The Dungannon Convention

Above : Painting Of Lord Charlemont, On Of Chief In The Great Convention

A great Convention of the Ulster Volunteers had been arranged, and on February 15th, 1782, 243 delegates, representing 143 corps, met at Dungannon. The resolutions to be placed before them had been drawn up chiefly by Charlemont, Grattan and Flood. The most important, politically, were those which asserted ” that the claim of any body of men, other than the King, Lords and Commons of Ireland to make laws to bind this Kingdom is unconstutional, illegal and a grievance,” and that ” the powers exercised by the Privy Councils of both Kingdoms, under, or under colour, or pretence of the law of Poynings, are unconstitutional and a grievance.” Last of all came a resolution, drafted by Grattan alone, that “as men and as Irishmen, as Christians and as Protestants, we rejoice in the relaxation of the Penal Laws against our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects (i.e., by the two Relief Bills), and that we conceive the measure to be fraught with the happiest consequences to the union and prosperity of the inhabitants of Ireland.”

It will be noticed that, though the Catholics were still excluded, not only from the right of sitting in Parliament but also from the franchise, no hope or even desire is expressed that anything further will be accorded to them. Many, indeed, of the most prominent leaders in the Volunteer Movement, as Charlemont and Flood, were strong opponents of any demand of the Catholics for a share in political power. Grattan held more liberal views, but he evidently considered it advisable not to run the risk of stirring up dissensions by bringing them forward at this juncture.

The resolutions were passed with very little opposition, and at meetings held for the Connacht Volunteers at Portumna, for those of Munster in Cork, and for those of Leinster in Dublin, they were repeated without material alteration.

Before the end of February, Grattan brought forward the question of Irish Rights in the House of Commons, maintaining, as the Dungannon resolutions had done the exclusive right of the King, Lords and Commons of Ireland to legislate for the country. The House agreed to postpone the question, but this was not due, as the Lord Lieutenant warned the English Minister, to any difference of opinion regarding the alleged powers of the British Parliament to pass Statutes for Ireland. In a denial of such right the speakers on both sides were almost equally unanimous.

During the Easter recess the North Ministry fell, and the Rockingham Administration, its successor, replaced Carlisle as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by the Duke of Portland.

The new Viceroy proved to be no more able to perform the miracle of allaying the Irish discontents without removing their cause than his predecessor had been. The Government, after some vain attempts to bribe Grattan and Charlemont by offers of high preferment, gave up resistance as hopeless.