shamrock remained the ‘emblems’ of Ireland, the harp remaining on the Irish coinage as long as it existed.

Few other than Irish MP’s attended debates or votes concerning Ireland, so legislation for Ireland continued as heretofore in the hands of Irishmen. As the Federalists were later to point out, Irishmen now had a direct say, through their peers and MP’s in the appointment of the chief executive officer in Ireland, the Lord Lieutenant. Also, they similarly had a direct influence over foreign treaties, the waging of war, and commercial laws concerning the colonies. [See chapter 24 Central Government]

Reasons for the Act of Union

There were various reasons for the Act of Union advanced by William Pitt. One of these was a desire to secure further reliefs from political disabilities for the Catholics. It seemed unlikely that the Irish Protestants who formed a minority of the population of Ireland would ever allow Catholics to enter a separate Irish Parliament. Secondly, there was the question of the king’s illness. An Irish Parliament could declare the king unfit to rule in Ireland and appoint a regent. Thirdly, it would be much easier to co-ordinate defence, especially in the event of a French invasion of Ireland as a step towards the invasion of Britain. Fourthly, and very importantly, the free trade, which would become possible between the two kingdoms would stimulate Irish trade and promote an inflow of essential British capital, which Ireland needed to realise its capacities.

The chief argument against the Union was loss of status, and loss of political control. The further dismantling of trade restrictions, by the removal, for example, of Irish protective tariffs, did not seem equally to benefit Irish industry. Sentiment in Ireland was divided with regard to the Union, but there is little reason to doubt that the majority of Irish MP’s who had voted for the Union had correctly gauged public opinion, at least among the voters in their constituencies. Catholics, on the whole, seemed in favour because of the perceived connection with Emancipation.

Political Sentiment in Ireland

As in England, the members in both Houses were divided into Whigs and Tories. The Whigs in general supported the rights of Parliament and the Tories the rights of the Crown. The Whigs were the more aristocratic party whose leaders were the great noble families who largely controlled Parliament. The Tories were lesser landowners who traditionally looked to the Crown both for advancement and for protection against their great neighbours. During the war with Revolutionary France most of the country supported the Crown and many prominent Whigs joined the Tories.

During the French Revolutionary War, some young and enthusiastic Protestant Whigs, calling themselves the United Irishmen, advocated establishing an independent Parliament in an independent republic with the aid of a French army. It was always intended that the Irish Parliament would be filled almost exclusively with landed Protestant gentlemen, with some token Catholics as in the United States. Secondly, when they spoke of themselves as United Irishmen, uniting Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter into a common cause, they excluded the Tories who could be shot at sight, with or without French assistance. Years later, Daniel O’Connell disabused American visitors of any romantic ideas they had about them, saying, in words that could often be repeated later with even greater force,

‘The scheme of rebellion (in 1798) was in itself an ill-digested foolish scheme entered on without the means or the organization necessary to ensure success. And as to the leaders, no doubt there were among them some pure well-intentioned men but the great mass of them were trafficking speculators who cared not whom they victimized in their prosecution of their schemes of self-aggrandisement’.

Following the Union no general election was held. The existing county Members just transferred themselves to Westminster. As most of the boroughs lost one seat, in these the members had to ballot between themselves who should retain the seat and who should retire.

Objectives of Cornwallis

The Marquis Cornwallis remained as Lord Lieutenant and Lord Castlereagh as Irish Secretary. The Government favoured a general amnesty, the compensation from public funds for damages sustained, as few judicial trials as possible, and the removal of leading United Irish leaders, young Protestants of good family, from the country, preferably to the United States. Any attempt to pursue the guilty through the courts would further inflame passions. An Act of Amnesty was passed. In view of the still extensive disturbances on the pattern of the agrarian societies such as murders and raids on houses by night the Government continued its emergency powers for another session of Parliament. The Insurrection Act (1796), the Suspension of Habeas Corpus Act (1796), and the Martial Law Act (1796) were renewed temporarily.

Apart from the conspiracy of the United Irishmen agrarian crime was common in Ireland from 1760 onwards and increased enormously in the 1790s, and was to recur frequently until 1921. It had the following characteristics. There was no central organisation behind it. A group of men in a parish would band together and refuse to pay rent or tithes. Notices would be posted warning the other farmers not to pay them either. Houses of gentlemen, which were known to contain firearms, would be broken into. Those who did not co-operate with the criminals could have their houses or crops burned, their cattle maimed, or could themselves be beaten up, tortured, or even killed.

An opposition Protestant organisation grew up in the north of Ireland in the 1790s which became known as the Peep o’ Day Boys whose chief aim was to search Catholic working-class cabins for firearms. This led in turn to a counter organisation among the Catholics workers calling themselves Defenders to resist them. Ever after agrarian and sectarian clashes were tangled. The Protestant gentlemen in Armagh then formed a legal body called the Orange Order from among the working men, but with the gentlemen as officers, to resist Catholic violence by legal means.

There were two other movements among the middle and upper classes, which though separate, worked together. One was among the Catholics that aimed to achieve further relief for Catholics, and their aim was to a considerable extent achieved with the passing to the Catholic Relief Act (1793). Further negotiations between the Catholics and the Government continued until the outbreak of the rebellion of the United Irishmen in May 1798. The other was among the Whigs, who were largely Protestants of the middle and upper classes, and their chief aim was to achieve the reform of the admittedly very corrupt Parliament.

Immediate Problems

The recruitment and training of the defence forces against the French had now been completed. Within Ireland the limit on the military establishment, which had been 12,000 during most of the preceding century, had been raised to a war footing of 160,000 in 1797. In 1801 the total strength stood at 126,000, of whom 46,000 were regulars (horse, foot, and guns), 27,000 in the militia, and 53,000 in the yeomanry.

A particular problem facing the Government was the near famine conditions prevailing especially in the towns. Crops had been poor in the three preceding years, and the price of a quarter of wheat in Dublin had risen from 42 shillings in 1792 to nearly 116 shillings in l801. Potatoes were available in the country areas but transport costs by land were prohibitively high. There were weeks of unfavourable winds at sea. Farmers were hoarding stocks, and around Dublin rings were operating to buy up food and store it. Distilling was prohibited, and the Government authorised the import of rice. To cope with outbreaks of fever, which always accompanied scarcities, local authorities were empowered to construct fever hospitals. The harvest in l801 was good and these difficulties disappeared.

It was the aim of the Irish Government to develop the economy by improving communications inland and overseas by improving the ports, by building roads, and encouraging the digging of canals and later the construction of railroads. It was in the interest of Irish agriculturalists to get easy access to the large British market by these means, and they had been trying since the seventeenth century to gain such access.

The Catholic Question and the Fall of Pitt

[February 1801]

Though a majority of the people of Ireland was Catholic, Protestantism was the established religion of the state. Laws had been passed in every country in Europe to try to force people to adopt the form of religion chosen by the king. In Great Britain and Ireland these laws were known as ‘the Penal Laws’, and they were being relaxed. In Ireland, by the Catholic Relief Act (1793), Catholics were allowed to vote, to bear arms in the army, militia, or yeomanry, to be promoted up to the rank of colonel, to hold long leases of land, to practice as barristers in the lawcourts, and be appointed magistrates. There were various restrictions still remaining. Catholics could not be judges, nor hold senior positions in the executive or the armed forces, nor become Members of Parliament. Some people thought that the time had come to abolish most of the remaining restrictions. But there were others who felt that it was necessary to retain the existing restrictions in order to maintain the ‘Protestant character’ of the state, or as one man called it ‘the Protestant ascendancy’ in the state.

Pitt wished to bring in another Catholic Relief Act. The Government in Dublin and Westminster had in mind to attach two conditions to this further relief. The first was a royal veto on the appointment of Catholic bishops by the Pope, and the other was state provision for the clergy, i.e. paying the Catholic priests from state funds. No opposition was expected from the new Pope, Pius VII (Pope from 1800 to 1823). His predecessor, Pope Pius VI, had appealed to the British Government for assistance in 1793, but had died in French captivity at Valence in France on 29 August 1799. The cardinals assembled in Venice on Austrian territory and elected a new Pope, Pius VII, on 4th March l800.

At a royal levee George III told Robert Dundas, that young Lord Castlereagh’s proposals were ‘the most Jacobinical thing I have ever heard of’. He then sent for Henry Addington and asked him to form a ministry. Pitt, unable to rely on the united support of his cabinet, resigned. Cornwallis and Castlereagh then resigned as well. Cornwallis had to explain the situation to the leading Irish Catholics, but they were neither surprised nor alarmed. It was considered that the sixty-two year old king must either shortly die or go permanently mad.

ADDINGTON AND PITT

(March 1801 to January 1806)

The Ministry March 1801 to May 1804

Prime Minister     Henry Addington

Lord Lieutenant      Earl Hardwicke

Chief Secretary      Charles Abbot May 1801; William Wickham Feb 1802; Evan Nepean Jan. to Sept 1804

Under-secretary      Edward Cooke; Oct. 1801 A. Marsden

The Policies of the New Ministry

[March 1801]

Except on the question of Emancipation i.e. the admission of Catholics to Parliament and the higher public offices, the policies of Addington differed little from those of Pitt. Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke, a Portland Whig (those Whigs who followed the Duke of Portland in joining Pitt in a coalition), replaced Lord Cornwallis as Lord Lieutenant. His instructions were to try to calm the country without promising Emancipation. The new Irish Secretary was Charles Abbot, a Tory. Those Irishmen who accepted office in the various ministries at this time were all more-or-less Tories. That included men from a broad spectrum in the political centre. Hardwicke disapproved of the wearing of Orange favours or badges by any members of the armed forces.

Relations with France

On the Continent, France, which had been close to collapse a few years earlier, was now pulling itself together under Napoleon’s firm direction as Consul and First Consul. Austria withdrew from the Second Coalition and made peace with France. Addington’s ministry did likewise, and the Peace of Amiens (1802) was signed. Suspicions concerning Napoleon’s good faith did not disappear. By November of the same year Hardwicke was again building up the strength of the militia, and by March of 1803 it was entirely re-embodied. In March also Hardwicke by proclamation allowed the Navy to recruit by pressgang or other methods. An enormous programme of construction of fortifications was begun which lasted more than ten years. Military barracks and stores, depots, forts, Martello towers, gun emplacements, and beacons were constructed around the coasts and along the Shannon. Cork was developed as a naval base. Many units of the Irish militia volunteered to serve in England. With the battle of Trafalgar, 21 October l805, the immediate danger of invasion receded. The construction of the fortifications was continued, but the telegraph system was allowed to fall into decay.

On the Continent, Napoleon formed an ‘Irish Legion’ to aid, he said, his liberation of Ireland. Several hundred men joined him, but they were used all over Europe just as an ordinary French battalion. In 1802 an unsuccessful attempt was made by Thomas Russell to reorganize the United Irishmen in Ulster. In Dublin, Robert Emmet without resources or a plan attempted an uprising. Only about seventy men joined him in his assault on Dublin Castle in July 1803. They promptly murdered an elderly judge in cold blood, and Emmet went home in disgust to await martyrdom. Emmet’s importance in Irish history lay not in what he did, for he seems to have been quite mad, but in the use made of an edited version of his last speech later in the century. The Government hastily renewed the emergency powers. Habeas Corpus was suspended, and men suspected of belonging to the United Irishmen were interned in gaol. The country at large remained quiet and the emergency powers for the most part were not needed.

Policies in Ireland

Lord Redesdale began overhauling the civil administration insofar as it came under the direction of the Lord Chancellor, but this was a personal initiative. The Lord Lieutenant, and not the Lord Chancellor, exercised patronage in the Established Church and appointed the bishops. Clergymen with excessively Protestant views were not appointed bishops. Occasionally it was proposed to abolish the office of Lord Lieutenant and to amalgamate all the Irish Government Offices with those in Westminster. Thomas Pelham, the Home Secretary in 1801 and former Irish Secretary, wished to transfer the powers and patronage of the Lord Lieutenant to his own Office but got little support.

Up until the so-called ‘Tithe War’ in the 1830s there was a spirit of mutual courtesy between members of the clergy of different denominations, and also between the clergy and the Government. The Catholic bishops had publicly supported the Government in 1798. It was agreed on all sides that the Catholic Relief Act of 1793 should be implemented fully and fairly, and also that Catholics should be free to seek further reliefs. It was the invariable practice of the Government to seek clarification from the Catholic bishops with regard to any proposed measure with might affect the Catholic religion. Work recommenced on the Grand and Royal Canals out of Dublin, the former reaching the Shannon in October 1804. As the canals progressed westward they opened up central Ireland to commercial tillage. The Board of Inland Navigation assisted with the improvement of the Newry Canal. The disbursement of the half a million pounds for inland navigation, voted by the last Irish Parliament, was placed in its care. It did not construct canals itself, but was responsible for approving applications for Government grants. Lighthouses were constructed around the coast by the Commissioners for the Port of Dublin (The Ballast Office) to improve sea-navigation, and it was decided to build a packet station at Howth outside Dublin to speed the delivery of mails.

The Irish economy in many ways benefited from the war economy. A large part of the programme of fortification was paid for by loans raised in England. Contracts for provisions of salted beef and salted pork in barrels for the army and navy were placed in Ireland, resulting in great agricultural prosperity. The Irish provisions firms, especially those around Cork, were the largest in the United Kingdom. When the war in the Iberian Peninsula started Cork harbour was selected as the principal port for sending out supplies. At the request of John Foster and the Irish Farming Society tariffs were removed from imports of new farm machinery and improved varieties of seed. In 1800, several improving landlords, including John Foster of Collon, and the Marquis of Sligo, formed a Farming Society to promote good agricultural practice, to improve seeds, to acquire better farm machinery and tools, and to improve Irish livestock. The Farming Society began holding two annual shows of agricultural produce, one in Dublin and one at Ballinasloe, in county Galway, for the exhibition of improved livestock and seeds.

Financial Policy

Taxation of the new United Kingdom worked out as follows. In February 1801, William Pitt, still acting Prime Minister, introduced his budget in the parliament in Westminster, and noted that Ireland was to raise just over four million pounds sterling for joint expenses and about two and a half millions for separate expenses such as its Sinking Fund. He was followed by the Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer (Isaac Corry) who presented the Irish Budget and said how he proposed to raise the money. It was soon to become clear that Ireland had reached the limit of her taxable capability, and raising some taxes reduced revenues by killing off particular industries. Both Britain and Ireland raised much of the revenues needed to finance the War by borrowing. From 1804 onwards the Irish Chancellors were resigned to raising enough revenue from taxes to pay the interest on the loans, and to borrowing to meet current expenditures. This would have the effect of raising Ireland’s debt to equal two seventeenths of the British debt. This then would lead to an amalgamation of the Exchequers, after which Ireland would be taxed exactly in proportion to her income.

The use of gold coins had been prohibited in England in order to obtain a supply of bullion for use as subsidies to the Allies. The prohibition was not extended to Ireland immediately after the Act of Union, but was brought in eventually. There occurred a great increase in the issue of paper currency. Inflation set in and most people attributed this to the unwarranted increase in the paper issue. At the same time genuine silver and bronze coinage disappeared from the streets and forgery became common. More importantly, the increase in excises on the products of distillation led to an enormous increase in illicit distillation. When Pitt replaced Addington in May 1804, John Foster became the Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer. Foster dealt ably with the problems in hand and gradually brought most of them under control. He rooted out corruption among the Revenue Officials, and tightened up accountancy procedures. Inflation was controlled and an incorrupt metal coinage was issued and accepted.

Return of Pitt and the Catholic Petition of 1805

The Ministry May 1804 to Feb 1806

Prime Minister      William Pitt

Lord Lieutenant      Earl Hardwicke

Chief Secretary      Evan Nepean; Jan 1805 Nicholas Vansittart; Oct 1805 Charles Long

Under-secretary      A. Marsden

[May 1804]

Addington had little idea how to prosecute the War so Pitt decided to replace him and he became Prime Minister again in May 1804. Napoleon was concentrating his ‘Army of England’ at Boulogne on the French shore of the English Channel. Pitt was not content with preparing a mere passive defence, so he sought out allies. He succeeded in constructing the Third Coalition with Russia and Austria. Prussia joined later. Spain allied herself with France, but when Nelson totally destroyed the combined French and Spanish navies at Trafalgar in October l805, the immediate danger of an invasion of the British Isles disappeared. The citizens of Dublin opened a subscription for a public monument to the admiral, and for a hundred and fifty years ‘Nelson’s Pillar’ was Dublin’s most famous landmark and rendezvous. Napoleon decided to attack the allies on the Continent instead.

Pitt realised that there was no possibility of changing the old king’s mind and so refused to bring in any measure for emancipation. Some English Whigs thought the matter should be raised and found a seat for the leading Irish Whig Henry Grattan in a borough in England. It was considered necessary that the Irish Catholics should themselves first petition Parliament for further relief from their civil disabilities.

A young Dublin merchant named James Ryan consulted with the Earl of Fingall, the highest-ranking Catholic in Ireland, and undertook, with Fingall’s backing, to organise the meetings. A petition was drawn up and signed. Signatures were secured from interested parties. No attempt was made to make this a petition of a representative body to avoid falling foul of the Convention Act, but for parliamentary purposes this was not necessary. The Convention Act (1793) originally aimed at the United Irishmen made any assembly ‘affecting to represent the people or any part of them an unlawful assembly’, and was to be-devil Catholic meetings for years to come. For organizing the meetings he earned for himself the undying hostility of an older Catholic leader named John Keogh. The disputes among the Catholics which were to last eighteen years thus started at the same time as the campaign for Emancipation.

In February 1805 the petition was brought to London by a Catholic delegation. This consisted of the Irish Catholic peers, the Earls of Fingall, Kenmare, and Shrewsbury (who had a secondary Irish title), Baron Trimleston, Viscount Southwell, the baronet Sir Edward Bellew, the barrister Denys Scully, and the merchant James Ryan. Pitt expressed sympathy with their aims but reminded them that the king would in no way change his mind. The Whig Lord Grenville presented the petition in the House of Lords, while Charles James Fox presented it in the Commons. When the latter House rejected the petition 83 Irish members voted, of whom 25 supported Fox and 58 opposed him.

Meanwhile in England a rather strange figure was taking an active part in affairs. This was the English Catholic bishop, John Milner, vicar apostolic (missionary bishop) of the Midland District. Milner was perpetually at war with his fellow vicars apostolic in England and with the majority of the Catholic laity whom he suspected of schism or heresy. He undertook to clarify the Catholic position with regard to a proposed royal veto on the appointment of Catholic bishops in His Majesty’s dominions, and some time after expressing his views publicly seems to have changed his mind. The result was that he thoroughly confused the Whig leaders in Parliament who were actively supporting the Catholic campaign. In 1805, Milner wrote to Dr Concanen, OP, the agent in Rome of the Irish bishops, to get a statement from the Holy See on the questions involved. Rome replied to Dr. Concanen that it could not tolerate payment of the clergy, that positive nomination of Catholic bishops could not be granted to heretical monarchs, but a negative veto could be tolerated, and that the right of inspection of Roman documents could not be allowed.

Social and Economic Measures

Apart from the questions of Emancipation and the defence of the realm already mentioned, the Irish Government passed several pieces of legislation through Parliament. One allowed British court warrants to be served in Ireland; another allowed the authorities in the counties to establish medical dispensaries for the benefit of the poor. There was an Irish Post Roads Act to improve the post roads, a Partition of Common Lands Act to enable any remaining lands held in common to be divided up among their users, and a Dublin Paving and Lighting Act. These Acts were typical of the kind of Acts passed for Ireland for the next 120 years, but which are too numerous to catalogue. These Acts were typical of the kind of legislation passed by the Irish Parliament, the only difference being that they were now passed by Irishmen at Westminster. Work was commenced by the Revenue Commissioners and the Commissioners for the Port of Dublin (the Ballast Office) on clearing the old riverside quays, rebuilding the riverside walls, and constructing continuous quays and streets on either side of the Liffey. Various attempts had been made in the eighteenth century to provide Irish towns and counties with an efficient police force. The Dublin watch was unsatisfactory and successive Irish Secretaries tried to devise an efficient form of policing.

In July 1805 Napoleon marched his army eastwards to deal with the new coalition. In October the Austrian Army was heavily defeated at Ulm. News of the Royal Navy’s victory at Trafalgar over the combined French and Spanish fleets and the defeat at Ulm reached the British Isles about the same time. In December Napoleon decisively defeated Austria at Austerlitz, and she withdrew from the Coalition.

THE MINISTRY OF ALL THE TALENTS

(February 1806 to March 1807)

The Ministry February 1806 to March 1807

Prime Minister     Lord Grenville

Lord Lieutenant      Duke of Bedford

Chief Secretary      William Elliot

Under-secretary      A. Marsden; Sept 1806 James Traill

Grenville’s Ministry

[February 1807]

Pitt died on 23 January 1806 and the king sent for Lord Grenville who insisted that Charles James Fox, a well-known supporter of the Catholic claims, be included. Most of the leaders in Parliament provisionally supported Grenville, and the ministry was nicknamed ‘The Ministry of all the Talents’ by an Irish journalist named Eaton Stannard Barrett, and by this name it was always subsequently known. Charles Grey, Lord Howick (later Earl Gray) became First Lord of the Admiralty, and on Fox’s death, Foreign Secretary. This brief ministry is chiefly remembered for abolishing the slave trade. The Duke of Bedford, a noted agriculturalist, was appointed Lord Lieutenant, with an Englishman named William Elliot as Irish Secretary. Henry Grattan refused office.

Fox realised the impossibility of changing the king’s mind over the admission of Catholics to Parliament or to high offices. But quite a lot could be done for the Catholics by removing magistrates who had been considered oppressive, by making their entry into the army or the corporations of towns easier, and by appointing them to the public offices open to them. The Suspension of Habeas Corpus Act and the other similar Acts were allowed to expire and all those detained under those Acts were released. Sir John Newport introduced the Corn Interchange Act (1806) to allow the free import of Irish corn into Britain and this proved to be of immense value to the Irish economy. It meant that for the next forty years Ireland was the only country with free access to the British market for cereals. Bedford set up a Commission of Education Enquiry which produced several factual reports culminating with one in 1812 that contained its recommendations. With regard to inland navigation, Bedford shifted the emphasis from developing the port of Dublin to developing the inland canals and waterways. Newport raised the annual grant to Maynooth College for the education of Catholic priests from £8,000 a year to £13,000. He also gave a grant towards a proposed institute of further education in Cork, known as the Cork Institution. There was a serious outbreak of agrarian crime in the west of Ireland. Those involved in this particular conspiracy were known as the Threshers. Agrarian crime followed its usual pattern of murder, robbery and intimidation. The Ministry was considering the re-introduction of the special legislation when it collapsed. The reason for introducing special legislation to deal with agrarian terrorists was the intimidation or murder of witnesses or jurymen if brought to trial in the ordinary way.

Napoleon was meanwhile occupied in central Europe. In October 1806 the Prussians were crushed at Jena, the last of Napoleon’s spectacular victories. He was to continue to win victories but at enormous cost. From the Prussian capital, Berlin, he issued his ‘Berlin Decrees’ establishing the ‘Continental System’. His aim was to strangle British trade by refusing to allow any British ships to enter any ports in Europe under French control. The southern states, Portugal, Sicily, and the Papal States, did not yet belong to the system and Napoleon set about remedying this. Lord Howick, now Foreign Secretary, sent a fleet under the command of Earl St. Vincent to cruise off the coast of Portugal, England’s oldest ally. The British fleet was able to rescue the Portuguese royal family, and secure the Portuguese fleet, when Napoleon sent General Junot to occupy Portugal. The Whigs were the peace party and many of them wanted to withdraw Britain from the war.

The Catholic Question

The Irish Catholics at the beginning of 1806 were engaged in disputes among themselves. Fox, among others, advised them not to petition for Emancipation, pointing out that if the Ministry fell on this issue, as well it might, their bitter opponents would come into office. Ryan, following the custom of the time, asked Fox to keep his name in mind when a public office suitable for a Catholic became vacant in Ireland. For this he was accused by Keogh’s faction of truckling with ministers. The matter was completely above board, but this did not prevent the usual cry of ‘sell out’. In September 1806 Fox died.

By the beginning of l807 the party in favour of tackling the issue head on gained the upper hand, and a petition was prepared. From a reference in the Dublin Evening Post it would appear that Ryan’s and Keogh’s followers had been holding separate meetings, and each had produced a petition. To avoid an appearance of division they agreed to hold a joint meeting and decide either to petition or not to petition. A new man at the Catholic meetings, Daniel O’Connell, said that their claim was just and that they should press ahead with petitioning no matter which party was in office. Never, in all his life, did O’Connell show any understanding of the nature of parliamentary tactics. At another meeting, it was proposed to select a deputation to wait on Mr. Grattan to ask him to present their petition. Keogh objected to a deputation, as that seemed to imply that there was something to negotiate about:

‘He did not mean to enter into the subject whether the suspicions against any individual of the deputation of 1805 were justified… but he deprecated any negotiation, he would listen to no compromise—the petition was to be granted or not, there was no medium’ (DEP 26 Feb 1807).

Their ally, Grattan, however, refused to present the petition. The Earl of Fingall assured Bedford that most Catholics would be content with minor concessions for the moment, like being allowed to be sheriffs, or to be further promoted in the army. Lord Grenville accordingly began by getting the king’s permission to extend to the army in England (and consequently throughout the world) the right of Catholic officers, conceded to the army in Ireland in 1793, to be promoted up to the rank of colonel. This would actually have just legalized existing practice. The king stated that he would agree to this but to nothing further. But Grenville thought that he would allow a further concession, namely promotion to the rank of general, and indeed thought that he had received the king’s consent to this alteration. At this point Addington, now Lord Sidmouth, said that he did not agree with the further concession. Grenville introduced his Catholic Officers Bill. When the king’s opposition to any concession became apparent Grenville withdrew the Bill.

A number of the leaders of the various Parliamentary groups who were in favour of a more vigorous conduct of the War, agreed to form a Ministry aimed at prosecuting the War with vigour, and not to introduce an Emancipation Bill while that Parliament lasted. Moderate Tories like Castlereagh and Canning found themselves able to back this programme. A Ministry was formed under the Duke of Portland. Replying to the demand by the king that they should not bother him with concessions to Catholics, they assured him of their loyalty but managed to avoid any commitment on the constitutional point. A Dublin journalist, Frederick Conway, remarked that the Catholics at the time were not too troubled at the development as the Prince of Wales was expected to come to the throne shortly. Sheridan’s remark applied much better to the Irish Catholics than to the Whig ministry that he had heard of madmen beating out their brains against a wall, but never of a madman constructing a wall for that very purpose.

CHAPTER TWO

1807-1820

PORTLAND’S MINISTRY 1807 TO 1809

The Ministry March 1807 to October 1809

Prime Minister     Duke of Portland

Lord Lieutenant      Duke of Richmond

Chief Secretary      Sir Arthur Wellesley; April 1809 Robert Dundas

Under-secretary      James Traill; Sept 1808 Sir Charles Saxton

[April 1807]

Despite what was often alleged, the ministry that the Duke of Portland, leader of the Portland Whigs, put together was not an anti-Catholic one. Lord Castlereagh became Secretary for War, and George Canning Foreign Secretary. Members just agreed to postpone Emancipation. The Duke of Richmond was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The instructions given to him were the same as those given to Hardwicke. Sir Arthur Wellesley was appointed Irish Secretary, and was in general in favour of some accommodation with the Catholics. However, William Saurin, one of the most bitterly anti-Catholic politicians, became Attorney General.

Napoleon tried to persuade the southern European states to join the System. When the Pope refused his territory was invaded, Rome occupied on 2 February 1808, and finally the Pope was arrested and sent under guard to Savona. On the 19 November 1807 the French under Junot entered Portugal, and the Portuguese court sailed to Brazil, Portugal’s largest colony. Napoleon deposed the king of Spain and placed his own brother on the Spanish throne. On the 2nd of May 1808, the Dos de Majo, the people of Madrid drove out the new king, and the rising spread to the rest of the country. The junta in Seville declared war on France, and Canning made peace with Spain. Castlereagh sent an expedition to the Peninsula. Sir Arthur Wellesley took charge and won a victory over the French.

In Ireland the general election of 1807 seems to have been a very low-key affair with little general interest. The first domestic task of Sir Arthur Wellesley was to continue with the passage of the Whig Insurrection Act (1807) through Parliament. It was more or less the same as the Act passed in 1796, and was to last two years. Castlereagh reorganized the militia, and it was used until the end of the War as a recruiting ground for trained militiamen who volunteered to transfer into regular regiments. In his budgets, John Foster cut the Maynooth grant back to what it had been before. Sir Arthur Wellesley finally got the Dublin Police Act through Parliament in l808 and the new Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) was formed.

Bog Commissioners examined the Irish bogs. An Irish Road Act (1809) was passed. Among other things it enacted that in future all traffic going in one direction would keep to the left, while facing traffic would keep to the opposite side. Work commenced on the new packet harbour at Howth. With regard to the Catholics, Richmond followed the policy of Hardwicke. In l809 the High Sheriffs of Dublin summoned several leading Catholic freeholders to service on the City Grand Jury. This had not been done in Dublin for centuries, though it had been done in other parts of Ireland. It was symptomatic of the growing feelings of liberality among Protestant gentlemen.

The Question of the Veto

Infighting among the Catholics continued and Daniel O’Connell emerged a leader of a faction. It was decided to continue petitioning Parliament, and petitions were drawn up for presentation to the two Houses of Parliament in 1808. The Earl of Fingall introduced George Ponsonby to Dr Milner who, he said, would state the Catholic position on a veto with authority. When Grattan and Ponsonby, in May 1808, introduced the petition they gave as fresh grounds the undertaking of the Catholics to seek a power of veto from the Pope over the appointment of bishops. Their motion was in fact lost but a storm of protest arose in Ireland in which Milner’s effigy was burned. Archbishop Troy of Dublin confirmed that the Irish bishops would not oppose a political settlement. In September 1808, however, the Irish bishops met and issued a statement that it was ‘inexpedient’ to change the existing mode of appointing Irish bishops. A deep division grew in the ranks of the Catholics between the ‘Vetoists’ and ‘Anti-vetoists’ which was not patched over until l823, and then only temporarily. Edward Hay replaced James Ryan as Secretary to the Irish Catholics.

Feelings among the laity were running strongly against any concession to the crown. For the rest of 1808 there were many arguments about the advisability of continuing petitioning in the present circumstances. In March 1809 the English Catholics decided to petition. The old Irish Catholic Committee of 1793 was re-constituted. It was made clear that the members of this Committee were in no way the delegates of any body or group. The Catholic lords had considerable influence, and O’Connell charged that they were (in supporting a veto) representing no interest but their own.

The War in the Peninsula

About 10,000 British troops remained in Portugal. By March 1809 the French, under Marshal Soult, reached Oporto in northern Portugal. Arthur Wellesley convinced Castlereagh that a British Army could be maintained indefinitely in Portugal. He therefore resigned from the Irish Secretaryship and set about organizing an expedition. The expedition sailed from Cork, beginning a close involvement of Ireland with the Peninsula which was to last for six years. Wellesley advanced into central Spain to aid the over-confident Spanish armies, but after a victory at Talavera had to retreat into Estramadura province. Cautiously, he began the construction of fortified ‘lines’ at Torres Vedras, but they were not needed this year. In 1809 Austria came back into the war, and so prevented Napoleon from concentrating his forces against Wellington in Spain.

PERCEVAL’S MINISTRY 1809 TO 1812

The Ministry October 1809 to May 1812

Prime Minister     Spencer Perceval

Lord Lieutenant      Duke of Richmond

Chief Secretary      William Wellesley Pole

Under-secretary      Sir Charles Saxton

[October 1809]

After the ministry of the dying Duke of Portland collapsed following a duel between Castlereagh and Canning, Spencer Perceval stitched together another ministry. The Marquis Wellesley, (Lord Wellington’s elder brother) an Irishman with views similar to Castlereagh’s, replaced Canning as Foreign Secretary, while the Earl of Liverpool became Secretary for War. The Marquis Wellesley had been to Eton and Oxford with Lord Grenville, and had known Addington at Oxford. A younger brother of the marquis, William Wellesley-Pole, became Irish Secretary. On the resignation of the Marquis Wellesley as Foreign Secretary in February 1812 Castlereagh succeeded him, and held that post in the years forever associated with the names of Wellington and Castlereagh until his death in 1822. Canning remained out of office.

Wellesley-Pole proved an able and energetic administrator. On coming to Dublin he instituted a review of prison conditions, and undertook penal reform. He brought in an Irish Gaol Act (1810) to commence his reforms. He provided for the payment of chaplains, including Catholic chaplains, out of public funds. He gathered the women prisoners in Dublin together and gave them their own chaplain. He favoured penitentiaries where the prisoners were taught a trade and given work to do. He began the removal of lunatics from common gaols and established special asylums for them. The Richmond General Asylum for Lunatics was established, and the Richmond Institute for the Industrious Blind. He allowed the Insurrection Act to lapse, and contented himself with a modest Arms Act (1810) for the control of firearms and a restricted Insurrection Act (1810). He suspended the Townlands Fines Act (1781) with regard to illicit distillation, preferring to use extra patrols of troops. With the ever-increasing excises placed on spirits to help pay for the War illicit distillation flourished with all the crimes associated with the Prohibition era in America. He passed an Irish Lighthouse Regulation Act (1810) and commissioned Thomas Telford to survey the proposed new shorter route from Holyhead (pronounced Hollyhead) to London. A lightship was placed on the Kish Bank that lay across the approaches to Dublin harbour. He pushed forward the construction of the new packet harbour at Howth and it came into use in July 1810.

The office of Lord Lieutenant was an expensive one. The Duke of Richmond’s official salary was £20,000 a year, but he was obliged to spend £38,000 on maintaining the dignity of the office. In 1810 an additional £10,000 was voted for him for a single year until the Civil List could be revised. An ability and willingness to pay part of the costs of the office became conditions for being offered the post. The office of Irish Secretary had been a sinecure and in 1800 was merged with the office of the Lord Lieutenant’s Secretary. The various duties of the office were discharged by the Under-secretaries, one for civil and one for military affairs. The effect of this was that the official Secretary was the Under-secretary while the Lord Lieutenant’s Secretary had no official administrative position. In 1812, there was appointed an able, and very anti-Catholic Under-secretary named William Gregory, who was determined that none of the rights of his office should be whittled away. He had a very good relationship with Robert Peel, and as Peel was happy to accept his advice, there was no conflict between the Secretary and Under-secretary. He defended the rights of his office until his removal in 1831. Thereafter, there was no doubt that the Irish Secretary, or Chief Secretary was in sole charge.

In 1809 a young Englishman named Robert Peel was elected MP for the borough of Cashel, his father having purchased the seat for him. The Bog Commissioners presented their reports, and they claimed that about three million acres were recoverable, but the obstacles were immense. For example, many Irish estates were encumbered, with creditors having first claim on any capital. The Report was never acted on. About this time Lord Cloncurry and other magistrates began holding regular petty sessions of the magistrates’ courts. The local penny post in the Dublin area was extended, and four posts a day were delivered to each sub-post office. A Militia Interchange Act (1811) was passed to enable militia regiments to serve in other parts of the British Isles without having to depend on volunteers from each regiment. Irish militia regiments in England were forbidden to wear Orange emblems when in uniform. The policy of treating the Catholics fairly within existing law was (officially at least) continued. The Minister for War, Lord Liverpool, hearing that there were Orange lodges in the army forbade such, and also forbade the wearing of Orange badges by any military units. Another circular was sent out from the Adjutant General’s office making clear that Catholic soldiers were not to be paraded to church services but were to be allowed to attend mass privately.

The English educationalist, Joseph Lancaster visited Ireland spreading his views on education, and he received a warm welcome. In December some gentlemen met in Dublin to see if there was some way of putting his views into practice. The Government including Peel, mindful of the dire effects of separate education in producing a spirit of sectarian division, supported his system.

In 1810 Irish industry was beginning to feel the effects of the Continental System. Several merchants, especially among those engaged in the linen trade became bankrupt. The distress had an unexpected side-effect, namely, an increase in the number of demands for repeal of the Act of Union (1800) on the part of the merchants and tradesmen of Dublin. Trade was not prospering very well in Dublin at the time for a variety of reasons. Those with capital preferred to invest outside Dublin where waterpower was available. Those connected with the carriage trade lost business when members of the Irish Parliament no longer came to Dublin. It was easy to blame all problems on the Act of Union. The merchants and journeymen who objected to the Union were mostly Protestants. On the 18th September 1810 a meeting was held in Dublin with the High Sheriff in the chair and a young journalist named Frederick William Conway as secretary to the meeting. Daniel O’Connell was among the speakers. It was resolved to petition Parliament for the restoration of an Irish Parliament. Interest died down as quickly as it arose, and the petition was left in the hands of young Mr. Conway with nobody prepared to pay the expenses.

The Catholic Committee

In November 1809 the newly reconstituted Catholic Committee assembled with 58 members present, and with the Earl of Fingall in the chair. The petition was revised and transmitted to Grattan. The War was going badly in Spain and the Whig leaders felt that they would soon return to office as people got tired of the war. The English Catholics met on the 1st February 1810 and passed various resolutions. In one, the ‘Fifth Resolution’, they agreed in general terms to some form of security. The Irish bishops’ pastoral (1810) was then issued. They bound themselves not to accept any bull, brief, rescript, or any other communication from the Pope while he was a prisoner of the French.

It was suggested that those selecting an Irish bishop choose only from among those priests whose loyalty to the crown was incontestable. This became known as Domestic Nomination. This issue became confused later with varying interpretations of the phrase. The Holy See was not opposed in principle to granting a negative veto to a Protestant monarch in places like Canada, Ireland, or Gibraltar. In considering the dispute between the Vetoists and Anti-vetoists we must remember that neither side was right or wrong, but the Anti-vetoists, for political reasons, were opposing the express will of the Pope in the matter to the Pope’s great astonishment.

In May 1810 Grattan put forward the Catholic petition offering Domestic Nomination as security, while in the Lords the Earl of Donoughmore, an Irish peer, proposed it. Lord Castlereagh supported the Catholics for the first time since 1801, and in future all cabinets, which hoped for any credibility, had to accept ministers who wished to support the Catholics. Castlereagh, in addition, as Leader of the House of Commons, always ensured that Catholic petitions or motions received parliamentary time

Progress of the War

Just before the winter rains in 1810 Wellington withdrew towards the lines he had constructed at Torres Vedras, where he knew he could hold the French in an advanced position indefinitely. Massena finally gave the order to withdraw on 5 March 1811 and the initiative passed to Wellington. During the next four years of the Regency Wellington was to bring military glory to Britain and Castlereagh was to match them with diplomatic triumphs.

In December 1810 the king’s physicians reported that he no longer had possession of his faculties. A regency was inevitable. Perceval made no concessions to the Prince of Wales. He proposed a limited regency for one year, strict economy for the Prince, a continuation of the War, and no concessions to the Catholics. After searching around to see what better terms he could get, Prince George kept Perceval in office. In doing this he was abandoning the Irish friends of his youth, Lord Moira, Lord Hutchinson, the Earl of Donoughmore, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

The Rise of O’Connell

Meanwhile in Ireland the rows among the Catholics continued more fiercely than ever with Keogh now listening to nobody. Daniel O’Connell began that curious struggle with the Government with regard to the Convention Act (Irish Parliament 1793) which was to last until his death. He wanted a forum for agitation, and the Catholic Committee had two drawbacks. Firstly, it could do nothing but petition Parliament, and secondly the aristocracy too heavily influenced it. To get round this latter point O’Connell sought ‘delegates’ from those parts of Ireland where his own views were strongly