Saturday, June 14th, 2008
Above : Painting Of Lord Castlereagh
The Parliament which, from 1782 to the Legislative Union of 1800, sat in Dublin is generally named, from the man to whose exertions the liberties which it enjoyed were chiefly due, ” Grattan’s Parliament.” We have seen that, within itself, it contained the elements which, after a short period of years, were to lead to its destruction, and that to purge itself of these elements it obstinately refused. Besides this, however, the constitution which had been imposed on it was in several respects faulty. Its greatest defect was this, that the Executive was practically completely independent of the Legislature.
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Defects In The Constitution Of Independent Parliament
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Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Above : Illustrating Picture Of Sir John Parnell (Sitting The In Middle) In A Meeting
During the seven months which intervened before Parliament sat again the Government was not idle. Every effort was made to influence public opinion in favour of the Union, or, failing this, to produce at least an appearance of acquiescence or even of desire for the success of the scheme.
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Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Above : Portrait Of Castlereagh With His Signature
In February there was a debate in both Houses, on a message received from the Lord Lieutenant, asking that the Lords and Commons should consider the question of a Legislative Union. In the Commons, Castlereagh rose to explain the Government scheme in more detail than had yet been done. It may be well, at this point, to briefly set forth the most important points in the chief clauses of the Act of Union, in the form in which they were ultimately passed :
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Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
Above : Painting Of Lord Grey
After this digression we may return to follow to the end the fortunes of the Act of Union in its passage through Parliament. The debate which followed Castlereagh’s speech ended, as it was bound to end, in a Government victory. At the Division the ayes were 158, the noes 115, giving a majority of 43. In the Lords the Opposition was much less strong. Lord Clare made, in favour of the Government Scheme, a long speech in which he contrived to insult with impartiality the Catholics and the Protestant opposers of the Union, styling the latter ” a puny and rapacious oligarchy,” and the former ” deluded barbarians.” It is scarcely likely that it influenced a single vote of the seventy-five given on the Government side, as against twenty-five only secured by their opponents. In the Commons there was another debate towards the end of February. Grattan, on this as on previous occasions, exerted all the powers of his eloquence in defence of a hopeless cause. A proposal by the Opposition for a General Election was defeated ; there could now be little doubt as to the final result.
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Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Above : Painting Of Sir Francis Burdett
There can be no doubt that, amongst the Irish Catholics, it was the almost universal belief that the passing of the Act of Union would practically at once be followed by the removal of their remaining disabilities and their establishment on a footing of all around equality with their fellow-subjects. It is equally certain that it was mainly this belief which prevented them from offering a steady and united opposition to a measure which very few of them really liked.
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General Expectations Of The Catholics & Their Emancipation
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Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
Above : Portrait Of Lord Cornwallis
Pitt, when making his famous defence of the Union project in January 1799, had broadly hinted that, should success in this be achieved, the Catholic disabilities would probably soon be removed. That he really desired that this should be done, and done so quickly as to seem a direct result of the Union, there can be no doubt. He soon, however, realised that he had greatly underestimated the strength of the King’s opposition and the difficulty, perhaps impossibility, of obtaining his consent. This discovery evidently disconcerted and even for a time alarmed him, as any violent display of hostility on the part of the Catholics would be most inconvenient, or possibly, even now, dangerous. His chagrin was shared by Castlereagh and still more by Cornwallis.
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Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
Above : Painting Of The Czar Of Russia, One Of Influence In Episcopal Appointments
By the closing decades of the eighteenth century, it had become sufficiently clear to the Government authorities that the attempt to sever the connection of the bulk of the Irish people with the Church of Rome might, for practical purposes, as well be abandoned. This being so, the prudent course appeared to be to endeavour to establish such relations between the State and the Catholic clergy as would induce these to exercise their great influence over their flocks more or less in the Government’s favour.
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