Above : Picture Of Lord Mountjoy

The first Catholic Relief Bill of general importance was that introduced into the Commons by Luke Gardiner (afterwards Lord Mountjoy), 1778. The Catholics, since the foundation of the Catholic Committee in 1757, had begun to show more spirit. The Government appears to have realised that concession was necessary, and the introduction of Gardiner’s Bill was not seriously opposed. This Bill proposed the removal of several crying injustices under which the Catholics suffered in regard to the holding of land and to inheritance. It permitted a Catholic to take a lease of 999 years, released him from the necessity of ” gavelling,” or dividing his estate amongst his sons, and withdrew the advantages hitherto conceded to a wife or child who embraced the Reformed faith. The Irish Houses passed the measure by fair majorities, both in Lords and Commons (July, 1778). Less than two years after (March, 1780) the Irish Parliament, mainly in consequence of pressure brought by the Volunteers, abolished the Test, by which all officials were obliged to take the Sacrament according to the rites of the Established Church, thereby admitting the Protestant Dissenters freely to offices. The policy of the Relief Bill of 1778 appears to have been generally approved of in Ireland by both members of the Establishmed Church and Dissenters.

The next important measures in favour of the Catholics were the Bills of 1782 which are known collectively the name of ” Gardiner’s Second Relief Bill,” for to them also Luke Cardiner stood sponsor. Many of the repressive enactments which these oroposed to repeal were, and some of them had long been, practically dead letter. Of this sort were the prohibition of the residence of Catholic bishops, ecclesiastical dignitaries or regular clergy in Ireland; the requirement that secular priests should be registered and should reside within certain districts, not leaving them without permission ; the regulation that no Catholic should possess a horse of a greater value than is- Several clauses of these Bills, however, aimed at the redress of grievances still alive and acutely felt by the Catholic community. Tney permitted a Catholic to teach in a school or a private family, or to open a school himself, provided that he took the Oath of Allegiance, obtained the permission of the Protestant bishop of the diocese, and received only pupils of his own faith. The dying Catholic parent might now appoint any layman of his own creed to undertake the care of his young children’s upbringing and education. As regards land, Catholics might purchase freehold property, inherit it and bequeath it in the same way as Protestants. The regulations forbidding Catholics to live in the cities of Cork or Galway were to be repealed.

As in the case of the Bill of 1778, the country in general appears to have been favourable to the policy embodied in these measures, and, as regards those clauses dealing with such matters as we have mentioned, the Parliament also showed little desire to obstruct their passage. The suggestion that any political power whatever should be given to the Catholics was, on the other hand, most strongly opposed in both Houses. Flood’s attitude was uncompromising. Though he, like most of those who sided with him, was not prepared to say that the political servitude of the Catholics was, if considered from an abstract point of view, precisely just, yet he held it to be under the present circumstances not only expedient but absolutely necessary for the safety of the Protestant state. The passage of the Relief Bills was celebrated in many parts of the country by rejoicings and festivities, in which Catholics and Protestants joined with the utmost friendliness.